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altschmerzes · 1 year

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Ooooh i would LOVE to hear your hot takes about the back half of season 2 and how they could have dealt with Jamie's history of abuse differently. I'm really hoping they show in season 3 that it's either been festering under the surface or that at least Jamie and Roy addressed things off screen. And of course I really need a Ted/Jamie conversation in season 3 about their father issues (and also why Jamie has featured in Ted's panic attacks) (call him your son to his face Ted so I can sob)

heyyyy i would be THRILLED to elaborate on that cause MAN is it something i think about a lot. i'm hoping they return to it in season 3 as well, especially in the ways you mentioned. like. my hat for that, i'd die.

anyways as to specific things that i think could've gone differently in the tail end of s2, i have some general thoughts and one very specific minor thread that i feel Very Strongly should've been approached differently. i'll put this under a cut bc it might get a bit long and i should be pre-emptively planning for that by now XD

(edit: i was right. it's enormous. i am both sorry and not at all sorry. i have one million thoughts and it turns out "narrative arcs related to abuse" and "jamie tartt in that context, specifically" are like, my activation concepts. who'd have guessed.)

alright. so. generally like....... i really wish that literally anyone had addressed what happened at all. like, as soon as the scene cut away from the scene in the locker room in 2x08, it was like that never happened. like we did get the scene of ted talking to sharon, and then beard leaving after that, and those were great scenes! but i found it really strange that jamie didn't come up there Once. like, once the shot cut from him and roy in the locker room, it may as well not have happened.

and i know i'm biased and would've liked to see that yknow, Dug Into, but even from the most 'we just don't have room in the season' standpoint, it would've taken what, six seconds? to have some throwaway exchange as beard is leaving at the end along the lines of "oh, also, jamie doing okay?" "ehhh. unclear. he's on the bus, the guys have him." or something. someone takes a moment to stop and check on him. tell him they're there if he needs anything. it could be anyone, it could have happened at any point after 2x08, but it quite literally is never discussed, mentioned, or referenced again, which seems....... like. idk. that was an enormously significant and enormously traumatic thing to have happen. you have a huge, horrible loss and then your teammate/player/friend's father shows up and you learn 1. his father is abusive, and 2. his father is now actively abusing him a couple of feet away from you, leading him to 3. need to punch his father in self-defense. and it simply never comes up again. i? hm.

and then in specific. the character that really strikes me here, the one that scene was maybe more significant and like......... perspective? shifting for? than anyone else aside from jamie and arguably ted is roy. and i think there's a specific Thing with roy that there was a massive missed opportunity on, vis a vis how things had to have been different for him regarding jamie after he saw that happened, after he stepped in to handle the fallout. i think roy not having to contend with what he saw, what he did there, at all is a missed opportunity overall, especially after he was such an instrumental part of that episode's build-up and boil-over, but there's a particular piece that gets stuck in my craw, to the extent that i may at some point be forced to write a 'what if' about it:

roy's reaction to the news that jamie told keeley he loved her should not have played out like that.

like. okay. hear me out on this one.

(putting that whole... thing. aside for the moment, about which i will only say: that was the most aromantic "love confession" i have ever seen in my life gd bless.)

all things considered the way they resolved the whole like. almost-but-thank-fuck-not a love triangle thing (season 3 do not fuck me on this one) with jamie being like yeah that was my b i'm sorry and roy being pissed but dropping it and forgiving him was like...... that went better than i ever would've hoped it would. but still there's a whole thing where- okay. it was mostly a joke, because this is still a comedy, and comedies do be like that. HOWEVER.

the whole.... exaggerated violence thing around the way that interaction went, "yeah you better talk first cause i'm gonna knock your teeth in and you're gonna need them for the talking bit," and then he tells keeley and she's like oh my gd did you punch him. did you kill him. and then he tells the diamond dogsTM and they're like And He's Still Alive?

i just.... i don't think that roy could've stomached saying something like that to jamie after what he saw happen in that locker room. i don't think he could've watched jamie's abusive father push him around and mock him to the point that he had to defend himself like that, and then held jamie while he had a full-on sobbing breakdown about it, and then like. turned around and threatened him like that not that long after especially with the way jamie is behaving in that interaction in the boots room. (like. he's scared. i don't think i'm reading too much into his behaviour in the scene where he apologizes to roy when i say that He Is Afraid, In That Scene.) i think once he saw that, no matter how mad he was that would've stopped him dead.

i think what would have played way better is if he'd maybe been Going to launch into that and then got into that room and saw the way jamie was standing and Not Looking At Him (seriously he is allergic to eye contact at all times but it's like. the extent to which he won't look at roy in that scene is Extreme) and completely lost the will to say any of it. so jamie gets through his apology and roy yells fuck and it's sort of the same but also for different reasons this time. and then he gets home and talks to keeley, and that goes pretty much the same. he's maybe more reserved, more serious during that bit.

and then we get to the bit with the other coaches and higgins, right. and there's that response again- and he's still alive??? and roy snaps. because why do people keep fucking SAYING that? what kind of a person do they think he is? why the fuck are you people implying i'd have- have fucking done something to him over this?

(which, obviously they did not mean this seriously. they were kidding. keeley and them were all obviously Kidding in these interactions.)

which is a pretty alarming reaction, like whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, rewind, what gives, that was a joke.

and he calms down and is like yeah i know i'm just. i don't want to be the kind of person people make that sort of joke about. (not when i stood in that room with jamie and knew he thought i was probably about to do something to him and he was not joking.) just like. some kind of buildup, buildup, payoff to the way that i don't think roy could've walked out of the locker room at wembley and had things just.... go back to being the same between him and jamie. go back to interacting with him the same way all the time, just. that scene was huge, especially for the two of them, and we have no idea how that affected them. none.

like. this is not in the past, is what i keep coming back to. and roy knows that. this is not Jamie Had An Abusive Father, which would have its own impact for damn sure. this is jamie's father is abusive and is actively still abusing him in the present tense, in fact did so right in front of my face the other day. and just. man. yeah.

anyways. this has been one million words long. i still think it went way better than i could've hoped. it went better than pretty much almost any other show would've done it. the 'i forgave him' thing was huge for roy. but still.

this would've acknowledged what happened, and done, i think, a great service to roy's continuing character arc. like, jamie was a shithead and he sucked in season 1 but roy was equally culpable for those two's specific uh..... rocky dynamic. that conflict DID escalate to violence a few times! not particularly seriously, just some shoving, but it did. and roy has this whole Thing where he's wrestling with leadership and responsibility and influence, wrestling with people looking to him and counting on him and "it has to be me. it can't be anyone else." (we want nothing from you that you do without grace. or without understanding.) the What Could've Been here haunts me. HAUNTS me, i'm telling you. one day i might have to write it just to exorcise that ghost.

#gav gab #gav answers #IM SO SORRY. THIS IS SO LONG. I JUST HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS.#and ive been like THINKING ABT THIS SPECIFICALLY since i saw the episode #abuse cw

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amuelia · 3 years

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How do you think Roose will meet his demise? Or will he survive? What's your best Roose end game predictions?

Thank you for the question! This will be a long post under the readmore, going into my thoughts on the show ending and exploring what the books may have set up in regards to themes and characterization, as well as a bit of general analysis of Roose' story arc in a Dance with Dragons (and some speculation about Ramsay as well).

If you click on the readmore i will have divided the post into sections with bolded Headers, if you want to only read my specific endgame ideas you can skip ahead to the "His Endgame?" section.

In The Show

The show had him get killed by Ramsay in s6, which informs a lot of the fandom speculation about this storyline.

I am not a fan of the show's scenario as it was both similar to tywin and tyrion as well as a mirror of robb's death; it would also be offscreen in the books since neither of the characters are PoVs and Ramsay would need to do the act in secret. This would ultimately undercut Roose' role and impact, being a death scene that is not very unique and also isn't shown to the reader directly. Since no PoV is even in Winterfell currently, we would just hear of it from afar and not witness the consequences.

The show also has a different dynamic in the Bolton storyline, emphasizing Ramsay as the "main character" of this arc, and elevating him to the main villain for s5-6 to fill Joffrey's shoes as an evil character played by a very charismatic actor. Ramsay's show writing is informed by the needs of a TV setting that wants shocking moments and capitalizes on "fan favourite" actors; his rising importance in the show thus is not necessarily an indicator of his book importance. The show was also missing many central characters like the northern lords and the Frey men in Winterfell.

The show had a tendency to kill off characters early when they wanted to cull storylines or had no plans to adapt more of the character's story (like Stannis, Barristan, possibly the Tyrells...); In Mance Rayder we have the most obvious example, where they killed him off for real in a scene that in the book was a misdirection. We also have characters like Jorah where it appears the showrunners had their own choice of how they want his storyline to end, even if Grrm has his own ending in mind.

"For a long time we wanted Ser Jorah to be there at The Wall in the end," writer Dave Hill says. "The three coming out of the tunnel would be Jon and Jorah and Tormund. But [...] Jorah should have the noble death he craves defending the woman he loves." - Dave Hill for Entertainment Weekly

So a death in the show does not need to be an indicator that the books will feature an equivalent scene, even if it gives a hint as to what may happen. By s5 the show has become its own beast, and the butterfly effects from radical changes they made as well as the different characterizations results in the show having to cater to its own needs in many cases when it gets to resolving a plotline.

"We reconceived the role to make it worthy of the actor's talents." - Benioff and Weiss for the s5 DVD commentary, on Indira Varma's casting as Ellaria

In The Books

(Since this post was getting out of hand in length a lot of these arguments are a little shortened/not as in-depth as i'd like! Feel free to inquire more via ask if something is unclear or you disagree)

In the books i find it hard to make a concrete guess as to how it will end. Occam's razor would be to assume the show sort of got it right and that it will vaguely end the same, which could very well happen and i will not discount the possibility; Ramsay is cruel, desires the Dreadfort rule, and is a suspected kinslayer and has no qualms to commit immoral violence.

"Ramsay killed [his brother]. A sickness of the bowels, Maester Uthor says, but I say poison." - Reek III, aDwD

Reek saw the way Ramsay's mouth twisted, the spittle glistening between his lips. He feared he might leap the table with his dagger in his hand [to attack his father]. - Reek III, aDwD

Arguments against this or for a different endgame come down to interpretations of the themes in the story arc and opinions on dramatic structure/grrm's writing, and are thus very subjective.

The way the story currently is going, Ramsay killing Roose treats Roose almost as a plot device; his death brings no change or development to Ramsay's character as we already know his motivations and cruelty align with such an act, and we can assume that he would feel no remorse about it either. The results of such a scene would be firmly on a story level, as it brings political changes and moves the plot along into a specific direction. Roose himself cannot have any relevant character development about it as he does not have a PoV and we would not be able to witness his reaction from the outside.

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” - William Faulkner, often quoted by Grrm

Further, killing his father is very difficult to pull off in secret (Roose is frequently described as very cautious, and employs many guardsmen). And even if Ramsay pulls it off (people often interpret Ramsay as Roose' blind spot, assuming he might be caught by surprise, not expecting Ramsay would bite the hand that feeds him), Roose is the one that holds his entire alliance together; The Freys would be alienated by Ramsay who would antagonize Walda and her son as his rivals, The Ryswell bloc appears to dislike Ramsay (especially Barbrey), and the other northmen are implied to not even like Roose himself. Killing Roose would quickly combust the entire northern faction, and hinder Ramsay's further plans (another reason why I am not convinced of a book version of the "Battle of Bastards"). Though this might of course, if we look at it from the other side, be grrm's plan to quickly dissolve this plot and move the northern story forwards.

"Ramsay will kill [Walda's children], of course. [...] [She] will grieve to see them die, though." - Reek III, aDwD

"How many of our grudging friends do you imagine we'd retain if the truth were known? Only Lady Barbrey, whom you would turn into a pair of boots … inferior boots." - Reek III, aDwD

"Fear is what keeps a man alive in this world of treachery and deceit. Even here in Barrowton the crows are circling, waiting to feast upon our flesh. The Cerwyns and the Tallharts are not to be relied on, my fat friend Lord Wyman plots betrayal, and Whoresbane … the Umbers may seem simple, but they are not without a certain low cunning. Ramsay should fear them all, as I do." - Reek III, aDwD

Roose' death at Ramsay's hand also removes him thematically from the Red Wedding, as we can assume such a death might have happened regardless of his participation in the event (seeing as Ramsay is getting provoked by Roose constantly in normal dialogue, and has a general violent disposition). Roose already took Ramsay in before aGoT started, and married Walda very early in the war, which is already most of the buildup that the show's scenario had. It also has little to do with the The North Remembers plot except set dressing, since the northmen are presumably neither collaborating with/egging on Ramsay nor would they appreciate the development.

Themes: Ned Stark and the rule over the North

Roose is treated as a foil to Eddard; They are often contrasted in morals and ruling styles, while also having many superficial similarities that further connect them (they are seen as cold by people, grey eyed, patriarchs of rivalling northern houses, etc...).

Pale as morning mist, his eyes concealed more than they told. Jaime misliked those eyes. They reminded him of the day at King's Landing when Ned Stark had found him seated on the Iron Throne. - Jaime IV, aSoS

They both have a "bastard son" that they handle very differently; Roose treating Ramsay in the way that is seen as common in their society. Ramsay and Jon as a comparison are meant to show that Catelyn had a reason to see a bastard as a threat (since Domeric was antagonized by his bastard brother), but also shows that her suggested plan for Jon would not have stopped any danger either (as Ramsay being raised away from the castle didn't help).

And if his seed quickened, she expected he would see to the child's needs. He did more than that. The Starks were not like other men. Ned brought his bastard home with him, and called him "son" for all the north to see. - Catelyn II, aGoT

"Each year I sent the woman some piglets and chickens and a bag of stars, on the understanding that she was never to tell the boy who had fathered him. A peaceful land, a quiet people, that has always been my rule." - Reek III, aDwD

It appears to me that Roose' story functions in some ways as an inversion to Ned. He makes an attempt to grab a power he was not destined to (becoming warden of the north), where Ned did not want the responsiblity thrust upon him ("It was all meant for Brandon. [...] I never asked for this cup to pass to me." - Cat II, aGoT). Where Ned rules successfully and his northmen honor his legacy ("What do you think passes through their heads when they hear the new bride weeping? Valiant Ned's precious little girl." - The Turncloak, aDwD), the Boltons are largely hated and there are several plots conspiring against them ("Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die." - The King's Prize, aDwD).

It seems possible to me that in terms of their family and legacy, Roose might also live through an inverted version of Ned's story; where Ned died first, leaving his family behind, Roose already lived to see the death of his wives and trueborn heir, and might thus also live to see Ramsay's death. Ned leaves behind well raised children and a North who still respects his name, and even though he dies it will presumably all be "in good hands" in the end (in broad strokes, obviously this is all much more morally complex). Roose however built up a bad and toxic legacy, and also built his way of life around evading consequences; it makes sense to me that he would be forced by the story to finally endure all the consequences of his actions and witness the fall of his house firsthand. After all we already have Tywin who fulfils the purpose of dying before his children while his legacy falls to ruins, and a Feast for Crows explores this aspect thoroughly.

Roose' arc in A Dance With Dragons

The story repeatedly builds up the situation unravelling around Roose, and him slowly losing a grip on it and becoming more stressed and anxious.

Reek wondered if Roose Bolton ever cried. If so, do the tears feel cold upon his cheeks? - Reek II, aDwD

Roose Bolton said nothing at all. But Theon Greyjoy saw a look in his pale eyes that he had never seen before—an uneasiness, even a hint of fear. [...] That night the new stable collapsed beneath the weight of the snow that had buried it. - a Ghost in Winterfell, aDwD

Lady Walda gave a shriek and clutched at her lord husband's arm. "Stop," Roose Bolton shouted. "Stop this madness." His own men rushed forward as the Manderlys vaulted over the benches to get at the Freys. - Theon I, aDwD

It also directly presents him as a parallel to Theon's rule in aCoK, who similarly experienced a very unpopular rule and his subjects slowly turning against him. Presumably, the point of this comparison will not just be "Ramsay comes in at the end and unexpectedly whacks them on the head". Both Theon and Roose invited Ramsay into their lives, giving him more power than he deserves, and causing Ramsay to make choices that increasingly alienate others from them (the death of the miller's boys for example has repercussions for both Theon and Roose). Grrm is likely steering this towards a difference in how they will deal with this situation.

It all seemed so familiar, like a mummer show that he had seen before. Only the mummers had changed. Roose Bolton was playing the part that Theon had played the last time round, and the dead men were playing the parts of Aggar, Gynir Rednose, and Gelmarr the Grim. Reek was there too, he remembered, but he was a different Reek, a Reek with bloody hands and lies dripping from his lips, sweet as honey. - a Ghost in Winterfell, aDwD

"Stark's little wolflings are dead," said Ramsay, sloshing some more ale into his cup, "and they'll stay dead. Let them show their ugly faces, and my girls will rip those wolves of theirs to pieces. The sooner they turn up, the sooner I kill them again." - The elder Bolton sighed. "Again? Surely you misspeak. You never slew Lord Eddard's sons, those two sweet boys we loved so well. That was Theon Turncloak's work, remember? How many of our grudging friends do you imagine we'd retain if the truth were known?" - Reek III, aDwD

Roose' arc is deeply connected to the relations he shares to the other northern lords, which has been heavily impacted by the Red Wedding. It stands to reason that they are going to be an important part of his downfall, and we see many hints of them plotting to betray him.

The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer's farce is almost done. My son is home." - Davos IV, aDwD

Themes: Stannis and kinslaying

The books set up Roose and Stannis as foils as well; Both lack charisma and have trouble winnning the people's support, Stannis and Roose both parallel and contrast Ned, Stannis appears as a "lesser Robert" where Roose is a "lesser Ned", Stannis represents the fire where Roose represents the ice, both struggle over dominion in a land that doesnt particularly want either of them, etc... What i find interesting is how they are contrasted over kinslaying:

"Only Renly could vex me so with a piece of fruit. He brought his doom on himself with his treason, but I did love him, Davos. I know that now. I swear, I will go to my grave thinking of my brother's peach." - Davos II, aCoK

"I should've had the mother whipped and thrown her child down a well … but the babe did have my eyes." [...] "Now [Domeric's] bones lie beneath the Dreadfort with the bones of his brothers, who died still in the cradle, and I am left with Ramsay. Tell me, my lord … if the kinslayer is accursed, what is a father to do when one son slays another?" - Reek III, aCoK

Stannis is set up as someone who is very thorough and strict in following his own code and his "duty", even if he does not like what it forces him to do.

Stannis ground his teeth again. "I never asked for this crown. Gold is cold and heavy on the head, but so long as I am the king, I have a duty . . . If I must sacrifice one child to the flames to save a million from the dark . . . Sacrifice . . . is never easy, Davos. Or it is no true sacrifice. Tell him, my lady." - Davos IV, aSoS

The armorer considered that a moment. "Robert was the true steel. Stannis is pure iron, black and hard and strong, yes, but brittle, the way iron gets. He'll break before he bends." - Jon I, aCoK

Roose however is frequently characterized as someone who tries to get as much as he can while avoiding negative consequences, and who does not have a consistent moral code and instead bends rules to his benefit to be the most comfortable to him.

It is often theorized that Stannis will end up burning his daughter Shireen; the Ramsay issue might then serve to contrast the two men. If Grrm intends it to be compared by the reader, I can see it going two ways: Either Roose will be forced to finally act in a drastic way after avoiding his responsibility in regards to Ramsay and he will be forced to get rid of his son, making him break the only moral hurdle he has presented adhering to during the story (though analyzing his character, the kinslaying taboo is probably less a sign of moral fortitude and more him using the guise of morals to explain a selfish motivation). Or he might not act against Ramsay and suffer the consequences, presenting an interesting moral situation where some readers might consider his action "better" or more relatable than Stannis', breaking up the otherwise very black and white moral comparison between the two men. It serves as an interesting conflict of the morality of kinslaying compared to what readers might see as a moral obligation of getting rid of a monster such as Ramsay; contrasting Shireen whose death would not be seen as worth it by most. Ramsay as a bastard (who was almost killed at birth if he hadnt been able to prove his paternity) also makes for an interesting verbal parallel with the bastard Edric Storm, and might be used for a look at the utilitarian principle of killing a child (baby ramsay/edric) to save countless people from suffering that underpinned Edric's story.

"As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy." - Grrm

"Robert, I ask you, what did we rise against Aerys Targaryen for, if not to put an end to the murder of children?" - Eddard VIII, aGoT

"If Joffrey should die . . . what is the life of one bastard boy against a kingdom?" - "Everything," said Davos, softly. - Davos V, aSoS

However Grrm decides to present these conflicts or which actions the characters will take in the end, it will result in interesting discussion and analysis for the readers.

His Endgame?

Looking at the trends of the past books, it is probably going to be hard to predict any specific outcome; every book introduces new characters and plot elements that were impossible to predict from the last book even if their thematic importance or setup was aptly foreshadowed.

Roose has a lot of plot importance and characterization that has, in my opinion, not yet been properly resolved in a way that would be unique and poignant to the specific purpose his character appears to fulfil. However I also have a bias in that i did not like the show's writing of that scene which makes me averse to see a version of it in the books, and i really like Roose as a character and want to see him have more scenes in the next book(s). This leads me to discount plot speculation that cuts his character arc short offscreen early. Roose is only a side character; however, i have trust in grrm's writing abilities and that he would give him a proper sendoff that feels satisfying to a fan of the character.

"…even the [characters] who are complete bastards, nasty, twisted, deeply flawed human beings with serious psychological problems… When I get inside their skin and look out through their eyes, I have to feel a certain — if not sympathy, certainly empathy for them. I have to try to perceive the world as they do, and that creates a certain amount of affection." — George Martin

Considering my earlier analyis, there is a case to be made for Roose killing Ramsay; however it appears grrm might have a different endgame in mind for Ramsay, foreshadowed in Chett's prologue:

There'd be no lord's life for the leechman's son, no keep to call his own, no wives nor crowns. Only a wildling's sword in his belly, and then an unmarked grave. The snow's taken it all from me . . . the bloody snow . . . - Chett, aSoS

I tend to think something might happen to Roose/the Bolton bloc later in the book that would cause Ramsay to attempt to flee the scene again like he did back in aCoK fleeing Rodrik's justice; perhaps Ramsay is sent out to battle but then flees it like a coward, or he sees his cause as lost. This time, the fleeing and potentially disguised Ramsay would not make it out to safety though, and get killed without being recognized as Ramsay, dying forgotten. This would serve as dramatic irony since Ramsay so strongly desired to be recognized and respected as a Lord of Bolton, without being too on the nose.

As for Roose, i could see him getting captured and somehow brought to justice (either when someone takes Winterfell or in some sort of battle). I see it unlikely that he will be backstabbed like Robb was, because it seems very "eye for an eye" and ultimately doesn't teach much of a lesson except "he had it coming"; But the various people conspiring against him could lead to his capture by betraying him (giving a payoff to the northern conspiracies and the red wedding). I would find a scene of him standing trial interesting since i believe we didn't have one of these for a true non-pov villain yet, and it would be an interesting confrontation that he cannot escape from (he also loves to talk so it would be a good read to see him make a case for himself).

I assume Roose will be out of the picture when the Other plot finally properly kicks into gear (whether dead or "in prison"). With Stannis as a false Azor Ahai and Roose as a false Other (with his pale, cold features), their struggle in the north seems to be a representation of the false "Game of Thrones" that distracts people from the "real threat" of the Others.

As always this is just my opinion, and it could all go very differently in the books! There could always be something that completely uproots my analysis and goes into a direction i did not expect from the material we had; But i have fate that Grrm as a writer will deliver and give me something i can be satisfied with.

#asks #asoiaf #asoiaf meta #roose bolton #valyrianscrolls #a song of ice and fire #not art #anonymous

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farmerlan · 4 years

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A guide to commonly used honorifics in 魔道祖师/The Untamed

OK - so, I’ve actually seen some confusion floating around on specific honorifics commonly used in 魔道祖师 and I figured I will put a post up to address some of this - especially the situations when they get used. Hopefully it’ll be helpful for fic writers or whoever else out there that’s getting turned around by the various translations.

As with most of Chinese vernacular, there’s a TON of similar, but different situations in which it may be permissible to use certain titles/honorifics, so bear in mind this is not an exhaustive guide. Also, I don’t have a PhD in Chinese honorifics or anything, I’m just a Chinese person that watches/reads a fair amount of historical dramas. So if I missed anything/if there was anything that was kind of unclear in the novel or drama, feel free to let me know!

公子 / gongzi/ master

Let’s start with the hardest so I can get this out of the way. You will see this translated in a variety of different ways - master, young master, sir...and they are all correct! Congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot - depending on the situation, gongzi can be a whole hodgepodge of things.

Master: The most commonly used version in MDZS. This is a separate meaning of master from some of the honorifics discussed below - it is specifically used to address either:

Your literal master if you are a servant in the household

A somebody from a distinguished household in a polite way

General honorific: Gongzi can also be used between strangers/acquaintances as a respectful term. Gongzi is, in some ways, an indicator of respect of the other person’s status. So oftentimes you’ll find two young masters from different sects referring to each other as gongzi politely, but you wouldn’t find two beggars on the street calling each other that. and it’s usually used to address someone younger or a similar age as you. If you‘re talking to someone who is clearly your senior, use 前辈 or 先生.

Because it has the connotation of youth and aristocracy associated with it, oftentimes innkeepers/sellers may use gongzi to address male customers (particularly youthful men) because it’s a bit more flattering. Kind of like how the modern day shopkeeper calls you ‘美女’ (beauty) or even ‘亲爱的’（my dear - IDK when this started becoming a thing but if you do any online shopping on Taobao you know what I’m talking about) in China. They don’t actually think you’re beautiful/feel affection for you, it’s just a way of addressing the customer to make you feel good about yourself HA. It’s nice to be called gongzi even if you’re not actually a noble.

There’s variants of this - 小公子/ xiaogongzi is typically young master, although I think some translations just directly use the young master for gongzi. It can also mean the younger master if there is an older sibling in question here (e.g. Wen Chao was referred to as 温小公子 as he was the younger son), although you can also use 二公子（second master), as many do when referring to Lan Wangji. It sounds a little less juvenile.

This term is used for guys - I would say the female equivalent could be 千金/ qianjin or 小姐 /xiaojie.

宗主 / zongzhu/ sect leader

This can only refer to the sect leader - it is a title, and it is passed down. There is typically only one sect leader at any one time, and his eldest male heir will be the successive leader of the sect. I’m going to take this chance to clear up some misconceptions:

Unless Lan Xichen bears no male heirs before his death, Lan Wangji will not succeed him. Lan Sizhui, given that he is not a Lan by birth, will likely never be the Lan sect leader. Yes yes, we all know he’s the adoptive son, but adoptive means literally nothing in the progenical world of Chinese history. Plus, he’s not even the adoptive son of Lan Xichen, so he is a long, long way down from ever being sect leader unless he forms his own, which he would likely never because that’s kind of like betraying your family.

On that same topic, Nie Huaisang succeeded Nie Mingjue because Nie Mingjue died without an heir and Nie Huaisang was the closest blood relative.

For the Jin sect, the succession would have been Jin Guangshan -> Jin Zixuan -> Jin Ling. (y’all I wrote here that it was Jin Zixun first in line but I totally blanked that he was actually a cousin and NOT the son of JGS so ignore that LOL) Since Jin Zixuan died, it became Jin Guangyao - Jin Ling is next in line as he is of the next generation and too young at that time to rule. Honestly, if Jin Ling was older at the time of Jin Zixuan’s death and if this was a Chinese historical palace drama, there would probably be some serious internal political intrigue going on as Jin Guangyao’s claim over the seat would arguably be weaker than Jin Ling’s since he is illegitimate.

For the Jiang sect, Jiang Cheng is the heir even though Jiang Yanli is older because he is male. The question of who will inherit his seat (a very valid question given his luck with dating, although I am sure someone somewhere will eventually warm the prickly cockles of his heart) remains open. IMO there is a less than zero chance that Jin Ling succeeds him unless Jiang Cheng specifically demands for it, but he likely wouldn’t because he is all about decorum and also it would put Jin Ling in an incredibly difficult situation, which is the last thing he would want for his nephew. If he doesn’t end up producing heirs, the seat will likely go to whomever he names as successor, even if non-blood related - maybe the current head disciple.

With that said, although there were generally established rules for succession, actual Chinese history (like all of history) often played out very differently (e.g. Emperor Kangxi stripped crown prince Yinreng of his right to succeed and appointed Yinzhen (Yongzheng), who was the fourth surviving prince, as his successor) so really, even if you were to base sect succession off imperial succession traditions, you could still make the argument that anything goes as long as you have the right people in your corner. HA.

老祖/ laozu/ grandmaster/forefather

I mean, I think grandmaster is probably a fair translation of laozu, which, to be honest, is a harder honorific to translate. It’s definitely influenced by Taoism and not very common at all, but it’s likely derived from Hongjun Laozu (鸿钧老祖), who was a deity and teacher. It does NOT only stand for a senior teacher/master however, because 祖 itself has ancestral connotations, so I think I would personally translate this as forefather. IMO, it’s really only fair to use this on Wei Wuxian and/or originators of a certain branch of study in the MDZS universe - I would consider laozu as the term of respect afforded to people who were pioneers in their fields/sects.

In that sense, Lan Qiren is NOT the grandmaster of the Lan sect. He is an elder - a very respected elder that was basically interim sect leader, but in terms of official title, technically, Lan Xichen could pull rank on him, but he likely wouldn’t unless pressed to because he is also Lan Xichen’s elder.

前辈 / qianbei/ senior/elder

This is kind of an in-between term to politely refer to someone who is your senior, but with whom you really have no formal affiliation with. Unlike 先生, it’s also unisex. A related term is 长辈 /zhangbei, but that is used for people whom you have familial/closer ties with - like an uncle, or someone within your own sect.

师父/师尊/ shifu/shizun / master

Your teacher/master, but not in the servant-master context. Someone who mentors you for years - in the xianxia/wuxia culture, this is a pretty special term because most disciples will only ever belong to one sect and will only ever have one master, and everyone else is a qianbei. The disciple has to ‘拜师’ (to formally request this relationship) and the master also has to ‘收徒’ (to formally accept disciples). So a lot of people went to Yiling in an attempt to 拜师, but Wei Wuxian never did 收徒.

In the wuxia/xianxia context, shifu is technically unisex even though 父 in itself is a male-centric term, although female masters might be more commonly referred to by the gender-neutral shizun instead.

Now that I think about it, shifu doesn’t actually appear in MDZS. Lan Wangji calls Lan Qiren 叔父 /shufu, which is completely different. It means uncle (father’s younger brother, to be exact lol), since that is their relationship.

老头/ laotou/ old man

Wei Wuxian uses this to address Lan Qiren behind his back. It literally just means old man, haha. It’s informal but not a term you would use to refer to someone who is close to you/whom you like, but not exactly a term that is insulting or derogatory, although in Lan Qiren’s case, it is irreverent because it is ill-fitting for the relationship that Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren have. Meant to be used on men, usually for women it would be 老婆婆/ laopopo (NOT THE SAME as 老婆/ laopo, which means wife. Welcome to the weird wonderful world of the Chinese language!)

师弟/哥/兄/姐/妹/ shi di/ge/xiong/jie/mei/ younger brother/ older brother/ another variant of older brother/ older sister/ younger sister

NOT TO BE USED FOR YOUR ACTUAL FAMILY. This is in the context of the sect only. Your fellow disciples, but with varying levels of seniority. Familial honorifics are a whole different thing.

In the context of the sect, who you call your shidi/ge etc. is usually NOT based on age - it is based on someone’s seniority within the sect. If you have been in the sect/under your master’s tutelage for longer, you are the senior, even if you are younger in age.

With that, I think the novel states that both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are similar in age, so it is actually incredibly hard to determine if the author deliberately went against this convention and Wei Wuxian calls Jiang Cheng shidi because he is genuinely younger than Wei Wuxian, or if it is simply because Wei Wuxian is the head disciple of the sect (and therefore, technically, everyone is his shidi). I actually think it might be the former because he refers to Jiang Yanli as shijie, although now that I think about it, it might be the latter...as a reflection of the level of admiration Wei Wuxian has for Jiang Yanli WOAH.

(Fun fact: there’s a scene in the novel in Yi city where Wei Wuxian was silently weirded out that Xiao Xingchen referred to him as ‘qianbei’ - because Xiao Xingchen is his mother’s shidi, which makes him Wei Wuxian’s senior, but then he quickly realizes it’s because he’s talking to Xue Yang and not Xiao Xingchen.)

先生 /xiansheng/ mister/sir/teacher

In present day, this is literally the most vanilla term you can use to politely address a guy. Can be a stranger, or an acquaintance you want to politely address. Usually older than you, although if you’re both similar in age and you’re not really familiar with each other, you might still use it just to err on the side of caution. In xianxia/ancient China, this is usually used more like ‘teacher/sir’ to address an elder. It’s more scholastic in its implication and less generic than qianbei.

In the Lan sect, by crowd definition, 先生 refers to Lan Qiren unless otherwise stated, which makes sense and shows the amount of respect he is afforded in the sect.

夫人 / furen/ wife/madam

A term of respect for typically older women, or can also be used to refer to one’s wife.

Lastly, let me just add that this is just something that’s meant to be helpful for people as they work through the series - at the end of the day, it’s all fictional/xianxia itself as a genre is fantasy so if you need to subvert any one of the generally held succession traditions or whatnot in order to make your fic work, go!!! Do it!!!

#xianxia #honorifics #chinese #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #cql #魔道祖师 #lan wangji #wei wuxian #guides #meta

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 19, part two

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff) (Previous Post)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

The Man Comes Around

Over at the Wen Indoctrination Tower, which seems to exist just to torture Lan Wangji with stair climbing, Lan Wangji is climbing the stairs. Too bad his cultivation level is too low to be able to just jump up. At least this time his leg isn't broken.

This is the first vengeful stair-climb in the show, but not the last. (Parallel gifset here).

The Wen guards are stationed all the way at the pinnacle of this tower to guard...what? Why are they not at the bottom of the stairs? What is this location for, actually? This is further up the stairs than the scenes with the indoctrination lectures. Anyway, it's been three months since Wen Chao threw Wei Wuxian into the burial mounds, so naturally these guards are talking about that exact thing as Lan Wangji approaches.

Lan Wangji knocks them all down with a blast from his guqin. Did you know his guqin is named Wangji, by the way? It is. A guy who is that lazy about naming his quqin maybe shouldn't feel so superior to a guy who named his sword "whatever."

(I'm suddenly remembering a plush lamb I had as a child, whose eyes were orange, that I named "orange eyes.") (I, however, was three. And I had a lot of plush lambs. Little ones. Grown-ups found it hilarious to give them to me.) (Native speakers of English can probably guess what OP's real name is. Hint: it rhymes with Canary.) (Everybody else: there is a kid's rhyming song called Mary Had A Little Lamb. OP's name is Mary.)

Anyhoo, after Lan Wangji is finally finished with his dramatic entrance, Jiang Cheng comes flying in from wherever he's been hovering for the past 20 minutes of stair time. A bunch of Lan sidekicks also flood into the frame from wherever they were hiding during the wide shots of LWJ on the staircase.

In case you hope that CQL Lan Wangji is as much of a top (offscreen) as MZDS Lan Wangji is (on the page), here's a gif for you.

(more after the cut)

He uses the patented Lan string attack to choke this guard. Lan Wangji doesn't have to hold a guqin string in his hands to choke someone with it. He doesn't even have to tighten it, judging by how absurdly not-tight this string is.

Or maybe this guy is choking on the chin strap of his helmet. This is exactly how OP's son reacts when OP sticks a bike helmet on him. (Note: it's GOOD that they are following choking safety protocols on set. Very good. However, they could have just left the string out and pretended, and it would look better, in this instance)

The Wen guard tells Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng about the whole "thrown into the burial mounds" thing. Team Let's Find Wei Wuxian is not happy to hear this.

A Vengeful Ghost

Meanwhile, in some Wen office somewhere? Where the hell is this? Yiling, we get an ominous shot of the rooftops where Wei Wuxian is lurking and then we see Wang Lingjiao trying to sleep and having a nightmare.

Wang Lingjiao has gone to sleep with a full face of makeup on instead of washing her face before bed. She has forgotten the important maxim, Go To Sleep Pretty, Wake Up Zitty.

She leaps out of bed to go cling to Wen Chao and freak out about Wei Wuxian's ghost. Wen Chao is trying to read the sports section and has clearly had enough of this crap. This has presumably been going on for a little while now.

Wang Lingjiao is in a new outfit, which is...pajamas? It has the feel of a 1930's French peignoir set, and it's much more softly colored than her usual bright red-purple combo. If this is her pajamas is it weird that her day clothes are a lot more aggressively sexy-looking than her nightgown? A freak in the streets but a lady in the sheets.

Wen Chao rants about the Sunshot Campaign and talks some smack about Wen Qing, and then leaves to go to the bar and watch the game with Wen Zhuliu. After he leaves Wang Lingjiao freaks out for a bit and then looks at the notice he was reading.

The notice basically says that the Sunshot Campaign is kicking their ass. She should be proud for inspiring the name of the campaign with that kite-shooting bullshit she made up at Lotus Pier. Before slaughtering everyone.

No Matter What You Do, I Only Want To Be With You

Back at the Indoctrination Tower, Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng are having feelings about Wei Wuxian. Jiang Chang does all the talking but Lan Wangji's thoughts are louder because a sad violin is playing Wangxian while they talk.

Jiang Cheng tells Lan Wangji about their meetup plan and says he thought WWX had dumped him to go find Lan Wangji in Lanling. Lan Wangji telepathically indicates that this didn’t happen.��This means two things: 1. Lan Wangji has been hanging out in Lanling, where Jiang Yanli has been hanging out, so maybe they have bonded over the past 3 months and 2. This is the first time Jiang Cheng has talked to Lan Wangji since Wei Wuxian disappeared.

Much as my fic-loving heart would like to believe these two spent three months on the road together looking for Wei Wuxian, in fact they are both important high-level fighters in an active military campaign, and Lan Wangji was busy taking back the Cloud Recesses while Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian were having elective surgery. They probably both were assigned to the "Indoctrination Bureau" mission and this is the first chance they've had to talk about Wei Wuxian.

Is it heartbreaking that, while Wei Wuxian was helplessly getting his ass beat because he'd sacrificed his golden core for Jiang Cheng, Jiang Cheng believed Wei Wuxian had abandoned him for Lan Wangji? Yes. Yes it is.

For some reason Jiang Cheng is hesitant to believe that Wei Wuxian really was thrown into the Burial Mounds. I mean, I understand not wanting to believe Wei Wuxian is dead, but given that Wen Chao is the dude who oversaw the massacre of all of the people at Lotus Pier, including kids, why would Jiang Cheng think his guards are wrong? Maybe he just feels like Wei Wuxian is invincible, since so far he kinda has been.

The Sword is Mightier Than Not Having a Sword

While they've been chatting, the Lan disciples have found their swords. One disciple is holding Bichen (LWJ's sword), Sandu (JC's sword), and OP consults wiki Suihua (Jin Zixuan's sword). Another disciple is holding Subian (WWX's sword).

Jiang Cheng grabs Sandu while the Lan disciples, who apparently know their gongzi’s heart, offer Wei Wuxian's sword to Lan Wangji.

Lan Wangji takes Subian (Bichen: What am I, chopped watercress?) and immediately tries to draw it. Like you don't do. It's sealed itself, which apparently means that it's upset. It's unclear if it's upset because Wei Wuxian is dead or if it just misses him, however.

Lan Wangji definitely misses him, and wonders, out loud inside his own head, where Wei Wuxian is. Um, he's in the Burial Mounds, dude, they just told you. Well, I guess he's actually in Yiling proper at this point, haunting Wang Lingjiao as he promised her he would.

Twa Corbies

The scene shifts to Qinghe, where there are about 12 dead bodies lying around, which in this show means that there are really a few hundred. In fact, per Jiang Yanli's statement "nothing can be seen but corpses covering the plains." The camera can't see most of them, is all.

Wen Xu's head is hanging in the doorway, and the Jins talk about how Nie Mingjue killed him, cutting his head off with just one swing. Is this foreshadowing anything, like perhaps someone else's head being cut off by Baxia in just one swing? Nope, definitely not.

A couple of crows are perched on a body, totally not eating it, but Jin Zixuan gallantly zaps them with a talisman to make them fly away anyway. It might be noteworthy that nobody used to use talismans but gradually more and more people are using them - particularly people who have spent time with Wei Wuxian.

With mony a lock of his golden hair-o, we’ll theek our nest when it grows bare-o

Asshole cousin Jin Zixun says “scavenger rights,” so Jin Zixuan puts him in charge of collecting all the bodies.

Since OP just finished watching fur-collar-happy Nirvana in Fire, these crows look to me like they are wearing luxurious fur collars. Where OP lives, crows are not this fancy.

A Romantic Corpse-Filled Interlude

Disaster het Jin Zixuan goes to help Jiang Yanli get out of the carriage but she rejects his hand just like he rejected hers back in Gusu.

Jiang Yanli is extremely shocked when she sees Wen Xu's severed head, and turns away in horror, preferring to calmly rest her eyes on dozens of crow-pecked corpses.

Jin Zixuan tries to comfort her and she tells him she'll be going now, thanks for the hospitality. He tries to say that he has to personally deliver her to a representative of the patriarchy one of her brothers, but then one of her brothers shows up.

Lan Wangji and Jiang Cheng arrive, having presumably flown there from Qishan. They show that they are flying by blowing a fan on the ground and then jumping off of a box, which is better than the effects we were subjected to earlier in the episode.

Jiang Cheng rushes over to have an emotional reunion with Jiang Yanli, while Lan Wangji rushes over to have an emotional reunion with Wen Xu’s severed head. Jin Zixuan kind of spoils it for him by talking about Wei Wuxian's absence while Lan Wangji is trying to have a moment.

The whole time Jin Zixuan is talking to him, Lan Wangji appears to be gazing into the middle distance but in fact he is staring at Wen Xu's severed head. This is the guy who led the burning of Cloud Recesses, killed a bunch of disciples, and personally broke Lan Wangji's leg. Lan Wangji stares at his head for more than a full minute before glancing away.

Jiang Yanli hasn't seen Jiang Cheng since they were in Wen Qing's clinic, and she is happy he's recovered. When she asks about Wei Wuxian he gives her the bad news in the classic Jiang fashion, which is to say nothing, but look stricken until your interlocutor figures out that something is horribly wrong, but not precisely what.

Four Angry Men

Inside the fortress, Nie Mingjue is slapping the table and saying, this bad boy can hold so much resentment and vengeance. They're having a mini war council and we're getting a better sense of Nie Mingjue's anger management problem. Note for those who don't get the gif reference: this is a The Godfather joke, not a sex joke, but it can be both, if you like.

We're also getting a little more info about Baxia, who seems to be eager to go fight even without anyone wielding it. (Her? Him? Them? do swords have gender? I don't know). Well done, person below the camera frame whose job is to rattle Baxia in a menacing manner.

They've got a giant model of the battle targets, which looks like it was carved out of real rock (I mean, as much as any of the rocks on this show look like real rocks) and has its own table and everything, decorated in Nie colors. Where was this before they took Qinghe back? Has Nie Mingjue been traveling with it?

Anyway, I'm assuming Nie Huaisang made it, because it's pretty nice. Hopefully they will keep it around for tabletop gaming after the war is over.

Jiang Cheng is upset but is using his anger management mantra to help control his temper while Jin Zixuan and Lan Wangji talk with Nie Mingjue.

Lan Wangji talks by leaning forward meaningfully, mostly not by using any words, but he asks for a battle assignment and Jiang Cheng immediately joins in. They both want to go find Wei Wuxian.

Nie Mingjue says Yiling is too difficult of a target, but Lan Wangji puts on his determined face, which is apparently very persuasive.

After Team Find Wei Wuxian leaves, Nie Mingjue asks Jin Zixuan to hang back so he can ask him how Meng Yao is doing. This is the first time he finds out that his ex didn't go to Lanling. Jin Zixuan tries to delicately remind him that Dad's got, like, SO many bastard children, they really don't have space for all of them. Nie Mingjue dismisses him immediately and abruptly.

Nie Mingjue might invite the straights to his party but he isn't interested in actually socializing with them.

Unconditional Soup is Only for A-Xian

Jiang Cheng can't sleep, and takes some time, now, to be sad about Wei Wuxian. Presumably he spent the prior 3 months being mad, not sad, because he really thought he just buggered off without saying anything for all that time. Which is sort of fair, but sort of not. One thing about these two bros is that for as close as they have been and as much as they love each other, their mutual understanding has some big, messy gaps.

Fortunately while he is feeling sad, Jiang Cheng does not try to draw Subian from its sheath, because wouldn't THAT be awkward.

Jiang Yanli can't sleep either, and comes to sit with him. Jiang Cheng feels bad that she's wearing herself out with worry and she says "As your sister, I have nothing to do but to worry about you." Jiang Yanli isn't one to complain but she doesn't like being inactive or helpless. In Lanling she was far from the war, but now that she's in Qinghe she'll make herself useful by tending the wounded, and later she'll help Jiang Cheng shoulder his responsibilities as he takes over the Jiang clan.

At the moment, however, all she can do is fret and make soup. As she gives Jiang Cheng a bowlful she reminds him that he absolutely has to rescue their brother who has, according to his captors, been reduced to bone dust.

With all the impossible shit that Jiang Cheng is expected to achieve - and in many instances, does achieve - he is absolutely the embodiment of the Jiang Clan's motto. Fuck his father for disrespecting him because he hadn't figured out how to do everything by the age of 16.

Definitely Not Chilling in Yiling

Back in Yiling, Wen Chao is hearing the news that the Qishan Indoctrination Bureau has fallen and that he's being called back to Nightless City. Wen Chao says he shouldn't need to go back because his dad has a new right-hand man. That new right-hand man, we will eventually learn, is Meng Yao. Wang Lingjiao, meanwhile, is hiding under the bed covers and deciding it's time to dump Wen Chao.

She locks the door and goes to pull out her jewelry box, which is locked and hidden under the bed. Maybe this is Wen Chao's jewelry box, because she acts kind of squirrely about opening it. Upon opening the jewelry box, she doesn't find jewelry but a pair of bloody fake eyeballs staring at her. She screams and freaks out and then the wind picks up and we hear the sound of a flute, playing the "I'm here to fuck your shit up" tune that Wei Wuxian likes.

Wang Lingjiao runs to the door and pulls down the protection talisman that's pasted above it, and pastes it directly to her chest instead, which is, we will learn in the next episode, the worst idea she could possibly have at this point.

Then she uses a poking stick to go flip the jewelry box open and finds it's full of ugly-ass jewelry again, plus an improbable number of weird round paper-mache biscuits that have been painted gold. None of this jewelry looks anything like the exquisite accessories people wear in this show, which means this stash was put together by the practical effects department, not by the costume department.

Anyway, Wang Lingjiao apparently thinks she can sell this fakeass stuff for a good price, so more power to her. But then we get a short glimpse of the menacing eyeballs again, this time on the floor, having moved out of the box and brought their little blood pool with them. Screeching ensues.

Next episode: Lady in Red!

Soundtrack: Twa Corbies, by Steeleye Span

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #the untamed meta #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #jiang cheng #wang lingjiao #jin zixuan

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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esmeraldablazingsky · 4 years

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I’ve finally hit my limit on the number of bad takes on the Lan parents I can see before I have to lay out all the reasons I disagree, so hello, I’m Blazie, and in this essay I will justify my visceral dislike of the assumption that Qingheng-jun married/imprisoned/had sex with Lan-furen against her will.

Warning for mentions of rape (in context of Interpretations I Really Hate) and a very, VERY long post below the cut.

Before I start going off about the finer points of all this, I want to make sure people are on the same page regarding what we actually know about what went down with Qingheng-jun and Lan-furen. What I say is based off the EXR translation of MDZS, for the sake of clarity, and although I don’t think the exact wording should be too important, feel free to let me know if you think I’ve missed an important bit of nuance or something (the whole story is in Chapter 64.)

The story we get is told by Lan Xichen, and it goes like this: a young Qingheng-jun falls in love at first sight with Lan-furen, who doesn’t return his feelings, and at some point kills one of Qingheng-jun’s teachers over unspecified “grievances.” Although he’s understandably very upset over the murder, Qingheng-jun sneaks Lan-furen back to Cloud Recesses and officially marries her in order to announce to his clan that anyone who wants to hurt her has to go through him.

After that, he locks Lan-furen in one house and himself in another as a form of repentance. Wei Wuxian speculates that this was because “he could neither forgive the one who killed his teacher nor watch the death of the woman who he loved. He could only marry her to protect her life and force himself not to see her.”

A central detail of this story that I think people don’t give the import it deserves is that aside from marrying and protecting her, Qingheng-jun’s other option was to let Lan-furen be executed by his clan. His purpose in marrying her wasn’t just for kicks/out of a possessive sort of love, it was so she wouldn’t straight up die. How she felt about this arrangement isn’t stated, but I’ll get into that in a bit. In addition to that, Qingheng-jun and Lan-furen live separately, which was apparently purposeful on Qingheng-jun’s part, and runs counter to the interpretation that he intended to take sexual advantage of Lan-furen.

Though there aren’t many concrete details in Lan Xichen’s retelling, he does specifically inform Wei Wuxian that his mother never complained about remaining in her house. What exactly this signifies is unclear— whether she was simply putting on a brave face for her sons, or whether she was in fact at all content with the situation— but it at the very least serves to further muddy the waters on how she and Qingheng-jun felt about all this.

Beyond what Lan Xichen and Wei Wuxian are saying out loud, there’s also quite a bit of subtext in this scene, especially in light of later events and revelations, like Lan Xichen’s confession for Lan Wangji at Guanyin Temple.

So what is Lan Xichen trying to convey with all this? There’s a lot of memes about this scene, most of which err too far on the side of Himbo Airhead Lan Xichen for my liking, but one that I do find amusing emphasizes how Lan Xichen draws parallels between Wangxian and the story of his parents (Lan Xichen: [flute solo] please use your one brain cell to connect the dots.) If Wei Wuxian hadn’t completely lost his memory of Lan Wangji defending him against his own clan elders, one would assume that Lan Xichen’s story would have had a much better chance of hitting home.

In hindsight and side by side, the parallels are much clearer— Qingheng-jun, “ignoring the objections from his clan… told everyone in the clan that she would be his wife for the rest of his life, that whoever wanted to harm her would have to pass through him first.” Similarly, according to Lan Xichen in Chapter 99, “for [Wei Wuxian,] not only did WangJi talk back to him, he even met with his sword the cultivators from the GusuLan Sect. He heavily injured all thirty-three of the seniors we asked to come.”

In that context, it makes a lot less sense to interpret Qingheng-jun as an aggressor towards Lan-furen, as in Lan Wangji’s case, the narrative clearly establishes that his actions are to secure Wei Wuxian’s safety. The action of Taking Someone Back To Cloud Recesses is— okay, actually, it’s a little more nuanced than I took into account when I started writing that sentence, so let me go a little deeper into Lan Wangji’s actions and how they relate to his father’s, story-wise.

My intent is not to dive into the terrifying underworld of novel-versus-drama discourse, but simply put, Novel!Lan Wangji as he is written isn’t exactly the poster child for clear consent. (I’m going to entirely leave off the extra chapters for the sake of everyone’s sanity, so I’m just talking about the main body of the novel here.)

He means well, and I’m sure we can agree that he does actually love and want the best for Wei Wuxian, but his lack of communication on this point means that he accidentally gives Wei Wuxian the impression that he wants to imprison and/or punish him in Cloud Recesses at least twice off the top of my head (pre-timeskip, as we know, and post-timeskip immediately after Dafan Mountain when he actually drags Wei Wuxian back to his room.)

That all likely has something to do with MXTX’s narrative kinks and regular kinks and all that, and can absolutely be taken with many grains of salt. However, these events establish how easy it is to misinterpret the action of Taking Someone Back To Gusu as an attempt to imprison rather than protect them (much to Lan Wangji’s chagrin.)

Failing to communicate his purpose to Wei Wuxian doesn’t mean that Lan Wangji actually had any intent of hurting or caging him— that was just a misinterpretation on Wei Wuxian’s part, and we, as the audience, find that out in due time— but as written in the novel, it can be really uncomfortable to read. Because of that, many people choose to accept CQL canon regarding Lan Wangji’s more possessive actions or mix characterization from different adaptations, which, to be clear, I completely understand and respect.

However, Qingheng-jun doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt as often, which I frankly find baffling, because nowhere in the text does it state that Lan-furen objected to being taken back to Cloud Recesses, while even Wei Wuxian clearly objected the first few times. In fact, while we’re on this note, I’ll take it a step farther— I find it baffling that people seem to default to an unsympathetic view of Qingheng-jun, because nowhere in the text does it state that he overruled Lan-furen’s wishes in any way. The text doesn’t clarify a lot of things, actually, and that is part of the point.

The narrators of MDZS are, in many situations, highly unreliable. This is, presumably, very purposeful! MDZS can easily be read as a sharp criticism of reputation and mass judgment and the concept of condemning people without knowing their motives! And I don’t want to sound mean, but guys… did any of us learn anything from that? Here, I’m going to put it in meme format for a second to convey what I mean.

MDZS: It’s easy to condemn someone as a villain if you don’t know their story or the reasons behind their actions

MDZS: Anyway, here’s a character whose story and reasons behind his actions you know nothing about

Some Parts Of This Fandom: Ah, a villain

Memes aside, here’s what I want to point out. It’s entirely possible to assume Qingheng-jun was a bad person who disregarded a woman’s wishes in marrying and confining her when all you have is Lan Xichen’s (actually very neutral, thank you Lan Xichen for being an eminently reasonable and concerned-with-evidence character) account of what happened. It would also be at least that easy to assume Wei Wuxian was just an evil necromancer if he hadn’t un-died and brought his own story to light, or even to believe that Lan Wangji had somehow tamed Wei Wuxian into submission and being a respectable cultivator if you were an average citizen of Fantasy Ancient China with nothing but rumors to operate on.

The thing about Qingheng-jun and Lan-furen’s story, then, is that there is nobody left alive who knows the full tale. Nobody knows what they thought about anything, really. Nobody even knows why Lan-furen killed Qingheng-jun��s teacher. Wei Wuxian asks why, and Lan Xichen can’t tell him, but I think the best answer would be something along the lines of I don’t know, Wei Wuxian, why did you kill people? Your guess on the motivations of your own thinly disguised narrative parallel are as good as anyone’s.

So, while it’s not technically impossible to assign darker motives to Qingheng-jun, the cautionary tale of MDZS seems to warn against that exact assumption.

I’ve refrained from getting too salty on a personal level thus far, but now that I’ve said a lot of the more logical and story-based points of my argument, I will say that at least some of my annoyance with the interpretation of Qingheng-jun as a possessive rapist and Lan-furen as his victim stems from the fact that I just think it’s straight up boring. Where’s the nuance? Aren’t you tired of reducing these characters to the flattest possible versions of themselves? Don’t you just want to add a little flavor?

In a slightly more serious phrasing of that criticism, I find that making Lan-furen a helpless prisoner strips her of whatever agency she might otherwise have. To be fair, she’s more or less a non-character in keeping with the general state of the MDZS universe, but making her a damsel in distress only consigns her more deeply to hapless, milquetoast innocence.

It’s perfectly valid to enjoy ladies who have done nothing wrong, ever, in their lives, but like… Qin Su is right there, if that’s your ball game. There’s also really no need to make Qingheng-jun someone who doesn’t respect women. Isn’t Jin Guangshan enough for at least one universe?

Anyway, ultimately, you do you. I don’t like arguing on the internet, and will just ignore things I don’t agree with (or write an 1800 word vaguepost) like a mature human being. I’m just saying, if it’s a cut and dry tale of imprisonment and assault you’re looking for… you probably don’t want to turn to a woman who committed a murder and a man who loved her enough to forfeit everything to keep her safe.

#mdzs #qingheng jun #madam lan #lan wangji #wei wuxian #(in a narrative parallels context)#blazie .txt #anyway without further ado here is my.... essay?#rape mention

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fancyfade · 3 years

Link

Well I got super impatient and decided to post a day early. If you do click on and read CW: Child abuse. The tone isn’t like depressing the whole way through, I’m not interested in pointless grief, but it starts pretty heavy

For the preview have this bit I am glad I got an excuse to use finally (wrote it before this fanfic had to find a place to work it in I think it works really well here)

Father and all his people always found the most stifling, condescending, worst possible way to think about Damian. They wanted to protect him, but only half the time – only if they could imagine him as a sad, tiny child, helpless and afraid. They didn't know what to do with the other half – they didn't know what to do with him when he was fighting or behaving unacceptably or being always too too much. They couldn't decide whether they see him as a victim or a villain, and while neither would be ideal, he'd prefer the latter. A villain has power and agency, and he can't help but thinking of a victim as someone who's been stripped of both.

keep reading

Writing decisions (These will be LONG AS FUCK)

So there are two major moments from the 2009 B&R run I wanted in my fic at least that happen in the same plotline. I'm breaking it into two moments in different plotlines for the below reasons:

The first moment is when Damian both explicitly rejects Talia's offer to go back to being an assassin and chooses to stay being Robin

and then after the dumb slade part of that plot, there's the second moment, where he asks Talia to love him as he is, not as she wants him to be.

I feel the important things here are Damian explicitly rejecting being a supervillain and then Damian wishing he could be treated different by one of his parents (his primary caregiver up until he was 10 years old here in my verse, but in new earth canon she did not meet him until he was 9). Since Morrison, obviously Talia was the one Damian would both reject for supervillainry and ask for parental approval of, but I'm obviously having Ra's represent the more supervillainy side of things here.

This is also important why Damian knows that the letter was a lie before this plot could happen, because when he rejects Ra's he's doing it 100 percent with the knowledge that his dad didn't want him (from his POV) and he doesn't have another patriarchal figure of approval. He's just rejecting Ra's because Ra's is cruel to him and wrong, not because he has a better option waiting.

The other important moment in canon (Damian expressing dissatisfaction with how he is treated by Talia) will obviously have to change significantly in my fic but I do want him to have some type of interaction with her where he explains how he wants ot be treated

For canon basis of Damian and Ra's' interactions:

We have pretty scant Damian and Ra's interactions in canon mostly what I can think of are sort of Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul, the flashbacks in Teen Titans Rebirth (first six issues), and the weird Shadow/Batman comic.

The consistent theme seems to be that Damian exists for Ra's, not as a person. In RRAG Ra's refers to Damian as “it” and is surprised/offended that he does not immediately acquiesce to being a backup body, in Teen Titan's flashbacks Damian's oath is “I am yours” - that he belongs to his grandfather – and ra's calls him the greatest weapon in his arsenal or smthing, and in shadow/batman ra's continuously tries to impress upon damian that damian only exists because ra's allows him to/ at ra's' mercy.

(Yes the “ You're recalcitrant. Emotional.” dialogue is straight from Batman Bad Blood Talia, but when Talia is being villain balled she often comes across as woman-scorned version of Ra's so I don't feel bad stealing it and giving him that dialogue)

Anyway so needless to say its toxic as hell.

Ra's is also portrayed as generally using his family for his own means/ being very controlling/possessive – like in Batman Chronicles #8 he thinks (in his internal monologue) that he will never allow Talia to be free and that he needs her especially to continue his lineage and not be alone. He also kidnaps her when she leaves him in the early 2ks plot after tower of babel.

Miscellaneous decisions not based on those interactions:

the guard was based off of the dude who Ravi called the hand of ra's in robin: son of batman. I assumed they might have slightly different dynamics with Tali and Damian than the other leaguers because they call Talia by her first name, which seemed to not be what the other leaguers did. I'll be real they don't flesh out the league members who don't have names a ton, I had to do a lot of guessing.

I feel like even though Damian's upbringing in the League of Shadows was abusive as hell, he'd still miss where he grew up, especially the parts that were just like... day to day stuff and not fighting (Granted he still did obviously miss some of the way they did fighting interactions too).

I actually googled some geography to try to describe the place the Cradle was in because in the comics I don't think they gave us a location (besides that the last city they were at was Baghdad) and then the scenery did not give us much detail. I wanted to be able to describe the scenery a bit and not just say “um, it looked like a desert” (it looked... vaguely deserty in the comics?) especially since it would be significant to Damian. And I didn't want to just go with whatever preconceived notions I had.

I had Ra's make the fetus that may eventually become heretic here because I feel like if we're going with the RRAG backup body theme that might be a reasonable justification for Ra's cloning him (it was so unclear what Talia's motives for making Heretic were in the comic)

anyway SUPER Long but i'm really proud of this scene and Damian's confrontation with Ra's so I hope you all enjoyed it

#my fanfic #damian wayne #dc comics #dc fanfic

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goldenkamuyhunting · 4 years

Text

Ogata’s iconic gesture

We’re all familiar with the way Ogata’s caresses his hair...

...to the point it had become his iconic gesture so that even the first time he shows up on a cover he’s shown doing it...

...and he’s also shown doing it in a colour illustration which was used as cover for chap 79

...and in one of the summaries for the skin count.

It’s clear he doesn’t do it just to comb his hair as he had been shown doing it even when he wears a hat so, more than fixing his hair, it’s clear he’s sort of caressing himself, making that gesture a self comfort gesure he might perform in an unconscious manner.

The movement is likely based on how cats groom their fur...

...a not so indirect reference to Ogata’s nickname, ‘Yamaneko’ (“Wildcat”).

While cats groom themselves for practical reasons, they also groom if they feel embarrassed, anxious, or to calm themselve, which would tie well with this being Ogata’s self comfort gesture.

But let’s look at when he does it through the manga.

Note that there are instances in which it’s actually unclear if he’s doing it so I will leave them for last.

The first time is in chap 43.

Ogata thinks Tanigaki might have killed Tamai, Noma and Okada and he’s obviously not pleased. Later, he will hunt Tanigaki in retaliation even though it’s completely useless as, as we’ll discover in chap 243, he’s aware Tsurumi already knows of their rebellion and is hunting them, meaning remaining there to hunt Tanigaki is a mere waste of time, a hint Ogata in that moment felt a deep grudge toward Tanigaki if he decided to spend his time so uselessly. As he pats his hair Ogata’s face is shadowed. It’s clear he’s not in a happy mood.

So the grooming can be a soothing gesture for him. He has to keep calm and not shoot Tanigaki right then or he’ll involve Huci too, whom, he’ll reveal, he wanted to spare.

We continue with chap 46.

In it Ogata does it before praparing himself to face the soldiers Tsurumi is sending against him. As the situation is clearly risky, it makes sense he’s soothing himself with a quick ‘hair grooming’ before facing his enemies.

We move to chap 70.

For who doesn’t remember it the scene happens prior to Ushiyama listing all the skins they got, pointing out the last one was recovered by Ogata...

...but prior to Ogata casually questioning Hijikata.

It’s hard to say why exactly he’s grooming himself, it can be he’s calming himself a bit before having to question someone like Hijikata, who basically doesn’t trust anyone. Of course it can also be tied to the memories Ogata had of how he got the skin in Barato, where another ‘father’ tried to kill his own son, something which clearly reminded Ogata of his own father.

We continue with chap 78.

Ogata, who’s cornered behind a table and some stuffed corpses, pats his head when Tsukishima attacks him, saying he’s betraying them to surpass his father. Again his face is shadowed and his expression somewhat pained. If the purpose is to calm himself down it works as he then smiles, dismisses Tsukishima’s words as Tsurumi using stupid cliches and shoots in Tsukishima’s direction although this is one of the rare times in which Ogata completely misses his target.

So to chap 80 we go.

The situation is clearly unpleasant. Although Ogata survives he claims to have no other choice but to bring Sugimoto’s group along and that’s not even the worst part. He knows Edogai died and Tsukishima might be bringing some fake skins to Tsurumi as they speak. One might need some self confort in such a situation... and if it helps fixing his hair which is likely a mess after his experience in the mine, well, that’s a plus.

And now chap 83.

The image in its own doesn’t tell us much.

For the context Ogata was about to shoot at the woodcooks when Asirpa stopped him saying even if he were to manage to hit 1 the others would fly away and anyway it’s hard to hit them with the rounds Ogata uses, hence they should use an Ainu method to get them.

While Sugimoto is amused by Asirpa’s lack of faith in Ogata’s ability, it makes sense Ogata wouldn’t be pleased. Even the sound he makes seems to point at it.

There’s another scene in chap 83 though where he pets himself.

This time is after he got praised for getting three of them. It’s hard to think at discomfort, unless Ogata is so not used to praises they too make him nervous, so he needed it to later manage to assume a confident pose. Honestly I would say it’s more a self praising move but it’s hard to read Ogata.

Fast forward to chap 88.

Same as the above this is hard to read. Is he praising himself for guessing right or having the confirmation they’re in the hideout of some Yakuza pretending to be Ainu makes their situation worrysome?

At the list I’ll include a cut scene in chap 101.

In the volume version this scene isn’t present, but in the magazine version Ogata grooms his hair when he realizes they’re encircled by bears, a definitively worrying situation.

Then we move to chap 108.

It’s another scene that’s not clear. Is he proud of himself because he figured out why Sugimoto is searching the gold or the thing makes him uncomfortable because he has realized Asirpa has a crush on him and the whole situation reminded him of his own mother?

And then we’ve chap 109.

Is he proud because he was the first to find him? Or it’s just the situation is troublesome because Ogata would still be of the idea of killing Tanigaki for what happened to Tamai and Co (which he will mention later on to Asirpa and Sugimoto), but killing him would be troublesome because Tanigaki is friend with Asirpa and Sugimoto, whcih are part of the group Ogata is in currently.

And then we get the infamous chap 113.

Ogata is teaching Asirpa why Anehata just wouldn’t think to consequences before violating animals. While the scene seems funny, his father was also one of the men who didn’t think to consequences before having sex with Ogata’s mother.

On another side I’ve been told Ogata’s words are losely translated as the sentence was pretty unclear in Japanese so...

‘Otoko tte no wa dasu mon dasu to sōnan no yo’

男ってのは出すもん出すとそうなんのよ

“That’s how a man is when he put it out."

And then we’ve chap 128.

Again Ogata’s parentage is used against him, as Hijikata says due to it is hard to think Ogata might be in this for some gold. And again it makes sense the situation makes him uncomfortable.

So we move to the infamous chap 137.

Is he praising himself because he got Wilk and Sugimoto? Or is he troubled because, although he got Sugimoto, he knows the bullet might not be fatal which is why he has to remain there and try to shoot Sugimoto some more?

To Karafuto we go and to chap 159.

And here it’s pretty clear Ogata is uncomfortable at the idea of having to go and apologize.

Chap 170 then.

We’ve Ogata grooming his hat... because he got praised by Asirpa. Again if he’s uncomfortable (he’s not even meeting her gaze) or if he’s praising himself for his own shoot is up to speculation.

And then chap 180.

More hat grooming. It was interpreted as a stab at Kiro, who also had to move from Russia because chased... but he’s not even looking at him and Ogata was the one sure Tsurumi would chase him so it might be just a jab at himself.

Hard to say.

We continue with chap 187.

And this time Ogata don’t content himself with hat grooming, he moved his hat away that’s much that’s needed to confort himself after Asirpa (legittimately I might add) told him to stay away and that he is untrustworthy.

A big fast forward to chap 222.

And again Ogata is in a clearly discomforting situation as he has to explain Abashiri keeping hidden the role he had in it considering he’s a horrible liar.

And finally chap 257.

Ogata crossed paths with Kikuta but Kikuta let him go, pretending he never saw him. Either something happened between the two, something we weren’t shown, or still this meeting managed to make him uncomfortable, a clear hint they aren’t on the same side, even if they aren’t at war with each other.

And that’s all, or better, those are all the scenes in which we can be confident Ogata is grooming himself.

There are then some unclear scenes.

Chap 5 for example.

It might be a ‘proto grooming’ scene. Ogata is clearly not petting himself, he’s scratching the back of his head, which usually is done to imply the character is puzzled but the scene might have inspired Noda into giving him the habit to groom himself.

Then chap 115.

Some think this is a grooming scene but as Ogata says his head is spinning it makes sense he would touch it (it’s a pretty standard movement), especially since his hand isn’t in the usual grooming position. On the other side having your head spin is clearly uncomfortable so a grooming scene would make sense too but really, I think he’s only touching his spinning head.

And lastly chap 159.

It could be a grooming scene... but it could also be Ogata pulling down his hood as first he had it raised and then he had it lowered.

Hard to say anyway, if it’s a grooming scene it would again fit in the list of scenes of Ogata doing it after hitting something.

And that’s the end.

As you can notice there isn’t a single grooming scene placed prior to Ogata’s hair growing.

Some assumed he groomed himself when he met his father.

Truth is it’s hard to say as it can be he was merely covering his eyes, as when Ogata grooms himself, Noda usually draw his hand in a higher position and with the fingers touching each other.

It’s hard to say but it’s still interesting.

Of course his possible Ogata merely started doing so because his fur... ehm... I mean hair, got longer... I mean... the short hair he had previously might not have been the most pleasant thing to pet... but maybe there was a starting factor. I don’t know, we’ll see.

Well, and that’s all for GK resident kitty. We’ll see if the future will gift us with more grooming moments.

#Golden Kamuy #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Golden Kamuy Pondering

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oneofyatosfollowers · 3 years

Text

Yatori Week 2021- Day 4

@yatoriweek2021

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32090953/chapters/79500055

Fanfiction: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13905660/1/Yatori-Week-2021

Yukine was in the living room studying for midterms when his dad busted the door down and flounced into the room.

This was a common occurrence, as this man was not his biological dad, but rather a once concerned neighbor that adopted him and was therefore hardly a decade older than the teen. There could be many reasons why his dad, a man named Yato, was excited:

He saw something to do with Capybaras

He got an extra sketchy side job for pocket change

The weather was nice

He bought junk with said pocket change

Anything to do with his beloved girlfriend, Hiyori

Based on the way the young man skipped into the living room, high on cloud nine, Yukine could only assume it was the last option. With sigh, Yukine closed his textbook and readied himself to lose the rest of his study time. Yato tended to talk about his girlfriend for hours on end, like he’s never seen nor heard of them before her, and Yukine would not be able to focus. Now, Yukine liked his dad’s girlfriend. Loved her in fact. His dad was her art tutor- and class nude model- in college since she struggled with the subject as a medical major. Eventually she had become Yukine’s tutor in everything else except math, which was reserved for his dad. It was unclear if Yato hired her, or she did it out of the kindness of her heart, or the two just wanted to see more of each other, but Hiyori wormed her way into both their hearts.

“Yukine!”

“What?” Yukine drawled. His dad was a whirlwind of smiles and flailing arms as he tumbled towards Yukine. Used to this too, the blonde simply waited for Yato to sit directly in front of him without knocking him over. Yukine blinked as his dad struggled to find the words to communicate in a language they both understood. It tended to take some time, as falling in love with Hiyori Iki was a grand affair that wrestled your heart and tied your tongue. She tended to have that effect on people, as most kind-angels did. However, when all he did was wheeze and let out a strange coo mixed with a whine, Yukine couldn’t help but scoff and roll his eyes.

“I did it!” Yato beamed.

“Did what?”

“I finished that old lady’s kitchen and finally got enough money!” He burst. In a fit of laughter that strangers might have thought was madness, the young man rolled onto his back and kicked his feet. It took a moment for Yukine to realize his theory was somehow wrong before he crawled over top of his dad.

“What-ugh,” Yukine slapped away the hands that covered the man’s face, “what are you saving for? You never save money. I’m surprised we haven’t missed any bills yet.” Hands away his face, his dad’s bright blue eyes stared into Yukine’s hazel, full of unbridled joy . That was hardly a good sign; Yato was known for extravagant plans that he got far too excited over. Especially when they failed more often than not. Honestly, Hiyori was a saint for staying with such a spaz.

“That’s the thing!” The man gasped. He didn’t wait for his son’s answer, leaping to his feet to dash into the kitchen. Meanwhile, Yukine was rolling his eyes, of course it was about her. Yato ran back to his spot on the floor next to his son.

“Our two year anniversary is coming up in a few weeks and you know it’s around that time! The age, the lifestyle, the current situation,” he swooned, “her parents and Kofuku and Daikoku!”

“What. Are you talking about?” Yukine groaned as he kneaded his forehead. Just because his dad was capable of speech, didn’t mean he used it properly.

“I want to propose,” he said, “I want to propose to Hiyori.” The three magazines that he clenched in his hands were squeezed so tightly they crinkled. This time it was big blue eyes that watched Yukine struggle to find words. Yukine sucked in air, swallowed, stared, opened his mouth with nothing to come out, blinked a few times, then swallowed again. The logical part of this brain just shrugged, this was the obvious next step. They loved each other, were old enough, and that was usually the point of dating, what it led to. It wouldn’t change their day to day. The emotional side was shocked, blindsided, and completely convinced this would change everything.

Just the word ‘proposal’ was heavy in Yukine’s mind because ‘proposal’ led to ‘wedding’ which means ‘marriage’ which equals ‘family.’ Not that they weren’t already a family, they moved in to Hiyori’s place a little less than a year ago but that was a financial decision if anything. The more childish part of Yukine, the one that had originally protested the relationship and acted out during the first month of their dating, feared that this would take away even more of Yato’s attention. Because the fact was that marriage led to more children. But Yukine knew better than that by now. On the other hand, families, something Yukine had once before Yato, left a sour taste in his mouth. What’s more, this would without a doubt make Hiyori his ‘mother’ and this would mean Yukine wouldn’t just have a ‘parent’ but ‘parents,’ functioning ones that both loved him.

That last thought resonated in Yukine’s chest. Yato and Hiyori loved him very much, unconditionally, and he loved them. They were already a family and Yukine- Yukine wouldn’t mind calling Hiyori ‘mom’ if she ever wanted to adopt him. But most importantly, Yukine finally let his eyes drop from Yato’s and fall to the magazines. They were all for different jewelry stores, the outlines of their pages lined with little color tabs. Yukine could imagine they were covered in little notes and doodles from long before this moment. Most importantly, Yato deserved this. He was a single, smart, and kind young man that worked his way from the very bottom. Even Yukine was old enough to understand that for someone in that position- an impoverished college student- that Yato had taken on a lot, adopting him. It couldn’t have been easy to find someone. Someone as genuine as Hiyori who loved him just as much. Yato deserved this and he deserved to have Yukine support him. Which Yukine found that he truly, truly did.

“That’s great,” Yukine finally said. His voice cracked from the emotion and worry flashed across Yato’s face. But with one sniff and a genuine smile, Yukine showed that he was happy for them. The two dissolved into excited giggles and laughter, eyes blurry with emotion.

“I want you to help me pick it out. I want you with me when I buy it and help me plan the whole thing! I want you to be there with me, I need my kiddo for support,” Yato confessed. Blinking away the moist sheen, Yukine nodded once with a wobbly smile. His dad laughed with every ounce of giddiness and happiness that Yukine felt.

“Originally I was going to make one-”

“No,” Yukine said offhandedly as he wiped his eyes. Yato waved his hands and put down the magazines.

“I know! I know. This is super important and Hiyori deserves the actual ring. The best of the best! I can’t keep getting away with handmade gifts,” Yato said as he opened to a tab in each of the magazines. Yukine eyed the objects he circled and crossed out, writing everywhere.

“You make great hand-made gifts,” Yukine muttered as he fiddled with the cuff of his hand-made christmas sweater. His dad looked up to him, down at his hands, then back up with a smile.

“Well, I was thinking of making her golden knucklebusters, with diamonds of course, as an early wedding present.” Yato huffed.

“She’d like that a lot,” Yukine laughed, “just don’t let her parents see.”

“Oh god no! They already hardly like me.”

“They like you.”

“Yeah, cause I fix their house for free. Redo their kitchen,” Yato mumbled, “I hope they approve of this. I already asked them but the dad seemed more on board with it than her mom.”

“Hey,” Yukine nudged his dad, “that’s a good sign. At least you asked first.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right! This is good! She just needs to say yes.”

“She’ll say yes,” Yukine huffed with another roll of his eyes. Despite himself, even Yukine felt the small spark of fear at the possibility of Hiyori saying otherwise. They flipped through the magazines for a couple minutes longer, Yukine balking at the prices and mental math of costs per month.

“Ah!” Yato suddenly shot up and grabbed both of Yukine’s hands, knocking the book out of his hands.

“H-hey!” Yukine sputtered, wincing at his dad’s sweaty hands.

“But you can’t tell anyone!” Yato insisted, “this is a surprise. It has to stay a secret. Okay? Don’t tell anyone. Okay?”

“Okay!” Yukine finally yanked his hands away.

“You promise?” Yato urged, leaning even closer. His son shoved his face away and picked up his magazine.

“Yes! Yes! I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

They really were made for each other, Yukine thought a couple days later, like soulmates. Once again he was at home, heading to his room after Yato dropped him off. They had a family dinner later and Yukine wanted to chill at home with Hiyori while Yato went to prepare for the proposal. The house was quiet when he walked in so Yukine slipped the quarts of ice cream in the freezer and made his way to his room. Hiyori must be in bed. She hadn’t been feeling well recently, getting nauseous everyday for the past week. All those thoughts went out the window when, on the way to his room, the bathroom door cracked open and Hiyori’s head popped out.

“Yukine!” She hissed, “Yukine!” If it weren’t for her eyes being so wide and pleading, Yukine might have felt a bit more embarrassed by the sight. He stopped short in the hall.

“What’s wrong?” He said immediately. First she looked nervously off to the side, then to him, then up, then behind her, then back at him, letting out a whine disguised as a hum.

“What?” Yukine asked, a bit more nervously now. Still finding it difficult to answer, Hiyori’s arm slipped out and waved him over. Fearing she might have a broken bone, Yukine took one look at the house phone then walked over to the bathroom door, heart in his throat.

“Are you ok-ay!” Yukine squawked as the front of his shirt was grabbed and he was yanked into the bathroom, the door slamming behind him. He quickly glanced behind him, at the barrier, then back at his friend. She looked nervous, which made Yukine nervous. He would even say she looked anxious, scared, but the air buzzed with an excited tension. In front of her, Hiyori played with her fingers as she struggled to meet his gaze.

“Hiyori, are you okay?” Yukine finally got out. She looked okay, well not ‘okay’ okay but physically safe. The sweat that beaded her brow and the way her knees almost knocked together said otherwise.

“Um,” Hiyori looked up then down, “yeah, yeah, I’m okay. I- I think so?” Terrified at the thought of anything bad happening, Yukine quickly approached her with his hands up.

“What happened? What’s wrong? Do you need me to call Yato? We should call-”

“No!” Hiyori blurted out, causing Yukine to flinch. At this point he was almost shaking, Hiyori was rarely against calling Yato, especially during emergencies. More than just being the man of the house, Yato knew everything! He was calm and cool under pressure and could take on any problem without delay, dropping everything to help. Yukine certainly didn’t want to deal with whatever this was without at least telling his dad. Seeing the panic bubble, Hiyori reached forward and gently held Yukine’s hands like she often did during these times.

“No, no, no, it’s okay! It’s nothing bad! Nothing’s wrong!” Hiyori comforted, “I just got worrie- excited! I’m nervous about something and I wanted to tell you in private. It’s okay, nobody’s in danger,” her words quickly calmed Yukine back down.

“O-oh, okay,” Yukine nodded, “so, so what’s up?” He stuck his hands in his pocket to hide their shaking while Hiyori went back to fiddling with her fingers.

“I have a, uh, surprise! For Yato. And I, uh, wanted to hear your thoughts first.” She stammered out. This was rather confusing, but Yukine was relieved to hear that was all it was. Maybe she had a big anniversary present planned that she wanted his opinion with.

“Oh okay, what is it?”

“Well it’s not an ‘it’ exactly. It’s more of a, uh, uh, thing? Not a thing! It’s not a thing! I’m a thing? I’m something? I-I-I have something to give to Yato. And you? The family. My family too, you know, once I tell them. I’m just not exactly sure,” Hiyori babbled just like her not-yet-fiance, looking all around. Yukine resisted the urge to roll his eyes- he stopped doing that to her ages ago- and he refused to rush her.

“It’s okay,” Yukine offered a smile, “I’m sure whatever the thing is, Yato will love it. You know how sappy he is, he’ll love it cause it comes from you and you mean it.”

“Haha, yeah,” she didn’t sound too convinced and Yukine worried about why.

“I mean it, he will.” Yukine tried again. This time, Hiyori seemed to get rather bleary eyed and she hugged herself.

“Maybe not this time, Yukine, I’m just not sure. I mean we talked about it but it’s too soon and- who knows- maybe he won’t?” She continued looking around the room, biting her lip. Yukine was still an awkward sort of a teen and not very good with crying young women so all he could think to do was squeeze her hands.

“Don’t say that, Hiyori, there’s nothing on this earth that he-”

“I’m pregnant.” Her confession rang throughout the empty bathroom, echoing against the tiles and Yukine’s ribs. The boy’s mouth clicked shut as all those images he’d imagined, with Yato fawning over another child that was actually his, flooded in. When Hiyori sniffed again, the pictures shattered, leaving a frightened young woman holding her stomach.

“Yukine, I’m pregnant,” she repeated. Swallowing Yukine let his hands lightly rub her arms up and down.

“That’s,” he breathed, “amazing.” The honest wonderment he felt bleed through his voice and Hiyori looked up at him, eyes shining with pure hope.

“Really?”

“Yes,” Yukine promised. They deserved to be happy and experience having a baby and raising them with all the love and care they gave Yukine. After all, they already saved his life. What more can he ask of them? Once again he found himself blinking away the moisture in his eyes, Hiyori trying to do the same.

“But, what about Yato? Do you think he’ll,” Hiyori bit her lip and Yukine struggled to find the words and push away any jealousy he felt. Of course he wanted to be Yato’s one and only, for the man to never have kids of his own cause he had Yukine. But that was as selfish as it was stupid. Yato had a lot of love and Yukine knew he was no different than a son to him. Yato would never abandon him for something he deemed better and Yukine would be there to support him. Both of them.

“He will absolutely love them,” Yukine assured her, letting out a dry sob, “he’ll make the best dad.”

“Well, hehe, I think he already does?” Hiyori wiped under her eyes and Yukine found himself laughing.

“That’s right!” Yukine said, joyfully, “he’s the best.”

“Yeah, he is. The best I could ask for,” she murmured happily. The room was considerably warmer, lighter as Hiyori set her palms gently over her abdomen with a soft smile.

“Now I just have to tell him,” Hiyori said, “and my parents.”

“I’m sure they’ll be happy too,” Yukine sighed as he leaned against the door, “you haven’t told them yet?”

“No, they’re old fashioned and I would rather tell Yato first. So you can’t tell anyone!” Hiyori suddenly stepped forward with pleading eyes.

“Huh?”

“It’s a surprise! I want to tell him on our anniversary but I really need you to be there as support, so you can’t say anything, okay? Promise me you’ll keep it a secret!” She begged. Yukine gave his answer before he could think, not realizing until later what it would entail.

“I-I will! I’ll be there! And I promise I won’t say anything!”

The anniversary dinner reservation was booked at the restaurant Yato took Hiyori to on their very first date. It stood on the corner of an annual festival that followed the date and where Yato often took them every year since. In the car ride, various levels of anxious excitement is so palpable one of them could cut it with a knife. The excitement mostly came from the two adults in the front seat. Yukine, who sat behind Hiyori, was the majority of the anxiousness. Both hands were stuffed firmly in his jacket, balled up in his right hand was a little box protecting a diamond ring, his left was gently pinching the image of an ultrasound. He kept trying to rip his hands out of his pockets, worried about the cold sweat ruining such valuable commodities.

“So Yukine, are you excited about the festival?” Yato peaked at him through the rear-view mirror, smiling gleefully. It was unclear if his dad noticed Yukine’s flinch, but he quickly shoved his hands tight in his pockets and tried a smile.

“Y-yeah!” His voice cracked and Yato let out an awkward laugh. In the passenger seat, Hiyori turned around to look at him with an equally wobbly smile and a nod.

“We’re glad you can come with us to dinner this time,” she said, “right Yato?”

“Sure are! Soon you’ll be too old for us to force you to come on our dates!” Yato laughed. Even with the implication, the air in the car was considerably lighter. Yukine found himself laughing too, secretly knowing that there would never come a day he would need to be forced. While anniversary dinners were different, dinners with your parents hopefully lasted forever.

“Yato!” Hiyori chided through her giggles, giving him a good whack on the arm. The family continued to snicker as Yato pulled into a parking spot. He ran around the car to open the door for his beloved, taking her hand and helping her out. Yukine’s amusement sank like a rock when both the adults gave him a pointed look and a nod, he was reminded of what was to come. Giving his name, Yato could barely contain his excitement as the waitress brought them to a raised booth in the back.

“Yato,” Hiyori said with a light gasp. It was unclear if she noticed that this booth was the only one with fake roses strung up along the back but Hiyori wore a look of awe as she sat down on the other side of the candle.

“Two years,” he sang in reply.

“Yukine, you can take off your coat,” Hiyori suggested.

“N-nah that’s okay!” Yukine said. Both of them must have understood the implication because neither of them pressed it. They took a glance at the menu and eventually, the waiter came to take their orders, offering the most expensive bottle of champagne that Yato had already paid for.

“Oh, uh, no thank you, I’ll just have water, please,” Hiyori asked as she shut the menu and handed it to him. Yukine watched the waiter flash Yato a lost look who just nodded as he handed his own menu.

“I’ll have a colosi,” Yato said. The meal picked up quickly after that, the three of them ordering good dishes. Shortly after they started to dig in, the violinist Yato had called from college- a man with glasses named Kazuma- came over and began to play.

“Mmm!” Hiyori slurped down her pasta, “this is our song!”

“Hmm?” Yato cocked his head.

“Our song! You know, the one they played at the after party for the art exhibit? Our first dance,” Hiyori said. She ducked her head, looking suitably embarrassed until Yato hummed.

“I remember! Of course I do,” Yato smiled, “best night of my life.” Love in the air, they finished their meal, sharing a dessert Yato treated Yukine too. Once the dinner was complete, Yato distracted Hiyori long enough for Yukine to run and give Kazuma a tip and the next phase. Then Yukine jogged after them, the three of them walking out into the festival. Hiyori, rather obviously, tugged Yato off to the right. The woman on track to being a doctor was clever enough to know her romantic boyfriend would be taking them to the spot of their first kiss. Of course he did that every year, but Hiyori hoped being in such a nostalgic place would help the news to be received more positively.

Still, the two of them put a lot of effort into making sure Yukine felt included. Part of him thought this was just done out of gratitude for his help, but they’ve taken him here more than enough times for Yukine to understand they just wanted him to have fun too. Of course, this was still part of Yato’s extremely detailed plan. A handful of the game stands held certain prizes that Yato planted for the proposal. So far, Yato carried a hand-made scarf that mimicked something Hiyori used to wear while they were dating, a small wooden house that was used in sketch class, a box of sparklers, and binoculars. Currently, Hiyori was selecting another prize Yato and Yukine won for her by playing darts. Based on Yato’s instructions, the man offered Hiyori the prize box of fake jewelry, one of which was real and hand made. Knowing her, she would notice the pink-flowered charm and select it.

“I’ll have to go back for that bottle,” Yato sighed as he watched his love look over the options.

“I can go back and put it in the car,” offered Yukine.

“No, no, no, I need you here with me,” his dad looked at him, “I can’t do this without you.” He sounded confident but his eyes were so scared that Yukine couldn’t help but nod. Yukine had made a promise to himself some time ago that he would protect this eccentric, kind-hearted man that saved his life, from others who would try to take advantage of him or go out of their way to hurt him. Just like Yukine once did.

“I have tissues in case she says no and I put the ice cream in the freezer for you.”

“Haha! That’s my boy,” Yato let his fingers noogie Yukine’s hair and they laughed. The moment of truth was upon them. As Hiyori came back to them, showing off her new bracelet with the claim that it was something Yato would make for her. They walked to the edge of the street, the overview circling out over the park with a fence and benches. Yato handed the house and sparklers to Yukine, wrapping the light scarf around Hiyori’s neck. The fireworks would start in exactly seven minutes and Yukine still had both objects in his pockets.

“Yato,” Hiyori suddenly said, “I need to talk to you.” She looked at Yukine who stared back at her with wide eyes.

“What is it? We can talk here, you know,” Yato tried to get Hiyori to come towards the railing, but she remained firmly where she was.

“I just decided that I want,” she looked around, “some cotton candy!” Hiyori frantically pointed towards one of the mini carts.

“Wha-? Right now?” Yato’s shock and fear cracked his voice but he quickly tried to cover it with a laugh.

“How about after the fireworks? They’re going to start soon and you know how much I like-”

“Please Yato?” Hiyori put her hands together and cocked her head. From the middle of them, Yukine sucked air through his teeth and looked at Yato. Those were the big guns, Yato rarely said no to begging.

“Uh, um, okay, Hiyori. One-one sec!” Yato started towards the treats, “come on, Yukine!”

“No, no! That’s okay! Yukine can stay with me!” Hiyori insisted. She smiled when Yato just sputtered then ran off to retrieve the sweets.

“Okay, give it to me,” she frantically hushed.

“You’re going to do it now?” Yukine gave a quieted exclamation.

“I have to! I can’t let this continue without him knowing!” Hands shaking, Yukine handed the ultrasound to Hiyori who stuffed it under the top layer of her shirt against her spine. Once glance at the clock told Yukine there was four minutes until the fireworks would light up the sky and Kazuma would light the sparklers next to the matching mini wooden house just below them.

“Okay! Okay, here!” Yato ran back to them, “here you go, Hiyori!” He handed her a pink mass of sugar, shoving it in her face.

“Wha-! Yato!” Hiyori sputtered. As she struggled to get the sugary treat out of her face, Yato dove his hand in Yukine’s pocket and plucked out the ring.

“Heheh, sorry,” Yato said as he stuffed it into his pocket, “I tripped?” he offered as she moved the candy out of her face. As Yato smiled awkwardly at Hiyori’s narrowed eyes, the first firework of the night boomed in the sky. Slack-Jawed, the three of them looked up at the sky, then back at each other.

“Ah! It started!” Yukine gasped.

“Let’s go get a closer look Hiyori-”

“Yato, I have something for you!”

“I have something for you too, but, uh, it’s over here. So let’s go over here!” Yato was quicker, and louder, than Hiyori and managed to grab her wrist and pull her towards the railing. Deciding that his job was done- and that he didn’t want to really get caught in whatever was about to happen- Yukine chose to stay a couple feet back.

“Yato, I- '' Hiyori's words were caught with a gasp as she looked over the railing. On the stone patio that surrounded the park were a bunch of pigeons eating the seeds Yato had Kazuma put down just as they left the restaurant. Feeding pigeons was something Yato did a lot in college and one of the places Hiyori would find him sketching before they started dating.

“Look at them all!” She gasped at the massive heart made purely out of hungry pigeons. In the center of the feathered shape was a small note, leaning on the matching mini home, with fancy calligraphy made clear by the sparklers that were stuck on either side.

“Is that a note?” Hiyori squinted, “I wonder what it says.” She looked at Yato when he cleared his throat.

“Why don’t you use your binoculars?” He offered them. Hiyori didn’t seem to think much of it, taking them and leaning over the railing.

“It says ‘Will You Marry Me?’ Aw I wonder who that’s- for?” Hiyori’s sentence fell off her lips, drifting through the wind as she lowered the binoculars and turned her head. Yukine watched her eyes drop to Yato on his knee, who was gently holding up the box and the ring. When she gasped, eyes growing wide, he nudged the box up higher and cocked his head with a forced smile.

“Will you?” he asked. It took a moment but Hiyori finally moved, closing her mouth and blinking rapidly.

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Really?” Yato sprang up with a gigawatt smile, Hiyori laughing at him.

“Yes! Yes!” She professed, bouncing up and down with Yato. Quickly putting the binoculars around her neck, Hiyori quickly grabbed Yato’s face and they joined in a passionate kiss. From his spot, Yukine found himself bouncing on the balls of his feet and clapping with the few people surrounding them. Through their love-sick laughter, and Hiyori’s many kisses, Yato took her hand and raised her to the ring. Before the rock could slip onto her finger, Hiyori jolted, finger freezing.

“What is it?” Questioned Yato, terrified at the way she took her hand back.

“Before you give me the ring, I want to give you my thing,” Hiyori said. Her weak words were slightly drowned out by the fireworks display and chatter of the audience but Yato just nodded with tight lips. Eyes downcast, Hiyori’s fingers slipped under her shirt. Then, she handed the ultrasound to Yato who blinked at once before he gently took it. Yukine watched him stare at it, almost incomprehensibly, for a little longer than necessary. Yato blinked again, turned it around and blinked once more. Adam’s apple bobbing, Yukine watched Yato’s lips say something that was too quiet to hear. Hiyori nodded, a jolting movement, trying to force a smile around her wet eyes. This was it, Yukine thought, they were a little family; a mother and her future husband. Yato was a husband, a father, a man of the house. Yukine’s clapping hands stopped and gripped his shorts.

Yato suddenly got his breath of life back, his head jolted up and he looked to Hiyori with an open jaw. He couldn’t force it close until he tackled her into a hug, holding her head and waist so close, like she was the only thing keeping him standing. Whatever Yato said convinced Hiyori it was time to slip the engagement ring on her finger as they squeezed each other tight. Their laughter sounded again, overshadowed by the fireworks and sounding considerably more breathless than before. Lit up by the dancing colors, Yukine watched them alternate between laughing, talking, kissing, and pointing at the objects in their hands. Just as Yukine’s happiness was starting to be completely overshadowed with loneliness and isolation, he watched both of them point at their gifts then turn and face the blonde.

“Yukine!” They cheerfully called his name, arms open to welcome him into their hug. Heart leaping for joy into his throat, Yukine ran forward without a thought. By the time their arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly against their bodies, Yukine’s wet laughter was bubbling out of his chest.

“Yukine! You double player you!” Yato exulted.

“You did such a good job!” Hiyori complimented with tears, “thank you so much!” The family gave another tight hug before pulling away.

“We really couldn’t have done it without you,” Yato sighed. He kept his arms around their shoulders, holding the ultrasound up against the sky, the three watched the final colors of the fireworks illuminate the tiny bundle of life that would be greeting them soon. As the final boom pounded against their beating hearts, Yato finally gave it back to his fiance.

“I’m glad it all worked out,” Yukine said, mostly to himself.

“Are you sure?” Yato asked him.

“Huh?”

“We just want to make sure that you’re okay with all this,” Hiyori started, “we know this is a lot and we just want to hear your thoughts about all this.” She gestured to everything but when Yukine gave them a blank look, Yato put his hands on Yukine’s head.

“Our family is getting a little bigger, are you happy?” He asked softly. Warmth spread throughout Yukine, building in his heart and fanning the heat behind his eyes.

“Yeah,” Yukine breathed, “I’m happy.” He blinked and let out a hum of a laugh as Yato and Hiyori smiled at each other.

“That’s great because we have something for you too,” Yato grinned.

“For me?” Yukine blinked. What could it be? What more could they possibly give him?

“Yes, a surprise for you too! Mostly from me to you,” Hiyori offered. When she looked at Yato, smile matching his, the three separated and Yato lifted his top shirt to reveal a folded packet. He handed it to Hiyori who handed it to Yukine with a shy smile.

“If you want,” she tacked on. Yukine kept his eyes on her as he unfolded the paperwork, already knowing what it was before he looked it at. It was so familiar, nearly identical to the one Yato gave him so long ago, the one that now sat in a protective folder in Yukine’s bedroom.

“You want to? Adopt me?” Yukine asked. He squeezed the papers tightly against his chest. Unable to say anything more, Hiyori pressed her trembling lips together and gave a short nod, a couple tears falling from her eyes. He was back in her arms just as she opened them, sniffing against her collar bone.

“Is that okay? Will you have me, Yukine?” She tearfully asked as she brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

“Yes,” Yukine cried, “I’d love that. So much.” He had a mom now. Not that woman that gave birth to him, a real mother figure that loved and cared for him and his dad properly. He had parents.

“See?” Yato sniffed, “I told you he would gladly welcome you into the family!” He tried wiping the tears from his cheeks but it hardly made a difference.

“The family?” Yukine repeated, feeling the word on his tongue.

“Of course! Can’t be a family without you, kiddo!” Yato insisted. He pulled them back into a hug, each of the gifts to each other- sealing their love and connection- squishing under the force of their laughter. They came together in a rather unconventional way, and they were nothing Yukine imagined for himself, yet they were everything he could ask for.

His parents.

His family.

#yatori #yatori week #yatori week 2021 #yato #noragami yato #yato noragami #yatogami #yukine #yukine noragami #Noragami yukine #hiyori #hiyori iki #noragami #noragami fanfic #noragami fanfiction

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edie-k · 3 years

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Title: Worth the Work

Pairing: Romione

Summary: AU continuation of Section 2 of Four Times Ron and Lavender Broke Up. Hermione and her mom chat on the drive home from King’s Cross.

Notes: This is nothing more than a shared vanity exercise to 1. make me more comfortable with drabbles (my asks are open btw) and 2. giving me an excuse to ease into writing Hermione’s parents again.

You may want to read Section 2 again but if it’s TLDR, Lavender just called out Ron for dumping her and kissing Hermione on the train home for Christmas in 6th year.

Judy Granger slid into the driver’s seat of her car, closing the door to keep some of the chill out and popped the bonnet.

After the big revelation on the platform, Hermione had quickly bid farewell to Ginny and Harry, telling them she hoped to see them soon. Ron, his face bright red with embarrassment, had told his mother that he was going to help Hermione bring her trunk to the car but would be right back. Molly had looked like she might object but one of her twin sons’ cracked a rather crude joke in response to Ron and she turned her attention to him. Judy had led the two silent teenagers to her car in the parking lot.

As she rubbed her gloved hands together, she could hear muffled voices talking quietly outside. Voices belonging to her daughter and her daughter’s… well, what he was was unclear.

The words they were exchanging were also unclear but Hermione’s tone had that slightly hysterical aspect to it that she got when she was upset. Ron’s, however, seemed steady and reassuring and she could sense Hermione calming in their exchange.

Judy felt the car dip slightly as Hermione’s trunk was loaded and felt the lid of the car shut with a thwump. She glanced in her rear view mirror to see the two hugging before drawing apart. Ron leaned down to kiss her on the forehead and as he turned to walk away, her daughter grabbed his wrist to stop him. She saw Hermione rise up on her toes to press her lips to his. She glanced away, smiling as she started the car.

A minute later, Hermione opened the passenger side door and climbed in.

“So,” said Hermione with forced cheer. “How are you? It’s so good to see you!”

“It’s wonderful to see you too, darling. I’m doing well.”

“Good, good,” Hermione said, twisting her hands.

“Presents are wrapped, house is decorated, food is bought… really, only one minor annoyance.”

“Oh?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, you see, I missed part of my favorite drama.”

Hermione looked at her like she was crazy. “Really?”

“Mmm,” Judy said. “It’s this great teen drama. The last I saw, my favorite character was devastated that the best friend she had a crush on was dating another girl. But suddenly, in the newest episode, the girlfriend is yelling at her for snogging the best friend on the train. And behind her mother’s car.”

“Mum,” Hermione sighed, clearly irritated.

“I feel like I should be scolding you but I am endlessly entertained that you, the girl that once made me immediately return to a bookstore when you realized there was a bookmark shoved in your novel that you didn’t pay for, has stolen another girl’s boyfriend.”

“I did not steal him. He has agency.”

“Yes, of course. I also suspect he was probably more yours than hers to begin with.”

“Quite possibly,” she said primly but the upturn of her mouth gave her away.

“So when did all this happen? Recently, I imagine. Harry looked very surprised.”

“Yes, Ron was going to tell him later,” she said. “Harry didn’t even know that Lavender and Ron broke up this morning.”

“This morning! Hermione, you did steal that girl’s boyfriend!” Judy exclaimed.

“Stop! I did not! I just… we had a conversation last night and I was very clear about my feelings and Ron decided to break up with her.”

“Why was he dating her in the first place?”

“I think it was… I don’t know. Maybe to make me jealous,” Hermione said.

“Oh,” said Judy. Her stomach clenched a little. Not ideal behavior from a suitor.

“I-I might have done the same to him,” Hermione admitted.

“Your date last night?” Judy asked knowingly.

Hermione groaned. “Yes, that was certainly stupid. And… maybe a little bit with Viktor. Not anything specific really but I could tell Ron wanted to know if we were dating last year but he never directly asked me and I never told him one way or the other.”

Judy let out a deep sigh. “Can I give you some advice?”

Hermione groaned. “Really?”

“Yes! You need to talk to him about these things. I know boys don’t always want to discuss things but - ”

“No, he does. We will. He wanted to last night.”

“And you didn’t?” Judy asked, eyebrows raised.

“It just didn’t make sense when he hadn’t broken up with her yet.” Hermione was now blushing furiously.

Judy nodded, suspecting Hermione was leaving something out. “I just imagine that moving from such a strong friendship to a relationship isn’t going to be easy.”

“I know,” Hermione replied. “When we were on the train this morning, making plans to tell Harry and all, I said the same thing. That it’d be a lot of work.”

“And did he agree?”

“Yes. He said… that I was worth working for,” she said quietly.

Judy took a deep breath and stole a glance at her daughter. Hermione was looking back at her with shiny eyes, biting her lip.

“Absolutely,” said Judy. “I always hoped you would find a boy as clever as you.”

“Yes, well,” Hermione said, a bit flustered. And we agreed to discuss it if I get to visit him for New Years,” Hermione hinted.

“You want to go to his house to have lengthy conversations, huh?”

“There'll be at least 9 other people in the house!”

“You’ll save it for the train then?”

“Mum!”

“Oh, let me have my fun,” she laughed. “But I mean what I said. Have the conversation.”

“I promise.”

“Talk about the physical part too.”

“MUM! It’s been less than a day.”

“And yet I suspect that you’ve managed to get your fair share of kissing in,” Judy said pointedly. “All I’m suggesting is that you discuss your expectations when you aren’t in the heat of the moment.”

“Noted,” Hermione mumbled.

“I can’t wait to tell your dad that our little rule follower is snogging on the train.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I’m so happy that Molly told me that Arthur and Ron would pick you up on New Years Eve.”

#hermione granger #romione fanfic #ron x hermione #hp fanfic #ron weasley #au romione #romione #ron and hermione #r/hr #harry potter

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lis-likes-fics · 4 years

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ᛖᚦᚨᚾ (Elijah Mikaelson x Reader) - Chapter Three

Y/N woke the next morning with Ethan jumping at the end of her bed. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" He exclaimed as he got in her face.

She groaned and opened her eyes, jumping slightly because of how close he'd gotten. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Yeah, I'm up, I'm up." She sat up and set him to the side of the bed. He got down and told her, "I already got showered and dressed!"

Y/N laughed and ruffled his hair as he fixed it, "Hey! I just got this done!" She chuckled, "Sure, you did. I'm going to take a shower and we'll head out for breakfast. What do you wanna eat?"

"Beignets!" He exclaimed. Y/N nodded and grabbed a change of clothes. She went to the bathroom and turned on the water, waiting for it to warm up before stepping in and letting the water calm her.

Memories of her past rushed over her and she welcomed them. She remembered the horse rides Elijah would take her on when they had the free time, she remembered the village gatherings where they would feast and dance and sing together, she remembered spending time with the Mikaelson siblings.

She smiled softly, remembering Elijah himself. She remembered his long chestnut hair, his chocolate brown eyes, his short stubble. She held onto any memory she still had of him. Through all of the centuries she's lived, remembering things hadn't been her best skill.

She was brought back to reality when Ethan yelled through the door, "Mother! Are you done yet?" She chuckled and shook her head.

She called back, "No, buddy. Give me a little bit more time and I'll be out. Okay?"

"Okay!" He said.

Y/N finished up her shower and got dressed quickly, remembering just how fast Ethan got bored. She walked out of the bathroom and told him. "Okay, buddy. Get your things."

"Okay, Mom." He jumped from the bed and gathered his stuff in his bag. When he was all packed up, he rushed to Y/N and she put her hand on his head. "Ready?" She asked.

He nodded as he threw his arms around her waist, "Mhm!" Y/N chuckled and said, "Then let's go."

They both walked out of the room, headed to the lobby. They both walked out of the hotel after Y/N turned in their room keys. She grabbed one of the maps that were offered at the front.

She opened it as she stepped out to the front. "Okay, so we're here and we need to get here."

She looked both ways before looking down at Ethan and saying, "Let's go this way." She turned them both and they set off the way to the Cafe Du Monde.

After a few moments of confusion, they finally found their way. They sat at one of the tables and made their orders. "Mother, can you guess how old I am?" Ethan asked, giving you a cheeky grin.

Y/N put her finger on her chin, "Hmm. I don't know. Are you...five?"

He chuckled, "What? No! Two more guesses."

"Are you...seventeen?"

He shook his head, "Nuh-uh! One more try."

"If you're not five...and you're not seventeen...then you must be...ten!"

"No, Mommy! I'm nine!" He told her.

She gasped and then sighed, "Well, why are you getting so big?"

He shrugged, "I don't know! I just am."

Y/N smiled at him and said, "Well, I think you're a very cool nine year old. In fact, I think you're the coolest."

He smiled and said, "Thank you, Mom. I think you're the coolest mom out there."

Y/N put a hand over her heart and said, "Well, thank you, Ethan." She pulled him into her side and grabbed the camera that was around his neck. "Here, say 'cheese'."

He smiled and said, "Cheese!" She took the picture as the waitress came by with the beignets. She set them on the plate and told them, "Here are the beignets. I hope you enjoy."

Y/N smiled at her as she left and said, "Well, dig in." He grabbed one and licked the powder off his hands. "They're messy." He stated. She chuckled and said, "Yeah, they are. But you still have to eat them, you know."

She grabbed one and took a bite and Ethan did the same. He smiled, "These are good." She smiled at him as she wiped off some of the powdered sugar on his face. He laughed and you both chowed down on the powdery food.

When they finished up, Y/N paid and they left the cafe. "Where do you want to go next?" Ethan shrugged and grabbed the map. He looked through and asked, "Can we go listen to jazz?"

She laughed, "Well that narrows it down to about a hundred different places. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz."

He looked back at it and said, "Can we go to the town square?"

Y/N nodded, "Sure. Let's go...this way." They both walked down the streets and found themselves there in no time. There were a lot of people passing by and people in little booths. There were jazz performers, fortune tellers, artists.

Ethan was so fascinated by everything. Y/N watched as he grabbed the camera and began taking pictures again.

Y/N smiled to herself and said, "We're going to need another photo album." She looked around and smiled.

Ethan ran to her and said, "This place is so cool!" Y/N nodded, "Yes, it is, buddy." He ran over and asked, "Can I get my fortune told?"

Y/N thought for a moment. She didn't want to say yes and then the lady end up being an actual witch.

This was New Orleans after all. Witches were bound to live here, which is why Y/N was a little reluctant to move here.

She walked up to the lady and took inventory quickly. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary and figured it was okay. "Yeah." Ethan sat at the table and the lady smiled at him, "Hello, little one. Can you tell me your name?"

Ethan nodded and told her, "My name's Ethan."

"That's a very nice name." She said as she grabbed her deck of cards. Y/N relaxed. Most witches did palm readings, not cards.

She spread her cards out in front of her and said, "Well, Ethan, can you pick three cards from the deck?"

He looked over the deck and slowly picked out three cards. "These."

The lady nodded and brought the three cards closer to her. Y/N watched closely as the lady put the other cards up and put Ethan's up front and center.

She flipped over the first card and said, "This represents your past. Here, it says you have a lot of experience. You've been places, seen things, done things of your own. I bet you're an old soul, aren't you?"

Y/N thought to herself, 'You have no idea.'

She continued to the next card, "This represents your present. Right here tells me that you yearn for more to learn. You're curious to know more about yourself."

Y/N looked over to Ethan who was eating all of this right up. She tilted her head and something caught her eye. She looked to see where it was coming from but put it to the side.

This was New Orleans. There are a lot of things going on at once. Whatever it was, it was nothing.

She turned her attention back to the lady as she said, "Now for your future." She flipped the card over and slightly gasped. Y/N tilted her head a little, concerned.

She looked at the card, up to Y/N, and then back to Ethan. She spoke, "In your future, someone will reenter your life."

Y/N stopped, she didn't know if she should believe her or not. Someone would reenter her life? There's only a select few who could and they all lead to one person.

"But with that comes a fate that will be hard to surpass. The future from there is unclear." She finished.

Y/N patted Ethan on the shoulder and told him, "Okay. Let's go, bud." She grabbed her wallet and began to pay the woman. She shook her head and said, "No, keep the money. May the spirits be in your favor."

Y/N gulped and then turned back to Ethan. "Come on. Let's go explore some more and we'll get lunch in a bit."

Ethan nodded and thanked the woman. Y/N grabbed his hand and they both walked around more. But as they walked, Y/N couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

Y/N began looking around, staying attentive in case something happened. She pulled Ethan close and he asked, "Mommy? Are you okay?"

You looked at him and gave him a reassuring smile, "Yes, honey. Something just feels...different."

As she walked, she felt someone behind her and began to wonder what it was. She turned and heard a whooshing sound. Y/N put Ethan behind her, keeping him safe in her grasp. "I know you're there. Who are you? Come out now."

"Mommy?"

"It's okay, honey."

Y/N continued to search. "Now." She said again. Ethan tapped on Y/N arm and she turned to see him. He pointed in front of him and said, "Mother, who's that?"

Y/N looked up to see where he was pointing and when she saw the person standing before her, she didn't know how to process any of it. Her whole world caught up with her with such a force, she thought she might fall.

Y/N gazed back at the man before her and lost herself. Ethan brought her back to reality as he tugged at the bottom of her shirt. "Mother?"

She looked down at him and rubbed his cheek gently. "Yeah, sorry, honey. Um..." She looked back up to the man and Ethan asked, "Who is that?"

Y/N forced herself to look away from the man and back at her son. She kneeled down next to him and said, "It's...It's him."

Ethan's eyes widened. "Him?" Y/N nodded and a tear slipped from her eye. Ethan wiped it away and said, "Don't cry."

She wiped at her eyes as more tears formed. "I'm sorry, honey." She looked back at the man and stood. She took a step toward him, almost scared that if she moved too fast, he'd be gone.

She tried to find her voice as she took another step forward, this time he mimicked her actions. With each step, they got closer and closer. Y/N couldn't handle it as she rushed forward, running into his arms.

The strong arms of the man Y/N has loved for hundreds of years wrapped around her. She felt home in his arms as she quietly cried. "Elijah?" She spoke.

He nodded and that only encouraged the tears to flow quicker. "I missed you so much." He told her, his voice broken as he felt what she was feeling.

Both of their emotions spread through their bodies as they found each other again. Elijah put his hand on the back of her head as he breathed in her scent. He found comfort in her as he felt her again.

Y/N slowed her tears, not wanting to cry in front of Ethan. She held out a hand behind her as she sniffled. When Ethan grabbed it, Y/N reluctantly separated herself from Elijah's grasp. She held onto his hand as she pulled him into her, keeping him close.

Elijah asked, "How...how are you...?" Y/N wiped under her eye as she explained, "The night after you all were turned...Mikael found me and turned me himself."

With her other hand, Y/N subconsciously grabbed the necklace around her neck. He looked at Ethan, looking him over curiously. He asked her, trying to keep his voice light, "So...who is this?"

Ethan took a small step back, stepping into Y/N. "It's okay, honey." She said quietly. She looked up at Elijah and smiled. She'd wanted to say these words to him for centuries.

"Elijah, this is Ethan...He's your son." She said, holding Ethan's hand.

Elijah stopped dead in his tracks as he heard these words. There was silence for a good few moments before he spoke, "What? That's impossible."

She glanced at Ethan and said, "By the looks of it, it's very much possible."

Elijah asked, "But how?"

"Well...when a man meets a woman and they love each other very much-"

"You know what I mean, Y/N." He said, closing his eyes with a smile. She chuckled, a sound that Elijah had missed so much.

She spoke, still fiddling with her necklace, "The day that Henrik...you know...I was going to tell you that I was pregnant."

Elijah held his breath and she continued, "But I didn't get to. That very night, you all were..." She trailed off and took a breath, "When Mikael found me the night after, he planned on killing me. But I told him about the child and, instead, he'd turned me into...this."

She motioned to herself.

"I still do not see how Ethan is here then." Elijah commented.

Y/N told him, "Early that day, I returned to the village to see if my mother - Astrid - had been okay...but she had been one of the victims of the slaughter."

Elijah looked down. He knew of Astrid's downfall, and he knew who had done it.

"When I found her, she was dead. Her necklace then found me. Astrid put a spell on it, the wearer would be protected from enemies. When I was turned, the necklace protected Ethan. It's been keeping us from being located by any threats toward either of us. Since it protected Ethan before he was born, it's protected both of us now as well."

Elijah bent down to Ethan's level and asked, "How old are you, Ethan?" He said, "I'm nine now. Today's my birthday."

Y/N smiled and Elijah looked up at her. "Every century he physically grows a year older. He's nine hundred." She mouthed the last part to him.

He nodded and smiled at Ethan. "Happy birthday, Ethan. I hope you've been keeping your mother company."

Ethan smiled and nodded, "Yep. We do everything together. She says I keep her busy." Elijah smiled and chuckled.

Elijah dug into his pocket and looked at what he'd fished out. He looked at the object and smiled before looking back at Ethan. "This was your mother's a long time ago. I made it for her. Now that it's your birthday, I guess it would be okay to give it to you. Hold out your hand."

Ethan looked at Y/N for confirmation and she nodded, "Go ahead."

He looked back at Elijah and held his arm out. Elijah put something around his wrist and Ethan gazed at it. "It's really cool. Mom, look."

He turned and showed Y/N the bracelet that was now on his wrist. Y/N almost teared as she saw the crescent moon bracelet Elijah had made for her all those years ago.

"It is really cool. You take care of that, okay?" She told him. He nodded and Y/N smiled.

Ethan grabbed the camera and began to gather all the pictures he'd taken that day.

Y/N took a step to Elijah and said, "I've missed you so much. I began to think I'd never see you again." He grabbed her hand, "Not a day went by that I didn't think of you. Now that you're standing right here, it's almost too hard to believe."

She placed her hand on his cheek and said, "I'm here, Elijah. We're here together." He smiled and placed his hand over hers. He leaned in and captured his lips with hers.

Suddenly, a flash went off and they turned to Ethan. He had his camera pointed towards them and had taken a picture. Y/N chuckled and said, "You really love that camera, don't you?"

Ethan nodded as he fanned the picture. "When we put this in the photo album, I'm gonna call this 'Reunion'."

Y/N chuckled again and Elijah said, "Well, you might want to leave that one for when you meet the rest of your family."

"There's more of you?" Ethan asked, confused. Y/N laughed and said, "Yes, but, I assure you, your father's the best of them."

"Of course, you would say that, Mother." He commented.

It was Elijah's turn to laugh as he said, "You are definitely your mother's child." Ethan laughed and Y/N looked at Elijah with a big smile. She looked at his hair and whispered, "I miss the long hair..."

He chuckled and Ethan ran up to the both of you. He took another picture with you all smiling. "That's a keeper." He said, looking at the picture with a smile as he started walking off, Y/N and Elijah following after.

As they strolled down the streets, Elijah and Y/N kept an eye on Ethan as he continued going around and taking pictures of things.

"You know, I remember going to Paris with Ethan once...he was six. I kept having to steer him away from the Eiffel Tower because he kept trying to climb it." Y/N told Elijah with a smile. He gave her that small smile she missed gazing at so much.

Y/N thought back to the day after the slaughter, when she'd found herself back to the village. One thing had been bugging her, ever since that day. She spoke up, "Elijah?"

He looked down at her, humming in response as he listened. Y/N said, "The day after the village slaughter, when I found Astrid...she'd said something before she...was gone. One word, a name. 'Mikaelson'."

Elijah tensed a little, having a feeling where this was going, but not wanting to chance it.

"Why did she say that? What happened?" She asked.

Elijah looked down at his shoes, then took a breath and looked up at Y/N. Slowly, he spoke, "Y/N...I know who killed Astrid..."

Her breath caught in her throat as Y/N stopped, turning to look at Elijah. "Y-You do?" Elijah nodded and hesitantly told her, "It was...Finn."

Y/N heart stopped for a moment. It made sense. Finn had never liked Y/N or Astrid. Correction, Finn despised them.

Since he didn't find Y/N in her home that night...she guessed he supposed that killing Astrid would be the next best thing.

Y/N felt her anger boil inside of her. She felt - she knew - she had been wronged by that act of cruelty. Y/N knew Finn hated her, but not enough to try and kill her, to kill her mother.

Y/N did nothing but clench her jaw and say, "Of course, he did." Elijah nodded, looking down.

When he'd heard her scream that night, when he'd been unleashed into the village, the blood lust too overpowering to control had subsided, his love for Y/N winning over his thirst for blood.

He'd found his way to her home and seen Finn feeding on Astrid. He'd ripped him away, but it had been too late.

"It's for our own good. She would have brought this family pain like no other." He had told Elijah. He had to restrain himself from snapping his brother's neck then. It wasn't until his blood lust had taken over him at the smell of blood in the village that he became distracted again.

Elijah was brought back to reality when he heard Y/N's panicked voice. "Wait, where's Ethan?" She asked, looking around frantically.

Elijah looked around, not seeing the little boy anywhere. "Ethan?" He yelled.

Always and Forever Tags: @alien-sida @xxwritemeastoryxx @melodiclovesong @thebrotherssalvatore321 @satedbond @strangerliaa

#fanfic #the vampire diaries #the originals #elijah mikaelson #elijah mikaelson x reader #elijah x reader #elijah #elijah mikaelson x y/n #elijah mikaelson fanfiction

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silverhandsass · 3 years

Text

Can You Feel The Sun (Pt.2)

Took me being mega emotional over V and Johnny to finally finish this one but, shit picks up fast y'all OwO

— SPOILER ALERT - this is post-game stuff, read at your own risk —

Read on Ao3

— — — — —

Walking up those steps to the Columbarium was the most difficult thing she had ever done. V had been avoiding it for an entire year, having promised herself she would visit regularly but never doing so. She couldn't.

Perhaps it was time to finally stop ignoring the truth and the hurt. V took a deep breath and stepped into the Columbarium, knowing the path to the niche like the back of her hand. She did not look at it right away, her eyes fixed to the floor, the walls, the sky—anywhere but his name.

Her gaze had brushed over Alt's first, sending a chill down her spine at the thought of the irony behind its placement. There they were, the two names stuck so close to each other after their parting from this world—unbeknownst to everyone that ever knew them just how accurate of a depiction it was.

He was right there, but not quite beside her. One panel higher. He was there with her, but not quite. Another chill ran through her spine, particularly when she glanced at his name so absentmindedly, she hadn't realized what she'd done until it was too late.

Robert John Linder

A son of a bitch who never gave up. A legend among legends.

V took a deep breath, her vision blurring over as she read the next line.

The man who saved my life.

It was all she could do not to crumble into nothing right then and there, but she did not hold back her tears. Soon, her shoulders began to shake and her chest heaved as a heartbreaking sob broke through. V brought a few fingers up to the niche, tracing the little tray right where his name was displayed. The hologram danced around her fingers as they went through, not quite making contact—also eerily apt.

"You really were a son of a bitch, you know that?" she hissed, sniffling hard and wiping at her face with her sleeve. "You shouldn't have let me leave. I would have stayed with you. Whatever happened, I would have stayed..."

Her free hand moved past her jacket and into the collar of her shirt to pull out a silver chain. She palmed the tags and held them tightly as she wept. It was unclear how much longer she ended up staying there after that.

—

Visions began to form in distorted waves, slowly turning into memories as his mind tried to catch up to his consciousness. He began to recognize a few things; the medical equipment, the incessant beeping of a machine that only grew faster and faster each time, and the yelling of doctors and whoever else around the room before he lost consciousness once more.

It wasn't the first time this had happened and it was clear to him now. Clearer than ever as his head hit the table with a hard thud, neon lights sending him off to the abyss for another long stretch.

—

Had this place always smelled like shit? Sure, she remembered it smelling terrible, but it wasn't that bad. V stepped over corrugated sheets of metal and whatever passed for a path that lead her where she needed to be. When the old blotch of concrete was visible, she could feel her stomach drop at the sight. All those underlying feelings of turmoil and regret began to bubble up to the surface the closer she got.

By the time she arrived, Val's hands were uncontrollably shaking. She lowered herself down onto a familiar metal slab and took a deep breath. With a quick scrape of fingers through her hair, she leaned forward and hung her head, trying hard not to let her emotions tear into her just yet—what Misty had told her continued to ring in her mind like an endless echo of a broken record.

Celebration; harmony; union—reunion.

"Reunion..." her lower lip quivered and she grimaced, the venom in her heart finally surfacing. "If only it was a proper reunion... but we can't have that, can we?" Val shook her head and buried her face in her hands. "We never were a fortunate pair, were we?" She took a breath, "From the moment we met, shit just wouldn't let up. Coulda been slotted into some other gonk's brain but you had to be in mine, didn't you?"

Val dropped her hands from her face, then traced one along the carved surface beside her. JS2023. "Don't know a soul that earned himself two graves... But fuck you went out with a bang each time." There was that cold, sudden ache in her chest that snaked its way up to her throat. Her eyes stung a little at the sensation. "You know, people thought I'd be happy to hear I was back in my own body, alone in my head again... no one understood why I grieved so much. Everyone's been tryin' all day to take me out for drinks and get my mind off things... Except maybe Misty, and Kerry. He'd never admit it to you, but he did grieve for you. Told me so himself in the days after I came back. Everyone else..."

Sitting up straight a little, V let out a dry, humorless chuckle into the air. "Everyone else still thinks of you as the bastard who ran my well dry and left me for dead. They... think of you as the asshole from 2023, the terrorist of the 'saka bombing, the rockerboy-gone-rogue.'" She scoffed, attempting to suppress the bubbling anger. "They never got to see the man you became. Who you were at the end... who you were to me..."

The little memories began to flood her mind; those times that he'd jokingly rest his legs upon hers, the times she'd do the same with him for comfort, the hours they'd spent in the garage or out in the pier. The way the engram and her mind would simulate his fingers running through her hair—god how she hoped she would get to see the day they would do these things in person.

She had hoped for too much.

Mikoshi had been as close to a level field between them as it had ever been. Val sat up straight, her cheeks damp and glistening in the flames of the fields.

"Say something," she called softly, knowing it was pointless but she did anyway. "Anything?" Her voice cracked and her throat constricted. A choking sob racked out of her as she hunched over, her face buried in her hands once more. "I can't do this..." She cried, "how the fuck... Is this a reunion?" She sniffled, wiping her cheeks away with the sleeve of her jacket. "A real reunion would be me fucking launching myself past the Blackwall again, but that-that—"

Oh.

That wasn't doable... It wasn't... It wasn't.

No. No, right? No.

Her eyes darted side to side as her breathing quickened. Her crying came to a screeching halt and she wiped off the fluids on her face with a sleeve as she stood up. Brows furrowed, heart pounding and eyes still trailing around in thought, V marched for the Porsche.

—

His eyes fluttered open once more, his body waking up a little faster this time. His pounding heart is enough to get him to launch himself up to a seated position, but the sting of leather caught him first. His head hit the back of the—whatever he was on, a table or bed of some sort—with a hard thud, causing him to groan.

"Good morning!" A loud and clear voice rung out in the chamber. That's when he noticed. There were no nurses or doctors or anything around. The room was silent otherwise. "My, you've been causing a fuckton of trouble around here, haven't you? Just can't stay down."

"Where the fuck am I?" Shaking and straining against the leather straps, Johnny growled into the air. "Show your fucking face!"

Slow footsteps resounded as the man moved about the room—not closer, but still present. "Not until you calm the fuck down." That seemed to rule him up even further, so the man chuckled. "If you behave I might let you out—"

"What year is it?"

The man paused, the sound of him shuffling in place carrying over to Johnny's ears making him try to push his head up to see the guy. All he could see was a nondescript form of the man from the brief glimpse he caught at an angle too painful to maintain.

"It's the year 2078," the man told him, and Johnny's heart shattered.

His head slammed back against the slab once more as his eyes shut tight. "Fuck..." He shook his head.

"You miss a birthday or something?" The man jested.

No.

He missed whatever time V had left before she'd die. The time that Alt had promised her. He did not dare to hope that she might still be alive. He could not. He lost her once, he couldn't bear to think of losing her again. She was probably already gone and he hoped she took half the city down with her. She never did do things half-assed or quietly—wasn't her style.

But either way... She was gone.

Too late.

"What, Johnny? What is it, where'd you go?" The man insisted, taking a step closer.

"Fuck you, fuckin' 'saka piece of shit," he let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head. "This isn't real, I'm not really here." His voice... It was truly his own, he felt. His left arm had that same vagueness about feeling where his fingertips did not, and he was familiar with the feel and response of this body—felt different than how alien it was in Val's. He stopped himself from thinking further on that.

"You think you're at Arasaka?" The man asked.

"Never left Mikoshi, so only one place I could be," he replied. "Stuck in some sim or something."

"Guess again, genius," the man told him before finally walking forward and into the light. That face, Johnny knew that face— "Bryce Mosely. I believe we've already met."

Johnny hadn't, but V certainly had. The man she spared from the Voodoos back in the day. Johnny's eyes stuck onto the man's features as he leaned a hand against the slab to look down at him. "No, can't say we have."

"Sure we have. You were in her head after all, weren't you?" His lips curved into a crooked smile. "Wasn't sure what I picked up when I had access to her port, but the second we found you, a quick cross reference and here we are."

Fuck.

"So, what—you brought me back, in the flesh?" Johnny asked.

"In your flesh, to be exact," Bryce corrected.

"Bullshit," Johnny spat, looking away as though he couldn't feel that nagging craving of nicotine coursing through him, or the familiar ache of one side of his jaw when he clenched it in anger.

"We did take you from Arasaka. They're still a mess after a lone Merc walked in and singlehandedly unraveled everything they had been building here in Night City, but... Didn't expect to find you in Mikoshi of all places, though..." Bryce explained as a way of asking.

"Assholes liked their trophies, what can I say," Johnny passively replied, his eyes shutting momentarily.

"But you left, right? Had to have left if you wound up in V's head—which I still don't get how that happened... And how you wound back up in Mikoshi," he took a step back. "Did V return you? Did she have enough of your antics or... What, did she use you to get to Arasaka?"

"Give up, corpo-dick, I ain't telling you shit. None of this shit matters," Johnny looked up at the agent.

"Course it does. Because if you talk, you might just get your freedom. Don't you want that?"

His freedom? With whatever leash they must have planted in his body? He had spent enough time with V to learn her caution, to learn when to bite his tongue and bide his time, when to keep fighting and when to shut up. He stopped to think for a moment and knew that this was a loaded scam and a half.

"Find someone else. Only person I'd talk to is dead, I got nothin' left to lose, so go ahead, make me sleep again."

"Can't do that. You see we need you. We're pretty sure Arasaka's—"

"Oh, Arasaka, Arasaka—fuck Arasaka, fuck you, and fuck this, they've already fucked things up enough. You said they're unraveled? Good enough for me." Johnny was beginning to raise his voice as he rattled against the straps, shaking the entire bed with him. "I'm no fucking corpo dog, you won't get shit from me so either let me out—"

"Johnny—"

"Or fucking put me right back where you found me!"

The more that Johnny fought against his restraints, the more it was apparent to Bryce that Johnny was unwilling to answer. From the corner of his eye, Johnny could see Bryce motion toward a large mirror across the room. The doors soon opened and nurses began to filter into the room. Needles and bottles clanking, a nurse hurried over to his IV, pumping what seemed to be the culprit of his daze—and a large dose of it too.

A familiar buzz whooshed through his head as he relaxed into the bed, letting the tingling numbness take over. He might have blamed the bruises and chafing underneath the leather after so much fighting, or maybe the intensity of being back in a body again, but he could not hold back the singular tear that escaped him as he shut his eyes.

He would be no one's puppet.

Before light and sounds fully dimmed around him, he could hear Bryce's voice echoing in the chamber. There were some incoherent orders, but some words did come through. Words he did not know how to process. They played over in his mind again and again until there was nothing but silence.

Find that Merc.

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pendragonsandbuckleys · 4 years

Text

statues of saints in somebody else's religion

Summary: It had been two months since his father’s death and all Alex wanted was just one day where he didn’t have to think about him, but somehow it had been quite hard to block the man from his memory once the town so graciously erected a statue of his likeness.

Word Count: 1,620

[Also on AO3]

It had been two months since his father’s death and all Alex wanted was just one day where he didn’t have to think about him, but somehow it had been quite hard to block the man from his memory once the town so graciously erected a statue of his likeness.

It stood tall and proud in the park across the street from the Crashdown Cafe, the dignified military uniform and harsh lines of his face forever carved into the stone. It even had it’s own little plaque to ensure that the world knew of Master Sergeant Jesse Manes’ noble sacrifice at the night of the carnival tragedy.

Alex had read the words more times than he cared to admit over the past few months, in fact he had definitely stopped in front of the effigy far more than his father deserved. He didn’t know why he kept being drawn to it but he was starting to think that maybe he would never fully be free of the man.

As he traced his father’s features with his eyes, he felt the presence of someone standing close by. They didn’t say anything for a few moments, but Alex didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was.

“You know I could destroy it, if you want? Wouldn’t even have to lift a finger, just oops, looks like the statue fell over.”

“Let’s not have you reveal your powers by breaking the statue of the one person who wanted to out your species in the first place.” Alex said disapprovingly, unable to hide the glint of amusement in his eyes as he glanced over to his right.

Michael couldn’t help the playful smirk that graced his face but it quickly fell as Alex turned back to continue his scrutiny.

“You okay? Just, you’ve been standing here staring at it for like twenty minutes.”

He took a small step closer to Alex, sighing under his breath as he noticed the black marks forming under his eyes.

Since Jesse’s death, Alex had been thriving. He was happier and lighter and his newly formed relationship with Forrest was doing wonders for his confidence. Even just having his brother around more seemed to lift his spirits, but it was clear that the events of CrashCon, and even the kidnapping prior to that, still affected him sometimes. He’d show up to group lunches at the Crashdown or nights out at the Wild Pony looking like he hadn’t slept properly in days.

And Michael knew that as strong as Alex was, it was going to be tough on him. It had been tough on all of them, but witnessing your own father’s murder - no matter how deserved it was - wasn't something you move past easily.

“They could have put it somewhere better.” Alex replied after a moment, his eyes not leaving the statue. “You know, like the middle of the desert where I don’t have to walk past it almost every day.”

Michael’s huff of laughter did not go unnoticed as Alex cracked a small smile of his own in return.

Their relationship over the years may have been a winding rollercoaster of ups and downs, fast turns and false starts, but little moments like these still made Michael’s heart flutter. How at home it felt to be in each other’s presence and how that warm feeling still bubbled up in his chest every time he got to witness that smile.

It’s why he had been so tempted to obliterate the statue each time he saw it. Anything to help put the smile back on Alex’s face.

“He doesn’t deserve this.” Alex shook his head gently. “He doesn’t deserve having people come and stand in front of it or tourists stopping to read all about the town’s precious ‘fallen hero’.”

Alex’s brow furrowed as he thought yet again about the type of man that his father was, of all the pain that he had caused, of the legacy that he had left behind. The legacy that even now, Alex still felt connected to, still felt like he had to work hard to fully rid himself of.

“He hurt so many people and no one will ever know. They’ll never know the truth about the homophobic, abusive, malicious asshole they’ve decided to commemorate.”

“I know,” Michael replied gently, saying no more. As infrequently as it happened, he could always tell when Alex needed to unload. He had quickly learnt years ago that it was best to let him get everything off his chest all in one go or he would easily change his mind and bottle it all up again.

“And yet, recently when I walk past it, I miss him. I mean, I don’t miss-, it’s not-, I don’t-” Alex took a slow breath and tried to find the right words, “I don’t know what it is.”

“It’s grief, Alex.” Michael replied easily, almost jumping when Alex whipped his head round to stare in disbelief.

“It’s not-, I’m not-. He wasn’t a good man Guerin.” Alex stated firmly, though it was unclear if he was reminding Michael or himself of that fact.

“Hey, I don’t disagree with you.” Michael held his hands up in mock surrender. “But he was still your dad and even if you’re not grieving the man he was, you’re probably still grieving the man he could have been, whether you realise it or not.”

The crease between Alex’s eyebrows formed again as the confusion filled his face once more. “What are you talking about?”

Michael wanted nothing more than to reach up and gently smooth out the wrinkle and rid Alex of all the uncertainty he was feeling. He’d rid him of all the pain entirely if he could. But nothing was ever that simple. And not even death could stop Jesse Manes from hurting his son.

“He was never a good father to you, but he could have been. Some little part of your brain is clinging onto what might have been, how he might have changed and become the man you’d always hoped he would become.”

“He was never going to change.” Alex muttered bitterly, his eyes boring holes into Jesse’s own.

“No. But that doesn’t stop you from still searching for the good in him, even now.”

Alex couldn’t hold back his self deprecating huff of laughter, “It’s dumb.”

“No, it’s what I love about you.” Michael replied without thinking, only realising what he’d just said as he noticed the blush rapidly making its way up Alex’s cheeks.

He turned his head away as he ran his fingers through his mess of curls, feeling strangely embarrassed all of a sudden.

As comfortable as they were with each other, it was still hard sometimes to know what their boundaries were. To know how far they were allowed to go with their sweetness and sentimentality considering one of them is in a relationship and the other is trying to give them the space they deserve.

It also felt somewhat exposing, yet oddly defiant to be having this conversation standing in front of Jesse’s statue.

“That’s who you are, Alex.” Michael shrugged with a smile, “I think we both learnt the hard way that that’s not gonna change.”

Alex rolled his eyes but it was clear that he understood how true Michael’s statement was. He didn’t really want to think about the most recent trouble he had gotten into because of his belief in humanity but he couldn’t deny that it was a part of him.

“I thought I’d gotten over it. When he died this huge weight was lifted from me. A weight I didn’t even fully realise was there until it was gone. It felt so good, but now I just feel like he’s haunting me.”

“Look, everything that happened with your father that night was a mess. A big old complicated mess that you - and Gregory - were stuck in the middle of. That man will never deserve the faith that you put in him, but it’s still gonna take you a minute to sort out all your feelings about it.”

Alex looked at him with a wide grin and a disbelieving twinkle in his eye, “When did you get so wise?”

“Oh you haven’t heard? It’s my most recently developed alien power.”

Alex’s eyes crinkled as he laughed and for the first time since stopping at the statue that day he turned his back on it and faced Michael completely.

It was such an innocent sight and if Jesse hadn’t have been intruding in the background, it would have been perfect. The slight breeze that had picked up was gently ruffling his hair and the way the sun hit his skin gave it a golden tone that only seemed to make his smile glow brighter.

It was angelic.

And as selfish as it was, Michael wanted to make the moment last a little while longer.

“Do you wanna maybe grab some lunch at the Crashdown? I’ve probably got some more wisdom rolling around in my brain if you still need it.” Michael gestured with a tilt of his head to the cafe behind them.

“Oh, I can’t,” Alex replied guiltily, brushing away the strands of hair that had fallen in front of his eyes, “I’m meeting Forrest in a bit.”

Michael chose to ignore the pang of jealousy the statement caused, instead giving Alex a gentle smile and an encouraging nod.

“Thank you though, for offering.” Alex continued, his gratitude sincere.

“Anytime. That also goes for my other offer. If you ever want that thing gone, just let me know.”

Alex smiled again, the blush still sitting prettily on his cheeks, “I may take you up on that one day.”

#roswell new mexico #alex manes #michael guerin #malex #alex manes fic #michael guerin fic #malex fic #my fic

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adikospodcast · 3 years

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EP. 2: THE ABDUCTION OF EUROPA [TRANSCRIPT]

hello everyone and welcome back to adikos, a true crime podcast, or welcome in case you're new! my name is arete, i'm your host, and first of all i'd like to thank you all so much for all the support you've been giving me on my first episode: i'm obviously still really new to podcasting, it's something i only do in my spare time, but i'm really, really glad you guys enjoyed it, and i'm definitely gonna keep going with your support!

so, today i wanted to talk to you about a case that is really old and really well known, but that surprisingly few people actually know the ending to: i'm talking about the story of the abduction of europa here, and i feel like most people are tangentially aware of that, since she is the woman who gave the name to europe, but not many people actually know the full story beyond like, the moment she got kidnapped, and they don't know that this case actually has a happy ending, which is lovely to hear about for a change, with all the terrible and grim stories that are so common in true crime!

now, before we go on talking about this case, i wanted to give you a bit of background on europa's actual family history, because there are a lot of players at hand here, and i just wanted to make sure that basically you know who they are, even though i'm going to keep reminding you just in case throughout the video. so we have her father, agenor, who was born in memphis, in egypt, to poseidon, the god obviously, and to libya, but he left egypt to be ruled by his brother and he settled down in what would become phoenicia, and he founded the city of tyre. in tyre he met a naiad whose name is telephassa, though some people report it as argiope, but i'm gonna refer to her as telephassa since it's the most commonly used name, and the two married and together they had four children, who were: phoenix, who would become the heir to the throne, cadmus, cilix, and europa, who was the only girl in the family, basically. now, in this case we have another element, another participant, whose relation to the family is really unclear, and i wanted to try and clear up, basically, his presence in the whole story: he is thasus, and he's said to have basically a different connection to the family in pretty much every source i looked at; he has been said to be the son of agenor, the son of cilix, or even the uncle of europa and her brothers! so the one thing that we actually know about him for sure is that he is somehow, someway related to europa, which will be relevant later on when we get into the actual events of this case, but i just wanted to give you this basic, real brief overview of the family tree, so you can have that in mind basically throughout this story.

so, europa grew up in tyre, surrounded by her family and by plenty of friends: by all accounts, she was an extremely beautiful young woman, and she was really kind and sweet, she really got along with everyone she met. she and her brothers were really close growing up, and all three of them were really protective of their little sister, but she also had lots of female friends, aside, of course, from her handmaidens. so, according to one source i read, the night before everything went down, europa had a dream that really deeply shook her to her bones: she dreamt that she was being contented between two lands, which were personified as women, and one was dressed as basically was the custom in europa's culture, she was clinging to her, saying she belonged to her, but the other woman was dressed in foreign clothes that europa had never seen before, and she was violently tugging on her, and she ripped her away from the other woman, saying it was the will of the "bearer of the aegis" for europa to belong to her. the aegis is, as you may know, the legendary shield of zeus, it's basically his symbol, and in my opinion this may have been a prophetic dream of sorts that the fates may have sent to her, seeing what was going to come in her future.

europa woke up terrified and shaking, she was understandably really afraid of this dream; she called for handmaidens and told them everything about the dream she'd had, and they suggested going down to the beach together, to* help her clear her mind out, basically. now at this time it was nearly dawn, the palace was still asleep, besides the girls, and europa and her handmaidens just snuck out in silence, headed down to the beach without being escorted by anyone, but without even telling anyone, which is obviously a really unsafe thing to do – please always tell someone where you're going, in case something happens – but europa didn't want to have to wake anyone up, understandably, and besides, they thought, they were not completely alone: they were quite a large group of girls, so in their minds it would be a bit hard for anyone who wanted to harm them or sneak up on them to actually do something, because they were so many.

now, basically, the beach that the girls had gone down to was somewhat close to the palace, and it was at the base of a hill; and at the top of the hill was the enclosure of agenor's cow herd, which really just gives you an idea of just how old this case really is, this was still a time where having a big herd of animals was what made your wealth, what made your affluence. so, because this was right at sunrise, the cows were beginning to stir, obviously the herd was beginning to wake up, and suddenly they started acting up, for no apparent reason: they began pushing against the enclosure they were in, they even broke down the fence that was holding them in, and they set themselves free basically, and then the entire herd began running down the hill and running towards the beach that the girls were on, which is obviously really frightening, i don't know what i would have done if i was one of those girls.

now, at this point the girls were just lying in the sand, playing on the seashore, enjoying themselves, looking at the sunrise in peace, but when they noticed the herd of cows that was barreling towards them, obviously they got really scared, and they tried to move out the way so they wouldn't be trampled; however, once the herd actually got to the shore, it began to calm down, and the girls were able to get close again, and some of them even began to play with the cows, petting them. and when they were interviewed, europa's handmaidens reported that europa herself got really close to this one specific big white bull she said she'd never seen before among her father's animals, and she began petting him, and weaving him a flower crown, and the bull just sat there patiently and tolerated all that she did to him, just everything that she could do, he just to let her do whatever she wanted with him. now, the situation that the girls were in was obviously a bit unusual: obviously it's not every day, and it was not every day at the time, that you would go to the beach and be surrounded by cows, but they weren't really worried, you know, they had no reason to be; as long as they didn't anger any of the cows, any of the bulls, they thought they could enjoy themselves for a bit, then head back to the palace and tell agenor that the herd had escaped; however, they could never have imagined what was about to happen, obviously.

once europa was done leaving her little flower crown for her bull, she showed it proudly to all her handmaidens, she was really happy about it, and she climbed on the bull so she could reach him better and put it on his head. now, according to what the girls said when they were interrogated, in that moment, when europa climbed on him, the bull got on his legs, with no sort of warning whatsoever, he took off running straight into the sea as if he was taken by madness, and europa was obviously powerless to do anything but try to hold on and not fall off into the sea. she called for help, she screamed as if she was being murdered, but obviously the other girls couldn't do anything: they risked getting seriously injured if they got too close to the animal, and they thought they were too far away from the palace to get help there and come back in time before anything had happened.

now, what happened next was even crazier than that, and that is that once the bull actually hit the sea in his run, he wasn't stopped by the water, he kept galloping straight ahead as if he could just easily travel across the water, and europa obviously held on even tighter, she was terrified that she might fall into the open sea, she didn't know how to swim all the way back to the coast! and at that point, the handmaidens lost all sight of both her and the bull, and they realized that something supernatural or divine was probably afoot, so they rushed back to the palace, they called on to agenor, told him what had happened; now, many of the people who originally were reporting on the investigation when it was still ongoing were quite suspicious of the fact that the girls hadn't gone to call for help while europa was being taken away, but only after she had been lost, only after her traces had been lost, and some even insinuated that they may have had something to do with the disappearance!

now, obviously i can understand that you want to follow every possible trail you have and consider every single suspect during the search and the investigation for a missing person, especially when it comes to the last people that saw her, but i don't think that this suspicion really holds, or even held at the time, any water whatsoever: the girls, the handmaidens, were europa's closest friends, and there was no enmity between them that could motivate them to do something terrible to her and invent a lie to cover their tracks, and this is not even to mention the fact that they were a bunch of young girls on a beach, they had no tools or anything to even harm her or hide her body, even if they had wanted to hurt her. and to me this is, at least, the case of someone witnessing something terrible and being traumatized, shell shocked, and unable to do anything until it's over, and if i try to put myself in their shoes, though hopefully i'm never going to be in the same situation, i can completely sympathize with their behavior.

thankfully for the girls, agenor and his family had always known them and their families, and they were ready to believe their terrified account of what had happened, especially when they saw that the herd had been let loose and the fence was torn down in a way that couldn't have been done by them, even if they had tried. everyone in the palace was extremely scared and really upset at europa's disappearance, she was a lovely girl and all those who knew her really could never have hoped for something like that to happen, and everybody both in and outside the royal family offered to help look for her.

agenor, since he was the king of tyre, he was aging, he was getting really old, he made the incredibly hard decision to not go search himself for his daughter, but remain alone to rule the city on his own, as he was afraid he would be more of a hassle than a benefit to the search efforts; but he sent his sons, who were europa's older brothers, to lead the search parties that would look for her, and he made them swear on the gods and on their life that they would never come back home unless they had found her. telephassa, europa's mother. was absolutely distraught at the loss of her daughter, of course, but she vowed that she would find her no matter what, and she left tyre to look after her herself, alongside thasus and a small search party of their own.

all the brothers said their goodbyes to their native land and vowed to find their sister no matter what, and they left with all the volunteers who wanted to help look for the princess; they took different ships and sailed in various directions, so they could try and cover as much ground as possible, and whenever they encountered land, whether it be an island or a coast, they would explore it and usually interrogate the locals, if it was an inhabited place, on whether or not they had seen any girl in the likeness of europa, wearing the usual tyrian attire, possibly with a bull or with another animal, or even with a god; but no matter who they asked, all they received was no after no, and europa just seemed to have completely vanished into non-existence. now, these search efforts went on for years, and they explored practically every island and every coast in the eastern mediterranean, which is obviously a massive area to cover. i cannot begin to imagine what europa's relatives were going through, knowing their sister, their daughter was gone, and desperately looking for any sort of closure about what had happened to her. and the brothers were obviously interviewed many times on this case, later in their lives, and cadmus said that they knew their sister was still there, just barely out of their reach, as if the gods were taunting them or something, and that their failure to find her had deeply traumatized them for the rest of their lives, which to me is terrible to even think about.

eventually, even though they were being eaten up by guilt, by sorrow, the brothers had to settle down somewhere, after years and years of fruitless searching. cadmus ended up settling in boeotia, he founded the city of thebes and married the goddess armonia; cilix found himself in the south of anatolia and he conquered the area, the area we know as cilicia, and he gave origin to the population of the region, which we know as cilician because of him; thasus and telephassa had taken to exploring the northernmost parts of the coast, and they ended up in thracia, which is really far away, and they settled down in the very small island of thasus and they founded a colony there, and this was the farthest away from their homeland of tyre of any of them; as for phoenix, what ended up happening to him is one of the saddest parts of this whole case, in my opinion.

so, you remember how i said that agenor had forbidden his sons from ever coming back to tyre unless they had found their sister? well, the brothers took that really seriously, and for good reason: agenor was one to stick to his promises, no matter how outlandish they were, and none of them wanted to risk what may have happened if they had dared to come back. only phoenix, who was the heir to the throne, dared to come back years after the events, to reclaim his rightful place in the city; and as soon as he and his ships even set foot on the land of tyre, agenor spared his son no mercy whatsoever. at first, he thought that maybe he had actually found europa and brought her back, but once he saw that his sister was not with him he threatened to kill him, kill his own son, if he did not leave immediately, and that he would not be so kind the next time he saw him. and obviously phoenix ran away with his ships, with his people, but he didn't go really that far from home: he settled down in the northern part of the coast, and when his father died and the throne became empty he wasted no time going to tyre, snatching it up and conquering it, and basically conquering all the neighboring territories, and creating the area which we now call phoenicia in his honour.

now, you might be thinking that this story is sad enough on its own, it's one of the sadly many cases of a girl getting kidnapped, disappearing, and her family never knowing what happened to her despite their best efforts, and even falling apart because of her disappearance; but in this case, we actually do know what happened with europa after she was kidnapped away by the divine bull, and i think that once you hear what happened you'll find it a bit ironic, to say the least. so, once the bull took off into the sea with europa on his back, he actually landed in crete, and he brought the girl to the highest point in the island, in the middle of the woods on top of a mountain, so that nobody would notice what was happening and where, which actually means that she was probably not so far away from her brothers when they were first looking for her, since crete must have been one of their first stops, i assume, being so close to the coast.

obviously europa was really terrified, and she had no idea where she was, what was going on, but she had also caught on to the fact that this bull was probably a god, or at least some sort of supernatural creature, and she just froze and let him take her where he wanted, obviously she didn't want to anger him. when they reached the mountaintop, the bull tossed europa to the ground and he revealed himself in his human form; he introduced himself as zeus, the king of the gods, and told her that he had been beguiled by her virginal beauty as soon as he had set his godly eyes on her, and that he had brought her to crete to seduce her and then give her a husband which was fit to marry zeus's lover.

europa was understandably quite shocked: it's one thing to joke around with her friends about seducing zeus, and it was definitely another thing to be actually abducted by him, with the very real possibility of being violated by him. she balked at first, refused to do anything with him, and when zeus saw that forcing himself on her would be of no avail, he went for a different route to get to her heart instead: he gifted her a lavish golden necklace, sculpted by hephaestus himself, and promised her more gifts to come if she were to accept him. and seeing how far he was willing to go to seduce her, to have sex with her, europa thought she had no choice but to accept his advances; she gave up, she let him take her, do whatever he wanted with her, and when she was, later in her life, interviewed about her relationship with zeus and the children she bore by him, she stated that when he would come to seduce her she would just lay down, dissociate herself from what was going on, think of anything else that could get her through the encounters.

every time that zeus came down from the skies to visit her, he would bring a new present, and each one was more miraculous, more enchanted than the last: the first was talos, an animated bronze giant which moved of its own will, and whose entire original purpose was to actually protect europa from being kidnapped or harmed, which i think is quite funny; the second gift was laelaps, a hunting dog which always managed to catch its prey, and the third was a magic golden javelin which never failed to miss its target. and all of those objects have actually gone down in history, and you may have heard of them before, because europa actually kept them, even after the end of her relationship with zeus, as she passed them down to her sons, after all they were still magic items gifted to her by a god and they may turn out to be useful one day.

speaking of europa's sons, her relationship with zeus actually gave her three children, minos, rhadamantos and sarpedon. obviously she couldn't be left to raise them all alone in the woods, but she also couldn't publicly reveal that she had slept with zeus and had his children, which would risk unleashing the wrath of hera on herself, and also the judgment and disbelief of everyone around her; and of course zeus himself knew this, he had done this countless times before, and even to europa's own ancestor io, who you may know as the woman who was turned into a cow to protect her from hera. so, zeus introduced europa to asterion, the king of crete, and through his intermediation the two of them got married, and asterion even adopted arapa's three sons, since he had no male heirs of his own. and all of them, minos, rhadamantos and sarpedon, would go on to become really important figures, especially minos, who would actually ascend to the throne of crete, and europa was able to live a long, happy marriage with asterion and with zeus's blessing, though she never was able to see her brothers, or parents, or friends, or even just her country again, and they in turn never really know what came of her.

so, this was the case of the abduction of europa! i think this is a really peculiar story, like you don't hear many of them nowadays, and this is for a few reasons. obviously this case is extremely wrapped up in its supernatural element, of course, it centers the abduction of a girl by a literal god, and i feel like it just goes to show how far back this case dates to, to the point that the gods were still mingling with humans on a daily basis and engaging with them, both in the positive and, obviously, in the negative ways. and i think that cases which directly center the gods are far more tricky to handle than the ones where everybody is human: like, with the case of procne and philomela, which i talked about in the last episode, all the people involved were humans, they all had the same standard of morality, more or less, so we can more easily empathize with them, say what they did was right or wrong; but the morality of the gods is so deeply different from ours that we can think something is wrong by our standards, but we will never know the actual reasoning behind a god's actual action, we will never know what their morality is, what the moral value judgment of that action is for a god, and i think that's what makes cases like this really tricky to handle, and why i think i'm going to focus more on human-dominated cases in the future, if that makes sense.

another reason why this case really fascinates me is how bittersweet it is: obviously we know, from the reporters who tracked europa down years and even decades after the event, that she ended up being fine, living a long, happy life, but her brothers, her father, her mother never got to know that, and it's not like europa could exactly reach out to them or vice versa, and that is what really makes this whole story stand out to me: it's not every day that you get a case where everybody's fine in the end but they don't know that, and they are still haunted by that uncertainty; it's the way we, as bystanders from centuries and millennia later, are able to get a closure that the family involved was unfortunately never able to get.

i hope you guys enjoyed today's episode, leave a like if you did! let me know what you thought of this case in the comments down below, and if you have any suggestions or any cases you'd like to hear me talk about, and subscribe if you'd like to never miss out on another true crime episode of this podcast. always remember that every tragedy is born of man's hubris, and i will see you guys next time!

#podcast #tagamemnon #true crime #greek mythology #myth retelling #transcripts #europa #abduction of europa #zeus

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halothenthehorns · 3 years

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All in the Family

Chapter 67: The Dark Mark

Regulus was used to landing in the absolute silence by now, only the sounds of his companions groaning and shuffling back to their feet. Wherever they were was dimly lit, with a soft green hue barely enough to discern the closely packed trees surrounding their little clearing. Otherwise, there were no birds chirping, hardly a breeze blowing about, no hint of a presence beyond.

Yet when he heard Smith scream, his first instinct was still to look around for the danger, until he actually spotted her looking up.

He'd swear his heart stopped in his chest, he felt like he may as well be looking into another mirror that could show his future. The Dark Mark hung above them in all its glory.

"What, what is it?" Evans hissed, backing to the far edge of the clearing, looking from the symbol to Alice like she expected all of us to start sprouting extra heads.

No one seemed to want to be the one to tell her, all eyes still fixated on the skulls bottomless depth, the snake entwined through every thought he'd ever had. He knew he couldn't form the words as his throat kept convulsing.

"It's the Dark Mark," Potter finally got out, breaking his gaze away but talking more to her shoes. "It's, You-Know-Who's symbol, it means someone's died."

Regulus felt more than saw as everyone then began inspecting the ground instead, as if waiting for the dead body to appear. They'd once landed in the same spot as a deceased unicorn, would they for a person as well?

"Harry?" She asked of no one.

Potter could only swallow in answer, and now everyone was scanning the ground for the book to give an answer. He did seem the most likely, and some very small horrible part of each of them almost hoped it to be true. Maybe, if this was how Harry died, they would finally be free of this madness casting them about and get back to their time, their life.

No one got a chance to do anything else though as Sirius launched himself at his once friend and socked him clean in the nose.

Peter hit the ground, blood pouring down his face once more, except now from broken cartilage in the center of his face rather than his ear.

"Sirius!"

"Padfoot, mate what the hell-"

"If you killed him too, I swear I'll-" The elder Black fought like crazy to get Lupin off of him again, Potter scrambling in between them desperately. It was so like the last time, right before Lupin had transformed, Frank couldn't help to back even farther away in fright, glancing up at the sky once more, trying to see past the deadly skull and snake to wherever the moon might be.

Alice dithered on the spot, as if she wanted to help but didn't know who. Evans drew her wand but seemed unclear who to point it at. Regulus didn't even hesitate and darted to Peter's side, offering him a hand up, and letting out a sigh of relief when Peter took it.

He may have staggered to his feet, but did nothing more. He didn't draw his wand to defend himself, or fix his now clearly broken and swelling nose, he just clasped his arms in front of him and cringed in place, as if prepared to take whatever blow came next.

"Sirius! Sirius stop!"

He didn't seem capable of even listening to Prongs anymore, he fought out of the arms pinning him like a madman, unable to see or hear anything but James screaming and the green light dousing everything around them. Then his own face exploded with pain.

"Oi!"

"I am not holding him back so you can-"

Regulus drew his wand and pressed it against the pulse in his older brothers neck. He didn't care Potter shoved him back away or that Lupin now looked likely to let Sirius go and throw a punch himself, all he saw was that he finally had Sirius Black's irrevocable attention.

He spat a bit of blood onto the ground, and against all odds an almost cocky grin slipped into place. "Well look at you, throwing a Muggle blow. Didn't think you had it in you."

Regulus had known exactly what he was doing, and didn't let himself be distracted as he flicked his wand to where he wanted him to see. "Look at him Sirius, really look at him."

He instead busied himself by wincing and pulling at his nose as if to fix it back into place, Lupin and Potter stood at his shoulders ready for whatever came next. Regulus was not backing down, he was tired of second guessing himself.

"Regulus, please don't-"

but Regulus spoke louder, stamping his foot and demanding attention. "How can you lecture me on the decisions of my life, dare call them your friends, when you're just as much of a two-faced, back-stabbing, arse!"

His chest was heaving by the end, but it felt like he'd finally thrown a brick from his chest getting all of that out. He stood waiting for Sirius to hit him, yell at him, something. Instead Sirius' sharp gray eyes wavered from him, he finally dared to look where he'd refused before. He tried to turn away just as quickly again, but everything was still swathed in a green light he'd always hated so much.

The air caught in his throat, his eyes stung. If he looked at him for too long all he'd see was his own mistakes seeping into others all over again. It's not like it was hard to imagine what he could have done to Peter in the future to cause him to get James killed...which meant he was the one to-

Turning sharply away, he went as far as he could from the others, mentally begging anyone from following him, not trusting his voice to say it regardless. His foot crunched over something along the way and he didn't even pause to see what.

Potter and Lupin exchanged a wordless look before Lupin took after him once more. The two were just visible in the verdant gloom. Potter just looked desperately between the two and Peter, who was looking after Sirius as well longingly. He'd seen something on his face, there for just a second, but wasn't even sure what to make of it. It certainly wasn't the all-consuming hatred he'd been expecting. Not able to look at anyone else now, he finally quietly summoned the book to him. It came shooting to his hand from a nearby tree, and he read the almost predictable chapter title now.

Regulus for his part was left fuming in place, even if he still did feel just slightly better for finally getting to fully say his piece. He didn't know what was going to happen next, but he liked to think this was a step in the right direction.

Frank, Lily, and Alice all felt like spectators at the most awkward show imaginable. They had no stakes in this recurring bomb of a life. Well, Lily supposed she should, as she watched Potter bend down and pick up whatever Black had stepped on.

Pettigrew was reading quietly but swiftly, before they knew it the peace of the game in the book was as much a thing of the past as it had been the moment they'd landed here. The kids were running for their lives, a Muggle family was being put on a grotesque display. The closer she looked, she saw the way Pettigrew's skin turned sallow as he described it all happening, how sick he looked at the thought that really could be him one day. She watched Potter's hand close convulsively over what appeared to be a toy, a little Quidditch player with its arm popped out of socket.

Now Harry's wand was missing, and he was possibly running for his life. She couldn't get it out of her head, that the Death Eater's were going to catch up to him and end his life. She chanced a glance towards Black and Lupin, standing as close to each other as they could, gazes unwillingly fixed back on the book just like everyone else's. It had amazed her, among other things, how all four of them had almost instantly accepted this future and begun talking about Potter's kid as some inevitable thing to be.

She was only just catching up, she was sixteen for crying out loud! If she ever fantasized about having kids, it certainly wasn't with Potter! She couldn't even pretend to deny it anymore, her heart clenched with painful worry as a boy who was to be her son was separated even farther, now it was only him and his two friends alone with a threat out here.

A nightmare she never even knew she could have seemed about to come to life before her ears, she staggered back in fear even as she drew her wand for a protection that wasn't her own, despite no threat appearing. Harry was surrounded, and she wanted to help him.

Peter Pettigrew's voice shook, he stammered for a few more painful moments before looking to James Potter for what to do, still a source of comfort. Only the steady look of worry for his boy remained as he finally read it out, and there was a tiny break of relief it was only stunners sent his way. Then, a more stable breath of fresh air, as it turned out to be the Ministry coming to call for whichever Death Eater had sent up the signal instead of the opposite.

What happened next was a madhouse, and yet somehow still easier to take in stride as a house-elf was accused of these crimes and a high-end official of the Ministry Winky belonged to seemed to take control of the mess. Harry's wand having done it all was the only piece she latched onto. When had this shift occurred? At what point had she finally allowed herself to admit she was worried about this kid- her kid?

As Arthur Weasley explained in more detail what exactly had happened, and Hermione mentioned she'd know because of a book, it occurred to Lily to think of this backwards. What Harry would think of her if he'd seen how she'd been acting towards him all this time. She glanced helplessly at Alice and Frank, who were standing in each other's arms for comfort.

If Severus had been here, would she be doing the same? Seeking comfort in familiarity? Through every step of this she'd clung to her current life without admitting it may well be her past.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #GoF #Marauders #Wolfstar #Jilly #Regulus Black #Sirius Black #Peter Pettigrew #Remus Lupin #James Potter #Lily Evans #Frank Longbottom #Alice Smith

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