#where children must take the father's surnames

[momo-de-avis]

I am determined to find what happened to my great-grandfather and great-grandmother because these are the two people nobody knows shit about and who I am a direct descendent of, and from the stories, my great-grandmother was shunned and mistreated because they just didn't like her or something and I am determined to find these people

[devieuls]

The way of love pt.I

Neteyam Sully x Tayrangi Fem Reader (Na'vi)

Warning of the Serie: MDNI. Dom Neteyam x Fem Reader; SMUT; ANGST; FLUFF; Dirty Talk; Fangs; Bites; Blood; Spit; Power Play; Jealousy and Possessiveness; Foreplay; violence; Swearing; Teasing; Unprotected Sex; Enemies (because of you, Neteyam treats you well). Aged characters: Neteyam 19 y.o / You 18 y.o SERIE

Synopsis: After a great loss happened in your family, you are forced to take a role that before did not belong to you, following a path that you will feel like your only in time. Just when you thought you were finally overcoming the loss, your clan shows up with those you blame for the great offense received. You are the daughter of the first Olo'eykte of all clans and are about to take your mother’s place to lead the Tayrangi clan, but first you must follow Neteyam (the eldest son of the man you detest with all your heart) To train him, despite your contempt for the Sullys and everything about them, you inevitably bond with the boy, unknowingly falling in love with him.

CHAPTER WARNING: Just free hate for Neteyam from you.

Lenght : 2.1k

Notes: This series will be one of my biggest BOP or FLOP, it’s a long time I wanted to write about Neteyam because... GOSH, BUT YOU HAVE SEEN HIM?! BTW. All characters will keep the age difference but will be aged eg: Neteyam 19 y.o; Lo'ak 18 y.o etc…

" y/n te Skxumew Ikeyni'ite" is your surname, means Y/n surname daughter of Ikeyni

NA'VI WORDS: PARULTSYIP: Children. KARYU: Teacher. VRRTEP: Demon. IRAYO: Thank you. OARE: Moon. 'ITE: Daughter

PART: 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 ; 5 ; 6 ; 7 ; 8 ; 9 ; 10

· · ─────── · 𖥸 · ─────── · ·

The first time the Sullys visited the Tayrangi clan, you were suspicious. You weren’t a big fan of Toruk Makto, there were rumors about him, rumors that you didn’t like him and that you were looking down on the Omatikaya family. Unlike your mother, the Olo'eykte Ikeyni, one of the few women to be clan leaders and Tsahik at the same time, you did not believe that you should be on the side of a man from another world. It also bothered you that the Sullys left their eldest son to be trained by your father, who, ironically, loved to teach young people the art of hunting.

You rolled your eyes as the girls of your clan looked at the son of Toruk Makto as if he were a living legend, a god among Na'vi, to you he was simply a na'vi with demon blood. You still remembered how your clan had offered shelter to the fleeing or homeless na'vi because of the war brought above all by the father of that Omatikayan. You growled slightly as the boy walked over to you, then turned around and walked away from him, taking a seat next to your parents, checking out the Sullys.

"My daughter. The future Olo'eykte of the Tayrangi Clan and healer of the village. She will be the guide of your son Neteyam, showing him the arts of this clan and our way." Your mother’s words stabbed you in the back, and you looked at her like it might change her mind, which it didn’t. You looked at your father, Tsentey, who, though he looked back, made you think he agreed with your mother.

You took a deep breath and walked away, trying to stay calm. You hated the idea of being the leader of that half-demon, but you couldn’t help but disobeying would put you in a position where the clan would look down on you and in Eywa’s eyes you would be undeserving to be Olo'eykte.

When evening came, your parents returned to your house and looked at you slightly disappointed.

"Ma 'ite… I know it's not something that brings joy to your heart, but it is your duty as next Olo'eykte" said your father, placing a hand on your shoulder, smiling gently, while your mother looked hard at you.

"There is no time for whims. This is the will of Eywa. An Olo'eykte is already weaker than an Olo'eyktan man. If you do not help the future Olo'eyktan of Omatikaya, someone else will and you will be just a Na'vi with a lower title" Your mother said, approaching you. " Ma 'ite. You are strong. You can do it and when the day comes, you will lead this clan, show them who you are" continued and then lifted your face from your chin. "You're a warrior. Remember who you are y/n te Skxumew Ikeyni'ite. You'll be the second Olo'eykte of all Pandora and everyone will know your name. More than Toruk Makto. But you have to make sacrifices, put pride aside. You have a goal Ma Oare" Your mother put her forehead on yours and you both closed your eyes, then nodded.

"I will." You said with conviction to see your mother smile, she was right. This was just one of the trials to reach your place in the clan.

The night passed quickly and the next day you were ready to face that demon blood, you just had to train him and then after a few months send him back to his house, to the Omatikaya. Your mother encouraged you when she saw you awake as you walked past the tree house, then headed to where Neteyam was staying, finding him already outside.

"Follow me." You hissed, then walked through the village to get out and into the woods. " What weapon can you use?" You continued without turning around to see where Neteyam was.

"Knives and Bows." He replied by keeping the pace "However I am-"

You stopped him, you stopped yourself, and then you turned around and looked him in the eye.

"I know who you are. Neteyam te Suli Tsyeyk'itan" You said to then observe it. " Bows and knives? Your arms are weak" You said approaching him, touching his arm. " Your chest tight, but you have a good posture." The boy watched you turn around and talk about him. "Do you have an Ikran?" You look him in the eye when you talk to him.

"Yes, I have one." His voice was still, as if the words you used didn’t hurt him at all.

"Can you swim?"

"Pretty good" Neteyam looked at you enchanted, smiling slightly

"Tsk. You’re like a parultsyìp. I have to teach you everything." You said sighing and then continued walking until you got to the cliff that provided a wonderful view of the sea.

"The Tayrangi clan is famous for being skilled riders of Ikran, the best. We interpret the wind, understand the sea and respect the great predators and the Ikran. You have to learn to fight with more weapons, to swim, to understand the wind and the animals that surround us" You said and then sit on the cliff, breathing in the fresh air.

"I’m here for this… what’s your name?" Neteyam’s voice was sweet as he sat next to you.

"You’re not here to make friends or get to know me. Call me Karyu." Your detached and disinterested voice made Neteyam smile, who already found you interesting.

"Karyu? So you won’t tell me your name?" he said, slightly laughing.

"Not relevant for training. Now silence. Listen to the wind"

That day you taught Neteyam the basics of understanding the wind, explaining in detail how to use this to fly better, to understand when it will start to rain or other natural events. The boy, different from what you thought, listened to you interested, asking questions and coming to understand what you were explaining. You couldn’t deny it.

"For today we are finished, tomorrow we will start with the proper guidance of the Ikran, the Omatikaya use strange methods to approach the banshees" You said, Going from the cliff and stretching you.

"Did I do well?" he asked curiously, as he stood up.

"Discreetly, you are not completely Skxawng." You shrugged, indifferent. " These are things that our children learn after a week. Half a day is something"

"Something? Does that mean I can now know your name?"

"No. Why do you care so much?" your voice was sore.

"Just curiosity" Neteyam smiled and approached you

"Hmm… if you can get back to the village before the eclipse, I’ll tell you my name. Good luck" You said, and then you went into the forest, going home alone, about an hour before the eclipse, it was impossible for her to return in time, not knowing the way back. You prayed that a Palulukan would tear him to pieces, not to have him back but you could not wish this on a son of Eywa, after all even a Palulukan deserved a better meal.

Some of your companions gathered to wait for Neteyam after hearing about that little challenge, you smiled satisfied when the eclipse came and Neteyam was not back yet. " What if he’s dead?" " Maybe he found a Palulukan." "Or he got lost" Voices like this filled the air, you shrugged and turned to leave. At that moment you heard the girls cheering and shouting the name of Neteyam happy, seeing him unharmed.

You turned and looked him in the eye, after all he still lost the challenge, so the victory belonged to you. Neteyam came up with a flower.

"There’s already been an eclipse. You lost, so I don't-" You stopped when Neteyam put the flower behind your ear, smiling at seeing you with it in your hair.

"I would have won, but I saw this Sun Lily and it reminded me of your eyes, so I looked for the most beautiful, wasting time" He said smiling, shrugging. " I’ll discover your name one day, ma Karyu"

You observed him without saying anything, you did not expect such a thing. He had preferred to lose the challenge to pick a flower to give you and did not seem upset by this, indeed, he smiled carelessly. You did not understand at that moment why your heart accelerated the beat, or why you did not immediately remove the flower, or why now you looked at it without disgust or repugnance. You recovered from your thoughts when you heard some girls being jealous of you for that little gesture made by Prince Omatikaya. You clenched your jaw and looked at him.

"You still lost." you said with the little coolness you had left.

"I did, but does it matter?" He replied promptly, and then continued, "It was worth it, the flower suits you very well."

You bit the inside of your cheek and then you turned around and left "See you tomorrow." You said dryly before saying goodbye and going home.

"She’s beautiful, isn’t she?" Neteyam said to some of the clan’s boys.

"Bro, shs's the type of na'vi who eats you alive." one of the guys laughed.

"I know, and I like it." Neteyam concluded

You reported to your mother and she immediately noticed the flower in your hair.

"It’s very nice, where did you get it?" she asked, placing the flower in your hair.

"Just a stupid gift." You confessed before you took it off and left it in your mother’s hand, going to a more secluded place on one of the tree branches.

"skxawng. just a vrrtep skxawng." You said to yourself while leaning your body against the tree. " Ma Eywa, please, Great mother, make sure he learns quickly and walks away." You asked as you watched the starry sky. " Give me a sign to bear him, because he’s a vrrtep," you said before you heard a woodsprite landing on the same ear where Neteyam’s flower used to be and then seeing it not far under the tree where you were sitting. You felt mocked, Eywa today was having fun putting everything against you, otherwise you won’t explain these coincidences.

The coup de grâce came when the branch broke, dropping you into Neteyam’s arms. If you could confirm that, Eywa was trying to make you do all these things. You sighed annoyed, crossing your arms when Neteyam looked at you to see if you were okay.

"Are you hurt? Is everything okay?" he asked concerned, checking you and clutching you accidentally.

"You can let me go. I’m fine." You answered a little sour.

"A thank you is welcome, Princess Tayrangi," Neteyam laughed, and then left you standing on the ground, watching you.

"Irayo…" you whispered quietly, turning your head to the side

"I don’t understand, can you repeat?" he said smiling

"what a skxawng…" you whispered softly. " I said Irayo." This time you said fast

"I still don’t understand, I really think you’ll have to repeat it," Neteyam laughed a little.

"Are you- Irayo." You said it out loud so he’d get it in his head, and then he’d snort right after.

"You are even more beautiful when you get angry, you know?" he said spontaneously, leaning against the tree, admiring your beauty.

You swirled your eyes, restraining yourself from splitting his nasal septum or something, but for the umpteenth time Eywa sent a signal, a woodsprite on Neteyam’s shoulder. You looked up and laughed frustrated.

"Listen carefully, I don’t know why my path is intertwined with yours. I don’t want to put up with you any more than I have to. This means that if you see me falling from a tree, let me fall, if you find flowers that remind you of me, leave them where they are, if you see me for the village avoid me" You said pointing your finger at Neteyam’s chest. "The only thing keeping me from completely avoiding you is my title and my parents. You’d be meal for Palulukan if it were up to me."

Neteyam opened his mouth to speak but you stopped him. "Don’t answer, it’s already decided. Learn quickly, I want you out of this village and away from me or my people. I don’t know why my parents sympathize with your family, but I don’t agree with them. Now, if you understand that you have to stay as far away from me as possible, nod."

The boy nodded, smiling amused, watching you get nervous.

"Good. See you tomorrow Neteyam." You said saying goodbye a second time to go home.

At that moment, all you wanted was for Neteyam to disappear, him and his manners, and take away that beautiful smile and those golden eyes. Fuck, no. You don’t have to think about it. You hate him, you hate his family, you must hate him… Do you hate him?

[shroudkeeper]

05. prompt / barbarous

There is something to be said about the history of ones hands; you could read volumes of the life they have endured. When I hold yours, I find myself with worry that you will one day realize the life I have created around you, see the permanent stain underneath my fingertips from blood long dried, remember each line of scarred flesh caused by blades.

These hands have been hardened from strife and combat; they have known the ardous existence that comes with maintaining control and order in a world that specialized in violence and dealings made in the dark recesses of society.

Yet, when you accepted them into your own, without question, without a lapse in judgement, it was the first time, in several years, they have known gentleness. They had been unaccustomed and absent to a welcoming touch, the pressure of something delicate that is not meant to be crushed. I had forgotten that they are easily capable of taking a life, but protecting them is incredibly difficult at times.

It is a lesson I had to relearn; I am not the perfect father, I will never claim to be. My sins could be written on scrolls that could stretch on for malms and beyond, yet one thing I hold true, is that I will never apologize for my actions and what I have done in the name of love, to safeguard something pure, someone akin to being otherworldly.

I will do it again.

We made an oath, when you chose to use the clan's surname and became my daughter, to destroy that have caused you harm. With these hands, that have formed a bond, I will take on your burdens, in order to keep the glimmer of joy that has been sparked by your presence. I want to spend days such as these, where I write haiku, recite poetry to the children that look up to you fondly.

To simply enjoy days such as these, it is worth the path of bodies I will create. While you protect others, I shall be your shield, the blunt weapon to use against those who would see you as a tool, who would use you for their selfish gains. Know that I do this out of fear, out of love, I hope that you will one day understand that this life I offer comes with enemies that would wish to see you wilt and see me suffer.

So I will help you remain in bloom..

even if I must become a monster in the process..and shoulder the weight of each transgression.

[transhawks]

I have brainrot in the middle of the night, what name do you think Hawks has on his citizenship? I re-read chapter 299 and Tomie's home named by Ukai, which I assume her maiden name, but Dabi still called Hawks Takami Keigo. Hawks also said that by erasing Takami name he severed his bond with his mother, meaning that he didn't follow her mother's surname. The thing is, I don't think Thief Takami in hiding would register his unwanted son with Takami name, so before Thief was captured highly possible that Hawks is an unregistered kid, especially since he was forbidden to go outside at all. He could go by false name, but that doesn't explain why he didn't just use his false name on public and why Dabi can track Tomie. And since he never went to school before HPSC unlike Lady Nagant, he was never in situation where he needed to put his name on non-HPSC record. At this point, I even assumed that Hawks didn't have citizenship, just HPSC's hero license, and Dabi tracked Tomie by looking at where Hawks' money income went to. Which is suck because if that's the case legally he can't apply for any other job except hero, so if post-canon he was fired/retired from being a hero, it will be difficult for him to get a job without citizenship and school certificates.

(Am I overthinking things? This brain cannot stop the Hawks angst train)

So, let's talk about registries. Japanese citizenship is complex because it runs on the koseki system. Meaning Japanese people have to register births themselves in the personal family register and then notify the government of changes.

Usually translated as household or family register, it constitutes the most important document for Japanese citizens. It is the only proof of Japanese nationality and the basis for all other forms of documentation in Japan. Contrary to most other countries, the fundamental unit of the register is the family, rather than the individual. It serves as proof of kinship ties: marriages, divorces, births, adoptions are all registered on the koseki. 

There's one thing - we don't know if Ukai is her maiden name. It might be a fake name, actually, even if she kept Tomie. This will have a lot of complications, we can talk about that later.

I agree that Hawks was probably not a registered kid until the HPSC found him. Let's see what that means:

Those who through no fault of their own find themselves with no koseki registration are in essence denied their rights as Japanese citizens.  Koseki registration is limited to Japanese citizens. (Marriages to non-Japanese spouses are recorded as marginal notations but not officially registered.) This means that anyone with such a registration can easily prove that he or she is of Japanese parentage and therefore entitled to all the rights of a Japanese citizen.  Koseki registration is not, strictly speaking, a requirement for citizenship; anyone born in Japan to either a Japanese mother or a Japanese father may claim Japanese nationality. That said, establishing proof of parentage can be exceedingly difficult if one is not registered on a parent’s koseki.

The upshot is that in Japan, without proof of koseki registration (either an official copy of the document or an official extract)—one cannot obtain a passport so as to travel abroad, be legally married, or claim one’s legal rights as an heir. In essence, one is deprived of one’s rights as a citizen.

The unit of registration in this system is not the individual but the nuclear family, with each family registered under a single surname. Under Japanese law, the husband and wife must take the same surname, and in 96% of cases, they take the husband’s. Thus, in actual practice, the koseki is the husband’s, with the wife and children added on as household members.

So right off the bat there's several issues. One, if he wasn't registered, he essentially has no passport. Either they registered him with the Takami koseki or faked it OR hero licenses are now a fundamental replacement for a passport (interesting to think about). It also uhh might speak to how much control they have over him. Two, Tomie and Keigo would have been under Thief's koseki and registered with him as a family unit if registered at all. Unlikely, dude was on the run. What I think might have actually happened is the HPSC did register Keigo with his father's koseki, because I think it might have made it easier to deal with legalities, but then classified it and made sure no one can really look up the Takami family register. Tomie was likely kept off it and has no legal link to Keigo or Thief. Essentially the "protection" from Thief's legacy was given to Tomie first and foremost but required her cutting off all links to her son too. Something to understand that women are essentially are in their parents' registry unless they get married - then they are in their husband's registery. And then the Koseki itself can only list two current generations. So it can only list a nuclear family of a father mother and their children. If Ukai is her family name, her actual name, then she's likely on her parent's koseki. Even if they are deceased.

Two, until recently, illegitimacy was listed on koseki. No, really, and I think it's still registered on the birth notice itself. And it gives a lot of stigma. Did you know there's no joint custody in Japan? That's important - it's seen as all or nothing, and the non custodial parent is discouraged from interacting with the kid and the mother? Why? Because (in the presumption it's the mother who got custody which it usually is) a divorced father in the life of a mother and kid discourages the mother to find a new spouse. No, really, the system and courts have that in mind. Okay, let's go back to Tomie. The HPSC are promising her a new start, disconnected from Takami thief? You know what would show up in her koseki if she had Keigo on it? The fact she had a kid out of wedlock. That would follow both of them forever since she didn't have a husband listed.

That's not a fresh start. She got to walk off, essentially. Then, with Thief likely in prison for decades if not life, the HSPC just registered Keigo in his koseki, likely putting some placeholder for his mom, and then laws for koseki would make it hard for just anyone to access the Takami one. In this way, they managed to get around the issues of him being Mukosekisha (Unregistered) which would fuck up his citizenship rights.

That's what I think happened. However if he doesn't have citizenship and the hero license functions as a passport that let him leave Japan, yeah he's fucked. It's the one job he can do because the HPSC just did his paperwork. He can't get state aid (Mukosekisha can't get welfare), his employment is limited...

Interesting how bureaucracy can genuinely turn a person's life into a nightmare.

[nkogneatho]

I can get how someone can see a bad dad and hate them for that. But when you grew up in an abusive household with no father/mother role or anyone showing you what love and care is. It's kind of hard to be a father after that shit. Doesn't excuse his behavior and there are plenty of people who have shitth parents and childhoods who grow up to be wonderful parents.

if his wife didn't die leaving him a single parent to two kids, now handling intense grief because the only person who loved him has been taken away. And he can see their faces in his children everyday and he is still dealing with his own trauma. Doesn't excuse it and plenty of people stick around despite these hard circumstances and can be wonderful parents.

That isn't everyone. And the same way they can project their hatred of bad dads onto toji some people can recognize that he if he was given a better life he would have been a better dad and he isn't a one dimensional character.

He noticed must have noticed Megumi had a good abilities and that his clan would treat him better. Since sometimes a family will treat one kid like shit and then praise the very ground the other one walks on. It's bullshit and it happens more than people think

In the end he brought it up to gojo, in his dying breaths with a hole in his side he is bringing up his son, trying to stop what he could have realized is a mistake. Why bring it up to gojo if he didn't hope that someone else better could take care of his kid?

Toji is still a morally corrupt guy and heavily flawed. But I can see Toji is the product of the environment he grew up in. And I hope that Maki can beat that, and heal from the generational trauma thay toji couldn't

If he was raised in a happy house, shown what it's like to have a positive role models. Maybe he could have been a good dad regardless of his wife dying.

I like to think about a world where Toji gets the help he needs, where Satoru and Suguru regardless of their friendship or relationship got to stay by each other’s side and led peaceful lives

I wish that shoko wasn't so damn tired all the time and got to rest and that Kento made it to Malaysia. He has his stacks of books and loves to read outside on an hammock.

Isnt that the point of fanfiction to take a character put them in different circumstances (maybe better or worse ones). Which means we can take toji put him in a different world where he wife is us and he gets help and becomes a wonderful dad who heals from his traumatized childhood

But then again they can think what they wish of the character. Like how I am putting my own thoughts onto Toji

What they shouldn't do is come into someone else inbox and bitch at them, as if that can change the mind of the person who owns the blog?

YES WHAT YOU SAID.!! tsumiki isn't toji's daughter tho. they have different parents and toji married her mom and took her surname. BUT OH MY GOD THE THING YOU SAID ABOUT SEEING MAMAGUMI IN MEGUMI'S FACE EVERYDAY KILLED ME

[funnuraba]

Threepwood Family Mysteries:

(Note: there's an attempted family tree for Bertie on page two of this Plum Lines. John Fletcher, its creator, notes that it gets so difficult and inconsistent that Geoffrey Jaggard never attempted it, despite putting one together for Lord Emsworth. Personally I don't think there's any need to try to fit Algernon Wooster in at all. (See #2.)

#1: Wilfred Allsop's parentage:This is never stated, despite him being named as a nephew of Lord Emsworth. There are seemingly two candidates for his mother, Charlotte and Jane, whose surnames we never learn. Geoffrey Jaggard says that his mother can only be the late Lady Jane, because otherwise his mother would appear and try to interfere in his life. I don't feel the evidence is strong to definitively label him Wilfred, son of Lady Jane Allsop and brother to Angela Allsop. Moreover, I say: what if another sister was *previously married to a man named Allsop*, then widowed, whereupon she married again and shortly thereafter had another child slightly younger than Wilfred? Julia, Constance and Hermione are all clearly excluded, since they're all on their first husband when we meet them. Florence and Diana are implied to have no biological children (Florence, like Constance, has a stepdaughter), but I think any of the remaining five sisters could be a possible candidate. (That would be Charlotte, Jane, Dora, Georgiana, and the tenth sister.)

Although I admit it would be very funny if there were a brother and sister who both married some form of pig keeper. (James Belford, knower of the Pig Hoo-o-o-o-ey! call, and Monica Simmons, Lord Emsworth's first pig woman.)

#2: LADY ANN WARBLINGTON

And I say on top of that: DOES LADY ANN WARBLINGTON EXIST? Think about it: no event from Something Fresh is ever mentioned again. Leave It to Psmith presents all the main players in a reworked form: Lord Emsworth is much the same except for losing at least 16 years of age, but Freddie has slimmed down and become a more standard Drones lad; Baxter is now controlling and unsympathetic; Beach appears minimally but will later be unrecognizable from the Beach in SF. In particular, it seems impossible that he and Baxter were ever allies, as they're said to be in SF. Galahad and Clarence each list out all their known sisters repeatedly in later books, never including Ann, and they say that every single sister oppressed Clarence, which Lady Ann wasn't doing. And, most damning of all, Baxter never mentions the time Lord Emsworth fired six rounds of live ammunition at him in the dead of night, despite having ample reason and opportunity to do so! So is Something Fresh not canon? Is the tenth sister just someone different? Lady First Name Allsop? It could be true!

The facts about Lady Ann contradict quite a lot of later info, too. Per Something Fresh, she's lived with Lord Emsworth since his wife died. Many years later, we learn in a Blandings story that the woman in question died "20 years ago". Did Lady Ann really live as Lord Emsworth's chatelaine for close to 20 years, only to vanish and never again be mentioned by any of her family? Especially when she was a much less taxing presence than Constance or Hermione, and must also have spent most of that time as the chatelaine for Clarence, Lord Bosham, at the same estate where Clarence's heir currently lives, serving as some kind of authority figure for a young Freddie? Their father died at 76 or 77, meaning Clarence must have come into the title rather recently. No. I don't think Wodehouse was taking anything from Something Fresh into account when he added all that later lore. The only concession we have to Lady Ann's existence is the 10 sisters number from Sunset, which allows for her but doesn't prove her.

Keep in mind that SF also makes the mistake of dating Lord Emsworth precisely, in a way that was later retconned when Wodehouse brought the characters back eight years later. He was at Eton in the 1860s, which would put him in his 60s at the absolute youngest. Later stories usually have him around the edge of 60, meaning he was mid-50s in SF if it happened.

#3: Percy, Lord Stockheath, and Algernon Wooster

These two are mentioned in Something Fresh and never appear again. Percy is Freddie's cousin, and Algernon Wooster is Percy's cousin. It's stated specifically that everyone at Blandings in that book is part of the extended family, save for the Peters father and daughter, who are expected to join it very shortly. Wodehouse scholars have traced Percy very convincingly to Lord Emsworth's sister Georgiana, Lady Alcester. As a marchioness, she's the only one of his siblings who could have a son with a Lord title at all. (Eight of the nine other girls are known to have married untitled men; Lady Ann must have as well, because if she'd married a baronet or something below an Earl, she'd have her own estate to be managing, and she'd be Ann, Lady Whatever instead of Lady Ann.)

So along with her 14 dogs, Georgiana has at least two children: Gertrude of Company for Gertrude and The Go-Getter, and Percy, Lord Stockheath, who has a courtesy title, indicating he's the eldest son and will be Lord Alcester when his father dies. .....Or there's my theory that he, Algernon Wooster and Lady Ann don't actually exist outside of this book.

#4: The order of siblings

There's a scholarly family tree that seems to have been taken as an official stance on the sibling order. I don't think any of them are backed up by canon. It assumes Lady Ann is the eldest sibling, but there's no evidence of this except that she seems to be the first chatelaine. Geoffrey Jaggard's Wodehouse at Blandings Castle, edited and completed by Tony Ring, definitively calls her the eldest daughter of the Eighth Earl; to my knowledge this is never stated in Something Fresh/New. Unless this was based on private correspondence with Wodehouse before his death, like Richard Usborne getting Psmith's name reconciled as Ronald Eustace Rupert?

This is the family tree as laid out in Sunset at Blandings. I believe this was put together by Geoffrey Jaggard? But I don't think it can be taken as a statement part that Ann is the eldest, because how could there possibly be seven sisters in between Clarence and Galahad, who are three or four years apart in age? I think Gally is placed where he is because Jaggard needed some extra space to fit Jane's two children (as I said earlier, Wilfred and the Allsop surname are his surmises, not a statement from Wodehouse).

Then Constance is given as the next eldest sister. Because she's the next chatelaine? But Hermione, chatelaine #3, is listed way on down the line, as one of the youngest siblings! Constance is usually placed very close to Clarence in order out of 13 siblings. How can this be, when LitP puts her in her mid-40s and Lord Emsworth must have been in his mid-50s at the youngest? Unless the late Eighth Earl was widowed and remarried someone who gave him another spurt of children, this seems highly unlikely. Granted, she's repeatedly written to have memories of Clarence and Galahad as young children, but as little sense as that makes, there's no evidence that Wodehouse ever actually moved her forward to be in her 50s.

As for Julia being the second youngest and Constance the third oldest, I don't see that at all. Based on Heavy Weather and Crime Wave, they were clearly nursery-aged at the same time and were close in age. That's one of the only things about this family that doesn't get contradicted!

Here's me going for my No-prize: the sisters have complained to each other about Clarence and Galahad so much that they've formed a shared memory pool that they all access via atavistic sister powers. When Connie remembers slapping Clarence in their nursery or something similar, she's actually recalling an elder sister's memory in first person as though it were her.

How do we square my order with Crime Wave, in which Clarence was still living at home, with an air rifle for Connie to borrow to shoot her governess? Well, we don't. Unless he was a grown man who was still hanging on to that air rifle. At the end of the day, Wodehouse chronology can't make sense.

#5: On the chronology

Thank You, Wodehouse by John Morris, makes a couple of radical claims, like the idea that Something Fresh (1915) took place in 1914, but Leave it to Psmith (1923) is still set in 1921, the year most people agree on. He also feels that The Crime Wave At Blandings takes place before Summer Lightning, because Lord Emsworth doesn't remember his belief from Summer Lightning that Baxter stole the Empress. I reject both of these ideas entirely.

SL > Crime Wave is the only order that makes Baxter's employment make any sense. The key fact here is that J. Horace Jevons, "Chicago millionaire", is living in England pre-Crime Wave. (Remember he employed that detective while working for Jevons, and she's clearly England-based.) If he's with Jevons in SL, and goes back to him, and Crime Wave took place before that, it means he must've gone to America after Crime Wave and been there when Lady Constance writes to him.

But he can't have been there; he and the letter both make quick time, and I doubt even he would hop an ocean liner just to try to get his job back at Blandings. Also, in Crime Wave, Lord Emsworth remembers the shirt stud/paper fastener scene from Heavy Weather, which was a direct sequel to Summer Lightning. It was written after Summer Lightning, and it takes place after Summer Lightning.

As to Something Fresh taking place seven years before Leave it to Psmith, it is literally impossible that Baxter was at Blandings for more than a couple of years, but Lord Emsworth was only getting sick of him by the very end 😭. Not happening. The apparent theory to reconcile the statement that he worked for Jevons in 1918-1919 is that he left to work for Jevons, and then came back. This would create an absolutely absurd resume.

If SF takes place seven years before LitP, and Crime Wave is before SL, then his work history according to Morris goes:

Blandings (SF) > leaves for no reason, Jevons for unknown time; ~5.5 years pass > quits Jevons for no reason and rehired at Blandings (LitP) > fired, back to Jevons > leaves Jevons because Jevons moves back to America, tries to get rehired at Blandings, chased off and goes to America to be rehired by Jevons (CW) > visits Blandings from America and flirts with reemployment, then rejects it and returns to Jevons (SL) > back in England for reasons unexplained, working for Dunstable; visits Blandings; fired there (UFitS) > back in America for the THIRD time, having decided to stick with Jevons for the FOURTH time (GaB)

And we have to fit Sir Ralph Dillingworth in there before he was at Blandings! This is just impossible. His actual work history is much simpler--and IMO Somethjng Fresh doesn't need to be fit in there at all.

So:

Sir Ralph > Jevons in England > Blandings because an Earl means a status boost (SF if you like, LitP) > fired, back to Jevons in England > takes time off to visit Blandings and flirts with reemployment, then rejects it and returns to Jevons (SL) > leaves Jevons because Jevons moves back to America, tries to get rehired at Blandings, chased off (CW) > Dunstable for a short time; fired by Dunstable > [presumably gives up on annoying employers and joins Jevons in America because he's never had a better boss] > in America as of Galahad at Blandings

#6 Ronnie Fish is illegitimate

This is a theory that comes up in Thank You, Wodehouse, apparently advanced by some scholars of the 1970s, and I find it like really repulsive. Apparently, some dates mentioned in the story led to the theory that Lady Julia conceived Ronnie as a school girl, by Miles Fish, and his birth was only legitimized some years later when she came of age and married Fish.

Morris rejects the theory and says the in-story dates are just wrong, but the book was published in 1981, so everyone involved takes the attitude that this would have constituted an ethical slip on Julia's part, and that if it were true, Ronnie and Galahad would have used it as a weapon against her in Heavy Weather to prove that she has no grounds to object to Sue. Therefore it can't be true. What the fuck? I know Gally never gets the chance in canon to prove himself a Woke King on these subjects, but I wholeheartedly reject that A) he would have kept palling around with Miles Fish if Fish had slept with his underage sister, and B) he would throw that in his sister's face years later as a gotcha? It's said clearly in the story that Julia didn't meet her husband until she was older. Something very nasty in the air in the 1970s.

[teddyniffler]

Chapter 14: House of Gaunt

The Gaunt family decorated their house on the Eve of Christmas and opened their gifts and ate their food before the big day, as custom to their ancient ways, so when Ominis woke up the 24th, it was to the feel of icicles and garlands on every staircase.

He wondered what his family would give him for Christmas this year. In the past he received beautiful things, gifts of clothing, little relics or books all centering on the dark arts.

He had never yet liked anything his family had ever given him, it was nothing like what Anne or Sebastian brought him.

“A Happy Christmas Eve!” His father greeted him as Ominis felt his way carefully into the family room, the fire crackling merrily in the hearth, the house elves of the House of Gaunt were already at work in the kitchen, the smell of food sweeping up. The House of Gaunt had two kitchens, one where the family ate, and one where the elves spent their time cooking for the family. Ominis suspected it was the house elves who had hung up all the decorations last night, only to take them down on Boxing Day night. His family enjoyed Christmas, but they would never allow any festivity to make their home look cluttered for too long.

“Happy Christmas Eve.” Ominis said. “Sorry, I did not get anybody any gifts, I had a lot on my mind before term ended.”

He confessed only half true. His family were not the type you handed a Chocolate Frogs to, Solomon Sallow on the other hand would have loved nothing more than a Chocolate Frog gifted to him.

“Christmas is for family.” Ominis�� mother said, as she came in behind him. "This family gets enough gifts, I daresay we have too many even now."

This was one of the few times this holiday that Ominis knew of his mother leaving her drawing rooms, she preferred her own company with her beautiful things to them. Her footsteps were a lot softer than the others and unlike them, she didn’t carry a snake around with her, as while Greer belonged to her, the old snake didn’t like moving too far from the railings it hung on.

His father then cleared his throat.

“Yes, about that. Family, Ominis. Family. It is very important, don’t you agree?” Mr Gaunt asked. He must have been smiling at Ominis for Ominis could hear it in his voice. Ominis felt something was amiss, why did his father sound happy? Christmas would make him happy, but not like this. He was only this happy when he was inflicting suffering on other people.

“I am afraid I do not follow.” Ominis confessed carefully.

“My boy, my son, you are now sixteen. Next year you shall be seventeen and you will come off age. You shall be a boy no more, but a man. You’ll be in your final year at Hogwarts and you shall enter the world not only a man, but as a qualified wizard. Me and your mother have been doing some thinking and we believe your path after school will be to this family’s important duty, which is to carry on Salazar Slytherin’s bloodline, the Gaunt bloodline.”

Ominis blinked, he opened his mouth in shock.

No, this cannot be what it sounds like, surely not?

“We believe you should be married, no later than the summer after you’ve finished Hogwarts.”

“Married?” Ominis gasped.

“Yes. Your cousin, Maelia is slightly older than you, she has already left Hogwarts, just like Marvolo. We believe she will be an ideal match for you. She carries the pure Gaunt bloodline just as you do. You are aware I assume, that you will need sons to carry on the Gaunt name, sons my boy, for every daughter you are –“ Mr Gaunt paused, “- Less blessed to have, you will need at least two sons. If you have daughters, you must keep trying for a heir and then a spare at least. A daughter does not carry the surname on if she were to marry outside the family. Which I am sure will never happen, correct. Then when Marvolo has children, he shall do the same, sons and daughters, the cousins can be matches for each other.”

In the air hung a warning. Gaunt family members rarely, very rarely, married outside of their family unless it was an arranged marriage of convenance. Unauthorized marriages outside the family rarely happened and when they did, the person was disowned and killed, their children taken and raised by their Gaunt named relatives.

Ominis could not believe this was happening to him.

This was cruel and wrong. He had plans for himself when he left school, he wanted to be an Auror, it had always been his and Sebastian’s dream for them both to be Aurors together. All his classes he was taking now was to prepare himself for his future as an Auror.

He certainly didn’t want to carry on his family’s inbreeding tradition, his Aunt Noctua had been against that idea too and had bravely, refused any betrothed attempts before she vanished.

“I understand.” Ominis said, he was sure to keep his face neutral but inside he was disgusted. “May I ask why I am marrying before Marvolo? He’s older than me.”

“That I can explain,” Marvolo said. “I have a different path before me. It’s one of noble self-sacrifice, but we all must do what we can for the family.”

“Your brother is being groomed to replace Minister Spavin one day. It will be a great thing for Wizardkind to have a Gaunt in power. I am sure Marvolo would love a family of his own right now, but he must focus on improving our world first.”

Ominis really doubted that. Put a Gaunt in power and half the wizarding world will be hunted or killed. It would be some nightmare hellscape where Muggles and Muggleborns would find no safety. He could only hope such a thing never happened.

“I lead, you breed.” Marvolo sang in false sympathy. He slapped Ominis’ arm.

“That’s also another thing Ominis.” Came his mother’s voice. Both of his parents were clearly standing in front of him from the direction of their voices.

“We have decorated the house much more extravagant this year, both because you are home again, but also because tonight we are throwing your betrothment confirmation. Maelia is coming here today with your aunt and uncle, you’ve met her a few times, but we would like you to court her in the proper fashion. We have invited some of the other pure blood families. You will ensure you look your best and do not embarrass this house.”

“Don’t worry, you aren’t missing much.” Marvolo muttered into his ears. “Maelia may have been named as a princess, but she isn’t sweet to behold. Her eyes are wonky and face in different directions, your babies shall be grotesque.”

He giggled.

“Marvolo.” Their father warned. “Ominis, given your situation, you have limited prospects, this is the best you can hope for. Carrying on the Gaunt bloodline is a noble calling; this is ultimately what you were born for.”

No, he was born for more than this, his insides burned as much as his checks were. He kept his head held up and tried to stop any trembling in his lips. There it was again, his blindness being brought up by his family in the worst way, he was more than his lack of vision, why could they never see that? They didn’t know about his sharp hearing, how he could smell better than other people, how he could almost feel vibrations around him when people walked by, or about his sharp mind that was already reaching for ways out of this.

He was a Gaunt.

Snakes were born without visible ears, but they could still hear, just as he could see the world around him, just not through eyes.

Their lack of ears and his lack of eyes didn’t make neither of them any less.

One day, his family would see that.

“Just don’t pass down your blindness.” Marvolo whispered, nudging Ominis painfully in the side as their parents started sorting out gifts. A second later, Marvolo pulled Ominis closer to him.

“Don’t worry little brother, you can’t see her so you wouldn’t know this, but Maelia is too narrow in the hips, she is not in possession of childbearing hips at all. A babe will get stuck in there, she’ll probably leave you a widow before you are even twenty.” He chuckled darkly. “Then you can marry whomever you want.”

It was the worst Christmas eve ever.

He had been dressed in the most ridiculous dress robes he had ever felt. There was so much lace and pins, buttons and frills. He was thankful he was blind so he didn’t have to see himself in the mirror.

He was determined he would not go through with the wedding, he would run away again before ever marrying his cousin.

For some reason, a girl’s voice floated through his head then, bright and cheerful. A delighted cry. Soft laughter. He pictured what he imagined to be brown eyes and brown hair. Floating brown hair floating out behind a girl running up a hill, gobstones in her hand.

He blinked and released his breath, not knowing why he had held it for.

He felt a soft bump, bump, bump against his check as his snake tapped for his attention.

“I’m okay.” He told Snakey. He placed the small snake down on his bed, wanting some alone time.

He would not marry his cousin. He did not want to carry on his infernal family’s bloodline. He would not be made to create children when he was still one himself.

He wanted his own life, he wanted to live and follow his own path. His aunt Noctua had instilled that into him. He remembered her touch from his childhood, the only gentle touch he had ever known to come from a Gaunt.

How would he get away from this? They wouldn’t marry him off until after Hogwarts, meaning there was time to plan, in the meantime he would go along with this act, play along to ensure his family were not suspicious and married him sooner as a result. He made his way downstairs and in time he waited to welcome the guests.

One by one, the Pureblood families arrived, or most of them at least. Some would never be invited to the House of Gaunt, never would a Weasley, Abbout, Longbottom, a Prewitt or, god forbid, a Potter ever set foot within this home, for they were all bloodtraitors. Maybe it was a good thing the Prewitts would never come, for he was very sure it had been Leander who had spoken to the Prophet and given the mood Ominis was in now, he may have done murder himself, but with his hands rather than a wand. Ominis wondered for a moment, to take his mind off the feeling he was being stared at, who will get thrown down the hill tonight once they got drunk and mentioned Isolt Sayre. Isolt was an infamous ancestor of the Gaunt’s who was a bloodtraitor, she had been disowned three hundred years ago but still people brought her up to provoke the Gaunts of today. Sometimes the lesser families would mention her to pick a fight.

They never were invited back after that.

“Gaunt! Thank you for the warm invite” Cried out a voice Ominis only knew too well “Why, don’t you look so handsome, Ominis. A credit to your father.”

“Thank you, Professor Black.” Ominis said blankly.

“Phineas, there’s a dress code.” Ominis’ father said sternly. “Should I show you upstairs so you can shave that monstrosity off your face?”

Black chuckled. To Ominis, he sounded terrified.

Being dragged by Gaunt and his vice like grip up the stairs, and then into a study, Black felt like a little child being led by an angry parent. He tried to get his composure and his dignity, he was not a dog to drag, but he felt it. He had come here with his wife, but it was a place neither of them wanted to be on Christmas eve of all nights, they had their own children they wanted to be with, however fear had forced Black into coming here. You just didn’t say no to this family if you wanted to be in the inner circle of the Gaunts.

Then his cousin arrived.

Ominis’ mother and father were cousins whose surnames were already Gaunt before they married. Maelia’s surname was already Gaunt too. That simple fact made his skin crawl.

Ominis fixed a smile upon his face when she was presented to him by her mother and father, although he couldn’t see where she stood or even if she was looking at him. She didn’t speak to him, she just stood there. He could smell the floral perfume on her. He imagined she was glaring at him, forced to marry the younger brother when the older brother was more her age and type. They had only ever met a handful of times and it was clear she never intended for Ominis to be her husband, she expected Marvolo. However she fully believed in the pure blood supremacy their family pushed. She would marry him to ensure their lines continued pure. Ominis would be a gentleman, he would do everything expected of him, including courting his cousin tonight, but it was all part of his act.

He didn’t want her as much as she didn’t want him.

The ball was grand as always. The House of Gaunt had a ballroom in their home, which was perfectly not normal when he considered how small the Sallow household was.

“Grand as always, Gaunt.” Ominis heard Professor Black say.

“See that man over there Phineas? That is Frederic Hymen Cowen playing,” Mr Gaunt chuckled. “He’s under the Imperious Curse to play for us tonight. Muggle, of course, but his music is acceptable for his kind, Marvollo is going to have some fun with him tonight before we release him.”

Black choked on his drink.

Ominis did not blink. His father often causally admitted to using the Unforgiveables in front of people he knew he could intimidate and only very little here knew of Marvollo’s cruelty. Ominis imagined Professor Black’s mind was spinning over all the terrible possibilities in store for the Muggle man.

“Ominis, go spent time with your betrothed. I need to speak to your headmaster.”

Ominis felt his father move behind him, the sound of Black being dragged away by the arm.

Ominis blinked. He was sure his ‘betrothed’ had walked away from him a long time ago, without even a word, he had no idea where she could be, so made his way to the ballroom on the ground floor, not to find her, but to find the food table, he was hungry.

“May I ask how? How did you get the boy out? What has all this been for?” Black said quietly, before Gaunt could even speak. He needed to know. It had been just under three months now since all this craziness had started by Ominis Gaunt coming to his office to tell him Sebastian Sallow was innocent. In that time he had been subjected to countless questioning by the Ministry and the Board of Governors at Hogwarts who were angry a Hogwarts Student has been hurt in all of this. His anxiety levels were through the roof, he was not sleeping, half expecting the Ministry to come arrest him for lying about Sallow. He dreaded Professor Weasley seeing him as she was asking far too many questions. Even his wife had told him he had lost weight.

Many times after he returned to his office from a full day of answering endless questions, he would find Mr Gaunt sitting in his chair, the headmaster’s chair no less, waving a new letter or some agreement signed in parchment. Many times Professor Black had simply gasped at him, sitting with his feet up on Black’s desk. Black never asked how Gaunt had got in there, the Headmaster’s office was barred to everybody who didn’t know the password, but no matter how often Black changed it, Gaunt would just walk in. Black imagined it was something to do with Slytherin’s blood, he never asked for details.

One time Gaunt had turned up in the middle of the night, sitting on his bed while Phineas was in it, his crazy madman eyes inches from Black’s own.

All of these incidents had left Professor Black with a nervous disposition, a shadow of the strong man he had been.

Master Gaunt raised an eyebrow. He had planned giving Professor Black an update anyway.

“Mmmm.” He mused, a smile on his face. “Are you sure you will understand? It’s a little above your intelligence, Phineas.”

Black chucked again, he had long perfected his fake laughter when this man insulted him to his face.

“I wish to know.” He confirmed.

Gaunt was now laughing. Professor Black waited for him to share the joke. He hoped he wasn’t the butt of it.

“Malfoy.” Gaunt said simply, with a smile.

Black thought for a moment, what about the Malfoys?

“Oooh I see.” Professor Black grinned himself, he had a feeling he knew. The Malfoys were odd among the Pure Bloods, they didn’t quite fit in.

Mr Gaunt poured them both a large firewisky. “You know about that family then?”

Professor Black took the glass. “Doesn’t everybody?”

Mr Gaunt put his feet up on the sofa he was sitting on.

“So the Malfoys, their blood is as pure as yours or mine, however they are actually without a single Knut to rub together, can you believe that? They are in so much debt, their great great grandchildren shall be paying off their loans, they can’t even afford to send their children to Hogwarts without growing that debt more, but they like to spend as though they have the money. The Malfoys, as you know only came here with the Normans, those cursed French, eh?.”

Gaunt chuckled and side eyed Phineas. The Black family motto was in French and not Latin, to the Gaunts, this marked the Black family of being lesser value than the Gaunts. One thing about the Gaunts was certain, there would never use French names, never.

“Remember that land they were given many, many generations ago? It’s just been grass, weeds, nothing else for centuries and they’ve always talked about building ‘Malfoy Manor’ that dream house of theirs? Well, each time they build a new room in that ‘manor’ of theirs, they have to wait years more to save money to build the rest.”

Gaunt poured himself another drink. He looked totally at home, relaxed, the very opposite of how Professor Black was sitting. Phineas was ultra-aware of the snakes in this house, both the animal and human kind. He couldn’t relax

Gaunt continued.

“So, it just happens there is a Malfoy right now in the ministry, low paid job, nothing extraordinary for a pureblood to hold. I suggested to him that if all the files, everything incriminating on Sallow, including his uncle’s death records and if all the memories of every member of the Council of Magical Law, and the memories of all members of the Wizengamot were to – you know – be wiped clean without trace, I would give his family the money needed to clear their debt and to build their house. A very big job with a very big pay out. Did he do it? Well, the Malfoy’s just added three new bedrooms and bathrooms to Malfoy Manor just last month.”

Professor Black sat quietly as Mr Gaunt laughed.

“That is a lot of money.” Black said. Even he knew how much the Malfoy’s owned.

“It’s no more than pocket change really” Gaunt said, shrugging.

Professor Black sat stunned, he knew the Gaunts were rich, but how rich? So much money just thrown around.

Gaunt stretched out more on the sofa.

“Naturally, I removed his memories once he finished his job. He went all over the Ministry destroying evidence and erasing memories when nobody was looking. Now he has no memory of ever speaking to me, so he can’t go blabbing now. He believes the money came from a far distant relative’s newly found hoard back from the eleventh century. While he was doing my job, he placed a Confundus Charm on old man Spavin himself. The Minister has been walking around the place more concerned about Dragons or the Queen’s ball tomorrow night. He fully believes the Sallow boy was simply held at the Ministry, but not charged, then he was accidently placed on a carriage and sent to Azkaban by Ministry error where he remained for months.

Spavin wants whoever made the mistake to be fired, so name me whomever you have quarrel with and I shall make sure they take the fall for this.”

Gaunt took a drink. Toasted Black with a wink, then continued.

“Then a simple memory charm on Spavin so he forgets everything, so now people think he is getting even more senile, he's so confused over the case. ‘”Sallow? Who is Sallow? What boy in Azkaban! Why is there a boy in Azkaban? you mean there’s not a boy in Azkaban?”’

Gaunt was laughing again, Black allowed a small smirk on his face. It did amuse him to hear about Minister Spavin being hookwinked so easy.

“Marvolo shadows him at work, but I will not have my boy using the Unforgiveable curses in public, too much risk. He gets to hear none stop rants of some unknown Hogwarts boy being held in Azkaban and just pretends to know nothing about it, even when Spavin asks him. After that, I called in a few other favours too. Rowle, he works in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, he helped set up the fake retrial for the middle of the night. He made sure their schedule was jampacked so the only time free for an appeal was early hours in the morning. It was just him making up times and notes for a sham hearing that never happened. Slughorn too sat in on that, he’s the verifier for court and I helped him just last year with something, so he’s paid me back. I trust them, they have both asked about Marvolo’s marriage options, they could be family one day, but I also removed their memories too, best be safe. That entire department right now is likely rubbing their heads, wondering how and why a kid even was in Azkaban in the first place and if they go looking, they will just find accounts on that Rookwood fellow doing all of Sallow’s crimes. No matter where they look, they won’t get the truth. Check the retrial notes? He was cleared almost at once on account of no evidence against him. Sent to Azkaban by Ministry of Magic error, release issued at once after the trail.”

Black took another drink. He needed it after that, his head was spinning over everything he had just heard. Gaunt had corrupted the Ministry of Magic with his lackeys.

“You undermine our entire legal system, I am impressed.” He said, he really meant it too. He would never have been able to do that.

“That’s what happens Phineas when you come from a great family, one who is descendant from –“

“I know, I know” Black said without thinking.

“Don’t interrupt me!” Gaunt warned, he emptied the bottle. "As for why I've done this? My son. I wanted him home all along, now I can use the Sallow boy against Ominis. He wont run away if he thinks I can throw Sallow back into jail. He wont dare disobey me when I can end his little friend and his sister in one blink of my eye. That boy is leverage to make sure Ominis acts like a Gaunt."

Master Gaunt reached over and refilled his and Black's glass.

“If anything the Sallow boy should thank me, he will get a payment of some sort from the Ministry for the injustice done to him. Mental trauma, falsely locked away, defamation of his character and any life time issues Azkaban has done to him, that boy is going to be set for life. Not bad for murdering his uncle! I do have a healer at St Mungos who is watching out, if Sallow starts talking too soon, then he will be delt with. I’m watching the boy’s sister, she doesn’t really do much. I know where Ominis is all the time thanks to you. We can’t have any loose ends now. I hate loose ends.”

Mr Gaunt paused, he looked full of glee at the idea of such chaos.

“I understand now how you did it. Malfoy removed their memories, destroyed the files, confused Spavin more than what he already was, then Rowle and Slughorn fiddled with the official records. All together, Sallow’s guilt can’t be proved, there’s no memory or record of anything he did, but there is evidence it was all Rookwood, who’s dead anyway.” Black said. “However, if they’ve done all of that for you, why’ve you been coming to me all these times, where do I fit into this?”

A cruel smile fixed on Gaunt’s face.

“Is it not obvious Phineas? Didn’t I just tell you I hate loose ends? How many times have I come to see you since Ominis started this lie?”

“Um?” Professor Black paused, it was not obvious to him at all. “Many times?”

“Yes. You’re my protection if this ever backfires.” Gaunt said dangerously. “Each time something unforetold was happening, I was with you. Malfoy running around the Ministry? I was attending to a social call at Hogwarts for a dear old friend. A trial that never was? I was sampling your firewisky in your office with you. If I am discovered, I take you down too. What else are friends for?”

Black smiled, what else could he do. He had been played for a fool and all along he had gone with it unknowingly. He had sealed his own fate one anxiety riddled visit at a time.

Ice flooded his gut and all he wanted to do was run to his wife and get her out of here.

“That is smart, yes, smart.” Black rubbed his face. “Clever move Gaunt. Always a step ahead.”

“Ten steps ahead” Gaunt grinned. “Only a fool like you will be one step ahead, you’ll likely stumble and fall back.” He loved his games with Phineas, it was always like this. They had so much fun together.

“Now come!” Gaunt stood up. Black got up too. “I need to deliver my speech for my boy’s engagement.”

Back in the ballroom. Ominis wanted to drowned himself in the fancy wine fountain he could hear nearby. His father had brought him and his cousin to the front of the room, while the rest of the Gaunt family lined up in prime sight of all their guests, just to remind everybody in this room of how important the Gaunts were. The living decedents of Cadmus Peverell and Salazar Slytherin both, royalty among the wizarding population, looking back at the lesser families.

Mr Gaunt give speeches while Marvolo sniggered from behind Ominis, whispering to Mori, who was just out of sight, of how lovely the bride and groom would look on their wedding day as Master Gaunt give a lecture on the importance of keeping blood pure, of only magical families being allowed to marry other magical families and the dangers of ever allowing muggle blood into their esteemed lines. The marriage was announced to take place in August after Ominis’ seventh year ended and the engagement made official with crossed wands and vows.

Then came the rings. One was placed on his hand. One on his cousin’s hand. He didn’t need to feel them to know they were twisted into a snake.

He was now betrothed to a family he hated.

His own.

The night couldn’t end fast enough.

[niobefurens]

Wēn Family Tree 👀

Diagram below the cut.

“Wēn Qíng was renowned both within and without the Wēn Clan of Qíshān. She wasn’t a daughter of the head of the Wēn family, Wēn Ruòhán, but rather the descendant of one of his elder cousins on the maternal side (表兄 = BiǎoXiōng). Although they were distant relatives, Wēn Ruòhán had had a good relationship with his cousin since they were children.” MDZS/GMDC 7Seas ; Vol. 3; p. 148.

表兄 Biǎoxiōng = cousin, usually means: mother's sibling's son, or father's sister's son, older than oneself. In MDZS it appears to be used for a greater degree of separation (as it is specified they are distant relatives  – third cousins, for example).

Me: If I assume the normal rules regulating marriage in ancient China to apply in MDZS, as they seem to (if we look at the other shì), I must take into account the following:

“Confucius described marriage as "the union of two surnames, in friendship and in love";

[in China] “traditionally incest has been defined as marriage between people with the same surname." One of the earliest marriage prohibitions, and one surviving to this day, was that forbidding persons of the same surname to marry. An imperial decree of 484 A.D. states that this rule was promulgated far back in the Zhou dynasty; 1122 to 255 B.C."

From the Confucian perspective, marriage brings together families of different surnames and continues the family line of the paternal clan.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_marriage

According to R. H. Van Gulik, as early as the feudal period (1500-222 BCE), “marriages among the members of the ruling class were strictly exogamic. The marrying with a woman of the same surname, be it principal wife, secondary wife, or concubine, was completely taboo.” Sexual Life in Ancient China: a Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D.; Leiden, Brill, (1974); p. 19.

Thus, Wēn Ruòhán’s cousin cannot be the son of a brother of Wēn Ruòhán’s mother (or, his surname; and his children’s surname could not have been Wēn). For the same reason, he cannot be the son of Wen Ruòhán’s father’s sister, as she would marry out of the Wēn-shì.

Wēn Qíng’s father must be the son of one of Wēn Ruòhán’s mother’s older relations (or even ancestors: aunt, great-aunt, etc.); who, obviously, also married a Wēn (or again, the surname would not be Wēn).

ME: Huh what?

🙄

More reaserch unearths:

“In ancient China, some evidence indicates cases where two clans had a longstanding arrangement wherein they would only marry members of the other clan. Some men also practiced sororate marriage, that is, a marriage to a former wife's sister, or a polygynous marriage to both sisters. This would have the effect of eliminating parallel-cousin marriage as an option because they would have the same surname, but would leave cross-cousin marriage acceptable.

In the ancient system of the Erya dating from around the third century BC, the words for the two types of cross cousins (甥 shēng), were identical with father's brother's children (甥 shēng); with mother's sister's children both being distinct (從母晜弟 cóngmǔ kūndì for boys and 從母姊妹 cóngmǔ zǐmèi for girls).

However, whereas it may not have been permissible at that time, marriage with the mother's sister's children also became possible by the third century AD. Eventually, the mother's sister's children and cross cousins shared one set of terms, with only the father's brother's children retaining a separate set. This usage remains today, with biǎo (表) cousins considered "outside" and paternal táng (堂) cousins being of the same house.”

See China, in this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage

Anthropologist Francis Hsu described a mother's brother's daughter (MBD) as being “the most preferred type of Chinese cousin marriage.” Hsu, Francis L. K. (January–March 1945). "Observations on Cross-Cousin Marriage in China"; American Anthropologist 47 (1): pp. 83–103.

Me: Fine, let’s draw this up…

🥱 and, I did … 🥱 but ...

Look what happens when I get to Wēn Yuàn … 🥱

😳

I give MXTX enough credit that, if this is so, she put it there for a reason. In canon, incest is a very real social problem (JGY/QS).

Friend (who reads Chinese, and  who has kindly supplied the original terms): The Wen-shì do not adhere to the the exogamic rule. They are so big they can intermarry among Wēn without consanguinity issues.

Me: So the whole thing could ... just be RED ... !!!

Friend: Yes...

Huh? What?

So: not technically incest; but certainly galling to everyone else who adheres to the rules (think of the Làn...)

Is this one of the reasons everyone hates the Wēn??!!

Do they think they are so cool, and so hot, everyone else is beneath them?

In ancient republican Rome interrmarriage of this type would be considered a "regal insurgence" (attempt to make oneself king - illegal known as crimen regni).

Which is what Wēn Ruòhán seems to want do?

Make himself king? And the Wēn-shì the ruling family = dynasty ?

🙃

Suppposing someone got this far, any insights, comments, and takes are very welcome. ❤️

[ketso]

Episode 4

"Mama, is daddy fetching us at the big taxi rank?" My daughter asks me. She's six.

"Yes baby, he will be there to fetch us when we arrive." I say.

“I like it at granny’s house. Daddy scares me sometimes.” She says.

I take a deep breath because I genuinely don’t know how to respond to that. Her dad scares me too. All the time. When he beats me up, when he rapes me and when he makes me watch him have sex with other women in front of me. He used to do all these things when my kids were not around. But now, he doesn’t care. He does it whether they are there or not.

My son is sleeping on my chest.

We've just come back from my home, Tholoana Kingdom. My older sister was having a birthday party for one of her children. I was reminded, yet again, that I have two children and am unmarried. She has four and she is unmarried. I don’t know why the big deal is made out of my situation. My boyfriend has never even been to my home, so my family doesn't know him. So my mother made sure that my kids have my surname - Letuka.

Their father, i.e. my boyfriend, is obviously not happy at all about his kids having the Letuka surname. He's never happy about anything. He's a nice guy when he's sober. But he's drunk 85% of the time and he honestly makes our life so hard when he gets that way.

We live in ama-room in Soweto. We have nice neighbours. There's Wandisa who is living with her mother that's just come out of jail. She has a rich boyfriend that’s also a youth pastor. They keep telling me that I'm in an abusive relationship and I should go to the church's safe house.

Then there's Basetsana. She was supposed to be someone's surrogate, but now the parents have ditched her and she must see what she does with this child. It's bad. One of the guys who lives in one of the backrooms is in love with Bassie, so he's appointed himself as the child's father. I feel bad for him. Bassie likes the finer things in life and he's just a miner. It will take one rich man to shatter all of his dreams and I'm scared he will kill himself when that day comes.

We arrive at the MTN taxi rank and we see Brian already waiting for us. Brian is Ndebele from Bulawayo. He is here with that Gold 4 GTI of his that I hate with all of my heart.

We climb off the taxi. I put my son, Tshenolo, on my back and wrap him with a towel. Then I hold our traveling bag with one hand, and my daughter in my other hand. Her name is Mosetsana. My mom named both my kids. Brian hates that the names he wanted for our kids appear nowhere on their birth certificates. I keep telling him that he must go to Tholoana Kingdom and pay damages. He says he didn't rape me. So we are here.

"There are my favourite people! I've missed you guys so much." He says as he sees us.

Mosetsana runs to her dad and he picks her up, spins her around in the air, and has her laughing a lot. Then I get to him.

"Hello baby", he greets me as he kisses me.

"Hey love. How are you?" Me.

"I'm good." Him.

Notice how he didn't ask me how I am...

Or take this heavy bag from me. He just takes his son off my back and puts him in the car.

I put the bag in the boot then sit in the front with him.

"How was the kingdom? How is your family?" He asks me.

"All is well. They just keep asking when they are meeting you and when we are getting married." I say.

His body tenses and his mood changes. He pulls a beer cort from under his seat, opens the lid with his teeth and starts drinking. I look at my kids and I see Mosetsana already rolling her eyes. We already know that this is going to be a long night.

"So where does your family think I get money from?" He asks me.

"They were just asking, Brian", I say.

"Well, they mustn't ask shit. I don't have money. I don't even have enough money to cheat on you. Where must I find money to marry you?" He says to me.

"The same place you find money to buy alcohol." I say.

"What?! What the fuck did you just say?!"

He's angry now.

He clicks his tongue.

The rest of the car ride is silent.

We get to our place. He offloads the kids and I offload our luggage. When I get into the house, I see that he bought us pizza. Mosetsana and Tshenolo are actually happy. I'm not even hungry. The three of them eat from the box as I unpack our bag and charge my phone. I want an early night so that I can be on time for work. Wandisa got me an admin job at her dad's offices and I take it very seriously. Her dad is always trying to sleep with me, but out of respect for Wandi... I'd just never go there.

Our back room is divided into three by curtains. There's one double bed in one section where Mosetsana sleeps. There's a double bed in another section where Brian, Tshenolo and I sleep. We have one long couch in here and a small TV. My kids actually go to Wandi's room to watch their shows because they like her room and TV better. Wandi bought them an iPad which they are obsessed with. Brian does not like Wandi at all. She's such a nice lady. Senzi's family doesn't like her. They think she's not good enough to be a pastor's wife. But she has such a beautiful heart. My kids attend creche and school at the church. They have a school there. Not everyone pays fees. My kids are on some programme where they attend school there for free. In return, I help the church by working at all their open days. They are nice people, but I don't like how they treat Wandi.

"Ey", Brian says to me.

I look at him.

"I'm stepping out. I'll be back tomorrow after work." He says.

It's 9pm. Where is he going? And didn't he say he doesn't have enough money to cheat on me?

"Okay." I say.

He's gone.

Mxm!

I don't know why it's never come to me to leave this guy.

Ay!

I just bath my kids and get them into bed. Today, I actually take Tshenolo with me and we sleep with Mosetsana on her bed. I just want my kids close to me tonight.

-

I hear hectic noises.

"UYANGILIMAZA WENA!" I hear someone scream.

I wake up.

This is in my house.

"VOETSEK WENA! I BOUGHT YOU ALCOHOL ALL NIGHT. HOW DID YOU THINK THIS WOULD END?!' That's Brian's voice.

And they are inside this house.

"BRIAN!" The girl screams.

He's making pleasure noises. He's raping her?!

"SHUT UP! YOU WILL WAKE UP MY WIFE AND KIDS!" He shouts.

I look at my kids. They are still asleep.

"If you don't stop making a noise, I'll kill you." Brian says to her.

I hear her muffled cries.

She's in so much pain.

And I'm just as scared to help her.

He usually does this to me. He comes home late and drunk, wakes me up and rapes me too. Today is not the first time that he has brought someone else inside this room and slept with her - let alone raped her.

This is so painful to listen to. So painful.

I hear this girl screaming into a pillow. Brian is calling her all kinds of sluts as he relieves himself inside of her.

My body shivers.

What if he does this to Mosetsana one day?

Yoh Modimo Waka.

This guy!

They finally finish... well, he finishes. Then he says to her, "Phuma la! You can walk home!"

Bathung!

She's crying. She's hysterical.

"Why are you bleeding all over my sheets wena? Because I know you are not a virgin! How must I explain this to my wife and kids? Take these sheets with you! Voetsek!"

What's wrong with Brian?

"Brian, you hurt me. I can't walk." She says through her sobs.

"EY WENA! PHUMA LA! VOETSEK!" Brian.

Somehow, the poor girl manages to find her way to the door. As she steps outside, she yells, "NGISIZENI BO! NGIYACELA!"

Brian moves so fast.

He's outside in a flash.

"WENZANI WENA?! WENZANI?!" Brian.

"NGISIZENI! UZONGIBULALA!" The girl keeps yelling.

I hear doors opening now.

I hear commotion.

I check my kids again.

They are fast asleep.

I'm even embarrassed to go out there.

Now, I hear hectic commotion. It sounds like Brian is being dragged outside the gate and mob justice is about to solve him.

"Morafe?!" I hear Wandi's voice.

I step out of our curtain.

She sees my face covered in tears.

"You need to come with me. Please. He's been doing this all weekend while you were away. A girl died in here on Friday." Wandi says to me.

I just cry.

"Something is wrong with this guy." I say.

Her mom comes into my room. She and Bassie start packing our stuff.

"Woza mntanam. Asambe", Wandi's mom keeps saying.

Bassie wakes my kids up.

Mosetsana is tired and confused. Tshenolo is crying.

"Morafe, are you leaving me?! You are not going anywhere with my kids!" Brian says.

He looks beaten up but still strong.

"Uzokwenzani?! Uzokwenzani?!" Wandi's mom says.

"Come Morafe", Wandi.

"Ey Nina!" Brian says and pushes all three of us. We all fall. Bassie just had a c-section to deliver her baby. Her baby is still in hospital. She’s probably still stitched up. She starts experiencing pains.

"Usashaya abafazi wena?!" Cops. Thank God!

"Sisi, did he hurt you?" The cop asks me.

I just cry.

I don't even know why I'm crying anymore. I'm just crying.

"Uboshiwe wena, Brian Ncube. Uzobhadla wena ejele. Sesikhathele uwe!" The cops says as they take him away.

"Baby, are you okay?" Senzi asks Wandi. When did he arrive?

"Yeah, we are good. We might need to take Bassie to hospital." Wandi.

"You and mom take Bassie. I'll take Morafe and the kids."

Where are they taking us?

...

It is 5am when we are walked into some one-bedroom apartment. It's a very nice small apartment. It's fully furnished. Tshenolo is in my arms and Mosetsana is holding onto me.

"What is all this, Senzi?" I ask him.

"This space belongs to the church. We bring women and children in here that are victims of abuse. You can stay here as long as you need. It's close to school for the kids. There are groceries stocked in the fridge and cupboards." He explains.

"All this? For free?" I ask him.

He nods his head.

"Senzi, we cannot accept this." I say.

"You can. And you will. He's already been released." He says.

My stomach instantly tightens.

"You are safe here. There are rules. You may not have visitors and you may not use a cellphone here. No iPads neither. The network switches off immediately when you enter this area. But there is twenty-four-hour high end security. You are safe here. Please, get some rest. All three of you. You can come into my office tomorrow and we can talk some more." He says.

He hands me the apartment keys. He leaves.

I lock the door.

Mosetsana and I look at each other.

I walk to the bedroom. It has a three-quarter bed, but there's enough space in the room so I place blankets on the floor as well. I sleep on the floor with Tshenolo then Mosetsana sleeps on the bed.

Surprisingly, we actually pass out very quickly. Even me.

...

"Hai khona Nkosinathi, our daughter is something else. The interesting thing is that she doesn't take after either of us. You and I have never been good people."

He laughs as I say this.

"I also just feel like I don't know her at all. I'm always trying to play catch up with her kodwa she's always someone else by the time I catch up with who she was yesterday", I tell him.

"You are being too hard on yourself, Maphuthi. Wandisa understands that you haven't been around and all she wants is to let you in. She's just as stuck as you are on how to make that possible. So, ask her whatever question you want to ask her. She's an open book. I disappoint her a lot, but she always has room for me... sometimes against her own will. She's not like me and you. She can't be a horrible person even when the situation warrants it. Maybe that pastor of hers has more influence in her life than what we think", he says.

"What do you think about that boy?" I ask him.

"I don't think anything of him. He's just my daughter's boyfriend. I don't care for him until he tells me that he wants to marry her. I've never even met him. Khanya and Khosini tell me about him though. I just think it's funny that Wandisa is going to be umam'fundisi." He says.

We both actually laugh aloud.

"Yini? Wena you don't like him?" He asks me.

"I don't know him well enough. But I just don't have a good feeling about him." I say.

"You need to relax, Maphuthi. Our daughter is a grown woman. The more we tell her to stay away from him, the more attitude she will just give us. So if it's a mistake, let her make it. As long as he doesn't treat her how I treated Thandeka, I'm fine." He says.

That actually hurts me. Wandi and I are a result of how he treated Thandeka.

"Sorry", he says.

I'm glad he senses it through my silence over the phone.

"Do the two of you still talk?" I ask him.

"Yeah. I really want to have a healthy relationship with the mothers of my children. It's important to my kids. That's why I'm even trying with you. I don't want us to be enemies." He says.

"Why though? Your children are all older than eighteen. You don't need us to have a relationship with your children." I say.

"I know. But we share children. Why do we have to have to be enemies?"

"Knowing you, you just want to keep sleeping with us", I say.

He laughs then says, "Both of you are very beautiful women. I'd love to fuck you both all day every day, but right now, I need to make things right and keep things right with the both of you... for my kids. It's important to me."

"Hai cha, ngiyayivuma intombi yakho. She is bringing out a real man inside of you." I say.

"Intombi yami? Awukahle." Him.

"You can't live without the disruptiveness of a woman. So don't tell me you are single."

"I'm sleeping with a few people, but I'm not in anything serious. I'm focusing on my family right now... my kids and their mothers. To be my partner would take a woman who could understand that."

"You are an interesting man, Nkosinathi. You want the impossible from women only for you to just cheat on them and not be loyal."

"Don't say that, Maphuthi. I'm trying here... for you guys..." He says.

"Okay. Well, I hope it works out." Me.

"Yeah. Lalela, I'm having lunch with Thandeka and the boys today. How about tomorrow, we do lunch with Wandi. It will be good for us." He says.

"That would be nice. I'll ask Wandi and let you know later." I say.

"Okay then. Let me attend to my patients. Have a good day okay?"

"Shup."

He hangs up.

Ja neh, the new and improved Nkosinathi.

There's a knock on the door.

I roll out of bed, wear a gown then make my way to the door.

I open the door.

Ay!

What does he want lo?!

"Ja!" Me. I have my prison voice on even.

"Where's my wife and kids?" The nerve of this boy!

"Ulobolile wena? Ushade ngani wena?"

"Mamzo, I don't want problems. I want my family back", he says.

"I can't help you." Me.

We stare at each other. Does he think he's intimidating me?

Wandi and Senzi show up, standing behind him.

He looks behind him.

"Where's Morafe and my children?" He asks Wandi.

"Mxm", Wandi says, pushes him out her way and walks into the room with Senzi.

"Ey wena -

That wrong government that Wandi is always greeting and giving food and money too... the ones that are too scary but Wandi treats like human beings for some reason...

They have their arms around this guy's neck.

I guess they are Wandi's security.

"Didn't we tell you to never come back here wena?" These boys.

"I just want my wife and my kids then I'm gone", he pleads.

"Your wife and kids are there where you left them in Zimbabwe. You leave Morafe alone wena. Or we will kill you. Voetsek!" The guys.

They physically throw him out of the yard. They bring his belongings and throw them out of the yard too.

Where is the owner of these rooms? I'd really love to meet him and just pick his brain on the happenings here. Also, Brian leaving without notice is less money for him. Does he care?

Hai!

I need to get my daughter out of here. This place is not safe!

[tehuti88-art]

9/16/22: r/SketchDaily theme, "Free Draw Friday." Two portraits today.

This week's (first) character from my anthro WWII storyline is Corporal Gold Rat. Hm, can't think of much to say about him here, there'll be some stuff about him later in my art Tumblr and Toyhou.se.

TUMBLR EDIT: Ratdog already has an entry, albeit not nearly as detailed as I've been getting into them lately, but I don't feel like rehashing things; that will end up on Toyhou.se sometime. So, Gold Rat. His story's not nearly as dramatic or developed as some of the others, but here it is anyway.

Gold's real name is Arthur! He's one of the very few codenamed characters whose actual name I bothered to find out. (The other one I can think of is, incidentally, Ratdog, whose first name is Adel, though he frustratingly never gives his last name--Klemper is the one who asks his real name, and Ratdog replies, "Doesn't matter. I'm the last, it dies with me"--indicating that it's an unusual/very rare surname, so I'll probably never know what it is. Ironically, he's here making reference to his deceased son, and assuming he'll never have any other children, because he's unmarried and mostly interested in men rather than women (yep, his son was a drunken oopsie)...when in fact he does end up fathering two more children by Didrika. So, his name doesn't die with him after all. Anyway, after he refuses to give his surname, Klemper asks for his first name, and Ratdog tells him it's Adel. Klemper refers to him by his real name throughout the rest of the story, and is the only one to consistently do so.)

Gold's mother must die when he's relatively young because his childhood is spent in just his father's company (I guess divorce is possible, though unlikely). His father isn't really father material, in fact he has a lot in common with Klemper's dad. He's frequently drunk, and when he's drunk, he gets mean. Klemper's father targeted him for being rather effeminate and for kissing a boy; Gold's father targets him because he's angry about Gold being "stupid." No, Gold isn't "stupid" the way Kolten Himmel is, but there's definitely something wrong. He's bright and friendly and sociable, but the grades he gets in school are just miserable. No matter how hard he tries to study, he keeps failing lessons and tests. Teachers express concern. Maybe he needs to see a doctor. Gold's father is just pissed. He has a low-paying job (Gold is basically a latchkey kid and sees him only in the evenings, when he's usually busy getting drunk) and so of course he can't afford any frivolities like taking his stupid kid to a fancy doctor. (He'd also never be caught dead using a word like "frivolities.") So he does the only other thing he can think of to fix the problem: beats his son to convince him to try harder.

Gold does try harder. But it doesn't help. In fact his grades slip even further, and not only that, but he slowly becomes more withdrawn, isolated, and anxious, too. Not so chatty and sociable anymore, he keeps to himself, and goes out of his way to avoid connecting with others lest they see just how stupid he is. Because his father has yelled the words at him so many times--stupid--slow--dumb--lazy--idiot--that by now he fully believes himself to be so. Surely he should be getting good grades if only he wasn't so stupid. And surely he's lazy for his efforts to try harder to not be working. It can't be anyone's fault but his own. His father's voice is the only one he has to listen to on a daily basis; none of the teachers bother to take him aside and really talk to him (he would lie to them by now anyway, and say everything is fine), and he has no more friends. Of course he'd take these words--stupid--lazy--idiot--to heart; there's nobody else in his life to contradict them.

A terrible incident is actually what leads to a silver lining. Gold's father gets especially infuriated one night and forgets, or doesn't care, to beat him and leave bruises only where nobody can see. Gold shows up at school with his eyes blackened. He insists everything is fine, but the school calls the authorities, and Gold is removed from his father's custody. It would probably be easy, considering the time period (children had very few rights) and the fact that Gold has no other family, for his father to merely raise a fuss and be given him back; but he doesn't. The way he sees it it's one less mouth to feed, one less hassle to deal with; he effectively abandons Gold to the custody of the state. Gold ends up in a sort of group home; he's not beaten anymore (maybe just a smack or a paddling now and then), but knowing that the father he tried so hard to appease no longer wants him doesn't encourage him any. He withdraws even more, becoming nearly mute. His grades don't improve, either, so now he KNOWS he's just an idiot.

He barely ever notices the affluent, smart-dressed woman who often visits the home, looking over the kids and their work with great interest. Takes her a while to notice him as well, he keeps to himself so effectively. When she finally sees him, she approaches and asks what he's making; he'd been writing and doodling on a piece of paper, but he covers it with his hands when she tries to look. She wheedles him into showing it to her and his ears burn with shame as she examines it because he knows it isn't good. Perplexingly, the woman asks if she can have it. He nudges the paper toward her and she takes it and puts it carefully in her purse. Asks him his name, then says, "I'll be stopping by again the day after tomorrow. Do you think you could make another little story and drawing especially for me, Arthur? Pretty please?" He's mystified by the request, but whispers, okay. She offers a big bright smile and thanks and says, "It's been a pleasure, Arthur. I'll see you soon," and departs. He can't quite get over being called by his name rather than being called "stupid," but it sure is a nice feeling.

He works extra hard to write the rich lady with the wide-brimmed hat and fur stole an especially good story and make good drawings to go with it. Just looking at his own work, though, he feels crushed inside. He knows it's awful because when he makes similar things in school, the teachers cluck and shake their heads disapprovingly. He tears it up and hides it away. When the lady visits again, though, she insists on seeing it, so he pulls out the torn pieces and meekly hands them over. She pieces it back together to look it over. He waits, head down, for her to criticize it. Instead, she smiles at him and says, "Oh, I love your little story SO much, Arthur. It's exactly what I hoped for. Could I keep it? Do you think?" Again he agrees and she takes the torn pieces. She won't be visiting again for a little while, but in the meantime, "I do hope you keep making these lovely little stories! I look forward to seeing some more when I return."

Although Gold knows something is wrong with all the work he produces--the teachers always react with disapproval to the same sort of things the woman praises--he keeps at it. Because her words are just so kind, and it's the only sort of encouragement, positivity, and acceptance he's gotten...ever, really. He doesn't want to let her down. She's equally delighted with the new work he shows her, then says in a confidential tone, "Arthur, can I tell you a secret...?" He nods. She tells him that she showed his work to a friend; he cringes, but she hurriedly reassures him it's all right. She then explains what she's been doing.

She noticed something in Gold's work that was familiar to her, had him make a few more pieces to be sure, then took them to her friend, a specialist. The long story short is that he isn't stupid or lazy, he just sees the words differently from other people. She can help him learn to adapt, but he'll have to come stay at her place to do so. Of course he agrees. This woman is well known for fostering "problem children" and works wonders with them, plus she has lots of money to donate, so the process for taking Gold in is significantly smoothed out. He's given various tests to rule out visual and memory problems before the specialist tells him what the woman did, that he isn't slow--he's actually quite smart, with non-reading-related tasks--he merely sees words a way others don't. No, he can't be cured or fixed. But yes, he can be taught how to deal with it and cope better. Gold still isn't convinced he isn't an idiot but he's desperate to do better, so he settles in to an entirely different mode of teaching. It isn't long before his marks on the mock tests they give him start to improve, and then his grades in school begin to go up, as well. The teachers in school are impressed because they don't know or understand these progressive teaching techniques Gold's tutor is using but it hardly matters--they work, and he gradually realizes that no, he isn't stupid after all. He finds his voice again, though it's a bit of a struggle. And when the woman asks if he'd like to stay with her, permanently, he again agrees.

(Unknown to him, she'd asked the authorities if Gold hadn't any other family who might want to take him in. Nope, there was only his father, who liked to beat him--they were willing to return the child to him despite this, which she finds horrifying, but he never came asking for him. She decides to double-check that he's genuinely relinquished custody of his son to the state, and pays him a visit. Suspicion toward this well-off woman quickly turns to outright hostility as Gold's father believes she's criticizing and looking down on him. He doubles down on Gold being a "stupid little ingrate" he'd never even wanted. When she outright asks if he's truly abandoned Gold and won't be coming back for him, he says, "You know what, lady? F**k you," and slams the door in her face. So...that answers that question.)

Well, long story short, this lady officially takes Gold in and raises him. He grows up socializing with the other children she fosters (most of whom go on to other family after she's worked her magic), and regains his former chatty, outgoing attitude, though he can never quite eliminate the thread of intense insecurity that winds through his interactions with others; as a result he tends to overcompensate at times, coming across as a little TOO chatty and friendly. He's especially sensitive to the word "stupid" being used as a casual insult, even if no malice is intended; it's like a mental slap in the face and he always has to pause and recover himself whenever and in whatever context he hears it. He makes sure to never, ever refer to anyone else by any derogatory or minimizing terms, because he knows just how small that can make a person feel. And he does still struggle occasionally with writing and especially reading, but he manages, and has his other skills to fall back on as well.

He enlists in the military, and when rumors of war in Europe start rumbling, he prepares to ship out. An experimental battalion called the Trench Rats has recently suffered devastating losses and is recruiting new members; Gold obtains the position of corporal, or second in command. (This is a rather weird battalion composed of low-ranking NCOs and enlisted men, I'm assuming because the people in charge originally assumed they'd all end up as cannon fodder. They weren't entirely wrong. This is the retcon I'm going with to explain away my ongoing difficulty understanding military ranks and duties. *shrug*) He decides to pay his father a visit before he leaves. He runs into him on the street before he can reach his old home, which means he doesn't have to knock and introduce himself. The two haven't seen or communicated with each other since Gold was taken out of his custody; it's obvious his father doesn't recognize him, and Gold decides not to inform him. They share a few words of smalltalk (something Gold has gotten skilled at). Gold realizes just how small and empty and miserable his father is, and rather than the anger or anxiety or hurt he'd expected to feel, he just feels sad. They part ways and he returns to his foster mother to tell her how the meeting went and wish her farewell. She makes him promise to write her (he rolls his eyes and gives an exaggerated sigh), and he heads out.

(Gold's father, BTW, belatedly realizes who was the young soldier he was talking to. And like Gold, all he has left in him is to feel sad.)

Gold receives his new nickname and an odd Prussian-style uniform (this has been explained in previous entries). He's introduced to Sergeant Black Rat, who'll be in charge. Like the previous sergeant and corporal, the two are quite different, with Black being introverted, serious, and taciturn, meaning the two of them often disagree over how to do things, yet this also means they often compromise and agree on a middle road which is more suitable. The main difficulty they have to deal with is the distrust of the "first generation" Trench Rats who survived the German attack on Headquarters; they're used to the previous sergeant and corporal. Plus there's remaining resentment on the part of one of their more well-known members, Lance Corporal Silver; when the Trench Rats originally formed, Silver and LC Indigo were the two with the combined highest rank and time served in the military, meaning they felt they should be in charge rather than newcomers. Indigo was satisfied taking a medic position, but Silver is still rankled, especially when ANOTHER two newcomers assume the lead ranks. So while he grudgingly tolerates and obeys Black, he never really gets along with Gold, especially since he, like Black, isn't the terribly chatty sort.

One odd task Gold acquires is "coaching" his sergeant on how to properly interact with others, since something about Black strikes him as being "off." Though Black isn't malicious or outright rude, he does occasionally come across as inappropriately unconcerned or disinterested during situations that require the opposite, and as distrustful and borderline hostile during situations that shouldn't elicit such a response. (One example is when he draws his gun on a target who turns out to be a young child, yet even after this is revealed, he keeps his weapon drawn. Gold coaxes the child out and picks him up, then says to Black, "What're you doing?--he's just a kid." "They let kids fight for them, you should know," Black says, to which Gold replies, "Yeah, well, obviously that's not the case here, so cool off.") He's good at giving orders and commanding obedience, but he's not good at the whole camaraderie and inspiration thing. Gold knows diplomacy and mentally disarming people is a far more effective approach than accusatory confrontation, so he manages to gradually figure out that Black's odd behavior isn't him just being an a-hole, like 2nd Lt. Burgundy (the surgeon) often is. Black genuinely seems to not know how to act toward others. Gold usually ends up taking charge of such things in the hopes that Black will pick up some pointers, and it seems to help somewhat, as well as leaving the sergeant more opportunity to act behind the scenes, something he's MUCH better equipped for. So Gold effectively becomes the public face of the Trench Rats and engages in most of the diplomatic measures they need to secure the assistance of the various resistance groups.

(What exactly is going on with Black? He's a high-functioning sociopath. He literally doesn't "get" most of the emotions and experiences of other people because he can't put himself in their shoes. His lack of empathy is why he often comes across as unconcerned or reacts with unwarranted distrust. Unlike the common stereotype of sociopaths, he's not interested in taking advantage of others--not out of any innate sense of decency, but because he's just not interested--though he does get easily bored and lacks the ability to experience most strong emotions, including fear. He knows he needs to blend in with others, especially in his role as sergeant, so he learns how to fake emotional responses by observing others, such as Gold, though he never quite masters this skill. So he's content to let Gold deal with this business.)

I already mentioned Gold's tendency to overcompensate. One aspect of this is being overly flirty with women, in a manner that nowadays would at least border on sexual harassment. The only female Trench Rat, a relatively new recruit, is a British nurse named Lyndsey Skye. She works alongside Burgundy, and the two secretly crush on each other, but since she's the only woman, she bears the brunt of Gold's obnoxious attention. Fortunately for him, she puts up with it and knows how to put him in his place without offending him (Gold has a thick skin for any insults other than being insinuated to be stupid or slow), but hers is a rare case. He oversteps his bounds with other women a few times, though he does know how to back off, even if it takes him a bit to figure it out. For example, he flirts with Mirela, a rescued Roma woman, which she REALLY despises; he pushes his luck one too many times until she explodes at him and then he lets her be, genuinely sorry for making her uncomfortable. He also tries bantering with Didrika, the Roma leader of a resistance group; this is especially awkward, as Didrika has a habit of "testing" the men she comes into contact with by propositioning them. Men who accept, she may follow through or not, but she regards them as weak willed and loses respect for them. Men who decline, she treats respectfully. When Gold flirts with her, and she actually flirts back...he has NO IDEA what to do. He's literally struck dumb for a moment, before hemming and hawing and REALLY backing off. The truth is, he's not that interested in actually hooking up with any of these poor women he hassles, he's just overdoing the whole friendly thing. So of course when one of them takes him up on it, it just confuses the hell out of him. (Didrika can read men pretty well, and she'd already quickly figured this out about Gold. So her flirting back was more of a prank than anything.)

Gold makes a few efforts to get along with Silver, but is constantly rebuffed; Silver's attitude rubs him the wrong way, so he decides to mostly avoid him. Burgundy grudgingly tolerates him though Gold's chattiness and tendency toward jokes exasperate him. He ends up working alongside LC Mahogany Rat more than once; Mahogany is rather socially awkward, tending to think of people more as names or numbers, which sometimes doesn't sit well with the rescued prisoners and refugees who pass through Trench Rat custody, since the Nazis tend to think of them as numbers, too. Mahogany means no harm by this, and often misses social cues expressing disapproval, so he feels awful sometimes; Gold takes it upon himself to "translate" Mahogany's tone-deaf actions and others' offended reactions to try to help him minimize his embarrassment, since he knows how it feels. They don't exactly become fast friends, but they get along pretty well.

The Trench Rats' primary function is to gather intel on the Nazis' "Project Doomsday," a medical experiment focused on increasing the subjects' intelligence, strength, stamina, and endurance, in hopes of creating a race of super soldiers. The Trench Rat Doomsday, or D-Day, underwent this treatment and displays various signs of the serum having worked, but it's successful on only a very rare blood type, and the people it's worked on can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand with room to spare. The Trench Rats succeed in capturing another test subject, Kolten, who is greatly feared even by the Nazis for his hulking size and hair-trigger temper, not even mentioning what the serum has done to him. The circumstances of his capture, however, are odd. D-Day was involved in keeping watch over him, as it was thought he might be the only one who could subdue him if need be; when the Nazis arrived, they showed signs of wanting to kill Kolten themselves. D-Day threw himself in front of Kolten just as they fired their guns and was grievously wounded. Kolten reacted...by turning on the Nazis, hurling them around like toys and bellowing in a fury. The other Trench Rats returned to the alarming scene and aimed their own guns at Kolten, who was standing in an old trench with the unconscious D-Day at his feet; when they started discussing how best to retrieve D-Day for medical treatment, Kolten picked him up and handed him to them. He didn't protest being put in restraints, even though they broke--twice--when placed on him, and placidly followed the Rats back to Headquarters, where he was placed in a cell and kept under strict watch since the Rats weren't sure if the bars would hold. Anyway, Burgundy informs Black that he can't do much to help D-Day without a blood transfusion--and D-Day has like the rarest blood type there is. They reason that Kolten should be a match, so Black goes to ask him if he'll help. Kolten speaks simple, stilted English; when Black starts to mention D-Day, he asks if the "little Rat" is all right, seeming genuinely concerned about him. Black explains that D-Day needs blood in order to live, at which Kolten sticks his arms through the bars and announces that his "magic blood" can help. He's brought to the medical ward and hooked up to an IV along with D-Day for a direct transfusion. (Oh neat, I Googled to see what this is called and it turns out it's called direct blood transfusion, haha. Well then.) D-Day begins to recover, and after a while Kolten is returned to his cell.

Gold goes to visit him there. He'd been quite wary of Kolten when he was first brought in, even expressing alarm when Black decided to speak with him. Something about Kolten's oddly passive demeanor has piqued his interest, especially considering how fearsome he was believed to be, that even the Nazis would rather kill him than bring him back with them. And there's what he did to the Nazis themselves--obviously, the stories about his massive strength haven't been exaggerated, but he's directing it at the wrong people. Gold finds him huddled back in the corner of his cell; he asks if the little Rat is doing better, and Gold says yes. He doesn't say anything more, so Gold rolls an apple into the cell, repeating what Black had done when visiting earlier; Kolten grabs it and eats it in two bites, core and all. Gold introduces himself--Kolten slowly repeats his name as if to remember it, offers his own, and Gold repeats it in return. He then notices the prisoner ID badge Kolten has sewn onto his striped shirt, which Burgundy had attempted to remove earlier, only for Kolten to protest so stridently--"Nein! Mein Winkel!--mein!"--he had to give up. (Holy Jeez you wouldn't believe the twists and turns I just had to take to figure out what the Germans called those things. Thanks, German Wikipedia...and Google Translate.) He asks what it is and Kolten says, "It tells what I am." "What are you?" Gold asks, and Kolten points out the word on the badge, Blöd, sounding it out a few times until Gold gets it. "What's it mean?" Gold asks, to which Kolten proudly replies, "It means I am stupid."

This hits Gold like a slap in the face, and he actually cringes back a little. Not just the word itself, or the fact that Kolten is being made to wear it like it's a crime just to be stupid (to the Nazis, it is), but Kolten's own reaction when announcing the meaning of the word, like it's something to be proud of. He's obviously had it instilled in him so deeply that by now he doesn't even question it, it's just a fact that he's stupid, it's literally his identity. All of this is just a little too familiar. After attempting to convince Kolten he doesn't have to believe that he's stupid, Gold goes to Skye and asks for a favor. ("Not THAT kind of favor," he grouses when she raises an eyebrow.) He returns to Kolten with a new embroidered patch and offers to trade it for Kolten's triangle. "What does it say?" Kolten asks curiously, and realizing that he can't read, Gold points to and sounds out the letters: "K-O-L-T-E-N." "It says what you are," he explains. "Now how about you give me your 'stupid' badge and I give you this? Even trade?" Kolten mulls this over a moment before tearing the triangle off his shirt and handing it through the bars, taking the KOLTEN patch in return. Gold leaves him looking over the little piece of cloth admiringly while quietly sounding out his name, and stashes the STUPID badge away out of sight. (Much later, he gives this patch to Kolten's father.)

After Kolten is determined to not be the threat to the Allies that they'd assumed he was--Burgundy estimates that, despite his savantlike abilities and the influence of the serum, he basically has the intelligence and mentality of a child around five or seven years of age, and far from being a killing machine, he just wants to make drawings, look at picture books, and build things with blocks--the Trench Rats arrange for him to live with a couple out in the country for the time being. Gold is glad he won't be in a cage anymore. Not long after, however, while attempting to confiscate documents from Project Doomsday headquarters, Silver Rat is captured and tortured for information (which he doesn't provide). Another subject of Project Doomsday (though the Rats don't know this yet), Jakob Wolfstein, assists in Silver's escape, and they miraculously make it out of the city and into the countryside, where Didrika's men come across them and take them back to their camp. The Trench Rats are contacted and send a small contingent to retrieve Silver. Despite being allies, relations between the different groups are always strained and fraught with suspicion, so the Rats try to be on their best behavior to avoid triggering any unpleasant reactions. (There IS one awkward moment, when LC Skye warns Didrika not to dare hit on Burgundy when he arrives; not used to being warned, Didrika makes a risqué quip, and Skye responds by slapping her across the face. EVERYONE freezes, eyes wide; even Didrika's right-hand man, a hulking Red Army deserter named Boris (who really dislikes the Rats, and is involved with Didrika), doesn't dare say a word. Skye and Didrika stare each other down for a moment before Didrika storms off (Boris quickly steps out of her way).) Didrika refuses to let Silver leave with them until he's well enough to get around on his own; Burgundy (whom no one ever informs of the incident between Didrika and Skye) arrives and confirms Silver is in pretty rough shape and shouldn't be moved just yet. Gold walks on eggshells to keep on good terms with Didrika. Silver finally insists on leaving himself, and Wolfstein insists on accompanying them. Gold attempts to express concern for the other Trench Rat's wellbeing, but as usual Silver brushes him off; he can't really take offense this time, as it's obvious Silver is preoccupied with what just happened. Everyone heads back to HQ.

(Sort of an aside, this is described in an out-of-date adult scene I wrote--the exact circumstances will be changed but this detail still holds, I believe. Gold accidentally learns that Silver has gotten involved in a relationship with another Trench Rat in his company, LC Reseda--a male Rat, of course. Gold finds this weird but decides not to out the two.)

Well, I'm sure there are various incidents I will remember later. (For example, I just remembered an EARLIER incident, how Black Rat loses his eye to General Schavitz and sustains other injuries. In an older version of the story, it was basically Gold who was to blame for Black losing his eye, getting his ear torn up, and being partially crippled in one leg (um, yeah...I kinda overdid it on beating the crap out of poor Black); I think Schavitz did still shoot out his eye, but the rest of it was from Gold recklessly driving his motorcycle and sidecar into a pile of wood which weirdly exploded (hahaha, yeah, I had fun pretending this scene by the brushpile behind our garage when I was a kid), and Gold felt immense guilt over this. This has since been modified; I think Gold bears no responsibility for Black losing his eye, though I'm unsure. Black still ends up with at least one slash to one ear (this is in his artwork, though recall the ear markings in my art are conjectural in most cases); he does NOT suffer permanent injury to his leg, though he might still suffer a temporary injury, and I think in fact Gold is connected to this, again, possibly a motorcycle accident. Gold is torn up (metaphorically) over it but Black shrugs it off. Oh, regarding this motorcycle--which Gold jokingly calls a Goldsmobile, mwaha, mwaha, mwahahaha--it plays an indirect role in endangering the Trench Rats, so maybe this is how Black gets injured and Gold feels responsible. It turns out German sniper Lt. Ratdog has been informed--i. e., lied to--by Gen. Schavitz (actually his chauffeur/fixer, Sgt. Eisen, but Schavitz makes great use of the lie) that a pair of Trench Rats in a motorcycle with sidecar were responsible for running down and killing his toddler son, when in truth it was Schavitz and Eisen themselves who did this. Whenever Gold and Black go out with this particular vehicle, they're effectively wearing a giant target on their backs, and Ratdog fires at them whenever he sees them. So it's safe to say this is how they get into an accident. Takes them a while to figure out why Ratdog holds such a grudge against them.) But let's get going.

Further along in the storyline, Black and Schavitz confront each other, and after Black ends up disarmed, Schavitz shoots him in the forehead at point-blank range. (In a possibly related incident, Gold is injured and loses sight in his eye--similar to both Black and Schavitz.) Gold witnesses this from too far away to help; he attempts to chase Schavitz, but Schavitz escapes. Black is brought to the medical ward but Burgundy can do nothing for him, and he dies soon after. Gold is racked with guilt but doesn't have any time to process what happened; as the former second in command, he's promoted to sergeant and abruptly thrust into a position of authority for which he's not entirely prepared, and it almost overwhelms him. (Mahogany prods him along a few times.) He has to drop his former cheery, chatty attitude--and at the same time, shove down his grief and desire to withdraw--and become responsible for some very important tactical decisions, since by now the war is coming to a head. He's asked to appoint a new corporal and after a little thought he names Silver. Silver is especially caught offguard by this, he's so used to being overlooked for promotion and figures by now that Gold hates him, but accordingly steps up. Not long after, Gold, Ratdog, and Schavitz confront each other atop a train (don't ask me why, I haven't figured it out yet); Ratdog aims at Gold, but Gold deliberately drops his rifle--the Rats have figured out that (to Schavitz's annoyance) he has a particular code of honor and follows certain self-imposed rules that include not shooting unarmed people. "Pick it up," Ratdog orders, then yells, "Pick it up! Pick it up!" Gold refuses, saying, "We didn't have anything to do with that (his son's death)." Ratdog refuses to believe him until something (maybe a noise from the train) jars his memory: Although he never saw the motorcycle and sidecar that ran down his son, he did hear the distinctive sputter of its engine as it sped past. He's seen (and heard) the "Goldsmobile" and it has a relatively smooth-sounding engine. A bit earlier in the story, he'd heard Eisen start up Schavitz's motorcycle, and it had let out a distinctive sputter--Ratdog had a startle response, glancing at it but not quite able to figure out why the sound had that effect on him, or why Eisen reacted by widening his eyes and hurrying off. Now, he remembers. He looks at Schavitz. Schavitz gets fed up and snaps, "Oh, move on! What sort of father lets his stupid kid run around in the road, unless he doesn't want him? I probably did you a favor getting rid of the brat." He then abruptly kicks Gold's rifle out of his reach and takes aim at Ratdog right as Ratdog takes aim at him. After a tense moment Schavitz smirks and lowers his gun, holding up his hands and saying, "You won't even shoot an unarmed man, will you?" Ratdog hesitates, when a shot suddenly strikes Schavitz through the head; he topples and Gold, who had managed to pull out his pistol unnoticed, says, "I would...stupid." He and Ratdog shove Schavitz's body from the train and Ratdog returns Gold's rifle. They disembark the train to go their separate ways but one thing is obvious now, Ratdog will no longer be taking potshots at the Trench Rats.

Then comes the Trench Rats' raid on Project Doomsday headquarters. This time, they're armed with knowledge of the layout of the complex, gleaned from Kolten, Wolfstein, and Silver, and the assault is successful, the Trench Rats taking over command of the complex, capturing its lead doctor (Kammler) and the SS officer overseeing the project (Capt. Himmel), and freeing the remaining test subjects, which include PFC Teal Rat and the Trench Rat whose place Gold had taken, Corporal Drake Rat. Dr. Kammler doesn't last long--while he, Himmel, and Teal are waiting in a study for the raid to complete, Teal stabs him to death in a rage. Himmel is brought back to Trench Rat Headquarters and placed in a cell like Kolten had once been while Drake and Teal--Teal's striped shirt still covered in Kammler's blood--are taken to the medical ward. Teal himself doesn't last long, either; he's had the Trench Rats' suspicion on him for years, as the possible leak which revealed the location of HQ to the Nazis (leading to the raid which killed a third of their number and got Sgt. Camo and Cpl. Drake captured), but he insists he wasn't responsible for this. He DOES, however, assume blame for Silver's capture (his reasoning for ratting out Silver, no pun intended, to the Nazis is simply "Better him than me," hinting that he'd undergone much the same sort of torture Silver did), asking Burgundy to give an apology on his behalf before jamming a scalpel in his neck. He bleeds out before Burgundy and Skye can save him; Drake, who witnessed this from the neighboring bed, has to promise the rattled surgeon that he won't attempt the same thing himself.

While Gold and Mahogany are transporting Teal's body through the woods to find him a resting place, a mysterious figure in a gas mask and German uniform--whom they've come across earlier, and despite his appearance seems to be assisting the Allies--confronts them, looks at Teal, then leads them to a suitable location. He reveals that he's Camo Rat, who escaped the Nazis not long after his capture and has been aiding the resistance effort since. He returns with them to Trench Rat Headquarters. They go to question Himmel about the project. After it becomes clear he's long had a hand in attempting to sabotage the project from the inside, Himmel promises to tell them everything he knows, but only if they let him see Kolten, first; they reluctantly agree and take him to where Kolten has been staying. They're startled to learn that Kolten and Himmel are very familiar with each other, not just from the project--Kolten is Himmel's son, whom Himmel's been attempting to protect from the other Nazis, who often kill off the mentally disabled. Once he's sure Kolten is safe and well cared for, Himmel bids him goodbye and returns with the Rats to Headquarters. Here he explains not only the project but his role in it and how it stalled after Kammler was unable to modify the serum for use on more blood types (a direct result of Himmel's sabotage); the Trench Rats' raid, and the approach of the Allied forces, will surely spell the complete demise of the project. He claims his own work is done and all that's left is for him to stand trial and accept his sentence.

Gold and Camo effectively assume joint command of the battalion in the war's final days and afterward. As the camps are being liberated Gold comes across a familiar face--Mirela. She'd joined Didrika's partisans for training and is by now quite skilled at defending herself, but she never had any luck locating her missing father, who was captured by the Nazis while both of them were attempting to flee, and she's more desperate than ever to find him. Mirela, remembering Gold's overly flirtatious attitude, isn't thrilled to see him again, but he's changed quite a lot--new rank, new uniform, new appearance (his blinded eye), and especially a new, much more subdued personality. He's glad to see her again but he doesn't flirt, doesn't joke around or banter (even when Mirela herself makes a slight sarcastic comment that leaves the door wide open for a joke response, his reply is quite toned down). She's rather surprised by all the changes. When he finds out she's still looking for her father Nikolas, he offers to help. He and Mahogany do a little sleuthing and manage to track down Nikolas's last location to the nearest camp, which has just recently been liberated, most of the SS guards having fled; the commandant, however, is in the Trench Rats' custody, in rather rough shape but alive. Wolfstein, who earlier spent time in his camp, informs them that he has a tendency to make bargains when it suits him, so he may be willing to help them locate Nikolas.

Gold visits the commandant, Maj. Konstantin Klaus, in the cell where they're keeping him. His eyes are blackened and swollen, a rib broken, and his knee smashed--his inmates beat the s**t out of him before the Americans intervened--but he listens attentively when Gold outlines the situation; the guards took most of the camp records with them when they fled, so the Allies have no way to determine who passed through or even still is in the camp, without it possibly taking a very long time, and many of the inmates remaining aren't physically well off, themselves. Gold promises to help Klaus avoid execution and serve a prison sentence instead if he helps them. Klaus has a wife and two little boys, so he agrees to help. It turns out he has a lot in common with Mahogany and while he's no good at remembering his "sticks" (prisoners) by their names (a note, I know I read somewhere that the Nazis sometimes referred to the Jews as sticks or bundles of wood--as in something nonhuman, which you stack up and burn--morbid I know, sorry--but after a quick Google search I can't locate this at the moment), he's VERY good at remembering numbers, dates, and locations, and he manages to narrow things down to Nikolas's most likely location still within the camp. As Gold turns to go, though, Klaus advises him to hurry, as his Zigeuner (Roma and Sinti) inmates weren't in very good shape last he saw of them; he adds that killing them off would have probably been for the best. Gold bites down his anger at this callous comment and leaves.

Klaus's flagrant racism notwithstanding, his memory is flawless, and Gold, Mahogany, and Mirela manage to quickly locate her father in the camp, very ill with tuberculosis and infected feet but overjoyed to be reunited with his daughter, whom he'd feared was dead. Gold and Mahogany force an opening through the fence to get at him more easily, and Gold orders a stretcher to be brought to transport him to their medical ward for treatment. As Burgundy gives him antibiotics and prepares to work on his feet (one needs to be amputated), Nikolas notices the way Mirela keeps looking at Gold, immense gratitude--and something else--in her eyes. He hints to Mirela that he doesn't mind if she's interested in a gadjo (non-Roma); Mirela denies it at first, but it's true, Gold's interest in her in the past piqued her own interest a little and now that he's gone to such lengths to help her and her father, she finds that she's developed feelings for him. She assumes he isn't interested anymore, though. She decides to directly confront him about it, asking him if he likes her. Gold is caught offguard; he hasn't thought about it much, assuming as well that it wouldn't be reciprocated, but he realizes he feels the same way. When Mirela accuses him of never saying anything about this, Gold exclaims, "You never asked!"

Gold decides, along with a handful of other Trench Rats, to remain in Germany following the war and help with sorting out the records the Nazis left behind. He's dismayed to learn that several of them are still alive and free, apparently continuing work on Project Doomsday under a new name, Ultima Thule. He and Camo call for those still remaining in the area to report in to discuss the matter. Himmel, who was stripped of his military rank at trial but then set free to go live near Kolten, identifies one of the missing Nazis as his former boss, Maj. Jäger, to whom he reported on Project Doomsday; although Jäger was good to him, despised the camps, and even called for the punishment of an Einsatzgruppen unit which committed an unauthorized massacre in his jurisdiction, Himmel believes that, being slavishly devoted to the SS, he's the one most likely to have stolen Project Doomsday records to use in the rebooted project. The Allies determine the project has been relocated to the Alpine Fortress, which was supposedly just a creation of the Propaganda Minister but turns out to be genuine. Camo and the women remain behind to man the radios and keep in touch with Gold, Himmel, Ratdog, D-Day, and the others who go up into the mountains; they find that the focus of the project has shifted from creating a super soldier to conferring immortality, with Jäger himself having taken the serum and now taking up the mantle of project leader. The Allies again manage to crush the project and miraculously reclaim one of their own (Lance Corporal Indigo Rat, who had been killed by shrapnel near the end of the war and his body then confiscated by the Nazis, was resurrected by the project, yet then rehabilitated by the Rats), though at great cost: After Jäger's likely death ("immortality" lasts only so long as the brain remains intact, and Jäger is presumed crushed to death in an ice collapse), his wife Magda, devoted to the last, murders their nine children and then kills herself (she's pregnant at the time, making this eleven deaths in addition to Jäger's). Himmel, who had been fond of the Jäger children, is particularly devastated--"Why did they do this?" he weeps at the sight of the dead family, "I would have taken them."

Everyone heads back down out of the mountains, victorious yet heart heavy, and returns to their respective homes, though most of them do keep in touch. Gold and Mirela live together and help care for Nikolas, often going to visit Himmel and the Wolfsteins (along with Kolten and the various children Himmel has adopted), and Ratdog and Didrika, at Himmel's home; they have no children of their own, but are content.

[Gold Rat 2022 [Friday, ‎September ‎16, ‎2022, ‏‎4:00:08 AM]]

[robininthelabyrinth]

A-Yuan wasn’t the only child among the Wen Remnants, just the youngest.

Children's Day - ao3

Lan Wangji carefully scooped up the boy out of his hiding place, tucked beneath a pile of stones, sick with fever and fast asleep.

It was a good hiding place. If Lan Wangji hadn’t played Inquiry and demanded to know if there were any living beings around in this cursed place of death, he would never have found the small child.

He remembered him – this was little A-Yuan, who Wei Wuxian had taken down into town to play, the one Lan Wangji had bought all those toys for in his confusion, the one who called him rich-gege. Barely more than two years old, having never known anything but war.

He was all that was left, now. There was nothing else left in the battlefield.

No one else left.

Lan Wangji closed his eyes in pain.

I’ll care for him for you, he promised Wei Wuxian’s ghost, wherever it might be now. Now that you cannot.

I’ll take him back to Gusu to raise as my own – wishing you were by my side.

-

-Earlier-

“Sect Leader!” one of his aides cried out when he staggered back into camp. “What – who’s that?”

Jiang Cheng looked down at the girl in his arms. She was – four, maybe? Five? He had no idea.

She looked a bit like Wen Qing.

“I found her hiding in the corner of the battlefield when she made a noise,” he said hoarsely. “The Wen sect remnants…by the time I got there, they were almost all dead already, all her family. She’s – she’s young. It didn’t seem right.”

Wei Wuxian always liked children, he thought vaguely to himself as he looked down at her. It wasn’t so much of a surprise that he would keep one there…in fact, if he thought back to that horrible meeting they’d had that one time he’d come to the Burial Mounds to try to talk to Wei Wuxian, he thought he remembered there being a small child there. This must be her.

She was bigger than he remembered, but that was what happened with small children, wasn’t it?

“Her surname is Wen?”

“No,” Jiang Cheng snapped automatically, and his aide took a step back from his vehemence. “The Wen sect is dead, you understand? All of them. The cultivation world refused to allow them to live, that much is obvious enough. Her surname…”

He looked down at her.

I failed Wei Wuxian, he thought grimly. I won’t fail his legacy.

“Her surname will be Jiang.”

-

-Earlier-

“We found this child hiding in the Demon Subduing Cave,” one of the guards reported, looking nervous. “Lianfeng-zun – what do we do with them?”

Jin Guangyao frowned down at the child, judging the child’s age to be about five or six – maybe seven, considering the likelihood of malnutrition at the Burial Mounds. If they were any younger, he would’ve said that the child ought to just execute them as useless; any older, and he would’ve had no choice but to declare them an enemy combatant, and thereby order them executed.

At this age, though…they were still young enough to be taught to forget their current surname, and to learn new loyalties, and yet old enough to perhaps remember a little of what they had learned, living as they had for a few years with the inventor of demonic cultivation.

Jin Guangyao glanced at the papers in his hands, full of barely legible scribbles, laying out powerful new spells and interesting ideas. They would help Xue Yang with his work – but not as much as a helper would, and naturally they’d just brutally executed all the other ‘helpers’ that might have been available.

Not exactly Jin Guangyao’s personal preference, but he wasn’t the one leading the Jin sect army.

Still, his father, who had been the one leading, had retired to his tent, and now Jin Guangyao was the one with the power, left to be in charge of mopping up. That, in turn, gave him a little more leeway, which meant he could implement his own thoughts, rather than badly thought out instructions.

“Put the child in my tent,” he said, and smiled. “The poor thing must have gotten lost and entered the battlefield – after we arrived. You understand?”

The guard saluted deeply. “Lianfeng-zun is kind and beneficent,” he said, and his expression was worshipful. “I will tell the others that the child is from some distant Jin branch.”

Jin Guangyao hadn’t intended for him to do that, but – well, he couldn’t exactly refute it now, could he, and anyway there were worse things to happen. Everyone would know that he had kindly taken in some orphaned child of war, which would be good for his reputation.

He smiled and nodded, and thought of the future.

-

-Earlier-

“Well, shit,” Nie Mingjue said, staring at the trio of children: nine or ten years old, he thought, maybe a little older, two girls and a boy. They stared back at him, wide-eyed and terrified – they were very clearly trying to sneak off the Burial Mounds down the back way.

Nie Mingjue rubbed his face, glad that he’d insisted on doing the forward scout work before the attack tomorrow morning himself rather than let it go to someone else. He hadn’t wanted to come to this blasted place in the first place, being that he still wasn’t sure exactly what had gone down with Wei Wuxian, who’d been a good man once. But good Nie cultivators had died at Lanling City at Wen Ning’s hands, the Jin sect claiming that that brutal attack was at Wei Wuxian’s instigation, and at the Nightless City at Wei Wuxian’s hands directly, and he didn’t have any evidence to exculpate the man, either; he had no grounds to look the families of those Nie cultivators in the eye and tell them not to pursue vengeance against the man who had slaughtered their brothers and fathers and sons, sisters and mothers and daughters, like they meant nothing.

They deserved vengeance.

Just as he had, for his father.

But at the same time…

“You’re all surnamed Wen, I take it?” he asked, and they slowly nodded. “Dafan Wen?”

Another nod.

“Wrong answer,” he said, making a snap decision. This wasn’t like his father at all, not really; he had wanted to kill Wen Ruohan, who had done the deed himself, while these children clearly hadn’t done anything. “Swear to me here and now that you won’t seek revenge for your sect or family, and you can be surnamed Nie instead.”

They looked at each other.

“Your family didn’t send you to run away because they wanted you to take revenge,” he said. It was a guess, but he could tell from the way their shoulders sagged that he was right. “They wanted you to live. Well?”

They swore.

He took them home.

-

-Earlier-

She tripped and fell flat on her face.

“Hey, girl!”

She looked up, eyes wide with terror – she hadn’t expected to be caught so soon – but the cultivator in front of her didn’t strike her down. He was a young man, just a few years older than her, and he looked nice, kneeling to help her up.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “Did you get lost?”

Lost? From where would she get lost, exactly?

Despite that, she nodded.

“I’m sorry to hear that. Here isn’t a good place, though – we’re going to have a battle tomorrow…can you tell me where you’re from?” He frowned. “Or – can’t you speak?”

An idea suddenly came to mind, and she shook her head, lifting up her hands to mime signs like the ones she’d seen Lady Wen and her brother use sometimes when they needed to talk without disturbing others.

“Doesn’t talk,” he murmured to himself. “Clothing of white, ripped all to ribbons –”

She’d torn out any trace of the red sun. White was a common color, but she was old enough to know that she couldn’t let anyone know she was surnamed Wen.

“Oh, I’ve read about this before! Are you a bird yao that’s cultivated to humanity?”

What?

She’d been thinking of trying to pass as a traumatized war veteran, but she was only fourteen, after all; it wasn’t very believable. Of course, it was a lot more believable that bird yao – who would leap to that conclusion?

“My surname is Ouyang,” the man said, smiling brightly at her. “You should come back with me – I can teach you to speak, and we can give you a name…how about ‘Luo’ as a surname? That has to do with birds. Or we could surname you Bai, instead, since your clothing is white! Or maybe -”

She smiled helplessly at his nonsense. What a silly, cheerful man! Maybe she’d overestimated his age, he couldn’t be more than two or three years older, at most, and his brain was clearly not in the right place, filled up to the brim with romantic stories and adventure tales instead of facts.

It was a nice change, actually.

She accepted his hand as she stood.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

-

-Earlier-

Lan Wangji had returned home and submitted to a dreadful punishment. The elders he had injured on Wei Wuxian’s behalf were either in treatment or recovering.

As for the rest that had been at the Nightless City…

Many were dead.

Lan Qiren landed in the Burial Mounds, lips pressed tightly together.

He knew he was taking a risk in coming here to Wei Wuxian’s lair – no matter what Lan Wangji thought, whatever good points he’d had in the past, the man was now little better than a mad dog. He’d caused the death of three thousand people just the day before, three thousand innocents that hadn’t had anything to do with anything; why would he hesitate to attack his old teacher?

There was already talk of a siege – Jiang Cheng himself had promised to lead it, to wipe off the stain on the Jiang sect’s record, and the Jin sect had been right behind him. Even Nie Mingjue had been dragged in against his will, suborned by his sect members’ need for vengeance. As for the Lan Sect…Lan Xichen had looked so stricken by the thought that Lan Qiren had volunteered for the grim duty, despite Lan Qiren having never been much of a fighter and even less of a general. He intended to take only the smallest possible contingent, and to limit their work as much as possible to cleansing the dead rather than killing those who remained there – that much, at least, he could do for his nephew.

Either way, though, no matter his powers, Wei Wuxian would not live out the week.

If Lan Qiren desired vengeance, he need only wait.

And yet, here he was.

Alone, practically unarmed – and here nonetheless.

An old woman came out from the cave and squinted at him.

“It’s over,” she said sadly. “Isn’t it?”

Lan Qiren looked at her. One of the Wen remnants that Wei Wuxian had surrounded himself with, he assumed; the ones he’d given up his comfortable life for, claiming he was only acting as a righteous man ought. Perhaps he even had thought he was, back then.

Perhaps he really had been, back then.

“Yes,” Lan Qiren said, and cleared his throat. “After what he did at the Nightless City – the verdict is unquestionably death. But the rest of you…there are armies coming, and armies are not known for their leniency, especially not on passerby with the wrong surname. But they’re not here yet. There’s still time to flee – if you go now, you could take on a new surname and find some quiet place to live on.”

Lan Wangji had said they were civilians. Civilian life was to be prioritized above all else.

Lan Qiren was only doing what he must.

Despite his well-meant warnings, however, the old lady shook her head.

“There’s nowhere to go, and we won’t give up our surname,” she said, polite but stubborn to the last. “But thank you for taking the time to come here to tell us.”

“Wangji said that there were children here,” Lan Qiren insisted, ignoring her refusal. “If you won’t flee with them, at least send those that are old enough out on their own, and hide the younger ones. Tell them to forget their surnames – most people won’t rampantly murder children, so there’s a chance they’ll make it through, and live. Can you deny them that, just for pride?”

That gave the old woman pause.

“We’ll do what we can,” she said, and then eyed him. “How good are you at medicine?”

Lan Qiren frowned. “I can’t provide care –”

“She’s already dead. Come help anyway.”

The woman in question was not already dead, but dying – she was in her late teens, seventeen or eighteen at most, and she was in labor. From the glassiness of her eyes, the redness of her cheeks, and the threadiness of her pulse, it was clear that infection had long ago set in. It was not an exaggeration to say she was dead, little better than a corpse.

She was little more than a child.

“I don’t want her to die alone,” the old woman said. “But if you stay with her, I can use the time to try to take care of the rest. You’re not wrong, I suppose – the children, at least, deserve a chance to live on, even if it means leaving our surname behind.”

Lan Qiren looked down at the woman, unconscious already and unlikely to ever wake, and yet still whimpering. “And her child?”

The old woman looked surprised. “Can a child born like this still live?”

Lan Qiren had almost no medical training beyond the most superficial basics that were the necessity for any battlefield or night-hunt, with one sole exception: he had supervised the births of both his nephews by himself with little aid – his brother’s wife hadn’t wanted anyone else to be present, possibly in an attempt to prematurely enter her grave, possibly just out of spite. He had studied very hard in the days leading up to those births, and knew far more on the subject than most men did.

“It’s possible,” he said. “Unlikely, but – possible.”

He hesitated for a long moment.

“I can take the baby,” he finally said. “Pass him off as some war-orphan child of distant Lan cousins, sent to me on account of their deaths. I could raise him, or else give him to my cousin to raise; he’s got a large enough family that no one would question it.”

“Why would you do that?”

Lan Qiren looked at the woman who was dying, little more than a child herself. “Because of the children I can’t help.”

The old woman was quiet for a little while.

“Very well,” she said, and leaned forward to whisper the name the young woman had thought about for her child into his ear. “That works with Lan as a surname, wouldn’t it? That’s not bad.”

“Not bad at all,” Lan Qiren agreed, and rolled up his sleeves, settling down beside the girl. “Not bad at all.”

[ijustwant2write]

A Secret Romantic-Benedict Bridgerton x Reader x Eloise Bridgerton (Platonic)

(GIF credit to @aryaofoldstones​)

Requested by anonymous: ‘Hello! I saw your looking for Bridgerton requests, I would love some Benedict x Eloise sibling fluff! They have such a good dynamic in the show and I need more’

(I wouldn’t mind making another part of this if people want it tbh)

Characters: Benedict Bridgerton x Reader, Eloise Bridgerton x Reader (platonic)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

(Y/L/N)=Your last name

Warnings: Fluff, fluff, fluff

                                     *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eloise’s gloved hands clung onto her book as she and her family arrived at yet another social event, a ball once again. Her mama had ensured she was dressed to catch the eyes of men, and Eloise knew that meant there would be no room for intelligent conversation. With Daphne now married to the Duke, Eloise had more pressure on her shoulders than she imagined, having to find a suitor of similar standards. However, it wasn’t just her on the market, her brothers were too, especially Benedict (Violet knew it would be extremely difficult to marry off Anthony first, opting for the second eldest son).

Eloise smiled whenever her mama looked her way, though it quickly disappeared once she turned around. Benedict had been instructed to escort her sister around the ball to help seek out suitors, the men knew each other or something about someone; he could help her meet the right one.

“I cannot believe I am here.” Eloise moaned as she looped her arm through her brothers.

“Believe me sister, I do not wish to be here either.”

“Why must you parade me around like a horse at a dressage in order to find a new owner?” Eloise kept catching the men’s gazes, turning up her nose in disgust.

“So dramatic.” he chuckled.

She scoffed.“Well, if you’re going to advise me on who I should be marrying, I shall do the same for you. Now let’s see...”

Eloise looked around the room at all the women, wondering who would be the best match for her brother. Most of these women had no personalities, relying on their outfits to express themselves. Eloise knew of some ladies that were nice, though had nothing in common with her brother.

Eloise shrugged, tugging on her brother’s arm towards the door.“Ah, there’s no one here for us. Let us make haste and leave-”

“Oh no you don’t,” Benedict pulled her back,“we have been strictly told to stay for the night, even if it is just to socialise and...get our names out there.”

Eloise groaned a little too loudly, Ben ducking his head in embarrassment.“How long do these balls go on for?”

“I have never stayed for the full duration.”

“That’s not the answer I want to hear.”

Benedict glanced down at her, somehow only just realising that Eloise had brought a book with her.“Is that book sewed to your hand sister?”

“I brought it just in case I became bored. Which I am already.”

“I shall go and grab us some refreshments. Might as well enjoy them whilst we’re here.”

Eloise let her brother slip away, quickly finding a hiding spot by leaning up against a wall, away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. She opened her book, continuing where she left off, happy she brought a pencil to scribble down notes for later. The studying never stopped for Eloise. 

“Excuse me?” a woman’s voice interrupted her too soon.

Eloise tried her best to be polite, though her smile came off as sarcastic.“Yes?”

“Sorry,” the woman looked taken back,“I thought you were reading a book that I am reading at the moment, but I was wrong. I’ve disturbed you, I shall leave you alone-”

“Wait,” Eloise had now sparked an interest. No other lady had ever approached her like this,“I don’t mean to be rude. What book had you expected?”

“It’s oh so obvious, but I’ve been reading ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. It’s the newest book out at the moment, and my mama lets me read it seeing as it involves a woman finding someone to marry. Although, it’s definitely about something deeper, that’s just what I told her.”

“I don’t indulge in romantic novels myself, but I am glad to hear of a female author selling her work.”

“It’s fantastic. And it’s nice to be able to read something without it being snatched out of my hands. Oh, where are my manners? I’m (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Sorry, I’ve been dancing with men all night and none of the conversations have been as riveting as this so far.”

“Why am I not surprised?” they both laughed.“I’m Eloise Bridgerton.”

(Y/N) tried to not show her shock when she heard the surname. They were only the most talked about family, her mama had gone on and on about them, especially when Lady Whistledown mentioned them in her writings. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Might I ask what it is that you are reading?”

“It is to do with my studies. I truly hate these events, so I thought I would ensure my mind was being worked properly.” Eloise realised that could come off as rude, squeezing her eyes shut in embarrassment.“I did not mean to offend you by that.”

“It really isn’t any bother.” (Y/N) giggled.“I rather enjoy these just for the dancing and drinks, I find promenading to be more successful in finding a suitor. Though I would much rather sneak off and see if I can get a few more pages in of a book I shouldn’t be reading.”

“Eloise, why must you go wondering off like that...” Benedict’s words trailed off as he approached his sister, spotting a beautiful woman stood by her.

Eloise’s eyes flickered between the two, and she smiled when she saw the adoration in her brother’s eyes. Cheekily taking the two glasses from his hands, she passed one to (Y/N), who awkwardly took it. (Y/N) had gazed upon the Bridgerton men in passing, they were very nice to look at. Of course, she never divulged in any fantasies about them, that would be silly. But seeing one in front of her had taken her breath away.

“Thank you brother.” Eloise said, taking a sip.“This is Lady (Y/N) (Y/L/N), a new friend of mine.”

He gently took her free hand in his, bending forwards slightly to kiss it. (Y/N) had this done to her many times, but this was different. Benedict made her feel butterflies in her stomach. Eloise could tell her mama was going to love this.

She cleared her throat.“We were just speaking of art, actually.”

(Y/N) furrowed her eyebrows.“We were talking about books.”

“I was about to move the topic along.”

“What kind of art would that be then?” Benedict asked, knowing what game his sister was playing. 

“The...drawing, kind.”

“Isn’t all art drawn?”

“No, it is also painted.”

“I think artists may sketch out a rough idea before painting.”

“Well you would know brother, seeing as you yourself are an artist.”

“I wouldn’t say that-”

“You paint, Lord Bridgerton?” (Y/N) asked.

“Ah, yes, and I sketch.” he hoped his cheeks weren’t turning red. 

“Anything in particular?”

“Mostly people.”

“Are you both attending the art exhibition my family are holding next week?”

“That’s your families’ exhibit?” Benedict became excited.

“Yes, my father collects a lot of art work. Then mother realised she could make a social event out of it, but at least everyone will be able to admire the work.”

“Would you believe it, we already have it noted down in our social calendar!” Eloise informed (Y/N). Benedict could sense her over-reacting, trying to keep a smile as (Y/N)’s face lit up in excitement. 

“Perfect!” (Y/N) looked back up at Ben, making him stand a little taller.“It will be nice to have someone there who knows about the artwork. It will make for an interesting conversation. Just don’t let my father lecture you, he will talk for far too long! And I know you will be too polite to try and get away.”

“My brother is very polite.” Eloise said.“In fact, I’m surprised he hasn’t-”

“Excuse me for the intrusion,” a young man said from beside (Y/N),“but I was wondering if we could resume our dance lady (Y/N)?”

(Y/N) was smiling, but Eloise knew that look; it was the face women made when a man who made them uncomfortable approached, but they had to remain ladylike and polite.

“Actually my brother just asked her and she said yes. You two best make your way to the floor before the music starts again.” Eloise nudged her brother.

Benedict was confused at his sisters offer, until he locked eyes with (Y/N) again. They were pleading him to sweep her away, she was even leaning away from this man. He had been disrespectful in some way, and he wasn’t letting (Y/N) go through that again (despite only knowing the girl for a few minutes). He smugly smiled at the man, holding out his arm which (Y/N) took a little too quickly. Eloise was happy with herself as the pair walked off, sending the man a death glare when he asked her to dance instead. Once he left, her eyes went back to find her brother, who was already dancing with (Y/N), both smiling and laughing. Her mama was going to be ecstatic about this. 

                                       *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Eloise sat in the drawing room, obviously lounging with a book. Her younger siblings were being irritating as usual, running around her in circles. Before they arrived, she had peace. Eloise wanted a few moments alone, because she knew her mama would be bursting with questions about the night before.

“Ah, there you are.” Violet said as she walked in.

The book flopped into Eloise’s lap, a frown on her face. There goes her reading time.

“So, how was last night? Did you meet anyone?” her mama sat beside her.“You two, go play outside if you’re going to run around please.”

The children stopped as their mama spoke, sending each other devilish grins before they ran out of the room again, their giggling echoing down the halls. Violet went to shout after them, but decided to leave it be, there were more pressing matters.

“Well mama, do you see any suitors?” Eloise gestured around her.

Violet sighed.“Did you even try last night?”

“My life will not be reduced to a single night where I was forced to peacock around in order to please a man.”

“Oh, Eloise, must you make everything so dramatic?”

“Funny, Benedict said the same thing.”

“Actually, where is your brother? I have not seen him all morning.”

“He went out.” Eloise was relieved that the focus would now be off of her.“He’s calling upon a lady.”

Violet’s eyes widened.“What? When? Who?”

“Lady (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

“(Y/L/N)? They are quite reputable.”

Eloise rolled her eyes.“Mama, she is a lovely girl. I don’t think you should just judge her on what family she comes from.”

“Oh, so you approve of this girl?”

“I...I mean...Well, I only spoke with her for a mere few minutes.”

“But?”

Eloise let out a huff.“I enjoyed her company. I think Benedict likes her. I didn’t see him for the rest of the night until it was time to leave. He spent all his time with her.”

Violet became overjoyed.“Oh, what marvelous news! I wish he had told me. Do you know what he took to her? Flowers? Food?”

“I have no idea mama. Just wait for his return and he will tell you all the details. I am not a psychic.”

Violet was impatient as she awaited the return of her son. Poor Collin had also been questioned when he showed up in the drawing room, but he had overslept in bed, waking with a terrible headache. It seemed that it was about to come back to him when his mama bombarded him with questions as to why he hadn’t called upon anyone that morning. Eloise kept her giggles quiet, ducking behind her book when Collin sent her daggers.

Poor Benedict had no idea what was in store for him. His cheeks were aching from how much he was smiling. He wasn’t surprised when he arrived at the (Y/L/N)’s house and saw multiple callers for (Y/N). However, jealousy rose inside him when he thought about these men dancing with her, trying to convince her that they were the man to marry. He held a beautiful bouquet of flowers, remembering that (Y/N) had mentioned her favourite the night before. Looking around at any other flowers she received, he was glad to see no other gentleman had chose it. Surely that would show he was listening? He endured sonnets, stories, songs and boasting from the other men, trying not to show his dissatisfaction as each one stepped forward. There was pressure that her parents were there, especially when he realised he was the last gentleman, everyone else had left.

(Y/N) had been incredibly anxious when she saw Benedict that morning. He had been the only man she genuinely smiled at, hoping he came at his own will, not forced by his mama. The night before had been the best ball (Y/N) had ever been to. Benedict was sweet, charming, handsome and interesting. They were able to talk about anything and everything, no small talk involved like all the other men she danced with. He had swooned her, and here he was, calling upon her. 

Back at the Bridgerton house, Violet had not sat down since talking Collin’s ear off. Eloise was still in the drawing room with her, as were her two youngest siblings, munching on biscuits as they threw questions at their mama. She did not have all the answers, sometimes not even hearing them speak for she was too deep in her thoughts. At one point, she did sit, but beside the window, o the lookout for any signs of her son. When a carriage pulled up in front of the house, Violet leapt out of her seat, startling her children. She made a beeline to the door, standing there with her hands clasped together. When Benedict walked in, he too flinched, not expecting his mama to be there.

“Mama, how long have you been stood there?” Benedict asked as he walked past her, pinching a biscuit from his brother’s plate.

“She’s been waiting for you.” Eloise explained, also excited to hear about his calling.

“I hope you sat down at some point.” he joked, sitting beside Eloise and slouching.

Violet hurried to sit on the sofa across him.“You didn’t tell me you were calling on a lady this morning.”

“Well, we got back late from the ball yesterday evening, and I had to leave early to ensure I got there in good time. Though it seemed every other man thought that too.”

“There were many men there?” 

“Yes, quite a few.”

Eloise straightened up at her brother’s grumpy expression.“You really like her!”

“How wonderful!” Violet gushed. 

“Do not get ahead of yourselves.”

“But you do, don’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have called on her.”

Ben was lost for words. He couldn’t argue with that, and he did like seeing his mama happy.“Yes, yes I do. And it would seem she reciprocates the feelings.”

“This is such good news! I must see what our social calendar looks like, we must ensure you two spend time together.”

“Actually mama-” Eloise went to tell her about the art exhibit until Ben interrupted.

“Good idea mama.” he nodded, smiling at her as she walked away, a spring in her step. Once she was gone, he let out a big breath.“I just needed a moment without questions from her.”

“Well, you’re going to have questions from me.” Eloise angled her body to face him, her elbow perched on the sofa with her face resting in her hand.“I didn’t think you were going to call upon her. Are my match making skills really that good?”

“I hate to admit it, but yes, you have done an excellent job.” Benedict felt relaxed thinking about (Y/N).

“So, what happened this morning?”

“I took her flowers, she told me her favourites last night, and then I had to sit there whilst her other gentleman callers desperately tried to impress her. It was agony! Finally I was able to have time with her, and it was just...I don’t know how to put it into words.”

“Did you bring her anything else?”

Benedict became bashful.“I brought her a sketchbook, like the one I have. She mentioned how she used to often sketch when she was younger. I thought it would be a unique gift.”

“Benedict, you truly are a romantic at heart.”

“For her I am, yes.”

Eloise smiled for her brother, until a smirk fell on his face.“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Aw, is someone also a secret romantic?”

“No!” Eloise protested, quickly grabbing her book again.“I am just happy you found someone.”

“And you helped, because you secretly want everyone to find someone.”

“No I don’t! You’re ruining this moment now Benedict.”

“Don’t worry Eloise, you’ll find someone.” Ben joked.

She groaned.“You are insufferable...but I still want to go to that art exhibit.”

“To see love bloom?”

“N-no, to see the art work.”

“Of course, of course. But, thank you Eloise.”

She tried not to smile, but couldn’t help it.“You’re welcome.”

[nocturnalswarehouse]

Chapter 10 - Lineage

Fic Series: At Long Last

Pairing: Brynjolf x Female Dovahkiin|Dragonborn (Adranelle Rolaine)

Premise: Eight years after being declared the Dragonborn, and three years after Alduin is defeated, Adranelle (Adi) Rolaine finds herself back in Riften to help Brynjolf with the Thieves Guild’s reputation.

Masterlist

Taglist: @thequeenofthewinter, @oblivions-dawn

Word count: 1,618

A/N: Alright we're at the end of the period of chapters where I wasn't fond of the story, but chapter 11 begins a period of me loving it XD so we're in the clear. Hope you enjoy this one, it starts rough but gets better, and let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

Three days had passed since Adi left for the Honnigbrew job, and Brynjolf was worried. He knew the trip would be long and that she could very well be on her way home, but he couldn’t help but think the worst. Adi may have died on the job or gotten caught and arrested. The thief couldn’t bear the thought and was almost tempted to travel there himself. 

Knowing there was nothing he could do, Brynjolf had thrown himself knee-deep in work. Mercer had put him in charge of some important documents, the Nord reading and signing off on them late into the night. Once finished those, he started to look into Adi’s request. With all the dead ends they’ve met to find Adi’s parents, he hoped this would lead them somewhere. 

He started at Honorhall and spoke with Constance about the Registry book. She was reluctant at first but caved quickly under his honeyed words. While Brynjolf wasn’t allowed to take it, Constance led him into her office, where the registry book lay open. “What’s her surname?”

“You mean she doesn’t know?” Constance looked shocked. “I thought…”

“You thought what?”

“Well, Adranelle was the one to kill Grelod,” she mentioned, her voice lowering so the children that were still inside couldn’t hear. “I thought she would’ve taken a peek at the book.”

“There wasn’t much time, from what she told me,” Brynjolf said. From what his friend detailed, she had to be in and out of there before the Guards arrived. Constance had spotted her, but the kids hadn’t. They were too focused on the dead body of their old caretaker. 

“Hmm,” Constance flipped through the book, going further in than Brynjolf expected. “Here, Adranelle Rolaine.” 

“Rolaine…” Brynjolf immediately thought of Leo. The Breton shared that surname… 

“Is that name significant to you?” 

“In a way, yeah,” he nodded. “Who are her parents?”

“There’s only one name on here.” she looked puzzled. “Degin Rolaine, father.” 

“No mother listed?” Brynjolf’s eyebrow shot up. That was unusual. 

“It says the mother wished to stay anonymous,” Constance said. “If she were to be adopted, she wanted it closed.” 

“That may just confirm it,” Brynjolf thought out loud.

“I’m sorry?” 

“Oh nothing,” the Nord shook his head. “Thank you, Constance.” 

“Of course.”

His next stop was Leo. Brynjolf was lucky. The Breton had decided to stay in town for longer. Mostly it was to be with Tonilia more, but Brynjolf suspected it was also because of Adi. He was suspicious at first why Leo had such interest in the girl, but now he understood. If they’re related, Leo must know quite a bit about her background. 

“You’ve been very interested in Adi since she joined,” Brynjolf said to Leo. He had to get to the bottom of this. “Any specific reason?”

“Brynjolf, you’ve been running yourself ragged,” Leo avoided the question. “Go rest a bit.”

“Please just answer my question.” In all honesty, Brynjolf hadn’t been sleeping since Adi left. Keeping himself busy and finding out what Adi needed to know was more important. Not that he cared, Brynjolf would sleep once he knew Adi was safe. 

“Why do you want to know?” he laughed lightly. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No!” he replied, almost too quickly. “I was just at Honorhall to get a look at the Registry book. You share a surname with her.”

“Ah,” Leo nodded. If he was shocked, the man hid it well. “I suspected as much. She looks a lot like Maven but has some of my Father’s features.”

“What was your father’s name?”

“Degin.”

“So Maven…”

“Would be her mother, yes.”

“How?”

“Well, when a man and a woman are having… certain relations-”

“Leo, I know how sex works,” Brynjolf deadpanned. “I just mean, how did Maven get tangled with a Breton?”

“It’s a long story.” Leo gave Brynjolf a look, telling him not to press. “Look, tell her about Maven yourself if you like. But with everything else? I’d prefer if that came from me.”

“Understandable-” 

They were interrupted by the sound of someone slamming something on a table and looked over to see Adi - looking rough and a little irritated - handing a shiny new find to Delvin. Behind her stood a woman in steel armour, standing guard as if ready to attack anyone that dared to cross the half-Nord. Unable to help himself, Brynjolf ran over to his friend and hugged her from behind. 

***

“I trust you have good news for me.” Maven didn’t waste time. Adi hated to admit it, but she respected that. 

“Job’s finished,” she nodded. “Here’s the information you requested.”

Adi stood and waited for Maven to look over the letter, watching as her scowl deepened. “This doesn't tell me much. The only thing that could identify Sabjorn's partner is this odd little symbol.”

“I’ve seen that symbol before.” Adi deliberately left out it was found at Goldenglow. The last thing she needed was the Nord woman to blow up and cause a scene - even though they were away from prying eyes. 

“Well, whoever this mysterious marking represents, they'll regret starting a war with me.” the thief was beginning to think Maven’s face had froze to a scowl a long time ago, her expression had remained unchanged through their entire interaction. “You should bring this information to the Thieves Guild immediately. There's also the matter of your payment. I believe you'll find this more than adequate for your services.”

“Thank you, Lady Maven,” Adi to the reward and tucked it in her satchel. Just as she was about to leave, Maven stopped her. 

“One more thing before you’re dismissed.”

What was she? A servant?

“I remember you from one of Elenwen’s parties a few years ago,” she said, eyes narrowed. “I believe it was the one where a bunch of the Thalmor miraculously dropped dead while on guard. Etienne Rarnis was rescued. You had miraculously disappeared before that happened.”

“I had a job to do.” Adi shrugged. “It was merely a contract.” 

“Hmm,” Maven considered the answer, not breaking eye contact. “There were rumours of the Dragonborn has been there, and there are rumours again of the Dragonborn living in Riften. Would you know anything about that by chance?”

“No, Lady Maven” Adi didn’t dare look away from Maven as she spoke, no matter how much she wanted to. “I wouldn’t.” 

“Alright.” Maven seemed convinced, but Adi wasn’t totally sure. The more time she spent with her, the harder Maven was to read. “You can go now. If I need anything else from you, you’ll hear from Brynjolf.”

Adi gave her a curt nod and left. Lydia was waiting at one of the benches near the door closest to Sapphire and stood up as soon as she saw her Thane. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.” 

Adi was sick of going in through the Ratway now that she could take the shortcut, but she knew no one would take kindly to her bringing her Housecarl in that way without authorization. Not that it was certain, but there was a possibility it could get her kicked out. That was the last thing Adi wanted. 

Walking into the Ragged Flagon, Adi brandished the Honnigbrew Decanter she found behind a locked door in the Meadery and slammed it down in front of Delvin. The thing was heavy, and quite honestly, she was a little annoyed to know that there are rumours about the Dragonborn’s whereabouts. She didn’t want to be exposed that way. “I believe this may be of interest to- oh, hello, Brynjolf.” 

She looked up to see her friend, who had wrapped his arms around her waist without warning. “Hello, lass. Who’s your friend?”

“Lydia, my Housecarl in Whiterun. She expressed an interest in joining.” 

“You just keep attracting recruits.”

“It’s a gift.” she laughed. “Give me a minute while I speak with Delvin, please?”

“I’ll speak with Lydia in the meantime.” 

He let go of Adi, allowing her to turn back to the older Breton. He had since picked up the item and began inspecting it. “Well, well. I was looking for this little beauty. If you happen across any other unusual trinkets like this, be sure and bring them to me. I promise it’ll be worth the effort. I think you’ll find this payment to be more than fair.” 

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Adi took the coin purse, slipping it into her satchel. She joined Brynjolf, who debriefed Lydia on how to join, and pointed her to Vex for a job. When Lydia’s eyeline met where Vex stood, it wasn’t lost on Adi that the Housecarl found her attractive. “Vex is a softie when you get to know her.” 

After a light push, Lydia approached the Imperial woman, and they began talking. “I found what you’re looking for.”

“Did you now?” Adi turned to him, ready to hear about Brynjolf’s results. Looking at him now, though, the Nord looked exhausted. His green eyes were dull and tired, and he had dark circles under his eyes. He clearly hadn’t slept. “You know what? Don’t tell me now. Go home and rest. That’s more important.” 

“But, lass-” 

“It can wait, trust me.” Adi grabbed his hand and walked him to the Cistern. “Either rest here or go back to Riftweald. And stop worrying about me! The job went fine.” 

“You are extremely stubborn.” 

“I learned from the best. Now go.” 

Brynjolf chuckled and brought Adi in for a quick hug before he left the Cistern. Satisfied, Adi waited to ensure he didn’t try to sneak back in and returned to the Cistern. Lydia may have joined the Guild to meddle in her love life, but she was determined to do the same.

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

Hi love!

Can I please beg for Tangled Geraskier?

Rapunzel Jask. You know I’m a sucker for angst so including the scene where he cuts her hair would slay me 💖💖💖💖💖

TYILYYYYY

Hello, Stina dear! Sorry this took me actual months to write, but it broke me out of my writer’s block and for that I am eternally grateful.

I chose several pieces of the Tangled narrative to write Geralt and Jaskier into... enjoy! 

2k-ish words (please leave me comments I’m so tired my dudes)

tw: blood, injury, major character (near) death, if you’ve seen Tangled you’ve seen this

---

“So,” Jaskier smiles playfully up at the thief sitting beside him. “Roger Eric, huh?”

Geralt rolls his eyes but Jaskier catches the flush that settles high on his companion’s cheekbones. “It was… It’s a long and boring story about a lot of sad little children that I’m sure you don’t want to hear on such a lovely evening.”

Jaskier scoots closer, until the sides of their arms are pressed too tightly together for even a slip of paper to slide between, and leans his weight against the thief. He bats his thick eyelashes and pouts his lip in a way that always seems to work with his Father. “C’mon, Geralt, please won’t you tell me? Just one little story? I told you about my magical hair, after all.”

“Hmm,” the thief glares dawn at the doe-eyed blonde for a moment before nervously clearing his throat. “Fine. I… I got the name Geralt of Rivia from a collection of short stories that I used to read the other boys at the orphanage in Kaedwen; they were all about this knight who was loyal and brave and courageous despite his hideous appearance. He was rejected by princesses and noble women but was beloved by the people. Having been born with white hair… well, a lot of the folks that came looking for children thought I was under a spell or curse so…. I wasn’t their first choice for adoption.”

“You and Geralt were a lot alike, then. Different. Special… Kind.”

“I wouldn’t say I was spe-”

Jaskier’s hand darts forward and his long, slender musician’s fingers grasp Geralt by the wrist. The fledgling bard clings onto his escort tightly, his large blue eyes suddenly brimming up with tears. “Don’t you dare say you aren’t special, Geralt Roger Eric whatever your surname really is. I’ll never forgive you if you spew such nonsense where my delicate ears can hear it.”

Geralt swallows thickly and glances away. Jaskier always looks so sweet and sincere; the features on his boyish face flicker in and out of focus as patterns of light thrown by their small campfire play across his pale skin. His gaze is intense, focused on Geralt and Geralt alone. The thief panics and asks: “What is it, Jaskier? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You saved me, you know. You saved me from those men back there at the inn, you saved me from being trapped in the tower all my life, you saved me from getting lost in the forest, you… you’re a good person, Geralt. Don’t let the world or the Captain of the Guard or anyone else change your mind, do you understand me? You are-” Jaskier’s hands scrabble frantically to grasp Geralt’s, as if the white-haired man might disappear entirely if Jaskier so much as loosens his grip “- you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me since I’ve been locked in that foul, awful tower!”

“Well I…” Geralt clears his throat again. He stands slowly, disentangling his hangs from Jaskier’s as he takes a slow step back. And then another. “I should go get more firewood.”

Despite the uneasiness in their parting, Jaskier smiles after him. 

The momentary spell cast by their closeness is only broken when Jaskier hears a familiar voice from just behind him: “Well, I thought he’d never leave!”

The blonde jumps up from his seat and spins on his heel to face the black-cloaked wizard. “Father? How… How did you find me?”

Stregobor wraps his arms around Jaskier’s shoulders and squeezes so tightly that it feels more like a threat than an embrace. “It was easy, I simply followed the sound of absolute betrayal.”

Jaskier flinches and tries to pull away but cannot yet escape. 

“I just brought you this,” his Father continues. He finally releases Jaskier and hands his son the worn leather satchel he’d found hidden in his tower. “If this Geralt creature really is the man you think him to be -and don’t deny it, little flower, I can read your thoughts- give this back to him and see how long he stays.”

“Father, I-”

“Goodbye, my child. See you soon, I’m sure. Just remember that Father knows best!”

And in a swirl of black smoke and confusion, Stregobor disappears.

---

“Why do you look so scared?” Geralt asks. He slows the small gondola he’s rented to a stop, turning it slightly more to the side so that they have a better vantage point to see the lanterns spread over the harbor from the city. Jaskier sighs deeply and shakes a stray flower petal away from his eyes, the enormous golden braid shifting ever-so-slightly against his shoulders.

“I’ve been looking out a window for eighteen years,” he says softly. Nervously. “What if… What if it’s not what I expected? I’m terrified to see what it all looks like up close because what if it doesn’t meet my expectations? What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?”

“It will be,” Geralt replies without thinking. 

“And what if it is?” Jaskier queries, voice growing frantic. “What if it’s even more spectacular than I could have ever hoped? Then my dream will have been fulfilled and I’ll just… go back to the tower again.”

“You’ll just have to find a new dream, I guess,” Geralt offers. When Jaskier settles down into the boat a bit more comfortably and smiles shyly back at him, the thief knows he’s hit the right mark for once. Behind Geralt, the first lantern lights up the sky. Jaskier gasps and points, eyes wide and sparkling with excitement; Geralt is utterly enchanted by his easy beauty. The thief digs two paper lanterns out from beneath his seat and offers one to Jaskier, giddy when he grins even more excitedly than before. “I got this for you… I hope you like it.”

“Oh, I love it! And I have something for you, too.” Jaskier turns and pulls something from behind him. The bardling hands Geralt his very own satchel, which the thief briefly accepts and then drops to the floor without a second thought. The anxious blonde musician beams over at him more gloriously than the midday sun and then turns away, blushing a sweet shade of pink. “I should have given it to you earlier, but I was so scared… and now I’m not! I’m not scared anymore!”

“Good,” Geralt smiles back. He’s elated. It feels as if his heart is glowing twice as brightly as any of the lanterns floating past and around them. “That’s very good.”

I know what my dream is now, Jaskier. Now that you’re here by my side I never want to see you frown again. You don’t deserve to be hidden away in a tower where your art is stifled… even if you don’t want to love me back in that way, I’ll still protect you. I want to see how you see the world, Jaskier. I lo-

“Geralt! Look! That one has runes painted on it, what does it say!?”

---

Geralt pulls his daggers from his belt but before he can stab them into the craigy stone wall and begin his ascent, the familiar tresses of Jaskier’s long golden hair topple down to reach him. Thank fuck, he’s still alive. 

“Jaskier! I thought I’d never see you again!” he calls as he grabs hold of the thick blonde strands. 

The thief climbs quickly, his arms and legs nearly cramping with the effort to hurry back to Jaskier. As he hauls himself through the large window and into the tower proper, however, he’s met with a confusing and unsettling sight: Jaskier stands across the room, a cloth gag pulled tightly between his teeth, his hands manacled together behind him. A short length of spare chain attached to the manacles keeps the frightened, struggling blonde tethered against one of the building’s thick support beams. Someone had knocked down a mirror or vase during the previous fighting; shards of pottery and silver lie scattered across the floor, working as a weak barrier to keep Geralt away from the bound man. Jaskier screams out in warning as their eyes meet: “Ghmphh!”

If Jaskier is being held captive then who let his hair do-

Before Geralt can finish fully forming his question, a bright flash of pain arcs out from his side and sends him toppling to his knees. A wet, sticky heat begins to spread from a spot beneath his ribs and when he presses his hand against his shirt it comes way red. 

Oh. Oh, no...

He hears Stregobor’s voice addressing the sobbing blonde, “Now look what you’ve done, Jaskier.”

Geralt collapses to his knees and then falls to his side, curling up in the fetal position and clutching at the wound as if that will be any help at all. He knows he’s doomed, but there must be some way for him to help Jaskier… to save his… his love. 

“Don’t worry, little flower, our secret will die with your little thief, here, and then we’ll be safe again. Just the two of us.”

Jaskier keens loudly and the sharp, desperate sound of it makes something deep in Geralt’s heart ache. The younger man pulls and yanks against the chains that hold him in place, his bare feet slipping against the polished floor as he tries and fails to reach the wounded Geralt. 

Stregobor yanks at the lead, pulling Jaskier back harshly by the arms. The young musician’s shoulders burn with the strain of it but Jaskier pulls forward anyway, uncaring. He must save Geralt, he must. The wizard tugs him back again, more roughly, and the jarring movement loosens his gag. He spits it from his mouth and cries out: “Stregobor! Strego- Father, listen to me!”

The wizard pauses, his interest piqued by Jaskier’s use of the word Father given the circumstances. “Yes, child?”

“Father,” Jaskier pants, turning to look at the man who’d held him captive for eighteen years. The man who kidnapped him from his cradle and forced him to grow up without the love of his real parents. The man who had, mere moments ago, stabbed the love of Jaskier’s life with the full intention of killing him. “I want you to know that I won’t stop fighting you. Every moment of every day for the rest of my life will be spent trying to get away from you. I will scream and kick and struggle and yell and you will have to keep me caged away as a bird or a mouse to make me stay by your side unless-” Jaskier pauses to take a breath, his shoulders sagging as his gaze drops submissively to the floor between them “-unless you let me save this man. Let me save Geralt’s life and I will follow you all around the Continent without a single word of complaint. I will never attempt to run away or hide from you, not once. Everything will go back to being exactly like it was before, Father, I swear on his life.”

Stregobor considers for a moment. 

He nods. 

“Alright, then. Let’s be quick about it, little flower.”

He removes the shackles from Jaskier and clamps them tightly around Geralt’s wrists instead, securing him to the bannister at the foot of the stairs. To keep him from following us, he remarks offhandedly. 

Jaskier pads his way across the floor as quickly as he can in his bare feet and falls to the ground at Geralt’s side. He pulls the wounded thief against his side to steady him and gathers two heavy handfuls of his own long hair. “I’m so sorry! Everything is going to be okay now, Geralt, I swear it.”

Geralt shoves his hands away weakly, “No, Jaskier.”

“You have to trust me, Geralt, I-”

“I c-can’t let you d-do this,” Geralt grunts, teeth gritted against the pain. 

Jaskier stares down at him, tears already gathering at the corners of his sky-blue eyes. His voice trembles when he whispers, “And I can’t let you die. I won’t let you die.”

“But if you do th-this then you-” Geralt coughs and Jaskier wipes a trickle of blood away from the corner of the thief’s mouth “-you will die.”

“Shh,” Jaskier quiets him, dropping one fistfull of blonde tresses to cup Geralt’s face instead. “Everything will be alright.”

Geralt smiles sadly up at Jaskier, his decision already having been made. He lets the back of his knuckles ghost across the musician’s peach-soft cheek. Jaskier’s eyes flutter shut for a moment and then open again, curious. “Jaskier, I…”

The thief uses the last of his strength to push up into a sitting position. The hand on Jaskier’s face slides back and gathers his hair at the back of his neck. Geralt’s other hand comes up, a shard of glass gripped tightly in his fist, and slices through the long blonde strands. He watches as Jaskier’s hair turns from radiant gold to chestnut brown. Geralt falls back with a short, sharp sound of agony, his vision already fading around the edges. The shard of mirror, dagger-sharp around the edges, clatters to the ground beside Jaskier. 

“No!” Stregobor screams, gathering up an armful of Jaskier’s still-blonde hair. The golden hue is already fading, shifting to match the short brown hair still fluffed around his head. The lost prince watches with wide, horrified eyes as the wizard trips over a loose floorboard and goes careening out the open window. 

More worrying than his kidnapper’s death, however, is the man lying in his arms, breathing shallowly. Jaskier gathers Geralt close, tucking the thief’s head against his neck and wrapping his arms around the older man’s broad shoulders. “No, no, no, no, Geralt. Stay with me, okay? Stay with me, right here.”

He grabbed at Geralt’s hand, holding it against the top of his head as he sang desperately. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back was once was mi-”

“Jaskier!” Geralt says, pulling his hand down to cup the prince’s face. He can feel his limbs growing cold and numb, distant from him and out of his control. “You… You were my new dream.”

Jaskier sobs, clinging to Geralt with all he’s worth. “And you were mine.”

Geralt manages to smile up into those beautiful blue eyes one last time. And then the world goes dark and his hand falls to the floor, limp.

---

Jaskier buries his face in the crook of Geralt’s neck and screams. He throws back his head and howls like a wounded animal, his heart shattering to pieces within the confines of his chest cavity. Then he quiets himself down, adjusts Geralt’s body on his lap, and finishes the song the way he’s been taught to do: “Heal what has been hurt, change the Fates’ design, save what has been lost… bring back what once was mine.”

A single tear falls from his eye and lands on Geralt’s cheek. A cheek that will never blush again, never turn up in a smile, never-

A faint yellow glow catches Jaskier’s vision, just from the corner of his eye. He turns his head to look at Geralt’s wound and gasps: the outline of a golden flower covers his abdomen, glowing so brightly that Jaskier must hide his eyes and turn away to keep from being blinded. When the glow fades enough that can safely look back again, Geralt’s wound is gone and the blood that was once staining his jerkin has disappeared. 

He leans over the white-haired thief with bated breath, waiting for a movement or a breath or something… anything. 

After a long moment, two honey-hazel eyes blink open. Geralt inhales quietly and then asks, with the sweetest smile Jaskier has ever seen in all his eighteen years of life, “Did I ever tell you I had a thing for brunettes?”

Jaskier squeals with glee and throws himself into Geralt’s waiting arms, pressing their eager mouths together for the first kiss of their Happily Ever After. 

[apolesen]

Let’s talk about conventions around Cardassian surnames. I’ve started pondering the question of whether Cardassians take their spouse’s surname (perhaps more specifically, whether women take their husband’s surname). There is nothing in alpha canon that gives us any clues (I looked through Memory Alpha’s ‘Cardassians’ category, and the only case we have of people with the same surname are fathers and their children - Kotan and Rugal Pa’Dar, Tekeny and Iliana Ghemor, etc.) On Memory Alpha there are a few examples of wives whose last names are listed as the same  as their husbands (Athra Dukat, Niala Damar), but I don’t know if that actually means that they’re called that in the books, or if the Memory Beta editors are making the assumption that Skrain Dukat’s wife Athra must be Athra Dukat. While I’m not sure what my opinion actually is, I feel that automatically assuming that their system is just like the dominant one in our society is...  bit dull? 

Cross-culturally, the concept of taking your husband’s surname is not that common. Even in Northern Europe (because in Southern Europe it’s still not widely done), it is quite a new thing. Still in the late 18th century in Europe, women would still be known by the surname they were born with, or would swap between their family surname and their husband’s surname depending on the situation. Among the Etruscans of ancient Italy (where women had three names - praenomen (forename) nomen (family name) and cognomen (personal name, but sometimes associated with family branches) - unlike among the Romans, where women only had a nomen and sometimes cognomen), women kept their own family’s nomen even after getting married. The children would take the father’s nomen. This seems to be a more common model, occurring in much of modern Asia (though interestingly enough not in Japan). I believe that in some cultures (though I’m not sure where), newly-weds will take an entirely new surname, both changing to that name. 

All this comes down to how marriage is conceptualised. Do Cardassians see the woman as ‘leaving’ the family she was born into and instead becoming part of the husband’s family? Does she ‘connect’ both families? Or is she half-outside her husband’s family - a conduit of the family but not quite part of it? I don’t think it’s a given that all Cardassians do the same thing - there might be class differences, where the upper classes do one thing and others do another. Maybe there are different types of marriage of different degrees (thinking something like the Roman concepts of marriage cum manu and sine manu, where legal control either passes to the husband or stays with the father (but maybe less ‘women don’t have rights’-y) or maybe like morganatic marriages). Perhaps surnames can sometimes be matrilineal, in some social contexts or some geographical areas. 

This was a very rambly way of saying - I’d love to hear people’s thoughts and personal headcanons on Cardassian marriage and Cardassian name conventions. 

[demonslayedher]

An Attempted Timeline: Kibutsuji, Tsugikuni, Ubuyashiki

Compiled as much as possible in chronological order from canon, Taisho Secrets, and fanbooks, which a few general facts thrown in for additional interpretation. Also, a little comparison of the amounts of humans consumed by different demons. Please feel free to let me know if I’m missing anything or made any mistakes. 

We begin with Muzan’s birth in the Heian Period...

It’s the Heian Period (794-1185), and since Muzan is side to be over a thousand years old, I’m placing him born around the year 900-ish.

Muzan is born into what would be the future Ubuyashiki Clan, likely in the Heian capital (modern day Kyoto). Assumed stillborn, he is barely rescued from cremation (a sign of being born very high class nobility).

Muzan grows up sickly and has never had much regard for other people, seeing them akin to bugs, and from around the time he was human to shortly after turning into a demon, five of his wives committed suicide due to his harsh tongue.

A doctor who lived around Mt. Kumotori in the Kanto region (modern day Tokyo area) uses the blue spider lilies that grow there to try to create a medicine to treat Muzan.

Muzan, thinking the medicine isn't working, kills the doctor partway through treatment. It works, but he is no longer able to go in the sun. No qualms about satisfying his cravings for blood, but he is really ticked out about the possibility of the sun killing him.

The Ubuyashiki clan's children keep getting ill. They are told their family carries a curse for Muzan having come from their bloodline, they swear to eliminate Muzan.

No one is safe when born into the Ubuyashiki name (which may have been chosen with origins in ancient Shinto mythology, perhaps with reference to no matter how many of them you kill, they will stubbornly keep birthing more). Girls must marry out and change their surname by age 13, or no matter how careful they are, they will die young by illness or accident. There is only ever one surviving boy per generation, the others all die. 

Heian period ends, the Genpei War (1180-1185) sweeps Kyoto and many other parts of Japan into violence, over the centuries thereafter the seat of power switches from Kyoto to Kanto (it’ll switch back later for a while). At some point Muzan has moved to Kanto (likely in search of the blue spider lilies, but possibly because Muzan likes being among those in power too). Swordsman in the Corp do not yet use Breaths and fight in whatever method they can, at some point they began using Nichirin blades because the ore soaks the sunlight. While their sword forms are already in reference to the basic Breath forms we’d know later, they are not yet using Breath techniques. The Pillar system is already in place.

(Rengoku family already practices Kankagari, hence the hair color.)

We get a little fuzzy here. Generally then Tanjiro and company make reference to Yoriichi’s era, they say “over 300 years ago” but according to Kokushibo’s recollection, he last met Yoriichi 400 years ago. That makes us a little too early for the Warring States/Sengoku period, defined as 1467~1615. It’s also possible Kokushibo was rough in his estimation, so I’m splitting the difference and putting them at early Sengoku, giving Kokushibo 370 years since last meeting Yoriichi.

The Onin War occurs 1467-1477, plunging Japan into the Warring States period as it is more technically defined, so we can assume a lot of the important events in the twins’ early life take place in this period of chaos. I’m assuming based on the demon attacks at Mt. Kumotori that they, Muzan, and the Ubuyashiki clan are already based in the Kanto (future Tokyo) region, but a lot of the early, heavy violence of this war took place in Kyoto.

Around the early 1460s, twins are born to the Tsugikuni Clan. Their father, worried about succession disputes, wants to have the second-born twin with a flame birthmark killed (in order to avoid some tragedy that may strike their clan before they are the age of 2), but their normally very quiet mother Akeno puts a stop to that. She names that baby Yoriichi so that he may value relationships, their father names the older one Michikatsu to value victory.

The boys are raised in separate conditions, the illness on Akeno's left side slowly progresses. Michikatsu feels bad for Yoriichi and brings him presents, including a handmade flute that doesn't work well. For years Yoriichi is quiet so as not to trouble his father, so he is assumed deaf. Akeno gives him the earrings when he is seven and prays to a sun god to open his ears, at which point he says his first words, informing her that he can hear. Michikatsu is beat by his father for going to play with Yoriichi, which Michikatsu insists he doesn’t mind, but this leads to severe arguments between their parents.

Still the age of 7, Yoriichi has been watching Michikatsu's sword lessons and is allowed a shot at one of their father's retainers, whom Yoriichi very swiftly defeats. Yoriichi has little interest in swordsmanship but because Michikatsu asked, he explains how he sees the see-through world. Michikatsu's jealously begins.

Because the retainer was so impressed, Yoriichi and Michikatsu's roles change completely, Michikatsu is then the one fated to be sent to a temple at the age of 10 to follow a monk's path. When they are 8 (1470, give or take), Akeno dies at the age of 24, Yoriichi says farewell to Michikatsu, and says he's going to the temple.

Their father loved Akeno very much and he becomes distraught, for he never knew of her illness. As it was her wish to have the boys raised as equals, he tries to amend his ways and goes to the temple to try to bring Yoriichi back, but Yoriichi is not there. (To Michikatsu, this looks like their father is desperate to bring back the more powerful heir.)

Instead of entering the temple, Yoriichi runs a very far distance and encounters an orphan named Uta. They soon become traveling companions, and it's thanks to Uta that Yoriichi learns his ability to see the see-through world is not normal.

10 years later, (roughly 1480, Yoriichi is age 18), Yoriichi and Uta wed and settle on Mt. Kumotori.

By or around this time, Michikatsu is also wed. Their father dies shortly afterward at age 35. Michikatsu goes on to have 2 children.

When Uta is soon to give birth, she is killed by a demon and when Yoriichi finds her, he stays by her corpse for about 10 days. He is found by a Rengoku ancestor, who invite him to join the Demon Slayer Corp. (By the Taisho period, blue spider lilies grow at the spot where Uta was buried. He never falls in love again.)

Yoriichi begins teaching Breath techniques to other Corp members, their demon fighting abilities rapidly get stronger. He gets along very well with the Pillars, who improve their swordsmanship rapidly. They cannot quite manage Sun Breathing, but make the five basic off-shoots: Rock, Water, Wind, Thunder, and Flame. Rengoku keeps many records of this time which are handed down throughout his family.

Yoriichi rescues Michikatsu from a demon. Michikatsu is so taken by Yoriichi's Sun Breathing that he abandons his family to enter the Corp and dedicate himself to learning that technique. He does not pick it up, but develops Moon Breathing. He attains a mark like Yoriichi's, and many other slayers have attained marks as well. Michikatsu is concerned about being the best and passing on his legacy, Yoriichi still doesn't care about these things.

It's very likely that Tamayo is a demon by this time.

Muzan lays low a while, but Michikatsu brings him the head of Oyakata-sama (it is unclear from Gotouge’s notes whether this was immediately upon his becoming a demon, or if it was a few years later and this is the head of the child who oversaw Yoriichi being exiled). The Corp henceforth enacts much stricter secrecy, and this is also around the time Kakushi are organized. 

The young Kamado newlyweds, Sumiyoshi and Suyako, come across Yoriichi's empty former home on Mt. Kumotori (early 1480′s-ish now). It’s a little run down, but they tend to rescue a lot of people who try to pay them back later. As they refuse the money, the people insist on fixing up the house for them. (More specifically, they rescued a Daimyo’s wife and her son who went into hiding in the mountains when they were under attack in a succession dispute.)

The young Kamado couple (including a very pregnant Suyako) is attacked by a demon, but Yoriichi, who happened to be passing through and wanting to stop by the place he lived with Uta, rescues them. Yoriichi is also the one who fetches a midwife (extremely quickly) for Suyako to give birth to Sumire. Shortly after Sumire is born the following day (in early spring), Sumiyoshi already insists that he’ll tell future generations about Yoriichi, but Yoriichi sternly tells Sumiyoshi that he hasn’t been able to save anyone, and not to see him as any kind of special person, and disappears. ***THIS MAY TAKE PLACE LATER.***

Those with marks begin to die off by the age of 25 (according to ancient practices for counting age, this may have put them around age 23 or 24 as we think of it today. This would also have made Yoriichi around age 6 when he beat the retainer and left home). Michikatsu is distraught, and Muzan approaches him, declaring that he is curious about what will happen if he makes a demon out of a Breath user, and giving him the choice to live on forever or die early because of his mark. Michikatsu choses to become a demon, and he maintains a loyal and open relationship under Muzan ever since. This is likely still around mid-1480s, or roughly two years after Yoriichi saves the Kamado family (if this indeed happened in advance).

Shortly after that, Yoriichi encounters Muzan, Muzan declares he no longer has any interest in Breath users (after all, he didn’t master the sun, dang it). Yoriichi feels he was born to defeat this man, delivers a stunning display of Sun Breathing, but the little pieces of Muzan that get away altogether form roughly the size of a head. Tamayo is freed from Muzan's curse and tells Yoriichi as much as she can about Muzan, including that he probably won’t appear again in Yoriichi’s life. Yoriichi lets her go.

Yoriichi is then informed by Corp members (including Rengoku) that Michikatsu has become a demon.

This, in addition to Yoriichi failing to kill Muzan (give him a break, guys) and letting Tamayo go, makes some Corp members demand Yoriichi's suicide to atone, but the 6-year-old Oyakata-sama (whose father is still alive, but likely incapacitated) puts a stop to this. Yoriichi is exiled from the Corp and told to kill his brother. Some members of the Corp (in particular, Rengoku) stay in touch with Yoriichi with Oyakata-sama's tacit permission.

After being kicked out of the Corp, Yoriichi visits Sumiyoshi one fall, wanting to tell someone about his life. After sharing his story, he receives flowers from Sumire, and at Suyako's request, he performs Sun Breathing. Sumiyoshi memorizes it by watching, and promises to pass it down. Yoriichi leaves him with the earrings his mother Akeno gave him, and keeps the toy flute from Michikatsu and a scrap of Uta's kimono.

***It’s also possible Yoriichi’s first visit back to Mt. Kumotori was after explusion from the Corp, and it was after two years of being out on his own that he sought out Sumiyoshi again.***

In 1545-ish, Yoriichi is over 80 years old and finally finds Michikatsu/Kokushibo. Yoriichi barely fails to kill him and Breaths his last. Kokushibo cut the flute in half when cutting Yoriichi's standing corpse, but keeps the pieces with him.

After Yoriichi’s death, Muzan goes on the offense again, eliminating anyone with knowledge of Yoriichi’s Sun Breathing techniques. The Corp is essentially erased for a time, and thereafter, they no longer find themselves as strong as they were in Yoriichi’s time. According the Rengoku records, this is because there was never any teacher as good as Yoriichi after that.

Over two hundred years pass of Muzan trying to find the blue spider lilies or create a demon that can master the sun, and swordsman polishing their Breathing techniques as they slay demons. By this time we can assume most of Muzan's activity is based around the Kanto area in the bustling Edo period. (Fun aside, lots of popular kabuki plays would be developed with themes of demon slayers.  Also, based on his tastes and fashion choices, Muzan likes to be among the affluent and influential people of society.)

Around the later decades of the Edo period, Muzan gets the idea to make the Twelve Moon Demons with a large amount of his blood. Hantengu might had been one of these first experiments, and Akaza, meh, I'm putting his formation any time between 1785 and 1800, put that’s really loose.

Douma's formation was after this (and he probably got busy eating lots and lots and lots of nutritious humans right away) and Gyutaro's still later. All of the Upper Moons were in place by no later than 1802, as they have not been called to the Infinity Fortress all together in 113 years. 

My assumption is that once Muzan got the idea, he went around and made the Upper Moons in a very short period of time, and Kokushibo likely already had a lot of Muzan's blood in his "Maybe a Breath user will master the sun" experiment. There isn’t much indication if the Lower Moons were also formed around this time, or if they came later on a second whim.

The following hundred years is full of a cycle of Pillars and the Twelve Moons pit against each other while the common riffraff fight the common riffraff. While the Pillars kill Lower Moons as a rite of passage and they are constantly changed out as openings occur, the unchanged Upper Moons routinely kill and eat Pillars. Even at the bottom rung, Daki has eaten 7 and Gyutaro has eaten 15. For each of those Pillars, at least one Lower Moon or fifty demons has died. 

As a point of comparison, the Hand Demon has been a demon for roughly the same amount of time, or a few years longer (he was locked away on Mt. Fujikasane around 1868). Although not granted any special amount of Muzan’s blood like the Lower Moons, it’s nursed a grudge and eaten 50 children (13 of which were Urokodaki’s), surviving and growing much, much powerful than most of the demons on the mountain who had only eaten 2 or 3 humans. On that note, former Lower Moon Kyogai seemed to find it difficult to consume any more humans, and wanted to consume Marechi (rare blood) to achieve the equivalent of eating 50 humans. While Akaza is allowed to be picky and focus on training, I have to wonder if it is generally a difficult part of many demons’ existence to have to consume human flesh. 

But I digress.

You know who doesn’t care about that? Muzan. 

If we take 1915 as the year Tanjiro’s Final Selection takes place and assumed modern age counting methods as opposed to the standard used until Meiji (which was still often used in Taisho), then Ubuyashiki Kagaya was born around 1892-ish. His father couldn’t take the sorrow of being in that position, so when he committed suicide at the age of 19, Kagaya assumed the role of the 97th generation Oyakata-sama at age 4 (his other siblings, all brothers, had died). He very soon married Himorogi Amane when he was age 13 and she was age 17. While this was her own volition, the Ubuyashiki family has long since married daughters of family closely associated with shrines as any means of trying to use this spiritual influence to lengthen the lives of their offspring. (We may assume Amane served the role of a miko, and she continues to perform daily spiritual ablution to pray for her family’s safety). Of the current Pillars, Kagaya first met Himejima in 1906 at the age of 14. The quintuplets, including Kagaya’s heir Kiriya, would had been born around 1907. 

It’s when he’s settled into a husband and (probably step-)father role that he is discovered by a member of the Demon Slayer Corp in 1915, possibly for the first time in roughly four centuries. He makes a clean getaway, but not without those hanafuda earrings freaking him out first. 

Muzan is busy being a Tokyo business man (among other things) with interests in foreign language and new contraptions. He is still motivated to discovered all he can about the blue spider lily, which is why he focuses his demons around the Tokyo area. In 1913 he takes a stroll to Mt. Kumotori and snacks on a family out there, tries making one of them into a demon for the heck of it (maybe or maybe not knowing anything about the Kamado lineage), assumes it didn’t work and she died so he forgets about her (giving Nezuko an opportunity to break free of his curse). He finds no blue spider lilies and goes back to Tokyo. 

Wanting to get close to business partners, he identifies a high society woman named Rei, kills her husband, and swoops in to be her new lover. At other times, he takes the form of some other power person when it’s convenient, or when he’s juggling multiple identities, like an adopted boy with access to medicinal research or a performer with who can boss humans around to search out the flowers in daytime, he may sometimes leave a piece of his flesh behind to assume his form when he’s busy elsewhere.

And the rest is basically as we see in canon. 

Of the Lower Moons, the former Lower Moon 2, Hairou, was a Shinsengumi member, and therefore became a demon sometime between 1863 and 1869. Than means he had been a demon roughly fifty years or less before Rengoku Kyojuro defeated him and became a Pillar.