#also really don’t like the whole . well he started clan traditions and they’re in place now so we must carry them on for generations’

[hawkfrostapologist]

the thing is that if clear sky was even mildly more interesting than he is i’d probably be a huge fan but as it is he’s just like some guy i knew in high school who’s probably a neo nazi by now

[animeyanderelover]

💕Can I request all the senjus,orochimaru,shisui and itachi with a s/o who managed to make themselves immortal with out consequences and they did it without experimenting but they can make other people immortal but people keep trying to kidnap them for it,also they don’t age anymore?💕

This is what pretty much Orochimaru’s dream is.

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, kidnapping, manipulation, clinginess

Immortal s/o

Hashirama Senju

🌳He is quite the more supporting and encouraging person. But in this situation even he finds himself a bit unsure how to feel. Your jutsu is quite amazing and something marvelous, but Hashirama is someone who wants to spend his whole life with his darling and die later on when both of them are grey and old together, that is his dream. But with you who stopped aging long ago and will never die, this is something impossible. The clan has definitely a huge interest in you, even though they are aware that your ability will end up being terrifying if it goes into the wrong hands which is why the Leaf guards you very observingly, not wanting to risk that a rival village gets their hands on you. If their strongest shinobi would be made immortal, that would end in a catastrophe. Hashirama himself makes sure that even in his own village no one plans on abusing your powers.

🌳I do not think that Hashirama would force you to either make him immortal nor to somehow tell you that you should try to stop your powers and start aging again. Not like he won't try to convince you to eventually consider finding a way to stop being immortal and instead settle down and live with him. Given the fact that are immortal, you might lived longer than he did and for that have knowledge he and his clan do not possess which is why you're treated from the Senju and the whole village really respectfully, if they need advice they will go and ask you. Hashirama can also only do this much and so he grows more clingy since he knows that he will die whilst you will live. And so he wants to be able to have a place in your heart for all the time to come and alongside with his brother and future generations, he trusts you to protect the Leaf Village once he dies. Even if his darling is immortal, he still wants to marry them since he is traditional.

Tobirama Senju

🌊Despite him being the harsher and much more intimidating and blackmailing guy from all the Senju, he has a rather simple dream as well. He wants to marry his darling and live with them together and one day die. And his dream is messed up with all of this as well and he is quite irritated by the knowledge that you made yourself immortal. On the one hand Tobirama is eager to invent new jutsu himself so from that perspective this is beyond fascinating, a wish many people before him had and tried to work on. But in a way this is honestly way too mocking for him as well because even if his darling might have to endure harsher lessons with him, they might honestly have the relieving thought that he will die one day anyways and then they're free. It is angering because it is true and depending on how old they are, they might nag him because of his behavior and he won't be able to say much against it since he knows they have more experience than him in life.

🌊This might be an advantage you have against him next to the whole being immortal thing. He will start being more respectful once he finds out how old you really are. He literally can not help it and that is why he sometimes, under the risk of his pride, asks you for some advice. He doesn't really want to be immortal either, even though he is more curious about it than his brother is. But what he has to do is always guaranteeing that you are under high protection because he know what terrible things your powers can do when being wrongly used. He might actually try to create a jutsu similar to yours because in a way you have been inspiring him. He also will end up marrying his darling. For starters he is a pretty traditional guy so marriage has a high meaning for him as well. Additionally he is not willing to let you that easily get away with your long life, he is possessive. He just kind of wants to set a mark on you for as long as you're part of the Leaf.

Orochimaru

🐍You have literally achieved what he has been trying to complete his whole life time without even having to experiment on anything and it is thrilling for him. No wonder he is after you as soon as he has heard the rumors, being in his way fervent about it and his obsession starts before he has even met you in person. And oh, he will hunt his darling down, no matter where he has to go and who he has to kill. He wants that jutsu and that talent who created it and no one will stop him. Not going to lie, at the beginning he is a bit salty, mostly because he feels like he has been beaten since you didn't even have to use anyone, you just had pure skill. But whilst he might have lost this, he still can owe the person who had the skills and intelligence and since he will totally force you to teach him that power and make him immortal as well, you might be stuck with him forever if you do so. And the bad part here is that if you don't, he will have no problems torturing you or using you as his next vessel.

🐍You're immortal, so it's not like you will die and he takes advantage of that if you refuse to lend him a hand. If you do help him, he will show his gratitude in a rather odd way, but it's better than his sadstic side. He simply keeps you, that much has to be said already. He can't effort to lose a talent like you, the experience not even to mention. His darling becomes his very special treasure who helped him earning immortality and in return he offers them a place to stay and protection. He knows that everyone wants to have that sort of abilities and he gets rid of all of them all to gladly, he won't let anyone dare to take his special underling away from him. He just always has you tagging along with him. Sasuke gets kind of interested as well since you are indeed powerful and you might as well get close to him since he is together with Kabuto and Orochimaru the only person you will see for a long time. Depending on how long you are already alive, Orochimaru also wants to know pretty much all jutsu and other knowledge you might have.

Tsunade Senju

🐌She looks quite young for her age which comes from the fact that she uses a jutsu that makes her appear young, but she is just like everyone else. She ages and is bound to die one day. And Tsunade handles this maybe a bit worse than some others do. You gotta understand, she just thought that she finally found the one person she can manage to live together with the rest of her life only to discover that they will continue living forever. And to know that she might be only one of many to come and that she might be forgotten one day is truly not very pretty, it makes her a bit more desperate. At first she was probably scared that you used to do the same things Orochimaru did to reach your goal so she was definitely more at ease when hearing that you succeeded without having to go with such drastic methods. For that reason she refuses to let her old teammate find out about you, knowing that he will be after you if he hears that you're in the Leaf which would only give him more reasons to attack.

🐌Tsuna might find herself tempted by the thought to be made immortal from you and live for all eternity together with you, simply because she is possessive as well and wants to be finally happy with the person she loves after all her beloved people dying on her. She's not completely sure, she knows that being immortal can be as much of a curse as it can be a blessing. The the council from Konoha is quite possessive as well, knowing how valuable you are and so they might want to use your powers for more selfish reasons from time to time. This leads to arguments between Tsunade and them because she is often against such decisions, seeing that they plan on making use of you. But one thing they do agree on is keeping you save from all other forces who want you in their grip. Funnily you might be a part of the eldest yourself if you lived long enough which gives Tsunade an advantage since you are on her side and not that narrow-viewed like the other eldest are.

Shisui Uchiha

🍂At this point in his timeline his darling might as well be already part of the village or at the very least known everywhere in the hidden villages for their special jutsu which is why everyone is on some sort of hunt for them. Shisui himself honestly probably never really saw himself falling for someone who constantly dominates the spotlight like you do, maybe also because he thought, despite the fact that you look young, the age difference would make him view you more as a admirable sensei because being able to make yourself and others immortal without having to do experiments on humans needs skill and wisdom. Shisui also just knows that even if you like him as well, this is a completely impossible love since not only might the superiors forbid it, but he does not desire to be made immortal. He already knows that everyone dies sooner or later and given his job being ready to die is a must since he is constantly exposed to danger.

🍂It would only break your heart in the end which is why he kind of feels like it might be best if he stays silent about his feelings at first. He just focuses on protecting you from potential enemies who plan on kidnapping you and tries to be someone who can leighten your mood up a bit since he sympathizes that life for you must be quite tricky. If he does confesses to you because he feels like you really like him as well or you tell him you like him first, he might hesitate and voice his doubts, but can be more easily manipulated since he loves you. Shisui kind of knows that he might not be the last since he doesn't want to be made immortal and you might find after his death a new person you love. And he accepts that, he doesn't want his darling to be alone only because they can't die. But he can make sure that he leaves some sort of impression on you so you will remember him. He wants at the very least a special place in your heart.

Itachi Uchiha

🍡He did not kidnap his darling so he could have their jutsu for himself, he definitely didn't. He did it because he lost control over his emotions and given the fact that you are constantly being chased by other power-hungry persons, he got triggered too much because he knows that some will hurt you to get what they want since you can not die. And afterwards Itachi just has to be really careful so that no one will find out because you are no ordinary person. You are famous and a living legend for your achievement and it'll cause a huge motion if he is being sighted with you because everyone will know afterwards, including the Akatsuki and he can expect that Pain will definitely want you to be a part of his organization since you not only have a very gifted ability, but might also possess knowledge and forgotten jutsu from long time ago. And Itachi doesn't want to force you to live the same life as him, even if you can't be killed on such missions.

🍡Itachi knows that he doesn't have long to live anyways and he already accepted that fact, he has his plans in mind for this. So he knows he won't be there for too long to protect you from all the greedy and selfish people which is why he might plan on making Sasuke look after you once he dies and he tells you about this as well, even though he knows you can handle yourself very well on your own as well. He respects people who are older than him and for that reason he might be far more respectful to the s/o than he would be already and he isn't embarrassed about it. Similar to Shisui he also knows that after his death his darling might find someone else and he won't be angry with them for it. They shouldn't spend their whole life grieving over him since he wants them to be happy. The only person he might ever tell willingly about his darling is Kisame since he is next to his younger brother the only person he really trusts with his darling.

[themonotonysyndrome]

REDACTED verse -  A dinner and a show

Prompt: any | any | competition

Word Count: 2,460

Author/Team: LadyMonotone

Fandom/Original: Redacted ASMR (Vincent Solaire/Lovely)

Rating: T

Triggers: Explicit implications

Summary: It's a tradition within the Solaire Clan that the King would visit his progenies from time to time. Tonight, Will is coming over to Vincent & Lovely's apartment for dinner. What's not a tradition is the karaoke competition that comes afterwards. 

ConCrit: Y

I don’t know what happened. This oneshot just went out of my control but I had so much fun writing it today! I hope you guys enjoyed it! 

Also, I just realised that all the characters in my oneshots have been eating lately. Oh my god, I got so hungry when I was writing them that I subconsciously includes food in some of the scenes 😭 Food is my love language so I guess it’s cute that the bois and their lovers would sit down and eat together. 

That being said, I hope you guys will crave Korean food as much as I am in this oneshot! 😅

-

“Vincent? I need your help. Can you tell me what’s Will's favourite colours?”

“Lovely - ”

“Because I have some formal outfits in our closet, but they don’t mean shit if Will hate the colours.”

“Lovely, hang on - ”

“Is he allergic to perfumes? Colognes? I have some soft-scented bottles that should be Vampire-friendly! I think? Most of them are floral though… oh! Does he have a favourite flower? Do you think I should buy some before he comes over?”

“What? No, Lovely, I think you’re working yourself up - ”

“I know you bought some blood bags for dinner but do you think we should cook some food too? Does Will like to eat? Shit, I knew I should have bought some groceries yesterday after class!”

“You’re not listening to me at all, Lovely…”

“We have to clean up the whole place too. I don’t know how our furniture gets so dusty so quickly! I just wiped them down a few days ago!”

“...”

“Do you think I should do my hair too? It’s a bit of a mess lately; I could use a trim. Does Will - ”

Lovely's eyes widen as a deep kiss suddenly silences them. Their heart pounds when Vincent brings them close to his chest, trapping his lover in his arms. Lovely's eyes flutter close when he pulls away to press butterfly kisses on their neck. They couldn’t help it; they moan and tilt their head back when they feel fangs delicately drag down their tender skin.

“Vincent!” Lovely hisses, not sure for what, though, when Vincent's fangs pinprick where their pulse is.

“Oh? Are you finally with me again, Lovely?” Vincent breathes, loving how their heart begins to beat faster and faster in anticipation. His chest reverberates when he chuckles deeply. “There we go… I have your attention again, little one.”

They grumbled at the unfairness of it all. Just as Lovely knew all of Vincent’s weaknesses and tickle spots, he knew how weak their knees behaved when he pressed his fangs to any parts of his partner's body. Especially down south.

“I’m serious here, Vince.” Lovely whines. “There are so many things we have to do before Will comes over for dinner tonight. I want to make sure everything’s perfect.”

Vincent gives Lovely a deadpan look. They would’ve coo at how adorable he looks if it weren’t for his Vampiric speed and his habit of chucking them onto the bed whenever Lovely is being too stubborn to listen to reason. “Lovely? A question: are you dating my Sire or me?”  

Lovely blinks; they didn’t expect that. “Uh, you, duh.”

“Then trust me, as your boyfriend,” Lovely has no idea why Vincent emphasised that last word, but they knew better than to interrupt him when he gets like this. “That everything’s going to be fine. Besides, I told you that while this might look like the whole ‘meeting the parent’ shtick, the relationship between a Sire and their Progeny is way more than that.” He patiently reminds them.

“Well yeah, but he means a lot to you.” Lovely points out. Now, why did Vincent look so surprised at that? “So that means he’s important to me too. That’s why this dinner has to be perfect.”

For a moment, Vincent said nothing. He just stares at them in wonderment.

Lovely let out a surprised squeak when Vincent suddenly crushed them in a hug. “How did I get so damn lucky with you, Lovely?” He murmurs, face buried on top of their head. “Sometimes I think that you’re… too amazing to be real.”

So soft and sweet; that’s Vincent. Lovely lets him cuddle them like his personal teddy bear until he's satisfied.

“Now, I need you to do something for me, Lovely. Do you think you can do it?”

Lovely raise an eyebrow. “Depends on what it is, Vince. I haven’t eaten anything yet, so I can only give you at least four hours in bed - ”

“N-Not that!” Vincent hurries to interject, a brilliant red blush runs across his cheeks despite him being a Vampire. He coughs once to get them on track, playfully glaring at Lovely for trying to distract him. “Geez, Lovely. It’s still way too early for… that. But we're definitely going to revisit that. Anyway, I need you to calm down for a second, OK? Will is a pretty chill guy and an open-minded Sire. He knows how much I love you, so you have nothing to worry about.” He gently assures them, rubbing calming motions up and down Lovely's back.

Lovely could feel their anxiety melts away. Just enough for them to finally breathe again ever since Vincent dropped the bomb that William Solaire will be coming over for dinner tonight.

Apparently, everyone in the Clan knows that the King would visit his Progenies at least once a month to check up on them. Just like how a parent would drop by their children's home for a visit, in Lovely's opinion.

“Ok. You win, baby.” Lovely sighs, loving how his rubbing eases the tense muscles. They arch their back like a pleased, spoiled cat when Vincent messages that spot below their shoulders. “Ooooh, yes, that’s the spot!”

Once Lovely's bones feel like they could melt at any time, they throw Vincent a grateful smile.

“Now, there’s the smile I’ve been missing the whole day!” Vincent teases. “C���mon Lovely, let’s plan for dinner before we take our nap. How do you feel about seafood?”

“Oh, I can go for some seafood. It’s been a while.”

“Spicy steamed crabs with scallops, battered pan-fry oysters and some chilled bowl of rice top with raw salmon and sea bass with slices of your favourite veggies? All Korean-style."

“Hell yes. I think we have all the ingredients for that. Wait. Err, can Will handle spicy food?”

"Uh... I have no idea. Maybe we should hold back on that spicy steamed crabs with scallops just in case."

Ever since the two started living together, Vincent really took a shine when it came to cooking and baking. The idea of providing for Lovely makes him ridiculously happy, and besides, him whipping up healthy and delicious food for them results in much richer and sweeter blood flowing within his lover for him to feed on so… win-win!

As the two of them traverse to the kitchen to start preparing the ingredients for dinner, Lovely slowly gain the confidence that their dinner tonight with Vincent's Sire will turn out alright.

And before both of them knew it, the sun had set.

After a fresh shower, the entire apartment is now spotless (to Lovely's standard), and dinner is served on the table, the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" Lovely announce just as Vincent finish putting down the plates. They smoothen out the creases on their clothes, roll their shoulders before taking a deep, calming breath and answer the door. Like a soldier marching towards the battlefield.

Seeing his partner's dramatic reaction, Vincent just shakes his head.

As soon as Lovely opens the door, William Solaire greets them. "Good evening. I hope I'm not too early. The evening traffic has been quite a hassle lately. I figured that even if I'm a bit early, I could help you and Vincent in the kitchen." Will explains. In his arms is a bouquet of white pear blossoms, yellow gladioluses and red tulips. When Lovely stares at them curiously, Will smiles knowingly. "Vincent informed me that you don't drink, so I decided that flowers would be the appropriate gift as oppose to a bottle of champagne."

"They're so pretty." Lovely reply, breathless when they receive the bouquet. "Thank you so much, Will! I'll put them in a vase now. Oh, and please come in." They graciously step aside to let Vincent's Sire in.

While Lovely is busy rummaging for a vase in the storeroom, Will and Vincent make small talks over at the dining table. Vincent passes the ancient Vampire a tall glass of blood which Will accept with gratitude.

"Hey, Will. How's it going?"

"I'm fine, Vincent. Thank you for asking." Will reply after dabbing the bloodstain on the corner of his lips. "The Clan is the same as usual; Our Newborn members have finally settled in nicely, much to Sam's relief. I plan to visit them next week."

Vincent tops up Will's empty glass before replying. "That's great to hear." He's about to say something else before a loud bang against the wall in the storeroom stops him. "Uh, Lovely? Is everything OK in there?" He calls out.

"It's fine, it's fine!" Lovely shouts back. "I found the perfect vase for the flowers!"

Vincent groans in exasperation. When Will throws him a confused expression, Vincent is compelled to explain. "Look, Will, Lovely has been freaking out about tonight's dinner the whole day. They think that if it turns out anything but perfect, you're going to be disappointed in them. So just... just play along, alright?"

Will chuckles; his heart warms at the thought that Lovely holds him in such high regard. What an adorable human. "Is that so? Very well then, I will play the perfect guest towards such kind hosts."

And true to his words, when Lovely joins them at the table after putting the vase full of flowers on the coffee table in the living room, Will waste no time in kicking his charm to the max. In between their meal, Will makes sure to compliment Lovely's outfit (which earned him a shy yet pleased blush from Lovely and a jealous kick at his shin from Vincent). He then comments that the spicy steamed seafood dish is his favourite, and when desserts are introduced, Will gently helps Lovely open up by asking about their interests and hobbies.

Will is pleasantly surprised to find one of the many common grounds they share: their love for analysing music.

"I find RM to be one of the most brilliant lyricists in this generation." Will states once his bowl of red bean shaved ice is empty. "His songs are undoubtedly impactful for the youths of today. Not to mention that I'm quite fond of his wordplays."

"You're into K-pop!?" Lovely ask, utterly gobsmacked. Their eyes are wide in shock.

Vincent snorts. "Alexis is a BTS fan. Somehow, she managed to convert Will too."

When Lovely turn to face Will once more, their expression frozen in disbelieve, he adds, "We're planning to catch their concert once the situation permits it."

Will's pop culture admission finally broke the ice. Lovely laughs in delight before launching themselves into an animated conversation about modern music with Will.

However, it wasn't long before their topic suddenly went off the rail when Vincent claimed that he's a better shower singer than Lovely.

"Oh please, Vince, I thought you were dying in the bathroom," Lovely interjects with a roll of their eyes. Vincent splutters at his partner's cruel remark, but Lovely presses on without mercy, much to Will's amusement. He resolutely keeps his mouth shut despite his growing grin slowly making its way up to his face. "Face it, you're tone-deaf. Being a Vampire doesn't magically make you a good singer."

"Those are some fighting words, Lovely. Can you back them up?"

"We can settle this tonight if you want. You and me; we can duke it out in a singing swag off with Will as the judge." Lovey declares with a smirk before they head into the living room. All revved up as if their previous anxiety over dinner had never happened.

"Oh my..."

Vincent turns to Will with a grateful nod. "Thanks for helping them relax. And hey, you don't have to stay if you have some other plans tonight, Will."

Will stares back at his Progeny with a faux, scandalous look on his face, complete with a hand on his chest. "Why, Vincent, where would I be anywhere but here? It's not every day that I get to see you humbled by your lover. Don't think I forget that you were once known as the Playboy of the Solaire Clan."

Shock looks good on Vincent's face. It's cute that he actually forgot how he was before Lovely walks into his life. Oh, Will is going to milk this for all its worth.

"Alright! The system is set up!" Lovely announce from near the TV with a microphone in their hand. "Will, come on! You need to help me prove that Vincent sings like a dying cat. Here, here!"

"Oi, oi! We haven't even started yet!" Vincent rebuke and flits over to grab the spare microphone. "You know what, Lovely? I'm so confident that I'll win this that I'll let you go first."

Lovely grins viciously and accepts his offer. Once Will makes himself comfortable on the couch and signals for them to begin, Lovely open their mouth,

Will couldn't stop smiling as Lovely sings their heart out, and Vincent makes his grand entrance after they're done (singing one of Will's favourite songs in hopes to sway his Sire to his side). Vincent and Lovely are having the time of their life, teasing one another as they sing. Will commits this night into one of his most cherished memories.

*"Dari apa yang aku perhatikan

Manusia mahu senang tapi tak semua mahu berkorban

Dari apa yang mereka katakan

Ada yang jawab jujur tapi selebihnya kuat beralasan..."

However, as the night grows long, Will doesn't have the heart to tell them that they both are horrible singers.

-

Tonight, it's Sam's turn. Will deliver three knocks on his door before Sam swings it open. He looks exhausted, unamused and seconds away from running out of the house.  

"Good evening, Sam."

"Good evening, William. Before you come in, can I ask why my Progenies insist on having a karaoke competition tonight? On the night where they knew you were coming?"

Will begins to smile widely. Both he and Sam could hear a heated argument between Frederick and Bright Eyes from the living room.

"No, you can't sing Bambi, Bright Eyes. I won't allow it! You're going to break the windows!"

"Oh my god, would you let me live, Freddy!?"

"We've been over this; you can't sing! Wait. What are you - put down that microphone - "

Music starts to play at maximum volume, and then,

Sam closed his eyes and sighed deeply and in resignation when Bright Eyes began to sing louder to drown out Frederick's shrieking.

**“Feel it like memalla itteon mam wiro

seumyeodeun danbi

dabi piryo eopji

Because you’re my favourite..."

"I don't know what had happened - and I honestly don't want to know - but I hope you're ready to deal with these two tonight."  

"Why, Sam, where would I be anywhere but here?"

-

These are the English translations & link to the songs that Lovely and Bright Eyes were singing: 

*“From what I can see

People want the good life, but are not willing to sacrifice

From what I hear

Some are honest but others are full of excuses...”

**“Feel it like timely rain that seeps into my dry heart

No other answer is needed

Because you’re my favorite...”

[ridiasfangirlings]

The Fushimi clan is known far and wide for being the most powerful and dangerous familial clans in Japan. The Yata clan, one of its branch families, had once been its vanguard, but due to circumstances unbeknownst to many, it is now ridiculed and seen as the "lowest" scum within the clan. Fast forward to present day, Saruhiko, the heir apparent to the clan, is befriended by Misaki, who never knew that he was a Fushimi. They grow up and fall in love, but of course things come crashing down when everyone finds out, and they're forced apart by the rules and traditions of the family. (Somewhat inspired by the Hiiragis and Ichinoses from OwaSera hehe)

So imagine the Fushimi clan as this old powerful family, they have ties in a lot of industries and government entities and are pretty huge and sprawling. The Yata clan used to be their vanguard, tasked with protecting the family from all attacks. Once in the past though maybe a member of the Yata clan allowed the Fushimi heir at the time to be killed while surviving himself. Due to this dereliction of duty the Yata branch family is seen as the lowest family in the clan, only good for cleaning trash and they are barely even allowed to live within the family compound. All the other families look down on them and they don't get to enjoy any of the benefits of being part of the Fushimi clan, most of the members work 'low' normal-person jobs and live frugally.

Yata's grown up kinda hating the Fushimi family, he thinks they're all stuck up assholes who hate his family for no good reason. His mom has told him that this is just how things are (imagine in this AU maybe Yata's mom is the one whose family name was originally 'Yata' and her husband is a normal guy who took her surname) but Yata thinks that's stupid, like just because something bad happened decades ago why do we have to be looked down on like this. Yata's only seen the family's patriarch, Fushimi Niki, once from afar but he's heard rumors from other members of the Yata branch and from the other clan members that Niki's apparently pretty sadistic even by the standards of the Fushimi family. Even a lot of the members of the main family dislike Niki but they can't go against him either because he's the family head and this is his birthright. Yata's also heard that Niki has a son who's apparently kind of an asshole too, Yata's like if I ever ran into the guy I would tell him exactly what I think about his shitty family.

One day Yata's doing some cleaning near the main family home when he runs into this other kid his age sitting under a tree and staring down at the ants. Yata assumes this must be just another one of the many kids from the branch families and he greets the other kid with a friendly smile. The kid looks up at him and just clicks his tongue and then looks away. Yata's all indignant like hey asshole I said hi and the boy looks up at him almost surprised that Yata talked back. Yata's like well what are you gonna say and the kid gives this smirk as he's like why should I talk to some brat. Yata's like who are you calling a brat, aren't you a brat too. Before the kid can argue they hear this sing-song voice off in the distance that Yata thinks sounds kinda familiar but he isn't sure where he heard it, yelling 'Little monkey, where are you?'. The kid under the tree noticeably stiffens, going even paler than before, and Yata just impulsively grabs his hand and is like come on, I know a good hiding place.

The two of them end up in like this secret treehouse Yata made near his family's house, Yata telling the kid that no one should be able to find him here. Yata asks the kid's name and gets a hesitant '….Saruhiko.' Yata's like see you can talk like a normal person, introducing himself. He notices Fushimi twitch slightly when Yata says his name, Yata gets a little crestfallen like I know my family is the shitty one that everyone hates so if you wanna leave go ahead. Instead Saruhiko smirks and says that's not the part of the name he was paying attention to, 'Misaki.' Yata's like shut up don't use my first name and Fushimi's like but you don't like your last name either right. Yata says his last name is fine, it's those asshole Fushimis who think there's a problem. Fushimi gives this small 'heh' when Yata says that, Yata quickly tries to walk it back realizing that even a branch family member might get mad at him for saying this kind of thing. Instead Fushimi grins and says he hates them too, the Fushimi family.

After this the two of them become good friends, meeting often at Yata's secret treehouse or just hanging around on the family compound in places where no one can find them. Yata's really happy to finally have a friend who doesn't care about his family name, Saruhiko doesn't mind at all that Yata's from the 'low' clan and he seems to hate the Fushimi clan as much as Yata does. Then one day they're hiding in the treehouse when suddenly some of the Fushimi family personal bodyguards appear, grabbing Yata and dragging him down as he protests. Yata yells at Saruhiko to run and instead Fushimi sharply tells the bodyguards to let Yata go. Yata's shocked when the bodyguards bow to Fushimi and call him 'young master,' telling him this was an order from his lady mother and they can't go against that. Fushimi suddenly starts almost shaking as Kisa appears and Yata recognizes her immediately, even though Niki doesn't often make appearances Kisa handles a lot of the Fushimi family affairs and is well known even amongst the branch families. Yata is shocked when Fushimi walks right up to her and asks if 'that man' put her up to this, she ignores him and instead tells the bodyguards to escort 'Niki's son' back to the inner compound. Yata's shocked as he realizes that Saruhiko is actually the Fushimi family heir.

Yata is sent back to his home eventually, with strict orders to never see Fushimi again. Kisa probably offers Yata's family some hush money or something, it would be a scandal if anyone knew the family heir was hanging out with the scum Yata clan. Of course this means that Yata can't ever see Fushimi again and there's no way Yata will agree with that, he just can't believe that his whole relationship with Fushimi was a lie. Imagine he eventually sneaks out of the house and actually makes his way to the main family compound, searching for Fushimi. When they finally meet again Fushimi's been locked in this empty room to think about what he's done, Yata just breaks down the window and slips inside. Fushimi can't believe that Misaki really came for him, he assumed that Yata must hate him now since Fushimi technically lied to him by ever revealing who he was. Yata says he doesn't care who Fushimi is, he's still Saruhiko and Yata isn't going to let them become separated just because of a stupid family grudge – if he's a member of the Yata clan then fine, he'll be Fushimi's guard and keep Fushimi from harm no matter who tries to hurt him, even if those people are Fushimi's own parents.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Ep 24

Note: I will be critical of Jiang Cheng in these posts. If you can’t handle that, please feel free to scroll on.

From the last episode, we know that Jiang Cheng is struggling with out to respond here. But as I'm watching this, it looks like Jiang Cheng is a little annoyed or frustrated here because now it feels like it wasn't his own decision. He didn't want to have to make this decision, because of political reasons and obviously he cares about his sister. She still carries a torch for Jin Zixuan, but agreeing to the marriage makes it look like the Jiang Clan is looking to profit even further from the war. Declining could mean possible damage to the relationship with the Jin Clan. And then Wei Wuxian steps in and gives him a third option: leave it up to Yanli. I think Jiang Cheng feels uncomfortable even answering this question, but part of his discomfort seems to be in response to Wei Wuxian overstepping here, like Jin Zixun points out.

Yeah, even here, Jiang Cheng says that others shouldn't meddle in this decision that Yanli needs to make. He casts a glance over at Wei Wuxian as he says this, suggesting either that he's agreeing with him or a subtle motion that Wei Wuxian is also meddling where he shouldn't. I feel like it's a bit of both. It really was not Wei Wuxian's place to step in and talk over Jiang Cheng. He is treating Jiang Cheng as if nothing has changed, but he's the clan leader now, not the clan leader's son. I mean, I don't give a shit about that, but I can see why someone who cares A LOT about propriety and tradition, like Jiang Cheng, would.

Half of his thoughts are that he dodged a bullet and the other are unexpected disappointment. For one, I think Jiang Yanli really didn't want to give that answer. Not that she doesn't love her home and want to see it restored, but I think she really wanted to marry Jin Zixuan. No matter what Wei Wuxian and her brother said about him, she still persevered in loving that man--regardless of what Jin Zixuan himself said, she still loved him. At the same time, her duty does still lie in rebuilding Lotus Pier for future generations. Jin Zixuan here is always a bit puzzling. I'm not really sure when he starts to fall for her. It could be that after the soup incident, he really starts to think about her. Maybe he lies in bed and she pops into his mind. Maybe he finds that he can't stop thinking about her. I think he's just as shocked as she is when his father brings up the marriage again. He's young too, maybe he also feels a little unready for it. I think, ultimately, they both want to decide on their terms, and not someone else's.

I think it's important that Jiang Cheng is the one to knock down the Wen insignia. As I was watching this scene unfold, where the Yunmeng trio returns to Lotus Pier, I thought it was odd that they have a Wei Wuxian flashback as he's looking around. To me, that kind of loses the focus of the scene. It really should be Jiang Cheng's memories that we should get a glimpse into--he's the one who is so focused on Lotus Pier and his family in this adaptation. It's really his main drive (other than his bitter spite, of course). Of course Wei Wuxian is angry about what happened, but in my opinion, it seems a bit much. After all, the one who was so angry and then despondent was Jiang Cheng, not Wei Wuxian. When Jiang Cheng's core was taken, it was Wei Wuxian who simply wanted to make him better--it was not about revenge anymore. Actually, concerning Wei Wuxian, I don't think it ever was about revenge. I think there was anger and confusion and sadness, but in his heart, I don't think it was really about revenge. Jiang Cheng, on the other hand, well, his story does very much revolve around revenge. He carries this anger and bitterness over what happened to him and his family for years and years--probably his entire life, to a certain extent. He's one who holds onto grudges and doesn't let go easily.

Ah, this part. I have to admit, I'm not certain about the things I'm going to say here, but this is my feeling about this scene. I think Lan Qiren is concerned about Lan Wangji. I think he's worried he'll be influenced by Wei Wuxian. I think he's worried Lan Wangji will stray from the straight path. So his solution is to assign Lan Wangji to repairing the books that may have been damaged, forcing him to look at the disciplines again and again. But of course we know that Lan Wangji is not about to stray from any path--he is trying his hardest to help Wei Wuxian. And if I'm not mistaken, Lan Xichen is about to go to Yunmeng around here (I could be wrong--I don't remember all the details), and Lan Qiren doesn't want Lan Wangji to go with for obvious reasons. I think maybe Lan Wangji is torn here. He wants to do the right thing--he wants to help Wei Wuxian, he wants to please his uncle, he wants to honor the memory of his parents, he wants to be a good disciple of the Lan Clan. I think, most importantly, he doesn't want to lose himself and his own sense of morality, nor does he want to lose Wei Wuxian. His uncle obviously believes the two things are mutually exclusive, but I believe Lan Wangji thinks otherwise. I really like this scene because a lot remains unspoken and there is so much tension there. I like that Lan Wangji requests to go into the library two times, and refuses to answer his uncle's question. It shows a lot of growth that he can stand up to his uncle like that--and if you pay attention, that growth is progressive. The Lan Wangji from the Lan lectures would never think to ask for such a thing when he knows he hasn't done the necessary tasks to be granted access.

Gosh, this episode actually has a lot of good scenes that I kind of just forgot about! In my fic writer's head, I like to think Lan Xichen is here in part to kind of size up Wei Wuxian in his current state. I love that they're drinking together and that Lan Xichen kind of levels with Wei Wuxian here, they both share a chuckle at Lan Wangji's expense too. Also, my wangxian brain loves that Wei Wuxian, while he's basically shirking all his Lotus Pier duties, wants to go see Lan Wangji and gloat while he's copying out the disciplines! Wei Wuxian definitely has his priorities haha.

Of course, Lan Xichen is also there on serious business. Even he tries to get Wei Wuxian to come to Gusu so that they can help him. Wei Wuxian sees this as meddling too, but the brothers really have the best intentions. I don't think it's about power or control for either one of them, but instead a sincere desire to help him and save him from his own ruin. The Lans seem to be the least politically inclined out of all the clans, but I feel like Wei Wuxian doesn't really get that. His own clan doesn't meddle at all, which they should. Jiang Cheng doesn't seem to be concerned at all about what Wei Wuxian is doing to himself--he's just glad he's got someone powerful underneath him. Lan Wangji and Lan Xichen both are concerned about Wei Wuxian, the man. Regardless of his power, they just want him to be safe.

So, as Lan Xichen "expresses his thoughts", Wei Wuxian starts drinking more and more cups of alcohol--I'm surprised there's anything left. He's clearly agitated by what Xichen is saying, but it seems to be when Xichen calls him self-centered that he basically can't take it anymore: the idea that he's only thinking about himself despite his actions causing harm to others, including Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli, but also Lan Wangji, who is tirelessly trying to help him. He tells Xichen that he trusts them, but he doesn't want to pick up the sword again--he prefers the demonic cultivation is how Xichen must understand that, since he has no idea about Wei Wuxian's Golden Core. But it's interesting that Wei Wuxian will admit that to Lan Xichen but not to Lan Wangji. He intends to let Lan Wangji press on tirelessly, searching for a way to help him, learning new music to aid and heal him. To be honest, that is extremely selfish of him. Why can't he be honest with Lan Wangji? But I think that he can't be honest because he doesn't want to hurt him, and he only tells Lan Xichen because he's upset and just wants to drop the whole subject. The only way I can think to describe Wei Wuxian over the next few episodes is depressed. He drinks too much, he has nothing to occupy himself, he pushes people away; he is on this downward spiral that no one can pull him back from, not even the people who love him most. And I don't think it's lost on him that Lan Wangji is being deliberately kept from seeing him--he even likens what's happening to imprisonment. All around, this is a sad time for these characters with few bright spots, honestly.

Before I forget, I actually really love here that Xichen makes a point of saying that he's doing this for his brother more than anything. It's very sweet and it's very important for Wei Wuxian to know. It's not meddling to them. That's not at all how they see it, even though that's how it appears to him. They are trying to help him, and in particular, Lan Wangji is trying to help him. He's in fact made it his mission in life--casting aside anything else, to the point that his uncle has essentially had to lock him up to stop him.

I think, overall, Jiang Cheng is just really disappointed in Wei Wuxian. I think he thought he was getting something better when Wei Wuxian came back, all powerful, playing his flute, killing Wens left and right, taking revenge for the Jiang Clan leaders. And instead, he sees a lazy, drunk. Wei Wuxian seems pathetic and useless, nothing like his former self, except for his cocky attitude, which Jiang Cheng never liked anyway. He nitpicks about the sword, but never tries to get Wei Wuxian to change. He nags him, expecting that will be enough. He wants someone subservient who will look good and do all the right things, and also make him look good. So, when Wei Wuxian is none of those things, that would be very disappointing. He wanted a parallel of what his father and Wei Wuxian's father was--that's not what he got. Guess what? They aren't the same people. You know that, I know that--it's really only Jiang Cheng that struggles with that concept. He takes that promise Wei Wuxian made about them being the Twin Prides, grips it in his clenched fist, and never lets go. But people sometimes make promises they can't keep. What parent hasn't promised to keep their children safe only to find out that they can't control everything that happens to them? When Wei Wuxian said that, I think he did want that--at that time. But a lot of things changed after that--they all changed, and I don't think Wei Wuxian wants that anymore.

I feel quite bad for Jiang Yanli, you know. I think so much of her actions are driven by her desire to keep their family together in spite of what's happened. If her parents were alive, I have no doubt that she would have jumped at the chance to marry Jin Zixuan, and I think the only reason she didn't is because she feels an obligation to keep the peace in the family. She worries that Lotus Pier will fall apart, she worries Jiang Cheng can't handle it alone, she worries every time that he and Wei Wuxian argue. And Wei Wuxian barely lets her finish a sentence here. He again makes promises that he knows she wants to hear--promises that they'll be together forever. But even she knows that that's a promise that is meant to be broken. She wants to get married--in all likelihood, she will get married--and leave. She also sees how restless Wei Wuxian is. He may be lying to himself, but she can see right through him. I think this is a woman who knows that things are about to change again and she's trying to prepare herself for that.

When I first watched this scene, I immediately thought Wei Wuxian was talking about Jiang Yanli being in love with Jin Zixuan. It seemed the obvious catalyst, since she was engaged, then they broke it off, then it came up again in Qishan. But the second time I saw it (and watching it again now), I can see that he's talking about two different things: her love for Jin Zixuan as well as whatever is going on between him and Lan Wangji, because I don't think he rightly understands himself. He's just met up with Lan Xichen by chance, who has told him that he's going to end up hurting the people who care about him (oh and also Lan Wangji cares about him so much that he literally has done nothing but study music to help him). And then he likens what Lan Wangji is doing to imprisonment. And now he's comparing love to haltering one's own neck. Whether CQL is explicit or not about the romance, the dialogue doesn't lie. He's questioning why Lan Wangji would love him here. He's questioning why anyone would love anyone, when it means being chained to one person for the rest of your life, being at their whims, being hurt by them, sometimes hurting them yourself--he doesn't understand why anyone would want that. Why is that attractive? Isn't it better to just be alone?

Most frustrating thing is she doesn't even answer him.

I can't deny this scene is cute and puts a smile on my face. I actually really identify with Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian here, because they just don't deal with their issues. When my sister and I were growing up, we'd fight from time to time, but then after a few hours or maybe a day, we'd just be over it. We didn't apologize--we didn't feel like we needed to. It wasn't until I watched this sort of thing between my best friend and her siblings that I understood how kind of unhealthy that is. It's good to apologize. It's good to work your issues out. Pretending things didn't happen can just lead to a bad relationship. Now, I don't even remember what my sister and I would fight about, but mostly silly things. What Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian are going through is a lot different. Them ignoring their problems is harmful to their relationship. So, while it's nice to see them joking and smiling, I can't help but think about what they are ignoring.

Parallel time! Jiang Cheng says Wei Wuxian needs to be more respectful and mostly just stay clear of Jin Zixuan while they are in Lanling. Then he goes on to say that Jin Guangyao won't ever be anything more than a myrmidon to the Jin Clan. Obviously Wei Wuxian is not related to the Jiangs by blood--does that mean he also is far below Jiang Cheng and Yanli? Wei Wuxian get annoyed, and rightly so, at how dismissive Jiang Cheng is of Jin Guangyao, especially considering that Jin Guangyao did so much more for the cause during the Sunshot Campaign. The implication is that Jin Zixuan did very little, and we know his father did just about nothing.

Lan "I can do bad all by myself" Wangji

Other episodes: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | Or just check out the #CQL Rewatch hashtag

[muertawrites]

Two Halves - Chapter Five (Zuko x Reader)

Part Four

Word Count: 3,300

Author’s Note: I was up until 4am finishing this on Thursday night, and honestly, the way my single brain cell was barely functioning at that point, I’m surprised this even got done, let alone that it got done relatively well. We’re also getting super close to 1,000 followers, so if you like this series or any of my other works, PLEASE subscribe! I’ve got some fun stuff planned once we get there that I’m really excited to start planning! 

~ Muerta

Despite their rocky beginning, your first few weeks as Lady of the Fire Nation go surprisingly well. After your conflict with Advisor Lin, everyone begins to treat you with newfound respect - even Zuko. Your first breakfast together was the last time he advised any of your aids to be moderate or keep their distance from you, instead encouraging them to speak to you as directly as they would him, openly reproving them when they treat you as if you aren't capable of grasping everything they face you with; of course, you very much feel like you aren't, remaining stoic during morning briefings in the dining room while inwardly panicking, hearing everything but only able to decipher about half of it. You’re lucky you’re still shadowing the Firelord, learning your place and duties; once you’re sent out on your own, you have a feeling you’ll drown before you even get the chance to tread water. 

Protective as he is, Sokka arranges to stay in the palace until you’re completely settled, stating that it’s his duty as the chief ambassador for the Southern Water Tribe; you know that the real reason is because he’s worried to death about you, trying his hardest to keep up the tough, unflappable big brother act for nobody's sake but his own. Toph also decides to extend her trip, quite concerned herself but mostly using the political tension as an excuse to catch up with you, Zuko, and Iroh - you don't mind, since having her around is an endless comfort to you, and you often invite her to sleep in your room so you can pretend that you’re just two friends enjoying normal young adult lives. 

Each day spent in Firelady prep school is a new lesson in what exactly the role means, and you’re quickly finding that it’s much more than observing any of the first ladies of the Water Tribe could have ever prepared you for. They were considered accessories to their chiefs, appearing beside their husbands mostly for aesthetics and only truly serving the purpose of giving birth to sons to take his place; as the Firelord’s wife, you’re seen as an extension of him, and he an extension of you. Your people view you as the monarch and matriarch of a massive, powerful clan, and expect you to live and act in sync with one another for the betterment of your children, both literal and metaphorical. Nation comes before everything, any action that could suggest intentions otherwise criticized with the utmost scrutiny; disgrace is all too easy, while honor seems near impossible. 

You have tea with Zuko every night before bed; the more you learn about the culture of his upbringing, the more you empathize with his younger self. 

“I understand now why you were so angry,” you admit to him one night. “They make you feel as if just being human were a mistake. I'm already frustrated - I can't imagine what seventeen years of it was like.”

Zuko hums, his face taking on a wistful, somber expression. 

“That's what my father did to me,” he explains. “Everything was wrong, even if it was what felt natural.” 

He takes your hand in his, his thumb grazing over your knuckles as he gazes off in thought. 

“We can change that, though,” he tells you. “Things already feel better with you here.” 

For a country that just ended a century long war in which they were the main aggressor, you would think that your advisors would put more energy into matters of diplomatic affairs than your image. 

“I'm just uncertain what a choice like this could make the nation feel,” Advisor Yong says. “We’re already walking a very delicate line.”

You stand in one of the palace’s many meeting parlors with Zuko, Advisors Yong and Sung, Sokka, Iroh, and the royal seamstress, pouring over multiple yards of fabric she's brought for the robes that will immortalize you in your wedding portrait. For the past forty-five minutes, you've been debating whether you should be pictured wearing Fire Nation or Water Tribe clothes - the proceedings have been dismal at best. 

“The representation of our tribe is important to our people,” Sokka replies to Advisor Yong. “We’ve been small for decades, and mostly because of the Fire Nation - she should wear a traditional dress.” 

“But certain people in our nation are still very put off by the idea of a foreign queen,” Advisor Yong argues. “A man was already killed over the matter; embracing it so fully could spark anger and endanger her and the Firelord even more.” 

In the time you've spent with Advisor Yong, she's grown to be your favorite of anyone within the royal council. Her small stature and plump, motherly features make her seem gentle and subdued, but her kindness only runs so deep; when faced with confrontation, she's like an angry bull - fierce, but in a way that's so swift and graceful, you barely notice her goring into you until she's shredded you to pieces. She's been one of your most supportive council members as well, guiding you in matters of proper Fire Nation etiquette and culture and sticking her neck out farther than could possibly be expected to keep you safe. You can see Sokka getting irritable, but you know she speaks with a voice that only has your best interests in mind. 

“Perhaps we should consider the external perception,” Advisor Sung suggests. His soft spoken manner is a welcome reprieve from the increasing bitterness in Yong and Sokka’s tones. “Yes, it's quite important that the Southern Tribe is recognized, and doing so will present a compassionate image of our nation. On the other hand, however, having our lord and lady in different traditional dress could suggest division; picturing them as the same would imply a more unified pair.” 

“Maybe we should put Zuko in a Water Tribe outfit,” you suggest flatly. “Make it look like we’re pushing you guys around for a change.” 

Zuko snickers beside you, raising a hand to his mouth to (ineffectively) stifle the sound under the guise of a cough. The rest of the room is deathly silent, its occupants either oblivious to your sarcasm or deeply unamused by it. 

“I believe what our lady is trying to convey,” Iroh chimes in, “is that we have hardly taken her own thoughts into consideration. After all, it is her marriage and her people she must represent.” 

“Okay, so what do you think?” Sokka prods, turning to you. “Do you want to wear Fire Nation clothes or Water Tribe ones?”

You sigh, dropping your eyes to the mixture of red and blue fabric sprawled out before you. 

“Honestly? I don't know,” you confess. “There are too many issues with either choice. I think we need more time to gauge how people react to me just being here before we decide.” 

“My lady, I understand,” Advisor Yong says, “but as cautious as we have to be, we can't be too hesitant; you can’t possibly hope to bear children in a few months’ time if we can't come to a decision on something like this in a timely manner.”  

You and Zuko both jolt, instinctively backing away from one another.

“Children will come much later,” Zuko sputters, his cheeks turning the same shade as his robes. “Right now we have to focus on getting the people of our nations to agree with each other.” 

“And children are an important part of doing so,” Advisor Yong explains. “They’ll serve to physically embody the union of the two nations; the sooner you become pregnant, my lady, the quicker we may resolve the issue.” 

“I’m not going to bring a baby into this world just to be a political pawn,” you snap, a bit more harshly than you intend to. “That wouldn’t be fair and I couldn’t do that to my kid.” 

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Zuko glance at you with an expression you can’t quite place. You want to reach for him but restrain yourself, feeling strange about showing him any sort of intimacy with an audience. 

“We need to decide what will be done about this portrait before we decide what will be done about heirs,” Iroh agrees. “We should give our lady more time to think on the matter. Could we spare another day?” 

Advisors Yong and Sung look to one another, Advisor Sung nodding his compliance. Advisor Yong also concedes, her tone almost apologetic when she speaks. 

“Another day will be just fine,” she says. “We’ll leave the final decision to you and your husband, my lady. Have Rina bring your instructions to the seamstress when you’re ready.” 

Your stomach flutters manically when you hear the words “your husband”. Advisor Yong has never referred to him as such, only ever calling him “the Firelord”; somehow, coming from her, the title feels much more significant than just the result of an arranged marriage. 

You flop down in the grass beside Zuko, burying your face in the sleeves of your robe. He chuckles, tossing another apple peel to the turtle ducks in the courtyard pond. 

“At least they’re being nice,” he consoles you. “Advisor Yong called me a coward in front of the whole council when I told her I wasn’t sure about getting married. She was right, but it’s hard getting your ass handed to you by someone who looks like a sweet little grandmother.” 

You sigh, rolling over onto your back and tilting your head to look up at him. He gives you a faint, assuring smile, which you can’t help but return. 

“I totally understand why you snapped when we were kids,” you tell him. “I’ve been here less than a month and I already want to go apeshit. Did you know that one of our advisors told me to take my betrothal necklace off the other day? The slimy little bastard waited until you left the room to do it, too! He told me it made me look less like a ‘naturalized Fire Nation woman’, and I told him that anyone who expected me to look like one was either stupid or delusional. And what, we need to have kids right way for the sake of political leverage? That’s horrible! What kind of monster brings a child into the world just to use them their whole life??” 

You draw back when you notice Zuko’s fallen expression. You’ve sat up by this point, and your near-screaming has scared the turtle ducks to the other side of the pond. You feel your heart drop into your gut, wishing you could take the words back. 

“Oh, Zuko,” you breathe. “I’m sorry. I didn’t…” 

Zuko shakes his head, closing his eyes and taking a deep, measured breath. You watch his chest rise and fall, his shoulders loosening as he exhales. When he opens his eyes again, he meets yours, the knot between his brows unraveling. 

“It’s okay,” he murmurs. “I know. My father was a monster. And my mother… she just did what she was told. I never realized how much she sacrificed for me until she was gone.” 

You inch closer to him, warily reaching for his hand. He takes it, lacing his fingers with yours and gently tugging you to sit beside him, reclining against the trunk of an ancient maple tree. He leans into you, clutching your hand tightly. 

“Sometimes I wish the worst thing he did to me was use me,” he laments. “Then maybe I wouldn’t have done such awful things to the people who loved me.” 

“Zuko,” you whisper, tightly squeezing his hand, “you’re not your father. Just the fact that you asked me to marry you proves that. You didn’t choose your family based on who would make you powerful. You chose me because you love my siblings, and they love you, and that’s exactly why I agreed to be with you. I never met your father, but I know for a fact that he never knew love like you do; he wouldn’t allow himself to because he thought it was weakness. But you’re so much stronger than he is, and could ever be, because Katara and Sokka, Aang and Toph, and Iroh - all of us are here with you. You allow yourself to show weakness in loving us, which is the bravest thing you could ever do. You are nothing like Ozai.” 

To your surprise, Zuko smirks at you; the corners of his eyes glimmer with the buds of tears, however, and the rest of his features don’t rise to match the expression on his lips. 

“No wonder Uncle likes you so much,” he says. “You sound just like him.” 

You scoff, punching him in the shoulder. He laughs, playfully tossing you over his lap and pinching the soft sides of your stomach, an area he discovered was sensitive by accident one day whilst he was walking you through the palace; you giggle hysterically, trying in vain to fend off the attack. He retreats after a little while, sighing as he cradles you in his arms - your head presses to his chest while his chin rests atop your head, hugging you tightly in a way he hasn’t done before. You wrap yourself around him, arms latching about his waist to hold him just as closely. 

“I won’t let them pressure us,” he assures you. “We’re family, and we have to take care of each other. That’s all I ever want to do for you.” 

You nestle into him, curling your body closer to his while your arms squeeze at his sides. He kisses the crest of your head, a rare display of affection he’s only done a handful of times - it makes you realize that even when you were teenagers, and Sokka started to make serious suggestions about keeping his promise of marrying you after Hakoda left you in his care, he never once made you feel as safe as Zuko does. 

“I hope I wasn't interrupting anything with my invitation,” Iroh greets you when you arrive at his chambers. 

Before your nightly pot of tea with Zuko, a messenger came to your quarters telling you that Iroh wished to see you; when you asked why, the messenger told you that the general wanted to teach you to play Pai Sho. You looked to Zuko quizzically, wondering what was so important about knowing how to play a board game that you needed to be summoned so late in the evening, and he sent you off, assuring you that, knowing Iroh, it was worth taking up the offer. 

“Just Zuko’s tea,” you tell him, “which, if it weren't for his company, I think I'd bail on every night.” 

Iroh chuckles, leading you inside and lowering you onto a cushion on one end of a large Pai Sho table; he takes the other seat, smiling good-naturedly at you. 

“Unfortunately, my nephew has never quite taken to the art of tea brewing,” he says, “no matter how many times I've tried to teach him; I take comfort in the fact that he's much better with a sword than I am, instead.” 

You grin, watching as the old man spreads a set of tiles across the game board. 

“Do you know of the significance of Pai Sho within the royal families of the Fire Nation?” he asks; you shake your head in response. 

“It is traditionally learned as a way of teaching our young leaders to rule with strategy,” he explains. “It is meant to teach a balance between inner passions and outward logic, as well as how to observe one’s peers; those who practice Pai Sho diligently know how to pinpoint an opponent’s weaknesses while understanding and controlling their own, keeping others from using their shortcomings against them.

“Each tile has a meaning,” he continues, “and represents a different positive or negative attribute. They may only move in certain ways, but can change their effect on the game based on how the player chooses to use them within each environment. For example…” 

Iroh goes on to explain each tile and its movements to you, walking you through each element of the game and practicing different tiles with you until you can actually place them in a somewhat skilled way. When you're comfortable, he plays a simple game with you, aiding you in which possibilities cause which consequences and pointing out ways you can better defend your side of the board. You play five games with him in total, never winning but trying as if you stood a chance against such a skilled player as him. 

When you lose the last game, Iroh removes the last tile you played and replaces it with the white lotus - you quirk your brow, wondering why that would be the better move. 

“I thought the white lotus was a weak tile,” you question him. “Why put it up against something as strong as the flame tile?” 

“There are no weak tiles in Pai Sho,” Iroh instructs you, “only ones that are often overlooked. Sometimes we must look at things from a different perspective, you see; manipulate the odds by doing something unorthodox and unexpected. If your opponent cannot anticipate your actions, they cannot overcome you.” 

Iroh removes the white lotus from the board, taking your hand within his and placing it in your open palm. He folds your fingers over it, closing your hand between both of his. 

“Keep this with you,” he says. “It may help you someday.” 

“But won't your board be incomplete?” you ask. 

Iroh chuckles, giving you a mischievous wink that makes you feel almost as if the man is in some way omniscient. 

“I have plenty of others,” he assures you. “It will do much more good in your hands.” 

The next day, you accompany Rina to the seamstress’s workshop, wanting to give her the instructions for your portrait dress yourself. When you tell her this, Rina is clearly confused - she gently attempts to explain to you that it isn’t necessary, that she’s supposed to handle these sorts of things for you, but once you reveal what you have in mind, she shifts completely. 

“The council is going to hate that,” she says. “I think it’s a great idea. I can take you to the seamstress, come with me.” 

When you relay your plans to the seamstress, she’s also shocked - her eyes widen, and she physically backs away from you as if even considering following your orders will get her executed for treason. 

“Are you sure?” she asks. “It isn’t what the Firelady would typically do…” 

“And I’m not a typical Firelady,” you reply, your tone bright and straightforward. “I’ve been asked to do what will create compromise, and this is the best compromise I can think of; I’m simply doing what I’m meant to.” 

The seamstress agrees, but only after you give her your vow that she won’t take any of the blame should the idea backfire (you're in charge, after all, so what can anyone do? She’s just following orders.)

In white fabric, she makes a set of robes for Zuko and a dress for you, each including elements crafted in Fire Nation and Water Tribe tradition. She then takes each set to its own vat of hot water, adding blue dye to one and red dye to the other - she places the pieces in, looking nervously up at you as you approach the twin cauldrons.

“I just want to make one last adjustment,” you tell her. 

Before she can respond, you take a bucket of blue dye and a bucket of red and tip each one into the opposite vat. The garments swirl as if caught in the midst of a tempestuous storm, the dye bleeding into the pristine fabric until it stains a shade of vivid, furious purple. 

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[blarrghe]

ooo could you do “Can we make cake? I like cake.”

@midnightprelude also sent me this prompt, approximately a year ago now lol, and I've been dwelling on it for sooo long. Anyway I just woke up and decided to fill this very cute prompt with some Lavellan Fam and I think there’s a sequel brewing. ft. @serphena ‘s Theo and Kiara! -- Taren used to be good with kids. He used to spend his weekend mornings teaching the children of the clan traditional dances, he used to light up holiday nights with bursts of magic whisps that made them ooh and ahh, he used to tell the littlest ones, the scared ones whose parents were away, or just gone, the same old stories that had been told to him, when he'd needed them. In his heart of hearts, he always wanted kids. A family. A home. He never really talked about that. He still never really talks about that.

There are five kids at Skyhold. Five is nothing compared to the number of scampering, laughing, rambunctious children he used to sometimes be put in charge of supervising as a First, back when Keeper Deshanna thought he’d needed practice at responsible. He isn’t in charge of supervising any of the children in the fortress. He’s had more than enough practice at responsible. But they’re well taken care of, the children of this strange new clan. The baker’s daughter has her mother still, the merchant’s three children come and go, and Kiara... Kiara is just like her father, independent. And when she isn’t being independent, she’s stuck to the legs of Theo, and when Theo is away, Cassandra. He tries not to be offended by the fact that his brother’s daughter doesn’t seem to like him very much. If he were her, he wouldn’t either.

It’s a good thing, really, that there are other people to supervise the children. The Inquisitor has enough on his plate without having to worry about things like mediating fights over building blocks or soothing nightmares, and in this chaotic world with it’s green, gaping sky filled with literal demons, there have been a lot of nightmares. Now, he is the story parents tell their children when the bad dreams come at night: the Inquisitor will fix it. He has a magic hand and he’ll heal the whole sky, patch it right up.

He tries not to hear the stories, but his brother’s daughter looks at him like he’s one part mythic hero, one part imminent threat to everything she has ever loved.

She’s no stranger to danger, even though she’s barely five. Theo told him about how they used to live, running from place to place, threat to threat. Even with the gaping green hole in the sky, this is better. Skyhold feels safe. Sometimes, Skyhold feels like the only safe place in the world.

Which is why she doesn’t like Taren very much. Because every so often, when the gaping green hole is being particularly nasty, spitting out its demons and smaller tears of awful and green into the world, Taren sends her papa away. Really, Theo volunteers to go. Taren never asked for his help, he just showed up and offered it. He’s always been the kind of person who could never just stand by, they have that in common. And by the looks of things so will Kiara, one day, but right now she just misses her papa, and worries about the demons she knows are out there, and looks at Taren like he’s responsible.

And he can’t blame her. He is.

Which makes being put in charge of supervising her while both Cassandra and Theo are away exceedingly difficult. He volunteered to do it, of course. Promised Theo it would be fine, fun, even. Reminded him of how good he has always been with kids, told him he’d be grateful for the opportunity to get to know his little niece. And now she’s huffing at his every suggestion, and running away from him when he offers her dinner at the end of the long days, and hiding in her room with a doll Krem made her while refusing bedtime stories at night. Krem, who is a great, scary mercenary from a band of great, scary mercenaries, who lives in the tavern making lewd jokes and telling gory stories with Bull, is better loved by Skyhold’s children, by his own brother’s child, than he is.

Of course, he understands it. If he was a child, he’d like Krem better too. Krem makes little nug dolls with wings on them, and it’s hard to compete with that.

Still, it’s not just a jealousy thing. It’s not just a want of family or a desire to see enthusiastic appreciation for his skills at story-telling and whisp-making again. It’s not even just that he’s missed so much of his brother’s life, that he found out about Kiara when she was already four years old, and that Theo’s story about that life they had on the run sank into his heart cold. Those are all good reasons to feel a sense of determination about this, to want to prove that he is a fun, funny, warm and welcoming uncle. To want to be there for her even when her papa can’t be. To want to be considered as family. But it’s more than just love, he’ll love his brother’s child even if she does nothing but throw tantrums and slam doors the entire time Theo is away. What he really wants, selfishly, is a break.

He still knows how to make colourful whisps, but it’s been years since anyone’s needed his magic to do anything other than hurt. He still knows all the old stories, but it’s been years since anyone wanted to talk about Elvhenan as anything other than a puzzle to solve. He still knows the traditional dances, but the only dancing he’s done in years took him in stiff steps over marble floors, analyzing the threats hidden behind glittering masks, until finally, at the end of the night, someone tried to kill him. He’s just tired. He just wants to have some fun. 

So he decides, after four days of enduring a five-year-old’s brooding, that today they will have fun, whether Kiara wants to or not. They clearly both need it.

“Hey Kiara Kiddo,” he calls out to her where she’s picking dandelions from the courtyard green. She looks up at him with a sour expression, but she doesn’t get up or abandon the chain of flowers she’s connecting, which is a promising start. He sits next to her on the grass.

“Why do you always call me Kiara Kiddo?” she asks, stubborn, huffy, eyes narrowing to a squint. She doesn’t have Theo’s distinctive eye colours -- one blue, one green -- hers come from someone neither of them have ever met, and they’re deep and endlessly brown, but they squint just like her father’s. Taren leans back in the grass, and squints back at her.

“Because you’re a kiddo,” he says, “and it starts with the same letter.”

“I’m not a kiddo!” she huffs, “I’m a knight! Like Cassandra!”

Taren stifles a chuckle. Yesterday, she proved her skill with a practice sword by hitting him with it when he tried to tell her it was bedtime, which wasn’t very knightly, but her sword skills are rather good for a five year old, and now he has a bruise on his knee.

“Ok,” he says, “I’m sorry, Knight Kiara. That starts with the same letter too.”

Kiara considers this for a moment. “No it doesn’t.” she determines, “Knight starts with ‘nnnn’.”

“There’s a ‘K’ there first, you just don’t say it aloud.” Taren explains, “do you want help with your crown, Knight Kiara?”

“No.” she says, as she returns her attention to the linkage of yellow flowers, “why are there so many letters you don’t say?”

“What do you mean?”

“Laugh has a ‘guh’ at the end you don’t say, and know has a ‘K’ before the ‘nnn’ too.” she says, squinting down at her chain, “and Uncle Dori says that lots of big words sound smaller once you learn them.” Dorian is teaching Kiara to read. Dorian, who is probably the last person anyone would ever expect to even go near a child, never mind being the one to tell one stories, has earned himself a nickname and several flower crowns. Taren is head-over-heels in love with Dorian, though neither of them has said as much, and seeing him with a flower crown on his head about stopped his heart, the first time. But that doesn’t keep the jealousy from rising in his throat right now, when Dorian gets to be “Uncle” and he’s still spending his days feeling like he’s more title than person. More title than person to everyone, not just to Kiara, but not getting to be anyone’s uncle, that’s where it stings the most.

But if Kiara wants to be a knight, then he can be the all-important Inquisitor.

“He’s right about that,” Taren agrees, “do you want to go find a story about knights? I can help you read it.”

“No.” says Kiara.

“Or you could teach me sword fighting,” he suggests. Kiara simply shakes her head.

Taren is determined. He has an arsenal of kid-friendly activities at the ready to suggest. Colouring and stories and games and imaginative adventures they could go on around Skyhold, since he holds all the keys. She could sit up in his throne or they could visit Leliana’s birds, they could steal Cullen’s chess board or borrow Solas’ paints. He suggests a few of these things, and Kiara continues to say no, and squint at the grass.

Taren sighs. “Well I don’t know, Knight Kiara, what should we do?”

“Nothing.” she says.

Taren frowns. “That doesn’t sound like much fun,” he picks a few dandelions of his own, and fiddles with their stems, “I told your papa that me and you would have lots of fun while he’s gone,” he tries, “what are we going to tell him when he comes back?”

Kiara looks at him, fire in her warm brown eyes. “I don’t want to play with you until papa comes back. I just want papa to come back.”

“I know, kiddo.”

Her frown deepens, her eyes blaze.

“Sorry, knight,” Taren sighs again, “he’ll come back soon.” he promises.

“Why did you make him go?”

“I --” Taren pauses. His defence is not what Kiara wants to hear, not what she needs to hear. She’s already asked that question of him a hundred times, and she knows what his answer is. She asked Theo the same question a hundred times before he left, too, and Theo’s answer was the same. “I miss him too.” he says instead, “I’m worried about him too.”

“Then why don’t you make him come back.” it doesn’t sound anything like a question.

“I can’t,” he says, and it’s an honest answer, then he smiles, “no one can ever make your papa do anything, and no one will be able to stop him coming back to you.” that’s true too, mostly. Kiara is silent, she picks at the petals of one of her flowers.

“Do you want to see where he went?” Taren offers. She’s seen the maps before, Theo outlined the whole route and showed her the maps he’d be taking with him, and she’s gone over all the place names so many times that now she can recite them from memory, but sometimes it helps. “We can go look at the big map in the war room,” Taren offers, knowing she’s always been curious about what goes on in there, “or we can climb to the tallest tower of the castle and look out, if we face the right way and look really hard, we might see their fires.” That’s less true. Some scout fires can be seen from Skyhold’s peaks at night, but none of those are where Theo is. 

Kiara considers, then she shakes her head.

“We could write him a letter,” Taren offers next, “and take it to Leliana’s birds.” That helps too. He knew it would, so he suggested it to Dorian, and now they do that almost every day. Kiara gives him a startled look, like she’s surprised that he knows about the power of writing an absent parent letters, but then she shakes her head again.

The stem of one of Kiara’s flowers snaps when she tries to tie it, and she drops the whole thing with a disappointed groan. Taren picks it up. “Here,” he says, delicately taking the thing from the ground and waving a hand over its broken end until the stem grows out. He magics them together, pulls on the fade until it the stem is long and sturdy and then gives it reinforcing vines of magically grown plant matter to bind it, tying the whole thing together, “all better, see?” It’s an easy thing to do, sprouting a bit of green. Easier than calling on the spirits of the dead to fight after they fall, or summoning a rift he still doesn’t really understand to isolate his enemies, much easier than flinging bolts of electricity or even putting up a barrier. Kiara’s eyes go wide while she watches him.

“Do you have green magic because of your green hand?” she asks, for the moment more curious than she is upset with him, which is something.

“No,” he answers, “well I do, but not that kind of green magic. That’s a trick our Keeper taught me, when me and your papa were both young.”

“Papa can’t do magic.” Kiara frowns, “you have two kinds but all papa has is a bow.”

“Your papa doesn’t need magic,” Taren says, but Kiara looks unconvinced, “we learned together, you know, your papa with his bow while I was learning magic, and every time we fought he’d win.”

“Why did you fight?”

“Just for fun, just for practice. Like you and Cass.” he says, “we used to have fun together all the time, me and your papa.”

Kiara looks at him, her big brown eyes taking in his face, on which he’s projected an honest, if somewhat sad, smile. Then her eyes travel down to the flower chain, to the hand he waved over it and then to the hand he didn’t, that glows green.

“Papa won?“

“Always.” Taren says, “I don’t think even The Iron Bull could beat him.”

Kiara nods seriously.

“Did your papa ever tell you about when he was little?”

Kiara shrugs, “papa didn’t have a mama either, and he didn’t even have a papa, but you took care of him. That’s why I have to listen to you while he’s gone.” she recites, not like she knows it, but like she’s been told. Taren frowns.

“We had each other,” he says, “we had the whole clan, like a big, big family, but...” he pauses. He doesn’t want to make her sadder than she already is, “I didn’t have a mama or a papa either, so we took care of each other.”

“Were you sad?” her eyes travel back down to the ground, and she picks up the crown again, admiring the mended flower stem; it’s seamless. 

“Sometimes,” Taren shrugs, “we both were, sometimes.”

“Did you help papa when he was sad?”

“Of course.”

“How?”

Taren thinks. Stories, games, helping to get them into mischief some days and to keep Theo out of trouble on others.

“Once, we got some cake from a merchant, and ate so much we got sick.” he suggests, “and I did this, and told him stories,” Taren waves his hand, the ordinary one, up into the air, and colourful whisps begin to dance about. Kiara watches a blue one flit around her flower crown, and a corner of her lip almost makes it up to a smile.

“Can we make cake?” she asks, “I like cake.”

“Good idea, Knight Kiara,” Taren smiles, “but I bet to make a cake we’ll need supplies. Are you ready for your first quest?”

Kiara smiles a little more, and nods. “Here,” she says, offering the flower crown she’s just finished out to him, “if I am the knight then you have to be the princess.”

“Got it,” Taren agrees, and places the crown on his head.

[ryttu3k]

Hello naughty children it's Gehenna time.

...which means I'm going to read the book properly this time and write notes on each scenario, partially for my own reference, partially in answer to an ask from @rayshell22livejournalcom​ from about a zillion years ago. Sorry about that!

Mood soundtrack: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F# A# ∞; Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven; Yanqui U.X.O.

Prelude: Netchurch is an interesting character. Very skeptical, despite, well, the entire setting, although that's definitely, uh, broken by the end. Feel very sad for Afifa, who was a pawn in all this. Creepy babies galore!

Introduction: "While Vampire favors that futile, tragic, and - we'll say it - angst-heavy conclusion" - lmao you don't say. Although I do like how they have the consistent golden rule that if you don't like it, just ditch it! (Of course, the Gehenna scenarios as a whole have been completely retconned anyway by v20 and v5, so this entire book is a good example of taking what you want from it and ignoring the rest.)

"Some people are on opposite sides of this thing. They're elders who don't want to knuckle under to the Antediluvians (most elders will accept their proper place in the heirarchy again with the rising of their progenitors) and poor, misled souls who bought into the lie and are pissed about it (paging Mr. Pieterzoon). Bottom line: the Camarilla collapses like Enron/WorldCom as the worthlessness of its foundation becomes public knowledge. Chaos ensues among the vampire community, princes find themselves besieged by their own locals, and it's all a big clusterfuck."

Have I ever mentioned I love how VtM phrases stuff? Also F to Jan.

I like how they have a masterlist of what's actually going on with the Antediluvians. Spoilers ;D "For example, note that [Tzimisce] is simply referred to as [Tzimisce]. Even here at the game studio, our limited mortal minds weren't able to comphrenend the creature's real name." Lovecraft only WISHES he had eldritch abominations this spooky! Ennoia is 'Active and scary' and apparently spooks the devs just thinking about it. Makes sense. "Giovanni (Augustus Giovanni): Augustus is a pig, and he should probably die as one of the early events of Gehenna. He's the youngest of the Antediluvians and probably possessed the greatest ego (in mortal terms), so it'll be cosmic justice when he eats it." I love how no one likes Giovanni, even his creators. Malkav may or may not BE the Madness Network, in which case they cease to be an Antediluvian and just become... a part of the Malkavians, I guess? Absimiliard may or may not be chilling at the bottom of the ocean, because mood. Tremere / Saulot is definitely a fun one to play with, yeah. Although, oof, if Saulot ever gets control of their shared body, he's going to be fucked up if [Tzimisce] activates, so. Probably better to create a nice fresh body, like what BJD suggests with the child Saulot.

Chapter 1 - the lead-up: Basically a rundown of the signs and how they're interpreted. "An angel dies: How does an angel die? Who has the gall to rise up and slay one of God's firstborn? Or perhaps this is another metaphor. An angel could be a pure and gentle creature, or then again, it need not be one of God's angels (not that God's angels are necessarily pure and gentle). A feared and particularly vicious Necronomist Tzimisce, Sascha Vykos is sometimes referred to as the Angel of Caine. Many would rejoice the night that Vykos died." Hey rude :( I vote they kill Michael instead. He wants to be an Archangel? Fine, he can fulfill a prophesy XD

Honestly I really do dig that Ennoia Earthmelded with the entire planet. You can go so many directions with that, good or bad! Ennoia as The Beast Below, or Ennoia as Gaia? (Wow, that'd really fuck with the Garou XD) I love how the general consensus on Haqim is like, no one knows if he exists or not but lbr Ur-Shulgi is bad enough. Kinda dig the idea of the Toreador ante, Ishtar/Arikel, being genderfluid? I mean yeah essentially demigods have no need for gender anyway, but the constant debates over whether the Toreador ante is the female Ishtar or the male Arikel (or, uh, was it vice versa?) does lead to some interesting concepts. Ooh, similar to [Tzimisce] being linked to its entire clan (and the Tremere, anyone who's ever taken part in the Vaulderie, and anyone who knows Vicissitude), [Lasombra] may be connected to anyone who knows Obtenebration? [Ravnos]... yeah, probably dead. F to the clan. And yeah I think [Tzimisce] is flat-out the scariest one of all, and probably the one most likely to actually start the apocalypse, lbr.

Ugh this is one of the books that calls Sascha 'it' :-\ Do not like. ...Also do not like the suggestion that they're an unknowing agent of the Eldest, given, uh, the last chapter of the DA Tzimisce novel. Shoo! Shoo! You've ruined their unlife enough as it is!

Epistolary material! I do dig those. Most interesting: a letter to Sascha mentioning apocalyptic visions of New York but with the Carpathians in the background, and an anonymous letter to Hardestadt warning him of one of his line tearing down a castle that the writer feels believes the Camarilla. GO JAN FUCK IT UP.

And on to the scenarios themselves!

Chapter 2 - Wormwood: This is an interesting one. Literally a Biblical vengeance - God takes a good look at the Children of Caine and goes, "Well, this is fucked up", acknowledges that Caine never really sought true forgiveness and repentance, and sets forth Wormwood, the Red Star. The truly repentant are saved, the rest just. Die.

Herald here is a dhampir girl named Alia - thinblood father, human mother. When she's twelve, she becomes God's chosen, basically. Traveling with three thinblood guardians, one night, she's approached a Gargoyle named Ferox with True Faith, who sees himself as a fallen angel. And Alia offers him a way of redemption - find the chosen true believers, wait out Wormwood, receive judgement. Anyone can seek sanctuary, only the true believers and the ones genuinely willing to repent will survive the judgement itself. Alia and Ferox set out to find the other chosen ones.

Whew. Very full-on - the players remain in one place with a whole bunch of other vampires for forty nights. I mean, that's a test in and of itself XD All welcome! (Except infernalists and the antediluvians and Caine himself. They're fucked no matter what.)

Like. All welcome XD "Some Storytellers might feel that this character roundup could get too silly, suddenly having all these celebrity Kindred get together for a big slumber party, and they would be correct." Fuck that give me a slumber party AU XD

Am very glad about the note that the vampires inside only lose one blood point per 10 days, rather than every day. Otherwise, uh, it'd get gory.

Yeah, this is a really interesting scenario. Very character-focused, very introspective. All about the characters trying to work out what it means to be good people - not the strongest vampires, not the most powerful, but good people. Are they worthy of salvation? That's the crux of the story. Of course, it's very, uh, Biblical, heh, but it's first and foremost about morality and redemption. I dig it.

Also, giant vampire slumber party.

Chapter 3 - Fair is Foul: Ooh, this is a Lilith vs Caine scenario.

This one has the Withering hit in weird ways, including clan-specific ones - like the Banu Haqim only able to feed on vitae, then only able to gain sustenance from diablerie. Gangrel turn even more animalistic. Lasombra take to the seas, Obtenebration ripping holes straight to the Abyss. Malks, uh, leak madness. Nosferatu get even uglier, Toreador devolve into debauchery. Tremere develop third eyes, and yes, I did laugh out loud when I read that. Tzimisce... hmm... get a bit, uh, uncontrolled. And Ventrue find they can now only feed on... other Ventrue. Fun times!

"At your discretion, Lilith might be particularly vulnerable to Jewish True Faith, as the Jewish tales about her are the source of nearly every negative sentiment ever directed against her in writing. As a result, most orthodox Jews bear Lilith great contempt for defying her husband and her God." Yeah ngl I think she's pretty dang cool and I can just see, like, most of my ancestors facepalming at the idea XD;; Fuck obediance you do your own thing.

"Trying to work out traits for Lilith, Lucifer, Caine, or any of the Antediluvians would just be a waste of our word count and your time." I like the time they published a guide for fighting Caine. It was two words. "You lose."

Ah. Okay, Saulot in Tremere's body being taken over by the Eldest = scary, because have you ever been attacked by an Antediluvian wielding Thaumaturgy, Valeran, and Vicissitude at the SAME :) TIME? :) Yeah :)

Really dig the idea of Abel showing up as the first Wraith. The forgiveness element.

Overall, this isn't my favourite scenario, I think? It feels very chaotic, and while it's probably the most traditional to play, I'm not sure how much it literally challenges the characters, unlike the sheer soul-searching...ness of Wormwood?

Chapter 4 - Nightshade: Chapter starts with, "We all wear masks" and my first thought was "boy you have no idea" XD

Awww yes this is the masquerade break scenario! See here for my thoughts on that and how the Nephtali could be adapted to v5, heh.

Yeah okay earthquakes, volcanoes, and riots are normal enough. A horrible blood virus where it appears some flesh-like thing is living in people's veins and feeding off their blood sounds like something that starts with T and rhymes with Shzimitze. ...Probably. No one knows how the fuck it's pronounced anyway. Oops, those riots are apparently over the existence of vampires. Yeah that'd be... unfortunate. And more earthquakes, this time due to Kupala vs the Eldest. Whew. Red star, yep, standard. MORE earthquakes, this time due to the Second City rising. Sounds legit. Bad times all around!

The details on breaking the Masquerade are interesting. Basic emotions: denial, rationalisation, fear, anger, acceptance. The acceptance one is interesting, because I can definitely see some jumping to it straight away.

So, on to the scenario itself! Jan recruits the players to fight the... uh, mass under NYC. This is the corpse of the Eldest, which is more or less a giant fungal infection held together with Vicissitude, which frankly is just icky. This actually is  canon-compliant with BJD, since it apparently has only just... dissipated? or whatever there, or if it still remains, it's no longer conscious. In this one, its soul flicks back to Tremere's/Saulot's body and wakes up, and basically every Tzimisce, Tremere, and anyone who has ever drank Tzimisce blood (which would be the entire Sabbat via Vaulderie) spontaneously frenzies. Godspeed. Cyscek, a Tzimisce methuselah, helps defeat the, uh, blob at the expense of his life, and warns with his last words, "The Dragon rises. You must stop it. Find Vykos. [They] know." (Okay yeah the text says 'it knows' but also fuck that.) Ooh, plot point!

Aaaand then they retreat from the battle, exhausted, only to find the whole damn thing broadcast on every TV screen, vampiric Disciplines and Cyscek dusting and all. W h o o p s.

Lots and lots of details of a major masquerade breach here. Hardestadt shows up and tells Jan he's proooobably gonna get Final Death for, you know, trying to save the world. Gonna share this bit because it's Very Satisfying.

Please refer to my tag #hardestadt has no rights ;D

Anyway! The characters now recruited, Jan leads them back to London for the Convention of Fire. He's working with Calebros and... like a bunch of others, probably anyone can end up here, so long as they want to actually help and not just fall apart like the remnants of the Camarilla (trying to diablerise their way into keeping power) and the Sabbat (...ditto tbh). Those definitely in attendance are Ambrogino Giovanni, Hesha Ruhadze, and Fatima! And lbr the Nod Squad are probably there too. As if Beckett would pass up the chance to NOT witness what's happening with Gehenna. And Anatole is literally a prophet of Gehenna! They found the Nephtali, led by a council of twelve, with Jan at the head. Name means 'the highest point' or 'no further' - as in, Gehenna goes no further than this.

Oh lmao here we go, the scene I mentioned earlier - Jan vs talk shows.

F to Jan.

Tremere's body (inhabited by Saulot) disappears from beneath the Vienna chantry. Tremere's body, with [Tzimisce] now well in control (having overtaken Saulot; Tremere, meanwhile, has taken over Goratrix's body, with Goratrix's mind stuck in a mirror... it's complicated), wipes out the Vienna chantry. RIP to the Vienna chantry, which doesn't survive in either timeline tbh. Hey, I wonder if that means that Saulot (in Tremere's body) is dead in v5? Etrius manages to escape and reports that the Eldest is now on the way to Ceoris, where it'll call all the remaining Tzimisce to it to become, uh, a part. Pleasant.

Everything between Krakow and Bucharest is straight fukk’d. Ceoris is the centre of all this - IIRC it's somewhere in the southern Carpathians, nearish Brasov. Either way, hell of a fight results with what can only be described as an eldritch abomination, finally both managing to destroy Kupala (the Eldest's goal) and reducing The Thing down to a human-looking body. This bit is interesting! Tremere (in Goratrix' body) and Etrius take one look at each other. "Master..." "I... I know. But where the hell is Saulot?!" Good question, because he sure ain't in Tremere's, uh, former body any more, which was in fact what was fighting them the whole time. Either way, Tremere-in-Goratrix'-body leaps at [Tzimisce]-in-Tremere's-body and diablerises his, um, former body, which must be weird as hell, then tries to turn on the characters and his powers fuckiNG FAIL. EAT SHIT TREMERE. And then the players kill him too and realise that over the course of one night they've destroyed the demon Kupala and two Antediluvians, Tremere and the Eldest. Not bad. This is the battle that causes that second lot of earthquakes I mentioned earlier.

Back to London! They find the mirror containing Goratrix amongst Tremere's belongings. Poor fucker sorry not sorry.

And now the players receive a summons to escort someone from Montreal to the Nephtali headquarters in London! Namely, a Tzimisce named Myca Vykos~ They've recently defected from the Sabbat and want to help take the Antediluvians tf down. (Note: the book here has reverted to using he/him pronouns since they're back in their original form, I'm going to keep using they/them because biological sex does not determine gender identity or pronouns goddammit. ...Anyway. I AM going to use the name Myca since that's the name they're using themself, mostly because, uh, 'Myca' is a bit less noticeable than 'Sascha Vykos', haha.)

So Gehenna has started. Myca's woken up in their original form and being like, "Hey you know what I am preTTY SURE I don't want to serve the Eldest" and promptly joins the Nephtali.

From New York to London to Romania to London to Montreal to London (...London is a hub world apparently), now off to Turkey, to Kaymakli! Which is actually a real place, my brother's been on a tour there. Anyway, this is the part of Kaymakli that they don't show the tourist and that's been sealed shut with lots of angry Cappadocians instead, so that was fun. Presumably Kapaneus hasn't been chilling out there in this one.

Also Colombia has completely been overtaken by the Sabbat so that sucks.

Into Kaymakli! Which usually doesn't let Cainites back out so it may be one-way. Don't worry, there's a ritual for that. At the bottom, they find Augustus Giovanni! Who is pissed off he never actually got to eat Cappadocius' soul and so wants to eat God instead.

As you do.

The book very strongly encourages the players to kill him. Just 'cause. Which is a mood, tbh. Killing him also reveals a beaten, bound Nosferatu, having been Giovanni's most recent food source. An F for Okulos. He's been there for four years, having managed to get a lost fragment of the Book of Nod for Beckett, who promised to come back for him and. Didn't. Which is just rude tbh and I can kind of understand why Okulos ends up betraying Beckett in the Gehenna novel but anyway. (Not canon as of v20, he's perfectly present and chill in BJD.)

End results - the fragment that Okulos went to retrieve shows how to restore the Second City, which holds a complete Book of Nod and may hold the key to stopping Gehenna. It's in Enochian so your player characters probably won't be able to read it (book suggests asking Sascha or Ambrogino). Next stop, Egypt, and a meeting with Hesha Ruhadze! Man this scenario has a lot of signature characters. It also suggests getting third parties in here too, so Beckett would actually be a really good choice. Either way, they find the probable site, and suddenly, a Second City.

Archeologists make grabby hands. Beckett, somewhere, is probably crying in joy. They find a vial with some very old blood in it that they definitely shouldn't drink because otherwise they'll explode (the book uses Sascha as the example here XD;; ). Along with some mystical enscriptions, they return to London and get to work on the prophecy - namely, it suggests that 'the gentle one' (likely Saulot) will die at the hands of another, but arise in a new form, and will stop Gehenna that way. Etrius, one of the only Tremere left and having joined the Nephtali, goes 'fuck it what do I have to lose?' and goes to find whatever new form Saulot is in (potentially can also involve Goratrix here).

Hm. Well. Saulot is apparently in a research centre outside Sydney. Apparently we're mostly chill with vampires, aside from Christians XD Go figure!

Apparently it's a cloning facility. One of the rooms had, past tense, a child, successfully cloned six-year-old, who was in perfect physical form but vegetative from birth. Religious characters will pick up that it's because the kid's body didn't have a soul. Now, it does - Saulot's. Having been thrown out of Tremere's body when the Eldest took over, his soul fled until it could find the most suitable vessel - a soulless cloned body. No actual soul to have to subdue. Saulot ends up reborn, albeit in the form of a six-year-old and without any memories. Turns out, the child was taken by a cult of Thinbloods, believing him to be the messiah.

Sydney's messy situation gets described here! Short version, Sydney's Prince is/was Sarrasine, who was a Toreador. Except he wasn't a Toreador, it was a fairly open secret he was only POSING as a Toreador - he was actually a Caitiff. (Except he's not actually a Caitiff. He's a sixth-gen Setite. Sydney is Like That, yes.) Given Sydney's independence from the sects and its apparent Caitiff Prince, it's become a major site of Caitiff and Thinbloods, which Sarrasine is just thrilled about but can't do anything about because he doesn't want to actually go 'lol I'm a Setite'. Anyway, either way, everyone is unaware of Saulot's return, so the players seek out the little boy, who's pretty spooked and confused. Asks the characters, "Who are you? What is this place? What do all these people want?" and his third eye opens. Tada! Salubri Antediluvian, and like the prophecy mentioned, he's 'unholy' and 'a mockery in the face of God' - a clone.

Back to London with kid!Saulot. The Nephtali have been trying to work out what tf is going on. A researcher tried drinking from the vial. It was messy. The characters might get some downtime. Sarrasine's followers may attack to try and get the kiddo back. Either way, everyone goes to bed, and wakes up to find a Darkness having overtaken the sun, which is generally not good for anyone, and Lasombra characters are just, feels bad man. The Veil of Darkness means vampires can be up 24/7, along with other things that don't like sunlight, and I imagine things like... plants not being thrilled. Also probably very confused animals. I'm not sure if it's like a dark atmosphere, or a physical body between the sun and Earth that just eclipses it whatever vantage point you look from, or what? Disciplines like Auspex, Obfuscate, and Obtenebration go a bit fucky. Then, a few days later, everyone feels a... Summons. For low-generation vampires with still-living Antediluvians, it's strongest. Higher gens with destroyed Antes, not so bad. So I'm sure you can guess what's summoning them.

Yep. Antediluvians. Banu Haqim are getting summoned to Alamut instead so Ur-Shulgi can turn them into an army against the Antediluvians, so godspeed resisting that, Elijah.

Off to the city of Gehenna (it's nearish Jerusalem). Elders of all stripes have been heading there to kill their childer in hope of being rewarded by their Antediluvians to get their powers restored, which is terribly rude. Indeed, the Antediluvians basically go, hey, can you not, and also can you start Embracing more childer for our armies, because they're not very nice either. Pretty much all the characters have been summoned for their crimes against the Antediluvians, and now they're gathered before them - Set, [Lasombra], Ennoia, Absimiliard, Malkav (as like... a cluster of identical little girls with glowing eyes because of course Malkav would use the Creepy Child trope), and [Toreador], who's so beautiful no one can tell if they're male or female. When the players and child!Saulot get there, they question him, but he's literally a six-year-old boy and is spooked. He also has the vial, somehow. Set takes it, and Kiddo says, "Don't drink it. You'll burn up." So Set makes Kiddo drink it instead, because he's a nice guy like that.

Kiddo's third eye opens. A giant black throne appears. The dozen small girls that are Malkav say, "Father's home." Kiddo!Saulot says, "No, Father's dead." Girls start screaming so loud people start bleeding thick black blood from their ears and doesn't stop until Set kills all twelve. A random stranger, now with their glowing eyes, steps forward and basically goes 'wow rude'.

Powerful beam of light appears. The Antes (aside from Kiddo!Saulot) writhe in pain. Angel appears, asks Saulot if he's willing to atone for all vampires. He agrees. Throne explodes, Antes fuckin' die, and everyone promptly frenzies and tries to eat each other, because vampires. In the aftermath of that, vampirism basically... ends. The player characters may be rewarded by becoming human again, as do a lot of Thinbloods, but most everyone older just, uh, dies. Vampirism ends, but the Earth has been saved.

That is... hmm, bittersweet, I think. It's a pretty compelling chronicle, very dramatic, but it's much less character-based and is more, 'the characters get dragged along to Do Shit'. I kind of like the idea of it being a story involving the characters we know, but for original characters, I think Wormwood is a much more compelling scenario so far.

Chapter 5 - The Crucible of God: Okay I'm tired now and this is the 'rocks fall everyone dies' scenario so gonna skim-read this one.

This is the chapter that introduces the level 10 power for all disciplines - Plot Device. The Antediluvians can do shit because they feel like it. Whew. Also, if an Ante spots anyone of their blood line, they can just make them... explode and their blood gushes into their mouth. Monch monch. Spot another clan mate? Roll to avoid frenzy. Just woke up? Roll to avoid frenzy. Good times!

And then the Tzimisce Antediluvian awoke as a mass of Vicissitude flesh fungal infestation with tentacles and lampray mouths and stuff and ate anything in reach until it ate, uh, every living thing in Manhattan. In one night. Bad day tbh. Eventually it burns when the sun rises, but what's left underground is still there and shit's still messed up. Like picking a leaf off a dandelion and it starts bleeding. Trees with faces, swarms of insects forming into eyes and watching. Nice and creepy. In the aftermath, it's basically infecting every life form on Earth with Vicissitude, which is distinctly uncool.

Absimliard has an animal army and currently looks like a giant humanoid jellyfish.

Oh boy here's the Banu Haqim part XD;; Interestingly, it's a lot better for them! Haqim doesn't eat his childer, they feel themselves strongly bonded to him but still maintain their own minds and wills. Downside, anyone who doesn't follow Haqim alone gets hunted down so he can eat them, so Ur-Shulgi's probably having a field day at being vindicated and poor Pyre/Elijah is hiding tf under the bed. Plus side, it only lasts a few months before something kills Haqim, so hey! And there's genuinely a way to become human again, especially for high-humanity, high-gen vampires, so that actually would be a genuinely good outcome for Pyre/Elijah.

Malkavians end up as a giant hive mind. Like, more than usual. [Lasombra] covers the world in darkness, then it stops. Ennoia merges with the entire planet and starts eating people. And vampires. And Methuselah. And other Antediluvians. She's kinda hangry at this point.

Tremere attempts to rule the entire world using the Human Genome Project as the true name of the entirety of humanity. It lasts about two minutes before [Tzimisce] turns him into a meat crime, along with, uh, the entire rest of the world, aside from the players, who were part of Tremere's ritual and thus immune from it.

Also Saulot, who they just met in the form of a little old man.

Turns out, he planned it all along. Lured Tremere to him, knowing that his body was tainted by using Tzimisce blood to become a vampire. Knew that when the Eldest returned, he'd be succeptable, and Saulot would be able to bounce out when the Eldest took over. Now, he can lead the characters in the only way to stop Planet Tzimisce, which is, uh, prayer and letting themselves get eaten. Could actually work! And you end up human again in the bargain!

End result - all vampires gone. Some of the more human ones do end up human again. Either way, world's still fucked. Open Antediluvian rule for several months has destroyed most of humanity. There are still remnants - former Malkavians who are still a bit weird, former Tzimisce who are a bit... Vicissitudey. Ennoia's still around! She's mostly chill except when she occasionally feels like rearranging landscapes. Otherwise, it's time to recover.

Alternate endings - that last one wasn't depressing enough, so here's a scenario where All Is Tzimisce, here's one where there's global extinction of literally everything except the player characters who gradually drop into torpor and never recover (or just flat out burn if they're outside), or there's one where the players are the only vampires left and start a new cycle with them as the new Antediluvians or something, oh and Caine's still kicking and is Very Displeased that God won't let him die already. Gooood times!

Rest is how to basically play it, and character sheets. Which go back to calling Sascha ‘it’ again *sigh* (And using the whole alien look despite explicitly mentioning that they look human again. Of course.)

So, final thoughts! Gehenna is... an interesting scenario. Lots of possibility for introspection. It’s very... apocalyptic, and that may bother a lot of people, since, well, for the most part, it’s going to be the end of playing your character as a vampire. Which I figure most people are playing Vampire the Masquerade for. So it’s basically either a hell of a finale, or you just don’t make use of it.

Favourite scenario did end up being Wormwood. I just really like the introspection and opportunity for hope. Did also enjoy Nightshade, but in a different way, I think? Like for Nightshade, I’d rather read it as existing characters working together, maybe as a novel, whereas for Wormwood I’d want to play it since it’s such an intensely personal kind of thing.

(I also still want a slumber party AU ngl.)

[excitedlysuffering]

Can you do that headcanon collection thing for Kiba please? Thank you very much

I’m so sorry for the wait I’m really struggling with inspiration rn like I have all the words but I just can’t write?? Anyways I hope you like nonnie❤️✨

Kiba Headcanons Collection

What He Looks For In An S/O~

Someone who appreciates animals. Of course, dogs are his favorites, but he doesn’t hate animals at all, not even cats.

Someone wild who knows how to have a good time, just like Kiba. He won’t enjoy dating a square, just being honest.

He wants a woman who’s not afraid to stand on her own two; the Inuzuka clan is primarily a matriarchy, meaning he’s used to strong-willed women.

He’s going to need an emotionally open person, he pretty much wears his heart out on his sleeve, so Kiba needs someone who can articulate their feelings.

He’s a possessive person, it’s in his nature, so a patient s/o would suit him best.

The saying ‘she’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll kick you in the face’ is literally everything he’d ever want.

I can see him with someone smaller than him just because he has a thing for size differences.

He loves confidence and would swoon if his s/o took charge sometimes, in daily life, and in the bedroom.

Kiba is big on physical affection, so someone with the same love for touch is preferable.

Kiba leaves constant hickeys and you can’t convince me otherwise, so they’d best be used to it.

Akamaru has to like you. Period.

Relationship With Kiba Stuff~

This boy loves HARD, like with his whole heart, and he’s not afraid to show it either.

He’ll love taking you out on adventurous outdoorsy dates, usually, Akamaru will come with but every once in a while it might be the two of you.

He likes games and challenges. I could definitely see him turning a treasure hunt into a date.

He actually loves going on missions with you (there’s nothing sexier than watching his girl kick ass) and will let you do your thing without unnecessary worrying.

He’s not huge on giving gifts all the time, but he does enjoy treating you to nice places and dates.

He has the nose of a dog. So he can smell your… week before you even know it’s there.

“Hey, (Y/N)... I, uh, thought you could use this!” *shoves snacks, a heating pad, ice cream, and a teddy bear in your arms*

He’s not the greatest at picking up on moods, but once he figures it out he’ll be all over it.

You’re probably good friends with Hana and Tsume, which Kiba appreciates, even though he hates sharing you.

He definitely takes you to see the dogs and the puppies, especially when one is just born.

He’s unashamedly sensitive like just love him, please.

How To Annoy/Lose Him~

First of all, if Akamaru and you don’t get along. Akamaru was there from birth so, you know, if he doesn’t like you, sorry hun.

It’s one thing to be appropriately possessive, like not letting girls walk all over you to your man, but he does have female friends and he does not want to be caged.

If you’re not family-oriented. The Inuzuka clan is very much a pack family and everyone is very close.

Don’t ignore him or neglect him, he will be hurt.

Kiba enjoys playful banter, but he also knows where the line is and he expects you to as well

Being a genuinely rude person. Okay, yes, Kiba has anger management issues, but he’s not a mean person.

Not having compassion/empathy for others. It’ll disturb him, I promise.

Arrogance and vanity. Kiba knows he’s the shit alright, but he’s not a total jerk about it, and he expects the same from you.

Soft Kiba Things~

He’s actually pretty good at remembering things like important dates (thanks to his trusty calendar) so you’ll be hard-pressed to find him forgetting things like birthdays or anniversaries.

He has a dog plush toy that he will give to you when he’s off on missions. But when you’re off on missions, he’ll use your pillow since it smells like you.

He’s a huge cuddler and the position doesn’t matter as long as he’s close to you. (makes an adorable little spoon btw)

He definitely has a secret photo album/box full of candids, drawings from Sai, and little things that reminded him of you (i.e. a pretty flower, a quote, or a trinket) but he’d rather die than let it be found, it would ruin his bad-boy persona.

I feel like Kiba would like to feed you every once in a while. Like not in a weird, fetish way (iykyk) but a romantic thing that was rare?

He would love to train with you, like wow that’s my s/o and they’re so strong?

Kiba genuinely melts inside when he sees you and Akamaru interact. Like that’s his life long companion and the love of his life being friends? Woah.

He’s touch starved but for no reason at all except for the fact that he loves physical affection so please give him all the cuddles.

Random Kiba Facts~

His love languages are physical touch/quality time.

He’s not scared of thunderstorms in a traditional way, but just like dogs, the sounds and lightning are overstimulating and he’ll usually spend it with ear canceling headphones and in the basement.

Since everyone has a unique natural smell (he really liked yours) he’ll most likely complain if you wear heavily scented perfumes/body wash.

He knows he’s not naturally responsible so he creates detailed lists and schedules for himself.

Kiba has a perfectly working bed, but he always ended up on the floor so that’s where he sleeps now.

Contrary to popular belief, he likes to go as vampires for Halloween (he says he’s a werewolf 364 days of the year let him have one day) because of his fangs and ‘drop-dead beauty’ (his words).

He radiates heat like a furnace but somehow still finds a way to be cold at night?

Kiba has a good singing voice. It’s deep and melodious and no one can tell me differently.

He’s alright at regular cooking but amazing at gathering spices because he can smell the combinations and stuff so he’ll help you season things, but that’s about it.

He’s a huge overthinker please help him

Little Things~

Favorite:

Place to kiss: The space where your neck meets your shoulder, something about it just really riles him up.

Way to hug: He loves lifting you up so your legs wrap around his waist. He loves holding you and being able to kiss your neck.

Thing to do with you: He loves hiking or going on long walks, especially at sunset or sunrise.

Cuddle position: He actually loves to lay on your chest and listen to your heartbeat with your arms wrapped around him.

Type of date: Basically anything that includes physical activity or adventure.

This or That:

More of a spring person, a lot of new puppies are born then and the weather is finally nice again.

Morning kind of guy, he loves to go go go and his activities usually require daylight.

He likes to cook, even if he’s not that good at it. He’ll enjoy helping you in the kitchen.

Rarely reads for any reason. Don’t read to him either, he’ll be super bored.

Conflict Happenings~

The two of you will probably have more stupid ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ type arguments, more than real fights tbh.

That is not to say that Kiba won’t participate in a fight. Cause he will.

The both of you are probably screaming so loudly no one knows what anyone is saying it’s just loud.

You getting mad will turn him on tbh (and vice versa too tbh)

Depending on how bad the fight is, he might just start making out with you or yell at you more for distracting him with your hotness.

You’ll be hard-pressed to make him back down during a fight if he’s truly heated, so pick your battles wisely hun.

He really can be sensitive, especially since he will value your opinion so much, so be careful with your words.

In general, he’s not really focused on hurting your feelings, more on winning the argument.

Will probably storm off for a while to calm down, but he is always back before the day is over.

The two of you are used to having fights like that, so a big cuddle session is in order when it’s all said and done.

Modern Kiba~

He’s definitely the sexy bad boy you couldn’t bring home to mother and he both owns and rocks his persona.

He secretly (not so secretly) likes dogs more than his peers, even if he is usually very social.

He’s the one who always manages to bring alcohol to the parties.

I could see him on a football or soccer team, and being really good too.

He’s charismatic, funny, good looking, street smart, and has all the It Man™ qualities and I know he’s the captain/president of some club or team.

He’s not naturally super smart but his mother ingrained good habits into him so he’s generally pretty good at studying, probably still has a tutor though.

He’s a very subtle F-boy, has a few girls he does regularly that don’t know about each other and that’s that.

He probably has a part-time job at a shelter, since he’s not big on working.

Always at parties and is always the center of attention. Everyone loves him.

The red fangs were a result of him being absolutely hammered yet everyone seemed to find them incredibly hot.

He’s a loyal friend, but he also won’t hesitate to cut you off if you wrong him (he liked his dog better anyway)

He’s so messy it’s up to his roommate to keep him in shape, and thankfully it’s Shino, who somehow manages to keep it a decently tidy living space.

Has the worst hangovers ever but still never learns??

He’s the wild friend that spices up everyone’s life and knows that you need his craziness.

Bite me, Kiba, plz

[askthemist]

Strange Local Competitions Around the Ninja World

Kirigakure: There's several noticeable competitions; Boat Camping, Walk-a-Bout, and a series of strength and endurance competitions.

-Boat Camping: A team based event where a team of 5 stay on a fishing boat and survive out in the roughest cove area in the north east coast of Kirigakure where there's a ton of waterborne dangers. The key is tolerating your teammates, it's not even surviving the competition. It lasts for 1 week, no assistance from other boats or local fisherman, the first boat to catch the UGLIEST fish of the season and keep it alive for the remainder of the competition automatically wins. There's no prize outside of eating this ugly fish. This competition exists just for spite and to bigball the other villages who come over the pond to attend this challenge. No villages outside the circle of water nation villages had won. It's either been Kirigakure, the Land of Waves and the Snow Village surprisingly enough.

-Walk-a-Bout: Like boat camping, it's a survival challenge. It takes place in the tall, plateau like mountains and live on those mountains for 2 months, cheating will result in a permanent ban from attending or competing in the challenge for life. Ironically, the only winner of this was a Stone Villager and people till this day believe he cheated somehow. So legend has it, this stone villager competed against a local hermit who had lived his entire life out in the very same mountains this competition takes place. The Stone villager still won, the hermit disappeared throughout the entire competition until last day to not remember a single thing. This day in the event's history hasn't been solved....so....the only rule is that No Stone Villagers allowed.

Stone Tossing: (similar to the highland games) The competition is completely strength-based and revolves entirely around the notion that you're able to throw large stones for long distances. Unsurprisingly Stone villagers aren't allowed in this competition either for the same exact reason as they were banned in the walk-a-bout competition. This competition however is popular with a myriad of different villages outside of Kirigakure. The winners have been ninja from Konoha, the Kumogakure and Kirigakure.

-Sword Contest: A weapons contest that incorporates ingenuity, construction of the weapon and the use of the weapon. The winners of this competition as of late has been clans mostly associated with the seven swordsmen and Zabuza. He has literally won this competition more than most for the same reason as to why a man with no kekkeigenkai would enter into such a competition itself, to prove a point. he has been disqualified several times but not for the reasons most people would assume, he got disqualified mostly for losing his temper.

Konoha:

Konoha's local competitions are mostly revolved around pageantry, cultural demonstration and local traditions. There's local cooking competitions for various dishes, there's ninjutsu demonstrations, and A whole selection of different breeding competitions ideally preformed by local farmers.

-Cooking competitions: cooking competitions in Konoha are probably the most common competitions due to a very rich culinary culture. one of the most legendary competitions is the ramen contest, The contest that is entirely focused on ramen and everything that goes along with it; presentation, preparation, taste, and also local support. The rules are relatively universal when it comes to cooking competitions making them probably the most flexible types of competitions to enter, however the ramen contest is different due to the varying types of ramen throughout the country. The national winner for the past few years until recently has been a large ramen company located several miles away from Konoha called "Hachito's Instant Ramen"... Until one very interesting ramen cook attended the ramen contest for the first time, Itchiraku. Ichiraku being only famous locally in Konoha, until after the great with Pain, The entire fire Nation started to get word that the village hero pretty much grew up on his ramen, so he was personally invited to the national ramen competition and won several times since.

-breeding and husbandry competitions: Konoha is very well known for many of its farmland, so naturally there's a huge animal husbandry community who have decided to create a series of different competitions all specific to different animals.

-Ninjutsu pageant: this is more kin to a dance competition but entirely revolved around the pageantry of ninjutsu, The more extravagant and the more elaborate the jutsu is aesthetically, the higher chances of winning. So far the most common winners of this competition are lightning villagers and Leaf villagers who specialize in different natures. The rules of the competition is that the jutsu has to be visually appealing, unique but can demonstrate practicality in battle. The one rule that no one should break in this competition is jutsu theft. If the judge is find out that your jutsu isn't actually yours and is a modified version of someone else's jutsu, then you immediately get disqualified. This competition also focuses on the constructive nature of creating a jutsu.

Kumogakure:

Kumogakure Is home to a variety of music, endurance and relay race competitions. Most of them actually excluding the use of all three shinobi aspects: genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu. The main purpose of this is to use pure human talent. Many competitors from the lightning Village have a national reputation for joining competitions in the Stone Village and the Mist Village and are considered to be perfect for team drafts for bigger Ninja competitions.

-Music competitions: music competitions are artistic in nature and require no ninja skills to use, but it's considered a very popular competition due to its flexibility in the rules. The music has to be unique, has to have a particular composition and also must have an effect on the person. If the music is supposed to be sad, then it's supposed to invoke sadness and it should be the first thought in the judges when they first hear the music, if the song physically does something you such as elevate your heart rate or makes you feel a certain emotion, then it's considered the highest points you can get in the competition. The only rules that you're not allowed to use this competition as an excuse to give physical displeasure to people. Meaning no music that can cause physical pain or physical discomfort to the extent of torture.

-Endurance competitions: similar in nature to endurance competitions in the mist Village, these strictly rely on human endurance and any use of chakra will result in an immediate disqualification. The competition lasts for a month but within that month you must demonstrate all aspects of human survival in nature; forging, hunting, shelter building, and using your resources reliably. The only kind of winners that would win this competition outside of the lightning Village are villagers from the hidden mist due to their sheer inhuman levels of spite. Ms villagers don't have a scientific explanation as to why they decide to endure this but an ongoing theory is that they just do this to spy on other villages to see how their terrain is. No one has actually thought of this and probably are not going to ruin everyone's fun just because they're suspicious of a bunch of angry mist villagers.

-The thunder mountain Grand prix: The thunder mountain Grand Prix is a legendary really race that relies on a team of six individuals, six landmark areas throughout the lightning Village entirely and the race has to be completed within a certain amount of time. this is the only competition that allows people to use ninjutsu as long as it doesn't results in an extreme advantage. for example you can use a ninjutsu to help yourself out in a situation if it's life or death or use it to heal yourself, but you cannot use this jutsu to gain extra speed or to alter the terrain itself. Altering the terrain will result not only in an immediate disqualification but a permanent banned from the country due to ecological preservation.

-lightning shows: lightning shows are the most elaborate of pageants due to the nature of using lightning as a part of your act. In this competition you can actually do something that has to incorporate lightning in it, rather being a dance, a stunt, another modes of pageantry such as something with fashion or ingenuity. The only means of disqualification in this case is using other means of electricity, the lightning has to naturally occur through chakra, any other assistive electronics such as batteries, magnets or even lightning rods will result in an immediate disqualification.

[thebibliomancer]

Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 18

Tides of the Dark Crystal by J.M. Lee because HEY PERISS WHATS THE BIG DEAL?

Last times on book: Amri and co are on a quest to unite all the Gelfling clans against the Skeksis. They’ve crossed Maudra Ethri and the Sifa off the list and have headed into the desert to meet the Dousan clan at the Wellspring gathering place. After spending some time at a lake and eating some melon and stressing about a storm that’s not supposed to be hitting the Wellspring at all, the gang is further alarmed when their guide Periss takes Kylan hostage and forces them to come with him.

Chapter 18

Quest Log updated: Save a tree

Periss directs the team to a cave in the cliff wall. There’s a bunch of astrological carvings on the cliff face but Amri doesn’t have time to look at it. What with the storm. And the hostage crisis.

The cave is large enough to hold several dozen Gelfling and yet its just Periss and his captive audience. Which raises some questions from Amri.

“What were they doing back there?” he cried. “I saw them -- the Dousan, all just... just sitting around the lake! While the storm destroyed the Wellspring! Why?”

“Because that’s how they are.”

I’m still seeing why Periss was at odds with Dousan culture.

Periss lights a torch letting all the people without darkvision (everyone who isn’t Amri) to see how nice this cave is.

On the walls, reaching up about as high as a Gelfling stood, were carved and etched illustrations. They showed Gelfling with shaved heads and tattoos, bearing incense, all standing in a line in sets of three. The row of Gelfling ended facing a beautifully articulated tree, with long gnarled roots surrounding by a pool of water. The tree branches and leaves spread wide and tall over the heads of the Gelfling. Above the canopy were the jagged depictions of lightning and storms, and at the tree’s base sat a long-backed creature with a heavy tail. Four big arms and a mane tied in knots and braids.

“A Mystic,” Naia gasped. “The ancient sage?”

Ooookay. The puzzle pieces are starting to come together now.

If an urRu was the sage who taught the Dousan their rituals and traditions, no wonder the clan is passive and stagnant!

Kylan asks about the tree in the picture since there was no such tree at the Wellspring, although there were a lot of roots.

Periss tells him that the songs say that the tree was once so tall that it could be seen from any part of the desert. But the tree - and the lake which once filled the entire valley - started to shrink. And the tree was just a dried up old trunk eventually felled by a summer wind by the time Periss was a child.

Amri assumes that the tree died but Periss firmly denies it. But that’s what the rest of the Dousan think too.

They gathered the dried up branches and burned them.

But Periss knows that the tree is still alive because if it weren’t the lake would have dried up. He’s sure that the tree is the source of the water.

“Maudra Seethi was the first person I went to. She told me I had to let go. That clinging to things that have passed on will only chain me to an effigy of the past. She even gave me a part of it to burn. Can you believe it? A pyre for a tree that lives! That is the ritual taught by the sage, from hundreds of trine ago. But she wouldn’t understand that rituals must change with time, and circumstance.”

This still does sound like the kind of sidequest you’d get when rolling into town in an rpg.

Heck, I think fixing a tree IS a quest you get when rolling into Whiterun in Skyrim.

Can you imagine though going ‘you just need to let things go’ ABOUT THE DEATH OF ONE OF THE GREAT TREES? Because that’s what I’m assuming this is. A tree big enough to be seen through an entire desert? That’s pretty great. And the Dousan just shrugged and went ‘i guess it’ll die.’

(At this point since the group is listening to him and engaging and not having to be threatened, Periss puts away the knife. Good call, Periss.)

So Periss left the Dousan in anger, traveled the world for a solution, found some of those exposition petals, recognized the group in Cera-Na and thought ‘these protagonists will definitely be able to fix the tree.’

I mean, good call there, honestly.

But specifically its because of how Kylan dream-stitched the petals and how Naia healed the Cradle Tree in the first book. An event that was included in the exposition petals.

I love how Kylan’s quest concluding at the end of the second book has driven so much of this book. He shotgunned a bunch of petals out into the world and it keeps paying narrative dividends.

Periss also gives Kylan back the firca. Yay, best boy has his magic instrument again!

Naia agrees that the tree is probably alive based on what she sensed about the lake waters but she’s not sure that this is within their power to solve. The Wellspring tree is in a whole lot worse shape than the Cradle Tree.

“Well, we might as well try.” Onica stood near where the cave opened back into the valley. The storm outside was so dense, it was like the fabric of a Skeksis robe. “If we don’t, this storm will destroy everything. The Dousan, the Crystal Skimmers, the Wellspring. Even if we survive the storm itself, we may be trapped in this cave.”

“Caves aren’t really that bad, but I get what you mean,” Amri said under his breath.

HAH!

With the fate of the entire clan and maybe them on the line, Amri steps into the silence.

“Onica is right. We have no choice but to try. But let’s make one thing clear” -- Amri faced Periss and held out his hand -- “we’re doing this as friends. Not as hostages. Got it?”

The Dousan boy hesitated, but one glance out at the storm sealed his resolution. From the strength of his grip, Amri wondered if he would have preferred it this way from the beginning.

I KNEW IT! WELCOME TO THE TEAM PERISS.

There’s coffee in the waiting room when you’re not in the active party and you can order a team jacket through HR.

Amri is a cave boy so he’s the one who finds a direction in Naia and Kylan’s doubts.

I guess that Amri has rock sense? I mean, there’s been bits where he’s talked about hearing the voice of sand but I didn’t remember whether that was something he had been doing before. But if so, cool, another clan specific ability for anyone wanting to make an trpg or something. Grottan have rock sense.

Amri feels that there’s water under the cave floor and deduces that the water streams to the cave from the Wellspring.

He tells Kylan and Onica to stay in the cave while he, Naia, and Periss head back out to the lake where the tree was.

“The firca definitely won’t be heard by the tree all the way from this cave!” Kylan protested. Amri put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Mountain water is full of minerals. You tasted them in the Wellspring. The minerals will have formed crystals around the underground rivers. Minerals like that will carry sound just fine. The clearer the better. That’s how the Grottan speak when we’re spread out among the caves.”

“But I don’t know if I can -- I’m not a Grottan --”

“That doesn’t matter. I believe in you!”

Aw frens.

And another Grottan power maybe?

But Amri tells Kylan to find a spot with good acoustics and play the song of life. Find the life still in the tree and awaken it so maybe Naia can heal it.

When Amri (with special guest Tavra), Naia, and Periss go back out into the storm, its gotten even worse. And it was already pretty bad!

They reach the lake with all the Dousan sitting around it not reacting to the storm or to them really.

Except for Erimon who asks them what the heck they’re doing.

“Could ask you the same thing!” Amri cried. “I thought you said the storm wouldn’t come here!”

Erimon grimaced. “Where are you going?”

“Into the lake. We’re going to revive the tree,” Periss said, pulling Erimon away in defiance. “And you’re not going to stop them.”

“No!” Erimon shouted. He faced his brother. “Periss, listen to me! For once, just listen! The tree is dead. You have to let it go. This is out of our hands. There’s nothing more we can do except surrender to Thra’s will. Why can’t you understand this?”

“You may not be able to hear its song, but I do. I hear it in my dreams and in my nightmares. My own clan won’t believe me, so I brought someone who would!”

Oof. No wonder Periss is so prickly.

Erimon tries to convince Naia and Amri that diving into a lake could kill them.

“You could die down there, and for nothing.”

“If we stay up here, we’ll die anyway,” Amri said.

OH DANG!

Heh.

Anyway, Naia and Amri dive into the lake.

Its a very important two-person operation. Naia can breath underwater. Amri can see. They need both things.

And there’s a third thing that needs doing too.

Amri remembers from the last book that Kylan’s firca had driven off the spiders even before being refined into a firca. And Tavra is a spider. Amri can’t hear the song underwater because there’s water in his ears but Tavra can.

Glad you are with us, he thought to the Silverling.

Perhaps this spider body can be put to use, after all.

Frens.

But also, its pretty cool how Amri thought of a plan that used all of the skills the group has. Except Onica but she’s done her part.

Also, Amri, Naia, and Tavra are dreamfasting to communicate underwater without blubbing bubbles at each other.

Its been a minute so woo another cool application for dreamfasting.

Also also, Naia can swim FAST with her wings which are not nonadjacent to a fish’s fins.

Amri held his breath as Naia pumped her wings and plunged, powerfully driving them into the murky deep. When his lungs screamed for air, Naia breathed life into him, gills open like lace around her neck. Tavra caught a bubble, holding it under her legs like a smooth, clear opal.

The lake seemed endless. It had been dark above, but as they dived, the lightning of the storm dimmed to a dull flicker. The sounds of the storm, the drumming, earthshaking thunder, died away, and as it did, Amri heard the sound of a flute. Through the underground streams and water it sounded like the eerie song of a ghost -- transcendent and unending, calling out to something that might no longer be strong enough to hear. Surrounded by the song, it was as if they were floating through a dream.

This sequence would have been very hard to do for the show but how I would have liked to see it.

They reach the lake bottom where Amri starts digging through the mud with his feet trying to find any sign of life. And he does.

Something “ringing, softly moaning in answer to Kylan’s song” under think layers of mud, there’s a spot of green among the decomposing roots of the once-Great Tree.

A stubborn tree. Still alive even in just one part of the roots. Amazing.

No wonder the Dousan thought it dead. They can’t breath underwater so they couldn’t check this deep. And they don’t have healers like Naia so what could they do even if they had found the sign of life?

Good thing a diverse group of trouble-solving protagonists rolled into town.

Naia gets on that spot of green and tries healing the tree but runs into a complication.

It’s calling for someone else. I can’t do this alone.

You mean me? Can I help?

No, it’s...

Naia closed her eyes, focusing. She had a gift; he’d seen it before. To hear the songs of Thra, to dreamfast with creatures other than Gelfling. He put his hand on her shoulder, lungs aching for his next breath.

It’s asking for the Dousan, she said finally. She looked up at him. Its people. Periss, Erimon. We need them here, now, or this tree will die, and the storm will kill us all.

Aw, dang.

Anyone know where we can rustle up more Drenchen on short notice? Or does someone want to invent scuba gear like yesterday?

[darisu-chan]

Kaien vs Ichigo: A Memories in the Rain Analysis, Part 1

Hello

It’s me again, back with my bs lmao

I finally finished the mini arc of Memories in the Rain pt. 2 and, as I’ve been sort of discussing certain stuff that’s happened in Bleach as I re-read the chapters, I decided I needed to talk about MITR as a whole. If you’ve been following my posts, I didn’t really analyze the first part. I saved it to compare it with the second part. I also thought that instead of just saying my thoughts as I have been doing thus far, I’d go the extra mile and truly analyze both parts, specifically comparing Kaien and Ichigo.

So, sometime ago, I wrote this post about how it bothers me how people compare Kaien and Ichigo as being the same, and using that to establish IchiRuki. When, honestly, you don’t need to. Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship stands on its own. In fact, it is so strong that, years after the ending, people keep being fascinated by IR. The LA was centered on their relationship as well. And it’s still the Ichigo and Rukia show, thank you very much.

And though I made some good points in that post, I decided to further explore Kaien and Ichigo, as well as the events of both MITR and how that relates to Ichigo and Rukia.

It’s probably been done many times before, but I’ve never analyzed them in much depth, so here we go.

The first part will soley be about Ichigo and Kaien as individuals. On the second part, I’ll finally explore MITR

1. The Shiba Gene

So, as we all know, Ichigo and Kaien look like each other physically, and in Everything But the Rain we finally found out the reason why: they are cousins. This put a stop to all the “Ichigo is Kaien reborn” theories people liked to come up with back in the day.

Now, in the story, this resemblance was pointed out by Byakuya and even Ukitake, to an extent. Which means Kaien was designed to look like Ichigo on purpose to further draw parallels between them. What I mean to say is that this is a seed that was planted in the readers’ minds, and as such, comparing both guys was done on purpose.

Interestingly enough, neither Kukaku nor Ganju are ever seen to believe Ichigo looks like their older brother.

In EBTR we see Isshin as a young man, and we can see how Isshin, Ichigo and Kaien resemble each other, meaning the Shiba gene is a strong one, and, if Ichigo had actually stayed in SS, that same resemblance could have been used as a way for him to claim that part of his heritage, but I digress.

We are all aware they look like each other because they are family, so we don’t need to go deep into detail in that aspect. Now the true question is, just how similar are they to each other?

Physically speaking, there are a few noticable differences, like hair and eye color. Kaien’s hair is longer and there’s the fact Kaien has very long eyelashes, as Kukaku and Ganju have. He’s also taller.

Although key differences, they are not enough to negate their similarities. Hell, Ichigo does look more similar to Kaien than Ganju, his actual brother.

But there’s something very important that sets them apart: Kaien always carries himself as if he didn’t have a care in the world. When we’ve seen Kaien, he’s always able to smile freely. Sure, he also scowls, gets upset, and the like, but he goes back to smiling. This is something Ichigo hasn’t been able to do since his mother died. Hell, there’s a whole chapter about that (Can’t Smile Don’t Blame). There are very few times in which Ichigo actually smiles, and all of them are short-lived. In fact, whenever he’s tried to give big smiles, they seem off, as seen when he smiled to Orihime back at the beginning of MITR and later on, in the Lost Agent Arc, when he smiled at Yuzu. 

Even when Rukia has a flashback of Kaien while looking at Ichigo, their smiles look very different:

Ichigo more often than not smiles through his eyes, while Kaien tends to smile with his eyes closed:

Although brash and arrogant as well, Kaien is also more mature. He can go from joking around to having deep conversations with Rukia. Ichigo, as a teenager, has yet to mature and will become more and more like a grown up as time passes by. At this point in the manga, he really isn’t there yet. Now, this will be important later on.

In short, even though they look very similar, they carry themselves with different auras. Kaien is more of a free-spirit, while Ichigo is a person who seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders. 

2. Prodigies

Ichigo, as the MC of a shounen manga, is obviously special. From the very first moment, we know he’s not like everyone else. He’s able to see spirits, which is not the norm. And then Rukia informs us his reiatsu is too powerful for a normal human.

And as time goes by, as he keeps fighting hollows, he grows exponentially. 

When Urahara trains him, he realizes that, which is why he tells Yoruichi that if there is someone who can achieve bankai in 3 days, is him.

As the story goes on, we learn that Ichigo is even more special, as he is also part Quincy and Hollow. But he also has very impressive skills when it comes to swordmanship, shunpo, and the like. 

What is more relevant is Ichigo’s ability to grow at a fast rate, always learning from his mistakes. 

And although he was never taught how to be a Shinigami in the traditional way, we can see how he surpassed his peers.

Now, although Kaien is not as special as Ichigo, we learn from Ganju that, for Shinigami standards, Kaien’s very impressive:

Hisagi, for example, failed the final exam numerous times. Rukia says she barely passed the entrace exam. Finishing the curriculum in two years is a great achievement. And the fact that he made VC in 5 years means a lot. It took Renji, let’s say, around 35 years to be promoted to VC. And Renji was in the special class at the Academy.

People like Ichigo and Kaien are not the norm. They are very skilled and special individuals. Might be because of their genes (it’s never explicitly said, but they might come from a long line of Shinigami), or just because they were gifted with those powers, but the point is these characteristics set them apart as more powerful than the rest.

3. Brash, Rule-breaking, Arrogant

The words above can be used to describe both Ichigo and Kaien, and that’s certainly Byakuya’s opinion of them.

Kaien and his siblings are not like the nobles we know. They’re certainly very different to Byakuya and the Kuchiki Clan, but they also live very differently than Soi Fon, Omaeda, the Shihouin Clan, and so on. They seem to live more like the common folk than like dignified people. Hence, Byakuya seems very against this sort of attitude, at least early on in Bleach. 

Because of being loud, less refined, brash, and with a penchant of rule-breaking, Kaien seems totally different to other nobles. However, I dare say these characteristics extrapolate what Ukitake meant in this scene:

Not anyone would be able to go against the whole Soul Society, specially if you are a Shinigami.

Byakuya was certainly not going to do any rule-breaking. As we later find out, he had even promised not to break anymore rules and was going to stick to that promise.

Renji, until confronted by Ichigo, had decided not to go against the SS.

Even Ukitake wasn’t about to start a revolution to save Rukia. It took him seeing Ichigo to decide on what to do.

Basically, only Kaien would have been upfront about his own intentions.

And what we know of Kaien is that he was the sort of guy who would break the rules when necessary. That means, that he would do the right thing. Specially when it comes to saving his peers. He even tells Rukia as much:

He might not have been the most elegant of individuals, but Kaien’s brashness and even arrogance came from the fact he had a good heart.

Now, who does exactly what Kaien would have done?

That’s right.

Ichigo.

Here the comparison of Ukitake trying to imagine what Kaien would have done is directly compared and contrasted to Ichigo, as before that scene Ichigo confronted Byakuya.

Now, Ichigo wasn’t raised as a noble. He had no idea he was one until almost the end of Bleach. But he was raised with the idea of protecting other people and of doing what is right.

We have seen him protect other people, even before he became a Shinigami (his friendship with Chad, Keigo and Mizuiru respectively reflects this, as he saved the three of them). 

Ichigo is not the kind of guy who can just do nothing while an injustice is taking place.

Ichigo has been, from the first moment we saw him, brash, rule-breaking and even arrogant, but note that from his introduction, we saw him protecting a little ghost girl. It goes to show that Ichigo would go to extremes to protect others and do what’s right. So, it’s no surprise he jumps at the chance to go to SS to save Rukia, and that he grows stronger and stronger each time to save her, as he cannot let her die. 

However, there’s a key difference.

If Kaien had been alive, he would have saved Rukia as 1) he would’ve probably figured out an execution was too hard a punishment for Rukia’s crime, 2) he told her he would always stand by her as long as they were from the same division, and 3) he wouldn’t let her just die.

But Ichigo’s reasons to save Rukia are much more complicated than that. As I’ve said in other posts, Ichigo is filled with guilt, as Rukia’s in this position because of him, firstly because she saved him by giving him her own powers to protect his family, and secondly, because Rukia got taken away to protect him as he feels he failed to protect her.

But, even then, it’s not only guilt that fuels him or the fact that he owes Rukia.

There’s the fact that Rukia is an important person to Ichigo regardless. Particularly, she is kind and good. Certainly not the type of person who deserves to die, much less because of a stupid rule.

Then, there is something else at a deeper level Ichigo doesn’t say out loud

My point with this is that Kaien and Ichigo are certainly the same type of rule-breaking people and that’s the sort of person needed to pull a stunt like saving Rukia from execution, in such a way that this person would even inspire others to help. Both guys are special in that way. However, in practice their actions come from different places. Certainly there’s a closeness Ichigo shares with Rukia due to circumstances that adds more complexity to his intent to save her and that, may I add, also fuels him to such a degree he refuses to lose. 

Which brings us to...

4. Rukia

The last main common denominator between them is no one else but Rukia, a person they both have inspired in different ways. However, the type of relationship they have with her is different.

Let’s start with Kaien:

So, their meeting takes place shortly after Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki Clan and graduated early from the Academy. Ever since, it seems she was judged for both not really being from a noble family and from having been adopted by one. We can say that no one is looking at who Rukia truly is, but they are making assumptions about her at this point. This is isolating to Rukia, who now has to deal with a new identity and a new way of living. She’s now apart from the one person she had known most of her life to that point (Renji) and is feeling out of place.

Then, Kaien swoops in and he treats her like he would treat any other subordinate. He doesn’t treat her like a street rat, a pampered noble or even a pet. And she says it herself that having that normality is exactly what she needed. Rukia didn’t feel comfortable at home with Byakuya, but she could at least feel more at ease in her division, working under Kaien.

Their relationship was that of mentor and mentee. Later on we find out Kaien trained her in swordsmanship and probably other skills. 

But he also taught her important lessons about life:

And these are lessons Rukia will carry in her heart the whole series. Protecting others, making others feel welcomed, forming hearts with others. Rukia made hers everything that Kaien taught her. 

He’s very special in her life because Kaien was the first person to make her feel as if she belonged in her division, and even as a Shinigami.

In short, he’s acting like a parental influential, or even being the brother Byakuya failed to be at this point in time. Teaching Rukia and accepting her, so that she could feel she had a place she belonged to.

And we know that Kaien was the one to make her feel good

But here we have a power imbalance. Because Kaien is doing the teaching, he’s changing her life, but we don’t know if it’s mutual. We don’t know if Kaien was affected by Rukia’s actions and words. It’s a very unilateral situation.

Furthermore, if we go with the route of Rukia had a crush on Kaien, there’s more power imbalance and impossibilities, as we know that:

She already couldn’t be the person closest to Kaien, as Miyako existed. 

Rukia recognized Miyako as having great qualities, probably what Kaien even liked about her, and aspired to be like her:

So, Kaien and Rukia were never in a position of equality for several reasons, starting from the fact Kaien was her vice captain.

This is even exemplified when the find the hollow that killed Miyako:

Rukia acts like a subordinate, trying to be helpful, and is denied:

Finally, there’s a key aspect that I will be analyzing with more detail in another post, but Kaien is for Rukia what Masaki is for Ichigo:

The root of her trauma is that she failed to protect Kaien, who was the person who taught her so much and helped her when nobody else did. Rukia feels as if she didn’t do anything to save him from his fate:

And when Kaien became a hollow, instead of running or trying to help him, Rukia let instinct take in and we know what happens next:

And the fact she couldn’t save him is worse becase Kaien doesn’t blame her:

So Rukia ends up in a state of guilt, because she couldn’t save the one person she probably wanted to save the most.

This trauma will continue on for some time until HM, where Rukia comes to terms with what happened. However, that doesn’t change the fact that her relationship remains a one-way street.

Now, as for with Ichigo, they have a different relationship altogether. 

It is true that Rukia was Ichigo’s first teacher when it comes to Shinigami stuff, but it is not as if he never taught Rukia anything.

Their relationship is so special because they’re two sides of the same coin. The fact that one is a Shinigami and the other is a human being makes it so that they end in a relationship of equals. As Ichigo needs to learn how to be a Shinigami, Rukia has to learn how to be a human.

Even when they just tell each other their names, the panel demonstrates this equality

Even the way they’re both holding the sword symbolizes this equality:

They’re both holding it and directing it towards Ichigo due to a common goal.

The fact they also call each other by their first names is important. Rukia always used “-dono” to refer to Kaien, a term of respect, while he called her by her last name. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Rukia call each other by their first names, symbolizing they’re close, something that is even pointed out within the story.

They also grow together.

Not only does Rukia teach Ichigo about his powers and her philosophy of saving others, Ichigo keeps surprising her at every turn:

Ichigo teaches Rukia how to be human, and not in the way of how to appear human or do human things, but how to feel, how to make connections with others

We always say Rukia changed Ichigo’s world, but he had that same effect in her:

It was always a mutual thing.

A relationship so different to any other in this manga.

But the best example of how different Kaien and Ichigo’s relationships with Rukia are is the fact that Rukia doesn’t think Ichigo is like Kaien from the get go.

She’s reminded of Kaien twice:

1. When Ichigo’s fighting Grandfisher, and I’ll analyze that part in the next post.

2. When Ichigo finally appears in front of her in SS and reassures her he’s not going to die. He smiles at her and Rukia remembers Kaien’s smile. She closes her eyes due to all the emotions she’s feeling.

My best explanation as to why Rukia thinks of Kaien in that moment is, as I said before, because Kaien was also reassuring in the fact he was not gonna die, yet he did and by her hand. Rukia doesn’t want to cause Ichigo’s death and she already feels guilty about turning him into a Shinigami, Byakuya hurting him, and everything else he’s gone through to try to save her. Rukia doesn’t want Ichigo to be like Kaien and die for her sake, as she believes she’s not worthy of being saved:

This is yet another thing Ichigo and Rukia have in common, they both feel guilty for having in some way cause harm to the other. 

Because, above all else, they both want to protect the other.

The thing is, the two actually achieve it: Rukia saves Ichigo’s life in the first chapter and when Byakuya is about to kill him. While Ichigo ends up saving her from execution, making it so their relationship stays equal.

That is the beauty of IchiRuki.

It’s never unilateral, but their feelings parallel each other’s constantly.

They want to save each other and they do.

They learn from one another, and they have faith in one another.

One doesn’t take while the other receive, they both give and receive something in return.

Because, in their eyes, they are equals.

Anyway,

This is the end of this very long post.

The rest of MITR will be analyzed in a later post.

Thanks for reading!

[alicemitch09writes]

JJK ASK | what are your thoughts on the jjk girlies maki, mai, nobara, miwa hehe

my girls!!!!!!!

a’ight *cracks knuckles* here we go:

let’s start with sweet Kasumi Miwa

She’s such a sweet girl, honestly. I like the fact that though she does her duties, she still has her morals and gets conflicted when tasked to kill my bby son, Itadori Yuuji.

I also respect the fact that she’s off as a jujutsu sorcerer to help her family - that’s something really admirable, for me at least. She’s not doing it for herself, she’s doing it for the people she loves.

Her skill as a sorcerer is quite impressive, enough to hold off against my wife, Maki. She was also trained by a First-Grade sorcerer. I really can’t wait to see more of her. *glares at Akutami Gege*

And just like me, we’re both Gojo fans (ꈍ ᴗ ꈍ✿)

next up, Zenin Mai

First of all, I think she’s really pretty and refined and thought she was up there in the Zenin. LOL boy was I wrong because the Zenin clan (save for her and Maki, which I’ll talk more later) are, in Nanami’s words and tone, “FULL OF SHIT” Honestly, good for Toji for leaving. But anyway, back to Mai, she can come off as a bitch, but with good reason: she was forced into something she never wanted.

She just wants to live a normal life, free from the dangers and horrors brought by being a sorcerer and born as a fcking Zenin. I understand that she really hated Maki for leaving, but I think she was also hating herself because she got the better half of the stick rather unwillingly, wanting only to be with her sister.

Also, I found a really interesting twitter thread that discusses on the Zenin twins’ relationship. Do give it a read! It really changes your perspective on not only Maki and Mai, but on their bond as a whole.

I’ll talk more about her when I get to my wife, please hold.

Next up, Kugisaki Nobara!

I’ll be honest with you all, I thought her design was average. Then again, that was the point of it. Akutami Gege is said to be a woman, some say they’re a man, but point is: they don’t want to oversexualize their characters. It’s because their mom reads their works (how supportive! huhu) but maybe also because they’ve had enough of women being sexualized. In Japan, they have this disgusting sense of humor, especially with sexualization tropes (big boobs, nosebleeds, etc). Nobara’s design feels like a breath of fresh air because she looks like a typical Japanese teen - dyed hair, make-up, and all.

One of my favorite reactors also adores her character, supporting her in the episode she fought against Nishimiya, dismantling the idea of how men and women should be in the jujutsu society. It doesn’t matter who you are and where you stand, if you love yourself - flaws and all, then you’re enough. Nobara’s a prime example of that. He said: “Look cute, be strong, go crazy, Nobara!” And I support that. Time and time again, she continues to dismantle that very idea, sanity slipping off to unsettle her foes, getting her hands dirty, yet staying true to herself in the end.

In a way, she reminds me of Haruno Sakura. Then again, maybe she’s this generation’s Haruno Sakura, and I hate to make comparisons, but there needs to be more strong female protagonists like her to stand alongside the male protagonists.

Saving the best for last is my *wipes a tear* MY WIFE, Zenin Maki!!!!!!!!!!

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate this woman.

This wonderful, amazing, strong-willed, and mesmerizing woman. I could go on.

I love a strong female character, Maki’s just that. Unlike her sister though, she wasn’t born with amazing jujutsu techniques or inherited their signature, powerful technique, blessing her with inhuman strength like her cousin, Toji. This would make her seem like a second-rate or sad excuse of a human, at least in the eyes of her shitty family. Yet, Maki rose to the occasion and decided to prove everyone wrong. Even at a young age, she fully understood that because of that absence of power, they would never see her, so she had to make them see and recognize her in another way.

I’ve always had a weakness for people who are weapon masters (bc i grew up watching far too many martial art films), add that with Maki’s unshakable determination and strong will.

Plus, she’s a bit of a tsundere (ᅌᴗᅌ✿) Like not wanting to lose face to Yuta, when they first met. Super sensitive to people’s feelings, unaware that the freshmen were still mourning. And wise for her age, encouraging her juniors time to time. Loving, too, incredibly loving, because her goal to be the next Zenin leader was not only to pay respect to those who weren’t able to achieve power like that of her sister and Megumi, but to also build a better place for Mai. Everything she does is for Mai. I’m soft. Maki, I love you so much.

With the recent chapters, I’m scared-nervous for my wife, especially because she has to deal with the shittiness of her family, the misogyny of it all, and their disgusting obsession with perfection, tradition, and power that’ll corrupt and hopefully destroy them. Mwahahaha I SAID WHAT I SAID 

Again, props to Akutami Gege for not oversexualizing their female characters. It’s really a fresh of breath air to have these amazing woman who are fleshed out so well, recognized for their grit and not because of their physique fuck you Naoya Zenin.

[chessdaze]

Three Wishes Institute: New Locations

Since all the character profiles are up, I wanted to make a list of the new locations I made for character’s hometowns and what they’re like. Though there are a few mystery places because some character’s origins are ??? on the profiles and I don’t want to ruin the surprise just yet - but the majority is listed below!

Mirror Meadows :

The transportation hub of Twisted Wonderland. Mirror Meadows is the birthplace of mirror travel and pretty much a city built around transportation - both magical and nonmagical.

As some of the nonmagical population might be unnerved by prospect of mirror travel, or might have some medical condition making that kind of travel difficult, other forms of transportation are offered in the city. From trains, to buses/trolleys, to aircraft / brooms, even to small boats as the meadows is next to a large body of water.

The city itself has the essentials in terms of businesses, but a lot of the businesses revolve around tourism and travel - the Mirror Meadows becoming a tourist destination just as much as areas it connects to. There’s lots of hotels and entertainment within the city.

Pippin’s family is in charge of the train station and has been for many years, they’re a family rooted in tradition and one of the oldest families within the city. They’re pretty well respected.

On the flipside, The Locke family helps run the actual mirror transportation services. Heaven doesn’t seem too interested in the family business but she would help out on occasion. For this reason both Pippin and Heaven could be considered ‘childhood friends’ but they will quickly spit on the idea, the two of them not getting along very well.

Land of Harmony:

A quiet village nested deep within a mountain range, the Land of Harmony is a peaceful town worthy of it’s name. There’s not much to see there but temples and the farmland just before the mountain range, but the people make an earnest living. Years ago they made a pack with the dragons that live higher in the mountains, thus giving the village it’s name as the Land of Harmony - the town being responsible for calming the dragons and bringing peace to this area of the land when wars were breaking out.

The land is a rural state with mostly farm land - it taking a bit to get much of anywhere because of this. There is a hub with all the major essential buildings and the hub also has an open market where the farmers can sell their produce or livestock on a normal basis - there aren’t really grocery stores here.

It’s overall a pretty low tech place with a few exceptions. There’s cellphone towers and internet, but not great reception or service. People here very much don’t like change and keep things very close to the traditions of the ‘old days’, mostly due out of respect for the land’s founders and the treaty made with the dragons. 

Mingyu’s family is actually pretty influential within the town. She’s descended from one of the founders of the town, thus her family has a deep connection with the dragons that live above. Her family isn’t the one technically in charge of the land, but you could compare it to being a noble.

Sea of Clouds:

The area right above the Land of Harmony, the sea of clouds consists of almost entirely dragons, with a few human exceptions. The town itself is carved into the mountain side, the residents living among the clouds and within the mountain itself in caves.

The dragons that live here freely switch between their true forms and a more human based appearance, using their true forms to get from mountain to mountain while they use their human forms inside the smaller caves and when they go down to the Land of Harmony. They have a treaty with the land of harmony, they project their fields and the land around the mountains, and get offerings in return. It is also said that they help ferry the spirits of the dead from the Land of Harmony to the next life, but this has been mostly faded into legend or myth - based on the fact that some of the dragons specifically are asked to watch over the graves of the humans of the Land of Harmony on occasion.

Much like the Land of Harmony, people here don’t really like change and prefer to keep things traditional - and a lot of dragons here scoff at the idea of technology, preferring magic and only magic. The younger generation is split 50/50, half of them preferring the old ways with their elders and half wanting change and renovations. 

Li Jie’s father is the head of the clan, and he comes from a long line of powerful dragons. This is the reason him and Mingyu are childhood friends - as the founding family’s and his own have a close bond. The spirit ferrying and protection of the graveyards stems from his family, and his father constantly lectures him on the subject, though Li Jie believes it to be a bunch of old legend nonsense. He constantly bickers with his father over the state of the Sea of Clouds and how there needs to be change.

Silver Plains:

The Silver Plains is a bustling town, unlike the name might suggest. The name of the city comes from the grasslands around it, and how instead of green they’re silver / white in color. Most of the fruit and vegetables grown within this area end up being of a silver or gray color aswell. This has gotten attention from a lot of outside lands, which has resulted in some rapid expansion of the town. It’s not quite to city status yet, but it’s definitely not the same old rural town it used to be.

The people of the Silver Plains care a lot about their environment, though, and know when enough is enough in terms of construction - for if they expand too much then the silver plains it was named after would quickly be diminished. Still, the town is about average with everything else, technology and economically. Out of the locations listed on this post - it’s probably the most normal / modern town. Not too big, not too small, and has an equal population of magical and nonmagical.

Rue’s family runs a small tailoring shop, and she’s been working in there since as long as she can remember. She even has her own regular customers who come specifically to see her to get their clothes tailored. She loves working there and hopes to take over the business one day.

Jaiden’s parents are teachers at the local elementary school, this school is also where him and Rue met and they’ve been best friends ever since. When he has time he stops by the school and helps one of his parents with their classes for the day, the kids loving when he visits to tell them stories.

Village of Flowers:

A magical little village hidden out of sight in a forest next to a large lake - one normally wouldn’t know where to find this village unless they were specifically told where to look. The village itself is surrounded by the forest and fields of flowers, thus giving the village its name. The people of the village take good care of the flowers that grow around and throughout the town, making it extremely colorful and bright.

Though it might look as if it’s out of touch with the rest of the world, the village of flowers does have access to technology and do keep up on what’s going on in the world around them, however they prefer to keep things simple so to not disturb the wildlife around them. Though recently a lot of changes have been made thanks to some new families moving into the village.

Lucienne is the daughter of the mayor of the village, and thus is extremely important to the future of the village. Her parents want her to marry someone of equal status and continue to make the village bustling and great. She hasn’t made a comment about this but she is one of the most popular girls in the whole village - many have asked for her hand already.

Spencer’s family are hunters and run the local butcher’s shop. They would spend weekends hunting for game and then possibly sell whatever that had managed to catch. Spence themself both loves and hates the business, possibly because their relationship with their parents is a little bit rocky.

Noe lives at the orphanage in town, which surprisingly, and perhaps a bit sadly, has a pretty large population. The village of flowers find a lot of lost kids in the woods, or kids who wash up on the shore of the lake, or many who leave their children behind when they decide to leave the village for good to start a new life outside the confines of the forest. Noe has lived at the orphanage for as long as he can remember, likely being an example of the last on the list - simply being left behind by his parents when they decided to leave the forest.

[calamity-callie]

New Beginnings ~ Wiztober Day 1

Edited by @spiralcompendium

“So.” The single, stern word broke a heavy silence that had been present since their private airship left the port in Hamamitsu. “How was your first year at the Imperial City Dragon Academy?” Alia flinched. They had been hoping and praying that this question would never come but knew it was inevitable. ‘Why did it have to be this soon though?’ they cried internally, cursing themself for not already having a full speech prepared for this. “Well?” their mother snipped impatiently, interrupting Alia’s thought process. Under pressure to deliver positive results, they opened their mouth to reply and a flood of words poured out.

“Dragon Academy? Oh, it was great!!! The Imperial City is such a cool place, and I loved seeing the inside of the Imperial Palace - did you know it contains 75 bedrooms?! 75!!! Also -”

“Alia,” came the first interruption.

“Also it turns out I have a natural talent for gardening! See I joined the gardening club and I was the only first year in the history of the school to actually raise a maelstrom snap dragon to elder! A Maelstrom! Snap! Dragon! That’s senior level stuff!!! Oh oh also -”

“Alia…” their mother interrupted again, this time with slightly more insistence.

“- alsoalsoalso it turns out I’m real good at alchemy, too! So much so that a potions vendor in the city took me as an apprentice! My first job, and something I love too! Can you believe it?!?!? Also also oh oh also also also -”

“ALIA!” The third interruption came as a full on yell. They gasped, taken aback by the intensity. “You know exactly what I mean. I don’t care about your extracurricular activities, your clubs, or how many bedrooms the palace has. Your grades. Let me see them.”

“Well, I got one A, uhhhh...” Alia trailed off, panicking. Their off-the-cuff plan hadn’t turned out quite how they hoped. As they desperately tried to brainstorm ways to stall for more time though, their mother, growing ever more impatient, demanded yet again, “Show me your grades. Now.”

Defeated, a crestfallen Alia opened up their bag, pulled out an official looking envelope, and handed it off without a word. The seconds felt like hours as their mother peeled off the wax seal, opened the top flap, and pulled out the parchment inside. Her face morphed from concentration, to confusion, to rage. She opened her mouth as if to yell, but at the last second changed her mind. Putting the sheet back into the envelope, she simply said, “We will discuss this with your father when we get home.” Not a single word was uttered for the rest of the flight.

Some hours later, the two arrived at their home in Kembaalung. Their father initially greeted them with a smile and open arms, but their mother quickly trotted over to him and they began talking in hushed tones. After a moment their father turned with a grim face and said, “Alia. Go to your room. We will call you when we are ready to talk.” 

“Talk. Great. They want to Talk.” Alia laid on their bed, speaking their thoughts aloud, thankful for the magical soundproofing their parents tended to use during their private conversations. Looking over at the bookshelf on the opposite wall, they contemplated how things ever got to this point. The shelf was full of thick tomes on dragon magic: grimoires they could remember being forced to read and memorize for hours at a time, beginning as soon as they learned to read. They had every word of every thick volume on that shelf memorized, but not a single line made any sense. This collection of facts served them well enough to pass the entrance exam though, and they held out hope that maybe actual teaching would be the missing link; maybe seeing these incomprehensible concepts in action would be all it took to help them finally understand this strange breed of magic. Unfortunately as the school year wore on, they only found themself falling farther and farther behind, and though they aced every written test, they never managed to cast a single spell.

“I really just am a failure aren’t I,” they muttered, burying their face in a pillow. Their mind began to race with all sorts of possibilities. “I’m going to get lectured, I’m gonna be confined to the indoors for the whole season reading these awful books again and again, I’m gonna be kicked out, they’re never going to want to talk to me again, I’m a disappointment to the whole family…” Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud knock. Jolted out of their downward spiral, Alia slowly crawled out of bed and opened the door. Their parents, stiff and stern as ever, marched in as Alia sat back down on their bed. The silence was thick with tension when their father opened his mouth to speak.

“We are… disappointed in you, Alia. You failed every class.” The lecture began in a smooth yet stern tone, but Alia wasn’t fooled. The escalation was imminent. “I just… I just can’t believe you failed every class!” A thick lump began to form in their throat as his speech heated up. “You studied those books every day! You had everything memorized and aced the entrance exam! All of our hopes were riding ON YOU, ALIA!” As the lecture finally escalated to full on yelling, they felt tears begin to well up but tried their best to force them down as the lecture continued. “Have you forgotten that we are the oldest clan of warrior monks in all of Mooshu??? And now thanks to THIS-” he held up the parchment, displaying all seven failing marks, and the single passing grade “- OUR TRADITION IS OVER!! OVER!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH YOU HAVE FAILED US??? WHERE DID WE GO WRONG!?!?!?!”

Alia stood up and burst into tears. “I don’t know what more you want from me okay??? I read your stupid books, I memorized your stupid facts, I did everything you wanted me to do, but you never even cared about what I WANT!” Her father prepared to yell in response, but before he could Alia shouted again, “I never wanted to be a STUPID FUCKING WARRIOR MONK ANYWAY! I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!!!” With that, they stormed out of the house, leaving a deafening silence behind.

Dusk began to fall as Alia sat on a bench next to a frozen lake. Though it was the middle of summer, Kembaalung was always cold and snowy, and this night was no exception. They huddled in a blanket and began to sob uncontrollably. How had their life come to this? Through the frozen tears their mind began to wander into dark places again. “Where will I spend the night? Nobody here will take me in, they’re all monks… I don’t even have any friends… Does anyone even really care? I could just sit here on the bench and freeze…” 

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a splash of green in their peripheral vision. They turned to look and, despite the freezing temperatures, a single young plant had sprouted out of the snow. Alia got up, walked over to it, then kneeled down, cupping their hands around the base. “You understand what it’s like, don’t you?” they muttered. With a pang of empathy, they cupped their hands closer and started softly singing. The snow around the plant began to melt as a single sunbeam materialized, piercing the night seemingly from nowhere. Alia sang louder and closed their eyes, truly becoming engulfed in their song, letting the melody flow through their entire body. As if channeling power from old Bartleby himself, the sprout grew, slowly at first but then quite rapidly. When the song came to an end, Alia, feeling calm and peaceful for the first time all day, opened their eyes. Before them was a now tall, proud sunflower towering in defiance over the whole cold landscape. They stared in awe for a short time, but were again snapped out of it upon hearing footsteps in the snow from behind.

“So it seems you do have a knack for gardening then.” The sharp voice instantly brought Alia back to reality. They turned their head and saw their mother standing there, arms folded. “I’ve come to collect you. Now, come.” Alia began to protest but realized that they didn’t have much choice. They grudgingly began following her back to the family home. 

The next morning, Alia trudged downstairs, awaiting the fallout of yesterday’s scene. As expected, both parents were seated and silently gestured for Alia to join them. As they sat down, their father began speaking. “Your mother told me of everything that happened at the lake last night. You channeled the Song of Creation, didn’t you?” Alia gasped, but before they could speak, their father continued. “We have decided you will enroll in Ravenwood, effective immediately. You are free to choose your own path from there.” Alia’s face lightened up for a moment as her father continued. “But there will be conditions. You may no longer associate yourself with our family. You no longer share our last name, you no longer share our lineage. You will be welcome here for short visits until you come of age, at which point you will be expected to find your own way. Do you accept this arrangement?”

 Alia sat, dumbstruck at what had just laid out before them. Leaving their home forever was a terrifying proposition, but after only a single minute of thought, they confidently said, “Yes. I accept.”

For the first time in their life, Alia saw shock on their parent’s faces. It was soon wiped off and replaced by the typical stony looks, but it was unmistakable. “V-very well,” their father stammered as the shock wore off. “We depart immediately. Your first day is tomorrow.”

------ One Week Later ------

Alia sat alone at a table in one of the many Wizard City student dining facilities, again deep in thought. “Was it even worth coming here?” they asked themself. “Classes are fine I guess, but I haven’t met any friends here, I don’t know anyone who lives here at all, my parents will probably never want to see me again… Oh, what have I gotten myself into this time… Maybe they’ll take me back if I ask -” 

“Mind if I sit here?”

The voice snapped them out of their spiral of thoughts as a girl who looked to be about the same age as them sat down. “First week’s rough, huh? I struggled to adjust at first too, but don’t worry, it’s gonna be great! Heyyyy, now that I think of it, I’ve seen you in some of my classes, haven’t I? You’re Alia, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Alia responded somewhat hesitantly, holding out their hand to shake.

“My name’s Keira,” she said as she ignored the hand and went in for a full hug. “And I can already tell we’re gonna be best friends!”

[crowleyellestair]

Someday- Din Djarin (The Mandalorian)

Soul mate time!!!

Your soul mates name appears on your body in their handwriting. 

Pedro fics:

Din Djarin

Imagine Why

Names and Feelings

Whiskey series:

Part 1

Part 2

 My next Whiskey part is coming soon!

 Beskar covers body, head and his personality. It is for his religion, but also for his safety. Din couldn’t really imagine a life without his clan finding him, and bringing him into a new life. He buried everything from before, only memories and a name. Well, actually, two names. His own, Din Djarin, and another scrawled on the back of his hand. It’s the name that the force had mysteriously put there. Everyone in the universe has one.

As a kid, Din was excited to find his soul mate. He assumed she lived in a town over or maybe even in a village on the other side of his home world. He had lost hope after his world was attacked, but the name was still there and as bold as ever. He then had to lose that hope after devoting himself to the Mandalorians.

Luckily, since the name was on his hand, he didn’t need to look at it because of the gloves. Din could easily forget about it and focus on the job. Many people he’s come across are obsessed with the idea of a soul mate and let it consume their life.

When Din first started his job as a bounty hunter, he forgot his training in forgetting about his soul mate. He would always worry about the name on his hand being in a puck. Occasionally, his mind would drift, thinking about the woman who he was meant to be with, but never could.

Then the child came along, and he threw all of those thoughts out of the window in favor of keeping the child safe.

The kid had insisted on walking everywhere on the forest planet that the hunter landed on hours ago. Din was annoyed but patient as the green ball kept tripping over trunks and roots that were too big. A sigh had left him as they made it to an opening that housed the village they’d been looking for. He knew that this place was quiet, and no one ever visits. It’s not on many maps, so Din knew they could stay longer than on others. The hope for work was slim, but the cantina was the best place to look. Luckily, it was on the closest side of the village to the ship, so there will be fewer prying eyes.

Din walked to the open entryway only to notice that the boy just kept walking down the main rode. Din rushed to him, picking him up, and bringing him inside.

Like he hoped, it was almost completely empty other than an older gentleman sitting at the bar, conversing with the tender.

“Is there any work here?” The two look up surprised, the tender’s eyes widening. Din set the kid down next to him on the ground and leaned onto the bar. He looked to the old man who started to gently laugh.

“Nothing to the class of a bounty hunter.” The younger boy looked to the man in shock, amazed that the man was conversing with the hunter like he would anyone else. Din knew that because of how shut in the village was, the thought of someone killing for money could be daunting. Din could also tell that the man meant no harm in his playful and sincere banter. The tender took a step towards Din, looking apologetic.

“I’m sorry-.”

“It’s alright. Are you sure that there is nothing here?”

“I’m afraid not-.” The older man took a sip, but interrupted by saying matter-of-factly,

“Our medic needs help getting herbs. There’s a tribe past the forest ridge that has what she needs, but no one here is willing to go with.” The tender looked offended.

“Because they are murderers!”

“They are not. She’s great with communicating, they’ll know what she needs.” The man looked to Din. “If you go now, you could catch her and help.” The tender stopped fiddling with his glass.

“K’bir, what does that mean? Have you been encouraging her to go by herself!?” The tender looked to Din then ran out the door. Din looked to the ground to find his boy was missing. He stalks towards the door to find the kid had waddled his way to the same building the tender ran to.

Din didn’t know the extent of his son’s power, but if he knew to walk there, it might be serious. Din ran to the building picking it up, and hearing a familiar name. As the tender ran into the medic tent, he yelled the same name Din has seen for years. At least the first part. But it’s a large universe, and he knew not to get his hopes up.

He walked in to find a woman in the back, trying to sneak out the other opening, but being held in place by the tender.

She looked out of place there, the two men wearing what seemed to be traditional clothing where she looked like your run of the mill smuggler. A white shirt under an ‘in-fashion’ jacket that only fly-guys wear. Pants that seem to be worn every other day held tight against her and held a plethora of pouches on a belt. Each one had something coming out, whether it be leaves or petals.

“Tor’guna, get your hands off of me. I’m a grown adult, I can handle myself.”

“Just cause that’s not my name on your neck, doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch over you.” She stopped pulling away to stand close. She toward over him, despite being the same height. She pressed a finger into his chest, and sadness fell into his eyes.

“I don’t remember asking you to. Now get off. Those people have done nothing except fall victim to town superstition. Do you want something to sooth you after you somehow burn yourself again, then I suggest you get. Your hands. Off.” He backed off, and she turned to hide her guilty face. Din could see that she felt bad for yelling, but her justification seemed sound. The woman noticed Din standing there and threw on a weary smile. He could tell that it was weary only by embarrassment, and not through fear. It was rare to find people not daunted by him, and it’s always a pleasant surprise.

“Y/n, this is the Mandalorian. He is going to help you go if you insist.” She held her hand out while stepping towards him, waiting for it to be shook.

“Y/n L/n, I’m glad you are coming along. Maybe your testimony can show them that it’s fine for me to go alone.” Din froze in their shake. That’s it. That’s the name he thought he’d never find the host to. Y/n looked down at their still connected hands, laughed and dropped it. Din was so focused on stopping his heart from denting the Beskar from pounding so hard, that he forgot to let go.

He could still feel her heat long after their hands parted. He cleared his throat and nodded.

“Lead the way…Y/n.” She smiles when he uttered her name. It felt so right leaving him. She looked down to find the boy tugging at her pant.

“Hey cutie. I’m gonna borrow your pops for a little bit.” She picked him up with such gentleness that Din’s heart started to melt. Was she always that gentle? Would she be gentle with him? Placing the kid on the bed, the smiled and gave him a little ship figurine. It looked to be an X-Wing, and she made a smile humming noise, mimicking the sound of its engine. She landed it in front of him, and the kid was enthralled. “Tor’guna, please watch over him.” She turned to Din, and winked. “He’s slow, but trustworthy.” With more confidence than a Hutt, she strode out of the tent, and Din quickly followed.

They had gone through trees and Y/n was rambling all the while. Usually Din was direct and would usually ask for a ‘partner’ to be silent, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop the mad ramblings of his soul mate. They weren’t insane ramblings, but they were filled with anger towards the village they had just come from. She spoke of how the tribe they’re headed to were kind and how she was amazed at how the town could gawk at their way of life.

“I mean, imagine just living life your own way, and people not understanding cause they’re small minded?” She turned and looked for a second before giving a soft chuckle. “Sorry, II take that back. I’m sure you get that all the time. You know, I’ve read some of the documented culture and about the six pillars- It’s quite amazing. It takes heart to believe in something so whole heartedly-.”

“Din.” She stopped completely and looked back to him.

“What?”

“Din. I…I’m Din. Djarin. Din Djarin.” Her eyes widened and her hand rose to hold the back of her neck. She repeated his name back to him, and his ears started to ring. The name bounced in his head, reflecting on her tone and articulation. For the first time, Din pulled his gauntlet off in front of someone, shoving his hand towards her. Sure enough, she saw her name on the back of his hand. Her hand grabbed his, her thumb running over the name.

She turned and pulled her hair up, showing Din his own. His handwriting showed his name plastered on the back of her neck.

Y/n turned to show a bright smile as she pushed into him, embracing him in a hug. Din hadn’t hugged anyone in years, but he didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her. His visor tilted downwards, beskar resting atop her head. He realized that he felt guilty. He has seen and heard of so many meetings. A realization, and embrace then a kiss. He used to imagine how he would try and make it perfect, but he knows he can’t.

“I’m sorry. I can’t-.” As if knowing what he was going to say, she pulled away, bringing his ungloved had to her, and placing a gentle kiss where her name was stamped.

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

“Someday.” She smiled, and kissed his hand again.

“Someday.”

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