#he does attack and rob people just. not at sea | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cruilsummer · 3 months

Text

the curse of freedom vs ymir's curse

Last night I finished attack on titan - it was something i had been dreading and postponing for a while, having received a few spoilers from the manga and seen mixed reactions from fans.

I'm not here to judge wether it was good or bad, or to make huge analysis of it as a finale - after all, i'm still digesting and understanding where i stand regarding that.

However, while watching these last chapters, I felt really close to Eren's character. It's funny, because he is purposefully pushing everyone away from him, and for most of the season, we barely see him. He is hiding not only from his friends, enemies and from everyone in between, but also from the watcher. And weirdly enough, that's when I got time to really think about him - and specially after the finale, i felt like sharing some of those thoughts.

When we think of young Eren, the child we are first introduced to, we know that freedom is a very important part of his character. He wants to see the world, to know the truth, to go beyond. He's also obstinate, vengeful and stubborn. Eren is a great main character not because he is the most powerful, the smartest or most skilled, but because he has a personality that is intersting to watch. He is flawed, he is human. And even after getting it wrong multiple times and not being the best, somehow he is magnetic enough to keep the best, wisest and most skilled around - either to protect him of protect others from him.

Jean Paul Sartre says that humanity has the curse of freedom - a burden. It makes us responsable for our choices, making it both a gift and a curse. I kept thinking about it the entire time I was watching this last part of the anime.

Because freedom has always been a key element to Eren's character. Both literally - the freedom of being away from the walls and seeing the world, and figuratively - the freedom of making his own choices, deciding who to trust, fighting for what he thought was fair...

And the worst thing that could happen to him, happens: he is the titan that bares the memories from everyone who has been in that position before. From the moment the touches Historia's hand on, he can't go back - now past, present and future coexist, and his choices don't feel like his anymore - it's just fate.

It's Ymir's curse robbing him from the humanity's curse.

He sees the outcome and knows it cannot be changed. It's impacting because, being Eren, he will try to change it. It's who he is: stubborn, obstinate, vengeful. Obsessed with justice, obsessed with freedom. But now he can't. His entire life he felt in charge, deciding his own destiny based on his perceptions of justice, his bonds, his story. But now he is not so sure - how much was already decided? How much was like that because of the ones that came before? And how does one just keeps living like that, not only questioning everything, but also being aware of all those different memories that used to constitute very different people? But how different can they be, if they all share the same memories?

That's the beginning of the end for him. And he knows that reaching the sea doesn't mean he is free, like he used to believe. He knows that killing every titan won't make him free either, and killing everyone outside Paradis won't either. He's lost his freedom, his gift.

On the other hand, we have Mikasa. Eren tells her that (just like him), she is not free. Her every action to protect him, her love for him, is just the Ackerman's curse. And that's where he gets it wrong. Because Mikasa is free. And it's a burden and a curse for her, unlike for Eren, because it would be easier if she didn't have to choose between saving the world and saving her best friend, the love of her life.

Parallel, Ymir's love for the King kept her hostage, wasn't healthy, made her unable to stop what became her curse, what would haunt all Eldians.

Mikasa loves Eren - and not because of her clan's curse. It's hard to explain what exactly makes us love - we simply do. But to make a long story short, and in an oversimplification, she loves him because of everything they lived together and because she knows him. And her love could be like Ymir's, and keep her hostage too. For the most part of the show, fans made fun of Mikasa for her love, called her a simp, said it made her weaker. But she was the one who killed Eren, because she knew that it was the right thing, even if it was the hard thing. She knew there was no other way. And, deep down, she knew that it was not Eren anymore - and at least she could be the one to, at last, free him. Give him what he had been seeking his entire life.

And that act alone is what touches Ymir and frees her as well. It's not Eren's death. It's Eren's death by Mikasa's hand. It's knowing that love can coexist with all sorts of mixed feelings, and that the freedom that comes with our condition as humans sometimes means that we make choices not only based on our love, and not only because they're easy.

Staying is easier because it means not changing anything - and it feels like no choice was made. We trick ourselves into thinking that leaving, changing and doing the hard things are the only decisions, because they imply movement. But staying is also a choice. Not changing is also a choice. That's our curse: living with the outcome of everything we chose to do and everything we chose not to do. Owning up and taking responsability for staying and for leaving. For hesitating or killing.

And don't get me wrong: it is not easy. As humans, we also have the burden of emotions, mixed feelings, traumas. Ymir's choice - and her love - were so complicated that they paralyzed her. And it was seeing that Mikasa's love was so equally deep that ultimately it made her move to do the right thing what moved Ymir too. And she could finally let go, even if it was the hard choice - because she had Mikasa's example.

Mikasa didn't stop loving Eren just because she killed him. She hadn't stopped loving him when he was terrible to her. She never loved him because of the Ackerman's curse - when the curses ended, she kept the scarf. She loved him when she mourned, and loved him even when she was ready to move on, and she died loving him still - altought love can change troughout somebody's life.

Setting Eren free, she sat Ymir free. And that made all Eldians free - well, as free as one can be, still bearing the burden of humanity. The ending shows exactly that: we can't control what people do with their freedom: what wars are started, whos justice empears, which cycles are repeated. But we can control what we do with our freedom, our choices.

And, just like it was Ymir's curse that ended Eren's freedom, it was humanity's curse, Mikasa's freedom, that ended Ymir’s curse.

#attack on titan #snk #snk spoilers #aot #mikasa ackerman #character analysis #attack on titan finale #eren yeager #eren jaeger #ymir #curse #ymirs curse #freedom #shingeki no kyojin

46 notes · View notes

brinefathomcaves · 3 months

Text

Faction: The Brine Vultures

The Brine Vultures are an ex-pirate crew that currently control travel in and out of the main entrance to the Brinefathom Caves. Racially, they’re mostly humans, half-orcs, and goblins. They make their living by extracting tolls from people traveling into and out of the dungeon—currently 1 GP/person to enter, with the exit toll depending on whether the travelers found any treasure. They can also be hired as guides and bodyguards for an additional fee. At any given time, about half of the Brine Vultures are in the caves, with the rest off hunting, fishing, or just getting drunk in town, where there’s booze other than algasina.

Until a couple months ago, most of the traffic through the cave was people going to the tomb complexes deeper on the first level (which I’ll cover next month). However, bodies there have started to rise as zombies and ghouls, making the tombs much more dangerous and sharply decreasing the traffic to the tombs. Thus, the Brine Vultures have had to start charging more to the smaller number of treasure-hunters going into and out of the tomb. When possible, they don’t kill people unwilling to pay the toll—just beat ‘em up and steal their stuff. This isn’t any kind of moral stand; killing is just more likely to attract serious attention from town and beyond.

What They Want

The undead are the Brine Vultures’ main problem right now. Not only have those shambling bastards seriously cut into their profits, but the stupid things keep wandering into the Vultures’ section of the caves and attacking people. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just killing all the undead (which would still be challenging for the pirates). There are hundreds of bodies interred in that part of the caves, and more will just keep rising unless the root cause is addressed. The Vultures have some (incorrect) theories—that its due to grave robbing, or because of the literally defaced statues in [AREA], but they lack the courage and manpower to

NPCS

Vulture-Eye Vertin (M Human, LE): A balding, heavyset man in his 60s, Vertin still looks (and sounds!) like a stereotypical pirate captain, right down to an eyepatch covering his left eye. He views the caves as a sort of retirement compared to the constant work of sailing. He has no ambitions of exploring more of the caves (and in fact forbids his crew from going to the lower levels). He’s somewhat reclusive, largely keeping to his room, but he’s generally well-liked by his crew because he provides good loot shares and more free time than they had as pirates.

In conversation, Vertin is friendly enough, but prefers to direct the conversation away from himself. He likes to use jokes, irony, and deflection to hide the fact that he avoids giving straight answers.

The source of Vertin’s nickname is hidden under his eyepatch: the vulture’s eye, a filmy blue magic item that replaced his original eye. It allows him to see how close creatures around him are to death, and to identify undead and constructs. He claims he earned it by giving a sea witch the best sex of her life.

Lur Flatnose (F Goblin, NE): Lur was promoted to First Mate (upon her predecessor’s death) two weeks before Vertin decided to give up shipboard life. She therefore feels like she never got a real chance to prove herself. With Vertin's increasing isolation, ordering the crew around mostly falls to Lur. Lately, Lur’s been thinking that she doesn’t need Vertin at all—she does all the work, so why shouldn’t she be the boss? Then they can use their foothold to delve into the dungeon rather than just picking up scraps. Only a few trusted crewmates know about her plans for mutiny.

Talking to Lur, you’d think that her vocabulary consists mostly of cusses. She doesn’t talk much, but she’s an incredibly inventive swearer. The Vultures have known her long enough not to take offense (her more colorful phrases often become mini-memes within the community), and she’s not concerned with being palatable to outsiders.

Cookie (M Orc, NE): Cookie is the Brine Vultures’ cook, and one of the longest-serving crew members—mostly because he never participated in battles if he could help it. For a pirate, he’s very combat-averse, and he prefers to strike unaware foes when possible. His only qualm about being on land is that staying in one place makes it harder to indulge his true passion, culinary experimentation. There’s only so many types of food common on a single island, after all.

Cookie is easier to talk to than either of his bosses, and he likes having people around to chat with while he cooks. The best ways to get on his good side is to either help with food prep or bring him an interesting carcass. He has no problems eating sentient creatures, but finds the meat of all humanoids except elves too boring to bother with.

#brinefathom caves #brinefathom supplementals #NPCs #dungeon23 #dungeon24 #dungeons and dragons

3 notes · View notes

tanoraqui · 2 years

Note

📓 please.

AU in which Celebrimbor saves Sirion.

That is, AU in which Celebrimbor happens to be in Sirion when the sons of Fëanor sends their final, maybe only letter of, “We’ll be there in 3 days, would you PLEASE just give us the Valar-damned gem (or else)”, and first he goes to Elwing and pleads with her to just do it. Not because his uncles deserve their cursed rock. Not because he has any idea what the refugees will do without its hope-bringing and general purification effect on water and land. But because he was there like the Iathrim weren’t, like the Gondolindrim weren’t, on the front (ok slightly farther back) lines of the Siege, and he knows for absolutely certain that this little refuge CANNOT survive even the remnants of the great army of East Beleriand. And he wants to see them survive.

But Elwing refuses (though she is, after initial suspicion and fury, kind about it). So Celebrimbor angsts, worries, stress-hammers the dents out of a lot of armor and maybe forges a new bar for the gates…

And on the third night, the night before the dawn on which Fëanor’s sons will come for the Silmaril, he doses the stew for the guards/what passes for Sirion’s palace with something to induce sleep; and he brings an enchanted lullaby music box (the last thing he owns crafted by Fëanor himself) to subdue—gently, gently!—Elwing herself (he’s not depending on just some fantasy Benadryl to knock out Lúthien’s granddaughter). He’s apologizing as he takes the Nauglamir from her neck (he has no interest in robbing her of the whole heirloom, but he doesn’t have the time to remove the gem). Someone raises an alarm, but Celebrimbor is already out a side gate, shining gem tucked away under a wrap of thick cloth—

The Fëanorians, already waiting in the woods, hear the alarm and see the running on the walls and decide to launch their attack early—

But there are orcs in other parts of the wood, waiting for their prey to be flushed out. Waiting for the Oath-driven stalking goats to do Morgoth’s dirty work so they can clean up the remnants. These, Celebrimbor runs into—and, beset and outnumbered, he does the only thing he can think and unveils the jewel. Its light helps fend off the orcs, though it attracts spiders instead—

Maedhros, Maglor, and Amras all turn sharply at the burst of light from the north, and run. Long-legged Maedhros is fastest; fell-handed Maedhros easily dispatches the last spiders—

Light-blinded Maedhros doesn’t see who exactly is pulling away from him, pulling the Silmaril away from him, before his blade slides through their chest. Only a moment later does he realize his nephew was saying, “Careful, it might burn y—”

For more fun, I’d write a first chapter that’s standard narration 3rd person close to Celebrimbor, and the whole time he’s thinking about how everyone is going to assume he’s nothing but treacherous after this, traitor first to his father and then to the people who took him in; history will remember him with the kinslayers after all… And then the 2nd chapter is written in the distant, historical anecdote style of the Silmarillion except it keeps trailing off in bullet points, or maybe just with further lines starting with ellipses, to show the multiple options for how the historical record will remember this night…and what happened next, whether Celebrimbor survived and what the Fëanorians and the people of Sirion did next. The branching possibilities. Like,

Then Elwing and the people of Sirion would not yield the jewel which Beren had won and Luthien had worn, and for which Dior the fair was slain; and least of all while Earendil their lord was on the sea, for it seemed to them that in the Silmaril lay the healing and the blessing that had come upon their houses and their ships.

Yet among them was one whose heart turned toward the cause of the sons of Fëanor. Celebrimbor, son of Curufin, who had turned against his father in Nargothrond now found himself moved by their plight…

…Celebrimbor, son of Curufin, revealed now the treachery he had planned long ago with his kin in Nargothrond. When night fell…

…Fear grew in the heart of Celebrimbor, son of Curufin, and when night fell he brewed a potion to send the guards of the city to sleep. Elwing, too, he went to sleep, and stole from her neck the gem and the Nauglamir which the dwarves wrought…

#ficlet #my fic #ask meme #the silmarillion #feanor and feanor's kin #celebrimbor #sparrowsarus #personally my favorite for what happens next is maedhros kicks in sirion’s gate with his half-dead nephew in his arms #and the silmaril in maglor’s #delivers celebrimbor to the infirmary and says ‘if he dies the promise I just made him to guard you is void’#‘no you don’t get the silmaril back’#peak ‘the enemy fled before his fire’ mood #strides back out without another word and the fëanorians turn and set watches with their backs to sirion’s walls

31 notes · View notes

mymothershumility · 2 years

Text

Jazz and I are going to have to start making a tag for when we talk about group things. Once again, we were left alone. Once again, things happened. To be fair, { @viperparamour / @zaldrizotiabri } was involved this time.

New verse premise under the cut. And, if I do say so myself, it checks all the boxes of the things we love. Well, Jazz and I love... Meaning angst... and other things 🤗

So, this entire conversation started when Jazz, Ella, and I were discussing Ki.nvara and the absolute wasted potential for her character. We all felt like she could’ve been such a huge asset to Dany [ in terms of the show ]. This led to a discussion about how we were robbed of the power trio of Kinvara, Qu.aithe, and Me.lisandre which then led to a discussion of Ki.nvara’s quote “We serve the same Queen. If you are her true friend, you have nothing to fear from me.” and what might have happened if she had been present during Va.rys’ betrayal and all the other things that occurred throughout the final season.

Essentially, we started discussing a possible verse where Dany goes to We.steros, fights the Battle for the Da.wn, and then goes on to lead an attack on Ki.ing’s La.nding against Ce.rsei to take back the Ir.on Thr.one. This is where our discussion started to shift to the alternate verse.

Jazz brought up what might happen if the Crow gained control of Dany and Dr.ogon during her final attack on the capital, leading to the Crow making her attack the city with no remorse. We tossed some ideas around [ with each other and a few other people ] and here’s what we’ve plotted / discussed so far.

Caroline plants the seed in Ty.rion’s mind that Dany is mad just like her father in an attempt to gain the man’s support to place her on the throne.

Ty.rion tells Va.rys who then begins sowing the seeds of distrust among the other houses who’ve risen in support of Dany. When that doesn’t wield the results he is after fast enough, he begins slipping poison into Dany’s food while beginning to groom Caroline to ascend the throne.

Although Va.rys doesn’t get the immediate results that he wishes for, he does begin to notice distrust among members of House Sta.rk [ especially Br.an *who is really the Crow* and Ha.rrion Ka.rstark ].

Dany's ha.ndmaids [ Ir.ri, Jhi.qui, Do.reah, and Mis.sandei ] catch Va.rys’ little birds attempting to slip poison into her food and alert her to their discovery. Va.rys disappears before Dany can see him answer for his crimes against her. With Oby, El.laria, and As.ha occupied in their respective regions and a great portion of her armies returning to Es.sos [ something that the Crow influenced her to do after the battle], Dany begins to fear that others among her allies may be out to end her life as well. These feelings are amplified tenfold by the Crow, who begins slipping nightmares into her subconscious when she attempts to sleep.

When Dany launches her attack on the capital, the Crow takes control of her and Dr.ogon [ feeding off their extended proximity to him in the North and her fear ]. He has her attack the city with no remorse and essentially burn it to the ground, the Red Ke.ep included.

With Dany still under the Crow’s influence [ unbeknownst to anyone ], Ty.rion turns completed against her and convinces Ha.rrion Ka.rstak to kill Dany with the promise of Northern independence and to crown one of his cousins as King or Queen, sweeping his previous agreement with Caroline completely from the table.

Ha.rrion carries out Ty.rion’s wish, though barely escapes with his life when Dr.ogon comes down upon him and Dany after she has been struck. The Crow releases Dany long enough to be aware of what is happening before she dies. The Crow loses control of Dr.ogon, who takes Dany away across the Narrow Sea to Vola.ntis.

Br.an is crowned as King with Sa.nsa crowned as his heir. There is no Northern independence granted. Hal’s named Lord of Win.terfell with Ha.rrion being named Lord of Ka.rhold.

Caroline revolts against the newly crowned King, declares the Stor.mlands independent, and gives herself the title of Storm Queen.

Across the sea, Dr.ogon delivers her mother to Ki.nvara and Qu.aithe in Vol.antis. The Priestess and the Shad.owbinder manage to revive Dany.

That’s just leading up to where the verse could possibly begin. Other points that we discussed / plotted are:

Dany’s We.sterosi allies when Dr.ogon takes her back across the Narrow Sea include only House Ma.rtell / Do.rne, House Re.dwyne, House Gr.eyjoy, House Ar.ryn, and House Ve.laryon.

When Dany launches her campaign to take back the throne, Hea remains behind in Mee.reen to act as her Hand and to rule in her stead. Rh.aegal stays with her throughout Dany’s campaign.

Laira has reclaimed her own throne and now rules not only Jayd, but Va,lyria as well. Vi.serion stays with her throughout Dany’s campaign.

Ki.nvara and Qu.aithe alert both Hea and Laira to what has happened and draw them both to Vol.antis. It’s there that they begin to learn about the Crow and what is happening across the sea.

Through all of this, a number of individuals begin to have dreams centering around individuals they have never met and lives they have never led [ e.g. Laira begins dreaming about a Northern Wolf Lord from the Su.nset Ki.ngdoms and Hal begins dreaming about a Val.yrian Dragon Queen from across the sea ].

Other things that we have [ and still are ] considering:

Br.an attempting to seal an alliance with the Ty.rells through marrying either Donna or Marg. Him also attempting to regain control of the Stor.mlands by having Har.rion marry [ or assassinate ] Caroline.

With the Do.thraki / Uns.ullied having mostly returned to Mee.reen / Es.sos when Dany is attacked, Oby/Ell.aria in Do.rne aiding with matters, and As.ha returned to the Ir.on Islands, they don’t learn about Dany’s attack until after they return to the capital and find Br.an on the throne.

Oby and As.ha being out for absolute blood after what happened to Dany and not believing [ along with El.laria ] that Dany would willing do what everyone is accusing her of. Do.rne and the Ir.on Islands rebelling against the Crown and claiming independence.

Dany being pregnant when she is attacked.

Sa.nsa believing that something is incredibly wrong with everything / not believing that Dany would willingly do what everyone said she did. She did too much and saved too many during the battle. Marg [ influenced by the Crow ] thinking Sa.nsa’s under control of dark magic. Sa.nsa running away [ with Helen ] across the sea to Mee.reen when she begins noticing Br.an acting more and more bizarre.

When Sa.nsa flees, Br.an sends his own personal “banne.rmen” to retrieve them. These banne.rmen are Fac.eless Men meant to not only kill Sa.nsa and Helen, but also make it appear that the Dragons were the ones responsible. When the plot fails, it prompts Laira and Hea to develop a counter attack in retaliation for Br.an’s/the Crow’s attack.

Dinah and Ollie being Dany, Hea, and Laira’s strongest allies because they were guests of the Queen in Mee.reen and refuse to believe that she committed such a crime.

The Vale and the Ar.bor rebel against the Crown and establish themselves as independent kingdoms.

With the Ar.bor in rebellion, Ollie takes the Re.dwyne fleet with him while Dinah takes the Ar.ryn fleet from Gul.ltown with her. They, alongside As.ha’s fleet, Do.rne’s, the Ve.laryon fleet, the Jaydian / Val.yrian fleet, and the fleet that Dany had acquired before ever crossing the Narrow Sea to We.steros, gives her a fleet that could decimate any fleet that Br.an chose to send against her.

Br.an sending more individuals to “deal” with the last dragons [ princesses, Queens, and beasts alike ] because he says no one within his kingdom will be safe until they’re all gone.

There are more things still to come and more things that we’ll likely add as time goes on. For now, this is the general set up for the verse. But, so many boxes checked. Angst. Enemies to Lovers. Soulmates. Drama.

{ @truetargaryen & @neverflownwithme & @fullrangeofemotions & @iwasahunter & @likeablackcanary & @adornishviper & @anunfailingkindness & @aladyofwinterfell & @iveneverbeenagoodgirl }

#;outofjayd #gv ;; the dragon must have three heads

31 notes · View notes

ellrond · 1 year

Text

I posted 2,100 times in 2022

That's 1,284 more posts than 2021!

230 posts created (11%)

1,870 posts reblogged (89%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@frodo-baggins

@alethiometry

@klngfili

@westenra

@haleths

I tagged 2,089 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#rings of power - 352 posts

#elrond - 282 posts

#lotr - 208 posts

#fanart - 186 posts

#ask - 132 posts

#house of the dragon - 97 posts

#bridgerton - 93 posts

#silm - 92 posts

#anon - 92 posts

#galadriel - 83 posts

Longest Tag: 133 characters

#‘bilbo this is fingon felagund you may have heard of-‘ ‘love what you did with the caves i used to live in somewhat of a cave myself’

My Top Posts in 2022:

In early notes by Tolkien the marriage of Elrond and Celebrian was 2500 Third Age and he originally planned to have Celebrian travel to Lothlorien in 2600 Third Age when she was actually killed, a mere hundred years after her marriage to Elrond so anyway thanks Tolkien for revising that but also fuck him for giving her that fate anyway when it adds nothing to the story and she could have been the ruling lady of Rivendell during LotR 😭😭😭

188 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

The fact that they didn't even give new Elrond the sexy long locks he deserves we really are getting robbed 🤧

Literally not to be a bitch but who the fuck is that skinny twink, Hugo didn’t put his whole Weavussy into 5 films as Elrond for this wisp of a tween to come in and not even give us 22” of lace front

288 notes - Posted February 10, 2022

Galadriel and Elrond in Vanity Fair’s First Look at the Rings of Power

344 notes - Posted February 10, 2022

Is Halbrand Sauron? Probably.

Spoilers ahead!

TL;DR: it’s too lazy for him to be Aragorn 2.0- they want us so badly to come to the conclusion that he’s a lost king, it is too easy for that to be the truth. He’s in the right place at the right time to fill the role of Sauron in Numenor and he is of the right, charming, slippery, calculating disposition.

My main reason is they’re laying on this idea of him being Aragorn 2.0 way too thick and it’s the biggest red herring out there. We’ve seen the ‘lost king fulfilling his fate’ story already in the Lord of the Rings and in the Hobbit and it’s tired and lazy and boring.

So what does Sauron want to do in the books? He wants to infiltrate Numenor and recruit the people there to his side and he successfully does that over years of lies and manipulation when the majority of Numenoreans are poisoned against elves, Valar, and each other because of him. Sauron’s end goal in Numenor is ultimate control.

Now let’s look at the evidence in the first three episodes.

Episode 1:

Gil Galad says that he and Elrond foresaw that if Galadriel had continued trying to stop Sauron, she would inadvertently help him

Episode 2:

When the sea monster comes towards the raft, Halbrand advises to stand still to avoid detection when no one else suggests it and it initially works as it doesnt attack them - how would someone from a landlocked region have any knowledge of an ancient sea monster?

Galadriel asked why he separated his raft from the main one to save himself and he said ‘why be part of the larger target?’ - this could be alluding to the fact that Sauron’s forces are in central middle earth while he’s in the middle of the ocean

He talks about suffering and losing his home - Sauron served Morgoth in the First Age and their home was in Angband which was destroyed by the Valar in the War of Wrath. Sauron lost his home and he lost his master

Galadriel tells Halbrand to bind himself to her which is pretty loaded language when she could have just told him to tie himself to her. It’s at this point that he could have let Galadriel die, but he may already know that she could provide him with leverage in the future.

Episode 3 is where it gets way more obvious

Sauron is a charmer - in the books, Celebrimbor is all but in love with him when he’s in disguise. Halbrand flirts with Galadriel and charms her and goes above and beyond for her, like taking Finrod’s dagger from Elendil to give back to her

The moment he gets a bit of freedom, Halbrand goes to a blacksmith and asks for work and says his work is the best the blacksmith will have ever seen. Sauron is a mighty smith who learned under Aule, the god of smithery. Why’s he so set on having access to a smithy? He goes so far as theft to enable his pathway to work

Sauron took the name of Lord of Gifts when he was disguised with the elves, and what does he do in the tavern? Orders rounds of drinks for everyone

When he’s cornered in the alleyway he fights off 5 strong Numenorians with barely a scratch - Sauron was skilled in hand-to-hand combat

He’s eager to appease Tar-Miriel the queen and be seen as trustworthy. Yes, he is captive at the moment, but he has an easy charm even with great lords and ladies that do not befit his station

The figure at the end of the episode is another red herring - it’s not Sauron himself, but a commander of his, perhaps even the Witch-King of Angmar?

It makes sense that Sauron himself would be far away from the Southlands and the centre of his power when he knows that the elves keep watch - whether that be Gil-Galad from afar, or the Silvan elves who are now withdrawing.

His current location of Numenor where Sauron wants to be, and he is developing his relationship with Galadriel who is key to the entire race of elves. If he can manipulate her, he has an easy journey ahead of him. Remember, she ends up being a ring-bearer herself and although her ring is not made by Sauron, her fate is tied to the One Ring and to Sauron.

He’s also wanting to start crafting whatever and promises his work will be the best. He’s already privy to the two factions in Numenor - those who follow the old king and those who follow the queen - and is beginning to learn more about them.

As already said, he’s a charmer, he’s likeable, he has some sense of destiny about him, and he’s good-looking to boot. That’s Sauron’s go-to disguise. To many people familiar with the lore, it seems obvious that Halbrand is not the good guy Galadriel wants him to be. I think this will also lead into conflict between Gil Galad, Elrond, and Galadriel and a decline in her confidence and place in the world over the coming seasons, along with her rising from the ashes.

376 notes - Posted September 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

obsessed with how tidy he keeps his hair around Gil Galad versus the floppy hair in Khazad Dum. look at this

Gil Galad is like that grandmother who pulls kids close and combs their hair until they yell

690 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #Personal #reference #AHHHHH not elrond being my second most used tag byeeeee #long post #the fact that one of my top posts was hating Rob Aramayo…… now look at me #that’s GROWTH #sorry I was a hater. now I’m a lover again

5 notes · View notes

wellthatwasaletdown · 2 years

Text

“Like imagine the ego you'd have to have to even do that and be not at all concerned the other person might not be into it”. When you see women as walking vaginas who are there for your personal use, there’s no need to ask their permission or even get their names because they’re supposed to be grateful that the mighty Harry Styles paid them any attention. Harries will tell you that it’s an honor for women everywhere to be surprise attacked and have Harry’s mushroom flavored tongue stuck down their throats whilst he practices his wrestling maneuvers, the less sexy precursor to his signature seduction move of choking women with sea views.

I mean look at Olivia, who’s been a Harrie since Harry was 16. Breathing in his shroom breath and the addition of their new bedtime routine where she covers her sideboobs in cocaine so he can imagine the mysterious other woman he was singing about whilst fucking Olivia as he serenades her with Cherry - that keeps her hanging on, like her life in the spotlight depends on it. Their sleazy times are followed up with aftercare as they lovingly apply True Botanicals performative anti-mysoginy ebola oil and Pleasing’s face acid for woke queerbaiters and remorseless cheaters to each other’s botoxed foreheads. They end their days in broad daylight, watching stars in the middle of some park as she and her best friend reminisce about that time people got mad that she fucked her employee and blew up her family for him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Rob Sheffield’s stewing in jealousy because his favorite fungus is mushroom. He can only dream of tasting the nectar that is Harry’s tongue when he eats his daily servings of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. He has to be satisfied with the secondary high from all the ass licking he does. Please don’t feel sad for a middle aged man fanboying over an aging pop star who’s quickly losing his looks. Rob Sheffield goes to bed at night, feeling blameless for his cringy “articles” and tweets that give off fan club president vibes. He’s reliving his glory days from when the Beatles were still together and he was last relevant. When he goes to bed at night he has sweet sweet dreams of wearing Harry’s skin and someday becoming Mr. Robrry Stylefield. Lastly, if I may borrow a word to describe Hottest Olivia from 15 years ago and also Harry Styles masterful lyricism, isn’t it amazing that no one has asked these women if they were ok with what the Consent King did to them. Is consent automatically implied just because he’s a famous person? Why are people romanticizing and excusing Harry ignoring personal boundaries?

#submission #harry styles #olivia wilde

6 notes · View notes

alexiavonv · 1 year

Text

Seas of Treachery EP 1 - Warm Welcomes From The Shining Star

(The Ol' Treachery Arc | previous post | this epsiode's song)

As a reminder, this is part of the summaries recounting each session of my D&D campaign, Seas of Treachery. I'll write a little TLDR at the end of each post in case you'd like it! I'm gonna be including some images here and there, but I am no artist, so most of the time I will probably be using heroforge minis to represent people. Regardless, enjoy

The campaign starts with our characters sailing in to the city of Barthélonia, the shining star of the sea. The city is known for being the home of the Tribunal, the Acqeuduct of a Thousand Years (an over 100-foot tall aqueduct/bridge connecting the island of Barthélon Norte to Barthélon Sud), it's massive industrial district, and being the "center of the seas". Each of our characters had their own reason to come to the island - Izzy was looking for a rare ship component, Srian was looking for a forbidden biology book, Alyssane was hired for an unspecified "job", so on and so forth.

The Crew was brought here by a frogman named Rob-Rōnna - a tall, green bullfrog man with a large afro and white disco suit, done down a few extra buttons. He's a fisherman that seems to know just about everybody in the Barthélonian Sea who does any kind of seawork - pirates, squeadores, navymen, fishers, even just random dockworkers. He's an amicable man, even to the people he hates, and thus, he has earned himself somewhat of a chill reputation across the sea. He's the adoptive father of both Triggerfish and Rosemary, and the rest of the crew were able to hitch a ride with him and his kids to come to the city. When the crew left the ship, he did also, stating very firmly "Don't come with me, I have some business I've gotta take care of on my own."

Too bad Trig has authority issues.

Triggerfish decided to follow him, as he led her into the shady back alley black markets of the city. Narrow alleyways, bustling crowds of people, stalls of various illicit, rare, and dangerous materials scattering the dank, musty alleyways. She was in her humanoid form, attempting to keep at least a little bit of attention off of her. Rob walked into a café on a cornerside, sitting down at a stall with a cloaked man who asked "Do you have it?", to which Rob responded "It's all there." Trig found out he was trading some sort of golden idol, likely for cash.

Unfortunately for him, this was a setup, as Admiral Lucia Kirikoban (one of the leaders of the tribunal and its navy - pictured below) walked in with a troupe of navy soldiers. "Rob-Rōnna! Good to see ya', bud! You didn't think you'd be able to run forever, didn't 'cha? Well, the law never forgets, and the law never forgives!" She said to him, getting handcuffs ready to arrest him.

"Oh great, the little pig came out to play! I'm craving bacon." Trig finally piped up from the other seat.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know, who is she?" Rob tried to save face for Trig, telling her he had a plan before handing her a talking head - a magical stone that works like a radio/walkie talkie. Trig is too hot-headed to handle things normally though, and she decided to poke the pig until the pig demanded her dogs kill the snake. Or, for those confused, Trig made Kirikoban amgy, so Kirikoban had her guards attack.

The fight wouldn't last that long, however, as Rob used his Espíritu Power: Bubble Cage on Trig, encasing her in a bubble before kicking her out onto the streets into relative safety. She bounced around, ran over a few horse-riding guards (no biggie), then went back to the ship, where everyone else met.

(Pretty much everything up till this point was part of a pre-campaign side session with Trig's player)

The group all talked about their days and their quests, but Trig scrunched herself awkwardly into the corner with a look of wanting to say something, but refusing to on her face. Eventually, however, Izzy forced the story out of her. With this, the crew decided to at least follow the string he left behind, and they used the talking head.

A mysterious feminine voice came from the other end. "Who are you, what do you want, and how did you contact me?" Was their introduction to a woman named Sarah Saunders (pictured below), who they met in a café next to the industrial district. Around the town, unions and workers have begun striking and protesting, leading to clashes in the streets that even our crew almost got swept up into. The source of these riots all came back to Sarah and her group, Las Unionistas.

Sarah didn't meet the group on very nice terms, cutting straight to business. She said she had a plan to save Rob, and essentially just thanked them for telling her. Trig and Rosemary weren't okay with this, and asked them to let them help save him. Sarah had no trust in them, but through Izzy and Rosemary's combined silver tongues, she was eventually swayed to let them meet Las Unionistas. A half-orc private of the navy walked into the cafe with his guards and shouted at her - "Sarah Saunders, you're under arrest for inciting a riot!" said Private Arbor Whey (pictured below), to which Sarah responded "No need, Arbor. They're in." The two originally planned to test the crew's loyalty by having them beat up Arbor to protect Sarah.

The Crew, Sarah, and Arbor all went down to the basement of the café, then through a false stone wall into the Las Unionistas HQ - a large stone basement with an exit out of a drain pipe into the local canal. Sarah then told the crew that before she could get any work done on saving him, she needed intel from the man himself, who was beind held in the Judicial Fortress. The Judicial Fortress is a massive, 100-story tall stone fortress on a small island in the west Barthélonian strait (only a few minutes from Barthélonia). The Fortress is known for its high security, as well as being where the worst criminals are tried by the Tribunal themselves, and thus was quite an intimidating thing for the party to take on.

Arbor Whey piped up, saying that he could get them in there. "Tribunal law states that you have the right to a lawyer, and I just so happen to have a law degree, as well as experience in the Fortress itself!" He said he could get all the Intel they needed, and that he knew how to get them in. The party decided to begrudgingly take him up on his offer, and thus, the episode came to an end!

TLDR; The Funsize Crew came to the city of Barthélonia with their frogman friend with a boat, Rob-Rōnna. They had their own adventures, but Rob went to a café as Trig was following him in secret, where he tried selling a golden idol, but was instead busted by Admiral Lucia Kirikoban of the Naval Tribunal. Trig tried to fight, but Rob used his Espíritu Power to get her to safety after giving her a talking head (communication device). The crew used the device and met Sarah Saunders, who didn't want to work with them to save Rob at first, but was convinced to. They met a man named Private Arbor Whey who could help them get intel on where Rob was being held, and they begrudgingly accepted.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd 5e campaign #d&d

0 notes

invisible-vampire13 · 1 year

Text

Something is wrong with Ms Murray

Chapter 1:

Juliet knew something was off about Ms Murray the moment she met her. No; it wasn’t because of her divorce or that she is the leader of a British government group. After all, Juliet can’t judge her for either of that considering how Juliet got her job at the museum. Plus whenever Juliet looks at Ms Murray’s team, she can see why others think that nothing seemed off about the dark brown hair lady.

Captain Nemo, who was once an Indian Prince, now sea captain traveling the sea in his unique ship. The invisible man Griffin, that man caused a whole town to go mad with fear. Doctor Jekyll, poor man, was almost a skeleton whenever Juliet caught sight of him. Then there’s his monstrous other side, very big and always looks ready to kill Juliet. Quatermain… well was Quatermain. So whenever someone meets, or looks, at them, they pay no mind to Ms Murray until they find out she’s the leader of the group and not one of the men.

Except Juliet. When Juliet first met them she immediately realized that something was off about the scarf wearing lady. But Juliet held her tongue, keeping her head down as she did her job and Ms Murray did hers. However as the days continued on into weeks Juliet’s suspicious feelings about the lady grew more and more.

Until one night as Juliet was going home for the night she got ambushed by a man. Juliet doesn't remember if it was he was trying to rob her or was very drunk, what she does remember was what happened after he struck her and was getting ready to hit her again.

The next thing Juliet saw was a blur pinning the man to the wall of the alleyway. Juliet collapsed onto the ground from the speed of whatever grabbed the man. Then the man’s blood curdling screams still echoed through her mind as she watched him try to scramble away from whatever was killing him. Juliet managed to prop up on her elbows when the man was dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Juliet only saw the man’s ghostly pale face for a moment before a dark blue squirt blocked her view of what she just witnessed.

As Juliet looked up she felt her heart beating faster as Ms Murray stared down at her. Even though her face smeared with blood and her once green eyes were now glowing blood red; Ms Murray had that kind expression on her face, the one she gives Juliet whenever they see each other.

“Are you alright?” She asked Juliet as she crouched down to help the girl stand up. As she talked to Juliet, Juliet saw two very sharp teeth glistening in blood.

Juliet couldn’t speak so Juliet just nodded that Juliet were. Unfortunately Julietr trembling body, and Julietr heart that was trying to escape Juliet’s ribcage from how hard it was pounding, told her that the young girl was lying.

She softly smiled at Juliet as she guided Juliet back to the museum. As she cleaned off the blood from her face Juliet realized that Juliet both left a dead body in the alleyway. When Juliet tried to tell her that they should do something about the corpse, Ms Murray said that M and Bond will take care of it and the only thing that Juliet two should worry about were her injuries.

For the next week Juliet heard people talk about how someone heard a murder happening near the museum, some people believed it was a ghost, some believed that it was either an argument turned deadly, or that this was the start of a killing spree. The only ones who know the try was M, Bond, Ms Murray, Juliet, and whoever cleaned up the mess.

During that time Juliet was made into a personal secretary to Ms Murray/put into her care since Juliet now knows. M made it official so no one could change it. Now Juliet has to move closer to Ms Murray’s house so the young girl doesn't get attacked again or more precisely so they don't have to clean up another bloodless body.

Juliet knew that something was wrong with Ms Murray, but now she wished that she never found out.

#league of extraordinary gentlemen #dracula #mina murray #fanfiction

0 notes

rhysismydaddy · 3 years

Text

Prisoner's Game Pt. 4 (Rowaelin)

THANK YALL FOR BEING PATIENT I AM SO SORRY

Parts 1 \ 2 \ 3

________________________________

Journal Entry #2000

Sometimes I think it wouldn't be so bad to die.

To leave this island forever and not have to worry about being discovered anymore.

I wasn't always this macabre, but two thousand days of checking over my shoulder and wishing for a man's murder has dulled the wishful excitement I felt when I first got here.

Five years ago, I was grateful to even be alive.

I couldn't believe a stranger give up everything for me and the others--couldn't believe she'd agree to fight this battle because of my decision.

I have to actually remind myself to still be grateful to her, if I'm being honest.

Because sometimes I think about that night all those years ago, when she showed up in the darkest part of the night to kill me. When she'd held the knife with a trembling hand and told me that the price for betraying Arobynn Hamel was my life. When we discovered together that she couldn't bring herself to kill me.

Sometimes I think it would be better if she would've just done it.

At least it would've been over.

At least I wouldn't have to spend years on an island, living the same day over and over again. I think that's what's driving me mad, beyond anything else.

The predictability of my time.

Every day, I follow the same routine. The routine she laid out for me in a hushed whisper.

I wake up and go to the small café a mile down the road to watch the news. And every day, I pray to see Arobynn Hamel's face next to to the words, "Breaking news: billionaire crime boss found dead."

Because that was her only stipulation.

That the ten of us would stay on the island, hidden from sight, until news of his death was announced. In exchange, we got to live.

She'd warned me it would take a long time.

She'd told me to not get complacent.

And then she'd whispered what she planned to do.

Even now, over five years later, the words she'd whispered while shoving a plane ticket and a new passport into my hands were crystal clear.

"The devil isn't going to go down easy."

~Aelin~

The shaft of her recently-fashioned shiv was cold in her hand as she silently grabbed it from under her pillow.

The soft clink of the bars shutting again told her whoever had just snuck in her cell was now locked in with her.

Unfortunate for them.

She wasn't afforded the luxury of a clock, but she knew it was the middle of the night. Normal visiting hours were far over. There was no one here but the bored night guards, four janitorial staff, and rows and rows of sleeping inmates.

And the idiot trying to sneak up behind her bed.

She kept her eyes closed as she listened to the quiet steps walk closer and closer. Right when she was about to turn around and attack, they stopped.

Then the weirdest thing happened. It sounded like whoever it was slid down the wall directly across from her bed.

A killer wouldn't do that.

Curiosity piqued, Aelin turned her head to see who and what was going on.

It was dark in the cell, but she'd recognize that shock of silver hair anywhere.

"Rowan?" she whispered, so quietly she almost didn't even hear herself. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't respond, but the way his muscles tensed told her he'd heard her.

Slowly, she sat up so she could see him better and maybe figure out what was going on.

For the first time in a long time, he looked less than perfect. Far less than it, actually.

His hair was going every possible direction, like he'd been running hands through it and pulling on it. He was wearing a gray t-shirt, rumpled dress slacks, and tennishoes that weren't even tied.

But that wasn't what worried her most. It was the way he was sitting completely still and silent.

He didn't even look like he was breathing.

"Hey," she tried again. "What's going on? Look at me."

Another few heartbeats passed, and then he slowly shook his head.

"Please, Rowan. Just look at me."

He winced, like hearing her say his name physically hurt him.

And then his head came up.

Deep green eyes met hers, and even though it was what she'd wanted, what she'd needed, Aelin instantly wished he'd look away.

Because with one look, she knew he'd figured it out.

He knew, and the pain and turmoil in his eyes... she'd put that there.

She'd seen him angry and sad and happy and everything in between, but she'd never seen him, or anyone else, look so broken.

He looked completely and utterly broken as he sat before her.

"Rowan," she whispered, shaking her head even though she didn't know why.

He bowed his head again, seemingly unable to even look at her.

"Ro," she whispered, dropping to her knees in front of him.

Almost like the old nickname broke something inside him, Rowan's shoulders started to shake.

And then he sobbed.

It was the kind of sob that couldn't possibly be held in. The kind that made her heart clench and tears brew in her own eyes, the kind that told her how much pain he was in.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she put a hand on his arm. He shook off the touch like it burned him and looked up at her again.

"I ruined your life," he croaked, the tears on his face reeking of self-hatred. "I ruined your life."

She shook her head. "No, you didn't."

Anger bled into his tone. "I put you in prison for eight years for murdering people who aren't even fucking dead, Aelin. I didn't listen to you, didn't look hard enough. I've had the clues you left me for eight years. We were in love, and I didn't even try hard enough to... I... please explain to me how I didn't ruin your life."

"You did not ruin my life, Rowan," she told him again, meaning every word.

"Eight years of your life, gone because of me. I don't even understand how you can look at me." He huffed a laugh, but he was far from amused. "No wonder you hate me."

His chest was heaving, his hands were in fists, and his stubble-crested jaw was damp with tears.

And she'd thought he hadn't cared.

Aelin felt like a fool--a horrible, stupid fool--for ever doubting him. For thinking him indignant.

Because this was technically what she'd wanted. What she'd planned to happen.

She'd wanted it to hurt, had wanted him to feel an ounce of what she'd felt when he'd led the case against her.

But it wasn't what she wanted anymore.

Moving slowly, Aelin crawled onto his lap, put her hands on the side of his face, and lifted his gaze to hers while she said, "Arobynn Hamel ruined my life, not you."

He shook his head, breathing heavily. "No-"

She cut him off by wrapping herself around him.

Like she was trying to heal physical wounds, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled his head to her chest. She sank into him until there wasn't an inch of space between them. Her hands wandered over his back as she held him tight to her.

He was stiffer than a board at first, but eventually he sagged against her, wrapping his arms around her in return.

It was like he was drowning in the sea, and she was the only thing preventing him from being swept away. He shook, his entire body trembling, and his arms became a vice around her.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered after a moment.

She shook her head, but it didn't matter. He said it again, and again, and again, until his voice was hoarse and broken.

Aelin ran her hands over his back slowly, and just held him as pain he'd felt for eight years seemed to reach a crest.

Eventually he stopped crying and just laid against her, warm breath fanning across her collarbone.

"I'm so sorry, Aelin," he whispered yet again.

"Please stop saying that. None of this is your fault. You aren't the reason I'm in prison."

"Yes, I am," he insisted, shifting beneath her. "But I'm getting you out right now."

He looked up, eyes bright with new-found purpose, and wiped the tears off his cheeks like they were distracting him.

"What?"

He nodded quickly. "We can bring those people back, and you can get your life back. I know it's not the same, and I know I can't get you these years back, but-"

"No."

He paused. "No?"

She shook her head. "I can't leave yet."

"Leave? What the hell does that mean?"

"It means I still have shit to do here. I'm not leaving before it's done."

His eyes narrowed. "You're acting like this is a hotel, not a high-security prison. And what do you even mean?"

Aelin had the good sense to feel a little guilty as she slowly got to her feet and walked to the wall at the back of the cell. A few well-placed taps later, it swung open.

Rowan's mouth dropped open, then closed, then repeated the whole routine like he couldn't decide what to say first.

He apparently figured it out, because it opened again so he accuse, "I knew you were robbing me! Where the fuck is my bed?"

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "That's what you care about right now? Seriously?"

He grumbled something as he got to his feet and leaned into the makeshift doorway in the wall.

It took him a few moments to examine the ladder leading down to the tunnel, and then he straightened and looked at her again with a mixture of confusion, awe, and understanding on his face.

"You've been sneaking out this whole time."

She nodded.

Most of her escapes had been in the past six months, but she'd occasionally left in the years before to check on something or track down a lead.

"You beat up your roommate so they'd put you back in solitary."

Aelin nodded again.

"But how did you know they'd bring you to this cell?"

A small smile pulled on her lips. "Look again," she told him, gesturing towards the open brick door.

He stuck his head in the hole again and couldn't stifle his surprised intake of breath as he saw the other ladders.

He came back in the cell, and the expression on his face made her bite her lip to hold back a smile. "You... you tunneled into prison?"

"Into every solitary cell," she confirmed.

"When? Why?"

"One of my old jobs for Arobynn was to break a client of his out of solitary. I knew which cell he was in, but... getting locked up is kind of a right of passage for my former career, so I figured I'd plan ahead and give myself a way out, should I ever need it." She smiled. "Hamel never could figure out how I did it, so it's safe for me to use now."

Rowan spent a long moment looking at her. "That's... genius."

"I tend to be," she agreed.

They were both silent for a minute, then he said, "You need to tell me everything. Enough of both of us wasting time assuming what the other is thinking. We need to get everything out in the open, and we need to do it now."

Aelin nodded, knowing it was true.

It was time to either finally trust him or kill him, and just the thought of the latter made something inside of her twist so hard she felt nauseous.

She nodded to the tunnel, not wanting to have the following conversation overheard by any prying ears. He nodded and followed her down, closing the door behind him.

When she knew they were alone, she started to explain.

"Maddison Kliff, my first so-called victim, funded her campaign for senator with money from Arobynn Hamel."

Rowan's eyebrows went up in surprise, but he nodded for her continue.

"He gave it to her, with the caveat that when she won, she'd vote against renewable energy for Rifthold. He has millions in oil, so when she did the exact opposite and voted for the green plan that switched the city to 70% electric, he took a pretty hard hit." She took a deep breath. "The day after the vote, I got my orders to kill her."

His jaw clenched.

"I went that night, thinking I could do it. Thinking I'd get it over with and never think about it again. I snuck in her townhouse and had everything set up." She let out a laugh. "But then I realized my deal with Arobynn covered ten of Sam's jobs. If I killed Maddison, and did a good enough job of it to get away with it, I knew he'd put nine more names on the list."

"So you didn't do it," Rowan said, like he already knew but needed to hear her say it.

"So I didn't do it."

Aelin ran a hand through her hair, starting to pace. "I ran. And then I went back the next night with a suitcase, a new ID for her, and a plan."

"Why Aruba?" he asked.

"I'd done all that research for our trip," she said, a pang of sadness shooting through her at the memory of planning their first vacation together. "I didn't have time to research another place. And I never told you, but the house I wanted us to rent? You kind of... own it."

"I own a house in Aruba," he repeated slowly, his tone making it clear he didn't understand.

She rolled her eyes at his tone. "Arobynn might be a bastard I'd love to put in a grave, but he paid me well. I was eighteen and didn't know what else to do with the money. So I bought a house."

"In Aruba. In my name."

She nodded. "No one can trace it back to you. It's hidden in an off-shore corporation, owed by another off-shore corporation, but technically, yes, you're the owner. It was going to be your Christmas present."

"You bought me a house," his lips twitched. "For a Christmas present."

"I was in love with you," she muttered. Then pointed out, "My lack of shopping impulse control really isn't the point of the story."

He rolled his eyes, still fighting a grin at her antics. "Please continue."

"Right. So I sent her to the house in Aruba and told her to stay at the house with anyone else he wanted me to kill. I told her to not say a word to anyone besides those people, and that I'd be forced to actually kill her if she did. If Arobynn finds out they're alive, he'll send someone for me."

She explained the list next. "He requires proof of all completed jobs, so I kept the "murder weapons" and made sure the crime scenes had enough blood to indicate the person couldn't still be alive. It was mostly fake, but I took just enough blood from each of the victims and mixed it in to make it realistic enough to fool DNA scanners. Then I put the weapons in storage lockers he owns and wrote the numbers down so I wouldn't forget them."

Rowan nodded, most certainly remembering that part.

He was doing a good job of hiding his emotions, but she still saw how heavily this all weighed on him.

Everything he'd been feeling for eight years was hitting him at once, and while explanation made sense, it probably didn't make him feel any better about the role he'd played in all of this.

He confirmed it by asking, "Why didn't you tell me?"

He asked it almost casually, but she didn't miss the pain he couldn't keep from seeping into his voice.

"I wanted to," she breathed. "Gods, I wanted to. I know now you investigated before giving the list to the cops, but to me, it looked like you found it and just turned me in. You never asked me. And you looked at me... you looked at me like you thought I was guilty. I knew you wouldn't believe me."

Rowan went quiet, regret and shame coming off of him in waves so thick she almost choked on it.

"How is all of this going to play out?" he asked, seemingly trying to force himself to think about something else. "And what do you have to do that you need to be in prison for?"

She hesitated, suddenly not wanting to tell him.

Not out of a lack of trust, but because if she told him... he'd realize she's guilty of the crime she's in prison for. He might go back to hating her, back to thinking her a horrible person.

And she just got him back.

She's pulled from her thoughts when he reaches a hand out, slowly gripping her jaw to tilt her face to his.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said, the words final.

Of course he knew what she was thinking just from looking at her face. He always was a little too astute.

A part of Aelin wanted to put on a brave face and act like that wasn't exactly what she'd been worrying about, but a bigger part wanted him. Wanted him to see that even after all this time, she needed him.

So she forced down the witty jokes and sultry smiles she usually used as ways to hide her vulnerability and looked up at him.

"Promise?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "I promise, Aelin."

His hand was still on her face, and he leaned in until his forehead rested against hers. "I'm never going to leave you again. I'm so... I'm so fucking sorry I did in the first place. I should've come to you, or at least listened when you told me you were innocent."

"I'm sorry I thought you didn't fight for me," she said back. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

They'd both done things they regretted, but Aelin knew that now, no matter what, he was telling the truth. He wasn't going to leave her.

The knowledge felt like a weight lifting off her shoulders, and just to lighten the mood, she whispered, "And I'm sorry I stole your bed."

He pulled back to glare at her. "You're going to explain one day how you even pulled that off. But I'd like the answer to my other question first."

Aelin took a step back and ran a hand through her hair.

"Arobynn Hamel dying is the endgame, Rowan. I have to stay in prison so I can kill him and have an alibi no one will question."

He paused, and for a moment, her fears skyrocketed, so she rushed to explain, "As long as he's alive, those people have to be in hiding and I have to look like I killed them. Once he's dead, I can bring them back without worrying Arobynn will kill them. Or me."

He gave her a strange look, but she spoke before he could, explaining, "It's why I've been in prison for so long. I would've killed him and ended it years ago, but I only found him a couple months ago. He's been in hiding ever since I was locked up, because the FBI knew I was one of his and started looking for him."

"Okay, but Aelin-"

She cut him off. "I know it's insane and not at all ideal, but I need you to leave me in here. Just until he's dead, and then it's over."

He stepped forward and grabs her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

And then he did the weirdest thing.

He smiled.

"What the hell do you look happy about?" she demanded. "I'm being serious-"

It was his turn to interrupt her. "Aelin, if that's the stipulation, you're already free."

Unease drifted through her stomach. "What do you mean?"

"I mean he's already dead."

Shock rushed through her so fast and thoroughly, her vision swam and she swayed in his grip. "What... what did you just say?"

"That's why I came today, now. I actually figured out you were innocent two days ago, but I wasn't going to come until I could tell you with certainty I was getting you out, and I knew you couldn't bring everyone back without risking your life. I've spent the past 48 hours planning a jailbreak and a way to sneak you to somewhere the US doesn't have extradition."

He grinned again. "But then it was announced on the 11 o'clock news tonight that he died last week of pneumonia complications. His family kept it private because they wanted a small funeral, but he's dead, Aelin."

Still feeling the weight of shock, she argued, "He's not dead."

"But he is."

"No," she insisted, pushing away from him and starting to pace again. "He can't be dead."

His face softened at the panic in her voice. "Aelin, I know you wanted it to be you, but-"

"No, Rowan, you don't understand. I mean he cannot physically be dead, because I haven't finished killing him!"

It was his turn to be shocked.

"What do you mean you haven't finished killing him?"

She took a deep breath, trying to keep her emotions in check. "I've been poisoning him since the day I figured out where he holes up. Turns out he has kidney problems and goes in once a week for dialysis. I show up and add a little... extra to his medication. The last time I went was less than a week ago, and while he might have been sick, he most definitely was still alive."

Besides that, what were the odds that Rowan figured out her "victims" were still alive, and just two days later Arobynn croaks?

It would be one hell of a coincidence, and Aelin learned long ago to not believe in those.

His eyes went wide. "What? You mean he faked his death? Why the hell would he do that?"

"Because," she said slowly, dread forming like a lead ball in her stomach as she realized what this meant for her, for the ten people whose lives she'd traded her freedom for. "I told Maddison and the others to wait for news of his death before coming back. I told them that until he was dead, they weren't safe."

She shook her head, whispering, "I told them to watch the news."

Rowan realized what she was saying and cursed.

"He knows."

~~~~~~~~~~~

Lemme know in the comments if you want to be tagged!

Part 5 will (realistically) be out in the next three weeks. Sorry for the slow updates; school is consuming all my time and energy.

@audreycressworth @whimsicallyreading @onceupona-chaos @lil-unoriginal-weirdo-273sole @surielandiareendgame @captain-swan-is-endgame @poisonous00 @vasudharaghavan @sailorsassley @endlessdaydream @swankii-art-teacher @thenerdandfandoms @emily-gsh @beanco8 @stokingthemidnightflame @mis-lil-red @ladyfireheart-and-buzzard @sheharahu @cookiemonsterwholovesbooks @jorjy-jo @court-of-dreams-and-ashes @perseusannabeth @cursebreaker29 @a-bit-of-a-cactus @elriel4life @girl-who-reads-the-books @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @live-the-fangirl-life @ireallyshouldsleeprn @highqueenofelfhame @loudphantomdragon @gracie-rosee @rowaelinismyotp @nahthanks @ghostlyrose2 @lovemollywho @inardour @tillyrubes10 @claralady @tswaney17 @rowanisahunk @superspiritfestival @thegoddessofyou @awesomelena555 @booksofthemoon @greerlunna @jlinez @studyliketate @over300books @justgiu12 @maastrash @aesthetics-11 @bamchickawowow @b00kworm @sleeping-and-books @musicmaam @hizqueen4life @maybekindasortaace

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #rowan x aelin #rowan whitehorn #tog #throne of glass #throne of glass fanfiction #aelin galythinius

137 notes · View notes

chitto · 3 years

Text

I ANALYZED ALL OF THE NEW SONGS ON RANBOO'S LORE PLAYLIST - HERE'S WHAT I FOUND

Back in March, I listened to every single song on Ranboo's DMCA Lore Playlist. I came up with a solid theory, published my evidence and that was that. My work was done.

But nope! Ranboo's back and he's deleted a ton of songs and added more. And so I listened. Again. And I'm back with a theory, and it does not look good.

This new batch of songs shows us that this is a new era of c!Ranboo. Redesign Your Logo is meant to tell us that things are changing, and so is c!Ranboo. This could be do to the fact that something bad is most likely going to happen to c!Ranboo in the near future, probably the taking of his first canon life. Songs like Eyewishes and Goodbye heavily point to the ending of a chapter (or life) of c!Ranboo. The song Blue Monday isn’t anything revolutionary, as we were already well aware of the toxic relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. Another thing to point out is that Everybody Wants To Rule The World sets up an interesting take on nuclear weapons, a thing that c!Tubbo has and c!Ranboo doesn’t know exists. If c!Ranboo were to find out about the nukes, it could lead to the two fighting over whether or not they were a good thing. Going into Time Moves Slow, the narrator there discusses a relationship that just ended between them and their lover, meaning there could be a c!Beeduo divorce arc in the near future.

Below are the analyses on each individual song and the added and deleted songs

Deleted: Prologue (StarKid), Introduction to the Snow (Miracle Musical), Dream Sweet in Sea Major (Miracle Musical), Turn the Lights Off (Tally Hall), The Mind Electric (Miracle Musical), The Ruler of Everything (Tally Hall), Ain't No Rest for The Wicked (Cage the Elephant), The Bidding (Tally Hall), Stranded Lullaby (Miracle Musical), Hidden in the San (Tally Hall), & (Tally Hall), I'm Gonna Win (Rob Cantor).

Added: Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon), Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Blue Monday (New Order), Eyewishes (Lemon Demon), Bystanding (Lemon Demon), Goodbye (Bo Burnham), Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring).

Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon) - This song is about a pdf that went around during 2009 about the Pepsi company logo. In it, the Arnell group is trying to sell Pepsi a new logo, so that they can make tons of money. I feel that this song symbolizes evolution and growth, we’re entering a new era of c!Ranboo. He’s redesigned and rebranded. This song could also be on this playlist because of a fan animation on youtube set to the same song by Shyshui.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears for Fears) - This song was written about the Cold War between The Soviet Union and The United States that happened during the 20th Century. The main line of the song ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ is about how everyone wants power, and the misery that it brings with it. This is a theme we can see clearly on the DreamSMP, with many leaders such as c!Eret, c!George, c!Bad, c!Wilbur, and c!Dream all leading lives of misery in one way or another. This is also important for c!Ranboo, as he is the most powerful man on the server. It tells us that his power will soon be his misery. Also a small little thing I’d like to point out is the line ‘Say that you’ll never, never, never, never need it’ which is meant to be about the use of nuclear devices during that time period. Many governments had them but claimed they would only use them if another country was launching a nuclear attack. This could translate to c!Tubbo owning nukes and c!Ranboo possibly finding out, which could cause discourse between the two.

Blue Monday (New Order) - Blue Monday is about the singer pondering the mistreatment of their person by someone they trusted. The person seems to be manipulative and toxic for the singer but the singer is too far under their control to leave them. Immediately we can tell that this song is most likely about the relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. c!Dream uses c!Ranboo as his errand boy, making him do all sorts of tasks, although this hasn’t really happened since the Disc War Confrontation. However, we know the c!Dream still has some sort of hold over c!Ranboo because we saw c!Sapnap trigger an Enderwalk episode by giving c!Ranboo a message from c!Dream.

Eyewishes (Lemon Demon) - Eyewishes is a song about a distraught man who has no eyelashes, as he used them all on wishes, and now he can make no more wishes. The man pours out his frustrations and then resolves to committing suicide. While I don’t believe c!Ranboo would take his own life, I believe that he soon will die. The last line of this song is ‘So take care of my plants and pets and now I’ll say good-’. c!Ranboo has many pets in his care and he would want them taken care of after he dies. I could see him saying this line to a character like c!Tubbo. However, c!Ranboo is still on three canon lives and would not perma died if killed.

Bystanding (Lemon Demon) - Bystanding is the direct sequel to Eyewishes, starting off with bi, completing the phrase ‘goodbye’ started at the end of Eyewishes. Other than this, the song has no real points of interest as it’s just the singer repeating different words, working his way up from 2 to 5.

Goodbye (Bo Burnham) - I’m going to split this song up into two sections, just because I think there’s a lot to cover here. Let’s start pre-bridge. For context, Goodbye is the final track from the comedy-musical special Inside, done by Bo Burnham. Bo says the special was a long project for him as he filmed the entire thing in his house during COVID-19 Quarantine. The beginning part of this song talks a lot about how Bo doesn’t want the special to be over because now he has nothing else to do, and he’ll just have to live his life. This could translate into c!Ranboo losing a lot of things that he worked for, such as his valuables (totems and riches) and just being a normal person again. It could also signify an ending of a chapter for him, maybe his marriage ending, his partnership with the Syndicate ending. However, I believe that its most likely to be c!Ranboo’s neutrality ending. During the recent lore stream he did with c!Wilbur, we finally saw c!Ranboo pick a side. He chose Wilburger over Las Nevadas, losing his trademark neutral stance. c!Ranboo thought his neutrality made him more than others, that he was the one able to see over the conflict, but now he’s just like everyone else. He has a side and an enemy. Let’s move into the bridge and ending of the song now. The first line I’d like to call specifically is ‘Wanna guess the ending, if it ever does.’ This line could maybe signify the fact that throughout the history of the SMP there have been many times that the conflict and story feel like they’ve finally come to a close, only for everything to start up once again. The next lyric is ‘If I wake up in a house that’s full of smoke, I’ll panic, so call me up and tell me a joke.’ This is a callback to another song on Inside, Comedy, in which Bo talks about using his comedy as a way to help people, but really it was he who needed help. c!Ranboo acts as a protector for a lot of characters, most notable c!Tubbo and tried hard to please most people and aid as many as he can, but most of the time he’s the one needed the most help. Similar to Bo, c!Ranboo doesn’t realize he needs help until it’s too late.

Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring) - This song is about a person who’s lover has left them, and although it’s painful they know its for the better. This could, unfortunately, suggest a c!beeduo split but there is another part of this song that I’d like to touch on. ‘Running away is easy, its the living that’s hard.’ This is the chorus for the song and it talks about how running from your problems is easier than facing them but having to live without them is hard. Throughout the story, we often see c!Ranboo ignore his problems, most recently with the vandalism of c!Tubbo’s cookie shop. c!Ranboo found it and decided to fix it and tell no one it happened, which lead to a hostile confrontation between c!Quackity and c!Tubbo.

#PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST REBLOG THIS #THESE TAKE ME AN INSANE AMOUNT OF TIME #dsmp #dreamsmp #dream smp #ranboo #ranboo dsmp #c!ranboo theory #c!ranboo analysis #dsmp analysis #dsmp theory

60 notes · View notes

lochnessies · 3 years

Text

@cockati3l the church isn’t ruling people from behind the scenes. even the devs confirmed that. the church in adrestia doesn’t exist, the church in the alliance is ‘toothless’ and nobody pays attention to them as said by lorenz, and the western church is in open rebellion against the central. also, when does the church control anybody in the game? nobody is forced to follow them and they even take on nonbelievers as staff.

once again, what corruption are you talking about? it can’t be what edelgard mentions in her speech because that’s been proven false.

it can’t be killing the western priests because they attempted assassination more than once, grave robbed, and attempted to kill students. not to mention are racist af

it can’t be changing history a little because in your own words “what the fuck so u want her to do?” humans killed her race when they found out the amount of power stored in their bones, blood, and hearts. at that time in fodlan’s history clans were fighting for power with the relics of her family and she had to find a way to broker peace as said by intsys: “seiros and co. meddled with history not in order to rule over humans, but to quell the flames of war and chaos as much as possible, and to also keep a steady balance about humanity.”

also yes, rhea was about to step down. she says so herself. even calling herself a “mere proxy” for byleth.

tell me how claude piggybacked off of edelgard’s war to further his own aims? the game tells and shows that he’s spending his time trying to just keep the alliance together.

she’s literally called the hegemon. there is no freedom under her rule. she centralizes all power onto herself and makes herself the supreme ruler. what she says goes and in order to achieve that result she murdered, lied, and stole.

she literally said “i have no regrets.” why? because she doesn’t. she may feel kinda bad about all the dying but obviously not enough to stop what she’s doing and find another path.

also her words about the followers of seiros are far from kind. she calls them “mindless” multiple times (even in her s-support). the faithful are forced to flee from her. people even lose contact with the believers in the empire, and it’s not even allowed to be one in the first place. not to mention in hanneman/manuela’s ending the church can come back but only under the empire’s supervision. so we have a state controlled church. look at all the freedom!

when does dimitri leave crestless people to get fucked? he literally talks at length that he believes that people with crests and people without need to work together and recognize each other’s strengths.

also the church isn’t the one behind the “crest system” (if you can even call it that since the way each house interacts with it is so different). crests/clans became noble houses because of their strength (aka the empire’s meritocracy in the beginning) and the strong aka crest bearers rose to the top bc in the 91 years it took to kill nemesis his elites had already started their own bloodlines and families. the nintendo interview says that rhea lied about the origin of the crests and relics bc she wanted the wars to end and the only way to have gotten rid of the crests humans had would be to genocide them.

with nemesis gone and the adrestian empire now in charge of the continent, a meritocracy started to form among the nobility. hanneman in his support with dorothea says this about the founding of the empire: “consider this. at its inception, the concept of nobility assumed that the greatest among the populace would rise to power. in my mind, i believe that those who value knowledge, those who strive for more, and wish to protect and guide their fellow man. however, in practice, nobility often serves to keep those deemed commoners down, segregated from those who, by chance, were born to a noble family.” this is also paired with ferdiand’s support with edelgard: “certainly, we must recognize the common folk who strive for greatness and attain it. but for those of us born into nobility, things are more complicated. from birth, nobles must excel. if we do not, we will be forced out of our houses. this environment breeds superior individuals, and they, in turn, recreate the rigorous environment for their own children. without that cycle, there would be no political elite guiding the world towards prosperity.” so from these supports we learn that the empire was founded on the idea of the strongest shall rule and they would be replaced if they didn’t reach a standard. however, over time, the nobility started to abuse this power of theirs and the idea of meritocracy was forgotten. which, ironically, is how it always works in the real world as well. that’s where the concept of nobles often bearing crests comes from. it’s comes from the empire not the church. and when faerghus and the alliance break off from it they kept the tradition. also, if you talk to rhea in verdant wind when she talks about zanado you can tell she hates crests. at the very least she hates the fact that humans have them due to how they were acquired. you know, through genocide. it’s also in the book of seiros that the reason the goddess left was because people were abusing crests and it saddened her and she went back to the blue sea star. so no, the church isn’t propagating anything. and they can’t force the noble houses to adhere to their religion so they don’t.

i’m not sure what you mean by “squander any rebellion”. i think you mean squash/stamp out? well the only rebellion we see in the game is from the western church and as i said previously, the priests were punished because they attempted assassination more than once, grave robbed, and attempted to kill students. not to mention are racist af. the church wasn’t the aggressor and only stopped the rebellions because they were dangerous and were also attacking innocent people. however, we do know that in crimson flower there are rebellions under edelgard’s rule and they are put down as well by the empire secret police aka hubert.

the devs also mention that azure moon was written to be a counter to crimson flower. and that is the route where dimitri has to learn to rely on his friends and work together with his people in order to usher in a bright future. in crimson flower edelgard berates people who lean on anybody else for support (all while taking some from byleth) and believes humans need to stand on their own two feet. in azure moon she says: “if after all of this you believe the weak will still be weak, that is only because they are too used to relying on others instead of on themselves.” to which dimitri responds: “yes. perhaps someone as strong as you are can claim something like that. but you cannot force that belief onto others. people aren't as strong as you think they are. there are those who cannot live without their faith... and those who cannot go on once they have lost their reason for living. you path will not be able to save them. it is the path of the strong, and so, it could only benefit the strong.” so yes, there is someone who represents human unity in the game: dimitri.

edelgard doesn’t make fodlan better. she’s the game’s hegemon (called this in three routes). there are rebellions under her. her people are starving (ashe says on cf), she attacked two nations she had no rights to, and defamed an entire race/religion.

crimson flower ends in flames and darkness. this is made VERY clear by the ending mural. unlike the others, which all show a very joyful scene; am has dimitri being loved by the people with archbishop byleth at his side, ss has byleth being held up in the crowd of people as it talks about how they are now the arbiter of every soul and mother of all life (which are the exact words used to describe sothis), and vw has claude talking with the people and the almyrans are visiting; which infers peace between the two nations. however in cf, we have edelgard standing on the flags of the nations she has conquered. she holds a napoleonic staff in her hands, and the mural portrays people with their heads bowed in obvious sadness and defeat. the biggest indicator that this is not an ending to be celebrated, but rather lamented, is the border. In all the other endings, the border is white and is accented by the color of the route. in cf you can see that the border is black. black and red: colors synonymous with evil or darkness. the epilogue also mentions rebellions against her rule that she has put down.

edelgard’s role in the story is that of nemesis 2.0. someone that is manipulated by twsitd and is fed false information to lead her to finish what nemesis started over a thousand years ago - the extinction of the nabatean race.

another massive red flag is what the devs have said about crimson flower being the supreme ruler route. “edelgard in "crimson fower", or rather known as the, "supreme ruler (hegemon) route" is something we honestly meant to be much more difficult to enter.” (they were talking about why it is harder to enter cf than ss). let’s focus on the word ‘hegemon’. the direct definition is ‘a supreme ruler.’ in another interview they mention the ‘hegemon’s path’ which is a chinese philosophy that goes along with the mandate of heaven that the devs have said that they based cf off of. there is a rule of the mandate of heaven: the right to rule is only granted if the ruler cares about his people more than he cares about himself, and if this is not the case, then the people rise up to overthrow the tyrant. we know for a fact that edelgard is this ‘tyrant/hegemon’ because she is called this in the game.

the devs have also said: “due to all the previous titles in the series, the thought/impression that the empire = antagonists is left upon the playerbase. when you think about the "empire", you usually get some sort of "bad/evil" image, i think. and as for the story, it really feels like it started from the romance of three kingdoms, but we force them all to take part in school life. In other words, a period in which there was peace must exist, before starting the fires of war. and because of that, someone evil (villain) has to exist, and so we had the empire bear that burden.” this interview also blew the common argument pro-empire fans had of fodlan not being at peace at the start of the game. they said themselves that the three countries were at peace. even the game states at the start that ‘these three ruling powers now exist in relative harmony.’

also even if other characters did some things wrong that doesn’t suddenly let her off the hook for her actions just like her’s don’t nullify theirs. if she wanted to peacefully change how things worked in her nation then fine. i don’t care. however, she invaded two other independent nations in order to change their systems and put them under her control. that isn’t morally gray no matter how you spin it. it’s tyrannical.

actually it was humans as a whole who fucked up the earth first. the agarthans are a race of humans that have been around for over a thousand years at the start of the game. when the goddess sothis came down from her home on the blue sea star she arrived in fodlan and took on a form that resembled humanity and lived among them. she used her blood to birth a race of children called nabateans. in the beginning, these two nations lived in harmony.

sothis and her children helped the humans advance their technology and weapons over time until the humans’ hubris grew to the point that they began to wage war on each other and eventually the goddess herself - the one who gave them the technology to do so. as confirmed by seteth, (who was there during that time) some of the weapons they used in the war are also seen in the game, such as the missile of light that destroys fort merceus. so basically, it was a ye olde nuclear war that almost completely destroyed the land and the humans. during this, a faction of humans left the surface to live below ground. they built a city called shambala and officially became known as agarthans. back on the surface, sothis used her godly power to try and heal the earth. however, due to the incredible damage done by the weapons, so much of her power was used that she fell into a deep sleep to try and recover. so no, sothis didn’t fuck shit up. it was the arrogant humans that took her kindness and decided they wanted to try and kill each other with it.

yes, dimitri and claude do have the rest of fodlan under their command at the end of the day. however, they way they achieved this was nothing like edelgard’s. they had no intentions of starting a war to unite the three under their rule. dimitri was given the alliance (the round table came to an agreement and willingly became part of faerghus) and when he kills edelgard the empire is now, by default his whether he likes it or not. same with claude. he defeats the empire which by that point had taken the kingdom. both are now without leadership and he doesn’t even stay. he fucks off to almyra. edelgard on the other hand started the war to put all of fodland back under her rule. it’s not comparable.

#i had to use tiny text to try and make this smaller lmao #mine

74 notes · View notes

fanfic-corner · 3 years

Text

i would know him in death

I'm so excited to finally be sharing this project!! I've been working on it for what feels like forever as part of the @grishaversebigbang and honestly it's one of my favourite things I've ever written :)

Corporalki: @deltatrevino45, @sitaarein

Materialki: @polekands [art 1 here!] [art 2 here!], @we-are-made-of-stories [art here!]

Summary:

When Kaz Brekker dies in the city he owns, all Inej can do is mourn. But when it starts to become clear that his apparent heart attack may be anything but natural causes, a war breaks out on the streets of Ketterdam. The Wraith demands vengeance for what she has lost, and her answer may lie in the child of one of the richest citizens of Kerch.

It’s a good thing that retirement means Jesper and Wylan have plenty of time on their hands, because there’s a storm coming, and they are right in the middle of it.

Read it on AO3!

Prologue under the cut.

Jesper

The day that Kaz Brekker dies starts like any other.

It’s windy, for starters. This kind of biting wind isn’t uncommon in Ketterdam— the canals and tall buildings tend to create wind tunnels—but there’s an extra chill in the air that makes Jesper shiver. Turning his collar up to the wind, he crosses his arms and frowns at Kaz.

“Why couldn’t you have dragged us out of retirement on a sunny day, Brekker?”

Kaz doesn’t look up from his pocket watch, waiting for Wylan’s signal. “And who is responsible for you being able to go into early retirement?”

Jesper huffs, kicking at a stone that has come loose from the cobbled street. His eyes wander across the windows of the nearby houses, hoping for a glimpse of Wylan. He had come on the Ice Court heist along with the rest of them and proved his skill countless times, but he’s still the most gullible of them. Of course Jesper worries about his new husband, especially when his lifelong dream is apparently to run a hotel, not be a hardened criminal.

“Come on,” he mutters under his breath, fingers itching for his pistols at his hip.

As if on cue, there’s a deafening bang from down the street, and they’re moving. Leaping onto the waiting boat after Kaz, Jesper grabs his oar and gets ready to start rowing. The second blast goes off, warning that they need to get moving now, but Kaz hasn’t reached for his oar yet.

“Kaz? Are we going, or are you being dramatic and not telling me crucial parts of the plan again?” Jesper asks, turning to his friend.

Kaz is staring at him, his eyes wide and jaw tight. It takes another moment for Jesper to realise that the creaking sound he can hear is not, in fact, the boat, but Kaz’s breathing.

“Kaz?” he asks again. Every instinct is screaming at him to do something, but he has no idea what’s going on.

Almost the entirety of Ketterdam has wanted Dirtyhands dead at some point. Countless attempts to arrest or kill the Bastard of the Barrel have failed. Some people are even convinced that he’s somehow immortal, possessed by an evil spirit rather than a human who can bleed and die.

In the end, Jesper is the only person there to witness Kaz Brekker’s death. He doesn’t go up in smoke, nor does he scream. He simply locks eyes with his favourite sharpshooter, struggles for his last breath, and then falls backwards into the water without another word.

Inej

Ketterdam has been many things for Inej Ghafa—a dot on a map, a prison, a place where she worked—but now all she can think of it as is home. Even in her absence, the city seems familiar; every sloping roof top is calling her, a reminder of her personal map of the city. The Wraith doesn’t need a street. She travels through the sky or on the water, and any smart man should fear her on either.

It doesn’t take long for them to dock. This is Fifth Harbour, after all, and Inej is as much of a Dreg as one can be, even after the long months at sea. It feels good to be back; as much as she has come to love the open water, she missed the city- and the people in it. Three people, to be specific. They should all be waiting for her, she has sent a letter ahead, and she knows they have missed her as much as she has missed them.

As soon as she steps onto dry land, she hears the tail end of the usual gossip. Stepping foot off a boat means that people want information as soon as possible: any sailor surely knew that anything said at a dock could be spread across the entire sea by nightfall.

Dirtyhands, the voices say. Bastard, the seagulls scream. Kaz, the wind whispers into her ear as it caresses her hair from her face. There is salt on the breeze; a storm is coming, Inej thinks.

Jesper isn’t hard to spot in a crowd, considering his height, and Wylan—as usual—is glued to his side, held close to the Zemeni man by an arm slung around his shoulder. However, their display of affection isn’t what Inej notices first, but rather the sad, drawn looks on their faces. They both look like haunted men, and suddenly the wind doesn’t seem quite as gentle.

They don’t notice her until she is a few feet from them; not even all her time away at sea has robbed her of her quiet footfall.

Jesper tries to crack a smile, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hiya,” he croaks, and Inej sees Wylan squeeze his hand.

“It’s Kaz,” Inej says, and it isn’t a question.

No one says anything for a long moment. Wylan reaches a shaking hand out to Inej, clearing his throat before finally voicing her worst fear.

“He’s dead.”

Inej knows, abstractly, that this day would arrive at some point. Death comes for everyone, sooner or later. She just never expected it to be quite so soon.

She isn’t sure if the wetness on her face is the first few drops of rain, or her own tears.

#gvbb21 #gvbbfic21 #i would know him in death #wesper #kanej #six of crows #shadow and bone #my writing #iwkhid #mmb writes

53 notes · View notes

owlbeanies · 3 years

Text

AU In which the beta Trolls cheat In sgrub in order to avoid the jack situation and managed to shoot themselves back in time onto alternia. They get separated into multiple small groups.

Story follows mainly follows karkat and gamzee at first. This is well before murderstuck, and gamzee is useful for all of two seconds before getting horrendous sick from withdrawal. It might not be so bad if they had a reliable way of getting food and other resources(such as an alchemizer) but sadly they've found themselves in the middle of a city pre-second rebellion with not a penny to either of their names.

Karkat is stressed. He is very stressed. He has to find a way to provide for both of them in a matter a nights without also getting caught and dieing. He makes a smart decision to hide his sign, not because he realizes it puts him in danger, no, because he immediately decides the only course of action that makes sense is to turn to a life of crime(petty theft) and he doesn't want his crimes attached to his sign incase he has to sign-off on some legal bullshit later.

Gamzee is dieing. Not really he's okay 60% of the time and does what he can to help, but honestly the boy can't stand for 30 seconds without trying to throw up his guts. Gamzee pretty much serves as a decoy to throw off anyone looking for karkat. He is the least intimidating thing out there, but boy can he play up the "let me call my friends " card, which with his sign is terrifying enough to prevent any mildly inconvenienced person to ask questions.

At some point karkat runs into dualscar. Now he knows of dualscar through eridan, and he's a little freaked out at first but nothing comes of it so whatever. But then he keeps running into him. It might be partially his fault. Drunk people are really easy to rob and all the bars are a short walk from the docks so of course he's probably going to run into a couple of sea dwellers. Besides, he's only ever spoken 2 words to the fucker on accident and he doubts he was even noticed. As long as he keeps his distance he should be fine.

Gamzee’s getting a whole lot worse a whole lot faster, and karkat has pissed off the wrong person. He might have accidentally stolen from and subsequently injured a legislators' quad and now they need to flee town REAL fucking quick. Only problem being they don't have a map, and all the maps in town are the really fucking stupid ones that are far more complicated than they need to be for the sake of- what? Looking nice? Either way none of them are simple road maps and maybe if he had enough time to stare at them he could figure out where to go without getting lost, but time isn't something they have and gamzee knows how to read them quickly, so he packs the clown up and carries him to the map board. Gamzee can't see straight and even the small amount of light from the partially blocked moons manages to feel as if he just stared directly into the sun but boy does he try.

Dualscar meanwhile is sitting across the street in one of those face outdoor restaurant tables watching these two kids scramble to read a map. He downs whatever he's drinking and walks over because what in the fuck are they doing?

Karkat tells him to fuck off and mind his business.

He doesn't.

Gamzee figures out where they need to go and points.

They're offered a ride.

They both adamantly refuse because no absolutely not that is a horrible idea they will not be doing that ever. Then a legislator walks around a street corner in the background and they seriously consider it.

They both end up on the boat one way or the other, and not necessarily because they had a choice. Dualscar writes gamzee off as dead immediately and has him put with the other prisoners on the ship to be forgotten about. He doesnt know what he has and doesn't really care either. Karkat on the other hand is treated decently well. He got stuck doing basic bitch ship work, but hes fine. Any free time he has he spends taking care of gamzee who lost all coherence shortly after being picked up.

When they hit the docks karkat is paid for his time and told to run off now. Karkat is pleasantly surprised and is glad to be back on land, theres just one problem, wheres gamzee? Karkat is basically told "haha yeah no I'm keeping that one" and is no longer pleased. After one of many long winded and empty threats, he's then told the ships leaving in a week and he's free to join them again if he wishes.

Angry and alone karkat stops off into the new city.

He return, rather quickly at that, after spending everything he had on medicine and other essentials. Immediately he's back at Gamzee’s side. The ship sets sail again right on schedule and gamzee finally seems to be improving. It takes a few months for him to figure out how to stand on his own but once he gets it he's as hyperactive as ever to his own detriment. His balance is shot, and he's somehow clumsier than before. He keeps getting himself hurt and even worse than that, he's annoying the guards with his constant rambling. Karkat has on multiple occasions been sent down to shut him up for a few hours.

The second he's able to work, he's put to work and thank fuck that seems to shut him up. Any time they hit land they're both paid but only one of them is allowed to leave at any given time. It's stupid, it's annoying, they both know why it's done, and it's not like there's anything they can do about it. At least they're living better than they were.

Enviably karkat gets hurt. They get hit with a storm and karkat arm get pinch between two bits of metal. The injuries isn't terrible but it did rip off a decent amount of skin. Even in the heavy rain it's not possible to hide. While no one paid him any mind in the chaos once the storm had settled he's well aware of how royally fucked he is. Gamzee for the first time anyone has seen him is pissed. He's hyper aggressive towards anyone in his vicinity. The second karkat could be whisked away he boarded them in one of the sleeping quarters and threatens anyone who tries to open the door. It gets bad enough dualscar has to come in and swat at the both of them for being dumb. Karkats having a panic attack. Lil ol' gamzee who nearly breaks his neck 3 times a weak tripping over his own shoes is squaring up for a fight. There is no fight. No one cares about karkat. Infact they were keenly aware of karkat's blood the second they saw him all that time ago. Why do you think they fought so hard to keep hold of some random wrigglers? That boat is the safest place for them. When dual was asked why he’d help them at all if he knew, he just shrugged and said he owed someone a favor and keeping karkat alive was his way of repaying it.

Shit gets squared away. Sort of. The both of them are still extremely uncomfortable about the whole ordeal for months but not a thing comes out of it. Nothing bad at least. The two find themselves getting more comfortable on the ship. They start seeing the rest if the crew as friends and grow tight bonds with a lot of them.

Karkat, now freed from the constant nagging fear of getting found out, ends up far more bold than he otherwise would be. The rule stating only one is allowed to leave at a time is still there, but pushing his luck is his new favorite pass time.

Gamzee sustained numerous injuries from his sickness. Even sweeps later he still hasn't fully recovered. It's not obvious. He functions just fine on his own but one night he'd been out walking the town on his own and he ran across a group of subjugs. He's younger and smaller than the lot of them, not to mention a stranger, but they still invited him out for drinks and gossip. He goes, and hours later he returns safely, tipsy and a little high off whatever they were smoking, but safe. Dual take him out back to yell at him almost as soon as he returns. He's confused. He's gone drinking on his own before, and he's been out with karkat numerous times more, and never has he been screamed at for it. He takes offense. The only difference he can see is them being purple. They're family, his family, but that doesn't mean he'd run off with them. He'd never leave karkat behind, not ever would he dream of abandoning him. But that wasn't the problem. He put karkat in danger. He put the crew in danger. Is he really so deadpanned that he didn't think partying with the grand highblood and crew was a bad idea? Now Gamzee’s lost. When did he run into his ancestors? No one introduced themselves as such. He hadn't seen them. Didn't really see anyone actually, especially not the person wearing the same sign as him, embroidered fancily across their chest and down their arms.

Hes blind. For all he fought that label, stating he still saw shapes and colors, for the first time he had to admit it to someone. He begged him not to tell karkat. The last thing he wanted was to worry him. He was told he needed to, at some point, preferably soon, tell him himself. He left the conversation with a new rule placed on him for the time being. He's not allowed off the ship alone anymore.

#homestuck #gamzee makara #karkat vantas #fic idea #can you tell i reallly like blind gamzee aus?#I will never actually write this #Although i do have quite a bit more planed #does this count as a pirate AU?#this idea is up for adoption #i have too many wips to even attempt this one #Homestuck AU #gamkar

26 notes · View notes

kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

Text

The Voyage So Far: Thriller Bark

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

the tone of thriller bark is super fun- the combination of horror and comedy is done really well, and i like how it’s set at the very start, with the introduction of a seemingly terrifying situation and character (brook and his ghost ship) that are very quickly revealed to be anything but.

i also like that we hear singing and see music notes before we ever even see brook. we’re associating our musician with music before we even know him.

brook’s recruitment is delightful, and so very luffy. of course he would want a talking skeleton musician on his crew, and of course he wouldn’t be fazed by brook in the slightest except to think he’s cool. i love him a lot.

for the most part, thriller bark isn’t actually scary despite its horror theming- but it does get some good moments in, and of them, i think the reveal of cindry’s room is definitely the best. it’s not scary, necessarily, but it’s deeply creepy, and only becomes more so when you learn why it’s like that and what exactly hogback did.

i love how team-based thriller bark feels. especially immediately following water 7/enies lobby (in which two crewmates leave and the crew has to deal with a ton of internal strife) and preceding sabaody (where the crew gets separated), it’s just so nice. it’s most obvious in the team fight versus oars (and i’ll get to that later because i LOVE it), but also in smaller moments like robin and franky’s team fight against the spider zombie.

the team just feels so cohesive in thriller bark, and it’s really good. robin and franky are the two newest crewmates, but they already trust each other enough to pull off some fantastic teamwork.

usopp is really good in thriller bark. he also has the best outfit in this entire arc.

my two favorite fights in this arc are usopp versus perona and zoro versus ryuuma, for very different reasons.

zoro’s fight with ryuuma is fantastically cool, and i really like the level of respect and understanding that seems to exist between them. you have an ancient samurai and a modern samurai, separated by several hundred years, dueling it out to the best of their abilities- it’s really just awesome.

usopp’s fight with perona is very different, because they’re both people who hate fighting directly and will avoid it whenever possible. their fight is a mess of diversions and distractions that makes usopp’s moments of courage and triumph, like sticking his hand into a bear’s mouth, not to mention his ultimate victory, all the more satisfying.

i just really like seeing usopp grow and accomplish things!!

i’m aware there’s an argument to be made that the character we meet in this arc isn’t really ryuuma, because ryuuma is 1) dead and 2) possessed by brook’s shadow, but it isn’t going to stop me from saying ryuuma is awesome.

the clouds of fire he’s frequently shown with are also gorgeous, and definitely evocative of the style oda will later use to draw wano, which is a very cool touch.

everything about cindry makes me so, so sad.

i’d also argue that the fact that she overcomes hogback’s conditioning by finally expressing emotion, first by crying and then by smiling, is the first manifestation of the same thread we’ll later see with koala and the slaves of the celestial dragons. one piece says over and over again that there is no point where someone stops being human, no matter how much agency they’re robbed of.

i just think nami giving her attempted rapist several thousand volts to the face is very very sexy of her

like i mentioned, the crew against oars is such a HIGHLIGHT of this arc. i think it’s one of the only times we actually see the entire crew focused on a singular opponent (the only other case i can think of is the pacifista and then kuma at sabaody), and it’s just so much fun to see.

i also appreciate that the strawhats carry the first half of this fight without needing luffy to be there. he might be their captain and the linchpin of the crew, but they’re still a crew when he’s not around, and still very capable of working together without him.

this is just still one of my favorite gags.

continuing re: the team fight against oars, the final sequence where the entire crew coordinates for one final attack, some of them working to incapacitate oars and others to weaken him and other to position him just right for luffy’s final blow to paralyze him- that’s the GOOD SHIT.

i don’t know that there’s much i can say about zoro’s confrontation with kuma that hasn’t already been said, so all i’ll say is that zoro’s loyalty to luffy is absolutely staggering, and hits me in the chest every time i so much as think about it.

zoro has the second “luffy’s going to be pirate king” moment, i believe, after usopp in alabasta, and definitely one of the most memorable.

there’s something about luffy on top of brook’s piano that always delights me. i think this is their dynamic in a picture: brook playing music, and luffy listening, and talking, and cheering him up.

there’s something about the ending of thriller bark that really hits, in a way not really shared by other arcs. there’s a certain finality to it, a swan song. i think it was sarc opbackgrounds who pointed out that unlike most other character flashbacks, which come at the middle of the arc to add extra weight before the climax, brook’s comes at the end. the battle’s already finished, and now it’s time for him to close out the last fifty years and bid farewell to his old crew before setting sail for a new dream.

it’s really nice. this is how the rumbar pirates get to go out: singing and dancing, after the battle’s already won, as their last survivor finally gets pick his hopes and dreams back up again and set out to sea once more.

it’s not a panel, really, but i feel like i have to include binks no sake in here. for one, it’s a really good song and sticks in my head like glue whenever i so much as see the lyrics. second of all, it’s the pin that holds this ending together, the shared point between the past and the present. the rumbar pirates sing it for their final performance and they sang it for laboon years before; brook sings it alone to himself on his ship, lost in the fog; and the strawhats celebrate and dance and sing it at the tops of their lungs.

i’m a sucker for a good musical throughline, but i think this is probably the first time i’ve ever seen it done well in a fucking text-based medium.

i’m happy for him :’)

i LOVE the new crewmember toasts so much. look at them!! look how happy they all are!!

#the voyage so far #arc: thriller bark #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #long post

222 notes · View notes

seasurfacefullofclouds1 · 3 years

Note

Sea, this probably sounds pathetic but how did you do it? :( Since 1D I have been a fan of Harry but it has only been around 6 months since I began to read in depth about him (because even if it's difficult for me to admit it, since 2019 I noticed something strange in him), but still I cant stop being his fan, I feel like I'm sick or something. How did you do it? as far as I remember, he used to be your favorite

In 2019, after the Euphoria fanfiction incident, “Larry” just didn’t feel right to me, and they had felt pretty off since Louis made his video announcing he was doing the X Factor.

To be honest, it felt to me like that news had been held back until the very last day of HSLOT, so fans wouldn’t get angry during Harry’s tour.

It felt really manipulative.

I was willing to think that Harry didn’t have power over what was happening, and even if “Larry” was no longer a thing, Harry wasn’t to blame and I could follow and be a fan of both men, since I liked both of them.

When I made a post saying that I thought they broke up, and I would just follow their music careers but not their relationship, the Larrie and Harrie fandoms reacted.

It was the start of personal, nasty indirecting, multiple screenshots of my posts, being called things like “not much better than Jordan Green” (when he was being accused of sexual assault), being accused of antisemitism (that still goes on) by big accounts with thousands of followers. Harries like Emmie would tack on to my posts with 5k essays on why Louis was a loser, was a “homophobic rat dad,” could never hope to reach Harry’s organic success, and would attack me personally.

(So for me, distancing from Harry was easy, since his fans made it extremely, viscerally personal. Many Louies who have left the fandom can sympathize.)

I was still willing to give Harry the benefit of the doubt.

The fact that Harry met Rob Stringer, CEO of Sony Music, on multiple occasions, especially at times that were crucial to Louis, was grating to me.

The worst time was right after Fizzy passed away. No matter what the circumstances, the media associate Louis and Harry, and fans associate them too. The “business as usual optics were terrible… in the poorest taste.

A lot of incidents together helped me to see that Harry isn’t the person I thought he was, not anymore. I looked at all the head canons and mythology, and realized that a lot of it was the fandom reaching and fantasizing.

When I found out about the extent of Sony’s and the Azoff’s datamining— with the Eroda and Demand projects— it was clear to me that a lot of “signaling” from Harry was based on fandom surveillance and baiting. The scope of Harry’s corporate ambition was huge. His goal was to be rich and famous; that’s what he was promised and that’s why his career looks the way it does, and that goal clearly outstripped any other values.

This is true any artist, I suppose, even with Louis; everyone monitors their fans to some extent, and would like to succeed.

With Louis, however, I don’t feel like he’s viewing us as stupid consumers with open wallets, only worth communicating with when we’re ready to buy something. I don’t feel like he’ll ditch us the minute he becomes stratospherically wealthy and famous. I don’t think Louis views poorer fans as more “worthless” or “worse” compared to richer fans. I don’t think Louis would pick thin, wealthy, famous friends over old friends the minute he has the opportunity, or change his moral values, or weigh people’s worth based on their power and wealth and ability to help him move ahead. Louis wouldn’t call someone he barely knows his “best friend” to fulfill a branding strategy. Louis would never describe Anne as “somebody’s mum.” He wouldn’t put constant public titillation as his goal in life.

Harry does.

I admit that I’m biased because I loved Harry and I expected more from him, and I feel disappointed in having spent years supporting him. I was a Larrie because there was enough evidence to support it. My current opinions on Harry came about because there is enough evidence to support them. I joined the fandom because I wanted to root for good things for good people, and 1D fandom was smart in evaluating corporate strategies and business facts, in trying to support artists who were essentially good men.

That’s still how I operate. Sony played this fandom for a long time, years and years. It still does, and Harry is complicit because he benefits. I cannot support this man.

#louis tomlinson #harry styles #Larry #larry stylinson #hl

43 notes · View notes