#but after the 'oh god oh god dont bleed out jesus' phase its much the same as above lol

[scribbledquillz]

I am once again invading your inbox with ask memes haha.

Ship Ask Game - The Basics: Rev & Zev- #12 & #18 ☺️ (take all the time you need for this)

Ship Ask Game - The Basics

Oh noooooo Jin in my inbox again? However will I cope? ...No that isn't a welcome mat, also please just ignore the "reserved for Jin" sign on the lounger. *smooches*

Revka and Zevran:

12. Do they have a difficult time when separated from each other, or are they fairly independent?

I would say both Revka and Zevran operate on a similar field when it comes to time separated. They're quite capable of being independent, seeing to their individual matters and going about their day to day needs - but there's always a piece of them that feels as though its missing. They don't HAVE to be around one another at all times, but if either were given their druthers they would be at each other's side far more often than not. There's a lot of hard won trust, respect and reliance between them, and I don't think there's another person for either of them (with perhaps a slight caveat for Revka with Ceral, but certainly not in everything) who's insight and opinions matter more. Not to mention they're absolutely bonkers in love with each other, regardless of how shit they are at saying it lol.

...This of course makes my canon timeline for them rather unfun when they're unwillingly separated for five-ish years because of the chaos of the Mage-Templar war and aren't 100% sure the other is still alive, but that's some angst for another day.

18. How do they care for each other when one of them is wounded/sick?

Revka is very no-nonsense when it comes to illness. The first sign of sniffles means she's pulling out the respiratory draughts minimum, as well as the lemon honey tea and clear broth soups. She'll tolerate Zevran being up and about for the likes of a head cold - and let's be honest, Zev is quite content to let her dote on him for a day or two without much protesting. Anything too much more than that though, and he's barred from leaving their bed. Particularly if it comes with fever. She was the one who cared for her parents through the illness that took them, and she's seen first hand how quickly fever can take a turn for the worst. No games, no messing around - you get into bed and you rest, damn it.

Zevran is not nearly so insistent as Rev when she's ill. He learned very early on in their knowing one another that it's better to let her reach her limit on her own than try to argue with her stubbornness, regardless how hypocritical she might be being. (She's FINE, damn it, she only got dizzy and fell over once)

Once she's accepted reality and is either unwilling or unable to fight him on it any more, she's put into bed and stays there. Zevran is likely to join her as well, equal parts wanting to make certain she doesn't try to push herself too much as well as liking the excuse of taking some time to lounge in bed together. When she finally sleeps he'll slip away, and by the time she's awake again there's sets of vials from her brother waiting on the bedside table along with a pitcher of cold water, tea and something gentle on her stomach to eat that he's found on offer at the tavern. Much as Zev enjoys cooking, he tends to be heavy handed with the spices, and that doesn't bode well for a sick stomach.

[ycurkxng-a]

Michael leaned against a counter in the break room, it was a fairly quiet day at the cafe. One guy had come in earlier, bloodied coat, screaming about some bullshit. Michael didn't really catch what he said, something about things beating people to death, the only reason Michael and a few other employees stayed was because all of them were just PRAYING something like that would come in. Michael especially, it was no secret he was a violent bastard. And if challenged, he never backed down. And odds were he won, when you had a fucked up childhood like he did where you learn how to make napalm and how to dispose of corpses, then trauma hits- yeah. Odds are you're gonna be angry and violent, didn't mean Michael was fond of it.

"Michael! Ey- douchebag!" Ali shouted at him, a look of worry covered his face as he looked at him. "What? What's wrong?" Michael responded, now standing upright. Sperare per il meglio prepararsi al peggio, like his father always said.

"Dude, its Gary. He locked himself in the office and just started SCREAMING! I-it stopped a little bit ago but.." Ali went quiet, grabbing onto Michaels forearm and practically dragging him out of the room and towards the bosses door. "I think something happened to him, man!" Michael looked down at the male, and shook his head. "You try kicking down the door?" Michael asked, Ali nodded. "Me AND Jess." He shook his head at that, "What spot did you kick?" He asked again, and Ali looked confused for a second. "I.. the center?"

"You fucking dope! I thought I taught you two to kick the DOORKNOB! Its the weakest point, fucking clowns.." Michael groaned, backing up from the door, "GARY! YOU BIG PRICK- IM COMIN' IN, ALRIGHT?!"

Silence.

He didn't expect anything else, Michaels leg lifted up, and he slammed his boot into the door knob. It practically flew off of its hinges, door was a cheap piece of shit after all. Still looked cool as hell though, Michael stepped inside. "Gary?" He asked quietly, there was blood on the desk and on the keyboard, this shit felt like a horror movie to King. There was a knocked over bottle, "Oh, Jesus. Were you drinking again?" Michaels posture became less tense as he stepped around the desk, shouting out in a mix of fear and surprise as he saw Gary. He saw the source of the blood at least, guy spit it out, his skin was quickly turning gray and he scratched at his scalp. The bosses head snapped up to stare at Michael, his eyes... dear God, his eyes.

Michael had seen horrific shit, but this- close second. Number one was that guy getting skinned and gutted alive, "Gary.." he mumbled, he hated the guy. But even this was just awful, but his entire expression changed to one of pure horror as Gary got down on all fours and jumped at him with a screech. From instinct his arm shot up, elbow cracking Gary across the jaw. He launched over the desk and against the wall next to the doorway where Ali stood, staring.

"IS HE A ZOMBIE?!" Ali shouted, "FUCK- I THINK SO!" Michael replied, he crouched down and grabbed the handle of a blade from his boots pocket. He slid it out and got back up to his full height, combat knife now brandished. The sharp edge of it being pointed away from him as he held it to its side, Gary was getting back up, albeit very slowly. Ali ran away, "ALI! DONT LEAVE ME HERE- oh that fucker!" Michael shouted out in frustration, spinning the knife so it was now pointed forward, ready to stab in and out of somebody.

Gary lunged at him again, that scream he let out was ear piercing. And he grabbed onto Michael, who staggered back at his weight suddenly being forced onto him. He smashed against the wall, Garys hands came down, slashing the barista across the side of his neck. The only thing that kept Michael from immediately going down from that was pure adrenaline, he began stabbing Gary in the side. Repeatedly, but it was like it didn't even phase him. Like all he wanted to do was KILL Michael, and if Michael was gonna go down to his boss, he wouldn't be Michael motherfucking King.

Footsteps charged into the room, he couldn't see who (or WHAT) it was, vision being blocked by Garys figure. But he heard a loud crack, and the smallest bit of the barrel of a bat hit Gary on the head. He fell off of Michael with a scream, it was Ali. With Michaels baseball bat, Words. (Yknow, like, if you told him to use his words he'd grab the bat- get it? ..I'm not funny.) Ali continued to wail down on Gary, but the boss made no noise, didn't even move as he did so. Well, he did move, but that was because he was getting hit by a Louisville slugger. Anything will move when you hit it with that, "FUCK! YOU! FUCK! YOU!" He shouted as he hit him, Michael took his apron and lifted it up, pressing it firmly against his bleeding neck.

Michael stared as Ali ran out of breath, letting the bat drop to his side and dangle in the air before he looked at Michael. "This.. this shits insane! Outside aint any better.." He told him, pointing to his bloody shoes. "Had to stomp a guys head in to get to your car, and get your bat!" Ali panted out, Michael slid his knife into his boots pocket and took the bat back. "Its.."

"Its zombies, dude. These are fucking zombies!" Michael almost laughed, "They're fucking real!" He grinned, Ali looked concerned at Michaels expression of glee at this situation. "We have to get to somewhere safe." Ali told him, he was always the more responsible one of the two, that didn't say much though. Michael nodded, "Where's Jess?" He asked, "She.. she ran out there, said she was gonna go get help." Michael shook his head, almost immediately knowing she didn't make it far. "Alright, cmon. Lets go." He told Ali, "Grab a weapon, a pan, SOMETHING. And let's go." Michael said, walking out of the room, bat in one hand, and pressing the apron against his neck with the other.

So maybe movies weren't completely bullshit.

[shidiand]

How do you imagine Tenco's Story ending in your head?

that is a GREAT but UNEXPECTED QUESTION freshlybaked "spider" bread and i'm really happy to have the opportunity to try and answer this ageless question that has burned within all of us in the tenco's story iv waiting room community since 2013. it is an incredible coincidence (or is it? 👀) that i was just talking to Risa about tenco's this (edit: yesterday) morning so i am extra double super in the mood to talk about Tenco's Story today. so excellent of a coincidence is this that i am tempted to refer you to them in case you wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter that would probably turn out super cool, but that is neither here nor there; let us talk Tenco's Story.

i of course must mention my unadvertised and modestly detailed commentary on tenco's i-iii at https://shidiand.tumblr.com/tencos, presenting slightly interesting facts in an unwieldy and difficult-to-use format, but as it dates back to june 2017, i want to take some time to understand my feelings about the series once more.

tenco's story is a series that has a lot of meaning to me.

i took on my current name of shidiand in november of 2013. i was still in 11th grade at the time, 4th year of high school, and a very socially isolated person. i should say i was introduced to touhou in 7th grade, 2010, so i was still working through a 3 years-strong phase of trying to simultaneously both find an outlet for and bottle up an endless wellspring of awkward weeaboo-gamer nerd energy at the time.

i had my first real foray onto the internet in 2010, tried out twitter, followed some RPers and other people who had Cool Touhou Usernames. didn't really go anywhere. i had maybe 50 followers, i dont really know the count but it was definitely a) double digits and b) pretty low. didn't know what to tweet about. didn't know how to hit it off with others. i think there was basically maybe only 3 other people i ever properly interacted with. oh shit i was playing league of legends at the time. oh my god. i really did play league of .. oh my god. let's move on.

aw shit im super digressing amn't i. well.

this is just how it goes when i write essays on tumblr.com.

i'm afraid you're just along for the ride at this point so please do your best to enjoy it.

i got kind of tired of twitter at the time because i didnt know what to do with it. didnt know how to interact with people and didnt find the people i was following interesting, so i ghosted on out of there by the end of 2012. didnt deactivate it until like 2015 but at that point that was just burning away my dark history. anyways. november 2013.

--im taking a lot of time here trawling through old files on my computer, my tumblr blog, notification emails still lying around in my gmail inbox from twitter, the dropbox i didn't actually use but it had several tenco's story pictures on it but i deleted them so this was useless, ... to trace the timeline of this story and im really seeing a lot of remnants of dark history here you know? did you know i wrote a letter to a girl i had a crush on valentine's day 2014, slipped it into her locker, and anxiously hung around nearby at lunchtime to see how she reacted at lunchtime? i certainly didn't, or at least i made darn ass sure to forget about this incredible virgin incident and not remember it, ever, until i came across the records of it that i thoughtfully preserved for the me of 5 years later today. ok well now i have to read the letter to see if it was as bad as it just sounded there brb

ok so the good news is that it was actually very focused on being positive and full of admiration for the cool things she did instead of being a confession letter so i am very glad i was able to be a respectful chad 5 years ago, but the bad news is that the jokes, the actual sentences i put together. oh my god. but i mean. well. at least i got the spirit. its certainly a step up from this other person in my grade, WEEABOO ANDREW, YOU MAY RECALL THIS STORY AND HIS NAME FROM PREVIOUS STORYTIMES, THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND who came to school on halloween once cosplaying kirito from sword art online and got very possessive about people asking if they could hold his black replica plastic sword, and probably worse, dropped a "will you be my girlfriend" letter into the locker of my homie and fellow trombonist samantha, who was a little bit nerdy, hung out with the anime-likers who were actually sociable and fun to be around so you can imagine why weeaboo andrew was into her, which had i) a direct quotation from SAO chapter 16.5 (origin of the famous "glopping noise" line), and ii) a condom. jesus christ. i dont want to talk about this any more. next topic.

i also put this drawing of iku nagae and her skarmory (actually an albinoss from 18 DRAGONS) on the other side of the letter because it was the coolest thing i could think of drawing at the time. and i completely agree with 2014 me because it IS super fucking cool. hell fuckin yeah

https://shidiand.tumblr.com/post/76301993387/iku-nagae-ft-that-thing-that-supposedly-is-a

alright that was a fun little trip down memory lane but lets get back on track. november 2013. i started anew as shidiand. still awkward, still learning how to express myself and looking for my place among others. i followed some touhou bloggers, hung around r/touhou a lot as well. in december i got my first tablet for christmas, a wacom bamboo splash. i still use this thing! the usb cable disconnects if you bump it so i have to find just the perfect position to sit in whenever i want to draw, but its served me well. anyways. i was just starting to play around with digital art but i remember, probably just before new years, for some reason i wanted to find out more about tenshi hinanawi (i don't remember why. tenshi wasn't even one of my favourite characters at the time) so i went googling and right there on zerochan i found this:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23525572

this was during my dark souls phase so i just went BANANAS at the sight of this. this was literally the coolest image i had ever seen in my internet life. That image alone made me want to draw in hopes that I could make something as cool as that someday.

it wasn't immediately after but i soon discovered tenco's story, and it was love. kannnu was my very first artistic inspiration, and for a long time, my only one. i absolutely idolized them at the time. since then, ive found other artists to look up to, in a more healthy manner, but to this day i still look up to kannnu, still admire their work a lot.

i played around with drawing, followed the lives of people on tumblr, started reading touhou fanfiction, made a new twitter. i met a lot of new people along the way. some people i havent stuck with, some i cut ties with, and some people i still keep in contact with today. over those long 5 years of being shidiand, i found a name (i used to use shidian and then shid, but someone called me shidi once and i realized that was a lot better), how to reach out to others, how to express myself, places that i could feel included in. this is why i owe a blood debt to evelyn, who permitted me to kneel at her throne and was like "yea ok you can join my discord server u seem cool". evelyn, if you were confused by me ominously mentioning this blood debt/blood oath in a tumblr reply 1-2 years ago, this is the context. those 5 years were like a coming of age of sorts, that i never had when i was in high school.

and my love for tenco's story, that inspired me to draw that day, has been with me since almost the very beginning of my time as shidiand. from the beginning, i have always encouraged people to READ TENCO'S STORY, like the kin of those who cry PLAY MELTY or WATCH SYMPHOGEAR. i think my very first sidebar description was something akin to a prayer, written in very choral language, hoping for the day tenco's story iv was completed, ..., "meanwhile, furious shitposting". kannnu's work, finding delight in whatever they chose to draw, has been at my side, all along. my true mentor, my guiding moonlight...

so that's why i still to this day love tenco's story so much.

let's talk about tenco's story.

tenco's story is a story told through single pictures. the plot is vague, and details are sparse. dialogue is rare. we only know what has happened; we seldom know why. furthermore, there are many gaps between scenes that the reader is left to fill in for themselves; we see only snapshots that form an hazy outline of the events that occurred, and must imagine the rest. motivations and explanations fail me. but even with a barebones plot, tenco's story has themes, and if nothing else, those have to be carried through.

the main theme, of course, is journey and travel, but there are also other ideas, too. i actually think they start to change as the series goes on:

book i, where tenshi runs away from home, is about striking out on your own. it's a very fun and unpredictable journey, together with a friend.

book ii, where tenshi and iku are separated, forces tenshi to find and rely on companions of her own even more. but they do so, and they are able overcome hardships, and there is food and festival.

book iii marks a climax, reasserting tenshi's goal of finding the sword of hisou. i feel like the journey shifts from a travel (visiting) to a path forwards (making your way through). perhaps this is just something i get from knowing the locations from dark souls (Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, the Great Hollow), but the locations start to give more of a sense of verticality, like they're emphasizing tenshi's climb to the summit. the hardships and enemies are the greatest they've been yet, and right when they near the top, tenshi and iku start to bleed. the book ends on an uncertain note.

if i had to describe the type of journey and travel that tenshi and iku undertake, there's this sense of wonder at discovering new places, wandering from vista to vista in delight, but also a sense of conquering, making it through a difficult patch. the sequence from pages 2-44 to 2-51, taken together, convey this sense of overcoming the best. it's one of my favourite parts. again, although the tone definitely starts to lean towards struggle in book iii, i think tenco's sense of wonder really is the heart of the series. there's no map of the world, no predicting where tenshi and iku will end up next. and through their travels, though they come across many enemies, they also find friends -- places of refuge, places full of life, people who will look after them for a few days, companions who will stay with them for the rest of the journey. at the end of book iii, we see a long haired tenshi with purple hair being impaled by the sword of hisou (3-33, see also this extra illustration that risa pointed out to me http://sinnnkai.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-195.html), and regular short haired tenshi continuing on her journey (3-42). if we ignore the out-of-story images where tenshi has the sword of hisou, tenshi has actually only ever used her sunlight blade (2-24, 3-26, etc), so i think that the long haired tenshi on 3-33 is a different person altogether. (if i had to guess, she might be the purple haired woman in the top left of https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35443328 as we have never seen that woman appear anywhere.) she probably has something to do with the flashbacks at the end of book ii and she might somehow be short-haired tenshi at the same time, but this is just speculation.

however, in 3-43, tenshi's hair is rather blue, so i don't know if this is the purple haired woman or not. if it is, tenshi is probably still fine and closing in on the summit, but if it isn't, then it's very worrying to see a picture of tenshi without any of her companions. it's very ominous.

meanwhile, iku, while climbing the red carpeted corridor, is stabbed, and disappears for a few pages. there's a black page, a shot of a shrine that strongly resembles the hakurei shrine, and a picture of iku standing behind someone in a tux, with the line "In the past, I was saved by the lady I was serving, you see?". and then iku wakes up in a field of flowers.

i think what this scene makes clear is a theme that has continued to appear and reappear throughout every book of "being saved, being aided by someone's kindness".

i think another theme that is implied and has to be addressed by this story of running away from home is "return". something im imagining is that the reason tenshi makes finding the sword of hisou her goal is because she wants to have something to prove herself with, to vindicate her when she comes home. but i don't think she needs to prove anything, and i ultimately think that she would be happier spending the rest of her life exploring.

so i think this should be what happens in the ending.

open on iku's journey, and give her a long sequence of travel without seeing tenshi. underline her newfound resolve. she climbs to the summit with albinoss, and finds the rest of tenshi's companions fallen. and in the last room is sword of hisou tenshi, who has lost herself, and it comes down to iku to bring her back. after a difficult battle, when both of them are on their last legs, iku is unable to stand any longer. but at this moment tenshi sees her companions struggling to get back up and reach her, and that's what brings her to her senses. and iku gets to see how many friends tenshi's been able to make on her own, and they finally and properly reunite. together, tenshi and iku carry each other out of the last room.

i don't think it's necessary to return to heaven. as a conclusion, dedicate some time to tenshi and iku travelling together. they're on their way back, revisiting old friends who helped them along the way, enjoying the journey. their last stop is the house of the elderly nawis (1-42). tenshi shows off the sword of hisou; she decided to keep it not as a trophy to show her family but as proof of the bonds of her companions. surrounded by friends, tenshi and iku decide to part ways with each other, knowing that the other will be alright. iku drifts among the clouds once more, and tenshi sets off for the horizon.

that's the plot that i'd write/just wrote. i don't really expect tenco's story iv to ever come out, though. i mentioned my first sidebar description earlier in this essay, but of course, you can see that it's been changed. 2 years ago, i read my hopeful prayer once more and was struck with a terrible melancholy, so now it reads this: "having come to terms with the fact that tenco's story iv will never be released, i can still live, knowing that the spirit of the journey will live on through kannnu's original works [...] meanwhile, furious shitposting".

on one level, tenco's story is a story, but in the process of following it, i came to think of the work itself as a journey too. you can constantly see kannnu's improvement between and even within each book. they have always drawn whatever they liked; what plot matters in the face of "I wanted to draw a beautiful sky." "I wanted to draw a fantastic battle." "I wanted to draw Dark Souls and Monster Hunter and Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi and Bokura no Taiyou and Touhou."

its not really kannnu's style to go back and tie up old ends. they just draw whatever makes them happy. so as i watch them continue to draw beautiful places and fantastic creatures, new characters heading out on journeys of their own or just enjoying their everyday lives, it's as if tenco's story never ended. the limits and consistency of that world ignored, and a new one springs up; in a way, the world of tenco's, which had such thin boundaries, just gets bigger.

but even so, having said all that, i still see them draw that short-haired tenshi from time to time. it makes me happy to see them remember tenco's story with such fondness. often crossing over with orion or roar or elweiss, you can see tenshi on another journey.