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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years ago

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 11 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Absurdity)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Message from the Lan Clan

After dinner the Yunmeng bros go to talk to Jiang Fengmian in his study. They're quiet and respectful here, with no shoulder-shoving or arguing. This scene has such Brady Bunch energy, where Dad's Study is the Man Place where boys come to talk about Serious Things.

The boys tell Dad Jiang about the Yin Iron and he says yeah, I know. This is probably why he let them run off on their road trip without punishing them, but he could have, like, shared data with them so they might have actually achieved something related to the Yin Iron, rather than just wandering around the countryside bonding with Lan Wangji and Nie Huaisang.

He shows them a letter from the Lans that basically says the Lan Clan is in the shit, and he tells them they've got to go to the Wen indoctrination because otherwise they will also be in the shit.

He gives the boys a warning about the Yin Iron, which is that

1. it can be refined and

2. if you refine it carefully, it will not control you.

Awesome tip, will definitely use, thanks pop.

(more behind the cut)

Jiang Cheng wants to argue about going to the Wen party, but Wei Wuxian vocally gets on board, not leaving any opportunity for whining.

Wei Wuxian is only sucking up a little bit in this scene. He obviously has a lot of affection for Jiang Fengmian, but WWX doesn't play up to his favoritism nearly as much as he could. Compare, for example, how he leans into Yanli's preferential treatment of him.

Fight Outside the Cold Cave

Over on the Gusu side of the country province township, the disciples have gathered outside the cold cave that previously none of them knew about, and Su She is freaking out.

Most of the acting in The Untamed is naturalistic, but then there are occasional characters who are portrayed with a much more theatrical, broad style. Su She's villainy is not given a lot of layers; he's playing a type, more than a person.

Many of the villains in The Untamed are played this way, but not all. Wen Zhuliu, for example, is a genuinely horrifying bad guy while also conveying depth and ambivalence--despite having hardly any lines. And JGY is a masterpiece of a performance. For Su She, the directors or the actor have opted for "sniveling backstabber" as a type, which is unfortunate, because it robs his final scenes of emotional impact.

Lan Qiren tells the disciples to get to safety. He rushes forward, gamely getting his ass kicked by human cuisinart Wen Xu. He's not as effective a warrior as either of his nephews but he's a brave S.O.B.

Hanguang Jun to the Rescue

Before things can go completely pear-shaped, Lan Wangji sails in with his guqin.

The Blue Steel technique of the Lan Clan

Like many gifted learners, Lan Wangji's musical abilities are more advanced than his social skills. Here he musically makes the ground literally explode, almost as if it had been specially rigged with incendiary charges.

Lan Wangji is very pretty when he's worried, and his affection and concern for his uncle is touching. He's 100% not interested, as we will see, in Lan Qiren's whole "lets all die for the future of the Lan Clan while my nephews hide" agenda. He's on his own agenda of smiting the wicked and protecting the weak.

Notice how Su She is standing right next to Lan Qiren here, even holding his arm? The next thing that Lan Qiren says is to tell all the disciples to keep up as they run into the cave. Somehow Su She totally does not keep up, and he gets caught outside along with a bunch of other disciples.

Giving Up

Wen Xu and his men kill most of the other caught disciples, and then threaten Su She, asking him how to get into the cave. In fear for his life, he tells them. Not cool, Su She, but possibly forgivable. Although when you voluntarily join a, you know, battle cult, physical courage is kind of an important qualifier.

But this shit here...

They didn't fucking ask about the books, douchebag.

Su She was there in Lan Qiren's house when the two heads of his clan knelt to each other, each claiming the right to be the one to stay behind and die. And he heard Lan Qiren say that the ancient books are the foundation of the clan and that only if LXC and the books survive, will the clan continue. By giving up both men, and pointing out the book situation, Su She has totally earned his expulsion.

Lan Wangji Takes a Stand

Lan Wangji decides, for the first but not last time, to openly defy his uncle...and it's got nothing to do with Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji is a hero, who follows the dictates of his conscience. His conscience is extremely filial and extremely orthodox, but he’s got a growing open-minded streak. This is going to cause a whole lot of conflicts for him over the next few years.

This time, however, he manages to skate out from under the whole disobedient, unfilial thing by citing Lan Yi's directive, which means Lan Qiren has to accept it because she's his predecessor and elder relative (She is probably not a literal ancestor, since she spent her life in a cave putting fucking headbands on fucking rabbits which probably didn’t leave time for having babies).

This is a pretty extraordinary moment for Lan Wangji and for Lan Qiren, because Lan Wangji just asserted his own form of authority to do the exact opposite of what Lan Qiren wanted, and Lan Qiren just sucked it up and let him.

It's also very different from western stories involving a holy McGuffin such as the Yin Iron. Lan Wangji's solution of "fuck it, just let the bad guys have it, it's not worth so many people dying for" is refreshing and surprising to me, a westerner raised on The One Ring, the Grail, the Death Star Plans, etc.

Lan Wangji steps out of the cave and uses a sword blast to save Su She, the ungrateful bastard, from getting stabbed by Wen Xu. Then he surrenders, and they break his leg to slow him down. This does not actually incapacitate him, because he is Lan Fucking Wangji, already a BAMF at like 17 years old. When they whack his leg, his chunk of Yin Iron falls out onto the ground.

That thing was in a magic bag of holding before. So...it just falls out when you whack him? If they whack him again will his guqin fall on the ground? What about candy?

Archery Practice at Lotus Pier

Meanwhile, back at Lotus Pier, the brothers are enjoying some quality time together before they head to the hostage-taking indoctrination.

Wei Wuxian is such a great cultivator that he can hit a distant target even when he jerks his bow upwards as he releases the arrow.

Jiang Cheng seems fairly pleased, and proud of his brother. He's competitive and fundamentally grumpy but not, at least here, a sore loser.

Club Ruohan

We go over to Da Club, where Wen Ruohan is yelling at Wen Qing for letting Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian go. He names them both, so they're becoming more and more known to their enemies. Which is not a good thing.

He menaces her with the zombie mosh crew, having them kill a dude in front of her and then saying her baby brother will be next in the circle of zombies if she tries any more stunts. Neither of them can imagine how much zombie ass her baby brother is going to kick, later in his (un)life.

Side note: What is up with WRH’s hair? Why bother pulling your hair up over your ears if you're going to leave an enormous curtain of it over your face? It's because he knows there's a wind machine next to his throne, isn’t it?

Leaving Lotus Pier

Jiang Cheng: when I ran off earlier in the year on my road trip you didn't pack a goddamn thing.

Wen Indoctrination

Is it even possible to stand next to this much active volcanic shit and not, uh, die? I live in the tornado part of the US so I don't know much about lava (yet. 2020 still has 2 months to go). But it seems like it would be hard to breathe the air. Also they appear to build houses on lava piles, which seems imprudent. I say that even as someone who plays The Elder Scrolls Online, which is full of lava towns and nonsense like “ash farming.”

Nie Huaisang is adorable at all times, but particularly here, when he's so happy to see his friend who *didn't* fuck his gege and then abandon him without an explanation.

Nie Huaisang: I'm so glad I can count on Wei-Xiong to be consistent and not vanish for months, or become a traumatized shell of his former self, or, like, horribly die.

Jin Zixuan isn't quite as happy to see Wei Wuxian.

Wen Chao enjoys the sound of his own voice way too much, and is malevolent and boring. On the plus side, he likes to stand with his hand stuck out in the air, which is fun for your resident photoshopper.

Nie Huaisang is so miserable every time he's holding a sword, or blade, or whichever we're supposed to call this. He's got his fan tucked into his belt, which is sweet. He is happy to give up his sword but don't you dare try to take his fan.

Meanwhile Wei Wuxian is worried about Lan Wangji, and Jiang Cheng isn't.

Lan Wangji shows up under guard, and takes his position at the front of the line, but without any extra disciples. The Wens let him change into snowy white robes after breaking his leg which will go well with arterial blood spray. He's focused and is determined not to interact with Wei Wuxian in this public context.

When I was little, I would sit near my best friend at church on Sunday, but not be allowed to talk to her until church was over, and it was exactly like this. She was good at churching and I was hyper and hated church. We are still best friends and these things are still true.

This interaction is like a thumbnail for the whole dynamic of these three boys: Lan Wangji outwardly ignoring Wei Wuxian while having many interior feelings about him; Wei Wuxian demanding attention and creating a bit of a scene, due to his very genuine caring; Jiang Cheng telling him to leave that boy alone for fuck's sake.

Lan Wangji: Stop trying to talk to me Wei Ying, I’m busy composing a song in my head about the two of us and our love for each other.

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #the untamed meta #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jiang cheng #lan qiren #su she #jiang fengmian #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #the untamed spoilers

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hirikka · 4 years ago

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dealing with dragons

Written for the @sugar-and-spice-witcher-bingo!

Prompt: Fairy Tale

Relationships (romantic/platonic/etc): Jaskier & Ciri, Geralt & Ciri, Geralt & Jaskier

Rating: G

Content Warnings: none

It sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds ridiculous.

His dubious feelings must be clear on his face because the man shakes his head.

“It’s true, I swear. A princess is trapped in the tower, guarded by a vicious dragon.”

“Hm.”

“An entire battalion of Nilfgaardian soldiers went to try to kill the beast. Only one made it back.”

Well that was more interesting. There was very little chance the story was true, dragons were not particularly interested in princesses. But if Nilfgaard was interested, there was a certain lost princess Geralt had been looking for.

“Can I speak to him?” Geralt asked.

“He’s not in great shape, but I suppose so,” the man said, gesturing Geralt to follow him out of the inn.

“There’s a reward in the town for the death of the beast. And,” the man lowers his voice, “Nilfgaard is offering a huge reward for the princess. Apparently they’ve been searching for her for a while.”

“Hm,” Geralt says, glad his decades of training allow him not to react to this information. If Nilfgaard is looking, the child must be his child surprise. He hasn’t been this close since he was locked in the Cintran prison.

The soldier had not been able to provide any useful information. Geralt wasn’t surprised. The odds that the creature was a dragon was unbelievably low. He wasn’t sure what exactly was out there, but it probably wasn’t even guarding the tower. The child had probably wandered into a wyvern’s territory and managed to find a safe place to hide. The soldiers obviously had not been so lucky, but the surviving man hadn’t seen much - a flash of red scales and wings supposedly but he had run as soon as it was clear they were very outmatched.

Geralt wasn’t worried, he would be careful, but he was more prepared than a group of green soldiers thinking they were going up against a creature that was almost extinct.

Geralt wasn’t quite sure what he had expected to find, but it certainly wasn’t what he found: a wide stone tower in the middle of a clearing. A brook ran almost one edge of the clearing and on the opposite side, stretching from the edge of the woods to the tower was a garden in full bloom. He didn’t see any signs of the dragon, nor anyone else. The tower had a door that was propped open and several of the windows were open as well to let in the spring air. He wondered if the princess was actually trapped, or if none of the rumors had been true.

He leaves Roach slightly before the tree-line ends, no sense in making her an easy target if there is a dragon. Then he steps into the clearing. As soon as he does he feels his medallion tremble for an instant and then stop, probably a ward to alert the tower's occupants. Sure enough, there is movement—a small figure steps out of the open door and Geralt feels a pull towards her.

People linked by destiny, the thought resonates and Geralt starts forward. He is so focused on the child in the doorway that he doesn’t notice the movement until it is too late. Until the dragon has appeared. It should have been too large to move as quietly as it did, graceful despite its size. Its scales are a mixture of greens and teals that camouflage it in the dappled light of the forest. It blinks down at Geralt with intelligent blue eyes.

“A witcher come to slay the dragon and save the princess?” the dragon sounds amused rather than frightened. “How poetic.”

Geralt doesn’t draw his sword—he doesn’t actually want to fight the dragon if he can help it.

“I suppose the tale could go another way,” the dragon moves to the side, no longer blocking Geralt’s path. The girl has moved closer to him, is just on the other side of the dragon and as soon as he moves she races forward, throwing her arms around Geralt’s waist.

“It’s you,” Cirilla says.

“It is,” Geralt agrees. “Those linked by destiny will always find each other.” He wraps an arm around her shoulders and looks up at the dragon. “Thank you for protecting her.”

The dragon snorts. “How do you know I was protecting her? Perhaps I kidnapped her.”

“You haven’t harmed her,” Geralt points out.

The dragon blinks at him and then lowers his head until it is almost touching the ground, “I suppose you’ll be taking her then? Somewhere safe?”

He sounds mournful, but not like he plans to stop Geralt. “I am. Too many people have heard about the princess in the tower—Nilfgaard has already been here once, right?”

“Yes.”

Ciri pulls away from Geralt, moving over to the dragon and pressing a hand to the scales on his snout. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Oh cub, don’t fear. Geralt will keep you safe, and he’ll take you somewhere where you won’t have to worry about armies trying to find you.”

“Will you come with us?” Ciri turns to face Geralt. “Geralt, can he come?”

Geralt doesn’t want to disappoint her already but, “we need to be inconspicuous—”

“I didn’t mean as a dragon,” Ciri says, as if Geralt is being purposefully dense. “He can travel in his human form.”

Geralt looks from Ciri to the dragon who is looking distinctly uncomfortable. He’d thought that only golden dragons could change forms like that.

“Please, Dandelion?” Ciri’s pouting at the dragon.

“Ah, I don’t think that’s a very...good idea,” the dragon says, flattening the fin along his neck in unease.

“Dandelion?” Geralt repeats. He’s fairly sure that is one of the aliases Jaskier used to use… “I suppose, if he can appear human…” he’s not sure how he feels about traveling with a stranger, but a dragon is a powerful ally, and it is clear that Ciri cares for him.

“Wait,” the dragon protests. “Before you agree to anything, just—” Geralt’s medallion trembles as the air fills with the scent of mulled cider, warm and spicy, and then Jaskier is standing where the dragon had been a moment before. “Surprise?” Jaskier offers after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

Geralt stares at him—he looks the same as he did the last time he had seen him, on the dragon hunt, although he is dressed more practically now. He has dirt stains on his pants suggesting he had been working in the garden earlier.

“Geralt?” Jaskier prompts.

Geralt shakes himself out of his shocked daze and closes the distance between them to pull Jaskier into a hug. “I’m so sorry,” Geralt says.

Jaskier leans into the contact, returning the hug. “You’re forgiven you big idiot.” He pulls back slightly, meeting Geralt’s eyes. “But if you do anything like that again, I’ll eat you.”

“I suppose that’s fair. Come with us?”

“Of course.” Jaskier grins, showing teeth that are too sharp to be human. “I am a dragon, after all, I can’t simply let you take the princess.”

#geralt #jaskier #ciri #witcher fic #non-human jaskier #dragon jaskier #sugar and spice witcher bingo #my writing #my fics

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entracteofevil · 4 years ago

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Character Introductions

Entr’acte of Evil, page 14-36

“Come, kneel to me!”

Riliane Lucifen d’Autriche

(Kagamine Rin)

The princess who rules the Kingdom of Lucifenia. For her arrogant behavior and proud personality, she is despised by her people, called the “Daughter of Evil”. She and her servant Allen are twins, but as she’s lost her memories of when she was young she doesn’t remember him. Her life was endangered in the civil war with the revolutionary army, but with Allen’s help she escaped from the palace, and later came to live in a monastery.

AkunoP’s comment

Her character isn’t very complicated in construction, following the template of the ‘willful girl’. I guess she’s developed a bit more than her portrayal in the song. Though I did want to write more on how she grows after joining the monastery (haha). I do regret not being able to do that. It’d be nice if I could write about that somewhere.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Rin of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

-Her monastery outfit is cinched together by a strap tied at the left side on her waist. Her back is the same design as her front.

-These are the accessories that Riliane wears on her person (rough depiction). There’s a lot of simple items that just have a gem in the middle, but they are still quite expensive.

Ichika’s comment

*Princess outfit: She has a kind of light and fluffy dress design with a lot of lace and ribbons to show her more adorable side. There’re a lot of rose motifs on her decorations. I wanted to have her hold onto some connection with her and Allen’s parent, so I drew her necklace to look like it was it was made out of something Queen Anne wore.

*Monastery outfit: She’s a novice nun, so her skirt length is a little short. It’s a simple outfit that’s just overall a bunch of sewn together cloth, but as she’s a former princess she has the kind of setup of wearing it well. Though she’s probably a bit bad at her work. Or maybe I should just say she’s not used to it.

“How’s the flavor, Princess Riliane?”

Allen Avadonia

(Kagamine Len)

A boy who works as a common servant in the Lucifenian royal palace, despite possessing substantial skill at swordplay and horseback riding. He has a very mature personality, but occasionally he’ll show a bit of boyishness in his expression. He is actually Riliane’s younger twin brother. He wishes for Riliane’s happiness more than anything. He helps Riliane escape during the civil war with the revolutionary army and takes her place, being executed as the princess.

AkunoP’s comment

He was the hardest character to write (haha). Despite being a protagonist. Mostly in that I would worry that I was making him seem too young (though he is young), and that his youth in itself was a bit difficult to write. Fourteen-year-old boys are tricky. Even now I don’t think I’ve really got a handle on it (haha). There were a lot of parts where I felt like I messed up.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 02 Kagamine Len of “Kagamine Rin/Len” published by Crypton Future Media.

-The ribbon that ties his hair back looks to be a butterfly knot. His shoes are a simple loafer design.

Ichika’s comment

*Servant outfit: He’s a servant, so he has clothes that are easy to move in. In order to show a bit of his boyishness I made the lower cuff of his outer jacket a bit too big for him. His pockets are decorative. I think he should take off his upper coat when doing more strenuous work.

*Traveling outfit: I made his coat a little bit loose, so that it could be worn as-is above his normal clothing. I was thinking about various things when I drew it—like making sure he has a relaxed formal air even when he’s attendant on the princess, that he’s alright even if it rains as he has a hood, that it’s one-size-fits-all, etc.

“To me, you are a very wonderful person.”

Michaela

(Hatsune Miku)

A servant who serves Lord Keel, and originally a spirit that lived under the great earth god, Held. She has an inquisitive personality, and her hobby is people-watching. She chose the appearance of the ‘original sinner’ as her human form when she reincarnated. She is beloved by everyone for her kind and sociable personality, as well as her beautiful looks and singing voice. She’s always worrying about her dear friend Clarith, and also this “love” that humans have.

AkunoP’s comment

This one was also hard to work with (haha). On a fundamental level, she’s less the “of Evil” Miku and more just straight up “VOCALOID Miku”. Like the whole “Miku is an angel” thing from the early days. I think it was through her relationship with Clarith that she was finally able to set herself apart as the “of Evil” Miku. I’ve still got a few more developments for her yet (haha).

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 “Hatsune Miku” published by Crypton Future Media.

-The sleeves of her town outfit are lined with lace. They are three-quarter length.

Ichika’s comment

*Town outfit: Given that she’s meant to be adorable, her outfit was made with a kind of fluttering look in her sleeves and such. There are a lot of parts where two sleeve ends overlap. I drew her to be more of a diva than a servant in appearance. Also, while her pendant is a scallop in shape, its size is close to that of the end of her thumb.

*Village outfit: As she’s sort of German in style, I drew her with the image of the German Fairy Tale Road in mind. As I have the personal idea that it’s a hand-me-down from Clarith’s mom, the skirt for her dress is a little too long. I didn’t get the idea that she was dressed all that fashionably in the village, so I made it so that this one had no ribbon.

“I—I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!”

Clarith

(Yowane Haku)

A servant who works at the Keel estate alongside Michaela. She’s a Netsuma girl with white hair and red eyes, and she has suffered persecution from the Elphe people due to being an ethnic minority. It’s because of this that she developed her catchphrase, “I’m sorry for being alive”, and her pessimistic personality. On a fundamental level she’s clumsy and not really good at anything, but she does have skill in cooking. She also likes plants and animals, and she takes very good care of saplings.

AkunoP’s comment

She’s the character that’s the closest to my “real self”. “I’m sorry for being alive” is actually my real life catchphrase (haha). So she’s easy to empathize with. She has a few odd points but she’s really the most normal, “everyman” character in the story. Haku herself was originally conceived not as a VOCALOID but as a “master”(song producer), you know.

*This character was based on “Yowane Haku”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

-The length of her hair goes down to slightly above her knees. She also tends to use the bangs on the side of her face to hide her ears.

Ichika’s comment

*Town outfit: On the whole she’s like Michaela, but I made her design more simple to express a grown-up and “in the background” air. I didn’t see her as someone to wear particularly girly clothes, so her collar is a bit more masculine. I think four out of five times she’d have Michaela help out with the ties on her back.

*Monastery outfit: I designed her sleeves to be neat so that it would be easy for her to cook, which is her main strength. As they don’t have any ostentatious stuff like hair decorations at the monastery I tearfully cut down on her ribbon… It’s a useless detail but her waist sash is supposed to be in a granny knot.

*Village outfit: I put her in a simple, full dress that’s easy to put on. I had intended for her outfit to both show that she was an outsider and be something that Clarith herself picked out to not stand out in a village, which ultimately gave me this image of a slightly overdressed outfit. Hence her design coming out like this.

“I ain’t broken the fountain yet, yannow!”

Chartette Langley

(Kasane Teto)

A maid who serves in the palace, and Allen’s childhood friend. Due to her frightening strength she excels at heavy work, but struggles with more delicate tasks and is often breaking things inside the palace. The princess is fond of her for her outgoing personality, and they will sometimes take tea-time together. During the revolution she engages in a duel against Mariam, one of the Three Heroes, using a broadsword larger than her own height.

AkunoP’s comment

I like this character (haha). She was easy to work with. I wish I could have had her do more. She didn’t get to do anything in the second book, so I’ve been thinking about maybe having her show up in the third book.

*This character is based on “Kasane Teto”.

-During the duel she took on the style of wielding a sword larger than her own body. For that reason her outfit was made to show ease of movement.

-The broadsword is of a simple design, but that’s overpowered by its sheer size. It sort of has the image of a blunt weapon more than a slashing implement.

Ichika’s comment

*Maid outfit: The ends of her sleeves are precisely folded back. The hem of her skirt is frilly and puffs out a bit, as the style of the maid outfit in the country of yellow. The hem is also slightly short, as she does a lot of running around. The ribbon at her collar had been red at first to match her hair, but I figured that it wouldn’t be red in the country of yellow so I changed it to yellow.

* Resistance outfit: She’s a peasant, so she has light armor on her casual wear. The coverings for her wrists were a bit more unrefined at first. I drew her leg armor in to serve as a sort of counterweight for when she swings her sword around. As such, they’re supposed to be much heavier than they look. She could probably mortally wound someone with one kick.

“Please…keep what I’ve said a secret.”

Ney Phatipe

(Akita Neru)

A maid who serves in the palace, and the adoptive daughter of the head maid and one of the Three Heroes, Mariam. She does all her work flawlessly, but it’s countered by her being a gossip and loose-lip, which results in some turmoil occurring. She’s favored by Riliane, and becomes a source of information for her. Her true identity is that of Marlon’s thirteenth princess, Ney Marlon.

AkunoP’s comment

Like Clarith, Ney is a character that I had a concept of since the very beginning. She was originally a childhood friend of the twins who stood in a sort of “big sister” role, and wound up becoming “another servant”. She’s the character who’s changed the most from how she was in the beginning. I actually had plans to make her into a joke character (haha).

*This character was based on “Akita Neru”, a derivative of the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 01 Hatsune Miku published by Crypton Future Media.

-I considered several different ways of her tying her hair when she’s an assassin, but how she ends up being in that situation is a secret.

Ichika’s comment

*Maid outfit: The basics are the same as Chartette’s maid uniform. Only the hem is longer, to show the difference in work and her personality. She feels like the kind of person to wear her maid uniform so well that she could do her work from start to finish all day without anything out of place. She was trained by her adoptive mother.

*Assassin outfit: She’s doing espionage activities, so it’s an entirely black uniform. The main focus was ease of movement. The boots are made of a soft fabric to make it harder to hear her footsteps. Her ponytail can be bundled up and pushed under her clothing depending on the situation. It probably just barely gets in. –Fits in.

“…Stop mocking me.”

Kyle Marlon

(KAITO)

The king of the island country of Marlon (the “Country of Blue”), and Riliane’s fiancé. Riliane adores him, calling him her “dear”, but he falls in love at first sight with Michaela when meeting her in the mansion of his friend, Keel, and so breaks off the engagement on his end. He is no match for his mother, Empress Dowager Prim, something he’s a bit ashamed of.

AkunoP’s comment

I’m so sorry, but he’s the one I care about the least (haha). Frankly I seriously didn’t want to write him all that much. These novels aside, don’t expect me to make KAITO this cool overall. Though he’s a pretty toothsome character, with how many turns he gets.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “KAITO” published by Crypton Future Media.

-The basis for his masked appearance is a certain sha[redacted]. It’s a simple outfit, but the decorations it has here and there are gaudy in a minor way.

Ichika’s comment

*Main outfit: As he was designed with a theme of solemnity, his whole appearance is composed with a precise and stiff feel. The collar of his jacket is designed like a suit. His sleeves are meant to feel a bit stern. I drew his outfit with a sort of square image of the country of blue in my head, so he’s light on the curves. Since he’s a male character I put more emphasis on being chic than flashy.

*Disguise outfit: I drew this to feel like the sort of typical outfit of the country of blue. But the quality of the fabric is a grade above that of the average person. If I were to draw in any armor it would let slip what country he’s from, so he’s just got the one sword as equipment. It’s the same sword he wields in his king outfit, but he tries to hide it.

“Let’s go, everyone.”

Germaine Avadonia

(MEIKO)

Allen’s adopted sibling who lives in the town below Lucifenia castle, and the adopted daughter of Leonhart, one of the Three Heroes. She’s dependable and cares about her friends, but that comes with the snag of her being a little crude. In actuality she’s quite smart, becoming the leader of the Resistance and earning the people’s respect.

AkunoP’s comment

At first, I had wanted to make her into a classic, genuinely heroic character…But I guess that got a bit warped. Like Miku, there’s a lot of influence taken from her character as a VOCALOID. I want to write about her past sometime. She’s an unexpectedly pitiable character, who winds up not having a lot of influence.

Ichika’s comment

In addition to being based on Leonhart’s armor, the insignia above her chest is taken from the hilt of his sword, so in that sense it’s like her equipment has inherited her father’s will. It’s lighter armor, given that as she’s a woman there’s more emphasis on maneuverability. As it prioritizes heroism over sex appeal, her legs haven’t been left exposed.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID Character “MEIKO” published by Crypton Future Media.

“You working hard, kids?”

Leonhart Avadonia

(LEON)

Allen and Germaine’s adoptive father, and one of the Three Heroes. He’s the captain of the guard of the royal family, but he clashes with the princess over their different opinions. An unparalleled drinker, he often drinks the night away with his daughter Germaine.

AkunoP’s comment

Among the Three Heroes, he’s the one that came to mind first. He vanishes pretty quickly from the story for someone who was present in the plot of the Daughter of Evil since its original conception… Though I guess he does get to do more in the bonus story, so it’s all good. He’s a bit of an old fogey by the Daughter of Evil era. I did have some other more detailed ideas for him, but ultimately wound up not using them.

Ichika’s comment

He has solidly built heavy armor. The main colors of his outfit are red and white, but there’s a single thread of yellow on his mantle alone to symbolize the people of the country of yellow. The mantle is part of his uniform as captain of the guard; he didn’t have one during his hero days.

*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “LEON” published by ZERO-G.

“Lucifenia will very soon be overthrown.”

Elluka Clockworker

(Megurine Luka)

A court sorceress who served the previous monarch, and one of the Three Heroes. Her predictions are never wrong, and so there are many who trust in her in the palace. She has lived for a long time, and is carrying out the task of collecting the “Vessels of Deadly Sin” as a favor to the great land god Held.

AkunoP’s comment

It’s the postscript character! (haha) Originally I planned for the sorceress role was going to be played by a different character, but then I swapped her out when Luka was published, resulting in her ultimately getting the best role. Personality-wise she’s similar to how I am when I’m drunk (haha). So, like Clarith, I’m quite fond of her, and she’s easy to write.

Ichika’s comment

It’s a bit hard to tell with the robe on, but despite not looking like it she actually has some degree of exposure. Mostly her shoulders and legs. Her outfit was designed to look bewitching. The jewels at her hip are taken from her VOCALOID image character. After Riliane, she probably has the most accessories out of anyone else.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Character Vocal Series 03 “Megurine Luka” published by Crypton Future Media.

“Yes, the green onion, the Very Amazing, Green Onion.”

Gumillia

(Megpoid)

A sorceress in training who serves in the palace, and Elluka’s apprentice. She is very close with Michaela, and was originally one of the spirits who served Held alongside her. She picked the form of Elphegort’s first female prime minister, Gumina Glassred, as her appearance when reincarnating as a human.

AkunoP’s comment

She hardly got to do anything at all…Since she hasn’t had a lot of influence on the story at present, I think I’d really like to give her more to do in the third book (haha). I think she’s the character with the most potential. She was originally a spirit, and is a sorceress to boot. So, expect great things from her in the future!

Ichika’s comment

As she’s Elluka’s apprentice her outfit design is made to resemble hers, though it also shows a more apprentice-esque childishness in it. But I also see her not changing her outfit even after her training his passed. Like Elluka, she has a single jewel around her hip.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Megpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

“I am one of the Three Heroes, Mariam Phatipe!”

Mariam Phatipe

(MIRIAM)

She once engaged in espionage as one of the Three Heroes, but now she serves as the head maid in the palace. Her personality is extremely rigid, but she has her kind side as well, and there are many who admire her. She prides herself on covert work, like running secret intelligence.

AkunoP’s comment

Her appearance is meant to feel like a gorgeous, cool beauty. In conception she’s this badass secret intelligence operative, but in the end she wound up being a dud spy (haha). She was completely useless, and failed to see what was happening with her own daughter. Her position is sort of that of everyone’s stern mother. Though the “Of Evil” series is full of stern women, and all of them are strong.

Ichika’s comment

She does have a theme of being a rigid, cool beauty. With this sort of masculine air, too. Her outfit is a bit old-fashioned, bearing in mind the image of the previous queen’s reign. I pictured her being able to move a fair bit whatever her uniform, so I think it would always be prim and proper, without anything out of place.

*This character was independently made based on VOCALOID “MIRIAM” published by ZERO-G.

“We have a favor to ask of you.”

Anne Lucifen D’autriche

(Sweet Ann)

The old queen of Lucifenia, and the mother of Riliane, who admired her. She often said she wanted to “build a country where children can live with a smile”, and devoted her energies into the strengthening and expansion of her country. Like her husband Arth I, she passed away from the incurable “Gula” disease.

AkunoP’s comment

She’s sort of like what Riliane could have turned out like if she’d been raised properly. Strong, kind, and popular. Only, I’m sure she must have been more mischievous when she was younger. She probably had reckless adventures and passionate romantic stories, but I’ve got no plans to write any of them (haha).

Ichika’s comment

I drew her with a theme of a queen’s strictness and a woman’s gentleness. Actually, her character design is the one I liked the most on first drawing it. She’s not too gaudy, but I’m really happy her outfit conveys a sense of stability in its place.

*This character was independently made based on the VOCALOID 2 “SWEET ANN” published by PowerFX.

“That’s just common practice among merchants.”

Keel Freezis

(Hiyama Kiyoteru)

A famous merchant who conducts trade in Elphegort, while being an immigrant from Marlon. He serves as the head of the trade association, and is also proficient in handling information. He’s an old friend of Marlon’s King Kyle. He has three children.

AkunoP’s comment

The no.2 super afterthought character (haha). At first I had no plans for him to do anything at all, but when I tried giving him a few more scenes he turned out to be a pretty fun character; I ended up shortening Kyle’s role to compensate (haha). It was a lot of fun to write a character so cheerful. And it was pretty amusing to have him be such a doting parent.

Ichika’s comment

As he’s a merchant, he wears shoes and an outfit that are both easy to walk in. His uniform base is the country of blue. Fundamentally his robe is for use in business discussions, and is supposed to easy to remove when it gets hot or gets in the way. I would imagine he probably dresses down a bit outside of occasions where he’s conversing with royalty and nobles.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid teacher “Hiyama Kiyoteru” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

“Tell me the story of the ‘Daughter of Evil’!”

Yukina Freezis

(Kaai Yuki)

The eldest daughter of the wealth Elphegort merchant Keel Freezis. She’s very attached to her servant Clarith, and often has her wrapped around her little finger, being both naïve and mischievous. She has a hobby of writing stories, and excels at it despite her young age.

AkunoP’s comment

She’s going to be more active in the third book. She’ll be a main character!! (haha) She becomes the author of the Freezis Fairytales, and the official teller of the story. Come to think of it I did buy the Yuki software the other day, so I might make a song for her after this.

Ichika’s comment

Frankly she’s the most fun when drawing. While heavily basing her off of her original character image, I also gave her a more chic and mature air befitting a merchant’s daughter. I’m happy I was able to make her appearance show how doted on she is by Keel.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Vocaloid student “Kaai Yuki” published by AH-Software Co. Ltd.

“I was the same as you…Evil.”

Gast Venom

(Gackpoid)

A skilled mercenary who heads a mercenary band, called “The Demon of Asmodean”. During the revolution he stays at the palace until the end under Allen’s request, and fought against the revolutionaries using a weapon called a katana, something unfamiliar to the Evillious region.

AkunoP’s comment

He’s got a mystery for so few appearances (haha). I’ve given him a ton of backstory but I haven’t shared any of it. Like that he’s a descendant of Venomania, that he isn’t actually [redacted], none of it’s been shown in story. And he got killed by an amateur girl (haha). In that sense I guess he’s more pathetic than Kyle. I’d like to get some of it out someday though.

Ichika’s comment.

I made him more Japanese in style to give him a foreign feel. I drew his outfit and his equipment to be like the protective armor of a swordsman. His outfit’s meant to have a slightly feminine component to it, like having a feminine sash at his waist. He’s got a decent amount of layering in his clothing. His physique is meant to feel pretty lean.

*This character was based on the VOCALOID 2 Artist Vocal character “Gackpoid” published by Internet Co., Ltd.

directory

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citrus-cactus · 3 years ago

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I saw @vidramon do this meme and thought it would be interesting, so here goes!

Five games that shaped me as a gamer, in no particular order, and under the cut to spare your dash!

1. Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)

I have spent SO many hours playing and replaying FFVII Original that I’m sure I would wince to know the exact amount. It is my gold standard for JRPGs against which all other JRPGs are judged (particularly those that come from SquareEnix). The plot, the characters, the mechanics, the graphics, the soundtrack, the translation flubs... I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH!!! FFIX is a close second in terms of a quality game that I have played multiple times and try to be as completionist as possible, but nothing, NOTHING can hold a candle to The Entire Reason I Wanted a PlayStation and Was Overjoyed the Day My Parents Said We Could Get One. My sister and I also have a LOT of in-jokes from playing it, and fun fact: we legit SCREAMED IN TERROR the first time we fought Jenova because there was a storm going on outside and some VERY well-timed thunder and lightning. You can’t make this stuff up. Everything about it was a formative gaming experience, 10/10 XD

2. Kirby’s Adventure (NES)

The first game I became OBSESSED with beating. I played a lot of Super Mario Bros. 1 & 3 and while I could get far in them, I was not as good as either of my friends who played them and thus never felt the need to beat them by myself (besides, once you’ve experienced the joy of Goomba’s Shoe in SMB3, what even is the point of playing any further? XD). But Kirby... MAN, it was just so fun and approachable and COLORFUL the whole way through. My parents rented it for us first and since the game has save states, I got to start on Stage 6 (out of 7), and it seemed like there were so many secrets and fun things to unlock, even though I don’t think we made it to that stage’s boss fight (MetaKnight, he’ll WRECK YA!) before we had to return it. But we did eventually buy it and play it to 100% several times, and it’s still one of my favorite platformers. The powers are all so fun. UFO IS THE BEST!!!!

3. Sly Cooper 2: Band of Thieves (PS2)

My then-boyfriend, now-husband and I bonded so hard over the whole Sly Cooper series, but SC2 was the best of the bunch: exploring the hub worlds, finding EVERY LAST BOTTLE, helping each other out on the more difficult(/frustrating) levels, picking pockets, earning all the money for upgrades, enjoying PARAGLIDE, loving the dialog (“Greasy-sweet!”), the characters, BENTLEY BEING THE BEST, etc. etc. It’s eight heist movies rolled into one, it improves on the original in every way, the characters are GREAT, it’s just... so great T^T

(image technically from Sly 3, but still IT’S THE GANG!!! I LOVE THEM!!!!)

4. King’s Quest VI (PC)

Another game my sister and I spent HOURS playing and replaying, even though we were never able to figure out the “short” ending :o Long or bust, baby! Technically we played KQ7 first (and I still really like it because WOMEN PROTAGONISTS), but KQ6 is SO!!!!! Good. It’s hilarious, the puzzles aren’t *too* frustrating (we did NOT call the Sierra Help Line for this one, unlike KQ7... aah, bless my mom for that several-dollar phone call), the fact that you GO TO THE UNDERWORLD AT ONE POINT (I felt SO SMART when I solved the Gate’s riddle, lol!). I love the backgrounds, Robby Benson’s voice, the narrator, the duuuuuuumb jokes when you die... even if you hate Sierra’s mentality of “kill the player at every turn and/or let them create unwinnable states for themselves”, KQ6 is still an INCREDIBLY GOOD adventure game that is 100% worth playing, especially if you are into 90′s power ballads (GIRL IN THE TOOOOOOOWER, I’M REEEEEACHING OUT, PLEASE TEEEEELL ME WHAT TO DOOOOO). Thank you, I’ll see myself out ^_^

5. Pokemon X (Nintendo 3DS)

The first Pokemon game I played, and still my favorite! Probably because everything was so NEW. I didn’t understand types! I didn’t understand... well, most of the mechanics that I’m sure everyone else internalized a long time ago and takes for granted. My friend Opallene was witnessing all of my n00bishness and I’m sure I was hilarious! :D But there were outfits! And haircuts! And Pokemon-Amie! AND CLEMONT AND BONNE. AND SKIDDO. It sent me around town getting various mythical Pokemon promo codes and down the path of buying Pokemon game several years in a row (Alpha Sapphire, Let’s Go Pikachu, Sun, Ultra Moon, and Sword, several of which I never finished, oops!). I think I am over it now, but man, playing that first Pokemon game was a POWERFUL experience. I finally understood what I had been missing out on since 1997! NOW I’M JUST LIKE ASH (I am not anything like Ash XD).

The end! Don’t want to tag right now, but feel free to do it if y’wanna!

#the cactus speaks #about me #vidya games #video james #kirby's adventure #sly cooper #king's quest #pokemon xy #final fantasy 7 #final fantasy vii #ff7 #ffvii

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pastamic · 4 years ago

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So I’ve seen quite a few posts complaining about the way Entrapta was treated by the Princesses, particularly with a lot of vitriol towards Mermista. I know a lot of us who are neurodivergent are really excited about Entrapta as a character because she’s autistic coded and a lot of us can really relate to her. I think a lot of us are also, and rightfully so, very defensive of the way these types of characters are treated because they get treated honestly so badly by show creators and other characters in their series more often than not, and that’s totally reasonable. If you’re uncomfortable with the way she was treated in regards to what I’m about to talk about I’m in no way saying you can’t still be uncomfortable about this because this is just my opinion and the way I saw it as one touch-averse ND person. To preface this I have not received an autism diagnoses, but I have an ADHD diagnoses and have started to suspect that I might be autistic as well (though it’s hard to tell with the overlapping symptoms.) My fiance is autistic and also has ADHD and has agreed with me on several of these points.

[id: Screenshot of Mermista pulling Entrapta’s hair while they approach Horde Prime’s spire in season 5. Caption reads “I’m sorry I’m bad at listening!” end id]

This scene, which a lot of people had an issue with. I had an issue with it at first too bc like pulling peoples hair is generally like not okay! Though the situation was very stressful and dire and Mermista was under a lot of stress. I think this episode was actually particularly important because it showed Entrapta’s issues with feelings and people (like not realizing they were all upset with her) and the stress and residual resentment from fighting on opposite sides and the issues that the other princesses had with understanding Entrapta with a resolution that got talked through. Something that in my personal experience is really important for everyone, but especially ND people and people with mental illnesses. Miscommunications and misunderstandings happen and they all talked it through and I thought it was very sweet.

But, the hair pulling (and the weird leash thing that Perfuma made with vines but that’s a whole post on it’s own and I’m not gonna get into it)

Now like I said I thought it was kinda shitty at first, but thanks to quarantine and depression I’ve re-watched spop probably fifteen times now and I’ve noticed a bit of a pattern.

Most of us have already noticed that Entrapta uses her hair as hands for stuff

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta leaning over in Hordak’s lab and shaping one of her pigtails into a hand. Caption reads “Failure is a vital part of scientific endeavor.” end id]

Like literal hands

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta standing in Darla’s doorway holding her tools with her hair and making a suggestive face. end id]

It’s her superpower, and while the other princesses do use their powers as a bit of an extension of themselves, for Entrapta her hair is straight up another body part/limb for her. Tbh if I had hair like that I would use it for literally everything and never touch shit with my hands.

I think I’ve seen people point this out to an extent before but I noticed that Entrapta never really reaches out to touch anybody with her actual hands with the exception of Hordak.

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta smiling in the Fright Zone squishing Catra’s cheeks with her hair. Caption reads “Hi, Catra. I saved your life. You’re welcome.” end id]

When she convinces Hordak to send Catra to the Crimson Waste instead of to Beast Island she like grabs her cheeks with her hair, and again in season 5 she pats Catra on the head when she tells her she forgives her.

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta and Hordak in Hordak’s lab. Entrapta is using her hair to hold out Hordak’s arms in a T-pose. Caption reads “And you’re really way too obsessed with this whole failure thing.” end id]

And when she’s talking about Hordak’s disability and brainstorming about his suit. I actually chose both of the above screenshots because I thought at first that she only used her hair in place of her hands because her hands always had her tablet in them but both of her hands are free in these scenes, though one could argue that she needs to use her hair to reach Hordak’s hands, she could lift herself up with her hair if she really wanted to reach out with her hands.

Actually there’s a point in Season 3, episode 4 where she straight up just scratches her hair with the Shera sword so I’m not even sure she has feeling in her hair???

[id: Screenshot of Entrapta in Hordak’s lab scratching her head with the Shera sword. Caption reads “I’m not sure if we just need the sword or if we need She-Ra, too.” end id]

She’s scratching her head with a big fuck off sword so I think that we can infer two things from that: that she can’t really feel much through her hair, and that her hair is like durable as fuck. Considering she lifts herself up by her hair a ton I’d imagine it’s not attached to her scalp in quite the same sensitive way that like non-magic hair would be.

So I think it makes sense, and might be a respect of her boundaries, to reach for her hair over her hand if they need to keep her from going somewhere. You could argue that grabbing someone in general is a disrespect of boundaries, and in a lot of cases it can be, but in the case of a battle or dangerous mission grabbing someone isn’t really out of the ordinary. We see it with the Best Friends Squad a lot, but also with Scorpia and like literally everyone she’s around.

When Hordak saves Entrapta from the portal exploding we do see him grab her by the hand, but it’s continuously established that Entrapta exhibits way more intimacy with him than with pretty much anyone else. She allows touch from others and doesn’t seem bothered by it, but Hordak is the person she most consistently reaches out to in regards to touch.

[id: Screenshot of Bow kissing Entrapta’s pigtail like it’s her hand. end id]

When Bow first officially meets Entrapta he kisses her pigtail like it’s her hand, which by the way is just super adorable I love fanboy Bow, but it’s not just Bow. Catra and Scorpia also mainly interact with Entrapta through her hair.

Whenever someone needs to interact with Entrapta in a tactile way, it’s pretty much always through her hair. When Entrapta needs to interact with others in a tactile way, it’s pretty much always through her hair. Entrapta’s hair is like another set (sets?? She can split her hair up a lot) of hands. So I don’t think it’s as rough of a treatment as people are making it out to be. It’s not like pulling a non-magic person’s hair. Entrapta’s hair is magic and she uses it in place of her hands near constantly. It’s not like pulling someone else’s hair because Entrapta’s hair is her power, it’s an extension of herself in a way that other’s hair is not.

It’s okay to feel uncomfortable with Mermista (or others) pulling Entrapta’s hair if that makes you uncomfortable, especially if you’re neurodivergent as many of us have experiences of people completely disregarding our bodily autonomy and infantilizing us in a way that’s frustrating and harmful, but (and I’m not gonna name names bc this isn’t meant to be a discourse post and I’ve seen it a lot) demonizing Mermista for pulling her hair in a high stress situation when she’s struggling with leadership already and Entrapta is seemingly ignoring her orders to do whatever for the sake of science. Though we find out that’s not the case, Mermista doesn’t know that at first and was intending to keep Entrapta from putting herself or the rest of the team in danger which is a foundation of leadership responsibility.

Should she have tried to be more understanding of Entrapta and actually try to communicate frankly that she was mad instead of assuming that Entrapta would realize it on her own? Absolutely, especially as a leader. But she’s new to leadership and that’s like half of what that episode was about, and people make mistakes, especially with communication. That’s something that I think spop as a show handles really well. People make mistakes, people do things they regret, and people struggle with things like communicating and boundaries even when they have the best of intentions. What matters is that it’s talked out, apologized for, resolved, etc. I’m ND myself, and I’m friends with a lot of neurodivergent people and miscommunications happen A LOT even with like the base knowledge that we need to speak bluntly, clearly, and honestly in order to be understood. Sometimes even when you’re blunt and honest and open things still get miscommunicated. I definitely think the princesses infantilize Entrapta far too much, but I don’t think the hair pulling is as much of an issue as I’ve seen people make it out to be and I definitely don’t think Mermista is some Vile Bitch (tm) for doing what she did.

(Also I took all these screenshots myself please appreciate that I spent like two hours combing through spop episodes to find them djsfjklds)

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stellahibernis · 4 years ago

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Lan Wangji: Out and About

AKA Lan Wangji’s costumes in the Untamed, part 2/9

I’m back with my love for beautiful costumes, more screencaps than I actually need, and some wine, let’s have a look at Lan Wangji’s second (and first blue) outfit! As always, I’ll first write about the costume, and after that how it reflects where LWJ is in his character journey.

He wears this one in episodes 8 to 11 when he goes out on a quest to find more pieces of Yin Iron, trying to escape all the confusing feelings Wei Wuxian caused. Of course, WWX will not let him go alone, and he’s only a little bit annoyed about it.

The Costume

I called his first outfit simple but formal, and this second one is pretty much opposite on both of those points; the silhouette is less formal with one less layer and narrow sleeves, but there are more details, not to mention the fabric itself is less plain. Also, in-universe this outfit cost a lot, you’d feed the whole village for years kind of money.

Above in the first image you see the general silhouette, and below we have a bit more detail in view. (Also please appreciate the soft expression directed at WWX sleeping on the roof.)

The silhouette is a curiously mixed bag when it comes to practicality. The lack of another robe over the sash and the narrow sleeves make it easier for him to move about, appearing more ready to fight if needed. Then there are the long strips of fabric falling down from his shoulders front and back, that are the opposite of practical, and potentially risky, as we see when WWX grabs one of them at one point. They look great while he’s moving, though, which is a necessary consideration in costume design, and often overrides practicality.

I was wondering, by the way, about the hen and the egg situation, whether they put the strips of fabric so that WWX had something to grab, or if he was just supposed to grab something and they were conveniently there. I’m also amused that in episode 8 WWX says LWJ always dresses in white like he’s in a funeral, and he’s wearing blue 😅

The top layer made of the blue fabric is very sheer, you can see the white layer underneath through it, and the bottom part is slit up to waist for ease of movement. That’s common for the layer underneath the sash, you can see it best if the layer below is of different color like here, or from the way it fans out while sitting. With this robe it’s especially noticeable because the blue fabric is very light and easily moves at the edges of the slits.

There’s also the usual Lan Sect cloud embroidery done with white (or very pale blue, hard to say) thread on the lapels as well as the front panel at the bottom. Even though I call this one a blue outfit, there’s still quite a bit of white visible with the layer underneath, the sash, wrist bands, and some detailing.

As I mentioned in the first post, if he has narrow sleeves, there are always fabric bands wrapped around his wrists to finish the look, as you see below. I like that the crisscrossing of fabric happens both at the wrists and in the front of the sash (seen above), it ties the whole look together. In the image below you can also see the fabric in more detail, there’s this subtle pattern of two alternating blues, and it’s very sheer indeed, if you look at the seams. That one took a weaver a lot of time. (Also salutations to whoever actually sewed this outfit, fabric like this is an unforgiving nightmare, and it’s so easy to make the garment pull at the seams.) The lapels and the long hanging strips are made of a different fabric, there’s no pattern in it, and it’s maybe slightly heavier (would make embroidery easier, as well as help with the narrow strips to fall pleasingly. (Also you might have guessed by now that I really like the string talisman scene.)

Let’s consider some more details next from the following image. First, the new head ornament that he’ll wear for the rest of the flashback. This is probably my favorite of his formal hair arrangements (I have an extra soft spot for the laid back present time look we get to see at the Jingshi).

Then we get to the main reasons why this outfit cost an arm and leg, besides the sky high cost of the fabric: just look at the jewelry on his shoulders. On both shoulders there is one large blue stone, another slightly smaller, and a white stone in the middle, not to mention that silverwork. The largest stones are huge, and the same color as the ones hanging from his waist ornament, as well as the ones he wears with his final outfit, so we definitely have a theme there. Anyway, expensive as hell, and they’re just sewn on the shoulders of the robes he decided to wear on a quest that likely would contain fighting. Also note the silver detailing at the lapel edges, want to guess if it’s made of actual silver thread in-universe? I would say yes, all things considered. Why spare the expense there after the jewelry?

Finally, I want to point at the layers at the collar, we can see four. There’s the top layer of sheer blue, then a layer of white (it’s mostly underneath the blue but you can see a narrow bit on the right, and obviously we know otherwise that the layer below is white. Then there’s another blue robe, and finally a white layer, which I think is the undershirt rather than another robe.

I should point out that this screencap was chosen because of his tiny smile at WWX on his roof, you guessed it, another scene I like a lot.

The Context

As I mentioned in the first part, in general in the flashback when LWJ is wearing predominantly blue, he’s moving closer to WWX and motivated less by his duty to his sect, and this quest is obviously a key point in that. At the start, he’s perfectly happy to be going alone, he deliberately doesn’t tell WWX he’s leaving even though they both made a promise to Lan Yi to help prevent the misuse of the Yin Iron. Of course, he doesn’t get far before WWX shows up, and he’s genuinely annoyed there at the beginning, just note the frequency of him calling WWX boring. After all, he was hoping to put all the inconvenient feelings aside, and now it’ll be all but impossible.

Incidentally, when we consider Lan Sect in general, only those of higher rank can wear predominantly blue robes. They are those who are responsible for making decisions, and can be trusted to act independently. In light of that, it’s kind of funny that the blue in LWJ’s outfits is generally a sign of him moving away from his sect and toward WWX.

All throughout the quest we see LWJ being annoyed at WWX, but a significant change is that apart from the very beginning, it only happens when there’s a particular reason for it (like WWX grabbing a hold of his robes). LWJ is no longer annoyed simply by his presence (while he rather is annoyed by the mere presence of NHS and JC).

The binding talisman (or whatever WWX ended up calling it) scene is great, because on one hand, we get an absolutely amazingly annoyed look from LWJ (please see below, I’m still laughing), but we might also add that he doesn’t even attempt to break the talisman, just yanks WWX to come along with him. Also, after this he doesn’t actually protest WWX’s presence on the quest, and when the Yin Iron reacts soon after, they’re immediately on mission mode and actively collaborating.

In fact, this quest is when they at first start to become a unit. At the summer school we hear WWX saying he considers LWJ his equal, and while he considers the quest for Yin Iron their common duty, I don’t think he considers them partners in general at the time, and if asked, he’d definitely trust his family first. Similarly, LWJ is used to being independent, and hasn’t particularly looked for company, but during this quest we see him start to trust in WWX and rely on his skills.

The key point in all this is the fight against the dire owl in the forest, where they work seamlessly together. At the start, LWJ significantly asks WWX to put the protective net around the others, which is a clear signal that in this fight he trusts WWX to have his back, but not the others. This is a huge shift for him. Likewise, when the disorientation fog arrives and LWJ is much less affected by it (due to his practice in controlling his temperament, no doubt, which is a Lan Sect practice that WWX mentions helped him at the Burial Mounds in episode 22), WWX doesn’t hesitate to trust his judgment on how to handle the situation (closing his eyes, putting his sword away etc.) We know that WWX has a pretty lofty opinion of his own skills, as he later admits (for a good reason, I’d add), so completely relying on someone who is of similar age with him is a big deal and speaks of how highly he actually thinks of LWJ. It is a major shift where they take the first steps on the road to become the people each of them relies on the most out of everyone in the world.

Another key scene that demonstrates the strengthening of their bond is when they say goodbyes to Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen. There is a pause where LWJ stays looking after them, with yearning in his eyes, and WWX is the one to notice and to call him to go. There is a clear and genuine moment of understanding between them, perhaps of the conflict between freedom and duty, that is a challenge to both of them occasionally (albeit one that takes very different shapes for them).

Even though their bond is now starting to strengthen, the circumstances are pulling them apart, and for LWJ it’s the start of the pivotal conflict between his duties to his sect and his feelings for WWX. At this point, it probably isn’t a too difficult choice for him to leave once he knows the Cloud Recesses may be in danger, but it is obvious he still regrets the parting. We see it clearly on his face when he tells the sleeping WWX that he must go.

My personal headcanon, by the way, is that LWJ composes Wangxian on the way back to Gusu after parting with WWX, at least consciously so. It might have been poking around in his head even before then, but I don’t think he was ready to admit WWX’s importance even to himself any earlier, and I doubt he had his mind in the mood for composing after what happened at the Cloud Recesses. Not to mention, what was he supposed to do while traveling when there wasn’t a certain chatterbox around to fill the silence.

His return to home is of course not at all a fun time, and his duty to his sect calls him back hard. Hence the next time we’ll see him in all white, not having a good time at all at the evil summer school.

(Somehow this one became even longer than the first part?! On the plus side, I managed to cut down the amount of images pretty well, I originally had seventeen screencaps 😂)

(You can find the rest of this series via “lwj costume series” tag below, or through my blog contents page. I’d link for ease of access but the links made it disappear from tags, so. 😒)

#the untamed #cql #lan wangji #costume design #the untamed meta #cql meta #lwj costume series #cql rambles

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nossbean · 4 years ago

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Myrcella / Sansa Anon Here: Like Jaime and Brienne are both Beauty and the Beast, Myrcella and Sansa have the potential to be both Cinderella and the Prince/Knight. Myrcella a bastard disguised as a Princess and Sansa is a Princess disguises as a bastard. When the Starks fell, the old man could have written Myrcella as one of Sansa’s Protectors since she knows how to survive Cersei while when the Lannister’s fell from power, Sansa would give Myrcella a home. For cherry on top, Myrcella could 1/2

2/2 inherit Jaime’s sword skills and her desire to pursue that could be a way to escape being her mother’s mini-me, only valued for her looks, and toxic family as well as an attempt to gain some control over her life. I had more articulate thoughts on this but I wrote them down somewhere I can’t recall. In canon, you already have Arianne set up for the fairy godmother role and Brienne as a subversion of the typical stepmother. Either way, less creepy than any potential in-canon Sansa ships.

Honestly, anon, you persuaded me with these first two, but the absolute joy is that you came through with even more! I do wanna quickly say though that I support folx shipping who they ship and in whatsoever way brings joy, we’re all here for the love of the characters and the story after all <3

I am as ever at the moment, very late to the party, but I’m so glad you came back to share all this! A lot of what you’ve said by way of potentials has lived rent free in my head. I’m very into the fairy tale elements you’re describing (particularly noting Arianne as fairy godmother, and Brienne as a subversion of the typical (boring, sexist) fairy tale stepmother...!) and the incorporation of major themes that could be present in Myrcella’s arc (I’m poss wearing my clown shoes, etc, but I do think there’s a chance some of those could come to bear in the remaining books, with or without Sansa, so let’s hope) Your note about Myrcella inheriting Jaime’s sword skills set off a different thought in my head, that it would be interesting for her to instead pick up a lot of the knight’s code and utilizing it to her whims and needs, though without the fighting/sword skills element. There’s resonance and balancing there, then, with parts of Sansa’s arc, and also with themes in Brienne’s arc, and is again, a repudiation of much of what Cersei (and Joffrey) thinks and believes. Though am also very much here for more sword wielding ladies.

Anyway, onwards with the rest of your Sansa/Myrcella galaxy-braining:

Also, we know Myrcella wasn’t scared of Joffrey so we could have had Myrcella getting in his face to defend Sansa and having a tense stand-off. Plus, it would be a more explicit sign of Jaime and Cersei not being soulmates and gender swapped mirrors as the cruel and cowardly Joffrey being Cersei if she was a boy and brave and clever would be Jaime as a girl.

ANON. I am SO INTO playing with aligning Cersei with Joffrey and Jaime with Myrcella explicitly! It definitely could be there for the taking (that note about where did Myrcella and Tommen get their sweetness, I WONDER) but whether GRRM will take it... Things seem to be pointing Tommen-ward atm when it comes to possibilities with Jaime and his children, which is, idk, to be expected to a degree I guess. BUT ALSO, as is on the record, I’d really rather a sharp veer towards Myrcella instead (Tommen can come too I guess but centring Myrcella would be grand)

And also just: a Myrcella who takes on her brother (and by extension, Cersei) *on behalf* of Sansa would have been fucking incredible, and would absolutely have been particularly satisfying for the resonance it would have for Jaime’s later arc. And there’s every possibility Myrcella could have stood up for Sansa, or even if we frame it more as “against Joffrey”, at least at first. Also what you describe as being possible later by way of role reversal of who protects who, yes thank you please. Deeply into how that shapes Lannister-Stark relations and also honestly the potential impact on LSH storylines, in the event Sansa meets LSH in around the same time Brienne and Jaime are confronting her (I mean, that would substantially alter the timelines, possibly, but still!)

Also ALSO, Sansa being sapphic would better show the limits societal scripts have a person’s perceptions, agency, and ability to connect with others since her character is so influenced by storytelling, imagination, and societal roles. It would also expand her understanding of womanhood and femininity, paving the way to reconcile with Arya.

Into this, as well! Don’t really have much more to say than that, really XD Oh, only that Sapphic Sansa is very satisfying to say, hehe. Anon, I ask if you’ve read this excellent meta about Sansa? It’s a long read but a good one.

admittedly, Myrcella did luck out with getting the sweet, age appropriate, and non-creepy Trystane Martell as her canon love interest.

My cynical take here is that it isn’t coincidence that Myrcella lucked out with Trystane being sweet and being part of a family who (mostly?) wants her safe and happy not just because of her proximity to the Iron Throne but for her own sake, only to be almost certain to lose him, heh.

Sansa/Myrcella it could be about forgiveness, chosen families, breaking the cycles of violence and revenge, hope for the future, the importance of female solidarity, re-writing the future to include everyone.

Just here to say I am a sucker for each and every one of these themes, thank you.

Physical doubling is another shared feature of both Myrcella and Sansa’s stories. Everyone comments on how much Sansa looks like her mom and Littlefinger plans to unveil her identity using her red hair. Myrcella also looks like her mom and has a double in her cousin. Both are hurt and almost killed while in care of someone they should trust, Myrcella during the Queenmaker plot and Sansa with her Aunt Lysa.

Sansa’s themes of identity, self-preservation, perception, longing for something beyond your childhood home, the power and consequences of shaping stories through truth and lies can easily be mapped onto Myrcella.

Your Jaime and Myrcella post reawakened my dormant interest in Myrcella and Sansa, since Jaime is tasked with returning Sansa.

Again, mostly am just here for all this, particularly the potential theme sharing and how they could help one another through 😍🤩

Reading all this, I feel like you hit on one of the major things that GRRM fails with on the regular in ASOIAF, which is that women and girls... often like one another? Even when they’re, like, different from one another? 😱😱😱 And even if he didn’t want to pursue a shippy route, to your earlier point, there was plenty of room for friendship and solidarity between Sansa and Myrcella when they were both in KL, even with Myrcella being younger. There could be an added element wherein Myrcella goes behind Cersei’s back somewhat to do this, given Cersei would undoubtedly put the kibosh on it had she been aware - which again, would have had resonance later for that Jaime and Myrcella mirroring angle. Buuut that would require GRRM to recognize the power of relationships between girls and women, and I admit I remain stuck on the idea that apparently no woman or girl in Brienne’s life ever did anything but mock/deride her until Catelyn came along. I invite you to imagine that a small part of my soul is always howling to the heavens: NO ONE????????? (though this is, happily, an easily retconned detail, so my clown nose is honking that there may be even a throwaway note about some girl or woman in Brienne’s past in Winds, anyway, I digress)

I DUNNO, I’m trying to, like, contribute to this excellence but mostly I’m just picking up everything you’re putting down...!

And finally:

I don’t have a Tumblr, though I enjoy reading fic and people’s meta, so I forgot I sent that ask to be honest, haha.

Again, I’m sorry for how very, very late here, but I am so very glad you did...!!!!

#anonymoose #askbox #char: myrcella baratheon #char: sansa stark #ship: myrcella x sansa #meta: asoiaf #there's a lot here which gets to exactly the kinds of things i like about ships jfkldajhlkdaf #q'd #long post

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retrauxpunk · 5 years ago

Text

sv 6.03

i have just finished this episode. under the cut you will find my intensely spoiler-filled thoughts.

HOLY FUCKING SHIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTT

oh my GODDDD

i saw this episode was titled Hooli Smokes! which is hilarious and adorable but i was kind of like ‘ehh i don’t ... like i really don’t care about the fate of gavin/hooli’ so i didn’t really think about it but now i’ve just watched it and OH MY GOD IT’S A FANTASTIC TITLE

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS HOLY FUCKING CHRIST ON A CREAM-CHEESE CRACKER

I SWEAR TO GOD IT TOOK ME LIKE 45 MINUTES TO WATCH THIS EPISODE BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY MOMENTS I WANTED TO PAUSE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT EXACTLY WAS GOING ON (because i’m a stickler / occasionally slow hahaha) IT WAS SO INTENSE

oh my lord

i’m gonna

try to do this in chronological order. okay. okay. so.

i’m super glad that richard didn’t sell to maximo because, you know, he’s a vile human being on a massive scale and is responsible for massive human rights abuses and so on, i don’t need to justify this!!

speaking of which i’m a liiittle bit disappointed that (in descending order) dinesh, gilfoyle, and monica (mostly dinesh) weren’t that on board with richard’s decision not to sell..... ............but whatevs it makes sense, it’s a billion dollars lmao fair enough money corrupts etc etc

so at this point richard’s fucked and this is such an intense episode it felt like the intensity of the first couple seasons, like, s2 for example, when there was so much going on all the time and i LOVE IT

jared trying to turn himself into the cops for assaulting richard? wow i. um. yeah look i found that a little touching. ngl. i find it interesting that he ... idk, is he doing it to punish himself or because he thinks he’s a danger to richard? i’m not sure. either way it’s a bit weird. but totally in keeping with jared’s character at this point, i feel.

JIAN-YANG’S MYSTERIOUS ILLEGAL OPERATION LMAO

it always makes me pleased when they don’t bother translating the foreign languages and it also makes me pleased when i can perfectly understand the bit they didn’t translate ;)

i mean you can probably guess what he said to all the other chinese people but in case you’re curious it’s this: “come out, come out. the police have left, get back to work. come out. everyone come out, quickly quickly quickly! motherfucker...”

I LOVED the scene of richard and gavin chatting on the bench! it was just fun! also i did recognise the part where you think gavin’s gonna accept richard’s offer but actually he just says ‘fuck no’ from the season trailer and that’s why i don’t fully enjoy trailers because THEY GIVE STUFF AWAY! thankfully the only thing left from the trailer that i can remember is, IIRC, not something that gives away anything particularly suspenseful. hurray.

love the kombucha comment lmao

that scene with dinesh and gilfoyle chatting about karma just seemed a bit unncessary and not that funny, like, not funny enough to keep in?? but then it became clear at least why they had the interaction with wajeed, bc he came back later...

the phone call with jared! ... JARED’S EMOJI LMAO they were so hilariously fucking awkward of course i love them

THE PHONE CALL where he tells richard that gavin swooped in and bought gwart’s company when he heard she had good tech... YOU GO JARED. i mean. yeah he’s being a dick in this. but considering the buddy fucker thing and richard still not actually fucking apologising lmao (i know he has a lot on his plate! but come the fuck on, he had the chance!!) i .. don’t feel that bad for richard. and it’s like, this is the umpteenth time that richard has accidentally (via carelessness) screwed something over and all the other times jared’s not said a single bad thing about him (even with hoolicon, he objected to what they were doing, there was no attack on richard personally) ... so it makes sense and is totally understandable that it all came out now.

honestly i felt a bit vindicated by jared telling richard off, i mean, he deserved it. he did know that gavin’s a monster. and him getting called buddy fucker after relentlessly calling jared that after he was told/asked not to ... yeah.

LOOK i’m still not condoning jared breaking down a door and shooting him with a bb gun! because holy shit that’s fucking nuts.

but the buddy fucker thing? yeah look i don’t feel too bad for richard here.

FINDING OUT THEY CAN BUY HOOLI HOLY FUCKING SHIT I FUCKING LOVED THIS STORYLINE SO FUCKING MUCH OH MY GOD

MONICA GESTURING WORDLESSLY OUT THE WINDOW AND THEN WE SEE JARED IN SUNGLASSES PURPOSELY MARCHING INTO PIED PIPER LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING B.A.M.F. HOLY SMOKES

hooli smokes teehee

ALKSDJFLKSDFJLKGD i LOVE that he came up with this ingenious way to save pied piper and speaking of which i know jared says it’s not for pied piper, it’s for gwart so she can be free again -- i wonder how much of that is true? i ........... look i don’t buy that he truly didn’t do it AT ALL for pied piper. i think jared tells himself and maybe truly believes he did it solely for gwart but i think really he did it at least PARTLY for pied piper and richard. right??? that’s what i think.

oh my god jared keeping the sunglasses on presumably bc he can’t bear to make eye contact with richard in case he breaks down?? emotionally breaking down into sads, or flying into a mad rage? both are sad as fuck. or is it just because he’s so mad he doesn’t want to look him directly in the eye? also ouch.

THE DECISION TO BUY HOOLI WHILE GAVIN’S DOING HIS TRIATHLON HAHAH MOTHERFUCKER I LOVE IT it’s dirty as hell but you know what? i don’t care because gavin’s a fucking asshole like, even just looking at how he tried to sue piped piper, just from that i would ... like... i wouldn’t judge richard for fucking him over. and that’s just ONE thing he’s done! there’s also when he tried to steal pied piper at the end of season 5, and the fact that he’s a verbally abusive asshole, etc. etc.

FUCK THE FUCKER

but yeah oh my it was so evil but because it was pied piper doing it to gavin ........ it was very enjoyable. deliciously so.

oh man i feel bad for wajeed getting fucked over by dinesh. i........... sure hope dinesh makes it up to him somehow. i don’t think canonically that’s gonna happen (definitely not on screen!) but my headcanon is that at some point down the line maybe, when pied piper is successful and healthy again, dinesh pays wajeed back all the money he fucked him out of and wajeed forgives him eventually ................ yeah

didn’t expect to care this much about wajeed!

of course gavin would fake the triathlon. of course.

E-SIGNATURES! PAPER CONTRACTS! that’s why the e-signature thing was mentioned in 6.02!! at least i hope that’s why, i hope they’re not gonna do a thing later on when someone disastrously accidentally signs something ... or at least i hope it doesn’t cause irresolvable-by-series-end consequences lmao

HAHAH OMG THE RACE!! I LOVED IT!!!!!

how technologically plausible is it that gilfoyle hacked into the watches? from my hilariously unqualified opinion ... i think it seems okay. more plausible than some of the other stuff this show’s had at least. so it’s nice seeing something that doesn’t require as much suspension of disbelief.

GOD IT WAS SO TENSE WHEN THE DUDE WAS READING THE CONTRACTS

god I LOVED monica’s line ‘you’re really gonna let a woman tell you what to do?’ GENIUS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING GENIUS SHE IS AMAZING YAAAAS and it was such a short scene with such an efficient laugh, no BS, etc. LOVED IT

WHEN HE WAS READING THE CONTRACTS. MOTHER FUCKER. I was sitting here literally with my hands clasped over my mouth because it was SO. TENSE.

gavin bursting in! oh nooo!

but the time already elapsing!! YES!!

JARED ANNOUNCING IT AND SMILING FOR THE FIRST TIME ALL EPISODE HOLY SHIT

AND RICHARD SEEING HIM SMILING AND SMILING BACK!! given his speech at the end, i’m pretty confident in saying he was partly smiling for pied piper and PARTLY BECAUSE HE SAW JARED SMILING AND WAS PLEASED TO SHARE JUST A SCRAP OF CAMARADERIE WITH HIM AGAIN!!!!!!! FUCK!!!

AND THE WAY JARED QUICKLY UNSMILES!! FUCK FUCK FUCK!

i thought maybe what would happen is that gavin’s speech about being terrible would make the guy even more sure he’d sell to pied piper

then dinesh’s speech made me be like ...........uhhhhhh........

(omg fuck dinesh amirite!! what a clown!)

(A TRULY TERRIBLE MAN)

(AMAZING)

(tERRIBLE)

and when the guy said ‘i don’t want to be in business with any of you’ for a moment i just panicked and thought he wouldn’t sign?

BUT HE DID HURRAYYYYY

THEY BOUGHT HOOLI!

I’M SO FUCKING HAPPY !!!!!

i swear to god there was one moment in that after gavin and the guy had left, when everyone was happy, richard turned to jared and I SWEAR for a SINGLE SPLIT SECOND i LEGITIMATELY thought they would kiss!! because fuck these two have been played SO HARD as potential romantic counterparts!! fuCK THIS!!!!

and then the speech!

FINALLY!

RICHARD TRIES TO MAKE UP FOR BEING A DICK

APOLOGISES

YES

GOOD

and he didn’t say anything fucked up either! was nice about gwart, offered jared and gwart office space in pied piper (didn’t even try to get jared back! has accepted jared going to gwart!)

(btw i feel iffy about jared’s seemingly ironclad devotion to gwart. seems a bit BS to throw away years with richard to be with this person he doesn’t know. and to talk about loyalty. i don’t like it. seems to me like gwart is his REBOUND. SUCH. A. REBOUND. he’s using her as a substitute richard, using her as an excuse to keep stonewalling richard, as a distraction from his PAIN involving richard........... yeah that’s what it look slike to me)

IT WAS GOOD

HE SAID HE MISSED HIM

FUCK YEAH

FUCK FUCK FUCK

YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS FOR IDIOTS LIKE RICHARD (and a lot of men probably due to society) TO SAY THAT HE MISSES SOMEONE? not that he deserves congrats for this, but GOD IT WAS SATISFYING. AND MADE ME MELT A BIT.

AND JARED’S SINGLE FUCKING TEAR AS HE LIES THROUGH HIS FUCKING TEETH AND SAYS HE DOESN’T CARE OH MY GOD SLAY ME

JUST RUN A FLUTE-SHAPED SWORD THROUGH MY FUCKING HEART OH MY GOD

THERE BETTER BE A GOOD PAYOFF FOR THEM I SWEAR OH MY GOD

I’M SO FUCKING HYPE THIS WAS SUCH A FANTASTIC EPISODE I LOVED IT

#sv s6 #sv s6 spoilers #spoilers #silicon valley spoilers #precipitation #my sv text posts #rain watches sv s6

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paladin-andric · 5 years ago

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11/11/11 Tag

Thanks to @corishadowfang�� for the tag! Sorry this took so long but I’ve been pretty shot the past couple days.

Rules: Answer the eleven questions, make eleven of your own, then tag eleven people.

1. Do you have a WIP for NaNo? If so, what’s it about?

Sort of? I’m not really doing Nano officially, but I’m trying very hard to wrap up Blackheart this month.

2. Are there any things you’d really like to write about that you haven’t had the chance to yet?

I’ve got a story about dragons invading late medieval Europe on the backburner. It features actual historical figures that were in power at the time, like famous Polish King Casimir the Great, Pope Innocent VI, and more! Some events change due to the dragons’ invasion, like the massive war ending a power struggle in the Holy Roman Empire and ensuring Louis V, son of the previous emperor ascends to rulership, where as in our timeline he lost out to Charles VI and ended up being the Duke of Bavaria. In this story most of Europe is destroyed and the survivors flee to the Byzantine Empire, which intends to make a stand at Constantinople. The son of the dragons’ leader spends a large portion of the story being held captive in Constantinople, and is interrogated and persuaded throughout the story.

3. Plotter, pantser, or plantser?

Plantser, I guess? I plan the framework, and sometimes I have a scene I really want to make a certain way, but for the most part it’s touch and go.

4. What is your favorite part of the writing process?

The creative process. Just daydreaming about all sorts of scenes and scenarios is incredibly fun. When it comes time to put it to paper though it gets tougher.

5. What does your editing process look like?

Spellcheck and extension. I usually write a scene haphazardly and then add more dialogue and descriptions when I return.

6. Is there a scene in your WIP you’re particularly proud of? Share it!

This scene in the chapter “Field of Dreams” chapter of Blackheart, it’s my favorite chapter in the book honestly. As a prelude, how this works in Blackheart is that demons capture people and turn them into mindless beasts. Earlier on, a paladin runs into a corrupted birdwoman as he journeys through the city. He goes to kill it like all the others, but when she starts begging for help he realizes the survivor is still clinging on deep in there. He tries to bring her somewhere safe to perform a purity ritual to save her. She struggles and eventually is overcome by the corruption. The last thing she remembers before waking up in darkness is the paladin choking her as she begged for mercy.

Fianna suddenly found herself standing in nothingness. All around her, terror filled the air.

Voices of the damned screamed at her, dark visages stared from afar and corpses and flames littered the expanse.

Other corrupted lurched forward, hobbling toward her, screaming and howling as they closed in. The darkness had come to claim her at last.

She could only cower in as absolute fear gripped her heart. This really was it.

The crowd latched onto her, dozens of unholy beasts dragging her into the ground. She could feel herself falling, sinking into nothing as her soul was trapped in the nothingness.

Just as she felt her head begin to sink under, to join her body in eternal torment, a loud noise brought everything to a halt.

The beasts dragging her to the abyss suddenly paused, turning away and looking up. She too joined them in staring up into the blackness.

The sky flashed a bright white, the corrupted monsters, in unison, all crumbled away. They simply fell apart into nothing at all, scattering to the wind and leaving Fianna alone.

The screams let out a loud unified wail before the blackness, all around her, flashed wildly, vibrant colors flowing through the air and filling the void with light.

She felt numb for a moment as she found herself no longer sinking. The koutu clenched her talons as she lay on the ground, panting and heaving.

"Fianna."

Dozens of voices filled the air. Unlike the screams of the damned, these voices were clear, coherent, and sweet as honey.

She looked up, and all around her, as the void pulsed with light and color...figures surrounded her.

They were familiar. All of them.

Her family.

Her friends.

Everyone she could ever remember meeting.

One of the figures stepped forward.

She was a tall and graceful koutu, every step dignified, her eyes full of warmth and love. Her feathers were patterned the same as Fianna's...

Her feathers...?

She looked down.

The jet black feathers were changing, warping.

The blackness seemed to almost...bleed away, the feathers beginning to glow with color in the middle, expanding outwards until the blackness was a simple lining at the ends of each feather.

Soon, that tiny bit of blackness bled away, and her feathers were her own again. Her midsection was a bright and beautiful orange, while the rest of her was mainly a deep, vibrant blue.

Just like she remembered.

She looked back up at the other koutu, whose coloration and shape was the same as her own.

"Sister..." Fianna said breathlessly.

"You are free," she spoke softly.

"B-but, the demons, you were-"

"I know," her sister assured her, "I know. I am no longer here...but even though I am not here...I will always be HERE."

She pressed her hand against Fianna's chest...over her heart.

Fianna could feel herself crying again.

She reached out and embraced her sister. The older koutu returned the gesture, the two of them kneeling and hugging each other tightly.

They sat in silence like this for quite some time.

For the first time since the attack, Fianna felt alive...even though she had the sneaking suspicion she wasn't.

The paladin was right. This was better. She was thankful.

The nightmare was over.

"I missed you so much," Fianna said, her face damp with tears.

"I missed you too."

"I'm so happy we're together again."

Her sister was silent for a moment.

"...you know you're not dead, right?"

Fianna blinked.

"W-what?"

"You have to go back."

The koutu's eyes widened as comprehension dawned on her. "N-no, no!"

"I'm sorry," her sister said quietly, "I know you don't want to."

"Sister, please..."

"I can't control it, Fianna. It's your life, not mine."

"T-than how are you-"

"Because this isn't real."

Fianna's heart sank.

She was in her own imagination, dreaming about being with her family again, rather than actually being reunited.

Her grip tightened on his sister, who looked at her curiously.

"Fianna?"

"I don't want to let go..."

"Trust me, I understand," she answered quietly. For the first time, her voice too was filled with pain. "I want to be together too."

"I-I just...want it to be over."

"You have to get through this," her sister spoke, "Please. Don't end up like me."

Fianna couldn't believe this was happening.

"I want you to live. Can you do that? Please. I've been watching you, you know. I know how hard it's been...but you've come so far. You're so nearly there. Just a little more. Please...you have to hold on, okay?"

Fianna nodded.

"O-okay...okay, I'll do my best."

The two sisters looked up and stared at one another.

"I'll keep watching you. I know you can do it. Be good for me, alright?"

"O-okay."

"I'll be waiting for you, someday."

With that, everything faded away once again.

7. Is there an author that inspires you a lot?

I wouldn’t say particularly. I like certain books but I don’t really “follow” anyone like that...well, maybe some of the other writers on here.

8. Do you do anything to prepare yourself to start writing?

Put on some music and grab a drink.

9. What’s your favorite type of villain to write? To read about?

Villains that you love to hate. After so many ““““sympathetic”””” villains (this mass murderer got bullied by people that have nothing to do with who he’s killing, he’s justified!), it’s nice to have a villain that’s just plain evil and knows it. Someone that’s so shamelessly bad that you’re just dying for the heroes to give em’ his comeuppance. Also, villains and antagonists can be very different. Someone like The Boss from MGS3 is an antagonist, but she could hardly be called a villain. Sympathetic antagonists are a lot easier to root for than someone that’s out and out a bad guy.

10. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received on your work?

Probably either @lady-redshield-writes or @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword. They’ve both said so many great things I can’t even begin to remember all the nice stuff they’ve said.

11. What are your characters’ favorite animals?

Considering his shield and family crest, Alexander’s is probably the eagle. Leianna likes dogs. Lexius and Senci both like cats.

My questions:

1. Do you make steady progress in writing or work in short bursts?

2. What’s your favorite character archetype?

3. Favorite fictional hero? (Can be from any media) Has that character influenced any of your own?

4. What sort of scenes do you struggle most with? (Fights, group conversations, etc.)

5. What time period do you find yourself writing the most of?

6. Do you enjoy music, background noise or silence while writing?

7. Where’s your favorite writing spot?

8. Do you like people reading along as you write, or do you want people to wait til’ it’s all edited and done?

9. Share a random hobby besides writing!

10. If you could have your cast from your story visit another time or world, real or fictional, where would it be?

11. Have any of your characters changed or developed drastically since they were first created?

Tagging @lady-redshield-writes, @homesteadchronicles, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @candy687, @ashesconstellation. Joining in, as always, is completely up to you.

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rainbowguardassemble · 6 years ago

Note

Here is a good Meta on Renly just messaging you because it wasn't tagged - joannalannister(.)tumblr(.) com/post/182019038016/renly-baratheon-seems-like-a-rather-sad-figure-to

First of all, it’s a post I and a lot of my fellow mods on the blog hadn’t seen before, so thank you for bringing it to our attention - new Renly content is after all what we’re here for, and we welcome all sorts of creations from fans everywhere!

Secondly, hi! Mod Felix - bpdrenly - responding here with a few thoughts on the post you’ve recommended. Obviously I am responding with my own thoughts and opinions only, and I welcome input not only from my fellow mods but also followers of the rainbowguardassemble blog and fans everywhere. (Please keep us company! It can be so lonely in this little corner of the internet!)

A quick disclaimer however: whilst I am in no way attacking OP for the post, I have to admit that the disclaimer at the start of the post about ‘Yes, I know he’s x, y and z ‘bad things’’ doesn’t sit all that well with me. Having empathy, or even just sympathy, for someone - fictional or not - doesn’t require a disclaimer. Own those feelings! It’s okay! And let’s be honest, especially when next to people like Tywin, Ramsay, the Mountain, etc... Renly is not a bad person.

Renly’s a fascinating character, and the point OP has raised about how the relationship between he and Stannis must have been influenced by and has evolved since the Siege of Storm’s End is an interesting one. I personally have given a lot of thought to Renly’s childhood and young years, especially because we are given very little detail about it in the canon and never from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, as Renly is not a pov character. The description of him as starved for attention, starved for love is particularly striking and, i think, apt. Renly’s behaviour in the ASOIAF canon i think does demonstrate this point beautifully. Maester Cressen’s anecdote from the ACOK prologue, ‘the bold little boy with wild black hair and laughing green eyes was a man grown now […] ‘look at me, i’m a king”, portrays him as a small child who acts out imaginatively to get that attention.

I work with children, and although I’m not by any stretch of the imagination a child psychologist or an expert on kids’ behaviour and the hows and whys, I can speak from experience to say that when children say ‘look at me, look at me’ enough for it to be an abiding memory you have of them… they are starving for attention. I look after a little boy (K) who constantly shows you what he’s doing, asks you to come and play with him, wants to know what you’re up to and can he join in and is it okay if he…? and it’s because he’s in every single day of the working week, from 10am to 6pm, and he just doesn’t get that attention at home. I’ve seen him present pictures he’s spent a lot of time and effort on to his mother only to have her glance at, outright refuse to look at, or even deposit them in the recycling outside the nursery. Children need validation, affection and support from parental and familial figures in their lives, and when they don’t get it, they search for it everywhere else they possibly can. Which, yes, is actually very sad to see. I love K to distraction, but the lack of attention he gets at home means he also acts out at nursery and isn’t as socially adept as his peers - which again, I think probably strikes true for Renly as well. He’s a pro at affecting masks and hiding his true feelings, which can make him come across as callous and unfeeling - perhaps the reason for OP having described him as ‘a dick’.

I’m not saying Renly is a saint. There are definite negative aspects to his character, including the level of attention-seeking he goes to. Stannis is correct when he says that he has the stronger claim to the throne, being the next eldest son of the current ruling family and therefore above not only Renly but Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen who are technically Robert’s stepchildren.

For me, the situation is reminiscent of the Anarchy, a civil war of succession between Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda following the death of William the Conqueror. Ignoring Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen (as we all know that they’re not blood relations of Robert), the line of succession would pass first to the next eldest blood relative of the most recent ruler, which would be Stannis, and then to Renly. Obviously things like fitness to rule would have to be taken into account - infirmity of mental and physical health, for example, or ‘moral infirmity’ (such as, for example… incest) - but as an able man of sound mind and of an age to rule alone, Stannis is the prime candidate to become the next king. I’m sure anyone who has younger siblings will agree with me that there’s nothing more infuriating than a younger sibling being given precedence or preferential treatment, and Stannis has already had a long-standing grudge against Renly for having received dominion over the Stormlands and residence in Storm’s End, the Baratheon family seat and hereditary lands, whilst he gets Dragonstone. It’s a long story and one that’s been done to death in meta, so I’m not going to rehash it here, but suffice to say that the way I’ve always personally read the relationship between Stannis and Renly is a long-suffering and bitter older brother resenting his younger brother for essentially being given what was ‘mine by rights’ (ACOK Catelyn III).

Speaking about the siege and the effect it had on Renly, and on his relationship with his brothers, I would agree with OP that it must have had a profound and lasting effect. OP says he is starved for food; undeniably, the castle at Storm’s End spends a year under siege ‘surviving on rats and boot leather’ (AGOT Eddard VI) and would certainly be empty of food long before said siege was broken, to the point where they are almost forced to resort to cannibalism: ‘Maester Cressen told Stannis we might be forced to eat our dead, and there was no gain in flinging away good meat’ (ACOK Catelyn IV). Renly, being Renly, is being pretty flippant about it, making a joke - but even sixteen+ years later, he remembers that they were almost ‘reduced to dining on corpses’ (ACOK Catelyn IV). That would have been a deeply psychologically scarring experience to have had to even think about, let alone have it be a distinct possibility. A small child, looking over the parapet of a castle under siege, who has been forced to eat rats and boot leather for god knows how long in the attempt to survive said siege, is going to be desperate to join the amassed ranks of banqueting, feasting enemies outside his door. He’s a child. He doesn’t understand why he can’t go out there and eat with them, and I think it’s highly unlikely that stannis would have bothered to explain all of the intricate details of how and why they were enemies and so out of bounds to a five-year-old child. All he sees is food, and his tummy is grumbling. Stannis, however - ever a pragmatist, and considerably wiser to the perils of war than his five-year-old brother - sees the bannermen and armies of a king who is known to be cruel to the point of madness, who will have been charged with taking the castle and obtaining it and its inhabitants’ surrender by any means necessary. He knows that if the Tyrells get hold of him, Renly, or Robert, who are all technically traitors to the crown, the penalty will be death. He would rather starve slowly, keeping himself and the rest of the people in the castle as safe as can be expected under the circumstances, and deny them the satisfaction. It’s a very brave thing to do (and I’m not in any way, shape or form a fan of Stannis).

The thing that must really grind Stannis’ gears (or his teeth!) about Renly… is that his brother probably doesn’t remember that. He doesn’t remember the green and gold being the symbol of the people who were threatening his life and withholding essential food and resources from him as a child. He sees Highgarden as it is in the summer of his life: practically a utopia, beautiful and wealthy and full of all the things Renly loves, from music to fruit to luxurious surroundings. Renly entirely allies himself with the Tyrells. as OP says, almost every time we meet him, he’s clad in green and/or gold:

‘a man near twenty whose armour was […] a deep forest-green’ (AGOT Sansa I)

‘the king’s green velvet tunic as well, worked in gold thread […] the Baratheon sigil in the colours of highgarden’ (ACOK Catelyn II)

‘his green velvet doublet […] a chain of gold and emeralds around his neck’ (ACOK Catelyn III)

‘green leather straps and […] golden buckles’ (ACOK Catelyn IV).

Even when he dies, Renly ‘stumble[s] […] a dark red tide that drown[s] his green and gold’ (ACOK Catelyn IV).

His chosen partner is a Tyrell, his wife is a Tyrell, the bankroll behind his claim to the throne and the army supporting him: ‘Tyrell swords will make me king’ (ACOK Catelyn IV).

And Renly adds insult to injury with the peach scene. he outright admits that the fruit is ‘from Highgarden’ (ACOK Catelyn III)’, just like the men making up his army, his queen, and his lover. ‘You’ve never tasted anything so sweet’ (ACOK Catelyn III). He says, and I’m sure to Renly it’s true. I’m sure there’s a part of Renly that’s still the scared little boy seeing the bounty of Highgarden right outside the walls of his home and wanting desperately to be part of it. The Tyrells are not only Renly’s practically adoptive family, they’re his benefactors in more ways than one. His fortunes and his destiny are inextricably linked with them and theirs. Renly has found love with the youngest son of their family, a boy who adores him so much he takes a vow of chastity at sixteen years old because ‘when the sun has set, no candle can replace it’ (ASOS 1 Tyrion II), a vow that mirrors Jaime Lannister giving up Casterly Rock and all of the Lannister fortune and power for love. OP asserts that Renly was starving for love as much as he was for food; Stannis was a dutiful, not a loving, brother, and Robert was not only absent but openly preferred the company of Ned, who is almost an adopted brother to him, to that of his actual blood siblings. Is it any wonder that, when Loras offers him his heart, he takes it with both hands, no matter how it infuriates Stannis?

to cut this long and rambling essay down to the thrust of it:

Renly is, as OP says, starving for love and attention above all, because as a child he didn’t get any of that from anyone in his family. He’s damaged, traumatised, and dealing with that the best way he can. I personally am very drawn to him because i can identify strongly with that aspect of his character (my url is bpdrenly because i headcanon him as being a bpd sufferer too, and I have another meta about why I feel that that fits his character here). His was the type of childhood you see written about in those Cathy Glass books about neglected kids in the foster system in bookshops. My heart honestly breaks for him. Yes, he says and does some cruel things. No, he probably would not have been a good king, even if he had been given the chance. But he’s a complex and incredibly interesting character who it is my deepest regret - and also deepest joy - that we don’t get to have even one pov chapter for. I love him, which is why i joined the rainbowguardassemble mod team. We’re all fans of Renly, and that’s why we’re here.

#renly baratheon #bpdrenly #meta #anonymous #ravens for the king #ASoIaF #asoiaf fandom #asoiaf meta

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firstpuffin · 6 years ago

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Childhood reading: Redwall

When I was growing up I read a lot, like that’s all I did for long periods of time levels of a lot. Heck, I had a different book in each room of the house so I could put one down and pick up another. I don’t know why; I was a weird kid. But while I didn’t read books like Harry Potter or Skullduggery Pleasant (the latter of which seems quite popular but was published a bit too late for me), the books that I did read were pretty much my entire life and most definitely shaped me into who I am and there was one particular series that I thank for that.

I adored the Redwall series, written by Brian Jacques up until his death in 2011; he consistently wrote this series on an almost yearly basis from 1986 until he sadly passed away. I must have stopped reading around 2005-6, and was recently very pleased to discover four more books that I never read, nor knew existed, assuming at the time that the series had been long completed. I say recently because upon realising that I want to write children’s fiction, I decided to revisit the stories from my youth. Earlier youth? I’m still pretty young.

The series follows the history of Redwall abbey, a place of peace and prosperity. Every character in the series is an anthropomorphic animal along the lines of mice, otters, hedgehogs and squirrels, amongst more; these are usually the good guys and are often referred to as “woodland creatures”. This is important as there are also animals such as foxes, stoats, weasels and more that are called “vermin” and play the role of the antagonists. Despite being based around an abbey there is little to no religion within the world, except maybe for a high level of reverence towards the mouse patriarch Martin the Warrior and his sword, which could be similar to that of King Arthur. There is a lot of interesting terminology within the Redwall world, with characters saying “beast” (such as everybeast, somebeast, etc), the young abbeybabes are referred to as Dibbuns; Bloodwrath is a reoccurring term, usually in relation to a badger and is a sort of affliction that sends a beast into a rage where they are immune to pain and unaware of damage as they focus solely on their target. These words are always made clear and so there is little room for confusion.

The ghost of Martin is a constant in the series where he appears in dreams to guide the characters through hard times. He often provides ambiguous clues to assist in whatever puzzle the story needs solving, puzzles and riddles and such being a common and engaging part of the stories. As this would suggest, there is a certain amount of supernatural within the stories, with seers foretelling the future and prophesies to be fulfilled; there is even a legend of a particularly skilled warrior who is said to be born every now and again, marked by a pink flower birthmark and who is called the “Taggerung”.

I read all of the books that I could get my grubby little paws on, which is probably all of them that were released up until high-school where I got a bit distracted from reading novels. They were such an integral part of my life that I was shocked to discover that my classmates in the university creative writing course hadn’t even heard of the series outside of the, apparently quite bad, short-lived cartoon. The only other person who I found had read any was one of my lecturers. I was aghast, so in the hope of spreading the word about this series I am writing this.

Now, one of my lecturers taught us about the, to put it politely, the faeces sandwich method of critiquing someone’s work. You say something nice, say the bad stuff and follow that up with some more positive; I like to add that if you can then try and suggest how to improve on the criticisms, even if it’s just how you would do so, then go ahead. If you can’t take criticism then don’t create. I figure that I’ve praised the series already so I’m going to bring up my criticisms here and go into the rest of the article positively.

One issue that I remember being aware of even in my youth is the timeline of each individual story as well as them put together. Presumably due to animals shorter lifespans, Mr Jacques doesn’t work with years but with seasons which is in and of itself fine. The problem is that in any one story, the time isn’t always realistic; it can be less than a season and yet a character will learn years worth of skills, mature physically or emotionally by at least half a year or events may simply not match up with other events. One character learns to fix a stutter within a day or two or practicing (Broggle, The Taggerung, 2001); within less than a season another character goes from useless and untrained in weapons, to throwing a dirk with greater skill than those who have been throwing and such long before he was born (Tammo, The Long Patrol, 1997).

Add to that, badgers live an unspecified amount of time longer than the other creatures; I don’t know much about animal lifespans but one badger can live for multiple generations of, say, mice. But because of this longevity, events that involve generations of badgers will sometimes throw a spanner into the clockwork of the world (See the badgers: Brocktree, Boar, Bella and Sunflash).

Another complaint is one that may not be noticed by children: characters are very much recycled. The events of much of the series could in all honesty be done with the characters of the first book; many characters are inanely cheerful, they are all gluttons and all love poetry and rhymes. The villains are always impulsive and ruthless to their own subordinates, not a one of them thinking of controlling them via a less violent yet just as evil means. Every! Single! Hare is the same, except for one; male or female, they are greedy, reckless and brave and all, except the aforementioned one, talk like a stereotypical 1900’s Brit on drugs (wot wot old chap and all that tosh).

Yet, and despite the length with which I have gone on about them, these complaints are minor. The stories themselves are generally solid, and although the growth may happen at an absurd rate, the characters do develop; there is always a puzzle to be solved and an enemy to defeat. I was concerned for a while that the world was a little too black and white with vermin always being straight-up evil and the other characters noble and brave, which could easily be seen as a form of biological racism (as in “this race is biologically evil”), yet there have been books where this has been turned on its head: The Bellmaker (1994) has a searat (basically a pirate and rats are always bad) who is taken in by the abbey and cared for by the reluctant creatures who are uncomfortable having “vermin” around yet are compelled by their sense of duty to help. After this rat’s captain kills one of the residents, the rat is furious at his actions towards the kind folk and kills his own captain and returns that which he stole to the abbey. It is a clear tale of how the right circumstances can allow a bad person to redeem himself.

Another positive is the frequent presence of capable female characters. It is popular these days to talk of “strong” females, yet I personally believe that this gives people the wrong impression of what it takes to be a decent character, male or female, and so I choose to say “capable” in place of “strong”. While this is a personal preference, I also believe that it is more accurate about the characters within this series. Yes, there are females who break down in fear but there are many examples, such as the disabled Martha Braebuck who is also that unique hare that I mentioned, who will take command when others are fretting (Loamhedge, 2003). Another character who has been a personal favourite from childhood is Mariel Gullwhacker (Mariel of Redwall, 1991) who survives being washed up on a beach with no memory and who finds her way to safety and eventually seeks out revenge on the searat Gabool. For two books she actively follows her own path and fights with nothing but a knotted piece of rope. These are just two examples of different capable female characters, one who fights and one who leads, out of many possible examples.

This next point could be either good or bad, depending on your preferences in fiction, yet I personally feel it is good for children’s books to cover, and that is death. It doesn’t happen in every book but it is not too unusual for Mr Jacques to build up a likable character or two, only to have them die in some noble fashion, or in one case to die “off-screen” or whatever the written equivalent is. Despite my own childhood reaction to this, being avoiding certain books that broke my heart (no spoilers), I currently believe that this is a positive thing to have in children’s fiction. It’s too easy to avoid anything like death when dealing with children, but that is an unhealthy attitude to have. The Redwall series is especially good in this regard as not only do likable main characters die, but it is not too unusual for a character to deal with shock and guilt after killing, reinforcing the value of lives, even those of “vermin”.

I would like to round things up with some of my personal favourites from the series. The already mentioned “The Long Patrol” was a favourite up until the time when I stopped reading so much: young Tammo (full name Tamello De Fformelo Tussock, pretty typical for hares) is unable to stay at home as tensions between himself and his father rise and his mother recruits her old friend to take Tammo to join the Long Patrol, a legendary army of hares. What should have been a peaceful enough trip was interrupted when the vermin horde, lead by Damug Warfang, start moving across the land and Tammo happens to meet up with a small scout group of Long Patrol hares. They join the peaceful Redwall abbey in their attempts to stop the horde before they reach the abbey, temporarily vulnerable after a collapsed wall leaves them open to attack.

I’m not entirely sure why I enjoyed this story so much; maybe it was Damug’s unique sword as well as Tammo’s dirk, my first introduction to that weapon. Maybe it was the badger warrior Lady Cregga Rose-Eyes who spends most of her time lost to the Bloodwrath and runs around as a near-unstoppable juggernaut. I can’t say as I wasn’t quite so keen upon revisiting it, yet I will likely always hold fond memories of it.

My next entry is another already mentioned story, Mariel of Redwall. Sure, the amnesia trope might be a bit overused yet I’ll forgive that for anything published before 1990. Mariel is captured by searat king Gabool the Wild and forced to be a slave until she is cast into the sea. She wakes up parched, forgetful and with only a knotted rope to her name. She struggles onwards, hearing of Redwall and making her way there, usually alone but occasionally meeting friendly travellers and facing threats with only her rope. She eventually reaches Redwall abbey, regains her memory and sets out to get her revenge and to rescue her father.

This entry to the series is an engaging story and I really like the character of Mariel, as well as her name. She is a determined and active character who goes through a lot of adversity and comes out the other side better for it. Gabool the Wild is also a typical example of a Redwall villain: while not all antagonists follow this pattern it’s not at all unusual for them to slowly go insane, losing sleep, not eating and failing to keep the loyalty of their subordinates. This is particularly good because in a one-on-one fight, Mariel isn’t an experienced enough fighter to beat a warlord, yet due to his strained mind, mutinous crew and tactics, the reader believes that she can succeed.

My final entry is a tough one to choose, yet I’m going with Mossflower (1988) for it tells of the conflict that brought about the titular Redwall abbey. There are other books that tell the origin of Martin the Warrior, though Mossflower details his arrival in Mossflower country and how he joins the rebellion of the woodland creatures against the tyranny of wildcat royalty. Martin and a couple of friends are sent to find the badger lord Boar, who could lead them to victory. Instead, Boar forges Martin a new sword from a meteorite and has them return. Martin’s new sword is a constant throughout the series: unbreakable, forever sharp and able to cut through most things with relative ease, it develops a legend of its own and is eventually thought of to be magic. After Martin inevitably prevails, they all start building their new home: Redwall abbey.

I chose this one for the final for it tells of the story behind many reoccurring elements within the story: Martin, his sword, Loamhedge and of course Redwall abbey itself amongst more. It is also a good story.

#redwall #children's literature #opinion #books #first puffin

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pahxro-blog · 7 years ago

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Sasaya Saya // RP Connections

Sasaya Saya is, by the accounts of most people, your average soldier. Not much really going on in her life outside of what she’s done for the cause of others. Of course she has her own dreams and aspirations but all of those have fallen to the wayside especially with the recent unrest caused by the machinations of The Syndicate against the Sultana. Though time has passed since then and things have, for once, settled in regards to the inner circle of Ul’dah’s higher-ups which has inadvertently given Sasaya leeway to do more of what she pleases.

What exactly is it that she wants? It’s hard to know for sure. Even she’s not entirely sure what she wants out of life. Doesn’t mean she’s going to give up an opportunity to chase that dream, whatever it turns out to be.

Basics .

Name :: Sasaya Saya (ササヤサヤ) Gender :: Female Age :: 34 Race :: Lalafell (Dunesfolk) Birthplace :: Thanalan Relationship/Martial Status :: Single Sexuality :: Pansexual Occupation :: Member of the Immortal Flames’ Free Brigade, Adventurer

Appearance .

Hair :: Short, brown, clean-cut Skin :: Tan, rough Eyes :: Amber Height :: 3.0ft (91cm) Markings (scars, tattoos etc.) :: Starting from the undersides of her arms, Sasaya’s form is lined with an immeasurable number of scars. The most prominent of these are three long, blade-like scars that wrap around her back and curl towards her midsection, not unlike tiger stripes. Form :: Pear shaped, slightly muscular

Personality .

Social :: Sasaya understands the importance of a good first impression and tries to carry herself with an air of hospitality amongst those she believes are new to Ul’dah. However, with those she’s seen around the block, particularly those with a sizable sum of gil to their name, she can come off as aloof and dismissive, more interested in her own business than trying to exchange pleasantries with those she believes are more interested in their own. Despite this, she’s wary of jumping to conclusions and endeavors to give everyone a fair chance regardless of what their background may be. Positive Traits :: Loyal, Confident, Self-sacrificing Negative Traits :: Wrathful, Vengeful, Cynical Misc. Quirks :: Has a piercing, almost predatory gaze that unnerves the weak-hearted. Religion/Philosophy :: Devoted to Nald’Thal, The Traders. Likes :: Singing, dim lighting, weapons Dislikes :: Monetarists, rain, fish

RP Hooks .

“ Every adventurer could use an extra sword by their side. “ To say that adventurers are in no shortage in Ul’dah is like saying you’re likely to get dust kicked into your face at Pearl Lane. Some of these adventurers may also be looking for a helping hand, whether that be for levequests or otherwise. Regardless of what it is, if it’s a sword they need then Sasaya is pretty capable in that department.

“ There are eyes everywhere, but that doesn’t mean I’m above spitting in the face of the aristocracy. “ While being fiercely loyal to her home, Sasaya still has some apprehensions about how things are currently being run. Is she ready to start a full-scale rebellion against the corrupt? Not really. Doesn’t mean she won’t vocally complain about it however.

“ Lost you say? Well if you need a guide... “ Living in Thanalan for all of her life she knows the land like the back of her hand. Her hands are about as dusty and cracked as the land too. She’s more than willing to show those lost on their way to Ul’dah where exactly they need to head (and also steer them clear of any bandits or beastkin.)

“ A rough blade guided by a song of fire. “ Despite her very involved way of living she’s managed to devote some time to personal, more effeminate hobbies. Talk of her vocal talents isn’t exactly high-profile but she can sing with the best of them. In line with her brutish and rugged appearance she has a powerful, robust voice. She occasionally makes showings outside of Ul’dah to showcase this talent, but her work within the city does come first.

OOC.

Server :: Balmung Timezone :: GMT/BST (my sleep schedule is everywhere so take this with a grain of salt.) Experience :: 5 years of Tumblr RP experience, a little over 8 years of text client RP. Preference is paragraph-style but I don’t mind either way.

I WILL Play :: More mature themes as that can fall in line with Sasaya’s general plot. This would include things like darker subjects, gore etc. Obviously these wouldn’t be things that I’d jumped into doing right away but they are subjects that wouldn’t be off the table for her. I MIGHT Play :: Romance-driven plots but those would only really come up after some serious development. Sasaya is over 18 so in a scenario where she is with a lalafellin lover then sex-related themes could pop up? This isn’t something I’m particularly looking for though but if it comes up I wouldn’t be opposed to it. I WON’T Play :: Permanent death plots, one-off smut RP or anyone who’s an IRL minor. These are things that I’m just kind of not OK with doing for personal reasons. (Permanent death kinda falls on the line of “I might do it” but it’s even more unlikely than romance stuff.)

Looking for :: Short term/long term RP (either in-game or other means of RP). In terms of concrete, long term plots I’m not looking for anything in particular? Sasaya is a character I wrote with express intention of fitting into a larger scheme because more of her story is personal than anything. That doesn’t mean focus couldn’t shift to her if temporary but again it wouldn’t be a major focus. Basically if you need an extra sword-arm, a drinking buddy or a foil in the plot of a corrupt aristocrat she’s most suited for those kind of things.

Contact Info.

In game :: Sasaya Saya Discord :: Kenzie#6750 Tumblr IMs works too!

#ffxiv #final fatasy 14 #sasaya saya #rp connections #fxiv rp

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bad0mens · 7 years ago

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Title: Soup of the Day - Pt. 2

Pairings: Fluri

Warnings: Cafe AU. Superhero AU. Silliness.

Description: Flynn is having trouble accepting Yuri’s secondary occupation as a superhero in the city of Zaphias and that dangers that it brings. He decides to take matters into his own hands to try and keep him safe just as a new adversary appears on the scene.

Authors’ Notes: I FUCKIING completely forgot to mention that this was a direct follow up to Blue Plate Special!! So reading that one first is important.

Disclaimer: Tales of Vesperia is the property of Namco Bandai.

When Sodia said more reports in regards to the graffiti of 'HAVOC', she hadn't been lying. All over town, the word have been plastered on many buildings, along with a slew of crude drawings. May buildings had their alarms go off in the night, bit none had been broken into and nothing was missing. The only thing they had to one was 'HAVOC' and something about it left a bad taste in Flynn's mouth.

Another thing that had him trouble was the sheer amount of trouble he encountered on his beat. He and Sodia were sent to investigate and document nearly half of the almost one hundred reports of vandalism that appeared over night. Between that and regular incidents like a few drunk and disorderly, a smattering of car accidents, and the like, the work was running him ragged. He hardly realized that until later though.

The next day, even more strange happenings occurred. the graffiti was gone, clean walls and windows left instead. The day after that, it was back in full force, the word 'HAVOC' in red paint this time, scrawled over buildings and overpasses and on every police cruiser. More alarms had been set off over night. People all over town complained of strange noises and bizarre sights of strange lights and figures in the streets. It was a full on crime wave.

But nothing terribly serious was happening. Graffiti and setting off alarms without actually breaking and entering were misdemeanors at best. But the patterns seemed to be worsening. It wasn't going to be long before a felony was committed and Flynn wasn't about to let it come to that.

He looked over his desk. it was normally so tidy, everything in its place, but no longer. The dark, laminated surface was marred with streaks of red spray paint and the contents of his in box upended all over the place. Even with all the chaos and the tell tale marks of 'Havoc' all over the desk, there were two items that stood out, as if carefully placed. The big red arrows of paint pointing to them were pretty obvious, too. Someone was trying to leave him a message.

He sat and opened the filed. They were full, papers neatly stacked of phone records, bank transactions, complete biographies, finger prints, and the histories of two of the city's wealthiest citizens: Regaey, the CEO of R Gate Corp, and Barbos, President of Alliance Industries.

Flynn shuffled through the files, pictures and records and newspaper clippings. One of the clippings on Regaey in particular on caught his eye and he found himself fumbling for his reading glasses.

'R Gate Corp CEO opens private collection to public.'

The article was dated almost a year before and detailed the exhibit of Regaey's normally private art and artifact collection. It went on to detail some of the priceless painting and sculptures, but the most interesting item mentioned was a large gem that was featured.

"Amid the famous pieces, there's one particularly curious clear diamond with and strange and sordid history. Known as 'The Star of Aselia'...."

He fumbled for the second file, rifling through the articles and photos. He had a hunch and when he found the articles, he had a feeling he was right. It was a less impressive story, an interior article unlike R Gate Corps front page.

'World famous Calegia Diamond purchased in auction by President of Alliance Industries.'

There were still pieces of the puzzle missing, but he kept milling through the files. There had to be something he was overlooking. He wasn't sure how many time he examined the contents of the folders before frustration took over and he snapped them closed. There was no good reason why they had been left on his desk in the first place. He tossed them unceremoniously into his inbox and started to collect the rest of the contents that had been there only a day before.

He shuffled a stack of form, tapping their edges even, when a slip slid out of the bottom. A photograph to be specific, and Flynn knew very well the person in the photograph. Yeager of Leviathan's Claw was the most notorious black market arms dealer in Zaphias. Flynn had been involved in the incident of his arrest a few months prior, and now, taking a second look at the man, he was curious. He flipped open one of the files again and was stunned.

Flynn should have realized it before. Someone should have realized it before, but it gave him an idea.

The R Gate Corp building was all glass and steel, a monument to capitalism, shining even in the darkness of the night. The neon sign at the top washed the sky in a warm red glow and save for a few solitary office and the dimness of backup lights, the building was dark and empty. It hadn't been spared the graffiti onslaught, the word 'Havoc' scrawled on every floor alongside the pictographs. Compared to others, this one seemed particularly singled out for the mess.

Flynn kept crouched behind a row of garbage dumpsters, the glass and gilded entrance within his sight. He had already been here an hour and a half, watching the employees file out and waiting and watching for any clue of his hunch.

He had worked stakeouts before, long and silent ones, but something about being here in his White Knight armor made this particularly thrilling. This was different and he could see what Yuri liked about this. But after an hour and a half of this, his legs were starting to hurt, a dull ache creeping up into his core. He didn't dare shift and give away his position, just in case someone would be lurking nearby.

It was another half hour before the ache was unbearable and he shifted just an inch. Settling back in, he heard the rattle of a can across pavement behind him.

Frozen fast a second, waiting for any further indication of movement, he held his breath. The can rattled again, as if kicked this time and rolled past him, footsteps following. Flynn finally turned his head just enough to peek out between the dumpsters.

Slinking down the street were a pair of Red Eyes, walking as casually as you please. The first kicked the can again.

"Man, cut it out. The Boss'll be pissed if you make too much noise."

"Are you telling me to 'can' it?"

The second hit the first with an elbow to his stomach.

"Where the hell are the others?"

"I dunno, but this gig is easy. This boss doesn't ask too much of us. Man, I hope Zagi doesn't get out any time soon. I sorta like working for Havoc."

"I know what you mean, dude. Not getting beaten up all the time, etc. Shouldn't they have been here by now?"

"I'm sure they're hanging around."

"I swear to god--"

A sudden, sharp sound cut the otherwise silent streets, and both Red Eyes stopped, raising their eyes. A split second later, they were rushing off down the street, swift and silent.

The R Gate building seemed to be their target. They deftly opened the door and scurried inside. Flynn wanted to go after them, but as two more descended from seemingly no where, he was left outnumbered and reminded himself that he had only come with the intention of watching. He needed to think all this through and observe before acting rashly. Besides, he still had no idea who was behind the scenes. The Red Eyes weren't working of their own accord and Zagi was definitely still in prison.

But he crept closer, quietly, to get a better look. The new pair went to work on the exterior of the building, scaling the walls and adding layers of paint. While they were at work, the other two returned, arms heavy laden with boxes. They stopped, staring up at the roof of the building that Flynn was crouched in the shadow of.

"This it, Boss?"

There was only silence. Flynn moved forward, squirming between the brick walls and the dumpster. If their leader was here, he wanted to chance a look at them. Even the slightest hint at their identity could be enough to tip the scales in his favor, and that would make all the difference. He couldn't rush into this.

He finally managed to get a view of the edge of the building between two dumpsters. The moon was just starting to come over the roof of the building, casting the figure that stood there in silhouette. The moon left an edge, glittering white around the figure otherwise clad in layers of darkness. The form was tall and lean, soft curves and sharp edges, but not feminine. One pale hand swept out, lines and the jagged edge of a sleeve illuminated by moonlight. At its slightest movements, the Red Eyes were on the move once more, but Flynn did not see them go. His sight was fixed on the dark mastermind, eyes groping through the darkness for the barest edge or defining shape that would give him the slightest clue about this person's identity.

The figure turned slightly, baring the edge of a cheek, the glimmer of dark eyes through the slits of a white mask, eyes that were just as fixed on him as he was on them. The line of a pair of lips, drawn into a tight, thin smirk, and those eyes told him that he had been spotted.

Flynn fumbled for his sword. Either this person, or the Red Eyes, would be on him any moment, but as he drew the blade and looked back, the figure was gone and Flynn was left alone and highly unnerved.

When nothing further happened, he firmly decided that his reconnaissance was done for the night.

"What the absolute fuck is going on there?" Yuri's voice buzzed through the speaker of Flynn's cellphone. His tone was much calmer than his words intended, but the tone was what caught him. Flynn was still shaken from the events the night before, and the pair of eyes in the dark that were fixed on him.

"It looks like the Red Eyes are still up to no good, but it's all been minor offenses at this point. The police will handle it." It wasn't a complete lie, but he couldn't tell Yuri what he had been doing.

Yuri groaned, a sound that Flynn barely heard over the facet pouring water into his sink. The sound, although displeased, surged in Flynn's nerves and he was coldly reminded of the distance between them.

"Man, those freaks even got the Comet. Judy said they pray painted 'Havoc' on a bunch of stuff and raided the pantry. One more mess to clean up when I get back."

"Wait." Flynn hadn't gotten a report regarding the Comet and that was the one he should have. It was part of his regular beat. "Even the Comet?"

"Yeah. Zagi and I had a sort of standing truce that we wouldn't attack each others places, but it looks like who ever the Red Eyes are working for now doesn't care so much for decorum like that."

"So how's your trip going?" He had to change the subject before he burst out with what he knew, that he had seen' Havoc' or at least who he suspected was the person, and had seen the Red Eyes in the act and was still keeping at what he sure Yuri was still upset about.

"You wouldn't believe what they're asking for the machine I want. It's ridiculous."

"How much?"

"Way more than I brought with me."

"Do you need--” "No. I'm taking a look at a going out of business sale tomorrow. If that doesn't work out, I've got a little more in savings that I can pull if I have to."

Flynn sighed a little, hoping the speaker didn't catch it. Yuri refused his help all the time, so it should come as no surprise to him, but that didn't mean that it wasn't frustrating. "Okay. Please call me if you need anything."

"Don't worry so much."

"I miss you."

"Yeah yeah. I'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Stay safe okay?"

"Flynn." The seriousness in Yuri's voice shocked him into nearly dropping the plate he had been washing.

"What is it?"

"Just-- it's nothing."

"What--"

"Bye."

The sharp noise that cut off the call was Yuri closing his cell phone abruptly, the way he did after arguments or while in a rush.

Flynn was left to finish the dishes without the pleasant distraction of his boyfriend's voice. Yuri had only been out of town for a few days, but it felt like a lot longer. His days off weren't the same, and his apartment felt strangely barren. It had been for a while now, whether or not Yuri was in town. The only thing that changed that feeling of hollowness was Yuri himself. Flynn had been thinking on what more could be done about that, but there was one option and he wasn't sure that they were ready for that just yet.

Yuri and Flynn had only been dating for a few months and the prospect of moving in together was sudden and jarring when the idea hit him. On top of that, Yuri had a twin sister and a younger brother that he took care of and he might not be interested in moving out. It wasn't something he wanted to worry about now. There was too much else going on.

He took a break from the chores. It was getting late and he wanted to get a nap in before going on for dinner and then on his knightly patrols.

Flynn caught himself laughing about that mental slip harder than he should have been. Listening to the Red Eyes crack puns had apparently rubbed off on him and he was left chuckling further.

He and Yuri were both 'Knights' after all, both filled with the duty to protect their city. He left further thoughts on the subject alone, lest the images in his head start to look like something out of one of his mother's romance novels that Flynn had uncomfortable memories of.

Flynn took a brief doze on the couch and woke as the sun was setting and he was left missing Yuri even more. Even still, he got up and went to the Comet for dinner. Not only was he hungry, but more importantly, he waited to check and see how Judith and Karol were doing. The cafe was quiet, but there was plenty of evidence of the misdeeds that Yuri had told him about. The windows has all be painted over with the scrawling word 'Havoc' and the pictographs from before. These were nothing new or particularly revealing however. It didn't set well with him that someone had defiled this place that he loved, that Yuri loved. It was down right sickening, and even more sickening that Flynn hadn't been able to put a stop to it yet. Maybe tonight would yield more clues.

"Good evening, Officer," Judith said with a smile. He wondered if she had any evidence on the 'Havoc' situation. He had seen her out on her own patrol a few times, but unlike Yuri, she never confronted him or openly insisted that he stop the work he was doing as 'White Knight'. Her indifference was somewhat welcome, but also worrying.

"Hello. How have things been here?" It felt a little silly asking that, as he had been here only days before. A lot of things had changed in a few days time, though.

"Quite busy. All this clean up work to do and I'm still missing a pair of hands."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, thank you. Yuri has told me about your cooking attempts and I intend to keep all of my customers alive." She smiled sharply, and Flynn could see the family resemblance.

He tried to laugh that off, but something about Judith's demeanor was unsettling, so he moved to a different subject. "Yuri told me that you've been having some trouble."

"Oh my, yes. All that pesky spray paint making our cafe look grungy and then all our food going missing. Troublesome indeed, but nothing I can't handle. You want the usual?"

"Missing?"

"I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned about. I'll be back in just a moment. It looks like its time to pull the bread out of the freezer." She turned and left him at the counter.

The paint on the windows and the mess here only drove his desire to stop this crime spree harder. Evidence was piling up, but it was going slowly and Flynn's reconnaissance as White Knight was adding to that. The connections between R Gate Corp and Alliance Industries and the two strange gems and the old sword were still leads to follow, leads that he was following, and had made some realizations on. He was waiting on a call back from Rita to confirm or deny his suspicions. Finger print processing was a time consuming and delicate procedure and DNA even more so, but if they would give him the edge he needed, then forensic science was his ally.

"Oh my." Judith's calm voice exclaimed, abbreviated by the sound of glass breaking from the kitchen. "Now look what you made me do."

"Don't test me, Lady."

Flynn knew that voice, a long, low sound that pitched in odd places and he found himself rushing around the counter toward the kitchen and the voices. He cleared the kitchen's swinging door to find Judith, her hands on her hips, back to him, and in front of her, the familiar face of one of the masked Red Eyes. The blade on his arm was jutting out, sharp menacing steel.

"Judith!"

The Red Eye spotted him, grabbing Judith and holding the blade to her throat before Flynn could draw his gun. Flynn froze, stone stiff, pointing the pistol at the Red Eye who pressed ever closer to Judith, holding one of her arms behind her back and making himself a shield of her.

"Let her go."

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me?"

Flynn couldn't while she was in the line of fire and the Red Eye knew that.

"Whatever man. She's not the one I want anyway." He held her firmly still.

"What do you want?" Flynn asked.

"You're White Knight. The boss wants to meet you."

"What? Why?" He didn't loosen the grip on the gun inspire of his surprise.

"For tea or whatever. Hell if I know. All I was told was to give you this." The Red Eye pulled a black enveloped out of his coat, holding it in the air.

"What is it?"

"I don't go reading other people's mail." That snark was getting really old really fast.

With a flick of his wrist, the Red Eye sent the envelope cutting through the air, and Flynn caught it while still keeping the gun trained on him.

"See you, suckers."

A flash of light and smoke and the Red Eye was gone, leaving only Judith and Flynn standing in the kitchen, coughing as the air cleared. He still moved forward and quickly determined that the intruder was gone.

"Are you all right?" He holstered his firearm and checked on Judith.

"Yes. His grip was rather weak. He could use some strength training." She brushed herself off and smiled like she hadn't just been assaulted in her own business. "But what's that you've got there?"

"I'm not sure." Flynn turned the envelope over in his hands, its black paper surface free of decoration or writing. He wiggled a finger under the flap and popped it open. Inside, there was a black paper card, the front decorated with a silver,scrolling border around a note. He read it aloud.

'White Knight,

If you care for the safety of True Knight and this city, you will meet me at midnight at the abandoned construction site on the corner of Palmacoasta and Flanoir. Come alone.'

-Havoc.'

"Oh my. A personal invitation from this strange 'Havoc'." She turned to him, tapping the apple of her cheek with one finger. "Do you plan on going? It could be a trap."

That thought had crossed Flynn's mind, but it was only in consideration. If that warning was to be believed, Flynn didn't have much of a choice. "It looks like it's my only option." Especially not with the prospects of Yuri and the city being in danger if he didn't.

"I see. Well, the least I can do it get you diner." She bustled back out of the kitchen and he followed her into the cafe's dining area.

Speedily, she put together the special for him and sent him on his way with a wish for good luck.

It would be a lie to say that he wasn't nervous. Food hadn't helped. Bread and cheese, meat and soup all twisted up in his insides.

Flynn suited up, strapping his word to his let and his gun just below it, hidden up a plate of his armor. It was a 'just in case' precaution, right along with the handcuffs and police radio. He was going to put a stop to 'Havoc' tonight. Once he had him captured, he could call the police and that would be one less menace on the streets for them to deal with.

He took to the streets, giving himself plenty of time to traverse the back alleys to get to the location on the black card. The construction site indicated had been abandoned a year earlier, after a series of accidents that cause the project to go over budget and the building was left half finished. It loomed in the distance, a stack of black frame work against the dark blue sky.

The ring of his cell phone cut the silence of his trek which had only been filled with the wash of ambient sounds of the city that Flynn had long ago grown used to. He answered without looking at it.

"Hello?"

"I've got those test results back." Rita's voice came tiredly through the speaker.

"What are the results?"

"Finger prints and DNA both came back for both of our suspects -- Where the hell are you? There's a lot of background noise."

"I'm walking home."

"Oh. Well, your hunch was right. The finger prints and DNA for that arms dealer Yeager and the Stormblast respectively match Regeay of R Gate Corp and Barbos of Alliance Industries. And some interesting records turned up this morning." The sound that came through next was the shuffle of papers before she spoke again. "Looks like Regeay and Barbos both took out insurance policies on their gems shortly before they were stolen. In fact, they've already collected millions in insurance money."

"Aren't Yeager and Stormblast still in prison?"

"They are, but the money went into off-shore accounts linked to the companies as mock trust funds it looks like."

"Anything new from Havoc??"

"All quiet on that front. If this is supposed to be some devastating crime wave of his, he's doing it wrong. The worst offense has been destruction of property."

The robberies were still unconnected to Havoc, but Flynn had a feeling that's where the trail led. He would know soon enough.

"Thanks for your hard work."

"Whatever." Rita hung up.

Flynn found himself before the fenced off construction site as he pocketed his phone. This was the moment he had been waiting for and so anxious over. He had to remind himself that this was no different from clearing a building during a raid, except that he had no way of knowing what might be waiting for him, or what could happen. But he had resolved to do this and here he was.

The gate was cracked open, unsurprising as he was expected. He cast his trained gaze over the half finished building, looking for the slightest sign of the Red Eyes or any other attacker. They were well hidden, but he pressed forward, hand on the grip of his sword and ready for the moment that he would need to draw it.

Across the dirt covered construction site ground and into the empty door way he strode, listening for the slightest sound beyond his boots against the concrete floor. The silence was endless, filling every corner of the hall and the empty rooms connected. He checked each one the way he was taught at the academy, but there was no one else. Even still, he had to be wary and ready for the trap to be sprung. He was at a disadvantage like this.

At the end of the hall was a lift and an arrow pointing up. No doubt the sign was for him, and no doubt, it was going to take him where he needed to go and probably right into the trap. He went anyway. He had no choice.

As soon as he crossed the barrier of the lift, it shuddered to a rocky start and began its ascent through the floors of steel beams and concrete floors and drywall. His sword was always just beneath his fingers as his eyes darted from one side of the open air lift to the other, watching and waiting for anyone who might try and use the element of surprise against him. But the lift stopped on the top floor without incident, opening to the floor with only a concrete floor. The roof allowed him to see the far stretches of the city, dark buildings and twinkling lights. The moon above made the concrete floor white, a soft lit plane with a single black center, the shadow of a figure and a chair.

"I see you've accepted my invitation." The voice from the figure was a velvet soft, smoky purr, enticing, but with carefully concealed claws.

"I wasn't given much of a choice," Flynn replied. "Havoc, I presume."

"Why yes. How astute of you."

With a kick of his leg, the figure spun in the chair and Flynn was able to get a very good look at the person he had only seen once before while rimmed in a moonlight glow.

Havoc was a tall, lean man, slumped in the chair with an ease and confidence, his legs crossed and pale hands steepled before him. A mask of sharp, slick white covered his face from above the line of his hair to the edge of his nose, with only thin slits to reveal his dark eyes. Equally dark hair cascaded down his shoulders, long black waves that blended with the shadows of his costume. Layers of darkness, edged sharp in feathers and shimmering like stars in moonlight clad him, and as he stood, a long mantle trailed behind him, glittering starlight black and feathered further.

"And you are White Knight. Or more accurately, Office Flynn Scifo of the Third Precinct."

"How do you know that?" He was just as astounded by this man's appearance as he was by his presence and knowledge. The air between them was heavy like the weight of salt water, like gravity increased and each step Havoc made forward made the pressure worsen.

"You are, perhaps, not as covert as you would like to believe."

"What did you mean by that note? Have you done something to Y- True Knight?" Flynn drew his sword, holding it at a ready stance.

"Not yet."

"What--"

in a flash, Havoc was before him, one pale hand curled around the blade of Flynn's sword and Flynn was frozen in astonishment.

"Interesting. What sort of 'knight' carries a blunted blade?" He smirked, but turned away with a flick of his cape before Flynn could reply. "But I'm sure that the real question is why I asked you to come here."

"For what purpose?"

"I've seen you around. I've seen your work. You're strong. You're devoted. And I have a proposition for you." Havoc tilted his head to look at Flynn over his shoulder.

"I'm not sure that I want to hear a proposition from a villain."

"A villain? Hmm. I suppose if you should choose to see me that way, I cannot argue. But the world will always vilify those who are different. The dreamers, the revolutionaries. You only want what's best for this city, is that not so?"

"Of course it it. It's my dream and True Knight's also."

"It is mine as well, but this city stagnant. I think it needs a push in the right direction..."

"What do you--"

"People like you and True Knight are only holding Zaphias back, only paving the way for continued mayhem and stagnation. However, I have the power to change all that." Havoc turned sharply, the sound of his mantle whipping behind him like the flight of a million crows. His dark eyes were burning brightly. "Join me, White Knight, and I will give you that power as well."

Flynn didn't have to wait before the words he needed were ready. There was no need to think about it. "No."

"Oh, you didn't even consider it. Hear me out. Listen to what I'm offering you." He approached once more, a confident and enthralling stride. "A position of power, untold riches, strength beyond your wildest dreams. All that you ask for and more."

Flynn froze as those pale hands came up to caress his cheeks. Havoc leaned close, the gap between them quickly disappearing and leaving only warmth as he pressed against Flynn.

"Pledge your devotion to me and I am yours." The mouth kissed him without further warning, a motion so smooth and so burning hot that he had to break away or drown in its flames as he was consumed by his own. He forced Havoc back a step.

"I'll never going to help you! My heart is only for True Knight!"

"How disgustingly romantic." Havoc sneered. "You should have accepted my gracious offer when you had the chance. Maybe my Eternal Sword will change your mind."

The scrape of a sword's blade against a metal scabbard forced a chill up his spin, but the blade itself even more so.

It was a long sword, its blade glowing white like moonlight, edged in the darkness of the night. The swirl of air around it was like the howling of a thousand hell hounds. At its center, a pair of large gems were embedded in the hilt, pulsing blue and green. He knew those stones, and the sword suddenly as well. The Stars of Aselia and Calegia Diamond and the long sword from the museum.

"Isn't it beautiful! To think the Red Eyes had no idea what they had gotten their hands on. Only I know the true value on this blade, and only I can harness its true power."

By the time Flynn got his sword up to defend himself, Havoc was already only inches from him with the blade, chopping away. Tripping backwards, he managed to dodge, although all the blows came uncomfortably close to hitting him. He staggered to catch his step, but Havoc shoved him backward, the howling sword whizzing by his ear.

When pressed back against the lift doors, he rolled aside to evade just in the nick of time, a thrust that ripped through the metal as if it were only air. He hoped to have a moment to formulate a plan while Havoc freed the blade, but there wasn't a pause at all in his attack. He spun to face Flynn and advanced once more, leaving Flynn at an even bigger disadvantage. He was not skilled enough with a sword to be facing an adversary of such grace and power.

Havoc was vicious in his pursuit, his offense so perfect that Flynn could only flee and defend and even that was a struggle. He didn't know that it was about to get worse.

The moment that Havoc didn't pursue, Flynn was simultaneously glad and worried. He took a moment to try and reassess the situation, to take a breath, but as soon as Havoc raised the blade, and its glow grew, he knew that he was in for trouble.

"With this, no one will stand in my way. Not you, not the police, not True Knight! No one will stop me!"

The glow of the blade pulsed, the weight of it crushing Flynn and stealing his strength. He fought to keep on his feet, for even just the ability to hold his own sword, but it slipped from his hand and he was forced to take a knee.

Havoc lowered the sword and approached. "Ready to reconsider my offer?"

"N-Never...."

"Why struggle any longer?"

"Because I can't let True Knight down."

"Hm. Perhaps I have an offer that would suit someone of your tenacity better." He didn't give Flynn a chance to deny him this time. "Stop gallivanting around as White Knight, and I will never bother this city again. All the damage I've done will be undone and things will go on as if I was never here."

Flynn weighed the decision with due heaviness. To be fair, he wasn't much of a super hero, and if all it took to stop Havoc was to stop being a super hero, he owed that to the city. He knew what the right answered was, and licked his dry lips right before the word came out.

"I have your word?"

"My very solemn vow." Those dark eyes were fixed on him. He didn't want to believe a villain, but if there was no further choice, what else could he do?

"I... I agree. I will cease being White Knight for the sake of Zaphias."

"Do I have your word?"

"Yes."

"Do you promise?"

"I said yes."

"All right then. I don't need this anymore."

To Flynn's surprise, Havoc pulled the gems free of the sword's hilt, and shattered them against the concrete floor. As soon as they were removed, the glow fizzled out and disappeared, and the blade returned to normal, a dull and unadorned museum piece. Havoc then threw the sword at Flynn's feet.

"Well, that's over with." He was still smirking, and for the life of him, Flynn couldn't figure out why, but something about it was infuriating. "Aw man, your face was priceless."

Flynn scrambled to his feet, anger rising against his neck. "What are you talking about?"

"You still don't get it?!" Another round of laughter followed and the heat pooled further in his face.

Havoc took a step forward, tilting his head up slightly.

"I suppose there's no harm in you knowing now. Unmask me."

Before Flynn had time to think, his fingers were on the edge of the white mask, yanking the knotted ribbon that held it on loose. From beneath the mask, Yuri was looking back at him, that terrible, incorrigible smirk still playing on his lips.

"Peekaboo."

"Y-Yuri!"

"Yeah, who else?"

"But--you--wait. Why?"

"You dumb ass. I told you. You've got your job to do and I've got mine." Yuri pulled the mask out of the Flynn's hands and tossed it aside. It clattered to the floor beside the sword. Yuri tangled his arms around Flynn's neck, leaning close to him. "You promised and I'm holding you to it."

The anger didn't fade, but he kept it calmly controlled. Yuri's method had been ridiculous and drawn on way too long, but as least his reason had been a good one. He would be fully angry about it later on, once he stopped being so stunned.

"So how did you--?"

"It's a pretty long story, but Judy and the Red-Eyes helped."

"You owe me a better explanation than that."

"Whatever." Yuri kissed him and the ache that filled Flynn was a reminder of just how much he missed that touch, and others.

Flynn broke the kiss to breath, his hands finding the dip of Yuri's back beneath the layers of silken fabric and feathers. "I've got to say. I love the True Knight outfit, but this one...."

Yuri's smile broadened, sultry and hungry as he tilted against Flynn. "How about helping me out of it?"

#blue plate special #soup of the day #tales of vesperia #fluri #tales of bad0mens is a terrible writer

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vyragosa · 7 years ago

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vyra, i was so inspired & encouraged by you posting ur fanfiction! i loved it so much! i had written this a week or so ago, but i didn’t have the courage to figure out how to send it.

i dont know i want to put my name to it because i dont think tonbokiri and sengo are fully in character (though i would like to grow as a writer until i can write them well), and i also dont want to spam ur blog with it, but i did write it as a kind of “thank you” for streaming mihotose the other week, and i thought that, if you have the courage to post yours, then i want to have the courage to send you this gift, even if mine isn’t all that good.

because of its length, don’t feel pressured to post it onto your blog if you don’t want to! i don’t mind either way. it’s entirely up to you, because as far as i’m concerned, it’s your gift for you to do with what you like. you don’t have to comment on it if you don’t want to, or you can choose to; you don’t have to post it unless you want to; etc. im not sure if this is the best way to send you this, because im still not 100% on how the “submit” feature works, but i hope this is readable;

(put the rest of the message under the cut with the fic v )

(ok so first of all i couldn’t wait to be home and read during a break in the freezing cold and i literally could not stop crying involuntarily, literally unable to stop still) your grasp on them, i just, how raw

the way you wrote their fears and tears? tonbo being so excessive to the point of being incredibly self-destructive, thinking that his words are never appropriate when each time, they are? disregarding his own self for others, for him

sengo being so, so self-contained to the point of facade completely shattering from a single world (which reminds of his face almost choking back tears in mihotose being told he isn’t alone i’m NOT ok) wanting to take care of him instead, to make him realize no one should go that far for him, and especially not tonbokiri

thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this? i’m a bit at loss of words i’m afraid i can’t praise it as much as i think of it but i genuinely cherish it with all my heart, and please don’t downplay yourself like this in the future you don’t give yourself enough credit that i can’t put in words

“Did you sleep better, back then?”

Sengo’s face has turned back to the window, not fully, but so all Tonbokiri can see is the apple of his grinning cheek tremble.

“I would take those unpleasant memories from you, if I could,” Tonbokiri says. He says it quietly, because if he spoke any louder then his voice would crack with its own weight. “Sometimes I wish I could, if it would ease your suffering.”

Sengo laughs wetly. "And then we’d never have met.” “I’d find you still.”

i have another ao3 account invite arriving hopefully soon, so if you want this to be more clean, i could post it there maybe if that would be better. & i have never written for anyone before, and i don’t think anyone has seen anything i’ve written in a few years, so please don’t think too harshly on my characterisations, writing, dialogue, pacing, etc. because i’ve never had anyone to critique my mistakes.

(i also think i started writing this with the intention of it being an au where they had been human but very much like that spies or assassins, like i saw on your blog, so if anything seems strange, it’s because of that! i didn’t mention anything explicitly, but i wanted to give myself some room because i’m not fully familiarised with the canon yet, so that’s why some things may not be in line with canon, even though they may call themselves “spear/sword.“ i wanted to write something in between the phases of them being very traumatised by their life experiences and starting the road to recovery; between them still considering themselves weapons lacking autonomy and them starting to think of themselves as people who can make their own decisions.) as i said, i know there are places where it definitely feels even to me that tonbokiri and sengo are ooc, but i hope you’ll forgive those moments while i begin figuring out how to write them properly. even if you don’t enjoy this so much, hopefully you can use this at least as something to give you different ideas.

~ Tonbokiri is woken by Sengo.

He knows this even before his eyes are open. If he could not tell by the thin fingers brushing back his hair; or the sound of his sleep-husked voice, unusually quiet, unusually tremulous, calling his name; or even the faint smell of cherry blossoms still sticking to Sengo’s skin after they’d taken Monoyoshi to see around the city and the nearest park just the day before … if he could not tell by any of that, then Tonbokiri would know just from habit.

It is in the nature of things like them to awaken fighting; to burst into consciousness at the slightest sounds; to feign sleep while reaching for their knife under their pillow, or to listen to the sounds of the building adjusting to the new weight with wailing creaks and then to launch at their attacker. That is in their training. It had taken some time - though, not nearly as much as either of them had expected - for Tonbokiri and Sengo to adjust to each other’s presence, but now that they have, if he is woken in any manner and his body allows the haze of semi-consciousness to fog his mind, then Sengo must be near, keeping him peaceful.

He is woken by Sengo most nights in some way or another, though not usually for long. A leg thrown over his waist might catch his attention, their hips budging as they shift might stir him, fine hair in his face and tickling his nose will wake him with a sneeze, or the blankets being pulled further to one side than the other might cause him to wake just enough to pull them back. To all of these, Tonbokiri will smile, ensure that nothing in the room is out of place and disturbing him, and drift back to sleep. On less pleasant nights, he is woken by Sengo’s fitful dreaming. Not his nightmares, or at least not the fully-fledged ones - while he knows Sengo has periods where his dreams give him pain, he too often wakes himself first, quiet enough or still enough to never wake Tonbokiri, and instead lets him rest unknowing; and so Tonbokiri only ever catches the after-images of these nightmares: the restless attempt to fall back asleep again, tear tracks on Sengo’s otherwise dormant face, smiles the next day that are a little too wide … all signs of something that Sengo endured right beside him that Tonbokiri missed. Sengo brings them up occasionally, but never seriously, only to tell him something particularly gruesome that he thinks might scare Tonbokiri away, or with a wink and a fluttering hand as if he’s trying to convince them both that he’s telling a particularly overblown ghost story rather than his own memories.

They haunt him like ghosts, certainly, but they’re no less real.

Tonight, Sengo had woken him, but he’s already awake himself, face scrunched into something just a little more serious than his usual pout.

“Muramasa … ?” he murmurs. This is strange to him, and his body is reacting frustratingly slowly. Lovingly slowly; it - he - trusts Sengo implicitly; he can almost imagine his resting muscles asking what such a rush is for, if Sengo is here.

A light is already on in their room, a dim amber glow in the corner from a lamp. Just hazy enough to leave deep shadows in haloed curves around the furniture, but just bright enough to leave a pleasant highlight on Sengo’s face.

“Ah, you’re awake.“ His fingernails scratch pleasantly at Tonbokiri’s scalp, brushing through his hair. Sengo is sitting with Tonbokiri’s head in his lap; he is surprised none of the movement woke him sooner.

“Of course,” he repeats, forcing his eyelids to remain fully open despite his comfort. “Of course,” he repeats, “didn’t you call me?" He thinks he remembers Sengo’s voice, whispering his name. "Is something wrong?”

“Don’t you remember? You were having a nightmare.”

The fatigue seeps from him in an instant, leaving him cold and awake. The cold centres in his chest like ice, but Sengo’s hands near his head are still warm. So it was me who woke him first … It’s troubling to think of how he may have disturbed what little peaceful sleep Sengo had earned just with his own bothersome thoughts. “Oh,” he eventually manages. “Yes, I don’t remember at all. Thank you for waking me from it so quickly.”

Before he can apologise for waking Sengo himself, Sengo’s pout changes shape, and his warm hands travel to Tonbokiri’s chest, thawing that frozen feeling. “But your heart is racing, can’t you feel that?”

“Ah, that,” he says. He notices now that it’s been pointed out. But he smiles up at Sengo rather than think about it. “My heart always races when I look at you.”

Sengo splutters slightly in surprise, face turning a soft pink, glowing in the dusky orange lamplight, framed by highlights of long, feathery hair. Tonbokiri could stare at him for so long …

I wonder if it just got faster. He puts a hand over Sengo’s, both of them over his heart.

The flush doesn’t fade, but Sengo adopts a wry, amused smile, wrinkling his nose mischeviously, eyes twinkling. “Pardon the intrusion, then, if I’ve interrupted a dream in which I’m undressing.”

“It’s no interruption, if you’re the one who wakes me." How could even the most pleasant dream he conjure compare to the real thing? Ah, embarrassing, even the thought makes his cheek heat. "And, I am sorry,” he manages, next, before he blurts out something even more sentimental.

Sengo’s smile doesn’t vanish, but his eyes go wide and study him carefully, scrutinising.

“For waking you,” Tonbokiri explains. “I–”

He is distracted by a flash of deep red slashed across the palm of Sengo’s hand, made noticeable as he moves it from Tonbokiri’s chest to his own lap.

He shoots upwards, almost knocking Sengo backwards with his speed and size. In the light, with the movement, the red shimmers. Tonbokiri forces himself to think rationally despite his hammering heart, to come into a sitting position beside Sengo and move slower; Sengo’s muscles have clenched, shoulders tightened, and his gaze is scanning the room for whatever threat he thinks must have made its presence announced.

Tonbokiri scolds himself internally. He knows what they both are, and he was foolish to react in a way that has left Sengo waiting for an attack, and after Sengo woke him up so gently. His breathing slows purposefully, steadily, and he outstretches his hands to take Sengo’s. Slowly, so that if Sengo wanted to knock his hands away, he could.

But Sengo offers the hand faster than Tonbokiri asks, eyebrows high on his head, offering a faint, “What’s the matter?” into the open air.

Tonbokiri’s thumb presses into the heel of Sengo’s hand as he turns it to examine it closer. A thread of his own hair, dark red, had caught itself on Sengo’s ring finger. His hands had been so gentle that Tonbokiri hadn’t even felt the roots tug in his scalp, even as the strands were drawn with the movement.

His exhale is a heavy huff of relieved air. His thumbs trace the lines of Sengo’s blessedly unblemished palm. “I thought I’d cut you." The red like a river of blood deep in Sengo’s skin … all just a strand of his hair. It had just shone oddly in the light, is all. It had looked like something it wasn’t, and his mind had jumped to its own conclusions.

"You didn’t,” says Sengo, flexing his hand to better see it himself. Then, thoughtfully, almost like a challenge. “You couldn’t.”

Tonbokiri almost traitorously thinks, I have, remembers the dragonfly, then silences that weakness. No matter what his body is capable of, has done, he won’t let it harm Sengo.

“Huhuhu, even without saying any words, the things you think are so loud,” says Sengo, tapping Tonbokiri’s temple with his unhurt hand. “You didn’t, and so what would it matter if you had? I thought you told me you didn’t remember you’d had a nightmare.”

“I can’t remember it,” begins Tonbokiri. “And it would matter, if I’d hurt you.”

Sengo flicks his wrist to dismiss that thought. They’re sitting so close together, and yet Sengo’s face has turned at an angle impossible to read. “But you seem so alert, after waking." With an insincere edge, "Would it make you more at ease if I undressed right now?”

He frowns. “If I can’t remember it, I’d say it hasn’t bothered me so much,” he says. “But … you worry me. Are you alright?”

“You’re such a worrywart. Aren’t you the one with bad dreams?”

“We both have bad dreams." Tonbokiri leans closer now, and Sengo gives him reluctant eye contact. "Did it trouble you when I woke up?”

Now Sengo smiles. It’s tight on his face; a mixture of the false, teasing grins he wears for the others, and the pained, bittersweet twist that sometimes unwillingly slips onto his face. “You didn’t.”

“Trouble you?" Then he realises. He lowers his gaze. "Wake you.”

It isn’t a question, but Sengo still confirms it with a half-shrug, doing his best not to look bothered about it.

“I’m glad, then,” Tonbokiri decides. “That I had that dream and you woke me. No one of us should be awake alone at this hour.”

Sengo shrugs again, more haphazard this time, rising to cross the room to their window and look out over the night. “It’s not so bad. I used to stay up and stare at the stars, before. I would wonder which unlucky one I must have been born under." He flashes a playful grin over his shoulder, one that Tonbokiri can’t return.

Before. Before he was Mihotose. Tonbokiri himself hardly feels as if he’s been here long, although he feels so at peace with the team. But he had spent so long as the spear belonging to just one man before this; Sengo has had many handlers. Does it feel so differently for him? Does time pass differently? There are times when Tonbokiri worries that Sengo feels isolated for being the last of them to join.

"Did you sleep better, back then?”

Sengo’s face has turned back to the window, not fully, but so all Tonbokiri can see is the apple of his grinning cheek tremble.

Sengo crosses back, but so quickly Tonbokiri barely catches a glimpse of his face. His hands grasp Tonbokiri’s shoulders, and his purple head rests above red. “How peaceful … but then I’d have almost no memories whatsoever.”

“Then I’d wish for you to have a different life. A normal one. A human one." Speaking as if they aren’t humans. But, some days, it would be almost more impossible to believe they are.

Sengo laughs wetly. "And then we’d never have met.”

“I’d find you still.”

A drop lands squarely on Tonbokiri’s head. He pretends that it could be possible for it to rain inside their room, rather than feel the deep sorrow in his chest knowing that Sengo is crying.

“I am Sengo Muramasa,” Sengo declares. Bold, but sad. “And not that stranger who lived some normal, human life. If this Tonbokiri … if he has regrets,” he speaks softly, with no judgement, “then I’m sure that that other Muramasa is out there … instead of inside this room, where you’re trapped with the demon.”

“How can I have any regrets in this life that took me to you?" His voice is heavy and wet.

"In this life that’s given you nightmares … you have no regrets? You wouldn’t change it?”

“No.”

“You’d take all those lives again? Walk down this path that you’ve walked down?”

“If you were waiting for me on it, yes.”

A smile curves against his temple. “Liar." Two more raindrops fall from the shadow of a violet cloud above. Tonbokiri is held so closely that he can only see Sengo’s collarbone, from how tightly he is held. "Merciful Tonbokiri”–here, Sengo traces the Siddham on his chest–“he would never shed all that blood for anyone less than his old master. Let alone for something like me.”

Merciful Tonbokiri. He wants to be, he aspires to be, but. He can’t remember what his nightmare was, but he can imagine. His past has given a lot for his dreams to work with. “If there is a price to pay to keep our lives together, to be paid in blood, at the cost of all I’ve shed and all you’ve shed, I would gladly give it all, straight from my own heart." He guides Sengo’s finger from the Siddham to his heart beside it. "If you’d have me.”

Sengo makes a choked noise. His hand curls, his knuckles brush and must surely feel Tonbokiri’s pulse. “So desperate to keep your own misfortunate life, and to make me change mine?”

“Only if it’d make you happy.”

“But how could I possibly be happy if we were living different lives?”

“I’d pay it all the same, if it’d make you happy in this one.”

“Huhuhu, sometimes, you can be a little slow, Tonbokiri." Sengo pulls back so they can see each other, face-to-face. There are tears rolling down so quickly they fall into his smile. "I already am.”

Tonbokiri leans carefully up to place his mouth on Sengo’s. Sengo freezes, one hand still on Tonbokiri’s shoulder, and the other helplessly pressed against his heart. They are still so new at this, and Tonbokiri’s face turns as red as his hair and Sengo starts in surprise almost every time they’ve tried, between failed attempts where they bump noses and turn away, too flushed, before they’ve even gotten close enough.

They part reluctantly, but still so close. Tonbokiri can taste tears on his lips, and he leans his forehead forward against Sengo’s. Sengo’s lips are still parted, upturned.

“Sometimes …" He frowns at himself, for breaking the silence–the ease. For doing it so clumsily, instead of sharply and neatly like the spear he is should be able to do. "Sometimes, it feels as if you aren’t.”

“As if I’m not …?”

“Happy.”

“Sometimes it feels as if you aren’t, either.”

“There is nothing to be concerned about." But, at Sengo’s deadpan stare, he admits, "I … am. More often than not. Being here has helped.”

“That’s not fair, then; you’ve been here longer than I have,” Sengo accuses, biting his tongue playfully at Tonbokiri. “Perhaps even this demon sword could learn to live a happy life if it stays here long enough.”

“Demon sword?” asks Tonbokiri with a laugh. “I don’t think I know of that stranger. I don’t think such a thing lives here, even. The last person to come live with us was, hm, definitely a man, not a demon. One of the kindest and gentlest I’ve ever met.”

“‘Kind and gentle’? Are you certain that you and I are thinking of the same thing?”

“Well, I have met, and talked to, and experienced, and … loved Sengo Muramasa. And I think that both he and I know who he is far better than any of those strangers who spread rumours of demons. Even better than those voices who live in his head and try to convince him those lies are true.”

“'Loved,’” repeats Sengo quietly, in a strange, hoarse voice.

“Yes. I haven’t much experience with it, but I think that’s it.”

“One shouldn’t tease, you know,” Sengo rushes to say, “or play jokes. Not on this demon who is just learning to become a man. That would be cruel even to a Muramasa.”

“I would never. Isn’t it you who says I don’t understand humour very well?”

“And so what you say …”

“… I am always honest with you, Muramasa.”

Sengo laughs, a happy outburst. There are still tears on his face. Tonbokiri kisses him again, before he can think better of it. Sengo’s hands cup his cheeks, and Tonbokiri wonders if he can feel his grin.

They are still so close, chest-to-chest, that when they pull away, Sengo murmurs again, “Your heart … it’s still so fast.”

“I told you; so long as I can see you, my heart races.”

“Then it would be best for me to turn off the light, or you’ll never get back to sleep.”

“That’s alright,” says Tonbokiri. He looks to the window. It’s still so dark outside. But the shadows are hardly daunting when it is so bright in here with both of them. “I think it would be okay for us to stay up just a little longer.”

#submission #unbelievable #unbelievable how raw and emotional

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