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just-some-random-blogger · 1 year

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Want You Dead II

Daemon Targaryen x Pirate!Reader | Part 1 2 3

Summary: Having agreed to Lord Corlys' terms, you were now slowly being restored into your house, just how Prince Daemon intended things to be. He was pleased that no matter how the days passed, your ascent to nobility did not erase the traits that made you a good pirate. However, he should have known your fire would draw men to you like moths. But gods be damned if he allows anyone else hold your flame.

Word Count: 17k+

Warnings: mentions of assault/rape, graphic depictions of violence, sexual implications fem!reader, ADDITIONAL PAIRINGS (wink, wink), super slow burn (and i still hate myself it), made up characters and lore, time skips, mangled timeline, themes of betrayal, angst, curse words, misogyny, parts with fluff, typos, etc.

A/N: yeah so like i am highly certain im making a part 3 so 🤡 so much for two really long chapters. I'm also pretty sure I messed up the timeline in this chapter, specifically regarding the ages of Alicient's children. Just roll with it mkay! Don't think about it too much.

Make sure to leave comments and reblogs!! If you would like to be tagged, just say the word <3.

Taglist: @sweetybuzz25 @idathereader @deekaag @how2besalty @niiight-dreamerrrr @wondergal2001

"WHO THE FUCK WAS ON NIGHTSHIFT?!" the prince erupted the very moment he kicked the guardhouse doors open.

The prince was known to be unhinged. It was not uncommon for him to arrive somewhere unannounced, demanding audience or answers. And yet in this moment, there was a roar of a dragon many of the men had not yet seen. There was a fire in his eyes that could only be put out with blood. And whatever it was the men were doing before Daemon arrived was quickly forgotten or abandoned.

The prince heaved at the silence and shoved the nearest man next to him out of anger, letting out a prolonged shout, "ANSWER ME!"

As the man who fell on the ground gathered himself up, Daemon took a sword from one of the containers and raises it as his ears practically steam, "YOU WILL BRING EVERY MAN THAT WAS ON THE NIGHTSHIT TO ME IN AN HOUR, OR--" he cuts himself off, the vein on his neck relaxed finally, "I shall find them myself and slay them with no explanation."

His jaw clenches as he mutters lowly, looking at each face in the room, "am I understood?"

There is a chorus of agreement.

Daemon throws the sword on the the ground and storms off.

I was in the ward, my eyes were heavy as was my body, and yet sleep would not come to me. The maesters made it clear to me, and Lord Corlys, who was present the entire time I was being tended to, that I should not leave my bed for a week unless absolutely necessary.

I was glad at the very least that I was situated next to a window where I could see the outside. In this moment, I was watching the sun set, wondering why in the silence of this room, my thoughts were so loud that I could find no peace in resting. Now that the horror had been addressed, now that I recounted what happened and angrily wiped my tears away as I explained I could not fall pregnant because my assaulter only used his fingers on me, I felt my fatigue catch up with me, that, and the memory similar incident I had at 13 that was never addressed.

Agatha, the woman I regarded as my mother, had just given birth to her second child at this point, Abigail. Her eldest child, William, was about only 3. Douglas, her husband, my adoptive father, had been out for work when three lords came to our house, asking about my necklace, asking about me.

At first, they said they knew my father, lord Rubin, and wanted to help me reclaim my title. Agatha turned them away, denying their words, which made them call her a lying whore, for I was clearly not her child.

They returned again and again, but eventually, they returned in the darkness of night. They tried to take me as I bathed and tried to touch me where I would not allow. They clawed for me still and laughed while they did. The only reason I still came a virgin at that time was because my father heard my screams and managed to fight them off with the help of our neighbors.

I ran away from home after that, feeling I was undeserving of Agatha and Douglas' protection, not only because I was bringing trouble to them, but as well as the fact I believed I had been made unclean by those lords disgusting fingers.

Tears stream down my face as I think of my parents and how badly they probably felt after I ran away.

I was lying in my bed, limp, yet my whole body burned in anger for my younger self. She was filled with self-loathing because she believed it was her fault. She thought thoughts like had she not been there, had she been stronger... but that was never the case. It matters not if you were careful, evil intent will prevail where evil is allowed to fester. In hearts of those evil men it has festered.

I hope they're all dead now.

My thoughts made a bitterness rise in my throat that I had not tasted in a long time. My anger was ugly, and fully draining.

Yet still... slumber shuns me away.

There is a noise far off by the entrance suddenly. I vaguely hear two voices, but think nothing of it. Upon hearing a loud voice echo in the room however, it is much harder to ignore. I my hands to my ears, suddenly preferring the noise in my head than the one starting in the room.

"Your grace! I implore- she cannot-"

"Or would you rather I stuff each soldier in here with their crusty boots and body odor?" the telltale voice of an angry Prince Daemon quips harshly.

For a moment there is silence. I release a sigh and place my hands by my side. I close my eyes, relishing in the sound of nothing. But then I hear footsteps headed towards me and I then begin wonder if it would be better if I pretend to be asleep.

I feel him stand beside my bed. I hear the clanking of his armor, "my lady Rubin."

I do not respond to him.

"Do not ignore me. The maester told me you could not find sleep."

I press my lips before responding. My voice was still hoarse even after drinking a tea that was meant to help with it, "you are aware in order to fall asleep, you must pretend to be asleep first."

"I have summoned all the men in the nightshift to arrive in an hour," he speaks plainly, "if your rapist is not there, then I will have those guards find him and bring him here within the evening. If they fail, then I shall kill them all with-"

"No."

Daemon still where he stood. He is so utterly stunned by the word that he cannot even think.

I finally peel my eyes open and behold the prince's expression. I release a tired sigh, "you will not do anything about this matter while I am bedridden."

His armor clad body shivers, he feels sick, "you cannot possibly mean to forgive the shit beneath my boots RAPIST that-"

"DAEMON!" I scream, instantly regretting it because my voice was not any better than it was moments ago. I begin to rattle out into a cough.

Daemon face instantly drops, "water! Someone get some fucking water here!"

A maester comes running in with a tray witch held a pitcher of water and a cup. Daemon grabs the tray from him, dismissing him, then places it on the beside table. He pours me a glass and hands it to me in a way that would not require our skin to touch.

I calm myself and take the cup from him, sitting up slowly. I down the lukewarm water then place the cup on the tray to my side. I look up at Daemon, who's violet eyes were burning.

"Come closer," I whisper in High Valyrian.

Daemon drops to his knees in an instant and I am honestly taken aback by it. I shift in my bed and pat my hand to my side, wordlessly beckoning him. He gives me a hesitant look and yet obliges after a moment.

"May I?" I mutter after he sits, raising my hand out to him.

"You need not ever ask me if I want your touch," he responds in High Valyrian, lowering his gaze upon me, "I have craved it for so long."

I take his hand into mine and lean my head back on the surface behind me, closing my eyes, "my knees betrayed me when I was climbing the stairs with Lord Corlys. And when he touched me in an attempt to help, I jolted and descended down the entire flight."

His voice is loud as he quickly retorts, "he shouldn't have touched-"

"He had to carry me here," I turn to him, slowly opening my eyes.

Daemon grows silent again.

"I couldn't even stand after falling. I was lucky I only got bruises out of it."

"I should have been the one to carry you here instead," he replies in his mother tongue, turning to his lap. His free hand tightly curls into a fist.

"I am not a deer that is meant to be thrown over shoulder."

Daemon turns back to me, "I will have a litter out for you."

"I will not be made a spectacle of."

"THEN WHAT!" he blurts, ripping his hand away as he quickly stands, "what shall you have me do for I will not allow that nothing be done?!"

"Let me rest!" I whimper, feeling my eyes water over how pained my voice and body was, "allow me the courtesy of healing, regaining my strength, and then... I will face the rapist myself."

Daemon's face his hard. He wants to scream, to find satisfaction tonight, and yet he contains all this. He reaches in his pocket, fingers fiddling with the gem he always had with him. He clenches his jaw and grinds his teeth, "what did the vermin look like?"

I release a sigh, as I turn to the blankets around me, tears running down my face, "he had dark hair, dark eyes. He was tall and--" I shudder, "impossibly strong." I suck in a breath, "I scarred him, cheek down to his lips from when I was captured," I turn back to Daemon, who's face contorted upon hearing that. I bring my mind back to the grim moment and open my mouth, "he was wearing a hood. I think it was blu--"

"Enough," he blurts, making me cease my words with a gasp.

Daemon does not enjoy my look of tension, my look of vulnerability, and yet... he could not bring himself to address it. He shifts from where he stands in such a way the necklace hid would remain hidden as he pulls it into his hand, "I will find him tonight. I swear on my life. I will not kill him, but I will hurt him so much that he wish he were dead, but I will keep him alive just enough for you to kill him."

His words ring in my ears like a bell in a tower. The anger inside me was thrilled by the idea, but my mind was so tired that all I could do was look out the window and take in the night sky.

Daemon did not know what he was expecting, but the silence in the room was gnawing at him. He shoves his hand back in his pocket and decided then to simply leave.

When he does, I whip my head to the side and call out to him. My voice is so broken however that not a single sound came out.

Daemon's face was chilling under the light of a torch.

He was sat on a wooden stump in front of some 50 men, all nervous, all eager to know why the prince had thrown a fit towards the men who worked the nightshift. He had a ruby necklace in his hand and his eyes were fixed on the item. His calmness was making the tension around wind even more.

"Caraxes," he calls, barely raising his voice, and yet his dragon obeys the call and comes crying with fury from the roof of the building behind his master.

Now that all the men before him were scared shitless, he allows a few moments to pass, making sure the servants mutter to each other about how angry their prince was before he said another word.

Daemon looks up to his dragon, gripping the ruby before putting it away. He mutters that the Caraxes raise his head and upon doing so, the prince commands, "dracarys."

The night sky is overpowered by fire and each man looks up to in terrified awe of the flames burning overhead. The light finds each of their faces, exposing every detail to Daemon's keen eyes.

He sees then, scar from cheek to lip, on a man who was at the very back. Caraxes closes his mouth with a hiss, allowing the darkness to creep up on everyone again.

Daemon's eyes are fixed on his target, blood boiling at the audacity of him to come here thinking he would not be caught, absolutely outraged that he was feigning innocence and ignorance. Part of him wished that he had run, then he would be justified in chasing him down and cutting his legs off. Even now he prayed the vermin would turn to the prince and be so absolutely terrified that he start running so he could start chasing.

But then he realizes something that makes him stand quickly form his seat. All the men around him still at that.

He chuckles darkly.

Nothing is stopping him from doing just that to him right now.

And so the men watch as the prince strides forward; they were not quick enough to make way for him as Daemon's shoulders bump against their shoulder plates.

He draws his hand out to the man with the scarred face and tugs at his metal collar, "strip yourself."

He is too stunned to even move.

Daemon shakes him, "STRIP YOURSELF!" He throws him down, causing the man to fall to the floor, "Or I will have the whole guardhouse rip that armor off your body."

"My lord," the man whines, "I do not-"

Daemon has his sword pointed at him in but a second, "I would not speak another word, if I wanted to keep my tongue." He watches as the man gets on his knees and shivers. He is enraged by his stillness, "FUCKING STRIP HIM!"

Caraxes screams, feeling the anger of his rider.

The men go upon him and undo his armor. Once he is left in nothing but his pants and his shirt, Daemon slowly steps towards him, blade inching near his skin, piercing him slowly, "now run."

He holds back his screams, but it is futile when the prince rips his shoulder muscle up. Daemon listens to his pathetic cries, lips curling in disgust, "run, vermin."

"Your grace, I-"

Daemon kicks his face, which sends him shooting back, "I'M ASKING YOU TO RUN WITH YOUR LEGS, NOT WITH YOUR MOUTH."

He man is writhing in pain, and his groans annoy Daemon, "you will hurt worse than you've hurt regardless if you run or not."

Upon realizing the man would not get up anytime soon, he kicks him back down on the floor before he can rise up. The prince steps on the cut on the man's skin, making him scream out in anguish. Daemon makes sure to watch everyone's reaction to the piercing noise. Caraxes adds to it with his one screech.

Once the sound dampens, Daemon raises finally speaks, "last night this man broke the oath he swore to keep as a member of the royal guard. Instead of protecting the subjects of this realm, he did the very act he was meant to condemn. He deluded himself in claiming a perverted form of justice when he raped a defenseless woman as a form of revenge.

"And not only did he dishonor the royal guards by overpowering someone in an unfair fight, but he dishonored me," he drums on his chest, "Prince Daemon of house Targaryen, second born after King Viserys, by assaulting the woman I promised to marry."

The crowd breaks into gasps and grumbles. The man beneath his books begins to sob, "but my lord! My lord, she was shackl-"

Daemon kicks him repeatedly as he seethes, "shut the fuck up."

The man's cries excite Caraxes into another scream. Daemon heaves, feeling the thirst of his Blood Wyrm course through him. It takes so much in him not to say the word and end the life of the pathetic man. His entire body was practically buzzing with a thirst for blood. But he turns to his dragon, raising a hand at him to calm him down. Caraxes clicks in disappointment.

For a moment, the prince basks in the man's pain. As much as his fingers itch to inflict even more on him, with great restraint, he turns away, "take him to a cell before I kill him," Daemon commands as he walks off.

It was on the 3rd day of my bed rest that I finally asked the maesters if there had been any word from Prince Daemon. Upon being told that there was none, I proceeded to ask if perhaps I was visited while I was asleep. The look the maester gave me after that was one of pity, as if I was delusional to expect that I be visited by anyone at all.

I was visited though, but not by the Valyrian I wanted. Lord Corlys came on the 5th day of my bed rest. He was kind, he instructed the maesters to keep me well fed and even brought me literature to amuse myself with. It was on that very same day I realized the prince was not coming to visit me.

It hurt of course, and the more I tried to convince myself that what the maesters said about their prince was true, how he was rogue and only ever did things that benefit himself, the more I thought about how I pathetic I was into thinking he actually cared for me.

And so today, the very first day I was allowed to walk and go wherever I wanted, I blew off steam on the training ground in the early morning so I wouldn't have to share it with anyone.

"This is the first thing you do after being allowed to stand?"

The voice is familiar, too familiar in fact, considering I did not hear it at all during my recovery. I ignore him, focusing on the inanimate target before me, allowing the extra shot of anger that coursed through me now flow out of me.

He speaks in High Valyrian, "have you now become so proud that you are to be reinstated as a Lady that you will not even greet your prince?"

I halt for a moment, enraged by the sentiment. I grip my sword tightly then hack on the hay dummy particularly, "greetings, prince Daemon!"

The man's lips curve at the show of strength. I hear him chuckle, "though it gladdens me to see your might, I'm worried you might overexert yourself."

I scoff, opting to twirl my weapon in my hand instead, "I did not think it mattered to you what I do anymore, considering you did not come to me in 10 days."

Daemon brings his hands together in front of him, "the maesters told me it would take a week for you to heal."

"A week is not 10 days," I blurt quickly, whipping my head to him, "Targaryen scum."

Daemon smirks at me.

My face twists the opposite way and my pulse quickens in anger. Sensing my hostility, the man draws his sword out just in time before my blade could hit him.

My fury is further fueled by his mischievous expression. We prance around, boots grinding the dirt beneath it as we stomp to match the other's stance. Daemon is too thrilled by the sounds of clanking swords, and it becomes clear to me that he thinks this is a game, that I was doing this to show him how much I had recovered, and so I make it a point to nick him when I get the chance. The chance comes quickly when he laughs as he pulls back to avoid my charge.

He lets out a shocked grunt when I rip the middle part of the sleeve of his coat deep enough that blood is drawn.

Our fight ends here.

The prince looks at me for a moment, betrayed, obviously only now realizing that I was, in fact, pissed that he did not visit me at all while I was bedridden. He turns to his cut, confused by the pain. I drop the sword in my hand and turn, walking away.

"I did not think you wanted my company," he calls as he wipes the blood with his fingers. Daemon averts his gaze from his wound to me, "I confess, I wouldn't have known what to do had I visited anyway."

I scoff in disbelief, grinding my teeth in annoyance. I take in his pathetic look and I storm towards him, heaving in anger. My eyes grow glassy when I growl, "I was fucking raped, you stupid piece of shit!"

Daemon takes a step back for every step I took towards him.

"You are so incorrigible that you cannot care to think about anything but yourself!" I bark, raising and accusing finger at him. "You are the only face I know here!" I whine, voice breaking as my tears betray me with their appearance. "You are the only one that doesn't look at me like I'm broken or tainted or fucking stupid, and yet here you are looking down at me as if I am!"

Daemon's face twitches at the shrillness of my screams. He is surprised when my hands dart out to his collar, "I didn't want you, Daemon," I pull him down to me, heaving helplessly as I finish my words in High Valyrian, "I needed you."

His hands raise around me but they do not land anywhere. His head is spinning. He never before has been so confused with what to do next.

I release him and walk off once again.

Daemon does not like that, which is why in his desperation, he darts his hands forward and grabs my arm. He instantly regrets it though when I jolt at the unforeseen contact and raise my hands up in defense, and out of instinct.

"Fuck," he pulls away quickly, raising both his hands up, "fuck, shit, fuck, apologies," he sputters, digging his fingers in his nape, "fuck, fuck, I-"

I shake my head, releasing a breath as my anger slowly melts at his guilty expression, "I touched you first without-"

"I told you you could," he says, "you can always touch me without-"

"I know," I cut him off, "still it was unlike me to do so."

Daemon watches me wipe my eyes before I turn back to him, "I have to go. I must get ready soon. I was granted audience with the king to discuss the reclamation of my title."

"Can I be granted audience as well?"

I sigh, turning away from him, "do I truly even have a choice?"

"You do," he retorts, eyes fixed on me.

I look at the prince for a moment. A foreign expression lingered in his eyes. I tilt my head, "I grant it to you now then... but make it quick."

He extends his hand out to me, asking in High Valyrian, "may I?"

I turn to his palm and place my own atop of his.

The prince's eyes remained fixed intently on me, starkly contrasting mine that were wandering the large, dark, and filthy place all over. The smell the massive building had was ten times worse than that of the bottom chamber of ship Jocelyn.

My left hand was also still firmly gripped in his right one. Daemon hat them hands pressed against his chest protectively.

"Where are we?" I finally ask as we make our stop in center of the massive place.

Daemon looks down at me, raking in my expression in silence.

I turn to him with an expectant look after receiving no response. He raises his head a fraction, eyes still on mine. I raise my brows as he moves my hand to his left one and side steps behind me. He presses his body flush against my back and places his right hand on my right shoulder, "the dragon pit."

My eyes widen at his admission. I look over my shoulder where his face was and shake my head in disapproval as my pulse quickens.

"Shhhh," he hushes as he presses his lips against my temple, "do not be nervous."

Yet out of nervousness, I involuntarily speak the name that popped into my mind, "Caraxes?"

In that very moment, there is a whine that echoes across the room. My breath hitches as the noise grows louder.

I wriggle out of Daemon's clutch. He hushes me again. He mutters in High Valyrian, "calm yourself, my love."

And from the very pit emerges a dragon head, screeching loudly. Suddenly I wonder if Daemon's words were for me or his dragon. Perhaps both.

Daemon does not enjoy the restlessness he was feeling across the room. He presses a kiss on my pulsing neck, breath hot against me as he speaks in the same language, "I am here. Nothing will hurt you."

Caraxes draws nearer. The dragon screeches yet again and shakes his head in a manner I can only hope was friendly.

"Calm yourself," Daemon commands, raising his right hand to his dragon, "I brought her here to meet you."

"Daemon," I mutter harshly in fear.

He presses his lips to my temple again, "calm yourself. He can sense your restlessness, same as I."

My breath hitches as I exhale and chuckle sardonically, "oh, pardon me for being nervous in front of a mother fucking dragon."

Daemon chuckles, his free hand coming to circle around my waist, "there's that fire. Caraxes will appreciate it."

At this point, the dragon is close enough that the hot huffs coming out of his nostrils was blowing against both mine and Daemon's being.

I decide to merely close my eyes and lean my head against Daemon's, "I have no idea why you want me to meet your dragon, but be quick about it so we can leave at once."

Daemon chuckles again, chin affectionately rubbing against my hair. He turns to his dragon and speaks in High Valyrian, "I have chosen her myself, Caraxes," he smiles, "she is a pretty as you, don't you agree?"

For a prolonged moment, there is only silence. I feel Daemon spread my hand open and soon enough my palms are then met with a warm and bumpy sensation.

"Open your eyes, my dear ruby," he instructs in the same language.

I release a breath before slowly opening my eyes. It seems as though the great eye before me opened at the same time. My lips part as Daemon guides my hand to stroke the side of Caraxes' face.

I finally feel brave enough to tear my gaze off of the creature's eye to take in the rest of his large body. I'm shocked at how unexpectedly smooth the feeling of his scales where against my hand.

"What fierce beauty you are, sweet dragon," I mutter in the language Caraxes is responsive to. For a moment, my heart jumps back into my throat as the beast makes quick clicking noises. I step back, falling into Daemon's arms and he hushed me yet again. Caraxes lifts his head, releasing a quick whine, then bares the other side of his face to me.

Daemon breaks into a laugh, heart soaring at his dragon's sentiment. I am in utter astonishment of how the beast reacted.

When Caraxes is close enough, I slowly bring my hand back down on him by my own will. In my surprise of how he leans in, my other hand darts up to his face. A gasp of surprise leaves my lips. The prince is, needless to say, pleased.

"My dragon is anything but sweet," Daemon says, slowly breaking away from me to go to the other side of Caraxes' head, praising him quickly, "good boy."

I stroke Caraxes' head in a more confident manner now. The creature closes his eyes and rests his head on the floor. I realize the rolling sound he was making was perhaps similar to that of a cat's purr. The thought makes me break into a smile, "you're just an overgrown kitten, aren't you?"

Daemon's own lips curve upward, unable to hide his amusement. He slowly walks over to me and says, "you are now bonded to a dragon."

I freeze in my actions and turn to him, knitting my brows, "surely, it's not that simple."

He chuckles, hand resting on Caraxes' snout, nonchalant, "he will, of course, answer only to my command, but now he knows your scent and knows of your connection to his master."

I turn to the dragon, "Caraxes is-"

I do not finish my thought as the said creature opens his eyes and lifts his head from the floor to look down upon me and his rider. I step back, feeling fear flood me again. Daemon catches me before I can step back any further, "careful. He is very responsive to his name."

I open my mouth but cannot speak a word.

Daemon chuckles one last time before turning to Caraxes, "go on now," he dismisses in High Valyrian, "go back to your cave and take a nap."

Caraxes releases a quick whine and obeys his master's order.

I watch as he slowly walks back down into the pit. When I finally tear my gaze away from Caraxes, I give Daemon a wide eyed look, "did you just command a dragon to take a nap?"

He looks at me for a moment before releasing an amused breath, "come now. You mustn't reek of dragon slobber when you go to meet the king."

When he takes my hand back in his, I ask him again, "and did your dragon respond to it?"

Daemon presses his lips together in a soft smile.

"My cats didn't even come to me when I called to them."

We begin to walk off when Daemon responds, "that's because your blood does not contain magic that calls out to felines."

I give him an incredulous look, "are you telling me you're a cat whisperer as well?"

Daemon could only think of one thing as he stood in the throne room, his attention was solely on one person alone. Rhaenyra, who was situated near him, could see the pleased look on her uncle's face and it made her so utterly curious. So, she followed his line of sight, wondering what had him in such a good mood today, then giggled to herself upon seeing what her uncle was looking at.

I grinned, bowing courteously to King Viserys right after he announced before all the lord and ladies present that he was recognizing me as Lady of house Rubin.

The hall erupted into cheers for me, and I yet I felt only a semblance of emotion to the sight of Lord Corlys' clapping. I nod graciously at him, offering a smile. He gives me a knowing look back, beckoning me over wordlessly.

I promptly make my to him but on my way though, I bump into something I did not see. When I do spot what hindered my passage, I see a head of silver hair and a boy that was knocked over to the floor, yet he sweetly tells me, "pardon me, my good lady."

My lips part in concern and my heart clenches at his sweet words. I crouch down to the boy, who surely was of Valyrian descent, "I apologize, my sweet prince. Are you hurt?"

The boy looks up at me as I extend a hand him.

I hear soft giggles beside me and I turn and see an older version of the boy, "oooh, look! Little Aemond got knocked over by a girl!"

I raise a brow at the bratty response of the child. I whip my head to the other child as he suddenly swatted my hand away and stands up on his own.

"Aegon!" the shrill voice of the queen called.

The two boys promptly still and turn to their mother. I rise as Queen Alicient walks over to me, "I apologize for my sons behavior. They keep running away from their keeper."

I smile at her, shaking my head, "children are no trouble to me," I turn to the younger boy, "prince Aemond is very sweet, and his brother," I turn to whom the queen addressed as Aegon, "is very sharp about his tongue."

The Queen looks down at her eldest, "what did you say to Lady Rubin?"

"Nothing, mother, I-"

"Not to me," I smile, "to his brother. But I suppose the occurrence is common."

I watch as Alicient's cheek turns a shade red. My expression drops, "I meant no impertinence, my queen. I apologize." I turn to Aegon, "I'm sure the prince will grow out of it and be a fine ruler one day."

I bow before them and quickly speak, "your majesties," before continuing to walk off.

"Lord Corlys."

"Lady Rubin," he greets when I am near him, "it seems you have a knack of attracting Targaryen prince."

I press my lips into a line, "I cannot help who I attract, though I can use it to my advantage."

He nods, softly chuckling. He then side steps to better reveal the woman beside him, "this is Princess Rhaenys," my face brightens at the sight of her, "my lady wife-"

"I have heard a great many things about you and your mighty dragon, Meleys, my princess," I excitedly retort in High Valyrian, a bit too quickly perhaps. The white haired princess raises her brows at me. I bow before her, "it is an absolute honor to meet you."

She hums as I straighten myself up, "My husband, Lord of the Tides, told me you were the reason for the loss of his thousands worth of goods," she takes a moment before adding, "how did you manage it and remain unscathed?"

I break into a wide smile, feeling my fingers tingle in excitement, "honestly, your grace," I turn to my feet then back to the princess, I continue in High Valyrian, "I was, in fact, scathed, brutally after my my capture. One of the guards snuck into my cell to get even over a scar I placed on his cheek."

Princess Rhaenys watches my expression. I press my lips into a smile, "there is a price to be paid for every exploit, the cost is blood, honor, and life, although never only mine. I have paid every price with an unwilling generosity," I turn from her to her husband, "tis why I have agreed to the terms of our Lord Velaryon with no fuss. Not only am I certain of my capabilities, but I also no longer wish to give helplessly to men with power. I did not want another of my crew to die either."

The princess turns to her husband, eyes bearing a glint in them. She speaks in her mother tongue, "your stories do her no justice."

Corlys leans towards her, "we have yet to see how quickly she can amass the payment of her debt."

"Lord Corlys, Princess Rhaenys," a voice calls, "Lady Rubin," a man walks up beside me, offering his hand out, "it is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

I look at his hand for a moment, gripping my own before lifting it up and pulling a smile, "the pleasure's all mine, ser..."

The man with dark brown hair and blue eyes takes my hand gently in his, "tis Lord Aiden of house Greystoke."

I feel my skin rise up with goosebumps when he presses his lips on the back of my hand. I withdraw my hand quickly right after. Lord Aiden does not seem to mind as he smiles and says, "I have heard of your exploits with Lord Corlys, my lady, and I say I am impressed."

I turn to Corlys and hold in a chuckle, "you misunderstand. I have not yet done exploits with Lord Corlys."

The young lord tilts his head and gives a confused puppy look. My lips curve in endearment. He raises a hand, "would you mind then if you continued on with this tale while sharing a glass of wine with me?"

Before Lord Corlys can but in, another voice speaks, "actually, I was wondering the same thing." I turn to the opposite direction and find a face of a smirking yellow haired man. He too extends his hand out to me, "Lord Jason Lannister."

I take one look of his calloused hands and clench my jaw. I bow at him instead, "a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Lord Jason."

The man looks at me for a moment, gripping his extended hand and recovering to his side. He clears his throat.

"It seems we shall have to continue our chat some other time, my lady," princess Rhaenys calls out in High Valyrian, making everyone turn to her.

My lips part in disappointment, "I do not care to converse with these lords."

Lord Corlys laughs at that.

"How lucky am I to be born a prince then," a voice calls from behind me. I turn over and see the face of prince Daemon, lips curved upward, and yet there was no amusement in his eyes.

"How impressive it is that you understand the tongue of the dragon," Lord Aiden says, eyes fixed on me. I turn from Daemon to him, unable to contain my amused chuckle at his glimmering eyes and admiring expression, "I know a great many languages, my lord."

"You must be well traveled then," he smiles.

"Like a pirate," Daemon blurts firmly, making both me and Aiden turn to him.

Aiden ignores him and adds, "I would love to hear about your travels, my lady Rubin." He nods bows and smiles with such reverence that I cannot contain my pleased expression.

Daemon's eyes are darker now, and as he steps closer, he speaks sternly, "Lady Rubin and I have premade plans."

I tilt my head to him, lips curving into a small smirk, "we do?"

"An execution," Daemon retorts plainly.

My amused expression beings to melt away.

Daemon looks at the concerned faces around him, pleased by it, but then his eyes fall on mine and he adds in a blurt, "--of sorts."

I suck in a breath and turn away from the prince, "it has been a pleasure to converse with you all," I turn to the princess in particular and smile, continuing in High Valyrian, "I look forward to continuing our chat, my princess."

Rhaenys nods, lips pressed in a soft smile.

"Do not forget about me, my lady," Aiden calls, making me turn to him.

I grin at this hopefully bright expression, "I would not dare dream of it, my lord."

I turn then to Daemon who gives me a pointed look before walking off. I give one quick curtsy then rush after the long striding prince.

I feel all the eyes of the room turn to me as I make haste towards the exit where the prince was headed. I realize he is doing it on purpose, making me run after him, as he weaves through the crowd. I am quicker and swifter then he'd give me credit for though.

The moment we make it out to the hall, Daemon speaks, "you enjoyed that."

"You will have to be more specific, Targaryen scum," I retort in High Valyrian.

"Those men! Fawning for you!" he blurts, still not relenting his quick pace.

I chuckle, having no choice but to run to catch up with him, "I enjoy your vexation to it."

He halts abruptly, causing me to slam onto his back with much force. I reel backwards as the prince turns about and walks towards me. When I catch his expression, I bite my lip to hold in a laugh. He is entirely serious when he speaks, but I find no threat in them, "it would do you good to burn in mind that no man shall have you but I."

I lick my lips and shake my head mockingly in disappointment, "oh, boys, so naturally uninclined to share."

"I am a prince," he seethes, enunciating each word clearly, face coming dangerously close to mine, "I was not taught to share, nor do I plan on doing so any time soon."

Daemon is a bit taken aback by the quick peck I place on his lips. His violet eyes darken where mine shimmer, "good to know, little boy."

With that, I dash past him and continue off to where he was heading originally.

It took two men to drag the raggedy body of the man in front of the prince and I. I look at the man, trying to distinguish if it was in fact the man who attacked me, but his body was so torn and filthy, and his face so distraught that I could not make out his features, nor distinguish the scar I left on him.

I turn to Daemon, who seems to sense my apprehension, and so he speaks, "do you remember her, rat?" the prince shifts from where he stood, turning his gaze to the man, "bask in the glory of your executioner."

I watch as the man writhes on the ground in pain. His limbs were cut in many ways, and it appeared to me he could no longer feel them. Suddenly, I fear that Daemon took the wrong person and made him suffer for the wrongs of another. I turn to Daemon, "are you certain this is the man I described to you?"

"He confessed and plead by his sins to me," the prince spoke, turning to me, "I made sure he suffered while you healed."

"Please," the man, who had his face on the dirt, heaves with great difficulty, "let me die."

A shiver runs down my spine. My tear immediately prick in my eyes. I turn to the man on the ground. Daemon looks at me, excited by my look of wrath.

"You plead for the wrong things," I mutter, "you should plead for my mercy, for my forgiveness," my breath quickens as anger rips at me, "you should plead that I take pity in you and that I shall spare your life so that you may return to your family."

He whines, barely able to raise his head, "I could not live... knowing I shamed my family."

His words strike a chord in me. I shriek in anger, ripping the blade Daemon had sheathed my his side, momentarily surprising him, "AND YET YOU WISH I LIVE WITH THE SHAME YOU INFLICTED ME!?!"

I raise Daemon's sword with two hands, its weight literally too heavy to bare. It didn't help that I was trembling in anger. It took so much for me not to drop the weapon.

Daemon moves to help me, but I shove him off. In turn, the sword slowly descends to the ground. With all my strength, made sure not to him the man on the floor because if I hurt him, I want to do it with intention. Still, I can't for the life of me decide whether or not I should let him die by my blade.

Tears run down my face, "perhaps I should let you live-- recover. Then you'd have a wife and daughter. Then you'd feel the fear in your soul over the idea they live in a world where men freely strut with intentions of desecrating them," I rapidly shake my head, "but that would be too good to you, wouldn't it? And too horrible to whom you would foolishly blindside into marriage.

"And it would be a shame if you birthed a son that would follow in your footsteps, and that he dare think it is his birthright to be vile," I cry, gripping the hilt of my sword with all my strength, "it would be-" I heave, trying to even out my breathing, "a great act of mercy for me to kill you, mercy to your pathetic self, and to the world that will be better off without you in it."

Yet I drop the sword, unable to cease the shivering of my hands, "but I will instead let The Stranger come for you, secretly in your cell, where you will wonder day after day when you will finally find relief. When your pain is hot, you will think of me, and how you so regret ever laying your filthy hands on me, for it is how I perceive you. Except I will heal from this horror and you will never."

Daemon watches me as I take deep breaths.

"Then you will know what it feels like to live with an irrevocable pain. Then you will know how it feels to live in a world, the same world where the person that hurt you struts freely."

After having my say, I release a breath and begin to walk back. I avert my gaze and allow tears to roll down my face.

The rapist is sobbing as well, uncontrollably, painfully, and begs with the remaining strength in him, "please."

The prince will not have it and grabs his sword, charging at the man. Daemon rips the man's head up by his matted hair. He screams because of it. It allows the prince the perfect opportunity to cut his tongue off. He screeches louder in pain. Daemon holds slimy prize up, "you've no idea how long I've been wanting to do that."

"I want to leave now," I say in High Valyrian, bringing my hands to my face, rubbing my wet skin back and forth.

Daemon turns over to me and stands, "throw him back in his cell," he commands one last time, walking over to me.

Once he is before me, I look up at him, wrapping my arms around myself, "can you take me somewhere?"

For a moment, Daemon thinks.

"I don't want to go to the chambers right now. I will not find relief nor rest."

He lowers his gaze, slowly speaking, "I plan to feed the vermin's tongue to Caraxes."

I nod avidly, "please take me with you."

Daemon turns back to me, lips pulling downward at the sight of my frantic expression. He nods then walks off, leading me to the dragon pit silently.

As we walk, I am aware of how the people we pass try so hard not to look, lest they reap the wrath of their furious looking prince.

And yet, while on out way to the pit, there is one that dares to grab our attention. I hear a voice call out my name, it is frantic sounding. I recognized it to be of Lord Aiden's but I ignore it. Prince Daemon does not, and dirtily looks out to whom spoke. He finds himself glaring daggers at the young man with dark hair and blue eyes, though it seemed he did not even notice, as he was too preoccupied with a troubled expression.

We arrive at the pit, and somehow, the stench is comforting.

"Caraxes!" Daemon calls loudly, striding forward, deeper into the place with confidence, "I came bearing a gift." He raises the tongue and wiggles it in the air. The sight is revolting to my eyes, and I turn away, involuntarily gagging.

Daemon awaits his mount as it screeches from beneath the room, slowly crawling out.

Caraxes lets out a screech once he is before his master. Daemon throws the chunk of flesh to the dragon's massive mouth. Caraxes quickly catches it and swallows without a problem.

I watch as the large beast whines and shakes his head. I feel my chest tighten in anxiousness over the actions. I raise my eyes and step back slowly as the dragon comes my way.

Daemon raises his hands to the dragon, "Caraxes! Listen to me, submit to me, obey me," he enumerates in High Valyrian.

Caraxes does his telltale clicking noise and ruffles his wings as he steps around, clearly agitated.

My heart begins to pound, "Daemon, I-"

"He can sense your distress," he says, quickly turning over to me, then back to Caraxes, "calm yourself, boy."

I wrap my arms tighter around myself, feeling my dread further intensify, "Forgive me, but I cannot control my-"

"Call out to him," Daemon says, walking backwards to meet me. I move close to the prince and share a frantic look. He meets my gaze and reaches his hand out to me, wordlessly asking for my permission. I place my hand in his as he commands his dragon in High Valyrian, "Caraxes, calm yourself."

"Calm yourself," I repeat in the same tongue.

"Louder, more conviction," Daemon says, bringing our joined hands up in front of him, "come to me."

"Come to me," I say a volume louder. I look from Daemon to the dragon and command, "come to me to calm yourself."

The moment he hears this, Daemon finds no need to watch his dragon as he crawls over. He fixes his gaze upon me and rests his cheek on the crown of my head.

When Caraxes is close enough, he huffs through his nostrils, steam coming out. I place both my palms on him and bite my lower lip to hold in my sobs.

"He must have thought your distress was because of him," Daemon says, "perhaps because he didn't share the treat."

I choke on my tears as a laugh escapes me. Caraxes responds by pushing up against my hands. He lays his head on the floor before us. I coo, stroking the dragon's face, "you are the most generous boy I know."

Daemon chuckles, stroking Caraxes all the same, "my dragon is anything but generous."

I allow some final tears run down my face before I sigh, "thank you," I lean close to Caraxes then turn to Daemon, "my sweet and generous dragon."

He looks at me and raises his hand to my face, "may I?"

My only response is leaning against his hand. He wipes my tears with the pad of his thumb, "no man deserves your tears."

I close my eyes, feeling tears streak down my face, "I know."

The princes draws his hand back, "would you like to take my sweet and generous dragon out for a ride?"

My heart drops and my pulse quickens. I ask an octave higher than normal, "by myself?"

Daemon breaks into a laugh. He leans into his dragon, entertainment, "my cunning pirate bride loses her wits when she is around my mount."

When our eyes meet, I raise my brows at him, "you have a cunning pirate bride?"

He smirks, extending his hand out to me again, "there she is."

I take his hand and he pulls me towards him. Caraxes lifts his head as we make our way to his saddle. Daemon begins to climb up on him, and soon after, he extends his hand out for me. I give him an apprehensive look, but take his hand again and he helps me climb up his dragon.

"Be gentle," I mumble as he situates me in front of him, locking me in between his body and the reins.

Daemon chuckles and I squeak as Caraxes begins to move, "I thought you liked it when I'm rough, my dear ruby."

"You," I whine, "not Caraxes."

Daemon laughs again. Caraxes shrieks upon hearing his name.

Two years had passed since the day my house was reinstated and acknowledged by the king. And within this time, begrudgingly, I only managed to get about half of the sum I owed Lord Corlys, which to be fair, was about exactly how much I stole from him, considering he charged me twice the amount.

And honestly, I had not initially anticipated that he wanted me to do so in a way that obeyed the law. I mean, I may be a lady but I was a pirate. What did he expect of me? This was which was why it was taking unimaginably long to accomplish what I could do then in mere months. I had to barter instead of threaten and create relations than crack skulls, and honestly, I was missing the violence a bit, especially when men thought it was ok to breath down my neck.

Make no mistake, pain was a friend I introduced to many of my new acquiantances.

It was also surprising that it seems to Lord Corlys, the grueling time in my eyes was quick in his. I told Princess Rhaenys that his husband was unimpressive in that matter, and she only laughed at that.

Today, I was returning from a month's voyage, coming home with more than I anticipated for such a short travel, which was why I was particularly chirpy.

At the moment, I was heading to the guestroom where the Lord of Driftmark was staying for the while he is in King's Landing for the birth of his first grandchild to Lord Laenor and Princess Rhaenyra.

I was still dressed in my travel attire, fresh off the boat as I made my way down the castle's halls. I hear a commotion come from one of the rooms across the hall. By the time I reach the door where the noise sourced, a boy with silver white hair storms out, followed by another who runs after him, calling, "Aegon, you'll get us in trouble again!"

"We'll only get in trouble is someone tells," the taller of the two says in response, raising a finger, "and you better not."

"Aye," I call out, making the two turn to me. I cross my arms as the two look at me with an nervous expression, "the queen should not know about how her sons are bickering in the hall," I walk over and sneak a look to their open door, "instead of, what? Studying?"

"Insolar person," Aegon attempts at High Valyrian.

I make a face at the kid and ask in the same tongue, "is that supposed to be some sort of insult?"

The princes are shocked, the one called Aemond is particularly impressed, "you can speak High Valyrian?"

"Amongst other things."

Aegon, however, is unimpressed and crosses his own arms to prove it, "I didn't understand it. You just made that up."

I relax my arms to the side and reply again in the same tongue, "you didn't understand it because you cannot speak this language."

He makes a cross face. His brother looks at me in astonishment.

I shake my head and offer a smile, "you don't have to worry about me telling your mother, but I do so humbly suggest you study the language while you're still young. It'll get harder to learn once you're older."

With that, I give them a quick bow in regard and walk past them, making my way to where I was going to in the first place.

"Will you stay for dinner?" the voice of Aemond asks from behind me.

I do not bother turning to him when I reply, "I'm only here to speak to Lord Corlys, then I am returning to my estate."

I make it to the room and announce myself before entering.

Upon stepping into the room, Lord Corlys wastes no time in applauding me for my latest exploits, ceaselessly impressed by my capabilities, though again to my eyes it was sluggish.

"Although I am somewhat pleased and amused by your compliments, I am fairly certain that you did not call me here for that."

Corlys nods, "yes. Well, while you were away, I had many lords come to me with proposals of marriage. I think because of our houses' alliance, they think it is my business what you do with yours."

I cannot help but roll my eyes, "that, and they could not possibly communicate such important proposals with a woman."

"Well, the woman was on a voyage," he says, handing me a box of scrolls where the many marriage proposals were.

I scoff at the sight of it, "I meant my handmaiden, Abigail, who is in charge of my estate when I am not present."

Corlys chuckles, "I will make sure to direct any further inquiries to your handmaiden then."

I release a sigh and nod in regard, "thank you, my lord," I turn to the box in hand, "and apologies."

He shakes his head, "worry not about it. I feel responsible for you as well anyway, as you are not only my old friend's remaining daughter, but you are also returning your debt at a promising rate."

I shake my head and chuckle, "I will be off then, Lord Corlys."

When I make it to Jocelyn, I break into an amused smile upon spotting the man waiting for me, "my Lord."

Lord Aiden perks up at the sight of me then nods in regard, "my Lady Rubin." I raise my brows at him as he moves towards me with a smile plastered on his face, "as soon as I heard you were here, I made haste to meet you, knowing you are as swift as you go as you come."

I break into a chuckle, "an astute observation."

The man beams at my reaction, "I will not waste your time by asking you to dinner for clearly you are ready to leave."

"Another astute observation," I nod.

"I am glad however to behold your glorious face," he smiles, making my lips curl upward. He mimics my expression, "I do hope one day we will be able to share a meal though."

I shake my head, ceaselessly amused by him and his softly curved lips, "one day, perhaps."

"Welcome home, my Lady," Abigail, with her rosy cheeks and golden-brown hair, smiles at me once I enter. I return her expression and pull her into a hug, "where is your older brother?"

"William is out tending to the animals."

I pull away, smiling, "just like your father," I look at her, pushing Abigail's hair behind her ear, "and you look just like your mother."

She shakes her head as she chuckles, "you know you don't have to keep telling me that every time you see me."

"Well, I can't help it, it's true," I pull away from her, "Agnes and Douglas raised me like their own and yet... I could not even repay them in this life."

Abigail takes my hand, "taking us in is more than enough, sister."

My heart swells at her regard. She smiles at me, then gasps, "oh, I nearly forgot." I look at her reluctant expression and she raises a finger before speaking, "the prince is here."

I release a breath of relief, "I thought you were going to say someone broke in."

"Well," Abigail's eyes trail off, "he kind of did."

I roll my eyes at the thought.

She continues, "he had me draw a bath in your quarters. I told him it was indecent," she stressed out, "but, then he asked me if I wanted to know what real indecency was, and I could not bare the thought of him speaking vulgarities to me, and so I did his bidding." Abigail gives me a regretful look, "for that I sincerely apologise, I-"

"I am not cross with you, my dear," I say, placing a hand on her shoulder, "the Targaryen scum on the one h-"

"My lady!"

I raise my hands in defeat, "the prince," I correct myself before releasing a sigh, "think nothing of it, Abigail. Just go about your duties. It's almost time for supper. I'm certain everyone is famished."

"I shall make sure they wait for you before-"

"Nothing of the sort," I shake my head, "I might just take a bath myself and go to sleep."

Abigail makes a nervous look, "no- not with the prince around, right?"

I break into a laugh and shake my head, "silly girl, of course not."

She releases a breath she held in after hearing that.

"Perhaps I will be around him."

Abigail does not react because she does not understand.

I promptly make my way upstairs to my chambers. I enter and see scattered clothes on the floor. I click my tongue at the sight of it. I walk in deeper and see the door to my bath was wide open.

I walk in, slowly undressing myself of my outerwear as I find Daemon in the large, circular stone tub, eyes closed. I make my way closer, prompting the man to speak, "took you long enough."

"When did you get here?"

He chuckles, "worry not, it was not too long."

"I'm not worried about you, I'm worried that you might have rode Caraxes and left him somewhere to devour our livestock out of spite."

I stand before him at this point. His lips are curled upward mischievously, "I left Caraxes in King's Landing. I think he's coming down with a cold-"

"A cold," I snort.

"- and would feel better if you visited him."

I shake my head, "are you trying to ineffectively guilt trip me into coming home with you?"

"It's not ineffective if it works."

I roll my eyes at him, "you threatened to speak vulgarities to Abigail if she not drawn you a bath in my chambers?"

His lips quirk up higher, "vulgarities? Is that what she said?" He opens his eyes and turns to me, "I only asked her if she wanted to know of how her lady spent her time before she her house, Rubin, was reinstated."

"She is an innocent child, Targaryen scum."

He chuckles, "she is a maiden in marrying age. You would benefit from marrying her off to some rich moron."

"Hmm," I cross my arms, "I actually received an entire box of marriage proposals myself. I am thinking of holding a banquet soon enough to comb through my potential husbands."

He scoffs, "I'm sure they're all so eager to get their grubby fingers into your steady growing wealth," he wades his hand in the water and continues in High Valyrian, "you would be the best thing in their life, while they would be worst thing in yours."

I smack my lips and step closer to Daemon, placing my hands behind my back, "that oddly sounds like you're describing yourself."

Daemon straightens from where he sits, making the water around him ripple, "except I'd rather stick my fingers in your sopping cunt."

The statement does not land on my ears the way he intends. I clench my jaw upon hearing that and reel back. A memory plays in my mind against my will. My hands curl up into a ball as I step away.

"Fuck," he mutters upon realizing, "I- fuck- I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Daemon," I mutter, "it happens. It's not your fault."

I turn around and decide to walk off.

I wasn't always like this. There were moments were I absolutely reveled at the idea of being desired, where I basked in the praise and worship Daemon sung against my skin. I could not control it though when I was caught in the opposite end.

I didn't want to be at the opposite end though, which is why I turn back to Daemon, "is the water still warm?"

He looks at me, "just a bit."

I begin to undress myself fully as I walk over to the large circular tub. Daemon watches my every move but once I pull my shirt off, he averts his gaze, "do you want me to go?"

"No," I remove my trousers.

A moment passes before he speaks up again, "can I touch you, my ruby?"

I, too, take a moment before replying, "perhaps."

"Perhaps is not yes," he says, leaning his head back on the stone, closing his eyes, "you have nothing to prove."

I press my lips into a line as I dip my foot into the water.

True, he was selfish and unhinged his man was, but Daemon was also a fierce supporter. He never spoke to me in profound manners, he never pushed me or instructed me to do things he thought was right, but instead when he was by my side, he remind me of my fire.

Sure, he was rugged in his ways, but there was still solace to be found in knowing he'd be willing the burn the whole world down for me. Sometimes, that was was enough. Right now however, I wanted him to be more tender towards me.

The water rises as I sit down across Daemon, who pulls his legs towards him, so not to bump into mine.

I was supposed to tell him this, ask him to hold me in his arms, but his own words cut me off before I could even speak, "is this why you have not agreed to my proposals?"

I look at him and his exposed neck. My usual self would normally think this moment a great opportunity to latch my lips onto his skin, but I do nothing but splash water onto my arms before I respond, "I like to think it's because I want to keep receiving gifts from men who think they can have me."

He barely releases a chuckle.

"They will cease once I marry, and free gifts are is still free gifts."

Daemon peels his eyes open, "if it's material you want, then I will offer you all the riches I have and all the riches I will ever acquire."

"Will you also accompany me in my travels to pay back Lord Corlys?" I ask, lips curving into a small smirk.

"I'll pay him myself," he retorts, eyes finally finding mine.

For a moment, his gaze upon me is light. The fiery look of desire in his longing gaze was welcomed, but there is a looming darkness in my mind. It doesn't take long for me to feel the need to wrap my arms around my bare chest, feeling too exposed in all the wrong ways in his eyes.

"You should wash up and go to bed," Daemon says, releasing a sigh.

I watch him as he gathers himself up, "what will you do then?"

"Me?" he starts, standing, beginning to make his way out of the water, "I will busy myself in watching you sleep."

I chuckle upon hearing that, eyes fixed on the water as the prince makes his way out, "pervert."

He chuckles, "I thought I would be hailed romantic for wanting to keep an eye on my bride."

"I am not your bride."

"And so you keep rejecting me."

Finally, the day has come.

I have now fully paid my debt to Lord Corlys. It unfortunately took two years off my time again, but I try to simply focus on the fact the deed is done and not dwell on how long it took.

Today, I was holding a hunting party in celebration with all the servants of my. The original intent of this celebration was to celebrate my freedom, but it seems the news of the hunting party spread too widely, as many of my suitors just happened to be at the very site I planned to hunt on the same very day!

William and I at present were racing each other back to the camp with two rabbits and a duck. We had no luck to find a bigger prize, and we both knew it was probably because the lords scared them off on their way here.

Abigail hurriedly receives us when we arrive. The very moment I'm off my steed she asks, "may I attend to you, my lady?"

"Actually, Gail, we caught some-"

She cuts her brother off and raises her hands, "my Lady Rubin?"

I give her a look and nod before dismounting my horse. The very moment I am beside her, she firmly grasps my arm and mutters, "my lady, the lords have been pestering me left and right. You mustn't dare leave me again to think of a thousand more excuses as to why you cannot see to them."

I sigh at the idea of entertaining the men and give my handmaiden a look, "why are you so keen on attending to them? They are not invited company in the first place, Abigail."

"My lady! You cannot be so uncourteous. I fear if turn all of them away with no regard, you will never be able to marry!"

"Tis I that is uncourteous in your gaze?" I ask a bit too loud for Abigail's taste, making her whine and hush me as she gripped onto my arm tightly. "And," I add, "are you so truly unsatisfied with the merit I brought back to my dead house, that you so eagerly wish that I marry a Lord?"

"My lady!" she sighs in defeat, "you did not have me go and study to be a handmaiden only for you to ignore the heeds of which I learned!"

"Abigail, I sent you off that you would learn to read and write, and gain confidence in your-"

"And I am confident that if you turn them away I will weep on days end, my lady," she whines. True to her words, her eyes begin to glass, "I cannot allow you to act so rugged so publicly!"

"I did recount to you that I was a pira-"

"No longer!" she cries. I look at her face and her poor expression nibbles away at my heart.

I sigh, looking away, "fine!"

Abigail blinks rapidly, unable to believe what she just heard.

I pull away from her and turn my gaze upon the group of men that were casually conversing with themselves, really as though they happened to stumble across each other by chance.

The moment I am near them, I purse my lips and bow quickly in regard, "gentlemen."

The five bachelors turn to me and return the sentiment. Amongst them was Lord Aiden and and in fairness to him, his chirpy gaze does take away a bit of my annoyance. Still, I give a pulled expression, "what happy luck that we all wind up in the same forest on the same day. Agreed?"

They all nod eagerly, but before they could speak, I beat them to it, "what do you lords think of playing a game?"

Jason Lannister smirks, "well what kind of game do you have in mind, my lady?"

"A hunting game of course," I say slowly, concealing my bored look with a smirk, "my handmaiden would not allow me not to invite you to supper, so I say," I raise a hand, "winner eats next to me at the table."

"Consider me eager to win then, my lady," Aiden Greystoke says.

I turn to Aiden as the other lords mumble words of agreement. I hold his excited gaze as I announce, "an elk then. Bring me back an elk."

Aiden bows his head, "then an elk you shall receive from me."

The lords turn to Aiden, throwing him a dirty look before going off to their horses.

When I move to go mount my own, one of them stupidly inquire, "you will be joining us?"

"Well, of course," I retort, climbing my ride, "how do you expect me to believe you played fair if I do not witness the hunt myself?"

And just as I suspected, there was foul play amongst them the very moment we galloped into the woods. It was in the most discrete of manners, choosing roads that were narrow, running faster than needed, taking sharp turns, but I was privy to it.

At a point, they were so keen on losing each other that I purposefully fell back and let them ride away. I was willing to bet they wouldn't even notice my absence.

And so I was quite surprised, yet not at all, when I slowly lead my horse followed after the lords that Lord Aiden came back for me, relief visible in his features although he was still quite far away.

"My dear ruby," he sighs once his horse stops next to mine. His words makes me think of how different it sounds when Daemon calls me such. "I feared they injured you instead with their pettiness."

I give him side eye as I instruct my horse to continue its way, "do you think calling me pet names will make me alter the premise of my game to your favor?"

He chuckles, gloved hand running through his thick dark hair as his ride walks next to mine, "I wouldn't dare think of making you result to such unfairness," he smiles, "but there's more to be won than an elk that probably already retreated out of the forest having heard the galloping buffoons a mile off."

I chuckle at his words, "and you think you are not a buffoon, Lord Greystoke?"

"Aiden," he says, "The true Lord Greystoke is my grandsire, then my father, then my older brother."

I hum at that as he continues, "I not the heir apparent like the other lords, but I like to think I do have better breeding than then." He breaks into his signature puppy smile, "and no, I think when I am beside a lady such as you, I am quite possibly the biggest buffoon in the realm."

I cannot withhold my chuckle. Aiden is pleased with himself.

"Now I'm curious because of your answer, Aiden," I start, turning to him, "it has been years since we first met and you have regarded me with nothing but honeyed words. Why then have you not married?"

Aiden chuckles, shaking his head, "well, my lady, you have not yet accepted my proposal."

"There are a many other higher standing ladies than I. It's clear to me at least the other lords present are to benefit greatly from my alliance to the Lord of Driftmark as well as the strategic placement of my estate, but you-"

"- would stand to benefit more by marrying a lady with a clearer dowry, rather than that of a lady who is making efforts to rebuild her house," he continues for me, turning to me with a lopsided smile, "have you been speaking with my father?"

"I need not to," I smile back, "I-"

But suddenly, Aiden's hand darts up and he shushes me, looking off to the side. For a moment, I am taken aback, but whatever offence I was about to feel fades when he points to the far off corner where an elk was grazing.

"The gods are on my side it seems," he mutters softly, grabbing the bow he had by the side of his horse. He gently guides his steed to find a better view of the animal, but just as he was about to draw his arrow, someone else shoots at the elk, but misses greatly.

We turn to the direction of the shot and find the four other lords cursing to themselves. Obviously at this point, the elk is spooked and runs off. The lords run after him and yet Aiden hesitates.

I raise my brows at him, "come now, slowpoke."

It doesn't take long for us to wind up back at the same trail as the other lords, only this time, they were all focused on catching the elk, screaming at their horses to ride faster, so not to lose their prize.

For a moment, my ears play tricks on me when I hear a clicking whine from afar. I look to my sides but see nothing but the Lord's neighing horses.

The elk makes a mistake of running out of the cloak of the woods and into the plains. The game was practically over when the lords circled around the beast and pulled out their weapons.

But that was until the unmistakable sound of Caraxes' screech fills the sky. Every beast on the ground was startled, and soon enough, the dragon swooped in and ripped the elk's head off with one strong bite.

Every lord's horse rallies in different directions. I work hard to keep my own from charging into someone else's.

Soon enough, the horses are calm and Caraxes lands near us, licking its mouth.

Prince Daemon's eyes are on me as he shouts from his dragon's back, "I thought you needed my assistance."

"Twas a game, your grace," Jason shouts back, fully annoyed, "the winner sits next to Lady Rubin at supper."

The silver haired prince extends his arms out victoriously, "then I will gladly take my seat next to bright ruby."

"Except you were not part of the game," Aiden retorts.

Daemon eyes dart to him; his pleased expression falters.

Aiden adds, half-heartedly, "my prince."

"And anyway," I finally speak, "it was Caraxes that caught the elk, not you."

Daemon's smirk grows again as he turns to me, "by my command no less."

"Matters not," I call, turning to the begrudged looks on the lords' faces, "I have decided I will not sit at the table at all, so to save everyone from divulging in an argument. My handmaiden would be terribly distressed if I allowed such a thing to ensue."

With that, we all head back to the campsite. Caraxes swoops in with the elk before we even arrive and Abigail is absolutely mortified.

While we were plating the food for the lords, Abigail she mutters to me softly, "my lady, you ought to tell that," her voice softens even more, "dragon rider to keep his mischief to himself."

William grabs the full plates agrees with less regard of whom hears, "yes, he's getting quite annoying and his dragon is a hazard to the livestock."

Abigail shoots William a dirt look before turning back to me, "I cannot even comprehend why you allow him to lurk around you, my lady."

"He's got a big co-"

"Will you poison my food again, wench," Daemon asks, walking up behind me, causing Abigail's face to pale like a ghost and squeak out in response, "your highness!"

Daemon looks down at her and chuckles, pushing away his amused expression to seriously retort, "it means beautiful in High Valyrian."

"Stupid fucking idiot prince," I say in the very language.

He raises a finger at me, "that, however," he smirks, brows knitting, "is treason."

"My lady!" Abigail whines.

I turn to her and shrug, "oh don't listen to him," I grab the remaining plates and ready to walk off, "I only complimented his pretty face."

Daemon watches as William, Abigail, and I walk off to serve the food to the lords on the table. I then beckon the rest of my servants to grab food for themselves.

"If you will not sit next to me as the victor of your game," Daemon says, walking up next to me before sitting on a vacated chair, "then by my royal command you shall."

I make a face at him. The rest of the lords on the table do so as well.

It's clear to me that this is just a game to him, and yet his power trip annoys me thoroughly. Does he think I hesitate to jump him? Does he think care about what these lords will think of me if I do?

Before I could even move, I hear my handmaiden speak but cut herself off. I look over to her, practically feeling her anxiousness.

"That's hardly fair of you to force a lady into your bidding," Aiden notes, tilting his head.

His words make me turn to him and dare I say his annoyed expression towards Daemon was quite arousing.

The prince doesn't even spare him a bit of attention, eyes fixed on me as he spreads his legs on the chair, "it would be most impertinent and treasonous of you to decline," the prince says, eyes averting to my golden haired servant, "wouldn't you agree, Abigail?"

Abigail turns from the prince to me, slowly agreeing "it would, my prince."

I press my lips together, "then I shall humor you, if not for the sanity of my handmaiden."

Daemon is pleased as watches me sit beside him. He leans back then says, "my chambers have missed your voice."

He speaks this so plainly, so uncaring of who hears, and yet the very contents of his words are like a firecracker that make all the lords the table freeze and look.

"What do you wish to gain from telling me this, prince Daemon?" I ask, narrowing my eyes.

He chuckles at my deviant tone, "I should wish to have your company. My warmth longs for yours-"

"HAVE SOME MORE ELK!" Abigail rips between us, giving Daemon a large piece of meat.

I ignore Abigail however and move closer to the table to look Daemon in the eye, "you are keeping my company now, are you not?"

Abigail eyes me harshly as Daemon leans forward as well, "not in anyway that counts."

"OH I DO HOPE-" Abigail speaks too loudly that she had to cut herself off, "that you two do not speak too much, lest the food get cold!"

"Correct, my Targaryen," I word out carefully, "prince," I press my teeth together, "you should only concern yourself with the food, or else my handmaiden will not find peace."

Abigail throws me a worried look before curtsying and walking away.

Daemon leans back on his chair, "I hunger for other things, my lady, as you are well aware."

And just in that very moment, Caraxes screeches, causing everyone to turn to him in shock. The dragon then spits his fire to one of my horses.

"CARAXES!" both his rider and I shout, standing from our seats.

William in particular pulls at his hair and shouts, "NO, NO, YOU MALICOUS BEAST!"

Daemon storms over to his dragon who was effectively ignoring him, happily finishing the horse, ready to devour another.

"Caraxes," Daemon scolds, making the said beast whine in response, "back up," he commands in High Valyrian.

The dragon does not want to and vocalizes this. His master does not flinch though, "submit to me, dragon."

I figure Caraxes might have smelled our food which was why he was acting out. I then walk off to get some for the creature. Aiden watches as I grab the remaining uncooked parts of the elk, as well as a few rabbits. Promptly he is by my side, helping me carry the meat.

We then make our way to the prince and his dragon. Caraxes looks my way when we near and whines.

"Enough whining, boy," I speak in High Valyrian, throwing the severed elk leg to his mouth. He snaps at his gratefully and I wait a few moments before throwing the rabbits towards him.

Daemon looks past me, eyeing Aiden dirtily as he hands me the rest of the meat, "that's enough from you."

Aiden ignores him as watches me throw the final rabbit to Caraxes mouth.

"You! Boy!" Daemon blurts, "sit back dow and enjoy your dinner."

"I should not leave the lady in front of a restless dragon," Aiden replies, not even looking at the prince when he says this, eyes are glued on me.

Daemon breaks into a deep laugh. He moves back, walking behind me as he goes to Aiden, "the Blood Wyrm will not dare harm her, especially not in front of me,"

I instinctively bring my hands up in front of Caraxes when he begins to do his telltale clicking sound. I turn to Daemon as he pierces a look of daggers at Aiden, "you on the other hand-"

"Stop!" I blurt in High Valyrian for both of the agitated dragons. I give Caraxes one last look before placing myself between Daemon and Aiden. I eye the former, "enough. Take Caraxes and go."

"No," he says, not tearing his eyes from Aiden, "I will not leave my woman here with a-"

"She is not your woman!" Aiden bites back, "if she was, she would be a Targaryen by no-"

"Oh, by all means," Daemon barks, "she's been so tainted that to Caraxes, we are the one in th-"

"Yet you have no honor to court her formally," Aiden seethes, "you spoiled piece of fuck-"

Daemon does not hesitate and lunges, but of course to do this, he had to shove me to the side. The prince can already imagine how he'll scream when he severs the brown haired moron's head off.

Caraxes whines in anger as I topple before him. It is the fire he breathes overhead that stops Daemon and Aiden from continuing their tussle.

"Calm yourself," I cry in High Valyrian, feeling tears prick at the corner of my eyes in fear of what the dragon would do because of his reckless rider.

Daemon shoves Aiden away and raises a hand at his dragon, "calm yourself, Caraxes!"

Caraxes ceases his fire breathing and whines angrily at Daemon. I roll to my back in fear, pushing myself away from the dragon when he dips his head down to me.

Daemon turns to me and moves to help me up. I swat him away, seething in anger, "get your hands off me."

Caraxes growls.

Daemon steps forward, "Caraxes can sense-"

"Oh, now you care about Caraxes," I scream back, standing from the ground, "but you were alright with him burning the fucking whole forest down out of your spite just seconds ago."

"Calm yourself," he speaks to me as if I was his dragon.

"I will NOT calm down for you!" I quip violently over my breath. I shove him back, "I'm tainted, am I?" I growl, eyes burning at his choice of words, "tainted by the fucking men who abuse me? Parade me as if I meat? As if I am their property?!"

He calls out my name but it makes me sick to my stomach. I seethe, "fuck you!" I growl, "get your fucking dragon out of my sight. Or have him burn me, I don't care!"

Daemon watches as I step away from him and scream out, "EVERYONE OF YOU LEAVE! YOU SELFISH PIGS WERE NEVER INVITED IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"My lady!" Abigail cries out in her soft, concerned voice as I storm towards her.

"Tell everyone the hunt is over. We're all leaving."

"But my lady-"

"I did not mean it like that," Daemon speaks in High Valyrian, cutting my handmaiden off as he tails after me.

"It doesn't matter how you meant it!" I growl, grabbing a spoon from the table, throwing it at him, "you think I am lesser than you!"

"That's not-"

"YOU THINK I'M A FUCKING WHORE!" I screech, "but you know what?!" I step towards him, "I'll accept it, cause maybe I am. But will NEVER be yours."

Daemon looks down at me, still at the rage directed at him.

I raise my voice in his mother tongue, making sure every word will sting, "I would rather marry pig than be with someone who kisses me then spits on my bones. At least then I wouldn't feel so degraded when he takes a shit in my house because I expected that."

"What then?" he scoffs in the same language, pointing to Aiden, "you'd rather choose him?"

I fake excitement, "sounds like a fine idea!"

"I fucking waited for you," Daemon growls, stepping so close to me that our bodies were nearly touching, "I waited for you for years, not taking the company of any other-"

"Oh!" I clap my hands, "give the boy a prize for not sticking his dick into the first hole he sees!"

"I waited on your s-"

"I DON'T OWE YOU ANYTHING! I never forced you to keep me company, but by the gods, I was fucking raped, Daemon!" I heave, chest rising and falling.

Abigail gasps.

"You have no idea how it feels to be called tainted by a man who you thought--" my tears cut me off. I grip my hands tightly into a fist and push them against my face.

Daemon is utterly defeat. His chest is tight. He can barely think, yet he manages to ask, "thought what, my love?" he whispers desperately in his language, eyes urging me to continue.

I groan, ripping at my hair, "you don't even fucking know?" I look at him through tears, feeling something like a poison run though my whole body.

"I won't know if you don't tell me, now won't I?" he whines.

There it is, the harsh flick of his tone that he can't seem to shake off.

"Fuck off," I growl, wiping my tears harshly away. I point accusingly to his mount, "take Caraxes and GO!"

Caraxes reacts to his name and whines, announcing himself. I ignore him though, turning away from his rider, commanding my servants to make haste to leave.

I should have known his pride would have never allowed him to come to me first, and yet, I am still surprised that he lasted a month without my presence. And so, out of my own weighing conscience, I decide to come to him first.

When I send word of my visit to King's Landing however, I am met with a reply that the Prince had left without word and that they knew not when he would return. I then wrote that I would like to know of his return so that I might discuss matters with him, and I was told in turn not to expect word anytime soon for the prince was known to leave months at a time.

The last letter I sent was saying I did not care when I would receive word of the prince's arrival, so long as I received it. My last reply was that they would send word the moment the prince returns.

But this was all a year ago.

It would be a terrible lie to say that I have forgotten about Daemon with all the tasks and the fortune I grew to have within the time, but the truth was, I didn't. More than ever I think I know his features better with how much time I spent recalling them.

In fact now, as the year welcomed it's second season, I was awfully excited to be invited to the palace for the celebration of the birth of Princess Rhaeyra's second child, just in case it was that someone did forget to tell me of the prince's return and I would have a chance to meet with him.

"Congratulations, your majesty," I smile at Rhaenyra who was rocking her newborn babe in her arms.

"Thank you, lady Rubin," she smiles, "he is so sweet and barely fusses," when she says this, she turns from her baby, then instinctively to her guard, ser Harwin.

I watch them look at each other. But I cannot help but turn my gaze upon the princess' first born, who was being held by a handmaiden behind the princess. His hair was affectionatle pushed back by the said handmaiden.

I bite my lower lip to hold in a chuckle of amusement, "I'm jealous of you, your highness."

"Why is that?" she responds as well in High Valyrian.

Lord Laenor comes up next to his wife and coos at the baby in Rhaenyra's arms. I smile, "your babies are beautiful."

Laenor turns to me when I say this, as does Rhaenyra, eyes sparkling at the compliment.

"I thought you'd have children at this point," Rhaenyra says, making me chuckle.

I cross my arms, "honestly, part of me thought so as well."

"And I always thought you'd end up with prince Daemon, yet here he is, expecting a child with my sister," Laenor says, proceeding to coo at his son again.

I knit my brows, "what?"

Rhaenyra turns back to me from her son, face falling upon seeing my expression.

I ask again, "what did you say?"

Laenor turns to me, indifferent, "oh. Have you not heard? My sister is with child. She says she believes it to be a girl, but the maesters-"

"Out of wedlock?" I quip, making ser Harwin shift in his place uncomfortably.

Laenor looks like he saw a ghost, "what?! What nonesense is-"

"You do not know," Rhaenyra states, lips pulling downward, "they married months ago and have since been traveling on dragonback."

I step back involuntarily as my knees give in.

"Are you alright?" Laenor asks.

I feel my corset constrict around me as my pulse quickens. For a moment, I swear I feel the room spin. I step back a few more times and speak words that do not match my actions, "I'm fine."

Rhaenyra looks at me in concern, "ser Harwin, help Lady Rubin to-"

"No," I raise my hand, halting Harwin before he can come any closer, "I suddenly am feeling the effects of not having eaten breakfast."

"Would you like a glass of water, my lady?" Harwin asks.

"Don't trouble yourself," I shake my head and turn to Rhaenyra, not appreciating the look she was giving me, "congratulations again, my princess. I shall be stepping out for some air."

Rhaenyra does nothing but watch me walk away.

I walk and walk and walk aimlessly. I feel like a headless chicken, and yet I am surprised as it seems my legs were actually taking me somewhere. I find that I brought myself to the dragon pit.

I pathetically walk in, mumbling Caraxes under my breath, over and over and over again. I obviously hear no response. Not only was my voice too quiet for the dragon to hear anyway, but in my very bones I knew that he would not be here.

And so in the same pathetic manner, I curl up in my arms and break into a sob. I rub my eyes roughly and whine out words of regret as the wretched smell of the place finally become apparent to me. The scent brings back the memory of the first time I rode on Caraxes. I had felt defeated before we flew up in the air, but when I came back down, I was invincible. I felt that all worries were blown away in the wind, yet now I was imagining him riding off with another woman.

"My dear ruby," a voice speaks up, making me abruptly turn over to where the sound sourced.

My lifted spirit drops back down when I see it was not prince Daemon that called me, but the young prince Aemond with worry laced in his shimmering violet eyes.

I release a shudder, attempting to calm myself. When I was calm enough, I speak, "you know," I sniffle, "it is not right for you to call me that, young prince."

His cheeks begin to turn a shade of scarlet, "but that is what your name means and what your emblem holds... a ruby."

I shake my head, "but am I your dear, Aemond?"

He clenches his jaw and turns his head, willing the burning of his cheeks away, "you are my subject, and my subjects are all dear to me."

This does not fail to make me chuckle.

"And it is impertinent of you to call me by my name," he adds, beginning to draw nearer to me, "but I shall allow it."

I grin softly at the child, "what pure generosity, my liege."

Once he is standing beside me, I chuckle again as I look down on his shiny white hair, "my, how you've grown since I last laid my eyes upon you."

He shuffles in his place smoothening out the sleeves of his coat.

"How old are you? Seven?"

Aemond stills, turning to me with furrowed brows, "I am a year and ten!"

"My," I chuckle, "how mature you are now, my Aemond."

He opened his mouth to say something, but it seems he forgot it as he just stands there with his jaw hanging.

I take this moment to turn away from him and wipe my face with the back of my hands, "what brings you here, my prince?"

"I... I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Me?" I turn back to him, smirking, "I thought to visit Caraxes but-"

"My uncle is not here."

"Yes," I smile softly, "as I learned myself just this morning."

Aemond then asks me a question that makes me still, "do you love him?"

I take a moment to respond and I look around the expanse of the room before I do, "yes."

Aemond ceases his breathing.

"I love Caraxes very much."

He pulls his head back upon hearing that.

I turn to him, leaning down with a mischievous grin, "I was thinking of stealing him all for myself."

The boy looks up at me in astonishment. I break into a laugh, remembering the expression well, "I jest, darling boy, Caraxes is fiercely loyal to his master."

Aemond's expression fades.

I press my lips in a smile, "might you introduce me to your own mount instead?"

The curve of my lips flattens when Aemond's cheeks burn again. He opens his mouth, releasing a stutter before he finally forms out, "I do not have one."

I still, "I apologize," I shake my head, "I did not know-"

"I come here because I like to think I can steal a dragon myself. I shall introduce you the very moment I have one. I promise you, my lady," he says with utmost certainty.

"Aemond," I move closer to him, raising my hands, "may I?"

He gives me a questioning look before realizing I was asking for his permission to touch him. After he nods, I place my hands on both his shoulders and give him a sincere look, "a true man does not go back on word, much less should a prince make promises he does not care to keep and will forget in due time."

"Is that why you're crying?"

"What?"

"Prince Daemon made you an empty promise?"

I pull away from him after he says this.

Aemond is taken aback by the withdrawal and immediately regrets his words, "I am not like him! I will not be a prince who makes empty promises."

"Lady Rubin!"

Both Aemond and I turn to whom called out for me, and soon enough, a brown haired man jogs towards us, a look of relief is on his face, "the servants said they saw you heading here," he catches his breath, "I came running the moment Princess Rhaenyra told me you were visiting."

"Lord Aiden," I smile at him, "it has been a while since we've spoke."

"Yes, and you are as radiant as ever, my lady."

Aemond gives him a dirty look while I chuckle softly, "and your words are as honeyed as ever. I do wonder how your wife feels about that."

"Shall I ask?" he smirks, making my face contort. He then bends down on one knee and raises a hand at me, "will you marry me, lady Rubin?"

My face contorts yet again, but this time I end up laughing.

"What a moron," Aemond scoffs in High Valyrian.

My laughter ceases upon hearing this. I turn to the boy, feeling awfully proud of him, "my, our clever little prince knows to speak High Valyrian now!"

Aemond turns to me, cheeks catching on fire yet again.

Aiden turns from the boy, then to me, huffing, standing once again, "your hand in marriage may be perhaps the most challenging thing to acquire in the whole kingdom."

I turn to the Lord, feeling my witty retort leave me when I see him nibble at his lower lip and run his hand through his hair.

"Still, the Greystokes are known to be vigorous and I intend to show you this, if you so allow me," he extends his hand out to me.

I shock him when I do not hesitate to take it and reply, "alright."

Aiden's eyes widen, as does Aemond's. It takes the lord a moment to reply, "wonderful."

"My prince," a servant walks in after announcing herself over to the seated man.

Daemon, who was playing with his newborn daughter, turns from crib to the woman who walked over, "a letter has arrived for you."

Laena, who had entered the room, coming from a bath, asks upon hearing that, "who is it from?"

Daemon opens the letter, dismissing his servant with a nod. Laena watches as her husband's face contorts upon reading the contents of the letter.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Nothing," he roughly crumples the letter and stands from his chair, "a wedding invitation."

"Oh?" her voice is interested, "whose of?"

He throws the letter to the fire place, pulling an annoyed look, "does it matter? We're not going. You've just given birth."

"Yes, but I would at least like to know who-"

"Some fucking lord I could not care less about," he angrily states, "he's got some nerve inviting me when he knows how my blood boils at the sight of him."

Laena releases a breath. She walks over to him and gives him a calming embrace. It takes a moment for Daemon to melt against her touch.

"Think nothing of it, husband," she hums in their native tongue, "I will melt all your worries away."

He finds no real comfort in the musings of his wife though. It is apparent with how he rides Caraxes later that night.

#daemon targaryen #daemon fanfic #daemon targaryen fanfic #daemon angst #daemon slow burn #house of the dragon #house of the dragon fanfic #daemon targaryen angst #daemon targaryen x reader #daemon targaryen x you #daemon x you #daemon x reader #aemond x reader #wink wink

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streets-in-paradise · 2 years

Text

Stranger Things Headcanons: Being Dustin’s older sister, a nerdy metalhead, and becoming closer with Eddie and Steve - Part 2

Masterlist

Word Count + 5 K (almost 6K)

Warnings: Jealous Eddie and a bit of idiots in love on all sides. The reader is a protective older sister who is very angry at Billy because of what he did to the kids in season 2. For so, he isn’t referenced in a good light. Cultural references to lord of the rings, hard rock bands and popular horror movies of the 80′s.

Pairings: Eddie Munson x (Fem) Henderson!Reader, Steve Harrington x (Fem) Henderson!Reader.

Notes: This is a direct continuation to a previous post, following some ideas that stayed out of it. Here i got the chance to include and even expand those.

Also, I have possibly usable material for 2 more parts. One continuing from the end of this one and going a bit more into the season 3 setting, then another one (that i can begin to think after watching the rest of it) for season 4.

Guide of references: Eru is the elvish name of the supreme deity in Tolkien lore.

For more information about my fixation with the concept of Steve and Bon Jovi, look at this early video of the band from a song of their first album.

Although the show already made for me the connection between Billy and Motley Crue, I don’t mind sharing you this anacronic video from a 1986 live version of “ Smokin’ In The Boy’s Room” Vince Neil sings with Jon Bon Jovi just because i feel like doing it to complete the introduction of vibes from both in order to show the contrast.

Tags: @losersclubisms @ph-oenix @bilesxbilinskixlahey @chalametnpeaches@beautifultypewriter-recommends @thatsonezesty13 @poppet05 @starkssnarks @tasmbestspdrman @shinycloudss @slut-for-bucky-barnes @rosecolorgardens @yourthebrokengirl @alexandraoonaghives

- One more interdimensional crisis afterwards, your brother had two new friends while an old one returned to stay.

- Strictly speaking, Max and El were the girlfriends of Lucas and Mike respectively, but you were excited the most about them being friends of Dustin. Seeing him forming bonds with girls from a young age meant a lot to you, it was a great sign showing that he wasn't going to repeat your story. You would always insist on showing him what a great thing it was because at first he used to feel bad about the overall reaction girls had to him. None wanted to dance with him at that dance his school organized, at least until Nancy saved the night. As his sister, you would have looked bad if you would try a similar trick, reason why you were very thankful to her for such a sweet gesture.

- It made him feel better that time, but it didn't completely erase his insecurities. Steve and you were working together to help him out, but from absolutely opposite fronts. While he would share with him his wisdom as an ex popular highschool heartthrob, you were trying to make Dustin understand that he wasn't failing for not having a girlfriend.

- " That is easy for you to say now that you are a groupie. " He shamelessly replicated once to one of your pieces of advice, making fun of your sneak outs to the shows of Eddie's band.

" That's not how it works, Dustin. I hang out with a bunch of guys who are in a band, and sometimes I go to their shows. That's all."

" Isn't that the definition of groupie?"

Your brother was a bit lost in the sexual implications of the term.

" Groupies get ... intimately involved with the band." You began to explain to him. " Some are smart enough to get money out of them, while others are dumb enough to fall for one of guys. Then, at the peak of the band's fame, he gets married to a respectable top model."

- Sexual implications of the term aside, you were like the dumb groupies in your explanation. The shows were an outlet for your feelings, behaving a bit like a fan was the safest way of expressing your crush on your talented friend.

- Once you confirmed his suspicions, Johnnatan became your best ally on the topic. He helped you into dealing with how you were feeling with a privileged understatement of the issue. He had been there back when Nancy and Steve were dating, the reason why he understood both sides of the situation you narrated to him: your crush on a friend and Eddie's own crush on a popular girl. It sucked, but he was supportive of your coping mechanisms and he even agreed to accompany you to the shows.

- In exchange for the help you would offer him to spend a few hours looking after Will, but you knew Johnny was going to do it anyway. He cared for you and wouldn't let you go alone to the shady places where Corroded Coffin usually played, places your mother would forbid you of stepping in if she knew where you were going.

- It was all fun and games between you both about your little adventures but, as soon as you would see Eddie on stage, your expression would transform. Objectively speaking, he was the best part of the band and his performance always would leave you in breathless amazement. You were a total fan of his music

- Through that strong admiration, you would set yourself free. For a while, you would self indulge in your illusions and he would go along with it, directing towards you some of his gestures of performative charisma. Logic would dictate that he was, at best, bragging his skill to you in a playful way. Yet, you were eager to toss any logic aside for a bit of comfort. ' A girl can dream.' you would tell yourself, in resignation.

- " Forget about that." Your brother replied to your quasi metaphorical explanation. " You are going to date a pop star and when the guitarist will see you with him at the next MTV VIdeo Music Awards, he is going to make a scandal that will make ratings skyrocket. "

You knew exactly what he meant.

" Steve is a friend and friendships are important. When you don't have friends, you become a socially awkward mess falling for the first person who says nice things about you. " Was your way of going back to the point you wanted to make. " Max is awesome, appreciate your friendship with her as you already do with El. Learn through your bonding with girls, now that you have the chance. I'm sure you will do so much better than me, you will see."

- Dustin simply wouldn't stop trying to sell you the idea of dating Steve as a solution to all your problems, even if it wasn't completely clear that he would want that. It only got worse since he found out that you were ocassionally making each other company at school, where he wasn't present.

- Steve was going through a hard time that coincided with his last months in school. All his fake friends were gone, most of his new friends were middle school kids and on top of that he had to watch his back from Hargrove. You didn't want him to go through all of that alone and you ended up becoming his main source of company of similar age at that moment, the main exception being when you were with the Hellfire Club.

- Whenever he would see you with them, he wouldn't even dare to glance at your direction. You guessed that it was because he knew he would feel out of place with them, especially given his recent past. Among the nerds there was no inclination towards seeing him and Hargrove as anything else but two different flavors of the same asshole. Even you used to be guilty of sharing that mindset.

- That was before getting to know him for real and before Hargrove showed the worst of him for you to realize that it was far superior to the worst of Steve. What he did to Lucas would have never been done by Steve, not even at the peak of his assholness. He targeted a whole group of middle school kids just for hanging out with his little step sister, but only one of them got the worst part. Dustin was there in the same position of Lucas bonding with Max while trying to control his crush. He could have tried to beat up your brother and surely, nothing would have stopped him from doing it, but he selectively chose to pick on Lucas first... As if daring to punch a kid wasn't horrible enough.

- It wouldn't matter how many times Max would try to tell you that he wasn't horrible all the time, or that his father was a real asshole. Billy Hargrove was a bully and he attacked your boys. Your thought process, proper of an older sister who loved her little brother as the center of her world, wouldn't care to consider anything else.

- Steve saved the kids not only from Billy, but also from a bunch of interdimensional monsters. Baby Demogorgons? Was that what those were? Whatever that crap that killed your cat and destroyed your storm cellar was, he handled the situation like a damn hero. Yet, no one else should hear the stories of his brave charges into battle because no one would believe any of you.

- Occasionally, you would get to hear some jokes about his fallen from grace in the popularity Olympus coming from your new group of nerd friends. Those pissed you off, but there was nothing you could tell them in order to explain why. You suddenly didn’t share anymore with them the common sense idea of considering him a prick of the same size as Billy, but you had only scratches of a confessable reason for that change. Whenever they would be joking about him, you simply refused to engage in their conversation. They didn’t seem to mind, too lost in their own laughter to see that you weren’t following it.

- Everyone else but Eddie, who was for some reason more attentive to your reactions.

“ Do you feel sorry for that jackass? He ain’t worthy, sweetheart. Harrington got what he deserved.” He said to you once, as if he was comforting you out of a naive idea. In the same action he wrapped an arm around you, overdramatically emphasizing the comfort aspect.

“ Perhaps… but it makes no sense making fun of him now that he is done. A real court jester has the balls to mock the current king, not just the predecessor.” You began to explain the most neutral sounding defense that you could come up with as Eddie’s attention was following your every word. “ Hargrove is a violent dick, we should be more worried about him. He is way worse than just a popular airhead stealing from our culture because it looks badass. As a bully, he is a brutal beast … my brother and his group of friends have been his targets. They are middle school kids, guys, children. He picked on them because they were seeing his step sister who is their classmate and he only stopped because Harrington intervened. “

Since you couldn’t tell anything about the beasts, you were giving Steve the full credit for the containment of the bullying situation.

“ You may not believe it, but he went full Boromir to save my hobbits... If it wouldn’t have been for him, if he wouldn’t have been there to protect them.” You stopped for a second, realizing that you were getting a bit emotional because you knew that the danger they truly faced was far worse than just Billy. To your audience, it was perceived as a bit of admiration for his acts. “ He took the punches for them. At least for that, Steve deserves my respect and I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

- Most of them remained silent, probably in disbelief with your words. Eddie spoke first and you were expecting he would make some harmless joke about missing the shitshow of jock on jock violence as if it was a fight of gladiators meant for entertainment. Instead, he got oddly defensive while remaining in his usual snarkiness.

“ Steve? He has first name privileges now? Do you honestly think that one good action is enough to redeem him from everything he has done? BUM, MAGIC, NOW HE IS A HERO!”

He got laughs from some of the others, sarcastic affirmations in favor of his stance, and proceeded to hug you tighter.

“ Sweet, innocent lass. Those shitheads never change.” Eddie concluded for you in a mix of modern and fantasy-esque speech to later kiss your forehead. “ Worry not, I shall protect you from that adorable optimism.”

- Suddenly, he was all about being close to you, energetically annoying whoever had the bad luck of being in the way, just to make himself noticed.

- Like in that time you were talking with Nancy and he scared the crap out of her by popping up from behind her just to make a creepy jumpscare that he knew would make you laugh.

- “ I’M YOUR BOYFRIEND NOW, NANCY!! “ He exclaimed in a deep, distorsionated voice that worked perfectly for both of his motives.

“ Sorry, Nance.” You apologized while failing to control your chuckles. “ It’s a legit quote from my newest favorite horror film.”

“ Don’t worry, I am not going to kill you.” Eddie said softly to her, his own gentle way of apologizing before heading his attention back at you. “ Did I get it right?”

While he was waiting for your reply his expression was of pure excitement and he looked so adorable.

“ You sound awesome as Freddy Krueger. “ Was your praiseful answer.” List him as a new character for your impersonations.”

- Interactions like that one kept happening pretty much around anyone and you thought that it was part of his way of protecting you as he said he would. Maybe he was worried because of your very personal problems with Hargrove and wanted to be around you all the time just to make sure you will be safe.

- Part of that assumption was correct, but because he didn’t like the idea of letting Steve Harrington be your only defense against your brother’s bully in case you needed one. Not only because he didn't believe in his change, but also due to how much he hated to hear you, his biggest fan, expressing admiration towards that douchebag. Comparing him to Boromir of Gondor was way too much, you sounded like his thankful damsel.

- The truth was that, even when he wouldn’t admit it, Eddie was jealous to the core. Not that an asshole like Harrington would see all the good in you and actively seek to date you, but just the idea of you developing a crush on him was unacceptable.

- It was a matter of time until he would see you with him, chatting at some corner of the school. In whatever you two were talking about, he was able to see that he was making you laugh. The cute, happy chuckles that he loved right from the very first time he caused those on you were being directed towards that basketball player. He knew he had no reason to interfere, you weren’t dating and it wasn’t his call. Yet, he couldn’t help himself.

- “ Look at who we have here! ” Eddie interrupted the conversation. “ Steve ‘ The Repentant’, the savior of children, the fear of bullies… Well, at least after years of being one himself.”

You weren't entirely surprised by his attitude, but you didn't want him to make Steve feel bad.

" Hi, Eds! Is everything alright?"

" I am wondering the exact same fucking thing ríght now. " He mocked you while subtly placing his arms around you once more. " Isn't this douchebag allergic to our kind or something?"

In his confusion, Steve still managed to reply.

" I am friends with her brother. "

Even when you understood the reason why avoiding introducing himself as your friend, you didn't want him to hide himself in a role reversal game making you be the one who was supposed to be ashamed of his friendship.

" Steve is a friend of the family. " You informed, showing pride on that claim before proceeding to explain the context for him. " I have told the guys about the real reasons for your fight with Hargrove, but they refuse to believe me... What you did for Lucas and Dustin was worthy of being told. "

With that last sentence, you were letting him know that you spoke only of the part about him defending them from the human menace of Max's stepbrother. However, your unaware interlocutor saw it as some sort of praiseful take and he showed to be very annoyed by it.

" I have the ríght to remain skeptical" Eddie followed you, in an opposite direction. "My friend over here seems very impressed by that little feat she attributes to you, but i know there are no heroes among orcs. When there is no one else to destroy, they simply attack each other. "

Steve looked at you as if he was asking for a translation.

" He thinks that you fought Billy only because you two were measuring dicks." You began to indulge his ask. " In Lord of the Rings, Orcs are a race of assholes that represent one of the most constant dangers in Middle Earth, but often fight each other for the dumbest reasons. The chain of command is just one of those, but they can start to fight each other for literally anything and that tends to help the protagonists escape from them when it is necessary. "

" Let me get it ríght. " He stopped you in order to share his own concluded interpretation and his clueless excitement while thinking he understood the comparison correctly got you a bit soft for him. " You have been saying to your friends that I am some sort of nerd protector hero, like one of the characters in that board game you all love so much."

Eddie rolled his eyes in absolute annoyance while listening : the dumbass was talking of Dungeons and Dragons.

"... But they think I am a fraud, unworthy of your trust, because they assume the kids just escaped while Hargrove and I got distracted by tearing each other apart like macho dickheads."

" Bingo!" Eddie cheered him, sarcastically. " What took you so long?"

You did your best to comfort Steve in the sweetest way you found.

" He may think that you are an orc, but to me you are like a captive elve. You escaped Mordor before becoming one of them and I am so proud of you. "

He had no idea of what you meant with that, but he got a bit of a blushy smile because he was almost sure that you were complimenting him in your own language.

" For Eru's sake! '' Eddie complained, at the peak of his annoyance. " If you could understand how sweet that was, you would get why you don't deserve it. "

- You weren't completely sure of what went wrong, but you hated to see him angry at you.

- Was it anger or disappointment? Why did it upset him so much that you were friends with the dude who saved your brother? Eddie wasn't a judgemental person. If there was one highschool nerd you imagined showing understandment towards Steve, it was him, so... What was his problem?

- Even if you didn't or couldn't understand what was happening with him you still wanted to cheer him up. Maybe through a sweet, selfless gesture showing your appreciation for him. If you could find a way to do it, you would even try to invent an excuse to get him a while of attention from the girl you thought he was crushing on.

- The next time Jason called Eddie a freak, you took the initiative leading the offensive of mocks against his insults.

- It actually leaded you into being very loud in your first outspoken, freakish monologue.

- " You, Jason, are the conservative dream crushing everyone else beneath. You like to go around this place like it is your hunting ground, punishing people for behaving in ways you dislike ... and let's not forget how freaking dull and constricted you are. Let people have fun, Vorhees!!!"

- You murdered him with words and a choir of ' Ki-Ki-Ki Ma-Ma-Ma' whispers coming from your very amused friends closed the deal. Eddie was smiling again and that was all you cared about.

- He was amazed by what you did because he knew better than anyone else there how hard it once was for you to come out of your shell, such a brave move was more meaningful coming from you. Among all his friends, you were the one who spoke up to scream some truths at Jason and you did it with such brilliance. A Jason Vorhees joke was hard to make without it sounding like an easy punchline and your punk phrasing not only avoided that, it made it sound like a rebellious satire.

- Eddie was so excited, surprised and generally overwhelmed by the awesomeness of what he witnessed that he only managed to react in one way. In some spontaneous explosion of happiness, he grabbed your cheeks with his hands and placed his lips over yours in a strong peck.

- You didn’t see it coming and your shock became greater than his. He didn’t explain himself afterwards and your face was on fire. Avoiding self combust out of shame was your priority, but you were so happy and confused. Your more imminent thought was wondering what the hell was that. Then, you realized something else.

- That was your first kiss. Through that weird accident, nothing like you would have imagined it before, Eddie kissed you in full unawareness of being the first guy to skim your lips. A part of you was going through a light panic that you stoically dissimulated and it took you a long while to ever bring up the topic again.

- It reemerged during a moment you both were spending alone in his trailer. It was a chill while listening to music as you were rambling to him about your next idea for a horror tale. It was going to be about a fictionalized parody of a glam metal band inspired by Motley Crue’s “ Shout at the Devil” controversy. The dudes in your story intended to follow that route so they could get free publicity scaring religious conservatives with the use of creepy looking symbology. For so, they would pick some random symbol they don’t actually understand and their ignorance would lead them to ruin when the collective energy in their shows, acting as a good replacement for worship, would end up awakening a real supernatural threat. The monster would later possess the singer, a Vince Neil parody that you heavily inspired on Billy Hargrove, to start a classical slasher rampage with a bit of Evil Dead style on the hotel where the band was staying. In a deliciously ironic trope subversion, it would be stopped by a groupie in the role of final girl.

- Eddie loved the concept because of how creepy yet hilariously crazy it was. The whole thing felt like something Sam Raimi could be directing, but there were also some cathartical aspects that you put into it. It was clear that you were using fiction as an outlet for your anger over that bully because you were such an overprotective older sister. Your stories were rarely inserted in the parodic subgenre and this one felt a bit like your joke of political satire of Jason as the homonymous Friday 13th villain.

- After reminding you of how much he enjoyed that one, you got into a bit of talking about it and you ended up explaining at least one of the many reasons why you were so ashamed when he kissed you.

- He was in authentic disbelief. It made sense, but it also didn’t. He never stopped to consider it.

- “ Really? Never ever before?” Eddie asked you, in sweet complicity. He was thinking of something else, over the lines of ‘ But you are so cute… How is that even possible? ‘

You nodded negatively with a playful expression intended to dissimulate your embarrassment.

“ Not even with Johnny when getting high on my weed? What kind of friend is he?” He joked, trying to help you feel less uncomfortable with the confession. “ … Not even with that douchebag basketball player?”

That last question sounded a little bit more like a tease. but he was trying to hide that it came from a genuine, jealousy based, interest in knowing if Steve ever got that close with you.

Your answer was negative again and part of him felt relieved.

“ Don’t worry, sweetheart. There is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s not your fault that the dudes close to you have been so rude. “

He made you laugh with that pretty odd claim and seeing that made him smile while staring at your face.

“ That wasn’t even a proper first kiss,I barely touched you. If you are counting that one, I have very bad news for you: you still haven’t been kissed.“ He pointed out, slightly doubtful because he didn’t want to make you feel more uncomfortable with what he was about to propose. “ … If you are up to it, I can give you a real one. “

- The expression in your face was talking for you, but you had to force yourself into giving a clear answer and he waited for it before crashing his lips against yours again. “ Walk All Over You '' by AC/DC was casually sounding in the background as he was giving you a mind blowing kiss, caresses of all sorts included. With anyone else it wouldn’t feel as romantic as you felt it with him. Perhaps because he wanted to compensate you, he was making you feel romanced through the whole experience. Even if you didn’t know if he meant it to feel that way, you sensed it like his own definition of romance.

- “ Do you want more?” He teased you afterwards, noticing your blissful state. “ We can have as many as you want. I really don’t mind, I am a freak.”

That was, in fact, his way of hiding that he couldn’t get enough of it.

- You still wouldn't allow yourself high hopes after that. Eddie stated that he just wanted to help a friend into a nice first experience, the jokes he made about Johnnatan and Steve implied that. Not like that would stop you from revisiting the moment in your mind and daydreaming about it, but you got that more in control than what you expected. Your friendship seemed to have survived that romantical experiment unharmed.

- He even stopped freaking out about your friendship with Steve. Of course, you had no idea that it happened because he got the jealousy in control. Despite how adorable you were in your interactions with him, Harrington wasn't as close to you as he feared he could become.

- However, Eddie didn't know that Steve counted with the unconditional support of a certain wannabe matchmaker child. You never got into telling him about the very special topic of the hero worshiping your brother would usually make of his older friend.

- Dustin was ready to try anything to make it happen. Sometimes he was very obvious, like whenever he would make you sit next to each other for movie nights to later put the longest film he could pick and wait to see who would end up resting their head in the other's shoulder.

- That was how Steve was exposed to the Star Wars franchise and he happily freaked out little bit on that one time you were very tired and ended up being the one doing it.

- On family dinners with your mother, Dustin would always help him look as the nicest, best behaved boy in order to instalate the idea of making her wish Steve would be your boyfriend.

- " That is your brand. You are Jon Bon Jovi: highschool girls want to date you and their mothers don't wait until that happens to start calling you their son." He secretly explained the strategy to his friend the very first time he made him put it in practice. " Your better established competition is Eddie Van Halen. He is a freaking god playing guitar who manages to captivate hard rock, metal and pop audiences because he is talented as fuck and looks awesome in posters. Do you know why he hasn't defeated you yet? Because you know your brand better than anyone else in the market and that is making you climb to the top very fast with just one studio album in your discography."

" I don't understand you, Henderson! Can you please go slow... and maybe avoid confusing me even more?"

" Be the sweetest, most charming young man to my mom. Make her wish you would be joining us for dinner as my sister's boyfriend."

- As the school year was reaching its end Steve began to worry more about prom that of the upcoming exams. Not a weird attitude for someone who still didn’t got rid completely of the popularity mindset, but you would try to remind him of keeping his priorities in order.

- Dustin followed you on that most times, but he was also busy on his own plan trying to convince him of taking you as his date to prom. Steve was reluctant about the idea, giving a new set of excuses every time he would be asked about it.

- “ She is great, that is not in question… but she just joined the freaks’ club!” Was the last, desperate, excuse on the long list. “ That is social suicide, is worst than being in band. I would love to, but I can't show up there with your sister. “

“ Bullshit, you are just scared of rejectment.” Dustin straightfoldy replicated against it. “ What are you waiting for? It is a flawless plan: you ask it as a friend who is about to graduate and has no one else to take, then give her the most romantical night of her life. It is the premise of Carrie, but turned upside down. She is going to love it.”

- The kid was right in at least one thing: Steve was terrified of asking that to you because he was about 75% sure you were going to say no. The concept of prom as a popularity shitfest wouldn’t help to convince you, but he was scared of facing rejectment at a personal level. Not just because you hated the concept of the date, but because you wouldn’t want to date him.

- His conjectures could be wrong because most of your friends were weirdos, but there was something about your so-called friendship with Munson that you either didn’t realize or were hiding on purpose. The dude was into you, there was no other explanation for some of his attitudes. Plus, you seemed to be very close with him and he was pretty much into the very same shit you were. The chances were there, even when there was no direct confirmation of it. Asking his ex’s former boyfriend for advice and information was too awkward to be taken in consideration, so all Steve had about it was you as source. He wasn’t as convinced as you were of your theory about Chrissy, but that wasn’t the main aspect that gave him a bit of hope through your conversation about it.

- “ Steve, she is absolutely adorable. If you were a girl, you would be just like her. There is no way I am wrong, I know what I saw and it makes sense. It wouldn’t be the first time that one of my freaky counterparts crushes on the cute girlfriend of some jock he hates. No offense but, what happened between you and Johnny is the dream of many… Why wouldn’t it be Eddie’s too?”

“ Do you outcast girls never dream of dating the cute girl’s boyfriend?” He asked in reply, following your own terminology without daring to point out how you indirectly described him as adorable. “ It seems like a thing that can go both ways.”

“ I would prefer to drown in Crystal Lake before going on a date with that poor girl’s boyfriend.” You joked before providing a more compelling answer. “ That being said, it can be a fantasy for freak girls to … just not as recurrent because, in my humble opinion, when you are a girl you have to get a certain suspension of disbelief to get into it. The ‘ loser gets the popular love interest’ concept may be everywhere in some stuff we consume, like comic books, but that doesn’t go both ways. It’s only for the boys, we are not used to being spoon feeded that fantasy.. Do you know what is the closest thing to that we have? ‘Carrie’.. a bloody nightmare of shame and revenge that begins out of pity. “

- The likeness in which yours and your brother’s mind would think was somehow amazing and a bit scary to notice, precisely given the exactitude it was capable of reaching. His doubts didn’t vanish completely after hearing you reference the very same thing Dustin did, but he began to think that it could be a good idea. Besides, your way of presenting the situation made him think that you were more in the pole of unawareness and not hiding a secret relationship with the nerd club leader.

- Steve began to think that maybe, despite how different you two were, you could crush on a guy like him if you would allow yourself to think of it as a possibility. For as much as you denied it in speech, claiming that it wasn’t for you even in fantasy, evidence presented by your brother showed that you had a bit of a secret fangirl thing for the less threatening looking heartthrob among rockstars.

- Taking a risk and asking you to accompany him was worth trying, but the challenge was finding a proper opportunity to do it. It had to be at school, so it wouldn’t feel monitored by your little brother, but it didn’t have to happen near your friends because Munson could surely ruin it.For so, he simply chose to wait until the topic would reappear again between you.

- It’s not like you haven’t asked him before about his obsession with prom. You did, even at that time right after he was trying to get information about Eddie out of you to speculate in your availability. It was a bit of a naive comeback that you threw, in unawareness, following your horror reference like a punchline. You used to think that it was about Nancy, since it was pretty much possible that he would have priorly imagined himself there with her back when they were together. For what you have heard of him saying, he practically had a full fantasy developed of how prom night with his girlfriend was going to be.

- It was beautiful, you couldn’t help rooting for him and you would have lied if you would have denied to feel a bit of wishfulness while listening. Even from outside of the relationship he still sounded like the sweetest boyfriend and everything that was coming out of him sounded so dreamy. It may be overly romantic and a bit of a teen rom com dream but, deep down… who wouldn’t want that? Just listening to it was making you smile. His heartbreak was also relatable to you, even if that one at least came from an actual relationship.

- When this sweet dork finally asked you to be his date for his prom night party, your immediate guess was thinking that he needed an understanding friend that would be aware of the hurtful aspects and wouldn’t question it. An emotional support company, not an actual prom date that could criticize him for thinking of his ex while slow dancing.

- “ I know that you hate this sort of stuff, but it would be very important if you could come with me.”

Steve was way too nervous and you couldn’t understand why, so you rushed to give an emphatic affirmative response.

“ Of course, silly! You don’t have to deal with that alone, us losers have community spirit. “

He was listening to you with such a happy expression.

“ REALLY??” He asked again, a dorkish yell full of excitement. “ That would be so amazing. I promise that you will not regret it, I will do my best so you can have a good time.”

“ Steve, is alright.” You calmly cutted him off. “ We always do shit I like to do, you end up being indirectly forced to stand whatever nerdy crap Dustin and I are into at any given moment. For once, we can do something that is more you and there is nothing wrong with that, even if it’s just between you and me.”

He hugged you tightly, an outlet for his happy cheer, and you found yourself caught by the sweetness of the moment.

- You had no idea of how you were going to explain to the guys of Hellfire, before they could eventually find out from external sources, that you were the prom date of Steve Harrington with all the implications in that sentence.

#stranger things #stranger things imagine #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson #steve harrington #eddie munson x reader #steve harrington x reader #joseph quinn #joe keery #stranger things headcanons #henderson!reader #eddie munson x henderson!reader #steve harrington x henderson!reader

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xiv-wolfram · 9 months

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Wolfram's Character Inspiration Chart

This took me a while because I've answered variations of this one before but forgot who I said. Honestly I consume a lot of media so… Wolf is basically 80% me with character traits thrown in from shows I like. I'm focusing more on personality/aesthetic/narrative than physical inspiration here... Ok maybe if Ravi and Eliot had a kid with Geralt's muscles and green eyes from somewhere?

Xena - Xena: Warrior Princess A person with a dark past seeks redemption by traveling around and doing good deeds. Wears lots of leather. Their primary weapon is a sword. Consistently flirting with their best friend. After writing the synopsis of his character story I realized Wolf is basically Xena… ok he looks more like Ares. Whatever, it's my bi-awakening show I can do what I want! After realizing this, I had to give Wolf some chakram lore too for the comparison to be complete! (which was easy with the Thavnairian dad)

Geralt - The Witcher Excellent fashion sense plus Wolf is also a person who tries to be neutral but will do anything to protect their loved ones. Mostly, Geralt is on here for his fighting style. Wolf uses more magic but he also has a very active/fluid way of combat. This is due to his dancer training and why he's so evasive, but I imagine it looks similar to how Geralt fights in the Blaviken scene from the first episode of season 1, just with the occasional VerFlare.

Ravi Chakrabarti - iZombie Did ya'll know Wolf is a bit of a nerd? I try and show it sometimes but due to the subject matter of many of the comics, it may not be obvious. He's really smart. Figures things out before others (like how did other people not realize Liv is a zombie?!) Unlike Ravi, he didn't have a formal education. He only knows the common language but reads a lot and even asks Y'Shtola to translate tomes for him. When he's around friends he's extremely talkative, usually about his interests (Mhachi history, cuisine, non-traditional uses for magic, etc). Also, Ravi's relationship with Peyton is (usually) really great power couple stuff. Plus they're good friends who joke around but are very sweet and flirty with each other. (Rahul Kohli is also Wolfram's voice claim btw!)

M.M. (Marvin Milk) - The Boys For some reason, I'm the only person I know who watches The Boys?! Anyway MM is great. He's got stuff from his past that really weighs on him but he fights through it for his friends and family. He's usually kind of the moral center of The Boys with a strong sense of right and wrong even if it doesn't align with those around him. He's also the paternal/fraternal figure trying to look out for everyone.

Jessica Jones - Jessica Jones She's got kind of a dark and snarky sense of humor. Leather. Alcoholic with PTSD but she doesn't let it stop her from doing what needs to be done and being a hero. Honestly I just really love characters who save people while not really knowing how to save themselves but hanging on anyway. Wolf's also got a pretty strong vigilante side…

Eliot Waugh - The Magicians Absolutely the most relatable depiction of depression I've seen on TV. He's usually really friendly and charismatic. Always joking around. It's all a mask for his major chronic depression. Drinks a lot. Also, very smart and talented mage without having to put in as much effort as Alice (read the books) which can be a double-edged sword. His biggest enemy is himself.

tagged by: @talion-graves (Thanks! This was funnnnn!!!)

tagging: This part always makes me nervous I'll forget someone. So just - anyone else who wants to do it - I wanna see it! The original template is here! I just tweaked it a bit for me.

#Character inspiration #ffxiv wol #oc wolfram #ffxiv #ffxiv oc #HunklanderBlogs #WolframGposes

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manawari · 5 months

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When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💖

Thank you for the tag, @griddle-cakes 💕

1. The Dragon Rider And His Guardian

→ I know that there are a lot of people who ship Jack Frost from the "Rise Of The Guardians" and Hiccup Haddock from "How To Train Your Dragon", but then me and my aroace psyche decided that they'd look great as best friends who see each other as brothers. Plus, Jack Frost and Hiccup are two of my comfort characters! Another reason why I like this fic so much is that this is the longest fanfiction I have ever written — 22,449k words and still remained as my longest fic that I could call as my masterpiece. I made sure to focus on every character development, as well as Jack and Hiccup's development together as the main dynamic or pair, and I was satisfied (and still am) that I managed to go beyond and ended it the best way I knew.

2. Infinite Leveling in the Tombs

→ this is a multi/crossover fic between three manhwas: Pick Me Up (Infinite Gacha), Solo Leveling, and Tomb Raider King. Before, I used to imagine SL and TRK in one universe, but when I got into PMU(IG), that was when I knew I had to merge these three manhwas together. I saw a lot of similarities in Han, Jin-woo, and Joo-heon — I like the vibes they have with one another back when I was writing this one-shot. So, I dedicated days in writing this fic, more or less, it had somewhat become a self-indulgence. At first, I genuinely thought this will beat "The Dragon Rider and His Guardian" in its length, but I stand corrected and accepted that no other fic of mine can steal its place HAHA! Anyways, this fic had been a rollercoaster and seeing how the characters go well with one another like it's natural, it made me proud<3

3. Nurtured Flowers In The Fields Of Dolor

→ it started with a simple aesthetic and a small snippet, ended with a full fic. Even though it didn't follow the original myth, I focused the plot based on Jinhae's personalities. What I love about this fanfiction is that I get to witness how descriptive I can get with each paragraph and fit the dialogues into the atmosphere. From Jin-woo believing that he was only Death and "love" was never possessed by him, nor could he possess it, to him learning to love Hae-in as his wife and his Queen. I truly enjoyed writing when it came to death and life, the contrast between them and how they connect at the same time. Part of it felt like I had created my own lore too.

4. The Shadow Knight

→ the sole purpose of this fic is that I wanted to write fight scenes that's all 😂

5. Man. . . Or A Monster?

→ this is that one fic where it crushed me to the very bone. No other fic of mine had done that before until THIS ONE. I went all out and gave Jin-woo a bunch of traumas, even making him fall for Hae-in and learn how to love beyond the darkness within him — only to rip him away from her in a bittersweet way. Yes, Hae-in is his home, but what's a home if it is disastrous? Jin-woo left for the sake of everyone, especially for the sake of the person whom he loved the most, and for his own good too. I love that I made his character deep enough to make me feel strong emotions.

Tagging— @i-bring-crack @zuppizup @jelzorz @ everyone else who would like to participate!!

#tag games

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theautisticgamer · 10 months

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What Lego Sonic Sets Could We See in the Future?

Out of the dozens of ideas I had for my comeback article, Lego certainly wasn’t one of them, yet here we are, because we’re finally getting 5 official Lego Sonic sets in less than three weeks (August 2023) and all I’ve been thinking about are which ones I should buy. So to take a break from that, what about thinking about what sets we could and should be able to buy in the future?

I feel like more Sonic “Speed Sphere” sets are inevitable, it is a great gimmick for kids to play with. With Chemical Plant Zone and Studiopolis Zone already being in other Sonic toy sets, I feel like Speed Sphere sets based on these zones are highly likely. City Escape could be another great choice with the steep slopes and getting to build small buildings. But I’m more interested in sets of locations in the series, so let’s move on.

I think an absolute must for the next set is an Angel Island set with a Knuckles minifigure. This would have to be a smaller version of the island, such as version we saw in Sonic Adventure, but the island itself with the Master Emerald, its shrine, and the Knuckles figure to guard it would be cool, maybe one or two palm trees for it and a sand-colored trim would look nice but they’re not necessary. Clear poles to hold up Angel Island since it floats would be great for shelf-display purposes.

I’d say a set with Shadow and Rouge minifigures with an Omega brick-build character is another necessary one akin to the Angel Island set, but this trio of anti-heroes doesn’t really have a base or an iconic setting piece. However, since sets from the first wave included jet skis and hoverboards, Shadow’s motorcycle could be included. If SEGA or Lego don’t have a location in mind either, sell this set as it is with a lower price tag such as $25. It would be a mistake not to include these minifigures in the line-up in some way or form.

If we ever get more Eggman sets, additional minifigures that should be included are Metal Sonic and Orbot to go with the Cubot one that’s coming out in the first wave.

I feel like the Chao Garden from Sonic Adventure 2 would be an excellent choice. Despite being a small sandbox, it is extremely iconic and so many people would love this on their shelves. The first Lego Sonic set wave included play pieces for Amy Rose to take care of animal critters, so why not have a Chao set with similar themes? That would make this a great set for kids and adults alike. I’m not sure what minifigure should be included with this set, however. Cream is a possible suggestion, plus she’s not from Sonic Adventure 2, but I already have a set in mind for her. Despite it not being a logical fit, perhaps Silver could be in this set because there isn’t a otherwise reasonable set for him to be a part of and he does have a tenderhearted nature.

A set with Cream and Vanilla’s house could be cool, with Cream and Blaze minifigures (unfortunately Vanilla may not sell well) and brick-build version of Gemerl as an additional character. While this place exists in Sonic Rush we never get to see it there, however the IDW Comics are considered canon to the videogame lore and Cream’s house is a frequent place to visit. Sonic and his friends seem to stop by there often, and Blaze usually makes sure to visit Cream when she comes from her own dimension. It is also worth mentioning Blaze should be in this set since she’d likely not have a set of her own. Cream’s two chao, Cheese and Chocola, should be included also.

Continuing with even less likely possibilities, a Chaotix Detectives set would be nice. Similar to the Team Dark set with Shadow/Rouge/Omega, it could just be a smaller set for the sake of adding minifigures of the characters, but they did run their detective agency in their house in both the IDW Comics and Sonic X, and it’s not out of the question to include their home as a building similar to Tails’s workshop in the set. Trinkets in the house could include Vector’s desk and a phone/fax machine, missing posters, and an assortment of Ninja gadgets for Espio.

Even less likely, though I don’t feel that this is impossible, is a set of the Resistance/Restoration bunker from Sonic Forces and the comics, with minifigures of the comic characters that make up the new Diamond Cutters (Whisper, Tangle, Lanolin). The biggest problem with this is that not everyone reads comics. Whisper and Tangle already appeared as playable characters in Sonic Dash though, with Tangle being acknowledged as a canon character in Sonic Frontiers. Whisper and Tangle even had plush toys made by GE for their popularity. I believe the possibility/probability of this set strictly hinges on if the Diamond Cutters ever make it into one of the next games, as there isn’t enough widespread knowledge of these characters to a casual audience to justify a set like this as of now.

Honestly, even the Cream’s house set and the Chaotix Detective Agency set would hinge on similar factors. But I do believe it is possible that Lego would be willing to take such risks because of how many characters they’ve included in their Super Mario branded sets. If Lego was willing to go into obscure territory with various enemies and The Koopalings, they may be willing to do the same for Sonic if sales prove it to be worth the risk.

So while it’s a cheesy way to end the article, the best thing you can do to make any of these sets a reality is buying one or more of the new ones releasing August 1st, 2023. What sets would you love to see appear for the next waves of Lego Sonic? Please share your thoughts in the comments, because I genuinely love talking with the Sonic community.

#sega #sonic the hedgehog #video games #sonic team #sonic #sonic characters #lego sonic #lego builds #makelegosonicmoreeggman

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obitv · 1 year

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random question but what visions did you give people in your genshin au (and why if you're up to explain) ??? im curious :o also sorry if youve said this already by the way i just couldnt find it anywhere on your blog ^_^

if you go back to the start of "#gau tag" i have all their kits posted BUT i will give explanations for their visions. however i can never remember vision lore and dont know much abt hydro dendro or geo so if theyre here and i fuck it up. sorry :(

dakota - pyro. duh. i could get funky eith it if i REALLY wanted to but honestly i cant think of what i would make it otherwise... pyro is for a burning passion and dakota is VERY passionate about helping people. similar to canon he got it when his rooftop girl fell off a cliff

william - CRYO. CRYO. CRYO there is no doubt in my heart that hes cryo. this guy LOVES duality hes life and death at the same time yknow. also its blue, hes blue... have been debating giving him a delusion since in my au mal is more akin to an abyss lector (spirit world = abyss?) but like i really just want to do it so he can have blue flames sometimes too

vyncent - electro ^_^ i cant remember my exact logic but it made sense at the time and its purple, hes purple... honestly rn i cant remember anything about the common traits between electro users so maybe this could change

gillion - also electro also i dont know. i wanted to put him as hydro but was convinced otherwise... and his lightning powers are sick so. duh. i think this stuff is in my tag somewhere if you want to know why i picked these two honestly

jay - ANEMO!!!!!!!! need i say more. shes got the wind and bird motifs in canon already and just like. look at her and her character arc and tell me her deciding to stay with her crew wouldnt get her an anemo vision

chip - pyro ^_^ i mean this one is just. like. i dont think i reasonably Could give him anything else. hes got fire powers hes got the passion for a cause

ASHE I FORGOT ASHE shes electro too ^_^

also bonus round.. rumi electro Maybe... i honestly dont know what to do with apotheosis bc i do NOT know how i could turn exandroth or rumi into genshin kits esp since both of them use that divine golden energy and id feel bad changing the colour of it but neither od them would be geo i dont think

#gau tag #<- that one ^_^#mailing list

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insertdisc5 · 3 years

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Hi!! I wanted to ask, in celebration of Deltarune CH. 2, do you have any updated thoughts and head canons about the game?? Like, y'know, similar to a previous ask about Kris in your Deltarune tag? Thanks!

thoughts on kris part 2 i guess???? (part 1 from ch1 here lol)

spoilers for deltarune like woah. this wont be kris focused just random thoughts on everything. thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk

not that many thoughts for this chapter tbh! EDIT LOL: this was a lie i have a lot of thoughts

-just in general i feel like the player isn't the only one controlling kris... like yes the player forced kris to do what happened in the snowgrave route but AT THE SAME TIME idk it feels like there's someone else too. just because of the terrifying voice i suppose. and also the jerky movement kris does every time they get their soul out? unless there's another reason for it... maybe getting your soul out means you walk weird lol

-BUT ALSO i feel like kris is 100% in control when they create fountains. idk it just makes sense kris would create them. to create another world, a better world, A WORLD WHERE THEIR BROTHER IS HERE PERHAPS? i do wonder why they get their soul out then though. i'm all for it sweetie! do whatever! i support you!

-(i am and will be playing deltarune with only kris' best interests in mind. i will not hurt anyone unless kris wants me to. dont worry my little meow meow im on your side! talk to me! no? okay ill stay under the sink its fine)

-speaking of asriel. SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER VACATION COLLEGE WHEN? SUMMER (starts crying) V-VACATION COLLEGE WHEN

-kris misses their brother so much it's so sad. if you make kris steal 5$ from asriel they take it "reluctantly"? talking to asriel online so often even alphys knows?? the google search?? GOING INTO ASRIEL'S GOOGLE SEARCH ROOM WITH THEIR EYES CLOSED BECAUSE THEY'RE CONVINCED THEY ALREADY KNOW WHATS IN THERE? THAT ONE IS LESS OF A MISSING THING BUT IM LIKE OH MY GOD

-the city walk with susie at the end makes it clear to me that kris really values susie's friendship... kris even sits with her if you spend long enough near the lake like aaaaah ;_;

-and even in snowgrave you spend your last acts with the final boss calling for your friends like YES there's a way bigger creepy aspect to this (kris as more of a Leader who Commands and commands their subjects to come) but still :'0 (and then noelle answers oh my god noelle im so sorry for the trauma)

-berdly. listen. listen. listen. liste

-berdly sucks but [berdly hurts his arm in the battle against queen if you don't save him because he doesnt want to hurt you] [berdly realizing smg's wrong in snowgrave and immediately taking steps to save noelle] berdly is my little crumb nugget. i will protect him.

-noelle. noelle. girlboss!

-like ooooh listen. hearing about the genocide path for undertale. made me go "that is SO COOL. i HAVE to experience it myself this is great. hehehe killing time" and like no regrets. i was fully enjoying the experience knowing i was an awful person. SNOWGRAVE THOUGH. i will never try this myself its too fucked up. casually grooming your childhood friend to murder people <3 and also acting like a weird stalker towards her <3 stockholm syndrome speedrun i will get all the info i can about this but i will never do this myself

-people remarking the kris/player>noelle relationship is similar to the relationship between player>chara in genocide path is like yes. chefs kiss. don't worry we just are making you stronger and everything will be fine "you made me kill my friend? and for what?" this is fine sweetie don't worry about it!!!!!!

-like the amount of details added to snowgrave, like if you equip noelle's watch she notices later? and her battle animations change as time goes on, she gets an ice shield and stops sighing in relief after battle? oh my god? oh my god.

-(berdly is not awake.) JUST KILL ME RIGHT HERE I HAVEN'T STOPPED THINKING ABOUT BERDLY NOT BEING AWAKE!!!!!

-also why didnt he turn into dust. so many possible reasons. is magic a thing in the normal world and perhaps no magic means no dust (theres graves). maybe he isnt dead. maybe hes braindead. maybe he'll come back. either way that boy is now in the closet big enough to put someone in

-also dess' name probably being december AND THATS WHY NOELLE LOST THE SPELLING BEE?!?!??! FUCK ME UP!!!!! JUST FUCK ME UP!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

-also so many good pixel art this chapter. too many? i didnt need pixel art of cardboard noelle falling on the statue. like thank you but please. please it hurts my game artist brain.

-the expressions in this chapter were also top notch. all the unsettling noelle expressions like (i fall over face first)

-i threw away the ball of junk (which i already tried in ch1) and this time the game was like "ARE YOU SURE BC THIS IS A BAD IDEA" and kris felt bitter :'( (it deletes all your items in the dark world)

-i uh fucked up and skipped the susie+noelle scene bc listen last time ralsei mentionned seeing what susie is doing we missed some PRIMO LORE. turns out it just makes you skip the scene and you dont get anything new. welp

-speaking of ralsei well you know. he exists. but im stuck on him going "i just wonder what being ralsei-like even is...?" ralsei my dude there's so much i could say about this. do you feel like you can't be ralsei-like because you feel like you have to be asriel-like

-but also that makes no sense bc susie hasnt even mentioned ralsei looks like asriel. and i cant imagine asriel being so meek. so WHAT GIVES

-ralsei as kris’ “i wish i was a monster just like my bro and family and i’d look like asriel but with red horns [THE HALLOWEEN COSTUME] and my name would be something cool like ralsei instead of a boring human name like kris and im sweet and cute because thats how i act with asriel because ASRIEL MADE ME” theory because that would be cute.

-ASRIEL GOING TO THE CHURCH TO CONFESS HIS "SINS" WHEN "SINS" AREN'T A THING IN THE ANGEL BELIEF LIKE I KNOW THIS INTERACTION WAS TREATED AS A JOKE BUT WHAT THE FUCK ASRIEL?

-kris definitely has a connection with the big red door in the city, judging by what the kids say they probably went there... i feel like this place's dark world will be the Final Dungeon you KNOW some shit happened there. also the sounds you hear when you go there is the phone dark world call's sound slowed down? AND AFTER SNOWGRAVE APPARENTLY YOU CANT HEAR IT ANYMORE? HUWAH?

-speaking of songs the songs were all so good, My Castle Town rules, the berdly snowgrave music is stuck in my head, flashback is uwah wuahah, Until Next Time is so good, AND ALSO A FRIEND NOTICED THE DARK WORLD CITY THEME IS JUST tHE SONG 74 (MOST NOTICEABLE WITH THE SNOWGRAVE VERSION)?????? WHAT DOES IT MEAN????? it might be just "hey its just reuse" BUT MR FOX YOU KNOW WE'RE GONNA READ INTO THIS IS NOELLE THE ONE SINGING IDK BRO!!!!!!!!!!

-asgore dreemurr fired from the force what happun!!!!! game theory is that asgore is related to dess' death/disappearance but eh who knows

-you start the chapter at lvl2 and get to lvl3 after the final boss, a friend mentioned this is probably because we destroyed a world and im :0

-to go back to kris it's still so interesting to figure out who they are based on how they act/people mention them. like kris shaking the ferris wheel car? yeah makes sense i can imagine a pranking kid do this. kris' dance? yeah thats a little silly but i can buy it. doing cool anime poses? well i dunno this doesnt line up PERFECTLY but sure. BUT EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN SNOWGRAVE... especially >proceed like that is such a weird thing that i can't imagine them doing, but i can't completely see the "player" doing either (compare with going to sans -which kris doesnt know- and going "SANS!" because of course the player would know sans), like THATS one of the reasons i feel like there's someone else in there. the weird robotic merciless actions. if im going super meta it feels like there'd be someone else like writing the choices into existence for us to pick you know? gaster probably? god i need to read more gaster theories i completely sidestepped the gaster shit bc i wasnt interested. anyway just spitballing

-(looks at big shot guy) please dont make him the next tumblr guy i beg you

-obligatory "queen was great" mention if only because this part made me laugh a little bit too hard

that was a lot. thank you for letting me talk

#ask tag #deltarune #deltarune spoilers #snowgrave spoilers

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trappedham · 2 years

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also, HECK- your theory on vengestone being connected to the oni and the first realm, and the mask of vengeance?? FHDJHDKDHDJDJ THATS SUCH A COOL TAKE HECK- 🤩 what exactly is the full theory?:D

oh! also- what's aspheera's role in the au, if that doesn't come up in the other ask? asking bc i actually thought she was kinda interesting + had a lot of potential as a villain🤔

also lol- is the au the reason you went through the entirety of the ronin tag? 😂 /pos

Let me tell you, I was 100% ready to Get Into It on my whole Vengestone "theory" and its deep connections to the Oni and the First Realm but that's a tangent best saved for another post. I don't quite consider it a theory, just because with my Written in Stone AU I'm remixing Ninjago's pre-established lore and it fits best in the context of that AU. Plus, it is pretty extensive and I can already tell this is going to be a long post. I'm sorry this took so long to answer, Vengestone post to come soon 😅 I'll be sure to tag you in it!

That being said, YES, this AU is 1000% to blame for my Ronin brainrot, so I raided the Ronin tag as one does the kitchen for midnight snacks. I am not sorry.

LORE DUMP INBOUND COME GET YALL JUICE @masterofswag213 @spookycrownblaze

Finally, of course: Aspheera's role.

So far, I havent established a whole lot about Aspheera's role in Written in Stone, I like to jump around quite a bit in the timeline when I'm developing plot. Speaking of which, I don't think Aspheera will be post-Overlord: I'm trying really hard to save the Overlord for last in my roster of villains. I have some really great ideas for him, and I cant wait to get to him.

Anyways, we're getting off topic: Aspheera. I really liked how her past with the Garma-brothers set her up to become a villain, so I wont be touching that too much. I'm not too sure about Aspheera's escape, just because with all of my pre-existing alterations to canon lore and all that, it doesn't work anymore. In fact, I'm not too sure Aspheera should even be ALIVE. Like, the rest of her kind are DEAD and she's been IMPRISONED for 1,000 years (I think) . . . something doesn't add up. So, being revived is an option. The Grundle was wished back from extinction, I don't see why the same can't be done for her.

And speaking of wishing, Nadakhan! 🥳

I was considering before, whether Aspheera and Nadakhan should join forces and the answer has only ever been a resounding yes from myself and others. They'd be so OP together

And now that I've brought Nadakhan into the mix, and with Aspheera needing to be revived, and Nadakhan's limitations, well someone needs to wish Aspheera back into the land of the living, don't they? Who better than fellow Serpentine enthusiast Master Emperor Chen himself?

I imagine Aspheera and Nadakhan would form a pact pretty quickly and cross Chen as soon as he used his three wishes- but also Nadakhan has a tendency to just. not stick around and find other people to pawn wishes off of so... idk, Nadakhan's a fun element in all of this to play around with. but also messy. VERY messy.

Aspheera, if she ever does use her wishes, or if Nadakhan manipulates her to, she'd probably wish for something to increase her/their power, a staff of spinjitzu or minions or something... MAYBE even that Amber-like power, which... Skylor 👀👀👀👀

I did also have a few ideas for the Serpentine and their apparent species-wide connection to the Elemental Powers. This is also true of other (i hesitate to say super-powered but) races like the Djinn, the Oni, Dragon, ect. so here are a few screenshots from my discord:

But back to Nadakhan and his role, I don't want him to creep on Nya bc thats just. a little much. And also, I don't think it's ever mentioned how when he realizes that Nya looks pretty much identical to Delara that they must've been the same/of similar age so Delara couldn't have been more than a TEENAGER when he knew her... First Ronin, and now this, come on, Ninjago writers 🙄

Other than that, Nadakhan has one other major role in this plot, and that's with Jay. More specifically, his biological parents. I don't think Nadakhan was used to his fullest potential back in S6, and with his shape-shifiting abilities, I would have LOVED to see him manipulate Jay AS HIS FATHER(?). I made a meme about this awhile ago, and I'll link it if I can find it. but I just think Nadakhan has SO MUCH potential and I am positively THRILLED to use it.

There's another plot idea for Aspheera I had awhile ago that I don't think I've talked about here: DIY Great Devourer. There's a lot about DIY Great Devourer I could talk about, but the one I most want to talk about are the candidates. Plural. Before, I was really considering Pythor- I mean, boy ATE his entire tribe. Uncanny. And then I was rewatching the episode Aspheera was introduced in for this post and I noticed something peculiar...

Consume. all Ninjago. Hmm...

Continuing down that line of thought: the Fangblades are necessary for a Great Devourer and what are they made of? The Great Devourer's Teeth. I did find a little conflict between whether the Fangblades were made of the Great Devourer's Teeth OR some sort of silver metal, but I did find it interesting that the Trivia mentioned that they were made from the "original teeth" of the Great Devourer.

Does this mean that the Great Devourer we see in Rise of the Serpentine wasn't the original? or that it has a set of false teeth? I mean, it did bite Garm (in canon, at least) so...

Now, for the sake of Written in Stone's lore, lets say there was an Original Great Devourer AND that the Fangblades were made with it's teeth... now, who does that remind me of?

wow, I get ONE question about Aspheera and now I'm talking about the FSM ha

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chicoriii · 3 years

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Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

---------

I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

#miraculous ladybug #ml mr. pigeon 72 #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #chicoriii about S4 episodes #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii #original post

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nighttimepixels · 3 years

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TALK TO US ABOUT MASS EFFECT I HAVE BEEN AN INSANE MASS EFFECT/SHAKARIAN TRASH PERSON SINCE 20-FUCKING-11 AND LEMME TELL YOU THOSE FEELINGS HAVENOT TARNISHED A SINGLE FRACTION IN THOSE TEN YEARS OH MY GOOOOOOODDDSSSS!!!!!!!

I DEMAND A PLAY-BY-PLAY UP TO THE MINUTE OF YOUR REACTIONS TO EVERYTHING!!!!

you are so valid and I totally see why everyone I've ever mentioned it to loves the hell out of it

aksdjlsdfj I meannnn if you want to hear my rambling about it then hell yeah

Okay, gonna put this below the cut to save everyone else XD also- since I'm not leaving this Mass Effect obsession anytime soon, if you're not interested in seeing occasional posts about it, please feel free to block the tag "night plays ME"~

(mild spoilers ahead??)

((also for real I mean it when I say this is rambling as hell lol, apologies and no stress if absolute no one reads all this))

OKAY SO Mass Effect 1-

Stars help me, I was honestly hooked right from the start?? Like even in Legendary Edition (the combined trilogy just re-released in one "can play it on one system + minor improvements", for anyone who doesn't know) where it's smoothed out, of course it's obvious that ME1 is a decade old... but the foundation for these relationships are all there and gods I love them already.

Like - Kaiden right off the top is a delightful good fightin lad, what the hell. I've heard that he's viewed as 'bland' by a good portion of the fan community but I dunno, he's a delight and even more complex by the time 2 rolls around and you encounter him on Horizon, it was honestly Ashley I was way more meh about - mostly because before you can learn about her family history/etc, she comes off as hella xenophobic and I was immediately offended for my growing space family that she didn't like/trust all the aliens around, pfff.

(she gets redeemed a bit through further actions/evolving thoughts, but I thought in retrospect it was a bummer that they didn't flip the order there, give her a chance to be liked before the complicating factor of being so rude about aliens >:c that then she could grow from... ah well. Apparently she has a good arc but uh, let's just say I chose Kaiden at the "key junction" in the latter part of the game so I won't be seeing anymore of Ashley uh... anytime soon, haha.)

Garrus??? Is??????? The ABSOLUTE best???????????

I liked him from the start, I'm always a bit of a sucker for a rogue-detective "the system won't bring this bastard to justice, so I've got to" type and all their moral shadiness XD But he just gets better, honestly, and where I'm at in ME2 (right before the Reaper IFF mission, as of typing this, with everyone's loyalty!) I am only digging myself deeper into this hole-

-*wheezing* okay anyways -

Wrex is AMAZING I love fightin' middle-aged krogan bastard, gods. Liara is great too, I'm a sucker for a wlw relationship (playing fem!Shepard, so) - buuuut I'll admit she's a bit more one-note in ME1. Last week while I was still on ME1 I remember hearing (while trying to dodge spoilers) that her arc is really good, though. I think they leaned a little hard on the 'innocent but sexy' sterteotype on her (so despite the yikes aspect of a few of the things I've learned in ME2, lol, I actually really like the complexity that's been added to her character.)

Saved Liara first, so by the time I got to Noveria and had the standoff with Benezia there was the chance to have emotions over Liara having to face her TwT and of course, I made the questionable but quality decision to free Queen Rachni heheh. no ragrets

More than a blow-by-blow of my choices though I totally wanna take the chance to say that even in the mild jankiness of ME1 (goddammit, the Mako.... please..... please just go up this impossible cliff I just want to resource hunt-) the way that the lore, both obvious/key to main plot and the lesser/filler/background/world-building kinds... I just love it. It incorporates it well, you can go ham in the codex learning more, or just dive into the basics - it's clearly a complex galaxy (and they do an even better job in 2 of fleshing it out further), and it never really felt overwhelming. It was pretty natural figuring it all out-!

Plus the interesting implications of resource hunting amongst the sapient races, and the little side missions you better bet I did every one of- there's so much rich depth in the story if you do 'em!! (And that lead with that Keeper side mission...? Looking back, damn, clever foreshadowing-!!!)

And oh my gods, Ilios??? hell yeah. I loved that mission so much, especially having Garrus & Kaiden with me when talking to the hologram/computer, and more than anything, that last sprint in the Mako trying to get to the jump before it closed-???

yeet the boi-

Also mannn I love a good setpiece, and having to go up the side of the elevator, space-side?? such a cool setup!!

Plus it felt good having been Paragon enough (as simple as the good v bad vibe system is, I don't hate it, lol) to avoid one of the Saren fights, ngl. And the er, "second fight" with Sovereign-Saren.... hell yeah

... I'll admit I had to double check my choice re whether to save the Council. I did in the end, but I swear, sometimes the way they phrase things I'm like ".... okay but Garrus is right, defeating Sovereign is more important than these few leaders??????" woops. Listen, priorities, is all I'm saying..... (￣ヮ￣|||)ゞ

'Course later they emphasize (in ME2) that there were 10,000 people on that same ship and I was like well I wouldn't have second guessed if I'd known that, I mean c'mon-

Also I did indeed romance Liara in this one, so I got that scene ;Dc But,,,, I also knew by the end that I was totally gonna romance Garrus in 2 since he's an option then finally,,,,, lemme tell you the guilt as I waffled over whether to romance Liara bc of it. hahaha.

Aaaaand Mass Effect 2-

So I'm only up to right before the Reaper IFF Mission, so I don't know the ending, etc etc lol. That said, I've just finished every side mission I've found with the exception of the Shadowbroker Quest and the Arrival Quest (I've heard the latter basically leads into ME3, and the former is best either right before the Omega 4 jump or in postgame).

So from the start - fuck yeah fuck yeah what a high adrenaline start Shepard noooooo but also yes save Joker aH-

The motion comic too hot damn nice job

I loved this setup, seriously - especially forcing Shep into this situation, having to work with/for Cerberus, and the compelling reasoning given behind "why" they do what they do (I especially found it a good point that the Salarians have the Task Force, the Asaris the Commandos, the Turians the- etc... like, true, when you put it like that, having a similar group advancing human interests/solving human interstellar problems is pretty reasonable...). That said, I love too that it really isn't shied away from how Cerberus is nonetheless fucked up - or its at least done fucked up stuff.

Listen, I still think some messed up stuff is gonna be revealed in 2's endgame......... after that Horizon mission and the Collector's ship???? TIM I SEE YOU YOU SHADY MF-

aaanyways lol...

I'm so so glad on a gameplay level they nixed the Mako style exploration. A few Hammerhead missions are fine and a lot more focused than the slippery ass navigation in that glorified ATV, pfff. The probes are a neat way of getting after similar resources - and more importantly, having good levels and some good hubs (the Zakera Wards, Omega, Ilium, etc) is way way more fun than having a more 'sprawling' space that is.... a lot of empty nonsense, lol.

Then there's the fact that we get Joker right off the bat and you can interact with him so much - and him and EDI??? Get out gods I love them. Kasumi is so right when she says they sound like a bickering old married couple lol. I have a terrible feeling that some shit is gonna happen with EDI..... but I don't think she's evil as-is, at least.

Side-eying the hell out of those "access forbidden" parts of her that she doesn't even know.... and the fact that her AI core has a locked door access................... something's gonna happen gdi LEAVE OUR ADOPTED AI ALONE.

(Also Joker pls stop fracturing your thumb on the mute button)

Also please save me there are so many hot aliens in this game,,,,, the xeno/monsterfuckers really comin' through strong in the sequels............... doin' the lord's work........................................

In general, I love how many levels ME stepped up in two with complexity and interwoven narratives!! Like, to the point it'd be almost a drag to replay ME1, even though it was fun going through it (if occasionally a bit tedious with the cookie cutter rando planet science/mine facilities, lol). Like, just from how fun and interesting ME2 is, mostly! more of all the pre-introduced races, plus new ones, plus more filling in of intragalactic politics, and more interesting implications of all these space-faring races mixing....

Also gods WREX and his planet holy shit,,,,, fuckin' hell yeah my man get their shit together and also adopt Grunt yes good-

And Mordin??? My singing semi-evil scientist best friend forced to confront his choices more than he thought he ever would have???? With some of the best ongoing general report chatter of all the companions??

(when I tell you I choked on my coffee when I talked to him after confirming romance choice w/ Garrus and that 'pamphlet' and 'anaphalactic shot if ingesting-' kajsldkfjsldfjk)

Like, fuck, the fact that they actually dive into the mixed morality and horrors of the genophage, and you can confront Mordin on it, for good reason, yet he still stands his ground, until finally some bits of his loyalty mission seem to... affect him, and I'm guessing might set up things for 3 with him? Unsure, but either way, damn, the fact that they start to dig into it...

And Taliiiii my beloved forbidden alien wife TwT her loyalty mission was SO GOOD. I love how varied they all are?? Getting to defend her and discover what she'd unwittingly been a part of-!!

Zaeed is a bastard but tbh I love that he is and that he's unapologetic in him - and Kasumi omg, best thief. A heist?? Gods, yes- I love our couch lounge chats XD

Samara is..... illegally.......... she's an illegally powerful and beautiful and eloquent MILF...........................

(.... listen I'm sapphic as hell and I'm kicking my own ass for picking her up last aksjdlfksjdfl - but her loyalty mission, damn. And seeing how there's this interesting cultural subset, and the struggle with the Asari in that they unquestioningly accept/respect justicars, but also know that the impact outside their culture is a diplomacy nightmare waiting to happen-)

,.,,,,,T,,, Thane,,,,,

I am weak for morally implicated murder dads okay?? And that voice??? His mannerisms?????? How you first see him, and that prayer after assassinating her...???????? And his history/his people's history with the hanar, gods I love how messy it is, it feels so much more real!

Also Jack is a mess and I love her (and want to get her some therapy, omg), and her and Miranda nearly duking it out after you've done both their loyalty missions??? so good and makes a lot of sense-! Honestly I would love more interactions between teammates on the ship, but there's already so much the devs had to balance I can't blame 'em for minimizing, heh. But suffice to say I also love Miranda and Jacob, even if I'm softest for my alien crew XD Hell yeah Jacob, we'll get loud and spill drinks on the citadel indeed TwT

.... I could write a whole essay on how much I love Garrus oTL Perhaps because he and Tali are the throughlines from 1 on your 2 crew, I have some of the strongest feelings about them... but genuinely, he was one of my favorite companions in the first game, and how you find him as Archangel in two? Getting to help him fight his way out after he's gone nearly 48 hours straight fighting off three gangs alone, jfc. His vengeance quest and what can happen there.... That line? fuck me, that line -

It's so much easier to see the world in black and white. Grey? I don't know what to do with gray...

How DARE you come for my heart like this, devs holy shit

(also, some other choice faves so far from the series from him include We can disobey suicidal orders?? and This wasn't in my training manual... [in 1, if you have him with you @ th Thorian fight] and his whole.... pop the heat sink - in his romance ;Dc)

asdasdfksadjfkl like I said I can write an essay on him PFFF suffice to say I'm very looking forward to his romance scene and where things go in 3

But yeah gods I'm just gonna keep rambling if I'm not careful lol. Gods I don't even know what to talk about it's all so good and while I can understand people roasting the obviousness of Paragon V Renegade (v neutral) choices/alignments, I think they do a pretty damn good job in 2 of pushing it further - to the point that there were some times that I accidentally got renegade points and I wasn't that mad, haha. There's so much fun in the interactions that I just have a good time anyways~

I have so many thoughts about TIM (The Illusive Man) and Cerberus.... theories evolving galore............... and like, what the hell!! Omega 4 going to the center of the galaxy is such a cool twist, goddamn - though my heart still breaks at losing Kaiden (his line if you haven't romanced him?? about feeling like he lost a limb when he lost you??? holy shit.... but I also can't blame him for not trusting Cerberus to the point of it affecting his ability to trust Shepard... like fuck Shep go after himmmm) I'm really excited to see where that goes since he comes back in 3, and what the fuck happens with Cerberus bc while I love the fact that obviously there are a lot of people in it for the right reasons, doing good work, there are those that are doing the opposite, and I have a very bad feeling about where TIM will end up landing....

All that said though I need to do the Reaper IFF mission (where I'm lightly spoiled as to getting That Boy, but not how/what happens to make it so - just that it's apparently wise to have all your side missions done before getting him...) and the actual Omega 4 jump. So we'll see what happens and what I think about it from there heheh!

.... major kudos and genuine props if you made it here to the end, I am so sorry for not editing on condensing all this, and appreciate you so much ;w;

#night answers #night plays ME #(yes that's a purposeful pun lol)#((i sure have played myself by starting this series its so good aksdjflskjfd))

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bestbonnist · 3 years

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Chapter 141.2

Izumi backstory! IZUMI BACKSTORY!!

OK before I begin analyzing the actual content in this chapter, I'd like to discuss why Fushi is so lenient with Izumi in particular despite having talked to her only once for two seconds. This could be explained by Fushi's tendency to view all humans as fundamentally good, or their wish that Mizuha has a happy life surrounded by supportive people, but I think an exchange from Chapter 125.2 leans towards a different interpretation. After Mizuha shares how Izumi lied about where she got the new hairband, Fushi says this:

Mizuha quickly shuts them down, but when they take Izumi's side it implies that they relate more to her than they do to Mizuha. They later prove that they personally believe this is a reasonable decision when they hide the fact that the world isn't peaceful from their friends later in the manga.

I thought Satoru left in the previous chapter, but no, he's really been dragged to a fast food place at 12:00 A.M. Sumika must be having a fit. He hasn't really done much since he appeared in the previous chapter, but before they disperse for the night he'll probably have something to say.

Yuuki is really, really pushing to do what Hirotoshi did. It suits his optimistic personality but "making Mizuha want to live again" isn't possible. I've said this before, I'll say it again: Mimori was put in a position where she was forced to say she wanted to live, or else someone would die. That's not a choice, and it's not the "living for herself" that Hirotoshi said he wanted her to do. Mizuha and Mimori both lived for the sake of their mothers instead of themselves, and it didn't turn out well. Replacing one botched relationship with another won't change a thing, as Fushi has successfully proven. The relationship between Mimori and Miyabi never developed at all, we were given context and then Mimori was stuffed back into her old life with no elaboration.

The flashback of Fushi's talk with the Left Hand from Izumi's perspective is intriguing, because I think it's from the moment when Fushi was talking with Mizuha, when she asked them to love her and for a hug. Izumi saw that and realized that (1) her daughter has a desperate need for comfort and affection and (2) said need comes from the absence of those things from her family. That's when she had her big revelation, processed it quietly, and then continued to follow Mizuha until the confrontation in the rain where she decided that Mizuha was too far gone to bother saving.

And so we get Izumi's backstory. Fucking FINALLY. So first thing is that she's talented but unable to connect with others just like Mizuha is, but while Mizuha never stops trying to make friends, Izumi doesn't bother being cordial with her classmates. They're both very aware of their pride and look to others to accept it. Izumi's latched onto Mizuha as the only one who can affirm her, and Mizuha's done the same with Fushi.

A little bit of lore surrounding the knockers and Hayase's descendants is sprinkled into the story: "everyone says they were mankind's enemy" means that most people believe that the knockers, at one point, existed, unlike Fushi who's considered a legend or maybe an exaggeration of a real person. The Left Hand has been elevated to a position of power within the Defense Corps. too. Instead of something kept around to serve Hayase's descendants it's now considered holy. Interestingly, the focus of the Defense Corps. also seems to have shifted from Fushi to Hayase. Kahaku has not been completely erased from the narrative like I thought he was, but the way Izumi's dad describes things it sounds like the Left Hand was the one defending Renryrr side by side with Fushi with Kahaku tagging along, when in reality the Left Hand was an impediment. His phrasing also implies that the Left Hand going to Paradise was a chosen ascension to a higher plane of existence instead of Kahaku's effort to destroy it for good that it desperately tried to avoid.

As we see how Mizuha was initially raised, it looks like there was a healthy separation between her and Izumi unlike what they had before she died. Mizuha enjoyed trying lots of different things but it doesn't look like she was particularly skilled at any of them, she was putting her all into it and Izumi was proud of that.

I've been wondering why Izumi ended up marrying a white guy. Visually, it adds contrast to a character who hasn't really done anything other than exist in the background. At first I thought it was to add to the distance between Mizuha and her peers: most of them are of the same ethnicity while she is not. But as I began inferring more about Izumi I also thought she chose to marry someone as far removed from the Defense Corps.—a cult that hasn't garnered enough influence to spread outside Yanome—as she thought possible, which was apparently not far enough. Either this man was raised in Yanome but lied about it, or is a foreigner who moved to Japan, meaning the Defense Corps. got him hooked really quickly, or they do reach outside of Yanome and Izumi never knew.

Although Izumi's husband insists he didn't marry her solely on her dad's orders, his first move after she finds out is to take advantage of Mizuha's distress to get Izumi to back down. Maybe he really does love them, but preserving his position in their family matters more to him than their happiness.

So now we understand a lot more about who Izumi is as a person, and even if the next chapter doesn't finish this flashback we can still infer what happens next. Izumi and Mizuha were quite similar when they were younger. But the key difference, and what caused Izumi to raise Mizuha in the way she did, was her stubbornness. She needs Mizuha to be the proof that she's in the right, which she thinks will give her hope to live, by having Mizuha follow in her footsteps and succeed where she failed. Anything else would be akin to admitting defeat, and Izumi will not. If Mizuha's running into a brick wall, she shouldn't change direction: she just needs to push harder.

The final panel where Izumi's clinging on to Mizuha mirrors the one where her father grabbed onto her in their cluttered house on an earlier page. I think that says enough on its own.

#fumetsu no anata e #to your eternity #to you the immortal #fnae #fnae spoilers #fnae manga spoilers #fnae anime spoilers #present era #new world arc #chapter 141.2 #izumi #fushi #immo #mizuha

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fyeahnix · 3 years

Text

Pathfinder's Quest — Bangalore/Wraith, Voidstrike Shipping Speculation? (7/7)

I'm going to talk about my thoughts on the Apex Legends lore book in a series of smaller posts. I have a LOT of fractured thoughts on this book and it would be unnecessarily long if I were to list them out in the same post. If you want to skip to some other post because the content in this one doesn't sound interesting, please do so! I will be numbering the posts and tagging them with "nix talks apex book lore" if you'd like to follow these specific posts and "apex book spoilers" if you'd like to avoid them.

This special post will strictly be about Voidstrike speculation. Keep in mind that this is speculation with a theory based on available lore. You don't have to take this seriously, but if you ship Voidstrike in any capacity, you might want to read this. Caution that this post will be very long and will contain quite a few images from the book as well as Broken Ghost and other supporting material. Let's go!

Book Content + Supporting Material

All right. I've been waiting an entire month to write up this post. You all know by now that Voidstrike is my OTP for Apex Legends. The unfortunate problem with this ship, like some other ships in Apex, is that they have the bare minimum of interaction with each other. Even in this book that proves to be true, except for one interesting little exchange through Pathfinder...

Do you see this comment? I asked Tom Casiello, Senior Writer of Apex Legends and Target of Internet Scorn (just poking fun at his twitter bio here), about it on Twitter and this is what he said:

Yes, that's right, y'all. These two have beef. I can imagine Wraith is little pissed about the whole "headcase" thing from Season 5's Broken Ghost quest:

I mean, can you blame Wraith? Anita’s kind of an asshole in canon, if we’re being honest, so Wraith wanting to get back at her in some way makes sense. She went the fuck off on Mirage when he made a similar comment about her in the Season 6 comic posted on Twitter. What's even weirder is Anita's response when Pathfinder tells her what Wraith said:

Now. I know what you’re thinking. “Nix, it’s not that deep, Anita’s just being a sarcastic dick.” And you would likely be correct, and I would not disagree with you. On the next page, however, this exchange happens:

First of all, why would Anita ask "why would Wraith tell me anything?" Has she tried talking to Wraith before and Wraith may have been closed off and/or hesitant? Or maybe she doesn't fully trust Anita because Anita has such strong feelings about the IMC? Is she... hurt by Wraith not telling her things? Did Wraith try to open up once before, get shot down by Anita's reaction to the IMC, and Anita's been a little salty about it since, henceforth, the shitty "headcase" comment? Maybe Wraith is being a little shit and getting back at her in a weird way. This comment initially sounded vaguely flirty but what do I know except the writers haven't been known to just write things for literally no reason...

Lots to think about here, but I'm hoping we'll get a follow-up to this in-game at some point.

And second of all, why would Pathfinder ask if they're best friends? I know he has an interesting view of who he considers friends...generally people who have talked to him for more than a minute:

But a “best friend”? What would give him that assumption about these two? Is it because they have some things in common? Or has he seen them interacting more than we (the players and lorehounds) know of? Is it because of their one exchange in Broken Ghost? I don’t think so at all. Granted, right on the next page Anita calls Wraith a lab rat (pretty shitty!), but as we learn later on, she is really sensitive and defensive about people who speak badly about the IMC (more on this in my post about Bangalore). I'm thinking Path mentioning Wraith being IMC pissed her off because Wraith, overall, blames them for what happened to her.

In any case, it's an interesting question to ask, and I do have to wonder if Wraith and Anita have been seen talking to one another for more than a minute lol. But Anita's answer is intriguing. She doesn't flat out say no. We know Anita to be very direct—sarcastic, sure—but generally you'd expect a straight fucking answer from her. Here, she doesn't even give one. She beats around the bush for an answer. What I think is happening here is about the same as her talking about Octane and Mirage. Remember that loading screen from Season 3? No? Well, let me refresh your memory...

Send in the Clowns (Season 3 Loading Screen)

Numbnuts! That’s what Mama used to call guys like that. You know the type. Big jokes, big trucks, big wallets...they need all that big to cover up what’s small. I got four brothers. Real gentlemen, raised with respect. They don’t have to woo-hoo their way through a battlefield like it’s a joke and they’re the punchline. Sorry, Laughtrack. The only punchline is you’re going home in a box.

Maybe Silva isn’t so bad. He’d take a bullet for anyone… mostly ‘cause he’s already fifty paces ahead, charging in with no game plan and even less strategy. Witt’s had my back more than once. And whatever, he’s gotten a chuckle out of me. Occasionally. Maybe they’re good. For morale, I mean. I mean… I just need them to stay out of my way.

She's just... like that. Anita is the type of person who won't openly admit that she actually likes or respects anyone. She's guarded, and she's probably been this way since her brother Jackson died. And that's where Loba comes in.

See, I think Loba has been making Anita rethink some things about opening up. Anita initially pegged Loba wrong, and in her chapter, Pathfinder basically figures out that she initially hated Loba because Loba reminds her of her older brother's shitty girlfriend:

I think Loba's purpose in her and Anita's budding friendship is to eventually lead Anita to opening up to others, especially Wraith, since Path mentioned they have a lot in common, which is something I've been saying for fucking months. Now, Wraith and Anita haven't really had any interaction that we know of outside of Broken Ghost and the book, but there have been some....very minor hints/foreshadowing. I'm going to preface this by saying you may think I'm being a little...out there with these points, but trust me, we'll touch on why these matter later. For now:

Back in Season 1, both Bangalore and Wraith were the first two Legends to get Legendary skins in the Legendary Hunt themed event. First occurence is an incident.

In the Season 3 opening trailer, Caustic throws a gas canister inside a room and you can vaguely see Bangalore and Wraith in the room on the same team:

In the Legend select screen, these two were right next to each other up until they were separated in Season 6. They were together. Five. Straight. Seasons. Was there another, more subtle reason they were separated? Common sense would say no, it's because we're getting more Legends and the UI needs to change to accommodate. Shipping and speculation sense would say maybe it's metaphorical and foreshadowing a story element. Maybe something happened between them that we aren't aware of yet and they've separated.

At the end of Season 6 for the Fight or Fright Halloween event, we got a bundle of skins called the Wicked Wraith bundle. Guess who's in it? Bangalore and Wraith plus some gun skins. But only these two Legends.. Hm.. Two's a coincidence.

In Season 7, we got the Black Friday event where we got both Airship Assassin and Outland Warrior back in the shop, two beloved Wraith and Bangalore skins respectively. Three's a pattern, and with this lovely banner:

In Season 8, for the Two-Year Anniversary Event, both Bangalore and Wraith received stat trackers of their concept art... We typically only get two Legends' trackers per each event with a prize track, and we got these two for this event? I predicted back in October 2020 that they would get stat trackers in the same event, but I didn't expect this event out of everything.

If one's an incident, two's a coincidence, and three's a pattern, then what's four very similar occurrences?

If you've read up to this point, you're either deprived for Voidstrike content like I am, or wondering just how much further I'm willing to dig for hints to support this ship. Trust me, I have a little more.

I am predicting that Anita and Wraith will start having some interaction starting Season 9 or 10. Why? Well, back at the start of Season 7, there was a Reddit AMA with the senior team members of Respawn. It was mostly to address the battlepass issue, but Manny Hagopian, the Lead Writer for Apex Legends, was also there answering questions, so I took a shot and asked him one:

You can totally chalk this up to typical “I can’t say anything right now” PR talk, sure, but I think he's hinting that this was in the plans. Tom has also said something:

Now, granted, this is Tom and mostly everyone takes whatever he says with a grain of salt, myself included, but it's worth keeping an eye on since what Manny says kind of lines up. We were supposed to get a follow-up to Broken Ghost, but that story, whatever it was, ended up being... let's say, "altered"? Tom has a thread on what actually happened on Twitter (that I did link here, but removed for fear of this post not appearing in the tags), but the follow-up was essentially "axed" and bits and pieces of it had to be kicked down the road in various different formats in the lore. What does this have to do with Season 9 and my theory?

Well, there's supposed to be some crazy stuff happening in Season 9 and I think we're going to start to see some elements pop up from what was supposed to happen in Broken Ghost. Why? Well another thing Tom said from that same Twitter thread:

I think whatever Tom was working on was related to IMC, Bangalore, and Wraith. And the reason I believe this is because of a now-deleted video from Chris Edgerly’s twitch stream from back around May 27th, 2020 or so where Tom was a guest. I unfortunately didn’t think to archive the page or video so I don’t have it, but I can say with confidence that I asked a question about Anita and Wraith having some future interaction about the IMC stuff, and the answer he gave was...suspiciously vague. He said something along the lines of:

"I just started writing something dealing with that and you should get to see it before the end of the year [2020]. And that’s all I’ll say on that :]"

I know that’s...well it doesn't say MUCH, but it is making me think that it's the same content he may have been working on. I have a feeling it may be in comic form, but who knows how the format may change. Season 9 is supposed to be fairly game-changing for Apex overall, according to the devs.

The last bit I wanted to mention was character development. I said earlier how I think Loba is helping Anita open up a bit more overall, and eventually that will turn towards others as well as Wraith. Anita, compared to other Legends, has seen character development through voice lines. And Wraith is kind of doing the same. Like sure Loba talks to Anita, but she hasn't really...progressed as a character much. She's remained fairly flat so far. We're actively seeing Anita's walls break down as she becomes more vulnerable as a person. And no one else is really doing this much except for, arguably, Wraith.

Wraith has had some very introspective voice lines to herself while on Olympus, basically wondering if the Rift explosion was a result of her experiments, wondering what type of person she was to have partnered with Singh. Wattson even mentions she looks more lost than usual, and Wraith responds that she needs to handle this on her own for now. We know from the end of Season 6's comics that she's learned she was apparently a shitty person in her past life with anger issues and a severe lack of empathy. She wonders about this and is actively working towards... not being like that lol. She's also fairly sarcastic as we've seen with her voice lines with Rampart, but she's developing as a character, albeit slowly and more subtly than Anita.

So now that that's all out of the way. Where do we go from here? Well, this brings me to a theory I've manifested due to the points in the post so far.

The Theory

What if Anita and Wraith were on pretty okay terms with each other previously and we just haven't heard about it yet? What if they’ve known each other for a while?

Anita has been in the Outlands with a small group of IMC soldiers, her brother Jackson and General Lewis included, for about 18 years. She's been in the Apex Games for about 3 years and the Hestia incident happened about 3 years ago:

That lines up. Since the start of the Apex Legends lore takes place in 2733 (as of Season 8 we are now in the year 2734 in lore), that would mean she had to have joined around 2730. What about Wraith?

Well... I think Anita and Wraith joined the Apex Games around the same time. In the book Wraith mentions that she took a few years to hone her skills before she ended up in a qualifying match:

She arrived at our Kings Canyon in 2727. If she took a few years, she had to have joined around 2730-2731. What if they met and actually were amicable? Closed-off on both ends, but mutually respectful towards each other as coworkers? And maybe this is what causes Pathfinder to assume they're "best friends" in the book.

...That is until the Repulsor incident happened and the IMC labs under Kings Canyon were eventually unearthed. Wraith learned her real name and what the IMC (ARES more specifically) did to her and so did the rest of the Legends she was somewhat close to—Mirage, Pathfinder, and...Anita.

What if Anita took the IMC disrespect personally, thought Wraith was placing blame on the IMC instead of taking responsibility for her own actions like Anita mentions in the book, and Anita blew up about it? Wraith would probably feel extremely hurt by this and withdraw from opening up even more. At this point, Anita would hold a bit of a grudge about the IMC bad-mouthing.

They continue to work as coworkers and on a team when necessary, but the mutual respect has been...lost. Wraith finds friendship elsewhere in Wattson. Fast forward to the events of Broken Ghost. Anita is stressed, annoyed, dealing with too much shit at leading the operation, and hurls an insult at Wraith, the infamous "headcase" comment. It's extremely shitty and uncalled for and while Wraith doesn't explode at her in the moment because of dire circumstances, she absolutely doesn't forget it. It hurts her deeply.

What if after the events of Broken Ghost, their connection is severed. There's some bad blood between them. Wraith's friendship grows with Wattson while Anita's friendship grows with Loba. That separation in the Legend Select screen starting from Season 6 onwards seems a lot more metaphorical...

So fast forward once again to Wraith's comment directed at Anita in the book. It was an opening Pathfinder inadvertently provided and it was an opportunity to take a jab at Anita. But instead of being overtly shitty, she makes a relatively teasing comment. Maybe an olive branch to squash what they have and move on? Anita's response is to thank Wraith when she sees her again. Sarcasm? Maybe. But what if she's being genuine? What if the comment was a joke reflective of the type of humor they shared when they were on better terms with each other?

Anita has been opening up more to Loba, and though shes's still sensitive about the IMC, what if she's more willing to...apologize for the initial shitty comment?

The Theory Continued

Anita has recently, in canon, mentioned Jackson to Loba. Jackson is a VERY sensitive topic for her, and so far, the only two people we know of who have heard her discuss Jackson are Loba and Pathfinder. An interesting thing about Jackson that can be tied back to Wraith is this:

Anita clearly does not accept the ARES Division as part of the IMC, but more than that...Jackson found out the ugly truth about the IMC overall and believed it. Wraith was part of ARES Division and it's why Anita doesn't consider her IMC. Here's where the connection can work:

Continuing the same theory, what if Wraith reminds Anita of Jackson in the worst way possible because of what he told her about the IMC and ARES? Wraith revealing her name and what happened to her conjured up old, painful memories and caused Anita to lash out and close herself off again. Now that Loba is bringing out discussions of Jackson in canon, what if this leads to Anita and Wraith coming back together and rekindling their friendship? There's a lovely quote from Jackson's letter in the book that I feel could foreshadow that happening, too:

"...But in all seriousness, I'm so proud of you. And always remember, what's broken can be fixed. What's shredded can be mended. And what's torn apart can always be put back together again. Love always, Jackson." (82)

What if eventually—slowly, but surely—rekindling this lost friendship leads to Anita opening up to Wraith again? What if it leads to Anita being open and vulnerable enough to learn more about the IMC and ARES Division with/through Wraith via the labs under Kings Canyon? That place is a goldmine of classified information and she very well can see and hear firsthand all the terrible shit they've done. It would be extremely hard to do this, of course. And that's where Manny's comment from the Reddit AMA comes into effect: "...There's much more for both characters to learn and when they do, it's very possible to experience a moment between them, but patience is important."

This is, of course, all just a theory based on what we know about the lore. Is it ridiculous? Possibly! But I also don't think it's entirely farfetched either.

In Conclusion...

I imagine once we get to Season 9—potentially 10 at the latest for quarantine padding and last-minute changes—maybe we'll start seeing them begin to acknowledge each other in some way, and I'm thinking mostly negatively at first. And I don't think it'll be a lot either. Maybe a snarky location voice line or two. Maybe a little mention in a comic or Twitter lore bit. But only a little.

I definitely do think we can expect to see them getting to the point of interacting in the future, but it'll be a slow ride and slow burn. And hey even if we don't... I'll have this post to keep me warm for the rest of my days playing Apex.

Anyway, that's all I have for you! Thanks for reading if you made it this far, I do appreciate it. I love this pairing a lot, and this was really fun to write! Remember, it's just speculation based on....stuff, haha. You don't have to take it or like it at all, but what else am I to do when I'm starved for interaction of my ship? :]

#Apex Legends #Bangalore #Wraith #Voidstrike #Bangawraith #Apex book spoilers #nix talks apex book lore

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