#at that point bandit groups just make more sense to have in the same way pirates don't (generally) work alone

[buzzinbeedoodle]

I've thought about starting a campaign with this thinking in mind, where upon reaching the town nearby it becomes clear that the bandits were born out of a system of inequity and poverty. A system where one would be more likely to make a fortune risking their life getting coin from a stranger than working for decades under the crown.

Maybe bandits are bad because...they kill people lol? Do you even like this game holy shit. It's fiction

Alright, I'm going to explain this like you're ten, since obviously you missed high-school English class:

The bandits in d&d are fictional, which means they're made up by a DM acting as a writer

To be a good writer, you need to have an idea what motivates the characters in your story because that's what drives your antagonists to oppose your protagonists and vice versa

You have to be pretty motivated to be willing to kill a stranger for money, moreso to assemble a small sports team worth of similarly desperate individuals and attack a well armed group of travellers as part of a basic random encounter.

A good writer might be able to look at their world and come up with a believable reason why these characters they made up have resorted to violence. They might use that information to make the story better later on, relating what seems like a one-off encounter to a greater plotline so it's not just meaningless filler

Because they thought about it for more than three seconds, the DM can design the encounter with the bandits in line with their goals and motivations, and can allow for solutions to the encounter that aren't just violence, meaning they can get more done in that session.

I love this game, which is why I think about it a lot and hold it to atleast a passing standard. Unlike you, who is evidently allergic to thinking in general.

[comfortless]

syl. *grabs you and shakes you* syl. i woke up in a cold sweat thinking of like… könig. already off to a great start ik. but space opera könig. (not like star wars or anything) but think like 70s aesthetics all bright and colorful. he’s a bandit in a stolen ship, formerly part of a military group making peace with other planets but something went awry and he’s just having fun now!

reader is part of a small research group that has landed on a planet he’s camped out on and he’s just like “ok” followed by “i want that”. steals all of her supplies and then her. doesn’t care how much she protests when he just hauls her over his shoulder, pats her butt bc he thinks THATS going to calm her down and throws her into his ship.

she’s happy he’s not some creepy alien but at the same time who really knows what’s under that hood anyway hmmmm and she wants to hate him but also all that’s playing in her head is that one rah band song. messages from the stars lmao please. there is something in the way you write that is so special to me and if you were to come up with a full blown story for my dumb idea i think i would scream for 20 hours straight.

lil wisp….. you have no idea what this has done to me. i am going to be thinking about this for an eternity. let’s cook.. i see your vision and i would love nothing more than this too!!

content/warnings: implied violence, abduction, dubcon groping?

König’s been on his own, drifting through the stars for so long. Only raiding the ships he comes across for food, supplies, and when he stumbles across a mechanic he puts them to work with a silly laser rifle pointed right at their head (because let’s face it— when you’re a wanted space pirate who in the universe is going to fix your ship for you??). He’s put all of human etiquette far behind him, and now his life is quite literally just one relentless adventure. He wouldn’t have it any other way!

That is, until his ship is fucked up again, displaying about thirty bright red warnings on its silly hologram screens that he just can not make sense of. The thing is old, has been shot at more times than even he can count, and it’s finally failing him if the loud sputtering and incessant orbital beeps are anything to go by. He considers his luck has run out when he lands the damned thing on some hunk of rock out on the outskirts of a galaxy most don’t even bother with, because there’s nothing out here.

Thankfully, his frustration is short-lived because a smaller ship lands only a few days later; painted in the bright, pearlescent blues and pinks of your standard peace-keeping, research vessel. It’s the perfect craft to steal and it wouldn’t even be difficult… the three humans that exit are so much smaller than him and entirely unguarded. They’re just here to study a few minerals, maybe haul some back to their little camp a few worlds over for fuel and research. He won’t even get into too much trouble for it, he thinks, because even his trashed ship could take them back home. See!! He isn’t all that bad…

At least, until he notices her, bent over admiring some silly, little cluster of crystals in her skin-tight jumpsuit that makes him see stars. The heavy boots that rise up to her knees making her look like little more than a fauness, and she’s so pretty he just can’t help but get a closer look while her teammates are off chittering away and exploring the nothing planet.

She isn’t even afraid of him when he approaches. Just straightens up with her hands clasped in front of her and a smile on her face. She hasn’t seen the holograms of him, displaying a sizable bounty for his veiled head, doesn’t take a wary note of the massive rifle he has slung over his shoulder; she just sees another person. He hasn’t been looked at like that since long before he left home!!

This sweet woman has no sense of self-preservation either, because she immediately asks him if he needs food or water; gestures over to her brightly colored ship with that pretty smile ever-present on her face, and that’s all it takes for him to decide that not only is he taking the craft, he’s taking her too.

He doesn’t say a word when he lifts her up over his shoulder, and the poor thing must be shocked because it takes her a moment before she starts squirming in his grip. König does well to remove the little radio strapped to her hip, giving her ass a firm squeeze in the process before tossing it in the dust behind him. That’s all it takes to shut his little prinzessin up before he hauls her back into her ship and demands she turn off any tracking systems. Her knees are a bit weak when she fumbles with the control panels, and he’s unashamed of his own erection when he slides in behind her to lean over the console as the ship starts up.

She whines about leaving her friends stranded, of course, but he’s in a world of his own when he grabs her by the hips and seats her in his lap while she pilots. Never mind the others, he’ll take good care of her, honest!!

[stories-and-stars]

Traveling Mages

Traveling towards Crocus to Malba City the weather took a turn for the worse. The small town inn she could see off the road seemed to have a lively atmosphere despite the downpour and darkness outside. She hoped to get more ground covered that day but given as she couldn't see much past her feet, she turned towards the smaller stone path.

Most people inside she determined were other travelers doing the same. The warmth of the hearth floating through the tavern and the smell of ale hitting her nose. Walking towards the bar, a different earthy musk hit her senses, one of cedar and cypress. She ordered a smooth whiskey before turning to find an empty side table somewhere. One nestled off to the right was lit dimly by a small lacrama, the weight off her feet felt better than she expected setting her travel bag down. Simply watching the ramble of people dancing and laughing as the bard, who made some decent change off the already drunk crowd, was amusing enough for the evening. A large figure strolled past to a bench just beside the fire, the scent of cedar and cypress she discovered belonged to him. Nearly intoxicating with the whiskey intensifying the feeling washing over her, her eyes lingered on him while his attention was not on her for the moment. He sat with an ale in his hand, an impassive expression matching his sharp features. His blonde hair slightly damp and a large coat hanging from his shoulders, she guessed he was another traveler. She tore her eyes away from him, pulling out a journal. Checking a map for tomorrow's travel, a small picture slipped out and he noticed it fall from the corner of his eye. A vibrant young woman with h/c hair draped over her shoulders, arms wrapped around a smaller blue haired woman. Both beaming brightly with smiles large enough to make anyone smile, including him in that moment. A slender hand swiped it off the floor before he could make out more details. He followed the dark fabric of her sleeve to the same long h/c hair in the photo swaying lightly, The same vibrant light has long left her features. She tucks the hair behind her ear, a few gold pieces of jewelry adorning her ear as he tries to make out what they are. Her features are older than in the photo but graceful. She was younger then, he thinks to himself and turns his eyes back to the music before she sees him staring. The drunken group and the warmth of the fire slowly bringing his demeanor up from the darker feelings he constantly fights in his thoughts. Trying to focus on bettering himself after his banishment from Fairy Tail, knowing it can't be forced and he can't control it is something that frustrates him from time to time, but continues on his travels to grow himself nevertheless. She looks up from picking up the photo to see a small smile grace the man's now softened face, watching the merry bunch sing loudly in the middle. A small smile crosses her own lips as she sees her friend In the photo. Searching for her in her years of traveling and hoping to somehow come across each other again. The smile leaving as quickly as it came remembering the night they got separated, when the bandits attacked the small town they both called home. y/n knew her friend had escaped but didn't know where they had managed to go. y/n simply became a nomad from that point, she had wanted to mainly travel when she got older anyway but didn't think it would start the way it did. As the crowd died down, she leaves her seat to pay for a room from the inn keeper. The cedar scent catching her senses again before she disappears down the hall. He did the same shortly after he finished his last ale. The room small but comfortable, a lacrama illuminates a small table next to a bed. He almost doesn't fit on it with his height, Sleep does not find him easily and his dragon slayer ears pick up on the quiet scratching of pen on parchment in the room next to his. The calming scent of lavender drifts in from somewhere and lulls him to sleep finally.

The next day she completes her short trek to the nearby town large enough have a train station. She was able to secure a seat to Malba and hopped on the next train out. Seated by a window to enjoy the sun on her face, The landscape rolls by. Malba is supposed to be known for its outdoor market place and scenery, she was very intrigued to walk through. Hoping to pick up a silver trinket she could carry with her. He boarded the train with a small bag in hand, A specific herb Porlyusica asked him to bring to Malba for a friend of theirs. Someone both She and His grandfather knew from the start of the guild, specialized in plants from what he could remember. Walking down the middle isle, that same scent of lavender hit his nose. The h/c haired woman at the tavern. Curious of her intention, he laid back a row and planned on waiting to see if this was anything more than coincidence. Lost in her thoughts for a moment she didn't see the blonde mage that had sat a row behind. He quickly realized she was oblivious the her surroundings looking out the window. Cute, he thought before shaking it away.

She deboards as its nearly dusk but there's enough time to stroll through the stalls still out in the market. Laxus only tails her for a moment off the train until he can tell she's not paying attention to him. He delivers the bag and finds out that this man is named Warrod and started Fairy Tail with the others he'd learned about, Including his Great grandfather, Who Warrod commented Laxus looked very similar to. As he walked back to the town center and a found a local bar to get something to eat at, he passed by the same area the stalls had been. He didn't pick up her scent since he'd parted to go to Worrad's, he thought no more of it. After enjoying his food he straightened himself on his bench seat to feel a sharp point of metal and a sly voice behind him.

" Hey there, wouldn't move much further back if I were you" Slipped off her tongue in a flirty voice.

" Don't threaten me with a good time" He jested in return. How he hadn't picked up on her being there made him reel for a second. She'd concealed her presence to him and skillfully so. His rumbling, deep voice washed over her and she nearly lost concentration. Regaining her bearings she leaned closer to him.

" Why follow me to the market?" She said quietly, her hot breath hitting his ear and neck. She couldn't see the way his eyes fluttered shut for a moment.

" Thought you were following me, went on my way after I thought you hadn't noticed me" He turned his head to bring her into peripheral. She lowered the dagger concealed by cloak fabric, he made no move to sit forward. She slid herself around to be seated next to him.

" Names y/n, Apologies but I can't be too careful. Seems you had the same idea though" She extended a small hand from under the draped cloth.

" Laxus" His hand slid gently around hers, the touch felt conductive.

[taylor-titmouse]

my review: i liked how comedic it was, youre good at comedy. i like sex farce

the dubcon felt a lot more like noncon in this one, kinda like the tower book (autocorrect flat out wont let me try to write the actual title. sigh.) and the threats felt a lot more threatening and the villains a lot more villainous. the bandits are definitely the most antagonist-y antagonists youve written aside from the cult in the risen king and our lovely wizard friend romick. mark and george are especially unpleasant (in an amusing way) and i wonder if you intentionally wrote them to be misogynistic as thats something i picked up on from them. they (sam and vanesse too but to a lesser extent) felt like they were written to be actual threatening sex criminals whose acts are considered sex crimes within the narrative/universe, once again similar to romick. angre definitely did not seem to be having a good time during the sex scenes and neither did vanesse when the goblins got her. now none of this is bad in my opinion, i actually quite enjoyed these aspects. but i do think its something people who are sensitive to that type of thing should be aware of

another thing about the story is how it handled gender and expression and all that. that was my favorite aspect of the book. i also enjoyed the world building. youve got a good eye for fantasy world building thats both fun and makes sense. i think you also do in-universe species-ism/prejudice very well too. id read a book by you thats a field guide to the world youve crafted

this is an interesting takeaway because what you're saying much more accurately describes the first draft, to the point that when i read this ask the first time, i was suddenly paranoid i had somehow uploaded that version. the second, final draft involved taking a lot of that real threat out and making it funnier, and trying to play closer to the space the chique books are in, where getting fucked by whoever catches you is a common, acceptable risk.

like the only sex in the whole thing that you could call non-consensual was vanesse and the goblins, but it's presented as a fair punishment given what she does to angre, and it's not presented as a horrible/violent violation, just an annoyance. it's a villain getting what was coming to her. tonally it's different from what people generally think when it comes to non-con, which is why i group it in with dub-con. if she would consider anyone she defeats on the road fair game, the same must be true of her. that's the nature of the world. she "consents" by playing the game, essentially.

similarly angre knew the risk he was taking and specifically goads vanesse into fucking him, so i don't know where you got the idea he didn't want the sex. he came twice. he was fine.

anyway. the question of whether i wrote georgie and markie to be misogynistic on purpose is really funny. no man it happened by accident in the book about fantasy intersectional misogyny. i didn't think about it at all.

i'm glad you liked it i'm just very "huh." about some of your takeaways lol

[ask-healthy-light]

Fortunately, the monotony of the Eastern Dragon Lands had not yet exhausted their sight, so as soon as Boom and Nox saw what Shining was pointing at, they dropped to the ground, before Boom whispered to himself that something did not make sense; but in response, Shining swiftly placed his hoof over Boom's mouth, and did not utter another word as the group of Marauders in the distance walked past.

Only after the surprisingly loud group of various races had wandered out of sight, and did not show up again, did their own group feel comfortable enough to start moving backwards, aided by Ty, as he conjured up a gentle breeze to mask their scuffling across the ground; and when their own group had made it beyond the crest of the hill did Boom say he did not understand how they could be so close.

When prompted to explain, albeit quietly, by the rest of the group, he told them that the Marauders who struck the Empire wore light armour to get away quickly and undetected after an attack; but the group of Guards they saw just now was wholly unlike them, as their weapons were great, their armour was thick, and their shields broad, almost exactly like the Crystal Guards under orders of Shining.

Next to this, he continued, just like the Guards back in the Empire, the group that they saw in the distance would have been tasked to wander close to their Outpost in case of an attack, even if such a thing was unlikely to happen this far into the uncharted East; but even if their group was on the very edge of the perimeter they guarded, it would mean the Outpost was far closer than he expected.

At that moment, Light, holding the map in their hoof, spoke up to ask Boom about the map, and where and when he found it in particular, for when they first looked at the map, they could tell it was a very old map; so they politely suggested that the Outpost had moved elsewhere since he last checked the map, which would work in their favour, as their travel time had now been drastically shortened.

Before he could utter a word, though, Courage quietly whined as he slowly walked over to Light, and pawed at the map, before he started drawing tally marks into the dirt before him; but even after he drew more sets of lines than what any of the others guessed his age was, he did not stop until Boom sighed, and told him that he could have said so himself, and that he did not need to embarrass him.

The map was, indeed, quite old, and he counted himself lucky that it had barely gotten damaged over all the years it was in his possession, after the last time he tried to attack the Outpost, only to be forced to flee with far less than with what he arrived; but he was fortunate that out of all the Marauders he had knocked unconscious, or worse, that one of them carried a set of maps of the area.

Admittedly, Boom continued, he probably should not have thrown away most of the maps that he was so graciously given by the Guard he held up, but that aside, knowing that the Outpost was a lot closer than he thought was a great relief; for they could take more time to search the area for a way into the Outpost, lest a group of Guards find them and attack before they even got the chance to strike.

With a deep sigh, Light nodded, before they peeked over the crest and looked at the dry chasm where the Guards were walking, trying to figure out why these Marauders would not relocate somewhere more bountiful; for surely, there must be at least a couple of beings among them whose greatest wish was to return to their kin, create a better life for themselves, and neither plunder nor harm any more?

A moment later, however, they struck down the thought, for if these bandits were indeed of the same tribe that had ransacked Boom's home so long ago, and were still doing the same thing, they figured that the lives imprinted so thoroughly, it would be hard to undo; but even as they returned the map to Boom, who seemed to be doing far better, Light could not shake a painful feeling in their heart.

To stop the bloodshed, they would have to cause it themselves…

(Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed, please reblog! Thanks in advance!)

Send an ask or request! | Start at the beginning! | Next part!

Featuring: Nox Lunarwing and Summer Typhoon from @nox-lunarwing Boomlord from @thedumbguywithaheart43

(Updates on my new contract: It doesn't have a set end date, so it's technically permanent, and it will be changed back to 40 hours a week, starting in the new year.)

(I think I'll keep the current rhythm I have with two days of working from home per week, as it'll allow me to write one part of the Tumblr story, and with the freedom that the other writing program gives me, I might even be able to write and post a new chapter on FimFic during the weekend too.)

[consumeroflemoans]

Tangled AU with vilidia mayhaps?

Idia would be Rapunzel and Vil would be Flynn Rider. I wanna include the Ortho somewhere, so he would be Pascal (the chameleon) and Rook & Epel can be Maximus (the horse)(yes I'm separating the horse into two characters, Epel deserves to be present as well)

Crowley could be Mother Gothel it doesn't make sense but I can't think of anyone else. Those bandit brothers can be either Ace and Deuce or Leona and Ruggie idk.

I think this would just be a very funny au, them just going through the plot and some key differences. Like Vil's motivation as a thief, I don't think he would be stealing for money, maybe he can be a beauty thief and steals for the glamor or something.

I am shaking you so hard rn auacauav this is genius

I’m kind of thinking who would be a good Mother Gothel. It would have to be someone that wants to take advantage of Idia’s cursed (or I guess blessed in this?) hair. Crowley could be a default option. I guess that would make STYX Idia’s kingdom? That part fits really well.

Ortho could be a good Pascal! Maybe instead of being his humanoid form, he could be one of the Cerberus robots just with sentience! That way he’s more of an animal companion.

Rook and Epel is actually genius for Maximus but. I. I just imagined them in one of those two parter horse Halloween costumes. Epel is the butt Rook is the head.

But! It would be really cool if Epel and Rook were also a snuggly duckling parallel too? Like maybe Rook is Maximus since he kind of has the same energy of ‘proper, but not afraid to get his hand (or hooves??) dirty’. Meanwhile Epel has the outer cuteness inner toughness even more inner cuteness vibe of the Snuggly Duckling group.

I’m just rambling at this point

I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of Leona and Ruggie being the bandit brothers 10/10 it actually fits so well. (Even tho idk why they would work with Crowley? Ehhh ideas for later)

OMG THOUGHTS

Going back to the snuggly duckling group. It’s the first years. I just. It’s the first years. They deserve it.

Also Vil being a thief is really interesting because I’m not sure why he would be one. Maybe he would be a Robin Hood type that means well? Stealing from the rich giving to the poor kind of guy. I think that would fit his energy because he would want to be the hero.

[youhideastar]

WujiWatch: CQL Rewatch Episode 10

 Two things stand out to me in this episode: the question of conflict between the sects, and the question of the pros and cons of being outside the system.

So, first, conflict between the sects. It’s interesting, for a long time I assumed that serious conflicts—like, deadly armed conflict—between the sects was rare. In fact, I assumed that the last sect war was the war against Xue Chonghai (which occurred “thousands of years ago” according to Nie Mingjue, “hundreds of years ago” according to Lan Yi, and “a hundred years ago” according to Lan Xichen—amazing), and that since that time, the cultivation world has basically been at peace. Cultivators’ martial training was for fighting yao, mo, guai, and gui, and also taking down individual baddie cultivators, not for making war against large, organized groups of other cultivators.

But then, in this episode, when Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan are asked to help our heroes with their quest, they refuse on the ground that they don’t get involved in inter-sect conflicts. Not “we don’t want to get involved with this inter-sect conflict,” but “as a practice, we do not get involved with inter-sect conflicts ever,” which sure seems to imply that there have been others, in their lifetimes. Like, for abstaining to be a practice, there needs to be something to abstain from, you know?

And as I’m pondering this, the camera cuts to the first shot of the Unclean Realm, and my question is very definitively answered for me—because nobody builds fucking twenty-foot high stone walls with ramparts and a fucking portcullis because they’re scared of individual demons or ghosts, or even scared of a small group of the cultivational equivalent of bandits. You only build a fortress if you’re scared of an army.

(When you start seeing the sets this way, you realize that Cloud Recesses (at the top of a mountain accessible only by one narrow staircase), Jinlintai (another stone fortress accessible only by a staircase), and Nightless City (ditto, at the top of a mountain) are also all built to withstand a siege. Only Lotus Pier, wide-open and unfortified, is vulnerable. Easy pickings.)

This is important because I’d previously been pretty judgy about Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan refusing to be involved in dealing with the Yin Iron – I’d thought, “Sure, you don’t want to get involved in petty squabbling—but this is a big deal! Wen Ruohan is kidnapping random cultivators and turning them into zombies! How can you say you’re devoting your life to justice and then sit this one out?” But their decision makes a lot more sense if the sects are frequently at war with one another – this would, at this point in the plot, just look like more of the same. And I, too, would find it exhausting constantly getting asked to pick a side in bullshit wars waged by people more interested in acquiring power than using it to protect the people who they’re supposed to be protecting.

Okay, second thing: the idea of rogue cultivators. One of the interesting things about the drama introducing Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan this early is that it sets up this theme of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji both yearning for that kind of free, roving life, and in fact, bonding over that shared longing. Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan sure make that life look very attractive. (Not just because they’re gorgeous, but that helps!) Prioritizing shared principles over bloodlines, going where the greatest need is, opting out of petty, grasping sect power struggles—it makes total sense that our heroes would go starry-eyed like they’re meeting celebrities; that Wei Wuxian would earnestly and awkwardly tell Xiao Xingchen that he and Lan Wangji have been trying to do the same thing with their Yin Iron quest; that Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji gaze longingly after Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan’s departing forms and then share a wistful look with each other.

But the price of that life, as the drama shows—also using Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan—is how powerless it makes you. Xue Yang’s capture would not have been possible without sect cultivator Wei Wuxian tethering him to keep him from running away. More importantly, only sect cultivators have a prison in which they can keep Xue Yang – if the sect boys hadn’t come along, Xiao Xingchen would have had no choice to either kill Xue Yang immediately—something that characters in this show are shockingly (to this Western viewer) loathe to do—or let him go. Xiao Xingchen tells our heroes that they can call on him if they are in need… but when Lan Wangji, practical boy that he is, asks how they can get in touch with him, Xiao Xingchen’s answer is basically, “You can’t,” because he doesn’t have a home base. So it’s a pretty empty promise. The vast and manifest injustices that will soon unfold in this story—from the Wens’ massacre of several entire sects (the very crime for which Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan sought to bring Xue Yang to justice) to the post-Sunshot torture, imprisonment, and murder of the Wen Remnants—will do so without a peep from these two righteous cultivators. The sects have corruption, and war, and hypocrisy—but they also have infrastructure, resources, and networks.

Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan show what happens when someone makes a principled decision to opt out of those resources and networks.

Meng Yao is about to show what happens when someone has those things stripped from him, against his will.

[danwhobrowses]

One Piece SBS Vol 105 Thoughts

The spoilers have been flowing out for SBS 105, and with it a bunch more info to digest. So let's talk about some key points.

Spoilers for the SBS (which also has Wano spoilers)

Starting with the big one:

Zoro's bloodline

I see a lot of people upset or mad that Zoro's family tree was put in an SBS, but honestly I don't think it matters. The Wano chapters were already pretty blatant about the fact that Zoro is a descendant of Ryuma and there's more to his likeness to Ushimaru than the prior SBS confirming that he's not his dad. All you really get from the SBS is the bits in the middle; Ushimaru is his great uncle, his sister Furiko married a swordsman around Shimotsuki village, Roronoa Pinzoro, who bore Zoro's father, Roronoa Arashi. Arashi died fighting pirates, but interestingly married a 'Tera', a Bandit's daughter, who died of illness.

Honestly though, I think there's still more to it. The fact that Zoro didn't initially grow up in Shimotsuki village must mean that his mother resided somewhere else, was Zoro a bandit kid? Is his maternal grandfather still alive? What pirates did Arashi die fighting against? There still feels like there's some stuff less obvious Oda could potentially unpack.

Side Note: Tashigi Reminder to people that this does not confirm that Tashigi is a Shimotsuki either, despite some people's efforts to spin it that way. Yes 25 people left Wano and only 10 founded Shimotsuki village (which was already a village but renamed) but that does not mean they were all Shimotsuki, Miyatomo the craftsman was also a part of that group after all, plus there will be people in service of the clan (like Orochi was to Yasuie, even though he wasn't a Shimotsuki). In addition, it's worth noting that the village was established by defeating bandits, some simply may not have made it out alive. Overall her former likeness to Kuina may be something, but it also may not, nothing about her is confirmed yet.

Chopper vs SMILEs

So while many were disappointed to hear that there was nothing Chopper could do to fix the people suffering from the defective SMILEs, it always made sense to me. For one, the after-effect is not a disease or virus, so it doesn't quite undo his goal (people just expect Chopper's goal to be completed in Wano when it's convenient?). Secondly, SMILEs are fake Devil Fruits, so people are really expecting Chopper to undo a Devil Fruit effect? That's a bit much.

I feel like people expected too much from this because of how easily Chopper could counter Queen's Plague Rounds, but even this was beyond his capability.

Kurozumi Tama

I mean, this was obvious right? She has purple hair, how many other characters in Wano have the same hair colour as Orochi? The key thing though was Oda clarifying the also-obvious matter of Hiyori's parting words to Orochi being specifically for Orochi himself. Tama is a Kurozumi, but she isn't going to be subjected to the same harassment, especially since she partook in defeating Orochi and Kaido too, plus she has an army of SMILE users at her disposal and also the only ones who really know she's a Kurozumi would be Hitetsu/Sukiyaki (who was fine about raising her) and herself, and she would have the wherewithal to keep it to herself anyway.

Others

On the less unpackable side of things there was art of Yamato as an Oiran to satiate the thirst traps, of course in this case Yamato probably wouldn't be identifying as Oden if he was an Oiran.

Green Bull and Black Horse (the criminal investigation guy) had their design inspirations revealed, they are indeed very accurate.

And Oda very expertly danced around Sanji's eyebrows changing due to the Raid Suit effects, so there will probably be more to Sanji's biology to look into later.

Post-Reverse Mountain crew know some of what happened during the sagas before they joined, by asking those who were there if they were willing to tell, which makes sense, not too necessary but it also explains why Franky and Robin didn't know about Laboon in Thriller Bark.

Also alongside Sora, Warrior of the Sea, Oda revealed that the other popular picture books are; 'Fire Dog' (A dog on fire), 'Pokeemon' (maybe Pokémon hinted but image is more Doraemon), Monkey Ball (Dragon Ball, has a monkey with an axe flying the nimbus), and 'Marco-San' (which is just a girl, I was half expecting just Marco or a Pineapple, dunno the reference).

[rlyc00l]

Decepti0n, Chapter 3 on Fanfiction.net

(For some reason tumblr won't let me link to fanfiction.net the normal way anymore? WELP)

Zer0's an ass, Rhys's entire life is ruined forever, Rhys maybe has a virus, Rhys almost dies again—but hey, he does do one kind of cool thing.

EDIT: Chapter is also under the break :)

———— “Look, I appreciate the extra sleep,” Maya said. Her hair was tousled, she combed it out as she spoke. “But we agreed you’d take first watch and then wake me up.”  

“I didn’t need to.” Zer0 had their storage deck holoscreen up. They scrolled through their guns rather than face Maya. Rhys couldn’t help but notice they had two pistols besides the one they’d stolen from him. “I kept watch throughout the night. / And nothing attacked.” 

“That’s beside the point. We need everyone rested. If Jack figured out that we survived, he might send another ambush–” 

“I require less sleep.” They closed the holoscreen. Unlike the others, they had no camp to pack up, and they’d declined breakfast. The fact they hadn’t gone on alone put their air of self-assurance in question, at least in Rhys’s eyes. “And I am more observant / Than the rest of you.” 

The measured smile on Maya’s face fell. “You understand why I can’t take your word for that?”  “Yeah, I like to think I’m pretty damn observant,” Axton put in as he rolled up his bedroll. “Though, I don’t mind sleeping through the night, thanks, Zer0.” 

“The point is, if we’re going to work as a team, we need to communicate better,” she said.   “I’m not on your team. / We’re traveling the same way. / For the time being.” 

“If that’s the case, why stick around?” 

“Because I need that,” They pointed to the Claptrap, “If I want off this glacier. / Or so I’ve been told.” 

“Then work with us! We have the same goal.” A light went through her tattoos. Rhys was getting the sense that this wasn’t the first time they’d butted heads. He hadn’t paid much mind to the other bandit’s interactions, having assumed they were all in this together from the start. 

“You wanted guarding. / I guarded. What’s the problem? / You are still alive.” 

Whatever Maya was about to say was drowned out by her ECHO device. 

“Hey, kiddos.” The voice was unmistakable. Rhys straightened up on instinct. “Jack here–President of Hyperion. Lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunters show up. Vault Hunters look for the new Vault. Vault Hunters get killed. By me. You seeing the problem here? You’re still alive. So, if you—hold on, wait, wait wait wait, do you seriously have one of my employees with you? How the hell’d he get down there?” 

And that was it. Rhys was completely, one hundred percent, ruined. He’d be branded a traitor, he could never return to Helios, and if Pandora didn’t kill him, Handsome Jack would.

“Well, okay. Rhys Strongfork. From Security Propaganda? That’s weird.” Jack laughed. “Rogue employee going Vault hunter? That’s a new one. Let me know how it turns out. Anyway, I was gonna just tell you all to kill yourselves but, Rhysie? I really wanna see what happens to a traitorous little code monkey on Pandora.” The comm ended with a click. 

The others were all looking at him. He tried to put on a brave face, cracking a smile. “So uh, we’re definitely killing that guy, yeah?” 

Dunno if it’s a ‘we’, Strongfork.” Axton clapped Rhys on the back. “But hey, I’ll give you front-row seats to my badass Jack kill.” 

Rhys shot him a glare, even as he tried to work out a way to convince Jack he was only a prisoner. Would Jack accept that lie, even if he believed it? The man wasn’t known for tolerating failure. 

“He’ll die by my blade,” Zer0 said simply. An “uwu” projected from their visor. 

“No! I will crack the fingers in my teeth!” Krieg twitched as he yelled, smacking the side of his head a few times. 

“If any of us are going to kill Jack, we need to get off this glacier first,” Maya said before anyone else could make their claim. “I suggest we get moving.” 

She’d apparently taken up leadership of the group, and the others accepted that, aside from Zer0. With a few final preparations, they were on the road again. 

It was still freezing, of course, and Rhys was more sore than he’d ever been in his life, but the walking had become easier. They’d moved past the deeper, loose snow. Now Rhys’s feet only went two inches through the icy crust. And the sun was out. None of that made Rhys any happier about his current situation, but at least it wasn’t worse. 

He tried to ignore the sound of Gaige taking long strides to catch up with him as he walked. Maybe if he didn’t look at her, she wouldn’t try to talk to him. She could not possibly have anything good to say. 

His efforts failed. “So, Jack didn’t set you up to be killed, huh?” 

“What?” 

“Before you were all ‘Jack tried to blow me up! I was subtly undermining Jack! He didn’t want to martyr me!’” She did a voice that must have meant to be Rhys’s, but did not remotely sound like him. “But obviously, Jack didn’t know you were here until, like, literally just now. So?”

Was he being interrogated? “You hear the part where he called me a ‘traitorous code monkey’?”

“Yeah, but like, did you actually do anything cool? Try to smash the system?” 

“I did what I said I did,” Rhys snapped. It was suddenly very important to him that this teenager thought he was cool and not a liar. “Maybe Jack–Maybe he didn’t personally set that up for me, but someone up there wanted me dead for it. There–there’s an entire organizational hierarchy up there, Jack doesn’t handle everything himself.” “Fine, geez. I was just wondering…”

“Well, I’m glad to appease your curiosity, or whatever.” He noticed her eyeing his right arm. “Can I help you with anything else?” “Nope. I’m good.” Gaige said, looking down at her own cybernetic arm like she was comparing the two. It was a good thing hers was on the left, he would not put it past bandits to steal a man’s arm. Of course, maybe he was still in some danger from her. She had to be unstable, to end up here. 

He was about to ask her to stop staring at him like a piece of machinery when a sharp pain struck him. His ECHOeye port seemed to explode into little needles as his vision blurred and flickered. He let out a cry. A dark-haired, pale young woman appeared in front of him, just for an instant, and he fell. Distantly, he heard Salvador’s “I think Hyperion guy died.” before things went dark.  

The next thing Rhys was aware of was snow moving rhythmically below him as he passed over it. Someone’s hand grasped his forearm, another on the back of his thigh. He was being carried, he realized. Groaning, he lifted his head. He made brief eye contact with Salvador, who laughed, shaking his head. “Hey, Axton, the princess is up.” 

“Wha…?” Rhys blinked, rubbing his head. The pain from before had turned into a soft ache. “Let…Let me down…” 

“You gonna pass out again?” Axton asked. 

“No? I don’t think so?” 

Axton slid him off his shoulders and onto the ground. He felt dizzy, but got his bearings after a few stumbled steps. 

“What happened?” He asked. For a second time, he was being stared at. He caught Zer0, once again far from the others, watching him with a “LOL” projected from their helm.

“You went all twitchy and blinky and then fainted.” It was Gaige who answered. 

“Real elegant pose too, ass straight up in the air.” Axton grinned. 

“Great to know, thanks.” At least they hadn’t left him behind. They weren’t complete savages. 

He brought his hand up to his ECHOport, half expecting it to be bleeding or loose. Nothing out of place. Both eyes were functioning. His right arm moved as well as the left. He seemed okay, aside from the residual soreness from yesterday’s bullymong attack. 

Surreptitiously, he felt for his wallet. It was still in his front pocket, only thinner than it had been. Yep, that’s about what he’d expect. Fair enough. Only later, once they started moving again, did he get some real concern, from Maya. “Is something broken? I’m…Inexperienced with cybernetics, but I imagine they were the cause. Your eye was blinking.”

“I must have hit my head harder than I realized, knocked a part loose? It…It should be fine.” He had no idea if that was true, but you weren’t supposed to show weakness around these types, a rule he’d already broken too many times. Maya might seem reasonable, but there had to be a good reason Jack wanted her dead. “I can fix it, once we get somewhere with a mirror and some tools.” He didn’t relish the thought of poking around in his own head. Maybe it was one of those one-off things, some sort of glitch that he wouldn’t run into again. Maybe he could ignore it. 

“Gaige seems to be an experienced mechanic. You could ask her for help.” 

Rhys just looked at her. 

She shrugged. “Understandable. Still, try not to faint again, if possible. Claptrap’s claiming that Knuckle Dragger’s lair isn’t much further. Supposedly, he leads a sizable pack.”

————

They came to the lair nearly an hour later. It was up on a short ridge. The only way up was through a misaimed moonshot shipping container, both ends opened. 

Rhys let the Claptrap and Vault hunters go ahead of him. He knew he’d be useless in this fight, or worse, an outright burden. Better to stand around down here until the shooting ended. 

The Claptrap started screaming immediately, and the first shots were fired. He heard roaring, more cries from the Claptrap, something large slamming into the earth. Strangely, this was starting to feel routine. 

He leaned back against the side of the container and activated his arm’s holographic interface. Should he take this chance to shoot a message to Vaughn and Yvette, let them know he wasn’t dead, or would communicating with them implicate them as traitors? Best not to risk it. There were rumors of Jack airlocking an entire R&D team when he suspected one of betraying him. 

Still, it was strange, even if they’d thought Rhys had died down here, wouldn’t they at least think to ECHO him? Unless something had happened… Vasquez wouldn’t try to off them, too, would he? His throat got tight, thinking about it. 

Something landed on the shipping container above him with a heavy clunk. He looked up to find a bullymong staring back down at him. It was four times the size of the others he’d seen. Fresh bullet wounds covered its pelt. It wore a glowing blue sphere around its neck.

Nearby, he could still hear shooting. 

Slowly, he turned to face it. Just stay calm. Back away. Don’t do anything to upset it. It’ll be more interested in the people who shot it. He grabbed the stun rod, not taking his eyes off of it. 

It was staring at the glow of the hand interface. He deactivated it. Wrong move, the bullymong—Knuckle Dragger, he realized—roared and leapt at him. Scampering to the side, he jabbed out at it, just like last time. Unlike last time, this one swiped the rod out of his grasp, sending it flying.

Rhys turned and ran. 

Knuckle Dragger followed.

He sprinted in a wide circle, bullymong close behind. There was no way he’d outrun it for long. His only chance was the shipping container. Knuckle Dragger was too large to fit through the opening. 

With every stride he was sure he’d be caught, up until he finally leapt into the container. He slipped on the icy metal, fell forward, and felt himself being pulled back out. The bullymong had his shoe. Yelping, Rhys wriggled his foot free. He dragged himself out of reach, into the open on the other side.  

Chaos lay before him. He couldn’t begin to count the bullymong, alive or dead. A sharp-clawed robot—Gaige’s, he realized—raked open one’s chest a few feet in front of him. Somewhere, Salvador was yelling incomprehensibly. Axton was reloading his gun, covered by a turret next to him. He thought he saw Krieg dash past as he got to his feet.  “Help?!” he heard himself cry, to no response. The crate behind him echoed as the bullymong climbed over it. Rhys did the only thing he could think to do: he darted straight through the battlefield, hoping Knuckle Dragger would turn its attention to someone else. 

It didn’t. And once again it was closing in. He came to a sheer ice wall with the thing bearing down on him. To his left was a large pile of remains: an assortment of bone, cloth, and metal. He grabbed at a piece of metal in desperation, pulling it free. It was the twisted remains of a Jakobs rifle. A crude blade was affixed to one end. 

He dodged a blow from the bullymong’s massive fist–and blindly thrust upward with all of his strength. 

The bayonet passed between the detached lower mandibles and stuck fast in the roof of its mouth. Knuckle Dragger pulled away with a choked cry, yanking the makeshift spear out of Rhys’s grasp. Blood flowed down the blade, spattering the ice beneath it. Enraged, it reared up, fists balled. 

Rhys shielded himself against a blow that never came. 

Instead, there was a pitiful groan. Knuckle Dragger stumbled, swayed a little, and fell forward, narrowly missing Rhys. 

 Perched on its back was Zer0, their sword buried between its shoulder blades. They freed their blade, hopped off, and yanked the makeshift Claptrap eye necklace from Knuckle Dragger’s neck. 

“I…Erm…I…” Rhys stammered out, his heart still pounding in his chest. 

They glanced at him, drew a pistol from their digi-holster, and tossed it to him. He fumbled as he caught it. Zer0 was gone again by the time he recognized the gun.  

[sukimas]

oh, i got a good one: i take it you're a fan of FE4's gameplay. in that case, do you have a vision of anything you'd want changed in a remake on the mechanics side?

yes!

first off: i want horses to lose the benefit from roads. their movement is good enough as it is without being able to be buffed to an insane degree. the road speedup multiplier for infantry units should also be higher (maybe 0.55-0.6x movement cost? it gets weird at points because you might end up with infantry moving faster than cavalry on roads at some points with these multipliers, but since they're stuck to the roads rather than being able to run through fields, it's more of a restriction than a bonus even still.)

of course, the timing for certain side objectives (cough cough Bargain Band) should be altered if you do this. this would also give our poor fliers more of a niche, since as it is, the fact that they can't gain road bonuses basically makes them village bandit cleanup and child rescuing bots.

you could definitely successfully implement rescue in fe4 instead, but i think this comes to the issue where cavalry units might still be too centralizing unless you give fe5-level penalties for rescuing; and giving fe5-level penalties for rescuing incentivizes just not using the mechanic and tossing cavalry at all your problems instead.

a good thing that might be done to ameliorate their centralizing forces, incidentally, is to increase enemy density and quality. fe4 original flavor had to make do with a lot of autoleveled enemy units of the exact same classes and weaponry due to memory limitations; in a remake, you could make it so every group of enemies is similar to the group you face prior to heirhein, but with twice the number of enemy units- wielding mixed weaponry, with backline support in healers and ballisticians, etc. since cavalry units have worse statlines compared to footlocked units, but in general this comes into play in exactly one instance (the weissenritter), and we want to just increase the number of instances. our enemies may be underestimating us, but they aren't that incompetent. an exception is verdane, which should still just be axes and bows. they're the tutorial guys.

i don't want to implement trading, but i think that unarmed healers (and basically only them) tend to have serious issues getting the items they want unless you focus your thief on them or know ahead of time what to do. this is despite the fact that staves are not that centralizing in this game- the only particularly busted one is rescue, and even that is nowhere near warpskipping levels of broken. i think, since the only unarmed healers in the game are religious figures, allowing the "give gold" command to work on them from anyone (with the gloss of charitable donations) would do nicely.

speaking of the "give gold" command, it would be very beneficial to allow it to not give all of your gold to an allied unit. choosing multiples of 10k, i think (or all your gold if you happen to have less than that) would be ideal for a game which no longer has the snes's memory limitations.

(...speaking of the snes's memory limitations, why not properly implement the feature to dismount promoted mounted units for cool factor?)

as for weapon balance, it's mostly pretty OK, but some weight changes should be made. fire/thunder/wind should get the differentiation they get in later games (descending might order, thunder gets a little crit and wind gets a little more accuracy). dark and light magic being fairly heavy makes sense. sorry, deirdre, but your having absolutely godawful combat is lore accurate and doesn't cause you to be a liability. axes of course need to get their weight decreased- it should be at least a fleeting possibility that you could double with them, even if it's unusual.

i would hope it is patently obvious that holy weapons should not be altered in any way.

now, to map design. chapter 4 having it impossible to go to the latter half of the chapter with your unpromoted mounted units is a huge slap in the face. change that. you already had the thickets in chapter 1 change to normal forest- speaking of which, actually, thin out the fucking chapter 1 forest, it doesn't need to be that long- so have a bit of the mountain just be normal plains for you to traverse after the Annand Experience.

another fairly unpopular opinion of mine is that the chapter 7 desert is.... fine? you're not stuck in it for that long, and you don't need to take anyone but maybe seliph and a healer across it, if that. everyone else can move down to melgen while he's otherwise occupied. now, on the other hand, the chapter 5 desert is fucking stupid and it's no wonder that most people finish the chapter by poking the gelbenritter with erinys and having lewyn annihilate everything rather than actually taking their whole army to velthomer. absolutely a new path through the desert should open up after you seize phinora (you already speak to the village elder, surely he can give you directions), kaga is a god damn lunatic for this one. chapter 1 is also an unforgivable slog that could easily be fixed by just fucking taking away some of the trees. you can alternate them tree-plain-tree-plain and still have the effect of a giant fuckoff forest. or hell, have a route around the forest to the left open up after you get the Deirdre Moment. a lot of the unpleasant terrain in this game could be avoided by convenient new characters just telling you how to avoid it, but somehow this doesn't happen.

overall, with a few movement and enemy quality tweaks, along with a few QOL updates, fe4 could go from being The Game Of All Time to The Game Of All Time, Now Ft. A Larger Fun To Walking Simulator Ratio.

now as for changes i don't think that would be particularly useful but i want to see anyway: the possibility for critical hits even when your weapon isn't at 50 kills, but make them something like skill/4. speaking of that, why aren't the holy weapons all at 50+ kills already? if the count is maintained across generations for everything else, why aren't all the shots ullr took counted on my yewfelle? put them on there, it's always a good idea to make holy weapons more busted. give more random enemy units personal (non-class) skills to ruin the player's day. go random sword general with sol. fuck you.

oh yeah speaking of enemy general skills i'm going back on my word that these changes aren't particularly useful, and very unusually for me, saying that we should implement a change that would make the game slightly more normally balanced. kill full pavise. pavise cutting damage dealt in half was the best thing awakening ever did. it's fine for it to work against every weapon, but completely nullifying damage with an activation chance based on the user's level is stupid. loptous wishes it were you.

another change i'd like to make is making the arena about half as long (3-4 enemies) but making those enemies grant more gold/exp for using it. also, changing the chapter leveling curves in general so arena use isn't required for the highest rank (though idk if they'll keep the ranking system; this is the first remake of a game that had a proper one, and IS appears to be allergic to them nowadays.) you could optionally implement a limit on how many units can use the arena each map to incentivize solely using it to train up weak units, but idk. it's fun absolutely wrecking the arena, and would be less of a huge pain in the ass if it were three units long.

i'd like build and build growths to make a return, since engage seems to want to do that. it would help with some of the earlier weapon weight issues mentioned (esp. axes) but if you tweak weights instead it isn't super necessary.

oh yeah, make warp able to target green castles rather than just blue ones. sucks to make it optimal to get nordion captured so i can send everyone back there in the middle of ch2 instead of sending them all back to evans.

this ended up being a lot longer than i expected, but it's basically all tiny nitpicks. i think fe4's gameplay is really good for telling the story that it wants to, but some of the design decisions made within the game for memory reasons (i'm not exaggerating here by bringing this up so much- the game genuinely hits near the edge of the cartridge size, and project naga doublesizing it was absolutely the only thing that they could have done to fit the patch on there) or for bad decision reasons (kaga's loving marriage to movement restriction) make it less fun than it could be. a remake tweaking those and adding some later innovations in the fire emblem series could make it a game that i'd never want to stop playing, rather than one i have to take a couple weeks break from every time i finish it.

[nikofortuna]

JTTW Chapter 9 Thoughts

Chapter Nine for the @journeythroughjourneytothewest Reading Group! TW: mention of suicide under the cut, so the same as the actual chapter.

There is a lot of openly crying in this one! By men too, which is very refreshing to read compared to a bunch of modern stuff.

First up I do quite like how government officials aren’t necessarily chosen through nepotism or the like, but instead everyone genuinely has to study so when they become an official they have already proven smart and also have a good amount of knowledge to do their work well. Additionally theoretically everyone has a chance to get a government position as they aren’t barred by status from studying and taking the exam. It’s not a perfect system by all means, but it’s pretty decent all things considered!

Chen Guangrui had the fastest meet-cute to marriage ever, huh. He’s really chill with it too and I suppose this was somewhat common back then. Though for the comedy of it I can imagine him with a bunch of question marks around his head when he gets hit with the ball and led inside the residence. Was he considering that he got knocked out by that ball and dreaming this at any point? Probably not, but it’s still amusing to consider.

Scientific accuracies abound! A fish or snake blinking would indeed be a sign of them being extraordinary, because neither should be able to blink! They don’t have movable eyelids.

A few interesting notes from the German translation. The Hong River or Hongjiang [洪江] literally translates to ‘flooding river’ and the relation to water may implicate the flow of live and destiny. Also Liu Hong has the same character for Hong in his name as the river! Symbolically he ‘floods’ the family’s life with misfortune.

The J.F. Jenner translation calls the incense ring a sandalwood bracelet and so does the German translation, which is rather neat. While the original Chinese doesn’t specify sandalwood from what I could gather, this kind of wood can indeed be used for incense so it does make sense in that regard. Plus it ties back into Xuanzang later! I assume that is why they chose to translate it that way.

Though I find it a little bit suspicious, perhaps a little shellfish, that the Dragon King just keeps Chen Guangrui to work for him without even checking in with his family at all let alone making sure that they are fine, but essentially just leaving them to suffer. He knows they are in trouble because of the bandits too! So he really has no excuse there.

Poor Yin Wenjiao had to have some serious mental health problems after the whole ordeal that happened to her, otherwise her taking the out after all makes no sense. Nobody blames her for anything, which they openly and clearly communicated to her, and she technically gets back everything that had been taken from her down to her husband which is a legit miracle.

She mentioned before that she wanted to atone for things to her husband by ending her life, but I doubt her husband now alive again would have ever signed off on that, so this had to have been at least partially an excuse in her mind from the start.

This ending was actually omitted from the German translation! In there it basically just says she lived happily ever after, which I might actually prefer simply due to how little the book delves into Yin Wenjiao’s psyche and kind of just waves her away in that regard.

Lastly Sun Wukong continues to feel like the main character in comparison to the scripture pilgrim. This chapter was more a backstory of Xuanzang’s family, but not as much of himself. Meanwhile Sun Wukong was at the centre of his multi-chapter backstory at every turn.

[rotisseries]

ASKING U ABT CIRI WITCHERS BOOKS? TELL ME MORE

OK SO. the fun thing about the witcher books is that they were written by a Man In The 80s. so you have moments where it's like. oh how unexpectedly progressive of you!!! (very cool pro choice scene) and other moments where it was very much Written By A Man In The 80s. so. miss cirilla fiona elen riannon is actually a PERFECT example of this duality because she is fundamentally a joint main protag like this series is just as much about her journey as it is about geralt's and she's a teenage girl written with a lot of depth and care and compassion. and also sometimes it's just fucking weird. like this series encompasses a large span of time so while she starts the series at like. 12. a large portion of her story happens at like. the 15 to 16 range. so there's like. the occasional weird shit and then there's generally too many. threats of sexual violence against her like I cannot overstate that. a main plot point is that elves want to impregnate her because she has special elven heritage or something idfk I need to reread. BUT. MOST MEMORABLE OFFENSE IN MY MIND. IS THE FACT SHE'S CANONICALLY SAPPHIC (yay) AND IT'S WRITTEN FUCKING WEIRD (nooo) SO. there's an arc where she gets separated from geralt for awhile and he's trying to find her (with a fun little found family btw. while she's like. having the greatest suffering of her fucking life and she's ALREADY lost her grandmother to war and fire atp) and it's the first time she's truly been on her own. she's 15 she's been hanging with him since she was 12 he's been her gruff dad for several years now. so this ends up as kind of a very dark point in her life she first has to survive through this desert and then she gets attacked by bandits??? I think??? older men though which is the main threat. and she's captured and scared and then!! she gets rescued by this teenaged bandit group and this is where it's a dark point in her life bc they are a very toxic friend group for her it's not good these aren't really like. moral bandits like overall her time with them isn't great for her BUT. the first night she stays with them one of the boys in the group tries to assualt her. gently of course. 🙄 but the other girl in the group, (I REMEMBER THIS BITCH'S NAME. FUCKING MISTLE) runs him off but then she ALSO makes sexual advances on ciri SHE LITERALLY DOES THE SAME THING THE BOY DID and CIRI GOES WITH IT BUT IT'S LIKE. THERE'S NO ENTHUSIASTIC CONSENT HERE OR ANYTHING SHE'S UNCOMFORTABLE SHE'S NOT READY I THINK SHE CRIES HANG ON IT'S REALLY BAD LEMME SEE IF I CAN FIND IT LIKE I CAN'T OVERSTATE THIS ENOUGH IT'S TEXTUALLY SEXUAL ASSAULT

look at this shit.

"but rori," you may say, "this is awful, but why point to this as canon sapphicness? rape is not representation" and you are RIGHT. SO TRUEEE. unfortunately. ciri continues to date this bitch. they have an extended romantic relationship for months. or longer. while ciri rides around with them harassing random villages. SO. CIRI'S ONLY CANONICAL SAPPHIC RELATIONSHIP. WHICH IS MEANT TO BE HER BEING SAPPHIC BTW BC THE AUTHOR SAID SOME SHIT IN AN INTERVIEW OR SMTH ABOUT WANTING TO GO AGAINST STEREOTYPES OR WHATEVER WHERE THE PRINCESS ALWAYS ENDS UP WITH SOME MAN. KEEP THAT IN MIND BTW IT'LL BE RELEVANT AGAIN. BUT ANYWAY. ONLY CANONICAL SAPPHIC RELATIONSHIP AND CANONICAL EVIDENCE OF CIRI BEING SAPPHIC AND IT'S. IT'S FUCKING. IT FUCKING STARTS WITH A RAPE. ANDRZEJ SAPOWSKI I WILL KILL YOU

and then. AND THEN. even better. actually objectively a better situation than this one but it sours it further to me. so she's like? technically bisexual I think? in the sense that she has a female "love interest" and later a male one. but it's just. it's not anything specific but the way it's written is just like. it feels more like he wrote her as a lesbian and then just changed his mind at the last book. because the final book is her telling this man she meets about the shit she went through (this is well after mistle btw like I think it's been a few years) and then they like. leave somewhere together at the end of the book? and it's not really romantic but it simultaneously reads like maybe it's supposed to be (AND OH HEY REMEMBER THAT BIT ABOUT NOT WANTING THE TROPEY ENDING FOR THE PRINCESS WHERE SHE ENDS UP WITH A MAN??) and if yes then it's weird as bisexuality rep because it actually just reads like he wrote her as a lesbian during the worst time in her life and then after she got better and got through it her happy ending is with a man. so. bit weird bit odd. and then the game witcher 3 gives you the option to say she's not in to guys. but also the option to romance a guy. so who even knows. ciri's possible lesbianism/bisexuality is the sexuality schroedingers cat. lmao

[leaflovingal]

Been playing more skyrim recently, and I gotta say that I really don't know how I can support the stormcloaks. I'll probably do a playthrough at some point where I join them, but that'll just be for the quests me thinks.

For one, I feel like there are far better ways to defy the thalmor than rebelling against your own people. Why not build up military power as much as possible? I'm pretty sure toryg was against the thalmor if i remember right, and the emperor is the same. Instead of fighting a small rebellion help turn the entirety of skyrim into a prosperous nation and go to war with the thalmor alongside the empire. It really doesn't make much sense.

Second, the stormcloaks winning wouldnt really mean much in the long run. Cool, you beat some of the empire. Now you have a destabilized region that has lost (in game hundreds) thousands of citizens and soldiers to your civil war. You can see this during the game too, it's already bad. Now you can wait a few years and get invaded, or maybe you'll have continued splinter factions, or the massive bandit, vampire, etc. Populace is going to become an increasingly large issue. At least with the empire in power you have two factions worrying about their territories. Now you have one, who just came out of a war, is now trying to control several holds and towns who disagree or hate this faction, have various parties within said holds willing to fight and possibly create an additional rebellion, and on and on and on.

Third, while i havent beaten the main quest of skyrim, i imagine that an imperial victory is just generally better for the country(?) Than a stormcloak one. For one, the area is now safer generally. Sure, you have some of the same issues as a stormcloak victory such as more rebellious groups and destabilized area, but now you have connection to the rest of the empire too. Windhelm might stop being a racist shithole, and riften can hopefully have the black briars taken out of power. Hopefully the rest of winterhold sinks into the fucking ocean*. Dawnstar....exists...i guess.

Lastly, i know that an imperial victory is still somewhat bad for skyrim. The legion will most likely start to exert more military control across the region, citing the rebellion as to why they need to. Talos worshippers are driven even further underground. The imperials, at least in the military, do not care about the nords culture. The giants probably get wiped out. Skyrim will be wounded, and the imperials will seep into that wound like never before.

I know this is probably as cold a take as the icicle lodged in my chest after fighting a necromancer, but it's been on my mind for a few days.

*god i fucking hate winterhold. Piece of shit fucking place. Awful. I play survival mode skyrim and there arent any fucking wagons or boats at winterhold. You know what you get instead? Bears and ice wolves and horkers. You either go southeast along the coast to windhelm, where you get assaulted by said animals, west to dawnstar where the same happens, or south to like whiterun i think where there are no more horkers just the fucking mountains and i think frost wisps or whatever. Why didnt they leave? Why not relocate? There are so many much better places than on the god damn coast. Leave, make a nice mountain mining village or something. We need a place between whiterun and markarth, settle there. At least dawnstar has a boat and falkreath doesn't have shit geography. Theres more than just black grey and white there.

Also why are almost all the jarls shitheads. Falkreath, winterhold, dawnstar, windhelm, riften, and apparently markarth all have shitheads as rulers. Barlgruuf is amazing and the lady in solitude is there i guess.

[aelfgiure]

Except we also watched a Real Plague roll across the planet in Real Time, and the results were... horrifying. We fully expected deniers and bullshit for this one, too, and damn, we got them. Not for long, this time.

We watched the early wave of z's roll across the less advantaged parts of the world so we knew what was coming. I made phone calls. Pulled the team together. Got us set up in our chosen location, and actually got our goddamn wall built, along with a few stealth ops to keep the 'neighborhood' safe.

Then, we waited.

I was absolutely delighted it took longer for the shit to hit the fan. Gave us more time to prepare, gave people further down the call list time to join us. That made a huge difference for everyone, in a good way. More people, more skills, more supplies! As long as we could move freely around the area, we did, shopping and making connections, making friends.

We recruited a few more people, and watched parts of the world fall into hell. When the hell washed up on the Gulf coast, we started shutting things down. It was sickening watching our nation fall apart, like a bloated week-dead cow lifted with a skid steer. (Yes, I've seen that. Yay farm life.) Families literally torn apart, into bloody shreds, on live television. Lots of senseless hate crimes, followed by retaliation that had most of us weeping or cheering them on, or both.

The last weeks before it all slammed shut were the worst. Global tensions were utterly nuts, and Command Staff spent quite a few nights awake and discussing options if shit went nuclear - we were close to a major target, after all, and grim jokes about radroaches aside, we had fears. To this day I'm still shocked that India and Pakistan teamed up during the crisis. Nobody was shocked by what happened to Russia, or China.

All in all, we were lucky. The location was great. The nuke-powered electric plant kept the area's grid up and running, and that alone had the locals on our side. Plus, we were out there working our asses off, keeping the roads clear, escorting trade groups in, eliminating raiders and bandits before they became a problem. I spent most of my time working medical, when I wasn't farming. We weren't setting ourselves up like Lord Humongous or whatever, we were part of the community and active in it's maintenance and defense.

Other places weren't so fortunate. It sucked that we couldn't save them, but we tried to keep our focus on what we DID save. Not just our area! Yeah, we were able to set up radio communication with other enclaves of survivors and help them work through stuff so they could thrive. It really helped to have this wider network around the region, it gave people a real sense of hope, a sense that there would be a future for all of us. That was the point, after all. We were doing this so there would be a goddamn tomorrow.

Things get better every year. I'm retired from the Command staff, too old and slow to jump into action at a moment's notice now. That's for the youngsters, heh. The different regions have slowly started to link up, east to west, north to south, and our kids and grandkids have educational opportunities that we initially feared were gone forever, when this shit started.

It was hard, don't get me wrong about that! It was hard, and miserable at times, and grief killed more than a few survivors over the years. Survivor's guilt is real, and I still wake up with screaming nightmares once in a while, but I wake up. I wake up and face the day, and I thank everyone who made it possible for all of us to survive, and I bless everyone who continues to do the hard work of building up the world again, and building it up better.

Maybe we learned something, right? I don't know, honestly. But when I read the reports of new trade agreements with other countries - not just regions, now, COUNTRIES! - I get hopeful all over again, same as when I read about the new and improved wind farms and solar greenhouses. Same as when I read about a university's graduating class being in the thousands again after twenty years of low enrollment due to safety concerns. It's all about hope, and making it better.

Now, I'm going to enjoy my retirement in this lovely stone cottage you sneaky bastards built for me. If I'm not inside when you stop by, I'm in the garden. Feel free to come say hi! I'll make us a nice cup of coffee and we'll gossip. And if it ever hits the fan again, I'll be at your side to help you defend it all over again.

- text of the retirement speech of Captain Greenlaw, one of the founders of Blackhawk Region, 2067. Her cottage was preserved as a Global Heritage site in 2085 and can still be visited to this day.

Her birthday has become a local holiday, complete with festival on the grounds. There are stories of people encountering a middle-aged woman, using a cane to get around, who asks for a sitrep. Those who fill her in on current events get a hearty pat on the back and a cigar slipped into their pocket (whether they smoke or not!) and lose sight of her in the crowd shortly after. The cigar is Capt. Greenlaw's favorite brand - and hasn't been manufactured since the Outbreak.

The zombie apocalypse, except everyone knows what is going on because it is bloody 2024 and people watch movies.

[natsunoomoi]

Honestly, I think togashi used the term child to emphasis the fact that hiei is around the same age as yusuke and since hiei's character is based on the chuunibyou, I guess he must be around 13 - 14 when he first fought yusuke, in the three kings saga it was mentioned quite a few times that hiei is really young as he didn't knew much about the three kings and thought it was a fairytale. Personally I feel that yukina has the same level of maturity as hiei, I don't think her living with the ice maidens made her better at communicating with people cuz unlike hiei, yukina doesn't really have many close friends besides kuwabara in the manga, while hiei has yusuke, kurama and mukuro. Anyhow, yukina is hiei's twin sister, since togashi already called hiei a child there's no reason for him to call yukina a child too. Like you said hiei's development might have been stunted because of the circumstances but gaining friends made him mature by the end. I know i said too much but i find the idea of hiei and yukina being the same age as the rest of the yyh group really interesting imo it makes the perfect sense, don't you think?

I'm not sure if it's interesting, as much as it just is and people are different.

Also, you don't have to have friends to know how to socialize. Even if everyone around you is hostile and you don't like your hometown, you learn how to socialize and be civil with the people around you. That kind of thing happens normally all the time. LGBT child grows up in the Bible belt countryside of the US with everyone around them, or at least most people around them, spewing hateful things about them. They are a child that is waiting and biding their time for their chance, their opportunity, to leave to go somewhere safer where they are free to be themselves. Even in that kind of a situation, you do learn to communicate better, but in a very specific way. I think you're greatly underestimating how much socialization a person can get from simply being around other people even if those other people suck.

Yukina is a very kind person, but her kindness is probably fostered by Rui who likely cared for her in her mother's absence. While Rui didn't actively act against the wishes of their leader or their people, it's made very clear that she agrees more with Hina and was not happy about throwing Hiei off. Rui very likely raised Yukina in a certain way, that allowed her to grow kindness, but at the same Yukina had to be around to be around everyone else in their home who is cold. She has to survive, so she also knows and learns how to have a certain level of outward politeness even if inside she holds deep resentment. That kind of outward attitude is also very Japanese and a trademark of Japanese customer service. The customer could be the most raving bitch of a Karen, and you still have to smile through it and pick your words precisely to balance what the customer wants and what you want/are able to provide, which can go up to doing things that outwardly seem humiliating, but are designed to bring the others' guard down so that you don't have to do something else more important. It's a game of social chess, and it's a thing that Hiei cannot do because he grew up in wildlands and after early childhood didn't spend that much time with the bandits that took him in.

Hiei in contrast is very blunt and straight and wouldn't have been in any place where people would talk or gossip. Even then for surviving purposes, he would fundamentally be uninterested in people's gossip, so the Three Kings wouldn't be a thing that made sense for him to know about and would logically become a fairytale to him because he spent so much time in the woods among the trees alone. Like he straight up is just not in situations or circles where he would find out actual news about them because he stayed away from everyone at a certain point.

Relatively though, you would know who's the leader of the place you're in, but beyond that it's of little significance to his everyday life. That's also a kind of life that probably people in 2024 now aren't aware of as much because the internet connects us all so much. But before fast communication, the common farmer or regular lay person could not give a shit about who the leader was in the castle or whatever. It's true in every country prior to modern communication and the printing press. Whatever the leader did, did not matter because their big decisions for the country didn't affect their everyday life. It's likely Hiei knew that the Three Kings existed, but it's more that he didn't know or needed to care about whatever issues they had between them because it was irrelevant to what he needed to do to live.

Yukina on the other hand is able to show her caution and able to handle difficult social situations mainly through her conversation with Hiei about "finding her brother". She might be a kind person, but that conversation in particular shows that she does have hidden strength and "darkness" (not the right word, but I can't think of the right one atm) of her own. I recall also, during her time at Tarukane, she tried to be cold to him and not allow him to get gems so easily, but like instead he killed people that helped her, killed her bird friends, etc. Other beings are essentially hostages since she can't be attacked directly to get the gems, and I think I recall Toguro being brought in specifically because they couldn't get gems out of her recently. Yukina shows a number of times she has skills to pivot her reactions to different kinds of people, and that is a social skill and a kind of maturity that Hiei doesn't have. It is also a kind of maturity that adults in Japan have, but kids do not as they are straight and blunt don't know how to "read the room" or observe other kinds of Japanese subtlety. The adults in their life and their parents teach this to them. They fundamentally do not have the same level of maturity as Hiei acts like a child that never learned how to do that, and that's more that what he means. You're taking the "child comment" way too literally to fit what you want and ignoring Yukina's skills and achievements to serve what you want to be true about Hiei.

Other than the above, Yukina's also just more able to join in on activities with Yusuke & Co, while Hiei in contrast is still looking out of a window and largely ignoring what's going on. It's not necessarily that he's completely uninterested, but it's probably really awkward for him so he'd rather be a bit away from the group instead of joining in and maybe looking stupid or whatever. Being able to join in with new people and dive into new experiences is a kind of socialization skill. It can come naturally to some people, but it also takes some practice. Yukina had to survive in her home, but she also befriended animals which are skittish and run away. Being more approachable takes practice and is something Yukina has from not staying away from interactions. Hiei basically focusing on survival for most of his life and was alone is not able to really navigate that kind of situation.

Also, I don't know if it's a translation error on the part of the interpretation from the translator in the English version, but I have the Japanese version of the chapter where Hiei says that he "thought it was just a fairytale" and in Japanese it's ambiguous actually whether or not he thought the Three Kings themselves were a fairytale, or rather the war between them was a fairytale. I've never read any translations. I have the whole series in Japanese and I can read it. He's comments in that page is that he's "heard about the feud between the Three Kings", and then in the next panel says that the thought it was just a fairytale. It doesn't say it was specifically about the Three Kings' existence, but more about their struggle for power. That can be a sign of youth, but only because youkai live for hundreds of years and if you are younger than the last time there was a war or significant conflict, hearing that nations don't get along is like a fairytale. If that nuance was taken out of the English translation, I don't know what to tell you. It's for that reason I don't really rely on translations so much. I've made translations of my own, and there's a lot of compromises made to the text to get the gist of it so that you can get it on screen or in a box readable that I genuinely feel bad for English speaking fans because they are *missing* so much context and nuance that was also there in the same sentence.

For a modern day example, right now we have a number of wars/horrific things happening in the world. For a lot of people who are younger right now, they were not alive when this conflict started and do not understand the history. There's a lot of misinformation going on about who's at fault and why, and it's easy to get misled if you don't know the history of how it started. I had the fortune of having a history teacher in high school that taught me the history and it's a fucked up situation for everyone, and basically everyone sucks. It's also a mess that we as the newer generations in the world inherited because the creators of the original situation were naive and real stupid and tried to solve a "problem" they perceived by ignoring people that exist now for their own agenda. But also because we are a newer generation, there's a lot of people who do not get taught this history and are taught by the adults in their life to blindly support one side or the other hence leading to the clusterfuck screaming match and actual war and war crimes and turbulence we have now. The conflict has been going on so long that people don't remember how it started. Strife and difficulty is just the modern reality, and the start of it and the actual source of the conflict is like a fairytale because it's so far in the past and not talked about.

Back to our source material, Mukuro even asks if he'd heard about their conflict because it'd been 500 years. Like we know Hiei and Yukina are definitely less than 100, so their last conflict was a way long time ago and they were in a stalemate/truce for 500 years. We also don't know how their specific species ages either because they could both be 60 something and we'd never know either, but that'd imply that their trauma and living in strife and difficult situations lasted longer than if they were around the same age as the rest of the crew. That said, their objective reality and lived experience is not one of war and conflict, so hearing that battle is about to break out is like, what? Why? Kurama's comment after Hiei tells him his plan about going to Mukuro's though is that he "wasn't born yet" so "he doesn't know how frightening Mukuro is". There's 500 years of time for him to not know. It's not that he's a literal child or that he's "too young". It's that it literally happened *way* too long ago for him to know about it still being an ongoing grudge and how bad an actual conflict could be.

[child-of-the-cataclysm]

Chapter Twenty-Two: Clash

The Bloody Hand was, in many ways, a reflection of who I and the rest of the Silver Hand had once been. They were darker, to be certain, but even then not as much further as I might have liked to assume. We had, after all, been bandits. 

Each member of the Bloody Hand had been hand-picked by Morati, plucked up out of the rank and file and elevated to a status beyond that which was assumed of the lower-class soldiers. In very much the same way, the Silver Hand had largely relied on Nileas’ leadership to bring us out of the poverty we would likely have fallen to if it weren’t for him and his group. 

It was hardly a perfect reflection - the Kadien Empire was in many ways formed around the brutality which Morati had made his trademark. Few could exercise that brutality in such a fashion to be recognized by Morati. Certainly, none of the old Silver Hand could have brought ourselves to. 

Except, perhaps, for me.

I had essentially been raised by Nileas and the rest of the Hand. My sense of morality had always been… skewed, both by my experiences with them and my natural inclinations. Even in the wake of seeing the torture wrought upon Riota, I understood Nileas. Nothing horrified me quite as much as realising that - realising that, in Nileas’ position, there was a chance, however faint, that I might do the same. 

That, for now, was what was keeping me human. That fear of becoming the villain in the tales of thousands of children, of becoming the figure against which rebellions rose and a being whose own companions would leave to fight against when they saw what we had become. 

The four members of the Bloody Hand which had rushed me in silent understanding of the direction Morati’s fury would demand stood between us now, their charge knocked backwards by the sheer, gutwrenching force of a dragon’s cry. 

Morati, a beautiful rage still gripping his face, had not so much as stumbled. 

His hand rose, that beautiful sword which he had always worn at his side glittering ominously in the light of my own dragonflame. With a voice choked by wrath, he levelled it at me and demanded that his Hand, my own dark mirror, end me. 

My eyes remained locked with his for several precious moments. Morati was almost my father, once. Even with my new Silver Hand, even with the declaration of my rulership, and even with that which he had done to those I loved, to fight him would be difficult. 

The Bloody Hand rushed forward in practised unison, each extending their weapon before them. Difficult it might be, but I would have to find my way. 

(~)

Blessedly, neither Rahkor nor Ysella was here with Morati. Both of them were important enough to the operations of the Kadien Empire that they were almost certainly leading some other operation out there somewhere. I didn’t recognize any of the four rushing me, which either meant that they were newly appointed or a part of the group which Morati used for the more secretive operations. 

Neither possibility would make them necessarily easy to deal with, but as the dragonflame fell into the rough shape of knives in both of my hands, I found myself hoping it was the former. Even with a slightly improved grasp on my draconic powers, taking on four fingers of the Bloody Hand and Morati himself was bound to be near-impossible without the ability to slip. At least if they were newly appointed I might be able to take advantage of a lack of experience. 

The first to reach me was a short woman, legs beating into the ground faster than the others could hope to match to drive her to me before the rest. By the look of her, she probably had a bit of wyldling in her family. Her lunge was pointed off with a spear, simple and clean - although as I twirled off to the side of it, I noted a second point at the back just in time to drop into a slide underneath it as she whipped it around in an attempt to catch me on the dodge. 

As I slid underneath the spear’s reach, I lashed out, releasing one of the dragonflame knives and letting it flit forwards into her ankle. Entranced in the attack, she did not have time to dodge; it caught her squarely, knocking her leg out from beneath her and causing her to fall just as I came up from my slide into a leaping strike at the closest behind her. 

The second was tall, dark-haired and pale skinned. Their veins stood out darkly against their skin, seeming unnaturally dark. Their weapon was a simple blade. It bore none of the embellishments of Morati’s - it was a tool, boiled down to its most basic and utilitarian form, designed to hurt, to bleed, and to kill. Their eyes burned red as they fell into a spinning low strike, designed to catch me on the rise from my sliding dodge. 

It was a clever - and artful, in a straightforward way - attack, well-placed enough that just about anyone else would likely have found themselves bisected in short order. It took an immense effort for me to carry my rising momentum up further, turning the motion into a forward flip over the blade, my remaining dragonfire blade swinging backwards as I landed and plunging through the black-veined back of my assailant, sizzling as it pierced through his chest. 

The remaining two members of the Bloody Hand were smarter than their companions; rather than lunge as separate pieces of a whole, they co-ordinated their attacks. Both bore axes, one marked with a howling wolf and the other with a diving falcon. The wolf swung low to my right from in front, the falcon high to my left from behind - much like the attacker before them, it was clever and straightforwardly artistic as an attack. Combined, it left me very few options for a dodge.

But a dodge was not the only way to go unscathed by an attack. 

My hands were now free of the amethyst dragonflame, but the blue-black skin of a true dragon was still in place - as was the flesh beneath. Carefully, precisely, I swung one hand low and the other high, catching the blades of the axes against the resilient, armoured skin of a creature far beyond what these poor pawns of Morati had ever faced. With a roar - not quite the full trilling screech of a dragon, closer to the bellowing victory cry of a gladiator standing over the body of their defeated foe - I clasped the blades tight, allowing the dragonflame to rush into place once more, flowing over the axeblades and down the hafts to the bodies of their wielders. 

The agonised screams of the now-enflamed foes filled the air, harmonising with the quiet sobs of the two behind. Flickering purple flames reflected off my three eyes as I stared at Morati, daring him with everything in me to attack. 

It was a false dare, really. If those four had all acted with the unison of the last two, I would not have come out unscathed - and the one whose ankle I had taken out at the least could certainly make another attack if she got herself together enough. And, for all that I had demonstrated my prowess, a single spell from Morati could be enough to wipe me from the face of this village with ease. 

Nevertheless, if I didn’t hold this dare, hold Morati’s gaze, keep myself as the threat in his eyes, there was a chance my men would not escape. So my false dare remained. 

The air grew tense, crackling with magical potential as Morati whirled through the calculations of a spell. No other mage could act like this. Magic was in preparation, in long hours working out the intricate equations behind reality and encoding them into a physical form to release later. Morati himself relied on it to an extent - the jewels on his sword held spells he had prepared for a number of situations. This, though, this crackling potential around us, was wholly his, a unique impossibility found in his mind’s prodigious capability to work out the divine maths of the universe on the fly. It was terrifying to behold, even despite knowing that I could interrupt his calculations with a single attack. 

Just as I was tensing to do so, dragonflame pooling into a blade in my hands, a massive crossbow bolt flew through the space where Morati’s head had been, my old leader barely slipping behind it. 

I knew that bolt. 

As much as I wanted to, as much as looking to the source of the bolt with joyous recognition was all I wanted to do, I kept my eyes locked on Morati. He may have been distracted enough by the incoming attack to dispel the gathering magic, but the man was still talented with a blade - and likely had at least one spell still stored in one of his sword’s gemstones. 

Fortunately for me, Morati’s discipline was not quite as strong. Snarling, he turned towards the source of the bolt, raising his blade as he did as if preparing to fire off a spell in the direction of the offender. Taking advantage of his distraction, I leapt, deep-purple flames pooling in my hand as I moved, shaping itself into that familiar, fiery blade. 

In a unison that belied years of working alongside me, a crescent-tipped spear flickered low from behind the corner of the mill as I leapt to strike high. Heart soaring to see confirmation of both of the familiar weapons, my lips cracked into a feral smile - more bared teeth than any human expression of joy, and yet still a more true-felt smile than I had given in a long time. 

To his credit, Morati attempted to move as acrobatically as I had, stutter-stepping into a dive which, executed correctly, may well have taken him over the spear and under my attack all at once. Unlike me, however, Morati didn’t have the obscene, impossible physicality of a dragon underneath his skin. His dive was about as clean as could be expected from a human, but as he came down into a somersault, the haft of Gerevor’s spear followed the same arc as its head as the head twisted back and Gerevor slid out from behind cover, catching Morati firmly in the shoulder and knocking him onto his side. 

I landed a mere fraction of a second after the impact and immediately moved to finish things. Rushing towards the fallen Morati, I loosed a wide kick at the hand holding his blade, sending it flying. As I did, Gerevor whipped his spear around, placing the crescent over Morati’s neck and pinning him like a snake. 

Breathing heavily, I looked at Gerevor. My smile - such as it was - dropped quickly from my face when I saw the state of him. 

He wasn’t as bad as Riota had been, not by far, but it was clear all the same that he had lost Morati’s favour in a big way before coming here. He had always been gangly, but the man who had been one part brother, one part uncle, and one part friend to me for much of my life looked even thinner - sickly, with cheeks sunken and dark circles under his eyes that I would have thought impossible for the friendly, easygoing man I knew. His lip was split, and new scars showed on nearly all of his exposed flesh. While his face was free from the newfound scarring, it was also free of an old scar - a small one, right at the hairline - which I knew should have been there. That lack of scarring was made by magic, to be certain. 

Gerevor smiled weakly at me, then looked away - whether because of the current strangeness of my visage or because he was looking for Lek, I do not know. His gaze fell on the shorter man - still husky by the standards of those within the Shattered Kingdoms, but thinner than I had ever seen him all the same. Worse still, Lek moved with a staggered, uncertain gait whose reason became evident as he came closer. His right leg had been replaced with a clumsy prosthetic - all wood and iron, a ramrod-straight peg which extended from midway up his thigh, leaving that leg without a knee to bend. Lek used his crossbow, massive as it was, as a makeshift cane as he moved, and even still he came on slowly. 

Even with the state of them as it was, it was a blessing to see the two of them. As much as what Morati had apparently done to them hurt to witness, the idea of living alongside my friends - my family again filled me with joy I couldn’t describe. 

Morati growled against the curve of the blade at his throat and kicked out at Gerevor. It was a useless gesture, with how far Gerevor stood from his leg, but it snapped our attention back to him just as he grabbed at the haft of the spear and began to push. 

A few years ago, I would have expected Gerevor, in his superior position, to be able to hold down Morati with ease. Right now, in his almost frail state, the shaking of the spear spurred me to fear that he might be pushed off. Unwilling to take the risk of Morati escaping when we had a chance at ending one face of our war in hand, I wound up for a second kick, this one aimed at his head. 

The impact was sharp, and the crack of my bootless foot against the side of my old friend’s head echoed throughout Bemric’s central square. Morati went limp, unconscious at the strike, and Gerevor eased up on the spear, breathing thinly. Lek, now close enough to see my dragon-tainted state, shook his head. He seemed near-expressionless to me, even now, but his eyes were sad.

I couldn’t blame him.

Breathing out, I let the dragonflesh fall away, along with the eye in the centre of my forehead. Not everything went away, though. Deep inside, I felt my heart still pumping fire through my veins and knew that the first of the changes to be permanent had taken root. 

(~)

In the wake of the conflict, I returned to my base in Bemric, quickly appraised those still attempting to evacuate of the situation, and sent a runner to inform those who had already gotten out of what had happened. 

If Morati himself had shown up with this complement of the Bloody Hand, the fact that we had captured Morati didn’t mean that this location was now safe. Unfortunately, it more likely meant that a second and third finger of the Bloody Hand would be deployed to Bemric soon when Morati and the others didn’t report back. 

As such, all but three of the Silver Hand who had been here were sent off, with instructions to find a nearby safe house that we had built into a cave behind a waterfall. It wasn’t the most ideal location for a hospital base, but until we could find a more permanent location for them, it would have to do - and it was, at the least, out of sight. In the meantime, the three who had stayed behind assisted me in converting our base in Bemric into a makeshift prison. Morati and those members of the finger of the Bloody Hand he had brought with him who had survived our little bout were put in separate cells and restrained hand and foot. Morati’s mouth had been muffled as well, sealed closed with a binding of medical tape and a piece of old cloth; it was never quite clear how far his gift with magic extended, but I wasn’t going to take the risk. 

While we had moved them - and Lek, who Gerevor had actually carried much of the way up into the boughs of the trees to get to our base - here, another familiar face had shown itself. To my delight, the fox which had once shadowed our little band made its way back to me with them, and appeared to be much less shy about its affection this time around. 

It must have been fairly elderly for a fox, but it seemed spry enough to make that idea seem almost ridiculous. It followed nearly my every step, even when I paced back and forth, pondering what to do with Morati and the others. Gerevor and Lek retired to a side room. Whatever journey they had made, whatever had happened to them before it, it was clear they needed rest, and I could not deny them that need. It was almost amusing to see them retire together as a single unit so casually. Whatever else had happened in our time apart, I was glad to see that, at least, had come to a head. 

Pulling up a stool, I sat in front of Morati’s cell. The man was still unconscious, but even when knocked out, even bound and gagged and behind bars, his presence was unmistakable in its power. The fox twined its way between my legs before settling down behind my right, keeping me between Morati and itself. Clever little beast.

Looking up from the fox, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest as I locked eyes with Morati. The man had either come to while I was looking down at the fox, or he had been faking unconsciousness. Either way, it startled me enough that, even gagged, Morati laughed at my reaction. For a moment, it seemed like the genuine laugh of my friend Nileas, poking fun at a startled reaction from the girl he had basically raised. 

The moment passed quickly, and the laugh became a sharp, ugly thing, revelling in causing even a moment of pain to someone Morati thought of as an enemy. I sighed heavily, calming myself. The win over the Bloody Hand and even over Morati was a blessing, and if I didn’t keep my cool, I would certainly lose everything that made that blessing useful. 

Based on previous observations of the operations of the Bloody Hand, I had about a day to interrogate Morati and his men, then get out of here with whichever of them we could transport. Gods help me, I would use as much of that day as I could.