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jokerfan99 · 4 years ago

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My Top 10 Favorite Anime Villains (Updated) by DarkChild316

In a different time and a different world, I did a list of “My 10 Favorite Anime Villains”. I am older now, and hopefully much wiser and now thanks to the global pandemic and my new subscriptions to Hulu and Funimation I’ve had the opportunity to go back and revisit so many classic anime that I feel like I should re-do it. Plus I’ve gone back and looked at my previous list and shook my head thinking to myself: “My God man, what in the f**k were you thinking with some of these choices!” So, I’ve gone back and redone the list, now this list is strictly for the men only. If you want to see a list dedicated to my favorite female villains, check out my list of “My Top 10 Favorite Anime Villainesses.” But for this list, here is my updated list of My Top 10 Favorite Anime Villains:

#10. Shishiho Makoto (Rurouni Kenshin): Growing up as a kid, Ruroni Kenshin was one of the first anime I had ever watched, and this guy was someone who I hated with a passion. Looking back at it years later, I realize now what an amazing villain and foil to Kenshin that Makoto was. Unlike a lot of villains on this list, Makoto wasn’t just evil for the sake of being evil, Makoto’s evil came from the worst type of trauma: betrayal! In this case the betrayal came from Makoto’s own government, where Makoto survived not only multiple gunshots, but being doused in oil and burned alive, leaving him in complete and utter agony. What puts Shishio on my list is what he manages to do after surviving death. He compiles an army of the best fighters Japan has to offer and plots to overthrow the entire Meiji Government. While in complete agony. Who else can claim that? Did I also mention he’s topping the list of the best fighters in the show? His swordsmanship is second only to Kenshin himself as he proves in their absolutely epic fight.

#9. Hisoka Morrow (Hunter x Hunter): Hunter x Hunter is a show with several great villains that truly stand out, and while Meruem was memorable, pardon me for believing that Hisoka was the standout villain from that show. A devious killer and master Nen user, Hisoka is driven by little more than his desire to find and kill strong opponents. Be they young children or master criminals, he’ll pursue them to the ends of the Earth with a bloodlust on par with that of a wild predator. Likewise, he doesn’t care what happens to himself or others in this pursuit. Mass civilian casualties, the loss of his own villainous allies or even the loss of his own limbs barely phases him, so long as he gets to fight with someone that tests his limits. As a result, he more often than not embodies chaos incarnate, wreaking havoc in his pursuit of battle and leaving a mountain of corpses behind him. Needless to say, this puts him at odds with the series’ protagonists at regular intervals. Not only do Gon and his friends fit the bill for what he seeks, but they often take on enemies that prove to be exactly what Hisoka is looking for. And yet, this also serves to make him all the more interesting. Where other villains might strike out at the protagonists and heroes immediately, Hisoka schemes, allies himself with and double-crosses people regularly, always finding the best angle to work in order to reach his goals. He may not be a world-ending anime villain on the level of a Meruem with seismic ambitions, but he’s undeniably the most interesting and brilliant villain in Hunter x Hunter to see at work.

#8. Izaya Orihara (Durarara!!): If you think of a list of top anime villains and this guy isn’t one of the first people who comes to mind, please raise your hands so I can have a few words with you in private with no cameras or eyewitnesses. The crazy thing about Izaya is that he doesn’t even realize he’s evil, and that’s what makes him great. He loves humanity; from the depths of his bones he loves us all. This is why he makes it onto my list; he does progressively more cruel acts against humans, putting people in situations that generally lead to their deaths. He is also a master of parkour and highly skilled with a switchblade in his hand (as evident in the above picture), which he generally only uses in dire situations or fights against Shizuo. In short, I absoulutely love this guy. I thoroughly enjoyed the way he manages to manipulate an entire populous, and that’s why he’s more than earned a spot on my list.

#7. Dio Brando (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure): You might have thought it was someone else, but it was me, Dio! All meme-worthy jokes aside, Dio Brando is unquestionably one of the most iconic anime villains of all time and, thanks to his series’ late-blooming popularity outside of Japan thanks largely to the 2012 anime adaptation, one that still feels modern in our minds. Dio is a tenacious bastard that takes advantage of the generosity of the Joestar family to further his own power, being intolerably dickish to Jonathan by constantly tearing him down, trying to make him look bad in front of his dad, spreading rumors to sully his reputation, and sabotaging his relationships. This escalates into killing his dog (his f***ikg dog of all things!), poisoning and later stabbing his adoptive father (I mean WTF!), and becoming a freakin vampire. Even after decapitation, Dio gets his revenge and sets in motion many of the events of the series, making a formal return in Stardust Crusaders as the main villain once again. With raw ambition taken to the extreme, iconic lines, poses, and outfits, incredible abilities from Aztec mask-induced vampirism and the time-stopping power of The World, Dio’s menacing presence towers over his series and over anime as a whole, which makes him MORE than deserving of a spot on my list.

#6. Light Yagami (Death Note): Yes, he’s a VILLAIN, get over yourselves Light Yagami fanboys! Anyway, there are a number of different adjectives and superlatives that could be used to described the lead character of Death Note: Diabolical, calculating, and determined to make the world in his own image all describe Light who was easily the most clever man in Death Note, as evidenced by the layers upon layers that composed his elaborate plans. Light started out as a good kid, doing well in school and heading to a bright career in police work like his father. But when he gets possession of the death note, he begins a remarkable descent into a disturbing mastermind who becomes judge, jury, and executioner for the entire world. But what truly makes Light's character stand out remains complicated throughout the story. His ultimate goal is to make the world a happier, safer place; a noble but perhaps misguided goal. His idealism and nobility still shine through when he doesn’t have the Death Note. When he temporarily relinquishes ownership of the death note to throw L off his trail, Light loses all memory of the death note and he reverts to his normal personality. His sense of morality returns and he shows more compassion for those around him. He even refuses to use Misa Amane to get information out of her when L asks him to. These qualities help to create a complex character who ends up being a detestable villain, yet you still kind of root for him to come out of this story as a winner. Light’s progression through the series is marked by his sheer brilliance. He's got a calculated and strategic mind that would make the great philosopher Machiavelli jealous, and the power of the death note adds a callousness that makes him free to use people in whatever way necessary to accomplish his goals. It’s highly entertaining to see his intricate plans play out. But Light’s messiah-like ego is just as big as his brain, and that arrogance ultimately leads to his tragic downfall.

#5. The Major (Hellsing): An evil Nazi Scientist, I know everyone is just rolling their eyes right now thinking I’m reaching for the low-hanging fruit for this one, but just hear me out here. While he may seem like an obvious pick for a list like this, The Major’s goals, however, are somehow far more unhinged than what may first appear. Despite being an impassioned orator and uncompromising strategist willing to sacrifice countless soldiers, the Major himself had no especial loyalty or passion for the cause of Millennium. His sole obsession is to plunge the world into an unending conflict to the point of endangering not only the lives of others but also his own. The Major’s leadership of Millennium, his decades espousing the genocidal ideology of fascists, and subsequent war against the Hellsing organization, the Vatican, and the entire world serve only as a pretext to satiate his insatiable bloodlust. The Major is one of anime’s most insidious villains, a charismatic, nihilistic sociopath driven purely by his sadomasochistic death wish.

#4. Shou Tucker (Fullmetal Alchemist): Now, you may be recalling that in my previous version of this list, I had Envy listed as my choice as my favorite villain from this show. Well after careful reconsideration, I’ve had to reevaluate my decision and give that spot to this creep, because while Envy’s actions were despicable to a point, they PALE in comparison to this guy! He only really appears in one episode if I remember correctly, yet in that one single episode, he made more of an impact then most villains make in a lifetime, which really says a lot about this guy’s character. What was it that made him so memorable you ask? Well, it could have something to do with the fact that this man transmutaed his own dog and daughter to create a talking chimera, which hadn’t been done before, and for what other reason…all in the name of recognition in the world of alchemy! That mere fact alone made this guy the most hated man in all of anime, the fact that he sacrificed his own family for the sake of fame, with absolutely no hint of remorse, made this guy the definition of an absolute living piece of shit and the only thing worse is how the episode ended, but I won’t spoil that one for you if you haven’t seen it.

#3. Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion) Up next is a man competing with the likes of Medusa Gorgon for the title of “Anime’s Worst Parent”, Gendo Ikari, please step up to the front of the congregation. Now Gendo is a man who’s list of atrocities throughout Evangelion is far too many to name, but I’m going to try my best to list them here: You have being actively complicit in the premature instigation of a biblical apocalypse, resulting in a near extinction-level event that caused the death of nearly two-thirds of the human population. Emotionally neglecting his own son Shinji estranging himself from him for over twelve years, only to offer him up as a sacrificial pawn in his bid to artificially bootstrap humanity’s ascent into evolutionary godhood so that he could be reunited with his dead wife. Cloning said wife’s DNA into a harem of emotionally dependent albino ingenues who share a dogged infatuation for their creator. And that’s not even mentioning the horrific emotional abuse and mental manipulation he inflicts on Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and her mother Naoko. All-in-all Gendo is proof positive that love not only has the capacity to overcome any obstacle, but sometimes it can truly make monsters out of us all.

#2. Griffith (Berserk): Griffith did nothing wrong; at least, not by his own drives and ambitions. A peasant who grew to become the leader of his own mercenary band, Griffith was a self-driven man who pursued his desires with unparalleled efficiency. No matter the situation or obstacle, he found a way to overcome them, whether that meant facing down an army of thousands or assassinating a country’s leaders. All the while, he amassed a legion of friends and followers who would follow him to hell and back, caring for him as much or more than he cared for them. As a result, they were dragged down with him when his ambitions saw him imprisoned, tortured and maimed. They cared little though, risking life and limb to save him and help him salvage a life with what he had left. That wasn’t enough for Griffith though. When given the option to become a demon and continue the pursuit of his dreams, he whole-heartedly accepted it; even though it came at the cost of sacrificing the lives of each and every one of his friends and allies. But that wasn’t the worst of it, to further spite the early desertion of Guts, Griffith proceeds to rape Casca, Guts’ love interest, in front of him as Guts is held down by demons. So yes, Griffith did nothing wrong by himself. By everyone else though, he did them the worst of injustices, and continues to do so with each breath he takes, all of which makes him a compelling and infuriating villain.

#1. Johan Liebert (Monster): I’ve covered a wide variety of monsters (pun fully intended) on this list, but THIS monster (again, pun FULLY intended) truly takes the cake when it comes to anime villains. A serial killer who would fit in well in any blockbuster film, Monster told the story of a man who had truly become monstrous; a charismatic, intelligent sociopath with no other goal than to kill everyone else in the world. Johan didn't just kill people, he made other people into monsters just like him. This skill of his corruption is first displayed in his youth, when he used stories to convince the other boys in his orphanage to kill all the staff, and each other. Johan is often compared to Light Yagami of Death Note, but the two couldn’t be any more different. Light's fatal (and genius) flaw is his own ego, which leads him to put his own life above all else, even his goal of changing the world. But Johan has never been afraid of death. Quite the opposite, he welcomes and embraces it, being more than willing to put his own life at risk, and one of his signature traits is how he challenges people to shoot him. Another of Jonah’s signature traits is his skills as a masterful manipulator. Where Light and other on this list had to resort to supernatural means to get what they wanted, Johan just used his own wits and knowledge of human nature. He's easily the most frightening villain on this list because he’s the truest to life villain on this list and he exposes the base human nature of his victims and of human society. Monster's remarkable story was almost entirely due to Johan alone, and it’s why he’s #1 on my list.

So that's my updated list, what did you guys think about it? Love it, hated it? Go on and tell me what you think and let me know who your favorite anime villains are. See you soon!!!

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1phoenixfeather · 4 years ago

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Family #6

Last day of February guys, I hope you enjoyed these continuations and if there is anything. Any continuation or any idea you want me to write in the future. Message me or if you something else to say as well, it’s fine too.

#1, #2, #3, #4 & #5

In one of the hallways, Hero 2 stopped and covered up a part of the wall. Vigilante swallowed hard when a thick piece of the wall opened up. “What is this?”

Vigilante didn’t even get the time to think properly until they were pushed into the room, “the only way to keep a secret around here. Don’t worry as soon as you are secured in here no one can hear you.”

Vigilante sprawled up to their feet desperately tried to get out. “Don’t… I’ll… I warn you…” Without a word, there was a new agonizing grip forcing them into the room, short chains hanged from an empty wall. They couldn’t be stuck in here, how would Villain find them?

“What did you think of doing? Cry?” Hero 3 commented and the others laughed, Vigilante opened their mouth to say something. But couldn’t find the strength to beg, “get your shit together, Vigilante.”

Vigilante trashed against them, whatever happened those cuffs couldn’t keep them here. Not while hope was there for Villain to come. Their hands being forced behind their back, head pulled forward.

Clap.

One of their hands was locked to the wall, one of them went to a computer. Vigilante disrupted their fighting to see what they were up to. Screens lit up…

Clap.

Vigilante suddenly was reminded of the situation, but they were already locked by their wrists behind them. Hero 2 took a proper grip on their hair, pulling them back and reveal their neck. On the screens, they could see most of the hallways.

Clap.

Vigilante slumped forward the collar and they felt sick. Terror clung to them, “don’t leave me here alone…” Hero 2 crouched down to them where they sat on the floor, Vigilante couldn’t bear the thought of being alone in here.

“Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll be back in a few minutes again, can’t be nice to be alone huh…” Hero 2 stroke their hair and they all left. The door closed and the very bright room felt like a prison, the screens with the security cameras… They could see activity, Hero getting out of a room.

Vigilante felt tears fall, they screamed and thrashed at the chains. The collar hurt their neck and they shook violently through their entire body. “Find me Villain… Please…” Christmas had been unbearable, but at that point, they hadn’t had a family and they already were home… Now they missed a piece of their heart. “Please, please… Please, I just want to go home…”

If they got to prison… The thought got stuck in their head, Villain couldn’t come to visit… None of them could, they would be alone. A sob broke free from their throat. Keeping an eye on the screens makes sure to not miss any detail, if they would be here they could at least be alert.

By the time Hero 2 opened the door again, Vigilante sat leaned to the wall. With eyes fixated on the screens. “You’re not gonna beg?”

“I don’t see how that would help.” Vigilantes gaze switch from the screens to food and water put on the floor close to them. “How…?”

Hero 2 put a bottle of water on the desk, made sure the door was closed. “Be happy I don’t muzzle you.” Vigilante shrugged, that would be cruel. Almost like something Villain would do. But they couldn’t shake the feeling of being treated like a dog. “I wonder how long it will take for Villain to act.”

Vigilante decided to ignore the food and water, even if they were thirsty and slightly hungry. But they wouldn’t give Hero 2 the joy to see them bend. “They won’t be merciful when they find you here.”

“I wonder how long it takes for you to start scream.” A grin spread over Hero 2’s face, they didn’t know but it hadn’t taken long. On the other hand, it hadn’t taken that much to calm down either.

Vigilante looked past them, seeing the screens. The silence sunk in like a thick fog, it wouldn’t go away that easy. Not even a really nice conversation would take it away, not with so much between them.

It was a calm day, people came and went. Hero looked slightly lost and tense, didn’t really care to take a look at them either. Hero 3 walked through the hallway and went into a room. Hero 4 hadn’t been seen for a while. It was a pain to see how long time went on the screens. It was like it told them to give up, that Villain wouldn’t come…

Hours passed, Hero 3 came at some point. Chatted with Hero 2 a little and disturbed Vigilante, but mainly to get food here. Food… Their stomach hurt and throat burned, yet they didn’t want the humiliation of drinking and eat would give them. “Fuck…” They whispered after so long without talking.

Hero 2 looked up from their phone, “what?”

“Nothing” Vigilante dismissed them clenching their fists, tensed their jaw to not make a sound.

“You gotta be hungry, no sign from Villain either. Looks like you’ll stay here a while longer.” Hero 2 smirked and for the first time since the food had put on the ground… It wasn’t much, just two sandwiches. The water probably wasn’t cold, come to think about it Hero 2 had burned through two bottles of water by now. “You’re so stubborn.”

“You’re a psychopath.” Vigilante murmured to their knees where they rested their head for a minute.

Hero 2 laughed and got to their feet. “You’re a coward” they answered and forced them up by their hair. “Became a Villain as soon as life got hard.” Vigilante grunted and the collar pressed to their throat, making them coughing lightly.

“What the hell do you know about my life…” They snarled weakly, “you’re so self-absorbed and so fast to judge… Meanwhile, you hide behind adoring fans a whole city loves you and…” The words stalked in their throat and they knew they had lost. Yet they couldn’t help but tell their own side…

“True…” Hero 2 let Viglantes head drop back, bitting their lip. “Let’s clear the air. My father abused me as a child, sometimes I can’t stress enough about how long it took for people to take me from there. I found a family, I loved them… My father killed them in a fire and they died in the very same fire. Speaking of fans, they help me look past it.” Vigilante dropped their head, resting their forehead to their knee. Of course, their life had been rough too.

“You realize you keep me from my family right now, right?”

“You really think Villain cares?” Hero 2 asked sarcastically, yet there was something Vigilante never seen in them before. Hope of some sort. Looking up at the screens again made their heart leap through their chest, Villain was here.

“I do.” Vigilante whispered and could see Villain stay somewhere and… They weren’t anywhere obvious in this base, not even Vigilante had known about this hidden room. How would Villain find them here? “Don’t keep me from the ones I care about.”

Vigilante just needed to keep them from seeing Villain here. Just long enough for them too… Figure out where they were hidden. “I wouldn’t, but if you’re a danger to the city.”

Vigilante pressed forward, staring frenetic at them. “I wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly… I have fought for this city for so long, I have dreaming nightmares about this moment. Hero 2, please…”

Hero 2 rised an eyebrow, “suddenly so talkative…” They turned around to see what was happening, “I see what you’re doing. I’ll play your game, what about last night? You throw Hero into a shelf.”

“You aren’t a fly, all of you is a force of nature to take on.” Vigilante spoke so loud their burning throat allowed, not that it would help. But just in… “I know how strong Hero is and that you could get to Villain if I didn’t do anything about it.”

Hero 2 nodded and returned to the desk. “So noble of you to sacrifice yourself for a villain.” Vigilante wanted to say friend, just to be clear they had changed. But didn’t… A mic becomes visible at the desk. “Villain… Looking for Vigilante?”

The group of intruders stopped in the middle of a hallway, looking in different directions.

Vigilante observed Hero 2 pushing down a bottom to the mic. Seeing them taking a deep breath and Vigilante howled forward as much as they could. “We’re in a hidden room, Villain! Find me… Take me home.” Vigilante’s scream made their throat hurt and their voice broke. “Please take me home…” A broken sob escaped them, now it was up to Villain to find them, however much they had heard.

“Happy now?!” Hero 2 growled annoyed and glared at them. They coughed and nodded, “I doubt you got so much more in you, not after this little charade. But just in case you find your strength.” Vigilante’s eyes got stuck on a muzzle, the only thing they could do was shut their mouth and shove themselves further back. But with their hands so tightly chained behind their back, they couldn’t do much about Hero 2 who closed their airways.

Vigilante tried to force down air… Their brain slowly stopped working and their only thought was to get air. If they held on a little longer Hero 2 would let go, they wouldn’t kill… Right?

Tears fell from Vigilante’s eyes as they were about to enter the darkness. Without a thought, they took a deep breath. Giving Hero 2 the opportunity to shove the muzzle between their teeth. Roughly holding their head down to secure it.

With a smirk Hero 2 took the bowl of water to throw it over Vigilante and the food was put on the desk in front of the screens. All to tease Vigilante, “where are they going now?”

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goldandlights · 5 years ago

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of cherries and dandelions

aka lil virgin!Jas biting off more than he can chew when he propositions Geralt shortly after Posada :(

rating: explicit pairing: geraskier (pre-relationship? it could be read as casual sex) tags: top!Geralt, bottom!Jaskier, first time, sex toys, communication failure, angst and fluff

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It’s summer in Lyria, a mild and pleasant evening, when Jaskier leans over to Geralt and croons some saucy verse about fucking in his ear. There are no other patrons to entertain in the tavern and the young bard honestly expects nothing but the usual glaring and growling from his sourly companion. Even 2 months into their shared travels, the Witcher seems to barely tolerate his presence. Pity... but hey, Jaskier is working on it.

Geralt is as fine a specimen as he has ever seen; tall, broad and strong , with thick arms and even thicker thighs that make the bardling’s mouth water when he imagines sinking down between them. (And the hair! The eyes! -oh, his eyes… )

Between the power to crush the bones in a human’s body, reflexes so fast he can cut an arrow out of the air and senses so acute they can pick up on a mouse rustling through the underbrush half a mile away, the white-haired Witcher was undoubtedly created to be a finely-tuned killing-machine. But Jaskier can find no trace of fear within himself.

In their time together, Geralt has shown himself to be noble and quietly compassionate above all else, avoiding confrontation and violence to the point where he’d rather leave an inn, meal unfinished and bed paid-for but unused, than defend himself against those who hurl abuse (and sometimes sharp objects) at him.

It’s just not fair and so Jaskier has sworn to do anything in his power to improve the situation.

It also makes the sizzling attraction all the worse.

Not only is Geralt stupidly hot, but he’s also kind and oddly charming and it messes with the poor bard quite terribly. He can’t stop sending winks and overt, suggestive glances Geralt’s way. Can’t stop spewing flirtatious remarks and innuendo. The young man has yet to learn how to be anything other than obvious about his desire but he does already know that confidence is the name of the game.

Still, Geralt is Geralt. Tough and experienced and probably entirely straight .

So even if the mental image of all that juicy bulk pressing him down into the sheets makes Jaskier’s prick twitch and leak, he does not expect his actions to incite a response in the other man at all.

That’s his first misjudgement.

Because when faced with the 5th overt come-on in as many hours, for the 6th week in a row, Geralt huffs, rolls his eyes and- stands up?

“Come on, then,” He says gruffly, already turning towards the stairs and Jaskier’s brain grinds to a sudden, jarring halt.

Wait, what.

He stands frozen, gaping unattractively until Geralt notices his hesitation and turns around with a raised eyebrow.

“Or are you all bark and no bite after all?”

Well.

Barely 18 and still rather fresh out of Oxenfurt, Jaskier has been with a whole lot of three women and sucked cock exactly once . -under the watchful eyes of those that still knew him as Julian there hadn’t been many opportunities to experiment.

Still, the bard had his fingers, fantasies and a lovely little toy pulled from a heap of bits and bobs at a novelty shop in Vizima.

It was maybe 6 inches long with a conveniently flared base and a lovely bulge on the upper half. Add just a bit of oil and it slides in easily, the comfortable stretch setting every nerve alight. Jaskier enjoys having it in, even when he’s not hard or trying to get off, and plays with it whenever he can. It’s just so nice to be full, to clench around it, to dream of his body giving a lover pleasure this way.

Is this the opportunity he’d been waiting for? Possibly. If it is though, it’s fast slipping through his fingers. With a grunt as if to say I knew it , Geralt turns and continues his way up the stairs. Shit.

Gathering all his courage, Jaskier shakes himself out of his stupor and stumbles forwards.

When the door to their room falls shut behind him, the bard is already fully hard, blushing furiously at his own over-eagerness when Geralt takes one look at the tent in his breeches and raises a perfectly shaped brow.

Jaskier knows he mustn’t let the nervous energy twisting in his gut bubble over. The Witcher can smell emotion, at least basic ones like joy or fear, and he’ll notice any uncertainty the bard projects. How would he react? Surely Geralt has no use for an inexperienced bed-partner.

Really, Jaskier feels quite out of his depth. In their tiny room, the burly Witcher is doubly imposing and the bard has no frame of reference for how such things between men are carried out. Deciding it’s best not to lose momentum, he puts his lute down against the wall and steps up to where Geralt is standing next to the bed.

Confidence, Jaskier.

He pushes right into the man’s space and kisses him, forcefully, hands going up to grab at the broad chest he’s been staring at lustily for weeks. Immediately, Geralt is kissing back, huge hands settling on Jaskier’s waist.

Biting and sucking on soft, plush lips, he forces Jaskier back a step, then another, curbing any attempt to crowd the Witcher towards the mattress. The young man, however, is too distracted to worry about the shifting power balance. He has two handfuls of Geralt’s thick, bulging pecs to bind his attention and, oh, they’re tensing deliciously as a growl rumbles from the Witcher’s throat.

“I’m not one of your milk-maids, Jas,” he bites out and the bard finds himself picked up and damn near thrown onto the bed as though he weighs nothing at all.

After two months of yearning and awkward boners, the youthful bardling finally gets his wish of being buried alive under 200 pounds of excitable Witcher, keening and whining as he’s absolutely ravished . Either Geralt also has some sexual frustration to burn through or he’s always that intense -at least it leaves no room for nervousness.

Within minutes, Jaskier’s doublet and undershirt have been shoved off and the Witcher’s face is buried in the hair on his chest, breathing him in, sword-calloused fingers pulling and pinching at the bard’s nipples. Pain transforms into tingling pleasure and Jaskier barely contains a cry.

He had never thought to play with his chest this way; a most grievous oversight. When Geralt’s mouth latches onto one of the stiff little nubs, licking and sucking, eager little mewls start spilling from Jaskier’s mouth. Sweet Melitele . If anything, he seems to be the milk-maid in this scenario.

There’s nothing soft about the body atop of him, nothing that gives to the frenzied clutch of his hands. Geralt has divested himself of his shirt as well and Jaskier runs his hands mindlessly over the skin he can reach, drinking in the unfamiliar sensations of coarse hair and scarring under his fingertips.

The urge to spread his legs like a 3 ducat whore is a bit embarrassing but undeniable. And it’s really not fair when life rewards his shamelessness with a Witcher’s hard belly pushing down onto his prick. Jaskier nearly spills then and there from the friction. He’s so fucking hard and they haven’t even done anything yet.

If Geralt notices the wet spot at the front of his trousers, he doesn’t say anything -which is a rather small mercy overall, considering the thoughtful look the older man levels at Jaskier when he draws back, sitting up between wantonly splayed thighs to examine the young body underneath him.

“Sensitive, are you?” Geralt murmurs, drawing his calloused palms down the length of Jaskier’s quivering body.

They’re warm, so warm as they run along his vulnerable belly and sides. A gentle, soothing pressure which brings momentary respite from the urgent throbbing between Jaskier’s legs. Goosebumps prickle over his skin.

Jaskier moans breathlessly, arching his back as Geralt rubs his thumb over the soft little bump below his navel. It is answer enough.

To distract and discourage further questioning, Jaskier catches one of the Witcher’s thick wrists in one hand and makes grabby motions with the other. Even when not pitted against a Witcher’s heightened senses, Jaskier is a terrible liar. He worries if Geralt starts asking questions, the truth about his previous experience -or lack thereof- will slip out.

He’s in luck though; Geralt looks surprised but simply obliges the wordless demand.

Happily buried under a mountain of Witcher again, Jaskier seeks out his slightly chapped lips for another lovely kiss. It’s addictive. Their mouths meet languidly, and he relishes in the opportunity to card his fingers through the other man’s beautiful white hair.

Geralt, surprisingly, does not protest and does not, for the moment, make any motions towards getting on with the programme. He actually seems quite happy to stay in that position for a bit, simply enjoying the warmth and closeness of their bodies as Jaskier works to calm his racing heart.

--------

“I want to see you suck my cock.”

Spoken softly into the unexpectedly peaceful silence, Geralt’s murmur is carefully undemanding. His hungrily roaming hands, however, give away the desire hidden underneath. Nodding to the unspoken request, Jaskier lets go of the Witcher’s soft tresses to watch him undress.

That’s when Jaskier realises his second misjudgement of the night.

He knows himself to be quite average in length and girth. With his little glass toy being similarly sized, Jaskier had thus felt quite safe in the belief that, whatever his first proper male conquest was packing, he’d be able to handle it just fine.

Except that nothing about Geralt was ever average. Not his appearance, not his strength and not, apparently, his fucking dick.

>>>>> read the rest on ao3

#geraskier #geralt x jaskier #the witcher #i'm ON my bullshit #this is 7k total #the 2nd chap will be up on thursday #ayyy #my writing #NOW BACK TO THE OMEGA!GERALT SMUT

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one-leaf-grimoire · 4 years ago

Text

“triad”

Chapter 15: the end of summer

Finally getting into the meat of the manga spade arc! Enjoy!

AO3 link

Days grew shorter. Shadows grew longer. So long that they seeped over the border and into the once-peaceful Clover Kingdom.

Many didn’t know it as they went about their lives, farming and working and sweating like usual. Only a few actually understood the threat that was growing, the threat they desperately wanted to overcome. But to overcome, you must be prepared to fight for your life.

Months and months of work were finally coming to a close. But would the Clover Kingdom be ready to face the spade Kingdom?

But also… would the Spade Kingdom be prepared as well?

“You’ve been sitting in that seat for months. Don’t tell me you haven’t figured anything out, yet?”

The man with shaggy white hair and large, reflective glasses nearly jumped out of his seat at the sound of the deep, rough voice behind him. He turned around, now backlit by the magical screen his eyes had been locked on. It played a clip over and over again, ripped directly from a Clover Kingdom broadcast that they managed to intercept.

“That’s not true, Lord Dante. I’ve moved.”

Dante let out a chuckle, his serious expression dissolving. The man was in a good mood, and why wouldn’t he be? The end of these agonizing six months was near, and it was almost time to make their move. Finally, he would be able to enact his plan, and get to fight some interesting people along the way.

“Not that I can tell. Every time I come in here, you’re staring at that screen, Morris. In the exact same position, too, I might add.”

Morris felt a little irked by the comment, but he couldn’t do much about it. Dante and his siblings, the Dark Triad, were the reason why he was allowed to flee the Diamond Kingdom after Mars took over. Well, that wasn’t going to end well for Mars, as Zenon himself dispatched most of the enemy country’s troops. It was a small comfort, but overall the situation wasn’t too bad. Morris got to do what he did best, and be part of something catastrophic.

“Whatever. And no, I haven’t.” Morris sighed before turning back to look at the screen. The clip looped again, and again, and again. Just two or three seconds of footage, a critical moment that defied all explanation. “All I know is that this new power is something she calls true time magic.”

“Ah, groundbreaking.” Dante narrowed his eyes at the display. “Is this something she inherited?”

“No… I don’t think so.” Morris weaved his fingers together as he watched, barely aware that Dante was there still. “It’s true- because of her Dyad magic, she was able to steal part of Julius Novachrono’s magic. But Simulcian Dyads don’t just borrow their partner’s magic. Over time, they make it their own. So, effectively, she’s come up with new time spells that even Novachrono did not.”

Dante nodded slowly, faint recognition registering in the back of his mind. Well, not his mind.

The power to steal part of someone’s soul… their essence, their magic… and make it their own. How terrifyingly powerful.

“You sure seem to know a lot about it, Morris.”

“I told you before- The Diamond Kingdom harbored a group of Simulcian refugees for over a century,” Morris reminded him. “They offered to share their Dyad with our army in exchange for a safe, private place to stay.” Morris let out a wistful sigh. “I was the only one who visited… I even talked to their leader, Mikal. He was interesting… He showed me the research he was doing on his own family. Quite diabolical.” Morris’s smile dropped. “But then all of them disappeared… I thought I’d never find out what happened, but then, 6 years later, the Clover Kingdom attacked us with a Dyad of their own. One containing the Wizard King of all people.”

And now, the other half of that Dyad was Wizard King as well, the Wizard King they would have to face in only a matter of days.

Or maybe not.

The woman’s movements were instantaneous. There was no delay, no movement, between where she began and where she ended. But in that moment, all 8 of her opponents were down.

“She hasn’t made any public appearances lately. She’s been keeping to herself… it’s too bad, I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight her.” Dante finally spoke, his own little brain trying to figure out her trick. “According to the intel our spies provided, she should be over 6 months pregnant.”

“Or dead.” Morris shook his head. “Mikal explained it to me- When you form a Dyad, you cease to exist as an individual. You share the essence of your soul, your EGO, with the other. When Julius Novachrono died, he broke her Ego. So…”

Dante’s eyes widened a little when he realized what Morris was about to say. Morris just let his voice trail off, because there was no reason to voice the inevitable.

She is wilting away. LIke a flower who has forgotten what the sun looked like.

“It’s a shame. She was getting so powerful.” Dante shook his head sadly, but couldn’t help but smile. “I really hoped I would get to fight her one day.”

Morris let out a chuckle. Dante, your mind dwells on the wrong things, sometimes. I don’t think you would want to fight her. “I suppose. I would have liked to research her powers… there might be something in there I can use. For now, I guess I can dream…”

Both men watched her form on the screen, again and again.

“And besides…”

“She’s very cute-” “She’s very cute-”

Dante and Morris both cut each other off. For the first time, Morris actually turned in his chair to face his superior, fear starting to register on his face. It wasn’t much, just a tinge, but it was more than Morris had felt in his entire life.

“Morris…” Dante’s smile was gone. “What did you just say?”

Morris gulped, feeling the hair on his arms standing on end. “...nothing. Nothing at all.”

After a few moments saturated with tension, Dante finally relaxed his frown into a grin. “That’s what I thought you said.” He reached down and slapped Morris on the shoulder, a little harder than could be considered friendly. Morris stiffened, watching as Dante turned to leave, his cloak flaring out dramatically.

“If I do get to fight the Wizard King… I will conquer her. Just like I conquer everything else.”

Dante’s eyes glimmered at the thought, the hope he held close to his heart.

“Meeting you… is going to be so much fun.~”

(a couple months later)

“All rise for her majesty, the 29th Wizard King!”

This is the same room where I was married, and where I was later crowned. But now, I feel none of the nervousness of that previous visit. I’ve walked this aisle many times, my head held high, a crown glimmering upon my hair, and my robe flowing behind me.

I am the Wizard King, and this is my court. This is where I sit on my throne.

These past few months have been dense with work, more work than I’ve ever had in my time as advisor. After accepting my fate, I threw myself into this position more deeply than ever before. There’s a whole kingdom of people who need help, and another whole kingdom about to attack us. But little by little, I chipped through the work with the help of Marx and Adeline, slowly but surely repairing the damage and making sure those who were hurt were well cared for. But even now, there are problems, which is why I keep my doors open to whoever needs help.

“Y-Your majesty…”

A pair of men stand before me, their hands clasped together to keep them from shaking. They look like peasants, and there’s fear glistening in their eyes.

“We’re very sorry to bother you… our town was lucky enough to receive aid, after all. But-” He gulped, his eyes flickering up to my neutral face, leaned up against my propped up hand. “The magic knights in our town are wreaking havoc… they steal our food, slack off… and they even harass the women. If it isn’t too much-”

“Remove them?” I ask, sitting up a little straighter on my throne. “Tell me, what squad did I send to your town?”

“T-The Purple Orcas, ma’am-”

“Oh, I see.” Of course it’s them… I’m sure Kaiser would have a fit if he knew, I think, letting out a tired sigh. “Well, in that case, your wish is granted. I’ll send for the immediate removal of troops. Should I replace them?”

The two men looked at each other excitedly before turning back to me. “No! We’ve mostly recovered, thanks to you, those knights were just taking advantage of our recovery.” They both bowed in unison, grins still shining on their faces. “Thank you, your majesty!”

I smile down at them, motioning for them to rise again. “No problem! It’s my job to ensure that every citizen in this city is safe.”

As they leave, the crowd murmurs angrily. For whatever reason, many people usually come to watch as I listen to those who have requests, probably just to gossip and jeer at me. I do my best to be a good King, but there’s always going to be people who hold my status against me. They still see me as nothing more than a consort, someone who used Julius for power. It couldn’t be further from the truth; there’s nothing I want more than for Julius to be sitting on this throne today.

“I can’t believe it! Who gave you the power to redistribute my funds in the treasury?”

Now a wealthy, noble merchant stands before me, with much less benevolence than the peasants. His face is red with anger, like a tomato about to split open with juice. “I put those riches in there to gain interest! I was supposed to get richer, not poorer!”

“Oh, you did get interest, though,” I tell him casually, smiling a bit to myself at how angry he is. “That’s all I took out of your funds, too. You know that the Kingdom has been suffering lately-”

“THE KINGDOM? My ass!” he cuts me off. “Sure, some towns out in the boonies got destroyed, but do I have to pay for their problems?!” He points at me accusingly. “That’s not right! You don’t have the right to do that!”

“Look-” I shake my head, letting out an exasperated sigh. The night sky outside signifies how long I’ve been here, hours at this point. I’m starting to get tired. “The interest I took was enough to feed a town of starving people. You’ll make it back soon. Can’t you be happy that you’re helping the greater good-”

“HELP?! Why do I have to suffer for them!” he yells again. “My life was perfect! Why should I care if-”

“SILENCE.” In an instant, I’m on my feet. The air around me suddenly crackles with mana, and I hold up my hand to let an orb of dangerously bright blue light gather there. The entire room vibrates, and the crowd cowers behind the man who dared to speak to me like that.

“Cut me off again… and I will cut you in half.”

I clench my fist, and the orb intensifies. The noble’s eyes are wide, and the strength in his knees finally gives out. He collapses, his head ducking down as his body wracks with tremors. “I-I’m sorry- please- have mercy-”

“Mercy?” I smile again, but my eyes are as empty as ever. “You would show no mercy to those below you either, right? So why should I care if you live or die?”

He doesn’t answer, just squeezes his eyes shut and accepts his fate.

Satisfied, I release my power, and the light disappears. With a sigh, I sit back down on the throne, crossing my legs once seated. I feel heavier than normal, and for good reason; My belly is swollen, life kicking around inside. It’s only been about 7 months, but with a clever magical strategy, I managed to accelerate the pregnancy by two months. So, any day now, I will be meeting Julius’s child.

“Don’t bother me with this nonsense again. Just be grateful that I’ve given your life more meaning than you’re capable of yourself. Goodbye.”

Finally, everyone leaves, still muttering about the display of power I decided to throw out.

“You really shouldn’t be so rash, they’re just going to hate you more.”

Adeline lectures me, as usual, as she holds my hand to help me up the stairs to our room. We moved into one of the empty rooms together. I don’t know why, but I didn’t feel like it was right to keep sleeping in the old bed. I still brought the robe with me, and it sits on a chair in the corner by the window. “One of these days, it’s going to come back to bite you.”

“Eh.” I shrug, not denying it. As things stand now, they’ll have to target another Wizard King soon. “I want to get through this Spade nonsense first before worrying about that.”

“Understandable.” Adeline leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Come on, you need to sleep.”

The two of us cuddle up under the blankets. I close my eyes and inhale her scent, a smile traced onto my lips. When we’re here, all alone, I almost forget about the world outside, and the fate within me.

However, the peace is short lived.

A scream rips through the early morning, jolting me from my trance. I sit up in a panic to see Adeline already awake, her eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets. A cold sweat coats her skin, and she’s shaking violently. “Adeline?! What’s wrong- hey-” I get cut off as she throws herself into my arms, bawling into my chest. I freeze up, not able to do much but stroke her hair awkwardly. I’m not the best at comforting people, since Julius was the one in charge of that back in the day. But slowly, Adeline starts to calm down, her sobs quieting. “So… a nightmare?”

“No… worse…” Adeline finally sits up, her eyes dilated with fear. “I… I got a flash.”

A flash….

Adeline’s Celestial Clairvoyance magic allows her to see flashes of the future, and sometimes those flashes come at random times, like when she’s asleep. I gulp nervously, my fingertips going cold. Usually these flashes help me in some way, but from the look in her eyes, I know this one is serious.

“What did you see?”

Adeline squeezes her eyes shut.

“Bones… bloodstained bones. Fire. Rotting flesh. And a tree… a huge tree being uprooted as an even larger one grows beneath it. And-” Her eyes pop open.

“A butterfly…”

My blood runs cold.

“Or maybe it was a moth…”

I take Adeline’s hand to distract her (and myself). “I see… I think I know what it means. Something we already knew.” I give her a strained smile. “War is coming… and soon.”

Slowly, Adeline nods. Somehow, I’ve managed to calm her down. “Right… right.” She glances over at the clock. “It’s early, but I’m going to get up. I don’t think I can sleep any longer.”

“Alright. I’ll do the same.”

Only fifteen minutes later, Marx comes bursting into the office, out of breath. “I have news from the Heart Kingdom- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!”

Adeline and I almost jump out of our skins at the sound of the voice. We freeze in our position. Of course he had to come running in as we decided to have a little make-out session, with me sitting up on the desk to reach her lips. My face heats up, and Adeline opens and closes her mouth trying to find an excuse. “Um… I was… feeling the baby?”

Marx lets out a rattling sigh before closing the door behind him. “Some things never change… anyway, the news from the Heart Kingdom-” He straightens up, looking worried. “They were attacked by a mobile fortress from the Spade Kingdom early this morning.”

“WHAT?!” My eyes widen and I hop off the desk immediately. “This morning!? What happened? Are we at war?”

“Not quite…” Marx sucks in a breath. “Our knights over there were able to stop them and even take over a border town. The situation deescalated so now we’re just waiting for the Spade Kingdom to retaliate.”

“Oh… oH!” I let myself relax. “That’s great news… hopefully this promises good things to come.”

“I hope so…” Marx looks at Adeline. “Come on, I have some work for you to do downstairs.”

“Awww, ok.” Adeline pouts before leaning in to give me a kiss. “See you later!”

“Yeah, of course!” I wave goodbye before sitting back down in my chair and pulling more paperwork towards me. The door shuts, and I am alone.

So… it’s going to end soon, right?

I reach down and rest my hand upon my belly.

I need to give birth to you before the war begins… so I can fight, and…

I close my eyes. Mana starts to course into my belly, time spinning around the baby gently. This is how I’ve sped up my pregnancy, bit by bit, not noticeable by anyone but myself. Any day now, I would be able to give birth.

And then, I smell blood. My eyes pop back open. I take my hand away from my stomach and reach up to wipe under my nose. Sure enough, a red streak comes with it.

Oh, fuck-

It hits me with as little warning as usual, the tidal wave of pain ripping through my head and through my soul. WIth a strangled cry, I spasm in my seat, my head thrown back against the head of the chair. The agony intensifies, this episode growing worse and worse with every moment. It happens infrequently, but over these last months it visits as a reminder of the fate ahead of me.

NO…. not yet…

I can feel what’s left of my soul desperately tugging itself away, desperately trying to die.

Just a little longer…

I clench my fist as lights pop at the corners of my vision.

I need… I need to die on the battlefield.

The lights get brighter, blinding me. A moth flutters towards me.

Not… YET…

------------

“Oh god… oh god please wake up…”

Adeline’s voice eventually coaxes me back to life. I blink my eyes open to see her, Marx, and Owen standing above me with scared looks on their faces. “W-What happened?”

“You had another spasm episode,” Adeline tells me softly. “How do you feel?”

A spike of panic shoots through me. “T-The baby-”

“It’s fine, perfectly healthy,” Owen assures me. “I’m more worried about you.”

I gulp nervously at the way they’re looking at me. I can tell that they know I’m hiding something.

“Sorry… I can’t control the seizures. I’ll try and warn you next time I feel it coming on.”

Owen sighs. “Right… well, I need to run and check up on the others. I’m sure they’re also traumatized…”

“Traumatized?” I repeat. Owen stiffens up, and so do Marx and Adeline. The tension has grown, but for what reason? “Wait, what’s going on? How long was I out?”

“Hours…” Adeline whispers. Owen exchanges a glance with Marx before leaving. “It’s evening now… and… well…”

“There’s been a development.” Marx finishes her sentence as she trails off. “Listen… while you were out… there were more attacks. One in the Heart Kingdom and two here.”

My eyes widen, but he doesn’t give me a chance to talk.

“There are three devil hosts in the Spade Kingdom… they call themselves the Dark Triad. And…”

Adeline hangs her head, unable to look me in the eye.

“They kidnapped Lolopechika… and…”

There’s static in my ears. His next words are fuzzy.

“They took Yami and William, too.”

A huge tree is uprooted as an even larger one grows beneath it.

A moth flits through its branches.

Fate has arrived.

Uh oh.... next time, chapter 16: the shadows. Yami and William are gone, and the apocalypse has arrived. What is one supposed to do when the inevitable stands ahead of you? We'll see what our poor Wizard King decides to do...

#black clover #fic #triad #oc: lisa #bc oc

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maotranslates · 4 years ago

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Chapter 6

Novel: Life Going Wild With Plug-ins 带挂装逼, 最为致命 by Shi Zi Qing 十字卿

PREVIOUS / TABLE OF CONTENTS / NEXT

Just as I was hesitating, I saw the drowsy-eyed doctors’ apprentices getting up to work. I wrung my hands and lamented: Jun Xuanheng ah, Jun Xuanheng, the common people are ordinary, yet are diligent and hardworking. You call yourself the god of creation, but you only think of sleeping, how can this be endured?

　　 I’m already not even as good as an ordinary person, and there is a fragile and poor little guard who needs to be fed. I absolutely can’t just do nothing like this anymore, it is important to find the method of turning on plug-ins as early as possible.

　　 I exchanged a few words with the hostess and asked her to take care of Ye Tan on my behalf. This youngster is really worrisome. I’ll go back to the inn to get the codebook*, and I should be back in time to eat lunch.

*codebook = book of plug-in codes from the first chapter, MC left it at the inn they were staying at

　　 As I was on the way, I thought of something. The boss at Nightrunner mentioned: Once a Shadow Guard recognizes a master, he is employed for life. But Ye Tan said last night that he had other masters before. I don't know what went wrong in the middle? Or is one of these two lying?

　　 It's a pity that I had too little information, and I had no clue no matter how much I thought about it. I saw the signboard of the inn from a distance, but also saw that the entrance was surrounded by numerous servants dressed in uniform, like the servants of some famous family.

　　 Everyone was gathered around the entrance, which was obstructing my way, so I could only push them aside one by one to get in. There were no other diners in the hall since earlier, only a sturdily dressed swordsman sat in the middle, slamming the sword hilt impatiently with an unfriendly expression. The shopkeeper next to him kept trying to soothe him with tea, and was profusely apologizing.

　　 I finally parted the crowd, stepped into the store, and went straight towards the stairs. After not even taking two steps, I felt that I had attracted all the eyes around me, as if piercing me from behind. I heard the swordsman snort out: "You’ve got some guts."

　　 The shopkeeper came back to his senses, pointing at me as he said: "He came back, it was this young master."

　　 "He is not Yue Changsheng." The swordsman spoke in an intimidating manner, and stood up. "Ridiculous, someone even dares to fool Zhong Liyuan."

　　 "How could this be?! When he stayed here the day before, the attendant personally wrote the pledge... How would anyone dare to pretend to be the guest of Master Zhong Liyuan..." The shopkeeper was losing his head out of fear and hurriedly trying to explain himself.

　　 I considered a few of these words, perhaps they were talking about me?

　　 Thus I glanced back.

　　 With just this glance, it was as if my facial features were a charm. Not only was the swordsman lost for a moment, there was even more commotion at the entrance.

　　 I know, they are intimidated by the special effects surrounding me.

　　 They definitely think that I am so beautiful as if glowing.

　　 Actually, I'm literally fucking glowing.

　　 "...Interesting. Although it's not Yue Changsheng, this will probably not disappoint the Noble Young Master."

　　 He turned around and stopped looking at me, and briefly ordered: "Take him away."

　　 The surrounding guards with knives responded in unison, and they carried me away in a well-trained manner. I was held above the heads of the crowd, and took the time to ask: "Where are you going? I have an appointment to go back for lunch, will I be back in time by noon?... Oh that’s not right, I came to get something... My book..."

　　 "Don't worry, you are indispensable." Without looking back, the swordsman got on his horse.

　　 The crowd of servants who were watching at the entrance of the store conscientiously cleared a path. They might have seen that I was sincere and not struggling, and allowed me to finally be put back on the ground. I couldn't really understand the situation and could only follow them, but after just taking a few steps, I saw Ye Tan break in.

　　 He had already changed into light-colored clothes, and his wounds seeming to have opened up again, with spots of blood seeping out that could be seen. When I saw him, I was simply so angry that I saw stars. How many times have I told him to nicely lie down and recuperate? Is it that hard?? Is it hard?!! Is it?!!!

　　 Ye Tan's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he was slightly trembling. I wanted to go support him, but was blocked. Only then did I start feeling a bit angry.

　　 The swordsman looked at him condescendingly, but also seemed a bit pleased: "Oh... it turns out to be you."

　　 "...Ze Que." Ye Tan closed his eyes, his expression painful.

　　 These two know each other? Then shouldn’t it be much easier to communicate now? And this swordsman also seems to look very happy...

"I've been waiting for this day for a long time." Ze Que jumped off his horse and steadily gripped the hilt of his sword, "Come on, let me see it, my Second Young Master Zhong Liyuan’s strongest trump card, the ten year Yaksha’s military prestige— —" He paused, then suddenly asked, "Where is your sword?"

　　 Ye Tan said: "It's broken."

　　 "It's broken? You actually said it’s broken?" Ze Que's trace of joy turned into a murderous aura flooding with rage in an instant, and he spoke bitterly, "Even your sword is broken, why don't you go and die——?"

　　...This nonsense!!! Mentioning the pot that doesn’t boil*!!!!

*Mention the pot that doesn’t boil = idiom, to touch a sore spot

I! With great difficulty! Painstakingly! Swindled and deceived! And only then could I comfort him!! You guys! Are seriously! Just making trouble!! I’m so pissed!

　　 "I still… can't die." Ye Tan's voice was very soft, "I still have to protect my master."

　　 I looked back at him, and just happened to catch his steady gaze. My heart was in high spirits: I have been persuading and talking sense into him for days, has it finally become effective?

　　 Ze Que approached him step by step and sneered: "Master? What a joke, the Second Young Master has already banished you. You’re just a stray dog, who would want to keep a piece of rubbish like you..."

　　 "Pah, you’re the one who’s rubbish. My Shadow Guard is quite fine." This Creator God couldn’t even bear to scold him, but you little noob dare be so arrogant.

　　 There was a sudden sound of wind, my vision went dark for a second and I was already pushed away. Ze Que's movement was too fast, I fell on the ground and rolled two laps before I felt the pain. Compared with the small cut from before, it was more severe by an innumerable amount of times, and I could only desperately hold back my tears. The physical body… is surely… full of suffering… wuwawuwa.

　　 Ye Tan anxiously guarded in front of me, but the truth was that he had no sword and lost all his martial arts, so he really couldn't put up much of a struggle.

　　 "So it’s like this… Your new master, is this rubbish?" Ze Que was amused by him, "Although he suits the current you very well."

　　 Ye Tan ignored him, carefully supporting me up, and wiped the sticky blood from around my mouth.

Ze Que finished laughing, his voice becoming sinister again: "Yaksha, you’re so ridiculous, yet you are also truly hateful... The Noble Young Master treated you with the courtesy of being the best warrior in the country, but you were conceited and forceful, and never looked towards him directly. And now, you can’t even return one move from me. What kind of person is the Second Young Master, that the one succeeding him as your master, is this kind of flower vase* rubbish..."

*flower vase = idiom, just a pretty face with no brains

　　 "Sigh sigh, I’m not your match, so I concede defeat. I’ll die an honorable death." After I mocked him, I conveniently laid down my neck. It was actually quite clear to me that I was about to be chopped, and this save file would be doomed. It’s all my fault for forgetting to write the method for turning on plug-ins in the manual. Hmph, wait until I load the file next time, I’ll change the value of my Shadow Guard to a hundred times higher than yours, and beat you while hanging you on an electric fan. I’ll turn it up to the max, the kind that revolves at lightning speed.

　　 I rolled my eyes and slandered him a while, but when I recovered my spirit and saw Ye Tan's eyes, my heart suddenly tightened.

"...I have let you down, Master. I… If I were still at my prime, I would never have let Master suffer this humiliation." He sighed in a low voice, and dejectedly said, "If only it was you that I met in the beginning... then it would be good..."

　　...Ah, that’s right. For him, this is goodbye forever.

　　 Next time, even if I load the file and start over again, will it still be this crumpled Shadow Guard…?

　　 I was suddenly a bit unwilling.

　　 I didn't know what kind of warm liquid dripped on my face, unaware if it was blood or tears. The last scene I saw was the Shadow Guard approaching me. He slowly closed his eyes, and then the vision before me went dark.

　　——My breathing and heartbeat stopped.

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travllingbunny · 5 years ago

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The 100 6x05 The Gospel of Josephine

While we’re still on the hiatus, waiting two weeks for the next episode, at least I have more time to finally put my thoughts on episode 6x05 in one place and post the belated review.

I appreciated this episode better on my second watch, because, the first time, I found it a bit hard to believe that no one besides Bellamy was suspicious of „Clarke“’s new, decidedly non-Clarke-like behavior, even though they all noticed at least some of it, and that they didn’t put two and two together after they had already found out about bodysnatching. However, putting it into perspective, it all happened over a very short period of time – and besides, it is such a huge thing to accept. Most people wouldn’t even want to believe it.

Still, while everyone seems to have caught the small blunders, like calling Murphy „John“, I do wonder if anyone except Bellamy was alerted by the fact that „Clarke“ was OK with bodysnatching and arguing that it’s OK because it doesn’t affect them. Could it be that their idea of her is a bit skewed? The funny thing is how much others (well, mostly Raven and Murphy) were bashing Clarke this season as the Worst Person Ever, and now her body is possessed by an actual villain, who is the polar opposite of Clarke: selfish, egotistical, immoral, arrogant, devoid of compassion and caring, allergic to children, and convinced that she is better than everyone and that she can just walk over the lesser, disposable people. There are even some people in the fandom who somehow imagine Clarke to be the Bad Guy, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, which is a really incredible misunderstanding of the story and characters. Well, if people wanted to see a real villain in Clarke’s body? They got her now.

I expected the reveal about Clarke not being dead (surprise, surprise) but dormant, to happen at the end of this episode. It turns out it will probably happen in the next one.. Even though I can’t wait to see real Clarke again, watching JosephineClarke (JC) try and fail to pretend to be her was a lot of fun. To be fair, JC knows very little about Clarke, so of course she wouldn’t be able to guess how she’s supposed to act, but her hubris also got in the way. Thinking that, just because she was once in a famous play, she would be able to pretend to be a person she’s never met, is perfectly in character for JC, with her dismissive attitude towards „disposable“ people, which made her blunders so much more enjoyable to watch. Eliza Taylor did a great job giving JC completely different voice inflections and mannerisms from Clarke, at times just as playful and carefree as Sara Thompson’s original Josephine we saw in 6x02, but also more evil and scheming. Her „Clarke“ act went from basically just being JC herself in new situations, to doing something of a caricature of Clarke, in her „These people are happy, their world works“ speech in her final scene with Bellamy. But, she’s certainly smart, so she ended up deciding there’s no point of pretending with some people, namely Bellamy, and that she needs a better ’coach“ to teach her how to play Clarke and manipulate the one person who, as it turns out, matters to the Primes’ plan, Abby, so it will be interesting to see her doing her best after getting some pointers on how Clarke would act.

We also learned about something called Offering Grove – apparently, the Sanctum community doesn’t just sacrifice people to their ’gods“, the Primes, so they could live forever – they also do the classic human sacrifice, in this case – to the meat-eating trees. Lovely. And we see another weird thing specific to this planet – the strange green storm that seems to destroy or age or suck the life out of living beings. I’m hoping for more info on that in the following episodes.

One of the great things about this season is the amazing cinematography. Metaphorically, season 6 has been dark AF, but, fortunately, it’s not literally dark, as so many shows are these days when they try to be „dark and gritty“, so everyone wears black and grey and you can’t see a damn thing on screen due to poor lighting. No – The 100 season 6 has incredibly bright colors, with a planet that looks beautiful, with Sanctum looking like Renaissance Fair and with people in all sorts of rich, colorful clothes – and it’s all incredibly weird and disturbing.

Josephine’s first actions after waking up in a new body? Kill her „best friend“ Kaylee, after calling her out on the fact that Kaylee killed her in her previous body; paint a portrait of herself, while dancing and singing along to „Alors on dance“; take a shower and change clothes.

So, Josephine thinks that Kaylee and her family were running away because they were scared Russell would find out that Kaylee killed Josephine VII. But how were they supposed to find out? The only new ’naming’ was Priya. The next one was to be in 14 years, when Rose turns 21, and that was supposed to be Jasmine (someone Miranda loved, but we don’t get info what she was to her). There wouldn’t be a new Josephine for a long time. This doesn’t really make sense, unless there was another reason why they were eager to get away from Sanctum.

It’s been fun piecing the info about the identities and relationships of the Primes. So far, we know for sure that there were 13 people in the Eligius 3 mission = four families, plus Dr Gabriel Santiago, the geneticist. Those were:

Russell, Simone and Josephine Lightbourne;

Priya Desai and her teenage son Ryker (we learn her last name from her plaque in this episode)

Kaylee („Leelee“ as Josephine calls her), her mother (Faye), father and brother (I currently think the father was called Victor and the brother Daniel).

Miranda and her family, which consisted of Jasmine and a man we saw on the portraits of the Primes on the walls of Sanctum in 6x02 (some say that his name on the plaque in high resolution reads as Caleb Mason). We still don’t know for sure what the relations within that family are. I initially assumed Jasmine was her daughter, but from the way the portraits were lined up (parents above, kids below – and only Caleb was above, with two portraits below), it seems more likely they were sisters. (Or, who knows,, maybe one is his daughter and another is her wife.)

Although Josephine and Kaylee were apparently ’best friends“ (weird friendship, that one), that relationship had to develop that way only after their first lifetime, because the age difference between them seemed to be at least 10 years. Josie doesn’t seem to have much use for children, and Kaylee and her brother were pre-adolescent children during the original mission – the same ones that Josie used to test the unknown plants that, for all she knew, could have killed them. „I didn’t try it. I gave it to the kids. Leelee loved it. If it was poisonous, they’d be dead by now!“

The backstory is that Kaylee killed Josie, after Josie killed someone called Isaac, and non-Prime that Kaylee loved, possibly a boyfriend, though Josie claimed he volunteered to be sacrificed in the Offering Grove. I guess murder is a bit less seriously taken if it just means you get to wait for a few decades to be put in another body. So, basically, Josie decommissioned Kaylee, so, right now, there are just 6 active Primes: Russell, Simone, Miranda, Priya, Ryker, and Josie, but the other Primes don’t know about her yet. They wouldn’t be happy to know Russell and Simone skipped the line for their daughter – Miranda, in particular, would be pissed. They also don’t want the others to know about the whole killing thing, which is why all the sneaking had to happen. The Primes need the Earth people because they hope several of them are Nightbloods. It’s a reasonable assumption, but an incorrect one – but that’s not going to be important after what JC learns later about Abby’s ability to make Nightblood in the lab.

JC and Russell are kind of like Cage and Dante: Russell really likes to think of himself as a moral, noble guy, in spite of the horrible things he’s been doing for 236 years, so he has moral boundaries, such as, no bodyshatching without the hosts’ consent (it’s OK if you first brainwash people into worshipping you so that they will willingly sacrifice themselves and believe they’re becoming „one“ with the deity and that it’s a great honor), though he broke that rule for Josie; and no eugenics, which Josephine has been arguing for, even to the point that she wrote a book about it. From the immoral sociopathic POV, selective breeding really is the best and most obvious way to ensure the birth of new Nightbloods, but Russell insists he won’t treat human beings as cattle. (Even though he already does in many other ways?) As in season 2, you find yourself wondering: should I be more on the side of the immoral sociopath, or the huge hypocrite? Answer: f*ck both of them.

I really hope Josephine’s science books contain the driest, most straightforward prose possible, because, while she’s brilliant in many ways, literary talent is certainly not one of her strength. „This Ferrari I’m wearing“? Fun line, but what a mixed metaphor.

So, yeah, as we all know Josephine finds Murphy cute rather than Bellamy, which was obviously thrown there to subvert viewer expectations, and stress once more how completely different she is from Clarke etc.… but „he’s cute“?! She’s 200 years old and she talks like a pre-teen? There’s been some discussion over whether the Primes ever really emotionally mature over their many lifetimes. Josephine doesn’t sound any more mature than she was in the flashback in 6x02, and come to think of it, Ryker kind of has an attitude that could fit a teenager. But I don’t think it has anything to do with brain maturity, they are in adult brains, and they certainly have experiences of multiple lifetimes and centuries. I think it’s a consequence of they way of life (similar to how people who, due to circumstances, still live with their parents and are supported by them way into adulthood tend to act younger than people who have adult responsibilities early in life): all the Primes are locked into the past (even with the way JC can’t stop using 21st century slang and references), and even new relationships they develop cannot last beyond one lifetime, while their relationships with each other can go on indefinitely. Kaylee acts like an adult, not a little girl, but her primary relationships are always going to be with her parents and brother, and, as we saw in 6x02, those familial relationships didn’t change at all: during the hijacking, the dad („younger man“) seemed to be telling the son/brother („handsome older gentleman“) what to do, and Momma Faye (the „younger woman“) was definitely in charge and ordering Kaylee around („Just push the damn buttons, Kaylee!“) and telling her with her dying breath that she has to save the heads, though Kaylee already knew that.

Speaking of all the time in the world that the Primes have had – couldn’t Russell and Simone have made an effort to learn Mandarin in all that time? You live so long and you never care to learn new skills and expand knowledge? What do they even do with their time? At least Josephine has been writing books.

I wonder when Gabriel decided to leave and became the enemy of the Primes. He must have had an attack of conscience, after having done such awful things. Of course, people who were developed by Gabriel from embryos they brought from Earth were the ones used as hosts for the Primes, and are also obviously where the entire human population of Sanctum came from. We also learned that 45 or 46 of little embryo girls (I don’t remember the exact number) died in his experiments before he managed to successfully implant Josephine’s mind into one of them, after realizing that the host has to have a fully developed, adult brain. (Was this also the case with the minds of Prime children – if Kaylee, her brother and Ryker were also killed during Russell’s killing spree?) And „consent is key“ wasn’t something Russell cared at the time, since he had no problem with Josie’s mind being implanted in the body of the obviously unwilling and horrified Brooke, who was fighting and screaming until Gabriel injected her with the paralyzing serum (now we know why it was initially developed). Apart from the effect of loneliness and isolation after so many (all?) of the other people in the mission were killed, Russell’s guilt over it, Gabriel’s obsession with Josephine, finding out at some point that Earth was no more (7 years after they came to the planet), another factor could have been that they had the same attitude towards clones as many people seem to have in real life – that they are somehow not „real people“ because they didn’t get conceived and born the regular way (what’s with all the talk of cloning as a way to harvest organs?!).

How did the Primes choose Jade to be the bodyguard of the hosts (and now JC, who doesn’t seem to need someone to protect her anyway)? Did they go „Let’s find the smallest person in this compound!“ But I have a feeling that „bodyguard“ is not exactly the best description of Jade’s job. It’s just what Diyoza called her, and it seemed like the closest term.

In spite of all the new info about the Primes, this was an episode with strong character moments for Murphy, Abby (with important character revelations about both, about things that make them potentially most vulnerable to Josie’s manipulation), Octavia, Diyoza, Gaia, even some for Jackson, certainly for Jordan (it’s his best episode so far), and Bellamy had some good scenes, but in his case, this episode was a calm before the storm, leading up to the moment when realizes the horrible truth about JC.

Bellamy also deserves points for making plans to explore the planet (and pointing out how weird it is that the Sanctum people haven’t explored much of the planet for 236 years… really, what have they been doing? They’re content to stay locked in their small, narrow space and old habits), and go and found their own community somewhere, away from Sanctum, after learning the important things from them. Someone had to finally mention all these things, and those 400 people still on the ship. To be fair, they’ve only been in Sanctum for a few days and were mostly distracted by other things, including trying to get Sanctum people to accept them and teach them to survive.

Jordan has been fleshed out a lot in the last couple of episodes. We knew him as a sweet, optimistic manboy, and we learned of his brilliant scientific knowledge in the premiere, and sure, he could be naive and trusting, but in 6x04, we saw his sadness and feelings of guilt as he talked about his upbringing and his parents, and now we’ve seen him make the right conclusions and be the first person to pay attention to the suspicious things in Sanctum (which, I think, the others would have also noticed earlier if they hadn’t been so eager to see the Sanctum people as good and to find peace), and determined to investigate what’s going on, after realizing that his girlfriend really isn’t the same person anymore, literally. He had to face obstacles such as, others not taking him seriously (and dismissing him as just a naive guy who’s dealing with being dumped) and the extremely brainwashed Sanctum citizens, including even Delilah’s mother. Priya VII even tried to pacify him by claiming Delilah was happy, which sounds like BS, since we know that the Primes believe that the hosts are ’dead’, which means they have no clue what, if anything, the host is feeling.

However, I didn’t like Jordan’s line about „Heart Bellamy“ – that was too much like breaking the fourth wall, like Jordan was the stand-in for the fandom and the things they say about Bellamy pre- and post-Praimfaya (which I’ve been pretty fed up with, to the point I’m almost starting to hate all the „Head“ and „Heart“ mentions, since they’re used to ridiculously oversimplify the characters of both Bellamy and Clarke). I guess I can imagine Monty and Harper telling them that Bellamy told them on the ring he had to use his head more, to honor Clarke’s memory, because she told him to do that – but it’s still jarring.

When Jordan, Gaia, Bellamy and Murphy broke into the lab and found the videos, it may seem like it was way too easy and that all the info was just lying there waiting, but the fact that the Primes didn’t think they needed anyone to guard it shows how complacent they are, how much they’re used to everyone in Sanctum supporting them, except for a rare Child of Gabriel – and everyone including CoG knows what and who they are, so there’s no reason to guard the information, only to guard the Nightbloods/future hosts.

It was satisfying to see Gaia go from her attitude that every religion should be respected (which is, on one hand, nice in general in terms of tolerance, but also absurd if taken too far, like including cults, created by people who made themselves gods so they can oppress others), to being horrified by bodysnatching and the way the Primes have brainwashed an entire community to worship them and sacrifice people to them. She made the same points about the difference between the Flame and the mind drives that I talked about in my review of 6x04, including the fact that the former was created to help future generations with accumulated knowledge and advice (as it does not take over the host, who is still in control of their body), rather than to let people live forever. (Which was presumably Becca’s intention and the initial purpose for the mind drives, too – before Gabriel modified them so they could store the entire consciousness of a Prime, allowing them to live as the same person in a new body.)

But I also enjoyed Murphy’s snarky but truthful comments about the Grounder religion – the fact that they made children fight to the death for the right to become Commanders is incredibly messed up, too. And Becca was also not a god but a scientist who made herself Nightblood in the lab – although that would have been more relevant to the plot of 4x09 (where the Grounders were shocked by the „blasphemy“ of Clarke trying to pass her scientifically created Nightblood as the same thing as the Nightblood of the Commanders… which also came from a lab).

The reactions were interesting - Jordan was the voice of morality and humanity, but I think almost everyone agreed with him, except for Murphy. He was the only one – other than Josephine – to defend the Primes and their way of life – and it kind of feels realistic that at least someone would be tempted by immortality as an option. It makes sense it’s Murphy, especially after his recent brush with death that made him think he saw what hell was like, and it also makes sense he would say that openly.

While Bellamy didn’t speak much during those scenes where the group was discussing their shocking discovery, he was, of course, agreeing with Jordan (as confirmed with his later comments to „Clarke“) – but he was, instead, focused on watching „Clarke’s“ surprising reactions. I think he was getting more and more suspicious of her throughout the episode, and since finding out about bodysnatching, he was starting to realize the horrible truth.

Let’s see how many times JC screwed up while playing Clarke:

She was uncomfortable when hugged by Madi, and then told her she can go to school, contrary to what Clarke told Madi in the previous episode. But Madi was just being a child and was happy to get what she wanted.

JC also, naturally, didn’t understand a word of what Gaia said in Trig (to make it impossible for Jade to understand what she was saying), but she covered it reasonably well.

Saying „Chill out“ (21st century slang is not something people from the Ark are familiar with) was what caught Bellamy’s attention.

Then he asked her about her happy demeanour and the „fun“ she had with the doctor, referring to seeing her dance with Cillian at the club. Bellamy asking about these things isn’t exactly typical of him, either, but it’s interesting. He may not have even been fully aware where it came from, but to me, it sounded like he needed to know more: „So, uh, I’m glad you look happy, but is it because of the doc? Are you really into him? It’s not serious, is it? Please tell me it’s not? I’m just curious for… reasons“. But JC immediately assumed it was about sex, confirmed Clarke had sex with Cillian and was basically like „I banged him and I’m an animal in bed“. Which was one of the most non-Clarke things imaginable: talking openly about her sex life, and bragging about it, and to Bellamy of all people (the two of them have always avoided any talk about each other’s love life or sex life or each other’s love interests). But JC walked out thinking „Nailed it“!“ Bellamy seemed too busy being surprised, confused and dealing with all sorts of feelings and images in his head caused by her comment, so he probably didn’t suspect anything at this point.

JC made more blunders with Abby – including writing with her right hand, which Abby noticed; making a comment that Josephine was a „visionary“ when Abby calls her a monster, and having new knowledge that Clarke didn’t have. A lot of people are harsh on Abby because she didn’t figure it out. However, I think that’s unfair – she didn’t know about the bodysnatching, so she couldn’t put two and two together. The human mind tends to rationalize things it can’t make sense of. She was also very tired, after not having gotten any sleep (reading books from the library instead), and distracted.

Bellamy was getting suspicious when „Clarke“ argued that bodysnatching is „not murder if they go willingly“ and that the Sanctum people are not a danger to them (in spite of herself and Madi being Nightbloods). JC was at that point worried about being found out, so she made sure to take a vial of the paralyzing serum if she is found out. After she left, everyone focused on stopping Jordan from making trouble publicly, as he went to openly confront Priya.

The group talk in the bar was when I think Bellamy definitely had clear suspicions about „Clarke“. First she called Murphy „John“, which weirded out everyone, including Murphy and Jordan. But I think it was her arguments that they should just be OK with what the Primes were doing, and look away – that from „I want to save everyone“ Clarke – that sealed the deal. That and the „Eureka“ look on her face when she heard about Abby being able to make Nightbloods in the lab.

It would have been safer if Bellamy hadn’t confronted „Clarke“ on his own, but I think he desparately wanted his suspicion to not be true. He tested her with Trig – which is a good test, as it’s the one language no Sanctum person could know – and she guessed some of the meaning from the context the first time, but the second time, it was too specific even for her to figure it out (no matter how good with picking up languages she is). So JC was like, my cover is blown, why even pretend anymore, and started taunting him instead. Bellamy’s reaction, the shock and horror on his face, especially as JC confirmed her identity after paralyzing him, was heartbreaking, and made this the best scene in the episode. I cannot even imagine what reactions we’ll see from him in the following episodes. He already went through losing Clarke and believing her dead once before – but that was her heroic sacrifice. This was awful and done against her will. He is going to raise hell, and do everything to fight the Primes and get Clarke back – once he realizes that she is not completely gone.

Murphy naturally had to go along with Josephine for the time being, but is he really going to be on Josie’s side, or play a double agent and help his friends? I believe he will do the latter – he does care about Clarke, and the group, he wants to be a part of the family, and we’ve seen how much he’s changed and that he was willing to die and let the others save themselves in the season 5 finale. I think that he will be tempted for a while to accept the offer, because of his fear of death and hell, but will eventually choose his friends over immortality.

Another character who may be tempted in the next episode is Abby – as JC, pretending to be Clarke, will no doubt play on her desire to save Kane. However, that won’t work when Abby realizes that JC took Clarke’s body – and I doubt JC can keep up the ruse too long.

Many fans tend to talk about and judge Abby only in terms of her role as Clarke’s mother, but she is a character by herself, with her own trauma and issues that are not about being a mom. For the last two seasons, she has been struggling with the trauma and guilt from the Dark Year and her role in Blodreina’s rule. Her comment to Jackson, where she compared both him and herself to war criminals, made a good point: „I was just doing my job“/“I was just listening to orders“ is a poor excuse when you participate in crimes. And her desire to save Kane isn’t just because of romantic love, but also a reaction to that guilt, and on top of that, the guilt of failing Kane multiple times due to her addiction, and indirectly causing his injuries by indulging Vinson (a symbolic embodiment of her addiction and guilt over cannibalism). Kane and Abby have switched roles since season 1, and he has become her moral center. It’s because Kane’s response to feeling guilty was a healthy one: he decided to change his worldview completely and to start doing better. He tried to redeem himself through sacrifice in season 1, but he was never suicidal for the sake of it. But Abby doesn’t know how to deal with guilt, and gets crushed by it. When she feels she’s failed her own moral standards, she starts hating herself. Her death wish at the time of Praimfaya was a result of guilt over the things she did trying to find a solution to save everyone, and her addiction in season 5 was also response to guilt. Now she’s come to the point where she thinks that she doesn’t deserve to survive, but Kane does. She’s made him a symbol of all that’s good in the world.

I’m really enjoying the scenes with Diyoza and Octavia. The two main enemies/villain leaders of season 5 are now on a rogue buddy trip. Diyoza has been amazing this season, but now I’m starting to be afraid she’s doing to die, after we get her backstory and she gives birth. And we really need to get her full backstory. She’s almost playing a mentor to Octavia now, because she had gone through similar things and understands where Octavia’s behavior comes from, maybe better than anyone else, but she’s rational and pragmatic where Octavia is impulsive and self-destructive. The different ways Diyoza and Octavia dealt with the live sand is the best example of the contrast between them. It was funny when Octavia said „At least I’m trying“ – she really didn’t get how the whole ’The harder you fight, the faster you die“ thing works! But Octavia has shown some of her old humanity, again – this time, by telling Diyoza to save herself and her baby – and, for the first time in a while, a desire to live, since she saved herself from the wave. Nothing like the danger of death to make you realize you don’t really want to die.

Interesting: the Children of Gabriel calling that live sand thing „The Crucible“ – another reference to Miller’s play (Gabriel’s favorite play! Banned by the Primes!). Do CoG identify with the unfairly accused people from that play?

Xavier’s motivations are becoming clearer – he is a rational, no-nonsense guy, just like Diyoza, and wants to get info from them rather than kill them.

I don’t know what the weird green wave is. A lot of people seem to think it has something to do with the Anomaly, but it could just be another phenomenon. I couldn’t even make out what exactly messed up thing it did to Octavia’s hand – did it age it up, suck out some of its life, or what.

Raven, Emori, Echo and Miller were MIA this episode since they were away – Ryker is showing Raven how to build a radiation shield, and the others are protecting them. Next episode, I hope to see more Emori (and Memori interaction). We know from the promo there will be Echo and Jade interaction (they could bond and compare notes on being the follower/servant who follows orders and doesn’t question them) there will also probably be more Raven and Ryker interaction; JC will try to manipulate Abby with Murphy’s help, but I doubt she’ll be able to fool her for a long time, and everyone should find out that she is not Clarke. And I’m sure we’ll learn that Clarke’s mind is really dormant rather than destroyed, and it will be interesting to see how she fights back inside her own mind and her friends and family try to save her, and hopefully kick JC’s and the Primes’ asses.

Rating: 8.5/10

#the 100 #the 100 6x05 #the gospel of josephine #the 100 season 6 #clarke griffin #josephine lightbourne #bellamy blake #john murphy #abby griffin #gaia kom trikru #russell lightbourne #octavia blake #charmaine diyoza #xavier #marcus kane #jordan green #gabriel santiago #the children of gabriel #the primes

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luspiel · 5 years ago

Text

Of Sunshine and Ashes

I had originally wanted to make a good impression on anyone stopping by, but seeing as I was alone and had been alone for the past twenty minutes at my depressing fold in table centered in the gym I had decided to screw it and unleash my catharsis via a resting mean mug. Of course as the ever temperamental pendulum of fate would have it, an unsuspecting person had decided to drop off their bones right at this very moment and bear witness to my exceedingly unaesthetic scowl. At the very least, I wished I could say that I was some kind of divine reaper tasked with collecting human bones and other unwanted rotting items before their trip to judgement. Alas, I’m simply the poor sap who was roped into collecting bones (of all things) for the very cliche Halloween celebration on Friday. With very little to distract me from my misfortunes, I greeted the hooded student in front of me. Without a word, he dropped two bags onto my flimsy table with a solid clunk. I eyed the contents of the bags apprehensively. The bones in those bags looked alarmingly similar to human bones. However of course, I could not proclaim to this shady character that I knew what human bones looked like only because of a midnight grave digging expedition gone wrong. Obviously. The stranger’s face took on a nervous expression which clashed quite theatrically with his bright yellow hoodie but complimented his black hair and pale features. A walking oxymoron, charming. “Is this okay? My understanding was that the bones didn’t have to be yours.” I lifted an eyebrow gingerly as I attempted to make several concealed glances between him and the offending bags and what laid inside them. I began to wonder about the unfortunate person who had once maybe been on a lovely stroll, wholly enjoying the feeling of perambulating on their own two bony legs, before having their life snuffed out by a walking fire hazard. Really, that was the brightest shade of yellow I had ever see in my life, and I had once stared at the the sun for 47 seconds straight on a triple dog dare! “And where, pray tell, did you get these bones from? Better yet,𝙬𝙝𝙤 are those bones?” Ah yes, I just hated it when a 16th century supercilious noble took over my brain and stopped it from sending messages to my mouth. This definitely was not a side effect of reading Pride and Prejudice by lamplight 6 times in the past week. No, that possession would only take place after my 7th reading of the book. This had to be the work of a vindictive bard enlisting the help of a petty and cruel noble in exchange for a masterful piccolo performance. The stranger had by this time begun to splutter uncontrollably. Clearly since we both were utterly confounded when it came to holding simple conversations, I would have to be to the one to snap out of my enlightened daydreams and try to make sense of the situation. “Please tell me that these bones wherever they came from were not once apart of a human’s anatomy.” Finally grasping how to use his tongue he spoke, which is to say he flung his arms around haphazardly while words occasionally came from his general direction. “No, of course not!” At long last getting his arms back under control he pointed forcefully at the bag closest to me. “Um, my cousin had a bonfire.” Perhaps, the guy had seen the lurid expression on my face and realized that his previous statement had done nothing to rectify his current situation and it’s disturbing implications. Or the boy had realized using his own neurons and synapses that that sentence was only socially acceptable in a few select contexts, and that this was certainly not one of them. “I mean—what I meant was—My-my cousin had a bonfire for her two dogs. A sort of celebration of life for them. They’re all washed and clean though.” I could only be placated so much because that meant that someone had skinned his cousin’s dogs like some sick oyster. Whoever they were, I hoped they knew they were the boogers of both land and sea. Even with the first bag accounted for, there was still an air of mystery hanging over the second bag with grim persistence. I nodded towards it, “And the second set of bones?” He breathed easily for what seemed like the first time in hours. “Oh, that’s my neighbor Tim’s.” I pursued my lips, pressed my shoulders back, and tried to look as imposing as possibly when sitting in a perpetually short swivel chair and wearing flip flops. Maneuvering into my default mode of annoyed retailer talking to a customer with their boss practically breathing in their carbon dioxide, I held back a long suffering sigh tinged with my regret for having sworn of defenestration at a young age. “I understand that on the flier we wrote that we didn’t care whether or not the bones were yours, but you do understand that it is only logical that we question you on how you obtained the aforementioned bones, yes?” He nodded. “And we, the Halloween Bash Organization otherwise known as HBO by a select few—” 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, “are extremely grateful that you decided to contribute to our cause so that we can provide you with an enjoyable celebration on Friday.” The boy stared at me dully, it was unnerving to say the least but as we had already established that we are both awkward people I decided to carry on hoping he wasn’t secretly planning his next poleax. I cleared my throat, “I’d just like your name and number just in case you’d like to troubleshoot us or want your—𝘵𝘩𝘦 bones back.” He perked up considerably most likely happy to be done with my retailer’s voice. “My name’s Rhys Frank and I wrote my number on the clipboard, but you and the rest of HBO can keep the bones for any future decorations.” “Yep, we’ll do that,” I replied plastering my best ‘God help me in the face of this serial killer’ smile on my face. The boy had gone exactly three steps towards the door (I know because I counted) before loudly exclaiming bloody murder...quite literally. “Oh, Fudge nuggets! Bloody murder! Holy potato! Blast it all to damnation! Fudge!” He spun on his heel so quickly that he almost ended up making a full 360. “Tim is a Biology teacher. The bones are fake. They’re props meant to help children learn. I did not kill anyone. I am not a murderer. And I am very thankful for you listening to my Ted Talk.” And with that Rhys Frank was gone and I was finally let off this abominable roller coaster ride.

#luspiel #one day I’ll write a story pt. 2 #writing-prompt-s #bones #writeblr #writers on tumblr #prompts #Rhys #hoodies #yellow #2 hours /yes 2/ of my life gone #why???#why not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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lovelyladydarling · 6 years ago

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task 001. dig a little deeper: lady darling edition

BASIC INFORMATION.

What is your character’s full name ? patricia elizabeth darling How is it pronounced ? puh-trih-shuh uh-liz-uh-bith dar-ling Is there a meaning behind it ? patricia means “noble” and is the female version of “patrick,” but it was a family name her mother gave her. lady was just something sweet they called her when she was younger and it stuck as a nickname over “pat” “patty” or “trish.” Does your character have any nicknames ? lady, pidge (from tramp) When and where were they born ? december 24, 1993 in san francisco, california What’s their zodiac sign and what traits do they most relate to ? capricorn. lady is very hardworking and responsible, but she’s aware she can be a bit distant at times when it comes to her more intimate relationships. she holds family very close to her--especially the family she’s made in carthay herself. she’s very stubborn, holds her own, and can definitely get a bit hot-headed at times. What’s their nationality ? american. What’s their occupation ? jewelry model. What gender do they identify themselves as ? cisgender female // she/her

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

What’s their eye color ? brown Do they wear glasses or contacts ? reading glasses, but not prescription Hair color ? caramel brown Have they ever dyed their hair or wanted to ? she gets highlights pretty often or goes darker, but never strays from brunette. Height ? 5′6″ // 167.64 cm Body build ? tall & lean Do they have any birthmarks ? she has a small birthmark above her left hipbone. Do they have any piercings or tattoos ? ear piercings // no If not, do they want to get some ? she’s recently been wanting to get a small tattoo somewhere, but she’s not sure where. Do they have a healthy life style ? she works out pretty frequently and tries to eat well, but carbs tempt her back every time she goes for a salad. How easy do they get sick ? she catches colds pretty easily, but doesn’t often get really sick. Any marks on their body ( injuries, … ) ? no permanent scars or injuries to speak of! she broke her arm once when she was 8 playing with the neighborhood kids, but that’s the only major injury she’s sustained throughout her 25 years. What’s their personal style/how do they like to dress ? lady likes to dress in a sort of girly business casual style most of the time and will occasionally go for a more “laid back” look if she’s just out and about. she frequents sundresses when the weather is nice and switches her footwear between sandals, heels, or a classic pair of KED sneakers. she tries to dress comfortably but still keep everything chic enough to be photographed in, just in case. What is their favorite and least favorite feature about themselves ? her favorite feature is her eyes and her least favorite would have to be her shape. she often feels like her body is too straight and narrow and wishes she had a few more curves.

PERSONALITY.

Positive traits ? fun-loving, caring, loyal Negative traits ? jealous, stubborn, hot-headed What do they consider to be the best and the worst part of their personality ? lady considers her loyalty to her friends to be her greatest strength and has a hard time choosing between her extremely jealous nature and stubbornness as her worst. she’ll overtly deny her jealousy to people if they ask because she doesn’t want others to notice such a negative trait in her, but she knows it’s a big fault of hers. Are they more extroverted or introverted ? lady is definitely an ambivert--she’s a bit of both. extroverted with her friends, introverted with strangers. she can’t strike up a conversation with anyone and prefers to keep to herself when out in public, but has no problem approaching a friend in a room full of strangers to talk. Any talents ? lady is very good at painting, but doesn’t often share that with people. What are their fears ? lady is terrified of ending up alone or not being enough for the people around her. Do they have any phobias ? claustrophobia (small spaces) What is their soft spot ? lady has a huge soft spot for anyone that will bring her dinner and just sit and be with her, anyone who remembers small details she tells them, and puppies. List 3 pet-peeves they can’t stand ? excuses for bad behavior, bailing on plans last minute, and calling people out via social media.

EDUCATION.

How far did they go in school ? Are they still studying ? lady completed high school and went to study studio art in college, but ended up leaving after 2 years when her modeling career took off. Do/Did they like school ? she really enjoyed college and would love to go back, or even just take a few classes for fun. high school was a take it or leave it thing for her--she didn’t mind it, but she wouldn’t choose to go back. What type of student are/were they ? she’s always been a good student. she doesn’t cause trouble, she shows up on time, leaves on time, and turns in her assignments. she maintained a b+ to a average in high school and really threw herself into her college courses. she practically slept at the arts annex during portfolio review. What is/was their favorite subject ? art was always her favorite subject, but she enjoyed history and english as well. And their least favorite ? any sort of advanced math--trigonometry, calculus, etc. What were they/would they have been voted as “most likely to…” in the yearbook ? lady was actually voted most likely to sell a painting by age 25, which was oddly specific to her but she wasn’t particularly close to many people in high school so she figured it was the best they could come up with.

FAMILY.

Who are your character’s parents ? jim and ruth darling. How would your character describe them ? lady hasn’t seen her parents in a while, as she was sent to live with her aunt sarah when she was 14 years old due to an incident with her younger brother. she loved her parents dearly and would drop anything she was doing to help them, even now. they were incredibly caring and protective of her and her brother, so she doesn’t fault them for doing what was best for him by sending her away. Do they have any siblings ? one younger brother, 13 years her junior: noah darling. Are they close with their family ? she used to be, but now rarely hears from them save for a card on her birthday. she would still do anything for them if they needed her.

ROMANCE & SEXUALITY.

What’s their romantic and sexual orientation ? heterosexual Are they seeing anyone right now ? james sullivan, for publicity sake. Have they ever been in an relationship ? as long as hers and sulley’s counts, yes! otherwise, she doesn’t know if she’d consider any of her previous relationships as counting. Have they ever been in love ? yes. How easy do they fall for someone ? it takes a lot of work to really get lady to fall for someone. though she desperately wants a family of her own after hers imploded due to her carelessness, she’s very guarded because of it as well. In their view, why didn’t any past relationships work out ? she’s been caught up in someone else. What do they look for in someone ? she wants someone to put in even half the effort she knows she could give. she wants passion alongside the comfortable moments and the moments of “i can’t believe this part of my life.” Do they believe in love at first sight ? or fate ? no, not particularly love at first sight...fate, perhaps. though she believes one can control their own fate if they so choose. What’s their views on romance ? Do they go after it or avoid it ? lady loves the idea of romance, but she’s not sure on the logistics or how to get it. she doesn’t particularly like how her heart and her brain tell her different things. Did they have their first time already ? How was it in their point of view ? yes and somewhat disappointing--some guy she dated in her first year of college for about 6 months that she grew tired of and broke things off with. she thought she loved him at the time, but realized it was only an infatuation. What is their view on sex ? it’s fun, but she’s started thinking of it as something more as she’s gotten a little older. she’s not trying to save herself (that’s over & done with) but she does prefer to save sex for people she’s truly connected with and feels a deep love for. What are their turn ons and turn offs ? turn ons, she prefers someone else taking control, longer hair, and breathy words. turn offs, she’s not a fan of someone grossly inexperienced, with poor hygiene, or a messy room (or wherever the sex is happening, honestly.) Were they ever cheated on or have they cheated on someone ? to her knowledge, she’s never been cheated on. she may have kissed some other boy in high school while “dating” another boy, but she couldn’t have been more than 15. she’s never cheated in her adult “relationships.” Do they want to get married in the future ? absolutely. Have kids ? definitely.

QUIRKS.

Are they right or left handed ? right handed. What’s a word that’s always on their lips ? serendipity. Is there a saying they keep on repeating ? don’t judge a book by its cover. Do they curse ? when she’s particularly angry, yes. What’s their worst habit ? jealousy. Do they drink or smoke ? How frequently ? both occasionally, moreso when she’s left alone and doesn’t know how to handle what she’s feeling without being inebriated. that’s very rare, however, and she usually reserves her vices to a glass or two of red wine. Are they an early bird or a night owl ? early bird. How tidy is their room ? immaculate. lady loves having a place for all of her things. there’s hardly a shoelace out of place in her room. How long to they usually take getting ready in the morning ? depends on what her plans are for the day, but her average routine takes about 25-30 minutes. it’ll go a bit longer if she has something planned with james, especially a nighttime outing.

FAVORITES.

What’s their favorite color ? tiffany blue. Favorite movie ? 10 things i hate about you. Music Genre ? pop? Food ? italian. Book ? currently, meddling kids by edgar cantero Favorite non-alcoholic drink ? iced dirty chai latte Ice Cream Flavor ? neopolitan Indoors or outdoors ? a bit of both.

#carthaytask #íf í ѕmílє wíth mч tєєth вєt чσu вєlíєvє mє || task #this took..........longer than anticipated!!!#i'm sorry the graphic isn't too pretty /:

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ryouverua · 6 years ago

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Trial 5 - Queen Sacrifice; Pre-Accusation (7)

tfw your trial has gone completely off the rails and the class clown is leading a revolt against the teacher

Investigation 1 / 2 - second half is where I put my own theories that I penned before playing the trial.

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Back when I left off earlier, we were discovering just how much of a magnificent bastard Kokichi was. With limited maneuverability and an absolutely terrible situation to contend with, he has apparently managed to flip the script on Monokuma in such a glorious fashion that all the students have been practically pushed to the sidelines.

.... If that’s the case though... is solving the case really in our best interest? In terms of ‘the enemy of our enemy is our friend’, I’m pretty sure Kokichi fits the ‘friend’ bill here!

YES, I WONDER WHAT THE POINT IS. WHY WOULD KOKICHI OUMA WANT TO COMMIT A MURDER MONOKUMA COULDN’T FIGURE OUT IF HE WAS MONOKUMA. THERE MUST BE A MISTAKE IN THIS SENTENCE. WHAT COULD IT BE, I WONDER.

I... I clearly misinterpreted the video screens around campus because I was always under the impression that there were cameras in that whole set-up too. But then again... now that I think about it, there wasn’t anything really like that around the school grounds as far as I noticed. Ah man, I really am perceptive in some areas and oblivious in others, huh. 8′D

YUP okay I was clearly wrong about the camera stuff but I guess I’ll worry about that after the trial is over.

So this is the prime reason, not the safety function? But the safety function being disabled was a fun little perk of that? Or, well - no, they’re both equally important in terms of keeping the ambiguity of ‘poison or press’, right?

WERE GUARDING HIM!!! FML I’VE BEEN RIGHT ABOUT THAT SINCE THE BEGINNING!!!

thank you Sweetcheeks -

Man I wish you hadn't been so single-mindedly fixated on the goal of ‘kill Kokichi’ - if you had made the connection at the time, none of this would have happened... :(

Brilliant. I love this whole trial to bits. to bits you say -

Himiko you’re killing me here -

I’m so glad we’ve gotten to this point!!! It’s funny - I originally thought this was going to be addressed right off the bat as a reason to parse out what Kokichi’s motive could be, and why it wouldn’t fit if he was the mastermind. It makes sense that they saved it until now though; it’s so tied in with the twist of ‘Monokuma doesn’t know the culprit either’ that it really couldn’t be any other way!

PREACH!!!! PREACH!!!! PREACH MY BOY!!!!

literally the first clue right there that it could be just an elaborate story he concocted for his own purposes and the fact that he ended the game RIGHT AFTER should have been the next one damn it!!!

What? Kokichi Ouma, lie to us? WHY I NEVER - you watch your tone young man!!!

lmao I do love his commitment to this whole charade though

I... AM MORBIDLY CURIOUS... ABOUT THE EXPRESSIONS BEING MADE IN THAT EXISAL RIGHT NOW...

I MEAN... HE’S ALSO NOT THAT EITHER.... I’M PRETTY SURE.... but whatever gets you onto the ‘Kokichi is not the mastermind’ track I suppose

Immediately after they start ganging up on Monokuma to tell the truth because trying to make Kokichi do it is like pulling teeth, and it’s amazing imo.

I love this side of you Sweetcheeks

.... And then he folds.

After a big spiel about ‘truth’ and ‘fairness’, he folds, damn it.

I’d just like to note that the theme we as the players are supposed to favour is quietly shifting beneath us. After all the pomp and circumstance last trial with ‘truth’ vs ‘lies’ - with Kokichi making an impassioned plea in favour of gentle lies against the harsh truth against the backdrop of ‘two times the truth was painful’ (Kaede, Gonta) and ‘two times the pursuit of truth was absolutely, black-and-white Good and Noble’ (Kirumi/Korekiyo) within the trials themselves - we’re seeing Kokichi (and maybe Kaito?? maybe??) using one big lie as a weapon against Monokuma, while Monokuma seems to be fighting back by throwing out truth after truth in order to expose him. And who is going to win in the end if Monokuma gets his way? Can Monokuma actually kill the cast if his status as the arbiter is called into question? Is the pursuit of truth the right move for Shuichi and co. right now?

Honestly, tl;dr is if Monokuma is making moves that blatantly favour one side despite whatever ‘impartiality claims’ he’s making, something is up and you should reconsider everything immediately.

This move was advantageous for him. ... Somehow.

Ah shit - if this really is being recorded and Kokichi made a move to interrupt the transmission - then was the whole ‘everyone is all dead’ a lie too? Wait - wasn’t that Kokichi himself who said that? Is... Is this footage being sent to some of the people who are still alive, and things back home aren’t as hopeless as we thought? Why else would Monokuma’s ability to rule fairly matter, if there isn’t anyone left to judge him for it???

“Ahaha aaaaw shucks -”

And maybe more than that, if this footage isn’t just being recorded for the mastermind’s sake..

i’m sorry for cutting out the flashback screenshots for the sake of redundancy and I say that only because hangover!Shuichi sprite was there. my one regret of this trial

These are interesting comments here, btw.

I’ve had a few wild theories, most of them near the beginning when I was doing some larger-scale speculation, but one of them was about switched talents. It hasn’t come nearly as much as, say, ‘escapism’, ‘putting on roles/masks’ or the super obvious one of ‘truth/lies’ but there have been instances, such as the switched motives back in chapter 2, that caught my eye.

I’ll put it out again just for fun - what if this is a case of them either getting talents from previous students or, in fact, receiving the wrong talent back? It could be a case of ‘the mind making the talent fit the memories they have’, like I was suspecting with the funeral scene where they saw their own death portraits - were they really there? Did their brains just trick them into imagining their own faces in those portraits? And, in the case of switched talents, is it possible that the students forced the square peg that is their so-called ‘Ultimate Talent’ into the round hole that is ‘their memories', and as the game goes along we see some of them display hints of their real talent? I’m just saying that things like Kokichi being the real ‘Ultimate Detective’, Kirumi being the real ‘Supreme Leader’, etc? And it doesn’t even have to be a full cast switch - just like with the motives, some of they may have received their actual talent (K1-b0 for one lmao). ... Anyway, this was just something to consider. It’s a bit of a wild theory and I’m not really confident in it or anything but this seemed like a good place to bring it up again with Monokuma and Shuichi both (reluctantly) acknowledging his deductions.

Oh yay we’re bringing up the exisals, the point I was stumped on! Good!

WHAT

HER WHAT

HOW MUCH TECH DID MIU MAKE FOR HIM

is this why Miu attempted to kill him lol she is canonically lazy and apparently Kokichi has been bugging her behind the scenes to make all this stuff for him -

Man, I guess I’m going to have to go back and look at their interactions with a new light, huh? I wonder when each part was built. She spent most of her time working on the computer during Chapter 4 so it was... Chapter 3? Earlier, maybe? I don’t know if I’ve said this enough, but damn Miu was incredibly smart, huh?

One of the many things he did during the time he was missing in the beginning of this chapter, I imagine...

Truth as a weapon! Truth as a weapon! Truth was being framed as ‘just, fair and impartial’ and now we’re literally being told it can be used differently here!

DAMN, he is NOT PHASED!

yes. literally, yes.

Other than for proper closure? I think there is because it’s one of the first things Shuichi deduced way back in Chapter 1, and he may have stumbled along the way but damn it, I believe in his talent!

I’ve actually given my thoughts on that a while back and tbh it hasn’t really changed, but with that said I haven’t seen a whole lot proving or disproving it. 8′D

MORE IMPORTANTLY RIGHT NOW IT IS NOT KOKICHI OUMA DAMN IT!!!! I do like how they addressed what I said about Kokichi in that answer lmao, in such a thorough way that I couldn’t possibly ask for more. I was literally saying that he’s such a good obvious choice that I’d be mad if he was, and then he pulls this shit. Amazing.

SHUICHI FOR THE LOVE OF - DO NOT EVEN THINK HER NAME OR SHE’LL APPEAR!!!!

yup and let’s keep it that way thanks

grumblegrumble that’s just what you want isn’t it

Well damn okay, I guess the two powerhouses of the trial are in agreement so this is how it’s going down!

Just a quick little it of K1-b0 appreciation - he has been quite on top of things this trial!

uhuhuhu I’m going on and on but I am absolutely, thoroughly impressed by Kokichi this trial

He is... definitely... definitely... trying to get you to make a mistake.

HONESTLY THIS WHOLE SPEECH GAVE ME A CHILL

GAMES ARE LOVE, GAMES ARE LIFE TSUMUGI!!!!

still a better motivation than despair even if I don’t believe you - I think this is his plan B after plan A failed to stop things.

He has no bloody idea what they’re talking about, huh? It’s actually hilarious.

THIS SHOULD BE THE FIRST AND OBVIOUS SIGN THAT WE MAY BE ON THE WRONG SIDE, SWEETCHEEKS!

OKAY LMAO

I ACTUALLY DID, I I LAUGHED OUT LOUD, LOUDLY AT THAT

I don’t know if that fits in this case either, but it’s at least a slightly better fit than assigning that label to Kokichi.

... though tbh I think that’s a dangerous label as well. If you start labelling his motivations as incomprehensible you stop thinking, and if you stop thinking you’ll fall into easy traps...

Ffff guys... guys.... I really think we are falling prey to ritual here! The fact that we are following Monokuma’s lead again is a real problem! It would be one thing of Kaito was killed in cold-blood (though about that - I have some... suspicions...), but the situation is this: Kaito was going to die either way. If Kokichi did it, it was most likely at Kaito’s behest and also probably to throw off the whole game/mess with Monokuma. If it was Maki’s fault, you guys don’t want her to die. It’s not in your best interest to solve this case! I... I guess there’s always a chance of Monokuma threatening to kill both of the potential culprits, but...

Aw man I guess I have to follow the game though, so let’s look at the video again. That weird pause really did bug me when we first watched it...

... It.... couldn’t possibly be tricking us about the victim... after all....because I can’t think of any other purpose...

Unless - it was specifically evidence aimed at Monokuma, right?

[quietly] aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

aaaaaaAAAaaaaAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN METHODS TO HIS MADNESS, AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF IT ALL QUALIFIES AS MADNESS!!!

BUT

NO WAIT

IF THIS IS -

IF THIS IS WHERE I THINK IT’S GOING

..... THIS... ISN’T JUST... KOKICHI’S MADNESS????

The nice thing is Hangman’s Gambit was incredibly easy this time around.

fuCK FUCK FUCK I...

THE BARE BONES OF MY THEORY WAS FUCKING RIGHT WASN’T IT

EVEN IF I WAS WRONG ABOUT MAKI’S ROLE -

oh shit

oh god

the accomplice theory I had

..... no but when I revised it last post I had been thinking Kaito acted as Kokichi’s accomplice

it was the other way around

Is.... Is that body.... really... then.....

Was it??? ....... Was Kokichi..... the accomplice then.....?!?! to his own.....

sorry this is all incomprehensible type at the moment I’m just freaking out

No it fucking was IT FUCKING WASN’T IT WAS A CLOSED ROOM!!! A CLOSED ROOM, AND KOKICHI, IF NOT IN THE EXISAL, IS UNACCOUNTED FOR!!! BUT WE HAVE A BODY IN THE EXISAL, AND A BODY IN THE PRESS!!!

But hell why not throw in that Mukuro reference, it’s fine it’s fine I’ll just act like I’m not going to lose two favourites by the end of this chapter it’s fine -

Maki I know you’re having a brief moment - and you’ll have more, over the next few minutes! - of hope because you now exist in a world where Kaito may very well be alive but please do not let it get to you because I will be shocked if he will survive this chapter. Again. i’ve been saying that every chapter lmao

PLEASE SOMEONE FORCE THAT EXISAL HATCH OPEN I NEED TO KNOW NOW MORE THAN EVER WHAT EXPRESSIONS ARE BEING MADE IF I’M RIGHT AND IT ISN’T KOKICHI IN THERE

GOD I HAVE EVEN MORE QUESTIONS THAN I DO ANSWERS NOW HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE

you think I haven’t realized the trick you bastard I KNOW. I KNOW. I mean it doesn’t explain why it sped up at that point but it does explain why there was that brief pause as the body disappeared from view

I will say I love every moment of Monokuma being pushed around. You go, K!

i’m not saying you sound like beatrice right now but you do, give in to the illusion of culprit kokichi shuichi give in ahaha.wav

maybe it’s spirit channelling. Maybe that’s the answer I’m looking for. Either way, as long as the exisal isn’t open, Kokichi can ‘exist’, huh...

FML I’m so glad you guys are working together again, I really am, but surely you must realize that you are working against Kaito’s interests here and for Monokuma’s -

Aaaaaaaw :(

Okay honestly thought despite everything, despite me wanting to yell at everyone to stop doing Monokuma’s dirty work for him, them coming together like this is legitimately heartwarming and sweet.

FUCK I LOVE THAT THE CLASS IS COMING TOGETHER LIKE THIS BUT WE ARE PRACTICALLY MARCHING A CERTAIN SOMEONE TO THEIR GRAVE ON MONOKUMA’S BEHALF AAAAAA

oh hey it’s the part I fucked up so badly

NO SERIOUSLY DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAD TO DO THIS PARTICULAR DISCUSSION

I don’t know if there was a lying option or not but my god I thought there was, and I tried so hard to find it I really did

but then I finally gave up I just couldn’t do it anymore

anyway tangent over

Damn Shuichi and K1-b0 are seriously the dream team this trial! Is that the saiibo the kids are all talking about these days -

Conveniently.

.... drv3 why are you making me do the mining game right now - uh, okay. I mean, I’ll do it. It just seems a bit abrupt, that’s all.

Kokichi sure did stop that press before it killed Kaito, didn’t he? Odd, isn’t it?

what is the ‘pause button’ but a ‘force stop’ button for a video camera

See, I can’t tell if Monokuma is feeding the answer to Shuichi here or if he is legitimately bringing it up as a question. It’s an interesting distinction, though I’m not sure if it’s important - it’s already pretty clear that Monokuma has a vested interest in them solving the murder because he doesn’t know who the culprit is, but does he have suspicions at this point? Hm.

ANOTHER MIND MINE?!?! WHY

And not perfectly, though that would be incredibly tricky - requiring inhuman timing. I’d say it was unfortunate that K1-b0 wasn’t the one in the hangar, but blah blah below average human abilities etc -

Meaning the camera operator and the press operator are one and the same. There were only two people in the hangar, and one of them was playing dead as the press went down.

When Himiko using her fire magic, she really goes for those third degree burns damn. Poor Tsumugi - she was bringing it up during some of the discussion too but I ended up agreeing with K1-b0 instead... 8′D

I am perfectly content to keep playing around with the topic of camera angles because soon the topic is going to turn to the question of whose body it is that was discovered rather than Kaito’s and I’m not ready -

...... I... I guess I shouldn’t procrastinate it. Equivalent exchange and all of that. If Kaito is alive then someone is dead. That was being bandied about even in the investigation...

oh god here we go

aaah the music is ominous. They all just remembered that he has been confirmed to not be the mastermind.

HEY SHUICHI, THE EXISAL HANGAR IS A SEALED ROOM. AFTER MAKI LEFT, NO HUMAN DEAD OR ALIVE WENT IN OR OUT OF THE ENTRANCE UNTIL IT WAS OPENED BY THE FIVE STUDENTS THE NEXT MORNING.

I’LL SAY IT AGAIN: THERE WERE TWO HUMANS IN THAT HANGER. WHEN THE BODY DISCOVERY ANNOUNCEMENT PLAYED, THERE WAS DEFINITELY A BODY IN THAT PRESS, AND SOMEONE OPERATING THE PRESS. THAT WAS REAL BLOOD! THE FOOTAGE SHOWED THE MOMENT OF SOMEONE’S DEATH!

HEY SHUICHI....

IF KAITO IS ALIVE...

.... WHAT DOES THAT MEAN....?

There sure is a competitive guy in there challenging the mastermind, huh.

Just like in Kaede’s trial, it’s on the tip of his tongue - and it’s not a question of ability holding him back, but of what it would mean to follow that trail of thought to the bitter end...

Honestly? Probably my face when I figured it out too.

at first I was like REALLY?! HANGMAN’S GAMBIT AT A TIME LIKE THIS?

But honestly, having to spell it out piece by piece really drives it home. ‘Victim helped’ doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as, say, ‘accomplice victim’ but yeah, damn. Confirmed.

gonna be honest drv3 writers this was not the Kaito / Kokichi friendship/partnership content I was looking for but I’ll take it anyway

Does figuring it out slightly earlier take away from this moment at all?

NOPE

NOPE NOT AT ALL

I’M SHOOK TO THE CORE

To name-drop the title I decided on for this post:

In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move giving up a queen in return for tactical or positional compensation.

Well-played, Kokichi. He sacrificed the most powerful tool in his arsenal - his own life - for a chance to defeat Monokuma and the person behind him. Well-played.

“Fuck you too Monokuma. If I knew how to lift up the exisal middle finger, just know I totally would be right now.”

nnnnnnnnnnnn -

THE FACE AND NAME..... IT’S..... BLANK.............

The ability to work with even the most unlikely people in a dire situation, isolated from everyone else - to put a greater goal and others before yourself and your personal grudges and feelings - to be able to communicate with anyone in such a way you could carry on their very will and act in their place - who else could it possibly be but the fucking Ultimate Astronaut.

#Kaito Momota #Kokichi Ouma #Shuichi Saihara #Maki Harukawa #Ryou plays drv3 #Kokichi Oma #Himiko Yumeno #K1-b0 #Keebo #Kiibo #Tsumugi Shirogane #spoilers #drv3 spoilers #long post

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neetchallenge-blog · 6 years ago

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Useful Tips For Successfully Cracking NEET 2019

It is that point of the year once more, once the tutorial world is captivated with the ‘NEET 2018’ development. everyone is busy gushing over their textbooks and guides, pertaining to notes, finding out into the night, and sitting at their table, consumption on pencils and making an attempt to hit the books all the formulae. You wouldn’t notice anyone chatting with their friends or watch television. Isn’t it nice to check everybody busy? At this significant time, it's necessary to possess some tips to crack NEET 2019.

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One of the best challenges of the NEET examination is that the time limitation. Students have to be compelled to end a hundred and eighty queries in a hundred and eighty minutes (3 hours). It means that they'll provides a most of one minute per question. Time management may be a obligatory ability that's needed for this communicating. whereas active reception, check that that you simply keep the time limitation in mind. see complete answer of NEET previous year question paper; specialize in the commonly asked queries, topics and pattern.

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8. Don't fall for approximation

Many candidates have the tendency of taking the approximation route for determination queries they don’t recognize. However, it'd prove risky during this case as there's negative marking for a wrong answer. it's suggested to go away an issue utterly if you are doing not recognize the proper answer. this {can be} one in every of the foremost necessary tips to crack NEET 2018 that anyone can give!

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It’s crucial to judge yourself each physically and mentally. rather than whining “I ne'er get enough sleep” or “I’m intake an excessive amount of food,” take hold and set up for transfer within the balance. this can assist you to be happier and a lot of productive. Avoid junk and oily foods and switch to healthy diet plans. Do meditation and yoga exercises for higher concentration. of these tips to crack NEET 2018 would be useless while not this one factor!

10. Quality is imperative

Your perspective decides the effectiveness of the training method. If you possess a negative approach and keep spoken communication that you simply can’t bang, then this won’t plan to the thought of learning. A grumbling approach can solely build things troublesome. the instant you begin thinking absolutely, your brain can show bigger activity. A right frame of mind conjointly causes you to feel less anxious and a lot of receptive new ideas.

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I wish you All the Best for NEET 2019!!!

#neet 2019 #neet #neetexam #neetpreparation

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kmalexander · 4 years ago

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Gleam Upon the Soundtrack

In the past, I’ve released my book playlists before the launch of the book. These tend to be inspiration playlists, not the music I find myself writing to. (If you’re interested in a “writing playlist,” let me know in the comments! I’d be happy to assemble something. There’s very much a “type” of music I listen to when writing a Bell Forging Cycle book.) Since Gleam Upon the Waves has been out for a little over a week, I thought I’d go a step further and not only share the playlist but give a few details, why I chose particular songs, and how I felt they reflected (and inspired) aspects of the story.

First, the playlist! Jam out, roaders.

Not a Spotify fan? The playlist is also over on YouTube.

SPOILER WARNING

The following details will contain Gleam Upon the Waves spoilers. So, if you’re still reading, I’d recommend avoiding the rest of this post until after you finished the book. For the rest of you, let’s head deeper into the playlist.

Prologue

Sons and Daughters – American Spirit

youtube

Sleep now child beneath The heavy current Dragging you along

This was the song that inspired this book. Something about life dragging you through the wringer without caring about your desires or plans cemented itself inside my head (even well before 2020.)

Chapter 1 & 2

Baltimore Blues No. 1 – Deer Tick

youtube

Can you hear the sound of the crawling flesh Now can you smell the burning desire This place is too small to hide All the ghosts that’s kicking around inside

There’s something gritty to this Deer Tick song. I felt it was a nice pairing to Wal putting on airs and wearing suits—despite his intentions, he can’t hide who he is. His problems will not disappear. Lovat devours.

Chapter 3

Gates of Dawn – Heartless Bastards

youtube

I have awoken The footsteps sound of thunder

While this tune more positive than Wal’s experience, I thought opening a new reality deserved a song that had a similar impact. I’m also a sucker for Erika Wennerstrom’s vocals. (Probably why Heartless Bastards make an appearance a little later.)

Chapter 1-3

How Deep Is The Ocean – Miles Davis

youtube

Like I wouldn’t include this in an ocean-themed playlist.

Chapter 4

bury a friend – Billie Eilish

youtube

Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me? When we all fall asleep, where do we go?

I had this chapter in my head since Red Little World. I also read it for Dead Drop Live last week. I loved the idea of Ashton being this ghost that haunts Wal—an echo of his past. One he weirdly cares about despite understanding that he’s an enemy. Eilish’s pop-minimalism just felt right for a decoupled avatar whom you may or may not want dead.

Chapter 5

Wild and Wasted Waters – Kill It Kid

youtube

Wild and wasted waters Have come to carry me on

For something so deadly, humans have an odd fascination with water. Also, this song fits with Wal being entirely out of his element. It’s helped by the Alan Lomax sample that works too well as an undercurrent for the story happening to Wal.

Chapter 6 & 7

Blood on your Bootheel – Caroline Rose

youtube

Think if you act like a man, you can alter this wheel; You can make it in this world without that blood on your bootheels

“Altering the wheel” is something Wal has attempting for a while (since Old Broken Road, if we’re honest,) but he can’t change his destiny. He can kick against the goads as much as he wants, but fate will drag him along whether he wants it or not.

Chapter 8

‘Round Midnight – Thelonious Monk

youtube

No lyrics, but man what a song. (If you haven’t noticed, any of the jazz numbers I call out in the books end up in my playlists.)

Chapter 9 & 10

Glitter & Gold – Barns Courtney

youtube

Do you ponder the manner of things In the dark The dark, the dark, the dark

Wal’s damn lucky for a guy that can’t escape his reality, eh? There’s also an element of foreshowing here. With the cult’s interest Wal can’t escape his past just like he can’t escape fate.

Chapter 11

Lovecraft in Brooklyn – The Mountains Goats

youtube

Someday something’s coming From way out beyond the stars To kill us while we stand here It’ll store our brains in mason jars

If you’ve read the last three books, it should be obvious why I included this one. Also, John Darnielle is a national treasure and should be protected at all costs.

Chapter 12, 13, & 14

Sirens – Lola Marsh

youtube

In a million years It’ll all be over Within a million years It’ll all be over

Yael Shoshana Cohen’s voice is incredible. There is a vastness in this song that matched the tone of the Wasteland. It also deals with time on an epic scale, and that’s something I appreciated—it’s cosmicy without being overt.

Chapter 15

Postcards From Hell – The Wood Brothers

youtube

I got a soul that I won’t sell And I don’t read postcards from hell

I hope you caught how Gleam Upon the Waves reflects the other stories up until this point. Wal waking in a hospital and pushing himself out of bed is awfully familiar. Despite what he’s faced with, Wal tends not to stop. He’s relentless. Tell him things are bad, and he keeps going. His tenacity is admirable, if not a bit foolish.

Chapter 16 & 17

Wicked Waters – Benjamin Booker

youtube

This must be where I lose it all, darling Throw myself into wicked waters

Again, water. Maybe our pal acted a bit too rashly?

Chapter 18

Ding Ding Dong – Waipod Petchsuphan

youtube

For all its familiarity, Empress is a foreign place, and Wal is a stranger. This poppy Thai luk thung track from ’76 sparked similar emotions for me. It’s familiar, borrowing from common themes, but at the same time it’s different from other music of the era. It’s also a bop.

Chapter 19

Hello, Darling – Conway Twitty

youtube

Hello darlin’, nice to see you, it’s been a long time

Should be fairly obvious.

Chapter 20

Figure It Out – Royal Blood

youtube

Nothing better to do When I’m stuck on you And still I’m here Trying to figure it out

This is a fairly big reveal, and while the theme of the song is related to Wal’s relationship with Essie, it’s even more complicated. “Figuring it out” is kinda a thing here, see?

Chapter 21, 22, & 23

You Want it Darker – Leonard Cohen

youtube

There’s a lullaby for suffering And a paradox to blame But it’s written in the scriptures And it’s not some idle claim You want it darker We kill the flame

Cohen’s last album deals with death and loss, there’s a heaviness to it, and it felt fitting for this section of the book.

Chapter 24, 25, 26

Mean Old World – Big Bill Broonzy

youtube

This is a mean old world to live in, I’m just travelin’ through It’s a mean old world to live in, I’m just travelin’ through Yes, sometime I get so blue, that I don’t know what to do

Another one that should be obvious. Poor Wal. Who’s the jerk that subjects him to this?

Chapter 27 & 28

Madness – Ruelle

youtube

Nowhere to run from all of this havoc Nowhere to hide From all of this madness, madness, madness

Eventually, you can only experience so much before it all just begins to break down.

Chapter 29 & 30

Sway – Heartless Bastards

youtube

So, I stumble and I sway into the room and I fade I hope my darkest day are behind me I want to stay here in the sun for a while I hope my darkest days are behind me

There’s a spark of hope here, and I feel like there’s a spark of hope in these chapters as well. Yes, two Heartless Bastard songs in this playlist. You’re going to have to deal.

Chapter 31

Remains – Algiers

youtube

While the captors boast On how they lower your costs The rich men gamble At the foot of the cross

When you make a decision, you need to be ready to deal with the outcome.

Chapter 32

Revival – Soulsavers

youtube

Why am I so blind With my eyes wide open, oh? Trying to get my hands Clean in dirty water

A song about people doing something they feel is right even though reality clashes with that desire, and somehow, at their core, they know it. If that doesn’t fit the Deeperists, I don’t know what would.

Chapter 33 & 34

The Church Bell’s Moan – Bror Gunnar Jansson

youtube

Don’t you hear them?

Ring the bell and eventually they’ll come.

Chapter 35 & 36

Get Loud for Me – Gizzle

youtube

I see my goal and get cold as December when Counting our sins, I don’t have no friends I came here to win, my start is your end Now let it begin now

FIGHT. FIGHT. FIGHT. Also, this is such a great reflection of the previous song that I had to include it.

Chapter 37 & 38

The End – Kings of Leon

youtube

This could be the end This could be the end This could be the end This could be the end ‘Cause I ain’t got a home

A song about change and facing that change. Felt like a fitting end to this playlist.

Chapter 37 & 38… again

I See A Darkness – Johnny Cash & Bonnie “Prince” Billy

youtube

And did you know how much I love you Is a hope that somehow you you Can save me from this darkness?

Wait, never mind. This is even more fitting.

Chapter 37 & 38… for real this time

The Parting Glass – Hozier

youtube

Of all the comrades that ere I had, they’re sorry for my going away, And of all the sweethearts that ere I had, they wish me one more day to stay, But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise while you should not, I will gently rise and I’ll softly call, “Goodnight and joy be with you all!”

No… this one.

So, that’s Gleam Upon the Soundtrack, a Gleam Upon the Waves playlist! I hope everyone enjoyed a glimpse into my musical inspirations. It’s really fun to assemble these things and reflect on why particular songs spoke to me over another. I totally understand why other authors do it as well. This isn’t the only playlist I’ve made for my novels, you can check out the other ones here.

Once again, thanks to everyone for picking up Gleam Upon the Waves. I’m really proud of it, and I hope you enjoyed your time back in the Territories. If you haven’t nabbed your copies yet, you can do so from any of the links below.

Buy the paperback:

Amazon – Barnes & Noble

Buy the eBook:

Kindle – Kobo – Nook – Apple Books – GooglePlay

Finally, if you’ve finished Gleam, please leave an honest review, and if you liked it, tell your friends! Thank you for making Gleam Upon the Waves one of the books you chose to read this year. Time is finite and it’s an honor you decided to spend some of yours with my book.

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whiskynottea · 7 years ago

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We’ll rise up – Chapter 7 – The repent.

Previously Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Claire was furious.

She couldn’t decide if it was Jamie or herself and her naiveté that made her feel that way, but the feeling was too strong to neglect it in any case.

She left Claudel at the house and kept walking towards the river.

When she arrived at the riverbank, Claire found it impossible to still herself. She kept pacing up and down, all the while breathing deeply and trying to let the serenity of the Seine pass through her skin and reach her mind and heart.

Time passed, but every attempt to find calmness seemed to go in vain. The light breeze that caressed her face couldn’t alter the suffocating feeling that overwhelmed her. The sun didn’t warm her skin and the pain in her legs couldn’t stop her from moving. Withdrawn from the real world, nothing around Claire could actually reach her inside.

An abnormal amount of energy filled her tissues, preparing her body for a “fight or flight” reaction; a behavior to aid survival, used by animals for thousands of years.

This fight was different though; it was brain against heart. Claire knew she had to pick a side and her stamina didn’t aid towards a solution.

She just wanted to run – run until there was no more breath in her lungs. Run until her body’s weight felt as heavy as her heart’s. Run until the last speck of strength left her muscles.

And then fall. Find oblivion.

She knew that this impulse was meaningless. There was no choice for “flight” this time. So she kept pacing until she was ready to fight - and drown every last hope still shining in her heart.

Eventually, weariness crept in her body and she stood rigid, looking at the clear sky and desperately noticing how much she failed to clear her brain.

It was now evident that her denial to face the revelation about Jamie backfired on her. Her façade had broken the moment she saw him again and instead of keeping everything under control, her feelings flooded over her heart’s rim.

Claire knew she needed to be sensible now. Think things over, disentangle her feelings that currently formed a huge ball of yarn filling her brain and then move forward. This was what she always did. Analyze the situation – solve the problem – move forward.

Why was it so bloody difficult this time?

She hadn’t heard him approaching.

It was just a light touch on her arm, as if a leaf had found her on its descent towards the earth. Its warmth was what indicated that it was a human’s touch, together with the light, broken murmur of her name that followed.

“Claire…”

With her nerves on edge, Claire turned around on a swift move and almost fell on his chest. Taking immediately a step back while averting her eyes from him, his hand was on her arm again.

“Please, Claire…”

Come on Beauchamp. Hide this glass face of yours and deal with it. Better now than ever.

“How can I help you?”

He withdrew his hand after hearing her tone.

Good. That was good – keep that stern voice.

She didn’t really look at him. Her eyes were raised to his face but she focused on his forehead to keep all feelings aside. Her feelings, his feelings. Pretending there was nothing under the surface was easier than taking account of the man in front of her.

“Oh, lass, please.”

She barely heard him. His voice was slightly louder than a whisper and she now saw his sagged shoulders, his hand midway in the air- hesitating to touch her again. Her heartbeat started increasing, immediately followed by her much potent anger.

Protect yourself. Don’t be a damn fool again.

“What is it that you want, Jamie?” Her eyes trailed down on his dark grey pantaloon before she continued. “I see you’ve changed your clothes.” She was unable to keep the ironic look from her face. Her eyebrow was raised and her lips formed the tiniest of sardonic smiles.

He dropped his hand at his side. “Aye, I did that,” Jamie said and continued with a breath. “Ye have to let me explain, Claire. Ye have to give me a chance.”

“To explain what? There is nothing you have to explain Jamie.”

“There is and ye know that. I owe ye an explanation, for what you saw.”

“No, Jamie. You don’t owe me anything. You barely know me.”

No reason to hear more lies anyway. I saw him with my own eyes. I saw both of them. Why couldn’t he leave all this as it was, to fade out with time? It would eventually disappear – this crazy heartbeat. All things decay with time.

He had to make it the hard way, so better end it now and be done with it Beauchamp.

“You better go back,” Claire stopped for a moment before adding, “where you belong.” She took her eyes off him before finishing her sentence and turned her back at him, looking again towards the Seine.

Keep breathing and he’ll be gone before you know it. All is well. All will be well.

He didn’t leave.

Claire still felt his warmth behind her as his breaths came more rushed and irregular.

“I need to tell ye, Claire. I need ye to listen to me. ’Tis the truth that we’ve met only twice, ‘tis true that ye still don’t ken enough about me but...” He touched her hand lightly, his fingers barely brushing hers. “Don’t ye feel it too Claire? What lies between us? For that alone, I owe ye the truth.”

Claire didn’t move to face him. She didn’t know what he might see in her eyes, she still wasn’t sure of her feelings herself.

He came at her side, seeing her now, and resumed talking. “When I saw ye today, Claire… Talking to the men, trying to stop the assault…”

This statement took her by surprise and she now turned to face him, unable to stop herself from doing so. “You’d seen me while I was trying to protect François? But decided to come and offer your help only after I was bloody done with them? That’s interesting at the very least!” Her wry tone replaced the surprised one and she huffed.

“Aye, I was… occupied at the moment. Couldn’t come earlier and I’m sorry for this.”

“Occupied. I see.”

“No, no you don’t,” he returned calmly with a tone of despair in his voice. “Claire, please. I would give the world to help you, but it wouldna be any better if I came to ye in my previous attire now, would it?”

Claire just looked at him sternly, fully aware that he was right about this.

“I felt my heart stop when I saw ye there. The moment I could finally approach, I came to ye. Being close to ye again, a nighean, I forgot everything – including the clothes I wore. I ken that was a surprise to you –“

“A surprise? I meet you after at the attack on Bastille, mend your shoulder, wait for you to come back as you told me, all the while thinking of you as a rebel and then I see you strolling like, like that,” she gestured vaguely towards the direction of the centre of Paris where they’d met earlier. “And, don’t you worry, Jamie. To bring you out of this awkward situation, I know very well what occupied you. Or, rather, who. No further clarifications are actually needed.”

At least now he looked flabbergasted. He kept staring at her, with wide blue eyes and his mouth slightly agape. After a while, he seemed to summon his ability to speak back. “What do ye mean by that Claire? Ye couldna possibly see me today.”

“Not today, but it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Aye, ‘tis,” he returned firmly.

His hands were on his hair, ruffling them before he sighed and grabbed her hand. He looked her in the eyes while speaking.

“Claire… Ye need to listen to me now. ‘Tis the truth that I can offer ye and this I’ll do and gladly. If ye canna forgive me, then…” he trailed off, as though the air was knocked out of his lungs. “What ye saw the day we met, what ye look at now – this is who I truly am. I didna deceive ye when we met, Sassenach, I was free to be myself that day. But this isna always the case.”

That gained her attention. Her guard was still up but she was watching him as he spoke and saw the man she first met a few days ago. His eyes were pleading her to believe him, his chest rising and falling with deep agonizing breaths.

“I support the revolution, Sassenach. How could I not? But my way isna the same as yours. I –“ he stopped, closed his eyes and bit his lips as if he was going to admit the most horrifying revelation in the world.

Claire fortified herself, anticipating the wave coming full force to hit her. Whatever it was, at least it seemed to be the truth. Maybe she could have that, at least. She instinctively nodded to him, even though he hadn’t opened his eyes.

“I am a spy, Claire. This is what I am,” he said in a heavy voice and opened his eyes again.

Claire’s heart stopped. Her mind froze, all sense leaving it at once.

A spy?

Blinking as though that would help her think, she connected the pieces of the puzzle.

Did he say that he supports the revolution by being a spy? So that makes him a spy for the rebels? How could that be? Usually, it's the nobles who send spies to Saint Antoine to collect information.

Jamie was silent, anxiously waiting for her response.

“Do you mean to tell me that you are a rebel and you spy on the nobles?” Claire gave voice in her thoughts, still unconvinced.

He snorted at that. “Not the easiest thing to believe, I ken that. But I told ye as I’d give ye the truth and ‘tis that I did.”

“I’m going to need more of this truth to believe you,” Claire raised an eyebrow.

“Aye, I figured that much Sassenach.” He smiled at her, breathing easier now. “I am not a noble, but I am acquainted with many of them, through my cousin’s business. He runs a wineshop in east Paris, dealing mainly with aristocrats and making a fortune for himself. He lives in Paris for many years now and his fortune made him accepted in their society. When I finished my studies I joined him and I work with him ever since. I have witnessed all the vanity of the nobles firsthand Sassenach, first in the University and then in the wineshop. The way they treat people is formidable,” he concluded, shaking his head. “When I heard about the revolution starting at Saint Antoine, I thought that I could help bring justice back to people. This is what I do now. I am trying to help.”

“Well, Jamie – if your name is real – you’re a very complicated man. Why do you tell me though? Isn’t it too dangerous for you?”

“It is real –my name. James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.” He paused in-between every name as if he gave a part of himself with each word. “Would ye betray me Sassenach?” he inquired smiling but the blue eyes were searching an honest answer in hers.

Claire recognized the gift he was giving her and accepted it. With a more benevolent tone in her voice, she challenged him. “If you manage to convince me, I don’t see why I would. If you are a spy, how did you explain your injury to your noble friends?”

“They are not my friends,” Jamie replied sternly.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Weel, I said as I came across some radicals on their way to Hôtel de Ville and they attacked me.”

“And did they believe you?”

“They did.”

“No suspicions? Are you so deep in their society then?”

“I dinna say I like it, Claire. Their narcissism and arrogance are insufferable. But it’s not that all of them are like this.”

“Certainly not all of them. I would say that you rather enjoyed the company of some,” Claire retorted dryly without taking time to thoroughly think her response.

“Ahh, this is what ye meant before, then. I dinna ken how it happened and ye saw me with the woman, Claire, but what ye have in your mind isna what truly happened. Annalise means nothing to me. ‘Tis something I have to do – visit her and spend time with her – as she knows important people that I have to approach. She is kindhearted but I have nothing to share with her, Sassenach.”

“This is not my business, Jamie.”

“Is it not then?”

“I don’t care who your close friends are. Seems tantalizing enough though, doesn’t it? Love above all politics. A Shakespeare-like romance, maybe?”

“A romance? Are ye not listening to me lass? I told ye Claire, ‘tis nothing of the sort.”

Jamie kept shaking his head to emphasize his point but he couldn’t erase Claire’s disbelieving eyebrow. She didn’t continue on the matter though.

“So, if you tell me the truth,” she resumed, “isn’t it too dangerous for you to come here dressed like this? What if someone who knows you sees you on your way here?”

“Aye, ‘tis not wise, to say the least. This is the reason I couldna come back to see ye earlier, Sassenach.”

“And now? What has changed now?”

“Ye really ask me that?” His blue eyes were wide as he looked at her, his eyebrows almost touching his hairline. “You, who wouldna raise yer eyes on me? Who called me sir like we’d never met before?” He stopped, inhaled deeply and placed his hand on Claire’s cheek, slightly tilting her head. “Look at me, mo nighean. I longed to see ye again. to hear her voice, from the moment you left my eyes that night. I couldna stand ye talking to me so harshly, seeing ye hurt and knowing this is all my fault. Seeing as I would lose ye, I couldna just wait for ye to go.”

“Lose me?”

“Claire, I would give everything for a chance to prove myself to ye. It’s all I ask.”

Claire looked at the genuine bright blue eyes looking back at her and knew that her mind had lost the fight. Against all odds, her heart had prevailed and she actually did believe him.

The pressure of all her hidden emotions suddenly erupted to the surface and leaved her body in hearty sobs. Jamie instantly engulfed her in his arms, holding her tight against his chest, one hand interweaved in her hair and the other rubbing her back to soothe her.

“Oh, Claire, mo nighean donn. Dinna fash, now. I’m here. I’m here now,” he whispered in her hair in a broken voice.

And there, between her ragged breaths and puffed eyes, safely locked in Jamie’s arms, Claire had finally found her much pursued serenity.

Chapter 8

#outlander fanfic #we'll rise up #jamie x claire #french revolution #18th century #outlander fanfiction #historical fanfic

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blsimonofcascia · 4 years ago

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Gimenez, Earl Reynan T.

Margaret Mead once said, “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” Education is an essential aspect of someone’s life and changes how a person thinks and helps them overcome challenges through the knowledge of the world. A method teachers’ devise to test a student’s depth of education is through homework. Homework reinforces skills, concepts, and information learned in class (Atkinson, 2020). However, as the pandemic continues to grow, so does the amount of homework provided by online courses. Sadly, too much homework can affect both students’ physical and mental health (Oxford Learning, 2016). Mental health is already an issue, and the nature of the new normal education could worsen it. Which leads to my negative view of education, that education is nothing but abuse to my rights, that I should just quit because of the stress the new online learning has given to me, and that I am the only one suffering. But recent events say otherwise and that I should just thread on and move forward towards the challenges. What could be the reason I have decided on this?

Starting from the past where people implement face-to-face learning, I remember that homework was manageable. At most, there were one or two assignments for the day and around five total assignments for the week. For example, the Mathematics learning sector for my previous grade levels is one with the most assignments because a portion of my class has difficulties with it. There were only lesser assignments because we did most of the activities in the classroom, and teachers only gave homework as a mini-challenge for the discussed topic. However, learning changed when the pandemic hit, and everyone moved towards online classes. Online meetings restrict time with only forty minutes per subject following the schedule; therefore, almost every single activity is an assignment by the teachers. Self-learning is hard for someone like me who relies heavily on mentorship learning strategies. Other people think also the same, Sara Hoskin (2020) states that “The work (homework) isn’t hard, but it can be challenging at times when you don’t have a teacher to call over for help (Para. 6).” With the motion of assignments for each subject almost every day and the self-paced learning, the pressure will build up for people who are easily anxious like me as the deadlines stack up for strenuous activities and lessons. I was not ready and did not experience online learning before. I cannot help myself and cried almost every night as I accomplish the tasks assigned to me despite being bombarded by personal chores and responsibilities.

The chain of events leads to my partial point of view, that education is becoming an abuse and that I am the only one suffering. Well, I thought so because people around me were unfazed by the amount of work. When there was an asynchronous activity, my new classmates talked about goofing around and only became serious later with academic-related stuff. My old classmates are no longer with me, and they have their share of assignments. Yet they laughed together and could accomplish their tasks. Alone and isolated because the department transferred me forcibly to another section with little-to-no one I knew of, together with another student of which I have very little interaction in the past, I found myself in despair and suffering because of the new nature of education. It was only a matter of time for those who were close to me to realize that I became different, someone with no motivation to continue in life. They asked me what was wrong; I did not answer; however, I asked my friends if their studies are fine and that is where a different array of emotions hit me. They too cried and suffered. With one of my dear friends said, “There is too much homework, I even cried at my low grade in Quipper.” My parents even caught wind, and they told me that the students in other schools are also suffering through all the different social media posts of these students’ rants and complaints. So, I thought to myself, were my tears all but an embarrassment? Should I have looked at the bigger view? Education was not the problem then, just the very nature of online classes?

Then a holistic point of view dawned on me, that education is not the one to blame and that I am not only the one suffering. All those tears and despair resulted from my fallacy, the fallacy of composition. According to Paroginog (2020) Fallacy of Composition happens when we mistakenly assume that what is true for the parts must also be true for the whole. So, I mistakenly acted upon my whims and dumped the nature of online classes, time-bounded and limited, to learning. Education is limitless, just like how Lee (2020) describes the brain, “The human brain has limitless potential. With time and effort, our magnificent brains can learn whatever we choose (para. 1-2).” As a result, I have steeled myself and did whatever I could without worrying about the grade; giving priority to nothing but learning. By then, I could feel a little lighter and be able to focus more on my long-term and personal goals. But, what does this mean for those who also suffered anxiety, insecurity, and hopelessness, did they also commit another fallacy, perhaps the fallacy of the slippery slope? According to Hanks, “In a slippery slope argument, a course of action is rejected because, with little or no evidence, one insists that it will lead to a chain reaction resulting in an undesirable end or ends (para. 1).” We can see this through the 263,091 persons that signed a petition (and counting) and supporters that want to freeze the academic year 2020-2021 in hopes to make learning equal. But the petition is one-sided without the consideration of the education sector that needs their jobs and wants to teach the masses. Well, every individual has their reasons and capabilities, so thinking of negativities only may not be true for the others. Holistic or not, these individuals that have experienced harshness in learning within the new normal also need to reflect. Reflect on other possibilities and choices and ask for help from others so we all can move forward in our little ways, the same way on how I thought quitting would be the best idea when it is not.

In conclusion, my viewpoint that education is the one to blame for my sufferings is wrong. There are others that feel the same way that I do and have distinct challenges to overcome. With that, I realize that I have to be less selfish and take into consideration all the other aspects that contribute to the difficulty of the new normal education. Taking these in consideration, I hope that people, not only students, will take time to reflect and think of all the possibilities and options while the pandemic continues. This way they would not lose hope as easily as I did and continue on with their long-term goals. As Charles C. Noble says, “You must have long-term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures.”

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junkndragons · 4 years ago

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Human Hospitality pt 1

(a short Paeka Bruiamlug thing)

Human cities stank.

Their streets were always full of sewage, smog, and trash. Even the "nice" cities struggled with this problem. Each step forward had to be carefully placed in order to avoid dunking into some sort of noxious-smelling fluid. It was filthy. To dare to go barefoot here meant you were either crazy or incredibly poor. These grimy, cobbled streets were nothing like the cities of towering trees and sweet air back where she called home.

This wasn't Paeka's first trip to a human settlement, and it certainly wouldn't be her last. She had been to Waterdeep before, back in her 40s, alongside her mentor when she had officially been named heir apparent. She stood near the side of a building in the castle ward, peering down at an unrolled map in her hands. Paeka didn't dare lean back against the wall, lest she wanted her gown covered in filth. She had dressed elegantly, pairing one of her high-necked, tulle-topped azure gowns with a similarly constructed cloak, fastened with a golden dragon's head at the neck. Tiny golden bolts shot across the stormy-colored fabric, like lightning rumbles in the clouds. Was it a little ornate? Of course it was. Paeka believed a Lòcendur should always dress like a Lòcendur, especially when meeting with these humans.

The map she clutched had a manor circled in red with the word "Louddragon" written in Common beside it. She appeared to be no more than two blocks away from its location, meaning that her single journey of the day was almost done. This realization came with with a tinge of sadness. Paeka hadn't done anything helpful for the needy today. Technically, discourse with the Louddragons was an important step of conducting her service pilgrimage properly, but doing actual tasks and therefore getting to use her abilities was much more fun.

You aren't looking to have fun, you're looking to serve, she inwardly chastised herself while rolling the map back up. She had just departed from the Elven lands about a week ago, with the journey by horse and carriage gobbling up most of that time. This was the second day she had to herself, and though she'd rather zap something for a peasant, this was an important part of her future job, too.

Communication with the Louddragons would be essential for her pilgrimage. They were the Dragon Servants of the humans, technically family, and her most immediate point of contact and assistance throughout the next ten years. Paeka knew that cultivating a positive relationship with them would be essential. She would have to work alongside at least 5 or 6 of their Kerrars, after all. Better to start on a strong foundation when you have to work with multiple members of the same family for literally their entire lives. Paeka wondered for a moment if the Kerrars who would work under her could live for over a hundred years, like they used to.

Yet...something still teetered towards negativity in her brain when she envisioned the human nobles. Lócendurnertë once said something about a faction of Louddragons attempting to produce a Kerrar capable of throwing their hat in the ring for the Trials. ‘Nertë’s intention had been to warn his successor, but Paeka didn’t see much need for caution. The idea that a human who could do a few magic tricks thought that they could compete with her was laughable, to say the least. She doubted it was the main branch of the family. No, it had to be some feverish faction obsessed with getting another taste of the Elven longevity left in their blood by Lócendurenquë.

The majority of the Louddragon were grateful affiliates to the Bruiamlug. She didn't like the idea of short-lived humans exploiting the title and position made by an elf so long ago. The damn human noble family Lócendurenquë married into had already stolen the Common translation of their last name! There would be no further attempted reclamation as long as she was around, that was for sure.

She moved deftly through the streets, tiptoeing around people and refuse. Crowded places like these made her yearn for the wings she'd yet to conjure. The immense Louddragon manor sprung into view as she rounded the corner deeper into the castle ward. It dominated the street it was on, towering Gothic architecture constructed of stark grey stone and blue-tinted windows. Black iron gates surrounded the massive complex. An enormous sapphire crest sprawled across the center of the gate. Looks familiar, she mentally noted with a huff of annoyance. The Louddragon crest featured two outstretched hands holding a heart beneath the figure of a lightning-breathing dragon roaring into the sky. Similarly, the Bruiamlug crest featured two pairs of hands, one holding a heart, the other a sword, and the downward-pointing dragon’s head electrified them both.

Paeka approached the towering gates, surprised at the seeming emptiness of the complex. She looked left and right for an on-duty guard. The interior area of the main gate seemed to be deserted. The building she assumed was the guard’s station was also empty. She thought the Louddragons would know to anticipate her visit, but no matter. She would just let herself in. Paeka remembered a trick regarding the house ‘Nertë had demonstrated at their last visit, something ‘Renquë must’ve had installed. She pressed her palm over the heart on the gate.

The shape rapidly began to warm under her touch and glow a bright sapphire. The light intensified in both intensity and heat, near the point of pain, when spectral dragon scales began to cover Paeka’s hand. For a brief moment, her entire hand was covered in glowing cobalt dragon skin. It had been a while since she had seen it like this. Then, the heart rumbled beneath her palm. Paeka felt the magic crescendo and the moving mechanisms of the mystical lock within.

There was a horrible crash as the gate flew open much harder than Paeka would’ve preferred. “Oh Gods!” someone shrilly exclaimed from her left. Causing that clamor would’ve shaken anybody. She allowed herself no more than a moment of embarrassment in “enemy territory” at the racket she caused before turning to face the yell.

There was a loud bump followed by skittering, creaking, and shuffling from the guard house. A guard with his helmet half-on popped up into the window, gripping his sword. “Oh?” He hadn’t exactly expected to see an elf dressed like she was going to a ball today, especially not after a loud explosion. Wait. An elf dressed like she was going to a ball?

“Oh!” He blurted again, scrambling to exit the house and approach her. “Lady- I mean..ah...Madam...um-”

“Paeka of Dragon-Chosen House Bruiamlug, The Servants of Maruxreoz, Lócendurquain apparent. Cease your nap and bring me inside to meet the senior Louddragon immediately,” Paeka abruptly commanded. Her voice was stern and surprisingly booming, but not dripping with malice even though he knew she was angry. Paeka stood nearly eye-level with the human guard despite being an elf. Even with him wearing boots, he noted. He jolted into a salute. At least her intro spiel let him know what to call her. He had read the note this morning while desperately guzzling coffee to stay awake, after all. “Yes, Lócendur Apparent! Right this way!”

Paeka had kept her tone strictly authoritative, but her molten gaze certainly didn’t mask her contempt for the lazy guard. What type of behavior was this? Consciousness was the bare minimum for a guard, and this man couldn’t even muster that. She was interested in seeing what the Kerrar and the rest of his men looked like if this is what he uses to guard the front gate. Paeka wordlessly followed behind the guard, just close enough to feel intimidating. She wondered how old the current Kerrar was, and how old the one to soon replace him and spar with her in 10 years must be. What if he was a child? Would it be cruel to gather combat intel on him if so?

The guard also couldn’t help but think about age. He worked for a human noble family with elven blood in Waterdeep, after all. He saw elves and half-elves all the time, but it was still a little jarring to see one who looked as elven as Paeka did. Rather than the more typical to human settlements’ moon elf, she was obviously a sun elf, with eyes, hair, and skin varying shades of shimmering gold. Her sclera....they almost weren’t there. She was tall and very spindly, looking mystically powerful but physically weak. There was an ethereal quality to her that made her unsettling to look at. Combined with her no-nonsense attitude, it was ample motivation for the guard to lead her to the Lord’s office with haste.

He led her down a grand corridor of black marble, golden candelabras, and gigantic framed portraits. The canvases lined both walls and got noticibly newer as she advanced. The images were interspersed between large, ornate doors, at least 5 on each side. The blue-framed paintings on the right wall must have been of the Kerrars, their subjects given away by dragon attributes like outstretched azure wings and phantasmagoric skin scales. A grand hall like this was a fitting show of respect for the power of Maruxreoz they had been blessed with, thankfully. The humans weren't doing it all wrong.

As they neared the end of the hallway and their destination came into view, Paeka spotted a familiar face among the paintings: a sour-faced, yellow-haired man on the far side of the office door. This was the only Kerrar she had met so far, the one whom she had met on her previous trip: Ciyan Louddragon. He had been her only point of reference for visualization of a rival throughout her arena training.

He looked younger in the painting than he did fifty years ago. He was depicted with beating wings, piercing blue, slit-pupiled eyes and massive spectral cobalt horns, shouting and clutching a sword struck with lightning. It was a powerful portrait, she had to admit. Another portrait hung next to Ciyan's, suggesting he had passed on. Paeka hadn't truly expected the human who was obviously in his 60s to face her in the Trials 50 years after their meeting, but a strange feeling of loss spread through her as she realized he must've died a while ago.

The guard knocked on the office door. Paeka realized that the guard had never specified who he was taking her to. Admittedly though, she hadn't asked, just ordered him to take her to his senior. She wondered if it would be the Kerrar who took Ciyan's place, or some other sort of position in the noble family. The Bruiamlug ruling council had a variety of powerful seats other than the Locendur. It was likely the Louddragons modeled themselves in that way as well.

“Enter!” instructed the voice on the other side of the door. The guard pulled the heavy door open and stepped to the side, motioning with his free hand as he held it open for Paeka. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin and mindfully strolled into the office. Waiting for her inside was a flaxen-haired, middle-aged human that stood eye-level to her chin, peering up with bright ultramarine eyes. Their silvery hair was half-pulled back into a bun, exposing the pointed tip of one ear as they tilted their head into a smile. “Ah, hello! My, you must be somebody important!” they quipped, noticeably glancing over her elaborate dress. They looked over to their guard. “Byth? Didn’t feel the need to do an introduction for our esteemed guest?”

It was a brightly phrased question, but the bite beneath was plain to hear. The guard- Byth, apparently- straightened abruptly and stammered out “Y-Your honor, I present the esteemed Locendur Apparent, Paeka of House Bruiamlug.” He made a broad gesture towards her, awkwardly, as he said her name. He knew he was missing of a few of the things he said, but surely the elf had to understand he could’t catch all that, right? He stole a glance at her face and felt scalded by molten gold. No, she apparently didn’t.

“Locendur Apparent, Servant of Dragons, Chosen of Maruxreoz, it is an honor to make your acquaintance,” they said, folding an arm at the waist and bowing their head in Paeka’s direction, “and we thank you for your visit today. I am Hoyra Louddragon, the current Dragon’s Hand, Touched by Maruxeoz, the Chosen Kerrar of House Louddragon. Pleased to know you.”

"Many thanks and blessings unto you, fellow servant Kerrar Hoyra,” Paeka responded, bowing her head in kind. As she brought her head back up, she searching the Kerrar’s face after seeing those ears. Hoyra definitely had elven ancestry. ‘Nerte’s words and a dirty suspicion bubbled up inside of her before she squashed them back down. The Kerrar being elven doesn’t mean they’re up to something, she told herself, people just find each other.

#paeka bruiamlug #dnd #dnd writing #dnd character #dnd character development #dnd character story

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