#Yut's Blades

[kapa56]

More Banana Fish yapping

Now that I thinking about it, Black Lagoon is like Banana Fish but with slightly less trauma and without many scenes that make you die inside.

Also like both shows are about a Japanese men (Eiji and Rock) who lived a chill life and then randomly gets to experience the life of crime.

The other protagonist is someone used to this life, is a great fighter and has unresolved trauma (Ash and Revy).

And they end up developing fondness to one another

Pros about BL: I would say Black Lagoon has many more funnier moments and slightly less traumatic events. Also, the cast contains mostly female characters who add the most to the plot, are great fighters and have great dynamics between each other. It has a more gritty aesthetic, very 90's-early 00's vibe.

Pros about BF: it has more emotionally charged themes and it makes you feel a dozens of emotions per episode. The violence is less I would say but it's also more impactful because you get really attached to the characters (Ash, Eiji, Short, Yut-Lung, Sing etc). It also feels more artsy and deep.

Bonus:

They would definitely try to fight each other and then hookup.

Also, they give the same amount of diva and they would be besties (Yut-lung would teach Shenhua about poisoning and Shenhua would teach him about fighting with blades).

Sorry for the long ramble, but if you like Banana Fish, I think you should try Black Lagoon and vice versa.

[kaen-ace-of-diamonds]

Mirror Image

Word Count: 1900+ (oneshot)

[AO3]

Genre: Angst/Family

Characters: Lee Yut Lung, Yut Lung’s mother, Lee family

Summary: His brothers left no trace of her to remember by. The only way Yut Lung can see his mother again is by looking in the mirror.

Written for the @bf-fashionzine​. Warning for rape, murder, and child abuse.

~0~

His brothers do not stop with the ruin and destruction of his mother’s body.

Their late father’s will is mysteriously never found; Yut Lung will always wonder which of them did away with it. After his death, their first order of business had been to slaughter his lover, and their second, carried out the next day, is to divide up Lee Hong Lung’s vast kingdom among themselves. Wang Lung holds court as the six of them make official their claims to the properties, possessions, and areas of business. It is a very cut and dried affair; the death of their father and the matter of their inheritance has been a decades-long topic of discussion between them.

Yut Lung is aware of none of this as it happens. Once his brothers are through with his mother, Hua Lung drags him through the halls of their father’s home, to throw him in the back of a car bound for their aunt and uncle’s. He goes with two heavyset guards on either side of him, and nothing but the clothes on his back.

For a while after he arrives at his destination, he is certain that he will be his family’s next victim. He is too petrified to move from his bed, too sick to eat or drink. He cannot even change out of his robe, despite the stocked armoire. Despite his aunt and uncle trying to tell him that this is, for now, his home, he can’t stop feeling like a prisoner awaiting death, living in fear of the moment the executioner will come.

His mind replays the moment of his mother’s death: the flash of silver from Dao Lung’s pocket, the deep curve of the short blade around a pale throat, the darkness of his mother’s blood gushing up and spilling. Wang Lung, still thrusting on top of her, had clenched his teeth and growled as he finished inside her for the final time. The light had left her eyes only a second later.

The replay never ends, not really. It’s at the back of his mind every day and haunts his dreams every night. It doesn’t get easier, he simply falls numb.

It’s a full two or three days before Yut Lung’s terror starts to wear off, and he realizes that the blade is not coming for him. His brothers are content to stuff him out of sight, out of mind. For now, at least, until he’s useful to them. Uncle Mu Lung sits with him at meals and talks about schools and vocational options for him. Skills he ought to learn.

He can’t muster up the energy to stare openly at him, at the gall it takes to pretend that nothing has happened.

“We can supply you with new clothes for it,” his uncle says, awkwardly adjusting his tie as he looks over the small white robe his nephew is still wrapped in. “In America, you should fit in. Your brothers do.”

Yut Lung is not yet the fierce dragon of night, filled with fire and vengeance, but the mention of his brothers makes his heart thump uncomfortably. Still, he cannot say no. He knows his brothers will not kill him for no reason anymore, but perhaps for a small reason...

His hair is cut short, to match the style of the American boys he will soon be studying with. He doesn’t remember Wang Lung’s face very clearly, but the shadow of resemblance between youngest and eldest brother makes him queasy. His long black ponytail lays limp on the floor like a dead snake.

His aunt helps him try on a suit, tiny and blue and made of material that itches his skin, and he has to resist the urge to fidget in it. There’s a strange child staring back at him from the long mirror, a life-sized doll wrapped in clothes not his own. Had he always had such a blank face, he wonders?

The three of them are shipped off to America in a couple weeks. The worldly possessions that he has been permitted to keep fit in one small carry-on bag, and he has long since said a private farewell to the wardrobe and personal items left in his father’s house. So it comes as a surprise when, in his unfurnished new room, there is a plain but large trunk waiting for him in the middle of the bare floor.

He approaches it cautiously, and struggles to read the note left on the lid. It’s in the Chinese characters he knows, but in a difficult and unfamiliar hand, so he passes it up to the adults to translate.

“Uncle Mu Lung...?”

He is surprised to see his uncle’s eyes widen and some of the color leave his face. “Yut Lung, does...does the name Xing mean anything to you?”

His heart leaps into his throat. “Mother!”

Without thinking any more, Yut Lung scrambles to unlock the trunk and push the heavy lid up and open, nearly pulling a muscle in his small arms in his fervor.

It takes him a moment to register exactly what he’s looking at. There’s fabric, lots of it, unfolded and stuffed haphazardly right up to the brim. Colors and patterns he recognizes, but only in glimpses underneath a billowing layer of white and brown. The white is vaguely comforting, sparking a split-second memory of freshly laundered robes, their soft scent under his nose. But the brown, that’s not right, it’s not a shade he recognizes but it’s got a strange odor that he does, what — ?

Blood. Blood.

His heart freezes.

He no longer sees the trunk. He sees the knife. He sees it sinking into mother’s throat, dying her dove white robe with a deep, wet crimson stream. It’s all he can see — !

The next thing Yut Lung knows, he is wheezing on the floor, held in a half-sitting position in his aunt’s hands. His uncle is slamming the trunk’s lid shut, with a loud bang. He’s ripped Xing’s death robe away from her other clothes, white-knuckling it in his free fist.

His nostrils are flared and teeth bared with fury, as he curses his older nephews’ names up and down in vicious Chinese.

“Have they not done enough?! Depraved monsters, just like my brother!”

“Darling, quiet!” his aunt cries, looking around as if they’ll burst in to kill her too.

Yut Lung stares up at Mu Lung in a haze. He’d only learned he even had an uncle the day he’d been sent here; his father had never once mentioned his far younger, insignificant brother. But here Mu Lung was, shaking in rage for his sake, looking for all the world like he’d love to dig Hong Lung’s grave up and kill him again.

Yut Lung realizes with a start that he envies him. He can speak as he pleases, and his brothers will not care...so long as it isn’t their lives being threatened.

“Nephew, I’m so sorry, we didn’t look first, I’ll get rid of this at once if — “

“No,” Yut Lung hears himself saying, to all of their surprise. He gets to his feet slowly, the sleeves and legs of his new clothes uncomfortably tight and starchy around him. “No, I want it still, I...”

Mu Lung looks from the robe to him, visibly unsettled. “You want...?”

“Not that!” he yelps. He can barely even look at it without his head aching. “But the rest. Please let me keep it? Please?”

His uncle and aunt look at each other, then Mu Lung sighs. “Very well.”

When they leave him alone in the room, Yut Lung ponders over what to do with the trunk, trying not to tremble as he looks at it. Trying not to remember.

Terrifying as it is, he cannot think of getting rid of it. His mother is in there, all he will ever have left of her. So the decision he comes to is that he will shove it under his bed, and keep it there.

He can’t look, not yet. But he needs to remember. Even at six years old, he knows that.

~0~

At sixteen, he’s realizing that it’s not so easy.

Over the past ten years, Yut Lung has moved around several times at his eldest brothers’ behest. Different cities, different countries, different sets of luggage. But one thing he has always insisted on is bringing his trunk with him wherever he goes, no matter how inconvenient a traveling companion it is.

It is still there, after all, a physical thing that cannot fade away. His memories are a different story: as a child with barely a concept of growing up, he had far overestimated his capacity to hang onto them. Xing (whatever surname she may have had was lost to him; the Lee name was all that ever mattered, destroying the lesser things it touched) is gone, despite his desperation to hold onto her. She is less a person now than a shadow, the last remnant of a nightmare that had shaped his entire life.

Everything, from her sweet protection and care of him to the murder scene that ended it, is darker and duller now. Xing’s face is blurring away, the blood and robe just red and white fog. He cannot stop the flow of time any more than he could stop his brothers, but he refuses to give his mother up. Even after ten years...not yet.

So he has begun to open the trunk more and more often lately. Here at the Dawson house, it sits in a corner of his bedroom, right beside the full-length mirror on his closet door.

Yut Lung kneels before that mirror now as if before an altar. He had washed and combed his hair until it was sleek as silk, letting it fall down his back. It’s a great relief; he really does get sick of tight ponytails, that barely keep him from being mistaken for female. He has selected his very favorite of the robes and dresses tonight, sliding his thin arms into billowing sleeves of midnight blue, securing it tight around his waist with a golden cloth belt that matches the trim.

Xing was a glimmering star, his one point of light in an oppressively dark sky. Yut Lung is greater and stronger now: the clever dragon in the night, the full harvest moon, the end of this cursed bloodline.

“Even so, they say I look more like you every day, don’t they...”

If he ever wants to see his mother’s face again, he must look in the mirror like this, and try to recognize her anew. Her hair, her dark eyes, the softness of her lips. The expressions he must try to replicate, never quite succeeding, with no voice left to match to them.

What they have lost cannot be regained, only paid for in blood. But to be wrapped in the same beautiful fabrics that she had worn...it feels more priceless than any of the fancy suits in his closet. It feels like one final hug, in its finite warmth and safety. It almost feels like he is back home again, in his father’s house in Hong Kong, before he had known fear and hatred.

He looks himself up and down in the mirror. A lovely sight to behold. His mother waiting, back straight, to greet his father at the door. Gorgeous, really, if one knew nothing about them. But it’s not enough.

Gracefully — almost seductively, though of course there’s nobody to seduce — Yut Lung unties and sheds this robe, and sinks his hands into the trunk again for the next. There are so many more memories to reclaim.

[dankusner]

Salman Rushdie — Knife + 'Oz'

P.S. Salman Rushdie’s new memoir, “Knife,” about the attack on his life during a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution, in New York, in 2022, is out today.

Last year, Rushdie told David Remnick how he was recovering, physically and emotionally, from the incident.

“There is such a thing as P.T.S.D., you know,” he said. “I’ve found it very, very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of blankness and junk, stuff that I write and that I delete the next day. I’m not out of that forest yet, really.”

Salman Rushdie's 'Knife' review: Author addresses attack, vulnerably

Salman Rushdie is the author of "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder."

In the final pages of his new memoir, Salman Rushdie, the award-winning author who famously endured a fatwa after his 1988 novel, “The Satanic Verses,” was condemned as blasphemy against Islam and who, 30-plus years later, survived a horrific stabbing that left him blind in his right eye and riddled with health challenges, shares the greatest damage he has suffered so far.

“I’ve become a strange fish, famous not so much for my books as for the mishaps of my life,” he observes.

“Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” is many things, not the least of which is a reminder that the India-born and England-educated Rushdie — author of 15 novels, three essay collections, a book of stories, a work of reportage and a previous memoir — is a writer in full command of his talent.

A slim but powerful bookend to “Joseph Anton,” Rushdie’s dense 2012 memoir of the fatwa years, “Knife” captures the musings of an older, more contained soul, grateful for family and friends, and chasing optimism.

The memoir is steeped in Rushdie’s love for his wife, the novelist, poet and photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths; his sons Milan and Zafar; his sister, Sameen, and her children; and the literary community that has supported him.

He recognizes that their care and attention, along with the public rallies and readings held in his honor and on behalf of free expression, have been essential to his survival.

After so many years in hiding during the height of the fatwa, Rushdie ultimately embraced a high-profile public life, with celebrity friends and lovers, appearances in film, and deep associations with organizations such as PEN America that celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.

Chatty and observant, “Knife” is stuffed with references to all sorts of literary works that bolster Rushdie’s free-ranging thoughts, from Voltaire’s “Candide” to Robert Pirsig’s “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.”

But it also feels intimate, as if the author has pulled each reader into a quiet corner to share the trauma and drama of his recent years.

In part, “Knife” is an attempt to understand what that violent attack on August 12, 2022, was about.

Why did a 24-year-old man rush the stage of the Chautauqua Institution amphitheater in upstate New York, where a 75-year-old Rushdie was about to discuss the importance of keeping writers safe from harm, and stab the author, repeatedly, for 27 seconds?

By way of an answer, Rushdie offers an imagined conversation between him and his alleged assailant, whom he refers to as “A.”

(In the real world, the alleged assailant is named Hadi Matar; state and federal trials are still pending.)

This bit of fiction tucked into a memoir that is, by definition, non-fiction, is a retaliatory act, a way of wielding language like a blade, carving out the possible influences and motives of a young man charged with a heinous crime.

During this imagined conversation, Rushdie speculates that “A.” has spent a lot of time in thrall to imaginary universes.

“In those universes, the universe of Call of Duty, death is everywhere but it isn’t real,” he writes. “You kill many, many people, but you also kill nobody.”

Rushdie asks “A.” where he first discovered God.

From “Imam Yutubi,” “A.” replies, adding that God has “many faces, many voices. But they all tell the truth.”

Rushdie explains to “A.” that he has discovered only “interpretations” of the word of God, “acts, we might say, of translation” that necessarily contain uncertainty.

“Some of your own early philosophers have suggested this,” the author tells “A.”

“Your Yutubis from the centuries before YouTube. They say everything can be interpreted, even the Book. It can be interpreted according to the times in which the interpreter lives. Literalism is a mistake.”

Safe to say, in this fabricated conversation, Rushdie wins every argument.

It’s worth noting that Rushdie’s stabbing took place within months of the Oscars ceremony where Will Smith strode onstage and slapped Chris Rock (March 2022) and the Hollywood Bowl event where Dave Chappelle was assaulted onstage by a man carrying a knife that looked like a gun (May 2022).

While Rock and Chapelle did not sustain the grave physical injuries that Rushdie did, in all three cases the fourth wall was breached, and artists and free speech attacked.

As Rushdie begins the process of healing, he realizes he wants to talk about what is happening to freedom and freedom of expression in the United States, his chosen home.

“I thought only about survival, by which I meant not only staying alive, but getting my life back, the free life I had so carefully built over the last 20 years,” writes Rushdie, who is long settled in New York City. Several pages later, he adds: “If you are afraid of the consequences of what you say, then you are not free.”

“Knife” also follows Rushdie’s corporeal journey through hospitalization and rehabilitation for deep wounds to his right eye, face, mouth, neck, left hand, chest and thigh. The details are not for the squeamish.

During his first days at the trauma center in Erie, Pa., he describes his right eye as “hugely distended, bulging out of its socket and hanging down on my face like a large soft-boiled egg.”

Later, he articulates the pain of having his eyelid stitched shut, of having a catheter inserted to help him urinate.

Survival and distance let him capture these moments with clarity and even, incredibly, comedy.

Despite the violence that sent Rushdie to the hospital, “Knife” is remarkably void of bitterness and existential hand-wringing.

Instead, there’s an emotional elegance at work, a quiet resolve that accompanies Rushdie’s physical frailty and determination to live.

Through it all, Rushdie’s godlessness remains intact.

Although his body of work is deeply engaged in religion — not to mention politics, history, fantasy, myth, magic and more — he has never felt the need for religious faith to help him comprehend the world.

What he does need, as he writes in “Knife,” is for society to make the distinction between private faith and publicized ideology, because in his view, “the private faith of anyone is nobody’s business except that of the individual concerned. I have no issue with religion when it occupies this private space and doesn’t seek to impose its values on others. But when religion becomes politicized, even weaponized, then it’s everybody’s business, because of its capacity for harm.”

Even Rushdie admits that his survival and recovery from such a brutal physical attack have been miraculous.

As a godless man, he doesn’t quite know what to do with this realization, but he’s brave enough to share it with readers and to sit, vulnerably, in a profound paradox.

“No, I don’t believe in miracles,” Rushdie writes, “but, yes, my books do, and, to use Whitman’s formulation, do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I don’t believe in miracles, but my survival is miraculous. Okay, then. So be it.”

.

With 3 Words, Salman Rushdie Just Explained a Simple Yet Profound Lesson in Being Interesting

In the modern era of communication, when every word counts--be it in a tweet, a corporate email, or a branding campaign--simplicity is key.

Yet, simplicity doesn't have to mean dullness.

Salman Rushdie, in his recent Masterclass, challenges writers and communicators of all kinds with a potent directive:

"Don't use adjectives."

This simple, three-word tip might seem counterintuitive, but it offers a profound lesson in creativity and engagement.

Adjectives, those words that traditionally paint our prose with color and detail, can also hinder our ability to engage an audience.

Rushdie suggests that by stripping away these descriptors, what initially appears as a limitation forces a more vivid and concrete expression.

Without relying on adjectives like "green" or "beautiful," a writer must work harder to convey the essence of the scene or object, leading to storytelling that is not just descriptive, but evocative.

Leaders, be vivid

Consider a leader describing a future project to their team.

Instead of saying, "This will be an exciting, innovative, and impactful project," removing the adjectives could reshape the delivery:

"This project pioneers new technologies to transform our industry and redefine customer experience."

Notice the shift?

In memoir, Rushdie’s vision undiminished

Author pays tribute to wife while addressing 2022 knife attack

Last May, nine months after the knife attack that nearly killed him, Salman Rushdie made a surprise appearance at the 2023 PEN America literary gala.

His voice was weak, and he was noticeably thinner than usual; one of his eyeglass lenses was blacked out, because his right eye had been blinded in the assault.

But anyone wondering whether the author was still his old exuberant self would have been immediately reassured by the way he began his remarks, with a racy impromptu joke.

“I want to remind people in the room who might not remember that ‘Valley of the Dolls’ was published in the same publishing season as Philip Roth’s ‘Portnoy’s Complaint,’ ” he said, riffing on an earlier speaker’s mention of Jacqueline Susann’s potboiler.

“And when Jacqueline Susann was asked what she thought about Philip Roth’s great novel” — with its enthusiastically self- pleasuring main character — “she said, ‘I think he’s very talented, but I wouldn’t want to shake his hand.’ ”

It was classic Rushdie, improvisational literary wit deployed during a solemn occasion, in this case his acceptance of the organization’s Centenary Courage Award.

It was also a triumphant signal that his brush with death — more than three decades after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s killing over the novel “The Satanic Verses” — had dampened neither his spirit nor his determination to live life in the open.

His new book, “Knife,” now available, is a harrowing account of the attack and its aftermath, and a reminder of how gravely injured he was.

It’s also a deeply moving love story that attributes much of his recovery and good spirits to the tender, brave support of his wife of three years, poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths.

“I wanted to write a book which was about both love and hatred — one overcoming the other,” Rushdie said in a recent interview. “And so it’s a book about both of us.”

He is still dealing with the physical repercussions of the attack, including bouts of fatigue.

One side of his mouth pulls a bit when he talks, the result of damage to a nerve in his neck.

His left hand has only partially recovered; his right eye is permanently unusable.

Though Rushdie considered calling his new book “A Knife in the Eye,” a reference to the worst of his injuries, he decided on a single-word title, as sharp and staccato as the object itself.

“Knife” can mean many things, he writes. It’s a weapon, of course, and an artistic device in books, movies and paintings.

In Rushdie’s book, it’s a metaphor for understanding.

“Language can be that kind of knife, the thing that cuts through to the truth,” Rushdie said. “I wanted to use the power of literature — not just in my writing, but in literature in general, to reply to this attack.”

On Aug. 12, 2022, Rushdie was onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York — ironically, he was speaking about City of Asylum, a program that provides safe haven to writers under threat — when a black-clad man ran full-tilt onto the stage, wielding a knife.

(The man, Hadi Matar, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree assault and second-degree attempted murder and awaits trial.)

The blade struck Rushdie 10 times.

It severed all the tendons and most of the nerves in his left hand.

It penetrated his right eye just short of his brain, destroying the optic nerve.

It slashed into his neck, across his upper right thigh and along his hairline, and pierced his abdomen.

Rushdie remembers thinking two things as he saw the assailant hurtling forward, he writes.

The first was that death had finally come for him:

“So it’s you. Here you are.”

The second was disbelief that it was happening so late in the game, after this long uneventful stretch.

“Really?” he thought. “Why now, after all these years?”

As the blows rained down, people rushed to Rushdie’s aid, led by City of Asylum co-founder Henry Reese, 73, who was interviewing the author onstage and who sustained a shallow knife wound and a badly bruised right eye as he held down the assailant.

“If it hadn’t been for Henry and the audience, I wouldn’t be sitting here writing these words,” Rushdie writes in the book. “That Chautauqua morning I experienced both the worst and best of human nature, almost simultaneously.”

“Knife” is a visceral, intimate book, in contrast to an earlier memoir, “Joseph Anton,” a 2012 book that was written in the third person.

“I wanted it to read like a novel,” Rushdie explained of the earlier book.

But “Knife” is different.

“This is not novelistic. I mean, somebody sticks a knife in you, that’s pretty personal. Pretty first person,” he said.

The book contains a long passage in which Rushdie imagines interrogating his assailant, but he never mentions him by name.

“My Assailant, my would-be Assassin, the Asinine man who made Assumptions about me, and with whom I had a near-lethal Assignation,” he writes.

“I will refer to him more decorously as ‘the A.’ What I call him in the privacy of my home is my business.”

Rushdie said he wants to be thought of foremost as a novelist.

But he has always felt — even before the fatwa — an obligation to be engaged in public matters.

For years, he served as president of PEN America, in the forefront of its fights on behalf of free speech.

Presenting Rushdie’s award to him last year, PEN America’s then-president, playwright and novelist Ayad Akhtar, said the group was honoring him “because of what he stood for and continues to stand for, and what this organization is fundamentally all about — freedom.” Akhtar continued: “He has enlarged the world’s imaginative capacities, and at such great cost to himself.”

But Rushdie said that he doesn’t see himself as a symbol of anything.

“I’ve never felt symbolic. I felt — you know, I’m just here.” He laughed. “I’m just Ken.”

(This was an allusion to the song in the “Barbie” movie.)

“I’m just me. I’m just somebody who’s trying to be a writer, trying to do his best. And that’s all I’ve ever wanted to be.”

[yikesthesebikes]

Sing: Look, if you want to be friends with him why don't you just be nice?

Yut-Lung: Yes, you mean to say that I should lure this hopeless fool into the deadly web of my friendship.

Sing: You're making it sound creepy.

Yut-Lung: Gain his confidence and then stab him in the heart with the burning blade of my friendship!

Sing: It's getting worse.

Yut-Lung: Infiltrate his tender HEART-

Sing: Let's just skip to the part were you fail.

[fairydust-stuff]

Yut Lung Lee fic rec list

Yut Lung Lee fic recs: Fanfiction focused and centered on Yut Lung lee. (No yuesing because that deserves its own list) Also none of my own stories are on here because that would be Cheesy. 

Its My fault I know I'm selfish by Livesinbooks

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619817

A time loop fic about Yut Lung being forced to relive that night in Golzine's manor until he gets it right. It's a simple premise but a solid character study that really grasps the complexities of Yut Lung's character and team Ash even grows with him. A must for Yut Lung and also Eiji fans this is a great redemptive fix-it fic.

A Cabin in the Woods https://archiveofourown.org/works/27435316

Eiji and Yut Lung get captured by a serial killer and have to save each other's butts. It does a good job with its cold take on Yut Lung's phycology and actually utilizes both of their skills while keeping both their personalities intact. Its listed Ash x Eiji but its actually an Enemies to friends fic that's very Yut Lung centered.

Silence is Enough by Mackerel _ pizza

https://archiveofourown.org/works/20616266

Yut Lung and Eiji meeting at Ash’s grave

Why you should check it out if you think Eiji got screwed over by the end of the series and are interested in stories exploring both Eiji and Yut Lung’s grief and reactions in the after math of Ash’s death. This is the oneshot for you.

Reversal by twoheartsx

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16734120/chapters/39636393#workskin

A reverse universe where Ash is evil and Yut Lung ran away from his brothers years ago and is the gang leader who found out about Banana Fish.

Why you should check it out- Ash makes a delightful villain and seeing Yut Lung and Eiji who aren’t superpowered beings struggle against him is an interesting role reversal.

Easier this way by Aella - Antiope

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902712

Just Yut Lungs pov on the bedroom scene with Dino

Why you should check it out

Its makes a dark situation humorous due to Yut Lung’s snark and exasperation with Eiji and also has a bit of a complex dynamic between them.

Wingless Child by trillingwire https://archiveofourown.org/works/16235846

An alternate take on what happened before Dino showed up in the bedroom scene.

Why you should check it out well its hardcore Yut Lung X Eiji and it really does feel like it nails Yut Lung’s character and the roller coaster of emotions he feels towards Eiji during this fic is just captured incredibly! I’m also a sucker for Yut lung instructing Eiji on anything. This is one of the more believable Yueiji fics and it is one of the better takes and this is what made me at least dabble in Yut lung x Eiji

Wanting Crescent by Drunk Yeet

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16213781

Blanca x Yut Lung fic

Why you should check it out

I’m not a Blanca x Yut Lung or even a Blanca fan but this really captures Yut Lung’s insecurities about Blanca & Ash and his dysfunction about caring for Blanca and just these two dumpster fires in general. Its a beautiful fic and well crafted and if Blanca x Yut Lung is your jam might as well purchase the brand name jam.

Numbness (with a side of denial and tears) by beyondmyreach

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15928760

A Yut Lung character study about his thoughts on Shorter Wong

Why you should check it out

It really puts into words Yut Lung’s implied feelings toward Shorter Wong and its a overall good character study about his death affected him.

Soft.. by catpoop

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16232690/chapters/37946075

Yut Lung through the years

Why you should check it out

A character study that explorers Yut Lungs abuse and his toxic family relationships its sad but does a good job of filling in the blanks of canon focusing mostly on Yut Lung’s childhood.

Catpoop also has another fic called past forged boundaries as well, only five chapters.

But the premise is Yut Lung running away and ending up in Chinatown and meeting the Wongs and its still really good. So i’ll leave that link down below as well. https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413449/chapters/38425235

Complex Crystalline by Groombella123

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16590188 Drunk Yut Lung menacing Eiji set during Eiji’s time as Yut Lung’s prisoner.

Why you should check it out

If you like Yut Lung and his messy complicated feelings for Eiji and with a dash of one sided unrequited love on his part this is the fic for you.

Though shapes and shadows by twoheartsx https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413599

An examination of Yut Lung & blanca dynamic

Why you should check it out

If you like blanca & Yut Lung angst this is a good one to check out honestly.

The End of something by Angela https://archiveofourown.org/works/16718452

An aftermath of Ash’s death story

Why you should check it out Yut Lung dealing with his grief and guilt over Ash’s death and the author's spin on it is great. Also great use of oc character that ties into the story well.

Half a Letter by Hamliet

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17110589/chapters/40240322

It maybe labeled ash x Eiji but the core of this fic is Ash & Yut Lung’s relationship

Why you should check it out

An Au ending to the story that makes sense wraps up three character arches/dynamics in a satisfying way and Hamliet is just a really great writer who crafts action packed suspenseful stories that capture the characters very well.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16267535/chapters/38039114

A link to another Hamliet fic called Stray Phoenix

an Au where Yut Lung realizes Shorter is about to be killed and saves him in time.

Why you should check it out

You should check out all of Hamliet’s fics, but this particular one is one of the best Yut Lung redemption stories i’ve seen and once again it wraps up everything more satisfyingly then canon. Also one of the best Yut Lung x Shorter fics i’ve read.

Lost in you tonight

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16650073

Yut Lung mourning Ash’s death

Why you should check it out

If your like me and starved for Ash x Yut Lung content this is a good one to check out also the Sing & Yut Lung dynamic is really sweet and lovely.

Fever by Miles Libertatis

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16866739

Yut Lung brings a sick Shorter rice porridge

Why you should check it out

You think a premis like this would be cute but its angsty as frick it does a good job of nailing both characters and how tragically doomed it is anything could develop between them.

the robbing the nest by zechariahfour (sodas)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17006610

Yut Lung in the aftermath of the slaughter of his family

Why you should check it out

If your like me and think that Yut Lung’s murder of his brothers kids was poorly handled in terms of it supposedly being his full dark side moment but never showing the frigging after math to the point where it might as well not of happened. This is a good dark one shot that adds some much needed exploration to that situation.

Dancing on the Blade by Inked Page

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17002401

Yut Lung and Shorter playing with knives

Why you should check it out Flirting attraction between two people who could kill each other. This is one of the more morbid Yut Lung x Shorter fics which kind of makes it great.

I Can still Hear Her by orphan account https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151815

Yut Lung telling Blanca all the ugly truths about what he went through

Why you should check it out

orphan account is an author that is very good at handling dark content and this one is no exception this author takes the subtext of Yut Lung’s childhood during Banana fish and makes it overt text.

Endless nightmares is another good Yut Lung by the same author focusing on Yut Lung’s alcoholism and recovery.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321861

Somewhere along the lines i forgot what love is by petitlionhomme https://archiveofourown.org/works/17120294

Yut Lung holding Eiji captive like in cannon but they fall in love

Why you should check it out

This is one of the better Yut lung x Eiji fics and one of the few where Eiji returns the feelings its a nice slow burn that takes its time and goes back to a time in cannon where Eiji wasn’t quite so peeved at yut lung and it could have worked.

Also this author wrote a dark series where one of the one shots has a Yut Lung focus

Its called Prince on a broken throne

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365550

Blighted by Judar chan

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321573

Yut lung x his brothers

I kind of hate myself for suggesting this one but the power plays between the three of them are well written even though the explicitness of the whole fic is uncomfortable as hell. Also Yut Lung devious scheming side is in full effect and seeing him brought to his lowest still trying to grab whatever power there is, its just great characterization. If your easily triggered i’d avoid this one but if you do enjoy fictional power plays and messed up sex stuff maybe check this one out. They also have another fic called Spoiled which has similar themes.

Splitting image by epan

I don’t want to give this one away, because reading it and finding out is the point. I'll just say its tragically beautiful and leave it at that.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17299862

Better then you by Val Creative

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17365550

Yut Lung x Shorter Au take on the scene where Shorter pins him down

Why you should check it out

If you like your soy sauce confused and angry this is the fic for you.

Cricket by artemis date

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17921990

Yut Lung and Eiji strike up a relationship while in Paris

Why you should check it out if you like angst ridden doomed romance stories this would be right up your alley.

Dangerous Weapon handling by Fallon Kristerson

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18585589

Shorter Yut Lung and a conversation about guns

Why you should check this out

You like your soysauce with a dangerous Yut Lung and adrenaline junkie Shorter this is for you.

Calm time by Carmel rose

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18584803

Yut Lung x Arthur

Why you should check it out

Scheming villains and power plays if you like villain pairings this is one you need to check out.

East of eden by flakes https://archiveofourown.org/works/18608308/chapters/44117839

And its sequel Wild Rose https://archiveofourown.org/works/21545941/chapters/51362707

I know both are Yut Lung x Shorter they are in spanish and i know google translate isn’t the best but darn it these fics deserve more attention and its worth it to try and decipher the meaning even if your not a Spanish speaker due to the lovely slow burn and character development.

The same language by frozenyogurt

https://archiveofourown.org/works/19272427

Once again not in English but as a well written three part one shot series known as guns and Lavender centering around an AU where Ash met Yut Lung first its more than worth the trouble. Especially since it is one of the best Ash x Yut Lung fics and honestly inspired my own fic writing.

Burning Cities and Napalm Skies by dia dove

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21639952/chapters/51601735

An Au where arthur survives and him and Yut Lung both try and cope with the past and look to the future

If villains healing together is your jam and you sympathized with wanting better for Arthur this the fic for you. Mirror Image by Kaen Okami

https://archiveofourown.org/works/22188835

Another drabbel about Yut Lung and his mom

Why you should check it out

Its just another very good character study focusing of Yut lungs grief for his mom.

CD’s and Mottorbikes by Asmicarus

Yut Lung gets lost Shorter finds and takes him home

Why you should check it out

I don’t want to give too much away but Shorter and Yut Lung dancing to billy joel is just one of the highlights of this fic. If your into fluffy soysauce this is one you’d enjoy.

Ice cold meltdown by knoxoursavior https://archiveofourown.org/works/23652046?show_comments=true#comments

Yut Lung sinking into despair

Why you should check it out

The language is beautiful and the picture it paints just gives me chills every time i read it. Honestly this author has several good Banana fish fics both angsty and sweet that are Yut Lung centered but you may want a box of tissues on hand just in case.

Nemeseia Lunaris by Amigara https://archiveofourown.org/works/19351834/chapters/46040242

Eiji is killed by Shorter and the rest of Ash’s group is finished off by golzine craving vengeance Ash accepts Yut Lung’s offer of an alliance.

Why you should check it out

Its an Ash x Yut Lung slow burn with solid characterization and really explorers the dynamic between these two as well as giving more presence to some of the more minor villains. i’m not sure where the fic is going but i’m loving it so far and i really think you guys will not be disappointed if you give this one a chance.

Deep in Love by ladycrazy13

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25635673/chapters/62230915 Yut lung x Ash fighting zombies which is also why you should check out this dark fic

The Killers by Aeriel https://archiveofourown.org/works/22392976

Another Blanca x Yut Lung fic (considering i suggested a few non con incest fics on this list i might as well rec a few of these too)

Why you should check it out

The characterization is great and the Blanca and Yut Lung dynamic is one i could see happening on screen. Once again don't want to give to much away but if your looking for Blanca x Yut Lung that feels like it could be cannon this is one of the better ones. (Also its not about Blanca's frigging dick! for once)

serpant twining by Aoftheis https://archiveofourown.org/works/17644940

Blanca tries to be a good person and mostly succeeds but still is a bit creepy honestly

[mythiica]

What all fandoms do you write for and do you have any rules?

Hi hi!

Here is a list of the fandoms I write for~ I mainly use my tumblr for Otome games, but I do have a DeviantArt that has a lot more anime fics. I’ll include every fandom I can write for here

Otome Games:

Ikemen Sengoku

Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, Mitsunari, Mitsuhide, Masamune, Ieyasu, Shingen, Kenshin, Sasuke, Yukimura, Kennyo

Ikemen Revolution

Ray, Sirius, Luka, Seth, Fenrir, Lancelot, Jonah, Edgar, Kyle, Zero, Harr, Oliver, Blanc, Loki, Mousse, Dalim, Dean

Midnight Cinderella

Alyn, Louis, Giles, Leo, Byron, Nico, Robert, Sid, Albert

Mystic Messenger

Zen, Yoosung, Jumin, Jaehee, V, Saeyoung, Saeran, Vanderwood

Blood in Roses

Gerard, Cecil, Rogan, Jack

Wizardess Heart

Klaus, Randy

The Niflheim+

Leo, Victor, Philippe, Jean, Orlando

Love Tangle

Miguel, Norman, Valentin, Lex

Anime: 

Attack on Titan

Erwin, Levi

Banana Fish

Ash, Eiji, Yut-Lung, Shorter

Black Butler

Ciel, Sebastian, Alois, Grell, William, Undertaker, Soma, Joker, Claude

Darling in the FranXX

Zero Two, Hiro, Goro

Death Parade

Decim, Ginti, Clavis

Death Note

L, Light, Near, Mello

Durarara

Shizuo, Izaya

Fairy Tail 

Natsu, Grey, Sting, Ezra, Mystogan (Jellal)

Final Fantasy XV

Prompto, Notics, Ignis, Gladius

Fate Stay the Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Archer, Lancer, Saber, Gilgamesh, Rin

Food Wars

Soma, Akira, Satoshi, Kojirō

Gurren Lagann

Kamina, Viral

Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto

Sakamoto, Hayabusa

Hunter x Hunter

Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Hisoka, 

K Project

Mikoto, Saruhiko, Reisi, Kuroh, Yashiro, Izumo, Misaki, Goki

Killing Stalking

Sangwoo, Yoonbum

Kill la Kill

Satsuki

Noragami

Yukine, Yato

Soul Eater

Stein

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Saiki

Yona of the Dawn

Hak, Soo-won

Rules for request (I’ll be using this for reference in the future!): 

SFW

I mainly write in second person, but I can write in third (no first person!) 

I will not write Canon x OC for a request

I can write gore

NSFW

There are certain kinks that I don’t want to get into, but I won’t list them (to each their own of course). In the case that I get a request with something I can’t write, I’ll reply to it and ask that they make a new one! 

I won’t write a Yandere!Character x Reader/MC smut 

This list might change as time progresses! I will update as I go~ Hope this answers your question for now

[http-eiji]

Anon= “Future sci-fi AU

The world is like in Ghost in the Shell or Blade Runner: androids do exist, they can have feelings and they're nearly indistinguishable from humans. But USA, Russia, China and other few countries are unaware of this, because they're kept in a Matrix-like state (thanks to a very advanced technology, I guess) in order to preserve the new world order from their influence. So, everyone there thinks they're currently living in the 2010s. No one of them knows how the real world is, not even at the White House, and not even powerful criminals like Dino Golzine or the Lee clan. Obviously, androids don't exist there. In Japan (which is a world power along with Canada, Australia and EU) and other countries androids mingle pretty well into human society, but there's an illegal organization that aims to replace them (and humans) with soulless androids. Eiji Okumura was born as a human but, because of an illness that nearly killed him, now he's one of the combat androids created to fight them. But when he's not kicking robotic asses, he lives a normal life as a 19 y.o. student and photographer, and he can keep relationship with his family and friends. He's a gentle soul who never killed a single person, just puppet-androids with dead eyes and no soul. So, even if he knows what fighting means, he cannot truly figure out how harsh life can be for people like Ash Lynx. He goes to America with Ibe for the same purpose of the original story, meets Ash and becomes invoved with him... But now Eiji is fully able to save and protect him, because no human would be able to fight him and no drugs, including the terrible Banana Fish, can affect him. Golzine and Foxx and their minions, and Yut-lung too, are going to be HEAVILY trolled. :D So Skip, Jennifer and Shorter are saved, and maybe Griffin too. Perhaps him and/or Shorter would become androids, in order to free them from the drug. And Ash... Well, he will "die": but just to being reborn as one of the most powerful androids ever. No more bad dreams for him, because androids don't sleep. He will go to Japan with his love and they will be the most badass combat couple ever! <3”

Ri =I never check my inbox so sorry for only seeing this now! I’ve been screaming about a Cyber Punk AU for months so thank you for this. I’d love to read a fic of this.

[nightruled]

continued from [x] || @suikastcii

“Kama.” He tried the word out, and nodded. “What makes it different?” Yut sat beside his bodyguard, watching him flip the blade expertly. It made him itch to handle the weapon and try it himself.

[tetsuskitten]

*slides into ur ask* psssst can i get a uhhhhhhhhh yue lung being jealous of shorter and eiji's friendship/closeness

gosh, i really hope you like this..! thank you for the request btw

“Give me a break, I see how protective you are with him. Who are you, his mom?”

Yut-Lung was positively annoyed. They were back on the road and Yut-Lung had managed to convince the gang to join them in finding his father, assuring them he was proficient in various martial arts and could defend himself perfectly well. He saw the way Eiji looked at him, impressed about it, which just irked him. Why did they bring him around anyway? The kid was just a burden, right? So he didn’t understand why every single person made such a fuss over him. Especially Shorter.

Right now, they had encountered more of Dino’s men and Shorter was holed up behind a car parked on the street. Yut-Lung was with him.

“I get that he’s basically a baby bird who can’t defend himself but could you be less all over him?” Yut-Lung spit out words of disdain left and right, throwing Shorter for a curve as to why he was acting this way.

“What do you want me to do? Let my friend get shot?”

“I’m just saying you don’t even pay attention to- to anything else.”

They were scream whispering at each other and failed to pay attention to two guys approaching from each side. When Shorter noticed the man behind Yut-Lung, he quickly pulled himself and the other up, spinning Yut-Lung around so he was behind him and safe from the shots and skillfully shot the guy in the head. When Yut-Lung was spun to the other side, he saw the other man coming for them and stuck three throwing knives in his chest, making him fall heavily on the ground.

Shorter pulled him down as the people on the other side began shooting at them again.

“You were saying?” Shorter gritted out.

“I’m saying I won’t let you get killed.” Yut-Lung said right before getting up and throwing a knife square in the shooter’s forehead, grabbing Shorter’s hand and making a run for it behind a building, a more secure position.

When they were safe, Shorter caged Yut-Lung between him and the brick wall on the other side.

“You don’t have to be so stingy towards Eiji, he’s doing his best.”

“Why do you have to defend him all the time?”

“Why do you care?”

Yut-Lung seemed to get a hold of himself then, straightening up and pushing Shorter away from him. “I don’t.” He answered, voice even and in control.

Then suddenly Shorter was being pulled forward and crushed against Yut-Lung. He heard the other curse before feeling a bullet graze his right shoulder blade. They were impossibly close to each other and Yut-Lung wanted to push the other away again but he just couldn’t let him be shot. He had a delicate hand on Shorter’s back and his other hand was still clinging to Shorter’s collar. They were breathing into each other’s space, hearing gunshots close by but unmoving.

Then the loud noises ceased and Ash’s voice called out for them to come out.

“Your jealousy almost got me killed.” Shorter whispered, inches away from Yut-Lung’s lips, pressing him down hard making it difficult for the other to escape. And then he felt something sharp press against his throat in return. A knife Yut-Lung kept hidden in his jacket sleeve.

“Accuse me of being jealous one more time and you’ll definitely get killed.” Yut-Lung threatened, the cold metal of the knife snug against Shorter’s skin. Shorter smiled at him before pulling away and watching as Yut-Lung left, mighty in his high horse even though Shorter was pretty sure he got him figured out.

[kapa56]

Banana Fish x Naurto

Let's imagine the characters of Banana Fish in Naruto (cuz why not).

Ash: not from a particular clan, good with any type of weapon, would definitely use rasengan and mostly wind style jutsus, from Konoha, would be in the Anbu for a short while and then turn against them because of the corruption, prodigy. Would inherit a jinchūriki later in life.

Eiji: from Kirigakure, great chakra reserve and endurance, would use hidden mist technique, water clones, water dragon technique (mostly defensive jutsus) and would probably be a medic nin.

Shorter: from Iwagakure, has lava release kekkei genkai and uses earth jutsus like tearing earth turning palm, earth mausoleum dumpling etc., great with swords.

Yut-Lung: most likely an Uchiha with mangekyou sharingan since early childhood, more angry at his clan than the village, prone to join Akatsuki just because he is angry at the world, life and himself, would take the eyes of one of his brothers in order to get eternal mangekyou sharingan. Reluctantly comes back to the village after Akatsuki dissolves before his eyes and gets the Sasuke treatment of oh well shit happens, it is what it is.

Sing: from Konoha, not part of any clan, would have Lee's abilities paired with shadow clones jutsus, dreams of being a Hockage, a slacker and a bit of a trouble maker

Cain: from Kumogakure, has the 7 tailed jinchuriki and pairs them with lightning jutsus, eventually becomes Raikage

Max: moved from the village hidden in the sand, a sensei as well, would use multiple weapons

Jessica: basically Tsunade's powers but would be a sensei in Konoha and would be also part of the Yamanaka clan.

Blanca: from Kirigakure, part from the 7 swordmen and using the Executioner's Blade, a mercenary who works for anyone who pays him, eventually retires to the Village Hidden in the Hotsprings,has offsprings in every village

I hope you enjoyed my little Ted talk :)

[pekorosu]

ep 10

- aww they removed "otankonasu" :x

- watching ash swinging with his chains suddenly makes me want a gymnast!ash au lol

- is it just me, or did the escape + weapons room scene go by a little too fast? like it was sort of lacking in wow factor? idk, i'm gonna do a comparison with the manga during my rewatch later lol

- whoa is that a new scene? the one where ash killed the dude who kidnapped them back at dawson's place

- i feel like there’s no sense of urgency in ash's movements? his movements are slower here. i get that it’s probably bc he’s being cautious and checking out the rooms but he's like, constantly running and yelling in the manga... it really set the mood, y’know? not so much here...

- the part when he meets up with eiji and yells about shorter was some great voice acting though

- the "are you scared of me?" scene... argh... it felt so underwhelming. i felt like it was really memorable in the manga, the panels and all:

- small thing but eiji says “okashikunacchimau” here instead of “kurucchimau” in the manga. wonder why they changed it... is there a difference in nuance or smth?

- ARHGHGHGHGHGHGHG another memorable scene messed up. i get that it's a lot more economical to animate it this way but man. MAN. we no longer have this gay declaration being yelled overdramatically out of the window of a moving car ... lies down on the floor sadly

- i mean, i don’t mind if they make changes, in fact i’m more than happy to see their own take on scenes. but it has to match the original in terms of impact, y’know? for some reason, i’m just not feeling the same level of wow in these scenes ):

- the scene with shorter's body and abraham is painful as expected, but it would've benefited from more of a pause tbh. it went by WAY too quickly. they should’ve lingered to let the gravity of the ash’s feelings sink in properly.

- this episode has very glaring pacing problems tbh... like i think this is the first ep so far that i actually feel disappointed by? maybe i had my expectations set too high, esp for key scenes... also i’ll be doing a rewatch so i might edit this later...

ETA second watch:

- they didn’t let my son curse ;_;

- also rip mention of shorter's awful cooking ):

- ash calls yut-lung kisama twice here and that's just... gone in the anime but i guess his anger is clear in his tone lol

- the pacing in ash/yut-lung scene was actually alright. the end of their convo needed a pause though lol. the speed at which the scenes change is rly wild

- golzine has impeccable taste in hotels

- ash doesn’t kick any glass cases and i think that’s actually a good thing considering that glass would probably be reinforced and it might be unrealistic for him to break it with a single kick lol

- oh i get why this part feels so different: 1) ash doesn't stop to make comments, explain stuff or yell as much in the anime, 2) ash also isn’t shown to be shooting as much here. it looks busier in the manga. they’ve also removed max and ibe’s escape scenes. i’m enjoying the bgm though heh.

- oh wow for once he actually looks p gangster here

- sing's weapon is different, huh? it has a blade attached now...

- hmmm okay i think they did the ash busting out eiji scene right. the beats felt good there.

- ash's little line about the rolls royce being his "hearse" is gone!!!

- yeah i kinda wish they lingered on ash being wrecked over shorter a little longer. the scene changed too quickly.

- ending scene with sing and yut-lung was alright. it seems that the strongest scenes are the ones with lotsa dialogue.

- overall impression:

i’m still not entirely satisfied but i’ll live lol

[cheshirechos]

The edges of the hellmout were quiet, a rarity among the atmosphere of the moon, normally filled with the sight of the fallen and hive fighting and squabling between each other but not today. The quiet was broken as a ship approached the large hive made hole in the moons surface, a single guardian transmating down onto the surface, a smouldering bond wrapped tight around her arm, a reminder, a promise, and word to be kept. Readying her hand cannon she steppep onto the pad that summoned the bridge to the center of the circle.

As she waited her ghost popped out of the collar of her robe, flitting nervously around their guardian, though they'd never admit it directly to anyone they were worried about their guardian. "Hey Tels? Are we sure we wanna be doing this? I mean yeah the big terrible hive demi-god needs to die but like, maybe we should bring some of the others? Vixen? Mephis? Echo? Maybe even Virra! Just anyone" her ghost all but pleaded, okay they were a bit more than worried.

"I've told you Storm Chaser, Im not going to risk any of them doing this, you heard Eris, she went in with an team of six and she was the only one who lived, and even then that was barely. Now come on, the bridge is finished." She said firmly, ushering her ghost into its pocket of safety as she reading her gun and began the walk across the path, taking a deep breath she looked down into the abyss, she didnt know what to expect, Eris only told her how to get in, not what came after, but she couldnt stop now. She would succeed or dye trying, and if it was the latter? Well she'd cross that bridge when she got there. With that in mind she let herself fall, the walls of the hell mouth going by at a rapid pace as the floor rushed up to meet her, at the last second she actived her glide, the familiar sensation of the light stopping her fall meer inches from the ground.

Telma looked around as she stood in the only source of bright light in the void, eyeing her surroundings before lights began to light up, as if reacting to her presence there, one not far from her and another further in the distance, the light was faint here, and the air was oppressive, draining her of strength when she so much as dared stray near the edges of her circle. Sighing she steps towards the lantern like objects in the distance, the screams of hundreds of thrall sending her into a sprint, so it began.

Ragged breathing filled the expanse of of the wide open area as the sunsinger pulled the hive sword from the knight it had been burried in letting it drop to the ground as the corpse disolved she slumped against the wall and winced, craddling a wound she had gotten in the melee with the knights, letting her ghost leave its spot she sighed in relief as it healed her wounds. She looked up as a loud deafening grinding filled the space, a dark chuckle echoing around and beckoning her forward, so she rose, her wounds healed and her light strong and head held high she marched on.

She hadnt fallen yet, she was still going, still surviving, Ir Yut was dead, her still disintegrating body laid on the ground besides her, a solar licked marauders sword buried deep into her chest. She'd barely managed to kill her in time, shed felt the cold whispers of her liturgy eating at the edges of her mind, beckoning her final death closer, yet she prevailed, somehow, perhaps by sheer luck, she wasnt sure entirely, all she knew was that she had to finish this.

A cry of pain rang out amidst the ding of the battle, a winding blow from an ogre had sent the warlock into a wall where she lay, waiting for her ghost to use the well of light to heal her and recover her light, yet she knew it wouldn't come. Thrall were closing in, screeching horrendously as they charged towards her prone form. Telma closed her eyes as they began to tear into her, letting darkness take her vision.

It was a weird experience this, not something kost guardians got to experience she figured, not unless they were a sun singer, this odd place between life and death, knowing her body was injured beyond repair yet still conscious, yet she did not panic as she became aware of her situation, she was prepared for such an event, and as a pair of knights approached her fallen body where the thrall still roamed and snarled she reacted, pulling harshly on the light she had stored for her Radiance, her body bursting into flames as her consciousness slid back into her body.

Her eyes snapped open as she let out a gasp of air, great gouts of solar light bursting from her back, incinerating all but the furthest of thrall from her, as she got used to suddenly being on her feet again. The flames slowly turned to bright wings of solar energy spread behind her back. Thinking quickly she threw two grenades, one for each knight and then turned to crota throwing grenade after grenade at his stunned form until whatever barrier was keeping him safe from harm, before she rushed forward grabbing a sword from one of the knight corpses as her radiance fades and crota falls to a knee snarling in anger, she doesnt stop swinging the blade until her foe is defeated.

Telma stares in shock as crotas body quickly disolves into nothing, as if hed never been here threatening humanity with his very presence. Falling to her knees she drops the sword and lets her hands hang limp at her side, she'd actually done it. She'd almost died several times but she'd lived, she'd survived and succeeded. Now it was time to go home, time to return to her loved ones and give them great big hugs, they deserved it, besides shed missed them.

[pitviperofdoom]

POV for yuts! I know you already did it, but perhaps for the stain fight?

(x)

Vicious, Shouto once called him.

Privately, of course. Only to himself, in his own mind, after a full day of facing a boy with a smile like a nightmare and anger that burns hot and cold with razor-blade sharpness. It was a calculation he’d made when judging Midoriya as an opponent first and an ally far second, but now--

Now, fighting alongside him, Shouto can see that viciousness the way it was meant to be seen.

It’s a shield with spikes, a sharpened blade pointed outward. It is dark, it is blinding-bright and terrifying, and most importantly, it is on his side.

His blood has been drawn and he can’t move, but Midoriya crouches over him and smiles, and the threat behind those teeth chases the remnants of fear from Shouto’s mind.

[yikesthesebikes]

I change my mind, Blade but its Yut-lung and Sing.

[thesevenseraphs]

Update 2.6.0 - Age of Triumph

Raids

Recommended Light level: 390

New Weapons, Armor, Armor Ornaments, Ghosts, Sparrows, Shaders and Emblems to discover

Players will receive one Age of Triumph Armor Ornament token for successful completion of the featured Raid (once per week per account)

All Challenge Modes are enabled on the weekly featured Raid

Players will receive one Age of Triumph Armor Ornament token for successful completion of Challenge Modes (once per character, per Challenge Mode, per week)

Players will receive a "Knuckles of Eao" by completing a featured Raid's opening encounter (once per week, per account)

Use Knuckles of Eao then defeat a Raid boss in the weekly featured playlist to receive extra rewards

Knuckles of Eao consumables stack to a maximum of 5

Three of Coins should now activate on the following bosses:

Templar

Atheon

Ir-Yut

Crota

Added Challenge Modes to the following Encounters:

Templar

Atheon

Ir-Yut

Crota

Fixed an issue where killing Ir-Yut would not always end the Deathsinger encounter and players would have to deal with infinitely respawning Knights

Removed a condition that prevented Fireteams of less than three from progressing past the Gorgons in the Vault of Glass

Fixed an issue where one of the door switches in the second Vosik encounter was partially obscured by the wall and difficult to hit with a SIVA Charge

Crucible

Updated core nodes to cycle between available activities on a weekly cadence:

Node 1 cycles between Control and Clash

Node 2 cycles between Rift and Supremacy

Node 3 cycles between Elimination and Trials of Osiris (on weekend only)

Node 4 cycles between Skirmish and Salvage

Node 5 cycles between Rumble and Rumble Supremacy

Weekly Featured Crucible activities consolidated into a single node

Weekly Featured activities include Combined Arms, Zone Control, Mayhem Clash, Mayhem Rumble and Doubles

Classic playlists have been removed, players who do not own Rise of Iron can now access the Weekly Featured Crucible activity

Crucible Bounties

Updated Crucible Daily Bounties to be more inclusive, no longer requiring specific Subclasses or Fireteams

Added new Weekly Crucible Weapon Bounties to the Crucible Quartermaster

Possible Weapon rewards include items from the Crucible Vendor, Crucible Playlists, Iron Banner and Trials of Osiris

Lord Shaxx will now offer his Weekly Bounty for both available 6v6 modes each week

Trials of Osiris Bounties have been updated:

Existing Bounties will remain in your inventory and can be completed to acquire their respective rewards

New versions of the Bounties will now be offered by Brother Vance and can be completed daily when Trials of Osiris is active

Armor and Weapon rewards from Bounties updated to include all non-adept Y3 items

Quests

Crucible Quest chain from Lord Shaxx has been removed, you can complete the current quest you are on but will not acquire the next quest in the chain

Iron Banner

Dusty Iron Engrams updated to decrypt immediately upon purchase

Dusty Iron Engrams now have a chance to contain Year 2 Iron Companion Armor

Iron Banner match rewards updated to include Year 2 Iron Companion Armor

Slightly increased chance for Year 1 and Year 2 armor rewards from Iron Banner matches

Support added for Iron Banner Mayhem Clash

Some vendor items on Efrideet have had their rolls updated

Trials of Osiris

Fixed an issue where a player on the surviving team could use Fireborn to cause the round to continue even when all enemies were dead

General

Made Special Ammo crates instantly refill your Special Weapon on pickup

Disabled Join-in-Progress for Rumble playlists if any player has at least 100 points

Private Matches

Removed Power and Vehicle options, added Ammo and Respawn options that vary by mode:

Ammunition -  Default, No Special, No Heavy, No Ammo Crates

Respawns - Teammate Revives, Instant, After 3 Seconds, After 5 Seconds, After 10 Seconds

Vehicles are now enabled on maps that support them, except in Inferno modes

Round Time options adjusted for Elimination to default to 90 seconds to match the playlist setting

Maps

Fixed an issue where players were able to leave the intended playable area on Icarus and Skyline

Patrols

Fixed an issue where Plaguelands patrols were not dropping collection items

Grimoire

Grimoire card "SRL: Sparrow Racing" can now also be earned from Private Matches using the Sparrow Racing gametype

Players who have acquired the Y3 Khvostov will be awarded all Grimoire cards for the Khvostov Manual pages (including pages 1, 15, and 17) upon entering Orbit

Players will now be awarded with the Y1 Icebreaker Grimoire card upon acquiring the Y3 Icebreaker. Players who have already acquired the Y3 Icebreaker will receive the card upon entering Orbit

Sandbox

Health Regen changes:

Changes reverted:

Suros Legacy perk

No Backup Plans

Ward of Dawn cast

Apotheosis Veil

Embrace the Void

Kept the recent changes, but increased the amount of Health/Shield given per kill from 36 to 57:

Hungering Blade

Transfusion: Cooldown was also removed

Cauterize: Cooldown was also removed

Red Death perk

Lifesteal:  Also applies to The Ram

Memory of Skorri will now require a kill to start working and will charge Supers for 1 minute, or until the round ends or the player dies

Sidearms will no longer allow ammo to stack through death and instead will reset to a single magazine every respawn

Added 1 round to Truth’s maximum inventory and increased its reload speed to max

Added more flinch to No Land Beyond and widened its potential recoil space — it will recoil the same amount, but not necessarily in the same direction

Recovery reduction was removed from the Blink Talent Grid Nodes and the time the player was left HUDless has been lowered

Hand Cannon range falloff now starts  ~3m earlierAuto Rifles' minimum damage (damage done at maximum range falloff) increased by 7%

Kills with Necrochasm no longer require headshots to explode enemies (flying enemies such as Shanks and Wizards  do not explode)

Increased Recovery given by Astrocyte Verse's Move to Survive perk from +3 to +7

Fixed an issue where the Rescue Mag perk would replenish ammunition when taking self-damage

Fixed an issue where changes to the Shotgun perk Rangefinder intended with Hotfix 2.5.0.2 did not go into effect

Fixed an issue that where changes to Shotgun in-air accuracy did not go into effect

Strikes

New Nightfall modifier: Daybreak combines the Epic and Mayhem modifiers every fourth week

Nightfall blue flames and Radiant Light Reputation bonus on completion have returned

More aggressive idle player detection; now in line with Crucible Activity

Fixed an issue in The Nexus where the Aegis would be continuously deleted and respawned

Fixed an issue in The Shadow Thief where players would get the "Joining Allies" message while in the playable space during the fight with Taniks

Vendors

Increased the reputation awarded by the Gunsmith for completing weapon tests

Eris Morn now accepts Moldering Shards and charged Antiquated Runes as donations in exchange for Crota's Bane reputation

Adjusted the price of ammo synthesis for purchase from Eris Morn

Shiro-4 will now accept Isenfyre Tokens in exchange for 500 Vanguard reputation

The Crucible Quartermaster now sells ammo synthesis consumables in exchange for Hadium Flakes

Vendor items sold for Legendary Marks have had their light levels increased to 380

Vendors selling level 40 Legendary Armor and Weapons now update perks and stats at the weekly reset

This includes the following vendors:

Vanguard Mentors and Quartermaster

Crucible Quartermaster

Lord Shaxx

Dead Orbit

New Monarchy

Future War Cult

Xûr now sells two new Exotic weapon bundles each week in addition to his regular weekly sale items

Each bundle costs 30 Strange Coins and 25 Silver Dust and contains 1 Exotic Weapon and 1 matching Weapon Ornament

Two new Emotes are available from the Emote Kiosk: Please and Thanks

Adjusted the rarity of certain ships available from Amanda Holliday

Silver Dust Store

Many Eververse items available from the Dawning are now available on the Silver Dust Kiosk

Sterling and Radiant Treasures have been removed from the Silver Dust Store

New Silver Dust Engram items have been added to the Silver Dust Store and their corresponding vendors for a cost of 5 Silver Dust

Items obtained from these Engrams dismantle into 1 Silver Dust:

Arena Engram - Lord Shaxx - Contains infusible Crucible Armor from Year 1 and 2

Exodus Engram - Arach Jalaal - Contains infusible Dead Orbit Armor from Year 1 and 2

Warpath Engram - Lakshmi-2 - Contains infusible Future War Cult Armor from Year 1 and 2

Unity Engram - Executor Hideo - Contains infusible New Monarchy Armor from Year 1 and 2

Triad Engram - Vanguard Mentors - Contains infusible Vanguard Armor from Year 1 and 2

Sterling Engram - Silver Dust Store - Contains Spektar Armor from Year 2's Sterling Treasure

Icy Engram - Silver Dust Store - Contains Chroma Armor from Treasures of the Dawning

Cost is 10 Silver Dust, items dismantle to 5 Silver Dust

Players who have previously obtained Dawning and Desolate Armor pieces may purchase these items from the Silver Dust Store

Eververse

Treasure of Ages is now available for purchase from Eververse

The Treasure of Ages contains existing Eververse items, as well as many new items to collect:

Shaders

Weapon Ornaments

Ships

Triumph Armor Set

Players can receive up to three free Treasure of Ages per account per week for their first completion of the following activities:

Heroic Strike playlist

Weekly Crucible playlist

Weekly Story playlist

General

Fixed an issue impacting some players' ability to join Fireteams over local network connections

Fixed an issue preventing dropped Engrams from being sent to the Postmaster if the player disconnects without returning to Orbit

Fixed a bug causing equipped Sniper Rifles to occasionally become invisible

Fixed an issue that allowed Supers to stay activated longer than intended

Twilight Garrison now changes color to match the equipped Shader

Skeleton Keys and Siva Fragments may now appear at Postmaster to prevent an issue where these items may have been removed from Character Inventory

[fireteamcatastrophe]

The Red War, “Where Did The Party Go?”

((Continuing on from “Hard Time,” this is Henry Gordon’s take on the Red War. As far as canonicity goes, amongst the three members of Fireteam Catastrophe, Henry is “The Guardian” that everyone talks about. The other two are fairly noteworthy in that some of the things are attributed primarily to one of the other two (ex: Breaker-77 is the one who was responsible for killing Crota while Henry has credit for Atheon. Other things, but I have to write that out somewhere. >> Anyhow, let’s get to Henry Gordon’s spin on the Red War kicking off. It’s... Gonna be almost thirteen times as bad as Breaker’s.))

Fire. So much fire. Only a portion of it was from Henry’s Light, and that nudged something deep inside his chest. It was refusing to give, though. His Light topped out, flaring brightly into the hazy night as various spells were shouted with all forms of words. From song lyrics to legitimate arcane wording, the Warlock met the Cabal on the top of the Tower. He’d come back from a run around the Cosmodrome, searching for stores of old Golden Age music. Ironically, he’d found a few servers his Ghost had managed to download. It was a herculean effort, but one that paid off.

“This world can’t take on me, I won’t let go!”

A surge of Solar Light stuck to the Centurion that leaped above his platform, and the ensuing explosion was eclipsed by his leap beyond it, where a Nova Bomb followed suit. He was struck down upon landing, leaping from the death in a blaze of glory. As the music blared into his helmet, he relayed the lyrics out to the world. Giving it all he had to give, the Cabal undoubtedly felt his fury. It burned with the fire of Sol, and it was cold like the Void he drew from. The battered Tower would remain strong, because of the power of Henry Gordon. He would ensure it.

After all, this was just another Tuesday.

Henry knew his home was under siege, he began to gather that this occupying force would be moderately successful, but as he ripped the hordes apart he knew that their victory would be short lived at best. He hoped.

No, he knew the Light would prevail. He had his music, he had his power, nothing would stop that. Tonight, he felt alive.

“The Red Legion have never known defeat!” Ikora Rey shouted. It echoed in his helmet, bouncing around his skull and sticking to his vision as if it were a filter of despair. Henry had never known defeat either: not when the Vex tried to erase him, not when Breaker-77 led him into the pit and Ir-Yut sang death unto him (he sang louder!), not when Alice got him roped into helping Variks and the Queen, and defiantly not when Oryx arrived. Aksis didn’t stand a chance, either. The SIVA Crisis was nothing in comparison to Henry’s sheer determination, his willpower, and his enthusiasm.

Henry shook the burden of fear from his shoulders: he would rise, fall, and rise again until the world stopped. It’s the only way he knew, and the only way he’d follow. Drawing a custom-forged blade, “Bada Bing! Wit’ A Pipe,” he found himself at the Tower Plaza. Zavala held the line with him, saying very little more than tactical chatter that was drowned out in Henry’s singing. There was a brief moment, however, when Henry realized something.

Zavala was in cover.

The Titan of all Titans was hiding in cover, firing out with occasional pot-shots, rather than charging headlong into the fray.

“Henry! Go! Secure the Speaker with Ikora! I will see to the evacuation of the civilians!”

Henry let out a hearty laugh, “Will do, Zavala! Good to be on the front lines, right?”

“This is serious, Warlock!” Zavala sounded angry. Did... No. Zavala didn’t doubt that they would prevail. He was just angry that Henry was having fun. Though, as Henry saw the City burn below, he realized that ‘fun’ wasn’t a word to use.

Henry sprinted, mapping out a series of rifts that he could blink through to leap to the Speaker. There was always conduits of Light he was able to finagle into tunnels, things that would let him blink around and enjoy the Tower on his various errands. Now, though, the Light was... Warped. The tunnels were rebellious, refusing to hold steady and making minor changes that required constant adjustment. As Henry landed where the Speaker used to study his lore, Henry realized that he was standing above a smoking crater.

Ikora screamed, and she flew from a similar rift to drop a Nova Bomb on the first Cabal ship to approach. Henry could only float there, stunned by his mentor breaking her outward appearance of calm and collected to express true, unending fury. The Voidwalker epitomized, Ikora did something Henry could only hope to ever do: she surfed the Cabal ship into the city below.

“I’ll find the Speaker! Henry! Go!”

Henry heard Cabal blasting a wall apart, the one to the market square, and he was so shocked he couldn’t even feel the fire required to ignite the sky, nor did he have the spells to conjure the Void ready. He did however have the cold of his shock to draw upon, and so he drew it out with an exhale. The Arc Light poured from his fingers, and he glided through the Cabal battalion with a calm, collected ease. As the storm poured out unto the foes, vaporizing them with the grace of a hurricane viewed from orbit, Henry could only find his trance deepen at the trauma of what was happening.

The City burned, the Speaker gone, Zavala scared, and Ikora furious.

Henry held it all together until the Arc Light was depleted, and then he couldn’t take it any further: his eyes began to water. The first was denial, then it was bargaining. Henry took his helmet off for a moment, and ran his fingers through his hair. The scent was thick with smoke, the world was burning. Earth could be entirely on fire, Henry wouldn’t know the difference. What would he draw on? What would encourage him to continue fighting? This was everything he ever knew!

“Henry,” his Ghost asked, “Are you... You’re not alright.”

“No, Hank. I’m not. Look at this! This mess!” Henry’s arms gestured wildly, sweeping fingers across rooftops and addressing a building that had been blown apart to expose a small apartment. The apartment had a couch, a bedroom, things most peaceful homes would always have. “What am I supposed to do!? I sing, I throw magic, and I hurt bad guys. I don’t...”

“You don’t finish that sentence, is what!” the Ghost was forceful now, “You are Henry Gordon. The only Warlock I’ve ever known to walk into Vex architecture and make the entire structure rattle in fear! There might be others who did, but generally they are only afraid of Titans. You defy their simulation so thoroughly that you make them shudder at your approach! You danced with Ir-Yut, moshing to her Deathsong! You helped Alice put down Skolas not once but twice! Henry Gordon, you-”

“I’m not even Henry, Hank! I’m just some nobody that poor kid caught a ride with. We were hitchhikers!”

“But you know what you did?! You saw someone who wanted a better life, and decided to live it for them. They wanted to be a hero, a savior, someone who would see this and be only steadfast! A real-deal badass, to use a phrase you told me! You can’t have this breakdown right now, the City needs you!”

“No, they ne-”

“You shut your mouth! I don’t care what your name was before I found you, and I doubly don’t care about how you feel conflicted about every little thing that’s gone wrong, from your inexplicable cynicism toward working relationships to your strange obsession with eating pizza and plaid clothing, you are the hero that the City needs!”

There was a moment of silence, and Henry stood up from his knees. He looked up, and saw a Cabal Centurion entering the plaza. It pounded its chest, laughing at Henry’s plight. Raising its weapon, a massive shotgun-looking device, Henry could feel the Light surge. He chased forward, in a move that was too fast for the Centurion to keep up with. The shot went wide, Henry’s twisting torso making an easy dodge, and the flames of every bitter moment for three years went through the Centurion’s body. Its torso cooked, and the entire creature turned to ash. Henry drew a shotgun, and worked his way through the rest of the Cabal squad in a similar blur.

“Zavala, I found that Guardian you won’t shut up about,” Amanda Holliday spoke on a frequency Henry only barely heard.

“Get Henry aboard that command ship! Whoever is leading this, he is the only Guardian I can find in all this! Breaker-77 is with me, we’re getting these civilians out of the City!“

“You all do that! I’m out here, OW OW OW, oh, hey, it’s Cayde, Alice is on my six! Yea, I’m good never mind! We’re going to try taking out some of the command structure, maybe knock out some of the people who could pick up after you deal with the big guy!”

Henry Gordon’s mind blurred through the rest of the day. As the night dragged on, he could only think in lyrics. His fire needed to engulf the Cabal leader, and he needed to do so with as much gusto as possible. That would break the morale of the Cabal forces, and set up the Tower for a much easier clean-up. This was just a minor thing, after all! The Warlock took heart, singing out the lyrics that could only make him happy. A warcry as much as a lifeline, the music was played through his Ghost but lyrics came from his own throat. He made a mosh pit in every part of the ship, and worked his way to the command deck after exploding several pieces of valuable equipment and using the chunks as improvised weapons. He ran out through doors, and found himself on a flight deck. Staring at the Traveler, he saw a strange device attach itself to the sleeping wonder.

“How do we get rid of that?” Henry asked, panting from his lyrics.

“You don’t.”

Henry turned, looking toward a massive Cabal and two Centurions exiting from the doors he’d just used.

“Welcome to a world, without Light.”

The machine pulsed. Henry’s entire body felt as if it were pulled by a black hole, every muscle screaming at once. Henry tried to conjure up a spell, something to keep himself up. Nothing came to his hands, and his Ghost sputtered something as it fell. Henry dropped to his knees, and fumbled after Hank. Dragging the small machine toward him, Henry heard Ghaul’s approach. If Hank stayed alive, so would Henry. He prayed that the strange machine hadn’t totally cut him off from the Light, but a part of him knew that was exactly what had happened.

“Weak! Undisciplined! You’ve forgotten the fear of Death. Allow me to reacquaint you.” Henry felt an impact in his chest, and he flew to the edge of the ship. He clutched Ghost tightly, struggling to breathe. He couldn’t even right himself before he was punted again, this time losing grasp on Hank. He reached ineffectually after his Ghost, eyes watering in pain as the massive Cabal monologued.

“I’ve watched you. You are undisciplined in the extreme. You follow no code, no tactics, no order, you simply exist in combat. You are shamefully boastful, counting on your ostentatious tactics to win you the day. Your Light is all that allows you to succeed. But not against me, for I am Ghaul. And now, your Light is mine.”

Henry leaned on his feet, staring straight up at the Cabal that called itself Ghaul. A massive boot lifted up from the deck and pressed to Henry’s face. With a nudge, Henry fell. He subconsciously tried to fight the gravity, kept trying to use his magic to keep him afloat, but it all became worthless posturing after a few seconds. Before Henry passed out from the shock, he saw the roofs of the City.

Upon landing, he barely even recognized the difference. He blacked out for hours, only waking up to the sound of his Ghost.

“Hen... Ry?” the Ghost’s voice was weak, feeble, but Henry needed to get up. He willed himself out of the ground, crawling towards the voice, desperate. He found Hank, and the small machine healed him. They walked, having discovered that the City was being evacuated. The Tower fell, and the Traveler was lost.

Henry walked the streets, too injured and meek to even warrant the Cabal’s attention for longer than it took to notice him, and could only feel the despair build to insurmountable levels. People hid in the streets, cowering. They looked to Henry for help, pleading that he do something. But he couldn’t even meet their glances. The most he did was nod forward, hoping they understood his inability.

Ghaul’s words rang true, and as he staggered the mountains of Old Russia, he began to believe them.