#rune and brand

[kbirbpods]

Original Fic: a poorly crafted lesson by @arsenicjade (arsenic on ao3)

Fandom: The Tarot Sequence

Relationship: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Tags: Whipping,Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Missing Scene, Canon-Typical Violence

Audio Length: 5 minutes, 48 seconds

Summary: After the whipping, Rune will be damned if anyone aside from him touches Brand.

[rannnem]

TWINRUNES FANART I SPENT ALL AFTERNOON ON!

It's how I think Kris would look like as a 16-17 year old (iirc they're roughly 14 in TR). I'm dying to do more fanart of this slightly older TR!Kris design so I'll totally make more

Twin Runes by @akanemnon their artstyle is so gorgeous i hope I did it justice

[badsongpetey]

Rune and Brand from KD Edwards' fantastic Tarot Sequence books! Great characters, queer rep, world building, a magic system that actually has costs, and, ofc, loveable doofuses. Deals with mature themes so take care, but an incredible read. Can't wait for more books...

[lyssq]

IT’S ABOUT BEING ENTIRELY DEDICATED SO MUCH TO PROTECTING SOMEONE, ALWAYS BEING PREPARED TO DIE FOR THEM (even if they don’t want you to), YOUR LIFE DOESN’T MATTER IT’S THEIRS

[ironwingedhawk]

If we ever get a scene with Max' uncle I hope Rune, Brand and Quinn go absolutely ballistic on him.

[soupandsorcery]

“I don’t hate the word boyfriend,” Rune says, picking up the thread of a days old conversation like the response has just come to him. And okay…it’s possible that it has, but that’s just for him to know. “It just makes me feel like a teenager with a crush.” 

Addam smiles, metal fingers curling around Rune’s ankle where it’s slung into his lap. “Am I to understand then, Hero,” he says, amusement and that teasing fondness making his voice deeper than usual. “That you would not have had a crush on me when you were a teenager?” 

Before Rune can finish being flustered by Addam’s tone, Brand is snorting from his place in the armchair across the room. 

“Hey. Shut up,” Rune says, and points at him for emphasis. 

Brand, predictably, ignores him. “He absolutely would have had a fucking crush on you back then. You would have come over with your smile and your accent and your dimples, and this one would have swooned all over his fucking self. All I would have heard for weeks was ‘did you see the way he looked at me, Brand? Do you think he likes me, Brand?’ Worse, I would have had to feel him crushing on you through the bond because his control was shit as a teenager. Fucking embarrassing.” 

“That’s offensive,” Rune replies. 

“Truth hurts,” Brand shoots back, shrugging a shoulder. 

Addam’s still grinning, showing off the very dimples in question, and Rune doesn’t think he can be blamed for the way his whole torso goes a little gooey at the sight. Teenage Rune would’ve had good taste, at least, if Brand’s right. Which he isn’t. Mostly.

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned my dimples in such a complimentary way, Brandon,” Addam says. “I’m flattered. And even moreso that you think they would have been enough to send Rune swooning into your arms.” 

Brand rolls his eyes. “It’s not the compliment you think it is, Saint Nicholas. You flash those things all the time when you want to get your way. That’s where Quinn gets it from. And Rune’s just weak to that pretty boy shit.” 

“You can’t be mean to me,” Rune complains. “I’m still recovering. I had an ordeal.” 

“Oh now you’re recovering. This morning when I caught you trying to sneak down to the beach without having breakfast it was ‘fuck off, Brand, I’m fine’.” 

“That was then.” 

“Uh-huh.” 

The two of them have a familiar stare down: Rune makes a pitiful face that he knows will just make Brand laugh at him, and Brand tries to keep his expression as flat as he can make it. The waves of good humor echo through the bond from both ends though, and Rune’s heart is very full. 

“I like the two of you like this,” Addam says after a bit. “It is always intriguing to see you in a fight, working together and reading each other's minds, but I much prefer when your odd version of telepathy can be applied this way.” 

“What, Brand using our sacred, special bond to bully me? Are you condoning this?” Rune asks, pretending to be outraged. “You’re supposed to be defending my honor, Addam. That’s sort of your job as my fiance and literal knight in shining armor.” 

“And if I thought your honor was in danger, I would certainly leap to your defense,” Addam replies evenly.

Brand laughs at that, and Rune folds his arms, lips turning down into an exaggerated pout. 

“Do you want to know what I think?” Addam continues, glancing at the pair of them. “I think that perhaps Rune would not have been the only one who was weak to ‘that pretty boy shit’, as Brand so colorfully put it. I think that if I worked at it, I could have had you both.” 

It’s an Addam level mic drop as he slides out from under Rune’s legs and makes a show of stretching. His arms reach overhead, and he pushes up onto his toes so his muscles pull into one tight line. A few inches of that lovely tanned skin flash as Addam’s shirt rides up, then disappear when he sinks back to his feet with a content sigh. He drops a kiss to the top of Rune’s head, puts a hand on Brand’s shoulder, and then makes his exit from the room. 

Rune and Brand sit in silence for a full minute once he’s gone, gaping in the direction he went. They turn to look at each other at the same time. 

“What the fuck was that?” Brand demands. 

“This is your fault for bringing his dimples into this,” Rune replies, sliding down the couch so he can put his head on the arm rest. “Everybody knows naming something gives it power.” 

“Shut the fuck up.” 

Rune can only sigh and wonder at his attraction to men obsessed with having the last word.

[innerslumber]

So I finished reading The Tarot Sequence including all the free stories on the author's website and I'm devastated because now I have to wait for book 4 and this is going to be a 9 book series...

AND THERE ARE ONLY 340 FICS ON AO3. WHY IS THERE NOT MORE??? THESE BOOKS ARE FUCKING GREAT. HOW WILL I BE SUSTAINED UNTIL BOOK 4????

*crying sobbing throwing up* 😭😭😭😭😭

[goodoldfashionednerd]

I'm rereading TTS so ✨ memes ✨

The last meme is sponsored by Max Saint John

[starlightwalker]

one thing that i've realized while casually rereading the first and second books is that you could make an argument and convince me that brand is into addam as much as you could convince me of the opposite. however there is no force on this planet that could make me not believe that addam is REALLY into brand

[waytointothetarotsequence]

So in The Last Sun, Rune talks about how Adam can't be his tallah, and we find out why in The Hourglass Throne. The spoilers start here: what if both Brand and Adam are his tallas, the only way he and Brand connected for the first time was because in the future Adam would be there. Meaning Rune and Adam were always meant to, and always did, go back in time to that night. Runes tallah bond broke in the past with Brand because Adam and current Rune return to the current time.

Just some random thoughts while rereading the books.

[frostdragon]

I've had a moment of not doing much drawing for a moment. things happening, but I am finally getting around to finishing things now that I have a new desk and place to work. Baby Rune and Brand.

[thetarotsequence]

And so it begins - reread 2024

[ars-matron]

The Tarot Sequence Reread

Nothing has given me brain rot in a long while like the Tarot Sequence by K D Edwards has. And since I just finished reading all the supplemental stuff right when my hold for The Last Sun came back up I thought I would do something I have only done once before-and in a much less flattering way for a book I hated-and live blog my reread.

There's just so much in this series I need to pay closer attention to. And usually I would go on here and read some metas, but there is literally nothing!! The only things in the tags for this series is people wishing there were more people reading it, a handful of very wonderful fanarts, and an account of the decline of a discord that evidently used to exist for it. So, maybe this will encourage some people to read the books too.

Because there are some heavy topics in this series anytime I talk about such topics I will tag for them, but if they don't come up in the chapters I'm reviewing, I won't. So if you have certain things back listed you might not see all my posts on it. Anyone who is reading along and is curious about it can DM me.

NOW! Predictions and things I want to pay attention to under the cut for spoiler reasons.

The Tower. At the end of the prologue of the first book my thoughts were, " So we trust NO ONE!!" Except Queenie, because why would Rune and Brand live with her if she was evil? Then the children showed up and I had to trust them, they were too young to be part of the, whole thing, plus they are so cute. You have to trust them. And then Addam came along, and of course we trust him, he's an Addam, he's a giant dancing teddy bear and I love him! So I read the whole series (that's out so far) expecting we would find out the Tower was an evil guy, that he had had something to do with the fall of the Sun Throne. Honestly by the end of the third book I didn't think that any longer, and I was starting to before that after finding out he was also Qunn's godfather because!!! There is no way Qunn wouldn't have seen if the Tower revealed he had been a part of all that. (I'm still asking myself HOW exactly he or Mayan wouldn't have noticed an astral projection listening device being installed in Rune's room at their freaking tower that is super locked down! But then it happened for two other locations that were supposed to be super warded and protected my other companions too. So maybe it isn't his fault. I do think he might blame himself, I do think that some of his stand-offishness might also be guilt for not being able to stop the attack on the Sun Throne to start with. We will see...) I'm going to go into this read through with the assumption he is just lonely and sad and not a bad guy.

QUEENIE!!!! Because, WHO THE FUCK IS QUEENIE!? I was already suspicious because every time someone asks Rune and Brand where she came from, or how long she's been with them, they say "She's been with us forever." Every time! It reeks of mind fuckery. Then Eidolon and the epilogue that wasn't came along. Current theory is that she is the Empress, and also that she's probably Rune's mother. I would be willing to bet she was the woman at the end of the third book who spoke up to the river after everyone else. Edwards did a good job of making her disappear in the background, but I'm gonna be hunting for every mention of her and how she acts around everyone.

Ciaran, just because I love him and at first also suspected him of evil deeds. But he's just your gay vodka uncle and he loves all his adopted family so much and I just want to keep a closer on him at the start of the series.

Kellum. We only see him once in the second book, but he's mentioned in Eidolon by the Fool (Or Queenie pretending to be the Fool, again I'm not sure, there's Queenie interference for sure) And he was in one of the supplemental novellas. I think he will be making a bigger appearance in the next book.

Quinn's prophecies. I'll probably make a list of those for a separate master post.

Tallas. The Atlantean soul mates. This is a MAJOR spoiler. Rune says that Brand and he formed a talla bond the night of the attack. That it was what brought Brand out of the geas and got them to safety. The bond was gone when he woke up in the hospital and he's spent this whole time thinking he's somehow broken their talla bond. Something definitely happened between him and Addam in the Westlands, and I don't think Addam was wrong in assuming it was the budding of a talla bond. Because something sort of bond-like is also there now after the Hourglass Throne, after he used his bond with Brand to get him and Addam back to their time. My theory here is that they might be each other tallas, all three of them. Together. We know that it doesn't have to be a sexual relationship, though I don't think Addam would mind that one bit. Everything is pointing to the three of them being tied together somehow, and my theory is mostly that, before they were together together, no one talla bond could form and take precedence over the other. Now that they are together all the time, going on missions, living together, they have more opportunities for a bond to fully form and take hold. Assuming it involves all three of them.

And with that, I'm going to go read!

[colorisbyshe]

i'll never understand limited edition, collector's editions for PREORDERS of new games

like for existing franchises, i mostly get it. it's not for me but like, sure, ten+ years in a franchise you know you're into it and the merch likely applies to previous games and not just the new one

but limited edition collector's preorders for new ip? or like anthology series where each game has a whole new cast/setting? that's insane

why are you spending $100 on what might be Dogshit: The Game

why is this happening

is the fomo that strong

[ironwingedhawk]

[soupandsorcery]

I am still so amused at how outraged I was by Addam's presence when I read The Last Sun. I definitely went into that book assuming Rune and Brand were end game, and I was like who tf is this pretty boy interloper??? And then like 2 chapters later I was in love with him.