#you killed me (worth it tho)

[whomeidontknowthem]

Eyes on me – an interactive whump story. Part 5.

Previous part. Masterpost.

Content: institutionalized slavery, imprisonment, dehumanizing language, it/its for an inhuman whumpee, pet whump, whipping, blood, physical abuse, withholding of food, training, torture, intimate whumper, carewhumper, mentioned pet death, tell me if i missed something

Lord Teelo didn’t strike. 

He lowered his arm, eyes never straying from holding the creature’s terrified gaze. The room reeked of blood, now streaming down the lord’s fingers in a warm waterfall. He worked hard on pushing his fury back, taking it under control as many times before. He was in control. He would show it, careful and persistent and levelheaded. He would make sure it remembered the lesson forever. The crop was not meant for punishments, it was too short, too soft – he hadn’t meant to punish it. He was going to be a kind and gracious owner. It had left him no choice!

He opened the door, finding the redheaded guard still in the corridor.

“Get a proper whip,” he ordered. “More chains – gods damned handcuffs, whichever idiot thought of leaving it like this?! And a knife, scissors – or whatever, something to file its atrocious claws.”

The guard stared at him, not in the face – at his arm. Lord Teelo felt it – the consistent drip-drip-drip of his blood. He didn’t feel the ache yet. Nothing but the quiet, cold fury he couldn’t wait to unleash at the world. Haltingly, the guard started, “Should I bring someone to take a look at–”

“I have told you what you should do,” his voice came out as a hiss.

“Yes, my lord,” the guard saluted and hesitated only a moment before running down the corridor. 

Lord Teelo closed the door with a loud crash. He paced inside, steps echoing around the room, as the pain slowly started to radiate out. He hated it. Oh how he wished he could slice the thing’s skin just this moment, not waiting for anything and anyone. He picked up the crop once more, stoped before the creature – it cowered to the very corner between the wall and its cage, never letting its eyes away from him. Oh, now it was looking. It dared to look! 

“You think yourself smart?” the lord hissed. “Think you did something good for yourself? Oh, no, you’re gonna regret this. You’re gonna regret this so much.”

The pain seeped into his consciousness with every heartbeat, radiant and nauseatingly familiar. He held a handkerchief to the cuts until it filled with deep red. He threw it away – it landed in a wet disgusting lump on the table, by the bowl of wet disgusting meat. Oh how the lord had tried to be a nice host, how he had tried to accommodate this, this– 

“Damned, ungrateful, hateful beast!” Lord Teelo roared. The glass of the bowl nearly slipped from his bloodied fingers when he grabbed it, and then shattered to thousands pieces to the side of the creature’s head. Its dinner fell onto the floor, useless. Oh, it wouldn’t get any, it would have to work, to beg for any crumb from then on – it would regret, regret it so much!..

The door slid open soundlessly after a short knock, letting in the heavy footsteps and the clanging of metal. The lord turned on his heels, facing the guard. “And why in the world have you not brought a damned healer!” he hissed. “Can’t you see I’m bleeding out!”

The guard blinked. “But you have–” 

“YOU DARE ARGUE WITH ME?!” 

He was struggling to breathe, chest heaving with effort. The blood was still warm down his arm, still bright on the broken glass and light wood of his floors. How could the idiot not understand!

There were chains in the guard’s arms and a leathery length of the whip. Lord Teelo snatched it and demanded, “Chain it up!” The guard hesitated, opened his mouth. “NOW!” 

He did. The lord watched as he came to the beast, careful with his steps, cautious of it. It squeezed itself deeper into the corner. Lord Teelo could see it shaking. He was delighted to see it shaking. The guard reached out, the first cuff prepared, and Lord Teelo watched from a step away as it lifted its hands up, close to its chest. Its teeth were bared, pupils wide and eyes wider. It tried saying something, but what came out was only a mess of sounds with no meaning. 

The guard squeezed its arm even as it tried to avoid it. It whined and fought back, tried getting out of the grasp, tried pushing him away, tried and fought and struggled as he cursed under his nose. Its claws went through the skin of his palm ripping out a sharp hiss. It managed to raise its hind leg as the cuff clicked around its wrist, its claws scratching against the metal in an effort that only delayed the inevitable. 

Lord Teelo had little patience left. He stepped forward, connecting his heel with the middle of the creature’s tail. It yelped, flinched backwards – its head connected with the wall, and before it could regroup the second handcuff was in place. After that, restraining its legs was only a matter of time.

“Turn it around,” the lord ordered. Chains clang as it fought in an ever increasing panic. “To the wall, yes… yes, just like that.” The locks rattled, forced closed. The guard let the key fall onto the ground, forcing the creature to kneel. It hid its tail between its legs, whining as its head was pressed into the wall. “Is the chain short enough? Will it be able to move?”

“I don’t think so, my lord,” the guard answered. 

Lord Teelo played with the whip, trying it out. “Good. Go fetch the healer– wait. I need – something sharp, something – to secure on its tail. See how it hides it? I need something it can’t hide from.”

The guard looked puzzled. He eased his hold in a test, and the creature threw its whole weight backwards, fighting the chains. They held. Kneeling, with its tail hidden and only back visible, it looked strikingly like a human. “Perhaps clothespins, my lord?” It wasn’t what he had in mind. What he wanted – it wasn’t that. Not this easy, tame solution.

“It would work,” he drew out. He would go to the smith when he had time. He had an idea, oh, that would be a genius idea. “Just this once."

He flexed his left arm and rubbed his right. It hurt as all deaths, but it had stopped bleeding. He failed to crack the whip the first time but managed it the second, inches from the creature’s back. The guard bowed, taking it as a sign to leave. 

The creature mumbled and mumbled more, sounds a meaningless mush falling from its tongue. If Lord Teelo was generous, he could see it as an apology; he would not even entertain the possibility of giving in to it, of course. 

The second crack was right by its ear. It flinched and curled up further but couldn't hide.

It wailed when the whip connected with its back – so loud, so quickly, taken by surprise. Lord Teelo bared his teeth in a smile and struck again, violent purple already flowering on the gray of its skin, and struck again without waiting – three, four, six, twelve hits in a row, as it flinched and writhed and cried out.

He paused afterwards, and saw as it tensed, first, its whole body shaking with the effort of breathing, hiccupping in what sounded almost like sobs. He waited, watching how it trembled more and more. He let it marinate in the anticipation, the fear coiling and coiling with no release, the stinging of its sore back growing as its patience ran thin. 

When it raised its head, just barely, as if to look, the whip snapped through the air again. 

It screamed out. He didn’t give it time to recover. 

The lord hit it with no pattern, pausing and continuing at his leisure, until his arm grew heavy with pain and the creature nearly silent. Lord Teelo could only hear its labored breathing, air forced out of its body with every strike. Its back bloomed with purple that gave way to red when the skin opened, the new lines covering the rainbow pattern in an unstructured, repulsive mess.

Oh, he nearly pitied it, trembling pathetically in the corner. Then he rubbed his arm and the sharp pain was enough to remember why he didn’t. 

He struck for the last time, lazily, with his left, and then a few more for a good measure. When a polite knock announced the guard’s return, he felt pleasantly tired, like after a good work out. He called out for the man to enter. 

The guard did and the healer, an old woman the lord knew for most of his life, followed in. She looked the room over with stony, unreadable expression, and Lord Teelo met her gaze with a nice enough smile. “You’ve got your toy,” she stated and that was all the attention the creature got from her. 

She made a quick enough work of the wounds: cleaned and bandaged them up after applying that miraculous numbing cream the lord appreciated since early childhood. The creature would appreciate it even more, he thought, glancing at the pathetic thing. It had shifted at some point, stretching its legs just a bit but keeping its head hidden. Its body shook violently, trembling so much it in itself looked tiring. 

“Should I look it over?” the healer suggested, all business. 

The lord huffed, “What would the point of a punishment be then?” 

The woman looked him over with that annoying, unreadable gaze. “Call me whenever you change your mind,” she bowed and left when he dismissed her. 

Lord Teelo tried the clothespins with interest, forcing the spring to coil and then letting it go softly around his finger, just a tad, until it started hurting. “Good enough,” he concluded finally and got up. 

The creature flinched when his boots stopped by its form but didn’t try anything. “Poor thing,” he drew out and crouched, ran his fingers along its back lightly, brushing fingertips over the painful ridges of future bruises. Its breaths hitched, but it didn’t make a sound. “And all you needed was to not act like a brainless brat to avoid all this. You have no one but yourself to blame, silly thing,” he told it. It didn’t answer, shivering under his touch but not attempting anything stupid. 

“But maybe you can learn,” he hummed and moved his hand down to where its tail started. It tensed even further, if it was possible at all. “Let’s just make sure the lesson sticks, huh?” It curled up even further as he tagged on its tail, releasing from under the creature’s body. He flickered it back and forth and rubbed between his fingers and was satisfied when it sobbed and shuddered but remained motionless otherwise. 

“Like this, yes,” he muttered. With the softest touch of his second hand, he stoked its head. “But look at me now. Eyes on me,” It didn’t understand. He caught a fistful of its fur and tagged. “Eyes on me.”

Too drained to resist, it lifted its head as he guided it. “Eyes on me,” he demanded again, and it either guessed or truly learned – its gaze settled on him, focusing to the best of its ability – and, oh, what a pathetic mess it looked, eyes bloodshot and wet in ways he’d thought only a human's could be, dark lines from where it pressed into the floorboards marking its cheeks. There was something red around its mouth – did it bite itself, the poor thing? 

Lord Teelo clicked his tongue, smiled softly and released its fur. It settled back instantly, curling up again. Its tail remained in his hands. 

He picked up the first pin. 

It must have assumed at first that he was just playing like he had been, – at least, it didn’t seem to tense up too much, nor expect the sharp pain when he released the spring around its tail. It shuddered, head whipping up, staring at him once again. He smiled. Picked up the second clothespin. 

It tried to get its tail free – oh, it tried as much as it could without hurting him, but he tightened the grasp and played with the pins as it couldn’t help a new whimper, and hushed it and urged it to sit still. “That’s for you to remember the lesson better,” he told it pleasantly. It must have cried, body shaking again, and tried to kick just once, the movement stopped halfway through by a short chain. 

Lord Teelo wondered how many pins would be good for it – should he go with the whole set the guard had brought? He settled on five, at the end, a nice even number not even halfway through what he had. He was feeling rather merciful and forgiving, and it sounded just so pathetic. 

He called the guard in to urge it into the cage when it was done. It didn’t even try fighting, following the man's tagging and pushing until it was inside, drawing its limbs close and curling up to fully fit. Nearly immediately, its fingers itched towards the pins, human-like thumbs ready to work on the problem. Lord Teelo snapped his fingers to get its attention.

“No,” he said, words dripping with finality. He reached through the bars and tagged its tail outside. “The clothespins stay here for the night,” he told it. It probably didn’t understand – there was so little thought in its eyes. He let go of it hoped for its sake it understood what he meant. He didn’t want to have to punish it so soon for their lack of common language. 

When he went to sleep, the shaky breaths and the rare clanging when it tried to settle more comfortable sounded like a lullaby to his ears.

In the morning, his arm stung mercilessly and unendingly, and no melodies of birds and gentle sunrays could make his mood better. He turned lazily, letting his eyes fall onto the cage. The creature was curled inside of it, eyes shut tight and ears flickering restlessly. Its tail fluttered too, freed at some point from the pins, one of its hands curling around it protectively. 

Lord Teelo felt stuck between endearment and irritation. He moved and the cuts on his arm ached, and irritation won. 

“Hey… you,” he called and realized he hadn’t come up with a name. He should think about it as some point, he decided grimly, and banished the thought of the last pet he’d named, back in childhood. That was a just a cat, a stupid spoilt creature with too much attitude. The lord remembered the way it looked, painted red and unmoving, after crossing one too many lines. 

The creature didn’t move at his call, either. He picked up an extinguished candle from his bedside table and threw it towards the cage. “Hey!” 

There was no reaction. With an undignified groan, he forced himself on his feet and towards the cage. He rattled the key across the bars, the way that always seemed to get the creature’s attention.

It didn’t react. It was outright ignoring him! 

Had it learned nothing?!

He reached through the bars and tagged on its tail, finally getting some response in return – it flinched weakly and grimaced. Slowly, its eyes fluttered open, but didn’t settle on the lord. They looked as if through him, unfocused and dizzy, and a pang of worry cut through the just rage when they closed back and its chest heaved, struggling for breath. 

Something was wrong.

He reached through the bars and towards its forehead, forgetting for a second it wasn’t a human. The skin under his fingers was blasting hot and sickly wet. It moved closer to his fingers, all but nuzzling against him. 

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

Updates every 7-10 days (depending on how much time I have and how obvious the poll result is) (unless something goes wrong and it takes me too weeks to get myself to write something. I'm so very sorry about the delay!)

@isikedmyself878, @fraugustends, @otterfrost, @fuchstastisch, @3-2-whump,

@the-lone-youth, @will-o-the-wips, @catnykit, @granny-aaravos, @mj-or-say10

Tell me to be tagged in the new parts!

[akaikami-cherryblossom]

Me: I kinda want to try bald.ur’s ga.te, it looks fun

My lil bro, every time: you know that’s a SEX game right??? You can have SEX??? That’s GROSS. There are so many SEX scenes. I KNOW you don’t wanna play a SEX game!!! >:(

[greedbent]

An innocent envelope waits atop Kaz’s desk. Attached to the outside is a single rose: thorns still intact along the stem, with petals as black as night and speckled with subtle flecks of silver that make the bloom shimmer even in the dimmest light. His name is written on the front in a delicate, looping script. Along with small doodles of flowers and birds in the margins, the letter inside bears the same writing:

Kaz, I hope this letter finds you well! The shop has been keeping me especially busy lately. A few weeks ago I received a special order that required growing some rare breeds of flowers; I swear, I have spent all hours of every day since in the greenhouse, working hard to make sure that every flower is perfect! Of course, the effort was well worth the end result. These roses made me think of you the moment they bloomed, so I simply had to send one to you. I do hope it has made its way to you safe and sound.   I know you are also quite busy, but I would love to see you again soon. I am nearly finished with a new painting—perhaps I could show you, when you can spare the time? If it is not too much trouble, of course.  Please take care of yourself.  ~ Spring

@howthesleeplesswander || screaming crying throwing up

The first thing Kaz Brekker felt was foolish.

Like he was some poor young sod gawking at women in the street, tripping over himself when one looked his way, burning bright red in the face as she giggled and passed him by. He felt bare. He felt exposed. He felt unnatural, as if his coat wasn’t hanging right, one sleeve too long or too short, one little thread out of place that he just couldn’t find. He felt . . . in that barest flicker of a moment, less like Dirtyhands and more like Kaz Rietveld: that boy off the farm; that boy who had been so naive, so innocent, so blind—

All because of a damn rose sitting there on his desk.

He swore the thing would’ve been giggling wryly at him—just like the women at the Menagerie—if it could. Somehow, he wondered if the silence was worse. —just as much as he wondered how utterly insane he had to be to wish flowers could talk.

Like he said: He felt foolish.

When Kaz set foot in the Crow Club, Rotty had told him a message was waiting for him. When Kaz had asked what it was or who it was from, the man had pursued all manner of distractions to excuse himself, mumbled something quick about it being better that Kaz see it himself, that he didn’t want to intrude— Basically, a whole blundering bunch of useless information that eventually ended with Kaz doing just that: seeing what the podge was blithering about and what sort of bomb was waiting for him in his office.

Well, he hadn’t been too far off the mark. It wasn’t a bomb, but the way Kaz froze in his steps and lingered there in the doorway would make anyone think that was the case. Eventually, he at least had the mind to shut the door behind him. And, another eventually, he made his way over to the desk on pathetically cautious steps he was glad no one was around to witness wobbled.

He read the note. And then he read it again. And then a third time, in case the first two weren’t enough. Somewhere in the process, Kaz had taken a seat, and as his eyes pored over that elegant, beautiful script, his fingers idled on the rose’s stem. The thorns didn’t bother him through the gloves. And even if they did, he was sure he wouldn’t have noticed. 

I would love to see you again.

He tarried on—no, he stumbled over—that phrase with each pass.

Please take care of yourself.

A similar effect, surely. Though, for some reason, the sentiment summoned an amused little twitch to his lips, that which nearly bled into a full smile by the time he’d finished what could have been the tenth reread. Kaz almost folded the letter back up, thumb gliding gingerly over one edge, but he hesitated. He glanced back at the fittingly black flower—These roses made me think of you. . . . That foolish hum of something not-so-novel, but old and nearly forgotten warmed his skin: maybe, just maybe, his cheeks, specifically.

But, foolish or not, Kaz let the letter rest open on his desk.

He leaned back with flower in hand, perusing—no, memorizing—the petals like they were a very part of the girl who gave them to him.

And he decided, tomorrow, to everyone else but her, he’d be occupied.

[two-person-job]

SHROOMIE!! WHo confesses first and how in Shroomiya??💕💕🫶

i confess first because I love yoimiya but she strikes me as very oblivious. I don't think she'd confess out of fear for ruining our friendship

but how is at the summer festival. yk how in alexis' recent ask, the heart with arrow thing? how I almost confessed to her at the summer festival prep? I actually planned for my confession to take place DURING the festival. I'd do the. like. "the fireworks are even more beautiful reflected in your eyes..." and we'd giggle about how much of an overused line that is but then i'd tell her "but it's still true"

after that i'd rather recite a planned + rehearsed speech or just go "I really like you :}"

[waywardsalt]

thoughts on totk now that i’ve beaten it

under the cut bc of length and bc there is honestly a fair bit of negative stuff

i don’t really think i can say that i liked totk.

it’s fine, it’s genuinely fucking incredible from a technical standpoint with ultrahand, recall, the three map layers and with how smoothly it ran for me. as a game it’s fine.

i’ll start with the things i dislike and end with what i actually liked

i honestly didn’t really like ultrahand? i disliked how much the game leaned on it, since so many puzzles and whatever just boiled down to ‘make something that’ll work’ and it just... it was far too clunky for me to really enjoy using it, outside of using some of the same few designs for traversal. there were a few times when i could see what the game wanted me to do with ultrahand and the given zonai parts and sometimes it just... didn’t work at all. more often than not ultrahand was frustrating for me to use so the game’s reliance on it just made it into a chore sometimes.

in a similar vein the dungeons were serious letdowns. i mean, don’t get me wrong, they’re fine, they had good themes and (mostly) had good aesthetics and general looks and identities to them, but the fact that they were just... basically twenty-ish minute little things was kind of disappointing. i hate that they all had the exact same ‘go hit x number of switches’ gimmick. it really limited what you could do and fucked with the dungeon design, too. the only one where that really worked for me was the fire temple, which was my favorite overall. the water temple was especially dismal, with the least inspired look and just being an astoundingly easy experience. the puzzles in those dungeons were so awfully easy, too, especially since half of the time they just hand you what you need so you barely need to really assess the situation and put a plan together

i hated the water dungeon’s little mini-areas where you do a single piss-easy puzzle to automatically get your prize, i hated the wind temple’s god damn ‘pull a lever and get your prize’ kind of puzzles, i hated how soul-crushingly disappointed i felt when i took a look at the lightning temple’s map and realized that every fucking floor had a singular room just for the switch puzzle. god forbid it’s as fun as the lowest level of that temple. i really miss stuff like mini-bosses or rooms where you have to do a puzzle in order to just... progress, i miss dungeons that i could get lost in or spend a while in or just had... something more interesting or some more substance so that i can’t just breeze through like it’s a glorified shrine. most of the puzzles in those dungeons were simpler than some shrines i did.

i didn’t care to do much exploration since there honestly isn’t much motivation to explore the surface map if you’ve already played botw, and the scarcity of materials this time really got to me, it took me a while to have a half-decent stock of materials, and i still had trouble not running out of stuff even though i was using amiibos to stock up on some things. the money situation was rough, too... a lot of things are cheaper to sell, but some armor is still really expensive plus you have to pay the great fairies to upgrade your equipment in addition to having the correct materials. that especially felt odd- having to grab a handful of (goddamn hard to get) lynel guts is hard enough to upgrade the soldier’s armor, but you want me to cough up 500 rupees, too??

(the scarcity of monster guts also got on my nerves, but i’ll just chalk that up to just some kind of really weird difficulty thing. it was annoying until i tracked down the stronger monsters.)

the story is probably the weakest part of the game to me. it’s really hard to have a baseline investment when you don’t care about these characters, anyway, and what i saw in this game’s story still failed to endear me to hardly any of them. link’s role frustrated me; he just comes off like a tool rather than a character this time through, he barely has any actual relevancy to the story segments beyond being the guy who can use the master sword and being the player’s vehicle to get from point a to b in the story. the blank stare and limited emoting worked in botw because... there’s a given reason for his lack of outward emotion in the past, plus he has no memory in the present. it makes sense. but this time around, he’s gotten memories in the years between this and the last game, but he just feels like a background character in most of the story beats. 

he has no role in the memories and in the present just exists to gather some stuff for other people, he gets the master sword from zelda and then helps the other sages get their secret stones, but he’s barely addressed as his own character in the grand scheme of things unless he’s being directly spoken to. he’s just the swordsman capable of wielding the master sword and zelda’s chosen protector as far as the story is concerned. he has no opinions outside of doing what he’s told and looking for zelda. at least not as far as i could really tell. at least in botw, the story directly concerns him, and it’s his story we’re following. this time around zelda and the sages seem like the most important characters, link’s just... there, doing what he’s been told to.

the new sages are fine, none of them really endeared themselves to me, and i will say that making the player watch essentially the exact same cutscene each time you finish a dungeon was BAFFLING. they were long and you learned almost nothing new after the first one, and there was nothing done to make them very distinct to each individual pair of sages or their respective regions; at the very least, it could have been interesting to meet the ancient sages not in the exact same stone garden, but perhaps at the top of a snowy mountain for the rito, near a volcano or something for the goron, maybe in a shallow pool of water for the zora, and in the desert for the gerudo- but no, they’re all effectively the same thing just with the speaking character swapped out with some minor changes.

(the sages themselves are a pain in the ass to use, having to chase them down to activate their power or accidentally activating a power when you don’t want it; yunobo was honestly my favorite, but because i generally defaulted to having them all activated at all times, i had a lot of trouble with tulin blowing shit away from me when i was trying to grab it while midair. they’re half-decent for combat)

i didn’t really care for rauru or sonia, either. rauru in the present as a ghost was fine, he was kind of interesting and seemed to have changed from his time in the past, but he never managed to be a character i particularly liked. i wasn’t really a fan of his... arrogance? or something in the past scenes, and he never really came off as very interesting. sonia was nearly completely uninteresting which is a shame since she has an interesting design, she just felt delegated to the role of supporting rauru and zelda and then dying to motivate them.

ganondorf is a character i was really looking forward to seeing, and it really fucking sucks that he’s so god damn one-dimensional this time! the story can’t be fucked to delve into him beyond just giving us scenes that just tell us that he’s evil and wants to rule hyrule and get the secret stones and nothing else because fuck having complex villains, i guess. especially frustrating because within the game itself you can draw more interesting motivations up for him, but the game really just doubles-down on him being evil for the fuck of it and wanting to end the world because uhhhh... he’s evil don’t fucking worry about it

the ignoring of the triforce in this game sucks in that way, too, because the way the triforce works and how it can grant wishes made it a much more interesting goal for ganondorf to attain, rather than some poorly-named ‘secret stones’ that do nothing more than just amplify power or something. it sucks how black-and-white this damn story is and how it seems like it just wants to do away with any possible nuance or gray area. no one but the bad guys or side characters are flawed in any actually interesting or significant way.

at least ganondorf was still the most interesting character in the flashbacks.

and then zelda, oh god ZELDA. i honestly really liked her in botw. i liked how you saw her as a flawed, insecure, pressured teen, and how you saw her struggles to relate to link and how she eventually warmed up to him. you saw her as a flawed person who develops and as someone who cares deeply about her friends and her duties and gets frustrated by her failings.

and then in totk a lot of her more interesting traits- her interest in sheikah tech, her excitement over field study and research, her more defining traits as this incarnation of zelda- are basically sanded down and she’s just this perfect flawless princess with great power and an insanely passive role in the past beyond finally taking some kind of action after one of her friends dies and she’s pushed to the brink. cool. great.

she has practically no flaw in totk. if anyone in the present talks about her, they have nothing bad to say and just want to please her and follow her orders, she is right in telling the gerudo how to train their troops she is right even when misheard to tell people to put themselves in danger and she is hardly meaningfully questioned when her imposter is doing very clearly suspicious shit. neither the story nor any of the characters wants to let her be flawed. she’s just perfect in damn near every way and barely retains any interesting characterization she got in botw. there are some interesting snippets in her being a teacher and setting up memorials to those who died in the calamity, but there’s hardly any more than that, and it makes it really hard for me to give a damn about her. she’s not interesting this time.

the whole thing with zelda becoming a dragon too, is... it’s fine. it’s ok. but the fact that she turns back at the end with no problem whatsoever is one hell of a fucking misstep. why talk about draconification being forbidden for a good reason anyways if it doesn’t actually matter anyways??? if you never actually see any of those fucking repercussions why even bring them up??? i really feel like it would have been more effective for there to have been actual consequences for zelda beyond just fucking flying around half-conscious for a millennium or whatever- have her lose her memory when she’s brought back! there you go! there’s the reason why draconification is forbidden! there’s the thing about losing yourself! plus, zelda losing her memories as a result would mirror link having lost his memories in botw! that has so much more weight and significance then ‘oh uh ignore the warnings from a while back she’s completely fine dw abt it’ i hate that she’s back just like that without any of the consequences that the game suggests.

the dragon’s tears in general kinda just felt weaker than botw’s memories anyways bc you’re more just. watching stuff happen then actually learning anything. it has less characters and yet i feel like you only get to know like half of the important ones. like three of them are all about the same event. a few times they just replay parts of old memories in new ones. if they ever reference a past memory they just show you what they’re referencing instead of leaving you to piece it together. just play the voices or something don’t break the flow of things to play a clip of something i’ve already seen.

plus the fact that totk... barely acknowledges that it’s a sequel to botw really rubs me the wrong way. i understand that loz is extremely loose with its lore, but totk is a direct sequel set in the same world a few years later, and yet the events and characters of botw have might as well been forgotten and its all either ignored, brushed aside, or straight up replaced by something else for no good reason. the continuity between these games is absolutely dismal and to see the different ways in which the events and concepts or botw are just... disregarded really just left a bad taste in my mouth.

just- i love good stories and worlds in video games, and while some games can coast by for me by feeling good to play, having a good and engaging story and characters is usually essential to my enjoyment of a game, and when i don’t care about to the point of disliking the story and characters, and when none of the important areas are fascinating or distinct enough from each other, and when the game even fails to really reel me in with the gameplay...

i wanted to like totk, but it really just did not work for me. i just ended up feeling frustrated and disappointed and even sometimes bored with all of the major stuff and man. totk is really, REALLY, not for me, and it just left me wanting to play older zelda games instead.

...

HOWEVER! there were actually some things i really loved about totk! it’s not all doom and gloom! (well, not all doom, at least)

so! the music was great! not all of it really fit or made a lot of sense with the context in which they played or failed to evoke the feeling they were meant to, but the new tracks in this game were great! i especially love the first two phases of the fire temple’s theme, the depths music, and most of the new battle and boss themes. zelda games almost never fail when it comes to the music.

i did genuinely like the fire temple- yunobo’s ability was used the best in this dungeon, and it had the best five switches gimmick, i loved how you had to hit the gongs (sometimes having to construct a path to account for the weaknesses of yunobo’s ability) and how it then ‘scared’ each of the five statues holding a part of the gate- it was very cute and fit in very well with the general feel of that part of the story. it was the best in terms of difficulty and complexity, but it didn’t have the best boss- the lightning temple had the best boss, and i will admit that even if most of them were easy, i really enjoyed the mirror puzzles, as well as the process to unlocking the dungeon. the wind temple had my favorite visual identity and aesthetic, though, i liked it being a part of this old rito song, and how it was the most distinct in looks from the other dungeons.

the sky islands were honestly fun, even if they weren’t all that interesting. getting to some of the harder-to-reach islands were some of my favorite times i had to use ultrahand, and stuff like the zonai forge island and the one orblike island with the mirror puzzle, and pretty much all of the more complicated parts of the sky islands were a lot of fun to explore and figure out.

being able to ride on the dragons was just really cool, and the fact that they come out of the chasms was fun.

the new horns for the monsters were cool, it helps differentiate the different monster strengths and i just thought they were really neat.

the quest with lurelin village was fun, even if the pirates just being monsters was a real let-down.

the stable trotters were also a fun bunch of characters, that was a good, new way to open up fairy fountains.

all of the new stuff with the yiga was really fun, like getting their outfit and being able to pretend to be one of them and learning the blademaster attack- so much fun it was so cute.

most of the new outfits are really good and useful, and while a bit janky and not that great, the house-building bit near tarrey was endearing.

while none of the main characters interested me, i really, especially liked tauro and yona and penn. for some reason they just appealed to me and i really wish they had bigger parts in the game because they’re interesting and they have good designs and i’d really like to know more about them.

the underground gerudo shelter was pretty cool, to be honest, and the look of the caves was really cool.

i adored the proving grounds shrines- easily my favorite shrines in the entire game, i had no problem spending a decent amount of time in those kinds of shrines, they were fantastic.

the new ingredients and recipes and new weapons were cool.

the way you basically return to the area you started at on your way to ganondorf is pretty cool, that whole path is really neat.

ganondorf in general was a pretty cool boss, even if he ended up being kind of easy for me. the whole final boss sequence was neat.

by FAR, though, my absolute favorite part of this game was 100% the depths. the fact that there was just an entire second layer to the map that was the same size as the surface, just inverted and dark and filled with new bosses and locations... i spent hours down there without going back up to the surface and absolutely had a BLAST screwing around in the dark, lighting up my path with brightblooms and tossing together little vehicles with lights so that i could get to the next lightroot off in the distance. the depths was probably where i ended up using zonai vehicles the most, and it was honestly pretty fun to go around spotting and reaching every lightroot, coming across different mines and weird little landforms and coliseums and yiga camps. the music and plantlife and look of the depths were so good, and it really felt distinct from the rest of the game in a very good way. doing all of the lightroots and getting enough zonaite to max out link’s energy cells was definitely a good move since it made finding shrines and dealing with later zonai machine stuff easier.

overall, tears of the kingdom was a severely mixed bag for me, and while there was stuff i did like, i don’t think it’s enough to really get me to say that i really liked this game overall- after all most of the stuff i disliked was unavoidable parts of the games, and it definitely put a hamper on my interest in the rest of the time. totk is fine, but it’s really not my thing. 

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

Poor Yuuta 😆

What's he gonna do when someone tells him Todo punched His Boy™️ through a wall

And really, what's with every person ripping of their shirt or being shirtless while fighting Megumi. Sukuna is the worst offender of course, and their's also Todo, even Mahoraga didn't have a shirt. We're obviously excluding Toji.

Also, being offended at a low bounty is so Sukuna 🤣 That entire post was hilarious, especially the tags.

The other second years decide that they need to shield Yuuta from the knowledge that this ever happened because if he did he’d kill todo and then feel bad about killing him and it’s just be enormously inconvenient to maki specifically who would have to hear about it.

They also decide that this is immediately a mission doomed for failure because Inumaki’s a spineless simp who will absolutely spill the beans to his boy (his boy being Yuuta).

So they tell Todo that if he values his life (doubtful—maki has sincere doubts as to its value and feels even todo must know that) he’ll find a border and get over it because Yuuta will break his fucking spine if he finds out someone beat the shit out of Megumi specifically as a way to goad Yuuta himself. Fuck around, find out. Yuuta’s not letting anyone use megumi against him and he’s willing to make an example to ensure future safety.

Sukuna feels the Zenin were on point with the brat’s valuation (if not too generous) but he’s in here too and he’s a fucking gold standard of targets. What the fuck why is the bounty so low. He’s the king of curses and he’s getting the valuation of an idiot high schooler with a crush. There’s no respect nowadays.

Yuuji has to hear a lot about how the price on his head is not good enough for Sukuna.

[nerosdayinanime]

fun little experience from my tags in idiots play gta

put way too much effort into copying the background to not show it try n guess which office its at<3

[sl33py-g4m3r]

it feels like a complaint but idk~~ hope it's not~~~ i kind of worry me telling anybody about anything is a complaint somehow~~

but saw something on a local PBS channel that I don't understand~~

are so many people into being the omnivores we think we are; to find lampooning a swordfish being hideously barbaric, watching it die in the boat with it's blood everywhere, and then throwing it on ice to be sent to local restaurants.... they think it's absolutely barbaric~~

I forget the word they used, disgusting/disturbing or something of the sort, it was yesterday and I don't remember~~

and at the same time EATING AND ENJOYING IT ANYWAY~~

I don't understand~~ you see that, are revolted by it, yet eat it anyway?

a little light doesn't click on in your head and goes "we aren't supposed to be killing and eating animals if we are disgusted/disturbed by it?"

true omnivores would see a feast of that fish~~ or any slaughterhouse really~~~ and yet humans are so disgusted/disturbed by it that we hide them from plain sight and make the act of slaughter hidden from view~~

if people are so disturbed by seeing their food be produced; then why and how can we see it as food to begin with?

I've been vegetarian so long that I no longer see meat as a viable food source and get genuinely confused when other people actually do, despite the slaughter and bloodshed witnessed....

like how can you still eat it and not be turned off by it? there are more compassionate ways of eating that don't involve taking the sentient life of another being~~

also unrelated thing that makes me feel really old for saying it to begin with; my 24 hour news station had inexplicably been replaced with another instance of a 24 hour shopping channel, and I don't understand... it is the exact same as the one a channel over..... ???

BRING MY 24 HOUR NEWS CHANNEL BACK DARN IT~~~!! WE DON'T NEED 2 OF THE SAME EXACT SHOPPING CHANNEL ON LOCAL TV~~~ I DON'T CARE~~~ I JUST WANT MY NEWS STATION

[hoshigray]

HOSHI.

H O S H I.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH LOREYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY‼️‼️ WATCHED IT WITH MY FRIENDS AND I COULD NOT CONTAIN MYSELF, YOU HEAR ME!!??? THIS MAN OWNS MY HEART AND SOUL IT IS NOT FUNNY 😭😭😭 HE HAD ME AND MY FRIENDS WATCHING HIS EVERY MOVE, I WAS BOUNCING ON MY SEAT!!!! I WANT HIM. I NEED HIM. I'M SO SICK OF HIM 😫😫🤒🚑💨

[didsomeonesayventus]

Okay, I trust you as a source for all things Fire Emblem - can you please tell me if Fire Emblem Engage is worth getting? It's a lot of money, and I've seen a real mixed reception for it. I've read reviews that call it uninspired and shallow, storywise, and that some characters are difficult to enjoy. Is it actually worth it, or am I better off just replaying Fates? I am TORN over here.

SO! Good news in brief: if you liked Fates I'm fairly certain that you've got a good chance of liking Engage. I honestly see Engage as Fates 2 with a much better focus on what it wants to be and do! In fact if I HAD to pick a previous entry for fair comparison/vibe similarities, I'd pick Fates, maybe Sacred Stones (though I've yet to finish that one).

Engage is right now my favorite entry of the series.

MORE DETAILED ANSWER UNDER THE CUT (I have only played thru once on normal + casual as of writing)

I still maintain it's a good game and worth it, but you HAVE to be open-hearted about it. It's going to be silly. It's going to be hammy and subtle as a sledgehammer. It will even say the most cringe ass shit with it's whole heart. It's just about the farthest from 3H you can get on the fire emblem scale to the point you could have it sitting next to Kingdom Hearts and I, personally, love that for it, but feel like comparing it to 3H's darker tones is the thing most negative reviewers fall prey to.

Is it simple? Yeah. Absolutely. Terribly predictable, even. Is it heartfelt? YES! ABSOLUTELY! Engage has no time for "wow that was cheesy" because it LOVES cheese and it wants you to know that LOVE IS THE MOST POWERFUL THING EVER. It knows it's running a trite and cliched story and it doesn't care about that so much as trying to hit its notes with just the right vibe- and I argue it does a majority of the time, but can concede some things are rather silly. It's full steam ahead with the power of love and friendship and it does that with about as much reverence as a Sat. A.M. cartoon. A good Sat. A.M. cartoon that you're still thinking of years down the line that was a formative childhood joy.

And it's not about romantic love, actually! Hardly at all! There's a lot more focus on familial and platonic love than romance!! There are explicit "I love you"s regarding family bonds and multiple sibling relationships that make it clear they would do everything for their family. The only romantic aspect is whoever you choose to have Alear S-Rank (the game calls it a ring rank for Reasons but its essentially an S-Rank), and everyone else's supports end at A. Even then there's room in a fair number of Alear's S-Ranks to get interpreted as Really Good Friends, as the focus is not on "I Love You" but moreso the fact Alear and the blorbo in question have a deep, deep bond (though there are S-Ranks that are romantic-tinted and some who will explicitly say they love Alear, and regardless of gender picked! wow! diversity win!). If you were looking for pairing up your sexy chess pieces and getting paired endings, though, there'll be a bit left to be desired.

Again if you like Fates, or Kingdom Hearts, or stories that are cheesy, simple, cliched, but heartfelt, you're going to like this one. The cast is wonderful, and the story has some surprisingly good emotional beats. Oh, and also some of the FUNNIEST supports I have seen. Ever.

Alear in particular has become my favorite lord of the series, just barely scooting ahead of Corrin by virtue of having a more solid characterization and arc that Fates didn't quite let Corrin have. Which, yes, you can rename Alear and give them their own birthday, but there is NO question that Alear is their own character; hats off to Laura Stahl and Brandon McInnis for bringing stellar performances that are essential to the character. Frankly hats off in general to the voice cast as a whole they really bring a charm to the game that cannot be ignored.

I will say that supports are pretty hard to grind out, though, requiring units to be adjacent, and the leveling curve leaves a lot of... wonkiness? It's VERY easy with the rate of receiving new units + leveling funk to have units fall behind, or your army to feel underleveled, if you're like me and mostly skip the side skirmishes (bad gamer, I know). I hear the skirmishes are also kind of wonky and scaled to Alear's level which. Can Be A Problem if you're trying to level or support grind weaker units. Though I will say that playing Normal + Casual playing straight through the main story, while it occasionally made me sweat, it did not make me have to completely redo a map (or, if it did, it was probably only once or twice and I've simply forgotten about the inconvenience). Just made unlocking supports irksome as units fell off and/or made it hard to keep some characters off the bench.

There's also an OBSCENE amount of freedom in what you can do with your units. Go crazy go stupid try not to die. Resource management can get tricky, there's not quite enough gold or bond points to do everything, but you can do a lot of stuff, especially if you find a favorite to focus in on. As for the Engage mechanic: very powerful, but not to the point of sapping all the challenge out of things, and fairly balanced. The Break mechanic introduced I think is a great addition to the weapon triangle mechanics and adds a nicer layer of consideration to unit placement + weapon diversity in your army than before.

Also, if you're worried Engage overly relies on it's intent as an anniversary celebration, don't! Engage still is doing its own thing, and moreso uses references to past entries as spice or flourishes of color. They add some fun easter eggs and flavoring to the story, but it doesn't rely on the emblems or any throwbacks to tell the story it's trying to tell. Are Firene and Brodia a 1:1 for Zofia and Rigel? Yeah! Probably on purpose! They literally got the guy who voices Duma in FEH to do King Morion! Do you need to know anything about Shadows of Valentia to appreciate that? Nope! Just nice to know. Corrin's ring is found in a Northern Fortress, to further help illuminate the cute nods involved.

If you're on the fence, totally get that, especially since dropping 60$ on a game in this economy- ~90$ if you wanna add DLC -is a lot of money to ask for. But I've thoroughly enjoyed what Engage has to offer, and currently am hopping along through playthrough #2 and trying to tell myself to S-Rank someone who isn't Alcryst (I will probably S-Rank Alcryst again). I'd suggest looking into the first few eps of a playthrough if you're still not quite sure, and, frankly, imo there's no shame in just purely enjoying it from a "watched a playthrough" perspective, if you have to.

and, if none of this has persuaded you, please direct your attention to Zelkov and this Honest-To-Alear real support exchange: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1_lsOLB68g

[ethereii]

this is achilles lol. he’s a 23 yr old villain with bad memory, to put it simply :)

he has a quirk but i don’t feel like explaining rn so i’ll just say that it’s a very literal version of blunt trauma lol. he happens to be very pretty and if it weren’t for his criminal history and fun knack for insanity, ppl would probably throw themselves at him

he probably doesn’t even remember who he evidently just beat up.

[loisfreakinglane]

sometimes things are just. ruined for you forever. and sometimes you just need time and distance to heal and get over it. so like.......... i just gotta wait it out. either way that’s the only option. waity wait wait. wait wait. 

[ambreiiigns]

Today on Cherry’s wrestling survey, do you think they’ll go with A) Jey winning the title at Summerslam B) Cody winning at Summerslam or C) Jay White debut and title win?

LMAOOOOOOOO

[cursedthingsshallwrite]

Unslaad prt 3 [wip]

“-and then Dov dove into the hole.”

Rhaenyra attempted to curb her laughter but couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped, hand out to accept Prince Lucerys’ help down from her stallion.

“After which Lucerys laughed so hard he tripped over a rock and fell into the hole with me” Dov bowed under Lucerys’ attempt to swipe at them. “He tried to climb out on his own for almost a full hour before he gave up and let me carry him out.”

What fortitude Rhaenyra was able to drag together was subsequently destroyed in less than three sentences as she clutched her stomach and let out a full-belly laugh. Surprising a large majority of the staff secretly bustling about the Red Keep as they paused to watch the Realm’s Delight quickly redden in embarrassment. She cleared her throat and ruthlessly attempted to cull the flush in her cheeks.

She watched as King and Prince exchanged looks again, one outright smiling while the other was doing his best to keep his lips flat.

“I apologize, I don’t know what came over me.” Rhaenyra straightened where she stood, in this moment she represented the Targaryens, and therefore needed to-

“Laughter is the best medicine in existence, you need not say your apologies where no offence was taken” King Dovahkiin said softly, then louder “besides, it’s good to know that I wasn’t the only one to find the moment humorous. Lucerys keeps trying to convince anyone who would listen that the ‘Dov dove’ is hilarious. Which I will say again Lucerys, a joke is not funny if it needs an explanation.”

Lucerys scowled “the pun is hilarious, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

King Dovahkiin, in their infinite grace and courtly presence, stuck out their tongue at the Prince and blew a raspberry.

Rhaenyra didn’t laugh this time, but she did crack a smile at the antics.

She wondered if this was what was like to have siblings.

-

Despite the levity, and the surprising rapport two royals from Dremvothkrif built with the servants, the grand dinner arranged for Rhaenyra’s official announcement as heir to the Throne was a tense affair. Officially now, the Princess of Dragonstone, Rhaenyra sat with her father and Prince Lucerys – while King Dovahkiin was sat next to her father’s remaining side. Decidedly pushing out Otto Hightower and Daemon.

She could feel her uncle’s stare like a weight upon her brow, but somehow, she didn’t quite feel the need to return the stare, not with Prince Lucerys’ oddities set before her like a particularly interesting puzzle. The Prince had no issues dining; indeed, his table manners were impeccable and his voice polite and actually riveting as he described some of the places that were safe for people in the Shadow Lands. Certainly, she could tell there was much he was hiding, but the very way he seemed to poignantly avoid speaking of it seemed to be a quiet message to keep away from the topic without lying to her outright.

She appreciated it, the older she got the more times she’s had to sift through the lies of the court even when she was still her father’s cupbearer. “now I must ask Prince Lucerys-“ she watched as another servant delivered a plate of carefully arranged cooked vegetables and fruits, adornments of which were clearly picked off another dish before being delivered to the Prince. “-why are you receiving so many of these odd dishes?”

Prince Lucerys swallowed before glancing around and leaning towards her, Rhaenyra leaning forward just a little closer so the younger of the Septums wouldn’t have to speak any louder than a whisper.

“Dov can’t stomach vegetables” he said quietly “and usually they prefer to eat meat raw, product of having lived in the Shadowlands for so long and they don’t really have enough Valyrian blood to counter it. We didn’t want to be rude so I just try to eat what I can while Dov quickly sends over the things they can’t eat.”

“Oh” Rhaenyra looked around “I can have the servants send it away.”

Lucerys seemed to wince before smoothing his expression once more, smiling at a passing servant who quickly emptied another plate of vegetables into his. “We can’t waste food, much of Dremvothkrif’s traditions stand on being the most efficient as possible with the resources we have so throwing out otherwise perfectly fine food is looked down on, but Dov just really doesn’t like it on a personal level, bad experience with it. Normally we would host a feast with the rest of the town but…”

Rhaenyra nodded sympathetically, “Of course, would you feel better if I merely had the servants off-duty take what they can and perhaps pass out the rest?”

Lucerys smiled gratefully “that would be wonderful if you can – but ah, if anyone questions it, please place the blame on me. We appreciate you being so accommodating. I don’t want you to have to go through any ire because of it.”

“You are our guests, and of the blood of Old Valyria, it is the least we can do” Rhaenyra rested her hand on his shoulder briefly before signaling for one of her maids to whisper the order. Lucerys in the meantime did a wonderful job distracting several nobles from interrupting her, regaling stories of storms and mountains that spewed fire. It wasn’t long before she could divert her own attention to the on-going conversation between her father and the King of Dremvothkrif; listening intently as King Viserys asked questions of Dremvothkrif and the Shadowlands.

“I apologize if I come off as rude Dovahkiin” King Viserys said “but I am personally intrigued by your name, it does not seem Valyrian in origin.”

“It isn’t” Dovahkiin confirmed, choking down a well-cooked piece of hog as quickly and as politely as they could manage given the circumstances. “it is a Septum tradition actually, usually the child receives a title of sort for their deeds in the traditional tongue made up of words in the Dragon Tongue. Dovah kiin, in my case, can be translated roughly into Dragon born. My personal name is kept secret save for family unfortunately I am unable to share it. It is the opposite for Lucerys as he is of Valyrian blood, and therefore it is his Septum name that is kept personal.”

“Of course of course, I do hope you can forgive my curiosity. I have always been somewhat of a scholar, and remorse the fact that the Targaryen clan had managed to save all but the barest hints of its literature and culture” King Viserys smiled, tired and weary. Reminding Lucerys of the King the man would become in a few years’ time. “I’m glad that Dremvothkrif was so open to reconnecting, I swear to you Dovahkiin that you and yours will be treated as close as family during your stay. Ah, I have noticed you have not drunken any wine, is it perhaps not to your taste?”

Dov winced “I apologize, it is a habit of mine not to drink any liquid that is inebriating. The surroundings of what is livable on Dremvothkrif is rife with danger and beasts seeking to reclaim and expand their own territory, so I am amongst the first to respond to attacks of the like. The largest one we had was a Hydra that would have almost destroyed Graolerin a few months ago had it not been for our paranoia. I am sure the wine is very delicious.”

Rhaenyra glanced towards Lucerys and noticed that he too had not partaken in a drop of wine. Interesting.

“A hydra?” King Viserys asked, intrigued.

“A three headed beast; one head spews acid, another of flammable gas, and the third lights the gas. Furthermore, they are known for their accelerated healing and cutting off one head merely rapidly guarantees growth of two more. We try not to kill any if we do not have to, as they are the natural hunters of the dragons that call the Shadowlands home. Though they are thankfully not as dangerous when still in their fledgling ages – they usually have only the three or five heads – thereby making it easier pierce the body through to the heart.”

“That sounds…” Viserys winced “gruesome.”

“Indeed” Dov laughed “I’ve many scars to prove their danger, but thankfully as much as they are territorial, many of the established Hydras keep to their own. It is the young ones that tend to press against the boarders on the rare occasion.”

“Then, a toast to you then King Dovahkiin” King Viserys presented his cup before Dovahkiin, standing and addressing the other guests now that attention has been called for. “May my daughter’s reign be a wonderful one when she comes of age and may yours be many years still, so that the Westeros and Dremvothkrif would stand together, as allies in this harsh world. To new beginnings!”

Dovakiin politely toasted with their cup before setting it down, a boisterous chorus of echoes repeated after the King.

Talks continued, with Princess Rhaenyra and King Viserys both taking in tribute from the other Lords for her official ascension as heiress to the throne. It was around the time of the party winding down and people beginning to drunkenly find their way back to their rooms when Dovahkiin spoke again in regards to a matter outside of sharing knowledge and history.

“I believe it would be about time to present gifts of our own” Dovahkiin said, a smile quirked on their lips.

“Oh?” King Viserys looked on as two servants came forward.

“Thank you Edward, Arthur” Rhaenyra’s eyes snapped to the King of Dremvothkrif as they greeted the servants by name. Rising from their seat to walk around and help support this massive square shape covered in a black silk. Daemon had moved up the tables by then, sliding closer with a drink in his hand to the scene while the guests that remained sober lingered in interest. Whispered gossip of this new ally coming to such an event without bearing tribute suddenly halted in the face of evidence otherwise.

Dovahkiin snatched black silk off, revealing what was underneath.

Rhaenyra allowed herself to gape before forcibly shutting her jaw closed.

Presented in a beautiful frame of dragon glass and a clear pane of glass was a map of delicate detail. Carefully drawn specs presented mountains and forests and rivers while washes of ink seemed to make each little detail rise up from the parchment. The map had some age, slightly yellow with time and slight scuffs at the edges where it must have been torn slightly in some places – it would have been an insult had the work of the map not been so fine.

Even the Shadowlands, normally a jagged blob of ink on any map, was beautifully rendered and revealed a mountainous landscape with slightly darker swirls that appeared like smoke.

“I will freely admit that Dremvothkrif has not been as isolated as we would like people to think” Dovahkiin explained with a mischievous quirk on their lips. “For the past ten years we have been sending teams of explorers to assess a large majority of the known world and record them to the best of their ability, to expand on the knowledge gathered generations ago closer to the founding of Dremvothkrif and the arrival of the survivors of the Doom. This is the most complete result of our labor for now. I hope you don’t mind the lack of lettering, it is the master copy and therefore I wasn’t to add any locations until the information recorded was certain.”

Daemon was the one who spoke this time. “You made this?”

If Dovahkiin was surprised by the sudden new voice, they did not show. “I did, sort of? It’s really just a culmination of the work my people did once they returned home. But having a hand in the creation of a gift is a type of tradition in Dremvothkrif. To show one’s regard and sincerity, the gift is usually of one’s own creation. Although admittedly-“ they reached out for one of the bags held by the servants and pulled out several very old set of books covered with a deep colored leather, as well as one in black that seemed very different from the others. “this one is a bit of a cheat, it’s merely my copy of some of the books we were able to save from Old Valyria, and my own findings regarding some of the translation work.”

Dovahkiin walked over, presenting the books to Daemon, drawing Viserys’ eyes, and barely held together hysteria as it was the first time in a very very long time the older had seen his usually mercurial brother flush and in awe as he carefully reached out for the books as if they were his own children. Which might actually not be too far off actually, considering the history of Old Valyria and anything to do with the Targaryen motherland was something of a precious hobby both brothers shared.

Rhaenyra just stared unashamed, though she herself was taken aback by the gravity of what her family had just been given, what can she say? Her uncle was quite fetching in that shade of red.

“And finally, to the Princess of Dragon Stone and Realm’s Delight, to Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen” the Dovahkiin reached into a different bag, this one subtly glowing before fading back into the fabric, quicker than the eyes could catch. Dov presented a beautiful set of leather armor that gleaned with iridescent scales complete with a pair of trousers, gauntlets, and boots.

Instead of allowing the servants or maids to take it away, Dovahkiin presented the armor to Rhaenyra directly, not letting go until Rhaenyra clutched the armor between her hands. Surprised at the lightness of it all, and watching the scales shift in a rainbow of color under the light. It was then that Dovahkiin allowed others to take the gauntlets and boots, all of which seemed to be a hybrid of some sort of thick black material that seemed almost wood in texture, only select parts of it being lined with this strange leather. It was well made, and definitely created with her growth in mind – the armor having several carefully tucked and hidden straps for the ultimate ease of adjustment.

However, there was also a sword.

Bladed at one edge, it was a stretch of sword that seemed to be forged to almost look like an odd tree branch, twisted until coming to a delicate bend that met with a straight line at the back of the sword. The hilt was curved at the end with a gold pommel that had just enough space to rest a pinky within the bend, closer inspection would reveal the fine filigree carved into tiny details but not enough to make the sword particularly unwieldy. Near the tang of the blade was a sprinkle of what seemed to be rubies that shined in twinkles under the firelight, almost giving the sword a glow of its own. It would be long for her age, but in time the length would be comfortable.

Lucerys, who could recognize an enchanted weapon when he saw one, knew it fucking glowed.

The rest remained in awed blissful ignorance.

“Normally, I would have the intended wielder name the weapons I make” Dov said, voice seemingly carried by nothing more than the hush that overcame the party. “So I hope the Princess would pardon me for naming it before I would ask, the name of the blade is thus: Yolvey, the Fang of Flames. May it protect you well Princess.”

Dovahkiin manipulated the sword with nimble fingers, the metal singing as it cut through the air until they held it in front of them. The flat of the blade comfortably in the middle of their face. 

Suddenly it wasn’t just a King presenting gifts, suddenly it was something else. Something more. Something otherworldly, although there was only one person in the entire room who could figure out why.

The Laat Dovahkiin closed their eyes and placed a reverent kiss on the flat of it, the blade seeming to hum before settling – before Dovahkiin walked around to kneel on one knee before Rhaenyra, blade presented forth.

With shaking fingers, Rhaenyra accepted the sword, the handle warming pleasantly under her hands – and in her mind’s eye a voice whispered beneath her subconscious.

‘Master.’ Whispered the sword.

Now given life.

^0~0^

“It might have been too much, was it too much?” Dovahkiin asked, pacing the room.

“What exactly did you enchant her sword with?” Lucerys hissed “it glowed.”

“Oh you know, if she cuts it with the right motivation it may or may not make the victim burst into flames.”

“...Dov.”

“I thought it would be useful! Plus! Dragon rider, flaming sword? I couldn’t just give her a regular sword, what was I going to do? Make the thing poison whoever it cuts? That’s so boring.”

“It sets people on fire Dov.”

Dov huffed crossing their arms. “I was an adventurer too you know, before I took an arrow to the knee.”

“But did you have to do that whole ceremony? I think my Step-Father, Mother, and grandfather might have fallen in love at the same time for a short time and I am very uncomfortable with that fact” Lucerys said, partially joking, just to see the abject look of horror on the old dragon’s face.

He took a swig from a privately acquired pitcher of wine in front of his seat at Dovahkiin’s fireplace. They had given them what looked like the near best damn room in the entirety of the keep, he was fairly certain this room had been reserved for one of his siblings at one point, but he couldn’t really figure out if it was him or Jace.

“It’s Skyrim tradition” Dovahkiin defended weakly, suddenly meek “you can’t gift an enchanted weapon like that without blessing it, I had to. Besides, your family is too young for me Drog.”

“I don’t think that’s what did it Dov.” Drog made a vague motion with his hands, deliberately referring to all of Dovahkiin. “It’s…this. Being around you can be very intense very quickly.”

“Huh.”

Lucerys blinked, moving away from his drink for the moment. “You know I meant that as a joke right?”

“No, you aren’t as wrong as you may think” Dov’s fingers twitched, a chair dragging itself from the side closer than what would have been advisable to the open fireplace before crashing in. “I just didn’t expect them to be influenced by my presence to such a degree, I hadn’t realized it would be different here.”

Dov paused before turning to the blazing fire, reaching out and arranging the wood so that they were neatly stacked. Expression contemplative before taking back their hand and patting out what cloth managed to catch on fire. “I just didn’t expect the level of magic seeped into their bones; I could hardly tell them apart from the Dov that laid within that pit.”

Lucerys leaned forward “And I’m only learning this now? What do you mean you have an influence?”

Dovahkiin shrugged. “I don’t know the exact nature of it, I only know that my presence has an effect on living creatures. They kept my body the same, so I’m uncertain if it is something they added, or it is simply a result of my age. Could also be my magic or the souls of the Dov I carry. It could even be whatever magic Old Valyria had used to bond riders to wyverns. The only thing I know of for certain is that most Dov recognize me, perhaps on some level, that bond they share with their wyverns might give them more insight than most would have normally. And when we met…”

“Arrax had died” Lucerys muttered, taking a bigger gulp straight from the wine pitcher. “And I was dead.”

Dov tilted their head to rest on their shoulder, knee tucked into the seat. “Are you going to sleep?”

“No.”

“Me neither.” Dov drummed their fingers against the arm of the chair. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

Lucerys straightened “trouble?”

“Not sure yet” they said softly “I just know it’s coming.”

“Yeah” Lucerys whispered, holding the pitcher close “I feel something too. Storm. Big one.”

“Mn.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the night.

-

The Targaryens that called the Red Keep home perked up as a maid came in and curtseyed before them at their breakfast.

She bowed apologetically “I’m sorry your Majesty, my Lady, my Lord. Neither their highness King Dovahkiin nor Prince Lucerys were in their rooms.”

Rhaenyra frowned “did they leave any note as to where they were going?”

Thunder ominously rolled throughout the town, shuddering through the Red Keep.

“No my lady, but I did inquire to some of the morning hands and they said they had both sped out of the room near sunrise in a most urgent manner.”

Then another ran through the door, one of the watchmen stationed around the city walls, a younger recruit by the look of him as he bowed before the royal family hastily. Stopping short of crashing into the dining hall completely by the King’s guard “T-the guests- the Prince-“

“Take a breath boy” Daemon commanded “speak clearly.”

The watchman took a deep breath, lungs audibly wheezing as he did so before straightening to the young man’s full height. “At twilight his highness Prince Lucerys and the King Dovahkiin had run out and jumped off the wall.”

Rhaenyra nearly dropped her utensils. “Excuse me?”

“Something had sped past the walls and caught them, we weren’t entirely sure what to do save for raising the alarm but King Dovahkiin- they said not to and to call up however many able-bodied maester we could rouse to the wall. He- After an hour Prince Lucerys delivered two crewmembers who seemed on the verge of death. Another hour later two more. As far as we gathered, lightning had struck the main mast during the night and the combination with the storm had capsized their ship before they could make it to harbor.” The watchman took another breath “Just a few minutes ago I was ordered to report and request linen wraps to dress wounds.”

“Has the Prince returned?” King Viserys demanded.

“We saw something at a distance, but I had been sent off before it was confirmed Sire.”

Daemon rose to his feet “what the actual fuck is with these royals-“

“Daemon” King Viserys sighed.

“You can’t argue against their oddness brother” Daemon moved to walk out the door “I’m going to figure out what the fuck happened – you, get the linens that were requested.”

“Yes my Lord.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Rhaenyra” King Viserys sighed.

“You placed our guests under my responsibility Father, if they are still out there, I should be among the first to fly out for their return.”

“…very well” King Viserys grumbled “but come straight here after, I want to know what happened.”

“Yes father.”

-

“What in the fuck.”

Rhaenyra agreed.

“Move out of the fucking way.” The King of Dremvothkrif yelled.

Maesters and guards scrambled out of the way as the bird-like dragon dipped down in slow circles. Prince Lucerys sat behind the reigns by himself.

Which meant that King Dovahkiin was was hanging by the dragon’s talons. Daemon would be impressed if he wasn’t so damn distracted by the makeshift sling that was holding one man aloft in the dragon’s grip, a series of clothes tied in complicated knots that looked like they came out of a hodgepodge of rope, cloth, and what seemed to be two shirts that made up the handle of this strange looking sling.

The King landed on the stone wall without so much as a pause, reaching out to catch the bottom of the sling.

“Bo mulhaan.”

Daemon could feel his body freeze before he could wonder what happened, yet something in his mind whispered, ‘not you’.

Exchanging glances with Rhaenyra confirmed that she had felt the same thing.

Yet above them, the feathered dragon Rhaenyra had faced managed to hover just until Dovahkiin was able to catch whoever remained in the sling, setting them down gently onto the floor. Impressive considering whoever the man was laid wider than the foreign King was tall.

“Hi lost dreh” Dovahkiin yelled up.

“Mindoraan” Lucerys called out.

Riiziizul screeched before turning to land, Prince Lucerys leaping from the seat to land into a roll.

“Where are those fucking linens?!” Dovahkiin hissed.

“Here!” One Maester’s apprentice sped past Daemon and Rhaenyra, who stood in watch as the two royals seemed to command the chaos to heel in an admittedly admirable fashion. To the point where almost everyone present for the storm seemed to skip over their presence.

“Fascinating.” Rhaenyra muttered under her breath.

Daemon tilted his head in her direction without moving his eyes away from the scene before him.

“It’s as if they’re in battle” Rhaenyra continued “but what are they fighting?”

Daemon glanced at some of the rescued men that seemed to have glanced the touch of the Stranger. Some passed out with their wounds but breathing. Others awake and encouraging their fellows to stay awake, the few still standing was up to their necks deep in the chaos alongside everyone else. Whether motivated by the adrenaline running through their veins or the energy dragged out of them by the foreign royalties who told them to move or be moved was anyone’s guess.

There was a maniac energy in their eyes, a frenzied movement to each command with each moment of running from one injured man to another. Screamed or yelled or snarled over the thunderous storm and flashing lightning. Uncaring of wet clothes, uncaring of wet stones and the sweat that mixed with the cold rain. There were grim expressions on all the maesters of the like that Daemon had seen very few of; whatever this battle was, you’d think that everyone was racing to snatch away each and every soul from the Stranger.

“The hell are you two standing around for?!” Dovahkiin barked at them “help me hold this man down so I can set his shoulder back!”

Daemon moved forward before he realized he was doing it, and he swore he was going to get to the bottom of why that is.

As soon as he finished with whatever this tyrannical king wanted him to do.

Unbeknownst to any party, Lucerys was in a crisis.

The frantic chaos of a team of maesters, his stepfather and his own mother was bizarrely familiar. Even with the crazy old dragon ordering them around and somehow getting the two most stubborn people he’s ever known to take orders from someone who wasn’t each other or his grandfather.

Ignoring the storm was second nature to him now, ignoring the hair sticking down to his head and the wet fabric that clung to his form and made his entire body heat amongst the chill. He worked quickly and efficiently as he could afford, cleaning and wrapping wounds and carefully assessing and noting down any major injuries he could find. The years had taught him to be a passible healer, but he wasn’t quite good enough to fix every single thing.

As the storm slowly began to pass over King’s Landing, sunlight filtered through. Rain petering into a soft drizzle that washed some of the blood away into the crack of the stone walls. He wiped and cleaned and bandaged as he could, checked and double checked to make sure the man was breathing and the lungs were clear of water. Attempting to avoid looking at this man’s face as best he could until he could avoid it no longer.

High cheekbones. A handsome face with a sharp jawline that was showing just the slightest hint of beard, wet and long blond hair curled from the humid storm, one eye shut from exertion. Another that was no longer there.

‘How’ he thought, half hysterical ‘how are you here?! Why?!’

He felt someone nudge him at the edge of his mind, Dovahkiin, sensing his ongoing conflict. Pushing him back from the brink with a firm but gentle shove.

Lucerys bit his bottom lip as he carefully brushed away the damp near silver locks from his current charge’s face, fingers gently sinking beneath to assess any damage to the skull – and finding only one spot that was slightly beginning to swell. The coldness of the rain had halted some of the progress, but he could tell based on the size and location that he would be unconscious for some time.

No blood from there though, which he supposed was good.

“-ire? Sire? Does this man require anything” one Maester asked.

He shook his head “head injury and some minor bruising, he should be fine once he gets dried off and warmed. Are there any others who need assistance?”

“No sire” the maester glanced in a direction that drew Lucerys’ eye. Towards Dovahkiin who was hovering over someone’s leg, expression blank before twisting the foot back from its odd position and ignoring the howling screams of its owner. Daemon at the other side holding the man down while Rhaenyra’s brow furrowed in concentration to focus on their instruction, wrapping the splint as evenly as she could in such.

“Any dead?” Lucerys asked, startling the maester, counting the heads – what brief glances he was able to take of their ship had informed him that there should’ve been at least thirty crew members, it was a little over the number.

“N-no sire, all of them are alive, if not awake.” The maester bowed “I-I admit I haven’t- this is-“

Lucerys turned back to face the maester, rather young, maybe not quite a maester but an apprentice of one – or just someone who was misfortunate enough to have enough knowledge in the matters of medicine and healing to be dragged along with Dovahkiin’s orders.

“-why sire?” he was asked.

Lucerys blinked before shrugging. “They needed help. So we helped.”

“But they are- they’re just-“ the man tried and failed to continue his sentence, but the message was clear enough to understand. ‘They’re just sailors’, these men were just regular people. Why is it that a King and a Prince would try so hard to save them? Lucerys himself hadn’t quite realized that it probably was odd that a King and a Prince were trying so hard to forcibly drag a couple of sailors to the land of the living with so much vigor. That was just how things were in Dremvothkrif; he hadn’t realized it was so odd.

Lucerys whipped the water running down his face, the sun beginning to warm the rocks below as the whole world seemed to calm. Seemed to take a breath, a moment of respite from the chaos of the storm.

“I’m not sure” Lucerys said honestly “we just wanted to.”

He watched as Dovahkiin turned on their side to lie on the wet stone, heaving, just before laughing and yelling something into the sky in a language Lucerys had never heard before.

He laughed regardless.  

Daemon and Rhaenyra, wet and damp with dirt clinging to fancy silken cloth – sat near them, looking on incredulously.

-

“How soon are they leaving?” Daemon hissed.

Viserys looked up to find both his brother soaked to the bone and his daughter nowhere in sight, giving leave for the King to stare daggers at his brother in question.

“Do you know what we saw when we got to the wall?” Daemon paced in front of his brother’s desk “that Prince Lucerys flying in on a feathered dragon with the King dangling off its foot.”

King Viserys frowned “what for? That dragon seemed perfectly fine flying with the two of them.”

“They were transporting some injured man” Daemon hair flew into his face as he gestured “and then proceeded to order the rest of us around like we were some sort of pack dogs and the worse part is I followed, Rhaenyra and I just fell in line like a couple of pups and I cannot figure out how.”

King Viserys expression morphed, as if the sheer idea that either Daemon or Rhaenyra would just allow themselves to be ordered around without fuss was the true horror in the entire situation.

“We can’t just send them away merely because their presence is…unsettling” King Viserys motioned towards the pile of books “they gave us anecdotal literature from Old Valyria, never mind the map and the armor. These records and books provide a clearer image of Old Valyria than we’ve ever hand in the past few centuries after Aegon the Conqueror – and this-“ he lifted up the dictionary “has been the key to understand all of it.”

Daemon sighed, dragging over a nearby chair and crashing into it. “…I don’t like it Viserys. They’re too…strange.”

King Viserys snorted “you sound like every other preacher of the seven Daemon, are you sure your coin isn’t teetering?”

At Daemon’s continued silence, King Viserys paused in his reading to really look at his brother. Watching the younger’s expression twitch every now and then, no doubt going through plan after plan after plan.

“What is this really about Daemon?” he asked softly. “I’ve spoken little with King Dovahkiin, they seem kind.” He kept an eye on his brother’s expression – tracking every twitch and minute shift of expression with an expert eye. It could have been a number of things, but as much as he wished it wasn’t the case, it has been a very long while since either of them had really sat down to talk much about anything these days.

Especially after Aemma passed.

“I don’t trust that power they wield, and I don’t trust they won’t use it to burn us to the ground.” Daemon’s fingers tended to twitch a little when he was restless, drumming against his thighs or against the arm of the chair if he wasn’t up and moving around. If Viserys remembered their childhood correctly, the number of tutors who failed to train the habit out of it couldn’t be counted on both hands.

“Have we given them reason to?” Viserys rose a brow.

“…no.”

“Do we plan on giving them a reason?”

“…no.”

Viserys nodded, leaning back into his chair. “I spoke with the maids in charge of seeing to their needs.”

“And?” Daemon snapped.

Ignoring this, Viserys continued “she said that Prince Lucerys requested a pitcher of wine and entered the room after King Dovahkiin. Inside there was no noise save for the sound of conversation, the context of which we have no idea of. She did hear, however, that they were worried for an oncoming storm.”

Daemon frowned.

“Then, two hours before sunrise, when the morning servants were beginning their duties. Both ran out of their rooms as if the Stranger himself was at their heels. Ser Westerling told me that Dovahkiin bellowed loud enough that he thought a dragon was attacking the keep. They jumped off the ledge and onto the dragon just as soon as she appeared” Viserys let that sit for a little while longer while he poured himself something to drink. “Their ways of dragon riding is mysterious Daemon, even Rhaenyra couldn’t make heads or tales of it. Only that King Dovahkiin and Prince Lucerys of Dremvothkrif spoke, and the dragon responded to it. Which means a quite a few things.”

Daemon inched closer, head tilted sideways in curiosity.

“They have an entirely different way of dragon riding, one that could not have come from Old Valyria – but they do hail from the Shadowlands” Viserys nodded to the hand drawn map encased in a frame of dragon glass, now hanging in his office. “My guess is that much of both their behaviors stem from the dangers living in such a place entails.”

“Which is..?” Daemon drawled.

“One simpler, but more brutal than ours brother. I do not think Dovahkiin was attempting to make their accolades impressive when they described Hydras, there wasn’t any attached story of some grand battle against one of the creatures. It was condensed, informative. As if I was simply being told how to get to an inn faster through a shortcut. It means that the Septum clan most likely rose to power from sheer strength and home advantage, rather than cunning. They are dragons that happen to be resting Daemon, give them no threat and they will have no reason to retaliate.” Viserys took a drink before setting it down, a smile faint on his lips. “It’s honestly rather refreshing not needing to worry about political interests or manners of the court. I can feel safe knowing that if my daughter ever were to find herself in trouble with them around, they’d sooner more likely rip heads off the one responsible than see how they will make themselves heroes in my eyes and the eyes of Rhaenyra.”

After another moment of silence, Viserys sighed and turned to stare at Daemon amidst his brother’s obsession with preparing for every little moment of potential betrayal. Not that he blamed him too much for it, after the announcement of Viserys’ ascension to King, his brother had grown twice as weary when the whispers began of Viserys being ill fit for the throne. Too soft, too cautious, not daring enough. A scholar rather than a warrior. Daemon apparently took it upon himself to be the extreme version of what everyone wanted if only to counter-balance his brother and make Viserys seem the obvious better choice.

It isn’t’ that Viserys was ungrateful for it, but he mourned the man Daemon could have been if he didn’t have to lean into his extremes.

“It isn’t wrong that you’re so weary Daemon, but I truly believe they don’t wish to pose any threat to us so long as we do not give them any reason to. If you so wish, spend time with Prince Lucerys if King Dovahkiin is too influential for your liking. I know Rhaenyra has a soft spot for the boy.”

“She what?”

He rolled his eyes. “Oh stop embarrassing yourself, it’s unbecoming of you. When I asked of Prince Lucerys’ marital status, his King said in no uncertain terms that any offer of marriage to the Prince of Dremvothkrif will be declined or ignored and rudely rejected if I so much as breathed such a request. They said, and I am repeating in verbatim: ‘My brother is uninterested in such prospects’ and changed the subject. Not that you would have known considering how hard you were staring at Rhaenyra and the Prince as they talked.”

“What the- no marriage alliances? How the fuck do they maintain peace between families?”

King Viserys shrugged “When I tried to ask, all they said was ‘I tell them to cut it out, and if they don’t I drag the ones pushing the argument and throw them into the sea to cool off’.”

Daemon snickered despite himself, “if only it were so easy.”

“Yes well, I imagine there’s a very good reason they made Dovahkiin King in a land known to be the home of dragons and what other man-eating creatures also live there for a very good reason.” King Viserys frowned “I only worry that I don’t know the extent of that power. Is it magic? Is it simply strength? Resourcefulness? Perhaps all those things combined in certain combinations – I am unsure. And we won’t know unless they remain as guests for a while longer.”

Daemon groaned “so you want me to hang around the boy for information.”

“I am certain they’re more genuine than most of the people in this kingdom Daemon” Viserys deadpanned “but I like the fact that we know virtually nothing about them just as much as you do. I will pursue the thread with King Dovahkiin, can I trust you and Rhaenyra will figure something out with the Prince? And no, you cannot deliberately humiliate him or pick fights with him.”

Daemon sighed but nodded. “Fine. You really are lucky I love you, you know that?”

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s more of a curse than a boon” King Viserys muttered to himself.

Daemon scowled.

“Yes yes, love you too, now get your wet ass off my furniture.”

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[sexynetra]

Uh… hope y’all like long chapters 😅

[shuckstruck]

my spicy hot take is that the internet would do better to let the game die quietly under a mountain of bad press and apparently Bad Game Design, and i worry that stirring up so much drama about it is leading to more success than anyone intends. which isnt rly a concern on the Queer Neurodivergent Webbed Site™ so like. make/reblog as many memes as u want i dont want to come across as telling ppl to stop. but I worry about the twitter/discord campaigns I see and the potential of having the Opposite than intended effect