#i forgot how much i love hnk

[smrtnik07]

shirooooooo....

[cantovi]

@mixtapes-mistakes

A new thread can help us avoid scrolling through our own wall of texts, this discussion is making me feel like I’m on an old school internet forum lol.

Oh, totally agree on people tending to avoid more ‘difficult’ works when it comes to their themes and morality. And violence tends to be such an easy thing for us to look pass in fiction (see how easy it is for more out there gore to be deemed fine in shounen), I’m not complaining, just something to note really. A little sad it doesn’t sell as much still, because art to me is “problematic”, a place where we are placed before the many facets of humanity and can safely explore them.

Hmm, character archetypes. Let me see, you’re right I totally love a well written underdog; I’m a villain liker in general so I tend to gravitate towards villains first; hedonistic characters are on top for me (like give me a character who’s driving force is “fun” and “pleasure” and explora that as a flaw and quality, good stuff); a corrupted hero when well done is rare, but certain to hook me (Phos from HnK stays winning); non-human or immortal character who lives in and out of societal conventions by choice and\or nature; characters who are looking for a good fight\challenge in their field of expertise even when simplistic do a lot for (Majima Goro, my beloved I know there’s more to you, but yeah); devil archetypes (almost forgot them) and; last just characters that make me say “freak” affectionately out loud (Baku on every other page in Usogui).

What about you? I’m not even making a guess, I feel your tastes on archetypes could be really eclectic from your favourites so far (this is a compliment).

Yeah, certain male authors have this more “divorced” perspective on it and tend to use it for more shock value than anything, like c’mon dude, that’s not how it works. Cliché answer from me, but it’s Monster so far since I’ve been taking it slow with Urosawa’s stuff, I haven’t even read 20th century boys yet, next on my list of his though, I don’t doubt the praise at all.

Okay, good to know on Sako’s art style, yeah older characters of his look aged down a little (no more real old men for us, I guess) and his burlier characters lost like 10 to 20 kg (a little bit of the Araki disease if I might say it), I mostly don’t mind this type on stylization, but we’ll see how I feel on a longer stretch of chapters.

Hahaha, a bunch of pokemon moves. And music feels essential to capoeira, I’ve never seen a match without it.

[sea-cakee]

I’m gonna read hnk from the start tomorrow but what i saw in the last chapter made me so sad. When I opened the first chapter of the manga, seeing the Phos from the start and remembering what happens with them throught out the story broke my heart.

I really hope they get the happiness they wish in the last chapter and that they can finally rest from what they went

[confusedhost-archive]

[ID: a digital drawing of Phos and Cinnabar from Land of The Lustrous. Phos is leaning toward Cinnabar, smiling, and Cinnabar’s lips are parted in something like surprise. Cinnabar’s hands are hovering over Phos’ hips, and Phos’ visible hand is about to caress Cinnabar’s face. The top half of both their faces is out of the picture. END ID]

“Do you remember when you loved me?”

“...”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t think you would.”

[bootlickerhawks]

Thoughts on HNK 😈

Me, immediately after finishing chapter 97:

I had a general idea where the story was headed because of fanart I've come across, but even after you warned me nothing could have prepared me for the torrent of emotions I would feel ;w;

Apologies but this is going to be discombobulated af (my thoughts are all over the place >_<) and LONG (1.1k words) but that's a given with a story like HNK.

Reading this, especially in the latter half, is akin to watching a rollercoaster wildly veer off the rails only to crash in a crowd of innocent people…. And then it keeps going and keeps running over people in its path. the people, in this scenario, are my emotions :”)

THE CHARACTERS

Ship of Theseus and Phos > Phos’ development throughout the story makes us doubt if this is even the same character anymore. We see the first signs of it after Phos lost their legs and forgot about their promise to Cinnabar, and again after Antrac died, and then it becomes much more obvious when Lapis’ head is installed. This comes to a head when Phos can’t remember their promise after Cinnabar thanks them and when they can’t even recognize their past self on their way to Adamant’s desk. What makes the tragedy of Phos’ character work so well is that they do accomplish what they originally set out to do: Cinnabar’s poison is gone and they’re no longer isolated, Antarc is resurrected and the Gems are finally living in peace (as Lunarians*, more on that in the ART section). But Phos can’t even appreciate what they’ve accomplished because they a) don’t remember and b) CAN’T FUCKING SEE IT BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN SENTENCED TO BE ISOLATED FOR 10 000 YEARS (jfc talk abt a fate worse than death)  

Overall I really adore Phos! The way they metamorphosize throughout the story is fascinating to watch. I loooooove the buildup of Phos’ suspicions towards Adamant and their downfall feels organic. This is a corruption arc Done Right! They’re truly one of the most compelling protagonists I’ve seen in a long time.

I kinda wish Dia and Bort’s conflict had more focus. Dia building up an image of Bort in their mind, finally gathering the courage to confront them only for Bort to pull the rug under their feet because they changed so drastically is great. I wish we’d seen more of it but I am satisfied with what we got.  Side note 1: I love character’s like Dia that are really cheerful on the outside but hide “nasty” emotions like envy and resentment only for those emotions to boil over. *chef’s kiss* I eat that shit up!  Side note 2: Bort’s character development is hilarious (and not to bring a dead meme back to life but it might be a Jojo reference? Strong stoic character grows up and becomes a marine biologist. Coincidence? I think not!)

Speaking of character conflict! I find it disappointing that most of the closure happened off-screen. Especially Welegato/Cairngorm and Ghost, the last time they interacted Ghost was breaking Cairngorm to prevent them from becoming independent. You would think that would create some uh “tension” to put it lightly. Rutile and Padparadscha (yes I had to look at the wiki to write that correctly) seemingly have a lot of unresolved issues, which makes sense given how fucked their relationship was, but I doubt we’ll get to see them addressed since the manga is ending soon (I think? That’s what I heard? The story does seem to be headed towards its climax).  On the flip side I understand why the author didn’t do it cuz it would have slowed the pacing down.

Cinnabar is my fav so I was really disappointed when they faded to the background, but since this story is mainly from Phos’ POV it makes sense that Cinnabar would take a step back once Phos starts avoiding them. This also explains why Dia and Bort’s conflict rarely has any focus because Phos doesn’t care about it (unless it’s to exploit it).  I do have hope that Cinnabar is going to play a big role in the climax. My theory is that they’ll stay behind with Phos after Phos prays everyone else away since they understand the pain of isolation (same reason they took Sensei’s side) but we’ll see. Everything depends on how Phos reacts (and we all know how notoriously unpredictable they are). 

I feel conflicted about Cairngorm/Welegato. Cairngorm is my other fav and they were one of the most interesting characters and had a fun dynamic with Phos but after the Moon arc they kinda became flat :(  I’ve said this before but there is a tragic irony that Cairn’s attempt to emancipate themselves ended up with them becoming dependent on someone else. I am glad that Cairn is happy and that Achmea hasn’t taken advantage of the obvious power imbalance between them (yet) but I had higher hopes for Cairn. Disappointment aside, I will say that I really enjoyed the scene where Cairn directly confronted Phos on the way that they treat people and correctly foreshadowed Phos’ fate : isolation.

Achmea is a character that I have a hard time pinpointing my feelings on… I think I like him?  I'm glad he doesn’t fall into the annoying “Everything went according to keikaku MUAHAHA” trope. He took advantage of Phos’ nature instead of actively grooming them into “becoming human”, I know it’s a very fine line but it’s a line nonetheless and I appreciate him for it. My tolerance for badly executed “control” characters is very low *glares at seraph of the end* 

Euclase is a character I didn’t really care about til chapter 96. I respected them and Jade for being the first to figure out what Phos was up to when they came back from the Moon, but other than that I didn’t care about them much. But chapter 96 changed that! Thank you Euclase for being the voice of reason!!! ​​🙌 Leaving someone isolated for 10 000 years is fucked up! Thank god someone pointed it out! ​​🙌 

And that’s it for the character section! Those are all the characters I have strong opinions on! (I didn’t include Adamant because I need to reread hnk before I can form a definitive opinion 🤔)

THE ART

The first thing that stands out in HNK is the art. Now, if I were more verbose I could comment on page composition and the author’s use of light and shadow, but I’m not so I’ll just say this: the art in HNK tickles the part of my brain that really enjoys art :D 

I love the character designs and the art, especially the body horror (shattered!Phos is ✨Peak Character Design✨). 

My one complaint(?) is that once the Gems became Lunarians I had a hard time distinguishing/recognizing them. But I’m thinking that might be intentional as a way for the author to comment on cultural assimilation? And given that the Lunarians are the same people that casually brought up genociding the poor fish people... I think it's intentional 🤔

The Buddhist imagery is beautiful. The first time the lunarians appeared I had to pause to appreciate what I was looking at. Sadly a lot of the symbolism goes over my head because I’m not well versed in Buddhist mythology, like Enma being the god of the underworld in Buddhism (I only know that thanks to a comment I saw under the chapter)   

My final verdict is that my brain chemicals have definitely been altered after reading HNK. Even if the author doesn't nail the ending the journey so far has been unforgettable, and I suspect that HNK and Phos are going to be living rent free in my brain for many years to come

[1bridgeyboo]

Hey this is a trans fan of the person who you claim was bigoted and there is a claim that you were dishonest about When it comes to the CP think I think it was a reasonable statement since people were giving him grief over him expressing dislike for a certain kind of fan art. He said Ddd*escargoon was a more legal ship. If you think someone is odd/bigoted for thinking illustrated cp is bad then is it really unreasonable to think that you may or may not have an attraction to that sort of thing.

I don’t know where the transphobic claim against him even came from? He shows the actual post and it doesn’t make any slanderous claims, doesn’t even say he’s transphobic either.

Also I do NOT EVER think illustrated CP is okay! Nor does anyone on the OP HnK team think it is either!

All the original post said was the op expressing an opinion they were asked about, not a hitpiece, and saying “he complains about the lgbt’s which makes him a loser.” The video the op was referencing is about how he treats LGBT ships of young characters (I only have ever seen these characters hold hands in fanart, that’s the extent of the shipping. He claims we’re making it about sex when none of that is actually true. Again, the extent is like, some people draw these characters holding hands or giving each other a love letter. If there is art that is explicit, I would not know about it because I don’t look for that type of thing, cause I’m a regular person and not a freak.) Shipping does NOT mean sex. If you think children of the same gender giving each other love letters is anything remotely like CP, I don’t know what to say but you’re wrong.

I didn’t ask to be singled out and p*dojacketed for a post I have long forgot about.

He can claim he was slandered all he wants but being called out for complaining about lgbt people is much different than having someone literally insinuate that you are supporting the worst things imaginable. That’s actually slander, as I already have people like you coming to me about it and now my anxiety is way up because random people I don’t know are just going to think I support something like that. I would never!

Please, know I would never draw, like or support such a thing.

[naihexiang]

Just wondering, what are your overall thoughts on the school for good and evil?

I AM SO GLAD U ASKED STRAP IN FOLKS WE’RE IN FOR A LONG ONE

okay so i read the og book (the first one) a while ago (not long after it first came out i think) when i was really young, and i was IN LOVE. i wasn’t allowed to have books in my room bc my parents worried about me staying up all night reading but i snuck my copy of the school for good and evil into my room and kept it there for the longest time. i’m still so angry at myself for losing it lmao

i actually didn’t have copies of either sequels (the next 2, i’ve never read the rest lmao), so i just borrowed them from a friend who did. the second book i was less impressed with even back then, and i actually forgot about the third book entirely. 

as time passed, i would occasionally think back on the school for good and evil and i eventually decided: yeah it should’ve been a standalone. like, the og concept was SO GOOD but. everything else. wack. 

so like fast forward to two years ago, i haven’t read the school for good and evil for the longest time, BUT i am now insanely into houseki no kuni/land of the lustrous and i thought HEY, how about i do a school for good and evil crossover featuring two of the characters (it was cinnabar and dia btw)??? cause at the time, all i remembered about sge was that i loved the concept and i absolutely thought it should’ve been a standalone

so i end up downloading online pdfs of the first three books and i read them, and that’s when i realized. oh god. this is actually not as good as i remember it being. so i finished the first book and moved on to the second, which was harder to finish than the first because i just. wasn’t vibing with it. i couldn’t even finish the third book because i was like “you know what, i hate this” and i just left it lmao

at the time my then s/o was kind of like a hype man for me so i ended up actually writing a bit about the school for good and evil world as i would have written it, and i even made up a school curriculum and everything 

but like. fast forward again to what- the last few months i guess? i had kind of moved out of my obsession with hnk (i still like it but like. yeah) and into twisted wonderland and then in the greatest bout of deja vu ever i thought “hey why don’t i do a school for good and evil crossover?”

okay now that got me thinking about the whole series bc i thought “well damn if i’m gonna write the crossover, i gotta like. get the whole worldbuilding right.” so i started writing out each characters’ roles and profiles and stuff and then i started thinking “wow, canon really gave us nothing.” and i was FINALLY able to make sense of everything i hated about the school for good and evil, and let me tell you, it is a LOT. like, why didn’t sophie get any character development between book 1 and 2?? why does tedros exist. why does sophie and agatha’s entire character arcs revolve around a fucking BOY. why isn’t there enough worldbuilding??? there’s more worldbuilding in fucking HARRY POTTER. 

i then concluded that the reason why the school for good and evil was so fucking bad is because the author did EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER dirty. i actually really enjoyed agatha’s growth throughout the first book, but what about sophie?? as the second protagonist/one of the antagonists, doesn’t SHE get something other than being written off as a vain, selfish pretty girl hell-bent on getting the boy of her dreams? like, i realized that that’s why i didn’t like the second book as much as the first one. because sophie was the EXACT SAME PERSON as she was when she started the first book. 

then again, i haven’t read the school for good and evil in AGES, so some of these takes might be rotten as hell, but i think it’s worth noting that i re-read the school for good and evil in hopes that my opinion on it would change, but it did not. 

also i think sophie and agatha should be gay because i’m gay and i fucking say so

[houseki-no-suffering]

Why do you like cinnabar so much? I personally can't really stand them but I'm still happy they're finally content with life! Cinnabar is my Cinnababy, no matter how cruel they are to my other and more baby, phos.

this is very hard for me to explain in a logical way.

most people will think it’s a given, but ive read and heard enough polarized opinions to avoid taking my chances so, before we start, here’s a disclaimer: im perfectly aware that cinnabar’s character has flaws, that their canon relationship with phos isnt healthy, that they made mistakes and will probably keep on making mistakes (and ive written a number of posts about it). 

now that we’ve got this over with, i’ll tell you that i dont really know why i like cinnabar so much. sometimes a character just vibes with you (look at me, using cool kids vocabulary) and bam, theyre a fave.

as a start, since chapter 2 and episode 1, i liked the way they were introduced in the story: the character’s design, their theme (shinsha’s theme is one of the best songs in the ost, come on), their personality. the way they kept phos and everyone else away but still cared about them was so bittersweet. it made me want to hug them but it also got me thinking about gem society: why is cinnabar so isolated? why no one cares? how did it get to this?

they’re so similar to phos, too, and the more i grew to like phos the more i grew to like cinnabar and their interactions. they had this unique chemistry that other gems in the show didnt have, it was more nuanced and complex than the other relationships we could see in the series and that too got me thinking about gem society. 

they were both outcasts after all, it was very clear that they were trying to battle loneliness and find a sense of purpose in different ways and that was interesting (and sad ofc, but hey this is hnk).

but cinnabar is an independent character from phos and i love how ichikawa kept highlighting that as she showed their relationship deteriorate with time. in the end, cinnabar makes their own choices and by doing so they show character growth.

it took me a while to appreciate cinnabar as much as i do now and their newfound independence played a big part. they became their own character and in doing so they became much more interesting. theyre moving, growing, changing, making mistakes, thinking about things in a world where no one ever thinks about anything and those who do are either outcasts or betrayers or both.

i also suppose i see myself in cinnabar more than in any other character, and it’s very rare for me to find a character and go ‘oh woah, theyre just like me’ so that was a plus. sometimes i just want to shake some sense into their head cause im like ‘ive been through this, i know why youre doing this and it’s not healthy, you dumb rock. just speak out’

i like cinnabar’s personality: they’re smart, they’re brilliant, theyre anxious and shy, they’re avoidant, selfless, rude, self loathing, secretive but at the same time so easy to read, they give great advice and look complicated but they really just wanted one thing, to be loved, and this speaks so much about the problems gem society has.

cinnabar’s character is also testament to the fact that you have to create your future with your own hands, you cannot project your hopes on someone else, wait for a saviour, cry about your failures and misfortunes and hope everything goes well. you have to act.

now, phos is a much better example of this, of course, but i appreciate cinnabar’s attempt at this, even if i dont condone their methods: communication is essential and cinnabar cannot communicate sincerely for the life of them. 

i also like to speculate about cinnabar’s past, all the small moments we didnt see on screen and that led them to take on night patrolling: were they friends with antarc? with other gems? with gems that were abducted? i like to empathize with shinsha, get in their shoes and try to understand why they acted a certain way, why they said a certain thing, because 90% of cinnabar’s decisions happen offscreen, 90% of their processing happens in their head and writing character metas is one of my favorite things to do, as you all probably have noticed.

complex thought process, lots of things left unsaid, flaws, mistakes, an attempt to change, cool personality… idk, i just like them. please shinsha stans come to my aid cause im sure i forgot something but its so hard to make this post into something coherent

[cinnbar-bun]

In a Blink of an Eye

(Phos x Human! Reader)

A/n: Angst...angst...angst...first thing that isn’t GBF and ITS SOME HNK ANGST IM SORRY. CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR HNK. Also, male pronouns for the gems. 

“Ne, (Y/n), look what I made!” 

“It’s so pretty! These flowers are more beautiful than the ones from my time.” 

“Dia taught me how to make them into a crown. For you, uh, if you want?” 

“Of course, how could I resist? You made it for me!” 

“Since we’ve got nothing better to do, why don’t we sit in the fields for a while?” 

“Let’s go. There’s so much we have to talk about!” 

I remember that time. That was when (Y/n) kept talking about home. They said they missed it, but being with me made it easier for them. How strange. It felt strange to be wanted by someone. 

“Phos! Slow down! I can’t keep up with you!” 

“Heh, maybe all those snails are starting to drag you down!” 

“Meanie. I thought you cared for me!” 

“Of course I do. But~” 

“Oh no.” 

“Tickle fight!” 

“Stop! Phos! Heh, s-s-stop! I don’t wanna hurt you!” 

“Huh? Why would you hurt me?” 

“I wouldn’t. You just uh...” 

“O-oh...yeah...shattering...it’s fine, Rutile will patch me up again.” 

“But I’d feel awful if you broke because of me.” 

“You worry too much. Seriously, this is Rutile’s job, he’ll do it.” 

“If you say so...” 

Right...this was after I lost my legs...I chased (Y/n) around all the time. They always tried to run by my side, even though they were no where near as fast as me. It was fun running through the fields with them. We’d catch butterflies and just talk. They cried once because they thought they broke me. Even if they did, I wouldn’t mind, it was just nice to be with them. 

“You’re up for the winter?” 

“Of course. Where else would I be?” 

“Uh...hibernating?” 

“Humans don’t do that Phos, only some animals.” 

“Huh...strange...then how do you live with low levels of sunlight?” 

“I dunno. We don’t need it that much, we get energy from other things. Don’t be surprised if I’m tired and mopey all the time though!” 

“So then, what do you do for winter?” 

“A lot. We can go ice-skating, or sledding, or make snowmen and snow angels. Tons of things!” 

“What are those things?” 

“I’ll show you okay? Wait, even better! We can celebrate Christmas together!” 

“Christmas?” 

“It’s a holiday where friends and family get together and exchange gifts. We sit next to a warm fire and have dinner together, and then in the morning, we open the gifts Santa left us from that night.” 

“S-Santa?” 

I still don’t understand what Christmas is. They gave me a red hat with cotton on the end and said it was a “Santa hat”. Still don’t know what that is either. My gift was a book about how much they loved and cared for me. They felt awful they couldn’t get me anything, but I loved it. I kept it in my room. They helped me when Antarcticite was taken. They helped me when my arms became gold. My brothers were scared of me, but (Y/n) never stopped loving me. I felt better knowing that I could be by their side. 

“Phosphophyllite, you do know the dangers you are putting yourself in by getting attached to them, right?” 

“What are you talking about, Sensei? They’ve helped me and I don’t think I could be where I am without them.” 

“It’s much more complicated than you’d ever understand. Tell me, what would happen if they suddenly left?” 

“I’d go find them.” 

“What if they were to wither and break slowly?” 

“Then I’d fix them, like they did for me.” 

“Phos...you have much to learn. They’re not pleasant things to learn. Humans are different from gems. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.” 

“But we can always put them back together! Rutile will fix them!” 

“No, Phos, you cannot put back together a human body and soul. Death is a foreign concept to all of you, but you will learn the painful truth about life. Not everything can be brought back, and not everything can last. Some things are gone in a blink of an eye.” 

I wanted to argue with him, I wanted to say how I’d never let (Y/n) get hurt. How I didn’t care how bad I was injured, I’d rather they lived. Words cannot describe how wonderful they’ve been to me. 

“S-sorry, Phos...my body isn’t as young as it once was.” 

“It’s fine. I’m sure a little nap will fix that.” 

“Maybe...let’s sit under the sun again...” 

I noticed they always were tired and slow. They were becoming weaker and couldn’t keep up with me as much. They complained their back and their knees were hurting, but that they were fine. “Growing pains” they laughed. If they weren’t seriously injured, then I didn’t mind. (Y/n) was strong. I know that.

Yet...it’s strange...sometimes I hear them saying my name...talking to me... I want to say something back, but my voice never leaves me. And then one day, it stopped. It must have been my imagination. 

“Phos. Phos. Phos.” 

The sensation is new. I don’t understand what happened. Cairn is in front of me, a bewildered expression on his face. 

“You’re finally awake.” 

“I guess so...” This isn’t my head. I can feel it. 

Lapis. 

I looked around the room before looking back at Cairngorm. 

“I feel like I was supposed to see someone. Their name is on the tip of my tongue...it’s...it’s...” 

“(Y/n).” 

“Ah, yes, that’s it! Where’s (Y/n)?” I want to see them again and ask more about Santa. I want to to sit in the sun once more. 

“Uh...about that...” Cairn doesn’t face me. 

“What’s wrong? Why are you so sad?” 

“P-Phos?” I turn around and assumed it was (Y/n), but it didn’t sound like them. Diamond and Bort were at the door, staring at me in surprise. 

“It’s been over a hundred years! We thought you’d never wake up.” Diamond says before he embraces me. 

“Heh, well, I’m here. Do you know where (Y/n) is?” Diamond and Bort nod before they make me follow them. 

I feel giddy all over at the thought of seeing them. One hundred years without them has been quite boring, but I’d wait more for them. 

“Hey, we’ve been walking for a while now. Where are you taking me?” I ask impatiently. 

Bort shakes his head before we stop in the open meadow. I don’t see (Y/n) anywhere.

“Are they going to surprise me again?” I didn’t understand what was going on. 

“No. They’re right here.” Bort stated, pointing at a stone on the ground. 

“So funny, Bort. Come on, where are they?” 

“Phos, they’re right here. They died. Years ago.” Dia states a bit too casually for my taste. It was almost like it was a joke to them. 

“W-what? Dead? But it’s only been a hundred years, I’m not understanding wha-” 

“Phos.” Sensei steps forward and places a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Remember what we discussed a long time ago? Humans are much more different than you. They are gone quicker than you’ll ever realize.” 

“B-but...can’t we- can’t we put them back together?” I feel tears in my eyes. Why am I shaking so much? 

Sensei shakes his head. 

“Humans rot. They cannot be replaced. Their body does not exist anymore, all that’s left is bone.” 

“When did this...” I can hardly muster out the courage to ask. I’ve been gone for how long? How long had (Y/n) been dead while I was resting?

“Over eighty years ago. They barely reached one hundred years of life.” 

Barely a hundred? Was that even living? 

“So...so...they really are gone?” I huddle over the stone on the ground. This was the last remainder of (Y/n) I’d get. 

A horrid thought came into my mind. What if I forgot about (Y/n)? What if all our days together just disappeared? 

I can’t hear anything. I can’t feel anything. It’s just a horrible choking feeling, as if I was drowning. I don’t remember what happened next. Sensei had to pull me away from the stone and tried to hold me back. The other gems were screaming for me to stop. There’s some dirt on my hands and knees, but I can hardly even think about that. 

(Y/n) was gone. 

A hundred years is nothing. I remembered the phrase Sensei used to describe humans. 

“They’re gone in a blink of an eye.” 

[rin-chan32]

Hnk Royalty Au

Lapis Lazuli walked out of the room where she had her intense discussion with Cairngorm, letting out an upset and heavy sigh as they walked out, turning and her eyes looking at Phosphophyllite�� who was standing at right next to the doorway and eavesdropped on their conversation.

Phos froze up when Lapis noticed her standing at the door frame, not knowing what else to say to the Queen next to her. Without thinking, she pushed herself off of the wall and bowed repeatedly to the other, “I’m so sorry for listening to your conversation when I wasn’t allowed to! I-I was just curious about what you were talking about when you mentioned Antarcticite-- I-I mean..” she explained clumsily, her cheeks heating up when she forgot to add queen or lady to the beginning of the deceased ruler.

It was quiet between them before Phos’ body froze up once more as she heard Lapis’ heels walk towards them, closing her eyes tightly to avoid her upset look and prepared herself for some kind of punishment.

But, instead of what she thought was going to happen, she felt the soft hands of queen in front of her on her cheek. “Lift up your head,” Lapis said gently, no anger present in her voice as she spoke. Phosphophyllite stayed where she was before she opened her eyes and lifted her head to look at the lady in front of her. When she noticed that the other’s face was calm and gentle, she let out a small sigh of relief before she stood up properly and looked at the queen nervously.

“I actually wanted to talk to you about something,” Lapis said before she smiled at the servant in front of her, taking her hand off of the other’s cheek before she took a step back and started to slowly walk away. “Come with me, we need to talk in private.”

Phosphophyllite watched the queen walk out of the hallways before she shyly trailed behind the other. The two of them walked out into the garden, an awkward silence between the two of them as they silently walked away from everyone else who was working or in the castle. Phos turned around every once in a while to see how far they were walking away from everyone, and started to wonder how important this conversation was going to be.

When Lapis decided that they were in a private enough space for them to talk, she came to a sudden halt— which made Phos let out a small yelp as they stumbled back so she wouldn’t step on the others elegant dress. A sigh came from the ruler in front of her as she gathered up her thoughts before she turned around to look at the other female. “I want you to take my place,” she said suddenly.

Phos’ eyes widened as her mouth opened and closed multiple time, “e-excuse me!?” They said a bit too loudly, lifting up their hand and clasped it over their mouth before they said anything else loudly.

“I want you to take my place, as ruler,” Lapis Lazuli said, another sigh leaving her lips as she turned away from the younger servant in front of her and looked at the flowers around her. “You know, I have a feeling that I’m going to die soon.” She said, her calm, but also had hints of sadness as she spoke.

“Why!?” Phosphophyllite asked, getting upset that one of the best queens that she knew was already predicting her death at a young age. “You shouldn’t be dying this early, Lady Lapis!! You’re an amazing and successful leader and everyone loves you!” She protested, her cheeks becoming a shade of pink from anger.

A gentle laugh passed through the others lips— Phos heard from Cairngorm that she did that when someone complimented her on her accomplishments, it was a silent way of saying thank you— before she moved her head to look at the other. “Secrets aren’t kept forever, phos.” Lapis said gently before she looked away again.

“Oh..” she muttered, looking at the ground before she started to kick the small pebbles on the ground with her worn out shoes. Phos completely forgot that it was considered a sin to be in a relationship with someone of the same gender— which was the case for Lapis Lazuli and Ghost Quartz.

“I never told anyone this, but some people have started to figure it out already,” Lapis muttered gently as she closed her eyes when a gentle breeze blew. “Of course, Jade and others has said that it wasn’t true for my people to maintain respect for me— but it won’t be much longer until the truth gets out.” She muttered as she sighed once more, “I’ve been getting some letters from people threatening me in multiple ways for being in a relationship with her, even though the truth never came out.”

Phosphophyllite was deeply upset when she heard this— she never expected that some people would go _that_ far to get the truth out of their leader. “But…” they started before they looked at the queen in front of them, “but why me to take your place? I’m just a simple servant who can’t do much, and you’re a beautiful woman who has done so much!”

“Because I trust you,” Lapis Lazuli said softly, turned to look at her with seriousness in her gorgeous blue eyes. “I know that you’re just a servant, but I trust that you can do greater things than this. I don’t trust Cairngorm to take care of my people after seeing how little he cares for his own, and I don’t want to have Ghost stress more after my death.” She explained swiftly.

“I-I see..” she muttered, feeling a bit special that a great queen in putting her trust into her and not the ruler she was serving for.

“I’ve talk to Jade already,” Lapis added, taking a few steps towards the other. “When my funeral happens, Jade and Euclase will take you back to my country and from there, they’ll prepare you to properly take my place as queen. Bortz will also help you as well.” She explained before she put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. “I believe in you.” Lapis whispered before she started to walk out of the gardens and back into her gardens.

And that was the last time Phosphophyllite saw her again— or saw her alive, that is.

A month later, Lapis Lazuli was sitting down in a chair, her eyes closed as she let Euclase comb her fingers through her hair. She opened her eyes when there was knock on her bedroom door, slightly lifting up her head as she moved it to looked at the closed door. “Come in,” She said before she looked back down, making it easier for the other to finished her hair.

The door opened and Jade walked into her room, stopping a few feet away from the doorframe. “My lady, there is someone who is wanting to see you. They said that it is quite urgent,” she explained, her voice a serious tone as it always was.

“Tell them that I’ll see them in a little bit,” Lapis replied, her eyes moving to look at Jade nod before they closed the door and left.

Euclase continued to do the others hair, putting it up in an elegant bun before she took a step back and looked at the other with a worried look. “Be careful,” She Warned as she watched the other start to leave her room.

“I will,” Lapis Lazuli said with a kind smile before she started to go to the other that waited for her patiently for the two of them to go to where her visitor wait. The whole time they walked together, Jade made sure to remind her to make a signal of some sort if she saw anything suspicious. And as usual, Lapis gave her a small nod before reassuring her that nothing was going to happen.

When they arrived at their destination, Lapis’ visitor straightened their posture before giving her a deep bow from respect as she walked towards him. Both Jade and Euclase were standing in the shadows in the hallway to make sure everything was okay with her and their sudden visitor.

The two of them talked normally, from what they could see from their spot, their queens voice sounding normal as she spoke. But, it wasn’t until a little later when the man she was talking to got a bit suspicious— mentioning different things that she did that wasn’t necessarily good for the country. Jade tried to hear what else he had to say to her, but eventually she wasn’t able to hear their conversation anymore.

Her green eyes watched the queen take a step back and tried to signal something to the other, but before Jade could do anything, There was a sword that went through the other’s stomach and the tip coming out of her back.

Jade took out her sword that she carried with her and ran towards the man, who carelessly threw Lapis to the ground and pointed his sword at the other. Euclase ran down the hallway, yelling for help from the other people in the castle since she wasn’t properly trained in combat.

Jade tried to fight off the other as she waited for Euclase to come back with reinforcement, but the man was a lot more skilled than she was. It seemed like almost every time she tried to attack him, she always got cut by his blade. Things didn’t go better when Euclase came back— it just got worse for them and more amusing to the man in front of them.

He bent down and grabbed Lapis Lazuli by her hair, pressing her slightly weak body against his own and the blade of his sword against her pale neck. She tried to pry his arm against his neck, but her struggle to get free wasn’t strong enough from her open stab wound in her abdomen.

“Put down your weapons and tell me if the rumors are true,” he demanded, ignoring the queens efforts to get out of his grasp. “Tell me that she’s committing a sin and is in a relationship the that Ghost Quartz!”

“No,” Jade said firmly, her grip tightening on the handle of her sword.

“Tell me or else she dies!” He yelled, making a small slit on her unscarred neck and made her let out a moan of pain. Jade watched the blood from the slit in her neck roll onto the bloodied blade before looking at the ground and thinking hard about it.

Although she loved her queen very much, she vowed to keep her and Ghost Quartz’s relationship a secret so nothing bad will happen to Lapis Lazuli. She was conflicted on whether to tell him the truth, or to stall and try to get him away from her.

“Jade!” Euclase’s voice took her out of her thoughts, turning around to look at the slightly older woman behind her. “Jade… please tell him the truth..” she pleaded.

The green gem look at her for a while before she sighed and put her sword back in it’s rightful place, waiting for the other people behind her to put away their weapons as well. When their weapons were out of sight, Jade let out a slightly nervous sigh before she looked at the man and opened her mouth to tell him the truth about their queen. But, when she opened her mouth, the large door behind the two of them with some of the army who probably heard news from Euclase.

Instead of hurriedly telling him the truth, she freaked out and ran towards the door. “NO!!” She yelled as her palms grew sweaty. Lapis turned her head to look to see what she was yelling about, but when she turned her head the man behind her tugged on her hair tightly before he made a deep slit on her throat. His hand held her up by her hair before he threw her bloody body back onto the ground, his actions enraging Jade and made her take out her sword out.

She heard Euclase yelling something, but she ignored her voice as she charged at the man in front of her. When she got close, he raised his sword up and managed to slice her cheek before she stabbed him in the chest. She stayed there for a while before she took it out of his upper body and turned around see Euclase run towards Lapis Lazuli’s body on the ground.

Her shaking hands touched a part of her bloody neck before she lifted up her arm and touched around her wrist frantically. And based on the others facial expressions as she looked up, Jade already knew the words that were going to come out of her mouth. “She’s dead,” Euclase muttered softly, her voice cracking as her eyes looked at the other sadly. “What… what should we do…?”

Jade bit her lip before she sighed, looking at Lapis on the ground before she closed her eyes, “she… she told me that she wanted Phosphophyllite to take her place when she died.”

“Phosphophyllite?” Euclase repeated as she got up and looked at the other and got up, “isn’t that Cairngorms servant?”

The other nodded, “she didn’t tell me why she wanted her to take her spot, but I figured that she had a reason in mind.” Jade opened her eyes as she looked at the other, “and… since it’s her last order to us, we should probably do it…”

The two of them were quiet before Euclase let out a sigh before she turned around and started to slowly walk away, “I’ll contact someone help us preparing her funeral and stuff…” she muttered softly.

Jade watched her leave the room, telling the people who were still in the room to help clean up the room before she turned around to go outside and give the people the bad news.

[rutilation]

So, I’m putting all my crack theories/observations about hnk in one place so that if any of them are proven correct I’ll be able to refer back to this and say that I called it.

The title of Ichikawa’s art book, Pseudomorph of Love seems to allude to her approach for Phosphophyllite’s changes.  Whenever Phos loses and gains a new body part, it’s an act of compassion in some way.  Except for the pearl eye, all of Phos’s alterations have followed this pattern

They lost their legs while trying to help Ventricosus, and gained their agate legs because Ventri decided to show them compassion and not stoop to the level of the Lunarians.

While Phos’s own self-hatred tempted them to chop off their arms, it was only when the ice floes preyed on their desire to save Cinnabar that Phos accidentally-on-purpose lost their arms.  Antarc initially dismisses the gold and platinum as useless, but when they see that Phos is not-so-subtly projecting their own feelings of uselessness onto the metals, Antarc changes their tune and decides to attach them to Phos.  In a roundabout way, Antarc is trying to communicate to Phos that they aren’t useless ;_;

Phos loses their head trying to save Cairngorm’s arm, and Cairngorm decides to give them Lapis’s head.  While they kind of can’t help but project Lapis onto Phos after they wake up, the fact that they were willing to give up their own head, and the fact that they finally admitted to themselves that they don’t believe any of the gems will be brought back indicate to me that they did this out of genuine concern for Phos and not because they’re trying to resurrect Lapis.

Edit as of 5/11: I totally forgot about this, but Phos loses Lapis’s hair trying to shield baby Morga and Goshe from the lunarians.

Edit as of 6/12: Phos had to have some pieces chipped off from trying to help Cinnabar.  They also lost the piece of their leg they offered to Variegatus.

Because the pearl eye is the exception to this, and is primarily associated with betrayal on Phos’s part and manipulation on Aechmea’s, I suspect it’s going to be replaced later on in the story, maybe by a red pearl, which is closer to how the pearl is described in the whole seven treasures thing. (and just as an aside, I totally buy that Ichikawa is referencing the seven treasures with Phos’s new limbs.  She said in an interview that Buddhist sutras about gemstones are what inspired her to write the story in the first place so I think it’s safe to say that she’s familiar with the concept.)  I also think that Phos will get this possible new eye from Cicada, because he is a cinnamon roll. 

I also think that Phos choosing to get rid of one of their alterations and replacing it with a more positive one would be a good way to progress their character arc while also forwarding the work’s themes about identity.  Perhaps the solution to the tragedy of Phos slowly losing themselves is gaining the capacity to choose how they change, which I find a lot more poignant than edgy pondering about how Phos isn’t Phos anymore–I find that take in particular to be a rather un-nuanced appraisal of Phos’s situation, and it bugs me how common it is.

I think that the lower half of Phos’s torso is going to be the next thing to go, leaving only their chest (metaphorically, their heart) behind.  There are several bits of visual story telling that lead me to think this is a possibility.  The first is in the various non-permanent injuries that Phos suffers throughout the series.  I may be reading too much into things since there are only so many ways for Phos to break, but it’s possible they function as visual foreshadowing:

loses their arms and legs in the first chapter after getting caught up in Kongo’s attack

loses their arms while trying to grab cinnabar

is completely dissolved by Ventricosus (I’ll come back to this.)

left eye gets knocked off by one of Aculeatus’s tentacles

arms get shattered after Kongo yells at them

an arm gets broken after Phos falls off the roof of the school

they get cut in half by a lunarian’s arrow

their face is punched off twice by Cairngorm

they destroy their head during a mental breakdown, and then get punched in half by Jade–in more or less the same spot where they got shot before

lol I cannot keep track of all the injuries they got against the explosive shogi pieces

Cairngorm shatters their torso

Aechmea slices off their limbs

Every single one of Phos’s more permanent losses has been preceded by at least one injury to the exact same area.  In the first half of the manga, it was mostly losses of their arms and legs, in the second half, we see a lot of Phos getting either decapitated or bisected.

Another bit of visual storytelling comes from the anime.  The director has stated in an interview that he had a long chat with Ichikawa and is aware of future events not yet depicted in the manga.  While he obviously wasn’t allowed to overtly hint at said future events, there’s one bit of anime-original content that might hint at Phos’s future changes.  The abstract scene of Phos being put back together after being dug out of the shell is very different between the anime and manga.  In the manga, they slowly coalesce out of a stream of Cinnabar’s mercury.  In the anime, Phos forms out of a liquid of their own coloration.  What I want to focus on is what the camera emphasizes in this scene.  It focuses on Phos’s feet, arms, pelvis, head, and then their eye.  Apart from their pelvis, these are all parts that Phos eventually loses.  I suspect this scene was actually the director trying to include some visual foreshadowing.

Assuming I’m right about Phos losing half their torso, I think Padparadscha is going to be what replaces it.  Despite their few appearances, they’ve been given a lot of narrative weight, and have a similar coloration to carnelian, ruby, and amber–which are the different interpretations of the red gem written of in the aforementioned sutra.  Not to mention all the lotus symbolism surrounding them.

I think that the new Morga and Goshe are actually reincarnations of the old ones, only they were reincarnated as the others’ gemstone.  New Goshe’s personality matches old Morga’s and vice versa.  The fact that they heard Phos calling out to them in their dreams while Phos was dreaming of the shattered gems seems like a dead giveaway to me.  Although given how bad the translation is, I could be misinterpreting Goshe’s words.  That said, I do think that Phos is actually somehow psychically connecting to the dead gems in this scene and not just dreaming–the fact that it’s the first full-color scene we’ve had since the beginning of the manga just screams “Pay attention, this is important!”

I’m not the one who came up with this theory but I certainly agree with it: I think that the reason the gems were ground into a fine powder and not just turned into jewelry is because it allowed the Lunarians to extract the gems’ inclusions, and that’s what the human particle is made of.  In which case, the dusted gems are well and truly dead, and no amount of reconstruction will bring them back.  In my view, the thematic core of the story is about coming to terms with change, loss, and death.  Bringing back the lost gems would undercut this theme. 

However, I have a feeling that Antarc was actually kept alive.  This is one of my crackier theories but please bear with me:

As much as I love Phos to bits, Antarc would probably hate the person Phos has become, which means Ichikawa could still forward those themes I just mentioned even if Antarc was brought back.  Things would never be the same between them.

The fact that Aechmea had a replica of one of the broken pieces of Antarc’s face ready when he met Phos is reeeaaaallllly suspect.  At the very least, it means that Aechmea has been interested in Phos and has expected them to come to the moon eventually for a while now.  Why on earth would he just happen to have a piece of Antarc on him otherwise?  My theory is that when Aechmea became aware of Phos’s new arms and the fact that one of the seemingly static gems was rapidly changing, he took an interest in Phos and decided to spare Antarc so he could use them as leverage.  (Not that he really needed to since Phos was dumb enough to do his job for him and bring a bunch of potential hostages to the moon. rip)

Going back to the situation with Morga and Goshe, I think it’s possible something went wrong when the Lunarians tried to extract their inclusions which lead to their inclusions dying, and thus why Mora and Goshe were reincarnated whereas none of the other gems appeared to be.

Also going back to when Phos got dissolved and eaten, I think it might be foreshadowing that by the end of the story, Phos will have lost all their original parts.  Or maybe it’s just supposed to clue us in early on that the story we’re reading will be about how Phos is broken and repaired, both literally and metaphorically. One or the other…

I’ve noticed that apart from Phos (and kind-of-sort-of Cinnabar,) no one appears on the volume covers more than once.  Since they’ve been pretty active recently, I suspect that Euclase and Jade will be on the cover of volume nine.  On a related note, I think that Cinnabar will finally crawl out of their dust jacket hovel and onto the cover in the final volume. 

The Lunarians briefly mention a gem called Apophyllite after they collect Phos.  The fact that there used to be a gem who was the same color as Phos, as well as having a name with similar etymology–and said etymology refers to both gems’ breakage no less–makes me think they might be important later.  It wouldn’t be the first time Ichikawa casually name-dropped someone crucial to the plot many chapters before they became relevant.

While Kongo couldn’t understand Ventricosus, the way he talked about the ice flows made it sound like he could understand them.  So I think the ice flows must be speaking some human language.

The Admirabilis all seem to be named after the shapes of their shell.  Aculeatus means spiked, and he has a spiky shell.  Ventricosus means swollen or distended, which may refer to her round snail-like shell.  Variegatus means multicolored, so if we ever see her shell, I expect it will be very colorful.  I also think Variegatus herself might be bluish green like Phos, since the chapter focused on her definitely invited parallels between her and the old Phos, what with her outgoing personality, the fact that her people see her as a little kid and don’t take her seriously, her tendency to get herself in trouble, and her desire to venture past the safe confines of her society and explore the gems’ island and the moon.  Not to mention the fact that Phos themselves could be described as variegated at this point in the story.

Melon has pikachu powers as a sort of fantasy take on tourmaline’s pyroelectric (generates a charge when heated) and piezoelectric (generates a charge under applied mechanical stress)  properties.  But hemimorphite is also strongly piezo/pyroelectric.  I theorize that the reason the two were paired up was so that Hemimor could teach Melon about their electricity powers, and that we’ll see Hemimor using said powers sometime in the future.

Everyone’s already talking about that intriguing shot of the human particle after Phos gets the pearl eye, so I don’t really have much to add to that discussion.

Also, I’ve seen people speculate that the gems are all super short because of how tall they are compared to Kongo.  I don’t know if I buy this though, because that assumes that Kongo is as tall as an average human man, which has never been confirmed.  When we see Aechmea stand next to Phos, he’s not much taller than they are.  In any case, I think it’s a bit too early to speculate on how tall the gems are.

Well that’s about all I can vomit out of my brain for the moment.  And despite the wall of text I just wrote, I don’t have much of an idea of how the story will end.  I’m excited to see what Ichikawa will say with the ending regardless of how happy or sad the story ends up being.  Knowing her, it’ll at least be interesting.

[reireisama]

Hello! Today i thought about making a Houseki No Kuni series with my oc's. I hope someone knows what HNK is lolz. Enjoy reading?? (+ I'll be using different pronouns for every gem, i hope no one will be mad cuz of that shshs)

1.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*  Brand New Teammates ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

Burma Ruby pov. (One of my Oc's)

Burma Ruby, one of the gems, was sitting in one of the halls and writting something down on a paper he got from Rutile. He unfortunately got a "side job" from Sensei Kongo. He sighed and rested his head on his palm. "Why can't i get a normal job like the others? Writing down stuff is getting boring by every day! I should be a Fighter like Dia or Bortz, i'm almost as hard as them. It's not fair!" He thought and closed his eyes. His dream was to be like those gems that fight with Lunarians, not sit with Alexandrite all day and listen to their rambling about those monsters. Really, how can someone love them that much? "Burma! Sensei Kongo says he wants to meet with you!" The red haired gem eyes opened when he heard voice of his friend, Jade. "Huh? What does he need from me right now?" He asks and gets up. Jade only shrugged and walked away, how rude. Burma Ruby sighed and made his way to Sensei Kongo.

"Sensei, I heard you wanted to talk to me" He stops before Sensei Kongo and still holds the papers he wrote on. "Yes, i did. I finally decided what to do about your job" Sensei answered him and nodded slowly. Burma Ruby's eyes wend wide open. Finally! He stayed quiet and let Sensei finish. "I've decided that from now on, you'll be part of the fighters." Sensei Kongo looks Burma Ruby in the eyes. He can't believe it! It's like... all of his dreams just came true! He smiled and dropped the papers he had in his hand. He was so excited! "You'll start today, if you want." Sensei Kongo adds and lookes outside. "Of course, i can start now!" Burma Ruby says with excitement in his voice. "Very well then." Sensei Kongo hands him a sword he'll use from now on. "But first, you need to meet your teammate i paired you with." Oh yeah... he forgot about that part. He needs to work with someone else. But who would this be? He couldn't think of anyone who doesn't have a teammate by now. "Let's move, she's probably on her daily patrol right now. We should find her quickly." Sensei Kongo walks past Burma Ruby. The red haired gem walks right after him. On their way, he still thinks who may be the secret gem he's paired with...

*＊✿❀❀✿＊*

From the distance, Burma Ruby could see someone sitting on the ground. Could this be that gem he was paired with? Together with Sensei Kongo they stopped right behind the Blue Haired gem. "Larimar, I'm here with your new teammate. Meet Burma Ruby" Sensei Kongo speak and the gem right in front of them turnes their head. W-What the hell?! Why does she have her eyes covered with a bandage?! That's crazy! He never really saw Larimar, but he heard rumors about her. Others say that Larimar is always outside somewhere in the grass or fighting Lunarians, she never comes back to her room, even at nights! And there's a lot of rumors about her eyes too... one of the most famous ones is that she lost them while fighting with Lunarians, which might be really accurate.

"Umm... Hello Larimar?" Burma Ruby speaks and waves to her. Stupid she can't see you! Why are you waving? She smiles and stands up. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Burmy! We're going to be best teammates ever! I can promise you that!" She says with a clear excitement. Brumy? What the hell is that supposed to mean?! "I see you'll get along really well. I should go back now. Be careful and look at the sky, you need to be prepared when Lunarians arrive." Sensei Kongo says and walks away. He left me alone with her! Jeez... what am I supposed to say now huh? Burma Ruby decided to make a short test. He waved his hands in front of Larimar to see if she's going to react somehow, but hse did nothing. Well, now he know she clearly can't see anyhting. How does she fight like that? She needs to see the Lunarians in some other way... "Why were you waving your hands around like that, Burmy?" She suddenly asks which makes him jump a little. "W-Wait... you saw me?!" He yells back as an answer. Larimar just gigles and shakes her head. "Of course not! I can sens it with my hearing you know?" She points to her ears. Well that's a weird talent... She can sens moves with her hearing? That's crazy!

"Well... i guess we'll spend most of our time together." Burma Ruby scratches his neck and looks at the ground. Larimar seems quite annoying... but he needs to somehow deal with her. "I think we'll have a lot of time together you know. You seem really cool Burmy!" She answers and claps her hands together. Burma Ruby looks at Larimar again. She looks so weird with that bandage on her eyes. He'll need to get used to that. "I think we should patron the grounds here, Lunarians may appear in every second. We need to be ready." Larimar says and starts walking to her right. Burma Ruby walks right next to her and looks at the sky. Dealing with her is going to be hard, he'll need to babysit her like a child.

*＊✿❀❀✿＊*

They were walking now for ages and they didn't even spot a single sunspot! Burma Ruby thought it'll be more interesting... and here he is just walking around with Larimar. They didn't really talk to each other, which was quite suprising. Larimar looks like the talkative type that'll never shut up, but she's really quiet now. Maybe she needs to focus just in case she hears something? I don't know anymore... Burma Ruby closes his eyes and continues walking. His eyes went wide open when he felt someone pushing him to the side. "W-Wha!" He ended up on the ground. He looked at Larimar standing in front of him. Is she... shielding him? What the hell is happening?! Burma Ruby looks to the sky and gasps when he spots Lunarians there. How did she sens them that fast?! Larimar grabbed the bow that was attached to the quiver on her back. It's really weird... she isn't using a sword like everyone? She really is odd... She grabbed three arrows and stretched them on the string of her bow. She quickly let them shot into the sky and hit a couple of Lunarians, she even broke some of their arrows flying at us! Larimar is quite talented! Burma Ruby stand up and grabbed his sword. Even if he doesn't know anything about fighting, he still needs to help! Burma Ruby started to run towards the Lunarians, he could hear Larimar yelling behind him. When he was close enough to them, he jumped up and sliced a couple of Lunarians into pieces. He was proud of himself, it is his first fight! He could see arrows flying right through the Lunarians, seems like Larimar has a good aim. Soon enough he was standing at the ground defeding himself from the Lunarians. They're definitely going to win! Burma Ruby smiled at his thought and didn't pay any attention to the Lunarians trying to kill him. "Burmy!" His eyes shot open when he heard his name being called, then he felt like he's pushed aside again! It was Larimar again, she really is good at protecting the others! In one second, Burma Ruby heard a cracking noise somewhere near him. What was that? It sounds just like... a gem cracking into pieces! Burma Ruby looked at Larimar, her legs were lying next to them! She lost her legs while trying to protect him, she's crazy! And... her legs are definitely a different gem, they're clearly not made form larimar!

"Seems like you two need some help!" Burma Ruby looked to the side when he heard other voices. In a blink two purple haired gems runned past them. Amethyst twins! Perfect timing, they're going to help! Two gems quickly defeated the Lunarians and got some of the gem pieces they had. Amethyst 33 walked over to Larimar. "Lari, seems like you end up in the same mess huh? Alright, we'll get you back to Rutile so they can fix you up." They speak as they pick up parts of her legs. "Thanks for the help here! I wouldn't do this without you two" Larimar smiles at Amethyst 33, Amethyst 84 wlaked over to their twin with Yellow Gems in their hands. "Look, they had another parts of Heliodor. Just a little bit more time and they'll walk together with us again." They speak as they show the gems to their twin. Burma Ruby looked at Larimar crawling for her bow laying somewhere in the grass. He quickly stand up and walks towards her bow. He picked it up and kneeled next to Larimar. "Here, Larimar. Let me look for your quiver too" He hands her the bow, she takes it away from him and sits on the ground while nodding. Burma Ruby looked around and spotted a white quiver in the grass, there were some of the arrows laying around too. He picked them up and placed them inside the quiver. He walked over to Larimar again and attached it to the belt going through her back. "Thank you Burmy, you're such a helpful friend!" She smiled and handed him the bow so he can attach it too. He did as she wanted and looked over to Amethyst twins "Are you done with picking up the pieces?" He yelled out and Amethyst 33 nodded. "Good, now let's get you to Rutile so they can fix you up" Burma Ruby picked Larimar up. It was looking quite funny since she don't have her legs for this moment. Together with Amethyst Twins, he made his way towards the school.

*＊✿❀❀✿＊*

"Really Lari, you should stop getting your legs in trouble. You know how brittle they are, their hardness is only 2 to 2.5 you need to be more careful." Rutile speaks as they glue Larimar's legs together again. Larimar nods and "looks" at the floor. "Ahem, Larimar? If you don't mind answering can you tell me, what are your legs made from?" Burma Ruby asks and walkes closer to Larimar. She just sighs and scratches her arm. "Her legs are made from Amber. They may look pretty but they're not as strong as her whole body." Rutile answers for Larimar. She seems... insecure about her legs. Burma Ruby just nods and looks outside. After some minutes Larimar's legs are done. "Now now Lari, go back to patroling. And you Burma, i heard that Sensei Kongo wants to see you again." Rutile says ash they put some stuff back on the shelfs again. "What does Sensei want from me again? Oh yeah... he probably wants to know how the patrol went" The red haired gem thinks and nods. He makes his way slowly to Sensei's chambers.

"I'm here, Sensei. I heard you want to talk to me again" Burma Ruby puts hus hands on his hips. Sensei Kongo turns around and nods. "Yes, i wanted to ask how did your first patrol went. I heard that you and Larimar spotted a sunspot. Is that true?" Seinsei Kongo asks and looks right in Burma Ruby's eyes. "W-Well uh... that's true, yes. We defeated the Lunarians pretty quickly hehe..." Sensei Kongo can see that he's lying. He narrows his eyes and walked closer to the gem "Stop lying, Burma. I know everything what happened there. Amethyst Twins had to help, if not them both you and Larimar would be now on the moon." He says and pats Burma Ruby's head. That's so embarrassing... it was his first battle and someone had to protect him! Maybe he'll do better next time... After some time of talking with Sensei Kongo, Burma Ruby made his way into his room. It was dark outside, every gem was preparing to sleep. Burma Ruby sat in front of the window and looked at the sky. "I wonder if Larimar is still there... She should really come back by now, it's not safe for us to travel in the night" He thinks and put his hands on his knees. Something shiny caught his attention in the grass. What could this be? He took a closer look and sighed. It was Larimar... so she didn't come back to the school. She's crazy for staying outside like that! Burma Ruby gets even scared when he thinks about that. Nights are scary... that's why he goes to sleep quickly, so he can miss the dark nightmare. He walkes over to his bed and lays down. It was a long day, he should rest for now. "Good night... Larimar"

~~~~~~~

After 3 days of working, first chapter of my HNK story is done! I hope you'll like that since i worked really hard on it <33

[delineative]

Awesome Fic Writer! Congrats, you rock! So that all of your readers can shower you with some extra love today, please tell us your five favourite stories of yours and why you like them and then send this to another five fic authors you think deserve this title! (don't feel obligated to do this if you don't want to ❤️)

ahhh thank you so much lina 💕 akfdjgdhjf sorry for getting to this so late i forgot i had a tumblr... anyway in no particular order:

going by the seasons alone (hnk, rutile/padparadscha/yellow diamond)

i struggled a lot with writing this one because i was in the middle of some really bad writer’s block, but i’m still pretty happy with the prose, and how this fic functions as a precanon relationship study given how little we knew at the time. also i got to talk about rocks, one of my fave subjects!

a faith that may not come (haikyuu, hana/oikawa)

everything about this fic is just extremely on brand for me... my 2 fave haikyuu characters in a yugioh au having an emo conversation in the dark about the weight of history and feelings of inadequacy

at last i seized the mirage (5ds, jack/crow)

this fic was so fun to write... i really loved getting to write one of my fave ships for one of my fave people and i think my prose quality for 2017 peaked with this. i haven’t even come close to this level of like narrative coherence again since i published this fic lol. forgot what a metaphor is after i finished writing this

a girl of routine (haikyuu, hana/yui)

i think this was the first fic where i really felt like i achieved what i was trying to do, like in terms of narrative progression/characterisation/dialogue/prose. even though it’s pretty old now it still holds up for me on reread, so i’m proud of myself for winging something that far above my actual skill level

in wavelengths (seventeen, seungcheol/joshua)

this is just the idolverse fic i’ve always wanted to write, i love exploring the onstage/offstage persona boundaries. i actually don’t love this fic but obligatory mention so this list is more representative of my current output (it’s all kpop. it’s just all kpop)

[yuzuria]

I, L, U, total coincidence i promis

HHHHH THANK YOU AURORA,, ALSO ILU NO COINCIDENCE 

i - has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

answered here

l - say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

[EDIT, I FORGOT TO ANSWER THIS UGH]

Hey, I do call that one girl from gintama “toilet brush” but despite the big big boobs (with a big big heart) and inconvenient heels, I do think her design is neat, I like her kimono even though the boobs part is unrealistic, her character in yoshiwara in flames arc was great, i loved that scene where she was attacked by plenty of kunais from her sisters and didn’t attack them, her loyalty to hinowa, also she’s now a lesbian in my eyes so i’m starting to warm up to her :-D

u - three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

i already answered this but i’ll give three more (o v -)/

Kamishiro Rize from Tokyo Ghoul: she’s more of a concept character who was used as a plot than an actual character who is only present in the beginning, that scene where she looks pathetic, used and possibly tortured in the background, mentioned how she was an influence with other characters but despite all that I love her so much. She’s my actual type, she’s fake, ruthless, self-serving, and strong. Can she appear already and kill everyone who wronged her and marry eto????

Asuka from Evangelion: I’m so fond of her, her fiery and proud personality and yet underneath them are raw repressed emotions, especially anger and insecurity which destroyed and left her vulnerable eventually after her front broke and it breaks my heart how it was handled with the finale

Diamond from Houseki no Kuni: they’re the first character I’ve been seeing when hnk was still growing and immediately intrigued to them, when I thought they’re just another pure uwu character I loved how I was proven wrong when they’re layered with stubborness and insecurities (and even envy towards Bortz). I immediately fell in love?? Also my favorite lines from the series are from Dia and their feelings for Bortz like “I’m glad we split up. From afar, I  see just how much you mean to me.”

question meme

[toragay-moved]

HMM i was gonna ask vocaloid but i think i already know the answer..fairy tail or hnk!! 💘

what’s that supposed to mean !!!!

anyway! i’m doing fairy tail because there’s way more unlikable characters: my favorites are probably erza, mavis and maybe yukino? i also really love meredy it’s a shame that all the good writing went to waste because the writers forgot how to write. honorable mentions are gray, lyon and kagura i just love everyone in this damn series too much.......

for least favorites: zeref and mest. fuck off