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The Veil | S.B

Paring: Sirius Black X Sister!Reader, Regulus Black X Twin!Sister!Reader

Summary: Sirius’ first thought while falling into the veil wasn’t James, it was his twin siblings.

Word Count: .9K

He was falling, and it felt like forever.

It was probably only a couple of minutes, possibly even seconds, but to him, it felt like it was never going to end. To him had fallen through the veil and was now declared dead. He would never forget the look of utter despair on Harry’s face as he helplessly fell or the way Remus had tears collecting in his eyes. Sirius had just gotten his life back only two years prior, and it was, ending all over again.

He ought to be happy. Maybe he could finally see his best friend again after so many years. But James Potter wasn’t the first thing on his mind. Sirius had lost his younger twin siblings at a very young age. Y/n and Regulus Black to the war while working with Voldemort, or so he had thought.

Actually, Regulus and Y/n Black had died trying to kill Voldemort.

As children, the twins were always close. No one could separate them, not even Walburga or Orion. They never agreed with their parents ideas but were forced to pretend as they did. Both twins had been sorted into Slytherin on their first day at Hogwarts, and it disappointed Sirius to no end.

Y/n could remember the hat wanting to place her in Hufflepuff and begging it not to. Regulus could remember it wanting to put him in Gryffindor much like his brother but pleading with it to place him in the green and silver house instead. From then, Sirius knew that his relationship with his siblings was mainly over.

As he fell, he realized that he could see his siblings again, and all of their memories came back.

“Siri!” A young Y/n called as they chased each other at Uncle Alphard’s yard, “You’re too fast!”

Sirius giggled, “Or you’re too slow!”

Without warning, Regulus tackled his older brother to the ground. Effectively pinning his arms to the grassy floor, the smile on Regulus’ face was unmistakable, “Got you!”

Y/n caught up without a problem now that both the boys were stationary, one pinning the other down. She pushed her twin off Sirius and jumped on top of him. Regulus let out an ‘ompf’ sound. Sirius followed in his sister’s footsteps and landed on top of her. Eventually, they all collapsed and laughed till their stomachs hurt.

—

Y/n and Regulus were sitting in the Hogwarts library together. Their textbooks were laid on top of the wooden desk. They were both in their second year, and Y/n struggled with Potions while Regulus had issues with Herbology. The marauders were sat near the two siblings. Remus was studying, James and Sirius were meant to be looking for prank ideas. Peter was drawing on parchment with his new colored quills.

Sirius stared longingly at his siblings as they compared notes and revised their essays together. Occasionally one of them would make a joke making the other laugh. Madam Pince didn’t even complain. She seemed to have a soft spot for the twins like everyone else.

“You know you can go over there, right?”

“No, I can’t.” Sirius huffed, “They hate me.”

Remus stopped scribbling, “No, they don’t. You’re being dramatic.”

“Mum and dad have completely ruined them.” Sirius complained, “They used to think I was the best older brother ever.”

“I’m sure they still do.” Remus replied, “Just because you guys don’t see eye-to-eye doesn’t mean they can’t still love you.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Rem?” Sirius joked with a tiny smile.

Remus scoffed playfully, “Bite me.”

“Someone already did.”

“Touché.”

—

Potions class was always a bore, especially with Professor Slughorn. Sirius couldn’t count the number of times he had fallen asleep on two hands. Sirius was in his fifth year now, and his OWLs were coming up. Remus had been studying for his OWLs since the beginning of the term, while Sirius couldn’t be bothered.

Something strange had started happening in his fifth year, however. Someone or multiple people began leaving him notes for when he was asleep in class. He couldn’t recognize the handwriting, but it was readable, and the letters were thorough, and that’s all that mattered.

It wasn’t until the summer going into seventh year that Sirius had gotten a note from Regulus in that same handwriting.

—

Thunderstorms were always calming, at least to Sirius they were. But he could remember the way Regulus would curl into his elder brother’s arms, scared of the loud booming sound. Sirius was seven years old when a storm began over Number Twelve Grimmauld Place. Regulus - in his own bed - had been tossing and turning until grabbing the stuffed dog he slept with to go to Sirius’ room.

Regulus carefully climbed into the bed, trying not to wake his older brother but failed, “Reg? What’re you doing?”

“‘M scared.” Regulus muttered as Sirius opened his arms, “Thunder’s scary.”

“’S okay,” Sirius soothed, rubbing his brother’s back; Regulus nuzzled into Sirius’ collarbone, “I won’t let it get you.”

Regulus’ body relaxed, “Love you, Siri.”

“Love you so much more, Reg.”

When Sirius stopped falling, his vision was obscured by black and h/c hair. Two pairs of arms were wrapped around his skinny body. Sirius hesitantly placed his arms around the two different people. When he parted, he saw two very familiar faces. His twin siblings. Behind them were James and Lily Potter.

Tears were collecting in Sirius’ eyes, “You- You guys-“

“You’re here, Siri!” Y/n exclaimed happily, “You’re finally here!”

Regulus chuckled and elbowed his sister, “‘M not sure that’s a good thing, sis.”

Sirius smiled, “It’s a brilliant thing.”

“We missed you.” Regulus said, “But what about Harry?”

“Harry’s strong,” Lily commented; Godric Sirius had missed her voice, “He’ll be just fine.”

So. About that PoT and OotS Rewrite...

This is that PoT OotS rewrite I was talkin’ about earlier. Some stuff has changed.

I’ma start with Lionblaze, because I find the concept for his character to be the most interesting.

Lionblaze: From a young age, Lionblaze is kinda a prodigy. He’s an excellent fighter and hunter and everybody is convinced that he’s gonna be a great warrior, maybe even deputy. He IS the son of the current deputy and the grandson of the current leader, after all. When the Clan hears about the prophecy from Jayfeather, Lionblaze and everybody else is so certain that he’ll play a starring role in it. He hasn’t discovered his powers yet, the way Jayfeather and Hollyleaf have, but he’s convinced that they’ll reveal themselves. It’ll happen annny day now, he’s sure of it.

But he never gets any powers. Sure, he’s a skilled warrior, but it’s pretty obvious that that’s all he’ll ever be. He manages to hold out hope until he’s assigned Dovepaw as his apprentice. Dovepaw, who can read moods so easily. She appears in his dreams one day, and that’s when he realizes: he isn’t anything special, and he never was. He was always just another warrior, while Jayfeather and Hollyleaf keep moving on ahead. He becomes distant from his siblings and clanmates, and struggles to mentor the cat who took his place and the powers that were supposed to be his. This is when he’s recruited to the Dark Forest. Soon, he realizes what their plans are (more on those later), and he and Ivypaw team up to become spies and maybe sabatoge their plans before its too late. They tell their siblings everything they know, and the bridges that Lionblaze burned start to mend. He realizes that, even without powers, he’s still important, and he can still play a role in stopping the Dark Forest.

Jayfeather: Jayfeather is distant from everyone and always has been. He can sometimes be seen talking to cats that aren’t there, and he can predict some events with startling accuracy. Every time he sleeps, he hears thousands of different prophecies, and he can never tell if they’re important or not. But there’s one that he hears, over and over and over again. There shall be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws. He doesn’t understand it, doesn’t know why he hears it so often. He’s still a kit at this point, and one day Squirrelflight (who’s visiting them in the nursury), hears him murmuring it in his sleep. She takes him to see Leafpool, who takes him to see Firestar. He is told in no uncertain terms that he will be a medicine cat. Firestar announces this prophecy to the whole clan, declaring his three grandkits to be the three in the prophecy. Some are skeptical, but between Hollykit’s supersenses and Jaykit’s strong connection to StarClan, they slowly become convinced.

As Jaykit becomes Jaypaw, life becomes even harder for him. The ghosts of old medicine cats are always whispering rebukes and advice and stories in his ears, and all he wants is for them to shut. Up. He has constant visions in his dreams of things that have happened, things that are happening, and things that will happen. When he first visits the Moonpool, the voices in his head become so loud that he flees. He hates going to the Moonpool, and dreads the night of the half moon. It never gets easier.

Jayfeather gets on fine with Lionblaze, but he’s much closer with his sister. Hollyleaf has similar problems to him because of her super senses, and the two often sneak out of camp to find the quietest parts of the forest. They then spend hours sitting beside one another, basking in the pleasent silence and stillness. Lionblaze joins them every now and then, but he often gets restless and leaves. This habit starts during their apprenticeships, but continues well into their adulthood.

As the Dark Forest battle approaches, Jayfeather gets more and more visions about it. He sees thousands of different outcomes. He watches his clanmates win and lose and live and die. At first he throws himself into his work to avoid thinking about it, but he doesn’t succeed. Eventually he just holes himself up in his den, rarely eating or drinking, and fighting himself to keep his eyes open. The instant they close, even just to blink, more images flash across his mind. When he hears about what Lionblaze and Ivypaw/pool are doing, he freaks out even more. Finally, he breaks down and tells them what he’s been seeing in his dreams. When the invasion finally happens, Jayfeather is able to guide the clans into making the best, least damaging and most effective choices.Warriors still die, sure, but it isn’t the massacre he saw happening so often in his dreams.

Hollyleaf (and also the entire plot, apparently): Hollykit has always been a nosy busybody. It doesn’t help that she can hear every conversation every cat has ever had within the clan territories. She is a firm believer in the Warrior Code, and she believes that her power was gifted to her by StarClan in order to make sure that everybody follows the code. She’s ambitious, with plans to become leader in order to enforce the code. The Dark Forest tries to recruit her, but she knows who Tigerstar and Thistleclaw are. She knows what they did. She refuses to compromise her morals for the sake of her ambitions. She’ll become leader without the help of murdery rulebreakers no. 1 and 2, thank you very much.

The prophecy just strengthens her convictions. She was chosen by StarClan! She and her siblings will save the clans from themselves. She can already see it! Hollystar, noble leader of ThunderClan, with Lionkit as her loyal deputy and Jayfeather as her noble medicine cat. She’s a little jealous of Lionblaze, popular golden boy. But that’s fine. They’ll see her worth in time. They’ll all see.

When she hears the truth of her parentage she has a breakdown. How can she uphold the Warrior Code if her very existance breaks it? She does not kill Ashfur, but she does flee into the night. She travels to the Tribe, joining their ranks and becoming a Prey-hunter. All is well for moons and moons and moons, until a certain gray apprentice is born and Yellowfang visits Hollyleaf in her dreams. Yellowfang essentially tells Hollyleaf to get her head out of her ass. The last member of the three is born, and it’s time for Hollyleaf to return home. She talks to Stoneteller about her dream, and Stoneteller tells her that the angry cat with poor dental hygene is right: Hollyleaf has been an admirable member of the Tribe, but her place is and always has been with her clanmates and her siblings. Hollyleaf says goodbye to Stormfur and Brook (who she was good friends with) and she leaves.

She fully intended to go back to ThunderClan, but then she hears something going on in WindClan. Dissent. Rebellion. And, worst of all, mentions of the dark forest and the cats training there.

Onestar is an ineffective leader, and cats are starting to take notice. They hate his stupid wars and assholish attitude. He never listens to any of them! And he puts his own pride before the needs of the Clan. The younger WindClan warriors and apprentices are convinced that Onestr is horrible. A pair of charismatic young tom by the name of Houndleap has promised to make them strong. Houndleap will help them rise up against Onestar and replace him with a real leader, like Breezepelt, who seems to hate Onestar the most.

The older warriors don’t like Onestar to much either, but the whispers of these young cats scare them. Surely they wouldn’t murder a leader? Even if he was a terrible one like Onestar. Isn’t it lucky that they have a cat like Snowtuft to rely on? One who shows them how to defend their leader, and which cats they can’t trust? So handy! Sure, he’s in the Dark Forest, but he just wants to help. And he can’t have been that evil, or they would’ve heard of him, they way they know Tigerstar and Brokenstar.

Hollyleaf hears these whispers and hushed conversations, and she knows what she has to do. She has to save WindClan and Onestar! And that’s how she finds herself in the WindClan camp, requesting an audience with Onestar.

She’s obviously not welcome in WindClan, but Onestar doesn’t care. She’s one of the ThunderClan prophecy cats! Firestar’s precious grandkit is in WindClan, offering to become a WindClan warrior. Onestar couldn’t resist this brilliant opportunity to one-up ThunderClan and Firestar. Hollyleaf is now Hollystorm, warrior of WindClan and right hand man of Onestar.

Her relationship with Crowfeather could generously be described as frosty. Her relationship with Nightcloud is a dumpster full of turds that is on fire. Her relationship with Breezepelt is a planet made of turds that’s flying into the sun. Her relationship with Heathertail is... complicated. They hate each other, except they seem to be the only two cats who want to help Onestar (I really ike ace!Hollyleaf/storm, but I also kinda like Hollyheather in this specific AU. They hat each other, but at the same time, they’re the only ones they can trust, and I love that dynamic. But I also like Heatherbreeze! AHHHHHH).

Hollystorm’s place in WindClan came with a few caveats, of course. First: she couldn’t talk to anyone from ThunderClan, ever. Second: She had to swear on her life to defend Onestar at all costs. And third: she would spy on the other clans. She hates spying, and she tries to be as unhelpful as possible, but it’s a careful balancing act, and sometimes she has to bite the bullet. She’s doing the right thing, she’s sure of it. But she’s equally sure that she’s doing it the wrong way. And she’s also sure that Onestar was a horrible choice as a leader!

During her time in WindClan, she bonds with Ashfoot. She respects the wise and intelligent deputy, who seems to hold on to her convictions even while dealing with Onestar. Hollystorm tells Ashfoot why she joined WindClan, and the deputy develops a huge amount of respect for her. This warrior had the ground ripped from beneath her paws. She left her home and her family, and when she decided to return, she realized that something was wrong, and she chose her principals and doing the right thing over her old friends and family. As both are certain that Onestar would be hugely offended by the idea that amybody would dare rebel against him OR that he would banish half of WindClan, they decide to team up and take matters into their own paws. They try to get the other warriors on their side. Roughly half of the older warriors and a few of the younger ones agree to stop seeing their Dark Forest friends. But many WindClanners are still visiting with Houndleap and Snowtuft. Hollystorm and Ashfur realize that, if they want to save WindClan, they’re gonna have to take matters into their own paws. It’s time to pay ThunderClan a visit.

Both Ashfoot and Hollystorm hate the idea of going behind Onestar’s back, but they need advice. Hollystorm has heard conversations had by her siblings, heard Firestar’s gathering announcements about the Dark Forest. ThunderClan knows something Hollystorm doesn’t, and she needs to learn what it is fast. Things are speeding up, the WindClan warriors are getting ready for another civil war...

They request an audience with Firestar in the middle of the night, and it is granted begrudgingly. Hollystorm tells them about the unrest in WindClan, and Firestar tells her everything he knows about the Dark Forest. Lionblaze, Ivypaw, and Dovewing join them and tell them all about what Tigerstar and Thistleclaw are doing. Hollystorm is horrified to hear about this. She always thought of Lionblaze as whiny, egotistical, and spoiled (even though she loved him). As awful as she feels, hearing about the ways in which he’s risking his life and reputation, she’s also so proud of him. Together, they realize that the Dark Forest is in every clan. How could they not be? Firestar decides to call an emergency gathering.

Before they leave the camp, Hollystorm demands to see Jayfeather. She was always so close to him, and the fact that he was not at the meeting concerns her. When she hears about how isolated he’s become, she is shocked and appaled and she races into the medicine den. They get into an arguement over, well, everything that’s happened to them. When they finally finish yelling at each other, Hollystorm takes a deep breath and apologizes. She relays the things she’s learned about the Dark Forest in WindClan, and Jayfeather tells finally breaks. He confesses to the others about the visions that haunt his mind day and night.

They leave before the sun rises so that they don’t get caught by Onestar. Ashfoot sends Hollystorm back to her den. Later that day Ashfoot tells Onestar that she met with Firestar, and that the ThunderClan leader has called for an emergency gathering. Onestar is furious. How dare his deputy betray him like this?!? She does her best to calm him down, tells him about the Dark Forest cats who are manipulating his warriors, and he makes his decision. Every WindClan warrior who he doesn’t trust is to be exiled. In other words, half the clan (including Ashfoot) is getting kicked out. Nobody is happy.

The exiled cats refuse to leave. They dedicate their lives to WindClan, and this asshole kicks them out because of what his deputy says??? No. No no no no no. Not happening. Several of the older warriors who are still meeting with Snowtuft are among the crowd being exiled, and they have had enough. They were going to defend Onestar, but maybe he doesn’t deserve that if he’s gonna make stupid decisions like this. It isn’t long until a fight breaks out.

Hollystorm and Ashfoot are conflicted. Onestar has truly hit rock bottom, but they hate the idea of fighting against him. They eventually choose to fight against him. They hate the idea of turning on a leader, but Onestar has proven to be undeserving of his place.

Onestar and his defenders lose. The young warriors choose Breezepelt as their leader. Breezepelt hates Hollystorm for her heritage, and he hates Ashfoot for being Onestar’s deputy. Both are exiled, along with Onestar’s remaining supporters. They go to the gathering island for the emergency gathering.

The three clans and the WindClan exiles (minus a few who are sticking wih Onestar) meet to discuss the Dark Forest issue. Hollystorm notes that many of the other clans are expiriencing unrest, including ThunderClan.

The other clan leaders are shocked by what happened in WindClan and afraid of what Breezepelt might do at Houndleap’s demand. Several members of the other Clans confess to being visited by Dark Forest cats. Hawkfrost and Mapleshade are in RiverClan, and Clawface and Brokenstar are in ShadowClan. The clans realize that the Dark Forest is using them and tearing them apart to weaken them so that when they strike, the clans will be fractured and weak.

The clans unite as one under the joint leadership of Blackstar, Firestar, and Mistystar, with promises to keep each other updated. Warriors are encouraged to stop meeting with the Dark Forest cats, and to report everything they know to their leaders.

The Dark Forest, realizing that the clans are prepared for them and no longer fractured, decide to change tactics. Hollystorm spies on WindClan, discovering that Breezestar has invited many rogues and loners into WindClan to replenish their ranks for the coming war. WindClan patrols routinely invade the territories of the other clans, stealing prey and attacking patrols. Hollystorm can hear them approaching, and Jayfeather can predict the most likely attacks, but cats still die.

Soon, the other clans decide that enough is enough. They decide to ambush WindClan under the cover of darkness on the night of the new moon. While they’re at it, they send out a group to search for Onestar. But when they enter the camp, they find it deserted. The WindClan medicine cat, Antpelt, warned of their approach, and the cats are all set for an ambush, so silent that not even Hollystorm can detect their presence. Jayfeather bursts into the camp and warns then to retreat just before the WindClan warriors leap out of the shadows.

The combined might of the clans is not enough to fight of WindClan, not with its new rogue army, not during a surprise attack. They suffer heavy losses and retreat.

Jayfeather warns them that the Dark Forest is liable to strike back any day. The clans are weakened, and they have many warriors at their command. The clans move to the ThunderClan camp. It’s small but easily defendable, and they set to work shoring up its defenses.

Hollystorm misses WindClan, she finds. She didn’t notice, but it grew on her. She suspects that, once this whole mess dies down, she may return. She’s given up completely on her dreams of leadership. ThunderClan doesn’t feel like home anymore, not the way WindClan’s moors did. And Onestar would probably never even take her back, nevermind appoint her as his deputy. But she’s still determined to be the best warrior she can be. Maybe she can’t be a leader, and maybe the clans don’t need to be saved from themselves, but they do need her to do the right thing. Not spying or accusing cats of breaking the code, but fighting the real threats, the real dangers. She needs to save the clans from the Dark Forest, to take WindClan back from Breezestar, and make sure that it doesn’t fall into the claws of Onestar. Because sometimes the code can be wrong, and sometimes a bad leader needs to go.

Before the battle, Jayfeather tells her not to protect him. If she tries, she will die. She promises not to, but plans to try anyway.

She’s able to warn the clans of the approach of WindClan and the Dark Forest. The ThunderClan camp becomes a bloodbath, and Hollystorm finds herself in the middle of it. She moves to the medicine den, defending the medicine cats, the injured, the elders, and the kits. She fights side-by-side with Lionblaze and Ivypool. When Hawkfrost confronts them, she kills him, but is seriously injured in the process. She is brought into the medicine den for healing. Jayfeather is furious that she didn’t listen to him and terrified that she might die. The voices of those ancient medicine cats whisper in his ear, but this time they help him focus. They guide him gently and he manages to save her.

Onestar and Breezestar fight it out too. Just when it looks like Breezestar is about to lose, several WindClan warriors pounce on Onestar. He is killed multiple times, and soon his soul departs to StarClan.

Firestar still has his dramatic confrontaion with Tigerstar, and he still kills him. However instead of being killed by a tree, Firestar dies of the wounds he recieved in the deadly battle.

When the battle is over, the leaders demand that Breezestar step down. At first, he wants to resist, but he then realizes that many of his clanmates have either swapped sides or abandoned him entirely. He and Nightcloud abandon the clans and do not return for some time. Ashfoot becomes the new leader of WindClan, and she reunites WindClan. She names Harespring her deputy.

Hollystorm decides to follow her. She will always love her brothers, and she has finally reconciled with Squirrelflight and Leafpool after the battle, but WindClan is her home now, and she would never feel comfortable anywhere else.

Coming up soon: Dovewing, Ivypool, and some extra stuff! (What happened to Ashfur, who mentored Hollyleaf and Lionblaze, more Ashfoot stuff, etc.)

We Talk at Night

This is set in my au: Our War of Hearts after the tournament and Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji are married; @ruensroad -  Here’s to having Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian have a good relationship. They deserve it. 

It’s a fact that Lan’s are devils with their pretty faces and smiles that outshine the sun. It’s because of one of those damn smiles he’s standing here in his study looking like a fool at a crate. A crate that had been delivered by Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji disrupting his morning. He’d purposely avoided opening the box till now while almost everyone else was asleep. He doesn’t need to open it to know the contents.The letter Wei Wuxian gave him from Lan Xichen let him know that it was the promised painting.

He could feel the heavy weight of anxiety on his chest. Jiang Cheng wanted to open the crate but also send it back. But how could he? After he’d told the other he anticipated seeing it’s completion. The artwork inside is a gift not from one sect leader to another but to one man who was trying to court him?

“Are you going to open that or what?” Wei Wuxian chuckled, breaking him free of his thoughts. Jiang Cheng turned to see his brother leaning against the door frame. His arms folded with a smirk on his face.

“I think I’ll send it back.” Jiang Cheng sassed giving him a glare.

“If you were going to do that then it never would have made it here.” Wei Wuxian replied with a knowing look. Jiang Cheng couldn’t deny it. He had sent things back from other sects mid route before ever reaching Lotus Pier.

Wei Wuxian hummed as pushed himself off the frame walking into his brother’s study. “Since, we both know that you want to know what it looks like. Then let’s do it like this.” He came to a stop beside the crate leaning against it. “Close your eyes and I will take it out to show it to you.”

“Fine.” Jiang Cheng huffed closing his eyes. Wei Wuxian grinned biting his lip to keep the laughter bubbling up his throat inside. He sat chenqing on his brother’s desk before sliding off the top of the box. He gently laid it down then pulled the four bolts holding the side in place. Once the bolts were off he lifted off the side revealing that the painting was hung in the center.

Jiang Cheng tried to calm his curious mind and racing heart. He’d been so enthralled by just the start he wondered if he could take seeing the completed piece.

“Oh, didi.” Wei Wuxian gasped taking a step back so that he was now beside his brother. Unable to keep his curiosity at bay, Jiang Cheng opened his eyes. It was like time stopped as his eyes devoured the painting. He’d wondered why it had looked so familiar at the start.He stepped forward, reaching out to touch the painting. The texture wasn’t smooth but coarse from the build up of paint.

The painting is of the Jiang family’s private floating pavilion in their lotus lake at night. To make it even more personal in the pavillion is figures similar to Shijie, Wei Ying, and himself. How could he not recognize it? Jiang Cheng could no longer count how many times that he’s stared up at the sky from that same spot lost in thought since his siblings had found their new families. The robes and the tea had felt like something more but this had to be a declaration that it wasn’t just an infatuation. Those closest to him know how important family is to him, and that having someone honor his family in this way. It made him feel touched and understood by Lan Xichen.

Wei Wuxian immediately turned to look at his brother’s reaction. Worry filled his brain and heart at what his brother would think. He knew that Jiang Cheng didn’t believe that he was worthy of love. Between their parents and the horrible engagement Jiang Cheng had kept his heart closed. The only love he showed and accepted from was from their family. He had been overjoyed that Jiang Cheng had accepted Lan Zhan and the two do have a good relationship despite the chaos that had happened after he’d gotten married. But his little brother deserved his own happiness.

His chest tightened and his lips parted in temporary shock at the look of utter awe on Jiang Cheng’s face as the other reached out to touch the painting. He also noticed the other’s eyes becoming glossy from sheer joy.

“Didi?” Wei Wuxian called for him in a low private tone.

“Yes.” Jiang Cheng replied, his voice shaky as he swallowed remembering that he wasn’t alone. His eyes burning from tears threatening to fall. He dropped his hand back to his side.

“Glad you didn’t send it back?” Wei Wuxian teased nudging his side with his elbow.

“Shut up.” Jiang Cheng fussed with no heat to his words as he shoulder bumped him back.

“Are you going to keep it here?” Wei Wuxian asked gesturing to Jiang Cheng’s study.

“Yes.” Jiang Cheng replied with a nod and a smile.

“Good, because it’s too beautiful for those greedy eyed dignitaries.” Wei Wuxian grinned earning a rare real laugh from his brother. He couldn’t help but think that if this is just a taste of the happiness that Lan Xichen could give his brother. Didn’t he owe it to Jiang Cheng to give Lan Xichen his blessing?

“Well then, I will leave you in peace with your gift. Goodnight, didi.” Wei Wuxian chuckled noticing that Jiang Cheng had become enthralled with the painting again.

“Goodnight, gege.” Jiang mumbled just as he was about to walk out the door. He froze feeling an ache in his chest and even his eyes burn. It’d been a long time since he’d been called that by his younger sibling and it always shook his heart to hear him say it. Wei Wuxian waited till he got to his shared rooms with Lan Zhan to let out the happy chuckle that’d bubbled up from his stomach at that moment.

“Wei Ying?” His Lan Zhan greeted him with a curious but amused expression on his face. His beautiful warrior of a husband was already in their bed. Though he was sitting up with back against the headboard. His shoulder length hair down and free of his forehead ribbon. Only dressed in his white thin inner robe. A book in his lap. He must have been reading while waiting for him to come back. He’d told him that he’d wanted to speak with his brother after Jiang Cheng had mentioned that he still hadn’t opened the crate.

“Lan Zhan.” Wei Wuxian replied with a beaming smile. He began to take off the layers of his robes as he approached the bed.

“I assume that your conversation with Jiang Cheng went well?” Lan Zhan asked closing his book then setting it on the nightstand. A wave of his hand had the candles extinguish their flames.

“Yes.” Wei Wuxian answered happily as his husband lifted the comforter to allow him to crawl into bed. As he snuggled up beside him tangling their legs, he rested his head on the other’s chest over his heart. Lithe fingers making their way in his hair gently combing the silky strands.

“He called me gege.” He whispered. Wei Wuxian felt the fingers still for a just moment before continuing.

“That’s good, Wei Ying.” Lan Zhan replied, he knew how important those words were to Wei Wuxian and the other didn’t have to look up to know there was a smile on his face.

“Lan Zhan?”

“Yes, Wei Ying.”

“Tell Lan Xichen to come to the solstice festival.” Wei Wuxian replied earning himself a kiss to the top of his head. He fell asleep with a smile on his face feeling he’d made the right choice.

10 Things that would’ve Improved the Game of Thrones Final Season (For Me)

So it came to my attention that recently it was the First Anniversary of the Final Episode of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’. I was taken back to my memory of the BinGOT thing we had at work where we all made predictions of who lived, died and ‘won’ from the last ep (I was in 2nd or 3rd place). And since my mother has started binging it during quarantine I thought in the spirit of that environment I’d discuss a little what I would’ve changed in the final season.

Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 Below, if you haven’t watched it then you’re better off not reading this frankly, if you haven’t been spoiled already at least.

So for starters, the final episode is not the worst tv I’ve ever seen, it just was a sloppy final season in general that really didn’t satisfy the 2 years of hype waiting for it, it’s like with the How I Met Your Mother finale, but that annoyance being more than one episode. But without further ado here are 10 things I would’ve changed about the final season Note: Most will involve the finale. The first 2 episodes were great.

10 - Ten Episodes The Long Night was 1 episode, the LONG NIGHT. A Culmination of the army of living and dead confined into one episode. One of the main problems with the final season was that the pacing was a bit rushed, it made character progression seem unnatural and dropped long-built plot points like water through a sieve. With 10 episodes, which was not a big ask given that this was the usual number and the gravitas of it being the final season would easily allow it to be green lit. D&D immediately backed themselves into a corner by giving a limit they weren’t used to and too much content to put in.

9 - Bite of the Spider Varys’ death was an upsetting start of the penultimate episode, while I would’ve loved him to have survived start to end and potentially ended on top (because he’s never shown to be as cunning or dangerous as he is in the books) there was some sense in him dying. However, Varys was shown sending a letter before his arrest and that never came back up, the finale could’ve used this by revealing to the public Jon’s true heritage, which would’ve immediately undermined Dany’s claim and set up a better conflict. Also we never knew what the voice in the flames said to him...

8 - A More Fitting Long Night While everyone probably popped hard for Arya killing the Night King, myself included, the nature of it was rather abrupt. I don’t think anyone can buy that she sneaked past that entire army. I do feel like the Night King was just a MacGuffin for the Long Night, given that he did so little in the actual fight. This is where a multi-part Long Night would’ve been key as well, going from the Night King being immune to Dragonfire to dying a bit later was not a good pace, and we lacked any conflict with Jon like we teased twice, Arya probably wasn’t the most poetic person to kill him either but GoT seldom did poetic deaths (Joffrey, Cersei, Euron). While the Long Night had exemplary deaths like Theon, Lyanna, Jorah and Beric, the Night King fell among the ranks of Melisandre and Edd in terms of meh deaths. The Long Night should’ve been a bigger bloodbath than it was, half the Dothraki somehow survived remember, we didn’t get to see Ghost fight at all either, no giant spiders, a lot of the tension was lost with the way some fight scenes were filmed; it was too easy to read between the lines and not enough characters had any true ‘oh god this person could die’ scenes.

7 - Resolution for the Characters we didn’t See and Plots unresolved With so much funding and finality in the show, there felt like there could’ve been more stuff that could’ve been resolved; what was the Quaith’s prophecy about? What really happened with the Doom of Valyria? Why does Dragonglass and Valyrian steel kill White Walkers? What is Daario doing after Dany died? Were the Faceless Men really that okay with letting Arya wander around knowing their skillset? Nobody hired them to help in the war either. What happened to the remnants of that warlock dude who stole the baby dragons, they sent one scorpion and that’s it, what happens with the Little Birds now that they’re leaderless? Who was Azor Ahai? What were the spirals about? There are a lot of questions the show kinda just, ignored. 

6 - The Mad Queen So, Dany going from ‘I’ll stop if they surrender’ to ‘Burn them fucking all’ was abrupt for many, the majority of fans were not ready or willing to accept turning on their Kaleesi in just one episode. While I could see the conclusion coming from being jumped, losing another ‘child’ and her closest friend as well as her new boyfriend being her nephew and a legitimate threat to her legitimacy despite already pledging fealty, Dany’s descent could’ve used more time, and less naivety.  While the death of the dragon was a huge shock, the idiocy fell on Dany in thinking that Cersei would play fair and wouldn’t try to occupy Dragonstone while she abandoned it. There also fell inconsistency when the same fleet and rows of Scorpion crossbows suddenly got Stormtrooper aim during ‘The Bells’. Euron is a renowned sailor, he ruined a Dornish fleet in a previous season, he may be an annoying bastard but you have to treat his naval tactics with a bit more respect - and make Dany less stupid with Cersei doing Cersei things. A lot of people definitely needed more time in buying the idea that Dany had lost her cool and that she blamed all of Westeros to justify burning everyone unashamedly.

5 - Proper Redemption We all know who we’re talking about. Jaime, Jaime, Jaime. In the end he just proved Olenna’s point didn’t he? And his turn away from redemption was only to serve as an example point for Tyrion to use to convince Jon to kill Dany. Jaime didn’t have to live, but he didn’t have to die rushing to Cersei’s rescue, or even due to Euron stabbing him. If anything Jaime should’ve died with some Honour, to be the inverse of Ned as he was presented in Season 1.

4 - My Lady does not have to mean M’Lady This is probably the most selfish ones of my 10 but as a shipper at my very heart and soul I wanted one, at least one, ship to survive this entire turmoil and Gendry and Arya were that couple. We almost had it as well, but then for some mad reason D&D decided that Gendry, despite literally saying that “none of it will be worthwhile if you’re not with me”, stayed in Storm’s End. Arya’s character endgame was right in her venturing off not being bound by the fact that she’s a noble, but Gendry spent a lot of time not caring that he was of Kingsblood to basically being his Father’s son. He’ll rule Storm’s End, marry some woman to have kids, but he’ll still have fallen into the same pit as King Robert did. It would’ve been much more satisfying and hopeful if Gendry abandoned the titles and land he never wanted or needed to accompany someone he loves and who loves him back on an adventure into the unknown. She’s not a ‘lady’ if she’s only marrying a blacksmith and love is the death of duty.

3 - Sansa is NOT Smart (and gets what she actually deserves) Right. So I really, really didn’t like Sansa. Like, I get it, she got held hostage by the Lannisters, watched her father get beheaded, got accused of murder, learned that her brother and mother died, watched the guy who fancied her mother and kissed her kill her aunt and then got effectively sold to an abuser in an arranged marriage. But Sansa is not the smartest player in the game, it was annoying that they tried to portray her as one, she had one idea that anyone could’ve told you ‘don’t be stupid against Ramsay Bolton’. She spent all of Season 8 mainly giving side eye like a petty bitch, completely trying to undermine Dany despite the two being very very similar (remember Dany was raped, sold off in an arranged marriage and watched family members get killed too) to the point where she was conspiring for Jon to usurp her. And in reality she took her ball and left, she was so pissy that the leaders didn’t pick her to be Queen of Westeros that she literally pointed out her own brother’s infertility, claimed that the North wouldn’t bow to a monarch, then declared herself Queen.  Hide the ‘Yas Queen’ goggles for a sec, this wasn’t empowering she was throwing her own brother under the bus because she wanted to be queen, and she learned far too much from Littlefinger and Cersei’s playbook to actually be a just one. The North is allowed to be an independent nation, but Sansa’s ‘victory’ was more earned by virtue of a lot of shit happened to her than her actually demonstrating qualities to be queen.

2 - Bran Stark can’t come to the Phone right now... While we’re on the subject of Stark children not being fit rulers, Bran. What a cockamamie decision that was. I was 100% behind the destruction of the Iron Throne, but the chorus of laughter with a democratic rule was a bit of a slap in the face. Of all the choices though, Bran had to be near the bottom, it felt completely unearned that he spent literal seasons disconnecting from the world even to the point where he told Meera and Sam that Bran Stark is no longer here anymore only for Bran Stark to magically resurface when a crown is in waiting. I think it defeats the whole Three Eyed Raven thing too, the guy isn’t really one for the people, which is the problem every other ruler before him failed at. If you can’t pick a just person to lead, then why not a council instead? Just using Bran was a poor and messy decision.

1 - THE MOTHERFUCKING VALONQUAR One of the few expectations across all of Game of Thrones was the wondering over whether Cersei was gonna get what’s coming to her, the Maggy the Frog prophecy was going along quite well up until the Valonquar bit, where the younger sibling that was going to choke the life out of her was: bricks. BRICKS! Of all the long-winded prophecy foreshadowings to drop this one was the worst, Cersei (and Jaime) died in underwhelming, thoughtless fashion, the lack of fanfare on killing off one of the best and most ‘love to hate’ villains in the show only cemented the fact that the finale was not able to live up to the hype. True, most of these are small changes, but it’s worth remembering that there was some good coming out of the final season and it was the lack of those little things and attention to detail that led to the season ending on an underwhelming note.

We did however get a good ton of memes out of it, and at work a long-winded discussion on who should get the ‘winner’ 5-points (compared to the 1 correct points) since we had technically agreed that the 5 points goes to “whoever correctly guesses who sits on the Iron Throne” XD I still can’t believe I was right in Drogon melting the throne though that was one in a million

Our Golden Days (Chapter 3)

It was hot in the cave, almost unbearably so. But Sol was used to it.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, ignoring his own light-headedness and the trails of sweat dripping slowly down his back and chest. It seemed silly to him that he had to do this - undergo training exercises and meditation in this hot cave. Lucifel was the one who would bond to the legendary bird Moltres, not him. Still, family rules were family rules, so he sat on the rough cave floor with his older brothers and younger sister and tried not to let his mind wander.

The next thing he knew, he was blinking at the ceiling while his brother Lucifel dabbed at his face with a cool cloth, looking amused.

His face flushed. “I did not faint!” he declared to head off any teasing. He rolled away from Lucifel’s ministrations and took stock. He didn’t feel dizzy or sick, which indicated that he was probably right. To his relief, he hadn’t fainted in front of his brothers. He would never live it down if he had, ever.

Lucifel sat back on his heels, an amused grin on his face. “No, I think you just fell asleep,” he said. “Again.”

“It’s just ‘cause it’s warm in here, and I have to hold still. I’ll feel better once I move around a bit.” His face still flaming, Sol marched toward the punching bags. To his embarrassment, Lucifel stood and followed him, holding out a water bottle.

“Remember to keep hydrated. Since you need to move around, maybe you could teach Candela how to roll like you promised last week,” he said.

Sol jerked a shoulder as if he were annoyed, but actually he didn’t mind helping Candela with her training. He was only a few years older than her, but teaching her how to do stuff made him feel important. “Fine. C’mere, Kittykat!”

Candela was sitting close to where Sol had been, absently scratching her ear. At Sol’s call, her eyes opened and blinked once, slowly. “What is it?” she asked, getting up and padding over on legs that had finally started to lose their baby stubbyness and get some real length.

Sol slung a sweaty arm over her shoulders and led her over to the mats. “I promised to teach you how to roll, didn’t I? Let’s do it.”

Her face brightened in a smile. “Really? Yay!”

Satisfied, Lucifel moved off to supervise Pele and Epifanio while Sol and Candela worked together to pull mats off the stack and set them up in an open area away from where their older brothers were training. Now that his body was in motion, Sol found it easier to put the stifling heat out of his mind as he showed Candela the steps. She mimicked him, somewhat clumsily, but he thought with pride that it was a good start.

But within ten minutes, Candela’s full lips settled into full-on pout-mode, leaving Sol thinking ‘Uh oh.’

“What’s the matter Kittykat?” he asked, unwittingly mirroring Lucifel’s posture as he crouched in front of her when she sat on the mat in a sulky pile.

“I’m not doing it right,” she grumbled, pout still firmly in place. Her arms were crossed over her chest in childish temper, and she refused to look at him.

“You’re doing fine, Kittykat.”

“But I’m not doing it like you.”

“I’ve had more practice. You’ll get it. Just keep trying. Okay? Come on!” He took her hands and gave them a gentle tug, but she refused to budge.

“Don’t wanna.”

Sol leaned back, at a loss. Candela was very shy when out in public, but at home among family she was very stubborn and spoiled. And she was frustrated.

Sol opted for a different tactic. He poked her in the side, making her twitch. Then he poked her again, and again, until she had to uncross her arms to swat at his hands. “Awww, is widdle baby Candela frustrated?” he drawled. “Maybe she’s not ready to train with the big boys, huh? Maybe she needs to wait with Mommy?”

As expected, her small face screwed up with outrage, and she attempted to hit him with a fist. Even at six years old, Candela was a strong child, so Sol made sure the blow didn’t land. Laughing, he shifted away. “C’mon, Kittykat, show me you can do it.”

“No.” She glared at him, then scooted around on her butt until her back was to him.

Huh. Usually mocking her worked. Her pride would kick in, and then she’d just have to prove that she could do whatever Sol said she couldn’t.

Before Sol could think of something else to get her motivated, Epifanio swooped in.

“What’s going on here?” Epifanio asked, scooping an arm around Candela’s stomach and scooping her up as she squealed so that she hung upside-down with her back against his chest. Her arms dangled limply for a moment before she reached up to grab his forearm for added security. “You guys loafing around? Huh? Don’t you know it’s time to traaaaaain?” he drew the last word out as he spun in three rapid circles.

Candela squealed again, then burst into involuntary laughter. “Nooooo, Epifanio! Put me down!”

“Nuh-uh. Slackers gotta face their big bro.” Keeping his head well away from Candela’s kicking feet, Epifanio began to do squats while keeping his grip on his sister. “See? The rest of us are working hard!”

Still laughing, Candela held out her hands to where Lucifel and Pele were boxing. “Lucifel!” she cried. “Lucifel, help! Epifanio’s being mean!”

Lucifel and Pele dropped their fists and stepped away from each other. Lucifel came over to see what the matter was as Pele looked on.

He grabbed Candela under the arms and swung her upright as Epifanio’s hands fell away. “Hey, sweetheart. What’s going on?”

“Candela’s sulking,” Epifanio said. “So I made her laugh.”

“Oh? That doesn’t sound like being mean to me. Hm?” With a few bounding steps Lucifel reached the stack of training mats and dumped Candela onto it. She bounced on impact, giggling uncontrollably. She rolled off the mats and landed on her hands and knees on the floor before raising to a kneeling position, a huge grin on her face.

“You guys are the worst,” she declared. “The worst!”

She yelped and ran as Epifanio dove for her. “No! Lucifel, stop him!” she laughed as he chased her around the cave.

“Come on, you two, time to settle down,” Lucifel said, clapping his hands sharply to get their attention. The big grin on his face took away from his teacher voice. “Now that you’ve got your blood moving, you can go back to meditation.”

Sol and Candela both groaned. Epifanio took advantage of Candela’s distraction to scoop her up and cart her to the meditation circle, where he dumped her on the floor. “You heard the man. Get to it, pipsqueak.” Leaving her there, he jogged over to take Lucifel’s place as Pele’s sparring partner.

Lucifel clapped a hand on Sol’s shoulder, the corners of his eyes still creased from laughter. “You too, Sol. You especially need your meditation. Temper your hotheadedness a bit,” he said.

Sol rolled his eyes but dropped down next to Candela, who had closed her eyes and was scrunching up her face in concentration. That was so not the way meditation worked that Sol couldn’t resist poking her. Her eyes flew open and she poked him back, viciously, in the side. She had pointy little fingers, and Sol had to bite back a laugh to keep from drawing his older brothers’ attention back to them and getting the whole thing started again.

“I hate meditating,” Candela confided in him once they’d settled down again and were pretending to try to meditate. Instead they were watching Lucifel referee the match between Pele and Epifanio. “It’s boring. I have too many thoughts.”

“Me too, Kittykat.”

“I wanna play.”

“I know, but we have to do our work first.” Part of being the older sibling, Sol had learned, was being the responsible one and enforcing the rules. It sucked.

Abandoning pretense, Candela leaned forward to brace her elbows on her knees as they watched Pele be defeated and Lucifel take his place. As he took his first swing at Epifanio, Sol couldn’t help but admire his form.

“Lucifel’s so cool,” Candela said.

“Yeah, yeah he is. But don’t tell him I said so.” Sol punctuated this warning with another poke, which Candela returned. A brief poke war ensued, which subsided when Pele sent them a warning look over his shoulder.

“But he is the coolest,” Candela said once they were both pretending to meditate again. “And Mom says he’s next in line to bond with Moltres. That means he’ll be someone really important, right?”

“Yep. He’ll take over as head of Team Valor in Opal City. It’s a very important position. That’s why he trains as hard as he does.”

“I’m glad. Lucifel deserves to be somebody cool and important. Then everyone will see how awesome he is.”

“Yep. He’s looking this way! Quick, pretend to meditate!”

They both scrambled into the proper form and closed their eyes, so they missed Lucifel grinning at them and shaking his head as if his younger siblings’ antics never ceased to amuse him.

I...might have had a plunnie bite me earlier. After chewing through angles with @dogmatix​, I’m sending it out onto the tumbls for adoption if anyone wants it, because while a bit odd, it was interesting. Feel free to snag it if it caches your interest, just please let me and/or Dogmatix know!

This is a universe where Palpatine’s plotting don’t quite go according to plan. The invasion of Naboo goes down differently. Perhaps Obi-Wan dies, perhaps none of the Force users do. Either way, when Qui-Gon goes to remind Yoda that he is training the boy, Yoda reminds him that no, the boy will not be a Jedi.

So Qui-Gon quits. If Obi-Wan’s alive, that might well cement the rift between them (his death, on the other hand, might have been significant cause to Qui-Gon’s decision – goodness knows he doesn’t tend to be very rational when he’s got Heavy Emotions around). Qui-Gon sticks around Naboo to train Anakin, because Jedi or no the kid needs training. Padmé is happy to have the young hero remain, and in short order Shmi is brought in so there’s some pretext of a normal adolescence for young Skywalker.

Sidious, meanwhile, does not appreciate such potential slipping through his fingers. His conniving takes a different turn, as he settles on how to destroy the Jedi and the Republic.

Anakin grows up somewhat well-adjusted. He and Qui-Gon don’t always see eye-to-eye on this Force business, and he refuses to be a Jedi type. It’s just...not him. This does not always sit well with Qui-Gon. Meanwhile, Anakin and Padmé grow as friends, until one day there’s a distinct mutual ‘oh no, they’re hot!’ moment which confuses them both. By the time Padmé is looking to step down as queen, she and Anakin are in a quiet, background courtship that’s reasonable, sane, and willing to take its time.

Her people still want to elect her queen for life, and she decides to challenge some cultural issues. Sure, she’ll be queen – BUT her people have to accept she’s getting into a relationship and not doing the usual quit-for-family thing, she’s going to keep working.

Padmé is very confused when the vote passes, because this is not the outcome she expected. Once Anakin finds out that he’s not required to be royal consort or anything weird like that, he just goes back to being her primary cheerleader because of course the people adore her, duh.

Palpatine meanwhile agitates the galaxy towards becoming an Empire. It might be interesting if in this universe, the clones aren’t used for the war: instead, it’s all volunteers(/conscripts). The Jedi understandably can’t handle both leading and attacking living beings in a blasted WAR, so they nope out and try to negotiate things into peace, meaning everyone is pissed with them not taking a side. Propaganda works against them, and meanwhile Sidious keeps his pawns dancing closer and closer to declaring him emperor or the equivalent.

The Naberries – what, you didn’t think they’d take Anakin’s name, did you? - try to make a life for themselves in this chaos. Kids happen. Then, when there’s 3 or 4 spawn running around, Something Tragic Happens.

The initial thought was a vacation gone horribly wrong. Perhaps two kids stay at home – lingering illness with poor timing, or someone is VERY determined that they don’t wanna. Shmi and possibly Qui-Gon are available to help care for the kids, along with Padmé’s parents. Regardless, the end result is Anakin and Padmé get separated, both with a kid each. They have reason to think the other is dead, and with the Empire now on the horizon, they are on the run, and they have to take care of the child they managed to grab.

Alternatively: Qui-Gon didn’t quit, but was Most Put Out when Anakin didn’t join up with the Jedi. Poor Obi-Wan – living or dead – might well have been the point of contention between them. Yoda simply might have put his foot down, and no one was happy with that. Regardless, Qui-Gon proceeded to complain most bitterly to sympathetic ears, and already-a-Sith-apprentice Dooku realizes this is his moment to shine. He offers to help, traveling to Naboo to teach young Skywalker the ways of the Force and perhaps coax him into the Dark side joining the Jedi.

He becomes very frustrated to find that Skywalker is doing incredibly well in a stable and happy home environment, with familial support. He is even more irked to find that teaching the brat to tap into his emotions doesn’t lead the kid down the Dark path as hoped, but just makes him more Attached. Dooku doesn’t look forward to reporting the results to his Master, but keeps trying, and even starts to concoct a long con plot to have the child think that everyone is dead and gone. Perhaps Dooku really will kill them, but that’s a planned bonus, not a guarantee.

Unfortunately for Dooku, there’s two snags. First, he finds he is growing to like Skywalker. The utter insufferable brat is someone he is...urgh. Growing fond of. Meanwhile, the second snag is that Sidious is taking “go big or go home” to heart. Instead of dumping money into armor and transports and whatnot for clone armies, he’s directing those funds into creating the Deathstar.

It all comes to a head tragically, in a combination of unfortunate events. Anakin catches Leia taking out a starfighter, and he’s insisting that nope, she isn’t doing that...without him coming along. One of the younger ones followed Aunt Sola and the cousins into a shuttle, because they wanted to go on the trip too, and remains undetected in the hold for most of the trip. Padmé discovers her child’s absences, but since someone isn’t answering his comm, Anakin, she leaves a message and goes to fetch the kid herself. The youngest, however, isn’t ready to be left alone and insists (at full volume) at not being left behind. Fine. It will be a trip, an adventure, just between them.

They end up chasing the wrong shuttle, since Sola took advantage of royal connections and got upgraded to a much earlier flight.

Dooku catches wind of things shortly before shit hits the fan, and in a moment of desperation and begrudging affection, sets one of his lingering kidnapping plans into motion. Shmi and Luke are taken, grabbed by armored guards and forcibly removed from the planet. They are in hyperspace by the time the Deathstar arrives.

Anakin and Leia bear witness, from the far side of the moons. Sure, Anakin’s first instinct upon a whole new fucking moon appearing is to get away. The Force is screaming in his ear. He left his comm at home because he hadn’t meant to end up on a joyride, he’d just gone looking for his kids.

Padmé and the other children are in hyperspace when the Deathstar fires.

Perhaps this Deathstar was constructed too quickly. Perhaps something went wrong. Perhaps when Naboo explodes, it takes out the Deathstar with it.

Whatever the reason, both are destroyed, and there is suddenly so much death screaming through the Force. When Leia and Anakin come to, Naboo and the weapon are gone. To their best knowledge, so is everyone else.

Sidious takes his opportunity, manufacturing evidence that the Jedi were behind it. The galaxy does love a scapegoat, and the Order is decimated as war criminals, sheltered by none and assisted by only a few. As a native of poor, destroyed Naboo, there is so much sympathy for Chancellor Palpatine, who declares himself emperor because there must be order.

There is an Empire, and there is a Rebellion. Padmé dives into that, struggling to find something solid that she can work towards building. She tries so hard to neither smother nor be distant from her child, and she tells them many a tale of their father and siblings.

It only takes two kidnapping attempts by Imperial types to chase Anakin underground. He’s almost completely untethered, and only the need to make sure Leia is cared for keeps him (sort of) sane and functioning. He fakes smiles and leans on his earliest skills, and the underground swoop competitions earn a new champion. Leia adores flying, and her father throws himself into keeping the bikes in the best damn condition they have ever been in. They hop from planet to planet, never using their real names and trying to find out what happened.

(At some point, a young Han Solo decides he’s gonna try his luck with the pretty swoop chick at a bar. There’s middling success, but she seems more amused by him than not, and in verbal combat she bites back – that’s fun! They’re in a nice private booth in back when her mechanic ambles over, sitting down with new drinks for all 3 of them. She thanks him as “Dad,” at which point Han is suddenly VERY nervous. “So, uh, is this where you threaten me with a shovel?”

The racer laughs, so it’s not a total fail, but ‘Dad’ is giving him a mystified look like he’s now talking Shyriiwook. “Y’know, the ‘if you harm my daughter in any way–’”

Realization crosses his face, then fella gives him this absolutely incredulous expression. “Oh hells no,” he says, taking a drink. “Leia knows how to take care of herself.”

It’s matter-of-fact, such an offended declaration. Han looks over at Leia, who has a sweet smile that somehow is also all teeth.

Han’s not sure if he’s ever been that terrified and that aroused before.)

Shmi and Luke end up at a secret facility, either on Serenno or Kamino. They’re to be held there until Dooku arrives – he was on Naboo, and so never will. They’re kept under guard by the first stormtroopers, men who are well fed on Imperial propaganda (no matter that the Empire is brand new) and were bred to be loyal. Yet Shmi recognizes slaves, and Luke just flat out likes people. It doesn’t take long to make allies, then friends of their guards.

They get quite the shock when the guards finally remove their helmets. The brand new Empire had a swift influx of loyal soldiers, clones bred in secret and ordered to remain in their interchangeable armor. Bred to be loyal, and with a brain-washing chip for those who get too far out of line. Yet the clones are intelligent beings, and it doesn’t take long for them to see what the situation is. There starts to be whispers of dissent, though no one says the actual forbidden ‘rebellion.’

Shmi becomes a bit of a cornerstone for some of them, with o so carefully edited stories of her time as a slave – and what stories ‘she might have heard about those who claimed to have escaped.’ Luke becomes a mascot, especially once the clones realize the kid already knows how to use a blaster (and use it well!), not to mention how to fight. They like teaching him tricks, and learning about the outside galaxy at the same time.

Meanwhile, with nowhere else to turn and a young child that is strong in the Force, Sola Naberrie thanks whatever gods there are when she runs into a tiny group of Jedi. She has money, and she has the Naberrie name (and she has the ghost of Naboo, which is far greater currency in this horrible new galaxy) – she takes them in and begs them to teach the child of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, because she can only hope that is something they might have wanted. The Jedi latch on to what little bit of hope they can find, because someone in their group remembers the horrible snafu that was Jinn and the supposed Chosen One.

Besides, what else is there?

At some point, of course, it all comes to a head. The Rebellion will face down the evil Emperor, and Padmé Amidala and her child will be happy to take point. Anakin and Leia keep company with the nefarious sorts that are the only types to mingle with Jedi or Rebel scum, and where else would you go when you need all the pilots you can get? Shmi and Luke refuse to remain slaves, and neither of them would ever give up on family, no matter how they might have found and adopted them – and the clones will only remain slaves for so long, too. The Jedi will have to fight, because that is all that is left, and Chosen One or not, they’ll take all hands that will join with them.

The road back together is just as rocky and improbable as the family’s survival, but survive it they will.

moonlight sonata

Characters/Pairings: Corrin, Azura

A/N: Written for the @rallyspectrumzine. I love these two together. They have such a good rapport. Deeprealm question I just realized--did they bring caretakers from their world to those worlds? which makes those caretakers older than any friends on this side? 

Summary: All of her friends and family were pairing off and Corrin suddenly understood intimately what a third wheel felt like. Fortunately, Azura looked like she was in the same boat.

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A twig snapped and Corrin whipped her head, looking over her shoulder into the gloom of the forest behind her. In the starlight, the forest looked more ominous than usual, as though any manner of beast or monster could spring out of it. Her hand rested on her sword and she tensed, ready to leap up at the first sign of the enemy. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me.” Azura slowly stepped out of the shadows, her hands in front of her. Her robes flowed around her, a cool breeze from the lake ruffling through them. A nervous smile flitted over her lips as she approached Corrin. “Sorry to scare you.”

“Oh.” With a sigh, Corrin relaxed, slouching forward. To be honest, they were deep in Nohrian territory, so it would have been odd to find a Hoshidian on a dock by an unknown pond. With all that happened recently though, she was on edge and it felt like every time she tried to relax, something new and terrible happened. “It’s fine.”

“It’s odd to find you here.” The wooden dock creaked as Azura got closer. It rocked gently with each movement. She clasped her hands behind her back, looking up at the moon. “Usually, I am the one sitting by the water.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Corrin laughed, glancing up at Azura. Even their positions were switched but Corrin didn’t want to get up. Her feet skimmed the cold water as she grounded her hands on the wood and leaned back, staring up at the moon as well. The stars glinted brightly against the black sky, millions of jewels trapped in the darkness. “Though I finally get why you come here.”

“You do?” Azura looked down, surprised. She brushed a stray hair behind her ear as a breeze rustled her veil.

“Yeah.” Corrin looked down into the water, her toe gingerly touching her reflection. Ripples distorted her murky image and she watched her face changed into something unfamiliar. “It’s very peaceful here.”

“It is.” Carefully pinching the edges of her skirt, Azura lifted the hem as she gracefully sat down next to her. It was the dancer in her, almost all of her movements looked elegant. “I like to gather my thoughts next to the water. I feel like it gives a sense of clarity.”

“It’s also quieter than the camp.” Rubbing her neck, Corrin glanced back again. While they were too far to spot the fires or hear the general ruckus of their army, she could barely make out a plume of smoke in the night sky. “Especially with all the new recruits.”

“They are a little…unruly,” Azura admitted, carefully picking her words. It was the closest to disdain or annoyance that Corrin had ever seen from her. “But I think they just miss their parents. After a few days with them, I’m sure they’ll settle down.”

“Parents,” Corrin repeated, rolling the word in her mouth. It felt strange, foreign, no matter how many times she repeated it. “I can’t believe Xander is father. Or Carmilla. Leo. Even Elise—she’s younger than me, you know?” She turned to Azura, gesturing her hands in disbelief. “How did she get married before me?”

“…even in love, there’s an element of chance?” Azura answered, unsure. She rested her cheek on a hand, crossing her other arm to cup her elbow. “Though I do understand the feeling. I can only imagine the same thing is happening over there—that Sakura, Hinako, or even Takumi is married.”

“Takumi?” Corrin snorted. Her shoulders shook as she tried to imagine it—she had only known her blood-brother for days, but it didn’t take more than a few hours to see just how hard he was to handle. “Who would marry him?”

“Umm…” Azura opened her mouth before hastily shutting it. Her fingers tapped her cheek while she scanned the darkness around them, as though the answer would emerge just as she had. With a sheepish smile, she suggested, “Maybe one of his retainers? They’re fond of him.”

Corrin looked at her incredulously. “Fond.”

“…well, Orboro shares his hatred for Nohrians?” As Corrin continued to stare at her, Azura giggled, covering her mouth. She ducked her head and admitted, “He will have a hard time.”

“That’s an understatement,” she corrected. Especially considering the hate he carried now; the last time they met—but no, she didn’t want to dwell on her regrets. On her losses. There was plenty of time to think of them in the future. Leaning back, she bemoaned to the stars, “It’s just so weird.”

Azura laughed into her hand once more, muffling the sound. It was a rare sight normally, and somehow Corrin managed to squeeze it out of her twice. “It is.”

Corrin beamed, glad that someone agreed with her for once. Especially since it was Azura—ever since they met, she’d felt a connection with her; like they were kindred spirits. Well, they did have a lot in common: both kidnapped in childhood and raised in a different kingdom, both had strange powers, both of their homelands felt like a stranger’s place.

Perhaps, in this one other thing, they shared similar feelings. Nervous, Corrin dipped a toe in the water, drawing a small circle on the surface. Fireflies floated over the watery depths, their lights pinpricks on the dark waters. “You haven’t married yet. Have you…found someone?”

“Huh?” Azura stared at her for a long moment, before averting her gaze. Her fingers fiddled with the edge of her veil. “No…I’m embarrassed to admit it, but unlike our siblings, I haven’t.”

“Me neither.” Corrin focused on the ripples extending from where her toe touched the water. She remembered the first time she’d spotted Azura by the water, looking more like a spirit than a human. “If Leo could do it, I’m sure Takumi can, but I…” The words were caught in her throat and fear ran through her. Her fingers curled, digging into the wooden deck.

Courage. She needed courage. The wind died, as though a hush had fallen over the world. Even the crickets and owls fell silent. It felt like they were in that other world, in that land that only Azura and she could go to. A place where it was only them, where no one else could overhear. Before she could stop herself, Corrin blurted, “I don’t think I can.”

“Can what?” Azura asked, cocking her head curiously. She leaned closer, brushing a stray lock behind her ear.

“Can…get married…” Corrin mumbled, flushing red. Her skin burned as Azura watched her silently. With each word, her voice got quiet and quieter. “Or…you know…do…it.”

Gods, this was a bad idea and she regretted it immediately. It was worse than fighting a battle or any of the other stupid challenges her father had given her. Hell, she’d rather get shoved off a bridge again or fight Takumi at his angriest. Quickly, she started to get up. “Never mind, I should head back, just forget it—”

Before she could pull her legs in, Azura grabbed her arm, freezing her in place. Her fingers dug into Corrin’s skin. “Don’t go. I…I understand.”

Corrin’s jaw dropped, not believing her ears. “You…what?”

“I understand.” Azura nodded shyly, letting go now. She flushed, embarrassed at the attention. “I…also feel that way.”

Dropping back onto the dock, Corrin landed a little harder than she expected and fell backwards. Her back hit the wooden planks hard, knocking the wind out of her, but Azura’s declaration had already done that. She gaped up at Azura. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Azura repeated, reaching down to help her up.

Corrin grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. Even after she sat up, she didn’t let go. “I…I thought I was alone in that. Everyone else talked about love and romance and I…I don’t know. I just never felt it. I thought maybe I just hadn’t met someone but…you feel it too.” She smiled brightly, elated. “You feel it too.”

There was something magical about the word ‘too’. Something utterly magical. A signal that she wasn’t alone. A sign that there were others.

That there was someone else out there who was just like her. Corrin leaned back, kicking her feet excitedly in front of her. She could take on any of her father’s ridiculous challenges tomorrow. Hell, she could fight a dragon if he asked.

“I’m…I’m just so happy,” Corrin chirped, bumping shoulders with her. Now that it was off her chest, a fountain of questions bubbled out from her. “When did you know?”

“Huh?” Azura had never been the most forthcoming person in the first place, but faced with an over eager Corrin, she had little room to evade. “I…I don’t know…I don’t think I really realized it until I came here and saw…well, all of the couples and their romances.”

“I think I kinda always knew.” Corrin splashed her feet slowly in the water, shivering as the cold droplets hit her ankles. “I was never really interested when I was younger and thought that, well, one day I might get interested. That maybe it was an adult thing. And then that one day never came.”

“That sounds just like you.” Azura smiled softly.

“I guess.” Biting her lip, Corrin frowned as she considered it. “I didn’t really think of war or what our two countries were up to or anything, really, until I experienced it first.” As realization dawned, her shoulders sank. No wonder her siblings had treated her like a child. “I’m a dense idiot.”

“It’s not that bad!” Azura patted her back consolingly.

Corrin shot her a baleful glare.

“It is that bad,” she amended quickly, interlacing her fingers on her lap. Azura smiled bashfully. “But that attitude of yours helped me a lot. I…I don’t feel quite as alone when I’m with you.”

Alone. Loneliness. Corrin peeked at her friend’s silhouette—it was another thing she hadn’t really thought about up to this moment, but Azura was alone here. Her siblings, blood-related or not, were back in Hoshido. Elise was the only one of Corrin’s siblings that accepted Azura with open arms.

To be alone in a crowd. It was what Corrin had felt when she had gone to Hoshido. It was what she felt while surrounded by all these couples. It was what Azura was feeling right now, in a land that was not her own, without a familiar face to seek refuge with.

Reaching out, she grabbed one of Azura’s hands and squeezed it tightly. “No, you’re not alone. From now on, neither of us are. And if there’s anything else that’s bothering you, you can tell me.”

Surprised, Azura stared at her for a long moment. Her free hand reached up to her pendant, glittering from the moonlight. Gripping it, she nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Somehow, that didn’t feel right. In the moonlight, Azura looked ethereal. Like the water that Azura loved so much, she felt just as translucent. It was hard to pin her, to understand what lay hidden behind her half-moon smiles and hooded eyes. It scared Corrin.  All it would take was a single touch and Azura would disappear in the ripples. Desperately, she repeated, gripping Azura’s hand even tighter, “Anything at all. We’re friends, right?”

“Friends,” Azura echoed quietly. She glanced down at Corrin’s hand and her expression softened. Delicately, she turned her hand over and grasped back. She looked lost for words, her voice cracking. “That’s…I…thank you.”

And it wasn’t enough—Corrin could still feel the wall, even if she couldn’t see it. But it was a start; it had to be a start. One day, just like how she’d confessed her secret, Azura would confess hers.

For today, though, this was enough. Leaning back on the dock, she crossed her arms and rested her head on her palms. With a mischievous grin, she peeked at Azura. “So…do you really think Takumi’s married?”

Azura laughed and that was three times today that Corrin managed to steal one out of her.

They were children, now they’re not: or Why the Stark sisters’ season seven arc makes no sense

Below are spoilers for season seven of Game of Thrones. I also quote the books because they reveal some of the characters’ inner thoughts that occur during the same time frame covered in the show. This is a Game of Thrones critical, book-to-show comparison post. You’ve been warned. 

During season seven of Game of Thrones, I was really looking forward to the promised Stark sibling reunions. The reunion between Sansa and Jon brought me to tears and I had high hopes for the others. Sadly, I was left wanting, particularly the reunion and subsequent tension between Sansa and Arya. I think that season seven served neither character well (nor Bran, either, for that matter), and the tension between the Stark sisters--created by an ever-scheming Littlefinger--makes very little sense. 

Point 1: They were children

When Arya and Sansa were younger, they didn’t get along. Typically this is when people bring up the fact that Sansa called Arya “Horseface” or that Arya thinks that Sansa is stupid. I’m not disagreeing with either of these facts.  However, when these disagreements occurred, Sansa was 13 (11 in the books) and Arya was 11 (9 in the books). Arya shows some jealousy towards her sister because Sansa is praised for doing all the things that Arya is not good at. Sansa is annoyed with her sister for doing all the things that they’ve been taught girls are not supposed to do. Furthermore, Sansa doesn’t understand why her parents indulge Arya’s behavior when she’s been taught that those sorts of things (getting dirty, sword fighting, etc) are not appropriate for a lady. They may be living in medieval Westeros, but the Stark sisters are having a moment that most people with siblings are familiar with. They each believe that they’re being treated unfairly. Arya believes that she’s forced to do things she doesn’t like and then is compared to her sister, who is much better at those things; Sansa believes it’s unfair that Arya doesn’t follows the rules and gets away with it. 

To a child, both of these complaints feel legitimate. However, these are clearly the thoughts of children and when the sister reunite in Winterfell, they’ve got years of growth behind them. They aren’t the same people they were when they left, so why would they have the same grievances? Their time apart and their experiences (as evidenced in the books) gives us reason to believe that both sisters think fondly on each other when they’re apart.

Just a few quotes from Arya’s chapters: 

“She wished the Rush would rise and wash the whole city away...everything, and everyone too, espeically Prince Joffrey and his mother. But she knew it wouldn’t, and anyhow Sansa was still in the city and would wash away too.”  A Clase of Kings, Arya I

“When she thought of seeing Robb’s face again Arya had to bite her lip. And I want to see Jon too, and Bran and Rickon, and Mother. Even Sansa...I’ll kiss her and beg her pardons like a proper lady, she’ll like that.” A Clash of Kings, Arya VII

“Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa.” A Feast for Crows, Arya II

And now from Sansa’s:

“Once in a while, Sansa even missed her sister. By now Arya was safe back in Winterfell, dancing and sewing, playing with Bran and baby Rikcon, even riding through the winter town if she liked.” A Clash of Kings, Sansa II

“She sang for mercy, for the living and the dead alike, for Bran and Rickon and Robb, for her sister Arya and her bastard brother Jon Snow...” A Clash of Kings, Sansa V

“In Sansa’s dreams, her children looked just like the brothers she had lost. Sometimes there was a girl who looked just like Arya,” A Storm of Swoards, Sansa II

“ Sansa had chased Arya through the stables and around the kitchen until both of them were breathless. She  might even have caught her, but she’d slipped on some ice. Her sister came back to see if she was hurt. When she said she wasn’t, Arya hit her in the face with another snowball, but Sansa grabbed her leg and pulled her down and was rubbing snow in her hair when Jory came along and pulled them apart, laughing,” A Storm of Swords, Sansa VII   

In the books, we are given textual evidence that once separated and exposed to the trauma of the world, each sister begins to reflect on the other. Yes, they’re still noted towards the end of each list of people they would like to see, but it is obvious that there is affection in their thoughts of one another. Now that they have matured (through horrific circumstances), they appreciate one another more. They recognize a fondness for one another that they couldn’t see as children. Given this, it doesn’t make sense that they would be reunited at home in Winterfell and immediately begin to dislike one another and hold petty grudges a la “You always liked pretty things because it made you feel better than everyone else.” They’re not gonna braid each other’s hair and exchange trauma stories, but they’re not going to cling to old grudges, either. 

On a side note: I know that these quotes are from the book and not directly referenced in the show. However, they are pulled from moments/situations that are very similar between book and show, so it makes sense that the show versions of the characters would still think them. 

Point 2: Previously, on Game of Thrones

Just a little recap on Arya: Before she comes back to Westeros, she was in Braavos at the House of Black and White, where she trained as a faceless man. She was trained in multiple ways to kill people and to be pretty sneaky about it. She was also trained to essentially be a human lie detector.  Having decided that she is not willing to give up her identity, she declares that she’s Arya Stark of Winterfell and she’s going home. At home, she runs into some Lannister soldiers, chills with them, actually seems happy for the first time in a few seasons, and then heads to Winterfell after hearing from Hot Pie that the Starks have reclaimed it. 

Recap on Sansa: She has helped her brother Jon Snow reclaim the North and was present when he was declared King in the North. She also expressed to him that “only a fool would trust Littlefinger,” the very same Littlefinger that she looks concerned about when her brother is declared King in the North. 

So, why is the reunion between the sisters so frosty? Arya manages to be kind to strangers who fight for the opposing side in a war, but is less than enthused about seeing the sister that she was violently separated from? Sansa is the first family that Arya has seen in literally years and her reaction is flat as hell. 

Sansa seems a little more enthused until she notices how odd Arya’s acting. Of course, then we fall into the mess of finding a letter that Sansa wrote (under duress!) when she was a child trying to save her father’s life. Now, if Arya were still a child, it would make sense that she was skeptical about the letter and confronts her sister. However, she is no longer a child and she’s been trained to spot a lie by a professional assassin death cult. It makes no sense that she would fall for Littlefinger’s tricks. Also, Sansa has been on the most horrific downside of one of Littlefinger’s plots gone wrong (see marriage to Ramsay Bolton, show only); she has confronted him about it; she doesn’t trust him. 

So how does it make sense that two women who should be able to see through Littlefinger’s scheming get caught up in it again? 

It doesn’t. the writers planned to kill Littlefinger at the end of the season and needed plot filler until then so we got stuck with a ridiculous sister-vs-sister plot that largely ignores Bran and only uses him as a plot device (which, if employed sooner, could have also avoided the entire fiasco). Arya’s faceless man training is available for use to threaten her sister but not to see through Littlefinger. Sansa’s political skills are available for use when she’s trying to appease the Northern lords, but she somehow conveniently trusts the man who confessed to killing the king and selling her to a brutal husband? Makes. No. Sense. 

I’m not saying that the sisters would get along swimmingly from the get-go. The one moment of tension that didn’t feel completely manufactured was their difference of opinion in how to handle the Northern lords getting restless about Jon. It makes sense that Arya would want to chop heads because violence has been her story arc. It makes sense that Sansa would want to use a diplomatic solution because her arc has been more court-centered. However, the moment the argument tips into childhood bickering and not actually being about the issue at hand, it feels manufactured and ridiculous. 

Conclusion: The writers giveth, the writers taketh away 

If Sansa and Arya were still the exact same girls from season one, this tension would make sense. But they aren’t. The writers have spent the five seasons since their separation trying to convince us that they have grown into strong, capable young women with differing areas of expertise. But with the plot of season seven, they manage to undo all of that character development and fall right into the trap of pitting the sisters against one another because the writers can’t think of anything else better to do while they waste time until Littlefinger can be killed. 

Sneak peeks

@scarlet-fire1918 asked for 4,5,6,11,14,15,20,21 4: From geek to hot, Caroline is a model and one of the editors I'm chief of one of the biggest fashion magazines in the world her father hires nerdy klaus to be her assistant. The Salvatore family run the best fashion magazine empire in the world. Caroline is one of the models for the magazine she is also part editor in chief she shares the title with her older brothers Damon and Stefan. Caroline is in her office with her best friends who also happen to be models for the magazine, Katherine and Enzo. When a guy wearing glasses, jeans and a Star Wars tee shirt comes into her office. Caroline stops talking with her friends " Excuse me this isn't a comic book store this is a fashion magazine clearly something you don't have." Her father Giuseppe comes in " Caroline since your last assistant is still missing I have hired you a new assistant." " My last assistant was a wanna be she wanted to be me she told people she was Caroline Salvatore. It's not my fault she's missing seriously how long does it to get a bracelet and I don't need your help picking out assistants I got it covered." Caroline and Katherine share a smile. They love looking for new people it's a lot of fun. " All of your assistants have either vanished or quit saying you or Katherine slept with them." " Which is totally false they wanted us to sleep with them and only one went missing." Giuseppe points to the geeky guy next to him " This is Klaus he's your new assistant try not to sleep with him." Caroline groans as her father leaves her office. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 5: Caroline Forbes she can do anything, Caroline is extremely athletic she's practicing for a volleyball competition when her back hand serve hits someone on the beach. " Look out." Klaus Mikaelson was sketching on the beach he doesn't have time to move before a volleyball hits him in the head and lands in his lap. His younger sister runs over to him and his brother who was trying to surf saw the whole thing and came over " That was awesome direct hit I'd like to meet the person who threw that ball." Rebekah glares back at Kol " Kol Nik could be seriously hurt." Klaus pushes his sisters hands away from his head " I'm fine bekah I just want to know who threw the ball at me messed up my drawing." A blonde in a Aqua bikini comes running over " I'm so sorry my brother Damon always tells me to save my back hand for competitions but I wasn't thinking and instinct kicked in." Klaus is stunned at her beauty he stutters" I'm Klaus" The blonde smiles " I'm Caroline." Klaus knows he has heard that name before " Caroline as in Caroline Salvatore the I do every sport Caroline." Caroline smiles " I don't do every sport just surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, and volleyball. And yes." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 6: vampires in storybrooke, for Davina's whole life she has had the same dream every night a brown haired woman putting a baby in an enchanted wardrobe and saying I love you to the baby. Soon after her twenty eight birthday the dream changes now there is a man in a black suit she never sees their faces only clothes and hears voices. Granny asked the guy with a hook for a hand to take Davina to the Charming's. "Who's this?" "She was in grannies I think she's new to this world." Davina looks at the new people " New to this world I live in New Orleans I just need to know how to get home and before my boyfriend freaks out." The Charming's look at Davina who is looking around the apartment "I'm Snow White or Mary Margaret which ever you prefer and this is Prince Charming but everyone calls him David." Davina looks at Snow White. Davina herself is a witch who is dating one of the first vampires and lives with the first vampire family but she can't believe that storybook characters actually exist. " Snow White as in Snow White and the seven dwarfs, poison apple, evil queen, Is awaken by true loves kiss in a glass coffin, all forest animals love her." Snow nods. When Davina's phone rings " Excuse me." Davina goes outside the apartment " Oh thank god Kol." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 11: princess choice, it's princess Rebekah's twenty first birthday everyone is at her ball she must dance with every eligible bachelor. The one who just walked in and refuses to give his name intrigues Rebekah. As Rebekah is contemplating whether or not to go talk with Marcel someone else catches Rebekah eye " Sister who is that?" Freya looks over at the handsome brown haired suit wearing man that just walked into the ballroom " I don't know but he's coming this way." Rebekah straightens her dress and the man bows before the women " Your highnesses." Rebekah sticks out her gloved hand " Princess Rebekah." The man kisses her hand " You are more beautiful then your pictures." Rebekah's blushes " And what is your name?" " All in due time if we meet again it will be fate and I will reveal who I am." Rebekah has never met someone like this who is so mysterious and isn't intimated by her royal status " Then I hope we meet again." The man nods to both ladies and then he leaves. Rebekah turns back to her sister " I think I found my prince." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 14:kolvina on the run, when the ancestors cursed Kol Marcel told him to run Davina finds him and goes with him. " Do you feel better?" The ancestors cursed Kol to have an uncontrollable hunger and anger. Marcel told him to leave town. Davina found out Kol left and didn't even say goodbye she did a locator spell and found he was stealing some blood bags and she told him she's going with him. He tried to get her to change her mind by telling her it was to dangerous but she wasn't taking no for an answer she loves Kol she just got him back she's not losing him again. They just passed the city limits when Kol begins to calm down and relax " Yes you still shouldn't have come if this didn't work I could of hurt you and I couldn't live with myself if that happened." Davina looks out at the empty backroad there on " Pull over do you even know where we're going?" Kol looks down at the map on the hood of the car trying to figure out the best route to use " Right there the one place I really don't want to go but we're out of options." Davina putting the bracelet Kol asked her to locate the owner back in her pocket and looks where he's pointing. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 15:the heart and head, in the dream world Freya casts a spell to bring the person who is not only in her siblings hearts but head to them. Elijah is the only one left " Elijah give me your hand. Even you deserve happiness." Elijah places his palm in his sister's hand and Freya chants. " Look behind you." Behind Elijah is Katerina Petrova. " Elijah. What is this place one minute I was running hell the next I'm here." Elijah looks surprised he cant believe Katerina is in front of him. " You run hell?" Katherine smirks " Queen of hell. Can you think of anyone better than me." " No I can't if anyone is the perfect person to run hell its you. This is a dream world my older sister Freya did a spell that brings the person who is in their head and heart to them." Katherine caress his face " Well it's good to know I'm still in your head and heart I questioned it after you dismissed me saying its our turn to be happy to stay with me and not to go New Orleans, and let's not forget the forehead kiss that seemed like you already had forgot about me at that point. You always forget I've known you for five hundred years Elijah I've seen you upset and I've seen you in love. The day you said goodbye to me you were sad you didn't want to say goodbye but you couldn't put your own feelings above Klaus' you had to follow him to New Orleans and look where that got you your in a dream world with a bite on your arm that if your sister wasn't a witch you would already be dead. Did you even know or care to know that I've been dead for years." Elijah looks at Katherine then at the floor ashamed of himself then at Freya who has been watching them with curiosity. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 20: Caroline stark and tony stark dealing with the aftermath of the avengers "As always sir a great pleasure watching you work." Caroline standing in the doorway of her dads workshop looking at her dad laying on the floor with pieces of his suit all around him " I couldn't of said it better Jarvis." Tony looks up at his daughter she's leaning her head against the doorframe she's in her pajamas shorts and tank top with ankle socks on she looks tired. " Caroline its two in the morning what are you doing up?" Caroline smiles at her dad and helps him pick up pieces of his new suit and put them on a table " I should be asking you that too. But to answer your question ever since New York every time I close my eyes I feel like I'm falling out of the sky and seeing you laying on the ground motionless scared that your dead. And it's not like I can talk to anyone about it because Katherine and Enzo were in the safe spot you told us to be in and I was a few feet from them but Loki's army grabbed me. It's not like I can talk with Klaus about it because he was here in California." Tony pulls Caroline into a hug and kisses her forehead he's going through the same PTSD that his daughter is going through. " I know New York changed both of us. I thought giving you space and me being down here doing what I know would be the best thing for us but from what you just said I've realized that we both need each other to get past New York. The only reason I have not cracked is because of you Caroline seeing you everyday smiling and being yourself everyday." Caroline smiles up at her dad " I just need my dad. We have been through so much together. Obadiah trying to kill both of us, you becoming iron man, the government basically declaring you terrorist and an unfit father, tried to get me to testify against you and give over the iron man suit when you wouldn't, Justin hammer trying to build a better iron man, you almost dying again because of palladium poisoning, Loki. We are Stark's we're genius's and people don't understand us." Tony laughs and squeezes Caroline in his arms" I love you Caroline." " I love you too dad." ------------------------------------------------------------------- 21:Loki is back and wants Caroline. Caroline and Klaus are coming back from their date when they get attacked by two guys in suits and thrown in the back of a van with black hoods over there heads " I've been trained by a deadly assassin I will kick your ass." The hood comes off Caroline's head and she looks around and sees Phil Coulson " What the hell Phil." "You are in danger miss Stark." Caroline puts her hands out for Phil to cut the zip ties that bound her hands. " Yes danger from you, you kidnapped me." Phil cuts the ties " No we will tell you more after we get rid of him." Caroline puts a hand on Klaus " Don't test me Phil, Natasha taught me to fight if you want me to go quietly with you he comes too." " Your just as stubborn as your father." " Except I'm worse I'm a girl."

Revenge

Another big brother William one shot. Enjoy.

It all started with an experiment. That was it. A harmless little test with a bit of misplaced curiosity. Neither William nor Edward realized how far it would go. It was a monday morning when it all began. Edward was passed out on the Couch, a book covering part of his face and half a blanket draped over his stomach and left leg. The rest of it had pooled on the floor in front of the sofa. The teenager snored loudly, his mouth hanging wide open. It was the only indicator that he was not as dead to the world as he appeared. His older brother watched with amusement from a short distance away. The idiot had fallen asleep researching again. This was probably the third time this week. He sighed as he walked over to his younger brother. He really had to talk to him about pushing himself too much. He would just let him sleep, but the kid had to report to the colonel’s office in roughly an hour, so he had no choice but to rouse the tired teen from his slumber and face his morning grumpiness. “Hey,” William said, roughly shaking his shoulder, “Come on, sleeping beauty. Time to get up.” Ed’s bleary eyes opened and he pulled the book off his face to glare at Will. He groaned and turned on his side. “No…” he muttered, “Need sleep. Go away.” “Sorry pipsqueak, can’t let you do that,” he said, leaning on the couch, “You gotta meet with the colonel in an hour.” Edward glared at him again before pulling the blanket over him more. “Don’t care,” he grumbled, “Sleep is more important.” William raised an eyebrow before pulling the blanket off of Edward. “Well then you should have thought of that before staying up until two in the morning researching,” he retorted, causing Ed to sit up and grimace at him. “Come on, brother,” Al said from where he was washing dishes, “Will and I made a really nice breakfast for you! It’ll get cold if you wait any longer.” Edward huffed before yawning and stretching. “Fine…” he muttered as he got to his feet and shuffled to the table, muttering as he did so. Alphonse handed him a plate of eggs and a bowl of oatmeal with honey. He mumbled a thank you to him as he started stirring the sweet, syrupy substance into the oats. His head bobbed a few times as he blinked to try and wake himself up more. “Hey Will?” he said, “Is there any coffee left from last night?” “Yes, but I warn you, it’s cold,” he said as he moved to the fridge. “Don’t care,” Ed said, not even looking up as he took the first bite of his meal, “Need caffeine.” William smiled mischievously. “Alright then,” he said as he pulled a container from the refrigerator that neither younger sibling could see the contents of it. He quickly poured it out into into a cup and handed it Edward. The boy didn’t even glance at it as he brought the cold brown liquid to his mouth as he took a sip. He immediately did a spit take as his squeezed his eyes shut in disgust. What the hell was this?! It was definitely not coffee. It tasted like chocolate, which he didn’t mind, but there was a distinctive other taste to it. One he hated above all else. “Brother? Are you alright?” Alphonse asked, worry clear in his voice, “What’s wrong?” “WHAT THE HELL?!” he cried, glaring at his brother who was snickering at his reaction, “What the heck was that for?!” “Sorry, Ed,” William said still looking very amused，“I wanted to see if you’d be willing to drink chocolate milk instead because it doesn’t taste like milk.” “Of course it still tastes like milk! It’s milk!”he said, “Just because you try to hide it behind chocolate flavoring doesn’t mean I can’t taste it! Ugh!” He brushed his tongue against his shirt sleeve, trying to rid himself of the taste. “Why did you have to do this when I was half awake of all times? That’s just mean!” “It was kind of a dirty trick, Will,” Alphonse said. “Well would you have tried it if I told you what it was?” his brother asked, pouring him a glass of actual coffee, “I don’t think so. Besides, it woke you up didn’t it?” Ed just glared at him, causing the older brother to chuckle slightly. “Alright, fine! I’m sorry,” he said, bringing the glass over to him, “Here’s your real coffee. Happy now?” “No,” Edward said, taking it from him, “I’ll get you back for this, you know.” Will rolled his eyes. “Sure you will,” he said before turning back to him with a devilish smirk, “By the way, you do know that caffeine stunts growth, right? Maybe you should cut back on the coffee.” Will snorted as he had to dodge Ed’s spoon that came flying towards him. Alphonse sighed at his brothers’ behaviours. …. Edward continued to be angry with Will all that morning, avoiding him for the most part. Will supposed he deserved it a little, but it was annoying nonetheless. Alphonse was also a bit annoyed by the situation. Ed was being a little childish over the whole situation, but he supposed half of Ed’s foul mood towards his brother was his sleep deprivation. He was being a little grumpy towards everyone to be completely honest. However, about half way through the day, Edward’s tune changed as he seemed bit more upbeat. Once he had gotten back to the dorm, Alphonse noticed a small grin never left his face, even when he was focused on research. “You seem awfully happy today brother,” he noted, “Did something happen over lunch to cheer you up?” Ed smiled wider as he looked to him. “I suppose so,” he said, “I just had a really great idea.” “Oh really?” Al said sitting up, “What was it about?” All of a sudden, William walked in, carrying the groceries in with him. The boy in the suit of armor couldn’t help but notice the mischievous glint in Edward’s eyes as he glanced at him. “You’ll see,” he said in a low voice. Alphonse couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread at that statement. “Hey Will,” he called, “How was the store?” The older blond paused as he was taken aback by Edward’s apparent change in demeanor. He blinked before smiling. Looks like he was finally over the whole chocolate milk incident. “Good,” he said, “I managed to get a few good deals on fresh vegetables, not that it matters too much considering your salary, Ed.” He then noticed there was a tea kettle on the stove. He noticed there wasn’t any steam rising from it anymore but one touch to the spout told him the tea wasn’t quite cold yet. “Hey, mind if I have some?”he asked. Alphonse saw Ed’s mouth twitch slightly before he said, “Go ahead.” The suit glanced between the kettle and Edward nervously before leaning down and hissing to him, “Ed! What did you do to the tea?!” Edward blinked up at his younger brother innocently, still smiling before sitting up. “Nothing!” he whispered, before picking up his own cup from the table, “I just wanted some tea, is that so wrong?” He then took a sip from the cup to prove his point that he didn’t tamper with the liquid. Alphonse still eyed him suspiciously before glancing back at his eldest brother with worry. William had already poured himself a cup and had grabbed two sugar packets from the container on the table before ripping them open and stirring them in. Once he had done so, he brought the cup to his lips and took a sip…only to immediately spit out the drink again, sputtering and gagging to get the taste of salt off his tongue. Edward laughed in the background at his older brother’s misfortune. “What’s wrong, Will?” He sneered, “Not sweet enough for you?” William turned to glare at his little brother. “What the hell Ed!”he snapped, marching up to him, “What did you do to the tea?!” Edward gave him a faux offended look. “What?”he cried, “How could you say something like that? I did nothing to your tea!” He picked up his own glass, taking another drink. William’s eyes widened in realization before they narrowed. “You little brat!” He growled as his fists clenched, “You switched out all the sugar in the packets for salt!” Edward glared at him. “Don’t call me small!” He hissed, “And don’t get mad at me! You started this! Nots so fun getting tricked into drinking something is it?” Edward rose to his full height. The two glared at each other with equal animosity, daring the other to make the next move. “Guys! Stop this!” Al cried, moving between them, “There’s no reason to fight over this! Can’t you just call it even?” Both brothers backed off, calming down considerably. “You’re right,” William said with a sigh as he crossed his arms, “I kinda had this coming. I should just let it go.” Alphonse relaxed at his words before he suddenly smirked. “Too bad I suck at letting go of thing,” he said with a wicked smirk, “There’s no way I’m letting you get the last laugh here, Ed.” He then leaned down slightly to look Ed dead in the eye. “Prepare yourself, pipsqueak, because I’m taking your little tea stunt as a declaration of war!” “What?! No! Please tell me you aren’t serious!” Alphonse cried, but neither listened to him. Edward grinned in response, determination clear in his eyes. “Do your worst,” he responded, crossing his arms. Alphonse sighed as he looked between the two stubborn blonds, realizing there was nothing he could do. … And so the great prank war between the two commenced. It started out small with things like Ed dying William’s hair green in his sleep or William washing Ed’s white gloves with his red coat, but quickly escalated: Ed transmuting the croutons in William’s salad into baking soda so they would fizz out all over his meal when he poured vinegar over them, William filing down the platforms of Ed’s shoes so he’d lose an inch in height, Ed making all of William’s pens write only in invisible ink, William telling Armstrong that it was Ed’s birthday so he would try to hug him, and so on. After a while they seemed less like pranks and more like actual attacks in some sort of weird battle… Alphonse hoped they would stop this before it went too far, however his hopes were in vain when he came home from the library one day only to find William, looking absolutely furious, attempting to chase down his brother while only wearing a towel around his waist and he was dripping with some kind of brown substance. “GET BACK HERE RUNT!”he shouted as Ed lept over the couch and ran towards the door. William stopped before he accidentally ran out into the public hallway and glowered at Ed who was smirking evilly at him from just outside the entryway. Al glanced between them both in fear and confusion. “Stop smirking like that! It’s not funny!” He snapped. “You’re right,” Ed said with a chuckle, “It’s hilarious.” “Grrrr!” William growled, trying to grab him and pull him back in side, “Get in here, you little shrimp!” “I’m not a shrimp!” “Guys stop it!” Al finally shouted, “What on Earth has gotten into you two?!” William pointed at Edward accusingly. “The kid put gravy powder in the shower head!”he explained, “I got doused in the stuff when I turned it on and now I’ve got no way to clean it off! I’m going to smell like gravy for days! I can’t even put clothes on without getting grease all over them!” “That’s what you get for sicking the Major on me!” Ed retorted. “Oh come on, that wasn’t that bad! He probably would have hugged you anyways,” William argued, “This is far worse than that, and you know it!” “I beg to differ!” “Stop it, both of you!” Al shouted, “This is gone on long enough. Please, can’t you just and this stupid war already?” Both were silent for a moment before Will spoke up. “Alright,” he said, “I’ll end it.” Alphonse sighed in relief. “I’ll end it with one final attack.” Alphonse raised his hands in questioning and frustration. “THAT’S NOT ENDING IT!” he snapped, “That is the exact opposite of ending it!” “No it is,” William said, a devilish smile spread across his face, “Because it will be so devastating, you’ll never want to get back at me again for fear of something worse!” Al looked at his brother nervously, feeling the need to back off at his malicious look. Ed, however, merely scoffed as he smirked back. “I doubt that,” he said. “Brother! Don’t egg him on!” Al hissed to Ed. “Oh believe it,” William warned, “You’re gonna regret that little shower thing. Trust me.” He said before stalking back to the bathroom. Edward would never admit it, but he was mildly troubled by the evil look in his eyes. However, he felt if he just kept on his guard he’d be fine. And for a while he was. The days came and went and nothing seemed to happen. He kept his guard up for a full two weeks before forgetting about the silly little war, and it appeared that William had forgotten too…That was, at least until Lieutenant Colonel Hughes dropped by East City. Edward sighed as he half listened to the man rant about his family. He had been going on for a full fifteen minutes, talking about the girl’s second birthday. “Look at this one!”he said, “Look at her using the fork to eat her birthday cake! Isn’t she just adorable with that frosting on her nose?” “Yeah…Sure…” Ed said rolling his eyes. They then lit up as they caught sight of William walking towards them with a satchel. He breathed a sigh of relief. At least now he didn’t have to suffer this alone. Hughes was a great guy, but sometimes he wished he would stop his motor mouth for a bit. “William!” He called to his sibling, “Good to see you. Care to join us?” He gave his brother a pleading look. William smirked wickedly in response, which confused his younger sibling. “Oh of course,” he said, “I was actually looking for you, Hughes!” The man looked surprised while Ed furrowed his brow. What was he up too? He didn’t have time to ask, as he immediately sat down on the opposite side of Maes Hughes. “Really?”he asked, “Why was that?” “Oh I had something very special to show you,”he said, evil smirk never leaving his face, “After all, you show us so many pictures of your family I thought it was high time I showed you some of ours!” Maes gave a slightly confused but intrigued look while Ed looked alarmed. What was he talking about? What pictures? His alarm suddenly turned to horror as he saw William look him directly in the eye as he pulled out a very familiar baby blue binder. The one his mother had compiled all of his and Al’s baby photos in. “W-Where did you get that?!”he questioned, eyes fixated on it. “Oh, I just asked Pinako to send it up!”he said innocently, “She’s kept it in great condition, you know. I don’t think there’s a single one missing.” He then turned to the black haired man, “So would you like to see them?” “Oh sure!” Hughes said. “No DON’T!” Ed shouted trying to reach over the table to try and grab it. Will moved it slightly out of reach and Edward found his small body half splayed over the table. The cafeteria suddenly became silent as all eyes were on him. He glanced around and mentally cursed as the many pairs of eyes on him. Crap. If he drew too much attention to them, he’d have more than just Hughes getting a peek at those pictures. “Its there something wrong Ed?” Hughes asked, clearly worried. Ed suddenly moved back into his seat before laughing nervously. “Oh no! It’s nothing!” he said, “But William, do you really want to pull out such an…important family album on this dirty cafeteria table? The photos could get ruined.” “Nah, they’ll be fine,” he assured, “They’re all laminated. Nothing’s gonna hurt them.” Edward glared darkly at his brother as he flipped open the album. “Now let’s see…Where to begin,” he said as he flipped through it until he found a page, “Oh look! Here’s Ed when he was two! For Dad’s birthday he tried to make him a pie..out of mud. Needless to say, neither Mom nor Dad were happy when he tried to bring it inside to serve, but it’s the thought that counts.” Edward blushed furiously at this, looking away. “And here’s him when he was three!”he pointed to another picture of the little boy in oversized clothing, “He was going through a pirate phase at the time, so he decided to dress up as one. He ended up borrowing my boots and Dad’s jacket for his outfit. He couldn’t find an eyepatch so he made one for himself out of a tube sock.” Maes gave an amused look at the photo of the extremely proud looking boy with a sock tied over his eye. “Aww…” he said, “That’s adorable…” Ed on the other hand did not think so, as he was gritting his teeth, glaring daggers at his older brother. “And here’s him on his first birthday…” he pointed out the picture of the boy eating his cake, “How he got frosting in his hair I’ll never know…” Edward groaned as he continued, hiding his face in his hands. “And this is him bundled up for his first snow storm back in risembool! You can’t even see his face under all those scarves!” Maes chuckled at that, only furthering the boy’s embarrassment. This continued for what felt like hours until Ed finally couldn’t take it any more. He got up all of a sudden and marched out of the room. “Ed?” Maes asked, “Where are you going?” “Far away from here!”he growled, trying to hide his face as he was still blushing furiously. Maes raised an eyebrow as he watched him leave before turning to William in concern. “Is he all right?” he asked. “Oh he’ll be fine,” William said, a very satisfied smile on his face as he flipped to the next page. … Edward avoided his older brother all day. He didn’t know if he would be able to stop himself from punching him if he did. He couldn’t believe he had humiliated him like that. It had left him in a sour mood for the rest of the day, even after he had gotten back to the dorm. Alphonse had tried to ask him what was wrong, but he didn’t tell him. Instead he opted to pretend to do research on the couch so that no one would bother him. He had remained undisturbed until his brother came home a few hours later. He had briefly glanced up at him as he entered through the door before glowering and looking away. “Hey Ed,” he said walking up to him and sitting next to him on the couch, “How’s it going?” “How do you think, asshole?”he growled at him, “After all you did a pretty fine job of ruining my day! I hope you’re proud of yourself.” He then turned away from him. William frowned. “Really? That ruined your whole day?”he questioned. “Of course it did!” Ed cried, rounding on him, “You humiliated me with that stupid scrapbook!” William frowned slightly. “Oh. Sorry,” he responded. Ed gave him a baffled look. “Sorry?! How are you sorry?! You PLANNED this! You wanted to make fun of me in front of the other military personnel!” He roared. “Not I didn’t!” William argued, “First off, my goal was to embarrass you, not humiliate you. There’s a fine line between those things. If I wanted to humiliate you, I would have shown that album to Roy or Archer, or someone else besides the lieutenant colonel.” “And secondly,” he continued, “I wasn’t making fun of you. That was never my intention. Not for a second.” Ed gave him a confused look. “Believe it or not…All those moments I showed Hughes are actually ones I hold pretty close to my heart,” he admitted, throwing the boy off, “I adored you two back then. I still do. You and Al are some of the most important things in the world to me. I knew those things would embarrass you, but I was never trying to make fun of you.” Ed studied his brother’s expression for a moment. He couldn’t find any hint of lying but that still didn’t heal all of his hurt feelings from the situation. “Alright…” he said, “But you’re still an asshole. An evil, sadistic, asshole.” William chuckled and crossed his arms. “Fair enough,” he responded, “You can call me asshole all you want. So long as we finally drop this whole prank thing…and you admit I won.” He smirked at his brother and Ed rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he responded. William smiled before ruffling his hair, to which Ed swatted the hand away. William then got up to take a nap. Ed lied back on the couch as he decided to take one of his own. His mind felt much more at ease now that this stupid fight was over. “AHHHH!” Ed smirked, not opening his eyes as he heard the telltale sign that will had found the garter snake in his bed. Yes. Now he truly could rest easy.

DATE: January 25, 2017

LOCATION: The Castelvecchio Bridge

TIME: 2:45 AM

  If one were to take a walk on the bridge, one might think gaily of the serenity of their settings -- the stars kissing the dark dome of the sky, a romantic detail often missed because of the warm, yellow light that engulfed Verona at this hour. A person would coo over the chill that made their breath puff in the air, they would sigh over the sound of their shoes clipping against the aged cobblestone streets. Their gaze would linger on the scenes that played out in the windows. Looking to the left, one would see the darkness of a bar set to close, the tender wearily wiping away the assortment of liquors that no doubt stained the counter-top as she made shy conversation with the woman who gazed at her, their fingers glancing upon each other occasionally. When looking right, one would find a baker and her husband, eyes red and movements bumbling, getting ready to make the embellishments of an opulent wedding cake fit for a queen. It is difficult not to be swept away by the romance of Verona, its beauty and its brilliant wonder that calls all lovers like a lark to its mate.

  Just as it is difficult not to be swept away by the blood that runs through its streets.

  A wayfarer going through Verona would not notice the man on the bridge who wears no coat, no jacket. No, all he wears is a dress shirt and black pants, both so fine in threading that one could make no mistake that it was made for a king. He certainly looked the part too, what with his gold-plated cufflinks, embellished with rubies glinted so brightly one might have thought them for drops of blood, and his golden ring that gleamed with the crest revered by all in the western city. The cold may bite at his skin; the fog may kiss it, but he does not seem to notice with his gaze that looks eastward across the river, calculating and covetous in the way that he stares. A romantic would think that he was a scorned lover, the city being the object of his affections. What else would such a man be doing at the ungodly hours of the night, but concocting a plan that would surely win his lover’s adoration? But the city had been scourged of such romantics mere weeks ago by the hand of none other than the jacketless man who stood atop the bridge.

 After a couple of minutes he checked his watch, looking up to glance around, eyes narrowed as if he could pierce the darkness that lay between the yellow lamplight. At this time of night, one would have expected fear, apprehension even, to lace the man’s mannerisms. A twitch of the fingers, a blink of the eye. But such things were lacking, instead a person would only find impatience in the way that he smoothed his shirt ( impeccable, save for the slight, almost imperceptible, wrinkle of the fabric ) and dragged from his cigarette, smoke curling in the air as if it could not wait to dissipate.

 “Damiano.”

 The cadence of syllables broke the silence that hung on the bridge, catching the attention of the Montague boss as he crushed the cigarette underfoot. His lips curled into a smile, less sincere than one that might have been found on his son’s features. Perhaps it was because sincerity was no longer part of his vocabulary -- unless it meant sincerely wishing vengeance upon those who dared to defy him.

 “Cosimo,” the Montague boss greeted.

 And so emerged the Capulet boss from the shadows, hands held behind his back as he strolled towards his adversary. An adversary declared by Fate. An adversary confirmed by deeds. An adversary made dangerous by the ruthlessness that was demonstrated on a day that was once considered sacred. Taking one slow, clipped step after the other, he made his way from the shadows until he stood face-to-face with Damiano, one face as unreadable as the other.

 They both were quiet as a pair of lovers, emerging from the darkness of the alley, made their way down the bridge, oblivious in their heady affection to the gods that stood mere feet away. (Look closer and see how the Montague boss glances at them for a mere second longer than the Capulet boss does, eyes reminiscent and longing. Were not gods merely humans deified?)

 “Cigarette?” Damiano offered, a roguish smile painting across his face as he held up the carton. “I always like to have a smoke before I begin negotiations.”

  The two men leaned over the railing of the bridge, the yellow light of the lamps casting dark shadows over their faces -- a shadow softened by the orange burn of their cigarettes. There was a silence that settled between them as the smoke was exhaled from their lips in tandem, their shared moments neither beginning nor ending there. Who was more similar to the king of Verona than the king he contended with?

 “You know I didn’t kill Alvise,” Cosimo said, effectively breaking the quiet of the night.

  “Am I supposed to take you on your word?”

 “I am a man of tradition, Damiano. There has always been an unspoken agreement of boundaries -- how far we’re allowed to push one another. Any man who would dare to break such a thing must be driven by nothing other than pure madness.”

  “Empty words from a man with a forked tongue,” the Montague boss taunted, the downward curl of his lips betraying the disbelief better than his words did. Flicking the ashes off the end of his cigarette, he glanced at the Capulet boss, fingers twitching imperceptibly. Trigger finger? Possibly. “But what’s done is done.”

  “It’s not as if I expected our negotiations to make up for the blood that was lost at the hand of your mongrels.”

  “If you did, then you would be as naive as your daughter.”

  A silence followed, punctuated occasionally by the sound of Cosimo grinding his teeth.

  “Did I strike a nerve, mio amico?”

  “No more than you usually do, Damiano, no more than you usually do.”

  A dark chuckle echoed in the night, slipping from Damiano’s lips as easily as cigarette smoke. It was easy to see why so many people were drawn to him, were drawn to the warmth of the fire that burned within. When compared with Cosimo’s cool exterior, as if the man were more Romanesque statue than flesh and blood, the contrast of the personalities was startling -- was dangerous. Everyone speaks romantically of the story of fire and ice, thinking of nothing but the tender warmth of a flame and the soothing kiss of ice. They sigh over the beauty of the poetry, they croon over the cadence of the vowels. But when they open their windows to see a world besieged by fire and frost, they do nothing but cower at the reality of it all.

Just as Verona cowered before the feet of the two men smoking on the ancient bridge.

  “We need to soothe the witches’ bruised egos,” Damiano murmured, flicking the butt of the cigarrette over the bridge.

  “We need to do nothing,” Cosimo said, his tone indicating that his hands were not dirtied by any crime. “The Capulets have been convicted of nothing.”  

  “Except murdering my underboss and stabbing one of my best captains,” the Montague boss responded, not bothering to hide the growl in his voice. Was Cosimo capable of such bald-faced lies?

  “Innocent until prove guilty.”

  “Do you want me to stick your soldiers’ heads on pikes and declare Verona a place of war?”

  “As if it had ever been a place of peace.”

  “Cosimo.”

  “You bruised their egos, Damiano, not me. If I join you in these negotiations I’m declaring myself and my people guilty when we have committed no crime.”

  “Get off of your high horse before I knock you off of it, Capulet.” Damiano spat, hands curling into fists as he turned towards the boss of the east, his lips peeling back so as to bare his teeth. Rabid hounds looked less menacing than Damiano Montague when worked into a rage. “Innocent or guilty, we have no quarrel with the witches, only each other. We need to demonstrate our remorse -- and either you do this willingly or unwillingly. Unwillingly: the witches will know and you will find their hand around your throat. Willing: my hand will be at your throat rather than theirs.”

  Cosimo stood quiet, dark, guarded eyes watching the man that now stood nose-to-nose with him. The water below them whispered of something hidden, the moon above yearning to cast light upon the darkness that engulfed them both. The Capulet boss’ head canted to the side, his face unreadable as he waited for the man to step back -- and slowly, ever so slowly he did.

  The water quieted, the moon hid once more.

  “Fine,” Cosimo stated, flicking what remained of his cigarette onto the ground and crushing it under his heel. A pause followed as the Capulet boss slid his hands into his pockets, his lips settling into a leering smirk. “Why not tell me the details of your elaborate plan? You’ve clearly thought about such things much longer and more thoroughly than I have.”

  Damiano’s eyes narrowed, a similar smile playing at his lips -- like a child who has just gotten his younger sibling to play along with a terribly wicked game. “What do you say to having those who usually fight with words fight with their fists?”

  “You mean to say you want me to pit my advisor against yours?”

 “Ah, good,” the Montague boss murmured, sharply tugging at the ends of his sleeves. “I thought I would have had to lead you there myself.”

  “This is madness, Damiano, even for you. My advisor is a child. She’s as young as my daughter.”

  “More ruthless and merciless than your daughter, from what I’ve heard.”

  “Granted,” Cosimo admitted, his brows still furrowed in disbelief. “But your advisor would beat her senseless.”

  “Would he? From what I’ve heard he has a rather soft, vulnerable part in him that needs to be exposed and... modified.”

  “Rafaella does not need to be reprimanded in such a manner.”

  “But she does need to repent for offending the witches on multiple occasions -- “

  “ -- I told you, Damiano, we had nothing to -- “

  “ -- which is why our advisors can bear the sins of both mobs and redeem us by being publicly crucified. The witches love blood, so why not give them the blood of the most guilty out of all of us?”

  “Absolute madness…” Cosimo breathed, the protest in his voice gone -- replaced with resignation.

  “Alexander counsels sin after sin -- as I’m sure Rafaella does as well. I suggest we meet in neutral territory for this.”

  “Do you think the witches would let us anywhere near their premises? Why don’t we use that new place -- The Dark Lady -- the owner knows neither of us, nor do we know them.”

  “I was not thinking of such a high profile place, Cosimo.”

  “You surely can’t be suggesting we -- “

   “-- Meet at il bar Griffone? Yes, I was.”

  “We will be murdered before we even step through the door. You know that those... people despise us.”

  “It will guarantee that they’ll kill us sooner than we will kill each other. Besides, you have your connections with that Underworlder -- what’s his name? Orca?”

  “Don’t act as if you don’t know Orpheus Ahulani’s name.”

  “Ah, yes, that’s his name. The bitter man of the Ahulani household…” Damiano murmured, a reminiscent smile flashing across his face -- gone so quickly that one might have thought it was a trick of the light.

 There was a pause as the two men quieted, the weight of their discussions settling upon them as heavily as the darkness that encroached upon the sitting. It drowned each crevice that wasn’t touched upon by the light. Cosimo’s hand swept over his face, as if he could simply remove his weariness by this action alone. His Montague counterpart leaned over the wall, looking over the water once more -- fingers lacing together, thumb tapping erratically as he waited for Cosimo to break the silence.

  “So then what is this? A public persecution? A crucifixion?” Cosimo finally asked, staring at Damiano’s profile. How could he look so calm, so serene, at a time like this?

  “Let’s call it an exposition, mio amico. It’s befitting, don’t you think? I mean -- what’s more beautiful and artistic than man in his most savage form?”

ADDITIONAL: It’s nice to see the bosses being so civil when negotiating a ceasefire, don’t you think? The Montagues and the Capulets announced the exposition to their members later the very same morning. Everyone knows that this a show of remorse for offending the witches, just as they also know that Alexander and Rafaella cannot both survive this “exposition”. The Underworld of Verona will be hosting this showdown, the Bar Grifone will be the venue of this showdown -- their basement, having seen numerous fights of the same order, would be able to house the amount of people who were invited to come and watch. One might have thought there would be a calm before this storm, but instead everything seems more chaotic, more prone to fights. Montagues and Capulets are biting at their bits to see this all go down, but stop themselves just before their loyalty to their mob bosses can be called into question.

TIMELINE: Please date all your threads between JANUARY 25TH and FEBRUARY 2ND. The Exposition will take place on Friday, February 3rd, so please do not hold any threads on that date or after that date until the next plot progression occurs.

TASK: As previously mentioned, the Montagues and the Capulets are at each other’s throats now more than ever -- unsatisfied by the fact that they’re being forbidden to fight one another because their advisers are fighting for them. Whether or not your character likes it, they’re going to be caught in a fight. Your task is to write out a fight scene with another player -- your character may be doing so as an act of self defense OR write out a fight scene as a self para with an NPC. Verona is a place of war, after all. Periods of peace are overrated.