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queers-gambit · 6 months

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Tell Me Every Terrible Thing

[ part one of two ]

prompt: you embark on a secret but passionate affair with the Rogue Prince, and when his wife, Rhea Royce, passes away, he chooses you to wed next - a decision that angers his niece and changes history.

pairing: Daemon Targaryen x female!Hightower!reader only description given: red hair

fandom masterlist: House of the Dragon

word count: 5.6k+

note: what the fuck is this, Cherry? also two parts 'cause author gets carried away!

warnings: show spoilers, cursing, author has small bouts of feministic ideas, author also really likes the "little birds" storyline (let her live!), wonky brain is wonky, i think hurt and comfort, angst, very mild NSFW (brief female receiving oral), technically alternative timeline 'cause this goofy-ass author has an overactive imagination, #icanmakehimworse, another reader-episode-insert (this warning is for the fucking losers in my inbox).

part two: "Tell me every terrible thing you ever did, And Let Me Love You Anyway," - Edgar Allan Poe

"How angry do you think he'll be with me?"

You offered your best friend, The Realm's Delight, Crowned Heir to the Iron Throne, Princess Rhaenyra, a unamused, stale look. Sarcastically, you replied, "Oh, come now, Nyrie, why would your father be angry? It couldn't be because you rejected every suitor His Grace put before you, or even how you abruptly ended the tour with two months remaining. What father would be angry after that?"

She groaned, "I know, I know, you don't have to be so right all the bloody time. I just... I couldn't do it anymore, you saw what it was like," her head bowed and you knew the girl was truly overwhelmed by her 'job' picking a suitor.

"This was no easy feat to arrange, Princess," you spoke diplomatically, aware of the ship's crew dotting around the royal ship. "Our fathers went through much difficulty to ensure this tour's success, Princess, and I'd imagine neither will be thrilled by our early arrival."

"But it's just - "

"I know," you soothed with a knowing, sympathetic smile. Your arm extended around her, her head dropping to your shoulder for comfort. "In an ideal world, women would have a real say in their futures. Perhaps, that is what you're meant to do, Nyrie... Perhaps you're meant to break this wheel, give the other half of humanity a fighting chance against the men who have long suppressed us. Being heir is a monumental stereotype to shatter, but most women are not born into royalty and have nobody protecting or defending them."

She picked her head up to stare at you for a single moment, then nodded slowly, "That's a lot of pressure."

"Less if you pick a respectable man to help you lead," you advised softly, reaching to caress her cheek briefly. "You're to be Queen, Nyra, which means you need a King Consort that the common folk will respect, who will play his part in the courts to come. I know it's not ideal, my friend, but it's not meant to be - it's meant to be strategic." You paused, adding, "Similar to Ali marrying your father, yes? That was a strategic move on my father's end. Now it's up to you to chose your own match, to plot your own strategy."

"Who would you see me marry?"

"In truth? I'm unsure if anyone would fit the bill perfectly, so, I don't know who I could see you with. Definitely someone smart, though."

She only hummed, sighing deeply and making you frown. Before another word could be said, there came a distant screech that sounded all too familiar - though you refused to let it show that you knew this particular dragon's sound.

Nyra moved away from the ship's railing to stare longingly up into the sky, and about a minute later, without visible sight of any threat, Ser Criston Cole was shouting, "Take cover!"

And then, like a bird swooping to snatch a fish, a crimson dragon descended from the cover of clouds - seemingly materializing from nowhere. The large, long, slithery beast with wings knocked into the ship's main mast; jolting everyone on board enough to topple over.

You tried to stabilize the Princess, but you lost balance and dropped to your knees as Cole rushed to help Rhaenyra to her feet. When able, you looked to the sky; grinning to yourself as you recognized the retreating Blood Wyrm. Seeing the distinct form of Caraxes made you giddy with anticipation, however, that was short lived as you clocked Rhaenyra's gaze of awe and wonder.

It seems she was excited for her uncle's return, too. Though, it won't be till later that you learn the extent of her adoration.

Less than an hour later, the ship was docking and you escorted Princess Rhaenyra from aboard; her guards surrounding you both as you trekked to the Red Keep. "Just... Perhaps try to stay invisible," you advised your friend, arm-in-arm. "The King won't be pleased if you interrupt court, even just by being there. With luck, we won't be noticed."

She agreed softly, continuing on. She started fiddling with her necklace, the piece of Valyrian Steel jewelry that her uncle, Daemon, had gifted her years ago before Queen Aemma passed away. Your lover had told you the Princess was owed a piece of her Valyrian history, and since he could not gift a sword to a young lady, the necklace was chosen, crafted, and gifted.

When you returned to the Red Keep, it was just in time for court to be called to session and your friend was all too eager to join. "Nyra," you warned, hand in hers.

"It's all right," she assured, "come, it must be Daemon - "

"No, I should return to my chamber. Don't piss your father off too much," you warned her with a smirk, watching her grin in response, squeeze your hand, and then file into the Throne Room with the other members of court.

You retreated to your old room, sighing in relief when you discovered nothing was disturbed. "My Lady!" A voice gasped at the open door. You glanced over, smiling at Milah, your usual handmaiden, and opening your arms when she rushed forward. "You're not supposed to be back yet! Oh!" She tutted, looking you over. "I'll get your bed made and - "

"No, it's fine - "

"Nonsense, let me do this," she insisted, already busying around the room. "I was wondering why they were bringing things into the foyer - must be all the Princess' luggage, hmm?"

"Yeah," you sighed, helping her strip the bed and change the sheets. "It was strange," you admitted, "the men, I mean, and the way they all competed for her hand in marriage."

"Did you expect anything else?"

"I did not think they'd honestly kill one another. Though it was more so their pride than the Princess they fought over."

Milah smirked, "Sounds about right. Well, what of you? Anyone catch your eye?"

"Of course not," you sighed a little sadly.

"Still hung on the Prince, aren't you, my Lady?"

"Perhaps," you mused.

You spent the better part of an hour gossiping with Milah before she had to go grab a few things, but promised she'd send your belongings up as soon as possible. You thanked her, walked her out, assuring you were just going to get a bath or something, and just as you shut and locked your chamber door, gasped when a pair of hands seized your waist.

"Daemon!" You hissed when you saw the short, white locks of your surprise guest. "The bloody fuck is wrong with you?" You demanded, turning in his grip to shove your hands into his chest. "What're you doing here? Want to get us caught?"

"Three years," he grit, gathering you in his arms to heave upward and force your legs around his waist if you wanted to keep balance, "three fucking years I've been gone - away - missing you, do not deprive me a moment more."

"Someone will come looking," you whispered, caressing his face as your forehead met his. "And perhaps I want a moment to just look at you, 's been years," you breathed. "You cut your hair," you commented, running your hands through the short strands.

"I cut my hair," he agreed softly, just holding you close and tight.

"I like it... But I'll miss braiding it."

"I will, too," he admitted. He nuzzled closer, inhaling your neck sharply, boldly licking a flat tongue up your pulse point to make you shudder lightly.

"Daemon," you whispered, pulling his head back so you could look in his eyes, beaming, "I missed you, too."

"Viserys is arranging a lunch for my return," he informed, turning so he could approach your newly-made four-poster bed; dropping you flat on your back with a grin. "Which roughly translates into only allotting a few minutes to make up for lost time."

"We will have time later - "

"I overheard Viserys saying he and Otto intend to take evening tea with you regarding the Princess' return from tour," he eased, reaching to spread your legs, bunching your skirts. "But I will call upon you tomorrow? Yes? Officially?"

"If you insist," you teased, letting him finally descend to smash his lips against yours. In truth, you were used to his empty promises of 'calling on you officially' because of his marriage to Lady Royce, but it was his way of telling you without words that he wished it was you instead of Rhea.

Daemon groaned, melting into your form; breathing heavily. "I've missed you past words," he whispered, nuzzling your nose with his. "But for now, I just need a taste - "

"We don't have time - "

"We'll be fast. Tell me, love," he nipped your pouting lips, soothing his tongue over the puckered skin, "have you taken another in my absence?"

"Of course not," you hissed in offense.

"Good," he nodded, kissing you sweetly.

"Need I ask?"

"There were no concubines," he mused, "though, they were offered, I did not accept. So, we'll be quick - faster than quick," he promised, pawing at your undergarments and exposing your dampening cunt to his sight. "I'll take my time with you later, but for now, I need this," he all but seethed before diving tongue-first into your core.

His spit mixed with your arousal, creating a slippery mess.

"Shit," you hissed, grabbing his shorter hair as his tongue flattened to lap at your entrance, dripping in your essence. One of his hands held your thighs apart for his access, the other releasing his cock from the pair of breeches he wore. Daemon groaned at the taste of you, lapping wildly like a man starved, and stroking his bare cock in rhythm with his ministrations.

It truly took no time at all once he found your clit and sucked mercilessly, the hand holding your thighs now extended up to paw roughly at your tits. Alternating his tongue around your sloppy cunt added to your heightening pleasure, swirling his tongue as he bobbed and shook his head - making an absolute mess, and causing your climax to shatter your mind and soul.

Your legs twitched, spine curled, stomach contracted as your arms quivered from the rush of adrenaline; hand slapped over your mouth to keep your moans to a minimum. You grabbed his hair so tightly, he groaned in mock pain; legs then contracting to a suffocating grip around his ears and head while Daemon met his own end, spending in his hand whilst milking you for all you had.

He panted with satisfaction when he pulled back, grinning at you in mischief when you released your hold on him. "Good fuckin' girl," he praised, standing to his feet only to slither over top of you. "Like not a day's gone by, huh?" He whispered, kissing you messily, smearing your cum on your tongue; grinding his bare cock into your recovering core to make you shudder. "Take a moment, then get ready," he whispered. "I expect to see you at the celebrations... Wear that dress I got you for your fifth-and-twentieth nameday," he smirked, adding, "if you'd so please, my darling."

You chuckled, "You magically learned manners during the war?"

"Perhaps," he mused, pecking your lips again.

"Hey, Daemon?"

"What is it, my sweet one?" He asked, seeing the sincerity in your eyes and hearing the seriousness in your voice - something in his heart jumping.

"Would you tell me about it all later? The war, I mean? Would you tell me what you've endured?"

"I do not think it's a tale befitting a lady's ears."

"Please? I wish to know..."

"Then I will tell you," he promised, "but only if you wear that dress."

Your eyes rolled in humor as Daemon stood. You watched him wipe his cum on a spare rag, tossing it away, and after one last kiss, was leaving out of the secret passageway's door. Taking another moment, you finally stood on weak legs and unlocked the main door, preparing how you could for your day before Milah returned.

After arriving at the luncheon, you made a beeline for your father, greeting him happily before explaining your surprise reappearance. He filled you in on that day's court, explaining that Prince Daemon was back; and you felt almost guilty for the way your skin was still set ablaze from your lover's earlier visit.

For all Otto's faults, he was still your father, and you felt guilty for sneaking around with Daemon behind his back. Your father ushered you off to mingle, insisting he was only there for the King; and no, he wasn't hungry. So, you parted ways with a chaste peck to your forehead; the feeling of his scratchy beard lingering on your guilt-riddled flesh.

"Sister, what a surprise!" Alicent happily distracted by greeting you with a bright grin. You adjusted course to approach the Queen, King, and newly-returned Prince. "Oh, what a lovely dress you've chosen," she complimented with ease, reaching for your hand. "You always do have the best eye for clothes, I feel as if need you to live in my wardrobe, tell me what to wear everyday."

"Thank you, Your Grace, I'd be honored," You smiled at her, holding her hand, looking to the others. "My King," you curtsied to Viserys, glancing at Daemon and bowing your head respectfully, "my Prince, how nice to see you, again. Welcome home."

"Thank you, my Lady," he smirked. "Might I welcome you home as well? I hear you've been gone from the Capital."

You hummed with a nod, "I was on tour with the Princess, my Prince. I've only arrived home today, as well - though not by dragonback."

He eyed you up and down, offering, "I must agree with the Queen, my Lady, that is a lovely dress you've chosen."

You pet the black material, smiling genuinely, "Thank you, my Prince. It's one of my favorites."

"I can see why, given how beautiful you look," he flirted, and from behind you and Alicent, you could hear your father scoff.

"Thank you," you whispered. "What conversation did I rudely interrupt before?"

"Oh, nothing of importance," Daemon told you, looking to his brother and your sister.

"Because we spoke of how Daemon, here, was always Mother's favorite," Viserys grinned. "Do you want to know, my Lady? About how much Mother adored Daemon?" He asked you, his little brother trying to drone over him - but Viserys was determined to tell you the examples he could think of regarding his brother's favoritism.

You giggled from both Viserys' stories and Daemon's evident embarrassment.

However, almost awkwardly, on Alicent's other side, Princess Rhaenyra approached the group and stood amongst you. You knew the King must be unhappy with his daughter, but did not voice any opinion since you were not the source of disappointment at the moment. Instead, you listened to the King's complimenting words to his brother; thinking it was interesting that Daemon was so egotistical and yet, flushed under his brother's praise. Princess Rhaenyra waited until a natural lull to tell Daemon, "Congratulations on your victory."

It was awkward as Viserys just glared at her, Rhaenyra's expression falling short. Daemon covered smoothly, "Thank you, Princess."

Trying to save the tension, your sweet sister offered, "Perhaps Prince Daemon would care for a tour of the gallery? He hasn't yet seen the new tapestries gifted to you by Norvos and Qohor."

Viserys nodded and whispered, "Oh, oh," mockingly. He asked his brother, "Would you like to see the tapestries?" But by the end, he broke character and laughed with his brother; the latter who whom you knew spat on trivial things - such as tapestries and such. Through their laughter, Viserys proclaimed to his wife, "He has no interest in such things!"

"But thank you for the offer, sister," you smiled at her, trying to reassure her when her husband laughed in her face. "The tapestries are very beautiful, you've chosen a grand place to display them. I saw them on my way here."

"I'd like to see them," Rhaenyra jumped in, seemingly to Alicent's aid - something she'd not done in an age considering the tension between them. You just smiled politely, seeing the way Viserys dropped his grin when he looked at his daughter with distain while the rest of you looked away sheepishly.

"Then you should not deprive yourself."

Rhaenyra offered a pained, pursed smile, "I shall enjoy them alone."

You, Alicent, and Daemon all stared after Rhaenyra with varying degrees of pity as she walked away to sit solemnly by herself on a distant bench while Viserys went on about his and Daemon's youth; over Daemon being their mother's favorite. However, Alicent excused herself to follow the saddened Rhaenyra, perhaps to offer the Princess comfort in her father's anger. The King looked ready to protest, but instead just shook his head in disappointment.

Viserys turned you and Daemon away from the sight of the girls, showing off the Godswood in bloom; your father approaching you three stiffly. "Your Grace," he bowed to Viserys, then nodded in resepct, "my Prince. Daughter," he smiled, trying to instigate, "how was tour with Princess Rhaenyra?"

"Oh, as eventful as a Royal Tour can be," you smiled, deflecting, "though I must admit, while seemingly exciting at some parts, I'm sure it pales terribly in comparison to the Prince's adventures in the Stepstones." Viserys smirking broadly at your redirection. "I do wonder, what brought the war to an end? We've heard rumor, but surely the Prince might know for sure what brought the Triarchy down?"

"Surely," The King nodded, looking to Daemon expectedly.

The Rogue Prince smirked and readjusted his stance, deflecting, "Perhaps a conversation for later."

"Oh, come now, brother!"

"Your Grace," Otto interrupted, "I do apologize, but there are matters at hand that require your attention. The Tully's still - "

He sighed and waved your father off, "Yes, yes... Well," Viserys nodded, "I'll call upon you both later."

"Your Grace," you instantly curtsied.

"Your Grace," Daemon bowed right after. Viserys smiled and nodded back at you both, patted his brother's shoulder, turned, and when he walked away, Otto followed with a single look to you and Daemon.

"Daughter," he bid curtly - and you read between the lines. He really wanted to say, "Do not linger around the Prince."

When the King moved, his usual procession of advisors, guards, and entourage followed right after. You sighed as almost all of the Godswood cleared out, Daemon eyeing you as he readjusted his stance; subtly reaching out to pet your hand with his fingers.

"Daemon," you warned quietly.

"Nobody is watching us," he smirked. "You look beautiful, love. I'll have to buy you more dresses, you wear them so well."

"I cannot believe I will not see you tonight," you whispered with a pout.

"I will call on you tomorrow," he reminded.

You opened your mouth, but another voice answered. "Sister," Alicent called, you looking over and smiling innocently. You caught sight of Princess Rhaenyra glaring at her uncle, but didn't think much of it.

"I look forward to your tales from the Stepstones," you told him calmly, offering a curtesy.

He took your hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back, "I look forward to any time spect together, my Lady."

You hummed in contentment before stepping away, instantly taking Alicent's arm when close enough. "What was that about? Daemon looks so smitten!" She whispered with a growing grin.

"He was being polite," you whispered back, "and simply being Daemon - you know how he is. He's got three years of mischief to make up for."

"I see," she giggled. "He's quite handsome with the short hair, isn't he? It suits him well."

"I have to agree," you gossiped. "I can see why the ladies of court have missed him so."

Your younger sister giggled, smiling at you, offering, "I've missed you greatly. Come... I wish to hear of your time away."

"Oh, sister, please, I've only just returned."

"But... Wouldn't you tell me before the King?" She whispered.

You paused, then nodded, "Got me there, sister-dearest."

"We'll take tea together," she decided, leading you around the Keep until she saw a familiar face she knew. "Talya, my sister and I wish to take tea in the gardens, please. Privately, of course, so do not announce it," she directed the handmaiden. "We'll be in the gazebo in the rose gardens, bring tea, sandwiches, and my sister's always loved those peach crumbles?"

"I know the dessert," she nodded, smiling at you. "Can I interest you, Your Grace, in anything specific?"

"No, but bring enough for us both. Come, sister."

You three parted ways, Alicent leading you to the gardens as promised. She dismissed anyone in the area, even telling her guards to wait at the front hedges to give you ideal privacy while deeper in the roses at the gazebo. While sitting, you exchanged gossip about what happened while you were away, Alicent happy to catch you up because she was happy to finally have a friend, even if it were a sister, back in her corner.

You were happy, too.

While you loved Rhaenyra, the tension between her and Ali made you feel in the middle despite both parties assuring you "you weren't". Nyra was a good friend, your best, even! But it was something about your sister that was calming and assuring. She was trustworthy to a fault, but she was still your strongest pillar.

As Talya dressed your table with tea, lemon water, sandwiches, fruits, and other foods (including the peach crumbles), you giggled at Ali's retelling of whatever failed proposals occurred this past season you were away. When alone, at last, Ali turned to you in her padded chair and asked, "Tell me in truth, how was the tour? Why did you return early?"

"In truth, sister, vying men made the Princess uncomfortable. She did not need the two months more, she knew she was unhappy with the men so far presented to her."

Alicent sighed, "So, who does she intend to marry?"

"Yes," a new voice agreed, you both jumping in shock and looking up to see Viserys approaching with your father behind him. "Who does my daughter intend to wed, Lady Hightower?"

"Your Grace," you uttered, both you and Alicent standing in respect to bow your heads.

"Please, please," he permitted you both to sit, taking the lone chair across the table as your father remained standing. "I only wish for the unfiltered truth. I know what is said, I know what is reported, I know..." He sighed, "I know what my daughter might say, but please, Lady Hightower, what is the truth of it?"

"The truth, Your Grace, is that Rhaenyra was overwhelmed. Perhaps it was too long for her that she eventually, I'm not sure, shut down? She did not care towards the end which men was presented, she was overwhelmed with the options and pace at which everything moved."

"Kings and Princes before her have done the same, many Queens and Princesses embarking on their tours to find proper suitors," Otto reminded. "Why was this different, my Lady?"

"Because she is the first," you reminded. "Never before has a woman been named heir - she holds a different responsibility. Perhaps having everything thrown at her was too much, she has to filter through lesser men that would be King Consort. Nobody stood out, she became discouraged, and honestly, Your Grace?" You spoke earnestly, "I think it just made her sad. She did not want to disappoint you by choosing a man not worthy of being her King, so, she would rather face your anger in coming home early."

Alicent frowned but nodded to herself.

Otto adverted his eyes.

Viserys looked dejected, but sighed, "I see... Thank you for your words, my Lady, truly, you've always been a trustworthy advisor to the Queen, Princess, and I."

"It's the least I can do, Your Grace, since you and Queen Aemma - you - you were so kind to me when Mother passed. And Rhaenyra - to both Alicent and I - she was a true friend. I am in debt to you, Your Grace, and whatever I can do, be it just a simple different perspective, I am happy to provide."

"Well," he considered, "in the spirit of your unfiltered perspective, who would you see Rhaenyra marry?"

You blinked in shock, "Oh, Your Grace, I-I am not qualified to say."

"You serve as my Master of Whispers, do you not?" He smirked. "Speak, please."

You sighed deeply. With a small gulp, you blinked twice, then admitted, "I do not think my opinion matters, but... It would make sense to marry her to Ser Laenor Velaryon, would it not? He's a warrior who survived the Stepstones, is of Valyrian stock and blood, rides the dragon, Seasmoke. He's kind, brave, true, unmarried, heir to Driftmark. I think when it comes to filling the position of King Consort, Ser Laenor Velaryon would make a fine candidate."

Apparently, this was all Viserys needed to hear.

You could not sleep that night. You could not explain why, but something foul was in the air and prevented you from drifting off. So, you chose to browse your private library, select a literary favorite, and stroll the deadened halls of the Red Keep; reading by flickering torch light.

Good thing you were up and out, because one of your Little Birds chirped at you from the shadows. You looked around to see nobody in the hall, but another chirp directed your attention to a darkened alcove. "Hmm, oh, Kaela," you hummed, approaching her slowly and bending at the waist. "What is it, child?"

"I came as fast as I could."

"What's wrong?"

"I've seen something - something you'll want to know," she glanced up and down the hall, "but not anyone else."

"Come," you whispered, pushing her further back into the dark and sheltering yourselves safely. Once knelt before her, you asked the child, "All right. What is it you have seen, little one?"

"Do not get angry, my Lady..."

"I promise I won't," you spoke softly, confused - you never got angry at your Little Birds... Why start now?

"I-I saw... I saw the Prince Daemon and... Princess Rhaenyra."

You nodded slowly, asking quietly, "Where?"

"In the city, in a pleasure house."

You blinked, "And what were they doing?"

"What grown-ups do."

"I see. They were coupling?"

She shrugged, "No, just kissing, but it stopped fast. He left her there."

"He left her there? In the pleasure house?"

The little girl nodded. "The Prince looked sad... When the Princess tried to kiss him again, he pulled away... Then he left."

"Where did he go? After?"

She blinked, frowning, "My brother, Grenn, said he saw him at the pubs - but he was always on the move, very drunk. I came here right away."

"Good girl," you smiled, offering her whatever Gold Dragons from the pouch you usually kept on your person under your robe for times like this. "Where will you be tomorrow evening? I will bring you and Grenn supper."

She smiled, "We can meet you at the dock!"

"The dock?"

"He likes watching the boats."

"The docks, then. By the Fisherman's Pier?"

"No, Grenn like the Harper's Pier. They're not there around supper, they're still out at sea."

"Harper's Pier for supper," you agreed. "Go on."

The little girl looked around before scampering off down a different passageway and you stood from your knelt position with a stony look of tentative contemplation on your face. With a deep breath, you did the only thing you thought you could... You went to your father.

With a rapid knock at his chamber door, it took a moment or two before he was opening it - still dressed. "What is it, daughter?" He asked gruffly. "It's late, this should wait till morning."

"The castle is about to wake - "

"I know and I've much to attend to - "

"Father," you hissed, glancing up the hall.

He sighed and let you in, "What is it?"

"I carry scandalous news," you muttered, his door's lock echoing around you. "About the Princess Rhaenyra."

He turned to you sharply, you taking a step back in surprise. "You... Know?"

"About her sneaking around in a pleasure house?"

Otto frowned, "Do you know with who?"

You could not tell him, so you answered, "No, just that she was seen in disguise."

"Who told you this?"

"One of my Birdies."

"All right," he decided, nodding to himself, "thank you, daughter, for reporting this. I will... I will figure out what to say to the King."

"Should you say anything?"

"I'll figure it out - but now we both know."

You nodded, "So you knew before I came?"

"I was awoken an hour ago to hear this news."

You nodded slowly, "Then I will leave you to it."

"Thank you," he whispered, letting you peck his cheek in parting before slipping out of his chambers. With nothing left to do or anything else to say, you went back to your chambers as to limit your exposure to the castle's tenants.

The less that could say they saw you this night, the better.

Once safe in your chambers with a locked main door, you could do nothing else but (over)think, wishing to all the Seven Gods you didn't know what you knew. Information and knowledge was vital to maintain power, this is true, but it also made you dangerous - also a target. The more you knew, the bigger the target.

It was only a few hours after dawn when the secret passage doors to your chamber opened. You were braiding your hair, ignoring the man you knew to have the only balls to use that door - especially now.

"I've always wondered, if we had children, would they have white hair or waves of fire, like you? Perhaps something between?"

"Fuck off, Daemon."

"So, you've heard," he sighed deeply. "Won't you even look at me?"

"I can't stand the very thought of you right now, nor the actual sound, I'll lose my stomach if I have to look at you."

"Let me tell you the truth," he begged, "before I have to leave the Keep, let me tell you the truth. Let Viserys and everyone have their ideas and opinions, their lies and slander, but let me tell you!"

"Excuse me?" You asked, whirling around in your seat to glare at him fully. "Viserys banished you, again?"

"He did... Back to the Vale."

You scoffed, "Good... Your Lady wife awaits you."

"Viserys thinks I've sullied Rhaenyra's virtue. I do not need you thinking the same, so, please, let me tell you what happened - no matter how uncomfortable, please, let me tell you the truth."

"What difference does it make?"

"I can't have you thinking something more occurred. Was I tempted? Yes, but I refrained. Did I touch her? A little - but not how you think."

You sighed, shaking your head, "I don't care, you're returning to your wife in the Vale, and I will be rid of you. No matter for how long this time, you will be gone - "

"For a time, yes, but I intend to return for you."

"No, I think I'll let Father make me a match. I despised the North, it was too cold, so the handsome Cregan Stark is out. I don't mind Dorne, perhaps a Martel to marry? Or even a Tully of Riverrun?"

"Do not speak such atrocities to me."

"You're one to talk! Your niece, Daemon? The girl I consider my closest friend? You couldn't just find that whore you like and be satisfied with her? Couldn't wait a single day, could you? Huh? How fucking pathetic!"

"Perhaps you are not as close with Rhaenyra as you thought," he tisked, making you feel disarmed. He spent the next hour and a half explaining to you what happened the previous night, and despite your disgust, you just listened.

Knowledge was power.

"I will return," he sighed at the end, "and in that time, you can make your own decisions if you want me or not. But I will return and I will have you, if you will have me, and this foolishness will be behind us."

"I'll give you a single year. I will not wait for you longer than that," you whispered, tears streaming down your face. "I can't stand that you've done this, but I will wait one single year for you to find a way out of your marriage and back to me. Any longer than that, and I will simply move on. I do not want to live my whole life in the Red Keep, and the truth of it is, I cannot live in the Princess' shadow any longer. One year, Daemon."

"One year," he nodded, stepping closer. "My love, please - "

"Do not assume to touch me. Not after you've touched her," you snapped, stepping away. "Get out, I need to be alone, you have been banished - you need to go, you cannot be seen here." Your eyes rolled, muttering, "Probably have to go collect your whore for this banishment, too."

"Not this time," he smirked, "this time, I leave with my promise that I will return for you, my sweet Lady Hightower."

"Fuck off, you perverted Prince Daemon," you sassed, watching him slip out the door; shutting you in an echoing silence. Your heart ripped itself apart, making you wonder what the fuck you had done to deserve getting caught in such a scandalous affair. But you knew, in your heart, you'd do anything for Daemon - the thought sickening your stomach as you pondered how far this would all go.

requesting rules and masterlist

HOTD masterlist

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naffeclipse · 3 months

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What if Eclipse from AP was a naga? And this took place in the deep jungle of the amazon, where photographer y/n is trying to take pictures of the wildlife?

I'm vibrating at the speed of sound over this ask while also nudging my naga au

Naga Eclipse from AP would have the tail of a Green Anaconda, with an olive green scaly color dotted with black, framed by burning-like flares of orange along the length of his slithery body. He's also decorated with orange-yellow striping on either side of his long, slipper form. His upper half is scaley with a lithe deadliness to his musculature and decorated by frills surrounding his head with brighter orange-yellow colors, almost hypnotic in their gradient hues. One eye is deep emerald green, and one is midnight blue.

Lucky you—you're out on a once-in-a-lifetime expedition to explore a jungle closed off to the public, funded by Fazco, and occupied by two researchers who will be your bunkmates for the next few weeks. You're itching to take photos of the large river, including swamps, marshes and streams, and whatever wildlife is out there.

The few locals you did meet before you left to hike the rest of the way to what would be your new, isolated home warned you of a dangerous snake—a large, mythical beast. You take note of the local folklore. You understand the truth is hidden in there somewhere, and you are well aware of the dangers and diseases you could be met with in such a harsh environment, but you're determined.

It doesn't take long for you to feel eyes watching you when you first venture out by yourself. You take beautiful pictures of freshwater fish, big and beautiful, unlike any you have ever seen. Of course, you have hundreds of snapshots of the local flora, the trees, the floating meadows, the thick vines that drape each branch and hang thickly about the ground. You almost forget that you eerily don't feel alone.

But you swear something moves in the water—the ripples stop as soon as you look. The stillness is suddenly stiff, lifeless. Even the birds have stopped chirping.

You lower your camera and carefully put it away. A trickle of fear slips into your heart. You turn away from the river's edge only to be met by a low hiss and a creature, unlike anything you witnessed in your travels, spooling itself neatly out of the water, blocking your path to the base. An incredible creature with long arms and a great, serpentine tail that seems to stretch for yards and yards. You can hardly breathe in his presence—he's otherworldly with his frills and scales and fangs.

His eyes contain a mesmerizing shine as if staring into a fire as it burns or watching the ocean as it laps up against the beach, drawing your attention, demanding you don't look away. You couldn't anyway. Half-frozen, you struggle to keep from collapsing. He beckons with a sharp talon. He hisses softly for you to come closer, mouse. He wants to see you. You try to beg no without revealing how terribly you tremble. He doesn't let you go. He insists. His eyes flash with an allure. You almost step close when he murmurs that you need to be good.

But then your sense of survival kicks adrenaline into your heart, and you turn to run—

He strikes faster than your eyes can follow. Two loops of his green and orange tail surrounded you in an instant. You're dragged to the ground, your arms pinned under his mass, and the back of your head cradled by his large palm as powerful muscles squeeze you in the slightest—a gentle rebuke for thinking you could get away. You're hyper-aware of the terrifying bulk of muscles as you lie trapped in his coils. One strong twist and your eyes could pop out of your skull, and every bone protecting your heart and lungs would crumble to shards. You gasp. An urge to kick your legs and struggle erupts in your panic; a sinking feeling tells you it would only make things worse.

He coos over you, hissing and humming in an ancient song of the jungle you have no name for. When you whimper, he shushes you and strokes your cheek. He tells you how lovely you'll be. When you talk back to him, somehow finding your tongue amid your horror, you find out his name. Eclipse. He moves you more upright, resting you on his tail so you're not petrified by how vulnerable you feel lying down, but he never loosens his scaly bindings. He hovers over you. You gaze into his stunning frills of yellow-orange and wonder how a being like him came to exist. He studies you as you study him. He grins at how you shiver when he traces your collarbone with a sharp fingertip.

You remind yourself that you can still breathe. He hasn't crushed you—yet—but you don't like how wide his smile is. Sometimes, his jaw stretches a little too long as if dislocating from his skull, ready to devour you. His eyes gleam with a ravenousness as scales twist around you, holding you close enough to smell the slick green water he had been in and deep musk.

He tells you that he'll see you again very soon—away from other humans, lest you bring him a fine gift for a meal. You can only flex your fingers, silently pleading in your heart that he won't unhook his jaw and eat you alive.

Then, he unravels himself from your limbs. But before he lets you go entirely, he leans in close, his serpentine tongue flickering close to your neck and by your hair, tasting the air around you as you muster all your strength to not scream. He inhales deeply, pleased, before he murmurs, "Sweet mouse. You are mine. Say it."

You don't understand, but you echo his command, and when he taps your chin once in what might have been a loving gesture, you force your jelly legs to solidify before you run and run, all the way back to base. You slam the door to your room behind you. You touch your ribs, your arms, still caught in the heavy sensation of his loops as if he were upon you right now.

The stories are true—there is a giant snake in this jungle, and he wants you. You're afraid to discover if Eclipse's intrigue with you is only an exotic way to satisfy his hunger.

#i'm not normal about nagas #this is great because in the naga au with sun and moon #eclipse isn't a naga so this gives me my fix of naga eclipse #just augh #love these monsters #anyways he's gonna squeeze you and love you and you are just so lucky he finds you adorable he could just eat you up (not really but ya kno #he has plans for lovely little you #he's going to show you so many cool creatures like pink river dolphins and big big BIG floating meadows and the best brightest birds!#he's also gonna try to get you to eat vermits and promise that he'll protect you when you get sluggish after eating #and you have to explain that your metabolism is very different from his but then you get to see him sluggish and sleepy after he eats #(whoops that means extra long cuddles for you and boy does he like to take long naps and wrap you up tight so you don't go anywhere)#apex polarity #<<< just tagging for the same characterization of Orclipse and photographer y/n #but i am calling this:#blackwater lure #naga!eclipse #photographer!reader #naff writing #the serpent den

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ghostytoad · 7 months

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🎃 ROTTMNT Halloween Headcanons 🎃

Haunted House Edition

Summary: The gang go to a scare attraction/haunted house. Headcanons for: Raph, Donnie, Leo, Mikey, April, Cassandra, & Casey Jr

CW: panic attack/ptsd mention, v mild violence(?), overall spooky vibes

Raph:

is a big baby when it comes to scare attractions/haunted houses

tries to worm his way out of their plans every year

goes anyways bc mikey needs someone big to cling onto & raph can't say no to his baby brother

has all of the exit locations memorized in case he needs to make a quick escape (aka run away)

has never made it to the end

will usually tap out at the halfway point

has the highest pitched scream out of all of them

never admits he's the one screaming tho

accidentally k.o. punched a scare actor one year after they jumped out at him

he cried and apologized to the poor actor for hours after that

still feels bad abt it to this day

Donnie:

is thoroughly unimpressed by all the theatrics

will only tag along to watch & record raph and mikey running away

the only scary thing here is the abundant use of pyrotechnics and the stark lack of fire exits

makes it to the end every times

goes into a long rant about the science of fear and how misused it was afterwards

can predict where every scare actor is/when they'll pop out with scary accuracy

once stayed behind after closing & redid the layout to "improve" the scare factor

he also reprogrammed a few animatronics & amplified the pyrotechnics

things did not go as planned at all

he's now banned from every scare attraction in new york

still sneaks in tho

Leo:

scare attractions? total walk in the park for this guy

sure, he gets scared a few times but he thrives on the adrenaline rush

will tease raph and mikey about their fear stink the entire time

sometimes likes to portal behind a few hiding scare actors and scare the living shit out of them

once snuck into a scare attraction after closing and stole a ms. cuddles prop

hid it under raph's bed (and gave the poor turtle a heart attack)

post-movie: the worst part about scare attractions are the slithery/tentacle monsters

his brothers make sure to cover his eyes & stay on guard for him

he's never backed out once

but he did have a panic attack one year when a kraang-looking monster came out at him

donnie had to carry him the rest of the way after he refused to tap out

Mikey:

is scared easily but loves the thrill of getting scared

has to convince raph that he's old enough to go with them every time they make plans

put on his cockiest brave-face standing when they're waiting in line

will cling to raph as soon as they go in tho

won't admit he's scared until raph (inevitably) runs away without him

taps out usually near the end

not bc he's scared at all, no!

he's just worried abt raph is all

he totally didn't scream and run away

will approach scare actors afterwards and gush about their costumes and makeup

sometimes helps april with her halloween makeup

only made it to the end once; he had his eyes closed the entire time

so it doesn't really count even tho he insists that it so does count

April:

loves scare attractions!! halloween is her holiday, baby!!

usually the first one to make plans to go to a haunted house

works as a scare actor some years

absolutely loves every minute of it

ignores donnie's suggestions on how to improve her scares

not bc they aren't great ideas, some of them just aren't "legal"

knows where all the best scares are & is friends with most of the scare actors in the area so they get "unlimited rides"

was fired one year for stealing a few scare props to bring home

now has leo help portal her in to steal more props

makes it to the end of every attraction with a huge grin on her face and an upbeat attitude

nothing can scare this girl!

except maybe long lines.....

Cass:

haunted house? is that like.... a code word for something?

the gang tried taking her to a haunted house one year

now they all have a lifetime ban there

she wouldn't stop attacking the poor scare actors

"CASS, NONE OF THIS IS REAL! PUT THE TEENAGER DOWN AND LET GO OF THE SCYTHE!!"

she's still new to the concept of haunted houses

but she's trying

she's determined to "beat" the attractions and make it all the way to the end

but she's usually kicked out for beating up another scare actor

she's getting better at it tho

prefers haunted mazes bc they give her a chance to practice her stealth skills

Casey Jr:

the boy grew up in the apocalypse so he's always on edge

scare attractions probably aren't the best for him

has never hit anyone but will dodge and weave all scares like its an obstacle course

usually carries his weapon and is always prepared for an attack just in case

v protective of raph & mikey

he's usually on body guard duty for those two

sometimes the noise and chaos is too much for the poor boy

he tries to tap out before it gets too bad for him

one year, he didn't tap out soon enough & ended up having a bad episode

paramedics had to be called and he had to be rushed to hospital that year

the gang hasn't forgiven themselves since....

leo especially

but he insists he'll be okay every time they ask!

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astranite · 6 months

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Rest

Fluff, Earth and Sky, plus Scott getting a nap. A.K.A Virgil gets Scott a weighted blanket.

EDIT!!! I used one of the Fluffember 2023 prompts in here but completely forgot to tag or mention that. Prompt is "Say: "Thank you for...""

A little inspired by the fic in where Virgil gets a weighted blanket (https://archiveofourown.org/works/23042224 Insomnia by chidoriXblossom), mine written because I think Scott would like one too. And we all know he needs more sleep. Plus soft furnishings!Scott!!!

Also- "This will be only like 500 words max," my muse lied.

So, another fic! Mostly was written on the bus on my phone, while wandering around the kitchen looking for something to eat yesterday, and on notes on my laptop when the Aussie internet and phone service met its untimely demise today.

@idontknowreallywhy With the last 2 paragraphs and hopefully less typos!! Hope you're feeling better too. SOFT FURNISHINGS!SCOTT!

-----

“Got you a present,” Virgil said, holding out a package wrapped in shiny blue paper.

Scott took it without hesitation, utterly unprepared, because this was Virgil, not Gordon or Alan or any other trouble makers.

He staggered at the sudden, unexpected weight. Scott kept fit for international rescue and lifted more than this on any given day, but dropped into his hands where Virgil made it look like nothing. Well, he nearly dropped it.

Just as Virgil lunged to snatch it back from the bounds gravity, Scott got a firmer grip on the package and hefted it up.

Virgil stepped back, grinning, nearly as excited as the day they sent Two to space. “Open it, Scotty!”

Scott dutifully sat down on the couch with the package in his lap, slipping his fingers beneath the tape.

“But why, why today?” Scott asked.

It wasn’t Christmas. He determined it was not his birthday after quickly counting out what month was it anyway because he’d lost track with how busy he’d been lately. He wasn’t forgetting something else was he? Some important event that wasn’t in his calendar? Oh damn, was he supposed to have gotten his brothers presents too?

Virgil sat down by his side.

“You’re alright Scott, no occasion. Present’s just because.” Virgil smiled.

Scott bumped his shoulder against Virgil’s in a wordless act of affection.

Then he turned to the shiny present he held, excitement bubbling up.

What could it be?

The package was soft, moving about fluidly within the paper, which would usually bring to mind something along the lines of an item of clothing. But whatever it was was far too heavy for that. Even allowing for thick denim or mission suit material, but Virgil wouldn’t wrap up a routine update, and that sort of engineering generally came under Brains’ department.

With the strange slithery, many grains of sand running over each other noise it made whenever it shifted, at this point Scott would expect a prank, even from Virgil.

Except that Virgil was right next to him, just as genuinely happy to be seeing him open the present as Scott was to receive it. Plus his brother was a frankly awful liar and trying to cover for it by, say, hiding his face in his hands while suspiciously giggling behind them had never worked once, for the record.

So Scott shook the package vigorously, when Virgil didn’t stop him assuming it was non breakable, then gave up on the whole guessing game to get to the real deal.

He tore the paper off with a grin, foregoing attempts to be neat about it because he just wanted to see what it was.

Copious amounts of blue fabric poured into his lap. Heavy, weighted fabric, trying to slither to the floor as he grabbed at it and pulled it up.

The thing was soft too, fluffy on one side and more fuzzy on the other, Scott discovered as he ran his hands over it.

A quilted blanket of some kind, a big one too. Scott hefted it and spread it across himself and Virgil to lay it out so he could see it.

It was— oh, “A weighted blanket?” he asked Virgil.

Virgil nodded, smiling widely, “I thought you’d like one of your own, since you seem to like mine so much.”

That was true. Even on the last movie night when Virgil had brought out his own green, wonderfully soft monstrosity of a blanket that practically required an exosuit to lift, Scott had ended up sharing it with him.

He never would have bought one for himself, he didn’t need it, but Virgil has seen and he had gotten him one.

Scott threw his arms around his brother and whispered a heartfelt, “Thank you for— for everything,” into Virgil’s flannel.

Virgil hugged him tight. “Glad you’re happy, Scooter.”

Scott swallowed. “Yeah. I am.”

He stayed in the hug, letting himself lean on Virgil.

Eventually he pulled away, bumping his forehead with Virgil’s briefly in another thanks, before flopping backwards onto the sofa.

He dragged the blanket over his body, snuggling down beneath it, to try it out properly.

Virgil tugged the edges out straight, patting Scott on the leg where he’d slung them over Virgil’s lap to fit onto the couch.

“‘M not moving ever again,” Scott mumbled.

The blanket’s weight pressed down on him comfortingly, like the soothing pressure of a tight hug. The fabric was soft, fluffy and warm, but not too hot for their tropical island. It covered his feet even when he pulled it right up to his chin.

Scott was in heaven.

When he shut his eyes for a moment, letting the sensation sink in, Virgil snickered. “G’night, Scotty.”

Scott opened one eye to glare, then the other. He was not going to sleep. He was just getting comfortable, that was all.

He reluctantly removed one arm from beneath the blanket, wriggling his fingers towards Virgil. He could still work if Virgil would just pass him his tablet.

Heaving a put upon sigh, Virgil reached for the side table and gave Scott his tablet, picking up his own sketch book.

Scott opened his emails, hiding a smile. The blue eyes act still worked on his brother, evidently.

Something, something, board meeting. Something, something, product development. He flicked a couple marked urgent open which weren’t even particularly important and shouldn’t have been flagged for him. He forwarded them on to be delegated to the correct people.

Learning that he didn’t have to do absolutely everything had been a long process, and he was getting better at it.

Scott continued through his bottomless inbox, so warm and comfortable he wasn’t even particularly annoyed with the uptight business people he had to deal with. Or at least he was minorly irritated as opposed to resisting the urge to throw his tablet across the room. He ran his free hand across the soft material, wound in the fluffy fabric while his other held his tablet.

The blanket was working wonders. Quiet scratchings of pencil on real paper from Virgil did aid his calm somewhat too. But the weighted blanket was definitely going down in his favourite items of soft furnishings. Trust Virgil to have gotten it for him and gifted it just because.

Scott’s blinks got slower and slower, and maybe he’d just rest his eyes for a moment, snuggled up on the couch with his brother and his new weighted blanket.

Virgil looked up from his sketchbook at his brother. The permanently stressed crinkles between Scott’s brows were smoothed out, his face lax, his whole body a loose jumble of limbs instead of a wound up ball of tension. His arm arced gracelessly off the edge of the couch, tablet fallen on the floor beside it. His other hand was still gripping the blue blanket, hanging onto it even in his sleep.

Because Scott was asleep. In the middle of the day, finally catching up on countless missed hours, even in the open lounge room, fast asleep with no signs of nightmares.

A line of pencil on thick drawing paper, and Virgil begun to sketch Scott’s sleeping form, seeking to capture such a rare moment. He had no where to be, a mug of coffee beside him, and art supplies at hand so he was content. Plus he had his big brother close, legs still in Virgil’s lap, and no way he was moving to risk disturbing Scott, even if he wanted to, which he certainly didn’t.

Virgil smiled down at Scott, infinitely glad his present of a blue weighted blanket was comforting his brother and letting Scott get some much needed and well earned rest.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds fanfiction #scott tracy #virgil tracy #thunderfluff #earth and sky #soft furnishings!scott #astrawrite #fluffember #fluffember2023

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magnorious · 4 months

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Review: I Plunge to My Death; Percy Jackson Ep. 4

TL;DR: They turned a pit-stop into a main event and troubles ensued.

The consequences of shoving half the book into the first two episodes? Episode 4. Baby Percy is, again, adorable, no complaints. The opening scene, Kronos’ slithery voice – we are right back in the thick of it, until we’re not. Best part of the episode is easily the first 4 minutes and it does not recover, I am sorry.

Echidna gets a ridiculous amount of screen time, monologuing on and on and on… On the train, no less, not in the Arch.

Adaptations are allowed to be their own thing, but they are *adaptations* first. The choices that were made in the source material were made for a reason. If the book was bad, no one would have read it, and money wouldn’t be spent turning it into a TV show.

So, in the book, Echidna had a couple pages, and Percy was completely alone confronting her. She showed up, revealed herself, got a one-liner or two in, kicked his butt, and then he fell – end of scene. It was a whirlwind of chaos and incredibly efficient without being spoonfed “I am a monster” until they get the picture.

The purpose of this beat in the story came from Percy’s experience in the river and then St. Louis is behind them – it’s a pitstop, not a centerpiece. Echidna has no thematic connection to any of the characters like Medusa, she doesn’t need to overstay her welcome.

If you didn’t read the book, the episode is fine. The writing is okay, the acting, the VFX. They do retain the family of centaurs and establish Grover being a Searcher for Pan.

It’s not bad! It’s puzzling. The changes are puzzling.

All the filler – Echidna’s monologue, Athena’s temple, Annabeth being unnecessarily rude to Grover, Percy getting poisoned – they don’t feel like the same meaningful changes that were made to extend Medusa’s scenes. They feel like they exist to fill an entire episode before the next big set piece that has to wait until episode 5. The pacing has been thrown completely off balance.

Which wouldn’t have happened if they didn’t rush ten chapters of content.

Because they knew exactly how long the chimera fight would be – about 45 seconds, beat for beat, exactly as it was written. Echidna is just not important in the grand scheme of the story. They still have to fill an entire episode now, so what do they do?

They double back on the character development and the growing friendship established in episode 3 when they all start arguing over Athena for… reasons? In Athena’s temple, Annabeth’s suggestion for Percy to reach out to his dad there would be mighty offensive to the goddess. She calls herself out, saying she knows she’s forcing herself to believe Athena cares about her, the way it was written just makes her look selfish and rude.

There Grover is, all upset about the monument filled with paintings of humans over-hunting buffalo and Annabeth’s response is basically “get over it”. Doesn’t matter if she regrets it once he’s gone, she doesn’t apologize to him and she still believes what she said.

Percy doesn’t need to be poisoned to lose hard to Echidna and the chimera. He’s at his full strength and still panics and botches the fight. He already doubts that his dad cares about him.

The episode does recover its footing somewhat (after padding the runtime) by finally getting him alone in the last 8 minutes. Percy cements his disdain for his dad and how little he feels appreciated, respected, or even noticed by the gods – enough to decide he’ll fight and probably lose alone because he doesn’t matter to the gods anyway. Once he’s in the river, the nereid shows up, tells him to breathe, that Poseidon’s proud, and… cut to black. There's no wonder at his new abilities, no fascination, no "maybe being a demigod is a little bit cool, wow," and no consideration that his dad does care, even a little bit.

The only book change for the better? Percy choosing to go at it alone instead of ending up alone by accident.

I hate to come down so hard on this episode but pacing is critical. The beginning of the book feels slow because there’s a lot of internal monologue, a lot of introspection, lots of breaks between action, and several time skips – Percy spends a couple days at camp before going on his quest and packs a lot of character building moments into it – and they rushed through it all.

St. Louis was already rushed in the book, and this is where they decided to throw in all the filler to slow it down? Writers, if you wanted to pad the runtime, include Gladiola the Poodle giving them directions. Include chapter 14 – the entirety of which is spent in the river establishing new powers and getting told about the gift in Santa Monica, and exacerbating the problem of Percy being mistaken for a terrorist. Ares can still wait and no one would complain.

It’s not the acting, from anyone. It’s not the directing, either. Everyone who worked on this show: The actors, the editors, the set designers, costume department, makeup department, VFX, foley, props, music and sound design, and everyone in between – you all did fantastic and your work is recognized and appreciated.

It’s the big picture that just did not come together this time.

I really, truly, wanted to enjoy this episode coming off the high that was Episode 3 and I’m just left confused once again at all the choices that were made. Just because the bar for greatness was two feet into the topsoil from the first adaptation doesn’t mean it gets to skate by on “well it’s better than what we got before”.

#pjo series #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #review

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dujour13 · 7 months

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WOOHOO Owlcatober begins! It’s my Tumblr birthday! 🎉 I signed up on October 1st 2022 just so I could send a cheeky ask out of nowhere to @starlightcleric for some Owlcatober prompts, and she very graciously put some together overnight even though she wasn’t planning on it. Thank you so so much Luna ❤️

I will forever be grateful for stumbling on this community. You people are the best 🥰

This time I’m not even going to try to hit the prompts in order. Instead I wrote three mini-series, so I’ll keep them in their own logical order regardless of prompt number.

The first series is titled “The Prodigal Tiefling” and it’s in four parts, starting with

26. Fear

(cw: canon-typical violence, swooping)

Woljif Jefto never had been blessed with nice dreams much, at night anyway, but this crusade business put all kinds of addled visions in his sleeping mind.

Facing down Minagho and her demons with no pants on. Babaus in Eagle Watch tabards grinning as they locked him up and swallowed the key. Kerismei pursuing him through the streets of a flaming city and his legs like jelly. The Prelate lighting him on fire and tossing him into a crevasse that went all the way down to the Abyss. Falling endlessly through a purple void.

The Knight-Commander’s musical hands caressing his neck.

It was one of those rare nice ones this time, sadly, that was interrupted by disaster.

A full-throated scream, not two meters outside his tent. A crash.

He jerked upright so fast stars sparked behind his eyes.

Another more distant crash. An explosion. Shouting. Screaming. Inhuman shrieks.

Lucky he was smart enough to sleep in his trousers, just in case opportunity knocked. Or this happened, whatever it was. He groped about for his tunic and belt with frantic hands.

An orange glow through one side of the tent shed enough light for him to get his belt and boots on, but orange glows weren’t generally a good sign when accompanied by the sounds of explosions and panic on all sides, not to mention the acrid, oily smell of something burning he reckoned was not a nice, comfy campfire. A slithery thump made him start and stare around, but it was just his agitated tail slapping against the tent flap.

Mostly dressed, he crawled out of the tent on his hands and knees, and stayed low among the crates stacked between his tent and the quartermaster’s. People were running, and not purposefully in the same direction. Just running.

A gnome crusader careened past, not looking where she was going but at the sky instead for some reason, which drew his own eyes up to the starless Worldwound night—just in time to spy a horrible slate-black demonic shape glide past, turn and dive somewhere beyond the next tent.

Wide-eyed he peered over the crates.

Sure enough, a portion of the Eagle Watch camp was on fire. There were bodies on the ground. The clashing of swords just out of view.

Through a gap in the crates Woljif saw that rookie Andoren priest Sosiel run to the side of a downed crusader and kneel, healing light flooding from his hands.

Aright. There’s been an ambush, but it’s under control. The healers are on it.

Woljif breathed a sigh of relief. He’d hunker down here until Sosiel and his lot could get things sorted, and then maybe he’d sneak out and stab something if anything still needed stabbing.

He watched the wounded crusader cough and roll to one side. Sosiel said something to her. She nodded. Froze suddenly. Looked over the priest’s shoulder and threw her hands over her face. Screamed.

Before he could blink Woljif watched one of those flying whatevers—bat-winged monsters with dangling claws and leering teeth—dive out of the fiery darkness and seize Sosiel in its talons and take to the sky again, beating wings fanning the flames, the priest pounding his fists in vain against its flank.

shit shit shit

Huddling with both hands over his head probably wasn’t going to help.

think think think

The Knight-Commander. There would be help at the command tent. The chief would know what to do. He would smile and say “It’ll be fine,” and somehow it would be.

The problem was making it to the command tent without getting swiped up by one of those—what were they, anyway? Like the grotesque gargoyles that perched on the cornices of the temple of Iomedae back in Kenabres.

He tried to gauge the distance to the command tent and pick out some likely cover along the way, but he’d have to avoid swooping demons, panicked crusaders barreling about blindly, and patches of fire that had begun exploding at random all about the crusade camp.

He made it to the first cover position, the blacksmith’s lean-to behind Wilcer’s tent. From here he could spy the Knight-Commander’s pavilion. Between here and there, however, lay fallen crusaders, flaming timber and precious little cover.

A series of bowstring twangs told him the crusaders were putting up some resistance, but the arrows clattered uselessly to the ground, and it seemed now like more and more of the winged demons crisscrossed the sky overhead.

Worse, across the camp in the light of the flaming tents a fierce battle was unfolding between one of the creatures and a half-dozen crusaders, the crusaders’ swords clanging against its skin as if it were made of stone. They were losing. In a bloody way. He cringed.

“I can promise you you’ll regret this!” suddenly shrieked a man’s voice from overhead. “You pestilent, senseless, drooling, shit-eating insect. Release me this instant!”

The Count. Whew, he could almost hold his own against Gran. Woljif cringed again as his howling receded into the night sky.

It made his horns itch to think of talons locking around them and dragging him up kicking into the air after the Count. He shuddered all over, all the way down to the tip of his tail.

Anything but that.

Get to the chief.

Cautiously, eyes to the sky and head scrunched down between his shoulders as if that would somehow protect it, Woljif took a tentative couple of steps out of the blacksmith’s shed and prepared to sprint—

—when a whistling, roaring clamor overhead grew in volume with ominous speed, and he ducked back just in time to avoid a fully armored paladin hurtling out of the sky and landing with an extremely painful crunch on the ground at Woljif’s feet, inches from what would have been an extremely painful crunch atop Woljif’s head.

shit shit shit

He was still staring in horror when at last the chief appeared. Through the smoke and flame Woljif could see his silhouette just across the assembly yard, Lann and a handful of crusaders at his side.

Woljif scanned the sky and tried to breathe. Make a break for the chief. It’ll be fine.

He was just getting ready to step over the dead paladin, squeezing his eyes shut so that the image of the man’s face wouldn’t be burned into his memory forever, when a gust of hot wind raised a whirlwind of dust and flame in the middle of the assembly yard before him, and right between him and the chief landed one of the flying demons. A big one.

Its winged, stone-gray back was turned to Woljif as it faced off against the chief.

The next moment haunted him often, later. It was a coin toss. Adrenaline shot fire into his legs as his muscles coiled to sneak up and stab the thing in the back, or zap it, or better—both.

An arrow from Lann skittered off the thing’s stony hide. Woljif hesitated. His dagger hand felt clammy on the hilt. He blinked sweat from his eyes.

Of course, at the Gray Garrison he never thought they could have won against Minagho either, but that time some kind of divine power had come out of nowhere to give them the victory.

We got this. Right?

But then—a chill against his breastbone, a whisper, a shadow deep in the back of his mind: Have your horns grown into your brain? You absolute idiot. Attacking that thing would be suicide.

Run!

Run! Survive! You don’t want to be there when the chief’s luck dries up.

His breath hitched. The point of his dagger danced as his hand shook. A shame to think he’d have to give up all those nice dreams, the ones about a partner in crime. Music. Laughter.

But—

You think you’ll have nice dreams when you’re dead?

But the chief—

The chief doesn’t give a rat’s ass for a scrawny, two-bit demonspawn like you, and you know it.

He shrank back into the shadow of the smithy. Flames reflected in his yellow eyes, but he felt cold.

That’s right. You’re on your own.

Must have been the smoke inhalation that made his chest ache.

Think.

Fight? Yeah, right.

Hide? Nope. Not with the explosions. The quatermaster’s tent could easily be next, and he’d almost rather be torn to shreds than burned to death if it came down to it.

Run it was.

No time for regrets. Let it never be said Woljif Jefto was not a survivor.

In a crouch he scampered back past his tent and huddled next to it, planning his escape route, his pounding heart about to jump out of his mouth.

The stables. Horses had no business making terrifying noises like that, but at least nothing that direction seemed to be on fire. Yet. He only had to cross some ground to get there, but luckily it was dark enough he reckoned he could make it without being seen. Then through the stables and over the palisade and along the ditch for cover until he could round the camp on the river side and slink among the brush and rocks until he was far enough away to abscond like the wind.

In the midst of planning Woljif became aware of a voice, distant and mostly drowned out by the horses and the screaming: the chief’s voice, rallying the troops. It was a brave voice, even though it really didn’t look to Woljif like there was anything to be brave or hopeful about at this point, when half the crusade was on fire and the other half fighting for their lives against flying demons and losing.

For the briefest of moments he pictured the chief, probably as terrified as he was, putting on a brave face and desperately trying to regain control of the situation, and for some reason the mental image seemed to grab his heart and give it a nasty pinch.

Sorry chief.

I am not gonna die here.

Woljif scanned the sky, kissed the Moon of the Abyss, and sprinted.

also on AO3

#pathfinder: wrath of the righteous #owlcatober 2023 #owlcatober #woljif jefto #siavash x woljif #my writing #fanfic #ao3 fanfic #pwotr pals

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fuckyeahgoodomens · 11 months

Note

I'm enjoying the greetings from GO & your fans worldwide soooooo much! Thank you everyone from New Jersey!

I've been meaning to make send note anyway. My business is fashion and I have to say that I admire the costume team and everyone who worked on GO 1 & 2 so very much! Just a couple of things about Crowley's amazing "angel disguise" from the official S2 trailer.

Just like Aziraphale and Crowley's clothing is pretty much opposite always, like the rest of the angels and demons, they aren't quite in step with the way humans dress either. Crowley's usual style is tailored and made of stiff fabric. Just about everything about his "disguise" is diametrically opposite his currant look. Soft, shiny fabric, loungewear. Gold tattoo, instead of a skinny silver mesh lariat, a wide gold mesh scarf. Swap snakeskin boots for rubber sandals. And the lenses on his heaven shades are PINK! To me, his walk appears different too. Long swift, straight strides, not as slithery. Fortunately, I think we can assume that Crowley makes it back safely as he seems to be returning with his signature smirk in that pic in front of the elevator.

And I want to share a speculation about S2 and how tis will bring us to the sequel that Terry and Neil had planned. We know they were intending to bring in more angels/demons, heaven/hell. And they seem to have been discussing the second coming of Christ. So perhaps the sequel would have had to do with the next war that Crowley prophesized, all of "us" against all of "them." So I propose that S2 will show our heroes making new allies. By the time Muriel accompanies Crowley to heaven, we can assume she is siding with A & C. So who from hell will aid them? Shax? Eric?

About Gabriel, I was hoping he would be the angel with amnesia but I thought that would be too exciting to be the way the official show would go! I'm still delirious with happiness over that development! Can't decide if he'll be an ally when his memories return though. And last speculation - S1 Michael's hair was slick, neat and "buttoned up." When we see her in S2, it appears to be undone or unraveled. So perhaps she's stressed over the Gabriel situation.

Thanks again for all of the joy your blog brings!

Hiya! :) Thank youu and for the analysis :) ❤. I can't wait to see S2 and find out everything! :)

#gos2 #ask

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tokuteasings · 1 year

Text

Believe Me When I Say: “I would shield you from the storm.”

So uh...guess who got bit by a certain little red beetle. Multiple times.

Guess who’s making another Kingohger series bc I can. Anyway who’s ready for me to scream about Himeno next?????

Spoilers for ep 6. Uh Racles can catch these fucking hands. Also dedicated to my Gira simp friend on discord. You know who you are. ;)

GN reader and romantic in nature yo. Idk what the hell came outta my brain but I’m exhausted so uh, take it.

The sky is falling.

The world is crumbling.

Your world is shaking, crumbling, falling apart.

The jeers.

The taunts.

The boos.

The hisses.

They crawl around the two of you, worming their ways into your ears - sinfully, silvery, slithery. It takes root, nerves in your canals alight to get rid of the invaders from the brain matter that they so crave to devour.

“I’m fine.”

The king of evil-

No.

Your love, is quivering.

He is not fine and you know it.

Not when he’s holding back crystals from his eyes, not when his lower lip is being chewed apart by insects and bloody welts held open to the elements, not when you know his heart is shattered.

“Gira,” you whisper lovingly, adoringly, worshiping the little king that you have come to love.

The voices of the ShuGods, the people, the hisses, the boos, the taunts, the jeers still ring in his head.

All at once, all at once.

All of the time, all of the time.

You slam your hands over his ears, your forehead against his. There is a flinch from the false prophet, a whimper that leaves his lips and leaves you wanting to bring him further and further into this cocoon only the two of you will share and rule.

The silence overcomes him, blankets him, and Gira closes his eyes as he lets his forehead find its purchase against yours. His hands tremble as they find yours, lacing fingers tightly as possible.

A woven shield against the world.

A woven shield against the world who would bring him harm.

You press a fluttering kiss to his nose to calm that storm, to be his eyes and ears and his heart.

“Thank you...” his whisper is barely heard above that hurricane, sending wishes towards you in comfort. You let out a small hum in return, a smile to break through those clouds.

“For you, Gira, anything.”

#gira hastie #gira #ohsama sentai kingohger #kingohger #king ohger #ohsama sentai king ohger #ohsama sentai king-ohger #king-ohger #why does kingohger have so many fcuking tags christ #super sentai #super sentai x reader #super sentai imagine #yes i chose this gif for you bc i love you friendo

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auraee · 1 year

Text

- 𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦. -

✼ 𝕎𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕣'𝕤 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖 ~ This one of my unfinshing works! I remember writing about this a while ago. This one is rather personal, I'm not entirely sure if people would want to read this on account of a specific chronic illness being put on to the MC, but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. I'll browse around my docs to see if I find anything else...

✼ Happy reading!

Breathe.

Focus on something— anything.

Calm yourself.

The tick tick tick of our bedroom clock merged with the thump thump thump of my frantic pulse.

Has... the clock always ticked that fast?

Wonderful, now I’m losing my mind now too. I felt myself drift, my heavy eyelids threatening to close while a malevolent cobra constricted my throat, coiling its slithery body around my limbs to keep my aching trembling body at bay, as though it had waited all day in the corner of our bedroom to carry out its plan.

Remember... Do Not shut your eyes.

The warm plastic of my blue inhaler grazed my fingers. I had already taken it. I just had to wait until it took effect. It was sure as hell taking forever. Accursed lungs. A wheezed cough slipped from my lips.

Kyojuro stirred in his sleep, his hand absently patting the plush space I had been occupying, but then, he stopped. I watched him, his eyes moments from closing when, quite generously (and thankfully), Kyojuro decided to blink.

“_-____? Is everything alright, love? Oh god—”

I’d imagine the snake must have had a brother that had given Kyojuro a pretty painful nip in the ankle, the man leapt out of bed was by my side on our bedroom sofa in seconds.

Alarmed marigold eyes darted around my body before taking a moments pause on the inhaler at my side.

“______! I’ll call the ambulance. We need to take you to the hospital now.”

Like what you read? Consider reblogging and commenting! It supports me as a writer and gets my work further out there.

Or you could leave a tip! - 𝕂𝕠-𝕗𝕚

- 𝔸𝕝𝕝 𝕔𝕒𝕥𝕖𝕘𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 -

❀ 𝔸𝕟 𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕖 ⚘ ꕤ 𝕀𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕝𝕚𝕗𝕖 ⚘ ❁ 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕞𝕠𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕟

If you’re just going to like this post— don’t. Likes don’t do anything for me. They don’t help in any way shape or form. So please don’t like this if you’re not willing to reblog the post as well.

#rengoku x reader #kyojuro x reader #kyojuro x black reader #kyojuro rengoku #kyojuro rengoku x black!reader #rengoku kyojuro #kyojuro x you #rengoku kyojurou

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jazzfic · 1 year

Text

"Good morning, Captain. This is your 03:00 wake up call slash reminder that today is a very special..."

Rios peeled an eye open. Nothing. Dark room, pale, washed out stars. A thunk somewhere deep in the bowels of the freighter. Elnor, he guessed. The kid liked to wander about at all hours, rouse up a special energy drink he'd discovered in the replicator books, and then engage all the pipes in the head.

Wait. Why had he woken? Someone set an alar-

"Good morning, Captain. This is your 03:10 wake up call slash reminder that today is a very special day."

Enoch shimmered brightly into being at the end of the bed. Rios blinked slowly. "What are you--?" he croaked.

At the other pillow there was a deep, deep snore. Agnes's head turned, the snore rose throatily, then disappeared with silence into the blankets.

The hologram watched with large eyes, then stilled himself and spoke with an exaggerated whisper to Rios.

"Your hush-hush, secret non-Starfleet curated calendar has today flagged as a Very Important day, and in a bit of extra holographic programming that took me forever, because for some reason I could not get the thing to move in a naturalistic way that wasn't something ripped out of a nightmare, I have dear little Sirap-Yawenaj here to help celebrate. Isn't it exciting?"

He was cradling something. In his arms. Rios squeezed his eyes shut. "No. Go away."

A blip. Silence.

Alone again.

"Good morning, Captain. This is your 03:17 wake up call slash HAPPY SALAMANDER BIRTHDAY--OW!"

The lights flared to full illumination, perfectly timed to show Enoch, mouth open in a silent yelp, arms flailing and failing to catch--

Agnes screamed.

Enoch scrambled.

"SIRAP NO."

Something slithery and sniffling and dripping in ooze plopped onto the bedspread.

"Sirap-Yawe... Yawaee... Oh, I can't remember your name! Why did Emil call you that combination of consonants anyway, I bet it was some inside joke, he looked suspiciously amused."

"Stop creating enrichment events on obscure dates based on legacy ships and rumours!" Rios yanked at the sheets, desperately trying to catch the damn thing. "How many times do we have to have this screaming match about this?!"

"Can't you just turn it off?" Agnes bleated in his ear, as Enoch dove in desperation beneath the bed. "It's a hologram! They're all holograms--"

"I've got it!"

Enoch staggered to his feet, one lizard, large, brown and glistening, gummy jaws clamped at his grey beard. He extracted himself shakily. "Good morning, Captain. This is... your 03: ... something o'clock... wake up... happy salamander celebration... erm."

Rios's hands gripped the bedding. He breathed slowly, staring at the hologram and the thing in his arms.

There was a tap at the door, then a muffled voice. Raffi.

"Honey? You okay. I thought I heard... hey, you haven't locked Elnor in the bathroom again, have you? Only he's gone wandering again."

Agnes pulled two pillows over her head and let out a tired groan.

Enoch gave the lizard a little pat. It instantly hissed and arced its mouth wide. "Oh dear," he said. "Your birthday is shaping up to be an awkward one."

#i just threw these words at the screen i'm sorry #cristobal rios #enoch (enh)#threshold day #somehow

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kurjakani · 2 months

Note

4,8,12 for courtiers? hehe.

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Gonna answer this one overall - again, I WISH I COULD STEALL THEMM BROOOO

But also. My interest w Arcana cross imtwracted w my interest in Baldurs Gate 3 time wise p strongly, so I would love. That au???? Idk what that would entail. I may have to think abt it. What dnd races & classes would the courtiers even be idk enough abt rhis stuff

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I'm actually generally pretty chill when it comes to... literally any and all fandom content, i rly don't care abt what other ppl do with characters :0

W two exeptions.

Not enough love for Vlastomil out there !!!! He's so nastygross and delightful, slithery hot fuck, dilf... ough.

Anddd Vulgoras modern design for that dorian story thingy the arcana instagram account was promoting a bit back. TAKE THAT SHIT BACK. TAKE IT BACK. THEY DO NOT FUCKING LOOK LIKE THAT. (Well rly its just the hair & style that bugs me)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Valdemar: i think this is. Affected by the fact that they're just so gangly, but I feel like they would just... have a very thin PRESENCE. At least most of the time. I think it has to do with skin. I feel like their more humanoid form would psychologically feel like standing next to a cartboard cutout, or a paper shell. And that people are shaken and surprised when they touch you - their physical body actually feeling solid would be odd and uncanny. You know how chickens legs look delicate and gentle but they grip you oddly strong? I think it would feel similiar. And just as cold !!!

Volta: I often think about what kind of assistants she would have... its such an addicting thought idk why 😭 she seems so scattered, it's hard to imagine her as Vesuvias procurator... of course it's canonical fact that she wasn't very good at it. But. She can't run... i assume some kind of warehouses?? Food collection??? No idea how it would work. But she cant run it all by herself. Needs people to do things for her. I love to imagine he's the most PLEASANT but like. Annoyingly distracted boss to ever exist..

Vulgora: i am SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO upset we didn't get to go to Vulgoras estate in Nadias route 😭😭😭 i havent finished the route fully yet (i do need to. I love it)but i don't think we do..? Anyways I imagine it's WILD. All red everywhere, and pretty... wild. Idk how to explain this but I feel like it would be a fully red, slightly lesser version of Howls room but more focused on weaponry etc. Idk for some reason I imagine velvet sofas with really asymmetrical, wild flowing embroidery work, maybe covering scratches recieved during some brawling...? Tinted glass windows in some rooms fully casting them in red light. Obviously a training yard... and WILD parties. Bacchanalian celebratios that feel great in the moment but leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

Vlastomil: the freakiness does not end at worms. A lot of rep for him has him completely focused on his worms- which is reasonable, that's the canonical version, but idk I do like the idea... maybe im mirroring. But that he is capable of obsessing over other things and just becoming this tooth clenching mess over them. He has side interests. Often relating to worms: dirt quality, nature preservation, and he has a mild interest in decomposition.

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

#ask #anon #kanitalk #game:the arcana #tysm for ask8ng!!!!#bro i miss tjem i need 2 get back into them

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katkalis-the-horror-fanartist · 4 months

Note

love your creature drawings of enoch and dedan. Love the little dedan cubs? spawn? I’m not sure but they’re cute

WOOO thank you, glad you like them! Dedan kinda looks cryptid-esque and I wanted to lean into that even more.

Spoilers for future ideas below:

I also thought about giving (normal) dedan a daughter, and him being super strict (mean from her prospective) about her leaving home. But ofc hes basically just SUPER protective of her cause specters just...roam.

And part of me wants to make slithery enoch being like...cannibalistic, or more than usual anyway. I love em both, but they DONT get along and I could imagine enoch just...devouring other children of his-

#ask answered #ideas #if i werent so occupied and hurt i woulda DRAWN IT ALREADY

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cartoonfangirl1218 · 7 months

Text

Legend of the Dragon S2 Watch and Rewrite

This season already shows how intense it will be through the updated intro. If I haven't mentioned before, the intro music is great, and the clips are just awesome. Yes, it shows a animation shift and Jeff "Swampy" is no longer assisted supervisor which is sad. But again, the intro so awesome, I'm already hyped and the pilot just ups the ante so let's get started.

Temple of the Shadow Dragon: Animation is much more crisp and fluid. At least when in close ups. In midrange, the faces aren’t always consistent. The flash animation is more obvious in the fight scenes though. And the CGI is wow. Very dated. But I guess it shows they got a bigger budget. Or smaller depending on how much flash animation costs. Also a side note, the animation made the color palette less vibrant and the characters more pale in general. And Ang/Ling have blue hair now instead of black with blue highlights. Kinda weird, I prefered season one palette.

Voice acting feels a little stiff during fight scenes even when the dialogue is in character, it feels like they’re trying to be overdramatic.

Don’t remember as much monkey hooting from Xuan Chi in previous fights as he does now. Same with Bengail’s grunts and yells.

Master Chin helpfully delivers exposition on the emperor combining his ancient magic with technology, hence CGI.

Sadly, slo-mo has returned in a particularly egregious scene where Xuan Chi takes the blast for Bengali in a scene. But it is surprising that it actually turned Xuan Chi into a monkey, demonstrating that guardians who have taken the position long enough, have their powers in twined in their essence and thus when in danger, Xuan Chi went primal. Or primate in this case.

Probably to give them a cute animal mascot and to make up for the fact that the VA was probably unavailable for the second season.

But it is a big blam episode where the Emperor destroys the dragon shrine and dojo so the twins cannot recharge their armbands and become golden dragons. (Also I know they have no budget for extras but what about the other students at the dojo? Jungi? Their mom?!? I guess they’re dead, it was nice knowing them for one episode)

Luckily, there’s a shadow temple for every yang temple. But Ling warns that isn’t the corruptive yin power what led to their emperor problem in the first place?

It’s a risk they have to take, the same with Zodiac Master begging the group to take him with them. Apparently, the Emperor is the worst boss ever. Too bad he got caught and the emperor takes him away for punishment.

However, they do have a jet to fight against the Emperor’s in a brightly colored CGI dog fight that honestly my eyes could have done without.

Apparently one of the new bonuses is that they can create random machinery from their phones. Random but okay, gotta get toy merch somehow.

Anyway, Master Chin takes the fortune cookie route by not telling them where the shadow temple is even though he clearly knows. I swear, some may say he’s letting them figure it out themselves, I say he’s screwing with their heads.

Point is, the shadow temple is in Alacatraz (where else can you find mass amounts of yin than in prison) and their new dojo is in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Part 2 introduces a new villain. The ancient shadow rat guardian and the emperor’s sister, Yin We who has a slight British accent. I know it’s a british series but with the other characters have American or stereotypically Chinese accents (the emperor is the latter), it’s just weird that she’s British when she grew up in a time before British colonialism. Whatever, she sounds evil and loving it. Her moves are also very slithery and sinuous which is more snake like than rat like but whatever, she’s evil and loving it.

As for Zodiac Master, he’s clearly become the bottom bitch for lack of a better term that they’re only keeping around because he knows the modern era and newfangled technology. It’s a pathetic step down and he so deserves it.

As for the group back in the temple, Ling is wary of the shadow temple for good reason as she can already hear voices trying to corrupt her to fulfill her true destiny.

Long story short, they mercifully don’t put viewers through a repeat of the previous season and Ling is able to regain control of herself and have renewed confidence that she can fight her dark side.

I would improve this episode just a bit by giving Ang more of an arc to go through. This season he is a bit lacking in character growth. While I liked the idea of Ling being wary of her potential dark side, Ang can show that he's still getting over the events of the previous season by not being totally trustful of her. Yes, he says he trusts her but he is first to jump on her when she seems to be corrupted. It can lead to a real bonding moment of how they're both trying to act things are normal but they aren't and they need to rebuild trust.

Enter the Shadow Wolf: Apparently some days have passed and we’re jumping into the new plot that since the twins already know about the shadow dog temple and is checking up on the guardian to see if he'll join the emperor.

This case, they’re at the shadow dog’s temple or in this case, shadow wolf as fluffy and cute don’t scream yin as much as a giant man-wolf.

K-Ho is true neutral evil as he has no interest in “sides” but representing yin so the world may remain in balance. A concept that Ang can’t quite reconcile in his black and white thinking. He doesn’t trust the wolf unlike Ling who is absolutely charmed.

Ang’s negative impression is reinforced when Yin We comes out of the shadows to introduce herself and her alliegence to her brother. She also has shape shifting powers. Unlike the rat guardian, hers isn’t limited to just rats. She can turn into any person, making for some dynamic fighting your twin sequences.

Anyway, the episode is all about whether trusting K-Ho a good idea and after some shapeshifting misunderstandings, Ang reluctantly concedes that K-Ho can be trusted. Well, the others trust him, Ang is still watching him closely.

Yin We is a fun new character with her bratty sister dynamic as she says she’s more “with it” in understanding the modern era compared to her brother. But the Emperor asserts his dominance when he warns her against impersonating him again. Yeah, he’s “with it” too, he has eyes everywhere.

To continue with my giving Ang more character development idea, I would like this episode to also explore Ang adjusting to being co-dragon with Ling. He's used to being the leader with Xuan Chi and Bengail as support. Now he has to sometimes run his ideas by Ling and it just rankles him after being independent so long.

Cats and Dogs and Dragons: Turns out Master Chin had a life outside the temple. A potential love life at that as the teens learn he has an archeologist friend who needs their help.

So off they go to Egypt where the villains somehow already knew about Master Chin’s girl friend and have kidnapped her as bait to lure the dragons. Also to use as a bloodless offering to Bastet for anyone who brings Bastet back to life can ask the cat goddess for a favor. In this case, do their dirty work for them.

You can also see the siblings are getting on each other’s nerves as the Emperor remarks that it’s too bad Yin We is his sister because then he can't chop off her head for being a smartass.

Meanwhile, K-Ho is already at the temple as he literally sniffed out trouble which rankles Ang as he gets all territorial about the mission and not trusting him. Side note: I know there’s no budget for extra civilian designs but K-Ho looks prepared to explore the Artic rather than hot Egyptian pyramids.

Anyway, there’s some reluctant team work between the boys after Ling yells at them, they free Bastet from the Emperor’s command, they free archeologist lady and we learn that the goddess was the original tiger guardian too.

Which comes to what I’d rewrite in this episode which would be to give more focus on Bengail. As you'll see throughout this season is Bengail has been demoted from her badassery, often the first to be knocked out of battle. Same happens here even when Bastet has a real connection to the tiger guardian.

Bengail deserves some chracter growth too besides being mature supportive friend. So I would make this a Bengail episode, with her taking the lead on this mission, checking everyone for being unfocused with their crushes (Ling) and macho ego contest in K-Ho/Ang's case. I would highlight how Bengail has been working doubly hard, going back and forth between San Fran and Hong Kong to check her temple and help the twins and she wants some little acknowledgement for her hard work. Give her time to shine and save the time. Not just the golden dragons.

Shadow Tiger Take Two: The teens travel to a remote island to check on the shadow tiger temple where it turns out, Ang’s old superstar friend is making a new movie and he can be in it. (With only one camera man because budget problems. Hey, they can make meta)

Starstruck Ang immediately accepts as he can act opposite his celeb crush, Karen Kwan so Ling and Bengali go on a girls trip to the temple where the shadow tiger guardian, Sabre-claw lives up to his name by turning into a sabertooth-hybrid. The design is not unlike a low budget Sabretooth (hence name change). Bengail has a brief brush with corruption with how much she wants the shadow tiger band which I really wish they went through with. Show Bengail's dark side.

Meanwhile, Yin We has been impersonating Karen to get close to Ang’s armband but is foiled by Xuan Chi’s animal sense. Ang helps Ling and Bengail against Sabreclaw, they save Karen and the day is saved.

Pretty standard so to add some pathos, I would have Ang be attracted to it because he is starting to miss some normalcy. He's been all Golden Dragon 24/7, and this used to be one of his childhood dreams. Now Ling is his co-dragon, why can't he take a break? Yes, I mentioned that he should have an episode in season one over his normal life vs new responsibilities but he can backslide, and start an arc of Ang working on a dragon-life balance.

A Horse of a Different Color: K-Ho has been training the twins on how to access their power bands without having to go through the transformation sequence. A feat which they quickly turn into a competition cuz sibling rivalries never go away.

Anyway, before Ang gets turned into street pizza again, Master Chin’s Aesop gives him a brainstorm. All legends have a bit of truth in them so maybe they’ll find other shadow temples through the legends. Like England’s White Horse ruins sound perfect setting for the Shadow Horse temple. Ling’s Skeptical but Ang is quickly proven right when they find the temple and it’s defenses turn against them.

Quickly they find the Shadow Horse, I mean Shadow Stallion guardian who can turn into a centaur! So awesome! Anyway, Yin We tries to destroy the temple when the stallion refuses to join the emperor and the twins figure out how to use their power by working together.

It’s a simple episode so I would emphasize more of the competition part so their teamwork realization is more meaningful. In fact, I feel like the setting should just be changed to Scotland since they have so many loch ness jokes and a kelpie would be so much more of a yin legend-hello horse that drags unsuspecting mortals to their death just like the shadow horse draws people's destructiveness.

Rat Attack: Yin We has been breaking the teens’ defenses by attacking at all hours at random, making them lose sleep and leave no time to recharge. It’s a pretty wise strategy though I wish they did more with it as the episode goes beyond a few yawns here and there. To make it more urgent, just show the affects of sleep deprevetion on the teens, especially Ang.

But I found Bengail’s pep talk to Ang that it’s okay to take a break and he cannot be on guard all the time because he’s human to be sweet and just what he needed to hear. You can tell he puts a lot of responsibility on himself in being guardian all the time and needs to be pulled into focus as a season long arc.

So Yin We tries to pull a trap by kidnapping the rat guardian, Ming and impersonating her and the teens manage to pull off not one but two double crosses. The second one I didn’t even see coming. Plus Ming returns and the feisty girl never disappoints.

So it’s a good episode, it could have just done more with what they had.

Spellbound: Sabreclaw and Yin We are back and have dug up a mystical were-Jaguar jade to call in another god to double-cross. Apparently, Yin We has been itiching to prove that she can do a good plan without her brother's input.

Back in San Francisco, the show finally answers my internal question about the safety of the Tiger Temple with Bengail in San Francisco this whole time, apparently she travels back and forth. And she’s been gone for a long time, Ang and Ling are worried and they head there to find it totally ransacked.

Long story short, they follow the clues to Central America and Yin We adds conflict by shapeshifting to the jaguar god so the teens would think the jaguar god is behind all this and not Yin We.

It doesn't help that when they do see the real Jaguar God, he has hypnotized Bengail to be his future queen as he rebuilds his empire. Meanwhile, Yin We and Sabreclaw plan to ambush the god after he defeats the heroes so they can be double tigers.

Unfortunately, Bengail may be hypnotized but she's honest and tells the Jaguar god what backstabbing rats Yin We and Sabreclaw are, so he turns against Sabreclaw and Yin We and tries to sacrifice them in a pit.

While I enjoyed the change in location, the brief fighting the wrong enemy, and the return of feisty Bengail before and after she breaks out of her trance, her reasoning that she felt bad for him trying to rebuild his empire as some tragic bad guy didn’t work.

How did she know if she was hypnotized the whole time? I mean. the viewers knew but she didn't.

Also, I was waiting for some clear Ang not quite realizing why he’s so distressed about Bengail being taken. I’m not saying to put them together or he has some big hero moment, but like some more intense feelings on his side as Bengail has already shown for him.

So I would emphasize more of Ang's potential feelings for Bengail, and emphasize the god's tragic anti hero nature by having his empire be rebuilt after his tragic early death from conquistadors. Also give him a name, it will make him feel more human.

Friend or Foe: Since Yin We is weakened after their success in Rat Attack, the group takes advantage of Yin We’s state by setting up an irresistible trap-a seemingly abandoned temple. Yin We falls for it, and once they have her down, Sabreclaw nopes out of there like a coward. The Emperor watches this all from his all-seeing vision and while Zodiac Master suggests maybe it’s for the best, the Emperor turns on him for letting Yin We go without her band. Classic projection.

Now it’s a race against time for the group to get Yin We to the shadow rat temple and send her back to the spirit world while the Emperor sends obstacles to stop them.

And to make it a little more tricky for the heroes, without her band Yin We claims she’s good, no longer corrupted by the yin. That’s hard to believe and the whole group is skeptical of her innocent good girl act even as she begs them to let her help.

It all turns out to be a long con that Ang thankfully prepares for. I just wish it was a little more riveting and ambiguous.

But besides the Ang/Bengail ship tease, there’s also a thing going on between Ling and K-Ho. Like he makes a comment about how it’s always a wild adventure with them, and she just smiles like he called her pretty or some huge compliment. She’s got it bad.

While I think everyone could tell Yin We is faking, it could still add some conflicy by having Yin We observe the dynamics around her and pit the teens against each other like when she mentioned Ang and Bengail being together etc. It could also be another chance to have the twins discuss Ling's redemption.

They had a brief debate over whether Yin We could be held responsible if she was under the shadow rat power and if she is capable of change. Make it a real debate, and have the twins hash out why they (don't) believe in Yin We with Ling taking a more cynical stance to Ang's positive.

It could lead to a really dramatic climax when Ang asks Ling that if it was the smarter decision to not believe in redemption, than should he have not tried with her? And Ling says he shouldn't have. Reveal that past her nonchalant reaction to other's distrust, she still feels bad over what she did as the shadow dragon and feels she doesn't deserve redemption.

The Golden Babysitter Blues: After Yin We tries to steal the ox band from Robbie, he travels to San Francisco for refuge and Master Chin leaves the twins in charge of babysitting him while he gathers the other guardians to help.

This was pretty much a filler episode with some highlights Ang's indignation at Robbie calling him "his elder," he's not that old yet.and the little boy effortlessly taking out the teens with ease when they underestimate his martial arts skills.

But when they bump into the shadow-ox guardian in the park, it felt too convenient (he’s the town bully and can turn into a Minotaur) that Yin We could locate him and transport him so quickly just for Robbie to bump into him. Why not ambush?

And then the contrived "urgent" situation where Yin We kidnaps Master Chin so she could force a stalemate and get Robbie to give his band in exchange, you feel no satisfaction from Robbie's bait and switch since it was so predictable. They did it a lot better in Rat Attack.

To make it feel like a repeat of other episodes and maybe add some pathos have Ang and Ling really try to mentor Robbie as they were. Or even bring their mother in since she has more experience teaching kids only for her to be distracted in trying to bond with the twins and they're unsure of how to deal with having a parent in their life.

The twins could also have their own bonds with Robbie, reflecting in how they've learned and grown. Maybe ang realizes he wants to rebuild the temple and dojo. Maybe Ling even realizes she likes teaching kids and maybe Master Chin had a point that she has potential as a master like him.

Gone Shadow Ape: We return to the search for the monkey. Actually, it's the shadow monkey band. Master Chin and Ang head to Hong Kong at the behest of the previously helpful museum curator but Yin We and the Shadow Ape guardian get there first and turn into a beast worthy of King Kong (actually referenced within the show. Sadly, no tower homage)

Unfortunately, Xuan Chin gets wind of it back in San Francisco and steals the jet to fly to Hong Kong to retrieve it, ruining Ling's day off (Apparently, they've been there for almost half a year and they haven't ventured past their street like a permanent house arrest, what gives?)

Anyway, fights ensue, Xuan Chin gets sent to the pound for rabies, and it's really not a memorable episode. We spent most of the time watching the antics of a monkey trying to fly a plane and rescuing the monkey from the pound. The fight with the shadow ape took only 3 minutes and it was painful to see the twins get beaten down by generic throws.

Even the animation looked off in this episode, in character models and in matching audio with their mouths.

The only redeeming part is some of the snarky dialogue and yeah, that's it. It also ends the search for the monkey band on a cliffhanger!

To make this a more meaningful episode, I'd potential bring back Xuan Chin as a human again, give Ang and Xuan Chi a real bro trip episode after a whole season without their friendship. Oh, and finally give him his dang monkey band. We've already seen the shadow monkey band in the first season, just give Xuan Chi the powers he deserves.

As a B-plot, Ling can decide to work on easing her conscience and make amends to the other guardians she attacked in the previous year. This can turn comical to heartfelt and really show that Ling has grown for her selfish, entitled nature of before.

Lone Wolf: Ang and K-Ho get a bonding episode! Since K-Ho has a connection to all wolves, he immediately sets out to the cold north to save a wolf cub being terrorized by some hillbillies. Unfortunately, one of those hillbillies is Yin We and K-Ho gets injured in the resulting fight.

Now, it's up to Ang to care for a stubborn K-Ho and wolf cub in the midst of a blizzard while Yin We is waiting to attack them at their weakest. It made a great trapped among mountain lions scenario between Yin We and the blizzard and K-Ho rapidly decreasing energy. It was great to see Ang finally get the trust of the lone wolf and for K-Ho to finally admit he needs help and respect what Ang can offer in battle.

Meanwhile, Bengail and Ling have their own girls trip to fight at the Tiger Temple with Sabreclaw which they deduce as a distraction so the twins would be split up and easier to pick off. Nuh-uh, they're too smart for that and so the day is quickly wrapped up with a full team beatdown.

I don't have any changes or critiques to this episode even though it almost veers on a very special animal cruelty episode, I don't care. Animal terrorizers deserve to almost crash their helicopter.

Also Zodiac Master was here, utterly forgettable and useless. He was fine in the first three episodes but I don't see why they had him stick around. The Emperor should have turned him into stone if only to emphasize that he's a real threat and inject "Anyone can die" scenario.

Heart of the Black Dragon: Season finale time! With the help of the shadow snake guardian (who is promptly concussed cuz Yin We doesn’t share credit), the Emperor has the eye of the black dragon. A mcguffin never mentioned before because it in the time before guardians. Actually, it was why the guardians were created. To defeat the black dragon and then put the world in balance.

So we bring things back to Alcatraz since the guardians thought no one would go to the “new world” to find the black dragon’s heart. Too bad the Emperor figured it out.

So Master Chin ruins everyone’s day off (lowkey really nice to see them acting like normal teens, shopping, flirting etc. before it gets interrupted. Also Master Chin sarcasm is great) and they head to Alacatraz too late.

But if there’s a black dragon, there has to be a gold dragon and once again, Master Chin tells them they have to figure it out themselves even though he already knows everything!

I’ll admit the ending is cheesy as it’s inside themselves and after a brief moment of doubt, they turn into a double headed dragon. Something I’ve been waiting for and was disappointed at how cartoony it looked. Same with the final black vs gold dragon fight that was only 2 minutes long.

That’s the critique I’d give the episode as a whole. Great set up but the execution felt rushed and unearned and the fight choreography was a downgrade too. In season one you can see the martial arts moves that keep things dynamic and interesting, and the guardian powers had some relation to their animal. But here, it’s all kicks and colored blasts, it falls flat.

Even when it’s supposedly 10 terra cotta warriors against two, the urgency doesn’t feel real because the budget simplifies the action scenes. It makes them look lame honestly.

Give their unique powers and fight skills back like Bengail and her dart claws, I haven't seem them all season. Show the actual martial arts moves and inspiration.

Although, I did enjoy Bengail and K-Ho as the last ones standing and vowing to keep fighting like any last surviving soldier in the trenches. Even though they didn’t interact much in this season one on one, you can tell they have a completely platonic respect for each other as warriors. I like it and I wish the show did more to switch up the group pairings.

Final Thoughts: I really come to enjoy this show. The characters are what interesting and made me stay, the lore needs some work. As for the season, it started promising but showed cracks and budget issues in the end from color palette to fight chereography. It also got pretty formulaic by having the twins always being the one to save the day but the lessons felt too one-note. I wanted a season long arc as they did in the previous season.

Ang as I mentioned should get an arc on dealing with being a double golden dragon after being the lone dragon. Have him deal with sharing leadership, have him consumed with anxiety over his responsibilities, not giving himself time to rest. Learning to trust Ling again which is part of the reason he gives himself so much work because he doesn't believe Ling will care as much as he does.

Ling's arc would be complementary to his by having her take responsibility that she lacked. Yes, I want her to remain snarky but I also want her to be cautious of her own tendency towards selfishness and shortcuts. I want her to try to take accountability and make amends for the previous season instead of brushing off the other guardians' distrust of her (tho it is hilarious everytime. Guess there's no guardian newsletter update). Have her be a better sister by helping her brother acknowledge he is a good person but he needs to accept help and she wants to be someone he can lean on.

Master Chin shouldn't know everything. It makes him look like a jerk for not telling them basic information and warn them of potential dangers. Have him be just as unaware of the shadow temples since he's associated with only yang.

Give Bengail a focus episode as they did with K-Ho. K-Ho. . . K-Ho's cool. His VA reminds me of Greg Cipes the entire time which is so weird since its the same VA for Ang. I didn't mention before but the whole cast does double the amount of characters and its super impressive to me. They all did a great job!

The Emperor and Yin We were great as villains. I have no complaints, and Sabreclaw was nice attempt at giving Bengail a nemesis although it felt his indian accent got thicker in each episode he appeared.

As mentioned before, I would have just killed off Zodiac Master after the third episode. It would make the season darker and helps get rid of him since he was super unecessary and pathetic this season.

Upgrade everyone's powers. The only new thing the twins got was teleportation which eh. They can also "fly" but they did that in the previous season so I'm not sure why they were all surprised by that. It would be cool if the twin could breath fire though.

I would also up the ante with not just blowing up the dragon temple but forcing all the other guardian temples to move because they're not safe with Yin We and the Emperor on the loose. Displacement for all, and it can give the show a chance to show different Asian countries beyond Vietnam, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Speaking of dark, I would have focused more lore on the shadow temples as mysterious as they are as not all of them are explored in the show. Just half. Make the teens face their darker natures or face the worst of humanity in a deadly sins-like way or yin-esque way. Put focus on the importance of balance and harmony and how they need to both exist in the world. Bring back some of the yang guardians since those cameos were fun like the Rooster guardian and Chow Chow and the twins' mom!

Really bring the zodiac into play by having the yang guardians show the animal's best traits and the yin show the worst and how destiny/the animal doesn't really control the person' fate but the person's actions do. Explore all the nuances of morality and redemption through the zodiac.

Overall, I would recommend the series for the characters alone and for its potential lore even if there are some big gaps. I really enjoyed it and will be in my mind for a long while.

#legend of the dragon #watch and rewrite #random musings #season two

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