A Blog About Books

Multi-fandom and ancient history geekery - aladyinbooks on ao3

[ladyinbooks]

Quick Links/Info

I’ve gained some new followers recently (hello lovely people! 😊) and figured it was about time I made a useful info post of where to find things.

***Please be aware - this tumblr does contain spoilers for all my fics***

Asks: My ask box is always open, and I’m always happy to ramble away about any questions you may have! I tend to answer publicly, so if you would like me to respond privately to your question instead, just let me know.

(I may be a little slow to respond to asks - life is quite busy at the moment, but I will always reply to you! ❤️)

Fic update schedule: Rarely Pure is the current fic in progress. It is updated every other Sunday evening (GMT).

Details on where to find things on my tumblr are below:

aladyinbooks on ao3

Current Fic: Rarely Pure

Completed: Path to Paradise Icarus, Burning Tales of the Interior Circle (side fics for Icarus, Burning)

Coming Soon: Going Down Handy Tags: #Ficlet Fridays (all tumblr ficlets from past/current fics) #Icarus Burning #Path to Paradise #Rarely Pure #Going Down #ladyreplies (public responses to questions) #lady’s phenomenal readers (amazing works inspired by my fics, created by incredibly talented people)

[ladyinbooks]

i always imagined samiel to look like this, just with golden eyes. and now that i think about it, he could also pass for lysander if he had darker hair. i think it's the curls. very charming. https://rinadragomir.tumblr.com/post/676022547482116096

Absolutely, lovely anon!

(And that is precisely the level of Samiel curls. 10/10 - I thoroughly approve! ❤️❤️❤️)

[ladyinbooks]

questions about the drakkians:

is their strength as dragons directly proportional to their strength in human form?

how are injuries transposed across forms?

do their secondary genders affect their dragon forms in significant ways?

are dragon forms weakened by age in similar proportion as humans or do they remain relatively unaffected?

does lineage have any relation to the ability to transform and the strength they have when they do?

and for our dear aubrey in the long awaited mpreg au, does pregnancy prevent or affect the transformation in any way?

Thanks ❤️

Good questions, lovely anon! ❤️

Is their strength as dragons directly proportional to their strength in human form?

It is! It's why both Lysander and Retvja are stronger than Aubrey, but Aubrey is quicker and more reactive.

How are injuries transposed across forms?

Scars and injuries are transposed across forms, relative to the area between those two forms.

Do their secondary genders affect their dragon forms in significant ways?

Yes - only two of the three genders can transform, and both have a variety of secondary characteristics because of this.

Are dragon forms weakened by age in similar proportion as humans or do they remain relatively unaffected?

They are! Dragon forms age in similar proportion to their more 'human' forms, although in both forms this takes much longer than with actual humans.

Does lineage have any relation to the ability to transform and the strength they have when they do?

It does, and yes to some extent. The transformation aspect used to be far more prevalent, but is slowly becoming less-so. Much like any other inherited traits, there are (of course) exceptions to the rule. Lineage for Drakkians, however, is far less to do with preservation of genes and far more to do with preservation of history/memory and ideals. Ancestors are a Big Thing - not because of their genetic traits, but because of their values and societal accreditations.

And for our dear aubrey in the long awaited mpreg au, does pregnancy prevent or affect the transformation in any way?

It prevents it! He is stuck in his 'human' form. This is another one of those Big Things, because what it means in blunt terms, from a less civilised age, is that one of the key aspects of mating for Drakkians was making darn sure you could pick a mate who was going to be able to protect you and your kit while you were carrying, as you couldn't transform. (There is a leftover aspect of this that is mentioned several times in RP.)

[ladyinbooks]

have you watched heated rivalry 👀

I have, at last, sat down and watched Heated Rivalry, lovely anon!

I am answering this with the caveat that I have not read the books (and know absolutely bugger-all about hockey in any form), but I did enjoy it. It really felt (in a good way!) like a M/M romance, which is a very rare thing to find. It had all the usual tropes, and it dealt with them really well. It skated (excuse the pun) over some heavy themes, but without descending into unrelenting misery, and had enough sweetness to balance it out. Very well directed, very well acted.

I think my only bit of bafflement was that it spent an entire episode on another couple which, for me, was not very interesting. (I get the point that they're meant to be a sort of reflection of Ilya and Shane, and the spur for the development of their own relationship, but that could very much have been dealt with in five minutes, I think, so it felt like filler. Again - I haven't read the book, so this may not be the case at all!)

Also, I loved Ilya's confession over the phone. 10/10. Beautiful moment, excellently done.

Lastly, I hear rumour the director is considering doing an Alexander the Great series with Netflix. If this comes to pass, I am warning you all now: there will be a lot of hysterical screaming coming from yours truly.

[ladyinbooks]

Please write more of Samiel and Jay fighting lol, I love to watch them duke it out while terrifying the general public 😂

Samiel and Jay, terrifying the entire neighbourhood with their dramatics.

The entire neighbourhood realising that their new neighbours are Not Normal.

Jayne becoming unofficial 'Keeper of the Peace' whenever there is an epic fight.

🤣🤣🤣

(But yes, lovely anon, you are right - they do indeed terrify the general public.)

I will add this to the list!

[ladyinbooks]

samjay mpreg au please 🥺

I'll put it on the list, lovely anon. 😉

[ladyinbooks]

What are the top 5 most memorable fights where Samiel found himself in the proverbial doghouse and how epic was the groveling to make up for it? Same for Jay too 🤭

Ooffff, this is a good question, lovely anon!

Hmm. I think one of the biggest fights they have is definitely over Jay heading off to help Williams (as witnessed by poor Jayne). Samiel does find himself in the proverbial doghouse, but it's one of the few times he refuses to back down, and they both have to learn to compromise. (It's also one of their earliest major rows, and I think they're both still learning how to function as a couple and not independent agents.)

I think one of their second biggest fights (and this one does end up with Samiel in trouble), is when he heads off to help Hird with something, and gets into some serious trouble. Jay, ultimately, has to step in and rescue the pair of them and he is absolutely furious (the anger is, of course, driven by utter terror that he might have lost Samiel). There is definitely a week in there of very intense conversation, and a lot of angst, and I think Samiel's grovelling is on a scale so concerning that the fellow residents of Kathikas start to get a little alarmed at the sheer number of useless presents Samiel keeps purchasing and taking home. Ultimately, they come to a resolution and set some ground rules on what can (and cannot) happen during missions away.

Apart from the occasional fight about Jay leaving clothes on the floor, I think the biggest fight with Samiel might actually have been where Jay pushes a little more than Samiel is comfortable with when it comes to Athannus. I think Jay very much sees his father in law as someone very useful to have onside in case of any problems (I mean, he's the king of Lenia...). So he tries to encourage Samiel to build a bond with his father, but I think he tries to force it a little too fast, and it results in Samiel very much snapping back, because the whole concept of a father (let alone one actively involved in his life) is very difficult for him adjust to. I think it ultimately results in him leaving for a trip with Hird (because he knows she'll bite anyone who tries to upset her Definitely Not Bestie), and Jay having to do a large amount on introspection on how he sometimes treats personal relationships as political tools, and why he mustn't do that.

He then also has to get past Hird to apologise to Samiel, which quite honestly is its own epic level of grovelling!

[ladyinbooks]

I imagine Samiel to look like Vasiliy Stepanov with golden eyes 🧡

OH.

Oh, lovely anon.

I had never heard of Vasiliy Stepanov, but...

Yes. So much yes.

[ladyinbooks]

Hii! What are your characters' defence mechanisms? I can guess Aubrey’s would be repression. Jason's is somewhat denial-ish maybe...?

Ooh, good question lovely anon!

Hmm, let me see...

Yes, Aubrey's is definitely repression - I think it's what actually allows him to compartmentalise enough to function when he really needs to, and to be coldly ruthless. Unfortunately it can be both a positive, and a negative.

Dan's defence mechanism is anger - it's easier to deal with the world when you feel like you can fight for what you believe in, and I think he finds the quickest way to do that is to be angry and want change.

Jay's defence mechanism is, I think, avoidance. What I mean by that, is he will actively avoid dealing with a problem emotionally, by essentially turning it into a problem he can 'fix'. So he'll plan, and he'll obfuscate, and he'll try to fix something on his own in a practical way because it's better than dealing with the emotional complexity.

Hess? Hess is all about control. It was stripped away from him for a very, very long time and so in order to feel safe, to protect himself, he has to be in control of every. little. thing.

Samiel's defence mechanism is obedience. It's inescapable, and I think he hates it, but it's a leftover 'gift' from Deneira. If he's just good enough, and the best, and the most special, then someone will love him back. If he's stressed, or anxious, or unhappy, then he defaults to 'doing what I'm told' a lot of the time, because he thinks it might defuse the situation. (I'm talking about personal relationships here, and of course he's a work in progress. He is very much moving in the direction of healing from this by the end of IB.)

Lysander is alllll about violence. It doesn't even have to be violence committed in anger, but the best defence is an offence in his opinion. He has to protect himself (and others) by fighting the threat, or lashing out. It's how he can provoke a reaction, assess a situation or just plain beat a threat (literal or otherwise) into the ground.

[ladyinbooks]

hi! I've recently been reading all your work on ao3 and it's been so great. Your characterization is so strong, I'm endeared to pretty much everyone (especially Kate and Venndred, they are so cute) and the politics are really twisty and complex, im like in awe tbh!! I honestly think I need to reread rarely pure just to wrap my head around how much has happened. knowing what happens later is also making a lot of early scenes seem a hundred times crazier.. Aubrey has been winning gold in the repression olympics for like a decade and tying himself into knots about Lysanders marriage to Praia, just to nearly give it all up on the floor of Hird's ship.. truly she was not kidding when she said he'd regret it later. the fallout would be legendary <3

Aww, you sweetheart, thank you! 🤗❤️❤️❤️ I'm so pleased you enjoyed my fics! (And yay! I'm so happy you like Kate and Venn!)

Hehe, Rarely Pure does lean more heavily into the politics right alongside the (VERY!) unreliable narrators, so it does make things super twisty sometimes. (I've had to make extensive notes for myself, including when Aubrey, known liar extraordinaire, is lying. 🤣🤣)

The fallout would indeed have been legendary! Ohh gosh, I kind of want to write that now...

[ladyinbooks]

Is there a story behind how Lysander and Retvja earned their respective epithets? Andruin var Thersin for Lysander and though i can't seem to find Retvja's at the moment I think it means The Undying Flame? I'd love to know that piece of lore! Also, is their an equivalent one for Aubrey?

There is, lovely anon!

So the pair of them earn the epithets Andruin var Thersin /The Oncoming Storm (Lysander) and Skapr val Tivar/The Undying Flame (Retvja) during the same incident.

The Xanthan Federation (ably backed by the Interior Circle) attempt an incursion into Drakkian territory. They do, of course, use Ataiy as a launch point for this. It's also possibly the last time that Archaeus Timaea and Archaeus Draxios are ever seen united in a political sense, as they both agree this can't be tolerated.

Strattia, Retvja and Lysander are sent to hold the line, until such time as negotiations can take place to ensure the Xanthan Federation does not attempt to push deeper towards Alskir. Theoretically it's a standard plan for a planet that is isolated from any allies, and does not have much left in the way of military force, because they need to buy time without expending the last of their military.

Except, to reiterate:

Aubrey has sent Retvja and Lysander.

And Retvja and Lysander are not having this incursion, and they go... well... a little 'rogue'. (By which we mean Aubrey 'I-am-absolutely-encouraging-this' Draxios knows precisely what they are doing, and very much approves, but lies to Timaea's face and claims otherwise.) In short: with very few military resources, Retvja effectively holds the Xanthan Federation off, stopping any further supplies or military aid from reaching them, and he does so at great personal cost and effort. Meanwhile Lysander launches an aggressive attack, practically by himself, driving the remaining enemy forces all the way back to Ataiy. It earns them the reputations of being steadfast ('undying flame') and overwhelming strength ('oncoming storm'). The Ataiyan rebellion is actually the one who bestows these names on them.

The outcome of the war also causes a permanent split with Timaea, because (of course), once victory is assured he very much wants to negotiate with the Federation and the Interior Circle, and Aubrey is absolutely and categorically opposed to that (and of course actively sabotaging any attempts while lying to everyone, and making sure the idea is seen as deeply unpopular). It also, I think, makes Timaea uncomfortably aware that Aubrey wields a lot more power through having Retvja and Lysander on his side than had previously been realised. It's why he seeks out Lysander, both to try and destabilize some of that support for Aubrey, and to try and convince him that his talents would be put to better use helping ensure peace with the Interior Circle.

Which is where the whole mess in RP begins...

(Aubrey does have his own epithet: it's Avir var Livjk, which means The Hidden Blade. It is not actually a compliment, and the Ataiyans never say it to his face.)

[ladyinbooks]

what does chore distribution in your couples' houshold look like?

Oooh, good question lovely anon!

Starting with the easiest:

Lysander & Aubrey: Lysander does the chores. That is all. 😌

Hess & Dan: Surprisingly even - Hess is a little more likely to do the cooking, and Dan is a little more likely to do the laundry. They're both relatively tidy, and neither of them are especially fond of gardening, but they'll get on and do what needs to be done. Both of them are fairly practical, so any kind of home improvements again tend to be a joint effort.

Samiel & Jay: Jay is not as tidy, so Samiel tends to do the clearing up (putting the washing away/cleaning the plates etc.). The trade-off is that Jay does most of the cooking (because he had the time to learn, where Samiel didn't), and the gardening. Neither of them are any good at home improvements, so they ask Hird (who will then enlist the help of her crew, because she is not suffering alone in this).

[ladyinbooks]

Hii☺️ wish you a happy new year!

Could you share with us your fav books you read in 2025?

Happy new year, lovely! (Sorry, I'm only...um... many months late! 😅 So I hope 2026 is going wonderfully for you! ❤️❤️❤️)

Hmm... let me think.

I thoroughly enjoyed Madeleine Miller's Circe - very readable, her prose are beautiful as ever, and it was refreshing to have a Greek mythology retelling from a female perspective.

I've started Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, and I'm so far finding them thoroughly enjoyable.

The Magpie Lord (KJ Charles) was great fun, as was Tanya Huff's The Fire's Stone.

For non-fiction (and cheating a little, because it was published this year!), Emily Wilson's Crossing the Wine Dark Sea, is a lovely, easy read on translation choices in ancient literature.

On my tbr for this year: SVSSS (I will read this - I am desperate to read this once RP is finished); Golden Terrace and 2ha (because lovely anons have recommended these, and I am intrigued by all of them).

[ladyinbooks]

might i also nominate one tim drake as a potential favorite? honestly all of the bats are my favorite, but tim especially holds a special place in my heart. he's a highly capable yet pitiful wet cat and i love him

Ohoho, lovely anon! If there's one thing guaranteed to pique my interest, it's a highly capable yet pitiful wet cat character! I am clearly going to have to investigate!

[ladyinbooks]

i would like to propose a make jay pregnant agenda *runs away*

i think samiel is with me on this 😏

Samiel & lovely anon 🤝 making Jay pregnant

(Samiel is willing to take responsibility, lovely anon, and give it a darn good try! 🫡)

[ladyinbooks]

oh god that really is hilarious 😂

i petition for you to write cryptic mpreg for our pretty princess prince 🤴 🤰

The question is, lovely anon, how much can I traumatise Lysander during the process? 🤔

Aubrey: Nope, I am definitely not pregnant. Don't be ridiculous. I have no symptoms whatsoever. And I can't get pregnant.

Lysander, on his knees, sobbing: You threw up three times this morning! You're always tired! You're having mood swings! Please, could you at least consider -

Aubrey: Ah. Good point. It's a stomach bug.

Lysander: It's not a -

Aubrey: Stomach bug.

[ladyinbooks]

Hi Lady!

I was wondering, is Jason the kind of person who, after everything is over (for the most part) finds himself randomly needing an adrenaline rush/to be put under pressure? I could see it going either way, in the sense of ‘glad that’s over I can finally relax’ but also ‘things have been way too relaxed and it doesn’t feel right.’ I could see him taking on just mildly dangerous hobbies like going out and catching invasive species.

Along that similar vein, please forgive the head-cannon, I hope I’m not overstepping, but, I feel like Jason is the kind of person who would just have a ridiculously extensive knowledge of flora and fauna in the regions he finds himself in but think nothing of it. He could just be on a walk, and someone could point out a flower and he would instantly list out exactly what it is and at least three niche facts about it, leaving the other person utterly stunned. Or be the type of person to pick up a highly venomous lizard and go ‘hm, yeah, you don’t ever want to touch one of these, but this is a—‘ and list off half a book’s worth of information.

Hi lovely anon! ❤️

(Sorry for the slow response to your lovely message!)

Oh, absolutely! Jay is definitely the time who needs Something To Do. I think it's why he accidentally ends up effectively running Kathikas, because he sees problems, and decides he needs to help fix them. Part of it, I think, is that he genuinely like being able to use his skills to help people - whether there is a benefit to him, or not. The other part is because he would be utterly bored if he couldn't do something. I do also agree that from time to time he needs some of that adrenaline fix, which is why he (and Samiel) occasionally help out Hird or their other friends in an unofficial capacity (see: the pair of them meddling during the events of Rarely Pure 😄).

Oh my gosh, no! Absolutely not overstepping! I love the fact you have headcanons for Jay! (Seriously, it makes my little writer heart very happy, because it means you enjoy thinking about him as much as I do!) I could definitely see him getting into dangerous botany as a side hobby. Perhaps it starts off just as an idle curiosity on the plants he runs into on Elysium, then slowly develops into 'hey, this could be useful for other things!', followed by just generally cataloguing new and exciting flora and fauna he stumbles across. (Also, something at the back of my mind says he would absolutely want to learn these things in case he runs across a poisoning case in a political context, because Jay can never quite untangle his personal interests from his work. 😂)