#Liane’s putting her foot down so that will be VERY interesting to see how the Cartman family dynamic will evolve

[victimized-martyr]

Are you optimistic about season 26?

erm um… no?? 🥲

Season 25 and Streaming Wars had their moments, but overall the delivery of ideas felt lackluster. Much like the last 2 years, I expect a running theme. Essentially, the season won’t really be a season per se, but acts as narrative buildup interspersed with side episodes—though they will loosely connect to the season—leading up to the 2 specials airing later this year. It’s a solid game plan on paper, but s25/SW was super dodgy. I feel the saving grace was Tolkien’s renaming, and Cartman’s whole hot dog arc thing that just got set up. I know Randy was given competition (finally! the little resistance and pushback to his hijinks has done serious damage to his character) but really the biggest takeaway I’ve seen from fans/merch is stuff from Cartman’s arc. (cartitties).

However, I feel Matt and Trey have been revitalized by the concert, Casa Bonita’s opening, and their deepfake deal. It’s a double edged sword though, because now Mattrey are juggling the opening of a restaurant, production for the video game, their deepfake studio… I’m worried their attention will be divided and affect the quality of the story this season.

TLDR: Very mixed feelings, though not quite approaching cautiously optimistic… I expect the fresher ideas (HotDog) to get sidelined and Randy will remain in focus.

[curiosity-killed]

bitter fruit & thorns

Attempting to restart my daily writing habit by doing lil angsty warmups

Words: 1102 Warnings: Violence, implied torture Fun fact of the fic: The branches are Chinese quince (which is kind of a stupid name given multiple varieties of quince grow in China but w/e) which have v pretty flowers

If he squinted or leaned his head back a little, it almost looked like flowers beneath his feet. Ragged-edged and clumped together, they patterned the wood in flecks of red like wildflowers bursting into life from the splintering old floorboards, and Xie Lian couldn’t help a small smile at the thought. It had been months since he last saw flowers, winter frost creeping over all the fragile stems and snapping them off at the head. Really, this little hut was the warmest he’s been in weeks.

The door creaked, scraping across the floor where it sagged on its hinges, and footsteps thudded against the floor. Blinking a little to clear his vision, Xie Lian pulled his gaze from the flowers blooming in his own blood and fixed a polite smile on his lips. “Hello,” he said. The three men huddled close together as they approached, two of them lagging a step behind the first. If Xie Lian put his mind to it, he could probably break the ropes tying him in place and only have to take out the leader before the other two crumpled. They kept looking to the first man with wary little looks, as if afraid to even take a step with the wrong foot. The leader, on the other hand, paused directly before Xie Lian. His expression was completely blank as he tilted his head, gaze dropping slowly down Xie Lian’s face as if to catalogue the bruises and cuts across his face. “I’m sorry, I don’t have much to offer you,” Xie Lian started. A hand snapped out, knuckles colliding with the open cut across his cheek. Blood sprayed from his lips, joining the other red petals painting the floor. “I know who you are, Taizi Dianxia,” the man sneered. His apathy pulled back to reveal a cruel snarl, and Xie Lian swallowed before recomposing himself. Behind them, one of the men rubbed his fingers against his palm as if to chafe away the cold, and the other hunkered a little more into his cloak. It was chilly in here, if Xie Lian thought about it. Warmer than any snowbank or frozen alley, but their breath condensed into white fog when they exhaled. “Did you think we picked up some beggar just for fun?” the leader asked. Drawing in a careful breath, Xie Lian tried to keep his voice even and soothing. “This one apologizes,” he said. “I am no longer a prince or god. There are some buns in my bag and a—” “Shut up about your fucking buns,” one of the men behind the leader snapped. “We don’t want your shitty old food.” Xie Lian closed his mouth slowly, gaze flickering between the three of them. Although their clothes were worn and clearly a bit old, they didn’t seem so down on their luck as some. Certainly not so much so that they’d try to steal from a trash collector, a banished god with nothing to offer. Behind his back, his hands tightened and shifted in the rope tying them. They’d been cleverer than some, tying his hands separately and winding the rope around his waist so he could hardly move them. “You know, my mother said that our family was one of the wealthiest in Xianle before it fell,” the leader said, lifting his chin. “She was one of the greatest beauties, had a chance at being a concubine to the crown prince.” Even when he was only a spoiled child, Xie Lian didn’t have much of a memory for all the women paraded before him as potential concubines. His mother had handled most of it while he daydreamed of sword fights and grand adventures. Now, those faces were a blur, ground under the heel of the decades as they passed. “But you didn’t think she was good enough,” the leader said, leaning close to Xie Lian’s face. “Not for the Prince Who Pleased the Gods. So my mother was forced to take her chances in the war and plague, and she had to settle for a man who was willing to marry her with no dowry or family or anything to her name.” Xie Lian’s stomach twisted like he’d eaten poison, clenching up and making his throat grow tight. He swallowed, but it didn’t ease the knot working its way up his throat. “My mother died before she had a chance to grow old,” the man hissed, low, “and then today, what do I see? The same little prince who thought himself so much better than her, just as fresh-faced as any white lotus. Aren’t you just so lucky, Dianxia?” Over the years, Xie Lian had grown to hate that title, but a particularly bitter breed of shame crawled out of his stomach and burrowed into his chest now. How many times over the years had he pitied himself, wept or railed against his own misfortune? Always so selfish, so pathetic. He didn’t carry the scars of the human face disease because he was already a murderer, a killer not just of enemy soldiers on the battlefield but of every single citizen of Xianle, of every believer he’d ever had up to the very last one. “You,” the leader said, turning back over his shoulder toward the men behind him. It wouldn’t have been so hard to use the temporary distraction as an opportunity. The ropes were taut, but Xie Lian could still move enough to crack their skulls together and disorient the leader. He held still and waited. “Come here, hold his mouth open.” Xie Lian blinked, frowning slightly at the instruction. Poison was an arduous experience, but it didn’t provide much visual interest. At most, he’d writhe and throw up on himself. Perhaps that would be enough to satisfy them...? It seemed unlikely. One of the men moved around the leader to stand behind Xie Lian. He dug his hand into Xie Lian’s cheeks, prying open his jaw, and used the other to hold his head still. The third man stepped forward, and in his hands was not a vial or a blade but a bundle of branches. Snow still dusted their small leaves, frost curling delicately over scarlet blooms and slender thorns. “For the Flower-Crowned Martial God,” the one holding the branches said, sketching a mocking bow. The man behind Xie Lian held his jaw still, fingertips biting into the meat of the joint, as Xie Lian tried to pull away. At his feeble struggle, the leader smiled coolly and reached for the first of the thorny branches. “You understand,” he said, “it’s only my duty as a filial son.”

[mousehole5000]

wow i made this draft on november 1st i really took a break from this huh anyway tgcf chapters 121 - 142

i realize now this coffin scene was inevitable. feel kinda weird about hua cheng  back and forth from Teen to Big Man but it is very funny that theyre having their “dude dont look at my boner” moment while in the jaws of a water dragon

pei ming: why didnt you guys make a bigger coffin so you didnt have to squish together like that? xie lian: haha yep!! anyways what brings you here?

“In the grand, spacious centre of the entrance hall sat a person. And this person, dressed in all black, its face snow-white—was a corpse! Instantly Xie Lian shut the doors soundly.” - king of minding his own business.

okay this is where i stopped putting notes here for a while but i did save some in my e-reader so here’s some of the highlights

“Guzi used to have a good sleeping form, but perhaps with his cheap dad’s bad influence, now he was also spread out on top of Qi Rong’s stomach like a dead fish. Lang Ying himself was curled neatly in the corner, and was covered by a few shirts. Xie Lian lifted the blanket covering Qi Rong, suppressed the urge to smother his face, and covered the two small children.” - xie lian funny moments. also it would be really funny if qi rong redeems himself by learning love through these misfit chiildren and it might actually endear me to him but i hope that doesnt happen

Every heavenly official was yelling, and even Ling Wen was throwing a fit. “DON’T THROW EVERY BIT OF USELESS INFORMATION MY WAY, HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK I HAVE TO GO THROUGH EVERY DAY? DON’T YOU ALL KNOW TO USE YOUR BRAINS A LITTLE BEFORE ASKING ME?!” - ling wen marry me right now

“An expression like “seen a ghost” that only mortals experienced was now showing on his face for the first time. Shi Wudu’s pupils shrank to the smallest they could, and he blurted, “You’re still alive?!” “I’m dead!” He Xuan said coldly.” - okay everythings going tits up rn but i did laugh

i did see spoilers re: ming yi/he xuan reveal + shi wudu’s fate beforehand so i dont have a genuine reaction other than oh shit

“He slowly enunciated each word. “I won’t touch your fate. But, here in this place, chop off your brother’s head for me.”  CLANG! He threw a rusty blade onto the ground. Shi Qingxuan stared at that blade, his eyes wide. He Xuan continued, “Then, never show yourself before me again, and I will pretend you’ve never existed in this world.” - okay idk what else is going to happen but rn im concerned that this is like the 2nd biggest ship. i guess we’ll see?? i mean i am really curious whats going to happen to them. shi qingxuan keeps calling he xuan “ming-xiong” and i... sad

shi wudu im not really invested in you as a character but these next two bits... interesting

“If I don’t die but have nothing, then that’s truly a fate worse than death. If I’m not the Water God, I can’t take care of you. I won’t even be able to protect myself. I’m scared that we won’t even last two days…TAKE IT!” - damn. something about the wealthy losing everything and not knowing how to live without it bc thats their entire life and identity

“EVERYTHING I HAVE TODAY, I FOUGHT FOR MYSELF. I WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT I DON’T HAVE. I WILL CHANGE FATE I DON’T POSSESS. MY FATE IS UP TO ME AND NOT THE HEAVENS!” - okay so the whole committing spiritual fraud by tormenting a man and his family to get your brother a cushy title thing aside this was kind of badass. heretical? possibly. but still. also is he intentionally riling up he xuan so sqx doesnt have to kill him? if so damn...

also okay as long as im here im just gonna say it. the choice that he xuan gives shi qingxuan is fucking brutal but i actually think its probably as fair as it could be. sqx didnt know about or participate in what happened to hx but they did benefit from it greatly while hx lost EVERYTHING and i can understand he xuan’s thinking of “if you really feel bad for what happened to me then you have to make a sacrifice and understand the suffering and this is as clean as its going to get” and theres a bit where sqx is trying to beg for mercy but cant get the words out which im guessing is bc theres no good argument!! what happened was fucked up!!

“When Pei Ming saw that reinforcements had arrived, he didn’t appear particularly delighted; instead he threw the sword into the ground, then rubbed his nose and said, sounding grim, “You all just had to come just as I finished making these, what the heck.” - pei ming making coffins chopping down trees with his sword i love it #wastehistime2k17

“Xie Lian brought that basket of eggs along, and gave them away as souvenirs from the mortal realm. Many who received the eggs were overjoyed; some deciding to eat it along with their own blood, and some proclaiming they would hatch an eight-foot monster.” - GHOST CITY GHOST CITY

“Placing the brush down, he blew lightly at the ink and smiled. “If I like something, then my heart will not have room for any other, and I’ll always treasure it. A thousand times, a million times, no matter how many years, this will not change. This poem is the same." - thats nice and all but king... get therapy. i actually have further thoughts but tbh i dont want to put them into words bc they are simply too personal! moving on

didnt take any notes but somewhere in here was the bit with mount tong’lu opening and hua cheng losing it and kind of um. hm. that scene. thats another trope i really hate tbh i dont care for it as a way of including physical intimacy between characters and idk if it really ever adds anything but whatever moving on

The Half-Maquillage Woman - kind of interesting monster idea bc women and aging…. yeah. however i think this would be a lot stronger if there were a) more girls and this was b) discussed or illustrated at all prior to this moment. still interesting that its included knowing the author is a woman tho and there’s been comments on how ling wen is perceived vs pei ming. this book does keep giving me hope for interesting female character arcs i really want it to deliver something

quan yizhen..... i get u

lmao i have a note on a bit with lang ying that says “please dont be hc in disguise” and..... my clown nose was on but at least i knew that. for real this is bothering me how much he’s just. always. there. i know he’s a lead but we didn’t really need him around for a lot of this. oh well.  okay now to my current notes

“Yet it was precisely because it wasn’t cooked that it had to be eaten quickly. Once Xie Lian cooked it, it wouldn’t be edible anymore” - fucking fantastic

“Xie Lian hugged his belly. “Of course! Only after having met you did I rediscover that it’s such a simple thing to be happy, hahaha…” Hearing this, Hua Cheng blinked. Xie Lian’s laughter quieted a bit, realizing what he just said was a little too revealing.” - okay i know i said what i said about being tired of hua cheng being everywhere but... the line…. the fact that theyre laughing together…. :pleading:

“It’s not,” Ling Wen said. “At least, I believe, there will definitely not be another in history who can create a dish called ‘Incorruptible Chastity Meatballs’” - and truer words were never spoken

“I, DO NOT WORSHIP GODS. “I, AM GOD!” - this was every bit as badass as i hoped but no one told me it was immediately followed up by a little bit of the ol dinner theater fjalkdsfjsd. also puqi shrine noooooooooo

“Xie Lian sighed as he thought, “Qi Rong has taken Guzi away, who knows if the poor child was eaten or abandoned. Wind Master...... ..... who knows if Black Water took him away. Pray they’re both safe.” yeah hey are we going to fucknig. find out what happened to the child???

and yeah i dooooont really care for the age regression? thing thats going on. i just dont like that trope tbh. but tiny hua cheng whipping out his fat ghost king wallet in the store was funny tho. it is really funny that hualian are just like wandering around some random towns while the heavens are in an uproar. i guess theres not much else to do but its funny

“Me too, me too. You all know of my shixiong, right? Talented, with an infinite future! He only had one small vice: he loved playing women. Decades ago, a little prostitute ghost seduced my shixiong and sucked him dry into human jerky, and that Hua, Hua, Hua, that ghost king dared shelter her.” - yes omg give me the forbidden hua cheng lore i love this for him for real it goes along nicely with xie lian’s principles about giving another cup. god i love shared values

“Hua Cheng poked again, and a small hole appeared on the wall, as if the wall was made of tofu.” - how’d he do that. why is this a ghost king power. its useful tho

*me shaking qi rong when he pops up* WHERE IS THE CHILD

mu qing fu yao is here okay im happy now. once again no one has a good grasp on their secret identity and i love that. this inn has descended into chaos and im delighted and im glad lan chang is back

“The good ol’ kitchen was suddenly squished and crowded, loud and noisy. Fu Yao was chasing that fetus spirit leaping up and down, Lan Chang was chasing after Fu Yao like she had gone mad. Half of Qi Rong’s face changed shape by the way Xie Lian was pressing him down on the chopping board, his back turning into a target for those yellow talismans Fu Yao hurled while being observed by a crowd, and Lan Chang would step on him from time to time.” - this is pure chaos. i love that mu qing was in that room when the mob checked and he didnt say a word didnt open the door just sent out a talisman as a warning. king your disguise is transparent

“Xie Lian remembered the way Feng Xin laughed until he was hoarse when he first heard that verbal password all those years back, and couldn’t help but feel nostalgic, even though it wasn���t the right time.” - awwwww omg im emotional about this... faithful friend feng xin laughing at xie lian’s stupid joke password and remembering it!!! ;_;

“They have, but they’re not effective,” Feng Xin said. “Usually they’re the most diligent in scorning the Palace of Ling Wen, like they could do the job way better if they had the position. Now that we need them to take up the task, not a single one can do even half of what she does.” - typical... typical typical typical

also emotional about the fact that feng xin contacted xie lian at all.....

also!! emotional about lan chang as a mom and wanting to help out sick lil guzi.....

xie lian forcing “fu yao” to let him help “his general” is making me.... what is friendship if not playing along with your buddies little shenanigans while also making them accept your help

“Someone like Mu Qing, even though he’s narrow-minded, petty, sensitive and skeptical, has a bad personality, constantly guessing, doesn’t say nice things, likes to nag, always offending people and has a lot of people who dislike him, has no friends, can remember small, unimportant details for a long period of time…” ”Xie Lian went on in one breath with a straight face, but in the end he concluded with, “...But I’ve known him since we were kids, after all, he’s still got principles.” - XIE LIAN PLEASE AFJDLKSFJDL omg ive seen this quote before but i figured he was talking to someone else not actually to mu qing himself fgjasdkfjsl. god thats amazing. hey im gonna help you out because i care but i will roast you first <3

waaaaaait so is lan chang aka jian lan that girl from book 2 we took a page to talk about and then disappeared? that has to be it why else would we have stopped to discuss her

“Jian Lan spat on his face, then choking his neck, she slapped him twice again. “WHAT SHITTY SUPREME! YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO BLOW YOURSELF UP! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, THINK YOU’RE EVEN WORTH TO BE THOUGHT OF AS EQUALS WITH THE OTHER THREE SUPREMES? WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GOOD AT? YOUR THICK SKIN? OF COURSE I DARE HIT YOU!” - oh this feels so good i cant lie. YES GET HIM!! CHOMPING AND VIOLENCE YES!!!!

okay this description of cuocuo.... im... that sure the hell is a creature

this book is so entertaining bc i already saw spoilers for the feng xin/jian lan/cuo cuo reveal and yet i could never have predicted the circumstances that brought it about. imagine being feng xin. the heavens are in an uproar and your only friend/enemy has been jailed for possible fetus spirit-related crimes but he escapes along with this female ghost who keeps causing problems. you figure “fuck it lets see if dianxia kept his old phone number” and he has but then he hangs up on you. you’ve got fuckall else to do so you go find him. mu qing is there but he’s in his disguise the two of you were using so you could watch over his highness while staying aloof. you think you see hua cheng only he’s a chiild for some goddamn reason but who knows at this point. the female ghost is also there and theres a fetus spirit climbing trees and biting your arrows in half. you realize the female ghost is your ex and the little demon is your son. it bites you. what do you do

amazing that despite everything going on everyone is still playing along with the “fu yao” persona when it would probably be easier to drop pretenses at this point. then again tbh if i could explain my actions to my friends while pretending to be a third party.... i probably would so.. carry on

“With all his devotees gone, only Feng Xin still treated him like the Flower-Crowned Martial God and His Highness the Crown Prince. ” “...his protection charms were all seen as trash. However, Feng Xin was still determined and tireless in handing them out; telling Xie Lian, look, you still have devotees.” “After all, he was the darling of the heavens since birth, high and mighty. Feng Xin so naturally spun around him like he was the world, so how could he possibly have his own life, his own heart” “Whether or not that fetus spirit was Feng Xin’s son, if it was that period of poverty that made Feng Xin lose the girl he loved, Xie Lian wouldn’t be able to forgive himself no matter what." ohhhh my god this relationship i. im...

oh my god i still have 30 more chapters until book 4............ its naptime now i think

[holyfuckthisfishcandrive]

Shots and Guilt

First, Previous(Chap. 23), Ao3

Word count: 3610

Warnings: Gun, Blood and Injury, (kinda) Torture, Knives, Bloodlust, Smoking, Underage Drinking, Drinking and Driving, Gore, Skipping a Meal, Alcohol (even more of it), Guilt, Choking, Mention of Past Murder, Panic Attack, Self Harm

This really isn't a nice chapter. If anyone needs it I can make a summary of it. Just leave a comment or send me an ask if that's the case. Stay safe.

Virgil listened to the sound of the rain pattering against the car and the radio woman report what had happened in Aunt Lian's block earlier this night.

Glitch monsters.

He dug around the glove compartment until he found Uncle Remy's cigarettes, hidden under the ammunition, lit one and took a drag. He watched the smoke curl and opened the window just by an inch to release it into the night.

Destroyed street lights.

He glanced at the Seven11 Remy had disappeared in about half an hour ago and lit his lighter again, watching the tiny flame dance in the stale light of the car lamp.

Messed up electronics.

A shadowy figure stood next to his window and Virgil glanced over at them. They were holding a knife. Good for them.

"Fuck off," Virgil mumbled tiredly and took another drag.

"Open the car door if you know what's good for you, kid," the guy demanded.

Virgil couldn't help but chuckle at that. He took his feet off the headboard and sat up slowly.

"If I know what's good for myself? If you know what's good for yourself you're going to fucking piss off now!"

"Kid-!" he thrust the knife at the window gap and Virgil kicked open the door hitting them square on the chest. They stumbled back and growled. "I'm going to fucking kill you, brat!"

Vigil stepped out of the car, taking the butterfly knife and the colt from the glove compartment with him.

"No, you're not," he stepped on his cigarette to put it out.

The robber was big. About twice as tall and five times as wide as Virgil, all muscles and heavy bones.

But at the sight of the gun, he froze. An uneasy smile took the place of the angry grimace.

They were in a lonely and dark parking lot. Nobody would look out of the window if they heard a gunshot or scream.

"Kid, don't do anything you're gonna regret. I'm part of the Trulow family. They're gonna hunt you down if you shoot me. No ones gonna find you're body! I bet yer mother's gonna get worried sick if her kid doesn't come home!"

Again Virgil laughed humourlessly.

The rain was cold on his skin and his hair stuck to his face and neck but he couldn't care less. There was that feeling in his chest again that he knew Papa knew well, even if he never wanted to talk about it, the feeling he couldn't imagine living without even after being told a thousand times that it wasn't normal, that he wasn't supposed to talk about with people outside of the family. That intoxicating feeling - better than any liquor, pills or joint but no less dangerous. "It's what makes our kind what we are," Uncle Emile had once said. The man across from him knew it too. Virgil could tell. Otherwise, he wouldn't flinch back. Wouldn't be able to see it in Virgil's smile and his every movement like a bloody red threat.

The bloodlust felt like a promise in his lungs.

"Jokes on you," he slowly walked towards the man. "My mothers dead. And if you're really a Trulow, how come I've never seen you on the Christmas card? I'm sure I'd remember a face as ugly as yours."

"What-?" the man stumbled backwards.

"If you want to make it in this city you really ought to learn who to threaten and who's out of your league. You're just another sewer rat. I'm like a motherfucking prince to you."

The man fell back on his ass, crawling backwards.

"Run along now, rat. Wouldn't want mommy to worry, would we?"

The man scrambled to his feet and turned to run.

Virgil raised the gun, aimed and fired.

A scream cut through the air as the man crashed into the concrete.

He sobbed and whimpered, staring at the blood sprayed over the ground as if he couldn't believe it was his. As if the realisation that there was now a hole where his foot connected to his leg hadn't quite made its way into his thick head yet.

"Sorry," Virgil said as he got closer and knelt down next to him. "Couldn't resist. You better not tell my Pa about this."

He dug his hand into the wound until his fingers found the bullet, ignoring the pained screams.

"He hates when I use guns. Which I honestly don't get. I mean, he uses them all the time! Bloody double standards," he inspected the bloody bullet in his hand.

"Who- Who the fuck are you?" the man sobbed.

Virgil grinned. "Have you ever heard those rumours? About Professor Logic having a child?"

The man's eyes widened in terror.

Virgil heard the doors of the Seven11 slide open and stood up.

Remy raised an eyebrow as he got closer.

"Jesus, can't I leave you alone for five minutes?" he asked.

"That was half an hour. And he started it. He wanted to rob the car or something. I only used one bullet if that's what you're worried about," Virgil tossed the gun over to him and Remy caught it in his free hand.

"Whatever. Just get in the car, hon. I got slushies and alcohol. We can stop at Crispy Creme if you want to."

"Sure," Virgil picked up the knife the would-be robber had dropped and jogged back to the car. "I hope they have warm doughnuts."

"They better. Oh, and there should be some baby wipes in the glove compartment. I'm not letting you eat with that guy's blood on your hands. Who knows what's been in that-? Wait, did you steal one of my cigs?"

"...No," Virgil claimed and was suddenly very interested in cleaning every crevice of his hand.

"Don't fucking lie to me. Just don't smoke in the car next time and ask before you take one. Emile doesn't like when the car smells," Remy handed him one of the slushies.

"Sorry," Virgil took a long sip until the pain of bain freeze bloomed behind his forehead before digging around in Remy's bag until he found the alcohol..

"Pour me some in too, would ya?"

"Sure," Virgil unscrewed the cap and poured some in his own then a bit more in Remy's cup. "More or is this good?"

Remy glanced over at him.

"Who the fuck do you think I am?"

"More it is."

"Exactly."

"I swear you're that "Two shots of vodka" vine," Virgil shook his head.

Remy chuckled. "I take zero offence to that. Also, I gotta make sure you don't drink too much. You have school tomorrow."

"You're literally drinking and driving. And I'm going to school trollied tomorrow whether you like it or not."

"I think this is why your father hates me."

"He doesn't hate you. He can't. You and Uncle Emile are like his only friends."

"Doesn't he also have that flower boy?" Remy pulled into the Crispy Creme's parking lot.

"That's his boyfriend," Virgil corrected and took another sip. Slowly he felt the alcohol kick in.

"You mean your new father, then?"

"I guess. Not officially yet but hopefully soon. He's nice. On the other hand, if he moves in I'll have to hide my skull collection."

Virgil followed Remy out of the car and into the shop.

The sugary sweet smell of warm doughnuts filled the air.

Remy bought a box, tipped a twenty and pulled Virgil back out with him.

"I'm not letting you drink any more," he decided. "You're not going to school drunk, kid."

"Yes, I am. Fuck off and give me a doughnut."

"Either you stop drinking or you don't get any doughnuts."

Virgil glared at him and took a doughnut.

"Fine."

---

He still had a headache when he went to math class later.

He wasn't sure if it was just the hungover or also something else.

Not that it mattered. He had already learned the shit, the man, whose name he couldn't remember, was explaining incredibly badly at the blackboard.

Instead of paying attention he stared blankly out of the window.

Slowly the sleep deprivation was also starting to catch up with him, making his eyes heavy.

Janus had texted him that they wouldn't be coming to school for the day, which made it even more dull than usual.

He should have stayed drunk.

Then it at least would've been somewhat interesting.

Virgil woke up again to the sound of the school bell. He blinked a few times, trying to reorient himself and sighed.

At least math was over.

His next lesson was English, then Chemistry.

Or maybe he should just skip.

It wouldn't make a difference.

Maybe he could find a nice spot for the graffiti design he'd come up with based on the last body he'd found in the sewers.

The rats had eaten the fuckers stomach out and Virgil had set the eyebrows or rather what had been left of the eyebrows, on fire before taking a few pictures for reference.

He'd just have to come up with something for when Janus asked where he'd gotten the idea.

Virgil left the classroom and ducked into the nearest bathroom, locking the stall door behind himself before climbing out of the window. He wondered briefly how long it'd stay locked before someone noticed that it wasn't occupied at all. Probably at least until the toilets were cleaned. Whenever that'd be.

A sports teacher was preparing a lesson by the tracks but she was too focused on the task at hand to notice Virgil sneak to the fence and climb over it. He gave the school a middle finger over his shoulder as he walked away. For all he cared, every single person in there could go fuck themselves. Especially the principal.

Papa was working - at the university today - so Virgil went home to drop off his backpack and picked up his graffiti bag, headphones and the sketchbook he'd drawn the design in..

He strolled through the streets of downtown, avoided a few coppers and took an underground to take him wherever. As long as there were big empty walls there he didn't care.

He got out at the sixth stop.

Virgil didn't make a habit of spending time uptown.

Occasionally maybe, for family celebrations or when he and Janus planned heists but other than that he stayed in the part of town he had been raised in.

But that didn't mean that he didn't know the streets and alleyways, the shops, public buildings and skyscrapers made of glass, like towers out of a fairy tale. Papa was of the firm opinion that knowledge was power and he'd made sure that Virgil knew everything he needed about Woethough.

It didn't take him long to find a good wall.

The back of the main police station was just painfully boring.

Virgil pulled the half mask he used for vigilante business over his face, partly to avoid someone seeing his face and partly because of the fumes. Then he opened the sketch book and pulled two spray cans out of his bag, shaking them.

This'd be fun.

He worked far slower than usual, the anxiety over being spotted by the damned pigs making him pack up the cans he wasn't using immediately, so he'd be able to make a quick escape, and check for witnesses every five minutes.

By some miracle no one came by. For a while, he had the insistent feeling of being watched but couldn't find anyone.

He watched the flames, body and rats take shape with every colour he added until he got to the point where more would only make it worse.

Virgil took a few steps back and grinned. He signed it with his usual spider and took a photo to send Janus. They weren't online so he didn't bother waiting for a reply and packed up his stuff.

It was around noon now and he was getting hungry but ignored the feeling. He could eat later.

Instead he walked around some more, pickpocketed a businessman he recognized from TV - Mr Grimm or something like that - and bought a few new markers from the stolen money, before climbing onto the roof of a library to test them out.

At eight he took a train back to downtown.

It was already dark thanks to autumn finally taking over properly and most other teens were probably either suicidal, gang members or at home.

This was the beauty of the city.

As soon as the sun went down the few laws that were actually followed became meaningless.

Now the city belonged to the street rats and the lawless. They were all animals. From the racoons and possums, over the henchmen and thieves up to the mafia and his family.

All animals.

Hungry for blood.

Greedy and destructive.

Virgil absolutely loved it.

He passed a few of Uncle Jeremy's men beating up a cop with a crowbar in an alleyway, greeting him as he passed, watched a woman smash a chair over the head some guy who had tried to grope her, dishevelled and angry, and grinned at the raven and racoon, which were fighting viciously over some small animal one of them had killed.

There was a light burning in the living room when he got home. Not the ceiling light - it was far too muted for that.

He unlocked the front door and shut it behind himself. It was warm in here.

"I'm home!" he called, taking off his shoes and jacket.

No reply.

"Papa?"

Still no reply.

Virgil frowned, waiting for a moment longer and went into the living room.

Papa was slumped on the couch, fingers tracing an empty glass. Next to it on the table was an empty bottle of whiskey, that Virgil knew had been more than half full just this morning. He'd opened it after all.

Slowly Papa looked up as if only noticing him standing in the doorway now.

"...V'gil," he slurred.

"How much did you drink?" Virgil asked with a frown. He couldn't remember ever having seen Papa drunk.

He blinked at the bottle and gestured vaguely with one hand. "J'st a little."

Virgil sighed.

"Well, you clearly had enough. You're fucking trollied. Let's get you to bed, shall we? You'll hate yourself for this tomorrow, you know?"

"Already do," Papa mumbled as Virgil put his arm over his shoulder to support him.

Papa leaned on him heavily and Virgil staggered under the weight slightly but managed to bring him to the stairs, where Papa could also hold onto the bannister, taking some of the weight of his shoulders.

"You look so much like your mother," Papa suddenly said, just as they reached the second floor and Virgil almost let him fall in surprise.

Papa didn't talk about her.

He never did.

"She had her hair like that for a while too," Papa continued. "Then she grew it out longer. She looked so beautiful. Like an angel."

Virgil kicked open the door to Papa's room.

He didn't say anything, almost forgetting how to breathe. Papa was actually talking about her.

Carefully Virgil let him slide onto the bed and ducked to take off his shoes.

"I didn't mean to kill her," Papa said, anguish in his voice as he began combing through Virgil's hair with one hand. "I really didn't. I  just- I just wanted to scare her."

His hand slid over Virgil's cheek slowly and even though Papa was looking at him Virgil had the feeling that he wasn't seeing him.

No.

Papa was seeing her.

"I didn't think it'd be that fragile," Papa's hand slid down further and settled on Virgil's neck. A jolt of panic shot through him. "I didn't think it'd break that easily."

Papa began to squeeze.

"I just grabbed her and pressed down."

His grip began to hurt and Virgil tried to gasp for breath, clawing at the hand on his throat.

"And then she was dead. Just like that."

Blackspots appeared in Virgil's vision and he swung out wildly.

His fist hit Papa on the temple and he collapsed onto the bed.

Virgil gasped and coughed, stumbling back towards the door and slammed it as soon as he was on the hallway.

He still couldn't breathe.

Why the fuck couldn't he breathe?!

His vision swam, from tears this time instead of lack of oxygen.

Was this how she had felt?

In her last moments, getting choked by the man she had loved and trusted?

He didn't want this. This panic in his chest keeping him from breathing and making the world around him blur. At least not because of Papa. Not him. Never because of Papa. Papa was supposed to be safe. Papa protected him. Papa helped him calm down.

Papa had just tried to kill him.

Virgil sobbed.

Papa had tried to kill him the same way he'd killed her.

Virgil barely remembered to grab his jacket as he ran out, slamming the front door and running down the dark street.

He stopped at the North Bridge and collapsed against the railing.

The air was now so cold it almost burned in his lungs as he finally managed to take a breath. His throat hurt. He carefully wrapped his hand around it. It'd bruise.

 "You look so much like your mother."

Virgil stumbled on through the streets. His reflection in a dark shop window caught his attention and made him stop.

His cheeks were streaked with black.  His eyes were covered almost completely by messy black hair.

So she had had shoulder-long hair at one point.

Virgil grabbed a hand full of hair and pulled at it until a few strands ripped off.

He stared down at them.

He didn't want Papa to see her in his place.

The lights of another store, also reflecting in the shop window he was standing in front of caught his attention.

Did they have bleach there?

He crossed the street.

The shop was empty and Virgil was barely aware of the song playing over the speakers, so quiet that it was drowned out by his mind.

He grabbed two cartons.

Bleach and the first hair dye his hand touched. He didn't care. He had no idea what colour her hair had been. He just didn't want black.

He didn't bother to wait for his change as he handed the cashier a twenty and fled the store.

Back at home, Virgil locked himself in the bathroom and ripped open the bleach carton, barely skimming the instructions.

The chemical smell filled the room as he spread it over his hair and when he was done he had to open a window to breathe.

He set a timer on his phone and busied himself with washing off his make up while he let it set.

Once he was done with that he began pulling at the skin of his arms and digging his nails into the scars to keep his thoughts from spiralling again.

The timer went off and he rinsed his hair out.

It was almost white now.

He ripped open the secong carton.

Purple.

For fucks sake.

He spread it over his hair, careful to get it everywhere.

If he was going to look stupid he might as well make sure it wasn't splotchy.

He wasn't hungry anymore but he still went into the kitchen and warmed up some soup, forcing himself to eat, despite the gag reflex that kicked in a few times.

Then he washed his hair again.

He didn't bother looking at the result before he grabbed the razor and scissors. Once he was done he pulled on a turtle neck to hide the forming bruise, poured a glass of water and grabbed an aspirin.

For a few minutes he stood in front of Papa's door, frozen until he managed to go in, put both items on the nightstand and immediately flee again.

Then he once again grabbed his jacket and left, locking the door behind himself.

He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. At least not if he stayed here.

---

A knock on the window snapped Janus out of the half-asleep half-awake state they'd been in for hours.

Slowly they stood up, the floor cold against their bare feet, and frowned at the figure in the window.

They grabbed a glass water bottle as a weapon and cautiously opened it.

The figure slid inside.

"Virgil?" Janus frowned and set down the bottle. "The fuck are you doing here?!"

"You owe me," Virgil rasped. "Five nights. From that bet."

Janus blinked, their brain catching up slowly.

"The one we made for my parent's wedding?"

Virgil nodded.

He was upset. Even in the dark Janus could tell.

They closed the window, cutting off the cold draft, and Virgil took off his shoes.

For a moment they contemplated what to say.

They were sure that something had happened.

They just didn't know what.

"I won't ask," they finally said, "but if you want to talk... I'm here for you, okay?"

Virgil nodded.

"Thanks."

He didn't say anything else. His voice was hoarse.

Janus led him over to their bed and climbed in, letting him follow.

He'd cut his hair.

It also looked lighter than usual, though they couldn't be sure in the bad lighting.

Janus had almost fallen asleep again when they hear a muffled sob.

They looked over at Virgil again.

He was crying.

So something bad had happened.

For a moment they hesitated before they wrapped their arms around Virgil and pulled him against their chest.

"It'll be okay," they promised.

Virgil just latched onto them and buried his face in their shirt.

Next

Taglist:

@patton-cake , @isabelle-stars

[kidcataldo]

Lin’s Kids

Chapter 1:

Lin frowned as she watched as Tenzin peered his head out the window. He had been going on about how nice the day was—he was right, but she was annoyed, nonetheless.

"You don't need to be here," she said. Bolin had been entertaining himself with his little animal friend, that fire ferret thingy, when he lost his footing and fell over, taking Lin down with him. She was fine, except for her ankle. Tenzin was concerned she had broken it, even though she could walk perfectly fine on it. To shut him up, she promised to get it checked out. Tenzin had insisted he accompany her to the hospital.

"I just want to make sure you're alright," he said calmly.

The doctor entered the room with a spring in his step. "Afternoon, Chief," he greeted. His eyes found Tenzin. Startled at first, he offered him a respectful nod. "And... Tenzin," he added quickly.

"Dr. Yang," said Tenzin awkwardly. Yang looked from Tenzin to Lin, an amused smile forming on his face. "How... how is your wife doing? Jia, was it?"

"Divorced," Yang said simply. "Didn't think I'd see you here again... after that nasty breakup."

"I didn't realize you were still Lin's doctor," Tenzin said with a sigh.

"I am, indeed. Speaking of which," he said, his complete focus on Lin now, "what brings you here today?"

"Her foot," said Tenzin. Lin looked aggravated he said it; she can speak for herself, Tenzin knew.

"Let's have a look then." He examined the foot carefully. It didn't even look like it had been hurt. "It's not broken. There might be some bruising, but I wouldn't worry about it." He let out a slight chuckle as he turned his attention to her chart. "Funny, when I saw Tenzin here, I thought you might be pregnant again."

Lin released a fierce cough in the hopes to drown out that last part.

Tenzin looked stunned. "P-pregnant," he said. She had never been pregnant, he had thought. They were always very careful in that area, Lin made sure of that. He shook his head, attempting to understand. "Wait... again?"

Yang frowned, his eyes refusing to move from the papers before him. "This is why Jia divorced me. I can never shut up about these things," he managed to mumble.

"You were pregnant? With... with my baby, Lin?”

"So, the foot's not broken then, doc," said Lin, completely ignoring Tenzin. It was like he had left the room... or didn't even exist anymore, at this point.

Yang looked up. His eyes were focused on Tenzin, who looked about ready to faint. "Nope. Not broken."

When Lin stood, Tenzin took her place and sat down on the bed. "Did you... did you have a miscarriage?”

"Thank you, Doctor," Lin said, shaking Yang's hand, making sure to squeeze it extra tight. "Really, I do appreciate it." Yang wasn't sure, but he thinks he detects a bit of sarcasm coming from the chief. She made her way to leave, not waiting for Tenzin to follow her. But, before she left the room, she added, "I'm going home, Tenzin. You want to talk? Let's talk."

Chapter 2:

A million things ran through Tenzin's mind as he followed Lin inside her home. Pregnant? When in the spirits was Lin pregnant? And how did Tenzin not know about it? Surely she would have told him. There was that one time when Lin was eighteen, and he was nineteen, when she thought she was… but she wasn't. It—the baby—has to be his, right? There hasn't been anyone else, he doesn't think. Though, he doesn't really know about all her lovers after him. Perhaps there was someone. No... That's preposterous!

Pregnant. Lin had been pregnant. No, it wasn't true! It was just Dr. Yang being Dr. Yang… But, then again, suddenly he's remembering that one summer when she was away. She said her mother had gotten sick and he was stupid enough to believe her. He felt a lot of things right now: hurt, angry, all the stuff one feels when they find out they could possibly have another child in the world, but mostly he felt pain. Specifically, in his head. He had a major headache and just needed to sit down and sort all of this out.

He sat down at her table and began lightly massaging his head with his hands as Lin prepared some tea for them both. He really didn't want to mess around with the whole tea business—he just wanted her to talk to him. Though, tea might be the best thing for him now. He needs to calm down. He needs to relax, to be at peace. And, most importantly, he needs his head to stop hurting.

She stayed silent while preparing the tea and all Tenzin could think to do was look at her, his beautiful Lin, preparing their afternoon tea. It felt almost like he had gone back in time, back when they were still together, and she was still making his tea for him. He watched as she put honey in his cup and sugar in hers, just like old times. Spirits, he missed this.

Casually, she made her way to the table, placing the two tea cups down. Tenzin grabbed his and gulped it down immediately while Lin took her time, torturing him as she stirred her it with a spoon.

"Lin!" he said, ignoring the sharp pain in his head.

She looked at him, startled. Almost as if he had interrupted quiet tea time. "What?" By the tone in her voice, she was not bothered at all. Did she forget why he was here? Did she forget about Dr. Yang's little comment back at the hospital? No… no, of course not; she is merely only testing his patience and right now, it is outstandingly thin.

"Lin—Lin, please," he said desperately.

"What would you like to know?"

"You were pregnant?"

"Yes."

"With… with my baby?"

She sipped her tea. "Yes."

His heart sank to his stomach and his head throbbed with pain. It was always abundantly clear that Lin did not want kids. Whenever he—or anyone, for that matter—would bring it up, she would always change the subject. Still, he stayed with her, hoping she might change her mind, perhaps soften with age.

"When?"

She sighed and turned to the window. He looked too. A teenage girl was trudging up Lin's driveway, holding a backpack. Was that their…? Was she…? And she was in Republic City this whole time? He turned back to Lin, tears of confusion in his eyes

"The summer after you dumped me," she said.

The front door opened and in came the girl. She whistled a sweet tune as she walked into the kitchen, but jumping at the sight of Lin and Tenzin.

"Spirits, mom!" she said, clutching her chest. "You nearly killed me." Recovering quickly, she walked to the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk and took a big swig of it. "I thought you said you were working late tonight," she said, wiping the milk off her face with the back of her hand.

"I was, but then I got hurt," said Lin, gesturing towards the big cast covering her foot and leg. Tenzin blinked in confusion, a tear drop sliding down his face. A cast, he questioned to himself. He didn't remember Dr. Yang ever putting a cast on her leg.

"Shit, mom, are you okay?"

"Yeah, nothing to worry about. Dr. Yang said it was fine. Just slight bruising."

"Oh, cool." The girl sighed in relief. Her eyes then went to Tenzin. "Who's the bald dude?"

"Lian, meet your father," said Lin.

Lian… Tenzin had mentioned that name to Lin long ago. He honestly didn't think she was listening. Back when he still had hope they would have kids one day, he had set the name aside for their daughter. And Liko for their son. He didn't dare give those names to Pema; no, those names were only for Lin's ears to hear.

He stood and held out an unsteady hand for his newly-discovered daughter to shake. "H-hello," he greeted nervously.

Lian smiled. Ignoring Tenzin, she turned to her mother. "So, now you're ready to tell us about our dad?"

"Us?" questioned Tenzin.

"Yeah, only because he found out," said Lin stubbornly. "It's not like I wanted this to happen!"

The door opened again and in came two other teenage girls.

"We're home!" exclaimed one.

"You better of not have drunken all the milk, Lian!" said the other.

"Poppy! Toph! Get over here," shouted Lian. "Come meet our daddy!"

"Triplets?" said Tenzin, stunned, as the two girls came into the kitchen. Two of them looked exactly like Lin did when she was a teenager. The other one looked like Lin's mother, Toph, blind and everything. He rubbed his head, wishing the pain would stop for just a few moments so his brain could process everything that was happening.

"Quintuplets," said Lin casually. "Liko and Xun are at their after school jobs."

"Quintuplets!" said Tenzin, ready to faint.

Neither of his daughters seemed too eager to introduce themselves to Tenzin. They didn't seem interested in Tenzin at all. They were busy teasing Lin about not telling them who their father was. They weren't even mad at her. But Tenzin was. He had more children—quintuplets of all things—and Lin didn't think to tell him?

"Wait a minute," interrupted Tenzin, "you had our… quintuplets the summer after we broke up? That means you were a couple months pregnant when we did break up. Why... didn't you tell me?"

"I was going to tell you, but then you, you know, broke my heart into a million pieces and left me for some child."

Tenzin frowned, his anger momentarily leaving him. "Oh, Lin… I'm—"

His vision suddenly became blurry and Lin and his three daughters were nothing but blobs to him now. The pain on his forehead suddenly had a cool relief on it. He felt chilled as the image of Lin and his daughters was quickly fading away.

"You okay there, daddy-o," he heard one of his daughter's say, though it was distant.

"W-what?" said Tenzin.

"I said," said Dr. Yang's voice clearly, "you okay there, daddy-o?"

Tenzin opened his eyes. Dr. Yang's foolish face was smiling down at him. "What… what happened?" He sat up quickly, the ice-pack on his head falling down onto the hospital bed and groaned at the pain it caused. He grabbed the ice pack on the bed and placed it back on his head, leaning back.

"You took a little nap. Hit your head on the tile floor pretty hard," said Dr. Yang. "It's fine. Happens to so many new fathers here, I can't even count."

"Where—where's Lin?"

"Still here," said Lin. This time it was Lin peering out the hospital window. It had gotten quite dark and nasty outside since Tenzin had last looked. Not at all like the sunny weather from before. "Dr. Yang, could you excuse us for a moment?"

Dr. Yang nodded and quickly left the room.

Lin turned away from the window and faced Tenzin and let out a deep sigh, a look of worry in her face. They had a long night ahead of them, Tenzin knew, but he was ready for it.

[dreamofcentipedes]

Red Lotus Blooms: 3 - Brought to the Boil

Summary: A monster is forged in flame. As light burns out, red leaves unfurl. Tatara becomes accustomed to the ways of war, and blood boils.

Characters: Tatara

Rating: Teen Words: 4,745 Link to AO3

Link to Table of Contents.

A/N: How long has it been since I updated again? It may take a stupidly long time, but I will persevere to the end, I promise! For those who don’t know, this is my fanon backstory for Tatara. He’s just 16 at this point in the story. Feedback, both positive and constructive, and analysis are very welcome indeed. Well, without further ado...

Splish.

Tatara caught the raindrop on his hand.

“It’s raining.” He murmured to his brother.

“Most of our fighting will take place inside, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” Yan replied coolly, his voice slightly muffled from behind the red iron mask of the leader of Chi She Lian. “But we’ll want to deal with those guards before it picks up. Report to Fei that the raid will commence in five minutes’ time.”

Tatara nodded. “Yes, sir.” Tatara clambered past his brother and his elite guard and crawled over to the door on the rooftop where Fei was sitting. “Raid commencing in five minutes’ time.”

“Yes, sir.” Fei replied, and turned to leave. Then she paused, and added tentatively, “How are you feeling?”

Tatara grimaced. “Now’s not the time for that, Fei. You’ve only got five minutes to tell the others.”

“We both know I can do it in three.” She retorted, and Tatara could not object. He gave a huff and turned his head away.

“If the mission goes well, the war will be over. Chi She Lian will be unrivalled by Ghouls throughout all of Beijing.”

“Yes, that was what Yan said.” Fei tapped her arm impatiently. “I was asking how you were feeling, Tara.”

Tatara rubbed his temples. Her nicknames were getting more infuriating with each generation, but he had long since given up on trying to stop her.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for four years. How do you expect? Suspenseful, I suppose.”

Fei gave him a searching look. “You’re still hung up about that? After all this time?”

“One of his goons tried to kidnap me, Fei. And kill you. Who knows how many of our people have been slaughtered in his little war? Forgive me for wanting to put an end to this filth once and for all.”

Fei tugged at her sleeve. “Tatara, that day…why did you kill that Ghoul?”

Tatara was indignant at that. “What do you mean why?” He snarled.

“He was already retreating. I tried to tell you back then, but you wouldn’t listen. It could have just ended there.”

“So he could live to terrorise us another day? There’s only one day to deal with enemies, Fei. Chi She Lian is too important to risk for something as juvenile as mercy.”

“…Chi She Lian, huh…” Fei mumbled. Tatara didn’t even grace it with a response. If she still couldn’t find any pride in her heritage, then that was her failing, and not his problem.

“Sometimes I really don’t know why I worry about you, but just don’t be too reckless, okay?” Fei continued. “The Longxia is dangerous. I’ve even heard people saying he’s a kakuja. When the time comes to kill him, promise me you’ll leave it to Yan.”

“I promise.” Tatara responded sarcastically. “Now go do your job.”

Fei’s eyes narrowed at him before she lifted herself off the ground, opened the door, and closed it carefully behind her, muttering under her breath all the while. Hearing her descending footsteps, Tatara clambered back to Yan’s side and reassumed his prostrate position, looking at the scene below through a pair of binoculars.

The rain continued as a light drizzle, but nothing too threatening to the operation. The Longxia’s warehouse was well guarded with sheets of corrugated iron protecting its ceiling and sides, and its perimeter was patrolled by what seemed to the casual observer to be regular unarmed police officers, but for those who knew what dwelled behind those walls, they were Ghouls of the Longxia clan with no need for human weaponry. Doubtless there were defences on the inside as well, which were Tatara’s real concern, but for now they remained a mystery. As he was trying to envisage the enemy’s defensive formations, his strategizing was interrupted by Yan’s voice.

“5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second. Let’s go.”

Yan stood, and as he did, Tatara could see a white cloud seep into the streets far beneath them. An army of ghosts swept out from the entrance of the empty warehouse and rushed through the streets towards their target. They numbered almost three hundred, but from sound alone, it could have been a bird pattering on the pavement. They moved with the lightness of foot unique to the foot-soldiers of Chi She Lian, but it would not be long before the Longxia’s cronies would spot them; they had to move quickly. Tatara followed Yan’s lead as he and his guard leapt onto the adjacent rooftop, and then onto the next, and the next.

All the while, Tatara could spy the mist moving ever closer to its target as the drizzle of rain intensified to a torrent. He could see the security guards rush from their positions with colours of blue, green and purple exploding from their backs to meet the onslaught. Red tendrils shot from the white ranks and crashed into the enemy kagune, sparks flying, rain thundering down. The near-silence was blown away in an instant. Now there was only sound and fury. A Longxia koukaku was at the front of the counter-attack, decapitating the one Lian ghoul here, knocking back the kagune of another there. But his glory was cut short when the blades of a Lian’s ukaku caught him unawares from above. The parade of Lian feet that rushed over his body quickly joined him as the Longxia’s own ukakus unleashed hell from their vantage point on top of the warehouse. Tatara watched all this with an academic and morbid fascination. In the years since what Yan referred to as his ‘initiation’, he had taken an active role in a great number of military operations against the Longxia and his men, but never on a scale like this one. But he mustn’t be afraid. He must not.

In mid-air, he felt something land on his shoulder. Tatara gave a gasp before his eyes shot black and his kagune burst from his tail bone, flailing wildly in the air. He heard a high-pitched yelp as he landed on the next rooftop and swung around aggressively. He retracted his kagune with a mixture of relief and irritation. Fei was looking huffily at him as she rubbed the small cut Tatara had landed on her cheek.

“And what the hell was that for?”

“Don’t surprise me in a warzone!” Tatara whispered furiously. “What are you doing here, anyway? You should be in the reserves!”

“Try being more reassuring next time, because I’m not going to let you run headlong into your grave. Relax, I’m not disobeying anyone. Yan okayed it. Now hurry up, we’re breaking formation.”

Fei burst out into a sprint and Tatara ran alongside her. Could she be any more of a headache? How was he supposed to focus on the mission when he has to babysit her?

“Yan okayed it?” Tatara hissed as he ran. “When?”

“I asked him before the mission. He’s wanted to trial me for the elite guard for a while now, so it was a chance he wasn’t going to miss.”

Tatara felt hugely betrayed. Of course, Yan wasn’t to know of Tatara’s reservations about allowing Fei into battle. He and Fei had an unspoken alliance of interest: Fei wanted as little part as possible in her brother’s wars, and Tatara wanted her well out of the line of fire. But now Yan was putting her in the centre of conflict. He has already agreed to be his brother’s kagune – why did Fei have to as well?

Fei read something in his face, and continued softly. “Tatara. It was my decision. Just like this was yours.”

Maybe that was true, but it didn’t make him feel any better. Tatara furrowed his brow, clamped his mouth shut, and sped on in silence. After a final leap, they stood poised to descend on the warehouse. Down below, bodies of both sides were sprawled out in puddles of water and blood in front of the building, but the fighting was still as fierce as before. The machine guns in the form of ukaku positioned on top of the warehouse had turned the tide in the Longxia’s favour, and the white robes were being pushed back, but that was of little consequence once the elite guard were inside the enemy base. The fodder just needed to hold out until their mission was complete.

But then again…

Tatara observed the three ukaku sniping from their miniature barricade. If they continue at the rate they are, even holding out might no longer be possible. Equally, the snipers were bound to notice them breaking in. Half of them would be shot to pieces before they were through the hatch. But Yan had clearly thought the same thing.

Gently raising an arm in their direction, he gave a curt nod to his companions. It was all the signal they needed.

A trio of crimson bikakus swung out from the Huo siblings’ cloaks in unison, and the elite guard silently descended behind the enemy line. Amidst the rainfall, only a single ukaku heard their landing. Everyone heard her scream, however, when Yan’s kagune ripped open her eyes. Turning in alarm, the other ukaku opened fire, but the elite guard was named so for a reason: Yan’s koukaku soldiers rushed ahead to block the shards with their kagune, flat to the point of shields, and his own ukaku leapt into the air to unleash a barrage in turn. The enemy snipers struggled to back away, but only had the long drop below behind them. So like cornered animals, they lashed out, charging forwards against the shield wall of Koukaku. The long tendrils of Yan’s rinkaku soldier shot out from the rooftop, plucking up one of the ukaku in mid-air, in prime position for Tatara to shoot out his bikaku to kill. It shot right through the heart. Tatara flung it back outwards, and then, poised menacingly over his head, it reached into the air and crashed down on the other side of the wall, slicing in and out and in and out of each of the ukaku soldiers, like fish in a barrel.

As Tatara’s bloodsoaked kagune slipped back into his flesh, he allowed himself a smirk at the massacre before him. That should buy them some time. Fei dropped by his side, her face drawn taut at the corpses strewn at her feet.

“Still think I need you to protect me, Fei?” He whispered to her triumphantly. “If you’re going to tag along, at least contribute.” He chided, giving her a patronising slap on the back.

Fei gave a snort of irritation as she struggled to tear her eyes away from the scene. Was she still so disturbed by blood at this point? He stalked off contemptuously to where Yan was using his kagune to strike off the lock of the door protruding between the metal rafters. The stairs leading from here would take them to the heart of the Longxia’s headquarters. With his men occupied outside, it shouldn’t be too difficult for a small band of elite ghouls to sneak in and take him out, no matter how strong he was. Tatara’s heart was thudding against his chest just thinking about it. Yan paused for a moment in front of the door, and his eyes flicked to Tatara. Tatara caught the gaze, puzzled, before a roar filled his ears.

“Gryaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

Spinning on his heels, he turned to find he was a heartbeat away from a face contorted with fury, red eyes welling with tears. And just above him, a sharpened kagune…

A fist pummelled into that face and the Longxia crony was sent flying off the roof with a desperate screech. Fei ran in front of him and shook his shoulders, breathless.

“Idiot! Don’t be so careless. You let your guard down for one minute and I…” She paused to shake a little. “Did you see how close that was?!”

Tatara was speechless. He had barely finished processing the events that unfurled in front of him by the time Fei let go of him and stormed off to intensely examine the skyline. The only thought that passed through his head was: Ah, Fei just killed someone. He was well used to it now, but for someone who had stayed on the sidelines for so long…

He had moved to go over to her, when he felt a sudden, firm hand on his shoulder.

“Tatara.” Yan gave him a look after directing his searching eyes away from Fei. “We need to go.”

Tatara nodded, and with a lingering look at Fei’s back banished his hesitation. Together, Yan’s elite guard moved down the stairwell into a dim passageway. Tatara couldn’t see whether or not Fei had joined them.  He hoped she hadn’t.

Yan ushered them before another door, touched the ground and concentrated. One of Yan’s myriad skills was his ability to tell through minute vibrations in the floorboards exactly how many people were gathered in the room beyond. His expression of calm focus never changed, but the news was dire. He flashed his hands in front of them three times. Despite the enormity of the battle outside, the Longxia still had twenty-nine men within just to guard him personally.

He must have known this was coming, Tatara thought to himself. He must have hired mercenary ghouls long in advance. Sweat was dripping down his forehead. He was still rattled by the close encounter earlier, and now…such a large group…he clutched his head in frustration and squeezed it hard. Coward, he chided himself. Now was his chance to end the war he had been fighting for the last four years, ever since that misty day by the river. He remembered the fear on Fei’s face when the thug attacked, and the pride on Yan’s when they told him what had happened. It was because of the events of that day that Yan decided it was time to bring Tatara with him on his missions against the Longxia.

That was the beginning, and this was the end. He wasn’t a frightened kid anymore: he had training, experience, and other kinds of preparation. He ran his tongue against the corners of his mouth, where the grim aftertaste remained. He was a man now, and it was time to prove it. There was no room for fear here.

Yan communicated their battle plan through the series of silent gestures universally understood throughout Chi She Lian. Lightning. Tortoise. Octopus. Tatara found himself nodding along. It was the perfect response to a difficult situation, balancing every risk with caution. As was to be expected from Yan. In the silence of held breath, Yan’s fingers clocked down.

3…2…1.

Tatara burst through the door, followed by a cohort of bikakus and rinkakus . It was a large wooden room filling up the majority of the warehouse, messy with old machinery, production lines, empty crates and other junk. The topography was mostly flat save for the stairs running up the sides to produce high railed off areas perfect for sniping. They had come out onto such a balcony, and while the Longxia guards spun around in shock, out rushed the ukakus.

They leapt from the balcony to the walls and dashed alongside them, using their carried momentum and superhuman strength to unleash a barrage from their kagunes from above on all sides. The ranks below were quickly plunged into abject chaos, crouching behind their barricades only to be picked off by an ukaku from the other side, or lashing out their own kagunes amidst the hail of blades only to hit the wall where the ukaku was a few seconds ago.

The Lightning formation was devastating. It allowed ukakus to shoot down scattershot attacks from all sides without the usual risk that came with remaining stationary. Though it lacked the precision of careful sniping, shooting in bursts across the entirety of the battlefield at high speed rendered precision entirely unnecessary: no enemy force could leave it unscathed, and its principal object – chaos – was easily achieved. It could only be carried by the most athletic ukaku ghouls, necessitating an elite squad, and although they would be quickly exhausted afterwards, the burst would leave the enemy forces quickly disarrayed, disheartened, and decimated. And this strategy was unique to Che Shi Lian, developed in the last few months under the new leadership. It was the fruit of Yan’s genius.

Yan and a group of koukakus were next out, assuming the Tortoise formation to protect Yan in the Roman style. However, the tortoise was slow and needed to be handed its prey. That was where the Octopus formation came in. Tatara and the other bikakus, together with the rinkakus, shot their tendrils into the walls and pulled themselves up onto them, scanning the battlefield for the Longxia.

“The Longxia is a brute,” Yan once informed Tatara curtly, “and his organisation is tied together entirely by his own brutishness. His strength inspires, so ghouls gather round him. They believe in nothing greater than the free meal ticket he might provide.” A note of contempt, Tatara remembered, was evident in Yan’s typically measured voice. “If the Longxia is taken out of the picture, the group loses its reason to exist. All that is needed to end this war is a well-executed assassination.”

The Octopus would spread its tentacles across the battlefield to seek out the Longxia, and bring him to the Tortoise where Yan would deliver the final blow. That was its purpose. That was Tatara’s mission. He had to be the one to find him; but, if possible…he wanted to be the one to kill him as well.

Amid the scurrying ants below it was hard to pick out the leader. Tatara knew his profile – middle-aged, square-shouldered, of average height with a strong and robust physique - but this was useless when so much was obscured by cloaks and masks. He swung himself between all the best vantage points, but could not make him out.

He was starting to worry. More and more of their ukakus were withdrawing from exhaustion, and the ranks below were reforming, firing a good number of kagune shots his own way. Was the Longxia not here? Their spies outside the base insisted he was here tonight, but could they have lied? Or could he have escaped somehow? Or else there was a room somewhere here outside their zone of fire, where he was biding his time, waiting to strike…

Beneath Tatara, the wall cracked. When he heard the first splintering, he instinctively leapt away just before the gigantic pincer burst through the wall.

Swinging his kagune around, he smashed it through the surface of the opposing wall, came to rest his feet on its side, and watched the calamity unfold. As the rubble began pouring down and crushing soldiers of Chi She Lian and Longxia allegiance alike, a behemoth followed through the crevice. A thick crimson hide seemed to pass by endlessly as it stomped along on its six spindly legs and clacked its twin pincers menacingly. Poking from the head of the beast was a human-shaped mound of stringy muscles and bloody pulp. A grinning ghoul’s face could be spotted just beneath it. The Longxia was well-named. To all eyes, his kakuja resembled a gigantic lobster.

Tatara quickly reassessed the situation and looked over to Yan’s position. The Tortoise was still a good distance from the lobster, with an army of guards in between them hurling themselves at the koukaku shield wall. There was no way he could skewer something that large and get it into Yan’s range. He ground his teeth. The whole point of the surprise attack was to catch the Longxia unawares before he could transform. Was it sheer chance that he was in another room at the time of the break-in? But none of that mattered now. He had to improvise. It was this eventuality that he had been preparing for.

As the Longxia was catching lone members of the Octopus formation in its pincers and crushing exhausted ukaku on the ground, Tatara used the momentum produced by a flick of his kagune from its position in the wall to propel himself directly towards it. Then, he tensed every muscle and focused on the pain.

His body was lit up with searing heat. Every limb, every ligament was burning as if on fire. He found himself screaming, but his voice was different. All around his bubbling flesh an armour was solidifying, muffling the sound, distorting it. He landed in the centre of the warehouse with a mighty crash and a bloodcurdling howl.

His face was engulfed in a pointed helm, and his body was coiled in layers and layers of kagune flesh. It was still incomplete, but he had finally worked the miracle paid in blood. The mass of ghoul corpses he had choked down after every operation for the past year would now serve their purpose. The strength he had gained – the strength he had devoured– was all for this moment.

Yet all Tatara could feel was panic and wild frustration.

The sweltering heat of his half-kakuja was cooking him inside his armour. He could barely manage to breathe. He gulped desperately for air, but when he managed to exhale, it took the form of a column of flame, shooting from his mouth and singing the Longxia’s leg. The hulking monstrosity roared in pain and retracted its leg dramatically, making it wobble as if to fall. All the ghouls beneath it scrambled out of the way, but it managed to regain its balance and twist its humanoid tumour over to peer at Tatara.

Another rocket of flame burst its way. Ready this time, it swung a pincer out in self-defence where its armour was stronger and resisted the fiery blow. Tatara could focus on none of this: he was only trying his hardest to breathe and mitigate the abominable heat suffocating him. When the Longxia recognised his foe’s confusion, and, from there, realised that it could not be Yan, he abandoned caution and clobbered him with the back of his claw.

The impact shuddered through Tatara’s body as he shot across the room and hit the floor. He tried to lift himself up, but he had not adjusted to his new body weight, and was left on his back thrusting his heavy limbs forward in useless frustration. He felt the floor shudder beneath him as the Longxia began his slow march towards him, step by giant step. His mind was a whirlwind of pain and fear. Every desperate movement made him feel like he was roasting in his armour, but he knew that if he did not get up, then it was all over. Where was Yan? He swung his head around, but couldn’t see Yan and his koukakus anywhere. Fei – was she even here? She could be dead for all he knew.

Damn it…damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, stand! He roared at himself inside his head, but kick as he might it did no good. He felt like screaming. Why had he been so reckless? If he had just stuck to the plan and left it to Yan, or if he had just practiced more with his kakuja, or waited until it was more refined – he would have – was he really going to die here? Like this?

That was the worst part. The humiliation of it all in what was supposed to be his moment of glory. He needed to prove himself, to Yan, and - and to himself. He needed to be strong enough to carry the destiny of Chi She Lian. He needed to be strong enough to make sure Fei would never be put in danger again. He needed to be strong enough to make all the pain and violence and uncertainty of the last five years mean something.

But instead, here he was: writhing around like an upturned cockroach waiting to be stomped.

Nothing had changed at all. Despite everything, nothing had changed at all. He felt tears welling in his eyes and he blinked them back in anger. Why did it always end up this way? Why was he always left so powerless? Why-why-why-

And then he screamed, for as long as his voice could carry it. There was no way he could take it anymore. He saw bright lights all around him, and the rumbling roar he was so accustomed to hearing sing menacingly in the back of his mind. But that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the empty air he grabbed in front of him. His cheeks were wet with tears now, his throat convulsing as he sobbed them out.

Why couldn’t they be by his side?

The warehouse was crawling with flames. Abandoned crates quickly combusted into a ferocious blaze that spread from pile to pile. The boy’s scream had quickly turned the warehouse and its piles of detritus into a hissing pit of smoke and fire. Warriors on both sides pushed past each other to make it to the exit, preferring the heat of battle outside to the primal heat within. Support beams were already being licked away by a thousand red tongues.

Tatara watched this unfurl through the blurry glaze of tears. When it hit him.

…Tears…

The Longxia, agitated by the inferno, stampeded towards Tatara as best as he could at his lumbering pace. He needed to kill the source before it could make the fire any worse. The kakuja body wobbled with uncertainty at this high speed, but soon enough it was before Tatara.

It raised its enormous pincer like a club, and smashed it down.

But something stopped it. Peering beneath his claw, he could see an armoured hand gripping its edge. Tatara had caught it. And before the Longxia knew it, he was pulling it forward.

The Longxia, already on scrambling legs, lost the balance of his gargantuan weight and went crashing to the ground, crushing boxes and machinery and hapless ghouls. He tried to reposition his spindly legs as quick as he could, but there was already a dense weight pressing down on his kakuja body that stopped him from rising. The weight was moving, stomping along the carcass, moving closer and closer to the mound containing the Longxia’s true body. Tatara, having lifted himself up by the creature’s pincer, had broken into a charge towards the now-vulnerable epicentre of the beast. The Longxia managed to swing a pincer towards him, but it came too late, crashing against his own kakuja long after Tatara had sprinted past that point. Sweating bullets, the Longxia desperately tried to break free of his own cocoon, managing to break out an arm - only for it to be promptly caught by Tatara. A forbidding dark helmet rushed into his vision, judging him eyelessly. He managed a word.

“Wait.”

Then Tatara decapitated him in a single punch. His head flew into a crate, where it was promptly consumed by fire, and melted into inhuman sludge.

The headless body collapsed, and so did Tatara on top of the enormous corpse of the kakuja. His head was dizzy with the force of the emotion that had invigorated his body and from the smoke that was now choking the entire room. Fire had spread to every corner of the warehouse and the roof was beginning to implode. But Tatara could not find the energy to move. Every limb was dead from exhaustion. His half-kakuja began to slowly disintegrate, peeling off him like dead skin and revealing his raw, burnt body underneath. Everything began to sting. The smoke clambered down Tatara’s throat and sent him into fits of coughing. He reached up to his aching eyes, and drew water away.

Tears. Tatara had always hated them, but if it weren’t for them he never would have realised that the temperature in his armour had stabilised. If his eyes could produce moisture, he could move his body without being paralysed by the heat. There was still a heat of a kind, but it had been a heat of the soul: one that had carried him to victory, just like that foggy day four years ago.

The fog around him now, however, was completely different. It was black, and he could see nothing through it, except, perhaps, a passing shape that fell down, like a petal from a lotus flower.

That was the image that fluttered through Tatara’s mind as he fell unconscious.

[canaryatlaw]

Alright, let’s get this post written because I have an 8:30 am PT appointment. Today was pretty good all around. Woke up to my alarm at 11:20 and got ready, then headed to school. Bus orgs was boring, of course, so I didn’t pay all that much attention. Then I headed to the PAD office and was alone for a while, so I texted my mock trial-eboard friend since I knew she was around at this time and she came to hang out, she was avoiding the office because one of the other former mock trial team members that tends to frequent the office and isn’t anyone’s favorite person was there earlier, but he was gone now. I wasn’t feeling whatever food I packed, so I went down the street to try the new Mediterranean place, same chipotle style ordering like most of them have now. Pretty good all around, I stuck with simple stuff as usual because I can generally have it without issue haha but it was enjoyable, they just didn’t give me nearly enough pita bread for all the hummus they gave me (but I can forgive that). Back at the PAD office I began filling out a fellowship application, it’s with an immigration non profit, which isn’t exactly what I want to do, but they’re based really close to where my family is and it’s public interest, so it could be a good foot in the door at least? But they wanted two 500 word answers to questions like “why do you want the fellowship?” and “what do you think is the most pressing need for access to counsel in immigration law today?” (The latter of which I talked about deportation hearings and how those who don’t have counsel are almost unilaterally deported) which took some work, but I managed. Then uploaded resume and transcript, now I just need two letters of recommendation, so I emailed my old LARC prof and one of my OPG supervisors for those. I get the feeling my LARC prof is gonna email me back like “why are you applying for this? This isn’t what you want to do” and I’m gonna be like yeah, but I want a job....can’t hurt to apply, right? Guess we’ll see what she says. Went to the DV practicum, which was missing a lot of people tonight, and wasn’t all that interesting, but our courthouse did get a shoutout in the textbook as the first dedicated domestic violence courthouse in the country, so that was cool. When class ended at 7, I hightailed it down the street to the pub/restaurant the CFLA speednetworking Event was taking place at and met my fellow eboard peeps and some other friends there, and mostly just watched as the speednetworking event went on (if you’re wondering what speednetworking is, think speeddating, except with Networking). Things worked out pretty good, we had a LOT of students and a fair amount of attorneys so the ratios worked out thankfully. I got to greet my juvenile justice prof, who introduced me as his favorite student, which made me smile. OPG sent a lawyer I was friendly with, so I said hi to him as well. Our adoption law Professor was able to make it, so that was good as far as variety goes. And then one of my old assigned mentors I hadn’t seen in a while was there so I got to talk to her for a while, and we talked about job prospects because she works for a judge and she was saying they always hire their interns so if I wanted to intern there in the spring that could be a good possible job option. It’s a possibility. It’s divorce court, so not exactly what I want to do, but it’s in the general family court area and dealing with kids, and she was saying you get to research a lot of really novel legal issues which does sound like fun, so I’ll consider it. Talked with eboard peeps about future events for a bit then headed out. Since it was Thursday I stopped and got ice cream on my way home since I’ve made that my little getting through the week award. I tried their seasonal “snap-o-lantern” flavor, which was pumpkin ice cream with crushed ginger snaps, and it was quite good. Got home and turned on Arrow, all around pretty solid premiere I’d say, and I’d mainly attribute that to the story being based around black Siren and Katie Cassidy’s stellar performance in the role. Just had to switch from my phone to my computer because my tumblr app was straight up refusing to publish my posts (thankfully I had the text of it copied so I didn’t lose it). Anyway. I knew Thea wasn’t gonna die, but I hope they don’t keep her in a coma long, cuz that will suck. the stuff with William was interesting, I totally don’t blame the kid for freezing Oliver out, his life has clearly been uprooted and while it obviously wasn’t intentional it is really Oliver’s fault, so I understand why he would feel the way he does. Hopefully their relationship will develop more and reach a better level throughout the season. The stuff between Dig and Dinah was interesting, as was the stuff between Dinah and Quentin. my friend pointed out how inconsistent it was for Quentin to be like “she’s my baby girl” with e2 Laurel when he was totally the opposite when it was soulless Sara who was very much still his baby girl. but anyway. the Black Canary/Black Siren fights were AWESOME, and I hope we get to see more of those. It’s very interesting that they both have the canary cry metahuman status so it kind of puts them on an equal playing field somewhat. Obviously Black Siren is gonna have a ways to go with any redemption arc. Finally, WHERE IS NYSSA?????? I was very annoyed that we did not get any confirmation on whether she made it off Lian You alive, and they better be covering that soon. but yeah, that was my feelings. then I stayed up to watch the Cubs game (they won!) and here we are and now I’m tired and gonna go to sleep. Goodnight darlings. Happy Friday.

[coonxandxfriends-blog]

Accepted!-- Kenny McCormick / Mysterion

Name: John Age: 22 Pronouns: He/Him Tumblr URL: Timezone: Central, USA Discord: 2. Muse Information Muse’s name: Kenneth James “Kenny” McCormick Age: 18 Birthday: March 22nd Height: 5'6" Sexuality: Heterosexual (officially) but essentially pansexual Super Hero Identity: Mysterion

Headcanons:

Kenny has a much better relationship with his parents than he used to, particularly his father, who has found reliable work, curbed his drinking as a result, and overall improved. The remains tension between his parents and Kevin.

He still works at City Wok to support himself, and has worked closely with Mr. Lu Kim for many years now. He looks past some of Lu Kim’s criminal enterprises and tendencies (i.e. cock magic) to keep his family afloat and feigns ignorance.

Kenny has become a science fiction fan over the years, although he doesn’t usually discuss this with those he isn’t already close with  He prefers not to think of himself as a nerd. He has a special fondness for Firefly and Alien.

Kenny, in his civilian life, remains emotionally attached to his parka and prone to hiding his face, remaining passive if sometimes sharp-tongued. He’s a little insecure, knowing a lot of people think the habit is childish, but he can’t stop it.

His adventures as Mysterion are causing him, as of late, to consider pursuing a career in some form of law enforcement, although he doubts his abilities when outside the costume.

The relative incompetence of the Park County Police Department was key to Kenny’s decision to become Mysterion. While he thinks Det. Yates and his men can be effective when directed well, he resents their behavior and feels they’ve let the neighborhood get much worse.

He has no desire for a sidekick or a partner or any such form of official assistance, and has only occasionally asked Kyle for favors begrudgingly. He doesn’t mind working with other heroes on occasion, such as via Coon and Friends, but the idea of having a dedicated “guy in the chair”, “sidekick”, etc. otherwise bothers him.

He has largely stopped using the Mysterion identity as a way to manipulate his parents or comfort his sister as he’s grown older, having formally retired the latter. He uses the costume only for crime-fighting now.

Mysterion is fine to allow counterfeit merchandise to float freely through the streets of South Park. Some people have T-shirts. He doesn’t enforce copyright law.

Mysterion very much prefers to deal with villains non-lethally… not out of any noble reasoning, but merely out of fear of legal repercussions as his identity is on record. So he tries to disable or disarm them otherwise. He has no emotional qualms about killing though.

Abilities and Weaknesses:

Kenny retains his famous ability to die and be reborn, but as soon as he awakens, all memories of his death are altered or erased. He also undergoes excruciating pain during the process, even when he has a relatively quick death. His rebirths will cleanse the body of any wounds or illnesses.

Despite his immortality, he is essentially human and remains vulnerable to anything a normal human can.

Kenny is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter with strong acrobatic abilities that allow him to grapple with even the toughest opponents.

He does keep some handy tools, such as fireworks for distracting others, as well as a gun, on his belt at all times.

His emotional weaknesses include his family (especially but definitely not limited to Karen) and attractive woman, especially busty ones.

Alignment: Hero.

Kenny sees Mysterion as bigger than himself, and feels a responsibility to adhere to that image. While Kenny is not opposed to engaging in vice in his personal life, when the costume’s on he tries (even when difficult) to resist those temptations and be the hero he knows this town needs. That doesn’t mean he always succeeds, of course, and Mysterion’s identity isn’t the hardest thing to discover by anyone who visits the library once in a while. Prompts:

Every week, it was the same story.

Wake up to the sound of mom and dad screaming about something stupid. Mom kind of started it, but Dad was still being dumb last night. The toaster���s broken again, so it’s frozen waffles for breakfast. Piece them out so Karen and Kevn have some, and hopefully there’ll be enough left for you.

Arrive at the bus stop as Cartman and Kyle are arguing about something almost as stupid as mom and dad. Kenny taps his foot impatiently waiting for the bus to interrupt the monotony. Ask Stan if he did his homework and when’s a good time to copy it.

The bus ride is slightly better. Less fighting, but Stan sits by Kyle and Cartman’s with Butters, so you’re sitting with God knows who. How you end up next to Bill when he’s not sitting by Fosse, you can’t figure out. He throws a paper airplane and a spitball lands in your face. Fun fun.

Listen to Garrison yap about some sitcom from the 70s while Cartman tries to cheat off your paper. Fail the pop quiz without trying because you were too busy taking care of stray cats to study. Wolf down your crappy cafeteria food because it’s the best thing you’ll get all idea, while Cartman tries to blame Kyle for whatever the topic of the week is.

Play football with the guys during recess and kind of suck at it. Craig’s a good tackle and he might’ve broken some bones. See the Nurse, whoever it is this week, and get a well-meaning lecture about playing rough. Check your locker for books before listening to Garrison yap for a while. Someone even lamer comes in to talk to the class with some patronizing bullshit.

School’s out. The guys want to meet at five to work on some project, so you kill time at Tweek Bros. Coffee shop. Mrs. Tweek’s your waitress today. Get distracted by her cleavage while ordering a frapp. Thank God nobody notices. Sometimes it’s nice to be a kid. Use the free wi-fi to look at memes, or actually research.

It’s five o’ clock and you’re at Cartman’s House and wondering how this could all be worth it. Terrance and Phillip is on TV and Liane puts out a plate of cookies. Nevermind. Day made. Five minutes later, it’s time to do… something. You’re not sure what. Cartman tells you to hold a camera and suddenly he and Butters are doing something. You just obey.

None of this is interesting. You struggle not to fall asleep as Cartman tries to sell a time-share in his basement for $49.95 a year or something? Thank God you’re the one behind the camera. You’re not sure if this is for the project mentioned earlier or some side scheme, until Kyle tells you to square your shoulders if you want an A.

You’re not ready to go home yet. It’s not the right time. You don’t want to hear the screaming. It’s almost eight and the project is done and you’re having pizza with the guys. It’s some of the best stuff you’ve ever eaten, just like it was last week. A couple slices later, everyone else has to go home and get some sleep, except Cartman, who wants to stay up and watch Family Matters reruns.

You wonder if he still has that horrifying Urkel sleeping bag.

Your phone rings and it’s City Wok. Mr. Lu Kim says he needs you tomorrow. He’s not going to take ‘no’ for an answer, but you don’t plan to offer it. A little money would be nice. Once the phone’s hung up you’re on your way back to the house, and Dad’s half-asleep watching black-and-white reruns of an old western, and mom is stretched out on the couch. They’re almost terrifying calm. You wonder if they’ve had sex, or worse, if they’re going to, and scare yourself a little.

You check on Karen and Kevin. He’s basically already asleep and Karen’s playing with her dolly collection. You give her a hug and tell her good night. She doesn’t need a lot of words, usually, to know that you love her.

The family’s out of the way. The day is done.

You open your drawer and there it is. The big green ’M’, the briefs, the question mark…

As Mysterion stares back at you, you know that you’re not just a pathetic, insignificant part of background dressing. When you’re like this, you can really make a difference, and nothing else matters.

The town is in need ,Mysterion. Coon and Friends welcomes you back.

[cogentranting]

I didn’t initially ship Olicity. In fact I really didn’t start shipping them until the very end of season 2 (about the time that it became abundantly clear that she was the new major love interest). Up until that point I didn’t really have a pairing that I truly shipped but my preferences (from the available established Oliver love interests) were something like this: Shado (whom I knew would die), Mckenna (knew she was temporary), Felicity, Laurel, Helena, Sara. 

I felt that Olicity had the potential to be a good ship, but Felicity would have to develop quite a bit before they could be together (and I stand by this, if Oliver and Felicity had gotten together in season 1 or 2- or even early season 3- it wouldn’t have worked). It was almost that she was too young. Not in the sense of number of years (the characters have only a four year gap, despite the 10 year gap between actors). More in experience. It’s tempting to phrase it as, she was too naive, or too innocent, but those aren’t right. For one thing, I never want to paint ‘innocence’ as something to be gotten rid of. She just hadn’t been through enough to really be able to be a partner to Oliver. She was 23, newly graduated from MIT, living in a new city, entering a world she didn’t fully understand yet (both of Oliver’s worlds- the world of corporate billionaires, and the world of vigilantes and mercenaries and villainy) and she didn’t know suffering and paranoia and violence yet, in the way Oliver did. And because of that there were certain things she didn’t understand, and it affected the way she saw Oliver. Almost with stars in her eyes. Initially, Felicity’s feelings for Oliver are too much a crush and not enough real affection and admiration. Season 3 actually does a lot of work toward clearing that out, testing the relationship so that all that was temporary or superficial was stripped away. 

But this inexperience started changing, nearly right away when Felicity entered the scene. With a lot of the change happening in season 2 (which is basically an entire season working to transition from Laurel to Felicity in terms of romance story lines).  From her first scene, Felicity steps into Oliver’s world(s) and begins to be changed by that experience (as well as her natural growth from getting older)

However, right from the start there were the elements of Felicity that make her an equal match for Oliver. Her intelligence, obviously, but not as much the genius side of things. That’s an awesome and undeniable aspect of her but it’s not vital to the relationship with Oliver. I mean more her perceptiveness and her insight. It doesn’t take much to see through Oliver’s cover stories, but Felicity instantly demonstrated a great deal of tact at being able to navigate the shady world of lies she was thrown into (with Oliver, Walter and Moira) and the ability to perceive who was trustworthy and who was not, even while all of them lied to her and kept secrets from her. And there was the aspect of her intelligence built on curiosity and investigating secrets. That part of her intelligence which is so very much like Oliver’s own considerable intelligence.  

And that curiosity was coupled with a recklessness. She dives into the Queen family secrets, into the mysteries of hidden hit lists, and people going missing, without much regard for her own safety. Laptop full of bullet holes? should I report this? nah, I’ll do what the strange billionaire says despite the transparent lies. And when the time comes she dives headfirst into vigilante justice with out much hesitation. And the hesitation she does have regards the morality of the situation, far more than the safety. which is not to say she’s unafraid. Felicity is very afraid through much of this. But she has a passionate single-mindedness that drives her to take part in this. 

Which, in turn, comes from the drive to do good. It manifested in her hacktivism. And it was put on hold because of how disastrously that turned out. But the desire was still there and it flared up the moment someone fanned the flame (Walter and Oliver and Diggle). And that has been a persistent part of her character which has only grown stronger and more developed as seasons have gone by. Becoming a part of team arrow. Being unwilling to leave that behind even for a quiet life with Oliver. Taking over Palmer Tech even when she hadn’t yet decided how best to use it, and then pushing to share her chip with the world (even when that didn’t entirely pan out). And it was having this desire to accomplish good for the world stifled (by losing control of Palmer Tech and by feeling like a less capable/ less active member of the team and by her guilt over Havenrock) that eventually drove her to Helix. But I’m getting ahead of myself. 

She was also able to stand up to Oliver right from the beginning (episode 1x15, her first time on the team, she immediately challenges his decisions). She’s good at holding her ground and pushing him to the right choice. Which contrasts in part with Laurel, who, when telling Oliver that he was doing something wrong, was much more prone to turning it into a personal attack. YOU are wrong, versus your ACTIONS are wrong. So her support for him became conditional, whereas Felicity has typically (with a few notable exceptions) been able to maintain a balance of “I support you but not your decision.” Laurel definitely got better at this (in part because the hurt over his cheating, started to heal) but its lack in season 1 is why Oliver tended to walk away from conversations with her like a whipped dog. For Felicity, it has always been present and been a particular talent of hers. 

All of these qualities of Felicity’s have been built upon since the beginning, and combined with experiences that help her grow and help her understand Oliver (and the rest of the team) better. The experiences themselves have not always been positive (often not been positive). But they have brought her a long way from being the outsider (”I have scars. In my mouth. From when I got my wisdom teeth taken out”) looking in from a different world, to someone who has experienced real darkness and pain and loss and can walk beside Oliver through this. 

The difficulties of season 3 were absolutely necessary to get her to this point. She had to see loss, in Sara and Oliver and even Roy. She had to define the lines she would not cross (with Malcolm and the League). She had to decide what she would not compromise for Oliver (”stop dangling maybes” “that is Oliver’s choice and if he has a problem with it he should talk to me himself”). She had to make her heroic journey her own (through her activities at Palmer Tech, her choices with Ray, and, perhaps most importantly, in the aftermath of Oliver’s ‘death’). Before those things happened, she couldn’t be with Oliver because she would have been too distant in her personal journey. 

When they got together I was thrilled. And I accepted it wholeheartedly. But something felt off in season 4 (which I to this day attribute mostly to the show trying too hard to be Flash tonally). The life Oliver and Felicity were living was gilded. Oliver hadn’t solved his problems or rid himself of his darkness, he’d run away from it and pretended that it was alright by covering it up with his love for Felicity.  And Felicity was pretending to want that when she was still completely enraptured by the vigilante life. Oliver was denying the vigilante in him and Felicity was pretending to like it and I don’t think either truly understood where the other was at. 

When Felicity ended her relationship with Oliver she said that he would always be the person that the Island made him. And I think that’s true and I think that her ending things because of that, shows that she was not yet far enough in her journey to be Oliver’s equal- the same problem as from the beginning. Because she didn’t fully understand yet what it meant to have your experiences change you into someone new (her experiences had already begun to change her but not fully and her comprehension of that was fully present yet). She didn’t understand yet that yes, Oliver will always be the man who lived through Lian Yu. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Amell and Guggenheim have both talked about Oliver killing again and coming to terms with his legacy as Oliver finding an appropriate balance between hero and killer and being able to be both. Accepting what he’s been through and what he’s become and growing from it rather than trying to reverse it. And while I’m not excusing Oliver’s actions, that what Felicity didn’t understand in season 4. She didn’t understand that Oliver needed to mend the schism in him, not choose a side. In order to understand that she had to face her own schism. 

That’s what lead to her season 5 story line (and Havenrock at the end of season 4). She had to see what it’s like to be unmade. To be torn down by loss and your own darkness. She had to be torn between being the team’s light and being a vigilante hacker. She had to be allowed to embrace her own darkness, in the same way that Oliver and Diggle (and Thea and Laurel and the rest of the team) were allowed to embrace theirs and move past it. She couldn’t be the person living in Ivytown anymore and pretending to just be the team and Oliver’s light. That will always be an aspect of her, but until she discovered she was more than that, she couldn’t stand on equal footing with Oliver because she’d always feel the burden of trying to pull him up into the light with her. And that’s not who either of them are. 

I’m not totally content with the way I’ve expressed this because I feel like I’ve made it sound like Felicity needs to be less good or less moral to be with Oliver. That’s not what I’m trying to say. I also don’t mean to accidentally imply that Oliver was more mature than Felicity and she needed to grow up or become better. they just simply weren’t in the same place. So one had to move to where the other was. And unfortunately Oliver moving to where Felicity was wasn’t really possible. I also think that I might have made it sound like Felicity had to suffer before she could be with Oliver. And I don’t really mean that either (though the shared life experiences do make it easier). It’s more that I think season 4 was a group of people denying their problems and trying to undo trauma rather than heal and trying to become simplistic versions of themselves. And season 5 has been about moving past that. Atoning for sins that need to be atoned for but accepting the reality that they happened and can never be undone and that they can still be whole in spite of that. And I think coming through that, Felicity will finally be on the same page as Oliver. And that’s when their relationship can truly take root and thrive. 

[the-good-reader]

C3: Scrap-Collecting Immortal’s Third Ascension to Godhood

Xie Lian [XL] had been reduced to a laughingstock of the 3 realms, with no incense, offerings, temples or believers.

The 2 retainers under him, Feng Xin [FX] and Mu Qing [MQ] had surpassed him.

If you were to ask XL to choose whether FX or MQ made him feel more awkward, he would say, “They’re all okay ah!”

However, if you asked bystanders who they wanted to see Xl fight, then everyone would make different choices- it was hard to pick which is the more interesting option.

Because of this, when there was no response from FX's side because he immediately hid and stopped talking, people were naturally disappointed.

Meanwhile, XL put himself down as he said: “I also didn’t anticipate making a commotion like this. It wasn’t deliberate, I’ve inconvenienced everyone.” MQ responded coolly, ...Oh, then that was indeed quite coincidental.

XL too thought it was coincidental.

How could the clock fall right onto MQ, while his ascension also happened to destroy FX’s palace?

This would look deliberate to bystanders.

However, XL was the type that managed to pick the sole poisoned cup among a thousand cups of wine.

He could only say, “I will try my best to compensate for everyone’s golden palaces and other losses. I also hope you may give me some time.”

XL was still genuinely pondering over where he was supposed to get those 8,880,000 merits when Ling Wen [LW] invited him to go to her Ling Wen Palace.

Ling Wen was the Heavenly Official in charge of managing Heaven’s personnel.

When mortals wished to get a step ahead in their careers, they would worship her.

Her palace was filled to the brim with official documents and scrolls, an utterly shocking scene.

When the two of them finally entered the Palace Hall, LW turned around and got straight to the point., ...Your Highness, there is a matter in which the Emperor would like to request your help. Are you willing to assist him and lend a helping hand?

In Heaven, there were many people who had the titles ZhenJun or YuanJun.

However, only one person could be called the Emperor.

XL was confused as this person would never have the need to call other people for help.

XL asks, "What matter?" ...“Recently, the North has a large number of zealous worshippers repeatedly praying for blessings. It can be assumed that they aren’t passing their days peacefully.”

These so-called zealous worshippers generally referred to three types of people:

Rich people who pay money in order to burn incense and build temples for gods.

Missionaries who would preach to bystanders.

People whose body and mind are thoroughly doused in faith and belief.

Most of these worshippers belonged to the first category, as in this world, rich people were like carps passing through rivers.

The third category had the least people; if one was truly able to get to that level of faith, they wouldn’t be far from ascending themselves.

The people LW mentioned were clearly from the first category, ...At present, the Emperor cannot attend to the North. If you are willing to take his place and make the trip, when the time comes, regardless of how much offerings these zealous worshippers make, everything will be allocated to your altar. What do you think? XL received the scroll with both hands as he said, “Many thanks.”

Emperor Jun Wu [JW] was clearly helping XL, but he had flipped it around and made it sound like he was asking XL for help.

XL realized this, but couldn't think of anything other to say than the 2 words he had said already.

LW replied, ...I’m only responsible for handling these affairs. If you want to thank someone, you should wait for the Emperor to return before personally thanking him instead. —Oh right, do you need my help borrowing any magical artefacts? XL answered, "There’s no need. Even if you give me a magical artefact, once I go down I won’t have any spiritual power, and so I won’t be able to use it.

XL has been beaten down twice, so he had lost his power.

In the Heavens, spiritual power was abundant, so he couls casually grab some to use.

If XL wanted to fight with magic in the mortal realm, he could only make do by finding someone he could borrow spiritual energy from, something extremely inconvenient.

LW pondered before saying, ...Then it would be best to borrow a few martial gods to assist you and lend a helping hand.

The current martial gods either didn’t recognize him, or they didn’t like him. Xie Lian understood that thoroughly, and so he responded, “There’s also no need for that. You won’t be able to borrow anyone.” LW seemed to have thought it seriously and only said, ...I’ll give it a try.

XL didn't oppose her words, and allowed her to try.

As a result,LW entered the spirit communication array before announcing in a bright tone, ...Everyone, the Emperor has an important task to be handled in the North and urgently need people. Which martial god Highness can lend out two martial officials from their Palace Halls to help? MQ’s floaty voice emerged, ...I’ve heard that the Emperor isn’t in the North right now, so I’m afraid you’re borrowing people for His Highness the Crown Prince, right? XL mentally thought, “Are you keeping guard at the spirit communication array all day long…?”

LW was in the same wavelength as him.

Although she was angry, she spoke with a smile, ...Xuan Zhen, why am I always seeing you in the array these two days? It seems like you’ve been stealing time to slack off and now you’re quite idle. Congratulations, congratulations. MQ replied in a light tone, ...My hand is injured, so I’m recuperating.

Every Heavenly Official there mentally thought, ...In the past, it would be nothing difficult for that hand of yours to split a mountain in half. So, what would hacking a foolish clock into pieces do to you?

LW had originally wanted to decieve 2 people, but now she was certain she wouldn't find anyone.

XL also didn’t believe anyone would come forward, and thus told her, “You see, I said you wouldn’t be able to borrow anyone.” ...If Xuan Zhen didn’t say anything, I would have indeed been able to. XL smiled, “Those words of yours had been as if you were carrying a pipa, but concealing half its face, beautifully blurring the scene to some degree. People would have thought they were going to help the Emperor with some work, so of course they would come. But when they come and realize they were going to have to work with me, I’m afraid there would be trouble. How could we work together like that? In any case, I’m used to being alone, and I’m not missing an arm or a leg, so let’s just go with this ah. Thank you for your trouble, I’ll leave now.” LW was also powerless, she cupped her hands in a salute before saying, ...Alright. I wish Your Highness’ journey goes smoothly, and may the blessings of Heaven’s Officials be upon you. “All taboos are off!”

Waving his hand, he left in a confident and carefree manner. ---

Three days later, mortal realm, the North.

By the side of a major road, there was a small teahouse.

The shopkeepers were simple folks, but goods were expensive because the scenery was good.

There were mountains and bodies of water, there were people and a city. They had everything, not much of everything—not much, but just right.

The teahouse’s tea sommelier was exceedingly idle, since he currently didn’t have any customers.

He was happily looking when, from afar, he saw a Taoist clad in white walking over.

The Taoist was covered in dust, looking as if he had been walking for a very long time. When he came closer, he walked past the small teahouse, before suddenly stopping in his tracks and slowly retracing his steps.

The Taoist tilted up his bamboo hat with his hand before raising his head. He only took one glance at the store before he started speaking with a smile.

“‘Chance Encounter’ little store, the name is interesting.”

Although this person had a tired appearance, he also had a face full of smiles, “Excuse me, may I ask if Mount Yu Jun is nearby?” The tea sommelier pointed in a direction for him, “It is in this region.”

That person breathed out, and for once he didn’t spit out his soul with that breath. In his mind, he thought, “I’ve finally arrived.”

This person was precisely Xie Lian.

He left the Immortal City that day.

XL had wanted to fall near Mount Yu Jun, but his sleeve got caught on a carefree cloud.

He tumbled around at a lofty, high altitude, and by the time he rolled down, he had no idea where he was.

After three days on foot, he finally reached his originally planned arrival location. Thus, for a short while, he felt extremely moved.

Entering the teahouse, Xie Lian picked a table beside the window before asking for some tea and snacks.

He had just got seated when he suddenly heard endless wailing and the sound of beating drums from outside the room.

He saw a group of people from all ages escorting a crimson-red bridal sedan as they walked past the teahouse.

If one looked closely, they would notice how the faces of these people all had solemn expressions—expressions of grief, anger, dread, yet the only emotion that wasn’t present was joy.

Whatever the case, it didn’t have the appearance of a wedding.

However, contrary to that thought, everyone was wearing red flowers as they played wind instruments and beat their drums.

This situation was really too strange.

That tea sommelier carried a copper teapot in his hand and raised it up high to pour some tea.

He he didn't seem to be shocked by this.

XL was just about to take out the scroll Ling Wen had given him to look over one more time, when he suddenly felt something dazzling flit by.

The moment XL raised his head, a silver butterfly flew past his eyes.

That silver butterfly was sparkly and translucent, looking pure and limpid. As it flew around in the air, it left behind bright traces.

XL couldn’t help but reach out a hand toward it.

This butterfly was extremely intelligent. Not only was it not frightened, it even temporarily stopped on his fingertips, both wings glittering and beautiful to the utmost degree.

Under the sunshine, it looked as if it was a fragment of an illusion.

After a moment, however, it flew away.

XL waved at it, something that could be considered as his goodbye.

But when he turned back, his table had two more people sitting there.

Both were teenage boys who looked around eighteen or nineteen years old.

The one on the left was taller, with facial expressions that looked quite defined and brightly handsome. Within his gaze was an arrogant and obstinate light.

The right side had very light skin. He looked delicate and pretty, yet also refined. However, his expression looked somewhat overly cold and apathetic, an appearance that made it seem as if he wasn’t too happy. In fact, the colour of the faces of both people didn’t look that great.

XL blinked his eyes before asking, “You two are?” The one on the left replied, ...Nan Feng [NF] The person on the right responded, ...Fu Yao [FY]

Xie Lian mentally thought: “It’s not like I’m asking for your names…”

At that moment, LW suddenly transmitted her voice over, ...Your Highness, there are two small martial gods from Middle Heaven who are willing to help. They’ve already gone down to look for you, so they should have arrived by now ah.

The so-called Middle Heaven was naturally relative to Upper Heaven.

The Heavenly Officials of Heaven could be simply and roughly divided into two categories: the ones that ascended, and the ones that didn’t.

The Heavenly Officials of Upper Heaven had all ascended by relying on themselves.

Being only about a hundred of them, they were each extremely precious.

But within Middle Heaven, the deities there were the ones who were brought up by “appointing them as deputy”.

Strictly speaking, their full names ought to be called “Fellow Heavenly Officials”.

However, when people called them, more often than not they would leave out that “fellow” word.

Since there was an Upper Heaven and a Middle Heaven, was there a Lower Heaven?

There wasn’t.

Actually, when XL ascended for the first time, Heaven was still divided as Upper Heaven and Lower Heaven.

But later, everyone found a problem when they introduced themselves to say, “I am from Lower Heaven’s so-and-so”, it sounded truly unpleasant.

With the ‘lower’ word existing, it made them feel especially inferior.

The only difference between them and real Heavenly Officials was merely how they lacked experiencing a Heavenly Tribulation, but who knew when that day would come.

Therefore, some people proposed to change a single word—turning introductions into ‘I am from Middle Heaven’s so-and-so’. This was much more pleasurable to hear than before.

After the change, XL hadn’t gotten used to it even after quite a while.

Xie Lian looked at these two small martial gods and thought it was unlikely they were “willing to come forward and help”.

Thus, he couldn’t help but ask, “Ling Wen ah, I think they don’t look like they came down to help me, and instead it looks more like they want to retrieve my dog head. Did you deceive them to get them to come?”

Unfortunately, it seemed that this question of his wasn’t transmitted out.

XL was incapable of doing anything else, so he first gave a smile to both the small martial gods before saying, “Was it Nan Feng and Fu Yao? To be willing to come and help me, let me thank you in advance.”

They both nodded, and appeared to have a somewhat lofty attitude.

Xie Lian had the tea sommelier bring two more cups of tea, “Which Highness’ Palace are you under?”

NF replied, ...Nan Yang Palace Hall. FY said, ...Xuan Zhen Palace Hall.” “….”

This truly made one feel frightened.

“Your Palaces’ Generals allowed you to come?” Both responded, ...My Palace’s General didn’t know I came. “Then, do you know who I am?” NF replied, ...You are His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. FY said, ...You are the correct path for the human world, you are the heart of the universe.

Xie Lian choked once, before he asked NF in an uncertain manner, “Just now, did he roll his eyes?” ...He did, let him scram.

Nan Yang’s relationship with Xuan Zhen wasn’t good, so when XL heard of that matter, he didn’t really feel surprised.

This was because, even back then, FX's and MQ’s relationship hadn’t been all that great.

Thus, even the worshippers from the Southeast and Southwest didn’t look upon each other in a positive light, while the Nan Yang Palace Hall and the Xuan Zhen Palace Hall had even more mutual hatred for each other.

FY smiled sarcastically as he stated, ...Ling Wen ZhenJun said that if you were willing, you could come. So, for what reason would I scram and leave?

The word ‘voluntary’, saying it with his expression didn’t look convincing.

XL said, “Let me confirm once. Are you two really voluntarily doing this? If you’re not, by all means, don’t force yourself ah.” Both said, ...I willingly volunteered.

Looking at those two deeply sad faces, XL mentally thought: "The words the two of you actually wanted to say were ‘I want to commit suicide’, right? “In short—” XL began, “Let’s first discuss the real work. You guys already know why we came to the North this time, so I won’t start explaining from the beginning…” Both of them interrupted him, ...I don’t know why.

XL could only take out his scroll before saying, “Then it would be best if I explain everything from the start.” ---

It was said that many years ago in Mount Yu Jun, there was a bride and a groom who loved each other very much and were about to be wed.

The bridegroom waited for the procession that delivered the bride, but even after waiting for a long time, he didn’t see the bride arrive.

He began to feel anxious, and thus began to look for the bride’s family, who informed him that his bride had long set off.

The two households reported this to the officials before they began looking in all directions.

Going from beginning to end of the procession's route, they never found her.

But even if she had been eaten by a fierce beast in the mountains, there should have been remains of an arm or a leg or what not.

How could she disappear in thin air?

Inevitablly, people harbored suspicions that the bride herself didn’t wish to marry, resulting in her colluding with the procession before escaping.

But who would have known that after a few years, another new couple married and the nightmare repeated itself - The bride disappeared again.

However, this time she didn’t leave without a trace.

On a small road, people found a foot that something hadn’t quite finished eating.

[8stepsoffthebeatenpath]

Webtoon Recommendation: Sica Wolf!

Origin: Korean

Tags: Romance, Fantasy, Another World

Chapter # at the Time of Writing: 68

Art Style : ★★★★✰

_______________________________________________________

This one is my newest obsession, and let me tell you, it has one of the BEST manhwa otps I've had the pleasure to read of and it's shockingly wholesome considering it involved monsters, human experiments, and death!

SUMMARY

From Tappytoon, the official English translater (and please support the author through the site if you can!):

On a mission to find the two most important people in her life, Sica steps foot outside the Magician's Tower for the first time ever! She soon meets Karsus, a mercenary swordsman who looks like her first love. Despite being confused for someone else, Karsus offers to help find the people Sica's looking for if she helps him with his work. Thus the two begin their adventure - one that will change not only the fate of the Empire, but also their hearts! First love or Karsus, who will Sica choose?

THE PLOT

The plot is really engaging; it's not much of a mystery, so the real interest is in how the characters react to the things happening to them and how they choose to act. Most of the time, they surprise me (in a good way), and the interactions & dialogues between them made me unable to put it down!

This one is definitely a character-driven story, so let's talk about them for a second!

SICA WOLF

Sica Wolf is the protagonist of the story. She is a beautiful, tiny and (honestly) fluffy looking sorceress who is too pure and sweet for this world. This world tries to put her down, with traumatic experiences in her past that convince her she is a monster and make her prone to believing people will hate her or try to hurt her. And does this precious bean blame them? Even when she's done nothing to deserve their hate but only tries to help and protect others? NO SHE DOESN'T! She thinks it's to be expected and she understands why they act like this. She is too precious and sweet for this world and must be protected at all costs!

KARSUS LIAN

Luckily, she meets Karsus; a handsome swordsman and master aura user, who has no lack of self-confidence, is laid back and is quite blase about killing and stuff. He is the perfect match for her, since he is always honest with her, constantly tackles her fears and unabashed. Of course, he too has a tragic past, one that makes him resistant to the idea of creating lasting relationships

THE ROMANCE

Featuring: Hand Holding! Cheek Kissing!! REAL Kissings!!! Chemistry!

#blessed

Honestly, these two are adorable from the get-go. Sice is not very familiar with how to create human relationships, which means she has no restraints. She doesn't fear getting physically close to people or to do whatever to make them feel better. Karsus, on the other hand, simply doesn't care, and his promiscuous and flamboyant manner makes him very quick to show physical affection.

Of course, he normally keeps it at physical affection only, but both Sica and he feel some kind of instant connection that puts them very much at ease with one another.

Which means... we get a pretty touchy-feely romance that features a couple who are pretty comfortable with each other from the get-go - they are touchy-feely, they kiss a lot (yes! a lot! And no need to wait for chapter 150 for it to happen!), they are super honest with each other, super affectionate, and super unafraid to let other people in on the secret, too! Quite frankly, they are a breath of fresh air in the manhwa world and their interactions made me unable to stop reading!

If you are still not convinced and want to see more images from this amazing webtoon, check out this Pinterest board I created for my favorite panels. If you’re looking for more webtoon recommendations, I opened a Wattpad story dedicated to that so it’s worth a follow :)