#and so (spoilers) i ended up getting the master sword one ***first***

[thegempage]

thinking a lot about. how gameplay creates personality within characters. the link i play in tears of the kingdom is not quite the same link as the ones my friends play. what does it mean to experience the world differently through the same eyes.

[hannya-writes]

Bonus Stage

Title: Bonus Stage

Fandom: Solo leveling

Pairing: Sung Jin Woo x Reader

Other characters: none

Category: romance? Alternative stories

Warnings: violence I guess but I feel like it is not very… violent. Also, there's some spoilers if you have only watched the anime.

Author's note: it's been a long time since I last posted something, hope is enjoyable!

• • •

When the system offered Sung Jin woo an optional bonus stage he didn't doubt it, he just accepted. It was logical, he had promised himself that he was going to use the system instead of being used by the system. He wanted to level up, get to the top.

For a fraction of a second Jin Woo felt like he was falling, in the next blink he was again in that twisted and destroyed version of seoul, only this time there was not a single building standing just rubble from the destruction, making hills.

Then he saw it, a big and magnificent throne over the biggest hill. There was someone there, sleeping on the throne.

Jin Woo got closer and closer, as he was at a couple of meters away he noticed the white dragon sleeping at the feet of that person, like an obedient dog. It was Kaisel, the same dragon he had killed before and made come back as a shadow.

Then there was the woman on the throne, fully dressed as a knight, it reminded him of Igris but this one was clearly a woman and her helmet had a crown on top.

He stepped closer and the eyes of the knight shone bright in the darkness of the helmet.

“Queen of the end lv.???” said the label that floated over her head.

Jin Woo felt a chilly air and out of pure instinct he defended himself with his daggers.

Clank. The sword of the knight of the end clashed with his dagger. He hadn't even seen her move, a Shield appeared in her free arm and she pressed forward. Jin Woo backed away but the king went after him, shoving the shield in his visual field hiding the sword she tried to thrust in his heart.

Clank, clank, clank. The weapons clashed violently, over and over again, every time Jin Woo thought he had found a weakness it was a trap worse? Those were weaknesses she covered right in time.

Jin Woo finally called upon Igris but instead of a final blow his first commander merely took away the helmed of the king.

Jin Woo recognized immediately the woman in front of him, she had her hair a bit longer and messy than he remembered, her skin looked like that of a corpse but her eyes were just like he remembered.

It was you. His first and only girlfriend, the person who had believed in him even when he was called the weakest. The reason why people asked him for romantic advice thinking he was somehow good at flirting or something like that, because how did the weakest hunter managed to date a beautiful S-rank hunter like you. But you had died 5 years ago, you had sacrificed yourself to save the rest of your party from an extremely dangerous dungeon.

It was a test, a trap to make him fail.

Jin Woo groaned, he never thought the system could do something so sophisticated and stupid, he was supposed to doubt? Wrong, seeing you only made him angry. He wasn't going to doubt, he was going to kill that mimicking beast.

When he finally gave the killing blow, Jin woo looked at the monster and waited, waited for the transformation to disappear but the knight body stayed in its place.

— Arise — he ordered and the soul of the creature took form with dark colors but your face stayed in it. Your eyes opened and Jin Woo frowned at his own decisions. What was he thinking?

— Jin woo? — your voice came from the thing making him look at you confused, you glitched like the system sometimes did and — master— you corrected yourself, still glitching.

Assign a name for Swordmaster. Announced the system and Jin woo looked at the creature with attention, her expression was between a serious look and a worried one with the glitches.

He opened his mouth to say your name but before he could speak the space was filled with your name and the blue screen glitched in to accept.

Your stats were so high, the title of Swordmaster was something he hadn't seen but you were not at your top level.

He wondered, if maybe you were really you but from an alternative dimension. If he was right… would you be able to talk like Beru when you leveled up? Would you… would you be able to stay with him?

Your hand touched his cheek and your cold gaze turned warm, soft, caring.

Yes, he knew you would and then you would tell him how you ended in that bonus stage and why you were the queen of the end.

[mikey-hunter]

Why Age of Calamity Did That (And Why Age of Imprisonment Will Too)

So when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity came out, there was a very vocal contingent of fans who were upset about a particular twist in its narrative.

Age of Imprisonment was just announced, with a hauntingly similar setup, and I'm seeing a number of fans talking as if the same twist won't happen this time, or at least saying they hope it doesn't. I just wanted to lay out the reason why it happened the first time, and why it almost certainly will again.

I'm going to be dropping unmarked spoilers for all three previous games in this trilogy that's soon to become a quadrilogy, by the way. I imagine most of the people speculating about Age of Imprisonment will already know them, but just to cover my bases, you can stop reading now if you're behind.

So, let's start at Age of Calamity's announcement.

We were told it would be "A story 100 Years before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild," and told it would depict the battles against the Calamity not previously shown. Fans immediately started joking about already knowing how it ended, that this was a game that would end with most of the cast dying.

Then the demo came out. A Guardian the size of an ostrich egg woke up at the same time as Zelda awakening her powers, traveled back in time, and activated the Sheikah Towers early. Also, Link was a regular soldier and not the Hero who had been wielding the Master Sword since he was a pre-teen.

Surprisingly, a large portion of the fandom either failed or refused to see the twist coming at that point.

But the twist came all the same: in the full game, the time traveling egg guardian enables the four successors to the Champions from BotW to save them, Zelda awakens her powers before Link is killed, they band together to slay Calamity Ganon, and a happy ending is enjoyed by all. Including the Yiga Clan, who defected because reasons.

Some fans were very upset about this. They were promised a prequel, and seemed to think it would be a good idea. But the reason it wasn't is fairly obvious if you think about it.

For one thing: Warriors games are about the fanservice power fantasy. Playing as beloved characters and mowing down hundreds of cannon fodder enemies as easily as one mows a lawn.

For another: one of the playable characters in the original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U was Agitha from Twilight Princess. She was included purely because one of the developers was a fan of hers and argued for her inclusion. Koei-Tecmo's Hyrule Warriors team includes people who are big enough Zelda fans to have favorite minor NPCs.

Now, consider for a moment what a "canon" ending to Age of Calamity would have looked like. The Champions are dead. Link is dead. Zelda awakened her powers a moment too late, so she's going to go hold down Calamity Ganon while the Sheikah trio carry Link's body to the Shrine of Resurrection. They don't know how long it will take to work, or if it will even work at all, so the three of them agree to live separately and wait for him, so that even if the Yiga Clan finds and overcomes them, at least the other two will live on to pass Zelda's message on to Link.

In other words, you just paid full retail price for a beat'em up where all your favorite characters die, and have a completely separate game to go play for the story's actual resolution.

Maybe you, personally, actually wanted that, but would a casual Zelda fan who just got the game for Christmas have wanted it? Would a Dynasty Warriors fan trying the game out as a gateway to the Zelda series have been okay with being told they now have to buy another game in a completely different genre to get their closure?

To be frank, no. Age of Calamity didn't lead in to Breath of the Wild because that would have made for a bad product. Instead of watching the Champions die, we got to see them live, be happy, and interact with their successors. If you want to imagine the full details of their deaths and be sad about it, that's what fanfiction is for.

And now we have Age of Imprisonment on the way.

Tears of the Kingdom, much like Breath of the Wild, has a sequence of flashbacks to a distant past, that ends on a downer note of "Welp, we're boned, but all we can do is wait for Link to come sort it out."

Just like Age of Calamity, Age of Imprisonment purports to be a full depiction of these events...

But the events of the Dragon Tears are in even more dire need of an intervention from the present than the Memories were, entirely because of the cast.

Taking this reveal trailer at face value, we can expect eight characters: Zelda, Sonia, Rauru, Mineru, and the four Ancient Sages. By the end of the Dragon Tears as we saw them in Tears of the Kingdom...

Sonia is assassinated

Rauru gives his life to seal Ganon under the castle

Mineru succumbs to her injuries and begins haunting Zelda's tablet

Zelda essentially commits fantasy suicide, because as far as anyone in the narrative is aware, becoming a dragon destroys your sense of self and is irreversible.

The Sages live, but with how little TotK gave them to work with, AoI is going to have to characterize them from scratch.

That's a hard sell to anyone looking to buy a fun video game full of Zelda characters, and that's not the only problem with this roster: it's also small.

Not counting certain characters having multiple weapons, the original Hyrule Warriors launched with a roster of 13, and then three of the bosses were made playable in a patch.

Age of Calamity launched with 18.

If we're sticking entirely to the founding era with this game, we're following up a game that set sales records for the Warriors series with a piddly little roster that tells you at the end to go play a different game, with the surviving half of the roster being the faceless nobodies. Who's actually going to buy that beyond the LoZ die-hards who pitched a fit because not every returning NPC in Tears of the Kingdom greeted Link with a "Hey, I remember you!"?

It's quite clear, to me, that Age of Imprisonment is going to have another time travel twist, this time bringing in the modern Sages, as well as Link, probably Purah, and perhaps some others. (Paya? Tauro? Robbie? Josha? Kohga, for some reason? All possible, but Purah's the only supporting cast pick I'm confident in.)

If nothing else, the fact that Nintendo announced amiibo of the TotK Sages the same day as Age of Imprisonment seems more than coincidental.

[beepboprobotsnot]

So, I've seen a lot of stuff about how TotK's story is... not great. And I can't say I disagree with it. A number of decisions carried over from BotW don't work as well this time around, and a number of new decisions don't work super well either. But, I can't bring myself to call TotK's story bad. Because for all the things that it gets wrong, there are some things that it gets so, SO, right.

Spoilers. Obviously.

When Link first wakes up on the Great Sky Island, with a new arm and a broken Master Sword, he has one thought on his mind, represented by the first Main Quest. It's not "defeat Ganondorf", it's not "fix the Master Sword", it's not "figure out where I am", it's "Find Zelda." That's the first main quest, and it's also the last main quest, sticking with you all the way until the screen fades to black at the end of the final cutscene. For everything Link does, that's the driving force behind it. He could care less about Ganondorf, if it weren't for the fact that he is an obstacle in the way of finding Zelda.

And so, at the end of the game, TotK recognizes this, and plans appropriately. Because as fun as the Ganondorf fight is, that's not the climax. And as much as the Demon Dragon fight is a massive step up from Darkbeast, that's not the climax. The climax, the moment they pull out all the stops is the Final Fall. It starts with the heroic, triumphant brass from the trailer theme, moves into Zelda's Lullaby, and finishes with the main theme of LoZ to make my favorite music/story moment in a game since Little Goth from Celeste. And Nintendo could've made this a cutscene. After all, the final boss is already dead, and TotK is no stranger to 10-minute cutscenes. But they knew that this was the most climactic moment of the game, where Link undoes his failure from the start of the game, and that the player needed to be in control for it. And that's not even getting into the whole motif and hands and grasping hands throughout the whole game, but that's a whole nother thing.

TL;DR: For all its faults, TotK's story understands what its climax is. And that makes all the difference.

[thefallenangelsgang]

I'm losing my fucking mind

Or: I just saw Lord of the Rings the Musical at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and my brain chemistry has irreversibly changed

I'm too genuinely scrambled at the moment from travel to make a solid post (I am multiple states away from Illinois and I hate city driving) but I cannot shake the life-changing experience that was.

SPOILERS AHEAD

(Spoiler free tldr: story is changed sometimes severely to make a sub-3hr runtime or to simplify, but the message doesn't get completely lost. Tolkien fan approved)

First issue I can see everyone having is how much the story changes because it does change a lot. Rohan and Gondor being merged is probably the most glaring. I think it works because the show is more focused on the Hobbits (specifically Frodo and Sam). Personally I can look past it. My one issue is the missing Sam monologues (mount doom is a rather swift sequence, I'd have liked to see Sam give his devotion speech and his speech about the shire while waiting to die) those would have made insane songs but alas. The ending still was a gut punch though so it's more a personal preference thing.

First thing that blew me away was the technical aspect. The lighting and set design was GORGEOUS and EVOCATIVE. There were multiple times lighting alone drew me to tears.

The puppetry is immaculate. The nazgul chase is singularly some of the most beautiful choreo I've seen and I'm a slut for puppetry

The cast play all of the instruments live on stage, sometimes while doing choreography (nothing will prepare you to see Legolas holding a fucking trumpet or Boromir strapped into a goddamn accordion)

The costuming is more accurate to the original editions' illustrations which I found endlessly charming. One difference is, for safety (probably OSHA), all the hobbits (and Gollum) wear Sandals. This is never discussed. I love that.

BOROMIR IS KILLED BY HIS OWN SWORD WHICH I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PERFECT THAT IS NARRATIVELY

GOLLUM PLAYED BY TONY BOZZUTO IS NEARLY INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM ANDY SERKIS

(I am not joking about this. Somehow he has mastered Andy's physicality and voice work. It truly was a sight to behold.)

Saruman/Elrond's actor (dressed as a hobbit) was hanging out in our section during preshow and was having a grand old time.

Bilbo and Frodo were in the main audience bothering people. Frodo was playing a stick and ring game and got absolutely shown up by some 10 year old he invited to play.

The Entmoot took literally 2 minutes (the way I had to stop from HOWLING at that)

I was SOBBING at the end, like actually.

Somehow this production managed to keenly make me feel the ending of Frodo leaving for the Grey Havens more than the movies did. The Irony of Frodo leaving being both a hopeful prayer that there is a place where people bound with trauma and wounds too deep to heal can live in peace without pain and also a grim acceptance that sometimes people cannot recover was STARK

Frodo and Sam really push the narrative of this show up until the end and it hits HARD. God bless this cast with steady work, they all deserve it.

[meikuree]

stuff li aixue says

this is a quick compilation and translation of mandarin chinese segments in exordia, for reference purposes or just the discerning curious reader out there. quotes aren't limited to aixue, of course, but I wanted a catchy title.

I do have the memory of a single-celled organism and am not really skilled at combing through chapters for that one quote, so if I've missed something you're welcome to send it to me to be added.

spoilers ahead.

note: all mandarin chinese bits in Exordia are rendered solely in Hanyu Pinyin and not Hanzi, so I've done some guesswork for hanzi (in places where they're not immediately obvious) based on context.

Chaya's Protocol:

A woman in a red T-shirt trots right past her, headed toward the angel. She’s shooting video on her phone, chattering excitedly: “Jiào tā mén xiān yòng huā cài cauliflower hé xī lán huā tǒng pì yǎn bā, zhè cái suàn shì universality of fractal behavior de lì zǐ!”

=> 叫他们先用花菜 cauliflower 和西兰花捅屁眼吧, 这才算是 universality of fractal behavior 的例子!

ENG: right, tell them to shove some cauliflower and broccoli stalks up their ass then, that's a real example of the universality of fractal behavior!

note: ah, Aixue's memorable entrance. 捅 (lit. poke) 屁眼 (lit. butt) 吧 roughly means 'why don’t you stick it up your ass'. she's insulting the person she's talking about, presumably for saying something incorrect about universal fractality.

-

chapter 33:

Master Sergeant Zhang: Máo gān, zhè shì máo jiān. Wǒ mén xū yào jǐn jí kōng zhōng zhī yuán!

=> 矛杆、这是矛剑。我们需要紧急空中支援！

ENG: High Spear, this is Sharp Sword. We need urgent air support!

-

chapter 39:

Aixue: Wǒmen bìxū yào Pò fǔ chén zhōu… / Bù xíng! Wǒmen bìxū yào pò fǔ chén zhōu!

=> 我们必须要破釜沉舟... / 不行！我们必须要破釜沉舟

ENG: we need to fight to the very end... / no! we need to fight to the very end!

note: Aixue says 破釜沉舟, which is a four-word chengyu (idiom) that roughly means 'to pursue your last resort'; it literally means to sink one's entire fleet in an offensive, and figuratively refers to cutting off your own means of retreat i.e., to fight to the very death and leave yourself no choice.

-

and some trivia on other Chinese phrases:

lala (拉拉): Chinese slang for 'lesbian'. comes from lazi (拉子), from the novel Notes of a Crocodile by famous Taiwanese lesbian author Qiu Miaojin.

T / P: the Chinese counterpart to the butch/femme spectrum. T = tomboy, P = po ('wife') or also pretty girl, apparently.

tongzhi (同志): Huang Lim says this to Chaya. this is slang for homosexual in Chinese, but also means comrade (with historical communist associations), hence Huang Lim phrasing it as comrade first.

Li Aixue: aixue's name itself makes sense once you learn about her whole shtick with prajna, a fact that impresses me because Seth had already set her name into stone as early as the precursor short story for Exordia. just things that make you wonder if they'd planned everything out from the very beginning. anyway, Aixue sounds like 爱学, i.e., 'love for learning'. get it? there are many possible surnames with the hanyu pinyin Li, but my pet theory is that Li = 厉 (lit. 'powerful'), so that putting it all together into 厉爱学 means Aixue is an ultra nerd.

[crazerk]

First of all, I LOOVED the demo, living rent-free in my mind rn! I been craving a concubine MC IF for a while. Love the drama. Thank you so much ♡

Also, feel free to ignore if spoilers. You mentioned we can have heirs. Just wanted to know if we would be able to see/raise the children for a good part of the story, or would the optional heirs show up more towards the ending? :)

Hi! I answered this in forum so I’ll just copy and paste. But the TLDR: you will see and can raise (or neglect!) your children and interact with them throughout the story. Some endings are even dependent on the kind of relationship you have with them.

Your heirs if you choose to have them, will be characters in the story, like any other person you encounter.

You can only ever have three children, two boys and a girl. They will all have distinct personalities, your first son will always be outgoing, your second son always be more studious and your daughter will always be loyal to her family, but with a rebellious streak.

Your actions in their childhood can influence them. For example you can play favorites, support one son over the other and cause a dynastic war. Lots of fun side plots and arcs I’m excited to write about.

More details under the cut!

First Son

Looks wise he takes after his father, almost a spitting image of Kaz. He will be a very lively child, spending most of his time outdoors. If there is a thing that can be climbed he’ll climb it. If there is a thing with a sharp edge or a pointy tip, he’ll master it. He has a natural aptitude for all things martial and will be one of the finest warriors in the empire.

He will be popular and charismatic and with many friends and supporters. Everything a good ruler should be on paper. Yet he is eager to please and easily falls under the influence of others. He scoffs at his more serious lessons, only learned how to read because his father forced him too and his tutors find him very lacking in his academics. He has a disturbingly brutal streak as well, and sense of entitlement.

Yet he is the beloved son of the empire. He desperately needs someone to be proud of him at all times and will go out of his way to please you to get that validation. If his lesser virtues are indulged he may become a monster. However with enough persuasion and discipline he’ll grow into a fine man. Right?

Second Son

Almost a complete opposite to his older brother, your second son will take after you more. While he is tall like his dad, he’s painfully slender with elegant, almost delicate features. He will be beautiful, keeping his hair long and his dressing androgynous. When he was a child he caught a chill he never fully seemed to recover from, and is prone to falling sick. He shutters himself indoors, preferring the company of his books to that of anyone else, except maybe you.

There are many cruel whispers about your younger son. (You can decide whether you want to remove tongues and heads over these.) In comparison to his more accomplished older brother, he seems weaker, duller, less of a king, more of a sickly scholar. Your second son doesn’t seem to mind these rumors. He’ll pick afternoon tea with you over practing his swordsmanship or going on hunts. His tutors worship the ground he walks on, calling him the brightest mind they’ve ever seen while his weapons master is less impressed with his performance, claiming he can’t even hold a sword upright.

There are times when he seems content in his place as the younger or the “lesser” brother and that not many expect him to rule over the more impressive, older heir. Yet you can catch a glimpse of ambition in his eyes from time to time. A gleam of ruthless cunning, like a blade hidden behind his haunting beauty and demure countenance. You can of course nurture that gentleness, and remind him that he is strong where his brother is weak. Or you can sharpen that ruthlessness, for who knows when you’ll need a blade?

Only Daughter

Your daughter would be absolutely spoiled from the moment she’s born, and a delight to everyone around her. People will say she’ll be the amongst the greatest beauties the empire has ever produced as she managed to get the best of both you and Kaz. From a young age she’ll be aware of this, and will use it to her advantage.

She’s precarious, exceedingly intelligent and able to pick up on the subtleties of court even as a child. As she grows into a young woman, she can become a powerful player in her own right. Since her father is basically wrapped around her finger, her influence on him is not to be understated. She’d rather watch sword fights than do embroidery and is often sneaking away from the lessons meant to shape her into the perfect, elegant and refined princess to chase more “masculine” pursuits.

Her tutors praise her brilliance but her mistress complain that she’s too hardheaded and petulant to make a good and docile wife and all their lessons are wasted on her. It’s better if she were married off immediately, perhaps having children of her own can temper her wilder impulses. But you know she’ll burn something to the ground if she were forced to do anything of the sort. She can be extremely stubborn, but not cruel or malicious. At least, you don’t think so.

How you treat them will influence their behavior and actions later on in the story! Choosing a favorite, child neglect, or even turning them against each other will all have their consequences!

[residentcryptid]

TLoZ: Call of the Void ★ it's the lore post

Are you tired of seeing me post music with absolutely zero context and/or explanations besides "haha silly goofy tune"?

If yes, you should click the read more button :-0

SPOILER WARNING FOR TLOZ ECHOES OF WISDOM

what is this?!?!?

It's a fanmade soundtrack project for The Legend of Zelda series!

TLoZ: Call of the Void started out as a one-shot TTRPG campaign that I was going to run for my friends in ye olden days, which did not end up happening. Honestly, that was probably for the best because the first draft of this was not very good!!

ANYWAY!!!!!

There are going to be between 25-30 pieces of music in total and they will (IDEALLY) be available to listen to across all platforms by DECEMBER 2025.

so, what's it even about?

Our story takes place about 400 years after the events of Tears of the Kingdom, in a somewhat more technologically advanced Hyrule than the one of the past. Lately, though, folks have been reporting disappearances, large swarms of monsters suddenly appearing near villages, and unusual violet chasms. Many have begun to believe that these events are connected, somehow.

There's this old prophecy that states that a hero, a priestess, and a sorcerer will rise to save Hyrule from... whatever it is that's causing all of these problems, but our heroes will soon discover that there are a lot of missing pieces to this puzzle.

The TLDR is that this story is full of red herrings, the real big bad here is Null, who Vidar is working for, and despite traveling across the land, the sky, and the depths, our heroes aren't able to fully stop our favorite orb shaped ancient evil from breaching containment and nearly succeeding in plunging the world into nothingness.

ok cool, now who are these people?

these guys are the most relevant to the plot, which is why they're the only ones listed here!

i will make a separate post for side characters, which will be linked here once it's up (which may take a while because i still need to design and draw all of them....... crying)

Link

Link was born in a small village, a short walk away from the Lost Woods. He grew up being warned of the dangers that lay beyond. To their dismay, he'd sneak out in search of these things, armed with nothing but his father's old broadsword.

On one of his ventures into the Lost Woods, he stumbled upon one of those weird old temples. There, he found the Master Sword. Eventually, that led to him becoming Zelda's personal guard. They're pretty close friends now.

Interests include monsters, where the monsters are, how to defeat the monsters, and the foods you can cook with monster parts.

Link also communicates exclusively through Hylian sign language, which is commonly taught and used throughout Hyrule at this point.

Princess Zelda

Hyrule's crown princess, who's known for her bubbly, energetic personality & love for learning.

Zelda often spends the little spare time she has traveling through Hyrule, studying the plants, animals, and other natural curiosities of her kingdom.

She's also determined to find the root cause of the disasters that have plagued her people for centuries and do away with it for good. Perhaps her light magic will play a role in that…?

The pressure of being the crown princess gets to her sometimes and the visions she's been getting lately haven't helped ease the anxiety.

Kije Dragmire

The younger Dragmire brother, whose very existence was the first warning sign that the prophecy may be flawed. Only one Gerudo male is to be born every 100 years, so it goes. It never accounted for twins. Or for the younger one to be the bearer of the Triforce of Power. Weird situation all around.

Growing up, Kije's always been something of an afterthought. That's not to say he was forgotten, but it was very clear that no one expected him to even… exist. Being routinely left out of things did allow him more time to study magic on his own time. Silver linings.

Kije is a masterful sorcerer who favors fire, lightning, & wind. Contrary to popular belief, he wasn't born able to do any of that. It was through meticulous study & the creation of his own personal spellbook, as well as his strong sense of tenacity & determination.

Outside of magic, he's also taken to studying the history of Hyrule & making jewelry for himself & his friends. He'll never pass up a chance to talk about weird and cool rocks & the best places to find them. He & Zelda could go on forever about stuff like that, really.

Io Ota

Io is a researcher & inventor whose pursuit of knowledge has put them directly in harm's way more times than they can remember. Most of their expertise lies in creating useful (and cool) gadgets & the long-lasting effects of the Upheaval.

They're also responsible for creating an updated model of the Wild era's Sheikah Slate that the current figureheads of Hyrule (and Link) use to communicate from a distance.

While they were originally from Kakariko village, they set off to do their own thing by the time they were 14, citing everyone's concern over their wellbeing as an "annoyance" that was getting in the way of their studies.

Now they've set up shop in the Windvane Tech Lab, located southeast of Mabe Village.

Ganondorf Dragmire

Ganondorf is the oldest Dragmire sibling (by what, a few minutes?) & is quite adamant that he should have been the bearer of the Triforce of Power. And that his younger brother should not exist. He's regarded as a natural-born leader, warrior, and a... generally tolerable person to be around. That is, if you're willing to put up with his brutal honesty & excruciatingly blunt manner of communication.

As the oldest of the three, he's set to succeed Chief Rika as the leader of the Gerudo, which most folks were pretty content with. He's always been the most serious and, to some, the most dedicated to his people (not much of a competition when Kije & Deva are never really around). Unfortunately though, almost everyone thinks it's weird and cringe to try to assassinate your own brother with the help of a strange little bug-eyed shapeshifter.

Honestly, he never cared about Vidar's personal goals (didn't even him seriously, really), nor did he care about what happened to the Princess or her goofy green swordsman, but it was hard to resist an offer to get rid of Kije in order to rightfully claim what should have been his piece of the Triforce. Alas. Some things are just not meant to be.

Vidar Leucanthe

A teenage shapeshifter with a chip on his shoulder. After a lifetime of being kicked around by the people around him, he developed a hate for Hylians that led him to partnering with an ancient being to bring about the end of the world. And yes, he knows he'll die too & he doesn't really seem to care.

Vidar has a morbid sense of humor, sometimes behaves like a feral cat, and avoids forming close bonds with other people. Often refers to himself as "we" and seems to have a strong inferiority complex, only displaying a modicum of confidence when masked or in a non-human form.

Originally, he was from Mabe Village. The circumstances of his birth were quite unusual, inexplicable even, and he's the only member of the Leucanthe family with the ability to shapeshift & the only one with those dark markings all over his body. He later comes to figure out why that is, but for most of his life, he's just been treated like a monster or a bad omen of sorts.

After a brutal monster attack in his village (that was blamed on him! for no reason!), he cut everyone off and left. Hasn't spoken to his folks since that day. Eventually, he stumbled upon a rift, which interestingly, he wasn't affected by. He can just go in and out of the Stilled World at will... Again, he will later figure out why that is.

His current home is located in the Great Sky Island, hidden away from all of the other villages up there. In his spare time, he likes to carve miniature critters out of wood. His house is full of them (and several other trinkets from across the lands).

is anyone else working on this??

as of now, no 🥲 just me sadly rip

[villain-byteniwoha]

ships i like and why i ship them: a small, affectionate rant before bed

zhongchi: probably the first ship i ever interacted with. i may have started playing genshin for them. I specifically remember reading modern, non canon au fics on ao3 when i was still low AR and did not have liyue unlocked yet just to enjoy content of them without spoiling the story too much. those were good times

love the betrayal, the reciprocated manipulations, their individual bloody pasts and their juxtaposing love for humanity/family. the marriage chopsticks. god, the amount of threads I've read explaining those... and ofc you can't forget the official art with them by the harbor with the gingko leaves falling cinematically. i think that's the art that drew me to them lol

there's also something so deliciously tragic about a near-immortal being who's fated to succumb to erosion in due time, falling in love with a mortal man who's always within death's cold embrace. not to mention the subtext of their themes and principles. geo and hydro, stability and turbulence, land and sea, they crystallize when they meet in the middle, etc etc

kaeluc: another pairing I enjoyed the absolute shit out of, way back when I wasn't even playing the game yet. I remember learning about them while I was deep in my mxtx phase, specifically tgcf, and I'm pretty sure I dipped my toes in after I learned that they used to be sworn brothers. keywords here being used to. hook, line, and sinker. before I knew it, I was also reading fanfics about them, but only modern, non canon au ones because genshin terms made no sense to me and i didn't want spoilers. then I played the game. and then—we get Kaeya for free. I mained the shit out of that man for months.

and then. I fully entered the fandom, only to be immediately slapped in the face with the mistranslation issue.

and I get it, honestly, if you like ragbros good for you, I'm happy for you, but me personally, I will scorn hyv until the day I fucking die because had they not messed this up? kaeluc would've have been so powerful. KAELUC WOULD HAVE BEEN SO FUCKING POWERFUL

how could they not be? they're childhood friends but they're also forbidden romance coded, and rivals/enemies coded, but they're also soulmates. they don't just know each other, they're two halves of a whole, they know each other.

and the themes, don't even get me started on their themes. fire and ice, red and blue... paimon's line about them being similar (i.e. kaeya's a shady mf who fights in the day/diluc's a bright fire in the night) is one of the most romantic lines ever. they're sun and moon but only because they complete each other. also, lamp grass and calla lily? that's them as flowers, but they're the other person's ascension material like hello???????? fucking wild.

and ofc this kaeluc section can't end without me mentioning arundolyn and rostam. for those who don't know or have read/heard of those names but never really dug deep into it, arundolyn and rostam were knights of favonius around the same time as the cataclysm, and you can read about them in artifact sets such as brave heart, defender's will; and partially from the elegy bow

the reason they're here is because there are too many damn parallels between them and kaeluc to just be a coincidence.

arundolyn was a claymore user (see: ferrous shadow), he was the "lion of light,"; he was naturally gifted in strength but still trained hard and would later become the grand master of the knights; he'd push rostam to drink wine and tell him to have a little fun; he gives up his title and weapon after rostam dies

on the flip side, rostam was the swordsman who created the art of favonius bladework (see: favonius sword), his title was, "wolf pup,"; when he and arundolyn played as children, he was the stand-in for the champion knight of aristocracy; he "ruled the shadows," by protecting mond with ways the knights did not approve; rostam dies in an expedition to expunge the evils poured forth from the cataclysm...

I'll let you connect the dots there. I just also wanna point out, as a final note, that in the favonius sword's description, it says, "the childhood friend and spiritual counterpart of Arundolyn, the Lion of Light, whose name was Rostam, the Wolf Pup." ok. yeah. moving on

xiaoven: i very quickly realized after reading the genshin webtoon that venti was gonna be one of, if not my most favorite character. and i was curious as to who the people wanted to pair him with. keep in mind, this was around 2.0~2.2 I believe, so when I searched them up, the only canon backing I could find was the music scene

and boy, was that scene enough because holy shit, the brain rot these two gave me??? of a god who embodies freedom, and the last remaining yaksha chained to his duty????? they were so thematically opposed and beautiful, it wasn't hard to fall in love with them

by the time 3.0 came rolling in, I've already stopped playing, but that didn't mean i wasn't aware of how we were well fed by canon. from the trailer to venti full on attending the lantern rite and sitting down with the liyue gang; it was one of those interactions that transcended everything

and of course, OF COURSE, they also canonically addressed the fact that venti's music soothes xiao's soul. that's intimate. that's deep. that's so fucking romantic and nice and beautiful in the most tragic way...

also, we can't forget the depictions of god and servant here. the holy themes, the worship. the promise of immortality and foreverness, but also the threat of it. i just think xiao doomed with karmic debt and venti vowed to divine erosion is such a soulmate connection, and I'm also delusional

that's all for now but there's so much more...

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 68 Something Posting

A fight, a yap, and a wavering heart. Let's get on with it, dear void.

Rough TL of editor's notes:

First page: 毘灼-昼彦現る!! [Hishaku - Hiruhiko arawaru!!] Hiruhiko of the Hishaku appears!! Last page: 少女は決断する... [shoujo ha ketsudan suru...] The girl decides...

I've been doing full TLs of the Japanese chapters lately so there's going to be more yap from me about some differences between the EN and JP versions from now on- the ones I'm confident in, at least. Practicing for hours every day is starting to pay off.

So, About Hiruhiko...

First off, a TL note because I don't think this will be carried over in English. I'll be very impressed if it is, honestly (spoiler: it wasn't).

Such an easy to hate face.

What Hiruhiko says here in the last panel in Japanese: "Thank you for being born..." "...Samura's daughter (weakness)."

The last bubble says 座村の弱点 [samura no jakuten] "Samura's weakness." But the Ruby over jakuten reads "むすめ [musume]", or "daughter". It's a little trick specific to Japanese that's hard to translate into English, but essentially, Hiruhiko is saying "Samura's daughter" (that's what Iori and Chihiro would hear), while the kanji for "weakness" is there for the audience's benefit so we know what he really means. Not great for Iori either way though. She's truly just a pawn to Hiruhiko and the Hishaku as a whole.

OK. With that out of the way... I'm gonna be honest. It's hard for me to be objective about a character I dislike so much even under ideal conditions. And what we got this chapter was cool but it was also, uh...

Clown doing clown things and getting treated seriously.

Yeah. What the hell?

So, it's not completely unheard of for an amateur to win a duel against an experienced fighter just because they're unpredictable and a little lucky. Shit happens, you know? Sengoku (hotel manager dude) dying to Hiruhiko was kind of lame, but I was willing to let it slide. Until Hokazono-sensei did the thing you're not supposed to do with offscreen fights- he explained how Hiruhiko won in such a lame way that I'm now completely fed up with this character, the whole Escort Iori subplot, and want this sidequest to end ASAP so we can move on with the larger story.

Swapping the hand the sword is held in behind his back then doing a quick running slash isn't really an unbeatable display of swordsmanship in my opinion. It's more like a carnival or sword dancer trick; something for the aesthetic wow rather than actually being effective in combat. It's not convincing. And Chihiro being able to detect the trick while a master of a sword style couldn't doesn't hold water with me. I think this is genuinely the first time I was disappointed by getting context in Kagurabachi! That's alright though, no manga's perfect and it doesn't take away from the awesome perspective shots this chapter.

There's something I do like despite being thoroughly fed up with Hiruhiko and his bullshit:

An "aura farming" moment, as the dudebros would say. I agree.

Chihiro still isn't there with his swordsmanship, but this situation should look familiar:

Early art style jumpscare.

Chihiro learned from Sojo and forced Hiruhiko to call his bluff or risk both of them being decapitated. The momentum from Hiruhiko's swing probably would have meant Chihiro got hit and died too- but he counted on Hiruhiko backing off and won the bet. I love seeing this kind of shit man. Chihiro! You're always so cool! Always happy to see a protagonist that learns more than moral lessons from their enemies.

Also just for funny...

[Nathan Explosion voice] Brutal

This is the third time Chihiro's gotten blood in his eyes. He better be careful or he's gonna get hepatitis or some other nasty illness soon.

Iori and the Masumi

I wanna hug the Masumi so bad. We don't know anything about how they were raised but they're so clearly parallels to Hakuri with being raised as tools to value the mission over their lives. Please, please, please let nothing horrible happen to them. Toto's still hanging around and Kuguri's whereabouts are unknown so... please. Chihiro needs them so badly- they're the only people so far who have been able to force him to chill at all.

"Putting a timer on this fight for everyone's sake"- the editor, possibly (but not likely).

Did we need a key to add more tension? Well, we got it anyway. Cultural context: Given the appearance shown in this chapter, the lantern almost certainly an 石灯籠 [ishidourou]- the type of guardian lantern usually made out of stone and commonly found in Shintoist temples or as traditional garden decorations. They don't have any particular religious significance nowadays but they look nice when lights are placed inside for special occasions.

After the last "timer" (recovering Hakuri's sorcery) was thrown out the window, I'm not going to have any expectations on how this plays out. Instead I choose to hope that this delivery subquest being added means we'll hit the climax for this escort mission next chapter or the week after that. Between Chihiro reminding us of the countdown timer for Samura to move, the need for the key, and Kuguri's whereabouts being unknown, I think we'll get a cliffhanger on the issue of Iori's memories and/or Chihiro's fight with Hiruhiko next chapter then the resolutions the week after. Please. Normally I'm content to let authors cook but I'm genuinely getting more than a little frustrated with how all this is playing out.

"The only one" bearing the pain of a burden, hmm...

Iori's wavering and Chihiro's words about it being better to live with the truth seem to be eating at her. Everyone wants her to feels safe as an ordinary girl, but she's clearly not so sure about her decision to go back to normal life. She's keeping those memories now or I'm busting out the clown suit with the wig and everything.

I wonder if Iori will also parallel Chihiro's desire to go it alone. She has every right to confront Samura for leaving her behind, and I can see her wanting to bear the pain of their experience together as father and daughter. I'm looking forward to her development and where she goes- my heart will shatter if she becomes what Chihiro wanted to be with Kunishige. Parent and child, facing the guilt and life's challenges together. Willfully inheriting the legacy that Samura tried to spare her from.

Of course, Samura probably will refuse to let her, but shouldn't she have the choice? Iori's old enough now to understand what happened and decide for herself. Samura doesn't have to do this alone if his daughter wants to bear his sins with him. He doesn't have to do it at all if she's willing to help him find another way or absolve him! But he's so mired in guilt that he might be beyond all saving...

Ignorant bliss seems to be a kindness from Samura's point of view.

Iori knows what happened when she was a child, but she doesn't know the real reason why. And I feel like Samura won't tell her because he wants to spare her that much- he wants his little girl to live free from his burden. So she'll have to find out with Chihiro from Shiba or another adult who witnessed The Incident. Man, I hope we get back to this main plot thread soon. There's so much to uncover that the fight with Hiruhiko feels like a sideshow (as cool as the action shots are).

New vs. Old

If only he'd been correct about Hiruhiko's fighting "style" being dogshit.

What a nice master. Too bad his 150 year old technique was no match for a dumb pink frog holding a sword for the first time.

I was chatting with an acquaintance and he brought up an excellent point about our favourite Genius trio- each one of them has a different approach to legacy and tradition based on what they experienced.

"Legacy" and how it affects the younger generations is the core idea of Kagurabachi. Chihiro's dealing with his father's and his key foils each have had some exploration into the theme themselves.

Chihiro: raised with love and care -> respects tradition -> using the White Purity style to defend his dad's legacy and forge a new path for himself

Hakuri: abused and neglected -> hates tradition -> used the holy grail of his family's ethos (storehouse + isou) to destroy their legacy and forge a new path for them all

Hiruhiko: ??? -> doesn't care about tradition -> completely disregards it for the Hishaku's ambition and forges his own path

The only missing piece right now is Hiruhiko's full backstory- what did he experience (besides John spoiling him) that led him to care not a whit for tradition and ignore it completely? He's in the middle of Chihiro and Hakuri's approaches in how and why they fight. Chihiro is building off of tradition to do something new, Hakuri completely demolished his family's, and Hiruhiko... exists.

All three of them are going to be figuring out how to maximise their own strengths by themselves for the most part, but how closely they cleave to tradition while doing it says a lot about their characters and what they experienced. I'm not exactly dying to know Hiruhiko's backstory but if we're gonna have to get it at some point, may as well complete this little trio of contrasts.

Iori can absolutely be added to this comparison list too even if she's not a genius, we just have to see where she goes from here. I love all these deliberately constructed contrasts!

Small Complaint

Missing: my wife, Azami. Last seen: two months ago. Reward offered for information that leads to location.

...Alright. I know I'm getting frustrated in large part because I hate Hiruhiko. The faster he gets offscreen again, the happier I'll be.

I'm also champing at the bit to get to the Kamunabi's nonsense. Azami, Shiba, all those council people whose names we still don't have- what are they up to? Where the hell have Hiyuki and Tafuku been? And we seriously can't even get a single half-page checking in on Hakuri or the folks at Kamunabi HQ before going back to Chihiro? Come on, man...

So I guess the faster we're done with Samurabachi, the better. I don't want it to rush but I hope we don't go on any more sidequests to rescue surprise MacGuffins. It's a bit uncharitable to say that, I know, but those are my honest feelings. I like most of the characters we're dealing with right now but I'm tired of wondering when we'll get to the million other things that have been set up and teased since the first arc. The new guys seem preoccupied with just the immediate development stuff so where are the other folks at?! I need lingering questions answered or I'm going to get too frustrated to continue each week before long...

A lot of it is I need a break too. The action is cool and it's been hype but there's seriously not enough time spent giving catharsis. The point about Chihiro pushing himself too hard is getting me exhausted as a reader, too. I get it. He's tired and going to break sooner or later. But when? How many more times are we gonna be bonked over the head with how bad his condition is before the watershed moment?

We've been edged about so many things that keep piling up and I'm truly numb at this point. I'm waiting for this fight to finish and praying that we get a full yap chapter for information I'm in that bad of a state. No teasing, just some fucking answers that don't raise a million more questions. Even learning what Azami's sorcery is would be a relief at this point.

Okay. More fight next week, and maybe some hope of moving on. Give yourself a treat today, dear void, and I'll see you next time.

[neverchecking]

I have a brain rot for sage, hes challenging the chain for their time with player/reader, he basically wants all His/Her/Them's attention, of course none of the chain and sage are going to "play" fair their going to cheat no matter what. the only ones he might not win against is time, FD and maybe twilight. wind, four, Hyrule, and sky would do sad puppy eyes to get cuddle time, twilight and legend turn into their animal form to get pettings, sage and wild would cook food to get points for being delicious. (etc.etc.) just some yandere shenanigans for attention. the challenges he did were sword fighting, bow and arrow targeting, sparing, arm wrestling, and so forth.

-Eevee

Okay, last one for the night! I figured since this isn't really a request, I could spitball some more of my headcanons for our beloved Sage.

Jk it delted itself so I gave up and went to bed bc last time I tried to push through I wasn't happy with the end product, so sorry for the delay!

For those of you who don't know, Sage is another name for the Tears of the Kingdom Link--dubbed Hero of the Zonai-- should we decide he is not in fact Wild.

For the Wild and Facesitting request, it's in progress I promise! I try to go in order with my requests, but like I said, this is more headcanons versus a scenario. It should be out tomorrow later today so look out for that ;)

ANYWAY-

Y'all. The amount of Sage requests in my inbox right now? You guys are feral for this man and I love it. So I'm here to feed you guys.

TotK spoilers below!

・❥・Okay, so lemme start this off by saying. I have done you all wrong. And for that I apologize.

・❥・Because our wonderful @wayfayrr has opened my eyes to new possibilities that I would've never even thought of. So everyone say thank you rn >:(

・❥・So let's make some amendments!

・❥・First off, let's talk about nicknames. I love the idea that Reader, and only Reader, can call him anything other than Sage. And calling him other herb-related nicknames? Kills me. He is a flushing red mess the first time it happens. You had deemed him worthy of a nickname? You considered him person enough to have a moniker that wasn't also a title? If he was down bad before, it's so much worse now. Because you see him as a person. He's sure the others just see him as a means to the end. The second one of them, maybe save Wind, try it, he's shooting them daggers and snarling at them for even daring to try and impeach your privilege. (I also love the Calm, Wild and Feral thing, I thought that was so freaking clever.)

・❥・And you know how each of the hero's have their own 'sword' right? Well, what if Sage's was the Master Sword Remastered? Like Sky's (Like most of their Master Swords actually) but now it's been boosted by ten thousand years worth of direct light magic. (Does the Zonai time fall before Skyward Sword or after? I have no idea where they fall on the timeline tbh.). Just a thought. It could also be a gloom sword which probably wouldn't effect him as hard in other timelines because there's no demon king to power it, but it probably does hurt the others if they try to touch it.

・❥・Now, the juicy part. Let's retouch on Wild's and Sage's relationship. I originally said that Sage was okay with him? I lied. Wayfayrr has opened my eyes.

・❥・Sage probably can't fucking stand Wild. As they said, this is a version of him that didn't have this second adventure. Got to rest and distant himself from the Hero Title. And that just pisses him off. Why did he get the shittier hand? Why did he have to do it all over again? Why when this failure got to get off easy? Why couldn't he have the same grace, huh? What made them so different?

・❥・And if we're using the past oneshot (Here!) as they're 'canon' meeting, this filth let you get hurt. You were hurt before meeting him, which means that they can't be trusted with you. Especially Wild. So Sage cannot stand you being near Wild. At all. It eats at him and he doesn't last long before splitting the two of you up.

・❥・Calamity is even worse. There is probably an active hate towards Calamity (In this Yandere world, in a normal, not toxic world? They probably work out their differences a little better). This was a version of him who didn't even have to die to complete his quest. And this just shows that Fraud has favorites and it's not him.

・❥・You know who else he probably doesn't like? Twilight. Now, hear me out. This is purely me just spitting this out, but Sage has to be aware. He listens when they don't think he does, he's awake when they think he's not, he's watching when they don't even know he's there.

・❥・So he probably picks up on all of their little secrets. Meaning he knows Twilight is Wolfie. And (I think this is Canon is LU but I'm not sure) Wild had Wolfie as a guide. Which means Sage had Wolfie as a guide. The difference? When he needed him the second time, left stumbling around like a newborn fawn crawling out of the shrine all over again, he was left alone. He was fighting robots with a fucking Stick. He fused a mushroom to a shield just to buy himself more time. At one point, he was fusing a long stick to another long stick just to fight from a distance to save his battered body. Rauru did as much as he could, but there were some times he wished he was left for dead.

・❥・Not anymore as that means he would've never met you, but then? different story.

・❥・They also brought up that Sage probably doesn't stop at just cooking your food and I agree. When on the road, he for sure goes straight to the source. If he doesn't know exactly where it came from, it's not going anywhere near his Goddess. Nope. Not a chance in the gloomy depths from hell.

・❥・He's going to farmers themselves rather than merchants for produce, hunting any protein himself, climbing trees for eggs, he probably even makes his own butter. Now, because he's also cooking savy this for sure makes the rivalry between him and Wild widen. Wild is set in his cook for the chain, not you. Sage can't trust them to not hurt you again. Whose to say they don't over spice the food? Or undercook the fish? Or drop shells into the egg?

・❥・He can't trust them and may force you to pick one of the other. Depending on who you chose, he'll either hold his victory up high or work even harder to separate you from the chain. Can't you see, Reader? They aren't good for you.

・❥・When it comes to the Gloom, he for sure uses to his advantage. You know he's been infected, but you don't know how much light he's gathered to dispel it. At this point, he's probably gotten most, if not all of it, out, but you don't know that. And he preys on that fact.

・❥・Oh, the Traveler wants to down to the river with you? But, Reader, there's something rotten in his chest and he's stumbling against trees, exaggerating his steady steps just in case to really sell it. He needs you by his side, can't you see?

・❥・Oh, the captain is trying to get you to settle with him for the night? But, Reader, he's tossing and turning, feigning sleep and acting just enough to catch your attention. He's listening, ears pricked, just to hear you swiftly apologize before your gently hands are laying on his shoulders and he's won again.

・❥・And because his Hyrule is one of, if not the most dangerous Hyrules, he's given so much ammo to keep you tethered to him. You can't trust anyone, don't you know? The Yiga uptake has skyrocketed and they are everywhere, along with Ganon's new ability to make puppets? Can't you see how you can't trust any of them?

・❥・He even entertains you when you come up with the idea to have a secret saying between just the two of you as a fail safe. (It's probably something like 'Deforestation Enthusiast' because of how the two of you met.) Anything to have you pulling further away from the Chain and into his arms.

・❥・If it begins to take longer than expected, Sage is not above letting you wander just enough in his Hyrule. Maybe you set off a bit of Gloom hands (Or maybe he nudges them in your direction, hard to tell, really) and they go charging at you. The others don't know how to deal with them, but he does. He saves your life before the others even know what hit them. He's cooing into your ear, reassuring that where the others fail, he would never dream of it. He's whispering that he knows how scary the feeling of those hands are. He knows how freezing the feeling of sudden restriction, only accompanied by the burning sizzle of malice, is. He knows and he understands, but he's right here. He'd never let anything happen to you. Not like the other frauds.

・❥・Now, all that being said, Sage for sure does not play fair. Oh no. He does challenge them in his own ways, but does it in a way that can only reflect badly on them should they call him out on it.

・❥・He's fighting (Picking apart) with Wars and Calamity on their sparring routines, angling it in just a way that should they snap back he can turn on the innocent little look with a 'But I'm just trying to protect you. I don't know how any of you fight, I'm still learning.' Just in time for you to catch them barking at him to 'Learn faster' and it just falls perfectly into place.

・❥・He's calling out Twi and Four every time they try to wander off (Probably to bring out Wolfie or split to relieve a headache of sorts) because 'The woods are dangerous, what are they doing going off alone?' and now they can't leave because all eyes are on them and he's restricting their movement without even really trying. They wanna go foraging? But he and ...Wild were their best foragers and they were busy with dinner (That was something bitter to get out).

・❥・And wow, Time, Legend and Fierce have so many secrets, can you really trust them? Sage has laid down his entire adventure to you, and regardless if Reader is a LoZ player and knows of them regardless, Sage told you. Those two are trying to hide from you. He would never.

・❥・Wind, Hyrule and that filthy disgrace want to drag you along to go Shield surfing? Reader, do you know how dangerous that is? Especially with someone's track record. Here, you wanna go riding on this motorized wagon he just happens to have on hand? (Between the Zonite in his Purah pad, he can build any component necessary.)

・❥・Not even Sky and First are safe as he uses carefully laid words to sully their once golden image towards you. Afterall, they're so close to Hylia, whose to say they aren't behind all of this?

・❥・Now, you said that the only ones he may not win against are Time, Fierce and Twilight, but like I said, I can imagine him loathing Twilight, so instead, may I suggest First.

・❥・Time and Fierce are both pretty burly dudes that demand some semblance of respect and while Sage has muscles, he's not overly tall. So while he doesn't bow, he may just back off from their forefront for a while.

・❥・Now, First. He's probably the only one who can put Sage back in his place of the hierarchy. It's the first in the timeline, versus the last (As of right now). And it's not pretty. They probably go to blows a few times when you're out of ear shot.

・❥・The problem is that First can only push him back when you're out of ear shot and Sage makes it a point to keep you as close as humanly possible.

・❥・And while yes, some of them may use puppy eyes, Sage is not above using pity to get what he wants because he just hurts so badly don't you know?

・❥・He unfortunately can't do anything about wolves or rabbits. If they manage to disappear before he can call them out on it, he's left bitterly sulking as Wolfie laps at your cheeks or dumb rabbits nose at your hand. He may know who they are, but not even he's cruel enough to call them out (Yet) because that would just pit you against him. They weren't his secrets to tell, you would scold, and he just couldn't handle that possibility.

・❥・The biggest difference between Sage and Wild, one that the chain will fail to realize right away, is that Sage is much more experienced. He is on his second, THIRD if you count the pre-calamity, adventure. He knows everything Wild does, and more. Wild knows how to improvise and adapt, Sage can do it faster. Wild knows how to forage and concoct incredibly potent elixirs? Sage can do it tenfold with half the ingredients. He knows all the little tips and tricks and is not only backed up by the champion's gifts-- should they have remained-- but now he has the sages with him.

・❥・Like imagine their mid-battle, they had forced you away from Sage just to create some distance (At long last) and mans comes rolling in a giant fucking robot. He's using Sidon's sage to shield you over and over again and decimating a battle field using nothing but Riju and an arrow. Hell, the bigger enemies are struck down by Yunobo crashing into them. Sage alone is enough to cut the enemy hordes in half through recall and sending their own attacks back at them or fusing together weapons they wouldn't have ever dreamed of with new abilities. Even his outfits give him benefits far beyond anything they could think.

・❥・You saw him as someone more than just Link. He wasn't just the Swordsman to you when that was who he was to everyone else. You dubbed him something far beyond what a damned sword made him.

・❥・And he would have to be four days dead before letting you go.

・❥・And as he's proven before, Not even death could truly kill him.

I am so glad I waited bc I like this one so much more than the one that was deleted.

[sorasan000]

I'm sitting here building all sorts of headcanons, ideas, and theories about the Orr founders like they're free real estate. I'm glad that the story provides details that we can build upon, with plenty of them painting a picture of what kind of people they were.

Thoughts will contain spoilers past ch.1000.

The First Emperor clocks in as looking very similar to Kishiar. He held enough sword aura and divine power to be considered a deity in his own right, knew just what to do to avoid catastrophe after catastrophe, always had eyes that seemed to be looking at some far-off place, and reached out to and befriended the very mages that society was discriminating against at the time. He even married one and had a situationship with another, which set the tone for the society of the new empire going forward. Your future leaders are going to be mages, suck it.

The fact that he told Luma what he had actually lived through when he was moments from dying draws parallels between both Yuder as a fellow time traveler and Kishiar as his distant family. Yuder was originally planning on revealing that he was from the future after he had accomplished his goal to save the world. It was moved up because Kishiar was stressing out over his own futuristic dreams. Meanwhile, it seems right up all their alleys to simply repress their own battles for the [presumed] good of everyone else when it is, in fact, hurting them or going to hurt them deeply.

Luma is probably the most prominent character out of them all overall because he was the one actively researching time magic and he's connected to a character that is currently still alive via Enon (and most recently revealed, Yuder).

He was obsessed with research, magic, and time, and it wasn't just because that was just how mages were. He was obsessed out of grief and probably guilt. He felt very strongly for those in his life, and it sounded like he was pretty sad about not being able to have children of his own. Being granted "soul-bonded" children by the First Emperor was one of the greatest blessings he personally received.

He was very concerned about giving mages a place because he lived through that discrimination period. He met and lost fellow mages who would have rather died than keep going through their persecution. Sometimes I wonder if Luma and Modar were allies at one point over their concern over this.

Frankly, I'm wondering how different the Luma of the First Emperor's previous life was compared to the person he ended up becoming in the next. The Luma of the First's original timeline already knew how to send him back in time. Our Luma, meanwhile, seemed to master time forward.

The First Empress is unfortunately the least known figure of the founding. She was a mage, so she was part of the group experiencing discrimination. I headcanon her as having red hair because other than blond it seems to be the other common hair color among the ducal houses.

What's interesting about her so far is that for a little while, she was the stand-in ruler until the oldest of their children was old enough to ascend the throne and rule. Although it doesn't sound like people around her really respected her. In her will, she wished to be buried right across from the Emperor. However, they went against her wishes and buried her next to him.

Her desire to be buried across from him was out of grief that he would keep something so important about himself from her up until the very end. It would have stung all the more if it was Luma he had revealed everything to with his dying breaths instead of her.

Nonetheless, she and Luma were considered friends. She was one of the people who chased after Luma in desperation just as he was about to leave the capital after the 7th wall was completed. She trusted the discipline of her children to him, as well. I headcanon that they co-parented after the First's death.

I hope to get more insight from her side. Kishiar said that there might be clues they could find within her writings and the writings of her servants, after all. If I know one thing, details like that aren't just thrown out there for nothing.

[deedah]

“Redemption..?”

[J]=True

[Idk if I’ll make more ‘chapters’, I think I’ll do it if y’all like this one, k? Thx!]=True]

⚠️⚠️!!WARNING!!⚠️⚠️

This fanfic includes 

-depression

-spoilers for Murder Drones finale

-talk about death

Word count- 1349

     J threw the drill down on the snow as she used her left claws to end down a piece of metal as she finally got it screwed in. She then spread her metal wings as she did a flip in the air and landed in front of the newly built landing pod that Cyn had destroyed during her final moments.

    J almost felt proud of herself as she kept inspecting the space pod, but it was short lived when she remembered everything that had happened in the last few months. Cyn being destroyed, the planet somehow getting itself back together.. and.. her exile.

    J slowly walked into the pod as she used her hand to activate the door. She even decorated it a little. There was now a mattress hanging from the ceiling and a body mirror on one side of the wall. And there were also coat and hat hangers up on another side of the wall. But there was only one ‘hat’ on the hangers.

    ‘Tessa’s’ spacesuit helmet and some bows from her hair that she used to wear.

    J slowly picked up ‘Tessa’s’ helmet as she slowly walked backwards to sit down in the chair in front of the control panel. 

    Even though Cyn had used the helmet to trick V and the others, it still felt special to J. J had freaked out when Cyn had revealed that she was the one to kill Tessa at the gala by being controlled by Cyn.. and she even fought Cyn when she realized that Cyn was wearing Tessa’s skin like a fricken cosplay.

    J looked at her reflection in the helmet, then in the mirror.

    She then stood up slowly as she put the helmet back on the hanger. Then she went to stand in front of the mirror as she looked at her hair. During the fight with V and the other two drones, Uzi shot her stupid railgun towards J. Thankfully she missed, but she did cut half of her left pigtail off.

    J then looked at her hand as she involuntarily switched her hand for a sword. She looked at her yellow, tired, and dreary eyes before she quickly grabbed her right pigtail and chopped half of it off.

    She shut her eyes tight until she felt all her hair get cut off. She then looked at her hand to see the remains of her hair as she threw it in a trash can.

    The lonely Disassembly drone then took out her pigtails and flipped her hair upside down before shooting her head back up to see her hair down. 

    The last time her hair was down was when Tessa first found her and they were trying to find a hairstyle for her. 

    J then took one of Tessa’s black bows and she pulled her hair into a half-up-half-down gig as she put the bow where the two parts of her hair met in the back.

    [Flashback sequence]=True]

    [Tessa]=True]

    Tessa started to comb out the saved workers new hair that she gave them as the worker looked in the mirror.

    “You haven’t told me your name yet buddy..” Tessa said sweetly as the worker stopped making eye contact with her through the mirror.

    “I..” they started, “I’m sorry, master.. I don’t remember..” they said as they hugged themselves.

    Poor thing.. Tessa thought as she continued to brush the silver hair she gave the worker.

    “Well..” Tessa started with a soft smile, “Father said I can’t name you drones human names.. but when I found you, I thought you looked like the name Jade!” She explained as she grabbed one of her favorite black blows and pulled the workers hair into a half-up-half-down. “So why not just.. J?” She said as she crouched beside the worker. “You like it..? It’s one of my favorite hairstyles to do” She asked as she meant the name and the hair style.

    “I-“ they started as they touched their hair. “I like the name J, but can we..maybe.. do pigtails..?” J asked as she lowered her shoulders like she was afraid of saying her opinion.

    “Of course! I don’t mind at all!” Tessa said as she took the bow out and brushed out her hair again and used a small comb to part it in the middle.

    Tessa started to hum softly as J slowly listened to her.

    “What are you singing master..?” J asked once Tessa had finished putting J’s pigtails in.

    “Oh my! J please don’t call me ‘master’, I’m not that type of person!” She exclaimed as J slowly nodded. “And I was humming one of my favorite songs named “Eternal Dream”. I hear it on the radio a lot of the time” Tessa said as she thought. Though I’m shocked we still have radio with all this ai going around. 

    “Can you sing it for me, boss..?” J slowly asked as Tessa rolled her eyes playfully.

    “Of course, J” Tessa said as she started to sing, “I and tired of this dream~~” 

[End of flashback]=True]

[J]=True]

    “I can’t end this dream~~” J sang quietly as she finished up her new hair style. She liked it on her. It made her look like she changed in some way. 

    J looked back at the helmet to see a sticky note above it that she wrote for herself after she got the interior of the pod shapened up. It read-

    ‘Poor J, alone is a cold, dark, world. And keep holding the helmet J, it’s the trophy of the “winning” team’

    J wrote that for herself to remind of of what deal she had made with Cyn.

    I just wanted to be protected from death.. Part of her mind begged.

    “And look where it’s got you…” she looked back in the mirror as she countered her own mind, “idiot.” Her fists clenched as she looked at her eyes before she went and sat down in the chair again.

    She turned the radio on as she scourged through the channels until she finally found one that wasn’t just static.

    There was a song playing.

    J recognized it..

    Eternal dream..

    J listened to the song until it got to the chorus when it got interrupted by static.

    J sat up and started to hit it with her fist as she mumbled “Oh come on, stupid thing”

    She did get it to go back to not being static anymore, but this time.. it was different.

    Instead of the soft soothing song, J heard screams of terror and cries for help by strangers through the radio.

    “Hello..?!” A voice came through the radio, “Please! If anyone is there! Please speak up!”

    J could help but to press the button for the microphone as fast as she could and start to talk.

    “H-hello?!” J said through the radio as she awaited for an answer.

    “Ohoho thank Robo-God!! Someone!!” The stranger yelled happily through the radio, “JC!! Someone came through! We will be ok!!” They told one of their friends as she seemed like they came back face to face with the radio.

    “Hello! If you can hear us please say ‘Roger’!” They commanded, and J did as they said.

    “R-roger!”

    “Please! Do you have a spaceship or a landing pod of some kind!?” They asked, “Me and my friends are stranded in space! I don’t know if you know who this is but a robot named Cyn destroyed our home planet named Broze-7!” They explained as J’s eyes hollowed.

    “We are near what used to be earth! Please! Come find us before we die out here!” They begged.

    T-this is it.. J thought as she simmered on the words of the stranger, “This is my redemption!” J accidentally said out loud. When she noticed she had her mic on, she immediately started to apologize. “Oh, I’m sorry.. And yes! I have a pod! I am coming as quickly as I can! Stay put!” J said as she started to fire up the space pod. The last thing she heard from the radio before she blasted off was,

    “Redemption..?”

[bloopitynoot]

Reading SVSSS: Chapter 16

For those who don't know, I am reading SVSSS for the first time and sharing my thoughts!

If you have not read it, there will be spoilers! Consider this a warning.

Also- if you want to follow along, I am aiming to post updates daily. You can find all the posts in the tag bloopitynoot reads SVSSS. You can also check out the intro post for context on my read.

Hello! Another day, another chapter!

I really don't have much to ramble about today, but I am back on my tea. This is a new one from the ren faire this year- vanilla chai with sugar and milk. The cup is from the same ren faire (but purchased last year).

let's go let's let's go- I am already impatient to get into this chapter.

Last chapter we ended on a cliffhanger with Luo Binghe totally unconscious- we start this chapter with Shen QIngqiu ready to rescue his man and escape!

It's really so upsetting that he is going back to trash (two bar) spiritually energy in this body when he was so used to his mushroom Unlimited Power p65

RIP Luo Binghe's skull LOL he is really being tossed around like a rag doll. SQQ needs to be more careful. p66

MXTX said forget the only one bed trope, I raise you -> There Was Only One Coffin p67

Fuck. This is actually so scary 10/10 I would pee myself if a little skeletal arm was worming it's way into the coffin I was temporarily occupying (really anything in this book's reality would make me die of fright. as an aside I was talking to my partner about this while watching MDZS donghua yesterday, in the world of cultivators I would be a dumpling stall owner. I could never with the sword training and literal corpses). pp67-68

I CANT 'extenuating circumstances'. SQQ definitely: I just HAD to kiss his cute little forehead to save our lives. p68

i'm crying LOL "a person's abdomen is supposed to be the softest spot on their body, but Luo Binghe's was uncomfortably hard against Shen Qingqiu's stomach. The farther down he pulled him, the more he was sure that Luo Binghe had an eight-pack. Was that a rock slab down there?" p70

this keeps getting worse LMAO

OOOOO Meng Mo is back! Is it weird that I kind of love this guy? He has such a cool power and is a bit of a dick, but in the best and worst of ways. Him and Airplane give similar energy and I am not mad about it. p72

oh gosh! LBH is either "fatally ill" or "close to death" p72

wait- adding to the above point. he could also be mentally very unwell :( poor buddy -> it's likely this option. p72

so even though SQQ is processing nothing , I think SQQ admitting (not naming the feeling but admitting) that he is feeling a mess of emotions about Luo Binghe is a big step for him! p73

Meng Mo seems to have a lot of feelings about LBH. I am not sure if it's just pride or what but whatever it is he is correct here, "The way this elder sees it, he (LBH) should either kill you (SQQ) or do you!" p74

PLEASE OH NO

I AM WHEEZING

+1000 Protagonist Satisfaction Points for touching LBH's "Heavenly Pillar" p76

IM DYING OH NO

WHY IS THIS EVEN A THOUGHT IF HE THINKS HE'S STRAIGHT "He couldn't exactly help Luo Binghe jerk off under these circumstances, right?!" p76 But like if not these circumstances he is cool with doing it in other circumstances???????????

oh no! SQQ blocking the blades with his bare hand for LBH p79

Dang. the Old Palace Master has been through some shit. p80

Are we getting more of Shen jiu's story??? We have Qiu Haitang here too! p81 (just as an aside because my notes did not revisit this, we do not get more of his story just weird little hints. That I hope Shang Qinghua clears up later). p81

What a terrible combo. Old Palace master is just butthurt Luo Binghe doesn't want him as a teacher or to marry his daughter and Qiu Haitang seems to be just a vile woman with a grudge against SQQ for some reason. pp82-83

Okay but as horrible as OPM is, that cultivation he's doing with his voice is kind of cool. p85

Wait. Did the Old Palace Master have a thing for Su Xiyan? This is so fucking weird for LBH and he's not even conscious pp86-87

reading further the above point got so much worse omg :(((((((((((( I'm so upset for Su Xiyun. p87

It got even worse with the implications of what it meant for Luo Binghe in that sect. That terrible terrible man deserved that horrifying death. Fuck that guy! pp 89-90

OMG SQQ, basically half dead carrying LBH, barely got away from the death flower room, and here we have Tianglang-jun back on his bullshit. p94

SQQ is in such a bad state :o pp94-95

Is this another dime??? Our demon blood piggy bank for SQQ is now at $0.40 p97

YAY! Luo Binghe is awake! (is he going to be okay mentally though??)p 99

Why is Luo Binghe so mad? Like this man just nearly died trying to get you the fuck out of there p100

Fucking finally okay, it got better LBH is realizing what SQQ did while he was unconscious pp102-103

I'm glad they cleared that up (even though there was the other added miscommunication about LBH thinking SQQ was crying when he was actually just in a fuck ton of pain). p104

I am actually so glad that the discussion was interrupted before LBH found out about the dick touching being real LOL p108

MORE DEMON BLOOD. -> SQQ's dime bank is at $0.50

How many times does this man get kidnapped?

We really ended with him being kidnapped again and with Luo Binghe being conned by his own dad. That was so rough. -500 dignity points (not really but it sure feels like it)

[ninapi]

▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄

┊┊┊✧ ⁺ ⁺╚══ Mist Pillar ╝

Premise: Soulmates come at unexpected times and places. Muichiro goes on his final mission, one that he would get to remember to his very last breath. A short lived love blooms with the worse possible timing.

Word count: 3286

Warning: Spoilers of the original manga timeline.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Chaos was the only accurate definition for the current situation.

The pillar training sessions were about to begin, they were all very much occupied revising their own itinerary, they didn’t count with much time and needed to show results as fast as possible.

A reckoning mission came around, the demons were gone and even if Oyakata-sama was sure it was due to Nezuko, he still wanted to be absolutely sure they weren’t a threat currently before hogging all the corps in the states for training.

Muichiro, who had already been given the green light for his training schedule was selected for this quick mission.

He was to walk around the nearby villages, get information, live among the people for a few days and make sure there were no occurrences that would require further investigation.

The first few days came without incidents. The villages were quiet, no rumors going around. Everyone continued living their lives without even noticing the lack of danger in the air. It was quite refreshing for Muichiro to think of a life that continued like this. Would it be possible for them to defeat evil? Would this become everyone’s reality at some point?

It was endearing.

He never thought of getting a normal life back. He lived for Oyakata-sama and his purpose, he lived to help the world become a better place. Recently he’s been delving with his own emotions and trying to understand other’s feelings. Remembering his past had also helped him see the beauty of life, the beauty of connecting with others. It was nothing but a dream but he hoped maybe one day he would get to experience what others do, a simple normal life, enjoy the pleasures of nature and grow up to be a better man.

The last village was now in sight when he decided to take a short break while in the woods, he got some snacks on the way out of the previous village for this very same reason. His mission was coming to an end and the battle of a lifetime was approaching sooner than expected, he needed to reflect in his future actions to prevail.

Ginko, his loyal crow, as usual kept him company on her time off. He thoroughly enjoyed her company, she was his first friend, even before Tanjiro came to his life.

He loved caressing her feathers, they were so soft, it had a calming effect on him, exactly what he needed for the current task.

Even if she talks a lot, Ginko knows when her master needs silence, she enjoyed his company regardless of the lack of conversation.

Muichiro was deep in a meditative state when his senses caught something behind him in the tree line. “Reveal yourself!” his hand was hovering over the hilt of his sword, ready to attack if needed.

But the one behind the trees wasn’t a demon, nor a threat, but a girl seemingly around his age who seemed to be picking mushrooms and was startled by his hostility.

“I mean no harm, I work for the inn downtown, came looking for mushrooms for supper.” the girl came closer, showing Muichiro her basket full of mother’s nature goodness.

His hand retreated, resting over one of his legs, Ginko nuzzling his hand as a result.

Your eyes were on her the entire time fascinated by the familiarity of the bird with the boy, it was a rare sight, crows aren’t usually this friendly.

“Excuse me young master, is that your bird? I’ve never seen one getting this close to a human before.”

“She’s Ginko, you can say she’s my bird.” the normally hostile bird wasn’t reacting in a negative way, making Muichiro question her, this was more than unusual.

“She’s beautiful. May I touch her? I’ve always wanted to caress a crow. They’re wonderful creatures, sadly I’ve never been this close to one before.” he wasn’t sure why were you this excited about seeing a bird up close, but truth was, it didn’t matter to him if you did or not.

“If she lets you.”

Ginko was over the moon, people just don’t tell her often enough how beautiful she is. Seeing this human girl fuss about her was boosting her ego to the roof. She fluffed her feathers out, batting her eyelashes at you as to give you permission to proceed.

Bowing your head to her as sign of respect, you reached over to caress her feathers gently, almost adoringly.

Muichiro was entranced by the whole interaction, it was almost ethereal looking, made him wonder if you were some sort of wood sprite posing as human, he does tend to be popular among the creatures of the forest after all. Your eyes glowed with the reflection of the sun, your skin flushed with excitement, a smile so bright it could leave a man blind, breathtaking, even for someone like him.

“You have a wonderful bird, young master. Thank you for your kindness, I’ve enjoyed my afternoon thanks to you. Do come to our Inn if you need a place to stay!” and just like that, you were gone.

Ginko’s never been this quiet before, it was starting to scare him a little bit. “Muichiro, she felt like you. Isn’t that weird?”

“What do you mean she felt like me? Like the way she was playing with your feathers?” tilting his head to the side he was doing his best to comprehend his feathered friend.

“No, like the energy coming out of her. It was bright, just like yours.” he hummed in thought, rerunning the scene in his head, there was nothing particularly similar between the two of you, Ginko was probably just getting old, how long do birds even live?

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The sun was about to set and finding lodging became a priority. He’s been walking around the village all the afternoon and wished nothing more than a bath and a warm meal. That’s when he remembered the girl from the mountain, he’s pretty sure she said something about an inn downtown, just what he needed.

It was fairly easy to find as it was the only lodging facility in town, it was large and full of people. This was the largest village in the list, and it had a very different ambiance than the rest he visited on previous days.

He was able to secure a room but headed straight for the dining hall, he needed to eat something first.

His eyes kept roaming around all the faces present in the hall. Majority were old men already drunk, even when the evening was just starting. The workers were all girls, and they were all wearing the same uniform as the girl he met earlier, making it even harder to recognize her in the crowd.

He didn’t even know why he was looking for you, he was able to find the inn without problems, is not like he needed your help for anything.

“Here’s the udon you ordered, sir. Please be careful, it’s very hot.” he has the hardest time remembering things, faces included, but that voice, somehow it rang a bell in his head right away.

“Mushroom girl.”

This caught your attention, looking up at the guest before you. “Oh! The friendly owner of the beautiful crow!”

Friendly? You though he was friendly? Was it because he let you touch his bird? He wasn’t sure but it felt like a compliment, and he couldn’t help but give you a little smile. It’s been happening often, and he doesn’t know how to control this new skill of his.

“My name is (Y/N), don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything, I will be around!” you returned his smile but yours was brighter, bigger, shiny even. It caught his eye once again, and he didn’t know why, kind of reminded him of Tanjiro’s, gentle, full of appreciation.

The noodles were great, he was full, and his stomach was content. But for an unknown reason he called you over when you passed by and ordered a second round.

This time you brought him some extra side dishes that he didn’t order. Leaning closer you whispered, “These are on the house, but don’t tell anybody.” you winked at him playfully before running to answer another customer’s call.

His smile remained like a stamp on his face while he ate the delicious treats. It was starting to hurt his face muscles, being stiff due to the lack of use, eating while smiling felt definitely odd.

“Can I have some more water, please?” he’s been waiting twenty minutes to ask for a refill, there were over six different girls tending the customers, yet he waited until you were in proximity to make the request.

Happily, you refilled his cup and offered him some tea, which he agreed on. It was a long night. He never expected to stay in the dinner hall for three hours, all he wanted was something quick to eat and pass out for the night.

Ginko was waiting for him on his bedroom window, stressed by how long it took for him to arrive. “I thought you were dead, Muichiro.”

“Sorry, I got distracted.” he plopped face down on his futon, contemplating life. He was acting weird, could it be the presence of a demon? Maybe he should stay for a couple more days to investigate further.

“Are you not going to take a bath?” he just grunted a reply before dozing off. It’s been a long day. Unwillingly, he kept on asking for more stuff to eat and his stomach ached with fullness, all he needed was sleep.

Funny enough, once he managed to cross the border to the dream realm, a beautiful soft smile made its way out and remained on his face for the entirety of his restful sleep.

Dreams of giant mushrooms with cute faces and quiet lovely cottages in the forest invading his dreams.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

After interrogating villagers all morning, Muichiro ended up in the same mountain he was at the day before, annoying Ginko to her limits. “Why are we here again? We checked this area yesterday.”

“I just wanted to take a break. I like it here, it's quiet.” The village was indeed loud, she couldn’t throw a snarky comment back, it was true, it was a lovely place.

It reminded him of his home, the mountain was similar to this, the same wildflowers grew among the grass. It brought memories of a better time, a time his mother, father and brother were still with him.

His mother used to show him how to thread flowers together and he would make beautiful crowns for her all the time as gifts when he was a little boy, it was a treasured memory for Muichiro.

Without noticing, his hands started making a crown on their own while he was swimming in his own memories not minding the real world.

You were on mushroom duty once more, so you quickly noticed the boy sitting in the middle of the flower field. It was a beautiful sight, he looked almost like a doll, effortlessly pretty. Then you heard wings flapping around, your happiness couldn’t be contained. “GINKO!” running towards the middle of the field, you were now facing Muichiro and his feathered friend.

He didn’t think he’d get to see you there, or so he tells himself, but he secretly knows he did it on purpose. The reason was still unknown to him though, it gave him the need to look for an excuse for his peace of mind.

“You come here every day?”

“Well not really, we take turns but the girl in charge of Thursday is sick.” you were trying to bring Ginko over to your lap instead, the bird complying with joy.

“Ginko really likes you, that’s odd. She usually just likes me.” this made you smile fondly at the bird; she was really sweet you wished they would stay in the village for a long time.

“Maybe we have something in common that makes her comfortable with me. Maybe is the hair? Or hmmm…not sure, maybe we went through something similar and give out the same type of vibe?” Ginko did say you felt like him, it intrigued him.

“Did you have a twin brother that was murdered by a beast?” he said this with a straight face, as fresh as a lettuce, causing you to bulge your eyes out in distress.

“What? No. Please tell me that didn’t happen to you-“ the bird nestled herself against your stomach, seeking comfort.

“It did, I thought that might be it. What about your parents? Did they die tragically?” the situation was escalating fast, sadness was creeping its way to your chest faster than a wildfire.

“I don’t know much about my parents. I was told they sold me off to the inn keeper, but I don’t remember much of my past, don’t really know why either.” this made Muichiro’s eyes bulge in turn, that was it, that’s why you felt like him.

“I had amnesia before too, it got better now though. If it helps, mine got cured after being trapped in a water prison to the brink of death, maybe you should try that.” your eyes watered at his words, he’s been through so much, this poor guy.

“Thanks, though I don’t think I want to remember the people that chose money over their own daughter.” you smiled at him, but this time your smile was different, it didn’t feel warm, it didn’t feel welcoming, it made an upset feeling bubble in his chest.

“Here, this is for you.” he handed you the flower crown he was mindlessly building. True, he wasn’t even aware of the fact that he was making one, but he was in a way thinking of you while making it. It was yours without a doubt.

“For me? Really?” the sad smile morphed into a magnificent bright happy one as you set it over your head. “How does it look? Does it suit me?” Muichiro just nodded, returning the smile. Much better, that was smile the he remembers.

“Can I have your name? I would like to remember it...” your cheeks were changing colors like a rainbow after a rain shower, your lashes seemingly growing longer as shyness overtakes you.

“Tokito Muichiro.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Muichiro has been staying in the same village for a week now, Ginko couldn’t be seen anywhere, and he knew what that meant. He was probably going to have to go back this very same day.

It’s not like he has anything to do there, there were clearly no demons around, it was a peaceful village, everyone knew each other, like a big family. Nothing like the place he was born in.

But there was something inside of him that tied him to the place, like if he really didn’t want to leave, it was inexplicable to him. He didn’t want to leave the inn, he was starting to blend in and the life of others became his every day. Meeting each other as many times as posible throughout the day became a priority for the both of you, even if it was unspoken it felt almost like a promise.

A promise he didn’t want to break, but he knew he couldn’t keep.

When Ginko arrived with Oyakata-sama’s orders to go back for pillar training, his chest felt heavy. He knew this was coming, is not like he could just move into a random village and get a life there, at least not yet. He had a purpose, responsibilities, people counted on him. He had to go back.

Making his way out of the village he heard something far away from him, he couldn’t hear it clearly, but it sounded like his name.

Looking up, he saw you running down the mountain as fast as you could, not stopping until you crashed against his chest. Panting heavily, your face was stained with tears, the heaviness in Muichiro’s chest grew ten times deeper in just a second.

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” you looked sad, broken even.

“I have to go back to work. I overstayed.”

Fresh tears were adorning your face now, both of your hands bawling on his chest.

“You aren’t wearing the crown anymore.” you’ve been wearing it nonstop since he gave it to you, his attention span was short, the lack of flowers distracted him.

“I don’t want it to get ruined, I intend to keep it forever, so I am drying the flowers in my room.”

The heaviness in his chest turned to warmth, your words made him smile, he never thought someone would take such care of something made by him, it felt nice.

“Will I…ever…see you again?“ you were mumbling in between hiccups, trying your best to stop your tears.

“Can’t say for sure.” it wasn’t like he didn’t want to see you again, he just knew what was coming, it was unlikely at least for a long time.

You nodded in understanding, letting go of his uniform. “If you ever come back here, please stop by the inn. I would like to make a crown for you one day.” one of your hands reached over to his face, gently running your thumb along his cheek as if trying to memorize every single detail of him to perfection, a soft smile gracing your lips.

A crazy idea popped up in his head, “Do you want to come with me? I’m sure there’s something you could do where I live, maybe in the butterfly state, they’re all girls there. We could maybe do some crowns there and have some tea from time to time, I can even introduce you to my best friend, Tanjiro, I’m sure you two would get along. And you could help me take care of Ginko.”

For some reason he couldn’t stop talking, Ginko was definitely a bad influence, how do you even stop talking once you start?

But the look on your face was not what he was expecting, he was sure you would say yes, who would say no to meeting Tanjiro.

“Nothing would make me happier…but I can’t. I was sold to the inn keeper, remember? I can’t leave this place until I finish paying my worth.”

This was unexpected, he didn’t have any money, he wonders if maybe Oyakata-sama could buy your freedom. He’s the most respectable man he knows, he’s rich too, totally possible.

“I will get back for you, I promise.”

Your hand fell from his face, nodding weakly at his words. Somehow deep down in your heart you knew that wouldn’t happen.

“I will wait for you here then, for as long as it takes.”

Muichiro nodded in your direction before heading back home. He had a plan; he would talk with Oyakata-sama as soon as he arrives back at the state and everything would be fixed in no time.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

But things didn’t go according to plan. Oyakata-sama wasn’t feeling good, he couldn’t even grant audiences with his pillars any longer, his life span was coming to an end and couldn’t be bothered by others, he was told to wait and no longer after the battle that brought an end to his life came.

With his last breath he thinks of your smile when he gave you the flower crown, he thinks of the warmth of your hand against his face, thinks about how he was not able to keep his promise.

“I hope we meet again in another life….maybe then we can make flower crowns together.”

His last thoughts were plagued of you just before being received by his family in the afterlife. He did a good job, he helped defeating the strongest moon. This would help the others defeat Muzan, protect humanity.

This would keep you safe.

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Masterlist

[tyrantisterror]

To bring this chain of asks full circle, what are your top ten favorite Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi monsters and why? Either on the basis of biology, design, or even story significance? What are your favorite dishes from Delicious in Dungeon? 😋

I thin the chapter that introduced Dungeon Meshi's take on living armor is the moment where most readers realize they're in for something special and more than just the gag manga it could have been. For me, it's the epitome of what makes Dungeon Meshi's world-building so special. Living Armors are a stock monster in fantasy fiction, and normally the thought that goes into them begins and ends with "a suit of armor moves on its own because magic." That's all they have to be for an audience to accept them and move on, and in most fiction, that's all they will be.

Dungeon Meshi, by contrast, came up with the most creative explanation for why a suit of armor would walk around and attack people I've ever encountered. It's so bizarre that it's fascinating on its own - BUT THEN, just to show she's a fucking master of story-telling, Ryoko Kui makes the process of our hero discovering the nature of living armor vital to stopping them, saving his friends, and making his way through the dungeon. Dungeon Meshi took a monster archetype that is usually little more than a footnote and turned it into a crucial and iconic story beat, one so important that it continues to figure in to the plot thereafter in the form of Laios's living sword, Kensuke.

Griffins are a monster I have a great deal of fondness for, and one I feel should be more prominent given how iconic they are. There should be more kickass griffins in fiction, more memorable griffin stories, more griffins in general! Dungeon Meshi didn't reinvent the wheel with its take on griffins like it did with Living Armors, but its griffin/hippogriff arc is nonetheless one of the most important emotional beats in the story, and also led into the changeling arc, which is one of the funniest in the entire manga. They also gave griffins the gravitas as a monster that they rightfully deserve. A+ griffin use.

The vegetable lamb is one of my favorite obscure medieval folklore monsters and seeing it show up in this manga made me so happy. It is exactly the kind of bonkers idea that fits perfectly into Ryoko Kui's fantasy world, perfect addition, no notes.

I'm of two minds on how Quetzalcoatl has been reduced to a monster in pop culture instead of, you know, the benevolent god he was originally, but Dungeon Meshi's coatl at least gets a lot of gravitas and even plays a semi-heroic role in some scenes, which is better than most knockoff Q's get. Also the one in the manga itself is covered in psychedlic flower pictures because of SPOILERS and it's really cute.

...Falin's chimera form is ridiculously hot in ways that make me look long and hard at myself in the mirror and wonder why I'm wired like this.

On a less existential side of things, Laios's Ultimate Monster design is, for my money, the absolute best running gag in the manga, with the PERFECT punchline at the story's climax that you'll think you've guessed but trust me, you haven't quite. If you're looking at it and thinking, "That looks like what a four year old would draw when making a monster," you are right, and that is the gag, and trust me, it is ALWAYS funny when it pops up.

How many slots do I have left? Four? Fuck it, let's talk about the dragons, we can go over I don't give a shit. The Red Dragon is the Heavy for the first third of the manga, and it's built up impressively throughout all the monster-eating shenanigans, so that when it finally arrives as this small-scale kaiju who makes the dungeon tremble and quake in its path, you really get a sense of dread attached to it. A lot of modern fantasy fiction gets lazy with dragons, content to let their cultural reputation do the work for them, but Kui made sure that when a dragon entered her story, it feels like an EVENT.

I haven't watched the anime yet, but what I've seen shows they did a good job handling Kui's design, which has this wonderful blend of T.rex, sauropod, and crocodile to give it this primordial reptilian strength. I also love how they animated its Thor Thimble, it's a great touch.

About the only thing I'd change about the Red Dragon is its lack of wings, but then you see how the other dragon species look in Dungeon Meshi, and it makes more sense. Another trope of modern dragons I dislike is giving them all one body plan, when their mythic predecessors could have all sorts of arrangements and numbers of limbs. Kui's dragons follow suit - the red dragon is a stocky quadruped, green dragons have the hexapodal look with two wings and slightly more gracile proportions, we've got two-legged and two-winged wyverns, two-armed wyrms, multi-finned leviathans, Asian-style dragons, and even a big fluffy arctic dragon for those freaks out there who don't want dragons to have scales for some inexplicable reason. All of them are still very much dragons, but each one feels unique and broadens what a "dragon" can be in the setting. It's great, I love it, A+ dragon usage.

Oh, yeah, there's one other dragon species I forgot to put up there - the Nightmares, which in your dreams look like, well, a nightmare, and in the waking world look like... shellfish. Apparently it's a Japanese pun that doesn't translate easily into English. They're not really my favorite monster but I knew if I included all the other dragons and not these guys then at least one person would feel compelled to "Um, actually" me. That nightmare form for the Nightmare looks pretty wicked, though.