#sengoku period weapons are just fire

[thg-rcg-simps]

Dazzling Analyzing & Reporting Ninjutsu

(Pretend this post is not overly late to the Rappa story, I simply coudn't finish it earlier, it also will be somehow lenghy I'm a tiny bit sorry, I just have a lot to talk about)

This pink haired Ninja is simply too cool to not make a seperate post about ^^

[Obvious SPOILERS for the Rappa event/story + TW for discussing Rappa's origin]

We are back in Penacony! (Or should I call it Pinecany?) What a shocker I know, it's not like we've been there for a large chunk of the game while waiting for a new world. But that's beside the point.

While we enter we again expiriance a strange "dream", but this time it's filled with monkeys, ahm I mean Slumbernana monkeys and a pink haired sengoku period vielding weapons neon Ninja girl. We later find out her name is Rappa. We also find out she is a Galaxy Ranger and also working somehow together on this mission with Boothill. However, she's asking us for help before jumping off a roof onto a monkey shaped dream bubble. Which later we find out it's fairly common behaivior for her.

We wake up and have another 'Oh wait that was a Penacony trip again', realization while heading out. Who would be in our crew this time, you might ask? Well of course not Mommy Himeko, she's simply too busy staying on the Express and brewing coffee. Welt stays there too, because 'Ew people' (I can't really blame him there). Or as the game tells, they are off to some convinient conference (sure). So only the "children" check into the hotel, where we learn that Boothill also makes a reaperence and stays there.

At first I wasn't truly sure how to feel about this, because in the main story Boothill was just not hitting it for me. Which was also a big reason why we didn't summon for him back then. I don't know, he certainly has enough trauma for that, but something just rubbed me the wrong way. And I'm super happy to report that they fixed that a lot in this patch. Or maybe fix is the wrong term, they finally make him corherent with his personality and not flip flopping between him being a himbo only there for comedic release and being a serious (traumatised) cowbpoy. This time he has way more personality and weight to his person, and it works amazingly, because he's still funny too.

Oh, we also have to kinda go to school there? For some reason, because none of the three in question qualify as students. One was frozen in an ice block for who knows how long, the other is a glorified stellaron racoon and the third is a semi wanted war criminal with memory problems. I would ask who gave us the pass, but I think being the Penacony shareholders was the main reason nobody questions any of us. And I mean this in the entirety of staying there. Upon visiting said school we learn everybody is just relentlesly obessesed with Slumbernana monkeys and they take over the campus as well as teachers (conveniantley also away for said conference), staff, advisors and life of anybody there. Well beside Mr. Reca, but he's special.

I'm not really focusing on the school that much, because eventually it's not really important or memorable beside some fun interactions. So to break it down easier, the Slumbernanas are a memetic virus taking over the Sweet dream, infecting more and more people in the hopes of turning humans (or what is called human in the HSR sense) to regress back in time (becoming primates) so they would eventually evolve into greater beings. Oh and the mission has a weird obsession with Montana, a representative of the Slumbernana school fanclub and March's friend. Like a weirdly close bond friend. (She's seriously having way too much expose for a NPC)

There is also an official Slumbernana fanclub that much more represents a cult then a club, wanting specifically to use the Dreamflux Realm for their "project" (which most of fans are unaware off, I have to admit). Which is where Boothill's story act plays, along with Robin, trying to understand and hold back the mess those fanatics want to cause. And to help Dreamflux realm the best they can.

The real villian however are the BananAdvisor and Dr. Primative orchastrating everything while not being physically present. It's also worth mentioning that Mr. Reca plays a role in all of it, he's not evil, more a fanatic crazy director, and memokeeper.

(We always joke about that when the Penacony arc was released AO3 was funnily flooded with Dan Heng X Boothill fanfics and later some rare finds with Boothill X Robin and how they barely make (canonly) sense. (Which yes, everybody is allowed to ship anybody of age freely, don't need to make canonly sense, just legal. This in particular is simply a personal opinion because I really don't see the vibe of the first ship). But in the 2.6 patch they really make Boothill X Robin work a lot for us. I really can see the chemistry so it's cute, I like it)

The Dazzling Ninja at first is just goofy and a bit weird, from her own terminus, to her optimism, to her overall behaivor and antics, but we soon find out it's not all neon sings and fun graffiti. While most of the Mission is fairly humouros and lighthearded, because funky looking monkeys, it turns dark quite fast and not just once. In such instances Rappa often appears much sadder and can even speak "normal". She is acually concerned about the Slumbernana infection and urges us to help. It's her life mission to stop Evil Ninja Osaru. It's much much more personal, if she wishes so or not...

She's constanly talking about Master Kucha, the person teching her all about Ninjutsu and Evil Ninja Osaru, as well as Ninja Heros. This being a core to her entire exsistance.

[TW: Rappas Origin (violance, human experiments, blood)]

As we learn from Mr. Reca, her past is not muddled, but shattering. She's immune to the Slumbernana virus because she is allready infected with one, with a Ninjutsu one. And this is because she is no more than an expiriment herself. A failed one in the eyes of the Dr.. Which is funny because she is clearly the best functioning and most intellegent one, which is the purpose of her creation. Her past is not neon, it's being locked up in chambers and expiriancing pain to no mean. It's being a sentient prisoner, a guinea pig. Nothing she could've done would prevent her from expiriance just abuse tarned as something good. Something acceptable.

One of the researchers being in charge of watching her was said Master Kucha, the one man that brought her up, gave a purpose, let her read his only and very cherrished manga series, raised her, watching her grow up, and always being kind to her. Of course that doesn't mean he was any better than other researchers using her as a experiment, but he was by far the best and most humane one, later even realising that what they are doing is just so fucked up, going that far to betray everybody and killing the headmistres and himself in the end, only for Rappa to be able to escape.

I find it intressting that the Galaxy Rangers were behind Dr. Primative much earlier and chasing him. Which was the reason they didn't have any equipment with them in that new place and why Kucha felt so bad so he let Rappa read the mangas in the first place. Of course we are never find out if the lap before that place was any more 'child friendly' to give the best fundation for intelect building, but it would make sense. At least in a child psychology way.

And due to her being only a "lowly" experiment, she's also not having a proper name, being known as A-K-A3 which later when asked to form a name, showed in the end result, Dazzling Ninja AKA Rappa.

For her "final trial" to become a Ninja (Hero) she has to escape the facillity and, well, also murder anybody standing in the way because they are all just helpers of Evil Ninja Osaru. (Maybe has to is the wrong term again, she just does it out of what is right and her will to live) Later she is found by an unknown Galaxy Ranger who at first is cautios but later realised Rappa is not on Dr. Primatives side eventually taking her with her.

I really love how at first Evil Ninja Osaru was just a random made up person to make her endure training and experiments, to give her a purpose, but later eventually turning into a real person without her even knowing. He is and always was the bad guy. This is why she is so accepting of Galaxy Rangers, because she's training to be one of them. Kucha wanted to do the right thing in the end and this is warming.

She also finds a purpose beside only defeting Evil Ninja Osaru, wanting to prevent any evil (ninjas) there is in the galaxy. Which is also a nice touch to her personality.

It does however put into perspective just how long this child was in the hands of those people. While we don't know exactly, we can assume she was 10+ to around 15+ when she escaped.

(Art doesn't belong to me)

[TW over]

So what are our final thoughts on Rappa? It's a truly good writting and being myself I can't help but feel "happy" to have more disabled chracters for representation. Because not only is she deeply traumatised, she is also disabled, the virus preventing her from being "normal"/"healthy". of course this has some benefits but that doesn't mean she isn't. It's also very fun to see how positive and ultimativley badass she can be despide her trauma. Because dealing with trauma can look diffrent for everyone, as much as healing can.

I didn't dwelve to much into Boothill but just let me say, Boothill being regressed (really regressed not just somehow pretending to be able to win) is such a cute idea and we both enjoyed how he told the BananAdvisor that the reason he didn't pick up a gun earlier was not because he wouldn't and was "innocent", but because he simply didn't need to.

(Art doesn't beong to me)

(Also please let Boothill meet sweet Clara, I beg you HoYo)

-TakumiHairGuy & RikkaCatGirl

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #188

Today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the greatest robot ever built in Sengoku period Japan, Katou “Black Kite” Danzo! This amazing automaton is a Thief Rogue to speed up her limbs and get some ninja mobility, as well as an Alchemist Artificer so she can really fly, make objects disappear and reappear, and even make those awful rice balls.

Check out her build breakdown below the cut, or her character sheet over here!

Next up: Welcome to the CHK!

Race and Background

Danzo’s a Karakuri Puppet, but D&D races don’t get that specific, so we’ll just have to call her a Warforged instead. This gives her +2 Constitution and +1 in any other ability, and we want Dexterity. Her Constructed Resilience gives advantage on saves against being poisoned, and she gets resistance to poison damage. She also doesn’t need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep, and she can’t get sick. As a bonus, this means she doesn’t need to take any of the Fuuma clan’s medicine, thank god.

She still has to take long rests though, but a Sentry’s Rest reduces the time to six hours. You’re still conscious, but you can’t move if you want the rest.

Thanks to your wooden body, you can use Integrated Protection to fuse yourself into your armor, granting you a +1 bonus to AC, and preventing it from being removed against your will. Your Specialized Design also gives you proficiency with Medicine and Woodcarver’s Tools.

Like Paraiso, you’re also a magic assassin, so Volstrucker Agent is pretty accurate. This background gives you proficiency with Deception and Stealth.

Ability Scores

As usual, we’re using the standard array for maximum replicability. From high to low:

Still a ninja, still starting with a really high Dexterity. Unlike Kotarou, your ninja tricks come from your Intelligence. Also, you’re a robot; you’ve got to be pretty smart to know how you work, and you have a big chunk of the Fuuma clan’s history stuck in your head. Third is Constitution- you’ll happily sit in a cave for several centuries and not die, which is pretty impressive. Your Wisdom is above average, because I can’t think of anything specific you do that uses wisdom, but it’s still probably better than a regular person’s. Your Strength is probably lower than it should be, but it’s not like we really need it that much. That means we’re dumping Charisma. You don’t really “get” people that well.

Class Levels

Artificer 1: Starting off as an artificer is pretty neat, giving you proficiency with Constitution and Intelligence saves, as well as two artificer skills- Arcana is the closest thing we have to science in D&D, and Sleight of Hand will probably help with the bull swallowing we’ve got to do later. You also get Magical Tinkering when you start out, letting you tack minor magical effects onto tiny objects. A pebble that constantly sounds like someone walking around is a useful distraction. Despite artificers being a half casting class, they also get Spells this level, which you can cast and prepare using your Intelligence. For cantrips, I suggest picking up Mending to patch yourself up, as well as Create Bonfire for a quick and easy firestarter. Literally setting places on fire is also a great distraction, if a bit more obvious. For first level spells, I suggest picking up the classic suite of “barely spells” spells, like Grease, Alarm, and Snare. You should also grab Cure Wounds for some quick and dirty rice balls, as well as Jump and Feather Fall for Katou Danzo’s wind manipulation. There aren’t many offensive options for wind in D&D, but I can promise you’ll be very mobile by the end of this build.

Artificer 2: The big reason we started as an artificer is to grab Infused Items as quickly as possible. Starting at this level you can hold onto four blueprints for magic items, and can make up to two of them at a time, switching them out between long rests. Now you can make a Bag of Holding for some real bull swallowing (not literally though, those suckers are several times your weight limit), a Rope of Climbing for a grappling hook that attaches itself, a Returning Weapon so you’re not stuck picking up your kunai after every fight, or you can apply Enhanced Defense on some armor for even more AC.

Rogue 1: Now that your initial ninja tricks are set up, we still have to, y’know, get good at ninjaing. (Ninjing? Whatever.) Bouncing over to rogue gives you Investigation proficiency for expert analysis plus Thieves’ Tools for dismantling traps, as well as Expertise in Acrobatics and Stealth for double proficiency bonuses on all your ninja techniques. You also get a Sneak Attack once per turn, dealing an extra 1d6 damage to your target while using a finesse weapon and if you either have advantage on the attack, or have an ally within 5 feet of them. Also also, you get Thieves’ Cant. It’s a language.

Rogue 2: Second level rogues get a speed boost thanks to Cunning Action. Now you can use your bonus action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide. All very ninja-y, I assure you.

Rogue 3: Going into the Thief subclass lets you overclock yourself even further thanks to your Fast Hands. Now your cunning action lets you make sleight of hands checks, use thieves’ tools, or use objects as a bonus action. Plus, your sneak attack is 2d6 now! You’re also accustomed to Second-Story Work, so you climb as quickly as you walk, and your running jumps get boosted by your dexterity modifier. Combining this with Jump starts your ascent into a proper Black Kite- with a running start you can jump almost 40′ across, or almost 20′ straight up. You can also jump over most humanoids, clearing seven and a half feet on long jumps.

Rogue 4: Use your first Ability Score Improvement to bump up your Intelligence for stronger artificer spells and medicines.

Artificer 3: Now that we’ve got a base level of ninjositude down, we can bounce back to artificer for more clever tricks. Right off the bat, you can always create The Right Tool for the Job over the course of a short rest, though you can only make one kind of tool at a time. (If you make new tools, the old ones get jealous and leave, I guess.) You also get goodies exclusive to the Alchemist subclass though, like proficiency with Alchemist’s Tools, Healing Word and Ray of Sickness as prepared spells, and the ability to craft Experimental Elixirs. When you finish a long rest, you can make one such elixir, with a random effect you find out when you create it. There’s a lot, so I’m not going to list them all here. The elixir only lasts until your next long rest, so you can’t stock up. That being said, you can create more elixirs at a time as you level up.

Artificer 4: Use this ASI for more Dexterity, for more accurate and deadly kunai strikes.

Artificer 5: Fifth level alchemists become Alchemical Savants, adding their intelligence modifier to spells that heal or deal acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Playing to character means you won’t be using this much aside from the healing, but you also get second level spells! You get Flaming Sphere and Melf’s Acid Arrow for free, but we’re here more for the other spells you can prepare, like grabbing Levitate for some discount flight (hey, if you use your rope of climbing to grapple onto things you can probably get some good speed going...), Invisibility for better bull swallowing that can actually swallow a bull, Enhance Ability to just try a little harder, and Blur for some swirly wind nonsense that makes you harder to fight. If King Arthur can do it, so can you.

Artificer 6: Sixth level artificers get Tool Expertise, doubling your proficiency with any tool check you’re already proficient in. You can also cast Message at this point because you’ve worked in Chaldea too long for them to not give you a freaking walkie talkie, and you learn two more item infusions, and you can build one more at a time. Boots of Elvenkind will silence your footsteps, and Boots of the Winding Path can help you ninja vanish back along the steps you took this turn. There’s an obvious problem that you can’t wear both sets at once, but you’re probably not even making both at once, so...

Artificer 7: Seventh level artificers get Flashes of Genius, letting you add your intelligence modifier to an ability check or saving throw happening within 30 feet of you. You can use this Intelligence Modifier times per long rest. If scifi has taught me anything, all robots are calculating the seven billion ways an event could go at any one time, so finding the three that lead to success shouldn’t be that hard.

Rogue 5: Bouncing back to rogue for a bit brings your sneak attack up to 3d6, and also unlocks your Uncanny Dodge, spending your reaction to halve the damage of an attack coming your way.

Rogue 6: Sixth level rogues get another round of Expertise, so double down on Investigation and Arcana for extra robosmarts.

Rogue 7: Your sneak attack gets as good as it ever will at 4d6, and you learn Evasion, supercharging your dexterity saves. Successes completely negate damage, and failures only deal half damage. Just... don’t stand in the fireball. Why do so few people get that?

Artificer 8: We’re back in artificer to stay now, so bump up that Intelligence for stronger spells as well as more and stronger flashes of genius.

Artificer 9: Ninth level alchemists stick Restorative Reagents in their medicines, adding 2d6+ your intelligence modifier temporary hit points to your experimental elixirs, regardless of their other effects. You also learn how to cast Lesser Restoration Intelligence Modifier times per long rest without using spell slots. The Fuuma clan’s medicines are effective, if nothing else. You also learn how to cast third level spells, like Mass Healing Word and Gaseous Form. I mean, I guess the latter spell is flying, but it’s not Fly flying, you get me? You can also use Tiny Servant to create puppets of your own, Water Walk to walk on water like the ninja you are, as well as Haste and Blink to supercharge your mobility.

Artificer 10: Tenth level artificers are Magic Item Adepts, letting you attune to one more magic item at once, and you can craft common or uncommon magic items faster and cheaper. You also get two more blueprints for infused items, and one more you can make at a given time. Boots of Striding and Springing will make your jumps even more ridiculous, and the Ring of Jumping will clear up some prep space and save you a spell slot or two. Using both of those items at the same time basically let you fly without the spell, letting you jump 120 feet forward or 63 feet straight up, and your long jumps can pass over obstacles that are 22 feet tall. You can leap small buildings in a single bound.

Artificer 11: At eleventh level, artificers can create Spell-Storing Items, stuffing magic into weapons or spell focuses. You can stick a 1st or 2nd level spell in the object, and creatures can cast the spell from that object using your spellcasting modifier and the creature’s concentration. The item holds 2xIntelligence Modifier charges, but you can only have one SSI at a time.

Artificer 12: Use your last ASI to max out your Intelligence for super strong spells, better Flashes of Genius, and more Spells in your items!

Artificer 13: Your capstone level gets you fourth level artificer spells, like the freebies Blight and Death Ward. You can also use these slots to cast spells like Leomund’s Secret Chest for more effective bull swallowing. The bag of holding can still be messed with, and turning stuff invisible doesn’t get rid of it, but the Secret Chest will just hang out in a different dimension til you need it again. Also, you only have to cast it once every two months! You can also Summon Construct to make your own dolls to help out in combat. Sadly there isn’t a wood option, but this is as close as we’re gonna get.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Flying is good. Like, really good. And you’re so mobile you can fly without flying. You’re so good at jumping you take falling damage just by making a long jump.

With your expertise, enhanced ability, and flashes of genius, you can be pretty good at most skills if you really need to be.

Artificers make really cool toys, but most are limited by only having one action per turn. Thanks to your fast hands, you can make even better use of your infusions by using your bonus actions to either double up on item uses or multitask.

Cons:

We didn’t take that many levels of rogue, so your damage is a lot lower than your fleshier ninja counterparts.

While your magic and infused items are useful, they all get shut down immediately in anti-magic zones, giving you a big weak point most DMs won’t hesitate to smash.

While I wouldn’t call having extraneous spells a weakness, especially from a player’s perspective, it is kinda sloppy building on our end. Outside of healing word you really wouldn’t use the other subclass spells you get if you’re playing to character.

[nihongomoji]

Inuyasha Japanese Words and Phrases

Higurashi Jinja

The "Higurashi Shrine." The name of the shrine Kagome and her family live at.

Hone Kui no Ido

The name of the "bone-eaters well" that is the portal between Kagome's and Inuyasha's worlds. It is part of the Higurashi Jinja.

Sengoku Jidai

The name of Inuyasha's world. "The Warring Period" or "Fudal Japan"

Shikon no Tama

The name of the jewel that Kikyo protected. It gives youkai more power, and can destroy them at the same time.

Shikon no Kakera

The pieces of the Shikon no Tama that Kagome and Inuyasha are searching for. If a youkai gets ahold of one piece, their powers increase.

Youkai

A "monster/demon". Sengoku Jidai is filled with them. Inuyasha's father was a demon, and Fluffy is one.

Hanyou

A half demon. Inuyasha is a hanyou.

Youryoku

Demon strength. Sometimes this is the reason humans go after the Shikon no Tama/Kakera

Shingetsu

The new moon, when Inuyasha turns into a human.

Tessaiga

The name of Inuyasha's sword. It belonged to his father, and usually changes from a rusty, old sword to a powerful one. Though sometimes it fails, like when Inuyasha is in human form. But in English it is known Tetsusaiga.

Hijinkessou

The name of Inuyasha's attack where he uses his own blood. (Blades of Blood)

Sankontessou

A name of one of Inuyasha's attacks. (Iron Revert Soul Shater)

Kitsunebi

The name of Shippou's attack. (Fox Fire)

Kazaana

An "empty hole", the name of the "black hole" like object in Miroku's hand.

Hiraikotsu

The name of Sango's attack, using her boomerang-like weapon.

Shinidamachuu

Name of the serpent like creatures that take and carry souls of the living to Kikyou.

Saimyoushou

Name of the poisonous flying insects of Naraku's. If they enter Miroku's Kazaana, they'll poison him.

Kaze no Kizu

Name of Inuyasha's attack where he "finds" the scent of the wind, and uses the Tetsusaiga to do some powerful damage.

Tenseiga

Name of Sesshoumaru's Sword, which can only be used to save others. Osuwari

This is all Kagome has to say to make Inu-Yasha's head ran into the ground. This happens because of the Prayer-Beads around his neck.

Sankontessou

ai - love

ai shiteru - I love you

anata - you (commonly used)

ano - well... (Kagome uses this a lot)

are - (ah-reh) Huh?

arigato - thank you

arigatougouzaimasu - thank you very much (much more polite)

atashi - me (female version)

baka - idiot/stupid/moron (who doesn't know this word?)

bishoujo - pretty girl (for instance, Sango)

bishounen - pretty boy (for instance, Sesshoumaru)

boku - me/I (used by males and pretty informal)

chibi - little, small

chikuso - dammit

chotto - a little

chuu-gakkou - middle school

daijoubu - in question form it means, "Are you ok". Just said out as a statement means "I'm fine."

dame - bad, no good

demo - but

fuku - uniform. Like Kagome's school clothes.

gakkou - school

gakkousei - student

genki - energy, healthy, happy, entergetic

gomen - I'm sorry. Gomen nasai means I'm very sorry.

hai - yeah, yes, ok

Hanyou - (Han-yoh) Han = half, You = demon. So, half-demon. In this case, Inuyasha is a hanyou because his father was a youkai and his mother was a human.

hentai - pervert

hime - princess

hokora - small shrine. Such as the one that the Bone Gobbling well is concealed in.

houshi - monk. Miroku's a houshi, though a perverted one at that.

iie - no

inu - dog

Inuyasha - Inu = dog, Yasha = Demon, so "Dog-demon". The kanji breakdown of his name translate to "Dog Night Wars/Gang" according to a Japanese woman who I had the pleasure of talking to in Tsukuba City, Japan. (Of course I had to ask her about Inuyasha. ^_^)

itai - owch

ja ne - or just plain out 'ja' mean 'see you later'

jigoku - hell

Kagome - A song for children that many Japanese people know. Besides being the heroine's name, there was some meaning behind it, actually.

Kami - God. Kami-Sama would be talking about god, or some very high ranking person, such as an emperor.

kappa - water demon

katana - Japanese samurai styled sword

kawaii - cute

kaze - wind

ki - spirit, energy

kimi - you (male form to close friends or children)

kisama - you (very insulting) Inuyasha uses this a lot when talking to enemies or just in general since he is a potty mouth.

kitsune - fox. Shippou is a kitsune youkai or fox demon.

Kokoro - Spirit, love, heart, soul. Various meanings, but all have to do with spirit.

konnichi wa - hello

kunoichi - female ninja

mamouru - to protect

mamotte ageru - I'll protect you.

matte - Stop! (male)

miko - priestess (What Kikyou is)

minna - everyone

mou - sign of exasperation, like sighing

nani - what?

Ningen - Human

ohayo - good morning

oi! - hey! (male) Inuyasha uses this a lot

oji - prince

ojo - princess

onegai - please?

Oni - Devil

onna - woman

ore - me (rude)

oswari - sit! (dog style, go figure) This is used to subdue Inuyasha by Kagome.

otoko - male, guy, man

otoko no ko - boy (Kagome first calls Inuyasha this when she first discovers him)

otou-san - father

owari - the end

sake - wine

Sengoku Jidai - age of warring states. Era where Inuyasha lives

senpai - upperclassmen

Shikon no Tama - Jewel of Four Souls or the Four Souled Jewel. In this story, the jewel contains four spirits of the world and was created by a priestess named Midoriko who lived long before even Inuyasha's time. This is a powerful jewel that can grant anyone strength.

shin-e - die

Shouki - evil aura given off by youkai

Shoujo - General word for girl

Shounen - General word for boy

sora - sky

sugoi - cool! awesome!

sumimasen - I'm sorry, please excuse me.

Tai - As in taiyoukai. Tai means ultimate, surpreme, or great. So, taiyoukai would mean "Great Demon" which is what Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru's father was.

tamashi - life

tetsusaiga - Inuyasha's sword that was left behind for him from his father. It transforms into a large fang when it is held by someone who wishes to protect Humans and can only work with Inuyasha. When it's not transformed, it appears as a rusty old katana.

ursai - shut up (Inuyasha says this to Kagome a lot)

uso - a lie

wakaru - I understand.

watashi - I (polite)

watashi wa - I am

yamero - stop it!

yarou - bastard (used towards males)

Youkai - Means "demon" in this sense. The word "you" translates to demon, but the real meaning behind 'youkai' is 'bewitching apparition' which include demons, monsters, goblins, and ghouls. Obake and bakemono mean the same thing as youkai and are other words frequently used for spirits.

yume - dream

zettai - never

*Name Suffixes*

-chan - Used between friends or with someone younger than you. Generally a very friendly suffix such as "Shippou-chan" as Kagome calls Shippou. Used between boyfriends and girlfriends.

-kun - Generally used for males, but can be used for females too. Someone who's close to you as a friend. Kagome calls Kouga "Kouga-kun" to show how she's friendly with him.

-san - Polite and formal. Used for someone at the same position as you or higher. You would use this with strangers if you didn't know them well. It basically means "Ms, Miss, Mr., or Mrs." Miroku calls Kagome "Kagome-san" out of respect.

-dono - Not frequently used in this anime, but in others, like Rurouni Kenshin. Indicates respect and is very polite.

-sama - Very high respect. Used when speaking about gods or someone like an emperor or king. In this case, Kikyou is called "Kikyou-sama" by the villagers that she lived with.

-sensei - Originally means "born earlier than me". Usually used towards your master, teacher, or someone wise in the literature and art. You would call your school teacher by this suffix.

onee-chan/san/sama - what you would call your sister. Souta calls Kagome "Kagome onee-chan". Kaede calls Kikyou "Kikyou onee-sama".

onii-chan/san/sama - what you would call your brother. Souta calls Inuyasha Inu-no-oniichan or the "Dog-eared brother".

jii-chan/san/sama - grandfather. Kagome calls her grandfather "Jii-chan"

[lorei-writes]

Sasuke x Witch! MC

Content Warnings:

Background: none

Sasuke x Witch!MC: fire

Background:

She was born and raised in XXI century Japan. 

Her childhood was rather ordinary: she had both parents, went to kindergarten and then to school, had friends, studied - just in general, led her life like any other person would. 

However, when still in primary school, she discovered she possessed a certain kind of ability. 

One day, she spilled tea over the book from school library. The librarian being a strict person, she presumed that even if she had brought an exact copy of the book and apologized, she’d be in trouble for the reminder of the year. 

Panicked, she tried to at the very least save the cover, wiping at it with tissues. 

The paper tore, though, leaving her no hope left.

Unsure of what else she could do, she let head fall onto her desk, smacking the wet book in the process. She wished it had never happened - but what was that, if not just a inane thought?

However, to her surprise, when she stood up, it was perfectly fine, as if she had never spilled anything over it. 

As she learnt in the years that followed, she could turn things - although she wasn’t sure what sort of things exactly - back in time. 

Having a very vague understanding of how exactly time worked and whether it could cause any consequences to arise, she opted not to use her power too much.

The more questions she asked, the less answers she had - and so, her passion for science sparked. 

Sasuke x Witch!MC:

Aiming to deepen her understanding of the world and possibly of her powers as well, she went on to study at the university. 

She was in one group with a man she came to like - Sasuke was smart, always seemed to get her culture references, but most importantly, shared her interest in physics and history. More often than not, he was the highlight of her days.

They oftentimes studied together, especially before the exam sessions, when they’d go out to have some food and then lock themselves in the library. 

To her delight, they were lab partners. Everything went well... Until it didn’t. 

Sasuke had to leave the room for a moment - an urgent call? Oh, she didn’t even remember anymore, holding in her hands the broken piece of equipment.

She looked around, assessing that everybody was busy with their work - luckily, nobody paid her much mind. Instantly, she touched the thing and rewound it back in time. 

As if nothing happened, she returned to work, Sasuke soon coming back as well. Little did she know, he saw exactly what she did. 

The week being almost over, they walked together towards the train station. “ So, about earlier, in the lab... How did you repair it?” he asked, appearing to be somewhat distracted.

She almost jumped out of her shoes, startled by the question.

In the end, she couldn’t lie to him.

In the following weeks, they conducted a series of experiments to find the limitations of her ability. They weren’t able to discover the mechanism allowing for the phenomenon to occur, though. 

As they found out, she couldn’t rewind anything by more no than 23 minutes, it was safe to turn living organisms back in time and, had she used her ability on herself, she did possess the notion of what was the last thing she had thought about before the change.

It appeared that her ability worked by replacing the thing (inanimate or animate) from the present with one from the past. 

The months passed and the holidays began. To her surprise, Sasuke asked her to come with him to Kyoto - for research, he said, most possibly having also some other reasons in mind. 

The lightning struck the temple, the wormhole sending them back to Sengoku.

She awoke there in the burning building. Somewhat confused, she looked around - an unconscious person was lying on the ground. Blinded by smoke, she pulled them out of the building, not quite sure as to what was happening. 

Everything that happened later was unbelievable. One thing bothered her as well - what happened to Sasuke? They were there together, after all. Was he sent back in time? If so, then to what period? Was he somewhere around? 

She acted based on the premise that he must have been somewhere around. As such, she accepted her position as princess and used her days to scout for information. 

To surprise of the warlords, she was rather inventive, oftentimes  going out of her way to help with fixing things, sometimes adding adjustments to the construction of said items or suggesting different design altogether. 

It wasn’t that she loathed their company - no, pretty much the opposite. However, when she saw the ceiling panel move, Sasuke’s head peaking from the gap, she couldn’t think of staying in Azuchi anymore. 

“You’re...” she started hesitantly.  “ Your friendly neighbourhood ninja, exactly,” he answered, descending silently onto the floor. “ I just... I... I couldn’t find a... Where...” she stuttered.  “ That story is longer than The Song of Ice and Fire. But that’s not important. You need to get out of here.”

She didn’t think twice of it and followed him, only later learning of his current job. Together, they decided to return to the future.

However, that didn’t go exactly as planned - in eyes of the public, she was a traitor to the Oda clan. Sasuke, on the other hand, abandoned his lord. They did not expect that other clans would go such lengths to try to exploit them.

They had just departed for Kyoto, when a group of armoured men started following them. 

Initially, they pretended to be unaware of said fact, attempting to lose said tail. Yet, to no avail.

Time was slowly running out, the chase getting closer and closer. She could feel their breaths on her neck - and finally, they had to meet. 

The men drew weapons, threatening to hurt them, had Sasuke not given the Oda princess to them. 

They ran for their lives, the prospect of her being a prisoner terrifying them. 

A day passed - and nothing had changed for the better. If anything, Sasuke realised they wouldn’t make it no matter what. They stopped for the night, too tired to move. Without a moment of hesitation, he asked her to trust him and do as he said.

His plan was for her to turn herself back, over and over again, until she was just a small child. Then, he’d try to bring her to the closest village, from where he’d try to escape. 

“ I can’t do this. I can’t leave you like that,” she pleaded. “ Please.” “ You will die.”  “ I may.” “ We will cause disturbance to time.” “ We don’t know that yet.” “ What do you mean?” “ I think your current self will end up starting another timeline. It will be identical, save you know what will happen. If you rewind yourself immediately, you should start another one. Do this until before you fled Azuchi.” “ Sasuke...” she started, but he cut her off: “ I can’t have you die here, but I can’t come up with different solution either.”

She clenched her jaw, silently agreeing to the plan. Before she began, he leaned down and placed a kiss on her forehead.  “ I will find you again. I promise.”

They changed their course, Sasuke hoping to hide in some village. His grip on the reins tightened, as with each second she grew younger - and so, by the end of the day, she was just a child. 

To her, it felt as if three months ago were a single eternity away from her - yet, she reached it. The fire.

Days passed. Sasuke descended onto the floor of her room yet again. Tears in her eyes, she hugged him tight, just to explain what had happened. 

“ Please, don’t make me leave you again,” she sobbed.

This time, they found another way - one which involved making more friends at that. 

Tag list: @datenoriko , @nad-zeta , @tsubaki3192 , @choi-jiyu, @missjudge-me  If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)!^^ Also, if you have some preferences (for example: you’d rather not be tagged under some series, etc.), please, tell me.

[nad-zeta]

🌚Um.. a matchup for Ikesen, please? I'm usually confident, hardworking, and diligent. I'm considered the "star of the class" and a real genius and nerd, but I enjoy having fun as well! I love to draw manga, watch anime, play Otome and RPG games, listen to music, play the guitar, and sing! I'm a sensitive bean and I cry a lot if I do something wrong. I have a habit of blaming myself although I'm trying to stop that habit. I'm empathetic and I always try to make others happy by helping them. 1/2

🌚My confidence lies in what I do best. I love to speak in front, such as doing speech and public speaking, because I love to talk and inspire. I try my best to be helpful to others, but sometimes I try too much to please everyone. I'm a bit chubby and I'm a bit insecure but I try to be confident in my looks but I can't help it, food is life, hehe. My eyes are a unique brown especially when the sunlight shines through, my hair is also brown. I'm quite short, about 153-155 cm. Thank you! 2/2

Hi hi, love! 🌻Thank you so so much for the request!😆❤ Sorry for taking sooooo long! 😱I hope you enjoy it and i hope you have the best day! ❤🌻

So I match you with............. Sasuke

When you first arrive in the past and save Nobunaga from death by fire, you were hella confused. You have no idea what had happened to you, and honestly you low key thought it was some kind of prank. You laughed when nobunga told you, just who he was and what year it was. You looked around the tree line for the hidden cameras, but there was non. Honestly, things only started to feel real once you arrived at the castle and Nobunaga named you as princess.

From day one, you worked hard to earn the oda forces trust and respect. You were incredibly diligent, and soon all suspicion of you being a spy was dropped. You honestly brought new life into the castle, as your hard work inspired some of the lazier maids to pull up their socks, they couldn’t dare let the new princess outshine them. You went up and beyond what was expected of you, and the small details of your work certainly didn’t go unnoticed. Especially your addition of flowers in every room of the castle, which you would handpick every few days, it just seemed to brighten up the place and give it livelier energy.

TBH you were a big fan of history, so you knew the history of these historical figures pretty well. You low key had to catch yourself sometimes, especially before you completely nerd out in front of them. Especially when talking to Ieyasu, you had been a big fan of him since learning about him in history class, in fact, you were secretly fangirling over all the warlords. 

It got a bit lonely at times, you missed your friends and being able to chat about your favourite animes and mangas. You loved your new warlord friends, but it still felt like they just weren’t on the same wavelength as you. Your hobbies and interests were just so different, and you found it difficult to relate to them sometimes.

After Hideyoshi stop suspecting you of being an assassin, he became like your second mother, and today was a prime example of that. He had handed you a bag full of golden coins and shooed you to the markets to relax and take a load off. You wandered around aimlessly until something caught your attention. A nerdy looking guy wearing a white science coat, you got a bit closer and when you overheard his conversation with his friend you were positive, HE WAS ALSO FROM THE FUTURE. You were so excited to have finally met someone, not from this time that you instantly tapped him on the shoulder. You thought of a phrase that you could ask him, which would quickly confirm whether or not he was from your time. “Excuse me, dude could you please spill the tea on where you’re from.” You knew If he was truly from the future, he wouldn’t question your lingo or your addressing him as dude. Sasuke stared at you shook, just when you began to question whether he really was from the future, he gave a slither of a smile and said, “Exe.Sasuke stopped working, need to reboot,” all while doing some strange robot dance. The two of you laughed, leaving a very confused Yuki looking at the two of you. 

Sasuke took yours and Yuki’s hands and dragged both of you to the nearest teahouse where he explained that he had been looking for you for four years. “WHAT YOU’RE FROM THE FUTURE.” Yuki was in a state of shock, he always suspected Sasuke had a secret with the weird way he talked but never in a million years did he think this was possible. Meanwhile, you were over the moon as not only was Sasuke from the future, but he was also a fellow nerd 

Since that day, the three of you would hang out together every day. You finally found a friend that could understand all your nerdy jokes and references. Often the two of you would go to the teahouse together when Yuki was busy with work. You and Sasuke would legit chat for hours and hours about your favourite animes, otome games and mangas. When Yuki would finally join the two of you after work, it was standard procedure for you guys to tease the poor boy until he was as red as a beet. Sasuke loved that he had finally found a fellow intellectual and nerd as sometimes it was difficult to bounce ideas off his BFF, as let’s face it Yuki didn’t understand half the words that would come out of Sasuke’s mouth.

It had definitely become a tradition for the three of you to play boards at least once a week. Both you and Sasuke loved playing RPG games in the future, so the two of you banded together to create the closest version to that in this Sengoku period. You honestly loved these weekly game nights with the boys. It gave you a sense of nostalgia, and you couldn’t help but smile at the great time you were having with your new friends. These game nights were always filled with witty banter, plenty of junk food and a ton of laughs.

At some point, Kenshin and Shingen had come to visit their vassal only to walk into the room with, Yuki flipping the table in frustration, while you and Sasuke gripped your sides in laugher at his sore loser behaviour. Since then the god of war and Tiger of Kai would occasionally join your game nights, which you always enjoyed. The more people to tease and beat, the better. 

Soon it came time for them all to go back home and prepare for the war that was brewing between the two forces. You couldn’t help but cry when Sasuke and Yuki had come to say their goodbyes. You, after all, were a sensitive little bean and you were definitely going to miss nerding out and joking around. You sat alone in your room when suddenly out of thin air Kenshin jumped down from your roof, you were sister shook. Kenshin had been watching you and Sasuke for some time now during your game nights. He knew at this point that his ninja had fallen in love with you and honestly despite looks, Kenshin had a soft spot for those who he held dear. He asked if you would like to live in his castle with the wacky bunch, even going as far as offering you a job to sweeten the deal. You loved the oda forces, and they were definitely like family to you, but honestly, you had too long ago fallen for the nerdy ninja boy. Plus over time you had really come to love Kenshin and the gang. You definitely didn’t hesitate to accept Kenshin’s offer. You quickly packed up all your belongings and wrote a long letter to each of the Oda forces expressing how much you loved and was going to miss them. 

You made your way to Kasugayama with Kenshin to arrive on the evening of Sasuke’s birthday. Kenshin smiled as he walked into the banquet hall with you trailing behind him, “Sasuke I have a birthday gift for you.” Sasuke looked up and locked eyes with you, he was ecstatic. You simply smiled and walked over to your long time friend and handed him a birthday gift that you had managed to make for him on your journey to Kasugayama. 

You had hand-drawn him a manga, not only that but on the last page of this homemade manga was a confession of love. When Sasuke realized that you had felt the same way he did, he used his hand towel to very dramatically dab away his fake tears, before capturing you in his arms and showering your face in small kisses. You couldn’t help but break into the biggest blush as everyone at the banquet cheered and whistle. Honestly, they had never seen Sasuke ever show any kind of emotion, but now with you in his arms, he was wearing the biggest smile and radiating pure happiness.

Sasuke loved everything about you. He loved that you could sing and play instruments. He could listen to your beautiful voice for hours and hours, he especially enjoyed it when the two of you would make up stupid songs about the most random of topics and sing them while trolling the people of Kasugayama. It was always a good time to irritate them like younger siblings would. 

As a fellow intellectual, you relay enjoyed helping Sasuke with his research, tracking wormholes and discovering new theories of time and space. You loved bouncing ideas and theories off each other. Together the two of you managed to make and design the coolest ninja weapons, which was mostly for your entertainment. As the two of you would play ninja ninja out in the garden, throwing smoke bombs and blunt ninja stars at each other.

For a brief time, you and Sasuke even went back to the future so that Sasuke could present his research findings. He honestly was such a nervous little bean, so he really appreciated the fact that you were right there by his side the entire time, giving him all the help and support. He also loved that you helped him with his presenting skill and listened to his presentation over and over until it was perfect. Of course, after the presentation was over, the two of you went back to the past the second the next wormhole opened, as that was where all your friends and loved ones were. 

Upon your return, Kenshin threw the two of you a big banquet to welcome you home, where Sasuke sang your praise for helping and supporting him. Kenshin was so impressed by your skills in the field of public speaking and presenting that he actually appointed you an official job as Uesugi force negotiator and mediator. A job which enables you to inspire people to work together towards a more peaceful world, free of conflict.  

Sasuke knew that you had some insecurities around your body, which he didn’t understand at all as, in his eyes, you were the most beautiful woman alive. A fact, which he would remind you of every day by wrapping his arms around your waist and gently whispering just how much he adored you, before meeting your lips in a sweet kiss. 

Sasuke loved to spend as much time as humanly possible with you, joking around and chatting for hours and hours about all your common interests. If the two of you cuties aren’t trolling Yuki, you are snuggled together just enjoying each other presence. Usually, Sasuke would hold you in his arms as he rests his head on your shoulder while you play the guitar and sing the most beautiful songs to him. 

This romantic ninja boy will most definitely also take you up onto the rooftop and cuddle with you while telling you everything he knows about the stars and universe above you. You can’t help but smile and kiss his cheek thanking the universe for sending you your better half

Other potential matches..........Mitsunari! 

I hope you enjoyed this love and I hope you have a super good day! 🔥❤🌻😊

[toku-explained]

I'd like to talk a little about the concept of inter-rider compatibility of the items used by the riders in a series. For this, unless I state otherwise, it is assumed most more powerful items/main forms are only usable by the riders who use them due to personal compatibility.

While my discussion on this topic is motivated by recent events in Zero-One, I won't be talking about that here.

First up Ryuki. We actually know exactly what happens with trying to use Advent Cards beside your own. The effect is triggered, but for the person whose card it is. Cards like Copy Vent and Freeze Vent might be an exception. Each Rider is compatible with at least one Survive Card. Odin is the exception to this, but he doesn't need a Survive Form, and he can use all three together to be invincible anyway. The Alternative cards wouldn't be compatible with the other Visors, and vice versa.

Faiz, I don't know if we have confirmation either way of if the other Mission Memories can be used on another Rider weapon.

Blade we got a pretty good answer for. While for the 3 BOARD Riders they would only be able to use their particular Ace with their Belt, and their particular Royals with the Rouze Absorber, we know from a period when Leangle had most of Chalice's cards that they can use cards out of their suit, even if the Rouzer doesn't announce the name of the attack. And King Form has an attack using all 4 Category 6. As for Chalice, at least for transformation, he should be able to use every single Undead. Attacks probably the same.

Kiva is where I want to talk about a slight deviation to my theme, the concept of using other Rider's gears (mostly weapons) as a mechanism of their powers in at least one form. Despite the obvious fact that toy wise all Fuestles are compatible with all belts, in theory, in the canon there is no evidence for this. The Arms Monsters, the Garulu Saber, Bassha Magnum and Dogga Hammer are usable by Kiva, Ixa and Dark Kiva. The three are directly tied to Kiva's powers due to their loyalty to Wataru/promise to Otoya, able to grant him various forms. Ixa has Fuestles that enable him to steal the Arms Monsters from Kiva after he summons them, though only did so once, with Garulu. Finally, the 1986 Dark Kiva is responsible for them being Arms Monsters in the first place, having used his Fuestles to transform them.

Decade has two things to consider in this regard. The first is that all of Decade's personal cards are exclusive to him, and all of Diend's are the same. The exception to this is the occasion where Decade Complete used the Diend Kamen Ride Card to trigger a double Dimension Shoot. As for cards of other Riders, Decade is able to transform into any of the 9 Heisei Riders and use their initial forms and abilities via cards, as well as Final Form Ride them. A few cards can effect other Riders (seen with Amazon) but that's limited. Diend on the other hand can summon any rider using their Kamen Ride card, but only in their main form. He also has Final Form Ride cards for all 10 Heisei Riders.

In Zi-O, where their repertoires have been altered somewhat, things are different. While no Final Form Rides are used I wouldn't rule them still having them out. Decade now only has cards to transform into the 19 other Heisei Riders, lacking Form Ride and Attack Ride cards, however, he has now demonstrated the ability to use those forms weapons of abilities in the Rider's main form. Diend's cards have been more significantly altered, as he now only has Rider Cards for the 19 secondary Riders.

Gaia Memories in W have a bit of an unclear status with their use between Riders. It's clear that any T1 Memory or T2 Memory can be used in any Maximum Slot to trigger a Maximum Drive, and most of these memories would seem to be usable in a Lost Driver. Accel's seem to be specifically designed for his equipment, and while CycloneAccel Xtreme theoretically exists, I don't think Accel could be used with the W Driver.

OOO we know exactly how it works. OOO can use any Core Medal to transform as long as it's in the correct slot, with the exception of the Black Medals, which still have a variant in different colours which are compatible. He only uses Cell Medals for the Ride Vendors and Medjalibur, which are add-ons to his power, and the Taja Spinner and Medagaburyu. The Birth system meanwhile only uses Cell Medals. Poseidon uses Core Medals, but is probably designed only for those specific ones.

With Fourze's Astro Switches, only Circle switches are usable by anyone other than Fourze. Nadeshiko has only been seen using the Rocket Switch. Meteor is able to use the Elek, Fire and N Magnet Switches to trigger finishers, and Fourze in Cosmic States is able to use the Meteor and Meteor Storm Switches in the Barizium Sword, but can only use the Meteor Switch in the Fourze Driver thanks to Fusion.

Wizard we know how it works, the Beast Driver can only use Beast's Rings, while the Wizardriver can use Beast's Mantle rings to trigger a spell affect of their own.

Gaim, we know that any Rider using a Sengoku Driver can use any standard Lockseed, and via a Genesis Core any Energy Lockseed for a Jimber form, not withstanding the individuals ability to withstand the effects of some of the stronger Lockseeds. The few weapons that do use Lockseeds seem able to use any of them. The Genesis Driver can only use Energy Lockseeds, but the Sonic Arrow can use the normal kind.

For Drive, Drive itself is unable to use anything not designed for it to use without some reworking of the systems. It can read Roidmude Viral Cores, but the Tridoron and Heartron Cars both had to be altered to allow for a transformation. The Chaser system can use any non-transformation Shift Cars to channel their abilities, except the Pit Crew, as well as read data from the Shift Speed Prototype. The Mach Driver system is demonstrated to be able to use the same range of Shift Cars to channel abilities, and Chaser can use Shift Speed Prototype the same way. It's also able to read the Tridoron Key or Shift Viral Core to allow the transformation into Chou DeadHeat, which isn't designed to be used. On my occasional weapon use topic, Type Special is able to use Mach and Chaser's weapons.

Ghost, any Eyecon for a historical figure is usable by any rider, as long as either the spirit is willing or the rider is able to control the spirit. The Necrom Eyecons don't seem to have any restrictions who uses them, and Necrom is in fact compatible with with the Ghost Driver. Almost every other Rider's main Eyecon is either connected to their own soul (Takeru, Daigo, Ryu) or the soul of someone related to them (Makoto, Ayumu), what soul is responsible for Dark Ghost I don't know, but for these reasons they're only usable by those specific people. Toucon Boost is only usable by Takeru for the same reason, and the same with Mugen, Sin Spectre and Yujou Burst. Deep Spectre might be usable by Takeru, at least originally.

Gashat rules actually seem to be fairly clear cut. In fact, given the examples we see with Dangerous Zombie, Girigiri Chambara and Kamen Rider Chronicle, it seems that either Driver can be used to transform into Rider form, as long as you're physically capable of using the Driver, or resisting the effects of the Gashat. It might be that the Bugle Driver variants are only capable of transforming into Level X Riders or Cronus, but we only see one example of a trying to Henshin using a Gashat that doesn't fit those criteria, not including Girigiri Chambara, which was especially modified to give it a Level X form. Higher level Gashats are only usable by the characters who use them in canon, either due to their unique circumstances (Ex-aid and God Maximum Mighty X) or an acquired resistance to the specific strain of the Buster Virus those Gashats inflict on the wearer (Snipe and Brave), with Para-dx's ability to use Level 50 and later Level 99 effortlessly being down to the fact he's a Bugster. Whether the Level X Gashats could be used for a Level X form by anyone besides the ones who use them is hard to say. The Level 3 and 4 Gashats should be usable by anybody who has a Gamer Driver. As for the Level 2 Gashats, each regardless of who is actually using it, would only transform you into the Rider who normally uses it, since the suit data is part of the Gashat, not the Driver. The last things to note are that every Gashat can be used in any Kimewaza it as long as it's large enough, but Proto Gashats do not have Critical Finishes, just Critical Strikes. We also have 3 Gashats designed just for Finishes, specifically Doctor Mighty XX, Bang Bang Tank and Mighty Novel X, though the last was reprogrammed for a transformation.

Fullbottles are the basis around which all Henshin devices in Build are based around, and even if a system doesn't use any of the 60 Fullbottles for transformation, they can still use them for attacks. The TranSteam Gun relies on Lost Bottles (probably only the specific two) for transformation, and the Nebula Steam Gun has its transformation initiated via Gears, but both have other attacks using Full Bottles, and in the case of the latter, Lost Bottles. The Sclash Driver works much the same way in attacks, but can only have transformations using either Sclashjelly or the specially created Crocodile Crack Bottle. The Evol Driver can use Evolbottles for Evolt to transform, or based on the existence of Mad Rogue, any Best Match pair to transform. Any Fullbottle with an associated weapon, used with the Rider Evolbottle, will summon that weapon. The Build Driver is most versatile of the systems, but can only use proper Fullbottles in Biotic Abiotic pairs (RabbitDragon is a unique situation stemming from both bottles' evolution), all other forms require a special device to be created, in some cases channeling a single bottle.

Ridewatches would have a simple answer if not for one thing. But before I get to that, it's pretty clear that only Ridewatches can be used with the Ziku Driver, and only Miridewatches with the Beyondriver. Also, all transformation Ridewatches and upgrades can only be used by the specific Rider. That leaves us with the Legend Watches. It's known that producing a single Ridewatch cuts you off from all powers associated with that Rider, and that it is possible to produce Ridewatches representing super forms of another blank watch is used. It would be easy to assume that every Ridewatch is usable for a weapon finisher, powering up Time Mazine, or, for those with enough power, using their abilities just by activating them, and only the Heisei Riders would produce a Ride Armour. Unfortunately, GenmArmour confirms other Riders can have armours, although I would still argue watches for other forms do nothing

I wasn't originally planning to cover Zero-One when I started this post, back when His debuted, but now I think I will. The months have given me more to talk about.

First of all, in the world of Zero-One we have two types of key, ZetsumeRise Keys and ProgRise Keys. Both now have an associated type of monster that can be created using an appropriate device on a singularity achieving Humagear or ZAIA Spec using human respectively. I had initially presumed that the ZetsumeRise keys were derivative technology, now it seems likely they were developed in tandem, although it's hard to say why. There is, at present, only two known ways for the keys to produce Keys. The Ark satellite is able to produce both types, but for the past 12 years, between Daybreak and it's restoration via Ikazuchi, it has been unable to produce Progrise Keys. I am uncertain about ZetsumeRise Keys. The other method is Satellite Zea via the 3D printer in the President's office at Hiden Intelligence. As far as has been shown, it can only produce Progrise Keys. While the origins of a number of Progrise Keys are known or deductable, the origins of those keys initially seen in the possession of AIMS or ZAIA are unclear. Of the 4 driver types so far, in theory all should be able to use any Progrise Key to initiate a transformation. This is confirmed for the Zero-One Driver, which requires a link to satellite Zea to produce the animal data, as official images of Zero-One using every current Progrise Key except Assault Wolf have been revealed. The Shotriser doesn't produce a Data Animal, and all the confirmed forms have a sort of incomplete look to them, and despite a number of the Progrise Keys so far used only for attack being with AIMS, no official images exist of them being used in the Shotriser. The ForceRiser, when used with Progrise Keys, forcibly opens the key and extracts the data animal, and then converts that into the armour. One ZetsumeRise Key has been used successfully in the ForceRiser to transform into a Rider, but it should be noted that said Key, Dodo, had already been shown to evolve throughout its use by a Magia, this also involved no Data Animal. A variant of the ForceRiser, the CycloneRiser, when used with the Rocking Hopper ZetsumeRise Key, also allowed transformation into Kamen Rider Ichigata. The newest driver, the ThousanDriver, is intended to work using both the Awaking Arsino ZetsumeRise Key and Amazing Caucasus Progrise Key for a PerfectRise. While this is the only depiction we have seen as of yet, the toy, when Awaking Arsino isn't used, or a different Progrise Key, or both, will only initiate a ProgRise.

[otome0heart]

Hi! I wish you a very happy birthday if May 29th has already arrived in your timezone! 🎉🎉🎉 . How wonderful it is to share a birthday with Mitsuhide! 😊I was wondering if I could request anything you want to write at all with the man, any prompt of your choice. It would be nice to see it set in the Sengoku period, but modern AU is fine as well! Thank you so much for opening requests!

Hello! ^^ I already exchanged messages with you but, once again, I’d like to thank you for your good birthday wishes. It’s truly a great thing, since I never shared a birthday with a character I liked/loved before.

Also, thanks for requesting something from me, it’s an honour since you write so much and so well. As you stated in your preferences, I set it in the Sengoku Period, and I chose the prompt “Master Marksman”, as it’s specified in Mitsuhide’s profile. I sincerely hope that you like it *^^*

Title: Trust

Characters: Mitsuhide/MC

Words: 5070 (ups, I did it again… and longer)

Notes: I hope there aren’t big mistakes and that Mitsuhide is IC, since he goes under a few changes in this story. Apart from @otonymous, I’m tagging @han-pan, a passionate Mitsuhide-lover like us :)

TRUST

The young woman made her way through the forest carefully. She was looking down as she walked to avoid tripping on a tree root or a fallen branch while she carried a parcel wrapped in a purple and white patterned cloth. She held it tightly with both hands, fearing that she could drop it with the smallest stumble and she knew she would never forgive herself if that happened.

However, that did not prevent her to enjoy the walk. It was a beautiful spring morning and the forest seemed to be alive as the birds chirped happily, playing with each other among the foliage, and the soft warm breeze blew past her from time to time, bringing her the fresh smell of leaves and flowers which grew in the most hidden places of the wood. She loved that season, not only because the the world around her seemed vibrant with life and colour, but also because it was the time of the year when the man she loved had been born into the world.

A soft blush dusted her cheeks as memories of him crossed her mind: his soft smile as he regarded her, the respectful way he had talked and behaved with her since the beginning, when she was nothing more than a frightened girl dressed as a boy in a world of men and war, a poison taster whose life and presence was completely worthless and disposable; his kindness and warmth which were like a balm to her soul in the darkest hours.

She still could not believe that that wonderful, admirable man so above her in all aspects returned her feelings. Sometimes, when she opened her eyes at dawn, she imagined it to be a marvellous dream she wished she had never woken up from, but then, his smile as he wished her good morning, the warmth in his eyes as they talked during a short break or his lips as he kissed her gently behind a hidden corner as they passed by in a deserted corridor, told her that it was all true and that Akechi Mitsuhide, right hand of Oda Nobunaga, had given her his heart and sworn to love only her.

Her foot slipped and she grabbed the trunk of the nearest tree to avoid falling. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, berating herself for daydreaming. It was not a habit of hers, as she was always too busy to entertain fantasies but lately, she had caught herself doing it once in a while. She supposed it was one of the side-effects of being in love and did not give it much importance, but if it was going to be the cause of ruining her plans… Once her heartbeat had calmed down and she felt secure, she started her way again, this time promising herself to focus on the path without straying from her rational thoughts or her search.

That morning, on her way to Lord Nobunaga’s chambers carrying a tray with some cups of tea, she had met Lord Hideyoshi, who had informed her that the ruler of Owari Castle had vanished from his room, leaving a note behind giving most of his advisors the day-off. Upon seeing her astonished face, he had laughed, telling her that it happened from time to time and that nobody knew where he went or what he did, but he usually returned late in the evening and the following day, thing in the castle kept on working the same as always, as if his absence had never happened. And, he had added as he took the tray from her hands, that meant that she had some free time too.

Imagining that Lord Mitsuhide had to be frantic looking for his liege lord, she had headed for his residence to see if she could be of any assistance to him. However, when she had arrived, she had been surprised when one of the servants had told her that he was away too. After receiving news of his forced break, and with a resigned expression, he had mounted his favourite horse and had gone to the usual field near the river. And it had been then that she had had the idea of looking for him and spend some time together, as they barely had seen each other since, after his brother-in-law’s betrayal and Mitsuhide’s disobedience because of her, Lord Nobunaga had been giving his right-hand retainer diplomatic missions and asking for strategies and plans to prevent such situation happening again. Despite his love for work, she supposed that deep inside, he was glad to have a few hours for himself.

Sudden doubts had filled her mind, as she realised that he might have wanted to be alone, since he had not gone to look for her when he had heard the news, and for a moment, she considered going back to the castle and occupy herself with a new recipe or mending some clothes that surely anyone would definitely need to have sewn. However, she changed her mind again when the servant commented that he had not brought anything to eat with him and that that probably meant that he would be back at lunchtime. Knowing him as well as she did, he would probably forget about it. So, after borrowing the kitchen to prepare his favourite food, she had made her way to the meadow.

Soon, she had understood her mistake when she found that there were several clearings along the river and she had forgotten to ask for the exact location of the one Mitsuhide had gone to. She had already been in two fields but there had been no trace of his presence in any of them. A farmer she had encountered on her way back from the second, had indicated her a third one, a very wide open space quite far away from the busy roads.

The sound of a shot startled her, taking her out of her thoughts, and the young woman crouched down instinctively, almost dropping her precious bundle. It echoed through the trees, frightening the birds, which flew away in a haste. However, no other sound followed it. No steps, no shouting, not even the falling of a bird fulminated by a bullet. After a few more seconds, she dared to lift her head, buried in her knees and hidden under her arm, just a bit, enough to survey her surroundings and make sure that no infiltrated enemy was approaching her.

Some more time passed before she felt it was safe to stand up. She did it slowly, using the trunk of a tree as support and at the same time, as a shield, just in case the sniper was waiting for her to make a mistake. She took a step, still alert, toward the trees on her left, concealing her presence among the bushes to have the opportunity to hide or escape if the situation became dangerous.

After walking a while more, the babbling of the river reached her ears and seconds later, she saw the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the trunks, indicating that the field was near, and she found herself praying that her lord was there so he could chase away her fear as her steps became almost a run.

As she reached the edge of the clearing, a second shot broke the stillness of the forest once again, this time so loud, so powerful, that she could not help a cry of fear as she fell on her knees, covering her ears and dropping her parcel this time, trembling violently. She felt terror of those weapons after having been a witness of a feral battle a little after she had come to serve Lord Nobunaga. The only idea that they could severe a man’s life with only the little pull of a finger was truly horrifying. And even though she had been living in Owari for months, she still had not got used to them. A tear run down her face and unconsciously, she called for her lover in a whimper.

However, as before, nobody came to threaten or abduct her. Only silence followed the shooting and finally, she convinced herself to look up. And then, she saw him.

Mitsuhide was in the middle of the clearing, his posture straight, his eyes fixed in something ahead of him. In his hands, he had a musket from which smoke still came out, and suddenly, she understood that he was the one firing. A sensation akin to relief filled her heart, seeing that the illusion of an unknown enemy trying to kill her had been made up by her wild imagination. She sniffled and then, put her hands on the ground to help herself into an standing position. Her knees still trembled, refusing to support her, so she had to sit down on a log she found a few steps further.

From her position, she could see that he had frowned and his lips were pressed in a clear gesture of dissatisfaction as he put the butt of his weapon on the ground, and she wondered the reason. Hundreds of times she had heard in the tales of battle that the men told in the Main Hall, that Mitsuhide was an excellent marksman and that many of them were alive because of his expertise. It was impossible to believe that he was not as good as their praises said, or that he was disappointed even with perfection.

She watched his smooth and fluid movements as he reloaded the musket and, as soon as he took his position, she closed her eyes tightly, covering her ears. Even though she had expected it this time, she jumped when the deafening noise filled the air again. This time, the breeze brought the penetrating acrid smell of gunpowder to her nostrils and she made a disgusted expression. As the echo vanished, slowly, she opened her lids. He had lowered his arms and they hung in front of him, still holding the musket and looking at what it seemed like a kind of target attached to a tree at the other side of the field. The serious expression from before marred again his noble features and he started walking towards the spot he was aiming at.

Despite her distress, she could not help feeling a deep respect towards him. Instead of making the most of his day-off and rest as much as possible, he had devoted himself to improve his skills and keep on serving in one or other way the man he admired and followed so he could obtain Divine Rule as soon as possible. Her heart felt heavy with guilt at having been filled with dreams of love and selfish wishes of having him for herself, at least for a few hours.

The girl lowered her head, her gaze falling on the parcel containing the ruined onigiri she had made for him and sighed. She had been so stupid… She should have imagined why he had not gone to see her that morning. She had known since the beginning that he had devoted his life to the Oda clan, and she had fallen in love knowing that he would die for his liege lord and, even though she did not doubt of his affection toward her, that for him, Lord Nobunaga would always be first. She had already put him between a rock and a hard place once, when she had gone to see Lady Oichi and he had to decide if he was going to follow orders or his heart. She would not do it again.

Frowning deeply, she knelt on the floor and, carefully, she picked up the box, smoothing the cloth as best as she could, and then, stood up. Stealing a last glance at him, who was verifying his shots, she turned to go.

.

Mitsuhide furrowed his brows as he inspected the holes the bullets had left in the target. Two out of the three were slightly deflected to the left and that worried him. His aim had always been impeccable since he had learnt how to use those European weapons and the fact that it was not being as accurate as always troubled him. He knew his heart was in a turmoil of feelings that day but also, that he should not let them affect him when his comrades’ lives were at stake. If it was happening, then that meant that he was not as strong as he thought.

Breathing deeply and squaring his shoulders, he turned to go back to his position in the centre of the clearing when a silhouette he knew too well, outlined by a line of trees, took a step away, and his heart leapt in his chest. What was she doing there, so far from Owari?

Before he knew it, he had already called her name, his voice bewildered, and she came to a halt. He started to walk to her with brisk quick steps, worried that they had sent her to find him because something had happened in the castle, or to Lord Nobunaga, who had decided to wander away that day. What if he had got injured or… He swallowed hard, feeling sudden guilt fill his heart, and had to shake his head to dispel those negative thoughts. Everything was fine, it had to be.

As he approached her, she looked at him over her shoulder, her face pale and her beautiful eyes troubled.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in what he noticed was a taut voice, giving away his nervousness.

She opened her mouth to answer but then, she closed it again, inadvertently lowering her eyes. What was she going to tell him? That she had wanted to spend some time alone with him when she should have been thinking about a superior goal? Her cheeks turned red with shame.

Mitsuhide frowned, taking in her appearance, her rumpled kimono, stained in the lower part, and her disheveled hair, some strands hanging loosely from the ribbon which tied them, and immediately, all type of fearful thoughts crossed his mind.

“Are you alright?”

To her mortification, her eyes misted and his eyes shone with worry.

“Did you hurt yourself? Did someone-?”

She lifted her head with widened eyes at his words, seeing his anxious expression, and she shook her head.

“N-No… Don’t worry” she sniffled a bit and then straightened her posture, trying to show him a smile. “I’m fine.”

However, the hesitant line that appeared on her lips did nothing to calm him. It was obvious that something had happened to her and it pained him not to know it, but even more her apparent lack of trust in him. Was he so unreliable to soothe her suffering, whatever had caused it?

“Are you sure?” he asked again, cupping her cheek and brushing away a smear of dirt.

“Yes” she closed her eyes briefly leaning into his touch, feeling at ease with just that soft caress.

“Did something happen in the castle? Is that why you’re here?” he took her by the shoulders, looking intently into her pupils. “”Is Lord Nobunaga…?

“No, everybody is fine, and when I went out, he still hadn’t returned” she was glad to notice that her voice was now steadier.

Finally, he let out the breath he did not know he was holding and allowed himself to relax. Taking a step forward, he took her into her arms and leant his cheek on her head. For a moment, he had felt such fear of having failed his lord, of her being hurt in any way… But feeling her warmth through their clothes confirmed him that everything was alright, that her presence was all he needed to dismiss his concerns.

It was then that he noticed that she had stiffened in his embrace, which she did not return, and was about to ask her when he also became aware of something hard between them and he recalled that she carried a parcel. He parted from her and smiled.

“And, what are you doing here?” he repeated his question, this time feeling more relaxed.

She bit her lip and he frowned, feeling uneasy again.

“I was just having a stroll, since today we got a day-off unexpectedly” she finally decided to speak, trying to look and sound as convincing as possible to avoid worrying him again.

However, opposite to what she expected, Mitsuhide’s expression became even more serious.

“Really?” his voice was tight, showing that he knew she was lying, and her heart beat painfully in her chest. “So far from Owari?”

“I-I was thinking… and I wandered away without noticing…”

There had to be a reason why she was doing that, he told himself swallowing hard upon hearing her new falsehood. She had always been sincere since the time they had met, even when she was dressed as a boy, trying to fool everybody. Her feelings had always overcome her façade, saying what was in her mind or in her heart without caring who was in front of her.

“And” he tried again, pointing at the bundle in her arms. “What’s that?”

She tightened her grip on the box.

“I brought some food in case I became hungry”

“It seems very big for only one person…” he looked at her. “Maybe you could share something with me? The sun is very high, I had an early breakfast and the exercise has whetted my appetite.”

An expression of dismay appeared on her face, and he knew he had cornered her again.

“I ate it all” he furrowed his brows as the first sparks of anger ignited inside him. “Look, it seems that my arrival here bothered you so I’ll be going now, alright?”

She smiled at him as she turned, but he took her by the arm, the movement shocking her, not by his strength, as he kept it in check and his grip was gentle, but because it was the first time he had done it. Taking the box from her arms, which was surprisingly easy, probably because of her bewilderment, he put it on the ground with his musket. Then, he looked into her eyes as he held her hands.

“Please, stop…”

He leant forward and touched her forehead with his, his expression and his voice pained, and her heart twisted painfully in her chest.

“What aren’t you telling me?” he saw hesitancy in her eyes and pressed. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I do” the rushed statement, said in a desperate voice, eased his heart a bit. “But…”

He lifted a brown, his warm eyes encouraging her to continue.

“But I don’t want to be a nuisance to you…”

He seemed taken aback by he words, staring at her, incredulity painted all over his face. Seconds passed by as he kept silent, trying to find the reason why she thought like that. She would never ever be nothing but a blessing for him. She had filled his life with joy and laughter, she had become the reason why he wanted to be a better man, worthy of her love; to return alive from the many battles that he fought because the thought of her being sad was just unbearable.

“Did I do something to make you think like that?” he asked in a quiet voice, a sick feeling gripping his stomach.

She shook her head lightly.

“I-I just-” she tightened her grasp in his hands, pausing for a moment to order her thoughts. “When I heard about Lord Nobunaga leaving, I looked for you to see if I could be of any assistance, presuming that you had to be desperate. At your house, a servant told me that you had gone away too, to the usual meadow, so I supposed you were having a respite and I… I thought I could prepare some food and spend the day with you…” he smiled tenderly but she did not returned it; her eyes became damp and her voice trembled a bit. “However, when I arrived here, I saw that you were training, that even though our lord was away, you were still thinking about his Divine Rule… And I felt so ashamed…”

He had become more disconcerted by the moment with each of her words.

“I want to be your support, to work with you so you can make your dream of peace true…” she shrugged and lifted his head to him trying to compose a smile. “And here I am, distracting you from your training… I’m not some smitten teenager to be daydreaming about love…”

She bit her lip, tearing her gaze from him, a despondent expression marring her face.

“I’m sorry for being so selfish…”

He sighed, a soft smile gracing his lips, letting silence fall between them so she could regain some of her calm, or cry if she felt like it. He blinked slowly, drinking in the sight of the woman he loved more than anything in the world as she tried to regain her composure, breathing deeply and pressing her lips in a thin line, clearly trying not to be overwhelmed by her feelings; because if they were talking about egoism, maybe, he had something to confess too, being as guilty of it as her, probably even more.

“That’s not being selfish, my darling.”

Her eyes widened a bit as she suddenly lifted her head. It was the first time that he had used an endearment with her and her heart filled with excitement, vanishing part of the sadness she felt. She wished that he would repeat it again to savour its echo in her ears and soul, but she kept silent, waiting for the words following his statement.

“Being selfish is wanting to have you all to myself; being so smitten…” he intentionally used the same word that she had said, releasing one of her hands and cupping her face, “… that I’m jealous even of the wind which caresses your skin; desiring to love you until you can only think of me…” his voice had become a low murmur which made her heart thunder and her cheeks burn. “Didn’t you wonder why I didn’t look for you when I discovered that Lord Nobunaga had gone away for the day? I hadn’t seen you in so long that I didn’t trust myself to remain gentlemanly and courteous” he sighed and a slightly crooked smile drew across his mouth. “I’m not as noble-minded as you think I am…”

She swallowed hard at the hidden implication of his words, her stomach clenching in response to the clear spark of desire which had appeared in his pupils as he spoke. An unknown turmoil was unleashing in her chest and she did not know how to respond, feeling thrilled and afraid at the same time.

“May I, my darling?”

She had barely had time to nod when his lips brushed hers in a slow gentle kiss and she surrendered at once, realising how much she had truly missed him and his warmth. They parted slightly, just enough for him to tilt her head further back before returning to her, this time pressing insistently, breaking her defenses and deepening the kiss, the hand in her cheek moving to the nape of her neck. Hers flew to his waist to support herself at the heated onslaught of his mouth on hers as a shiver ran down her spine when her fingertips brushed a sensitive spot just below the collar of her kimono. He had never kissed her with such passion and hunger, as if he was trying to consume her, to make her part of himself. She pulled him closer, wanting to feel his warmth even more. Both lost track of the time, just aware of each other and their shared yearning.

Slowly, he parted from her when a soft moan left her throat, kissing her forehead and burying her in his embrace, feeling her grip the sleeves of his kimono and leaning her cheek against his chest. He could feel her breathing raggedly, trying to regain her composure, her heart beating fast and strong against his own, and clenched his jaw. He wanted nothing more than to keep on kissing her until her own desire matched his, lay her down on the soft grass and make her his forever. However, it was not the moment. Even though she had been distracted by his kisses, it was obvious that she was still upset about their previous exchange and he was not going to take advantage of her vulnerability. When it happened, he wanted it to be an unforgettable memory for her, something as fulfilling and meaningful as it surely would be for him.

“Did I frighten you?” he whispered, caressing her long hair gently, his fingers combing her tresses, still in disarray, noticing that she was calmer.

The young woman shook her head, still hidden in his chest, and her voice reached him low and still a bit tremulous.

“I… only need a little more time. It just took me… unaware… But I’m glad that you showed me this side of you, Lord Mitsuhide.”

His heart seemed to overflow with feelings for her and the ardour that still cursed through his veins, turned into tenderness.

“I love you so much, my darling…”

He brushed her temple with his mouth and felt her move, her eyes, big and innocent, finding his.

“I love you too, Milord.”

They smiled at each other and finally, they let go, their fingers trailing down their arms until their hands twined lovingly.

“I’m sorry I made you worry” her face was still flushed and he was inwardly pleased to see her lips slightly swollen as a result of his ministrations. “And I’m sorry that I lied to you.”

He tightened his hold on her, caressing her skin with his thumbs.

“It’s all in the past now” his pupils regarded her with affection, seeing that the smile she showed him reached her eyes for the first time. “I want you to feel that you can trust me completely, that we can talk about anything and that together, we can find the solution to any problem which comes our way.”

She nodded and his grin widened.

“So” he said, changing the topic and letting go of one of her hands. “Shall we eat? It’s true what I said about being hungry before.”

Her face paled slightly, her eyes showing her apprehension when he bent over and picked up his musket first, putting it under his arm and then, the box with the onigiri. He returned her gaze with an amused one, feeling the unbalanced weight of the food inside.

“There are some rocks under those trees” he lifted his head to the side, pointing somewhere in front of them. “It’ll be more comfortable than sitting on the ground.”

It was then that she saw his pure white horse, free from its reins and saddle, grazing the grass around him. It lifted its ears when it heard them starting to walk and watched them for a moment, losing its interest in them a second later.

“What about your training?”

He chuckled lightly.

“Don’t worry, I’ll return to it once I finish eating” he seemed to think for a moment and then, glanced to her. “If you think you can stand it, you could stay and we could go back riding along the river. The landscape is beautiful in this area.”

She nodded and with that gesture, her sight fell again on the box.

“However… I doubt the food is edible now…” she lowered her head, a delicate frown appearing in her features. “I let it drop when I heard one of the shots.”

Mitsuhide tilted his head to the side to look at her better.

“Then, it’s my responsibility to eat it as an apology for startling you.”

She opened her mouth to protest but he just grinned at her, a mischievous spark appearing in his pupils, as he tugged at her hand, starting a light run, which sent her unbalanced, gasping loudly, and making her focus on the movement of her legs, forgetting about what she was going to say.

They reached their destination in a few seconds among laughter and, as she sat to regain her breath, he leant his weapon against the rock that he had chosen and opened the parcel quickly, before she had time to complain again.

Upon opening the wooden box, he found a mash of crumpled onigiri, bonito flakes, some pickled plums and a few streaks of soy sauce mixed with tiny cut vegetables. Her heart sank in her chest, seeing such disaster, but Mitsuhide only smiled.

“They must be delicious.”

She glared at him. a thin line drawing across her lips.

“That’s why I didn’t want to show them to you” she pouted a bit. “The ingredients are all mixed, so must be the flavours…”

“But savour doesn’t have anything to do with appearance, does it?” he left the lid on the grass, his pupils never leaving what for him were true delicacies.

Finally, his eyes returned to her and his hand took hers again.

“You made these thinking of me, right?”

A light blush dusted her cheeks as she nodded lightly.

“I’m not going to throw that love away because they’re not perfectly shaped.”

Her reply died in her throat and she followed his fingers with her gaze, seeing them pick up a piece of onigiri which still had some bonito flakes hanging from it.

“Thanks for the food.”

He put it in his mouth, eating it slowly, enjoying the taste.

“Excellent, as always.”

“Really?”

“Try them yourself” he said picking up another piece and tending it to her in a way that clearly stated his intention to feed her.

Blushing profusely, she accepted it from his hand, feeling his fingertips brushing her lips.

“It’s not bad.”

“No, my darling” he replied, his eyes never leaving hers as he nibbled a few grains that had sticked to his fingers. “It’s simply exquisite.”

THE END

[war--lords]

Hi lovely! I have a (bullet point) request, please write it if it inspires you, if not feel free to ignore it~! We know it's possible for people from the past to travel into the future... What would Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Masamune (as MC's s/o) think of/like when they travel to the future? If you could include both some broader topics and details (like foods or technology) that'd be wonderful quq Thank you so much, have a wonderful day!! I can't wait to read more of your things ❤️❤️❤️

Hi! Interesting ask you have here! I’m gonna do this as a warm-up before I write for the event, and I hope you don’t mind me assigning them to different categories!

(EDIT: DID YOU INTENTIONALLY PICK 3 OF MY MOST FAV CHARACTERS ;V;)

Nobunaga— Politics

Nobunaga canonically picks up on things quickly, even those that are of faraway concepts. Combine that level of intellect and logic with his general interest in politics, and you have a very curious warlord. 

All the better if you can talk to him about systems like capitalism, discuss countries with closed door policies like North Korea, explore the effects of religion on the governance of certain countries, etc.

Let’s be honest, if you weren’t with him in the future, he’d borrow all books on politics and law (domestic and international) in the library and read every single one of them.

Thinks that maybe he should be the boss of United Nations lol

He’ll appear to be that Guy™ who works too hard even on vacation, what with his studious efforts like going to the library or reading the daily paper or watching Crash Course videos online. Even so, he still makes sure to take it easy and enjoy life with you. After all, there are so many other things in the modern world that he just has to experience.

Supplementary interests include: going to the candy store and trying all sorts of sweets (in moderation—he always shares with you), a Japan tour to scope out the land he is supposed to rule and experience the strengths of each province (he wants to understand how they can thrive and overcome potential problems), and just. Lounging around in the hotel with you. Or hanging out somewhere, preferably with a balcony, so he can hug you from behind as if the two of you were back in his tenshu again.

Hideyoshi— Art & Architecture

Hideyoshi marvels at the physical forms that take up the surrounding space. Buildings are tall. Very tall. And things don’t catch on fire or get destroyed as quickly. Not only that, it gives him different feelings. A particularly curvy skyscraper may give him an eerily futuristic vibe. He’s interested in buildings built during the Meiji/Taisho/Showa periods because of the Western influence in the design. 

Takes lots of pics after you taught him how to, acts like a total tourist. He picks up on some camera skills quite fast! There will be lots and lots of museum or bookstore dates. It’s kind of adorable watching him geek out at the visual art history or poetry.

Often worries if he’s tiring you too much, since he’s practically dragging you everywhere just to visit and stare at buildings. Will feel guilty until you tell him that you’re genuinely enjoying yourself. In return, he’ll take pictures of you with buildings or architecture, and though it takes some practice at first, at the end of the day you’re gonna have a shit ton of aesthetic pics to post online.

Supplementary interests include: Going to the zoo to look at animals that are not introduced during the Sengoku era yet (like how often do you get to see a lion in Japan? Lions don’t freaking live in Japan. Neither do penguins! He freaking likes seeing you gush over things), getting his hands all over you because he can

Masamune— Culinary 

Obviously, am I right? Since fighting and weapons are illegal, he doesn’t have any other source of entertainment other than cooking (and you, of course. You’re his greatest source of amusement). But the future and the resources available in the future are just so fascinating to him. Imagine bringing Masamune to a local grocery store and feeling like you’re babysitting a three-year old—except he actually knows some of the produce. 

BINGE-WATCHING COOKING SHOWS. BAKING SHOWS. TUTORIALS. MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off, freaking Tasty from Buzzfeed. Everything. And boy is he gonna learn! He’ll be so eager in asking you to involve him in the kitchen. You’re not surprise to find him a very adept learner, and soon enough he’s going to be cooking for you.

Lots of eatery dates. You two need to watch your health. He’s going to eat, eat, eat, eat. And when he eats, he expects you to eat too. You have a shit ton of food photos on your phone, as a result. Also: the two of you are that Couple™ who feeds each other parfait. Sickeningly sweet, inducing jealousy from people around you. 

Moms and aunties at the grocery store notice him. A lot. Refers to him as the hot hunk that goes shopping, presumably (and unfortunately for them) to cook for his spouse. They can only hope.

Supplementary interests include: other than porn technology in general? Games, arcades, VR stuff, gym equipment, memes, mukbang videos. Tours Japan for each region’s special dish. Amusement parks (to win you a tiger soft toy!!!) and weird game shows, including the Japan mascots competition. Thinks Barii-san is cute.

P.S. I recommend that they watch Bill Wurtz’s ‘history of the entire world i guess’ and ‘history of japan’ when they arrive in the future. 

P.P.S. I love Bill Wurtz

[tokupedia]

Satsuei Sentai Eigaranger (Filming Task Force Movie Ranger) Fanon Notes #6 pt. 1

Prop equip

The main gimmick of the series is the Eigarangers are movie themed. so It makes sense that the collectibles reflect that. In keeping with the theme, the Rangers can “Prop Equip” using film reel slides to gain an item that has special powers or enhances the Rangers in some way and insert them into their changers. Also mixing their film genres has a certain effect on some items. Despite some being more powerful than others, they all operate on a time limited energy span and if they run out the slides need to be recharged at the base.

I only thought up a handful for now, but here they are:

Cape- The cape gives a Ranger the ability to fly for short periods. If used by EigaGreen, it doubles as a matador cape, able to generate rose petals to disorient foes. If used by EigaYellow, it works like a magician’s cape and allows her to do certain magic tricks like make enemy mooks disappear, turn them into dolls, etc. 

Knight- Acts as Super Sentai old school “Ranger Tector” armor, with it changing appearance and supplementary gear depending on who uses it. If Red uses it, it becomes sci-fi themed and has a jetpack. If Blue uses it, it becomes Sengoku era themed and gives him a bladed war flag to use as a polearms. If Green uses it, it becomes a spanish knight armor with a shield. If Yellow uses it, it becomes medieval in appearance and gains a mace with an elastic chain. If Pink uses it, it becomes a magical girl themed armor with a megaphone themed wand weapon. The idea is the team shares it to handle any given situation that may come up and it grows stronger and more lengthly in duration of use if they use teamwork, though it does have a max time limit of 12 minutes per user and a minimum of 5 minutes. 

Wild - A rather unpredictable prop slide with a flaming pompadour emblem, it randomly equips most of the Rangers with gear and items from Japanese gangster films. This includes a kendo stick, a hairpiece that enhances their strength but also makes them more aggressive, a metal chain yo-yo (a hat tip to Sukeban Deka), a toy bat or an electric knuckle duster. A power up that serves an effective purpose, but is played more for laughs for when the “show” needs levity. When EigaYellow uses it, the slide summons a Kanabo and she gains muscles, which comically scares poor Red as she is already frightening when she’s angry at him. If its power causes the user to go berserk, it will have a time limit of 2 minutes, max limit is 7 minutes, a reference to the Wild 7 franchise.

Disco - A hovering disco ball. Effects range from enhancing laser fire into a scatter shot barrage to making the mooks or Monsters of the week dance when EigaPink sings as a diversion. Lasts only 75 seconds to 3 minutes.

Wolf- Werewolf claws for melee slash attacks that boosts agility stats if the moon is out.

Sword - as it says on the tin, changes what type of sword it is based on the Ranger’s genre (Ex. Red would have a beam saber, Yellow would have a Excalibur-like fantasy sword and so on) This allows opportunities for dual blade wielding for some Rangers. It also can be used for GekijOh Robo for the standard Sentai robot sword attack.

Atom Future- Red’s Flash Gordon-esque prop equip reel empowers him with sci-fi golden age gear reminiscent of items found in old serial reels of the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s or vintage sci-fi feature films such as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. This includes an art deco/space age style rocket themed motor bike, a 1950s style ray gun to allow him to dual wield with his Eigablaster (though the ray gun isn’t very powerful and is primarily just for taking out grunts) and atomic powered gauntlets to boost punches.

Warp Future - Red’s prop equip bestows him with items that represent sci-fi at its most ambitious and optimistic, the 1960s and 1970s. Ya know, expy Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, the Jetsons maybe.

Punk Future - Red’s Prop Equip that looks at the grimmer side of sci-fi, or rather its subgenre: cyber punk. Represents sci-fi of the 1980s and early 1990s. This gives Red access to cybernetic props and computer tools, but it had a side effect of draining his personality until he became a pessimistic edgelord who  who loves to brood in the rain. This was overcome when Red realized that the future is full of infinite outcomes and its best to strive for a good future even if the road to it is full of hardship.

Shining Future - A fused prop equip slide of Atom, Warp and Punk as well as the unfinished Flare Future slide. This grants Red access to his Super Ranger form and it is fueled by his creativity, allowing him to summon at least three different props from all three reel slides as well as expy sci-fi items from the 2000s and 2010s.

Savage Fantasy - Yellow’s barbarian film inspired prop equip. Gives her access to medieval and ancient weapons or outlandish ones like a six bladed sword with a single hilt (a parody of The Sword and the Sorcerer.)

Treasure Fantasy - Yellow’s high fantasy themed prop equip. Grants her access to magical items or, more importantly, a pegasus themed motorbike.

Rose Fanatsy - Yellow’s modern fantasy themed prop equip. Grants her access to more gothic themed items or modern items with a mythical twist such as a electronic tablet that has magic spells in it.

Hopeful Fantasy - The fusion of the fantasy Prop equips and the unfinished Sketch Fantasy (which more or less is animated fantasy films such as ones done by Disney). Gives Yellow her Super Ranger form and encompasses all of fantasy past and present, she can summon at least three items from her fantasy prop equips or other props from the fantasy genre. It is fueled by Yellow’s hope and ability to inspire hope. 

[tarralin]

A Turn of Events

Fox Hunt, Chapter Ten

(Board gifted by @under-sengoku-skies)

Find Master List, Ao3, and Ko-Fi links in blog bio!

Thank you @rainyluneotome for beta reading!

~*~

RM’s time at Kasugayama passed slowly, if not a little on the boring side. Shingen’s constant flirty playboy act grew old after the first full day but at least it meant he was still interested in her. He’d set her up in a lavish room that seemed more suited for a visiting dignitary. Opulencency had always been a sign of great wealth and RM knew such resources could be useful. For that, she’d deal with the cheesy talk and keep in his good graces until the other boss-- the actual owner of the castle whom she hadn't met yet-- came back from a skirmish among his territories.

Sasuke became a quick friend and accompanied her through the local town when he wasn't being more scientist than ninja and poring through the notebooks she’d brought him. She almost got a genuine smile from him the few times she dropped modern culture references.

Yukimura hovered constantly. Every time she turned a corner or questioned a maid, he was there-- suspicion clear in his eyes. She tried to remain polite and friendly, but his endless badgering depleted the minuscule amount of patience she possessed before her thirty-sixth hour in the Sengoku.

“What’s your problem?” She snapped at breakfast the second morning. “Can’t a girl have a single moment's peace?”

His eyes knit together indignantly as he set his bowl down. “Look, I don't what kind of sorcery your family practices. Your sister managed to lure the Devil himself into her spell, so I can only imagine what you're trying to work on Lord Shingen.”

From the corner of her eye, RM watched Sasuke’s gaze drop to the floor as he massaged his brow in humiliation.

Did he really just… He did. Homeboy did. And he believes what he says, too. You've got to be shitting me…

I'm in Hillbilly Hell.

RM took pride in the fact that she managed to keep her thoughts to herself, instead glancing at Sasuke as she rose to her feet to leave the room. “I'm not even going to touch that. I'm likely to damage Homeboy’s feelings beyond repair if I did.”

Breakfast the third morning of RM’s residence arrived without word from Shingen’s retrieval team. She made it her personal mission to be as complicated as possible for any who crossed her path...

But he got the ‘Extra Salty’ package.

“Angel, why must you wound me with the discarded robes of a page-boy? Are the garments I've provided not to your liking?”

RM never glanced up, focusing solely on her hashi as they swooped between her lips and the plate. If there was one she learned growing up with four brothers, it's that tiny jabs on their pride hurt men the most. Choosing to wear a page's attire instead of the decadent kimonos he'd supplied was just the first attack on Shingen. “You expect me to trust your judgment? Now? I'll pass. I’ve already spoken with the castle seamstresses on alternatives, thank you.”

“My men may be delayed, but--”

“They're not delayed, they're dead!”

Shingen’s eyes narrowed slightly and RM finally glimpsed through to the warlord instead of the playboy facade he insisted on fronting. “You've said something similar before. Why?”

A cruel chuckle slipped from her as she leaned back onto her heels. “You sent a team after a target you had a rather impressive lack of intel on. A team of only four people that, as I've mentioned, are probably dead because, guess what? You messed with the wrong fucking princess!” RM popped the rubber band on her wrist as she felt the anger stirring higher, an old habit that never really dulled the flames like it was supposed to, but it did redirect her thoughts to her favorite anger management activity. “Do you have a rifle range?”

Shingen’s eyes flicked between the band and her eyes in a bewilderment RM was accustomed to seeing when she snapped between topics. “Uh, yes, at the troop camp. I’m planning an inspection this evening--”

RM jumped to her feet and strolled from the dining area without another word.

~*~

It wasn't until she was in the middle of camp that she realized she hadn't thought this idea of hers all the way through. This time period’s firearm of choice was a matchlock musket. Ammunition consisted of powder cartridges that had to be manually loaded for each shot and even a ram rod to pack the bullet down the barrel. I was wrong, I didn't survive the fall. The wormhole killed me and I'm in Sharp Shooter’s Hell!

She was peacefully observing the firing line reloading their rifles for the next round when she spotted a familiar red robe coming her way through the haze of gunsmoke. Oh fuck, identify compromised… Abort! Abort!

She’d just ducked behind a tent when Yuki’s voice carried across the remaining distance. “What in the Hells are you doing here?”

“Good morning to you too, Sunshine.”

He gave an eye roll that could rival MC’s famous gesture of irritation. “I asked what you were doing here, not wish you a good morning. And where is Lord Shingen?”

“I left him at the castle. I’m likely to blast his face off if I see it again today. Which is why I'm here-- I need to shoot something that won't end with me in the executioner’s sights.”

Yukimura scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, I don't really have time to babysit--”

“Then don’t,” she sidestepped him without further comment, letting out a piercing whistle that gained the attention of the gathered riflemen that had just started lining up their shots and pulled out her signature southern belle smile. “Hey, go take fifteen. You've earned it!”

Yukimura remained in place as the men passed by, making no attempt to hide the indignation splayed across his features. “Care to tell me why you just dismissed the squadron?”

“Already did,” she sighed as she gathered the loaded pistols close together and within her reach, checking each match chord as she did. Good, still lit.

She’d observed the gun squad enough to guesstimate the recoil of the musket. There wasn't much of a breeze today to interfere with bullet trajectory and her accuracy was never in question. So, aside from that initial terror of handling antique weapons, she was as confident as she could be. How often would she get to fire a five-hundred year old musket while still in its prime?

Kneeling in final preparation, she took her shot and a sliver of satisfaction rose within her just as the cloud of spent powder lifted on the wind. One down…

RM repeated the same routine with each preloaded rifle, only switching to the next furthest target once changing to the next gun. The familiar ritual of lining up a perfect shot helped melt away the morning tension. She’d always had trouble focusing on one topic for extended periods of time when her brain took in every little detail around her and was always running at full speed. Shooting was one of few activities that slowed it back down but, much like her brain, it was fast paced and she blew through her targets in near record time.

She huffed out a breath while she waited for her ears to stop ringing. What to do now? I could go see if the seamstresses have any of my clothes ready…

The ringing subsided but there were still whistles calling out around her. Glancing up, she found the gun squad had returned from their impromptu break and caught her show. They were applauding so passionately she couldn't just leave without giving them a showman’s bow and wave. “Thank you! Thank you! I'll be here all week!”

“And who has declared that?”

At the chilled voice, the smiling men scrambled to stand at attention in a perfect line. Her own military instincts kicked in with the general panic of commander on deck and she immediately fell in rank at the end of line, giving the closest man a quick once over to match his stance. An icy wind blew through the rank line as gravel crunched under the determined steps headed her way. The flash of platinum hair in her vision was nearly as blinding as the glint of steel that followed and laid flat on her shoulder at the base of her neck.

“Yukimura! Why is there a woman here? I thought it was clear that entertainment was not  allowed in camp.”

Breaking rank, RM raised a brow in the newcomer’s direction. “Well, I'm not jumping through flaming hoops or anything.”

“Not that kind of entertainment…” Yuki snapped as he joined them, ears turning a darker shade of red. “She’s a friend of Sasuke’s who ran into trouble and Lord Shingen has welcomed her as a guest. I'm still trying to figure out why she's here, though.”

“I told you I needed to shoot something, not my fault you didn't believe me.”

“Why would I believe the sister of the Oda Enchantress?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake… Look, if either of us turns out to be a ‘vile enchantress’, I can promise it’ll be me!” Yuki stepped back at her words as if he’d been bitten by a snake. RM turned back to the man in front of her and batted the sword off her shoulder. “Sorry to be a disruption. I’m leaving.”

She didn't make it a step before the sharpened edge was pressed to her throat. “ ‘Sister of the Oda’, did I hear that correctly?”

“Technically, I'm sister to the Princess but, yes, you heard right.” She ducked under the sword only to feel it in place again. What’s this guy's problem?

“Y-you were victorious in battle then, Kenshin?” Yuki moved between the two, successfully taking all the attention of the blond man.

“That mockery could not even earn the title of battle.” Finally sheathing the blade, the one called Kenshin turned on his heel and marched off as if he hadn't just tried to give her a new windpipe.

“Just get back to the castle,” Yuki snapped over his shoulder before following after the blue clad commander.

With an eye roll, RM started back the way she came until the rifle line caught her attention again. The poor guys remained stock still at attention and several shades paler in the face, no doubt due to the scene that had just played before them. “At ease, boys!”

Each man blinked several times, even turning to each other for a moment but remained mostly at attention. RM sighed before forcing herself to pull out her long abandoned lieutenant voice. “I said ‘at ease’! Reload while you're at it!”

There was the desired effect as the men visibly relaxed and returned to their previous tasks. There, that’s better, thank you.

She really did try to walk away from the camp but the hand-to-hand drills just seemed… off. They can't honestly be pairing the brutes against the kids…

She couldn't walk away until that was fixed.

~*~

“Is that your fifth bottle already?” Sasuke warned her of his employer’s trigger happy attitude and extreme alcohol tolerance, but damn if she still wasn't impressed as she and Sasuke joined Yuki and Kenshin. The blond in question simply tipped back another cup full as if she hadn’t spoken. Where does he put it all?

“Sake doesn't effect Kenshin much, aside from potentially shortening the lifespan of those around him,” Sasuke informed.

“So, nothing new then?”

“Sad that you know that already,” Yuki rolled his eyes before they snapped back to focus on her, pink flushing over his features. “Seven Hells! What are you wearing?”

RM beamed a smile and spun a quick twirl for full inspection as she dropped into criss-cross on a free floor cushion. “This is what the seamstresses have been working on for me. The garments Shingen gifted are gorgeous and beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I could barely breathe! I’m a gymnast, I need to move. So, they whipped me up some things similar to the ninja here but in Takeda colors. Oh wow, looks kind of like yours, huh?”

“Yukimura, where is Shingen?” Kenshin piped up as he poured another cup of sake, ending the previous discussion.

Yuki’s gaze wavered between her and Kenshin a moment as he cleared his throat. “A… messenger arrived with news he’s been awaiting.”

RM perked at that. “From Azuchi?”

“Would I be here if I accompanied him?”

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes as she chucked a nearby pillow at Yukimura's head. “If I knew that, I wouldn't have asked you.”

“Yuki, must you upset your angel so much?”

RM turned to the entering voice, ignoring the sputtering tomato across from her, and instead pouring a generous cup of sake for the Tiger. “You've received news from Azuchi?”

Whatever joking mood Shingen had been in vanished with her question as his eyes lost their glimmer. He didn't speak until after downing the contents of his cup. “I have.”

Well, that tone never means anything good.

“I sent four men to capture Oda's princess but they never made it to Azuchi.” To iterate his point, Shingen dropped four headbands onto the table before her. “Instead, a squadron four times that size attacked the castle three nights ago. My mitsumono have learned a young guard took a death blow intended for Date Masamune.”

His eyes dropped back to the table, avoiding RM’s gaze completely. She tilted forward pointedly, forcing him to look at her. “And?”

He downed another cup of sake, savoring the burn before continuing. “The princess was injured. Rumor is she hasn't woken since the attack.”

Now, it was RM’s turn to swish the burn of sake at the news. An injury wouldn't be a problem normally back home, but here? Infections… Unhygienic practices… Hell, were there any kind of pain managements during this time aside from biting down on something?

After downing another cup of sake, she jumped to her feet and started from the banquet hall.

Yukimura was on her heels after a silent command from Shingen. “Where are you going?”

“Azuchi.”

“You can't go to there!” Yukimura grabbed her arm in attempt to slow her pace. The contact had her swirling, pivoting behind to shove him into the wall and pinning both arms to his back while her weight immobilized him. She ignored the deathly silence that fell over the banquet hall.

“Let's get one thing clear. I've been here of my own choosing this whole time, waiting for my sister who was supposedly being brought to Kasugayama. Well, now we know she's not coming because she's injured. I have medicine from home and I'm taking it to her. So stay out of my way; I'll be gone by dawn.”

It didn't take long to gather her belongings as she always kept things mostly in her pack in case she had to make a quick getaway. After stuffing her newly crafted clothing into the bag, she glanced about the room for any valuable trinkets she might be able to trade that wouldn't be missed. Everything looked as if it belonged in a museum to her and she ended up wrapping a random hand full of sparkly things into a coin bag. Only thing left to do was pull a vegetable sack over the rucksack as not to pull attention with its obvious untimely design.

She had just shrugged her pack onto her shoulders when a nervous shout reached her ears from the hallway, followed by the distinctive shatter of a ceramic vase. What the-

Poking her head in the hallway only earned more questions. Why is Sasuke in the rafters? Why is Kenshin chasing Yuki? And what in the hell does he plan to do with that sword?

“Sasuke!” Yuki called to the ceiling ninja. “Get down here!”

“Alliances are broken all the time, Yukimura. Good luck in the afterlife!” With that, the ninja hopped across the rafters and out of sight.

“What the--” she raised her brows to Yuki but the swipe of steel interrupted her.

“This is normal.”

“This is normal?” RM laughed at the absurdity as Yuki dodged another feral swipe from the blond, dropping her rucksack back onto the floor. Maybe these guys knew how to have fun after all. “Then why are you running?”

“Just because I'm used to it doesn't mean I have a death wish!”

“Ha! Okay… then I'm borrowing this!” Without another word, RM snatched Yuki’s katana from the scabbard at his waist to meet the God of War’s blow.

~*~

“She… She’s what?”

Shingen didn't hear that right. He couldn't have. There was absolutely no possible way he heard what he thought did from his loyal vassal.

“She stole my sword and is meeting Kenshin blow for blow. With the look he had on his face, I thought he was about to fall over dead from shock at first. Then, she went on the offensive!”

Shingen watched as Yukimura’s eyes cycled through a number of emotions as he relayed the turn of events. Shock and surprise giving way to a kind of wonder and acceptance. He hadn't missed the way his vassal’s eyes lingered after the newcomer’s footsteps or his overbearing nature the last few days. Yuki always had trouble being honest with himself but his extreme actions were all the sign Shingen needed. However, aside from a few comments of her being ‘Yuki’s angel’, there wasn't much that could be done.

Shingen grinned up to Yukimura. This new development may be just the push the two needed. “Yuki, make sure your angel doesn't leave the compound. We'll bring her with us tomorrow to the combat inspection we didn't get to complete today.”

“What? Why?”

“To see what else she can do. She may be a good fit as a new mitsumono.” He hated lying to the lad but the plan required it.

Yuki rolled his eyes at that. “I doubt she’d be interested in that.”

Shingen shrugged. “Maybe not, but we'll see the extent of foreign capabilities while we have one with us.”

That seemed to pacify the little lord for now as he finally conceded with a nod. “I'll make sure she doesn't leave… but stop calling her my ‘angel’!”

Not a chance. Shingen was still chuckling to himself long after Yuki left. 

[ikesenlemonadestandstories]

Surreptitious (pt. 6)

Hey everyone :) sorry for all the sporadic posting! Work was downright crazy this week. I finally got some time to myself today and was able to hammer not just part 5 but part 6 out as well! Feel free to message me if there’s anything you’d like to see. Otherwise thanks for stopping by! 

Admin T

You were at a loss for words, Sasuke had really outdone himself this time. There is no way the amount of gold you had given him was enough to cover all of the armaments he had supplied you with...looking him straight in the eyes

“I’m assuming I got the best ninja friend discount on at least half of these. Not that I’m complaining but seriously...at least let me pay you for all your trouble.”

“No need, I cannot follow you, and I am aware none of the other lords of Azuchi are able to assist you. I would prefer it if you were adequately prepared. Consider most of your payment, my own piece of mind.” Sasuke replied.

I really couldn’t argue with him there, and it was definitely out of line for me to steal an enemy ninja, no matter how clutch that would be. I laughed a little thinking about the type of united front we could put together. At this rate, we could have our own action show “Time Traveling Ninjas!” He turned toward my door giving me a knowing look and quickly bowed out leaving me with several homebrew ninja tools, a new wakizashi, who blades for my wrist guards, newly sharpened throwing knives, and three throwing needles disguised as hairpins. Carefully re-wrapping the gifts and hiding them so well even the most experience TSA officer wouldn’t be able to find them you waited for whoever it was you and Sasuke had sensed was coming to visit.

Hisoki had arrived at your door and rolling your eyes at the drunken knock you let him in. The Oda was throwing a party, and you had decided to channel your annoyance at this unforgivably rude man into your act. The idea was to pretend to be utterly spoiled as heck around this man, make him believe that Lord Nobunaga was forcing your to work as the Chatelaine and that you wanted nothing more than to run away with him...so far it was working. The best part was, you had only needed to win the affection of one of the men but his counterpart, Junichiro, was now following you around like a lost puppy. Though it could be annoying, the in-fighting among the men for your affection meant that neither let the other get overly-gropey and they had suggested taking you back with them tomorrow when they sneak out. Since they “couldn’t let such a marvelous princess suffer so.” *rolls eyes so hard I sleep my way back to the present* All through the week, you kept passing Masamune and Mitsuhide in the halls, the others were much harder to find, though you couldn’t blame them for trying to avoid contact with you since they didn’t spoil your cover. Mitsuhide would make the briefest yet much needed eye contact to check in on you, while Masamune could be sensed following you every so often. You had heard from Mitsuhide’s man, Kage, that he had to stop him three days ago from gutting Hisoki when his arm was around you on your garden stroll. You’d have to thank him for the laughs when you got back.

After Hisoki and Junichiro left your room, you began to tactically pack all of the weaponry Sasuke was kind enough to provide you with, while simultaneously preparing your black bag. You had decided that the best course of action would be to bring your black pants along with the black racer-back sleeveless top you would wear on missions in warmer climates. While the weather wasn’t exactly warm enough to warrant the apparel you would have to make sure to wear it at all times when you were in enemy territory underneath your kimono; so it definitely had to be hidden, so nothing was visible while making everyday movements. Placing all of the new throwing knives into the pouch that attached to your thigh and making sure you would be able to secure the Wakizashi under your Kimono were priority number one. The hairpins would be easy enough to disguise, and the smoke bombs and throwing stars you had been provided would be going in a pocket attached to your belt. Once all your weapons were packed, you began setting up your medical supplies and provisions. You had no idea what kind of trouble you or your friends were about to get yourself into so you had been molding fruit peels and melons for the penicillin, which you could now place in a small jar. Putting the antibiotic in your black bag, along with several sewing needles, your super futuristic lighter, rubbing alcohol (though if you needed to you could always grab some of Ieyasu’s cleaning sake), and all your other medical equipment you were almost ready to leave. When everything was packed, you sat down and began writing a note, once you finished it you would take one more secret trip to make sure it got to its intended owner.

…

I had heard from Kage that he and the princess would be departing tomorrow, and I had been wondering if there was anything I could do to help the princess. It was beginning to feel like my thoughts were summoning her, as soon as I started to prepare a mental list of items to gather for her I felt her warm breath gently against my ear as she hummed my name quietly. Instinctively I froze it was normal for her to drop by to visit this late at night to provide me with information or a status report, and while I felt we had been inching closer over the past week, I never expected her to show me this level of contact.

“I have a few things for you, think you can hold onto them for me?”

Her low voice was enough to send a shiver down my spine, still frozen in place unable to answer for fear my voice would give me away. I merely nodded, to which I felt her drape an arm over my shoulder and drop her small black bag in my lap.

“Bring it with you when you come to get me, kay? It’s essential.”

With those parting words, her hand gently ran up my arm as her fingers danced off my shoulder. She was gone before I could turn around but the coolness of her touch had left a surprising fire in its wake, and I was beginning to realize, that maybe I enjoyed her teasing me just as much as I enjoyed teasing her. Not sure I could hold this plan together much longer I set out to make the final preparations to bring her back to me and wrap this charade up as quick as possible.

Masamune and I had left almost precisely two days after the princess, we were following the trail Kage had been secretly laying for us in the foliage. If everything went according to plan, we would meet up with him again one day before our suspected arrival and two days before the main Oda force arrived. There we would have him switch us, Masamune and I would head for the castle to retrieve the princess, while he would take off to give the word to the main forces of our final location and any information he and the princess had been able to gather.

Almost a day later one of Masamune’s vassals, Kojuro had arrived to notify us that they were positioned a day ahead of schedule and upon Kage’s appearance, they would be prepared to engage immediately. While typically this would be a significant advantage for us in a battle, it was currently putting the princess in a perilous position. She was now alone in the enemy castle with a war looming, and with her being to only other person around to suspect of giving up the enemy position. They would be mad, they would blame her, and they would either imprison or worse kill her. All of these terrible ideas flashed through my mind, and I gripped the bag she had requested I bring for her, after a shared look with Masamune we took off in the direction Kage would be coming from.

…

You knew something had gone awry when everyone in the castle was in a tizzy. You briefly overheard some of the maids talking about how the Oda were spotted about two days outside the city, and we were now hastily preparing for battle. Knowing better than to think they would believe you innocent, you quickly prepared all of your weapons under your kimono. Putting your wrist guards on, tying your hair up and hid the elastic so if you needed the decorative needles your hair wouldn’t be all over the place and checking your throwing knives, and sword one last time you sat down and waited for someone to eventually fetch you.

It didn’t take long to be pulled into the main hall you wouldn't say you were surprised that a large group of men had formed a perimeter around you, hands on their swords, with Hisoki, Junichiro, and their Lord standing before you, arms crossed clearly agitated. They began questioning you, circling like sharks, observing their movements you navigated the conversation attempting to prove your “innocence” trying to buy yourself more time to get the hell out of there. Not liking the answers you were giving, the current daimyo of the castle walked up and made a motion to slap you, before you could think about it you dodged and now had a hand on his wrist and the man in a choke hold. Crap. You were about to deal with twenty-ish angry samurai by yourself. Not that you didn’t think you could handle it, you just really didn’t want to get blood on these pants. They were hard enough to wash in modern times, let alone the Sengoku period...ugh…

With the flick of your wrist, you had the daimyo on the ground and had made a motion to undo the Obi and cords holding the kimono together. As you jumped back out of the heavy garments, you crouched low into a fighting stance and drew your blade. You had parried attack after attack, and they were starting to come at you in higher numbers, you knew you needed to get out of there but setting the place on fire with one of Sasuke’s homemade firecrackers wasn’t exactly how you wanted to go about it. Using the throwing knives and stars you managed to whittle the number down until it was just you and Hisoki. Squaring up you waited for him to strike.

…

We had made it into the castle with little effort, Masamune and I were discussing splitting up when the familiar sound of metal clashing rang through a nearby hallway. Trying to keep my composure I headed off in the direction of the sword fight without a second thought. I could see the open door from where we were coming from and as we approached your body quite literally came flying out of the room where to our horror, you slammed into the wall across the way and crumple to the ground. Quicker than expected you pulled yourself up as we had begun to draw our swords making our way in your direction, until the look in your eyes stopped me dead. Your face was sharing with your thoughts, ones I never thought I would see you thinking, you were complete ice, there was nothing, no recognizable emotion, remembering the words you had whispered to me in passing when Masamune had joked about you being as deadly as you were pretty.

“My boss’s favorite saying was make it look beautiful, but train it to kill.”

Now I understood. 

The fight was over in an instant, the dullard had charged at you leaving his left side open. Ducking down and jamming the hilt of your sword into his rib cage you spun around behind him and knocked him onto the ground. With a blade at his throat, he surrendered himself. As you looked up our eyes met, and relief flashed across your features, walking past the open doorway we looked in, the last thing I remember hearing was Masamune whistle. As I looked over everything went blank, not only were there at least 20 severely wounded men, but  I noticed the blood dripping down the front of your leg and all of the scrapes up your arms and shoulder, I’m sure your back was going to be bruised from the hit to the wall alone. The more I thought about the increasing list of injuries you had incurred I was losing my composure, I ordered Masamune to take care of the mess you had made while to took you back to camp to be treated. Lifting you up so you wouldn’t have to walk on the injured leg I briskly maneuvered us down the hallway towards Kage and my men, who had successfully secured the rest of the castle. We were about halfway to my horse when you tightened your grip around my neck and said my name brought me back to the present.

“Mitsuhide I can walk, but I really appreciate it.”

“I will let you do no such thing, you were bleeding enough that it was beginning to pool at your foot, I will not have you walking on an injury like that. What were you even thinking taking on that many men at once.”

She sighed deeply against my chest “it’s not like I had a choice, I waited until I couldn’t. They made the first move, really it was all self-defense. Besides, I’ll probably just need a few stitches, and I’ll be right as rain.”

“Princess I know you’re good at sewing, but no amount of patching your pants is going to keep you from bleeding.”

Now she was laughing at me, as happy as I was to have grip tighten around my neck while she relaxed her head onto my shoulder I was beginning to think the blood loss was getting to her.

“No silly, you can stay and watch if you want. I was talking about my knee. I didn't get a good look at it, but I’d say it needs maybe 5 stitches or so. It’s a futuristic medical thing...helps the laceration heal faster. There is an inn up here on the right, you should let someone know we’re stopping briefly to treat my wounds before making our way back to camp.”

Technically the princess had already taken out the daimyo for us, so there was no need for a combined force to attack at the moment. I had Kojuro and Kage send word to Masamune and Nobunaga of our current status and turned right down the street to the inn.

[aion-rsa]

Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan Is a Netflix Docu-Drama Written in Blood and Ink

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Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan, a new historical documentary series on Netflix, is being billed as a “real-life Game of Thrones” but it’s much more than that. This is actual history, which is far more compelling than fantasy because it really transpired. “It is like something out of a movie,” says showrunner Matt Booi. “If you wrote this down, no one would believe it. And if you saw it, I think you’d say, ‘Nah.’ But it happened.” 

According to Booi, the show covers one of the most violent periods in Japanese history. The six-part series begins in 1551 with the death of feudal lord Oda Nobuhide and follows the rise of three of Japan’s most influential warriors: Nobuhide’s son, Oda Nobunaga (Masayoshi Haneda), Tokugawa Ieyasu (Hayate Masao), and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Masami Kosaka). Japanese historians, as well as dedicated fans of Samurai movies, will be all too familiar with these three Samurai because their impact on Japan, and their consequential representation in Japanese media, is enormous. 

“It’s something that a lot of people outside Japan don’t know a lot about,” Booi says. “They know the iconic sort of figure of the Samurais, but a lot of the minutiae was missing. Netflix understood, and so did we, that this was a great story that is going to resonate with a lot of people.”

Nobunaga, Ieyasu, and Hideyoshi lived during Japan’s sanguineous Sengoku period (1467-1615). Sengoku means “warring states.” It was a time when the country was ravaged by civil war, political intrigue, and upheaval. This period is the setting of almost every Samurai story. It was when these noble and brutal swordsmen were beginning to become eclipsed by firearms. “That’s what makes this era so poignant,” Booi explains, “We’re seeing the end of an era. It’s like the same way that guns ended the mounted knight in Europe.”

Booi understands why Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan is being compared to one of the biggest TV series of the last decade, too. “The Game of Thrones reference is a nod to the political maneuvering that is happening on the political landscape at this time. It’s a chessboard that these certain players are moving key pieces to try and control it all. It really is about an attempt by a handful of people to gain control over a fractured nation.” Like Game of Thrones, the Sengoku period is an epic saga, full of tales of honor, ruthlessness, and betrayal. It is one of the most colorful eras of Japanese history. 

And that color is red – blood red.

Lessons from Akira Kurosawa and Manga

When it comes to Samurai films, the undisputed master was Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa. One of the world’s most celebrated directors, Kurosawa made classic films like Hidden Fortress (the inspiration for Star Wars), Seven Samurai (the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven, Battle Beyond the Stars, and many more) and the psychologically relevant Rashomon. The Samurai genre owes a tremendous debt to his work. 

“I’m such a Kurosawa fan,” Booi says. “In terms of cinema, he rules over everyone almost in my mind. His ability to tell a story visually, I don’t think you can touch it. He’s just so astonishing. He’s the greatest. He’s the master. In terms of movement and shots, of how nature was, it was always something that we were aspiring to try and walk a little bit in his shadow.”

Additionally, Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan stole some pages from another leading Japanese media. According to Booi, graphic novels were a major source of inspiration. “If you look at the composition of shots, look at the color, at the color correct, it’s very dark. It’s a very gritty world punctuated by blasts of color, the reds of the blood, the red of the armor sometimes. So we thought a lot about graphic novels because, obviously, that’s such a big part of the world of contemporary Samurai lovers. We wanted that to inform it.” 

Furthermore, many of the re-enactment scenes are framed through doorways and such to resemble a graphic novel panel. This was a very conscious effort from the filmmakers. “There are two motifs that are heavily used, and one is blood and one is ink,” Booi explains. “The history of Japan in this period really seemed like it was written in blood and ink. Graphically, we were trying to make a world that nodded its head towards graphic novels and comics in general.”

Several battle scenes are shot in shadowy darker tones, contrasted by brilliant splashes of digital blood. “We might’ve got a little carried away with that,” Booi confesses, “but it’s hard not to when you’re in that world…It’s pretty shocking though when you get into some of the accounts of Nobunaga literally putting swords through just unfathomable amounts of people who stood in his way.”

Getting the Battles Right

Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan balances these ferocious battle reenactments with explanations from some of the world’s leading scholars and authors. They put the violence into historical perspective. 

“We leaned on what we thought were some of the best storytellers, not just best academics,” Booi says, “people who can not only download the information but do it in a way that was comprehensible but also entertaining, because for so many of our viewers, a lot of these ideas and these concepts and even names are going to be very foreign. To have people like we had to unpack this for us was really incredible.”

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For any period project, historical accuracy is key. Authenticity was paramount for the production. Booi’s team sourced armor and weaponry from some leading companies that make them for other Japanese historical activities. “Some we had to make,” Booi admits. “Obviously, authenticity is really difficult when you’re dealing with such intricate designs and such incredible craftsmanship.” The filmmakers made sure objects like the family crests were accurate and were careful not to have them pop up in the wrong places. “It was incredibly challenging to try and portray any of it accurately.”

Another critical detail was to shoot all the reenactments in Japanese. Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan is produced by the Toronto-based production company Cream so Japanese dialogue presented a unique challenge, both during production and for editing. “It was an essential obstacle. We all felt that trying to tell this story, if we did not have Japanese-speaking actors representing these people, there would be no credibility. There would be no authenticity.” The Cream team felt that the whole thing would fall apart the minute one of the Samurai spoke in English. Japanese dialogue is translated with subtitles, including for the featured Japanese-speaking experts. However, the subtitling never gets obtrusive because the bulk of the story is in English. “We just felt that was non-negotiable, that it had to be there. And it was something that Netflix really backed us on too.” 

A Blood-soaked History Lesson

Booi has made other military history documentaries. Among them are award-winning and Emmy-nominated productions such as Breathing Fire: The Secret Weapon of the Somme (Channel 4), The Weapon Hunter (Smithsonian Channel), and Blood and Fury: America’s Civil War (AHC). War stories are his specialty. 

“There’s so many things that draw me to the genre. There’s the sweeping sort of historical stuff, but also as somebody who is really interested in stories, I think you can get some of the most gripping and entertaining stuff when people are forced with sort of life-and-death decisions like that.” Booi feels that telling the big picture stuff through personal stories is particularly compelling, which is why he focused his lens upon Nobunaga, Ieyasu, and Hideyoshi. As Booi says, “Looking at what happens with those three guys, you get an incredible window into how the period ends ultimately and how the next period begins.” 

Nobunaga alone is a fascinating figure. He has been portrayed repeatedly in movies, books, manga, anime, and even video games, usually as the villain, but not always. Kurosawa’s award-winning film Kagamusha depicted Nobunaga as a strong and respectful leader. Booi can’t categorize him as a villain or a hero. “It’s hard not to stand back and be sort of knocked out by his ambition, his genius. But on the other hand, it’s tough not to be revolted by his violence and cruelty. He would do anything for power.”

“It’s not by accident that one of our contributors constantly refers to him as sort of an Alexander the Great of Japan in that he was just so innovative. He was raised with so much tradition, but he wasn’t bound by it. That’s what’s so fascinating about him. He’s constantly doing the unexpected.”

In many ways, Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan is an exploration of how power corrupts. “It’s really interesting to watch what happened to Nobunaga and how the decisions that he makes later on in the show come back to haunt him.” 

Without dropping any spoilers (although anyone can just look up the Sengoku period online to find out what happens), Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan examines the consequences of what power does to a person and how it can cause devastating blind spots. It’s a time-honored tale, still so relevant for our time. 

“There’s always an appetite for some stories about the Samurai,” Booi says. “It was such a lovely period because it’s such a violent world, but it’s also a world that is so bound by honor and duty.” Booi enjoyed exploring both sides of the same coin. “It’s just such a remarkable world.” 

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

For Booi, the Game of Thrones reference is an easy comparison to make. “But I think that’s where it ends. There’s lots more than the fantasy element of that.” Being reality based, Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan doesn’t include sorcery or White Walkers. “We have a one-eyed dragon,” Booi teases with a grin. But to learn who that was, you’ll just have to watch it.

Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan is a six-part series that premieres on Netflix on February 24, 2021.

The post Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan Is a Netflix Docu-Drama Written in Blood and Ink appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[afishtrap]

This article argues that advances in drilling techniques and the use of muskets—essential ingredients of the famous Military Revolution paradigm—were central to Korean military reforms following the Imjin War of 1592–1598. Drawing on recent work in East Asian military history that argues that guns also wrought deep changes in non-European ways of war, we use the Korean military of the Chosŏn dynasty, a fascinating nexus of Chinese, Japanese, and Dutch influences, as a case study to compare East Asian tactics with European ones. Using military manuals from the seventeenth century, we show that European drilling regimes—centered around musketry units—had striking analogues in Korea (as they also did in China and Japan). The very fact of these similarities in such far-removed societies should point us toward caution in making pronouncements about a “Western way of war,” making clear that there is a need for a truly global military history.

Andrade, T.  & Kang, H. H.  & Cooper, K. "A Korean Military Revolution?: Parallel Military Innovations in East Asia and Europe." Journal of World History, vol. 25 no. 1, 2014, pp. 51-84.

Barriffe describes this method as the most commonly used manner of firing and counsels its use especially when an enemy is charging one’s formation. As the enemy gets closer, the reloading soldiers stop advancing between firings, causing the entire formation to begin to cycle backward as each rank takes up its new position at the back of the formation after firing (Fig. 3). In this manner the musketeers end up behind the pikemen, who can prepare to receive the charging enemy with their pikes. This method also ensures that the musketeers can continue to fire even as the enemy gets closer. These diagrams show how pikemen and musketeers served mutually supportive roles in seventeenth-century European armies.

The Germans, French, Swedes, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Russians, and so on similarly published their own manuals or translated Dutch ones. Dutch drill instructors were sought throughout Europe, spreading these techniques far and wide. Instructors were in high demand because the techniques required intensive training. Previously, foot soldiers found safety in large, tightly packed formations: big squares of men bunched together to protect themselves against cavalry. But musketeers had to spread out to be effective. They needed to form long, thin ranks five or eight or ten men deep so they could concentrate their fire and avoid being outflanked by cavalry. As Geoffrey Parker notes, “changing a pike square perhaps fifty deep into a musketry line only ten deep inevitably exposed far more men to the challenge of face-toface combat.”10 It was vital that all the soldiers keep doing what was required of them—firing, moving to the back of the file, cleaning out the muzzle, loading powder, tamping, adding the bullet, tamping again, aiming, firing—and doing all of this with a burning fuse, which they had to keep away from their powder in order to avoid blowing themselves and their neighbors to bits. In battle, they had to carry out these difficult steps while under fire or while cavalry were bearing down on them. Only so long as each man kept doing his job could they act in concert and avoid being routed by enemy forces.

[...]

After the Ming consolidation in the late 1300s and early 1400s, continental East Asia settled into a period of relative peace, and Chinese innovation in gunpowder weapons slowed, but that didn’t mean that East Asia ceased being a place of military innovation. Just as continental East Asia relaxed into the Ming pax sinica, Japan devolved into an extended period of internal warfare, which became known as the Warring States period (Sengoku jidai 戦国時代) and lasted from the mid 1400s to the early 1600s. In the middle of the 1500s, harquebuses were dropped into this cauldron of violence and were quickly taken up and adapted.18 Harquebus units became a core of Japanese armies.

The historian Stephen Morillo draws parallels between Warring States Japan and early modern Europe, discerning similar processes of military innovation in each. The warring lords of Japan wanted to maximize the power of their soldiers and minimize their cost. So, just as in Europe, they began eschewing mounted samurai in favor of footmen armed with spears and bows. This required an emphasis, as in Europe, on discipline and drill. “The infantry,” writes Morillo, “could face down and defeat elite cavalry by depending on numbers, discipline, and the cohesion and mobility that training and discipline conveyed.”19 These infantry units were armed not just with Japan’s famous swords, but also with harquebus muskets. Some claim that Japanese musket forces even developed musketry volley fire independently. Historians have argued for its use in the famous Battle of Nagashino in 1575, but many scholrs have disputed this claim more recently.20 Thomas Conlan writes that it is very unlikely that volley techniques were used in 1575, but he does adduce clear evidence of the practice from 1615.21 As we will see, Korean sources point to Japanese use of musketry volley fire in the 1590s. Whether it was developed as early as Nagashino or not, the Japanese and the Dutch invented and used volley fire more or less contemporaneously. Within a span of approximately two decades, volley fire had become an important tactical maneuver in Europe as well as East Asia.

Japanese musket-based bellicosity was exported to the East Asian continent on a small scale in the mid-sixteenth century, as part of the Wokou Crisis, when Japanese mariners often described as pirates (they were, in fact, considerably more than pirates, benefitting in many cases from support offered by Japanese lords) ravaged the coasts of Korea and China. In the mid-sixteenth century, the Chinese developed an effective response to the Wokou, thanks in part to the genius of the famous general Qi Jiguang. To fight against the Japanese, Qi reorganized his forces, eschewing cavalry units and adopting instead infantry units armed with various weapons and drilled to work in tight formations, with different types of units mutually supporting each other. He placed a special emphasis on drill, and it was his troops’ ability to act cohesively under fire that made them so effective. They became known as Qi troops and were renowned in China.22

[...]

Before the Japanese invasion, Korea’s armed forces were largely unprofessional and inadequately drilled. Soldiers were often farmers, and their military duties were limited and temporary, based on rotations that accommodated agricultural seasons. Soldiers were also expected to provide their own weapons, horses, and living expenses. But starting in 1593, the year after the Japanese first invaded, the system was thoroughly reformed. At the core of the changes was a new central army known as the Military Training Agency (Hullyŏndogam 訓鍊都 監), a professional standing army that employed salaried men living in the capital and enjoyed fiscal support from special governmental surtaxes. This army was specifically designed around musketeers and consisted mostly of infantrymen, which instigated a broader shift in the Chosŏn military from a cavalry-based to an infantry-based way of war.24 Throughout the seventeenth century, it also published drill manuals and served as a testing ground for new infantry tactics, including the musketry volley fire technique.25

The officers of the Military Training Agency explicitly adopted the techniques of Qi Jiguang, drawing on his military manuals, the Ji xiao xin shu 紀效新書 (The new book of effective techniques) and the Lian bing shi ji 練兵實紀 (The veritable record of troop drilling).26 Why Qi Jiguang? Not only was he the most influential military thinker in China, but also troops trained in his methods—the Chinese Southern Units—had played a direct role in beating back the Japanese invasion. They stopped the Japanese in their tracks, the very Japanese who had ripped through Korean defenses. So when it came time to reorganize the Korean military, the Koreans understandably adopted Qi Jiguang’s methods.

Inspired directly by Qi Jiguang’s New Book of Effective Techniques, the Koreans developed a new infantry, using the “control-the-ranks method” (Sogobŏp 束伍法). There were clearly stratified troop divisions that were designed to facilitate the recruitment and training of commoners. The basic unit was the squad (dae 隊), which consisted of eleven men. Three squads made up a banner (ki 旗), three banners made up a platoon (cho 哨), five platoons made up a company (sa 司), and five companies made up the largest unit, a battalion (yŏng 營). A direct line of command thus linked the higher officers to the closely knit squads of eleven. It was a significant departure from the old Korean line of command, which had only three hierarchies consisting of units of five (伍), twenty-five (隊), and 125 (旅). While the earlier system had ways to expand these hierarchies to cover armies as large as 12,500 soldiers, it was less stratified and thus less conducive to efficient relaying of command.27

Squads themselves could be of various types. One of Qi Jiguang’s favorite formations was known as the Mandarin Duck Formation (鴛鴦 陣). It contained no firearm units, but rather consisted of several mutually reinforcing types of soldiers, each of which had particular abilities that complemented the others: two men with sabers and rattan shields (盾牌手), two men with multiple-tip bamboo spears (狼筅手), four men with long lances (長槍手), and two men with tridents or swords (短 兵手).28 They were led by a squad leader (队长) and supported by a cook or porter who also coordinated logistical support (负责伙食的 火兵). The squad was drilled in various maneuvers in which the specialists—the shieldmen, the spearmen, and the swordsmen—played precisely defined roles. Commoners were chosen for the various tasks, depending upon their abilities. Training and drilling were methodical and exhaustive.

[...]

Chinese and Korean commanders quickly realized how lethal the musket-armed Japanese were, a lethality they ascribed to Japanese discipline. In 1593, for example, Ming general Song Yingchang (宋 應唱, 1536–1606) noted that the Japanese employed the musketry volley technique, writing that he feared the Japanese would “break into squads and shoot alternately against us (分番休迭之法).”31 In 1595, Korean King Sŏnjo shared the same apprehension, retorting to a  scholar-official who underestimated the deadliness of their tactics that “if the Japanese divide themselves into three groups and shoot alternately by moving forward and backward, how can we fight back (若分 三運, 次次放砲)?”

The allies recognized that Japanese victories were largely based on superior musket units. Praising muskets as a “divine weapon” (神器), King Sŏnjo became a zealous proponent. In 1593 and 1594, he repeatedly ordered Japanese captives to be kept alive so that Korean artisans could learn the Japanese methods of making gunpowder and muskets.33 In 1594, he went so far as to attempt to design a new musket that could supposedly fire rounds in quick succession.34 The fact that the Korean king himself attempted to design his own musket makes clear how highly the Korean government prioritized the development of musket technology and techniques.

[barbosaasouza]

Review: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia (Nintendo Switch)

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is a tactical RPG for fans of tactical RPGs. What I mean here is that it’s not going to bother you with gimmicks to cross genres. It doesn’t simplify itself to appeal to casual gamers. It’s made for people who enjoy a turn-based, strategic challenge, and then it challenges them.

That said, Happinet Corporation wants you to play it. Challenging as it may be, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia comes packed with gorgeous artwork, a compelling story, tons of replayability, and—perhaps most importantly—an extensive tutorial.

I’ll go ahead and start with that, because that’s where I started. You can dive right into the game, but a separate multi-step tutorial is available to lead you through the game’s basics and strategies. It’s a bit over-educational at times (I can’t imagine anyone needs to be told how to make a menu selection); it feels like you’re setting up a table-top game, and the guy who brought it over is explaining the rules while you’re preparing the snacks.

And there’s plenty to learn. Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is kind of a cross between Risk and turn-based RPGs such as Langrisser and the pre-3DS Fire Emblem games. Before we get to that, however, let’s look at Runersia itself.

As you’d expect from a game like this, the continent of Runersia is broken upon to multiple nations. And as you’d expect from a continent of multiple nations, they’re on the brink of war. Each carries a mana stone embedded in special armor called Brigandine, but this does little to unit them. Each country—believing it to the best option for uniting Runersia—seeks to conquer the others much like in Sengoku period Japan (or my western understanding of it, anyway).

You can play as any of these nations (or as a sixth, separate tribe), getting their perspective when you do. And through the fantastic storytelling and intelligent handling of the game’s politics, you’ll agree with all of them.

So, the goal is to bring peace to Runersia by conquering it. Not the best means to an end, but it’s pretty much all we know, right? And the further you get, the more you’ll learn about this land and its history.

The gameplay is broken up into two distinct phases: organization and attack. Your placement on the “board” and “pieces” you start with are based on which nation you select. Each comes with a predefined number of starting bases, knights, and monsters of various power, as well as mana for setting up your armies. The organizational phase tasks you with planning your attacks and defenses while preparing up your army. You can move knights and monsters to a specific base to launch an attack, but if your other bases become vulnerable if you leave them undefended. In other words, you can’t stack all your knights in one spot.

In fact, you won’t want to just split them between offense and defense. You also have the option to send your knights on quests or training missions to help them level up and acquire armor, weapons, and other useful items.

It’s a lot to consider, especially if you’re used to turn-based strategy games that push you straight into linear battles without any thought for defense. How you choose to conquer Runersia—which army you attack and which bases to defend—is entirely your call. It will overwhelm some players, but thankfully there’s an easy mode that lightens the difficulty for your first couple of playthroughs and doesn’t give you a set amount of time to achieve your goal.

Once your army is all set up, the game enters the attack phase. This is where the battles play out based on your setup from the organization phase. Combat takes place on a hexagonal grid, allowing attacks from six sides. The knights and monsters are able to move and execute a physical attack, as well as attack/protect/heal with magic.

Of course, there are many caveats. Magic attacks/buffs are very powerful and accurate, but you’ll mostly be able to use them only a couple times per battle. Plus, most magic cannot be used after moving, and you cannot move after using it, so you’ll need to plan ahead to keep your magic specialists both in range of and protected from the enemy.

Familiar items such as terrain can affect your abilities, but Brigandine takes this even further with elements such as soldier location. Surrounding an enemy, for example, locks it down and reduces its abilities. Your soldiers also do not need to be next to each other to prevent an enemy from passing through; they just need to be close.

If you win a battle by taking out the commander, you have the ability to recruit remaining monsters from his/her squad. This is a good way to build up your army, but you can also lose your monsters should you be forced to retreat. The monsters are especially important, as they bring an incredible array of capabilities into the fray. Forget about Fire Emblem’s weapon triangle with some sprinkled in magic. The number of available attacks, buffs, and spells available through the monster system is absolutely crazy, and figuring out how to take advantage of them all is a good deal of the fun.

Brigandine has a good number of unique features such as this, all of which help to make the game feel quite refreshing.

Of course, there are plenty of familiar gameplay components as well. You’ll level up both your knights and your monsters, your knights can receive class changes, you’ll get access to better weapons, etc. And although you may choose to focus on just a few of your nation’s main characters, you have no choice to keep all of them ready as you spread out your attacks and fortify your bases.

Brigandine takes a unique approach to its visuals, too. There are no movies to push the narrative, just subtly animated illustrations. This artwork is as unique as the gameplay, and perhaps underused. The illustrative graphics during the action phase are colorful and full of texture, but rough edges show as you zoom in.

The battles themselves are only basically animated, but the spells are kind of cool, and the monsters are colorful enough to help them easily stand out in handheld mode. The UI is also surprisingly clean and easy to navigate.

With multiple ways to play through Brigandine, you’re looking at hundreds of hours of gameplay. However, the experience doesn’t change a whole lot when starting as a different nation, so the only incentive to do so is to just keep the experience going. Although it’s cool to get a different take on the game’s story, it’s not such a stunning tale that you’ll feel the need to do so right away, especially considering the slow pace of both the narrative and the gameplay.

The post Review: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

Review: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia (Nintendo Switch) published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

[entergamingxp]

Nioh 2 review – a vast and engrossing if dutiful follow-up to a landmark Soulslike • Eurogamer.net

The measure of a good Soulslike isn’t the might of its (Nameless) kings, but the deviousness of its pawns. Marquee adversaries like Ornstein and Smough might command the lion’s share of Youtube uploads, but they aren’t, or shouldn’t be, the source of all dread in the moment. Nioh 2 offers plenty of bosses, most plucked from the grottier tracts of Japanese folklore and all endowed with the ability to shift the proceedings into the “yokai” or spirit realm, where their attacks are more ferocious – a nifty variation on the idea of boss phases. My standouts include a massive owl demon who periodically turns off the lights, forcing you to track the creature by its glaring red eyes. But this terrific, if conservative and overloaded follow-up to 2017’s blend of Ninja Gaiden and Dark Souls isn’t really about the giants. It’s about the dirty little bastards in the undergrowth, the rank-and-file grunts with tricks up their sleeves.

Nioh 2 review

Developer: Team Ninja

Publisher: Koei Tecmo/Sony Interactive Entertainment

Platform: Reviewed on PS4

Availability: Out March 13th on PS4

For instance: you’ll meet a demon hag whose abilities include a sort of arthritic spin attack, cackling and flailing around as though trying to free herself from a net. It’s easily evaded and rather silly, more senior moment than special move. Often, it ends with the hag tumbling over in a heap. But sometimes, it ends with her bowling a knife at your head. Elsewhere you’ll encounter bandits who are easy prey till they’re about to die, whereupon they’ll Hulk out and wrestle you to the floor, and deceptively polished samurai who are host to demons that spit fire and poison.

Worst of all, though, are the pot-bellied Gollum equivalents who infest the game’s Sengoku Japan setting, a world of cherry-blossom villages, spoiling castles and torchlit carrion fields. It’s not just that they’re fond of playing dead near treasure. It’s not just that they spew paralysing fluid when you punch them too hard, or that they sometimes accompany larger threats – bouncing stones off your skull like unruly children as you duck under blows that will kill you instantly. It’s that when you knock one flat, another may pounce on and devour it, tripling in size. You skitter out of reach, and whoops, it turns out one of those hags was lurking in a closet behind you. These are the reversals that really set Soulslikes apart, the moments when no amount of levelling, gear bonuses, abject pleading or apoplectic rage can stop you dying at the hands of the very first enemy type you killed, 40 hours before.

If Nioh 2 is full of such surprises, it is not a surprising sequel. Branding it Nioh 1.5 is too much, but this is definitely a case of ornamenting the grip rather than changing the blade (forgery nerds, feel free to chime in here with a more apposite comparison). Set before the first game’s events, it casts you as Hide, a custom-created adventurer with yokai blood – a trait that allows you to wield the abilities of slain demons and briefly assume yokai form yourself. Early on you fall in with a wandering ragamuffin, Tokichiro, who embroils you in a quest for fame and fortune.

The gimmick is that you’re enacting the secret history of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the real-life daimyo credited with unifying a wartorn Japan, who in this retelling was actually two people. The real Hideyoshi’s feats include confiscating swords from all over Japan and melting them down into a statue of the Buddha – a source of some irony here, given that you’ll spend much of Nioh 2 wondering how to dispose of all the worn-out gear filling your inventory. The first game was hardly feted for its storytelling and the second offers much the same, lavish but scatter-brained mix of period celebrities, eccentrics and pantomime manipulators. The dialogue and acting are sparky, but there’s little narrative backbone. Ultimately, it’s just a bunch of interludes stuffed into a campaign where you pick main and side missions from a Total War-style overworld view.

Returning players will find Nioh 2 looks and handles mostly as was, give or take some more lifelike animations and a richer colour palette. From Souls, Nioh derives the idea of dropping your collected XP at the point of death, granting you a single opportunity to recover it, together with moody, winding levels pegged together by shrines full of friendly sprites who restore you while also resurrecting non-boss enemies. Unlike in Souls, these are separately loaded areas, but they’re governed by a similar emphasis on unlockable shortcuts. Most consist of three or four shrines positioned near doors that must be opened from the other side, once you’ve fought your way round to it. The major geographical change-ups over Nioh are dark zones where the border between mortal and yokai realm has collapsed. Shrines and treasure chests are off limits, here, till you’ve purged the midboss responsible for the psychic overspill.

To Ninja Gaiden, meanwhile, the game owes its elaborate melee combat system, with dozens upon dozens of weapon-specific combos backed up by ninja tools such as poisoned shuriken, Onmyo spells such as fireballs or lifesteal, and the nuclear options conferred by your character’s Guardian Spirit. Of the weapon types – axe, katana, dual blades, switchglaive, spear, odachi, tonfas, kusarigama, hatchets, switchglaive – only the last two are new, and the remainder recycle most of their combos, parries and specials from the first game. Each weapon can be wielded in three stances with diverging movesets: high stance trades speed for power, low stance power for speed, and middle is… in the middle.

The supporting role-playing systems are essentially as before but with a lot more meat on them. Besides spending “amrita” or XP to level up stats that correspond to weapon types, and allocating points to each weapon category’s sprawling unlock tree, you build Familiarity with individual weapons that lets you deal more damage with them. This encourages you to master each one, rather than casting it aside the second you find a rarer specimen with higher base capabilities – which in my experience, happens roughly every couple of minutes. To all that, add armour effects like health regen when you imbue your attacks with the water element, together with the bonuses afforded by your choice of Guardian spirit. It’s a lot to swallow, and that’s before you start combining and forging your own equipment between missions, transferring bonuses to higher-level blades or dismantling them for parts.

A role-player this top-heavy needs something to catalyse the emotions in the moment. That thing is once again Nioh’s clever redefinition of stamina as “ki”, the all-pervading vital energy from traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts. Swing a weapon and you’ll scatter ki into the air, like sparks from a torch. Exhaust the bar and you’ll be unable to perform any action at all, not even the sagging blows that result when you empty the tank in the Souls games. Take a hit in this state and you’ll be stunned for a good couple of seconds, opportunity enough for pretty much any opponent to finish you off. So you do your best to keep the bar full – not just retreating and dropping your guard to regain poise, but tapping R1 as ki leaves your body to suck it back in.

Doing this also dispels puddles of ki-sapping static conjured by demons – bosses, especially, slop this vampiric substance all over, forcing you to nail those pulses or stick to uncontaminated areas. Ki restoration isn’t as punishing as it may sound – if you’re struggling to stir it into your combos, there are unlocks that trigger ki pulses when you dodge or perform other routine actions. But the system gives your presence in this world a certain poetic charge. It’s not just about catching your breath so that you can clobber somebody with your axe, but aligning inner and outer equilibriums, becoming one with your environment – and clobbering somebody with your axe while you’re at it.

The weapons themselves are a joy to wield, whether you’re crushing enemies into the floor with the odachi’s 12-foot blade or wrapping them in the kusarigama’s chain. The new toys aren’t transformative but have their share of lethal quirks: the hatchets can be thrown, returning to your hands by magic, while the switchglaive (a nod to Bloodborne) unfolds from a rapid-slicing razor into a sweeping polearm and a scythe for messy finishers. I’m less convinced by the new yokai abilities, which are equipped by plugging cores dropped by demons into your Guardian spirit. The possibilities range from yanking an enormous flaming hammer out of your backpocket, to bursting through the ground as a legless ogre.

They’re good fun visually, but some much more useful than others, and their tactical applications are blunt – either dealing a ton of damage at once or trying to stagger a foe (or both). Demon cores also add to the pressure on your inventory, which frequently saw me dumping helmets and cuirasses by the roadside (a less wasteful way of shedding weight is to trade weapons for currency at shrines). I also have mixed feelings about the new yokai transformations, which replace Nioh’s Living Weapons. Each of the three yokai forms has its own weapons, moveset and a “Burst” counter for use against more devastating attacks that are pre-empted by a boiling red glow. There’s another layer of skill here, but I mostly used transformations to spam my way out of corners or finish bosses I couldn’t be bothered to murder scientifically.

In general I feel like Nioh 2 is rather bloated, a feeling that intensifies over the course of the game as you spend less time clashing with monsters and more time taming the hydra-headed spreadsheet equation that is character customisation. I was dismayed to find, 30 hours in, that I’d unlocked yet another layer – one of those abstract “clan battle” modes where you join and donate items to a faction in return for passive bonuses. A man may tire of passive bonuses, even when he’s not on deadline. More controversially, this feature seems to have taken the place of regular PvP, though this is made up for by the expanded co-op options. You can now summon the AI-controlled shades of other players as both opponents and allies – handy indeed when there’s nobody online to help you through a bossfight, though the AI is too inept to serve as more than a distraction.

The more you play, too, the more you notice the project management that structures the levels. Each has its guiding conceit, such as a central elevator or a network of dams that expose patches of loot-rich riverbed when lowered. But the cadence of shrines and shortcuts, optional areas and boss chambers is the same throughout, which slowly erodes the curiosity generated by the game’s otherwise absorbing architecture. In Dark Souls, the world is an interlocking, eldritch conundrum. In Nioh 2, it’s a series of fiendish puzzle boxes. Engrossing and oppressive, for sure, but not that startling or intriguing.

Hence, perhaps, my delight when some grubby spearman in home-made armour catches me off guard. It’s the dose of adrenaline an oversaturated game needs, like discovering a razor blade inside your seventh slice of wedding cake. Nioh 2 is a work of immense skill and scale, but Team Ninja’s next project needs to be more about changing things than adding them. After all, no amount of equipment buffs can protect you against the element of surprise.

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/03/nioh-2-review-a-vast-and-engrossing-if-dutiful-follow-up-to-a-landmark-soulslike-%e2%80%a2-eurogamer-net/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=nioh-2-review-a-vast-and-engrossing-if-dutiful-follow-up-to-a-landmark-soulslike-%25e2%2580%25a2-eurogamer-net

[barbosaasouza]

Review: Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia (Nintendo Switch)

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is a tactical RPG for fans of tactical RPGs. What I mean here is that it’s not going to bother you with gimmicks to cross genres. It doesn’t simplify itself to appeal to casual gamers. It’s made for people who enjoy a turn-based, strategic challenge, and then it challenges them.

That said, Happinet Corporation wants you to play it. Challenging as it may be, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia comes packed with gorgeous artwork, a compelling story, tons of replayability, and—perhaps most importantly—an extensive tutorial.

I’ll go ahead and start with that, because that’s where I started. You can dive right into the game, but a separate multi-step tutorial is available to lead you through the game’s basics and strategies. It’s a bit over-educational at times (I can’t imagine anyone needs to be told how to make a menu selection); it feels like you’re setting up a table-top game, and the guy who brought it over is explaining the rules while you’re preparing the snacks.

And there’s plenty to learn. Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is kind of a cross between Risk and turn-based RPGs such as Langrisser and the pre-3DS Fire Emblem games. Before we get to that, however, let’s look at Runersia itself.

As you’d expect from a game like this, the continent of Runersia is broken upon to multiple nations. And as you’d expect from a continent of multiple nations, they’re on the brink of war. Each carries a mana stone embedded in special armor called Brigandine, but this does little to unit them. Each country—believing it to the best option for uniting Runersia—seeks to conquer the others much like in Sengoku period Japan (or my western understanding of it, anyway).

You can play as any of these nations (or as a sixth, separate tribe), getting their perspective when you do. And through the fantastic storytelling and intelligent handling of the game’s politics, you’ll agree with all of them.

So, the goal is to bring peace to Runersia by conquering it. Not the best means to an end, but it’s pretty much all we know, right? And the further you get, the more you’ll learn about this land and its history.

The gameplay is broken up into two distinct phases: organization and attack. Your placement on the “board” and “pieces” you start with are based on which nation you select. Each comes with a predefined number of starting bases, knights, and monsters of various power, as well as mana for setting up your armies. The organizational phase tasks you with planning your attacks and defenses while preparing up your army. You can move knights and monsters to a specific base to launch an attack, but if your other bases become vulnerable if you leave them undefended. In other words, you can’t stack all your knights in one spot.

In fact, you won’t want to just split them between offense and defense. You also have the option to send your knights on quests or training missions to help them level up and acquire armor, weapons, and other useful items.

It’s a lot to consider, especially if you’re used to turn-based strategy games that push you straight into linear battles without any thought for defense. How you choose to conquer Runersia—which army you attack and which bases to defend—is entirely your call. It will overwhelm some players, but thankfully there’s an easy mode that lightens the difficulty for your first couple of playthroughs and doesn’t give you a set amount of time to achieve your goal.

Once your army is all set up, the game enters the attack phase. This is where the battles play out based on your setup from the organization phase. Combat takes place on a hexagonal grid, allowing attacks from six sides. The knights and monsters are able to move and execute a physical attack, as well as attack/protect/heal with magic.

Of course, there are many caveats. Magic attacks/buffs are very powerful and accurate, but you’ll mostly be able to use them only a couple times per battle. Plus, most magic cannot be used after moving, and you cannot move after using it, so you’ll need to plan ahead to keep your magic specialists both in range of and protected from the enemy.

Familiar items such as terrain can affect your abilities, but Brigandine takes this even further with elements such as soldier location. Surrounding an enemy, for example, locks it down and reduces its abilities. Your soldiers also do not need to be next to each other to prevent an enemy from passing through; they just need to be close.

If you win a battle by taking out the commander, you have the ability to recruit remaining monsters from his/her squad. This is a good way to build up your army, but you can also lose your monsters should you be forced to retreat. The monsters are especially important, as they bring an incredible array of capabilities into the fray. Forget about Fire Emblem’s weapon triangle with some sprinkled in magic. The number of available attacks, buffs, and spells available through the monster system is absolutely crazy, and figuring out how to take advantage of them all is a good deal of the fun.

Brigandine has a good number of unique features such as this, all of which help to make the game feel quite refreshing.

Of course, there are plenty of familiar gameplay components as well. You’ll level up both your knights and your monsters, your knights can receive class changes, you’ll get access to better weapons, etc. And although you may choose to focus on just a few of your nation’s main characters, you have no choice to keep all of them ready as you spread out your attacks and fortify your bases.

Brigandine takes a unique approach to its visuals, too. There are no movies to push the narrative, just subtly animated illustrations. This artwork is as unique as the gameplay, and perhaps underused. The illustrative graphics during the action phase are colorful and full of texture, but rough edges show as you zoom in.

The battles themselves are only basically animated, but the spells are kind of cool, and the monsters are colorful enough to help them easily stand out in handheld mode. The UI is also surprisingly clean and easy to navigate.

With multiple ways to play through Brigandine, you’re looking at hundreds of hours of gameplay. However, the experience doesn’t change a whole lot when starting as a different nation, so the only incentive to do so is to just keep the experience going. Although it’s cool to get a different take on the game’s story, it’s not such a stunning tale that you’ll feel the need to do so right away, especially considering the slow pace of both the narrative and the gameplay.

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