#i also need to read up on the candidates in my area before i go vote so theres just so much to do one after the other...

[megumi-fm]

.

[levandright]

And oh, how I'd love to go Paris again

pairing : jake x f!reader ୨ৎ content / warning(s) : non-idol au, love at first sight, fluff, strangers to friends to lovers(not stated but heavily implied), tension, they're in love your honor, fate reference/mention, can be read as either hs or uni au its up to you ୨ৎ word count : 5.9k

synopsis. you're overwhelmed with your school finals close by, while you are taking a short break from your studying, you couldn't help but reminisce about your precious memories in the city of love when a song that reminds you of your time in paris play. ୨ৎ lev notes : the class trip may not be 100% accurate but its for the plot okay... i had to make it inspired by the 1975 cause i love them too much not to do so + it fits with how i literally have them as my top artist this year :3 (i started writing this days earlier before spotify wrapped lol) also i literally had paris on loop for like 7 hours in total while writing this... anyways hope y'all like this cause it took a lot of brain power to write it, trust i will post what the heart wants as soon as i finish a surprise fic im working on rn ꒰⠀for @sugarikiz event 'ʏᴏᴜʀ ℰ𝓎ℯ𝓈 ᴏɴʟʏ ☁︎.𖥔 ' ꒱

you're at your school's library, cramming for your upcoming finals. with a little over a week to prepare for months' worth of lessons across multiple subjects, the pressure is taking quite a toll on you. two cups of coffee sit beside your laptop, one already empty. even though you've been studying for less than 40 minutes, you already feel the urge to down all the caffeine left in front of you just to keep from dozing off again.

sigh, 'just gotta finish this whole powerpoint. then, i can finally relax for a bit' you silently hype yourself out. with the reward of a break for an hour of studying, you quickly go through the entire lesson in a flash.

grabbing the not empty cup of coffee, you take a much needed sip to keep yourself awake for more hours of studying.

a while later, you're stretching in your seat after having finished with that specific powerpoint. 'finally i can take a break' you think to yourself

as you sit, and stare at your laptop's screen. contimplating on what to do to pass time, you decide to play music to relax yourself.

clicking the shuffle button on your playlist. you put your headphones on and rest your head on your arms, as the familiar tune of paris by the 1975 play.

the music pulls you into a memory, that unforgettable class trip to paris.

꒰ and oh, how i'd love to go paris again ꒱

you’re on the bus, the city outside the window slowly coming to life. everyone in your class is chatting excitedly, pointing out landmarks and planning what to do when you finally get off. the eiffel tower is getting closer, its towering frame making your heart race with excitement.

“can you believe we’re actually here?” keeho says, leaning over to nudge your shoulder. his energy is infectious, and you can’t help but smile.

hyunjin, sitting across the aisle, snaps a quick photo through the window. “this already feels unreal,” he says, grinning. “i’m going to fill my camera roll today.”

the bus comes to a stop, and your teacher announces a short break to explore the area. the three of you quickly stick together as everyone spills out onto the cobblestone street. paris feels alive—the air smells like fresh bread and coffee, and the chatter of locals blends with the hum of passing cars.

“we need food. let’s find a café!” keeho declares, already marching toward a row of cozy-looking places with outdoor seating.

you follow, laughing as hyunjin drags you by the wrist to keep up. he’s scanning every building, taking quick snapshots of anything that catches his eye. “wait, stand here,” he says suddenly, pulling out his phone to snap a candid photo of you and keeho in front of a flower shop.

“are you going to take pictures the whole trip?” you tease.

“obviously,” hyunjin replies, unbothered. “someone has to document how good we look in paris.”

eventually, the three of you settle at a small café. the waiter brings over menus, and you all take a moment to soak it all in. keeho orders a slice of cake, hyunjin gets a croissant and coffee, and you decide on a simple baguette sandwich.

“okay, this is officially the best food i’ve ever had,” keeho says after his first bite.

“it’s just cake,” hyunjin says, rolling his eyes but stealing a forkful anyway.

you laugh as they bicker, feeling a warmth settle in your chest. sitting there with your best friends, surrounded by the magic of paris, everything feels perfect.

after finishing your meals, you and your friends head back to the bus to regroup with your class. the energy is buzzing as everyone talks about their plans for the rest of the day. your teacher announces that the next stop is a famous museum nearby.

the museum is grand, with high ceilings and beautiful architecture that makes you feel small in the best way. inside, it’s quieter, with your classmates dispersing into smaller groups.

hyunjin immediately pulls out his camera again. “this lighting is perfect,” he mutters, snapping a photo of a sculpture in the corner.

keeho rolls his eyes with a smirk. “he’s gonna be like this the whole time.”

“he’s consistent, at least,” you joke, earning a laugh from keeho as the two of you start wandering through the exhibits together.

the artwork is stunning—paintings that feel alive, sculptures that seem to breathe. you and keeho take your time strolling through the halls, sharing your thoughts on each piece.

“i don’t get this one,” keeho says, staring at an abstract painting.

“it’s open to interpretation,” you reply.

“so… the artist spilled paint everywhere?”

you nudge his arm. “be serious!”

keeho grins but then glances around. “hey, i’m gonna find the bathroom real quick. don’t get lost.”

“sure, sure,” you say, waving him off.

as he walks away, you wander aimlessly, letting your feet carry you through the museum’s winding halls. you stop to admire a large painting of a serene countryside when, out of nowhere, you bump into someone.

“oh, i’m so sorry!” you blurt out, taking a step back.

the stranger turns to you, and your words catch in your throat. he’s tall, with warm eyes and a gentle smile. his presence feels calm, yet somehow magnetic.

“no worries,” he says, his voice warm and calm, with a hint of an australian accent you catch right away. “are you okay?”

you nod quickly, feeling your cheeks heat up. “y-yeah, i wasn’t looking where i was going.”

he chuckles lightly, brushing it off. “happens to the best of us.”

he pauses for a moment, as if waiting to see if you’ll say anything else. you manage a small smile. “thanks for being so nice about it. i’m—uh…” before you can finish, keeho’s voice rings out from somewhere nearby.

“hey, y/n! where’d you go?”

the spell is broken, and you glance over your shoulder to see keeho waving at you. turning back to the stranger, you offer an apologetic smile. “that’s my friend. i should go.”

“of course,” he says, still smiling. “take care.”

you hurry off toward keeho, your heart still racing. as you rejoin your friends, you glance back briefly to see the stranger walking away. something about the moment lingers, a small spark you can’t quite explain.

after regrouping with keeho and hyunjin, the three of you continue exploring the museum. hyunjin has finally tucked his camera away, much to keeho’s relief.

“didn’t think i’d ever see the day you’d stop taking pictures,” keeho teases.

“i’m just saving space for later,” hyunjin retorts, grinning. “besides, i want to actually enjoy this.”

the three of you move through the museum, pausing at different exhibits. keeho offers more of his hilarious “critiques,” while hyunjin points out details you might’ve missed. for a while, it feels like time doesn’t exist, just the three of you soaking in the beauty of parisian art.

after some time, you excuse yourself to find the restroom. as you leave, keeho calls after you, “don’t get lost again!”

“i won’t!” you call back with a laugh, shaking your head.

once you step out of the restroom, you turn a corner and nearly bump into someone again.

“oh—sorry!” you start, looking up. and there he is.

the boy from earlier.

“you again,” he says with a warm smile, his eyes lighting up with recognition.

“yeah, me again,” you reply, feeling your face heat up.

“i guess we’re just destined to keep running into each other,” he jokes, his tone light and teasing.

you laugh softly. “seems like it. i never got your name earlier.”

“jake,” he says, extending his hand. “and you?”

“y/n,” you say, shaking his hand. his grip is gentle but firm, and you feel your heart skip a beat.

“nice to officially meet you, y/n,” jake says, his smile widening.

the two of you start chatting, the conversation flowing easily. he tells you he’s here with his own group, visiting from another school all the way from australia, and you share a little about your own trip. his voice is calm and steady, and his subtle humor keeps making you giggle.

at one point, he gestures toward a nearby painting. “what do you think of this one? please don’t say the artist spilled paint everywhere.”

you burst into laughter, shaking your head. “no, no, that’s keeho’s specialty. i actually think it’s kind of beautiful, in a chaotic way.”

“good answer,” jake says, grinning.

before you know it, the sound of footsteps and familiar voices echo down the hall. “y/n! where are you?” keeho calls, his voice unmistakable.

you glance in the direction of the sound, then back at jake, your smile faltering slightly. “that’s my friends. i should go.”

jake nods, his expression soft. “of course. it was nice talking to you, y/n.”

“you too, jake,” you say, stepping away reluctantly. as you walk toward your friends, you can’t help but glance back once. jake is still standing there, giving you a small wave.

you rejoin keeho and hyunjin, who immediately start teasing you for taking so long. but as the three of you continue exploring the museum, you can’t stop thinking about jake. and though you don’t say it out loud, you quietly hope that fate will bring you together again.

it’s been a day since the museum, but your thoughts keep circling back to jake. his kind smile, the way he made you laugh, and that unmistakable australian accent—it’s all stuck in your head.

after dinner with your classmates at the hotel, the buzz of chatter feels overwhelming. you decide to step outside for some fresh air, hoping a quiet walk will help clear your mind.

the streets of paris are calmer at this hour, bathed in a soft, golden glow from the streetlights. a small park just down the road catches your eye, and you wander toward it, settling onto a bench beneath a tree.

you sit there for a while, letting your thoughts drift. the cool breeze carries the faint scent of flowers, and the distant hum of city life feels oddly soothing.

suddenly, you feel someone sit down beside you. you glance over, and your heart skips a beat.

it’s him.

jake.

the boy you couldn’t stop thinking about.

he notices your surprise and gives you that same warm smile. “hey,” he says casually. “fancy seeing you here.”

you blink, struggling to process the coincidence. “jake? what are you doing here?”

“could ask you the same thing,” he says with a light chuckle, leaning back against the bench. “i was out for a walk, saw this park, and thought i’d sit for a bit. didn’t expect to run into you again.”

you laugh softly, shaking your head. “paris must be smaller than we think.”

“or fate has a funny way of working,” he says, his tone teasing but his eyes sincere.

the conversation flows naturally from there. he asks about your class trip, and you tell him about your visit to the museum and all the places your group plans to see next. he shares stories about his own class, laughing about his friends’ antics and the moments that make the trip memorable.

“you’re telling me someone actually fell asleep in front of the mona lisa?” you ask, barely holding back laughter.

“yup. full-on snoring,” jake replies, grinning. “the security guard didn’t know whether to wake him or leave him there.”

the two of you laugh together, the sound blending into the quiet of the park.

after a while, jake stands up. “wait here,” he says, his tone playful but mysterious.

“where are you going?” you ask, watching him walk toward a nearby food stand.

“you’ll see,” he calls back over his shoulder.

a few minutes later, he returns, holding two neatly wrapped chocolate crepes. he hands one to you with a grin. “figured this would make the moment even better.”

you take it, smiling at his thoughtfulness. “thanks, jake. this is perfect.”

as you both sit there, enjoying the crepes and chatting under the parisian sky, you can’t help but feel like this moment is something straight out of a dream.

the days in paris pass like a blur, filled with sightseeing, laughter, and the magic of simply being in the city. but the most unexpected highlight of your trip that osn’t on the schedule—is jake.

you can’t quite explain it, but somehow, you keep running into him. these little moments have become the thing you secretly look forward to the most.

────୨ৎ────

you’re standing at the counter of a small café, debating between ordering a croissant or a pain au chocolat. the decision feels monumental, and you’re entirely lost in thought when a voice interrupts you.

“go for the pain au chocolat,” jake says, appearing beside you with an easy smile.

you blink, startled at first, before breaking into a grin. “jake? what are you doing here?”

“getting breakfast,” he says, holding up a cup of coffee and a bag. “didn’t think i’d see you again so soon.”

“neither did i,” you reply, chuckling. “are you always this lucky, or is paris just this small?”

“maybe both,” he teases. “need help deciding?”

“i was leaning toward the croissant, but now i feel like i have to trust your judgment.”

“always trust the chocolate,” he says, nodding sagely.

you laugh and order the pain au chocolat. as you wait, the two of you chat, his humor making the simple café feel like the best spot in paris.

────୨ৎ────

a couple of days later, you’re wandering through a mall with keeho and hyunjin, trying to find souvenirs to take back home. keeho is busy debating between two scarves for his mom, and hyunjin is glued to his phone, looking up recommendations.

you drift toward a small kiosk filled with handmade trinkets, running your fingers over delicate keychains.

“don’t tell me you’re buying one of those cheesy eiffel tower keychains,” a familiar voice says behind you.

you spin around, your heart skipping a beat. “jake!”

he’s holding a bag of his own, filled with souvenirs. “fancy meeting you here.”

“again,” you add with a laugh.

keeho spots jake and gives you a knowing look, while hyunjin just raises an eyebrow before wandering off. you try to ignore them and focus on jake instead.

“what’s in the bag?” you ask, nodding toward his purchases.

“just some stuff for my family,” he says. “and maybe a keychain or two.”

you laugh. “i thought you were against cheesy keychains.”

“only when other people buy them,” he says, his grin mischievous.

────୨ৎ────

the park has become your little escape, a quiet place to think and reflect. you’re sitting on the same bench as before, lost in thought, when you hear footsteps approach.

“do you have a permanent spot here, or are you waiting for me?” jake’s voice breaks through your daydream.

you turn, smiling as he sits down beside you. “maybe both.”

“lucky me, then,” he says, leaning back and looking up at the sky. “so, what’s on your mind today?”

you hesitate for a moment, then decide to be honest. “just… thinking about how much i’ve enjoyed this trip. and how strange it’ll feel to leave.”

jake nods, his expression softening. “yeah, i get that. it’s been a lot, hasn’t it?”

“yeah,” you say quietly, and for a moment, the two of you sit in comfortable silence.

that evening. your teacher gathers the entire class in the lobby of the hotel to deliver the news.

“you’ve got two days left to enjoy paris before we head back home,” she says. “make sure you start packing your things and grab any last-minute souvenirs.”

the room fills with murmurs of excitement and relief. most of your classmates are thrilled to return to canada, and part of you is, too. but as you head back to your room, a bittersweet feeling settles in your chest.

two more days. that’s all the time you have left before you have to say goodbye to jake.

you don’t know why the thought stings so much, but it does. and now, more than ever, you hope for one more chance to see him.

────୨ৎ────

the second-to-last day in paris feels like a blur of excitement and nostalgia. you, keeho, and hyunjin make it a mission to visit as many places as possible, squeezing every last drop out of your remaining time in the city.

as the three of you step into the vintage store, you're greeted by the faint smell of aged leather and a mix of retro music playing softly in the background. the shop is packed with everything from old records to racks of vintage clothes and shelves lined with random knick-knacks.

“okay,” keeho announces, clapping his hands together. “this is the place to find hidden gems.”

hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “hidden gems or overpriced junk?”

“you just don’t have the vision,” keeho shoots back, already digging through a rack of jackets.

you wander toward a glass display case near the counter, something catching your eye—a vintage digicam. it’s small, sleek, and looks like it’s been well cared for. you kneel to get a closer look, curiosity piqued.

“hey, what’d you find?” keeho asks, appearing beside you with a leopard-print scarf draped around his neck.

you point to the camera. “a digicam. looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?”

keeho leans in, inspecting it. “very cool. are you gonna get it?”

you hesitate. “i don’t know… do you think it still works?”

“only one way to find out,” hyunjin says, suddenly appearing on your other side. he gestures to the shop owner, a kind-looking older man, who unlocks the case and hands you the camera.

you examine it closely, turning it over in your hands. the lens looks clean, and the buttons feel intact.

“how much?” you ask the shop owner.

“twenty euros,” he replies with a smile.

keeho gasps dramatically. “a steal! you have to get it.”

“yeah, before someone else does,” hyunjin agrees, casually flipping through a rack of shirts.

you laugh at their enthusiasm and decide to go for it. “alright, fine. i’m buying it.”

as you hand over the cash, keeho strikes another pose with the scarf. “what do you think? parisian chic, or should i stick to my usual?”

“stick to your usual,” hyunjin says without looking up.

keeho sighs, draping the scarf back onto the rack. “you two have no appreciation for drama.”

you test out the digicam, snapping a quick photo of keeho mid-pout. the image pops up on the tiny screen, surprisingly crisp for something so old.

“perfect,” you say, showing him the photo.

keeho grins. “okay, maybe you do have an eye for the dramatic.”

hyunjin wanders over with an oversized sweater, holding it up against himself. “thoughts?”

keeho wrinkles his nose. “are you auditioning for a grandpa role?”

“i like it,” you say, defending hyunjin’s choice.

“thank you,” hyunjin replies, smugly tossing the sweater over his arm.

the three of you spend a bit longer in the shop, goofing around and trying on random hats, sunglasses, and jackets. you snap more photos with your new camera—keeho wearing an old captain’s hat, hyunjin attempting to look cool in aviator sunglasses, and a candid shot of the two of them laughing together.

by the time you leave, the bag with your new camera swings lightly at your side, and your heart feels full. the memory of this moment—just you and your friends being unapologetically yourselves—already feels like a keepsake all its own.

at a small crêperie, hyunjin’s crêpe is covered in whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.

“how are you even holding that without it falling apart?” you ask, staring at the overloaded treat in wonder.

hyunjin shrugs. “skill,” he says simply before taking an enormous bite.

keeho watches in horror. “that’s going to end up all over your shirt, and i am not letting you borrow mine.”

“you sound like my mom,” hyunjin says through a mouthful of crêpe.

by the seine river, you take turns with the digicam, capturing moments that feel like they belong in a movie. keeho makes exaggerated poses on the bridge, while hyunjin tries (and fails) to look mysterious.

when it’s your turn to hold the camera, you take a candid shot of the two of them mid-laugh. it’s perfect—pure and genuine, a reminder of how much these moments mean to you.

“alright, photographer extraordinaire,” keeho says, pointing dramatically at the eiffel tower in the distance. “get my good side.”

“you don’t have one,” hyunjin jokes, earning a glare from keeho.

as the day winds down, you find yourself lingering outside the hotel while keeho and hyunjin head inside.

“we’ll be in the lobby if you need us,” keeho calls over his shoulder, giving you a knowing look.

once they’re gone, you make your way to the park. the same bench, the same tree, and this time, jake is already there, waiting.

he stands when he sees you, his smile soft but bright. “hey.”

“hey,” you reply, walking up to him. “beat me here this time, huh?”

“had a feeling you’d come,” he says, shrugging.

you sit down beside him, the quiet of the park wrapping around you like a blanket.

“you’ve been busy,” jake comments. “i saw you earlier near the seine with your friends. looked like fun.”

“it was,” you say, smiling at the memory. “trying to cram everything into one day, you know? time feels so short now.”

jake’s expression shifts, just slightly, and you know he understands what you mean.

“speaking of time…” you begin, hesitating. “we’re leaving tomorrow. my class is flying back home.”

jake nods slowly, his gaze dropping to his hands. “i figured it was coming. my group leaves the day after.”

there’s a pause, the kind that feels heavy but not uncomfortable.

“do you think we’ll meet again?” you ask softly, not daring to look at him.

“i hope we do,” he replies, his voice quiet but firm.

the weight of his words lingers between you, saying everything that neither of you can.

you pull out your digicam, breaking the tension with a small smile. “can i take some pictures? you know, to remember this?”

jake’s face brightens slightly. “of course.”

you snap a few shots—some posed, some candid. jake laughing at something you said, jake looking off into the distance, and finally, one of the two of you together, taken with his help.

as the night deepens, you know it’s time to go. you stand, reluctantly. “i should get back before my friends come looking for me.”

jake nods but doesn’t move. instead, he reaches out, gently taking your wrist.

“wait.”

you turn, surprised, as he pulls something from his jacket pocket—a pair of silver rings, simple and elegant.

“for you,” he says softly, slipping the smaller one onto your right hand’s ring finger. the fit is perfect.

your heart races, words failing you as he looks at you, his gaze full of unspoken meaning. then, he leans forward, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead.

“goodbye, y/n,” he murmurs, stepping back.

it takes you a moment to find your voice. “goodbye, jake.”

as you walk back to the hotel, your mind replays the moment over and over, the cool metal of the ring on your finger grounding you in the surrealness of it all. that night, lying in bed, you can’t help but wonder if the universe will bring you and jake together again someday.

꒰ paris again, and again, and again, and again, and again ꒱

a tap on your shoulder pulls you out of your thoughts, and you lift your head groggily. you blink, trying to focus on the person standing in front of you. it’s keeho, grinning mischievously, while hyunjin stands behind him, sipping his americano with a slightly amused expression.

“y/n, what are you doing?” keeho asks, leaning in and waving his hand in front of your face.

you yawn, rubbing your eyes. “i’m taking a break. i can’t even keep my eyes open for more than a minute.”

hyunjin raises an eyebrow. “yeah, we can tell. you’re practically sleeping at your desk.” he leans against the back of your chair, his voice cool but teasing. “how about you stop pretending to study and actually join us for once?”

keeho’s grin widens as he jumps into the conversation. “we’re heading to a café to study, and you’re coming with us. you need a change of scenery.”

you groan, feeling your body resist the idea of leaving the comforting quiet of the library, but deep down, you know you’ve been at it for too long. a change of pace might be exactly what you need.

“come on, y/n,” keeho insists, his voice full of that playful energy you can’t ignore. “we’ll make it more fun. you can’t study like this. plus, you’ll probably get more done with us around.”

you hesitate for a moment, your mind torn between the need for a proper break and the looming pressure of your exams. still, you can’t deny how much you need a little distraction. “fine,” you sigh, finally giving in. “but if we end up just talking the entire time, i’m leaving.”

hyunjin chuckles, giving you a knowing look. “i think you’ll be okay. we’ll actually study this time. promise.”

keeho grabs your arm, pulling you up from your seat with a playful tug. “good, because you need us to keep you sane. now, let’s get out of here.”

as the three of you leave the library, you let out one last sigh, knowing that even though you might not get as much studying done as you hope, you could definitely use the company.

the café is warm and inviting, the soft hum of background chatter mixing with the aroma of fresh coffee and baked goods. it’s a stark contrast to the quiet, studious atmosphere of the library, and you find yourself breathing a little easier as you step inside.

you find a small corner table and set your laptop down, letting out a contented sigh as you settle in. keeho and hyunjin head to the counter to order, leaving you to fidget with your feet, trying to shake off the weight of the past few hours spent studying.

your eyes flicker to the window, watching people pass by as you idly tap your fingers against your coffee cup. eventually, you stop, catching sight of the ring on your right hand.

you pause, fingers tracing the smooth metal, your mind drifting back to paris. “it’s been three years since that time in paris,” you think to yourself, a wave of nostalgia washing over you. the memory feels distant now, like a dream you’re not quite sure was real.

you wonder if jake still remembers you, if he thinks about you at all. you’d been so wrapped up in the magic of those moments, so caught up in the fleeting connection between the two of you, that you’d completely forgotten to exchange socials, to keep in touch.

a soft laugh escapes you, tinged with frustration. you can still picture your past self—so carefree, so caught up in the magic of the moment, never once thinking about the things you should have done. and now, years later, it stings.

the photos you took back then are all you have left—memories frozen in time, but still, you find yourself wishing you had more. a way to bridge the gap between then and now, something more than a ring on your finger that’s become a quiet reminder of what you left behind.

a soft laugh from keeho breaks you from your thoughts, and you glance up to see him and hyunjin walking toward the table, their arms full of coffee cups and pastries. keeho places your cup down in front of you, his expression softening when he notices the faraway look in your eyes.

“you okay?” he asks, settling into his chair across from you.

you smile faintly. “yeah, just… thinking about paris.”

hyunjin raises an eyebrow but doesn’t push. he simply places a croissant in front of you and nods. “we’ll make it through these finals. paris will still be there when you’re done.”

you nod, but the bittersweet smile remains on your face, the question still lingering in the back of your mind. will you ever see jake again?

you manage to get some work done, but there’s plenty of laughter and light-hearted banter between you guys. hyunjin and keeho constantly bicker over the most ridiculous things—whether iced coffee is better than hot coffee, or if studying with background music is productive.

“you’re seriously telling me you don’t like the classics?” keeho says, shaking his head dramatically. “what kind of music do you even listen to, hyunjin?”

“i listen to music that doesn’t make my brain want to shut down,” hyunjin replies with a smirk, taking a sip from his americano. “but hey, if you need classical music to study, you do you.”

you laugh at their back-and-forth, shaking your head at their silly rivalry. the sound of their bickering is strangely comforting, distracting you from the pressure building up inside your mind. you feel a little lighter, even if it’s just for a moment.

after a while, you excuse yourself and head to the bathroom inside the café, needing a quick break from the endless cycle of notes and coffee. the place is busy, but the hum of quiet conversations and the scent of freshly brewed coffee make it feel comforting.

you take your time, refreshing yourself and letting your thoughts wander for a few moments. when you finally finish and head back out, you’re not paying attention to where you’re going, still lost in your thoughts.

and then—bam.

you collide with someone, the force making you stumble slightly. your reflexes kick in, and you immediately start bowing in apology, your words rushing out in a flurry of embarrassment.

“i’m so sorry! i didn’t mean—”

but before you can finish, you hear a familiar voice, soft and warm, with that unmistakable australian accent.

“y/n?”

you freeze, and the world seems to stop for a moment. you slowly lift your head, and there, standing in front of you, is none other than jake. in the flesh.

for a split second, all your words get caught in your throat. your heart races, and your brain scrambles to process the unexpected reunion. this can’t be real. is this a dream?

jake’s brows furrow slightly as he looks at you with concern, his voice softening. “are you okay?” he asks, stepping a little closer to you, clearly worried about your sudden silence.

you blink, feeling your heart thumping louder in your chest as you try to find your words, but they’re nowhere to be found. you stand there, staring at him, completely at a loss for what to say.

he leans in slightly, just enough to make sure you’re okay, his face showing that familiar concern. “y/n?” he gently says your name, and your body snaps back to reality.

“i—uh… sorry, i just—didn’t expect to see you.” you feel the heat rush to your cheeks, embarrassment flushing your face. "i thought… i thought i was imagining things."

jake chuckles softly, his expression softening with a smile that makes your heart flutter. “i didn’t expect to run into you here either.” his tone is light, playful, but there’s something in his eyes—something that makes the air feel a little thicker.

you both stand there for a moment, awkward silence hanging between you. the familiarity of this moment feels surreal, but there’s no denying the warmth that spreads through you at the sight of him.

“so, uh,” you start, finally finding your voice, “what are you doing here? i didn’t expect to run into you… again.”

jake’s lips curl into that familiar, soft smile. he shrugs nonchalantly, but there’s a glint in his eyes, something unspoken. “guess it’s just fate.” he says, his tone playful but there’s a layer of sincerity underneath it, one you can’t quite ignore.

you chuckle lightly, but the tension between you both is palpable now, thickening the air around you. there’s an undeniable pull between you, something that neither of you have fully acknowledged, but it’s there, lingering in the space between your words. you feel the heat of his gaze, and the sudden awareness of how close you both are makes your heart beat just a little faster.

“so… how’ve you been?” you ask, needing to break the moment but also curious, wanting to know everything about him since that last time you saw him.

jake rubs the back of his neck with a small, shy smile, a gesture you remember well. “i’ve been good… just been busy, you know. but i’ve been thinking about our time in paris a lot.” his voice is casual, but his eyes hold something deeper, a hint of vulnerability that you weren’t expecting.

you nod, understanding exactly what he means. you’ve been thinking about paris too. every memory feels like a treasure, something you’ve carefully tucked away, not wanting to forget any part of it. you wish you had more time to ask him about the things he’s been up to, to know if he’s felt the same pull that you have, the connection that neither of you can explain.

you glance down at your hand absentmindedly, and that’s when you see it—the ring he gave you in the park, so simple yet so meaningful. the silver band glints in the soft café lighting, and your heart does a little flip.

jake notices too, his gaze dropping to your hand. his smile softens, almost imperceptibly, but you notice it. there’s a quiet understanding between you two that you don’t need to speak aloud.

“i see you’re still wearing it,” he murmurs, his voice low, almost tender.

you look up at him, meeting his eyes, and for a moment, everything else fades away. you feel like you’re back in paris, standing in that park, with everything still ahead of you, full of hope and possibility.

“i didn’t want to take it off,” you say quietly, your voice barely above a whisper.

jake doesn’t say anything at first, his eyes locked on yours. then, without warning, he reaches out slowly, his fingers brushing lightly over your hand, and he gently presses a kiss to your right hand, right where the ring rests. the simple gesture feels like it speaks volumes, and you can’t help but feel a surge of warmth spread through you.

“i’m glad,” he says softly, his voice just above a murmur. “i’m glad you kept it.”

for a moment, neither of you speaks. the world feels like it’s holding its breath. the space between you feels charged, but neither of you is in a rush to break the silence. it’s as if this moment, this small, quiet exchange, is enough.

you blink, still a little stunned by the gesture, your heart racing, but a smile tugs at the corners of your lips. you can’t help but feel the warmth in your chest, the way his simple action makes you feel seen, valued, even though you never really said all the things you wanted to say.

when you finally speak, your voice is soft but steady. “i didn’t think i’d see you again.”

jake takes a deep breath, his eyes never leaving yours. “i didn’t either, but i’m glad i did.”

enha perm taglist. @dazzlingjaeyun @honeychocos @manaah02 @kozumesphone

©levandright

[drdemonprince]

so first off, sorry bc this is super fucking heavy.

re: commonalities between cis and trans men, and that other ask. something I've had to come to terms with is how even as a teenager before I had the concept of transitioning in my head - I still got all of the societal messaging wrt misogyny, etc. I totally benefited from it, even as a woman. I put other girls down. I was the cool chick. I cashed in where I could with it. i was absolutely a chauvinist when I transitioned. I felt inhuman as a woman, but I understood that ultimately that's the way women were *supposed* to be, as much as I wished otherwise. it took a long time to unlearn that.

my personal experience makes me very uncomfortable when I see other trans men talking about gendered socialization, or how overly negative people are towards men as a class. I wonder if they have ever sat down and really reconciled with the way they have, and do, benefit from their gendered position, or if they've convinced themselves they can't be a "bad person" by virtue of their birth sex.

I can't find a nuanced way to talk about this that won't be read in bad faith as essentialist rhetoric. rape culture is the system by which consent violation is normalized, its all the music and books and movies and bad relationships I assumed were normal and romantic as a young adult. I really, really hurt people, and I did it as men are encouraged to do, and as they are rewarded for doing. I found affirmation in hurting people, and it is so fucking easy to do this without even really thinking of it because it's the entire culture you've come up in.

I'm not even talking like, obvious cases here like phyrical domestic abuse & intentional date rape. there are so many subtle boundary erosions, there's weird gray areas around drugs & alcohol, there's attitudes and expectations in established relationships, there's the potential to exploit community for personal gain. there are partners who will fear you, and freeze and fawn and will not tell you "no."

a lot of the "we need a special word for masculine transphobia" types seem to also disavow the possibility that they hold male privelege. but we need to look at that shit, sexual or otherwise. it's scary to see guys who see women talking about it and they knee-jerk shout back "I'm not a rapist" and "not all men." guarantee some of them are, and just aren't aware of it. i was.

Thank you so much anon for this really brave, candid message. I think it's something that a lot of the trans guys crowing in my inbox about how cis men "are the bad gender" need to hear. (yes, someone literally said that to me). Portraying gendered categories, especially ones based on birth assignment!, as ontologically more evil or pure than others sets people up for abuse. Separating cis men out from trans men erases the ways in which trans guys can both leverage power and the ways in which toxic masculine norms are transmitted culturally to everyone regardless of assigned sex at birth. Lots of trans guys are palpably uncomfortable with their power, and can only see that relative to cis men, they experience transphobia and misogyny in greater amounts, and so they presume they must be in a highly victimized category. But they dont ever consider that as men they can and do often wield power over women -- especially trans women -- and they've got to fucking learn how to handle that reality responsibly, which many cis men actually do know how to fucking do. Especially multiply marginalized cis men who have been preyed upon and exploited themselves.

I think it's really powerful to hear you taking ownership of the actions you've taken that have hurt others, and the allure such actions had. Very few people have the courage to look their lower moments in the face and affirm that it's actually a part of them. If we're ever going to stop abusing and talking over women we've got to own up to our shit. I've seen what can happen when men come together to be vulnerable about their struggles, own their wrongdoing, and seek to change -- back when I was working in a men's drug treatment program. We can overcome this shit and take responsibility. But a lot of the birthday boy trans guy squad is incensed by even the idea of owing anything to anyone. Like a lot of MRAs.

[biscuitswithroy]

Just to Know You’re Alive

Jamie Tartt x Reader

You are tasked with writing an article about Jamie and you gain an understanding of him that nobody else ever has

Note: Hello! This is my first Ted Lasso fic. I’m so excited to share it with y’all!

When you were first assigned to write an article on Jamie Tartt, you weren’t exactly thrilled.

All you had heard about, and seen on the pitch, was that he was an egotistical man who would do anything to win.

But when you met him for the first time, all of your prior opinions on him changed.

It was after the devastating loss to Manchester City. You knew that it was the best chance you had to get the best content for your article. After all, it was the first game against his old team that had all but erased his career.

You made your way towards the press room, but were soon told that Jamie wouldn’t be a part of the interviews. Respecting his privacy, you accepted that you weren’t going to get that conversation that you needed.

But then there he was in the hallway as you were leaving. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes notably red. He’s been crying, there was no doubt in your mind about that.

“Are you alright?” You asked him, deciding that you didn’t want to miss a chance to ensure that he’s okay.

“Fine, yeah,” he mumbled. And then he turned and looked at you. His eyes found the press lanyard around your neck. “You’re a reporter?”

“Oh,” you said, taking your lanyard and off and placing it in your bag. “Right now I’m just a person who wants to make sure you’re okay.”

Jamie looked at you a little suspiciously but didn’t try to fight how you might feel.

“No one gets me,” he said. “Not even my family.”

“I see. Family can somehow be the best people and the worst people in your life,” you said.

Jamie nodded to that statement. He didn’t know why he was opening up to you, but he didn’t stop. You two sat on the floor against the wall.

He told you about the locker room incident. You told him that he was valid in his feelings. No one had ever said that to him before.

“I’m y/n, by the way,” you told him after the conversation had come to a halt.

“You already know me,” he said. “You do now, at least.” He looked almost shy as he said his next words. “Are you going to use this conversation against me?”

“Of course not,” you said. “But to be perfectly candid, I am supposed to write an article about you.”

Jamie chuckled a little, but it wasn’t one of pleasure. You think he was nervous, perhaps even worried that you were going to use it against him anyway and paint him as weak.

“Tomorrow,” he said randomly. “I’ll do your interview tomorrow. Meet me at The Crown & Anchor.”

“Oh, okay. Are you sure?” You asked him.

“Just be there,” a little bit of his coined impatience came through.

And with that he disappeared into the locker room. The next day you stood outside the pub as you waited for Jamie.

When he got there, he asked you to join him for a walk. You didn’t expect him to take you to his favorite places around the area.

But he spent the entire day talking you about pretty much everything except for the game.

“Thank you for today, Jamie,” you told him as you walked back to your car. “I do hope you’ll enjoy the article I write.”

“See ya,” Jamie said as he watched you drive away.

As you sit at your computer now reading over the article you wrote, you title it and publish it.

Jamie’s phone dings along with the rest of the teams’.

“The Jamie Tartt You Don’t See,” Ted reads the article title aloud. “Oh this should be like reading that your favorite book is being adapted into a movie!”

The team cheers and pokes a little fun at Jamie before they leave to start training.

Jamie sits at his locker and reads through the article. It reveals his vulnerabilities while also making him appear as strong as he is.

He realizes that from the beginning he wanted you to see him as he is, not as the rest of the world does.

Something in him longs for more conversations with you. And he desperately wants to see you again.

[scrambledpancakes03]

Before the presidential debate...

I've got some thoughts.

While I know that even the "best" presidential outcome feels like a loss at this point, you do have to vote.

I totally understand not wanting to vote for Joe. There are a lot of reasons for that, some more valid than others. That's not my point rn. There's many genocides happening: read how joe is handling it from verified sources and make your own choices, I trust you'll do what you think is right. I'll just be here full of endless dread no matter what...

But for fucks sake before we all lose hope please remember...

Vote down ballot.

Conservatives win repeatedly all over the country and have been able to make life substantially harder for every individual working person, especially those with marginalized statuses... and it's not primarily due to the shit they've pulled in the Oval Office... it's because they're getting elected to sheriff's offices and school boards and zoning commissions and STATE LEGISLATURES.

Don't let your disillusionment with the president keep you from showing up for candidates you won't hear about from national news... because they are the ones who can save us.

Without progressives, leftists, and even more moderate liberals in local offices, every aspect of life gets substantially harder. Local programs shut down, public services are cut from city budgets, and police keep getting more and more absurd militarized resources. And in that environment, how would we ever stand in solidarity with people suffering around the world? Or even people marginalized here in the US?

Here are some (but not all) elected offices that may be on your ballot in the fall that need your attention in no particular order:

1. Secretary of state: oversees the states record keeping... including voting. Don't let them be fascists.

2. School Board: they decide pretty much everything to do with public school's funding, curriculum, and sometimes even personnel matters or district geography. They decide what your kids learn, where, how, and with whom. Don't let them be bigots.

3. District Attorney/Prosecutor: they decide what crimes have charges brought against them, and in what manner. They're the difference between a teenage kid being tried as an adult or a child for a felony, as well as other matters like that. Don't let them be racist.

4. Sheriff: have insane amounts of power over how criminal investigations are conducted and how a community is policed. FOR FUCKS SAKE STOP ELECTING RACISTS. Also we should just... reconsider the concept and maybe try not having sheriff offices at all. But that's a whole different goal.

5. Planning and zoning commissions: if you are struggling to get housing or stay housed, they are the reason there is little to no affordable housing in your area, because they decide what gets built or maintained in your area. Businesses, parks, houses... yeah. Don't let them be corporate puppets.

6. Public works commission: they control the utilities, the water, the trash, and the recycling. This is one of the main places the environmental movement should be looking to make change. They write regulations that can be used and enforced to reign whole groups of people and corporations in to make real collective change in the way we generate power, consume resources, and manage waste. They are also how we prevent more crisis situations like the one in Flint, MI.

7. City, state, and federal legislators. They write the laws. They appropriate the spending of your tax money. Stop narrowing your focus to the federal executive branch when the left needs to gain momentum writing laws at every level. Don't discount local change, because it adds up.

I know we are all focused on the genocides going on around the world right now. The best way we can continue helping as November comes and goes, is to elect local leaders who will support global liberation by writing laws and regulations that protect our free speech, ensure the quality and equity of our education, and commit to divestment from violence all over the world.

Okay? We all got this?

Can we all just agree to do this part, and we can fight about biden separately, please?

TLDR: Fuck you, vote in all the local races.

[buckets-and-trees]

Game: match the character with the trope & give a little explanation why you paired them/how you would go about writing that type of fic 🩷

Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers, Ransom Drysdale, Ari Levinson & Nick Fowler

Forced proximity, forbidden love, fake dating, hidden identity & arranged marriage

Okay, this was fun, Em! And at least this time I didn't get TOO carried away...

ARI LEVINSON - FORCED PROXIMITY - I don't know... maybe this 2500-imagine-ish pitch that spilled out of my fingers this weekend? Hahaha

BUCKY BARNES - HIDDEN IDENTITY - I think this could happen over many different period of Bucky's life, but I'm especially interested in Bucky on the run after Winter Soldier and before Civil War. I love reading fics that take place during this time, and I've got a fic that I started and need to go back to (and maybe rewrite so I can complete it) that would be him hiding for short periods of time in cabins/rentals/vacation homes as he makes his way out of the DC Metro area those first months after CA:WS and while he's crashed at one particular place, Reader shows up, and they spend a few days or maybe a week together before moving on to the next place (and the next and the next until he eventually ends up in Romania).

RANSOM DRYSDALE - FAKE DATING - When a petition citing some extenuating circumstances/technicalities/the manner in which his confession was coerced/etc, a judge is willing to review it due to Ransom's good behavior (read: MONEY) while he's been serving time, and he gets him out of jail. You are immediately hired to be his Cinderella-image of a girlfriend so he can become the public's wronged and misunderstood Prince Charming because Linda won't have any more bad press - it's affecting all of the family businesses. Why are you willing to take the deal? You came up in an initial pool of suitable eligible females in the local area and it just so happens that one of the editor's at Harlan's publishing house (still overseen by Walt) has been considering one of your novels for publication, and this presents an opportunity for them to sweeten a proposal for this PR relationship by offering you a six-novel publishing deal as long as you maintain the relationship with Ransom for at least 18 months.

NICK FOWLER - FORBIDDEN LOVE - You're a detective working for Interpol. You know the trouble he's caused. Even though he was able to cover up his deeds initially with the CIA, once the Chinese/MSS took him into custody, it all came out. But he's managed to escape. He's managed to find his way to Romania, which is where you just so happen to be stationed now. You worked a case closely with him six years ago in Portugal, and...though you both kept it professional, his charm was undeniable. He had no idea you were in Romania, but he's not mad about that in the slightest now that he's spotted you. He could have some fun with this. Are you ready to play with fire?

STEVE ROGERS - ARRANGED MARRIAGE - In a Steve Stays scenario, if he's going to refuse to be Cap, he's being lobbied to still use his influence and power to help bring some order to this post-Blip society. He went tried to retreat and fade into the background, but things are escalating, and Pepper - who had also tried to stay in the background - is concerned that there are things happening maybe because of their inaction. She's got an idea. She wants to get Steve into political office, and she's going to appeal to his sense of duty (which she can do because it's the guilt she's also feeling). He'll agree because he trusts her judgement. For the best image, he's going to need a wife - this is a harder sell, but - again - he trusts Pepper Potts, he doesn't even need to vet the candidates, because if he's all in on this idea, he'll be all in, and he knows Pepper will pick someone who will fit the bill as his suitable trophy wife. You.

would... well would anyone be interested in any of these if I thought about actually writing them?

[walker-extended-universe]

Halfway to Freedom, Chapter 1

Relationship(s): August Walker/Sadie Yoo, Eve Edwards & August Walker, Bode Leone & August Walker, August Walker & Cordell Walker & Stella Walker, Geri Broussard & August Walker

Tags/Warnings: Prison, Crime, Estranged Family, Family Issues, Family Drama, Drug Addiction, Referenced Drug Use, PTSD, Running Away, Self-Esteem Issues, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Regret, Hope, Angst with a Happy Ending

Summary: After some poor decisions, August Walker ends up at Three Rock Fire Camp. ON paper, he's the perfect candidate for the program. But, in practice, Even Edwards knows it's never that simple. He has a long way to go if he's ever going to make it out into the real world again.

Written for @whumptober Day 28: "They caught me red handed"

Taglist: @theladywyn, @ihavepointysticks, @klaatu51, @itsjessiegirl1, @neptunium134

---------------------

Welcoming a new batch of inmates was always an exciting day. Nerve-wracking and panic-attack inducing at times, but exciting nonetheless. Getting everyone settled into their new bunks, introducing them to new routines, hoping there wouldn’t be any unexpected gang rivalries sparked…. It was a new experience every time.

One thing that Eve always took advantage of the first day to do was get to know her new firefighters. After some rough experiences in her first few years, she learned it helped to understand their stories before she became their captain. She could read their files, but that rarely held enough of the story. Actually talking to them helped her understand how they would react to certain things and plan around what accommodations they might need. She also felt it gave them a chance to know her too, rather than just seeing her as some distant authority figure that could (perhaps unfairly) decide their fate. It was easy enough to work some in-office interviews into the schedule, even when they had a larger group.

This time, the new group was pretty small, only 6 newbies. So, she had her last little interview just after the lunch shift. And this one was….interesting.

“So, yeah, they caught me red handed. Kind of hard to fight against security camera footage and about 10 witness statements.” August Walker slouched in his chair. 

“That’s very interesting, but that’s not what I asked you. I asked you why you were here.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Pretty sure that’s what I just said….”

“No, that’s why you got arrested. I asked you why you were here, at Three Rock. What are your goals here.”

“Oh.” August rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m here to get out earlier, I guess. It wasn’t my idea. My uncle kept insisting on it and I got tired of him hassling me about it so I applied. I was kind of surprised I got in, to be honest.”

Eve hummed. There was no reason for him not to be approved. He had a good behavior record, never caused trouble for inmates or prison personnel. He wasn’t even considered a violent offender, having only been arrested for felony theft. He didn’t even resist arrest.

So, this little interview told Eve that August was suffering from a severe lack of self esteem, or any hope for his future. That could be a problem. An unfocused firefighter posed a risk to themselves, their teammates, and any civilians in the area. “And your uncle is….?”

“My lawyer.” August rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know, should be considered a conflict of interest but he knows all kinds of weird loopholes.”

She made a mental note to reach out to his uncle at a later date and see if he could provide any insight.

“Well, I think that’s all I have for you for now. We’ll get you started on training tomorrow, so why don’t you go get settled in? We always start our days early here so I recommend you get some rest.”

He shrugged. “I practically grew up on a ranch; I’ve never slept past 6 in my life.”

Eve smirked. “Good; we get up at 5:30.”

His lips quirked into almost a smile. “Sounds like a plan. I guess I’ll see you in the morning.” He quickly left her office and jogged to join the rest of the men in the outdoor gym area.

Once he was gone, Eve pulled out her phone and dialed a very familiar number. “Hey, Manny, are you busy tonight? I could use some advice….”

[lone-rhapsodist]

I had just left school to go home when I got the email from the headmaster. I opened it, read it, and fell to the floor -- knees on the concrete, head in my hands. I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't believe it. I got myself up, dashed across the street, jumping up and down like a kid, looking like a madman, feeling like the happiest person in the world. When I got to the station, I could feel tears filling my eyes, but I did not cry. I wanted to be home and hug my partner, be in her arms and just let it all out. But the problem with a shitty commute -- that crazy commute which was the main reason why I applied for the job in the first place -- is that I was still 1 hour and 15 minutes away from that moment.

24 hours later, the phone rang -- the call to discuss the job. The headmaster made his offer. It was way more than I expected... way better than I could ever imagine. "Would you like to take some time think about it?" "Sir, if I could ask just a couple of questions... I'm not sure there's really anything to think about!" I ask my questions. He answers. Again, the things I hear... "There is no way I could ever say no to that. Yes! I accept!". I say thank you about a thousand times. I close the call. I call my parents.

The new job is less than 20 minutes away from my house. It's an independent prep school, which is very different from a state school. Not so much about bringing Classics to young people in a very deprived area. More about helping young boys get into the top schools in the country. Which is of course not something that enthuses me, and at some point, I think I'd like to return to the state sector. However, for now, this is the right move. I really needed something closer to home. What I didn't expect is that I would stumble on the opportunity of a lifetime.

It's not just the money. Though the money itself is incredible. I'll be back to being a regular teacher again, which is what I really wanted, and yet I'll still be getting a massive pay increase. Also, when you add to that the money saved on travel, free food, low teaching workload, the 4 weeks extra holiday -- imagine finishing the year in early July! -- it starts getting ridiculous. I have really lucked out, in a way I never have before in my life, and I'm just so happy. There must be a catch somewhere, I'm sure they'll find ways to screw me over -- I just know. But for now, I'm just so grateful they made this happen for me -- I still can't believe it!

I'm also glad that my headteacher has been so understanding about it. When he asked me about why I was looking for jobs and I told him how long my commute was, even he couldn't say anything. Then, when I told him that I had received an offer and was going to accept it, he simply thanked me for everything I have done for the subject. I thanked him too, and I told him that, if he lets me know when the job ad goes live, I can share it with my teacher training provider and they'll have candidates like me who'll be able to give continuity to the subject at the school. He seemed genuinely grateful for that. He shook my hand and wished me good luck.

I still have three months left here. Saying goodbye, especially to my students, will be so hard. I already know I'll be crying a lot. But it's the right to do. It's the right step for me and my career. And if I could leave some legacy too, with a great successor taking on from me at the school, then I will really have pulled off something very special.

Anyway, it's the end of term. It's time for a holiday. But when I come back, I know I'll be working with such renewed energy. Because for once I'll have something to really look forward to. And that is simply the best feeling in the world.

[newgenog]

REVENGE

Notes: I'm not done guys, but I'm making progress! 😭 So, I'm claiming it. This is the last teaser from chapter seven, dammit. 

If you're just stumbling across this, and haven't already done so, please stop and start by reading chapter one. 

This #Batwoman AU is based on the ABC tv series #Revenge. Ryan Wilder had just about everything taken from her when we met her, and she was doing her best to get it back. In this version of the story, that means taking some people down along the way. And, she's definitely no hero.

It's getting really hard to find teasers that won't spoil the fun too much. But, I can't leave you guys hanging. You've been holding me down for too long...I feel like we're really in this together!

So, thanks for the patience and good vibes, and happy teaser reading.

CHAPTER SEVEN SNEAK PEEK

Ryan sees Tommy Elliot standing in front of the chrome elevator doors, waiting for them to open and presumably take him to the same place she's headed. She doubts Kate’s expecting him, because she didn’t mention being double booked. And, even though Kate’s primary purpose in Ryan’s life is to get her access to the people who took her young life from her, to Robyn Wilde, Kate has become a close confidant. So, Tommy will need to quickly clarify if he’s here as friend or foe.

Ryan: “Surprise visit?”

Tommy tries to fight back the unexpectedness of hearing Robyn's voice with a small smirk. 

Tommy: “Kate’s used to my drop-ins…She’s had plenty of visits from me.” 

Ryan: “Because someone tolerates a lack of boundaries doesn’t mean they prefer them.” 

Tommy: “We’ve always had a very candid relationship. I’m sure she’d tell me if she wanted me to do something differently.” 

Ryan: “Fair enough. I have no doubt Kate’s the honest one in your friendship.” 

The doors open, and Jacob Kane is standing inside of the elevator. Neither of them walks into it, right away.

Jacob: “Tommy! It’s been a while…"

Tommy: “Yes, sir. It has been a while. It’s not the same without you around the house.”

Jacob: "Yes, well, hopefully I’ll be back soon… And, Robyn is it?”

Ryan nods, and offers a small smile as he steps out.. 

Jacob: “Do you both have a meeting with Kate?”

Ryan: ”I do, and I have to get back to Luke right after. So, I should head up.”

Tommy: “I was in the area and thought I’d stop in to see my friend.”

Jacob: “Well, if you have a moment, I’d like a word.” 

Tommy: “Sure…” 

Ryan takes the opportunity to get a head start, hitting the button to the top floor, and smirking at Tommy as the doors close in front of him.  

~~~~~

Ryan: “You’ve got company, and it isn’t just me.”

Kate: “Wow! Busy day. Who else is coming up?”

Ryan: “Oh, just your bestie.” 

Kate frowns, and then remembers.

Kate: “You don’t mean Tommy?”

Ryan: “Oh, but I do…”

Kate: “Okaaay…this should be interesting. Did you see him checking in, or something?”

Ryan: “Actually, he was here before me, but your dad wanted to talk to him, so I came up to warn you.”

Kate: “Thanks for that, and while I'm at it, thanks for the connection to Julia. My dad came by to tell me about their meeting, and to check on things with Luke… and apologize.” 

Ryan nods, trying to limit her words in reaction to Jacob Kane’s organization’s part in making Luke unconscious.  

Ryan: “So, are things going to work out with her?”

Kate: “I think so…but I also think he’s about to keep her pretty busy. I hope that’s not going to interfere with anything you needed.” 

Ryan: “So far, my stuff has been pretty easy. Simple contracts. I just wanted someone I knew I could trust involved. I can wait for her.” 

The elevator doors chime, and Tommy walks through them. Ryan glances over her shoulder, briefly and then takes her seat at Kate's desk. He tries not to be ruffled by her presence and smiles wide at Kate.

Tommy: "Kate…I've missed you."

Kate: "What are you doing here, Tommy? Shouldn't you be somewhere worshiping Catherine and trying to fast forward through the corporate ladder?"

Tommy: "I did start my internship yesterday, and it's great so far, thanks for asking."

Kate stares at him, already completely over his audacity. 

Kate: "So you're not here to make amends, but to gloat?"

He glances down at Robyn who hasn't looked back at him. He hates that she's here, and would much rather do this privately. But he made a commitment to Catherine and Evan. So, he decides to make an example out of her presence instead.

Tommy: "You're upset because I wasn't more honest, right? Consider this me turning over a new leaf."

Kate: "Seriously Tommy, as you can see, I'm busy. So, whatever you came for, can you get to it already?"

Tommy: "Okay, I can see your sense of humor is on limited supply, so I’ll cut straight to it. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I don’t want my recent behavior to ruin that. And, in the spirit of being more forthcoming, I’ll add that I was present when you texted Evan. I’m concerned that what’s been going on with us has had an impact on the two of you. I don’t want them caught in the middle, so if there’s anything I can do to improve our situation, let me know."

Kate looks down at Robyn, who she hasn’t shared the full story with, but who has been more supportive lately than her supposed best friend. Robyn looks back as if to say, ‘this choice is all yours.’

Kate: “I have a friend in the hospital, and my family is a wreck. I really don’t need any more drama in my life.” 

Tommy: “I was hoping you’d feel that way.” 

Kate: “Let me finish. If you’re going to be in my life, I’m going to need you to bring something positive to it. From where I stand, you’ve been using us and judging us, all at the same time. And because you’re my friend, I would have helped you if you’d just been honest with me. But because I’m your friend, and it seems you’re going through a hard time right now, which has evidently made you bitter and desperate, I’m going to forgive you. I don’t forget though, and I’m not huge on repeat chances. So this is it. I can’t really handle another thing…” 

Tommy drops his head, because that dig stung, but he’s also not surprised that she’d take the chance to get a lick in. He’s getting his way, and if that means he has to take a small verbal beating for them to move forward, he needs to find a way to do that. When his eyes return to hers, his expression is amicable. 

Tommy: “Understood. I’ll limit the drama. But you know us divas come with a little extra pizzazz.” 

Kate shakes her head, accepting his agreement, knowing that’s probably the best she’ll get from him. 

Kate: “Is there anything else…? I think we’ve kept Robyn waiting long enough.” 

Tommy: “Right. You two have a party to plan?”

Kate: “A fundraiser, but it’ll be a good time.” 

Ryan completely distrusts Tommy. She can tell he’s fishing, but if Kate wants to indulge him as a way to mend their bond, she doesn’t want to be outwardly discouraging. So when Kate smiles down at her, she simply grins back.

Tommy: “You’ve got the best in Gotham helping you with your plans, but if there’s anything I can do…” 

Kate: “I doubt Catherine is going to share two people from her team with us.” 

Tommy: “After all you’ve done for me, I’d figure out how to manage.” 

Kate: “I appreciate the offer.” 

Tommy: “Well, I’ll leave you to it, but maybe we can get a drink or dinner soon?” 

Kate: “We can do that…” 

Tommy nods, and then turns to leave. When they hear the elevator doors close, they give each other exasperated looks. Then Ryan shifts hers to one of sympathy. 

Ryan: “You okay?”

Kate: “Are you? Is okay even within the realm of possibility right now?”

Ryan: “I guess not…which makes me want to say thank you, again, for still wanting to do this right now.” 

Kate: “No, really, I’m grateful. It’s good to do something…good. I think Luke would prefer it too.” 

If only Kate knew how true that was. Luke has committed too much of himself to Ryan for her to squander his time and efforts because he wasn’t in shape enough to help her. If ever there was a time to rise to the occasion, and show how much she valued him, it was now. Kate’s gaze shifts to one of greater concern, and Ryan wonders if she’s shown too many of her cards.

Kate: “Can I ask you something off the cuff?”

~~~~~

To be continued...

What's Kate going to ask Ryan about? 😁 See you next week (ideally with a finished chapter)! 🤞🏽 Support the Writer and Actor strikes. #wgastrike #sagaftrastrike #StopCancellingDiverseShows

[rivikah]

I work in public service in a data analytics kind of role, our hiring system is a little different in a way that trips people up. Here's a few job application tips in my area:

Applications

The questionnaire that we have you fill out tells you exactly what we care about. Be as direct as you can in answering those questions. If you're asked to tell us your experience with statistical analysis you should be giving the two sentence description of the statistical analysis you've done. Cut all the fluffy buzzwords. I just want to know what methods you've used and how long you've been using them.

Never say you have no experience with something listed as required in the job ad, tell me about the most closely related thing you do have experience with.

Don't worry about your answers being repetitive. You used both statistical methods and statistical software on the same project? Great! Talk about it twice. There's a scoring rubric behind the scenes that means we mainly consider only one answer at a time and will have mostly forgotten what you said in question 1 by the time we get to question 2. Be careful though, the questions are different and tell you exactly what we're looking for.

Don't email us to try to get around the process. We're not allowed to take anything outside of the official process into account. You cannot get around the official process by trying to set up a quick chat about the job. You don't need to demonstrate your enthusiasm or your hustle at this stage and the process is designed to de-emphasize those things, but you sure can be annoying. We have jobs that are not screening job applications. Just wait. The process will play out in due time.

Interviews

Our interviews go like this: we will start by introducing ourselves and give a short introduction to the role. Then we will ask you 4 to 6 questions.

The questions will be prescripted. We ask every candidate exactly the same things. You will probably be given the whole list right at the beginning of the interview. You may be given 5 to 10 minutes alone to consider your answers before we begin. You will probably be told you can answer them in any order you like and be given an opportunity to go back and add to any of your answers at the end of you want. You don't have to.

Your interviewers will take notes the whole time. They will not make eye contact because they are busy writing down what you are saying. The pacing will be odd and may not feel very conversational with weird silences while they write. We're trying to make you feel comfortable, but we need to be able to document our decisions.

The questions will be things like "Tell me about a time when you had to do X, how did you approach the problem? What was the result?" This is your chance to tell us about the cool things you've done! Be enthusiastic! Do not treat us like idiots! We too have advanced degrees and a whole bunch of technical experience. Give the explanation geared to the technically minded peer who has not been involved in your project. We're also not allowed to fill in the blanks for you. Be explicit about the methods you've used.

There may be follow up questions that were not prescripted. Say more! We're trying to get you more points in the omnipresent behind the scenes rubrics.

If you've never had to do X, tell us what you would do if you did.

You can sort of predict some of the questions you will be asked by carefully reading the job posting. If it says we care about communication you may be asked to talk about communicating. If it says the job requires leadership you can expect a question about leadership. The best answers go beyond your immediate work to consider how others are affected. If you're interviewing for multiple jobs in public service you may see the same questions again. We're all choosing from the same list.

Use the interview length to determine how much you should say. If there are 5 questions and the interview is scheduled for an hour, you want to talk for 8-10 minutes or so on each to leave some extra time.

There will be time for you to ask questions at the end. Ask things about the job that you are genuinely interested in. Unlike in other industries we're not evaluating you on the contents of your questions. Therefore ask questions about the job that you want answers to, not questions that you think will make you look good. If there's been a good discussion about the job itself already, not having questions won't hurt you.

The question above about the day to day work is a good one. But all the others are bad. Questions about the projects that the team is working on or the history of the role would be great. Questions about the process are fine. Trying to sell yourself at this point just reveals that you don't know how the public service operates.

Your clothing matters very little. We're not supposed to consider it. Wear something that makes you feel professional.

A couple job interview hacks from someone who has to give a job interview every single goddamn day: (disclaimer: this goes for my process and my company’s process, other companies and industries might be different)

1. There are a few things I check and a few questions I ask literally just to figure out if you can play the game and get along with others in a professional setting. Part of the job I interview for is talking to people, and we work in teams. So if you can’t “play the game” a tiny bit, it’s not going to work. Playing the game includes:

- Why do you want to work here? (just prove that you googled the company, tell me like 1 thing about us, I just want to know that you did SOME kind of preparation for this interview)

- Are you wearing professional clothing? I don’t need a suit just don’t show up in a ratty t-shirt and sweatpants.

- Are you able to speak respectfully and without dropping f-bombs all the time? Not because I’m offended but because I don’t want to be reported to HR if you wind up on my team.

- Can you follow simple directions in an interview?

2. Stop telling me protected information. I don’t want to know about what drugs or medications you’re on, I don’t want to know about you being sick, I don’t want to know if you’re planning to have children soon, I don’t want to know anything about your personal life other than “can you do the job?” 

3. When we ask, “What questions do you have for me?” here are my favorites I’ve heard: - What does the day-to-day look like for a member of your team?

- If one of your team members was not performing up to his usual standard, what steps would you take to correct that?

- What can I start doing now to accelerate my learning process in this job?

- What are some reservations you have about me as a candidate? (be ready for this emotionally….it will REALLY help you in the future, and I’ve had people save themselves from a No after this, but can be hard to hear)

- In your opinion, what skills and qualities does the ideal candidate for this job possess?

- What advice would you give to a new hire in this position/someone who wanted to break into this industry, as someone who has worked here for a while?

Those are just my tips off-the-cuff. I work in sales in marketing/SAAS, so these can be very different depending on the industry, but I wish the people I interview could read this before they show up. 

[hearsayhorizons]

Memory Bank

Spoilers for An Enchantment of Ravens Margaret Rogerson and probably Lord of the Fading Lands by CL Wilson, depending on what you call a spoiler.

Tl;dr:  (also length warning!)

The idea of sidestepping age gaps via... I dunno, magical lobotomies, may not 100% make everyone comfortable. But for the moment it works for me, with the added bonus of dealing with time abysses and meaning literally anything could be an armed memory bomb.

Is there a stepping stone path that has been artfully tied into someone’s memories ascending from grief to new appreciation for life? If new construction means a place needs to get torn down, are there calls sent out offering people with good memories to come sew them into the area so people can see how it was before? ARE there artists who seek out wonderful experiences and then sell them?

Are we looking at Augmented Reality and vid stuff from a magic perspective? Maybe. Is there way too much here? Definitely. Will it all hit the reader at once or, maybe, at all? Hell no!

I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy romance novels lately, mostly because Reddit recommendations throw worlds that sound super neat in my direction. But then the worldbuilding or plot doesn’t go far enough, or the relationships are inherently problematic in a way some people probably find appealing, but I don’t (current gripe: thousand year age gaps, fated mates). Most of those suggestions have fae, although some have dragons or other species inherently more powerful and “wonderful” than humanity. “in this essay I will...”

Fae have always been an interest for me. The actual mythologies, as well as what people do with their fantasy takes: their relationships to mortals, to each other—are they elemental forces given faces by contact with humanity, or an elder race fading as younger energies take precedence and the magic fades away, or actually aliens?

My brain wants to organize fae into three categories, and I’m not sure they can all live in the same plot: elemental versus physical, seasonal courts, and manner of existing.

Elemental fae are those who correspond to winds and heat and life energy. They may connect with flowers or work with frost on window panes, but they would still exist and thrive without those physical trimmings. Physical fae like dryads and brownies and fairy god parents tie themselves to trees or households or people. They are more powerful in the physical sphere than elemental fae, but it does give them... weaknesses. Typically, the greater the power, the more irrevocable the bond: more than one villain has a reluctant FGP behind them, while brownies can pick up sticks and find a new house if their customary cream is expired.

Seasonal courts are very popular ways to sort fae. That ties into the elemental nature noted previously, but I’m intrigued on how some fiction has all four courts and some only have the two extremes of Summer and Winter. What if, in the past, there were only two seasons, only two courts, and it took a lot of death of lesser fae and people who were not able to live in those extremes for them to acknowledge the need and place and rightness of Spring and Autumn? This could be a recent change as far as the fae go—or maybe it’s just about to happen. Maybe some ascended human plays Persephone as the land either bakes or freezes

Have the original courts selected candidates for the role of Autumn and perhaps other contenders for the role of Spring, and the “”love triangles”” are just seeing who wants to see who spending eternity alongside them? Is the trick, the ending... Spring and Autumn actually must be shared crowns with a king and queen or two queens etc otherwise, they fall into human or abhuman extremes? The rigid fae would not be able to do that willingly; it would not occur to them to have shared crowns, as the original courts don’t.

That dipped into a bit of plot building, but it does bring me to my last metric for fae: existence. Are they: timeless, elemental beings who do not age at all and may or may not be killable and may or may not be able to pass on the helm; physical fae who age and can die, but “respawn” via taking over a nearby animal or object of their type when they die (I was VERY influenced as a kid by the stark picture of the Cat Lord staring out at me from a D&D monster manual...); or fae that live and breed and die like mortals?

If there are such fae in that last category, they may be considered “lesser spirits” AND there may be no distinction between “fae” and mortals. Humans are lesser spirits and are—according to the fae—subject to the same laws that govern all people... and given all the respect the People give to very smart dogs. Not ALL fae would regard humanity in that light, especially those who know the secret to the “high fae” and their natures and problems.

See, powerful and knowledgeable beings are intriguing. But a warrior with two hundred years under his belt in love with a seventeen year old, or a warrior over a THOUSAND years old in love with someone in her twenties is... suffocating, to me. There’s six years between me and my spouse and still sometimes I see the edges where they had experiences I didn’t. By the time I was the age to go out on the town with folks... I had someone safer and more comfortable to come home to, so I did that. I’m a homebody anyway so it might not have changed much, but it does come up when we discuss shows or music—what we enjoyed, what wasn’t in the right age bracket.

Sometimes people have like... an odometer reset regarding ages, I think. Other than just “it’s fiction, let me enjoy my unicorn fantasy.” Someone who is 1500 years old, who has been away from the world, sure he’s powerful but he’s driven to his knees by the thought of hurting her—that’s fine. Things are SO different that they both have to find new ground and understanding, right? I  guess. There are opportunities for the younger of the pair to restore wonder and hope in the other, which is nice.

The idea of true immortality and how humans and their memories would work with that—sure, fae operate differently because they’re not human, but what if they were? What if, instead of the one SPECIAL (or few...) human woman being reborn with awesome power in some giant cauldron, what if that was the standard MO? If high fae (that is, a placeholder for “humanoid”) MUST come from human stock... What if they can’t cope with their memories as time passes?

Alistair Reynolds’ sci fi work is HUGE for me in terms of imagery and ideas, even if the “... okay, and then where does it go?” can get a bit much. In House of Suns’ incredibly far future, human subspecies have their own individual ways of dealing with memory overload. The shardlings (clones of one person) have regular conclaves where they “spin” their memories off so that they can be reviewed by the others in their house and, more importantly, be stored. There is another subspecies that deals with the demands of time by constantly growing, so there is more room to store more everything—to such an extreme that a main character having a conversation has to enter SUSPENDED ANIMATION between exchanges because it takes so long for other person to respond.

In an Enchantment of Ravens, there is a well whose waters will turn a mortal fae. They pretty quickly lose their... spark, I guess. Human willpower and ingenuity and Craft cannot live in a fae body. The high king of the fae demands that any human who falls in love with a fae (probably because of that Craft...) must drink the water and join the fae world. From what I remember, there’s no reason given for this, it’s his decree and sets a terrible pain on love: if you bond over your gift (or in general) you must then forsake that light to keep your love, which will probably then be very very shallow. Rule of drama, basically.

I’m seeing a river whose banks gleam with precious gems. Mortals or lesser spirits who bathe in its waters emerge as high fae able to feel and bond with the elemental and physical matter of the world as their inclinations and those of the world permit. But the cost is some memories, preserved on the banks as those gems—and another layer of the price is the inherent knowledge of how to offload memories at your own convenience.

How good it is, to set aside the awkward how-was-I-supposed-to-know of childhood. How tempting to turn bad dates, food poisoning, long days at work, parents’ divorces and drunken husbands into rubies and sapphires and pearls. How beautiful they become at a distance divorced from yourself—touch them, and feel it again. But not for long.

Or you bind your memories to places. When they tear your old high school down, maybe the nostalgia and homesickness for the past is too great, so you stand where it used to be and sew your memories to that grass. It won’t bother you unless you come back to this place—but since you don’t remember it now, why would you do that?

The ability to do more magic is a consequence of stripping off the memories, not a price. As you hollow yourself out because it’s easier, or because you just can’t keep the days straight, the anima of light or earth feels so good in those gaps. Or maybe you stop to clean a house for a struggling single father, and then that’s your household; you don’t remember your old one anyway. Or you hear a child crying, and the bond lets you soothe them, dress them, help them make a good match, and you’re a fairy god parent before you realize you have any power at all.

When you remove who you were, you open the possibilities for who you could be; the magic of the land mindlessly knows that.

So Titania heads the Summer court as a timeless elemental filled with power and a few core memories, while Oberon shelters most—but not all—of the physical fae in Winter; he is also an elemental, but he has shed fewer memories and has a soft spot for a warm seat before the fire and ice skating on the lake.

They both acknowledge—mostly at Oberon’s insistence—that their elements are too harsh. Lesser spirits have been spawning, living, and dying short lives for too long. They must make room in the pantheon. They each have one or more candidates who are either humans or high fae whose age doesn’t matter (theoretically) because they’ve been stripped mentally bare to make room for the seasons. I don’t think either reigning ruler would forcibly almost-drown their near candidates in this river Lethe to get them into the running, but an underling might. If one of these high fae candidates is super old and has better command of his or her magic—that’s news to them, and genuinely doesn’t matter unless they have a Chekov’s gun sewn into the lining of their coat—an enemy's weakness, or a big working they removed from their mind because it is a BIG working and they almost died last time.

The idea of sidestepping age gaps via... I dunno, magical lobotomies, may not 100% make everyone comfortable. But for the moment it works for me, with the added bonus of literally anything could be an armed memory bomb. Is there a stepping stone path that has been artfully tied into someone’s memories ascending from grief to new appreciation for life? Are there artists who seek out wonderful experiences and then sell them?

Are we looking at Augmented Reality and vid stuff from a magic perspective? Maybe. Is there way too much here? Definitely. Will it all hit the reader at once or, maybe, at all? Hell no!

[satsumaspeach]

WORDS I'LL TREASURE FOREVER

January 25

You are my only romantic fiction

February 13

Well I don't know, I enjoy you

March 28

If I am a sapiosexual flirt the answer is you

April 19

Don't be sad though, think what you have achieved in the last few months. Your much better off than you were and you only narrowly missed out on this job. Not because you couldn't do it but becsuse they preferred another candidate for their own personal reasons.

Not entirely, but you are a friend who I would not wish to hurt

April 27

Always a good choice is my favourite as well x

April 29

Make the most of it you deserve it.

Don't cry, toast to your success and go to bed more than satisfied with all you have accomplished.

May 3 (Chicken Wings)

Saw that on TV and thought of you

May 5 (Maria Ressa)

The thought of my two favourite Filipinos working together lol

Well I had faith in you so eventually I believed that you would change your mind

May 17

It's been a long day for me too. I think you'll like this one https://youtu.be/seZMOTGCDag get some rest and enjoy and sleep well

Its very chilled I listened to it this morning and thought of you.

May 29

Hi Ri I am fine, my weekend is still going and is a good one, I managed to achieve what I needed to yesterday and was busy fixing the garden. I have heard people say before how reading an old book is like revisiting an old friend but not being a reader of books its not something that I have experienced. I am glad you enjoy it though. Why do you say your existence is stagnant is it because you are still yearning for change or because you are missing something? I found that when I was younger I would think about doing great things, but growing up and growing older is a process of coming to terms with the limitations of life and the constraints of this world, realising what actually is important. So find your place in this world, enjoy it and continue to flourish because I know that your existence can never be stagnant x

June 3

Morning Ri x, hope you are well. How has your week been? Have you connected with the real world a bit more. I would ponder that on my trip into London each day. Please remember I am always wishing for the best for you x.

Thats okay I thought a lot about messaging you but based on your previous reply I thought maybe I give you a little time. I kind of thought thats why you hadn't messaged.

June 4

Morning Ri, I am not sure if it is a long or short 6 months. So much has changed since we first spoke but it also doesn't feel like that long ago. Its very suprising what an awkward conversation can lead to and sometimes its the unexpected things that give us the greatest joy.

June 7

You have to remember alcohol is a strong social drug

Lol, the trick is to drink a little, which is good for overcoming anxiety and involves you into their social customs…. but not too much.

June 9

Well there is questions about most efficient and flexible way for governments to meet the needs of people, but by creating federal states there is a risks… such as fueling those areas want for independence or increasing the divide between areas

July 7

Keep excelling and using your muggle born magic lol

July 10

I wil toast the girl for swatting up better than even the swattiest of swats 🍻

July 14

I would say always take positive steps, if you are unsure of your current work the answer is not to step backwards but find a way of taking another step.

Personally I don't think your reasons are strong enough to make the decision to go back. You were overworked,your colleagues were lazy they relied on you too much, you worked crazy hours, you horrendous travel and no expenses.

Also, going back seems like an easy option… its certainly an easy option for them. However recruiting you to the same position doesn't make me think they value you as much as they should and once they have done that where is the progression, where is the incentive for them to proactive in helping you progress.

Also, going back seems like an easy option… its certainly an easy option for them. However recruiting you to the same position doesn't make me think they value you as much as they should and once they have done that where is the progression, where is the incentive for them to proactive in helping you progress.

What you should have learnt after quitting is that you have talent and those talents are saleable. Be the ambitious and driven person that you are.

July 15

Not everyone no

July 26

Hopefully your life is clicking again where you can find comfort in both your personal and professional life.

August 4

I think you are more successful than you realise, I am pleased that finally you feel appreciated at work. I hope that this vindicates your decision to battle through for a bit longer and proves that you arethe person that she hired 😀.

August 9

I hope you will figure things out. Our conversations correlate with a big change in your life and I believe a very positive one. Relationships are often formed and grounded by shared experiences, so aside from lust, thats how more meaningful bonds are created.

August 10

The problem is its not the movies and the world is not ideal, no matter how much you can try to be okay and pretend to understand… really how are you supposed to feel. Especially when you would not have done the same thing. In the movies romance conquers all and love is something that shines through and is even strengthened by adversity. I completely understand how terrible such a thing is and the damage that it can cause. But you get have continue on, find new meaning and eventually be brave enough to trust someone again.

And thats the cruelty of it a mental scar that is not visible to anyone but you.

August 11

It would be easier if you were a slut, but you may be lonely and weird and have misplaced beliefs, but above all you are caring

Well I don't think it will be easy to forget you.

You are a complication, not what I originally expected

Something I shouldn't exploit

Someone so open to be loved and to love with the fullness of their heart

September 2

I do realise. I like your deeply affectionate nature. However it also worries me because in searching for affirmation you show that you are vulnerable and fragile. I wish you could just be Ri and enjoy life, confident in how great you are (but not big headed lol). The question is what am I a friend, a part time lover or a projection of your wants and desires. I think it has been a muddle of them all. I am not sure what I can be for you, or what is best for you. I would just like you to be happy.

[douglysium]

*Google Doc version of this article is available here- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12DgObLl6CLtyITbvLb0LJstaySsfya3fPHV3ANceZ1Y/edit

Fan-Servant Inspirations(Shaka Zulu)

As always, with every new fate fanservant comes the desire to make a piece going over all my design choices and inspirations in case anyone is curious or has any questions. If you want to read the profile I wrote for him you can do so here(Grand Lancer Candidate: Shaka Zulu). These lists of inspirations are also made for my own sake so I don’t completely forget why I did something and ruin my own character and to parse out my thoughts in a tangible form that can increase the chance of me spotting a stupid mistake in my lore or research. And you might just learn some historical fun facts by reading this. On top of that Shaka Zulu is kind of an interesting figure to tackle. Now with all the fanservants, whether they be more comedic or serious, I try to have a proper level of respect. What you can get away with varies from figure to figure and I want to do a better job at handling it than Fate and FGO tend to do, even if I mess up I want to show my line of thinking and that I at least care and want to try to do better. I feel like this sort of inspiration document also makes it easier to correct me. This becomes abundantly more clear with Shaka Zulu since, and there is no soft way to put this, there is a lot of propaganda spread by racist colonizers for various, and pretty bad, reasons. This makes designing a character like Shaka Zulu way harder than say Yasuke(Demon Saber: Yasuke) because suddenly I have to try to give an interesting or nuanced spin on him while avoiding just making a version of him based purely on what a bunch of racist Europeans had to say about him and accidentally spread really harmful rhetoric. It doesn’t help that while these factors tend to demonize Shaka the figure is at the same time lionized. But, I didn’t want to make a character who was almost flawless but I also don’t think it was right to make him just an insane bloodthirsty asshole, at least not that much more than say Iskandar/Alexander the Great was, And hey, if Typemoon can try to give a fucking Elizabeth Bathory/Carmilla, Jack the Ripper, AND Gilles de Rais a more sympathetic angles or interpretations than I see nothing stopping me. I will get more into some of this stuff in later sections but hopefully, you can at least appreciate the effort I went through to try to craft a character with all this in mind. Also, for the sake of clarity, I will refer to the fanservant I’ve made as GLC and the historical figure of Shaka Zulu as… well Shaka Zulu. Oh yeah, this article is probably going to be way longer than my Demon Saber one too so buckle up.

Servant Profile

As always, let’s start with the beginning of this servant profile with GLC’s class. I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure I even need to explain most of the info here. I mean just google an image of this guy and I almost guarantee that the first 1-3 images are going to depict him with a spear(or that one scene from a movie about him). His spear has become so iconic it's basically everywhere and if you are going to make some sort of painting or statue of him it is almost criminal for Shaka Zulu not to have that iconic weapon. So why does he have this spear all the time? Well, this story gets kind of long so sit tight.

Basically, before Shaka Zulu came around most armies of the African tribes that were around in his general area of South Africa preferred to use a type of throwing assegai/spear. However, the assegai came with the disadvantage of the fact that while it was indeed a long-ranged weapon it is kind of easy to not hit your target since some could avoid or block it the thrown spear, plus there’s also the fact that you yourself can just miss and need to be good at aiming it. On top of all that, there was the problem that if you DID miss there was a decent chance that your enemy could grab your spear and try to throw it back at you. So Shaka introduced his armies to a new type of assegai known as the Iklwa, or Ikwa. A short stabbing spear with a long, broad, and sword-like spearhead. These spears weren’t meant to be thrown but instead used, typically in combination with a shield we’ll get to later, in order to get close to an opponent and stab them. This indeed made Shaka’s army more effective and made it easier for his soldiers to defeat his enemies but came with the downside of suddenly making warfare much bloodier and more violent in the region. That is not to say Shaka completely discarded the use of the throwing assegai, he did use them sometimes but was overall more of an advocate for close combat and the purpose of the throwing assegai was changed to help soften up enemies before his armies came in for close combat. Now, whether or not Shaka Zulu actually invented the Ikwa or adopted it from someone/somewhere else is a completely different conversation. However, considering how it was one of the major weapons that he used to absolutely change the very standards of warfare in South Africa as people knew it makes his connection to the spear undeniable no matter what stance you take.

For GLC’s true name, I went with King Shaka Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, which is just his full name. Considering the point I made last time with Yasuke there is an argument that, in the Fate universe, his true name could be Shaka Zulu even if it is a nickname but I ultimately went with King Shaka Sigidi kaSenzangakhona because we actually know for sure what his birth name was, unlike Yasuke, and I thought it was more interesting. While I did bring up the fact that sometimes Fate servants will use a nickname or title as a true name when talking about Yasuke it is important to remember that this is not always the case even if there are times when the figure’s birth name or real name is much less well known than their title or nickname. My point with that example was that we just don’t need to know the figure’s actual name to give a servant design a true name. Also, what a figure’s true name is can actually tell us about their personality in some cases. An example to prove my point would be how Fate handles its interpretation of the infamous mythological Minotaur.

You see the True Name of Fate’s Minotaur is actually Asterios, his birth name, as the name Minotaur which means “Bull King of Minos” is more associated with the half-man half-bull monster image than Asterios. I think what this is trying to tell us is that Asterios isn’t as monstrous or evil as the idea of the “minotaur” many have built up in their heads. Something that is reinforced by a lostbelt incarnation of this character who has the True Name of Minotauros.

This version of the minotaur is described as “Compared to the much more peaceful Asterios, Minotauros is simply a monster that eats people who tread into the Labyrinth” and “Lacking the shred of humanity that Asterios displays, Minotauros is largely driven by his hunger and bloodlust, which are mostly one and the same.” Truly, this version of the minotaur is the monster almost every rumor says he is and has way fewer human attributes than Asterios. To put it more succinctly, Asterios is this Berserker’s “human” name while the Minotaur is a name her garnered as a monster. In this sense, True Names are being used to show us what to expect. This is also why the same figure can have different True Names depending on what form they are summoned in(see Cú Chulainn and Sétanta or Elizabeth Bathory and Carmilla, but that’s a conversation for a different time). Now I wish I could say I had this level of nuance when choosing GLC’s True Name but while Fate does continue many nuances like with Asterios I ultimately chose it because it was his full actual name and title. Although, GLC does seem like someone who would want to take pride in or earn the dignity of their full title.

I’m going to try to handle the inspirations between GLCs nicknames in as rapid-fire  a manner as possible because this article is probably already going to be long enough. The “nicknames” I choose for GLC are Shaka Zulu, Shaka, King Shaka, Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, King of the Zulu, King of Zululand, Founder of Zululand, Nodumehlezi(the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble), King of Conquerors, Horned King, King of Strategy, Grand Lancer Candidate, GLC, Mad King. Shaka Zulu is a name that doesn’t need much explanation. It is probably his most famous name and the one he is most commonly known by. The name Shaka itself originates from the fact that Shaka’s mother wanted to hide the fact that she was pregnant with Shaka Zulu, because he was born out of wedlock, so she claimed that she was actually just suffering from an intestinal condition caused by the iShaka beetle causing her stomach to swell. If I had to guess I assume Zulu comes from the fact that while he didn’t found the tribe he founded the Zulu Empire but I don't know if that's where Shaka Zulu the name comes from specifically.

Shaka is just an even shorter version of that name and seems to be used by a lot of people in the same manner some might use a first name, and King Shaka is just that name except with his title as king due to being a Zulu king. Which is something that the name “King of the Zulu” refers to. The name King of Zululand refers to the fact that Shaka was king of the Zulu Empire/Kingdom, which was referred to in the past as Zululand. Plus, Shaka established the Zulu nation(but not the tribe itself to be clear), and that is also why I chose to include “Founder of Zululand.” He was also apparently the first one to call his people the Zulu. The name Nodumehlezi, which can be translated as “the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble,” was a nickname Shaka gained while rising within Dingiswayo’s army, someone we will get to later, and acting as his commander. The name is a reference to his great courage and skill. The “Horned” King is not meant to refer to literal horns he has or anything but rather his famous “Horns of the Buffalo” military formation. This is also the reason I gave GLC the title of “King of Strategy.” A title that also just alludes to him being famous for combat strategy in general in order to make his armies more efficient. One famous example of what I mean was at the Battle of Gqokli Hill where, while fighting the forces of Zwide(who is someone we will also get to later), he feigned retreat in order to draw the enemy forces deep into Zulu territory before trapping them and launching an assault on the exhausted forces of Zwide. King of Conquerors is one of the titles that exist within the Fate universe and I gave it to this interpretation of Shaka because the historical figure is simultaneously famous and infamous because of his conquests and was known to be quite good at it. Also, considering just the earth-shaking impact he had on Africa as a whole due to his conquests and military I feel like he was just as worthy of the title as Iskandar. “Grand Lancer Candidate” just comes from the fact that GLC is a Grand Lancer Candidate and he takes great pride in that. GLC is just a shorter version of Grand Lancer Candidate because I don’t feel like having to say that entire thing when referring to him. This also relates to the fact that most servants are referred to by their class in most scenarios in order to hide their true names(like how Artoria and Heracles are usually referred to as Saber and Berserker respectively). Choosing titles like Grand Lancer Candidate and GLC also helps add some distinctiveness to him and make it clear what character the name refers to while also keeping his name a secret in a Holy Grail War. Adding stuff to the standard servant class names to make the characters more distinctive and showing a little bit of their personality and relationships without completely giving away who they are is something I try to do with just about all my fanservant designs, my Demon Saber(Yasuke) is a good example of this. Sigidi kaSenzangakhona is part of his name and the Mad King references how he went mad and became increasingly violent after his mother, Nandi died. After which he purportedly did things like kill at least 7,000 people for being insufficiently grief-stricken and ordered that no crops be planted and no milk be used. This eventually led to him getting assassinated by his half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, with the help of someone named Mbopa. Going back to Sigidi kaSenzangakhona for a second the kaSenzangakhona part is the name of his father as at the time your father’s name was supposed to become your surname. One nickname I neglected to put for GLC is the “African Napoleon” because I attempted to be as respectful towards Shaka Zulu the figure as I could be and I decided that potentially just accidentally boiling him down to being some version of a white European figure was not worth it.

Characteristics

I’m going to try to do the characteristics in a rapid-fire manner like the previous section. His species is listed as Servant, Heroic Spirit, and human. The human part refers to the fact that he was a human in life but since dying has ascended to the throne as a Heroic Spirit which means he is now summonable as a servant and GLC currently is said servant if he has been summoned.

His gender is male because Shaka Zulu identified as a male. His height is 175cm(or 5ft 10in). In a lot of the accounts I saw that he was described as tall and many even state that he is even 2 meters, or 6ft tall. His overall height seems somewhat vague at times though so I wanted to make him kind of tall but not super tall, so I made him 5ft 10in. His weight is my guesstimation for how heavy a somewhat muscular man of his height would usually be. His blood type is unknown because there was no way to test blood types when he was alive. His place of origin is listed as KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa while his birthday is listed as July 1787 because those are the recorded places and times for where and when he was born respectively. Specifically, he was born at some point in the lunar month of uNtulikazi which corresponds with the previously listed date. I was unable to find the exact date of his birth. The age of GLC’s Lancer form is 41 because of the fact that Shaka Zulu was apparently around that age when he was assassinated on the 24th of September in 1828. Grand Lancer Candidate also takes a form that is close to when he was assassinated after his interaction with Gala.

Personal Information

When speaking Japanese, GLC refers to himself with watashi, watakushi, and boku. I chose watashi(私 / わたし) for this character because it is often used in a gender-neutral manner. Boku(僕 / ぼく) was chosen because it is typically used by young men and I felt it did a good job of displaying the more energetic part of GLC’s personality and he does identify as a man even if he isn’t really that young(a fact that could show some of his quirkiness). Ore is a more informal form of “I” that is often used by men with people they are close to. This was picked for the same reasons boku was on top of the fact that GLC caring about friends and family is a big part of his character. Plus, I could also see him using it as a sly way of being disrespectful toward someone depending on the circumstance.

His listed likes are family, friends, witty banter, politicking, talking, beetles, strategizing, marching, and comedy. GLC’s immense appreciation for family and friends comes from how Shaka Zulu reacted when his mentor Dingiswayo and mother Nandi died. In the case of Dingiswayo he relentlessly hunted down Zwide, the man responsible for his death, and in the case of Nandi he was overcome with grief and forced his entire kingdom to grieve in the most over-the-top and extra way possible, killing people who grieved insufficiently, among other things(which is something we’ll come back to later). His enjoyment of witty banter and comedy comes from the same source. That being, an anecdote in which Shaka apparently joked with someone that he could not kill a man named Magaye because if he did it would appear he did so out of jealousy because Magaye was so handsome and I recall one account of Shaka Zulu telling a joke or being witty about something with the Europeans but I can’t find any sources on that so that might just be me misremembering something. However, GLC’s enjoyment of politticing and talking come from the extensive politics and treaties he performed on his campaign. As he surprisingly did not immediately resort to violence and managed to get a decent number of tribes to join him without immediately attacking them, although he would often attack them if negotiations failed. I also thought this would be an interesting take on a character based on him, as someone might expect him to be more like Rider Iskandar or Archer Nobunaga and be more itching to fight or resort to violence. I think it also adds an interesting layer to his character. Meanwhile, his love of strategy alludes to Shaka Zulu’s more militaristic background and how he innovated the ways in which people in his area fought(making them more effective) as well as the fact that I saw some accounts saying Shaka like problem-solving and stuff. The marching comes from the, often grueling, training Shaka apparently had his troops do by walking around barefoot to toughen the soles of their feet and the incredible distances some say his troops could march. However, it should be noted that it is possible that some of the brutal training could have been exaggerated. GLC’s love of beetles comes from the fact that Shaka’s name originates from his mother wanting to hide the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock and claimed she was suffering from a condition caused by an iShaka beetle.

GLC’s dislikes are loved ones getting hurt, loved ones dying, people who don’t listen, people who don’t use their head, people who let their emotions control them, and the Berserker class. The first two dislikes are based on how Shaka Zulu reacted when Dingiswayo and his mother Nandi died. As mentioned earlier he did not react great. I thought this would be interesting to explore by combining it with some common shonen-esque themes. Specifically, with how the stereotypical shonen protagonist can’t bear to see their friends or loved ones get hurt and despises people who don’t care about their allies/friends. I did this because I felt like it added an interesting duality and empathetic angle to GLC. Just about anyone can relate to caring about people and associating GLC with a trait that is commonly given to a type of positive protagonists helps show the audience that while he isn’t perfect he isn’t just a madman or bloodthirsty killer. He is overall a very emotional person and this means he is not just filled with negative emotions but positive emotions as well. However, this can be a double edged sword since getting caught up in say rage or sadness can cause a downward spiral. The rest of his dislikes are actually things relating to him, and they are all things that he dislikes about his past self or things that remind him of his failures and shortcomings. His dislike of people who don’t listen, people who don’t use their head, people who let their emotions control them, and the Berserker class are all dislikes that relate to how he acted towards his own kingdom and people after his mother died. Not properly listening to them and letting his rage overtake him and blind him, until Gala came along. The Berserker class usually ends up reminding him of his shortsighted mistakes. However, his dislike of the Berserker class also comes from the fact that Shaka Zulu is famous for his tactics and mind. So strategically from GLC’s perspective Berserker tends to be the worst class as they are hard to control and rarely listen. It doesn’t help that he can be summoned as a Berserker which would summon him as the almost mindless bloodthirsty monster he became at one point and is afraid of returning to. Being summoned in such a state also leaves him without what he believes to be his most important feature and weapon, that is his mind and intellect, something that is boosted by the idea of how smart a king and warrior he was. In addition to this, another reason he doesn’t like people who don’t listen is because diplomacy was a major part of Shaka Zulu’s strategy when incorporating other tribes, so someone who won’t listen might have to be fought. Furthermore, GLC likes to talk a lot so someone who doesn’t listen makes all that talking meaningless in both diplomacy and during fights.

His listed talents are planning, fighting, talking, making good arguments, improving tactics, improvising, solving puzzles, drawing maps/strategies in the dirt or sand. The planning, improving tactics, and drawing maps/strategies come from the fact that Shaka Zulu is famous for his military tactics and planning. Improving tactics also alludes to some accounts that Shaka Zulu did not invent some of the strategies often associated with him but borrowed them from somewhere else as well as how he made his armies more efficient. His ability to draw maps in the dirt very well may seem random but I put it there to relate to how he’s good at strategy and can represent them very well and quickly in a succinct and easy-to-grasp manner through images. Being able to do so in dirt and sand allows one to show these plans on the fly which highlights his intelligence and adaptability. His planning also relates to the more diplomatic tactics Shaka Zulu used as well as the military ones. Another aspect of his efficient diplomacy skills and preference for it is shown through his talent for talking and making very good/convincing arguments. His talent for solving puzzles, and improvising comes from accounts that note while he served under Dingiswayo he was inquisitive and liked to solve things and think. His talent for fighting comes from the brutal and effective prowess Shaka Zulu’s armies had and the fact that he himself was known to fight and was really good at fighting/combat. He is noted to have caught the attention of Dingiswayo because of his strategic mind and fighting prowess, which was higher than most of the other soldiers that were his age.

His natural enemies are Zwide kaLanga, Gilgamesh(Archer), Shaka Zulu(Berserker), and Shaka Zulu(Avenger). Zwide is the one who killed Dingiswayo(Shaka Zulu’s mentor and very important friend), something that GLC will probably always hate him for and seek to torment him for. Also, Shaka was so pissed when Zwide killed his Dingiswayo he killed Zwide’s mother in an attempt to draw him out. Gilgamesh(Archer), Shaka Zulu(Berserker), and Shaka Zulu(Avenger) are all servants he hates for similar reasons. Most notably, the worst aspects of both himself, his legacy, and his reign. GLC leans towards a more idealistic manifestation of Shaka Zulu so he wishes to be the king that his people and so many of their descendants idealize. However, his Berserker and Avenger forms tend to manifest as the more negative, bloody, and violent ways people view him. They remind him of the mistakes he’s made by being overcome with emotion and feels that they feed into the idea that he is just a bloodthirsty tyrant when he wants to be the ideal king his people needed. His Avenger and Berserker variants are also overwhelmed by emotion and thus lack the clarity to use the brilliant mind that GLC treasures so much. Gilgamesh(Archer) is often a tyrant that cares little about most other people despite claiming himself as their king. Something that reminds GLC of when he went mad and did not pay enough attention to the feelings of the people within his kingdom, only caring about his own, so when he sees Gilgamesh or someone else making the same mistakes he wants to smack them on the back of the head before they go down the same path he did.

The black and white in GLC’s image color comes from the color of his shield, which in many of the accounts I found was described as being white with a black spot or just black and white. His association with red comes from his headdress but also blood. Red is a motif I ended up using for GLC in his hair and eyes and they represent how the more bloody and brutal aspects of his life are still present. This isn’t like Elizabeth Bathory or Gilles de Rais being summoned in a form that is that of before they committed their horrible deeds. GLC takes the form that is based on after he went mad and murdered so many innocent people. The red also represents the blood and ferocity he was known for in combat. As in some accounts he would have blood drenched up to the handle of his spear and the famous Ikwa he uses gets its name from the noise it makes as it is stabbed inside a body and then the sucking sound created as it was withdrawn. So the imagery and color of blood is something I ended up using a lot in GLC’s design. This is even represented in his emotions. When he becomes extremely angry or is under the effects of Madness Enhancement many of his blood vessels can be seen bulging under his skin and his skin also turns slightly red from the absurd amounts of blood flow and bulging veins.

Affiliations

His affiliations don’t need much explanation. The Zulu Kingdom/Zululand is the empire Shaka founded so GLC is a member of it and thus affiliated with it.

Family Members

The listed family members for GLC are pretty simple. Nandi(Mother), Senzangakhona kaJama(Father), Sigujana kaSenzangakhona(Half-Brother), Dingane(Half-Brother), Mhlangana(Half-Brother), Nomcoba kaSenzangakhona(Half-Sister), and Dabulamanzi kaMpande(Half-Nephew) are all people that were actually related to Shaka Zulu. The reason I put various aunts, and various uncles, is because apparently Shaka Zulu had a lot of those and I did not feel like scouring the internet looking for every single possible name so I just put them under those general categories.

Servant Stats

GLC is listed as a Heroic Spirit, but not an Anti-Hero. This is sort of interesting since some people might expect him to be listed as an Anti-Hero due to the fact that he went mad and killed a bunch of people later in his life or because of all the colonialist exaggerations in regard to how brutal and bloodthirsty he was. However, while Shaka Zulu is definitely demonized he is also very idolized and lionized as someone who revolutionized combat and fighting as well as being a smart king until he went mad. Heck, his tactics and fighting style would eventually come in clutch during the Anglo-Zulu War’s Battle of Isandlwana and the like. He is often compared to other historical figures that are often idealized or praised, such as Napoleon(who himself is not an Anti-Hero in Fate). Furthermore, the servant Gilgamesh is also someone who is remembered as being a great king but also having royally fucked up. Despite this, even in his Archer form, he is not an Anti-Hero. What is and isn’t an Anti-Hero in Fate doesn’t actually boil down to something as simple as “this person was a bad person” or “people think this person is fucked up.” I mean fucking Christopher Columbus isn’t an Anti-Hero so that definitely is not the sole metric that this trait is measured by. There is also the fact that GLC’s Lancer form is meant to lean towards a more lionized or idealized version of Shaka Zulu that has most of his admirable traits.

GLC’s source is historical fact because Shaka Zulu is a real person that actually existed in history.

His region is South Africa because he was born around KwaDukuza, South Africa and many of his campaigns took place in South Africa, as one can imagine. Something that is reflected in how much impact Shaka Zulu has had on the culture in that area.

GLC’s alignment is Chaotic Good. He is Chaotic Good instead of Neutral or Evil because as mentioned previously GLC takes on a more idealized version of Shaka Zulu and he is not inflicted by the madness that would overwhelm him at some point in his life or the sheer rage he felt towards Zwide. Likewise, he isn’t as bad or ruthless as a lot of colonial propaganda might make him out to be and he didn’t usually immediately resort to fighting and bloodshed when politics would work. Unfortunately, the mistakes and atrocities he committed while going mad still haunt him and he is always at risk of reverting to a more brutal and bloodthirsty maddened state when emotionally overwhelmed with sadness, anger, or Madness Enhancement. Which can lead him to lash out at the world indiscriminately.

His hidden attribute is man because Shaka Zulu was a normal human.

GLC’s armaments are a spear and shield because Shaka Zulu had both himself and his armies use an ikwa and an isihlangu, a short spear and large cowhide shield respectively.

His known summoning catalysts are a piece of his shield, the tip of one of his spears, a vial of some mud mixed with his blood, and a small rock with some of his blood on it. The pieces of his shield and spear are just references to his signature spears and shield of choice that I just mentioned when talking about his armaments. The vial of mud/blood and the bloody rock are a reference to where he was apparently buried when he died. Supposedly, after he was assassinated he was dumped into an empty grain pit that was then filled with stones and mud. So the mud and rock here are supposed to be materials that have somehow been gathered from the grain pit. However, in real life the exact location of this pit is unknown.

Qualified Servant Classes

GLC’s qualified servant classes are Lancer, Berserker, Avenger, and Shielder.

I don’t think I need to explain the justification of why a servant based on Shaka Zulu would be eligible for the Lancer class with a lot of details. The dude is famous for using a spear and introducing a new kind of spear and method of combat revolving around a shield and said spear to Zulu armies. 

Being eligible for the Shielder class is a reference to the aforementioned signature big shield Shaka and his armies used and incorporated into their combat style. The more defensive angle of both his Shielder and Lancer forms is a reference to both the use of their shields and battles like the Battle of Gqokli Hill during the Ndwandwe-Zulu war in which he famously feigned retreat to lure his foes into a trap as well as the more defensive aspects of his fighting style involving the shield.

The thing about the Berserker class is that the only qualification for being in it is having gone mad during combat at some point in one’s life. A definition that Fate has proven can be very loose and can range anywhere from being overcome with immense anger during a squabble to actually losing your mind in a battle. GLC’s eligibility for the class can be attributed to the fact that there is an argument for just about every warrior servant being eligible for the Berserker class if they ever were sufficiently angry or upset during a fight and the madness that overcame Shaka as king as well as the utter rage he displayed towards Zwide for killing Dingiswayo. The madness can also be attributed to some of the overexaggerated rumors regarding Shaka’s bloodlust and brutality, something that is referenced with how both his Berserker and Avenger versions are less heroic than his Lancer and Shielder counterparts. His Berserker form wielded a club as a type of club was another weapon Zulu warriors would often wield at the time.

The Avenger class is one that often revolves around vengeance and avenging. Now, there are actually some other important aspects of this class, but the nuances of those are for another time. For now, just know that GLC is eligible for the Avenger class both because he sought vengeance on Zwide for taking the life of his mentor and the madness that afflicted him later in life can be at least partially attributed to the death of his mother. Which caused him to want everyone to share in the pain and grief he felt in losing a mother. Shaka’s Berserker and Avenger forms have a more offensive angle which references how Shaka’s methods of combat made his armies more effective but also made conflicts tend to have a higher death toll when they did happen. It also alludes to the more offensive aspects of his fighting style such as favoring close quarter combat with his signature short spear and using an isihlangu to hook the enemies own shield aside and leave them open to a strike.

Parameters

Here are GLC’s parameters

Strength: C - B

Endurance: B - A

Agility: C - B

Mana: E - D

Luck: D - C

NP: A++

The reason I gave him parameters that increase when he is defending, dodging, or retreating and increase when attacking is twofold. Firstly, at the end of the day the main reason Shaka is admired is because of his brilliant intelligence and tactics. So giving him fluctuating stats is to show how clever and tactical he is. While it could be considered a downside to not always have one’s parameters always at their highest, GLC knows how to use them as an advantage and pull a fast one over on unaware opponents. The fluctuations are also a reference to the Battle of Gqokli Hill in which he set a trap for his foes by feigning retreat several times and then jumping the opposing army with a bunch of troops once they were deep in Zulu territory. So in this respect, the fluctuations represent misdirection and GLC playing to his mental strengths. Something that can give opponents a false sense of security when GLC attacks only to be stunned by a jump in stats when he dodges, defends, or counter-attacks. I kept all the fluctuations within one rank because I didn’t want the stats to be too confusing or extreme. So they go down one rank when he is attacking and up when he is defending.

His maximum strength is B because Shaka Zulu’s strength is notable for being pretty high but I didn’t think it would make sense for a Non-Berserker GLC to have physical strength that can rival literal King Arthur and Beowulf. Also, GLC does not have the benefit of things like divinity or being a monster on by default to increase his stats. While his stats are boosted by the rumors surrounding his life and combat prowess he wasn’t born during the Age of Gods or anything.

His maximum endurance is A in reference to how he apparently walked around barefoot to increase the strength of the soles of his feet and some of the stories that say he and his armies could move or march incredible distances before having to stop. Having a high Endurance parameter also synergizes with the more defensive aspects of GLC’s fighting style.

His agility is B because a major reason why he had himself and his warriors fight barefoot was to increase their mobility when on foot in battle. Doing so made them more agile than if they wore sandals in battle. So I figured that it would make sense that his mobility is on the high end.

One may be surprised that GLC’s mana isn’t an E on the low end and is instead a D. However, from what I’ve read Zulu shields have a symbolic association with them that are said to protect the wielder from magic and Shaka Zulu has interacted with certain sangoma and others who practiced magic. When translated into the Fate universe this could easily display an interaction with and potentially even an understanding of magecraft and magic even if GLC wasn’t a mage himself. Which is something that could bump him up from an E to a D and then a C when you factor in his parameter fluctuations.

I chose to have GLC’s Luck be a D on the low end since he is both lionized and demonized so there are a lot of good things associated with his reign and life as well as a lot of bad things. While I don’t think his Luck would be super low due to his effectiveness in combat and how he managed to become king in the first place. So, I think hovering around a C or B made sense.

The rank of GLC’s strongest NP is A++ so that is what is reflected in his stats. Part of the reason it is so high is that it is meant to parallel Noble Phantasms wielded by servants like Rider Iskandar and Archer Napoleon, who have EX and A-ranked Noble Phantasms respectively. A comparison I strengthened by giving him the King of Conquerors title and Shaka Zulu is often compared to Napoleon(which I imagine would give him some extra strength as a servant).

Class Skills

GLC has a C+ ranked Magic Resistance. The reason he has this skill is just because he is a Lancer and that is the class skill Lancers get. It is probably a bit higher than one would expect, being C+ instead of like E, but the reason I made it C is for the same reasons I made his mana stat D - C. Also, because it plays into his defensive imagery. The reason it is C+ is that the effectiveness of the skill increases along with his parameters while he is defending, retreating, dodging, etc. The reason his shield can block A-ranked magical attacks is that Zulu shields have a symbolic association with them that is said to protect the wielder from magic and other things. The shield itself not only literally blocks A-ranked or lower magical attacks but it also causes his Magic Resistance to increase by one rank while holding it due to the symbolism associated with it. It also acts as yet another way for him to throw his opponents for a loop if they are not paying close enough attention.

Personal Skills

GLC has a Charisma of B++. While someone might expect it to be lower due to how he messed up as king when he went mad it is important to remember that his Lancer form has his more positive traits and he was a pretty good military leader and even understood some of the psychology of his troops. For example, he would have some of his soldiers face away from the battlefield before they joined in so they wouldn’t get excited or scared and join too late, too early or just run away. There is also the fact that Shaka Zulu is really idolized as a military leader and it’s B rank anyway because B ranked Charisma is given to those who were sufficient in leading a nation as its King/Queen(a requirement Shaka Zulu easily meets). Of course it has the ++ because it becomes more effective when he is talking and planning defensive strategies or retreats. The talking is a reference to his preference for diplomacy while the boost when defending, dodging, retreating, etc. is another reference to the Battle of Gqokli Hill. Playing into his strategies and misdirections. It also parallels how/when his parameters rise and drop.

GLC has Imperial Privilege at a rank of B+. I felt like if servants like Nero Claudius and Napoleon could have it then it makes sense for GLC to have it. Also, since GLC is sometimes compared to Napoleon it made a nice subtle parallel. Plus, he founded the Zulu Empire and is an important figure or royalty. There is also an argument to be made for it being granted to him for reasons relating to passion in the same way Nero has it. I see no reason why he wouldn’t have it to be honest. I put it at B+ because B is the rank at which Napoleon has it(furthering the subtle parallels) and because he can get flashes of inspiration that can allow him to access new skills. These flashes add a sense of calculated unpredictability that can throw opponents off and show his creative tactical mind. Which I felt emphasized how clever he was by showing that he could learn certain new things on the fly by seeing them. I even put thought into the skills he can draw upon with Imperial Privilege. Protection from Arrows and Bullet Proof Treatment are both references to how he reacted when being shown firearms. Arguing that in the time a gunman took to reload, they would be swamped by charging spear-wielding warriors and that Zulu methods were superior. Now before you go on assuming he was just arrogant or only biased for Zulu methods(although biases may have factored into it) it's important to remember the time period. These were not at all modern guns so they would have been slower to reload and less accurate. Meaning his statement actually had a lot more validity to it then it would have if he had said it in modern times.

The Protection from Arrows skill also references how he had himself and his army get rid of throwing spears in favor of short stabbing spears when fighting because throwing spears proved to be overall less effective as you had to actually be good at aiming them, there were ways they could be blocked, and if you missed an opponent could pick them up and try to use them against you. So this skill is meant to point out how he noticed the weaknesses with this weapon. Battle Continuation is a reference to Shaka Zulu’s assassination. Specifically, while dying, he managed to say “Are you stabbing me, kings of the earth? You will come to an end through killing one another.” and “Hey brother! You kill me, thinking you will rule, but the swallows will do that” in some accounts. Plus, GLC would always appreciate a skill that gives him more time to talk. Disengage is a reference to Shaka feigning retreat in battles like that of the Battle of Gqokli Hill. Valor is a reference to a combination of his bravery and preference for close quarters combat using a short spear instead of a long throwing spear, as Valor is a skill that “negates mental interference such as pressure, confusion and fascination. It also has the bonus effect of increasing melee damage.” It is also said that when Shaka battled there would be blood all the way up the hilt of his spear in some accounts. So he definitely wasn’t one to shy away from combat, especially close quarters combat. It can also help mitigate his weakness to mental attacks which can surprise opponents by making a mental attack that almost or did work once before failing again unless the opponent can make it sufficiently strong enough or catch GLC off-guard. Unimpeded Movement is a skill that I made up that reads “a skill that lowers the effectiveness of mobility and movement debuffs on the user. Allowing the user to continue to move as fast as possible across all types of terrain while also making it harder to slow them down.” This is a reference to how Shaka Zulu walked around barefoot to toughen his feet and how he apparently would also have his soldiers do the same. Some accounts say he even had them walk across thorns. The idea here is that he is really hard to slow down. Reduced Earth is a reference to some accounts stating he and his armies could march or move incredible distances. Some say he could march 80-kilometers(or 50 mi) in one day but others dispute this. The idea here is that in the Fate universe whether he actually could move that far or not is distorted by the fact that he and some of his soldiers knew this skill. Finally, his Madness Enhancement of course references the time he went mad as king. The fact that it can accidentally or passively activate when he’s hit with a mental attack is a reference to how he is still haunted by the horrific things he did to his kingdom after going mad and some of the demonizing propaganda by colonizers emphasizing his more negative traits as a justification for why they should take the land. It also references that his madness was connected to the death of his mother.

The Proof of Friendship is a reference to Shaka’s overall preference for diplomacy over jumping straight into fights and I found it to be a neat subversion of what the audience might expect. However, it is sort of low because a lot of the time his politics come with the subtle threat that he might just take what he wants by force if you don’t comply. Which is also why the skill becomes more effective if what he is doing strikes fear into them and why despite having the skill he is unafraid of using threats or blackmail.

Mana Defense is a reference to Shaka’s signature shield and the more defensive aspects of his fighting style that revolved around this big shield. Unfortunately, it takes GLC a lot of mana to use. The fact that it allows him to bolster the defense of an entire army at its strongest is a reference to how he had his army wield these shields, which would often be used to safely close the distance between them and their opponents. The fact that it's so mana intensive is a way of me basically limiting how many skills GLC has at one time and it is a lot easier to keep track of them all when one such as this wouldn’t be used at all most of the time. It is of course more stable in his more defense-oriented shielder form.

I don’t think I really need to justify giving him Military Tactics and Strategy as skills. The dude is literally famous for reinventing and evolving the military tactics of his region and he was an amazing military tactician. He is also really good at strategy and the Strategy skill includes diplomacy and logistics, which is right up GLC’s ally. The Strategy skill’s connection to diplomacy can be used to increase the effectiveness of GLC’s Proof of Friendship skill which I also felt showed how clever he is. His Strategy is pretty good so of course it got an A. His Military Tactics being B++ is because its effectiveness increases when he retreats or takes defensive formations(another reference to the Battle of Gqokli Hill). If he is running away it becomes harder to tell if he is genuinely running away or if he is simply setting a trap. Making chasing him dangerous. Of course, his Berserker form is more attack-focused so as a Berserker he gains a boost to the skill if he is attacking instead.

Mind’s Eye(True) is a reference to Shaka’s battle prowess and his supposed intelligence as well as how good his tactics were. For example, he would have some soldiers face away from the battle so that they wouldn’t get too excited or too scared and would be able to join the battle precisely when necessary. The skill is also useful in escaping or defending which works as another reference to the Battle of Gqokli Hill. It is ranked at B+ because its effectiveness increases when he retreats or defends in reference to the aforementioned battle and when traversing terrain in reference to how incredibly far Shaka and his soldiers might have been able to march.

GLC’s habit of saying the name of his skill outloud is both me playing on the fact that this character loves to talk and it does also hype him, and probably at least his own soldiers, up. He can also use it to throw enemies off by yelling the name of skill in order to distract from another skill or plan by grabbing their attention.

Noble Phantasms

His first Noble Phantasm is his Isihlangu. Which is of course based on the shield Shaka Zulu wielded. Its full True Name “Isihlangu: Brush My Enemies Aside.” A reference to the name of the shield itself, which can translate to “brush aside.” This also references how the shield was used offensively by holding the shield in one’s left hand, pushing up to the enemy, and then hooking the enemy’s shield before pulling it aside in order to create an opening in the enemy’s defenses during hand-to-hand combat or close engagements. This is reflected in its ability to temporarily disarm servants if their weapons make contact with it and how they can become sealed if the weapon is a lower rank than the shield. The ability to create a concussive blast to stun opponents and leave them open to attacks in a weakened state is an exaggeration of this aspect of the shield. This is also a reference to the shield’s name meaning “to brush aside” being taken literally. As the blast can be used to literally brush things aside. Of course, it is a shield so it was also used to protect the person wielding it from things like throwing spears, arrows, etc. The fact that it was useful for fending off throwing spears, and arrows in particular, as well as Shaka’s comment about firearms in combat, led to me giving the Noble Phantasm a resistance against projectiles. Shaka also tended to be very against most throwing weapons since if you missed there was the danger of the enemy picking it back up. Something that is reflected in how his shield can knock projectiles back at you. The fact that the shield has its own level of magic resistance equal to that of A-Rank and increases one’s own Magic Resistance and Luck as long as they hold it is a reference to how the shield has symbolic meaning to it and was said to aid in warding off magic and increasing one’s luck. I also wouldn’t think it's out of the question that GLC has actually fought mages and the like in the Fate world at some point in his life.

The Ikwa is based on the signature short spear used by Shaka and his armies. He ditched the throwing spears that were commonly used at the time for the Ikwa(or Iklwa) . He also forbade his soldiers from throwing them as, like with the other throwing spears at the time, there was the concern that the enemy could pick them up if the thrower’s spear missed or the weapon was dodged/blocked. Its full True Name, Ikwa: The Sound of Flowing Bloodshed, is a reference to how the spear apparently got its name from the distinct sucking sound it made as it was pulled out of someone’s body after they had been stabbed. This is also reflected in the abilities of the Noble Phantasm, as by releasing the True Name when someone is stabbed by the spear they will suffer constant bleeding and a “mana leak” from the wound in the form of a curse. Also, when the spear is pulled out of the wound it is accompanied by a violent spray of blood and magical energy accompanied by an audible sound. This is all in reference to how the spear got its name and it essentially “pulls out” blood and mana along with it. This blood imagery and smell also reflects how much bloodier conflicts ended up becoming because of Shaka Zulu as well as what made the spear famous is what it does after it stabs people. But GLC is capable of deactivating it which shows a level of restraint and that he is not a mindless monster.

Izimpondo Zenyathi is a reference to what is probably Shaka Zulu’s most famous military technique and formation, the “Buffalo Horns.” Which is also where the epithet “An Army That’s as Deadly as a Buffalo’s Horns” present in the Noble Phantasm’s name came from. This horn imagery is also reflected in how part of the Noble Phantasm’s activation involves two massive horns erupting from any spear or club GLC is using. Those weapons reference the favored spears and clubs he and his Zulu warriors often used during combat. The fact that the head of the weapon elongates into a point gives it more range and makes it so that if he is wielding a club it becomes closer to his signature spear. This NP isn’t tied to a specific weapon, outside of just any kind of club or spear, because it is the formation itself and not a weapon in the same way the Ikwa is. The NP is a reality marble in order to allow for a large army like that of Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi. It acts as a subtle way to parallel servants like Iskandar as they are both “Kings of Conquerors.” Something that is emphasized by its maximum number of targets being equal to that of Ionioi Hetairoi and its rank being close to this NP as well as Darius’s Athanaton Ten Thousand and Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile(as Shaka and Napoleon are sometimes compared to each other). The parts of their formation and their qualities don’t need a very detailed explanation as they are based on how Shaka actually organized his troops in the formation using three categories. The “horns”(made up of younger troops meant to encircle and pin enemies), the “chest”(made up of the best and strongest fighters to act as the main force), and the “loins”(acting as reserves/backup that were made up of older and more experienced fighters). The loins would sometimes have their backs facing the battle until it was their turn for combat in order to ensure that they wouldn’t get too nervous and charge into battle too early or run away. The colors of each shield that each part of the formation wields is based on how they were often color coded using their shield. His charisma increases by one rank while in reality marble because he is in his element of directing troops and he can join the battle himself by leaving the plateau at any time because he is no stranger to joining the fight himself. Shaka is in fact quite famous for being a good fighter. The plateau also lets him oversee the battle from a bird’s eye view to more effectively direct his troops. His voice echoing throughout the marble is mostly just so his troops can hear his orders.

The fact that it is a plain/savannah means that there are few places for opponents to hide from a shielded army barrelling towards them. The qualities each part of the formation has and their stats relates to the types of soldiers that would be put in each part of the formation. All the soldiers have an E-rank in most of their stats because having fully fledged servants with a wide variety of potentially high parameters and their own NPs would probably end up being way too powerful from a narrative perspective. All troops having a low ranked Independent Action references Iskandar’s own Noble Phantasm and prevents the Noble Phantasm from being almost unusable because you would need to supply enough mana for an army’s worth of servants. Also the fact that they don’t have it while outside the reality marble adds an interesting limitation to how many GLC can comfortably summon at any given time outside of said reality marble(usually 1 or 2). And they also can only be summoned within arm’s reach outside the reality marble in order to prevent them from being busted or allowing GLC to just conjure people behind his opponents. The horns have a higher speed stat because they are young. The soldiers in the “chest” are stronger and more talented so they have E-ranked versions of Shaka’s Ikwa and Isihlangu in reference to their efficiency with those weapons and having access to even a weak NP would make you stronger than someone with no np. Finally, the loins have a Madness Enhancement that boosts their, Strength, Endurance, and Agility, which references how they would sometimes have their backs facing the battle until it was their turn for combat in order to ensure that they wouldn’t get too nervous and charge into battle too early or run away. So their Madness Enhancement makes them harder to control and forces GLC to turn them around until they are needed. Being able to walk out of the reality marble, and its shrinking aspect, reference to the documentation and legends of the many people who went through great lengths to flee from and avoid his encroaching armies and conquests. If you are unable to flee you will potentially be attacked by his armies and have your parameters lowered until Shaka dies. GLC would be absurdly powerful in South Africa because servants gain a boost if they are in or near the place in which their legend took place and if they are well known in the general area(and the dude had a massive impact on South Africa).

Misc

His tough feet and devastating kicks are a reference to the stories in which he and his men would walk everywhere barefoot in order to increase the toughness of his feet and some stories even go as far as to say he would have people walk across thorns to toughen their feet. The fact that he walks around barefoot is a reference to some stories saying that he never wore shoes and always walked around barefoot(but this could be an exaggeration). His agility dropping when he wears shoes is a reference to how he preferred not to wear sandals/shoes during combat in order to have increased agility and movement. The strength of his legs also comes from how far some say he and his armies could march.

His constant talking is a reference to both his diplomacy and also his brutality as he is willing to do some things that others would consider underhanded in order to win. This also references his more pragmatic approach to combat and how he made his armies more effective and deadlier.

His love and knowledge of beetles and their anatomy is a reference to how he got his name from the iShaka beetle.

Background

Okay, I’m actually going to skip over most of the inspirations behind GLC’s background because 98% of them can be attributed to accounts we have of his life, so there’s no need for a play by play. I am instead just going to mention a few notable changes or details.

First off, in some accounts Shaka flew into a rage after he saw that Zwide’s mother had the skull of Dingiswayo but in others, he just immediately killed her because he was fucking furious at Zwide. I decided to go with the first option because it sounded more interesting with more potential characterization for both Ntombazi and Zwide if I ever made them fanservants. It also made GLC more sympathetic even if he isn’t completely justified.

Second, when Shaka saw a gun he didn’t just disassemble it and reassemble that(as far as anyone is aware). I added that to show how thoroughly he thought about the weapon and that he didn't just dismiss it off-hand. It also makes him seem more clever/smart.

Finally, in some versions of various accounts a man named Gala shook some sense back into Shaka which I decided to include because Gala would make a cool servant and I wanted to put Lancer Shaka in the form of how he was AFTER he was a dick to make his characterization more interesting instead of trying to sidestep it by framing his Lancer form as one who has yet to turn into the mad king. Also, there was an interesting contrast with GLC having the power of hindsight and being pushed towards a more idealized form despite how badly he fucked up. The whole “However, he acted too slowly and his mistakes were beyond the point of being overlooked or forgiven by most of the people within his kingdom…” is there because Gala helped Shaka regain his sanity at that point and because it adds a sort of extra tragedy because while he realized his mistake he kind of deserved what he had coming at that point.

Appearance

GLC is physically muscular which is meant to reflect how he was often described as such. His pointy nose and spiky hair along with his sharp sideburns and teeth are meant to draw a connection to sharp-bladed and pointy weapons like his spear. I figured since the spear was so integral to his identity it could be used to create some fun shape language to mess with. Most of the red in his outfit is a reference to the themes of violence and blood I mentioned earlier. His sharp teeth also helped potentially make him more intimidating and showed that while he could be, and often is, lighthearted he is not a joke character and isn’t one to be trifled with or underestimated. It also further connects to his sharp spear imagery. Coming off lighthearted can act as another way for him to get his opponents to let their guard down. The scars on his chest and back are a reference to the assassination done on him by his half-brothers, Dingane and Mhlangana, while the scars on his feet are a reference to how he walked around barefoot to toughen them and the stories saying that he had his troops walk across thorns to toughen their feet. I already explained his height earlier so i won’t be going over that.

I also ended up giving his scars a slight pink or reddish hue to them to further tie into the blood imagery. When angry or under the effects of Madness Enhancement his scars turn a deeper red color to solidify this.

Personality

GLC’s love of talking is related to his preference for diplomacy and I felt that it was a nice subversion of his expected behavior that is still rooted in historical fact. Specifically, a joke he told that I mentioned earlier and his preference to jump to diplomacy instead of immediately rely on combat. His use of talking in combat is meant to play up some of his diplomacy but also his ruthlessness and brutality as he is willing to to throw the opponent off with personal attacks or insults. I also felt like it made him come off as clever and not just a raging berserker while also playing up his wit and intelligence. His defensive battle tactics along with counter-attacks, disarming techniques, and willingness to either run away or feign retreat is a reference to how tricky Shaka Zulu could be in combat and a reference to the Battle of Gqokli Hill. This is also why it can be hard to tell if GLC is ever actually losing or if he’s setting up a trap. Another reason he avoids jumping into combat is because he prefers to have as many allies as possible. The fact that he can get caught up in the rush of battle is a reference to the madness he would succumb to and how he was often described, sometimes to the point of over exaggeration, as a brutal warrior. As well as how he ruthlessly hunted down Zwide after the man killed his mentor.

The fact that he hates seeing his loved ones in pain or getting killed is a reference to how he hunted down Zwide when the man killed Dingiswayo and how he went mad after his mother Nandi died. The latter also acts as the inspiration for how he may use the Madness Enhancement skill to ruthlessly strike, and probably kill, anyone who kills his loved ones. There is some inspiration from how Shaka Zulu killed Zwide’s mother in a rage and attempted to draw Zwide out. However, these events also led to GLC appreciating his family/friends even more than he already did(which was a lot).

The fact that he can give the impression that he has a really weak clairvoyance is both to emphasize how strategic and clever he is while how he predicted the Europeans would betray the Zulus and the downfall of his brother as he was being killed by saying “Brother are you stabbing me, king of the earth thinking you will rule? The swallows will do that!!!” as a warning to Dingane and his people about the European colonizers and some of their malicious intentions before saying  “You will come to an end through killing one another.” A warning that would ring true when Dingane took the throne and attempted to remove those who were loyal to Shaka before getting involved in a civil war and getting overthrown after 12 years of ruling by his other half-brother. His bluntness and tendency to come off as menacing or rude is a reference to an interaction in one account in which Shaka said Dingiswayo should kill Zwide in response to Dingiswayo asking how he should take care of Zwide. Something that was proven kind of right when Zwide ended up killing Dingiswayo,

The regret he feels over killing innocent civilians is due to a combination of the fact that his Lancer takes the form of a Shaka Zulu that is no longer mad due to the intervention of Gala and it represents a clash of his more idealized self and positive traits against his less admirable traits and demonized self. GLC wants to be the more idealized king a lot of people see him as so he takes steps like refusing to kill humans and trying to save as many humans as possible as atonement for the people he killed while mad. His goal is technically never ending but he is shooting for 7,000 currently because some estimated that's how many people he killed while inflicted by madness. The fact that he mentally keeps note of every person he saves helps show his more caring and kind side as well as how smart he can be. The fact that it is only humans he refuses to kill while being fine with killing nonhuman entities and things that are already dead, like vampires, zombies, spirits and even servants(as they are a type of spirit) shows that while he is trying better to be a more kind, considerate, and ideal king he isn’t completely defenseless or a total pushover and can still be quite ruthless. It also sort of shows that he’s smart and not always basic or straightforward since this core philosophy of his is more nuanced than just “save everyone and everything”… sorry Shirou

Servant Interactions

For this section I’m going to be mostly going over why I chose to have voice lines between each character rather than what each line says as most of it can be inferred or implied when I explain why I gave these character interactions in the first place.

The legendary Leonidas and Shaka Zulu have been compared to each other by many due to both being famous military leaders who wield a notable shield and spear with famous formations revolving around the use of those two weapons. Leonidas in Fate also seems to love training which can connect to the stories of how brutal Shaka Zulu’s training could be.

GLC’s interaction with Napoleon is based on how Shaka Zulu has often been compared to Napoleon and even called the “black/African Napoleon” due to being considered proficient military leaders among other things. GLC comments on the massive cannon Napoleon wields because it seems like an unwieldy projectile weapon similar to the guns he criticized when he was alive.

GLC and Shaka Zulu do have a really diplomatic aspect to them so GLC is greatly impressed by Gaius Julius Caesar’s famous charisma, speeches, and diplomacy skills.

Shakespear’s First Folio is a Noble Phantasm that takes the form of a mental attack that aims to destroy the minds of its target by recreating and forcing the target to relive terrible events or mistakes in their lives. GLC already has a weakness to mental attacks and a Noble Phantasm like First Folio could cause him to regress into a Berserker-like state or become overcome with madness once again. Plus, he really doesn’t want to relive seeing his mentor being killed, his mother dying, or when he killed all those innocent people. GLC has a lot of moments for First Folio to take advantage of.

Shaka Zulu is famous for being smart and innovative. Da Vinci is also famous for being smart and innovative in her own way. I thought the idea that they would try to one-up each other or prove who's smarter by doing things the other does was a funny and interesting interaction. They can also both be prideful.

Kama is a Beast connected to lust but Shaka Zulu is noted in some accounts to actually have gone out of his way to avoid having an heir or just not been interested in having one for a speculative or unknown reason.

Oda Nobunaga and Shaka Zulu are both figures who are known for having a brutal side to them but were also undoubtedly effective with their more modernized and revolutionized tactics.

Ryoma Sakamoto cares greatly about his friends and loved ones and wants to create a world of peace. Which I think can go hand in hand with how GLC cares about his loved ones and wants to be a better and less brutal king.

Izou is a prodigy with the sword and Shaka Zulu was also considered a prodigy in fighting by many, including his mentor(even if Shaka Zulu didn’t wield a sword).

Shaka Zulu explicitly forbade his soldiers from throwing most of their spears but Emiya, Gilgamesh(Archer), and Kid Gil all launch weapons as a form of attack. Something that probably distresses GLC even more when one considers that these servants could easily have access to their own version of Shaka Zulu’s famous spear and, at least Gilgamesh, would probably just throw it around like he would any other weapon. Which GLC would see as disrespectful.

Emiya’s copied Rho Aias and Shaka Zulu’s shield are both Noble Phantasms that are resistant to throwing spears like that of Gae Bolg. So they are of a similar nature.

Gilgamesh(Caster) is similar in a way to Shaka Zulu in that at one point he was a terrible king who overstepped his bounds and wielded his power irresponsibility but his existence gives GLC hope that he too can one day become the great and wise king his people needed. Which is reinforced in how Gilgamesh would eventually realize his mistakes and become one of the greatest kings in history.

Shaka Zulu was treated poorly by many other kids in his youth for saying he was the son of a chief(he was but the chief in question didn’t want to acknowledge him because he was born out of wedlock). Jack the Ripper(Assassin) is a literal murderer while Abigail Williams falsely accused innocent people, such as Tituba, of witchcraft which got them killed.

Lancelot(Berserker) has a personal skill that allows him to turn any weapon he holds into a Noble Phantasm. We see in Fate/Zero his Berserker form is also capable of grabbing weapons launched by things like Gil’s Gate of Babylon out of the air and throwing them back at great speed. Which to GLC only affirms his fears in life as he forbade his troops from throwing their Ikwa out of fear that the enemy would pick them up and use the weapons against them.

Elizabeth Bathory(Lancer) is a form of Carmilla that has not yet become the famous murderer. GLC encourages her as he sympathizes with her plight of wanting to have been a better person than she was in life and not wanting to succumb to the same mistakes.

Carmilla(Assassin) was a murderous noble who used her position in power to kill innocent people. Now Shaka Zulu didn’t go as far as bathing in people’s blood to make himself younger but GLC is reminded of his murderous reign as king when madness overtook him. However, even so, he still finds Carmilla quite brutal.

The similarities in his own style and Hector(Lancer)’s style that GLC is referring to is that they are both Lancers who use tactics that one might see as underhanded in battle. They are also willing to perform sudden retreats, they both have the Proof of Friendship skill and they both have access to the Disengage skill to facilitate their retreats(GLC has access to the skill through his Imperial Privilege).

Chiron is a famous teacher and mentor of heroes, which reminds GLC of how legendary and proficient his own mentor, Dingiswayo, was.

GLC retreats a lot like Jason does and he respects that Jason knows that he isn’t a good warrior and doesn’t try to pretend he is. But he finds Jason to be a bit too cowardly as Shaka Zulu is famous for being brave. Jason is also willing to use or throw some people, like Medea, under the bus even if they adore him which rubs GLC the wrong way as he wants to treasure his loved ones.

Hans Christian Anderson is a very blunt and no-nonsense servant. Which is similar to Gala's bluntness and straightforwardness when he talked back to Shaka Zulu by pointing out his mother wasn’t the first person to die in Zululand during a meeting in response to his increasing madness and violence.

Lanling Wang and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne both remind GLC of Magaye, as Magaye was said to be so beautiful that Shaka Zulu himself stated that if he ever killed the man it would look like he did so out of jealousy. Which parallels the supernatural beauty of Lanling and Diarmuid.

Quetzalcoatl, Yasuke, and Damarchus are all servants(and fanservants) that like and/or are good at wrestling and apparently Shaka Zulu was good at wrestling and dueling as a young man.

Gilgamesh(Archer) is an asshole king who abuses his power and has yet to become the wise king of his Caster form. Gilgamesh’s Archer form reminds GLC of his own shortcoming in life.

Christopher Columbus is an asshole European colonialist and kind of proves what Shaka Zulu said to his brothers as he died talking about his wariness of the motives of the Europeans he had begun to trade and interact with as some of them were racist colonialists.

Iskandar, and Genghis Khan, along with Shaka Zulu, are all famous conquerors who controlled immense amounts of territory and had a major impact on the continents they inhabited because of how great their influence and civilizations ended up becoming. Interestingly, GLC is the only one of these servants and fanservants that is not eligible for the Rider class, which I thought was funny.

Hang Tuah is described as someone who is a smooth-talker. GLC and Hang Tuah both dislike tyrannical kings and GLC trusts that Hang Tuah would stop him if he was ever in danger of going off the deep end. Hang Tuah is also quite good with words and can actually extract information from people due to how adept he can be at flirting which, as odd as a comparison it might seem, fits in the GLC’s preference for diplomacy and skill he has when it comes to talking.

Hang Jebat is a fanservant with literal horns and GLC has metaphorical horns due to Shaka Zulu’s famous “Buffalo Horns” formation.

Connla is a fanservant that wields a spear and can copy spears, and I imagine Connla can copy GLC’s Ikwa.

Gilgamesh, and Emiya both launch their weapons as explained earlier. Connla is a Shirou pseudo servant and since Shirou, like Emiya, can sometimes launch his swords and weapons this distresses GLC as Shaka Zulu was against throwing weapons.

Julie d’Aubigny has a lot of charisma and honestly, I just think that GLC would get along great with her.

Laplace’s Demon and Maxwell's Demon are both manifestations of paradoxes and Shaka was noted to like solving things. Maxwell's Demon has since been proven to not be possible due to violating the second law of thermodynamics so it is a paradox that GLC can “solve.”

Nameless Soldier is made up of countless unnamed soldiers, which could in theory include any number of Zulu soldiers that Shaka Zulu has led.

Dingane and Mhlangana are the ones who assassinated Shaka Zulu. There is not much to explain beyond that.

*Hang Tuah, Connla, Damarchus, Julie d’Aubigny and Nameless Soldier are all fanservants created by MochiBoni and Omegazplayer respectively. Yasuke is a fanservant created by me and Dingane and Mhlangana haven’t been designed yet. Here are the profiles or art for each respective servant

Hang Tuah- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mjNkmjnhIIeLgGRvSlVVLhRQqWd4cbEDygfQHSLPCg/edit

Connla- https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1425858835730685957?s=20, https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1419297258512601089?s=21 

Julie d’Aubigny-https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416650069206573057?s=20

Damarchus- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jArzQOnAWnvSv8MRelYSl1x5DZj-gUndaBmPtO74icw/edit

Nameless Soldier- https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416632770059714560?s=20 

Yasuke- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M7V-XS0S_hePGtpLHY3abI-rU8_ek889uqcYnq0cvb0/edit 

Dialogue examples

I am going to keep this section brief and only go over the parts that I think need explaining. 

“Well, obviously family isn’t just determined by biology. I mean my biological father wanted nothing to do with me… If you only define family using DNA then you are only stunting yourself in the long run my friend. There aren’t many people in this world willing to look out for you so treasure them!”- Shaka Zulu was an illegitimate baby so his father tried to deny any connection to him.

“Eh!? Are my diplomacy skills really that surprising? Some of those stories about my fighting and conquering were just a liiiiiiiittle bit exaggerated my friend. Besides, I engaged in diplomacy just as much as I fought, which is to say a lot.”- a reference to some of the overexaggerated tales spread by Nathaniel Isaacs, Henry Francis Fynn, and other Europeans that were often meant to legitimize their racism and/or colonialism by showing how violent or uncivilized the people there were. The line “If I had known what those shady Nathaniel Isaacs and Henry Fynn were going to do to my image for the sake of that slave trade I would have killed them on the spot…” is also a reference to this as GLC basically feels they unfairly ruined his image to a degree.

“KwaBulawayo? I’ll be honest I was just trying to sound intimidating… maybe it worked a bit too well… Dukuza had a much better balance between intimidation and cool factor.”- the name of KwaBulawayo translates to something like “the place of slaughter” or “the place at which murder occurs” which is a little bit of an overkill of a name. kwaDukuza is a name that means “Place of the Lost Person.” Many Zulu refer to it as Dukuza.

“Take it from me, you should consider your actions carefully and try to keep the collateral damage down to a minimum… Just promise me you’ll think with your head and not your heart ok my friend.” The collateral damage GLC is referring to is the Mfecane(“Upheaval" or "Crushing"). A period of chaos and upheaval within southern Africa that depopulated the region. Some believe Shaka Zulu’s conquests to be the cause of this, as many tribes were forced to flee if they did not wish to be conquered, but others attribute the event to Zwide.

Death Line

“Mbopa…”- Mbopa is one of the people who took part in the assassination of Shaka Zulu and probably would have been one of the last people GLC saw before he died.

Fun Facts

He would be five stars due to his fame.

White, and Blue represent the parts of GLC that strive to be a better person and king as well as his values of knowledge while Black represents his more ruthless and underhanded side. Red tends to represent when his emotions overcome him and how he treasures and prioritizes some of his emotions, like love for his friends and family.

His Epithet Erased word being “horn” is a reference to his famous “Buffalo Horns” formation and how some famous beetles, like rhinoceros beetles, have horns.

His nen type would be that of Transmutations because Hisoka’s nen personality quiz describes Transmuters as “whimsical, prone to deceit, and fickle. They have unique characteristics, and many are regarded as weirdos or tricksters. They often put forth a facade while hiding the truer aspects of their personalities. Even when they don't hide their personalities, they rarely reveal their true intentions. Many Transmuters rely on techniques that give unique and unpredictable properties to their Nen that reflect their personalities.” Which I felt perfectly described some of the more underhanded and tricky nature of GLC. Also, his wit and manner of talking probably could make him come off as whimsical.

His servant rank is really high due to his fame and the power of his Izimpondo Zenyathi Noble Phantasm as well as many of the mysteries surrounding his life. Of course, he would gain a significant boost in South Africa due to that being the place in which his legends took place and just how well known he would be.

He takes Mother’s Day very seriously because of how much he loves his mom and he went mad when she died.

Both GLC and Zwide’s Berserker forms have Noble Phantasms based on the Mfecane because some people believe Shaka is responsible for the event while some say it was Zwide.

Gala is eligible for the Foreigner class because the Foreigner class is described as being those who are "swallowed by madness but then turn around and consume the madness in turn.” The idea was that Gala is able to overcome madness, even those of an outer god, since he was able to snap Shaka Zulu out of his own maddened state.

GLC loving Heracross and Pinsir are a reference to how he was named after beetles and Falinks is a reference to his use of shields in combat.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKRBoAW8_Wg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assegai#Iklwa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu_people

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/shaka-zulu

https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/shaka-zulu/

https://www.dw.com/en/shaka-zulu-founding-father-of-the-zulu-nation/a-52448409

https://www.historynet.com/shaka-zulu-chieftain.htm

https://www.windlass.com/products/zulu-iklwa-spear/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/shaka-zulu

http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/9.htm

https://www.livescience.com/2697-shaka-zulu-changed-world.html

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/chief-dingiswayo

https://www.historynet.com/shaka-zulu-africas-napoleon.htm 

https://www.africancraftsmarket.com/history-of-the-zulu-shield.html 

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/telling-your-igqoka-from-your-isihlangu/

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/emperor-shaka-the-great/

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/the-zulu-shield/ 

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/kwadukuza-jewel-of-zulu-nation/

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/the-great-zulu-kingdom/

https://archive.org/details/annalsofsou5819721981sout/page/3/mode/1up?view=theater 

https://www.ulwaziprogramme.org/celebrating-200-years-of-the-zulu-nation/

https://www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/South-African-Shield-and-Assegai-Spear.pdf 

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA612214.pdf

https://africaimports.com/the-history-and-meaning-of-the-zulu-shield#:~:text=Before%20battle%2C%20shields%20were%20sprinkled,sewn%20onto%20a%20wooden%20frame.&text=It%20is%20a%20battle%20shield,by%20King%20Shaka%20Zulu%20himself.

https://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10413/8490/Oosthuizen_Marguerite_Poland_1996_V_1.pdf 

https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/chief-dingiswayo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00nsjhw

https://medium.com/the-technology-burrow/learning-from-great-leaders-shaka-zulu-a-military-genius-bc8fcda7a446

https://safarikzn.com/the-zulu-buffalo-horns/

http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/weapons/index.php/tour-by-region/oceania/africa/arms-and-armour-africa-32/index.html

https://ageofrevolutions.com/2021/01/27/born-out-of-shakas-spear-the-zulu-iklwa-and-perceptions-of-military-revolution-in-the-nineteenth-century/

https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/our-history-the-battle-of-mhlatuze-river-20160801

https://thangami.co.za/history/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/may/22/rorycarroll.mainsection 

https://www.ducksters.com/history/africa/shaka_zulu.php

https://eshowe.com/traditional-zulu-clothing/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umqhele

https://www.schoolnet.org.za/PILAfrica/en/webs/c008243f/shield.htm#:~:text=Shaka's%20own%20shield%20was%20white,his%20shield%20to%20the%20enemy

https://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_zulu.html 

Grand Lancer Candidate: Shaka Zulu (Full Profile)

*Note that all information in this profile is subject to change at any time.

Class: Lancer

True Name: King Shaka Sigidi kaSenzangakhona

Nickname: Shaka Zulu, Shaka, King Shaka, Sigidi kaSenzangakhona(Birth Name), King of the Zulu, King of Zululand, Founder of Zululand, Nodumehlezi(the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble), King of Conquerors, Horned King, King of Strategy, Grand Lancer Candidate, GLC, Mad King

Characteristics

Species: Servant, Heroic Spirit, Human

Gender: Male

Height: 177.8cm or 5ft 10in

Weight: 66 kg or 146 lbs

Blood Type: Unknown

Place of Origin: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Birthday: July 1787

Age: 41

Personal Information

Addresses self as: Watashi / Watakushi / Boku / Ore

Likes: Family, Friends, Witty banter, Politicking, Talking, Beetles, Strategizing, Marching, Comedy

Dislikes: Loved ones getting hurt, Loved ones dying, People who don’t listen, People who don’t use their head, People who let their emotions control them, The Berserker Class

Talents: Planning, Fighting, Talking, Making good arguments, Improving Tactics, Improvising, Solving Puzzles, Drawing maps/strategies in the dirt or sand

Natural Enemy: Zwide kaLanga, Gilgamesh(Archer), Shaka Zulu(Berserker), Shaka Zulu(Avenger)

Image Color: Black, White, and Red

Affiliations

Zulu Kingdom/Zululand

Family Members

Nandi(Mother)

Senzangakhona kaJama(Father)

Sigujana kaSezangakhona(Half-Brother)

Dingane(Half-Brother)

Mhlangana(Half-Brother)

Nomcoba kaSenzangakhona(Half-Sister)

Dabulamanzi kaMpande(Half-Nephew)

Various Aunts

Various Uncles

Servant Stats

Type: Heroic Spirit

Source: Historical Fact

Region: South Africa

Alignment: Chaotic Good(Chaotic Neutral when under the effects of Madness Enhancement)

Hidden Attribute: Man

Armaments: Spear and Shield

Known Summoning Catalysts: A piece of his shield, The tip of one of his spears, A vial of some mud mixed with his blood, A small rock with some of his blood on it

Qualified Servant Classes

Lancer

As a Lancer he definitely takes on a more heroic and idealized form. He considered his Lancer and Shielder forms to be the most ideal forms to take and he is greatly displeased with his Berserker and Avenger forms. He is also a Grand Lancer candidate. Interestingly his parameters drop whenever he is attacking and rise whenever he is defending or retreating.

“By the way, I AM a Grand Lancer Candidate so I think it’s fitting that I be referred to as such... Hmmm, you’re right, that is a bit long. Alright, alright, you can just call me “GLC” instead my friend. It’s even shorter than “Lancer” and it’s very helpful to use in the midst of a battle where every second matters.”

Berserker

“Why would you want to summon me in a form that can barely talk my friend!”

As a Berserker, he dual-wields his iconic spear in one hand and a club in the other. Noticeably his famous spear is covered up to the handle in blood. All the stories of the fear and violence he has caused have furthered amped up his Madness Enhancement and exaggerated his Berserker form. Blood constantly drips from tears created in his skin created by muscles too strong and big for his body to contain and one can see veins bulge and pulsate from under his skin. Shaka doesn’t think it’s a good idea to summon him as a Berserker and finds a form in which he is affected so strongly by the Madness Enhancement skill to be shameful. However, this Berserker form seems to calm down if he encounters someone who reminds him of his mother and/or Dingiswayo, or if he is sure that those he cares about are safe and alive. When summoned this form will usually immediately go on a rampage if summoned in modern day due to realizing everyone he cares about has since died. As a Berserker, he is surprisingly capable of speech but can only use it to launch jeering and scathing insults to whoever he is talking to. Even his compliments are backhanded insults. He has a Noble Phantasm that shakes and disrupts the very earth itself. Unlike his Lancer or Shielder counterparts his parameters actually rise when he is attacking and lower when he is on the defensive or retreating.

Avenger 

Shaka is ashamed of his Avenger form and feels like it only highlights the flaws that led to his downfall. As an Avenger he is capable of absorbing both mental and physical pain in order to unleash it as a large-scale attack. He also inflicts a curse Noble Phantasm on anyone who killed him upon his death. When activating one of his Noble Phantasms he will say “If the world wishes to take away my mother then I will show the world pain in equal measure.” Similar to his Berserker form, veins can be seen bulging and pulsating from under his skin. Unlike his Lancer or Shielder counterparts his parameters actually rise when he is attacking and lower when he is on the defensive or retreating.

Shielder

When summoned as a Lancer or Shielder class servant he is at his most heroic and resembles the wise king he was, and potentially could have continued being. They are also what he considers to be his most comfortable forms and he takes great pride in them. One of his Noble Phantasms as a Shielder involves summoning a council of his most trusted aunts, and he has a special skill that increases the speed and agility of all his allies. Similar to his Lancer counterpart his parameters rise when defending or retreating and lower when attacking.

Parameters

Strength: C - B

Endurance: B - A

Agility: C - B

Mana: D - C

Luck: C - B

NP: A++

Interestingly, his parameters fluctuate depending on whether he is defending, dodging, and/or retreating or not. They increase when he is on the defensive or retreating and decrease when he is attacking. He uses this to his advantage by throwing his opponents off via his parameters rapidly rising and falling during a fight. This can make his effectiveness, movements, approach, and strength fluctuate wildly in a battle as he constantly switches from defense to offense. It is possible to lock his parameters in their higher or lower state through the use of a command seal for a short period of time.

His luck is increased by one rank as long as he holds his signature shield.

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: C+

Cancels spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals.

The effectiveness of the skill is increased considerably while he is defending. He uses this in tandem with his fluctuating parameters to great effect. It should also be noted that his shield is capable of blocking even A-ranked magical attacks and his Magic Resistance is increased by one rank as long as he is holding it.

Personal Skills

Charisma: B++ 

Having a B Rank in this Skill is sufficient to lead a nation as its King/Queen. The morale of the military forces they command is extremely high. It also allows the user to negate the Emergency Prerogative skill of enemies. 

In Shaka Zulu’s case, as a Lancer or Shielder, it becomes more effective when talking and planning defensive strategies or retreats.

Imperial Privilege: B+

An ability that, due to the insistence of the owner, skills that are essentially impossible to possess can be obtained for a short period of time. In cases when the Rank is А or above, even the "burden to the body" can be acquired(such as Divinity).

As someone who is considered the founder of the Zulu empire and an important figure of royalty, he has been granted Imperial Privilege. He uses the ability in order to gain access to one of any number of skills that include Protection from Arrows, Bullet Proof Treatment, Battle Continuation, Unimpeded Movement, Reduced Earth, Disengage, Valor, and even Madness Enhancement.

GLC does not have absolute control over this skill as there is a chance of his Madness Enhancement automatically being called upon via Imperial Privilege when hit by a mental attack or if his emotions overwhelm him enough. It seems to function like some sort of intentional mental or emotional self-defense

He uses Protection from Arrows and Bullet Proof Treatment to help counter projectile weapons(usually while he’s trying to rush an opponent), Battle Continuation to help survive great wounds or continue fighting/talking for a bit longer, Unimpeded Movement to help cross dangerous, hazardous or unorthodox terrain, Reduced Earth to pursue enemies or move far distances, Disengage allows him to retreat and potentially lure enemies into traps, he often takes advantage of the Valor skill to increase the effectiveness of his melee attacks in order to finish off or overwhelm close-ranged opponents, and Madness Enhancement to boost his Strength, Agility and Endurance parameters by one rank while also making his reflexes and instincts even quicker and more refined. Although, the Madness Enhancement decreases his Luck stat by one rank and he tends to only use it in desperate situations when there are no other options because he doesn’t like how it messes with his head and clouds his thoughts. He goes completely quiet when his Madness Enhancement has been activated. 

Sometimes he will witness something that will cause him to get a “flash of inspiration” and unlock a new skill for his Imperial Privilege arsenal while on the fly. This can only happen if he witnesses a skill before hand and, with Imperial Privilege, he can learn or replicate it.

Unimpeded Movement is a skill that lowers the effectiveness of mobility and movement debuffs on the user. Allowing the user to continue to move as fast as possible across all types of terrain while also making it harder to slow them down.

Proof of Friendship: D+

A skill that suppresses an enemy servant's fighting spirit to a certain extent, where then a dialogue can begin. However, the enemy servant must not possess the Mental Pollution skill. In regard to a Holy Grail War, an advantageous check can be obtained when constructing temporary alliances.

He is someone who prefers diplomacy when possible but is not afraid to use threats or blackmail. This skill gains a boost if his dialogue or actions strike fear into the enemy.

Mana Defense: B--

Is a Skill of the same type as Mana Burst, where the user transforms magical energy into a defensive ability.

 In Shaka’s case, it is extremely mana intensive. This means he needs a lot of magical energy to use it properly. Thus, he usually ends up barely using it unless he has enough energy or absolutely needs to. However, at its strongest, it can allow him to protect an entire army. The skill is much more stable in his Shielder form.

Military Tactics: B++

It’s a skill for tactical knowledge used not for one-on-one combat situations, but for battles where many are mobilized. Bonus modifiers are provided during the use of one's own Anti-Army Noble Phantasm or when dealing with an enemy Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. 

He gained this skill from the many victories he led his troops to. In the case of his Lancer form, the skill receives a significant boost when taking defensive formations or retreating. However, if he was summoned as a Berserker the opposite would be true.

Strategy: A

Is the ability to seize things in the broader perspective, such as diplomacy and logistics in order to decide victory before the fighting even begins. 

Whether inventing new tactics, improving old ones, or engaging in diplomacy and logistics, Shaka's prowess for planning and strategy, for better or worse, cannot be denied. He often uses this skill along with his Proof of Friendship skill when talking in order to try to help persuade targets.

Mind’s Eye(True): B+

Capable of calm analysis of battle conditions even when in danger and deducing an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to escape from a predicament. 

Of course, someone with so many combat strategies and tricks up their sleeves has at least a couple of ways to get out of a hairy situation. Its effectiveness increases when he is defending or when he is traversing across the terrain in order to retreat or reach a target.

Shaka has a habit of saying the name of the skill he is actively using out loud when able. He claims it helps strike fear into his enemies while also hyping up both him, his troops, and anybody who may be watching. He does not do this for passive skills or skills that are always active at all times.

“HAHAHA!! I suppose they kind of do sound like cool special moves now don’t they? I mean when you think about it servants always run around yelling the names of their Noble Phantasms too so how is this any different?”

Noble Phantasms

Isihlangu: Brush My Enemies Aside- C+(Anti-Unit), Maximum Number of targets 1-5

King Shaka’s famous shield of choice, and one that was heavily incorporated into his battle strategies and the combat styles of both himself and his armies. In appearance, it is a massive cowhide shield that stands around 1.5 meters(or 5 feet) tall. It was to be held in the left hand and the king would have his warriors use it offensively by hooking the opponent’s shield and pulling it to the side in order to create an opening in the enemy’s defenses during hand-to-hand or close combat engagements. It was also capable of deflecting the spears and arrows of their enemies and, as such, it is a Noble Phantasm that gains a bonus when defending against projectiles and spears. It can also be used to temporarily disarm enemy servants of any weapons that make contact with the shield. Any weapon or equipment that has a lower rank than that of Isihlangu will be sealed for 1 minute if they are disarmed this way. The shield also has a Magic Resistance equivalent to that of A-Rank and it raises Shaka’s luck by one rank as long as he is holding it.

By releasing the Noble Phantasm’s True Name he is capable of exaggerating the concept of hooking an opponent's shield to create a concussive blast that stuns any opponent caught in its range, allowing him to score in a free hit or two. The limitation is that some part of the target has to make physical contact with the shield. Any projectiles or spears that are a lower rank than Isihlangu will be reflected when hit by this and any projectile with a rank higher than Isihlangu will have their rank dropped by one during the duration of the assault along with suffering a decrease in their damage output and effectiveness.

The shield does have a limit to what it can block though. As anything with a high enough rank can pierce through its defenses. Shaka is capable of using the shield in combination with Protection from Arrows or Bulletproof Treatment in order to slow down even legendary projectiles such as Gae Bolg to a point where he can catch them or at least survive one hit from them.

“FWHAHA!!! It’s as people these days say. A good defense is the best offense, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Let me show you why you shouldn’t go around throwing weapons so carelessly my friend, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Oi, Looks like you stepped a liiiiitle too close my friend, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Hiding behind weapons and shields isn’t going to save you, ISIHLANGU!!!”

“Did you really think you could hit me with such an unwieldy weapon? ISIHLANGU!!!”

Ikwa: The Sound of Flowing Bloodshed- C+(Anti-Unit), Maximum Number of targets- 1

King Shaka revolutionized combat by ditching the throwing spears that were commonly used at the time for the Ikwa/Iklwa, a short 3ft iron-tipped spear made for close-quarters combat. He had his soldiers use these weapons and forbade them from throwing them, as there was a high likelihood an enemy could just pick them up and use them against the previous wielder and or their allies if the spears missed or were blocked.

As a Noble Phantasm, it is meant for close quarters combat and by releasing its True Name anyone stabbed by the spear will be inflicted with a curse that causes constant bleeding and a “mana leak” once the spear is pulled out of their body. As the spear is being pulled out it creates an audible sound and a brief but violent spray of blood and magical energy. This is all to say that when the spear is pulled out of an opponent their blood will not clot and both blood and precious magical energy continue to leak out of the wound until the inflicted either die from blood loss for as long as the spear’s True Name is released. This means that the curse will stop once Shaka deactivates the true name or when he dies. Wounds inflicted by the Noble Phantasm can be healed by magecraft or magic but even if the wound is instantly healed the victim suffers from losing a large amount of blood and magical energy.

While the True Name is released the spear emits a blood-red mist that smells metallic, and releasing the True Name while the spear is impaled within a living thing or is being pulled out of it will still inflict the target with its full effects. This allows Shaka to throw opponents off during combat by activating the Noble Phantasm later than expected. If the target has no blood only mana will leak from their wound.

“Oi, Looks like you stepped a liiiiitle too close my friend, IKWA!!!”

“Don’t worry my friend, this will only tear you to shreds, IKWA!!!”

“You shouldn’t have turned your back towards me, IKWA!!!”

Izimpondo Zenyathi: An Army That’s as Deadly as a Buffalo’s Horns- A++(Anti-Army), Maximum Number of Targets- 1000

In the same way that Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi can be described as the actualization of Iskandar's commanding abilities and his kingship, this Noble Phantasm can be described as an actualization of Shaka’s battle prowess and revolutionary war tactics into a Reality Marble. The Noble Phantasm recreates Shaka’s famous “Buffalo Horns” formation. A strategy that split soldiers into three categories. The “horns”(made up of younger troops meant to encircle and pin enemies), the “chest”(made up of the best and strongest fighters to act as the main force), and the “loins”(acting reserves/backup that were made up of older and more experienced fighters). The loins would sometimes have their backs facing the battle until it was their turn for combat in order to ensure that they wouldn’t get too nervous and charge into battle too early or run away.

The activation of the Noble Phantasm is a bit literal. Shaka takes a spear or club and when he declares the true name of this Noble Phantasm two massive horns erupt from either side of the weapon’s head while the tip elongates into a sharp point. Once all three of these points hit something the Reality Marble will activate. Ideally, these “horns” and spearhead strike an enemy in order to deal extra damage or catch a target off guard, but it can be used on things like objects or the environment in order to activate the Noble Phantasm without having to get too up close and personal with the opponent. The Noble Phantasm is based around Shaka Zulu’s own deeds and exploits so it isn’t tied to a specific spear or club. What matters is that Shaka Zulu is the one wielding said weapon.

The space within the Reality Marble is that of a large sprawling and completely flat plains/savannah with the sole exception of a tall plateau Shaka is positioned on so that he may give orders to his troops and oversee the battle, but he is capable of leaving the plateau at any time in order to join the battle if necessary. In the Reality Marble, his voice echoes all throughout it and his Charisma skill is increased by one rank. All troops have troops have an E-ranked independent action while in the Reality marble

The troops within the Reality Marble have different qualities depending on what part of the formation they are a part of. The horns(which are summoned on either side of the opponent) are made up of the youngest troops and they have an E Rank in all their stats with the exception of their speed stat, which is D Rank. Some soldiers in the horns wield Iklwa spears while others wield weapons such as clubs. They all wield shields that are black in color. 

The troops that make up the chest tend to be the strongest and/or most talented warriors. They have E Rank parameters across the board but make up for this by having access to an E-Ranked version of Shaka’s Iklwa and Isihlangu Noble Phantasms.

The final group of soldiers is the one that makes up the loins of this formation. They are reserve veteran soldiers. Within his Noble Phantasm, they start with their backs facing the enemy and they all have a low ranking Madness Enhancement that makes them more aggressive and gives them a D-rank in their Strength, Endurance, and Agility. While within the Reality Marble all his troops gain a low ranking Independent Action.

The Reality Marble has some interesting attributes. First of all, anybody within it can simply walk out of it if they manage to reach the marble’s borders, but doing so will cause all their parameters to temporarily drop by one rank. The marble is also in a constant state of shrinking, and the border is guarded by soldiers in a defensive formation who move with the ever-encroaching border and attack any enemy that gets too close to them. If one found themselves caught at the point in which the Reality Marble completely shrinks into a single point they will become impaled and beaten with a countless number of spears, shields, and clubs and will have all their parameters drop by one rank. Their parameters will remain lowered until Shaka dies.

Both the shrinking aspect of the Noble Phantasm and the ability to simply walk out of it is a representation of the documentation and legends of the many people who went through great lengths to flee from and avoid his encroaching armies and conquests.

He can summon his soldiers outside the Reality Marble but he cannot summon more than four at a time(one from each section of his formation), and they lack Independent Action so they have a high amount of mana consumption. This usually limits him to only one or two at a time. He is capable of summoning them very quickly and utilizing them for sudden maneuvers, defenses, and attacks. They can only be summoned within arms reach of him however outside of the Reality Marble. Similar to Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi, all the spirits from Izimpondo Zenyathi are masterless servants.

If Shaka ever found himself in South Africa during a Holy Grail War his Izimpondo Zenyathi would be elevated to EX-rank and it could easily go toe to toe with Iskandar’s Ionioi Hetairoi.

Despite the rank of this Noble Phantasm, it is completely outclassed by Noble Phantasms such as Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory.

“YOU MESS WITH SHAKA ZULU YOU GET THE HORNS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, MY ARMY WILL PIERCE YOU WITH THE FORCE OF 100 HORNS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, RUN IF YOU CAN, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“FWAHAHAHA, RUN ALL YOU WANT, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE FOREVER, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“LET ME SHOW YOU THE STRATEGY OF A GENIUS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“LET’S SEE YOU TRY TO ESCAPE THIS, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“IT’S TOO LATE FOR YOU TO RUN NOW, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI!!!”

“THIS IS GOING TO BE MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN ANY HORNED BEAST YOU’VE EVER SEEN, IZIMPONDO ZENYATHI, FWAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Misc

He wears the clothes of a Zulu warrior and has very tough feet. His kicks can be very devastating because of their toughness and the infamous stories in regard to his training.

He almost always walks around barefoot. On the rare occasions in which he does wear shoes his agility parameter drops by 2 ranks.

He incorporates a lot of talking and diplomacy into his fighting style and will constantly try to distract or tide the opponent over with conversations and insults while fighting.

He can recognize virtually any kind of beetle species based on sight alone, whether they be normal animals or magical creatures. He is also very knowledgeable about beetle anatomy.

Background

Shaka was the illegitimate son of Zulu chief Senzangakhona, someone that ruled over a very small chiefdom. Due to bearing a child from a forbidden relationship, Shaka’s mother(Nandi) lied for as long as possible in order to avoid being caught having a child outside of a proper relationship. She claimed that her supposedly pregnant appearance was actually an intestinal condition caused by an Ishaka beetle. Senzangakhona attempted to deny any connection to the illegitimate pregnancy and his involvement with Nandi but he eventually pitied them enough to make Nandi his third wife. Shaka was born in the lunar month of uNtulikazi(sometime in July) in the year 1787 near the present-day Melmoth, KwaZulu-Natal Province, and at the time the Zulu kingdom was still but a small chiefdom. The marriage between chief Senzangakhona and Nandi would not last, forcing her and her son to seek sanctuary in other places. Thus, Shaka spent a lot of his childhood in his mother’s settlements. Proud of his heritage he would tell other kids about his relation to a famous chief by the name of Senzangakhona. However, very few of the other kids believed him and he was often bullied because of these seemingly outlandish claims.

Eventually, Shaka and Nandi would be taken in by one of Nandi’s aunts and would live with the Mthethwa people. He grew up in proximity to a man named Dingiswayo who welcomed with open arms and treated him with great kindness. As he continued to grow it became clear that he had the makings to become a powerful, skilled, and courageous warrior. These attributes inevitably caught Dingiswayo’s eye while Shaka fought within an impi(a type of army) under the command of Dingiswayo. Dingiswayo was greatly impressed by Shaka’s prowess and elevated Shaka’s rank at an early age, making Shaka a commander of his own regiment at some point. These great feats and skills in combat would lead to the creation of one of Shaka’s more famous nicknames, Nodumehlezi(the one who when seated causes the earth to rumble). While within the Mthethwa army, Shaka became increasingly enamored with strategy, battle tactics, and problem-solving. Dingiswayo continued to teach Shaka and help him grow, allowing him to gain even more accomplishments in battle. While under the command of Dingiswayo he found that taking off his sandals and fighting barefoot helped him maneuver better when in battle. He decided to walk around barefoot in order to toughen his feet, something that he would later make his own soldiers do.

Shaka’s father, Senzangakhona, died in 1816, and Sigujana(Shaka’s half-brother) took the throne as the legitimate heir to the Zulu chiefdom. Shortly after this Dingiswayo grew anxious and, in a move to make sure he kept his political authority secure, lent Shaka a regiment so that he would be able to defeat Sigujana and ascend to the throne. This led to a relatively bloodless coup that led to Shaka becoming chief of the Zulu clan. Although, even with his new title and power he remained a vassal of the Mthethwa empire out of loyalty to the dear friend and mentor that was Dingiswayo. As Shaka’s political power continued to grow he was able to spread his thoughts and ideals with ease while continuing to expand his territory through a combined method of attacking quickly and overwhelming foes with military might and utilizing a surprising amount of diplomacy, patronage, and politics. He found a way to get chieftains, such as Zihlandlo of the Mkhize, Jobe of the Sithole, Mathubane of the Thuli, and others, to join him without having to conquer them in battle. He also revolutionized combat by having his soldiers use the Iklwa and focusing more on close-quarters combat along with the creation of his famous “Buffalo horns” formation.

Disaster eventually struck when, a year later, Dingiswayo was caught off guard by an attack led by Zwide kaLanga, the powerful chief of the Ndwandwe nation, and was subsequently defeated and beheaded. Enemies, and later white settlers, attempted to tarnish Shaka’s public image by spreading rumors and propaganda that he had purposefully let Dingiswayo die by withholding reinforcements or even outright betraying him. However, Shaka was filled with an indescribable rage at the death of what he considered to be not just an amazing teacher but also like family. He vowed to get revenge on Zwide through almost any means necessary. 

Dingiswayo’s defeat caused the Mthethwa forces to become scattered and led to the creation of a power vacuum due to the empire that he once led collapsing. A vacuum that Shaka readily filled before using the power he gained from it to reform and gather the remnants of the Mthethwa along with other regional tribes he conquered or allied with in order to create a force to defeat Zwide. During their first clash Zwide barely managed to escape and Shaka came across Zwide’s mother, Ntombazi, who was also a sangoma(a type of healer). As he attempted to use her to find about Zwide’s whereabouts or as bait to get Zwide to return and fight him he came across a strange number of skulls collected by Ntombazi and, upon recognizing one of the skulls as that of Dingiswayo’s, Shaka flew into a rage and decided to get some amount of vindication on Zwide by trapping Ntombazi in her own house and placing wild animals inside it to devour her. After her death, he burned the house down along with her collection of skulls. 

Zwide eventually knew that he would have to defeat his biggest rival and threat if he wished to have any chance at both surviving the conflict and allowing his kingdom to flourish successfully so he launched an attack on the Zulu Empire. Shaka would eventually defeat Zwide’s forces by having his own troops feign a retreat in order to lead Zwide’s army into a trap deep within Zulu territory before striking and defeating his forces at the cost of sustaining heavy casualties. One such death was that of the current head military commander at the time Umgobhozi Ovela Entabeni. Zwide managed to barely escape once again and ran from the encroaching Zulu. In another attempt to draw Zwide back to fight him, Shaka tried to wipe out as much of what Zwide cared about as possible. Threatening to destroy everything Zwide cared about. His anger would eventually subside somewhat with time and he would begin to feel that he had achieved justice for his dear friend Dingiswayo. Although, he felt that Zwide being forced to spend the rest of his life running from Shaka was a fitting enough punishment. Eventually, Zwide would die from mysterious circumstances sometime in 1825. Part of the main Ndwandwe forces fled and he eventually encountered these forces and managed to get the majority of them to yield and join him. He continued to train the soldiers he recruited in his methods of combat.

His reign lasted ten more years after he had defeated the Ndwandwe. During which he continued to expand his territory. He offered chiefdoms he encountered the choice of submitting and allying with him or potentially being conquered by force if they were not forced to flee from an assault by Shaka. He left local administrations in the hands of the reigning chiefs or members of the traditional ruling family that he had appointed. He would also allow soldiers who no longer served in the army to return to their original community, so the identity of each individual community was not completely lost due to conformity within Shaka’s empire. Each settlement of his contained a section of royal women that were usually headed by the most formidable of women. These women would typically be one of Shaka’s many aunts. This, along with him not wanting to produce a legitimate heir, led to his households being dominated by stern older women of the royal family. Whenever he was absent both a female ruler of the settlement and an induna(an advisor, commander, and/or mediator) would wield administrative authority together.

Despite some of his more militaristic methods, Shaka ultimately preferred diplomacy over fighting and would try to talk things out whenever possible. He would almost always give opposing tribes a chance to join him without any conflict but if they refused he would often conquer and/or destroy them with unyielding force.

In 1824 the first white traders arrived at Port Natal, and at this point Shaka was in control of a wide-spanning monarchy. Upon meeting them he sent a goodwill delegation, engaged in diplomacy, and was extremely curious about the technology, and machinery of these visitors. He would go out of his way to view and analyze the various demonstrations of European technology and knowledge. One of these many demonstrations included the showing off of a weapon called the gun. However, after analyzing it, disassembling it, and reassembling it he came to the conclusion that the technology was not yet refined enough and it took too long to fire and reload in the combat of that age. He stated that his forces could beat opponents wielding those rudimentary guns by using the proper tactics and rushing them fast enough with a large enough number of men. It is important to remember that Shaka had a point as these were really early guns and not modern guns that could be fired much more quickly and more accurately. He continued to be interested in the culture of the visitors and the possible benefits he could gain via trade and diplomacy with them and Europe. Shaka would eventually give them land and permitted them to build a settlement at Port Natal, but he remained vigilant and wary of their ulterior motives. He wanted to be closer and more accessible to his potential allies or foes at Port Natal while also keeping a close eye on them so he decided to build a military barrack at Dukuza. He did not want to fight them unless he absolutely had to so he treated them very nicely and did what he could to prevent any conflicts from being encouraged between the visitors and his people.

Sometime in October 1827 his mother, Nandi, died. This filled him with emotion and the fact that it reminded him of his feeling of helplessness when Dingiswayo was killed only exacerbated these emotions and clouded his judgment, causing his behavior to become erratic and increasingly violent. He started forcing his entire kingdom to mourn his mother’s death and if he caught anyone showing insufficient grief he would put them to death. He also went as far as to have the mothers of calves killed so that both the calves and the people who witnessed it could know the pain he felt. In a bought of madness, he even went as far as to order that no crops be planted, no milk be used, any woman that became pregnant during this time would be executed alongside her husband and he pushed his military far beyond what was normal in increasingly violent military campaigns. Some rumors say that this was another one of his cunning plans in order to kill political opponents or to get back at those who bullied him in his childhood. However, it was still clear that he was lashing out even at people who didn’t harm him and that he was not in his right mind. A Zulu man by the name of Gala eventually had enough of this madness and during a meeting stood up and objected to Shaka’s outlandish measures. Saying “Nandi was not the first person to die in Zululand!!!” as he berated him. Shaka was at a loss for words but after having some time to think and being reminded of both his younger self and purpose by Gala’s outburst he called off his self-destructive orders and rewarded Gala with cattle.

However, he acted too slowly and his mistakes were beyond the point of being overlooked or forgiven by most of the people within his kingdom. He had no way of bringing back the people he had killed or making it up to the people he had hurt. In 1828, while Shaka’s forces were absent and he lacked guards around the area he was assassinated by his half-brothers Dingane and Mhlangana. They had received support from some other chiefdoms who had all become dissatisfied and horrified by Shaka’s previous actions and, while an iNduna by the name of Mbopa created a distraction, they attacked him. As the king bled out he gave Dingane two warnings. The first thing Shaka said was “Brother are you stabbing me, kings of the earth thinking you will rule? The swallows will do that!!!” as a warning to Dingane and his people about the European colonizers and their malicious intentions and his final words were  “You will come to an end through killing one another.” A warning that would ring true when Dingane took the throne and attempted to remove those who were loyal to Shaka before getting involved in a civil war and getting overthrown after 12 years of ruling by his other half-brother. After the assassination, Mbopa, Dingane, and Mhlangana quickly buried Shaka’s body in an empty grain pit and covered it with rocks and mud.

Whether lionized or demonized, whether loved or feared, it is undeniable that he changed the course of history and his combat prowess and strategy were top-tier as well as his immense foresight and long term planning abilities. The ambiguity and contradicting details of his story as someone who ends up embodying aspects of hope and genius as well as violence and fear add to his level of mystery. The stories of him being a great and noble hero and a brutal tyrant mix together to create a servant that, as a Lance or Shielder, is the ideal ally and worst enemy on the battlefield. However, as a Berserker or Avenger he is a danger to almost everyone around him and is prone to self-destructive behaviors.

Appearance

He is a noticeably muscular, man who stands at a height of 175cm or 5ft 10in. He has dark skin and a square chiseled jawline. He has a pointy nose and his hair looks like a spiky afro with parts of it being red in coloration along with red pointed sideburns. He has sharp teeth, which he apparently sharpened himself. His feet are covered with scars and he has a scar on his back and chest, both of which correspond to the location of his heart and where he was stabbed during his assassination by Dingane and Mhlangana.

Personality

Surprisingly, despite some of his reputation Shaka is a servant that prizes talking and diplomacy more than combat. It is not uncommon for him to attempt to try to persuade or antagonize the opponent while utilizing defensive battle tactics along with counter-attacks and disarming techniques. He is also not above using jabs, insults, or more underhanded tactics to win a fight. He is also not afraid of running away from a battle, using aspects of the environment to his advantage, or feigning retreat. This gives his fighting style a really odd and hard to predict feel. It is usually quite difficult to tell if he is actually losing, winning, or bluffing in any given fight.

Part of the reason he tries so hard to avoid fighting if possible is because anyone could be a potential ally in the future. Plus, once he starts fighting within a certain range of his full strength he often gets caught up in the battle, excitement, and adrenaline to the point where it is hard for him to stop until the fight is over.

He hates seeing his loved ones in pain and if they are killed by someone he flies into a rage and will enact merciless vengeance on the assailant. It’s one of the few times where he won’t even attempt to talk to his opponent first, he will simply strike silently and swiftly while utilizing the Madness Enhancement skill. He considers this aspect of his personality to be somewhat embarrassing and does his best to keep his emotions in check and prevent himself from ever regressing into a previous and more violent state. He cherishes every moment with his friends and family and tries not to leave their side if he can help it. “You should appreciate your loved one with all your heart because you never know when the world will choose to snatch them away from you my friend. I have very few friends and a lot of enemies too…”

At times he can give the illusion of an extremely weak clairvoyance due to his prediction and strategy skills. However, at the end of the day he is still a man, or I suppose a spirit, now and he cannot account for every possibility and is capable of making mistakes or miscalculations. Not to mention that he cannot make accurate guesses if he lacks information.

He tends to be very blunt with his predictions which can unintentionally make him come off as menacing or rude.

He feels immense regret over the killing of innocent civilians in a kingdom that was supposed to protect them. His own kingdom and by his own hands at that. In order to try to atone for it, he promised himself that as long as he’s a servant he refuses to kill humans and tries to save as many humans as possible. He is currently aiming for 7,000, and he likes to keep a mental note of every person he saves. Although, saving the same person over and over, even in different situations, does not count. It should be noted that this does not apply to nonhuman entities and things that are already dead, like vampires, zombies and spirits. This means he is fine with killing other servants as they are already dead and are spirits that are no longer humans.

Interactions

Leonidas- They have an obvious and immediate similarity due to the fact that they are both Lancers with notable shields. Some have also compared Shaka’s shield-based tactics to that of the famous Roman phalanx formation. They get along great and can often be seen discussing military tactics and training together.

“I wonder if we are distant relatives or something my friend. BWAHAHA!!!”

“OI!!! Wanna see who’s shield is stronger.”

“I wonder who’s spear has felled more opponents…”

“BWAHAHAHA, my friend, I bet if we put our heads together we can come up with a defensive formation no one could penetrate.”

“ALL THIS EXERCISE AND TRAINING IS HYPING ME UP, WE’LL DO 100 NO 2000 PUSH-UPS!!!”

Napoleon- “It’s not every day you get to talk with a fellow tactical genius.. Well I guess when you’re at Chaldea it is every day. BWAHAHAHA!!! Although… that cannon seems unwieldy my friend…”

Gaius Julius Caesar- He greatly respects Caesar.

“W-what words WHAT ELOQUENCE MY FRIEND!!! Your speeches, your words, nay every letter you speak is done so tactfully. Have I found my equal on the battlefield of words and wit? Julius Caesar does not disappoint!!!! I must take notes.”

“Hey, do you think you could give me some pointers on this speech I’ve been working on? I’m trying to make sure it sounds less… brutal?”

Shakespear- “Bwahaha, my friend, you’re truly someone who knows how to wield words… Just… do me a favor and don’t make me another tragedy for one of those stories of you ok? I’ve already created enough of those.

“That First Folio of yours is quite scary…”

Da Vinci- He considers himself just as much of a genius as Da Vinci so he has begun learning how to paint in order to prove his point. Although, Da Vinci has been studying his battle tactics, formations, and how to use a spear and shield in order to prove that her genius is unparalleled.

Kama- “Yeah sorry, I’ve never really been interested in bearing an heir or any of that. . .”

Oda Nobunaga(Archer)- He sees her as his equal in terms of tactics, innovation, and strategy.

“I’ve never seen someone wield that many guns so masterfully. It almost makes me scared of them… almost.”

Ryoma Sakamoto(Rider)- “I can see you are someone who cherishes their loved ones with all your heart...”

Okada Izou- “I may not wield swords but even I can tell you’re an unparalleled genius, my friend. Hey, this isn’t going to your head is it? And what do you mean you’re not my friend?”

Emiya, Gilgamesh(Archer), and Kid Gil- “HONESTLY, I can’t understand why you guys are so nonchalant about throwing your weapons around like that. Aren’t you ever worried that they will fall into enemy hands or something?”

Emiya-” Hrmmmmmmm, that Rho Aias reminds me a bit of my own shield. You see some of the similarities too right my friend?”

Gilgamesh(Caster)- He enjoys being around him as he feels he helps push him to becoming closer to an ideal king.

“If there is hope for him to be the wise king everyone needed then maybe there’s still hope for me… “

Jack the Ripper(Assassin) and Abigail Williams- “Ah, even kids can be quite cruel I suppose…”

Lancelot(Berserker)- “And THIS is why you should be careful about throwing your weapons around my friends!!!”

Elizabeth Bathory(Lancer)- “Make sure you keep a clear mind and don’t let your emotions and desires get out of control… or else you might end up like that vampire lady.”

Carmilla(Assassin)- He feels uncomfortable around her because in a way she reminds him of all his shortcomings and the madness that overcame him.

“Man, and I thought I was bad…”

Hector(Lancer)- “Our fighting styles are quite similar at a glance aren’t they?”

“Talking to you feels like I’m speaking to a treasured friend and fellow warrior.”

“I appreciate that there’s someone here who knows when to fight and when to run. A dead hero isn’t helpful for anyone.”

“Your fighting style is a lot like mine… have you ever considered using big shields into your fighting style more often.”

Chiron- “Great teachers like you always remind me of Dingiswayo…”

Jason- “It’s great that you understand your strengths and weaknesses and avoid combat but you shouldn’t throw your men under the bus like that my friend.”

“Your eye for recognizing and bringing out the true potential of heroes reminds me a bit of Dingiswayo my friend. Although, he wasn’t quite so scared to say the least...”

Hans Christian Anderson- “Heh, I appreciate your brutal honesty my little friend. Actually, you remind me a lot of Gala. Hmmmmmmm, YES!!! Someone like you can guide me to becoming a truly wise king. You wouldn’t happen to be free to be my new royal advisor perchance would you? Don’t worry too much, it’s only until I can get Gala back.”

Lanling Wang and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne- “Jeez… I never thought I would live to see anyone who’s beauty could rival that of Magaye’s…”

Queztoquaotle, Yasuke, and Damarchus- “I know some wrestling techniques myself y’know. If you ever want to train or get some pointers feel free to contact me my friend.”

Gilgamesh(Archer)- “I just can’t stand a king who throws away all their subjects like that… Yes, yes I know how hypocritical it is for me of all people to say that but trust me when I say it never ends well. A king can never stand on their own no matter how powerful they think they are.”

Christopher Columbus- “Ah, you’re another one of those swallows I see.”

Iskandar and Genghis Khan- Well, well, well. It’s nice to finally meet a fellow King of Conquerors around here. BWAHAHAHA!!! Hm? No, I’m not eligible for the Rider Class… HEY!!! BEING A RIDER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT TITLE!!!”

Hang Tuah- “BWAHAHA, As a fellow professional talker myself I can tell you also have a good grasp of understanding what people want to hear. We should have a chat sometime.”

“I suppose your smooth-talking only shows how good you are with your speech… well most of the time anyway.”

“I know this is a lot to ask of you but if I ever start slipping… y’know becoming “tyrannical” and all that… well… you know what to do...”

Hang Jebat- “Hm? You wanna see my horns… I see… I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding my friend…”

Connla- “If you have no spear of your own I can always craft you one. A good Iklwa does wonders for combat. Oh? You just copied mine… You’re just full of surprises aren’t you...”

Gilgamesh(Archer), Emiya(Archer), and Connla- “Pray I don’t ever catch you throwing around an Ikwa like that..”

Julie d’Aubigny- “FINALLY, a fellow servant who understands that words can be as sharp as any blade. Although, you are a better singer than I could ever be my friend BWAHAHA.”

Ever since they met they are constantly trying to see who is the best talker by bluffing and slinging insults whenever they meet. It has become a sort of game in which they attempt to see who is the first to falter, crack, or be at a loss for words. Julie’s charisma and aptitude as a star will occasionally attract the audiences of many Chaldea staff and servants to their banter-based duels. Currently, they are tied.

Laplace’s Demon and Maxwell's Demon- “No, no, no. Don’t give me any hints about your paradox. I want to try to exercise my mind by solving it myself.”

Nameless Soldier(Assassin)- “I’m pretty good at bringing out the full potential of soldiers and armies my friend. If you stick with me I guarantee we will keep losing to a minimum.”

“Even a genius like me is nothing on their own. Even the strongest, fastest, and smartest need a good army, and you’re like an army all rolled up into one neat package. Don’t worry I’ll be sure to give you plenty of breaks.”

“So like, do you y’know… remember me? You’re made up of a bunch of nameless soldiers from all throughout history. Which would statistically include at least one person who was under my command… I just wanted to say I’m sorry if that’s the case. I won’t fail you this time my friend”

“Make sure you’re getting proper rest. Rest is just as important as working. It helps keep your mind clear, sharp, and efficient my friend.”

“Man guns are a lot more compact, efficient, and quick these days… Maybe they’ve reached a point where I can incorporate them into my battle tactics.”

Dingane and Mhlangana(Assassin)- “While I agree that I had that coming, I hope you can understand why I’m uncomfortable being within arms reach of you guys.”

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not going to make the same mistake as last time I swear it on my life…”

*Hang Tuah, Connla, Damarchus, Julie d’Aubigny and Nameless Soldier are all fanservants created by MochiBoni and Omegazplayer respectively. Yasuke is a fanservant created by me and Dingane and Mhlangana haven’t been designed yet. Here are the profiles or art for each respective servant

Hang Tuah- https://docs.google.com/document/d/12mjNkmjnhIIeLgGRvSlVVLhRQqWd4cbEDygfQHSLPCg/edit

Connla- https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1425858835730685957?s=20, https://twitter.com/mochio_bonio/status/1419297258512601089?s=21 

Julie d’Aubigny-https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416650069206573057?s=20

Damarchus- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jArzQOnAWnvSv8MRelYSl1x5DZj-gUndaBmPtO74icw/edit

Nameless Soldier- https://twitter.com/Omegazplayer/status/1416632770059714560?s=20 

Yasuke- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M7V-XS0S_hePGtpLHY3abI-rU8_ek889uqcYnq0cvb0/edit 

Dialogue examples

“Lancer is fine but I would prefer it if you called me Grand Lancer Candidate, or GLC for short.”

“Don’t worry my friend. Our enemies lost the moment I arrived.”

“The next thing you will say is…”

“BOOM SHAKA LAKA!!!! BWAHAHAHA, I’ve always wanted a chance to say that!”

“HA!!! You lost this fight the moment you opened your mouth!”

“Even for a genius like me, that’s a bit difficult…”

“This will not be a battle of muscle but a battle of words.”

“Hm? I talk a lot for a conqueror you say? (tsk) My friend, fighting should not be taken lightly. In the field of combat people can’t afford to hesitate to kill and there’s always a chance you or people you need and care about will die. When I was younger I reveled in fighting and combat and as a genius I eventually realized that whoever was left standing is the one who got the final say in the end and that means that when you fully commit to fighting you cannot hold back. Plus, an endless trail of fighting and combat isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do now is it? You also never know when you may make a powerful ally too, so it’s important you don’t go burning down bridges unless you have to.”

“I consider politics as important as any fight. When you talk you can fight for what you believe in and what you think is right. Just like any other brawl or war.”

“Dingiswayo? He was like a father to me of course… He never failed me or let me down but in the end I couldn’t save him… If only I had acted quicker… If only that damn Zwide could have just… Sorry, I got off track there… ”

“Well, obviously family isn’t just determined by biology. I mean my biological father wanted nothing to do with me… If you only define family using DNA then you are only stunting yourself in the long run my friend. There aren’t many people in this world willing to look out for you so treasure them!”

“Eh!? Are my diplomacy skills really that surprising? Some of those stories about my fighting and conquering were just a liiiiiiiittle bit exaggerated my friend. Besides, I engaged in diplomacy just as much as I fought, which is to say a lot.”

“See here’s the things. This may be a Holy Grail War but I don’t see why we can’t all work together to get something we both want my friend. So how about this…”

“I’m clearly leagues above you in power and I could kill you right now buuuuut if you’re willing to ally yourself with me and my master I’ll let you live. That’s a pretty good deal right?!”

“Who knows, maybe we’ll even make a new friend or two during all of this.”

“Oi!!! If you touch even a hair on my friend’s head… I’ll kill you!! …BWAHA!!! Sorry about that sometimes I get a little caught up in my emotions when it comes to my friends and family. But seriously, don’t try anything.”

“There are more ways to help someone than just fighting.”

“My friend, my spear isn’t my strongest Noble Phantasm nor is it my shield. So let me ask you this. Do you know why Izimpondo Zenyathi in particular is my strongest Noble Phantasm? It’s because even a prodigy like me can’t do everything alone. Soldiers, friends, family… people like my mom, Dingiswayo, Umgobhozi, Mzilikazi,  and everyone else. I couldn’t have done it without them. No matter how powerful you are you are nothing without allies.”

“We talk first and fight later ok?”

“Oi, less fighting, more talking!!!”

“I’ll have you know I’m eligible for TWO, that’s right TWO, grand classes my friend. Lancer and… I would prefer not to talk about that second one too much. (Sigh)Man, why couldn’t Grand Shielder be a thing?”

“Okay, I’m feeling nice so I’ll give you ten… no… thirty minutes to run as far as you can my friend.”

“KwaBulawayo? I’ll be honest I was just trying to sound intimidating… maybe it worked a bit too well… Dukuza had a much better balance between intimidation and cool factor.”

“Take it from me, you should consider your actions carefully and try to keep the collateral damage down to a minimum… Just promise me you’ll think with your head and not your heart ok my friend.”

“People I admire? There are too many to count!!! Well, I guess my top two would be Dingiswayo and my mother. Dingiswayo was like a father to me and one of the greatest teachers one could ask for. My mother was as strong as any warrior in spirit and never gave up on me and herself.”

“My plan? I never said I had any sort of plan. What’s with that face? It worked didn’t it? Sometimes one has to think on their feet my friend. Even I cannot predict everything that’s going to happen.”

“I figured valentines day was a great time to show the love I have for all my allies, so I;m handing out these chocolates as a sign of good will to all of my allies and friends. Shaped like the mightiest of beetles of course.”

“Don’t worry my friends, GLC HAS ARRIVED!!!”

“You didn’t think that would be enough to kill me, my friend? BATTLE CONTINUATION!!!”

“MANA DEFENSE!!!”

“MIND’S EYE!!!”

“RUN AWAAAAAAAAAY!!!”

“RETREEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!”

“BWAHAHA!!! You would really doubt the power of a servant who is eligible for not just one but TWO grand classes my friend.”

“I’M NOT A BERSERKER, I’M A LANCER, L-A-N-C-E-R NOT A BERSERKER, AND A GRAND LANCER CANDIDATE AT THAT MY FRIEND!!! DO YOU THINK I COULD BE HAVING THIS VERY CONVERSATION IF I WAS A BERSERKER!!!”

“BWAHAHA!!! Don’t worry, the irony of the situation is not lost on me my friend.”

“Sharp spear and an even sharper tongue.”

“Oh c’mon, you don’t think I was really THAT ugly do you? Magaye was just so beautiful that he made everyone who stood next to him look ugly in comparison. So I wouldn’t consider him a good metric for looks. Do you understand what I mean my friend?”

“I’m sorry.. I just can’t forgive you for what you did.”

“I’LL MAKE YOU PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID 3 NO 100 FOLD!!!!”

“If I had known what those shady Nathaniel Isaacs and Henry Fynn were going to do to my image for the sake of that slave trade I would have killed them on the spot…”

Deathlines

“N-no, my kingdom”

“My kingdom…”

“Mom?”

“I guess even I can’t talk my way out of this one…”

“One last word of advice my friend…”

“Is that Dingane…?”

“Is that Mhlangana…?”

“Mbopa…”

“I knew I should have retreated…”

“Was I a good king this time…?”

“Heh, don’t worry… I had this coming.”

“I should've saved more people…”

Wish for the Grail

“I wish that I could have been the ideal and wise king so many people think I am. Someone who could’ve put their emotions aside…  and I wish I could protect all those I hold dear to my heart. So they never have to suffer or die… I suppose that’s two wishes though. I wonder if I can wish for just two extra wishes?

Fun Facts

If he was playable in FGO he would be a 5-star servant.

His least favorite class is the Berserker Class because they usually can’t be reasoned with and are hard to talk to.

On another note, he finds being compared to a Berserker in terms of fighting style or mentality quite insulting. Which is yet another reason he tries to avoid intentionally utilizing Madness Enhancement via his Imperial Privilege skill unless it is absolutely necessary. He is also afraid of becoming like that of his Berserker form.

His Magic the Gathering Alignment would be White-Blue-Black-Red with White, Blue, and Black as his center colors and Red as his secondary color.

If he was in the Epithet Erased universe his Epithet would be Horn and one of his moves would involve summoning horned beetles or beetle horns.

If he was in the Hunter x Hunter universe his Nen type would be Transmutation and his Hatsu would revolve around beetles and beetle shells in some way.

His overall servant rank is around A-. Although it would be A+ if he found himself in South Africa.

He dresses like some sort of beetle every Halloween.

He takes Mother’s Day very seriously.

Shaka Zulu’s Alter form would have a beetle motif, with parts of his body having a strong and sturdy exoskeleton. He would also have multiple limbs and a pair of wings.

Zwide kaLanga is also eligible for the Lancer and Berserker Classes.

Both Shaka and Zwide’s Berserker forms have a Noble Phantasm based on the Mfecane.

Zwide was unaware that his mother was collecting skulls.

Dingiswayo is eligible for the Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, and Berserker classes. While he is a capable fighter his true power lies in drawing out the maximum potential of others. Under perfect scenarios, he can permanently increase the ranks of a servant’s parameters, skills, and/or Noble Phantasms and allow an ordinary human to fight on the level of a low-ranking servant.

Magaye is eligible for the Lancer, Shielder, and Berserker class. His Noble Phantasm is quite similar to that of Lanling Wang’s or Diarmuid Ua Duibhne love spot. He also wears a bag over his head most of the time for a reason similar to why Lanling Wang wears a mask. Apparently, the average person looks ugly in comparison to him.

Gala is eligible for the Foreigner class and fighting isn’t his specialty. As a servant he is capable of combating and dispelling madness itself and is resistant to most mental attacks. He is considered by many to be a “chain” that binds people to reality. He is apparently very blunt, to the point that he can come off as rude, and stresses being firmly rooted in reality over getting caught up in imagination and wishful thinking. He basically never directly lies or leaves out information.

Shaka’s favorite Pokemon are Heracross and Pinsir, with Falinks being a close second.

If he had a Pokemon type he would be a Fighting type.

The true name of his lily form would be Sigidi kaSenzangakhona, and such a form would be eligible for the Lancer, Shielder, and Berserker classes.

Visual References

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

Things to Know Before You Vote

Disclaimer: As you can probably tell by my blog name, I'm a right winger. I vote Republican or Libertarian and I've only voted for a Democrat once when I was 18 and I still regret it to this day. But the information I'm providing in this post is an unbiased as I can make it. I want this to be a general guide so people can make as informed a decision as possible when they go to vote. If you don't believe me, read the post for yourself and decide.

Things to Know Before You Vote

First, check out a sample ballot to familiarize yourself with the candidates running and the issues up for consideration. Pay special attention to the names down ballot, and extra special attention to the ones without a party affiliation. Sample ballots can be difficult to find, so it might take a little work. For example, I live in Ohio, so what I do is go to the Ohio Secretary of State website, click on my county, put my name in, and it will give me a downloadable PDF of my ballot. This will be the same ballot you get when you go to vote. I said it before, but it needs to be repeated, pay special attention to the candidates with no party affiliation. These are usually for judge spots, and those are super important. You can't just vote for the one with the name you like. Bad judges can ruin your district. When you see these candidates, you need to look up who they are. You can do that by putting their name, along with the position they're running for, into a search engine. Or you can try a website like Ballotpedia that collects election information, but those sites don't always have every candidate listed. More on Ballotpedia after the break, but for now let's talk about what happens if you can't find a listed party for a candidate. Sometimes you can't, but that's okay. Pretty much every candidate will tell on themselves. Just look up who endorsed them, which they will usually have on their websites, or it can be found through searching. If they're endorsed by a bunch of Democrats, chances are they're a Democrat, and vice versa. They'll also usually state their positions on issues somewhere, or in the case of an active judge, you can find how they ruled on cases with some more searching. Both of those are more important than party affiliation, especially if they were unopposed in the primaries. Once you know who you want to vote for, write their names down and take that paper with you to the polls. It's not illegal to look at a piece of paper while you're voting. It is illegal to campaign within 500 feet of a polling place though, so don't pass that paper around inside the building, or you might be in trouble, depending on how strict they want to be.

Now, I know searching each name on your own is really tedious, so let's talk about aggregates.

I'm going to use Ballotpedia for this post. They seem to be mostly non-biased, and I used them for my last local election and it was a great help. But if you have a preferred alternative, feel free to use that instead.

It's easy to use Ballotpedia to find candidates in your area. On Ballotpedia the "sample ballot" isn't really a sample ballot like the one you get if you followed my advice earlier. It's a list of the issues on your ballot and the candidates running in most of the races, but not all. You can click on the issues and the candidates and find information on who they are, what they support, what they've done previously in and out of politics, who they ran against in the primaries, how many votes they received, etc. You can read brief summaries of the issues, along with the exact text that's up for a vote, and you'll usually see a short summary of what supporters and detractors have to say about it, complete with actual quotes. You can also see a lot of info on how your district voted in the last election, and some other interesting stuff. They try to present both sides of the issues, but as always research further if something seems off to you. Candidate pages are usually decently detailed, with links to each candidates website and social media (if they exist) so you can read what they post for yourself.

I can't stress enough how important it is to know who you're voting for. Don't just blindly vote, or assume you know what a candidate supports. I know it's work, and I know it's boring, but you'll feel great when you show up and know you're making an informed decision. Especially in local elections. Those can be decided by the smallest number of votes between winners and can have lasting consequences not only for your town, but for you directly. Vote wisely.

[gatheringbones]

["At the end of August in 1981, I found myself in a small town in Arkansas, where I knew no Lesbians other than my new lover, Lynn. I wanted it that way. We were living in hiding from my armed and vengeful ex-lover who had abused me for four years and had threatened both of us with deadly harm. This was five years before the publication of Kerry Lobel's ground-breaking book, Naming the Violence: Speaking Out About Lesbian Battering. I knew I had been battered, but I did not understand how deeply I had been injured.

I only knew that I seemed to have saved my life at the cost of my sanity. I jumped at loud and not-so-loud noises. A frown from a stranger could reduce me to tears. I was afraid to bathe if I was alone in the apartment. I relived every word of every fight in relentless flashbacks. I had blocked much of the unbearable pain of the previous four years out of my consciousness at the time, in order to cope with immediate danger. Now that I was "safe" it all came flooding back. To escape, I watched TV compulsively, avoiding anything violent—nature shows were my favorites—and I read science fiction. Having lost faith in women as well as men, I was a serious candidate for a species-change operation.

Luckily, at some point in that bleak winter, I read a magazine article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Vietnam Vets, and I recognized all my symptoms. I had a name for my suffering, and 1 knew I was not "crazy." I'd felt so much guilt and anger towards myself for not being okay, that is, my old self, since I was "free." Now I knew healing would take time and effort, and I gave myself permission to not be normal right away. Also, seeing how much my condition resembled that of war survivors helped break down some of my denial about the hell I'd been through.

Still, I had no guidance on how to recover from PTSD. I followed only the dimmest instincts. First, I began to read accounts by survivors of any serious trauma. These people became my invisible support group. I found myself drawn especially to stories of political prisoners and concentration camp survivors. Although my experience was not like theirs, these were the people I felt would understand how my will had been sapped and my strengths twisted, how the smallest acts of resistance and mere endurance had needed all my wits and courage. Bruno Bettleheim in his chapters called "Behavior in Extreme Situations" (The Informed Heart) finally answered the question I'd put to myself every 44 hour since my escape: "How could I have been so stupid?" He made me realize that under abuse, especially the combination of intermittent threats, unpredictable violence and constant psychological torture, everyone responds differently, but everyone changes fundamentally, and everyone has their breaking point.

One day as I sat reading at the kitchen table, I looked out the window at the small yard beside our duplex apartment, and I began to imagine growing a garden there in the spring. It seemed like a highly improbable idea: the area was very small, steep, bare of everything but gray shale and orange clay, and the house shaded it part of the day. But the notion of a garden took root strongly. For the first time in several years I had something pleasant to anticipate.

I wrangled my landlady's permission to put in a garden. Then I mailed off postcards for seed catalogs. I persuaded an acquaintance who owned a truck to bring me a load of cedar slabs discarded by a local sawmill, and I used these to construct two frames, about four feet by six feet, and two even smaller ones, just three feet by four feet. By this time Lynn and I had saved enough money to buy a very old VW bug, so we drove to a nearby creekbank and filled bushel baskets with rich bottom dirt, which we dumped into the frames to make raised beds about four inches deep.

To supplement the tiny growing space, Lynn scavenged large cans from the cafeteria of the hospital where she worked. I painted them a hopeful green, filled them with soil and placed them along the sidewalk below our porch. Old-timey "Corn-row Beans," originally bred to tolerate the shade of cornfields, grew up strings tied to the roof and bore prolifically.

I didn't have much money from my SSI income to spend on garden gadgets, so I made do. I wove a trellis for my peas from six-pack rings liberated from a liquor store trash bin. (I can testify that this plastic never biodegrades—the pea fence survives to this day.) I got some more bushel baskets from the local grocery, painted them with non-toxic preservative and lined them with garbage bags after snipping a few drainage holes in the bottom. Placed around a small stone patio above the garden, these became containers for large plants.

The garden rewarded me before the first mouthful of early spinach was harvested. It moved me out of the gloomy apartment and into the sunshine, watering can in hand. It motivated me to interact with people and to occasionally risk asking for help. I found out they would usually say yes. My attention was now focused on the future, not the bitter, unchangeable past. At night when the flashbacks threatened to roll, when I dreaded the dreams I might have, I put myself to sleep with 45 detailed plans of my next crop rotation. I found out I could learn a major new skill, a little at a time. I could do things right, even come up with ingenious solutions to seemingly impossible difficulties. And when I did things wrong, plants were most often forgiving. The plants themselves were a tremendous source of inspiration. Talk about survivors! They defied every book written about their needs, often thriving with too little sun, too little water, and too little soil. At the end of a year, I could easily stick my shovel in the dirt up to the hilt, where only four inches of top soil had previously existed; compost and the action of the roots had created friable loam out of shale and clay.

When I experienced failure with gardening, it was never the kind of disaster I'd grown to associate with mistakes. We didn't go hungry, because other crops outstripped our expectations. My lover didn't beat or berate me, but sympathized and helped. The garden was important to us economically, because we'd both lost almost everything we owned in our escape. Luckily, in southern Arkansas, it's possible to garden yearround. The garden gave me precious, desperately needed tastes of success. Disabled, unemployed, I still felt like an important contributor to the household. I even had food to give away sometimes, and that was a delicious feeling.

Gardening was not the only factor in my recovery, but it was an important one. I didn't grow up with abuse, but battering and similar traumas can expand minutes into hours, years into decades, until four years feel like most of a lifetime. At the end of a year and a half of gardening, I no longer felt as if I'd spent the majority of my life in a battering situation. Healing had acquired a new definition for me: I didn't insist on having the old me back; I'd mourned her long and well. I accepted the fact that some injuries are too severe to be made whole, that I might never be the same again. But I began to actually like and trust the me I am now, scars and all. As my garden taught me, I must make do with what I am. I have discovered that my flaws are not fatal and my successes are greater than I'd hoped for. So far I have not gone hungry, and I even have something to offer."]

Amy Edgington, Gaining Ground, from Garden Variety Dykes: Lesbian Traditions In Gardening, Herbooks, 1994

[gingersnaaps]

"yes" is conditional

the whorification of y/n, courtesy of one kuroo tetsurou and his special... talents <3

wc: ~2.4k

tags/tw's(PLEASE READ): dubcon, expicit n*fw, brainwashing/conditioning, mindbreak, bimbofication, mental aphrodisiac, exhibitionism mentions, uh implied sexual slavery(there's a cage at the end??), corporate!setting, fem!reader with inner genitals,

a/n: written for @sugawara-sweetheart and her decadence collab!

i don't want minors interacting with my content

The movies always get it wrong.

Kuroo thinks it’s hilarious how far off the mark they can be, honestly. He’s seen countless renditions of what people think mind control is like, and it’s always so corny and contrived - it’s not like he forces anyone to do things they don’t actually want to. He just… makes suggestions.

Nobody actually knows where their own thoughts come from, do they? So it’s almost too easy to place a suggestion or two in the back of someone's mind and pass it off as their own idea.

Most of the time, people are all too happy to comply with these suggestions.

And Kuroo’s more or less content with the free drinks he receives, the frequent raises his boss dishes out, and the one-night stands he easily gets as a perk of his little power. He really does enjoy the gifts other people seem to drop into his lap and the temporary flings he always finds himself in.

But he’s bored.

He wants more. He’s had enough of the short-lived gratification every time he persuades another pretty girl to come home with him.

So when he sees you walk by his office window, with your head always ducked low and your modest outfits all prim and put-together, it’s out of a passing curiosity - just a whim - that he starts his experiment. He wants to know just how far he can go in suggesting ideas and replacing thoughts, just how deep he can reach, and you’re perfect. You’re an unassuming and quiet coworker, you don’t attract attention, and he can tell that you’re one of those good girls just from the way you flush and avert your gaze when he talks to you.

Besides, he’s always wondered what your ass would look like in tighter skirts. Or, alternatively, with no clothes on at all.

Kuroo decides to make a project out of you.

As the days pass, he makes sure to time his coffee breaks so they sync up perfectly with yours. He makes sure not to do anything too overt, though - he doesn’t make you give him your number right off the bat, or ask you out immediately, or even drop any compliments. He wants to play it a little more subtle this time.

You find that you can’t help but take note of him, partly due to his constant presence, but also because you just can’t seem to tear your eyes away. Suddenly, there’s an insistent urge in the back of your mind constantly telling you where to direct your gaze, a little voice that whispers out how good his collarbones look, or how his back muscles ripple out under his shirt when he stretches. Your eyes seem drawn to his - and every time you make eye contact, you start flushing furiously, a tingling warmth spreading down your spine and into your cunt.

When you pass by his office, all he has to do is flash a cheeky grin, wink, and just like that, your panties are fucking soaked. You don’t know why you’re no longer able to control yourself around him, but it must be natural, right? It’s normal to have a relationship with a coworker go from completely platonic to you fantasizing about him stuffing your cunt full, right?

If he’s going to be honest, Kuroo likes seeing how horny he can make you every time he’s close by. He likes the way your face heats up, the way that cute body of yours seems to tense up, the way you cross your legs a little bit tighter when he walks by.

It’s not hard to make up fantasies to put in your mind, either - Kuroo thinks about you nearly all the time, after all. So when he finds himself drifting off in his office, thinking of the way you’d moan and scream and mark up his back if he were to pound you into the mattress, or maybe of how your pretty face would look dripping with his cum as he grips your hair and fucks your face, he doesn’t mind sharing them with you. And the look on your face when he does - oh, baby, it’s so precious.

You must be barely more than a virgin with how absolutely ashamed you act.

And slowly, of course, your wardrobe begins to change. When you find yourself at the mall, you’re no longer looking for conservative sweaters and cardigans that disguise the shape of your body. Maybe you’ve just lost interest in that style, especially with the way you find yourself drawn to the more… vivacious section. Now, you find it empowering to sift through racks of the tightest skirts, of v-neck blouses that give away your cleavage whenever you lean over.

When you show up at work, legs clad in tight stockings and your breasts pushed tight up against your shirt, you feel almost proud when Kuroo sees the way you’re dressed. In fact, when you find your gaze drawn to his, looking into his dark pupils blown wide with arousal, you feel that intense, throbbing heat in your cunt flare up again.

You feel good. You feel happy. You dress this way because you want to.

And when he finally asks you out to dinner, it’s easy - almost second nature - for you to say yes. Why would you ever want to say no when you’ve been so fixated on him for the past few weeks, when your mind has been filled with the dirtiest, unspeakable thoughts, when you’re so undeniably attracted to him?

On that date, you can barely think straight.

You’re just so fucking turned on the entire time, aren’t you? You can’t stop thinking about the way his cock would feel dragging up against your tight, wet, heat, about how his fingers would feel methodically taking you apart, how the flat of his tongue would feel flicking up across your clit.

You don’t care about the food. You barely even notice how much the bill for the dinner comes to. All you can think about is him.

Kuroo finds it almost endearing how tightly you cling onto his side during the taxi ride to your place. He can feel how warm you are, your shallow breaths puffing in and out, the way you tremble when he brings a thumb up to caress your cheek.

His experiment was so fucking worth it. You’re putty in his hands, a little plaything he can mold and shape to his liking.

That night, you are very much to his liking.

You pull him out of the taxi, whispering into his ear how much you’d like to show him around, but he isn’t fooled. You’ve invited him up not because you want to give a tour of your living area, but because you need him, because you don’t really have a choice with the way he’s been conditioning you for the past few weeks.

Barely five minutes have passed before you drag him to your bedroom, stripping off every useless item of clothing off. “Please,” you whimper. “Fuck me. Please. Please. I want it so bad.”

He knows you’re telling the truth, and as he grasps your thighs with his large hands and spreads you until you’re open and dripping, he’s only too happy to oblige.

Sucking gentle kisses along the crook of your neck, he bites at your soft flesh, running his tongue up along your pulse point until you shiver. He reaches down, trailing his hand over your chest and tummy until he arrives at your clit, and rubs slow, feather-light circles that leave you squirming and shaking, bucking into thin air until he grabs your hips and holds them down firmly in place.

He knows you want more. He can tell by the way your puffy clit pulses, swollen and tender, and the way you mewl whenever his fingers brush against your entrance.

“More,” you whisper, eyes wide and pleading. “I need more. Please.”

His cock twitches at the ragged desperation in your voice, and he almost wants to draw it out for a bit longer. You make such a pretty picture - he wants to run his hands through your disheveled hair, all mussed up and soft, wants to hold your face, glowing with sweat and flushed pink, wants to sear how depraved you look into his mind forever.

But who is he to deny you when you’re begging so nicely?

Weeks of pent up frustration have left you so, so sensitive - after all, your short, stubby fingers can’t reach nearly as far as his can, and the angle he’s able to hit every time he curls his fingers in a come-hither there motion isn’t something you could ever replicate. It’s so easy to make you cum when you’re desperate, and he indulges you, making you cream around his fingers as he thrusts them deeper and strokes at your walls.

And when he’s done prepping you, Kuroo finds that fucking into a needy cunt is so much better than just a willing one. Your pussy, slick and dripping wet, almost seems to suck his cock into your hole, and the lewd moan that falls from your lips as he bottoms out sends heat rushing to his core. He goes slow and careful at first - he wants you to enjoy this, after all - but your pussy feels so good, so warm and velvety, that he can’t help but speed up and ram his cock into you until you’re squealing like a bitch in heat. It might feel better without the condom he has on in the way, but that’s okay - he’ll save fucking you raw for another day.

After that night, you only grow more eager. You start doing things you never would’ve even imagined prior to his little interventions - you send him nudes from the work bathroom, slutty pictures that show off the curve of your ass and your tits covered in lace, candid shots of your lips wrapped around your fingers, sucking on them like you would his cock, even pictures of your cunt right after you’ve been touching yourself.

And just days after he’d fucked you for the first time, you find yourself at the pharmacist picking up birth control. You want to feel him cum inside you, to paint your pussy white and stuff you full until his seed is dripping out of you and dirtying the sheets.

Most of all, you want to please him. You want to make him feel good so that he’ll fuck you, offer you some sweet relief from the persistent ache in your cunt that gets particularly intense whenever he’s nearby.

You let him fuck you almost anywhere, anytime. He bends you over the sink in public bathrooms, running his fingers along your folds, or sprawls you out on his lap in his car, his cock deep in your cunt. You don't really mind if other people see the two of you - as long as he's gripping your hips tight, bruising your cervix until your skin blooms black and blue, sticky drool leaking from the corners of your mouth - he could be showing your naked cunt off in the middle of Times Square for all you care.

Kuroo can’t help but beam with pride at the way your demeanor has changed as of late. You used to blush whenever he would make eye contact with you, and now you’re begging him to get you off during rush hour on public transportation.

He likes this new version of you very much.

-

Months go by, and you find that it gets harder to focus at work. Early on, it was easy to ignore the heat curling in your stomach whenever your thoughts drifted to Kuroo, but now the artificial glare of the screen gives you a headache, and the numbers and letters on the spreadsheets all seem to meld and jumble together until you can’t tell which is which.

You don’t really care about your boss’s performance review anymore. The customers can scream all they like. The most pressing concern on your mind, the one that you just can’t stop thinking about, is the insatiable need for Kuroo to fuck you, to lift you up against the wall and bounce you on his cock like a ragdoll.

Why would anything else matter?

To be completely honest, Kuroo hadn’t anticipated this particular side effect, but he supposes it makes sense that the more thoughts he replaces, the less original ones remain. There’s no longer as much of who you were before left, and - oh, Kuroo really shouldn’t be doing this to you, should he? But he finds that he doesn’t really care, doesn’t really mind, because you look so much better in your tight skirts, so much happier being the slut he’s slowly trained you to be.

He did like you for your personality - he really did. It was nice seeing you cute and quiet, but there’s just no room left for who you were anymore.

We’re all shaped and molded by our environment, aren’t we? The people we surround ourselves with, the places we grow up and live our lives in - it just happened that for you, your environment was Kuroo, and he did the work that society probably would have done anyway - albeit a bit differently, a bit more extreme.

Of course, he’s not delusional. He knows he’s responsible for the way you are now, so when you eventually get fired, he takes you in and lets you live with him. This way, you’re safe and warm and taken care of, and in exchange, he gets easy access to your cunt whenever he wants. There’s no more need for midnight calls or texts, because his pretty little fuckdoll is always waiting for him when he comes home.

He doesn’t have a spare room, but that’s not a problem. He lets you sleep on a couch at first, but the nice, comfy cage he orders for you comes in after just a few days. After all, he doesn’t want all his hard work to go to waste, and besides - you’re content with the few amenities your new accommodations offer: food, water, air, and cock.

Kuroo often finds himself admiring your pretty face, an expectant, needy expression plastered on your features and your eyes glazed over, stuck between the dirty metal bars like a dog waiting for a treat from its owner. He can’t help but think that this is how you were always meant to be, that this is the perfect relationship that makes both of you happiest.

Considering the state you’re in, you really don’t know any better, do you?

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