#gymnast alliance

[shierajones]

Rise of Red

So I’m watching this movie and doing Simone Biles levels of mental gymnastics to make this all connect to the original story and have the plot holes fill in. Here are my attempts at cohension from the beginning:

SPOILERS!!!!

It’s been 30 years since Auradon was founded.

The math isn’t mathing but sure, let’s say after D3, everyone went on adventures, Ben and Mal got married and they all took time to mature and grow in their roles. As the years have passed, they recognize what a terrible job Beast did as a leader and they want to increase trade and foreign relations with other countries.

Uma says that Ben and Mal put her in charge of everything while they (along with Evie and Jay) are making alliances with other countries.

Of course! Because Beast sucks as a leader so they don’t trust him to take back over even if only temporarily. Gil and Harry (and most of the pirates we’ve seen) are missing from Uma’s crew, because she asked them to help Ben and Mal on their journey. Hook is serving as Captain in Uma’s absence and Jay and Gil have grown very close since traveling Auradon together through the years so it makes sense.

Chad is Cinderella and Charming’s son, but Chloe will one day be queen of Cinderellasburg.

Cinderella and Charming had fertility issues at first and Chad is adopted. Chloe is their miracle baby and, though younger, is the true-born heir to the throne. They love and support Chad in all things and have pampered him his whole life. Given the struggles they had to conceive, they don’t regret showering Chad with love but they recognize he’s a bit spoiled and not fit to be king one day.

The future shows Red and the Queen of Hearts ruling on the throne together. I guess we’re assuming since she’s black and red it means she’s evil.

We never actually see that this future is prevented. The ultimate endgame may still be the same, that Red rules with her mother. I’m going to say, this future was not prevented, just that the Queen of Hearts turn to evil was delayed.

In the past, many of the heroes and villains that we know are in high school together.

Many but not all. This is just a blip in their histories and the stories to come in the future are still canon. We don’t actually see any of the villain/hero pairs (Maleficent & Aurora) (Hook & Peter Pan) (Hades & Hercules) so outside of two couples being established (Jasmine and Aladdin in love and Ella and Charming flirtation/mutual pining) there’s nothing that makes some of the stories automatically false. I’d say some of the events in high school just blacken their hearts more and turn them into real villains.

Bridget and Ella’s personalities seem to be switched (with a more evil skew on Bridget’s end as an adult). This one is long.

Ella was Bridget’s only friend and because she was grounded, she wasn’t supposed to be able to make it to the Castlecoming. She cancels on Bridget and leaves her alone. However, Fairy Godmother is also friends with Ella and has been practicing her magic more and is now in possession of a powerful spellbook (more on that later). She wants a way to help her and is finally successful casting an enchantment that gets Cinderella to the dance for a short time. When her curfew hits, the spell will be reversed and send her home. When she gets to the dance, instead of finding Bridget, she gets caught up in Charming and after the song playing changes to So This is Love, they share their first dance. The two are so engrossed in each other and discovering their feelings are mutual that she doesn’t notice anyone or anything else. However, Bridget sees her and is excited at first until she realizes Ella isn’t seeking her out. She’s stuck on Charming. The song playing when Ella walked in is Shuffle of Love and Bridget is trying to focus but makes a mistake. She turns again to Ella to see if she’ll jump in and help but she’s still too distracted by Charming. Left heartbroken she moves and just watches them on the dance floor while staying isolated on the sidelines. She tries to ignore her feelings because she should be happy for Ella but she can’t stop crying a little. She should’ve been there for her. Isn’t that what friends are for? Then, Uliana comes to talk to her and seemingly comfort her. For a second, she thinks she’s coming around to be her friend. She doesn’t think twice when she offers her a cupcake. Suddenly she’s transformed to a monster and everyone around her starts laughing. Ella and Charming’s attention is finally broken from each other and they turn to see what’s going on. Upon seeing this monster, they laugh too thinking it’s just a prank—with no idea who the monster is. But Bridget’s last shred of hope is broken seeing her only friend laugh at her pain after ignoring her the whole night. When Ella finally realizes who it is, she tries to run after her and loses her shoe. She almost catches her to comfort her but then is whisked away by Fay’s spell and finds herself back at, sitting in the barn. Ella, still grounded is left feeling a mixture of joy, love, pain and regret from the events of the night. She can’t contact Bridget or see her until school starts again on Monday. By Monday it’s too late. Bridget, having spent the weekend with no one to talk to or comfort her decides Love Ain’t It and takes on a new mantra for her life. She looks into the Looking Glass and sees her evil future with her daughter. Fine, if that’s what she becomes, why try? At school, Ella tries to apologize and beg for forgiveness but it’s too late. She tries to tell her how her kindness made her strong, how she’s always respected that about her and loves her like a sister but it’s not enough. She tries to show her with her actions. She takes on the persona Bridget always had because it was good, it was kind, it was true strength. She doesn’t want to suffer for one mistake and doesn’t want Bridget to allow that night to define her, but again, it’s too late. Bridget already knows how this story ends and it’s not with love and friendship. She decides to let the fear and power be her friend and becomes the worst bully they’ve ever seen.

Uliana and her crew were troublemakers so would never have been able to open the spellbook and prank Bridget.

Before Red and Chloe showed up, Uliana and her crew were going to lure someone else in to get the book. Fay! They manipulated her with fear and hope—the promise that she could use the Sorcerer’s book when they were done to perfect her magic. So she did it, just like her daughter tried to take the wand in D1.

Merlin just lets Red and Chloe into school, partners them with their mothers “coincidentally” and sees the open window after the break in but doesn’t try to find out who else was able to escape.

He’s aware that Red and Chloe are time travelers and knows there’s a reason to change the timeline as they have. He knows what’s to come with Beast banning magic and shipping off the villains. He wants to change that story too and these girls are the catalysts. This change in history is going to open the doors for magic to be welcomed back to Auradon in the future as they return and have to fix what they’ve changed.

[ladyrosemone]

HEAR ME OUT 🗣🗣‼️

Using Google Translate here, sorry if something doesn't make sense

I love the angst plot about the neglected reader; and don't get me wrong, I love it more when the batfamily grovels for forgiveness from the "forgotten child"

But then...nothing happens, and I'm left...And now?

They either crumble under the obsession, or fight in an endless cycle, or give up and succumb to Stockholm syndrome. I love reading them, but I always wanted something...more.

And here I leave my contribution.

Reader Wayne -biological to follow tradition- abandoned LEADER of a underworld.

Stay with me;

Tired of being invisible and insignificant before the wonderful talents of Bruce's chosen children (not father, he never was), not even being a priority for Alfred (admittedly, he abandoned his daughter in favor of the Waynes, I think It is more credible that we go to the fifth plane for him) What do you do with free time, selfishness disguised as empathy and a lot of money at your fingertips? You open a brothel first.

You attract all kinds of people; drug addicts who would do anything for easy money and easier drugs, people in need of jobs and guidance, the low and forgotten of Gotham, the women (touching on the subject with all the respect it deserves) who have nothing to lose or with some extra mouths to feed. In short, everything that the city abandoned by God leaves aside.

Little by little, in silence and discretion, we become recognized; Deals here, influences there, and in a moment, we ruled the underworld. We offer all kinds of services to the villains of Gotham, alliances and protection, secrets and methods of elimination, lust and accompaniment, everything in a bit.

Do you remember that loan we took out when we left? Maybe Bruce or Tim found the charge on a document, and the purchase was...a house outside of Gotham? Who bought it? Dick? Jason? Maybe Cassandra or Stephenie? Well, whoever it was, it's a piece of junk about to fall down, so what difference does it make?

There is something more important to do. (There is always that with them, right?) Maybe it's too complicated a mission even for all of them together, or they just need that piece of the puzzle to win once again, whatever they need takes them to Gotham's underworld, takes them to Sanctuary.

How fun! New pieces have joined the board, and what pieces...In the style of his good friend Edward (The Riddler), leaves little clues that bring them closer to the reader, the Savior, to whom they all owe something and serve him.

Inevitably our ego (perhaps a savior complex or a degree of narcissism) makes us want to reveal ourselves to them, and we meet them at the suburban house they left aside.

Surprise! The unknown child is now the most influential crime boss of his generation! Aren't you proud? Of course, business and family don't mix.

All help is given with the Savior (us) in exchange for something clear, the profits do not come alone, and all he asks for is...Time together?...Of course.

Coffee chats with Bruce (the press mistakes them for a new conquest, disgusting), gymnastics with Richard (since when can you contort like that?!) reading with Jason (they have the same tastes apparently) playing video games with Tim (and hack a few government accounts) taking care of animals with Damian (You have a whole zoo with exotic rescued animals!) shopping with your sisters or just staying silent with Cassandra, even Duke gets his quality time! (Why they accepted him immediately, what does he have that I don't)

It makes them realize something they lost, the funny thing is they never had it in the first place, and knowing that hurts more than any wound.

We know that, and we use it (like everything) to our advantage. And in the end, with the service done and the day saved, we don't need any more of them, The door is over there!

Only that the sinner has already tasted God's forgiveness, why would he want to leave him?

So they keep coming back, trying to get you to leave that evil path (according to them) and come home, safe, to them. But not out of love (there is no such thing as love for a Wayne), but out of guilt, which becomes a need, which becomes an obsession.

And while we should be careful with that...it's more entertaining to be the puppeteer than the puppet. There is no compassion, there is no empathy, there is no affection or pity; There's ambition, there's status, there's power, and in a world like Gotham, that's all that matters.

And the bat family knows it; They are not stupid, they know that you are using them, like a dog waiting for a caress, a rope to be pulled to open the door, salvation itself...maybe it is their fault acting on them, but they will not let go of the crumbs that are given to them we give.

There is no happy ending, only an unhealthy relationship between the two; the most powerful playing, we know that if we keep pushing, a prison will be a more merciful destiny.

But we don't care anymore, not now that we have the world in our hands.

[zykamiliah]

Tell me about Shen Yuan's mental gymnastics

oh boy where do i start

there are various sides to sy's mental gymnastics:

-his sexuality, that directly correlates to his feelings for binghe; we know how he projects his desire for lbh into the Women/Wives characters, he is in complete denial and actively suppressing his own sexuality, for quite a while and even before he transmigrated, since he has some "skeletons in his closet" in regards to past crushes. he frames his feelings for lbh and his responses during sex as submitting to lbh's charm and "technique" as if to imply he doesn't really have a choice or is being convinced into loving and having sex with lbh, which is one of the biggest misunderstandings for readers in the whole novel. for him admitting that he likes gay sex is tremendously embarrassing, and a consequence from being raised in a homophobic/queerphobic culture.

-his self-image, not in the sense that he's insecure or lacks confidence, but in that he perceives himself as inconsequential-- he doesn't expect much to come from his good actions except maybe that people will spare his life (lbh, lqg) and instead weighs his bad actions as worse than they are. even if he doesn't think about it a lot, he expects lbh to hate him and kill him for pushing him into the endless abyss, yet doesn't take into the equation everything else he did as a shizun for lbh and the other qjp disciples. this probably comes from his fandom-agreed third child syndrome, in that as such he grew up thinking his actions don't have any impact in the people around him (like him not taking into account the impact of his death in hua yue city, for example, on lbh and his martial siblings and disciples); related to that is the part where he doesn't ever talk about his own accomplishments because he thinks that's too cringe or something, so he's always downplaying himself and the stuff he does, like being a good damn teacher, and liking it! he describes himself as a lazy guy who just wants to lead a no-effort life but that's not what he actually wants or does; he's always doing something post-transmigration and in fact gets antsy and restless when he's forced to stay inside doing nothing

also related to him downplaying his good actions, is that he sketches himself as a selfish person when his actions completely contradict that characterization.

he also downplays or completely hides from the narration how much being cool matters to him lol he wants to distract the reader and himself from the fact that he's not an easygoing person who will take anything life gives him; no, no, that man taught his disciples about payback; he gets reeaally pissed off when mbj dismisses his cultivation at the immortal alliance conference. i've talked about how he projects on shen jiu here to go around those feelings .

overall he's unreliable when talking about himself and you have to look at everything he says really carefully and contrast it with his actions, what he actually does, to understand what's real and what's a lie.

and one of my favorites: he tells us he's pretending at being a lofty immortal cultivator, when in truth the transmigration has allowed him to become the best version of himself (ok there's still room for improvement but he's getting there!) the moment the OOC was off, and later when he's in the mushroom body, he thinks of himself as shen qingqiu all the time, going so far as to put finding a folding fan as a top priority, saving people just because he was around, and being unable to let cqm disciples be in danger to the detriment of his own survival. he tries to sell you a picture of himself where he's pragmatic and selfish and self-serving, but in truth, despite having a bad temper and sometimes resorting to anger as a coping mechanism (the tsundere allegations are true), he's a big softie and unconditional when it comes to the people he cares about.

[yyxandere]

How about kiryu kazuma with a strong reader? (Not as strong as him, but strong enough to put up a fight)

･ ｡ﾟ☆ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐓

[♡]ー ꒱・！CHARACTER！:: KIRYU KAZUMA.

✧.* gender/pronouns ─ 'You' pronouns

✧.* prompt ─ Yandere Kiryu Kazuma with a Strong Darling.

☆ .* note ─  I hope you like this anon, I wanted to add more characters since this was too short but I felt like you would be unsatisfied (｡-_-｡). But I’m planning to FINALLY finish all of the request so I can open up my request box maybe late November or somewhere in December…I also had Makin Zenin in mind while doing this actually LOLOLOL（＾◇＾）

✩.* TRIGGER WARNINGS ─ Overbearingness and Unhealthy Mindset

• I feel like Kiryu would be more relaxed when it comes to this kind of darling no matter what gender. He would see it as a positive thing, for him it means that you aren’t always helpless and you can stand your ground until he comes back to you but there’s also this nagging part in the back of his mind that he can pinpoint. Yes, he is happy that you are physically strong but at the same time he wants you to depend on him, he can be your protector.

• Even if you are strong Kiryu would never raise his hand on you he knows his strength and your limits. He respects your tenacity and your strength but if you are stubborn he would give himself some time before he does something irrational.

• Even if you tried to provoke him he would never falter, he would stand his ground and say ‘No’ whenever you try to challenge him in a fight.

• If you were ever a Tojo or yakuza alliance member he felt secure that the Tojo clan had your back when you were in trouble but if you were ever an Omi or rival yakuza clan, he would genuinely be nervous anytime things were having heated tension, he’s scared that one day he has to fight you one on one.

• He would keep a close eye on you (if you haven’t been kidnapped by him) so you won’t get into any fights, he slowly stalks you and if anyone even tries to pick a fight with you Kiryu would pop out and grasp the wrist of whoever rose their hand on you.

• God forbids the day you get badly injured, you are tattered with bruises and blood-soaked clothes because Kiryu would drop everything and straight up run to whenever you are kept in, he doesn’t care if there are hoards of men waiting for him, he will come and get you, his eyes and heart is full of fury and he doesn't stop punching his way through even if his knuckles are numb and mix with blood.

• Aftermath of the whole incident best believe that Kiryu would be with you 24/7, he would monitor you even after you’re fully healed. He makes sure that you don’t push yourself with exercise, moving around, or even basic stuff.

• Scars are natural in battle, so if you ever had a scar or any large injury that makes you insecure then do not fret, Kiryu sees your scars as a reminder of your determination to live and get past the pain, and he will be there with you to help you walk through it.

• If you ever specialize in any sort of weaponry he would be genuinely interested, he would watch you train as your body naturally becomes tense with all the gymnastics, and he would see the way your arms flex whenever you use your weapon or if you don’t like using weapons but would rather use your hands like him then he would spar with you, using “spar” most of the time he is in defensive mode and won’t even try to hit a punch on you.

• He would teach you some martial arts or techniques he learned from his heydays so you both can improve those muscles of yours and after a long hard day, Kiryu knows that you can’t even use most of the techniques he taught you for he will always be at your side no matter what.

[blood-orange-juice]

I think I'm starting to understand what exactly annoyed me in 4.2 storyline and it's not the unanswered questions, it's the things that seem implausible.

Childe's 4.0 infodump already felt ooc and a bit like bad writing (I said it even back then) but I waved it away with "ok, he probably has a Plan, it will be explained later." "He isn't really being ooc, something is just off."

And now I think it's unlikely we will ever learn his thought process or get to know if he had a plan. He doesn't talk about such things.

It's not "they didn't tell us why his Vision malfunctioned" or "why did the Oratrice find him guilty" (I'm sure both will become important to the plot eventually), it's "I didn't get to learn why did he give it away" and "I didn't get to know why he told us all of these things".

Same with Skirk. Why did she feel necessary to tell us all of these things?

Same with giving the Vision to Arle.

It's asking for too much of suspension of disbelief for the sake of just getting the plot from point A to point B and suddenly there wasn't even a real need to do that. The plot could have been fine without any of them involved. This loredump could have been a side quest.

And the amount of disbelief just reached a critical point for me. Sure, I can do some mental gymnastics and explain away all of it (Childe traumadumping and giving his favorite weapon away because he had poor impulse control at the time, Arle not willing to break a potential alliance or weaken her colleague and the Traveler understanding it, Skirk just being Like That).

But the problem is, after a certain threshold I just don't wan't to. For many people the threshold is higher so they still think it's a great story, of course.

It's not a problem of an "ongoing story" as many try to argue, I know I'm perfectly fine with ongoing stories.

Things left unanswered are not a problem. It will be fixed by future patches, I have faith in hoyo here.

The whale just being sad and hungry is somewhat anticlimactic but fits Childe's story flow well. Also I think we learned something incredibly important about how fate/samsara cycles work in Teyvat: the whale didn't need to be connected to that story to make the prophecy come to life. So it's not a problem too.

My fave not getting enough screentime is not a problem either, he got plenty of screentime.

The problem is characters acting in ways that I see as implausible. It breaks the story for me. Ok, so the writers can bend them in any way they want. Why should I still be interested?

I'm thinking of the ways this can be mended by future patches and I can't come up with any. Skirk intentionally feeding us intel for some evil scheme? Seems even more implausible. Arle pocketing the Vision? Not enough screentime.

Childe giving the Vision away because he knew we would see something about him if he gets in trouble? Childe knowing the Vision will backfire if he comes close to the whale with it in his pocket? Ok, theoretically could work but I doubt they'll go in that direction.

I'll be extremely happy to be wrong about it, of course.

[wildcardjoey]

Anita jean!

ANITAT JEAN!!!

Alright so the Little Wren AU is basically just 'Bruce manages to find Anita after she fakes her death' and she actually does become his first sidekick. She isn't a fighter, Bruce puts her under three layers of armor, and she basically fills a mage and healer role with first aid (mostly for civilians and criminals) and the virtual reality gas drug, the use of which allows batman to remain a cryptid for far longer.

Anita also takes longer to get the hang of grappling hooks because she's less coordinated than even Tim but she does get them probably not too long after Dick comes to the manner since the two can train together. Her inability to use grappling hooks when she first enters the field is why The Whirly-Bat was made, named The Hummingbird in this au because it's Anita's and was named before Dick was adopted into the family and took a bat-gimmick to every piece of equipment in the cave. Before he joined the team, Bruce and Anita were work shopping names for a lot of their stuff but hadn't come to decisions for most of them, so Dick still gets to do that, but not for Anita's Hummingbird.

Rather than the dynamic duo, this au has either a tritastic trio of Batman, Wren, and Robin, or the dynamic duo is seen as Wren and Robin, as Batman's sidekicks. When Tim ends up at the manner, Anita basically tells him he's too tactical to be Robin and gives him the Wren mantle, which she either had already left behind or was in the process of considering it. Steph ends ends up becoming his paired Robin, for much longer than Canon.

Steph initiating that plan that required Matches Malone probably still happens, but with Anita's help she's able to salvage it, but it opens up an entirely new set of problems because at that point Anita was already on the verge of discovering The Court of Owls (because their one give away was a nursery rhyme and she wanted to find out it's origin because it's her hobby) and now The Court sees the bat clan take control of the city basically in it's entirety so those two things combined make The Court release the elite talons. A temporary alliance with The League of Assassins and the timely first arrival of Cass in the city means they just barely manage to win. This is also the family's first introduction to Damian and a recently resurrected Jason is probably also there, but dressed like the rest of the assassins so he isn't recognized.

Anita herself, which is what this au is actually about, is going to be depicted as better adjusted due to not living her life since she was, like, eight alone and eventually dedicated to revenge. She has hyperfixations on birds, nursery rhymes, programming, and tech and is an excellent detective. I already mentioned she's less coordinated starting out but that doesn't mean she's weak, she'd probably be able to beat Dick in a fight when he first gets to the manor since he's at that point just a gymnast but she's been training as a martial artist for like six months at that point.

Speaking of Dick, I really look forward to writing their banter. They are going to be so sassy to each other but very protective of each other. Almost as much as they're both protective of every one younger siblings, which, and seeing some of your posts this may be disappointing, isn't going to be terribly long. Finding a way to fit every obscure batfam character in is for my other dc au, the same one that my ruleset for Claire's powers is for, but I do have Calvin, Charlie, and and Dana (Talon, Misfit, and Strike) as sure-shows for Little Wren.

Long-Term, the au's story-arc will focus on the eventual take down of The Parliament of Owls as the main antagonists, as it feels fitting for an Anita Jean focused story for previously stated Nursery Rhyme related reasons, although I do also plan for The League to be taken down due to Tim still having his globetrotting adventure and then the batfam actually capitalizing on it.

Edit for Addendum: the first paragraph makes it sound like Anita never fights, I should clarify that her role on the team does evolve as she gets older and Bruce becomes more lenient.

[nutzgunray-lvt]

Dmitri Headcanons (SFW & NSFW)

Got an additional 30 min of sleep and tried pumping breastmilk, so I figured I'd re-do my Dmitri headcanons. Literally love this man so much. Some of these are from @charmin-lil-russian, some are from other blogs, and some I made up. Without further ado:

He has a brother three years younger than him

He's from a middle class military family composed of him, his brother, his parents, paternal grandfather, and paternal uncle. The family lived in Saransk (outside of Moscow)

Due to his brother having a heart condition when he was born (one that resolved on its own overtime), he was enabled and coddled by their parents to Dmitri's detriment

Dmitri was incredibly close with his grandfather and uncle ( just a 14 year age difference between them), but when Dmitri was 9, his grandfather died and his uncle defected to the West, leaving him without any allies in the house

Dmitri actually went to a sports school when he was 11 due to having a talent for gymnastics. He wanted to go to the Olympics, but was made to drop out when he was 14 due to his brother joining the school and then quitting due to being jealous of Dmitri

Mikhail is Dmitri's nephew whom he adopted when he was 2 due to his brother's negligence nearly killing him. This permanently estranged Dmitri from his parents due to them focusing on how to get his brother out of trouble

Mikhail winds up inheriting a worse form of his father's heart condition, leading Dmitri to get into business with Yuri to help Hopper escape, as the money can get him the medicine Mikhail needs

When Dmitri and Mikhail escape to Hawkins, they wind up relying on Hopper and Joyce quite a bit initially, which is how Dmitri meets you

Being the natural charmer that he is, he winds up gravitating to you any chance he gets to compliment something new about you every time. He would never admit it aloud, but he was nervous about asking you out and was incredibly relieved when you said yes

Dmitri is a Dom and finds comfort in taking the reins in your relationship. It comes with being a guard and having such little control over his life as a kid

1010% has a Daddy kink. Want to get him in the mood quickly? Call him Daddy or Papa

He will take your panties and put them in his pocket. If he feels like it, he'll take your panties from you and make you ask permission to wear them

LOVES manhandling you; throwing you over his shoulder and tossing you on the bed, pulling you over his knee to spank you, moving you into whatever position he wants to take you in

Has a feral breeding kink he will follow through with. He doesn't really like to use condoms since he feels that he's financially and mentally in a good place to have a baby. He'll use one if you ask, but will get REALLY excited if you want to bareback it. He will be beyond thrilled if you get pregnant

Lowkey has a thing for tickling you. It ties in to the whole manhandling thing, but being able to make you laugh and squirm underneath him with just a touch of his fingers has his heart racing and gears turning. Couple that in with the fact that he's not ticklish, and he really gets off on how it makes you submit

Favorite fruit: strawberries

LOVES the cold

100% a blanket hog, but will have you sleep on top of him or underneath him

Loves watching gymnastics on TV and will critique the athletes

He and Mikhail have a Christmas tradition where after they put their gifts underneath the tree, they have one week to guess what the other has gotten them. It gets very competitive, and Mikhail insists that Christmas of 1979 was a draw. When you join the family, they try and broker alliances with you

[moontheoretist]

Acina, what the fuck? I know that I assured you that the issue will be dealt with. Yes, I did lie, but it was not, because I knew something you didn't (except that Shae disappeared), but because I felt Empire was trying to encrouch on Alliance's jurisdiction and was crossing the line.

Were my choices bad for my alliance with the Empire? Probably, but I was distrustful of their movements for quite some time and tried to do everything to show that Alliance is independent, not a subsidiary of the Sith Empire. And now she dares to insult me, because my ally did something literally unpredicatble? I had no idea she was going to do that, I'm not a psychic, no matter my status as the Voss Mystic too.

The truth is I didn't inform them about Shae, because frankly I felt it's not their problem to deal with - they had no right to this information. If I had a "slight inclination" of what Shae was going to do, I would have informed the empire that she went rogue and we are tracking her as we speak. I have literally no idea what mental gymnastics Shae had to do to come to the bizarre conclusion that she needs Malgus to enact her revenge on Heta Kol, when my inclination was that he isn't related to the entire movement and couldn't care less about it.

Well at least this plays into my headcanons.

Game will never allow for this, but I personally was displeased in what Acina was doing recently with the Sith Empire as well, and I wouldn't say no to some coup in order to put someone else on the throne.

It's really funny, because I romance Acina, so this entire situation is such a goddamn angst and lack of trust between me and her lol. And such a good precursor to my future plans for our "alliance". I gave her a chance to change the Empire, but I can see they largely wasted it. They did some commendable things, but overall got meh results. So as far as I'm concerned, a new leader is needed to enact true change.

But that's headcanons.

At least Lana understands Shae's actions were not my fault.

Meanwhile Darth Rivix wants to get stabbed. I didn't trust him since Mannan so he earned that one. Next time we meet he will understand why I'm nice only to a point. And why crossing it is a bad idea.

He and Shae both will learn that lesson.

Me keeping the holocron and the people found by the super weapon away from the Empire is just a first step towards me trying to assert Alliance's status as independent third party. Sith Empire has no right to this holocron or those people, but act as if they did. (Funny how before they had no issue with me holding stuff away from them (or acted like it until Iokath) but now me keeping something safe from them to ensue it won't get misused is suddenly a big fucking problem lol). If that makes me a traitor or disployal then so be it. Bring it on.

[haastera]

They better make an entrance soon. I don't know how much more waiting my soul can handle.

I'm hoping they recapture how terrifying Murder drones can and should be.

On a totally unrelated note. If Tessa, Doll, N, J, V, and Uzi form some sort of anti-solver alliance that'd make them a group of 6. Now how many X's are in the second image?

Season 2 villains, anyone?

Why yes, this is all mental gymnastics to justify new Disassembly drone characters. I'm desperate if you couldn't tell.

[allegrasilva]

Oh, is that ALLEGRA SILVA? I heard the THIRTY-THREE year old is DAUNTLESS. But don’t let that pretty face fool you, they are also IMPETUOUS. Makes sense seeing how they are a GETAWAY DRIVER in the SOCIETY.

pinterest

full name: allegra isabella rubi silva

nicknames: spitfire, dodge, whip, coyote, correcaminos (road runner), big al, al, ally, alba, legs.

faceclaim:  ana de armas

birthdate: april 19th

alliance: the society

gender: cis woman

pronouns: she/her

occupation: mechanic getaway driver

hometown: sancti spiritus, cuba

sexual orientation: pansexual

relationship status: single

height: 5"3

the rainbow slick of oil on tarmac, red lines of pleasure scratched down your shoulder blades, the ringing of slot machines, a floor length scarlet raw silk gown with nothing underneath it, neon lights reflecting off wet asphalt, engine grease smudged on your nose, punching nitros and feeling your entire body sing with adrenaline, applying red lipstick in the rearview whilst reversing at high speed, a hand wandering up your inner thigh beneath the table, dancing to guajira over a tinny radio with sunlight pouring through the blinds, sweat glistening on bronze collarbones, the pop and spray of champagne, the feeling of your body nearing g-forces.

Basilio and Catalina were an unlikely pair: one a street rat drag racer, who learned everything he knew from the solares of Havana and the other, a decorated army engineer. Their love was instant chemistry, petroleum kissed match, a passion that burned bright and quickly but gifted them three kids.

Allegra spent the first few years of her life bouncing between military bases until her parents separated and Basilio got the career opportunity of a lifetime. He was to be provisionally training some pit crews at Monaco for the Grand Prix, after spending a couple years in his youth experimenting with mechanics on the Indy 500.

After that the stability of the base never felt adventurous enough for Allegra, who spent at least the entirety of race season living with her father overseas, her other siblings remained with Catalina. Endlessly curious, Allegra would sneak out to where her dad was working and start picking up the skills that brought her to the Society.

Basilio saw that wild streak that he had in himself in Allegra and knew that fighting it would only mean losing her entirely, so he indulged her. Teaching her how to hotwire, allowing her to help him experiment chemically with fuel systems. Allegra grew up grease stained but happy.

She loved her mother but they fought endlessly and she always ended up in trouble for getting into the hangars on base and tinkering with the heavy 4x4s and tanks. Allegra was a constant flight risk. These exploits were aided by her being a competitive gymnast since she was six and her taking up free-running when she spent time in London with her dad before races at Silverstone.

Sensation is everything to Allegra, anything that gets her blood up or adrenaline running is something worth doing.

Organised a simulated Italian Job Scavenger Hunt for her fifteenth birthday party with her car meet friends. The real way to win was to be the last car of the night to be caught and arrested. She very nearly ruined her entire future but just managed to get off by the skin of her teeth.

The champagne and glitter of the Formula One circuit, kids of millionaires becoming Allegra's earliest playmates. She terrorized and captivated them in equal measure; they were fascinated by this little Cuban girl causing so much trouble, she taught the children of diplomats ring of fire, how to take their tequila and how to get out onto the track at night. This is where she got a taste for the finer things, the high life and after that she was used to a certain kind of lifestyle and was going to do anything to maintain it.

Her brother and sister began visiting far more and in turn Allegra would spend a portion of the Winter back in Cuba. She was something of a stranger and something of a legend to friends she had in Havana, she'd been accepted for a mechanics apprenticeship under Ferrari after being caught elbow deep in one of their older models just at the Gran Premio d'Italia at Monza circuit. Another brush with the law that could have ended everything. Though even over the winter she still raced, she still broke into old mansions, llegaypones and bajareques with her friends, setting off firecrackers and doing the usual hoodrat shit.

Basilio was considering sending her back to Cuba permanently as her antics could reflect poorly on him, something she knew she'd despise. She needed newness, travel, novelty, excitement. Ferrari sent her to school, a strange combination of mechanical, electrical engineering, chemistry and physics that for the first time actually challenged her mind instead of leaving her bored and disruptive in the classroom.

Giselle, her sister, had slowly morphed into an alternate universe mirror of Allegra, without the mascara smudged last night's party raccoon eyes and the acting out. A perfect slick back bun, ROTC, her mother's miniature.

Then Elle was dead, just like that, her entire family that had just about sustained equilibrium again shattered in every direction. Allegra's father had just bought a house in upstate New York, much to his employers chagrin, he had turned to her and muttered under his breath 'Never move to Indiana, mija'. Now they could barely talk to each other.

Allegra was sixteen and put her head down and got to work. She drifted through the race circuit for almost eight years until she started to get her spark back, her love for the work, her inspiration. Unfortunately, even if you don't experiment with fuel types and engine parts on the race site or race team's HQ, being a mad mechanic scientist reflected poorly on the company and Allegra was dumped on her ass with a small bag of belongings, no fixed address and no village to return to. She completed basic training for the Army but got thrown out after knocking her drill sergeant out, luckily Basilio got her out of Cuba and back to the US. Authority had always had to earn her respect or get nothing.

Worked in a few small garages in NY; Rochester, Carmel, before realising she'd never carve out any respect there and focused her sights on the city.

One thing Allegra had learned in her time with F1 was how to network, so for the first three weeks she hit every bar and club she could remember, using any social leverage she could to get in to see old familiar faces and schmooze her way up. She landed a personal valet, driver position, when posed as having a beautiful thing in the driver's seat would be some kind of novelty for the very rich client and his esteemed guests.

Ingratiated herself fully with the New York car meet and drag race scenes, this is where one of The Society saw her race for the first time and quietly passed her information up the ranks for contact. [ Wanted Connection ]

Names all the cars she's ever driven and 'knows' their personalities. Speaks to them like she's riding a damn horse. Who cares if she gets results. Laments that she never got to go back for 'Hugo the Yugo' that she drove once in Indianapolis.

So what if when she took Society leaders for a test drive so they could see what she could do she very seriously asked: Danza Kuduro or Gasolina? Pick one. She got the job, even if she overexplained the horrendous fate of a young Scandinavian water carrier from early F1 and how she had trained on their simulators and cars which regularly hit 200mph so reacting to obstacles and pedestrians was everything. How blinking could end it all.

Allegra has a range of playlists you can choose when you get in her ride: 80s power anthems, reggaeton, speed metal, punto cubano guajira, classic rock, 2000s sleepover, rap, hip hop, techno trance, an entirely Pitbull playlist entitled 'Pledge Allegiance to Mr. Worldwide' and many, many more.

Uses her devil-may-care reputation to make sure people underestimate her and don't think she's capable of deeper machinations, she's extremely intelligent, even if she also happens to spend a lot of her time at the Ruby Casino chatting up boring, ugly clientele. She can slip on a new character every night, they don't get to meet her.

Doesn't have an appropriate fear response at all, instead of becoming serious or fearful when afraid she often laughs like crazy, sometimes scaring those not familiar with her particular brand of gearhead. Drifting at 40mph with a maniacally giggling driver is an experience. Though she can seem flippant and capricious to those unfamiliar with her, when it's time to work she flips into a mode that is all steel.

Most often seen cruising the city on her KTM 1290 Super Duke GT motorbike, or in her 1970 Dodge Charger, she loves classic cars.

In her element when she's in her garage come laboratory space, a pair of welder's goggles perched on her head and gesticulating wildly with a wrench, yet few see that, instead they see the polished young lady in a perfectly tailored suit or a raw silk dress sat in the driver's seat.

[mydisenchantedeulogy]

Character Profile [Part One]

A/n: This is based on @thesingularityseries Mortal Kombat OC Ask Game. I apologize for tagging you, hun, but you deserve the recognition. Please check out her blog. She has some amazing content, including detailed information about her OCs.

I decided to break this profile (I'm calling it) into sections to avoid such a mess of thoughts. Normally, I don't go so in-depth with an OC unless asked, but Ava is special to me.

Factions and Alliances: 

What faction is your OC aligned with? Why?

Formerly The Lin Kuei, but now the Shirai Ryu. Ava is technically aligned with Liu Kang as an Earthrealm protector, but since her magic suited the Lin Kuei in a few ways, she only trained a month at the Wu Shi Academy before she was pawned off to Bi-Han where her training continued. 

What is their role - either in their faction or in the overall events of MK?

In addition to being an Earthrealm protector, she is utilized for her unique abilities. As a character role, she plays the Lover, a character whose decisions and actions are determined and guided by her heart. 

What are their thoughts on their faction? Do they enjoy being there? Do they want to leave?

Ava did not think much of being a protector when it was suggested to her; she laughed it off as a joke but soon learned the severity of the role. A part of the reason she decided to follow Liu Kang was because she was simply bored. It was not until her realm was jeopardized that she decided to take up the mantle. When it came to joining the Lin Kuei, she was less than enthusiastic. It was a hard transition for her based on her life before being approached by Liu Kang; different cultures and rules. It took her some time to adjust, but she eventually embraced it.

While she did not leave behind her role as a protector, she did abandon the Lin Kuei because her views did not align with Bi-Hans, however, due to her mixed emotions toward him, she often struggles with accepting whether or not she made the right decision. 

What are their relationships like? Do they have any friends within their faction? What about rivals? Mentors?

Naturally, a cheerful and social woman, she makes friends quickly. Her first close friend is Johnny Cage. She likes his movies, having never seen them before due to her strict upbringing, and finds his puns and references humorous, making a few of her own within the group.

When with the Lin Kuei, she is closer to Tomas Vrbada, though she gets along well with Kuai Liang and Frost. She has no known rival, though she tries to one up her avowed Grandmaster whenever she gets the chance to save herself a moment of scrutiny under his wing. He brings out the worst in her. 

How do they feel about other factions? Do they have any enemies?

Any enemy of Earthrealm is an enemy of hers. Though she never wanted to, when she abandoned the Lin Kuei, she made an enemy of the assassins. Her only saving grace is whatever is left of the bond she and Bi-Han share.

Origins:

What realm do they originate from?

Earthrealm. Ava is from Nashville, Tennessee.

What species/race are they?

She is half human, half Seidan. 

What timeline does your OC originate from?

The current timeline. 

What do they fight for? Why?

Her motives are selfish compared to some of the others she stands beside - though not as selfish as Johnny's reasons for fighting - mostly a need to cure her boredom and make something of herself, but she also wants to learn where her inherited ability came from.

Describe their childhood. What events led them to where they are now? (Brief Summary)

Born to Lee and Brielle Ashford in the Music City, Ava had a loving but strict childhood. Her dad was a truck driver, so her mother raised her mostly alone, an authoritarian parent who, despite her upbringing, could not break the cycle. She motivated Ava to pursue a number of activities, such as gymnastics and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, but one hobby she absolutely loved and adopted on her own was singing, having an impressively high vocal range for a child that opened the door to many musical opportunities for her, much to her mother's dismay. That came to a sudden stop, however, when she ruptured the ear drums of several audience members during a school musical. Though she was not reprimanded for her actions, her mother insisted that she abandon the endeavor, to which she reluctantly did.

When she got older, she taught herself to control her range, though it was obvious something was different about her vocal cords when compared to others. She worked numerous random jobs that felt mediocre until she became a freelance singer, bouncing from various events to bars in her hometown where she was then approached by Liu Kang.

[horizon-verizon]

There's something funny about people who will judge the Targ for committing incest and in the same breath bury their heads in the sand because the rest of Westeros doesn't!

+1 of they pull the "Don't you know that marriage between cousins ​​is legal there?"

+3 if they omit that marriage between uncles and nieces is also legal

+5 if they pull the "between cousins ​​it is legal in some parts of the world" card

+7 if they omitting that these places have "third degree only" closures and renounce biological children

+10 if they decided to bring real life cases but they omit that there were places where marriage between siblings was allowed and encouraged.

This of course is a system of measuring hypocrisy because they are using a sliding scale to condemn the Targ for maintaining a custom that they personally find disgusting, while doing mental gymnastics to excuse their favorites.

It would be more interesting if we remembered that incest, despite its biological component (blood relationship), is actually social and political. Personally I think that even before Jaehaerys, the dragon lords were already keeping marriages closed to avoid the possibility of "others" having access to dragons and part of the problem with Targ marriages is the way it limited access to the coveted marriage alliances (which on the other hand may have made the hand position more coveted)

+3 if they omit that marriage between uncles and nieces is also legal

More like acceptable and has happened twice in the Stark lineage. There aren't any real laws against avunculate marriages and the taboo against sibling/parent-child relations/marriages is more religious/social "law".

This of course is a system of measuring hypocrisy because they are using a sliding scale to condemn the Targ for maintaining a custom that they personally find disgusting, while doing mental gymnastics to excuse their favorites.

YEP.

...if we remembered that incest, despite its biological component (blood relationship), is actually social and political.

YEP. In how societies have defined them today and in the past, bc it provides the boundaries of marriage, and the then governing bodies' control over how its denizens interact with each other pass down property. I'd say "aside its bio..."

Personally I think that even before Jaehaerys, the dragon lords were already keeping marriages closed to avoid the possibility of "others" having access to dragons and part of the problem with Targ marriages is the way it limited access to the coveted marriage alliances (which on the other hand may have made the hand position more coveted)

I like this thought. I think the same. In fact, I have said time and time again that the Westerosi have tried and failed--before the last draqgonriding Targs--to marry in and propagate/gain influence & prestige through the Targs.

My "the evil Targaryens" tag.

[the12thnightproject]

Chapter 15:  The Calm Before the Storm - Is this... a date?

Mitsunari x OC; Nobunaga x Mai

Previous Chapter

Logline - In order to protect a political alliance, Katusko and Mitsunari must pretend an engagement. But this “all business” arrangement is threatened by a coup against Nobunaga… and by feelings.

From the Military Notes of Ishida Mitsunari…

[Left blank]

Personal comments: One hundred and twenty breaths represents a very long period of time, I have discovered. Deployment of strategy postponed until I am able to discover a method of keeping Okatsu still. Consulted Nobunaga and received following suggestion. “Tie her up.” Am not certain this was in jest. After leaving Nobunaga, I came across Hideyoshi, who stopped to help one of the maids carry a heavy vase. Hideyoshi believes in protecting the people, especially those he loves. I will take that idea from Hideyoshi this afternoon, as Okatsu needs protecting. I believe I have an idea, one that will be allow me to rescue her, and keep her still for, I hope, one hundred and twenty breaths.

Lady Mai is an excellent co-conspirator. Not only was she willing and able to help me with my strategy to prevent Okatsu from having to enter the silver mine, she suggested that I use the free afternoon to take Okatsu on something called a “date.” Per Mai, a good date includes spending time together, going out for a meal or tea, finding activities you both enjoy together, and at the end of the “date,” you might share a kiss.

I will kiss Okatsu today.

If she permits it.

I hope she permits it.

 “Perhaps you and I should run off.”

I wasn’t sure I had heard him correctly. “Run off?” Did he mean just disappear for good? I’ve already done that once. “Hideyoshi and Nobunaga would be worried if we did that.”

“For the afternoon. Explore the terrain around Genba. You would enjoy that, would you not?” He carried me over to where Moonlight was tied to a tree. Then with not much grace, plunked me onto her back. “I believe we are not far from Takayama. We could have tea in the castle town.”

“What about your work?” The desire to spend more time in the sunlight warred with the responsibility to help Mitsunari.

“If we had stayed at the mine, I would not be working. We could ride to Takayama, explore, and still return before the others.” Mitsunari was already turning his horse northward. Moonlight, who apparently had become very good friends with Mitsunari’s horse, followed suit. I had been outvoted. But I was ok with that.

“On the condition that if Hideyoshi finds out, you tell him this was your idea.” I was in enough trouble with the Azuchi housemother as it was.

“Hideyoshi would agree that it is good sometimes to get outside.” He leaned across his horse and nudged me with his shoulder… then caught himself in a balance check. “He often reminds me to take care of myself and to take breaks outside.”

“How long have you worked for Hideyoshi?” Mitsunari had a positive view of everyone, even the permanently grouchy Ieyasu, but his relationship with Hideyoshi seemed to be long-standing, and almost brotherly.

“You are asking me questions? Perhaps we could exchange answers to thirty-six questions.” Before I could figure out where that non sequitur came from, he continued. “Over ten years. I was a temple page – because otherwise I was an unwanted second son. Lord Hideyoshi realized my skill with numbers and asked me to join him.”

“Before you were a messenger – and an observer – what did you do?” Mitsunari ducked under a low hanging branch and ended up with pine needles stuck in his hair.

“I was a maid.” It wouldn’t be useful to mention my pre-time travel life. There wasn’t an equivalent to the University system here, and likely if even if there had been one, women wouldn’t be permitted to attend. Nor was there any way to explain gymnastics or snowboarding. I mean… I suppose I could say I was raised in a circus or something, but even that was stretching the truth a lot. “It was not terribly interesting. I was lucky that my master allowed me to train with his male apprentices.”

The trail narrowed slightly, but not enough to force us to ride single file. Our legs brushed. “You became a maid after your parents died?”

Right. I had let him think my parents were both dead. “My mother had died. I never knew my father. She would not say who he was.” This was less of an issue in modern Japan than it might be here. But immediately after I revealed that to Mitsunari, I regretted giving him such personal information. The last person I had trusted with my life story was Iekane.

He reached over and touched the back of my hand, just a quick brush of his fingers, but I felt calmer to receive it. “I am sorry to hear that Okatsu. I am certain he missed much by not being part of your life.”

I waved that away. “Where I come from, people don’t really care all that much anyway.”

One of the pine needles in Mitsunari’s hair drooped into his eye. He swiped at it, but only succeeded in embedding it more deeply. “Nobunaga wants to create a future where people don’t care about that here either, however that was not what I meant. I am sorry that you grew up without something that many people take for granted.”

That pine needle kept dangling in front of his face. I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Let me get that.” I reached over and pulled the pine needle out of his hair, combing my fingers through to make sure I had gotten all of them.

“Thank you.” He reached up and touched his forehead.

The pine needle had been covered in sap and ended up stuck to my hand. I grabbed my handkerchief and wiped it away. Then I folded up the pine needle into the handkerchief and put it back in my kimono. I promised myself I would toss it away later.

Takayama was nowhere near the size of Azuchi, although it did seem to be bustling, with people hurrying through the streets with baskets of fresh food. I could see an open market area off at one end of the town, as well as more permanent buildings with small shops. “Do you want to see if there is a bookseller here?”

He pulled his horse to a halt in front of an inn with a public stable yard. “Why don’t we walk around and see what we find? Sometimes it is good to explore without having any other motive than to enjoy the day.”

I agreed with the sentiment, although I couldn’t remember the last time I’d spent a day wandering a town without having a specific purpose in mind. I wasn’t sure if I ever had in this era. There had always been a mission, a reason. This felt almost… well, almost like a date.

Backing away from that thought – we were simply playing hooky  – I fell in step next to Mitsunari as we wandered through Takayama. And yes, there was a bookseller, though it was not large. I paused by the entry. “Do you want to go inside?”

Mitsunari hesitated. “Don’t let me start reading.”

“It’s a bookseller. You’ve spent hours in them – I know, I’ve watched you do so.” I smiled inwardly at the memory of watching him practically camp out in Aki’s shop, and how I had ended up feeding him rice crackers that first afternoon.

“That is what I meant. I want to enjoy this time with you, and you know what will happen if I find a book.” If it had been anyone else, I would have said Mitsunari was afraid to go into the booksellers. And while it was sweet that he wanted to be a good host and make sure I enjoyed myself, I wasn’t supposed to be having fun.

Mitsunari frowned at me, his brow furrowed in concern. “Did I say something wrong? I did not mean to give you the burden of guarding my behavior. What I meant is that I won’t start reading because I want to spend time with you.”

I wanted to sooth away the worry from his forehead, but I held back and simply nudged him with my shoulder. “If you find something you want to read, you could, and this is simply a suggestion, purchase it.”

“Yes, that is a good – you are teasing me!” He smiled, and I grinned at the image of someone – more than likely Hideyoshi - sitting down with him and trying to explain gentle sarcasm.

“Maybe a bit.” I made a grand gesture in the direction of the military books. “Go ahead. Go forth and shop.”

The Bookseller was near the front of the store with a young woman who looked enough like him to be his daughter. No… it wasn’t simply the resemblance, it was the way he looked at her with a combination of love, protection, and pride. Or… maybe my earlier conversation with Mitsunari was simply putting an idealized father-daughter relationship in my mind? I watched them for a moment, then realized that they were examining a freshly bound book – and rather than the pages folded one inside the other, the way most Japanese books were bound, this book was in the new Chinese string bound style.

It was surprising to see such a “newfangled” book in such a small town, especially one this far from any port, that I headed over to them to ask where they had found it.

“My daughter made it,” the Bookseller said proudly. He introduced himself as Tokuro and his daughter as Sani, then showed me that the inner pages were discarded paper given to them by Takayama’s castellan.

“I’m learning the bookbinding trade.” Sani gave me a shy bow. “This is for practice. I used to make them with blank pages, but that was too much of a waste of paper.”

In my time, people were willing to pay for books with blank pages, from the cheap exam books all the way up to beautifully bound leather journals… and… I pictured in my mind Mitsunari juggling all his unbound notes, scrambling with them daily as he shuffled them about. “I might be interested in-”

Mitsunari joined me and I stopped midsentence. What I had in mind, in fact, would be a gift for him and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. “Mitsunari, this is Tokuro and his daughter Sani, who is learning the book binding trade.”

They all bowed to each other, then Mitsunari asked Sani, “Do you not get distracted by wanting to read the books?”

She shook her head. “Thus far, I haven’t worked on any real books, so it’s been sewing, not reading.” That made sense. In the learning process, if she were using real books a mistake would be expensive. “I imagine that could happen at a later time.”

“It would happen to me.” He smiled at her, and Sani was not immune to the power of that sweetness. She blinked a few times like an animal blinded by headlights. “I wish you good luck in your training.”

“Th-thank you,” she eventually stammered.

He took my hand and squeezed it, and I was so surprised the spontaneous touch, and the zing of awareness that went through me, that I nearly missed his question. “Do you want to go to the metalsmith?”

“Why don’t you go on, and I’ll meet you there in a few minutes. I have a couple more questions about book binding that I want to ask her.” As an excuse, it was not terribly elegant, but Mitsunari didn’t protest. With a slight look of confusion on his face, he let go of my hand and left.

Eep. I had hurt his feelings, but as soon as I gave him the gift, it would explain things. I turned back to Sani. “If you still have the practice books you made – the ones with blank pages, I would like to purchase them.”

“Purchase empty books?” Tokuro and Sani looked at each other, exchanging a glance that probably said, ‘this chick is nuts, but we’re not going to turn down money.’ After a moment, Tokuro suggested an amount. “That will cover the cost of the materials, and Sani’s labor.”

Possibly he expected me to bargain, but it was a fair price. Sani retrieved her practice efforts from their living quarters, and once Tokuro wrapped them up, I headed for the metalsmith where Mitsunari awaited with a wrapped bundle under his arm – I wondered if it contained more weapons for Azuchi to test. “Did you find something interesting?”

“I believe so.” Mitsunari thanked the smith and the two of us headed out to look for a place to get a snack and something to drink.

The town’s only teahouse was crowded, and we ended up sitting at a table behind the building. “Thank you again for preventing me from having to go into the mine. It would not have been pretty.”

“What happens when you are in places like that?” Mitsunari took a sip from his tea, then very precisely placed his cup in a spot in the center of the table – where, I figured, he would be less likely to spill it.

“I start to feel like I can’t breathe or I’m going to faint. And I start remembering everything about being trapped in that box.” And… even talking about it in the outside sent a shiver through me. “Mitsunari, I’m sorry, but I really dislike talking about it.”

He was instantly contrite. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Because he seemed so horrified at that thought, I reached across the table took hold of both of his hands. They were warm from holding the tea, and the skin on his fingers was slightly calloused, reminding me that even with all the time he spent reading, Mitsunari was an experienced fighter as well. “It wasn’t your fault. Remembering sometimes makes me feel like I’m about to be sick, and … it’s too pretty a day out to be ill.”

He held onto my hands for a long moment, giving them a gentle squeeze. “I will talk about something pleasant instead. When something worries me, I think about books… or Kitty’s fur and the sound she makes when she is happy… the smell of Hideyoshi’s rooms when he smokes his pipe… and how holding your hands… holding you… makes me feel … honored.”

Oh. Wow. Well.

Where do I go with that?

And now it was my own turn for a BSOD. Mitsunari’s sweet confession sent a wave of … something through me. The thought that I could make him feel like that was both flattering and frightening. I didn’t want to inspire feelings in him. I was leaving when the job was over.

I didn’t want to leave something broken in my wake.

Ugh, Hideyoshi is right to distrust me. Not because I intend to harm anyone… but intentions count for nothing if harm happens anyway. My inner voice told me to let go of his hands.

But… I couldn’t.

He focused that sweet expression on my face, and I could neither let go of his hands, nor look away from his eyes. Until I realized… “Are you counting again?”

He stopped instantly and looked away. “Apparently it has become a habit.” He shook his head, then withdrew his hands away from mine. He picked up the package he’d purchased at the metalsmith shop and handed it to me. “The smith did have something I thought you might find useful.”

A present? Like the just-because gifts my brother and I used to give each other on non-occasions? I focused on the phrase ‘something useful,’ which might mean the Sengoku equivalent of socks? The package was somewhat heavy (Duh, Katsuko, it’s from the metalsmith!) and I hefted it a couple times before opening it up to find an iron war fan inside. “Oh. This is really cool!” Whoops. Slang. “I mean, this will help cool things in the weather we’ve been having.”

“I noticed you often forget to take a fan with you and thought you would be more likely to remember one that doubled as a weapon.” He picked it up and stabbed it toward me and – the teacup went flying.

I caught it before it could hit the ground. “You thought correctly. I can’t wait to figure out how to use it. Thank you!”

“I could teach you.” He seemed excited by the prospect.

“You know how?” I unfurled the fan to admire the sharp metal spokes – and the pretty Sakura pattern as well. Mitsuhide had wanted me to wear pink? Well, pink this!

“I have read about their use. Also, though I did not read about it, it is said that Takeda Shingen once fought off an attack by Uesugi Kenshin by using his war fan.” A faraway look was in his eyes. “I would have like to have witnessed that.”

Huh. Me too. I’d never encountered Lord Shingen, but I had indeed seen Kenshin in battle. Anyone who could successfully fight off his attack – with a fan, no less – had to have mad skills. Of course, now that they were allied against Nobunaga, I imagined they made a terrifying duo.

After a few flutters of the fan in front of my eyes, I put it aside. “As it turns out, I purchased something for you too.” I handed him the parcel from the bookseller.

“A book?” His eyes sparkled. Then when he pulled out the blank books, he seemed confused. “Is this printed in secret ink?”

“No. These are for you to write in. That way you don’t have to keep track of lots of scraps of paper or keep rolling and unrolling a scroll to find what you are looking for.” I’d watched Mitsunari re-ordering his notes often enough.

“Ah yes, these will be handy.” He ran his hand over the bound covers. “Thank you, Okatsu.”

For a long moment, he was quiet, and I didn’t rush to fill the space in between with useless commentary, because I knew he had more words and would speak them when he was ready. And after a few breaths, that is what he did. “Okatsu, why did you buy me a gift?”

Did there need to be a reason? “I thought it was something you would like. Is that not why you got this fan?”

“Oh. In fact, yes. I did think that you would like it.” He looked around for his teacup, and I moved it back to the center of the table. He picked it up, then put it back down, as if belatedly realizing he’d finished it a while back.

We sat there without speaking, simply looking at each other, until a cleared throat and glare from an old man alerted us to the fact that there were more people interested in sitting down than there were places to sit.

Mitsunari took my hand again as we strolled back through Takayama, which was nice. Too nice. I must not ever forget that I was only here as part of a charade. And so, I destroyed the comfortable silence. “I wanted you to have something to remember me by – when this is all over.”

There was a soft sigh, and he was close enough that it tickled my cheek. “I would not forget you, Okatsu. I want to-”

Whatever it was he meant to say next was lost when someone collided with me.

“Oh, excuse me!” I said it automatically, though I was not sure if it had indeed been my fault. The collider pressed a scrap of paper into my hand, but when I turned to get a better look at him, he was already on his way. Had that been a ninja?

No. It had been a woman. A kunoichi then.

Frowning, Mitsunari watched her melt into the crowd of a busy outdoor market.

“Should we go after her?” If I ran, I could possibly catch her, but I might lose Mitsunari in the process.

“Do you have a sister?”

“No.” He ought to know I only had a brother. “Why?”

“Because, she reminded me of-” He seemed to be struggling to put it into words. “She had your eyes.”

“Really?” I shrugged that off. I have brown eyes, like most of the population. Then I remembered the scrap of paper and opened it. It was short and to the point.

Hikosane is in danger. Protect him at all costs.

Note, if you've read "Twelve Lies I Told Shingen Takeda" the encounter with the kunoichi at the end corresponds to Chapter 45 when timeline A Katsuko overhears the following:

In the distance, someone’s phone chimed an alert, and I heard a female voice, sounding like it was on speaker say, “I gave her the message, but I think Mitsunari recognized me.”

Then, as I took a hesitant step along the path, I heard, “Theoretically, that would be ok, if that means they’ll take the message seriously enough to protect Hikosane.”

It's not necessary to have read "12 Lies..." before this story, but if you have, that was one of the Easter egg payoffs.

@lorei-writes @bestbryn @katriniac @lyds323 @briars7

[zykamiliah]

Shen Qingqiu, who’d always been so good at mental gymnastics, reached a new high in his number of mental roasts, madly smashing through his old records—yet he still couldn’t put himself at ease, and instead he only grew more tired and worn out. He relentlessly told himself to the point of auto-brainwashing: the suffering and torment Luo Binghe endured now was all necessary in order for him to stand above the masses in the future. Without enduring the bone-chilling cold / How could fragrant plum blossoms hope to bloom / Without three years’ training in realms below / How could a demon king over worlds loom? Xin Mo in hand, he would possess everything beneath the heavens / With a harem innumerable, he need not be an incel… But it was useless. It was completely useless. Nothing could lift his spirits. (Chapter 4: Conference)

take a shot every time in vol. 1 sqq talks about brainwashing himself. from the skinner demon incident, and after the demon invasion, when it comes to what he has to do in the Immortal Alliance Conference, over and over, the man keeps trying to convince himself that it's fine, this is how things are supposed to go. the disciples dying. him having to reject and push luo binghe into the abyss. the mental stress this situation most have put in himself, that's something i can't comprehend at all.

He selfishly hoped that Luo Binghe would go of his own volition. In this kind of scenario, characters who chose to jump from cliffs were always caught on something—then Shen Qingqiu could go on believing his own lies that this scene would have a happy end.

pushing lbh into the endless abyss was so fucking traumatizing. like this is one of the reasons he can't talk about it when lbh asks him. he has trauma, and doesn't speak about it, avoids thinking about it, similar to the way yqy can't talk about his own trauma. the guilt, the fact that he, in his owns eyes, killed the person he adores so much.

Only Shen Qingqiu knew that the one he was mourning was in truth within that sword mound, buried underneath and never to return: that youth as warm as the sun.

and not only that, but their relationship. god sqq had come to genuinely love living with luo binghe, just being around him and depending on him.

Clearly Shen Qingqiu was the one who’d raised that little lamb of a protagonist, so why did it seem like the protagonist had been the one looking after him? He was scaring his disciples, putting on the act of a grieving widow whose husband had just died. Hadn’t it been only a couple of days since he’d last seen that child?

^this is what I mean when I said sqq also got psychological damage from their separation.

But, perhaps because Luo Binghe had left, he really was a bit lonely. Especially when he thought about how five years from now, when they reunited, a relationship that had once been that of a compassionate teacher and filial disciple (or something) would become defined by veiled murderous intent and daggers hidden within smiles. (Chapter 4: Conference)

and the nail on the coffin is the notification system. honestly im still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that lbh hold on hope for 15+ days that his shizun would go back for him.

What truly broke him and caused him to weep at the heavens was that, after several days of silence, the System sent him a message truly devoid of all humanity.

【 Congratulations! You have successfully completed the key quest, “The Legend Begins: Luo Binghe’s Fall and Rebirth.” Reward: Protagonist satisfaction points +10,000. 】

now this "weeping to the heaven", is it an hyperbole or is it literal? I'm going with the latter, because sqq loves to make fun about his own feelings. and when distracting himself and humor don't suffice, he has to go take his anger on something or someone

Being so unhappy, naturally Shen Qingqiu had to go take it out on someone else. So, he had Ming Fan deliver a message inviting Shang Qinghua to the Bamboo House.

a coping mechanism similar to bingge's, talk about parallels, toxic masculinity etc

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

And Round 1 is Done!

PROPAGANDA

"Picture this: the love of your life betrays you and causes your death, then you're brought back to life later against your will and your lover is with your reincarnation. Anyone would feel bitter! She tries her best to keep living her half life and helping people. She's hated just because she's not the main character and gets in the way of the show's OTP."

"Kikyo was such an interesting character. She was murdered by the villain, who tricked both her and her love interest into thinking the other had betrayed them, brought back to life against her will only to find that fifty years had passed, the world had moved on without her, her baby sister was now an old woman, and she'd been condemned to an awful half-life in an unfeeling clay body where she was stuck in her worst moments and basically a vengeful spirit, but she eventually managed to move past it, gave up her one chance at getting revenge on her murderer to save the life of a child, and achieved some measure of inner peace before she died for good. But, she also has the misfortune of being the first love of the male lead, so of course the only thing anyone seems to care about is how she supposedly did him dirty and wasn't good enough for him. The whole fandom is chock full of meta posts about how she didn't trust Inuyasha enough and should have known he'd NEVER betray her like that. Meanwhile, Inuyasha fell for it just as easily when the villain framed HER for attacking HIM, but nobody ever tries to claim that HE didn't trust HER enough. (For further context, when she thought he'd betrayed her, she retaliated by pinning him to a tree and putting him in an enchanted sleep. He retaliated by destroying her village.) In at least 90% of the fanfics that she appears in at all, she's either the Bad Girlfriend or the Evil Ex, who either previously or is currently abusing the hero, or cheating on him, or trying to coerce him into turning human, or dating him for years only to break up with him by telling him he disgusts her because of his demon blood (huh???), none of which she did in the actual canon, solely so the preferred love interest can swoop in and kiss it all better. People will claim they're just making valid criticisms of her actions (which, to be fair, aren't always great), or saying she didn't properly earn her redemption (which is actually pretty standard for a shounen series) because she didn't apologize enough, but them multiple male characters who did far worse than she did somehow miraculously managed to escape the constant criticisms that she's subjected to, this despite having a so-called redemption that's literally just "He stopped eating people because he wanted to get into the heroine's pants", and remain very popular characters both in their own right and as alternate ships for the female lead. The double standards are so glaringly obvious, yet people will bend over backwards and jump through mental hoops that would give a gold-medal Olympics gymnast pause to insist that they're being completely objective and fair and that this isn't just about trying to score points in a ship war or holding female characters to completely different standards from male characters."

Kairi Propaganda

"The Kingdom Hearts game series is about Mickey Mouse battling the forces of Darkness with an alliance of fashionable anime boys. Kairi is a major character, and one of the few female characters. She is part of a trio of childhood best friends, with the protagonist Sora and their other friend Riku (who had a villain arc and then a redemption arc). Though Kairi is constantly and clumsily sidelined by the canon narrative, she arguably has more backstory going on than any other major characters. She is a refugee from another planet. She implicitly lost her beloved grandma at five years old in the traumatic destruction of their hometown. She was kidnapped and experimented on by an evil wizard-scientist—she escaped thanks to having a magic charm that basically teleported her to her soulmate(s). Then she had to adjust to living on a new planet and being adopted by a new family. In the very first game, when she's 14, she turns out her pure heart is one of 7 in the entire universe to be free of Darkness—she shows a full emotional spectrum of fear, sadness, frustration, defeat, but she isn't vulnerable to corruption. In KH2, she becomes one of the Chosen Ones who wield a magical weapon called a Keyblade. She loves her friends very much, and she has the unique talent to instantly recognize them even when they've been transformed into monsters. She has saved them several times with nothing but the Power Of Love in her heart randomly manifesting in, like, telepathy and teleportation and resurrection—she doesn't even consciously know that she has powers, her love is just so great that it's accepted as a tangible force of nature. She is frustrated and ashamed by her role as a damsel in distress, and she wishes to be stronger and combat-capable so that she join her male friends on their adventures instead of waiting around where it's safe. Also she was kidnapped by an evil assassin clown who's ten years older than her, and then they became friends. NOT ONLY does the fandom plug its ears and claim there is nothing interesting about this character and no potential in her story—Kairi has been demonized by the fandom for about 20 years. Somehow Kairi is useless and boring while also being a Mary Sue at the same time. She was called a bitch and a slut and a whore. She was hated for wearing too much pink and wielding a girly weapon with a floral design. She was criticized as a slut for wearing a short skirt, and for THE PLAYER being able to manipulate the camera into a contrived angle to look up her skirt to see her panties in the first edition of KH2. You can find nearly 20-year-old fanfiction and fanart of her being twisted into an evil schemer driving her friends apart, and of her being gleefully brutalized and insulted. Haters STILL comb for every crumb to make elaborate anti-canon theories about why she's an agent of evil, even though canon has FIRMLY ESTABLISHED for TWENTY YEARS since the very beginning that she's THE ONE CHARACTER incapable of growing Darkness in her heart. The theory is that she exists only as a puppet sent by the main villain to sabotage her friends (the plot for two out of the four main female characters) for all ten years of their friendship. The theory is that she's been using her powers to force her friends to love her—and their Power Of Friendship that is the EMOTIONAL BACKBONE OF THE STORY, and THE MAJOR FORCE OF GOOD IN THEIR UNIVERSE, and THE MOST CONSISTENT MOTIVATION FOR THE HEROES is all Just Misdirection LOL building up to a shitty Plot Twist. The theory is that she's secretly a custom-manufactured Chirithy (a cute talking animal companion that serves and guides humans)—and not a human girl with her own natural feelings and aspirations. AND THEN after stripping her of every important trait and role, these fans claim they're making Kairi more important and interesting than she is in canon. I don't know what causes the fandom to so desperately hate a sweet 14-year-old girl who literally canonically never did anything wrong."

[ahungeringknife]

find the word tag

tagged by @aziz-reads to find Lock, guest, rule, and crown

tagging @flowers-of-io @thegodsaredead @tabswrites and @infinnative to find: key, cloud, hate, and charm

Lock

She unlocked the door. “That- “Danna,” Mali shoved the door open, not having to put on too much of an act to be cross. “Office hours mean your office is open!” Dan was sitting at his desk with a scrying mirror propped up on it that displayed some sort of sport. Looked like gymnastics. He jumped in his seat when Mali arrived loudly. “Thralluk- my door was locked,” he said. Dan was an older olive skinned Aldashi with not a hint of the province’s stereotypical beauty and his salt and pepper black hair was combed to hide his thinning hair. “Well now it isn’t,” Mali said with a cute, mean, smile. “One of your students wanted to speak with you,” she indicated Abirid who was standing just behind her wide eyed.

Guest

The party had lasted deep into the night before everyone had finally gone home. The feylon guests had been a bit grossed out when the Dirinnans, at least the first or second generation ones, had spit on the door step on their way out. A final offering of their body’s water as thanks for the food and fun they’d had. Spayar hadn’t slept at home that night. He’d gone out to Smokers Den with his friends and even when he’d come home the next day he’d still been high and giggly. She’d never seen her brother so high, or so happy. When their father had scolded him for being out all night he’d just stood there, swaying, a huge grin on his face. During the lecture he’d just started giggling and couldn’t stop. Not even when their father had told him to shut up. Eventually Spayar Sr. had just banished Spayar to his room but not before he’d waxed poetry about the handsome men he’d seen in that part of the city.

Rule

“Jackkerty let a foreigner get the better of him? Really?” “Yeah. We were surprised too. Lonni said they all went in one day for their usual meeting and he was gone and Pale Cross was in his place. Didn’t believe at first. Found his body in his house in Middleton later that day.” “Well shit,” Spayar said softly. He wasn’t really torn up about Jackkerty’s death. Not really. Jackkerty had been a fool. But he knew the rules and was easily manipulated. Exactly how the Lord of the Tithing Court should be here in Assarus.

Crown

“I was in the area,” Von said with that annoyingly handsome smile of his that made him like a sunbeam. “Lemp’s ball sack you were,” Spayar said and sat across from Von at the table. Vondugard Le’Acard was Spayar’s best friend and the most beautiful man he’d ever laid eyes on. All fair golden skin and hair with the most intensely cerulean eyes he’d ever seen. When he smiled he had dimples and wore his hair at a fashionable length around the top of his ears with a long front fringe that today he had pinned back with a gaudy silver unicorn rampart clip. Spayar didn’t usually go for white guys but Von was an exception. As he was with everything. He was also a Crown Prince of the Alliance. “He always comes and has lunch with us on Siscest,” Calli said thoughtfully, rightfully snitching on him immediately.