[ TALK WITH YOUR BROTHER ]
The lower area of the heavenly grounds is surprisingly cold, a light mist covering the area despite the bright glow of gold and white seeping through.
There’s already rumors spreading through the Guard of undisciplined trainees running amok through the stables and freeloading in the gardens — though, it’s certain that the sole protagonist of said rumors is the one guffawing wickedly at the bottom of the stairs, orange fur and golden eyes easily standing out even in the dark uniform the yaoguai wears. A hard sniff is heard as the final step is done and the two men stare at each other, unblinking.
[Doc version]
SWK: Yang Jian, you would not believe what the horses just told me about Laozi
SWK: It’s wickedly cool
SWK: Like, “oh my god i never would’ve guessed”, kind of cool
ELS: Hm.
SWK: Seriously!
SWK: You should definitely not go and check the stables, by the way, I think someone left one of the stalls open and one of the horses got out in the middle of the epic quest of: “Where’s the Bimawen?”
ELS: You don’t say.
SWK: I do say! Overly saying it, actually, I’m saying it right now
SWK: Point is, the dude’s crafting some sort of “immortality pill” and keeping it all to himself in his lab and I’m thinking of making him extra sweet tarts tomorrow to try and get him to share some
SWK: Okay, well, Imma try to get Jiejie to teach me to bake tarts and then I can sweeten him up
SWK: All that skilled planning will get me closer to expanding my immortal lifespan by ten so I can gloat to those guards about who’s actually the strongest in training
SWK: Hah! Even my old master knew that I was the strongest—
ELS: Yes, who was that again?
SWK: Hm?
ELS: Your master. Who was he?
SWK: What master?
ELS: The master you just spoke of.
SWK: I’ve only had one master and that’s you, bro
There’s a pause in the very-important-must-read-dialogue to remind the reader than if you’re unaware of the motions, Erlang Shen, the Jade Emperor’s nephew and renown God of Justice, is regretting his decision in coming down to try and negotiate with his brother about leaving behind trickery for the sake of his migraine-induced rage bursts. The Ivory Lady says it’s bad for his age.
SWK: Can I be honest?
ELS: I don’t think you were born or designed to be honest. But by all means, go right ahead.
SWK: I’m thinking about the clouds that form around here
ELS: …
ELS: Clouds?
SWK: ‘Cause you have all the nice neat lil’ shapes back on the mortal realm that are fun to crash into! They fill up with water vapor and turn into shapes and you can try and guess what kind of shape they turn into like a very normal kind of game a fifty-year-old demon like me would play
ELS: Clearly.
SWK: But the clouds here never change! Not once! They don’t even disappear — is it like a time thing? That’s the exact same cloud I saw yesterday when I was chasing down Xiaotian
ELS: Why were you chasing my dog?
SWK: And that is the same cloud I saw when I broke into the Emperor’s closet and put on one of his fancy gowns to play ‘Emperor For the Day’ until someone noticed and ended up getting kicked out for ‘ruining the Jade Emperor’s regalia’
ELS: That was you?
SWK: Not the point
ELS: Stop chasing Xiaotian.
SWK: I don’t think you’re focusing enough on the clouds and their freaky patterns and stupid ideas of never changing once when I turn way to ask for it
ELS: Did you also dye his fur?
SWK: Actually he just ran straight into my study desk and got ink all over himself
ELS: Where did you get the colored ink?
SWK: You can make it by mixing flower petals or leaves together to change its color
ELS: Oh.
SWK: Smart huh?
ELS: I have found the one daily thing you’ve done to impress me. Congratulations.
ELS: You’re grounded.
SWK: No, I’m not
ELS: You are.
SWK: You always say I’m grounded but then you turn around and let me stay with the horses before training
SWK: Come on Yang Jian it’s nothin’! Besides it’s just you and me, now, you can drop the ‘almighty justice god’ routine
ELS: It’s not a routine!
ELS: Come on, Shi Hou. You’re the smartest trainee I have—
SWK: Ever had
ELS: You trained with me for like, what? A couple of weeks? It’s incredible how quickly you picked up on everything. You should be using that brain of yours for something other than cheap pranks, brother.
ELS: You won’t be taken seriously if you don’t act serious.
SWK: Says the gege who helped me prank your sworn brothers
SWK: Didn’t know chickens could be so violent
ELS: Of course they’re violent. The smaller they are the more violence is stored inside them.
ELS: You’d know that if you learned about the—
SWK: Yeah, I got it
SWK: But can you blame me? Fifteen days of being here after finding out Heaven was lying to me? I could’ve gone back to Azure and told them about how stupid the whole ‘Taking Back Heaven’ plan is to try something else
ELS: And you believe Azure would listen?
SWK: Of course he would!
SWK: You listen to me
ELS: Because we’re brothers.
SWK: He said he was my brother. How’s that any different?
ELS: I, personally, don’t have any delusions of grandeur when it comes to wanting to overthrow the most powerful royal line out there.
ELS: But I am willing to teach you how to control that magic of yours and learn to—
SWK: Blast things!
ELS: Heal, little brother. It will come in handy when you’re out in the battlefield all alone. You may be all powerful but your body’s still growing. Changing. You may even encounter stronger yaoguai on your adventures when you finally leave my temple.
SWK: Really? You think someone is capable of hurting me?
ELS: Apart from me? Yes.
SWK: Psh, sure. You beat me, what? Three times? I still won the other fights.
ELS: Yes, and I kept training to counter you. We’re tied.
ELS: Now, go wash up. We’re traveling East tomorrow to meet with an old friend of mine. You’d do best to learn proper decorum before meeting him.
SWK: If he’s anything like your right-hand then I’ll probably be able to manage
ELS: Wukong…
SWK: Yeah, yeah
SWK: Bah, you worry too much Erlang. I’ll be right with you first thing in the morning
ELS: I’ll believe you.
ELS: Don’t be late!
There’s a bright flash of light, the same orange and yellows that seep from the sunset. It grows brighter and brighter and gray eyes stare up at the bird that circles around the god before diving towards the temple. There’s a few seconds before Erlang hears a loud cackle of laughter, amused and delighted, and he can’t help the small smile that spreads on his face.
He sighs and stares up at the sky, watching it change into night.
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MASTERPOST | REST OF THE AU
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finally finished karlach's personal quest 🥹
WHAT a fucking gut punch. the writing (and VOICE ACTINGGGGGG) of her breakdown is so honest imo. the way she just darts back and forth between grief and anger and how, just through proximity, some of that anger gets directed at you. because why are YOU so special!! and the person she could be most upset with is dead and she killed him and that's great but she's still here and YOU get to be fine!!!!!
i held it together pretty well up until returning to camp and getting everyone's opinion on her situation. the fucking option to plead with jaheira to be on your side and maybe help convince karlach to go back to the hells until something can be done... the dialogue of "i don't know what else to do, Jaheira." and this battle-wisened woman's sympathy to that statement. that had me ugly crying for real.
i feel like right up until that point the game afforded a lot of options to not speak if you were unsure of something's outcome but not really a moment for tav (especially a good-aligned tav) to admit to the crushing reality that they can't fix this situation. for someone close to them no less. having spent days in game running around doing exactly that for people who mattered less. devastating.
anyway cleans the tear stains off my glasses i'm super good and excited to finish this playthru.
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have you read the lion blaze self harm scene? kinda sh ig he basically lets …ratscar i think like scratch him up bad by holding his powers back. interesting to me what’re ur thoughts? (idk if that’s the right definition, i’ve always defined it as having someone/yourself injure your body with the intent to hurt) sorry if this is a downer, i just know your a lion blaze enthusiast and wanted to know your thoughts
ohhh yes i do actually. its one of the few scenes i remember better bc i actually own the book where it happened.
to elaborate on the scene more, it happens after he has an argument with cinderheart, who claims they shouldnt be together since he's part of the prophecy, how his destiny is to save the clans (and coincidentally not get hurt) and them being mates would only be distractions
lion's rebuttal? instigate a fight w a patrol near the shadowclan border, disallow himself to fight back, and force the wounds to get inflicted on his body, as a show that he CAN choose to get hurt. that he CAN choose what kind of 'destiny' he should have. ive put my own thoughts about it under read more bc this got long (unsurprisingly jkhasdkjfhd)
i spent like a solid few minutes re-reading the chapter to gather my thoughts on it LOL i remember not thinking much about it when i was a kid, but i think its interesting to analyze now!
what was attempted to be written, at least, piques me bc its about lion trying to prove that they can exist outside of the narrative the prophecy has given them. which is funnily ironic, since the start of the chapter is of him having self doubts regarding saving the clans when they found out theres a fourth cat, how that basically means that the three of them wouldnt be enough, how his destiny might have changed. reading this chapter just gave me a new can of brainworms but ill try not to delve into it too much bc its gonna get way messier LMAOOO
to go back to lion purposely getting himself hurt, i dont think he's the type of person who would do that for the sake of it, unless as a really dumb way to prove a point. but it makes me think he really doesnt have much of a care of whether he'd get hurt or not. a severe lack of self-preservation, and all that. cats back at camp react to his wounds w all around shock, he's herded into the med den all the while he acts like he'll be fine. i dunno if the shock from the cats is just bc theyre just so used to seeing him NOT hurt, or if his wounds were really that bad. but either or both still pretty much gives me a lot to think about. homeboy doesnt know the limits of his body, and that makes for interesting scenarios of how he manages to deal w that after losing his powers
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what i love about requiem of the rose king is how it makes the reader doubt about every character when it comes to richard. you are able to feel richard's hesitation with everyone. like him, you are not sure whos gonna accept him and who wont. even anne, whom we all love cuz shes adorable and nice and doing her damn best to have some agency in medieval times, is not free from the "they may be an asshole to richard list." the reader can trust characters with a lot of things except richard's body. and thats exactly what richard feels. its always a 50/50 and richard knows this.
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