#valerion

[svans0ng]

omegaverse propaganda once again...

Aerion being jealous of Valarr

he's second in the line to the Iron Throne, an alpha, praised by other Lords, and many would say that he's a perfect prince and a worthy heir

and Aerion can't stand it

being an omega, with no real perspectives for getting close to sitting on that damn chair, and proving himself by being, well, I think we all know how he is 😭

until he gets betrothed to Valarr

(and I've been thinking about placing it somewhere so: option 1: Baelor and Maekar wanted to unite their lines this way because they never got to be together so it's this way ig 😭 or option 2: putting this all in universe where Baelor and Maekar got married and had 8 kids, and betrothed them just because that's what that freaky house does)

and with that match everything changes, because Aerion will be married to a king someday, close to sitting that throne, and he should be happy right?

well, he's acting like he's not

wedding preparations? he's changing his mind every second, nothing is really satisfying him, and everyone around (Maekar) are just tired of his bs,

traditional courtship? silks are not smooth enough for him, precious jewels should be more shiny, valyrian steel weapons are not valyrian enough!!!

and Valarr is just oddly calm through it all

if one jewel is not enough then he'll order ten or twenty more, and he does that with everything Aerion complains at (maybe he'll even give him a dragon egg (with won't hatch but it's and egg sooo))

and, to everyone's surprise, after months of this behaviour and many, many way too expensive gifts piling up, Aerion finally breaks

and idk they get married, have kids, all that jazz

I don't know how to sum it up yet, okay? 😭

[cyborrrg]

bust standard-sketch commisson~

commissions are open; taking requests on vgen // carrd

samples:

[fruitdogrogue]

he's adopted

[crazyfoxfur16]

Do You Believe in the Paranormal (Pt. 2)

Rhaenyra was sleeping in her bed, alone because Daemon was away on business, when the door to her bed chamber burst open. She shot up in bed, fully awake and grabbed the dagger from under her pillow. She let her hand fall to the bed when she saw her half-brother standing there.

“Aegon, what are you doing here?” She demanded.

“I need to talk to you.” He said.

“That is not what I asked. I asked what you are doing here, on Dragonstone?” She said.

“Not important, what is important is me talking to you.” Aegon answered.

Rhaenyra sighed, “About what?”

Aegon’s face went pale, “I-”

Rhaenyra raises a brow, waiting, “Well, get on with it.”

“I-I-” Aegon looked like he was going to have a mental breakdown, “It’s about the succession!” 

Rhaenyra froze, staring at her half-brother. The succession? But that was already decided, she was the heir to the Iron Throne. Why would Aegon need to talk about the succession?

“The succession? Aegon we both know that the succession is settled.”

Aegon looked at her and sighed, defeated, “I know, it’s just-” He walked over to her bed and sat down, “There’s something else about it, something I just found out tonight.”

Rhaenyra could see the terror in his eyes and that he was shaking. She placed a hand on his, “What is it, Aegon, tell me.” She gently pushed.

“As you know, my mother is still saying that I’m the true heir. Well, tonight I was woken up by a presence in my chambers. It was a woman staring at me then she just disappeared in a cloud of red smoke.” Aegon looked down at the floor, “I flew here, to Dragonstone, to find out who she was. When I got here, Jace found me and I told him everything. He took me to the temple of the Fourteen Flames where we spoke with Lord Vhagar who told us that the woman I saw was the goddess, Iraxes, and that her presence was not a good one.” 

Rhaenyra stared at her half-brother. The goddess Iraxes, she’s never heard of her before. 

“Then what happened?”

“Lord Vhagar spent us to Lady Viserion,” Aegon started to twist the ring on his finger, “She told us our future. She said that when father dies, mother will usurp the throne and put me on it, starting a civil war between you and me, killing almost every Targaryen and almost every dragon. I don’t want that to happen, so I’m telling you in hopes that I can change that fate.” 

Rhaenyra blinked at Aegon for a moment, “What?”

Aegon nodded his head, “I get it if you don’t believe me.”

“No I don’t believe you,” She said, “On the part that it will be Alicent that usurps the throne. It will be Otto Hightower.” 

Aegon looked at Rhaenyra shocked, “Wait! So you believe me?”

“Yes, I do” Rhaenyra said, nodding her head. 

“But what I need to understand is why you are telling me.” She said.

Aegon looked at his lap, “Because you’re my older sister and the heir to the throne and you should know.” 

Rhaenyra shook her head, “No, I don’t think that’s it, there’s more to it than that.”

“Because you’re my sister and I don’t want you to hate me and think I’m weak.” He said, looking as if he was going to cry. 

Rhaenyra frowned. Is that what her brother really thought about her? What has Alicent been filling his head with? She gently gripped his shoulder and had him look at her, “I don’t hate you and I don’t think you’re weak.”

“Really?” Aegon asked.

Rhaenyra nodded, “Can I tell you a story?”

Aegon nodded.

“It is said that long ago, when Old Valyria was nearing its end. That there was a war. Now the war was between two siblings, who very much like us, had the same father, but a different mother. They were brother and sister and they were both dragonlords, said to be one of the very first dragonlords. The sister, who was the oldest, was called Daenora and her dragon was a large, beautiful white and black she-dragon named Silverfyre,” Rhaenyra pulled the blankets over Aegon as she continued, “The bother, who was the younger, was called Valerion and his dragon was a large creme and pale red-orange he-dragon called Valíria.” 

“When Daenora was just a little girl, her father, before he remarried, named her his heir. But then he remarried and had four children with his second wife. Valerion was the oldest and his mother pushed his father to name him his heir instead of his daughter Daenora, but he refused and Valerion grew bitter over his sister.” 

“They sound like you and me.” Aegon said.

“Yes they do. But heres the kicker, when they were young, Daenora and Valerion were the best of friends, but as time went on they began to drift apart until the love they had for one another was replaced by cold, dark hatred for one another. When their father died, Valerion took their father’s lands and titles away from Daenora and she was furious.” 

“And to make the usurpation even worse, Daenora was 7 moons pregnant when it happened. When Daenora found out what her brother had done she went into a black fury and the babe within her became angry as well. For three days the screams of Daenora was heard though the castle as she went through a grueling labor. When the babe was born, it was dead and a girl. Darnora swore vengeance on Valerion saying that he took her land, her titles, and that he killed her little girl.”

Aegon looked shocked, “That sounds awful!”

Rhaenyra nodded, “It was and the war that followed was even worse. So many people and dragons died fighting one another, including Valerion and Daenora’s siblings. The war went on for half a year, until one fateful day. Valerion and Valíria met Daenora and Silverfyre over one of the fourteen volcanos of Valyria. They say that when Daenora saw Valerion she called him a thief and a traitor. To which Valerion called her a whore and a false lord. Then it went quiet, until Valíria and Silverfyre let out roars so loud the ground shock and jumped into the air.” 

“They say the fight that followed by a horrifying one. Each dragon tore and bit the other, ripping chunks of flesh and wing off of each other. No one knew who had the upper hand, until Valíria snapped his jaws around Silverfyre’s neck and his claws tore through her belly. Silverfyre managed to bite Valíria’s left wing and her claws managed to rip off the right. Both dragons fell from the sky and crashed to the ground, alive.” 

Aegon gasped and leaned closer.

“But sadly, Silverfyre didn’t live long. After making sure her rider wasn’t hurt the mighty she-dragon took her last breath and died. It was said that Daenora, mad with grief, screaming and roared for her dragon just as Valerion drove his sword through her stomach.” Rhaenyra poked her finger against Aegon’s stomach as she spoke, “With her dying breath, Daenora demanded that her brother name his first-born daughter after her beloved Silverfyre, just as she had named her first-born son Valarr after Valíria and then she died just like her dragon. With that demand, Valerion remembered the friendship his sister and him had shared. It is said that he cried and sat vigil for his sister and her dragon all through the night and in the morning, Valíria took his last breath and died. From that day forth, Valerion was completely swallowed in grief over the friendship of his sister and him and for their dragons, but he did do as his sister demanded and named his first-born daughter Saera after Silverfyre.” 

Aegon looked at Rhaenyra, “That is an awful story, you are really bad at story-telling.”

Rhaenyra laughed, “Yes, it is an awful story, but there is meaning behind. That the love you have for your sibling never truly dies.” 

Aegon smiled, “I think i get want you’re trying to say. That no matter what happens I’m still your brother and you love me either way.”

“Exactly,” Rhaenyra said smiling.

Later when Aegon met up with Jacaerys before leaving, Jacaerys pulled him aside and said, “To answer you’re question from earlier, yes, I do believe in the paranormal.”

Aegon smiled and said, “Yeah, I know.”

[elavoria]

A little fanart of Valerion from @hugtherobots’ lovely webcomic The Gifts of Darkness, because I saw a dress in this post and immediately thought of him. ^^

[captainanchoystwos]

[rickthaniel]

The Sound of Silence in Planet of the Apes

I feel like nobody’s talking about War for the Planet of the Apes. The critics are talking, and the box office is talking, but the people are silent, and I’ve been trying to figure out why. War is, in my mind, the peak moment of series that has blown past every other competitor in the realm of PG-13, nine figure budget blockbusters. DC, Marvel, Mission Impossible and F&F, they all generally fall short of Apes for story, scale and substance. Exceptions exist, like this own year’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and Wonder Woman, but on the whole the rest just doesn’t measure up. Not since The Dark Knight has a film of this scope and caliber done so much so well. So why isn’t anyone talking about it? After a lot of thinking, I have a theory. It’s the reason I believe these movies aren’t getting the vocal attention they deserve, and it’s the thing that makes them stand out so starkly from the monochromatic backdrop of modern Hollywood: Planet of the Apes is quiet.

You see it in the calming vistas and beautiful establishing shots. You hear it in those frequent moment of jungle noise and nothing else. The idea of sound and silence is the driving thematic force through the whole trilogy, and with this idea as the series’ philosophical cornerstone, Apes transcends the hollowness of its contemporaries and sets itself in a whole different league.

To really break apart Apes’ use of sound and silence, I want to look at it through a few lenses, and I want to start by talking about silence in the special effects. Before going to see War, I rewatched Dawn with my brother who’d never seen it. When we got to the climax battle, the duel to the death between Caesar and Koba on the tower, and the battleground itself began collapsing beneath them, my brother said, “Huh. That looks expensive.” He was referring of course to the scene itself, the animated amalgamation of girders, pipes and apes, all bending and contorting in a giant computer-generated fireworks display. It looked expensive. And it was.

But the whole movie was expensive. At well over $200 million, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is in the VIP box for film budgets. The CGI aura emanates from every shot, but it wasn’t until that tower fell that my brother took notice. In a world where every film with a noteworthy effects budget uses it make as many star cruisers and laser blasts, as many explosions and faceless robots, as much noise, as possible, Apes uses its quietly. It builds believable characters in a believable place. And that’s enough.

It’s no secret that Hollywood is suffering from effects-fatigue. It’s the reason Valerian bombed while War did so well financially. Those explosions and collisions that Luc Besson dazzled us with in 1997 do nothing for us now. We expect them, and not excitedly. No matter how many aliens you model on screen, or how many missiles you shoot, the wow factor is gone. So, Matt Reeves went a different way. He took that money and built a world with it. A world that doesn’t look expensive. And he filled that world with a compelling community of characters. When everyone else was competing to see who could make the most noise, Apes created a beautiful silence.

That silence that carries over into the trilogy’s pacing, which is the next piece I want to talk about. While all three have been marketed as action films, none of them really are. Rise is a disaster movie with only one real action scene to its name. Dawn is a post-apocalyptic drama that raises the ante to two fights in the film’s second half. War has elements of a war film, sure, but its equal parts western and prison story at the same time. Every chapter is a distinct piece. That’s what happens when the narrative dictates the franchise, instead of the other way around.

Look at the virus subplot in Rise. That virus is the most important plot device in the whole series, bringing about both the rise of ape society and the fall of man, but we only see it on screen to the extent that it affects Caesar. It’s his story after all. The global spread of the disease and the ensuing downfall of civilization is relegated to a motion graphic in the ending credits, which sounds absurd, but that’s where it belongs for the purposes of the narrative. The same thing happens in Dawn when the human colony contacts Woody Harrelson’s extremist military base. The plotline is there through the whole second chapter, but we don’t see it brought center stage until War.

By deftly weaving these arcs, Apes successfully dodges the trap of cliffhanger and instead creates a compelling, interwoven story. A story with a quiet momentum. It never rushes itself or loses focus, but it also keeps everything in frame. Even the dialog has a calm, peaceful pace. When Caesar speaks in Dawn, we feel how difficult it is. The language doesn’t come naturally, and he constantly struggles to find the right words. The trademark fast banter and witty quips of the blockbuster are replaced with slow, careful dialogue, the noise replaced with silence.

Lastly, I want to talk about how Apes uses silence as a narrative device. From the very beginning, the shifting fortunes of man and ape hinge on their polarized methods of communications. When Caesar learns to speak, it’s through sign language. And when he builds his brotherhood, his family, he uses the same foundation. Everything from school lessons to council meetings are conducted in silence in the ape society. It’s not about being the loudest. It’s about what you have to say.

The humans, on the other hand, shout and riot. The soldiers in War start the day with organized battle cries. Gary Oldman controls the chaos of his city in Dawn with a megaphone and a stirring speech. They talk and shout and eventually, all too ironically, lose their voices altogether. All their noise ultimately amounts to nothing, merely embodying the chaos, violence, and madness that defines their downfall. The apes, on the other hand, say something. The difference is, they say it in silence.

There’s a lot more that sets War for the Planet of the Apes and its predecessors apart, like the methodical development of Caesar’s character, and the genre-bending nature of the franchise as a whole. I also know that for all my praise, these movies aren’t perfect. But I do honestly think, at a time when so much in the theater looks so similar and so empty, that there is something unique and important about Planet of the Apes. The fact that I felt more in three lines of subtitles in War than two hours of noise in anything else is incredibly significant. And I hope people start talking about it. Because it matters, it really matters, that there is a movie out there with a $150 million budget that wants people to sit down in a theater and read.

[cyborrrg]

embarrassing your cousin or smth art trade with shippertrash140109 for her second chapter of serve.

sketch commissions now open; taking requests on vgen // carrd