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jinnyu · 4 years

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regarding romance!

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Used artwork credits

Hop

Bede

Leon

Raihan

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———☆️

Hop🍀

It started as the cliché love story about falling in love with your very own bestfriend

Which, actually turned out great??

His Zacian/Zamazenta loves you as much as it's trainer does, and is willing to protect you from anything

Probably because it observed Hop being protective over you, and proceeding to do the same

Sure it might took a toll on him when you defeated him on the championship semi-finals, but he wanted you to be happy more than anything

He's such a sweetheart even if he doesn't show it much

The type to appreciate small little things, especially when it comes from you

"Let's camp together!!"

You camped together

He got chased by a wild steelix whilst trying to gather data for his research later

His Zamazenta/Zacian was busy playing with your own legendary

*from the distance* "GAH! HELP!"

You ran after him and calmed down the wild steelix

Then you walked to him and checked if he got any wounds or scratches, which leads you to cupping his face gently with a worried look on your face

Hop's blushing

He's freaking out inside

You didn't notice the tint of blush dusting his cheeks,which gradually reddens with each second that passes

"im okay, dont worry" he tried his best reassuring you

Even though he's blushing, he proceeded to press his forehead gently against yours, closing his eyes and smiling

oh no he's cute

You're blushing

haha blushy reader

You let him do his thing, its somewhat calming

He's warmm

His hands are calloused, different from yours; you just remembered this when he placed his hand on top of yours while you were checking for his wounds from before

This just shows how much he's been working off to reach the champion title

And yet he's completely alright with you taking the spotlight

After all, you're his shining star

And he wouldn't have it in any other way

You let him borrow your champion cape

And he lets you borrow his labcoat

It fits just right with you! And it got his scent, which calms you down whenever you're feeling anxious

When you wear his labcoat, you're 1000000000% irresistible to his eyes

"Don't be so adorableee" he said as he pulled you into a hug and burying his face in your neck

You only laughed softly at his reaction. He was blushing too,,,

You often waited for him to finish his lab work, even if it's until late hours

He's a really hard worker, no wonder he stayed until late

"Im sorry for making you wait"

He looks exhausted, but tried his best to pull a bright smile, not wanting to worry you

You only gave him a warm hug, which surprised him at first before he hugs you back and proceed to walk you to your house

💓💓💓 < your heart

Comfort time

There's usually some jerks who'd tease you for being the champion, or flirt with you in an impolite way

If Hop caught on to this, he would politely ask them to leave

If they still dont understand, his legendary comes out of his pokeball and growl at them

He'd ask them one more time to stop bothering you, but this time, with a menacing smile that says "stay here any longer and you wont get to see another daylight"

Then he'd check up on you, asking if you're alright, if they did anything to you or whatnot

Hed wrap his arms around your waist and drape his labcoat over you, because he knows his labcoat always manages to calm you down

"It's okay, you're okay, everything is alright now, c'mere"

You let him hug you as you feel safe around him, and you two stayed in that position until you feel alright again

💕💕

———☆️

Bede🍰

He's not the best at showing affection but at least he tries

You help him come out with quizzes for his gym challenge

And sometimes joke about the poses he makes when practicing

Sometimes, he gets reminded that you're the champion of Galar and he's way out of your trainer level

Which actually motivates him to become the strongest gym leader there is by pushing past his limits

"I'll show you how strong fairy types can be"

He said to himself as he was thinking about you

People kept misunderstanding fairy types after all, and thats a big mistake

You appreciate his efforts in maxing out his strength, and you show it by coming to his fairy stadium whenever he battles a challenger

You texted him "good luck, I'll be cheering 4 u!❤️❤️👍" before his matches start

And you looked at his direction after sending the message

He has just gotten your message, and opened it

Which leads to him blushing furiously as he covers his face with one of his hands

He took a deep breath and tried to regain his composure, only to fail miserably when he saw you looking at his direction with pure ambition and determined eyes as you grinned happily

All that i could say is, he's red as a beet

He wont lose this match, not when you're watching him.

He puts extra effort when you're watching his match, and made sure not to slip up. It'd be embarrassing if he did.

Opal notices this and only smiled seeing her successor acting out of his place whenever you're around

Opal knows something that you dont, and that's Bede's feelings for you

After his match ended, his Hatterene walked towards your direction, pulling you into a tight hug

You were surprised, but apparently Hatterene has grown to like you ever since she first met you

And when you look at Bede's direction, he was looking away with his arms crossed infront of his chest, visibly drowning in embarassment

,,,you wondered, is Bede projecting on his Hatterene or what,

Yes, yes he is

So you asked him if he also wants a hug, which of course he answered with "Why would i want a hug from someone like you? That'd be an insult to me"

You let go of Hatterene and hugged him anyways

He flinched when you hugged him, not knowing where to put his hands and just let them stay still in a defensive pose

Hatterene watched with a smile from behind you, seeing her master in such a flustered state was truly something new for the Pokemon

Not long after, Bede finally let his arms wrap around your waist, giving in to his subconscious and just hug you

he wanted to hug you anyways so thats a win win situation

You were actually surprised when he hugged you back

He smells nice!! Like perfume?? Cologne?? Floral scent

His Hatterene decided to join in and wrapped her arm around you both, making you all hug even more tightly

Bede cant handle this well.

No, not at all.

His face was really red and its hot— in all honesty, its cute, but he was burning

"Why do you have to embarrass me like this?"

You buried your face in his neck, which startled him as he couldn't think at all

"Y-you!!"

He feels nice and soft, so you're not planning to let go any sooner, likewise with Hatterene.

Bede's mind: ASDFGHJKL????—GODDAMMI—

OKAY NOW COMFORT TIME

His true nature would come out when you're not feeling yourself or when people would makw you feel like shit

"Hey.."

His face shows concern, but it still his usual look of coldness— however, his actions are warm despite his cold features

He'd let you wear his coat as he battles anyone who dared to hurt you

"Are you alright now..?"

He cupped your face and made you look at his face, swiping off the tears that stained your face with his thumbs delicately

He hated seeing you cry, and he'll try better next time to make sure you didn't cry

———☆️

Leon🌟

He's kind at all but sometimes he's just... "???????"

Training!! Dates!!

More like battle tower dates because he really admires your strength as a champion

Occasionally, he'd visit your house and check up on you, wondering if you're free for the day for "quality time"

At first, he was surprised to see one of the legendaries answering the door for you

And he couldn't resist to ruffle it's hair

your legendary on the other hand was kind of irritated by it

So it let out a displeased howl

Which leads you to come down stairs and see who is it

"L—leon?"

He looked up and greet you with a goofy grin as your legendary returned to your side, walking with you

He treats you like a gentleman, and sometimes is very strict with your training regimen

In which you usually whine about because you're the current champion and you have no business listening to him

But he'd swoon you with lovely words

And you would easily fall for it

you hate this

You hate him

No you dont

You love him, you could never hate a goofball like him anyways

Hey did i ever mention Leon's sense of direction is shitty

You went on a date in Wyndon a couple of times and he still gets lost everytime

"Ah!! Hey—....."

"Im lost again aren't i?"

He tried to find his way back to you but got surrounded by paparazzis

Even if he's not the current champion

You saved his butt since he couldn't say no to the people and his fans

He said thank you and hugged you, lifting you up to the air before pulling you close to him

This only made you laugh softly as you hugged him back, letting your fingers comb his thick lavender like hair

His body is warm and comforting, you really like his cuddles and hugs

He came into your house one time when you didn't answer his calls or messages, only to find you drown in your anxiety and self loathing

He pulled you in his arms and let you cry on his shoulder until you're all done and alright again

He'd draw circles over your back and tell you reassuring words— tell you that you're more than enough and he's grateful to have you here, alive and well

Your Zacian/Zamazenta got out of it's pokeball and helped you in calming you down too by giving you small licks on your knee

It'd whine whenever you're sad and climb onto your bed, nudging your arm afterwards as if it's asking what's wrong

You're lucky to have them both whenever you need them the most, and they're lucky to have you

———☆️

Raihan 🐲

It's finally the Character y'all been waitin for, dragon boi coming through

Okay serious talk here— Raihan is TALL

His hoodies makes you look smaller than you already are

You tried copying his "Gaooo~" pose a couple of times while wearing his hoodie

Its cutest thing he has ever seen his entire life

It makes him melt everytime

Okay aside from that, he's gentle and laid back, even if his personality is quite the opposite when he's on battle

He's cLINGY ASF

Don't forget his fangs, never forget his fangs

You're actually curious about his fangs since the first day you saw him

And he lets you touch it whenever you like

Youre still curious, because what the hell, its so cool

The first day you saw him after defeating him in a match and gain your gym badge, he immediately took an interest in you and your strength

"Hey Challenger!"

He called you before you tried to take your leave, gaining your attention

He then asked you if you want to practice with him next time, and have a rematch when you've become the champion

You agreed and exchanged numbers

What can i say, he spams you like?????? A lot

And casually sends you pictures of him and his duraludon

You love his dragons, especially flygon

Flygon loves you too, and one time it wanted to come with you

Raihan lets you keep his Flygon and you send him pictures of you with it

He sends emotes of duraludon crying, wanting to join you and your fun trip with Flygon to grab the Champion title

After you took the Champion title, Raihan greeted you with a big hug

And you hug him back with no hesitation

"Congratulations, may i have a selfie with the new Champion?"

He asked in a teasing manner, letting you down on your feet as you nodded

You took a selfie selfwith him numerous times before he posted it to his social media

He captioned 'First person to get a selfie with the new Champion'

He took pride in that, and some of his fans were jealous that you managed to get a selfie with him

From that day onwards, he'd have casual selfies with you, sometimes hilarious one and sometimes its just for showing off

You didn't mind it really, he's a celebrity anyways, so you understand why he does that

"Hey.. do stars have feelings"

It was three am what the fuck Raihan

You squinted at your screen seeing his message

"Why in the Galar would you be awake, dear Dragon tamer?"

You answered him

And immediately he answered "oh? The Champion is awake?"

You guys didn't sleep afterwards and was sending streaks of blurry selfies

It was fun and helped you cheer up

You got some of his blurry pics that he captioned "party rock in the house" when clearly its just him and his pokemons

What a goofball pt.2

You love him anyways shut up

Haha smol reader pt.2

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Vincenzo: The Gentleman Villain Reborn

Long before there were loudmouth buff guys in spandex, there was the gentleman villain.

There once was a time when the gentleman villain, whether a gentleman thief in the Raffles or Lupin mold, or murderous arch-criminals like Fu Manchu and Fantomas, organizations like Les Vampires, and even in-between figures like Rocambole and Judex, was the coolest thing in the pop culture block. The figures right around the corner of Baker Street, when Nick Carter and Sexton Blake and any billion old serial detectives weren’t quite cutting it. Their time was not to last long in the spotlight, as the pulp heroes consolidated domain in the 30s and then the superheroes took over, but every now and then, they return in various forms, never fully gone. But I’d dare say I’d never seen a gentleman villain story quite so bold, so modern, so dynamic and so gloriously over-the-top in pride over it’s existence, until I began watching Vincenzo.

Vincenzo is BADASS and I don’t use the term lightly. Not just the titular character, but the show itself. It’s currently a couple episodes short of the finale and you should stop everything you’re doing or watching and go watch Vincenzo. It’s been an utterly glorious ride from beginning to end with no shortage of great characters, terrific writing, great relationships and jaw-dropping moments as every episode succeeds in topping each other in WOW HOLY SHIT factor. It’s a shot of adrenaline and storytelling excellence to the eyeballs and you don’t have anything better to be doing right now than watching this.

I mentioned a while ago that Black was a show that, besides being also terrific in quality, captured my interest as a Shadow fan specifically because I saw in Black what I believe is the heart of The Shadow as a character: an embodiment of evil, motivated and created and warped by social catastrophe and strife, set loose to punish true evil in order to protect humanity. In that regard, if Black is where I find the heart of The Shadow, Vincenzo is where I find the spirit of what I like about The Shadow as a series: Cathartic urban fairytales where an extraordinary agent of change, armed with incredible cunning, sleight-of-hand and combat skills, rises above a dark background to command a folk brigade of ordinary people who reveal themselves to be extraordinary through their newfound purpose, to right the wrongs of society’s predators, by being better at their tactics than they are and turning their tools against them.

I’m gonna spoil it a bit under the cut but please go watch it. I cannot praise this show enough and I’ll do my best to try.

Vincenzo centers around the titular character, Vincenzo Cassano, an Italian lawyer who works for the mafia as a consigliere, adopted by it’s Don at the age of eight. After the death of the Don and an attempted betrayal by his son, Vincenzo flees to Seoul and ends up taking residence at a ramshackle building called Geumga Plaza. Geumga Plaza is the hiding place of a gigantic stash of gold hidden by one of Vincenzo’s former clients, and he intends to retrieve it to rebuild his life somewhere else. Naturally, not only is the hidden room completely impenetrable, but the building is occupied. by residents who are being forced out of it by criminals working for the Babel corporation, which intends to take possession of the building. And thus, Vincenzo has to put his skills into working out progressively bigger problems, as his efforts to uncover the gold turn into a fight against Babel and it’s lawyers, as the problems take on bigger and bigger proportions.

Vincenzo’s got a lot of what you’d expect from a k-drama at first glance. The leading man is a dashing young man, the leading lady is headstrong and stubborn, you see their romance coming a mile away and they take their damn time getting there, there’s emotional backstories that take a long time to be revealed, lots of wacky side characters and comedy interspersed with the darkest moments, a focus on corporate corruption, and so on. But it’s got an intrusion of elements brought by Vincenzo’s inclusion, such as mob drama, tonal and cultural imbalance, and the gentleman villain tropes that Vincenzo brings, as the catalyst of change whose antics backflip through action hero, romantic hero, super hero and super villain, cunning puppetmaster and gun-toting warrior alike, and start to have an effect on the world around him. His allies become stronger, more determined and effective, and the villains grow smarter and more horrid as they desperately try to avoid their own downfalls.

On paper, Vincenzo is almost a textbook example of how to craft a villain protagonist. He’s a mysterious foreigner with a hidden past and incredible skills who shows up uninvited in “our” world, who starts terrorizing and manipulating people into doing his bidding. He’s got a hotheaded and foolish investigator chasing after his every move, and frequently employs misdirection and sleight-of-hand to fool the authorities. He commits crimes and employs underhanded methods in the service of stamping out people worse than himself. He never really makes any claim of being a hero and actively rejects the notion he’s fighting for justice, but instead states he’s doing it as a matter of principle. One of the characters early on even states he gives off the vibe of a movie villain, even Vincenzo himself tells Hong Cha-Young, the female lead, that he’s teaching her how to be a proper villain. In another series, Vincenzo would be the hypercompetent sidekick to the main villain, or secretly the main villain, the lone badass that the action hero would have a tough fight against before defeating and moving on. But Vincenzo does not allow himself to be dismissed so easily.

On the first episode, when we’re introduced to him in Italy, he’s painted as the badass to end all badasses. But the minute he arrives in Seoul, he falls for a trick at the airport and is mugged by two cabbies, and has to walk around penniless and without dignity, shouting curses in Italian that nobody understands. He has to sleep in a broken down apartment, his “taking a steamy shower with classical music playing” fanservice scene keeps being interrupted because the shower doesn’t work, and a pigeon chattering outside his window keeps ruining his sleep.

The tenants of the building are all introduced as varying levels of unsympathetic and useless, or downright creepy. The tailor screws up his favorite suit, the chef who claims to have studied in Italy is a total fraud, there’s tenants who scare us by passing as ghosts and zombies, and Hong Cha-Young is introduced as an unlikable stooge for Babel. Vincenzo is a villain protagonist who is forced out of his grand mafia epic film, where he conducts business around lavish manors while classical music plays, and stumbles onto a korean drama, a world that operates by different rules and where no one has any reason to take him seriously at first, and gradually finds out that the difference between both worlds is not as big as he’d imagined.

It’s only at the very end of the first episode, when the neighborhood gangsters show up to terrorize the tenants, that Vincenzo starts to kick ass again, and he has not stopped so far. In fact, not just him, ALL of the tenants have gradually started kicking ass with him. Hong Cha-Young severs all connections to Babel and proves to be, as his main partner in crime, just as cunning, twice as driven, and three times as batshit and kooky. The tailor who ruined his suit turns out to be an ex-gang member capable of fending off groups of thugs with only his scissors. The creepy piano girl reveals herself a hacking genius, the zombie impersonators become incredible actors, the failed wrestler and badass wannabe becomes his most active field agent along with his equally strong wife, the chef improves his cooking and lends his restaurant as a meeting center, all of the characters, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM gradually become incredible, competent, resourceful people, really no different than they were before, it just took a little courage and pushing.

The headstrong and foolish agent pursuing Vincenzo becomes 100% smitten with him and quickly becomes one of his greatest allies. Even the neighborhood gangsters, after being left to die by Babel and forced to start anew, quickly become some of his most loyal allies, and gradually redeem themselves in the eyes of the tenants to the point they become friends. In departing from his old family, Vincenzo forms a new one, even if never by his intention. They even all get matching suits.

This incredibly potent, human core surrounding the antics of an extraordinary figure of action is part of what used to make the Agents of The Shadow such a special, meaningful and beloved part of the series, and something every adaptation since then has been 100% poorer for neglecting. But Vincenzo does it, and does it right. I could watch a billion adventures with these people and never get sick of them.

Vincenzo is a slick, modern take on the gentleman villain that takes many of it’s oldest conventions and provides blueprints for making them work in modern times. His plans often take a performance art-edge as he employs tactics both old-fashioned and modern, like using social media to stage an event in front of the Plaza so the bulldozers set to demolish it won’t be able to pass, or copying files and passing them to his police contact while keeping the real ones when said police contact inevitably betrays him. The tenants put all of their skills to use, no matter how unusual or seemingly useless. Every episode lays the groundwork for a smashing finale where all of the threads come together and we bare witness to a grand tapestry of karmic retribution.

The villains themselves are no slouch, and also have that modern edge that gradually ramps up. They stage discreet assassinations involving gas leaks and watches meant to burst into flames. They stack the deck impossibly against all characters. They employ masked goons by the dozens, armies of lawyers to smudge any connections between themselves and their actions, and every sector of society in covering them, from journalists publishing pro-Babel propaganda to police commissioners. The assistant of the main villain does zumba classes amidst ordering assassinations, and is often likened to a snake and a witch with her "Crystal Ball” (the name she uses for ordering assassin contacts by the phone), complete with a cowardly, scheming assistant she bullies at every turn. The CEO of Babel has a dual nature not out of place in a Jekyll & Hyde/Dorian Grey kind of story.

The main villain is often painted as a slasher villain backed by massive corporate power, murdering people with hockey equipments and even outright named “Jason” at one point, with a tense string theme song accompanying his deeds. The show hides the villain at plain sight by using one of the most familiar set-ups of romantic dramas and the tension never stops even after he’s revealed.

Mobster films tend to paint an idealized version of it’s protagonists, not necessarily because of a genuine love or interest with mobsters (I mean, it really goes without saying that real life mobsters are obviously not admirable figures), but out of a sense of displaying a “this is what it could be” fantasy, a fantasy where the mafioso is a dark hero who will still ultimately do the right thing and stick up for the little guy, in a similar way to how superheroes often function as police officers except, y’know, actually dedicated to protecting people.

Vincenzo does go to great lengths to address the imbalance of putting such a dark figure as it’s hero, through showing how the situation can only be addressed by the intrusion of a figure such as Vincenzo. There’s a scene where Vincenzo and Hong proceed to explain extremely succintly to their cop ally why the “bad apples” argument is horseshit. One of the show’s characters, someone who’s spent his entire life being the best person he could, and dedicating himself 110% percent to fighting evil even at the expense of connecting with his own family, someone who absolutely should be the hero to take down Babel, admits shortly before dying that it wasn’t enough, that it was never going to be enough, and that what the situation calls for isn’t a hero, but a monster. That monster being Vincenzo, who is not only powerful and monstrous, but commands the loyalty of people high and low class alike, criminals and law enforcement agents, to fight Babel. In his words, “the ultimate monster”, something even the world’s biggest badass cannot defeat by himself.

On most other set-ups, Vincenzo would be pretty unmistakably the villain. But here, when he’s set up against a starkly realistic depiction of how corporations actually function in our world, depicts that Vincenzo’s ability to clear his way through goons John Wick-style is nowhere near enough, and to that end, he’s gonna have to fight impossible battles using his brains and his allies. And in the end, he defeats them, time and time again, and proves that they were not that impossible after all.

One can only hope he’s on to something.

Oh yeah and THE PIGEON BY HIS WINDOW ALSO KICKS ASS and I will not explain how, just watch the show, I can’t do it justice no matter how much I talk about it.

#k-drama #vincenzo #i've fallen in the k-drama rabbit hole and I am not getting back up #I love everything about this show so goddamn much #song joong ki #tvn vincenzo

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roseamongroses · 4 years

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W.A.L: “Because Dreaming Costs,” (13)

Summary: Eden was the lowest of the low, a monster, hardly human, and was set to be executed. Roman was on trial, perpetually stuck in time until it was time to atone for his families sins.

Neither cared much for staying trapped.

So when a Stranger offered freedom, offered peace, offered power, it was hard to say no.

Even if it put them on the wrong side of history.

Vibes/ Tags:time is irrelevent, homophobia who?, magic and beasts, demigods

Warnings: Imprisonment, Mentions of execution, Blood/ injuries, Mentions of past Death, minor character death/suicide, repression, cursing,

Characters: Deceit(Eden) Sanders, Remy Sanders, Logan Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Patton Sanders, Roman Sanders, Emile Picani

Ship: Roceit

1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

(6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)

(12) (13)

---

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Logan’s eye twitched, “You didn’t even ask me,”

“This situation goes beyond you, Logan,” Emile said, “As demonstrated by your little spar, you’re the most capable of handling him.”

“Patton can handle him fine,” Logan prompted, “And that doesn’t explain why you’re taking him on as an Apprentice. He doesn’t deserve it--” Logan shut his mouth.

Emile tensed, the leather chair squeaking, ”It is not about who deserves it,” he said, words slow, “No one deserves to serve the Goddess.”

“Yes, sir…” Logan mumbled.

“Logan, I know you’re upset about me not asking you beforehand,” Emile admitted, “But I had to act quick. He wasn’t meant to be held in the Chambers for any longer and with his magic manifesting so...fast, it would’ve been dangerous to let him go.” he said.

“Dangerous? He’s a shapeshifter?” Logan frowned, “Sure, they’re rare, but artificially they’re not impossible--”

“He isn’t artificial,” Emile said, and Logan froze, “He’s half-human, so he isn’t artificially instilled with magic the same way Virgil and I are, it’s genetic,” he opened a drawer, pulling out a particularly bulky file, “I don’t know how, but the Stranger managed to not only find a shape-shifter, but he managed to agitate their genes enough to cause a rapid manifestation of previously untapped power.”

“Bu-But, all the shapeshifter magic folk are suppose to be--”

“Dead?” Emile offered, “Well he isn’t.”

“But the official records--”

“Official records will and will continue to be wrong on occasion,” Emile flipped through the file, “What I’m most concerned about is how the Stranger managed to find him,” Emile sighed, “Or why he bothered to find him in the first place.”

“You think it’s part of the Stranger’s plan?” Logan asked.

“Yes, but don’t bother trying to ask Deceit about it,” Emile warned, "Elliot already checked and Deceit doesn’t know anything about what the Stranger was planning.”

“So...what’s my assignment?”

Emile chuckled, “To be his friend, of course.” he said, “In any other situation, Virgil would’ve had this assignment as apart of his recovery, but seeing as we are...unsure of their past relations--”

“He tried to kill Virgil.” Therefore he was better left dead.

“Hey may have tried to kill Virgil,” Emile corrected, “I was simply trying to be cautious before, but nothing is factual at this point. We have no facts, Logan, and that’s a problem,” he continued, and Logan begrudgingly nodded in agreement, “That’s why you’re handling this until we determine his threat level. I trust that you can handle this, but if you don’t trust yourself I’m willing to find someone else.”

“Do I need to find someone else?” Emile asked.

“No sir,” Logan sighed, “I accept the assignment.”

---

Deceit could hear singing.

It started as a low murmur as always, Roman’s voice groggy with a hint of a laugh. Then came the touches, which Deceit didn’t mind. He was more than used to their more...needy tendencies--feeling Roman grabbing his hand, Roman tugging him, Roman, Roman.

Always commanding Deceit’s utmost attention, the greedy bastard.

And in the mornings, it was always the worst in the best possible way since a sleepy Roman seemed to somehow lose even more of his impulse control. Their fingers teasing Deceit’s skin, tracing his collarbone, barely a whisper around the scales and scars that crisscrossed Deceit’s body. Tangling in Deceit’s hair and brushing the burned and knotted hair.

Always singing.

It’s been weeks since then and Deceit woke up alone.

He could still hear Roman singing.

Sweat slicked down his back as he woke up with a start, breath still caught somewhere between his throat and his heart. Bitter bile rose in his throat as he cleared his mind of fog, trying to remembering where he was. The room Emile put him in was relatively sparse, but in a way that felt better than the oppressive white space of ‘The Chambers’. Almost nice, with soft lights and bright plants curling at the window sill.

Naturally, Deceit felt immensely threatened.

He rose from the bed, fingers twitching as he adjusted his shift, smoothing the familiar shades of brown from his hair into a healthy blonde, his skin paling gradually. His gaze barely flickered to the mirror as he passed, the face of some meaningless historical figure from a book flitting by with a scowl. Before opening the door, however, he paused briefly, face-melting over the mask of scales marring half of his face.

The doors slid open and there was Logan once again at 8:00 sharp to babysit Deceit.

He was never late and hardly early for Deceit’s mandatory appointments, yet Deceit had a strong suspicion he wasn’t accompanying Deceit to the medical wing out of the kindness of his heart. Except it wasn’t a strong suspicion, Logan told him. All curled lip and dismissive gaze, it was the first time Deceit believed he was related to Roman.

“You look like shit,” Deceit greeted.

Logan adjusted his impeccable ironed shirt, “And you’re as eloquent as always,” he said, he offered a hand and Deceit took it. Hot white flashing before their eyes as they arrived at the Medical wing.

Deceit didn’t wait, strolling down the stretching halls, ignoring the disgustingly clean smell of the wing. A few nurses stopped and stared, or better yet blatantly whispered about him as he passed, which was a normal occurrence every time he visited--some even go as far as wearing masks around him, but mostly they gaped. Apparently, he was “a medical anomaly” and “shouldn’t have been alive with the number of injuries he sustained in such a short period” and his favorite “ an uncooperative, gaping asshole”.

He opened one door.

“Oh, my favorite uncooperative, gaping asshole,” Lauren greeted him cheerfully, smoothing her navy scrubs as she picked up her clipboard. She was young, really young, but Deceit’s learned not to comment on that, “Did you sleep well?” She asked.

“It was…” tracing his collarbone, barely a whisper around the scales and scars that crisscrossed Deceit, “I slept,” he said, hopping up on the table.

Lauren’s eyebrow raised, “Insightful.”

“What are you, my therapist?”

“No,” Lauren twirled her white hair, a few strands falling in waves front of her face as she pulled out a pen from behind her ear, “Just keeping you alive, no big deal,”

“It isn’t.”

Lauren cleared her throat at that, “That’s a yikes, dude,” she said, looking like she took a swig of something thick, “Maybe you do need therapy…”

“Don’t.”

“Alright, alright,” She said, probably still writing it fucking down in his file, “But you gotta tell me what you dreamed of that’s got you so embarrassed.” upon seeing her cheeky-ass grin, Deceit knew that they slid from being a professional right into Lauren being nosy.

“I’m not embarrassed.”

“Yes you are," She scoffed, pointing with her pen towards his hair, “So you decided to become a red-head within the past thirty seconds?”

“Wh--” He reached for his hair, and yep. Red curls. Incredibly vibrant red curls. He fixed it as best as he could, but Lauren had got him, and usually, he’d stop that immediately, but, “It was about Roman,” he admitted.

Lauren’s face fell, “Oh,” Deceit was uncomfortable by her dark, thoughtful gaze, “Hey...about Roman--” She was cut off, as the door opened again, Logan stepping inside because fuck patient confidentiality, I guess.

“What about Roman?” Logan asked because fuck patient confidentiality.

Lauren remained silent, her face stone, eyes unblinking as Logan stood behind her. Logan’s gaze easily slid off her onto Deceit, accusatory. If only Deceit knew his crime.

“If you must know," Deceit drawled, face straight, “I was discussing the logistics of fucking your brother.”

Lauren snorted.

Logan’s face somehow receded into his skull, “You’re… disgusting.”

“I mean,” Deceit leaned back, tongue flicking over his lips, “You’re supposed to say that, but objectively have you seen your brother,” he sighed, fanning himself, “Legs for days.”

He was exaggerating in the fact that he didn’t look at Roman or anyone in that way. If he did it was rather infrequent and usually something he ignored if he could help it, but Logan didn’t need to know that.

“You’re bullshitting,” Logan said, mouth firm, “What are you really talking about?” He asked, directing the question to Lauren.

“He’s right,” Lauren said, flipping the pages on her clipboard, “We need to know if sexual contact with the Heir had any adverse effects--both ways, seeing as Roman is particularly prone to… 'overheating', as you know,” Logan’s sour face seemed to imply that was a pleasant memory, “So, I was asking him if he preferred a gynecologist or a urologist,”

It was fascinating how eloquently she delivered that platter of bullshit. Deceit was impressed.

Logan, surprise, surprise, was not, his eyes narrowed, “I don’t--”

“Let me do my job.” Lauren cut him off, “Sir.” she added, pleasant, “It’s completely inappropriate to have you in the room and you’ll only make him more likely to lie and hide important medical information.”

“I never said you couldn’t--” Logan started, but Lauren pointed to the door, “I’ll be back in 30 minutes,” He told Deceit as if they hadn’t been doing the same routine for the last week before he turned and finally left.

Deceit flipped off the closed door, “That was some impressive bullshit,”. Lauren cleared her throat, catching his attention, “What?”

“Well…” She twirled the pen around her finger with ease, “It wasn’t...necessarily a lie.”

Deceit’s face darkened, “We didn’t have sex.”

“Sure.” Lauren said, clicking the pen, “Gynecologist or Urologist?”

“We didn’t.” Deceit growled.

“You'd better not, that’s gross. And you won’t believe the amount of paperwork it’ll cause--that isn’t even including the possible ramifications if you managed to get Roman pregnant,” Lauren said, “Imagine, giving an ultrasound to a statue. Completely possible, but an absolute nightmare. Anyway, it’s been a while since anyone has treated a shapeshifter, so it’s a good idea to get you checked out-- ”

“No.”

“--And it would be beneficial for you to become familiar with any genitalia you choose to replicate, that way you can monitor your health properly, especially if you start to have cycles--”

“I assure you, I won't be having cycles.”

“That's even more concerning. Gynecologist first, then urologist.”

“Fuck you.”

---

Logan and Deceit sparred again.

Logan won, again.

---

To anyone else, Deceit was adjusting fine.

He went to the appointments, he read and reread the same books, he begrudgingly listened to Dr. Picani talk--and that man does indeed talk. He tolerated Logan’s blatant bare minimum tolerance.

He kept his space from the others, he was pleasant, sympathetic. So much so even Virgil stopped scowling when Deceit sat down for dinner and Patton tended to remember his “name”. It seemed as if they were adjusting, reluctantly.

Deceit was adjusting. That constant itch of needing to do something, anything was washed away with a wave of calm.

No, not calm.

Deceit was still pissed.

But it was drowned in certainty. Chill patience rushed over the heat bubbling underneath. He walked the halls, knowing each turn, each face, every creak.

There was an inherent power with Knowing. Something that kept him afloat, even when he was far from shore. And soon enough he combed the books willingly, drinking in the words, once clunky phrases and intelligible languages flowing from his tongue, as if they were becoming under his gaze. He read and he waited, and he read, and he waited.

Opportunity came while in the library.

An ancient room with books thicker than some people. Its rows and rows of books careened over them, a few courageous glimpses of light finding its way to their tables below.

Virgil and Patton sat together, Virgil was sitting like a freak on some crate listening to an audiobook, eyes closed in a way you’d mistake him for relaxed while Patton sat beside him, not reading, only staring ahead.

Logan didn’t sit, Instead, he wandered up and down the aisle, occasionally pulling out a book--flipping through, before adding it to his cart. He never wandered far from Deceit, the only person sitting at an actual table.

Patton stood up, slipping out of the library without a word--not unnoticed, but without much protest.

It put Deceit on edge.

Even though he didn’t know Patton well, the change in attitude was clear. Patton didn’t drift off from the library forgetfully, with that always dazed expression. He rose, expectant. He looked hungry, his skin’s glow sparking with something more intense.

Seconds later, there was an explosion.

Bookshelves shuddered, stacks crashing with plumes of dust following, as another explosion shook the ground.

Virgil was the next out of the room, skittering, close to the floor, face shining with dark eyes. Logan was the next-- not exactly slow, but more deliberate. Taking in the room all at once, and following close behind Virgil, some orders fell out of his mouth too quickly. He was gone, quick.

Deceit was quietly forgotten, and he couldn’t thank them enough.

Right about now, the library was falling apart at the seams, Deceit rose from his seat in time to miss getting crushed alongside with his table. He sidestepped falling books, but couldn’t exactly escape the stinging air, a sharp musk of burning and…

Deceit paused briefly in the wreckage looking back and sniffing but he shook his head. He’d have to figure that out later. He picked up the pace, passing by the distinct, glowing hole in the wall and entering the hallway. Down one way was a trail of burning footsteps, shouting, and his 'team' obviously in need of some help reigning in Patton.

Deceit went the other way, a skip in his step.

---

Knocking on Dr. Picani’s door, Deceit attempted to look concerned, “Dr. Picani there’s been an accident--” The door creaked open by itself, so naturally Deceit let himself in.

No one was inside.

It was a fairly large office, not that Deceit had much room for reference, with plants crawling the back walls, and spilling from the large windows behind the desk. The desk itself was normally neat, orderly, but today the stacks, upon stacks of files were scattered on the floor as if erupting from the desk.

Emile must have left immediately.

Deceit strolled about the big-oak desk, not quite rummaging through anything yet, not when he wasn’t sure if the old man had cameras.

He pinched his lips, eyeing the mess and then the door as if conflicted. He sat down in one of the leather seats in front of Picani’s desk, tapping his feet impatiently, before standing up and reaching for the pile as if to tidy it up. Well, at least that was the plan.

The pile of papers moved.

Deceit flinched, “Shit--” he cursed, scales rippling as he hopped into the chair. The papers continued to shuffle, a glimmer of something peeking through as Deceit leans forward and--

Big, red eyes.

Deceit’s breath caught as the… creature…? No, magic folk crawled from the stack of papers, shaking.

They were hardly bigger than Deceit’s hand, their body almost translucent, as if they were a flicker of light in a baggy dress. And their face...their face was stretched wide, no mouth, only their big eyes peering from their swamp of black hair.

“And who might you be?” Deceit murmured, squinting at the little thing, they seemed to shake even more.

#ts deceit #Deceit Sanders #roceit #Roman Sanders #ts roman #ts sides #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfiction #fanfiction

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thornbolts · 5 years

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Deathday Prompts: Rem

Week 1 Prompt: Introductions! Who is your character? What have they been up to for the last six months? What are they currently working towards? Are they looking for friends, business contacts, enemies, to get by without drawing attention?

Remington (or just Rem or Remy) is the head of the Fence Macabre mercantile group, Argent Crusade veteran, ex-Badlands bounty hunter, deputy of Fuselight, exterminator of scarlet crusaders, and renowned gunslinger. The old forsaken's memories are starting to peter out as a result of encroaching mindlessness, but Loira seems driven to find a solution. And if that don't work, she's been learning a bit of Shadow magic on the side through one of her employees, a Forsaken tidesage by the name of Leontine. She's old for a forsaken. Been there since the taking of Undercity thirteen years ago as one of the First Generation.

Rem has seen a lot of action in both of her lifetimes, from bounty hunting to even in the Argent Crusade: Serving as a scout-sniper as part of the Snow Ghosts, a primarily-Forsaken platoon of rogues and hunters specializing in winter reconnaissance and assassination. Without the need to eat and being unaffected by temperature, the Snow Ghosts were lauded for their unique skill to blend in among the Scourge and spend extended amounts of time behind enemy lines without support.

She often buried herself in the snow for up to a week. Sometimes, she even packed it into her mouth to prevent herself from subconsciously exhaling frost and giving away her position.

During the War Against the Lich King, Remington racked up a total of one-hundred and seventy-six confirmed sniper kills on the Scourge. Fifty-six of those kills were on Scourge leadership such as death knights and necromancers. She attained most of her kills using her rifle’s iron sights since light would shine against a scope’s glass, revealing her position.

After the recession following the Northrend Campaign and the subsequent Cataclysm, Remington established the Fence Macabre as a means of securing work. The Fence Macabre’s founding members survived by performing unappealing work such as: mercenary contracts, odd jobs, manual labor, and bounty hunting. Despite their appearance and undeath, the group gained a reputation for reliability, honesty, and kind demeanor, later blossoming into the widely-connected mercantile group it is today.

In life, Remington was the heir of the Thornbolt lineage, a long-line of hunters and game wardens. Over the years, the Thornbolts gradually phased out of nobility, instead becoming just humble hunters content on living off of the land. Even from a young age, her skill in shooting was renowned, often winning against bonafide Stormwind archers and snipers in shooting competitions. Eventually, she was renowned in Elwynn Forest for her infamous trick shots, such as ricocheting bullets off of mid-air coins to strike bottles, fanning the hammer and hitting the same target bullet on top of bullet, and shooting behind herself using a mirror or even just relying on shadows.

Week 2 Prompt: How much importance does your character place on birthdays? How do they like to celebrate? Which was their most important? If dead, do they celebrate the day they were raised instead?

Rem still celebrates her birthday. She wholeheartedly disagrees with the view that Forsaken should forget their past lives. Shutting out your past and refusing to come to terms with what you are versus what you were is unhealthy and bottles up emotions. Her birthday marks the start of the week of the year she's able to forget any worries or troubles that comes with running a company.

The caravan master goes dark, taking time off to, strangely, be alone on. She departs for a big hunt or simply talks a very long walk through nature. There's something spiritual about losing one's self and melding in with the denizens of the wilderness. The wilds never were scary for the rural-raised human. Her favorite of these outings is walking the entire length of Northrend (Icecrown not included), starting from Borean Tundra and ending on the coast of the Howling Fjord.

In life, birthdays were never on the level of noble soirees or anything, but they were always heartfelt. Rem's parents left in the early morning even before she woke up to venture into Goldshire to pick up a custom-order chocolate cake, relatively expensive since cacao beans aren't grown in Elwynn Forest. They'd come back and surprise Rem with sweets in bed. These days were the only times the family splurged on sugar. From there, Rem's parents often took her to the nearby apple orchards and cornfields to pick fruit for tomorrow's breakfast and play hide and seek. The day finally ended with a barbecue involving the entire extended family (~30 people) singing songs, playing the fiddle, dancing, shooting bottles, arm wrestling, and overall just having a rowdy old time through the night.

Everyone would be shit-faced with a hangover the next morning. Getting absolutely trashed on Rem's birthday became a family tradition, and Rem herself joined in the moment she was old enough to chug moonshine. Not everyone survived after the Fall of Stormwind. Parties became tame and more solemn after immigrating to Lordaeron. As her parents grew older and unable to party as rowdy as they did in Rem's childhood, Rem often celebrated her birthdays by traveling with them, visiting Stratholme and Capital City to see the entirety of Lordaeron.

Week 3 Prompt: Welcome to Fence University! This is an AU that we spend time throwing ideas around for sometimes, even though we don’t write in it. Where does your character fit in? Are they a Professor, student? Do they work on campus? What do they study, how did the get to be there? Where can they usually be found and what do they generally think of those they share campus with?

Remington Thornbolt is... a highschool dropout that failed to obtain her diploma after being expelled for fighting. Scholarly subjects don't come easily to her at all, and she struggled to get her GED two years after she should've graduated. After fumbling around in academic limbo and coming dangerously close to joining the Hounds of Sylvanas MC, Remington decided to turn over a new leaf.

Intending to take up the family farming business, Remington has put her nose to the grindstone in pursuit of a degree in Agriculture and a minor in Environmental Science. Her old, delinquent ways occasionally show themselves. But for the most part, Remington keeps a tight leash on them. She's halfway through her bachelor's, and she's only seen during night classes. But she's the first one in, and the last one out.

Week 4 Prompt: Come One, Come All! The Darkmoon Faire is in town, what is your character’s favourite ride/game? Outside of these, what do they enjoy most about the experience? Are they ever concerned about where exactly, the Faire is?

Rem just grins whenever the Shooting Arcade is up, and the gunslinger is infamous to the booth's manager, Rinling. No matter how many targets or how they dart around, Rem always clears out all of them. For her, they may as well be free wins. Regardless of Rem clearing everything out whenever she arrives, she and Rinling always have a pleasant chat about bullet ballistics and the new shiny firearms recently released by the various Azerothian gunsmithing companies.

Other than the Shooting Arcade, Rem always goes for a round or two racing. It's one of the only times she's able to go neck and neck with other riders without being shot at. Rockets are dangerous. The rural-raised caravan master doesn't understand flying rockets, and Rem would faint at the thought of piloting a shredder. She prefers saddling up on a racing strider as it's the only thing that responds to a bridle. After a couple years of this, Rem has become surprisingly skilled in riding on other giant biped creatures like hawkstriders, raptors, and even bloodbeasts!

#deathday 2020 #deathday prompts #remington thornbolt

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starlight-matrix · 5 years

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Nabari no Ou 15th Anniversary!

@nabaridays wrote up some prompts to celebrate the 15th anniversary of NnO and as it’s my favorite manga series of all time, I had to join the fun!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware of the prompts’ existence until we were about four or five days in, so instead of starting in the middle of the prompt list, I wrote all mine up in a Google Doc and decided to do a big masterpost in the day of the anniversary. And here it is! Beware for a lot of reading, this shit’s at 4.1k words.

- Catherine Lynne / catielynnelove.tumblr.com Fan of NnO since 2012 -

DAY 01 (Jun. 3rd) - Favorites

My favorite character has always been Miharu, though I do struggle to choose between him and Yoite. I have always been fascinated by his apathetic nature, the way he uses is as a shield while loving the people in his life so incredibly fiercely. He appears neutral and uncaring, but the moment you look beneath the surface, you recognize that he would give his life for those he loves in a heartbeat - and has shown this on multiple occasions.

I also love his development over the series. His apathetic facade slowly falls out of use after he meets Yoite, and he learns that feeling your emotions is important, that letting the people you love know when you’re happy or sad or pissed the fuck off is important.

In the first few chapters we as readers honestly can’t tell a whole heck of a lot from what we’re shown of Miharu. He’s plain, uninteresting, even to us (unless you’re the kind of person who automatically reads between the lines, but let’s face it, not a lot of people are). But by the end of the series, he’s such a vibrant and expressive character that I marvel at Kamatani’s ability to drastically a character’s personality in a way that feels so gradual and natural.

Another reason Miharu is my favorite character is because I tend to see parts of myself in him, as many people do with the characters they like most. I can understand and relate to his apathy in the beginning of the story. His memory of his parents deaths is so deeply traumatic and that the very fibre of his being (objectively, Shinra) locked the memory, and most of his childhood, away for years to come. Because at that time in his life, the pain of it all would’ve broken him.

(E/N: I now remember that Asahi actually erased Miharu’s memories of that event, but I think a good chunk of this will still make sense, and I’m lazy, so I’m not gonna edit it out. Enjoy.)

Emotions, especially ones he didn’t understand - or couldn’t understand, like his feelings toward his childhood that didn’t quite make sense because of his augmented memories - were simply so overwhelming that Miharu pretty much just went “lol don’t wanna deal with those so yEET now they’re gone” and locked them up in a box to be dealt with at a much, much later date. That speaks to me, as a person who has struggled with depression, and the fact that he finds a way to recover from this is very reassuring.

Overall, Miharu is a very complex and realistic character that undergoes more vivid character development than I’ve seen in almost any western media. I love him very much.

DAY 02 (Jun. 4th) - What got you into Nabari no Ou?

This is actually quite a funny story, so buckle up for a wild ride y’all!

When I was 12 years old (God, this sounds like the setup for an angsty villain backstory), my family had a housemate who liked anime. One day I came to beg for him to let me use his video game console to play Little Big Planet and he happened to be watching the second half of the anime - I distinctly remember the second Alya Academy episode being the first one I ever saw. It was my first anime experience outside of a Studio Ghibli film, and to this day remains close to my heart, even though the anime adaptation itself really… just… well, it sucked.

After I finished watching it with him, I went and found the first half of the series on Netflix (back when Netflix did the whole send-a-DVD-to-your-house thing) and watched the whole thing from episode one. And then very quickly became obsessed. I probably watched the anime four times in two months. I had every single one of the English VAs names memorized. I was dedicated.

Eventually I looked up the manga online, and HOO BOI, this is the point where my Nabari no Ou origin story becomes ridiculously hilarious (and stupid).

When I read the manga, I was disturbed by the idea of Kouichi being a villain-type character, as he had been one of my favorites when I watched the anime. And, at the time I was first reading the manga, the apparent “ending” from my perspective was the scene where Kouichi takes the newly-made hijutsu scroll from a bleeding, dying Thobari.

Looking back, I figure the website I was reading it on just didn’t have all the chapters, or perhaps I had happened to start reading while the manga was on hiatus, but at that age I didn’t know of or understand either of those concepts and accepted that sad scene as the end of the manga.

And as such, I wrote the manga off as terrible and ignored it for years.

Flash forward to about 2014, two or three years after writing the manga off as a Fat Mistake, I finally decided to give it another shot. And BY GOD did I cry reading it a second time. Whether it was the two years of maturity, my experiences during those two years, or simply the fact that I read the whole thing that time - I was sobbing in my desk chair over NnO.

It was the most beautiful story I’d ever read. Even now, after five more years of reading beautiful manga, Nabari no Ou remains my absolute favorite, and likely always will.

DAY 03 - What are your favorite scenes?

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Alya Academy arc, even back when all I’d shunned the manga and all I had to go off of was the inaccurate anime adaptation, simply because of how well the character relationships are shown during those sequences (this is one thing the anime did really well in my opinion, actually - Shijima’s verbal reflection on how humans connect to each other and how important those connections are is stunning). Not to mention the displays of how the characters care for one another regardless of what side of the war they’re technically on.

I’ve always loved Subaru as a character, too. I find her motivations to be very realistic and really quite understandable, and I love the little easter eggs in later chapters that imply the Kouga ninja are helping Miharu’s side of the fight even though they’re not visibly involved. The scores from the Alya Academy arc are especially chilling and memorable as well.

Another of my favorites are the chapters following Miharu and Yoite’s escape from the Kairoshuu and their travels afterward. They feel mundane and peaceful, yet blanketed with this layer of grief, like we’re all aware that at any moment their calm could be destroyed and lost forever.

The scenes about Yoite’s gender were very special to me as a teen still learning about the LGBT spectrum and how different people could be, and the scene of Yoite bandaging Miharu’s aching feet? My heart literally swells every single time I think about it! It was so sweet and loving, my fragile fangirl heart does flips when I read over it.

DAY 04 (Jun. 6th) - Photos & Fashion

I like to think that Miharu keeps every photograph he’s taken and has them stored safely away in a box or chest or drawer. In my experience, people who have lost loved ones tend to treasure photographs, more than someone who hasn’t experienced loss might. A lot of times a photo is all someone has of someone they loved outside of a memory, and contrary to popular belief, if you don’t look at someone - physically or in a photo - for a long time, you do forget how they look.

Miharu has lost many people: his parents, Yoite, Kouichi and Shijima, even Shinra, in a way - so I imagine this observation would be doubly true of him. Especially if he has Yukimi as an example to go by - pretty sure that guy has kept every photograph he’s ever taken in his life!

(As far as fashion goes, I honestly think everyone’s fashion in NnO is horrendous, so...)

DAY 05 (Jun. 7th) - Favorite character design in the series?

Gosh, it’s hard to choose, I love so many of them! Gau is fascinating to me because I figure his hair must be difficult to draw, with all those little curls and cowlicks. Shijima’s too, with the way it frames her face and leaves just a tiny little opening for her eyes to peer out at you through.

But, as with most of these character-specific prompts, my answer will have to be Miharu. The idea that Asahi reshaped his face to look more like her own when she used Shinra to save him is very interesting, and the fact that Kamatani manages to draw Miharu in a way that both clearly shows their resemblance to one another and establishes Miharu as his own character with his own unique features and gestures and ways of carrying himself is incredible.

Miharu’s stance are also very telling to me as a reader: he often stands loosely, almost lazily, as if he really couldn’t care less about where he is and what they’re doing, which rings true for a good chunk of the story. It matches well with his (mostly) fake apathy and kind of makes him seem bland and boring as a character. But as the story progresses, he becomes more open, shows affection more easily. He’s quicker to stand up for his beliefs and the people he loves. All of this shows in the way he carries himself throughout later chapters.

DAY 06 (Jun. 8th) - Favorite location in the series?

The Shimizu estate, without a doubt.

The secluded area, the forest in every direction, the house itself - it’s all so beautiful to me. Ot gives me the feeling of rural Japan and more traditional Japanese living. Even after the house has burned away and all that’s left is a field full of Spider Lilies, there’s a kind of sober beauty lying over the place, made even more intense when Shirogamon stands watch over it.

DAY 07 (Jun. 9th) - Positive Influences

The thing that I preach about the most when I talk about NnO to others is the fact that the series has no absolutes. There is no true right or wrong, no clear villains nothing that actually puts our heroes above anyone else. Which, in a way, means that are really are no heroes in the story at all, which is a very rare and interesting way to tell a story.

The entire series deal with a greyscale in morality. There’s no bad vs. good or moral vs. immoral, just your own goals and people whose goals don’t match yours. Opinions and ambitions differ vastly even between people on the same side of the fight - Thobari and Raimei want to seal the Shinrabanshou, Kouichi wants to use it to defeat his immortality, Miharu even changes side on a few occasions - yet they all work together together to achieve their own very different ends.

Even those who can be coded as villain on the surface have something motivating them to do what they do, and more often than not, those motivations are understandable to the reader and actually have you sympathizing with the character. Hattori wanted to rid the world of the need for war. Subaru wanted to save the person she loved most in the world. Yamase wanted to win his family back (I think? It’s been a while).

Even Katarou and Kannuki, two characters who have practically nothing to redeem them, at least have motivations that are pretty damn realistic. Kannuki wanted to capitalize on Kouga’s Forbidden Art and use it to grow Alya Academy’s profit and power through the surface world. A Lot of people are like this in real life, and while you may not sympathize with him over it, it is a motivation that is true of our own world as well as the one in this story.

An Katarou, as far as I understand, is obsessed with Shinra herself, rather than the hijutsu and the power it holds. He manipulated hundreds of people and hundreds of situations to suit his own needs, then literally got himself killed - just to see her one last time. And… yeah, I don’t think anyone really sympathized with him, but hey, I can see what pushed him to do what he did.

To me, Katarou is symbolic of someone with an addiction - their mind is so clouded by a need for some specific thing that all other human aspects of that person just fall away, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get what they want.

I also appreciate how the characters handle their differences throughout the story. Their honesty with each other, the way they support each other even when they’re all heading in opposite direction. The Alya Academy arc (I really love this arc okay) especially shows this, in how the ninja from Banten and Kairoshuu - two very opposing factions - fight together against the Kouga without hesitation, despite the fact that in most other situations, they’d be fighting each other.

It’s a wonderful thing to promote: that even though people might have different opinions or goals, it doesn’t mean they have to hate each other.

DAY 08 (Jun. 10th) - Favorite Extra?

I am IN LOVE with the little between-chapter 4koma pieces, especially the ones from the Alya Academy arc (God, I’ve talked so much about this arc). Subaru fantasizing about Miharu being her little brother and making her birthday cake? Adorable. Miharu and Yoite getting stuck behind a bookshelf and terrifying an opponent by asking for help out? Hilarious.

I love that Kamatani put those in, both as a peek into happier aspects of the world he created, and as a way to add a bit of sun in between the much darker, much sadder chapters.

DAY 09 (Jun. 11th) - Headcanons

I’m not much of a headcanon person, to be honest, and especially not with this series. It feels off to me, to try and add to something that’s already so perfect. However, I do agree with a couple of headcanons I’ve seen - particularly the ones theorizing that Yukimi is aro-ace. It makes a lot of sense to me in how his character is portrayed when nearly every other character in the series has a romantic match, and as an ace person myself, more representation is always welcome.

DAY 10 (Jun. 12th) - Alternate Universe

I once started (and quickly abandoned out of shame) a very cringey, very out-of-character fanfic, in which the Nabari world didn’t exist and all the characters meet through natural means in the surface world. Other than that, however, I’ve not put much thought into Nabari no Ou AUs.

But something I would LOVE to see is a crossover between NnO and Shimanami Tasogare, as the two stores canonically take place in the same location - NnO being in Banten, a fictional town based on the real town of Onomichi, and Shimanami Tasogare being confirmed to take place in plain old Onomichi itself. It’s been a while since I’ve read Shimanami Tasogare, but I remember the leader/owner of the little house the cast gathers in as giving me a distinctly Nabari-world vibe, and I think it would be interesting to see the NnO characters react to a community like the one presented in Shimanami Tasogare.

(And also perhaps have some romantic relationships and sexualities proven canon. Perhaps.)

DAY 11 (Jun. 13th) - Favorite song from the OST?

It’s a firm tie between the opening theme and the second ending theme. I have every song in the OST memorized after years of hearing them day in and day out, but those two themes always give me this tingling nostalgic feeling, like rereading a book from your childhood or finding a toy as an adult that you’d thought was lost forever. The animation and symbolism in those themes are also very telling of the series and the character’s connections to each other (a bit obviously, at times), and the lyrics are special to me in a way I can’t describe. They’re precious to me, and to me experience of NnO as a whole, considering I started with the anime first (a bad idea).

DAY 12 (Jun. 14th) - Are there any songs that make you think of NnO?

“Neopolitan Dreams” by Lisa Mitchell ( X ) ( X )

I once watched a cute Raimei/Kouichi AMV set to this song listened to the lyrics, I understood how the author had put them together. I very much feel like the lyrics echo Raimei’s thoughts on how Kouichi starts to act in later chapters, becoming more and more distant until he almost appears to be an antagonist rather than one of the perceived heroes. The song also makes me think of Raimei’s stubbornness and pride, her unwillingness to accept option besides her own conclusions until she’s had the full story and nothing less.

I can never get their faces out of my head while listening to this song, which I guess means the song reminds me more of Raimei and Kouichi than NnO in general, but it still counts, right?

DAY 13 (Jun. 15th) - Food

I’ve never really thought too hard on it, but now that I am, it’s actually very interesting to note how different characters use food - the Rokujo Okonomiyaki shop, in particular - to their advantage.

Thobari uses his (implied, before the start of the overall plot) regular visits to try and get Miharu to believe him about the Shinrabanshou and the Nabari world. Thobari uses the close proximity to explain his motives to Miharu, who physically cannot leave the situation, lest the food burn to a damn crisp (and I figure Naoko wouldn’t be pleased if that happened every time Thobari came in). He also very clearly uses this to keep tabs on Miharu when outside of a school setting where Miharu has no choice to be in Thobari’s sight, and later, as a way to either catch up on what’s going on in the Nabari world or - as in several cases - simply demand answers from Miharu.

Raimei uses the shop as a way to get closer to Miharu. She charms her way into getting free food (and sometimes, free lodging as well) and I assume her thinking is probably something on the lines of “Free Food + Spend Time With Miharu = Information on Where Raikou Might Be.” Of course, this likely isn’t her motive in later chapters, because, well, character development.

Food is also an important bonding thing for Yoite and Yukimi. In a lot of the scenes where we see Yoite and Yukimi in their home, they’re eating together, and I always took it as a display of their familial relationship - cooking dinner for Yoite the way a dutiful older sibling would for their younger sibling - thoughI doubt either of them would admit they’re like brothers. The significance of lemonade should also be noted for this topic - I could go on for ages about it.

(But I won’t unless people ask me to, because this piece is long enough already!)

I don’t have much memory of this scene being as big a deal in the manga as it was in the anime - but I also haven’t seen either in a while, so I could be wrong - but the birthday cake scene from the latter half of the anime left an impact on me even back when I’d only seen the anime, and it was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the prompt was “food.” Gau’s pride in the cake he made and his determination to get any kind of praise out of Yoite is very touching, especially when you take into account that Yoite literally saved Gau’s life, and that Gau knows this, as well.

The Kairoshuu - particularly Yukimi, Raikou, Gau, and Kazuho - are all shown bonding on more than one occasion at Kazuho and her husband’s sushi shop, and there is significance to those occasions in the rather heavy conversations they have during those visits. And there’s also the time Miharu cooked okonomiyaki for all the main Kairoshuu member after he’d first joined their clan - similar to how a recently hired employee would bring cookies for their new boss.

Food has a lot of significance in Nabari no Ou, no matter where you look.

DAY 14 (Jun. 16th) - Favorite village, and thoughts on the Forbidden Arts?

As far as morals and motivations go, I would have to choose Banten, as their (or at least Thobari’s) main opinion is that the Shinrabanshou shouldn’t be used because it throws off the balance of the universe. I definitely understand this opinion, because a lot of things can go wrong if the wrong kind of person is making wishes to Shinra and having them granted.

Although, I think that if anyone were to use the ability in a way that leaves the balance of the world intact, it would be Miharu, and this is even shown in the series itself. He doesn’t have the kind of greed or anger that would taint a person’s motivations when making their wishes, he just wants to do what is best for others- especially Yoite. Yoite is important to him, and therefore Yoite’s wish is also important to Miharu. And, as we see in later chapters, Miharu puts granting Yoite’s wish above even his own happiness. I feel I would make a similar decision were I in his shoes.

(For aesthetic, though, I’d choose Fuuma. Their village is hidden and surrounded by forest and in that lovely traditional Japanese style, and their uniforms are great. If Saraba were Chief I’d join.)

DAY 15 (Jun. 17th) - Favorite minor/supporting character

Gau! Definitely Gau! Gosh I love him so much. He’s optimistic and tries his best to look for the best in situations and in people, and his smile is so freaking sunshiney, I bet he lights up rooms with it. He’s awkward and quirky and I can relate so hard. But he’s also strong? He stands up to other ninja even though he really doesn’t have the physical ability to defend himself or others. He puts his life in danger to tell Raimei the truth about her family immediately after swearing silence to Raikou, his boss, who could 100% kill him if he found out Gau had broken his promise. And I bet you Gau would’ve told Raikou about him telling Raimei as soon as he’d gone home, if the bullshit at the Shimizu property hadn’t gone down the way it did.

And speaking of that scene- he throws himself in front of Raikou’s katana to save the life of a girl he hadn’t known for more than a day, who had threatened to kill him, who was seeking to kill the person he treasured most in the world. Who does that?! Gau apparently. He literally gives his life for just the possibility that Raikou and Raimei can make up and be happy siblings again. He gives his life so that the person he loves can maybe reconcile with someone else they loved.

He makes a conscious effort to include Yoite in conversations in which he would otherwise be largely ignored, and while I doubt Yoite would care either way, it’s the thought that counts, right? And, at least in the anime (it’s been a while since I read the manga) he puts his life on the line to help Yoite and Miharu even though, as I said before, he can’t really defend himself all that well.

Basically, I’m in love with Gau and want him to be happy. Sweet baby!

DAY 16 (Jun. 18th) - Free Day

I don’t really have anything else to say but I’m posting all of these today (I was late for the original posting by like four days so I figured I’d write them all out and post them together) so I’ll count this as my day 16 entry! Thank you so much if you’ve read this far, I know it was probably daunting to look at this long as fucking post but I’m glad you took the time to read my personal reflection on NnO! This manga means a lot to me and it’s nice to discover other people who love it as much as I do (I’ve literally met two people in my entire life who’ve read it without me suggesting it).

Keep the love going y’all, I hope to see you again! And feel free to hit me up if you’d like to talk about NnO, I’d love to connect with other fans! Seeya owo

#nabari no ou #nno anniversary prompts

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