2021 L 2023 Proving That Someome Can Work Hard For Years And Still Be Bad

←2021 l 2023→ proving that someome can work hard for years and still be bad

If we'd had a new chapter of ArSen this month it would've been released yesterday. It's not quite the same thing but maybe I can try to soften the blow a little bit by sharing a (very old) snippet of fic featuring some implied Kubard/Shapur.

Kubard walked towards the row of stables, stretching as he did so and stifling a yawn. The morning sun was bright in his eyes. As he passed under the stable’s awning, Shapur’s chestnut stallion snaked its neck over the door of the stall, ears laid back, as bad-tempered as its rider. Upon seeing that it was Kubard, the ears came forward and the nostrils flared wide.  “Here you go,” he said, extracting a sugar lump from his pocket, not above bribery. Farnaspa, who had been waiting for him in the courtyard, looked surprised.  “Is that…?” “Shapur’s horse? Yeah,” Kubard grinned. “Careful,” he added, seeing his captain begin to extend a hand towards the horse’s muzzle. “It bites.” “But not you, apparently,” Farnaspa said with a raised eyebrow.

Uhh let's see, although I can't remember very well I don't think this was ever supposed to be part of a longer work, just a little scene I came up with that amused me. It's set pre-canon, naturally.

Farnaspa is an OC of mine (it's not his usual timeline, but I felt like giving him a little cameo here)

Kubard bribing Shapur's horse with sugar lumps in exactly the same way he learned to soften up Shapur himself with sweet goods ahaha, but as you can hopefully tell, both the horse and rider have become a bit more welcoming of his presence over time (with the implication here being that Shapur spent the night and hasn't left yet).

There's a persistent myth that chestnut horses are fiery/hot-headed in temperament so it always amused me that in the anime Shapur rides a chestnut, given that I see those same traits in him.

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

I like this appetizer 👀

Can I please get more from this? I mean big brother Isfan and Gieve with little brother Areyan (Arslan) family time…..yes I like that. Thank you!!!

“Little bolbol,” Gieve whines, though his lips are quirked into a smile. He throws his arms around the little bird, pulling him into an embrace.

“Hm?”

“Isfan's being mean.”

“You are just too thin-skinned for the truth, fool,” Isfan interjects with a sneer.

“Like I said!” Gieve pouts like a yazata forbidden child, while the actual child in his arms is the picture of composure save for an amused shine in his eyes. “Mean.”

“What can I do for you, Gieve?” Areyan asks mildly. Yazata above, he's indulging the manchild.

“Tell him he's wrong, of course! Tell him I'm the handsomest man in the whole of Pars— no, make that the entire continent. More accurate.”

“The little dove will be doing no such thing, cease your deranged chattering!”

“There, there. You're the handsomest man in the world, Gieve. Positively the most gorgeous. Blindingly dazzling—”

“Ah, ah, ah. You mustn't recite it so flatly! What have I been teaching you, let's try it again, from the top, this time with feeling—”

“Anyone would be when they're forced to play along with your nonsense, Gieve. Release my brother at once.”

“He's my brother too!”

“Oooh, can I be your older brother?” Areyan looks up from the piece of cloth he's been diligently stitching into... something. Isfan doesn't quite know what he's doing with it.

The blink he gives his brothers is the picture of innocence.

Gieve makes a strangled noise, offended. “Must you gang up on me too? Mean, mean I say, the both of you! Being around Isfan had corrupted my beloved little brother—”

"Will you please shut up?”

“Make me, wolf. Oh but you can't, because—”

“Because he can't catch you?”

“Exactly!”

It was then Isfan's turn to make an offended noise. “Areyan...”

The boy only giggles in response.

Antidote for the beheaded Gieve in @innerchorus ' upcoming fic!

tw: animal death (?) Emma, are you still there? WEBTOON - INSTAGRAM

I promised you some Wolfpack!Hilmes and I'm here to deliver: consider Hilmes, can't decide pre or post coronation, having to deal with rebuilding the country, reforming the court perhaps not from the ground up but something close to it, and...

Well there are some power-hungru folk and imagine that at least some of them are particularly stupid.

Cue Hilmes in the council room (what's it called?) trying not to face-plant directly into the stairs leading up to his seat or even sigh, looking so done because some dumbass is droning on and on about an entirely irrelevant matter (the garden size lord says hello) and he looks at Areyan (because he snatched him up being all “I can't deal with this alone!”) and even the boy looks just about ready to sink into his seat and sulk.

Aka: Shah Hilmes shenanigans in court. He's gonna be so tired.

All I can say is, it's going to be a steep learning curve for him! He's never done this before, and I bet it is exhausting (this is where the value of having good retainers comes in). I can see him losing his patience in situations like this, to be honest, because how is it a priority? Areyan will have to teach him how to be diplomatic where it matters. Anyway this is a great antidote to my WIP!Hilmes who has uhh let's say rather limited thoughts on the specifics of rebuilding the country after he becomes Shah.