King Of Scars Duology - Tumblr Posts

Ok so

I was reading a text for my Russian class (thank you Gogol) and a new au was born

Artist!Nikolai

It doesn't have to be full time, can be just a hobby but. He's new to painting, he's pretty good, but still figuring things out

So at some point he and Zoya meet, casually hook up but then it ends up being a not one time thing (shocker!) but still "casual" (and I'm a unicorn)

So at some point either Zoya asks him to paint her ("like one of your French girls") or he asks permission to paint her as practice (haven't decided which one I like more yet)

Long story short, Zoya is used to (and at this point expects) people only noticing her looks and is absolutely speechless when she sees the end result and how little emphasis Nikolai put on her looks (he was experimenting with colors, lighting etc. and "painting" his feelings for her, if you will). At first he thinks she hates it because of her expression but Zoya is just but at emotions so she just kisses him instead

And yeah that's basically it

Disappears back into the void

Ok

Take 3

This better work or I’m going to lose it

Sort of AU but set in canon

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19836166

Old (like really old) but gold

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12239031

Really good writing? I think?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29494683/chapters/72456966

Post canon but they’re just reminiscing about the past? If I remember correctly

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31328003

Slightly angsty times

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782564

Post canon, with some sexual content (I think it was like one scene. Don’t remember how graphic it was though)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/30625934

Ok this is pure crack but it was very entertaining

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31147079

Well the tag says row compliant? Again, the only thing I do remember is really good writing

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31620557

Post canon

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31625426

The only reason why I remember the plot of this one is because of that one cat in Puss in Boots that goes “ooooooooohhh!”. Slight AU, set pre kos

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46273867

Post canon I think? Also really good writing maybe?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32473549

This is a series with a bunch of drabbles. Most are canon compliant I think. Some AUs are tagged as such but I’m not sure if all of them are

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2284442

Multi chapter, post canon, ongoing (hasn’t updated since April)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/33695833/chapters/83744593

Edit because I forgot to add some final notes: if you want more fics (and have lots of time to kill) I reccomend going into the Zoyalai tag on ao3 under "The Grisha Trilogy" and "Nikolai Series" (that's where most Zoyalai fics are)

Also if you change your mind about AUs, let me know (boy do I have some AUs >:3)

Anyone have some good Zoyalai fic recommendations?

Ok so

I was looking through my history for a very specific Zoyalai fic but I found a bunch of deleted works in there and it may have been one of them

So maybe (by some fucking miracle, even though my luck is terrible) someone on here downloaded it (or if it isn't deleted and I'm fucking blind someone recognizes this). It's an extremely long shot, I know

So

I know almost nothing about the fic (author, title or plot)

What I do remember is maybe the secret relationship trope because I remember the scene towards the end where Zoya and Nikolai were still in their night clothes and people started barging in one by one finding out about them. Also there was a bet involved (the only reason why I remember this is because I thought as I was reading it "hey this would have been infinitely times better with a bet" and then there was a bet. Also I'm 99.9% sure I left a comment on there along those lines)

So yeah

That's it

So I have been thinking

A. Now that Zoya has access to all Grisha orders and types, do we think that she'll throw herself into training to master them or not? The way she was reluctant to acknowledge her dragon powers (or I could be completely misinterpreting this entire part, idk) makes me believe she doesn't do well with change. However, she worked her ass off her entire life basically to be the best Squaller she could be. Hm

B. Since shadow and sun summoning are also technically considered part of the Etherealki, do we think Zoya could do it? When she was using her Durast abilities she said that it felt wrong if I'm remembering correctly. But the other elements of the Etherealki order came to her fairly easily. Hm

Disappears into the void 

Six of Crows duology & King of Scars duology spoilers!!

Oh Nina…

I love Hanne but…

Nikolai visited the Crow Club (during Crooked Kingdom) confirmed???

King of Scars Chapter 27 (Leigh Bardugo)

Crooked Kingdom, King of Scars, and Rule of Wolves spoilers!!

AHHHHHHHHH

JESPER IN HIS FABRIKATOR KEFTA🥺🥺

we are zowa, jes

NIKOLAI’S ACTOR???

(Warning Shadow and Bone Season 2 SPOILERS!) 

Theory time. So I have been thinking alot about how Alina’s corruption arc may go in season 2 and I with all the parallels between her and Aleks this season and all the talk about her not following his path, I am expecting that her story is going to match that of Aleks’. 

Aleks had a position beside Anastas, the king, until the king began to fear how powerful Aleks was and became afraid of a coup, but I have always wondered whether someone was whispering in Anastas’ ear and to the country as a whole that Aleks was something to be feared, either out of fear or out of jealousy that Aleks was so trusted by the king. I mean the two Leading officer’s who confronted younger Aleks did seem particularly hostile towards him, Aleks was a military adviser so maybe they resented the position Aleks had with the king and wanted him gone? 

What’s all this got to do with Alina’s corruption arc though, you may ask? Well Alina ends the season in a position next to the king, much like younger Aleks. Just like Aleks had at the time Anastas and the country turned on him, Alina has just won a war for the country, tearing down the fold and so at the moment she is being celebrated. But the ending shows Alina using the cut at Nikolai’s coronation, which means she uses shadow powers in front of an entire room of people. But the nature of the event, a coronation, means that these people are ones that have power, station and influence. Some would even have been foreign dignitaries, all who could spread the word far and wide about the Sun summoner using shadow powers.

 We also know that Nikolai is hiding the secret that he is infected with merzost from the nichevo’ya. The apparat also makes a reappearance, the apparat had schemed with Aleks to gain power and was acting on behalf of the royal family whilst the king was incapacitated and the royal family were hiding at the spinning wheel. I imagine the Apparat is not happy about his loss in station now that Nikolai is on the throne. Also I suspect Nikolai is more likely to listen to advice from Alina than from the apparat, so the apparat has also lost his position as the king’s most trusted advisor. I could see the apparat trying to regain his position and the best way to do that would be to cause the nation to distrust Alina and Nikolai. Sooner or later the Merzost effecting Nikolai is going to make itself known and I think the apparat will begin to spread around that Alina is the one responsible for Nikolai’s condition. After all they all saw her use shadow magic, I think he will tell the nation that Alina is poisoning their king just as the darkling poisoned his king before her. The apparat could be going for the angle that if he gets Alina out of the way then he can make the claim that Nikolai is incapacitated and make a move to once again rule in the place of a ‘sick’ king. 

I also think that Alina will begin to act more and more ruthless in her attempt at keeping ravka and the grisha safe and that will be a slippery slope for her. This might cause the people to turn on her and for her to lose her popularity and that results in her being hunting, if Nikolai ends up incapacitated by the merzost, which is possible considering they added the whole Aleks being poisoned by merzost plotline, then it could be he isn’t able to protect her and the apparat is there leading the charge. Alina would, as was foreshadow in the fountain scene in 1x04, become the brand new heretic. 

I do think that the worse things get for Alina the more she is going to understand how right Aleks was and may begin to long for him. I could see this leading to Aleks’ resurrection. Ok so King of Scars Duology Spoilers incoming. I know that he does get resurrected in the duology and that its nikolai and zoya who are tricked by a saint into doing a ritual to bring him back believing it is a cleansing ritual for Nikolai’s demon and that Aleks’ spirit ends up in the body of a character named Yuri. However I don’t think that they are going to go the same route as the books when it comes to his resurrection, not entirely anyway. For one thing I do think that they will want to keep ben barnes, so I reckon they will bring him back in his own body reformed from his hand by merzost. Obviously I think the gang is going to start looking for a way to solve Nikolai’s problem. With it being merzost related I think they are going to start with Ilya Morozova and his journal. I also think instead of appearing to Nikolai and Zoya the saint will appear to Alina. I could see this going one of two ways either the saint tricks all of them into believing its a cleansing ritual or the saint tells Alina right off the bat that she wants to resurrect Aleks and Alina works with her to trick Nikolai and the others into doing the ritual. Alina could tell herself that she is doing it for Nikolai, she knows from Baghra that Morozova continued his writings after his supposed ‘death’ including those which Aleks uses to create the fold, so maybe she believes that Aleks may either know more about Nikolai’s demon or knows where they might be able to find more of Ilya’s writings on Merzost, and she’ll use this to justify bringing him back. But I think another part of her just wants Aleks back, is already feeling that loneliness and it likely feeling off balance without him there to act as her counter, she may come to realise that he is the only one who can understand her and so that is also playing a part in her helping the saint bring Aleks back.