#4kingdoms stuff

[misiwrites]

i should be in bed already but had to stick to my word (to myself) of updating today also so here i am

max is not having a good day. again. in fact his days are becoming worse

Chapter 89: Genbu-ou XXIII A spasm startled me awake. I blinked, vision blurry, mind in a haze. I was on the carpet, on my stomach, and it took a good minute of racking my brain to remember why. Beside me sat two computers with their screens propped up, one with the unfinished notes for a report due tomorrow, the other with a newsfeed filled with headlines about all the weather abnormalities – excessive flooding, record summer snowfalls, the world had gone all kinds of crazy lately. I considered continuing the report, then slammed the computer flat against the floor, my interest waning – with a headache building, I could hardly process a single word. I rolled over to my back and stared at the night sky in the ceiling, deep and dark, shrouded in clouds with the yellow sickle of the crescent Moon. It was spinning anticlockwise ever so slowly.

[four-kingdom-em]

Here is Leonardo! A main character of this story! The destined King of Hykoo!

So glad to get the ball rolling in actually getting all the main characters drawn ^^

[misdre]

might do a wild thing and actually study/practice some drawing-related stuff in peace for a while. idk why but i'm having such a hard time finding any softer brushes that actually work in infinite painter, but i also kinda don't want to change to some other app now.....

kinda same with writing where i thought i'd start slow by actually going back to some story other than 4kingdoms to warm up my rusty writing skills slowly, lol. seriously i'm not convinced i know how to write anymore

[misiwrites]

i hope to have a double update to throw, a max chapter tomorrow to accompany this kai one that leaves things just sort of hanging because i sure love all these hangings. from cliffs. anyway this is kai doing his kai things.

Chapter 88: Suzaku-ou X The weather of early Harvestmoon was abysmal. As used as I was to the Hellish heat of this country, I certainly never grew any more affectionate with it. I wiped a bead of sweat off my brow with the back of a drawn hand. Then I fixed my aim, pulled slightly back, and released the bowstring. The arrow shot forward and landed smack-dab in the middle of the yellow bull’s eye, joining several of its earlier comrades, it was getting busy in that circle. I lowered the bow and examined the distance between my feet and the target boss. A couple hundred feet… I could still go further back. And to my right, Yuriy was perched atop the stairs leading down to the archery range, watching over me like a gargoyle.

[misiwrites]

random day to update again but i don't care. today i bring you western shenanigans with the new member of the court (...and rei being excessively melodramatic. as usual. he can't help it)

Chapter 87: Byakko-ou XXVI As expected, Olivier wasn’t thrilled about the turn of events. And, as expected, he learnt to live with it. (Or you could say I forced him to, but same difference.)

[misiwrites]

i took a little break from updating, now slowly getting back to it!

Chapter 86: Seiryuu-ou XXIX One glance right, one left, then I slipped to the narrow alleyway. As always, I didn’t run into anyone on this unremarkable backroad, a liminal space squeezed between the concrete wall of an overpass and the backsides of several small businesses, including the Saien noodle shop. The alley was mostly used for garbage collection. The cobblestones glistened under the streetlamps, it had been raining earlier. “Heeeey! I’m here!” I greeted my friend once I’d reached the unlocked backdoor of the Saien household.

[four-kingdom-em]

I figured out the gist of the ruling crown last week? How about I put them on the actual rulers of Dagenhold 💀

I can say that the perspective and dimension of the crown on the head was so much harder than I thought 💀

Regardless, here’s three generations of the Ruler of Dagenhold! King Adonis 🦚, Queen Astrid 🎶, and Queen Rosetta 🌹 :)

[four-kingdom-em]

Been jumping around different things about this world. This week just so happened to be a general determination of what the ruling crowns of Dagenhold looks like and what Rosetta’s “casual” military clothing looks like.

I have so much I want to draw out and figure out but so little time lol

[misdre]

i've had such a creative fatigue for a long while but i'm slowlllyyy making my way back into making stuff, this weekend i've managed to usher myself to continue editing older 4kingdoms chapters again and it makes me so. like. ohhhh this story is so dear to me, even just fixing things that aren't so good about it pulls me back into the world and idk. kinda conceited probably but i genuinely thought last night after working on it that This is what love is all about! this is what i love.

i end up forgetting such things when i don't create anything in a while and get so busy performing everything else in life, but this week hasn't been going too well and i haven't got much anything done and was feeling kinda miserable. but yesterday was great because i spent time with a friend and then edited 4kingdoms. that's all you really need actually. (alas the other things are obligatory too, except maybe studying ukrainian which is just a personal thing that has become very performative lately and then i feel shitty when i don't do anything for it all day. misi googles 'how to stop performing life')

[misiwrites]

i said i would do another update this week, so here it is. a shortie about kai. (it's for building up the suspense, y'all)

Chapter 85: Suzaku-ou IX I stared at the ocean, at the never-ending crimson march of the waves below. I counted the rhythm of their foaming crests that rose and fell like a beating heart, kept staring until I realised I was chewing on the nib of my pen. I tasted metal and the salt of the ocean on my dry tongue.

[misiwrites]

we diggin' deep into the west now. hold onto your pants boys

Chapter 83: Byakko-ou XXV My legs grew root in the carpet of my room. The whole world had stopped breathing with me. I watched in astonished silence as the splash was followed by something emerging from the pond, back to the surface. No, not something. Someone.

[misiwrites]

today i bring another fun takao chapter! at least writing it was fun, idk about reading. that's secondary in importance

also it's my week off so i may be dropping multiple chapters this week, or at least one more because 85 is a really short chapter.

Chapter 84: Seiryuu-ou XXVIII The muddy waters of disappointment I’d been wading might have passed, but I did end up sending Max a tight message asking what his deal with Kai was. It only felt fair to openly admit how I didn’t like them talking about my family behind my back.

[misiwrites]

another short max chapter. a shortie but importie. that i may have put here just in order to lengthen the tension of the cliffhanger ending of the previous chapter but luckily you don't know that

Chapter 82: Genbu-ou XXII Snow Glory felt oddly muted without Giancarlo constantly on my tail. I was so used to him running his mouth by my side, now the quiet of his absence was deafening.

[misiwrites]

how GOOD is it to be making a new chapter post! very pleased. fun also to be able to share what i've been talking about writing all november here. here's the kai stuff we started from!

Chapter 79: Suzaku-ou VIII That darn Genbu-ou... He tricked me. I’m going to kick his ass. But such thoughts were half-hearted at best. My first and foremost sentiment after the talkpad call was relief. Relief that the bothersome weight of this thing, this stupid ordeal with the Seiryuu-ou and his brother, had been taken off my shoulders.

[misiwrites]

NaNoWriMo (kind of) Day 7

i managed to crash tumblr once by trying to share something from today so let's try this again-- this chapter is getting increasingly and amazingly stupid, which i'm totally here for, because there'll be a drop into a hell abyss from now on and it feels like a good idea to have a silly breather in the middle. gotta embrace it. i picked some dialogue this time by @paperclippedmime 's urging

day 7 word count: 1,065

week 1 word count: 4,680 -- not bad! more than i expected a week ago!

worked on: 4kingdoms chapter 80 (seiryuu-ou XXVII)

“What’s what?” I tried asking but got ignored. For once I was glad how swiftly Ralf appeared by my side; he was tall enough to not only see above the crowd’s heads but also elbow his way through easily. “I think they are after him,” he said to me. “Who?” “A group of some strange people I’ve never seen before.” “I mean, who are they after?!” “Your friend. The Saien boy.” “Wha…?!” I grabbed the padded shoulder of Ralf’s biker shirt. “Lift me up! I gotta see!” “I’m really not sure if that’s—” “I’m gonna climb! Get down for me!” So I jumped on Ralf’s back and forced him to pick me up on a piggyback hold.

takao and ralf are a fucking hilarious duo. i'm fond of all my king&knight pairs to the point i think it should be canon tbh

(also i'm not sure if "on a piggyback hold" is a series of words you can put together in english but eh language exists for me to destroy it. but english speakers can suggest something else if you are reading this)

[misiwrites]

i have an update! can i get an amen, this silly chapter took me so long to edit. takao's moods are going places. it's probably still not perfect but i just wanted to get this done with

Chapter 80: Seiryuu-ou XXVII While attending whatever regal duties I happened to be scheduled for, it wasn’t unusual to come across mansion officers dropping by the royal capital for their own businesses, and over the past week I’d chanced upon the guy who’d recently inherited the title of the Count of Nakagoboshi from his father. We ended up dining together, talking a bunch, and had an unexpectedly good time; the following day he took me for a ride in his new sports car and we cruised along the coastline and back down the Hirachi Highway. Driving around like this, all wild and free and for the sake of cruising, was a totally new experience to me. It was the best day in a long while.