#my stars the queen of quills is so mean to ninja

[the-starry-lycan]

”And then she laughed at me.” Ninja wiped at his teary eyes, remembering the sting of her whip in his face, the pain startling him out of his mushroom form and back into a human. “Quarble, too.” “Hey. Hey, don’t cry.” Shopkeeper reached for a box of tissues, then offered him one. Despite what she said, the poor boy had been crying ever since he came back from the last attempt to beat her. “A-at least the.. the Golem wasn’t mean, you know?” He sniffled, then blew his nose with one of Shopkeeper’s tissues. “She likes hurting me..”

“It’s hard.. I know. No one said it would be easy.” Shopkeeper remembered the Monk herself, how even she had found some difficulty at the start of her journey. Not nearly as much as Ninja, in all honesty.. but it was there. Shopkeeper herself had only carried the scroll for so long before becoming one of the Robes. Ninja just stood there, looking miserable, tears running down his cheeks. He looked toward the exit of the shop, then down at the counter. Shopkeeper noticed a couple more scars on his arms, appearing from Quarble’s magic when he was taken from death - the magic wasn’t flawless, she could see, and some wounds would still carry over. Those scars carried the unmistakable look of the Queen of Quills’s bramble whip. “I don’t-.. I don’t usually do this. I don’t ever do this, actually, but… do you want a hug?”

“S-..sure.” Ninja leaned awkwardly over the counter, towards Shopkeeper, who just as awkwardly put her arms around him. Dear Solstices, this felt weird, but.. she didn’t mind, oddly enough. Especially given that the last Messenger she had hugged was the very monk who was giving him grief. And Ninja looked like a lost puppy whenever he was sad.. big brown eyes full of heartache.

“Shh. It’s okay.” Shopkeeper patted his back, feeling him hiccup and sob against her shoulder. This was a heavy burden.

And by no means should he do it alone.

[Why, yes, the footage above is from my own playthrough]

[aniseandspearmint]

@princesssarcastia, here are some of the things I’m reading right now! I took a quick look at your listed fandoms and tried to keep it to those, though I added a few really good ones from others.)

WIP I’m currently reading off the top of my head (various fandoms)

Lightsword by Esama (Star Wars/ff7) Cloud reincarnates as Obi-wan Kenobi. Composed of one word prompt sections. Very well done and I really can’t wait to see where the author goes with it. Gen so far (well, hinted Zack/Aerith?)

Survival is a Talent by Shanastoryteller (Harry Potter) Soulmate AU fic. This kind of AU is one I really enjoy when it’s done well (and so long as the fic isn’t one of those colorblind until you meet your soulmate ones those irritate me so much) and this is done well. It’s Harry/Draco, starting in second year. And the best part? There’s no bashing of either Ron or Hermione. I could have cried in relief when they weren’t distorted out of character. They stay Harry’s besties throughout everything. The issues of Harry and Draco realizing they’re soulmates is handled extremely well. Draco doesn’t just change, nor does Harry. They have to work at being friends, and as of the current chapters there’s only friendship. The endgame pairing is Harry/Draco, but Shanastoryteller has clearly remembered that the boys in question are 12/13 and there is no romance yet. Draco’s very real issues with the knowledge that his father is not a good person (for all that he clearly loves Draco) makes my heart ache for him. Draco loves his father, Lucius loves Draco, but Draco is coming to realize that he doesn’t want anyone to die, not even muggles or muggleborns.

Resident Project by Kryal (Resident Evil/Tatterdemalion Verse) The Tatterdemalion Verse is a sci-fi/horror AU of Bleach and Saiyuki created by Vathara, that I cannot rec enough, even to people who aren’t into either Bleach or Saiyuki. In my opinion, they read fairly well even if you don’t know who all the characters are, since it’s such an extreme AU from the original series’, and the Bleach fics are actually set way pre-series and feature few of the main cast (as they have not been born yet). A quick google of the names will get you general appearance, and you can read from there.

Kryal, author of The Dragon King's Temple, THE best Avatar/Stargate crossover, was apparently chatting with Vathara one day about how well the Resident Evil verse would mix with Tatterdemalion, and this fic was born. I may have screamed a little in joy when I saw the notification in my inbox. And I don’t even know more than the bare bones about Resident Evil. Fic is Gen, no pairings, people are too busy trying not to die for romance.

Friends Across Borders Series by MueraRashaye (Heralds of Valdemar) Dunno if you know this book series or not, but I’ll toss this in too. FAB is on it’s 10th story in the series (long series is long btw, currently over 300k) , and is honestly one of the best Valdemar fanfics I have ever read. The characters are OCs, but fully fleshed out and beautifully rendered. I had absolutely no problem getting into them, and had the odd but hilarious experience of idly wondering what Kir and Anur were up to during the canon book series the last time I read it, only to remember mid thought that the were OCs, not Mercedes Lackey’s characters. Ace and Aro characters!

Triumphant, The Dreamer by Shadowblayze (Harry Potter) This is a lovely OC reincarnated as a Harry Potter character fic. The character is Heather, a twin to Harry. EPIC worldbuilding and amazingly well done characters. No character bashing, but also pulls no punches regarding certain stupid moves made by canon characters. Gen so far.

Find Your Way By Moonlight by Blackkat (Naruto, Vampire AU) I usually don’t really go for AUs that take away the whole magic ninja aspect of Naruto, but damn this is a good story. Totally an exception to my usual preferences! 

It focuses on Hunter Kakashi and Vampire Obito, and there are a whole host of twisty vampire and other supernatural creature politics, and currently there are a lot of people enacting epic plans without checking to see if maybe anyone else is currently enacting their own epic plans, and it’s promising to be a glorious train-wreck of tangled up coup/rescue/assassination attempts. Very much not Gen. Main pairing is Kakashi/Obito, with a ton of crack pairings on the side.

Karmic Balance by Sanjuno (khr/Naruto) Epic reincarnation of kakashi and Obito. They think the mafia is adorable, but ultimately dumb as rocks. The mafia does not see them coming. Epic worldbuilding (there is a theme there. I do love my epic worldbuilding *G*) This story is excellently spun, manages to treat the khr world seriously danger wise, but still retain the humor rainbow colored fire mafioso deserve. Kakashi/Obito main pairing (they’re kinda scarily co-dependant) gen for everyone else so far.

Star-Queen by TheBetterAngelsOfOurNature (Guardians of the Galaxy) Pre-movie AU, what if Meredith Quill had been able to chase after Peter? There’s endgame Meredith/Yondu, but it’s very slow burn. I really love how this author is filling in Meredith’s personality, and fleshing out other characters that the movies never did. There are a whole host of transplanted comic characters, and OCs to fill voids, but they’re very well done. Updates are kinda sporadic now, since the author just moved to an area with no internet and only gets to town once or twice a month, but it’s worth the wait.

Damaged Defenders by Sherza (MCU) Incredibly long and plotty re-imagining of how things would have gone if Thor had noticed Loki’s eyes were the wrong color. Features multiple crossovers with other Marvel works. Canon relationships only, and little focus on those. This is primarily a ‘gather the forces in preparation for a major alien invasion’ fic.

Harnessing Starfire by Sherza (Star trek AOS) A fic that actually lets the Enterprise crew be the BAMF individuals they truly are. AU after the first movie. Spock Prime gets his Kirk back! Takes the characters canon backstories into account, so Jim was on Tarsus. Takes a good analytical look at what it really means for Vulcans that Vulcan was destroyed, and what it means for the Klingons to have had most of their fleet gutted by Nero, and what it means for the Romulans to have had a Romulan do all of these things, time traveling nutjpb or not. Pairing is endgame AOS!Spock/AOS!Jim and TOS!Spock/TOS!Jim. The is Spock/Uhura at the beginning, but they amicably end things. No bashing.

Weirdness is Genetic by Sherza (BtVS/Sentinel/Stargate) This is the rarest of rarities, a GEN sentinel fic. Features a sentinel/guide bond between Xander and Clone!Jack that is handled beautifully. Also a sekret!father fic, wherein Jim Ellison is Xander’s biological father. The three fandoms are meshed well, and there’s not bashing of characters. Fic is totally gen apart from some canon barely there pairings.

Jason Todd: The Not-So-Outlaw by GoAwayOlivia (DCU Batman) A lovely fic that features Jason coming back to Gotham after deciding to take a break from the Outlaws. There’s some excellent exploration of family dynamics in the bat clan, and of what being resurrected with the Lazerus Pit’s really does to someones mind. I really love the developing relationship between the now much saner Jason and his adopted siblings in this, plus GoAwayOlivia’s Alfred is fantastic. Jason does therapy through home renovation, it’s great. Genfic. (*blinks* Huh, and apparently this is complete now? I never got that notification!)