deniz baysal on instagram ♡

TESKILAT | Season 2 | Episode 15

Deniz Baysal and Çağlar Ertuğrul in Fazilet Hanım ve Kızları (2017) as Hazan and Yağız.

Safiye would never deny Esme's thoughts and theories, there was mutual respect between the two and she knew underneath Esme's gentle spirit was a warrior that was built of steel -- one was never without the other and yet they had their differences. "I felt the heaviness of his absence, he was simply gone. Our creator had died, not gone elsewhere but gone entirely. I don't know if there was peace or an afterlife for the First, that cold harsh finality has lifted. I'm not sure why." It was a puzzle that had yet to be solved and very rarely would the Shark lead into any weakness, would never admit to any uncertainty or doubt and yet in the confidence of Esme, she speaks her truth.

We'll meet again someday. The line made her smile both bright and sincerely for the first time in days since Revas' funeral. Whether or not it was true, the hope and the sentiment itself was enough to warm Esme's heart as she admired her friend under the winter sun. "... Yes," she replied to the question, her words softer and quieter and more sobered. "It's strange though, isn't it? I didn't think the Necronomicon's destruction would have had anything to do with how things felt... at least..." Esme wasn't sure how to word her confusion - and so it occurred to her in that moment that perhaps it was just silly to not believe things finally weren't complicated this time around. She shook her head. "Maybe it's just that we feel Oztalun's at peace now or something. I hope so. Gods aren't like us... maybe he knows his kids and his druids are okay now."

#stop looking at her like that!

Deniz Baysal as Hazan

Her lips curve into a smile and there's warmth in her gaze, he is an old friend and yet she understands how the bond between Archdruids and those that had received the blessing went beyond. She thinks in a different divergence of fate that there might have been a chance of her descending from his line. "I know -- I'll try, I'm salivating at the idea of a good fight though." For too long druids had remained without power, forgotten and left in the shadows and she couldn't wait until Rome saw their gifts for what they could truly be.

"I think that you deserve some personal time too." She challenges, an arch in her brow and he's been doing his best for a long time now, it's okay to stop trying so hard for a little while. "You're welcome too, you're still needed around the Pyramid. Tell me about this new job, that's exciting."

Andreas' pensive look turned into a prideful smile. "I couldn't have said it better myself." They had all chosen very well for the druidic leadership that the city needed now. The Archdruids were old news, but even if they weren't they had their own issues to deal with - one in the shape of a phoenix that they once called brother. Aren liked this new arrangement, one that looked like a small break where he could work, play and teach instead of lead.

"You may be Nettelia's chosen but, from the very beginning, I understood you, Safiye. Restlessness is great until it isn't. Just promise me you'll find some more time for yourself now with all the new political burdens." He chuckled lightly, thinking that he had no need to say how cumbersome and stressful they could become. If Safiye didn't yet know, she'd find out really quickly all on her own. "I'm more than happy to take a handful more of the lessons with the acolytes; it's the one good thing I'll be useful for nowadays. Otherwise I just got a part-time job." The job at the museum was simply a connection to ancient artifacts and a source of income but the Archdruid's purpose would be to teach and help the new druids where he could.

Her lips press together and she knows Artemis is trying to do what she believes is right for her Valkyries, a gang of women who have always followed the goddess of the moon and the wild. They are huntresses and hunting is the only thing that makes her feel sane at times, the cool feeling of blade within her palm makes her breath fall steady and her mind to clear. She only finds sincerity like that on the battlefield or at the bottom of the sea. "If you insist." A slanted smile and it's like needing to listen to her basketball coach when an order is given.

"I'm intrigued -- where would you want to set up camp?" Are they thinking of a base, a common place where they've camped or to find a house together somewhere? A safehouse for the women and those they choose to bring under their protection to go. It would have heart and it would be safe. "Sold."

Date: January, some time Location: Feywyld Characters: @safiyebalik & @divinitydiana Notes: girl brunch

"So no more hunts for a while. You all deserve a break." Rare was it when the goddess said that hunting monsters and things was anything but the most fun, most ideal activity above rest and pleasure. She hoped the Valkyries would simply figure that the reason was the war they'd finished and the goddess' sympathy. And it was... but not as much as it simply one of those very rare moments where all Diana wanted to do was indulge in the simpler things in life. Namely: spending hunting nights in the bed of her lover instead of outside. The honeymoon phase would surely even out with her personality soon enough, but Diana decided to make the most of this dizzy daydream while it lasted.

"You know what I think we should do while we're hunkering down? We should finally get our first headquarters." The Valkyries either found their own places to return to or they slept together in tents, under the stars, surrounded by trees and protected by nature. "Endless luxury sleepovers, no boys..."

who: @netteliax where: Lupercalia

It had been a day of fighting hellhounds and kelpies, wiping the sweat from her brow, she grinned. It was a pity that she lost but she was in public and so had to keep a good spirit for the crowd. While leaving the arena, she shot a cold look in Octavian's direction -- she hated losing and he was a growing problem. As a Keeper, she choose to remember all of the war and so getting her hands bloody helped to keep her mind clear, a fighters instinct that removed every obstacle that was on the field. She spots Nettelia wrinkling her nose at the warm beer and runs to catch up. Happy that the Archdruid is there. "Are you playing in any games?"

There were many things that made Safiye the shark, as to why it had been her druidic connection through centuries, she loved to spill blood and from it she had gone into fighting as a Valkyrie. She had a certain delight and honor in fighting, battlefields felt like her home and she had known it in Aegnor too, she had stayed educated about Senate affairs while campaigning for a seat within the Senate, it was a rise to Senator -- she had heard what had happened to the fallen prince and his known reputation as a warrior. "A fight without magic is nothing for a life of a Valkyrie. I expect the same from you." A sly smile on her face and she moved fluidly as his blade met her to push it back and from there the opponent had moved and entered the flight, the sound of silver on silver as she had slid on her knees, fighting thorough the crowd to re-engage him coming from his back left.

There would be no telling what the competition had in store for them, nor what sort of fighting it would come down to. Magic, abilities, anything that made them particularly special would be off the table. Meaning it would come down to brute strength, cunning, and perhaps anything else one may have up their sleeve. Or so Aegnor believed. Which perhaps may have made him a tad arrogant in the matter, as he faced off with the druid. He had height, strength, and eons of wielding a blade on his side. Could she say the same? "Last more than twenty minutes, and I shall do the same for you," he quipped back, every ounce the eladrin he had once been, as his blade lifted to meet her own. The sound echoed in his ears, before he used his strength to shove her back, to swing his blade towards her.

There was something about Rosalie that threatened to damn her to hell, an untangling from everything she's ever worked so hard to achieve and yet Safiye would find herself reaching to close the distance time and time again. The succubus was a walking intoxication and yet Safiye couldn't stop even with risk towards her political career, reputation and Valkyrie position. This isn't the first lifetime they'd met and Rosalie could go to the Inferno and return and she'd recognize her still. A possessive hand curves around Rosalie's swaying hip and there's a teasing tilt to her head as her brunette locks brush her shoulder as she calculates the demon before her. "You don't recognize me?" A tut of her tongue. "I'd have the nerve to be insulted if I wasn't reincarnated, I'm Safiye.. we've met in another lifetime."

closed event starter for @safiyebalik location: Hakan's dancy dance parade note: kiss kiss fall in love, let's go lesbians (Ros is Bi but w/e)

Parties like these were usually orchestrated by someone in power. They usually consisted of political agendas and power struggles which Rosalie absolutely loathed. To be a real player, one had to be seen and celebrated, something the Succubus knew how to accomplish. Within the Vampire den, most creatures were undead, dark creatures of the night, well attuned with everything around them. So when Rosalie moved through the crowds, they moved along with her, making way for the Demon as she grabbed herself one of the more stronger drinks. "Of course this is basically a rave, I might have to sell some of my blood around here. I, uh," the Succubus fluttered with her eyelashes, instinctively moving closer to the Shark, hips swaying to the music, "not that I'd ever do that, no. I can be a good girl," she joked. Looking at the other, Rosalie's eyes never wandered far away from the stranger. Really pretty. "I'm Rosalie, by the way. And you must be the prettiest woman in all of Rome, huh?"

"I promise I will." It was a request that she would honor, getting into her jeep and driving until she found the field that was most suiting of the vivacious druid, it didn't matter how many state lines or towns she had to drive over -- she wouldn't rest until she found the proper one. "We'll meet again someday." It was a knowledge that made it all easier, the cycle of life wouldn't rest for them despite the fear of not returning but there had been a strange lightness recently as if the fear of the First death's and the consequential reincarnation cycles had lifted. Attuned to her spirit, being a druid meant listening to the Earth in return. "Do you feel as if things have changed once again? Not simply from the War but there's a lifting of the burdens that losing the First had brought."

"Alright..." She nodded slowly, leaning back against the beach towel and squinting at the bright horizon on the water. "If you die before me, I promise to make sure you feed the fishies..." She smiled lightly over as she looked back at her friend. "As long as you promise that when if I die first than you scatter my ashes into a big field of wildflowers. Not like pink flowers though... they have to be loads of different colors. Or just purple." She half-teased, letting the lightheartedness of the moment lift her spirits despite this talk of death. It was oddly comforting to treat it so nonchalantly instead of speaking of all her grief that death had so recently caused her.

Being a Valkyrie meant that the battleground would become familiar, that War would be seen and they'd continue fighting until the last of it. War would be a constant for Valkyries and none of them were without their trauma for such a life, there was no salvation or solution to the trauma that came from war. It couldn't be unseen or forgotten, Safiye knew as much. She wasn't naive enough to believe that Paloma would be untouched by the War, but it was enough for now to simply be with the ones she loved and to treasure the good until their next fight came. They were a sisterhood who lived without marriage as they had sworn their lives to the battlefield. Paloma's head fell to the crook of her shoulder and she rested her hand on the Banshee's blanketed knee. "Hot chocolate does have an ability to make everything feel okay, you know you don't have to put on a brave face or pretend with me though. I'm in the trenches with you."

Everything that had transpired felt like a distant memory. It was like she could wake up in the middle of the night and just sense it still. Not that she thought she could ever truly forget in the first place. She had been screaming for over a month and then it had just...stopped. Everything was quiet. Paloma didn't like the quiet. When Safiye had shown up and drove her down to the beach, she couldn't help but think that the friends she had were really one in a million. Then again, her fellow Valkyries were family to her. There was nobody she cared for more. Excusing Caio of course. With her head rested on the druid's shoulder, she looked out to the ocean, her hands moving as she spoke. "I'm pretty sure you've done more than enough. I mean, the hot chocolate? Best decision ever," she said with a hint of a smile.

Safiye could be the devils advocate at times, she wanted Druids to have the respect that they deserved showed upon their name as they were guardians of the Earth, all were born with an ability to shift into an animal that shared its traits and the Earth responded to the call, as much as they served Gaia they still had teeth and claws and an ability to be monstrous.

"I think that we shouldn't try to shield anything, what rituals make you nervous? There is a time and place for everything and not preparing our Acolytes for the more dangerous rites could prove disastrous later."

who? @erenxdemir ; @safiyebalik ; @naturesesme where? the pyramid, whatever meeting room the keepers have notes: doing the randomize top songs thing and got yes & no by XYLO

The issue with the Pyramid and the druids being part of an ancient organization comes with the amount of lack of digitization of the records they hold. There is far too much to do alone, but some of the same records should be kept under lock and key and away from the acolytes lest they use them to make the same stupid mistakes that the writers had done once upon a time. Evy is frowning down at some of the documents, when the door to their little meeting room opens and she sighs.

"Do you think we should ask for volunteers for this or assign it to people we trust not to be tempted by some of these rituals?"

SamMon + kisses

GAP The Series: Official Trailer Series Premiere Nov. 19th, 2022

Safiye was from Nettelia's line and both were women who were forged from the fire, although the shark had always an affinity for the aquatic elemental -- they had walked through the flames of hell and allowed it to turn their skin to iron, there were many reasons why Safiye was the shark but the strong hide and impenetrable shell stood prominent. Both lost husbands and even in moments of great dire, they still sought the light and it was why her old friend nauseated her so. A dangerous grin hangs from her lips and this wasn't a social meeting to catch up but to see what strength resided within him. "I love when someone puts up a good fight." Her bite was ferocious and she was a Valkyrie, honor could be found on the battlefield. "It's a pity that you haven't found use for the anger and pain that resides in you, you've become spoiled with bitterness. Druids are finally gaining their rightful recognition back, you could have a part in it -- prove to them all how powerful you could be."

a starter for @safiyebalik, where: maybe safiye invited him to the pyramid

The memory of friendship bent and snap under their separate obligations and ambitions. Where once he was a golden child, instilled with great promise and ambition, Nicolas now spat upon traditions and rites. Safiye was still propelled to greatness, weaned upon the chalices of partiality for all she'd come to know. Ascended to Senator, where she'd thus only been Keeper of their rites, the Shark could surely smell blood in the water as the battlefield cleared and talks of reformation settled upon Rome like a thick blanket. The Shark had softened her teeth, invited him to the pyramid, and still Nicolas looked upon it with scorn and contempt; though his memories were less clear than hers, he would refuse to play the part of fool within their hierarchy any longer. "Bet you were happy to see me on the battlefield, but that doesn't change anything now that the world's been set right." A calloused and embittered shrug shrouds his snarky comment.

Here is our story. That's it.