#continuation to the shiro one :3

[quibbs126]

You know honestly my only wish for an Evoland 3 is that there are Demons in it, and that at least appearance wise, they keep pretty similar to the ones in 2

Because in Evoland 2, we never really get to see much of Demons/Demon culture, outside of the few things we learn in the first Past section, since at basically every other time, they’re a dying/destroyed culture and people. Menos is here sure, but most of what his dialogue relating to Demons has to do with saving them, or a few things he learned from his father/his backstory of being the crown prince

I’m almost certain that Evoland 3 would take place in a completely new universe or timeline, so having one where we can actually see the Demons just exist and have a culture would be really nice

[midnight-in-town]

Ao no Exorcist is a Shonen series written by a woman and it shows

Since the latest chapter, I've been thinking about how several usual Shonen tropes are written rather differently under Kato-sensei's pen. No judgement or anything, it's just cool to observe. Some examples :

1) Rin's mentor is a woman

2) Rin's secret, despite being the MC, was revealed in ch13 to the entire cast, meanwhile Shiemi, The Main Girl, who was introduced to be so helpless is only starting to be explained.

3) Also, the Mysterious plot-relevant Shonen Parent is actually the twins' mother. (Of course Shiro is super plot-relevant too, but Satan is still angsting over Yuri and she's a huge part of the reason why he's the big bad)

4) Rin also changed his view about his future throughout the story: from dropping out of school, passing by hoping to become the Order's Paladin (probably to cope with Shiro's death and also to antagonize Arthur), to finally showing way more interest and potential in the (less epic and heroic in appearance) field of talismanic cooking.

5) When it comes to arcs, mental illness is a valid reason to build a character arc around...

6) And so is making an arc about girls being "cursed" to basically "get married and have children before they hit 30, the age where their beauty fade thus they become useless" :

7) ANE is a story about women becoming traitors to protect their loved ones, like Mamushi

or becoming overwhelmed because men toyed with their feelings like Tamamo

8) Older women can be absolute badasses like Shiemi's grandma

or Lucy.

9) Complicated mother-daughter relationship and girl friendships are given as much focus as complicated father-son relationships and sweet bro friendships (like Bon and his dad during the Kyoto arc, as well as the complicated but deep bond between the Kyoto Trio)

10) And one of my favorites: full time single dad, asking for help to do the job as well as he can and finding his true purpose in life by doing so :D

Hmm and now that I think about it, the only other Shonen series written by a woman I've been as invested in is Kuroshitsuji, by Yana Toboso, and similar examples can be found in it too, namely:

1) If Ciel ever finally admits needing a mentor, his aunt Frances will probably play that role

2) Girls can be super strong & skilled (Elizabeth, Mey Rin) and clever (Sieglinde)

3) (one part of) the Big Bad is a woman (Queen Victoria)

4) maybe Ciel's entire revenge stems from a conflict between Queen Victoria and Ciel's maternal grandmother, Claudia.

5) the Undertaker has been a continuously freaking pain in the ass because he probably fell in love with that same maternal grandmother and couldn't mourn properly

TL;DR we love our boys and their spectacular growth and development under women's pens a.k.a shonen series written by ladies are hella fun to read. :D

[torveiglyart]

Red Paladin Lance!

It always kinda bothered me that they never switched armor colours. I understand why not in season 3-4 because switching the armor then would feel like accepting that Shiro is gone. They were convinced that the 'Changing of the Guard' was a temporary solution. But why didn't Lance and Allura swap when Shiro was back and Keith left?

Keith leaving was a conscious choice. They had one paladin too many, as Lance stated, and Keith felt he was the one who could, and should, leave. He had the Blade of Marmora to go to, whereas the other paladins would have nowhere to go.

The paladins knew generally where he was, and that he wasn't dead. So why not change armor?

Allura wore the pink as a symbol of mourning. But Shiro's back, so unless she really likes pink like her mother, she has no reason to continue wearing it. Lance has not flown, or talked to, Blue in a long while, and never does again until the season 8 conclusion. He's Red's paladin now.

It makes all the sense in the world for them to switch armor in the seasons after Keith's departure. So why didn't they? I think it's because of which paladin they are. Let me explain:

Keith is the red paladin. The Red Lion looks for someone 'hot-headed and stubborn', someone who relies more on instinct than skill. The traits of a red paladin are fiery, straightforwardness, impulsive, passionate, and self-certain. Keith tones it down a bit when leading the team in black and once he returns from the BoM, but he still has these characteristics.

Lance is the blue paladin. The Blue Lion looks for someone flexible, supportive, and creative. While we don't get to hear Allura's explanation of the Blue Lion, we can see why Blue picked Lance. He's a quick thinker, goes with the flow, and most of all, flexible. He makes what's given work, especially when it came to needing a red paladin. Not, by choice, necessarily, but he rolls with it.

Allura is not a chosen paladin. She does not have qualities that fit a specific lion quite as well as the rest do, but rather a mix. This is why she works as Blue's pilot. She has the flexibility required by Blue. So while she works as a blue paladin, she is technically not a better fit than Lance for Blue, but Lance is a much better fit in Red than Allura due to Keith in Black.

All this to say, it still annoys me they didn't change colours, but oh well.

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 50

hello and welcome to fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

you've got to take a chance on something, sometime by spirkylurkey

Lance McClain is the office secretary. Salesman Keith is smitten, but Lance is dating Lotor from Corporate. (An Office AU in which I just TORTURE PINING KEITH)

I LOVE THIS FIC. im not generally huge on office aus, but i LOVE this one. messy gay love triangles, GNC lance, and pining keith being the one who shows UP. god i love them. and keith. just so goddamn badly. he is loyalty personified.

2. Something Borrowed, Something Blue, by @shyfoxes

Keith asks Shiro to help him make Lance a betrothal necklace. The results are less than stellar, but that’s okay. ATLA AU.

atla au!!! proposal fic!!! 2016 fic!!! dorky broganes!!!! this fic is so fucking cute. also this line: "He stepped aside to let Keith in then swiftly kicked him in the behind as revenge." is siblings at the core of them truly

3. Kitten Sneezes by @tomminowrites

Imagine: Keith’s kitten sneezes - The Red paladin wiggles his face desperately, trying to cram the sneeze back down to the depths. Instead, the feeling just crescendos, until… “ha-tchu!” There’s a beat of silence. Then Hunk and Lance are cooing into the mics with an infuriating awwwwwww.

keith having kitten sneezes is so goddamn funny to me. like here is this gruff guy who is awkward but does his best and is also obsessed with knives. and when he sneezes it sounds like a cat. ALSO. lance calls keith kitten in this

4. to tell the truth by @tomminowrites

Other than a few scuffs on his armor, Lance looks unharmed - but he just stares stupidly at the Red paladin’s outstretched hand instead of trying to rise. Keith leans closer. “The fight’s still on, you coming?” Lance looks up suddenly. “Dude you… you have really beautiful eyes, did you know that? I feel like nobody has told you that.” Uhhhhhhh. -- Lance is hit with a truth serum, and his unintended honesty hour will continue until Voltron finds the cure planet-side. Keith, meanwhile, can't shake off the part where Lance is... flirting? With him??

this is the only truth serum fic ive ever really liked bc it's super respectul u know?? doesn't rly feel like it's crossing boundaries. just sweet and funny. lance flirting with keith like its fact is so real

5. Starsong by @tomminowrites

The paladins are crewmates aboard a mercenary space vessel, sent to the outer reaches of the system to investigate the recent disappearance of Empire ships. Keith discovers that the ship's captain, Sendak, has actually been hired to capture a different prize: mermaids. With siren calls that interfere with ship scanners and songs that mimic the distress beacons of friendly crafts, astral mermaids are a threat commonly believed to be myth among most spacefarers. But when lives are at stake, the crew is soon to discover that one among them is not quite as human as he appears to be...

i feel like there's NO way i havent recced this before but onward regardless!!! this fic has the COOLEST premise ever like holy shit. mermaids?? who SWIM in SPACE?? among the STARS??? LIKE???and in an au with an atlantis like crew??? SIGN ME UP

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!

[ranchstoryblog]

PRESS RELEASE: Second Annual ‘Marvelous Game Showcase’ Delivers Exciting Updates on Fan-favorite STORY OF SEASONS and Rune Factory Series; Reveals NARUTO: Arcade Battle for North America, and More

Second Annual ‘Marvelous Game Showcase’ Delivers Exciting Updates on Fan-favorite STORY OF SEASONS and Rune Factory Series; Reveals NARUTO: Arcade Battle for

North America, and More

New Looks for Additional Titles in Development Include Opening Animation for

Monster Farming / Action Title Farmagia and Striking New Teaser for DAEMON X MACHINA: Titanic Scion

TORRANCE, Calif., — May 30, 2024 — Marvelous USA, Inc. and XSEED Games today shared a localized version of parent company Marvelous Inc.’s second annual ‘Marvelous Game Showcase,’ which debuted today at 3:00pm PT. President Suminobu Sato hosted the showcase and was joined by key members of development teams to provide updates on titles announced in last year's event, and announce new regional and global initiatives for the Marvelous family of companies.

Farmagia (formerly Project Magia): Product Manager Takehiro Ishida revealed the official title of the project, Farmagia, and presented the game’s opening animation, giving gamers an action-packed look at the cast of characters and powers they wield. Ishida-san also shared details on key characters in the game, designed by popular artist Hiro Mashima, including Ten, the protagonist who often acts before thinking; Arche, his childhood friend who balances both kindness and a competitive nature; Chica, another childhood friend with a more reserved demeanor; and Lookie-Loo, Ten’s sidekick and de-facto mascot. The title is planned for a global release in 2024.

STORY OF SEASONS: The next, as-yet-untitled entry in the beloved franchise continues its development as the team focuses on improvements to the visual presentation and natural environments. Series Manager Hikaru Nakano joined to debut a fresh look at the results of their efforts, highlighting how aspects such as updated natural lighting and festival fireworks have been improved to enhance immersion and atmosphere. The project remains in active development and will be fully revealed at a later date. In the meantime, Nakano-san confirmed new gameplay features including a player-controlled glider and the return of fan-favorite pets.

Amusement Section: Marvelous Inc. supports more than just PC and console entertainment and announced a number of new arcade initiatives including NARUTO: Arcade Battle, which will be available in North America this summer. Players will experience the world of NARUTO on a massive 50” screen, where they’ll engage in intense ninjutsu battles and collect plates to reach the highest rank they can! Arcade titles for Japan release only were also presented.

Indie Partner Lineup: The Marvelous family continues to invest in helping creative and exciting visions from smaller indie developers become a reality with global support for titles! Titles introduced for worldwide release include Bitsummit 2023 Grand Prize winner Death the Guitar, where players become an electric guitar fighting with the power of death metal to avenge their owner, planned for a 2025 release; and Moonlight Peaks, the supernatural-themed vampire farming/life sim title from Dutch developer Little Chicken, scheduled for 2026 release. One additional title, Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, was also presented for release in Asia and Japan by Marvelous on July 28, 2024.

Rune Factory: Following a brief history on the evolution of the Rune Factory series and how it has grown across nine titles released over 18 years, Rune Factory series Director Shiro Maekawa joined the stream to reveal a new video for Rune Factory: PROJECT DRAGON sharing a look at the title’s protagonists. Players can choose to play as either Subaru or Kaguya, two new Earthmates with a twist; they will use the power of dance, rather than farming, to communicate and interact with the world around them. This new approach to interacting with the world comes with non-combat tools, including parasols and drums; series staple weapons like swords; and brand-new weapon types to experiment with, including bows and talismans.

DAEMON X MACHINA: Titanic Scion: First revealed during last year’s Marvelous Game Showcase, DAEMON X MACHINA: Titanic Scion once again closed out the show, where President Sato-san shared an evocative look at Marvelous’ First Studio’s mech-action sequel.  Additional details including platforms and a release window will be announced at a later date.

To celebrate the Showcase, select STORY OF SEASONS and Rune Factory titles will be on sale for up to 60% off on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch™ through June 7, 2024.

More information about XSEED Games’ products can be found at www.xseedgames.com Fans can also follow XSEED Games on Facebook, X, Instagram, Twitch, Threads, get in depth info from their developer blog, and join the discussion on their Discord server at: http://discord.gg/XSEEDGames.

About XSEED Games

XSEED Games is the independent-minded publishing brand of Marvelous USA, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Marvelous Inc., which is a publicly traded company listed in the Prime Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Formed in 2004 by a small group of industry veterans, XSEED Games is headquartered in Torrance, California and publishes video games on PC and consoles in North America. The publisher's diverse portfolio of over 100 titles includes releases from Marvelous Inc. including STORY OF SEASONS (Bokujo Monogatari), Rune Factory, and DAEMON X MACHINA, titles from third-party partners including AKIBA’S TRIP, Corpse Party, and Granblue Fantasy: Versus, and titles from independent developers including Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, Potionomics and Cuisineer. XSEED Games has grown its reputation among global gamers with its critically acclaimed localizations and commitment to fans, remaining ever dedicated to its “indie spirit, player-first” approach for quality games.

[harukamitsuki]

Okay... I am currently back on my Voltron bullshit and continuing my rewrite of Voltron. And I'm constantly reminding of HOW MUCH I HATE LANCE.

Don't get me wrong. I am still treating Lance fairly in my fic, making sure he gets screen-time and a proper character acr and stuff.

But by GODS. This man pisses me off so much and that's only made worse by his stans. I was scrolling through Keith's tag here on tumblr. I also have Kl@nce filtered out. I cannot see a single post without at least three pages of scrolling and then it's only ONE POST. AND IT'S STILL KLANCE BECAUSE IT HASN'T BEEN TAGGED CORRECTLY.

Anyway. Onto the actual things I hate about Lance and not just his fandom.

Lance is a fucking asshole. I mean that on the deepest level. Let's go through it chronologically because I cannot rank it from least to most assholery, because some things are on the same level.

1 - Allura wakes up from the cryopod and Lances catches her. She's confused and dazed and the first thing you should do is ask if she's alright. Oh, but Lance is above that. Instead, he flirts with her. Karma given immediately as she calls his ears hideous and puts him in a submission hold, which is why I kept that scene in my fic, but that was still wrong. I know it was played for comedic effect, but that doesn't make it not canon. It's canonically accurate that if you've awoken from a coma, Lance's first instinct is to flirt with you if you're pretty.

2 - Literally throws Hunk into the middle of a battle. I get that Hunk was supposed to leave the Lion anyway, but just shoving him out when there are lasers everywhere and Hunk has no protection? Yeah. So much for 'best friend'. Add on the fact that Lance never really treats Hunk like a friend. At all.

3 - Okay. Season 1 Lance isn't bad outside of those two examples, even if he has his dumb moments, so let's jump to Season 2. Starting shit with Keith for no reason. People can go 'oh, Keith obviously did something to him at the Garrison' but he DIDN'T. The writers themselves confirmed that Keith did nothing to Lance, he just started shit with Keith all the fucking time. Like accussing Keith of wanting Blue and cutting him off when he tried to explain what was actually happening, even though Lance is the one who was outraged initially that Keith had Red. Or how about Lance getting up in Shiro's face and screaming his head off about how Keith would rather kill people than listen to them, as if he knew Keith at all after bullying him the entire time.

4 - Okay. This one pissed me off the most and is the biggest reason I'm making this post. The fact that Lance used Shiro's death/disappearance against Keith. Keith outwardly expresses his lack of desire to become the leader and accidentally let it slip that Shiro wanted him to do it. To which Lance is all 'convenient that you say that when Shiro's gone'. What. What the fuck. Stans really say that Lance is precious but how the hell are you justifying that? A blind man could see how much Keith loves Shiro, and Lance has the fucking gall the say that Keith is USING his death/disappearance for a position he doesn't want? He didn't even apologise for it. He just told Keith to suck it up later on. This is one of the reasons I hated Lance as the Red Paladin, the others being explained in an earlier post of mine.

5 - Oh, yeah. We're not done. Because after Keith, it's Allura. Allur@nce is probably the worst ship that could have happened, apart from Kl@nce. If you wanted a straight ship, how about what was canon for the past Voltron series? Kallura? Anyway. Yeah, Lance treats Allura like a prize instead of a person. He's posessive in a way that he has no right to be because they were not together. He glares at Matt for flirting with Allura, something he only does once. He gets mad at Lotor and tries to stop them from spending time together, EVEN THOUGH LOTOR IS HELPING ALLURA AND BONDING THROUGH ALTEAN THINGS. HELPING HER KEEP IN TOUCH WITH ALTEAN CULTURE. In Season 8, he literally yells that it should be Lance and Allura?? What a fucking weirdo?? You can't claim that you're destined to be with someone without being together. That's not how healthy relationships work. That's how a stalker's mind works. Lance is constantly flirting with Allura throughout all of Voltron and she never once reciprocated until Season 8 where it's so obvious that Lance is just a rebound but the writers wanna make it so that it's 'true love' and they want Lance to be happier than anyone so they just gift her to him like some sort of trophy. Lance didn't care about loving Allura, he cared about winning her. At least Lotor actually cared for and respected her. I still don't like canon Lotor, but that's mostly because the writers didn't want to deal with gray morality. Cowards.

1 - Honestly the worst example of a leader. It's shown from episode one. Now, there is the argument of learning to become one, but Lance just never learns? He's never facing the consequences of his actions and, if he is lectured, he ignores it. Keith actually takes lessons to heart and tries to improve and he does. If Lance became the Black Paladin, the universe would have been doomed because he can't get over himself for a single moment to even bother listening to anyone else's advice.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons why Lance is an asshole. Now to make the Lance stans really pissed.

Reasons why Lance would have been a terrible leader and could never have been the Black Paladin.

Remember episode one? Remember how the hydraulic stabiliser was out in the simulator and Lance still tried to push on, even though Pidge and Hunk advised him not to? Totally great leadership qualities there. There's nothing better than a leader that refuses to listen to you. 'Oh, but Keith is stubborn and didn't listen--' yes he did. He's stubborn and unrelenting at first, but he eventually realises that they're right.

Remember episode three? Remember when Lance bragged about kicking, which made Voltron fall, then proceeded to try it again and failed again even when Keith advised him not to? Yeah. Lance does not make good decisions and does not listen to any advise. Even from the leader's right hand man.

Remember Season 1 Episode 12? Remember how they were waiting for Shiro and Allura to get back and then Keith saw someone taking quintessence so he decided to follow them? Remember how Lance said no and was ignored but did nothing more to stop Keith? He has no authority and no charisma to keep anyone at bay. Pidge herself mocks Lance for being the pinnacle for leadership. Sarcastically. Because he's far from it.

Pidge doesn't respect Lance as a leader, Keith never would considering Lance treats him like shit, Allura can't take Lance seriously with him hitting on her every ten seconds, and Hunk is always questioning Lance's decisions. If nobody respects you, you cannot be a good leader.

2 - Easily distracted. Yes, it's a very popular headcanon that Lance has ADHD, and I agree with that, but that doesn't make it okay. And he's distracted in the easiest ways. Just shove a pretty girl and he'll instantly get distracted and lead the entire team to doom. Remember Nyma and how easy it was for her to steal the Blue Lion? How he didn't even warn anyone that he was taking her out for a ride because he didn't want anyone contesting his conquest? Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. It's fine to have ADHD or get distracted easily. Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece is a great example of a leader who gets easily distracted, but the second he sets his mind on something, he blocks everything out. Lance just doesn't have the capability to do that, nor do I think he'd be able to learn how to.

3 - Gets jealous really easily. As in. Really fucking easily. He's jealous of Keith from the get-go, starting a one-sided rivalry that he's constantly on the losing side of because Keith doesn't care. He gets jealous of Matt when he flirts a bit with Allura. He gets extremely jealous of Lotor for having actual chemistry with Allura. He's constantly jealous and a good leader is only ever in competition with himself. A good leader will only strive to become better for the sake of the team, not to say that they're better than someone else, much less if they're someone that you are in charge of. It's a horrible trait to have.

Jealousy in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's when that jealousy overrides your logic and controls you, instead of you controlling your jealousy: which Lance struggles with a lot. And getting jealous over anyone who even looks at your crush is a very bad thing to do because you do not own your crush. It's okay to be jealous, but not posessively like Lance is. Not to the extent of trying to scare off any potential suitors.

4 - Nowhere near as skilled as Keith or Shiro. Sure, the writers may claim that he is better, but the proof is in the pudding. Keith and Shiro are fucking unmatched. I've defended Lance's skills in a previous post, but I also said in that post that, while he is skilled, he is nowhere near Shiro or Keith's level. I mean, Shiro was the golden child of the Garrison and set so many records. He was known as the best pilot. Keith beat those records and his flying capabilities are always, always noted. I haven't heard a single character comment on Lance's skills, other than to point out how bad they are. Keith was the only one who could have flew through the astroid field, he was the only one who could fly into the Marmora base which was in a blue star surrounded by two black holes, he was able to fly a Galra jet just by pushing the right buttons and knowing what the do, and he's the one who unlocks the warping abilities of the Black Lion. Shiro was able to connect with the Black Lion far before anyone else, able to see through Black and connect with Black to the point of his soul being saved by her.

Lance hasn't done anything spectacular. And, no. He was not 'done dirty'. He was given almost everything he wanted except the Black Lion. The writers claim he's the best pilot, but have not shown it at all. In my eyes, Keith and Shiro will always be the best.

5 - Selfish. Again. Nothing against being selfish. It's perfectly fine to be selfish, so long as it doesn't actively harm others. But for a leader? You should be as selfless as you can be. The team comes before you. And that's exactly what Lance isn't.

Lance is selfish and that's okay, but it's not leadership material. The whole reason Black rejected him is because he wanted the position out of selfish reasons. When he enters Black, he says 'Come on, Lance. You can do this'. In other words, he wants to pilot her because he wants to prove himself. He wants the acknowledgement. He wants the title of the Black Paladin and leader. Black accepted Keith, both at the start of Season 2 and Season 3, because he piloted her for purely selfless reasons. For Shiro.

Lance wants things for himself. Keith wanted things for Shiro. It was only after Shiro came back, (or so they thought), that Keith started focusing more on himself. Even then, he put everyone else before him. He distanced himself from the team so that Shiro could pilot Black again, and he was constantly risking his life for the Blades.

Lance just... isn't the type. He has put others before himself, but he expect things out of it. He expects a parade and acknowledgement. Nobody knew what Shiro went through to rid Zarkon of his connection to the Black Lion. Nobody knew what Shiro went through in his imprisonment because he doesn't want to burden anyone with that. Nobody knew what Keith went through to save Black and Shiro from Zarkon. Nobody knew what Keith went through when they were all mad at him for missing an attack. Lance doesn't withold that sort of stuff. The only thing he doesn't talk about is his insecurities, which he ends up spilling to the mice and Laika (the Yupper) anyway.

6 - Last one. Promise.

Nothing fucking happened. While Keith was gone, nothing of importance happened surrounding Voltron specifically. There was the Lion mind meld and Lotor joining, but all that served to prove was, with the mind meld, if Keith was there, he would have heard Shiro. And with Lotor joining, all it proved was how immature Lance was.

The second Keith gets back, things start happening again. Lotor gets outed as cruel and manipulative (still an ass-pull, by the way), Shiro gets outed as a clone, and so on. If Lance was leading, they all probably would have died ages ago. I'm talking Season 3 Episode 2, ages ago. Because Lance just isn't cut out for it.

So. Yeah. Those are the main reasons I hate Lance and why Black Paladin Lance is an awful idea. Screw the people who believe in it. It is awful.

Like I said, this won't affect my treatment of Lance in my rewrite, because I can fix those issues that come up. I don't have an issue with Season 1 Lance, it's later on that gets problematic. I just hate people building Lance up by bashing all the other characters, then claiming that Lance is the most traumatised, sad character when SHIRO AND KEITH ARE RIGHT THERE. NOT TO MENTION ALLURA, WHO LOST HER ENTIRE SPECIES, AND CORAN WHO LOST EVERYONE INCLUDING ALLURA AND NEVER GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HER.

Fuck. I hate Voltron so much but I can't help but love it.

[littleeyesofpallas]

So I guess this is a good time to do a recap of some old Ukitake posts: [1][2][3][4][5][6]

Ukitake[浮竹] Juushirou[十四郎] actually has one of my favorite names in the series as it feels like it says a lot about his core concept beyond what we're really given in canon. The family name reads uki-[浮]: "Floating" and take-[竹]: "Bamboo." That same "floating" is part of the word fuurou[浮浪]: "vagrant/vagabond" and a few other colloquial terms, a generally circling around a homeless person or a drifter. (In fact the other half of that compound word, [浪] is the "wave" in ronin[浪人]: "wave man/person" as in a masterless samurai.) Bamboo being a staple lumber in Japan of course but also notorious for its fast and rampant growth, as it is quick to spread and choke out other plants in an environment. The idea of "floating..." or "vagrant bamboo" gives an impression of being plentiful and common, even excessive.

The personal name, Juushirou[十四郎] just reads "14(th) Son" which always implied he came from a large family. A profile in the back of vol. 18 long ago confirmed he had brothers and sisters, but curiously all younger than him. The implication seemed clear that as a sickly person from a big family, he was poor and that there were 13 prior children who died before him, which is really the only reason you'd name a child the way they did. This feels like it works in tandem with the family name to again emphasize a family of many, but also almost expendable. The big family is also why he's got an affinity for children

That said it always felt to me like the backstory should have been more grim? Like rather than just praying to a god to save his life, it seemed more like he should have been a sacrifice made to ensure the family line continued. Like first 13 kids died, they were afraid he was their last chance, but he was sickly, so they sacrificed him to basically ensure the next ones would come out alright. Hence the kids younger than him surviving in spite of the ominous past implied by his name.

(Also the "shiro" phonetics in his name as a homonym with shiro[白]:white point to his hair. Kubo makes an explicit joke about this as Toshiro, also white haired, shares a similar wordplay, his name Toshirou[冬獅郎] meaning "Winter Lion Son.")

Then there's his shikai, Sougyo-no-Kotowari[双��理] which reads "PairFish's Reason/Logic/Natural way of things." (sougyo-kyu[双魚宮] is the Japanese name of the constellation Pisces.) It appears to be an allusion to daoism/onmyodo, and the yin-yang diagram of balance, and this theme gets built upon by other contextual information like the zanpakutou arc's designs borrowing from onmyoji, and Ukitake's presence in conjunction with fish imagery and metaphor in the Jaws of Hell arc.

The little preamble to that chapter, about the two fish in balance until one dies and then the other grows bigger, is itself synonymous with sougyo-no-kotowari: The Natural Order of Two Fish.

The release command [波悉く我が盾となれ]: "All Waves be my shield," [雷悉く我が刃となれ]: "All LightningBolts be my blade" is fairly straight forward and just evokes the image of a stormy sea, which actually seems to have surprisingly little to do with the rest of the themes in play? I mean sure, waves and fish and floating, but when the floating and fish are less than literal the waves and lightning without any additional reading feel kind of out of place?

Of note: the onymoji was a prestigious class of sort of advisor in the japanese imperial court was at its peak in the Heian period, the long standing era of peace in ancient Japan that came just before the descent into the civil war of the Sengoku period. (Subsequently the onmyoji lost most of their power and clout during the waring states period as power shifted from the imperial court to the shogunate.) They were associated with and consulted for a wide range of things from medicine, to architecture, to city planning and meteorology, and divination, and perhaps most well loved by media, as exorcists. This ties into things like his beyond bankai form in Bleach Brave Souls where they opt for a more shinto purification theme, in either case making him fit something of a paragon role as Shinigami as ""cleansing"" hollows rather than destroying them.

Actually those shinto motifs all link to the recent addition of shinto themes in Mimihagi pretty directly, but I'll get to that in a bit...

It's worth noting that with Kyoraku's emphasis on a leisurely city life in the capital(Kyoto), and the onmyo mystic themes of Sougyo-no-kotowari, Kyoraku and Ukitake appear to both represent aspects of the Heian period, and thus cultures that predate the Sengoku period, and the rise of the samurai, lending to their role as two of the most senior members of the gotei 13.

People often forget but technicaly Ukitake was the first captain we were introduced to, well before Byakuya showed up, the Captain title just wasn't present at the time. When Rukia has her flashback to a then uncertain event while Ichigo fights Grandfisher, it's Ukitake she's hearing speak and that we catch just a brief glimpse of the back of the head of. Like I said there were no captain ranks in the story a that point, so he just appears as long flowing white hair over an all black shihakusho. I think his hair was always meant to help him embody an element of balance between black and white, and thus the very series title: Bleach.

I think there was always an implicit siniste quality to the idea of "Balance" underlying the shinigami that Kubo tried to gesture towards with the general vibe of the Soul Society -v- Rukongai dynamics, the Shibas, that flicker of a twist in the Fullbringer arc that Ichigo just ignored, and even with a lot of the loose and ultimately unfulfilled themes he set up for the TYBW arc with Yhwach's plans for a new world and Juugram's Balance schrift.

Oh I forgot the whole MIMIHAGI bit, despite teh being the whole subject of this week's episode:

東流魂街七十六地区『逆骨』に伝わる単眼異形の土着神。

An indigenous God of Grotesque/Suspicious Single-eye passed down in East Rukongai 76(th) zone "Sakahone(Reverse Bone)"

太古の昔、天より瀞霊廷に落ちて来た霊王の右手を祀ったとされるもので、��らの持つ「眼」以外のすべてを捧げた者に加護をもたらすと言い伝えられている。

(In)Ancient Times, From Heaven to the Seireitei the fallen right hand of the Rei-Oh is said to have been enshrined.

浮竹の行った『神掛』は、体内に宿るミミハギ様の力を全身の臓腑へと広げる事で、全ての臓腑をミミハギ様に捧げ、その依り代になる儀式である。

Ukitake's performed "Kamikake(God debt)" was, the power of MIMIHAGI dwelling in the body spreading to the whole of the viscera/entrails, offer up all of your entrails to MIMIHAGI-sama, it is a ceremony/ritual to become a Yorishiro*

『神掛』を成功させた浮竹は、霊王の右腕そのものとなった。

Ukitake succeeded at/with "Kamikake", he had become the right hand of the Rei-Oh.

*i don't have a more concise way to translate this... the translation listed run something like "object representative of a divine spirit"/" object to which a spirit is drawn or summoned"/"object or animal occupied by a kami​" and it's specifically a shinto thing.

When you see big deified trees with the shimenawa ropes and shide paper talismans, those trees are yorishiro. or rather they're Shintai, because a Yorishiro is a thing capable of being host to a kami, the Shintai is after they've been deified. (And technically when you do that to a person it would be called Yorimashi, not Yorishiro. I don't know if that's meant to specifically dehumanize Ukitake or if its a broad enough term that it doesnt really make a difference. Although if you really wanted to stretch it you could argue that Ukitake is an object and not a person because he did die from his illness and the thing deified wasn't a "living" person it was a corpse. Which would very curiously position him as an inversion of Ichigo, who was human, "died" in that his soul was deliberately severed from his body, but continued to operate as nominally human while getting to dip a toe into the shinigami powers and the spirit world.)

These little eye catch data cards really aren't giving us anything new huh?

[soapssuds]

Infinity

Yandere ! Gojo Satoru x Female ! Reader

Part 3 | my world

Warnings | death , depictions of blood , jealousy , executions

Notes | this fic will be using she/her pronouns for y/n. Also this is a reincarnation fic, so Gojo's name will not be "Satoru" in this part. And please let me know if you want to be in a taglist for this series !! ^-^

Summary | And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you.

Infinity Masterlist

year 1102 AD

GOJO SHIRO got to meet y/n's friends that day. And to say the least, he wasn't impressed. He came to meet with them almost everyday after that for four months straight. But no matter how much he hung with them... he didn't care for them a single bit. And to be honest, they seemed to like bullying y/n more than actually playing fun games. Hell, during a simple game of hide-n-seek where y/n was the seeker her so called friends tried to get him to ditch her while she counted.

"Come on, come on! We have a lot of cool stuff to show you, Shiro!"

"What about y/n? She's still counting."

One of the girls snickered unto her palm, "that dummy can't even count to two. Last time she was the seeker, she was literally there counting for a whole five minutes!"

Gojo frowned, "its not her fault she can't count as good as you or me-"

"Duh, that's because she's stupid and poor! We only let her play with us cause her mom bakes us sweets from time to time, but even that is starting to not even be worth it," a boy of the group piped up this time.

And the others joined in.

And Gojo had enough of it, "be quiet already. Who gave you all permission to cut me off?"

The laughter was quick to die down and one of the girls was quick to speak up, hurt laced in her voice.

"Come on, Shiro. We're just having fun, and we didn't mean to cut you off while you were talking. So how about we go and-"

"I said to be quiet, or are you peasants too stupid to understand an order from your future lord?"

The girl said nothing else as Gojo crossed his arms over his chest, "also, you all will refer to me as Lord Gojo from now on because last time I checked I only ever gave Y/n permission to call me Shiro. The only reason why I let you all call me Shiro when we first met four months ago was because you all seemed to be friends with y/n. Though, it looks like I was wrong."

Gojo looked away from the other children and focused his piercing blue eyes onto y/n's figure. She was covering her eyes with her arms, head pressed into the tree's trunk as she hunched over a little and still continued to count. The sight made him smile a little before his face hardened when he turned a glare back onto the group.

"Now that I made that clear, I don't want any of you to speak to me or to y/n again. Understand?"

No one spoke up so he activated his cursed technique. A blue wave seeming to coat around him as he took a step towards them.

"Do. You. Understand?"

"Y- yes, Lord Gojo!"

They seemed to yell in unison as they scurried off to who knows where and frankly, he didn't care. All that mattered to him now was that he would get to be with y/n without the extra tagalongs. Honeslty, he wished he did that four months ago right at the moment he met those other kids. But alas, he didn't want to scare y/n away.

So, smiling happily and skipping over to the still counting girl. He had tackled her into a hug from behind. His arms gently wrapping around her waist as he roughly pulled her against him. Her back pressing snuggly into his chest.

Goodness he wished they were older. He wished they were married. He wished they were already together and living happily in his big estate.

But that would have to wait. For now, he was content with being a very touchy and huggy friend.

"Wha- hey! S- Shiro! What are you doing?! You're supposed to be hiding!"

She whined and pouted and hit at his arms as he spun her around in his embrace.

"No way! Hiding is so boring! Hugging you seems way more fun!"

She whined again and turned in his grasp. Her face tilting up as she tried to glare at him, but to Gojo she just looked too cute while trying to be angry. It made him want to pinch her cheeks which was exactly what he did when he let her go.

"Uwahhh! Shiroooo!"

He couldn't help but to laugh and when he finally let go of her chubby cheeks, she started to laugh too. The both of them shoving and pushing at each other until they were falling to the ground and having fun.

Gojo feverishly wished he had this back in his first life. Wished he found her sooner back then. But this would do. He could be content with this.

And as night fell, the two would wander around the city until they came upon a lake. Gojo childishly pushing her as she would fall to the ground on her back and he would follow. The two smiling at one another as the dark sky and stars and moon hung above them.

"You know Shiro.."

"Hmm?"

He turned on his side and propped up on his elbow. His cheek resting in his hand.

"You remind me of the moon!"

"The moon," he questioned, "but what of the sun! Thats much brighter!"

She shook her head, "mm, at first you were the sun.. someone I couldn't even look at without getting blinded, but..," she grinned and lunged for him. Her arms wrapping around his neck as she tackled him into a hug, "but when I got to know you over these past few months I realized you were more like the moon! Still untouchable and impossible to reach, but someone I can look at and admire without getting blinded!"

He was surprised by the hug, her explanation, and the heat creeping up onto his face. His arms were quick to encircle her waist as he hugged her back.

"Well.. if I'm the moon then you can be the earth!"

"Huh?! Why am I the earth all the sudden?!"

She pouted as she looked at him and he couldn't stop his grin from forming, "cause i want you to be the world i revolve around forever and ever!"

She let his words sink in before giggling, the two resuming their playful pushing, shoving, and tickling as they rolled on the ground like two kids rough-housing.

"Ok! You can be my moon and I can your world! Deal?"

"Deal!"

Yeah, Gojo wanted this to last.

However, he realized his mistake a bit too late. Because in the next few days. She would be gone.

Well, he didn't realize she was gone at first. In fact, that next morning he woke up on the good side of the bed. He was smiling and thinking of yesterday where it was just him and y/n and no other kids ruining their moments together.

"Are you going out again young lord?"

Urumei asked him like she always did, she was, of course, his retainer. When she first took on the job, she thought it would be hard watching over the young lord since he had the six eyes and the biggest ego to boot. However, overtime she noticed that once you leave the young lord alone and let him go on about his business - he is actually quite easy to handle.

"Indeed!"

Urumei smiled politely, "are you going to see y/n again?"

"As always."

Urumei bowed, "with all due respect, young lord, but why don't you bring her to the estate?"

Gojo seemed to pause as his eyes flicked over to Urumei. The retainer internally panicking as she wondered if she overstepped her bounds.

But her panic was soon eased away as Gojo clapped his hands together. A bright smile overtaking his features, "thats a great idea! I could bring her here, let her bathe properly, get her dressed in a fine kimono too, and maybe she could even stay the night!"

Gojo was estactic as he rushed out of the compound, "see you later, Urumei!"

As he ran along the streets, he easily spotted the girl he was looking for.

"Y/n!"

Turning to the sound of her name, she immediately dropped what she was doing and ran to him. Her arm coming up high into the air as she waved to him, "hiiiiii Shiiiiiirrroooooo!"

She drawled out his name, a habit she started to do everytime she would greet him in the mornings when they were still far from each other. And it was a habit Shiro cherished greatly.

Coming up fast, he immediately engulfed her into his arms. Honestly, holding her so close was starting to get addictive.

And when he brought her in, she was already laughing when he spun them around. Many of the onlookers could only chuckle at the cute display before going on about their business. I mean, the twelve year old was still the next head of the Gojo clan and the next lord of the land. Of course no one would dare interrupt them.

After a for more seconds, he had finally set her down. Her smile to on her face as she seemed to get shy all of a sudden. His six eyes quickly catching on to the change in demeanor.

"Oh? Getting shy again?"

He pouted, "and here i thought we were past all that.."

She panicked for a moment as she waved her hands in front of her, "its not that! It's just .. well ..," she kicked her bare foot against the ground. Ever since he met her, he took notice how she never worn any shoes and that she only had three kimonos that she went through on a cycle. He hated seeing her live in such a way, but he needed to become a lord first in and the clan's head if he hopped to marry her and give her the life and luxury she deserved.

"Well," he urged politely as they moved over to the side more so they weren't blocking the street.

"Today is my .. twelfth birthday and I was wondering .. if you would like to come to my house? Its ok if you don't want to of course, I tried to ask our other friends, but they all declined."

She looked at him for a response but froze internally when he had a blank look on his face. Ah- was i not supposed to ask him?! Were we not on a close enough friend level that I could ask him to come to my brithday?!

"Y/n," he pouted again, "why didn't you tell me today was going to be your birthday?! I would of gotten you something!"

She was quick to shake her head from side to side, "n- no! No way! You're my friend, i could never ask you to get me anything! Besides, I..I didn't befriend you cause I wanted you to get me things.. I- I befriended you cause I," she paused and smiled, "cause you looked lonely and needed a friend!"

An invisible arrow was aimed and shot precisely through his heart.

"Uwah, you're so sweet!"

He immediately glomped her and started to pinch her cheeks.

"Wha-?! Shiiiiroooo! Not in front of everyone!"

And just the like, bringing y/n to the estate was thrown out the window as he let her take control of the day and basically let her tug him around the whole city. Her eyes wide as she pointed at a various of things. Her laughter like music to his ears.

He even got to meet her mother at the end. She was a kind woman though she looked just as tired as her daughter on some days. Though, she still managed to smile and present them both with a cake from the shop she managed to run on her own.

And when the day came to an end, Gojo promised to see her tomorrow.

Though, tomorrow for y/n, he would soon learn, would never come.

The next day, he held a box in hand. In it was a perfectly crafted wooden comb with a pretty blue flower design etched onto it which he had bought last night on the way home in hopes of gifting it to y/n today. Granted, he knows she said she didn't want him to buy anything, but he couldn't help himself. He truly couldn't. He wanted to gift her the whole city (which he technically could one day once he becomes the lord of the land..).

"Young lord, off to see y/n again?"

"As always," Gojo replied as per usual.

Urumei grinned and nodded, "I was under the impression that you would bring her to the estate yesterday, why the change of heart, young lord?"

Gojo stopped and turned to the retainer, "well, yesterday was her birthday, so I decided to let her choose what she wanted to do today instead if dragging her to a place she's never been before."

Urumei chuckled and noted the small wooden box in his hands, "is that why you're gifting her that present?"

"Yep! She said she didn't want anything, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway, I'll see you later Urumei!"

"Of course, young lord. Be sure to have fun!"

"I will!"

Now as he walked the streets, box in hand, he noticed that she wasn't in their usual waiting spot. Which was odd. And as impatient as he is, Shiro decided to just head straight for her house which he had memorized the day prior.

Coming up to the house, he couldn't help but to get a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach as he saw a crowd of people gathered in front of the place. His eyes narrowed, his lips pressed into a tight line. He threw the feeling away and told himself y/n will be just fine. Ill see her smiling at me like any other day.

Though as he ordered the throngs of people to move out of his way, he was instead met with a gruesome sight instead.

Four children, y/n's bullies, were being held tightly by two jujutsu sorcerers and in front of them was y/n. Stab wounds littering her body as she laid dead in a pool of her own blood. Her mother was crying loud as she cradled y/n's limp hand in her own grasp. Her tears flowing like a river.

The blood on the ground started to seep closer to him as if reaching out to him.

His shoes got stained red when he moved forward to get closer and as reality set in the same silent rage from his first life finally took over.

"What happened."

It was a question, but a demand.

One of the jujutsu sorcerers spoke first, "we got a report saying that a little girl was screaming and being attacked. We originally thought it was a cursed spirit, but found these four having killed the girl."

Gojo turned to y/n's mother who was still weeping. She must of heard the news and came rushing from work because from what he understood, y/n's mother always left early for work to start cooking at the bakery in the city. Which meant that y/n would be all alone. Perfect to be ambushed by these four.

His six eyes, brilliant, dangerous, and a heavy blue was finally directed at the four children.

"Why?"

He didn't need to ask, because he already knew. They most likely saw y/n as filth. Trash that shouldn't be anywhere near him. When were people going to learn to never cross him?

"We-"

"Silence. I changed my mind, I don't want to hear the excuses you four come up with. You two, let go of them."

The two sorcerers bowed and listened to Gojo immediately. The four twelve year old before him gaining a sort of hope in their eyes. But he wasn't having it as he raised his hands.

"Be grateful, your deaths will be quick."

And that was when realization dawned on them, but it was too late for them to run.

"Hollow purple."

It wasn't everyday the Gojo clan carried out public executions, but even so, no one dared ask why four twelve years died because of the murder of some no name girl.

And that night, after he and y/n's mother gave y/n a proper burial, Gojo Shiro promised to see her in the next life. He clutched the comb close to his chest.

He and y/n just had to be reincarnated again, right?

[sukoshininja]

Blood Gamble

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

"It's not mine."

That's what Lance had said, because it couldn't be. He would know. Wouldn't he?

But judging by the look on Keith's face, he was clearly missing something.

"We need to put pressure on that," Keith said slowly in that carefully enunciated voice, the one he used when he was trying to hide his alarm.

Again, it wasn't his. But he knew better than to interfere when Keith was like this, teetering on the edge of panic. Better to let him see for himself. 

Lance allowed Keith to remove his left rerebrace, which, to Keith's credit, was slick with blood. Keith wrinkled his nose and bit the tip of his glove, pulling it off his hand.

"See? Not mine."

 "Nothing on this planet bleeds red, Lance," Keith reminded him as he forcefully pressed the rubber glove into Lance's tricep. 

Oh yeah.

But if that was true, then why didn't--

Oh. Oh. Okay. Now it hurt. The pain was so sharp it felt cold, spreading ice to his nerves in his fingers. He wiggled them experimentally. Bad idea.

 Keith tapped his helmet, activating his comm, "Red team withdrawing. We need to get Lance to a healing pod. Stat."

"Do you need an extraction?" Allura asked, concerned. 

"No, but he's losing a lot of blood."

"How much blood are we talking?" Hunk asked as Lance's vision started to get fuzzy around the edges

"Tourniquet level," Keith replied as he pulled his hairband out with one hand, the other still holding pressure to the wound. 

His heart was beating so fast that Lance half expected it to explode. He tried to focus on taking big slow breaths, but he found himself gasping for air when it seemed like he couldn't get the air in fast enough. Oh no, he was hyperventilating. That couldn't be good. 

"Hold this," Keith instructed as he folded the band in half and wrapped it around Lance's arm, pulling the elastic tight.

The pressure on his brachial artery was not a welcome sensation, he realized as he felt his hyperactive pulse push against the elastic band. Nausea rolled in his stomach.

Keith snapped his fingers in front of Lance's nose. Lance tried to focus on the eyes looking back at him with intensity. "I'm gonna need you to keep pressure on this, as much as you can."

Lance nodded, the pain making him feel so weak he was numb, like his extremities were slowly disappearing. It wouldn't be long before he was weightless. 

Keith hoisted him in a fire's carry before bolting for Red.

Lance was barely aware as his cheek lay against the cockpit floor. It was cool. And he was the coldest he had ever been. 

Fog pressed up against him, clouding his awareness. 

-nce

What was that?

-ance!

The sound dipped in and out, gently, like a lullaby. 

Lance! What's your blood type?

And everything was quiet. 

*   *   *

There was a pressure in his head. A pounding. Wait. That's what sounds were. Those were sounds. Funny. He couldn't understand them. Not yet. It was like they were all meshing together in one big blob that echoed through his head like a gong.

It was dark too. Oh. His eyes were closed. He should open them. Nope. Too hard. He could wait. Something was off, and he wasn't terribly eager to find out what. 

When Lance came to, he was on his knees.

He slowly opened his eyes. The light burned. He squeezed them shut again.

"How are you feeling, Lance?" a booming voice asked and Lance flinched. 

"I--" words felt weird in his mouth. And was that supposed to be his voice all frail and scratchy? "I'm alive, I-I think."

"You had us for a while there," the voice continued. Lance recognized it as Shiro. 

"Can't keep me down!" Lance replied weakly. Sensations were gradually beginning to return. None of them were pleasant. 

He tried opening his eyes again. Still too bright. 

"You saw that, right?" Pidge asked, alarmed. 

Shiro made a corrective noise. "Let's focus on getting him stable before getting side-tracked. Lance, can you stand?" 

Lance tried, but it was like his muscles couldn't be bothered. "I don’t think so."

"It's okay. I'm going to carry you, alright?"

Lance nodded. As Shiro lifted him, he attempted to open his eyes once again, but this time only by a hair. It was still too bright, but it was bearable, and he could roughly make out the figures around him. They were in the medical bay. He must have just exited the pod. 

"Should I wake him?" Pidge asked, gesturing at a makeshift cot.

"Let's wait until Lance gets settled," Shiro advised. He gently carried Lance, bridal style, to his room. 

Pidge pulled back the sheets and Shiro gently placed him down on the mattress. They fussed at him, arranging his limbs, fluffing pillows and tucking him in. Shiro adjusted the weird cape thing that draped from Lance's shoulders. It reminded him of that thing barbers snapped around your neck when getting a haircut. 

 "What's this?" 

It did not escape him how they both stiffened. 

"We’re gonna wait until you are a little more sober," Shiro said carefully. "You'll get to see it soon, after you heal a little more."

That bad?

"Chicks dig scars," Lance made it sound as flippant as he could. 

Shiro regarded him with a calm mask. "Do you need anything? Water, more pain killers?"

"Can you turn the lights down? They really hurt."

Shiro adjusted the dimmer until the lights faded to a soft glow.

Everything came into sharp focus as he was able to open his eyes fully. His vision was still a little off, though.

Pidge was looking at him intently, almost as if she was studying him.

"How long was I out?"

"Long enough to have us all worried," Shiro answered. "I'll let the others know you're awake. I'm sure they'll want to see you, but it's okay if you're not up for company just yet."

"I can say hi," Lance offered.

Shiro nodded and stepped out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him. 

Pidge was still squinting at him. He was not about to apologize for the low light. She looked pale, like all the color had gone out of her. 

"Why do you look...less?" 

"You're standing in the presence of a universal donor, you greedy bastard," she announced proudly, striking a hero pose.

That couldn't be right. She was much too small. She definitely didn't hit the weight limit to safely donate. "I thought you had to wait at least another year to give blood?"

"If I waited, you'd be dead."

Oh.

"You're welcome."

"I don't know how to thank you," Lance said quietly. He owed her his life, that was a debt he would never be able to repay.

"Don't. Anyone would have done the same."

The door slid open and Keith strode in, out of breath and hair a mess.

"How was your nap?" Pidge asked. 

"I brought the pain drugs. Is he sleeping? Why is it so dar--" Keith made eye contact with Lance and froze. 

"Shit," he whispered.

"Keith!" Shiro called from down the hall, he appeared in the doorway a moment later. "I told you to wait."

But Keith wasn't paying attention. His eyes locked on Lance, lower lip trembling. Suddenly he turned on his heel and all but ran out of the room. 

"SHIT!" Lance could hear him scream into the hall.

Not exactly the reunion he expected. 

Shiro heaved a tired sigh, "I'll be back."

*  *  *

It had been days, and Lance was getting antsy. 

"Is it really that bad?" he asked Allura when she brought him breakfast one morning. 

"Is what bad?" 

"My face."

There was a reason all the mirrors were covered, that Shiro had tried to stop Keith from barging in, that when the others come to see him they wore curated expressions.

"Still got your looks, if that's what you're concerned about," Allura laughed, mussing his hair affectionately.

Lance tried to lean into and enjoy the rare casual touch Allura graced him with. But the feeling that they were hiding something from him wouldn’t leave him alone. 

"Keith took one glance and bolted," Lance challenged. He hadn't been back either. That bothered him more than he cared to admit. 

She smiled softly. "I believe he feels at fault for what happened to you."

Lance's memory was pretty hazy at best, but he seemed to remember Keith saving him. "What are you not telling me?" 

Allura hummed thoughtfully. 

"I'm going to find Shiro." She raised a hand at Lance's protests. "He can explain it better than I can. I'm afraid I don't quite understand how you earthlings work. He wanted to be the one to tell you anyways."

"You're scaring me."

“It’s been a very scary time for all of us,” she agreed as she slipped out the door.

When Shiro walked in a few moments later his mouth was set at a grim angle. "Hey, champ. How are you feeling?"

Lance shrugged. "Arm hurts. I'm stuck in this room because you won't let me out of bed. And everybody is hiding something from me."

That came out a lot harsher than he had meant it. But he was frustrated. 

Shiro nodded somberly as he took a seat on the bed, facing him. "We should have had this talk earlier, I'm sorry. We wanted to give you a chance to get your strength back a little first. I understand your frustration, but I still stand by that decision."

Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think you know this, but we came so close to losing you. There was a stretch where we didn't think you would make it. "

"Hunk said Pidge nearly killed herself to save me."

"She gave more than she should have,” Shiro confirmed. “However, you needed more than she had to give. When it became clear she would bleed herself dry for you, we had to make a choice. Losing both of you was not an option."

Hunk had conveniently left out that bit. 

"But neither was losing either of you. So, as your senior officer, I made a decision. A decision that should have been yours. But in the moment I was so scared of losing you that I didn't care. I am sorry I took away your choice. But understand that I do not regret my actions. The important thing is that you're still here, the rest is details."

Shiro looked down at his mechanical hand. Flexing his metallic palm open and closed a couple times. He reached behind Lance to undo his cape. As it fell off his shoulders, Lance braced himself for what he expected to be a nasty scar.

Only there was no scar.

Because there was no arm.

“There was no saving it,” Shiro whispered after a moment. “I’m so sorry.”

Lance could feel his heart rate quicken as his breaths became shallower. He lost his arm. They cut off his arm! How was he supposed to shoot?How was he supposed to pilot his lion? He couldn’t be a paladin anymore. He couldn’t even return to his life before, not with one arm.

“When you’re further along in the healing process, we’ll get you outfitted with a prosthetic,” Shiro continued. “Coran claims my Galra tech is too clunky and that Altean tech is much better suited for prosthetics.”

Oh yeah. Shiro had lost his arm as well. He seemed to be doing just fine. Alien technology for the win. When he dreamed of following in Shiro’s footsteps, this isn’t quite what he imagined.

He forced a smile that he didn’t feel. “We’re twins.”

“Now back to that choice I made.”

Lance felt his stomach drop. There was more?

"As I said, Pidge alone couldn’t save you. But she wasn't the only one aboard with an O negative blood type. But given that Keith’s not all human we didn’t know how your body would tolerate this blood. But when it became clear that you need more, what choice did I have? Watch you die? Or pump you full of alien blood and watch that possibly kill you faster? Or possibly live? At least you had a chance. So I gave the order. I didn’t even ask him.”

Was that why Keith couldn’t stand him? Because he stole his blood?

Shiro sucked in a big breath before slowly letting it go. “It saved your life, but there were…side effects.”

“Side effects?”

Shiro handed him a pocket mirror.

He caught a flash of yellow, glowing, pupil-less eyes from a familiar face.

“He turned me into a quiznacking Galra!”

Next Part -> my whumptober masterlist

[red-steampunk]

Things the five MCs 5 not allowed to do:

MC1-(Summoners) from Shiro & Toji

1- A stunned moment of silence means "My God, what have you done?" Not "please continue."

2- You're not allowed to skip class and meet up with Tetsuox to beat up weaker delinquents who are on both of your Guilds turf.

3- Stop "accidentally" spilling food all over Marduk, just because you think his dragon eating him is funny. Nobody wants to see that. lt's gross and awkward.

4- All though Surtr & Bablon both appreciate the somewhat kind gesture, please stop beating anyone who deliberately calls Bablon by her other "name."

5- Stop flirting with Jugo when he's in the middle of practice or egging on Orochi to rip Jugo's clothes off during practice.

6- Stop waking up Shennong in the middle of the night for breast milk. He's poisonous, you little gremlin.

7- Just like Ryota, you're not allowed to cook anything inside of the kitchen without supervision. Choji still refuses to speak to you after you created that abomination.

8- You're no longer allowed to play unwinnable games or play Mario Kart with Ahura Mazda. You knew what you were doing with that Blue Shell.

9- A lot of the outfits in Tokyo are "very revealing" were asking you nicely to stop referring it to a "pussy out" look.

10- You're no longer allowed to make an Only Fans for extra Guild money. Bribing the staff won't work again.

---

MC2-(Missionaries) from Jacob & Maria

1- Whenever you're gaming with Tsathoggua and the others again, please refrain from saying, "How about I f*ck you're dad and give him a son he'll actually love" to sexist individuals. We got a ton of angry calls from parents across Tokyo from your live streams with Tindalos.

2- Stop telling Temujin that you'd rather get knocked up by Ulaan. Temujin wouldn't leave the property because he was angry looking for you in a fit of rage. Quit giving Maria grey hairs. No one wants him here.

3- Whenever you're having your girls' night, avoid going to places that are usually filled with rude men from now on. We'd appreciate it if you,Hekate,Ellie,Melusine and etc. Would stop looking for fights.

4- Stop calling Hati a simp, he apologized for being manipulated by Nyarl.

5- Stop trying to hook up Nyarl and Zabaniyya. Nyarl doesn't mind, but Zab most certainly does.

6- Stop calling Tezcatlopica, Balor's bottom bitch. I don't care how funny you and Tanetomo think it is.

7- Stop pretending to drown, just so you can either Makara or Gurangatch perform CPR on you. They're both worried about losing you forever. And I know you didn't enjoy it when Fuxi did it that one time instead, maybe that'll teach you a lesson on pretending to drown is bad, m'kay.

8- Stop taking naps on Arsalan, I know he doesn't mind, but I hate having to wash your clothes more than I should because they're covered in oil.

9- Stop letting Ellie drink your blood. I don't care how much you both enjoy it. The angels didn't like seeing that. They think it's gross.

10- I know about you and Azazel search history. Please delete that, and I mean ALL of it. I'll give you three Tickets if you do.

---

MC3-(Berserkers) from Snow.

1- I'd appreciate it if you didn't always clothesline people who either accidentally or deliberately speak inappropriately in front of Echo.

2- Please be careful whenever you're complimenting or flirting with with Cthuga again. You caused him to create a massive forest fire near Chernobog's Moutain, and you're both lucky the authorities haven't found out about it yet, thanks to Claude covering for you.

3- Garmr is not your personal attack dog, and he's not allowed to sleep in your room anymore. His howling is too much, especially at night.

4- No, I won't tell you where the milk from came from. It's a secret.

5- Stop giving Claude dumb ideas for events. Please come to me first for any ideas you have in mind from now.

6- Just because you can doesn't mean you should. And just because you should doesn't mean you can.

7- No ice cream sandwiches inside of the toasters. I don't care if you and Bathym managed to get Ikutoshi to laugh because of the result of it. It wasn't worth it.

8- Asking Belphegor to "clean out your pipes" is right out, when his shift is over. You stop that. Let him rest.

9- Stop calling yourself Tokyo's Hottest Himbo. Echo won't stop repeating it.

10- If you,Bathym, and Cthugha would find somewhere to smoke a "joint," then I'd stop dousing you with water. We don't need you stinking up the place. Maybe that'll teach you that doing drugs is bad, m'kay?

---

MC4- (Tycoons) from Gyumao

1- Even though I appreciate you as my business partner. Please stop complimenting the employees so frequently. They're fishing for your favoritism now.

2- Shino and Choji aren't allowed to get special treatment from me. I know you love them a lot, but I have Barguest and Snow. I need to treat them like that. When you start your own business, then you can spoil them. Other than that, refrain from asking.

3- I appreciate you calling me your dad, but please don't call me "Big Daddy" it's embarrassing, especially in front of our employees.

4- Please stop joining in the fights with the other head Tycoons. Stuff around here is expensive.

5- Licht isn't allowed to paint you naked anymore, thanks to a certain fight breaking out at the museum because everyone wanted to steal that painting of you.

6- We're allowing you to keep all that money you won, but you're not allowed to use anything at the Casino anymore. Your luck at the slot machines and gambling is unnatural, and we don't want to make others think you're cheating.

7- Stop sleeping around with your besties at the same time, you're all loud as hell, Bohemio and Sanzo are rubbing off on you.

8- Unless you actually plan on adopting them, stop referring the 8 Dog Warriors as my grandchildren. I already had Yoshito,Yasuyori, and Mussashi call me gramps. I don't like feeling old.

9- No, we are not doing a Maid Café, Melusine thinks it's degrading. And it doesn't matter what the other maids think because they'll just blindly agree with you.

10- No, you can't suck on my breath for milk just because you're too lazy to go downstairs and get some milk in the fridge. And stop asking Barguest if either my milk or Snow's milk tastes better. It's inappropriate... It's his.

10- Stop calling Korpokkur and Micheal a "lying little abortions" I can't risk having my business partner get canceled for insulting ageless children.

---

MC5- (Outlaws) from Gyobu

1- Even though we know Ryota is completely harmless and means well. Please let us know when he's coming over, Tetsuya still gets upset when you invite him over.

2- I know how much you hate Fuxi and the World Reps in general compared to your siblings. But please stop calling the Cops on our turf to arrest him because he broke into your room. We can handle it ourselves. We're meant to help you.

3- Please don't ever point out how all of the Outlaws have friends outside of the Guild who frequently visit unannounced. Tetsuya clearly didn't appreciate that being pointed out to him.

4- Marchiosias doesn't want Ellie following you to the Gurus Guild because he's very adamant about it, too. So please carefully watch your surroundings. She has a habit of following you. Same with the Summoners Guild.

5- You're not allowed to sneak over at the Warmonger's base to leave multiple cardboard cutouts of Yoshitune surrounding Yoritomo, just so he can suffer from a massive panic attack... again.

6- You deserve getting punched in the face for calling Suzuka a tsundere. She's your friend who asks to be treated with respect, please treat her accordingly.

7- Please stop making passive-aggressive comments to rude customers. We still appreciate you making everyone laugh because of it, but we don't need bad reviews.

8- Tsukuyomi appreciates you being his brother, stop coming up with fancy names for him. They're dumb regardless of what he thinks. You can still call him "Moon Man"

9- Just because Tetsuox calls you boss doesn't mean you should pay him, he already has a job.

10- Stop calling me your dad just because I'm dating Marchiosias. I already have 808 kids plus his child. I'm not sure I'm ready for a trouble magnet like you.

---

All Five from Mr. Mononobe

1- Please calm down and stop being extremely hostile towards Christine, I don't prefer her over you five. Same with Kirito.

2- No, I'm not paying for any of future weddings. You guys have an alarming number of people you're dating. Especially MC2 and MC4.

3- I appreciate you guys treating Furufumi as a seventh sibling, but maybe hang out with one or two at a time. He's still not comfortable hanging out with all of you at once.

4- Even though they deserve it, stop manipulating and gaslighting the Worlds Reps by using any information you have of the Exiles. I don't care if Micheal,Tez or Perun deserve it.

5- I swear, if I get another noise complaint from you're respective neighbors, because you five don't know how to keep your legs closed.

6- No, I won't ever make duplicates of Lil' Salomon. I know you love him. He does appreciate that you guys like him that much.

7- Hearing anyone make a racist comment directed to any of your friends isn't an excuse to jump them at once.

8- I'm not abusing my power to eliminate all of the World Reps at once, I have rules against me for that.

9- Stop trying to get me another romantic partner. Chernobog is great as is, I'm not you five. I have standards.

10- Once you five do finally graduate, then I'll allow you to drink with me. Just don't let anyone else know. Other than that, stop asking asking to go to the bar with me and the other teachers.

[landofanimes]

CLAMP Exhibition (2024)

July 3 - September 23, 2024 in Tokyo

The biggest CLAMP exhibition to date, the event showcases the original artwork from 23 works made by the group of four women, from RG Veda to Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card (technically 22 but they're counting Legal Drug and Drug and Drop separetely).

Over the years CLAMP has published a variety of manga, including those for boys (shounen), girls (shoujo) and young men (seinen), depending on the magazine they were published. Appealing to readers of all ages, genders and countries, their work continues to captivate.

The exhibition will feature a total of 800 original manuscripts (200 in color, 600 black and white), divided in 7 areas: Color, Love, Adventure, Magic, Phrase, plus Imagination and Dream.

C for COLOR. CLAMP colors the world.

Displaying a total of 200 original colored pieces from all 23 works (100 for each half of the exhibition).

This area showcases the variety of artstyles, techniques and tools CLAMP used over the years on their different manga. Includes pieces with colored ink, Copic markers, acrylic gouache, pastels, and digital art.

Even when publishing 2 different works at the same time the group likes to vary their tools: RG Veda (1989-96) was colored with ink and airbrushes, while Tokyo Babylon (1990-93) was colored with screen tones. The artstyle also changed depending on the publisher.

2. L for LOVE. CLAMP draws the forms of love.

The artwork in this area are divided in 8 types of love seen throught CLAMP's manga.

"The love depicted by Clamp is not singular—there is a straightforward love towards a significant other, but it can also be a determination to protect loved ones, a thought character keeps in their hearts, or even the conflict itself." (from tokyoartbeat article)

3. A for ADVENTURE. CLAMP weaves the stories of adventure.

350 manuscripts from 6 action-packed manga series: RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon, X/1999, Magic Knight Rayearth, Cardcaptor Sakura, and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Includes a synopsis of each work and selected scenes to follow along parts of the story.

4. M for MAGIC. CLAMP casts its magic.

The fantasy, magic, and mysterious powers seen in CLAMP works are seen in the moving manga pannels projected in 3 large screens in this area.

5. P for Phrase. CLAMP spins the phrases.

The first room showcases 40 manuscripts from xxxHolic.

The second room focuses on the power of words spun by CLAMP, exhibiting quotes form their works on the walls. Visitors can also pull one phrase sticker from the Phrase Box from CLAMP and take it home, or stick it to a wall in the room. There are 120 different phrases to pull.

6. IMAGINATION

Timeline of 35 years of creative work, from 1989 to 2024, featuring manga volumes, magazine issues, and more.

An installation in the center of the room also features quotes from a new interview with the four women specially for this event.

This is also the only area which features CLAMP's work in other media, including various collaborations. There is a selection of color illustrations, rough design drafts, and other artworks from Soryuden: Super Dragon Brothers, CODE GEASS, BLOOD-C, HiGH＆LOW g-sword, Cardfight!! Vanguard, GIFT (picture book by Ice skater Yuzuru Hanyu), The Grimm Variations, and HELLO KITTY.

7. DREAM

The last area is solely to exhibit a new illustration featuring Ashura (RG Veda) and Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card), representing CLAMP's beginnings and future through their first and latest work.

"Kuro" (Black) and "Shiro" (White) are also the names of the new artbooks titled COLOR, which compile the artworks seen in the exhibition. A deluxe edition will be released at a later date compiling both volumes in one.

............................................

The audio guide during the exhibition is provided by Jun Fukuyama, who has played Kimihiro Watanuki in the anime series xxxHOLiC, Kobayashi Kotaro in ANGELIC LAYER, and Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (CLAMP is responsible for character design in Code Geass) .

The place also features a store with a long list of products.

They also have the first volume of their various manga available to read, and a TV showcases the recently shared announcement video of the new anime project of Magic Knight Rayearth.

CLAMP Exhibition National Art Center in Roppongi, Tokyo First Half: Wednesday, July 3 - Monday, August 12 Second Half: Wednesday, August 14 - Monday, September 23

Sources:

Tokyo Art Beat

Fashion Press

Bijutsutecho (+)

Natalie Mu

Internet Museum

Official Clamp_ex Twitter

[wannaeatramyeon]

PLEASE MORE OF THE HOTUB MEETING THINGS ITS SO FUNNY AND I LOVE UR WORK FOR LOOKISM

Hey Anon! I responded to the other anon but I got inspired to write more crack. What is continuity, you ask? Well who the hell knows.

Men of Lookism: Bathhouse Meeting Part 3... with Guests

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 4: Women of Lookism

What is this, a crossover episode?

As more naked bodies file in, the tension could be cut with a knife.

The establishment was supposed to close off the bathhouse for the rest of the night. Any further admittance being strictly forbidden. This has never happened before, there must be some scheduling mistake.

Even with the fights and squabbling breaking out from before, the easy air was no longer.

All eyes are on the men entering.

Recognition dawns.

Turns out, they are not out of place here.

Gun Park makes the first move.

"Warai Oni," he bows, "We finally meet."

Baek Seongjun returns the greeting with reverence, "Shiro Oni."

"The fuck is wrong with your eyes?" A rude voice cuts through.

"Taehoon!" Yoo Hobin scolds under his breath, elbowing him swiftly in the stomach. He'd much rather face the wrath of Taehoon, who would likely just kick him a few times, than the infamous Gun Park, who would probably murder him. "Don't you know who that is?!"

"Why the fuck would I know?" Seong Taehoon does indeed throw a kick at Hobin, who manages to jump out of the way in time. How dare that little asshole elbow him.

"That's Gun Park!" Snapper is practically vibrating with excitement to be in the same place as him. "He was voted most popular by a fricking HUGE margin!"

Gun smirks at the last part but of course his partner comes to rain on his parade.

"So what? His eyes are freaky, aren't they?" Goo Kim teases, materialising next to Taehoon and resting his head on his shoulder. "He's so ugly."

"Get off!" Goo pouts as Taehoon pushes him away.

"Hey," Jason Yoon nudges Johan Seong, "There's that Taehoon. Do you think we should say hi?"

Johan doesn't bother to look, making a move to get out of the water anyway. "Whatever. Any crossover was years ago."

"So what's your backstory?" Baek Hangyul asks the man sitting to his right.

"Nothing interesting," Jinho shrugs. "I'm just crazy."

"Same." Hangyul smiles at him, having found a kindred spirit.

Seo Haesu studies the menu on the wall, mind never too far from food, and wondering what he should eat next.

"Hi," he greets the guy now next to him, eyes also scanning the menu.

Johan looks over and nods.

"Welcome to the Sad Boy Simp Club!" Ryuhei throws his arm around Kim Munseong.

"Sup," Zack Lee says, joined by Xiaolong and Warren Chae.

"I... guess that's me." Munseong grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Can I join?" Wangguk overhears, thinking that he deserves at least an honorary membership.

Confusion paints Munseong's face. "I thought you and Rumi...?"

"Sort of. It's all very rushed. No one's satisfied-"

Xiaolong suddenly breaks off from the group "Sorry, excuse me!" having spotted someone in the distance.

Ji Yeonwoo feels strangely exposed as he walks nude into the room. Not that he's shy, but he feels vulnerable. Like someone is constantly watching. He heads for the water as quickly as he can, wanting to cover up.

Mangi relaxes in the water as Yeonwoo settles next to him.

Two bald heads belonging to Jerry Kwon and Brad Lee catches his eye. He smiles to himself, comforted by the sight of his bald brethren.

A set of doppelgangers meet up.

"Baek Seongjun!" Xiaolong calls out. The other blue haired man smiles politely at him.

"I'm sorry for stealing your design," Xiaolong, contrite, executes a 90 degree bow.

"Don't worry," Seongjun dismisses any concern or ill-will, "It's not your fault. Besides, I'm dead."

From afar, Eugene keeps a close eye on Yeonwoo, observing him from the moment the latter walked in. Almost a doppelganger of his own if his growth spurt would kick in and if he could put on 30lb of muscle.

Goddamnit. He wants a glow-up too.

[vcepsis]

17 and 50 with hurt Keith and Shiro (some broken bones pls?)

Hi so I received this ask in JULY. OF 2019. Dear anon, I am so, so sorry. If you're still out there, I hope you see this. I actually had this saved for a long time, but, well. Here it is.

This was a dialogue prompt. 17 and 50 were: “I’m going to take care of you, okay?” “Here, let me help you.”

Beta'd once again by @feverflushed who is perfect in every way <3

----

“That absolutely sucked,” Lance complained loudly, stretching an arm over his head. “Did anyone else feel like that sucked? Like, a lot more than normal?”

Keith could only roll his eyes at Lance’s dramatic complaining; they’d barely been back on the Castle for thirty seconds before Lance had started this up. Now, standing in the hangar, they were all taking a few minutes to have a quick debrief of that disaster of a battle.

Only it seemed quick was just a dream at this point. 

“Yeah, it really did,” Hunk chimed in. “I know we won and stuff, but didn’t it seem like a lucky fluke?”

Pidge took her helmet off, running an agitated hand through her hair. “I’m with you on this one. That solar flare hitting the Robeast was the only thing that kept us from getting our asses completely kicked.” She huffed in frustration. “So much for ‘strongest weapon in the universe’…”

Keith crossed his arms across his chest, only to drop them almost immediately as the pain spiked anew. He rubbed a hand across his chestplate, trying to subtly determine if it was broken anywhere. As far as he could tell, the armor was intact, despite the awful crack he’d heard when he’d slammed into the control panel in Red. 

Really, they all looked a little worse for wear. Hunk’s helmet was cracked across the top, Pidge’s undersuit was ripped along her side, exposing the skin there to a (thankfully mild) burn, and Lance kept stretching out the same arm, like it hurt.

“It was a tough battle,” came a voice next to Keith. Looking over, he saw Shiro take his helmet off gingerly, the visor almost completely shattered. Part of his white bangs were stained pink, sticking to a cut just above his eyebrow. “The important thing is we’re alright, more or less.”

Everyone nodded solemnly at that. The battle had been long and unforgiving, but they were all alive in the end.

“You should all get checked out by Coran before getting some rest,” Shiro continued. There was some more grumbling at this, but eventually the others turned in the direction of the med bay.

Keith sighed softly, but even that small movement made him wince. It was like embers in his chest, the fire licking up to burn his lungs. It came and went as he breathed, but never abated completely. He knew the impact he'd taken in Red would be a hell of a bruise, but it hurt like a bitch. Definitely one of the worst bruises he'd had.

A hand touched his shoulder, and even though it was gentle, it made Keith jolt in surprise. This time, he couldn’t hold back his sharp hiss of pain, and he felt the hand let go almost immediately. Looking over, he saw Shiro, brows furrowed in concern.

“Are you alright, Keith?” he asked softly. 

Something inside Keith melted at Shiro’s tone, and he turned. Thankfully, Shiro seemed fine, other than the cut on his forehead that was still leaking blood. 

“What about you?” Keith said, trying to ignore how talking made the pain spike anew. “Are you gonna get checked out by Coran too?”

“I’m fine,” Shiro said easily, like he was parroting the words rather than actually being sincere. 

“But what about—” Keith reached up to Shiro’s head, intending to inspect the wound there, when a flash of pain worse than all the others combined stopped him. A choked noise escaped him, and he stumbled forward as it threw him off balance.

“Whoa!” Strong hands gripped his shoulders, keeping him upright. Keith couldn’t help but groan; it felt like his chest was cracking open now. “Keith? What’s wrong?”

Keith blinked back tears, raising his arm again to try to find the source of the pain, only to be nearly blinded by it again. He let his arm fall to his side, but even that small movement felt like torture.

“Alright, you’re alright.” Shiro murmured soothing words as he gently guided Keith to sit on the floor. Keith went willingly, hoping that sitting down would somehow ease the pain that seemed to be coming from everywhere. 

Kneeling in front of him, Shiro cupped Keith’s cheeks softly, taking care not to apply too much pressure. Then he swept his bangs aside, turning Keith’s head this way and that. “I don’t see any head injuries,” he said, and Keith couldn’t help but snort at the irony as the gash on Shiro’s forehead continued to ooze blood. “Where does it hurt?”

Swallowing back the urge to cry, Keith again tried to raise a shaking arm, but barely made it past his stomach this time. “C-chest,” he managed to choke out.

Though he was barely able to focus, he saw how Shiro’s eyes immediately flicked down. “Let’s get that armor off, then.”

Keith could only offer a jerky nod, and he instinctively reached up to pull the chest plate over his head, but Shiro managed to stop him before he got too far. It was a good thing, too, as the burning hot embers inside him quickly turned into a raging fire in his lungs.

“That looks like it hurts,” Shiro said, clearly trying to sound calm for Keith’s benefit. “Here, let me help you.”

Shiro reached around Keith’s back, fumbling a bit before finding the latch that allowed the armor to pop open rather than having to pull it over his head. Shiro tugged it off, taking care not to jostle Keith too badly. Keith could hear how his own breathing had gone rough and ragged, but he couldn’t seem to stop.

“Do you want to lie down?” Shiro asked, starting to tear the top of Keith’s undersuit in quick, steady movements. “Or would that make it worse?”

There was a long pause while Keith tried to process what Shiro was saying, to the point where Shiro raised his eyebrows. Eventually, the signals managed to fire properly in Keith’s brain for him to answer with a weak “W-worse”.

Letting out a breath, Shiro nodded, tearing the undersuit as gently as he could around Keith’s chest. Unfortunately, he managed to brush the epicenter of the pain, and Keith couldn’t contain his cry.

Shiro cursed, but didn’t stop. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said desperately, before finally ripping away the last of the material. Keith didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed, even though it was Shiro and he was looking at Keith half naked and vulnerable weak disgusting worthless---

“Keith,” Shiro exclaimed, and though it was more of a breath than a word, it managed to break Keith out of his downward spiral. “You should have said something.”

Finally looking down, Keith saw.

The skin all around his upper body was bruised, as he expected, but he was unprepared for the red, swollen skin that wrapped around his chest. If he looked carefully, he imagined he could see the outline of Red’s control panel, though that didn’t make any sense at all.

“M’sorry,” Keith mumbled, trying to suppress the urge to cover himself. Lifting his arms hurt, and for some reason he kept forgetting. But he couldn’t help the awful feeling stirring again in his stomach, the awful mix of anger and bitter disappointment at letting Shiro down. Again. Tears gathered in his eyes again, and even though he knew it was irrational, he couldn’t make it stop.

“No, Keith, don’t be sorry,” Shiro said, and he sounded sad this time. Keith looked up, meeting Shiro’s eyes, and only saw tender concern there. “We need to get you to a pod, though, ok? This is…” He reached out a tentative hand, not quite making contact. “This is serious. I think you might have broken something.”

Oh. That made more sense than just a bruise, if the pain was any indication.

Shiro quickly scrambled to his feet, only to bend down again. “Can you stand? We need to get you to a pod right away.”

Keith nodded without actually believing it, but Shiro was right: this wasn’t something that would be fixing itself anytime soon. Putting a hand on the floor, he tried to use it to push himself up, only to have the pain spike through his chest again, this time so bad that he nearly blacked out.

Just then, there were arms behind his back and under his legs, slowly lifting him up. Keith knocked his head against something hard, turning a bit to see Shiro’s white and black chest plate.

“I’m going to take care of you, okay?” Shiro said softly, keeping his hold gentle, but still secure. 

Keith let his eyes flutter closed as Shiro began to move, and Keith could feel how Shiro tried to keep Keith as steady as possible.

At that moment, it didn’t matter how bad the pain might have been. In Shiro’s arms, Keith would always feel safe.

[atlas7seo]

Everytime I think I'm free, Voltron comes and grabs me in a choke hold. So I'm dragging yall down with me. Here's season summaries of the Voltron Rewrite I'm working on that has taken over my life. I call it my Bootstrap AU which will make sense later.

Inhales* yes this happening...

Season 1 -Defenders of the Universe

Garrison student(Lance, Hunk, and Pidge), expelled student Keith, and Lieutenant Shirogane suddenly find themselves in an alien castle courtesy of a giant Blue Mechnical Lion. Upon arrival they stumble into a 10,000 year long war against an Alien Race called the Galra. Voltron, an ancient weapon, is the only way to stop them, however, no one knows where it is. Follow the Crew aboard the Altean ship as they attempt to get the ship operational, track down lions, and discover their destiny as fated Paladins of Voltron all in a fight against the Galra. Season 1 ends with the Paladins forming Voltron for the first time and becoming Defenders of the Universe

Season 2 - The Voltron Coalition

Now that Voltron has finally been found and formed, the Paladins and Alteans attempt to form allies and liberate planets. Follow our crew as they free planets, negotiate with rebel forces, and infiltrate Galra occupation. All the while searching for a mysterious Ulaz who rescued Shiro and Ulaz's mysterious organization. Season 2 ends with the Paladins meeting the Blade of Marmora and one of their leaders, Lotor, disgraced Prince of the Galra.

(Let's address the elephant in the room. Lotor. Okay, so when I was planning my rewrite, I realized that Lotor is both so compelling and so flat. So, instead, in my rewrite, Lotor is a disgraced prince (still like the original). He sees how the empire is hurting his people who are just civilians, and when he tries to reason with his father, he is disgraced. Lotor didn't make the Blade, but he allied with them in an attempt to return the Galra to what they once were. Lotor is somewhat selfish because if it was between Galran citizens or another planet, he'd pick his people. He only rebelled because he saw how his father was hurting his people. He doesn’t actually care about the universe, his people are what he values, but that changes with *character growth*)

(Also Pidge has found Matt by the end of this season)

Season 3 - The Galran Empire

Season 3 follows our crew and the Voltron Coalition as they formulate plans to end the war at its head. They will form an alliance and plan with the Blade and Lotor. This will be an all out attack on Zarkon including the allies in the Coalition. Half the season will be the plan in motion with multiple parts in an attempt to finally stem the problem at its root. The season ends with Shiro and Lotor dealing the final blow on Zarkon and a rogue wormhole begins to pull him through, but in Zarkon's rage drags Shiro with him.

Season 4 - A New Era

With the loss of Shiro fresh in their minds, Voltron struggles to find stability in this new era. First they realize that despite Zarkon being defeated, the Galra empire is still a threat so they must be able to form Voltron again. *Cue lion switches no matter how much I hate them... Now the Paladins will be allied with Lotor as he attempts to claim the Galran Throne. Throughout they will face Haggar, Robeasts, and the dying flames of the Galran empire. During this chaotic period, they will searching for Shiro and Sam Holt. The season ends with the Kral Zera where Lotor ascends the throne.

Season 5 - Fires of Purification

After facing defeat during the Kral Zera, one of Zarkon's top generals, Sendak begins to gather the remaining "loyal Galra" including Haggar to form the Fires of Purification. This season will continue the search for Shiro and Sam while also being stuck in a Galran Civil War. Voltron, Lotor, and the Coalition fight to stop Sendak from gaining control of the Universe. The season ends with Sendak offering a trade. Shiro and Sam for Lotor. (Like in the actual season 5 because I liked what it did for the story). Voltron and Lotor form a plan and rescue them as Sendak retreats with his tail between his legs.

Season 6 - Moving Foward

With the win against the Fires and the return of Shiro and Sam, it seems things are looking up, but something isn't quite right. With little fanfare Sam chooses to return to Earth to prepare them for the universe. This season is mostly made up of interpersonal conflicts and "what now". The universe is mostly free save for a few pockets of Galra uprising that the Coalition can handle relatively easily without Voltron. The Paladins face the problem of what they should do now and if they can even go back to how things were before the war. While also worrying about Sendak and the remnants of the Fires of Purification. Throughout this, Shiro is also acting really weird. Cut to the real Shiro, but on a Space Whale. (Yes I'm bringing back the weird time distortion whale) When Zarkon grabbed Shiro they landed on a space Whale. So Shiro is trying to survive and get back to Voltron by himself with only Zarkon's corpse as company. Shiro is the one who discovers the Altean Colony (in my rewrite, Haggar is the one running the colony) and he then discovers Haggar's plan to trick Voltron with a clone of him. It's a mystery thriller season switching between the Paladins and the real Shiro as he desperately attempts to get back to his crew to warn them before its too late. The season ends with Shiro warning them too late and Haggar's plan succeeds. Voltron is torn from their allies and catapulted across the universe along with a lost Romelle.

Season 7 - Dead Sector 73

(Ok before I continue the summary, I'm going to explain what I did with Earth. So Weblums eat dead planets in order to use that quintessence to make new solar systems and planets. In my rewrite, Earth's solar system and the space sector around it was a series of dead planets Weblums ate a long time ago and Earth is the first planet to begin exhibiting life in this previous dead sector. Earth is the first living planet in Dead Sector 73. Okay now onto the season summary.)

Sam returns to Earth and begins preparing them for the Galaxy. Back to the Paladins, Haggar has successfully removed Voltron from the equation and begins to rally allies to the Galra's previous motives and moves to retake the universe. Voltron finds themselves lost in Dead Sector 73, a section of the universe Weblums have already eaten and has begun the process of life. They realize they can't reach their allies through comms or anything. But they notice they are somewhat close to Earth. So they set off to reach Earth in the hopes of communicating with the Coalition. When they reach Earth, however, they find Sendak has taken over Earth as a last ditch attempt to get revenge on the Paladins for destroying the empire. And on top of that, that they have been missing for nearly a year. (Weird time distortion stuff like the space whale because of the dead space). They also discover that Sendak is the reason they can't use their comms as he's jamming all signals that travel outside the solar system. The season ends with them defeating Sendak and finally getting ahold of their allies.

(Now I'm going to do some more world building stuff. This is information previous seasons would originally have already told, but I'm putting it here. So the Blades have the motto "Knowledge or Death" and I want to use that somehow. So in my rewrite, the Blade sort of stole the philosophy from the ORIGINAL Galran empire. The war began not because of quintessence poisoning, but because the Galra believed Knowledge or Death. It was a disagreement on ethics and how far you should go in the pursuit of science and knowledge. This disagreement about how to handle the quintessence plane between Zarkon and Alfor sparked the initial conflict as Zarkon wanted to save his wife no matter what. However, due to millenia of exposure to quintessence it degraded Zarkon's mind to the point that he became the villain the show knows today)

Season 8 - Tomorrow and Yesterday

When Voltron and Earth finally reach the Galatic Stage, they discover Haggar has been reigning terror over the galaxy using the Alteans from the colony. While the Coalition and the Galra of Lotor's empire are holding ground, they are beginning to lose. This is when it's revealed that after Zarkon lost his mind to quintessence, Haggar was the one running the show. She must have progress, and now Alfor and the Alteans are no longer in the way for it. (Haggar is still Honerva and born Altean). This season focuses on defeating Haggar and freeing the Alteans from her brain washing. In the end, Honerva destroys all universes by attacking the quintessence plane in pursuit of "scientific knowledge." The Paladins kill Honerva but realize that everything is gone. This is when the Lions come to them. They reveal that sacrificing themselves can restore their universe. "Restore our universe? But what about all the others?" The Lions tell their Paladins that they in themselves are a Causal Loop. The Lions must be sacrificed to restore their universe, and sacrificing them in the quintessence plane it causes them to appear in the past as the materials that Alfor uses to create the Lions. The Lions are forever in a perpetual loop being created and destroyed to maintain the universe. However, each time they do this, they are sent back to another universe as well. It's a multiplying paradox. They are created and destroyed infinite times to restore everything Honerva destroyed. (I did this because I wanted to include the multiple universes the show had, but also, according to my rewrite, the original Voltron could also technically be canon somewhat. It just that in that universe. Allura sacrificed herself, causing the Lions to no longer go through the loop). When the Paladins return, they realize the quintessence plane is sealed off. No one in their universe can ever reach it again. The universe is saved, and the Paladins walk forward to tomorrow, knowing that yesterday is in good hands.

The End

Okay so that was a lot. I hope that if you reached the end of this, you enjoyed it. Do you think I improved it? Or maybe it's just as convoluted and bad as the original, but I tried my best to take all the ideas from Voltron and fit them coherently. Since these were just season summaries there's a lot of stuff I didn't include that I am including in my in depth rewrite like Keith being half Galra, and shipping and stuff. But this rewrite has been eating at my brain for two weeks so I had to put it somewhere.

The reason it's called the Bootstrap AU is obviously because of the Causal Time Loop. No real reason why I added it, I just thought it was fun and funky and shows how the Lions are things that the characters can never truly understand.

[atenea14]

Tokyo Love: Shinichiro x Reader 3

Part 3

Part 2 here

Masterlist

Warnings: Fluff and smut

Word count: 2k

It's been a couple of months since Shin and I met, things have been going well so far and he's coming to my flat for dinner today. I'm very nervous, so I've spent the afternoon fixing up the house and myself. As I promised him we will have dinner together so I don't have to worry so much about that, I don't have anything else to do so I decide to play with the cat for a while to kill time, and it works, before I know it someone rings at my door bell. 

- Hello! Come in - I greet Shin with a smile as I let him in the door so he can pass. 

- Excuse me. I've brought some things for dinner - I notice he's carrying a bag. 

- It wasn't necessary. Come, follow me. - I close the door and lead Shin to the kitchen so I can leave the things there. 

Once he has dropped the bag he walks over to me and puts his hands on my waist and pulls me close to him, almost automatically I put mine on his chest. I stand on my tiptoes as he bends down a little and we kiss, I can't help it and I squeeze his shirt with my hands which makes him hold me tighter, there's hardly any space between us. 

- Meow !- Shiro pulls me out of the trance I was going into and causes Shin and I to pull away from each other. 

- Oh that's right, I didn't introduce you, this is Shiro, my kitty - Shin crouches down smiling as Shiro approaches him to sniff but runs away as soon as Shin tries to touch him. 

- Hey! I just wanted to pet you - I laugh a little.

- Don't hold it against him Shin-kun, he's like that with all new people - Shin stands up and faces me again. 

- I see - 

- Do you want me to show you my house? It's not very big, but it's good enough for leaving by myself. - Shin smiles at me. 

- Sure! You lead the way. -

After showing him my house and Shiro trying to steal the spotlight a couple of times we start making dinner with music playing in the background while we talk about how the week went. We do

something simple so it doesn't take long before we start eating and Shin tells me stories that happen to him with his customers, of course working in front of the public always leaves you with anecdotes. There is one that that's particularly funny and I burst out laughing. 

- Come on! No way. - I start to tear up and everything while Shin looks at me with a huge smile on his face. 

- I'm telling you that yes, there really are some people who are nuts. -

- I won't refuse that. - As I calm down, I start to pick up my plate. Shin also gets up and helps me clean up. 

- Would you like to watch something? I have a couple of subscriptions. - Shin comes over to me and gives me a quick kiss. 

- Sure, what do you want to watch? - We start to choose a movie and at the end we put on a random one. 

We are on the couch and Shin comes closer to me and puts his arm around my shoulders, I'm not very comfortable but I don't want to move because I don't want him to move his arm away. In the end the discomfort gets the better of me and I start to stir a bit. 

- Is everything alright? - Shin moves away a little.

- Yes, it's just that the position was a bit uncomfortable - This time I'm the one who moves closer to him, and I lean against his chest. 

- Are you comfortable? - 

- Yes - Shin smiles as he wraps his arm around my waist. 

We stay like that for a few minutes until Shin moves his hand to my head and starts to give me a little massage, I snuggle closer against him and finally lift my head to look up at him. At that moment his hand stays on the back of my neck and he guides my head to kiss him. At first the kiss is calm and gentle but every time one of us pulls away to catch our breath the other initiates a kiss again. Shin tightens his grip on my waist and deepens the kiss. I lean forward and Shin helps me to sit on his lap as we continue to kiss. One of his hands starts to caress my back under my blouse and I squeeze the collar of his shirt with one of my hands while the other goes into his hair. The kissing session gets more and more intense and when we finally break apart we're both breathing fast. 

- Do you want to go to my room? - Shin smiles at me and nods. 

- Yes, let's go - He motions to take me in his arms, but I get up before he can. And I smile mischievously at him. 

- Catch me then - At that moment I run up the stairs to my room. As I'm reaching the door I think I'll win but at that moment I'm spun around and lifted up. 

- You're being naughty - I let out a giggle that soon turns into a small moan as Shin kisses my neck as he walks with me still in mid-air to my bed.

He pulls me onto it and in less than a blink of an eye he is on top of me kissing me while his hand on my abdomen forces me to lean back and puts his knee between my legs. He starts kissing my neck and I tug at his shirt to get it off. After that he removes my blouse and bra and lies on top of me on the bed. I run my hands around the back of his neck so he leans into me and I kiss him again. One of his hands starts to play with my nipple as I run my hands up and down his bare back. His mouth goes to my other breast where he gives me a small nibble and starts to play with it. I can't help but sigh and wrap my legs around his waist. 

- Shin-kun...- I can't wait, I want him now. 

- What's wrong baby? - Shin looks at me with a teasing smile. He's enjoying torturing me a little. 

- Please... -

- If you ask me like this... - Shin slips his hand under my skirt and starts to play with my clitoris. - You're so wet. Is it all because of me? -

- Yes Shin. - I moan as he slips one of his fingers inside me and I move my hips towards him. 

His mouth is back to biting my nipples and sucking on them as he inserts a second finger. 

- Shin, I want you - In a moment he has just removed his clothes and I take the opportunity to do the same. 

- Come here. -

Shin reaches out his hand to me, he has his back against the headboard, and I sit on top of him. I rub his cock against me as I lean against his shoulders and he grabs my ass. Instantly Shin guides his cock into my entrance and I start to move. I let out a moan, he's bigger than I thought, he fills me completely. I start to move slowly and Shin starts to make circular motions with his thumb on my clit as we kiss. 

Suddenly he leans forward, forcing me to lie on my back, puts my legs on his shoulders, and begins to thrust hard into me. The sensation is too much, and I feel my insides trying to cling to him, which makes him gasp. He leans down momentarily to kiss me and takes the opportunity to pinch my nipple, then moves his hand down to my centre again. My legs begin to tremble, I can no longer control my moans, the pleasure is growing so I close my eyes and for a few moments I hold my breath as I orgasm. Without thinking I scratch Shin's back looking for somewhere to hold on and that makes him come too. 

We stand there trying to catch our breath. 

- That was...- Shin doesn't finish the sentence. 

- Great? -

- Yeah...- We smile at each other and Shin kisses me again as he pulls out of me causing me to sigh a little. 

We put our foreheads together until our breathing is regulated. After that Shin stands up and helps me to sit up. 

- Shin-kun, you're staying the night, aren't you? - He looks at me tenderly and smiles.

- I was waiting for you to ask me. - 

We both get into bed, still naked, and I hug him, putting my head on his chest and my leg on top of his. He puts his arms around me and starts caressing my back. 

- Y/N, I don't know if this is the best time but... I like you, I like you a lot in case you hadn't noticed - I look up and smile at him. I run my hand along his jaw and caress his face. -What I mean is... I'd like to clarify that we are. - 

- I like you a lot too Shin-kun. I don't want to be with anyone else right now. - Shin's eyes sparkle. 

- Can I call you my girlfriend then? - I wonder for a moment. 

- No. - I hear his heartbeat suddenly accelerate. 

- What? But you just said that...- I cut him off before he can say anything else. 

- I know I did. But I want you to ask me out on a date - Shin hugs me tighter and sighs in relief. When he looks back at me he has a huge smile on his face. 

- That's great! Tomorrow morning I hope you don't have any plans because we're leaving together. - His enthusiasm is contagious. 

- Where to? - Shin looks at me and smiles mischievously.

- You'll find out. -

- And you leave me wondering? - I pout a little. - You're bad. - Shin laughs. 

- No, I'm not, and he comes closer to kiss me. 

In the end between kisses, caresses, and a silly conversation we both fall asleep. 

[autisticlancemcclain]

fic rec friday 22

welcome to the twenty-second fic rec friday! where, on friday, i rec five of my favourite fics.

1. you’re the one that never lets me roam by @littendeservesbetter

If any of his teammates were insulted—if Allura’s leadership was doubted, if Hunk was called too soft, if Pidge was underestimated, if Keith was attacked for his Galran heritage—Lance would defend them in a heartbeat. He knows his team and he loves his second family. He’d defend them to the universe and back.

So why wouldn’t they do the same for him?

-

season 7 episode 4: Lance's thoughts after the game show.

this fic is genuinely one of my favourite handlings of that piece of shit episode ever fr. its klance BUT also not a half-assed apology!! im not articulating this right but my point is that this is handled so well and god bless my fellow lance stans

2. xo by @thespacenico

keith confesses to lance hoping that the expected rejection will help him move on ASAP. it doesn't quite go according to plan.

darcy does not miss!! seriously her fics always make me smile. my two favourite parts of this fic were  that a) when lance didn’t know who keith liked he assumed immediately and wholeheartedly it was hunk. that’s golden right there and b) shiro is a DRAMA LOVING BITCH

3. for you only by @paprbee

"Be mine," Keith mumbles, pleas, against Lance's lips, unwilling to pull away. "Yes," Lance whispers, smiling as Keith brushes their lips together again, pressing up and forward to kiss Keith properly. "You too... be mine, too." "I am," Keith tells him when they break apart reluctantly, their foreheads pressed together, tip of their noses touching, Keith's arms squeezing Lance gently in their hold around his waist and lower back. "I'm yours."

okay i cannot describe how much this fic makes me lose my mind in my own words i literally have to give you guys a snippet of the fic that made me actually cry real tears and struggle to breathe:

"Baby," Keith says softly and it sends a thrill through Lance, hearing pet names from Keith is so rare he always melts when he does hear them, specially when they're whispered against his lips this way. He presses a soft chaste kiss into Lance again before he continues to mutter softly. "My baby, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you."

its just. the devotion. the repetition. it always fucking gets me. from keith especially, bc hes such a devoted guy!! he is loyal to a goddamn fault and beyond like!!! thats how he loves!! with his whole heart his whole body his whole soul his own being!! he loves and loves and loves!!!

4. i’ll be your romeo by @jilliancares

In a world where Soul Marks show up only after your soulmate has fallen in love with you, it's rare for them to appear when you're not already in a relationship. It's even rarer for them to show up when you're standing on a chair in your favorite coffee shop, screeching at the sight of a spider. Lance becomes well-acquainted with this brand of "rare", and he gets the cute barista, Keith, to help him with the search for his soulmate.

first of all soulmate aus my beloved. second of all jillian fics my beloved. third of all this fic is SO dorky and i love it!! i was hooked by the first scene bc it was just so funny. the way keith falls for lance...hes such a goober i love him

5. finally, you’re mine by @nezueye

“I need you to do me a favor.”

“Okay. Anything,” Keith says easily.

[...]

“Okay so, I just need-“ Lance sighs. He pushes his hands through his hair and braces himself. “I need you to break my heart. Once and for all.”

Keith chokes on his next words. “Excuse me?”

“Break my heart.”

- or -

Does Lance finally get the guy?

this is another devotion fic bc i am fully and completely obsessed with them. i made a seperate rec for this fic a couple months ago bc it truly made my breath stop like i could not process. there were three scenes in particular that made me gasp out loud and make my heart pound. just the easy way they love each other...sobbing

that’s it for today!! i’ll see y’all back next friday for the next fic rec post!!!