#but the execution was so unexpected and satisfying that i’m not even really sad?? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

asturlavi · 4 years ago

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oh boy, do i have wonderful beast oda/odazai info for you all since this may just be my favorite chapter in all of beast. it clarified a lot about oda's state in this au, and how sad it truly is, especially with all that dazai has done to ensure that oda's safety is certain

before i start, this was initially intended to be a quirky little twitter thread that’s supposed to be kicked off with a badly drawn doodle of something meme. the thread was supposed to be about how wonderfully dumb odasaku can be and how annoyingly frustrating dazai is in the latest beast chapter... and then it slowly devolved into a crudely written essay about small discoveries i’ve made that most likely haven’t been pointed out before, so i recommend that anyone interested in either oda or odazai to check this out

so i finally got around to reading the new beast chapter and seeing how odasaku constantly devalues himself and finds that he's lesser than the average person is… sad. its been said that him and ranpo are the stars of the ada, every mission trivial with their cooperation, and yet he doesn't see any of that. thinks he struck luck when it came to his entrance exam, which he specifies that it wasn't as a result of his own skills. his inferiority complex is embedded so deep that despite his achievements, he doesn't at all believe he has any worth as a human.

i'm just a tired, ordinary man like you could find anywhere. a third-rate detective, as unexceptional as a fallen cigarette butt on the road.

and his entrance exam was just like dazai's: the azure messenger case, which we all know wasn't at all a walk in the park. one mistake, and it would spell disaster for the city that the ada was trying to protect. no--not just the city, it would also mean the end of the ada as we know it. despite it all, he resolved it much to his own surprise, and it was all thanks to an "unexpected" gift. and that gift? who would it be other than from dazai himself?

beast light novel ch. 3

(also, this is a shaky claim at best but I feel as if oda fully holds the capabilities to solve the case alone, but dazai knew that with odasaku's persistent feelings of self-doubt, along with his lack of some of the vivacity that dazai held to weasel his way through to information, the outcome of success wouldn’t be guaranteed. and so, dazai lent him something to ensure his success)

and yet, oda is blind to see truly how much intellect and skill he possesses. he doesn't realize how integral he was to the quest of the azure messenger, doesn't acknowledge that without him these orphans would have either slipped into a life of crime, gone to a downtrodden orphanage, or simply passed away, and he doesn't know that despite it all, he's one of the purest characters in the story, even with the darkness that will forever cling to him, a reminder of the violence that marred his past.

not to mention that oda, in one way or another, effectively analyzed the current situation that they're stuck in. he noted that if things currently go the way they're going, no matter what akutagawa achieves, him and his sister are doomed. so, oda brilliantly decided to go after the port mafia itself to prepare for this possibility, and it's nothing short of genius. and dazai plays along with this… because it is oda, after all.

and everything dazai did, everything he sacrificed, it was all for oda.

now to the underlying tragedy of this chapter. take a look at this panel:

ever since then, i've been making a living by solving requests that come to the detective agency.

i provide for the orphans

i drink coffee.

i gamble a bit on days off.

at night, i write a novel in the kitchen.

that's my life.

nothing unusual, right? you'd think that odasaku was satisfied with life, since he has everything he had ever wished for. but in all actuality, he still lacks one important thing.

and that's friendship.

his words sounded so… empty. achieving ones dreams is but one aspect of life that brings one gratification, but doesn't necessarily mean it would guarantee lasting happiness. (think of famous actors or celebrities that spiral into depression even after they've achieved their dreams).

in that panel, he says he cares for the orphans, gambles, and writes alone in his spare time, but not a word of spending time with friends… something he had in the root universe, something that was lost to him in this one.

and he says this all with his face blacked out, as if he's somewhat implicitly dissatisfied (while the kid's faces are present, not at all concealed).

with dazai, he found peace in a place where peace is rare to find. They both completely put their guard down with each other around, and dazai can relax his overly speculative mind with oda. and they understood each other, a level of understanding rare to come by. dazai with his dark jokes easily flies past oda's ears because that's what they are, harmless jokes. and oda with his blunt honesty, which dazai cherishes and never prods him for it.

dazai also saw things in oda that oda was blind to. dazai saw a world of beauty in oda, the ray of light beneath a cloudy sky. he saw both intelligence and wisdom, kindness and generosity. and most of all, he trusted oda, despite dazai’s natural inclination to distrust.

and what oda saw in dazai was vulnerability. despite the front that dazai puts, he can be kind, even empathetic, when the situation calls for it. dazai once gave akutagawa a decision to turn his back against dazai’s offer to join the port mafia, when logic points to the fact that he didn't have to, but wanted to.

dazai also consistently gives atsushi words of advice and shows understanding when dazai was under no obligation to, such as atsushi facing the loss of his previous caretaker. dazai gave atsushi genuine advice, not laced with any malice or ill intent. dazai had even left atsushi to grieve alone, fully understanding that atsushi needed to pour his emotions out in private. there’s more than enough instances of dazai showing this side of himself in both the light novels and manga, but it seems to sometimes be brushed aside. even though the main cast of characters always dismissed this side of dazai, oda has always known that this side of dazai was his truest self.

oda and dazai also talked endlessly about trivial things, calling each other daily for two hours for no reason other than that they each enjoy one another's company. it's pure, wholesome love. they had a mutual trust and understanding between one another, which ango, another friend of theirs, severely lacked in his friendship with them.

oda's dream was to write, gone unfulfilled in the root universe, but he died happily knowing that the one he cares for is living in the path of light. dazai's was to find a reason to live, which he found in oda, and continues to use this as motivation long after oda passed.

in beast, dazai's dream was cut short, ultimately leading to his demise at the end. after all, his one reason to live is now robbed from him. however, oda's dreams have become a reality, but can one really say he achieved happiness? he has the orphans, his children, but they will never understand him like dazai had. he has peace, but is it the form of peace he wanted? spending time alone, on things like gambling, while endlessly mulling how he has no one to spend this time with?

and writing, his one true wish that dazai made absolutely sure to make a reality. but was it worth it, at the cost of a friend who brought happiness and reprieve when everyone else failed to?

i thought of this tale as a matter of equivalent exchange, you lose one life in exchange for another. the scales do remain somewhat balanced, but not over a matter of lives. it's over a matter of personal sacrifices, ones only known to us readers.

and i say "somewhat" because in the root universe, dazai remembered oda when he was alive, so well that dazai can recall memories to near perfection. but oda had completely forgotten dazai in beast, chasing after absent memories and deluding himself into thinking his life is perfect, while numbing himself from the aching hole of loneliness that consumes him inside.

also, oda is surely happy spending time with the children, but what about his lonesome hours? who is he going to spend that time with, in a world without dazai, the only person who understood him and his oddities?

ah, and remember this moment in the root universe?

now, take a look at this again. no, look closer

odasaku wasn’t merely gambling for the sake of it, he was gambling on a horse race. and before dazai was arrested in the root universe, he was seen doing just that.

now, why would odasaku do this? he surely doesn’t seem the type to gamble away his money on something as silly as horse races, because what does someone gain while they pour their money into something so senseless?

and the only reason i could arrive to is that dazai must have dragged him along to one. dazai is a port mafia executive, with more money than he knows what to do with and a boatload of depression. money probably disinterests him as much as life does, and he used gambling to kill two birds with one stone: ridding of money he doesn’t need, and distracting him from his boredom (and depression).

and it doesn’t end there. remember when dazai in dead apple had visited bar lupin to pay his regards to odasaku, while reliving a pleasant memory dazai had with him? and he did this because he was preparing for a quest that may result in with the loss of his life, psyching himself up for what’s to come. this is probably bordering on speculation, but i believe that that’s precisely what he did once again in the horse races. dazai paid a visit to a place that oda and him had frequented, to prepare for another dangerous quest.

also, note that immediately after exiting bar lupin in dead apple, dazai was confronted by ango, which kicked off the start of dazai’s plans. a similar thing happens in the manga, dazai spending time in a place that he and oda had gone to, this time the horse races, and his plan whirls into motion as jono arrests him. i think these similarities are deliberate, in order to establish their significance to dazai and oda.

this long winded explanation’s purpose was only for me to go back to this panel once again, and say that everything oda spoke about doing, from spending time with his kids, to brewing coffee, to betting on horse races, and to writing in the kitchen, were all moments he had with dazai.

and see that he has an extra chair that sits unused in the kitchen? at first, i thought it was there for the sake of being there. then, it slowly dawned on me that odasaku and dazai had noted in the dark era light novel that they made a habit of visiting each other, so it wouldn’t be illogical to conclude that it was a chair meant for dazai. a place where he can spend some private moments together with oda underneath the dimly lit kitchen, drinking in the scent of odasaku’s coffee and talking about things that distracts them from their troubles while odasaku whittles away at his manuscript.

and one last thing before i end this out of sheer laziness, take a look at this photograph of oda from the final moments of the beast light novel.

as oda stated in the manga and light novel, he worked on his manuscript alone in the kitchen... but in the photograph, he wasn’t alone. he’s posing for a picture. relaxed, poised, as if entertaining the one taking the photo. and besides, wasn’t it dazai who insisted on taking photographs in bar lupin with ango and oda in dark era? he must have done the same in that very moment in the beast universe, but this time in anticipation of oda forgetting him.

in the end, it seems oda and dazai left each other in similar ways, foolishly believing they've sacrificed their lives for each other to better the other's life, but all they did was create worlds where the feeling of happiness will be lost to both respective parties, while also resigning each other to a life of loneliness.

they've forgotten about their one happiness that stems from just being around one another, listening to the soothing tune of jazz playing softly as they talk into the night, the world lost to them as they're absorbed in one another's presence.

it seems like their story is a tragedy of what happens when you love someone too much, to the point that you delude yourself into thinking you're but a tool for their happiness, and with you gone, nothing will change.

but things did change, didn't they?

#odazai #bsd #bungo stray dogs #oda sakunosuke #osamu dazai #bsd beast #i'm never doing this again

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sierraraeck · 4 years ago

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Why Men Suck

BAU x OC Aundreya

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

Summary: Reid has to talk to Aundreya about what’s happened and try to explain himself. Aundreya has an unexpected visitor in a high stress situation. Story eleven.

Category: Angst.

Warnings: Cussing. Shots fired. Very quick mention of suicide. Implied abusive relationship.

Word Count: 3.4k

I walked into the office with a whole new demeanor. A whole new attitude. A whole new level of confidence.

I was a whole new person.

I wasn’t exactly the old street and prison me, but that was a lot closer than the pathetic, emotional version who’d possessed my body for the last year and a half.

I walked in with a new fire in my eyes, a new growl in my voice, a new ice block in my chest. I walked in like I owned the place. And everyone could feel it.

“Hey, Aundreya,” Prentiss said, a little hesitation coating her voice.

“Hey,” I said, “Do we have a case?”

“I believe so. Hotch said he wants us in the briefing room in five,” she replied.

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” I was in the hallway approaching a small table with snacks on it when he caught my attention. I was wondering when this would happen.

“Aundreya, wait,” Reid called after me.

I turned on him. “Why? What could you possibly say to me right now?”

He let out a huge breath. “Is this about what Morgan and I talked about on the jet?”

I put my hands out and cocked my head to the side, letting him know that was exactly what this was about.

“She’s just someone that I’m talking to for my headaches, and I knew she could help with the case.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.”

“We both know you are. Why would you need to call her on a payphone, then? Why would you need Tara to drive you there instead of me or Derek? Why have you been so secretive about who she is?”

“It’s because I just wanted to keep one thing-”

“Personal?” I finished, raising my eyebrows.

“That’s not what I mean,” he huffed.

“I think that’s exactly what you mean. And she must be pretty special if even the possibility of her getting hurt is worth risking both of our lives.” I started to turn away, heading back down the hallway.

“I didn’t-”

“Yes. You did. Last time I checked, you didn’t know for sure if that was even where she lived, yet you were willing to get shot and put me in the line of fire for her.”

“Aundreya, please,” he pleaded for me to let him explain, but there was nothing to explain.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. You’ve made what you want pretty clear,” I stood there staring into his sad eyes. I wanted to walk away so badly, but I just had to ask, “I just have one question for you. Did you call her that night?”

“What?”

I already knew he called her throughout those two weeks, and I realized that he even called her the night before we returned to work when I was freaking out about where he was. But I wanted to know if he called her right after we…

I swallowed. “That night. Did. You. Call her?”

He looked me dead in the eyes and responded, “No.”

It didn’t make it hurt any less, but at least he didn’t add insult to injury. I’d gotten my answer, so I pushed by him, heading back to the round table room, suddenly having lost my appetite. I didn’t even reach the steps before a loud bang echoed off the ceiling.

I whipped my head around and saw Reid in a choke hold, a man holding a gun to his head. But that wasn’t just any man.

That was my father.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

All of the desk workers who weren’t armed were clumped together near the coffee maker or were ducking under their desks. Anyone who was armed had their weapon drawn and aimed at my father. Our team members were all standing behind the railing to my right in a line, each one panicked and furious, guns trained on the man who held Reid.

He scanned the room until his eyes landed on me. A smile spread across his face and he said, “Hello, Aundreya,” he sneered, letting me know he knew about my name change.

“Hello, Joe,” I returned.

“What? Come on, no ‘hi dad?’” he fake-whimpered.

I scoffed. “We may be biologically related, but you are not my dad.”

“Ouch,” he smiled.

“Yeah, well the truth hurts,” I said, raising my eyebrows. That was what he always loved to tell my sister and I whenever he was trying to manipulate us into believing his lies.

He laughed. “Well it looks like I did teach you something after all.”

My emotions were on a whole new high. Everything seemed to be crashing around me, and one of the only honest connections I thought I’d made had just shattered. I was sick and tired of letting other people affect my emotions and the constant lies that people told and truths they deliberately withheld. “Yeah, you taught me that loving someone meant manipulating them and lying to them and degrading them and the ones they love. You taught me how to mimic those behaviors for my own personal gain. And you did a great job teaching me that I can’t trust men and that they can’t treat me right, especially in relationships,” I offered, my voice strong.

“Honey, that is not at all what I taught you.”

I wanted to vomit at his term of endearment. “Great, then I guess it’s your borderline personality and narcissistic genes that got passed down that made me this way. My bad.”

He shook his head in disbelief, that same smug look absorbing his features, but changed the subject. “So you’re in the FBI now, huh?”

“Sure am. I enjoy putting evil men away, envisioning that they’re you I finally get to put handcuffs on. Who knows? Maybe you coming here will finally satisfy that desire,” I said with a smirk, holding my gun up a little higher.

“Oh really? How are you going to do that? I mean, I guess you could, depending on how much you care about him,” he said, gesturing toward Reid with the gun still trained at his temple.

“Oh, him? Yeah, I don’t really know him,” I said. At the moment, that statement felt true.

“Are you sure? I thought I saw you two spending quite a lot of time together recently,” he said.

My eyes got wide. “You’ve been stalking me?”

“I have to say, you are quite a hard person to track down these days. I just wanted to make sure it was actually you. I’ve wanted to see you, talk to you, but I knew you’d never respond to me directly.”

“I can’t imagine why that would be,” I snapped.

“I just want to know that you’re doing well.”

“How considerate. Well I’m great, so you can leave now.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you all are just going to let me walk out of here,” he said. He turned his attention to the rest of the team. “So this must be the BAU?”

“Yep,” I said, popping the ‘p’, “Your point?”

“Are they really as great as I’ve heard?”

“We do close a lot of cases.”

“But are they good people?”

“Yes, they’re in the FBI. What are you getting at?” I’d had nearly every possible argument with this man, so I always had a good idea where things were going. But this? This confused me.

“Do you all really consider each other family?”

Then I got it. If he was trying to inflict the maximum amount of pain on me, he would want to know who I cared most about so he could hurt them.

“Not really. We just work together,” I stated. I didn’t want to add any more than I had to, especially if I was reading the situation wrong and he wanted to hurt people he thought were hurting me. By taking Reid as his hostage, I couldn’t tell which one was true.

“But what about this one?” he said, peering down at Reid.

“What about him?”

“You don’t consider this one family?”

“I just told you, even if I’ve been talking to him more recently, I still barely know him.”

“Uh-huh. So you wouldn’t mind if I just killed him, then?” he asked.

My heart was pounding. I knew that he was most likely trying to inflict maximum pain on me, so showing that I did care about him could be lethal, but I didn’t want to say yes and have him obey my wishes. The one time he would.

I took a deep breath, knowing if I hesitated any longer, he’d know my answer. “No. Not really. I mean, I don’t think you should kill anyone, newsflash it’s my job to make sure people stay alive, but if your question is if I have a personal sway one way or the other, the answer is no. He’s not as important to me as some of the others.”

Reid made eye contact with me, and the look of hurt in his eyes was devastating. He actually believed me. He genuinely thought that because I was mad, I would just flip that criminal switch and want him dead. I didn’t really know how to take that and I couldn’t think about it now. I had to stay focused. At least I had confirmation I was doing a good job being convincing.

But of all the things I thought I knew about shooters, about hostage situations, about my father, I did not anticipate his next move.

Joe approached me, shifting his aim from Reid, who was still in a chokehold, onto me. I stood my ground, refusing to cower under his advance. He tossed Reid like a rag doll in front of me, and without blinking, stepped around behind me. I felt the barrel of the gun swipe some hair out of the way, then come to rest on the back of my head as he commanded Reid to his knees.

This was going to be an execution.

“So you don’t think I, or anyone else, should be killing people? But what about you, daughter?”

I swallowed, vaguely aware of how he was using me as a human shield, not a single person behind him who could get a shot off. This one was on me.

“Those days are over,” I casually noted.

“Which days are you referring to? The killing days or the more recent scheming days?” he asked.

How much does he know? He couldn’t know about … That’s impossible. No one knows about that.

“Both.”

He laughed. “I guess we’ll see about that, ‘cause I don’t think you are getting out of this without having to tap back into those skills.”

“What do you want?” I asked, enunciating each word carefully.

“I want you to kill him.”

I refused to look down at Reid up until that point, but after that, I had to. I looked down at him looking up at me, his expression clearly wondering what I was going to do.

I may be angry and upset, but I would never do something like this to you, Reid. I willed him to read my mind.

“What?” I was still processing his request.

“You heard me. You kill him, and the rest of us walk out of here.”

I shook my head and right as I did, he pushed the barrel farther into my skull.

I knew I couldn’t turn around and shoot Joe: he would be able to shoot me much faster and would probably shoot Reid as well before the team could kill him. I knew I couldn’t kill Reid. That was just a given.

But there were three people in this equation, leaving me with one last variable to manipulate.

I turned the gun on myself.

I contemplated just dropping it all together, but I figured that would result in the first outcome I’d envisioned. But threatening to take away the person he wanted to hurt or force back into old habits, taking the common denominator away, I knew that would foil all of his plans. And I’m known for self preservation not being suicidal, so it would be a scenario he would have never considered.

“No.”

“What are you doing?” I could hear the slight panic in Joe’s voice, the same feeling reflected in Reid’s eyes.

“I said no. I told you, those days are over for me. If you want to hurt me, then you should know that the person I care the most about, above all else, is myself. What would you do if I decided to ultimately protect myself from you once and for all?” I asked. When I got no response, I concluded with, “So take me. I’m who you’re here for, right? So just take what you came for.”

“You seriously mean that?” he asked with a glimmer of hope.

“I’m not one to play games.”

He grabbed me by the arm and demanded I drop my gun, pressing his own to my temple. I did as he said, all but placing the gun in Reid’s hands, giving him one last look that tried to convey as much hope as I could without just winking at him.

I continued to walk slowly, Joe still using me as a human shield, on our path to the exit. He reached the glass doors and turned around, about to push through with his back. But I knew something he didn’t. Those doors were deceivingly heavy.

I used the back of my head to jam his nose into his skull, simultaneously ramming his head into the glass doors. They budged, but not enough to knock us both completely off balance. I cranked my body out of his grap, and turned around to face him, hitting him hard enough to disarm him. The shock of my blows gave me the upper hand as I reached for his weapon, claiming it as my own. I now stood in front of him, the tables having drastically turned.

“FBI. Put your hands up,” I said smugly. He wore an expression of pure rage which only increased the pleasure I got from this moment. “Joe Spade, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of multiple FBI agents.”

He put his hands up and I tossed his gun aside, quick to replace it with handcuffs. “It looks like I was able to not only get out of this situation without having to kill anybody, but also fulfill my fantasies of handcuffing you after all.”

I brought his hands down behind his back and tightened the cuffs as much as possible. I walked him forward a few paces so he could really get a good look at my team members.

“You see those people up there behind that railing? Those people are my family. They actually look out for me, and I will always look out for them. Those ladies over there? They are like my sisters, compassionate people I aspire to be like. And those men? They’ve taught me that good men and healthy relationships do exist. All of them have helped me overcome my trust issues and anxiety when it comes to opening up and letting people in. They’ve shown me what love truly looks and sounds like, and I’ve started to learn how to reciprocate. And you know what? They are the reason that I didn’t kill you,” I snarled, letting him, and the rest of the team, digest that. “Take a good, long, look. Because they are the only reason you are alive right now.”

I made him stand there for a few seconds, marinating in that information, before yanking him towards the door, handing him off to the officers that were to escort him down to a squad car.

# # # # # # # # # # # # #

“Ohmygod! Are you okay?” Penelope squawked as she rushed toward me.

I couldn’t even get a response out before her lung-squishing hug surrounded me. I hugged her back but quickly answered, “Yes. I’m all good.”

“Are you sure? That was … I mean that was-”

“I know. And I’m okay,” I said with a reassuring smile.

“Did you mean all of that?” she asked me with hopeful, gleaming eyes.

“Yeah,” I replied, but I could tell that Rossi heard my uncertain undertone. For the most part.

“What was that?” Rossi interjected, stern but concerned. “You put yourself in harm's way and made a reckless, stupid, decision.”

Yeah because focusing on myself up to this point has worked out so well for me. I decided I’d try something new, and look at that, not giving a damn about my safety worked out for all of us.

I kept those thoughts to myself and opted for, “It worked out. I’m fine.”

“What's happened to you? You went from yelling at a guy who reminded you of your father to not even being phased by your own. Not to mention he was holding a gun on you,” Morgan acknowledged. I knew what he was getting at, all of them noticing my change in attitude this morning before all of the madness that followed.

“Well, shit happens. Things change,” I stated coldly. I saw Reid cringe from behind the rest of the group.

“And I guess so do people,” Rossi said pointedly.

“Yeah,” I finally looked at Reid, skimming my eyes up and down him, “They do.”

A moment of awkward silence passed over the group before Hotch said, “Let’s all take the rest of the day off. We’ll start on our new case tomorrow.”

The group agreed and each gave me their varied versions of condolences and then turned to check on Reid. Most of the rest of the bullpen had already left, receiving the same deal Aaron gave us, and our team started slowly breaking apart so they could grab their stuff. Soon, that just left Reid and I standing there. I went to walk by him on my way to get my stuff when he stopped me.

“Aundreya, wait,” he squeaked.

I turned to face him, waiting to see what followed.

“I know it doesn’t make this any better but I am sorry. I never intended for this to happen.”

“I believe you, but the damage has been done.”

“I know. I just … I don’t know-”

“Look Reid. Everything I said was true. I let my guard down, I let you in. I trusted you, which went against every instinct in my body telling me to run. For the first time in my entire life, I felt like I could breathe. Like I could actually breathe. Do you know what that feels like? For my whole life, I have been suffocating under the weight of my father, the Slaughterer, the streets, just waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I never knew what it felt like to just be okay and to feel safe. Until I met you. I had just started to break down my barriers, my entire belief system, because I started to understand that I was wrong, that not everyone is out for themselves, just manipulating me for their own personal gain then tossing me aside like garbage. I mean, you just met the one and only male role model in my life! That’s what I thought everyone, specifically men, were like! And just when you started to prove me wrong… I’ve tumbled all the way back down to square one. So was what you did world-ending? No. Is that the worst thing that could have happened, that you could have done? Definitely not. Our job proves that every day. But it felt pretty massive to me,” I ranted.

I didn’t mean to raise my voice or draw attention to the situation, but those thoughts had been playing an intense game of Pong inside my head for a while, and I just had to get them off my chest. It was Hotch and Prentiss that were straggling, and while they were out of earshot, they weren’t blind.

I let out a nervous laugh, absorbing the irony of the whole thing. “And you told me you would never hurt me,” I shook my head in disbelief, “Look at us now.”

I reached around him to grab my stuff and barreled toward the door without another breath.

It wasn’t fair of me and I knew that. We fucked and maybe that was it. It’s not like we were together and he was cheating on me or something. We actually had never even talked about what we were, and now, maybe we never would. I guess I would just have to accept that the whole thing, all the lead up and shit, was just a fling. A harmless, nothing-to-get-your-panties-in-a-wad-over, fling. So maybe I did dish out too much, and he didn’t really deserve all that, but I couldn’t worry about it now. I’d said it, and it made me feel better to say it, and I wanted him to know how much it hurt. Sure, he’d just had a gun to his head thanks to my father but so had I, and there really is no better time to get emotional than after a shared trauma.

I got home and laid on my couch, recounting the events of the day.

He mentioned my scheming. He couldn’t know, could he? But he seemed like he might’ve…

That would be yet another fun excuse to recount to the team, if they even remembered or felt courageous enough to ask.

But for the time being, I curled up on my couch, queueing up the series finale of ‘Sherlock.’

Taglist (open)

@justanothetfangirl

@kris-stuff

@wooya1224

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astrarche-x · 4 years ago

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Six of Crows (+ Crooked Kingdom)

If somebody gave a penny for my thoughts on books, I’d have zero pennies, but here are my thoughts anyway!

It’s not a very spoiler-heavy note.

I know I’m super late to the party, but it’s only a month left to read the book before the show is released and that was a motivation to finally read it. (That and the fact that I have 3 written assignments due the end of the week).

- I haven’t read the Grisha trilogy, but Six of Crows was perfectly understandable without it, so that’s an asset. I wouldn’t mind knowing more about the war in Ravka, but generally it was ok.

- Found family in a juvenile delinquents gang is one of my favorite tropes in fiction and this book is all about that, so I was absolutely delighted. I liked how it wasn’t very obviously sugar-coated - obviously it wasn’t horribly realistic (I guess), but it avoided the Robin Hood or “criminal with a heart of gold” trope and that was nice, because it would reek of moralism.

- I liked the descriptions of the architecture etc. and could almost feel myself walking through the streets of Ketterdam. But the descriptions of Fjerda were very inconsistent to me in regard to the rest of the novel - I kinda felt like I was thrown from historical fiction to sci-fi (all that laboratory stuff) and that was weird.

- The action was very well-paced - without unneccessary delays and plot detours, but at the same time giving the characters and the reader time to breathe and bond. The only aspect I wasn’t satisfied with was the ending - it was too easy to predict the plot twist and it drained away the suspense and the sense of high stakes. And while some could say that it means that the writer set it up well, I think it would be better if it was unexpected, especially given that it’s not the kind of plot twist that changes the reader’s perception of the whole book, it just marked the turn in the action.

- post-CK addition: in Crooked Kingdom I felt that the action was moving a lot faster and left me quite exhausted at times. The moments to catch a breath were a bit too rare, but at least exuisite every time.

- While I’m rather glad that the “multiple POV” trend is dying, it was pulled off well in “Six of Crows”, because the narrative was in 3rd person. That allowed readers to switch rather effortlessly between the chapters while still directing their focus to a particular character.

- the characters, aka the best thing in this book: they are all lovable in their own ways and honestly I can’t decide who’s my favourite (jk jk it’s Matthias and Inej). I think that the number of characters is just right, not too big and confusing, but allowing for diversity in narratives. I only had an impression that characterization of Wylan was dropped halfway through the book and he’s been a plot device for solving technical problems most of the time, which is kinda sad. Also his change in personality was a bit unexpected.

- post-CK addition: ok, Wylan got his POV & his development, but I still feel like 75% of his character are family problems. I hope that maybe a reread in a few months will make me appreciate him more.

- Nina and Matthias: my absolutely favourite subplot (and ship in this book). It’s been a while since I’ve read so well executed enemies to lovers. The emotional and sexual tension between them! The desire to love vs the memory of past wrongdoings! The wish to trust and be vulnerable again vs the fear of betrayal! Them disagreeing on fundamental issues but finding points of mutual understanding nevertheless! Them caring for each other more than they care about their causes, even though the causes are everything! The banter! I just... can’t. Their story is such a good blend of cuteness and dark themes. I found it extremely interesting when the first chapter from Matthias’ POV showed how he was kinda deranged by his stay in prison and his desire for revenge and for love that were knit together so thight. Whereas he more or less regained his sanity as the book progressed (I wish it was more developed) he was still very much not in the best mental state and that made him a wild card, so the plot twists involving him were convincing. I also think that his disillusionment with his religious militia was quite well-written (as for an adventure novel, that is, where it was not the main plot). I liked how Matthias was trying to play 4D chess with the rest of the crew with his schemes and Nina joined him in part. Also the scene when the Crows try to get back to their ship in Fjerda and Nina gets shot, but heals herself so fast... Damn, that was some king shit. I love their dynamic, even though it’s the epitome of problematic(tm) by tumblr, but oh well, I’m all in for eros/thanatos motives and some good chemistry. One thing I feel their relationship lacked were the sex scenes - this is probably due to the book being technically YA (and that’s another reason why writing it for a bit older audiences would be ok), but both Nina and Matthias are so horny for each other that I find it impossible that they’ve never had sex.

- post-CK addition: my heart is broken but Matthias’ character arc? Pure gold. I was so proud when he started questioning his religious beliefs and tried to reconcile them with his love for Nina. Love one redempted magic fascist. Also poor Nina... I still kinda don’t understand why their subplot had to end like this - and it’s really tempting me to read King of Scars.

- Inej’s moral/religious dilemmas were so good and I identified with them a lot (not that I’ve killed someone, but still). Also I found her characterization to be top notch, because she clearly isn’t an extrovert, but is not reduced to “i have no social skills” stereotype. I love her.

- Kaz was a briliant character and his plans were so well written... But I have one issue with them: especially in Crooked Kingdom, when there’s a plot twist, it’s usually revealed to be just another layer of Kaz’s plan. When does he have the time to set it all up? I know he barely sleeps, but still, it feels like it kinda gets out of nowhere. But generally I’m all for scheming, ass-kicking gang boss. I also like the fact that he was still a very skilled fighter despite his disability, which allowed the author to escape the “disabled body means he can only use his mind” trope (which is justified sometimes, but still). And his trauma was so well-written... Honestly, the first full flashback with Kaz clutching to Jordie’s decaying body was one of the two most disturbing scenes in the novel (the other being Kaz ripping Oomen’s eye off) and I kinda wasn’t prepared for this. On the other hand, the bathroom scene in Crooked Kingdom with Inej? It was so beautiful, so well-crafted, so intimate; I felt the world stand still for a while.

- me looking at Jesper: adhd

I found him very relatable in terms of escaping his problems and felt sorry for his gambling addiction. But I wish his struggle over his powers was more expanded - he is shown being in two minds about this, but we as readers don’t really get full insight into the pros & cons of both option. But maybe it’s just the character’s specific way of going more by gut feeling and I’m being picky.

- a pet peeve of mine: if the author was really going so hard for the tzarist Russia vibe for Ravka, why did she name her character “Zoya Nazyalensky” and not “Zoya NazyalenskA” or, even better, “NazyalenskAYA” as it should be? C’mon, names ending in -sky have their female counterparts and it’s not hard to understand.

- what was a bit of obstacle to immerse myself fully in the Six of Crows was the fact that the whole novel was so well-planned and logical that I sometimes felt like watching the author’s creative process unveil - and while it would be helpful if I was looking for writing tips, I was there to have good fun and forget about my assignments, so it kinda got in the way. It was like “ok, I want them to get inside the prison... but how they’re going to do it? Ha, I know: the jailers’ carriage. Next: what happens next in prisons? Oh right, they will be searched and... probably put in new clothes. So no clothing and no weapons means it’s time for Jesper’s big reveal. This is where I pepper in his crush on Kaz. I can cross this off the list of his character development now”. The Crooked Kingdom was better in this aspect - as the characters’ subplots were more separated and the chronology was going in loops (character A’s POV ends with all people parting ways --> character B’s chapter describes their mission --> character C’s chapter starts again at the end of character A’s POV), it was more natural and captivating read.

- Kuwei was... very forgettable. I actually for most of the time totally forgot he was a character. I know he wasn’t a main character, but I feel like I know more about Specht and Rotty, some totally secondary gang members, than him.

#six of crows #crooked kingdom #book ramblings #generally 8/10 would read again

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atinytokki · 5 years ago

Text

𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐥

Chapter 12: The Execution

(Warnings: Violence and blood)

When the door slammed shut, Hongjoong felt like he could breathe again.

He couldn’t really feel much of anything at all anymore other than dull pains here and there, but he finally took a moment to absorb what was happening as he was truly alone for the first time in days.

A wave of relief washed over him when he realised everyone else was free now. If only they’d leave this place and never come back.

A storm was coming and it would consume everyone in its path.

Hongjoong was more distracted than usual during his daily chat with the Admiral, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed.

“I know there was another member of your company,” Kim barked, pacing the cell as his eyes burned holes into him. They didn’t bother with the interrogation room anymore.

“Where did he go?” the Admiral’s impatience was growing, so he motioned to Lieutenant Byun where he stood fiddling with his sword. “Will you talk if we burn you again? No? Maybe you’d rather freeze instead? Break his legs, Lieutenant.”

No, he needed those.

Flogging was one thing, potentially permanent damage was different. Hongjoong searched the Admiral’s face and thought back to the first time he met him, trying to figure out why the man was determined to make him suffer. It hit him like a load of bricks.

“I didn’t know—”

Hongjoong shifted to avoid the advancing Lieutenant.

“I didn’t know he was your son!”

The Admiral halted Byun with a quick hand motion and dragged Hongjoong up himself, tears brimming in both their eyes until the man gritted out a response.

“You had to have known he was someone’s.”

“Admiral, Prince Seonghwa is here to visit the prisoner,” Lieutenant Byun informed him, awkwardly clearing his throat until the Admiral dropped the prisoner and turned to see Seonghwa walking down the hall and stopping outside the occupied cell.

He was clothed in royal robes borrowed from his brother and he didn’t look happy.

It was unclear how much he had overheard.

Kim and Byun both bowed respectfully and the Admiral plastered a fake smile to his face. “What an unexpected delight. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“That is my business alone,” the prince responded calmly. “How long do I have?”

“Five minutes,” the Admiral responded, face darkening. “We have a conversation to resume.”

Seonghwa nodded and shifted nervously as the guard unlocked the cell for him to enter.

“He’s your prince,” Kim snapped, turning back to Hongjoong. “Bow to him.”

After a brief moment of surprise, Hongjoong did as he was told, trying to quell his trembling but holding the pose until the Admiral grunted with satisfaction.

“Call the guard if you need anything,” Byun instructed Seonghwa as the two of them stepped out.

Hongjoong tilted his head in confusion. “Seonghwa?”

Seonghwa rushed forward to hug the prisoner but thought better of it and stopped in his tracks.

“That looks like it hurts,” he mumbled, motioning to the fresh bruises and bloodstains as soon as the officers had left them.

Hongjoong shook his head and scooted back to give Seonghwa room to sit comfortably. “It’s not bad. What are you doing here?”

“I’m... I’m just here to reassure you that you haven’t been abandoned,” Seonghwa chuckled nervously, careful to keep the dirt off his new robes. “I don’t think it was my word that got Yeosang and Wooyoung freed, but my brother will unleash hell on Kim if he tries to put them back, I’ve made sure of it.”

“Your brother, the Crown Prince,” Hongjoong smiled and shook his head. “I’m glad you finally reunited, even though it was undercut by this mess.”

“Well, it’s not over yet.” Seonghwa’s eyes glinted and he leaned in closer just in case anyone was in earshot.

“If we just get more time, we can sneak you out of here.”

Hongjoong was already shaking his head. “It’s not happening, Seonghwa.”

“I can smuggle something in like you did back at the Fortress, something to help you pick the lock and get out—“

“They’ll check you before you visit, you know that,” he insisted. “It’s not happening.”

“I can knock out the guards, then, and we can—”

“They’ll know it was you and your word upholding Wooyoung and Yeosang loses its merit. Or worse, they’ll assume it was one of them and we’ll be right back where we started. It’s not happening, Seonghwa. I mean it.”

“But what else am I supposed to do?” Seonghwa threw his hands up, exasperated. “Let them kill you? Because we both know that’s the only way he’ll be satisfied.”

“Just trust me, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong sighed. He’d been saying it since he’d been brought here and they all refused to listen to him. “This is a secure prison and the situation is just... it’s not happening.”

“Then that means...” Seonghwa put the pieces together slowly. “You’ll have to escape at the execution.”

Hongjoong nodded. He’d never had to deal with things going that far before, but there was a first time for everything.

“That’s if they don’t beat you to death first,” Seonghwa pointed out.

Hongjoong cracked a smile at the matter-of-fact way he said it.

“Don’t laugh!” Seonghwa was tempted to shove him but that idea was quickly discarded. “This is serious. You and your disregard for your own life. Unbelievable.”

Hongjoong sobered as he eyed the guard coming to collect Seonghwa. “I mean it, you need to trust me.”

“It’s always me trusting you,” Seonghwa pouted. “Why can’t it be the other way around?”

“I do trust you, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said seriously, sliding back as the guard unlocked the cage and motioned for Seonghwa to leave. “I do trust you.”

Seonghwa swallowed his pride and left before the prison guards could get aggressive. The moment he stepped outside he had to wipe the emotion off his face.

He was Prince Seonghwa now.

His own bodyguards followed him all the way back to the royal residence. He was tempted to argue that if he could survive the unrestrained violence and near constant threat of his previous occupation, he could surely survive the walk back home.

But, of course, they weren’t supposed to know about that. And it was the first time he had even been allowed to leave the royal residence so he wasn’t pushing his luck.

The guards simply warned him that if he insisted on walking everywhere instead of going by palanquin, they would be walking with him.

In Junhee’s room, he was free of them at last. The sun was setting through the window shades on a busy day.

The morning had been spent getting Yeosang and Wooyoung set up at the inn (across the hall from their previous room). Practically inexhaustible funds proved to be another of the benefits to being the long lost prince.

Junhee had requested to have lunch with him and set him to studying the necessary materials for acting the part of a prince. That’s all Seonghwa felt like he was doing— acting— but he appreciated the instruction nonetheless, especially where it came to laws and regulations.

He had spent the rest of the afternoon listening for reports of San, searching the upper part of town for him. According to Wooyoung, he had been sent with the spellbook pages for help in the middle of the attack, and Seonghwa didn’t know where he might’ve taken those spells, but he wouldn’t rest until he found him and ensured his safety.

Coming up empty and tiring of being followed by bodyguards, he dropped by the prison to visit Hongjoong.

And now here he was watching the sunset and asking himself whether he was doing enough.

“What did you have for supper?” Junhee asked from his side of the room as he changed into nightclothes. “Chef Yoo tells me you didn’t turn up while I was dining with my fiancée’s family.”

“Street food in the market,” Seonghwa responded nonchalantly while he followed suit. He was more than glad to escape from the royal robes. It was nigh impossible to move with the silk constricting him.

Junhee sighed quietly before speaking up again. “Seonghwa, you can’t be seen in public running around and eating commoners’ food. At least not while you’re dressed royally.”

Seonghwa turned to look at him curiously. Implicitly, he was being told that it was fine to do whatever he pleased as long as he was undercover. That was to be expected from Junhee, though, considering the man had been undercover himself for years while he searched for Seonghwa. “Alright,” he agreed.

“It would still be prudent for you to dine with me,” Junhee went on, slipping the shirt over his head. “Your palette is nowhere near as refined as it should be if you’re to measure up to future in-laws.”

Seonghwa’s fingers got caught in a loop as he froze. Something told him Junhee wasn’t talking about his own fiancée. “Now, hold on, I didn’t sign up for marriage quite yet—“

“You’re taking it off all wrong, Seonghwa, let me help,” Junhee interrupted, hurrying over to help him undress and effectively ending the conversation about potential weddings there.

As soon as the cloth was pulled away, Junhee gasped at the state of Seonghwa’s skin. Tender flesh that had healed over an old bullet wound, a scar at the base of his throat—

“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

He ghosted his fingers over the skin and he sounded worried but his voice was more sad than anything. He didn’t know what Seonghwa may have done to deserve such injury, but it was horrible fate that anyone at all, let alone someone of such noble birth had been treated so barbarically. If Junhee knew who gave him both of those scars it would help nothing.

Seonghwa looked down at the evidence of his own wounds and paused for a moment before answering. “It’s not all bad.”

Junhee smiled fondly and helped him get the rest of his robes off, handing him a fresh set of nightclothes. “How is the life of a pirate, then?”

“Surprisingly domestic,” Seonghwa grunted as he pulled the shirt over his head. “Try it sometime if you don’t believe me.”

“I don’t think I will, thanks,” Junhee laughed, settling into his own bed. “Not if it puts me at risk of whatever happened to you.”

He waited until Seonghwa was comfortable in bed too before adding quietly, “I can’t promise your safety, but as a prince you will certainly have more security than as a pirate.”

Seonghwa hummed gratefully but he knew deep down that he had seen too much to sit safely on a throne.

Not when he still had a week to save the necks of those closest to him.

...

There was electricity in the air and it made Yunho’s hairs stand on end.

The boat was a bit more work with only three of them setting sail this time but they were motivated and running low on time.

After what seemed like ages on the mystic’s island, it actually took an hour or two for them to adjust to the roll and pitch of their vessel. Yunho hadn’t been seasick since he first joined the ATEEZ but his dizziness was giving him second thoughts.

“Mingi, I think we need to turn three points north or we might miss Namhae,” Jongho was saying, biting his lip nervously and looking at their charts.

“No, we’re on track, you’re just saying that because of the position of the sun,” Mingi argued back, pointing to the distant ball. “Time is back to passing normally now, remember? Just because it moves doesn’t mean we are.”

“Speaking of the sun,” Yunho broke in as he gazed at it. There was a loose halo around it, like a shadow of tiny droplets reflecting its brilliance, and he remembered the rhyme from his youth. “‘Ring around the sun, rain before the day is done.’ It’s exceptionally humid, we’re due for a thunderstorm any minute now.”

Yunho wasn’t born on the sea by any means, but he had done the work necessary to catch up and become an experienced seaman. That included learning to identify the signs of a squall.

“Exceptionally humid? I don’t think so,” Mingi shook his head and turned to look at the sun again. “It’s been humid all season.”

“And! Easterly winds,” Yunho said triumphantly, indicating the full sail. “A storm is travelling toward us from behind.”

“But it wasn’t storming on the island when we left—”

“That’s because the island is a magic bubble that doesn’t experience normal time or weather. Trust me on this, I can feel it.”

“Yunho is right,” Jongho interjected. “Unlike you old men, I can’t feel an air pressure change in my bones or anything but that is a pod of harbour porpoises over there and they are heading back to shore.”

All three of them watched as four porpoises in the distance sped underwater back towards the island.

“And...?” Mingi pouted, failing to see the relevance.

“Porpoises always head to shore before a gale,” Jongho said with a roll of his eyes. “I thought everyone knew that.”

“Well, not everyone is raised by mermaids,” Mingi countered. “So you can talk to animals, too?”

“No, but honestly Mingi, you lived in a fishing village, didn’t you?” At this point Jongho was fully calling him out. “It’s the tail end of typhoon season and I know the signs when I see them. We need to prepare now, not when we’re being tossed by the waves.”

Mingi gulped and finally let his shoulders drop. Denying the inevitable wasn’t going to help. The wind ruffling his hair was proof of that.

“Alright, Yunho help with the sail, Jongho I’ll need you bailing when it starts to rain,” Mingi ordered before looking anxiously at the sky, waiting for it to darken.

It was time to be a leader.

...

Nestled safely in a delivery bag strapped to a messenger while he rode his horse was a very important letter.

It was stamped with an urgent sign, as well as Admiral Kim’s own personal seal.

On the morning that Yeosang visited Hongjoong, the messenger reached his destination, trotted up to the front door, and left the letter himself in the hands of Head Navigator Kang.

My old friend,

Finally after these several years not knowing what became of your dear son, I am pleased to report that I have found him. He did indeed leave the service of Bang Si-Hyuk of his own accord, and I regret to inform you that he fell in with the likes of pirates. And not just any scum— the ragtag crew of the ATEEZ, a pirate vessel I’m sure you’ve heard of, for it is captained by Kim Hongjoong, protège of Eden.

I’ve been hunting this ship for some time and while I can cheerfully announce that the captain is in my custody and due for a public hanging, his ship and crew still elude me. I also regret that I cannot tell you how your son became entangled with them, so I suppose you will have to ask him yourself.

I am quite occupied at present but if you would like to collect him and bring him home (and dare I suggest, talk some sense into him) he is staying at the Jihada Inn, Namhae Island. I’ve kept an eye on him while he’s been staying there and am willing to accommodate you when you arrive though I may be busy with other matters.

Safe travels and Long Live the King,

Admiral Kim Junmyeon

...

Yeosang forced a smile while he was led back through the jail halls, halls he had wished never to see again, until they left him alone in the cell with Hongjoong.

Hongjoong was the only reason he had come back to this place. He would just as soon leave it behind as another of his darkest memories, but he owed it to his captain to keep him informed. And he owed it to Wooyoung to go in his stead and spare him any further emotional distress.

The captain in question was sitting against the wall, fast asleep after what had probably been days. Yeosang gave him a minute of peace, watching his chest rise and fall gently, before shaking him awake.

His bright hair had faded to a dusty pink in the dullness and darkness of his cell, but he pushed it out of his eyes and craned his neck to look at Yeosang.

Blinking at him lethargically, Hongjoong checked the otherwise empty hall.

“What happened to Seonghwa?”

“He’s looking for San,” Yeosang sighed, settling into a crouch. “The Admiral is searching for him relentlessly. It may be the only reason you’re still alive, actually.”

Hongjoong hummed in agreement. As morbid of a thought as it was, it was probably true. The Admiral was greedy and he wanted to wipe out as much of the ATEEZ as he could in one fell swoop.

“We’ll visit you as often as we can, in shifts,” Yeosang was talking again, voice a little softer now. “The Admiral has allowed it. The Navy’s not completely barbaric, you know...”

It was supposed to reassure Hongjoong, but all he could do was shake his head. “Yeosang, you realise the moment you leave...” He stopped himself before he ruined the mood. There was no use dwelling on those things.

Instead he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Yeosang looked at him curiously. “Why are you laughing?”

“Just thinking about the role reversal.” His expression softened into a smile as he explained. “It was the other way around at the Fortress island. I was walking free and you were the imprisoned one.”

“But Hongjoong,” Yeosang scoffed. “This is different, they’re trying to execute you!”

Hongjoong frowned. Why did Yeosang always feel the need to downplay his own suffering?

“I told Mingi something after that experience and it’s still true,” Hongjoong said after a long pause. “I’d rather be dead and free than behind bars for the rest of my life. I mean that.”

“Well I’d rather you stay alive,” Yeosang whispered with a halfhearted smile. He was trying to be hopeful, and Hongjoong appreciated it, but he could see how nervous Yeosang was.

“Don’t do anything stupid. We’ll have you out of here soon.” The guards were already coming to collect him.

It was like he had forgotten everything Hongjoong had said when they were imprisoned together.

Hongjoong nodded anyway and hugged him before watching him go. He smiled the whole time for Yeosang’s sake, but he knew it was impossible. There was no way everything could go back to normal.

Yeosang would be dragged home, and he would be dragged to the square to be hung. That was where his fate would be decided, not in this prison.

Yeosang realised that he was shaking halfway through the walk home. It was so much easier to just forget the prison, forget the Admiral, forget their “conversations”...

And yet the moment he returned to the inn he had Wooyoung’s broken finger confronting him.

“It’s healing fine,” Wooyoung reassured him gently over dinner. The mood was a far cry from the meal they’d shared there as a group of four. “Look, I can even hold utensils properly...”

Yeosang forced a smile again (he’d lost count of how many it had been) and pushed back his own plate. It felt wrong to be eating when Hongjoong was probably starving.

“No, no, come on,” Wooyoung tutted, taking his hand to grab his attention. “I know what you’re thinking. But you haven’t eaten properly in days, you need the nutrition.”

Yeosang shook his head and dropped it into his hands. Here they were in this hotel, dressed in brand new clothes, with enough money to buy them every meal for the rest of the week thanks to Seonghwa, and yet it didn’t feel like the healing time it was supposed to be.

“We’re not doing enough. I’m not sure what else we could be doing, but we aren’t doing it.”

“Yeosang, we’re recovering,” Wooyoung whispered, drawing back and lowering his eyes. He sounded hurt, and Yeosang itched to comfort him, but where could he even start?

He stayed silent until they were alone in their room and preparing for bed. Wooyoung held a bowl of water, seemingly to wash his face, but was frozen staring into it, clutching the edges with a white knuckle grip.

“I can’t,” he whispered suddenly. “I can’t do it.”

“Do you... need help?” Yeosang offered, knowing full well he hadn’t so much as been able to look at a water basin until today.

Wooyoung glanced up at him and nodded, holding out a washcloth. So Yeosang washed his face for him, wiping dirt and tears away, and murmuring what comfort he could.

“We’re recovering,” he repeated his own words back to him, and wondered if helping Wooyoung heal was helping himself heal as well.

When he lay in bed fighting nightmares and phantom pains, he rolled over and watched Wooyoung sleep.

If staying sane was all they could do for now, Yeosang was dead set on doing it.

...

Seonghwa tried not to flinch as his hair was tugged back to fit his new crown.

His blonde had been dyed back to black at Junhee’s request. He said it looked more royal and wanted the two to match, and that was fine, but Seonghwa remembered the day he dyed it to blonde with a pinch of sorrow.

They had been happy on that island, even if only for a day.

Seonghwa stared at himself in the mirror while attendants helped him into his ceremonial robes and wondered if they’d be able to go back someday, when all this was over.

“You look stunning,” Junhee complimented him with a giddy smile when he climbed into the palanquin. “Are you ready to greet everyone?”

“Yes,” Seonghwa said after a pause. It was true, he did want to learn and he did want to meet his new subjects, even if it was an inconvenient time to have a royal parade through Namhae.

Seonghwa felt uncomfortable with the way they treated him. It was always difficult to trust when you’ve been kicked down your whole life only for everyone to declare they love you one day.

Still, he smiled and waved when the curtain was pulled back and citizens lined the streets to throw flowers and gifts in their path.

It was only some cheering men and swooning women, Seonghwa could handle it.

The masts of ships craned like necks above the seaside houses and, noticing the absence of one he recognised, Seonghwa got a strange feeling in his chest.

“Take us by the port,” he requested, keeping the shaking out of his voice as long as he could while he came up with an excuse. “I miss the sea breeze on my face.”

Junhee nodded sympathetically and repeated the order for the palanquin bearers.

When the harbour was in view his suspicions became confirmed.

The ATEEZ was gone.

...

When Yeosang returned to visit Hongjoong that evening, he didn’t even bother forcing a smile.

He had received a particularly unpleasant message that morning and didn’t know who else to go to.

“My father is on his way to- to bring me home. I don’t know when the Admiral called him or why Seonghwa didn’t put a stop to it but...”

His voice broke and Hongjoong’s heart broke for him.

“But everything is falling apart now and I can’t even do anything about it,” he sobbed.

This time it was Hongjoong pulling him into a hug and hanging on tight for as long as he was able.

“I fear I’ve only brought you pain,” Hongjoong mumbled when their time was almost up and Yeosang had realised this was goodbye.

“No, on the contrary. It’s been an honour,” he sniffled, and he meant it. Hongjoong’s shirt was in shreds and practically hanging off him but Yeosang clung to it anyway.

His father was on his way and this might be the last chance he got for who knows how long.

“He’ll be here soon. The winds are with him.”

“You’ve been tracking the winds while we’ve been on land?” Hongjoong was amazed.

“I have,” Yeosang shrugged and his cheeks glowed with embarrassment. He was shy Yeosang again for a glimpse of time and not the burdened shadow he had become. “Habit, I guess. But if only tracking the winds could slow them.”

Hongjoong saw his shoulders fall and tilted his head, thinking of a way to lighten the mood. “Even if he locks you up in a high tower, you know we’ll come rescue you, right?”

Yeosang shoved him playfully, careful of his wounds, before sobering to say what he felt he needed to as the guards warned him of the time.

“I usually like to be alone,” Yeosang admitted. “There’s comfort in solitude and I’ve always appreciated it, but with all of you... I feel like I can actually hear myself think. The decks of the ATEEZ are my home, not that big empty house. And I won’t forget it.”

Hongjoong simply hugged him tight, pressing a kiss to his forehead and watching him leave with heavy steps, leaning against the bars as the air left his lungs.

The two of them had come a long way.

...

Admiral Kim was at his wits end. Every trail that was headed towards the escaped pirate led only to failure. It was as if someone had perfectly covered his tracks and Kim knew it was too expertly done to be a mere pirate.

Only one day until the execution remained and he was done waiting. He’d beat the answer out of the prisoner they did have, or they’d send him to the gallows alone and hope the escapee wandered into their clutches.

A mere five minutes in and it was clear they’d be going with the second plan.

Hongjoong made sure of it.

“Stop getting back up!” The Admiral screamed. He had pushed them both to the edge of sanity, himself included. “You’ve no parents to mourn you, your mentor is at the bottom of the sea, your crew has abandoned you, and I’ve wiped out the rest of your kind. Whatever escape you have up your sleeve is pointless, you’ll live in fear the rest of your life and I’ll hunt you down and kill you. So stop getting back up!”

He punctuated each word of his final line with a blow and then panted from his impromptu speech, glaring at Byun’s concern at his apparent frustration.

“That’s enough for today,” the Admiral muttered before storming out.

Hongjoong didn’t bother trying to resist the sweet release of sleep. Tears collected in his eyelashes but he couldn’t blink them away anymore. They stung faintly where they ran in salty tracks and mingled with open wounds, but Hongjoong barely registered it.

The Admiral was right about one thing; this would all be over soon.

...

“Did you know about this?” Seonghwa sighed, gesturing to the empty spot at the marina. That’s where the ATEEZ was supposed to be.

He’d met the others there in the first watch of the night to discuss what they could before Yeosang was dragged back home.

Both Wooyoung and Yeosang shook their heads. “Everyone’s separating,” Wooyoung realised quietly, eyes flitting over to Yeosang who remained silent. “And there goes our ride off this island.”

Seonghwa pinched his nose and forced an exhale. He was one incident away from a mental breakdown at this point and all he could do was mutter frustratedly, “Captain is going to be executed tomorrow and even as royalty I can’t do a thing to stop it.”

“Come now, surely he can’t be hanged without due process,” Wooyoung grasped for something legitimate. “And with no evidence and no one to speak for him...”

“Plenty of the Admiral’s own men will speak,” Yeosang finally sighed. “Against him. They believe they have good reason and that they may execute him. He’s a proven pirate, no matter the circumstances, and our country has no mercy for pirates.”

Wooyoung pinched his skin in some unconscious effort to pull a solution out of himself. “What’s he thinking?” He whined.

“Why doesn’t he just tell us his plan? It’s more likely to succeed if we help him, isn’t it?”

It was also more likely that they’d be hung with him if they plotted alongside him.

“The Fortress was his test of trust,” Yeosang whispered, nervously watching a distant ship as it approached. “I think this one is ours.”

...

“Shouldn’t we be taking in sail?”

Jongho had to yell to be heard above the wind and the cracks of thunder.

He repeated his question twice, all while bailing bucket after bucket of water out of their sorry boat. She was persevering now, but the seams were wearing thin and Jongho didn’t know how much longer they would hold up.

“No,” Mingi finally answered him. “We’re going to run the storm. We have the wind at our backs, it can speed us to Namhae.”

“Or it can tear us to shreds,” Jongho returned, frustrated. It was a battle of wits between their puny boat, sped by the wind, and the wind itself with all its ripping strength. “We don’t have spares, can we really risk it?”

“She’ll hold,” Yunho promised, gripping the ropes tightly in his hands. “I’ll hold her together myself if I have to.”

A flash of lightning just above them sent Jongho’s heart leaping. He had always been frightened of thunderstorms as a child, and he supposed he had never really gotten over that fear, only contained it to keep it from showing.

It was a storm on the beach, after all, that had led him to the mermaid cove. And his dreams had stormed inside him ever since.

Jongho had beaten those dreams, he’d beaten their odds, and he’d beaten the crystal that inflicted them to tiny shards. He could beat this thunderstorm too.

He let the rumbling sound wash over him before breathing deeply and helping Yunho close-haul the sail.

His muscles were fatigued and his clothes were rain-soaked but he felt alive in that moment and he knew they all had the same feeling.

They could beat this.

...

“That’s your father arriving, isn’t it?”

Sure enough, the swinging lanterns reflected on the water belonged to a Navy ship that was coming in. Head Navigator Kang stood at the bow, and he looked displeased to say the least.

So that was why Yeosang had brought his luggage to the docks.

Seonghwa embraced Yeosang quickly, pressing their foreheads together and promising him he would reunite with him again, then slipping away before he was spotted.

Wooyoung clung to Yeosang until the last possible second.

A clanging bell signalled the ship’s arrival but Wooyoung wanted nothing more than to turn it around and send it back to sea.

He and Yeosang had to stay together. Even in a Navy prison, even if they risked death, they had to stay together. And here was this man who called himself Yeosang’s father, arriving only to separate them.

“We’ll find each other again, too, won’t we?” He swallowed nervously but Yeosang’s nod was reassuring.

This entire business had come around at the wrong time, just when the crew had surrendered everything, just when they’d ended their quest and committed to choosing their own paths.

“When the time is right, we’ll meet again,” Yeosang declared. “I don’t care who gets in my way, I’m taking my life back. And I know you’re meant to be in it— all of you.”

Wooyoung pulled him into one last hug, rocking with the force of it and forcing his sobs to stay inside.

Even as he pulled away and walked up the gangplank, disappearing belowdecks without even a spare glance at his father, Yeosang’s words echoed in Wooyoung’s head. When the time is right...

The tears were sticky on his face and he turned back towards the town with purpose the moment the ship had left his sight.

He had someone else to say goodbye to.

Wooyoung hadn’t seen Hongjoong since he’d left his own jail cell, but the bedraggled form lying behind bars hardly looked like the same person.

“Let me in!” He screamed at the key keeper. “Let me in, do you hear me? You’re killing him, please, just let me—”

More to cut off his complaints than anything, the guard unlocked the cell and hurriedly closed it behind him as he rushed in

“Wooyoung?” A faint voice left the sorry lump that was his captain and Wooyoung rushed to take him in his arms just to know he was still alive. Hongjoong protested the movement and pushed at him the moment he drew back. “You shouldn’t have come. You need to leave, all of you.”

Wooyoung wanted to punch him for saying such a ridiculous thing, but his fist withdrew as his eyes found the bruises littered across his captain’s body.

“I’ve made my peace with this,” Hongjoong whispered, squirming like he was exposed. “All I can ask is that you try to do the same.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You haven’t made peace with it— not really! Those are tears in your eyes, I know you’re afraid...”

“Not afraid for myself. I know what I’m doing.” He’d said it a thousand times and it figured to Wooyoung that he’d say it again. Hongjoong’s shoulders slumped with the pause that followed and he met his eyes again, heartbroken. “I’m just sad that I have to leave all of you behind.”

“Then take us with you,” Wooyoung’s voice came out in a pathetic whimper, but he could no longer stifle the sorrow working its way up his throat.

“You don’t understand,” Hongjoong coughed until his voice was hoarse and looked back up at Wooyoung to whisper to him, “This place will burn, I will not let you burn with it.”

“No. No, sir, I did not watch you come back to life before just to let your misplaced altruism get in the way again, please...” Wooyoung knew it was hopeless but he was fixed to his spot. It was abandoning ship or disobeying his Captain and both were dishonourable to him.

He stayed in the middle ground like that until the sharp voice of the guard warned him of the time.

Finally he released a long and trembling breath, as if drawn out of his very soul.

A year ago he would have run the other way at the first whiff of trouble. But here he was now, wholly undone at the thought of losing one who had somewhere along the way become dear to him.

When had any of these pirates become dear to him? Wooyoung could not for the life of him remember.

“Trust me, Wooyoung,” Hongjoong insisted one last time. “Get out of town, I’m begging you.”

“How will we find each other again?”

“I’ll find you,” he whispered. “Keep a weather eye on the horizon for me.”

Wooyoung would not have been able to leave the cell without that promise.

He needed them, too, like he needed air to breathe, and more than he had ever cared to admit.

He hurried to the hotel to pack his things. The rest of the crew may be unreachable but there was still someone out there who could use his help.

He was going to finish what the others had started.

He was going to find San.

...

Mingi opened his eyes to a rare moment of near stillness in a world that was always moving.

The sunrise peeked through dispersing storm clouds behind them and the boat was still in one piece, with all of them inside it.

Mingi cracked a fond smile at Jongho’s bedhead, more of fluffy bird’s nest than a head of hair, and reached out to smooth the strands back into place.

Jongho opened a tired eye before accepting his fate and waking up fully. On his other side, Yunho stretched and went to check the hold for food and water.

“We made it,” Mingi croaked, his already deep voice made scratchy from yelling orders all evening.

Jongho nodded solemnly and looked around to see where they were. The birds swooping low above the waves seemed to excite him.

“Land is close,” Mingi agreed. “Namhae, if my calculations were any good at all.

“Ship to starboard,” Yunho reported, mouth already full of what food they had left, but taking his duties seriously anyway. “No, actually, ships to starboard. Multiple.”

Mingi’s brow furrowed and he moved to the bow to see for himself. Even through the telescope he couldn’t tell yet what colours they were flying but they weren’t the Navy’s.

The Navy would have made the most sense considering the “grave danger” the mystic had described, but Mingi knew to be cautious anyway.

It wasn’t just one ship, it was at least a dozen. And they circled in the water like sharks, waiting for something.

Could this be a sign of the war she said was coming?

“What is it...?” Jongho asked, stifling a yawn and joining him at the bow.

“Unexpected traffic outside Namhae.”

...

The sun was bright, the air was cool and slightly salty, and it was execution day.

Seonghwa couldn’t eat. He could barely move without troubling his stomach. Junhee had told him it was fine if he didn’t want to come, thinking he was sparing his brother more violence that could just be added like any other incident to the list of unfortunate experiences he had endured.

But he insisted on going, because he needed to see for himself. He needed to be there in case Hongjoong’s plan— whatever it was— took a turn for the worse.

The brothers arrived early in the square and listened idly to the crowd as they gossiped. Pirate executions in the morning were just more free entertainment to the rabble of Namhae.

“I’ve heard he’s of short stature actually,” a woman to his left tutted to her companion.

“Nonsense,” came the scandalised response. “My brother survived his attack on their ship last fall and told me he was quite the figure— fiery eyes and bright clothes and at least six feet tall.”

“He must have mistaken another pirate for him then,” the first voice argued in a high pitch. “Or else he’s been wearing very tall boots.”

“Well I don’t think they’ll hang him in those, so we’ll see how tall he is for ourselves, won’t we?”

Seonghwa scoffed that this was what the audience concerned themselves with.

“Do you think we’ll tar him before or after he hangs?” A guard was giggling with another. Seonghwa choked on air and put as much distance between himself and that guard as possible.

He quit trying to peer over heads at the end of the road and went to his brother’s side.

It was no use because Junhee’s conversation was equally foul.

“I’ve decided to display the body by the harbour when the deed is done,” Admiral Kim chatted as if he were discussing the pleasant weather, not killing a man. “It will most certainly deter any followers from resuming their criminal activity in the absence of their leader.”

Seonghwa shook with rage while the man sauntered over to the rest of his regiment, but held in his remark at the hand Junhee placed on his shoulder. “Try to calm down,” his brother whispered urgently. “There’s nothing to be done.”

Seonghwa nodded and clasped his hands together. He would need every ounce of sanity left in him to get through this event.

The buzz of the crowd intensified as the star of the show appeared in the street.

He was dragging his chains with him but stood strong with his nose pointed high. Seonghwa was still stiff with worry but thankful Hongjoong had his dignity with him at least.

And no, he was not wearing boots.

He hadn’t spotted him yet, eyes fixed on the gallows that awaited him at the end of his march, and Seonghwa wasn’t sure if he wanted to be spotted. It was inevitable with the royal entourage accompanying him, but Seonghwa was still afraid to even be watching.

A tomato hit Hongjoong squarely in the face and the speed with which he turned his head to find the culprit was frightening.

Intimidated enough, no one else dared to throw fruit while the red juice dripped off his cheek.

Until he turned back around and another came flying, this time missing its mark and soiling the uniform of one of the guards escorting him.

Hongjoong’s laugh rang out and Seonghwa tried to relax, willing whatever mysterious rescue was coming to his captain’s aid to get there now while they were distracted.

As Hongjoong caught sight of the princes, his smile waned. His eyes were full as he was led the rest of the way up the platform, but he didn’t utter a word to blow Seonghwa’s cover.

Hongjoong maintained eye contact until the noose was forced over his head and he turned to look at the Admiral.

A cold blooded man exacting his vengeance.

The smile that shone on his face made Seonghwa sick.

“Any last words?”

Any minute now, any minute now...

“I’ll say my last words when it’s time for them,” Hongjoong bit back, glaring at the Admiral as if he’d gladly die burning holes into him. “So I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait.”

The executioner unlocked his cuffs and offered him a bottle of ale. It was simple courtesy, after all, to supply the liquid fortitude themselves.

“Why are they unbinding him?” Seonghwa whispered to Junhee, fighting back a glimmer of hope.

“They want to watch him struggle,” the Crown Prince answered sadly. “It’s cruel but it can’t be helped.”

Seonghwa didn’t even bother responding, pulling his clasped hands to his mouth and holding his breath.

Any minute now...

Drums were beating loudly as Hongjoong downed the bottle and smashed it on the ground.

“You’ll regret this,” he whispered, already feeling the rope chafe his neck. It was angled to snap it as soon as he was dropped, or else subject him to the slow death of asphyxiation, and the executioner’s hands were itching to pull the lever.

“By decree of Admiral Kim on authority of His Majesty the King as duly appointed representative, this man, Kim Hongjoong, is convicted of piracy and sentenced to hang by the neck until dead.”

Now a soldier was rattling off a scroll and Seonghwa was seconds away from grabbing the gun of the guard nearest him and targeting the Admiral himself.

Any... minute...

The reading was finished and the man stepped off the stage. It was the Admiral who gave the signal.

The drums stopped beating and Seonghwa caught his breath. There weren’t any minutes left.

The lever was pulled and the floor opened with it.

An explosion shook the town hall, blowing out the windows in a blast of fire, and foreign soldiers poured into the square, bullets flying every which way as the crowd dispersed.

Seonghwa lost sight of Hongjoong in the screams and chaos, but made to run to him when a bodyguard blocked his path.

“Prince Seonghwa, we need to get you to safety—”

“No, I need to see,” he argued, grabbing the man to shove him out of his way. “Please, just let me...”

But the guard was stronger.

Seonghwa felt himself be dragged off, out of the square, and down the street before he got his feet under him and brushed the man off. He would much rather go willingly, if he had to.

Suddenly, he was worried for Junhee and searched the writhing crowd for him, with the sunlight catching on the gold and jade of a crown driving him in that direction.

“Seonghwa!” Junhee had seen him as well, grasping his hands and running with him while the guards formed up around them like human shields. There was a bleeding cut in his cheek from the graze of a bullet. A couple of inches to the right and Seonghwa would have become the crown prince just like that.

Shots were fired from every direction and suddenly Seonghwa was afraid they wouldn’t reach the residence fast enough.

The sudden squelch of the man next to him being hit and immediately trampled in the crowd confirmed it, and he drew his gun and fired it at the offending soldier.

The man’s face was shocked as he toppled over and Seonghwa had no time to ogle his foreign uniform, the likes of which he had only seen in paintings and history books.

“Hurry, Seonghwa, this way,” Junhee panted and his grip around Seonghwa’s wrist tightened. His vision had gone red and he shook so violently it almost interrupted his strides as he ran full speed toward the temporary palace.

He didn’t know why war was breaking out around him or how Hongjoong was connected to it, but he hoped it didn’t kill him before he got the chance to go back for him.

If this was the escape plan, it was already backfiring.

...

“What do we do?” Yunho asked with his voice hushed as they drifted closer and closer to the mysterious ships.

“They’re all congregated in front of the island,” Mingi pointed out. “We’ll just have to try to pass them.”

Yunho nodded and tacked accordingly. It was up to Mingi now to steer them through the cluttered harbour space, aiming for the spit of land that was visible to them.

They only made it within range of the closest ship before they were being fired upon.

Yunho stumbled back from the edge of the boat and drew his gun to return fire while Jongho covered him.

“What are they thinking?” Jongho grumbled, indicating the mast. “We aren’t flying colours, we look like a civilian boat. What do they mean by firing on us?”

“It’s not just us,” Yunho gasped as he spied plumes of smoke rising from the town. It was being sacked right in front of them.

And not by pirates, these were soldiers.

This was a planned attack.

He was shaken out of it by a cannon shot landing in the water right in front of him and hurriedly rifled through their stores to look for anything they could defend themselves with.

Jongho succeeded in picking off a few of the enemy’s gunners but their bullets were nothing to the fleet’s heavy firepower.

“We’re going to be blown out of the water,” Mingi panicked, just barely steering them out of the way of a cannonball headed straight towards them.

Yunho turned to congratulate him, but even before he could get the words out another shot came flying from a different ship and landed in the middle of their boat.

The boat seams that had held up so beautifully in the storm were undone in seconds and before he knew it, the boat was sinking.

“The sail!” Mingi yelled until water washed over him and garbled his words. “Save the sail—”

Yunho threw himself at the mast for support, losing sight of the Jongho and Mingi. The lightweight fabric of the sail covered him and he had to kick viciously to keep himself from being drowned.

Planks popped up out of the water all around him, riddled with grapeshot the moment they surfaced and as Yunho floated in to shore under the canvas cover of the sail, he dipped under the waves frantically, looking for the others and praying they hadn’t been shot.

He caught sight of an unconscious Mingi and dragged him over to the sail, wrapping his limp arms around the mast and slapping his back until he coughed up the water he had swallowed and came to.

Mingi started and opened his mouth to speak but Yunho shushed him. The enemy was searching above and would smoke them out of the wreckage if they so much as breathed too loudly.

“Jongho...?” Mingi whispered hoarsely, already assuming the worst, and Yunho was prepared to dive back under to look for him when a hand grabbed his leg firmly.

It was Jongho, breathing easily underwater and motioning ahead at the island.

“He’s going to push us,” Yunho realised, nodding his consent and clinging onto the mast himself as Jongho swam hard beneath the waves, nudging the fallen mast along at a pace that hopefully looked natural from the surface.

Yunho kept his gaze on the land in front of them. It was burning and crying out and he needed to know what was going on.

While shells rained down around him, his thoughts went to the other officers probably caught in the chaos of the town.

They needed to find them and get out of this place, before the situation got any worse.

...

“You want to go back out there?” Junhee was completely and utterly shocked at Seonghwa’s foolishness. “Absolutely not!”

They had only just arrived at the residence and bolted themselves in while the chaos outside quelled into an aftermath and guards by the dozens were stationed all around them, the blood of their brothers-in-arms swimming in the streets.

And Seonghwa wanted to go back out there?

“Hyung, if you would just listen—”

“They’ll kill you the moment you step outside, Seonghwa, this is not a conversation we need to have,” Junhee said firmly, wiping his cheek with a cloth more aggressively than was necessary.

The slice in his skin stung a bit, but it was nothing to the bullets lodged in some of his guards.

The moment he got his hands on whoever was responsible—

“Hyung, please!” Seonghwa took him by the shoulders and forcefully turned him around.

As soon as Junhee’s attention was on him, the words he was trying to ask seemed to be stuck in his throat.

“At the execution, the pirate, I need to know, is he—?”

“Dead,” Junhee answered quickly, eyes fastened to the windows. More assassins could arrive any minute. “He’s dead, I watched him fall.”

Seonghwa dropped to the floor in shock.

When Junhee turned back to look at him it was like he had been struck into a stupor.

“He was your friend,” Junhee realised out loud, as if he hadn’t really guessed the significance of that fact before. Seonghwa had been one shove away from the edge all week and now it made sense.

“Junhee, he... he was...” Seonghwa trembled and clamped a fist over his mouth to trap a sob. “Please tell me you saw wrong, I’m begging you, please...”

A whimper escaped him when Junhee couldn’t answer and it was the gateway to a flood of tears that couldn’t be stopped.

Junhee muttered nonsense while he held him, shushing his cries before they attracted the enemy.

He had assumed that his brother had requested the freedom of the pirates out of his own misplaced kindness, out of the purity of his character. After all, he had travelled with them and lived to tell the tale.

But Seonghwa mourned as if his own heart had been snapped on that rope and he was lonely and friendless in a world of murderers.

If he didn’t take a deep breath soon he was going to pass out.

“Please, Seonghwa, I need you to calm down—”

“How would you feel?” Seonghwa suddenly yelled, pulling away with his wet face an angry red. “How would you feel if I was taken from you?”

“You were taken from me,” Junhee argued. “And I didn’t rest a single day until I found you again.”

“Then how can you tell me to be calm? How can you tell me to be quiet? He’s never coming back, Junhee, and it’s my fault but it’s yours too.”

He stumbled back until he was on the floor again with a fresh wave of tears coming on. “It’s my fault...” his voice broke and his weeping began anew.

Junhee felt pity grab hold of him and he rushed forward to hold Seonghwa again. He felt horrible for arguing back like that, when his brother was clearly lashing out in pain. There was nothing else he could do for the present but rub his back and let him cry it out.

A knock at the door made them both nearly jump out of their skin.

“Who is it?” Junhee called roughly, fingers inching toward his gun.

“It’s Lee, Your Highness,” came the familiar voice of the head bodyguard. “A messenger has come from the palace.”

Junhee bade them enter and gasped at the blood leaking from the messenger’s back. “He was shot on the way here,” Lee explained.

The man kneeled before the princes and caught his breath, grunting the message that had almost cost him his life.

“Your father is dead. Assassins from the Haemin Kingdom killed him, as they intend to kill you.”

Seonghwa’s ears were ringing.

“Our country is at war.”

...

Hongjoong’s eyes shifted under their lids until he mustered the strength to open them.

A flake of something stuck to his eyelash, and from its white colour he presumed it to be snow. The first snow of the winter.

The ground was cold underneath him and a chill worked its way to his heart before he realised he must be dying.

It was ash, not snow. The island was burning.

The white that filled his vision was raining down as screams pierced the air and dispersed with the wind.

No visions had come and it didn’t seem to Hongjoong like his neck was broken, but he didn’t have another experience to really compare it to.

Hongjoong giggled as boots flashed across his vision. Suddenly he was a boy again, washed up on the beach while someone dragged him out of the waves.

How ironic that he, a pirate, lay there motionless again while soldiers ransacked the town.

But no Navy soldiers; enemies of another kind.

The laugh caught in his throat and blood bubbled to his lips. His brow furrowed in confusion because he didn’t remember being shot.

Maybe it was the cough racking him that scraped up his throat. Hongjoong was too tired to care.

The sun was veiled behind clouds just thick enough that he could look without being blinded. He made out its perfect shape, laboured breaths soothed by its presence.

Were his parents waiting for him?

Hongjoong was tempted to find out. He liked to think he had a choice in these things, just as it had been his choice to set sail and to stand for his men.

His men.

They were more than that to him. And he hoped as his eyes fell shut that they were far away, together, and safe.

But what he wouldn’t give to see them again...

He didn’t want to die alone. He didn’t want to die right now at all— he was supposed to make it. The attack was supposed to come just a minute earlier than it had.

He had asked them to trust him.

The sounds faded with every moment the darkness advanced. The world closed in around him and suddenly it was night.

Hongjoong strayed in his mind to dreams he had never visited, and patiently waited for the answer.

What next?

...

Taglist: @serendipityunho @celestial-yunho @nightynightnyx @atzjjongbby

A/N: Okay congrats, you made it, take a few deep breaths!!!!!!

This volume of Treasure is officially concluded 🎉 but don’t worry I’m already hard at work on the next one. I think, in terms of interactions, this has been the most successful so far so thank you so much guys and please anticipate the next instalment :)

I’m always free to hear your comments, thoughts, theories, incoherent screams, etc on Twitter @tiny_tokki or my CuriousCat or wherever else you find me. Have a good one and see you next time <3

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27 notes · View notes

bigskydreaming · 4 years ago

Text

thehollowprince said: I am looking forward to seeing how this all unfolds, because its a great premise, though I don’t know if I would have attempted to juggle all the chimeras the way you are. Although, speaking of chimeras, where’s Theo? I have a hunch he’s the one “helping” Hayden’s sister, and I’m curious as to what happened to the other chimera? The big one with the Garuda talons? Belasko?

Belasko is long dead and gone in this, he was a willing accomplice/minion of the Dread Doctors and official in-story fate for him is that he thus eventually died from incompatibility with his ‘donor’ material the way several of the other chimeras did in canon and Hayden was going to without Scott giving her the bite. The reason the chimeras are all werewolves here is because as Corey briefly alluded to while he and Lucas were investigating the creepy Fae Murder-House, they WERE chimeras created/experimented on by the DD just like in the show.

And when Scott and his core pack of Malia, Aiden and Ethan plus the surviving members of Satomi’s pack who escaped Kali with them like Brett, Carrie and Lori, like....when pre-story, they tracked down the Doctors’ most recent lair in the hopes of finding Theo, who Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan hoped was still alive even though they believed he died in their original escape from the Doctors, they found the other chimeras and took them with them instead. Eventually, of course, some of them like Hayden started dying because of their chimera natures, and since the Scott of this AU has different issues with the bite and his werewolf nature because of how things went down here versus how they happened in canon.....one of the ripple effects of that is here he’s less opposed to offering the bite when it seems needed, and so he offered and they all accepted rather than risk the poisoning fate that they had no way of knowing whether or not it might happen to them all at some point or not.

The not in-story explanation for the lack of Belasko is I simply said, with feeling, “Oh FUCK no, that is NOT remotely what a garuda is, Davis you freaking hack, Garuda isn’t even something you can freaking pluralize since he’s a being not a supernatural species, and I already oh fucked no this with Hayden and your nagual shit and oh fucked no this with your wendigo and skinwalker shit and I just effin’ refuse to oh fuck no this again so y’know what, Belasko’s dead, he died, oh no, much sadness, no more ‘garuda’ chimeras. And what the fuck was even up with his plot vehicle of a power anyway, like why the fuck did you even decide that ‘garuda’ was the best and only match for ‘a supernatural being that takes other peoples’ powers.’ Like, we get it, you made the chimeras to be the X-Men story nobody was ever going to pay you to write, but Belasko’s no fucking Rogue, and know what? Now you did it, I just decided in fact he’s just dead. You only have yourself to blame. Shouldn’t have made him suck, then maybe somebody would give a shit.”

Ahem. Anyway. Yeah that’s the backstory for the lack of Belasko. In shorter news, Donovan also died offscreen simply because I was fucking sick to death of everything said about him and that stupid shoe-horned ‘schism’ resulting from his canon death so I just made the executive decision to just nope him out of existence and just Not with him instead.

The only other remaining chimera was Noah, the berserker chimera played by Jordan Fisher who as you know, I very much like and felt was wasted by the show, so he’s still very much around and kicking, as was briefly mentioned when they were talking about Hayden’s sister.. He accepted the bite the same as the rest of the chimeras, but he still had a home and family he felt missed him and was worth going back to, so he went home with Scott and the rest of the pack’s blessing and well-wishes. That was very much laid in there as a Chekhov’s gun of a plot point to pay off later. (Hayden of course misses her sister a great deal, but she suffers from some insecurities and doubts pre-existing from her and Val’s parents’ deaths that made her feel that going home would just mean danger would follow her there, much like the reason Scott left and stayed away from Beacon Hills. Whereas Noah doesn’t have similar reasons or Peter-related issues for feeling this way and mostly was just sure if his mother could hear him expressing such a sentiment, she’d ground the shit out of him for even thinking that was an acceptable explanation for staying away. He was always meant to show up eventually though).

ACTUAL SPOILER-Y SPOLERS I guess, if anybody is concerned on that front at this point, lmfao:

And yup, Theo is absolutely the ‘anonymous source’ behind Hayden’s sister suddenly deciding out of the blue that there was some clue to be found in New York. He did survive and has been playing a longterm game of his own all along, because I stan a villainous Theo who isn’t an inherently just evil or irredeemable character, but one who has believed himself to be the only one looking out for his best interests and used to doing so for long enough that he has as of now convinced himself he can explain or justify most any actions he takes for this reason, at least enough to satisfy his own conscience. I just find Theo incredibly more compelling as the teenage version of canon Peter to act as a foil to Scott, as opposed to the teenage version of fanon Peter to act as a victim to Scott, y’know, the way most everybody decided to view him as.

The spoiler-y part is that like Aiden and Ethan briefly mentioned to each other when they first showed up in Beacon Hills, Theo was one of the original DD captives in this universe, along with Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan - a werewolf being experimented alongside the other four by the Doctors, for their ‘unique’ traits. (Malia and Theo’s full-shift abilities, Aiden and Ethan’s ‘twin connection’ and Scott’s seemingly greater-than-average resistance to magic like mountain ash circles, with this of course actual being an indicator of his future status as a True Alpha. The one and only difference I made to Theo’s backstory here is that he’s actually a werewolf and not a chimera here. He was changed by a rogue Alpha’s bite at one point, much like he’d claimed originally on the show). Anyway, at one point, the Doctors’ experiments finally triggered Scott’s ascension to True Alpha by essentially pushing at his protective instincts in regards to the others.

But while this was something the Doctors were aiming for, having their own uses for a potential True Alpha’s power/nature, there was an unexpected side-effect they hadn’t planned for, given that there wasn’t much data for them to go off of when it came to True Alphas because of how rare they are (at least by the time the Dread Doctors came along, though that wasn’t always the case, as Alberich expressed to Lucas and Corey).

What they didn’t account for stems back to that long as fuck meta I wrote ages ago about how I view ‘the shape you take reflects the person you are’ in canon, and True Alphas. Basically, my take has always been you either are a True Alpha or you’re not. There’s no ‘level-up’ process, no ACTUAL ‘ascension.’ To me, TA just means like.....a werewolf who is ALWAYS more of a leader than ever a follower, since even other Alphas like Derek, Peter, and the Alpha Pack have demonstrated that at least before they were each alphas, they were all more than capable of and willing to exist as betas to another alpha, even if that alpha was just their direct predecessor and a born relative. Scott’s unique-ness within the Teen Wolf universe ultimately comes down to one thing and one thing only for me.....no matter how his personal views and morality evolved and changed over time, the one thing that was a constant was that no matter what, he was never willing to follow anyone he didn’t believe had a ‘right’ to lead him or command him, and he wasn’t swayed by the usual arguments of why a werewolf like him, a seeming beta, SHOULD view someone like Peter or Derek having the ‘right’ to command his allegiance.

Because even though he wasn’t technically an Alpha until 3A......Scott by Derek’s own admission was never really a beta or an omega. To be a beta, he would have had to ACTUALLY accept Peter or Derek’s ability or right to command his allegiance, which he never actually did, and he was never really an omega either, because as Derek said in S2, he realized the reason he had so much trouble convincing Scott to join him was he was already the alpha of his own pack. Since, like Scott’s later pack always included non-werewolves, there was never actually any reason why Allison and Stiles COULDN’T have been considered his pack all along.

The only reason IMO that Scott wasn’t a True Alpha from day one, is because he came into the werewolf world not having a clue what the ‘rules’ were, and from day one, every single person to fill him in on what the rules were, did so according to their traditional/more common views of how ‘things worked.’ He didn’t immediately reveal himself as a TA because he didn’t realize such a thing even existed, or it was even possible to be one, and so for a time it kinda existed....in flux, as it were. He wasn’t truly a beta or omega because neither was in his nature - he was very much a social creature, a pack entity more suited to being surrounded by others than a loner, but he was also not remotely someone willing to set aside his own views, beliefs or goals in order to follow someone else’s, even if the price for that unwillingness was being essentially outcast as far as both ‘normal werewolf society’ and normal human society viewed things. He simply reflected the IMAGE of being a beta or an omega, gold eyes and all, because as far as he knew, as far as he’d internalized as of that point, that was who he was supposed to be or all he COULD possibly be.

What changed this for him wasn’t just being made aware that True Alphas were a thing, albeit rare, like in 3A when Deaton first mentioned it. Because after all, the only REASON Deaton brought it up, was because Scott and others were ALREADY confused by the occasional flickers of alpha red they witnessed his eyes showing, like in the fight with Ennis, and technically, going all the way back to Night School in S1, where his eyes flickered red when he defied Peter’s efforts to mentally exert dominance over him and make him kill the others. Basically, just like when he matched Ennis blow for blow, even if just briefly, even though as the bigger, stronger, and more experienced and ALPHA werewolf Ennis should have swatted him aside like a fly, not just knocked him back a few feet......the flickers of Alpha red showed up just when Scott seemingly defied the ‘rules’ of werewolf nature and refused to give way to an Alpha’s dominance the way that most other betas and omegas typically were seen or believed to.

IMO its as simple as ‘at these times and others, Scott SHOWED that he was simply NOT a beta, he refused to follow any convictions MORE than his own, and he was consistently SHOWN to never truly be an omega, because how can someone be packless when someone has people already willing to follow HIM’.....and thus, he was a True Alpha all along, simply because Alpha was the only word left to describe him, even if he never inherited the ‘power’ from another Alpha or ‘stole it’ by killing one. The only thing that ever actually changed for him, was that he existed as a werewolf long enough and in enough defiance of ‘the way things worked’ that he just stopped ACCEPTING that beta and omega were the only two options that existed to define him, and he just for the first time fully internalized his own belief that he didn’t NEED others to define him, that it was enough that he just exist as he already was. His own self-image, self-WORTH, was all that he needed.

And that’s why the pivotal moment in which he ‘ascended’ to True Alpha once and for all, was basically when he was once again saying ‘fuck you’ to the ‘rules’ when he broke through Jennifer’s mountain ash circle, something he shouldn’t have been capable of. He was able to do it, and manifest fully as the True Alpha he’d been all along, because in that moment, he deliberately and with INTENT, like with full conscious awareness of what he was doing, that he was fully attempting to accomplish what everyone else claimed was impossible, he basically said “the rules don’t matter to me, the fact that everyone believes I SHOULDN’T be able to do this doesn’t matter to me, the only thing that matters to me is I’m going to do it whether anyone else believes I can or not. Only I and I alone get to decide who I am and what I’m capable of.”

THAT in my opinion is what True Alpha always meant, and its why Scott was the only one we saw on the show....because his narrative, deliberately from day one, was ALWAYS one of self-determination above all else.

So basically, the same logic and reasoning all applies to LC and his ‘ascension’ to True Alpha there....it was the same thing. He was one all along, but only became one when his conscious AND subconscious reflection of ‘the way things worked’ gave way to his stronger self-determination and refuses to just ACCEPT the way things work. And because here the Dread Doctors, like most everyone else in universe, like except for those like say, Alberich, because they just innately didn’t understand the real nature of True Alphas and what made someone one and WHY they’d become so rare (essentially, it became like a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more rare True Alphas became, the less of them there were because the less new and young werewolves believed let alone ACCEPTED that there was an alternative to following those they didn’t believe in, if they simply....refuted it enough via their own self-image).....but because the Doctors didn’t fully GET that Scott wasn’t just a potential True Alpha, but was already kinda a....True Alpha in-cocoon so to speak....they didn’t fully realize all the potential repercussions of them trying to PUSH him into manifesting as one the way they were.

And so the thing where it was mentioned that the twins, Scott and Malia all kinda ‘share’ each other’s unique traits now, with all of them able to full-shift, all of them sharing a lesser degree of the same psychic connection the twins do, and Scott’s seeming greater-than-average resistance to magic....that happened all on its own, the second Scott ‘fully’ became a True Alpha, and its the part the DD didn’t prepare for and didn’t understand. Because by not getting that Scott had already been an Alpha the whole time, they didn’t realize that these shapeshifters they’d been keeping in close proximity to one another, in shared predicaments, and clearly developing bonds because of it....like, just as Scott was already an Alpha by then, they were ALREADY a pack by then. They just didn’t know it, because well, a pack needs an alpha and they didn’t realize they already had one. So basically, they already HAD a pack bond, and thus when that combined with the Dread Doctors’ actual experiment and the kinda.....magical reaffirmation of Scott’s own self-image and alphahood rippled back through the suddenly VERY REAL and very CLEARLY real pack bond all at once, like it’d simply magically sprung into existence instead of just showing what had already been there in a different shape or form.....this all added together to kinda create this supernatural compounding effect. And thus, pretty much by accident, the Dread Doctors managed to completely unintentionally create a REAL throwback to the werewolf packs of old, like Alberich and the other Fae had ORIGINALLY ‘designed’ them to be.

Because just like the power of a werewolf comes from essentially being the supernatural embodiment of their strength of self, of their inner power, who and what they really are....(and why the shape an Alpha takes in the show varies so tremendously based on how the various Alphas viewed THEMSELVES and their own power)....

So too, is the power of a werewolf PACK the supernatural embodiment of the idea of the pack in full....the idea that the whole is GREATER than just the sum of its parts. Which is why the more werewolves get added to a pack, the more EACH individual pack member’s strength, healing, etc, increased as a whole. And thus here, that was true, but in addition, these various unique shapeshifters also ended up sharing the same traits that made each of them ON THEIR OWN fairly distinct....which actually is the way it was always intended to be, and once had been true of ancient packs.

(As of now, only the core pack of Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan share in this ‘level’ of their pack bond, but as for why that is, the answer is actually in the above explantion, lol).

So yeah, Scott manifested as a True Alpha, instant pack bond whammo, and reacting pretty much on instinct to the surprise this created for the DD, they escaped, largely by instinctively pulling on EACH OTHER’S individual gifts...because while the way the DD held them captive took into account their respective gifts, like say, Malia’s ability to full-shift, it DIDN’T take into account the possibility of all of them suddenly being able to full-shift without warning.

And then Scott, Malia, Aiden and Ethan escaped and spent the next several months wandering, stuck in their full-shfit shapes because they didn’t entirely yet understand what had happened or how, and so with that and the trauma they’d endured, it took them awhile to like....remember how to shift BACK, essentially.

At the time, the four of them all believed Theo had died in their escape attempt. But after they eventually got free of Kali and Julia, and had added the surviving members of Satomi’s old pack, they decided to try and track down the Dread Doctors in the hope that Theo was still alive....because now, with a better understanding of what had happened and what they were capable of, they were convinced they could still feel Theo through their initial pack bond.

Instead they found the chimeras and no sign of Theo, and with the urgency of at least getting these latest prisoners of the DD safe and sound, they kinda accepted that maybe they were wrong and it was just wishful thinking that they’d been so sure they could still feel Theo.

Or at least, Scott and Aiden did. Ethan and Malia, not quite.

You remember when Josh, Tracy, Lucas and Corey met with Malia in the park at night while Lucas and Corey told them about meeting Alberich and everything he’d said and hinted at, and the ‘offer’ he’d asked them to take to Scott? And how Malia firmly shut that shit down and all but ordered all of them not to say a word, because as she said, Scott absolutely would take Alberich’s deal without a second thought, to keep the rest of them safe, no matter what it meant for him? When they asked if that meant not telling the twins either, and Malia said yes because Ethan would agree but Aiden never would, and Lucas asked if this meant she and Ethan HAD ever before kept something from Scott and Aiden specifically and she said yes but refused to elaborate further.....this is what that was referencing.

Because when they went back for Theo and found the chimeras instead, Ethan and Malia ended up on their own at one point, and this is when they discovered that Theo had been a plant all along. Yes he was a werewolf in this AU, but he’d still ended up working for the Dread Doctors in exchange for getting away from the Alpha who’d turned him. They’d put him in with the others under the guise of him just being another experiment, in order to utilize him as a kind of control variable to nudge the others in ways and at times they expected them to be resistant to just going along with the Doctors’ latest experiment.

At the time, they didn’t find any proof that Theo was still alive after all, just this, so Malia and Ethan did still very much believe that he was dead at this point, same as Scott and Aiden now.....and so they felt that there was no point in telling them this and disillusioning them with Theo’s betrayal/complicity the way they felt betrayed by this information, and that it would just make things worse. They honestly felt they were protecting them by doing this, or at least Scott as he was the one they were concerned would take it the worst given how much responsibility he feels for everything and everyone.....but they also agreed not to tell Aiden as they didn’t think he’d agree to keep it from Scott. As Aiden in this AU is extremely ride or die from Scott and hates subterfuge as a general rule (but also, because hiding the info about Theo and this deal about Alberich is absolutely doomed to bite them in the ass, and Scott needed to have at least ONE of the inner circle who wasn’t hiding anything from him, specifically BECAUSE they knew he wouldn’t agree to it, just like Josh is of course, Very Not Happy about being asked to hide this stuff about Alberich and his offer).

So yeah, Theo of course did survive the original escape attempt and escaped himself and decided to stay that way and that he’d had enough of the Doctors’ ‘help’/employment.....

But also in no small part because he’d ended up getting hit by/included in the pack bond the same as the others when it manifested, and considering he was as clueless why as any of them at first, he had no doubt that if he stayed in the Doctors’ reach, they’d be quite keen to use him for all their experiments into why and what it meant regardless of his��‘allegiances.’

Ever since then, he’s kinda been on his own doing his own thing, and he had no plans to go after the others or do anything more to them at first, as this Theo DOES still have a conscience and while he believes in looking out for number one, it DID still at times ping while lying to the others.....but that kinda changed once he worked out for himself a little bit of what it meant that he still could ‘feel’ the others, as well as being more resistant to magic now than he’d been previously. Because to ACTUALLY partake in the pack bond that’d been created, that meant that at least some of the bond he’d ‘faked’ creating with the others actually HAD been real. It wouldn’t have been enough for just THEM to believe it’d been real, and him to benefit from getting their portion of things as a result, like he’d originally tried to convince himself. Because see, once he did track down the others and observe them from afar, just to test his own theories, he found out that just like him....Scott and the twins now could full-shift into coyotes, like Malia. That, after all, was what they’d all gotten from her.

But, they - and Malia - ALSO could full-shift into wolves. Just like him.

And that, they could have ONLY gotten from HIM. The others didn’t get just a full-shift ability from Malia....they got the ability to shift fully into BOTH their wolf selves, and a coyote version of themselves, due to how closely related wolves and coyotes are, and thus they just sort of manifest slightly different selves via that shared family connection. It probably wouldn’t have worked the same way if Malia had been like a were-bear shifter or something, but another canine, yeah. They don’t use the other shape much at all, because for Scott, Ethan, Aiden and Theo, the wolf is what FEELS most like ‘them,’ whereas the coyote feels like a comfortable, well-fitting disguise they can slip into from time to time, while for Malia its the same in reverse, but its still something they each have.

And thus while the others could make the assumption, given that they thought Theo was dead or dead and a fake the whole time, that both full-shifts came from Malia’s ability just combined with the wolf nature of the other three.....for Theo, there was no denying that the reality was that the wolf full-shifts came from him. From him - unknowingly or not - ACTUALLY offering it up through the pack bond....something that only could have happened as something he GAVE, not that they just TOOK. Something, that was proof that somehow, without realizing it, the bonds he’d formed during that initial time had actually become a lot more real than he’d convinced even himself.

And Theo does NOT care for that realization.

Because see, if ANY of that was real, on his end, that gave those pings of his conscience from way back then renewed life and intensity, and frankly, he doesn’t care too much for his conscience. Its loud and annoying and inconvenient, and he’d quite like it to go suck a dick when he’s being comfortably amoral and doing whatever he damn well feels like doing for no other reason than because he feels like it. But now the thing’s always peskily droning away in the background reminding him its there, and Theo unfortunately tends to make some of his worst decisions when he’s testily trying to prove to his conscience that you’re not the boss of me and bitch, I do what I want.

Plus there’s the fact that on top of this, the very idea of MUTUAL pack bonds gives Theo very icky feelings of things like...obligation, and concern, and other four letter words that he very much just does not fuck with, thanks ever so much. With the cherry on top of his “I Did Not Ask For This, Please Take It Back To The Kitchen But No Not The Added Powers Too, Those Can Stay, I Like Those” Pie being that, well.....like I said, the reason none of them or the Dread Doctors realized ahead of time that they were already a pack, is because a pack needs an Alpha.

Which in time, makes Theo realize, that if on some level, he’s actually and still actually PACK, in his own subconscious as much as theirs.....then this by extension means....on some level, he views and accepts Scott as his alpha.

Theo: OH HELLLLLLLLLL NO.

Which, to my mind, is why Theo was always the perfect foil for Scott. Scott is a True Alpha who THINKS he’s okay with following but in actuality is never truly comfortable allowing another’s will to supersede his own, and would rather be on his own than with someone he’s uncomfortable following. Theo is a lone wolf who THINKS he’s okay being one and would never follow anyone but himself, but in actuality, he’s never truly been comfortable alone and he’s willing to allow others’ will to supersede his own if they offer comfort that outweighs his discomfort with the idea.

So Theo’s around making moves in the background because he has his own agenda for Fixing This and making things more in line with how he’d like them. There’s definitely an end game for that but I wouldn’t say its total redemption-oriented as he has absolutely Fucked Stuff Up before this point and will continue to do so, and with gusto, because he’s kinda his own worst enemy, but neither is it outright vilifaction and death and/or total ostracization/exile-esque. Its more...Theo is very much still in flux, somewhat like Scott was between being bitten and ‘becoming’ a True Alpha, and nothing that doesn’t go smoothly is totally without consequences. Its just.....Theo’s complicated, and he’s going to remain so, but what that means exactly tends to change over time. But like, Malia is also complicated, and so are Ethan and Aiden, and so is Scott, and they are all very different versions of complicated, so.......basically all I’m saying is I don’t think I could ever write a Theo that’s fully a ‘Good Guy’ but as much as I detest show Theo, like the twins, its because he could have been written a lot differently and been a lot more compelling for it, all without ever being a ‘Good Guy’ and so I’m not actually all that interested in writing him as an out and out no holds barred villain either.

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thetailorofenbizaka · 5 years ago

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Chapter 1–The Tale of the Scissors, Act 7: Fate; Scene 5

The Tailor of Enbizaka, pages 174-183

At the foot of Mount Inasa, Kokutan-douji and his two companions were enclosed on all sides by men wearing suits.

The suited men were all employees of the Yarera Zusco Firm. Douji and the others had been tailing them as they searched for Kayo, but evidently they’d been spotted.

“—What are you following us for? Answer, dammit!” a black suited man yelled coercively at the three of them.

“…It’s not out of any particular malice. We were just trying to meet with Kayo-san,” Douji calmly replied.

But the suited men didn’t seem satisfied with that.

“Sudou Kayo is our prey. We can’t have meddlers like you tagging along.”

“Why are you hunting Kayo-san?”

“We think she killed Kiji’s girlfriend, Miku.”

“On what grounds?”

“…I ain’t gotta answer a single one of your questions.”

Saruteito stepped up before the men. “If you suspect Kayo of being the murderer, then shouldn’t you be telling that to the people at the Magistrate’s office? …yannow.”

“Can’t do that. Kiji-sama’s requested to kill the culprit himself.”

“—So, he still has no intention of giving up on his vengeance…yannow.”

At that moment the men in suits parted, and another person appeared there.

“’I won’t let you off easy if you make a wrong move’…I’m quite sure I told you that, Saruteito.”

“Kiji…Still wearing that tasteless outfit, I see…yannow,” Saruteito said, gazing at the pure white suit that Kiji was wearing.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be critiquing my fashion sense. How about you stop wasting my time here and go back to your search for your blades, huh?”

“Unfortunately, I need to see Sudou Kayo to search for the blades…yannow.”

Kiji and Saruteito glared at each other.

“…”

Watching them, Inukichi whispered to Douji, “Hey, Kokutan.”

“What is it?”

“Shouldn’t we be beating all these jerks back right here?”

“…Don’t go around needlessly starting fights. Our aim isn’t to beat them.”

“So you say. Looks to me like they wanna kill Kayo-san. We can’t just let them do that, can we?”

“…”

Douji looked to be mulling worriedly over what they should do next.

Kiji for his part appeared to be doing the same.

“—Well, alright. Our first priority is finding Kayo.” Kiji raised his right hand, and all of the men in suits behind him snapped to attention at once. “I’ll allow you to travel with us. We’re chasing after a woman who committed such gruesome murders without issue, after all. She might have some unexpected degree of ability. Couldn’t hurt to have more skilled allies with us.”

“…We have no intention of becoming your ‘allies’, and we’re not planning to kill Kayo.”

“Whatever. Whatever the case you’re the same in that you can’t just leave Sudou Kayo be, correct? Kokutan-douji.”

“…”

“Our destination is a ruined temple set in the heart of the mountain. I received word from my subordinates that Kayo was hiding out there. Our investigation’ll be a lot harder once the sun goes down, so let’s hurry.”

Kiji turned towards the entrance to the mountain path and started walking towards it.

The men in suits, as well as Douji and Inukichi, all followed after him.

--But Saruteito alone, still standing where she was, looked toward the mountain and shouted, “Wait! …yannow.”

Upon hearing that, everyone turned back towards her.

“What’s up, Saru? Do you hafta go to the privy?”

“You really are an idiot, Inu. That’s not it—someone’s coming down the mountain.”

Saruteito pointed up to the mountain.

“Really? I can’t see them that well…” Inukichi replied, squinting in the direction that Saruteito was pointing.

“—It’s Sudou Kayo.”

It was Kiji who replied next.

“You’re certain, Kiji?” Douji asked.

“Yeah. I’ve got confidence in my eyesight—but…her appearance…Looks like she’s heading this way.”

As he spoke, a faint tremble appeared in Kiji’s eyes.

Just as Kiji said, Kayo was coming down the mountain towards them…And eventually, she was near the base where Douji and the others were.

Once she had gotten that far, everyone else outside of Kiji could clearly see what Kayo looked like.

And everyone was frozen to the spot, speechless.

“…”

Kayo’s entire body was stained black.

A black kimono, a black obi, a black hairpin.

Black arms, black legs, black face.

And everyone could tell that this was a result of discolored blood spray.

“…Kayo-san.”

Douji spoke with great difficulty, in a hoarse voice.

Kayo appeared to have noticed Kiji and those assembled with him, leisurely making her way toward them.

When she saw that Douji was among the group, Kayo looked sad for a moment. But that quickly changed to a befuddled, relieved smile.

“Oh my…Nice to meet you, everyone.”

Kayo stood before the group, and then spread her arms wide and bowed, as though to show herself off to them all.

And then said, in this way:

“How is it? Aren’t I—beautiful?”

--Kiji immediately drew his sword and went to slash Kayo with it, but was stopped by Kokutan-douji. While the two of them were quarreling, people from the magistrate’s office arrived from town and took Kayo under arrest.

“…”

Elluka continued to write in her notebook, silently listening to the story.

The next day Kai’s miserable corpse was discovered at the mountain temple. One month later, Kayo was charged for all of her crimes at a trial held by the magistrate’s office…and she was sentenced to be executed. One week after that, Kayo was beheaded at the one execution site at the top of the hill, and that head is now on display before the site.

“…”

And with that, my story has now come to an end.

Elluka stopped writing.

“…Pardon.”

Yes, what is it?

“You’ve been talking at length this entire time, but now that we’re finishing up you’re ending things in a hurry.”

The time after Kayo was arrested is unique. I don’t have a lot of details I can tell you about it…

“That so? But the way I hear it around here there were various troubles after Kayo’s execution was determined?”

…To tell the truth, around the time that Kayo was captured for some reason my awareness would grow weaker more often. So…this last part of the story is something I merely gleaned from the rumors the townspeople were telling of it.

“Your awareness grew weaker? Is that still happening?”

No…I had almost completely lost all consciousness right before Kayo’s death, but then at some point after that my mental state returned to its usual vivid awareness. –However, at that time Kayo’s head was already put up before the execution site, exposed to the air.

“I see…” Elluka once more started to think. “—I wonder if it was ‘anti-demonia’…”

…What is that?

“The other ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’ that you mentioned earlier that wasn’t the scissors or the mirror—it has a unique power that the other vessels do not. The ability to weaken and degrade the power of the ‘Demons of Deadly Sin’ that dwell in the other vessels…I have named that power ‘anti-demonia’.”

So you’re saying that the change in my awareness was due to that power?

“You aren’t a ‘Demon of Deadly Sin’. …But given that you exist inside a ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’, there’s no guarantee that you can escape from ‘anti-demonia’’s influence. Or, it’s also possible that ‘anti demonia’ weakened the ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’ itself, and as a result you inside it were influenced by that. –All of this is just conjecture, however. There are still a lot of things I don’t know about that ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’.”

…

“—Well then.”

Elluka closed her notebook and stood.

Yes…With that, the entirety of my story was finished.

In other words, that meant that I was no longer of any use to her.

Elluka picked up the two scissors.

You…are going to erase me, aren’t you?

But--Elluka shook her head, and smiled.

“No…Not yet.”

…Hm?

“I’ve still got a little more time until the ship departs. Before that—there’s one other person I must meet with.”

Elluka put the scissors into the folds of her outfit.

“Even you must have a few things you’d like to say to ‘her’ before you disappear, yes?”

…Elluka-san. You--know, don’t you. Who I am.

“The affection you held for Kayo that I could glimpse during the pauses in your story—I’m not so thick-headed that I couldn’t pick up on that.”

Passing under the sign, Elluka exited the tailor shop.

The sky was without a single cloud, and there were many people walking about Enbizaka.

Among the people walking from the top of the hill, I saw the monk that Kokutan-douji had been speaking to earlier.

“The weather’s nice…The sea should be calm on a day like today.”

You know…where she is staying?

“I wouldn’t be looking for her if I didn’t know her true identity. After resting carefully for a whole year I have now regained my magical power, the same as it was in my heyday. My investigative abilities have risen as well. …Well, they failed when it came to the mirror, albeit.”

Elluka lightly patted on her breast pocket, wherein she had placed the scissors.

“Come then, let’s get going, shall we—Kagura-san.”

She began to walk towards the sea.

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

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learning to be silent (multi) — chapter four - roza

[ summary ] : the short program comes to a close and there are tears both happy and sad as france crowns it's medalists. though sadness may come an unexpected connection and friendship can happen at the strangest of times.

[ author's note ] : hope y'all enjoy, this was getting way too long and I cut out about 1000~ words out already, I hope this ties up the loose ends, the long program is gonna be a damn ride let me tell you.

AO3 / My Tumblr / (◠‿・)—☆

— *.✧

There was nothing Shea wanted more than gold, the qualification was so close, she just needed the victory or a tight rein on NHK. Sasha held the reigns tight and the Russian certainly wouldn't let go without a fight tomorrow if it was (somehow) possible for Shea to snatch that first place rank.

Having her support system definitely strengthened her confidence, she knew she had the entire country behind her back and that stress was overwhelming but also helped her to focus on winning, on skating the best she could in France. She hated to sound cocky but she truly was the best chance there was, she knew Adore far too well and Aquaria, she didn't know exactly what to expect yet. She wouldn't downgrade the younger skater considering how much private training and time she got from Sharon but of course, it was her first senior competition: it wasn't expected she'd beat someone like Sasha or even Brooke.

She gave a final wave to the fans as they settled down in silence and blew a kiss to Trinity, Detox and Alaska who sat huddled together, awaiting what was to come next: good or bad, whether she would even have a chance at a medal or not.

I have absolutely the best dress here, thank you Bianca!

The music started and now there was no holding back as the first notes started, her skates taking off as she skated her pattern around the center of the rink before her torso bent backwards, lifting her free leg and extending her arms above the torso to complete a layback spin.

She stretched out her arms as her skates began another traffic pattern towards the judges table, spilt jumping in the air and landing perfectly on the edge of her left skate as she then waited for the lyrics to pick up before taking off from the back outside edge of her foot and turning four rotations the air, not breathing until she landed the quad loop.

Thank fuck.

Ignoring the crowd's wild antics she grinned and continued with the program, playing with the style and lyrics: she had specifically begged Bob to let her do Moulin Rouge for years for the flirty and perfectly sassy exterior to match her own personality and skating style.

"A kiss on the hand may be quite continental

But diamonds are a girl's best friend

A kiss may be grand

But it won't pay the rental on your humble flat!"

Controlling her body and entering the takeoff phase of her triple axel, her skates left the ice and she spun three and a half rotations before landing on the right back inside edge of her skate. That was a move she had began to nail in junior competitions: it's what Shea was known for and she was beyond happy to be nailing all the technical elements of her program, making sure to submerse herself in all the personality of the song as well.

Two minutes and thirty seconds wasn't long enough to show off everything in your binder of tricks but that's why it was so vital: the free skate was all the elements you want to better your score, the short had less leeway and more assigned elements.

Managing to complete her triple toe, triple loop she was back on track and the applause only fed her inner want to snatch that damn gold medal from Sasha who was sitting in complete awe of Shea's skate, she heard the Russian scream her words of encouragement before she had started the skate and it made all the difference.

Right at the bridge Shea prepared herself for the jump she had mentally prepared herself for since she got her assignments: the quad lutz. She had done it in a harness for almost six months and fell the first, probably, twenty times she had done it.

Entering from the back outside edge of her ice skate she slammed the toepick in the ice and rotated a full four times before landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot, giving an out of character pump of her fists as the audience screamed and cheered, if there was a time to finally get the move right and executed properly it was during a damn competition.

Completing her second to last jump with a quad salchow she entered a biellmann spin, holding the foot with an extension over and behind her head, forming the signature teardrop shape with the body before she went on her back outside edge of her EDEA skates, turning into a scratch spin for her final move completing it with an immense speed she prayed she wouldn't fall to the ground immediately after.

She jumped one more time before ending her short program with her hands extended in front of her and feet adjusting her position to the center of the ice and then that was it, she had completed another skate and it was officially in the books: she had completed the one move she had prayed to finally accomplish.

The Chicago native screamed happily and covered her mouth in happiness, grabbing as many as the stuffed animals and flowers she could not knowing what would be given to her and what would be taken. Her name was called once more as she bowed and skated across the rink and happily took the time to wave to her fans and friends, blowing a kiss to the cameras as she approached the entrance off the ice immediately jumping towards Bob who happily laughed. "That was everything I've ever wanted your damn skating to be!" She yelled fixing the frizz that rose from her hair as Shea put on her skate guards, running towards the Kiss & Cry.

The two conversed, not wanting to over analyze Shea's jumps and elements right now. They simply took in the moment as the cameras began to pan to her as the announcer called for the scores.

"This is what you've been working for, I'm proud of you." Bob mumbled loud enough for Shea to hear as the silence grew in the French crowd.

"I love you mom!" She yelled to the camera, making a heart with her fingertips as a wide grin shined across her lips, her red lipstick still managing to hang on quite well which was good considering she reapplied a layer before she stepped on to the ice.

Please god, let me have this one!

"Shea Couleé has earned in the short program a combined score of 100.29 points, she is currently in second place."

It took the screams of several members in the crowd and Bob shaking her entire body by the shoulders for Shea to drop her jaw and really take in her score.

The American immediately jumped to her feet and screamed, covering her hands with her mouth. Feeling a sense of disbelief course through her veins staring at Bob who could only widen her eyes and squeeze Shea's hand as she tried to calm down, staring up at the screen that had been displaying all the scores. The number stayed and she had only missed Sasha by her a little over a point. A million little mistakes ran through her head that could've all helped to snatch that gold medal but, she couldn't even possibly complain sitting next to Sasha in a great position before the second group started.

"This is a new season's best."

It was a new best for her and by an absolute indescribable margin of over twelve points. Her long straight hair fell across her shoulders, sweating and now pridefully smiling. Standing up and cheering to the dozens of American supporters who came for their home country's skaters, to see them succeed. For Shea, it was the greatest feeling to know that you made your fans and country proud: she hadn't booted down Sasha but she always could for that long program, it wasn't over just yet.

Jumping up and down the American skater took in all the applause and squeezing the stuffed animals she had managed to pick up from the rink before the volunteers cleaned the rest off.

"Shea Couleé a obtenu dans le programme court un score total combiné de 100,29!"

She grabbed Bob by her shoulders and smirked, attempting to jump on her back and quickly being stopped through the coach took her into a tight hug, groaning. "Jesus, I'm so proud of you." Shea nodded and smiled brightly, getting one more hug. Snaking past and giving a wave to Adore who happily screamed from the other side of the rink, she headed over to the podium area as Sasha quickly stood up and completely mauled her in another hug, this was much more satisfying of a hug than Bob's and Shea wasn't sorry about it.

"I can't believe you didn't beat me, I was so ready to move down to the second place spot."

Her words came as a complete surprise to Shea who groaned aloud. "Stop giving me all the credit, I bow to you my queen."

Their fingertips brushing against each other as they spoke, Sasha laughed sweetly. A quiet smile painted across her lips before she began pulling away from the grip of Shea's hug hearing the announcements for the second group to warm up. Finally calm and sitting, Shea realized she was now firmly placed in silver medal position as Brooke, who was hanging on to bronze best she could was clearly lamenting and stacking the other competition as they warmed up.

"C'mon Aquaria!" She screamed as her name was called from the announcers, Sasha clapped and seemed beyond excited to see Sharon's biggest project finally skate on the senior level. Her platinum hair perfectly hanging off her costume as she adjusted the hair tie, trying to not smile at all the cheers and applause coming her way.

"How do you think Aquaria will fare against the current podium?"

Shea was surprised Brooke had spoke up but didn't exactly like how the Canadian said the question aloud. Her tone clearly pointing towards something else. She wouldn't have minded if it was a genuine response, it's normal to ask: she worked with Aquaria and they both represent the same country. Shea wasn't incompetent. Brooke was clearly just trying to calculate in her head if she'd get a medal or if she was better than the blonde who sat itching every minute more towards a complete mental breakdown.

"I think she could absolutely beat you if that's what you're asking."

Taken aback, Brooke rolled her eyes and tapped her fingers across the couch as she took in a deep breath and clapped as the introduction of the skaters went on. Shea noticed her facial expression change and felt slightly inconvenienced but, she wasn't going to be Miss Congeniality in this conversation and act like Brooke was better at everything, Aquaria was competition big time. Just because she was young didn't mean she couldn't absolutely murder the Canadian's score.

Sasha hugged her Penguin plushie and cheered politely for the remaining five skaters who were now warming up, keeping a close eye on Aquaria. While the Russian wasn't as concerned with winning as Brooke was, she definitely a certain nervousness run through her veins, she had seen her during her junior championships and saw her at the Youth Olympics completely destroy the podium for that gold medal. She might've had a very famous and talented coach who also happened to be her mom but she definitely had passion and skills beyond her years.

I hope I did enough to keep first place.

"So, can I ask about Katya?" Shea leaned over gently, holding her hand, the Russian happily interlocking their hands together as she gave a quaint nod. "Of course, they're just warming up now anyway."

"Is she excited to be in Russia for her qualifications since she's in the Rostelecom Cup?"

It seemed a bit of an odd question, of course it was a good thing: that motherland advantage and crowd did so much good on a skater's motivation and passion to win. Sasha assumed she asked the question due to all the media scandal and harassment Katya was getting for quitting on their coach and moving to America to train permanently.

"She is, genuinely, she feels very calm and collected about the situation that's happening and I'm glad she will be in a better mindset training in Michigan, I believe, than with us in Russia."

The pain clearly visible in her voice as she spoke, staring at the floor. Katya leaving was truthfully the worst thing to happen to Sasha in the last five years: the person she had trained with, lived with and accepted as family finally had enough and left the younger blonde alone in St. Petersburg. Of course, she wasn't mad and couldn't ever be mad. She needed the space and time to heal and if training with Chad and in America meant she'd skate better and feel more stride, then so be it.

Shea noticed how close to home the topic must've been and she felt a bit awful for subjecting Sasha to even more stress during the competition, she put an arm around her shoulder and nodded at every other word, the Russian latching on to her for support. Completely distracted by her tender blue eyes, the American snapped out of it and cleared her throat as she finally regained her conscious.

"I have a lot of close friends who train with Chad in Michigan and they're really excited to get to know her and possibly spend time with her, I just want you to know that she is in good hands."

"I'm sure it's wonderful, I trust your judgement."

The two lovingly stared at each other, completely immersed in nothing but pure relief they were together in the podium as they had hopelessly predicted a few days ago. Shea always was offended how damn gorgeous Sasha managed to look even after skating the most intense short program of her life, she was perfectly pristine and just gracefully sitting in her chair with the penguin plush in her lap, watching anxiously for what was to come.

— *.✧

Some had gotten close to third, namely Adore who stumbled on her quad loop and underrotated her triple toe, triple loop combination. Shea frowned seeing her close friend edge out in fourth place, Bianca rubbing her shoulders and quickly comforting the California native who could only nod at the scores, disappointed.

"Our final skater, representing the United States, Aquaria Coady."

Sharon gave Aquaria a final yell and kissed her head before she was sent on the ice, the youngest of the bunch managing to keep a calm and collected smile. She stood in the center, Noticing Shea who gave a thumbs up as she returned the favor, running a hand through her straight, platinum hair and glanced over at her coach.

Sharon already biting her nails and unable to take her eyes off her own daughter, feeling more nauseous and anxious than Aquaria was.

"C'mon Coady!" She heard from the rink as it silenced, knowing it distinctly as Alaska's voice and her voice only, while Aquaria laughed Sharon felt nothing but displeasure: she knew Alaska was only giving support but in the tense atmosphere and build up it didn't help calm her nerves.

Give me the strength to not murder her after this.

Björk's Oh So Quiet began to blast as Aquaria lifted her edges of the ice and turned her back, lifting her arms and making way past the judges and turning into an arabesque before making her way to the quad salchow.

Sharon could only freeze until she landed the jump, springing into the air and yelling, covering her mouth as her daughter continued peacefully, surprisingly looking more motivated. Sharon's worst fear was Aquaria festering up to the pressure and the applause distracting her from the program but she instead seemed to eat up the crowd and add the passion into the skate.

Her own body swayed along to the music, sometimes she wishes she didn't retire so much earlier than expected of her but seeing someone like Aquaria continue the legacy she had built and bring a new edge and face: it was the greatest achievement of her career and couldn't have made her more proud.

So far, so good: a clean, respectable and fun short program.

Entering the back edge of her foot she watched Aquaria go in deep for the quad loop and she completed it: it was perfect, it was clean, it made Sharon yell again. She looked around and hoped no cameras or other coaches would see her losing it like an absolute maniac. She heard cheering behind her, realizing it was just Bianca and Bob who sat together on the bench beside her in the left corner.

It brought a deep happiness in her heart to know her fellow coaches and old time skating competition were still rooting for Aquaria to push through and make that podium dominated by a squad of American skaters.

Every little element brought a staunch reaction from Sharon who had basically been holding her breath for the last two minutes and thirty seconds, seeing Aquaria perform her final element of a layback spin, her head and shoulders dropped backwards as she arched her back towards the ice she took in the applause and almost fell to the ground once she finished.

She breathed heavily against the wall of the rink, clutching her heart as she waited patiently for Aquaria to come, cheering and clapping for her daughter not wanting to cry before getting the scores: she had executed it perfectly and the only misstep she had taken was possibly a slight under rotated quad but that was up to judges deliberation and not up to Sharon.

The minute her skates hit the carpet again they slammed into each other, Aquaria's hands digging into her shoulders as Sharon wiped the sweat off her forehead and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Kid, I'm so fucking proud." She whispered in muffled breath. Aquaria taking it all in and wishing she had a camera to capture the moment. However, she was sure the hundreds around them would and somehow she'd find this exact moment on Twitter at about 3AM tonight.

As the two made their way over the Kiss & Cry, Bianca and Bob quickly giving Aquaria the high praise she deserved as she put on her skate guards.

"That was fucking art, magnificent."

"Beat bitch, you and Shea, besides Adore, are the only ones I didn't want to fall asleep to! You also had the best costume made by yours truly!"

Sharon held Aquaria's hands firmly, interlocking their fingers and pressing a kiss to her adopted daughter's forehead. The blonde couldn't have possibly even imagined how much energy and passion she gained being in front of a crowd. Especially considering it was her first senior competition she had done exactly what she came to do: prove everyone wrong. Whatever was to happen now was up to the judges and while in the back of her heart Sharon knew her skating was not up to the same level as Sasha's yet , Aquaria absolutely won the crowd over and had managed to steal Sharon's heart yet again, as always.

"I'm proud of you kid, medal or no medal, tonight you have proved yourself to the world." The words leaving her mouth softly, Aquaria only falling into the grip of her coaches arm, Sharon running a hand through her platinum hair as the screens were still replaying the footage of her jumps and elements up for review, waiting for that score.

The music stopped, Sharon's heart now pounding twice as loud, squeezing her hands tightly and praying she had managed to do enough: she was the last skater and every single hope rested on her.

"The scores please."

Sharon had managed to whisper a distinctly loud and nerve wrecked, "Fuck—" aloud before she covered her mouth, Aquaria giggling and staring away from the camera's as they sat together: mother and daughter, coach and skater.

I just hope I was good enough of a coach to her.

"Aquaria Coady has earned in the short program a total combined score of…"

The announcer stopped and Sharon wanted to die right on the spot, what truthfully was just two seconds seemed to last an entire lifetime. This was the foundation her skater needed to succeed and it would definitely be wonderful to completely laugh in Phi Phi's face for old times sake.

"94.61, she is in currently in third place."

Aquaria's heart stopped beating the minute she had heard the score and she covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes immediately watering and red as Sharon screamed and stood up, still screaming and picking up her daughter by the waist and swung her around. The two separated, both emotional as they hugged again letting the applause and screeches of the American fans speak for themselves.

"You did it!" Was all she could hear her coach scream in her ear as they ignored the French translation and took in the atmosphere, this was truly a photo finish.

"Aquaria Coady a obtenu dans le programme court une note combinée totale de 94,61, elle est à la troisième place."

The younger girl had barely enough time to process: she had won a bronze medal in the first night of her first senior competition, her mom and coach still holding back tears as they jumped in place and held hands tightly, Sharon completely passing out on her shoulder though her smile glowed brighter than all the camera flashes and stadium lights.

Holy shit, I just won a medal, fuck.

Upon seeing the scoreboard she noticed in the corner Shea standing and yelping for the younger American who came running in her arms, the Chicago native laughing with pride once they fell into the couch. The two of them sporting Team USA jackets in Grenoble, the podium was officially two Americans and the Russian who reigned supreme once again.

It was difficult to ignore Brooke who sat in tears, closing her eyes and breathing through her mouth though her fists were clenched and bright red as Aquaria walked over and helped her up, trying to congratulate the Canadian on still, a wonderful result she should definitely be proud of. The older skater clearly wanted to be left alone as she immediately raced off, only stopping to pat Aquaria's back in a silent form of congratulations as she disappeared away from the crowd and cameras.

"Congratulations darling." Sasha spoke sweetly as they shook hands smiling, Aquaria feeling a bit dazed and starstruck upon seeing the Russian who had secured the gold she wanted: if she won the free skate she was advancing to the Grand Prix final's like expected of her.

"Thank you."

Shea and Sasha latched onto each other as they began to adjust each other's laces that were beginning to untangle from being off the ice and pacing around so much. A faint pinch of curiosity ran through Aquaria's brain as she stared blankly at her friend who seemed irresistibly engulfed with Sasha. She had seen Shea smile more in three minutes staring at the Russia's own darling skater than she had the entire season of training.

That would be an interesting match...

— *.✧

Brooke had held it together fine hearing those damn scores, she was beaten and unless she made the podium tomorrow there was no chance she'd qualify for the Grand Prix final, she had already gotten a silver medal at Skate America: this was the final push she had and god , she refused to have this moment be taken away from her by some starting senior who was beyond talented but had barely even began the real work.

Wiping her eyes she put her body against the wall of the deserted hallway, knowing the medal ceremony would begin in a moment and she wouldn't be a part of it. She knew half of her mascara would run dry and down her face by the time she had comprehended what happened. She didn't want to see anyone, not even Manila. She knew her coach would gently hug her and tell her to train for tomorrow, to look at the end goal and not just tonight.

"Brooke…" A voice spoke, closing the door to the hallway locker rooms as the Canadian sat in tears, it truly shouldn't be such a big deal but her body was at it's limit and all the hard work she did with Manila, Detox and Alyssa seemed a great waste even with the free skate still to go.

Her eyes bounced around the room before spotting Detox kneeling right next to her on the bench where she had made a home. "Girl, that was fucking awesome."

Brooke completely broke down at that very moment, choking and stifling back her tears before letting it all go: she felt like she failed her mentor and idol at that very second. The American skater frowned and sat on the bench before quickly wrapping her arms around Brooke's shoulders, letting her completely sob on her jacket.

"I'm so proud of you, medal or no medal."

The Canadian nodded in silence, it was a comfort to hear that but it wouldn't change the fact her chances at the Grand Prix were practically kissed goodbye unless she managed to beat Shea, Sasha or Aquaria tomorrow.

Bouncing her royal blue hair, Detox held her hands and made her lift her head from the floor. "Stop slagging, you're the hardest worker I know, I love those girls with all my heart but you still have all my support and want towards winning the gold."

"I feel like I'm failing you… That I'm failing my own country—" sniffling every third word, trying to compose herself. She was starting to piece together the reason why she was so broken was because this was the first real fall of her career she had, impressive but to have it in France, during a fucking qualification definitely raised her emotions bitterly.

"You better not ever fucking say that, can't name someone I'm more proud of."

"Trinity?"

Detox gripped the bench, eyes widening as she bit her own lips. Ignoring the flush that infiltrated her cheeks she laughed, "Don't play with me, she's a good friend , friend for sure, you're like my hotter daughter who can actually do ballet— you're everything I've ever wanted in a skater."

"You're not just saying that?"

The older skater slapped her knee gently and laughed, head on her shoulder, "I wish I didn't fucking have to, you should already know it's all true."

Tired of wallowing in the stench of the locker rooms, the two got up and held hands tightly as they went out back, Detox finally convincing Brooke Lynn to attend the medal ceremony and not just sit around her hotel room in nothing but sorrow. They walked arm in arm out around the door before taking Brooke to their original seats which were with Alaska (competition) and Trinity (competition).

Politely introducing herself she sat with the three Americans, feeling a bit of an odd one out especially considering the three all trained with each other in some capacity or another. Alaska and Trinity were nice enough out of competition, wishing her luck and saying her skate today was very well done.

The rink had already set up with the podiums and volunteers coming out, the president of the ISU already introduced and standing on the layers laid down to prevent any accidents on the ice, no skates were necessary while walking on these paths and carpeted areas.

"Third place, representing the United States, Aquaria Coady."

The three next to Brooke immediately stood and clapped loudly, whooping and screeching for Sharon's daughter and the bronze medal winner from their home country. The Canadian joined them and clapped politely, simply taking a deep breath, wondering what could have been.

"Troisième place, représentant les États-Unis, Aquaria Coady!"

The music of her short program played as the youngest skater in the competition begun to skate her way around the rink, waving to the stands as she smirked widely. Her smile was definitely infectious as Brooke had to at least give a quaint and visible smile towards her, she deserved it no matter how badly the Canadian had prayed it would've been her.

She stopped her skates and hopped on to the third place podium, proudly standing and being projected on the bigger screens scattered throughout the rink for everyone far and close to see.

"Second place, representing the United States, Shea Couleé."

"Deuxième place, représentant les États-Unis, Shea Couleé!"

Trinity had completely melted and jumped in the stands, screeching for her best friend who came out as her Moulin Rouge program played, spotting the four and blowing a kiss to Trinity who laughed and leaned on Detox happily, shouting her name until she had stopped and Aquaria helped her gently get on the second place podium.

Shea hugged Aquaria, a sweet moment for the camera's and enough to get a reaction from the already antsy and energetic crowd.

Now all that was left was the one and only.

"In first place, representing Russia, Sasha Velour."

"En premier lieu, représentant la Russie, Sasha Velour!"

The blonde skated out in unexplainable joy, the music of her short playing though the crowd completely drowned it out with cheers and appreciation towards the golden girl, who had been expected to take it easily.

Sasha held Shea's hand as she jumped on the podium, smiling widely at the cameras and giving waves everywhere she saw a Russian flag or excited fan, she was completely exhilarated no doubt but still managed to keep sanity and grace with the audience and fans in Grenoble who were now on their feet.

"God she's so fucking good." Alaska groaned aloud, clearly Team Shea and Aquaria for tomorrow though it was looking to be another clear Grand Prix qualification for Sasha who already got gold her previous assignment in Canada.

Grand Prix's were, outside of the Olympics and World's (though even that could be debated): the biggest competition skater's had to look forward to, the Olympics was months away and qualifications had already begun in certain countries. You needed to do well in just one but two separate competitions you were randomly assigned to: Sasha was to be the first definite qualifier if she won gold tomorrow. Katya who had won gold in America was right behind her and was assigned to Rostelecom in her own home country, Detox was also in the same boat as Katya with an added NHK Trophy assignment after Russia.

Sasha bounced happily on her podium as her and Shea whispered idle conversation to each other before the announcer spoke, introducing the ISU representatives and letting the volunteers come out with bouquets of flowers, wrapped and ready for the skaters after the medals were presented.

The ISU president walked first to Aquaria who graciously accepted the medal around her neck and hugged the president who smiled and separated, shaking her hand as the crowd cheered for the newly broken in skater.

Aquaria blew a kiss to who must've been her mom and coach, Sharon who was an utter legend back even just a few years ago before she decided to retire.

Silver was presented to Shea who couldn't keep it in and did a small jump of joy, Sasha giggling beside her and she watched the medal become bestowed upon her. Another hug before she bowed to all the praise and love, Brooke was sure almost a fifth came from her row, mainly Trinity.

The American danced and laughed, gripping Sasha's hand before cheering loudly for the gold medal winner who bowed and politely shook hands before receiving a final hug from the president who took his time showing the Gold medal and putting it around the Russian skater's neck as she bashfully teared up hearing all the applause and love given towards her.

As the flags were lowered, two American and one Russian, the stadium respectfully stood (most already having been standing) as the speakers began to blast the Russian national anthem, Sasha proudly mouthing every word and wiping her eyes as she lipsync though the arena was pact enough to hear the Russian fans singing the words to their anthem with nothing but passion.

"Rossiya – svyashchennaya nasha derzhava,

Rossiya – lyubimaya nasha strana.

Moguchaya volya, velikaya slava –

Tvoio dostoyanye na vse vremena!"

Brooke nodded, it was a lovely national anthem and she could definitely feel the fans singing along and supporting their country and Sasha: overall, it was expected that she would win (let's be honest).

The Canadian said her goodbyes to Detox once she had enough of scrolling through her phone and occasionally adding to the conversation an hour after the ceremony ended before quietly wandering off herself to her hotel room. She was hoping Manila wouldn't be angry she strayed away after the short program had ended. She was really hoping to just find some alcohol around here, a cocktail for her pent up and let out sadness.

As she stepped out of the elevator and onto her floor, duffel in hand she heard a concerning amount of knocks and relentless pounds towards a nearby door in her hallway. Brooke's amygdala completely flared as she jumped the corner and hid behind the corner of the wall, completely horrified. Praying someone was just drunk she breathed in relief once she heard the words coming from the said door thrasher.

"Kameron, bitch! I'm locked out of our fucking room!"

A muffled voice on the phone spoke: "I'm with Brianna, we went to the city outskirts and she's completely wasted already after watching the competition in a local bar, we're about an hour away, we'll leave soon I promise!"

Curiously, Brooke Lynn peaked the wall before anxiously circling behind and tilted her head finally seeing one of her fellow skating competitors she recognized as Vanessa Mateo completely frustrated as she helplessly pounded on the door. The Puerto Rican took notice to the taller figure peering behind her view before putting her hands up, dropping her phone and wallet before Brooke shook her head.

Letting her duffel hit the floor, the blonde went over to help the fellow skater pick up her things. Disorientated, Vanessa gasped and managed once more to drop her wallet: this time Brooke being able to catch it.

"I know you! Oh my god!" She yelled, a jump in her step as Brooke shushed her, slapping her shoulder, it was approaching midnight. "I'm sorry, you're so talented though!" The blonde shrugged, Vanessa scoffed at her lack of self appreciation.

"Bitch, you are fucking fabulous. I said to my friend, Kameron, while we were in the rink watching: Thank god I ain't skating in her assignments! You did so amazing." The sweet talk was very genuine but after a long night Brooke couldn't do anything expect sigh and politely smile, "You're very talented, I loved your Mambo skate last season."

Brooke had heard much about Vanessa, she was extremely popular on social media and always had the greatest Instagram Live's before competitions. Her coach was her god-mother and though she represented Puerto Rico, she happily trained in Florida or Michigan. Their styles couldn't be more different but the Canadian was glad she had the love from another skater who deserved twice as many medals than already collected.

The two exchanged glances of respect and high praise, the shorter skater extending a hand politely, not exactly knowing if physical affection was her thing.

"Vanessa, most call me Vanjie though."

"Brooke Lynn, good to finally meet you in person."

Rummaging through her wallet she managed to take a glimpse at the door, "Locked out?" She asked frowning, that be Brooke's worst nightmare even in France, especially for poor Vanessa who wasn't even a skater at this event and would just be treated as such.

"Yes Ma'am, I'm trying to call my friend who's staying with me but she's with her damn girlfriend as always, chatting it up and getting it on!"

Well that was too much information.

The blonde ran her fingers through her hair and huffed, knowing the staff wouldn't provide her with another keycard to the room especially if someone else had it on them already.

"I know we just met but if you want, you can stay with me until she comes."

Grabbing her bag she swung it around her shoulders as her Team Canada jacket began to reek of sweat and tears, "As long as you don't mind I shower, I smell awful."

Vanessa, completely gutted immediately nodded and sprung to her feet groaning in happiness. "Yes god, I owe you back in alcohol and food which we can order to your door!" The Canadian for the first time in this entire qualification smiled, laughing even.

"It's a done deal as long as you don't eat where my bed is."

— *.✧

Alaska had immediately raced to completely demolish Aquaria in nothing but love and hugs, maybe coupled with loud screeches. Winning a bronze medal at your first international senior competition while simultaneously facing skaters like Brooke Lynn Hytes, Sasha Velour and Jinkx Monsoon? Absolutely priceless.

"You fucking twig, I'm so proud." Her fingers brushing the hair past her face as they embraced, the younger skater only grinning with delight at the teasing as the bronze medal was held proudly around her neck. Aquaria tightly jumped around with the older skater, Sharon watching from a side, genuinely smiling and leaning against the wall with nothing but happiness.

"Thank you, for everything."

The blonde shrugged, "Anything for my Aqua." Her fingers running across the bronze medal in nothing but pride, admiring the workmanship and build of the prize. "Now you just have to listen to Sharon and relax, you have the free dance and I totally think you could fucking murder Sasha Velour by the way."

Sharon butt in, "She is right, you could but you have to rest." She threw Aquaria her keycard, "Go to the hotel and take a bath, you smell like sweat even if it's from winning a medal." Her daughter laughed and didn't complain, wanting to immerse her entire body in a bathtub full of bubbles and lavender essential oils.

An arm suddenly slugged around Alaska's shoulders as Sharon pulled her in and dropped her head in the crook of her neck, the skater grinning in delight. "Someone is either very tired or very happy to see me." Her hands reaching around her waist, keeping open eyes in the open hotel hallway.

"Tired, I hate you." The words coming off quietly with Alaska snickering into her hair, running a hand down her back as she hummed. "I know you do, that's why we live together." A kiss pressed to her lips softly, Sharon pushed her back and held her hand tenderly, "Thanks for coming."

"You're saying that as if I wouldn't die for Aquaria and to see her skate."

The shrug that Sharon gave as a response made the younger woman beside her punch her right in the shoulder, "You really thought I wouldn't come?" The question resonating with Sharon who only opened her mouth before closing it again, wanting to pick and choose her words carefully. The silence was clearly enough of an answer for Alaska who immediately gnawed at her cheeks, bitter.

"Seriously? What the fuck Sharon, you're my girlfriend and Aqua is still my damn training partner."

"You said yourself you're gonna retire! How the fuck am I supposed to know, I didn't know if you'd wanna come see a competition so soon after announcing privately in tears that you were calling it quits on skating!"

Alaska crossed her arms and cocked her brow, "So you think because I'm sad and that I'm gonna retire I shouldn't come?" Sharon stood quiet and sighed, giving up on trying to win a fight that had yet to even start.

"I guess not, what do I know."

"Everything, you're the reason I'm sane my love." Alaska joked as she tangled her fingers in her hair, the blonde putting a hand on the skater's cheek and caressing it as she spoke quietly of how badly she needed to draw herself a bath and order junk food from hotel services.

"Perfect date! We can use every bath bomb I managed to buy yesterday and eat grease!" Alaska called out chipper, grabbing her lover's hand as they walked back to their hotel room, hand in hand, Detox had promised Alaska a lone room tonight since she was gonna go to the city with Trinity after the ceremony and most likely find a joint over there for a night.

Translation: I'm gonna have sex with my crush hardcore all night in the city centre hotel instead of our room, enjoy!

"You are certainly something."

"Would you want me any other way darling?" Their fingers playing before they interlocked tight as Sharon spoke firmly, a smile across her dried lipstick.

"Definitely not."

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hopevalley · 5 years ago

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What are your favorite and least stories from each Season and why?

Oh man, this is a really thought-provoking question! I’ll try to come up with good answers (even though sometimes the seasons blur together a little bit):

I’ll give some basic thoughts on each season and what worked/didn’t work for me.

Season 1

While I appreciate that they made the effort to have Elizabeth stick out (vs. blending in with all the Poors), she was downright unbearable at times in the early seasons. Her wanting to help and coming up with ideas is pretty decent in terms of story structure and even characterization/character motivation, but holy cow was it intrusive and nosy/patronizing of her sometimes! I think the point might have been to give Elizabeth flaws, which is great, but people just seemed to accept it, and her, too quickly, at least for my liking. A shame because I felt like her struggling to fit in would 1) be good for her character/force her to understand that to be accepted here she has to concede to giving up her former lifestyle, and 2) be a great, GREAT way for her and Abigail to bond and become friends, since this is something Abigail also struggled with!

So basically, the ‘story’ of Elizabeth coming to fit in in Coal Valley? Vaguely rubbish.

So much DID work, though, and could have been expanded upon for even better storytelling!!! This is especially true of the widows/related stories.

Loss of faith/faltering faith

Loss of personal identity

Moving on/past grief

Processing guilt

Protecting the memory of a deceased loved one

We also had some great smaller personal stories.

Genius child has to work in the mine because there’s no one else ot take care of his family

Young man can’t read and has to work in the mine (and even after he does start learning how to read, probably doesn’t get to leave). Elizabeth still taking the time to try and help him still means something!

Season 2

I will never forgive the series for its convoluted attempt at a love triangle, here. Charles wasn’t unlikable, but he was OBVIOUSLY interested in Elizabeth romantically, and I don’t feel she’d be so stupid as to be blind to that, old chum or not.

Basically, it was one of the worst plots to ever exist on the show, because it just wasn’t believable in any capacity and felt like drama that existed to be a roadblock more than anything.

Also, not to whine, but Bill’s whole ‘counterfeit money’ plotline wasn’t very well-written.

The plot itself makes sense, but the way it bounced around seems to have just confused enough people that no one even remembers this was a thing.

That said, I think it was a good plot for the character... It was just not executed as well as it needed to have been to make a difference/really shine.

There are a lot of small things from S2 that were pretty nice, though.

Abigail’s fight to help Clara was meaningful, but I’m not sure how I feel about the addition of Clara from a writing standpoint. I feel like Abigail should have felt something was off about Peter’s trips from the start... The issue is that Hamilton is VERY far away and it’s VERY doubtful Peter would have ever gone there. Union City makes more sense if we’re talking about picking up shipments.

Tom and Julie were entertaining if nothing else.

I couldn’t tell you a single thing that happened in Hope Valley in S2, but I’m sure there were Events.

Season 3

Honestly I don’t think S3 had anything horrible in it. It just wasn’t very inspiring at times? It was like they had all these really good ideas but didn’t want to fully commit to any of them.

Henry Gowen was a star.

Frank was excellent in this season.

The biggest issue I have with this plot is simply that they didn’t take it all the way. Either he’s a dangerous man to allow to stay in town or he’s not. Saying he is doesn’t make it so. A rock through a window? Okay, sure...that’s threatening I guess. But it didn’t feel like enough to turn the whole town.

And again, having him barely doing anything even though he’d definitely be worried for Abigail and Cody’s safety is just inane.

Still, overall the whole thing was pretty good/well-done. Especially that unexpected turn at the end where Henry helped turn the tide. (I still wish that had gone somewhere and wonder even now if they had an idea they wanted to use and didn’t get the chance to.)

Abigail adopting children was nice. I wish Becky hadn’t been a part of it at all though. Like the IDEA is nice, but I can’t imagine she’d believe in it all as fast/readily as she does? This plotline just seemed great for Cody and meaningless to Becky, IMO.

But hey, the thing with Cody is meaningful enough. My issue is just that he’s like, 8 or 9 and remembers his parents very clearly, so I don’t think he’d be that willing to replace them. I guess it could just be his personality, but it might make more sense for him to be like 5-6 years old instead (less attached with fuzzier memories by this point if they’ve been on the run awhile).

Despite my qualms I think this was a pretty good story for Abigail. Just wish they hadn’t dropped her role as a mom as quickly as it felt they did.

Hattie was a good character and I enjoyed her introduction story. It was sad, but it felt good/satisfying.

Bill buying Henry’s share in the café was a great little thing. Maybe too convenient and itching for a story of its own (instead of it just happening), but overall a good idea.

Jack’s mom coming to town was entertaining. She had some really good lines. Lard in coffee. I mean...this was gold.

Season 4

The peddler was a cute addition but I didn’t much care for the overt magical element.

If it felt a little more real/grounded/down to earth I think I might have been more intrigued.

Frank getting his original Bible back was a GREAT story but when they tried tying it into his vaguely stalker-like behavior? It just ruined the entire thing.

For what it’s worth, Frank’s character goes downhill pretty sharply in this season.

There were a lot of cute kid storylines in this one. But they weren’t all...great...

Robert telling the lie about the bear? Nice.

The kid with the knee brace? Ugh.

The storyline itself wasn’t bad!

But after Becky miraculously recovered the previous season it just felt like a slap in the face. I live with chronic pain and it’s just one of those things where I’d like a little representation somewhere.

I still think Becky should have stayed wheelchairbound.

I can’t get over how insulting it was that she just MIND OVER MATTER FIXED HERSELF. The writer who put that in there should be slapped, and the writer who wrote the saME GODFORSAKEN STORY AGAIN with this child should also be slapped.

I really feel that if they were gonna let Becky recover like that, this kid should be living with a permanent disability and this episode could deal with kids helping him play/doing activities he could participate and enjoy.

Maybe it’s too on-the-nose but the hardest part about a chronic illness/disability of any kind is the part where you lose things you loved to do that you considered a part of your identity. That’s an awfully deep storyline for WCtH, but they should have gone for it here.

Phillip was in between.

Phillip and his father were great, but Elizabeth was just SO incredibly awful. This is where she and Abigail started always being right about everything and I felt her involvement was unbearable.

They should have just let Faith take over Elizabeth’s role in that plot and it would have been way better. They could have had the eyesight issue earlier and done something great with it.

Frank and Abigail’s relationship at the beginning of this season was pretty interesting. Even though the whole “danger” thing was a little goofy, it was nice to see them communicating and adjusting.

It felt like a natural issue people would actually have. And it wasn’t smoothly worked out, which is fine.

Also, Rosemary’s interference was hilarious.

RIP to the following:

Frank’s character after his earlier scene, because he doesn’t get anything else that’s actually in character.

Good writing because Carson is now the town hero he’s gonna save Cody from appendicitis because other doctors are just completely stupid!

Also Carson is a surgeon so TAKE THAT, regular doctors!

Doug. You were a real bro, my guy.

I DID like Doug’s role in the story, though. His death made some sense, but it was ill-timed. (How convenient that we only even hear of him moments before his death lol.)

AJ Foster is a highlight of S4 for me. I love her, and for the most part I love her introduction.

She’s such a pain in the neck, but she also talks a lot of sense.

The writing isn’t great for her, or for Bill in these scenes, but at least there was An Attempt™.

I appreciate that they introduced the idea of her much earlier in the season and built up to her actual appearance, which I couldn’t have guessed would be relevant early on.

Considering how the officers at my company hate our IRS auditor, I find the fact that AJ has enemies beyond believable.

Railroad shenanigans were pretty entertaining in this season, too.

Season 5

The last episode at least tried to be kind to the characters, so I appreciate it.

Elizabeth’s conversation with her father before her wedding was a highlight of the entire season.

AJ’s return plot was abysmal.

I’d be terribly embarrassed to have been the one to write this, especially considering how completely whack it feels next to the other plots.

I’ve ranted about this so many times I should have run out of steam but BOY is it cringey. This is the height of Bill-is-a-grumpy-old-man as a Thing in this series and this is probably when it is its worst.

The rattlesnake plotline was contrived as heck, but the only thing to make it worse was how weird everyone acted.

Rhonda was a good character and the plotline, if it wasn’t so rushed, would have actually been really great. I still liked it overall, though.

Frank’s send-off was dumb, but at least he got one on-screen.

I still can’t believe they killed their main romantic male lead off-screen.

What the heck...

Abigail was really, really annoying in this season, and so was Elizabeth. Unbearable.

Also, I still hate the pregnancy oooops~~ ♥♥ plot at the end of the grieving episode. Really? COME ON. I know they wanted to give the fans hope but it was jarring.

Season 6

I still HATE the nativity == baby Jack’s birth parallels.

Why did they feel the need to do that. Why couldn’t we have just gotten pregnant Elizabeth shenanigans?

They put Jack’s DEATH ON THE TOMBSTONE like how is she popping out a baby less than two months later when she didn’t even know she wa---?F?DJSAFLJDSAFHLDSAL?

Abigail?

DELETED.

Thank goodness.

Bill?

Assassinated. Or at least, his character was.

This is bad. :(

On the plus side he gets promoted to the position of JUDGE...and barely does anything worthwhile with it...yet.

GODFATHER BILL. The best thing in this season.

Fiona?

A goddess. I love her.

Lucas?

Slimy.

But handsome.

The 4th Property Brother. He even tries his hand at renovating.

Nathan?

Honest and good.

Pretty cute.

Works together with Bill once in one of Bill’s only good scenes.

The oil plotline is actually pretty good/fun. Jesse and Clara get more scenes finally.

Elizabeth isn’t the focus of everything.

Lee and Rosemary got like, no mention in any of these posts but mostly because it felt like they were never really doing anything before, but I did feel like they were given a little more meaningful lines/places in this season.

How’s this for an attempt? :P I’m probably missing A LOT but I can’t recall everything too easily!

#long post #anonymously asked #answered mail

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anogete · 6 years ago

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Bullet List of My Very Random Thoughts on Endgame

Don't click the keep reading link if you haven't seen the movie yet. I don’t want to be responsible for ruining your first watch of the movie. Serious, guys. Only click if you’ve seen it.

I really enjoyed it and I'm happy to suspend my disbelief with almost all of the time travel plot element. All things considered, it was masterfully executed and a beautiful love letter to the characters, movies, and fans.

My original six lovelies:

- Tony's arc was beautiful and heartbreaking but in a very satisfying way. I think most of us saw that one coming with the way IW set him up against Thanos. It was that much more poignant when you saw he was happy with Pepper and their little girl but still couldn’t step away from helping make things right if he had the ability. Pepper knew he couldn’t avoid involving himself despite not wanting to jeopardize his life with her, so her encouragement at the beginning and her comment to him right before he died (“We’re going to be okay. You can rest.”) just break my fucking heart. So does Peter crying over a wounded and dying Tony, telling him they won. Oh man. The waterworks were something fierce.

- Nat was a surprise but packed a shockingly hard punch for me. Maybe that was in part because it WAS a surprise and also because when we opened the movie she felt so fragile even though she was the one keeping the hope alive. That moment with her sad little sandwich and the news about Clint being so far off the rails that Steve interrupts? That alone made my heart hurt for her. My stomach dropped when I saw her and Clint climbing the mountain on Vormir as I realized what had to happen to get the Soul Stone. I was hopeful they could game the system and jump off the cliff together and both live, but I understand why this would cheapen it. She always felt like the glue that kept all these big personalities and big egos together, so it hurts that she’s gone and the group has been fractured with Tony’s death and Steve being out of the game.

- As for Clint--I’m assuming he returns to the family man life unless something big comes up in the future. I don’t know anything about Renner’s contract, but I’d like to see Hawkeye again. The hair and the sword and the arms and tats and revenge attitude really did it for me. How very dare they make him look this edible.

- Thor coping with grief by drinking beer (that beer belly, though!) and playing video games with Korg and Miek was actually refreshing and endearing. I know some people didn’t like seeing him that way, but it gives his character so much depth. Besides, he was back to his kickass self by the end of the movie. I do love that he handed over New Asgard to Valkyrie to rule, and I hope we see him pop into movies in the future, especially with that adorable rivalry between him and Quill.

- Bruce and his newfound truce with Hulk was a delight to see and completely unexpected. Also, Bruce/Hulk with the muscles and the voice and the five o’clock shadow and the glasses? Ummmm... ::is tempted to write Hulky Bruce smut:: I hope he’ll be in future movies.

- Steve. Ahh, Steve. I loved the fight with himself and the funny little winks to the viewers with the lines (America’s Ass, “I can do this all day”, “Hail Hydra”). I loved that he was encouraging others to move on when he couldn’t seem to do so himself. I LOVED him wielding Mjolnir, especially when the lightning started flying out of it. Thor’s reaction to that (”I knew it!”) was adorable. But, I’m torn with Steve’s storyline. I wanted him to get his happily ever after. I was dreading seeing him die in this movie, which I thought was definitely going to happen. But what was so shocking to me was that he got exactly what I wanted him to get but it felt so cheap to me. I left the movie satisfied with everything but the way they ended things with Steve, and yet I couldn’t seem to put my finger on why I started hating it the more I thought about it. I know a ton of people are Stucky ‘shippers and, while I love his relationship with Bucky, I’ve never ‘shipped them together. I’m not thrilled about the way they glossed over that relationship, but I understand the necessity because of time constraints. I don’t mind that Steve handed the Shield off to Sam because I assumed either he or Bucky (or even both) would pick it up in Steve’s absence. Bucky would have been a nice full circle between the two of them on their separate paths, but I also understand why it was given to Sam. Bucky obviously knew exactly what was going on, though I thought the distance between him and Steve was a bit strange. Maybe they were trying to make a point of showing that Steve and Bucky have both changed. Whatever. I can live with it, I guess. No one wanted Steve to get his happy ending more than me. So, what gives? I couldn’t figure out why it felt so wrong and cheap and like the worst kind of fan service. @bulmavegotaku sent me THIS ARTICLE which actually articulates what has been bothering me. Just because I wanted a happy ending for Steve doesn’t mean that it was what was best or even what was in-character for him. I know other people thought that him hiding in the past to live his life with Peggy WAS in-character, but I don’t think it was at all. And that’s not even to mention the fuckery with Peggy’s timeline. Yeah, yeah, they left the question of who Steve married up in the air by not having him divulge that info when Sam asked, but I’m not stupid. He says she’s the love of his life. If he’s going back, he’s not going to share a dance with her and then go marry some other chick in the past. Please. And that makes Steve Sharon’s uncle. Which is... weird and WTF. But maybe they thought we’d forget all that since it is now an alternate reality or whatever. So, Steve’s “ending” was the one major thing I really didn’t like. I’m sure one day I’ll write some fic that branches off into an AU in which it didn’t happen that way. It’s a little too fresh right now for me to tackle, though. I need to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Other things I liked:

- Nebula’s dynamic and (at times) heartbreaking storyline as we watched her internal struggle actually play out in front of us with two Nebulas. My heart dropped when Rhodey was able to return to the present time on Earth, but she got trapped in the past with Thanos. I’m so happy she survived. Plus, her game of finger football with Tony was so goddamn endearing for both of them.

- Gamora being alive and the thought of watching her future interactions with Quill all over again. I love the sexual tension and the chase for sure. However, if past Gamora ends up in present time, then did all that stuff with Quill and the other Guardians even happen? Her past self is in the present and so is Nebula’s past self. Plus, Thanos plays a part (even if he’s off-screen) in much of the two Guardians movies, so if his past self died in the present, did this create some sort of alternate reality in which the things we witnessed didn’t actually happen in that way? This kinda ties in with my dislike of Steve’s storyline. Too much fucking with time travel begins to unravel the plot and create holes that I start picking at.

- Thanos turning to dust. So so so satisfying. What an absolutely arrogant turd.

- “On your left.” What a wonderful moment when you heard Sam’s voice and saw T’Challa appear from that portal followed by all of the others.

- While I didn’t enjoy it, I did think the fight between Steve and an emaciated and exhausted Tony at the beginning of the movie was so well done and well-acted. What a low point to climb out from.

- The scene in the beginning when they kill Thanos was also pretty low, but I thought a great way to start the movie. You can kill the bad guy, but that won’t change all the bad he did.

- I feel like Scott Lang is all of us. The scene with him outside when his taco blows away was so wonderful. And the scene in the diner when the kids want pics with Hulky Bruce, but not poor Antman. So awkward and so funny.

- The closure that Tony got with his dad. Oh man, that was the best and made even better because he was a father himself at that moment. Thor being able to speak with his mother and move forward from that was also unexpected but so needed for his character, especially at that moment.

- While I love Carol Danvers and the Captain Marvel movie, I didn’t want her to come in and steal the show from the core group of Avengers as we ended this era of the movies. I’m pleased with the way they used her to rescue Tony and Nebula and then go off to bring some order to the rest of the universe before returning to help in that final battle.

- Speaking of Carol--the scene during the battle when she takes the new gauntlet from Peter in an effort to get it away from Thanos and all the badass women fall in line behind her to assist brings a tear to my eye. What made it even better is it caused the two bros seated beside me to mutter and wiggle uncomfortably in their chairs because it was obvious they didn’t really like that part. As Beyonce would say, “Suck on my balls,” boys.

- Wanda’s white (red?) hot rage toward Thanos when she finally came toe-to-toe with him during the battle. YES. I was cheering her on.

- Steve’s ass. Oh, I’m sorry America’s ass.

- Did I mention Steve wielding Mjolnir?

- Loki being the sneaky little snake he is and grabbing the Tesseract during the confusion when Tony gets hit by the flying door. And Hulk screaming in frustration about how many stairs there are since he wasn’t allowed to ride on the elevator with everyone else.

- Bucky’s luxurious hair. Although, I do want my beefy Civil War Bucky back. On a side note, can someone please please please fix Sam’s facial hair before the next movie or show? Please? I do not like it at all. Anthony Mackie, please go back to WS or CW facial hair. I’m begging you.

I’m ready for more Guardians of the Galaxy featuring Thor. I’m ready to finally watch the first Spiderman movie before the new one comes out. (Don’t shoot me for not seeing it yet!) I’m pumped for more Carol as Captain Marvel. I love the original characters the best, but I understand we have to move forward and I’m trying to embrace these new babies even though they aren’t Tony or Nat or Steve. I’m consoling myself with Bucky and Sam right now.

And most of all, I’m excited to start writing again. I started something last night, but I don’t want to give many details until I know if what I threw on the wall is going to stick. If it does, then it’ll be Wintershock, take place after Endgame, and will probably be fluffy and free of life and death situations. My heart can’t take any more of that between Endgame and Game of Thrones. I’ll pop in periodically to keep anyone who cares updated on new material from me. Can’t wait to see you again over on AO3 this summer!

#marvel endgame #avengers endgame #avengers spoilers #endgame spoilers #mcu #spoilers #for shit's sake don't read if you haven't seen endgame

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managician · 6 years ago

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ARC V Anniversary Day 4

Discussion prompt: Who’s your favorite character(s)?

Hoo boy, I ended up making a top 10 because there’s so many lovable characters in this cast and I want to talk about them all... Warning for incredibly long descriptions as the top goes on (I’m sorry for mobile users)

10. Reira Akaba

Look at this precious bab. Right off the bat I knew I would like them — I have a kind of weakness for child characters (Rua is one of my faves from 5DS too for a reason), but I never actually expected to love them as much as I do right now. Seeing this little afraid kid with no sense of self grow into a person of their own and playing a literal key role in the resolution of the final conflict was so satisfying.

09. Ray Akaba

Aand naturally, with me loving Reira it probably comes off as no surprise that I love Ray too. Even with the extremely limited screentime, she shot through the roof as one of my favorites. She was no goddess or super powerful entity that had the equal means to fight Zarc, but she did so anyway. And she won. She’s the porter of an incredibly inspiring message and pretty much symbolizes the core of ARC V’s narrative; she saw trouble and she knew cowering in fear would solve nothing, so she took a step forward with courage and believed in her own worth. POINT IS, Ray is awesome.

08. Rin

Ahh, Rin... It’s one of the few cases where it’s hard for me to articulate what I like about her the most. I actually wasn’t super invested in her when I first finished watching the show, but one of my friends really likes Yugo and Rin and that got me to think more about her beyond her lack of screentime, and I found myself suddenly appreciating her a lot. She has all her pragmatic yet caring personality and goals scattered throughout the show if you pay attention to her interactions with Yugo, and you can actually get a extremely solid grasp on the kind of the person she is — even her deck plays into it (a logical and ruthless Burn Damage deck, which showcases she’s not here for anyone’s bullshit).

07. Shun Kurosaki

Shun is a fairly biased case for me, I’ll totally admit. I didn’t actually like him that much during my watch of the show though, and it wasn’t until the XYZ/Fusion Arc that I looked at the events of ARC V in retrospective and realised how much Shun had been involved in. I’m a sucker for stoic and ruthless characters learning to trust people again, and Shun fit into the mold perfectly. And he definitely did strike me as cool from the first go, with Rise Falcon’s insane OTK against the LDS Trio back in Standard, so even if I wasn’t actively rooting for his character I wanted to see what direction he’d take. Seeing him grow and finally make peace with the Yuto/Ruri situation at the end of the show made me incredibly happy; I think that he could finally start leaving all the bitterness and pain behind and begin a new journey of hope with his comrades.

06. Serena

Another case of me being somewhat (okay, really) gay and biased for girls. I loved Serena right from the first go; her pushy and pretty aggressive personality caught my interest, and we got a glimpse of her backstory with Reiji pretty soon after her introduction, which made me feel connected with her very easily. Yet another misguided Academia student — though her arc is completely different compared to say, Sora’s or Dennis’s. She had even less information about the outside world than the rest of the Fusion gang did, and so of course the key for her was learning the truth. Thanks to Yuzu and Shun she was able to check by herself how horrorific her Academia comrades’s actions had been, and she immediately decides to fight against the injustice. There’s something admirable about her relentless courage and will to do what’s right, and she never stops being herself and fighting like she wants to the very bitter end. Pretty inspiring for me, honestly.

05. Reiji Akaba

And we enter Top 5, starting off with Reiji, who is frankly the trickiest character for me on this list. Unlike many people I know I didn’t ever think of him as an evil or dettached rival, because of... His scarf. Yes, his stupid gravity defying-scarf. Red symbolizes heroism in many Japanese shows, so I had the hunch that Reiji would end up acting nicer than he did at the beginning of show. And boy, did he. He’s an incredibly compelling and well-rounded character who is a clear contrast to Yuya’s bright entertainment, and he expresses his emotions in a very subtle way. He’s an unexpected rival who subverts tropes left and right, just like the protagonist; and while it’s clearly a case of the “I Had To Grow Up Too Early” trope, it’s executed so brilliantly well that you can’t help feel sorry for him, even if you don’t particularly like him. ...Which was actually what happened to me, I barely cared for him in my first watch of the show... And then I loved him and suddenly he was in my top favorites. He’s so great.

04. Sawatari Shingo

I’ll say it right from the go, I didn’t ever think a character of Shingo’s type could get me so interested. From the beginning of the show I saw him as Yuya’s ‘rival’ in a purer sense of the word than Reiji; they’re both Entertainment Duelists and have a more direct confrontation in the championship’s Action Duel. But that’s all he really was to me, another showcasing of Entertainment and a fun character to see when he was on screen, nothing else. And yet I found myself taking a deep liking to him when he finally tried to steer his own path; despite being a loud, kind-of comedy relief character if the situation requires for it (somewhat akin to Jounouchi in DM, perhaps), at the same time he’s a quite talented Duelist who enjoys pulling a crowd’s attention towards him. He wants to impress people and that’s something I could relate to in a very intimate way, as much as I preferred Yuya’s ideology. And he grew so much during the BB Arc with Crow too, it was so cute.

Tied for 3rd spot - Yuto and Yuzu Hiragi

Aka... I tried really, really hard to pick one... But I had to give up. Sometimes I say Yuto’s 3rd and Yuzu 2nd and some other days it’s the other way around, and then sometimes I straight up can’t decide. Like today.

I wasn’t big on Yuto at first at all. He did intrigue me, especially because thanks to him we were introduced to the same-face plot that set off the whole Standard arc in the first place, though that was it. I thought he was cool, a character you can appreciate if he comes up with screen, but don’t actively think of outside of that. Broodingly dark characters tend to piss me off unless they quickly grow on me, which probably added to me not feeling very interested in either him or Shun at the beginning of the show; even with that, I appreciated his rather calm and pacifist nature in comparison to his partner...

And then Episode 37 happened and I was completely thrown off the charts. His desire to bring smiles to people and to not hurt anyone anymore to the point of refusing to attack Yugo pulled at my heartstrings, and I’m a complete sucker for self-sacrificing characters, so when he protected Yuya at the expense of his own soul and entrusted that desire onto him... I was sold. His influence is rather subtle but shows passionately many times, and I found myself falling in love with his character despite the lack of screentime and dubious characterisation that every XYZ character suffers from; I think he’s the best one out of the trio in that matter, though. And his interactions with Yuzu, Ruri and Yuya are so sweet; overall he’s just a character I can find myself easily toying with and I love his role in the show.

What can I say about Yuzu? She’s my favorite female lead from all YGO series. I found her rather annoying but cute during the first... Ten or so episodes. And then I fell in love with her because holy damn, she’s such an amazing character. She actually Duels, has a beautiful and kickass deck and is deeply involved in the plot from start to end (which is already more than can be said for the other shows), not to mention she’s such an inspiring role model. Yuzu always actively worked to improve herself and it’s refreshing to see her be so open with her feelings and caring for people. She’s so strong and I really enjoyed all the bonds she had with the rest of the cast — when you had half of them going through hell and back to help her, it felt legitimately heartwarming and believable, because she always does her best to forge a connection with people and isn’t afraid to say what she thinks.

She felt like one of the most human characters in the show for me, as her best strength was the power of encouraging and inspiring other people (Yuya, Serena, Yugo just to name a few) rather than being unbeatable or not being allowed to fail. She’s everything and more I could hope from a female lead and she inspires me everyday.

01. Yuya Sakaki

*falls to the ground and sobs*

I can’t even begin to describe how much I love this precious ball of sunshine. Anime protagonists are always without fail a 50/50 chance for me, I either love them with all my soul or I hate them and I’m 200% more invested in other characters. Yuya (un)surprisingly fell into the first category from the very first episode, he’s so adorable and seeing him go on a journey to leave behind his years of bullying and depression and turn into someone he can be proud of is hands down the most inspiring thing in this series.

He genuinely makes me so happy and his character development is the very thing that made me invested in ARC V in the first place, I will never get enough of what an amazing and compelling protagonist he is. His attitude of trying to stay happy and make the people around him happy as well, but ultimately falling victim to his own emotions and crashing hard against reality is so brutally and openly real that my heart aches just from thinking of it. I’ve learned with him as I watched the show; as an audience we experienced the same happiness, sadness and pain that he went through, and I’m so proud of him for getting so far and never giving up despite all the odds always being against him.

He’ll always hold a special place in my heart, he’s so important to me and I’m just really glad he exists!

#arcvanniversary #ygo arc v #yugioh arc v #arc v #long post #i did not mean for this to turn into a essay but once i start talking about this cast i can't stop for a solid 20 minutes so

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recentanimenews · 5 years ago

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The GREAT CRUNCHYROLL Re:ZERO REWATCH Kicks Off With Episodes 1-5

Welcome to the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL Re:ZERO REWATCH! I'm Jared Clemons, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-. Last week, we answered our initial questions about the series, and this week we began episodes 1-5.

Going into Re:ZERO, for the most part blind, made for some surprising moments in just these first five episodes alone. I wasn’t expecting Subaru to just switch worlds with seemingly nothing happening to him in his original world. Nor did I think constantly redoing periods of time would be a thing. Somehow, that aspect of the show completely passed me by when it was airing a few years ago. I’m not completely bought into Subaru as a hero quite yet. There’s something about him that just feels fake or off to me. Maybe that’s the point though. I’m sure I'll figure that out along with everyone else over the course of the next four weeks. Regardless, I’m interested to see where this whole thing goes and why this has the reputation it does. Gotta figure out who made Subaru turn into mush at the end of episode 5, which I have some theories about.

Before we discuss these episodes, let's check out some questions and comments you had from our last installment!

Acapo asks: “so how are these rewatch things decided? Do we vote somewhere? Or...”

We came to a consensus together as the Features team. While taking suggestions from you guys wouldn’t be a bad idea, we have tentatively booked ourselves for the next two Rewatches, so it’ll be awhile before we could ask for ideas.

MachaiArcanum asks: “So how exactly does this rewatch thing work exactly? This is the first time I’ve heard of it and I’m not sure what exactly is going on.”

So, we are going to watch five episodes each week and you'll get to read the Features team's thoughts and opinions on that set of episodes. We welcome all of you to watch along with us and you can ask questions or give your comments about these episodes similarly to what we're doing. Plus, you can be featured in this segment of the Rewatch as well!

Deatherz007 says: “Time for Subaru to suffer once more”

Only a little bit.

Now, let's see what the Crunchyroll Features team thought of this week's episodes!

We kick things off with, depending on the version you’re watching, two episode ones or a longer episode one. Did this longer episode do a good job of introducing you to the world of Re:ZERO? Would you have liked it to have been shorter or cut down in specific spots?

David: The only thing I would change is the cut in the middle being completely abrupt. You can imagine a commercial break there or something but having no transition at all makes it feel very odd.

Austin: I wouldn’t say it introduces the world of Re:ZERO well so much as it introduces the slums and the characters well while making the capital feel as huge as it is. That said, I really like longer first episodes of anime since they’re great for setting the tone and almost always make me want to watch more right away.

René: I’m with Austin on this. Longer episodes really give you that opportunity to establish a proper mood and mindset for a show that is way harder to accomplish with only 20 minutes. Whenever an anime serves me a double-length episode, it immediately piques my interest since it’s obviously something special if it gets this kind of production treatment.

Kevin: It’s a bit hard for my to say, since this is my third or fourth time watching the show, so I already know a lot more about the world than I should. I’ll say that I like some of the worldbuilding that they hint at, like mentioning Satella and the Jealous Witch early on. As for stuff that could be cut down, I’ve always felt like while a bunch of stuff is repeated due to the time loope mechanic, very little is actually wasted, and speeding much of it up would make things fly by too quickly.

Carolyn: I thought the point of it was not so much to introduce the world but to set up the storytelling device of semi-time travel and constantly dying, which it did very well.

Paul: I watched the Japanese version with English subtitles, and while I was initially lukewarm on the premise, I must admit that the first two episodes hooked me. From what I've seen, I think Re:ZERO works best when it's structured like a horror movie or a murder mystery, and these early episodes demonstrate a lot of that.

Joshua: I think for the story Re:ZERO is trying to tell, and the emotional depth it’s trying to tell it with, a standard 25-ish minute introduction would have been nowhere near as effective. We had to learn not only of Return by Death, but the impact it has on Subaru, and there’s really only one way to do that (over and over again!). This hefty run-time even came without an explanation for Subaru being isekai’d! While Truck-kun won’t be getting a paycheck this time, and there was no other crazy reason like other shows in the genre, I actually respect how Re:ZERO skipped a convoluted set-up in favor of what actually matters right now. I felt that the double episode gave me a firm anchor on the characters and their feelings, which is a useful connection to make early on.

Noelle: I think the setup was effective enough. I haven’t seen this show before, and I don’t know anything about it, but the first few episodes delivered enough information to get me interested, but not enough to give me all the answers, and that’s fine. I don’t think the world as a whole has been introduced, because it’s still filtered through our protag’s eyes, but we don’t need an opening history lesson in this case.

Danni: I thought it worked really well as a two-parter. It was a long, but effective, introduction to the world and Subaru’s predicament as a whole. It also managed to do so without any big exposition dumps, which I really appreciated.

Kara: Nothing felt wasted or overly long in that first episode. As others have said, there was a lot to set up, and going for the standard 22-minute runtime wouldn’t necessarily have allowed for enough room to lay things out adequately. I wasn’t checking the time at all, which is always my high sign for what feels decently paced.

Subaru quickly learns that he is reliving time after getting killed. Since you may have known about this already, what did you think about how it was executed in these episodes? Was anime Groundhog Day what you were expecting and do you think it’s been explained well thus far?

David: It takes him a few times in to figure it out, I was actually kind of surprised to realize how many times he went through it before he understood he was going through the same day over and over again. That said, I think it’s well explained because of how natural it comes to Subaru. The show literally starts with him realizing he has been isekai’d, but it takes him a while to realize he is reliving scenarios.

Austin: “Quickly”, he says… Sarcasm aside, I think it was done well since it adds a kind of unique weight to everything. Sure, Subaru can die with relatively low risk, but I tense up every time he gets in a fight or near anything sharp and pointy since I really don’t want to see the poor guy have to suffer both another death and having to redo a section of time but this time figure out what he did wrong.

René: The gruesomeness of his deaths are what really sells the memetic “suffering” part of this show. Yes, it may be of little consequence for him to die but the way his deaths are depicted just really shows you how painful it actually is and moves it away from just being a videogame-y element as in many other isekai shows.

Kevin: Once Subaru finally realized his power, I looked down into the episode comments and saw “out of everything that has happened it’s the chips that make him realize what’s going on,” and that pretty much sums up Re:ZERO. The time loops make sense, and they keep happening in part because the main character is either too stupid or stubborn to stop dying. As for what I was expecting when I first watched the show, I remember quite appreciating how much Subaru tries to learn each time he dies, using past loops to influence how he acts in the current loop. He’s genre savvy enough to know that if he does things the exact same, then the same outcome will happen, but human enough that he can’t repeat things exactly, which then leads to different outcomes. The actual ability hasn’t really been explained yet, but it’s easy enough to get a grasp of how it works.

Carolyn: I was trying to figure out if he actually died on what we would consider Earth? That seems pretty clear but it’s not totally cut and dry, I guess. If so, is he in Heaven/Purgatory/whathaveyou? I’m still kind of stuck on that.

Paul: The mechanics of Subaru's “Return by Death” ability haven't been explained at all, although I have an inkling of how it works as a result of encountering some spoilers years ago. I think the series works best when it leans heavily on the dramatic irony, to the point where neither the audience nor the main character knows exactly what is going on. It's satisfying when something unexpected happens.

Joshua: I really liked how Subaru didn’t twig it the first time, so we could join in his confusion as he tried to figure out exactly what was happening to him. It does make a little sad that some neat conversations are lost to everyone but Subaru though; like his chat with Old Man Rom. So I hope the series is able to counterbalance that loss of character development as it moves forward.

René made a great point about the impacts of Subaru’s many deaths though. In fact, my Mum walked in on me watching one of them and called it “horrific”! It’d be easy for a show like this to lose all sense of any stakes if viewers become too comfortable with Subaru simply waking up at the last “save point”, but seeing the physical and emotional pain each death causes him, really makes me want to see him break the loops!

Noelle: I wouldn’t call him keying in quick by any means, but then again, it takes people some time to process information, especially if it’s been after a traumatic experience. I don’t think the deaths themselves are that gruesome all things considering (I do watch a lot of horror), but they do a great job at showing Subaru’s terror. When you’re a kid with no combat experience, going up against very experienced enemies, that’s only inevitable…

Danni: This is my first time watching it, but I actually didn’t realize it was a Groundhog Day situation until we started planning out this rewatch in the group chat. I think it worked about how you’d expect with him taking a few runs to really understand what was happening. Honestly the only thing in the premise I took issue with was how quickly he was on board with suddenly being summoned to a parallel world and a tiny bit put off by how self-aware he was of isekai tropes.

Kara: I literally had no idea. Time loops are one of my favorite narrative devices to see played with. If I’d known this was a major part of the concept of Re:ZERO I probably would have come to it of my own volition much sooner.

Since we’re now 20% (yes, that does sound weird) of the way through Re:ZERO, give me your thoughts on Subaru as a protagonist so far. What do you like or dislike about him? Is his heroism heartfelt or insincere?

David: So this is actually my favorite part about this show—Subaru’s “heroism” isn’t “heroic” as much as it is “altruistic”. He doesn’t do things because he expects rewards, but because his actions will help make the world around him better in some way. Emilia is the same, and their conversation on the bridge in the first episode highlights this.

Austin: I really like Subaru at this point, and I think these early episodes do a good job of painting him as a sympathetic character. He’s seemingly selfless to a fault and just wants to make Emilia happy since in turn that’ll make him happy.

René: These first few episodes do a great job divorcing Subaru from your run-of-the-mill isekai protagonist. Not only is there seemingly no actual reason for him to be isekai’d as he just randomly pops up, it also undermines every heroic deed he tries to accomplish almost immediately. It really drives home the fact that he is just your regular guy who doesn’t get to be The Chosen One simply because he came to this world.

Kevin: Oh boy are we going to have a lot to talk about in a few weeks. For now, Subaru is goofy and driven and as a result is generally likable. At the same time, he clearly has no idea what to do to move forward, so is just fumbling around until something catches his eye. He’s basically like a lost puppy, so that helps to endear the audience and characters to him. His heroism is heartful, just misguided. He wants to help Emilia, but he has no actual reason to.

Carolyn: I immediately saw him as the Deadpool of Isekai. Deadpool knows he’s in a comic and all the tropes that come with it, Subaru knows all the tropes that come with this strange new land he’s in. I found that to be entertaining. As for his intentions, I think he’s been very straightforward about that. He’s sincere, but his motivations aren’t entirely noble. He will help others but does intend to get something out of it. He’s just honest about that.

Paul: I like Subaru more than I expected to, although I don't know whether that's because he's well-written or because of the pathos evoked by his Job-like suffering. His biggest flaw seems to be that he keeps treating the world like a video game, and he doesn't realize that he is not the protagonist. Subaru also doesn't realize that his affection for Emilia is one-sided. He mistakes her basic empathy for romantic interest, and as someone who made the same mistake as a dumb teenager, I can only see that ending poorly.

Joshua: I’m honestly not sure how to read Subaru. Puck keeps on saying he has no ill-intent, yet he’s usually the first to make some off-handed weird comments. He’s definitely complex, and I wouldn’t mind this becoming a recurring question each week! For now, I’d say he’s earnest but his constant self-deprecation will make others see him in a worse light. He can also be a bit too cocky at times, like his meeting with Roswaal. So I’d like to see him gain a bit more respect for others not called Emilia, and himself.

Noelle: I’m on the fence. Subaru is by no means a bad kid, he’s nice and he sticks his neck out for other people, and he is kind deep down. At the same time, there’s a profound sense of entitlement to him, for he doesn’t seem to realize that he’s dealing with people with lives of their own, not characters. He also expects the world to revolve around him because he’s supposed to be special, and that’s pretty yikes.

Danni: I like him more than I thought I would, but not as much as I probably should. The fact he knows what isekai is and essentially that he’s the protagonist of an isekai anime is pretty grating. I like him more when he’s being himself than when he’s trying to be a protagonist.

Kara: I kind of agree with, like, literally everyone in the show that Subaru is not terribly ambitious, and I’m kind of wondering what the hell he’s been through. His “skeevy” comments don’t seem skeevy to me so much as an attempt to assume a role he thinks he’s accepted to fill. Also, he hasn’t once displayed any sort of concern about going home or missing anyone or anything from the “real” world. More than anything, I’m curious what he’s been through to the point that he’s downplaying himself so much and basically pretends his previous life doesn’t exist.

The last two episodes of this initial set sees Subaru taken to the Roswaal mansion and beginning work there. Here, we learn a bit more about the state of the world Subaru has been summoned to and meet Rem, Ram, Beatrice, and Roswaal along with Emilia. What were your initial impressions of this cast of characters and Subaru’s interactions with them?

David: Roswaal is the teacher in Isekai Quartet, and I forgot he was even a character in this show, so I keep hearing him and associating it more with Isekai Quartet than this show. Beatrice is great.

Austin: When I first watched this show I saw every character sans for Emilia as kind of distant and suspicious. Now that I’m rewatching it, I realise that they all have a very good reason for being this way; one thing I really like that I noticed now that I’m rewatching is that Beatrice seems much more aware of Subaru’s situation and current death loop than he is. Also, Emilia is still as wonderful as I remember her being.

René: The Roswaal mansion arc is what really lays the groundwork for what the show is all about for me: This isn’t a world that revolves around the protagonist but one in which he must find his place and the distant and mysterious nature of the mansion inhabitants really drives that fact home. Since we are almost exclusively kept within Subaru’s POV, it really is up to the viewer to piece together the mystery of why he is dying again. We don’t yet understand the new characters and there isn’t an obvious threat like Elsa. It’s basically a murder mystery in which the victim is also the detective.

Also, I have to second Austin’s sentiment: Emilia truly is wonderful!

Kevin: Pretty much what Subaru said. Oh, it’s Emilia, the twin maids, red one and blue one, and a drill loli that clearly isn’t human. Also, Roswaal, but I got that before Subaru. As for his interactions, I really like that Rem and Ram are differentiated, even this early on, and that everyone is going about their own schedules, since they actually have lives outside of tending to Subaru. Roswaal is the only one that doesn’t really get much development, and even he finds a scene or two to talk with Subaru and generally show that there is more going on than we know about.

Carolyn: At first I didn’t like them at all. They are all very odd with a bizarre manner of speaking and behaving and I couldn’t figure it out. But after the reveals that not everything is exactly what it seems in the castle it started to make more sense and now I’m very interested in finding out what they are actually up to.

Paul: It's fine as far as world-building goes. I appreciate that they don't dwell too much on the lore, because often those are the least interesting elements of the early set-up of an isekai story, and here we get the impression that the world is much bigger and more conflicted than Subaru fully comprehends.

Joshua: Roswaal is just fabulous. I’ve been watching the series in Japanese, and Koyasu Takehito’s voice alone is a scene stealer. This being my first rewatch of the show in years, I was actually taken aback by how cold Rem was here, and I really appreciated Ram’s dry humor a lot more (like that sly comment about Subaru’s “sorry thing”). I can see the twins talking in unison getting very annoying very fast though, so luckily that was kept to a minimum!

Thinking about it, Subaru and Emilia are a bit alike, aren’t they? Both have selfless qualities that they try and cover with more selfish pretenses, so I can definitely see why they’ve developed chemistry. While she can seem warm and inviting, that occasional cold glare of Emilia’s is genuinely unsettling though. It makes me wonder what kind of person she really is. Beatrice is precious though. I’d like her to guard my manga collection with that baby cactus attitude of hers!

Noelle: I think the mansion gives us a little slice of the world at large, but isn’t enough to be overwhelming. We really don’t need to know everything after all, just enough to situate us in the situation that Subaru is currently in. I think it’s a little too early for me to gauge the mansion characters, but they’re all a pretty interesting cast. Roswaal especially.

Danni: None of the girls so far seem to match up to how I thought they’d be, or how they come across in all the art of them I’ve seen. I kind of expected a bunch of meek pushovers—particularly Rem and Emilia—but they all have some endearing bite to them. I especially like the antagonistic rapport between Beatrice and Subaru with both of them getting the better of each other. It’s a lot of fun watching this cast interact.

Kara: I’m so glad to have some good old-fashioned Koyasu madness back in my anime with Roswaal. Emilia is lovely, but Ram is still my favorite of the girls so far despite everything she seems spring-loaded to do over the course of the show. I can, uh, absolutely see why Rem is such a fave and it doesn’t do much for me. If that makes sense.

We wrap things up with the gore factor getting ramped up and poor Subaru having to give up an arm and an eye amongst other parts to figure out why he’s going to barf city. Since this was a cliffhanger for our first group of episodes, what’s your initial theory on who this mysterious attacker could have been? (For those of you that aren’t new, if you can remember, tell me what you initially thought of this or just give me your wildest theory possible.)

David: My first thought was Roswaal. Seems suspicious.

Austin: I’m in a troublesome spot right now since I remember why he died the first loop and who killed him the second loop, but I don’t remember exactly why they did and it’s bothering me… The first time I watched it I thought Elsa had hired someone to go kill Subaru; not sure if I would have liked it more if that was the case or if what’s really going on remained in place.

René: The first time watching it to this point, I actually suspected Puck. Since Knox’s 1st Commandment forbids introducing the culprit later on and I couldn’t yet deduct any possible motive for the mansion residents, Puck seemed the most likely. His fondness for and protectiveness of Emilia had already been established and jealousy would’ve made for a possible motive since Subaru started getting closer and closer to Emilia, forcing himself into her life to the point of becoming her servant.

Kevin: It’s Beatrice. She has the power to connect the library to any door in the mansion, and so can get around without any issues; and clearly has at least enough power to throw someone out of a room without any effort, so more lethal attacks are almost certainly possible. Subaru was also acting very strange in the second mansion loop, as we saw in a couple of cutaways. Since we already know that Roswaal was wondering if he was a spy, that could be enough for him to enlist Beatrice to kill Subaru in his sleep. The first time, Subaru didn’t know to resist, while the second time he fought her magic, so she either used a more lethal attack or enlisted the other mansion staff to assist her. She attacked during the first loop, when Roswaal knew that Subaru was unlikely to be a spy, because of how much he annoyed her. The only way to progress the loop is for Subaru to tell everyone about his power, which calls Beatrice off because she knows at that point that it would be useless to attack him.

Carolyn: The first time he died in his sleep he was poisoned, but he was asleep so he didn’t vomit. Whoever did that (I suspect Ram, she claims to be a bad cook but is skilled with the knife so she isn’t that bad and that could be cover for her poisoning his food) poisoned him again the second loop but because he wouldn’t let himself sleep he felt more of the effects of it and vomited. He could also have built up a little bit of a resistance to it the second time around. Either way, I think the results of those two things are the same. I do not think whoever poisoned him killed/dismembered him in the second loop. That was someone different who saw an opportunity and took it.

Paul: Unfortunately, this is a detail that was spoiled for me long ago, so although I know who the culprit is, I don't know why they are behaving in such a brutal and murderous manner.

Joshua: Having already watched the series, I know who, but I genuinely had no idea on my first viewing. Rather than thinking too much about it, back then I just went along with the ride.

As I can't offer a serious guess though, I’ll just make a joke about whether Rem’s really as good a cook as she claims, and it was just a really bad reaction to off-chicken or something. Feeling really cold, vomiting… sounds like bad food poisoning to me.

Noelle: I admit, I’m really not sure. It has to be one of the characters introduced so far, it can’t be a random stranger we haven’t seen. The problem is that I can’t quite figure out the killer’s motive. Subaru is seen as suspicious, and it’s been made clear that he hasn’t earned trust just yet, but that doesn’t seem to be a reason to kill him (at the moment). There’s a who but also a why.

Danni: It’s definitely Ram. I have no idea if it actually is or why I think so, but it’s definitely Ram.

Kara: I haven’t got the first clue, but I want it to be Rem just so there can be something about her that interests me.

Let’s continue our final question tradition with the Rewatch. Give me your highs and lows for episodes 1-5.

David: High is the conversation between Subaru and Emilia on the bridge. That’s the thesis of the whole show I think. Low point is when Subaru almost died on the last go around of the initial day. I thought he might die and absolutely didn’t want to have to sit through that same day again.

Austin: One of my favourite scenes in the whole show is when Subaru asks Emilia her name after the fight with Elsa. Something about the delivery of Subaru’s lines and Emilia’s little laugh before her answer makes me feel so bubbly inside. Seeing exactly why Felt gets taken away by Reinhard was also a nice connecting of dots in my head. As for lows, I don’t think I’ve really hit anything notable yet; these first episodes are really strong in my opinion.

René: My high in these first few episodes is definitely the set-up around the mystery of Emilia posing as Satella in the first loop and the first meet-up between the Subaru with her in the second one. I just adore the shots with them being reflected in each other’s eyes and how it calls into question their perception of each other (I would heavily recommend this interview with the show’s director on this scene—do beware of SPOILERS for later episodes, though).

And since I can’t think of a low point, I’ll just sneak in a second highlight: Takehito Koyasu’s performance as Roswaal is just deliciously exaggerated. He’s already legendary for voicing Dio Brando but the way he sings every line is just pure joy to listen to.

Kevin: High - Subaru thinking about how he was going to die the second time, and then realizing that he was going to fight anyway. Myself and many other people joked during the series that Subaru was going to start carrying a bomb or something so that every time he messed anything up, he could just Return by Death to redo any mistake. This is a great moment though, because it both gives a reason why he won’t do that and is also extremely relatable. Even if you knew that you would come back to life, dying isn’t fun, so you’d want to avoid it if at all possible, which is exactly the conclusion that Subaru comes to.

Low - Elsa’s final attack. Subaru is clearly moving around, standing up straight, and generally doing a lot of things that use at least a few core muscles, and nothing happens. But when it’s convenient, it turns out that the attack went straight through the club, his clothes, and his stomach, when the club previous stopped all of her attacks and there was nothing supporting Subaru’s track suit or shirt.

Carolyn: High points, just the mystery and twists that have been unfolding so far. I like all the suspense around the people at the mansion. Also the line about not knowing what Subaru is talking about but that it’s stupid and that’s disappointing. That was pretty great. Low point, I’m not sure I have one but I could definitely do with more of the cat.

Paul: My high point was Subaru awakening, noticing the lack of scars on his hands, and realizing he'd somehow died in his sleep and reset the time-line. That was a chef's kiss perfect cliffhanger to end an episode upon. My low point is that it takes Subaru a few lives too many to realize he's resetting from a save point. Anyone who brags about playing video games all day like Subaru does should have picked up on that detail by the third life, tops.

Joshua: Subaru and Emilia doing aerobics in the garden is a definite high point, that makes me think back to the equally adorable scene with Ema in Shirobako. I also really appreciated how the series even humanises characters like Rom, instead of taking the easy route and making him a one-note shady dealer. Despite his hulking appearance, he genuinely seems like a decent guy who just got the wrong stick (or club) in life. The music is also great—that kind of eerie ringing when disturbing shenanigans are afoot is so effective at capturing the mood, and won’t leave my head.

As for low points, how many times did we need to see that initial mugging attempt? I liked how the show always found a new absurd comment of Subaru’s for the trio to react to, but I hope the series balances just how many times certain scenarios are reset. Subaru’s exaggerated statements can also be a bit awkward, so I’m glad the rest of the cast react like I do.

Noelle: High point: the mystery! I want to know why the time loop is happening, what’s the driving force for all of this, why Subaru in particular. We don’t really have any clear answers, and it’s the main point of the story. Tell me the answers! Low point is that Subaru takes a really long time to realize that he’s in a time loop. Isn’t he supposed to be really familiar with games? It makes sense realistically speaking but for a story, it drags a little.

Danni: Hard to think of a singular high point because I loved the heck out of this batch of episodes. I guess I gotta go with any time Beatrice is on screen. I love her so much. Low point is tough as well, but I have to give it to Subaru’s immediate acceptance of his new isekai life.

Kara: Gotta agree, the high point was Subaru waking up without the scars. That was so well played, and I loved seeing that the audience was being trusted to let the revelation hit us as it hit him. Good visual storytelling, would watch again. Honorable mention to Roswaal’s crazy voice. I thought they were playing it up in Isekai Quartet but no, that’s just how he is. Low point is I’m pretty sure Subaru and Emilia are never gonna go on this date and that makes me sad.

COUNTERS:

Ram calling Subaru “Barusu”: 10

Subaru death count: 5

Different ways Subaru has died: Disembowelment, Disembowelment, Stabbing, Unknown, Combination (Unknown+Dismemberment)

And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- yet!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

-Next week, on September 27th, Kara continues the Rewatch with episodes 6-10

-Then, on October 4th, Carolyn takes us past the halfway mark with episodes 11-15

Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Re:ZERO Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH:

Re:ZERO Introduction Questions

Have anything to say about our thoughts on the episodes watched? Let us know in the comments! Don't forget, we're also accepting questions and comments for next week, so don't be shy and feel free to ask away!

---

Jared Clemons is a writer and podcaster for Seasonal Anime Checkup where he can be found always wanting to talk about Love Live! Sunshine!! or whatever else he's into at the moment. He can be found on Twitter @ragbag.

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kakuriyo-translations · 6 years ago

Text

Chapter 3: The Young Master Nine Tails Fox

65. Ginji the nine-tailed fox said the owner of Tenjinya hires Ayakashi who all have their own job respectively with executive like titles. Master Ogre God. The Young Master Nine Tails Fox. Front Desk Spider. The First Hostess. Young Snow Woman Hostess. Front desk manager. Kitchen Daruma. Old Kappa and the bath care takers. Itachi that manage the gardens and Tanuki that take care of slippers. It's possible there could be other executive positions but these are the only ones I've heard of.

66. I bothered them, in spite of this I still had to get a job. “I don’t want a human girl like you working here.” I had talked to O-Ryo, a snow woman with light blue hair that was cut into a short bob. O-Ryo could be described as a glossy beauty with a glamorous body. However there is a sense that her chest could be missing something. She is the top hostess, making her the young-hostess. The three faceless sisters and the young-hostess had lead me to a room of some sort. O-Ryo looks at her self in a large mirror as she applies some makeup. She stares at me through the mirror, finally she breathes in and takes a big breath out. “Anyway, a poor and smelly human girl like you is a bride candidate for the Master? I can’t believe your looks could satisfy him very much.”

“What?” O-Ryo-san had remarked coolly. I don’t care about satisfying that Ogre, not at all. O-Ryo continued to apply powder to her cheeks.

67. “Let me tell you something, the Master would not want you, Shiro’s granddaughter in a high position. Anyway, I don’t think he’d want a dull figured, unattractive person like you to be his wife. I will not forgive you for acting so impertinent here. Being taken in so generously by the Master and trampling his kindness.”

“What? I was brought here without my consent.” This was a pure abduction. That much was clear. However O-Ryo-san’s reaction was like everyone else’s.

“That can’t be helped, after all Shiro-san had a large debt to this inn. It’s a relatives duty to take on that debt, is it not?”

“That’s..”

“But why is it that Shiro-san seemed to leave it to a poor person like you. Shiro-san was a wonderful person but seemed caught up in a few affairs. Anyway, I will stay devoted to the Master.” Whilst she continues to dye her cheeks O-Ryo-san suddenly goes into work mode. I could see her blue eyes shine through the reflection of the mirror as she stared into the vanity. “Good thing about being a hostess here is that you must always look pretty or else you’ll get complaints. So you’ll be getting complaints from customers. If a complaint comes in, you have to go apologise. Since you are such an ugly human girl you wouldn’t want to go apologise or else you may end up somewhere unexpected.”

68. The things she said, are so horrible, they made me tremble almost fearfully. I was driven out of the room into the cool corridor. There were lots of Ayakashi in the hall way all staring at me as they start whispering to each other, rumours I’m sure. Bad ones probably. Everyone here must be an enemy. The surrounding gazes sting, I felt awkward, I was afraid. No matter where I go everyone hated me. However, the three faceless sisters approached me. “Are you alright?”

“Hey, am I really such an ugly woman?” I said with anger hinting at my voice as I inquired about such a vivacious thing.

“No no! The granddaughter of Shiro-san is absolutely beautiful!” Said the smallest sister in a panic.

“It’s true! O-Ryo is just a little irritated as she thinks of herself as the Master’s mistress.”

“Now Plum.” Bamboo whacks her little sister across the head.

“Eh? She’s the Master’s Mistress?”

“Oh Aoi-san, O-Ryo says such things without permission, in any case it’s false. I don’t like it when she says those things very much, but do you?”

69. “No, I don’t mind at all.” I said in a serious tone but the three sisters still continue to panic. The Eldest daughter of the three coughs, then continues. “But Aoi. You are very beautiful, but since you’re from the Apparent Realm there’s a looming sense of incapability.”

“The Apparent Realm?”

I had picked at my thin light blue dress that I was wearing. Although it was ruined yesterday from when I was wearing it, this morning it was placed at the bottom of my room completely dry and clean. Well, having such a floaty dress isn’t of much use anymore. But, this type of dress was the number one trend during spring. I’d like to say I was quite fashionable and cheery at University, but in the world of Ayakashi such a cheerful trend is non-existent and useless.

Next, I had peered into the bathhouses. Tenjinya in the north eastern land of Hiduyo is built on a famous hot spring resort named Onikomi Onsen. Because of that the bathhouses are divided into indoor and outside baths, the springs flowed luxuriously.

70. The hot springs here are supposed to be effective for skin and scars. The men’s baths were managed by the old kappa’s whilst the women’s were taken care of by the wet girls. Ladies are forbidden to work in the men’s bathrooms. I wanted to become one of the bath care takers, so I decided to ask quietly if I could work here. Shizuna had long black hair, she rolled up her kimono with her long slender arms as he continued to polish the floors. The atmosphere in the bathhouse felt as if it was raining. Long black hair covered her face, so it was impossible to read her expression. I could hardly even see her eyes through the gaps of her hair, although she seems very cute. As I approached I could feel my skin going paler and paler. “Hello?” I said with shivering cold sweats.

“Oh, it’s you. I’m sorry I’m sorry but I have been told from the First Hostess not to hire you.”

”Eh?”

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” Scared of waiting for my words she apologizes quickly.

71. The mop she was holding in her hands seemed very shaky. It seems as if I’m not fortunate enough to be able to work here either, I nod and decide to leave. I step out beyond the door frames of the bathroom and into the corridor. “What do I do now?” I asked the three sisters waiting in the hallways. The three sisters said they were already aware of what Shizuna’s answer was.

“Shizuna is a very hard working person and quite a gentle girl, but what she did was cowardly.”

“Yes, but since the bath house is under the control of the First Hostess, her order is final and absolute.”

“It is said that the First hostess in particular is keeping a close eye on the Master’s fiancé as her position could be at stake.” I give a long sigh after hearing Bamboo’s words. I thought that the Young Hostess was bad but it seems the First Hostess is probably the real threat. I wonder to what extent she’ll take such a thing.

72. I decided to go into the garden. There is a wide garden around Tenjinya’s main hall, it’s rather large. After spring a lot of cherry blossom trees fill the garden, the petals that had fallen onto a path where you could take a walk. There are so many flowers blooming. Koi fish swam elegantly in the pond below, swimming swiftly into the stream and across the bridge. For a small moment a strong gust of wind blew up my dress. The path was no longer filled with cherry blossoms like it was a while ago.

“What just happened?”

“The gardens are patrolled by the kaminari they almost never show up during the day as they’re as fast as wind. They clean up the gardens as well. In the evenings they watch the inn and the garden, they start their work immediately.” It sounds amazing, almost ninja like.

“Is it impossible to talk to them?”

“It’s impossible for me not to talk to you!”

“Ha ha ha.” I looked around the garden looking for a Kaminari, but the garden is still lonely, I cannot even find one. But when I think about it, a job like this would require considerable fighting power. A power that I do not have and would be reckless to pursue, besides, they didn’t need any power from someone like me.

73. It’s depressing, the only place where I could possibly work is the front desk, which is already occupied by that spider. Just thinking about his stupid face annoyed me, in fact, he had annoyed me since I first met him. He hated me as much I hated him. Of course, he would not let me work at the reception! “Is working in the kitchen really that difficult?”

“Oh no! Let’s not go to the kitchens, ladies are forbidden from working in there. Besides, the head Daruma is already a magnificent cook, but his dishes are very old and traditional. Customers who complain about the taste and style of his cooking at Tenjinya normally aren’t allowed to stay at this Inn ever again however.”

“Eh? So he’s protecting his traditions? How chivalrous.” My Grandpa has taken me to many inns and I only know a few that continued to stick to traditions with such a resolute attitude. However, it’s not a bad thing so to say. Pine seemed to think it was quite sad.

“Okamiya cuisine is one of the highlights at Tenjinya, but when a dishes taste does not change for hundreds of years it seems to become boring and awkward to continue to eat it.”

74. “Yes yes, different dishes are always coming in and out of this world. So when Tenjinya’s dishes remain unchanged and still taste the same people start to acquire a bad sense for the food. There have always been customers that don’t enjoy the food however.”

“Plum!” Bamboo shoves her sister.

“Since we don’t have mouths, I don’t think it was necessary to say such things Plum, nor did you have to push her Bamboo.” The three sisters who have no faces at all and no expressions, I’m starting to see their personalities. “I haven’t eaten that type of cuisine before! So, I’d be interested in trying it.” All of a sudden, I’ve become interested in cooking here at Tenjinya and in their cuisine.

“If you became the Master’s bride you would be able to eat any food that you want!” Pine casually mentions me becoming the Master’s bride. That reminds me, these three girls are indeed hostesses under the Master. “I adamantly refuse.” I raised my shoulders in disagreement.

The three sisters gathered in a circle and complained, “Wow.”

“Well if that’s the case, the only place for you is probably the front desk.” The Tsuchigomo which is one of the front desk managers is named Akatsuki, so one of the three sisters tells me of course. When I said I wanted to work, I didn’t imagine it’d be this hard.

“Akatsuki would absolutely never let Aoi-san work there.”

“I understand that somehow but, I just want to find work, somehow.”

“Aoi-san, what a surprise!”

75. That shady looking front desk manager. “Oi!” I raise my shoulders and turn around to look at the owner of that angry voice. I see a haori crest with a circle drawn representing heaven on it and a coat with an expensive appearance. Along with a figure of a very tall man. That red-bean coloured hair is somewhat amazing as it gradually gets redder and redder. It seemed like he had a bad complexion on his face. For some reason I could tell that this was indeed the face of that spider, I was convinced that it was. “What are you doing here human? The customers will be here soon and you’ll only get in the way you idiotic girl.”

“Uhhh…. Aka-”

“Do not try and address me by my name! Do not speak to me.” Before I even had the chance to call out his name, he started to yell. There were many Ayakashi at the reception area, the Tanuki are already taking care of the slippers whilst the room hostesses are also there. They all watch on at the sight of the Tsuchigomo yelling at me. Among them was the young hostess who gently pokes her tongue out at me. I thought she was frustrating, but as I stand here I face the Tsuchigomo in front of me with all my might. “It seems that the Master is letting you return Shiro’s debt by working, however you’re merely a human girl. Tenjinya has no benefits in employing a filthy girl like you!”

76. “Well, I won’t know if I don’t try will I?!” Despite that Tsuchigomo trying to pressure me, I responded with anger in my voice. “What are you on about? No one here is willing to accept you! There’s already proof of that! Give up and just leave this place. Your face really reminds me of Shiro’s, cocky and annoying. I hate it.”

“Well then, I think you should be complaining about that face that you were born with!”

“Ehh? Shout your mouth! You dare stand in front of me and speak like that. I will eat you to your bones Granddaughter of Shiro.” I was standing still trying to keep my nice composure but my anger was threatening to pour down like rain to some extent. I have myself to blame for holding back, but I’m afraid that if I let out these emotions they’ll be smothered into fine particles of dust, taken away by the wind. “Oh Akatsuki could you please stop. Aoi-san is the Master’s fiancé after all.”

“Fine, I won’t eat her.” Pine, Bamboo and Plum immediately stand in a straight line but the Spider remains his ground. “What is that awful and annoying sound?”

77. The sound could be heard resonating throughout the Inn, multiple employees gathered. Eventually the Tsuchigomo said, “Be patient.” As he stretched out into the form of the spider as the air remained tense. Long legs surrounded me. For some reason my body seemed to get stronger. Cold sweat dripped down my face. “Welcome.” But the air seemed to remain pleasant for the Ayakashi as they had started to form a cheery line. Thanks to that the spider seemed to release the tenseness of the situation as it’s spine stretched out and he went back to normal. He hurried over back to the reception desk finally leaving me alone. “Hello, you’re the first customers of the day, so I’ll be checking you in. I’m serving as the Front Desk Manager for you. I’m Akatsuki of the Tsuchigomo, if there is a problem please feel free to ask me about it! Well, here is your room key, please enjoy.” It was if he was almost a different person as he shines a bright smile at the first customers of the day as he offered his assistance. The first customers of the day were a cat like old couple who had been idly walking around. I continue to watch the spider work as he acts like an entirely different person.

78. “Akatsuki is very hard working as the front desk manager, the Master has the most confidence in him more than anyone. It seems like he loves working at Tenjinya more than anything else.”

“Wow, his resentment of Shiro-sama and distrust of humans beings seems to be very strong.”

“This place is thriving now.” The three sisters sighed as they held their cheeks. It felt as if I was lost in this Inn during the time I was just idly watching that Spider work. “Oi, human.” A small demon who was probably as tall as my waist was standing by my side. He handed me my bag which was in the room I had stayed in yesterday. That room was originally a luxury suite, the three sisters informed me that I was most likely not considered a guest anymore and thus it was no longer my room. It seems that they had to resume their usual jobs, they lowered their heads towards me as they left. Of course the Inn has already opened for business so the Ayakashi employees will be busy. Right now I don’t have time to think about work. I wonder where I could possibly stay in this Inn? I walk over to an unpopular place in the main building.

79. The path was long straight and dark, being on the other side from the front. I came over here to escape but many of the rooms down here are ones Tenjinya are not in using, it’s like a connected passage. What’s creepy is the amount of white arrows that have been decorated all over the wall. I don’t know where these arrows will take me, but I unconsciously decided to follow them. I feel so miserable, I never thought that I’d be so hated here and that I would not be needed. Whether I’m competent enough to work or not, it’s painful being turned down after trying so hard. I can already see that Ogre’s hateful eyes as he smiles triumphantly. It was impossible to return the debt. That Ogre’s eyes. I remember he eventually said that I would become an Ogre’s bride if the debt did not disappear. Now that I think about it, if I had married the Ogre with no debt involved it would have been a nice story possibly. As I thought about such a weak idea I continued to wander down the dark corridor feeling depressed. At the end of the corridor was a sliding door with light leaking out of a dimly lit gap, all the white arrows seemed to point to this. I opened the door without having any difficulties.

80. The scent of blooming flowers were coming from behind the sliding door. “Wow, a courtyard.” The courtyard seems very quiet, a wooden corridor with a roof over the top continues through it and into the gardens. This all seems very interesting. Eventually I pass over the bridge and on to the stone bedding. A stone path then continued. I was able to admire the entirety of the courtyard whilst I walked through. Pine trees, blue autumn leaves, gravel rocks all arranged with precision. I felt at peace in this area. It is an atmospheric courtyard, but it’s also very quiet too, but not scary quiet. “A Willow tree?” As I continued to walk down the path I could see a large weeping willow tree that stood idle in the open space. The swaying branches instil a sense of silence and makes it feel as if time itself has stopped. The branches movements were reminiscent of that of a ghost’s, but that type of atmosphere seemed perfect for an Inn. At the bottom of the willow tree stood a building, the roof reminded me of a private home. It was small, but still splendid none of the less. It was different from the style of the main building, but it felt somewhat lonely. The atmosphere in this place felt very nostalgic. I thought that perhaps it could be a shop, but there was no sign to indicate that. However, there was a single door open.

81. As I peered in, no one was in sight and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I thought it might have been a store room, but it seems as if that’s not the case, there’s a counter top like the one you would see at a bar. “Well, this is alright. Everything inside the Inn is really fancy and everyone hates me. Finding a job seems to become more of an obstacle by the second, I guess I’ll stay here for a while.” I placed down my luggage in the far corner then sat down at the counter, I immediately become hungry. Yesterday I had only had a late-night snack and I have not eaten anything today. I wish there was some sort of store around here, there’s nothing to eat here. Even if there was one however I have no money. I’m so hungry, and when I become aware of the fact, it makes me shudder. Hunger is a terrible, terrible pain for me. “Huh, Aoi-san? I didn’t know you were here.” Suddenly a voice caught my attention from the counter. It was a young man with silver hair and a refreshing appearance. He wore a haori coat that made it seem like he worked at this place. “Who are you?” I asked.

82. “Who is it? Well, it’s me! Ginji.”

“Ehh? Really?” Ginji is the nine tailed fox that brought a late snack to my room last night. If you look closely you can see fox ears and a tail. He had a gentle look with a smile on his face, the appearance of an Ayakashi. Ginji-san smiled and clapped his hands together. “Oh, that’s right. You told me that appearance of a child and woman were just two of your forms.”

“Yes, this is my normal form.” Ginji-san seemed surprised to see the interesting state I was in.

“Where is this exactly?”

“Well, this place is in quite a remote location so it’s hard to find.”

“Ah I see, well this is the only place I could go, I have nowhere else.” I rested my elbow on the counter. Ginji-san wiggles his fox ears quickly as he tries to think of something to say.

“Ahhhh.”

“Hey, what is this place?”

“Ha, ha, well, I guess you could say it’s like an Ogre being inside a demon?”

“Here? Ogre in the demon?” When I had inquired Ginji-san about the matter, he responded in such a strange way. It seems he may have been troubled by it.

83. “Well it once was a tea house that had a very good reputation for Ayakashi who enjoyed the taste. But, the one who was running the tea house eventually left this inn and it was closed.”

“Well, there’s a tea room.”

“Yes, but after the tea house it was a brisk struggle and no matter what was put here it always failed. I made it into a souvenirs shop and into a gaming hall but none of them succeeded. Even if I try my best to take care of this place, it always fails. I was told I was an inviting looking fox, but as you can see it’s very lonesome.”

“Being an inviting looking fox is a good thing!”

“As it’s in such a place, customers have trouble finding it and employees come across it by accident.” Ginji-san who looked extremely sad placed the basket he was holding on to a table.

“When I had started this month, up until a few days ago this with a small restaurant, but the cook who I had employed from the outside injured his arm. So I was looking for an alternative chef. Again, a lot of people think this place is no good. So it’s set to be demolished next month.”

“Is that so? I guess something must be wrong then.”

“Yes, but there are still left over ingredients in the freezer that I have to clean up.”

84. “There’s refrigerators in this world?”

“Would you like to see it?” Ginji-san beckoned me behind the counter. There was a wooden refrigerator. It seems that the shape was copied from the other world and was arranged into something new. Looking into the refrigerator there was a space covered in thin ice and film.

“This ice is regularly purchased from a Snow Woman in town from a long established ice shop.”

“Ayakashi are quite qualified.”

“Yes, most Ayakashi here make use of their abilities and go into a business of some sort. This is different from ordinary ice, the water the Snow Woman uses is able to adjust its temperature, so it doesn’t easily melt.”

“Ehhh? That sounds funny.” The fridge is properly divided into a freezer and refrigerator, the coldness of the ice seems to vary. It felt very smooth. It was really cool to know there was a functional refrigerator here, however I was concerned about the ingredients inside. There were unusual looking Chinese cabbages and radishes along with burdock eggs and some mushrooms. There were also two pieces of meat in the freezer.

“What is this meat? At a glance it looks like chicken and pork.”

“It is chicken and pork. Mainstream meat is available even here in the Hidden Realm, although, I can’t serve it to customers anymore, but I don’t want to throw it out. I was thinking I should unfreeze it and cook it for my lunch.”

85. “Ahahaha, I see, that sounds very important.” I looked at the contents of the basket Ginji-san had set down. Carrot, potatoes that haven’t been peeled yet, eggplants, onion and more.

“What shall we do with this?”

“Well, I was going to take it to the main kitchen but the head chef is quite particular about food and ingredients so they may be discarded since they aren’t seasonal products at the moment.”

“That sounds terrible.”

“Yeah but it’s better than eating it all alone by myself, because that isn’t very meaningful. Besides, the only thing I can make is inari sushi.” I looked into the basket of vegetables then back at Ginji-san.

“Hmm. That sushi from yesterday, did you make that Ginji-san?”

“Yes, but I’m afraid it probably wasn’t that delicious.”

“Nonsense! In fact they were some of my favourites, they were truly something. They had a modest sweetness, they weren’t miserable or horrible at all! For me they were simply irresistible.” I was almost buzzy thinking about the deliciousness of the inari sushi from last night. Ginji-san seemed very surprised from my praise, although it may have come off as a bit intense

86. I sneakily try and change the topic. “Well, the inari sushi here is the same, food from the Apparent Realm is pretty similar to food from this world.”

“Ah, I see. Well I guess each others cultures pass us by without noticing. Many dishes have been brought over from the Apparent Realm. That’s where inari sushi is from.”

“I didn’t know that.” Among all the dishes I have ever casually eaten they have all been from the Apparent Realm, but now I wonder. Have any dishes from the Hidden Realm been brought to the Apparent Realm? “Ah, that’s right, Ginji-san, have you had lunch yet?”

“No, not yet.”

“If it’s okay, I’d let to use this kitchen if you’d let me. Of course I’ll clean up afterwards but I want to make you something in order to thank you for the inari sushi yesterday.”

“Eh, of course. You don’t have to though, are you sure?”

“Don’t be silly, of course I’m sure. I can cook and you look blown away from tiredness. Oh and if I do cook, do you think I could have just a little bit?” A ringing sound emerged from my stomach.

“Don’t worry that’s natural!” Ginji-san said in a hurry.

87. “Ginji-san, what type of food would you like to eat?”

“What type of food I want to eat?”

“Anything is ok as long as you have the seasonings and ingredients in this world.” When I look around the kitchen there seems to be a few seasonings such as soy, liquor, mirin, salt and sugar. There was also brown rice and miso. “Hm, then I’d like to eat Omurice.” (Omelette rice)

“Omurice?” What an unexpected order. Ginji-san a grown adult wants omurice.

“I have heard that there is a food in the Apparent Realm called omurice that resembles inari sushi!”

“………” I frown my face in defeat, I can only give in. I wonder if omurice is similar to sushi? No, maybe seasoned rice perhaps, although the idea of wrapping is kind of similar. “Omurice is a dish that normally children like to order.”

“Oh, then I will be a child!” Ginji-san disappears into a cloud of smoke and emerges as the figure of a small boy.

88. There was a very young boy with silver hair and a lovely smile. I start to prepare for the omurice. He shakes his ears and tails; this adorableness is my weakness. “Well, I know there’s rice but I’m not sure if there’s anything to cook it in. It may take time, but the meat also has to be defrosted.”

“Ah, in this world our pots are spirit baskets, so the rice will cook in 5 minutes.”

“Spirit basket?”

“it’s like the pressure cooker of this world.” I only have an electric pressure cooker back home, it feels a little embarrassing. “It’s like a pot that uses spiritual energy, it’s slightly different from the pressure cooker from the Apparent Realm but it has the same effect none the less. Besides, this pot has been in the Hidden Realm since Ancient times and is mostly unique to elders.” Ginji-san then pointed to a round disk surrounded by cooking utensils in the kitchen. “Please put the frozen meat on this disk.”

“This?”

89. Pork, chicken and flock meat. They were all frozen as hard as rocks, when I put it on the disk Ginji-san called out, “Thaw!” The frozen meat was then enveloped in a purple flame wrapping around it, thawing in a few seconds. “Well, that thawed quickly, almost like a microwave.”

“Apart from the thawing of frozen meat, frozen foods can also be cooked from the wild fire in this disk. This instrument was confiscated from a mage and it has multiple functions. Thawing and heating, if you were to issue it an order it would listen.”

“Woah, the Hidden Realm is so strange, it’s different from the things in the Apparent Realm.” I’m extremely impressed with the cooking utensils that are unique to the Hidden Realm and their kitchen circumstances. Even though I thought of my own cooking technology to be superior, these seem to be just as good. I wash my hands so I can start cooking. “Ginji-san, this is clean right?”

“Yes, if an employee has used it beforehand chances are I would have washed it. There are also some kimono’s here for employees.”

“Really? I wonder if you could lend it to me.”

“Well of course, everything here is going to be destroyed or thrown out anyway.” Ginji-san who was sitting on a table stool in the form of a little boy jumped off and went into a back room. After a minute I heard him call out. “Aoi-san! Come over here.”

90. I went into the back room, which seemed like it was a rest room for employees. Ginji-san had taken out a rough looking kimono with a matcha colour and a white sash. “Are you sure this is alright?”

“Yes, thank you. That dress is a little too cheery and foreign for around here according to the Young Hostess.”

“Oh, well I guess O-Ryo-san is right.” What Ginji-san said was a little mean. Ginji-san exited the room after handing me the kimono. Luckily I knew how to put one on, after all my Grandfather had taught me how to many times. I guess Grandfather knew from the start I would end up in such a situation… Remembering such a thing saddens me. After I finished putting on the kimono I wanted to tie up my hair so it wouldn’t get in the way while I was cooking. I think it can be disturbing to have it out while cooking. Even if it’s only a cord, I need something to put my hair up with. In that moment I remembered that there was a black band in my university bag, I went out to the counter with the kimono on. “Wow, Aoi-san that yatsuri kimono is just right for you.”

“Thank you, but I can’t start cooking yet because my hair is in the way… Ah, I wonder if that band is in my university bag after all?”

91. I picked up my bag and opened it, whilst looking for the black band something had fallen out. “A hair ornament?” It had a camellia bud on it. In order to give the ogre food who I now know is the Master, I handed him a bento. When I got the bento box back, it was placed on top like a thank you item. “Hmm, isn’t that crimson crystal?”

“Crimson crystal?”

“It’s an extremely rare and expensive crystal which is able to move. Would you like me to tie your hair up with it?”

“Ginji-san, you know how to tie hair?”

“Yes, since one of my forms is a woman, I’ve practiced and studied womanly gestures.” Ginji-san then changed from the appearance of a little boy, into a woman. He stands behind me taking a comb from his belt and gently brushes with kind hands. He has a really feminine smell. Ginji-san is a little confusing, at first I thought he wanted omurice like a little boy, and now he wants to tie my hair like a woman. “Here you go, the hair ornament suits you well.”

92. When I looked at my figure in the hand held mirror I tilted it to see the bud of the camellia on the side. I wonder if it matched me or not. Now. Together with Ginji-san I was able to understand some of the similarities and differences between the Hidden Realm and Apparent Realm. I had added rice and water into the spirit basket, covering it then putting it over the fire. A cooking stove that uses spirit fire is just as efficient as one that uses electricity. I made sure the remaining ingredients were ready then prepared the seasoning. “Now, I don’t think there’s any ketchup here, I wonder if there is any tomatoes?” Although all the seasonings for Japanese style dishes seemed to be here, he didn’t have any ketchup. I thought about the flavours of the soy sauce, perhaps soy sauce and kyushu would closely resemble the flavour more than soy sauce and kanto? A soy sauce containing sugar and licorice. “Hm if that’s so I think I’ll do a Japanese style omurice with sweet soy sauce instead of ketchup. Even without it, you still wrap it in eggs, so it’s still omurice.” Perhaps I’m a little doubtful of if he’ll really enjoy my cooking or not. I hit my hand on the table briefly and give out a brief groan while looking at all the ingredients. Whenever I’m angry, the things that matter most to me when I’m cooking is making sure nothing is wasted. “Hey, Ginji-san I’ll still make you omurice but there’s so many ingredients here. So I wonder if it’d be ok for me to also make other dishes?”

93. “Eh? Are you willing to go that far? Of course, I’m grateful, however, there are lots of ingredients left and it’d be a waste to throw them out.”

“How about we use them to make a side dish and keep them for a while? I really feel like cooking right now. How about chicken’s meat? It seems like we can make something delicious using this soy sauce here.”

“I see. It looks good. I like it as well.” Ginji-san who’s sitting at the counter shakes his tails once.

“There’s pork loin too. We can make boiled pork and radish. Oh besides, we have miso too. So we

can make fried miso eggplant.”

“Wow that’s nice.”

“Well, I just queued the things I liked and wanted to eat. This is a side dish I always make.”

“Oh by the way, the Master likes fried miso eggplant as well.” As expected, Ginji-san brings up the topic of the Master. “Eh, is that so? That’s an unexpectedly common dish for someone like the Master to enjoy.”

“Well, it’s true that only high-class dishes are served at Tenjin-ya. But sometimes it’s unavoidable not to want to eat ordinary foods. However, our chef doesn’t make such dishes so by the Master’s request we sometimes go to the cafeteria wearing common people’s clothes.”

“Well, that’s surprising, I did think of him as an ogre who enjoys playing around.”

94. “There is no such thing. The Master himself is a serious person. However, this is also my favourite dish. I wonder about what an ogre’s favourite food could be. Well it doesn’t matter either way. Let’s continue our work. If we carve some mushrooms and carrots, rice would be cooked by then. We should turn off the fire underneath the kettle and put it aside for a while. Next, we’ll peel the onions, potatoes, carrots and etc, then make scalloped potatoes and cut the chicken into bite sized ones.”

“Aoi-san do you dislike the Master?”

I was suddenly asked by Ginji-san who was sitting at the counter. He seemed anxious.

“Hey, that person is reluctantly trying to marry me without knowing anything about me. Turning a

human girl into a bride, not to mention he’s used the bento (lunch) made with love to bring me to

the hidden realm.”

All of a sudden Thinking about that ogre and remembering that time makes me angry. ‘It’s delicious,

Aoi ‘he staggered a bit, while eating a mouthful of food in a posture that indicated how hungry

he was at the time. Remembering that I was actually happy at the time, makes me laugh

95.So I shook my head to get rid of the thought and opened the lid of the pot -which contained spirit

power- with emergency. The cooked rice smells really good.

“Wow.”

The steamed rice cooked plainly and looks glossy , made an unexpectedly admiring voice leak

out.

Even this rice seems delicious enough only with garlic and saliva.

However it’s now omurice. (omelette rice) Mix the rice using a wooden spoon so that the rice goes up and down and served the amount that you want in the bowl (duhhhhhh ;/ ) Next, we’ll heat the oil with a flat iron pan like a frying pan. ( too much cooking, not enough Odanna and Ginji) And we’ll stir-fry carved chicken, mushrooms and white leeks with salt and pepper (sighs) In addition, we’ll fry the rice whilst stirring it and adding salt, pepper and sweet soy sauce. Once it smells good, take it out and place it on a flat plate at the right timing. Next, we’re going to season the eggs with soup and put them in a heated pan ( ew ) Bake all the ingredients while stirring wrap the fried rice in eggs and shape the omelette rice. Taking a step from the counter Ginji-San says ‘ooo’ while his eyes are shining like a little boy. Well, he is a little boy to begin with. “Actually, I eat it with a sauce of tomatoes called ketchup (tysm for the information) but it does not seem to be in here in the hidden world. This is a Japanese style omurice.”

96.I placed the soft, fluffy and yellow omurice on a flat plate. I thought to myself if we look at this carefully it does resemble inari sushi. Just like Japanese hamburgers, I placed grated daikon and carved oba on top. By doing this , we can also see the broth made out of egg . ( ;| ) It’s a bit unusual and wicked (um, what? ) to use the egg in order to make an omelette , but it looks so fluffy and seems delicious. Also, the yellow colour is beautiful. Fried rice with pepper and soy sauce, along with good smell of fluffy egg makes me hungry. I put the food in front of Ginji-San, his eyes were wide open. "Yum! let’s dig in. I’m grateful for this food."

"Here you go, I have another work to attend to."

Even though I said that, I attentively took look sat Ginji-san who was looking at the omurice gently, omurice is a combination really worth looking at. He’s using chopsticks to eat the omurice while breaking down the daikon I was surprised by the fluffy texture, Ginji-san too looked like he’s trying this new texture by slowly taking it to his mouth and tasting it at first, but gradually he started eating it. Seeing him eat the food in his boyish figure while smiling and moving his tails, made me kind of happy. I let go of the though thinking it was not appropriate. I put a bottle of sauce next to the omurice obeying Ginji-san ‘s previous request.

97. “It’s delicious! Well this is a surprise, the seasoning is unexpectedly good! “

“I’m glad that is suits your taste, you know, my grandpa also liked omurice very much, how can I say this , it’s beautiful right ? “

“That’s right. It’s really good It doesn’t cost much and seems to be found in main shops if I’m right? “

“Huh?”

“Oh it isn’t so. Well, that’s what I’ve heard “

Ginji-san started eating silently again. Me on the other hand, since my stomach was full, I had started to make meat and potatoes with high speed in secret. It contains chicken meat and potatoes. In this case I only seasoned it with sugar, kerosene and sake. ( h a i ?? =___= ) Sauté chicken, add sauce and let it cook for a little more, and I’ll just throw chopped onions, carrots and potatoes and heat it for a while. Simple ingredients and seasoning. It's a short time specification, but my favourite recipe. “Ah, it’s done already “The good smell of potatoes made me smile. Well make sure that the element is on first and let it boil. Just because he was a small dealer in a driftwood, the equipment is good. With premium equipment everything turns out to be delicious. Let’s say that we’re done with the cooking. I serve the food for two plates alongside with tea bowls.

98. I gathered the remaining radish to serve them in a bowl. “Well then, let me cook as well. ”By his request I sat next to Ginji-san. Ginji-san prepared the teas and placed them next to the tea pot. (Is this counted as cooking?=__= ) “Time to eat! “

“That’s nice, I also want to eat ~ “ I wonder if the chicken and potatoes go well with the omurice ( AS IF IT WOULD ) “Aoi-san please take your time and eat as you please . I will also help myself “

“Is that so? “

“You must be hungry, so please start eating. “Inspired by Ginji-san’s words, I started eating the rice I was really looking forward to . It’s rich and has a sweet taste. It’s a bit different from cooking with a rice cooker. The fragrant is nicer.

It is a deliciousness that makes you feel inspired like drawing out the taste of rice from a deep place. ( I admire how Aoi goes deep with the description of tastes -since I’m really foody myself ^__^ )

“Amazing” My eyes were shining while I was holding another bowl of rice. I originally though that the rice alone was enough to make me full. But I also want to eat meat and potatoes. Thinking of that, my chopsticks started moving again. Seriously, it’s just chicken, potatoes and rice ! (Ok we get it Aoi , why do we have to re-read ingredients 10000 times .)

99. Bite sized chicken with sweet soy sauce and rice. Every so often I would roast the potato and dress it in crisp ponzu sauce and daikon. I have small bites of it. Ahh, it’s really delicious! Regardless of the skill that went into this dish, I was getting more hungrier and hungrier. I ate the delicious white rice, meat and potatoes filling up my stomach. In that moment I felt a bit of happiness. I also served Ginji-san a bowl of meat and potato. I also had some of the omurice, this time I had changed the recipe and not used the normal white rice. Even though Ginji-san is in the figure of a little boy, he eats a lot. It makes me somewhat glad. “Aoi-san, even though you are a human you season your food to the taste of an Ayakashi, it’s very sweet and thin.”

“Yeah, from what I can understand Grandpa had similar tastes to Ayakashi since he was always going back and forth between two worlds.” From what Ginji-san said it seems for Ayakashi their favourite tastes are sweet and thin but has a nice flavour at the same time. Individual tastes that all combine into one. It was my Grandfather’s favourite too, because I was always cooking for him it seems that it ended up being linked to making delicious meals for Ayakashi. Suddenly, the taste of the soy sauce I had licked brought back memories.

100. “Ah by the way, this sweet Kyushu soy sauce is similar to the likes of the one my Grandpa would use.”

“Yes, it seems the sweet soy sauce of this world is close to the one from the Apparent Realm.”

“Woah, that’s interesting.”

“Well, there was such a time where sugar trade was thriving in Dejima, Nagasaki. So in Kyushu a place that was full of sand soon began to serve delicious sweet food. So it seems that merchants from this world would constantly disguise themselves as human beings so they could go to the Apparent Realm for trade. Sugar was a seasoning that sweet toothed Ayakashi loved to eat and cook with. In Kyushu so many merchants were coming and going that eventually sweet soy sauce found it’s way into the world.”

“Really? Don’t you think that’s cool?

“In those days it was still free to come and go in between this world and the Apparent Realm. Back then I even got to see the Southern-barbarians who were rumoured to be in Nagasaki.”

“Eh?” I guess Ginji-san was alive back then… I know that Ayakashi have long life spans but in the era where the trade at Dejima was occurring, well, it’s a story from hundreds of years ago. I’m sure Ginji-san was a young Ayakashi back then.

101. “Ah my stomach, I was wondering if you’d want miso soup as well? I’d have to prepare it but I wouldn’t want you going hungry somehow.” When one’s stomach is satisfied, sounds stop coming out. I was concerned there wasn’t enough food on the counter since at home it would not have been a filling meal. “No, it was very delicious. Thank you very much, I’d heard that you were a good cook but now I’m absolutely convinced.”

“……” “If you’d like please feel free to use the ingredients and this kitchen as you see fit, so make anything. If there’s something you need I can get it from the main kitchen. I’m sure the Chief Chef won’t notice.”

“Fufu, it’s alright I’ll try making something out of the ingredients here.”

“Would you like me to bring some to the Master?”

“No, I’d rather eat it all by myself.”

“But the Master would be really pleased!” Ginji-san who almost looks pregnant from all the food begins to drink some tea. I glance at him from the side. “Ginji-san you mention the Master a lot, right?”

“Well of course, we all care for the Master.”

102. I also take a drink of the tea. For the Ayakashi here, what type of person is the Master to them all? This tea is very delicious and fluffy, of course it would be good at a luxurious inn like this though. “Now, what else should we make?” As I thought about the left overs I began thinking of a side dish in my head, I was really good at it. But even I can recognise that I’ve been neglecting some important things. “That’s right, no matter how many dishes I make, without a place to sleep it’s all hopeless really. I still don’t have a job.” I began to tremble. If I don’t manage to find a job what will happen to me? The Ogre-god said if I were to run away he would eat me, but what will he do if I remain unemployed? “Oh is that so? Well if that’s the case you can sleep in the back room here. The previous employee was sleeping in there before the store opened so there’s a set of futons.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course.” Ginji-san’s smile is so lovely but there’s something I’ve been wondering about.

“Hey, Ginji-san, why are you so nice to me? All the Ayakashi here hate me, but everything you’ve done has been so kind.”

103. Last night he was very kind to me, he snuck into my room with sushi. Gave me some ingredients and praised my cooking. Ginji-san spilled his cup a little bit after hearing my words. “I guess that’s correct.” He returns into the figure of a young man. “Well I feel like I’ve known you since you were a child.”

“Eh?” I wonder if I had met Ginji-san somewhere else, I don’t remember. “Oh do you mean my grandpa told you about me?”

“Uh, uh. Yes! Yes, it must have been in that type of situation.” He puts a sleeve over his mouth and laughs into it, his eyes are looking all around the room frantically. “If you are hungry, you can always come here.” Those are very happy words to me.

“Ginji-san you’re my saviour! Is doing all of this really okay?” I say strongly try to assert my emotions.

“Well, I am the Young Master.” Ginji-san said quickly. He waved his hands in front of his chest.

104. “Such a thing as kindness in a world full of Ayakashi may be true after all.”

“After all?” Ginji-san’s fox ear’s twitch slightly.

“Yes, a long time ago there was a kind Ayakashi who helped me. Ginji-san you remind me of that Ayakashi.”

“……”

“If you ever need anything Ginji-san please tell me and I’d gladly do it!” Feelings of gratefulness towards Ginji-san are starting to overflow. He raises his eyebrow. “Anything?” He says in a questioning tone. “Well then, will you cook for me again?”

“That’s… Well Ginji-san if you want something to eat just tell me and I’d make it!”

“I see…” He had a small smile on his face at that moment.

After that, Ginji-san left for his work.

105. I decided to clean the kitchen and make a side dish. In time I make the back room into a bedroom of some sort. In addition to that wiped down the counter in preparation for any customers that might walk in. I saw a cupboard full of china, there were many fine pieces of pottery inside. I felt as if this restaurant could really have a fighting chance. On top of this I also discovered many utensils that seemed unique to the Hidden Realm, there was even something similar to a mixer from the Apparent Realm. The interior of this place soon looks very beautiful, I then go out to clean the garden. “This place isn’t scary, calm down.” I look up into the sky and realise that it is the evening, when I look up at the big beautiful purple sky I can see multiple ships with lanterns hanging from them. The lanterns sway up and down. I can hear festival music in the distant. The warm light starts to leak out into the evening, it’s a calm atmosphere, one that reminds me of a private home. Hopefully this place will eventually be noticed. “Well, thanks to Ginji-san we have food, shelter and clothing. Tomorrow I’ll work hard as well.” He was helping this place that seemed to be forgotten. It seems like it’s really hard for Ginji-san to stop trying. Anyway, I think I should check on my pork and radish, I also want to return to the main building afterwards. An explosion like sound could be heard emitting from the main building, it was surprising. “Eh, eh? What was that?”

106. I was curious about the explosion like noise and headed towards the main building. Crossing the dark corridor from the back door, I turned towards the front, some kind of flyer being carried by the wind crossed my face. It seemed like it was promoting a Cherry Blossom festival at, ‘Onikomi.’ I opened the door and saw the sight before me. At the reception the Tsuchigomo with the red hair was standing at the front dealing with a guy with a big nose and black wings. He was throwing around liquor bottles at Daruma and making a tantrum, although I wasn’t sure if he was exaggerating or not. “Please stop Master Tengu! You too Daruma!” Akatsuki of the Tsuchigomo tried to calm down the fighting by easing the need for bloodshed, but his voice doesn’t reach them because there is so many people. Why was there even fighting in the first place, was the question. Flocks of Ayakashi and low-level employees are watching over it. “Hey, who are those people?” A small girl looked at me from the other side, she had a raccoon like appearance, I started talking to her for a brief moment.

107.“Well you see the Tengu were hosting a party here at Tenjin-ya today to celebrate. But they started complaining about the food saying it was boring, So the Tengu got angry and tipped over a table.”

“I see, that sounds horrible.”

“Well, I guess they were all pretty drunk. But I wouldn’t have wanted to apologise and replace their food either. Pride is expensive after all. When I heard the fighting, I ran to the front and the fight was really big. It seemed like a war between Daruma and Tengu. By tomorrow I’m sure our Inn will be a pile of debris if this continues.” That’s what the Raccoon like Ayakashi said, but she’s right. This inn may be in trouble. A vase then went flying and we ducked down, “Kya.”

“What’s going on in here? Where is the Master?”

“The Young Hostess is going to get the Master, I’m sure he’ll be here soon. He’ll be able to calm this place down.”

“Are Tengu honourable Ayakashi?”

108. “Yes, that’s why we’re all trying to hold down our anger as well.” Said the raccoon girl, it must be easy for the Tsuchigomo to watch over them and also handle the situation with his spider web. “The Tengu are good customers here since they are very generous. Because of that generosity they’re valuable business partners, so it will be hard to repair our relationship with them if this continues. We’ll have to wait for the Master to get here. Although I’m not sure if even he’d be able to help the situation.”

“No way…”

“But the dining here is a little bad. The cuisine here does not change at all. Some customers like the taste but others have begun to grow bored of it. However the head Daruma does not listen to such complaints.” The battle of the Tengu started to pick up, as they started to throw souvenirs. As I watched the dispute that I’m not even closely related to, I notice the Master has not showed up yet. If this continues the Inn will be broken, I was starting to become seriously worried. “You rotten Daruma are dead!”

“You good for nothing Tengu, go to hell! Never come back here again.”

“You’re all brain dead!”

109. “I’ll break that long nose of yours!” The fighting between the Ayakashi continues to get louder and louder.

“Ouch.” I could hear sounds of things breaking. I was then hit in the forehead by a Temari ball thrown by Daruma. It’s the Head Daruma’s cuisine that is causing all of this to happen. The front is like a whirlwind with Daruma figures causing chaos by throwing salted plums from the simmering soup.

“Are you all right?”

“Itata, jeez those drunks!”

“Oh no, there’s blood coming from your forehead. Human beings are vulnerable to that.” It wasn’t a great or painful injury but there still seemed to be blood leaking from my forehead. The Tanuki seemed a little worried, but at that time I saw the Master come from the other side of the corridor. The young snow woman hostess on one side and on the other side there was a middle-aged woman who was doing up her hair, I’d never seen her before.

“Wow, it’s the first hostess!” The raccoon girl seemed to lose her confidence and begin to tremble as she reverted back into a normal raccoon. It seemed as if she was a mere admirer but was still afraid. I had a terrible feeling.

110. It seemed as if the Master had noticed me as he showed a slightly surprised expression. It seemed as if he noticed that I had tied my hair back. He was looking down at me with a cool look. I try to keep the blood from running down my forehead. “Well, well, how unbelievable of you to not bow your head to the Master.”

“It’s bad practice to allow such habits to grow, is it not First Hostess? Of course, it’s a human girl who would do such a thing. Never the less, what is with the blood? It is a makeup of some sort? What kind of simple girl messes up their makeup that horribly?” That’s what the First Hostess and Young Hostess said. The area is a little uncomfortable, but I try and lower my head. “You don’t have to do such a thing.” The Master stopped me from lowering my head with a cold voice. The Master seemed to be in a foul mood. Those red eyes reminded me of that trembling gaze from yesterday. The First Hostess has a smooth look on her face. “Oh Master. It’s sweet of you let an employee go undisciplined. Especially annoying human beings with debts to repay.”

“This human is not yet an employee, she is just a simple girl.”

111. The Master unleashes those colds words onto me without mercy. Even from far away I could tell he had a cold attitude, far different from when we had first met. I was shocked with regret. “You’re an eyesore Tsubaki Aoi. You have no place here, so this dispute is none of your business.”

“I was just worried about what was happening here.”

“Leave here at once. Unless you’d like to be an offering. In that case I’ll hand you over to the Tengu.” I was unable to say anything in response to the Master’s cold words, the Snow Woman however found something to say with ease. “Good. The Tengu would love to have a human girl. I’m sure they’d be so delighted that they’d forget about this entire ordeal.”

“…….” The blood on my forehead flows down and falls onto the floor.

“Girl! Do not dirty the floor with the filthy blood of human beings!” The First Hostess angrily shouted at me. My body trembled, as you would expect. The Master opened his mouth slightly as if he was going to say something to me, but eventually he said nothing and instead walked towards the fighting. Both Hostesses follow him. I feel somewhat hopeless as I felt a warm colour rising to my cheeks.

112. At first the fighting between the Daruma and Tengu was quite worrisome, but the Master seemed to resolve it. I feel now he will only grow colder and start yelling at me more. I decided to flee from this place. I probably looked hurt and bloody now that I think about it.

Woahh so here we are after like, a month and a lot. Chapter 3. Enjoy. In this chapter we don’t get much interaction between Aoi and Odanna-sama except for the scene where he’s in a foul mood. However, since the next chapter is called The Old Tengu, we’ll most likely see more of Odanna! The interaction between Aoi and Ginji was a lot more in depth here in comparison to the anime where these scenes occurred, which I believe was episode 2. On another note, did anyone else end up balling their eyes out during the final episode? Because I did, twice actually. Hopefully the rumours about season 2 airing in summer anime 2019 won’t stay a rumour.

Pages 93 to 98 translated by @wondering-apricot

Pages 65 to 112 (excluding 93 to 98) done by myself

So, have you ever thought about supporting your favourite translators for Kakuriyo No Yadomeshi? Well, now you can, buy us a novel at this link. Paypal.me/KakuriyosTranslation

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