as lovely and romantic and iconic as ‘together or not at all’ is, never forget that it was steven who said it first about him and his brother & it encompasses familial unconditional love first, not just the romantic kind. 

if they want him

Fandom: Deltora Quest Characters: Jasmine, Lief, Barda Pairing: Jasmine/Lief Summary: His blood was under her fingernails, and his screams echoed in her ears.  Notes: This is inspired by a prompt from @sisterofthesouth who requested some Lief/Jasmine based on ‘Night Terror’ by Laura Marling. I recommend listening to it as you read– I had it on repeat the whole time I wrote. Content Warning: Blood/mild gore.

The mask was beautiful, but that was not why Jasmine’s heart caught in her throat when she had first seen Lief wearing it. The mask had twisted his fine features into harsh parodies of what lay underneath. For a moment she had not seen the boy she loved, but a strange and terrible creature that wore his skin.

When the panic in the Masked One’s camp began, Jasmine clasped Barda’s large hand, unwilling to be separated from him, too. She swung around, desperate to find Lief. It was impossible to focus on anything amid the nightmare that had unfolded. Some people ran, screaming as poison rained down upon them. Others crumpled to the ground, too afflicted by the burning poison to do anything but wait to die. In the middle of the chaos stood Lief. The soft feathers on the edges of his mask fluttered with each person who ran by, and his lips were bared in a terrible grin that made Jasmine’s heart ache.

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deltora quest edit meme: [3/5] books: isle of the dead

all i’ve ever known is how to hold my own (but now i want to hold you too)

The first time he asked her had been an accident.

He had been careless. He never could sleep in the hottest nights of summer. The night before he had tossed and turned for hours, sheets glued to his sweaty skin, before he gave up and rose from bed. He had been tired in the morning, too tired to work, surely. But Crian had gone to the other side of the city, and Jarred did not want the old man to return and find that he had done nothing. He had lived in the forge for nearly two years, and he still sometimes felt like an unwanted guest. It was not true, and he knew that deep down. He knew it by the gruff way Crian would clasp him on the shoulder to show his approval; by the way Anna always offered to share the blackberries she picked from her garden, because she knew they were his favourite, too. Still, he worked hard every day, never able to shake the fear that he might lose his home again.

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an anna for @withickmire!

a ranesh for @zahroreadsthings!

Proposal: ‘Rithmere’ is from an old Mere language that translates to ‘City of the Mere’ or something like that

Also I refuse to believe that seven whole tribes that almost never traded with each other shared a language. It’s more likely that each tribe had a separate language as well as shared one, if they had a shared language at all

So you know what I also headcanon that the language is still alive and kicking

(@sisterofthesouth)

gxjekidbsd I wish I was a linguistics student

I’ll tell you what I think!! I thought I made a long-ass post on this a couple of years ago but I mightve deleted the draft!!

(I have this though)

- In Star if Deltora almost everyone they come across can speak some level of Deltoran so Deltoran has the same status as English in the Roddaverse. If we’re going with Del-based Creole as a lingua franca and remember that they’re known for trading, this would have happened primarily through Del traders.

-Each tribe’s native languages are still commonly used, especially in rural areas. And there’s definitely lots of loan words around trading centres and territory borders.

-High Toran is definitely different from what everyone else in Amethyst speaks, but there would be some common roots and expressions from back when Torans lived in huts and presumably didn’t isolate themselves. (Also isolating themselves probably happened over time.)

-I also agree that the Mere and Plains would have similar languages and absolutely hate it bc building off old tribal rivalries/their talismans being related I headcanon there’s an extensive list of things that started off as common and branched out in two completely different ways (languages as you said, but also I like the idea of Mere having thin, simple braids with charms and Plains having really fancy ‘dos with thick braids; Mere jewellery being designed to fit as many charms and janglies as possible and Plains having lots of little gems fixed in place; you know what maybe there’s a centuries-long honey themed rivalry) and they will not admit it.

-I personally formed a few of my Mere headcanons around Arab culture, and this extends to really specific terms for things. They definitely don’t have a gendered language but they probably have eight different ways to say ‘cousin’ like Arabic does. I think they’re more focused on age if anything, so they can also be similar to Indonesian in that they don’t have words for ‘brother’ and 'sister’ but do have words for 'older/younger sibling’.

-This extends to other places but idk enough about other languages to dump examples.

-Actually how many honorifics do you think the Plains have and how different is Plains outside and inside of Hira.

-I have no headcanons regarding the Jalis and Dread Gnomes, apparently.

-Also the Ralads *definitely have a sign language Ms Rodda*. Sign languages have existed as long as deaf people and languages have existed so every tribe would have its own distinct sign language, used in varying degrees. But after the Ralads lost their ability to speak their sign language was used as an official language, and after their curse was lifted it continued to be a primary means of communication because unless there were a load of centenarians in Raladin sign language would be everyone’s first language.

forget slow burn romance, give me slow burn found family. give me enemies to friends to siblings. tired, weary old mentors learning to live again for their plucky young apprentices. heroes sharing apartments after world saving adventures because they’re so used to living with each other. dramatic “oh shit” moments where one gets kidnapped and the other realizes “god, that’s my kid.” i want to sit and watch in agony for thirty chapters while two idiots slowly adopt each other, someone get on it

and a big shoutout to roddaverse single mums!!

idk if making each series’ protagonist have a single mother was deliberate but here we are on this fine day, celebrating their strength, resilience and complexity

@ Rodda I appreciate that deltora seems to be the australia of the roddaverse and further that lapis territory is the australia of deltora

Lief’s Phone Contact Names

Sharn: Mother ♥️

Jasmine: Love of my life

Barda: Dad #2

Doom: Dad #3

Lindal: Spear Mum

Steven: Bees 🐝

better late than never

sorry hannah you inspired me

better late than never