#and this ends all the foreplanned chapters

[sunnyrosewritesstuff]

The Marali Festival Commentary Part 2

Alright, the next 3 chapters! Honestly, I think it’s fair to say these might be my favorite 3 chapters... 👀 But more on that below!

**SPOILERS FOR THIS FIC BELOW**

Chapter 4- Hug

Dwalin took his place next to Thorin, silently holding the same position as the king.

“I have a plan.” He finally explained.

Dwalin chuckled. “I would hope so. Mahal knows we’ve all been waiting for one of you to do something.”

This was supposed to make people still think that Thorin wrote the note, but I don’t think any of my readers were actually buying it.😂

Thorin had already been placed in the first position and was almost pleading with Mahal for who would be number sixteen. His prayers were answered and he met Heor’s glare with a challenging grin.

Let’s call this chapter the “what-if Thorin got to fight Heor in Guardian of Kings instead”. I don’t think it was nearly as good a battle scene as it was with Bilbo, but I had more time to work with on GOK. 

Thorin immediately took to the center ring as soon as he was summoned. His head held high and his shoulders pulled back. Heor met him stride for stride.

“Been awhile, Thorin.” He smirked.

The disrespect.😒 You know, with this particular OC, he was always supposed to come off as ‘the asshole’ but not necessarily the villain. That definitely didn’t happen in this fic. 

“Heard that before. Although that is a lovely trinket. Did you get that from your hobbit courtesan?”

Thorin’s nostrils flared, and he had Heor shoved three feet away before he even had time to think.

The lesson here: don’t call Bilbo a whore to Thorin’s face.

The blade cut straight up his sternum (would have sliced open his neck) had the chain carrying the acorn button not snagged it. The metal snapped, Thorin hit the dirt, and there was a plethora of guards restraining Heor. Dwalin at the forefront. Thorin lay there as blood ran down his chest in amazement that once again, the hobbit had inadvertently saved his life.

I liked the symbolism here of the ‘acorn’ always saving Thorin and him tying that directly with Bilbo. It was just a nice little parallel.

Something in the hobbit suddenly snapped, and before Thorin knew it, he had Bilbo pressed tightly against him, sobbing into his chest, his arms encircling as much of his body as he could. Thorin felt pained at the memories that still haunted his hobbit, but he returned the hug as best as he could murmuring softly all the way.

“It’s okay. I’m okay. Everything is fine.”

If I remember correctly (this was a year ago after all), I think my initial plan had this hug being a lot more light-hearted, but the moment I brought Heor into it I was like WAIT I CAN MAKE THIS HURT. Did I have a plan to explain how exactly Thorin survived BOTFA? Not exactly.😆 Everyone just got to use their imaginations as I referenced it.

Chapter 5- Harmless Flirting

I feel like I should preface this chapter by saying as someone who is a terrible flirt, I really worried about this prompt...

When asked why the king himself did not choose to show off the merit of his skill, Thorin became surprisingly tight-lipped.

FORESHADOWING! 👀 I either already had @stardryad-random​‘s commission at this point, or she had sent me updates so I was pretty sold on the metallic bouquet at the end.😂

“How about you try and guess. If hobbits had a seven day passion festival, what would we feature?”

Thorin smirked at the challenge. “And what do I get if I win?”

“Whatever you want.” Bilbo breathed almost before his mind could catch up.

Does this count as flirting? Because I’m not so sure it’s harmless at this point.😆

“That’s six.” Bilbo agreed.

They walked in silence for a while. Thorin clearly lost in thought while Bilbo pretended to be impressed by a particularly hefty stone-hewed bookshelf they passed.

Writer Thoughts: What in the hell can be a seventh hobbit ‘passion’? Think, Sunny, think...

“You’re right that dwarves take their crafts to a much more serious level than any hobbit, but if you’ve ever been to a harvest festival…there are contests for nearly everything! Sure the farmers are showing off their prized vegetables and livestock. But oh, there’s so many different contests just for eating! Pie-eating contests, pudding, fudge…and of course lots of games and activities for the faunts. My cousins on my mother’s side that I was particularly close with and I would make the most handsome paper boat. The object being to see it safely down the Brandywine to the finish line, and it would always sink just beforehand. Siggy would get in such a tiff over it. Then there’s beautiful handcrafts that are up for judging too! Hand knitted blankets, prized family recipes, gorgeous wreaths for your door. No, hobbits don’t have crafts persay, but I would think we would have a day just for being passionate…about life, I suppose.”

Good job, Sunny. Self-five. As someone who grew up in a small, rural area, this was 100% based on our county fairs. I won showmanship with my sheep, and my homemade wreaths usually won 3rd place.😏

���Well I suppose I lost our little game, so I feel it only fair to turn the prize to the victor. Ask what you will of me, and I will see it done.”

“Be my escort tomorrow?” Bilbo blurted, catching Thorin off-guard. “I just…today was so lovely. And I thought if you didn’t have anything else…But then you are the king! Of course you would have better plans than to escort…”

Thorin cut him off with a gentle whiskery kiss to his hand.

“It would be my honor.”

So it was actually a little before this chapter that I knew I had messed up. But to be fair, I only had up to Chapter 4 written before I started posting. If you guys actually look at my tumblr post for the first chapter, you will notice the next chapter was supposed to be ‘Dance’. I realized about halfway through this chapter though that I had this idea of Thorin and Bilbo seeing the opera before going to the dance. So he would need an escort for that...

Chapter 6- Be My Escort

So on the original prompt list I borrowed from, it had ‘Movie Night’. I decided to replace that with the Middle Earth equivalent: play/live theater, but named it “Be My Escort”. 

There was a shift in their relationship that has happened recently that Thorin didn’t feel entirely prepared for. Perhaps, he should have been. Perhaps, this was just logically the next step. However, he found himself concerned for Bilbo’s image. The ‘courtesan’ comment made by Heor has sat ill with him, even though the vile vermin was sitting comfortably in a cell right now.

Does anyone else HC Thorin as somebody who has to have a plan and stick to it? Maybe it’s his stubborn nature, but I always imagine Thorin freaking out if anything deviates from the way he saw things working out. This plays into his ‘freak out’ in the next chapter. 

Bilbo had indeed dressed for the occasion. He wore one of his hobbit button-downs and nicer knee length dark slacks, but over that was a dwarven tunic of Durin blue with golden trim and a golden belt around his waist. However, Thorin felt his eyes drift to the hobbits chest where in the gap of the vest, he could see the mithril glittering brightly.

FUNNY STORY! I was complaining to @lordoftherazzles​ that I didn’t know how I wanted Bilbo’s outfit to look, and then sent her down a rabbit hole for a reference pic just for these few sentences of description.😅 Thank you Razzy!! Your efforts were well appreciated.

There was once a point when Thorin was still quite young and naively believing that Erebor would always belong to him, that wanted to forgo any notion of kingship in favor of an operatic career. Before puberty dropped him into a deep bass, his range had been wide and high, and he had been mesmerized by the players on the stage utilizing such gifts for storytelling. Thorin’s grandmother probably would have been the first dwarf in his corner had he ever brought it up. She had always been rather adoring on him and his vocal talents. Alas, life did not turn out the way he wanted nor ever envisioned.

Is this not the cutest headcanon for a young prince Thorin? More on this later this week... 👀

“I didn’t mean to offend.” Bilbo stated quietly.

“You didn’t.”

However, even Thorin recognized the waspish tone in his quick answer.

More evidence of Thorin being needled by things not going his way. It will blow up on him soon. You’ll have to wait til tomorrow though for me to talk about it.😏

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Sky Full of Stars - Chapter Eleven.

Huge thanks as always to my little devoted audience! This chapter brings us into part two of the story, aptly entitled Siege. You'll soon see why.

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten

Tag list - In the comments

Words - 3,564

Warnings - 18+ content throughout. Minors DNI!

After such an idyllic start to married life, absconded to the privacy of their upstate home, reality had to hit eventually. When it did, it took them both by surprise, just how invested the media had become in the details of their whirlwind romance and marriage.  

They’d thought they might’ve gotten away with it, but in the age of every single cell phone across the world now coming equipped with a camera, privacy was no longer guaranteed. Theirs had been sold to a major publication from a passerby who’d witnessed them leaving city hall hand in hand, very obviously having just gotten married. 

It wasn’t the way they’d wanted their families to find out, but sadly, it had been. While they’d been busy enjoying their first day together as husband and wife, ignoring their phones, the news had blown up all over the internet. 

Their missed calls lists were extensive.  

“I guess it had to catch up with us eventually, baby,” Jade spoke, wrapping her arm around his waist as she towel dried her hair, all bath fresh. Bath fresh and blissed out, after being treated to sub-aqua orgasms in the huge tub courtesy of her husband.  

He nodded, placing a kiss atop her head. “Family first, then publicists. I’m advising no comment, because it isn’t anybody’s business but ours. I’ll talk about my marriage in my own time or not at all.” 

While he wandered outside, Jade took a seat on the couch in the vast kitchen, the only place downstairs that was inhabitable enough to do so, ready to call her parents. As soon as she heard her mother, it had stung her heart, Gemma very upset not to have been notified that her eldest was to be married, having to pass Jade over to her father while she had a little cry. 

“You’ve driven mommy in the direction of the wine,” he chimed, Jade closing her eyes and groaning. 

“I guessed as much,” she winced, sighing. “I’m so sorry, dad. The last thing I wanted was for you guys to be upset.” God, how he knew that. At her core, his daughter was nothing but kind, hating to think she was the cause of somebody else’s pain. 

“To be brutally honest, kid, I can’t say I blame you,” he began while taking a seat in his favourite armchair, tired beyond words after a performing a lengthy coronary bypass procedure earlier that day. “If it had been foreplaned, something along the chain of all the preparation that goes into a wedding likely would have been leaked, you’d have ended up being hounded by paparazzi, and it would have spoiled your day. Remember back when Madonna married Sean Penn? Those poor kids had choppers flying overhead during the ceremony, trying to get pictures. Absolute circus.”  

She’d have been lying if she’d said it hadn’t entered her head, that their decision to marry at a moment’s notice didn’t come with the added advantage of extreme privacy, with nobody but themselves and the lovely city hall staff knowing. Not that it had lasted too long, though.  

“Yeah, it had that advantage. I hate that mum is upset now though. We ran that risk, not telling anyone, but if we had of told people then it would have snowballed, telling the parents, and then I’d have wanted to have told Jen, Adrien his buddy Lewis, too. Kind of better keeping it simple, innit?” 

“I hear you, monkey. I do.” Monkey. He’d called her that ever since she’d learned to walk, and subsequently climb. She’d spent a good sixty percent of her childhood scaling the trees in their local park back in London. “Don’t worry about mommy, I’ll talk her down. Listen, it isn’t like you can’t do something in the future too, have a little ceremony for the families and all your friends.” 

“Yes, we said we wanted to do that eventually, when our schedules calm down.” 

Steven hummed a soft laugh. “So, I can expect an invitation in around twenty thirteen, then?”  

While Jade had chatted with her dad a little longer, Adrien had a much more successful reaction from his mother, thankfully. Lois had been nothing but thrilled, telling him it was beautiful and insane, but that she was very happy for them. Patrick had a few of his own thoughts, too.  

“Now, who are you, and what have you done with my sensible, level-headed son, hmm?” he asked, sounded mildly entertained. “Running off with rockstars and getting hitched. Are you a super groupie now, son? Is this where we’re at? Pamela Des Barres will be interviewing you for her next book, I feel.” 

“Fuck you.” 

Patrick threw his head back, booming a laugh. “Oh, now, now. There will be less of that hostility, my boy.” Taking a seat in his lounge (they had two, one his and one Lois’s) he reached for his gin, resting his feet up on the coffee table. “Was there a specific reason to the speed of this? Inquiring minds wish to know.”  

“When you know, you know,” he shrugged, his bare feet hitting the grass as he walked from the patio steps out onto the lawn. “It just felt right.” 

His father smiled, adjusting his glasses. “I trust your intuition, son. I must say, in lieu of actually meeting the woman for myself, I have endeavoured to become acquainted with her. She is a truly fascinating juxtapose, from what I have garnered while watching her on stage and being interviewed. Jade is both the storm and the eye, a truly unique individual.” 

It never failed to impress him, just how perceptive his father was, with how astute he’d always been at reading people. “She is, yeah. You’re right. I can’t wait for you to meet her.” 

“I too look forward to this, very much so. If you two are free this weekend, perhaps your mother and I could venture up?” he suggested, picking at the label on the side of a new book he’d purchased earlier that day.  

“Can’t, I’m afraid,” he lamented, “I’ve got to head to London for publicity, so we’re getting that done and then spending a few days at Jade’s house over there, then we have an event in Paris, then we’re home for about three days before she’s heading to Montreal to film for a month and a half.” 

“The rigours of the job,” he chuckled, “well, let’s hope you can pencil us in at some point soonish.” 

It was easier said than done, truly. “I’ll check my schedule and hers, and we’ll see what we can come up with.” 

“Appreciated. I’m very happy for you, by the way, Adrien. You sound content.” 

“I am,” he smiled, looking back at the house, seeing Jade still talking on the phone. “She makes me a happy man.” 

"Happy is the man who finds a true friend, and far happier is he who finds that true friend in his wife,” his father spoke warmly, Adrien pulling out his cigarettes and lighting one up. 

“Is that a Patrick Brody original musing?” 

“Franz Schubert. I thought it to be quite fitting.”  

It was.  

After finishing his cigarette, he headed back inside, sitting with Jade while looking at their schedules in the calendar apps on their phones.  

“So, for the next twelve months, we have a grand total accumulated time of eleven weeks with one another.” It wasn’t even full weeks either, save three over the Christmas period, and ten days in late summer. The rest were pinpointed days where they both would be home at the same time, Jade sighing as she leaned against him. “Twenty eleven looks good for you, though. You have one project to film, but I’ll be locked in the fucking studio out on the west coast for the first eight weeks while we record.”  

“There’s nothing stopping me coming out there with you when you do?” Leaning back on the couch, he put his phone down, pulling her against his chest. “It’ll be hard, but we’ll make it work.” They had no choice but to, the album, and then seven months of touring scheduled for twenty eleven, and two further months to get them around Europe in the first months of twenty twelve.  

With the success of their last album and demand for ticket sales, the girls would be switching up a gear, the demand to see them live so great that they’d already been informed by their management team that the next tour would be shorter, playing at arenas.  

The idea both delighted and terrified Jade.  

She had just over a year to panic about that, though, her first priority being more focused on her private life and enjoying her time with her brand-new husband all she could. It wasn’t without its issues, though. All of them external.  

“You have got to be fucking joking me,” Jade spoke, her body stiffening as they approached the main doors at Gatwick airport, the entrance rammed full of photographers. 

Adrien felt her muscles all tighten, his hand sliding to grasp hers. “It’s okay, baby love. There’re worse things than having your picture taken, even though it’s annoying when there’s that damned many of them.” 

She’d been hoping it would be different, the press intrusion usually way less ferocious in England than it was back in America, but she realised that wasn’t the case as the flickering of many flashes almost blinded her on exit of the airport, their driver holding the door of the waiting Range Rover open for them to jump straight in, ignoring all questions thrown at them on their way.  

“Thank fuck for window tints,” she muttered, clipping her seatbelt in, resting her head to his shoulder.  

He placed a kiss on her head, hand clutching hers again. “It’ll die down. Promise. You feeling okay with it, though? I know all of this is somewhat new for you, at least to this degree.” 

It was so on brand for him, to check in with how she felt, ever conscious over her wellbeing. “I’m still baffled that so many people are invested in our life, but I’m okay. Ish. I just don’t like intrusion to this magnitude, but you’re right. It’ll die down once us being married becomes old news. Come on, Britney. Do something scandalous and take the attention away from us.” 

He laughed softly at her comment, both then looking to their phones and catching up with missed messages during the flight. While she was there supporting him through his small publicity venture, she had some engagements of her own to fulfil, arranging with her management to be interviewed by a well-known rock radio station there in London.  

After checking it at the hotel and kissing Adrien within an inch of his life, she headed straight back out to the waiting car, being ferried across the city to the radio station headquarters, being greeted warmly by everyone she encountered once she’d reached the third floor.  

Her interview was being conducted by Sam Riley, a radio DJ and rock journalist she had a very good rapport with, the lady herself coming to give her a big hug prior to going live, also presenting her with a massive, gorgeous bouquet of flowers. 

“I have way too much respect to say anything while we’re on the air, but I just wanted to give you these with my warmest congratulations,” Sam spoke, handing her the flowers. “I hope you’ll both be very happy together. 

“Oh, Sam,” she cooed softly, leaning around the blooms to kiss her cheek. “Thank you so much, my darling.” If there was one set of people in the rock and metal world who respected her without question, it was the other women in it with her. As for Adrien, he was asked point blank at the end of his first interview, but in a way that didn’t prickle him, so gave a respectful answer to the respectfully delivered question. 

“While I’m not content to speak of my private life in any great detail, I will confirm that yes, we got married. We’re very happy, and out of respect for my wife and our privacy, that’s all I have to say.” 

He made a note to his publicist to forward on to any other journalists that he wasn’t willing to be further quizzed on his private life at that time, only prepared to speak about it on his own terms. The two days they spent in London flew by, and before they knew it, Jade was driving them up the M25, Buckinghamshire bound.  

The property itself was set upon many acres of land, a huge, dark wood gate bridging the gap between the high surrounding wall, ensuring them all the privacy they could want. Keying in the code on the pad, Jade shifted the car back into gear as the gates slowly opened, revealing a tree lined driveway. 

“Woah, this place is gorgeous!” he exclaimed as the house aptly named Lakeside came into view, turning to see Jade looked very happy to be home.  

“Isn’t it nice?” she smiled, turning her white Range Rover into the space outside of the double garage, feeling thankful it wasn’t a rental she had to worry about returning, her assistant having it driven down to London for her the day before. “I really wanted something much older, but I’m glad I went with a newer build. My friend Pamela who I told you about, she bought the other house I was looking at over on the other side of village and she’s had untold issues with it, being pretty much all original from when it was built in sixteen twenty.” 

It never ceased to blow his mind, just how old the buildings were in England, stunned when Jade had told him that the local village pub dated back to the fourteen hundreds. “And how old is this place?” 

“Built in nineteen eleven.” Nearly a hundred years old, and she still referred to it as a newer build. Insane. Inside, he fell in love with it, noting how they both had very similar tastes over architecture and interiors, Jade’s taste a little darker in the colours she preferred, the brilliant white welcome hall peeling off to a dark blue lounge, a deep, olive-green library and a claret red games room. The kitchen was down a level, the house built on a hillside, the back doors opening out into a sprawling garden, the stable block accessible from a side path.  

After they’d put their stuff down and furnished themselves with coffee, the horses were her first port of call.  

“There’s my boy!” she called with joy, watching the head of a huge grey horse shoot up, making soft whickering noises from his velvety muzzle. “Be careful, he’s a little man aggressive.” 

“Oh, that’s Dante, huh?” He’d been informed before about the horse who had an issue with men he didn’t know, only still mildly tolerating Bob, her estate manager who looked after him and the other steeds.  

“He is, yeah. Just keep back a few steps, because he lunges sometimes if he feels threatened.” 

He kept a distance, Jade unbolting the stable door and throwing her arms around his neck, patting his big shoulders and scratching his mane.  

“How are you, big fella? Awww, look at this beautiful face. I missed you; shall we go for a nice, long gallop in the morning, hmm?”  

Seeing her around animals was witnessing Jade in her natural habitat, Adrien well used to it at that point. If there was ever a cat on the street back in Manhattan, she had to stop and pet it, or if she saw a cute dog, the same approach was taken.  

The giant of a horse then noticed him, taking a few steps forward, reaching his long neck over the stable door to sniff. Adrien remained still, slowly bringing his hand up to scratch the side of his face, Dante accepting it completely.  

“I think your person has overplayed your evil, Dante,” he spoke, the horse then attempting to get into his coffee. “No, you can’t have this. It’s hot, you’ll burn yourself.” Looking away from the horse who was leaning into the scratch beneath his forelock, Adrien snorted a soft laugh. “What’s with that face, Moo?” 

“He doesn’t do this!” she exclaimed, standing there stunned, her mouth dropped open. “He hates men, all men. Seriously! It took Bob three weeks to even be able to go into his stable without being bitten to death!” 

“What’s his beef with guys?” he asked, holding the cup away again when Dante persisted. “Nope, still hot.” 

“He was abused in his last home by a man, neglected, too.” 

“What asshole did that to you, huh, pal?” he asked, laughing softly as the horse sniffed and nibbled his hair. “I’ll get ‘em.” As it turned out, all her other horses had been saved in some form or another. The next in the row of stables was Beckie, a little chestnut mare who had used to race, retired at four and with no use for breeding because of a small flaw with her legs, faced the slaughter yard. After her was Eddie, an ex-eventing horse who had been bought for two teenage boys and ridden into the ground over a season, the family not wise in horse husbandry, meaning he had been rail thin and exhausted by the time he made it to Lakeside.  

The fourth was being exercised in the large arena behind the stable block, being jumped over a set of eye wateringly large fences by a tall, greying man who Adrien presumed to be Bob. 

“Alright, chief,” he spoke warmly, riding over to the fence line, leaning to drop a kiss on her cheek upon his arrival. “Adrien, nice to meet you, mate. I’m Bob, also known as that mouthy bastard as your new missus likes to call me,” he added, winking at his boss.  

He laughed, reaching to shake his hand. “Sounds like something she’d say.”   

“Well, he bloody is, innit!” Jade exclaimed, poking her tongue out at Bob. As well as an employee, Bob was also one of her closest friends, as she’d previously told Adrien. After wishing to move from her previous British residence, it had been Bob who’d found the house for her, living locally himself in the village of Fulmer and noticing it for sale when he used to have to travel forty minutes each way to reach Jade’s former abode just outside of Oxford. “How’s my lovely Dolly Dagger?” 

Of course, Jade would have named her gigantic, dark bay mare after a Jimi Hendrix song. “A bloody dream, as always. She’s been a lot better for the heart bar shoes, too.” 

“I knew she would, having something to help spread her weight more evenly,” she nodded, patting Dolly’s sweaty neck. “My little frog with her flat feet.”  

Adrien stood with it all sailing over his head, the horse speak he didn’t have a clue over. All he knew was that it was probably expensive.  

“How much do horseshoes cost, then?” he asked as they were walking away again, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. 

“About eighty for a set of four, but Dolly’s are specialist, so those set me back a hundred and ten quid,” she revealed. 

“And what, they need those a couple of times a year?” 

Oh, bless him. “No, baby. Every four weeks. Each time the farrier comes it costs me five hundred and fifty to have four of them shod and their hooves trimmed.”  

“Ouch,” he spoke. It was a good job her careers were lucrative, having that kind of outlay, and just for the shoes. He shuddered to imagine what the four of them cost to feed. “Mind you, there are much worse things to spend your money on than animals.”  

“I’m glad you agree,” she chirped, beaming widely. 

He knew where this was going. “It doesn’t mean you get to fill our New York house with many and varied creatures, Jade.” 

“Yes, it does!”  

Oh, god. He loved animals, but truly, he knew with the excuse of them having land, his wife was likely to take that to the extreme. 

“I’m definitely getting horses, I need something to ride in the place I’ll be living most often,” she commented, Adrien immediately smirking. 

“You have me for that,” he winked, giving her a little shove with his shoulder.  

Spinning around to block his way, she draped her arms around his neck, her eyes full of suggestive promise. “I could really go in for some of that right now, you know.”  

She’d never been thrown over somebody’s shoulder so rapidly, Adrien carrying her back to the house and following her guidance in finding his way to the bedroom. It was a completely different vibe to her New York abode, the room painted a bluish grey with white furniture and dark grey furnishings, including the soft bed linen he dropped her down upon. 

“Do you have any plans for today?” he asked, fingers creeping beneath the little black vest top she wore, pushing it up to begin placing kisses upon her stomach. 

“Other than not leaving this bedroom, nope,” she confirmed, pulling her top off as he flicked her bra undone. 

“Good.”  

A whole lot of Adrien and nothing else. She could definitely get on board with that. 

[feliscus]

　/ * WHERE THE HEARTH IS ,

“All you need to be deserving of the throne is conviction, and the necessary strength to act on it.” “…Protecting my family at all costs— that’s my conviction.”

　　　* ignis purgatorius chapter spoilers.

Morning dawns.

Lynette and Freminet slumber, snug on either side of him, but sleep eluded the magician like some grand magic trick, slipping from his grasp every time it seemed to be almost within reach. He’d neither twisted nor turned for fear of waking them, laid flat on his back staring up at the ceiling as the memory of red seared itself behind his eyelids.

In the end, Lyney had not slept at all, arms numb from where they’d stayed curled around his siblings throughout the night.

Gently, not wishing to rouse them, he tugs himself free, slips from beneath the covers to pad silently across hardwood floors. There are bandages set atop a drawer, some food and some salves. But it is upon the triplet bottled flames sitting there that his attention catches, gleaming their molten temptation.

Does Father know how he hums and haws over it now, fingers curling around the vial’s neck? Does she expect this flicker of doubt in her heir, this moment of hesitation, of weakness? Had this, too, been foreplanned by her?

Lyney knows he will never burn as brilliantly as Father. He is not strong enough, not smart enough to be named her heir. If he had been, Clervie would have been gone long before it ever had to come to this. If he had been, Lynette and Freminet would have never been hurt.

No illusion he conjures will ever fool her all-seeing gaze. No spell he casts over an audience will ever capture her attention. His steps do not fit into the path she wishes for him, too, to tread as she once had.

Because to be her successor, to become king… One day…

It would be so easy to let the flames swallow up his memories— and everything that made up ‘Lyney’ alongside it. Flush away the past that ever nips at his heels, the title of the Fatui, the burden of the heir and all its troubles.

But there is nowhere he and Lynette have gone that they have not gone together. He will not ask his sister to follow him to death too or ask Freminet to watch his siblings turn into a husks of themselves that cannot even recall his name. They both wish to stay, and Lyney will not cloud their judgement on the matter with his own doubts.

He pockets the vial and goes noiselessly from the room.

“Um… Lyney?”

A half-step from the door, he halts, twisting to meet Heloir’s gaze with a smile. Lips part to respond as he swallows around the lump in his throat, and only then, as it drags and burns all the way down, does he realize how dry his throat is. “Good morning, Heloir.”

“Oh.” He hears it, the realization in her voice that he is still himself, but she says nothing else, just continues to eye him warily. If she notices the rasp to his voice, there is no other response than to weigh the two potion vials in her hand, then hand him the one filled with clear liquid. A pause. “It’s water.”

Lyney exhales. “…Thank you. Did you need something?”

She shrinks, her voice alongside it. Normally so loud and proud, it’s strange to see her so small. “The bottled flames…did you need help administering them? I—I’m sure I have some medicine or potion to make it hurt less, but—”

But who’s going to watch over them if he leaves? Who will rock the younger kids to sleep or make sure Heloir doesn’t try any of her potions or teach Freminet to improve his sleight of hand? Or put on small magic shows by the hearth, with every trick practiced to perfection and even the ones less so able to call forth their smiles and laughter?

“Lyney? Should I go get something for you?”

Well…someone else will be able to do it. Father can find another heir.

But the yes sticks to the tip of his tongue as he reaches for the vial in his pocket. Because there will likely be a dozen other children like him— as smart, as ambitious, as clever— that Father can pick from, but Lyney will never find another home like this.

For a long time, the only home he had known was Lynette. But the House of the Hearth is his home now too. He doesn’t know much about how a family should really work or what a home should look like, and the thought of leading them is terrifying. Yet the thought of leaving them is infinitely more so.

If Lyney was predisposed to easy solutions, he’d have died long ago.

Anger makes you impulsive. Sorrow causes you to waver. But Lyney was forged by neither, and the flames caught in the orb of his Vision had not been born from rage. His ambition is as it has always been: he will protect his family, no matter what.

Even from Father. Even if it means death.

He clears his throat, producing the vial with a snap of his fingers. “Actually, I was hoping that you would keep this for me. After all, Father entrusted them to you for safekeeping.”

And there is the sparkle in her eyes. The smile. The vial is snatched— too eagerly, perhaps— from his hand. “Oh! Yes, sure!”

Lyney has no desire to be king. He has no ambition for strength other than for the ability it gives him to protect those dear to him. And, most times, he doesn’t know what home or family should mean.

But he never could have left. He wonders if Father had known that from the start. Wonders if this is the answer she had been looking for, if he will ever be able to tell her what family means to him.

Regardless, Lyney will know what she thinks of it soon enough.

Night falls.

As he always has, Lyney opens the door to Hotel Bouffes d’ete at the end of a long day and calls out, “I’m home!”

And the chorus of voices that calls back, “Welcome back!” is the beginning of his answer.

[nightinngales]

What does your writing process look like? How chaotic is it on a scale of 1 (very tame) to 10 (you can’t handle this kind of chaos)

HMM i would say maybe a 4? for the most part. 

typically as far as the actual process goes... 

concept: identifying the main story beats i wanted to cover. at this point, each act was to cover a different major plot point, and the only outline i had was the act of the title & which plot point it was meant to address. (such as: act 2, part 1 of vigilant, act 3: dawnguard, etc) 

for the most part in early acts 1-4, i mostly wrote from the top (without too much foreplanning) and would just cover the major quests in those acts etc. 

act 5 onward the process changed slightly, as i had a lot more i needed to keep track of. at this point, writing became split into 3 phases: research, outlining - act, outlining - chapters, and actual writing. 

research: looking up the relevant lore that needs to be included, make sure it all fits together and/or make adjustments as necessary 

outline - act: writing out the basic chapter summaries, usually just a one paragraph summary of what’s in each chapter

outline - chapter: once i’ve got the general plot/chapter sequence written out, i go to each chapter and write out a summary of each scene to be included in the chapter - this is usually split by pov, such as “eres 1″ “serana 1″, etc 

writing: actually writing out each scene of the chapter. sometimes the scenes end up longer than planned, so the chapter will have to split up, in which case i have to push previously concepted chapters further back in the outline 

example: for act 7, it was originally concepted at being around 15 chapters long, maybe just over 100k. obviously it went well past that, because as i was writing it i realize there were still some things i needed to address, or because i found myself having to split chapters/scenes that got too long. so now we’re on chapter 24 and there’s still several to go at 200k+ lmao 

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 205 “Cinematograph”

So, I’m back, scanlations are finally out and we can see that the new chapter, despite being still a light one, is likely preparing the ground for something big.

In fact we start with a colour cover of Tsurumi, curled up on a mountain of weapons (remember? Tsurumi wants the gold to buy more weapons and then he plans to open his own weapon factory).

Although Tsurumi is curled up, his position differs from Ogata’s almost foetal position when he was sleeping curled up while clinging to his rifle in chap 107.

The drawing is disturbing.

Tsurumi has no pupils or irises, his eyes completely white. It’s the first time we see this happening with him as far as I can remember but it usually happens when Sugimoto has completely lost it and his into berserk mode.

Although the background below the weapons is red (not a bloody red but it still makes me think of blood), no red or variations of pink are used on Tsurumi but they’re replaced by red’s complementary color, green, which us western associate to zombie representations. Tsurumi, the self defined Shinigami, comes out as an undead. It doesn’t help he’s showing his clenched teeth (another recurring symbol of the zombies’ hunger) or how the veins are very visible on his hands.

He seems a hungry undead, clinging to his weapons, pressing against them and burying himself in them (part of the weapons are above him), one arm also between his legs as if to try to grab the weapons that are there. Greed, hunger, those are the vibes I get from that picture and that reminds me of Tsukishima’s words about how Tsurumi (and Arisaka) have an addition to war (chap 94).

But now let’s move to the plot. Tsukishima and Sugimoto are plotting. Well, more than plotting they’re having a ‘secret’ meeting in which Tsukishima is reporting his and Tsurumi’s interpretation of what had happened to Asirpa. She was ‘kidnapped’ by Kiro because he hoped to awaken her memory so that she could remember the key to the code and he also wanted her her to meet with Sofia.

Tsukishima thinks that in the end Asirpa has remembered the code and this is why Ogata separated Asirpa from Kiro and why Asirpa mumbled something to Kiro that allowed him to feel relief before dying and entrust everything to her.

Long story short, Asirpa and Kiro had been careless.

Kiro had let his feelings come out when he had learnt his plan had worked, inadvertently ‘revealing’ with his body language what Asirpa has whispered to him… though I can’t really blame him much as the poor guy was dying and, in the end doesn’t fully seem to realize Asirpa can’t just leave and reach Sofia as he told her to do.

Asirpa, of course, can’t really be blamed as she’s a child but she has obviously revealed too much of what had happened (she didn’t need to say Ogata had parted her from Kiro deliberately, it was clear it would arise suspicions, she could have just told they got lost searching wood and then argued) and hadn’t been clever enough to hide behind a lie what she had told to Kiro (for example she could have said she would take care of his kids, of reporting he died fighting well, that she would do her best to remember the key even without him… whatever).

Of course, since Asirpa is a kid, it makes sense she was careless but really, I wonder how Wilk expected her to become the Ainu leader NOW.

Her actions clearly reveal she is still too naïve. She obviously didn’t tell Sugimoto the code and wants to hide she has remembered it but by partly revealing what had happened with Ogata and by not explaining what had happened with Kiro, she had given away the truth, she has remembered, Ogata knew about it which is why he has left the group with her and she has told Kiro the truth, which is why he found peace.

Tsukishima puts is sentence in shape of a question, just to check if Sugimoto knows if Asirpa has remembered or not, but his question is a retorical one. He’s sure she has, the real question is if she has told Sugimoto or not. I doubt Tsukishima trusts Sugimoto blindly, he’s studying him to see if he’ll give out he knows the code.

That’s why Tsukishima goes on and delivers the final blow, suggesting Ogata wanted to kill her because she told him about the code and therefore she became useless to him.

And this is interesting.

Of courseTsukishima is wrong in his assumption and I think he knows or getting the code would be even more urgent and he also wouldn’t have wanted Ogata to die as two people to question about which is the code are better than just one.

So why he’s suggesting this?

I wonder if Tsukishima’s speech was actually suggested by Tsurumi.

In fact by suggesting Asirpa opened her heart to Ogata and Kiro whom Sugimoto sees as bad guys, never mention he loathes Ogata, they’re likely trying to damage their bond. It would be a heavy blow for Sugimoto, who prizes himself as the person Asirpa trusts the most and views her as some sort of saviour, if Asirpa has chosen to open up with Kiro and Ogata but not with him.

By now Tsurumi had all the time to discover Sugimoto’s best friend married the woman Sugimoto loved while Sugimoto wasn’t there.

Suggesting Ogata got Asirpa’s faith while Sugimoto wasn’t there with her, and now Sugimoto can’t even win it back enough to have her open up with him too should feel similar of that situation only now the culprit wasn’t Sugimoto’s best friend but a person Sugimoto loathes and wants to kill.

It’s interesting how Sugimoto in the past scolded Koito for calling Ogata a ‘Yamaneko’, claiming it was a pathetic joke...

...but then, when asked why Ogata is searching the gold, goes and says ‘he’s just scratching around and playing’. Yes, the translation said ‘he’s just stirring up things for the fun of it’,

but the Japanese version uses ‘hikkaki mawashite asonderu’ (引っ掻き回して遊んでる “playing scratching around”, “playing clawing around”) which hints more to a cat behavior than to a human. In short he’s subtly agreeing with him being a ‘yamaneko’. It makes me think Sugimoto is trying to be a good person when criticizing the tasteless joke but, deep down, agrees to it.

I wonder why Sugimoto ALWAYS intensely disliked Ogata, right from the start.

His ‘spider sense’ is pretty bad, he couldn’t recognize Henmi or the fake Ainu as criminals and murders, nor he could realize Vasily is not Ogata so it’s not like his instinct is reliable.

Ogata isn’t the only person who left the 7th, Tanigaki did so as well yet Sugimoto harbours him no ill feelings and went along with Vasily, who shoot Shiraishi, just because Vasily is also hunting for Ogata.

Hijikata used Shiraishi to spy him, Shiraishi didn’t reveal he was also ‘working’ with Hijikata (well, he’d been blackmailed but...) Inkamart betrayed them all to Tsurumi but... Sugimoto is just obsessed with Ogata, with keeping him outside the group, putting him down, killing him. he can trust Kiro, he can trust Hijikata, he can’t trust Ogata.

I’ve always wondered if this was tied to the third feline in the story, Toraji, whose name meaning ‘next tiger’ (寅 “third sign of Chinese zodiac, which is the tiger” 次 “next”), If Ogata somehow managed to remind him of the negative sides of Toraji or of a negative experience tied to Toraji. We’ll see.

Anyway Sugimoto hurries to say there’s no way she would have told Ogata... as if Asirpa too should have loathed him, when actually Asirpa didn’t think ill of him at all.

Sugimoto’s gaze is lowered, he’s not looking at Tsukishima and his eyes are partially shadowed by his cap.

His words sound confident but his posture is not. He’s even frowning a tiny little.

He then goes on saying he’ll be the one to talk about it with Asirpa and Tsukishima doesn’t have to get in between them.

He’s still not looking at Tsukishima, who has however turned to look at him, and he’s looking glomy. I wonder if, despite his words, Sugimoto is afraid he won’t get Asirpa to open up to him.

But going back to the plot, it seems the guys believe they’re short on time as Tsurumi is about to come and, according to Sugimoto, although Asirpa hadn’t met Tsurumi yet, she wouldn’t open her heart to that type of man… implying that instead of course she would open up his heart to him.

Below the scene we see a creepy image of Tsurumi in which again his eyes are completely white and he’s showing his teeth and it seems as if, something is… well, rising out of him, like an evil energy or an aura, or maybe it’s just me.

I’m not sure if the idea is Sugimoto deep down finds Tsurumi creepy or think Asirpa would find him creepy or that Sugimoto is actually walking straight into Tsurumi’s trap.

Tsurumi is stalling them there and letting Sugimoto handle things the way he let Ogata handle his brother. Honestly I think nothing good will come out of this because Sugimoto thinks Asirpa will tell him the code and he’s not prepared for a ‘no’.

He’s aimed with good intentions as well as slightly selfish ones and he expects Asirpa to give in to his request… and doesn’t really seem to be considering Asirpa might say ‘no’, that she might decide not to give him the code.

Nor he’s really considering the Ainu cause, and how Tsurumi’s actions, should he get the gold, would reflect on them. Sugimoto is projected on the present, without really thinking at the future. He means well but lacks foreplanning. There’s no way he can win against a master at foreplanning like Tsurumi is… but the part that worries me the most is how he’ll try to get the code out of Asirpa.

Not only he doesn’t think she’ll say no but he had promised it to Tsurumi and she’s basically prisoner of the 7th. Tsukishima and Koito might play nice with her for now but wait for when Tsurumi will be there and will demand the code. What is Sugimoto going to do then?

Have her escape? Fight Tsurumi and his men? Honestly I fear we’ll end up into a very dark part of the story soon, hence that’s why the previous chapter and this one will contain such a light note.

It’s also interesting how Sugimoto is refusing to believe Asirpa might open up to Tsurumi. Evidently he doesn’t know yet how easily this guy can have a youth open up with just one sentence or two...

...and can even go so far as to present himself as a saviour...

...a best friend....

...someone who can help you shoot your mother leave the nest.

Honestly I don’t think right now Sugimoto will manage to get the code out of Asirpa but... I’m not sure if Asirpa would manage to resist Tsurumi.

I’ll say she would merely because the story has made a parallel with Tsurumi being the devil and Asirpa being Jesus and therefore she should resist temptation but I think Tsurumi, AT THE MOMENT, has way better means at his disposition to get Asirpa to talk than Sugimoto.

Anyway the story switches to the two cinematographers explaining Asirpa and the rest of the group about cinematographs, how cinematics of Japan had gotten trendy and how moving pictures work by showing them a projection FOR FREE, likely as a thank you for Asirpa’s help against the wolverine as normally they ask money for this.

They also introduce themselves as the cinematographer Girel and the director Inaba Katsutarou, showing how @osomanga guessed correctly the people on whom they were based.

Asirpa is impressed by the projection and asks if they have also filmed folk tales but she’s informed they didn’t as the machine can’t record sound.

I wish I could inform Asirpa there’s a way to record sounds as well as the gramophone existed from 1887 so she could technically record sounds as well and let them too survive, although parted from images… but well, I’m not in the GK cast.

Anyway Asirpa decides she wants to film an Ainu legends so as to leave it for future generations. Inaba is doubtful and suggests what I mentioned previously, to just use a phonograph to record the audio as Ainu don’t even have plays (he mentions he recorded a Kabuki play previously).

Asirpa thinks the meaning will get across better with a video though and that people who speak a different language would still get the meaning behind their stories if they were to see the images and I’m really sorry to tell her this but while images get across a meaning MORE than just audio, if you don’t understand the audio, part of the contest still remains very obscure unless you’re VERY GOOD at transmitting things with just the visual.

The idea she can do this with random people who aren’t professional actors is well, beyond optimistic.

Proofs are when not Japanese speaking people saw the raw of this chapter, while many could get the general gist of the story, at the same time they couldn’t really understand well what was going on in the myths she was narrating…. And how people need subs when an apisode of an anime is out to fully understand what’s going on.

Silent film still used to use silent cards as they acknowledged dialogues or explanations were necessary to understand the visual.

Long story short, silent stories exist and can be very good and deliver their message well but it’s not so easy to make them, especially if you’re narrating a story based on a different culture.

Sugimoto seems to be impressed by her determination...

...but the director isn’t really interested.

Now… I know some people will be amused by Sugimoto forcing the director to do what Asirpa asked him to do but I’m not really finding that funny.

He’s not just asking the guy to humour her because she saved his life, he grabbed the guy’s scarf and ordered him to comply with Asirpa’s request, his whole behavior threatening. Inaba and Girel aren’t touched by his words, they’re scared. You can even notice how the balloons and the font used for Sugimoto’s words in the original (and in the scanlations too)

imply this is not Sugimoto asking nicely, this is Sugimoto threatening them.

But those guys aren’t bad guys and Sugimoto isn’t asking them just five minutes of their time. Taking a film isn’t something that gets done for free, especially in those times. They had already repaid Asirpa by showing her and everyone else the movie FOR FREE. If Asirpa saved their life for a reward this would cheap Asirpa’s actions.

Long story short no, I don’t find this funny and whoever has a work and, all of sudden, is threatened by a stranger to do what he wants for free and against his will, likely will feel the same.

We can claim that Asirpa’s intentions are nice but this doesn’t mean people HAS TO humour her.

They should do it out of kindness, not out of Sugimoto threatening them and it should be their decision.

So, long story short, the guys are forced to do Asirpa’s or better Sugimoto’s bidding as they’re agreeing merely because threatened by him, not because interested in helping her.

The Karafuto expedition is also forced to help (though I think they were more willing to do it than Girel and Inaba), Vasily included, who gets to draw the scenery.

As Asirpa of course as favourites, Sugimoto gets the role of the lucky guy Pananpe, whose actions always make him rich, with Koito in the role of his ‘pretty wife’, while Shiraishi gets to do the role of the unlucky Penanpe who always ends up having his dick cut and dying a miserable death because he’s apparently scum and always fail to properly imitate Pananpe (why he’s scum is never explained and it’s not like Pananpe is a saint) while Tsukishima plays the role of Shiraishi’s ‘prosperous wife’.

Inaba hands them out the scripts he wrote according to what Asirpa told him. I wonder if he just passively wrote down what she said or also worked it so as to improve it.

Asirpa basically plays the part of the bossy movie director, wearing sunglasses, ordering people around, scolding them claiming they can be easily replaced (they can’t) and even demanding to destroy houses which are in the way.

Meanwhile Tsukishima tries again to plot with Sugimoto by reminding him that since they’ve no time (before Tsurumi will be there) they shouldn’t waste it like this... while Sugimoto insists Tsukishima shouldn’t get in his way as he’ll handle things…

...which somehow worries me as it seems he’s humouring Asirpa in this merely to further his purposes (I hope not, I love Sugimoto but I’ve been fearing the moment he would have to keep his promise to Tsurumi by a long while and I know it won’t be pleasant).

Koito misunderstands and thinks Tsukishima wants to just have more scenes for himself, because sadly Koito is still not thinking in the slightest at his mission.

As the filming goes on Asirpa realizes whose two silly stories won’t convey anything nor, likely, impress people enough to remain passed down, and torments herself.

Well, she’s not wrong, if there’s a moral in those stories, I missed it as well.

Sugimoto suggests her to try for a serious myth instead than just a silly story about dicks being used in weird ways and cut off.

Asirpa accepts, decides to do a Kamuy story and Cikapasi gets the main role of the new story… which is actually better as finally a real Ainu will portray in an Ainu story… not that anyone in Asirpa’s cast has any acting experience anyway but, theoretically Cikapasi should portray better how an Ainu is or feel as he should just act natural. Enonoka also gets a small role as the younger sister of three (the two other sisters being Koito and Tsukishima).

I’ll dig into the plot a little because this time it’s slightly relevant as Cikapasi plays the younger brother of three (the two other brothers being Tanigaki and Sugimoto... whom I guess is added to the cast only because he’s Asirpa’s favourite as he does nothing relevant... Shiraishi gets the role of the bad guy/shapechanging bear by the way). Due to a series of adventures Cikapasi gets to marry the younger sister and finally have a family of his own.

At this point it turns out the brother Tanigaki was playing wasn’t a human or Cikapasi’s real brother but a Kamuy who turned into a bird and left the little brother now that he finally have a family of his own (no idea what happened to the brother Sugimoto was playing, as I said Sugimoto was irrelevant to the story).

As Asirpa, in order to get Cikapasi to make a good expression, reminds him the brother Tanigaki was playing was the one who, in the story gave him protection, took him along, fought evil and grew him and that was now leaving him forever.

Cikapasi, basically emotionally recognizing his own story in the story they were playing, cries, showing Asirpa the expression she wanted.

Note that although Tanigaki should supposedly cry, he doesn’t. I wonder if this is a hint of how Tanigaki and Cikapasi feel very different about what had happened, for Cikapasi he had been ‘adopted’ by Tanigaki, but, for Tanigaki, Cikapasi just went along for the ride and so he’s not as emotionally involved as Cikapasi when ‘leaving him’.

Meanwhile the system that was helping Tanigaki to pretend it was a bird flying away rips and Tanigaki, now dressed only in his fundoshi, crashes down comically (as he makes no attempt to protect himself from his fall and just fall spread eagle).

Asirpa is satisfied.

I’m… not particularly impressed.

Of course I can’t see the whole play, just some still images with explanations about what’s going on but still, I’m not sure such an amateur product could work to transmit the story of a foreign culture behind it so well it would remain left behind.

Asirpa has just discovered what moving images are, she has no knowledge of plays or whatever. Sure, maybe the director is helping her (we don’t see it though, all we know is he wrote down the scripts according to WHAT SHE SAID) but since he was threatened into this he likely just wants to get the work done and be done with this. Also she seems to be left in charge, which means he’s not contributing much.

So, while I was all for her using movies to leave behind Ainu culture… somehow I’ve no trust in how such an amateurish product who basically left behind two funny tales and a myth without really explaining them could accomplish what Asirpa wish. Not only we saw how Koito distorted the Meko Oyasi myth, interpreting it as a suggestion to kill it first sight, even though he heard it being narrated... but really, it’s not so easy to accomplish what Asirpa wishes with just a movie, even when done by a professional.

When the narration is unclear and poor… what will remain behind?

It’s not enough to just film a story, the message has to be clear or it’ll end up being misunderstood.

But well, for now I’ll try to delude myself Asirpa and Co secretly had an impressive talent as director and actors so their production was actually impressively clear… or at least interesting enough people would research for the real myth and the explanation behind it.

We’ll see if the next chapter will confirm they made a masterpiece or will reveal it was just not worth the effort.

On a sidenote though, it’s entirely possible the manga will just wave away the problem giving Asirpa ‘genius filmmaker ability’. In short it doesn’t matter if she’s a child who has just discovered movies, she’s the new Mozart of the film world and her work came out as perfect. Honestly I think this is very likely what’s going to happen, her movie, instead than amateurish, will look very moving and intriguing worth winning multiple Oscars and being awarded the Golden Lion… but well, this is GOLDEN Kamuy after all.

Something else worth mentioning is how the whole myth seems to raise a flag about how Cikapasi and Tanigaki might end up parting ways, with Cikapasi remaining with Enonoka. That or the whole thing was meant to be a nice what if, and things will end up rather dark.

Honestly I hope the movie is just foretelling Tanigaki and Cikapasi parting ways, as I would prefer this to the other option.

Last but not least let me go back a little to talk about Sugimoto.

When Tsukishima had accused Asirpa of having remembered and shared the truth with Ogata and Kiro… Sugimoto hadn’t tried to deny it.

He could have, he could have lied and told he heard Asirpa saying something reassuring to Kiro, not that she had remembered but that she would care about the Ainu’s interests or something like that.

Asirpa might not have thought to disguise her actions as such but she’s a child, Sugimoto is a man and could cover up for her, in the same way as he could have told Tsukishima how Asirpa doesn’t know why Ogata wanted to kill her since she’s the key to the gold and wondering if he really wants it,

which are all clear hints she didn’t tell him the code and therefore Ogata’s actions aren’t tied to her having turned useless.

Sugimoto could have suggested everything else really, like how Ogata might have believed he wouldn’t have the time to get her to tell him a code she hadn’t remembered yet and therefore, instead than letting Sugimoto get her and learn the code from her, he wanted NOBODY to have the code. After all he told Asirpa he believed Ogata was in this just to play around, why not to use this with Tsukishima too?

Why Sugimoto should have done this?

Because regardless of Asirpa having remembered the code or not, it could be better for her if Tsurumi DOESN’T THINK she has remembered because Asirpa might not want to share that info with him or not truly not remembering it.

Sugimoto should remember how Tsurumi stuck sticks through his cheeks to get him to cooperate as well as he had him beaten up.

If Sugimoto doesn’t get her to talk or if Asirpa still doesn’t remember, Tsurumi might not necessarily feel he needs to be kind with her, that’s why it’s imperative Sugimoto makes sure he won’t think Asirpa has remembered. But the problem here lies in how Sugimoto is likely sure she would tell him the code, why shouldn’t she?

So there’s no reason to hide from Tsurumi she has remembered, because Sugimoto can hand to him the code on a silver plate… and maybe I’m just being pessimist but I fear this thing will backfire horribly.

I’ve been dreading the moment Sugimoto would have to keep his promise to Tsurumi from chap 139. We’re at chap 205 and that moment is coming close by the minute… and I’m honestly dreading it because I doubt it will be pretty.

We’ll see though and I won’t mind for Golden Kamuy to prove me wrong on this one.