#so ofc I chose a dragon to try this out on

[blindecho6]

[general-cyno]

ehh it's just me musing but. I do find it a little curious that (depending on who likes whom I guess) cora is usually either seen as some saintly flawless goofy figure or a brainwashed cop who got killed because he refused to try and save his brother. I do think his character is not exactly easy to pinpoint, considering he appears for a very short time and in a flashback nonetheless, plus the fact that he's dead means no further fleshing out of his character - broadly speaking - outside of the people who knew him and are willing to provide insight on what he was like, though that'd still be kinda biased.

however I believe there's actually a bunch of things that were straight up shown and some that can be pieced together from what little panel/screen time he had: ie how he's seemingly more bad tempered, impulsive and violent than he's portrayed as in fanon at times, albeit motivated by his own priorities at the moment (trying to kick the shit out of law to stop him from exposing cora to doflamingo) + his sense of what's right and wrong and to whom it applies (punching medical staff and setting hospitals on fire for mistreating law, whom he'd been trying to help).

specifically about the navy and doflamingo part... it irks me a little, tbh. partly because it removes what little agency cora had during the flashbacks and sort of waters down his motivation to stop his brother. it's not just whatever crimes doflamingo was committing or planning to back then and the navy wanting to put a stop to that - the thing is that cora was influenced, at least to an extent, to oppose doflamingo based on their childhood experiences with (ofc) the more negative ones, which include doffy murdering their father right in front of him, overshadowing anything else. as he tells law, cora can't fathom how their kind parents could've borne someone as evil as his brother. and yet. that's the other thing. cora was very much a child, and younger than doflamingo at that, when the elder DQs chose to leave marijoa and all that it entailed after. between all the traumatic events he lived through and later being raised by a marine (sengoku of all people), I'll be the first to say his perception of those events, of their parents and doffy himself is not really the most unbiased or reliable. we don't see him questioning the existence of celestial dragons (beyond warning law he's in danger when cora finds out about the D) nor the nature of the WG/the marines and the antagonistic role they play in OP's universe. we didn't have him long enough for those things to be put to question deeply anyway, especially not wrt to doflamingo, so imo it makes sense that his focus wasn't on "saving" but stopping him.

that said... he does witness the worst of it, kind of. through law. law is the very reason why I don't agree with the idea of cora being simply a brainwashed cop. this guy watched how people (those who should care) mistreated, dehumanized and demonized a sick child over prejudices caused by the lies the nobles and WG itself relied on to sweep their own corruption under the rug. he saw first hand how all those doctors ran to call the WG to kill the child and how they answered to do that. and what did he do? he lied and betrayed the organization he'd been part of (presumably for more than the years he spent undercover) and the man who'd raised him like a son just to save the kid that everyone, even the so called justice, had turned his back on and would've gotten rid of if given the chance. heck, when he first brought up the topic of law with sengoku, the man basically told him not to favor him too much for it could jeopardize his mission.

but perhaps the biggest proof is that he lied to law about being a marine when the latter directly asked if cora was one. as he later admits, cora lied to him about this because he didn't want law to hate him - and knowing all law lived through (flevance), seeing some of it himself (their hospital shenanigans) and what law told him as well, cora knew he had plenty of understandable and justified reasons to hate anyone ever slightly associated with the marines or the WG, including cora. to me, someone who's completely blinded by the navy/WG propaganda and follows their every order to the letter without thought wouldn't have denied his own affiliation nor been so determined to ditch being a marine and make an enemy out of those institutions (even if that also meant betraying his father figure) just to save, protect and do right by a child who'd been clearly failed by them. at no point did cora ever try to argue that Not All Marines, much less express any other sentiments of that sort to law.

on a similar vein, despite insisting doflamingo was evil and an agent of destruction - law is also the proof cora was somewhat aware that his brother (and people like doflamingo) normally don't pop out of nowhere and do Terrible Things just because. that maybe in other (better) circumstances, doffy might've become someone different and/or made different choices. after all, cora is the one who points out the similarities between doflamingo and law, and eventually does his best to turn law's life around so that he won't follow the same path. should he have tried to save doflamingo as well? when? how? would it have worked? who knows. and if you ask me, regardless of their similarities at that moment in time, doffy was already a grown ass man compared to law and cora himself was just an even younger kid when shit hit the fan in their childhood. I'm not sure doflamingo (as an adult) would've been particularly receptive of "help" either, considering his disdain for the kindness in cora and their father that he saw as a weakness. not to mention waaay too many other factors that come into play also (trebol and co's grooming and influence for example). still, one of them did pull the literal trigger in the end and it wasn't cora, so there's that.

all in all, for a character with such a short lived amount of time in the story - cora is quite the complex one and so very compelling. characterizing him as just strictly one thing or the other can be a little reductive but the fact that his character can be explored beyond that in the first place (once more, despite his lil bit of alive and onscreen moments) is what's fun and says a lot about the writing itself.

[the-common-cowgirl]

Chapter 1 - Intro

Pairings: Aemond Targaryen x OFC (Anikyra Targaryen)

Summary: The Peaceful King Viserys hears word of a Targaryen Princess that resides in the broken stronghold of Valyria; which has since become an immature kingdom after of the doom befell their land. Feeling the tension between his house and believing the long night may soon come, Viserys proposes a betrothal between the Valyrian Princess and his second son, Aemond Targaryen, believing his daughter’s prophetic dream that the child born of this union will become the prince that was promised.

Warnings (Ch. specific): Mentions of murder and usurpation.

Word Count: 1600

A/N: AHA! First chapter of this rework done! Probably going to work on finishing The Lost Children after this unless this gets a lot of attention lol.

Masterlist

Dawn awakened over the vast land that once was the great stronghold of Valyria; now an emerging kingdom over the broken land. The red, hot sun greeted her on the east side of her balcony and the beautiful, bright rays danced along the pale, blue water of the sea that faced her to the south. The large, shiny, black castle, mounted on the side of a great mount of stone and soot, stood tall above the city. She could see the hustle of morning coming and goings of the smallfolk below her who now resembled crawling ants. She often sat high above them on warm dawns with her tea, wondering if, although their lives were harsh and rough, were they simpler? Were those people below her free in the choices they made or were they too, confined to a blind duty born of their station? Did they have autonomy over their beating hearts or were they too a prisoner in their own personal hell? 

She doubted it.

 She heard a door open in the distance behind her and knew her handmaiden was coming to ready her; she also knew the handmaiden would be bearing news in which she dreaded. News of the scheming of the King of Valyria and another King of a distant land. News that would be comparable to news of her own execution; at least, in her mind. She did not want to hear it but she knew it would come regardless of her wishes. So, she decided to muster up her courage, to take her cup with now cool tea and walk into her bedchambers to hear if this was the news her handmaiden would be bearing.

“Princess, a messenger has sent word that the Targaryens of Westeros have embarked on their journey here.”

The ‘False Targaryens’ you mean. 

She all but slammed her cup on a table, nearly breaking the fragile porcelain, angered by the audacity of these Westerosi to come here and believe they have any sort of claim to what was once their homeland. A homeland they were exiled from when Aenar defiled the name “Targaryen '' by gambling his riches awash then trying to make good on his debts by stealing his elder brother’s, Aelys Targaryen, dragon eggs. Aelys should have not only exiled him, but executed him. No, her ancestor, Aelys, allowed his brother to be exiled comfortably with his family, a dragon and a handful of eggs. After the doom befell Valyria,  all the dragons fell from the sky, burning from the outside in, and Aelys’ only daughter requested help from the Westerosi. She asked for Aenar to bring his dragons and help what remained of the dragonlords escape the wrecked ruins of what was their home. Aenar responded with a simple “Nyke ivestragon Aelys hen bisa vejes” [I tell Aelys of this doom].  So, desperate for help and to save the remains of her people, she took it upon herself as the last highborn blood of the dragonlords alive, she turned to head to Asshai…and the Taragryens rose from the ashes…without the help of the last of their kin.

“Princess?” Her handmaiden approached lightly and slowly; holding out her hand as if she were approaching a deadly beast that needed to sniff her first to know she’s not a threat.

“Yes, Tiah. I understand the words you spoke. I know they are coming. I’d be more content today if you chose to not speak of it. Is that understood?” She snapped with an edge to her voice she wasn’t intending upon. Realizing she was staring harshly toward her handmaiden, she softened her stance slightly and turned away to hide the outburst; lip twitching with residual anger.

 Tiah, she thought, only a year older than I but such a meek and foolish girl still. 

Her handmaiden took two steps back briskly. She held her head down and hands clasped behind her back. “Yes, your Grace. I will not speak further about them.” Like an obedient dog. 

The Princess, overcome with emotion of anger she did not want to process nor dim, yet also, feeling the need to apologize to her poor handmaiden who was only doing her duty in informing Princess of the updates that the walls of the castle echoed, decided to walk out to the balcony again instead of apologizing for her misdirected anger. 

Tiah is not the enemy here. Keep your head clear. Breathe. 

 After some time, the Princess decided to walk back into her bedchambers yet again, call upon her handmaiden, and ask for help dressing in a gown. She did not care which gown her handmaiden decided to pick, as long as it was light in this warming daylight and allowed her to breathe unrestrictedly. The day was hot and will grow hotter as the sun crawls higher into the sky. Tiah picked a thin silken gown that would allow her to stroll the castle on this day of summer without becoming faint. Emerald green silk with gold filigree embroidered on the sleeves and either side of her torso. It showed off a hint of her collarbone and she decided that it was an acceptable amount of skin to show to court. The Princess’ left hand slid along her exposed collarbone. Slender fingers caressing her soft skin. 

I will not become some broodmare for a false dragon. She reminded herself in the mirror. I am the true daughter of Valyria. The last true dragon of Valyria and I will not let the false Targaryens of Westeros feast upon my body with their eyes. I will not bend, nor will I break. 

 She thought of her mother and how she did not bend, nor break to her father’s whims. The beautiful “Light of Valyria” remained gentle but firm in her hold of power. How her mother loved her father deeply but it was her who sat the throne. How her father helped raise Valyria from the ruins and strengthened their fledgling kingdom, his duty born purely out of the love he held for her mother. Despite all of their love, duty, and power, they only produced a single child. One daughter. 

Naturally, being the “First Child of Valyria,” she would be the heir uncontended; free to marry whomever she wanted, regardless of status or power. If only the natural order of things were so easy to abide by. 

The day they revolted against her father, the King Consort, she had viewed her mother’s face for the first time for who she truly was: a monster. Only a monster would sentence their true love to death. Only a monster would marry the man who usurped her father’s place and allow him to stand beside her throne as her new King Consort. Only a monster would lie with the man who murdered her only child’s father and only a monster would give birth to the most precious being in this world. 

Her younger sister. Only four years younger but still so very wise and kind. The only person in this world whom Anikyra has ever had to love and cherish. The only one who had ever claimed to love her and didn’t abandon her for the sweet taste of death. The young Princess Scilia was the very image of their mother. Pale hair, purple eyes, touched by the dawn and the light above. She always wore light colors as well; an homage to her mother. The elder sister sometimes even thought that Scilia was the Sun itself; especially when times were dark and cruel. Many referred to the young Princess as “The Light Princess.” 

Those very people had a similar name for the elder Princess. A name she did not care to refute as she knew the truth in it. When she was born, in the month of the Sapphire, her father was so happy his child would carry a reminder of him, regardless how small. The midwives called it “touch of dark.” Her mother called it “soul of the dragon.” But the people of the great castle called her “The Dark Princess,” for the small patch of black hair on the right side of her head, intertwined in her long, thick silver locks.

Those names, those whispers as she walked the slick, black floors of the castle, they gave life to the fire burning within her. Gave life to the rage she felt. Gave life and all that is unholy to the plan she had laid before herself once she heard the news, fourteen years ago, that her mother had been taken out of the castle a month after the birth of the Usurper King’s first child, the child that sealed his place on the throne, and executed in secret by the that very man. By the Usurper, her Father-by-law. She may be the heir to her parent’s murder’s kingdom, but this kingdom will bend the knee to her and her alone. She will take her realm back by blood. 

She found herself in front of the massive iron double doors to the throne room. As they opened, the large crowd of the court turned all eyes toward her and dared not look away for even a moment, as they always had done. The masses watched the predator in the eyes of the Dark Princess at all times for sign of a threat, waiting anxiously for the day she finally snaps and ends the man who murdered the very couple who gave her life.

She began ascending into the throne room, straight toward the Valyrian Throne where the now-King sat and a voice called out before her. 

”Princess Anikyra of the great House Targaryen. First child of Valyria, Heir to the Valyrian throne.”

Likes, comments and reblogs are never necessary but always appreciated!

For updates when I post chapters, follow fics-by-the-common-cowgirl!

[crikeygatormate]

I Promise - K.B ; Part 2

Summary: After your clan had been exiled and shunned from the western lands, your family grew to hate the royal family who they felt betrayed them. In return you were sent on a mission to reclaim your families honor, but you would come to find out that your mission came with a price.

Dragon Prince!Bakugou x AFAB Reader

Warnings: Hunting and animal death, somewhat graphic, use of weapons (spear), detailed creepy scorpion type bugs sorry lol, acceptance of death, graphic injuries, spelling errors ofc

A/N: sigh I’m a sucker for bkg treating wounds, makes me happy lol and to add this isn’t like a abo sort of thing, I just like long canine teeth 

(Part Three)

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

PART TWO

You waited for a good hour before Bakugou came back to your tent. In the time you waited, the clear dawn sky was starting to fill with dark clouds, you could even see lightning crackle in a few clouds in the distance. You sighed, it smelled like it was going to rain even, and with a groan you leaned forward and laid your forehead against your knees, watching a small ant fight its way through the thick summer grass. 

“Hey,” Bakugou’s timbre voice appeared out of nowhere causing you to jump out of your own skin, “let’s go.”

You blinked hard, still recoiling from the small adrenaline surge from his sudden appearance, you took another beat of silence before speaking up, “and where are we going?”

“Showin’ you around,” Bakugou grumbled as he brushed a ladybug off his bare shoulder.

You lifted a brow about to say something till he shot you a menacing stare.

“I am not your tour guide, just fuckin’ doin’ this so the ancient hag will get off my ass,” he quickly snapped, “get up, I need to get out and hunt before it rains.”

You pressed your lips together, clearly a little displeased with his attitude, but you listened and got up to follow him around the camp. Your sharp tongue would not serve you well during this time, you needed to be passive, collected. You needed him to trust you, in fact, you needed him to befriend you.

You furrowed your brows in thought as you followed him around the camp, not really listening to him as you mulled through different ideas on how to become his friend. Obviously you couldn’t ask what he likes, that would give you away, he was already suspicious of you. 

“This is where most of the women cook, if they chose to do so,” Bakugou explained, unaware, or simply not caring that you were completely zoned out and deep in thought. “I’m sure you’d love to spend a lot of time here,” he quipped, as his vermillion gaze cut towards you.

You were pulled out of your thoughts at his comment. Was that a dig at you? “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothin’,” Bakugou shrugged, trying hard not to let his lips pull up into a smirk at your frown.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes, “you haven’t changed at all, ya know? You’re still that little snotty brat I met in the field when we were kids,” you said before you were able to hold your tongue.

“The fuck?” Bakugou gasped, clearly caught off guard, “what makes you think you can say that to me?”

You shrugged, internally wincing at your words, you should not have said that. Now he’s all mad, in fact his ears were all red. You tilted your head as he lifted his upper lip into a snarl, or was it a sneer? Wait, you paused as a slow grin grew on your face, was he embarrassed? “Did I embarrass you?”

Bakugou huffed, and quickly glanced at the older women who stopped skinning their deer to listen, and then he looked back at you. The air around him dramatically rose a few degrees and he bared his teeth at you, “no, you didn’t embarrass me, fuckin’ gnat. You can figure out the rest of camp by yourself if you’re gonna be like that,” he snapped and then promptly left you, cursing you out under his breath no doubt. 

You snorted, shaking your head. There was a small twinge of pride you felt bloom in your chest at his outburst. Then again though, you probably just took about five steps back from becoming friends with him. With a quick glance over your shoulder you took off after him.

“Hey, please show me around, look I’m not a morning person okay, I get grumpy this early-”

“No,” Bakugou hissed, as he looked at you through narrowed eyes.

“C’mon, this place is at least triple the size of my home, I’ll get lost,” you tried to plead, which wasn’t very convincing at the slightest.

Bakugou stopped walking and folded his arms over his chest. The sky was now almost black with storm clouds, “No.”

You rolled your eyes, “why not?”

“You’re annoying as shit,” Bakugou began taking a step towards you, “and not to mention you’re obviously hiding something, don’t think I can’t see the way you’ve been watching us, watching me. Sizing me up like prey.”

You folded your arms across your chest, mirroring him. The little lighthearted banter you had going on was quickly put out as he took another step towards you and you were reminded again how big he was, how strong, how smart. 

“You’re sly, like your clan, I know a snake when I see one, and you’ve been givin’ me all the signs,” he hissed as lightning flashed behind him, illuminating his figure.

“I’m not like them,” you said seriously, a small part of you couldn’t tell if you were lying or not. “I’m not, just because I share the same name and traits does not mean I am them. You don’t even know me, and not to mention I went out of my way to save you and your dragon. If I’m such a snake, why did Kirishima come to me first?”

Bakugou’s upper lipped twitched up and he shook his head, “he’s fuckin’ dumb thats why.”

“No he’s not,” you shot back, “just give me a chance, your grandmother is willing to give me one, why can’t you?”

Bakugou mulled over your words, keeping his unblinking gaze trained on you before he spoke again. “Come on my hunt then, if you can feed the clan before yourself, then I might be convinced.”

So he wanted you to hunt and then feed his clan, but not yourself. So obviously he wanted you to give up your food for the foreseeable future, which was not ideal. But you had no other choice. A bitter feeling settled in your gut as you glanced at some clan members, they were watching you through narrowed eyes and bared teeth. They hated you.

Not like you liked them, but you were willing to do anything to get your job done, and if that meant feeding your enemies before yourself you would do that.

“Fine,” you said with a curt nod, “I’ll do that-”

“For a week,” Bakugou concluded. A week with scraps would break almost anyone, which is what he wanted. If you were hiding something or had an ulterior motive it would come out surely. No one would sacrifice their wellbeing to that extent. 

“A week then,” you repeated, keeping your face passive.

—--------------

You found yourself out in the woods with Bakugou, along with a few other hunters. It was raining now, and hard. Water was streaming down your face, making you have to wipe your eyes every few moments to help you maintain your sight. 

You were hunting an elk, a bull. The elk in these lands were large too, larger than any animal you’ve seen in your life. When you told Bakugou’s hunting group that you’ve never seen an elk before, they laughed at you. Then not so subtly mocked you on how your clan was used to eating rats and other vermin.

You would have normally snapped at them, said something foul, but a quick glance at Bakugou reminded you that you were on a mission. He was watching your every move. You were an outsider here, a traitor, and you needed his trust. 

“Look at how clumsy you are,” Sero, one of the other hunters mocked as he flicked your arm, “clearly never been in the woods in your life.”

“You’re loud too,” Kaminari said with a snort as he watched you step directly on a branch, causing it to snap loudly. 

You were bristling, barely holding back your venom as you pushed forward. In fact, you were sure you were going to break a canine tooth if you kept grinding your teeth so hard. Did they not forget that you were practically once royalty too, not like Bakugou, but far above the likes of their families. 

You shared a lot of the same traits that the Bakugou’s did, the oddly colored eyes, affinity for dragons, and sharp teeth. Not to mention being more skilled athletically than the normal person. 

“There,” Bakugou interrupted his friends, lowering his voice as he came up next to you. He was crouched low, vermillion eyes trained on a group of elk in the distance. “You have one shot,” he said quietly as his gaze slid over to you.

You met his eyes with a look of determination. Of course, you were somewhat nervous, but you had practice taking down big game, well if emancipated cows counted as big game. You didn’t have the luxury to practice on real game because there were none in your homeland. 

With a sharp inhale you looked away from him and zeroed in on the largest elk in the herd, the bull. He was massive, with a tawny coat that stretched over strong muscles. He was grazing ahead of the herd, but was cautious, swiveling his ears to listen for any sign of danger. 

The rain was your friend in this moment for it helped cover the sounds of your movements in the undergrowth towards the bull. You kept yourself low to the ground, as you moved downwind so he wouldn’t catch your scent. Just like you used to practice. Your breaths were slow, calm as you reached back to grab your spear when you came within range. The bull still hadn’t noticed you, and was looking more relaxed, this was your opening. With one swift movement you pulled your spear off your back and threw it towards the bull. 

A thud and a short scream from the bull let you know you hit your mark. It was a clean shot, right through the heart, and you watched with pride as the big elk tumbled to the ground. He let out a final breath as he watched his herd run to safety.

You were quick to make your way over to your kill, inspecting it to make sure it wasn’t suffering any longer than it should. To your delight, you had done everything perfectly. For a moment you felt a twinge of happiness that you accomplished something, but it was quickly doused the moment you remembered not to get distracted by your own feelings again. 

“Well that wasn’t that impressive,” Sero said as he yanked your spear out of the elks side, “he was old anyway.”

“Should have made her hunt a young bull,” Kaminari added, “those ones have a lot more fight.”

You shot them a glare, but quickly turned your focus to Bakugou who was silent. 

He nodded once at you, “Bring it back to camp, and clean it for tonight.”

You glanced at the bull, it had to be at least eight hundred pounds. Which was heavy, how could you even begin to pull it? 

“Don’t be out here after dark,” Bakugou added, his eyes holding a slight glint of malice as he turned around to head back to camp. Not before smacking Kaminari in the back of the head as he passed by him. 

You stood still, dumbfounded that they would leave you out here in the pouring rain and make you figure out how to make your way back to camp even though you’ve only been there one day. With a disgruntled sigh you glanced to the sky, it was probably about midday now, and the trek back would take all the way till nightfall, if not more. 

—---

“Damn,” you panted, as you dropped the bulls antlers, you were shaking from exhaustion. You probably made it about halfway back to what you presumed was camp, but it was already night. Thankfully it stopped raining though, or else you would have not been able to see the smoke stacks that were rising at the foot of the mountain, where you assumed Bakugou was. 

There was no moon out tonight which would have been problematic , but the forest was surprisingly well lit. There seemed to be some sort of bioluminescent plants that would glow at night, lighting your path with a soft blue light . It was strange seeing so much life and so much diversity after being in a place that had none. 

As much as you were intrigued with the flora in the woods, you didn’t forget Bakugou’s warning to not be in the woods at night. He knew there was something in here that was dangerous, was he hoping that you would encounter it? Surely he must have, you’re practically inviting something to hunt you with the carcass you're dragging. 

You glanced over your shoulder quickly, trying to see if there was any flash of movement before beginning to pull the elk again. 

—----

Bakugou huffed, glancing up at the forest from where he sat around the fire. You had been gone a long time now, and his grandmother would be heading to dinner soon, which meant she would ask him about you. 

He frowned, already expecting the ancient hag to smack him over the head with her cane. His mother, though, would be pleased to hear he left you in the woods, where the creatures of night would surely be thrilled to have an easy meal.

Someone sat next to him, he didn’t have to look to know it was Kirishima. 

“Got anymore of that boar from the other day?” Kirishima’s voice cut into his thoughts.

Bakugou glanced over at his dragon, he was still pale. His red eyes seemed dull, but he looked much better than he did this morning. “No, waiting for the traitor to bring back dinner. Elk.”

Kirishima gasped, “you left her up in the woods! Katsuki!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes and returned his gaze to the forest, “she’s fine.”

“No she’s not! The moon is gone tonight,” Kirishima said as he looked up at the dark sky. There were only stars out tonight. “Those things will be out, and they’ll be hungry.”

“Then she’ll have to figure it out,” Bakugou replied with a shrug. The things Kirishima was so worried about were some kind of creature that he thought resembled a scorpion. They were blind, and would only come out once a month during a new moon to hunt. He tracked them before up to a large cave near the top of the mountain. He learned they didn’t like light and used their sense of smell to hunt. They would kill their prey with a sharp sting to the side and carry it back up the mountain to a much bigger one, presumably the queen. 

He thought they were fuckin’ creepy as shit, not mention hard to kill. They had a tough armor of chitin on their backs and could only be killed with a spear to the abdomen or fire. 

“They’re gonna sting her and bring her up the mountain, Katuski, you can’t let that happen,” Kirishima said with wide eyes as he grabbed Bakugou’s shoulder roughly.

“Why the hell do you care so much?” Bakugou snapped, looking back at Kirishima with furrowed brows.

Kirishima’s hand slipped off Bakugou’s shoulder and he brought it to his lap and looked down. “I dunno,” he shrugged as he played with a string on his pants, “I just trust her I guess. She has a good heart.”

“A good heart, huh?” Bakugou snorted, “good heart my ass. She obviously is here for a reason and not a good one, don’t you think it’s ironic that she showed up almost a minute after you got hit with a silver arrow? Not to mention, someone knew that silver would hurt you.”

Kirishima nodded, but kept his gaze down, “I know, but she has a dragon, Katsuki. I know I’m not like the wild ones, but we follow the same routine when picking our rider, our partner,” he explained as he looked up at his best friend. “We don’t choose people who are truly evil by nature.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes and then glanced over to the area where your dragon was tied off. She looked agitated. Her amber eyes were focused on the woods too, maybe something was wrong.

“I’m starved,” a frail voice said, his grandmother, who he somehow didn’t hear sit down across from him. “Did you have a successful hunt this morning, Katsu?”

Bakugou looked at his grandmother, she seemed to already know what had happened. “Yes.”

“That’s good,” she said as a horrid shriek from the forest echoed down the mountain. It sounded like a woman’s shriek, and suddenly your dragon was up, roaring loudly. A few commoners screamed as she violently tugged at her restraints. 

Bakugou ran a hand over his face before making eye contact with his grandmother once more.

“Did you leave that poor girl up there?” she hissed, narrowing her vermillion eyes, “a prince shouldn’t act like that, that’s barbaric.”

“That’s rich- '' Bakugou began, about to remind her of his family line, which did in fact include barbarians.

“Go get her,” his grandmother interrupted, her voice was low and she was looking at him like she was going to smack him with her cane from across the fire. 

Bakugou stood up and roughly kicked a log into the fire, causing sparks to fly up into the air. Why was his grandmother so trusting of you? Why was Kirishima so trusting of you too? Were they blind? 

—---

You let out another shriek as a horrible insect tried to grab you with its pinchers and sting you again. They were disgusting, pale and huge with a coat of slime covering their backs. Their eyes were small and milky pink, and you had quickly figured out they couldn’t see, but their sense of smell and hearing were impeccable.

You tried giving them the elk to at least try to get away, but they didn’t want anything dead it seemed. 

They wanted you.

The bugs were clicking and chittering to one another as they circled the bottom of the tree you were clinging to, and occasionally stabbing the trunk with their tails. Maybe you were safe up here till morning. They couldn’t climb right?

You held your breath as a smaller one, probably about the size of you took a running start at the tree and leapt. All eight legs landed squarely on the tree, and you watched in horror as it dug its little claws into the bark before using its tail to anchor itself into the truck. 

“Shit,” you hissed as you looked up at the tree, you could climb a few more feet. Maybe if you got to the top, the thin branches would snap under the weight of the bug. Your heart was pounding in your chest like a drum as you did your best to climb up the tree. The bark of the tree was cutting into your hands, making the insects below go wild when they scented your blood. 

You continued to climb, glancing down to see the one bug was almost caught up with you, and their clicking became unified and loud. You took another step but the branch beneath your feet broke and you now you were hanging.

The bug that was chasing you up the tree was now snapping at your feet, just a few inches away from getting your legs. You let out a cry of frustration as you tried to lift yourself up, but after dragging that elk for most of the day your muscles were exhausted, you were barely hanging on. 

All at once a searing pain erupted from your left calf and you screamed, and turned around to see that the bug had planted its pinchers into your leg. It was waving its tail and you felt dread sit heavy in your stomach like lead. 

Was this it? Were you going to be killed by these insects? Fail your mission and be remembered as the one who failed to bring your family's honor back? 

No, you couldn’t give up. Not when you’ve gone through so much, sacrificed so much to be here. These insects were not going to take that away from you. 

With a growl you used your good leg to kick the bug in the face, causing it to screech, but it kept its pinchers locked in, tearing at your flesh as it used two legs to grab your upper leg, trying to yank itself up your body to get you to fall.

You kicked it again, and again, hoping that it would detach but it hung on, and dug in deeper. You let out a cry of frustration, maybe you could drop from the tree and land on it then run away? You glanced down, the forest floor was probably about fifty feet down. You’d die if you fell from this height. 

The bug while you were looking away for a moment raised its tail, the stinger was aimed at you. In a split second you glanced towards the bug and acted on pure instinct, one hand shot out and grabbed the bug's tail, leaving the stinger inches from your face. You were now hanging on to the branch by one hand, supporting you and the insect that was clinging onto you. 

“Fuck,” you shouted, as a few tears threatened to spill down your cheeks, “let go damn it!”

You kicked the insect one time, letting out another shout. Maybe this was it, your hand was slipping off the branch, and there was nowhere else to go but down. You let out a sigh and shut your eyes. The sounds of the bugs faded and the forest faded till all you could hear was your unsteady breathing and rapid heartbeat.

You took a few more breaths before you decided to let go, your fingers slipped from the branch and you felt your stomach drop and air whooshed past your ears. It would be fine in a few moments, you thought to yourself as you felt the bug that was on you fall away from you, scrambling to grab back on to your leg in mid air, it managed to scrap its stinger down your thigh in it’s attempt, drawing blood, but you didn’t even feel it. 

You braced for impact, but to your surprise it never came. 

Something grabbed you, yanking at your cloak hard, making the clasp of your cloak tighten around your neck and practically choking you as you were flung up into the air and onto something hard. You coughed, scrambling to grab onto something as you opened your eyes, only seeing the stars above you.

Suddenly an orange light illuminated the sky and you could feel the heat of fire on your skin. You blinked as a face came into view in front of you. It was Bakugou. 

He was looking down at the forest floor, baring his teeth as he turned his mother’s dragon around and commanding her to set the bugs on fire again. Another plume of fire erupted in the forest and you could hear the dying screeches of the insects as the flames devoured them. 

“Fuckin’ insects,” Bakugou snarled before he turned his gaze to you. You looked horrible. Dirt and blood covered your skin and hair and most of your clothes were torn. He glanced at your hands, they were rubbed raw from dragging the elk and climbing the tree you were clinging to. His gaze moved down your body, checking for any obvious sting marks and he frowned when he saw the large scrape on your thigh, it was oozing the same black liquid that he saw when Testsu got stung. Then he noticed the bite marks in your calf and he was quick to yank off the leather strap around his bicep and tie it above the bite mark.

You winced, weakly trying to push Bakugou away as he tied a tourniquet around your leg. “Stop.”

He glanced at you with a neutral expression, ignoring your comment before looking back at your wounds. A small part of him felt a twinge of regret for leaving you out in the forest all alone. He expected you to get a little roughed up, not to get hunted by a pack of those things till the point of pure exhaustion. 

As your senses started to come back more you were able to sit up a bit, well as best as you could since Bakugou had you slung in the saddle in front of him on your back like a carcass. You glanced at him, “can you help me get upright?” you asked as your body flopped back down, making the world appear upside down.

“Fine,” Bakugou replied, his voice was clipped as he yanked you upright, frowning as you let out a whimper when you moved your bad leg over the side of the saddle. 

You let out a sigh, feeling like you had your bearings a bit better now that you were upright. You could see the camp was so close now, and you could see your dragon in the distance too. She was worried you could feel it. 

As you prepared to land, you started to feel strange, your bad leg was starting to freeze and it felt like it was on fire. “What’s happening?” you hissed as you grabbed your thigh, trying to find the source of the pain.

“You got stung, not badly though, just a scratch,” Bakugou explained as he glanced at your thigh from behind you, “our healer has seen this before.”

You nodded, hissing as the fire seemed to travel up your side making your abdominal muscles spasm and contract. The pain was nothing like you felt before, it was like it attacked your nerves, made them feel like they were burning.

Bakugou quickly wrapped his arm around your waist as you started to writhe against him, hissing and clawing at his arm. He now felt a little more than just a ‘twinge’ of guilt. Once he landed he was quick to get you both off his mother’s dragon and to the healers tent.

You were crying trying to grab at anything to distract yourself from the pain, which resulted in you yanking one of Bakugou’s necklaces from his neck. You missed the curious looks of the commoners watching Bakugou rush you across camp to the healer covered in your blood. You also missed Kirishima rushing up to Bakugou’s side.

“I told you, you shouldn’t have left her out there,” Kirishima said as he glanced at your leg. It looked mangled and was streaked with black lines. “Katsuki, I told you,” he repeated again, more softly.

“I know fuckin’ shitty scales,” Bakugou growled as he walked past his grandmother whose eyebrows rose in concern, and his mother who smirked at the sight of you writhing in her sons arms. 

Someone grabbed your hand, they were warm and you looked to see a blurry outline of someone with red hair. They squeezed your hand before the pain made you black out and your hand fell out of theirs limp.

—------

Midoriya usually liked to spend his evenings in his tent, inspecting the flora and fauna he collected from the forest under his magnifying glass by the fire. Sometimes he would read through some of his findings for the day, try to see if he missed something in his research. 

But his favorite thing to do was to paint. 

Most of his medicinal plants and flowers could be turned into colorful paint, which at night would glow on the parchment he’d use. Tonight was one of the rare nights he could paint.

Tonight he was painting your dragon.

He had never seen a dragon like yours before. She was long and slender, like some of the forest snakes he’s observed. Yet she had an extra set of teeth like the marine sharks he saw when the clan was near the ocean during winter. Her fire, though, was what was most intriguing to him. It was green, which meant unlike the dragons he knows to have gold in their blood, which keeps their fire orange, yours must have copper, which turns it green. 

She was fascinating to him. Midroyia dipped his paintbrush in the green paint he made from a bit of malachite and filled in the tail of your dragon. He was pleased with this painting, it was probably one of his best.

“Deku!” Bakugou’s voice carried through the tent, “get that art shit off your table!”

Midoriya glanced up to see Bakugou yank open the tent flap and in his arms was you. “Oh my,” he said in mild shock as he quickly cleared his painting and his supplies off his table. “Put her down, Kacchan.”

Bakugou moved inside and set you on the long wooden table and leaned back as Kirishima entered the tent looking worried. 

“What happened?” Midoriya asked as he examined your wounds and your body. Black lines were traveling up your skin towards your heart. He didn’t wait for Bakugou to answer, he knew it was those arachnids out in the woods. 

He wasted little time moving through his vials of anti-venom before he grabbed one that was filled with an opaque blue liquid. “Open her mouth,” Midoriya said as he glanced at Bakugou, “she’s going to need a few other things as well.”

Watching Midoriya practice his medicine was almost like watching him paint, he was precise in his movements, and intentional. He never made a mistake. 

Bakugou glanced at Midoriya as he continued to pour vials of who knows what down your throat, and lift your head off the table so you wouldn’t choke. “What is all that?”

“Medicine,” Midoriya muttered, as he continued to rush around the tent grabbing various items.

Bakugou rolled his eyes, “dumbass.”

“Will she be alright?” Kirishima asked, ignoring Bakugou’s glare.

Midoriya nodded, “yes, no need to worry. She’ll be fine by morning. I'm assuming because of her lineage she’ll be similar to Kacchan in terms of recovery time. Your families seem to share similar traits,” he added as he pressed his pointer finger against your canine tooth, it was long and pointed like Bakugou’s.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes as he ran his tongue over his own teeth, you were similar to him in some ways. Not in all ways clearly, you were still a traitor in his book. He let go of your jaw, making Midoriya yelp when it snapped shut, almost getting Midoriya’s fingers. “Tell me when she’s up.”

Then he left the tent, not glancing back behind him, and tuning out Kirishima’s voice. He rolled his shoulders and flexed his neck, feeling a headache come on. He made his way back to the fire where he could see his grandmother who must have took it upon herself to get dinner from somewhere, probably from the old hags who were skinning the deer earlier today.

He looked away from her as he passed only to feel a sharp whack on his head, “shit, what the hell!”

“That’s what you deserve after doing that to that girl, traitor or not, she didn’t deserve to be left to those creatures,” his grandmother said as she placed her cane down, “you still have much to learn before you can lead us.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes while rubbing the top of his head as he made his way to his tent for the night. 

[little-nugget-writes-stufff]

Pov your bully walks by and you stiffen up (something happened before that), how would they react?

genre: fluff, comfort

Very self indulgent srry

school au? (Forgot the name im srryyy)

characters: zhongli kaeya heizou venti tartaglia cyno (might add more because i want to)

heizou

you really think he didnt notice how you stiffend up the moment (bully name) walked past you? my my how dare you underestimate heizou, he's not a detective for nothing now is he? the next time your bully walks past you he tries to keep your mind of them by distracting you with little games :D puzzles ofcourse ;)

kaeya

oh this guy would deffinitly tease you." oh my what got you so frozen in place?'' if you tell him why you just got so scared because of them he will try to comfort you, however if you dont i think you would still receive teasing, but if ur not comfortable with that he will stop. afterall he doesnt want his beloved friend to feel scared of just some person who feels so insecure about theirself that they make others insecure aswell. would also probably go over to the bully and lightly (no) tell them to leave you alone.

tartaglia

If he sees it, next day the bully is gone, no questions asked :)

venti

would distract you with songs. maybe about you, or the nice view outside the window. would send a death glare towards the bully. "My muse, there's no need to fear, your favorite bard is here" (please idk why i wrote that help) has his ways of getting your mind of them tho 10/10 :D

Zhongli

Notices how you react, but doesnt notice the bully at first. He walks out of the room (teacher aproves, ofcourse he wouldnt do such thing as walking out without permission) and gets you some tea to get you to calm down a bit. He then asks what happened. If you tell him, he will listen and comfort you. If you chose not to, dont worry he would still comfort you. (Also dragon instincts telling him to teach that bully a lesson but he doesnt (cant scare you now can he?)

Cyno

Man would see it and just start making jokes. Oh but after class those bullies will regret their actions. Ye remember that one clip were he's dealing with enemies? Ye its about the same with ur bullies :)

(had to re-start this so many times bc i got so fcking scared when this person walks by (bully ofc) but anyways i hope you guys like this and there will probably be more characters in the futere

[loaffofbred]

QFoolish and the Mr. Mustard Case, this is getting interesting

NOTE: All people/names and events are all characters and narratives ! o/ and lastly all of them are simply my interpretation

Another ramble about Foolish and the Mr. M's case, since theres apparently new evidence thats been placed:

In summary of what happened, Foolish found that there seemed to have been an invisible entity randomly putting torches and blocks on his titan and even an orange. Once going to the summoning circle, an orange trail appeared and continued around the server, seemingly sometimes going in circles and finally going to the dragon and dropping a book that apparently was Mr. Mustard's Memories No. 1.

I've written down where exactly the trail headed towards based on the builds within the Island:

Eggxile summoning circle towards Maximus' home

Circles around Maximus' and towards the wilderness

Which lead around Forever's Zoo

Then it lead around the Church and towards the Wedding Ceremony

After that, lead towards the train station which did circles around it by heading from the White House around the election dinner place

Finally, from the train station it lead towards the Dragon

What first caught my attention was, what exactly was the entity showing? Why was it going in circles sometimes? Why did it lead to almost around the whole island only for it to go to Foolish's dragon? The only answer that I can think of, which Foolish thought of as well, is the fact that that was Mr. Mustard's movements! But that seems odd in of itself, because the capybara's never started from Eggxile, but rather, around the Favela's towards Quackity's Pyramid. Outside of his outline of movements, his written memories are also inconsistent, or at least, left out events that seem crucial to Mr. Mustard, such as saving Felps when he was stuck in a cave, meeting Leo, or maybe they were left out to keep it short? I'm not sure, nevertheless, everything about this is suspicious.

His last whereabouts, if we're assuming his movements are the orange trail, is in the dragon. I'm not gonna overanalyze it too much so let's say his first book is his first memories BEFORE the kidnapping, cause he was kidnapped during the election, basically after the wedding. What I'm guessing is his 2nd book will involve his kidnapping and disappearance, the book stopped at the wedding, so the second book must be where the crucial information is written. What makes me question whats written in the memory book is the writing itself! Mr. Mustard had only once wrote a book which read 'sorry' from what I remember? And had never written something like this, something so eloquently spoken. Ofc I dont wanna underestimate my man Mr. M, but it seems uncharacteristic for him to be so descriptive, if anything, he seems the opposite. Some of his choice of words sound sinister, like 'nonsensical' or 'entertainment', as if a robot is interpretating Mr. M's emotions during that time.

Whatever it is, this whole trying to find Mr. Mustard seems like a simple goose chase, it feels like the Feds are stalling, or even distracting Foolish from the actual threat. Cucurucho asks for answers and seems to give tasks to help find Mr. Mustard, but I think tbh it's all some ploy to keep Foolish's eyes away from genuine threat or even possibly be a test for Foolish's dedication to do a task. It all comes down to the fact that from the moment Cucurucho chose Mr. Mustard as a way to convince Foolish into arresting Tazercraft, is the moment the whole investigations and given task to Foolish seem only to be a way to stall for time, or wait for the right time to use Foolish to their advantage again. His patience is what makes him quite the character, but it might be his demise at this point lel

anyhow, hope my ramble made some sense o/

[raayllum]

Few things, to begin (and we're rounding back to the "I turned some chains into snakes, don't worry)

The line that put the "Callum did dark magic to save the dragon and Rayla" to dust at long last (seriously - was Callum drawing the dragon in his sketchbook before resolving to leave? No) thank you very much.

And ofc it's setting up the turn later on in this episode, paralleling Soren, Terry, and Viren's (and even Rayla's in a way) word choices justifying the actions they likewise felt tormented over ("I have to do this. I don't want to, but I have to" in 1x02; "I had to" in 3x09; "I had to, I couldn't let him hurt you" in 4x03; "I had to so something, I had to save him!" in 5x03) etc.

Speaking of Viren in S5, this scene mirrors Kpp'Ar and Viren's encounter, with Kpp'Ar rebutting Viren's more noble motivations: "I have always done what protects my family." "No choice? Hah! You made the choice you always have: the one that gives you power." Here, Finnegrin takes a word that Rayla has used to describe Callum (3x01) and twists it accordingly. Yes, Callum wanted to save his friends, but he only did the dark magic for a good reason, but he's still the kind of person who will read dark magic books in the first place and seek out magic as a solution at all. He's still a mage, per Zubeia and Rayal's assessment: "Aaravos chose as his instruments people who had strong hearts and strong minds, but who had an insatiable thirst and fascination with magic." "Mages." "Yes, mages were his prey."

Unlike Lujanne, who is a master Moon mage, Callum doesn't consider dark magic to be an abomination - just another kind of magic, one that's worthy of study to him like all the rest. Curiosity is what paves the walkway, and Love is what makes him walk

Finnegrin here is also a stand in for Rayla in a way, vaguely reminiscent of their first meeting in 1x02. "I'm looking for someone [...] There are only two targets tonight" -> "I just want one thing... Well then maybe you found what I'm looking for." They're both even interrogating him and 'want' someone dead (legitimate in Finnegrin's case, maybe more diluted in Rayla's)! While I know most of us were like Callum why the fuck are you telling him anything, Callum trying to find some sort of common ground actually makes a lot of sense when the last time he talked a ne'er do well elf out of violence, it actually worked out

"Can't you just make peace with them?" "It's not that simple." (1x02 with Harrow) "But it's not that simple. It won't work." (Ezran in 4x03) "But it's not that simple." (Janai in 4x08)

Last but not least, you have the fact that both Claudia and Viren's steps are dogging Callum's path (in addition to the continuing fallout of what, is ultimately, always his decision), dealing with the consequences of all their actions. Claudia told Callum not to do dark magic in 2x07, bu he went through with it anyway, insisting that she'd already shown him how - just as she created chains to attack her friends, he unbound chains to save them. And of course, Finnegrin is only seeking this spell because he knows it can be done, even if he has no idea of the personal history Callum has to both the spell (done to avenge his mother by his father) and to the actual orchestrator of it (his predecessor and primary foil).

And last but not least, you have Finnegrin and Callum's primary parallel (Ocean spell notwithstanding) in which they both seek to kill someone ultimately to be free: for Callum, he was researching how to kill a powerful Startouch elf, and Finnegrin, well...

[angelmichelangelo]

mutant mayhem headcanons because i am unhinged here we go:

donnie is a late bloomer (an explanation why he’s the only brother that hasn’t had his voice broken yet) and ofc in true brotherly fashion the others absolutely rip into him about it

raph told mikey once as little kids that the reason his head is shaped like a watermelon is becuase splinter dropped him on his head as a baby and mikey cried so hard he threw up

leo and donnie are HUGE anime fans. they LOVE dragon ball z and once splinter found the live action movie dvd in the trash and brought it home as a surprise and leo and donnie had to pretend they liked it so now raph and mikey tease them both and make them watch it with their dad even though it’s SO painful (and ofc splinter is oblivious lol)

raph got his front tooth knocked out after he was certain he could skateboard across a sewer pipe upside down on his hands (he could not)

mikey and donnie prank call random businesses together they find in the yellow pages and are really good at doing voices

raph is a big fan of jackass. and it shows. he often times ropes mikey into whatever stunt he’s trying to replicate

they all have wrestling personas after watching old WWE together. leo is Consequenzes, raph is The Red Fury, donnie is Bone Crusher 2000 and mikey is Captain Die - they picked them when they were like, 9 and there’s no take backs

mikey and raph spray paint the tunnels together and make some pretty decent art. splinter is fine with it as long as they don’t make anything crude, which, as teenage boys, they absolutely do. there’s a tunnel deep in the sewers that just says ‘BOOBS LOL’

mikey is one of those kids that’s amazing at any school subject, he just doesn’t care for learning so he doesn’t apply himself at all

raph is second most smartest next to donnie. he plays chess with donnie, and he says it’s only because nobody else can or will, but he secretly enjoys it

leo is dyslexic as hell. it frustrates him, as a perfectionist, but his brothers often help him when he’s struggling

splinter made them their weapons! but raph went behind his back and sharpened his sais without him knowing (cos a sai is supposed to be blunt but ended up in donnie’s leg somehow in the trailer so. ouch)

mikey and leo both have braces, leo just wears a nighttime retainer. after raph knocked his tooth out, donnie went about bragging that he had the most perfect teeth out of all his brothers

they’re all HoH (cos their turtles and turtles have terrible hearing above water) which is why they constantly talk loudly and over each other and splinter who has great hearing, because he’s a rat, has to put up with this lol. and they don’t know they’re HoH until later on when they’re older and donnie is like “oooohhhh right yeah that makes sense”

donnie has terrible vision, being shortsighted, he’s tried to create contacts for himself in his prescription for fighting convenience but has been pretty hesitate in creating something that goes inside his eyeballs

they made a band together called Chemical Terrapins even though none of them can play instruments but they do have one of those tiny baby toy keyboards that they found in the trash once and they all fought over who was gonna play it.. until they realised their hands were way too big for the keys lol

leo totally chose the name of the band because he’s an emo kid at heart </3

splinter taught them both english and japanese but they’re not entirely fluent

[atopvisenyashill]

hii so I was thinking about the riverlands' houses & harrenhal (saw the reply but couldn't find the post where I commented on your poll for some reason??) and even if the harrenhal houses like the whents, strongs, lothsons etc stayed so little time in there, in the main series you have PETYR BAELISH as lord of harrenhal which is coincidentally the one who holds the biggest grudge against the tullys/was their supporter in the past too (oversimplified ofc).

It may be the unstable nature of the riverlands but it's true they don't have second son syndrome. I don't think the freys fit this like the yronwoods/reynes because people just don't like them and would not support them in an uprising against the tullys. I think closest could be blackwoods but they don't have any of the animosity (they fit with the manderlys)

Yeah as I was looking at some of the replies and the way the poll is shaking out, I'm inclined to agree that they don't have a second son syndrome (as you very well put it) house. you would kind of think of everyone, the tully's would have one (at least imo); similar to the tyrells, they weren't kings, merely an old noble house raised up high by the targaryens during the conquest. I think maybe a contributing factor to this is that whereas Highgarden was the seat of kings, Riverrun never was! I think maybe that's why there's less animosity towards the Tully's; barring the Freys, they don't have a troublesome house the way most of the other regions do. You could maybe make the argument that the Brackens are troublesome but a) the Blackwoods are happy to restart the conflict or make it worse whenever they're bored and b) the Brackens will side against the Tullys not to spite the Tully's themselves but to spite the Blackwoods which is a completely different vibe than the Yronwoods or Reynes or the troublesome Reacher houses. No one is actively trying to sabotage the Tullys; Riverrun has always been theirs and they've always been a respected house and there's so never been a pticularly consistent King of the Riverlands the way there has been for other regions, so no one is mad that the Tullys rule from a seat they've had for years. Meanwhile the Tyrells just straight up moved their shit into Highgarden and went WE'RE IN CHARGE NOW BITCH and everyone else just had to deal with that because the Gardener's were utterly wiped out and Aegon had a dragon to back the Tyrells up.

Also interesting is that the Blackwoods definitely are involved in politics - they marry the Starks several times, there's named Blackwood war heroes in every conflict - but they just don't seem to have the reputation of "loyal, maybe a bit upjumped but useful" the way the manderlys, hightowers, or velaryons seem to have. I think that's really where as you say the instability of the Riverlands comes in - not only is it likely hard to amass and keep wealth when you live in what's essentially a constantly active war zone, they're often so side tracked by their own squabbling going on with the Brackens that I think distracts from their overall loyalty to the Tullys (sidebar here but - I think maybe this is why the Tullys don't seem that assed over the Brackens consistently choosing the opposite side, the same way the Martells don't seem super concerned that the Yronwoods chose the Blackfyres but seem real shitty over the Daynes. There's a line here that Lords Paramount will draw between "this house is full of petty people and they're not actively trying to piss me AWF so i'll let it go" vs "this is a threat we need to stand united against, there can be no dissent and no exceptions" when dealing with stuff like this. very interesting!).

MEANWHILE. THERE'S HARRENHAL. like a thorn in the riverlands side, just eating up house after house. And YET the lords of Harrenhal often feel incredibly disconnected from the rest of the Riverlands. it's not like Aemond's lil mini genocide in the Riverlands made the Tullys go "wow they screwed over House Strong, our loyal vassals, we should do something about this." Grover Tully looked at that mess and went "every boy needs to have a lil war crimes as a treat to help him grow" and calls it a day. it's not the tullys who mourn poor little Maegor Towers, it's Rhaena the Black Bride. The Whents do seem a bit more involved because Minisa marries Hoster and Shella is (she's still alive dammit!!) a Stark/Tully loyalist but even there, you have the story where Lord Whent holds the tourney at Harrenhal at Rhaegar's behest, not Hoster's, as a way of planning around Aerys' madness. As Cotter Pike helpfully points out, Janos Slynt never even stepped foot in Harrenhal, he was working for the Crown and that's it. Littlefinger as well not only hasn't been to Harrenhal yet, he's also not even from the Riverlands - but of course, he does have a very complex and deep personal connection to the Tullys, and he's even currently possessed of a Whent descendant who looks like a Whent.

[bbygirl-aemond]

Hi hi! (Before I begin I wanted to say I really love Stormbreak <3 Your writing is so powerful!) I have read your reply for anon on why you are a Book!Alicent apologist - as a book reader I'm not fond of her but I do concede to some of your points. However, wondering how you find Book!Aegon or Aemond? Aegon didn't rape, which is a good thing, but he also fed his sister alive to his dragon. And Aemond chose to pursue and kill Lucerys out of his free will (and not because he can't control Vhagar)

oh yeah i very much have thoughts about book aemond and aegon! let me say a few things here:

for aegon, there are still some allegations of him touching young girls inappropriately, though it's ofc always hard to tell with f&b what is meant to count as the accurate version, but i don't wanna ignore that since a commenter pointed it out.

as far as him feeding rhaenyra to his dragon, think of it this way: by this point in time, rhaenyra has had his six-year-old son slaughtered, has driven his wife insane to the point of suicide, was the reason his brother (aemond) was killed, and STILL poses a threat to his remaining family's lives. i would've fed her to sunfyre too at this point. if the roles were reversed, rhaenyra would have also done the same, and i would've also defended it.

i think aegon's willingness to keep aegon the younger alive and even to install him as his heir points to how willing he was to let bygones be bygones at the end of it all. he didn't want to punish baby aegon for who his mother was, and i think that's fairly honorable.

there's also the fact that the iron throne never cut aegon, which i think is so interesting. grrm makes a point of showing how when people are bad leaders (think viserys, think maegor towards the end of his life, and think rhaenyra towards the end of her life) the throne will reject them by cutting them. as a side note, i think rhaenyra would've been fine if she hadn't been so traumatized and twisted by the dance, i don't think she's inherently a bad ruler.

as for aemond, the book actually leaves it up to interpretation! as the accounts point out: no one knows exactly what happened up there. we know that both dragons took flight, and only vhagar and aemond returned, and that he did have lucerys's eyes. even the details we have, remember, can't be taken as actual fact, since the entire point of f&b is that history remembers things incorrectly. but still if you take them at face value, we don't know what actually happened up there, which is part of why the show didn't actually contradict the book with the season one finale. it simply added details the book did not show.

of course i'll always be the first to admit that i have a habit of trying to view characters from both sides in better lights than they are possibly meant to be perceived. but i still hold myself to using critical thinking and crafting actual, defensible arguments. i think part of why the unreliability of f&b is so interesting to me is because in many ways it doesn't rule out the possibilities of characters being actually not that evil, even while trying to make you think they are 100% evil (again this is true for members of team black as well imo and especially the women, not just for aegon and aemond). it has very clear agendas but doesn't always have evidence to back them up.

[c0okie-th0ughts]

OKAY BUT SERIOUSLY what i intended to send you was an ask to pretty please write me an essay on esclair [or any other ship you enjoy]. /nf i loveee getting sucked into my beloved mutual's propogandas and its only fair given what i did to my poor followers with the raspfait brainworm. only if you want to ofc!! i just think its a neat idea but i've only heard bits and peices from stuff you've tagged as it

ONE ESSAY COMING UP!

they first properly meet after the teaknight event, Eclair is intrigued by Espresso (esp after he helps teaknight defeat the dragon) and one day stops by Espresso’s office/lab to watch some of his experiments. Eclair records some stuff, chats with Essie and is quite happy with their interaction since he was invited back by Espresso.

Espresso is happy (a very hard thing to make him be) because 1: someone took interest in his magic, the stuff he loses sleep over. the thing that he chose to devote most of his time to. 2: the person in question is a well respected mage and scholar. 3: Eclair seemed to enjoy it and enjoy Espresso’s company too, which is a huge deal to Espresso who’s been called a “downer” for most of his life.

after that they hang out more and more and eventually Eclair catches feelings for Espresso and asks him out to eat. These series of dates go fine, Espresso just doesn’t register it as a date. he does really enjoy them though and continues accept the invites.

during the dates they learn more about each other their similar struggles, how they both fought incredibly hard to be taken seriously in their fields of work, how they both find it hard to socialize with other people, among other things as well. as Espresso learns more about Eclair he starts to feel romantic feelings for him but doesn’t act on them because he values their friendship very highly and doesn’t want to risk it.

After a months of Eclair slowly becoming more and more forward with his attempts at flirting Eclair comes to the conclusion that either Espresso is very subtly friend zoning him or hasn’t realized that these hangouts were actually dates. Eclair stops inviting Espresso out.

Espresso is confused because he doesn’t see any reason for it and goes to ask almond “hey the cute guy who brings me out to eat sometimes just stopped all of a sudden.” And Almond is just like: “he was asking you out on a date.” Espresso is like “Well Fuck he probably thinks I don’t like him, I’m going to go confess”

Espresso writes down what he thinks he’s going to say, throws it away because he doesn’t like it. Tries to write it again, fails so badly he burns the paper. he just decides to “speak from his heart “ because if it works in movies it should work fine in real life.

Espresso ends up talking for like an hour at Eclair about how much Eclair means to him (sappy as hell) Eclair accepts the confession and they are now inseparable.

They are the most sappy sentimental couple ever. it literally exudes off of them. Eclair complements Espresso very frequently and Espresso isn’t very good at responding to complements so he just sits there trying to gather words for himself. Eclair finds this very amusing.

Eclair and Espresso take turns making the other do self care because neither are that great at it. small things like ”you forgot to shower” or “have you taken your meds yet?” go a long way for the both of them.

Especially with sleeping, as the main reason for the both of them not sleeping very well is paranoia so comforting the other that they will be fine is the only way they’ll fall asleep. (Espresso who often wakes up first has learned that he can’t get out of bed if Eclair hasn’t woken up yet because Eclair will freak out if he isn’t there.)

That’s all I have for now!

[cheemken]

Another thing about the movies, each main character saw the number 180 before the accident happened and killed them all. Like Flight 180, hearing the number 180 on the radio, and race car 180 for examples

So if we’re going with Diantha seeing everyone’s death in a dream, imagine the thing that convinced her the dream was real was some kind of number or symbol she saw before the ambush happened

Also yeah, imagine the ABSOLUTE guilt Lance, Iris, Cynthia, and Leon (I forgot Hop existed for a minute lmao) felt for choosing to save their family over the other people in their regions. They chose to betray their job as Champions for their family. Perhaps the reason they chose to save their family and not let them die is cause they hoped they’d be able to escape capture?

But back to Diantha, imagine her trying to find a way to get all the Champions to come to Kalos so they’d be safer in numbers. But people like Iris and Wallace can’t because they’re guarding items that Team Rainbow Rocket would want for themselves

Unless of course Diantha just straight up tells all the Champions about what she saw. Calls an emergency meeting in Kalos and pretty much starts with

“So this might be a shock for all of you, but we’re all going to die within the next few days”

“…Diantha what the fuck”

Can you imagine how that mustve been for Dia tho😭😭

Homegirl wakes up in cold sweat, screaming, crying, almost threw up. Augustine ran to her room asking her what's wrong, worried as fuck, then she pulls him close, hugging him, terrified he'd suddenly disappear, her hands were trembling as she's going on how she'll make sure nothing happens to him and to everyone. Like, mfer is so confused but he's like really trying to calm her down. Imagine how paranoid she'd be, always having one of her mons (yes ofc its Gengar bc I still love this hc) watch over Augustine in Lumiose, making sure Lysandre doesn't get near him, and even spy on Lysandre. Then when she gets to the League she even tries to confront Malva abt it, and ofc that kinda shocked everyone and even Malva bc holy shit they haven't seen Diantha this pissed and terrified. Like, her hands are legit shaking, grabbing Malva by her shoulders, glaring at her, it got to the point Diantha ended up calling her Tyrantrum, the imposing dragon fossil glaring down at everyone. Malva eventually fesses up, she knows damn well Diantha's too pissed to mess w, and despite her always wanting to spite Diantha, she knows if she did rn she'll be the one dying bc she knows the lengths Diantha will go through to make things right.

And god just chdmdb Diantha explaining to them what her dream was, that she was so goddamn sure it was a premonition, and the others were sceptical at first but then again, she managed to find out abt Malva being part of Flare bc of that dream, even told them of Lysandre's plans and him being the head of Flare, and Diantha's starting to spiral again Drasna had to calm her down.

Then ofc, Dia calls in the other Champions, said it was an emergency, and y'know, they came as soon as the call ended bc Dia honestly sounded like she's abt to experience her fifth meltdown for the day and it's only 10 in the am, tbf she is on her fourth meltdown for the day—

When the others got there, Diantha is trying so so hard to calm herself bc Jesus Christ homegirl did not eat anything today bc she was hurrying to the league in a panic and that dream still continues to haunt her, so yeah she's like, at her limit

So she's there, taking deep breaths, and then looks at the other Champions, telling her of the dream, of the premonition she had. And ofc some of them couldn't believe her, especially w how detailed she is abt their deaths and the events that's gonna happen, but like, y'know, even Leon himself said that Rose really acting suspicious lately, even more so than usual, he's been more demanding, more isolated, as if he's planning smth. And ofc, that kinda surprised the other Champions too bc Leon and Diantha don't even get along well, they don't even agree on almost everything, but w Leon showing that he actually believes in what Diantha is saying is enough for the other sceptics to actually believe her, and they should start planning on what to do now bc if not then they're all gonna die

[aberooski]

Because I think about this far too much:

Yu-Gi-Oh GX characters as Final Fantasy classes in the context of my fic Sons of The Stars.

With explanations that might only actually make sense to me unless you've read the fic and played the FF games akaksk

Jaden - Thief

Fights with daggers/other short swords ninja sword if ur playing FFXII 👀 he doesn't ever actually steal anything except Jesse's heart 😏 but otherwise aligns well with the class imo. He's got the energy yet seriousness a lot of Thief characters in FF have Locke, Yuffie, Rikku, Zidane, etc, he's clever and agile, and he fights mainly for self defense and only if he has to. He tends to try a lot of stealth to get out of having to fight. Sneaky little man.

Alexis - Knight

Standard sword class, similar to Warrior. Fights with a two handed greatsword, and she chose to train herself to fight so that she could defend. That way she would be able to protect Atticus even though she'd left her station as princess of their dimension and was living in hiding on her own. She still cared about her people and wanted her brother to be safe, knowing there were people who wanted the royal family dead and gone. She'd rather protect the crown than be the crown in that sense.

Chazz - Warrior

Standard sword class similar to Knight. Fights with a one handed sword, but he didn't choose. He's been trained to fight to be a soldier for many years because of his family, and is being trained to fight to fight. Unlike Alexis, it was all about the glory for him because there was no other choice. He gained favor with Crowler, chancellor of their dimension, being so young and yet so highly skilled, which only ultimately put more pressure on him by his family to be the greatest warrior in their entire dimension. A feat which he attained by the time of the fic, when the J-Squad was only 17 years old.

Bastion - Black Mage

Not a dedicated Black Mage since he uses spells like Protect and Shell during the fic and even a standard Cure spell, but his main source of defense is his magic. His main elemental type would be water cuz water dragon ofc but he's only seen casting Thundara, Blizzara, and Thundaga during the events of the fic. And obviously as a Black Mage, he carries around a cool wizard staff 😌

Jesse - Summoner

Fairly straightforward, his main source of combat is summoning his Crystal Beasts and providing support to the others on the field.

Hassleberry - Berserker

Again. It's Hassleberry so pretty straightforward. He manages to never lose control in SoTS he loses it in OUAD though but very much has the capacity to. Having suffered for 2 years pre-fic as a military experiment in his and Jim's dimension after the accident with his leg left him with his animalistic side due to the dinosaur bone in his leg, and their scientists attempting to strip him of his humanity in order to weaponize him because they're fucking terrible people. Thx for breaking him outta there Jim 😭 Though he also aligns a little with the Monk class as well since like characters like Yang, Sabin, Tifa, Zell, and Snow, who in tradition FF job systems would fall under that class, his weapon is his fists 😌

Jim - Beastmaster

He'd also potentially fall under FFV's Chemist class since he's a scientist of sorts in the fic, or maybe even Geomancer dipping into his archeology and paleontology guy stuff. But factoring in Shirley, I'd sooner class him as a Beastmaster/Tamer.

Axel - Freelancer

Guy's a mercenary, he can do anything. If he had a weapons specialty, he'd be a Gunner/Machinist he literally gives Jim a gun before the final battle with Yubel, but he's a jack of all trades. He just kinda does whatever he feels like it or whatever is best to get the job done.

Bonus since he's extremely important to the fic but isn't actually a party member:

Syrus - White Mage

Sy actually was originally supposed to be an actual party member since he's my favorite character oh wow, I wonder why he's so important to the plot, like the fate of the entire universe hinges upon his safety 🤔 but it just didn't really end up happening, and considering his position in the fic it unfortunately makes sense to me that he isn't. But whether in the context of this fic or in canon, or literally any context, Sy is the team White Mage. Stereotypically a very weak and squishy, low defense/low attack class which I mean... yeah. But I've always thought he'd have a very strong magic stat which most White Mage's do Rosa, Porom, Aerith, Garnet, Eiko, Yuna (literally the strongest magic stat in FFX), Vanille and if he was able to be a party member he'd the team healer. Who can also tear holes in the space time continuum to open portals to travel through dimensions 😌

[dollmoth-productions]

Okay had to check if your request were open if they aren’t tell me please because I went off your bio.

Four boxer from punch out of your choice with sandman’s child who is basically Aran but on drugs. Ofc platonic and headcanno and the boxers are anyone you chose. Bye bye!

They are open and this is going to be interesting I'm going to do one boxer from each circuit it sounds like a cool idea

⚠️TW OBSESSIVE BEHAVIOR STALKING POSSESSIVE BEHAVIOR STOCKHOLM SYNDROME MANIPULATION ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR AND DRUGGING DO NOT DO ANY OF THIS ITS NOT HEALTHY ⚠️

💚Von Kaiser💚

💚 first off he's a strict boxing teacher so you being like Aran but worse is a real stick up his ass you can fight and be crazy even when you got knocked out anywhere completely beating up you just shut up with a mysterious grin

💚 that is very scary to him and he's a little mac was bad you were just very out there so when he started getting attached to you he didn't want you to fight as terrible as you do mostly because you always break the rules

💚 although he's in a lower end of the spectrum of yandere he is a little more on the stricter side even more when he goes full on overprotective of you

💚 finally after everything is done and you advance to the major circuit it's it's going to be a wild ride

❤Don Flamenco❤

❤ a lot like Von Kiser he thought that this would be way worse than Aaron until he decided that you're way worse than him with your erratic behavior in your constant cheating that somehow goes over the referee's head he likes your skunk

❤ his feelings were a lot more upcoming about you he acts like a fun Uncle most of the time trying to get your affection with gifts and money but you mostly want to fight and that's what scares him

❤ honestly he's kind of scared to see how you face against your father because obviously you are a his child he can see the attributes but it's still kind of scary

❤ honestly he wanted to tell you would fare in the world circuit because you are honestly very very strong but very very scary

💙Dragon Chan💙

💙 honestly even though he's a kickboxer now he went to one of your matches and was absolutely shocked about how well you thought mostly because of how scary you are

💙 your the Champions kids of course you're going to be extra tough so he shouldn't be expecting anything but the best

💙 honestly he doesn't understand why he wants to protect you or watch all of your fights he think it's just because it's respect to be honest but that respect turned into Obsession pretty fast

💙 he can't wait to see you beat some of the world circuits people honestly he can't just wait at all he wants to see them crumble beneath your feet because of how strong and scary you are

💚Aran Ryan💚

💚 two crazy people against each other this won't end well well it kind of did you were as crazy as him or even more and that instantly won him over with you you are obviously very strong and you won against him many times

💚 to be honest he became like an uncle to you instantly after your fight with him even though you were very annoyed with him he kept on fighting for your affection with the four other people that were there

💚 he honestly can't believe that you're even crazier than him with your cheating your clever with his cheating it's malicious he honestly can't wait to see how you fare against your father kind of hoping he would die so he can replace that father figure

💚 he wants to see you in but he also wants to see you fail so he could comfort you it's a very mixed up emotional mess with him

[was-it-really-worth-it]

Game 250 - Mass Effect 3 by BioWare

What did I think it was at first? We're coming back to Shepard so many games later!

Hilariously, I did end up picking up the Legendary edition of Mass Effect (and then again for console because my boyfriend loves Dragon Age but had never played Mass Effect) so my run of the original games, as before, is a mod sampler. To continue Demeter's story, I'm using

high def mods for texture and video

romancing Jack, the best girl

whatever this is

Modding this thing took nine years and though the mod manager makes it easier it still sucks. Maybe I'm spoiled because modding the Sims games has always been easy peasy?

How was the character creator? It was easy to remake Demeter and import her from ME1 and ME2. Her choices carry over, as does her personality - though I chose to change her hair as the perfectly done tight bun doesn't make sense when war is on the horizon.

Demeter still has a lot of agency and choice, and I think Mass Effect does an excellent job carrying forward your choices.

How was the game? I think the mods made the game...worse?

I played up through the mid-game Citadel mission before I realized that I don't really want to replay Mass Effect lol. I've been trying to finish this game most of 2023 and maybe I don't really have to?

It's an excellent game. I've played it twice. But I think that the mods I installed (aside from romancing Jack ofc, best girl) gave the game too many missions, too much bloat. I spent a lot of the start of the game checking out new stuff and...it's really just more of the same. I think the OG experience was actually pretty solid and streamlined. Nothing feels like busy work.

As an aside, I know that I complained a lot about David Archer in my ME2 review but they do redeem him a little in this one.

What do I love about ME3? The world feels more alive with NPCs and little mini-stories that happen alongside what you're doing. The Citadel DLC is the best little bit of fanservice fluff every long rpg game should have one. It's fun to see how your ME2 and ME3 buddies have grown. The arc on Tuchanka with Mordin is the best in the business.

What did I not love? I mentioned my issues with mod-related bloat earlier, but another slightly demoralizing issue is the ending. I think the Mass Effect games really piloted the expansive "your choices matter across hours and games" game and then people were mad it boiled down to red/blue/maybe green? I think that it walked so games with more complex endings (cough cough) could run.

At 12 hours and $29.99, was it really worth it? As a standalone title, absolutely not. As part of a sweeping space opera? Definitely! I really think Mass Effect is one of the strongest trilogies out there.

[operation-drsv-2]

Ok so idk if you noticed but in the first three post

Remi is orange

Syan is green

Danny is purple

I love secondary colors and green is my fave basically they each live in their own worlds. Syan is from a different dimension than both of them (our dimension technically cuz sy is highkey me) Remi and Danny end up fleeing to my dimension causing them to crossover/overlap.

Danny is adopted by a cowboy possy (lowkey a cult) that fights mechas. Her possy has split and the head honcho names them by colors ofc danny is purple. Also they assume Danny is a boy 😭 and make fun of danny especially when she makes things. She gets separated during a heist and temporarily teams up with a disembodied holographic badger to get back to her possy.

Remi is a demon hunter double agent that actually wants to fight angels and then god and stop time death. Remi also is apparently half dragon king but can only turn into an all powerful dragon once. Also also Remi was an angel but got sent out of heaven as a kid because she had dragon blood. She is also the catalyst for demons traveling different dimensions since she gained a watch that lets her teleport and time travel. She has a lot going on, but so does Sy.

Sy was just a symbiote oc until I fucking realized I could make sy into a fucking super hero from the start. So Syan always had electric powers her sparks are a neon purplish green and usually show up in pairs which is why she uses a peace sign to arc electricity. She also uses middle finger to strike. Sy got super famous because of her powers people called her Volt9 like a pack of batteries since she used batteries as flash bombs. Syan is mostly based on this letterman jacket I got which has a 9 on it and three stars. Since sy got so famous an all powerful demon appeared one day telling her that she’s in a high society called the circle of stars. Sy has 9 stars at birth signifying how powerful she is. There are 12 different creatures with stars from 1-12 only 9 have been born. Only star members can kill other star members making them all immortal. This all powerful demon is starOne and he fears all the other star members so much that he threatens to kill them once he finds their location or steal their stars. After this traumatic moment Sy gets framed for killing a large group of people during a thunderstorm trying to fight starOne. She goes into hiding since starOne considers her a threat and that noone who knows his name lives. Doing something low profile like welding on farm tractors and only working in rural areas trying not to use her powers. She slips up accidentally striking an arc with her hand to stop a barn from falling on her coworkers and gets found out. While fleeing she stumbles into a portal (created by VB fleeing and crashing on earth) ends up in space jail. Works with a dying vb to escape and become stronger to kill starOne and get back her stars. Vb is the weakest of his kind being malleable and less sharp which is a status symbol in his culture. Vb chose his name from listening to music sy brought with her kinda like a stand based on the band Vundabar and their song shadow boxing. Sy something calls Vb Vundy❤️. Also sy basically went into the future and is the last human alive. Vb’s species makes fun of them both for being so weak. They’re both pissed and out to destroy everyone and everything that has ever fucked with them and potentially restart the world with less assholes. They’re like a brother sister dynamic with lots of hate. Vb is also technically syan’s blood. They both are extremely morally gray and don’t care if people die. Syan just wants peace by any means necessary and Vb want revenge plus peace. Vb is an extremely bad influence on sy, but sy technically steers the wheel majority of the time.