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simp2537 · 2 months

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You don’t have request for the Darkling? Let me fix that (:

Someone wants to hurt Alek by kidnaping the reader so, Alek saves her and he’s mad AF

Touch her and die

a/n: I love writing over protective partners and stuff so I loved this. Also reader is a bit chaotic cause why not. Also made reader a Tidemaker.

Warning: kidnapping, language, blood, grisha hate, kinda bratty reader? Aleks goes psycho mode, injuries, drüskelle, mentions of Aleks and readers age gap

Aleksander Morozova x fem! Reader

It was an unspoken rule for all grisha, for all ravka, for everyone to not hurt his lover. It was no great secret that the Darkling, the Black general himself was absolutely smitten by his favorite Tidemaker. With her pretty e/c eyes and a pout on her rose colored lips she could get anything she wanted from her general.

His Tidemaker had grown up in a village boardering Fjerda, so grisha testers weren’t common to go there. In secret her older brother, also a Tidemaker taught her the ways of the grisha. Unfortunately a little ways after her nineteenth birthday drüskelle invaded her village and he brother died saving her life.

She ran through the thick forests of ravka with no idea where to go as they chased her when he appeared. His shadows cut through the drüskelle and not long after that the darkling infatuation with his Tidemaker became apparent.

Now his Tidemaker strut into the meeting he conducted, she was late. She walked right up to his side with a smile and adjusted some of the toy soldiers as he spoke. Then she walked right over to Zoya, who shock her head at her friend’s brazenness.

“You’re late, L/n.” Zoya muttered as she drew over the Ravkan maps. Y/n giggled softly as he began to help Zoya. Aleksander would glance back over at the pair every so offten. His Tidemaker clad in a black kefta with teal embroidery. He loved that she so proudly wore his color.

Her and Zoya began to giggle about something, probably a comment she’d made when one of the king advisors cleared his throat.

“Miss L/n have you something to add?” He asked cutting off the girls chatter. The room went quiet as she went stiff. Ivan and Fedyor shared a quick look as their generals eyes darkened. His tone was snobbish and rather rude.

He spoke as if he was better than she was, and it made her almost want to laugh as she turned. Slowly she made it back to the main table with the toy soldiers, this was a different plan than the one she’d just arranged. It was horrible and would lead to the deaths of many grisha.

Y/n would not sacrifice her soldiers when she could do better. Quickly she fixed up the arrangement with an empty look, Aleksander watched her in awe. As she finished she turned to the advisor with the same snobbish looked he’d given her.

“It seems you needed some assistance, don’t worry sir for I will always be there to fix the mistakes.” Y/n mocked as she bowed her head slightly. Aleksander chuckled slightly and moved a stray hair behind her ear. Such an open act of affection for his Tidemaker was nothing new, but for him to do it after she’d humiliated one of the king’s advisor was a risky move.

“Although Miss L/n was late she has fixed this plan to ensure the safety of all the grisha going into this battle. For that I am most grateful.” He amused as he stared at her. She smiled cheekily as she returned to Zoya’s side, a confident sway to her hips.

This was the last time Aleksander had seen her that day.

……………………

It was no secret that the darkling had a great many enemies, but as the fist collided with her face for the hundredth time, Y/n was growing tired. The kings advisor, whatever his name was had hired drüskelle of all people to kidnap her.

Of course her hands were bound apart and she was tied to the chair. She was surprised they hadn’t just killed her but she didn’t care. She was growing bored of all the punches. Her face was bruised, the right side more then the left, her lip busted, and she was sure at least one of her ribs were broken.

“It’s not to late to get me go you know.” She mumbled as she dropped her head back. Her hands quietly attempting to undo her cuffs.

“Drüsje your pleading for your life will not work.” The tallest announced. She sighed softly, he would come for her. If she was dead by the time he found her she knew all of Fjerda would pay.

“It would just be in your best interest.”

They all laughed and she joined in. Let them laugh, it’ll probably be the last time they do. She though softly.

“We will end you, and then we will break the darkling.” Y/n nodded softly at there words as they smashed their fist into her side. She groaned as she felt a rib snap.

“Then kill me, what is it you are afraid of?” Y/n taunted. They all froze, one of them brought there axe dangerously close to her neck.

“Will you not beg for your life?”

“Take it if it pleases you. It is not me who suffers when I’m gone.” They didn’t know what to say to that. They had heard the talks of the darkling whore. How she could boil the blood, pull the water from your body, freeze your nerves. But the women in front of them didn’t look the dangerous type.

“You aren’t the confident whore of the darkling we’ve heard tales of. You are just his pet he plays with from time to time.” Her face hardened at those words. She was not dressed in his color to be watered down to a simple whore. She smiled charming as she began to un click the cuffs.

“Most women aren’t as crude as you, they are modest.” Y/n giggled softly. She saw the shadows begin to move.

“Unfortunately for everyone I will keep doing whatever the fuck I want.”

Y/n snapped her cuffs and rolled her chair causing it to hut the ground. The shadows form into the cut and swore through the air above her. The shadows surrounded her till the familiar frame of her Sasha towered over her.

“Would mind untying these ropes?” Y/n uttered softly slumping against the grounds, her confident persona gone. The ropes were off and Aleksander pulled his Tidemaker to her feet. His hand clutched her face as he brought her in for a messy and passionate kiss.

She moaned softly into the kiss as he held her face. His hands slowly began to trail down and she pulled away with a wince.

“What is it?” Aleksander whispered as she clung to him.

“I think they broke a few ribs.” She whined as she lean into his frame for support. From the outside of the cabin she heard a few grunts, a scream or two and then silence. Aleksander placed his cloak around her shoulder in hopes of warming her.

“My healers will attend to you when we get back.” He placed a kiss to her head and began to pepper her hairline with kisses. The fear was evident in his eyes at her body. His eyes scanned her bruised face and body, her busted lip, the blood dripping down the side of her arm.

He hated that she’d gotten hurt so badly before he could save her. By the looks of her cuffs she was half way there in her own. With a slight waddle she made it to the door, with protest from her lover she pushed them opens, her jaw hit the ground.

Blood and carnage surround the cabin where she was kept. She limped her way through the bodies as Aleksander trailed behind her. Ivan, Fedyor, Zoya, and the twins were there.

“What happened out here?”

No one answered as Zoya hugged Y/n, attempting and failing to be cautious of her ribs. Aleksander pulled Y/n away after allowing Zoya to hug her, he didn’t want her to far.

“I thought they’d killed you… I lost my temper.” Aleksander admitted as he picked Y/n into his arms. Y/n stared at him for a moment.

“If this is what you do when you’re out of control, I’d hate to see what you do when you are.” Fedyor laughed softly as Ivan swatted at his husband. Y/n’s words were true. There wasn’t a thing in the world there general wouldn’t do for his precious Tidemaker.

#aleksander morozova x reader #aleksander morozova x you #shadow and bone netflix #zoya nazyalensky #ivan x fedyor #answered #general kirigan x reader #general kirigan #general kirigan x you #the darkling imagine #the darkling x reader

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crevicedwelling · 1 year

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are there any omnivore arthropods or are they exclusively carnivore or herbivore?

roaches, various beetles, and isopods are the first that come to mind, but there are many, many others!

roaches, for example, are primarily adapted for digesting plant matter with a long digestive tract (termites are just a specialized family of roaches!) but many species love meat. I’ve used my Suriname and B. dubia roaches to eat the flesh off of bones for preservation. in the wild, these roaches would take advantage of carrion and other dead insects—Suriname roaches belong to a genus often found in bat caves, and they’ll spring on any downed sickly bats or fallen pups and eat them alive.

same with isopods! they can be surprisingly predatory things, both cannibalistic and eagerly eating carrion and weakened live animals. this is why any isopod larger than 5mm is a bad choice for a cleanup crew with an arthropod pet—they will devour it as it molts. many aquatic crustaceans like crayfish and crabs also are highly generalist and will pretty much eat any old organic material they can get their claws on.

ground beetles, darkling beetles, and rove beetles span a range from generalists that eat anything to specialists on fungi, plants, or animals. caterpillars can be surprisingly cannibalistic, like corn earworms in which the largest in an ear of corn devours its smaller siblings.

there’s also a lot of bugs that are more specialist carnivores that readily eat fruit, like giant centipedes! Lucinda here loved her bananas. some spiders will eat pollen that gets blown into their webs, and there’s even a species of jumping spider that only eats little nutrient packages it steals from a tree which grew them to feed its personal ant army.

in insects that molt, there can be a switch from larva to adult! many solitary and social wasps are parasitoids or predators that as larvae feed on other insects caught for them by their mothers (solitary) or siblings (social). when they mature, they mostly drink nectar because most wasps can’t digest solid matter as adults. a similar shift is seen with many flies—mosquitoes are filter-feeding larvae that mature into nectarivorous adults in which females need to take blood to lay eggs, and houseflies or flesh flies that feed on dung or carrion as maggots primarily drink nectar as adults as well.

a fun example of a shift in diet is the click beetles I’ve tried to keep. they feed on rotten wood for the first few weeks of their lives, and after gaining some size start a predatory lifestyle hunting other wood-boring grubs with sickle-shaped mandibles. after they mature, the adult beetles feed on sweet fruits and sap.

so yes, there’s no simple carnivorous/herbivorous split between arthropods. there are many omnivorous or detritivorous arthropods that typically eat a variety of foods, but more specialized predators or herbivores will also opportunistically meet their nutritional needs. and different lifestyles for larvae and adults mean that the same insect can use very different food sources throughout its lifespan!

#bugs #biology

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imruination · 1 year

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There are very few pieces of media that speak to me on what I can only describe as on a spiritual level, and one of those is Shadow and Bone, written by Leigh Bardugo. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Six of Crows and I think it’s an important story that needed to be told for so many reasons, but there’s something so special to me about the simplicity of Shadow and Bone.

When something is simple, it has to be done well. Yes, Shadow and Bone is on its surface a good vs. evil story which we have seen in media time and time again. I think what stands out to me about it is ironically why so many people call it (or specific things about it) “boring.” There are a lot of important themes, but my favorite is the emphasis that is put on the power of being “ordinary.”

I was 15 when the first book came out, and I read them as they were released. I spent a lot of my childhood reading fantasy books because escaping into them made me feel special, in a world where I felt at once completely ordinary and like a total outcast. This feeling only got worse as a teen, as I would spend a lot of my classes, and even my lunch period reading these books. I understand that this is a feeling that a lot, if not all teens feel. I am not special even in my isolation. I spent so much of my time pretending I had some incredible hidden but innate magical powers.

Shadow and Bone was incredible to me for the very reason why I constantly see it being criticized by my peers and even my friends. The idea of “power” being seductive, while also inherently being corrupt, and fueling the class system and poverty that the entire population is living under, (but Alina as the protagonist is being exposed to a lot of it’s worsts) is something the reader is constantly being reminded of.

Alina is put in a very unique situation by being a girl who holds incredible power as a grisha, but was not raised in that knowledge. To her, the power was suddenly thrust upon her, which made it a lot easier to eventually see the flaws in the entire system. So to read about this protagonist my own age, who had the option of power, was tempted by even more of it in the darkling and the amplifiers- and to give it all up in the end was mind blowing to me.

Alina goes from despising her upbringing and general hardship, to ultimately embracing the simplicity of it. Alina is THE Main character™️ and she ends up as a powerless orphan, in love with another powerless orphan she’s known her entire life. In the realm of all my fantasy books I’d been reading, there was nothing “special” about that. And yet, in it’s difference there was.

Alina’s privilege in making her own choices was special. Her choice to not be controlled by the pillars of power around her. Her choice to embrace her upbringing, and help those who will grow up the way she did. Her choice to accept the love she had had her entire life, that although was not seductive and dangerous, was reliable and enduring and all the more powerful for being that.

It is really surreal and almost funny to see it being criticized for these things now. You think Alina and Mal are boring? Well so did they. And then they grew up and learned better. This is the first book that I can think of in hindsight, that made me wonder if I actually did have this very ordinary but incredible power in myself. I have the privilege of making my own choices. I have the power to love others, and isn’t that incredible? From a person who has now grown up and gained some perspective for myself… Thank you Leigh.

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aleksanderscult · 3 months

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I think i remember leigh writing something along the lines of that 'wanted best for his people and he was a tyrant' etc, basically a nuanced view. Do you have it? I don't remember where it was.

I think you mean this, right?

It's from her acknowledgements on "Demon in the Wood" (graphic novel). If this is not what you mean, tell me.

She always gives a very nuanced characterization about him which makes me mad because I don't understand her point of view for him at all. It only confuses me more.

"I want the readers to make their assumptions about him. I don't want to affect their view of him". Look. If you give your own opinion of him which will consist of ten pages then it's going to be the reader's problem if they want to "adopt" your view or not. Also, your readers are not stupid. They can distinguish their own assumptions FROM your own opinion. And if they can't, then they're not fit to read books and complicated characters. It's called critical thinking. You take an opinion, read it, see if it makes sense with the canon we have from him and make your judgement. Easy peasy.

Now about that note. I agree that Aleksander isn't purely a hero or a villain. He sees himself as the hero while Alina and the others see him as the villain. We, the readers, mostly see him as something in-between and, at the same time, something entirely different. A human that has lived for too long and as a result of his immortality and tragic events he has reached a point of desperation that make him act relentlessly against the corrupt monarchy and in favor of a persecuted group of people and a country that he has lived and loved for almost all of his life.

Therefore, his characterization is (I believe) something more than the archetype of "good hero" and "bad villain".

Is he a survivor? Yup. In all the meaning of the word.

Does he want safety for his people? Isn't that why he didn't give up on life already? It was the ambition that drove him the most and kept his heart beating.

Is he a tyrant? I think that term needs to be studied. Back in Ancient Greece this word had different meanings.

1) A ruler who has usurped a legitimate ruler's sovereignty. The Darkling did that (good for him).

2) A person who rules without law, using extreme and cruel methods against both his own people and others. If Leigh means that then I'll have to disagree. First of all, we didn't see enough of the Darkling's rule to know if he was that cruel (unless she knows something we don't). And even from what we saw, it seems the word doesn't apply to him. He was sitting on the throne and listening to reports, signing paperwork, making an alliance with his enemy to feed his army. So where it the "cruel methods against both his own people and others" came from? He didn't have a beef with otkazat'sya that lived in Ravka and he certainly didn't want to hurt his own Grisha (unless they committed treason). So Leigh just threw that word in like it was nothing.

And, lastly, he brutalizes and exploits those who trust him most.

Brutalizes. Hmm....

Genya: she committed treason so he punished her.

Sergei: he committed treason so he punished him.

Baghra: committed treason so he punished her (and very lightly actually).

Yeah.. right...umm. Look. If he had attacked them or killed them for literally no reason then I would say "Yes, he brutalized them". But there was always a reason for his actions against them. He didn't see Genya on board and said "I'm bored. Gonna ruin your face 'cause I've got nothing else to do".

And he exploits them.

To exploit someone is this:

If my memory serves me correct, his soldiers (his Grisha) knew what they were serving him for. And he didn't use them for something completely selfish like "gaining power for myself because I like it" but he needed power to make Ravka better. So he didn't do it for selfish reasons.

The one instance where the term "exploit" may apply is when he gave Genya to the Grand Palace knowing what a pervert the King was. But then again, wasn't the Queen's responsibility to keep her safe?

#god I've missed analyzing #I need to finish my “Demon in the Wood” meta as well #also it's kinda funny how I have literally every piece of the Darkling's mention from Leigh's interviews etc.#the amount of search I've done for him is crazy lmao #anon asks #the darkling #pro darkling #aleksander morozova #pro aleksander morozova #leigh bardugo #grishaverse #shadow and bone #grishaverse trilogy #genya safin #baghra morozova #sergei beznikov

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tirkdi · 4 months

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I don't know why but I've been imagining this a lot for some weird reason. If somehow darklina do end up together just SOMEHOW do you think at one point they'll get bored of each other? Will darkling's obsession with Alina eventually wear out? maybe Alina will want to try something else with someone else. How would darkling react to that? He's possessive as fuck but sometimes I wonder he would understand that unlike him, Alina never really got to be truly free and explore things for herself. I mean I don't think he'll let Alina go lol but do you think aat some point in centuries they might open their relationship?

This is such a hard question because when we're talking about immortals, I tend to believe that almost everything is possible, so this is where metas trying to answer the question (as opposed to fics) get tricky. Is it possible? Totally. Is it likely? Hard to say. I think the question we're getting at is – what are the conditions under which it might happen?

I'm taking the premise of this question to be that somehow, probably during R&R, they get together and rule Ravka (why not?). So we're dealing with not-quite-end-of-R&R Darkling & Alina. It will take them a while to work themselves into a relationship in the first place, and there are a lot of ways that could shake out. But assuming they get there, to a place that is respectful and reciprocal (if not gentle and loving), how long would that feel like 'enough' for Alina, and in what ways?

There are a few things going on here that I'll call out. One thing, to your point of he wouldn't let Alina go, is that we have an example of what an extremely long-lived relationship looks like for him already: Baghra. When the trilogy starts, he's like 800 years old and still living with his mom! Whenever we see them together they're fighting, but they don't leave each other, and right up until the second before she did it, he couldn't fathom that Baghra would jump off a mountain rather than just coming home with him. Similarly, I think it's unlikely that he'd stop needing Alina at any point. At the same time, Alina is different than him – but I do think it's reasonable/probably correct to envision an Alina who never needs him as much as he needs her, even a gazillion years later.

Another question then would be, at what point will Alina feel like she wants (and, importantly, deserves) happiness/something more? There's some character work that has to shake out there, because I'm having a hard time envisioning an Alina that ended up with Aleks at the end of R&R doing anything but being really hard on both of them for many, many years. How does she develop from there? Depending on the setup, I could see his and Alina's relationship getting to a point where they fight like he did with Baghra, but also similarly neither of them has any intention of ever leaving the other. Balance sounds nice in theory, but can be tricky to implement! Their relationship might end up less like a balance and more like a seesaw.

So then, there's the question of – is Alina looking for someone other than him to make her happy or to piss him off? The pissing him off seems pretty straightforward (and I think we have some fics like that that I've seen?). Assuming she isn't doing it to upset him, that she genuinely wants more than him, then I think there's the question of are we talking about sex or are we talking about a relationship with someone else? I do think you could come up with a setup where eventually he'd come to terms with sex, reassuring himself about how the Zoya lookalikes he sees leaving Alina's room in the morning are going to die in like a minute anyway, he doesn't even have to do anything.

I could also see a setup where you could make a power dynamic like that that he'd even enjoy, if he let himself. I think a lot about the Oscar Wilde quote: "Everything in the world is about sex, except sex. Sex is about power." If he allowed himself to acknowledge that he liked the ... humiliation? one area of his life where he was not in control? ... then I could also see him being into it, as long as he felt secure enough in the relationship between the two of them. And that right there is the whole reason we (or at least I) love this ship – their power dynamic is endlessly fascinating and there are so many different ways it could go

#i almost never say never for our tgt immortals #darklina #grishaverse #an ask #aleksander morozova #alina starkov #this was a fun ask to think through!

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sirowsky-stories · 7 months

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The Old Prince

Part 5

Author's Note: It's getting a bit scarier now, folks. Most of this is Oberyn's pov because I just love exploring how someone so old might think and react. Hope you do too, or this'll be a bit boring for you :) Also, I'm using the term Darkling for my own purposes here, it has nothing to do with the Grishaverse.

Description: Oberyn can only stand by and watch as you're forced to swallow some hard truths, after you've become witness to what the spirit world has planned for you.

Rating: Mature 18+ONLY Warnings: Monster Oberyn Martell x Female Reader, AU fic, eventual romance, obviously Halloween themed, reader cusses. Angst, reader is attacked, overprotective/jealous coworker. Word Count: 6570 Author's Masterlist

He departs from the courthouse by air, too distressed to give any thought to the two thousand souls inside that are endangered by his transformation. But he also flies away so quickly that he is never at risk of getting caught up in the hunt. His mind is trapped on the sight of the spirit, and what it might mean that you were not only able to see her, but that she now knows that you possess this ability.

Throughout the ages of man, there have been only a handful who have been able to see them, but none have ever been favored by The Decem. Instead, those rare few humans have been hunted by the spirits, driven to insanity by their magic, and then killed. This is the cause for Oberyn’s haste. He will not see this happen to you, but he knows that no human is welcome in any of the spirit realms and that there is no power on this Earth that can destroy the ghostly beings.

All animals can see them, which is probably why he can as well, but what does that say about you? Did his bite really change you to such an extent that you have now crossed from the human reality into that of magic, mysticism and despair? If so, then he must learn what you have become before you can harm those that you hold dear, because such is the fate of all creatures within this realm of ghosts and beasts. Whether by their will or not, those around them always suffer.

Returning to the castle, he heads for the library, only turning back to his human form once he has reached it, as the halls and stairs are too long for human legs to navigate effectively, although grand enough for the dragon to slither through without being halted by his size. He finds the section where he has collected the very oldest scrolls and books, and picks out one of his own scribbles from long ago, when he had attempted to create an account of his life. An endeavor he had soon abandoned after realizing that he had not one positive note to share within his own mind, leaving him too depressed to see the meaning of such a text.

But not before he had already filled seven volumes, one of which is dedicated to his encounters and thoughts around The Ten Spirits. The Decem. His memory fails him frequently these days, with so many years to try and recount, which was the original purpose behind the journals. Creating a library of his own memories. But who would wish to remember such a life? So much time spent in the company of death.

He places the book on the reading table and opens it to a random page, having forgotten most of its contents at this point, since the spirits are a topic that he has never thought he would have cause to discuss with another. It falls to a page about the Beetle, Scarabaeus, the spirit of stone, who can turn solid at will, whether sitting on a leaf or having crawled inside of a rock or tree.

All the spirits are generally neutral in terms of moods or intentions, but they all possess the capacity to turn dark and menacing, should they encounter certain circumstances. They are neither good nor evil, light nor dark, but they are also both. He turns the pages, not sure of what he seeks but convinced that he will know it when he sees it.

And he does. Near the end of the book there is an illustration. An image plucked from his own mind, depicted in detail because of how disturbing the memory had been, and now that he sees it, the memory is re-awakened within his mind. He slams the book shut and backs away from it, as if the memoir is responsible for the pictures within his brain, and not the other way around.

The horror in the man’s eyes as the darkened spirits had torn his soul to pieces, is an image he had hoped to never recall. That is what they do when they encounter a being which threatens the spirit realms. One by one they are darkened by their growing fear of this being, until that darkness becomes so thick and so empowering, that it draws them all together into one destructive mass, capable of covering the entire world under a cloud of anger.

If you have become such a being, if they find cause to fear you, then this is what will eventually come to pass, no matter what he does. But he must still try. You are the light of the sun, the moon and all the stars in his skies. He cannot let this darkness swallow you and tear you apart. He must warn you.

He leaves the library, transforming once again the moment he has crossed the threshold and entered the spacious hall beyond. However, he is momentarily halted by the opening that leads down to the basement door. Never before has he crossed that opening without feeling the pull. But in that moment, it is not there. He stands and waits, but the sensation does not come.

It should not worry him that such a treacherous and vile feeling is no longer there, but he does, because the timing is too perfect. For the first time, he wonders if there could be a connection between the creatures down there, and the spirits. It has never occurred to him before, but it now seems somewhat plausible. He does not have time to ponder this further, though. He must get back to you.

The dragon’s body is slender and snakelike, although so large that he is still as wide as a car over the chest, but he cuts through the air with minimal drag and his serpentine form enables him to maneuver with unparalleled agility. He is covered in both scales and sections of hair, and while the deep green color fills every inch of his exterior, making him glisten like a jewel, every deceptively smooth scale has a razor-sharp edge, and each strand of hair can become a deadly needle.

His claws are black, his teeth a dark grey, and at the end of his tail is a rounded bone covered in sharp ridges, like a medieval mace, and concealed by a patch of longer hair. His entire being is designed to be both stealthy and excessively deadly, for reasons that he cannot fathom. Surely, a crocodile, hippopotamus, or venomous snake is deadly enough for this world, there can be no reason for anything worse to exist.

Whatever made him, his purpose can be only destruction. But even now, after six millennia on this Earth, six thousand years of death, he still resists this notion. Because of you. Because if just one look upon your face is enough to awaken his heart, then there must be a light inside of him that has nothing to do with the fire.

-=<>=-=<>=-=<>=-

When you walk back inside, Simon is waiting for you, pacing back and forth with his arms crossed, clearly in a state of anxiousness. You’ve seen him have full-blown panic attacks before, but this isn’t that. He looks almost angry, and you can’t tell if it’s about Oberyn, or about you telling him to leave. In any case, the moment he sees you, he launches into a minor interrogation, no doubt spurred on by your obvious discomfort with the tall dark stranger.

“Are you okay? Who was that guy? Do you need anything? Did he leave? Because I’ll totally make sure he does if you want, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, I know. Thank you for caring. And yes, he did leave, but it’s none of your business who he is or how I know him, so just back off, okay,” you say firmly, hoping that your tone is enough to convince him that you’re not gonna talk about this any further.

Sadly, he doesn’t pick up on it.

“It is if he’s upsetting you. I’m your friend, I’m allowed to be concerned when I see that someone’s obviously bothering you.”

“You’re allowed to be concerned, yes, but what you’re not allowed to do is interfere without my asking,” you argue, getting angry that he isn’t respecting your privacy, which is entirely out of character for him.

“Boo, you literally ran away from the guy! If there’s a bigger universal sign for help, I don’t know what the hell it could be,” he counters, and you do have to give him that one.

You can imagine how your entire interaction with Oberyn must’ve looked to any bystander, but you also need everyone to steer clear of the viper, even if the only way to keep them safe is by hurting their feelings.

“I don’t need your help, Simon. And this little display of possessiveness isn’t doing you any favors. Friend or not, you don’t ever get to try and control any part of my life. And insisting that you have the right to interfere based on nothing but your own perception, is egotistical, and does absolutely nothing to help me.”

He looks like you’ve just run over his cat, and a part of you does feel guilty to be so harsh with him. He did have the best intentions, after all. But you’d rather see him hate you for the rest of his life than get killed because he stuck his nose where he shouldn’t have. After staring at you for a few seconds, he seems to decide that you’re just mean and that he isn’t gonna put up with it, so he turns and walks away without another word.

You wonder if this could be jealousy too. If perhaps you’ve misjudged his friendliness and that it could be indicative of a deeper interest that he just never dared to reveal. You’ve been a loner for as long as he’s known you, so there’s been no pressure for him to hurry up and tell you, if he does have those kinds of feelings for you, because there was never any rival to contend with before.

In any case, your interest in him has never been romantic. Like everyone else, you’ve kept him at arm’s length, which is probably another reason why he wouldn’t have felt comfortable telling you about any deeper feelings. You watch him return to the dance while you remain out in the hall, looking at the catering staff that has arrived and started to fill the tables with all manner of deliciousness, and suddenly you feel so disconnected.

Humans can’t see them…

Somehow, you’re not human anymore. This place within the community that you’ve grown up in, is just not yours anymore. You don’t belong among them. You’ve always been an outlier, not quite an outsider but far enough removed that you’ve never been able to claim real togetherness with the people of this city. And now that line has become a wall, separating you from them completely.

The thought makes you feel unwelcome. It makes your skin crawl and your blood burn with shame, for some reason. It’s not like you asked for this, so what is there to be ashamed of? You cross the hall and go to pick up your things, throwing your jacket on without changing out of the dress or putting on your boots instead of the golden ballroom dancing shoes you’re wearing, because suddenly you need to get out of here.

The parking lot is huge and since you hadn’t had any boxes to carry inside when you’d arrived, you’d chosen to park furthest away from the entrance, so that elderly or people with aches and pains wouldn’t have to walk that far. There’s three inches of fresh snow on the ground, so your feet are cold and wet within the first few steps beyond the stairs, which had been swept clean before the guests arrived.

But before you’re even halfway to your car, a glimmer in the corner of your eye draws your attention, and you stop walking when you see a wolf staring at you from between two maple trees, far off to your left, that provide shade to the parked cars during the heat of summer. Unlike the owl, this spirit isn’t glowing or half-transparent, but you still know that that’s what it is because it’s three times the size of a normal wolf, and instead of fur, it looks like moss, leaves and grass are growing on it.

It was the glimmer of its eyes that drew your gaze, and the longer you look at it, the harder you seem to freeze to the spot, as if it has the power to lock your body in place. But when it starts to move, just taking a few steps at first, and then quickly falling into a jog heading straight for you, the very air behind it seems to darken. As though it sucks away the light from the lampposts all around the lot.

And from one breath to the next, you’re terrified. Locked in place, you see it’s jaws open, and although you can’t hear it growl, the air seems to vibrate with the force of its voice. It moves so fast, seeming to pull that ominous darkness towards you, willing it to devour you, when another movement suddenly draws your attention away. From your right, a trail of sparkling red is visible in the sky, and before you’ve even located the source of it, something whistles past your face, and a sharp pain cuts across your cheek.

It unlocks your body, and you double over to the left, feeling hot blood spill over your cheek just as your gaze finds the wolf again, a mere moment before it too reaches you. The collision is so massive that it feels as though your head remains in one spot even as your body is wrung from the ground, with your entire midriff pinched between the massive jaws of the canine as it both bites and throws you like a ragdoll through the air.

Miraculously, its teeth don’t seem to be able to pierce your skin, but they crush your insides all the same, before it releases you, sending you hurtling across the entire parking lot, leaving you airborne for so long that you have time to consider where and how you’re gonna land, and how much it’s gonna hurt. You come down on the roof of a Volvo, buckling it and setting off alarms and airbags as the windscreen cracks under the force of your mass and motion energy.

But you’re not sure how you’re even able to notice that when the landing breaks most of the right side of your body, and that’s before you’ve bounced off the car and crashed against the pavement as well. You’re too damaged to move any more, leaving you trapped in the position you eventually come to a stop in, on your back with your right arm trapped underneath you, and your legs veered off to the right as well. You can’t tell if they’re broken.

Directly above you, the source of the red sparks passes over, flying slower now, and you can see that it’s a bat. It’s even more transparent than the owl, and smaller, much closer to a bat’s actual size. The rapid flapping of its wings is what produces those sparks all around it, even though the actual body of the spirit appears to be almost white, with a yellow tinge to the collar of hairs around its neck.

You should scream for help, but you’re barely even able to breathe. The shock and adrenaline aren’t enough to conceal the pain anymore, so all you can do is lay there in agony as your brain feebly attempts to map everything that’s broken. Claws scraping against the pavement tells you that the wolf has rounded the car and is approaching you to finish the job, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

You can’t even turn your head, staring up at the starry night sky as the giant, pale white head of the spirit comes into view above you, while the bat circles above its ears. It smells of pine needles and something heavily earthy, like the woods after a day of rain, but much more potent. And when it opens its mouth to presumably crush your skull, its breath reminds you of freshly mowed grass.

For a fraction of a second, your mind leaves the cold ground and the simultaneously sharp pains and dull aches of your broken bones and crushed organs, fleeing to memories of cycling past a summer meadow in full bloom. Sneaking away from your foster mom to go riding on the neighbor’s pony. Kayaking out to the middle of the lake and drifting aimlessly for an entire afternoon, just watching the world around you go about its day.

The moment ends when a bright light flashes from somewhere before the wolf can close its jaws around you, and suddenly its head moves away, searching for the source. Heat floods the air as the light only intensifies, and before you’ve managed to catch on to what’s happening, the wolf is engulfed in yellow flames. The white head is replaced by glistening green scales which are somehow all around you at once, while the blinding light of the fire fills the sky and seems to devour the world.

Fresh pain shoots through you as something wraps around your torso, and then the light fades away and all you can see are the stars, before the darkness takes over and you fall away from the conscious world, into the painless nothingness beyond.

-=<>=-=<>=-=<>=-

He did not think it would happen so quickly. He had hoped that they would at least take the time to ensure that you are indeed a danger to them. It has been some two thousand years since the last dark one. The last human to cross between realms. Perhaps the spirits have grown restless since then, or perhaps their fear of these creatures has increased, hastening their need to quell the threat.

His flame cannot harm them, but it does stop them, because there is no fire-spirit. That element belongs only to him, and spirits can only withstand elements or forces commanded by other spirits. Caelum commands the air, and therefor the wind. Scarabaeus commands stone, and therefor also the earth. And Octopus commands the seas, lakes and rivers. But there has never been a spirit who commands fire.

They know now that the dragon protects you, and he suspects that this will only further stoke their need to destroy the threat which you present, but nothing like this has ever happened before, so the outcome is impossible to determine beforehand. Because just as he cannot harm them, they are equally powerless to damage him. But that is also your only advantage.

He has brought you back to your home this time, simply because of the proximity, as your broken body would not have done well with a six-hundred-mile flight, but thankfully, even just an hour after the attack you have already begun to heal. Still, he waits nervously by your bedside, hating the sickening snaps of your bones falling back into place every now and then, flinching and grinding his teeth at each one.

The cuts and bruises have already disappeared, and he knows that your organs are recovering just as swiftly, but the memory of these pains will linger within your mind and body for a long time. The real recovery will not be the physical one. A thought which torments him as he is ultimately responsible for all this agony.

It takes three hours before you begin to stir, and the small twitches in your fingers which make up the earliest signs of your improvement, offer him such relief that he marvels at the sudden influx of oxygen to his unknowingly compressed lungs. And when your eyes flutter open and you stare up into the ceiling, no doubt perplexed as to your own survival, he can no longer refrain from touching you.

You flinch at the unexpected contact, and your head turns, seeking the source of it, but you do not pull away. Your subconscious must already have alerted you to his presence because you are neither shocked nor alarmed to see him there.

“It is alright, Valya. You’re home. The spirits are gone, you are safe for the time being,” he assures you, but you look only confused.

“But… how? I felt my body break…”

“Yes, you did. But you have already healed yourself, just like after the bite. I still don’t know exactly how you are capable of it, but I have witnessed it twice now.”

Hearing this only adds to your bewilderment, and clearly needing to test the truth of his words, you begin to sit up. The effort required for this sort of rapid reconstruction is massive, especially with as much damage to deal with as was inflicted upon you, so when you move, the muscles and ligaments are slow to respond. And the memory within your nerves-system wakes up.

“Oh, god… urgh…” you growl, as your pulse immediately spikes, and your breathing turns rapid and much too shallow.

“Easy, the healing may be complete, but your senses have not caught up yet,” he cautions, but your determination is unaffected.

You swing your legs over the side of the bed and then sit there, rocking back and forth while you wait for the pain to subside.

“What the hell happened, Oberyn? Why did they try to kill me?”

“Because in their eyes, you are dangerous now. Like I said, humans are not supposed to be able to see them.”

“Wait… So, because you bit me and somehow transformed me into whatever the fuck I am now, those things have decided that I’m more dangerous than you and that I need to die?” you question, having regained enough composure to raise your head and glare at him.

“I will explain as best I can, but you must eat now, my dear. Your body has depleted all of its reserves, you will soon pass out again if you do not replenish them.”

As if his words have reminded your body to signal its fatigue, your head falls forwards and you sway slightly where you sit, before you drop your elbows onto your knees and let your head come to rest against your palms.

“I feel sick…” you croak.

“I know. You need protein, salt and vitamins. I will go and prepare something for you,” he offers, but when he rises to leave the room, your hand catches his and you look up into his eyes.

“You can talk while you cook, and I can listen while I wait. Help me to the kitchen,” you demand, and he is not about to argue with you.

You have more than earned any and all answers he might be able to give you. He turns and picks you up from the bed, cradling you in his arms as he carries you with him to the little kitchen, feeling ridiculously joyous at the feel of your arms voluntarily wrapping around his neck, and how you rest your head against his shoulder for the brief journey.

“They are The Ten Spirits, or The Decem,” he begins even as he leaves the bedroom, seeing as there is no time to waste. “They exist within the elements and the seasons of the world, not controlling them, but able to command them if the need arises.”

While he deposits you on a chair and starts rummaging through your fridge and pantry, he tells you about the three elementals, and you immediately raise the question of the fourth one.

“So, are you fire, then?”

“No, for some reason, fire has no spirit. I’m something else and for all my years, I have not yet managed to uncover exactly what that is. But I know with certainty that I am not one of them.”

“How?” you ask after he has found some promising ingredients.

“Well, for starters, humans can certainly see me. And unlike The Decem, I am capable of thought and reasoning.”

“You’re saying they don’t have minds of their own?”

“Not like you and me. Their minds are closer to those of animals, driven by instincts alone, not really able to think ahead, only react to what happens around them,” he explains while he begins preparing to make pancakes. “And much like animals, they remember things that have frightened them, and that is where you come in.”

“But I’ve never seen them before tonight…”

“No, but they have encountered the likes of you before. History even has a name for humans who can see the spirit realm. They are called Darklings.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all…” you gripe, already struggling to keep your eyes open.

“I’m afraid it’s even worse than it sounds. Darklings earned their name by literally casting darkness upon the entire world, simply by existing,” he begins, and that gets your attention, leaving you staring at him with a worried crease in your forehead as he continues. “The spirit realm is beyond human reach because you have long ago lost the ability to exist only in emotion, completely devoid of thought. Because for all your intelligence, it is still thoughts that corrupt. It is thoughts that can never be controlled, whether they are for good or evil, and unfortunately, they are the most easily influenced by darkness. The spirit realm has no thoughts. Those that live there can only feel, and feelings cannot survive dark thoughts.”

“So… the spirits were trying to expel my thoughts from their realm?” you conclude, having to lean over the table now to keep from crashing headfirst into it.

“Precisely. And they will continue to do this until they have succeeded, because they have not forgotten what happens to all the world when a Darkling slips past their defenses. And neither have I,” he adds pensively, while he starts to whisk the batter together.

“You’ve seen that happen?” you quietly ask, and he answers without turning around as the task at hand helps his mind remain clear despite the grim subject matter.

“Unfortunately, yes. It is a truly frightening thing to see all the world fall victim to depression, anger and despair. Not just people, but all living things. Every tree, flower and blade of grass, and every animal, from the largest whale to the smallest insect, all turned into evil, malicious beings, with no purpose save for destruction and pain. That is what the spirits are trying to prevent.”

You go so quiet hearing that, that he turns around to ensure you have not fallen asleep. But you remain wide awake, in utter defiance of the absolute depletion of all energy reserves within you, refusing to rest until you have a grasp on this new reality you have so unfairly been thrust into.

“But if you’ve seen that, if you know what’ll happen, then why did you save me?” you question, and he returns his focus to the food.

Not just because you need it sooner rather than later, but also because this part of the conversation worries him. He worries how much he should divulge of his feelings for you. These most recent events aside, you have made it very clear that you have no favorable eye for the beast that caused all this, and there is no reason to think that you will change your mind on this matter.

“Because I don’t believe that you are a Darkling,” he finally explains. “For what I know of them, they have always been born with the ability to see across the realms, none have ever simply acquired the ability by some magic trick. And more than that-…” he adds before he can stop himself, which of course piques your interest.

“What?” you press when he does not continue, and he sighs heavily at his own lack of restraint.

“To my knowledge, they have never been so lovely as you. So full of light,” he confesses, continuing as he hands you a stack of finished pancakes, because why stop when he has already begun. “I cannot believe that anyone who can reach into a heart as lifeless as mine was before I met you, and make it shine with hope and possibility, could ever be this malevolent and destructive thing, all at once. I can’t believe that someone so wonderful could possess the power to destroy all life. If such a thing has indeed become possible… then maybe it is time for this world to expire.”

For a long moment, you merely stare at him, perhaps at a loss for words, but whether because you are overwhelmed to hear of his feelings, or disgusted by them, he can’t discern. He returns to the stove and hears you begin to eat shortly after, so he lets the topic rest. You allow him to refill your plate twice, ending on a total of eight pancakes and three fried eggs, only speaking again once you have stopped eating.

“You said there’s ten spirits, so aside from the three elementals, what are the rest?” you ask, apparently determined to understand as much as you can about this.

“The wolf you encountered, Lupus, is the Forest-spirit, and the bat, Vespertilio, is the Night-spirit. And then there are the four seasons. Autumn, which is the deer: Cervus. Winter, the polar bear: Ursa. Summer, the horse: Equus, and finally Spring, the butterfly: Papilio.”

“You missed one,” you say, counting them out. “These six plus the three elementals is only nine.”

“That is correct. The tenth spirit, Day, has never been seen.”

“Then how do you know it exists?”

“Because if it did not, the power of the spirits would be incomplete, and they would not have been able to fight the darkness throughout the ages.”

You ponder that in silence for a while, and not for the first time, he wishes that he could read your mind, because you are far too good at concealing what you think of. But when you do speak again, you have changed the topic, so perhaps you have elected to not think too closely on the beings that almost killed you, for now.

“So, what are we gonna do?”

“What we have been trying to do from the start, which is find out what you have become. That’s the only chance we have to save your life,” he answers while clearing the table for you.

And right then, there is a sharp knock on the front door, and a quick whiff of the air in that direction tells him that it is the boy from before, Simon, and what smells like a policeman, unless someone else is walking around the city with a revolver. There is no mystery to their cause for being here, given the scene left behind at the parking lot, where your bags were left thrown on the ground in the haste of your departure.

You look to him before you make any move to get up, so he nods to reassure you that it will be safe to open the door.

“Boo, thank god, you’re alright!” Simon exclaims as he steps over the threshold uninvited and throws his arms around you, also without permission.

The officer merely steps just inside the door, putting your forgotten bags down before he politely removes his hat.

“Yeah, uh… I’m fine. What’s going on?” you reply, understandably confused.

Oberyn is more than mildly pleased to see you push the young man back, signaling your discomfort with his invasion of your personal space at this moment, but he maintains a neutral expression as he approaches and comes to stand by your side. Your colleague is not at all pleased to see him in your house, and seems to forget that the lady has asked him a question, so Oberyn takes the opportunity to answer for him.

“It would seem that they’re concerned about the bags you left behind, along with your car, at the parking lot.”

“Oh, right… that,” you fumble, looking for a way to stall and give yourself a moment to come up with a believable lie.

Unfortunately, he can’t help you do that. The explanation must come from you, or the men will not believe it, as they are entirely unfamiliar with the stranger in your house and has no reason to trust anything he says. Moreso the opposite, especially after what Simon may have read into whatever he’d seen of your earlier exchange.

“Well, there’s a perfectly good explanation for that, it’s just that… um… it’s personal,” you try, earning yourself another few seconds.

“I’m afraid we’re gonna need that explanation, miss,” the police officer insists, to which you give an exasperated sigh, suitably theatrical, not too dramatic nor too bland.

“Okay, fine. Oberyn and I got into an argument at the party and then he left. But it was my fault and I felt bad about it, so I grabbed my stuff to go after him, caught up to him by his car and then we… made up… and I forgot the bags.”

You deliver the lie with absolutely perfect mimicry, leaving both men slightly flabbergasted. Clearly, you are not known to be irresponsible, or imprudent.

“And where’s your car now, Mr…?” the officer prods, turning to the stranger, but his quarry is very well practiced in evading questions and staying out of reach of the many human legal systems.

“Oberyn. And unless a crime has been committed which somehow involves my car, I see no reason to divulge its current whereabouts.”

“Another car in that lot was severely damaged, sir.”

“I see. Do you have reason to suspect that it was my car that caused these damages, officer?” he counters, knowing full well that the car in question was only damaged on the roof and windscreen, a feat no other car could have accomplished.

“…No,” the policeman begrudgingly admits, so he smiles and nods politely at the man.

“Then I think this conversation is over.”

“Alright, seriously, who the hell are you?” Simon challenges then, clearly increasingly frustrated to learn of this previously unknown variable to your life, who is apparently also unfailingly superior to himself.

But you are not one to suffer intrusions, of any kind, which is why Oberyn does not even attempt to answer the rude question.

“We’ve already had this conversation, Si. Whatever your beef is, take it somewhere else,” you reply in his stead, just as he knew you would, but the young man only grows sourer.

“My beef is that you don’t want friends, even when it’s people you’ve known for years, and you don’t ever cozy up to strangers. Do you really expect me to believe that this guy isn’t coercing or controlling you somehow? I mean, is he the one that made you change your appearance? Did he send you off to some fancy clinic so you could look as timeless as him, is that it?”

“You are way out of line, Simon!” you emphatically growl at him, but the boy has found a blowtorch to feed the already crackling fire within.

“Oh, come on, Boo, do you really think I’m that stupid? And what about Kelli and Micah? Just because you don’t tell us everything about yourself doesn’t mean we don’t know you, we all figured it out the moment this guy showed up!”

His words shock you. So much that there are tears in your eyes as you listen to him continue to rant, but you do not retort. You stand there and let him disrespect and condescend you in your own home, and for a moment, Oberyn prepares to step in. But then he glances down at your hands, finding them closed tightly against your sides, and it makes him realize what you are really doing.

Whatever your relationship was before this night, it had obviously begun to crack at the seams even before the boy showed up here, and now that he has revealed precisely how little he values it, you are standing back, allowing him to destroy it completely, all on his own. You wait for him to run out of hurtful words, and then you simply push him out of your house, hard enough that he falls on his ass, before slamming the door shut.

There is no reasoning with someone who has already decided that they’re right, so your actions are entirely correct. But if your life was lonely before, it is now desolate. Because if this really is what everyone around you is thinking, then how will you ever be able to convince them otherwise? Keeping a safe distance between yourself and others is one thing, but having no one to turn to, no one to trust even with the smallest thing, that is an entirely different kind of solitude.

“It’s for the best, right?” you ask after a few moments, surprising him. “I mean, they’ll be safer now, having nothing to do with me, won’t they?”

“Technically, yes,” he answers, knowing that you need to hear the truth right now.

You nod, but sorrow rocks through you as you attempt to accept the loss. Not just of your friends, however shallow the relationships may have been, but of your previous life. Despite the changes you have gone through, you tried to go back and live as you always have, perhaps hoping that somehow, it would all simply work itself out. But this night has proven to you, once and for all, that there is no going back.

Whether by their will or not, those around them always suffer.

You have already understood that your mere existence is a threat to these people, and you care enough about them to shield them from the darkness that hunts you. He does not remember his own beginning anymore, his human life. But he knows that the first blood the dragon ever spilled, was that of his own kin. A horror he may never cleanse himself of, but which you could yet avoid.

Unsure if you would accept his comfort, but also unwilling to watch you stand there alone with your grief, he steps closer and carefully wraps one arm around your back, leaving you an easy exit from his embrace, should it be unwelcome. But as soon as you feel it, you lean into it, letting the sorrow fully grip you as you fall into his chest, wrapping your arms around his waist and holding onto him as if your life depended on it.

He hates that it does. That he is now the only one that can aid you in your attempt to stay alive long enough to find out what has happened to you. But he will not falter. He will forego both sleep and feeding for as long as it takes. Because the spirits need neither rest, nor sustenance. They are energy themselves, and thus, their efforts will not be paused.

Even as you stand there, they are approaching, hindered only by his presence. But once they have all gathered, even the might of his flame will not be enough to hold them off.

Part 6

The Ten Spirits of the World Air - Forest - Water - Stone - Night - Autumn - Winter - Spring - Summer.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! If you wish to be notified when this story is updated, follow @sirowsky-stories and turn on notifications, or just ask nicely, and I'll tag you.

@harriedandharassed @kittenlittle24 @joelswritingmistress @pedrostories

#oberyn martell fanfiction #oberyn martell x female reader #oberyn x reader #modern!au #game of thrones fanfiction #game of thrones au #pedro pascal characters #pedro pascal character fanfiction #halloween writing #halloween fic #spooky season fic #spooky season #sirowsky stories

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goblins-riddles-or-frocks · 4 months

Note

2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 25 for the choose violence asks

Adjfhdgdgf mildly mortifying but very fair! I’ve also just been assuming any prompts I get are for Grishaverse fandom because that’s just the majority of what I’ve been getting asks about

Choose Violence Ask Game

2. A compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

I am running out of these! I don’t think most of the characters are like “would never ever top or bottom” tbqh.

I think Zoya’s a top, no question. Nikolai strikes me as a switch with tremendous brat potential lmao. I think KoS leaning into her chaining him up every night was really funny and I support it. A cursory glance I took at the Zoyalai tag awhile ago seemed to suggest that the fandom doesn’t really capitalize on that? Highly disappointing!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

People saying Alina was the villain of the story. She’s a teenager trying to not get dragged into magic slavery and being forced to commit genocide like come onnnnn

6. Which ship fans are the most annoying?

Darklinas lol real unfortunate that I’m in the same trash can

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Definitely not hate but I find the crows pretty annoying at this point just because their fans are so loud and get pretty superior when it comes to the trilogy. Also would have been true of show!Darkling if I didn’t already find him so annoying and disappointing.

8. Common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Genya/David sucked. I really wanted Genya/Zoya to be a thing though I knew it was never going to happen. I think David was better in KoS but in the trilogy he’s just so boring and I felt like his big speech he gives her in R&R was rather barbed? I didn’t like it!

12. The unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Oncat is the most important character actually!!

I don’t know who’s unpopular tbh. Alina? So many people are mean about Alina. I actually shdhff did not like her much at first but I got really defensive of her seeing how the fandom talks about her and now she’s my daughter.

25. Common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

I mostly wish fans would just take a walk and chill out. Leigh Bardugo didn’t break into your house and kick your puppy. I find the way people talk about her as a person really appalling and unacceptable. Like she wrote some books! You can have your opinions on it but she doesn’t owe you anything? Idk I wish people would just have boundaries.

#shadow and bone #grishaverse #choose violence ask game #ask games #i ramble sometimes #all the bendy punctuations

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totaleclipse573 · 7 months

Text

Lo and behold

A Terios Lore Post (LONG POST WARNING!)

REASON FOR CREATION

Terios was first made back when I was ten (maybe 11?) I knew the trend of people giving Shadow a brother through the whole “he was created, not born” thing was common, but I didn’t like how it was always done. People kept making Shadow’s “brother” into the most boring, over-powered edge lords with absolutely no flaws or weaknesses whatsoever, their only character was simply to be evil. So I wanted to use the concept, but change it in a good way. I decided Terios would instead be a sort of shy and sweet character who doesn’t have much confidence (and a small fear of heights,) his traits being mostly the opposite of Shadow’s. Though, I didn’t want to make his past or backstory EXACTLY the same as Shadow, so I decided to change things up a bit with his side of the story.

Also, making your own canon is FUN AS HELL, I LOVE THIS

Before I start, I’ll just put these details in here in case you haven’t seen the original post :

Species : Darkhog (I should explain this one. It’s sort of a mutated combination of a hedgehog, and a darkling, which from what I’ve gathered due to Eclipse, are extremely young, full-blooded Black Arms ‘superiors.’ That part is also based a bit off of personal headcanon though, for context. So he’s a hybrid! Because…it's cool.)

Age : Like Shadow and Eclipse, Terios is ageless, but mentally I feel like he’d be 17 or so.

Personality : Shy, lacking in confidence, intelligent, very boyfail

Weaknesses : Letting his past get the better of him, loss of control over his emotions (it ends up as a ‘power overload’,) his naivete, low resistance against mental manipulation/overpowering

Fears : Heights, being used for evil, accidentally hurting the people he’s closest to

Sexuality : 24/7 Bisexual Panic

People he’s closest to/feels closest to : Shadow (twin,) Eclipse (half-brother,) Rouge, Tails, Silver (best friend.)

CREATION ERA

(Note here : I know Shadow and Terios technically shouldn’t be “young” per say, but I’ve seen a few people portray Shadow as a little kid in this stage of his life regardless sooo…why not? It’s cute. They stop growing when they look the same as the rest of the teenage cast, AKA their present looks.)

Terios was created by Gerald Robotnik along with Shadow. The original intent of the project was only to create one Ultimate Lifeform, but something went wrong in the process involving their DNA + Chaos Energy, cloning the project in its early stage.

Doleon (in case you don’t remember or haven’t seen, he’s a sort of AU version I created a while back of Doom, now being a part of a strange alien species with his own lore to be discussed at some point,) was aware of the project from the beginning because of his involvement in their creation (due to his DNA being used, he would be the biological father of both Shadow and Terios,) knew of the accidental cloning, and decided it would be beneficial to him to create a pact. Once both projects were completed, the pact stated that Doleon was entitled to at least one of them as his own, since they were both his biologically.

Before Doleon arrived, Shadow and Terios spent a bit of time together before they were to actually meet Maria, and got along well. Shadow was a bit more confident and outgoing, while Terios seemed to be quite the opposite, typically even hiding behind his twin when they were spoken to. They were basically each other's best friend at that point. BUUUUUUT…

When the time came, Doleon arrived, a large green gem in hand (we’ll get to that later.) Directing it towards the twins, he stated he felt an odd, but nevertheless powerful presence coming from “the grey-eyed one.” The young Terios himself even seemed to have a different reaction to it than Shadow, seemingly more focused on and attentive of the shard. So, Terios was the one he took. Shadow remained with Gerald and Maria, while Doleon decided he would raise Terios and the power he seemingly had to aid him in his own efforts.

EXPERIMENTATION ERA

(Quick note here, Terios DID grow up on the Black Comet. This is probably the most lore heavy of all the eras for Terios.)

Doleon has Terios for his future plans now, but the downside on his end is that he now actually has to care for this small child until he’s old enough to begin his training. He needs to teach the hybrid the basics of what his powers and abilities are, and after a while, simple ways he can use them. Typically while Terios is asleep, though, he’s being unknowingly experimented on, in a way, (its mainly exposure, taking note of reactions to certain exposures, and repeat,) and it’s being done by Doleon and certain gems known as “The Shards of Chaos.”

The Shards of Chaos, as the same suggests, are a bit like the Chaos Emeralds, gems filled to the brim with a special sort of energy. Only, where the Chaos Emeralds are positive, the Shards of Chaos are extremely negative, using their energy to corrupt their users with their addictive power, turning the users into hosts. And the longer the user has been exposed to their power, the worse the corruption (which is more so mental than physical, but it can be both) becomes. And Doleon had a connection to them from the start (was technically his choice, but the point being, he’s been being corrupted for centuries, leading to who he is now. They also used to have individual guardians for the shards, who were Doleon’s siblings, but that's another backstory for another day.)

This goes on until Terios is mentally about five. It's then that Doleon finally introduces Terios to the Shards of Chaos consciously. He summons them by his side, capturing Terios’ attention immensely. Doleon explains that the shards have been with him for centuries, and carry a great source of power. He is their guardian at the moment, but soon enough, the honor will be passed down to Terios, and he will gain their power as well (keep in mind he has to paint these things in a better light so that Terios will go along with practically anything relating to them. He even calls them a part of his destiny, something Terios has always believed highly of.) He then goes on to explain that in order to someday become their guardian, Terios must first form a connection to the energy the shards emit. It's his first time, though, and he’s still mentally a small child, so naturally, he’s still a bit nervous and hesitant.

Soon enough, he was convinced. When Terios was younger, being exposed to the energy of the shards was quite visibly painful for him, and he did everything in his power to try and get Doleon to stop whenever he had to do all this. As he grew older though, the shards' power started to feel strangely calming and natural. It even started to sound nice for a little while, just letting them take over. All he had to do was shut his eyes, let them drown out his conscious thoughts, then everything would be okay.

He would be safe. And he was really starting to believe that too.

These experiments caused the negative energy of the Shards of Chaos to clash with the positive chaos energy in his system, and his powers to henceforth become unstable and hard to control, a downside on Doleon’s part. This instability soon became evident when he started to spark green bolts of energy all over his body when he felt any sort of strong emotion (ex. Rage, sadness, or if he’s just straight up flustered,) as well as his eyes and stripes glowing green to match.

Soon enough though, guess who arrived? None other than Tikal’s spirit. (I was…I was ten okay. This comes from back then. The idea of Tikal being able to KNOW Doleon and the other shard guardians due to them being alive a few thousand years after her time seemed cool at the time. And I’m keeping it.) Since she already knew Doleon and what he had done in the past, she knew he had no good intentions. While he was away from Terios, she went to him, alerting and telling him of what the shards really were, and what they could do to a person. After that, all the fear and paranoia Terios once had of the shards came right back, and he started to panic. Was he being corrupted right now? Was he ALREADY corrupted? He needed to escape. But how? There was no escape.

Luckily for Terios, Tikal’s spirit was able to transport him back to where he was created, the ARK (not without Doleon putting up a fight of course. He even managed to make Terios completely forget who Tikal was through the overwhelming amount of power he had over him with the hivemind.) Unluckily, however, at the time he was transported there, the whole ARK fiasco was going on, and Maria had already sent Shadow down to Earth and stuff. Now there were only G.U.N. soldiers, and they spotted him, calling him “the second project.” So he tries to run from them, but can’t, and they catch up to him. Soon enough, they lock him up in a facility, putting him into cryostasis.

AWAKENED ERA

(This one isn’t really that fleshed out yet, so here I’ll just describe the things that happened in a summarized sort of way.)

Terios has now been in the facility for, let's say 54 years? (4 years after SA2,) and guess who was the one to find him? None other than Doleon, who had broken in and planned to reawaken Terios to have his power on the side of the Black Arms.

Terios awoke very much confused, not remembering where he was, who he was, or who the hedgehog standing before him was. After Doleon reminded Terios of both their names, he explained that he was the one to “release him from the prison humans had kept him in.” for the past fifty years or so. He had also told Terios about his past, but twisted it to his own benefit, labeling someone named “Shadow” as a traitor to him, and an ally to the humans who tried to keep Terios in the facility. Saying he himself was working for the greater good, Doleon managed to manipulate Terios and get him on his side.

So Terios is now an ally to the Black Arms, and he’s ordered to go after Shadow and kill him (on a previous ask post I explained that Terios exists in an oc universe au, where Shadow was able to regain his memories through the help of the others.) He goes to fight him, but fails. Terios ends up meeting people like Rouge and Tails a bit afterwards. He meets Rouge on the streets while she's on one of her missions, and he REALLY doesn’t like her at first. They go around with each other for a bit though (Terios got sidetracked from his main goal and he didn’t even realize it. The power of Rouge was too much XD) and Terios’ opinion starts to change, forming a sort of small bond with her (and even finding himself weirdly flustered at times.)

After receiving a lecture from Doleon on how he shouldn’t socialize with allies of the enemy, Terios happens to run into Tails. (Lol lecture down the drain.) Tails is excessively curious about Terios. What’s his name? He LOOKS like Shadow…but he’s pretty different too…why is that? He’s never seen this guy before…are he and Shadow related somehow? Shadow’s never SAID anything about having any relatives. Why is his tail so long? Can he use it in battle? Does he have any powers? He could ask questions all day if it weren’t for Terios starting to look overwhelmed by them all. All the sudden, a fleet of Black Arms start raiding the area Tails and Terios are in, so Tails grabs Terios by the hand and tells him he knows a safe place. It's his lab. But eventually Terios says he needs to go, saying he has someone he needs to find. But he certainly won’t forget about that kid…he was actually pretty nice, for an enemy ally.

Come to think of it, Rouge wasn’t so bad either. Plus, he hadn’t seen either one of them working with any humans at all. And Shadow…it was more like he wanted to help Terios. He told him Doleon was up to nothing good. He said something about…going in the wrong direction before? Being misled? Then things start to click.

He starts to remember more accurate details about his past, and becomes angry with Doleon for manipulating him. Terios goes to Doleon and confronts him on the manner, only for Doleon to reveal his mental power over him, and cause him to forget everything all over again. Except this time, Terios kind of gets his free will taken away from him, being dragged into the hivemind and reduced to a silent obedient. But don’t worry! Somehow in a way I haven’t figured out yet, he gets his free will and those memories back, he and Shadow find out from Doleon himself about his involvement in both their creations, they go super together, and defeat the guy. (There's a crippling feeling of betrayal throughout all of this)

And after all that, Terios can finally learn to be himself with his new allies, which leads to the redemption era.

REDEMPTION ERA

This part of his story moreso revolves around Terios learning to break free from what had happened before, taking place not too long after the awakened era, and learn to better himself with the help of others. He also needs to learn some decent self care (whether it be simple things like taking better care of his fur, or more complex things like learning to accept help with his current mental state.)

At first, he’s still a bit paranoid about everything that happened. He’s worried Doleon could somehow come back at any moment, that the Black Arms could return along with him, that he would be forcibly dragged back in again, even after his life had only just started getting better. Luckily for him, though, now he has people that can actually help with these fears, and he eventually does decide to move on. It’s here that Terios’ current personality starts to form too. He doesn’t feel like he needs to hide or fake or lie about his emotions or thoughts anymore, and it honestly brings him a lot of relief. Then he feels comfortable enough to start meeting people, and interacts with more of the cast!

This is also the era where he meets Eclipse and the Dark Arms! And Terios wants to do a Steven Universe and help Eclipse the way all the others helped him. Terios just kinda randomly stumbled into him while he was out one day and got VERY much lost. Eclipse doesn't like him and his sappy “I can help you bc power of friendship!” attitude at first, but then he's able to sense Terios' connection to the hivemind. It feels a bit different than Shadow. So now he's pretty curious as to why and starts asking Terios questions. Eventually Eclipse kinda grows to like Terios, this hybrid is actually nice to him, for some reason. But then Shadow finds them. You can probably tell where that goes (It’s bad for a long while, but it eventually ends with Shadow, Eclipse and Terios all living together bc it’s my own little canon and I can do as I wish XD)

DOOM ERA

(This technically doesn’t count as his past, but it is most DEFINITELY lore. This part is still actually a WIP and has been for a long time, so there could be random updates or ideas on this era over time. I’m open to ideas BTW XD There are gaps in the story, plus it being somewhat jumbled and confusing as of now because of it being a WIP. But for now, I’ll badly summarize it so far)

Bad things keep happening in the dead of night, with some mysterious figure causing it all, one who has still failed to be caught on any sort of photo or recording. Only silhouette.

The silhouette figure noticeably wears a scarf, and is typically seen with a strange glowing gem, lately two at times. It is assumed the figure is trying to find more of these, based on their actions. And finally, despite it being a pure silhouette figure, there have been times where it was reported being seen with “three glowing red and yellow eyes”

G.U.N. is accusing either Shadow, Terios or Eclipse of being the silhouette after examining evidence. None of them have any memory of ever doing any of those things, and thus it couldn’t have been them. But humanity hates them now anyways. And thus we get ✨outlaws ✨

They know they need to leave immediately, but Rouge promises to give them the heads up on anything regarding the situation, as she still firmly believes in them. (Also I apologize if I make it seem like Omega is just non-existent, I can just never find the right places to mention him) She’s not the only one, though, Sonic and Tails are also alerted of this, and are perfectly willing to help out too. (Eclipse also reluctantly decides it would be best given the situation at hand for the Dark Arms to stay with the two for the time being, in case the worse comes to pass.)

Both Shadow and Eclipse start noticing changes going on with Terios. He’s tired all the time, pretty jumpy and shaky, and strangely impatient in a way unlike his own. But Eclipse individually swears he can somehow sense a strange presence in Terios’ mind through their mental link.

It couldn’t have been any of them, huh? WRONG. It was Terios, actually, and Eclipse is the one to find out after a little while of the three brothers being on the run, when he finally gets tired of being accused of crimes he didn’t commit, and sets off late in the night in hopes of finding the actual culprit.

Remember when I said the Shards of Chaos would be relevant later? Well this is later, when the negative energy is beginning to corrupt him the same way it corrupted Doleon. Only, Terios is having a different reaction, with the shards slowly starting to create a form of their own through Terios so they have a proper host (so yes it's basically possession but slower, more painful, and with magic gems with conscious thought.)

Terios starts apologizing and panicking like crazy once Eclipse somehow manages to snap him out of it. He never meant to do any of this, he didn’t WANT to do any of this. Something made him…there were too many voices screaming in his ear all at once to not listen. He couldn’t even remember getting here, nor waking up at all. Now he was worried about what Shadow or Rouge or anyone else would think of him if they knew…what did Eclipse think now? But Eclipse…he wants to help figure all this out. After all, its only fair, he says, after Terios helped him before.

Eventually, after a while of Terios and Eclipse trying to figure everything out with the form and the Shards of Chaos returning and all that, Terios decides he needs to come clean to Shadow and the others about it all. (They have to find a safe place to gather, probably Tails’ lab.) Terios starts apologizing and panicking again, but Rouge steps up first to assure him they can help find a way to stop it, giving him the comfort and confidence in the situation he needed.

The Shards of Chaos used their energy and connection to him to revive Doleon. And he’s after the shards, planning on gathering all seven again.

At some point later on the others all find Doleon again once he finally has the seven shards, and the shards can finally complete their full transformation of Terios and take full control of him. This is his Doom!Terios form (I need to talk about it more in depth eventually, but I think the concept of it is pretty clear. This form isn’t always active, nor are its effects, but it will always lie dormant within Terios after this.)

There's a fight and after that the shards decide they need to leave Terios for their own good, exiting him and scattering all over Mobius once more. Doleon immediately takes notice of this, and sets off once again to re-find them for himself before the others could even think of it. And once again Terios descends into paranoia about himself and his powers. Hooray!

Now his powers are even more out of control, so Espio is called in to get involved, being the one to train Terios to find a way to be able to control them and becoming a mentor to him in the process.

Tikal is also back, as a sort of moral guide to Terios to try and help him stay away and resist whatever corruption the Shards of Chaos are bringing upon him.

Even if Terios is being actively affected by them, he suggests to the others that they need to find the shards before Doleon can.

Soooo…if you were interested enough in my little scrimblo and made it all the way down here, congrats! And thank you! It's all pretty messy right now, probably not even halfway done with this part. I’m REALLY hoping Terios didn’t come off as OP or annoyingly typical or anything, because I can assure you that wasn’t my intention, I simply cannot write small sentences while describing things I like XD (Also, if things feel a bit too Terios centered it's mainly because this is a post just for him, so I talked about him the most. Not trying to steal the spotlight from any other characters.)

Regardless, I finally got his lore written down and I hope I was able to explain what I have in a way that makes sense. If I didn’t do that well at it though and it leads to any confusion, or just general curiosity, feel free to ask me about it, and I’ll be willing to answer.

(I love how my other Sonic oc’s are normal with no lore at all, they just kinda exist for fun, BUT TERIOS HAS ALL THIS TO GO THROUGH. Very fun.)

#sonic the hedgehog #sth #sonic fandom #sonic oc #sonic original character #sonic fan oc #sonic fancharacter #sonic fan character #terios the darkhog #terios lore #PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T LET THIS FLOP

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