#-MIDDLE EAST AND NOT IN A GOOD WAY. I don't agree with them one bit but I'm forced to suck it up and pretend for the sake of my sanity

[rabid-citrus]

why are there so many people following me, please tell me why is there so many people, what did i do

[theladyofshalott1989]

Writer Interview Game

Thank you so much for tagging me @infernalrusalka! This was a lot of fun to reflect upon and type out. :)

No pressure tagging: @morelikeravenbore @ravenwind-75 @myokk @moongurl95 and honestly anyone else who wants to join in. I love reading about other writers' processes <3

When did you start writing?

Fanfic? When I was a young teen (roughly age 13/14). I wrote Star Wars (Anakin/Padme) fanfics on FanFiction.net.

Writing in general? When I was around 5. I used to "write books" (that is: take construction paper, bind it, and create little stories with pictures when I was bored at home, alone). Only child syndrome; am I right, or am I right? Haha.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I enjoy reading angst, but I don't (typically) write it. I also read a lot of published nonfiction for fun, but I hated writing essays in school. I was more of a creative writing gal.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

You know, I've never actually thought about this, probably because I like to write for myself. I think it would be odd to be compared to another writer, even a famous one. I also read oodles, so it's difficult for me to choose an author I'd want to emulate. I suppose if I were forced at gunpoint to choose, I'd say John Steinbeck. He had a way with words; he turned phrases beautifully and his books have really stuck with me over the years, especially East of Eden.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

My office, which my husband recently renovated for me. It's Hogwarts: Legacy themed, naturally. My husband is the best; he loves to encourage my "Sebastian and Damien delulu," my words, but he would definitely agree and approve. XD

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Hmm, good question. I don't know if I have one actually, unless setting a writing schedule counts? I write every morning, rain or shine, for one hour before work. If I'm in the middle of writing a long-fic, I also write during my lunch break. I don't typically take days off either. So...I dunno? I do like to write while drinking coffee. Maybe that helps. Yes, let's say that.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I tend to prefer writing morally gray characters that eventually have a redemption arc. Not sure what that says about me, but I don't mind it. Haha.

What is your reason for writing?

It's a type of therapy for me. It's the only time of the day that I get to myself. I work full-time and I'm a mom, and as thankful as I am for that, I have my own desires and passions outside of those two things that I don't want to lose. Writing is my way of keeping that part of myself alive.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I love all types of comments, but I will worship the ground you walk upon if you're the kind of person who does reaction comments with quotes included. I try to comment this way too on other writers' fics to encourage more of this style of commenting because it's the best!

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

If someone reads anything I've written and comes away with the sense of joy that I felt while writing it, I'd be absolutely thrilled.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I have a few that I'm proud of. Dialogue, particularly banter. Push-pull dynamics in relationships, especially in established ones. Morally gray characters. Foreshadowing and twists. I'll even it out by saying I'm not as confident in my description-writing abilities, which is partially my fault. I tend to skim descriptions in published books because they more often than not bore the hell out of me. LMAO. So...that's my bad. Interestingly, I really enjoy reading descriptions in fanfics, possibly because they tend to be more unique. Descriptions in published books are often very cookie-cutter and I feel like I've read them a million times before. Oh well.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Some days I love it, other days I think my writing is the worst, but I'm finding that's pretty normal when it comes to creators. We are very critical of our own work. I try to be kind to myself on days when I'm in a negative headspace because I know the feeling will pass. <3

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

ahem ahem Nana lore? :3 (or Dante idrc any lore from you is cool)

nana lore :3

'of course, below the cut, because i don't like taking up too much space.

tw, forced labour

Nana is, of course, canonically an immigrant from Tu'La, which has a lot of political tension with Ru'Aun. She's made pretty good for herself, however, using the magicks that originally inspired her to flee in order to make a living.

in early LR, Tu'La is in a bit of a civl dispute, with the new King trying to impose a kind of rule, and religion, upon the region that the people are often opposed to. There's the monarchists, and the rebels. Most monarchists, of course, are in the good graces of the Tu'Lan king, and thus live in the lusher areas, the rainforests and the planes, by rivers and lakes. They have access to good, fertile land. But the rebels are often exhiled into the deserts, where the sun, dehydration or starvation would kill them.

Nana's family was never particularly well-off, but since she had a lot of siblings, they all worked hard in order to earn enough to keep afloat. As one of the middle children, Nana didn't often get much attention, too young to work and too old to coddle, and so she took the company of dolls instead. At a teen age, she realised her ability to manifest a form of animation in forms built to resemble living things, which got her attention from her parents, and meant her family would only need to pay the money for materials in order to have workers in their shop, and they wouldn't have to pay actual workers. Still, it only saved so much money. Nana began working at a local tavern as a waitress in order to get more money, and would cook for her younger siblings often as she tended to have the most free time of the older kids.

When the king's missionaries came to her village, which was up in the mountains, they came with the news that all magicks users were invited to the capital with the promise of a hefty compensation for their families. Of course, being the only magicks user of her siblings, nana agreed to go. She left without really knowing what was going to happen to her family, and she never really finds out if they did get the money promised, but she went down to the capital just in case it might be true. It was there that she learned that magicks users were being put to labour, forced into performing 'miracles' that were attributed to the king, or the religion he was imposing, and generally performing tasks that wouldn't be otherwise possible.

of course, the ability to animate life is one that was heavily desirable, as it could create a near-immortal army. However, Nana was not very fond of the idea of being used to force a religion onto people, much less at the idea of her dolls being used to harm anyone, and so she ended up befriending a rebel who managed to smuggle her out of the capital. She ended up travelling into the desert, where she had to adapt to an entirely different style of living, but she managed to make food from the few resources that they had, which earned her some appreciation among her fellow escapees.

Eventually, she wound up along the Bridge, the piece of land that Tu'La and Ru'Aun were initially fighting over, which lead to the later war, where she was taken over to Ru'Aun. Her and the other refugees all travelled in a caravan for a while, until they decided to split ways. The refugees wanted to stay in Scaleswind, and Nana wanted to continue onto O'Khasis, and it's about then that Nana encounters Avra, when she's set up her wagon just some ways outside of Scaleswind.

No maid cafe, but she eventually does run the tavern in PD. Also, no rivalry with Lucinda, bc i just don't know when they'd have had the time to meet up, with Luci in Pikoro (in the east), and Nana around Scaleswind (in the south).

but alas.

Her magicks apply to anything that resembles a living form, and has articulated joints. If it cannot move, she cannot make it move. It also takes a lot of energy out of her, and if anything happens to the dolls, she can feel it. (not in the same way she might if it happened to her, but it's like a discomfort, and she's able to distinguish what happened based off of how uncomfortable she is.)

[pandacommander24a]

Bug Batchall

Sometimes you do silly things. @asksanguinius40k

Right so the story.

It should maybe end with a funny joke about what I bid, but at the same time... A voice came to me, and it asked a simple question...

And, like, I took that personally.

For those that don't think about 80s wargames lore all the time... The fuck are we even talking about?

A batchall is the Battle Challenge, get it, issued before a Trial in Clan "Culture."

The clans are a group of space weirdos who left Earth after pulling a Space Middle East, leading to a Galactic war that left hundreds of worlds burning and hundreds of trillions dead. After they almost killed themselves in the same way that the poor bastard they left behind had, the worst son of the greatest military leader mankind ever had, came up with the "perfect society" to never have that threat happen again to the human race... Except he created the very thing that would lead to happening four more times. Trail of Annihilation, which you know the Wolverines were right, the Clan Invasion, the War of Reaving, and the Conquest of the Republic. Not my Ilkhan.

A Trial is an honorable combat to settle a dispute between Clans and inner Clan disagreements. There are six, and they grow in severity, ending with Annihilation. You can't have a Trial without a Batchall.

In this case, the Trail of Possession to Call a bug looking mech a bug, https://www.tumblr.com/gort-grundlekin/739688789810823168/bug-type-mech

Normally, a Batchall would start with me issuing the challenge and declaring what I think this attack should cost; my opponent would then state what they are bidding in defense. If I was cool, and I am cool, I would counter-bid with a lower force than my opponent. Then my opponent, being a cool person, would counter-bid lower. Then, because, as stated, I'm cool, I would counter a lower force. And then... You get the idea...

The idea is to get to the lowest cost possible for the conflict, agreed to by both parties. Mind you, this is expected to cost human life; the question is, how good is my human life to be able to beat the other person's human cost.

Which brings us to the Bid;

One War Hawk, an 85-ton gun platform, smashed into the IS forces of the DCMS so hard they named it Masakari because it hit like an ax and split forces in two. There is not a bad variant of this; all of them hit like a MACK truck, and none of them are fun face down.

Three Horned Owl Light mechs. Relatively lightly armed, the Horned Owl makes up for it by having speed, dexterity, and staying power, unlike most clan designs. The Clan Weapons easily make this one able to punch into the Medium Tonnage, but this guy is sharing the tonnage ranking just before you get medium and is basically, in some ways, a clan Panther.

Fun fact; this mech was based on the Zaku from Gundam, and you can see it with its mono-eye cockpit.

Finally, a star of Elementals. Imagine Astates in a hard Sci-fi setting instead of a Space Opera one, and that's the Elementals. Genetically engineered super soldiers clad in advance power armor, allowing them to rip apart tanks and mechs while moving faster than

In a bit of humor, the two clans that have championed this fight, the Goliath Scorpions and the Coyotes, are more responsible for the Elementals than their credited creators, Clan Wolf. All they did was steal better ideas for themselves; it is almost as if that will be the trend for their narrative...

Thanks to the Goliath Scorpions' creation of underwater suits known as Water Elementals to complete complex tasks at incredible depth, the Elemental Suits have incredible armor and a flexible chassis.

However getting any weapon systems or the amount of options that are fielded by the Elementals would not be possible without the OMNITECH created by Clan Coyote. The "Hey man, if you keep changing your fucking work order every five minutes, I'll brain you, warrior caste or no warrior caste" clan. Coyote Tech Caste created the flexible slot system to allow a greater amount of customization in payloads which allowed for rapid force changes in battle and easier repairs to a degree.

Additionally Clan Hell's Horse created the genetic template that would become the Elemental people. The first drafts were so good without the elemental suits they almost won against normal Clan Wolf Dudes in the power armor.

That is a good Star, strong punch, movibility and a surprise waiting at your feet.

My Rebuttal Bid:

Savage Coyote is an 85 ton Assault Mech built to showcase two weapon systems; Omni-Tech Advance Tactical Missiles or the Clan ATM, all the fun of LRMs with SRM fun. Thanks to a XL engine this bad boy is stuff with armor and weapons. Built to bring the Coyotes in tho the post Golden Century Swinging.

An oldie but a classic, the Coyotl is the first Omnitech. However, built to prove the concept, it is a capable machine. All of its variants are built to have a solution to any problem.

The Rabid Coyote is a medium mech designed to serve as backup to slower mechs. It's moderately armored, but its pulse laser ensures its deadly accurate and carries a mixed tonnage of ATM ammunition. It is more than able to punch up from its modest 55 tons.

To round this out, I have also taken;

TWO ELEMENTAL STARS!

The total of my Bid is 180 Tons vs 195. Kids never play tonnage, however, since everyone was Clan... It was the only way to do this. However surprisingly?

Pretty close in BV.

Right, so let's get to the actual fight:

For the purpose of not knowing and also keeping things relatively interesting, I decided I would use late-era mechs, mostly Jihad mechs.

Also Clan Coyote stops being important in the Clan Invasion and suffers from the "Don't want to write a complex Clan narrative anymore" that CGL blessed us with in the War of the Reaving. There are a lot of reason people hate the Jihad, and besides its name, this is one of the reasons.

Lamba Galaxy is generally my go-to pick for Clanners. Coyotes and I like our mechs experimental and they have a neat paint scheme in the lambas. Seen here on a group of bois I need to touch up at some point:

Clan Coyote will also join the Society in a big way; Lamba Galaxy almost completely defects to them during the War of Reaving. The Society was a revolt from Clan Scientists Caste who was tired of Collage Jocks making all the big choices because dying young is a big clan ethos for Warriors. So they threw out a bunch of tech and advanced battle mechs to maybe save the clans from their ways. They lost, big shocker right?

Clan Coyote however gets to stay in the Tree house and disappear from the game's story. Possible forever... Fucking Jihad.

The Savage Coyote Variant was one such model built by the Society, with a HAG, targeting computers and Imporved ATM its a tough nut with a great punch.

The Coyotl, like wise was a bunch of tech from later than the Golden Century but felt right as a good addition to my bid.

Finally I brought a regural Rabid Coyote default, because 3 pulse laser should kill Elementals dead. It is why the Komodo has 9 fucking Medium lasers after all.

Clan Goliath Scorpion got kicked out of the tree house and is running around the Deep Periphery kicking ass and taking names. They, too, lost the War of Reaving, but they aren't bitches like Jade Falcon, Wolf, and Ghost Bear. Ultimately, it looks like they are going to pull a Clan Invasion 2.0. It's going to be more Revenge of the Periphery than Attack of the Clans though, I'm hyped for it. So the Scoripon Empire moves on closer and closer to the Inner Sphere.

For the Warhawk, I picked the mixed tech Alternate Configuration T to reflect this era. This does drop the long-range murder effect to a degree but it gives it two PPC that are also flamers, which for a clan mech is murder on the wheel, they run hot, and it also kind of better puts it in the timeline for a dust up of Clans in a late-era that aren't just Sucessor States that were once Clans... Fucking Wolf Empire.

For the Owls I pick two later eras ones and one default. The Default is murder; the other ones are just fun. I do this when I field a bunch of the same much, take variants, and they stacked up well enough to help each other out and make so I can't quite use the same tactic on all three.

But I made creative choices that might not be made if we did this for real.

BV and tonnage works out. Sadly I didn't have any friends online, so I had to resort to Princess, megamek's ai, and since this will be a quick game, brawler seemed good (maybe I shouldn't have had the Run Away so high in hindsight.)

Default victory I used with my friends is 40% BV lost, which is a good place for a friendly fight. Also so it doesn't last forever which can happen with bad dice.

For Pilots, I set all to the Clanner Default, 3/4 for everyone.

I picked the terrain.

A good mix of hills and vegitation. Flipping a coin, I was north, and my opponent south.

The fight was pretty fast. we moved quickly towards each other and started blasting, mostly missing. My Rabid Coyote got caught in the open and was knocked down, but the pilot managed to get her up and moving next round.

Then we slammed into each other, and the first blood went to the Scorpions.

The Coyatl has ECM, but it really didn't do much. It was funny. The Owls proved to be deadly, swarmed my Rabid Coyote and just sliced him to pieces. Managed to knock one of the Owls down.

The Toads jump in behind.

The next phase, I pulled back into the forest, and as my Coyotl pulled rapidly back trying to catch the Owls in a better firing line. The Owls that could jump far and wide, with one finding my rear armor of the Savage open to their pulse weapons. The owl, knocked prone, made an effort to go hull down, unable to get back up the next round.

The Warhawk fell back and opened fire on my Savage as well; with the high advantage and those long-ranged guns, it was the smart call.

In the firing phase saw my Savage tooke nearly 120 damage. Luckily no punches through the armor for the Warhawk and some how under the pulse lasers the back armor held.

Thanks to that barrage, my savage was knocked down, but the pilot pulled a hull down, allowing it to stay fighting.

Since this massive exchange happened in rapid order and heat was running red for both of us. I couldn't get the Savage moving too much heat, but to my dismay, the Warhawk bet heavily on that attack as well and was left unable to move and, worst, exposed on that hill.

Moving my elementals I forced them to get the Owls off the Savage while moving my Coyotl into minimum range bracket for all its weapons. This allowed me to pour fire from both the Savage and the Coyotle, scoring two engine hits despite not punching through the massive armor. The Warhawk had been cripple and couldn't likely survive another attack with that savaging, and with its engine compromised, so too were the heat sinks.

The Warhawk had to pull back and try and get off that hill.

Meanwhile, the Owl knocked prone manage to get up and turn on my Coatyl near it. However, thanks to the coyotes movement, I was able to win that fight and knock out that Owl.

In the moving away from the Toadies one of the other owls messed up a jump roll and was forced off the game, considering it retreated bummer...

Unable to get the Warhawk moving, the AI punched it out as well.

Finally with the toadies in range the real fight got started as the last owl jumped in to finish off my Savage, but my elementals were waiting and pounced on the light mech begingin to swarm as their elements closed distance and proceeded to bloody my other elemental unit.

And the game ended because a lot of BV was scraped off the board.

So I win.

And as my right to decide... It's a bug mech, the king of all bugs even. Realized now, after writing this 3 hours later, that the Trail was for our Gender... Does this make your pronouns my bond servants?

Thanks for Reading. I am now going to have to think about Clans created in the 80s by dudes who gave us a legacy of yellow scare to unpack and how they would have written gender.

[crystalelemental]

"karnilla74: Easy access??? As a kid I never ever got enough money to buy a single tm on the game corner until I could farm money in the league, hidding TMs behind slot machines is the worst idea pokemon ever had. There's a reason I refuse to play FireRed without cheats to get them. The slots aren't even fun."

Extremely hard disagree, it's a cost-benefit decision the player has access to. Besides, you have the Vs Seeker in the remakes, money is free with a bit of time investment. Find someone who shills out a good amount of cash (the Ladies east of Fuchsia have a decent bit) and just farm 80k money off of them if you really need a TM. It's no different from how Crystal handled those moves, only this time they're not postgame locked. I'll gladly admit that RSE handled it better, having a free copy eventually but early access if you played the money game right. I'll also gladly admit it's bullshit for FRLG to lock critical items like Amulet Coin and EXP Share behind catching a certain number of Pokemon (Seriously, 50 for the EXP Share is some grade A bullshit). But I can't agree that this is lack of access. It's right there, it's attainable if you pool your resources and leverage what you pick up.

"Why couldn't we just get them in the middle of the game like the original game did?"

Now that's a different question that I think comes down to them wanting to make the games harder. Gen 1 in particular is piss easy. It felt hard because we were stupid kids when it came out, but there are so many things stacked in the player's favor that the game is incredibly simple to beat, to the point you can trip into a win against Lance's Dragonite just by having one of the many Psychic types on your team. I think their decision was largely down to "We gave stupid powerful tools out too early in the original and it trivialized stuff, we should make them work for it a bit now." What this ultimately created was a game that's...kinda less fun in some ways? Like Gen 1 may be a mess, but the messy bits give it a lot of personality, and there's an argument for every Pokemon having legitimate merit in a way they kinda don't in FRLG. Like Kingler, who gets hilarious sure-crit Crabhammer in Gen 1, but loses that sole funny tool in Gen 3 remakes. Or the badge boost function making Farfetch'd kinda legitimate by boosting all its stats each Swords Dance, while Gen 3 kinda leaves it high and dry. I don't think they were necessarily good decisions, but they were decisions made to balance the game around being more challenging and having things to work for, especially with knowledge of the Sevii Islands and League Rematch in postgame.

[unluckyhoneybee]

Hold On We're Going Home (Freddie Andersen)

(Sons of the East version) Years have passed but Freddie can't get over you. Honey Bee's 2000 celebration.

Note: i don't like drake or his music, just listen to this version because it's x10 times hotter. for real. those little aussie guys... Warning: an allusion to an age gap.

He had planned this trip for weeks. He wanted to meet old friends. He had received a call and he couldn't tell Auston no when he invited him to his birthday party. So there he was, standing in the middle of the room with a dumb look in his eyes. It had been so long since he saw you for the first time. It was that time he played against the Leafs. You were there cheering for them with your best friend's jersey on.

Freddie met you through Auston. One day you went to practice and Freddie knew he had problems then. You were young and beautiful. Younger than him and best friends with his younger best friend. It was no good. But he couldn't push you out of his mind. You were always there, pretty, funny and delicate. He loved your bright smiles and your testing remarks on Auston. He loved how you looked at him that first time and whispered a shy Hi, Freddie. Of course you knew who he was, you had a common friend. But he could barely remember your name.

Then, Covid came and Auston told him to stay with him. He agreed too fast. When he left his suitcases in the hall and looked up, he saw you there. He would always remember how you looked that day. The real problems started there when he was forced to live around you and spend every single day under the same roof. He tried to hide how you affected him, he tried to not look at you when you were sunbathing or to sit far when you were watching something on the sofa. But it was impossible.

He broke his rules one night when after tossing around for hours, he decided to go on a trip to the kitchen. You were there sitting in the table and working on that project you had going on.

"It's late" He commented when he checked the clock.

"I know. I just need to get this right and I'll go to sleep" You answered and pushed the hair out of your face. You looked tired and tense, but you bated your lashes at him and he had to look away. "Could you dome a favour?"

Anything you want. Just ask me and I'll give you anything you need.

"Sure" He walked a bit closer.

"Read this last paragraph and tell me if it makes sense because it's driving me insane."

Freddie chuckled and leaned over the table. He didn't think of it, he just acted, he needed a closer look. But then halfway through the long paragraph about stuff he didn't understand, he felt you move way too close to his chest and realized how his big body was towering over yours and how his arms seemed to be embracing you. And one last thing, how your breath had turned unsteady, your pupils had blown up, your lips were half opened and your tongue had come to wet them.

Any rational thought dissipated. A smooth move and he was kissing you.

You hid from Auston for weeks, but obviously, being trapped there with you, he ended up discovering it. He just warned you and Freddie, especially Freddie.

It scaled quickly. From random hookups during quarantine to booty calls back in Toronto, to be exclusive. But everything ended abruptly when he moved to Raleigh.

Years had passed and he was there, watching you move gracefully and thinking about how he couldn't get over you. He was obsessed. Any woman had compared to you and he had never been able to go too far with any of them. He missed you, your sweet face, your kisses, your soft sighs when he travelled down your body, your hands on his hair, your smiles when he made you feel especially good, your warm hugs, your passion and your love. Because yes. He had gotten to love you. He needed you back. He needed to have you again. His heart was beating hard and he almost missed you walking in his direction.

Freddie knew well you would do anything he asked for. You would go home with him if he asked. You would get on your knees without a doubt. It only made it worse because he knew how good you were. You were just as willing to drop everything as he was. Auston had kept him updated on your life (both ways actually, he made sure you didn't forget). Freddie knew about that boyfriend you had and that other guy you used to hook up with. Nah, man. She is fine, but those guys are not for her.

He was for you. He could give you everything. You were for him.

"Hi, Freddie" Just as some years ago, those words left your lips. You weren't shy anymore. You knew this man's body like the palm of your hand.

"Hi YN" Years looked good on you. Your style had changed a bit. You looked more like you now. Maturity showed.

You smiled and sat next to him. Your dress riled up and Freddie took a deep breath.

"How is everything?" You asked.

"Better now" With his signature small smile, Freddie looked at you and you shivered.

You chuckled and looked down at your hands.

"I've missed you" You whispered.

Freddie shuddered. If he had only called. If he had only stayed in touch... But no, you were still young when he left, too young to tie yourself to an older man living miles away.

"But I'm glad you came"

"I couldn't miss this" He said and reached for your hand. He wasn't talking about Auston's birthday and you knew it well.

You bit your lip and pulled his hand to your lips. You pressed a soft kiss in there and Freddie felt the rush to pull you close. He needed to kiss you, to get you out of that dress and travel over your body just as he used to.

"Do it" You muttered.

It wasn't the best moment and he knew it. There was a whole party going on around you two. You had both been invited here by someone really close. It was really rude to leave. But fuck, he needed you.

Freddie looked away for a second and caught Auston staring with a smirk. Is that approval? As if his old friend could head his mind, he nodded.

"Just hold on, we're going home" He looked back at you and pulled you closer to his chest. Finally, after so long longing for you and spending nights trying to remember how it used to be, Freddie kissed you as a promise of a good time.

Note: I'm open to write more about this. Just tell me.

[svartalfhild]

Svar Watches BBC Robin Hood for the First Time - Season 1

So I recently decided to finally get around to seeing a show I've been meaning to watch for like nearly 10 years. I am so far past missing the boat on this one, but since I've been doing a bit of a "catching up on shows from the 2000's I didn't really get to see at the time" run lately, I thought I'd record my thoughts for y'all's amusement.

So here we go, Season 1 thoughts:

Every single one of these Merry Men, including Robin, suffers from Just Some Guy disease, fucking RIP

Except Djaq. Djaq is cool.

We can all agree that Much is clearly a little gay for Robin, right?

Guy of Gisborne is such an asshole, but unfortunately Richard Armitage is too good at his job, so Guy is also hot.

The Sheriff is cartoonishly evil and I hate him, but I'm kind of loving how just like a lot his personality is. Like this bitch belongs in a cracktastic Crusader Kings playthrough, holy shit.

Damn, Marian really is the only fully competent motherfucker in the whole place, huh?

Make that two competent motherfuckers, adding Djaq.

Man, this writing is super shabby in places, but when they hit, they fucking hit.

This show really bills itself as a fun adventure show but boy does it have shit to say at times, shit that was kinda ballsy of them to be saying in 2006. Like positively portraying Muslim characters and condemning pointless wars in the Middle East (the messaging on this gets muddled in a few places, but the fact that it's in there at all is impressive). Like you expect to see class struggle and sexism talked about in Robin Hood, but I wasn't expecting them to do so much with the "oh yeah, we just got back from Palestine and we have PTSD and maybe the Crusade is really bad actually". Bravo.

Ah, but this is a BBC show, so we can't have anti-monarchism. King Richard is totally awesome and is definitely going to make everything better when he gets back. Like I know that's baked into the Robin Hood tales, but they could lean into it less in places, I feel.

I think part of what makes Guy so captivating is that he's complicated and clearly suffers from a lot of inner conflict. I love knowing why villains are Like That, and we get so much about him from seeing his initial reactions to things vs. his behaviour after the Sheriff talks to him. Even just watching Richard Armitage's facial expressions is so rewarding. He gives us so much information about Guy just with his body language. Fucking brilliant.

Holy shit the more of this I watch, the more I'm like oh yeah Guy is an abuse victim and the Sheriff is his abuser. Like obviously that's not an excuse for any of the multitudes of evil things he does, but damn that boy is caught in a cycle. It has all the classic abuse features. Having his impressionable nature/eagerness to please taken advantage of. Being constantly inflicted with physical and emotional violence. Being manipulated into making choices against his judgement and editing himself to better fit what his abuser wants him to be. Being isolated from positive influences and being told to reject other sources of validation and support. Having his toxic masculinity heavily reinforced. Being consistently ignored and undervalued. The list goes on.

Anyway, I think I have a new blorbo now. I don't have many evil blorbos these days, but he's earned his place. I hope he gets good character development. Or at least gets to stab the Sheriff.

Much annoyed me a bit in the beginning, but he's starting to grow on me after he stood up to Robin and went through that business of the noble title.

God, I just want to shake Guy by the shoulders like you have everything you need to be more interesting to Marian than Robin, but you're fucking blowing it so hard, my dude. Ah, but alas, it must be this way.

I want to shake Robin by the shoulders like you would have this in the bag dude if you would just actually listen to Marian and support her instead of telling her what you think she should do all the time. Goddamn he and Guy ultimately have the same fucking problem.

#TeamFuckAllYallLetMarianRunEverythingActually

BRUH IF I HAD A DOLLAR FOR EVERY TIME GUY WANTED TO MAKE A GOOD DECISION FOR ONCE IN HIS LIFE AND THEN FUCKING SWERVED AT THE LAST SECOND BECAUSE OF SOME SHIT THE SHERIFF SAID I'D BE RICH BY NOW SWEET JESUS.

I can't believe they ended this season on the most Good Job, Lads moment oh my god it's so cheesy but so on brand.

To see my Season 2 thoughts, go here.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

Let’s see how Mahiru died!

Well... I wouldn't say she died as of yet, after all we need to see what she did before then...

Huh? Why is that important...?

Remember when you say she was starting to avoid you after you gave her the photos? Well I figure you should see that wasn't the case...

Really...? Well, let's see...

...

...

...

*opens the door to the dining hall* Geez, that Monomi was really annoying - I had to convince her that Nagito needs food...

???: Ah, well well... if it isn't Mahiru, it's so nice to see such a friendly face...

Huh...? *in the room, chain up to one of the tables sat Nagito...*

NAGITO: So... what brings you here...? I guess Nekomaru and Kazuichi told you where I was?

Yeah, they did... honestly I can't believe they think leaving you here was a good idea but more importantly...

I hope you realize what you did is wrong; you got both Imposter and Teruteru killed because of you wanting the killing to start!

...

Seriously do you even feel guilty at all for what you did? You were going on and on about your weird ideology and push Teruteru to murder, I mean why would you do that at all?

Well... given the hope of seeing his mother again, I figure it would overcome the despair but I suppose it can't be help...

Ah but you don't need to pay attention to me, you could just leave me here and I could starve to death, which is a preferable outcome...

While I'm still annoyed with you, I'm not going to do that because if we did; another class trial will be held and likely Kazuichi and Nekomaru would be executed.

But... at least it's better then the current motive we got but I rather hope that there's no more murders...

A motive you say?

Yeah... it's a video game called 'Twilight Syndrome Murder Case' which Fuyuhiko was the first to play it.

Which he told me to play as it involves me and gave me some photos but... I don't remember taking them...

I see... so a video game, huh?

Never thought Monokuma would choose that title, I did remember playing it when I was younger; it was a horror-themed action adventure and the series went on until 2008.

But hey, maybe you should play it then!

And why should I?! I say before I'm not going to play that stupid game and resort to murder! No way I'm going to do that at all, nope!

But even then, aren't you curious? I think given you are a photojournalist and want to follow your mother's footstep; I'm sure she would want to check that out, right?

...Huh?

Remember that I read up on all the Ultimates that were going to attend this class, well I did hear quite a bit about you as well, Mahiru. You want to become a photographer just like your mom who's a war photographer and took photos of various wars and conflicts in the middle east.

So wouldn't the Ultimate Photographer want to investigate this? But hey, given you confirmed you won't play it then maybe you can ignore it if you want besides, it is just a game after all.

...I'll think about it, but right now I'll get you breakfast. *walks out and closes the door*

I know that we agree we shouldn't play that game but still, the fact that it includes us and... mom would want to investigate this, wouldn't she?

I'm not sure what to do, maybe... maybe I can ask the others that were involved in that case too and figure this out; I... I don't think I can do this alone.

*Confused by this, Mahiru leaves as she goes to get breakfast...*

[concoctionboy]

Expedition Masterpost

So, this expedition of exploration of the area east of Lofiathan has been going on a lot longer than I expected. I honestly didn't have anything planned in advance for it and had no idea where it was going, and I expected it to be kind of a brief jaunt that would maybe be a few days' diversion. Instead, at the time I write this it's now been going on for about three weeks and I have no idea how much longer it'll be going for. And it's split over numerous posts, which may make it a bit hard to follow—or to catch up with what's going on if you're just joining in.

So, for anyone new who wants to catch up, or for anyone who has been reading along but wants a review, I decided to put together a masterpost with all the significant events so far, and links to the posts where they happened. I'm not going to pin this post, but I'll put a link to it at the beginning of each new exploration post from here on.

Prelude

@jimkinnz suggests that I "break out and cause havoc", which is ultimately what inspired this exploration.

Departure

I set off on my expedition.

@kingwizard suggests I take a Wind Barrel to fend off mischievous beings called Revelers.

@jimkinnz suggests that I eat someone whole. I, uh, politely decline.

Mount Anguish

Arrival at Mount Anguish; first map, and my first request for suggestions. (I didn't mention it at the time, but I guess let's assume I encountered Revelers and had to use the Wind Barrel while passing through the Faerie Forest.)

@hummingbird-hunter suggests I walk into the ocean

I head off in the direction of the ocean, and pass some interesting landmarks. @silver-weaver and @hummbirb suggest I check out the mysterious tower.

Into the Tower

At @kingwizard's suggestion, I ooze through the bars of a tiny, ground-level window to get into the tower's basement. (I guess I had to leave the Wind Barrel outside to do this; I'll pick it up on the way out if @kingwizard wants it back.)

Level Two

At @plurinerd's suggestion, I seep through the crack in the floor, arriving in a room in a lower level with various objects to investigate.

@hummingbird-hunter suggests I eat a bone. And another bone. And the cage.

@smg34-shipper suggests I investigate the boxes, and the mirror, and the doors, and then go through the door in the curved wall.

Stairwell

I go through the door and find a stairwell, which is good, because it means I know how to get out of this tower now when I want to leave. Instead of going up or down the stairs, though, @kingwizard suggests I jump to the opposite landing, so I end up… well, not jumping, but throwing myself there.

Symbol Room

At @smg34-shipper's suggestion I go through the door on the landing, and find myself in a room with, among other things, a bunch of hooded cloaks on a wall and a mysterious symbol on the floor.

@smg34-shipper suggests I take a closer look at the symbol on the floor, and then at the robes on the wall. (The robes look child-size, but @wizarddaycare confirms they don't belong to them, so maybe they belong to goblins or gnomes or something.)

@hummingbird-hunter suggests I stand in the middle of the symbol, but that seems horrifyingly dangerous, so I agree to do so only if someone else seconds the suggestion or no one else makes a suggestion by that evening.

Fortunately, before I'm forced to follow that suggestion, @smg34-shipper comes through with a suggestion to go through the door with the big skull on it.

Skull Room

So the door with the skull on it turned out to lead to a room full of skulls. There's also a desk with a skeleton slumped over it.

@hummingbird-hunter suggests I lick the skulls.

@smg34-shipper suggests I look through the desk. There's some potentially interesting stuff there, but when I try to take some things out of the desk an alarm spell goes off and the skeleton comes to life and chases me into the next room, where I lose it by hiding behind a tapestry. Turns out there's also a hidden door behind the tapestry, but at @smg34-shipper's suggestion instead of going through the door I go through a different door, behind which I hear running water.

Pool Room

So there are some pools of water here, and, perhaps more significantly, there is a purple man sitting in one of the pools. Fortunately, he's facing away from me, and doesn't seem to realize I'm there.

At @smg34-shipper's suggestions, I look at a few items in the room, but the purple man notices me… and nods for me to come sit next to him.

After initially demurring, at @vanilla-extracter's suggestion I go ahead and sit next to him. We talk for a while; he says I can call him Xil. At @smg34-shipper's suggestion, I ask Xil to come with me, and we go through the wooden door opposite the one I came in through.

Interlude

Because this expedition is taking so much longer than I anticipated and I don't want to be away from Lofiathan too long, I decide to divide the copy of myself I left in @mostevilscientist's lair and have one part come back to Lofiathan. That way I have a copy of myself in Lofiathan while one copy's out exploring, and I can continue my expedition while still being available if @kingwizard needs anything.

Mold Room

We come out into a room full of moss and fungi.

At @hummingbird-hunter's suggestion, I try to mess with a man-eating plant and end up bitten in half. Oops. (Of course, as a liquid being that's amorphous except for the shape I choose to give myself, I'm fine, except that I'm, well, half the size I was before. Also, the man-eating plant is now telepathic.)

Then @silver-weaver suggests that I kiss Xil. It goes… better than I expected. Also, Xil gains shapeshifting powers.

At @smg34-shipper's suggestion, I throw a mushroom at the man-eating plant and tell it to leave us alone, and then split a mushroom with Xil, and then knocked on one of the mushrooms that look like they have doorways and windows.

A little snail person came out of the mushroom. It didn't seem to speak a language I understood, but the telepathic man-eating plant offered to translate if I let it eat me afterward; at @hummingbird-hunter's suggestion I talked it down to accepting just an arm. I talk a bit with the snail person, whose name is apparently something like Squit, and then at @smg34-shipper's suggestion I examine the waterfall, and then the bridge. And then I asked Squit about the properties of the mosses she tends.

I ate some eternity moss, which according to Squit makes my effects last longer. I then look in the moving pile of moss and see some kind of weird creature... It turns out her name is Floscle; she's hiding from the tower's inhabitants; and I invite her to come with us.

I made an attempt to teach Flocsle English and learn her language, and then we were ready to leave the room, so I went to give the man-eating plant my other arm as agreed. I ended up giving it a little more than that. Oops.

Skull Room Redux

And then we went back to the skull room.

And that's where things currently stand. I'll update this post as more things happen.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I guess it depends. But in that one gifset with tom hugging chris in their costumes and chris is doing the back pat thing is legit something i read abt how Australian men hug friends. Tomorrow is a brit so lol. Its not that they don't care I think its toxic masculinity from society

I think that's a thing for a lot of men around the western world at least (I know some men in the middle east do show more affection towards each other). They don't want to appear vulnerable as if that would make them weaker or something, there's a bit of homophobia in it as well... I agree it's not that they don't care, they have been socialized that way.

It's funny when you see women hugging each other and grabbing each other's arms and never letting go and no one thinks anything of it, it's so normalized. This is one of those occasions where the patriarchy hurts men too, they should work on it with one another. I know there are some comforting and supporting websites out there, they could try them out (I've heard r/menslib and r/bropill on reddit are pretty good at this).

From what Elsa says, Chris seems to be a great guy so there's that. (I don't know them obviously but since Elsa is from here I heard her talk about him several times and she's so lovely... they make a cute couple).

[liopleurodean]

Season 5, Episode 19: Hammer Of The Gods

Does that say Elysium?

Rip to the night guard

Elysian, I was close. They mean the same thing anyway

Freaky

Spooky

Who's this?

That's weird

And now it's all fixed up

Oh great

Man, that place is nice

Sure

Yeah. Shaving nick

Awesome

Well, Dean's hooked

Yeah...

Nice

I like her

Dean.

Thank you, Dean

I have to agree with Sam, but that's mostly because I know what's gonna happen here

That's good to hear

That's fair

Oh boy

Dean.

Pretty nice

Really, Dean?

4 star hotel with thin walls

Whoa

I don't think you want to do that

Interesting

Uh oh

I do not like this guy

Yeah

Evidently

I can't read his name tag, and it irks me

Spooky

Huh

Dean.

Then close the door

Interesting

Mercury?

HAH

Yup

Freaky

Try the ballroom

Hotel California

You don't want to see that

It's not

Yay

He's working on it

Astute observation, Dean

Whoa, big leagues

Nope

Ew

Baldur, huh? Like, mistletoe dart Baldur?

And why is he the one in charge?

The boys don't

This is kind of funny, actually

Yeah

What, Ragnarok?

You're not special, Odin

Discworld!

Asdfghjkl

Yikes

It won't work, but thanks

Whoa, that's...

Don't give him away

Ooh, vendettas!

Yeah, you tried to kill him!

Pfft

Fun

Yeah, okay

Dean has no clue

Never

He's not

Yeah, actually

Stop saying uber-bone

He definitely cares

Right

Good to know

Fun

Risky gamble

Interesting point

I don't want to see this

Yeah, that is an interesting piece of gossip

Sorry, Dean

Pfft, I did

Yeah

No, you don't

...good for them?

Great

He's a bit preoccupied

Awesome

...what?

That sounds about right

I wanna check out that website

Not well

Stop being weird

Welp, they're screwed

You wish he was lying

...Jesus isn't western??? He's from the Middle East???

There is a point there

Oh, no!

That's actually really disappointing, I was starting to like him

Lucifer won't go down that easy

Probably

I can't believe they're listening

They have their ways

Yeah

I can't believe that worked

Dude

This is gonna end well

Since they can help him stop the end of the world

Running away again?

Dean knows

He's not asking you to

Something like that

They'd like to check out now

Oh, everyone there is screwed

Mercury.

What is happening

Also, Nick is really showing some problems

Bad things

He just took out Odin.

Because when is it ever that easy?

This is so not gonna end well

Yeah!

If it comes to that

Hello, brother

Yeah, well

Yeah, that's the sibling experience

I swear Nick got worse in the last 5 minutes

Oh, dear

Why not?

Good for you

To the people who actually care

Yeah.

How are we abortions?

That's humanity.

A third, secret option

Oh, no...

He's really gone this time

Yeah.

What is happening

CASA EROTICA

Nice

Ah. That's why

What is happening

Huh. A final message

This is good info

The rings

Great

Okay, time to stop

Now Pestilence and Death

Interesting

That's nasty

Ewww

Yeah, it's awful for me too

Sick and tired

Eugh, it's like Bugs all over again

[the-firebird69]

Is it really consensus there's so many dumb idiots around here it's misery. We have to weed them out.

I'm beginning yesterday but boy there's a ton of them I found out it's very arrogant and stupid and they don't do anything that helps our son. Presidential Court Chinese and the other idiots I'm kind of gravitated to him and got an eyeful. It was definitely worth a trip.

Right now the morlock are amaSszing again. And are prepping to try and take over Charlotte county and Florida and the East Coast as well they are amassing in the upper Midwest at the border of Florida at the North and at sea they have 500 septillion vessels. They're small and they range from 100 ft to 5,000 ft most of them are 100 to 500 ft and yes came across the ocean quickly before it became a nightmare and it is kind of humorous they had to fight the fish. And the fish kind of ate themselves cuz they're idiots. We made a promise to our leader it would help her husband and last night. We are starting to drive more stuff and it is helping. We need to at this time she explained, because Max are coming in. And Maxwill have a complete recovery if we let them. So we're moving out of her suggestion it's a very good one and he agrees she's an outstanding woman she needs several medals for standing up for me because I'm hard to stand up for so brutally annoying role due to the people here. These s. It's changing slowly but it's very much needed.

We are rocking on the molark too they're kind of henious now. We need volunteers for the service here and please sign on if you haven't.

The morlocks are down and came down more. Since last night he lost several areas two areas that were independent, in three areas that were semi-independent that's right to the north of the middle area and they were around seven areas last night and it got reduced to three of those areas but out of the remaining 17 the last five so that's a 12 and that's what it is and they are upset. To be clear out of the five areas they lost three were areas to the north of The Middle areas on major continents and two were areas outside of other areas that were large around the size of Rhode Island on mainland continents the islands somehow held the clothes were not attacking as fiercely I think it's because they're building up for what they think is their way out and it's because the military is as a service world are mobilizing due to sighting the doubled up 500s and seeing a consents very well from great distances can see them fully clothed with absorbing and everything. The southern cringe quite a bit I said could not approach it. Several ships went within a few miles now couldn't get within a million miles without being threatened to be fired on. And it was a lot of ships that they're trying to get there secretly and it was not distracted.

Went down to 12 areas they are less powerful yes, but they are a lot less powerful in the areas they left so there are three areas about middle areas and those are the caucuses the Middle East and it finds it hard to believe that their pockets everywhere and that's why we're discussing it because it's actually still there there are many many pockets in the caucuses in the Middle East of warlock and although they are reducing they're very hot. Yes these are Hot pockets and suggestive and to our Kaiju. The third area is inside China and yes Mongolia there's any more assholes there. There are plenty of Hot pockets around that area they are streaking as we speak to the zero what's going on that way too in the Middle East and the caucuses but nowhere near as fast that's because the ones the Middle East are trained terrorists. And in the Middle East there probably 5 00 Hot pockets and about 20 going hour and I'm going area and the Gobi and Mongolia there are probably 500 Hot pockets and it's 100 an hour and sometimes they just get up and walk away. Caucasus have 500 and it's time to 200 in the Middle East is down to 400 and go be desert area and it's down to 100 and it is empty fast and they are not going to the northern portion they're evacuating and tried to come here and are offshore in humongous numbers the vessels are on a smaller there's plenty of it there's plenty that are half mile it's like half of them and an eighth or a mile so there's probably two or three million octillions and yeah I kind of evacuated the Middle East the caucus and Kobe and for one reason the military was seeking them out and actively and a big one the other is the clones were whipping them out. They're trying to disembark and they are reaching no they're meeting I'm obstructions and resistance and they're engaging in many areas and yeah brought arms. There's a giant number of people watching and wondering where their son is thinking and he's talking with Mr Bean they're both saying this is bizarre and don't want to go that way but need to and only hanging is it's difficult. And a huge number of block I'm trying to threaten leaders to force thiers in. It's happening shortly cuz they will be fully engaged it's growing.

Throat ass their percentage of the population has reduced on average it was about 15% last night all over the place and segregation has begun to the pockets. As of this morning the global population is about 10% on average and the pockets are engaged. The reputation is not so good and the fact that they're engaging is not going to help and it's them trying to expand the Hot Pocket. We anticipate half the Hot pockets of all areas to be gone by daybreak. It's large area had about 5, 000 Hot pockets and right now each one has about 2500 on average. And the going quickly the city area in North Carolina is reduced to five or 10 Hot pockets. I'm told it's still 10 but there's a fierce infighting. The general population reduction and how it's happening is really a pivotal to their future.

There are several of them who are idiots and we will hit now. They as a people will disappear shortly there are seeking things and leaving to do to try and grab those things bring them is to go to the tap root on Australia and there are tons of ships there. The clones are engaging. And offshore here the the max for engaging and the clothes are engaging they're also fighting them in the upper Midwest as a huge Force blocking them from injury dc from there. Huge. They're about 7 million octane it went North and they tried to leave now in about five are going to battle above and below and out of the two million only 500,000 I tried to go east the rest are going west and they want to attack the lights of the light cycle facilities..

We relocated the racetrack and it's in Arizona, we are trying to get it ready to race with me and I'm moving all the major components in we have them built and we are renovating the current facility and it is there right now. We are putting the finishing touches on the huge bridge it is built and it is coated and we'll put it in the roadways and ancillary. They put in 20 museums and we put them in we'll see but they are in their facilities 10 out of those 20 and there's a huge showing there's so many people that can't fit them in and they have cameras on the stuff and they put it outside on screen so people can see it if they can't get in it's giant okay it's really historical this moment in history. There's a lot of people there millions and millions and looking coming back so they get in and they want to see it and he posted it online each and every location and everything they have inside and it doesn't deter a damn person not one. It is going on now several areas and it still have there large areas within I called for a purge and to attack areas. They're successful thus far and there were five standalone areas last night now there are three remaining and they'll be reduced to only two in moments and then one and pretty much hold it for time cuz what it is. We expect cork and other morlok To be wiped out from the islands. We are preparing we need to infiltrate the max and we are doing it now.

There are other things happening and one of them is that the Midwest areas the middle areas are empty of warlock for the most part here in the United States there's five areas left elsewhere there are three of them with one and two with nothing and the three are empty rapidly. These areas are staple for the mirllock see you they're used to running around and bothering people and getting stuff. Now that takes me his backfiring badly dependence on threatening us has created a massive problem for them. They tried on the Max and all that happens is they get arrested and they're trying to get all over the world and no it's the answer and they just keep doing it and they think that they're going to get stuff because of them doing it and no one's the answer. So they're trying terrorism in the middle areas where they remade to try and get stuff out here and it's fairly failing today is Tommy boy. And they're going to push the rest out of the Midwest and several other middle areas with empty today and it's about 5 million left and that's it a pretty big areas with a lot of stuff in it. Will be completely empty by the end of the day today including the Midwest. And Tommy boy is also filmed in Pennsylvania and they drive down the road there too and in the same car they just relocated a few times and that's the reason for it and our son gets it. They will be absent from the islands today all of them and they'll be reduced to just several areas and Hot pockets. We think five areas will remain for time the upper Midwest is one and there are two areas that are independent that will remain. And Australia and Zealand and that would be about it. Otherwise they are not going to be there. There's other news,..

There's a monstrous Force of warlock off the United States on both coasts and they're not in the golf and they can't get down to the South it is gigantic and it's pouring out now of the upper Midwest more ships and they're trying to get into the East Coast they cant seem to do it. It's a huge Force and growing even though the max are engaging. There's probably 10 septillion ships out there, and down to a hundred foot up to a mile and they're going rapidly they're finding big missiles did break up with MIRV. Did not nuclear but they have warheads and the ships explode and it's quite brilliant the lights and the fire is intense they're flames reaching a mile high it's really really interesting with him yeah but it's gross lots of screaming and yelling and that's gross the max are firing off all the after falling and are all keeping an eye out for people with keys to facilities. This flotella is half gone

Thor Freya

[zelda-photography]

Trailer Analysis

Yup, that's right, it's my turn to try and analyze the new trailer. I'll be keeping it under a read more so people who are trying to stay as blind as possible don't see anything. Also, I'll warn you right now that I'm not sure I have anything new to say, and also while I haven't read any in depth analyses yet, I haven't totally missed them so if I say something someone has already said I'm sorry and also no I didn't you're imagining things.

Alright, enough stalling, let's see what kind of brilliant clarity I can bring to this new pressing issue.

Alright, opening shot that I'm pretty sure nobody knows what to think of it. I've seen some people say it could be Hylia, but honestly I think this is going to be an entirely new deity. I've seen people point out the triangles under the eyes are kind of similar to the sheikah eye, and we defo don't know enough about to sheikah, so maybe this was an ancient deity that they worshiped before they were part of Hyrule and fell in with the royal family? That's my crazy guess. My second crazy guess with even less baring on anything is, what if this is the real fierce deity? Food for thought.

This was the shot that for me solidified that this was Zelda (I mean I knew it was but also confirmation never hurts you know). It's interesting that all the bokoblins have the big horn that we saw in one of the earlier trailers.

There's also very clearly two different humans portrayed here. Either it's just showing both men and women fighting, or I would guess hylians and sheikah? Sheikah usually have that bun on the back of their head, but the uniform the people with the buns are wearing doesn't look like anything the sheikah wear.

Again we see whatever the new deity-figure is (am I the only one who thinks it looks like a bunny?) clearly on a floating island amidst the clouds, with what sort of looks like one of the gates over to the left. They're also surrounded by seven spirals - can you say Zonai? - but also that usually connects to the seven sages usually seen in zelda games. I'm very interested to see if there are going to be sages, or just like seven things to gather.

I also didn't point this out before, but a possible connection between This Thing and Dehydrated Ganondorf is they both have an eye on their forehead, so idk keep that in mind.

Putting these right next to each other. I've seen people say they think this could be Ganondorf, and I get where they're coming from, but I agree with @the-east-art (they have a post with a couple of explanations) that this is more likely to be Zelda. Now time to say something crazy: I think this is a Zelda who was born to the Gerudo. It's why she has a gem on her forehead. It would also possibly provide an answer (eventually) to the seven statues in the desert (Them being like, previous seven sages to a Gerudo Zelda).

Also, bad news, looks like Zelda may be officially damseled considering she's shown falling into the malice, and that's not something one easily comes back from :( I mean obviously I hope there's some kind of Zelda subplot but I'm losing hope.

In the bottom picture, however, there are two of the spiral mcguffins above two people holding hands. Which leads to theory 3 (4?) of who these are: they just depict A Sage, not anyone specific, and the spiral depicts the power that person has. I don't think it is, but it's possible.

I skipped the picture I had of the door - there's osme big spirals and two dragons on it, It's way more boring than I expected. Here, we get a good view of a gate, which we've seen in previous trailers, and uh I still dont' know what it is, or where link is, but hey he's in his champion's tunic so that seems relevant.

Here, we can get a bit of a better view of what the islands look like, including a weird temple int he middle that looks like it's upside down - in fact, when Link dives down, I think you can see the 'top' of it, all pointy n stuff. I'm kind of hoping that there's going to be, like, people living on these island, or at least some kind of sentient species to interact with. A lot of the islands in this shot are taken up by the yellow trees.

Also, you can't really see them well here but I was getting tired of trying to get a good shot of them, but Link does have those like eight vials on his belt, half of them filled with strange green liquid. It's hard to say anything about them at this point, but I've seen people say it's a vessel to collect tears, and that sounds about right. I also think it could be the device used to get up and down from the sky, I believe when we saw it do that last trailer it was that same color.

Everything is black and white, and I just figured that'd mean that time is stopped or something, but oddly enough that weird bat thing in the background is still flapping as Link uh,,,, rides this rock back to the heavens? I'm just happy to see what looks like a new enemy out there.

Link with a new ace looking weapon, so that's fun. It's good to see they did go to the effort to make new weapons. Also he's in that outfit that make people think there's time travel in this. Honestly, I can't say one way or the other. It's probably just An Outfit, but uh what if he has to wear it during certain trials or something? Like, the clouds below look like the mist in the Lost Woods.

Here, we can see that the floating islands are kind of scattered around some, but more than anything, we can see the Eldin Volcano has the same malice-stuff coming off of it as Hyrule castle, and Hyrule castle is really not floating as much as I expected it to. It's probably fair to think that the other four corners of Hyrule are in a similar state.

It makes me wonder how they're going to deal with the divine beasts in this sequel, like do they just do nothing now? Are they taken over again? Deactivated?

And of course, now we have our paraglider evolved into a hawk glider thingy. Personally, I think he looks nice. Also, it's nice that we can see where we are and can recognize the layout. Also there's a weird glowing rune, but if you turn it upside down you can see that it's a similar depiction as the people from earlier in the trailer, but this one doesn't have a gem on the forehead. Maybe a sage? Maybe a recharge place for your vials/hawk glider?

AAAAND TITLE! Tears of the Kingdom, makes a lot of people think of the tears you collect in silent realms, and I have to agree. You can see the zonai-style dragons in the circle around the title, very interesting. However, I'm more interested in what's behind it - namely, we just barely don't get the full picture we saw a snippet of earlier: the 'Zelda' standing under two spiral mcguffins. Now, we can see the other person was Mystery Deity all along.

I'm not sure what else to say, I'll probably just pop out some theory or other like at random in the next eight months. Right now, I'm just gonna say, uhhhh, I think Link will end up aiding the Mystery Deity and and does manage to fight off the Malice with it, but in doing so strengthens the Mystery Deity, and they become the new big bad. Bonus point for if at that point in the story, Link gets damseled and now you play as Zelda.

Anyway, let me know if you agree, disagree, have theories of your own, anything! i wanna talk Zelda!

[recurring-polynya]

For Stuff For Renji's Birthday Prompts: 1) time travel turn back the clock nonsense, bc I'm an enabler and Karakura teens plus shithead Renruki teens has *Byakuya voice* strong comedic potential OR 2) Hisana lives but due to wacky circumstances, nobody notices Rukia's existence at the Academy... until they've graduated and Renruki have joined Squad 11. Dealer's choice! (Honestly whichever you pick, I might try writing the one you don't. I am not a writer these 2 just live in my head rent free)

Why would you make me choose between these, whyyyyyyyyyy?

To be honest, I almost did them both, but this was the second one I did, and I figured that I should probably do some other people’s prompts, and then I ran out of time. I might do you some time travel shenanigans later. (This should in no way stop you from writing these, I would flip my chips if you wrote something, let alone something based on my horrible ideas)

In any case, I couldn’t resist the second options and I have spun it out into a delightful bit of Byakuya-torture. Please enjoy!!!

Special thanks to @kaicko for helping me come up with the clerical error, because you all know me, I can’t just say “a clerical error.” 😂

Read on ao3 or ff.net

💀   💀   💀  

“How is the tea?” Aizen Sousuke asked smoothly.

The tea was excellent, but Byakuya wasn’t in the mood for Aizen’s needy attempts to ingratiate himself. “Adequate,” he replied dryly. “You said you had something to discuss with me.”

“Ah, diligent as always, Byakuya,” Aizen sighed, “always eager to get back to work. I’ll get to the point: I happened to speak with your wife recently at a fundraising event. She’s very interested in the people of the deep Rukon, and said she travels to South Rukongai frequently.”

Byakuya narrowed his eyes. “What is your point?”

“Well, I thought it was a bit of a strange occupation for a woman of your wife’s noble standing, but then Gin reminded me that she was actually from there herself, that there had been a bit of a to-do when you two married. I don’t tend to follow gossip myself--”

“I repeat, what is your point?” Byakuya gritted your teeth.

Aizen made a pissy little throat clearing noise and fiddled with a folder on his desk. “The fact is, Byakuya, your wife reminds me a great deal of a young woman who served in my squad a few years ago, whom I recalled also hailing from the Rukon. I wondered if there might be a.... connection.”

Byakuya’s shoulders stiffened. Impossible. He had put watches on all immigrants to the Seireitei. He would have reviewed anyone who came from the South 78th.

“Inuzuri Rukia,” Aizen read from his file, and Byakuya’s blood ran cold. “Shin’ou class of 2066. Unseated. Petite, like your wife. Dark hair. Very striking eyes. Unfortunately, an unremarkable shinigami. Potential for a good kidou user, but didn’t take direction well. More interested in sword combat, although she had little aptitude for it. Ah, here it is. Hometown: District 48, South Rukongai.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Byakuya said flatly. “Inuzuri is the 78th district of South Rukongai. Why would she carry a surname from a different district?”

Aizen made an exaggerated frown. “Very strange! A clerical error perhaps? Hold on a moment.” He stuck his head out of his office door and said something to the shinigami on reception duty. “Fortunately, there’s an easy way to clear this up. It’ll just be a minute.”

Byakuya gripped his teacup, unsure of how to feel. A clerical error. Class of 2066… she would have enrolled in 2060, in the middle of Hisana’s worst turn, when she had been bedridden for nearly four years. Their attention would have lapsed. It made sense.

“She does not sound like your usual recruit,” Byakuya accused. Aizen was constantly finding ways to skim the highest performers from the Academy, all the gifted children.

Aizen looked sheepish. “Ah, well, you see, there was a young man of some talent that I was eager to recruit who was… attached to her. I thought she might have some potential if properly guided, but it never panned out.”

Aizen’s good deed was suddenly beginning to make sense. The girl had transferred out and taken Aizen’s prize with her. He wanted Byakuya to go fetch her away in hopes that the talented one would come home. Byakuya actually felt much better now that he’d identified Aizen’s ulterior motive, and further, that it had more to do with his own petty recruiting schemes than Byakuya’s family (specifically, Byakuya’s wife).

There was a knock at the office door, and upon being bid entry, a young woman walked in. Although indeed petite and dark-haired, she looked nothing like Hisana, and Byakuya remarked as much.

“Oh, no, this is my Seventh Seat!” Aizen chuckled. “Miss Hinamori, you were friends with Inuzuri Rukia, isn’t that correct?”

The young woman’s eyes had gone wide when she recognized Byakuya. “Er, yes, sir,” she said, her eyes darting between the two captains. “We shared a room while she served here.”

“Do you happen to remember what district she was from?” Aizen asked in an overly friendly manner.

“Oh, sure, it was South 78,” Hinamori replied. “Inuzuri, of course.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know all the outermost ones,” Aizen said in his goofy voice again. “Her paperwork says 48.”

Hinamori’s brow furrowed for a moment and then her face brightened. “She and Abarai had very heavy accents when they first came to the Academy, and used a lot of deep Rukongai language quirks. I don’t remember all of it, but they both used to use ‘shichi’ instead of ‘nana’ for seven, especially when referring to their district. They weren’t very fond of their home district. I wonder if the registrar misheard.”

“Well, there you go!” Aizen said, slapping his hands on his desk. “A very logical explanation!”

Hinamori beamed.

Byakuya found Aizen’s need to be liked by his subordinates very unprofessional and off-putting, but he tried to push it aside. He was trying not to be too eager, but this was probably the best lead he’d had on Hisana’s sister in all the years they had been searching. “Where is she now?” he grumbled.

Aizen turned his doe eyes on his fawning subordinate once more. “I don’t suppose you still keep in touch? She couldn’t have lasted very long there, they must have transferred again?”

Hinamori made a face like she didn’t want to say the answer. “I’m afraid that Kira and I had a bit of a falling out with Abarai and Inuzuri when they left. I haven’t talked to them in a few years, although we still have some mutual friends. As far as I know, though, they’re both still at Squad Eleven. I heard they were doing fairly well there, actually.”

The room seemed to retreat around Byakuya. All he could hear was the blood pounding in his ears and the reverberations of the most horrible words he could possibly think of: Squad Eleven.

---

Byakuya knew it was poor etiquette to visit another captain’s squad when the man was out, but he absolutely could not stomach the idea of discussing the matter of his wife’s sister with the Kenpachi, so he waited until Zaraki and his miniature lieutenant were sent out to go trample half of East Rukongai before visiting.

He also knew that he probably should have said something to Hisana, but he couldn’t bring himself to get his wife’s hopes up, only to dash them, should this turn out to be nothing, like so many leads before it. So, the secret sat in his stomach, heavy and acidic, jostling with the guilt of his breach of etiquette.

“Is there someone here,” he gingerly asked one of the gentlemen on gate duty, “who takes care of administrative matters for the squad?”

The man swiveled his head, which appeared to grow directly from his torso with no need for an intervening neck, to his fellow guardsman. “What?”

The other fellow had been busy trying to remove wax from his ear with a pinky. “WHAT?” he shouted back.

“Paperwork!” Byakuya said a little louder. “Is there an office of some sort? A person who knows what’s going on?”

He supposed he could have asked for the girl, Inuzuri, directly, but he didn’t feel… ready.

“I think he wants Ayasegawa,” the neckless guard hazarded.

“WHAT?”

“I’ll be right back.”

Eventually, the burly gentleman returned. With him was a strangely elegant person with a silky curtain of hair cut severely to chin length and piercing violet eyes. “It really is you,” the lovely man said with a level of disdain that Byakuya almost had to admire. Before he had a chance to get offended, the man dipped into a respectful bow. “Welcome to the Eleventh, Captain Kuchiki. Fifth Seat Ayasegawa at your service. What in Soul Society can I possibly do for you?”

“Apologies for visiting while your captain is abroad,” Byakuya replied, not meaning a word of it.

“Oh, he’ll be very sorry to have missed you,” Ayasegawa frowned. “But I’m sure you could make it up to him later.”

Byakuya’s eye twitched. “Perhaps. I have come to enquire about a young woman whom I am told transferred to your squad three years ago.”

“Does she have a name? That might make it a little easier.”

“Inuzuri Rukia.”

Both of Ayasegawa’s eyebrows shot up, and his mouth curved into a feline grin. “Ninth Seat Inuzuri, of course!”

Byakuya blinked. “Ninth Seat? Captain Aizen told me she was middling at best.”

Ayasegawa's face suddenly went stiff. “She was not well-served at the Fifth, but she has bloomed here most beautifully. Inuzuri is my personal protege, you know.” He stared at Byakuya under hooded eyes. “What is your interest in her? Captain?”

Byakuya took a deep breath through his nose. “My wife is also from Inuzuri. She is trying to locate someone she knew there. It is possible this Rukia is that someone.”

Ayasegawa frowned. “Well, I can introduce you, if you like. I should warn you, though, Rukia doesn’t have a lot of lost love for her hometown.”

“My understanding is that there isn’t much to love about it.”

“Mmm,” Ayasegawa agreed. “Well, come along, let’s go find her.” He concentrated for a moment, clearly trying to find her reiatsu. She must be a woman of some power, after all. “Ugh! She and Abarai are at it again! Every day!”

Byakuya swallowed stiffly.

“Well come on! She’s out at the training fields, clobbering our Tenth Seat, yet again.”

Oh. That kind of “going at it.”

Ayasegawa was shaking his head. “The two of them are literally an unstoppable force and an immovable object.”

“Abarai was also at the Fifth?,” Byakuya probed cautiously. “I was told they were close.”

“Of course they’re close!” Ayasegawa scoffed. “They’re partners!” He thought for a moment. “Abarai is from the 78th as well, you know. If Rukia turns out to not be your girl, perhaps one or the other of them knew the person you’re looking for. Abarai is one of those people who just… knows everyone. He’s the personable half of the pair.”

“‘Partners’?” Byakuya echoed. “What… kind of partners?”

Ayasegawa stared back at him like he was insane. “Partners.”

This path of inquiry clearly wasn’t going to get him anywhere, but wasn’t particularly relevant, either. “I did not think kidou-type zanpakutou were permitted in the Eleventh,” Byakuya sniffed. “Aizen’s records indicated Inuzuri wields an ice-and-snow type.”

Ayasegawa gave a little shrug. “Zanpakutou classifications are arbitrary. Obviously, if she had a bunch of showy blizzard attacks like Matsumoto’s little prodigy friend, it would be a no-go. Rukia can take the blade of her sword down to sub-zero temperatures. She has a weapon-shattering attack and she doesn’t feel pain when she’s fighting. It’s fundamentally no different than a zanpakutou so massive that only the wielder can lift it, or a whip sword that’s controlled with one’s reiatsu.”

This sounded like a quibble to Byakuya, but it’s not like he had come to the Eleventh looking for sound logic.

“She’s incredibly fast, probably the fastest person in the Eleventh, although no one’s really sure what Yachiru’s top speed is,” Ayasegawa continued on. He glanced at Byakuya slyly. “I hear you are very fast.”

“You have heard correctly.”

“That’s why Abarai can’t beat her. If he could land one really hard hit on her, she’d go down, but he’s not fast enough and she’s just too agile. He’s my partner’s protege, you see, so I have to take their little scraps very personally.”

How did this man talk so much?

“What did you say your wife’s relationship was to her again?”

“I did not.”

“Ah, right. Oops, look out!” Ayasegawa abruptly dove to one side as a giant mass of shihakushou and pink hair and what might be a sword came crashing through the split rail fence surrounding the training field.

Byakuya was not in the habit of ducking, so he merely plunged the force of his reiatsu down into the earth like a piton. It was almost, but not entirely sufficient. Byakuya gritted his teeth as he was driven back, dirt piling up behind his heels as he skidded backwards.

When they finally came to a halt, Byakuya looked down at the meaty youth lying at his feet. This must be the infamous Abarai, although he certainly didn’t look like one of Aizen’s usual simpering overachievers. The first thing Byakuya observed was the eye makeup. Most shinigami applied at least a little eyeliner, on grounds of tradition, but few bothered to blacken the entire eye socket, as in the skeletal facepaint of old. The second thing Byakuya noticed were the tattoos painted across his forehead and neck. They were black and spikey and horrible. The third thing was the hair, which was bright pink and spikey, and utterly at odds with the makeup and tattoos. The fourth thing was the big, sheepish grin, which honestly just tied the whole hideous tableau together.

Byakuya glared down at the lout, and in a moment of pettiness, flared his reiatsu to a level that should have sent blood spurting out of his ears.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to do much to someone who has a weekly sparring slot with the Kenpachi,” Ayasegawa commented dryly.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” the lummox cheerfully apologized as he sat up and brushed himself off. He had an Inuzuri accent so thick you could spread it on toast, an accent that Hisana tended to slip into only when she was extremely bent out of shape. Abarai snapped the sword hilt in his hand, and the tangled pile of steel on the ground neatly retracted into something that looked a little more like a weapon, if a weapon were designed by a creative and overly violent child.

“That’s a captain, you buffoon!” another voice rang out, and every muscle in Byakuya’s body locked. “Show your respects!”

The voice clearly affected Abarai as well, because he leapt to his feet, spun, and slammed into a bow. “My apologies, Captain…” his eyes glanced up and abruptly widened, “Kuchiki.”

“Greetings, Captain Kuchiki! Welcome to the Eleventh Division! I apologize very profusely for throwing Tenth Seat Abarai at you!” A second young person had come to join Abarai in his bow, and they both rose in unison, Abarai looking suddenly pale and nervous, his companion looking calm and confident.

So this was Inuzuri Rukia. She had Hisana’s voice. She had Hisana’s stature, and standing next to Abarai made her look positively childlike. She wore the same dreadful eyeblack, but the eyes that shone out of it were a variation on Hisana’s, harder and three shades more purple. The rest of the face was Hisana’s. Her hair was dark, shaved on the sides, arranged into porcupine spikes on top, although one lock hung down stubbornly between her eyes. Her ears glittered with silver piercings. At least she was free of awful tatt-- wait, no. Byakuya had missed them at first, because they were white. Abarai’s tattoos were spiky and sharp, but Inuzuri’s were graceful swirls, like ribbons wrapping lazily down her forearms. Even her reiatsu was like Hisana’s-- but instead of a cool, refreshing wintergreen, Inuzuri’s was the bone-deep cold of winter, a cold so harsh it burnt in the lungs.

There was no doubt.

This atrocious delinquent was his long-lost sister-in-law.

“Can we help you with something, sir?” Inuzuri prompted. “Abarai here’s a big fan of yours.”

“Shut up, Rukia,” Abarai managed through gritted molars.

“Inuzuri Rukia, you died as an infant thirty-six years ago and were sent to the 78th District of South Rukongai, is that correct?” Byakuya said stiffly.

Inuzuri and Abarai both bristled, a pair of mongrels raising their haunches. “That seems about right,” Inuzuri replied slowly. “My early years are a little hazy.”

“My wife, Hisana also died thirty-six years ago and was sent to Inuzuri with her infant sister,” Byakuya went on. “They were separated. My wife has been looking for her sister ever since. You… resemble her greatly.” Byakuya let the implication hang in the air. He couldn’t bring himself to say it.

There was silence for a moment. Then there was the distinct noise of a laugh that, having been held in, had escaped through someone’s nose. “Sorry! Pardon me!” Ayasegawa wheezed, clapping one hand over his mouth and looking away. “Bit of. Dust. In my throat.”

“I told you! I told you, you looked like that picture of her in the Bulletin!” Abarai was hissing.

“I thought you were lying because you thought she was pretty!” Inuzuri hissed back.

“I thought she was pretty because she looks just like you!”

“Now is really not the time, Abarai!” She cleared her throat and tried to stand up a bit taller, a futile effort. “So, uh, so what? What does that mean, if I am her sister? Does that… does that make me noble?”

A higher pitched wheezing came out of Ayasegawa. The level of impudence was extraordinary.

“I would like you to come to my home to meet her, first,” Byakuya put off making any promises. “We can discuss what comes next. As a family.”

“I’m at work right now,” Inuzuri excused.

“Inuzuri, I need to know how this pans out, you can have the afternoon off,” Ayasegawa informed her.

Inuzuri’s confidence seemed to be draining out of her. She took a tiny step closer to Abarai and groped for his hand. “I’m bringing Renji,” she declared.

“Is he compulsory?” Byakuya asked. Inuzuri was absurd looking too, but at least she was small.

“He’s my family,” Inuzuri insisted.

Byakuya’s brows furrowed. This could prove problematic. “In any sort of legally binding sense?”

“We’re engaged!” Inuzuri announced.

“We are?” Abarai goggled.

“I told you I’d marry you if you could ever manage to beat me in a fight! What else would you call that?” Rukia hissed at him in a voice that was still, unfortunately, perfectly audible.

“I’ve been trying every day, and honestly, Rukia, it’s not looking good for me!”

“Can you just go with it for once, instead of arguing with me every time?”

“If you want to leave and never tell anyone you found her,” Ayasegawa put in, “I am very bribable.”

Byakuya was sorely tempted.

---

End note: To further explain the number mix-up, as I understand it “seven” in Japanese can either be said as “nana” or “shichi”. People usually say “nana” for two reasons-- 1) to avoid confusion with 4 (”shi”, although you can also say “yon”) and because “shi” is a homophone for death. Given how shitty the districts in the 70s are, I rather liked the idea that they residents use the “shichi” pronunciation as a bit of gallows humor. (And if you don’t have a rude nickname for the town you grew up in, well, congrats for not growing up somewhere shitty)

I don’t actually speak Japanese, tho, so forgive me if this is all nonsense. 😁

[kenkaodoll]

Kamiya Dojo Monogatari Tales 28 (JUMP SQ)

About Kamiya Dojo Monogatari:

Tales of Kamiya dojo is written by Kaoru Kurosaki and published along with the “Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido” arc in JUMPSQ. The tale involves the Rurouni Kenshin character in daily life that takes time between Kenshin and Kaoru marriage until the epilogue chapter in the original manga before the Hokkaido Arc. Until this month there are a total 53 chapters in Tales of Kamiya dojo. This is an unofficial translation.

Previous Story: https://kenkaodoll.tumblr.com/post/682865386018979840/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tales-27-jump-sq

“I agree. It's too early to give up again. Let's settle it with the Oniwabanshu... The Oniwabanshu... Ah! There they are! There's one of the Oniwabanshu here in Osaka that Yahiko and I both know. Let's go, ask for backup!”

Misao flipped her body and started to run.

“Hey! Where are you going?”

Yahiko rushed after her.

“Who are the Oniwabanshu, whom I also know?”

Who did he know in the Oniwabanshu in Osaka? In the first place, there should be no other acquaintances of the Oniwabanshu except for the members of the  Aoi-ya and Fukutaro, whom he had met in Yokohama.

“Look. We met the other day when we rode the steam train from Kyoto.”

When returning from Kyoto, they compared the East steam train and West steam train rides. He remembered that there was an old lady who was talking with Misao at that time*.

“Auntie Oshige.”

“What, just a regular old lady?”

He didn't think an ordinary aunt can help in this situation where someone is on the verge of being convicted of a crime.

“Or is she a master of some amazing trick?”

Yahiko asked with a bit of anticipation. Having witnessed Misao's surprisingly good at ninja’s skills, he had hoped that the middle-aged, ordinary woman might be as strong as her appearance suggested.

“Aunt Oshige's amazing trick? She said, "Well... She can roll rice cakes very fast!”

“Oh, the rice is hot when it's pounded, so it's hard to roll it if you're not used to it. What does that have to do with hiding the printing press from Fujita Group's warehouse?”

“What? What are you talking about, there is no way it has anything to do with it. Yahiko, you asked me about Auntie Oshige's special skill, so I just answered you.”

“Then why are you going to that aunt?”

“To hide the printing press from the Fujita Group's warehouse, of course.”

The conversation had gone full circle.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean...”

As she spoke, Misao headed straight for one house without hesitation.

“Auntie Oshige! Are you there?”

She opened the door and entered.

“Oh, Misao!”

“*Ru number one!”

“Here it is!”

Misao and Auntie Oshige flew the pigeon into the dusk sky.

Ru number one was the pigeon that would return to the Aoiya, among the pigeons that were prepares by the Oniwabanshu.

“I hope it arrives safely before the sun sets and night falls completely.”

“Don't worry, it's a smart bird.”

Auntie Oshige assured her.

・

Meanwhile,

The police group travelled from Tokyo to arrest Fujita Denzaburo met up with their collaborator in Osaka, who had been conducting the secret investigation. Tensions flared before the arrest of the wealthy merchant.

“The Tokyo contingent consisted of 34 police inspectors and about 90 officers, all of them elite man.But you, who have been scattered throughout Osaka Prefecture and have spent many days scouring the city, are also reliable comrades. I hope that you will work together with us to make a big catch.”

Inspector Sato Gondai, who was in charge of the field, made a loud speech.

“Well, in short...”

At the end of a group of more than 150 people, including police inspectors and internal security officers, Chou quietly spoke to Kamatari, who was standing next to him.

“They will only use Tokyo's officers to carry out the duty, and they won't let anyone from Osaka get in their way.”

“Why such a slow and complicated process?”

“Is it a factional war? I don't know.”

Chou did not seem to be interested in political matters.

“I don't give a damn about that kind of old man chit-chat.”

“Well, that's true. As long as we get our allowances, that's all that matters.”

Just the other day, the two men had received a cash reward for finding solid evidence of the counterfeit banknotes production in the Fujita Group warehouse, and they were even happier to receive another cash reward for their latest capture.

“Thirty police officers were deployed to Fujita's head office and Nakano's residence.”

Nakano Goichi was a senior member of the Fujita Group. The purpose of this arrest was to arrest these two important men from Fujita Group.

“To make sure that no one escapes, they must be heavily guarded. We also sent men to the Sanjushi Bank and the First National Bank branches that do business with the Fujita group to be checked for counterfeit bills. Ten allies are to support Fujita's head office. Take every precaution to ensure that no one escapes!”

Under the command of Inspector Sato Gondai, teams were formed for each assignment, and detailed instructions were given in front of a map.

“Fujita's head office had a back entrance, so we had to deploy people there as well,” he said.

After a brief discussion, the plan was set to begin at dawn. In other words, the team was to attack the sleeping victims, who were sure to be at home.

A total of forty people, thirty police officers and ten collaborators, would surround the house to arrest Fujita Denzaburo. If Yahiko and Misao had been in charge of rescuing Fujita Denzaburo from the hands of the police, they would have had no choice but to take him into custody.

“Hmm?”

Chou, who was assigned to guard the back entrance of Fujita's head office, felt uncomfortable for a moment.

“Is it right that we are going to the bank to seize evidence, but nobody is going to the warehouse?”

“Isn't that good? The goal is to capture Fujita Denzaburo, right? We can't use the police in Osaka, so we have to allocate more men to secure him. If they burn the evidence at the bank, it would be a big deal, but in the warehouse there is a big printing press. It's not something that can be destroyed right now. I don't see anything wrong with that”.

“Hmmm... I guess so.”

Chou was still not convinced.

“If it bothers you so much, shall I go check on it?”

Kamatari was also concerned about Chou's intuitive sense of discomfort. Maybe he was just concerned because the items in the warehouse are evidence they found. It might be a groundless fear. But even so, something was nagging at them. Both of them were the type of people who like to take this kind of intuition seriously.

“Because of my head, I stand out a lot. So, please, do me a favor.”

“In return, buy me something next time.”

“Just a bowl of kitsune udon.”

“Okay, okay.”

Kamatari waved his hand and headed for the warehouse.

・

“Thanks, Auntie!”

After flying the pigeon, Yahiko and Misao also had been treated to dinner. They decided to go back to the Fujita warehouse to find something they could do together.

“Ru number one, I wonder if he's okay. Has it arrived at the Aoiya?”

Misao mumbled anxiously along the way.

“Auntie Oshige said it was a smart bird, so it'll be fine. We just have to trust Auntie and the pigeon.”

Although she could have reported the situation, it was already nighttime, so they could not wait for a reply from Aoiya to Auntie Oshige's place. That was why she wrote in the letter she sent with Ru number one, "I will wait for you at the Fujita Group ‘s warehouse," after informing the Aoiya of their situation.

From Auntie Oshige's house to Aoiya, Ru number one could deliver the news within an hour. However, it would take an ordinary person ten hours to walk from Kyoto to Osaka. With the swiftness of the Oniwabanshu, it would probably take about three hours.

It was six o'clock in the evening. when they sent out the pigeon.

“By my calculations, we should be able to meet up with Okina and others by ten o’clock”

“But I don't know if it will work out that way.”

Misao looked up at the night sky as she walked.

“It's about eight o'clock right now.”

“How do you know?”

“I can tell by the positions of Polaris and the Big Dipper constellation.” 

Misao said, pointing to the north.

“Because in this season, the Big Dipper comes toward the northern horizon around ten o’clock.”

“The North Stars. What is it?”

“You don't know the constellations? If you don't know, how did you know the time until now?”

Misao rolled her eyes. As a member of Oniwabanshu it was quite natural for her to know the time from the constellations. 

“I don't need to know the time because I sleep at night. Besides, it's morning when the sun rises. During the day, the temple bells ring.

Tokyo has had a system of telling time with the bells since the Edo period. The Temples rang the bell three times a day: at dawn, noon, and dusk. However, since the time of day is based on dawn and dusk, the length of the day and night changes with the seasons, and the length of each hour of the day and night also changes within a day.

This irregular time system declined slightly with the introduction of the solar calendar and the regular time system of hours, minutes, and seconds at the time of the calendar revision in the 6th year of Meiji (1873). However, the temples and shrines still used the bells to announce the irregular time and the regular time system was also introduced, so the two were mixed.

Yahiko said that the time announced by the temple referred to the irregular time, while Misao's statement, "It is now eight o'clock," referred to the regular time.

Anyway, as a Tokyo’s kid, Yahiko was not in the habit of reading the time by constellations, and since he never went out at night, he had never paid attention to the time at night.

“If you don't know, I'll tell you.”

Misao told Yahiko that Polaris is a star that does not move, and that the time of day is determined by the positions of the constellations circling it, and that the constellations are easy to spot.

While talking about such things, they arrived in front of the warehouse of Fujita Group.

It was 9:30 p.m. when they walked into the warehouse.

They quietly crept into the warehouse.

But...

“Hey! What are you doing kids!”

Someone shouted angrily from behind them.

“!”

It looked like they had let their guard down because they were carefree talking about the constellations. Now they were sneaking into someone else's warehouse without permission. Beside that, they were also trying to destroy the evidence that the police are trying to seize if at all possible. To put it bluntly, they were trying to do the wrong thing.

Oh no, we’re going to get caught... They thought, and fearfully turned around to look at the voice.

“.... Nah, nah.”

The owner of the voice suddenly took on a lovely, cutie tone.

“It's me.”

It was Kamatari.

“...”

Both Yahiko and Misao were too surprised to speak.

“So what are you guys doing here?”

Kamatari made a cute voice, but it was a cold, harsh question.

“Depending on how you respond, I'm not going to leave you alone."”

Kamatari held up the big scythe with a serious gaze.

“…”

Perhaps caught up in the fighting spirit, Misao and Yahiko both unintentionally assumed the stance of holding their kunai and shinai toward their opponents. Kamatari was the police’s accomplice. There was no way they could say what they had come to do. However, Kamatari was also a former Juppongatana. Would they be able to fight their way out of this situation?

Tension ran through the warehouse at night.

Note:

*)Misao and Yahiko met Aunt Oshige on the train from Kyoto to Osaka in Tales 17. 

*)Ru number one: Oniwabanshu trained pigeon

*)Kitsune Udon: udon served with fried tofu

.…..continue in chapter 29……

https://kenkaodoll.tumblr.com/post/683227437222494209/kamiya-dojo-monogatari-tales-29-jump-sq

TLnote(1): translating Japanese is so hard because the sentence structure is very different compared with the English also the style of writing is different, plus there’s a lot of figurative, poetic language and things that sounds not making sense if it’s directly translated into english. So forgive me if this is very weird to read, and please tell me if you want give corrections. TLnote(2) I will provide the original Japanese text for correction if any of you who read have better knowledge of Japanese language. Just dm and I’ll send the file. TLnote(3) Dtninja had translated some earlier chapters in his website. You can go and check on there.

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Invitations

Nasch’s attention flickered from the tiny girl seated on the throne to his left hand to the door, then over to the knight who stood to his right.

“Everything’s working fine,” Durbe told him, voice pitched low to avoid being heard by anyone who wasn’t the King. “All of the invitations were delivered properly.”

Nasch’s eyebrows narrowed ever so faintly. “Including the one to Vector?”

“Yes,” Durbe nodded. He’d been in charge of seeing to that particular invitation, while common heralds and messengers managed the others. The effects of their work showed here and now.

As did the effects of his – there wasn’t any sign of Vector anywhere, nor had any of the guards posted sent a warning of any sort. Perhaps the false celebrations they’d set up elsewhere would be enough to keep him distracted.

Tiny Princess Isis – a child Nasch and Merag found after a harsh battle in a distant land and brought back with them – sat on the finely carved throne, her hands resting on her lap, glancing nervously about. This party celebrated her official adoption by Nasch and Merag, bringing her into their family.

Neither of them were inclined to marriage or offspring. Merag had pledged herself to the God of the Ocean and while it wasn't forbidden for her to wed if she’d met someone, everyone knew that the odds of her meeting someone she’d choose were slim to non-existence. Nasch had other reasons for not wedding – reasons that Durbe knew very well indeed.

Almost all of the guests had arrived. Emperor Leonius arrived early, along with his favorite gladiator Alit. Rumors ran that Alit was far more to him than a mere gladiator – a common arena fighter wouldn’t be brought along on this sort of trip. Nasch didn’t question. It wasn’t as if he didn’t know the teasing allure of those who weren’t born to a royal title.

Someone new entered the chamber – two someones, in fact. Nasch glanced up to see who it was. Durbe knew them at once, of course.

“Mizael!” Durbe moved over, smiling. Nasch recognized the name as that of a famous dragon tamer who protected a land to the north and east. Someone he didn’t know stood next to Mizael, glancing around, a bit uncomfortable here. “Who is your friend?”

“This is Ryou,” Mizael said, nodding towards him. “We met a few months ago. I thought he would enjoy visiting here too.”

The stranger nodded politely. “It’s as lovely as I was told.”

After a few more words, Mizael and Ryou moved on, while Durbe returned to his position at Nasch’s right hand. He didn’t move away from it except to greet another famous guest, a general who’d won great acclaim on the battlefield and appeared here with his newly wed wife, an accomplished singer and musician. Not every guest deserved to be greeted by either the King or his Knight personally.

Nasch considered having a meal brought. It had been a very long day and his stomach rumbled. He started to gesture for one of the servants, when a noise came from the entryway, and Durbe stiffened at once.

“He wasn’t invited,” Durbe muttered. Nasch’s eyes narrowed as whoever it was moved closer.

“Who is it?” He demanded to know. Durbe glanced back at him.

“Do you remember the sorcerer Arclight?” the knight asked, his attention returning to the approaching figure. Nasch nodded; he’d heard many tales of the sorcerer and his three sons. “That’s Thomas, the middle son. I know no one invited him. But he’s here.”

Nasch’s lips thinned at that. It looked as if he wasn't going to be getting his dinner as soon as he hoped he would be. But he wasn’t going to allow anyone to ruin tonight’s celebration. He could see Merag also glaring at the approaching sorcerer – or whatever he was.

“Does he share his father's mage-talents?” Nasch asked. He’d heard a few things about how the youngest of the three was a skilled swordsman and the eldest took after his father in mage-craft, but not very much about what this middle child could do.

“He’s a fire-mage,” Durbe murmured. “Very talented with them, too.”

Fire-mages were rare and hadn’t appeared often in his realm, which was far more dedicated to the ways of water magic than anything else.

“What are you doing here, Thomas?” Merag asked, standing next to Iris and glowering with all the fury of the ocean at the newcomer.

The fire-mage laughed, tossing his mane of red and gold hair, sunlight glinting off of it. “Well, hello, there, Merag.” His eyes glittered hungrily. “I suppose I should have expected to see you here.”

“Considering this is my realm too, yes,” Merag snapped back. “No answer me. You weren’t invited.”

“What does that have to do with it?” Thomas crossed his arms over his chest. “You invited all of them.” He waved one hand to where Emperor Leonius and Alit, Mizael and Ryou, General Gilag and Sanagi, and everyone else. “So why can’t I show up if I want to?” He smirked. “Not enough golden plates to eat off of?”

“We don't’ eat off of gold,” Merag replied flatly. “You weren’t invited because no one wanted you here.”

Silence fell. Thomas’s lips thinned before he looked past her to where Nasch began to rise to his feet.

“Well, if it isn’t His Majesty.” Thomas smirked, waving one hand, tiny flames dancing on the tips of his fingers. Nasch tried to tell himself that the sight wasn’t attractive and failed rather miserably.

You have Durbe already. But there stood Thomas, blazing bright, with gleaming dark red eyes.

“What do you want here?” Nasch asked, fingers twitching. He knew his guards watched carefully; if Thomas made a move that he didn’t like, then he’d be a pincushion inside of a handful of seconds.

Thomas smiled. It was much like the smile of a shark. Normally Nasch liked those, but this gave off a different feeling.

“I’m here for the same reason as everyone else is.” Again he waved one flame-tipped hand. “This is a party. I even brought a gift for the new little princess there.”

Merag moved closer to Iris. It had been her idea to adopt the little girl, who now wrapped one hand around Merag’s, trembling. Nasch stood next to his sister, glaring sharply at him.

“What kind of gift are you talking about?”

“Why, just this.” Thomas twisted his hands and then held out a small gem to Iris. “This is a sunstone – a gemstone connected to the power of fire. It will always keep you warm, no matter how cold it is around you.”

“We don’t get cold weather here,” Merag said. “Why do you want to give her that?”

Nasch wondered the same thing. It never got that cold here. So what was he thinking about?

“She might not spend her entire life here,” Thomas pointed out, doing his level best to appear innocent, and not being very good at it. “But it also carries a powerful protective spell in general. You can throw it in the ocean if you don’t want it. But it’s hers – shouldn’t it be her decision if she takes it or not?”

Nasch glanced at Iris, whose attention focused on the sunstone. Thomas flicked his fingers again and now a silver chain hung from the gemstone. He offered it to her, and she reached for it slowly.

“Thank you, sir,” she murmured. “It’s beautiful.”

Thomas smiled. It was probably the most genuine expression that Nasch had ever seen on his face. “It’s yours, then. Slowly he moved forward. Nasch found himself tempted to alert the guards, but he didn’t. Maybe the fire-mage actually meant well. He was just an ass – it wasn’t as if Nasch himself wasn’t the same way sometimes.

He slid the chain over Iris’s neck, then stepped back, glancing at Nasch and Durbe. “I didn’t just bring presents for her.”

Again his hands flashed with fire that coalesced into two polished gemstones, both of them a reddish-brown, a great deal like Thomas's own eyes, along with flashes deep inside of red, orange, and gold. It reminded Nasch thoroughly of fire itself.

“I brought these for you two,” Thomas said. “They’re fire agate.” A twitch to his lips. “Would you like to know what these gems mean?”

Nasch started to open his mouth, but Durbe beat him to it. “They increase physical energy and stamina. Or so the stories say.” He rested one hand on Nasch’s shoulder, and Durbe suspected there was something more to those gems than just stamina.

“That they do,” Thomas agreed. “But I also added something else for them. When you want to see me, all you have to do is touch them and call my name.”

“Why would we want to see you?” Nasch wanted to know. None of the tension had faded since he’d entered the chamber.

“Oh, who knows. You might want to talk. Or something else.” Thomas smirked. “Now, I came all this way. I want something to eat. You do have refreshments, don’t you?”

Nasch crossed his arms. “I could use something myself.” And he would definitely want to make sure that Thomas still didn’t cause any trouble.

He wasn’t sure of where those gemstones vanished off to. Perhaps Thomas just made them disappear again. But perhaps it didn’t matter, as for the moment, the fire-mage seemed content to accept a plate of food and settle down to eat. Durbe and Nasch picked up their own food, while Merag had a couple of plates brought to her and Iris.

Thomas nibbled on one of the finger foods and sipped from his wine cup. “This is a very nice party,” he said. “Let me guess, you didn’t invite Vector either?”

Nasch didn’t question how Thomas knew Vector. Everyone knew Vector, whether they wanted to or not.

“Of course we sent him an invitation,” Durbe said, a quick smile over his lips. “It just didn’t invite him to this party.”

“Clever.” Thomas leaned backwards. “I’m surprised you didn’t try the same trick with me.”

“We didn’t know you’d even want to come,” Nasch admitted. The Arclight family had been considered for the guest list, but Merag hadn’t wanted to. Nasch suspected that she knew more about the scar on Thomas’s face than either of them were ever going to talk about.

Thomas rested one hand over his heart. “I should feel wounded. Why wouldn’t I want to come? Now, my brothers – Christopher is busy with Prince Kaito. I think they’re sending a present of their own. Michael is busy somewhere else. I couldn’t say where – he’s trying to collect some ancient treasure or something. His lips pursed. “I think he teamed up with the son of an adventurer. They’re probably going to be busy for a while.

He shrugged and nibbled more of his food. “But I wasn't doing anything and if you’d sent me the invitation I probably wouldn’t have bothered.” Again that fiery glint in his eyes and Nasch tried to avoid thinking about it. He knew very well he was doing a very bad job of it. “But you didn’t – so I did.”

Durbe took a deep drink of his own. “So you just showed up because you weren’t invited.”

“Yes.” Thomas admitted without a care. He tilted his head up. “I probably won’t stay long. Too wet around here.” He caught Nasch’s eye and grinned. “But you can always invite me back with those gemstones. They’ll only work if you both use them at the same time. I wouldn’t want to break the two of you – up.”

The pause between words had to have been deliberate. He licked his lips slowly, eyes still fastened on Nasch and burning with an intensity fit to evaporate the ocean. Nasch didn’t look away, not even when he felt Durbe’s hand closing around his.

He’s offering – is he? Nasch wanted to think he knew but this was the first time Thomas had ever stood face to face with him. Why would he make an offer like that? He couldn’t possibly mean it.

Durbe’s thoughts ran in the same direction. “You hardly know us. Why would you claim that?”

“Claim what?” Thomas needed a lot of practice if he were going to sound innocent but he certainly gave it a good attempt. “I said you could invite me back. What do you do with guests to your kingdom?” He waved both of his fire-tipped hands again. “Really.” He also tried to sound offended. He was much better at that.

Nasch refused to commit himself and concentrated on getting his dinner finished. The other party-goers ate as well, mingling and chatting amongst themselves. Nasch could hear a few whispers that seemed more or less wondering exactly what Thomas was up to. No one else dared challenge him, and Nasch wanted to believe they thought that he could handle the matter if necessary.

Once Thomas finished, he rose to his feet. “It’s time for me to go. But as I said, invite me back any time. Perhaps I could get used to your realm if I see it often enough.” He glanced to where Merag glowered towards him. “And a good day to you as well, Highness.”

In between one breath and the next, a column of fire erupted from his feet, and when it faded away, Thomas wasn’t there anymore. Nasch glanced at Durbe, who looked more than a little relieved at his departure.

“Later,” Durbe murmured. “After the party.”

Nasch agreed; this was something far better discussed behind closed doors. The party didn’t last much longer after that; everyone finished their food, bid Nasch, Merag, and Iris good night, and retired to their quarters. The celebrations would go on for another three days, and Nasch expected everyone would be exhausted by the end.

He hadn’t been in his room long before the expected quiet tapping came, and Durbe followed a breath afterward. He moved over to embrace his lover for a few seconds.

“Do you think he was serious?” Durbe wanted to know as they settled down on the bed. Nasch brushed his fingers through Durbe’s wind-roughened hair. He’d probably gone on a flight with Mach before coming over.

“I doubt it. But we can test him to find out if he is. He claimed he’d be a guest. Let’s show him what the real hospitality of the realm is.” Nasch smiled his own shark-like smile. “He’s a fire-mage. He should know it’s not wise to play with water or air either.”

Durbe regarded him for a few moments before he laughed. “You’re right.” He slid one arm around Nasch and pressed a kiss against the king’s lips. “But we can talk about that later, too.”

Nasch definitely agreed. Planning how to turn the tables on Thomas could wait until after he and Durbe relaxed enough to truly enjoy it.

On the table next to the bed, two fire agates gleamed.

The End

Notes: I couldn’t resist sneaking my new OTP in there (Ryou x Mizael) and I’m beginning to like the idea of Durbe/Nasch/Thomas as well. The sparks would fly in every direction!