#sorry this is a long post jesus christ

[ghost-proofbaby]

CURRENT FIC UPDATES

hi hello so i wanted to make a post just to update you all where i stand with current wips, what my priorities are, etc.

below is a list of my current wips in order of priority (just based on how frequently i have found myself writing/thinking/inspired for them. none of these have been sent to the wip graveyard. if they're on this list, it means i have a current chapter for them in progress that i have written on within the last month.)

THE MOON WILL SING (I LOVED YOU LIKE THE SUN)

so uh... surprise? new fic in progress? masterlist with details will get posted tonight. possibly the prologue. it's been one that's fun and coming to me easily, which i desperately needed lol (also sensing that a majority of you might not read because... it's not eddie.)

SO SCARLET (IT WAS MAROON)

i know it's been a while since i've updated this one, but it's my baby. i'm not dropping it. we are crawling to the finish line with this one i swear it.

SO MORDOR IT IS

i'm well aware THIS one has not been updated in a VERY long time. latest chapter has been a wip for a while. i'll admit, i'm very close to putting this one on an official hiatus (already sort of feels like it's on hiatus, doesn't it?) solely because i've struggled with feeling like i lost the essence of willow and eddie. and that's just sad. they're my favorite couple i've ever written. but as of right now, it's an active fic. just... low on the prioritized list because low on inspiration i suppose?

outside of those three, i have the smut prompt requests that i am prioritizing request wise for valentine's day! if you've sent me a request recently, just know i try to go in order of when someone sent them. i also have some really old requests that recently sparked some ideas? basically outside of those fics i'll probably be posting small things here and there for shits and giggles. gotta remind myself this is fun, folks.

i don't have an update schedule or even an estimated posting for any of the above beyond the moon will sing. i can say for sure that prologue is either being posted tonight or tomorrow. and i know that means nothing, because none of y'all have read or care for it yet! that's totally fine! i'll do my normal warnings post if i am about to update maroon or mordor, but for now, we're just cruising. i recently changed jobs sort of, and i'm in the process of possibly having to move. life is lifing.

i wish you all a wonderful night, and thank you for caring about my words <3 y'all are lovely and i'm giving all the forehead kisses.

[katabay]

PERCEVAL THE UNHAPPY, THE MISERABLE, THE UNFORTUNATE, THE FISHER KING!

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

ALRIGHT alright. so previously I did an illustration that explained the premise of all this, that it's inspired by the narrative choices that Bresson made in his film Lancelot du Lac etc

to dive in more into it (because this is something like derivative fiction. I'm putting concepts into a blender and seeing what comes out of it): the setting is haunted by the previously existing narratives that started cannibalizing each other until it regurgitates itself into the more well known narrative beats, and something else about the invasive rot of christianity and empire mythmaking into settings. it's an intertextual haunting, if you will! and this scene takes place during the grail quest narrative, but the temptation of Perceval plays out differently.

in both Chretien (and Wolfram's) Perceval narratives, what 'wakes' Perceval up (in more ways than one. desire and self actualization in one go!) is seeing knights, something his mother tried hard to keep him from. so instead of the temptation of lust & etc in the Morte narrative taking the form of a lady, it takes the form of a knight. the temptation to renounce one's faith to serve something else remains.

so Perceval still stabs himself, but instead of continuing on the grail quest in the shadow of Galahad, he becomes the narrative's Fisher King because his earlier state of being as a the grail quest hero is creeping back into his marrow. it was waiting for an opening, and stabbing yourself in the thigh is one hell of a parallel!!!

that wound isn't going to heal buddy, and the state of the setting will now be reflected on your body. sure hope that Arthur hasn't like. corrupted the justice of the land or anything. that sure would suck for your overall health.

all the red in this sequence is because in de Troyes' Perceval, Perceval takes the armor of the Red Knight and becomes known as the Knight in Red.

and now for the citations, which I will try to order in a way that makes sense!

Seeing Knights For The First Time

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

The Temptation of Perceval

Le Morte Darthur, Mallory (modernized by Baines)

The Fisher King, and Perceval The Unfortunate

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

On Perceval and Gender, etc.

Clothes Make The Man: Parzival Dressed and Undressed, Michael D. Amey

On Wounds

Wounded Masculinity: Injury and Gender in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur, Kenneth Hodges

The Red Knight

Perceval, de Troyes (trans. Burton Raffel)

On Arthur and the Corruption of Justice

The Failure of Justice, the Failure of Arthur, L.K. Bedwell

[puppyeared]

my stardew farmer ^_^ he doesnt have a green thumb for shit so he keeps animals and does mining

some tidbits i came up with while playing hehe

reclusive and doesnt really go out of his way to talk or visit people unless its an errand. but he also doesnt try to befriend others to get something out of it, so he has a very easygoing approach to making friends. on good terms with linus and sebastian since he runs into them most often.

if he respects or takes a liking to someone, he'll greet them with miss/mister (name). if you get close to him he starts using first name basis. if he doesn't like you, he'll refer to you by your title without using your name. only a few people have caught on to this.

the farm he inherited, Milky Way Farm, was the site of a meteorite crash and sometimes you can find shards of meteor debris littered around the farm (i picked the hilltop farm bc of this lol)

lost his sweater and pants a long ass time ago and doesnt have the time to look for them, so hes been working in his sleep clothes ever since

isnt actually grandpa's real heir to the farm... ;)

[a-sketchy]

persona misogyny is so fucking wild. ignoring literally everything else about the entire rest of the games, every single s.link with a female character is like “entirely for having been born a woman i have had to work twice as hard for a fraction of the benefit. even now, i am stripped of my agency in a position i never wanted in the first place” and/or “i’m put on a pedestal by the people in my life because of my looks. men see me as an object to be conquered, women hate me for ‘stealing’ ‘their’ men. if i’m withdrawn i’m a bitch, if i’m friendly i’m easy. because of this, i’m alone” and/or “because of my personality or hobby or lack of cooking skills, i feel like i’m failing at femininity. if being a woman is something i can fail at, then where does that leave me? i’m scared at the loss of my identity and place in society”

like very consistently they present female characters with complex thoughts towards their place in society as women, femininity as a whole, and facing issues stemming from misogyny, and then the payoff is always “my problems were entirely my own fault. i wasn’t strong enough, i was a coward. but now, i’m gonna work hard to be exactly what society expects me to be (which is what i want to be)! i’m gonna do better at femininity (which is still something tangible i can fail at)! i’m going to try hard at making friends (which was my fault for not doing)! all my problems are solved through personal responsibility (that im totally culpable for), effort (which i previously was not putting in), or you, a man! i am Happy and Satisfied with this outcome, can i be Your woman?”

and like hello? why are we here. what the fuck are we doing. why do we keep doing this every single time. can we not do the constant lukewarm attempts at criticizing misogyny so you can jerk off to your own thoughtfulness, while ultimately reinforcing patriarchal systems and brushing off any deeper misogyny-bred issues as a lack of deference to one’s rightful place in society? like maybe don’t do that? for fucking once? just an idea

[tubby1230]

Lil bit of making out below, be careful (very minor NSFW (does kissing count??? I am so confused, help)).

(Transcripts Below)

Heyyyyy, disappeared for a bit and came back with an 8-page comic. This goes with the reverse AU I made a bit ago. This is the first slightly NSFW thing I've ever drawn (where are my Ace babes, wassup) and was cringing the whole but it's done. One of my personal headcannons for the canon characters is Stone smokes but stopped when he worked for the doctor because he has asthma or some shit. In my AU, he tries to wean off it but gets annoyed. Robotnik helps him keep him mouth busy with lollipops (and other things 👀). Hope you enjoy it (spent way longer on it than I should've) and have a good day!

Transcripts:

Page 1

Stone: "---Goddamn idiots-----"

Stone: "'It's not necessary' they say---like they're the doctor---"

Stone: "---I swear, if I have to deal with them for one more moment, I'm gonna kill someone."

Page 2

Stone: "Now I can take a quick break. One can't hurt. Fu- stupid lighter."

Robotnik: "Apologies, sir but smoking is not permitted inside."

Page 3

Stone: "Hey! Do you know who I- Oh. It's you."

Stone: "Stand down, Agent. Give me back my cigarette and leave."

Robotnik: "Afraid I can't do that, sir."

Stone: "I said...GIMMIE!"

Page 4

Stone: *strained* "Just...give it-ugh-to me! I am your...superior! (stupid tall...)"

Robotnik: "Nope. Can't. I am here to keep you safe & healthy, even from yourself."

Stone: "AHA! Well, forget those orders for now. I don't need a baby--sitter..."

Page 5

Robotnik: "Something wrong, Doctor?"

Robotnik: "I heard lollipops were healthier."

Page 6

Robotnik: "HCK-"

Robotnik: I...can't...breathe...

Page 7

Stone: "Never think you can outsmart me, Agent. Got it? Dismissed."

[corviiids]

(inspired by your earlier post about if L accused Sayu of being Kira) How do you think an au where Sayu got the death note would play out?

amazing question. i wrote so much more than i thought i was going to im so sorry. tl;dr i don't think the ultimate plot would change much but the beginning would sure be interesting.

i think if sayu found the death note, she would tell light before anyone else. he's clearly her most trusted confidant. light would tell her not to worry because it's clearly some chain letter shit but because she's clearly frightened of it he'd offer to hold it for her and get rid of it so she doesn't have to think about it.

now whether ownership officially passes to light at this point might depend on the specific wording they use. if light says 'hold onto it for you' or something to that effect it would likely just be sublet to light (wording from rule 13) - for our purposes im inclined to go with this version of events but i note the rules are really ambiguous on what the specific requirements and conditions are regarding ownership.

(i keep wanting to go through and do a full review of all the manga rules from like. almost like a statutory interpretation kind of lens but that's a stupid project i need to convince myself out of lmfao jesus)

hey this got really long and complicated. i thought it was going to be simple but now im going through branching possibilities literally for the sole purpose of analysing the rules so let's put the rest under the cut. click for me citing specific death note rules in the middle of my work day i guess GOD. you can also scroll to the bottom if you want to skip me talking about death note rules and just see my projected course of events

the issue of ownership actually doesn't matter that much at this point for reasons we will see but might change things a little bit down the road (see below re: ryuk and discussion of rule 47). let's go with the sublet thing for now and assume sayu is still the owner of the notebook but light is holding it.

light keeps the book, sayu tries not to think about it and fails. light can't resist testing it without sayu's knowledge. light meets ryuk. i note rule 13 states the death god will stay with the owner of the note. since light and sayu are in the same household (ie geographic distance is not an issue) and ryuk would find light more interesting, it's a coin flip which person he'd show up to (probably depends on the degree to which shinigami are bound by their rules which i don't have access to and can't review lol). let's assume for now that ryuk meets light first just for ease, but i will come back to this later because i actually prefer him showing up to sayu first while light is holding the notebook.

in the version where light meets ryuk first, then depending how forthcoming ryuk is with information, either sayu sees ryuk before light realises that's a risk or light realises sayu will see ryuk before she actually does. im leaning towards the latter because in canon light finds out in this order:

people who don't have the note can't see ryuk (when his mother comes into the room during their first meeting)

people who have touched the note CAN see ryuk (when sayu comes into the room asking for help with homework some days later)

so in this au, between events 1 and 2, light would realise that since sayu has touched and owns the note, she'll be able to see ryuk. i think light at this point would ask ryuk if there's any way to undo that effect at which point ryuk should inform light that forfeiting the note will allow sayu to stop seeing ryuk.

ok, now let's backtrack to before and say instead of light, ryuk shows up to sayu first. ryuk appears, sayu screams, ryuk informs sayu that light has used the note. light comes running because sayu screamed. light again in this timeline immediately demands to know how to get sayu out of this situation, partially because she's freaking out and partially because he's already pondering the possibilities and absolutely needs sayu not to know about any of this. she is already hysterical because hey, did this monster just say that her big brother killed someone?

ok here's where i got into a rabbithole digging through the rules for a loophole because i found a problem. (it's ok, i found one.)

we know a death note can pass from person to person because it happens in canon multiple times. we also know that losing the death note will erase your memory of the note (rule 22). where it gets interesting is that rule 47 provides that you will only lose your memories of the death note if you actually used it:

[...] You will not lose memory of the Death Note, for example, if you merely owned it and had not written anyone's name. [...]

you won't be able to see the shinigami anymore, but you'll still remember the notebook. not good enough for light - he needs sayu to forget completely or she'll be traumatised and he'll be compromised, especially because now she knows he used the notebook which makes her a liability. light now has two thoughts

he could ask sayu to kill one person using the notebook and then forfeit it so she doesn't remember the crime and can be free of the notebook forever, or

see if the shinigami can offer any other options.

1 is an interesting place for light's mind to go, but he goes with option 2 first because sayu looks like she's going to have a panic attack. luckily, there is another option, and we know ryuk is aware of it because of the events of the a-Kira story - this is lucky because even if a rule existed there's no guarantee that the shinigami know about it as ryuk demonstrates multiple times. (they also don't need to tell their human any of the rules at all - rule 4.) lmao. anyway im talking about rule 67:

Regarding the memories mentioned in Rule XLVII, the owner can have their memories of the Death Note erased if they so desire.

(well, it's more like 67.1, because there are three completely unrelated sub-rules in this rule. kind of justified because we know rule 67 was a last-minute amendment but seriously who fucking drafted these rules in the shinigami world i'd like a word)

under rule 67, sayu could forfeit the death note and willingly have her memories erased without needing to kill anyone. light asks sayu to do this and promises he won't kill anyone else with the book and that he'll burn it as soon as she's forfeited her memories.

sayu trusts light so much that she does not ask why he doesn't just burn it now. she forfeits the book and forgets the death note ever existed.

i think from that point everything else goes the same way it does in canon.

tl;dr, again - my projected course of events, preferencing the branches i personally find most likely:

sayu finds the death note

sayu tells light about it

sayu sublets the death note to light, remaining the note's official owner

light tests the death note without sayu's knowledge

ryuk shows up to sayu and informs her that light has used the death note

light joins the conversation and demands to know whether sayu can be rid of the notebook

ryuk informs them sayu can forfeit the notebook and will no longer see ryuk, then states anyone who's killed with the notebook would lose all memory of it once they had done so

light correctly infers that by default, your memory will remain unless you have killed with the notebook.

light realises he needs sayu to lose ALL her memories of the notebook, both for her mental health and because she knows he's killed someone with the notebook and is a liability

light briefly considers asking sayu to use the notebook once before forfeiting it

light dismisses this as an option

light asks ryuk if there are any other options

ryuk reluctantly informs light that yes he can erase sayu's memories of the notebook if she willingly chooses it

light convinces sayu to give up her memories and the notebook and promises he will destroy it

sayu trusts light and doesn't push him to destroy the book in front of her

sayu gives up the notebook and her memories

light becomes owner of the death note

story proceeds per canon

[boyfridged]

You may have already mentioned this in some of your other metas, and I just missed it, so please ignore this if it's redundant.

Do you think Bruce is projecting onto Jason by pushing him as a Robin? Obviously, Jason wanted to be Robin and was excited about it, and Bruce let Jason do other things, but (if I'm not mistaken) before Tim came into play, solidifying the whole Batman needs a Robin/support to keep him upright, Bruce and Dick becoming Batman and Robin, in the beginning, was also sort of a coping mechanism.

I think there are a few examples of Bruce enabling this kind of mindset. Like in Gotham Knights #43–44 (sorry), every time Barbara brings up Jason's inner turmoil, Bruce refocuses on his ability as a Robin; similarly, when Jason finds out about Two-Face and his dad, he is hurt, and Bruce acknowledges that but then does the same thing, zeroing in on reassuring Jason that he made a mistake but is still a good Robin.

Like, Jason got it from Bruce, but he unintentionally encouraged that kind of thinking.

oh, i definitely think that bruce is projecting on jason and that it profoundly affected jay. and, while every single one of your observations is apt, i would add that what truly made it so tragic is that he projected his own worst traits on jason while being blind to the fact that jay already shared his best qualities.

tldr: bruce projects himself on jason in terms of grief (saying that jason needs vigilantism to work his grief through) and sees his own worst traits in jason (anger) but doesn't see his own best traits in jay (compassion, love, and sensitivity). ironically, jason does end up developing all of the (projected) worst characteristics of bruce (obsessiveness, and relentlessness in pursuit of the respective perceived idea of justice). this happens even though they were barely present in his early storylines, and only ever manifested when jason was scared or lost. later, they truly came to be because of his trauma relating to vigilantism.

and the long, long version, coming with panels and quotes: under the cut.

first i want to say that the following analysis focuses very specifically on bruce's mistakes, but i don't view the overall of jay's upbringing by bruce solely in these terms. from text it is also clear that bruce deeply loves and cares about jay, and that jay enjoys being robin. now that this is clear, let's get to particularities, and start with jay's origin story.

i truly never stop thinking about the significance of bruce meeting jay in the crime alley, the place of his parents' death. there's a lot to be said about it, but here the focus is, of course, on the fact that he sees a little boy, very much similar to himself, angry and hurt, in the same scenery that brought him so much grief. and jay in some ways does appear to be a mirror of bruce's own agonies, as well as a mirror of his own inclination for seeking justice; and somehow, bruce fixates on the first one, while almost completely dismissing the latter.

bruce looks at him and assumes that the remedy to jason's pain and anger is being robin; and he doesn't stop to think about it. (it has to be noted that there's also classism at play, classism that is mostly a result of writers' own beliefs – collins did state in a couple of interviews that that the motivation behind jason's background was to make his introduction into vigilantism seem less offensive, as jason has already been exposed to crime...)

i think, in this context, it's interesting to look at the two-face storyline even closer, and from the start too. in the beginning, bruce talks of jason's 'street' roots and assumes jay would go "down the same criminal road that took his father [willis] to an early death." he also talks of jason making a lot of progress. later, in batman #411, after jason learns that willis has been killed by two-face, bruce comments that jay "has never been like this...listless...almost pouting--"

this all, along with jay's cheerful and diligent behaviour from the previous issue builds an interesting picture for us: because we essentially learn that jay has been overall an unproblematic child. bruce, of course, attributes this "progress" to the training. however, for anyone else, the logical conclusion would be that jay's quick adjustment was simply a matter of finding himself in a safe and stable environment and receiving continuous support and attention from a parental figure. i find it rather questionable that jason's personality softened down because he had something to punch in the cave–– the more intuitive explanation is of course that he was angry and quick to fight when they first met because he couldn't afford anything else and because he was scared. but months later, in a loving home, he can allow himself to drop his guard; and his cocky attitude disappears until much later.

so the rather unsettling picture that we derive is that bruce is training jay to become a vigilante in order to "channel" his (nonvisible at this point) anger into something useful and just. and he clearly links this to his own trauma in batman #416 (that’s already starlin btw), in his conversation with dick, explaining why he took jay in: “he’s so full of anger and frustration… he reminds me of myself, just after my parents were killed.” bruce also mentions that soon after their first meeting, jason helped him and "handled himself well" in the fight, but he doesn't mention that jay has ran away from a crime "school" and intended to stop injustice on his own only because he was ignored.

the theme of bruce comparing jay to himself appears again in detective comics #574 (barr), where it is approached with a much more... critical look, thanks to leslie's presence and her skepticism of bruce's actions. after jason has suffered nearly fatal injuries at the hand of the mad hatter, bruce reminisces on his own trauma and motives. he tells leslie: "i didn't choose jason for my work. he was chosen by it...as i was chosen." leslie replies: "stop that! (...) you do this for yourself... you're still that little boy (...)" then, the conversation steers to the familiar ground and the topic of anger. in bruce's words, again: “i wanted to give jason an outlet for his rage…wanted him to expunge his anger and get on with his life…” and finishes "and instead, i may have killed him."

the recognition that bruce's projection on jason and involving him with his work might have fatal consequences is, as always, fast forgotten once jay wakes up and proclaims that he wants to continue his work as robin.

but to circle back, i think there's something else worth our attention, something deeply ironic, that is showcased in that issue: that bruce has no evidence for jay's "rage." when leslie talks of bruce's past, she recalls his tendencies to get into brutal fights at perceived injustice as early as in school; when bruce talks of jason, two pictures that are juxtaposed, are that of jason fighting as robin and jason... smiling, playing baseball.

so, in the early days of jason's training and work in the field, we see bruce talking of jason's anger a lot; but we barely see it.

that being said, jay is angry sometimes– and i think your observation about how bruce deals with it is incredibly interesting and accurate.

we first see jay truly and devastatingly angry in the two-face storyline. bruce focuses on jay's reaction as robin, which is, in fact, aggressive. but something that he barely addresses is that jason's first reaction is sleeping all day, and not beating anyone to a pulp; in fact, this vengeful instinct seems to arise only when he is put right in front of two-face. and his third instinct, once the rage (very quickly) dies down after the altercation with two-face, is crying, because bruce hid the truth about willis' death from him. jay, while crying, asks bruce: "you have taken me out into combat-- but you spare me this?" in response, bruce lectures jason about how grief inspires revenge, which is, again, deeply ironic, given that jay seeking out revenge seemed to be prompted and enabled solely by the role of robin. moreover, his question suggests that at this point he saw grief ("you spare me this") and fighting as two different things.

the final is, as you said, bruce focusing on making it into a lesson on vigilantism, or, in his own words, "tempering revenge into justice." personally, i think in this way bruce directs jason to bring his grief into the field as a powering force, something that he didn't necessarily have an own incentive to do. the flash of compartmentalisation between his ordinary life and being a sidekick that jay has shown by questioning bruce's decision is lost. emotions are now a robin thing, and they have an (informal) protocol, a moral code. and when jay is confronted with an emotionally exhausting case next – the garzonas case, i believe that the focus on "tempering revenge into justice" is exactly the problem– we don't see jay crying, we see him frantic about finding the solution. this, right there, is bruce's obsessiveness, that in my opinion, was developed in jay specifically as a result of how his engagement with vigilantism combines with his deep sensitivity.

and, needless to say, his sensitivity is all the same as that of bruce – they both can't stand looking at other people hurting, they both wear their hearts on their sleeve, caring way too much – the thing is, bruce never quite acknowledges how they are similar in this matter. instead, he focuses on his sparse bursts of anger, wanting to bring jason closure in his grief the only way he knows it – in a fight for a better world. so, as you said, he focuses on jason's ability as robin.

which just doesn't work for jason. at all. we know it from how his robin run comes to an end: in the first issue of a death in the family (batman #426) alfred informs: “i’ve come upon him, several times, looking at that battered old photograph of his mother and father, crying.”  to that, bruce contends: “in other words, i may have started jason as robin before he had a chance to come to grips with his parents deaths.” he also tells jay that the field is not a place for someone who is hurting; a message that is the opposite of what he's been saying for years now, and something that i imagine was difficult for bruce to conceptualise, because then he would have to question his own unhealthy tendencies. it's a bit late to come to this realisation; bruce's self-projection that caused him to worry so much about jay's anger has already turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy that will fully manifest itself in utrh, when jason does the only thing he was taught to do with grief: try to channel it into justice.

[04tenno]

sorry to bother but I saw ya talk about kirin lore and Mine etc? Specifically about kirin and the full moon? Do you have any stuff I could look at about kirin myth that I could look at? (its cool if its a Japanese source I'll force myself to learn to read it) Or just any thoughts on kirin and Mine in general I've been going ham on stupid kirin-Mine AU lately and its relevant fhdkfd

I'm glad you asked! Unfortunately I'm not positive I saved any of my sources... anywhere, but the good news is I do remember most of my findings in detail and have been itching to post about them. So! I'm taking this opportunity to analyze Mine's tattoo top-to-bottom.

And I'm also approaching this as a sort of redemption arc, because a lot of interpretations of Mine's tattoo out there are based on what I wrote on the wiki. It's not that they're incorrect per se, but there is so much more to it than what the wiki currently goes into, and I'd like to share that with you all today.

I'll start off with some official statements, and because it comes up later, establish the original version of the tattoo Horitomo designed is actually this version with green fur (pictured below):

Like the word kirin-ji, this is a design that evokes the image of a genius. To be honest, the majority of depictions give kirins the face of a dragon, but with a composition like this where it's soaring upwards, you risk ending up with a tattoo that looks too much like Kiryu's. So I looked into some older material, and while it's not too common, I went with a type of kirin that more closely resembles a deer. — Horitomo

It wants to rise above, but chooses to put itself second and use its talent and intellect to support the "king"—the kirin suits Mine, doesn't it? So, with that general concept in mind, we went through several designs done in pencil, went back and forth on various aspects, until we settled on the direction we wanted to take. And after that, the detailed version of the design was produced. — Masayoshi Yokoyama

With Yokoyama's comment, it's clear what the core meaning of his tattoo was meant to be from the beginning. Because a Like a Dragon tattoo represents more than just a summation of who the character is as the audience knows them or their role in the narrative, but who they were before joining the yakuza, why they joined the yakuza, what the motivation was behind their choice of subject, how elements of the tattoo reflect on characters who share the same elements (and vice versa), and how the meaning the tattoo evolves over time in relation to the character's fate.

So my main... misgiving, let's say... with popular interpretations of Mine's tattoo is that they focus solely on Daigo without examining how it relates to anything else. Again, partly my fault, I'll cop to that, but this is an issue with a lot of analysis of Mine as a character... and it's a little frustrating, isn't it? It is for me. But enough complaining, it's showtime:

Some notes design-wise: the decision to portray Mine's kirin as deer-like rather than dragon-like specifically to distance him from Kiryu says a lot about their characters to me. Because Mine is, in a lot of ways, "the complete opposite, or antithesis, of Kiryu." (Yokoyama) But the kirin is ultimately in the "dragon" family of mythological creatures; as such, Mine, no matter how much he tries to set himself apart from Kiryu, will always parallel Kiryu. This is exactly what I was talking about with regard to how tattoos come to change in meaning over time; it's not insanely prophetic, it's something that makes complete sense in-universe, makes sense for Mine to get at the time he got it, but it also ends up representing his relationship with Kiryu so well. The fact the kirin is in the "dragon" family of mythological creatures, in combination with the original green coloring, is also notable. Because the dragon depicted in Daigo's tattoo is the same shade of green.

There are multiple "species" of kirin, denoted by the color of their fur, which corresponds to one of the five phases (五行, gogyō), originating from the concept of wuxing in Chinese philosophy. The word "kirin," strictly speaking, refers to kirin with yellow fur and corresponds to Earth, which is associated with stability, hard work, ambition, and stubbornness. Kirin with green fur are known as shoko (聳孤, shōko) and correspond to Wood, which is associated with luxuriant growth, vitality, strength, and co-operation. Speaking of the five phases, that also ties into the concept of the Four Gods, a motif explored with the protagonists of Yakuza 4: Kiryu is the Azure Dragon, Akiyama is the Vermillion Bird, Saejima is the Black Turtle, and Tanimura is the White Tiger, representing Wood, Fire, Water, and Metal respectively. The "Fifth God," representing Earth, is widely considered to be a kirin. This doesn't really relate to anything though, just food for thought for the Protagonist Mine enjoyers (me <3)

A great deal of the meaning behind Mine's tattoo is etymological in nature. The word "qilin" itself represents a duality: "qi" refers to a female kirin, "lin" refers to a male kirin, and "qilin" refers to the species as whole. The kirin is said to embody yin and yang. And I think this aspect works perfectly with who Mine is as a character often torn between two extremes. He, like the kirin, has the capacity for both benevolence and ferocity, and like the kirin, only becomes violent in retaliation to violence or out of a sense of protectiveness. Also, in a very literal sense, Mine has both Yin cards and Yang cards in Ryu Ga Gotoku Online, which very few characters do due to their contradictory nature. As Horitomo mentions, the design has basis in the word "kirin-ji" (麒麟児, child prodigy, lit. "kirin child"). A lot of people already know this (anyone who's read this post certainly does, at any rate), but fewer are familiar with the origin of the term. In Ancient China, there was a belief that the appearance of a kirin heralds the birth (and death) of a gifted son with a promising future, beliefs held around Confucius being a famous example. Of course, this relates to Daigo in terms of the association with leaders, but it also relates to Mine himself, who views his younger self as a sort of diamond-in-the-rough, a "gem shining brilliantly by the wayside." This reinforces that the tattoo is not just a meta representation of him, but directly relates to how he views himself. Additionally, the kanji that comprise "shoko" read as "soar" (聳, shō; as in, to rise above something) and "orphan" (孤, ko) respectively.

On that note, kirin are capable of flight, which can obviously be connected to his ambition ("rising above" his origins), his theme, and his method of suicide. They hover off of the ground so as to not trample blades of grass, and are often depicted as walking on clouds (which are, of course, depicted in Mine's tattoo). Some kirin even have wings!

Circling back to the note about violence to talk about the kirin's ability in battle: kirin are ferocious combatants and known to have a very strong hind kick; Mine mainly uses his legs to fight. I believe his "red heat state," where he's at his most aggressive, also represents the fire surrounding his kirin. Kirin may use flames to attack. Kirin are also thought to be the only creatures who can defeat a dragon, and I would argue Mine is the only final boss who even manages to come close to defeating Kiryu. I actually would even argue he did win, since he had more stamina left.

Just reiterating for the sake of being thorough, but as mentioned in the ask, kirin are thought to be at their most volatile and at their most powerful during a full moon. You only see it in one shot, but the finale of Yakuza 3 does in fact take place under a full moon. Mine is, of course, shown to be both of those things in the finale.

There's also some sort of association between kirin and thunder/lightning, at least in popular media. Mine and his tattoo are depicted surrounded by lightning in one of his cards, and the "Hakuho Clan Pin" item that came out at the same time has an ability called Roaring Thunder. I'm not sure why this is the case. Perhaps it's to do with the kirin's association with the sky, since thunder and lightning are celestial phenomena.

With that, I believe I've covered everything I wanted to touch on. Thank you for reading and for the opportunity, and I hope I've "redeemed myself" adequately!

[dancedance-resolution]

Pwp jingled your bells… what the FUCK-

OKAY SO WHAT HAPPENED WAS i was born a baltimore catholic and guess who else was born a baltimore catholic? jacksfilms. (i am not doxxing him, this is public information on his wikipedia and videos lol). and because all baltimore catholics know each other to some degree, i closely knew some of his close family members and as such watched his videos regularly for a hot minute. NOW. for years he's been making dumb little royalty free christmas songs every holiday season, and one of said royalty free christmas songs consists of just one repeated lyric: "jingle my bells, baby"

so camera cuts to me, a horny little freak obsessed with supercorp who has also been mentally workshopping how well christmas string lights could work as cuffs in a pinch (for unrelated reasons), and the second i hear this lyric one fateful day in december 2021 i'm like oh. this is so fucking kara danvers.

and thus this fic was born. the working title was/is "jingle your bells" and i fear that may be the finished title if i ever finish this work lol </3. it was initially intended to be a 2021 holiday gift to coffeeshiib [if you're reading this, hi, i hope you're doing well, friend :)] but alas, here we are.

beneath the cut is an excerpt of the outline (CONTAINS SPOILERS bc i'm afraid i may never finish it oops) (also yes oops x2 i've been working on this fic for 3 years and still only have an outline):

Lena 3rd person POV

SC are visiting Sam's house for the holidays - Dansen are there + Sam is dating Sloane from Happiest Season??

Everyone is a little tipsy and somehow Lena ends up tits out (menopause hot flash + fireplace + alcohol flush -> leads to shedding of clothing??)

Blah blah blah they're horny and Alex bullies Kara for being too touchy, they are relegated to the guest room.

Kara's fucking her but Lena's not keeping her hands to herself as instructed (??). Kara spots string of Christmas lights. Cuffs ensue.

[redacted outline but the gist is they bump uglies]

As she comes down from her orgasm, Kara kisses her way up Lena's abdomen and makes a bad pun -> "okay but I'm pretty good at this Christmas spirit thing for a Jew, eh? jingling your bells while you're all tied up like a pretty little presen-- Lena groans and end fic question mark?

[ojbrush]

I dont have motivation to draw but you know what i do have? Ranting about OJ headcanons!

Hi gang i lobe OJ inanimate insanity and here are some in depth headcanons i have and imade sure to research alot about certain things but if i get asnything wrong that is on me and i aspologise OKAY!!!! GIGGLE OJ has Dyscalculia, BPD, and is autistic :3 Dyscalculia is a math learning disability that impairs an individual's ability to learn number-related concepts, perform accurate math calculations, reason and problem solve and preform OTHER!! basic math skills!!! >_< this is just a silly headcanon that may just be projection because i miighhtt have this myself!?!?! but not too sure maybe i just suck at math. WITH AUTISM . this guy does not get social cues, does NOT enjoy change. it makes him anxious, as shown a few times iirc. He gets obsessed with stuff and really never truly stops. Probably one reason why he works so much is because he gets so obsessed with working with stuff that he just doesnt stopo !!! He's also insanely impulsive. although he is a little mature he mainly doesnt think before he speaks, plus he gets very angry over the littlest of things which brings inn!!! BPD!!!! THIS GUY.. as shown in the show multiple times, he has terrible abandonment issues and tries so hard to make sure NOBODY leaves him again. the thought absolutely terrifies him. Despite getting so insanely angry over things (a recent example is when he and paintbrush fought in season 3 episode 4) and having awful and shaky relationships with others.. which causes people to leave him / abandon him. He also has impulsive and risky behaviours (which also ties into his autism traits) such as ALSO ruining okay relationships because of sometjing he thought of someone, thinking they are bad and will hurt him.

(Plus, even better, the hotel OJ canonically has had a casino OJ created!! which could also tie into the impulsive and risky behaviors with gambling!!) what ties with the fact he has intense anger, is also shown with the amount of times hes actually HAD a fight with someone in the show. let it be Bomb, Paintbrush, Paper. Sometimes it can get quite physical!!!

Which also brings us with Taco, since shes a whole thing with this guy. Despite him not being directly effected by her, She still tried to steal HIS prize!! He didnt like that. He got angry with that. he didnt truly show it, but we can tell he did. since everytime Taco is mentioned within his vicinity he gets pretty angry. This could tie with this symptom of bpd since he did, slightly like Taco before it all. Although thinking she was a little stupid, and useless. But this believing Taco is cruel, or doesnt care at all, has lasted over 12 years. So its more of a longtime thing. Which is also something with bpd, having a long time, long lasting hatred, angry, or just a strong emotion about something or someone. or nothing at all!!

Oh and by the way, this guy has a HORRIBLE time keeping good relationships, they usually end because of something he thought of someone. Such as Bombs "betrayal" in season 1, and he thought Bomb was horrible and hated him for a time. Or trying to dump Paper because of how he thought he was going to leave him. OJ has abandonment issues, and with this, gets angry at others for trying to leave him and abandon him, when they really aren't. Or he believes they are cruel and they do not give a shit about him or anyone's well being and tries to just. not associate with them, but he does eventually get them back. Well, sometimes atleast!!! also, to add onto Autistic traits HE GETS ANXIOUS AND UNEASY AROUND FIGHTS WITH OTHER PEOPLE / YELLING / LOUD NOISES !! as seen with the scene where EVERYONE is fighting in episode 1 season 3!!!

And although it could be because hes glass and easily broken, he gets scared when someone raised their voice at him, and looks as if they are going to attack him. But he also gets angry, and starts to fight back. maybe as a defense mechanism but whoo knows! (Note; this one may just be a headcanon, nothing in the show really suggests this but it is also pretty likely he WOULD do this!! he does have a history of snapping back at others and arguing with them if he feels threatened) also i would like to mention his constant state of worry about not being able to work. When he went to season 3 because he was invited, it is implied he rarely ever takes vacations / breaks from working. he says "I'm not too sure im on board with this vacay...--vacayggayu. AUGHj." (he doesnt even know how to say the word!) this could tie into obsessive behaviours?!?!? and if we think about it, it causes him excessive stress and worry. Anxiety about leaving the hotel to a different caretaker while hes on his break. Which he BARELY ever takes, mind you. Autism, and bpd symptoms in themself. He also has a lack of fear, but when something becomes too overwhelming he may overreact and have more fear than usual / expected of him. So yeah!!! little OJ thing, this is just because im insane about this guy. uhhh somethings may be inaccurate but hey, im just having fun and making reallyyy in-depth headcanons about a fictional juice, so. Happy days!

[iamanartichoke]

There’s not enough discourse in the paranormal fandom about those of us who are such space cases that we could walk into the kitchen and find all the chairs stacked on top of the table in a manner that defies physics and either a) not notice, or b) notice and think, huh, I don’t remember doing that - maybe it was the cat?

[m1d-45]

-Pari Anon

What if Zhongli ended up finding Creator! Pari! Reader?

They were hovering close to where Xiao was fighting when Zhongli ran into them. He, sensing they were some sort of threat, took them with him.

When they don’t return to Xiao after his fight, he gets worried and starts looking for them. They’re typically nearby, out of danger.

Did they get eaten? Are they okay? Poor Xiao is panicking, calling for his little friend.

He finds them with Zhongli. Locked in a cage made of Geo.

Do you think he can convince Zhongli that his little friend isn’t a threat?

(please note that i know nothing about pari lore or behavior-)

i imagine xiao is rather picky about you accompanying him on patrols, always making sure you’re far away from the battle. you’re not to be where monsters can see, where you can get hurt, always at or near where he leaves you.

and you, to your credit, follow this rule fairly well! you watch from afar, typically either playing with butterflies or looking at the flowers around where he left you. you know how he worries, and have been fretted over by him many times, and you’re not keen on stressing him out further.

zhongli had been sensing disturbances in liyue, how the earth is rearranging, leylines shifting and ebbing, as if a restless child finally being out to rest. however, a change in the leylines is never anything safe, not when they’d been utilized by the abyss before. he’d trusted the adepti with it at first, knowing xiao would never allow such a danger to roam liyue unchecked, but it had been too long. he excused himself from the funeral parlor, approaching the area of disturbance himself.

it was… mundane. or, more accurately, par for the course. he heard the sounds of battle, the burning smell of ozone signaling the use of xiao’s vision, but there was no leyline blossom he could see or sense. the hilichurls weren’t stained with curse nor karma, and he decided to ask xiao after he was done. he was confident in his abilities to fight off the enemies, and he might as well get a head start on the search.

nothing. a few chitters from a bird or perhaps squirrel, but nothing disturbed. no marks to the earth, no upturned stones or deep pits, no abnormal elemental flow. and yet, he was certain this was where the cause of the disruptance was from…

he crossed his arms, frowning at his surroundings. it wasn’t xiao, it wasn’t the monsters.. perhaps some infected wildlife?

the birds chirped again. this time, he followed.

a few birds had gathered beneath a tree, surrounding a… pari? he wasn’t aware they even lived in liyue, let alone..

the pari seemed to be playing with the birds. batting a small stone between it and the birds. zhongli approached, uncaring of how the birds flapped away, focused on the twist of the pari looking up at him.

he crouched. “and what are you doing here, hm?”

the park backed away from his hand when he slowly reached out, and his eyes caught on how the grass in front of them seemed to grow quicker, weaving into a sort of shield.

everything clicked at once.

“so you’re the one doing this.”

his hand shot out, folding in the pari’s wings, grip tight. it squirmed and chirped, as if crying for help, but he paid it no mind. his free hand waved, a cage of geo sprouting from the ground, and he locked it inside with little hesitation. he’d have to alert xiao, so he knew why the leylines were acting up-

“rex lapis? what are you doing?”

that was convenient.

zhongli grabbed the top of the cage, turning as he stood. xiao still had his polearm in hand, eyes wide. he seemed frantic… perhaps he did know that this pari was the source of elemental dissonance?

“ah, xiao. i was simply collecting this strange pari-“ he waved at the cage, and the pari flapped its wings almost angrily “-as i believe it is the cause for the disruption of liyue’s balance. i assure you that i am more than equipped to handle this myself.”

“no, that’s not- that-..” xiao seemed to be lost for words, face twisting the longer he looked at the pari. “they’re not a threat.”

he was ready to protest, when he noticed the way the pari was acting. pressed against the side of the cage not to flee, but that was closest to xiao? how odd, he didn’t know that pari were that social-…

“have you been cursed, xiao?”

[noel-levine-fan]

beach

ft. my headcanon that noel really likes seashells + gay panic

[unicornsaures]

talk. about whatever’s on your mind. aaaanything and everything just in case u needed an invitation to yap today 😻😻

taking this as a excuse to have a yap session about my nonhuman aus because there are SO. many things that are included for very specific reasons(mainly elf laurens cause its my main nonhuman au, but the divinity AU isnt exempt from secret meanings either >:3c) but i just never elaborate on any deeper meanings because technically theyre supposed to be up for interpretation but screw that things are included for very. very specific reasons

OKAY STARTING WITH ELF LAURENS !! Im starting off with his design itself because while its not necessarily a secret, his markings are extremely important to the story because obviously its a massive focus with the whole insecurity thing and attempting to scratch them off so!! In his early design it isnt included, but theres two things i added to either foreshadow things or that make more sense because certain things previously didnt have reasoning. For starters, his voice! I make it *very* clear that Laurens absolutely hates his voice - yknow, with that high pitched nonhuman growl? Theres a reason for that! In my AU, elves arent supposed to have markings on their throat; it fucks with their vocal chords. Yknow who does have a marking on their throat? Thats right, John does! So not only does he have 'two' voices, he also has a big reminder of that just straight in the middle of his throat - so rven if he didnt talk people would know why. Then theres the dots on his head. Thats foreshadowing. Cant tell you what its foreshadowing, but take that information how you will.

Also would like to elaborate on his relationship with Kinloch in the fic because no, Kinloch is not evil or bad or abusive. I try and make it clear that their relationship isnt necessarily healthy, but thats also not Kinloch's fault either way. Its Johns own inability to stabilize his emotions surrounding someone he cares about(ex. begging him to run away with him - when rejected, he runs away himself.) This is a massive mischaracterization of Laurens on my part but like I said in the fic itself, its just me projecting for 4k words. Oh, and he gets that scar on his lip when he's 20 in what i call a 'drinking accident.' Dont ask me to elaborate on that either, John is just a reckless drunk.

Obviously theres the whole art thing, but i think its pretty self explanatory on why hes drawing. I think i stated explicitly it was a coping device but if not i think thats obvious but i never elaborated on his medium of choice; graphite :3!! Its messy. Thats it. He uses the powdered graphite, which i think he would find it was a representation of process rather than product. The point of using graphite is the limited choice of color that only leaves an artist with shades. It also just goes with the theme of his art because idk, hes out here drawing the idea and/or image of death itself in a way its gorey but also gorgeous, so take that as you will.

Also I have had many yap sessions on why exactly John draws the gorey and grotesque but ill save you on insane details and simplify it down to; after his mothers death, he was naturally drawn to the beauty found within something so vile and horrifying.

Okay ive talked all too long aboute the elf laurens thing, so now the divinity AU! There isnt much meaning inside of this other than the very very clear toxic relationship between Alex and John; but its toxic for a reason. As dysfunctional as they may be, they are better of together than apart. Like mentioned in the fic itself, Alex was cruel to his devotees and followers before John came along. I wont go into specifics or anything, he was just cruel. John, on the other hand, was also cruel. Thats why hes a fallen angel, obviously. He fell due to others actions but the reason he followed this other person in the first place is because they were holding something he did over his head, threatening to tell higher deity's and whatnot. But instead, John is a fucking idiot and ended up doing what this person wanted which ultimately ended up in him falling and losing everything. Obviously, this leaves someone scarred because ill just say it, in this AU at least, falling from wherever they may be is not a painless experience.

In turn, he hasn't physically fallen anywhere, but there are physical signs and overall, you can tell by how they act. So, upon finding Alexander - a god, basically - the only other purpose he has in life is to peldge devotion to someone. Hes basically shunned from other angels, and so finding a deity to pledge devotion to is the only thing he can do. Their relationship is not at all healthy. Ive described it as a worshiped/worshiper dynamic because thats what it is. No matter if Alex views John as an equal, Laurens will always view alex as a higher being than he is and in short its a massive power imbalance with how willing John is to bend over backwards for him(ex. ripping off his wings ! Never happens, alex wont physically let him, but like i said, John is willing.) The only reason I say that they should stay together is that other deity's wouldnt stop him from doing this kind of thing. 'Offering your wings to prove your devotion? Yeah, hand em over.' is basically what would happen and it would be 10x more of a corrupted relationship than john and alex have. Alex keeps him in line basically, and John worships him like..well, like the god he is i guess.

Again, this AU is me majorly projecting so take it as you will. But Alex is also completely unaware to why John is a fallen angel anyway. Even being a god, he cant just see peoples sins. He only knows when someone has sinned.

"A shame Alexander may not know his transgressions, he’s sure he couldn't have done much wrong with how much of a pleasure he’s been."

Pulling out the quotes for this story because i personally think its just easier to explain things if its been read.

AND THE BIGGEST THING!!

John nods absentmindedly, leaning into the heat of his palms that make his face contort in a painful type of love.

Its mentioned a few times, but being touched by Alex at all brings physical pain. Mostly because he's not supposed to be touched by a higher being while being a fallen angel, but it also has something to do with the fact he 'swore on his ability to love to prove his devotion.' In short, John didnt think he had the ability to love, much less deserve it. So, being touched by one he fell for brings him physical pain because he shouldnt be supposed to! The love he spoke of when he exempted Alex from this was love a devotee has for their god, not love like as romantic love. Obviously, in a way, he broke his own promise. This is also why the pain goes away after alexander admits he loves him because at that point, 'his god' basically just excused the fact he broke his pledge by announcing any feelings he may have are returned. So yeah! Thats fun.

Anyway, that was my yap session. I talked for way too long uhm..oops! Im not normal about nonhumans :(

[boilbluedenim]

Mac and Dennis's relationship after season 12 is so insanely subtextually homosexual. more so dennis repressing his homosexuality because, once again, dennis is scared of monogamous relationships. he literally got divorced like a day after he got married and the reason he's so uncomfortable now that mac is out is because he's been with him for SO LONG and he's confused as to why he's been with him for so long. He realizes that mac being out infringes on their sort of ‘weird’ friendship. Dennis knows that when hes with mac he's himself, and that makes him uncomfortable because he cant justify it normally. A lot of people say "well dennis hates mac" and i genuinely understand why people think that but also their minds are too feeble to grasp the concept of subtext. dennis knowing that mac is sexually attracted to men and just HIM IN GENERAL and still not exploiting him is so telling for example in season 14 ‘the gang chokes’ 14/4. The whole episode is centered around frank choking in a restaurant. the subplot(s) of TGchokes is number 1 dennis and mac being extremely one sided (mac asking dennis for approval constantly and dennis being uncomfortable with being heavily depended on.) and dee just basically almost killing herself multiple times. The episode sort of leaves you with this conclusion that's.... not exactly resolving the underlying issues that the gang is currently facing, which tbh is common but basically at the end mac comes up with this plan to save frank from dying to win dennis back. dee ends up drinking a lethal powder and at the end there's a back and forth between mac and dennis where mac says something along the lines of "Ok i'm going to listen to myself now and not depend on you, Dennis." and Dennis is like "what!!!l! please save dee with the EpiPen" and mac refuses. The ending with Mac agreeing to stop being such a suck up to Dennis isn't resolving anything in their relationship. 

If anything the symbolism in TGescapes is insane.  they are left with a heart lock and charlie and frank have the heart key setting up this funny split up dumb-and-dumber group dynamic and maybe i'm reading too far into this but this whole episode shows how mac is sort of over sucking up to dennis but at the same time praises him calling him the "obvious choice for a group leader" AND KEEP IN MIND. mac has always praised and depended on dennis it's only after season 13 that dennis is outwardly uncomfortable and i really need them to have a talk about him being scared that mac is only with him for sex because it's SO CLEAR that that's how he feels. He feels idolized for a bad reason because his lifelong friend finally came out, and now he's scared that he's winning him back only to sleep with him and then leave him. Dennis is so vain but he actually just wants to be loved. Dennis cares SO MUCH, he literally just cant show it.

[innocence-wont-save-you]

Scene 12

There's a low hum of activity in the settlement (it should be called as such, really) when you come to again. You see conversations happening with slow, calm signing and hear the low burble of scavengers chattering at each other. A few glance your way as you get to your feet, hefting your lance up, but then go back to ignoring you and resume their business. It's more than a bit odd to have their trust, but you're grateful for it. You'd rather not overstay your welcome though.

Prior to that... you glance around the settlement, trying to spot any semblance of a medic's area. You don't see any, but you do notice a scavenger scampering past with a bundle of leaves tucked firmly under its arm, clearly on a direct path to something. Carefully picking your way through the scavengers around you, you follow it to its destination.

You're led to a small nest on the edge of the settlement, one that's currently occupied by a heavily bandaged scavenger. It glances up at you wearily as you approach, but doesn't move away as you crouch down next to it, being careful to stay out of the way of the other scavenger as it busies itself with changing the dressings. You're glad to see that the injured scavenger from the previous cycle survived the lizard's attack, though you wince as the medic scavenger peels back the old bandages, revealing the deep, jagged gash underneath. It'll heal, but... not easily. But there's not much you can do but hope for a better outcome.

The injured scavenger blinks at you a few times, then gains a hint of recognition to its gaze. It lifts a dark grey arm and points at you with a drowsy chatter, an action that draws a few quick, sharp signs from the other scavenger. It lowers its arm, huffing, but scratches at the ground listlessly. You creep a little closer, and it scrabbles for you, patting the ground aggressively for any part of you that it can reach, then grabbing onto your wrist as its hand lands on yours. The action draws a sharp bark out of the medic scavenger, and the dark grey scavenger stills, opting to stare at you instead.

You meet its gaze uncertainly. You don't know enough of their language to inquire about its condition. It seems to have a general understanding of why you're here, though, and it clenches its hand around yours as the medic scavenger ties fresh bandages—the leaves you saw earlier, you note—around its wound. Not once does it stop staring at you.

With a few more firm signs directed at the dark grey scavenger, the medic scavenger scampers away, leaving the two of you alone. The dark grey scavenger—it has a reddish tint to its fur, actually. Some sort of erythrism?—lets go of your hand and starts signing at you. Or rather, repeating a sign over and over again. "Thank you," you can only guess it's saying, but it repeats the word. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

You can't respond. You don't have the vocabulary for it, nor do you know what you actually want to say regardless. But you gently grasp the scavenger's hands and lower them, in a silent plea to get it to stop moving and aggravating its wounds. It blinks at you questioningly, and all you can muster is a gentle squeeze of its hands.

You decide to try saying something anyways, with what little you know. "No... thank you," you say clumsily. "Yes friend." You gesture at its wounds. "Dangerous?"

It blinks a few times, evidently processing your response to it. "Yes," it eventually responds. Then it signs a few more words, ones you can't decipher. Could be... "But don't worry"? "It is fine?" Or maybe it's not even a positive sentence. You really don't know.

With a quiet puff of air, it grabs your hand again, carefully stroking at the sleeves of your cloak. Some attempt at... grooming you, you presume? You don't attempt to stop it, and it brushes at you for a few moments before pulling back and simply saying again, "Thank you."

You should really get going now. You carefully extract yourself from conversation with the dark grey scavenger, and head towards the exit of the settlement. To your surprise, there's a party of scavengers waiting there for you; the scavenger kit is perched on its parent's back, and it waves at you as you approach. The brown scavenger from last cycle is here as well, and it chirps in greeting as you approach.

They seem to be here to... escort you out? As far as you can tell anyways. The leader scavenger has its gaze fixed on you, its eyes betraying neither fondness nor distrust. Its child is far more eager to have you here, though.