#love to see drag queens succeeding

[anonymousewrites]

One Hell of a Love (Book 1.5) Chapter Ten

Sebastian Michaelis x Demon! Reader

Chapter Ten: One Hell of a Camera

Summary: A strange woman with a camera is convinced by a man with golden eyes to go on a rampage, and (Y/N) and Sebastian have to clean up the mess and handle a troublesome reaper in red.

            “An aspect of the Phantomhives’ past that I don’t know about?” said Ciel as the carriage pulled away from the mansion to take him, Sebastian, and (Y/N) to his latest assignment.

            “It is no wonder,” said Sebastian, treading carefully. “You had to assume responsibility for the Phantomhive household before the late head could tell you everything.”

            “Well, I couldn’t ask for a better chance,” said Ciel. “If I, the new family head, solve a case my father was involved in, news will spread in the underworld, and they will undoubtedly make a move.”

            (Y/N) watched him speak, knowing he had no idea he had already solved cases for Her Majesty, such as Jack the Ripper. So far, there had been few issues after the…incident with his soul. His confusion remained clear at times, but there had been no major problems. If Sebastian was lucky, there would be no more issues. (Alas, (Y/N) was a black cat. They knew fortune changed easily).

            “Do you intend to use yourself as bait?” Of course, Sebastian already knew Ciel’s plan since they had gone through it and succeeded in baiting the angel behind the Phantomhives’ demise.

            “I’ll drag the ones who hurt my pride and ruined my name out into the open and punish them as they deserve,” said Ciel. His eyes hardened. “I’ll go to any lengths.”

            How unfortunate. There is no one for him to get revenge on left, thought (Y/N).

            “What if you discover they are already dead?” said Sebastian.

            “In that case, I’ll tear apart their rotten flesh and scoop out the truth,” said Ciel. “That is all.”

            Sebastian smirked. “That is my master.”

l

            “It looks like you’re having a hard time, Lord Randall,” said Ciel as he walked up to the crime scene. A large burn mark from the strange fiery death suffered there recently blackened the ground and wall.

            “Ciel Phantomhive,” said Randall.

            Ciel held up the letter with the Queen’s seal. “Would you mind updating me on the status of the investigation?”

            Randall was annoyed but complied. “We haven’t made any progress worth mentioning.”

            “Have you found any differences between this and the previous incident?” asked Ciel. He smirked. “This has happened before, right? There were cases similar to this?”

            “So, you know about that,” muttered Randall.

            “You have just confirmed it. Thank you,” said Ciel. “Would you mind showing me the records?”

            “There is nothing left,” said Randall.

            “What?” said Ciel.

            “Not that I would show you even if there was, of course,” said Randall, crossing his arms. “Scotland Yard will shed light on this case. We will find the cause, the culprit, and any connections to past incident. There is no place for you here.”

            “I wish that were so,” said Ciel. “Let’s go, Sebast—” He deadpanned.

            (Y/N) turned and blinked. Sebastian was fawning over a group of street cats. (Y/N) watched with an amused smile as he blushed and petted them, their cold heart twisting happily at seeing him like the creature of their motif so much.

            “Round, innocent eyes, unaware of this world’s impurities…A tail that lends its cuteness an air of refinement…some, rosy paws!” Sebastian cuddled two of the kittens close to him.

            “I always knew you picked me to mentor for a reason,” said (Y/N), their voice light and teasing.

            Sebastian froze as he looked up at them. Ah. Yes. (Y/N) was a cat demon. And he was fawning over cats… He cleared his throat and stood up. He really couldn’t quite remember if he liked (Y/N) because he liked cats or he liked cats because he liked (Y/N). With his feelings now, it all became a bit…hazy.

            “Well, I admit I have an inclination towards cats,” said Sebastian. He had recovered his wits quickly. “They are quite adorable.”

            (Y/N)’s heart clenched, and they rolled their eyes. “Don’t tease me.”

            “I wouldn’t dream of it,” said Sebastian.

            “Hurry up, you cat freaks,” muttered Ciel, walking past them.

            Sebastian and (Y/N) followed him as he got back into the carriage. “What do you plan to do now?” asked (Y/N).

            “If the Yard is useless, then there is only one place to go,” said Ciel.

l

            Undertaker’s raucous laughter knocked the sign from his shop. Ciel had, of course, an irk mark as the cackles continued. (Y/N) watched the boy and man’s reactions in amusement. Sebastian continued his “comedy set.”

            “Ah, Great Britain indeed!” said Sebastian in an exaggeratedly lower-class accent. “Wait. What the hell? I can’t stand ya no more!” He bowed and switched to his regular voice. “Thank you for watching.”

            “Excellent,” giggled Undertaker as he pulled himself to flop on a coffin. “I never expected to see such stand-up in this country. I couldn’t have imagined this for a second.”

            “He was just talking to himself,” said Ciel.

            “You gave me a fine performance!” said Undertaker. “I shall keep my word.” He put down a vial of shimmering dust.

            “I want to see the ashes of the victims,” said Ciel.

            “Indeed.” Undertaker waved the vial around again. “Here they are, Earl. I scraped this up at the crime scene. They burned at such a high temperature, only ashes remained.” He tossed the vial to Ciel.

            The Earl examined it. “Hm.”

            “Perhaps we should go to the funeral to see if there’s any links between suspects. Friends, relatives, something of that sort,” suggested (Y/N).

            Ciel nodded. “We shall.”

l

            (Y/N), Sebastian, and Ciel stood behind the rest of the funeral procession as the coffin, containing only a shoe, was lowered into the ground. The poor widowed husband was crying as people apologized for his loss. Even a photographer and his wife delivered a free photograph of him and his wife from before her death. As the photographer and his wife passed them as they departed, (Y/N)’s eyes narrowed. A slight shimmer of particles in the air trailed the couple.

            Ciel glanced up at the demons, and they met his gaze.

l

            “The material found in the ashes is identical to that which we gathered from the photographer and his wife,” reported Sebastian to Ciel.

            “Magnesium oxide,” said (Y/N). “It is what remains after flash photography burns magnesium.”

            “Photography, you say?” said Ciel.

            “I also managed to gain information regarding its import from Mr. Lau,” said Sebastian. He and (Y/N) glanced at one another. Lau had been civil and his usually “innocent” façade, their battle notwithstanding since Ciel couldn’t remember it.

            “A photo studio recently imported an unusually large supply,” said (Y/N). “Too much for simple flash photography in such a small studio.”

            “Yes. Moreover, the victims have one thing in common: they all had their wedding photos taken a few days before the incident,” said Sebastian.

            “All at Turner Photography,” said (Y/N).

            Ciel stood. “Let’s go. That couple knows the truth.”

            “Very well,” said Sebastian.

l

            “Well, it looks like we’re a bit late,” remarked (Y/N) as they looked at the burning Turner Photography studio.

            “It does confirm our suspicions, however,” said Sebastian.

            “That’s the wife,” said Ciel, pointing to a woman running out of the building.

            The wife laughed and threw magnesium handfuls around her. “Happiness! Where is happiness?” she cackled.

            Ciel, Sebastian, and (Y/N) ran after her. The wife pressed the flash of the camera, and the magnesium erupted in a fiery blast.

            “Young Master!” Sebastian covered Ciel from the explosion.

            “She’s using that camera to start fires. Seize her!” ordered Ciel.

            “Yes, my Lord,” said Sebastian, bowing.

            “With pleasure,” said (Y/N).

            They all took off after the pyromaniac once more. As they turned into an alleyway, however, a figure in red dropped down at them. (Y/N) braced themself and caught the flat edges of a chainsaw before it cut them.

            Sebastian drew up beside them, and Ciel paused, eyes widened as something registered as he gazed at the shade of red. An explosion of magnesium brought him back to his senses as quickly as his mind had drifted.

            “You, really?” (Y/N) narrowed their eyes in irritation, and their nose twitched.

            “It’s been so long, darling (Nickname)!” said Grell, grinning wildly.

            “So, you were pulling the strings, Grell,” said Sebastian.

            “The only string I’m pulling is the red string of fate that bind me to you, Seb—Ack!” Sebastian kicked Grell in the face to get her away from (Y/N).

            “How mean! Don’t be rough with me!” cried Grell.

            “You challenged us first,” said (Y/N).

            “I just go excited and slashed at you! No need to get serious,” pouted Grell. “I was chasing that woman, too.”

            “You were? You should stick to that next time,” said (Y/N), unimpressed.

            “Is this weirdo an acquaintance of yours?” said Ciel, stepping forward.

            Ah, yes, he doesn’t remember her, thought (Y/N).

            “She collects the souls of the dead. She is a Grim Reaper,” said Sebastian.

            “A Grim Reaper? I didn’t know there were others like you,” said Ciel.

            Grell looked at him in confusion but shrugged off the strange forgetfulness of the Earl (which was good since (Y/N) couldn’t be bothered to deal with Grell messing up anything).

            “I suppose you came to collect the souls of this incidents’ victims?” said Sebastian.

            Grell skipped closer to the demons. “But now that I’ve found you two, my work is at an end!” she cooed. “Now it’s for the three of us to have some fun~.”

            (Y/N) looked at Sebastian, ignoring Grell. “Let’s go. It could be troublesome for the Lord’s reputation if that woman kills more people with magnesium.”

            “I agree. We don’t have time for nonsense,” said Sebastian.

            “Hey! Pay attention to me!” pouted Grell. But she was annoyed as Sebastian, (Y/N), and Ciel avoided her and continued on. “Oh, wait for me!”

            People screamed and burned as the arsonist ran through the streets of London, throwing magnesium and igniting it every few moments. (Y/N) and Sebastian turned after her into an alley, but she disappeared from sight.

            “Oh, did she give you the slip?” cooed Grell.

            “Grell, should you not attend to your own job?” said Sebastian.

            “I am a huntress of love; my job is to catch you,” said Grell, grinning ear-to-ear. Her gaze grew more somber. “Plus, I only have one soul to collect.”

            “Only one?” (Y/N) furrowed their brow.

            Grell opened her book. “Margaret Turner. After committing indiscriminate mass murder, she will burn herself to death at 12:05 am. According to the record book, hers is the only soul I need to collect.”

            “What about those burning?” said (Y/N). A scream of someone burning to death punctuated their words.

            “You see? That woman’s victims are completely consumed, their souls included,” said Grell.

            Sebastian narrowed his eyes. Now that was more of a threat to his Young Master (and his own meal). An explosion from atop Big Ben took his attention.

            “Sebastian, the Earl is up there, isn’t he?” sighed (Y/N). He certainly knows how to make Sebastian worry for his soul.

            Sebastian tsked. “He is.” The clocktower rang midnight.

            “You said she dies at 12:05, correct?” remarked (Y/N) with a glance at Grell.

            “Ooh, so you did pay attention to me. How lovely~!” said Grell excitedly.

            “We should hurry, Sebastian,” said (Y/N).

            “Indeed,” he replied.

            “Wait, what are you going to do?” asked Grell.

            “Seize that woman as the Young Master ordered,” said Sebastian.

            “But there’s no time left,” said Grell.

            “How could we be Phantomhive servants if we could not do this?” remarked Sebastian with a smirk.

            (Y/N) smiled coyly at Grell. “Shall we go then, Grell?”

            “Oh, yes, please, darling! But why me?” asked Grell, turning red.

            “Well, the Young Master is hardly appropriate for Mrs. Turner to take photos of. I think it should be you,” said (Y/N), smirking. Maybe you’ll be burned and I won’t have to deal with you again.

            Hearts were in Grell’s eyes, and Sebastian wanted to poke them out for looking so adoringly at (Y/N). “Then, I will show you my sexy shots!”

            Grell’s Death Scythe revved to life, and she began to ride it up the clocktower. Sebastian and (Y/N) shook their head at her eagerness and ran up the side of Big Ben after her.

            “What’s that?!” cried Mrs. Turner angrily when she spotted them.

            “My butler, maid, and a nutcase,” said Ciel.

            “Actually, I’m a deadly efficient Reaper!” declared Grell.

            “Don’t get in my way!” yelled Mrs. Turner, dumping magnesium down at them. She pressed the flashbulb of the camera, and the magnesium exploded, but Grell continued upwards.

            Hell, Reapers are immune to it. How unfortunate, sighed (Y/N).

            “Wh-Why? Why aren’t you burning?” stammered Mrs. Turner. She pressed the flashbulb over and over, but nothing happened to Grell, who was serving as a lovely distraction.

            “How like demons to use a reaper as a decoy,” said Ciel, smirking as he watched his servants approach.

            Grell vaulted over Mrs. Turner, and the pyromaniac turned to face her angrily. Grell posed as Mrs. Turner took photo after deadly photo. “The more a woman is photographed, the more she matures, growing redder and sweeter! In other words, she becomes a riper, scarlet fruit. Ah! It’s oozing out of my every pore! Yes, I am the Queen of Fruits!”

            “And of fools,” remarked (Y/N), leaning against the edge of Big Ben. “Although that may go to Mrs. Turner for attempting to escape us.” They smirked when Mrs. Turner started in surprise at their voice.

            “You’re late,” scowled Ciel.

            “I am sorry,” said Sebastian, bowing.

            “I told you to burn!” shouted Mrs. Turner. Sebastian kicked up, and the camera went flying from her hands. “Why?!”

            “If this is what the Young Master orders, then doing it becomes natural,” said Sebastian, fixing his tie.

            “Wh-What are you people?” questioned Mrs. Turner.

            “We are a hell of a pair of servants,” said Sebastian, smirking.

            “I’m a deadly efficient Reaper!” declared Grell.

            “You will tell us the truth,” said Ciel, stepping towards Mrs. Turner.

            She began crying. “I was told that if I did this, many gorgeous men would fall in love with me.”

            “Who told you that?” asked (Y/N). Humans were prone to foolish desires, so they moved onto discovering more about the crime itself.

            “Someone with golden eyes,” said Mrs. Turner. Shimmering particles began to collect around Mrs. Turner. She burst into flame before she could say more.

            “No way! Her soul is burning too!” cried Grell.

            “A burning love! Happiness!” cried Mrs. Turner as she stumbled around aflame. She cackled as she felt into her stock of magnesium.

            “Wait, I still need to ask you—!”

            “Young Master!” Sebastian interrupted Ciel to pull him away from the explosion, grabbing (Y/N)’s wrist in the same moment. The eruption of magnesium shook Big Ben as Sebastian and (Y/N) landed on the streets below without a trace of ash or soot on their uniforms. “Young Master, are you hurt?” asked Sebastian calmly.

            “I’m fine,” said Ciel, getting to his own feet.

            “No way!” grumbled Grell as she gazed back up at the smoking top of the clocktower. “The soul I was supposed to collect was burned away. I can’t believe it. This makes no sense!” She sighed. “I need to submit a report to Will.” She bounded over to Sebastian and (Y/N) and held up the camera in front of them. “I’ll be satisfied with this!” Sebastian looked away, and (Y/N) rolled their eyes while Grell took the picture, beaming all the while. “Next time, let me take some night-time pictures of the three of us having more fun! Bye-bye!” Grell ran off before (Y/N) or Sebastian could try to destroy the picture.

            “Young Master, you ordered me to seize that woman, but…” Sebastian held out ashes; the only remains of Mrs. Turner left.

            “She was burned to ashes,” said Ciel. “A woman, driven by greed, committed these horrible acts. That is what I shall report to the Queen. She wanted to be loved. That single-minded desire can drive humans to such lengths, apparently. Honestly! How pointless. To do all of that for such a shapeless, meaningless concept such as love…”

            Neither demon replied. Their thoughts on love tended in a different direction as they stood side-by-side.

            Ciel tsked. “Whatever the cause, we have more to investigate.” He looked at Sebastian and (Y/N). “Investigate who this ‘someone with golden eyes’ is. That is the culprit behind the madwoman. And furthermore, look into the Spider. I want to know why the Queen considered putting him on this case.”

            “Yes, my Lord,” said (Y/N).

            “Yes, Young Master,” said Sebastian.

            (Y/N)’s eyes narrowed. The Trancy butler had gold eyes.

Taglist:

@technikerin23

@im-making-an-effort

@izzieg3987

@jinxxangel13

@alexpangender

@otomyoli

@neenieweenie

@nex-crowley

@anxious-chick

@bellacastiel

@v1l-ismissing

@agentdedf1sh

@idkhowtoplayhoyoversegames

@iamsexytrash

[blubberquark]

2023 Game Of The Year: Storyteller (plus DLC)

I played Storyteller after the DLC came out, and Storyteller (with the DLC) became my game of the year.

Unfortunately, I can't really explain why without spoiling some puzzles. I will not try not to spoil any solutions in the screenshots (except one), but I will have to spoil the game mechanics.

What is Storyteller

Storyteller is a game where you arrange comic book panels and characters to tell a story based on a prompt. It doesn't require any dexterity, only deduction. You drag and drop comic book panels into slots, drag and drop character into panels to arrange them, or drag populated panels and characters around.

The challenge is to understand how the characters and panels work, what the prompt wants you to do, and how to do that. Early on, the game is mostly about figuring out the rules governing the characters and panels. It slowly shifts towards more "thinky" problems, where the challenge lies not in understanding how the game works, or what the goal is, but how to fit the required story beats into a limited number of panels.

Depending on the outcome of a panel, you may see little icons, speech bubbles, or thought bubbles that describe whether an action failed or succeeded, and how the characters think or feel about that. Sometimes the outcome of a panel is communicated in a much more direct way, and acted out by the characters.

Screenshot from second chapter puzzle "A Heartbreak is Healed"

Screenshot from first chapter puzzle "Heartbreak with a Happy Ending": At this point you are still learning the game mechanics like placing panels and characters

Screenshot from "Everyone Rejects Edgar": More thinky puzzle than recreation of a storytelling cliché, and an opportunity to apply what you know. The characters except for Edgar are interchangeable. You can have them fall in love with any other, or reject Edgar in any order.

Screenshot from later puzzle "Everyone Sits on the Throne": A thinky puzzle in the same vein as "Everyone Rejects Edgar". This time, there are important differences between the initial states of characters. You cannot make them sit on the throne in any order.

The panels can be thought of as story beats, sometimes as scenes/places, as in "A and B meet in the kitchen", and sometimes as actions/verbs, as in "A and B kiss". They aren't verbs in the sense that you can just put Alice and Bob in the kissing panel and they always kiss. They only kiss if they love each other, or at least if they don't hate each other. All you can do with the characters as the player is to put them in situations. You can drag the "horse" character into the "watering hole" panel, but you can't make it drink. I mean, probably you could, you might, but would be the puzzle.

Screenshot from "Hatey Murders Father and Marries Mother": It's obviously an Oedipus reference. You see that Hatey doesn't want to murder his father or marry his mother in this constellation.

The game keeps track of the relationships between characters, beliefs of characters, and states of objects. That means (I made this example up in order to not spoil any puzzles) if Alice has been in the kitchen with the cookies, Alice believes there are cookies in the kitchen. If the Cookie Monster has been in the kitchen, there are no more cookies in the kitchen. Now Alice could tell Bob that there are cookies in the kitchen, and Bob could ge hungry and blame Alice for lying, or he could catch the Cookie Monster eating the last cookie. The possibilities for drama are there.

Characters have different initial states and motivations. For instance, the King and the Queen are initially married, and they both have the crown.

Screenshot from "Three Heads Roll": Only the Baron wants to kidnap the king.

If you're into that kind of thing, you can imagine Storyteller as a STRIPS-like planning system with a known or at least discoverable initial state, multiple goals (not just one goal state), panels as actions that take characters as parameters, and a lot of state that can be observed and deduced, but not directly manipulated.

If you're not, you can just play Storyteller as a game about telling stories based on a prompt.

Progression

After you start a new save file, the whole game is open to you. Puzzles or stories are grouped into chapters of four of five stories. Each chapter has a common theme, and a set of common characters and panels. Later chapters mix it up a bit, and introduce characters into different environments or combine characters from multiple stories or mythologies, whereas earlier chapters mostly introduce panels and characters so you can learn how they operate.

Like I said, the whole game is open to you from the start, so you are free to skip a puzzle if you are stuck, to revisit an older chapter, or to skip to the last chapter. It doesn't really matter, because you have to solve every puzzle in the game in order to get to the end.

The first chapter teaches the mechanics of dragging and dropping panels, dragging and dropping characters into panels, and dragging populated panels around to swap them. Then the next couple of chapters introduce different characters and settings. Usually the first story of a chapter only has a few new characters and panels with a rather obvious prompt, the second introduces more content and a slight variation, and the third and fourth have a slight twist.

The later chapters are more focused on actual puzzles.

Some puzzles have multiple solutions, and after solving it one way, you see two additional prompts. For example, the princess could kiss the frog and then the frog turns into a prince, or the princess could kiss the frog but the frog turns into another princess.

I skipped many of those variations on my first playthrough, and this way I blazed through about 40 puzzles without ever stopping and thinking or feeling overly challenged. I learned how most of the characters and panels work, and then I went back to solve all the variant prompts. Somebody I know played every level in order and solved the variant prompts right away. That makes for a more thinky experience earlier on. Either way works, and both are clearly intentionally permitted by the game design.

In the final chapters, Storyteller actually becomes thinky and difficult. This seems like a flaw in pacing, but it works out to the first 70% of the puzzles taking 30% of the time playing it, and the last 30% taking 70% of the time. Instead of treating Storyteller like a storytelling game, you must finally treat it like a puzzle game.

When you beat the base game, the DLC content is added. Levels in the previous chapters get an additional variant prompt, and a new character is introduced. This character acts completely different from all the previous characters, so you have to at first understand how it interacts with the panels from the base game. The variant prompts are harder than anything in the base game. For puzzle game aficionados, this is where it gets challenging for the first time. Here's a "metagaming" tip: None of the DLC variant prompts is solvable with the characters from the base game. Therefore your solution must incorporate the DLC, and it would be impossible to reproduce with base game content.

Screenshot from "Eve Dies Heartbroken Devil makes everyone miserable": You have to experiemnt to figure out how the devil interacts with the panels and characters.

Why It Works So Well

Storyteller is a bit on the easy side. So why does it work so well?

If you are an expert at puzzle games such as The Golem or Stephen's Sausage Roll, then maybe it won't work for you. But if you are looking for a puzzle game that is different, if you liked Splice or Cogs, then Storyteller could be the game for you. It's not a puzzle platformer, not a first person puzzle adventure like Obduction or Sensorium or Quern.

Storyteller is not a storytelling game in the vein of Facade, but it uses themes and literary allusion to keep you interested early on. The music sometimes feels more like a fun Easter egg, but never annoying.

Early prompts in the vein of "boy meets girl" soon turn into more complicated prompts, requiring some minimal lateral thinking to figure out what you need to do. Some of the prompts are literary or mythological allusions and references. That keeps levels interesting and varied even when the actual puzzle part is simple.

Screenshot from "Butler Gets Fired" and "Friedrich Takes Revenge": The puzzle part is quite easy, and there is little lateral thinking involved. The fun is mostly in re-enacting pop culture tropes.

Screenshot from the level selection: Every puzzle in every chapter is open from the start, but it's probably best to do them in order.

Many bad puzzle games get this wrong. You can never really solve a puzzle, because there is only one thing to do. You pick up a key, you open a lock, you see a button, you press it to open a door, you just do the next thing you can do over and over. Instead of puzzling, you just push every button and see what changes to know where to go next. It's fine if the puzzle mechanics are just an excuse to get the player to traverse a temple/dungeon back and forth, if you see the lock and the key and the puzzle mechanics are just there for flavour and motivation. It's no okay if your game is not an action adventure or a puzzle platformer, but an actual puzzle game.

Monument Valley is such a game that doesn't have any actual puzzles in it, you just walk from one place to the next. The game is carried by the interesting visuals and the novelty of the perspective mechanic. (If you are looking for something like Monument Valley but challenging, I could perhaps recommend Naya's Quest or Selene's Labyrinth.)

Early on, Storyteller has this flow of simple and easy puzzles (like Monument Valley), one solved after the other, and it gradually gets more difficult. The references to books and storytelling clichés aren't particularly deep or laugh-out-loud funny, but they make for the occasional chuckle. Sometimes part of the solution process is to realise that "boy meets girl" was last time, and this time you have to use "girl meets girl" to make the story fit the prompt with the characters you have at your disposal.

The variant prompts manage to side-step a problem I that stood out to me on my playthrough of Baba is You, and a problem I encountered designing my own puzzles. Sometimes there are two levels in a row, where one level has an "unintended" solution, and the next has the "intended" solution removed, so you have to find the second solution for the first level. If you manage to find the "unintended" solution the first time, the next level will be very confusing. Just this solution again? Wait, what was the other solution? Did the last level try to teach me something I missed? Should I go back again to find the other solution?

It was confusing to me anyway, a couple of times when I played Baba is You. The same idea is implemented in Storyteller in a much better way. Instead of having a modified copy of the same level right afterwards, Storyteller categorises solutions into "basic solution", "variant A" and "variant B". Even if you manage to find one variant with your first solution attempt, you immediately see both variant prompts, and there is always one more variant to try next. You never have to construct the same solution twice in a row. Sadly this elegant system cannot be applied to Baba is You.

Screenshot from "Tiny gets a kiss": Sorry for spoiling the solution. Even if you manage to have the prince save Tiny the first time around, you would still have to find a solution where Snowy is ungrateful, and Tiny gets a kiss.

Pre-History

I can't really talk about Storyteller without explaining why I was drawn to this game in the first place. I first heard about it in 2008, when it won the IGF. Back then it was more of a story sandbox in the vein of "Tale-Spin". That's the old story generation AI that produced the sentence "gravity drowned", if that means anything to you.

Screenshot: Storyteller prototype with old pixel art

About a hundred flash portals mirrored the initial Storyteller Flash prototype that won the IGF. The original is still here on Kongregate.

Back then, I wondered how a sand box such as storyteller could be turned into an actual game. It was a prototype and some mechanics, but not really a game. It looks like the developer wondered, too.

In the mean time, FRAMED had came out. Now FRAMED looks clearly inspired by Storyteller, because it also has a mechanic where you rearrange panels, but it's nothing like it. FRAMED is more like the Limbo to Storyteller's Braid. Ironically, FRAMED is "a game that tells you a story". Storyteller is an actual puzzle game.

It has been in development longer than Duke Nukem Forever, but even after all these years, Storyteller doesn't feel dated or superfluous. They finally found a winning formula.

Storyteller was developed by Daniel Benmergui and published by Annapurna Interactive. Get it on Steam here, or if you have a Netflix subscription and an iOS or Android device, the price of the mobile app is included in your monthly Netflix fee. Storyteller is also available for the Nintendo Switch. I would recommend playing it on a PC or tablet.

[best-habsburg-monarch]

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, reigned 1556-1564

Charles V's right hand arm man

From @master-of-the-opera-house:

Good taste in armour: Madonna with child chestplate?? Fox helmet?? SLAY

Mostly uncredited in his role as Charles V's Silly Rabbit in the HRE. Helped his brother take the reigns waaaay before he officially became Emperor, first in 1522 ((lad was only 19!!)) and then in 1531. That's like over 20 years of Lack Of Credit.

Managed to band-aid the reformation situation: ultimately succeeded at reforms ((better than Joseph II did seeing he's up against him))

Ultimate Power didn't make him Act Out like Charles V or.... Joseph II.

Went from being loved in Spain to hated in central Europe to Respected again, how many people can win that back??

Slutty twink proportions like what do you need that small of a waist for for other men to grab it?? ((see armour))

Pretty hands

the HOT SIBLING according to contemporaries including Maximilian I yum

Had 13 kids which is an insane feat if you're a Habsburg who isn't Maria Theresia. Maybe the above had to do with it?

Looked like drag queen/the WINNER of Drag Race France Paloma if you're delusional enough

from @minetteskvareninova: he was completely faithful to his wife and a veritable wife guy? As a 16th century monarch??? The scandal. Are you even a Ferdinand I. girlie if you don't mention Anna Jagiellon?! Ferdinand himself would be PISSED.

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, reigned 1765-1790

Reformer, Patron of the Arts, Archduke of Mommy issues

From anon: "I mean... Does this dude even NEED propaganda?! If this guy doesn't make you root for an absolute monarch, then noone will. Like with the caveat that enlightened absolutism is still absolutism and thus still not a GOOD way to run a state - well, Joseph II. was truly the most enlightened of absolutists. Just the fact that he abolished serfdom and instituted religious tolerance in Habsburg domains is enough to make him stand far above all of his predecessors and successors. Like, all of the other contestants can go home. None of them could ever top that (Franz Joseph I. had several opportunities, but wasn't keen on taking them). Even his other reforms were at worst misguided, but driven by genuine desire to better his country. Plus, you have to feel bad for him - the poor guy busted his ass for the country, just to have to take back a lot of his reforms simply because they were too ahead of their time, both of his marriages were unhappy (partially his own fault, but only partially) and, lest we forget, both of his kids died young. Voting for him is the least you can do for my poor baby!"

anti-Joseph II, from anon: Joseph II anti propaganda cheated like hell and treated his nephew Franz I (II) really mean by denying him company and food sometimes and also insulting him all the time. only good thing about him was that he was in Amadeus (1984) which was a banger film

from the tags:

[aerysamultifandom]

𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮

Plot: For example, Daemon returns from the battle and realizes that female reader was very worried about him and was afraid for him.

Daemon is injured and female reader, who hasn't seemed to like him until now, takes loving care of him.

Request by @cara-serpenss

type: fluff

Characters: Daemon x reader

warning: curse, bad father

Numbers of words: 3.4k

┊

You were a Hightower, Alicent’s older sister, you were very fussy with her and you loved her very much even if you didn’t get along very well with your father, who considered you more of a mistake than anything else. Despite everything, he had succeeded in making you understand that the Targaryens were not good people and that the whole family was eager for power. So you started to hate them from the bottom of your soul, all…well, not all Targaryen, there was one you couldn’t hate, it was the king’s brother. Daemon Targaryen. But you didn’t say anything, what would your father do when he found out you were in love with a Targaryen? He will strike you as he did many years ago, you could only thank the gods that he did not strike you again. You did everything you could to hide it, if anyone found out that you were falling in love with a Targaryen, they would tell your father, you couldn’t afford that risk.

┊

On a day like any other, boring like the one before it, despite everything, you kept your head high, a smile on your lips, no matter what you felt inside, it didn’t matter. At the end of a corridor you heard two people talking, certainly maids, but their discussion drew your attention, they spoke of Daemon, the only man who had made your heart beat, the only one who had made you feel unique, although he himself ignores your feelings, But how important was that information? You knew that the love you felt for him went one way and that he would never love you.But you weren’t sad because of it, it made your life more colorful, more happy, and you tried so hard not to feel that drop of sadness in your heart, but you had to live with it, you had to ignore your feelings and show nothing.

┊

Finally, once these thoughts were cast away, you focused again on the discussion and what you heard made you afraid, you were not afraid for yourself, but for Daemon. The maids were saying that Daemon had returned, but hurt. He, who was known for his ability on the battlefield, had been wounded. Fortunately the wound did not seem serious, but you could not help worrying about the man you loved, you turned quickly enough to go in the opposite direction. You had to find him, whatever happened to him, you had to make sure he was okay, even if you seemed to hate him. As you walked fast, you didn’t look where you were going and you bumped into someone, while you apologized, you looked up to meet the…of the princess. Princess Rhaenyra, your gaze hardened, and you walked away without a word, while feeling the stare of fire of the princess on your back, which made you repress a shiver. You really didn’t like her.

┊

You continued to look for the rogue prince, every minute that passed, your anxiety grew without you being able to do anything about it, but you reassured yourself, he was certainly being treated by mestres. You could see him later, couldn’t you? Yeah, of course you could. And then if someone saw you running around the castle that way, you’d get a reprimand from your father, and the last thing you wanted was for him to belittle you. You went towards your room when your beloved sister, Alicent, the queen, ran towards you with a smile on her face. "Y/N, did you hear what the maids are saying? Prince Daemon was hurt! Perhaps in this way my husband will realize that he is not such a good knight, and that he is a scoundrel, though he is already a scoundrel." You don’t say anything, shaking your head, what could you say? If you showed only a contrary opinion, your sister might wonder.

┊

She dragged you with her, a smile on her face, you knew where she wanted to go, but you made sure she dropped your hand anyway. "I don’t want to see father, so go alone, he’ll welcome you better than me, I have things to do." Alicent did not form it, and greeted you with her hand before leaving for your father’s apartments. You found yourself like an idiot, alone, in the middle of the hall. You were going to take over the public library when something, at last, rather than someone caught your eye. Prince Targaryen, Daemon, as usual, he walked high and proud, like a dragon. You also noticed that his hair had been cut, that only made him more beautiful in your eyes, to be honest, you were falling in love with him quickly. But something caught your attention, his arm, there was blood flowing from his hand to come crashing on the stone floor.

┊

You could not help but go to him, when he saw you, he prepared to answer you in a wicked way, as every time you crossed paths. However, you surprised him when you came to grab his hand, to examine better the cut that was bleeding, shocked by your actions, he did not withdraw his hand, which was hot, compare to yours. You couldn’t stop making a face when you realized how bloody the wound was." You must see a maester, my prince," you spoke quickly, the concern could be heard in your voice, he said nothing, and it was only when you let go of his hand and raised your eyes, that you noticed that he looked at you with a frown. "Why?" was the only word that came out of his mouth. "Why?" you repeated the word, not understanding his question. "Why do you worry?" , you did not answer, "you must see a maester, my prince, and quickly, otherwise the wound could become infected." These were the last words you said before you left, feeling the look of Daemon on your back, but you did not react. It was only when you arrived in your room that you released the sigh that you held back and came to lie on your bed. You knew you shouldn’t have acted so impulsively but you didn’t care, you had the right to show your emotions, even if it didn’t matter to your father, it was your last thought as you fell asleep.

┊

It was only a few days later that you met the prince again, whom you had avoided until then for personal reasons, such as your father, but for now, it was not your problem. it was still early when you met the prince in the corridors, although you feel your heart accelerating in your chest, he stopped you for a moment and you turned towards him. "Join me under the tree this afternoon, and you have no right to refuse, that’s an order," and he left, leaving you alone again. You couldn’t say no to an order, couldn't say no to the one who conquered your heart. You then did what any woman would have done after being invited by a man for a date, you chose your most beautiful dress, and you stained yourself to be the most beautiful. You had nothing to envy your sister, Alicent. Although she is known for her beauty, you were known for your intelligence. Once you were ready, you went out of your room, heading towards the garden.

┊

You came to the gardens, where the tree was, but the prince was not there, so you sat under the tree waiting patiently. You did not have to wait long, however, for the prince joined you stiffly. You got up when you saw him arrive, politely greeting him with a nod of the head, you received in return a nice smile from the prince, however you did not expect the question he was going to ask you. "Why did you help me when you hate me? Would that be for power? Or did your father ask you to do this so that his second daughter could join the royal family, because he didn’t think it was enough for Alicent to share the king’s bed?" His voice was calm, as if he did not accuse you of wanting to manipulate him. You felt a chill running through you, what could you answer? You weren’t gonna throw your feelings in his face when he didn’t seem to like you, so you didn’t say anything and lowered your head. You knew that any word you said could be seen as admitting that you wanted to manipulate a prince, and that would cost you dearly.

┊

In spite of everything,you found the courage to say "No, my prince," you could not say more without revealing your feelings, you just lowered your head. The prince before you did not move, he just looked at you with his piercing eyes, soon the silence became insuportable and you continued, choosing your words intelligently "I do not want to manipulate you my prince, I only wanted to help you." you spoke calmly despite a visible tremor in your voice. "So why did you always treat me like I was the worst person in Westeros? Why suddenly do you want to help me?" He came back quietly, you knew you were being tricked and the only way out of it was to either admit your feelings or admit that you had manipulated him. Inspiring, you approached him, and you came to kiss his lips with all the love, passion and admiration you had for him, if he didn’t love you, he would reject you, but at least you would have kissed him and tasted his lips once.

┊

He surprises you by not rejecting you, on the contrary, he deepens the kiss, putting his hands on your cheeks, bringing you closer to him. You only separated when you felt the need for oxygen, and even then his hands did not leave your cheeks, you finally expressed your feelings "I can’t hate you, I love you too much for that". Your words made him smile, and he answered you, not with words, but he came to kiss you again, several times. he only stopped when you gently pushed him away with a laugh and finally he replied "Avy jorrāelan y/n", although you do not understand High Valyrian, you knew what his words meant and this filled your heart with immense joy. He leaned towards you, mumbling in your ear, "Join me here tonight, I have something to offer you." His warm breath sent chills dow your spine, you nodded "I’ll be there, I promise." He kissed you one last time before leaving, leaving you happier than ever, the prince loved you too! It was with joy in your heart that you returned to the Dungeon.

┊

What you didn’t know, though, was that someone saw you under that tree, your sister saw you kissing the one you were supposed to hate, Prince Daemon. She felt hurt, how could you betray your family? You had to pay. As you walked back into the Dungeon, she took the direction of your father’s chambers, Otto Hightower, she walked fast, she knew what she was about to do would hurt you, but she was your sister,she had to do what was right for you. she stopped in front of your father’s office before she knocked on the wooden door, when she heard her father’s voice on the other side of the door, asking him to enter the room, She hurried to open the door. With all the grace expected of a queen, she came to sit in front of her father, "Something horrible is happening father" she began in a trembling voice, her father came to take her hands, "Is something happening to Viserys?" Alicent shook her head, "That’s y/n, she did something horrible" Otto slowly nodded his head, "Tell me everything."

┊

"Father, I saw y/n, she was with the prince, in the garden, the two discussed, the prince accused my sister of trying to manipulate him, because she helped him." In his words, Otto began to feel anger, why did you have to do anything wrong? he sighed but became even more angry when he heard the rest of what had happened. "Afterwards, y/n kissed the prince. He did not, however, reject him, the two continued kissing several times before the prince whispered something in his ear that I could not hear, and then he left. Finally, y/n went into the Dungeon and I came here to tell you all about it." Otto is lifting up and sighing, even if Alicent could see he was upset." Where’s your sister?" Otto asked his daughter in a cold voice. " I don’t know father." She answered quietly, Alicent got up and walked out of the room. If he could, your father would be pulling out what little hair he had left, he bent over to the window, he had to find a way to punish you, and more importantly, he had to stop you from seeing Prince Daemon again.

┊

The evening arrived quickly, and you hurried again to the gardens, you had warned your family that you would not eat with them tonight. You had a big smile when you arrived at the place of the date, of course, Daemon was waiting for you, when he saw you he smiled softly. It didn’t take long before he approached you, to come and kiss you gently, you blushed, he knew how to kiss the ladies, that left no doubt. When he backed away, you noticed he was holding a box in his hands. "Turn around" you obeyed, knowing what he was going to do and you quickly felt the cold iron on your skin, you looked down to see a necklace made of silver and possessing a green stone. you quickly turned around, coming to kiss him "Thank you very much Daemon! it’s beautiful!". " I would do anything for my beloved and you know it" he answered you, gently caressing your hair, his eyes were filled with love for you.

┊

The rest of the evening went well, and you spent a pleasant moment with the prince, maladjusted, you had to come back, but not without promising Daemon to meet him the next day for a walk in the woods, out of town. So when you entered the Dungeon again, after kissing Daemon, you met, Ser Criston, your sister’s knight. The latter came towards you "Lady Y/N, you must come with me, your father wants to see you." What the knight told you frightened you, your father hated you, he never spent time in your company and if he asked to see you, it was only to punish you, or to scold you. You followed him, if you tried to resist, you knew he would force you to follow him. You felt more and more nervous as the knight guided you to your father’s office, he let you enter inside the room, closing the door behind you to prevent you from leaving.

┊

You immediately noticed your father standing, his back turning towards you, his face lit by the fireplace. As soon as he hears the door closing, he’s turning towards you with a menacing look on his face. You could not help being afraid, you knew what would happen. Your father came up to you and slapped you "I was told that my daughter shared the prince’s bed, so my daughter is a prostitute? I’m very disappointed in you. I mean, why am I surprised? You’ve always been dumber, weaker and more sensitive." You put your hand on your cheek, where he hit you. "Why couldn’t you have your sister’s intelligence? She would never have let me down like that! You were never worthy to be a Hightower. You’re just a prostitute. Go away, you’re not my daughter anymore." He didn’t even bother to look at you when he was going back to his office. You quickly ran out of the room, running through the hallways as tears ran down your cheeks.

┊

You don’t know when you stopped running, all the corridors around you looked the same. You let yourself fall against a wall, your chest getting drunk and falling quickly as you panicked. A woman without a family to protect her in the court was a prey on which the men threw themselves. As you tried to calm down, you heard noises coming in your direction, you quickly wiped away the tears that rolled over your cheeks, while you looked up to see who was there, you were surprised to see Daemon, with a fiery look. He knelt before you, and came to wipe your tears with his thumb, then he put his hand on your cheek and spoke in a calm voice, which was surprising in comparison to his behavior. "Who.did.this? Who dared to make you cry?" You lowered your head, you didn’t want anything to happen to your father. Finally, to the one who had been your father, since he had disowned you. "Otto,Otto Hightower did this to me," you looked up at him, you were filled with gratitude for the prince.

┊

Even if you knew that what you were doing was wrong, that it was not the right way for a lady to behave, your father had to realize what he had done to you. Daemon gave you a sweet smile and gently kissed your forehead "Thank you, sweet nightingale. You can go to sleep now, you’re safe, this bat won’t hurt you anymore, I promise." He helped you get up before he took your hand in his and trained you in the various dark corridors of the Dungeon, he stopped when he reached a beautiful balcony that you knew well. Indeed, one could see this balcony from your father’s room and it seemed that Daemon knew it too. "Before I go to your father, I want him to see me kiss you, see me and know how good you are in my company."He is leaning towards you, coming to put his lips on yours, you put a hand behind his neck to bring him closer to you. You felt him smiling against your lips as he put his hands on your hips.

┊

You felt a gentle warmth in your belly, and could not help but let a gentle moan come out of your lips as he came to kiss your neck, leaving marks. "Daemon, even if I want you as much as you want me, the last thing I want is for my father to see me having sex with the prince in front of his chambers" you whispered as the prince continued to kiss you. "You’re right, if people looked at us, they might fall in love with your beauty, and the last thing I want is to see a man other than me make you scream with pleasure." He told you by kissing your neck one last time. He accompanied you to your room afterwards before leaving, turning to you "Don’t worry about your father if he seems to have been attacked. He’ll probably miss a few teeth when I’m done with that old bastard" he left while you were going back to your room, it wasn’t long before you fell asleep.

┊

When you saw your father again the next day, you were surprised with what violence Daemon had attacked him. Alicent ran out to support your father, who was looking at you with his eyes covered, and even though he was asked several times who attacked him, he said he couldn’t remember. Your sister seemed to know who might have attacked your father, and looked at you badly. You smiled at him as you felt someone coming behind you, you felt a hand resting on your belly and you leaned back, lovingly looking up at Daemon. He bent over to kiss you before he said, "Did you sleep well?" You shook your head, of course you slept well, you knew you were safe, your father would never lay a hand on you again to hit you.

┊

From that moment on, your life is greatly improved, a year later, you married Daemon and it wasn’t long before you got pregnant. You had a boy named Joffrey and couldn’t be happier than you were already, your life was now perfect.

@joygirlmelii @tetgod @omgsuperstarg

thanks you for reading ! have a good day and take care 💕

-Aerysa 🌹

[catofadifferentcolor]

Terrible Fic Ideas #83: House of Dragons, but make it Hapsburg

As sometimes happens, I was minding my own business, trying to work on other things, when I was suddenly hit with such a wonderful, awful fic idea I had to drop everything to write it down.

Or: What if Viserys I decided the best way to secure the Iron Throne for Rhaenyra was to marry her to his Hand, Otto Hightower?

Just imagine it:

Shortly after Queen Aemma's death, when Otto is listing all the reasons why Viserys should remarry even if he intends to make Rhaenrya his heir, Otto makes the argument gynecological problems often run in families. Given that Rhaenyra's mother and grandmothers all died in childbed, it is reasonable to assume that Rhaenyra might do the same, leaving Westeros either with a child-king or, worse, leave the way open for Daemon to take the throne. Both options would be disastrous.

As intended, this convinces Viserys to take another wife - but it also convinces Viserys that the best way to show his love for his daughter is to marry her to a man who will uphold her rule and, should she die in childbed, uphold the rule of any children she leaves behind. And who better for the job than Otto, who has served so faithfully for so long? - and, just as important, has already fathered a number of sons.

And so Viserys marries Alicent and Otto marries Rhaenyra in a grand double ceremony.

Just about the only person happy with this relationship is Viserys, who has convinced himself Alicent's kindness equals love.

Rhaenyra herself has to be all but dragged to the altar, having attempted to run away many times leading up to the wedding. She might have succeeded had not she confided in Alicent - who, though she has no more desire to marry her best friend's father, feels honor bound to inform the Kingsguard - forming a basis for their future mutual enmity.

As for Otto himself, while he may see Rhaenyra as a better option than Daemon, he personally finds her to be nothing more than spoiled little girl who has been given infinite opportunity in life, done absolutely nothing with it, and yet believes she's earned every honor she's been given. It's possible she might grow out of it, but until then Otto would rather have nothing to do with her. Yet there is nothing he can say to Viserys regarding his marriage that wouldn't jeopardize Alicent's own, and so he grudgingly goes along with it.

And so we have Alicent and Rhaenrya in the unenviable position each of being married to their best friend's father. They are both each other's stepmother and stepdaughter. Their shared misery does anything but bring them closer.

Fast forward ten years to the death of Laena Velaryon.

Alicent is a diligent, if deeply unhappy, wife and mother of four, as per canon. The Faith is her recourse and only the knowledge that her son should inherit makes her suffering worth it.

Rhaenyra, meanwhile, resents her husband in a manner which echos Cersei Lannister. Otto is old and dull and forever trying to constrain her, not understanding that a dragon need not concern itself with the thoughts of sheep. She has borne Otto three sons who she cannot bring herself to love - and the moment Daemon returns from exile, starts an affair with him that sees her bearing her uncle three children of his own who she loves more than anything.

The court starts breaking into factions as Viserys' health declines, but here the lines are not so clearly drawn. There is Aegon the Elder, hapless and dissolute but Viserys' oldest son. Then there is Rhaenyra - and through her, her oldest son, Jacerys Hightower, who is well-trained for the role but lacks his mother's favor. And then there is Rhaenyra's favorite - Viserys Hightower, who is but a child and who many suspect of being illegitimate. They are respectively the Greens, the Whites, and the Blacks.

The Dance of the Dragons which follows is full of backstabbing, death, and shifting alliances - and far more complicated than Alicent and her children against Rhaenyra and hers.

To start with: 1) Alicent favors Aegon, as without his accession none of her sacrifices will have meant anything, but 2) Aemond and Otto favor Jacerys, who is dutiful in a way they appreciate and has the potential of being a good king in addition to being Otto’s eldest son by his second marriage. 3) Rhaenyra naturally favors her own claim, but loses much support when her first act to annul her marriage to Otto Hightower, marry Daemon, and declare her son Viserys crown prince over his older (half)brothers. And so on. Dealer's choice on the precise alignments and intrigues.

A three-way war of succession rages for almost a year, until Aegon and his dragon are killed in battle with the Blacks.

The remaining Greens throw their lot in with the Whites - but the fact the succession dispute is now between mother and son only makes the fighting that much worse.

Things finally resolve some years later with Jacerys taking the throne, but with the strength of the crown and stability of Westeros being much shaken. Though Aemond - Jace's strongest supporter - managed to kill the traitor Daemon in battle, he died of his own wounds soon after. Jace was able to take Dragonstone and capture his mother and (half)siblings soon after, but the suspicious deaths of Viserys and Aegon the Younger after he ordered the lot of them imprisoned in the Maidenvault haunts his reign.

Though Jace's reign is only as peaceful as any medieval fantasy kingdom ever is, he does two things which help to stabilize Westeros and House Targaryen in the long run. First: he lives a long time, but not so long that his only his only heirs are minor grandchildren, which keeps the succession peaceful when it comes. Second: He orders an end to all marriages within four degrees of consanguinity - and includes stepfamily and foster relationships in this decree. While this does still allow for first cousin marriage, it also keeps the worst problems of inbreeding from affecting the noble houses of Westeros.

Bonuses include: 1) Making no one a saint - or a sinner. Every player in the Dance is human, with all the associated foibles, and who react to their traumas in understandable, if sometimes undesirable, ways; 2) Such complicated family dynamics - and family relationships - as to keep an entire army of psychologists employed for centuries. The fault lines don't just appear between Alicent's children and Rhaenyra's children, but among and between them; and 3) Not a single word said about The Prince That Was Promised, The Song of Ice and Fire, or any other prophesy that might allude to the events of ASOIAF.

And that's all I have: a great way to make a complicated situation more complicated, but very little detail of the Dance itself. As always, feel free to adopt this bun, just link back if you do anything with it.

More HOTD Fic Ideas | More Terrible Fic Ideas

[jess-the-reckless]

Sorry about your gay pirates, pirate brainrotters. If it helps, here are some free gay pirates of my own to fill your pirate-shaped hole.

I liked Our Flag Means Death. I enjoyed S1, and I’m looking forward to seeing S2, particularly as I understand that Lucius lives, and Nathan Foad might be one of the funniest human beings on the planet. I liked its silliness, its cheerful disregard for historical accuracy, and how every ship seemed to become a sort of sartorial TARDIS for Stede Bonnet’s expansive wardrobe. It was a lot of fun, but it never succeeded in burrowing all the way down into my heart the way that other things do, because the gay pirate space in my heart was already occupied.

And the gay pirates in question were mine, so obviously I’m going to love them more. You’re always going to love your own children, especially when said child is a snarling transvestite monster-baby like Jem Exley.

I don’t know when Jem first appeared in my head exactly, but I can identify the fleeting larval thought that turned into the all-consuming brainworm of Reckless. I was writing something about reef diving off the coast of Florida, and the instructor character made a mention of pirate wrecks. And I saw them. A clear flash of the pirates. One was your typical romance novel sexy pirate, and the other was a fascinating binfire of a human being, flintlocked and loaded, gnarly eighteenth century cosmetics melting off his face in the Caribbean heat. I knew immediately that they were lovers – terrible, messy, co-dependent, and borderline backstabbing lovers – and that their story would come back and bother me at a later date.

And with that I forgot about them.

Sort of.

Jem kept coming back, though. He came back in clay pipes, banyan robes, in the shoes and combs and gloves I saw at the Fashion Museum in Bath. He wandered back by way of Monteverdi, Henry Fielding, and drag queen sass, and when characters keep popping back into your head like that you know you’re pretty much doomed to write the damned book.

So I did, and I had a fucking blast. I read pirate books, listened to pirate podcasts, wallowed happily in Baroque music. As a bonus, because the book takes place so early in the eighteenth century, a lot of the seventeenth century bleeds over into it, and I love the seventeenth century. Like most interesting times, it was undoubtedly horrible to live through, but I had so much fun making sure that the scars of the Civil Wars were still visible in both Jem and Henry’s backgrounds. The lively Restoration theatre scene makes an appearance at the start of the book, and the Duke of Monmouth – one of many seventeenth-century candidates for the ultimate Fuck-Around-and-Find-Out award – is namechecked multiple times as a plot point. Beady-eyed history nerds will also spot a hostile polydactyl cat named after a loathed seventeenth-century despot, who also – happily – fucked around and very much found out. (The despot, that is. Not to spoiler, but the cat lives and thrives, and goes on to beat up iguanas in the sequel, Code Noir.)

Ultimately, though, the fun I had with this book comes down to playing around with old romance novel trope of the virgin captured by the pirate. What if the pirate captor was the virgin in this story? It wasn’t too much of a stretch, especially since so many pirates were so very, very young, and that gave me the jumping off point for the character of Henry Dyer. He’s a kid, only nineteen at the start of the story. Yes, eighteenth-century nineteen is a lot different from twenty-first-century nineteen, but biology remains the same. He’s still going to be subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous hormones, even if he’s been at sea since he was fifteen years old. And he’s confused. He doesn’t fully understand why his dick doesn’t work properly in the brothels, although he hangs around and helps the girls with their book-keeping, since he always had a good head for figures.

It takes Jem – a cross-dressing sex-worker who is quite happy to be mistaken for a woman if he thinks it might suit his latest scam – to unconfuse Henry. Once he knows what he wants, he goes for it, and what you end up with is two uncompromising weirdos finding a way to be themselves in a world that wants them dead. I get into this more in the sequel, but I wanted to emphasise that this is a horrendous time to be alive if you’re not a straight, white male with a fat bank balance, and preferably some kind of title. Aristocratic Jem ticks several of those boxes, and yet still gets sent packed onto a ship for the colonies in the hope that he will die discreetly of yellow fever somewhere. Alive, in England, he’s an embarrassment who keeps doing drag, sucking dick, and stealing everything that isn’t on fire or nailed down. And not the respectable kind of stealing, either, the kind you do with an invading army and a Union Jack. No, this is the poor people sort of theft, the kind they hang people for.

Meanwhile Henry, originally groomed for the church but too clever for his own good, arrives at the reasonable conclusion that he’d rather not believe in a God who seems to keep letting people make such a mess of things in His name. He falls into piracy like so many others, when his merchant ship gets captured by a pirate crew who make him a much better offer. And he likes it. He’s good at it. Nobody cares if he believes in God or not. He gets to work with the things he does believe in, the things he can see and feel, like the wind and the tides, and it makes him a superb sailor. It also, when he gets there, makes him a superb lover.

And that’s what it’s all about, in the end. This story may be messy, violent, crime-riddled, and full of so much vomit that I actually put a content warning for emetophobes in the front, but it’s still a love story. And if the world isn’t going to let you love who you love? Well, you’re just going to have to be gay and do crimes. Lots, and lots of crimes.

And they do. (Spoilers: they’re pirates.)

[sometimesraven]

The Truth Saga Character Introduction: Tori "Brightheart" McCrae

First Seen: Reckless Truth (#1) Role: Secondary Character (and primary love interest in #1)

Born: 17th May 1997 Pronouns: she/her Sexuality: Biromantic Demisexual

Notes:

Double denim queen

Communicates with and, on occasion, can see through the eyes of animals

Shows the widest variety of powers in the squad

The squad's only Healer -- once she escaped the Facility, they had none

ADHD as fuck

Has a natural dampening effect on her fellows' powers, minimising their side-effects

Struggles with nerve pain and numbness in one leg

Biography:

Tori Brightheart was kidnapped before she was old enough to remember anything, and taken to a secret facility somewhere in Scotland, where she was enhanced and trained to kill. Unlike the other children who were taken, however, she knows exactly how old she is and, at the very least, who her father was. When she was a child, her papa, a policeman, came to find her. He'd tracked her down after her kidnapping and discovered the facility she was taken to. Unfortunately, the Controller also found him, and brought him in to see her. They told her he was there to hurt them and Tori, not knowing any better, panicked. She killed him, and it wasn't until her fellow soldier, Ivy, saw the police badge he'd given Tori and reminded her about her father's occupation, that she realised just what she'd been made to do.  

While Erik's tragedies at the facility turned him into one of their strongest soldiers, Tori's did the opposite -- she fought and begged and refused to cooperate until the Controller agreed to train her as a healer; deciding it might be useful to them.  

As a healer, Tori was taught that her own life was worthless. Her only Purpose was to keep the people around her alive, at the expense of her own life if necessary. Despite having arguably the most vicious and unyeilding training, Tori prides herself on her healing ability, seeing it as the one thing she was able to choose during her time at he facility.   Still, she was curious. What else had she been forced to forget, besides her father? One night she managed to sneak into an office and hack their computers, learning that files were being kept on each and every one of them; finding out her age and that her surname was actually McCrae.  

She was dragged away before she could find out much more, but it solidified in her mind what deep down she already knew: they didn't belong here. There were homes and families waiting for them somewhere in the outside world, and she grew determined to find them. She fought to escape, and one day succeeded with Erik, teleporting them away in a risky move that paid off and landed them right by the lake they now call home.  

They were free -- or so it seemed.  

Two years after they escaped the facility, she met a boy named James. They got close, and one day, he asked her to dance. Erik got her a dress especially for the occasion, and she saw it as the final sign that she was actually free now; she'd found her life and her prince and everything would be okay. But she was followed - soldiers from the facility stormed the party. Tori only just managed to hide in time, but they shot James to pieces. When they left, he was already dead, but Tori still tried to heal him and was left in a coma for three months. A week after she woke up, Erik found her with a gun to her head, and only just stopped her in time.   From then on she became nervous and reclusive - moreso than before - and Erik vowed to protect her always. It took a long time for her to regain her sense of wonder about the world, and when she did it was muted; hesitant and afraid. Still, she yearns to live a 'normal' life; to find her prince and live happily ever after.

Taglist (Click here to be added)

@smallvillecrows​

[crystal-rebellion]

Meep, hello! Been thinking about how crossover VLD/DotU Lotura would react to one another and your Beyond the Stars story came to mind, and while I love how DotU Allura immediately befriended VLD Lotor bc he’s so polite and diplomatically inclined, I can’t help but wonder - how do you think DotU Lotor would react to VLD Allura?

Like yes, she has the same temperament and righteous ambition, but unlike her counterpart she’s also so freaking powerful. Of course he would admire her, but would he also feel threatened? And how would she handle his abrasive behavior, since she could easily match him physically?

Anyway, I was just curious. Love your writing and hoping to hear your thoughts!

Ahhhhhh!

Aaaaaaaahhhh!!

(First of all, thank you, thank you, I'm so delighted you enjoyed that story so much - it started off as a silly crack piece that wasn't supposed to be serious, but ended up creating its own actual story.)

Second-- FUN FACT - I too, have wondered that same thing, and have a Part 2 started. I genuinely don't know if this will end up as a story in full, but I very, VERY much wanted to see what DotU Lotor and VLD Allura would do when they met.

Ahem - since it may end up being a sequel story at some point, and it's a little long, I'll drop it under the cut. But, here we go 👇👇

“What is this, Princess?”

“I believe the boys call it popcorn.  It’s something from Earth,” the princess gowned in pink explained, passing the striped bin between her palms to the Galtean emperor beside her.  “It’s good to see you again,” she added with a warm smile.

The strange man from beyond the rift smiled calmly down at her, clawed hands accepting the strange offering of food.

“Our paladins often bring strange delicacies as well.  I’m surprised they haven’t mentioned anything like this. I must ask them,” he conceded, popping a fluffed kernel into his mouth.  “It appears my advice has served you well,” he added, blue irises sliding to glance down to the blushing blonde beside him.

“I won’t say we haven’t had our differences, but yes.  I… shortly after you left, I corralled my courage and spoke directly with Prince Lotor.  We negotiated a cease-fire, and I agreed to offer to help him take his throne.  You were right.  About everything,” she added with a blush.

“And now you are his queen,” he observed in between bites of popcorn.

Allura’s shoulders rolled in a shrug and she gestured to their surroundings.

“It seemed natural.  It took… quite a while to prepare for the strike against King Zarkon, by the time we finally succeeded, we had become close enough that… well, at least I realized I didn’t want to just stay friends.  Or simply allies.  And now here we are, Castle Doom,” she grinned cheerfully up at him, in stark contrast to the gloomy surroundings.

The Emperor wordlessly popped another kernel past his lips, studying her quietly.

“Your husband has a curious taste in decor,” he murmured, his eyes leaving hers as he swept their surroundings, taking in the vast number of empty seats in the coliseum.

The two sat alone alone atop the pedestal marked for royalty, the only spectators to the match below.  The two competitors were none other than their very own partners.

Allura winced as a silver haired-woman hurled her husband across his own coliseum.

“...He’s going to feel that tomorrow,” she murmured, reaching over to steal a handful of popcorn from the emperor’s hands.

“It does indeed leave a bruise,” he murmured, watching his counterpart stagger to his feet and charge back at the woman, a warcry echoing from his lips.

“Are you worried for her safety?”

Allura’s bright blue eyes flickered up to her friend.

“No,” he answered simply.  The statement of faith marked as the warrior woman quickly dispatched her challenger effortlessly.  “Are you worried about him?”

“A little.  I had no idea there was an Allura of such strength on your side of the rift,” she murmured in awe.

Lotor dragged himself to his feet and glared angrily at his opponent.

“He’s certainly determined,” the emperor observed.

Allura coughed before popping a piece of popcorn past her lips.

“You have no idea,” she groaned, drawing a soft chuckle from him. “I’m pleased you’ve returned,” she added.  “It’s been fascinating to meet her.”

“It was very much her idea.  Not,” he paused, his eyes popping wide as he realized the implication and he quickly corrected himself.  “Not that I didn’t wish to return and thank you myself, but she was the one who spearheaded the research to figure out how to control the rift technology once I explained what had happened.”

“It’s such a relief to know it worked.  I had no way of knowing, on my side.  You know, that you had made it, or that she had found you.”

Galtean eyes glanced down at her and he could only exhale for a moment.

“Oh my stars,” she muttered after a moment, her hands covering her lips when Lotor landed on his backside, only to glare across the stadium.  “Please just give up,” she whispered to herself.

“Do you think he will?”

Allura returned his curious look with a flat one.

“Absolutely not.  At some point I’m going to have to go down there and drag him away before he gets a concussion,” she grumbled.  With a huff, she crossed her arms over her chest. 

“They aren’t so bad.”

Allura’s eyes popped wide as his words, coupled with his prior statement, clicked in her mind.  Slowly, she turned her gaze up to the calm man beside her; so vastly different than the one she called her husband.

“Has… did she…?”

A grin split across his lips.

“We had a slight disagreement about something.”

“Are you alright?”

His eyes widened in genuine surprise as he stared down at her in surprise, touched by her concern.  He studied her expression for any trace of derision or jest and found none.

He swallowed.

“I am now, yes,” he answered honestly.

Allura’s worry melted into delight, another cloudbreaking smile splitting across her features.

“Good,” she praised, looking away from him to regard the combat of wills on display below.

Slowly, Lotor returned his attention to the spectacle as well.

“After this, could we…”  He trailed off, hesitant to ask for such favors from his host.

“Would you like to return to Altea?”  Allura grinned, not even needing to hear the rest of his request.  “We wouldn’t even be here if King Lotor hadn’t challenged the Empress to an Honor Duel,” she added dryly.  “Of course he would want to do it here.”

He exhaled weakly beside her.

“...I like the aesthetic of your Castle of Lions better.”

Allura erupted in a fit of giggles.

“As do I,” she agreed.

“...Allura, I believe, would prefer Altea as well.  She… she couldn’t stop talking about it once I mentioned I had been to a place where it still existed.”

A strange mixture of both a warm happiness and a chilling dread settled across the queen’s heart.  While pleased she was able to offer such a thing to the Empress from beyond the stars, it was a chilling reminder that her planet - her people - in some places had not survived Zarkon’s warpath.

“Of course,” she said, her voice tight with emotion.

She blinked suddenly at the duel.

“Oh, this is finished,” she murmured, rising from her seat.  Gathering the folds of her pink and white gown, she bustled swiftly down the staircase toward the railing edging the wall of the pit.  “We concede,” she called out.

Lotor’s head snapped at the sound of her voice.

“I do not,” he called out.  “I’m not done!”

“Yes, yes you are,” she said delicately, smiling gently at her war-bred husband, her palms delicately folding on the railing.  He stared at her for a moment before looking back at the Empress staring at him coolly.

“I can’t lose to her!”

The queen stifled a giggle behind her hand and she shook her head once.

“You already have, Lotor.  I want to go home now,” she added with a pout.

Unable to deny the sunkissed woman anything she wanted, he exhaled and nodded once to his opponent.

“I… yield,” he ground out, the last word twisting in his throat as if it were something vile.

“Thank you.” 

Serpentine eyes flickered back to his wife as she spoke, extending her hand out toward him.  He wasted no time in mounting the wall to stand beside her.

“You were magnificent,” she praised when he only gave a disgruntled look over his shoulder at the silver-haired woman who scaled the wall to curl into the arms of her emperor.

“I lost,” he pouted.

Her fingers curled around the skull belt at his hips and tugged him closer.

“Yes, yes you did.  And that’s alright.  I want to go back to Altea.”

She turned and snaked her arm around his, leading him toward the other couple.

“The Emperor has requested a return to Altea, does that sit well with you, Empress?”

Allura tilted her head to the side as her elfin mirror glanced her way.

“You need not address me so formally,” she spoke, the lilt and cadence of her voice matching her husband’s.

“It seems strange to speak my own name, but, as you like, …Allura.”

“Thank you.  Come, I wish to explore this planet that is both so similar and yet so different from the one I grew up on.  I am pleased it exists still, at least somewhere in the universe.  In… a universe, I suppose.”

“Have you found other realities?  With other… people?  Like us?”

Brilliant blue eyes were riveted on her spirit sister in wonder, fascinated by the technology they had unearthed.

“We have not yet looked, though we suspect yes.  Lotor mentioned he’d left you the blueprints for the modulators… have you not… tried?”

Allura bit her bottom lip and she turned her gaze forward, continuing to glide side by side with the Empress, their partners trailing silently on their arms.

“I was a bit… intimidated by it.  Besides.  The rule was not until we had taken the Empire from Zarkon’s control.  This… peace across the galaxy now is very, very new.”

“My dear, I’ve been offering you the galaxy since I met you.”

The queen scowled at Lotor.

“Yes but I couldn’t trust you, with all your beastly mannerisms and conquering sprees.  What was I supposed to think?”

His nose wrinkled slightly in a scowl as the blonde turned her attention back to a smirking Empress.

“What?”

She didn’t reply to her blonde haired proxy, but instead swiveled her prismatic gaze to an equally bemused Emperor.

“They suit just as well as you predicted,” she murmured, eliciting a blush from the woman on her other side.

When her warlord husband only laughed triumphantly on her other side, her flushed deepened and she smacked his arm lightly.

“Hush,” she scolded. “We’re here.” She released the king’s arm and proudly strode up the ramp to the Altean ship that had brought them to Daibazaal in the first place mere hours ago.

[1nksta1neddesk]

A Court of Readers and Dreamers

Chapter 17: All good devils

The next morning I was dragged from my cot once again and put into an expansive bedroom, instructed to clean the fireplace of lentils before the occupant came back lest I wish to be skinned and flogged. I knew Rhys wouldn’t punish me but still I caught the tin bucket they threw at me before they slammed the door so hard the floor beneath me reverberated. Leaving me in the bedroom of the most powerful High Lord of Prythian history.

I snooped for the first hour, looking over an enormous bed that looked like 3 people could sleep on it without knowing of the others. The sheets were silk ebony where they were tightly drawn over the mattress, undisturbed from a night of sleep. I grimaced at the thought of him being called to service the queen of the mountain. His closet was devoid of anything, the same thing with his bedside tables. 

There were no books or personality, it was strictly a place to sleep if he even did that. My throat was tightening as I knelt before the fireplace and started rubbing my hands through the soot to find these lentils. I would have been tempted to just light the fire and burn away the lentils if I could find anything to start the spark. But I spent hours sifting through it until the soot had traveled up to my elbows, not to mention the amount of soot that had smeared into my clothes, and covered most the tattoo that was on full display on my left arm. I stared at where the black covered the blue and wondered why neither the guards or the Lady of the Autumn Court had said anything.

But my eyes were burning and watering as I stared back into that black dust, no matter where my hands slid they found more lentils piled in the corners and then I heard the door click. I shifted away from the fireplace and collapsed upon the floor, groaning as I felt the pressure in my back dissipate.

Shadows flooded into the room as the door opened, making the candle flames that lit the room waiver and swirl in the air before settling on the bed to form the solid shape of Rhysand. “As wonderful as it is to see you, Feyre, darling,” Rhysand said, sprawled on the bed, his head propped up by a hand, “do I want to know why you’re digging through my fireplace?”

It was so wrong for him to call me that, it made me want to cower and hide from his gaze like a spooked animal but I looked up at him from where I laid on the floor, propping my own head up on my hands as I rolled over, a mirror to his own position. I cringed internally at the soot from my hands that would no doubt smear against the hair and my scalp, it was welcome enough though as my hair had turned heavy with oil after weeks with no soap.

“Blame the apparent servant that dumped a whole tray of Lentils into your fireplace, gave me another chore to do while I waited for you to come back and filet me open, if my guards are to be trusted.” I spoke as I stretched against the stone floor, soot falling from me as I moved.

“Oh did they?” He said with that seductive, mocking tone as I hummed in affirmation.  Maybe the smell of burned wood would cover the permeating reek of unwashed human skin.

“Yup, was prepared to have to run for my life yet again.” I hid the guilt that gnawed at me behind the humor. But Rhys laughed as he shifted closer to the edge of the bed and looked down at me still laying on the floor.

“And your first steps to running include lying on the floor?” I nodded at his question, and moved against the floor to rotate around and sit on the ground while I forced the brunt of my weight on my elbows.

“Figured if that plan failed I could just bite you, you do know how well I bite.” This time he did laugh as a feline smile soaked his face with dark joy. It was still his mask but I could see the enjoyment behind it and felt a similar enjoyment of the conversation bubble in my own heart.

“While I would love for a pretty woman’s mouth on me, I am glad to see you have succeeded in your task.” A blush warmed my ears spread down to my cheeks at the flirt as I stuck my tongue in my cheek and looked back at the tin bucket I had been given to see it full of dusty green lentils. I shook my head at him as I stood from my position and dusted my clothes, black dust falling around me and dirtying the floor. A brush of darkened wind swept away the soot from both me and the floor and I looked at him.

“You are a peculiar female, Feyre.” He was studying me like I would a squirrel before I released the arrow, “Most would be begging me for mercy, to spare their lives, if they met me a single time.” 

“Maybe I know a good male when I see one, and if I recall you already spared my life, twice,” I waved two tattooed fingers in front of me as I punctuated my words and I walked towards him and sat on the edge of the bed next to his feet. His stare felt hot against my skin as he still looked at every movement I took, rubbing at my tender knees from kneeling for hours cleaning today and the day previous. 

“I fear who you think is a bad man then, Feyre.” I rolled my eyes as I laid down on his bed , staring up at the ceiling as my arms spread, my tattooed forearm brushing against his calf. 

“Has anyone found out about our bargain yet?” My thumb traced along the inside of my ring finger, a comforting touch as my stomach turned at the thought of Amarantha already learning of it, of the Lady of Autumn blabbing to get into the queen’s good graces at the price of my head.

“Guilt riding you a bit hard? Your little prince charming would be so wounded to find out his little prize has sold half her life to his enemy.”

“Rhys.” I said it sharply, he knew none of that was true but was just trying to drag me to toy with him rather than discuss the important things.

“No, they have not.” A short answer this time

“Well I expect you to want to make a large statement with it, don’t you? Betting that I survived the first trial and now betting that I will win all of them?” I felt the weight on the bed shift and his eyes looked down from above me. Even without the power of Calanmai I could get lost in the expanse of those eyes as he looked at me.

 “Am I so predictable that a mortal woman has me figured out already?” I smiled up at him, it was almost domestic the way his eyes shone back at me, the strong column of muscle in his neck that kept his head steady above him, the arm he planted next to my head to keep steady as well. I suppressed the heat at my cheeks that had no doubt risen to a flush, that life of domesticity was not mine to claim.

I shrugged against the silk of the bed, “Not my fault all you High Lords only care about are theatrics.” The night bore down on me and I wanted to wiggle and escape from that stare but I held it like I had held Amarantha’s stare everytime I saw her. Despite the difference of scenarios, this one felt much more important to my survival. He pulled back first, standing from the bed as he swung his legs over the foot of the bed in a controlled arch.

“I find myself unable to decide if I should praise or condemn your bravery for mocking a High Lord.”

“Forgive me, I didn’t think the most powerful High Lord needed a mortal’s praise and supplications.” My words were soaked with sarcasm as I flourished a hand. I did raise myself from the silk and padded infront of where he was standing in front of the hearth.

“Foolish indeed.” He held my eyes and I sharpened that blue-gray to a steel as the door clattered open behind us, my guards having come to fetch me after what they thought was adequate time for Rhys to punish me. He looked at them over my head, and oh gods was he tall as I stood so close to him. I hadn’t noticed the exaggeration of the height difference when we danced but with a foot of room between us I had crane my neck nearly fully back to still study his face as he spoke.

“She completed her task, take her back” The words were even as he waved a hand. Their hands grabbed me and Rhysand’s face twisted into a smile of sharpened teeth that held no soft banter like the small smirks I had seen from him. ““No more household chores, no more tasks,” The words were as sharp and cool as a blade being dragged across tender skin as his shadows seeped into his black clothes and made them unfathomable in their darkness, “Tell the others, too. Stay out of her cell, and don’t touch her. If you do, you’re to take your own daggers and gut yourselves. Understood?”

They took a step back from me as their eyes glazed, no doubt him having slipped into their minds to embed the command. This time they beconed from me and I turned towards Rhys.

I said a quick thank you as he eyed me and escaped back to my cell, the cold stone familiar as I laid in my bed. My thoughts would not stop flooding me, evaluating what the easy banter changed, if it would ruin the future plans for the tasks. But it didn’t logically make sense to tamper with it significantly, so that left me with undirected anxiety that twisted my stomach enough to where I didn’t touch my bland food.

Days passed where I sat in the damp room, only left to fall into familiar motions of exercise and stretching. The silence was only punctuated by grinding metal and stone when the door was opened to slide in a meal. I was never one to stand the silence so I took to making small rhythms by thumping my feet or hands, snapping my fingers, and it helped stave off the creeping boredom that whispered for me to just sleep the time away. 

No one came to see me during those days, and I did not even see the eyes of the guards that gave me food. So it was only me, in the dark as I let myself leak into the silence. The shadows were my permanent companion so I talked to them, nothing consistant or sensical, just ramblings as they came to me.

Then Nuala and Cerridwen appeared from the shadow and stones. Their faces were blurred as the shadows that made them were not solid, fuzzed out like smeared charcoal. But from what I could discern the twin wraiths were long and lithe as wisps of fabric making their cobweb dresses that swayed with the shadows. They did not speak as they reached for me and I gently placed my hands into their palms, accepting as I gave them soft smiles.

The hands I held were cold but firm underneath the shadow, like grasping an arm covered by flowing chiffon. They pressed to me, our bodies compacting to slide through the door. Flowing through solid matter made my stomach whoop but then we were on the other side, solid again. We walked through the halls and though we passed by nearly a dozen faeries no one glanced at us. Invisible.

We went through a maze of dusty hallways, some in slight disrepair until we came upon a tall wooden door. They guided me into the room, slightly larger than my cell with a tub in one corner and a mirror along the other wall. Nuala stripped me of my clothes while Cerridwen drew a steaming bath that I was pushed into, plucked and shaven before they scrubbed until my skin was half-raw. They pulled me out of the water, patting me down with a soft white towel before they stood me in front of the mirror.

They each took up a brush of black ink that they dragged across my skin. I flinched away from the cold where they started along my side and back and was squirming away from the ink fully as they drew closer to my breasts and lower. Despite my squirming they eventually finished with the ink that had dried down matte, the texture and color just enough for my tattoo to be distinguished from the swirls.

The two shafts of white gossamer that was used to construct my ‘dress’ were so sheer one could see the swirls of black ink without any struggle. Still I wasn’t freed from this torture that was making me uncomfortable at the core of my being, not as they spread kohl along my lashes and shimmering silver on my eye lids. The rest of my face wasn’t even spared as more cosmetics were laid upon that, washing away color and freckles as they painted me. It felt more violating than the swirls, ripping away what made me more than a fragile human doll to play with by the court under here. 

A small diadem of jutting silver was speckled with amethyst was placed on my head after my hair was curled, complimenting the silver bangles that were clasped upon my wrists and ankles to match with the silver chains and broaches that held the gossamer together. The fabric bunched together to form a solid single panel that fell between my legs just below the chain that formed a low belt.

I looked like the holiest whore I had ever seen as I stared in the mirror, a deep set frown on my face as I saw the twins step back from me as crisps footsteps came from down the hall. I turned to the door and tried to ignore the chill in the air that set my skin prickling as the doorknob twisted. The door opened and I crossed my arms as Rhys appeared before me, propping himself in the doorway. I raised a brow at him as his eyes raked over me, the entirety of me.

His smirk had my hand digging into my arm and I snapped at him, “I do rather like having clothes ,if you could give those back.” That smirk widened even more as he stepped into the room fully.

“I apologize, I found myself needing a escort to the party tonight,” he paused as he dramatically brought a hand up to wipe eye with his pointer finger, “and when I thought of you in that cell, all cold and alone, I just couldn’t leave you there, now could I?” I stepped toward him and smacked his arm lightly as he offered it but still took it a moment later. I scrunched my nose at him along with a snarling grin that mocked his own. 

“You look just as I hoped you would.” He said as he looked down at me, smoothing a lapel of his suit jacket, the first I had seen on him.

“Nude is the best you could come up with? I guess all you males are all so single minded ,no matter the species,” I finished with a small shake of my head as I felt the warmth of his arm soak through his coat and into my bare skin.

“I think you will find my mind quite expansive, Feyre, if you wouldn’t wound me so much as to compare me to your human men.” Nuala and Cerridwen had disappeared at some point, I noticed as I darted my eyes around the small room, probably having melted back into the stones to lurk somewhere else. 

I motioned down to the dress and painted with my free arm, my tattooed arm. “I hope you know all of this is meaningless, I did not come here for Tamlin.” Something hard ran through his stare, maybe at the undercut of bitterness in my words. Really I did not hold any grudge against Tamlin, but the lack of fighting I had seen from him, for his court, was building a hole in my mind for all my frustrations to accumulate.

He leaned down to my ear, slipping his arm away from me to run a calloused finger down the side of my arm, smearing the paint and watching it fix itself. “I don’t like my belongings tampered with, by either High lord or courtier.” and yes there was Lucien, the one I had spent most of my time in Spring with, the one who had dragged me from Rhys at Calanmai, who had said I was his betrothed when Rhys had come the day after Solstice. It was not entirely the caress of his breath along the inner shell of my ear that caused me to shiver, not at the thought of Lucien being in danger for all of that.

I muttered something about territorial fae bastards and he flicked me on my nose for it before he pulled back. “Come now,” He offered his arm again, “We are already late.” He opened the door I hadn’t realized closed and I wrapped my arm around his again.

“Don’t act like you didn’t have it planned for us to be late to make our dramatic entrance.” He smiled down at me, slightly less restrained as his eyes glowed with cunning pride. I rolled my eyes as we started into a soft walk, “Predictable male.”

Then we were walking down the halls, and this time the faeries lining them did take notice of me as they stared unabashedly. It made my skin crawl and more than once I had a shiver rack up my spine from a particularly vile stare. While Rhys walked near silently next to me, my bare feet padding along the floor sounded like gongs as we winded around bends and curves, changing in elevation as we went up and down stairs and inclines. They had already gone half numb from the freezing floors as we walked and I craved for a lick of warmth or cushion on them as the sounds of off kilter music started to trickle to us.

We only had a few more minutes until we were in that throne room, until I was played like a pawn in Rhys’ court scheming. I would play this role though, let it show the other High lords that Rhys had been the one to come and heal me, see him bet on their victory. It was the least I could do for all he had already done for me and that thought made my steps lighten and lengthen as I straightened up. 

If I was to walk into this party of hundreds if not thousands that wanted me  dead I would be proud to be on the arm of a man who could vaporize them if he was given his full power. Then the music was nearer, vibrating through the floor and my pulse quickened. Rhys’ arm tightened just a bit, a reassuring pressure as he no doubt had felt the change through the fabric where the crook of my elbow pressed against him.

The throne room laid before us, and upon a throne I could see over the head of the crowd, Amarantha’s head. I locked on the gold-red as we moved closer. If she wanted to play games I would change the rules on her, would change them for the wonderful people I had fallen in love with when they had just been ink and paper to me.

[angstyandromanticwriting]

Benjamin X FemHuman!Reader Angsty Prompt with comfort and a brief cute and fluffy moment

!TW: Mention of pregnancy, mention of blood/presence of blood, mention of wound, mention of stitches (the stitched up wound), implied self harm, implied suffering from depression!

Benjamin noticed that you looked down when he entered the bedroom, and he tried to cheer you up; he hated to see you upset. “Hey,” Benjamin broke the silence, dragging you out of the memory of your childhood as you looked up at him, forcing a weak smile as you did. “Are you okay?” Benjamin inquired, and you nodded, before you lowered your head again; you didn’t want him to see that you had small tear stains on your cheeks. “Do you wanna play cards, or something? Would that cheer you up?” Benjamin pried, and you hesitantly nodded, smiling weakly over at him.

Whilst you both were playing cards, Benjamin got an idea, and planned on putting down the Queen of Hearts, but before he did, he looked up at you, smirking. “You’re my Queen of Hearts,” Benjamin remarked, and you couldn’t help, but giggle, looking away from him as you could feel that your cheeks were beginning to heat up.

“You always manage to make me laugh, B,” you mused, still grinning as you forgot all about you being upset before you both began to play. Benjamin smiled warmly back at you, glad that he’d succeeded in making you happy again.

༺𐦐༻

The next time Benjamin found you upset was when you were sat under your favourite willow tree, crying openly. “Y/n?” Benjamin spoke gently, and you turned away from him as you didn’t like to be caught crying. “H-Hey,” Benjamin cooed as he sat beside you, leaning against the trunk of the willow tree, until he turned his body to face you more.

“Can - Can I have a hug?” You requested shakily, and Benjamin nodded, before he wrapped his arms around you, easing you closer to him. You then found yourself breaking down even more, and you weren’t exactly sure why, so you threw your arms around him for more comfort. As you began to calm down, you found that you couldn’t think as you uttered the words: ‘you smell nice’ to him, making him chuckle, flattered.

“Thank you,” Benjamin responded, and you winced, realising you’d said it out loud.

“I’m sorry,” you whined, hiding your face in his jacket.

“Don’t apologise,” Benjamin instructed, his voice soft; he didn’t like how you felt the need to apologise to him or anyone for small things like that. “I’m happy to hear that I smell good,” Benjamin stated, and you whimpered, still embarrassed.

༺𐦐༻

“I’m fine,” you muttered; you and Benjamin had been arguing ever since you both found out that Benjamin would have to marry Tia, a girl from another coven, because you hadn’t felt ready to get married before when you were offered the chance to marry him. If you knew before that Amun would decide to marry him and Tia together if you refused, you would have chosen to marry him, because you didn’t want to lose him, and now you felt as if you were losing him forever, and the feeling seemed to be breaking your heart as you swore you could feel it aching whilst it was being torn apart.

“You’re not fine,” Benjamin contradicted, wishing you’d tell him the truth; he hated to think that you were suffering in silence.

“Why do you care, anyway?” You questioned, adding emphasis on the word ‘you’.

Benjamin wore a hurt look on his face; he couldn’t believe that you thought he shouldn’t care about you, after everything you’d both been through together. “I care because I love you, Y/n,” Benjamin answered, his voice cracking briefly, “and I don’t want to lose you.”

You sighed heavily, before you turned away from him. “Well - Thank you for always being there for me, Benjamin,” you murmured, “but I don’t see how this is going to work anymore.. Not now that you’re - getting married.” Benjamin shook his head quickly; he didn’t want things to end between him and you; he wanted to keep trying, until you both could finally get married, yourselves, and have a child, before you both became official eternal mates. Before he could respond, you got up and walked out of the room, not wanting to face the pain of being in the same room as him anymore.

༺𐦐༻

Benjamin would be worried about you when he got a bad feeling, so he decided to try and find you, but you weren’t currently home with the Cullens’ and the Hayes’, which panicked him even more as he began to run toward the forest, wanting to check if you were beneath your favourite willow tree. Benjamin faltered when he picked up the scent of blood, but he tried not to be enticed by it, grimacing when he found you unconscious beneath the willow tree, your grey top and hands partly blood-stained. “Y/n,” Benjamin whispered shakily, before he crouched down to pick you up, his reddish brown eyes glistening. “Y-You’re gonna be okay,” he promised, silently begging for you to wake up and respond to him. Benjamin sped back toward the Cullens’ and Hayes’ white house, knowing he needed to bring you back to Carlisle so he could treat you.

↯

Carlisle allowed Benjamin back into his makeshift operation room once he’d finished treating you, and he carefully sat on the edge of the bed that Carlisle had laid you on, before he managed to fit his whole body onto the narrow free space next to you. Benjamin cradled you, holding you close to him carefully, and trying to avoid touching where Carlisle had stitched your wound up. “Please wake up,” Benjamin whispered; he wanted to hear your voice; he was desperate to hear it.

Benjamin then heard a whimper, and he looked down at you, breathing a sigh of relief when he noticed that your eyes were slowly opening. “B,” you managed in a weak murmur, and he nodded, lifting his hand to place it on your cheek. “I’ve missed you so much,” you mused, and he frowned, a pained expression on his face; he wished he had made more of an effort to spend time with you, especially after everything that had happened recently.

“Who did this to you?” Benjamin inquired, and you winced, turning your head away to hide your face from him. Benjamin realised that you had probably done this to yourself, and he wore a hurt look on his face, trying to fight back the tears which had invaded his eyes again. “Why-?” Benjamin asked, his voice close to a shaky whisper.

“Do you really think of me as just a friend, B? Do - Do I really mean nothing to you?” You questioned, and Benjamin shook his head quickly, before he lifted his hand again to stroke your hair.

“You mean everything to me,” Benjamin answered, “you’re my World. And you aren’t just a friend to me, I just - I can’t say that you’re more than that in front of Tia and her father, or Amun, even, no matter how much I want to. I love you, Y/n, can you please just - just remember that?” You glanced up at him, before you nodded gravely, forcing a smile up at him. “Good,” he responded to your action, before he leaned down to press a kiss to your forehead.

༺𐦐༻

“I told you not to fall in love with me,” Benjamin hissed, and Tia winced, nervous as she stepped back.

“I’ve tried to forbid myself from falling in love with you, Benjamin, but,” Tia began slowly, “now I can’t help it - I-.. I’m sorry.” Benjamin scowled, before he stormed out to go and see you.

~~~~~

Hope you enjoyed this prompt! ❤️

[best-habsburg-monarch]

i am once again making the same propaganda so if you would be so kind to add it onto the propaganda segment of the poll 🙏🙏 ((or just post this as is, it's your blog do whatever you like!))

Ferdinand I propaganda:

Good taste in armour: Madonna with child chestplate?? Fox helmet?? SLAY

Mostly uncredited in his role as Charles V's Silly Rabbit in the HRE. Helped his brother take the reigns waaaay before he officially became Emperor, first in 1522 ((lad was only 19!!)) and then in 1531. That's like over 20 years of Lack Of Credit.

Managed to band-aid the reformation situation: ultimately succeeded at reforms ((better than Joseph II did seeing he's up against him))

Ultimate Power didn't make him Act Out like Charles V or.... Joseph II.

Went from being loved in Spain to hated in central Europe to Respected again, how many people can win that back??

Slutty twink proportions like what do you need that small of a waist for for other men to grab it?? ((see armour))

Pretty hands

the HOT SIBLING according to contemporaries including Maximilian I yum

Had 13 kids which is an insane feat if you're a Habsburg who isn't Maria Theresia. Maybe the above had to do with it?

Looked like drag queen/the WINNER of Drag Race France Paloma if you're delusional enough

.

[thomaslightwood]

I honestly believe people are allowed to express their dislike for any piece of media they consume, be it books, movies or shows (as long as they aren’t toxic and hateful about it, to the point where you question why they remain in the fandom). Now, regards to CC and TSC specifically, I find that majority of the fandom who dislike certain aspects of her books, don’t actively try to argue and be rude to those who love them. I will absolutely condemn anyone who does so.

And I have to say, the recent release of CHOT is a perfect example of how fandom can be divided. I honestly have nothing against people who enjoy EVERY aspect of CC’s work, but even they can be overbearing sometimes. For example, I find it laughable that some of them imply that the arguments we make are because we “can’t cope” with CHOT not ending “the way we wanted.” Like, no, we know CC is within her rights to end her trilogy however she sees fit, without giving a second thought to people’s theories and expectations. But that doesn’t absolve her of critical reviews when she herself said people will have strong opinions about the book, and not everyone is going to be fully satisfied with how the trilogy ends.

And there are three main things I disliked about the book:

(1) As much as I enjoy love triangles and adore Herongraystairs, I’m quiet wary of them as well, especially one that was executed like MatthewxCordeliaxJames. This fiasco might’ve been focal to the overall plot, but it was dragged out to the point where the series was reduced to solving messy relationships, instead of focussing on the fantasy plot at hand. The “dragging out” aspect of it would’ve made sense if James learned about the bracelet later, rather than sooner. However, majority of the book left him contemplating over whether of not he should tell Cordelia, to the point where I was expecting an understandable reason as to why he didn’t. But lo’ and behold, it was only because he didn’t want her to “pity” him *sigh.*

(2) I had reservations about Kit’s death, and not because I didn’t want him to die. To counter argue hardcore fans claiming this is the only argument we make, I want to go even further by saying, ok Kit died, yes we are told all his friends and family mourned him. But the emphasis here is on the word TOLD. There was a lot of telling, but not enough showing. As much as it would’ve been heartbreaking and unbearable to read his funeral, as well as a more detailed account of Cecily, Gabriel and Henry’s reactions to his death - it would’ve made for better storytelling. For example, I couldn’t imagine Queen of Air and Darkness being written without portraying how the Blackthorns mourned Livvy’s death - which was more beautifully executed by CC in my opinion.

(3) A more minor reservation I suppose, was the anticlimactic-feel of Belial. I mean, (1) Mortman (a mundane), wanted to create an army of automatons to take over England and rape Tessa to have extraordinary offspring. (2) Sebastian (half shadowhunter; half demon), succeeded in creating endarkened shadowhunters, and wrecked havoc during the dark war. But you’re telling me Belial (a literal prince of hell)‘s main motive was to be coronated in Westminster abbey? Are you frickin’ kidding me?

Fingers-crossed for a more satisfactory storytelling and ending in TWP, I suppose.

Anon, you're much more humble and respectful than I will be right now.

I would say it's okay to enjoy piece of media that is trash. I have books that I love that are absolutely trash and I can admit that - I still love them. If you just want to consume the media without analysing it, that's fine.

But it's ridiculously and childish to say or imply people saying "bad" stuff about COT is because we didn't like what happened. We are using critical thinking skills to consume media and it's so tiring to be called a hater because you use them when you consuming media. The anti-intellectualism is real.

So, now:

1) Overall, I agree with you! I hate love triangles but since it was about characters I didn't particularly care about, I don't have strong opinion on it. But it definitely influenced the structure of the book in very bad way, to the point as you said, it was reduced to solving messy relationships. The whole deal with James not telling Cordelia about the bracelet was ridiculous and pointless - needn't to wait so freaking long for literally no valid reason at all!

2) I definitely didn't want Kit to die... But even if we look from objective point of view, his death was executed poorly and served no purpose to the plot. It was to shock and upset the reader. He died just for the sake of someone dying. It was similar thing with Raphael, with Jordan, with Barbara, with George. Someone just had to die. And of course, it's absurd a protagonist to die and CC very hard tries not to play into the 'burry your gays' trope, so this leaves her with limited secondary characters to kill off.

I don't even want to talk about everyone's reaction to Kit's death, it all was a parody.

3) You may have a point, anon... I haven't thought much about it, I was too pissed about other things. I believe Belial's goal was to take over this dimension too... Or at least to rule London? Yeah, that's actually... kind of silly compared to other antagonist we have had? In the other three series the villians had some sort of stronger motives, that came from trauma and turst for revenge... But Belial was simply power hungry. I guess that's one of the problems having a Prince of Hell as you antagonist - he's usually inhearantly evil and when you're asking why he's doing whatever he's doing: "he's just evil". You don't have real answers why he's corrupt or power hungry - he just is.

I think it works only to have it as a side antagonist - like in TMI with Magnus' father (which name I don't remember, sorry). There it was ok because it wasn't the main source of problems.

At this point I feel like I can talk with hours about the issues this book had... The more I sit with it, the more I realize how unsatisfying it was.

[prerodinu]

I don’t think I have ever really sat down and like talk talked about the twin’s jobs. This is hard to do because technically (mostly) anything you are thinking could be considered their ‘jobs’. When talking about wolf characters in general the pack mentality is a big deal. I'm not talking about people fighting for dominance or shit I mean the FAMILY aspect of it all. I think with that being said you could probably think that if wolf packs in the real world existed. It would be Mafia and gangs. 

The other thing to consider is the fact that the twins come from a VERY VERY VERY old and long line of leaders. Vav was the first to make a VERY VERY large wolf pack. He in his own way loved his people and wanted to protect them. Since then most wolves turned and survived mostly kept to themselves as drifters. This made sense, back in the time of Norse Men, the church's growing reach and times changing. Hiding out in the middle of some island or the wooded lands sounded mostly like heaven. Vav changed that by bringing people together and trying to keep them somewhat safe. I say somewhat because of his issues. However, Vav tried and in some ways succeeded in keeping a pack safe for a long while. 

Which leads me to my first point. Both Katia and Artem are Monarchs. They were bred for the purpose of leading a pack. That was the only reason that Vav wanted kids. So that when the time came, VERY VERY Far into the future, he could have strong kids to lead on his legacy. Despite everything, the kids were brought into the pack with open arms and treated like kings and queens. Up until Vav realized that Artem wouldn’t do well as a leader and that Katia needed the sweetness beaten out of her. But for all intents and purposes. Katia and Artem are royalty. They are always whispered about in pack meetings and in awe when other packs see them because they are OLD. WISE. and honestly gentle rulers who have done everything they can to protect their pack. They are nothing like the Vukaxin last name. This is saying something because it has been dragged through the mud for CENTURIES because of the two different packs. 

NOTE: This does not mean that if you have a wolf character they have to bow to the twins or know who they are. Honestly, they don’t. The pack is old and elusive. Not many are going to know unless they grew up in a pack. So it’s fine if your wolf or pack won’t recognize Katia or Artem. 

So let's break this out right the twin’s job essentially and this will be done by Centuries to give you an idea of how it changed. 

Katia being taken throughout the Middle ages: 

This time frame is sort of the DARK AGES I like to call it. Katia is gone, the pack barely starting to form. But Artem's job was to get his sister back. That’s all. His wolf understood the need to protect his pack though so that is what he did. Though a roundabout way. Artem took on jobs as an Assassin or thief to get money for those first in the pack. Think like Dacian and Eva. 

Artem got his first taste of freedom by being a thief. His wolf loved the rush of stealing and honestly, some of the others did too. It became a game to them, acting rich and taking what they could in the night. Back then most people let you sleep in their house if you were rich or someone they knew or could think they knew. Which happened with Artem a lot since he was known COUNTRIES away. No matter where he went. He was known if it was a wolf he was staying with. If it was a human. Dude the Twins had most of their lives (think 8-18) basically being trained how to be royalty, how to act and drink and think. Granted it was in wolf society but realistically it transfers. 

It was also during this time that they met Radovan, they tried to steal from him, so I mean. kind of hard to rob someone like that so they just brought him in and Radovan basically helped them steal so much more than what they ever thought possible. They were doing fine before now it’s like mind-blowing good money. 

Also, let's be real most of the income came from selling drugs. Humans ATE that shit up and continue to do so so that’s what they did for a very long time. 

Middle Ages - Industrial Revolution / 19th Century: 

This is where it’s a gray area. Katia at the end of the Middle Ages area basically kills her captor. And that means not necessarily the man who kidnapped her. So many years went between when she was captured and when she got free. It’s not going to be the same dude. Katia ends up basically destroying a WHOLE GOD DAMN BLOODLINE. Not even a couple the whole bloodline of the man who captured her. From there she and Artem connect. It’s not easy, he’s already in the middle of his empire. It has grown. More people are being added to it, they are now starting to realize they have to spend time together. The pack house starts to become a thing. 

Times are changing. It’s harder to use the whole royalty thing. Honestly speaking the pack has to start doing something else. They did try the gold rush for years. They basically ruled towns that built railways, that helped people on the edge of the world. It was easiest to not get caught out there. The law was basically the strongest survive. It worked for a while. A good long while. Until business started to grow things like Brothels, drugs, and gangs ruled the cities or were starting to. 

This is where the pack thrived. Most have to pay tithes to the pack, if you wanted to set up shop, you paid the tithe. The pack soon became the go-to person, you wanted something done. You visited the place with the wolf head. At this point, all of this was run by Artem. He had gotten Katia back, and his wolf decided to deposit him back in real life. It was time to be human again. Katia was spiraling and no one knew how to help. 

Katia spent several decades basically being the muscle. Fucking up people who dared threaten the life of the pack. It was worse as they grew because they spread out, the pack being in places like Chicago, LA, and New York. At one point, Upper East Side New York was the pack territory, nothing happened that they did not know about. Katia slowly started to realize that she had to get her shit together, enough so that people wouldn’t think of her as muscle but also as brains of it. 

This is when the pack’s business started to flourish. Who didn’t like talking to a pretty woman? 

20th Century and Present. 

This is where things started to become what it is today. Through the 20th century, the pack learned a lot of things. How money fraud and check fraud was the way to steal LARGE amounts of money. That became art deals and antiquities, remaking things and selling. It was a hit and easy to do. 

Then came the 1980s ′s. Cartels and drugs. That became a crazy lifestyle. Katia headed up that operation much to Artem’s dismay. A lot of the pack’s businesses started in the 80′s. They grew slowly, changing from place to place. Gangsters turned into Mob men who turned into drug dealers in the early 2000s ′s. Artem never wanted to do drugs but honestly, it brought in so much money that the pack just kept with it. What were humans to gods that lived through CENTURIES? Nothing. 

Then came the internet. Caelan's favorite toy. That PUSHED the pack into something that they couldn’t spend in LIFETIMES and CENTURIES. Caelan ruled the internet. Napster wasn’t the only thing he worked on. He BUILT an empire blackmailing. Someone had to keep track of it all. Katia did. 

Artem dealt with the Mobsters and Gang members the kind of men that respected a hardened front. This is what they do. They learned how to launder money, and they learned how to destroy evidence. Honestly speaking they built their empire on the deaths of humans. 

To this day including Lobos de Boricua the pack nurtured relations with their Leader Loni. to whom Artem is soon to be mated. Honestly the pack his WIDE spread feelers over everything. They know exactly what's going on and when it’s happening. Not much gets past them. 

New gang in town. 

The pack already knows everything down to what you eat on Tuesdays when you are sad. 

THEY HAVE TOO. They built their business upon knowing things that no one knows. Make sure that they are the number one pick or you have no choice. 

Artem spends so much nurturing the leads they get. Building the business side of the business. If he isn’t dealing with pack things he’s in building the business. He’s in business meetings and constantly on his phone or in his office. 

Katia is dealing with the mafia/mob/gang/CRIME world of things. She is the one meeting in shady bars and watching drugs funnel through the places. Watching THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS go through each business. Katia has to watch it, track it, and make sure she keeps everything under wraps. 

Issue with shipments? She’s gotta take care of it. 

Payment issues? She’s gotta take care of it. 

Honestly speaking Katia is the one you don’t want to see. There is a reason why sometimes their business partners call her the Angel of Death. She will kill to protect. 

So basically the pack runs like a mob, feels like a family, and at the end of the day. Artem is a businessman, Artem deals with the LAW-ABIDING side of things. Katia is a Queen. Katia deals with the underbelly and they know that if anyone looked too close they might start connecting the dots. Their job though is to make sure no one does. 

And they do it very very well. 

You will never hear any one of their clients talk about them. If anything they will Howl. Like a wolf on the moon. Because they know if they talk they are going to get someone worse than the feds or police on their tail. 

They get Katia and that’s a fate worse than death. 

So the easiest answer is Artem does business. Katia does crime. This is the duality. Sometimes Katia has to be a businesswoman. Sometimes Artem has to be a crime lord. Either way, the twin's job at the end of the day is to protect their pack and money is the only way to protect. In the human world money is everything. 

[butterflydm]

wot reread: the path of daggers (prologue - chap 11)

spoilers for the path of daggers; at the very bottom is a marked off section with a spoiler for winter’s heart

1. I like getting to meet the Borderlander rulers and seeing What Is Up with them, but I do feel like this scene could have been trimmed down. This though: “Alliances by marriage had always bound the Borderlands together as much as their war against the Blight did” -- marriage alliances ARE a valid device but they need to actually BE an alliance to work as a narrative device. Two people from two different nations getting married -- even if they’re important people -- isn’t a marriage alliance if there’s nothing binding the two nations together as a result. That’s just a waste of time, lol.

2. We also learn here that the Blight is very very quiet right now. It’s also kinda confirmed here that Faile is eventually going to follow Tenobia on the Saldaean throne -- Tenobia has such high standards for a man that our PoV character is certain she’ll never marry, and Davram and then Faile after him are next in line for the throne.

3. Also, there’s going to be a total of thirteen Aes Sedai traveling with the four Borderland rulers and their armies -- eight came with King Paitar and five came with Queen Tenobia. That’s Rand’s panic-button number. And the rulers seem aware of that, too, for all that they didn’t actually plan to bring all these Aes Sedai with them.

4. Love this reveal that Verin is questioning and putting subtle... pressure on the Tower Aes Sedai prisoners to try to flip them over to Rand’s side of things. She’s such a fascinating character. She plans to help Sorilea (and herself) by giving Sorilea a list of “things that shame wetlander women the most” that Sorilea has asked Rand’s sworn sisters to give her. Verin also feels concern over the sudden appearance of Cadsuane in Cairhien and worries over it.

5. And through Verin’s PoV, we learn the full extent of how much contempt the Wise Ones following Rand now have for Aes Sedai after they abducted him: Aes Sedai have no honor, one of the Wise Ones has told Verin, and that they now believe that the Aes Sedai are the ones who have failed, rather that their previous worries that they would fail the Aes Sedai again and be destroyed for it.

6. Katerine, one of the Red Ajah prisoners, has escaped, and Verin can’t help but be openly horrified by it. The Wise One who tells Verin this, Aeron, also tells her not to tell Rand about it, because she doesn’t want to worry him. More secrets being kept from Rand.

7. We see the process Verin is working with, how she tries to hammer into Beldeine how hopeless her current situation is, because the goal of being treated as da’tsang is to make the person understand the bond-deep shame they have earned themselves by their actions and they’ll keep going for as long as it takes for the person to understand. One of the things Verin is trying to figure out is why Rand believes so firmly that he has supporters inside the Tower itself, but Beldeine denies that anyone still in the Tower could support him. Fascinating that Verin thinks with dread about how Rand’s ta’verenness might have affected the Tower if the Sisters had actually succeeded in dragging him there.

8. Almost entirely through pure curiosity, Verin has managed to figure out Compulsion (through years of talking to new students who had half-formed ways of encouraging their families to give them what they wanted) and she uses it on Beldeine here to try to set her mind to work to find a personal justification that SHE would believe for why she would swear herself to Rand. All of the Sisters from Elaida’s embassy have believed that the world needed to be kept safe from Rand but (more interesting to Verin) some of them also believe that Rand needed to be kept safe from the world.

9. Our last section in this (reasonably-sized!) prologue is from Moridin’s PoV. Honestly, this prologue has been a good one. I was interested in all the PoV characters and what I learned, even if the first section seemed a bit longer than it needed to be.

10. Moirdin thinks VERY highly of himself and he has two mindtraps (we already know that one is Moghedien’s). We learn about the ancient ancestor to the game of stones, that used to use a piece known as the Fisher, and Moridin wonders if he was originally inspired by a past incarnation of Rand/ the Dragon. The Fisher isn’t on either the red or green side of the board but switches sides and is colored black and white like the playing board is (or like the ancient symbol of the Aes Sedai!). Moridin believes that he’s personally playing ‘both sides’ of the game and thus can’t lose.

11. Aviendha is worrying about Olver, though she isn’t sure why, since he’s Cairhienin and thus an oathbreaker. She reassures herself by reminding herself that Mat can find anything.

12. “Nynaeve never surrendered just because she had lost.” <3 <3 That’s our Nynaeve! Haha, Aviendha just straight-up thinks of Nynaeve as ‘short’. We also learn that the Aiel (or the Maidens?) think of death as a woman.

13. Aviendha is trying to figure out how one does A Relationship With A Man but decides that Nynaeve’s example is not to be followed. If only Elayne had realized this tbh. And the inner slopes of Elayne’s breasts are currently distracting Aviendha fyi.

14. See here’s the thing. Birgitte wears heeled boots and I have zero issue with it because Birgitte wears heeled boots because she LIKES them. Meanwhile, Min despises her heeled boots and wears them because she thinks that they make Rand find her more attractive. It really kinda goes back to that conversation that Birgitte had with Nynaeve a couple of books ago, where she said she would be fine with Nynaeve behaving like a milkwater miss (or something like that) if that’s who she really WAS but it pisses her off for Nynaeve to act like that around her when she knows that ISN’T who Nynaeve is, that she knows Nynaeve is actually a woman with a temper. If a flirty and simpering fluffhead was who Min actually WAS, then I wouldn’t have any issues with her; I’ve liked plenty of fluffheaded characters in the past. It bugs me because she molded herself into being this person because she believed (before she’d even reunited with him!) that this was who Rand would want her to be, so she changed herself ‘for him’. So basically every time Min shows up now, I’m Birgitte in TFoH, being annoyed at Nynaeve.

15. Aviendha is in despair over how soft she is becoming. Aw, honey, you aren’t milk-hearted at all, don’t worry. But yeah, the Aiel: would never run from a battle, absolutely will run away if they feel embarrassed. And there’s no shame in feeling fear but there is shame in showing it.

16. Overall, I feel like the pace of this scene could be picked up quite a bit. This chapter is 26 pages in my copy but could easily be 10-15. Anyway, the Windfinders are demanding, the Aes Sedai are annoyed, and the Kin wish they weren’t the ones in charge of the Black Ajah prisoner.

17. Elayne mentions again Egwene’s notion of every woman who can channel being connected to the Tower and, internally, Aviendha is just like... nah. re: Egwene “she was a friend too, but she had wrapped her heart around being Aes Sedai. Aviendha herself did not want to be part of the White Tower.” Hmm. Does Aviendha not consider Egwene a near-sister anymore? But, yeah, Aviendha is making the last point that I mentioned last book, I think -- the Aiel are not going to have any interest in joining the White Tower, no matter who the Amrylin is. Even before they considered the Aes Sedai honorless, they weren’t trying to go to the White Tower.

18. So there are four great caches of Power-related artifacts in the world (that we know of). There’s the White Tower (currently inaccessible to Our Heroes); there’s this new cache in Ebou Dar that the Kin have been collecting over hundreds of years; there’s a similar cache in the storage rooms of Tear (though I think a lot of that was boxed up by Moiraine to go back to the White Tower, maybe?), and there’s the ancient cache of Rhuidean, which Moiraine had also boxed up for the White Tower but would currently be in Cairhien under Rand’s control. As they head for the farm, Elayne is trying to sort through the Kin’s stash, because a lot of trash is mixed in with genuine artifacts.

19. Elayne does take a moment to mournfully think about the fact that Rand is going to die and there’s nothing she can do about it. Honestly, another reason why the unequal division of relationships bother me! At this point, Rand, Min, Elayne, and Aviendha all know they’re working off a ticking clock that leads towards Rand’s almost-certain death, so it’s incredibly frustrating that Elayne and Aviendha get cut out of spending any of that time with him.

20. Items she finds that are genuinely Power-related:

a deep blue stone carving shaped like roots

an ivory box, covered in green and red stripes

a black rod the width of her finger, a pace in length, and flexible (Nynaeve says it feels like pain)

a stoppered vial with a dark red liquid inside

two-foot tall bronze bearded man, holding a book. heavy

and she finds an angreal shaped like a turtle! what she was hoping for! apart from the usefulness of the angreal itself, she hopes to use it to figure out how to make more

21. The head of the embassy, Merilille, first is trying to warn Elayne against inspecting the ter’angreal, telling her a story about a woman burning herself out... and then is further freaked out when she realizes that Aviendha isn’t simply letting go of her weave for the Gateway but is picking it apart. The Windfinders and Kin are also astonished. Elayne notes that they were taught at the Tower to NEVER try to do that. And Aviendha is showing some of the general Aes Sedai-related contempt that the Wise Ones in general have developed by scoffing, “Is this another thing you Aes Sedai cannot do?”

22. “Aviendha was far more important than any ter’angreal could ever be.” Aaah, that’s so sweet, because of how much we already know Elayne cares about ter’angreal. While no one really believes Aviendha about what she saw, the reader learns that Aviendha was absolutely right that the man watching her was no servant: it was Moridin.

23. Things that Moridin notes are new per the Third Age:

healing severing

the Warder bond

‘forced’ links (a’dam, I assume)

and what Aviendha just did

24. We also learn that he has ‘eyes’ in the White Tower, the rebel Aes Sedai camp, and with Rand, though I don’t think it’s a surprise to know that there are Darkfriend spies about.

25. We get a PoV from the gholam, which is pretty creepy but interesting. It drinks blood, can sense the Power being used, and really enjoys the feeling when a channeler dies and loses their connection to the Power. It’s aware of itself as ‘the most dangerous weapon’ and can remember the War of Power. And Mat’s medallion is the first time anything’s ever been able to hurt it.

26. Elayne and Aviendha talk about Rand and it’s moments like this that really make things feel more like a proper poly relationship than a harem. They talk about him a sensual/romantic way (he’s big on neck kissing) but also about his personality -- how he listens to advice but hates being pushed. The way Elayne describes Aviendha comes across as fairly demisexual to me; Rand was the first person she was ever attracted to; she only wanted to be a Maiden of the Spear before him. Elayne is trying to teach Aviendha all the things that she learned when she was growing up in Caemlyn.

27. The actual setting of the Kin farm and the story there is something that I do find interesting, but it’s a bit frustrating that I’m a hundred pages into the story and all the characters have done is change location. Love Aviendha gently touching Elayne’s arm to alert her of the look-out tower. They work so well together! The Kinswomen straight-up panic when they realize that Reanne brought Aes Sedai to the farm. During the panic, Adelas and Vandene have grabbed Ispan (their captive Black Ajah sister) away from the Kin.

28. Elayne has time to sort through some more of the potential stash from the Kin and finds:

a jewelry set, with each piece of jewelry a ter’angreal

a dull dagger wrapped with gold wire

a bright red rod as thick as her wrist that feels ‘hot’

a set of nestled metal basketwork balls that sound like chimes

a heavy glass ‘blacksmith’s puzzle’

two more angreal: a golden bracelet with attached finger rings & an ivory statue of a sitting woman

29. While the deal that Elayne and Nynaeve managed with the Atha’an Miere is crappy, so is the deal that Merana made with them. From the evidence we’ve seen, the only way to get concessions out of the Atha’an Miere is to be a very powerful ta’veren who is kinda annoyed at them and has no patience for their legalese (Rand & Mat).

30. Aviendha feels like she’s not doing enough to help Elayne and keeps failing her and shaming her. Elayne reassures her that she has NEVER shamed Elayne and never will; she gifts her one of the angreal that she found. Such a sweet & intimate scene that involves Aviendha being emotionally vulnerable and absolutely no one getting punched in the stomach! The vast majority of Jordan’s het romances could never. And Aviendha has started to teach Elayne Maiden handtalk. <3 One of the benefits of the near-sibling and first-sibling relationships is the ability to share your weaknesses with each other without it shaming either of you. And again, love this so much for Elayne and Aviendha. But it does kinda suck that none of the male characters get to have this kind of friendship where they are allowed to be consistently vulnerable -- the closest that we’ve ever gotten to it was Mat and Rand, and they still didn’t ever really TALK about these things, though they did provide silent comfort at times and were allowed to see each other being vulnerable through their actions. And once the ‘romances’ start being focused on more, the guys get split away from each other.

31. Nynaeve gets the bracelet-and-ring angreal. One of the Atha’an Miere gets the turtle that Elayne found first. The Atha’an Miere ‘philosophy’ of treating their teachers like trash not only seems unwise but is annoying to read. They are incredibly poor students who constantly interrupt their teachers and attempt things without waiting for them to be explained fully (and get annoyed when their teachers attempt to explain how to do things!). But the Bowl gets used, so there’s that.

32. Elayne realizes that the Bowl is drawing saidin as well as saidar and... and it really would have been so much better for the story and characters if linking with a man were required to use the Bowl. Though, of course, one of the main issues there is that Jordan recently traumatized Rand so badly that there is no possible way that he himself would be willing to enter a circle with Aes Sedai (other than Nynaeve or Elayne), but one of the other Asha’man, perhaps.

33. And then the Seanchan attack Ebou Dar. There are enough women channeling down there that it can be felt on the hillside miles away. And also they get attacked by raken (which is our ‘closest things we’ve got to real dragons’ dudes). At this point, they are thinking perhaps one of the Forsaken is here. Elayne worries about those left behind in the city, but says that there’s no reason to suspect any of them might be targets. Nynaeve wants to go back for Mat but Elayne and Aviendha talk her out of it. And then they realize that it’s the Seanchan and escape become even more acute. Elayne uses ‘Matrim’ here once, which I will reluctantly allow that she could have learned from Nynaeve. When they decide to leave him behind Nynaeve’s face “crumpled in pain”. So she does care about him, despite how freaking WEIRD she was about him in the last two books. They do think here that it’s possible Mat has already left the city, but Nynaeve in particular is obviously devastated to be leaving Mat behind*. Elayne suspects the Seanchan have “a few hundred” damane in their invasion force.

34. There are a hundred and forty-seven Kinswomen currently at the farm. Nynaeve is a bit miffed that the woman in charge of the farm, Alise, is taking care of everything and there’s nothing that Nynaeve herself needs to oversee. We also get the first mention here of the One Power being ‘weird’ around this area of Ebou Dar -- the weaves are reluctant to form and then ‘snap’ into place abruptly. Elayne weaves the Gateway for them all to escape to Andor. She’s taking them to one of her family’s manor houses, two weeks’ journey to Caemlyn.

35. Elayne is determined not to give Traveling to the Seanchan, so she unpicks her Gateway weave, so we get to hear how difficult the process is for a first-timer. Aviendha and Birgitte stay there with her while she does it, while Nynaeve and all the others head to the manor. In the middle of her work, a Seanchan patrol arrives over at the farm. Aviendha and Birgitte protect Elayne as she continues her work. Birgitte gets them mounted and Elayne holds onto the weave as they ride away (mounted backwards so she can see the Gateway). This part is all very tense and good and sounds very cinematic (tho expensive). The damane and sul’dam make it through the Gateway, shielding Elayne from the Power... which promptly makes the weave collapse and explode.

36. The shockwave of the explosion that hits them knocks them down to the bottom of the hill they’d just crested and all of them are incredibly bloody and bruised afterward. Aviendha touches her bloody fingers to Elayne’s cheek and tells her how scared she was for her. Two of the horses are dead, and the third fled as quickly as could be managed. There’s a wide smoking crater/burning field where the Gateway had stood. After Elayne realizes how much Aviendha risked to stay there with her, she tells Aviendha that she knows enough now to know that she wants to be Aviendha’s first-sister; she doesn’t need any more time. She kisses Aviendha’s cheek and Aviendha kisses hers back, which is wildly intimate for Aiel to be doing out in the open. “Elayne loved her as much for that gesture as all the rest” is very similar wording to what was used when she was talking about loving Rand in TSR. And after all that, Elayne thinks she “would never make a hero”. You already are, sweetie. All-in-all, this is definitely one of the most romantic scenes in the series. I vote for it being the place for the first Avilayne kiss in the show.

37. We get a brief PoV from one of the raken fliers over at the farm, who is keeping an eye on the situation from up high. There were six sets of sul’dam/damane pairs with this strike force, with another dozen sul’dam carrying a’dam to take women prisoner with. Apparently, like the Maidens of the Spear, women who are raken riders are also forced to quit if they want to get married and have families. Why? Seriously, why? I get why they couldn’t be fliers while pregnant; that makes sense, but why does marriage mean quitting your job? Anyway, the explosion nearly drops the raken and one of the riders is killed when the raken goes in a spiraling plunge from the force of the explosion. Like the Maidens, the raken riders also see Death as a woman -- the Lady of Shadows, who is potentially waiting on every flight. The rider notes that the farm is just... gone. We’re also reminded that High Lady Suroth (who readers know is a Darkfriend) is still the one in charge.

38. We are back to Perrin - I do like the description of how badly chaos has affected these days. Sadly, he notes that the wolves are of no help to him here. After dithering for several pages, he finally announces that Berelain and Annoura ARE going to actually do the task that they were sent here to do and be the ones to talk to the Queen here so that they know Perrin isn’t leading an invading army. The queen had actually sent a letter to Rand offering an alliance but all very hush-hush. Perrin thinks about how Berelain talking to Alliandre was “one of the reasons” that she was sent... huh, did Rand actually TELL Perrin that he was sending Berelain away because he was finding her too distractingly attractive (a characterization change I am still annoyed about)?

39. Perrin’s PoV is taking place “more than half a week” after the Bowl of the Winds was used. Because it was saidin and saidar working together, everyone assumes it was the Forsaken doing a huge project together. We also have Perrin wondering “how far could he trust an Aes Sedai”?

40. The deal Rand is offering Alliandre is that he will help her only if she is willing to openly support to him. Perrin still frequently has insulting thoughts about the people who are willingly following him and sworn to him. Honestly, his show characterization will improve so much on his book characterization because we won’t be able to hear all his super-petty thoughts about the people around him.

41. I’m not going to pretend that I don’t know these three people are Morgase, Lini, and Tallanvor. Anyway, Perrin & co. save them from an angry Dragonsworn mob. Perrin really is the only one of our main characters who could meet Morgase and not know who she was. We also get the others in Morgase’s party a moment or so later (and Perrin does recognize two of them from when he visited Basil Gill’s inn during EotW); and they all go to Perrin’s camp. Perrin sends the Dragonsworn that they caught back with a message that he’s been sent here by the Lord Dragon and any man doing disgusting work in Rand’s name will be hanged. Most of the other people in his group are annoyed because they were not supposed to warn Masema of their arrival, in case he didn’t actually want to come face to face with someone sent by the Lord Dragon.

42. I Do Not Care! about Morgase and Tallanvor’s romance subplot. Takes up too much time! Chapter 8 could be half its current size and still say everything that needed to be said! And Morgase feels like another example of a powerful woman who is made relatively powerless in order to be suitable romance material (like Siuan for Gareth - and I suspect this is part of the reason why Min is Rand’s featured girlfriend rather than Elayne or Aviendha; because she’s less powerful).

43. Perrin does find out from Basel Gill that the Seanchan have taken Amador, which Perrin assumes means they’ve taken Tarabon as well. He wants to warn Rand but Faile convinces him that Rand must already know.

44. In a Faile PoV, we learn that she send spies to the city - some of the young Cairhien nobles who sworn to her under the ‘society’ Cha Faile. They scouted out the city for her, made a map, and can confirm that wagons leaving the city are not being searched and then she sends them back into the city, for a secret mission that the reader doesn’t get to know.

45. It’s kinda amazing that Morgase & co all still believe that Elayne is “safe in the White Tower”. Though I suppose the truth is definitely news that the White Tower would suppress. They don’t want anyone to know that they have no idea where the Daughter-Heir is. Morgase is incredibly upset and concerned that Rand has ‘plans’ for Elayne. Morgase thinking of Perrin as “the Dragon Reborn’s wolf-eyed killer” is kinda amazing though.

46. Balwer offers (subtly) to be Perrin’s spymaster. Perrin has two (2!) spymasters (Faile as well) and Rand has none. Decidedly unfair, I say. Balwer proves his worth by naming the town that he believes Masema is in, a place called Abila. Perrin doesn’t take him seriously, believing that he’s puffing up himself to try to get into Perrin’s good graces. Balwer also tries to warn Perrin about the Whitecloaks, as they are now headed by two extremists.

47. The Wise Ones who have come along with Perrin are here to argue that he absolutely should NOT be bringing Masema back to Rand; Perrin should kill him instead. He is a rabid dog, in their opinion, who can only cause Rand harm. They say that the dreamwalkers confirm that Masema should die. If Perrin HAD killed Masema, then he would have been able to head straight back to Rand afterwards, which would have changed a lot of things. But Perrin is unwilling to do this just on the Wise Ones’ word (one of the Aes Sedai that came along tells Perrin that she agrees that Masema should be killed -- his Dragonsworn are a menace and the rules he imposes horrific; for Rand to be seen ‘embracing’ him will confirm people’s worst fears about Rand).

48. Perrin is reunited with Elyas, the wolfbrother that he met in EotW, who heard that Perrin was “running with the Dragon Reborn” and popped around to say hello. “Most will free a man who really  wants to go” Elyas says about Aes Sedai and Warders but I think this is literally the first time we’ve heard that any Aes Sedai might be willing to do that lol. In grand Elyas tradition, he is here to infodump about lore! This time, about Warder bonds. Most Aes Sedai can ‘fuzz’ the bond so that the Warder can’t sense her. Perrin again insists in his internal narration that he tries very hard to keep a lid on his temper, lol.

49. Berelain has brought back Queen Alliandre to talk to Perrin directly (Faile is annoyed by this and Perrin has no clue why... remembering her asking about whether or not wagons were checked, I suspect she was planning on having her Cha Faile collect Alliandre to bring to Perrin). Oh! News: Alliandre says that four days ago, Rand took Illian, so that anchors this plot point in time. Faile whispers under her breath that the Seanchan took Ebou Dar seven days ago (which is the same as the day the Bowl was used), so Ebou Dar falls three days before Rand takes Illian. Perrin repeats her words for everyone -- just assume Faile is feeding Perrin politically smart things to say here lol, because it continues.

50. After taking Perrin’s measure, Alliandre swears her fealty to him. “My lands and throne are his and I yield them to his hand.” She says she would swear to Rand if he were here, but since Perrin is his agent, she will swear to him. Alliandre tells him that the Prophet is in Abila, which matches Balwer’s info. Faile asks Perrin to leave so that she can talk to Alliandre and tells her that she wants her to ride along with Perrin when they go to talk to the Prophet. And it starts to rain as the Bowl’s weaving begins to take hold.

51. Chapter 11 is entirely Shaido nonsense. Sevenna is still Like That; Galina is still undergoing torture porn; they’re just in a new location now. We do learn here that there are multiple ‘Oath Rods’ - the one the White Tower has is marked with the three and this one Sevenna has is marked with 111.

Times Mat is mentioned by:

Aviendha x3

the gholam lol x2

Elayne x4

Nynaeve x 3

If I’d been thinking, I would have done this for Perrin too in TFoH, just out of curiosity.

Unnecessary scenes:

Sadly, this is the book when the Atha’an Miere went from “neat culture that I would enjoy learning more about!” to “the most annoying people in the world; I  regret all my curiosity”, so I’m putting all the annoying Atha’an Miere scenes here as well.

Perrin is given a lesson in Saldaean relationships by Elyas even though he literally had a lesson from Faile’s parents last book. Very unnecessary. The rest of Elyas’s scene is fine.

Annoying Atha’an Miere scenes: 1 (3 pages); 1 (6 pages)

Faile-Berelain jealousy nonsense: 1 (4 pages), 1 (1 page), 1 (3 pages)

Morgase and Tallanvor drama: 1 (4 pages)

Perrin re-learns about Saldaean relationships: 1 (2 pages)

Shaido nonsense: 1 (20 pages)

Spoilers through Winter’s Heart

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SPOILERS

*Yeah, I am absolutely going to call bullshit on Nynaeve not telling Rand that Mat was left behind in Ebou Dar when we get to Winter’s Heart! She’s clearly broken-hearted that they left him behind, yet when Rand makes the false assumption that Mat is with Egwene & the Band of the Red Hand, she says nothing to correct it. I’m not sure Rand ever even finds out that any of them were in Ebou Dar at any point? (because no one tells Rand anything)

[a-prekliatyvlk]

I don’t think I have ever really sat down and like talk talked about the twin’s jobs. Which is hard to do because technically (mostly) anything you are thinking could be considered their ‘jobs’. When talking about wolf character’s in general the pack mentality is a big deal. Im not talking about people fighting for dominance or shit I mean the FAMILY aspect of it all. I think with that being said you could probably think that if wolf packs in the real world existed. It would be Mafia’s and gangs. 

The other thing to consider is the fact that the twins come from a VERY VERY VERY old and long line of leaders. Vav was the first to make a VERY VERY large wolf pack. He in his own way loved his people and wanted to protect them. Since then most wolves if turned and survived mostly kept to themselves as drifters. Which made since, back in the time of Norse Men, the Churches over growing reach and times changing. Hiding out in the middle of some island or the wooded lands sounded mostly like heaven. Vav changed that with bringing people together and trying to keep them some what safe. I say some what because of his issues. However vav tried and in some ways succeeded in keeping a pack safe for a long while. 

Which leads me to my first point. Both Katia and Artem are Monarchs. They were bred for the purpose of leading a pack. That was the only reason that Vav wanted kids. So that when the time came, VERY VERY Far into the future, he could have strong kids to lead on his legacy. Despite everything the kids were brought into the pack with open arms and treated like kings and queens. Up until Vav realized that Artem wouldn’t do well as a leader and that Katia needed the sweetness beaten out of her. But for all intense and purposes. Katia and Artem are royalty. They are always whispered about in pack meetings and in awe when other packs see them because they are OLD. WISE. and honestly gentle rulers that have done everything they can to protect their pack. They are nothing like the Vukaxin last name. Which is saying something because it has been dragged through the mud for CENTURIES because of the two different packs. 

NOTE: this does not mean that if you have a wolf character they have to bow to the twins or know who they are. Honestly they don’t. The pack is old and elusive. Not many are going to know unless they grew up in a pack. So it’s fine if your wolf or pack won’t recognize Katia or Artem. 

So lets break this out right the twin’s job essentially and this will be done by Centuries to give you an idea of how it changed. 

Katia being taken throughout the Middle ages: 

This time frame is sort of the DARK AGES I like to call it. Katia gone, the pack barley starting to form. But Artems job was to get his sister back. That’s all. HIs wolf though understood the need to like protect his pack though so that is what he did. Though a round about way. Artem took on jobs as an Assassin or theif to get money for those first in the pack. Think like Dacian and Eva. 

Artem got his first taste of freedom by being a thief. His wolf loved the rush of stealing and honestly some of the others did too. It became a game to them, acting rich and taking what they could in the night. Back then most people let you sleep in their house if you were rich or someone they knew or could think they knew. Which happened with Artem a lot since he was known COUNTRIES away. No matter where he went. He was known if it was a wolf he was staying with. If it was a human. Dude the Twins had most of their lives (think 8-18) basically being trained how to be royalty, how to act and drink and think. Granted it was in wolf society but realistically it transfers. 

It as also during this time that they met Radovan, they tried to steal from him, so I mean. kinda hard to rob someone like that so they just brought him in and Radovan basically he helped them steal so much more than what they ever thought possible. They where doing fine before now it’s like mind blowingly good money. 

Also lets be real most of the income too came from selling drugs. Humans ATE that shit up and continue to do so so that’s what they did for a very long time. 

Middle Ages - Industrial Revolution / 19th Century: 

This is where it’s gray area. Katia at the end of the middle ages area basically kills her captor. And that means like not necessarily the man who kidnapped her. So many years went between when she was captured and like when she get’s free. It’s not going to be the same dude. Katia ends up basically destroying off a WHOLE GOD DAMN BLOODLINE. Not even a couple the whole bloodline of the man who captured her. From there she and Artem connect. It’s not easy, he’s already in the middle of his empire. It having grown. More people being added too it, they are now starting to realize they have to spend time together. The pack house starts to become a thing. 

Times are changing. It’s harder to use the whole royalty thing. Honestly speaking the pack has to start doing something else. They did try the gold rush for year’s. They basically rules towns that built railways, that helped people on the edge of the world. It was easiest to not get caught out there. The law was basically the strongest survive. It worked for a while. A good long while. Until business started to grow and things like Brothels, drugs and gangs ruled the cities or were starting too. 

This is were the pack thrived. Most has to pay tithes to the pack, if you wanted to set up shop, you paid the tithe. The pack soon became the go too person, you wanted something done. You visited the place with the wolf head. At this point all of this was run by Artem. He had gotten Katia back, his wolf decided to deposit him back in real life. It was time to be human again. Katia was spiraling and no one knew how to help. 

Katia spent several decades basically being the muscle. Fucking up people who dared threaten the life of the pack. It was worse as they grew because they spread out, the pack being in places like Chicago, LA, New York. At one point, Upper East side New York was the packs territory, nothing happened that they did not know about. Katia slowly started to realize that she had to get her shit together, enough so that people wouldn’t think of her as muscle but also brains of it. 

This is when the pack’s business started to flourish. Who didn’t like talking to a pretty women. 

20th Century and Present. 

This is where thing’s started to become what it is today. Through the 20th century the pack learned a lot of thing’s. How money fraud and check fraud was the way to steal LARGE amounts of money. That became art deals and antiquities, remaking things and selling. It was a hit and easy to do. 

Then came the 1980′s. Cartels and drugs. That became a crazy life style. Katia headed up that operation much to Artem’s dismay. Alot of the pack’s business’s started in the 80′s. They grew slowly, changing from place to place. Gangsters turned into Mob men that turned into drug dealer’s of the early 2000′s. Artem never wanted to do drugs but honestly it brought in so much money that the pack just kept with it. What were humans to gods that lived through CENTURIES. Nothing. 

Then came the internet. Alexander’s favorite toy. That PUSHED the pack into something that they couldn’t spend in LIFETIMES and CENTURIES. Alexander ruled the internet. Napster wasn’t the only thing he worked on. He BUILT an empire blackmailing. Someone had to keep track of it all. Katia did. 

Artem dealt with the Mobsters and Gang members the kind of men that respected a hardened front. This is what they do. They learned how to launder money, they learned how to destroy evidence. Honestly speaking they built their empire on the deaths of humans. 

To this day including Lobos de Boricua which the pack nurtured relations with their Leader Loni. to which Artem is soon to be mated too. Honestly the pack his WIDE spread feelers over everything. They know exactly whats going on and when it’s happening. Not much get pasts them. 

New gang in town. 

The pack already knows everything down to what you eat on tuesday’s when you are sad. 

THEY HAVE TOO. They built their business upon knowing things that no one knows. On making sure that they are the number one pick or you have no choice. 

Artem spends so much nurturing the leads they get. Building the business side of the business. If he isn’t dealing with pack thing’s he’s in building the business. He’s in business meeting’s and constantly on his phone or in his office. 

Katia is dealing with the mafia / mob / gang / CRIME world of things. She is the one meeting’s in shady bars and watching drugs funnel through the places. Watching THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS go through each business. Katia has to watch it, track it and make sure she keeps everything under wraps. 

Issue with shipments? She’s gotta take care of it. 

Payment issues? She’s gotta take care of it. 

Honestly speaking Katia is the one you don’t want to see. There is a reason why sometimes their business partners call her the Angel of Death. She will kill to protect. 

So basically the pack runs like a mob, feels like a family and at the end of the day. Artem is a business man, Artem deals with the LAW ABIDING side of things. Katia is a Queen. Katia deals with the underbelly and they know that if anyone looked too close they might start connecting the dots. Their job though is to make sure no one does. 

And they do it very very well. 

You will never hear anyone of their clients talk about them. If anything they will Howl. Like a wolf at the moon. Because they know if they talk they are going to get someone worse then the feds or police on their tail. 

They get Katia and that’s a fate worse than death. 

So the easiest answer is Artem does business. Katia does crime. This is the duality. Sometimes Katia has to be a business women. Sometimes Artem has to be a crime lord. Either way the twins job at the end of the day is to protect their pack and money is the only way to protect. In the human world money is everything. 

[unravelingthepages]

I Kissed Shara Wheeler- Petition to turn this book into a movie

Hi! This is my official petition to adapt I Kissed Shara Wheeler into a movie. Have y’all seen Moxie? This book reminds me of it, especially towards the end. And I loved this just as much as I loved Moxie. (I recommend both reading I Kissed Shara Wheeler and seeing Moxie so much! Both made me cry, the endings were amazing.) But back to my original point. This book would translate to a movie SO SO well! Even as I was reading the scenes, I could just see it in a movie format. Especially the speech at graduation, and the last chapter. Honestly, just make this book a movie!!

I Kissed Shara Wheeler is a young adult romcom that reminds me of the Taylor Swift song ‘Mastermind’. It embodies that song SO well. It is funny, frank, heartbreaking and heartwarming and so worth reading. I give it 5 stars.

The Plot

Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny.

But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes.

On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues and find her. It’ll be worth it, if Chloe can drag Shara back before graduation to beat her fair-and-square.

Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too.

Why you should read this book

Let’s start with the writing. It’s great. I laughed out loud and I cried. The book starts off a bit slow but it picks up around the 2/5th mark and I promise the slow beginning is worth pushing through.

The characters!!! They’re it. I loved them and I can relate to all of them. How some struggle with being seen, some with accepting themselves because of religious trauma, and so much more. I think the author says it well in the acknowledgments-

I wrote this book for the Chloes of the world, but also the Smiths and Rorys and Georgias and Benjys and, yes, even the Sharas. I know intimately that the Bible Belt contains some of the best, warmest, weirdest, queerest kids you’ll ever meet, whether or not they even know that last part yet. If you’re one of those kids, I wanted this book to exist for you. I think if it had existed for me back then, a lot of things in my life would have been different. I wanted to write a book to show you that you’re not alone.

(And also that you deserve ridiculous, over-the-top high school rom-coms about teenagers like you, just like the straight kids have! Don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise!)

I liked that this had only one POV. It was really great seeing Chloe (the protagonist) grow but also see the struggles and personalities of the other characters through her eyes. It’s especially refreshing to not have to keep up with the mindset changes of different characters like you have to do in books that have multiple POVs. Her character evolved and I loved seeing her fall in love.

More about the characters: I really loved all of them. I liked how it was a book set in highschool and the characters weren’t made to seem older that highschool kids. They were messy, imperfect and still undecided who they were as people. The camaraderie between them was realistic.

I really hoped I succeeded in convincing you to read I Kissed Shara Wheeler. This book feels like someplace you can be accepted and I loved that.

If you’re planning on purchasing this read, please consider using the following amazon affiliate link to purchase it. It would be at no extra cost to you and would really help me, thank you!

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