#so i got to flesh it out a bit more!

[mirchloe]

new b-movie either tomorrow or wednesday because i finished my main edits, but my fingers are numb!! it ended up being just over 24k words. the next chapter focuses solely on the archetypes, so it shouldn't be as long - probably around half that length! (MONKEY PAW CURLS) whoa did you guys see that what just happened

[sysig]

Chewtoy (Patreon)

[beastwhimsy]

I'm completely enamored with this wizard who is in like 5 episodes total and gets barely any lines and I have found THREE other artists who have ever drawn fanart of him. anyway I have decided that I will rectify this injustice by getting even more unwell about them. here he is I love you life giving magus

they're the kind of wizard to say "wonderful!! ^_^ 🌼🌷💞" and "HOT DOG!!!!!!!!‼️💥🤯" in the same 10 seconds <- he has done this canonically

ID in alt, please consider reblogging thank you I love you

they're so silly I love you gnc wizard teacher who enjoys road trips and making yummy treats with their friends

[mohntilyet]

i’m having illario dellamorte thoughts. what if instead of knowingly betraying lucanis he did it like, unknowingly. idk how this would work but i’m intrigued by what it gives us. illario ‘i accidentally caused my cousin’s death & can never tell anyone’ dellamorte. genuinely grieving. blaming himself. does he take advantage of the year before lucanis comes back?? does caterina still ignore him the whole time?? how different is the canon plotline once rook shows up with lucanis post-rescue…..

anyways i would love your thoughts!!

95% of what i do with illario operates on the idea that he is frighteningly competent so you can see why the way the crows plotline plays out in the game might frustrate me. it’s also this reason why i don’t actually think too much about “illario got lucanis killed, but didn’t mean to do it”, because i like the idea that everything illario does in his life is planned to the second and that he’s too well trained to mess up this badly, if that makes sense. with that being said. 5% of my brain power does sometimes go towards “and what if he just sucked actually” and it was a theory i enjoyed before the game even released. so i have in fact been thinking about this anyway LOL . maybe he tries to honeypot zara, accidentally actually reveals lucanis’ next assassination job, and zara gets rid of him as a ‘gift’. illario is horrified and that gets even worse when lucanis’ body shows up, and he assumes this must be because he spurned zara by leaving her and not having the guts to seize power.

i think we could make his inferiority complex worse. illario’s worst fear confirmed: he is as worthless as his grandmother believes he is, botching something so badly that he accidentally sentences his cousin to death when what he wanted was lucanis just… out of the way for a bit (maybe while he kills caterina. LOL. i still think his resentment of caterina trumps his jealousy for lucanis though those two things are very intertwined its hard for him to differentiate them). so incapable that he got the only person who actually supports him killed, and now he’s dreading the idea of becoming first talon. he doesn’t want first talon without lucanis backing him, and now the only person left is caterina which is suffocating and makes him even unhappier. at least he hadn’t lived through her alone, and now through consequences of his own decisions, illario has no choice but to.

i think that would affect his plans for talon because of how horribly he’d fucked up, and tries to mask it because if he suddenly actually doesn’t want to be talon that would be a red flag for everyone. lucanis coming back would delight him (talon is within his sights again if lucanis comes back!) and freak him out. i think the plotline would actually be pretty similar because of this freak out, so he still shows up to zara’s fight to cover his tracks. lucanis can never know, caterina can never know, because what little faith they have in him will be lost. like he committed fratricide and didn’t even MEAN to😭 ...corpse whispering still happens, and zara is like “ohhh that coward. he can never finish what he started, can he?” + “elaborate.” + “i gave him what he most wanted in the world and instead of being grateful, he ran away.” so lucanis finds out about what happened but feels a mix of “illario, you idiot” + pity because turns out he didn’t even mean for it to happen, and keeps his secret for now, otherwise he’d probably have to kill him.

i also think not meaning to kill lucanis would sour his feelings towards the venatori, who are a reminder of how badly he failed, so the alliance wouldn’t happen. this does mean if the story goes on as it does in canon, he has to take desperate measures another way and kidnap caterina for some other reason but i can’t think of why….. maybe a thing where illario is like “ok. lucanis is distracted by the elven gods. this time i just have to kill nonna for real and then nothing is in my way” and recruits disgraced houses or houses that don’t like caterina to do so? not sure tbh but i don’t believe caterina made it so far without making enemies lol. this would happen post bloodbath + corpse whispering— lucanis leaves his cousin unchecked because while he knows illario didn’t mean for him to die, he has no idea how far he would go to have caterina dead. teia could find out about this and send word to foil the kidnapping and assassination attempt

so ‘murder of crows’ is still about saving caterina, the illario-lucanis fight still happens, but it’s a little more hesitant and lots of “why won’t you just let me kill her? i’m doing this for the both of us”. he’s had to live with being the un-favorite, but never would have thought lucanis would actually pick caterina if it came down to it. with all of his missteps here, i think the final decision (and i think it should be like this in canon anyway) would be to imprison illario or kill him. imprisoning him is just a lot of “i can’t kill illario as much as he couldn’t kill me”, vs killing him as is expected from him as talon, and what he knew he would have to do after finding out about illario's failures. unlike canon, where illario is actually meaning to kill him and can be seen as a 'good crow' despite the sloppiness, here he's like. just bad at everything. the allied traitor houses that went against caterina would also have to be imprisoned or killed. no happy ending at all here, and lucanis still becomes first talon. now that i’ve written it out this is actually probably the worst ending LOL

the above sticks a lot to what is canon to the game (plot points, choices, etc) and i didn’t go very far away from it so it's like canon 3 inches to the left. tho my thoughts on this are not fleshed out* because i think illario works better as an antagonist character that sets things in motion !! not necessarily the villain in a cain-abel story, but a character who opposes lucanis while still not wanting to hurt him. that kind of discipline where he finds a way to get what he wants (first talon) without compromising what he also cares for (family) is so much more fun for me than a man who apparently just loses it and decides to enact a bad plan to get rid of his cousin. if he waited 20+ years to become talon i think he’d be more careful when it came down to it. if i had my way illario would be playing insane 5d chess to rival solas (insert black sails “i once thought that to lead, to be liked was just as good as feared. and that may very well be true. but to be both liked and feared all at once, is an entirely different state of being.”)

[silentsockfeet]

with the obvious addendum that act 3 isn’t out yet and we can’t form true opinions until the show’s officially done, i’m still really feeling like it could have maybe benefited from a third season. they’re hitting all the right plot points and those moments are full of really intense emotion, but everything in the middle feels so underwhelming in comparison and so much of it still feels rushed to me. idk

[phantom-thieves-official]

something I really like about p3p compared to p5 is the extra bits of narration. I don't know if it's because the game doesn't have scenes with animated models or if regular p3 is like that, too, since I haven't played it. But like in Junpei's rank 10, when he's talking about going to see his dad, you get an extra text box that says 'Junpei's hands are trembling.' and in Shinji's rank 10 you get a few of them, one saying he toys with the pocket watch and one saying he looks down at his feet for a long time. Idk. They're nice. In p5, they use pretty much only the talking sprites and the character model animations to show emotion but things like trembling hands or staring at their feet are little things that probably wouldn't be animated but that add a lot to a scene I think.

[daffi-990]

WIP Wednesday 📝

Tagged by the amazing @wikiangela & @lover-of-mine. Thank you for the tags mwah mwah 😘

I’ve almost finished this chapter … it’s been fighting me for weeks but now I’m finally getting somewhere and hopefully will finish it this week and can finally move forward onto chapter five and all the random stuff I have written for that chapter 😅

From stuck now so long, we just got the start wrong aka rival firefighters 🚒 . Pre snippet here.

Diaz moves first, storming past Buck and the remaining onlookers who didn’t scatter after Captain Cooper dealt out their punishment. Buck feels like a child being sent to his room for a time out. A part of him wants to fight Cooper’s orders, to argue and gnash his teeth that Diaz was the one to cause a scene, but he knows it’s not worth it. Captain Cooper could’ve written both him and Diaz up but instead chose to be lenient, so Buck needs to bite his tongue and just bare it, or he’s going to do more damage. Pick your battles and whatnot.

Buck walks over to the 118 engine and climbs in, taking some satisfaction in slamming the door before he remembers Bobby’s stance on treating the engine, truck and ambulance with respect like they’re one of the team, because they are. He winces and mumbles out an apology to the engine, moving around until he’s in a comfortable position where he still has a good view of what’s happening outside. His eyes find the 136 engine and the angry glare of Diaz. The dude has sunglasses on now, but Buck knows those brown eyes are ablaze with rage and that Diaz is probably imagining lighting Buck on fire with his mind, which is absolutely ridiculous because Diaz was the one who escalated things. All Buck was trying to do was check in with the guy because he didn’t seem okay. And by the way he broke his professionalism and snapped at Buck, something is definitely not okay. Maybe Diaz got some bad personal news or had a tough shift, maybe even lost someone on a call.

No pressure tagging: @athenagranted @monsterrae1 @callmenewbie @clusterbuck @spotsandsocks @hippolotamus @hoodie-buck @watchyourbuck @thewolvesof1998 @fortheloveofbuddie @honestlydarkprincess @steadfastsaturnsrings @spagheddiediaz @malewifediaz @wildlife4life @rainbow-nerdss @exhuastedpigeon @eddiebabygirldiaz @evcndiaz @try-set-me-on-fire @devirnis @giddyupbuck @theotherbuckley @disasterbuckdiaz @jamespearce9-1-1 @jesuisici33 @jeeyuns @ladydorian05 @loserdiaz and as always, anyone who wasn’t tagged but wants to share something - consider yourself tagged now 🥰

[sabraeal]

To Taste of the Bitter Plant

[Read on AO3]

Written for @aeroplaneblues, who this year asked for either an Apothecary Diaries AU or a Skip to Loafer AU, and both of us could barely choose between them. Both were highlights of 2024 for us, and had their own unique challenges adapting them for obiyuki...but Apothecary Diaries won out! I just hope it was worth the wait!

Beware the men beyond the gates. Shirayuki can count on her hands the number of times the Virtuous Consort has betrayed her disgust— saved, for the most part, for traitors, improperly prepared sea perch, and the antics of a particular foreign prince— but her eyes narrowed with it then, contempt just barely concealed behind the wave of her fan. Soldiers think that any woman is theirs to take, so long as some other man hasn’t marked her first. And even then…

Shirayuki does not need the consort to finish the thought to take the warning. She knows only too well about men and their desires. And the sorts of things they might do to sate them, if they have the power.

But it is strange to apply knowledge gleaned from the darkest shadows of the flower district to the outer court's gleaming pavilions.

Whispers do eddy in her wake, men stopping to stare as she passes— did you see that? A girl with red hair. Outside the harem? She must belong to someone! If she were mine, I’d never let her out of the house— but none reach out to touch. Not here, where powerful men might bring a beloved concubine. But their interest is palpable, nonetheless, and their desire…

Ah, well, maybe she should have covered her head, as Mitsuhide has suggested. Or dressed herself up as a eunuch, like the Virtuous Consort. Or accepted a more visible sign of her allegiance, the way Zen had hoped.

Shirayuki lifts her fingers, shifting the slender stick speared through her hair. It’s silver— true silver, warming beneath her touch; even if the soldiers don’t recognize the wisteria blooming at one end, they’ll mark that. Few men could afford such a gift, and none of them are worth crossing; for all that the army men are rough, swaggering over the cobbles of the outer court, they are easily dissuaded from misbehavior that might damage their prospects. Nothing like the ones that stalk the alleys of the red light district, turned away from every reputable establishment. Entitlement, it seems, is an entirely different beast than desperation.

Still, it is at a brisk pace that Shirayuki strides across the pavilion; not that of a timid girl hurrying from one task to the next, but an officious maid on some important man’s business— which she is, technically. How far Zen’s name might reach outside the walls of the Inner Palace, she couldn’t say, but it might be enough to give a pushy man pause. Eunuchs rarely ranked highly among the men of the military, but a favorite of the emperor himself…

Do not make yourself beholden to any man, Yeye had told her, a finger waggling as she chased his heels. The only power you have in this world is that which you make with your own two hands.

Those same hands clench now, nails digging into the flesh of her palms before they release, falling away to float at her side. There’s nothing grasped within them yet, but that would change. Starting today, so long as she doesn’t disappoint Ryuu shi fu.

The carriage waits for her at the outer gate, just as Zen said it would. Windows shuttered, nondescript; the sort of conveyance that could be for any man who might be found wandering the outer pavilion. Her nerves balk as she approaches, begging her to remember the last time she’d been thrown on a cart, sent to places unknown—

But, she counters, forcing her breath to come out even, steady. That is how I ended up here.

It’s not much, but it's enough to get her through the door.

One of my men will be waiting there, Zen had promised, smile as soft as the brazier’s glow. Knowing you, Apothecary, you’ll need someone to watch your back. Close as he was, she’d already been flushed, the attention of the Inner Palace’s Overseer at his finest overwhelming to say the least. But she’d pitched a spirited protest— reminding him of her previous independence, and her many years living in a far more dangerous city for girls like her than he could ever imagine. Which had only led to him reminding her that in their short tenure together she has been kidnapped twice and the object of a potential assassination once.

Shirayuki allowed that perhaps a single guard might not go amiss. She could hardly complain when Mitsuhide was as circumspect a companion as any could ask for, never getting underfoot and only stepping in when the word of the Overseer would carry farther than her own. For all that he was as sweet as a young lady’s lapdog, officials quivered before him like hares before a hound. If she needed a minder, there were certainly worse for Zen to saddle her with

Which is why it’s such a surprise when he does.

“It’s you,” is the first thing to fall out of her mouth, and she just barely bites back the accompanying, why?

“I should introduce myself.” The man in court blue is not Mitsuhide at all— no, he’s smaller, more slender, with an all-too familiar set of gold eyes set below a straight-edged scar. The hand pressed to his chest is not so much callused as nicked, small scrapes striping his skin that healed less from proper attention and more from time. “I’m Obi. That’s not my real name though”— he admits it easily, proudly— “and everything else about me is a secret.”

She stands there for a moment, one beat chasing the heels of the next, before she stumbles out, “There must be some sort of mistake.”

*

“So what’s this little side trip all about anyway?” They’d left the sedan shuttered in the palace, saving her from the prying eyes of soldiers and court officials, but once they’re out on the city streets, Obi opens them, propping an elbow up up the sill. He’s long-limbed, this former assassin of hers, and curious too, head craning out into the open air as far as his anatomy will allow. “Some official got knocked off or something?”

“I don’t know the particulars of his position,” she informs him, primly. “But it’s someone important enough that Zen isn’t willing to record the cause of death as misadventure without some form of inquiry.”

It’s not until she catches the twitch of his mouth that she realizes— “Ah, I mean, Zen liang jun…?”

“Don’t worry, xiao jie.” One side of his mouth slips up, cocky and, quite honestly, infuriating. “Zhu ren has seen fit to explain that whole situation. Don’t gotta bother trying to act all formal in front of me. Honestly, I’m impressed that an attendant like you is interested in a little liaison with His Most Esteemed Eunuch-ness, even though he doesn’t have all the necessary equipment to get you—”

Warmth burns up her neck, heating her tongue like a hob does a kettle until, “And you’re sure Zen asked you to watch over me?” shrills out of her, scalding as steam.

“He even said I might be useful.” His chest puffs up beneath his robes, not one to be daunted or damned by faint praise. “But what about you, xiao jie? Seems funny to send off some consort’s food taster to solve the sort of thing a court official does.”

“I have some knowledge of medicinal plants.” An understatement, to say the least, but it’s not as if her former assassin needs to know about her apprenticeship. He probably wouldn’t even believe that a small eunuch child could be a master physician, let alone that she would permit him to act as her mentor. “There is a saying— perhaps you have heard it? The dose makes the poison.”

“That’s one way to think about it, I guess.” Her bodyguard is constant motion, eyes crinkling and limbs shifting; a whole theater packed into a person so narrow he might slip through the floorboards. “So what d’you think it is? Wolfsbane? Cinnabar? Maybe even snake—?”

“Fish.”

That’s enough to quiet him; all of his theories drying up like a stream in summer. “…Fish?”

“Pufferfish, to be exact.” She smooths her skirts over her knees, cotton a luxury against her palms. “It’s a delicacy. And if it’s not cut and served in precisely the right fashion, poison from its organs can leak into the flesh.”

He blinks, eyes flashing like coins across knuckle-back. “And rich people pay to eat it?”

“Yes.” Funny to hear a man like him balk at a risk to his life, but well— she’d thought the same when Garrack explained it to her.

They only prepare the fish? Even now she remembers how she sat back on her heels, utterly stymied. Nothing else?

How amused Garrack yi sheng must have been when she shook her head, knowing the sort of opulence the Emperor had at his own table. You have to remember: people with that much money and power live in a different world from us regular folk, Shirayuki.

Still. The protest even now sat bitter on her tongue. That hardly seems reasonable. Don’t they have some sort of common sense?

Garrack’s mouth had twitched, letting out, Not a lick of it.

“They pay quite a lot to not only eat it, but to have someone on their staff that is trained to prepare it," she informs him with the same briskness Garrack yi sheng had imparted it to her, as if it were common knowledge, an unquestionable truth.

“Even though they’re only going to eat it every one and a while?” He lets out a whistle, long and low. “That’s rich people for you. All the money in the world and they can’t buy themselves a bit of common sense.”

Shirayuki smothers a smile behind her sleeve. “Maybe so.”

*

It is a man that greets them at the door, well dressed for a servant, but head bowed too deeply to be the master of the estate. “My mistress has taken to her bed,” he explains briskly, not rude but simply busy. Harried, almost, pausing to look over his shoulder before leading them down a spacious corridor. “So it is I that will act as your guide for the day.”

“Is she feeling all right?” Shirayuki hurries her steps, careful not to draw insultingly close, but— interested. Concerned. “Is she having ill effects from the dinner? Should I look at her after I finish—?”

“Ah, no. Liera niang niang does not partake of the Master’s more…unique dinners.” His hand lifts, politely waving off her concern. “She is only fatigued from the strain of his passing. We are lucky that his brother was visiting and could take over the running of the house, or else I might fear for her nerves. She is not a strong woman, I am afraid…”

“How fortunate for you that your master’s brother was already here.” Obi’s smile sits politely on his lips, but there’s not a drip of sincerity in it. “It couldn’t have all fallen together better if he planned it.”

There’s no use to the warning glance she gives him, not when the servant only nods, eager to agree. “So you say! I cannot imagine what ills might have befallen us with both master and mistress unable to perform their duties. Now here is the kitchen. It has not been used since”— his voice drops, wary— “the incident.”

But it has been tidied, Shirayuki can’t help but notice. The cooking utensils are all clean and in their proper place, and whatever was left over from the fish has been tossed out. Not that she can blame them; fish guts didn’t just smell as they ripened, they lingered, long after the mess has been taken away. But what she's left with is only washed counters and organized shelves, jars and bottles sitting neatly, ready to be plucked from their perch when needed.

A fine place for cooking, no doubt, but for an investigation— well, there’d be no proving if it was the fish that caused the Master’s unfortunate demise. Which means she’ll have to approach it from the other angle: assuming that it wasn’t.

“Do you know what this is?” The jar falls into her hands with a rattle, four oblong berries skittering across the glass. Rolling them to a corner, she can see the four-point star on one of them, stark even through the deep amber drink.

Obi’s mouth curls, like a cat who has caught sight of an unwary bird. “It’s booze, xiao jie. Good stuff, with how clear it is.”

He lifts the lid, and the pungent scent of liquor rolls over her, metallic in her mouth. And yet beneath that, something sweet. “That’s not what I was asking.”

“Ah!” The servant bustles over, replacing the lid with a smile. “That’s roka liquor, Master’s favorite. He enjoys it— ah, forgive me, he enjoyed it frequently.”

“Frequently? Are you sure?” The sting of the scent still lingers, even after the man’s tucked it back on the shelf. “I hadn’t realized it was so…popular.”

“It isn’t.” Pride puffs his chest like a rooster strutting through a hen house. “Master is— ah, was a connoisseur of rarer delicacies. An associate introduced him to it just a few months ago, and he could not get enough of the taste. He always said—

“What is going on here?” If Shirayuki had thought the servant finely dressed, the man at the door is even more so, the green silk of his robe bright and finely embroidered with waterfowl flying from a pond. The master’s brother, it seems, scowling at the lot of them as he sweeps in. His eyes dart over each corner, accounting for every last spoon out of place. “No one is allowed to enter the kitchen without permission.”

“Ah, zong guan.” The servant cast a nervous look back at them before bowing over his hands. “These are…ah, you remember, we were told—?”

“So you let them in?” The man does not so much approach as descend, falling upon the servant the way a hound might a quivering hare. “Off the street? I told you that no one—”

Obi steps between them in one smooth motion, one hand pressed solicitously to his chest. “Pardon me, da ren, it seems you have not heard. We are part of the palace’s investigation into the death of your brother.”

His brow furrows, fouling his already sour expression. “Well, no one informed me that there was any inquiry! I certainly didn’t request one.”

Her former assassin’s smile turns to all teeth. “The request came from Liera niang niang.”

“Leira—?” The man sputters, practically pacing the length of the room before turning back and beginning again. “That woman! I am the master of this house in my brother’s absence—”

“Xiao jie.” Obi turns to her, voice low, all of his levity gone. “Do you need more time?”

She does not need to hear him say it to know he really means, this man is not going to give us it if you do.

With one last look at the jar, its cloying scent still caught in her nose, she shakes her head.

“Good,” he murmurs, mouth curling into a wolfish grin. “Then let’s get out when the getting is still good.”

*

“So you’re telling me it wasn’t the fish?”

The Virtuous Consort is not famed for her mobility of expression, but there is a hint of amusement lingering in its corners as Zen throws himself back in one of her chairs, disgruntled huff exploding from his lips. “There’s no need to be petulant. One cannot be an expert in every subject”

“I didn’t say I had to be,” he snaps, arms folding over his chest; less like a man of authority and more like a put out young lord. “I just thought…well, I’d been so sure…”

“It was not the fish that led to the death of your acquaintance.” Shirayuki glances at Obi, and he slips a clear glass bottle out from his voluminous sleeve, setting it on the table. It is quickly followed by another, this time tinted brown, and well— she’ll be giving him a firm talking to about just what is appropriate to take from the medical office later, but for now, his act of petty theft only aids her explanation. “However, there was something else at his table that was dangerous enough to take a life.”

Obi places down two shallow cups— she hadn’t seen him pocket those either, nor had the Virtuous Consort, by the height of her brows— and pours liquor into both of them. “Both of these bottles contain roka liquor, but only one of them is from the estate, and the other is from the medical office.”

“Oh.” Zen grimaces; a sure sign that it’s been pressed on him before. Hardly a surprise when Garrack calls it her favorite cold remedy. “Why would he have this hanging around? It’s not really the season for coughs or colds.”

“His servant said that a business associate had brought him a bottle a few months ago to serve with dinner.” She glances up to where Zen lounges, one hand propped on the chair’s arm, casually cupped around chin. “Leira zong guan developed quite a taste for it.”

That careless posture cracks down the middle with a splutter. “T-that stuff? A taste? Was he some sort of glutton for punishment or something?”

“I admit, I was surprised too.” Few medicines had such enthusiastic receptions. Effective ones, at least. “It’s used often in the medical office, but it’s known for having a bitter, astringent taste. Unpleasant, to say the least. But after having it with his dinner, he bought a whole case of bottles off of his associate, to serve when he has his more…unique meals.”

“All right, so Leira clearly had odd tastes when it comes to his liquor.” Zen frowns down at the cups on the table, thoughtful. “But what does that have to do with his death?”

“Plenty. Although it might seem like a relatively easy process, fermenting roka berries is much harder than it seems.” She hefts one of the bottles into her hands, letting the berries rattle along the bottom of the glass. “Any alcohol has the ability to turn to poison if it’s brewed the wrong way, but wines— which is what this is, even if we call it liquor— do not often turn. However…there is a component inside these berries that, when fermented under certain conditions, turns to poison.”

He shifts closer, squinting at the bottles. “Under certain conditions?”

Shirayuki sets the two bottles beside each other. “In the first few months after I came here, Ryuu shifu taught me that certain plants are particularly potent at certain times of day. For the roka berry, its potency is at its highest at the brightest part of the day. However, we pick it in the morning, at dawn’s first light.”

Zen’s smile slants knowingly. “Ah, because that is when the poison would be at its most potent as well.”

“Exactly. Which is why we store them in a cellar underground during their fermentation—”

“And used these darker bottles too, right, xiao jie?” Obi plucks it from her hand, grinning as he lets the berries rattle across the glass. “So even when you take them up to the office, you aren’t letting them get a bunch of light.”

She blinks. “Yes. Though truth be told, even that probably wouldn’t be enough to activate the poison. Despite being called a berry, the outer skin is hard, and it makes it difficult for anything but the medicinal oils to diffuse into the alcohol for some time. But it is common with wines that when a first fermentation comes out too astringent, you may ferment it a second time— back sweetening, it’s called. Quite literally, it makes the wine sweeter.”

“So roka liquor doesn’t have to taste like bile?” The betrayal in Zen’s voice lays thick, like a child who has found a sliver of green pepper hidden in his dumpling.

“No, no, xiao jie— you said that the skin makes it hard for anything but the oils to get out for some time.” Obi glances down at the cups. “And that back sweetening, I’m guessing— that’s past the point where the poison decides to sit this one out.”

Shirayuki nods. “The skin breaks down enough over the process where the costs begin to outweigh the benefits. Also not enough on its own to kill a man, but…”

“But between the sweetening…and the clear glass…probably not fermented in some cellar anyway…” Zen stares at the table, glancing between the two bottles, no longer sitting behind their cups. “Which one…?”

She grimaces. “Ah…whichever one is sweet?”

“Welp,” Obi huffs, swaggering over to the table. “Only one way to find out!”

Shirayuki might be next to him, but he scoops up a cup too quickly for her to do anything but gasp, “Wait!”

“Huh,” he hums, licking his lips. “That is a little sweet, isn’t it?”

Mitsuhide is already scrambling out from behind Zen’s chair, pounding the other eunuch on the back. “Obi!”

“Shirayuki!” Zen turns wide eyes to her, pleading, but he hardly needs to ask, not when she’s already digging through her bag.

“I have an emetic,” she promises, and before she can even fully hold it out, Mitsuhide sweeps it from her grasp.

“No wait!” Obi gasps, one hand pressed to his chest, the other warding the bigger man off. “I’m only—“

It’s no use— once he opens his mouth, Mitsuhide pours the concoction down it, leaving him coughing, gasping, retching—

And finally, with one generous heave, he empties the contents of his stomach into the basin one of the consort’s ladies hurry to give him. He must have had a larger lunch than she’d seen him pick at on their way back to the palace; it goes on for what feels like hours.

It’s the cough that tells her he’s done, and the deadpan glare as he wipes the back of his hand over his mouth. “I was going to say, zhu ren,” he rasps. “I was joking.”

“You…” Zen stands, towering over where he crouches, more angry god than man. “Have a terrible sense of humor.”

“Yeah, well…” Obi saws out a laugh. “Takes one to know one, I guess.”

*

“So.” The Virtuous Consort sets her mask aside once Zen and his aides have left, no longer the stand- offish daughter of the north, but just a normal girl, not much older than her. “What weren’t you telling them?”

“I wasn’t” —she draws short, catching Kiki’s pointed glare— “trying to keep anything from them, not really.”

“Of course. You just won’t tell them anything that might condemn a man if you’re not certain.” Her head tilts, the stream of sunlight that passes for her hair cascading over one shoulder. “So what is it that you aren’t certain about? Or shall I guess instead?”

Shirayuki glances at the corners of the room; empty, her other attendants handily dismissed. Other girls might duck around an archway or press their ears to the door, but if those ladies linger, they have at least done her the dignity of being impossible to detect.

“Why now?”

Kiki blinks, her slippered feet tucked into the cushion beneath her. “What do you mean?”

“His servant said that he had acquired a taste for it. And certainly a back sweetened brew would have held poison, but…” She licks her lips, mind churning like running water over stone. “The other bottles there— they were brown. Still not safe, but…a slower death. So why then. Why…?”

“The clear bottle.” Kiki nods, thoughtful. “Why now?”

“It was a gift from his brother.” She’d barely needed to press the servant at all; simply praising the fine vintage as he saw them out to the carriage was enough. “But where could he have gotten it? Apothecaries typically brew their own, if only to know that it’s done properly. He could have done it on his own but…”

“It’s not the thing a man hoping to be a high ranking court official would dirty his hands with.” Her brows furrow, gaze fixed out to the courtyard beyond. “So the question is, who did?”

“Someone had to have made it— and then given it to him! Told him what it could do, and…” Despite the warmth of the summer months, the night presses in cold around her. “They’re still out there.”

“Ha.” Kiki shakes her head. “Now there’s a thought to keep a person up at night.”

[clowningcrows]

lol i pregamed a tiny bit for agatha but now after finishing im just taking shots for coping reasons

[cq-studios]

Would you like to share anything from or about your Ventus (& Strelitzia) fic ?

Sure, I’m in the midst of rewriting it right now (doing that technique where you write it again but only the parts you remember) and the original fic was never finished but I can give some snippets.

Untitled “everyone thinks Ventus has a crush on Strelitzia but he actually can’t stop thinking about her because he killed her” WIP below the cut

Sora had finally made it back. After a whole year of searching, Riku was able to guide him back to the Realm of Light. Ven, like the rest of them, was smiling so wide his cheeks hurt.

The thing was, they weren’t alone.

A girl stepped out of the portal behind them. She wore a white dress and red bows in her hair. Something in his heart itched.

She scanned the people surrounding her, giving everyone a glance. Then her eyes landed on Ven. And on Ven her eyes stayed, alight with fear.

Ven’s stomach sank with familiarity. His breathing quickened. The itch turned to a jackhammer, rattling his core.

He took a step back. Then another. Then another.

It’s her.

Who’s her?

He broke eye contact.

“Are you alright?” Xion looked up at him with earnesty.

Through the fading dread, Ven managed a shaky grin and a nod. The girl’s brow furrowed but, thankfully, she didn’t push. He wondered if he and Roxas made similar faces when they lied.

“Come on, introduce yourself,”

“H-hello, I’m Strelitzia”.

Strelitzia.

The name rang in his head like bells. A cacophony just like the end. Like a new beginning.

It’s all my fault.

What is?

“Aren’t you going to say hi, Ven?” Aqua asked, concern not even hidden as she passed by.

Everyone seemed to be introducing themselves now. Strelitzia looked a little overwhelmed by all the attention.

“Uh, maybe… I don’t want to be rude but she, uh… makes me feel” he grappled for a word, “weird”.

“Weird?”

He wasn’t sure that was a good enough word.

“Nervous?”

That didn’t feel right either.

Aqua paused for a moment, Ven could see the gears turning in her head.

“Alright”

———

And then here’s a couple of scenes from the older version

———

(This is a scene that takes place after poor Ven digs himself deeper into a hole lol)

Terra and Aqua shared a knowing look and big amused smiles.

“Wha-? What’s that look for?”

“It's just cute”

“Huh?”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“I-I guess,” why is this important? “She seems nice, bu-” He paused mid sentence when he realized his friends’ smiles were growing even wider, “wait. You mean-” his cheeks were on fire in an instant, hands flying to cover his face, “Ahh! No! Gross guys”.

“You are around that age,” “Past it even”.

“Lalala! Not listening,”

“‘I can’t stop thinking about her’,”

“Guys, seriously, stop. It’s not a crush!” His confidence faltered, “At least… I-I don’t think it is”.

Maybe crushes did feel this way. He wouldn’t know, he’d never had one. But if they were supposed to feel like this he couldn’t imagine why anyone would want the feeling. It was just so... so suffocating.

———

“Kairi?”

“Hm?” The girl turned her head and eyed him expectantly.

Ven’s mouth suddenly felt like a desert. Was he really going to ask this? Was he even close enough with her to ask this? It’s a personal question. Maybe he shouldn’t bother.

No. He- He had to know.

He steeled his nerves and the question fell from his mouth, “do you have a- a crush on someone?”

The other wielder blinked in surprise and awkwardly, almost sympathetically replied, “Uh, yes, I do… why”

Ven felt so incredibly sheepish. In a voice barely louder than a whisper he asked, “What does it feel like?”

“Oh,” Something that resembled relief flashed in her expression, leaving Ven to wonder what she thought he was going to say, “(she’s supposed to describe it here but I don’t know how and I felt too awkward to ask someone lol)”

“So you don’t feel sick?”

“Feel sick?”

“That’s how I feel around Strelitzia…” “Aqua and Terra think I have a crush on her but-”

“But you aren’t sure”.

Ven shook his head

“Well, everyone’s different, but that doesn’t sound like a crush to me”

[xiii-e]

//ooc posting: I NEED to find more fun/silly things to do with my two they are Not meant to be all agony all the time I swear- I just have a penchant for the dramatic and they're a little in the torment nexus o(-< but on god they will Have Fun too

[kandicon]

*writes the same exact headcannons in slightly different scenarios over and over again*

[kissuriuri]

will basara stans come for me if I say basara walked so yona could run?

[lctibule]

the problem i keep stumbling across while writing byan and my two boys (bc believe it or not, byan came after both of them) is that... byan is inherently wild and chaotic and fun and interesting, whereas minjoon and si-u are much more... subdued. they're quieter, more pleasant, more agreeable (less fleshed out) and so i always end up feeling/worrying that they're... not that interesting? i just... idk it's frustrating aksjsdsf

[literaryspinster]

Having a Black woman character wear a scarf or bonnet to bed is such a bare minimum ass example of positive rep. Sure it's appreciated, but if you're going to fail in almost every other aspect of her character then please don't pat yourself on the back for something that takes zero effort.

[dumplingcatho]

thinking abt link click this fine day GOD first and probably will be the best donghua i'll watch ever aueghhhhh it's lowkey utena 2.0 for me (i still prefer utena but linkclick is basically on that level) it's just so solid and well crafted and compelling RAHHH

the opening song too???? it didn't take too long to realise!! something had changed in the back of my miiind!! your eyes!!!!! there ain't nowhere left to hide behind!! time no longer flew like it was... when the flash froze everything before... without you.. i don't know if i could take this road.... okay i'll stop there or i WILL type out the whole op