Laughing randomly about how I’m sure Jaehaerys prob wanted to marry Rhaenys to someone obscure to limit her power and make stronger alliances and Alysanne was prob like no you don’t. Then proceeded to ensure Corlys and Rhaenys were seated next to each other at every event so they fell in love. Then when Corlys asked for her hand Jaehaerys had no choice as Corlys was a rich military leader.
Their marriage was def the reason for the great council. Without Corlys I’m sure he would have just named Viserys heir without a great council. Which was def a power play on two levels from Alysanne’s PoV. She was both putting her foot down on marrying the girls to poor partners and saying she thought Rhaenys should be queen till she died.
Its been three weeks since Caterina passed away, and things had returned to a relative normal in the Villa, with Illario now shouldering some of the First Talons Burdens, but when Amika becomes sick seemingly out of nowhere, Illario is beside himself with worry, Spite senses something has changed in Amika and that change was about to change Illario's entire world.
Read Chapter 9 HERE
Snippet:
Amika watched them for a moment and tilted her head. Altara was not a morning person, until she had a coffee inside her, she was like a sleeping lion, best left alone until she felt more human. "How was your last contract? I heard rumours you made quite a mess." Illario said in conversation, pouring himself another coffee. Spite smirked, "Sending a message, necessary." He devoured what was on his plate and proceeded to go for seconds, Spite had a large appetite.
Dr Frances had theorised that his appetite had something to do with his high metabolism. something to do with why he healed faster than the average person, since sharing their story, since retelling their time in the ossuary and sharing their pain, Spite had become less withdrawn, more open to tests. Emmrich and Frances had gone out of their way to help him overcome his trauma.
Spite was the happiest he had ever been, more playful and affectionate, his temper and blood lust more contained. it was hard to believe he had ever been a spirit of the fade contained in a body, lashing out in anger and frustration at the confusing world he found himself in. now it was as if he had always been his own person, not a mage yet magically adept, able to do things a mage could only dream of.
The one thing Spite still struggled with was the staring, he was striking in appearance, his dark purple skin and glowing magenta eyes and sharp teeth made him rather intimidating but there was an ethereal beauty to him, an aura almost imperceptible floated around him, when angered the scent of ozone soon followed as if some part of the fade still lingered.
Amika stood abruptly, nearly knocking over her coffee cup in her rush to leave the dining hall. Illario chased after her in concern. it was the 3rd morning in a row she had done this.
once you understand how a narcissist works and what they’re really about, they become the most predictable people on the planet. The little superiority games they play become entirely see-through, and you never fully go back to being fooled, noticing how quickly they weaponise kindness in others as an opportunity to condescend.
I know some are skeptical about this subject, but for those of us subject to encountering these shitty personality types more often than others, speaking the reality of these experiences is essential for walking towards permanent freedom from them. May we continue to apply what we now know and attract better moving forwards 💯
Everything I had, you took it all.
Now no one gets close, I've got these walls.
Afraid to take a step, for if I fall.
Forced to take off running, can barely crawl.
Leaving you I'll feel relief.
Seven realizations to keep it brief.
Patching up some holes with these new leaves.
Away the wind will take me on this breeze.
Mountain climbing was not my suit.
Forest dwelling is the proof.
Darkness fades, clouds on the move.
Freedom harken, breaking loose.
Swimming deep I found a Rose.
What got wet, barely my toes.
Learning lessons, it's what you show.
Humbled deeply and forced to grow.
Quiet growth or making waves.
Sequenced melodies make them behave.
Feelers growing, oh my days!
Learning to revolve these power plays.
Modern society, I decide, is just a never-ending cycle of ignoring people for a vague illusion of control and going crazy when the same is done to you.
Hello! Love the blog! I had a question that’s been in my head since I finished season 4, why did Rio bring Beth to meet his family? I don’t think Nick asked to meet her because as we see in season 4, he didn’t actually know Beth existed or the extent of her “involvement” with Rio. So why did he bring her to his childhood home to meet his entire immediate and extended fam? Thanks I’m advance for reading this!
Hi! Thank you so much, anon! You're very sweet.
I think you might've sent this ask to @foxmagpie too, and I love and agree with her response, so I hope you don't mind me just linking to it. I totally agree with her that it was a part of Rio responding to knowing she was talking to the FBI and really just trying to bury her deeper with him and his family. He was effectively doing what she always does to him, and reminding her that he has a family who loves and needs him, while also creating the illusion, I think, of deeper trust.
Ultimately, it was a manipulation, and man, if it wasn't one that worked, haha.
A Collisions in the Dark AU, where instead of rescuing Tim from her father, Talia chooses to save Jason’s life, leaving Tim at the mercy, and wrath, of Ra’s al Ghul. Tim eventually wins his freedom, but the price he pays for it? Serving as a double agent for Ra’s, who wants to give Bruce a taste of his own medicine.
_____
Nanda Parbat, Tibet
October 7, 4:00 pm
It was late afternoon in the courtyard gardens in Ra’s’ compound and Tim sat on a stone bench under the shade of a rhododendron bush in full bloom. He breathed in the honey-scented air and stared at the small water feature gurgling away in front of him, his thoughts occupied with various plans of escape. Located two stories above the ground floor, Tim was originally drawn to the gardens because of the courtyard walls. They looked easy enough to scale and picking his way down the mountainside seemed far safer than braving the sheer drop from his window to the rocky ledge far below.
However, Nanda Parbat was nestled in a small valley of the Tanggula mountain range — carob-colored rockfaces ascending around them from all sides. Even if he managed the climb over the courtyard wall unseen, he doubted he’d survive such a journey at that altitude as it would mean climbing free solo, higher, over the nearest ridge and descending down the other side until he could find the Tanggula pass which navigated through the range.
So instead, Tim sat in the garden and tried not to think about how small and narrow his life had become in such a vast open region as the Tibetan plateau. The irony of it was painful to him — like the universe was playing a sick joke and he was the punch line.
Over the course of a few days, he had developed a routine of irregularity. Each morning he awoke at sunrise and slipped out of his room to find a new area of Ra’s compound to retreat to— the library, the small Buddist temple where some of the recruits performed their morning meditations, and most recently the gardens — intent on being anywhere that Ra’s was not. But there came a point every afternoon where he found that he couldn’t hide no matter how far he wandered and he’d startle at a servant’s hand on his shoulder ready to escort him back to his room to clean up for dinner.
Gravel crunched behind him. Too early, Tim thought and knew it wasn’t a servant coming to get him. He made to stand but too late. Halfway to his feet, an arm snaked around his torso and he found himself pulled into the snare of Ra’s’ embrace, his back held flush against Ra’s’ solid chest.
Ra’s’ other hand caught him under the chin and pulled his head back until it rested over his shoulder. Tim gasped at the effort of it— his back curving like a bow, hips unwittingly pressing up into Ra’s’ forearm if only to relieve the strain.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding all day.” Ra’s breathed against the shell of his ear, his mouth so close his teeth almost nipped at his skin with every word he spoke. “I should have guessed after what you asked me last night. The gardens do offer the best views.”
True to the agreement that Tim had negotiated, last night saw them back in Ra’s’ bedroom. He hadn’t intended on ending up back there so soon but a servant had placed a pitcher of Arak on the table during dinner and Tim had steeled his nerves with one too many glasses of the strong cloudy-colored liquid. And before he knew what had happened, they were standing face to face outside of Ra’s’ bedroom door breathing in each other’s anise-scented breaths.
Ra’s chuckled as he stumbled and leaned heavily into his shoulder. “I will have to remember to teach you how to hold you Arak, Detective.”
“ Where are we?”
“Outside my bedroom.”
I should leave, he remembered thinking to himself. But his brain was sluggish and apparently set on other goals besides his own safety. “No — I meant…”
Ra’s’ fingers found his hair and carded through it absentmindedly. Tim couldn’t think straight when he did that — not when thinking was already so hard for his alcohol-saturated brain as it was.
He shoved off of Ra’s’ shoulder and propped himself up against the stone doorway. The effect was a sensation like falling off a two-story building and Tim pressed his shoulders harder against the stones at his back as the world around him twisted and lurched.
He squeezed his eyes shut and waved a hand vaguely around him, indicating the compound itself. “No, where are we in Tibet?”
There was silence from the older man across from him. When he felt well enough to open his eyes again he found Ra’s staring unrelentingly at him, his eyes a dangerous mixture of hunger and suspicion.
He wasn’t nearly as drunk as Tim was at the moment. Not after spending the night drinking Arak — his favorite liquor and one that was almost as ancient and unchanging as he was. He’d had many centuries worth of lives to develop a tolerance for it.
It felt like Ra’s was weighing his options in his mind, considering which answer he would give him. Finally, he pushed the door open, letting it swing until it bounced against the wall.
He inclined his head, a smile playing on his lips. “Why don’t you come inside and I’ll tell you?”
Tim peered into the room. It looked innocent enough but he knew looks could be deceiving. “Is this your way of saying you want to make a trade?”
They hadn’t done that since that first night after Ra’s’ had pulled him from his dungeon cell. He had certainly made offers in the days since then, but Tim had been steadfast in refusing him.
Ra’s chuckled again and reached for Tim’s elbow, pulling him close. “I’m saying, I’ve been very patient up until this point, but now it’s very clear that I want you and you want answers. Why don’t we go inside by the fire and see if we can come to an arrangement that leaves us both satisfied?”
Despite his better judgment, Tim stepped with him over the threshold.
“Last night?” Tim’s Adam's apple bobbed against the light cage of Ra’s’ fingers around his throat. Standing there in the garden he tried to recall his scattered memories after the door had closed behind them.
It was hard to remember, or maybe it was more that Tim didn’t really want to remember. To his sluggish brain, it felt like he was watching a film on a malfunctioning projector from behind his own eyes. He found himself trying to piece together the sights and sounds of disconnected scenes but the plot as a whole was lost to him.
They’d shared another glass of Arak between them, himself so drunk he didn’t even remember how he made it onto the floor. Ra’s had lit a fire — Tim remembered the heat on his skin and the scratchy, not entirely pleasant, feeling of the carpet under him as Ra’s unbuttoned his pants and tugged them down his legs.
Had they negotiated this? He couldn’t remember saying yes and it seemed much more likely that if Tim had had a say in how they went forward, Ra’s would be the one shedding his clothes, not Tim.
Ra’s was saying something to him but it sounded far away. He might have dozed without meaning to. The stretch and burn of fingers buried in him startled him back to consciousness and pulled an embarrassing keen out of him before he could stop himself. He arched off the floor like a body resurrected, feeling the sweat soaking into the baby hairs at the back of his neck.
“Wait,” he gasped. He swore a spark from the fireplace must have caught on the carpet, he could feel the fire’s heat radiating around him, threatening to burn him up. But there was nothing there when he tilted his head to check.
He could feel the drag of Ra’s’ fingers as they pulled out and pushed in again.“S-Stop—”
His legs were bent, feet planted firmly on the carpet. Ra’s’ head was buried between his legs, his teeth fastened tight on Tim’s left thigh. He could feel the sharp puncture of them as the muscles in his legs trembled and gave out.
“You don’t want me to stop,” Ra’s declared. He pulled away only to start up again on his other thigh.
It hurt more this time. Tim’s dick— which only a moment ago had laid throbbing on his belly, pearlescent at the slit — wilted at the harsh treatment. He reached between his legs and grabbed for Ra’s’ hair — flattened his thighs to the floor in an attempt to get away but there was nowhere to go.
As if to prove his own body’s responses wrong, Ra’s crooked his fingers inside of him and Tim swore, head banging painfully against the carpet as heat surged through him once again. He curled his fingers tightly in Ra’s’ hair and couldn’t stop the way his hips spasmed, torn between pulling away from his teeth and pressed harder onto his fingers. Ra’s’ was right… a part of him liked this. Liked it a lot. And it was quickly drowning out the part of him that objected to how he got that pleasurable feeling as long as it just kept coming.
He might have come soon after that with Ra’s’ mouth on him but he had no actual memory of it. In fact, he didn’t even remember Ra’s’ answer to his question until he woke up later that night, still on the floor but wrapped in a sheet pulled from Ra’s’ bed.
The Tanggula Mountains near Nagqu prefecture.
The fire was low in the hearth in front of him but it held enough light to see the cum smeared across his belly and the dark pattern of bruises on his inner thighs as he pulled his body out from underneath Ra’s’ slumbering form.
Panicked laughter threatened to burst past his lips. It looked like Ra’s had tried to draw him a map with his teeth.
Get it together, he snapped at himself and went to retrieve his clothing from around the room in quick fashion. He pulled them on quietly, more than happy to hide the signs of his shameful pleasure under layers of clothing.
It wasn’t until he’d slipped into his own room minutes later and yanked the bolt securely across the door that he allowed himself to feel anything.
I just went to bed with Ra’s al Ghul. No, he wanted to amend that because there was never really a doubt that he was going to have to have sex with Ra’s eventually.
It was either choose the when, where, and how it happened or have it forced on him. It had seemed that simple to him at first, but tonight was a stark example of how complex it could actually be. Yes, he’d known what he was getting into when he stepped into that room, but the unpredictable element was Ra’s himself who pressed and maneuvered him like a plaything. Drunk as he was he could do nothing but lay there and ride through the waves of pleasure and pain.
He ran a shaky hand through his tangled hair. That can never happen again.
The only question remaining was how was he going to stop it?
Now, here he was a day later and already tangled in Ra’s’ arms again, achingly contorted for his pleasure, and no closer to a solution.
Ra’s’ breath was hot where it ghosted his ear. “I don’t intend to let you run back to your room so quickly tonight. If I were you, I’d have at least three questions at the ready.”
The thought of that alone made him quake and he could feel the smile that Ra’s pressed to his trembling neck.
