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rivcog · 3 months

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riVen 1997 / 2024

Fellow explorers, fans of the Fifth Age, here we are in the year 2024. A lot has happened over the course of 27 years. I'm here to focus on one thing. Riven. What's changed? Is it really worth discussing amidst the absolute bloodshed befalling humanity? This is, after all, just a video game. Who gehndamn cares about a little video game in a time of such a crushing and gaping rift between people and state power?

I do. If any of the following apply, please do not read another word.

Have not played 1997 Riven

Have not played 2024 Riven

Played 2024 Riven, and feel it's a solid 10 out of 10

Had any hand in the making of 2024 Riven

If you're still here, I have quite a bit to say on the subject. Please read with a grain of salt, you may or may not find what I have to say valuable or relatable. And that's perfectly ok. Every sentiment laid out is purely my perspective. 100% subjective. I simply have to get this out of my system. I apologize in advance.

1997 was profound for me. Riven is a stroke of art unlike any before and after. I will never forget installing Riven, running the start screen. Calibrating the brightness, testing the sounds. then starting the game. The opening logo, unforgettable. Back in that cave we left Atrus, there he is again… writing. Glad to see me. But something is wrong. The air is thick, his disposition… grave. Rand, you performed so well. This opening was heavy, and awesome. The tone was set. The music, perfect. Just enough information given to still not know really what the hell you're about to do. And then falling into that beautiful, broken Riven screen. Truly a masterful opening.

Navigating Temple Island for the first time. Wow. Mind, instantly blown. Exploring the Gate Room. Watching that thing rotate… oh my goodness. The nuanced movement, with the sound. You could feel that thing's mass. But nothing could truly prepare me for the maglev ride. Taking the maglev from Temple to Jungle for the first time completely shattered my expectations of what a sequel to Myst could be. To anything for that matter. Nothing has impressed me as much ever since. Not from a computer at least. A form of entertainment by way of fiction. It was better than perfect. The detail and nuances expressed and possessed by that single ride is hard to encapsulate in words. It was, at the very least of all things, thrilling.

And then we are arrive at disc 3. Jungle Island. It is immediately apparent you are somewhere interesting as a strange ball in the rock wall captures your attention. You click on it, and it swivels, beautifully… but makes a sound… an interesting sound. It feels important, and you have no idea why. The intrigue is deep. It's a simple device, clearly installed there, by somebody. I wonder who? Why? What's the significance of the sound? What the heck are these symbols all about?

This is just the beginning of 1997 Riven. Before I continue, the following must be stated. To all the devs and artists and creators and participants of Riven 2024, I bow to you, your work is gorgeous. Very pretty. Truly beautiful. You are wonderful, talented, and I'm grateful for you and your work. Deep bow. Please do not read the rest of this. To anybody who has not played or experienced 1997 Riven, especially back in the day on the old 1997 CRT monitor, this writing may not land on you at all. It's ok, it's not for a lot of people, as a matter of fact, I'm writing for probably the enjoyment of 25 others. A niche of a niche fan base. I am going to criticize some aspects of 2024 Riven. If you've never played either version, waste no time, if you've the computing prowess, close this window, open a new one, and buy the Tay out of this game. Experience it. It's very pretty, and probably engaging. If you are a fan of any flavor of 1997 Riven, hopefully you've not hesitated. It you're computer crutched, and unable to support the specs, find a walk through, hopefully a talkless one, and experience it vicariously. Opening the door and walking out into 233rd is worth every Gigabyte and millisecond spent getting there. There's not much to do there, and that's ok, it's gehning gorgeous. It's what every fan's been wanting for 27 years. And it looks spectacular. Thank you, Cyan, or Starry Expanse? At this point whatever. I still hold a hard salute to the Starry team, I miss you. You were doing god's work, truly.

OK, I want to talk to a few primary aspects of 1997 and 2024 Riven. 0 > Friction 1 > Nuance 2 > Point & Click 3 > Cut scenes 4 > Puzzles. I was considering posting this as an article somewhere, but really, why? It belongs here, in this spectacular community of fans. The only place I've really ever connected to people who love Myst and Riven. I've always loved this crowd, still do. Even if tumblr crumbles over night, I'll never forget this group. So let's get started.

0 > Friction

In Riven 97, there is not a whole lot to stop you from exploring large portions of the Fifth Age. Some things require a bit of work, but they pay off well. Garden Island for example feels entirely majestic by the time you arrive. At Temple Island, you can work on the Gate Room if you prefer, you'll need to eventually so why not. But no pressure, if you just want to go for a walk about through Jungle Island's Village, no problem. And with a keen eye, you can even open the wahrk totem's maw to the maglev from Jungle to Garden. Might as well check out Book island while you're at it. Take in the environment, get a taste of what you're dealing with. Let the the islands sail you off to another world.

This is important in capturing the explorer's attention. We are initially rewarded with a lot to see and interact with. We can take in the world quite freely without much friction at all. Incidentally discover a few things along the way, that may have us thinking, ah, perhaps I should look a little more closely at that one thing back there. We become captivated by Riven, before we really even begin cracking any codes.

In Riven 24, the pathway is much more linear. Without any other option, you must manipulate the Gate Room to access the maglev outside the temple. Once you get to Jungle, you cannot just explore the village. You must get to Garden first to take that maglev over to Jungle, whereupon you'll be able to access the Village submarine transit, which takes us behind the drawbridges for open access to the Village for full exploration. But first, your initial visit to Garden requires a trip to Book, and access to Gehn's lab, opening access to Garden and then Jungle's Village.

97 Riven treated it's explorers with more freedom. More trust. In the players and most importantly, itself. It did not guide their actions much. You were presented a world to explore. There are things to do, but they are so embedded in the natural state of the place you could easily miss it, and just explore. You could simply, be there. The friction actually presented in 97 is intense and lies almost entirely in it's 2 overarching puzzles. So much so the game doesn't need to bother with hindering your general pathway from island to island. The fire marble and moiety puzzles are hard enough on their own. They both require serious observation. The moiety observing nature, and Gehn observing mechanical constructs. The friction is thus this way very natural to the world of Riven. Truly masterful. A puzzle doesn't present itself as a puzzle. As a player, you're not even sure what isn't accessible yet (Book Island lab, Tay, 233rd). You enter Riven, see it's scope, and save Garden Island, have free reign to explore at your will. Any obscuring of areas yet to be accessed, leads to the joy felt upon finally seeing them. And I mean full on unknown areas. Even the lab on Book island was obscured until you worked enough to get there to at least see it, let alone access it. And in accessing it, details mattered. The frog/ytram for example, is important for the larger moiety puzzle.

In 97, you are given enough to get sucked in to the environment. You aren't given everything of course. You can't just get into the Village prison. Where any friction lies in your navigation, it was well employed and enticing. Book Island lab is the perfect example. You enter the island, and can see that path up there… there's something important there… but you don't know what yet. You just know you can't wait to see it and explore it. You've already been given enough of the world to see freely, now it's time to work. To get in the lab. To get into the domes. To get into Gallows prison.

24's friction largely lies in navigating to areas and islands. There seems to be an intended route to take in this game. It feels a lot more linear. 24 is a very different game as a result. On Jungle, you aren't allowed access to the meat of the Village. The pathway to exploring the adobe neighborhood is… long. You have to hit Book and Garden first to do it. It's a different style of friction, that 97 simply didn't need. It feels quite literally forced.

An example of navigational friction not all will experience was the collapsed Book / Temple bridge. Particularly during the task of capturing Gehn. I didn't try to touch the panel upon the initial offer from him, as I'm used to doing on the second go. In order to signal Gehn, you must link out to Riven, and back again. In 24, a link to Riven means a link into the lab on Book Island. Without bridge access to big ol Goldie, it's a very long journey back to Temple. The quickest way I found was to link through the Marble Domes, manipulate that thing in the expanse, and then swivel the Gate Room 5 times to get back to the 233rd book. Gosh, how much I missed the bridge in that moment was equal to my radiant respect for 97. It is unnecessary friction to solving a problem and accessing a new area. It didn't feel… rewarding. In felt… punishing.

To crystalize what I'm talking about with navigational friction, here's an example every player will experience: From game start, getting to initial maglev ride to Jungle Island

2024 spin gate room 4x -> unhinge locked exterior gate -> lift gate lever -> spin gate room 2x -> lift gate lever -> spin gate room 2x -> spin gate room yet 2 more times -> open spider room door -> sit in chair -> throw lever -> walk back through great gold dome -> through gate room -> cross bridge -> open temple door -> press maglev button

1997 cross bridge -> open spider chair door -> throw lever -> open spider chair door -> open temple door -> press maglev button

This was a substantial and clearly intentional change to Temple Island. I wonder why? What was the logic that was so pressing that the spider chair had to be moved? It made perfect sense where it was, the man behind the curtain style. It allowed a player to easily explore more than just Temple Island, leave the mysterious Gate Room for later in all of it's magnificent mass. It's an odd change as it presents immediate unnecessary friction, in so much as it may turn some new players away. Let em get sucked into the Jungle a bit and Book too… encouraging deeper exploration into previous areas. Let em work on the Gate room when ready, not force them into it immediately, potentially generating disdain for it. Let them at it at their own pace. The Gate Room is something to love not hate. 97 gave you a lot of Riven immediately. A few areas with friction, but you knew there was something to find, hidden. You knew that from the very cover of the game box itself. That dark beehive tree village definitely was not in the Fifth Age.

97's puzzle friction has deteriorated into more navigational friction, creating a narrower corridor for exploring with keen observation. The path becomes more linear. Puzzle pieces, more obvious. That may be ideal for today's gamers? Better for VR? I really don't know. Just some important notes on friction differences that set 97 and 24 well apart in the vast starry expanse.

1 > Nuance

I wanted to describe some of my 1997 Riven experience earlier to touch on this a bit. Riven hit me hard back then, because of the excruciating detail in the realistic animated movement of things. Don't get me wrong, the water in 2024 is surprisingly awesome. But when something like the Gate Room moves… something is lacking. It doesn't feel real. It's starts pretty good, but stops suddenly. No nuanced settling. The spider chair, same thing. Doors throughout the game are all this way. Everything's kind of quick and without physical nuance. Riven 97's animations are exquisite. Suspension of disbelief, immediately achieved. That kind of animation with sound design, goes millions of miles for the total experience of a digitally rendered setting. Will touch on this a little more in exactly one second.

2 > Point & Click

Player controls and animation nuance are connected subjects. The movement of things includes the player, that is, your perspective. 24 experience forgoes steadiness and stillness in player movement for full 3D navigation. The natural world of Riven is animating all around you. The animation quality of many objects is already not that great in 24. But the scenery is gorgeous. Sit still in 24, and just soak it in. Anywhere on any island, in any book. The scenery is spectacular. No need to animate it by my own movement. It breaks the realistic quality of the scene. It leads to an… unreal sensation. Today's gaming community will largely disagree with me on this, but Riven suffers from full 3D navigation. Without modifying anything else, a point / click interface would vastly improve the actual beauty embedded in 24's Riven. It would be a large step closer to bringing 24 into the realm of a hires remake of 97.

I was excited to navigate Riven in full 3D. The effect of this surprised me and highlighted something from the past. The stillness of the frame in 97. And in the clarity of gorgeous hi resolution imagery, I can't think of a better setting to hold the camera steady.

It's a key difference between the two Fives. The nuance of the animated objects and the distraction of navigating a 3D environment. 97 let's you observe everything, every frame. 24 guides your 3D navigation and hopes you don't sit still too long to notice some of the more impatient animations.

3 > Character cut-scenes

The opening of 97 is on par with the opening of a great film. It calmly and swiftly sets the tone, goals, and feel for the rest of the entire experience. It is perfect. Emotional, grave, serious, engaging, intriguing, respectful, and executed just so well. You don't interact with anything, you don't need to. I wonder why this was not done in 24? By comparison, it's disastrous, everything that made the 97 opening is lost. Even Atrus' script is watered down. The tone is much less serious, and much more casual. It's uninteresting. And then to have to navigate in 3D to click on the screen… it just breaks the fabric of the opening in half. In short, 97's opening is dramatic, whereas 24's is operational. It's barely serviceable. It is sterile. They are starkly contrasted. Truly shocking. It's 27 years later, shouldn't this scene be immaculate?

I can't think of one scene in 24 where an animated character is talking to you, and you need to interact with it. With that said, I'm not arguing for fmv, although 97 absolutely executed this with near perfection, I am wondering why couldn't pre-rendered high resolution animated cut scenes been used for these moments? Where the characters look near real, at least as real as the environment around them? A gollydarn pixar animation would do. Really, anything so long as it conveys the nuance of emotions, and does the job well. 97 Riven used real people footage over digital renders. And it looked amazing. Truly a stand out for that sort of thing back in the day. No game did it that good. 24 has done the opposite. Created near photo real environments in realtime 3D, with animated characters that don't look like they belong there. Even the wahrk looks… not nearly as good as 97's wahrk. Again, the excruciating detail in 97's animations is lost in 24. You can feel that with things like creatures, doors, and maglevs. And you can definitely feel that with 24's newest animated objects, the people. The character cut scenes are not even close to comparable. And yet again, here we are, 27 years into the technological future with something that feels less realistic than it's predecessor from the dustbins of scsi drives and crts.

4 > Island/puzzle modifications

2024 Riven is not 1997 Riven. Literally, things have changed so much, it's a different game. Garden/Survey Island for example, has lost a lot of its charm and feels nearly useless. In 97, the magic of this place compounded upon every movement more inward. The firey volcanic, gorgeous elevator used to transport you down not merely to a maglev, but thematically and dramatically aligned and led you down to an underground, underwater throne/observatory. It made sense an elevator like that would take you to you to a place so dark and intriguing. 24's beautiful elevator down simply gets you to another poorly animated maglev ride. The new pathway down to Gehn's underground throne is a sudden, swift and simple cart elevator ride down a shaft. Fairly straight forward, mildly jarring, and not very interesting. There's almost nothing to do up top where the fire marble dome resides. The entire fire marble puzzle has been so seriously simplified, the surveying apparatus to locate fmd's on islands is entirely absent in 24. Apparently this area has become a place where Gehn and his minions kill moiety people by way of wahrk attack. Gehn was a madman in 97 and sacrificed moiety/Rivenese at the Gallows, but if we are to talk character here, Gehn 97 wasn't just a murderous maniac. He was power corrupted. Dominandi inebriated. His sacrifices were public for many reasons. 24 Gehn feels a little more like a shallower bad guy. Now's he's simply murdering everybody. You know, like those nasty shallow one note hollywood villains do. 'He's just so terrible!' I like how Gehn had layers in 97. He still has some now, but you'd be lucky to notice or care for that matter. We get some depth with 233rd's imager, but Garden Island paints him too maniacal. 97 is a patient, largely quiet journey through a gorgeous series of interconnected islands. It was not rushed and felt introspective. Everything in Riven, islands and objects, developed Gehn's character. As a player, you intimately explore this persons art. Disposition, and get a good taste of the symptoms of power. 24 seems more like a place mass murderer Gehn happens to control, and I am supposed to be nervous he's after me too. This approach doesn't work well for me as a 97 fanatic. This Riven rewrite may serve new players well, I hope it does. It makes sense, but I miss the steady, calm, patient, explorative, almost eerie comfort of 97.

Over on Book/Boiler Island, Gehn's lab is no longer very inviting. It feels more like a laboratory with over the top, slightly out of place, scientific instrumentation. A bit cluttered and distracting. What was a book lab in 97, has become a fire marble lab in 24. 97's lab is very much enjoyable to explore and just be in, featuring a gorgeous potbelly oven as the room's centerpiece to boot. In 24, I suppose comfort is not quite the aim. It is, after all, Gehn-the-Terrible's domain, so by the threads of story, it makes sense. But there is something so seriously unappealing about Gehn's lab now. I'm not even sure I can put my finger on it. 97's lab is rewarding. It is gorgeous and elegant. 97 makes sense with Gehn's style (that being the entirety of Riven). A place I wanted to just sit in and think. How one breaks into the lab has dramatically changed as well. I could probably write a lot about the modifications of 24's Book Island, as with Garden, they are changes largely baffling to me and detrimental to the captivating intrigue these places possess in 97.

In 24, the Village in Jungle Island has expanded, and it's wonderful. The moiety stone room remains in tact, surprisingly, and it's beautiful in there. The moiety animal puzzle itself has been completely rebuilt. I prefer the minimal and totally interesting swiveling numbered animal noise balls in walls from 97, but the in your face, unmissable totem-moiety-number, moiety-lens-revealing-animal-symbol thing works fine. Once one finally manages to enter the actual Village, it's wonderful in there. I found myself wanting to explore even more. The water tower worked for the animal puzzle, but part of me was wanting something else. Something cultural up there. Maybe related to Tay. Not sure, maybe present a little friction to access those adobes of highest elevation. Perhaps a more protected area higher up the huts, where a moiety school exists, to counter the d'ni school below. A good place one could spend time learning the moiety numbers et al, after you've already amassed the symbols from totems or balls in walls, you could then finally translate the numerals. It's just so darn cool up there in huts-ville. All in all, very well done additions, without many modifications to the village in 24, except of course the moiety puzzle, as mentioned. Actually another excellent, major modification to 24's Jungle is the submarine dry dock area, accessed near the maglev to Garden Island. I found this to make a lot more sense on the story lines, and was enjoyable to use. The sub's piloting mechanisms were simplified as well, which I thought benefited the Village/Gallows explorations. It was easeful.

But why did 24 have to make accessing the sub dry dock so convoluted? Why couldn't we simply find that little switch to open the Wahrk elevator in the Jungle? Much of the subtlety of 97's Jungle has fallen into the fissure. 97's moiety puzzle is so wonderfully elegant. Minimally integrated into the environment and culture. 24's totem structures all look fantastic and culturally rich. But as a puzzle element, they are not only in plain view, but strongly highlighted. Perhaps the beautiful totem stick people things could be used for something else of importance, culturally. Maybe a cemetery of some sorts for the lives sacrificed? Let's see that spooky girl trip through a cemetery patch in the jungle maybe. Totem stick people, perhaps with flowers adorning a few. Maybe there's a special significance to one in particular. Who knows, all kinds of things could be done with the totems. They look so good, and feel like Rivenese constructs. Excellent. In keeping with 97's ingenuity, I could see the moiety puzzle untouched, and totems added for more depth in new areas. That tree out back… awesome, but as a mere puzzle piece, it feels unimportant. At the end of the day, beautiful assets all over this island and perhaps my favorite island in 24.

Conclusion

I would love to see a high resolution of Riven 1997 with these points addressed. Riven 2024 is wonderful, and I appreciate all the folks involved in it's making. When I initially caught wind of The Starry Expanse project here in tumblr, I was skeptical. I said softly to noone, "No, please don't do this." I thought the nuance and realism of Riven could not be done in realtime 3d. And at the time I think I was right. But as that project continued, one demo after the next, I saw it's progress. And by the time the Jungle Island demo was demonstrated, I was blown away. It looked gorgeous, and felt like Riven 1997. It wasn't complete, but I could see it's potential. It is possible.

The Starry Expanse was the ideal group to get it done. Cyan has already made Riven once, now twice. Cyan has financial constraints. Starry did not. It could have taken as long as it needed. A volunteer project (i think…?) to remake Riven in all of it's original glory. People who had no hand in the original undertaking. Just hard core fans of the work. No better person to hold faith to the original material. It remains a dream. And that's ok. We have Riven 1997. Riven 2024 may be the 1997 for some new gamers. I hope that's true. But for us still taking the bridge from Book to Temple, I'm still looking for Atrus to get me back to the place that I came from.

Riven 2024 is good.

Riven 1997 is god.

Please forgive me, fellow explorers. I apologize for this. And thanks for reading. Take care, my friends.

#myst #riven #d'ni #misc #1997 #2024

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musingsofalovelymillenial · 7 months

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Dead Friend Forever Episode 10

I meant to post this yesterday after I watched the episode when it aired but it was a long day yesterday so here we are. I have a lot I want to say about this show in general but that will have to be a different post, so this is just some thoughts about the episode. Spoilers for DFF episode 10 and I guess spoilers if you haven't seen the first Scream movie.

I think Phee and Tan/New are on opposite sides but not in the narrative we are being given. Phee told Jin some things that Phee would have no way of knowing because he was not with Tan when he was doing those things (poisoning Top at the temple (Phee was at the house), hanging the wire, being in the woods with Por (Phee was with Jin when that way happening) ) those are to name few instances where Phee is implying and stating he believes Tan/New did those things not that he actually saw him do those things or that Tan/New told him he did those things.

I think Phee is 100% manipulating Jin or at the very least the situation. I take back what I said last week about Phee having feelings for Jin. I think he does have feelings, but I also believe there is still some major manipulation happening. Phee and Jin could have left that temple whenever they wanted to!! When Phee gets water for Jin he goes back to alter where they walked in and got attacked by Top in the mask. Meaning they are not trapped in that temple so unless it has to do with them or Jin being tired and needing to rest some. They are not trapped. Also, Jin drinks the water, Phee does not, Jin hallucinates, and then after some long discussion we conveniently have an axe that Phee says it must be Tan/New's. Which after the woods knowing what Phee knows about Tan/New and the hallucinations he still chose to conveniently drop the axe right outside the house. I think Phee is just as much of a manipulator of situations. Which leads me to my next point about Phee and his reactions. I think he is possibly pulling a Billy Loomis (Scream!) (I could be wrong, this is just what it reminded me of or the vibe I got) In Scream, Billy secretly in the mask comes after Sydney then pretends it isn't him, then makes himself seem innocent and then gets attacked by the killer (fake dies) only to then be revealed to be the actual killer/one behind the mayhem. I think Phee may be doing this to Jin and may be planning to get Jin to 100% trust and rely on him to then use that against him especially because Tan/New seemed calm with Phee revealing who he is but more importantly I think it ties back to the fact that Phee in present time referred to himself as Non's boyfriend. Not a "I use to be his boyfriend", " I told him to go die and we broke", no. Jin asks, " Tan is Non's brother, the one called New right?" Phee responds "Yes. New came back from England." Jin then asks, " And you're Non's boyfriend?" and Phee says Yes. I think this is important because Jin is clarifying what he has been told and if he is caught up on all the information so at that moment Phee is saying yes, I am Non's boyfriend. I think this will be important going into our final two episodes.

Fluke shot Top in the exact same spot Por got impaled by the branch. Coincidence? Ironic?

Back to Phee and what he told Jin about Por and the woods. He is assuming Por saw Non under the mask or assuming Por saw the masked killer, he would have no way of knowing that it is what Por saw because Por couldn't tell them what he hallucinated. So, in my opinion that is either a big assumption of Phee's part or he lied! I stated back in my original theory post with my deep dive that I think there have been 3 "killers" this whole time. Because someone groped Tee, we still don't know if Tan was hallucinating seeing the masked killer after Fluke hallucinated being choked by Por and there was no way Tan/ New could have lured Por out of the house and into the woods because Tan/ New was with Fluke and Top playing Jenga. And we know if we are to believe Phee, Phee states to Jin that Tan/New must have lured Por out of the house, Phee is directly implying that Por did not hallucinate seeing someone on the CCTV camera which is what led him to seeing someone outside to then be lured out there in the first place. Phee again in my opinion is backing up that there is in fact another people helping them. Whether that person is helping just Phee or Phee and Tan/New we do not know but the likelihood of a third person (Non or possibly White) could very well be true.

White. I want more about him. I think he goes between being calm to crying very quickly. He also seems to be able to manipulate Tee and change the situation. I do believe there is more to White that we know, and I hope the next episode gives us that however if White is innocent and just Tee's boyfriend then I do believe his death will be to show just how far Tan/New is not only willing to go but also the fact that an innocent person is dead due to not only the acts of the original group ( Por, Fluke, Top, Tee, & Jin) but also that the need for revenge or the need for answers ( Phee & Tan/New) has caused the death of an innocent person something they cannot take back. If White dies in the show innocent Tan/New will be responsible for causing the death of someone similar to the brother he was doing all this for in the first place and once again the destruction of a seemingly innocent person will be laid at the feet of the original group and that loss will be a punishment and consequence for Tee's role in Non's life and by extension Tan/New's.

I have more to say about Jin and Phee and the woods, but it will be its own post.

Thank you for listening to my theories, I am interested in seeing the last two episodes play out and see other fans thoughts. As we approach the finale of this show I have truly enjoyed the interactions with people online about it and love watching this show alongside other people!

#dead friend forever #dff the series #barcode tinnasit #be on cloud #copper phuriwat #dff spoilers #fuaiz thanawat #jj chalach #jjay patiphan #mio athens #dead friend forever the series #dff episode 10 #bl series #bump pawat #jet jetsadakorn #us nititorn #ta nannakun

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surelynotaspider · 2 years

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Teyvat's God

Creator!Reader x Genshin Impact

Summary: The creator descends down to Teyvat once again. Will there be chaos or peace?

-> Sagau AU -> Wordcount: 0.76k~

Masterlist

A long, long time ago, there was a god. The creator, to be exact. Oldest being to ever exist. Much older than even Celestia.

Said creator did what they did best. Create. And so originated Teyvat and everything within. Not many have had the honor of seeing the creator since they were very, very tired after using so much power and energy, they fell asleep and left Celestia in their power.

And time went on and on and on. Creations were still intact. Celestia made sure the world knew about you, their creator. Statues were built, as well as temples. Offerings were given to you each day and people prayed to you each passing second.

At first, humans only prayed to you and only you. They saw you as their saviour, their hero. But faith can crumble, and it did.

You were gone for more than 5 thousand years, not even leaving a message every now and then to ensure you are still there, listening to their prayers and their problems.

Now they pray to other gods. Mostly Archons. They were here, they listened and protected their own people, unlike you.

Where were you?

No one knew, not even Celestia.

But oh dear, when you showed up, chaos was brought upon Teyvat.

You crunched your eyebrows. The light was blending you too much for your comfort.

Wait.

The light was blinding you! Is that the sun?

You suddenly opened your eyes. Not believing what you saw. You were finally here! After so many years you got your well-deserved rest and created a body to descend down to Teyvat once again.

How you have missed feeling the soft grass under your feet, the wind breezing towards you, the cold water leaving shivers on your body and the sun warming you up.

You sigh, close your eyes and relax. It's been so, so long. Sure no one's gonna miss you for a few additional hours.

Walking around Teyvat has been so much fun! So many new things to explore, new animal species you were sure you didn't create. Such as... cats...? You couldn't remember the name, but it didn't matter to you! You were finally happy. They made you happy!

And wait until you find civilization!

It was fun, really fun. You were astonished by the structures these so-called humans build. Back in the old days, they were called mortals. Blinded by the beauty of Mondstadt, as they called it, you didn't seem to notice the person in front of you.

So you walked right into them. Not fully used to your new body, you fell. You squeezed your eyes shut, preparing for the pain... that never came? Could you even experience pain?

You felt soft, cold hands around your wrist. Your eyes slowly opened. Right in front of you was quite a handsome man. Short blue hair covering his black eyepatch. A blue top with white sleeves covering his arms. You can't help but notice a blue glowing ball hanging at his hips. What's that? Before you could even apologize for your clumsiness, he spoke first.

"My, my. What do we have here?" His voice was deep, yet soft. His accent wasn't something you were used to.

Do people still speak the original language? Or do they only know English?

"I'm sorry, sir. I must have been blended by the beauty of this city." You smiled at him. Your voice traced with grace. It wouldn't surprise him if you were hidden royalty.

For a moment he couldn't process what you said. You radiated grace, importance and power. Not even speaking of your breathtaking beauty. Those eyes, sparkling at every new thing you encountered (which was like everything). Your lips form a smile at each passing citizen.

"No worries, I take it you're new to Mondstadt?" He smoothly responded, hiding the fact he was flustered.

Your eyes lit up. He swore it was the most beautiful he'd ever seen.

"Yes, I certainly am! The architecture is so different compared to the other cities I've visited." Others might say you lied, never seeing other lands such as Liyue. Others might deny it saying you saw cities from 5 thousand years ago and others just don't give a fuck.

"You don't mind me giving you a tour, right? And I'm Kaeya by the way." Kaeya. What a fascinating name. One you've never heard of.

"Kaeya. What a beautiful name. Of course, I don't mind a tour! I'm [Name]. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Part 2 (coming soon)

#genshin impact #genshin #creator #kaeya alberich #You #genshin impact x reader #god!reader #sagau #self aware genshin #reader #celestia

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paradoxcase · 5 months

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@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

Fascinating to me that a nun commiting suicide TWICE drove two of the big background events: John identifying soul (when she puts a bullet in her brain) and the Lyctors being forced to take the final step in the process (when she talks Alfred into a suicide pact).

Yeah. Cristabel seems to have been a very strange person. I noticed there was also a mention of her and Alfred meditating together in this chapter, I guess he must also be pretty strange even for a hedge fund manager

John needed the suicidal nun too be able to identify the 'individual code' that identified separate souls within the larger 'program' of the 'world soul' I think. Once he did that he could get that specific about souls....I think.

Yeah, he was able to see the individual soul at that point, but it said he was still not able to do anything with it because Alecto was there

@eye-lantern:

For the nun, well. She is a nun, so the soul is more important than politics. She has found here second coming, but the idiot is raving about how the merchants in the temple are not funding his project instead of becoming closer to his Father. She has a few loose screws but a very clear sense of purpose

@wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess:

@eye-lantern This comment about the nun is really well said, in my view. She was a zealot, both before and after what happened, but she seemed to believe deeply in the 'holy' mission.

When you put it like that, I guess I can see it. I wonder what she is actually like on the other side, after they all come back and I guess have probably forgotten Christianity?

The reference to the shaman and the sun refers to a Maori legend about catching the sun in the sky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamanuiter%C4%81)

Ahh, neat. But John envisioning himself as Maui (if I understand that right) now makes me think of him singing the "You're Welcome" song from Moana. It's interesting that Maui shows up in both Hawaiian and Maori mythology

@eye-lantern:

I agree that John's decision make little sense, and to me that's part of the message

He is a random dude who was given power over life and death in the most stressful situation of his life. He couldn't handle it better. Anyone in this situation would have their worst aspects exacerbated and for him it was his vindictivness. He misuses it immediately because he is hooked on directly to the absolute power of a screaming mad planet. A few days of lack of sleep can fuck up your reasoning so bad, and he was already at his lowest.

His behavior after becoming Jod is more logical, but informed by the fact that no one can ever harm him, and he can kill with a thought. Life has lost all human like stakes to him. It's nothing more than a game to play with his dolls/friends.

Oh, yeah, I get that he was stressed out and sleep deprived and made a bunch of bad decisions, but like for days up to this he keeps talking about how how it's so important that the trillionaires not be allowed to leave, and nobody tells him that that's not right. Well, I think Augustine maybe did once, when he was like "why don't you do some good wizard shit", and Cassipeia said so way too late, but when John was all like "we have to stop them!" at the beginning of the chapter, no one said anything. I feel like there were some sensible people in this group who should have said something sensible at that point? Mercy, Augustine, Pyrrha, Cassiopeia?

For the burnt thumb thing, when you hurt a finger a lot of instinctual reflexes are: aply pressure, get close to you, and for a burn, wet. So a lot of kids shove any hurt finger in their mouth. Also works for bleeding.

Sure, but I don't see how that relates to "it's human nature to take things" because you're not taking anything by doing that?

And my personal theory for the gift she gave him. She gave him an instinctual look in the working of a plane of the laws that regulate the world. Kinda like how humans and some species evolved to understand abstraction, that allowed them to use tools, and even make them. But when discovering a new concept it's easier to use it to hurt than to heal of build. If you give a sharp rock to someone, they'll understand how to make a weapon before using it to fray plants and create rope. John is a monkey given a toolbox and he realise the hammer breaks things, and did not go in depth with the mastic and spackle because it did not do anything interesting immediately. I think if he had not focused on death, the "easy" option of what he was given, he may have realised he had powers that could have saved humanity

I don't know. I mean, it seems like necromancers generally can work with organic material, but might not be so good at changing the climate or neutralizing pollution. Or do you think that John's powers are significantly different than necromancy, and the powers of regular necromancers don't ultimately come from Alecto, but are just a different thing caused by the thanergy radiation from the undead planets?

#the locked tomb #wellhappybirthdaytomeiguess #eye-lantern

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bbwritesmuchstuff · 6 months

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Magic and Sunlight

Being involved in both the Second Titan War and the War with Gaia, the last thing I wanted was to get involved in more of the gods problems, but such is the life of a demigod. Especially when a got lands in my dumpster. My bleeding heart is going to get me killed. Welcome to the dumpster fire.

Chapters; 1(You are Here), 2, 3

1 I Adopt a God and a Feral Child

Meeting a god in a dumpster alley was not in my plans for the day. I was studying for my driving test, which was murder on my brain. Studying with ADHD and dyslexia was already hard enough, but with a subject as boring as traffic laws, it was mild torture at best. I was rubbing my temples due to the swimming letters when there was suddenly a loud thud from outside my window. I jumped and immediately slipped my bracelets on my wrists, the Celestial bronze decorated with my mother’s symbol.

Leaning out the window, I frowned in confusion. There was a boy in the dumpster beside the bottom of my fire escape. At first, I thought that maybe he’d fallen from a window or something, but then, that wouldn’t have explained the smoke coming from his body. Given that my mother was in charge of controlling the Mist, I was very good at seeing through it, so I knew this guy wasn’t a monster. He obviously wasn’t human either, so I was cautious as I crawled out the window onto the fire escape.

“No!” The kid cried, “No, it wasn’t! Please!”

Pity and sympathy churned in my chest. Poor kid seemed delirious and was talking to himself. Now that he was conscious, he struggled and pulled himself out of the dumpster. He collapsed onto the asphalt. I carefully started down the fire escape. Whatever was up with this guy, he needed help. The boy from the dumpster fumbled around. I was so distracted that I didn’t notice the two idiots coming down the alley until one of them spoke.

“Hey, Cade, take a look at this loser.” One of them jeered. A blonde and a redhead. The redhead one looked at the wallet the dumpster kid had in his hand and grinned.

“Now, be nice, Mikey. This guy looks friendly enough.” The redhead, Cade, apparently, pulled out a big hunting knife. “In fact, I bet he wants to give us all his money.”

I cursed under my breath and shuffled down the fire escape as fast as I could without slipping. The wet, icy weather of January was not helping that endeavor. The dumpster kid stood up and tried to square his shoulders confidently. His lanky body type and boyish curly hair wasn’t helping whatever intimidation he was going for.

“I am Apollo,” the dumpster kid announced, “You mortals have three choices: offer me tribute, flee, or be destroyed.”

His voice cracked on the word ‘destroyed’. A ball of dread settled in my stomach. If this kid was serious, this was bad. Apollo had disappeared shortly after the Seven had defeated Gaia according to Percy and Annabeth though we hadn’t heard from him for some time before that. Then Olympus went silent AGAIN.

“What do you think, Mikey?” Cade grinned mockingly, “Should we give this guy tribute?”

“Not feeling the tribute, Cade.” Mikey sneered sarcastically, “What are the other options?”

I fiddled with the ladder that was meant to drop to the alley floor. It was rusty so it was stubborn and not unlatching.

“Fleeing?” said Cade.

“Nah,” said Mikey.

“Being destroyed?”

“How about we destroy him instead?” Mikey snorted.

I finally got the latch undone and the ladder dropped with a clang as Cade flipped his knife and caught it by the handle. The muggers glanced at me but quickly decided I wasn’t important.

“I can live with that. After you.” Cade said. The dumpster kid, maybe Apollo, raised his fists. I slid down the ladder.

“I warned you,” said the dumpster kid, “My powers are far beyond your comprehension.”

As soon as Mikey got close enough, Dumpster Kid swung. Unfortunately, Mikey ducked and kicked him in the back. I winced as I heard Dumpster Kid’s head strike the asphalt with a crack.

“Hey!” I shouted. “Back off, jerkface!”

The boys laughed at me. I picked up a nearby loose chunk of broken asphalt and chucked it straight into the side of Mikey’s head. The guy cursed loudly as he crumpled to the floor. I darted over and put myself between Dumpster Kid and Cade. Cade swung the knife at me. His aim was shoddy though and I moved, grabbed his arm and used his unsteadiness from the swing to fling him into the brick wall. After years of fighting monsters, street thugs were relatively easy to deal with. Mikey tried to get up, his head bleeding where I’d hit him with the asphalt, but I stomped on his head before he got far. He lost consciousness. I glanced back at Dumpster Kid, who was sitting on his knees, nose bleeding and swollen, and staring at me with a mixture of confusion and awe.

“You little-” Cade started, but I quickly cut him off with a swift kick to the gut. I kneed his head into the wall which knocked him out too. I turned to Dumpster Kid and picked up the wallet he’d dropped. I handed it to him.

“You okay?” I asked, “Sorry, dumb question. You just got mugged. Of course you’re not okay.”

I grabbed a pocket package of tissues from my back pocket. I kneeled down and tried to clean as much blood from his face as I could. He flinched and blinked rapidly, seemingly just processing what just happened.

“Aphrodite…?” He croaked. I shook my head.

“Nope. Sorry.” I told him. “I’m Celeste.”

“Apollo.” He said. I couldn’t find any trace of a lie. Before I could ask any more questions, I was interrupted by a shout.

“Hey!” I looked up to see Meg. She scrambled down a fire escape. Meg was a kid who seemed homeless but hung around the alley a lot. I’d slowly gotten Meg to like me, mostly through offering her food. Kinda the same way you’d tame a feral cat.

“He fell in MY alley!” Meg whined, “Whatever he has is mine!”

I sighed.

“Meg, I just stopped the guy from getting mugged,” I said, “Please don’t start anything.”

I didn’t see Meg kick the apple but it smacked me in the forehead nonetheless. I grimaged and shot her a glare. Meg crossed her arms and pouted. She skipped over and inspected Apollo.

“This loser is supposed to be Apollo?” Meg snorted.

“Why is everyone calling me a loser?” Apollo lamented.

“You crawled out of a dumpster and looked like a mess.” Meg said.

“I am not at my best.” He explained, “My father, Zeus, has exiled me from Olympus.”

“That explains a lot of what just happened.” I said.

“I may need assistance.” Apollo said hesitantly. “I need to become a god again.”

“If I remember right,” I said, “you’ve been turned into a mortal before, right? What did you do then?”

“You’ve done this before?” Meg snickered, “How many times?”

Apollo gave Meg an irritated look.

“Usually, Zeus requires me to work as a slave for an important demigod.” Apollo explained, then perked up as though something occurred to him. “Like Percy Jackson! We are in Manhattan, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” I said then hesitated, “But Percy isn’t going to be super thrilled if you try to push him into another quest.”

“Nonsense,” Apollo said, “Everyone is happy to see me!”

“How do you even know?” Meg asked.

“Know what?” Apollo asked.

“Which demigod you’re supposed to serve, duh.” Meg said and rolled her eyes.

“I… uh. Well, usually it’s obvious. I sort of just ran into them. That’s why I want to find Percy. My new master will claim my service and-”

“I’m Meg McCaffrey,” Meg blew Apollo a raspberry, “and I claim your service!”

“Meg!” My scolding was cut off by thunder rumbling overhead. Apollo’s face fell in a look of shock and horror. Then he grimaced and glared at Meg.

“I walked right into that, didn’t I?” Apollo grumbled.

“Yep!” Meg chirped cheerfully. “We’re going to have fun.”

“Are you sure you’re not my sister in disguise playing a cruel trick on me?” Apollo groaned.

“I’m that other thing you said,” Meg said, “a demigod.”

“How do you know?” Apollo questioned.

“Just do.” Meg said cryptically with a smug smile. “And now I’ve got a sidekick god!”

“I’ve seen her get targeted by monsters before.” I told Apollo. Meg’s shoulders slumped when I explained. Apparently, she’d been getting a kick out of being unhelpful.

“Please, Father, I get the point. Please, I can’t do this!” Apollo pleaded to the sky. If Zeus was listening at all, he ignored Apollo and showed no signs of response.

“Either way,” I said, “we’re going to need to see Percy. If for no other reason than that Percy can drive us to camp. You guys are going to be a huge target if you don’t get somewhere safe.”

Meg groaned.

“I’ll be fine.” She protested. We’d had this argument before. I’d been trying to get Meg to come to camp with me since finding out she’s a demigod. She’d been weirdly against the idea.

“Maybe, but now you have a god turned mortal with you and he’s going to attract more than just monsters who are going to want to have a crack at killing him.” I told her. “Plus, you can barely feed yourself a lot of the time. Camp can give you food and shelter for both of you.”

“Good food?” Meg perked up. I figured that’d get her attention. I nodded.

“Most of the time, yeah.” I said, “You don’t have to go dumpster diving for it, at least.”

“Let’s go!” Meg said quickly.

“Let me grab something from my apartment. Do not go anywhere.” I said and quickly went back up the fire escape to my window. I shut and locked my window. I grabbed my emergency quest back which had an extra dagger, mortal money, drachmas, some Nectar and Ambrosia, a first aid kit and a change of clothes. I left a note for my father so he wouldn't freak out as badly when he got home and saw me gone. Slinging the backpack over my shoulder, I left and locked the door behind me.

#percy jackon and the olympians #trials of apollo #apollo x oc #daughter of Hecate OC #pjo apollo #meg mcaffery #lester papadopoulos #pjo fanfic #percy jackson fanfiction

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rakumel · 1 year

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Raku Plays Her Faves, Ys VIII: Chapter 2, Part 1

Last time, a couple more people were rescued, and we learned that there’s at least one dinosaur on this island. Unfortunately, it doesn’t subscribe to the “friends, not food” philosophy. But all things considered, our group of castaways is making the best of a bad situation. So far, their goals are to find any other survivors, build a safe meeting place for them, and develop a plan for actually getting off the Island of Seiren. No one else has successfully done it, but by god they’re gonna try anyway. And to be fair, they seem to be a skilled and optimistic bunch, so maybe they have a pretty decent shot at it.

Simple and straightforward, right?

Well, it’s sure seemed that way so far. In fact, one could probably argue that the castaways’ story alone is enough to make the game worthwhile. There’s a lot to it. In fact, this entry might be a little boring because I’ll be going over (or trying to) some of the mechanics they introduce in this chapter, and pointing out a couple of features in the pause menu that I really like.

I’ve been mostly glossing over the game mechanics so far because while it’s important to me that they work well and make sense, what really grabs me about this game - or any game, or any work of fiction - is the characters and the story, so it’s what I tend to focus on. And Chapter 2 opens up with what will eventually be a new twist to the plot.

To really set the stage though, you’ve got to hear the music that plays through the opening, which is one of the most beautiful tracks in the game (and there’s a LOT to choose from!!)

youtube

We’re not really given any explanation for this non sequitur after Chapter 1 ends, just a blank screen saying “Adol hears a girl’s voice that he does not recognize.” Then the camera (for lack of a better word) pans over still images of whatever it is Adol’s witnessing. There’s no voiced dialogue, so sometimes you have to take a moment to figure out who’s talking to whom.

The girl is named Dana, and it’s implied she has visions of future events. This gets the attention of the oracle at a place called the Temple of the Great Tree, and the people on the left in the lower screenshot there - priestesses, or servants of the oracle presumably - have come to Dana’s family to take her there. They say she has “been blessed with outstanding Essence,” which isn’t defined here, but for now it’s probably safe to assume from context clues that it’s some power she has that’s responsible for her visions. Dana agrees to go with them to the temple, mainly for her family’s sake, as she’s heard that they’ll get great blessings after she leaves.

It feels like the beginning of a completely different story, and it’s not immediately clear what it has to do with Adol or his situation, or why he’s seeing any of this.

Not clear...yet.

Cut back to Adol, who had been sleeping in a makeshift hammock. Ah, it was only a dream he had, though it seems to have robbed Adol of any actual rest. You can tell Laxia the truth here (”I had a weird dream”) or just say it’s nothing. Either way, the game proceeds as normal. Makes sense. I mean, how many of us just go on about our day after having a weird dream? Usually we just blame it on the leftovers we ate last night and move on.

Laxia’s been sorting through some of the wreckage that’s washed up on shore, and she finds some clothes that are about Adol’s size and honestly, look pretty good on him. But if you miss his sailor outfit, don’t worry: you can change right back to it in the equip menu if you want. I thought that was a neat little touch.

If Adol thanks Laxia for the clothes, she just does the whole “It’s not like I like you or anything, baka!” bit in the upper screenshot.

Ah yes, the menu. Let’s take a look at a couple of things in it before proceeding with the story.

So here’s the Skills menu for each playable character (er...so far) (yes there will be more), which has some nifty little features including this awesome dynamic artwork of them. There are basic moves that you can do with the attack and jump buttons, but as your characters level up, they also learn Skills.

Skills are special moves, usually with more range and/or power, that you execute with something called SP. SP is built up from normal attacks, and is indicated by a blue gauge in the lower right of the screen (when you’re actively playing). As you can see in the lower right of the screencaps, highlighting the skill in this menu gives you a quick description of what the move does and a graphic depicting the type and size of range it has - directly in front, small and centered around the character, etc. You can assign a skill to whatever controller button you want, change them at any time, and deploy it in battle with R1 + whichever button. At first, the game seems to encourage you to try as many of those skills as you can; you can level them up to 2, and then Max. I assume they do more damage at Max level, but truth be told I haven’t paid much attention.

You can also see each character’s Extra skill in this menu, but they only get one and it never changes. So...basically trivia. But still, I dig the move customization.

There’s also a tab for Adol’s journal, which has all kinds of useful shit in it. It keeps a record of things like how long you’ve been playing, how far you’ve traveled, and how much of the island you’ve explored. That last one’s actually important: the captain rewards you with an item for every 10 percent of the island you explore. Any time you pick up a new item or encounter a new monster, it’ll also be recorded here. This comes in handy whenever you need info for item harvesting purposes.

Whenever you meet a new person, it’s jotted down too. At first you get a quick bio and some more of that kickass character art; more details about them are filled in later as you talk to them and the game progresses. See that yellowish star in the top right corner of the page, along with the two black ones? That’ll become important later as we’re introduced to another game mechanic. (Especially if you want the game’s true ending.) It’s that character’s approval rating, and Adol can increase it by completing side quests and buying gifts for that person.

My only nitpick about this is that Dogi starts at one star just like the rest of the characters. It makes sense for the people who are relative strangers to only have one star, but supposedly Dogi’s known Adol for a long time by this point. Shouldn’t his approval rating already be maxed out? Oh well. Guess it wouldn’t be fair to leave him out of the gift-giving, anyway.

There’s more to the menu, but hopefully you’re getting a sense of how much detail and work went into this game, and damn man, this lady appreciates it.

...fuck, that got wordy. Here, have a funny picture to balance it out.

Thanks, Sahad. Appreciate you.

And of course I appreciate you too, Dogi! Anyway, yes...brand new morning on the island. Right now the facilities are few and simple - a campfire to cook with, a rudimentary forge to improve your weapons, a stump where you can make a few healing items, and a place where you can trade up some of your collected items for higher tier ones. But they’re all important now, and will be much improved in the future as we find and rescue more shipwreck survivors.

There’s basic tutorials for all the facilities, but I wanted to draw a little attention to the cooking one specifically. Laxia reluctantly admits she doesn’t know how to cook; since she’s a noblewoman, servants have always done it for her. Dogi’s got the perfect response above. In case you can’t see it, he tells her that now is the perfect time to learn, and he teaches her (and us) a simple fish soup recipe. Now that is exactly how you respond to someone who doesn’t know something you think is “obvious.” No judgement, no incredulous “how do you not know that??” bullshit. Bless your big wallcrushin’ heart, Dogi.

Dogi asks Sahad if he can catch some fish for their breakfast, so right around this time is when you learn how the fishing mechanic works. I know, I know, every game has fishing in it nowadays, but here it makes sense - they’re stranded on a desert island and gotta eat. Naturally, since Sahad’s the fisherman, he shows the others how, and even makes a fishing pole for them. Fishing’s very simple - just collect bait, look for fish shadows in any body of water, cast your line at them, mash X (and sometimes other buttons, if it’s a big fish) to catch. It’s not a bad idea to fish occasionally, as you get items for each fish you catch, and sometimes even fish up treasure or unique enemies.

There’s also a friend we’ll meet later who will be very interested in the fish you catch, and will reward you with rare items for giving them to her.

Another new feature is this message board that’s been put up. Remember those approval ratings for Adol I mentioned earlier? This is where you get those side quests to raise them. You’ll want to check this board fairly often, because these quests are missable. You’ll also want to make sure you complete them within the allotted game time, although it’s usually a very generous amount of time and therefore not much of a problem.

By the way, see that parrot sitting on the notice board there? The one that looks like a cross between a Macaw and an African Grey? He’s not just for decoration. He even gets his own entry and approval rating alongside the people in Adol’s journal, which is fucking awesome.

No, I mean it, this bird absolutely deserves his entry. To explain why, let’s go back to the story for a bit.

So Adol, Laxia, and Sahad set out to find more people, only to come across a large tree obstructing their path. The parrot, who we learned earlier is named Little Paro, had followed them. Little Paro then flies back to their base and gets Dogi and the captain to help them move the tree and clear the way.

This is the mechanic for opening up some new areas of the island. If you come across an obstruction, and have rescued enough people, you can ask Little Paro to deliver a message to them to come and help you remove it.

(needed*)

Little Paro also comes and finds you whenever there’s trouble at the base. So basically he’s a little long-distance messenger. Also, nice reference to actual African Greys, who are not only vocal but incredibly smart. So it’s no stretch that he would not only know the layout of the island, but also recognize the characters and even use their names. Very cool.

So now that this way is clear (and I’m done fucking rambling about game mechanics and menus), what will they find on the other side? Besides more beach, I mean. We’ll find out next time.

#raku plays her faves #ys VIII #lacrimosa of dana #raku plays her faves: ys VIII #I talked way too much about game workings in this one #but I spent a long time on it so up it goes #don't worry chapter 2 gets WAY more exciting

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chanoyu-to-wa · 1 year

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Nampō roku, Book 7 (71a): Nambō Sōkei Declares His Attachment to the Two-mat Daime Room.

71) This monk replied [to Rikyū], “[what you say] is very praiseworthy; [but we must not forget the fact] that Jōō and [Ri]kyū exerted their wholehearted efforts to establish the details of the kane [䂓矩 = カネ] of the daime-giri [臺目切]¹. So, even if [we] were determined to discard [the use of] such an interesting venue, [I] do not believe it would, in fact, be possible to make do with only the [two mat room with] mukō-ro²! [Nevertheless,] if [you] insist on finding fault with attaching a daime to the two-mat room, then [you] should just continue doing as you wish [and receive your guests only in a two-mat room with mukō-ro]³!

“But furthermore, when the ro in the three-mat room was moved out [of the utensil mat], and cut [in the adjoining mat] on the katte-side of the half-ken [that is beyond the right edge of the utensil mat], that also made it easier [for the host to interact directly with his guests]⁴. The [delightful] effect of suspending [the kama on] a jizai (or something of the sort) -- that it would be difficult to discard this kind of setting [cannot be denied]....⁵”

Lord [Ri]kyū chuckled [to himself], “I think we are both harboring the same thoughts⁶!”

“But as for the rest of the worldly style of tea [that we see all around us], look at the way it is [already] collapsing into ruin! This, we should say, is deplorable!” -- I am passing on what I heard [him say].

_________________________

◎ Though this entry is not very long, the language is extremely idiomatic (with the idiom being that associated with the scholasticism of the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century), meaning that this text proved very challenging to translate*. Indeed, none of the commentators ventured to say anything about this section except for Tanaka Senshō -- and, in his case, he limits his entire discussion to the genpon text†, ignoring the Enkaku-ji material entirely‡.

As is quite common in Book Seven, there are three versions of this entry. While the passage in Shibayama Fugen’s toku-shu shahon [特殊写本] is more or less similar to what is found in the Enkaku-ji manuscript, there are several minor modifications that will be discussed in the footnotes**.

Tanaka’s “genpon” [原本] version, however, is so different that it will be necessary to look at it in a separate post. In addition, Tanaka also included a kaki-ire [書入] (of unknown antecedents**), appended to the end of his quotation of the Enkaku-ji text. That, too, will be covered in the next post. ___________ *Some versions of the Nampō Roku join this entry to the preceding one, so we would have Rikyū’s declaration, followed by Nambō Sōkei’s response. I have followed the Enkaku-ji manuscript in relegating them to separate entries.

†The genpon text was completely rewritten. All of the obscure idiomatic language has been removed, and the arguments have been normalized -- to the point where they feel completely at home in the modern-day chanoyu.

‡Tanaka’s copy of the Enkaku-ji text was produced while the ban on writing anything down while on the temple grounds was still in effect. Thus, it was another example of one of the Enkaku-ji scholars leaving the temple and then writing what he remembered down as soon as possible (it is said that a number of tea shops were opened in the vicinity of the main gate just for this purpose).

**In addition to the original fair copy of the text that Tachibana Jitsuzan created for presentation to the Enkaku-ji, he subsequently authorized the production of four additional copies -- to protect the original from being damaged by the repeated handling to which it was being subjected. After that, the original text was put away, and only the copies were used for their further inquiries -- and the fact that they were copies may have given certain scholars the feeling that important notes might be added. So whether this kaki-ire was found in one of the “official” copies of the text that were available to the Enkaku-ji scholars, or whether the kaki-ire was added to his own copy of the text by the scholar whose personal copy of the Nampō Roku came into Tanaka’s hands cannot be deduced -- since the only person who could have shed light on at least one of these possibilities died, and the four authorized copies dispersed into the general population when the group of scholars concluded their work in the Enkaku-ji.

**None of them change the meaning so greatly that they need to be incorporated into the translation -- which, as a result, is based only on the Enkaku-ji material.

¹Kono-bō mōshikeru ha, osshayū ni sōroe-domo, daime-giri no kane, Jōō to Kyū, sama-zama o-kokoro wo tsukushite sadameraretaru-koto nari　[コノ坊申ケルハ、仰尤ニ候ヘトモ、臺目切ノ䂓矩、紹鷗ト休、サマ〰御心ヲ尽シテ被定タルコトナリ].

Kono-bō mōshikeru ha [この坊申しけるは] means Nambō Sōkei related (this story)*.

Osshayū ni [仰尤に]†: ossharu [仰る] is a polite word meaning to speak, while yū [尤] means superb, outstanding. The compound, then, appears to mean to praise or express one’s in awe of or in (someone or something): osshayū ni sōroe-domo [仰尤に候えども], then, would mean even though (Sōkei) was deeply impressed by (this situation)...; that Rikyū’s argument was most certainly reasonable or valid....

In other words, Sōkei begins by complementing Rikyū’s argument, before entering into his refutatio.

Daime-giri no kane [臺目切の䂓矩]: this way of writing kane [カネ] (which is usually rendered phonetically) is found only here -- again, casting doubt on the authenticity of this episode.

Jōō to Kyū, sama-zama o-kokoro wo tsukushite sadameraretaru-koto nari [紹鷗と休、様々お心を尽して定められたることなり] means that Jōō and Rikyū, with their whole hearts†, worked very hard to fix the details of the kane, and kane-wari for the daime-giri setting.

In addition to Sōkei’s own personal delight in this room, he also wants to acknowledge that the two-mat daime room was a product of Jōō’s and Rikyū’s most sincere efforts. Thus, for both of these reasons, he is choosing to speak up in defense of this room -- even if he has to contradict Rikyū in order to do so.

Shibayama Fugen’s toku-shu shahon version of the text refers to Rikyū as Kyū-kō [休公] (which would translate Lord [Ri]kyū); but otherwise the two are identical. __________ *This is problematic, because the fiction is that Nambō Sōkei wrote Book Seven between the conclusion of the dawn memorial service and the time (presumably in mid-afternoon) when he closed up the Shū-un-an, and went off to the mountains to do away with himself. That being the case, there is no reason why Sōkei would begin by saying that he said these things. (Of course, someone writing nearly a hundred years later, and hoping to give their narrative a ring of authenticity, would be inclined to do so.)

†Osshayū ni [仰尤に] is difficult, since I have been unable to find any record of its meaning -- or, indeed, that it is a word at all. That said, while one source cites a Heian period precedent (that I was unable to confirm when referring back to the original source), I did find a handful of Edo period documents where it has been used, always in the specific formula osshayū ni [仰尤に]; and, in every case, it is clear that the expression is being used to indicate that (the author, or speaker) was deeply impressed by something. (The nuance always seems to be that the person was inspired to awe and admiration -- by the situation, object, or, as in this case, the argument that is being described in the narrative.)

In other words, in this specific case, before Sōkei enters into his argument for the preservation of the 2-mat daime room, he acknowledges that, in this, he will be going against Rikyū’s argument that, since the 2-mat room was the original type of “small room,” it might be better to stay with that -- since allowing for variation here will only invite others to change other aspects to suit their personal inclinations, which can only lead to the loss of the “small room’s” wabi identity.

Though I must quickly add that there is no evidence in support of this argument in the historical record. The earliest “small room” in Japan, that was built as a dedicated tearoom, appears to have been the 2-mat daime, created jointly by Jōō and Rikyū in the spring of 1555 (several months after Rikyū’s return from the continent). This was later followed by the situation where the ro was moved within the kamae, when the fukuro-dana was eliminated, at which time the superfluous second tatami in that portion of the room used by the guests was taken away, resulting in the 1-mat daime room (this may have occurred while Jōō was still alive); but Rikyū almost immediately rejected this kind of room, because the close proximity of the wall (at this time, the sode-kabe extended from floor to ceiling) made life difficult for all but the first guest. Only then does Rikyū seem to have begun making use of the 2-mat room. This means that the 2-mat room, as well as the three-mat room, was derived from the ichi-jō-han [一疊半] by eliminating the sode-kabe, and extending the utensil mat to its full length (though the utensil mat continued to be used as if it were a daime) -- a model that he employed in his residences within Hideyoshi’s various compounds, and one that most deeply appealed to Hideyoshi himself. Nevertheless, Rikyū appears to have continued to use his 2-mat daime Jissō-an [實相庵] until he removed his household to Mozuno (around 1588 or 1589), at which time the small room within his residence was the two-mat Mozuno ko-yashiki.

As the Sen family was unfamiliar with the details of this history before its final chapter (Shōan's mother was sent, from Hideyoshi’s harem, to manage Rikyū’s Kyōto household no earlier than 1584, so they would have had no knowledge about his personal life prior to that point in time, and of course they never saw the compound at Mozuno -- as Miyaō Saburō Sannyū and his son Shōan, later known as Sen no Shōan, and grandson Sōtan, were all members of the machi-shū faction that had coalesced around Imai Sōkyū following Jōō's death at the end of 1555), they took that brief experience and expanded its details to fill in the whole of Rikyū’s lifetime. As a result, since the small room that Rikyū was using (outside of his Ima-ichi residence in Sakai, at least) between 1584 and his death in 1591 was the two-mat room with mukō-ro, the Sen family believed and then argued that the two-mat room had been the original small room, with the 2-mat daime and the other rooms appearing later -- as perversions of Rikyū’s original vision.

Returning to osshayū ni, because I have been unable to find anything resembling a dictionary entry for this expression, I have also been unable to locate anything resembling a standardized pronunciation (all of the examples I found were written with kanji, without furigana). So “osshayū ni” [仰尤に] is only a guess.

†In other words, they exerted their intellects to the fullest to determine the system of kane-wari. This argument, of course, reflects an ignorance of the shiki-shi [敷き紙]; and so supports the Sen family’s assertion that Jōō and Rikyū had created the idea of kane-wari out of nothing.

²Sute-gataku omoshiroki-koto ni sōroeba, ikkō ni mukō-ro bakari tomo zonzerarezu　[ステガタク面白キコトニ候ヘバ、一向ニムカフ爐バカリトモ不被存].

Sute-gataku [捨て難く] means (something that is) difficult to discard; difficult to throw away.

Omoshiroi-koto ni sōroeba [面白いことに候えば] means if something is interesting (or amusing) to do.

In other words, if something is interesting to do, then it is difficult to just throw it away (because it does not conform with the original way things were done).

Ikkō ni mukō-ro bakari tomo [一向に向爐ばかりとも]: ikkō ni [一向に] means completely, totally, absolutely; mukō-ro bakari tomo [向爐ばかりとも] means even if it is only about the mukō-ro.

Zonzerarezu [存ぜられず]: the verb zonzuru [存ずる] means to know, to be aware of, to be acquainted (with); -rare [-られ] indicates the potential form (i.e., if one were to be aware of...); and the suffix -zu [-ず] makes the verb negative (“if one were not to know...”).

Ikkō ni mukō-ro bakari tomo zonzerarezu [一向に向爐ばかりとも存ぜられず], then, would mean something like “(I) don't believe it would be possible to have only the mukō-ro.” In other words, even if the mukō-ro were the only option, it would not be very satisfying*.

Though Shibayama's text is written using even more archaic structures* (難捨面白キコトニ候得バ、一向ニ向爐ハカリ共不被存), but when read aloud, his version would result in the same sentence that is found in the Enkaku-ji manuscript. __________ *That is, if, in the small room, there were no other option but to use the mukō-ro, dissatisfaction would drive the tea community to search for some sort of alternative.

†This kind of writing (where kana are kept to a minimum) was considered to be analogous to writing in Chinese. Indeed, this is the way that Takuan Sōhō wrote, and (given the enormous influence that he exerted on the Sen family -- especially on Sōtan and his sons Sōsa and Sōshitsu) he might well have been taken as the model for Sōkei’s speeches in this and other such entries in Book Seven.

This kind of affectation seems to have been mostly used only in writing. When read aloud, it would be necessary to change the order of the words so that they would conform to the rules of Japanese grammar.

³Semete ni-jō-shiki ni daime-giri no tsuketaru ha, sono-mama aru-taki sumai ni te sōrō　[セメテ二疊敷ニ臺目切ノ付タルハ、其マヽアルタキ住居ニテ候].

Semete [責めて]: the verb semeru [責める] means to blame, censure, find fault (with).

Semete ni-jō-shiki ni daime-giri no tsuketaru ha [責めて二疊敷に臺目切の付けたるは] means “if (you) fault (the desire) to attach a daime (utensil mat) to the two-mat (room)....”

Sono-mama aru-taki sumai ni te sōrō [其ままあるたき住居にて候う]: sono-mama [其まま] means (just) that way, as it is*; aru-taki sumai ni te sōrō [有度き住居にて候う] means live as (you) wish; do as (you) want.

In other words, if you object to the idea of appending a daime utensil mat to the earlier two-mat room for whatever reason†, you are completely within your rights to reject that sort of venue, and simply continue serving tea in your two-mat room with mukō-ro.

Here Shibayama’s toku-shu shahon version has ni-jō-shiki ni daime-giri wo tsuketaru ha, sō-an sumai no uchi dai-ichi ka to kono-bō ha zonji-sōrō-mama, semete ha ni-jō-daime-giri wo kagiri ni shitaki-koto to zonzuru nari [二疊敷ニ臺目切ヲ附ケタルハ、草菴住居ノ内第一カト此坊ハ存候マヽ、責テハ二疊臺目切ヲ限ニシタキコトヽ存ズル也].

Ni-jō-shiki ni daime-giri wo tsuketaru ha [二疊敷に臺目切を付けたるは] means “with respect to the case where a daime-giri is appended to a two-mat room....”

Sō-an sumai no uchi dai-ichi ka to kono-bo zonji-sōrō-mama [草菴住居の内第一かとこの坊は存じ候うまま] means “within (the various forms of) the sō-an, was this the first? this monk understands what was (the truth of the matter)....”

Semete ha ni-jō-daime-giri wo kagiri ni shitaki-koto to zonzuru nari [責めては二疊臺目切を限りに慕いことと存ずるなり] means “but though (I) might be blamed, since the ni-jō-daime-giri (already exists), I only know that I love it.”

While the Enkaku-ji text generalizes the matter, the toku-shu shahon version personalizes the issue. __________ *Sono-mama, here, is referring to the original 2-mat room.

†Again, this ignores the actual history of the case. It is not that the daime was appended to a two-mat room, but that the superfluous 1.5 mat area at the lower end of the 4.5-mat room was cut off, since this was not necessary.

The 4.5-mat room had been considered the usual size for a personal study -- the amount of space needed for a nobleman to live comfortably (he spent virtually his entire time within that room, both day and night). This is why the 4.5-mat room was considered intimate -- it was inviting ones guests into the nobleman-host’s personal space.

And the number of guests had been fixed at around 5 people (which was half the number of people usually considered appropriate for a renga [連歌] competition, since a smaller number would lack the variety of personalities, and so the varied nature of their verse links, that made such gatherings interesting: the participants in the renga-kai were usually divided into two teams of five persons each, and this may have been the precedent for the number of guests invited to the the chakai), because it was difficult to serve the meal to a larger number of guests in the 4.5-mat room (since, unlike the poetry session, the guests were not supposed to sit on the utensil mat, nor obstruct the path that the host would have to take from the katte-guchi in order to have access to each of the guests -- this is why the renga competition took place in one room, while refreshments were served somewhere else).

As Jōō grew older, he came to find serving five or six guests more and more difficult, so the number of guests, as well as the size of the meal, began to shrink. (Nevertheless, even 5 people could be entertained in a 2-mat daime room without difficulty.)

⁴Mata san-jō no ro wo mochi-dashite kiritaru ha, katte no kata, ken-han kutsurogite　[又三疊ノ爐ヲ持出テ切タルハ、勝手ノ方、間半クツロギテ].

Mata san-jō no ro wo mochi-dashite kiritaru ha [又三疊の爐を持ち出して切たるは] means “and again, the ro in the three-mat (room) was moved out and cut (to the right of the utensil mat)....”

Ken-han [間半]* refers to the division of a one-ken (a 6-shaku square, which is roughly† the space occupied by two kyōma tatami) space into halves. Here, it refers to the utensil mat (in the three-mat room) plus the mat to its right, divided in half. Thus, it is referring to the space to the right of the utensil mat (regardless of the actual orientation of the mats).

Katte no kata, ken-han kutsurogite [勝手の方、間半寬ぎて]: this phrase is oddly written. It means that the 1-ken area (that includes the utensil mat) is divided in half (parallel to the edge of the utensil mat), and then the ro is located on the katte-side of the half that does not include the utensil mat -- since this would give the most comfortable (katsuragite [寬ぎて]) access to the guests, when he is seated on the utensil mat -- as shown below (where Ⓣ is the host, and Ⓢ, ②, and ③ are the guests).

Looking at Nambō Sōkei’s Shū-un-an [集雲庵] (since this is probably the room that the author was thinking of), the one-ken area is that outlined by the dashed red line. The middle (ken-han [間半]) is, in turn, indicated by the dotted red line.

The ro was to be located on the katte-side of the half that does not include the utensil mat. This is what we see in the sketch.

Here Shibayama's version has mata hira-san-jō no ro wo mochi-dashite kiritaru ha, katte no kata, ken-han kutsurogite [又平三疊ノ爐ヲ持出テ切タルハ、勝手ノ方、間半クツロギテ].

The only difference is that the 3-mat room is defined as a hira-san-jō, which means a three-mat room where the utensil mat is located at one of the shorter ends of the room‡. __________ *The word is usually pronounced ma-naka [間半] today; and also, it is more commonly written ma-naka [間中].

†Technically, two kyōma mats placed side by side would give a square that measures 6-shaku 3-sun by 6-shaku 3-sun. Either the author did not know this, or was not concerned about such details (as Nambō Sōkei most certainly would have been).

‡There were two basic ways to orient the mats in a three-mat room:

￮ the fuka-san-jō [深三疊], which (in Book Seven) is said to have been the older version, had the utensil mat on one of the long sides (with the temae-za close to the center of the room);

￮ the naga-san-jō [長三疊], which appeared later, originally had the three mats arranged so they were parallel (left).

Later, though, the two mats used by the guests were arranged so that they were perpendicular to the utensil mat (right).

When the idea of using the utensil mat as if it were a daime-gamae arose (even though the use of a sode-kabe was optional), cutting the ro to the right of the utensil mat also became an option -- and both orientations were also seen (as shown below).

Rikyū’s Tai-an [待庵] (though it included a sode-kabe, and also had an ita-datami [板疊] installed on the left side of the utensil mat) was arranged like the example on the left; Nambō Sōkei’s Shū-un-an [集雲庵], as shown above, took the right version as its model.

⁵Jizai-nado tsuri-sōrō keshiki, sute-gataki sumai ni sōrō to mōshikereba　[自在ナドツリ候氣色、ステガタキスマヰニ候ト申ケレバ].

Jizai [自在] refers to a length of bamboo, with an adjustable wooden hook (made from the crown of a small pine-tree) that is used to suspend the kama over the ro.

Jizai-nado tsuri-sōrō keshiki [自在など釣り候う氣色] means “the visual effect (or mood)* produced by suspending (the kama over the ro) from something like a jizai....”

Sute-gataki sumai ni sōrō to mōshikereba [捨て難き住居に候と申しければ] means “if we argue that it is difficult to throw away this kind of situation....”

The second phrase of the toku-shu shahon version is omoshiroku sute-gataki sumai ni sōrō to mōshikereba [面白ク難捨住居ニ候ト申ケレバ], which means “if we argue that it is difficult to throw away such an interesting sort of place (where the kama is suspended from the ceiling on a jizai)....”

The Sen family only used the jizai in the daime-giri setting†, so the elimination of that venue meant that the tsuri-gama could no longer be used in the small room. And in rooms of 4.5-mats or larger, they always used a metal chain (kusari [鏁]) to suspend the kama. Both of these rules seem to have been originally articulated by Imai Sōkyū. __________ *This is referring to the very special mood that comes from suspending the kama from the ceiling -- since it is impossible to keep the kama from moving once it begins to boil (and so, throughout the temae). This feeling of inherent instability emphasizes the transient nature of the gathering, an idea that became increasingly important as Takuan Sōhō’s ideas began to spread through the Edo tea world.

†Unlike Rikyū, who certainly used it in his 2-mat room with mukō-ro, when serving tea using the small unryū-gama -- according to his own records. (Indeed, there is no other way to use this kama in the ro, since it is too small to rest on the ro-gotoku: this small kama actually fits in between the legs of the gotoku, which was necessary because Rikyū set up the ro at dawn with an ordinary kama, and then replaced that with the small unryū-gama shortly before the guests were expected to arrive -- and the fact that it fits between the legs allowed the small unryū-gama to be suspended so that its mouth was below the level of the ro-buchi).

⁶Kyū-kō waratte, warera mo dō-i ni omou nare-domo　[休公笑テ、我等モ同意ニ思フナレドモ].

Kyū-kō waratte [休公笑って] means Lord Rikyū chuckled to himself.

Only the Sen family (and their followers) referred to Rikyū as Kyū-kō, never his contemporaries.

Warera mo dō-i ni omou nare-domo [我等も同意に思うなれども]: warera [我等も] means us, we; dō-i ni omou naredomo [同意に思うなれども] but I think we share the same thought.

In other words, Rikyū is saying that even though the two-mat room with mukō-ro came first, and so should be considered the orthodox form of the sō-an, he has to agree with Sōkei -- that it would be a shame to repudiate the 2-mat daime just as a matter of principle.

The sentence in Shibayama Fugen’s toku-shu shahon is the same.

⁷Amari se-jō no cha, kuzure yuku-beki tei wo mite, tansoku ni mōsu nari to zo no tamaikeru　[アマリ世上ノ茶、クヅレ行ヘキテイヲ見テ、歎息ニ申也トゾノ玉ヒケル].

Amari se-jō no cha [余り世上の茶] means “but as for the rest of the worldly form of tea” -- the kind of chanoyu practiced by the men of the world.

Kuzure-yuku-beki wo mite [崩れ行くべき体を見て] means “look at the way it will fall into ruin.”

Nagekawashiku ni mōsu nari [歎かわしくに申しなり]* means (we) should say that this (state of things) is deplorable.

To zo no tamaikeru [とぞ給いける] means something like (I am) offering what I have heard.

Aside from taking a pot-shot at the competition (which was something that the Sen family and their followers were always ready to do, particularly as the seventeenth century came to its end with the appearance of the hated daimyō-cha), it is difficult to see how this conclusion is connected with the rest of the passage. The entry looks at Nambō Sōkei’s polite objection to Rikyū’s assertion that he regrets that the sō-an was ever enlarged from the original 2-mats (with mukō-ro) to the ni-jō-daime configuration, and ends with Rikyū’s amused concession that he, too, has a special fondness for this latter version of the sō-an. But how this then serves as an invitation to knock everything else† that was being done “in the world” -- which pointedly is a reference to the modifications being wrought by the recently untethered daimyō (and anyone else who was not part of the Sen family’s machi-shū tradition) -- is beyond me.

The final phrase, as found in Shibayama's version (the punctuation of which has also been changed), is given as nagekawashiku omou yue ni, mōsu nari to zo, no tamaikeru [ナゲカハシク思フ故ニ、申ス也トゾ、ノ玉ヒケル], which means “because (I) think this is deplorable, I am saying it (out loud) -- and passing it on to you.” ___________ *Today nagekawashiku [嘆かわしく] (or, more commonly, nagekawashii [嘆かわしい]) is preferred.

†This statement appears intent on gathering together every other change that had been effected -- except for the creation of the 2-mat daime. Everything else should be repudiated, and chanoyu should be restored to Sōtan’s machi-shū version of the practice (which, far from having anything to do with Rikyū, would have resulted in a restoration of Imai Sōkyū style of tea).

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brianinjapan721 · 1 year

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June 10 - Daitokuji and Kinkakuji

Today our activities planned were Kinkakuji and Daitokuji. Unfortunately, there was dairy hidden somewhere in my breakfast and my stomach did not tolerate it. Therefore, I missed our visit to Kinkakuji. After a couple of hours had passed, I started to feel a bit better, so I decided to meet up with the class at Daitokuji. This is a collection of Buddhist temples and karesansui gardens attached to many (if not all) of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the day. We were first given a tour of Daisen-in temple, which was very beautiful. Our tour guide walked us around the temple to view the “dry garden” which surrounded it. The garden had a story about trying to become enlightened and reach a state of nirvana. There are those, like the sleeping cow, who refuse to move with the current and therefore become stuck on their path. There are others still, like the treasure boat, who follow the current and move toward nirvana purposefully. After this, we walked around another temple and viewed another dry garden, which was equally as peaceful. After this, I stopped at a supermarket on the way back to the hotel. I enjoyed walking through and seeing what kinds of foods were offered there because many were snacks and foods that are not easy to find in the United States.

The readings for today were very interesting. I was very disappointed that I had to miss our visit to Kinkakuji because the readings had me very excited for this part of the day. I gathered that Kinkakuji was a hallmark of Japan’s cultural accomplishment as it grew in population and advanced as a nation. The first reading was very enjoyable to read. It talked about a young man’s story of his visit to Kinkakuji with his sick father. He ended up devising a plan to burn down this pavilion. This story was a very fun read. The following reading informed me of the importance of Kinkakuji as a milestone in Japan’s cultural development. The rest of the readings focused on karesansui gardens. Something I found interesting about this was the thought proposed by one of the authors that Buddhist temples developed their association with karesansui “zen gardens” to bring in more money from visitors to their temples, when in fact karesansui gardens were more so a hallmark of Japanese culture as a whole, not just Buddhist temples in Japan. I also learned a lot about the significance of placement of different stones, the gravel, and the fact that these gardens are not just made to be relaxing; they tell a story about people trying to reach nirvana.

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crossdressingdeath · 3 years

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Y'know, I know that technically the Evanuris are supposed to be totally cut off from the waking world ever since the Veil went up, but if Mythal can go live in some random human woman's head instead of supporting her own damn people what no I'm not salty about that without—as far as I remember—any explanation for how she got past the Veil then Taelan can talk to Dirthamen in his dreams, dammit.

#dragon age inquisition #taelan lavellan #also if anyone could sneak around the veil it would be the guy known as a god of SECRETS #and the fact that we see one of his temples in dai feels important! given the other one we see is to mythal #and we all remember HER presence in the story...#also if anyone wants to join me in complaining about mythal please do #'the one good evanuris' my aunt fanny

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rynne · 3 years

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Several months ago I made a post about JC and LWJ being narrative foils in MDZS’s “love is an action word” theme. I’ve been thinking about that again, though in a slightly different way.

Something important we see with LWJ and JC is their differing responses to when their love for WWX leads to negative personal consequences.

LWJ defended WWX against thirty-three of his elders, and he was made to endure thirty-three strokes of the discipline whip in punishment. LXC implies he needed years to recover. He went through unarguably terrible pain as a consequence for choices he made to protect WWX.

And what does he do, when faced with WWX again and given another chance? He continues to choose WWX at every possible turn. Even when there are more negative consequences, as he sacrifices his reputation and puts strain on his family relationships. He chooses his love for WWX.

I do think that JC does love WWX (that’s part of what makes him and LWJ narrative foils). However, there’s also a way in which I think it doesn’t even matter that JC loves WWX, because for most of the story, he does not choose to love WWX in an active way.

Probably the clearest sign we have that JC does love him is the moment he distracted the Wens after Lotus Pier fell to save WWX, a moment that we know is still relevant even into the present day story because we only find out about that action after Guanyin Temple.

But that sacrifice turned out very poorly for JC, probably even more poorly than he had anticipated. And this is important. JC experienced negative consequences for an act of love for WWX’s sake...and seems to have decided WWX wasn’t worth it. One of the first things JC does after his rescue is try to strangle WWX again. He does not seem to really value the life he just sacrificed himself to save.

And he never risks himself or makes any sacrifices for WWX again. He does not stand up for WWX after he broke the Wens out of the Jin prison camp. He does not try to find a solution that would allow WWX to stay with the Jiangs while not condemning the Wens to death (including a toddler, who JC met). He does not actually try to help WWX at all.

In fact, at every opportunity, he escalates the danger to WWX. In their staged fight, he gives WWX a more dangerous wound than WWX gave him (gut stab vs broken arm). He tells the rest of the cultivation world that WWX is an enemy, not just that he left the Jiangs, which deceptively frames WWX’s intentions more negatively. After JZX’s death, he participates in the conference that existed to call for WWX’s death. He then leads the siege to kill WWX. He just keeps escalating.

He does not choose love. Over and over, the actions he chooses display anger, resentment, and hatred.

Even after WWX’s death (and later resurrection), he does not choose love. He tortures and kills demonic cultivators, either because they remind him of WWX or they might be WWX (as confirmed by Yunmeng citizens, JL, Lan juniors, and JC himself). When he encounters someone he believes to be WWX, he intentionally uses Zidian, a spiritual tool meant to expel possessing spirits, which was meant to kill WWX, who he believed to be possessing MXY. When he does encounter WWX, he deliberately terrifies him with his greatest fear, and JL intervenes to free “MXY” because he believes his uncle would do worse. Towards the end of the novel, he once again joins in an attempted siege against WWX.

So I think...while narratively it’s important that JC loves WWX because that more clearly establishes character foils and themes, in practical terms it doesn’t really matter if JC does love WWX. It doesn’t matter if the underlying emotions behind his breakdown in Guanyin Temple included love as well as the more obvious anger and resentment.

If JC loves WWX, he clearly does not value that love. When presented with a choice to love WWX or to resent him, he chooses to resent him. Over and over. JC may still experience the feeling, but he does not choose to love WWX.

Love is still an action word. Feeling the emotion isn’t enough. Love has to be put into action, or else why should I even care that JC loves WWX?

#this is admittedly rather salty #but I am tired of people telling me that jc loves wwx #as if that excuses anything #that probably even makes him worse #because he does such terrible things to someone he is supposed to care for #while I do think jc loves him #I also do not care that he does #because loving someone doesn't stop him from treating them horribly #he does not seem to care that he loves wwx #so I don't either #mdzs #mdzs meta #jiang cheng #wei wuxian

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

Text

Uncle Ben and Little Luke

AKA we combine several types of time travel for maximum Soft Chaos, let’s go

EDIT NOW THAT I’VE WRITTEN THIS UP: jfc this ended up much angstier than initially intended uhhhhhhhhhh sorry

So a common enough thing I’ve seen in time travel fics is characters getting de-aged when tossed back physically, to neither the age they should be in that time, nor the age they were from the time they left, but whatever is most convenient. This is usually de-aging OT Obi-Wan into his TCW self, for reasons relating to, chiefly, removing the damage of Tatooine absolutely destroying his body alongside PTSD-driven alcoholism, but also because fic writers are horny, and Ewan McGregor playing a late-thirties negotiator is on average more appealing to people than Alec Guinness playing a vaguely feral desert hermit.

So, here’s how it plays out:

We take Luke and Ben from some point in the OT. There are a variety of options depending on how angsty we want it to be. My first instinct is ‘right after Owen and Beru die’ but I want to have that sweet angst where Luke knows that his dad is Vader and that Obi-Wan was trying to convince him to kill his own father without telling him that.

We’ll go with shortly after Bespin, and then they end up significantly before TPM. The Obi-Wan of the timeline proper is, eh, let’s say eighteen. Not really ready to be a knight, but old enough that we don’t have to worry about “if we go save Shmi, do we somehow wipe out Anakin?” which is absolutely a worry. Anakin is a toddler, and is in no place to be evil, on account of being literally two years old. He can’t even explode people with his brain yet.

Now, Ben finds himself mid-thirties, as is traditional. He’s not upset at this, because his joints hurt so much less than they used to! His knees aren’t exactly teenage-perfect, but by the Force are they better than they were in the years before he died! His hair has color! He doesn’t have arthritis! And, goodness, no physical withdrawal symptoms! The psychological aspect is still there, but nonetheless, he’s in much better shape than he last remembers being.

Luke looks like he’s about six. He was recently twenty-two. This is not an upgrade. Ben keeps having to carry him. He can’t see over the counter when they enter a bar for information. He can’t enter the bar in the first place. He’s very annoyed by all of this.

Ben is not annoyed. Ben is having a lot of emotions, actually, but annoyance isn’t one of them. He didn’t get to help raise Luke the way he might have if Anakin hadn’t lost his shit, okay, he sees a small Luke and he wants to hug him and cry.

Luke would like to be able to purchase a speeder part without the lady at the stall asking him if he needs his “dad’s” permission.

Once they figure out when and where they are, they need to decide where and how to leave. There are general shenanigans to gamble their way into enough money to hire a ship. They are in the ass end of nowhere, but definitely not Tatooine. There appears to be a jungle. There appears to be a significant variety of man-eating creatures. There appears to be a temple to the Force of questionable origin. None of this is actually helpful, except for the moment they find a “baby’s first lightsaber” in the temple.

Luke only has one hand and, being a six-year-old, his body is growing too fast for him to bother with getting a wired-in prosthesis the way he could as an adult. He can get a more basic prosthesis, but nothing that attaches to the neurons. He’ll outgrow it too fast.

He’s tiny and he’s not used to doing things with just one hand. He uses the Force to do what one hand can't, and every time someone tries to tell him he's misusing the Force he whaps them with the empty sleeve.

So, you know, they find out what year it is. Ben has a breakdown. Luke is upset that he left behind his friends. Ben admits to him that Leia was his twin. Luke stares in horror because dude, she kissed him, you couldn’t have mentioned this earlier???

Ben points out that Beru and Owen were keeping Luke away from him for nineteen years, and then they had about three days of awkward travel to find Leia in the first place, and then Ben died. He didn’t have a whole lot of time to figure out how to tell him.

(This sparks an argument that lasts several days. All onlookers assume that Ben’s son is throwing a tantrum. He doesn’t correct them, even though this is a very valid reason to be upset, because the truth is much harder to explain.)

Sooooo they travel. Mostly, Ben plays Sabacc, cleans house, and pays their way towards Coruscant. Luke still really wants to learn to be a Proper Jedi, even though Ben is pretty sure that Luke would have... a lot of difference of opinion with the Temple, but sure. Coruscant. They can at least stop by, and see Qui-Gon, and Mace, and Quinlan, and Bant, and everyone else that’s still alive and not tragically deceased in the horror following the start of the Clone Wars and then the birth of the Empire, and Ben can have a nice sob over all his dead friends being alive again.

Ben is only barely holding it together while Luke is in the room with him at any given point. But it’s fine! It’s fine. He’s fine. All of his loved ones have come back to life! It’s great! HE’S FINE.

He is not fine.

Luke is also grieving all the people who haven’t been born yet, but he’s... significantly more okay than Ben is.

The closer they get to the Core, the more often people just assume Ben is Luke’s father, and then look shocked and uncomfortable when Luke flatly calls him by his name, and they just... compromise. This is the point at which Luke starts calling him “Uncle Ben.”

Ben cries in his bunk later that night. Luke overhears it and wonders how the HELL Ben is more unstable now, when there’s a chance to fix things and no Vader or Empire trying to kill or capture both of them, and all his friends are alive.

(Luke will later learn a lot about PTSD and realize this is actually a fairly normal situation, to process significant events and emotions only after gaining safety or catharsis.)

(Twenty years on a ball of sand with an alcohol addiction and debilitating fear of the man you raised as your own brother is not, in fact, safe or cathartic.)

At any rate, they’ve settled into that pattern by the time they reach the Inner Rim. The Inner Rim is the part of the galaxy at which they’ve collected enough money (and mental stability) to travel a little better, and to take a few more risks.

Risks like “manipulate people with those baby blues.”

Ben tells Luke that he’s a menace, after he pouts so cutely that he gets a free scarf added on to a purchase that Ben makes. Luke responds that Ben has no room to talk, since he flirted a free breakfast out of that one inn owner.

Also, Luke is currently physically six. That is objectively a situation that sucks. He deserves to use it for all it’s worth if he’s stuck like this.

“You know, if you keep wearing all-black and looking longingly at the velvet cape and Space Chanel boots, the temple is going to worry that you’re a darksider.”

“Uncle Ben... you told me, yesterday, that I sparkle so brightly in the Force that it’s almost blinding.”

“Yes, but the gloves--”

They don’t agree on this, but Ben relents. He does actually understand good fashion, unfortunately, and he’s not unaware of how much Leia taught Luke about such things.

Luke’s about forty years ahead of the curve, of course, but Skywalkers are prone to such things. It’s usually in regards to technology, granted, but...

They get to Coruscant. Ben is very obviously a Jedi. He knows all the right words and walks like a Soresu master and feels warm and comforting in the Force. They let him in with minimal questions. They note down “my first padawan left the order to have a child, but died shortly after; I consider Luke here to be my nephew, and have raised him as such,” and move on.

Luke is vaguely annoyed because he already had an uncle (and aunt) that raised him, but he admits that a person can have more than one uncle. He can live with this. Ben was more family to Anakin than Owen was, in some ways, so it’s kind of true. Luke is even working on feeling more childish affection for Ben instead of the complicated mess of emotions that come from being lied to about some very large and important subjects, and then seeing the person saying those lies have regular emotional breakdowns due to something as small as Luke saying he likes the curve of the hull on that freighter.

(Apparently he sounds just like his father did as a child. This is almost heartwarming.)

The thing is! The thing. The thing is, they almost make it to the Halls of Healing to get looked over for weird viruses, or Outer Rim Parasites, or whatever the hells needs to be happening. They almost make it without Ben having a flashback to dead younglings or brainwashed troopers or the declaration of a Sith Empire. They almost make it without incident.

Then Ben sees Qui-Gon, and freezes, and does not move again.

Luke cannot get him to restart.

People are staring.

They haven’t even made it to Medical, Uncle Ben, come on.

Young, local Obi-Wan comes over and asks if there’s something he can do to help. Or maybe this “Ben” knows Qui-Gon? Master Jinn doesn’t recognize Ben, but maybe Luke knows more?

Luke does know more, but what Luke actually says is “he probably needs a mind healer.”

(Ben will not appreciate this.)

(Ben is unfortunately standing in the middle of the hallway and completely unresponsive, and is unable to argue with this assertion.)

(Ben is pretty much proving this assertion entirely correct, actually.)

Obi-Wan is helpful, if a little bitchy in the manner of most late-teens individuals, and offers to help get Uncle Ben down to the Halls of Healing. It involves Obi-Wan gently pushing on Ben’s shoulders, and Qui-Gon offering to carry Luke so he can be in Ben’s sights (because Ben is a Mystery, and Qui-Gon is quite fond of those, so he wants to stay involved). Ben kind of just... shuffles on down.

There are medical tests. They ask about how Luke lost his hand. He refuses to talk about it. They ask how Ben got all his scars. Luke says he doesn’t know. They ask if he knows why Ben looks like he’s been through a war. Luke says it’s because he probably was.

They check for foreign viruses. They find evidence of thus-far-unpatented vaccinations. They ask Luke if he knows what he’s vaccinated for.

“How would I know? I’m six.”

They agree that this is a good excuse.

(It is not. He’s lying. They do not know this.)

They do some more tests. They find a lot of questionable medical bullshit in Ben’s body. Most of this is from the clone wars, but they don’t know this. Someone realizes they haven’t gotten a ping back from the Shadow Network regarding “do we have permission to pull the medical file of a Jedi that isn’t in the normal database? We’re assuming you know who he is, since we don’t.”

The Shadow Network does not know who Ben is.

The healers, of course, go “huh, that’s weird, but maybe the name he gave his nephew was fake. We can’t exactly ask ‘Ben’ for more details right now. We already had to sedate him. Let’s check the DNA!”

The DNA pulls up as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The padawan who brought this guy in two hours ago.

“Huh, that’s weird. Let’s call in Kenobi and ask if he knows what’s going on.”

Obi-Wan absolutely does not know what’s going on.

They ask Luke.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he says, lying through his teeth and not even pretending otherwise.

“You’re not a very good liar,” teenage Obi-Wan tells him.

“I’m not trying to be,” Luke says. “Can you get Master Yoda? I feel like we’re going to need him.”

They normally wouldn’t get Yoda on the request of a six-year-old, but they also normally don’t have a catatonic thirty-something Jedi who looks like he’s been through a war popping up in the medical database as the pimply teenage padawan that broke his pinky trying to do a Badass Ataru Flip last week.

Or... whatever Luke i... is... oh dear.

“Young one,” Qui-Gon asks, while people whisper-shout behind him, not realizing he’s cutting the Correlian Knot and just asking the kid himself. “Do you know why your midichlorian count is so high? It’s almost unheard of.”

“Uncle Ben said my dad was the Chosen One,” Luke says, because he is capable of being a little shit and is actually really eager to let Ben deal with some of the fallout. He feels for the man, really, but he’s also tired of being the one to field every single question.

Also, the expressions that pass on Qui-Gon’s face are hilarious.

(Luke may or may not be more affected by his six-year-old brain than he would like to admit.)

“Thank you,” Qui-Gon says, sounding more than a little strangled about it.

It takes another three hours for Ben to wake up.

He listens to the questions. He hears what they say his ‘nephew’ said. He looks at Luke.

“Is this revenge for not telling you about Leia?”

“It’s not revenge,” Luke does not lie. “I just don’t know how to explain it.”

“It’s pretty easy to explain.”

“It’s not my secret.”

“This is revenge for the Leia thing.”

“No,” Luke says. “Revenge for the Leia thing was when I ate a live frog in front of you.”

This is the point at which someone interrupts and points out that they appear to be stalling.

“Oh, he is,” Luke tells them. He gestures at Ben. “I can’t tell you more, because it’s more his story than mine.”

“I’m afraid, Master, that I am very likely to have an emotional breakdown if I allow myself to consider the reality of this situation for longer than the fraction of a second I already have,” Ben reports, full of false cheer. “Suffice to say, I am far from stable and have only held out this far for Luke’s sake.”

“Can you explain why you have my DNA?” Obi-Wan asks, as the person who’s most concerningly involved in this situation.

“You can,” Ben says, smiling like there is absolutely nothing wrong in the slightest, ever. “I’m you, from the future. I actually died and spent a few years dead before coming back. I’m not sure why I’m younger than I was when I died, but I appreciate being able to put on my shoes without my knees attempting to mutiny.”

“He needs a mind healer,” Luke reiterates, in case the strained grin hasn’t made it clear. “So do I, but not as much.”

“I have felt literally every person in this Temple save for Luke and Yoda die,” Ben reports, looking a shade more manic than a few seconds earlier. “It’s very overwhelming to feel you all being alive again. I may be approaching a mental breakdown, and I’ve been rather strictly advised against using alcohol to treat my traumas again.”

Luke kicks him in the thigh. It’s not a very hard kick, because he is very small, and he does actually like Ben. “I’m not letting you turn into an old drunk again.”

After several seconds of silence, a healer quietly suggests that everyone clear the room, and asks if someone could fetch Master Yoda as the youngling requested.

(THIS IS ALMOST THREE THOUSAND WORDS. I started it less than two hours ago. Why am I like this.)

#Ben Kenobi #Obi Wan Kenobi #Luke Skywalker #Qui Gon Jinn #Time Travel #De Aging #Phoenix Posts #Uncle Ben and Little Luke

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ladybugout-au · 3 years

Note

Dear. GOD. After seeing Furious Fu, I would honestly love to see LBO!Marinette just chewing out Su-Han for all his canon-to-fic BULLSHIT. Like, I know you’ve already got a plan to incorporate Feast into LBO, which I’m super excited for, so this asshole showing up with all his nonsense after the new Team Miraculous is set, hell maybe even after they’ve already retrieved the Butterfly and the Peacock, and watching Marinette (and possibly Fu since he has the memories to stand up for himself) tear this dude a new one would really be the cherry on top of an already awesome fic. Sorry to rant in your inbox lol but the new episode just made me so. ANGRY.

In the lounge room of the Liberty, everyone jumped as they heard a noise from up above deck, as if something heavy had fallen or been dropped. Marinette briefly pulled away from Luka’s hold, staring up at the ceiling and wondering aloud, “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” Juleka admitted, exchanging concerned looks with Rose.

“That definitely wasn’t Mom,” Luka noted with a tilt of his head.

Pounding footsteps followed, making it clear that a person had clearly gotten on the houseboat without the gangplank being there.

Nino jolted on alert, turning to Duusu with a hushed whisper. “Hide!”

“All of you,” Kagami began, standing up and looking around vaguely at every kwami. “get out of sight.”

The kwami, breaking out of their trance after the brief scare, scattered in every direction to find their own individual hiding places, some choosing to hide with their respective holder and others preferring to hide behind or inside objects. Ivan went into his usual protective mode, wrapping an arm around Mylene while she clung to him.

Marinette stood up, rushing over to the table and picking up the Miracle Box to stow it away. She looked around, then dashed for the microwave and stored the box inside.

She shut the door just in time for the intruder to descend from the staircase: an old man, dressed in Chinese garb and carrying a strange mystical-looking staff. He had a stern expression, his brows knitted together as he scanned the room like none of them were even there. He raised his staff, his gaze eventually locking on the microwave the Marinette was standing near.

Without a word, he pushed Marinette aside, earning an offended, “Excuse me—hey!” from her as he grabbed the microwave door and tugged it. When that did little more than jostle the microwave itself, he tried blindly tampering with the buttons to no avail.

Marinette slapped his wrist away, standing with all her pride as guardian as she asked, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

He glared at her in response. “Young lady, I demand you open your magical sealing chamber and return what’s rightfully mine!”

She blanked, the words catching her completely off-guard. This guy thought their microwave was a magical sealing chamber?

In response, Marinette gave a brief glance to the others, who were all looking back at her with equally puzzled expressions, any tension from before completely gone.

An unspoken question echoed throughout the room: Is he for real?

Before Marinette could ask any further, Tikki emerged from her hiding spot, flying over and explaining, “Marinette, I know who this is! This is great master Su-Han, the guardian of the Miracle Box!”

Marinette raised a brow skeptically. “But I’m the guardian?”

“He was responsible for the box before the incident that Master Fu caused,” she corrected.

Su-Han looked down at Marinette condescendingly. “So you are the current holder of the box.”

“That’s right,” she confirmed unapologetically. She gave a side-glance to Luka and the others, seeing that they were prepared to stand up and fight for her, but she gave a subtle gesture to let them know that it wasn’t necessary. Resolving to deal with Su-Han herself, she faced him again. “How did you find us?”

He held out his staff, the jewel on it mere centimeters from her face. “Guardian scepters are equipped with compasses that can find their Miracle Box at any given time.”

“In case you lose it?” Marinette blurted out, but didn’t apologize or try to take it back.

“Insolent!” Su-Han gasped. “You are not even a proper guardian. I can tell that this box hasn’t even been properly passed down to you!”

“Because Master Fu gave it to me,” she explained, “and we agreed that he should keep his memories.”

“Fu?” Su-Han echoed. “You mean Wang Fu? Chicken legs?”

Is this guy five? Marinette wondered.

Orikko popped out from their hiding place, waving a paw at Su-Han as if in warning. “I take offense to that!”

Su-Han glared at Orikko at the comment, and Orikko quickly ducked back down. Turning his attention back to Marinette, he continued, “Wang Fu is a student who wasn’t even able to fast for a day, nor do a thousand finger-pushups. He was never a rightful guardian, and he failed to fulfill the hope we’d seen in him.”

“Master Fu may have made mistakes, but he’s done his best to make up for all of them!” she argued. “He protected the box for over one hundred years and it’s because of his choices that our team was able to defeat Hawk Moth!”

“Team?” Su-Han asked, his face scrunching up as if he were piecing something together.

“Yes!”

Marinette gestured to her boyfriend and friends for emphasis. Luka, Ivan, Kagami, and Juleka stood while Rose and Nino pinched and stretched their shirts to show off their respective miraculouses.

“Children?” Su-Han gaped. Glaring at Marinette, as if she had personally given out the miraculouses herself, he declared, “Children are never meant to hold miraculouses, especially from the first and most powerful Miracle Box! Kwami are extremely powerful, cosmic creatures!”

A voice piped up from across the room. “Y-you say that, but—!”

Marinette and Su-Han turned to look at Nooroo, who had peeked out from behind Rose’s shoulder. He breathed up, seeming to gain some confidence, then floated out to the center of the room.

“They saved me and Duusu from the hands of evil! We would still be in Gabriel’s clutches if not for them!”

“What?” Su-Han asked. Just when Marinette thought they might be getting somewhere, he turned back to her and accused, “The peacock and butterfly were lost?!”

“Fu lost them when he was escaping the temple,” Marinette explained, a mixture between unphased and annoyed at the man’s outbursts, “but we got them back and everything’s okay now.”

Luka chimed in from his place near the couch, “Marinette has been an incredible leader, as both Ladybug and the guardian.”

She smiled at him in thanks, but Su-Han was clearly focused on anything but the positives.

“Ladybug? You’re even wearing a miraculous?! Guardians aren’t meant to hold miraculouses!” he said, throwing his arms out for effect.

“What—why?” she asked, genuinely confused.

Instead of answering her, Su-Han pulled out a book, shoving it pointedly towards her with the cover facing downwards in his palm. “Let me remind you of a few important rules you’ve violated.” He flipped through a few pages, then pointed at one of them. “Rule fourteen: Kwami must not live outside of the box.” He flipped through a few more. “Rule fifty-two: Guardians must never lose a miraculous. “He flipped to a page near the end. “Rule one hundred and thirty-three: Guardians must never, under any circumstances, wear a miraculous.”

“Master Fu wore a miraculous,” she argued, having never heard of any such rule from him.

“And that proves exactly what I’m talking about!” Su-Han retorted. “Neither you nor Fu are capable guardians because neither of you have respected the rules of the order!”

“...”

When Marinette initially imagined the Order of the Guardians and the people who ran it, this was not what she’d pictured. She had pictured zen and calm, not belligerent and immovable. She was reminded vaguely of her grandfather when she first met him, and that wasn’t a good thing.

She tossed another gaze at everyone, who gave her the same look and nod in response: let him have it.

“Young lady, I’ll repeat myself once,” Su-Han warned. “Return the Miracle Box and the miraculouses to me before--”

Marinette grabbed the book out of his hand, shut it with a satisfying “clap,” then set it back in his hand. “No.“

“What did you say?” he asked, aghast that she would speak to him that way.

“I said no.” Marinette advanced on him, the sheer force of her presence making him take a step back. “Now let me remind you about everything you must’ve missed this whole time.”

She raised a finger at him, raising additional fingers as she went on. “One: You intruded on my boyfriend’s house without any sort of permission. If you’d actually called out to us, we might’ve actually been willing to come out and listen to what you had to say. Two: You wouldn’t have even been able to be here in the first place if not for me using Miraculous Ladybug after our team took down Feast, which you weren’t able to do. Three: We aren’t children, we’re teenagers, and the fact that you can’t tell the difference or bother learning what technology is shows that I shouldn’t trust you with the Miracle Box even if you had a right to it. Four: You didn’t bother to listen and blamed me for losing miraculouses when it was you and your order who didn’t keep an eye on a poor boy who didn’t want to be there. Five, last but not least: I say the kwami are allowed out of the Miracle Box because I am the guardian. You and your order have been gone for over one hundred years and you can’t go making demands after I brought you back. You told me rules I didn’t even know about and didn’t explain why you have those rules in the first place. The kwami are my friends and they have feelings and I’m not going to shut them in a box because you told me to.”

Silence filled the room, no one saying a word and Su-Han’s face contorting between shock and outrage.

Marinette took a step back, standing at the ready and gesturing to herself. “So if you want the Miracle Box, you’re going to have to go through us first.”

She tossed a look at her team, all of them doing a synchronized, confrontational motion to face Su-Han.

“Tikki!”

“Plagg!”

“Wayzz!”

“Pollen!”

“Trixx!”

“Nooroo!”

“Duusu!”

They then shouted in unison, “Transform me!”

Several individual flashes meshed together, overtaking the room and then fading to leave several heroes behind, their weapons equipped for battle.

Su-Han looked amongst them, a flicker in his eyes that hinted that he knew he would be outmatched, but also wasn’t willing to admit it. He retreated a few steps back, hands out to show that he was prepared to defend himself.

It was at that moment that Ladybug heard and noticed movement from behind him, realization striking and a smile overtaking her face. Pulling back from her fighting pose, she placed a hand on her hip and stated confidently, “Captain Anarka will escort you out.”

He looked confused, and he was only able to let out a, “What—?” before a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

Su-Han wasn’t even able to turn around before he was pulled backward, a jewelry-adorned fist decking him in the face and sending him flying into the staircase. His scepter fell to the floor and he could only gape at the woman standing there, cracking her knuckles while he was sprawled out on the stairs with all air having been knocked out of him.

“A trespasser on my ship, eh?” Anarka asked, a grin on her face but her eyes glinting with malice. “I don’t take kindly to ship rats who threaten my crew and think they’re too good to walk the plank.”

Su-Han hurried to get up, only for Anarka to grab him by his shirt and haul him up the stairs, a rapid shuffling noise following as Ladybug went over and shut the door.

A few seconds passed and the atmosphere shifted to peace, everyone mutually releasing their transformations and relaxing. Marinette smiled reassuringly at everyone, letting them know that things were okay, but then jumped as she heard a resounding, “Marinette!”

The kwami all emerged from their hiding places, Marinette having no time to react as they all charged at her, their tiny bodies clinging affectionately to whatever they could grab of her.

“You’re amazing!”

“Thank you so much!”

“You stood up for us!”

“You’re the best guardian ever!”

Marinette gasped, finding it hard to move without disturbing any of them. Trying hard not to laugh, she protested, “Aha—hey! Stop, you’re all tickling me!”

She blushed, looking over at her teammates who were only staring at her with pride, which just made the pink on her cheeks turn red. “This is so embarrassing!”

Once the kwami had their fill of thanking her, they finally obeyed and flew away, each giving her smiles of approval. She covered her face with a hand, waiting for the shyness to die down, then noticed the guardian scepter out of the corner of her eye, still lying on the ground.

She approached, touching the scepter at first to make sure it was safe, then properly picking it up and letting it stand next to her. She tapped the gem on top, eyeing the compass that Su-Han had been talking to her about, then followed its direction back to the microwave. She walked over, opening it up, then took out the Miracle Box and held it in her free hand.

Looking back and forth between the two clearly ancient objects, she couldn’t help chuckling. “They don’t really suit me.”

Her friends giggled in response, Luka in particular shooting her a warm smile and approaching. One of his hands went to the scepter and the other went to rest on the Miracle Box.

“I think you make them work, actually,” he replied.

Marinette beamed at him, thoroughly warmed by the compliment. It didn’t feel like that long ago when her support was lacking and defeating Hawk Moth seemed like a pipe dream.

Now, holding the Miracle Box and scepter in her hands, she didn’t know why she’d ever doubted herself.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” Then, looking at the Su-Han-less room, she gave a shrug and walked back with Luka to the couch. “So, where were we?”

#((Technically spoilers for post-Hawk Moth stuff but nothing you guys don't already know.))#((For the record anon I'm still debating on doing ''Feast''))#((because it's a direct episode rewrite which LadyBugOut doesn't have so I'm nervous about it))#((I figured this might be a good start though.))#((I imagine Team Miraculous would have everything resolved by the time S4E6 hits))#((so hence the time jump.))#collab: LadyBugOut AU #canonicity: all #canonicity: canon compliant #writing: all #writing: canon compliant #writing: salt #character: marinette dupain cheng #group: team miraculous #salt: all #salt: other

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zodiakuroo · 4 years

Text

Pretty Things Don’t Need To Think

Kuroo decides he's had enough of his smart, independent girlfriend. He wants her to be his good little housewife instead.

Pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x Fem!Reader

Contains: 18+ oh boy... dubcon, big dick kuroo, dumbifciation, misogyny, manhandling, oral sex (deepthroating), pee in vee sex, degradation, manipulation, pwp, breath play, mouth spitting, creampie, thigh riding, slapping, spit, porn watching, crybaby reader but kuroo is a meanie so :3

Word count: 4.6k

Notes: my first time writing smut n it’s mindlessly self-indulgent i just had this weirdly specific fantasy that i need to get out byeee

Kuroo loved the fact that you were smart. He loved the fact that you could debate and argue with him for hours on the most obscure topics. He love that you were always interested in his nerdy rambles and he found it adorable that you would sometimes go off on your own nerdy rambles. When he met you, he was so used to fucking brainless bimbos that he was surprised to find a girl that he both wanted to sleep with and have a conversation with. Your intellect was one of the many reasons he wanted to pursue a relationship with you beyond sex. One of the many reasons why he planned on marrying you.

Kuroo also loathed the fact that you were smart. Not loathed exactly. He just hated your stupid fucking degree. He hated the fact that it demanded so much of your time and energy that you sometimes had to put your studies before him. You wanted to be doctor, always wanted to apparently. You wanted it so bad he felt a little ashamed for how much it annoyed him.

But he didn’t understand it. You were going to be the wife of Kuroo Tetsurou, President of the Japan Volleyball Association. Is that not enough of an achievement?

You didn’t seem to think so.

Now Kuroo’s not a misogynist by any means. If he were, he wouldn’t even let you get this stupid degree. He doesn’t want you to be some mindless Stepford Wife who only cooks and cleans and says “Yes, dear” “No, dear.” Of course he believes in equal rights and all that bullshit but he just doesn’t see any reason for you to work. Financially, there’s no need. More importantly, as his wife you would be too busy taking care of him, his home and his children for you to even thinking about having a job. He would let you get this degree purely for you to soothe your own ego, so you could feel like you’ve accomplished something.

And this is the fucking thanks he gets.

Coming home every day to see you hunched over the dining room table, 4 different textbooks open, papers scattered everywhere. He works hard every day to make a comfortable life for the two of you but asking to come home to a clean apartment and dinner on the stove is too much to ask apparently.

You don’t even register that he’s in the room until he places two large warm hands on your shoulders, causing you to jump, quickly soothed with a kiss to the top of your head.

“Hi baby” he mutters against your scalp, gently massaging your shoulders.

“Hmm. Hi Tetsurou.” you turn your head to look at him, eyes bloodshot and bleary from staring at your computer all day. “How was your day?”

“Same old.” He places a chaste kiss on your lips. “How’s it going here? Are we winning?” He glances at your notes, Intercranial mass lesions. Subarachnoid Haemorrhage. Spontaneous Intracerebral Haemorrhage. He wonders why you do this to yourself. Pretty things like you shouldn’t have to think.

You groan. “Not at all. This neuro final is gonna kick my ass.”

He chuckles, hands gently massaging your shoulders. “You say that every time and every time you ace it baby.” Instead of asking you where his dinner is, he asks “Have you eaten today? What do you want for dinner?”

“ I’m not hungry Tetsu. You can order whatever you like.” He clenches his jaw in irritation. You can’t even be bothered to give him your full attention for 10 minutes? The man who works so hard so that you can afford to sit at home and study the whole day?

No.

He’ll get your attention one way or another.

“Angel,” he drops his voice an octave or two, leaning down so his mouth is pressed right against the shell of your ear. “How about you take a break yeah? Wanna help you relax.” He starts to kiss your neck. He hears your breath hitch. He’s got you. “You worked so hard today plus I reaaaaally miss you.”

With that he begins to leave wet kisses on your neck, feeling you melt into him. His hands move away from your shoulders, gently groping at your chest.

You suddenly go rigid. “Tetsu, not right now.” He doesn’t want you to know how pissed he is but he can’t help it, he groans in frustration. “I’m sorry,” you mutter weakly “I really need to get through these last 3 chapters.”

“Yeah right. Got it.” He storms off with a huff. He’s furious. Your little studious shtick has been nothing more than an irritation for him. But this is too far. He hasn’t come in a month, since you started prep for finals. You’ve been too busy to take care of him. You suggested porn and he laughed in your face. Why would he jerk off when you have a perfectly good pussy? Don’t be ridiculous.

“Tetsurou don’t be mad please.”

“Not mad baby. Keep studying. That’s important to you right?” He’s not convincing anyone but you don’t have the time or energy to engage.

You let out a heavy sigh before turning back to your laptop, falling back into studying like the whole interaction never happened. It made him even angrier. How you couldn’t care less about him right now.

“Just gonna watch some TV. That okay with you, love?” He says sounding sickly sweet, almost sarcastic. If you notice, you don’t make any mention of it.

“Mmhm. Just keep it down please.” You don’t even bother to fucking look at him.

You don’t wanna pay attention to him? You want him to just jerk off? Fine then, have it your way. Kuroo throws himself down on the couch as he rips off his tie with a little more force than necessary.

This is petty.

He makes quick work of the buttons of his dress shirt.

This is childish.

He quickly unbuckles his belt and pulls his slacks down just far enough to take his soft dick out of his boxers.

This is your fault.

You pushed him to do this.

He takes his phone and uses his internet browser to take him to the first porn site he can think of. He doesn’t really care about the kind of video so “Busty blonde slut gets destroyed” seems like a good a choice as any. He clicks on the video and sets up his phone to mirror on the TV screen. With the volume about as loud as it can go, he presses play.

The loud exaggerated moans and gagging startle you. Your head shoots up and you see your boyfriend, lidded gaze fixed on the flat screen TV in front of him. He’s panting, letting out little moans. You crane your neck to see what he’s watching and you see on the TV a bleach blonde girl with massive tits being an absolute trooper as she gets facefucked relentlessly.

“Kuroo, what the fuck?” God he hates when you call him by his last name mostly because you only do that when you’re really annoyed at him.

“Hm? What is it baby?” Now it’s his turn to not even glance in your direction. He’s too focused on the way the girl on screen’s throat is bulging as the man thrusts into her mouth. Maybe he should watch porn more often.

“What are you doing?” He can hear the irritation building in your voice. He hears the chair scrape along the hardwood floor as you stand up to get a better look at him. He knows you can see exactly what he’s doing now.

He smirks, turning to look at you for just a split second before his attention is back to being on screen. “Watching ah fuck watching TV”. He starts to stroke himself faster now, knowing you’re watching him. He’s a little embarrassed by how turned on he is. Cock already rock hard, his tip bright red and shiny from leaking so much pre-cum.

“Do you have to do… that… here? I can’t concentrate.” You clench your fists and your sides.

Oh you’re pissed. But this isn’t exactly the reaction he wants from. He’ll make it work though.

“Not my problem babe. Shit.” He takes his free hand down to play with his swollen balls and god, if he weren’t so determined to dump this load inside you he might have come right then and there.

“Kuroo!” You shout. He’s still not looking at you. How could he when the girl on the screen is getting absolutely railed. He only hears the sound of your barefeet on the hardwood floor as you storm over to the couch. He’s not sure what your plan was when you decided to come over here, but it doesn’t even matter anymore because the second you’re close enough he yanks you by your wrist and forces you into his lap.

“Tetsu!” You thrash and struggle in his hold but it’s no use. He’s bigger and stronger than you.

He wraps his arm around your neck, pulling you into a chokehold. “Oh I’m Tetsu now?” he laughs bitterly

“Let me go! Please!” You still haven’t given up getting out of this, tears threatening to spill from your eyes.

“Shut up. I want you to watch this.” He’s forcing you to look at the screen now. “Look at that yeah? Look at how she’s taking that big cock.”

A hard palm strikes you across your cheek. “Stop squirming and watch.”

The blonde woman is bent over a coffee table while the man behind her rams his dick into her without abandon. Kuroo can’t decide if he finds her whining hot or annoying.

“Looks like it feels good huh babe?” His head is buried in the crook of your neck. “Wanna make you feel good like that.” He places a quick kiss to your temple before pulling your t-shirt over your head, your bare chest now exposed to the cool air.

“Tetsu please.”

“Please what baby?”

Please let me go.

But the way he’s hands are gripping at your breasts, pulling and twisting your nipples, you can’t form any words. Only whimpers.

“Please make you feel good? That what you want baby?” He whispers as he slots his thigh between your legs.

“Yeah yeah please Tetsu.”

Kuroo has turned his focus onto your neck. Harsh sucks, leaving bruises and bite marks in his wake. He wants to laugh at how pathetic you are. Just a few minutes ago, you were adamant on ignoring his presence and now you’re writhing in his lap begging you to touch him.

“Really? I thought you needed to study.”

“No no no Tetsu, only need you.” Just a quickie. You’re both pent up. 10… 15 minutes tops. Then you’ll go back to studying. That’s what you tell yourself.

“That’s right baby.” He grips your hips and grinds you down on to his thigh. “I know exactly what you need.” You take your cue from him and begin riding his thigh, neurology notes long forgotten as he goes back to assaulting your neck. The combination of the sensation of your clothed clit rubbing against his thigh and visual stimulation of the explicit content on your TV makes you dizzy with pleasure.

Your movements become frantic. You’re practically humping his leg at this point. He knows you’re close which is why he wraps one arm around your torso, pulling you back into his chest.

“Baby please.” You whine. Oh, you’re really crying now.

“Oh angel, you were gonna come just from that? Just from humping my thigh and watching some other bitch get eaten out? My angel must be so pent up huh?”

You can’t do anything except whimper and nod.

“Mmhm yeah my baby has been working too hard. Thinking too much. You’re too cute for that you know baby.”

You keep nodding, no idea what you’re actually agreeing to, too busy keening at the praise. You keep trying to move your hips but he just tightens his hold.

“It’s okay though baby I know how to take care of you. Your man knows how to turn off that little brain of yours.”

His hand slides into you shorts, fingers pressing on to your clit over the top of your soaked panties. The moan you let out might rival the porn star on screen, who now by the way, is riding the face of her co-star while she sucks his cock.

He slips his other hand into your panties and starts rubbing quick “Yeah that’s it. Feel good babe?” You melt into his chest. “Yes Tetsu! So good!”

Kuroo pushes his long middle finger into your dripping hole. So tight and warm, he has to bite back a moan of his own. A few slow pumps, before he lets his index finger enter you as well. He’s done going slow now, he starts fucking you with his fingers, thumb brushing over your clit every now and then.

You were so close before, it takes almost no effort on Kuroo’s part to get you there again. You throw your head back on to his shoulder, muscles tensing in anticipation of your impending release. “Tets- gonna cum, gonna cu-“ The second you feel the waves of your orgasm crash on to you, Kuroo has his hands off you entirely, reaching for the remote and turning off the explicit movie.

Ruined. He ruined your orgasm.

You open your eyes and you see Kuroo looking every bit the smug bastard and your own teary eyed reflection in the black screen. “Tetsurou… Why? Why would you-“ You can’t even get the sentence out before he delivers a harsh smack to your clit.

“You think you deserve to come?” A large hand wraps tight around your throat as he lets out a humourless laugh. “You’re stupider than I thought.”

“No Tetsu ‘m not stupid” You manage to rasp out but that just makes him squeeze even tighter.

“What was that? I thought I heard a stupid bitch say something.”

You claw at his had trying to get air into your lungs but Kuroo doesn’t budge.

“Please! Sorry! Please!” is all you can manage to get out. Just as you start to see spots, Kuroo lets go.

Airways burning, you sputter out a “thank you” but your boyfriend doesn’t seem to care. “You’re sorry? Show me how fucking sorry you are.” He’s shoves you on to the floor unceremoniously.

While Kuroo removes his slacks and boxers, you try to compose yourself. You know what’s coming but first you need to stop coughing and stop crying. After a minute of deep breathing, you open your eyes and find yourself face to face with Kuroo’s monster cock.

And you’re not exaggerating. The thing is terrifying. Long and girthy, the biggest you’ve ever seen. He’s unbelievably hard with bulging veins, the tip almost purple with arousal. You’re mesmerised by it.

Perhaps the only thing scarier than his dick right now is the man attached to it. He’s staring down at you with so much condescension, small smirk playing on his lips. He wraps his hand around his thick base. “You good princess? Get to it.” He tuts.

You place one of your hands on his throbbing member as you tentatively stick out your tongue to lick at his tip where pre-cum is dribbling out. You slowly start to stroke him up and down as you swirl your tongue around the head. Kuroo is being kind, letting you go slow. If you think he’s doing this for your benefit, you’re mistaken. He wants to take his time with this. More importantly, he’s got about a month’s worth of cum stored up in his balls and he wants to make sure that every single drop goes inside your little cunt.

You take what you can fit (just less than half) into your mouth, lips stretched wide around his dick, the head is poking at the back of your throat while your hands work the rest of his shaft. You look up at him with wide, apologetic eyes. He can tell by the way you’re looking at him you want him to know how sorry you are.

It’s cute.

He grabs you by your hair and pulls you off of him. ”Aw baby, that’s it? I thought you were sorry.”

A mixture of saliva and pre-cum dribbles down your chin. “Tetsu I am sorry. I’m so sorry!” You whimper.

“Yeah?” Kuroo whispers. His grip on your hair tightens as he tilts your head up to look at him. You stare up at your boyfriend, as he bends down to kiss you. Again, it’s surprisingly gentle but is quickly contrasted with the way he uses the other hand to grab your face, squeezing harshly to make you pucker your lips and keep your mouth open.

He smiles down at you, almost lovingly before he puckers his lips as well, letting a fat glob of spit drop from his mouth into yours.

It’s gross. It’s degrading. It’s cruel.

And that’s why you swallow it down almost immediately, without being asked.

“Good girl” He whispers and gives you a kiss on the nose as a reward. The simple praise shoots straight to your pussy and now you’re greedy for more.

Kuroo leans back and assumes his previous position but this time flexing his elbows and putting his hands behind his head. He’s still wearing his dress shirt, unbuttoned so you can admire his delicious torso. Toned and tanned with the trail of dark hair running all the way to his groin. He looks completely relaxed with his eyes closed and for a moment you find yourself enamored by how stunning he is. How stunning your man is. You want to please him now more than ever. You want him to call you his good girl again. You steady yourself on your knees and prepare for the task at hand

You start off with a few shallow bobs on his cock. Then you take a deep breath through your nose before taking as much of him in your throat as you can. “Holy shit.” He breathes out. His hips thrust up reflexively while you try to suppress your own reflex, trying to keep him has deep as possible for as long as possible. You’ve had lots of practice deepthroating your boyfriend’s dick but somehow it hasn’t gotten any easier.

You pull off of him but not completely, just enough to open up your airway to let much needed air into your burning lungs. You twist your hands around the exposed part of him. You look up at him and he’s giving you that fond smile again and it makes your heart swell in your chest. It’s all the motivation you need to take him back into your throat. Again you take him as far as you can but there’s still a good inch or so that you can’t take no matter how hard you try.

“Aw baby you need some help?” Kuroo coos from above you. You look up at him with big watery eyes and nod as best you can with his dick lodged in your oesophagus. He lets out a hum. “Anything for my baby.” He places one of his large hands on the back of your head and pushes you down until your nose meets his pelvis.

Your throat muscles are spasming around the impossibly large, impossibly deep intrusion but Kuroo keeps you there, seemingly reveling in your gags. Your drool dribbles from your lips, down his balls on to the black leather of the couch. You try breathing through your nose but you struggle. However, your discomfort is completely eclipsed by Kuroo’s moans and grunts. If it makes him feel good you’ll keep him in there as long as he wants. You’ll let him thrust into your mouth until he comes if he so choses.

Lucky for you, that’s not what he wants tonight.

You pulls you off his dick by once again but slowly this time. He watches the string of drool that connects your lips and drags you away until it snaps. He take his heavy shaft and slaps it against your right cheek. You let out a gasp and a smirk starts to play on his lips. Before you know it he’s smacking and dragging his cock all over your face, covering you in a mixture of your saliva and his pre-cum. “God damn. Prettiest fuckin’ girl in the world right here on her knees for me.” He says as he leans back to admire his handiwork. “Open” he says. You obey without hesitation and he spits in your mouth again.

You swallow eagerly. “Thank you Tetsuro.” Your throat feels raw but you smile at him, absolutely giddy, nonetheless.

“Get up here, pretty girl.” Kuroo helps you to your feet and shimmy out of your bottoms before guiding you on to his lap so you’re straddling him. Immediately two of his fingers are inside you again, your slick cunt offering no resistance whatsoever. “You know angel, I’m still not sure how sorry you actually are.” He’s scissoring his fingers, stretching out your walls. If he were a different man, he’d thrust into you right now without any prep but he sees how fucked out you already are, there’s no need to punish you any further. His fingers move at a tortuous pace, squelching as he thrusts them in and out of you.

You’re panting. “Anything, I’ll do anything.”

The slow drag of his fingers grazing that spot inside you as he pulls out makes your eyes flutter shut. When you open them again, Kuroo is holding the same fingers in front of your face. Your boyfriend keeps is hazel eyes locked on yours as he sticks out his tongue to lick up the arousal soaking his digits.

“Hmm ‘course you will.” He slaps his fat cockhead on your sensitive clit making you squeal.

He drags his tip from your clit to your dripping slit over and over again getting it nice and wet.

You chant “Tetsu please” like some twisted prayer. You desperately want to make up for your earlier ruined orgasm.

“Wanna see you bounce on my cock, angel.”

You oblige him wordlessly, taking hold of his shaft and lining in him up with your entrance. You slowly lower yourself on to him wincing at the way he stretches you out. The prep was minimal and his fingers are no match for the size of his cock. You have to stop to breathe and blink away tears. You lift up your hips and lower yourself down slowly again, taking a little more of him inside you. You repeat the process a couple more times.

As much as watching your struggle to take his cock strokes his ego, Kuroo is growing bored. It’s time to take matters into his own hands.

Kuroo grips your hips and takes you by surprise as he thrusts up into you, making you take the whole thing. You let out a shrill cry as the tip of his cock nudges at your cervix. A heavy smack lands on your ass. “I said bounce angel.”

“So big Tetsu fuck. So big.” You whine as he pulls you up, before he sheaths his dick fully inside you, making you shriek for a second time.

God you could be such a crybaby sometimes. You were starting to piss him off again. He pulls out of you completely and says “Turn around.”

“Tetsu no please! Wanna see you.” You pout, your eyes welling up with tears.

Another smack. This time across your face. You reach up to touch the sore skin on your cheek, it feels hot. “Don’t talk back to me you stupid slut.”

You whimper but obey his command. You don’t want Kuroo to be angry at you.

“Now sit on it.” He spanks you another time before gripping your ass and guiding his cock into you until your ass meets his groin.

Playtime is over.

Kuroo slips his hands under your thighs, grabbing the back of your knees and folding your body in half. Now he’s really fucking you. His thrusts are rough, cock knocking against your cervix repeatedly as he sinks himself into your sopping cunt over and over again. The sound of his balls slapping against your ass and the squelching of your dripping pussy make for the lewdest symphony you’ve ever heard.

“Tetsurou ‘m close. Please” you cry. The way his dick is rubbing against your sweet spot means you won’t last long.

“No.”

Despite his denial, he doesn’t ease up on his thrusts. You’re trying to concentrate on holding back your orgasm but honestly you can’t concentrate on anything except Kuroo pistoning his fat cock in and out of you.

“Look at you.” You see your reflection in the black TV screen. “You see that?” He gives one particularly hard thrust to emphasise his point. “Fucked stupid huh?”

“Yeah Tetsu Yeah.” It’s no mirror but you can see all that you need to. You see your boyfriend using your body like a fleshlight, thrusting up into you at a relentless pace. You see your cunt split open on his cock. You see yourself being completely and utterly owned by him.

“My girl is such a fucking whore huh? My own personal porn star.”

“Need to cum nnggh let me cum please.” You’re teetering so close to the edge and Kuroo’s filthy mouth is not helping your situation in the slightest.

“Why should I let you cum hm? You’re so good when you’re desperate. Think I should keep you like this.”

“Please Tetsu. Please. Wanna be good! Wanna be your good girl Testu! Wanna take care of you! Please.”

He likes the way that sounds.

His good girl. His wife. His. His. His.

“Cum for me angel. Cum. Right now.” He says, lips pressed against your ear.

He doesn’t need to tell you twice. With the way he’s pounding his dick into your tight little pussy you have no choice but to spiral into orgasm. Your pussy spasms around his cock, pulling him deeper inside you. The hot coil in your tummy that’s been building unravels and the bliss hits you so hard you see starts. Kuroo keeps fucking up into you as you cream around him. As you come down, you go limp in his arms. That doesn’t stop him from using you though.

His grip around your thighs tightens and that’s how you know he’s getting close. “You gonna be a good girl for me? You gonna take this fat fucking load? Yeah? Take all of it deep in your cunt?” He growls right into your ear.

“Tetsu gimme pleasepleaseplease” You beg him as you cry from overstimulation, barely able to form the words.

“Take it. Take it. Fuck!” He growls as he shoots his load right into your tight, gooey pussy. You feel his hot cum fill up your womb and the sensation is so overwhelming it makes you go cross-eyed, tongue lolling out of your mouth. He grunts, still rutting into you through his orgasm. When he’s done he pulls out of you, smiling as he watches his cum leak out of your spent hole.

Kuroo loves the fact that you’re smart. But when you’re like this? Absolutely cum drunk, eyes glazed, body covered in bruises and willing to do anything he asks you to? He fucking adores you like this.

“Go take care of dinner princess, then your man is gonna take care of you some more.” He swats you on your ass.

You giggle and let your wobbly legs carry you to the kitchen with your boyfriend’s cum running down between your thighs, thoughts of your upcoming final completely fucked out of your head.

Along with every other thought not revolving around your future husband.

Kuroo reaches for his phone to text his assistant and tell her to cancel all his meetings for tomorrow. He has to go ring shopping.

#haikyū!!#haikyuu!!#hq x you #haikyu x reader #kuroo x you #kuroo imagine #kuroo smut #kuroo tetsuro x reader #hq smut #dark fic #tw dubcon #tw dumbification #tw breath play #tw manipulation #tw manhandling #tw degradation #tw slapping #tw spitting

1K notes · View notes

parkers-gal · 3 years

Note

Tom x reader where reader wants to move out & live with Tom only (not with boys). Tom doesn’t want to move out, maybe Nikki has a talk with him

the one T.H.

➢ a / n | went a lil overboard, heh, but enjoy this ! sorry it took a lil while :,(

➢ wc | 2.5k <3

｡☆✼★━━ requests are closed ━━★✼☆｡

There’s too many dishes in the sink, you note. There’s so many, that they won’t all fit for one load in the dishwasher. It’s a pain, and you know nobody in this house has the patience to wait for two full loads to carry through, so you have to hand wash half of them and allow the whirring machine to do the other half.

If this were a romantic comedy, you’d have Tom standing next to you and you’d hold hands under the suds while you wash the dishes together and chat about your future. This isn’t a rom-com, though. In fact, you don’t even know where the boys are right now. You were certain they went into the den to play Call Of Duty — or whatever it is that they play — but then you thought they went into the backyard with Tessa, but now you’ve just given up on figuring their whereabouts.

Not that you’re angry at Tom for not helping, though. He did the laundry with you earlier, so you’re content with his keeping end of the deal. It’s the other four that you’re a bit fed up with. Sam had just recently joined the Holland-Osterfield-Barrett household of mates, and while you’re all the more happy to welcome him in, it also means more work. There’s a chore schedule, but sometimes someone has work in a town or a country away, and the gaps in the schedule are only ever left for you to fill.

It’s tough, considering you have your own job, but you’re content with the situation — for now. You have Tom, the love of your life, and you have the best people of your life - Harry, one of your closest confidants, and Harrison, one of your partners in crime.

There’s a lot of baggage that comes with being the only woman in a household of boys that practically grew up with each other. You love Tessa with all your heart, but it’s not like you can really gossip to her about your day.

You’re not too worried about everything, anyway. The second anniversary of your relationship with Tom is coming up; it’s only a few months away, and though you’ve been pondering the idea for awhile, you’re thinking of getting a place with Tom, on your own, without the nagging and intruding fellow in-laws (to-be, hopefully).

Six weeks, today marks, for how long you’ve been thinking about the idea, debating whether it’s valid enough to bring up to Tom, deciding when the best time to talk to him would be. He’s a hard man to navigate — getting a spot in his busy schedule is like fighting to the front of a One Direction mosh-pit. That makes it practically impossible.

But, you’re Y/N. You’re his sweetheart, his darling, his weakness. You’re the most important person in his life, and when you want to have a serious conversation with him, Tom’s all ears and eyes, attentive and caring, understanding and, hopefully, supportive.

You’re hoping it won’t take much convincing — he’s lived with these people all his life, and if it’s truly hard for him to decide, you’ll know what he really wants then.

Ringing out a few glass cups, you let them dry on a dish rack that sits on the countertop. The buzzing and whirring of the dishwasher alerts you that it’s still happily running, and you walk towards the glass sliding doors that lead to the patio and backyard. Peering out, you see all four housemates and Paddy, playing with a frisbee and wrestling with Tessa and messing around with a rugby ball on the trampoline. They look like kindergarteners on the playground, and you decide then to bring them some lemonade like a mother in summertime.

“Hope you’re all a bit thirsty,” you set the tray down with a warm smile. Sam shuts his book of poetry to smile up at you from his seat. He’s been reading for a good fifteen minutes, but you reckon he’ll hop on the trampoline when Harrison gets off. For now, he watches as the Irregulars star jumps happily with Tuwaine.

“Oh, sick,” Harry runs over with the frisbee still in his hands, reaching for a glass and taking a big gulp. Tessa’s at his feet, awaiting for the frisbee game to resume, and you pet her head for a moment before Tom runs over to you, hair matted to his forehead in sweat.

“You’re the best, love,” his hand finds the small of your back as he kisses your temple. You smile again, eyes shutting in bliss at the feeling of his lips, but his hand maneuvers you so he can reach for a glass without bumping into you.

One by one, they come over for refreshments, before picking up where they left off beforehand. Tom’s last to leave, wanting to talk to you before playing with his brothers again.

“Oh, I have to talk to you later,” you whisper, fingers tracing down his damp (sweaty) shirt with a giggle. Tom raises a brow, and you nod softly, “Just, when you have time. Now have fun,” you push him off, and though he’s still just as curious, he leaves you alone on the patio. Taking one last glance at the rowdy group of boys, you bring the tray of empty cups inside, sliding the door shut and sighing to yourself. More dishes to do.

——

Tom’s drying his hair with a purple bath towel when he comes out of the steamy bathroom. He sighs contentedly, before remembering your words from earlier. He brings it up, “What was it that you needed to talk to me about?”

He walks over to the dresser while you look up from your phone. You hum as Tom puts something away, and you shut the electronic device off, setting it on your nightstand and twisting to face his direction.

“I wanted to talk to you about… us, I guess.”

You see Tom’s movement slow, and he removes the towel from his damp curls, turning around hesitantly. You smile, waving him off, “Nothing bad, I promise.”

He lets out an inaudible “phew,” and nods. “Good.” You agree with a nod of your head, and he furthers on with the questions. “What is it, though? Is it something important?”

“I mean…” Tom places his towel on the rack before walking to the opposite side of the mattress “Sorta?” You offer, and you see the gears turn in his head. He sits down across from you, on the bed, and he smiles encouragingly, still a bit suspicious.

“Well, I’m all ears, darling.”

You smile at the familiar pet name, and with a final breath in, you admit what’s been in your head for the past few months. “I was thinking maybe we could… move out… without the boys.”

It’s dead quiet for a few beats while the words sink into his mind. You’re not sure how he’s going to react, but you watch to gauge his reaction.

His mouth opens, almost as if he’s about to say something, but then he closes it, as if he’d suddenly second guessed himself. For once, you truly can’t read him.

“I thought… I thought you liked living here?” he says softly, almost a bit saddened.

You sigh with your words, “I do! Really, I do, but…”

“But…?” He bites his lip.

“Well, I mean…” you exhale again, “We’ve been together for almost two years,” he’s still listening, “Don’t you think we should be a little more independent?”

“I mean, sure, if we were a normal couple.” He laughs at the joke, and while you do too, it’s not really genuine, but more forced for the awkward tension in the air. “I just thought you… y’know, enjoyed spending time with everyone.”

You nod understandingly. “I do, Tom. Really, I do. But… y’know, we’re not getting any younger. I just thought maybe it was time for us to get a place of our own.” It comes out as more of a suggestion, a question for him to respond to. You quietly bite your lip while Tom nods at the information he’s taking in.

He looks down at his fingers, before locking eyes with you. “Can I think about it?”

You shut your eyes softly while nodding. Tom blinks, before standing from the bed, giving you a kiss on the forehead and bidding farewell, heading downstairs for more quality time with his brothers.

——

It’s been a week since that conversation took place in your room. You didn’t think it’d go so… bad? You’re not sure if you should say that, because he didn’t exactly say “no,” he just didn’t seem enthusiastic about deciding at all.

It’s a quiet Saturday. You’re out bowling with a few of your friends, news of one of them getting engaged spreading like wildfire. She’s having a dinner party later, but for now, you’re keeping the meeting small, inviting your closest circle for the fun day at the bowling lanes.

Tom asked you if you wanted to reschedule the dinner with his family, but you insisted that arriving late would be fine. It’s only four o’clock — the Holland family likes to come for late lunch and spend the night playing games and drinking beer, until the clock strikes midnight and Paddy’s passing out in the backseat on the way back home.

At least now, only one Holland brother stays with the parents.

Somehow, someway, the conversation had shifted to you. Everyone’s gathered in the living room, scattered on sofas, couches, beanbags, armchairs, loveseats. Tom misses you at his side, but the conversation of how your work is going just reminds him of what you’d proposed a few days ago.

“How’re things with her in general, though?” Nikki, Tom’s mom, asks with a smile. The eyes shift towards Tom, and he can feel his face heating up.

“Yeah, how’re things with the lovebirds?” Harry teases.

Tom chuckles, anxiety bubbling in his stomach, twisting his. “Uh- they’re- they’re good, yeah,” he assures them, though shaky.

“You sure, there?” Harrison teases. “Did someone propose or something?”

“No, no,” Tom airily chuckles. “Nothing like that.” “Oh?” His dad picks up, “What, then?”

“She- uh…” he licks his lips out of habit. “She wants to move out. Find a place for us, she said.”

The tone in which Tom tells them lets them know that he’s a little less than enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. It’s something that raises a red flag for Nikki; it’s something that makes her brows furrow in confusion.

“Oh,” Sam breaks the silent. “I’m happy for you, bro,” he pats Tom’s shoulder.

Tom smiles, though it’s forced and a bit spaced out.

“What’re you gonna tell her?” Harry asks. “You want it too, right?”

Tom shrugs weakly. Nobody talks about his responses, his reactions. It’s all a bit unexpected, for Tom to not be on board with the next step of the relationship.

“I mean, I don’t know, really.” He confesses with a nervous laugh, running a hand through his curls. “I’d miss you all so much. I just… I don’t know, I guess I just thought she liked living here too, y’know.”

A collective number of “yeah’s” and “mhm’s” go around the room, and Tom nods nonchalantly before the conversation switches to something more exciting. For now, Nikki lets it go, just until she can get her eldest in a room by himself, and before you get home.

It’s when Tom’s getting snacks for the group that Nikki decides to offer her help in the kitchen. They’re just putting dinner in the oven and preparing appetizers, but still, any opportunity to talk to Tom.

“So,” Nikki smiles, and Tom giggles while she puts another slice of tomato on the dish they’re preparing. “Moving out, huh?”

Though her tone is teasing, Tom can’t help but get shivers. He nods, quieting down a bit. Nikki’s movements remain, but Tom stops working altogether. “I don’t want to move out.”

His mum turns to look at him, and she nods, almost as if anticipating the confession. “Why not?”

Tom clicks his tongue, looking down as if he’s ashamed of feeling this way. “I just like things the way they are right now. I know at some point, someone’s gonna move out and the clan’s gonna go our separate ways, but I don’t want to be the one to go first.”

At this, Nikki fully turns to talk to Tom, no longer making dinner. “Tom…” She wipes her hands on a kitchen towel, and Tom does the same. “You were the first to go, you know.”

His eyebrows pull together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she sighs, “Your career was first to take off. You ran out that door so fast, we couldn’t keep up.” Tom laughs, reminiscing to himself. “You’re going to keep growing,” she says softly. “You can’t stop that. You can’t stop everyone from growing apart. Sure, you might not grow apart, but you won’t always be this cute little boy band from your school days.”

“Not a boy band, mum,” Tom grumbles. The two of them share a knowing smile.

“You can’t blame yourself for growing, darling,” she steps closer, grabbing one of his hands just like he had grabbed hers the day he was first born. “You can’t expect to be the glue that holds this- this temporary situation together forever. You’re not a superhero,” the two of them laugh again, but then Tom nods knowingly, and Nikki can see a faint batch of tears spring in his eye sockets.

“No, I know, mum.” He sniffles. “I guess… I don’t know, i’ve just always been afraid of never being there when everything changes. I always come back and everyone’s a different person, just…” he searches for the words, “with the same faces.”

She nods, turning back to her dinner dish. Tom keeps his eyes trained on his hands, which are planted on the countertop.

“She loves you a lot, you know.” Nikki says after a few beats. “She just wants a bit of privacy, a bit of your relationship without your annoying brothers.”

“Annoying is right,” Tom teases. They laugh again. “Yeah, I guess I just never thought of that.” Nikki hums, and the kitchen grows silent for a few moments. “Thank you, mum.”

“For what?”

“Being there.” Tom replies. “You never gave up on me, and now… I don’t know. It means a lot to me that you’re helping me with something so important to me.”

Nikki’s eyes soften, and both of them tear up. She nods, this time breaking the silence again. “I know how much you love her,” She says quietly. “One day, she’ll be yours for forever. She’s the one — I can see it in both of your eyes.”

Tom sucks in a breath and wipes his eyes. “I know she’s the one, too.” He adds in another tomato to the dish. “She’s always been it for me.”

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the-badger-mole · 3 years

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So there's definitely the traits about Aang you don't like. If you had the chance, how would you have gone about making sure Aang got called out??

Any other changes about other aspects of the show that you would have done??

OOHHH!!!! There is SO much I would have changed.

Starting with Aang:

Aang should have been called out about not helping Katara with the chores. One of the lessons he should have learned on Kyoshi should have been importance of not leaving one team member to do all of the work (Sokka should have been taught this lesson, too, of course, but at least he was learning other lessons about respect for women in particular). I'm not asking for Aang to face consequences for the sake of making him miserable (although...). What I really want is for him to consider people other than himself in a way that actually leaves a mark on his character and doesn't just make his superficial reputation better.

In Bato of the Water Tribe, he should have been taken more to task over his selfishness in hiding Hakoda's letter. I feel like the danger he put Hakoda's mission in with that bone-headed move gets overlooked in favor of his sadness about the possibility of his friends wanting to take a detour to see their father. Aang gets half an apology for that, but only half an apology, and not to Katara- the one he's supposed to have a romance (???) with.

He should have been called out for lying his way out of actually solving the problem in "The Great Divide". Yes, it was a tough problem, but he's going to have to solve even harder ones as the Avatar. Not even lightly chiding him for taking the easy way out doesn't bode well for how well he's going to do at his job in the future.

The fact that he was instrumental in the deaths of several Fire Nation soldiers in the Siege of the North should have been the beginning of his understanding of what he's expected to do to end this war that's been going on for a hundred years. He should feel some guilt over the war that's been going on for a hundred years. Even if ultimately he's not centrally to blame for either, neither could have happened without him making the decisions he made. I can understand it not occurring to Aang on his own that he played a part in (lets be honest) millions of deaths, but it should have dawned on him through context clues what the world- what his friends!- expected of him. He should have been looking for a non-lethal solution to the Ozai problem from the beginning of Book 2 at the latest! The way his reluctance to kill Ozai plays out in the show makes Aang look inexcusably stupid, unbelievably short-sighted, and dangerously selfish.

He should have been brought to task for how he treated his friends- especially Toph- in the desert. Yes, it's understandable that he was upset about losing Appa, but he took his anger out on his friends. That's not ok. He should have apologized. We should have seen him apologize. It wasn't Toph's fault Appa was taken. She didn't deserve that.

Katara should have had more of a voice in her relationship with Aang. He forced kisses on her twice, and aside from avoiding talking to him about feelings, Katara doesn't get to tell him how she actually feels about him, about them, about the fact that he doesn't respect her enough to talk to her about how he felt before he even thought about trying to kiss her. I hate Kataang, and there is no version of that ship that I would actually like (at it's best it's boring), HOWEVER, there is a version of Kataang that could have been less infuriating, and it's the version where Aang realizes how selfish he's been with Katara and apologizes, and then actually puts in the work to be more respectful of her. Not to get the reward of her affection for doing something he should have been doing in the first place (*ahembrykeahem*), but because he actually sees the error of his ways and his need to change for himself. Then maybe, after Aang had put in actual work on himself, maybe his "romance" with Katara could have worked, and Katara would have actually had a chance to thrive after getting with him.

The war should have had more of an impact on Aang. As the Avatar, he should have seen more people suffering under the Fire Nation's campaign of imperialism. Sure he sees refugees and even spends a couple of days getting to know a pregnant lady, but it never seems like he makes the connection between the abstract evil of the war and the real world suffering it caused. It never seems to sink in for him how bad things are. Like not even for his friends. Not even for Katara specifically, the girl he allegedly loves.

There are more things I would have changed about Aang, but this is already long, so moving on!

As for the rest of the show:

I would have spent less time on Aang and his feelings and done more with the world building. There is a ridiculously small amount of time dedicated to the Water Tribe cultures. Most of Book 1: Water is spent in the Earth kingdom! Why??? Most of the main cast is from the Southern Water Tribe! Then there's the question of the Air Nomads. A total annihilation of a people group is incredibly unlikely. Closer to impossible. It hasn't even happened in our world, and the European colonist had raised murder and genocide to an art form. You mean to tell me that not only did the Fire Nation manage to murder millions of people to complete extinction, they did it in a day? Seriously??? I'm not buying it.

Speaking of the Air Nomads, even if they decided not have any other air benders in the show (but seriously, why not?), there was no reason not to explore their culture a little more. There could have been history texts in those temples they visited. Aang could have discovered some scrolls on defensive air bending forms. Guru Pathik could have been less racist given more time to explain at least a bit of the nuance of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. Aang has a 12 year old's understanding of Air Nomad culture and philosophy. What could you tell anyone about your culture or your religious beliefs at 12? Maybe you'd absorbed a lot by then, but to be able to accurately explain either to someone who didn't already know? Well, we get the bulk of Air Nomad philosophy from Aang- the kid who couldn't even acknowledge that his own people had killed in self-defense.

Toph, Sokka, Suki, and, yes Katara should have been given more development and had more care shown to their inner workings. Aang and Zuko have way more time devoted to them (though the time spent on Zuko had more plot impact than Aang's). The other members of the Gaang deserved more shine, too. Especially Toph.

Obviously, I think Katara and Zuko should have ended up together, but I've written so much about that, so I'm going to end this here, because it's late and I still need to get ready for bed.

#atla #anti aang #anti kataang #zutara #atla critical #atla rewrite #ask the badger mole

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