#Until Hien

[data-hex]

Comm by Metty!!

I just got my piece back from @noctglaive and as;dlkfjas;lkdfjas. My god. I love them so fucking much. 

Look at that height difference. Look at the love and adoration on Yndyr’s face for Hien. JUST LOOK AT THEM. THEY ARE SO IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER. I CANNOT. 

*incoherent noises*

[cenvast]

"Toshiro Is Sexist," "Toshiro Owns Slaves": What's Really Going on With This Guy?

I've seen a lot of debate on whether or not Toshiro is problematic because he's a slave owner or because he's sexist in the context of his crush on Falin. While I do want to examine his relationship to Falin, I'd like to take a few steps back and unpack his upbringing first. We'll dive into the gender and class dynamics he was raised with and how it impacts his behavior in the main storyline.

Like all people, Toshiro is shaped by the environment he grew up in. Toshitsugu, Toshiro's father and the head of the Nakamoto clan, is the most impactful model of authority and manhood in his life. Toshiro does recognize some of his father's flaws and tries to avoid replicating them. But whether or not he emulates or subverts his father's behavior, Toshitsugu is often the starting point for Toshiro's treatment of others, particularly marginalized people.

The Nakamoto clan exists under a patriarchal hierarchy with Toshitsugu at the top. As noted by @fumifooms in their Nakamoto household post, his wife has more authority than Maizuru. She's able to ban Maizuru from parts of their residence, but despite disliking his infidelity, she can't divorce him or stop him from cheating on her. Their marriage is not an equal partnership.

On an interpersonal level, Toshitsugu and Maizuru also have a fraught relationship. While she does seem to care for him, she's often frustrated by his thoughtless behavior.

For example, he drunkenly buys Izutsumi for her — without considering how she'll have to raise this child — and invades her room in the middle of the night. When he cryptically says, "It's all my fault," she replies, "I can think of a lot of things that are your fault." She calls him an "idiot" and "believes that [Toshiro] will grow up to be a better clan leader than his father," implying that she takes issue with Toshitsugu's leadership.

Because Maizuru and Toshitsugu are described as being "in an intimate relationship" and "seem[ing] to be lovers," Maizuru appears to be a consensual participant. Still, this doesn't negate the large power imbalance between them as a male noble clan leader and his female retainer. This imbalance introduces an insidious undertone to Maizuru's frustration with Toshitsugu. Like Toshiro's mother, Maizuru doesn't have the agency to do as she pleases in their relationship; he has the ultimate authority. For instance, she doesn't seem to want to raise Izutsumi, but she has to anyway.

While Maizuru's role as Toshitsugu's mistress is significant, she's also the Nakamoto clan's teacher and Toshiro's primary maternal figure. She cares deeply for Toshiro: tailing him, feeding him, and taking responsibility even for his actions as an adult. While it might seem sweet that she cares for him like a son at first, Maizuru was notably fifteen years old at the time of his birth. In the extra comic below, he's six years old and has already been in her care for some time. Even if we're being generous and assuming that she didn't start raising him until he was six, she was still only twenty-one at the time she was parenting her boss/lover's child with another woman.

Maizuru's roles as mistress and maternal figure, in addition to her role as retainer, demonstrate the intersection between gendered and class oppression in the Nakamoto household. Despite her original role being a retainer trained in espionage, Toshitsugu presses her into performing gendered labor for him and eventually, Toshiro. She's expected to be Toshitsugu's lover, perform emotional labor for him as his confidant, care for his child, and carry out domestic tasks like cooking. She says, "Even during missions, I was often dragged into the kitchen." If she was a male servant, I doubt she would have been expected to perform these additional tasks. She can't avoid these tasks either, stating that her "own feelings don't factor into it."

Toshitsugu disregards his wife's and Maizuru's desires and emotions to serve his own interests. Because he has societal power over them as a nobleman and in Maizuru's case, her master, neither woman can escape their position in the household hierarchy.

As a result, Toshiro grew up within a structure where men and male nobility, in particular, wield the most societal power. The hierarchical nature of his household and society discourages everyone, including him as a clan leader's eldest son, from questioning and disrupting the existing hierarchy.

The other Nakamoto household members also internalize its sexist, classist power dynamics.

For example, Hien expects that she and Toshiro will replicate the uneven dynamics of the previous generation, regardless of her personal feelings. She sees her and Toshiro's relationship as paralleling Maizuru and Toshitsugu's relationship; she is the closest woman to Toshiro and his retainer, so she's shocked when Toshiro doesn't attempt to begin an intimate relationship with her. Notably, she doesn't have actual feelings for him. Her expectations are centered around the household's precedent of placing emotional, sexual, domestic, and child-rearing labor onto the female servants without any regard for their personal desires.

Hien also probably knows that her position in the household will improve if she is Toshiro's lover because she's seen it improve Maizuru's position. However, the fact that being the future clan leader's lover is the closest proximity she, as a female servant, has to power further reveals the gendered, class-based oppression she and the other women live under.

It's important to note that the Nakamoto clan bought Benichidori, Izutsumi, and Inutade as slaves, so they have less power and agency than Maizuru and Hien. The clan further dehumanizes Izutsumi and Inutade as demi-humans; their enslavement contains an additional layer of racialization.

Toshiro isn't oblivious to the gendered, class, and racial power dynamics of his household. He tries to distance himself from participating in its exploitative power structure. He walls himself off from Hien, who he's known since childhood, to avoid replicating his father's behavior and making his servant into his lover. He disapproves of his father's enslavement of Izutsumi and Inutade, and he lets Izutsumi go when she runs away in the Dungeon.

But does any of this absolve him of his complicity in his household's sexist, classist power dynamics and racialized slavery?

The short answer is absolutely not.

Despite his distaste for his father's exploitation of his servants and slaves, Toshiro still uses them. He refers to his party as "his retainers," and he has them fight and perform domestic tasks for him. You could argue that Toshiro doesn't like to and thus, doesn't regularly use his servants and slaves. In the context of him asking his retainers to help him rescue Falin, Maizuru says, "The only time he ever made any sort of personal request was for this task." But it shouldn't matter whether exploitation is a regular occurrence or not for it to be considered harmful. Toshiro asking Maizuru to cook him a meal still constitutes asking his female servant to perform gendered labor for him. He's also very accustomed to her grooming and dressing him.

Maizuru sees feeding, washing, and even advising Toshiro romantically as fulfilling Toshitsugu's orders to care for his son. They aren't fulfilling a "personal request." But just because her labor has been deemed expected and thereby devalued doesn't mean that it isn't labor or that she isn't performing it.

Maizuru's dynamic with Toshiro is also complicated by her role as his maternal figure. She loves him and wants to take care of him, and she doesn't have a choice in the matter. During Toshiro's childhood, the onus was on Toshitsugu to cease exploiting his lover and release her from servitude, but Toshiro is now an adult man. Seeing as how Maizuru defers to his wishes and calls him "Young Master," they still have a power imbalance that he's passively maintaining. Ideally, he would not ask anything of her until he has the authority to release her from servitude.

Throughout the story, Toshiro acts as if he has no agency and quietly disapproving of his father's actions absolves him of his participation in maintaining oppressive dynamics. While his father still ranks higher than him, he's essentially his father's heir. He has much more power than Maizuru, the highest-ranked servant. At the very least, he could leave his slave-owning household.

Unfortunately, his refusal to confront injustice is consistent with his character's major flaw: he does not express his opinions, desires, or needs. While this character trait obviously hurts his friendships, it also furthers his complicity in the injustices his household runs on.

Toshiro's relationship with eating food — the prevailing metaphor of the series — also parallels his relationship with confronting injustice. Maizuru mentions that he was a sickly child, so the act of eating may have been physically uncomfortable for him. As an adult, his refusal to eat crops up during his rescue attempt of Falin. Denying himself food might have been punishment for not accomplishing important tasks like rescuing Falin and/or a way to maintain control over something in his life when he felt like he'd lost control over the rest of it, again in the context of losing Falin. (Note: I suggest reading this post on Toshiro's disordered eating by @malaierba.)

But he cannot and does not avoid consuming food forever.

Similarly, Toshiro keeps his distance from his retainers and tries not to use them until the Falin situation occurs. His efforts to avoid exploiting his retainers amount to inaction — things he doesn't ask of them or do to them. But his inaction does nothing to dismantle the existing hierarchy that places his retainers under his authority, denies them agency, and often marginalizes them as not only servants or slaves but as women, and he ends up using them as servants and slaves anyways.

Returning to the narrative's themes of consumption, Toshiro cannot avoid eating just as he cannot avoid perpetuating the exploitative system of his household. The Nakamoto clan consumes the labor and personhood of those lower in the hierarchy. The retainers' labor as spies and domestic servants is the foundation of the clan's existence. Thus, the clan consumes their labor to sustain itself.

Within this hierarchy, the retainers' personhood is also consumed and erased. As Izutsumi describes, they are given different names and stripped of their agency to reject orders or leave. Maizuru and Hien also say their feelings are irrelevant in the context of Toshitsugu's and Toshiro's wants and needs. Both women are expected to comply with whatever is most beneficial and comfortable for the noblemen. Clearly, despite Toshiro's detachment from his household's functions, these social structures remain in place and harm the women under him.

Although we know the Nakamoto clan has male retainers, the choice to highlight the female retainers seems intentional. We're asked to interrogate how not only being a servant or a slave in a noble household impacts a person's life and agency, but how being a woman intersects with being a member of some of the lowest social classes.

Toshiro only distances himself from his father's behaviors of infidelity and exploitation so long as it doesn't take Toshiro out of his comfort zone. He doesn't free his slaves. He's far too comfortable with his female retainers performing domestic labor for him, and he barely acknowledges their efforts; they're shocked when he thanks them for helping him save Falin. He hasn't unpacked his sexist (or classist or racist) biases because he perpetuates his household's oppressive hierarchy throughout the narrative. Considering all of this, he inevitably brings this baggage to his interactions with Falin.

Falin is presumably one of the first women he's had extended contact with that isn't his relative or his family's servant. Because of his trauma surrounding his father and Maizuru sleeping together, he understandably falls for a woman as disconnected as possible from his father and his clan. He seems to genuinely like Falin, respects her boundaries, and graciously accepts her rejection. His behavior towards her is overall kind and unproblematic.

But if Falin had gone with him, she would've likely been devalued and sidelined like the other women of the Nakamoto household. No matter how much he loves Falin, simply loving her cannot replace the difficult work of unlearning his sexism. Love, of course, can and should be accompanied by that work, but by the close of the narrative, we gain little indication that Toshiro acknowledges or seeks to end his part in exploiting and devaluing women and other marginalized people.

A spark of hope does exist. Toshiro expressing his feelings to Laios and Falin suggests that his time away from home has encouraged him to speak up more. Breaking his habit of avoidance may be the first step towards acknowledging his complicity in systems of injustice and moving towards dismantling them.

Special thanks to my very smart friend @atialeague for bringing up Toshitsugu's relationship with Maizuru and the replication of dynamics of consumption and class! <3

[cum-padre]

ffxiv fan fest its my first time

[practicingbushiho]

If I turn into another Dig me up from under what is covering The better part of me Sing this song Remind me that we'll always have each other When everything else is gone

[anarkhebringer]

I'm thinking about the FFXIV portrayal for my White Boy (Schmitty Schmee) for once. I need to do the Sorrow of Werlyt questline sometime, because I imagine him picking a silly name to better hide his tracks on the run after he escapes Werlyt. His name sounds stupid enough to be fake, but it's close to his actual birth name (Smithy Schmidt), so he kinda hides in plain sight with it. I imagine him also changing his hair to the mullet he has in ARR to make himself look different too, and grows it back out through MSQ.

I also imagine it being a time where he joins Arkhe for the quests, and it traumatizing him so much he steps back on joining for quite a while to recover. Being back in Werlyt was bad enough, but from what I hear of those quests it'd make his PTSD act up BAD.

[anneapocalypse]

On the Former Scions and Leadership

Something that's kind of interesting to me about the Warrior of Light, which has always been there but which Dawntrail has me thinking about in a new way, is that the WoL really isn't a leader.

(Disclaimer: Obviously everyone has their own version of the Warrior of Light and is free to headcanon over and rewrite parts of the story to suit their character, and so what I'm saying here may not apply to everyone's character! For our purposes here, I'm just talking about The Warrior of Light as written.)

(Further note: I understand that there are a variety of feelings out there about the new characters and everyone is entitled to their own opinions about that; however this post is not an invitation to trash those characters in the notes so please refrain from that here; thank you.)

The Warrior of Light is a hero, but not a leader. Thanks to the linear nature of FFXIV's storyline, the game can't really offer us the conceit of making real choices, and so pretty much everything the WoL does is a result of someone else asking them to do it. So many of our major relationships with NPCs are with leaders: Minfilia, Nanamo, Kan-E-Senna, Merlwyb, Aymeric, Raubahn, Hien, the Exarch, Vrtra, Fourchenault, Wuk Lamat and Koana, every guild leader in our job quests. The WoL is someone called upon by leaders rather than being a leader themselves.

The Scions themselves have an interesting relationship to leadership in general. I've written before about how much the Scions feel like they're living in the shadow of Louisoix, especially in ARR, and how this affects their actions. As the leader of the former Circle of Knowing, Minfilia steps into the leadership position in his absence. I love Minfilia dearly; I think she has a true gift for bringing people together, making people feel welcomed and not alone, and helping them find purpose. I think all those skills probably availed her well as the leader of her Echo support group. It's when the Scions suddenly find themselves in the spotlight on an international scale following the defeat of the Ultima Weapon that I think the cracks start to show. I think that, very understandably, Minfilia is not prepared for the weight of that situation, and that's part of the reason she allows Alphinaud to step into such a leadership role himself (and also, and I say this with all the love in the world for both Alphinaud and Minfilia, why she even kind of lets him push her around at times). For Alphinaud himself, his experience of leadership with the Scions is disastrous, for which I think some responsibility also has to be laid upon the adults around him, who might have seen the red flags but didn't stop that train.

When Minfilia disappears, I think it's so telling that no one else steps up to fill the role of the Antecedent. Alphinaud is no longer so eager to take on that burden, and no one else is jumping at it either. Certainly the Warrior of Light isn't going to do it. (They're the boots on the ground, and the Antecedent is largely an administrative job.) The Scions instead just kind of agree to keep carrying on doing what they each do best, without an official leader. If anything, the glue holding the Scions together at this point is Tataru, who keeps the books and manages the budget and does her damnedest to keep certain people from putting overpriced purchases on the company card.

And that's not to say that none of the others have leadership skills! But it's interesting how, for those who do take on leadership positions, it's generally away from the Scions. After years of hiding under her sister's identity and "Papalymo's little shadow," Lyse takes an active role in the Ala Mhigan resistance, and helps to lead her people to freedom--a journey which ultimately takes her out of the Scions as she decides to stay in Ala Mhigo.

I'm counting G'raha as a Scion here since he does become one eventually, though not until after his hundred-year stint as the Exarch. It's clear both from the community that has grown up around the Crystal Tower, and from some really great G'raha moments in Endwalker, that he has real skills both at bringing people together for a common cause, and at taking charge in a crisis to protect the vulnerable. For the most part, though, he seems quite happy to take on a sidekick role after he returns to the Source. After a hundred years, I imagine anyone might be ready for a break from being in charge.

Y'shtola is harder to analyze because she's gotten less direct character development than most of the surviving Scions, and has remained largely in a supporting role thus far (though she remains a very interesting character to me, and I am hoping for a bit more of her in the Dawntrail patches given the setup for a cross-rift-travel solution). Y'shtola has always seemed reserved and a bit of a loner, and never seemed particularly interested in leadership until she threw in her lot with the Night's Blessed in the First. By the time we meet her again, she's become a trusted figure among the Blessed and the others clearly look to her for guidance and leadership. (It's also kind of interesting to me how both of the characters who wind up in leadership positions in the First are Seeker Miqo'te, and it probably was just a coincidence, but it'd be interesting to analyze how Seeker culture might prime a capable person to be willing to rise to the occasion where they see a group of people need.) Yet Y'shtola too seems perfectly content to settle back into a support role when she returns to the Source.

Endwalker is all about standing together, working together, the necessity of hope to overcome despair not merely individually but as a collective effort. The Scions all rally, each bringing what they have to offer, and they do so without ever appointing a new leader. They go where they see a need, like Urianger choosing to stay on the moon, or Thancred watching over the Warrior of Light and the twins when things go south on the relief mission to Garlemald, or the twins later taking a personal interest in the rebuilding efforts there. They also defer to leaders within the Eorzean Alliance where appropriate, happy at this point to work alongside the nations' armies rather than attempting to command one.

And the more I look at the Scions' history this way, the more their disbanding at the end of Endwalker seems inevitable and the logical end to the organization. In a very real sense they have completed the work that Louisoix and Minfilia set out to do. They've been leaderless for some time now already and it has not stopped them from doing good where needed. They are not leaders. Their goal was never to steer the course of world events indefinitely. They've all learned a lot about applying their individual talents for the greater good and having faith in one another to do the same, without having to be directed by one charismatic leader every step of the way--a major point of growth from where they were in ARR.

And all of this makes our role in Dawntrail really interesting to me, because it's all about leadership! And the Warrior of Light and their companions are, as characters, perfectly primed to take a supporting role and take initiative in that role where needed (see: Thancred and Urianger doing what needs to be done behind the scenes during the second act crisis). What the former Scions aren't, as a whole, at this point in their story, is people inclined to step up and take over. And this is a good thing for this story. Both Wuk Lamat and Koana need to learn and grow on their own, and in the context of their own cultures. The former Scions can help, they can support, and they do, but they aren't going to take over. Sure, they have opinions! At various points, we see characters on both teams (including the Warrior of Light) make some pointed faces at one another indicating that they have some doubts about the direction in which their candidates are taking things. But they withhold direct judgment or criticism for the most part and I think that makes sense both for their characters, and for the nature of the story.

I also think it was probably intentional that the former Scion with the most extensive leadership experience, G'raha, is not one of the characters hired by the claimants and doesn't come back to the plot until later. While I love G'raha and I did miss him, I understand story-wise why he couldn't be here; his unique circumstances mean that he has had more leadership experience than most people could ever have in a single lifetime, and it's probably for the best that that doesn't overpower the experiences of our young claimants who need to learn their own lessons on their own terms.

The support role of the former Scions also makes sense in other ways, I think, in terms of allowing the Turali characters and especially Wuk Lamat, as the main character, to shine in their own right and to avoid what could otherwise have been some problematic tropes. But I also think it works pretty well as a natural outgrowth of who these characters are and have grown into over multiple expansions, the Warrior of Light included.

[dungeon-meshi-tournament]

For my first tournament of 2025, I want to run an outfit tournament. But there are two options that I think would both be fun to run, so I leave the choice up to my followers.

I also want to make the candidates for this tournament ones which are submitted by you lovely people. Some pointers on submitting outfits:

You have until this poll ends to submit outfits for either tournament.

Any outfit any of the characters have worn in any official material, whether that's the manga, the anime, the Adventurer's Bible, the Daydream Hour, or some more obscure material.

Anyone is allowed to submit as many outfits as they want.

To make sure I see your submission, it's best to submit it as an ask. You're allowed to message your submission to me in other ways too if you want though.

If the outfit you're submitting is only for one tournament, please specify.

You'd help me out a lot if you also submitted an image of the outfit, but it's not required.

After this poll concludes, I'll put all of the outfits submitted for the winning tournament into one big bracket, which will be the bracket for the next tournament.

Outfits that have been submitted so far below the cut:

Laios:

BBQ party

Demon lord

Dragon sweater

Thistle backpack (dual outfit)

Frog suit

Mushroom suit

Canary

Halloween costume

Half-foot outfit

Leather underarmour

Standard outfit

Falin:

Chimera form

Death / stomach T-shirt

Naked in the bath

BBQ party

Bug catching

Chimera dress

Dancing

White dress

Christmas dress

Blue coat

Blouse & sunhat

Medieval dress

Dress with coat

Cavewoman

Laios' outfit

Marcille:

Dungeon lord

Standard outfit (best outfit only)

Familiar shirt (best outfit only)

BBQ party

Rin's dress

Sundress

Swimsuit

Black dress

Christmas dress

Dark dress

Avant-garde dress

Frog suit

Home dress

Namari's outfit

Chilchuck:

Standard outfit (best outfit only)

Halloween costume

BBQ party

Summer outfit

Shirt collar unbuttoned

Frog suit

First collab cafe

Senshi:

Underwear (chapter cover)

BBQ party

Hawaiian shirt with pepper

Medieval outfit with red overcoat

Santa

Modern with tie

Underwear (hairy)

Frog suit

Halloween costume (worst outfit only)

Izutsumi:

Tail warmer

Crop top

Christmas dress

Calico

Thistle:

Standard jester outfit

Two-piece beach outfit

Orange jester outfit

Blue jester outfit

Flutist outfit

Walking mushroom T-shirt

Christmas

Lute player

Mithrun:

Halloween costume

Wakuwaku-san

Fucked-up

Cithis:

Winter outfit

Halloween costume

One-piece swimsuit

Pattadol:

Bikini

Fleki:

Tits out

Stoner backpack

Fur coat

Unicorn shirt

Orange suit

Bikini

Unicorn shirt 2

Winter outfit

Standard outfit (worst outfit only)

Lycion:

Standard outfit (worst outfit only)

Otta:

Leather jacket

Fur-lined jacket

Tank top

Inutade:

Swimsuit

Christmas dress

Sumo wrestler

School uniform

Halloween costume

Hien:

School uniform

Christmas dress

Benichidori:

School uniform

Modern with sweater

Kabru:

Fem!Kabru

With armour

Without armour

Gravestone T-shirt

Dia:

Pink dress

Medieval outfit

Yellow dress

Yellow floral dress

Yellow swimsuit

Namari:

Christmas dress

Marcille's outfit

Sleeping gown (worst outfit only)

Kaka:

Gnome

Kiki:

Gnome

Leed:

Suit

Standard outfit

Elf queen:

Open jacket, jewellery, and nothing else

[prismatoxic]

4KIDS DUNGEON MESHI CHARACTER LIST

Laios Touden - Larry Thorton (he's smart and knowledgeable about monsters and his friends always support him) Falin Touden - Felicity Thorton Marcille Donato - Mary DiMaggio (she's more italian now. refers to felicity as her "bestie" on numerous occasions. heavily implied to be in love with larry) Chilchuck Tims - Charles Chuck (he has a goatee and all instances of his age being questioned in canon are replaced with him being made fun of for his bad facial hair. all mentions of a union are gone) Senshi - Samuel Izutsumi - Isabelle (was tulip in the old party)

Kabru - Kyle (very overtly an evil antagonist who wants to hurt larry, also openly in love with rebecca) Rin - Rebecca Holm - Harold Daya - Denise Kuro - Fido Mickbell - Maddison (a girl now and HEAVILY gendered so nobody is confused)

Mithrun - Michael (also blatantly evil, like kyle) Pattadol - Patty Cithis - Cindy Otta - Oswald (a man now, and given pants) Fleki - Fran (a crazy lady now, but not because of drugs! she's just kooky and silly) Lycion - Lupin

Mr. and Mrs. Tansu - Mr. and Mrs. Thompson Kaka - Kenneth Kiki - Kennedy Namari - Nancy (her dad vanished one day without a trace for unknown reasons and she's been trying to get him back)

Toshiro Nakamoto - Thaddeus Nicholson (everyone thinks his name is chad, he and felicity are openly engaged) Maizuru - Marigold Hien - Holly Benichidori - Bluebell Inutade - Ivy

Sissel/Thistle - Poppy (a girl now) Delgal - Dennis Yaad - Edward The Winged Lion - Leo, until his true nature is revealed, and then Lucifer

and now, some screenshots from @sleepiercreature:

[oodlesofweird]

Shuro thoughts (1201 words)

If i had to assign a term to Shuro that describes his character, it’d probably be ‘a lack of connection with others’, many of shuro’s relationships in dungeon meshi follow a similar pattern, in that they're all very neutral. He feels like he’ll constantly be in his dad’s shadow no matter what he does, leading to him not trying much, along with some resentment towards him. There’s also his relationship with Maizuru,who was one of the more positive figures in his life who he ends up blocking out as he grows older. Even his relationship with Hien is kinda. Nonexistent. They used to be quite close when they were kids, but their friendship eventually deteriorated when they grew older. 

It makes sense since the difference in status is more prevalent, but this made me think about how he reflects Laois. Even though they both have similar upbringings, with fathers who are in a leadership role which they would benefit from. Laios is still ostracized from the rest of his village, and pretty early on ends up leaving to become a soldier, where he ends up even more ostracized. It’s only when he leaves the army and goes to the island, that he becomes an adventurer and meets his party, where he finds companions who he’s on mostly friendly terms with. Despite everything he’s able to create his own life outside of his family. 

Meanwhile Shuro has presumably lived with his family up until he gets sent off on his adventure. He’s constantly in his fathers shadow, and everyone that he’s surrounded with is in some way related to his father. The retainers are all employed under his father and are more or less lended to him. Even when he leaves for the island, he’s still connected to him by the quest that he’s sent on, and his retainers that follow him. He doesn’t come to the island for himself, it’s for a competition arranged by his dad.

Another way that they’re foils is through their siblings. Laios’s relationship to Falin is incredibly important to the story. They both clearly love each other and left home to find their own path side by side. But Shuro and his siblings have a large distance between them. It’s never stated why, but I don’t think it’s made better by the whole, competition for inheritance thing. I think it’s also interesting how Laios’s adventure brings him closer to Falin. While Shuro’s takes him away from his brothers, furthering the gap between them.

Even in laios’s party, where he’s able to make connections with people not from his home, he still can’t really connect with others. Namari and Chilchuck both drink after work, Falin and Marcille are besties and all get along pretty well. They’re all comfortable enough with each other to speak their mind and jokingly riff on each other, all except for Shuro, whose relationship with them is much more like co workers. 

It’s the same in his old party. Hien and Benichidori are able to form a friendship with each other, and Tade forms a friendship with Izutsumi. But Shuro is distant from them all, to the point where him going “you guys did a good job, I’m sorry I dragged you guys down here” is enough to bring Maizuru to tears and confuse the hell out of them all. While Laios’s party criticizes him pretty openly, Shuro’s party instead just goes with what he does.

One similarity between him and Laios that I didn't really notice until now is that they both lack real friends, just for different reasons. Laios can’t find real friends because he can't read social cues or socialize well with other people, but he still tries to reach out to people even if things end up sour. Meanwhile Shuro doesn't have friends because he doesn't try to connect with other people, he's passive and only makes connections if they come to him first, ending in friendships that he’s not even happy with.

I also think it's interesting how he has a special relationship with both Touden siblings, just that one is out of love and one is out of hate 💀 Both of these relationships lead to him breaking out of his passive personality and making his own decisions instead of just moving through the motions. By falling in love with Falin, he makes the decision of finally leaving the party in order to form his own rescue team. Due to his hatred of Laios, he ends up getting into a fist fight and finally showing his true emotions and feelings. Both Touden siblings influence Shuro to make active decisions throughout the story (Proposing to Falin, leaving the party, deciding to turn marcille in, fighting Laios, etc). Even though these are bad decisions, (proposing to someone without any kind of romantic relationship first, fist fighting someone while half your party is dead), they are still him finding a voice. Both Laios and Falin make Shuro break away from what's expected and make his own path, even if it's very brief, and even if those decisions were very stupid.

Even though Shuro’s whole reason for coming to this island is the quest he’s sent on by his father, we don't really get much of that in the main manga, instead more focus is put on his relationship with Laios and Falin, (something something even narratively he finds his own path by having an arc based on his relationships instead of his quest). If he had an arc in the manga, I presume it would be around him finally understanding Laios? And eventually repairing the relationship between them and forming a real relationship (Though honestly i'm not sure about this). But nonetheless i think Shuro’s relationship with Laios does improve, even though he says he hates Laios, he also admits that he's envious of him. 

The two of them have personalities that fundamentally clash with each other while reflecting the other. Shuros passiveness and Laios' lack of observation skills basically guarantee their relationship would go south, but they do manage to pick up the pieces, after beating the shit out of each other. 

Laios and Shuro have a genuine talk where Shuro admits his envy, and even offers Laios a way to escape to the east, despite not being asked to. And in the final chapters, Shuro ends up hugging Laios with a genuine smile, despite not being comfortable with physical contact. Even though the two had a rough fight, their relationship manages to recover and become somewhat positive. 

By the end of the story, even though it's implied that Falin rejected Shuro (good for her), he's still on good terms with the Toudens. He finally makes his own decisions and speaks, and even though things got kinda ugly, he's still able to have a positive relationship with Laios and Falin, not as besties or as a married couple, but just as fellow people. He finally finds his voice and speaks up, end creates connections by the end of it. 

If anyone would like to add more to this or has points they wanna bring up please do ^^, these are just my disorganized thoughts that i finally wrote down.

[tainbocuailnge]

Hey, sorry to send an ask without us knowing each other 😅

But I just saw you in the tags in the post about jrpg translations, saying that FF14 has better translations in other languages.

Can you talk more about that?😊

I played in English before and it was okay. I tried German too, but was a bit disappointed. So hearing you say that, I'm genuinely curious to hear more!

I've been replaying msq in german and wrapped up tsukuyomi just yesterday and it's insane the extent to which german is more thematically consistent and has stronger and more nuanced characterisation than english. i think the german script is more poetic too, despite english trying so much harder to sound flowery and important. I've been translating bits and pieces to my friends and I keep feeling like I'm presenting them with that botched jesus painting restoration because I just don't know how to convey how beautifully constructed some of these sentences are. the german translation team are genuinely very good writers.

as an example of what kind of differences we're dealing with here, and since it's what I finished most recently, in german from the start there's a lot more emphasis on how it was systematic mistreatment from the "good old" doma that lead yotsuyu to where she is, and that her cruelty is specifically retribution for the way doma has failed her (as opposed to english trying to frame it as in large part to satisfy her personal sadistic impulses). gosetsu is repeatedly shown to be sympathetic towards her for this even while she's actively trying to hurt and kill him (as opposed to english having him be sarcastically dismissive of her), which makes it make way more sense that he'd take tsuyu in his care later even without the "also she reminds him of his dead daughter" bit (that they do still tack on at the end but doesn't feel like a handwave excuse as much because of aforementioned consistent sympathy).

in english hien has several lines showing he's hostile to and wary of tsuyu and waiting for the right opportunity to kill her, but in german hien brings up killing tsuyu one (1) time and when gosetsu argues for her right to live hien agrees, and the difficulty in keeping her around is not his personal dislike but that it's hard to guarantee her safety when the doman people will want violent retribution in turn (in clear parallel to lyse trying to keep fordola from getting lynched without a fair trial). because german hien is not constantly talking about how he wishes he could just kill yotsuyu for her crimes, it doesn't read as pathetically incompetent of him to let her sneak out of the mansion multiple times because he was treating her as harmless citizen of doma instead of an enemy of the state (because german in general emphasises a lot that she SHOULD have had a place in doma), and her backstory is taken seriously as part of his motivation to create a better doma that she perhaps could've had a peaceful life in

there are many cases like this where german displays a nuance that english doesn't, and from very early on. in english arr cid ran away from the empire out of moral disagreements, in german it's clear that he also holds a complicated resentment over losing his father to project meteor and then his replacement father figure gaius to a similar mad search for power, something that in english doesn't come up until all the way in shadowbringers with bozja. in english castrum meridianum livia says she's going to kill you because gaius is hers, in german she's mad at you because you killed her friend mr cape westwind and is going to kill you before you can take gaius from her too.

in german heavensward thordan sounds much more convinced of his principles. when you defeat him in english he's horrified of how you could possibly overcome the amount of faith he's powered by, in german he's horrified that the future of ishgard will be thrown into chaos in the name of your pursuit of truth. gaius sounds more convinced of the ideals he spouts too, and it feels more plausible that he has people willing to die for him and his ideals. in german the similarities between nidhogg and estinien are clearer, and when nidhogg possesses him he insidiously frames it as an act of kindness.

in german, many random moments of misogyny in the english script outright don't exist. matoya doesn't make fun of alphinaud for looking like a girl. alphinaud isn't dismissive of alisaie in binding coils. most of the lines in english that insult or dismiss yotsuyu as an evil whore don't exist in german, and lines that weren't about her at all in english turn out to express sympathy towards her in german. in english hydaelyn had minfilia fuse with her by force, in german it was minfilia's idea. in english i was bothered by lyse being made head of the resistance because she sounds so unsure of what to do and think right until the end, in german she's full of conviction and clarity of purpose. I'm sincerely convinced the english team hates women.

because german doesn't go out of its way to sound like some kind of ancient wizard prophecy at every turn, several scenes which in english were confusing convey their information clearly in german (I'm particularly thinking about the minfilia anitower scene here). characters talk clearly and with a lot of personality that english fails to achieve because everyone has to speak faux old english. and because most characters talk like real people instead of ancient wizards in german it's extra cute that urianger does in fact talk like an ancient wizard.

as a more personal gripe, I have noticed several moments where the english script centers the warrior of light and their importance and struggles, while in german those scenes where about, like, the character the scene is about. german wol is still hydaelyn's favourite freak of nature and everyone loves them obviously, but as the example most fresh in my memory there's the scene in early post-stb where you visit fordola in her cell and she unwillingly looks into wol's past thanks to her fake echo. in english, she asks wol how they can bear all the suffering other people have put them through. in german, she asks how wol manages to stay sane when the echo makes you so deeply aware of the suffering of others. in the flashback of her past you see in that scene the german script also mentions that her face tattoo is an ala mhigan design, which makes it clearer than it was in english that she was specifically trying to rise the ranks of the imperial military as ala mhigan and makes her motivations more coherent - namely wanting to prove both the ala mhigans who hated her for being garlean and the garleans who hated her for being ala mhigan wrong by achieving success as both (and the power to lash out at both).

there have been very, very few moments where I actually thought the english script was better (shiva's trial lines and like, one line hien says at the steppe, that's it), and the vast majority of the time german is anywhere from about the same quality as english to just insanely better. the english script is so concerned with sounding cool and important that it becomes scared of letting characters be motivated by emotion. it's plagued by the kind of insincerity and insecurity that plagues so much of western media and leads to movie superheroes making fun of their own costumes. the english script will write one good line and then keep repeating that line ad nauseam and yet still fail to achieve the amount of internal thematic consistency the german script has, because english is relying on this handful of cool lines to carry its emotional core instead of actually letting the emotional core drive the characters. combined with the consistent pattern of dumbing down and/or vilifying female characters frankly I want to beat koji fox with hammers.

I'm actually very curious what about the german script disappointed you. the german voice acting is not good so if that's what turned you off I completely get it (I play with jp voices myself) but that's separate from the actual writing. these kind of things will ultimately always come down to personal preference so i won't judge but as you can tell from these several paragraphs i feel very strongly about the quality of the german script so I find it hard to imagine why you think that

[mudaship39]

Native Intro For Social Media

Native intro or introduction for social media

BYI or before you interact. For old and new followers.

✋ ⚠️

Check out my bio, links, and pinned post. In tumblr bluesky or threads. All mudaship39. For accessibility purposes and safety reasons. Esp as a disabled and queer trans native of color

My main socials (other than my tumblr):

My threads:

My bluesky:

🛑 🚫

FAQ or Frequently Asked Questions:

This is a list of rules, guidelines, procedures, & boundaries. For those of you who are also bipoc qtipoc and disabled. For those of you who are white, cishet, allistic, neurotypical, abled bodied, & or non native. To make this a better, healthier, & safer social media experience for me.

This is how i am vetting people i want or don’t want following me. I’m trying to cultivate and curate the social media sphere I want here. To protect my social media space. Esp as a marginalized person.

I don’t do follow for follows. I don’t have the time or the energy to follow back every single person who follows me. Thats how we got twitter into x. I’m not doing that. I also don’t follow anyone without vetting them first as a lgbt and disabled social media user and creative. For safety and privacy reasons.

Be sure to check out my bio links pinned post and or pinned post before interacting with me in any way if you are a new follower. You should be doing this for every social media anyway. I’m trying to not have the clusterfuck of Twitter happen here too.

Always recheck my bio links pinned post and or pinned thread before interacting if you are an old follower. I’m always updating this with up to date information. This tumblr pinned post btw is the most up to date native intro cuz of how easy it is to edit here.

Remember those symbols and that before you interact are in my bio and pinned post for a reason. Please respect my social media boundaries. Esp as marginalized social media user. I’m a visibly brown queer trans and disabled native of color.

If you don’t read my bio, links, pinned post, and or pinned thread and you interact with me. I’ll see this as you not respecting my social media space/sphere and boundaries as a marginalized person. I will mute unfollow and or block you. I’m taking extra steps to keep myself safe here as a marginalized person. If you can’t take the time to respect that. Then you’re not clearly someone I want in my social media space. Plain and simple.

The introduction is detailed and thorough for a reason. Past lateral violence and micro aggressions. I’m trying not to encounter that here. This shouldn’t need to be said but apparently it does. Don’t be mad at a marginalized person for having a long intro. Remember rules guidelines and procedures. Be mad at bigots who made this all necessary in the fucking first place.

You don’t have to read the bio links pinned post and or pinned thread in one go also btw. You can like it, pin it, bookmark it, whatever. Continue where you left off until you’re done reading it. 📌

With that out of the way. Thank you. Welcome to my social media sphere and space. 👋

Info about me and my WIPS art and projects as a as a disabled and queer/trans native of color writer artist and creator creative and native of color gamer/streamer/podcaster

Preferred Names:

Hello. My Indigenous Pasifika preferred name is No’eau Aitonui Hoata/Heiani Mareva Hoata. If you are Indigenous or Indigenous Pasifika please refer to me by that name

My Vietnamese Kinh name is Ngoc Hien/Xuan Dinh Nguyen. If you are a non native person of color please refer to me by that name

Names on the left is when I’m kane/tane or masc. Names on the right is when I am vahine/wahine or femme.

I do have unisex names for when I am maohi raerae (think two spirit, mahu, or fakaleiti) or native third gender.

But I am not comfortable sharing it on social media. Only use these names if you are a fellow native or indigenous pasifika. Or if you are a non native person of color. Not if you are a non native yt settler.

Names have power. I don’t want certain people referring to me by my certain names for obvious reasons.

My English/French name is Christian Henry Nguyen/Charlotte Jeanne Nguyen. If you are a non native white person you can only refer to me by this name.

Preferred Pronouns:

Any and all pronouns. Including neopronouns and indigenous third gender pronons. He/him. She/her. They/them. Xer/xers. Zer/Zehir. Native third gender neutral oña. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈⚧

For unisex or gender neutral names when I am they/them, xer/xers, or zer/zehir. Ask privately for the names.

Don’t assume masc. That queer and trans symbol is in my bio for a reason. Esp as a third gender native of color. I really don’t want to be misgendered or deadnamed on here like Twitter. The only time you can refer to me by masc without asking me first is when we are irl for safety reasons.

General rule is ask for pronouns first. If I say he him. Refer to me by my names on the left. If I say she her. Refer to me by my names on the right. If I say they them xer xers zer etc. Ask privately for my unisex or third gender names.

Info about me:

Im a Southeast Asian Vietnamese or Kinh Indigenous, European French, East Asian Chinese Hoa, & Polynesian Tahitian Indigenous Pasifika. Poly or Polynesian Pasifika. 🇫🇷🇻🇳🇨🇳 🇵🇫 I’m an Asian Native Pasifika. 🐚 🌺 🏝️ 🪝 🌋

Virgo ♍ sun, Scorpio ♏ rising , Libra ♎ moon. Level 30 adventurer. September 7 🎂

Displaced state side diaspora on Chumash and Tongva occupied stolen land. 🗺️ Orange County/LA County Southern Cali. 📍 Land back. All land back. Turtle Island Hawaii Samoa Guahan Papua Palestine Etc

Leftist and Progressive. Commie. Anarchist. Socialist.

Im Buddhist ☸, I’m a reconnecting Polynesian Tahitian Indigenous Pasifika polytheistic pagan ⛦⃝, & I am a practitioner of the Kinh Indigenous spirituality of Vietnam of ancestral veneration

I’m a disabled native of color. I’m autistic, neurodivergent (add or attention deficit disorder, adhd or attention deficit hyperactive disorder, ocd or obsessive compulsive disorder), chronically ill (Crohn’s disease, epilepsy, eczema) spoonie disabled, & mentally ill (depression, anxiety disorder, bd or bipolar disorder, ptsd or post traumatic stress disorder) disabled. ♿️ ♾️ 🥄🌻

I play and stream PS3, PS4, & PS5 games. I play and stream Xbox 360, Xbox One games. I plan to play Xbox Series X games in the future. I plan to play Nintendo Switch games in the future. I plan to play PC games in the future. 🎮 🎧 🎙️ 📷 📺

I’m a QTIPOC or queer and trans Indigenous person of color. I’m nonbinary bigender or genderfluid. I’m bisexual pansexual or omnisexual. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈⚧ I’m polyam or polyamorous. 💛♾️ I’m maohi/raerae in the middle indigenous native third gender.

DNI or Do Not Interact:

🚫 🛑

Typical DNI

Especially

Racism colorism antiblackness and anti native racism

Homophobes and transphobes

TERFs/radfems and swerfs

Ableism fatphobia and classism

Antisemitism, Islamaphobia and or anti Romani/Roma sentiments

Bots trolls bigots

Crypto ai nfts etc

Nazis fascists and Zionists

Info about my art:

Im a writer, creator, & artist. I’m a multidisciplinary creative. Im a literary artist and performance artist. Im a creative writing and fiction writer. I’m a nonfiction poet writer. Im an author, comic book writer, screenwriter, spoken word poet, & songwriter. I write SFF or sci fi fantasy futurism in fiction. ✏️ 🎬 📖 📜 🎶 I am also a variety and small gamer, streamer, & podcaster. 🎮 🎧 🎙️ 📷 📺

I’m a Indigenous language keeper, culture keeper, & storykeeper.

I will freelance write or write for commissions

I write about racial, sex, cultural identity, sexual orientation, & gender identity in music and poetry.

I write about Black, poc, Indigenous, disabled, and or lgbt characters in disabled, bipoc, and qtipoc futurism.

Im the writer and creator of the disabled, Bipoc, and qtipoc futurism anthology project. It’s a hybrid soft and hard science fiction and magical high fantasy. It’s precontact and post land back. It’s a comic books and graphic novels hybrid series called Chronicles of War.

Basic info is the pinned post of my tumblr. More information is on a google doc on my google drive. Needs email for google doc invite link.

Im the performing artist spoken word poet of the spoken word poetry anthology book Heart of Fire Dragon, Soul of Flame Pheonix, & Sea Fairy Ocean Blood that is about being a disabled native, an Asian Native, a displaced disconnected diaspora, & QTIPOC.

The cut and censored version of it was linked in the pinned tweet on my twitter mudaship39. Before musks bs made me delete the account. Uncut and uncensored version is on a google doc on my google drive. Also needs email for google doc invite link.

Im a disabled and lgbt native of color gamer/streamer/podcaster. I am a small indie and variety Twitch Kick Noise and YouTube gamer streamer podcaster. 🎮 🎧 🎙 📷 📺

Gaming socials:

Info on gaming socials so people can follow me and or friend me on gaming socials as a disabled native of color variety and small gamer streamer and podcaster

My Playstation tag is warpdriveplanet3. My Ubisoft is Warpdriveplanet. My Xbox tag is Mudaship39. My Twitch is mudaship39. My steam is Mudaship39. My discord is mudaship3. My Battlenet tag is Mudaship39 #1878. My Nintendo is Mudaship39. My YouTube is christianaitonuingocnguyen3292.

Links so others can find me on other socials:

Expanded info about my wips art and projects:

Info about my wips art and projects as a multidisciplinary creative and a small and variety gamer streamer and podcaster

Current Wips Art and Projects:

Spoken word poetry anthology book:

Do you want to read a spoken word poetry anthology book I wrote as an Asian native Pasifika artist who’s a songwriter and spoken word poet? Its called Heart of Fire Dragon Soul of Flame Phoenix and Sea Fairy Ocean Blood.

It’s about being a disabled native (autistic, neurodivergent, chronically ill, & mentally ill disabled), a displaced disconnected state side diaspora, being an Asian Native (as a Vietnamese Kinh, French, Chinese Hoa, & Polynesian Tahitian Indigenous Pasifika person of color), & about being a QTIPOC (queer and trans third gender Indigenous person of color).

I have been working on it for a long time as a storykeeper, language keeper, and culture keeper. I have been working on it for a long time as an artist who’s a poet and songwriter. Since seventh grade of junior high.

It includes a personal foreword and personal afterword to Indigenous people specifically Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian audiences.

The old cut and censored version of it was linked in my pinned tweet of my Twitter mudaship39. Before I deleted my Twitter. Cuz of musk.

The new cut and censored version will be posted to tumblr threads or bluesky. If anyone is interested in reading something like this. The uncut and uncensored version of it is on a google doc on my google drive.

Need email for google doc invite link. Let me know which version you prefer to read if you're interested in reading something like this. Let me know an email on socials with messages. Be sure to like and reblog my pinned post to boost my art to other bipoc qtipoc and or disabled mutuals.

Cover art of the Spoken Word Poetry Book: Heart of Fire Dragon Soul of Flame Phoenix and Sea Fairy Ocean Blood:

For the cut and censored version. Go to the pinned post.

Like and reblog the pinned post. This is to boost info about my wips art and project to your disabled, qtipoc, & or bipoc followers.

The cut and censored spoken word poetry book is linked in my pinned post thread.

Like reblog and quote any line of the cut and censored version of the spoken word poetry book. Quote tweet it with your thoughts.

Use any hashtags if you know any. This is so it gets out to others in the poc community and Indigenous community especially those indigenous to turtle island or Indigenous to Pasifika Oceania or Moana.

It’s also so I can find poc or Indigenous producers and publishers to actually make it into a spoken word poetry book.

For the uncut and uncensored version post comments into the google doc itself and leave a review at the end.

Let me know if you know anyone else interested in reading something like this.

Let me know if know any poc and Indigenous artists especially indigenous to turtle island or Indigenous to Pasifika Oceania or Moana who are willing to draw art for this poetry book.

Bipoc qtipoc and disabled futurism anthology project:

Im also a writer and creator who writes bipoc, disabled, and qtipoc futurism. I write magical high fantasy and science fiction books, comics, and graphic novels.

My bipoc, disabled, and qtipoc futurism anthology project called Chronicles of War. I have been working on it for a long time. Since freshman year of high school. It is a soft and hard science fiction and magical high fantasy hybrid comic book or graphic novel series.

It is soft and hard Sci fi (bio punk, solar punk, ray punk, nano punk, & cyberpunk) in the near and far future. It is also a magical high fantasy (steampunk, Tesla punk, arcane punk, and dungeon punk) in modern and urban fantasy.

It is a hybrid fusion that is bipoc qtipoc and disabled futurism with bipoc qtipoc and disabled main and supporting characters. It is precontact and post land back.

It’s a futurism anthology or collection of sci fi fantasy stories. That is about several disabled, bipoc (or Black Indigenous and or person of color) characters, and qtipoc (or queer and trans indigenous people of color) main characters.

One is mahu third gender Kana’i Akana/Ataahua Akana an Afro Asian pasifika/Afro Latine Native. He/she/they are a demigod metahuman and alien hybrid superhuman superhero. He/she/they are in a science fiction bio punk, solar punk, ray punk, nano punk, & cyberpunk world in the near and far future.

The other is Kittsak/Kaeo Alin Pramoj an Afro Asian native third gender coded magical human with light and dark fae elvish, hobgoblin goblinoid, & giant kin ancestry. He/she/they are a multi class spellcaster, swordfighter, and gunslinger hero and adventurer. He/she/they live in a magical high fantasy steampunk, Tesla punk, arcanepunk/aetherpunk, and dungeon punk modern fantasy world.

Both of them are qtipoc disabled and bipoc. There are other disabled bipoc and or qtipoc main characters in other worlds pre contact and post land back.

Such as a Sami Indigenous and European Scandinavian coded third gender god/goddess Jotunn Loki. King/Queen Loki Laufeyson/Loki Farbautidottir of Jotunheim and Utgard. Child of Queen Laufey and Queen Farbauti born of Vanir and Jotunn magic. Living in the ancient past during the age of the gods.

Such as Lushanya Williams a two spirit third gender Afro Indigenous Chickasaw Native Freedman were lion and were leopard hybrid character. She is living in a town of Afro Indigenous Freedman and hybrid humanoid communities. In a modern and urban fantasy world.

Such as Eloxochitl Hueytletl a female Nahuatl Indigenous woman, Chiaquitinta Mallqui a male Quechua Indigenous man, Piatã Jucá a Tupi or Guarani Indigenous man, Malia Tsethlikai a Zuni Indigenous woman, & Zacal-Noh a female Maya Indigenous woman. They are Central and South American summoners of kaiju or titans based on Nahuatl, Quechua, and Maya and other Central and South Indigenous mythology. It’s a precontact story. As they use the kaiju to fight off the Spanish Empire.

Such as a female Asian Native superhero Zhou, Chen who lives in the near future and far future cyberpunk world and her alternate reality doppelgänger Zhao, Zhen a monk adventurer who lives in a silk punk martial arts world. She is a demigirl, a butch of color, and a lesbian of color. They are connected by minds, hearts, and souls after a traumatic experience as an adventurer and as a superhero. They are both Isekai into each other’s worlds.

Such as a Pirate Captain Meilani Taerea an Asian Pasifika native of color maohi raerae third gender Polynesian and Melanesian Indigenous Pasifika sea pirate living in the bronze, silver, & golden age of piracy in a modern fantasy world.

There are several bipoc qtipoc and or disabled supporting characters.

Such as Afro Asian half dragon (Chromatic European, Celestial Asian, gemstone, & metallic dragon) half human Chun Hei Kim a dragon mage and dragon fighter adventurer.

Such as Afro European British and Afro South Asian Desi Hindu Amelia Himmat Mishra. Like her older siblings she is a champion and hero of the Hindu pantheon.

Such as Afro West Asian and Black African Muslim Maysa Nibala Uzun a lesbian Black femme of color. She is a power armor soldier and an ace mecha pilot.

Such as Latine Native Tsalagi Indigenous two spirit native third gender Valeria Nadia Torres Garcia or Tsistunagiska Colagnee. She is a hacker activist. She is a technopath who has power over electricity and technology.

Such as Madison Cao or Isabella Rodriguez an Asian Hispanic Native or Asian Latine Native mutant of color. She is a rookie superhero in training. She is one of the many bipoc qtipoc and disabled protégés of the Afro Asian Pasifika and Afro Latine Native superhero main character.

The main and supporting characters are in monogamous or polygamous relationships. It has Black, Native, poc, queer, trans, & disabled representation. It has Indigenous and indigenous pasifika representation too actually. If that’s something you are into.

Need email for google doc invite link also if you are also into this. Let me know an email on socials with messages.

If you want to look up excerpt blog posts of my poetry book or futurism project. Be sure to search my blog with my tags of native, indigenous, trans, disabled, and or queer: artist, writer, representation, character, and or creator. Be sure to like and reblog to boost my art wips and projects to native of color, disabled, & or lgbt mutuals.

Don’t repost my art. Just tag and credit me on other socials.

Upcoming Wips Art and Projects:

Upcoming project once i find cast crew and a studio and network to green light it: Modern take movie about Medusa and her disabled blind lesbian love interest. With more diverse characters. Since it’s a modern take with disabled, qtipoc, and bipoc representation like my other wips and projects.

Polynesian Micronesian and Melanesian sports anime or cartoon. Each season being about different Pasifika sports. Volleyball, football, ruby, surfing, rowing, canoeing, & sailing. Each season with different main characters. Characters from across the Polynesian, Micronesian, and Melanesian diaspora. Characters from past seasons returning in cameos. Bipoc qtipoc and or disabled main and supporting Pasifika characters.

Payment Gifts Wishlist Donation Mutual Aid:

💵 💳 📋 🎁 💸 🙏

Payment for art as a disabled native of color writer artist and creator creative. How to support as a disabled native of color gamer/streamer/podcaster. How to help with mutual aid as a disabled and queer trans native of color:

If I ask for help with payment gifts wishlist donation and mutual aid. Refer to here. Please help out if you’re able to assist a low income poor native of color.

There is an ableist pay cap as a disabled writer artist and creator. There is also an ableist income inequality. There is an ableist marriage inequality.

If anyone wants to pay me for the spoken word poetry anthology book and or the bipoc qtipoc and disabled futurism project as a disabled multidisciplinary writer artist and creator. If anyone wants to support me as a small and variety disabled native of color gamer streamer and podcaster. To help out with items in my wishlist to support me as a disabled native of color writer, artist, creator. To help support me as a disabled native of color gamer, streamer, podcaster.

To help with mutual aid (food, water, clothes, medications, groceries, bills, rent, & housing) as a disabled native of color. To help with healthcare, insurance, hormones, medications, and other gender affirming care as a qtipoc. To help with moving out of the place I share with right wing conservative family members. To move into affordable and accessible housing and shelter with friends and partner(s) as a lgbt and disabled native of color.

Be sure to dm or pm me. There is a specific way to do so as a disabled writer artist and creator.

Help with these whenever and however you can. Especially on eastern Moon Lunar or Chinese new year. My birthday on September 7th. For Colonizer/Invasion days (the fourth Kanada day or Australia Day). Esp for Indigenous peoples day. Esp for Indigenous day of mourning. For Yuletide winter solstice and Christmas. For western new years.

Wishlist as a disabled creative and as a disabled writer, artist, creative and gamer, streamer, podcaster:

I play old, current, and next gen console games PlayStation 3, 4, and 5 games and Xbox 360 and Xbox one games.

Still trying to get a gaming computer to play old, current, & upcoming pc games. Still trying to get an Xbox series x for other current and next gen Xbox games. Still trying to get a Nintendo switch to play current and new Pokémon and other Nintendo games.

Games I am playing currently is in my Xbox and PlayStation account. Games I want to play but am waiting for as a disabled gamer, indigenous gamer, gamer of color, & gaymer is on my gaming wishlist on my PlayStation Nintendo and Xbox accounts.

You can also send me PlayStation store, Nintendo store, or Xbox store gift cards amount from 25 to 100 $ so I can buy the games I want to play and stream as a gamer of color, native gamer, gaymer, disabled gamer, & variety streamer.

I use an old windows 7 laptop for my writing and art. It’s gonna run out of support soon. Still trying to get a windows 10 or 11 laptop with a wireless usb mouse. As well as a new Samsung or iPad tablet with a tablet keyboard for accessibility for writing and creating art and projects.

Also still trying to get a microphone, camera, and headset for streaming, gaming, and podcasting.

As well as USB Drive extended storage portable hard drives. So I can play more games at a time from my game catalog. So I have more storage and memory. Without needing to reinstall games to do so. For Xbox and PlayStation.

Wishlist for these is on my separate on my throne wishlist and Amazon accounts

Wishlist Socials:

Shipping Name and Shipping Address for payment gifts donation wishlist and or mutual aid:

People in the past have paid me by sending cash money orders or check to me to my address under my government name. Be sure to dm me or pm me for the shipping address and the name to send the payment, gifts, wishlist, donation, & mutual aid under.

Contact at

Cellphone 📱 714 717 2482

Let me know a name to save it under and the social media I know you from

If you want to talk by call text or FaceTime

I don’t respond to people I don’t know as a disabled native of color

Contact At: 📧

Private emails:

*

Personal Email:

christian.nguyen1994@icloud.com

Work Email

christian.nguyen2868@gmail.com

Unpublished and Not Represented as a Disabled and Queer Trans Native of Color Creative:

Unsponsored as a Gamer Streamer Podcaster

Still looking for a agent, rep, publisher, and producer as a disabled and queer trans native of color creative

As well as a sponsor as a disabled native of color gamer streamer and podcaster. As a small and variety game streamer and podcaster shooting for partnered and affiliate on twitch youtube noise and kick. So I can get good streaming equipment, gaming setup, and a game catalog to game, stream, & podcast to a bigger disabled, bipoc, and qtipoc audience.

I plan to perform my spoken word poetry anthology book at venues in Orange County and LA County Southern California. To bipoc qtipoc and disabled audiences. If you want to be a part of that let me know. After I get artists, a publisher, and editors to help with the spoken word poetry anthology books about being an Asian native, a lgbt native, a disabled native, & displaced disconnected diaspora. Once I get the spoken word poetry book published. I plan to perform it to bipoc audiences across turtle island. As well as perform it across Moana or Pasifika to Polynesian, Micronesian, & Melanesian audiences.

After I get a producer, studio, network to fund my bipoc, qtipoc, & disabled futurism project. I plan to turn it into a book, comic, manga, web comic, light novel, & graphic novel series for bipoc qtipoc and disabled readers. A cartoon, tv show, movie series, animated series, & anime for bipoc qtipoc and disabled viewers. A table top rpg game for disabled qtipoc and bipoc players. As well as a video game series for disabled qtipoc and bipoc gamers.

Be sure to also like and reblog my bio and pinned post to boost it to disabled bipoc and or qtipoc mutuals.

👍 🔄

Be sure to like and reblog the bio pinned post and pinned thread (if you or mutuals are on bluesky and or threads) of my tumblr bluesky and threads. This lets me know if you read or haven’t read my intro before interacting with me. Use any hashtags you know. Such as bipoc qtipoc and disabled hashtags. Such as writer artist creative hashtags. Such as gaming streaming and podcast hashtags. Such as donation wishlist payment mutual aid hashtags. Likes and reblogs. To boost it to disabled bipoc and or qtipoc mutuals. Remember the social media algorithm. Just likes doesn’t help much in boosting a marginalized social media user and creative.

[prosciuttoon]

Anyway, Shuro isn't the only character with problems, he isn't even the only Japanese/ Eastern Archipelago character, so not the only one with that specific background. And yet, he sure is the only one who acted out the way he did.

If you like him for .. whatever reason (narcissism? Based on your posts, I guess), that's fine, but like. There's extremely valid reasons for not liking him that aren't just "ur racist" or "you just don't understand!!!!"

hes the only one that acted out bc he was the only one that laios was interacting with that was the reason they fought?? laios wasnt talking to hien or benchidori or maizuru like that he didnt even meet them until he reunited w shuro in the dungeon

and when did i ever say “you’re racist if you hate him” all i did was talk abt the cultural context of his upbringing that would make him a terrible communicator. also, narcissism is such a weird word for liking a character a lot? and its not like im making him look innocent and flawless bc im literally explaining his flaws and where they come from. if someone doesnt like him bc he reminds them of someone that hurt them im not gonna try to change their mind, wouldnt hurt to know Why he acts like that but if theyre informed and still dont like him thats perfectly fine!!!

since i think u sent 2 asks ill just put the first one here and answer it too:

in the post abt him leaving izutsumi in the dungeon to come back “if she wants to” the “nuance” i was talking abt was the fact that he said “if she wants to” i.e giving her a choice to return (which she didnt do because she hated that place obv). also sorry hes not powerful enough to abolish slavery in his country, hes not even the heir to the family. dont think the eastern archipelago is strictly based on a specific time or reality in japan, probably just inspired by reality but not based on it, so shuros family is likely one of many families serving their “feudal lord” who rules a province of the country. in history, feudal lords were also under shogun and the emperor, but neither are mentioned in the manga iirc so i will guess that wasnt the case.

my aim w my posts isnt to force ppl to change their minds on whether or not they like a fictional character. im just giving an extra perspective w stuff from extra content plus my own experience (i.e being asian too) that some people may not know about. what they do w the info is up to them im not trying to tell people how to think. if they learn smth that changes their opinion fine if they dont also fine its not that serious. im just talking about my interpretations of the character.

if i see a critique i may think “wait but do they know about [insert notable info]”. if they dont know, would maybe be good to know bc its important to the character, if they do know and thats the conclusion they came to, thats it! i dont do any more than that n ur acting like im forcing everyone to like him.

tldr; just cuz i am explaining the root of his flaws doesnt mean im ignoring them. i still call him what he is! a loner who cant set boundaries and it only makes problems for himself and people around him, but i also happen to be interested in Where the behaviour comes from! (which happens to be heavily due to culture). doesnt mean im calling u racist if u dont like him wut

[white-poppie]

𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐚!𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐞

Character: Mafia!Sakusa x Civillian!Reader (Based on the poll) Genre: Mafia AU, Yandere Warnings: blood WC: 0.5k+ Writer:@white-poppie

~ Synopsis: "When Sakusa meets a kind and fearless stranger with similar taste, he can't help but fulfil their rather vicious desires."

~ Note: This is very rushed! My exams are starting soon and I wanted to gift something to you guys before I vanish *poof*

Sakusa was a level-headed man. Smart, cunning and sometimes even manipulative if he might. It wasn't a choice, it was a necessity in the profession he was in.

But right now he was submerged in the twilight zone of obsession and desire. Since he met you, he hasn’t been himself.

Sakura Kiyoomi, the leader of the Japanese Yakuza faction called ‘The Black Jackals’ has a history of distaste for humans in general. He is just slightly concerned about his hygiene and health. As a child, he suffered from a weak immune system. Therefore, as he grew older and the responsibility of the gang came upon his shoulders, he had to be even more cautious about getting sick.

He first saw you at a museum he was visiting. He liked to see his crime scene before committing the crime. He was casually looking at the pieces until one of them caught his eye. A fierce-looking woman in a black dress stood on a medieval balcony looking towards the sky. Her eyes were red and distant and her beauty was so enthralling, one could almost ignore the blood on her figure.

It was spellbinding, the way he automatically moved closer to the frame, until his chest came into contact with something soft. He looked down to see a person, brows scrunched up in distaste, but with a very unkind smile on their face.

"Apologies," he said gruffly and you were taken aback by how melodic his voice sounded unlike his clothes, which looked like he had walked straight out of a 12-year-old girl's fantasy.

"It's fine," you sighed, "you may have to be the second one mesmerized by Madame Hien's beauty."

He tilted his head in question.

"The painting," you replied. "It's called 'Madame Hien'."

He looked back up at the painting. Such exquisite artwork, surely anyone would be enamoured by it, but why were only the two of you there?

"You said the second one. What is that supposed to mean?"

You smiled and looked ahead. "Madame Hien has a reputation for being cursed." You crossed your elbows and looked back at him.

He piped, "aren't you scared?"

"What is there to be scared of? Its a painting, art is supposed to make the comfortable uncomfortable. The artist wanted to make it famous by spreading this rumour however unlike other 'haunted paintings', luck didn't side this one. It didn't become famous."

A deep laugh reverberated through his chest. "such a shame, a masterpiece like this in a secluded corner of a tiny museum owned by the government."

You chuckled at his words, "You talk like an anti-communist during the world wars."

He crossed his hands behind his back, "It's a shame really, this painting deserves so much more than this."

You sighed longingly, "sometimes I wish it had a better place to exist."

You look at her black dress, "wish someone would be kind enough to steal it from this godforsaken place."

He smirked and looked towards you, "for an ideal citizen , you talk really dark."

You smiled and answered, "perhaps, law is there to break anyways."

"So hypothetically if I ever plan on doing something illegal, can I count you in?"

"A hundred percent!" you laughed and fished for your business car, "feel free to call me if you ever want to do something illegal."

Sakusa was hesitant to feel another human's touch, but he agreed, "got you."

You looked at your watch in a hurry, "oh no I have a meeting in an hour!"

Quickly you started heading towards the gate, before stopping dead in your tracks, "wait I never asked your name."

He hesitated as he stared at the floor quietly. "Kiyoomi." He said without mentioning his family name.

You flashed him a smile, "Y/N L/N."

BREAKING NEWS: 'Minor painting in the city museum was stolen. The painting titled, 'Madame Hein' which was infamous for cursing those who saw it, has been stolen. The bizarre fact os that the CCTV footage of the entire day of the museum has been erased completely. The thief left the following message graffitied on the museum wall where the painting used to be.

"It's in a better place now, stranger. See you soon." -- K

⤷‧₊˚ HAIKYU!! (ハイキュー!!) 

🥀 BYI/DNI ♡⌇ Request Rules 𓏸 🗝️ ₊﹒《 Join my Taglist •

TAGS: @akumicchi, @nanaseishiro, @denkis111, @futuristicallykawaiiturtle, @kristaline2dmensimp, @innerpurple, @sakinotfound, @oikawatoorupdf, , @juanasspirit, @renster05, @cleaningfairylevi

[thevikingwoman]

AO3 Year End Roundup 2024

Tagged by @myreia and @galadrieljones, thank you friends!!

Tagging: I am even later, but let me tag @roguelioness @redinkofshame @wickedwitchofthewilds @astrology-bf @superfluouskeys

@galadae @buttsonthebeach

—Words posted: 34,520 (including the ffxivwrite2024 pieces I didn't get together to post to ao3 until today, but it was up on tumblr in sept!)

—Additional Words Written: Unknown! My words written counter is a little less than this, as some of the works posted was started in 2023 or earlier.

—Grand total of words: My counter says around 28,500 written in 2024

—Fandoms: FFXIV, Wayfarer, Dragon Age Inquisition (AU)

—Works: 17 (inlcuding ffxivwrite2024 anothology)

—Highest Kudos: Casual Fun (Dragon Age solavellan, explicit). Not really a big surprise that a major pairing in a large fandom with lots of writer love beat out my rare pairs in a fandom with less writing/reading focus.

—Highest Hit One-shot: Also Casual Fun

—New Things I Tried: I did ffxivwrite for the first time, and it was a ton of fun! I've done a prompt/day challenge before, but this was the first one where the prompts are not known before hand. I didn't do all days, but the ones that spoke to me, and it was great! it was my most productive month.

I also wrote explicit m/m for the first time in To the Victor, the Spoils (FFXIV Magnai/Hien, explicit). I can't believe I did before, but I haven't. I was quite pleased with it!

—Fic I Spent the Most Time On: The Lovers (Meryta/Tansui, explicit). This fic is listed as "relationship talk" in my tracking sheet, and it's something I worked on intermittently from January to May - and it's been in my mind longer.

It was really important to me to write how Meryta's and Tansui's relationship changes. It's a physical fling first that grows, and I wanted to have an honest and mature conversation about exclusivity that worked in the world. And to stay true to their cheeky and teasing nature. I'm really pleased with the Xaela lore I weaved in along with both how intense Tansui feels about it, their different approaches to a relationship (Meryta is demi-romantic) and also their playfulness (it started as a silly thought, which is how they always behave in my head). It meant a lot to me and it took a lot of work; I actually went and wrote part of their conversation from both their POVs to figure out what was going on.

—Fic I Spent the Least Time On: Stamp, which I've not even counted in my ao3 count, since it's so silly, not canon, and not going on ao3.

For published fics, Casual Fun, since it was finishing something that was a few years old for "finish your WIP February" and I just cleaned it up and wrapped in up in 3 days (short for me!)

—Favourite Thing I Wrote: This is a very hard question! I did love writing The Lovers, and my Hien/Magnai fics, and all my Meryta/Tansui fics - they're just ughghgh to me.

but I think my favorite things was actually Choices, which is a Meryta introspective Shadowbringers piece - it's short and deals with the lack of agency and the Exarch and all the feelings she's going through in the story. I just really loved fleshing this out.

—Favorite Thing I Read: I'm going to be extremely selfish and say Familiar Shores by @myreia, your wrote my blorbos and you wrote them so well and I'm just SO happy reading it.

otherwise, I read many great things - I love all of what @myreia writes, and I had other fun things I read, like see me bare my teeth for you by meepfather, such a lovely and wellwritten piece and I love the aura head canons.

I also re-read @ellstersmash's nothing on my tongue for the umpteenth time, a perpetual favorite

—Something I Finished: I tend to write one-shots, so I finished many things! I love writing one shots, and it's much easier for me to write a moment than a story arch. I started out 2024 by finishing Solace and Breakfast, which really was the groundwork for all my Meryta/Tansui fics, and the productivity I had this year

—Miscellaneous Highlights: My word count was pretty typical for a "productive" year for me, and I'm glad I found footing in writing ffxiv and Meryta - along with Hien and Magnai. I have not been writing much since my interest in writing Dragon Age tapered off, Iwyn settled with Solas in my mind. I was excited to pick up writing more again!

I also tracked my writing and tried to write every day. it did fall apart in the summer, and after October, but overall it's a good goal to have, and I'll pick it up again (next week. hehe).

I'm also really happy to revisit my Wayfarers for a small Wayfarer event, I love them and the story so much!

Lastly, I was very happy to write a small piece for @myreia, I do love writing gift fics, but it's also a bit nervewrecking writing other people's characters. Meryta-as-an-adventurer was fun to visit and how she'd see Aureia!

—Writing Goals for 2025:

I want to write more Meryta. I love her, and there's lots to fill out. I started and outlined a multichapter of her time on the Steppe in Stormblood - as this turned out so important for her. I do hope to get to write more on it.

I also have more Tansui and Meryta ideas, and I am SO close to finishing Endwalker - I want to flesh out how their relationship develops during that time. in addition, I think I'll try to do @yearoftheotpevent! I'm excited for the prompts.

I would love to do ffxivwrite again, and I'd love to revisit my Wayfarers. Then I will probably play veilguard, and who knows if that will make me return to Dragon Age.

—Final Thoughts:

I really like being a multifandom, and multiship writer. While right now 80% of my brain is Meryta and Tansui, it's so fun to have other things to explore. I have a half-written estimeric piece, I have more Hien and Magnai ideas...

I think I'm still struggling with writing a rarepair and ffxiv's lack of writer engagement, but I will carry on and forward and remember the joy writing bring me in it's self - and the dear people reading my writing 💚

[practicingbushiho]

Hi

Tumblr can't handle this heat, but I've been on a roll with spicy samurai again <3

[scionshtola]

FFXIVWrite2024 Prompt 4 - Reticent

characters: Hien Rijin, Y'shtola Rhul rating: G | word count: 1216 words notes: Hien clears up some misconceptions about his relationship with Corisande. Slight spoilers for the Stormblood patches.

When Y’shtola arrived in Doma, Hien greeted her personally. On the advice of Corisande—a small aside in a letter sent ahead of Y’shtola’s arrival—he kept the meeting short and to the point, inquiring about her work and offering his assistance, as needed. He’d provided her with an apartment, if she chose to accept it, and access to his limited staff as she desired.

She’d accepted his hospitality with appreciation, and Hien had left the encounter with a slight swell of pride at having done well by the Scion so highly spoken of by the Warrior of Light. Over the course of her stay in Doma, while their relationship did not grow so warm as the one she seemed to share with Yugiri, he was happy to say they were rather amicable.

Or so he thought. But now, walking beside her on the Azim Steppe, he could feel a chill wafting in his direction. 

Corisande had run slightly ahead to speak with Cirina, leaving Hien and Y’shtola alone together as they followed. Unsure of how long the moment of privacy would last, he cast about for some way of broaching the topic—and confirming his suspicions—and settled on, “Corisande has been a great help to the people of Doma. Our restoration efforts would not be half so far along without them.”

“I am sure they would be happy to know their efforts are making a difference,” Y’shtola said evenly, without looking in his direction. 

“They spoke very highly of you, on our journey together,” Hien continued, trying his best to be nonchalant. “Quite effusively, if I might add.”

“So you have said.” The response was just short of terse, and he was certain she had started walking faster, though her lack of height gave him the advantage. 

“You spoke as effusively of them when first we met.” Hien paused, and glanced at her before he spoke again. “I admit I didn’t quite grasp the depth of your friendship until the three of us began to work together.”

Her expression remained as smooth as a river-worn stone. It hardly surprised him. In the short time of their acquaintance, she had shown herself as a self-possessed woman, difficult to ruffle.

Y’shtola’s reply was short, in length and tone. “We are close.”

Her reticence amused him. Had he not spent the last few days with the both of them—had she not grown cool toward him with Corisande’s presence—he might have left her to her secrets. Instead, he said, “I didn’t think you were one for obscuring the truth. We both know that is quite an understatement.”

Even that was putting it lightly. He had borne witness for days now to the ways Corisande and Y’shtola gravitated toward each other. Always half-turned toward the other, as if a private world existed between the two of them. They seemed able to communicate full thoughts with only a look, despite the limits of Y’shtola’s vision, and they worked in perfect tandem together, often anticipating what the other would ask or say before they even spoke.

Perhaps that could be explained with a deep friendship, were it not for how often they seemed to forget he was there, providing him with an unobstructed view of the warmth in their gazes when they looked at each other—when they lingered long after the other had turned away. 

Ahead of them, Corisande was deep in conversation with Cirina, oblivious to the exchange happening behind her. Hien leaned slightly into Y’shtola’s space, whispering conspiratorially, “Though I am not sure Corisande quite realizes it yet.”

“I am not obscuring anything,” Y’shtola stopped just short of snapping at him. “There is nothing to hide. Though you may be unable to engage in a conversation with Corisande without flirtation, she and I have no need to partake in such behavior.”

Hien fought a smile at having his suspicions proven correct—the occasional flirtation peppered in the easy back and forth of his conversations with Corisande was the cause of her distance. He did not think she would take kindly to even minimal gloating, so he kept the victory to himself, and said, “No need, perhaps, but the desire is there. You need not deny it—neither of you are as subtle as you believe.”

“Your conclusions are ill-informed,” Y’shtola said, a sharp edge in her voice. He was not quite sure, between the two of them, who it was meant to cut. She turned to him with narrow eyes. “If our familiarity has been as overt as you suggest, it is simply a result of the gratification of our reunion.”

“Besides,” she added as she turned away, seemingly as an afterthought, though Hien guessed it was more of a calculated risk than any carelessness on her part. “Corisande’s attention is held elsewhere.”

It did not take an academic of any caliber to puzzle that one out. He laughed, and she shot an irritated look in his direction. “If their attention is elsewhere, it is certainly not on me.” 

Hien only flirted with Corisande because it made her laugh—she never responded in kind, and he never wished for her to do so. Any hope of romance between them had long diminished, almost before it had even begun. “Did she tell you of the kiss we shared on a hill not far from here?”

Y’shtola looked away again, her jaw set. “I know of it.”

An interestingly vague answer. She’d learned of it, but perhaps not from Corisande. “Then you should also know that it ended in disaster. And enough tears to drown any budding romance.” 

“If their grief was enough to deter you,” Y’shtola said, and this time there was no mistaking the recipient of her ire, “perhaps the romance should not have been pursued so casually.” 

“I will not argue that,” Hien said, with a twinge of shame in his chest. It had not been his proudest moment, though he was sure that the conversation that followed the short-lived attempt at romance had made way for the friendship they had now. “I knew very little of their past at the time. The feelings were new and not so deep rooted as—” yours “--those of others.”

Y’shtola studied him, her eyes narrowed. “You are becoming quite the diplomat.” 

“I’m certainly learning,” Hien said, with a smile. “You should tell them, and spare the rest of us all the longing looks at each others’ backs.”

Y’shtola laughed quietly, and he was grateful that the conversation was ending on a pleasant note. The chill he had felt from her had evaporated. 

He stepped forward, walking backwards so he could look at her as he spoke. “Or perhaps you need a challenge to motivate you? I can resume my efforts, if it will inspire you to speak up.”

Hien had barely enough time to dodge the stream of air she aimed at his head. She wore an impish smirk when he looked at her, and pushed her way past him with a bump of her shoulder. He watched her catch up with Cirina and Corisande, the latter of whom immediately looped her arm through Y’shtola’s as they walked. 

Corisande looked over her shoulder at him, smiling brightly and gesturing for him to catch up. He jogged after them, falling into step next to Cirina with a smile.