#the next chapter will be the denouement

[mittensmorgul]

🥹

[andromeda3116]

ugh, having to entirely rewrite chapter fifteen from scratch has turned into a brick wall. like, i know what i need to make happen, but it needs to be engaging and interesting and i need to thread a certain needle of thematic consistency and foreshadowing without being heavyhanded or accidentally veering into unfortunate implications, and it's... messy.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 8 Matsuribayashi pt. 79

I am somewhat beside myself in amazement that of all of the discussions I’ve read regarding chapter eight some of the most civilized I’ve seen is on the Steam forums. I’m too used to going onto the forums for other games and just coming away sad and depressed, so the level of decency on display is truly shocking to me. Perhaps the visual novel community is somehow a kinder audience than the seemingly vile and cutthroat audiences of other genre of video game. Seriously, you want to see some revolting discourse, go look at the forums for basically any popular-ish game that’s come out recently. I doubt it’s calmed down to any significant degree, but I remember the board for Bravely Default 2 being personally distasteful.

Odd translation flub there, the random switching of Miyoko Tanashi to Tanashi Miyoko.

Spoilers for Umineko. Skip the next five paragraphs if you haven’t read Umineko and want to remain as unspoiled as possible. The spoilers stop at the Million Dollar Smile of Takano.

Umineko introduces the character of Beatrice the Golden Witch, she is established to be a horrific monster and is ultimately the person who is behind the murders that take place on Rokkenjima Island. Her motives for why she kills the Ushiromiya family does eventually get explained towards the end of the series, but for the vast majority of it it’s left a mystery why she is torturing the protagonist Battler Ushiromiya with her mysterious killings of his family as well as the others who work for the Ushiromiyas. There is also the mystery of whether Beatrice is in fact a witch, whether magic is real, or if Beatrice is actually just a real human who killed everyone on Rokkenjima.

Whether or not you personally believe the murders that take place in Umineko are real, or if magic was the cause of their deaths is irrelevant. What matters is that Beatrice for the first few entries in the series is portrayed as a horrific monster of a woman who kills with unrepentant glee. She even is responsible for the death of a roughly nine year old girl who believes Beatrice is her true friend. Beatrice is also without a doubt one of the most compellingly written characters I’ve seen in a long, long time. Unfortunately this doesn’t last, as eventually it turns out that Beatrice is the pawn of another character, and consequently becomes less interesting as her villainy gets toned down significantly. The series does introduce villainous characters to pick up the slack since Beatrice goes from being an active participant in the series to being sidelined for the majority of two chapters. The characters who become the main antagonists of the franchise starting from chapter five: Frederica Bernkastel, and her detective Erika Furudo are also some of the most compellingly written characters from then on. Erika in particular being an extremely memorable and intriguing character because of how irredeemably awful of a person she truly is. Bernkastel as well stands out because she has a much more cynical evil personality that she imbues a lot of her scenes with.

Beatrice does come back to being an interesting character. She regains some of her spark that made her so memorable in the early chapters of Umineko, but unfortunately she kind of just plays second fiddle to Battler. When the truth about the motive behind the murders comes to light I’d be lying if I said I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the denouement of why this all transpire the way it does. But unfortunately the majority of this revelation doesn’t get to go to Beatrice, this information is told to us second hand by Bernkastel. The information is told to two characters of extremely differing levels of relevance to the overall plot of the series: Ange Ushiromiya, and Lion Ushiromiya. Ange was the POV character for chapter four of the Question Arcs who “died” at the end of that chapter, and Lion is a character who never existed prior to their sudden existence in chapter seven. Lion’s status as a character who actually exists in the context of Umineko is something up for debate, Lion exists to act as a universal “what if” for Beatrice.

But despite becoming a less villainous character Beatrice is able to regain some of her interesting personality because of the fact that the truth behind her character gets fleshed out in ways that are pretty interesting. Is her homicidal rampage justified? Is she just lashing out against the Ushiromiya family because of a sense of wounded pride? Despite being a lesser character by losing her delightfully theatrical over-the-top villainy she regains some of her compelling nature by simply being a well-written interesting character.

Miyo Takano meanwhile was interesting from the start with her casual interest in the sacrificial rituals of Watanagashi, and was further cemented as interesting with her knowledge about the implements and methods of the rituals. She wasn’t at the forefront of attention, but became a more charismatic and intriguing character when she talked to Rena about her symptoms of Hinamizawa Syndrome as well as her interactions with Oyashiro. Takano was a deeply fascinating, mysterious character, so when her reveal as the culprit behind the repeated deaths of Rika Furude came to light in Minagoroshi my deepening admiration for the character rose further still. After all she had successfully duped and manipulated all of the cast and was able to pull off the successful murder of thousands of people with no one able to stop her. Not even the otherworldly power of Hanyuu was able to stop her.

So we come around to Matsuribayashi where we learn the tragic past of Miyo Takano. Her life in the abusive clutches of the orphanage, her rescue at the hands of Hifumi Takano, and above all else her drive and determination to make those in charge respect Hifumi’s research into Hinamizawa Syndrome. It contextualized her knowledge of the rituals of Watanagashi and her thoughts about godhood as established in Minagoroshi. It shows the lengths she’s willing to go to to achieve her goals of her research, she chastises Irie who had gone to similar lengths in the past for being unwilling to do it again for seemingly no reason. It strengthened her character, that despite the horrors of her childhood she was still willing to go to these depths to accomplish her goals.

Until she hit the roadblock in some government officials wanting to shut her down. Whereupon all of her interesting characterization just seemed to die. There was a small flicker of it when Nomura manipulated her into pursuing the emergency manual, she seemed extremely willing to follow her new manipulator’s path. It filled me with hope that she might retain some level of the intriguing character who stole the show with her performance in Minagoroshi. Until the next time she showed up, and she was right back to being a dour misery-guts who seemed more or less resigned to her fate.

Suddenly she now needs the emotional backing of Tomitake to make her feel like she’s not a complete failure. Without him she’s filled with self-doubt and seems quite unwilling to do what she wants to achieve her goals. The ten year old child version of Miyo Takano yelled at GOD to change her fate, but now here in the future she is hesitant to kill Tomitake and the villagers of Hinamizawa.

It is entirely possible that she was filled with similar doubts during the finale of Minagoroshi, that she was similarly doubting herself and her commitment to the cause as she gutted Rika and caused the disaster. But it doesn’t show these doubts or insecurities, in fact she seems quite delighted by her actions, that she accomplished her goals. You could say that of course her resolve has weakened from when she was a child until now, and that’s fair enough. However there is also the part just prior to the Connecting Fragments where Takano sees Hanyuu and makes her grand declaration to defeat her and god which happened roughly a year before Himatsubushi.

Maybe it is just her having contracted Hinamizawa Syndrome that’s causing her to act this way? Perhaps, but I’d argue that is equally bad writing and doesn’t excuse Takano’s degradation as a character. It has been proven that characters in the throes of their terminal stages of the syndrome can be written pretty decently, the entirety of Meakashi proves that, a good portion of Tsumihoroboshi proves that. So I don’t accept the idea that Takano contracted Hinamizawa Syndrome as a justification for the rapid derailment and utter assassination of her character.

Despite Okonogi’s obsession with his new best friend Akasaka I don’t believe the two ever meet again. Tragically this is an unrequited love. I’m kind of amused by the fact that you have the armed squads of the Mountain Dogs who are planning to kill the gaming club with tasers. Then you have the Tomitake rescue squad who are going in completely loaded up and geared for war. This lack of desire to use guns because of the noise they make is particularly funny given forthcoming events.

Now I might be misremembering, but I’m pretty sure this is the first time they’ve ever hinted at the idea of there being multiple mountains in the Hinamizawa region. I guess it makes sense that there’s more than the one given the climax of Tatarigoroshi took place on a suspension bridge near the Furude shrine. Also, man, what are the chances that this elite trained military strike force could be outmaneuvered by a group of teens and preteens?

I just have to say, it sure is extremely lucky that no one in the entirety of Hinamizawa at any point ran afoul of Satoko’s traps. You’d figure that someone from the alleged two thousand villagers would’ve have accidentally tripped one at least once. Some young couple sneaking off to the mountain trail for some outdoors fun. A farmer tending his vast empty field that will become a pseudo-killing floor for the Mountain Dogs. Literally anybody. But then again there doesn’t seem to be anybody else that exists in the village unless the plot demands it. I do try to not be one of those harrumphing killjoys about things “not happening realistically” when it comes to plot stuff, but I just think it’s kind of funny how you got Satoko who evidently made the entire mountain area one giant trapped zone. Yet somehow no one triggered any of them ever. Maybe that’s why the people of Hinamizawa kept their grudge against Satoko going for so long? Some of them did actually set off traps and so on and they knew that bastard child was the one who did it.

It’s more rational than I hate that child because some old crone had an axe to grind against her stepfather.

[mikkeneko]

Things come to a head, and battles are fought. Shang Qinghua prepares a diabolus ex machina. Shen Qingqiu watches (or doesn't) most of this from the sidelines. Mu Qingfang would like for everybody to please stop trying to kidnap his patient.

---

You may notice that despite my prior claims, The Chapter Count Has Increased, and I didn't get as much of the denouement done in this one chapter as I expected. I was initially going to have this and the immediate aftermath conversation together in one chapter, but it got too long and was tonally inconsistent, so. Next chapter (which is mostly done and should be out next week) will be immediate aftermath; from there, I'll see how much more of the aftermath I feel like playing out. I feel like my audience won't mind too much if I decide to take my time and, y'know, explore more of this.

[melancholy-of-nadia]

[lul11 TEASER] the DENOUEMENT of the story is COMING RELEASE DATE: JUNE 26TH, 2024 @ 3PM PST

fair warning: this chapter is at least 90% nsfw besides the beginning of the chapter. and this teaser is nsfw as well. please do not interact if you are a minor (idk why a minor would have been reading up to this point by now lmao)

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a/n: hehehehe so ???? any thoughts??? well this is (technically) the final chapter that will wrap up the whole conflict of the story, chapter 12 [shift (outro)] is the epilogue and will detail what happens in the next 3-6 months after they all start their relationship. just want to point that out as the ending of this chapter... feels like THE ending.

✨ let me know ur thoughts! how are you feeling?! ✉️

[avidbeader]

I was allowed the chance to read a friend's ARC of her debut novel and finished it today. Here's my review and I heartily recommend it for those who like BL and/or pining idiots:

Cross the Line by Lucky Hart My rating: 5 of 5 stars (ARC Review) My favorite things to read tend to run to mystery, action, and suspense, whether in a modern, historical, or fantasy setting. Romance for the sake of romance is not my first choice in picking up a book. But the things my favorite fiction has across genres tend to come down to interesting and compelling characters. "Crossing the Line" has these characters in spades. They leap off the page, vibrant and alive, with a richness of details in their appearances and personalities that will have one nodding, yes, I feel like that or yes, I know someone like that. Having these characters paired with dialogue that flows naturally from one character to the other means that scenes are engaging and keep you in the story. There were plenty of times in the past week where I stayed up past my recommended bedtime to finish just one or two more chapters, or was thinking about where the story might go when I couldn't be reading. Theo and Alec, the main characters, are nicely rounded. They both have things they excel at. They have core personalities that don't waver much as the plot progresses. They have challenges and traumas, but these things neither define the characters nor act as maguffins, only appearing in order to move the plot or cause a conflict. And they are surrounded by other interesting characters in Alec's brothers and friends that enhance the story rather than distract. One of my two wants for this book is to have more women appear on the page rather than just talked about. I can see the attraction of writing the Kings as a boisterous family with four sons and they are all fun characters, but we only get a few glimpses of Mom and mentions of a beloved but deceased grandmother. Yes, Alec being on an NCAA soccer team means being surrounded by other guys, but to not have even one girl among the student population that became a friend feels unlikely. I hope future installments of the series will include a few women with the same kind of loving depth that is shown for the characters here. The plot hinges on feelings, attraction and desire crashing up against friendship and loyalty, and it's delightfully messy just like real life can be. The circumstances in which Alec and Theo keep meeting and then avoiding include decisions, both good and bad, coming from their personality traits and outside circumstances like horrible timing or being in the wrong place. It produces a good balance of emotional exploration with the occasional sitcom-level comedy bit that had me groaning of course that happened. As things move into dangerous waters for our heroes, they take responsibility for one another because they care about each other that much. Even if neither of them has quite figured it out yet, because they are complete pining idiots. My second want for this book, because the characters are so lively, was to have a little more in the denouement department. To read the conversations between a few different characters and the process of some decisions made instead of having them summarized in the epilogue. But that's a testament to how much the characters and story drew me in that I wanted more of them. I finished this book feeling satisfied and entertained. I will read it again. I want to read the next book in the author's planned series. I would recommend it to anyone who likes modern-day romances where you want to reach into the screen and knock the love interests' heads together so they figure it all out or stop keeping their feelings secret. If you're uncertain about smut, there's only three sequences where it's featured and even then the characters are mostly busy talking or feeling things. Take a chance on this one and see if it crosses the line into one of your favorites.

[samwinchesterslostshoe]

Masterlist

Some things about me: I love to paint, sew and knit! I have a deep love for history, architecture and anything 40’s 50’s related!

This blog it my little getaway from the real world. I love sharing my stuff on here with people that love these characters with the same love and enthusiasm as I do, and interacting with so many people and other amazing artists💜

In the little free time I have left from doing actual homework and working, I like to draw characters from movies and shows that I love.

These include:

Band of brothers

Supernatural

Uncharted

The boys

The last of us

And many more!

I am always open for requests, DM’s and messages!

X

Band of Brothers fanfic:

Denouement: David Webster x OC

Denouement chapter 1

Denouement chapter 2

Denouement chapter 3

Marie drawing

Band of brothers icons:

Alton more

Ronald Spiers

Chuck Grant

Eugene Roe

David Webster

Band of brothers moodboards:

Easy Ranch - Pat Christenson

Easy Ranch - Bill Guarnere

Skinny Sisk and Shifty Powers - Taylor Swift

Ronald Spiers x Nurse

Soft Spiers

Eugene Roe

Band of brothers fan art:

George Luz sketch

Lewis Nixon sketch

Liebgott sketch

Lewis Nixon x J.C Leyendecker

Ronald Spiers

Liebgott and Webster

Webster pencil drawing

Malarkey pencil drawing

Stupid pigeon meme (aka Spiedgon)

The Pacific

Eugene Sledge doodle

Eugene Sledge drawing

Masters of the air

Harry Crosby drawing

1917

Blake and Schofield drawing

Detroit: Become Human

Connor

Marcus

Uncharted

Chloe and Nadine

Young Nate and Sam

Stinky Sam

Nathan

My taglist: @ronsenthal @whollyjoly @next-autopsy @luckynumber4 @barbeygirl @dustyjumpwingz @xxluckystrike @heystovepipeboys @sweetxvanixlla @kafka-ohdear @footprintsinthesxnd @panzershrike-pretz @iceman-kazansky @bucky32557038ww2

[youandthemountains]

don't know the etiquette for this bc I've seen that some people don't like making posts about fic that's not yours but. I just have to rec this:

it's a McCoy-centric technically gen fic, but such a fantastic rendition of Spock/McCoy's relationship

It follows both the Enterprise and a disappeared!McCoy, the former going through a diplomatic quandry, the latter a bioengineering mystery, both filled with moral quandaries. It's so good at keeping everyone in character while demonstrating what can be missed about them, walks their balances so well.

and like Spock/McCoy - the Enterprise believes McCoy is dead and Spock constantly has his voice in his head. McCoy believes he'll never see them again and constantly has Spock in his head. And for both it's to help navigate the moral quandaries and it helps them save lives and yet they're both so discomfited by it because that was never a position they were supposed to carry, it's just deliciously well done. Also it talks about them as both being scientists, they've collaborated together, they ~co-publish~.

A pivotal moment is Spock knowing McCoy's mind so intimately he recognizes they've found him based on reading an anonymous treatment plan and recognizing his train of thought!!! They practically wax poetic about each other to third parties and immediately start sniping at each other when they're reunited.

Also loved the original characters - the CMO who replaces him is such a real person. She's also a brilliant doctor but she's at heart a research physician, solitary and more interested in the scientific side of things than the direct patient care - and I loveee that the fic really fleshes out the way CMOs work because Bones tells her about how he's able to come up with his crazy frontier cures by building on her genetic research. I also would read so much more about the sometimes ally-sometimes enemy characters it introduces, and about the found family Bones builds with his fleshed out Vulcan fellow prisoners. I think the author did a great job with Vulcan culture and fleshing out how their society works in a way that feels so real.

I also love how many chapters go into the aftermath of the recovery - not just recovery although there's also that but also what does this all mean, what needs to be done, what do you do next. It gives it all more weight and actually gives it a satisfying denouement.

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

Also one more thing: why y'all think all of this will be solved in 10 chapters as if there isn't a rescue, the final battle, the hero's denouement and a possible epilogue, with most of them being what the characters are gonna do after this is over, plus Izuku having to talk to Katsuki to see where that leads, and society deciding how to reintegrate the LoV.

Like. Please y'all stop to appreciate the story instead of thinking "we only have ten chapters left" THIS ISN'T A NETFLIX SHOW THAT'S GONNA BE CANCELLED IN THE NEXT WEEK IT'S LIKE YOU'RE BEGGING FOR APOLLO TO HIT WITH THE DODGEBALL CALM THY TITS

[sabraeal]

All That Remains, Chapter 11: The Prince and the Princess [Part 1]

[Read on AO3]

Written for both Obiyuki Bingo and also a very, very overdue birthday gift for @lusakina, who has nearly waited a year for me to be able to sit down and write this. It’s a slightly shorter chapter than these typically are, but this one needed to be more of an interlude between parts...

With a flourish of the pen, the girl escapes.

That is how a story would tell of this, wouldn’t it? A grand climax racing into the gentle arms of a denouement. An exultant cry of victory followed by a blank page.

Our fingers straddle the border between two words; one in which there is the possibility of failure, and the other which brings us the relief of success. It is so easy for us to turn the page, to shift from those dire hours to the moment of safety. A girl escapes, and in the space of a breath, she is far away, only pale echo of that danger buried beneath the next step of her journey.

There is no time to dwell on the between; on the sleepless hours wondering whether you will awake to the sounds of stomps and shouts, of whether you can afford to stop to catch a breath or must chance a push onward, hoping your own legs won’t give out beneath you. On the page there is only room for failure or flight, and anything in between...

That is where the story abandons you. Escape is only a small sliver of survival, and the the rest, the rest--

Is living. And oh, that is by far the hardest part.

Lata taught her how to ride on one of the sparse spring days in Lilias; Shirayuki had been the one to ask, only a day or so before, and he had huffed, at least it might make you more useful. A tepid response, one she thought had been as polite a refusal as a man like him could come, until she bumped into him in the courtyard, mouth wrapped halfway around a good morning, before he hauled her off to the stable.

Unlike most of her studies, riding did not come easy. No, instead it came in fits and starts; months of taking two steps forward and ten steps back until one day her amiable little mare broke out into a canter, and Shirayuki kept her seat. Good, the professor had grunted, hunching his furs up around his ears. I thought I might just wash my hands of this and let that poor excuse for a knight cart you around like luggage.

Please, my lord, Obi had called from his perch on the fence, a gloved hand pressed courteously to his chest. She would be my precious cargo.

Whatever he chose to call it, it was baggage, and if there was one thing Shirayuki refused to be, it was a burden. Riding might not come easy, but she had kept with it until not even Zen could find a flaw with her seat, and yet--

And yet, beside Kiki she sits a graceful as a rock in a bucket; unlikely to tumble out but by no means proficient. At least, not the way she thought she was. That’s the difference between learning a good seat and being born to it, she supposes, which wouldn’t matter at all if the moment Kiki slowed them to a trot, she didn’t feel as if her own backside would fall off.

“Catch your breath,” Kiki tells her, voice raised no louder than the susurrus of leaves around them. “We’ll need to keep moving.”

A protest hones itself to a point at the tip of her tongue-- there’s no need to stop, it wants to say, I won’t slow you down-- but Kiki only stares at her, kindness leaving her no quarter. The fight sloughs off her like a skin-- no, like a gown, ill-fitting and heavy, made for someone else. Another Shirayuki, one more used to saddles and stirrups, who spent her days toiling in the gardens and summers riding across the North, who hadn’t been afraid to throw a blanket over dewy grass to stare up at the stars.

Not the one who had wasted two seasons trying to slip into a smile that pinched at the seams. Who hadn’t let her friend simply disappear while she chose which spoon to stir her tea.

Nails bite into the flesh of her palms, sharper than she ever kept them in Wirant. She’d needed them short, then; longer ones were liable to break, for dirt to get caked deep within the bed, but in the palace...

Ornamental, Haki had called them, hanging polished nails over the divan. The same as Shirayuki had been, when all the flounces settled. Nothing more but another face to decorate its halls.

Her breath steams in the air, a gasping specter that dissolves as soon as it appears, never quite solid enough to grasp. Glancing over her shoulder, the lights of Wistal still shimmering past the dark ribbon of the river, she feels much the same. Insubstantial. Hardly real. That if she just reached out she could touch those glittering lamps as if they were no more than shards of wunderocks, meant to settle in the palm of her hands and never burn.

The city’s so tame from so far away.

“We should go back.”

It’s barely more than a whisper, a toneless sigh into the night, but Kiki’s stare cuts to her, sharp as the blade at her waist. “Shirayuki. You have just fled the palace and its protections.” The night blurs the details of her expression into shadow, but the angle of her brows says sharp, skeptical. “Are you really so eager to return?”

“I-I didn’t say we should go back t-there.” She skips over her words like a stone on a still pond, hands clenched tight around her reins. “I just meant...the market. Or maybe one of the pubs. Somewhere...”

Somewhere there’s something left of him, she doesn’t say. There’s no point when Kiki is already shaking her head, gold shimmering silver in the moonlight. “You do understand, don’t you? We cannot go back. Not to the palace, not to the market...not to Wistal at all.”

“But that was the last place Obi was seen,” she insists, stomach as knotted as the leather strap in her hands. “If we’re going to find anything, it will be there. If we leave now--”

“Obi has made some...questionable decisions in the past” --the wrinkle between Kiki’s brows discourages further inquiry-- “but if he was trying to slip out of Wistal under the Watch’s nose, he wouldn’t stop for a drink.”

Her mouth works-- wasn’t he supposed to be a slither-outer? a man who abandoned his post to make a fool of himself in every tavern before he’d crawl back into our good graces?-- but that venom stings even her own lips, a set of lies too raw a wound in her to even scrape out a single sound. To pretend she could believe that of him for a moment, even just to win her way--

You do know that house plants don’t drink champagne, she informs him, poking her head around the improbable girth of this fiddle leaf fig. Even if it does reside in a manor house.

Gold flashes up from where he crouches, startled, flute hanging limply from his fingers. It’s only a moment before it smooths into an easy confidence, into a grin that’s right at home with all these silver platters and crystal glass. It’s either this or off one of these fancy little balconies, and I got to say, there aren’t ladies walking out from beneath these leaves. Well, except you, Miss.

His playfulness is contagious. You could just drink it, if you need to. I doubt this would give you anything more serious than a case of the hiccups. She leans in, conspiratorial. In my professional opinion.

You may be the granddaughter of a bar, Miss, but never on the streets I’ve visited. A corner of his mouth twists as he levers himself to his feet. Then you’d know that the only knife you carry with you is a sharp one.

--It would be a betrayal. Another way for her to turn her back on him, to forget the man he’d become over these past six years, the one who-- who--

So, it was worth having? Just asking makes her stomach lurch, like holding her foot over a precipice, trying to judge the distance down. It’s just a necklace, just Obi, and yet she’s tangled up in anticipation, breathless for that tilt of his head, that soft flicker of a smile.

Of course. Both fondness and confusion add an airiness to his laugh, as if his answer were as certain as the ground beneath their feet, or as necessary as the air between them. It would have been just for the fact that you lent it to me.

--It’s impossible.

Not that he loved her; of course he did, but in the way a key loved its lock, or a hand might miss its pair. The way she felt when she walked the streets in front of her grandparents’ old pub and heard laughing through the glass. She was a best-worn glove, a favorite meal, a half-remembered chorus to a lullaby.

She was home, the same way he was for her. And to think of it as the same as the knights in the palace tapestries, kneeling at the feet of their mistresses and longing, to think of it as desire...

They’re mistaken, is all. Of anyone, she knew him best. If his feelings had changed, then surely she would have noticed, she would have known--

You don’t know anything about me, Miss.

Her breath catches, painful in her chest. “But we don’t know where to look. If there’s a lead, then--”

“There’s nothing left to find of him there.” Each word hits her like a whip crack, a lash she’s not braced to take. “They will be looking for you, Shirayuki. Not now, but in the morning...”

In the morning, one of Haki’s maids would bustle into her chambers, throwing curtains wide and informing her of the gowns the consort had set out for her perusal. But today her hands would sink into the covers and find no flesh beneath it, no young lady to dress as her mistress pleased. No, there would only be a haphazard bundle of silk and velvet and down, and then, then--

Kiki’s eyes narrow as she gazes back, a hunter gauging the distance between her and her target. “It will take them time to search the grounds, to realize...”

That she was gone. No, that she, of her own volition, had left.

Kiki’s mare nickers as she leads her head around, back to the road ahead. “We should use what time we have wisely.”

It is simple to have purpose when there is trouble at your back, when there is the promise of menace nipping at your heels. One step yields to the next with such ease that it becomes nothing more than an instinct, heedless of fear and of good sense. Forward is so much more tenable as a directive than a decision.

Second thoughts are the luxury of those whose stories have an after.

Night passes into day, and what once seemed a steady, sustainable pace turns relentless. Kiki turns them off the main road at first light-- we can cover your hair, but two women riding hard is a rare enough sight still-- leading them first through fields of tall grass and wildflowers, so many Shirayuki is tempted to ask for a rest, if only to replenish her stocks--

But the grimness of Kiki’s jaw stills the words on her tongue.

It’s not long until fields give way to scrublands, and scrub gives way to the first stirrings of a forest, its canopy blotting out the sun’s heat as it climbs to its zenith. To her eyes, it seems untouched, a primordial kingdom of leaf and bramble and vine, but Kiki quickly picks out a hunter’s trail in the brush, leading them deep into its cool embrace.

It’s only then that Kiki lets their pace slow, that she lets her mare come to a panting halt. “We’ll stop here. The horses need to rest.”

There’s no block for her to dismount to, but Kiki provide a knee-- and then a net of arms in short measure, once Shirayuki’s leg fails to swing over and becomes a slow, terrifying slide.

“Sorry,” she gasps, clutching hard to her shoulders. “I didn’t realize that my, er, I mean...everything’s numb...?”

Her only consolation is that Kiki’s huff is at least amused when she finds her feet. “No need to apologize. We rode for a long time. Longer than we should have.”

Obi used to complain that too much time in the saddle made him bow-legged-- like some sort of hedge knight, Miss-- but it’s not until she hobbles across the clearing, too much space between her thighs, that she understands it.

“Oh, did we? That’s good. I mean--” there’s no comfortable way to rest; to stand means suffering her trembling legs, to sit only worsens the numbness “--I thought so, but if we were really riding for so long, then we would stop to switch out the horses...”

Kiki shakes her head, expert hands never slowing as she rubs down their mounts. “They’ll check the roads first, the post stations where it’s likely we’d need to stop. And any groom worth his pay will know these are from the royal stables, which means he’ll be the first to tell them what he knows.” Her mouth gives a wry twist. “Horse thieves always pay well.”

“But we’re not...” Kiki spares her a long, dubious look. They certainly hadn’t asked to borrow a pair of His Majesty’s finest mounts. “Are you so sure there will be anyone coming after us? Izana said that if I left, that I would be-- I’d--”

It should go without saying-- even now, the burden of his gaze weighs on her-- if you break this agreement, there will not be another offer.

She clears her throat. “I don’t think he’d be sending anyone for me.”

“Not Izana.” Kiki stretches out the words with care, the kind that warns of a ‘but’ before it can round the corner. “But Zen will turn over the whole city to find you.”

“Ah...” She hadn’t accounted for that, no. Not for Zen, who so often complained of tied hands, of how his brother’s wants ran roughshod over his own, using what little power he could bring to bear. “But Izana would never let him. Not when he was so clear...”

“Which is why this will all happen so quickly.” Kiki turns to her, as grim and serious as she had been in the stables. “Before Izana can hear of it.”

Her fingers tremble against the trunk, bark biting into flesh to keep her upright. “N-no. He can’t do that. When Obi disappeared it took him weeks to even get a single search party...”

Beneath the black of her jacket, Kiki’s shoulders tense. She does not speak but brace, and that is enough to draw Shirayuki up short, to remember--

A knife strapped to a belt. A seed pressed into her hand.  Ah, she’d forgotten how easily a healed wound can run fresh, if she only pulls off the scab. “But he never sent anyone. Not for Obi.”

“Shirayuki...” A sigh soughs through her teeth. “We should go.”

But it cannot last forever. There always comes a time where fear banks, when tempers have cooled and the ceaseless war drum of the heart fades. And all that is left...

Is you.

Day fades into night again before Kiki allows them to truly rest, not just pause to catch a breath or let the horses drink. Their pace had been slow through the forest, careful as they picked their way along the knotted trails, but their mounts are exhausted, pulling at their leads as they plod into the clearing. Shirayuki can hardly blame them; she nearly balks until Kiki reaches for her, more falling from the saddle than dismounting it.

No matter how she might insist that she bore the mark of Tanbarun in her strong shoulders, or that heaving bags of soil from the cart to the greenhouse made her as capable as any of the male scholars, Shirayuki is hardly heavy. A girl her size might make Suzu stagger-- I can’t leave him on the walls by himself, Obi had confided once, grin peeking over his scarf, he’s got more in common with a sail than stone-- but even with the brunt of her weight slumping over her like a sack, Kiki is only driven back a step, solid when she plants her on the ground.

“You’ll have to forgive the accommodations,” she huffs, one half of her mouth hooking into a smirk. “I’m afraid it falls just short of royal.”

There’s no silk sheets or pillows of down, that’s for certain. But Kiki lays out her cloak to cover the soft sponge of the forest’s undergrowth, plumping her pack to make a kissing cousin to a pillow, and oh, what Shirayuki would have given for such luxuries during that breathless flight across the border, all those years ago. She stumbled upon that forgotten manor after a half dozen nights of only rocks and roots to lay her head on, with just that little hood to keep her warm.

“Ah, don’t worry about me,” she murmurs, unclasping her own cloak from around her neck. “I’ve slept on worse.”

Kiki’s smile stretches tight over her teeth. “Of course.”

Never one to need to fill the air with noise when silence would do, Kiki gathers their leads, nickering quietly at their mares as they tamp at the ground, impatient. Lata had taught her how to care for tack-- as any good horseman should, he sniffed, turning up his nose at the university’s groom-- but there’s a practiced efficiency to Kiki’s movements, almost meditative, that suggest any of her fumbling might only get in the way.

Still, Shirayuki isn’t about to stand idle. Not anymore.

“If you’re going to take care of the horses...” Her slippers shuffle, uncertain, beneath the hem of her skirt. “Should I gather some wood for--?”

“No fire.”

Shirayuki blinks. Wistal may be warm, even into its winters, but its nights still grow cold late in the season, enough that some mornings leave a lick of frost on the windowpanes. “But it will get cold soon. The sun’s already--”

Kiki shakes her head, sharp. “We can’t risk the smoke.”

She doesn’t so much snap as rasp, a dire note scraping her voice raw. Kiki has stood tall before kings and traitors both, and yet her whisper is nothing more than a live nerve that her desperation skins open. And it-- it seems so silly. They aren’t running from some first’s prince’s wounded pride, from four dozen of the kingdom’s most loyal knights and a half dozen dogs, but...

“But it’s only Zen.” It’s strange that she’s the one to say it, that in this twilight of her escape, she’s the one to speak sense. “He won’t hurt us. He’ll just...”

“Convince you.”

Her mouth falls slack. “I...?”

“Zen loves you.” It’s stunning how easily Kiki can say such a thing when Zen never had, when it had always been something hidden in the wrinkles of his smile or the longing in his eyes. “The fear has never been that he would hurt you. It is that you will listen.”

Shirayuki wants to protest, to say there would be nothing he could say to convince her to abandon Obi now that she’s set herself on his trail--

But even now her heart leaps to her throat not in dread but anticipation as she imagines Zen stepping into the light of their fire. Hope sears as he kneels before her, the fire casting his pale hair golden as he tells her, it’s all been a mistake. The anguish would turn itself to earnest apology in his eyes, and he would say that they can do this together, if only she would come back with him, if only she would stand by his side.

A breath shudders from her lungs, so full of wanting it burns.

It is so easy to say that she would not turn her back on Obi again, but three months ago, she would have sworn no one could get her to forsake him the first time.

“Right,” she rasps, chest tender beneath the hand she presses to it. “No fire.”

Oh, how easy it is for the doubts to set in, when it is only your tender heart to stand against them.

These are not Lilias’ nights, so cold that even a warm pan beneath the pallet and a heap of furs can’t keep the chill out, but they do have to press close beneath the weight of her cloak, tucking it tight around their shoulders and back, scrunching to keep their feet beneath it. It’s hardly the first time she’s had to huddle for warmth under the blankets, tucking deep into open arms to keep out the elements, but she’s used to a warmer body beside her, a furnace wrapped in flesh. And Kiki, well--

What do you expect? Obi lilts into her ear, as soft as he always spoke beneath the stars. Miss Kiki’s got a reputation to keep.

Her body is weary, bruised and battered from the ride, but even still-- her heart leaps when Kiki lays next to her, the sweet scent of lilac wafting from where her hair knots at the back of her neck. For a moment, it feels like that night so long ago, when snow had pressed at the inn’s windows, and her heart had raced from how close she had come to-- to something in that room. Not with Kiki, but with Zen, the pillows collapsing in among them and the urgency to see, to know had pressed her in for that next kiss. Her lips stung from it, tingled, and she had wanting nothing more than to say something, to ask if it was right that she felt so torn between her head and her heart.

But instead she had stared at the nape of Kiki’s neck, where her hair parts around skin like waves around a breaker, and worried. The same as she does tonight, as she does the next, and the night after. She is a font of concerns, an endless well of anxiety that burbles through the early morning hours, ceaseless until the sun rises.

You understand, don’t you? Even now, she feels Kiki’s fingers at her ankle, a single thoughtful tap on her boot. What all this might cost when it’s over?

If you break this agreement, Izana warns her, his tone implying fine print, there will not be another offer.

Think about what you might lose, the silence urges her, sounding more like Kiki than any words ever have. Think about what you might not get back.

Her fingers clench tight in the wool of Kiki’s tunic. But what about you? she wants to ask into the soft skin of her nape. What do you lose, coming with me?

Kiki is a royal knight, an aide to the second prince, the heir to Seiran. Soon to be married, too, after her father’s summit. One so important that it even peeled Zen’s aides from him, one Kiki herself is supposed to be handling the arrangements for.

And yet here she is, with her. Because a princess needs her knight. Except Shirayuki has never wanted to be a princess, and Kiki...

Must have her reasons. Good ones. The kind Shirayuki wants to know, to understand--

But instead her body betrays her one last time, and all its anxiety abandons her for sleep.

Oh, how stories never speak of this part, of that space between the wanting and the knowing. A woman wakes from her thousand year slumber in the arms of her true love. Children outsmart a witch and find their way home without a single wrong turn.

A girl escapes the garden of a sorceress, and stumbles straight onto the trail of her boy. No doubts, no second thoughts, no leads that have gone cold over the long months she spent, a prisoner in paradise.

How much easier it must be to suffer knowing that there is purpose to it in the end. How much easier it is to go forward, when every step will lead you true.

It’s impossible for her to say how many days it take for them to travel through the forest, or how many more there are before Kiki leads her back to a road. Obi had always been the one with the map in his head, unerringly leading them through hill and dale and drift; Shirayuki had only followed, putting her boot prints beside his own, a matched set.

It’s only the hangings above the inn’s door that give her pause when they pass it, that remind her that they’ve been here before. They’d run across this very courtyard with rain dogging their heels, standing in front of the desk soaked entirely to the skin. The five of them, traveling back from Tanbarun, breaths caught up in laughter as they skidded to a stop in the tile. It’s impossible, she thinks, that they could have been so young only such a short time ago.

“How about it then?” Kiki grunts, voice rough from disuse. “Would you like a bed tonight?”

Her back would certainly appreciate it. “They had baths here, too, didn’t they?”

For the first time in days, Kiki’s mouth curls toward a smirk. “You know, I think they did. Good ones, too.”

Strange, is it not, how we never know the precise moment the story finds us again?

Steam curls thick in the air, a palpable curtain between her and the bath. A welcome one; it’s been so long since Shirayuki last removed her dress that the cuffs stick to her wrists. It’s a miracle of the humidity-- and her own ingenuity-- that it peels away, leaving pink skin in its wake.

“Oh.” The warmth of the bath clings to her as thick as any cloak, coaxing out a sigh. “Where...?”

“Leave it,” Kiki urges her from farther in. “The maids will look after it. If there’s anything that can save those things.”

She hums, uncertain, letting the fabric hang from her fingers. This is her own sweat, her own mess; it hardly seems right to expect someone to clean it...

But she wants to deal with it even less. “All right.” The gown drops into the fog, lost. “I’m coming.”

When it is not just our own will that moves us forward, but the narrative, pushing us inexorably to the next turn of the page.

It’s a good, solid scrubbing that Shirayuki gives herself; she’s no stranger to the sort of dirt that a body can gather over a day’s work, but this, this is a week’s accumulation of grime and filth. It doesn’t wash away so much as flake, chipped off by the application of horsehair and grit until the only think left is pink, scoured skin beneath.

“We’re alone,” Kiki assures her through the partition, one pale foot sliding a sudsy bucket beneath. “If you want.”

Shirayuki blinks for a moment, staring down at the bubbles uncomprehending--

“Oh.” She reaches up, unwinding the towel from her head. It’d be generous to call what’s under it brown, let alone red, but with a good wash, well... “Thank you.”

Kiki hesitates. “I’ll meet you in the bath.”

Even in the most mundane of moments, the times in which we feel the most off the trodden path, lost and left with only our hopes to guide us, we can be so close that only a step would traverse the space between. That only a breath could speak it into being.

How many times must we come close to relief, and then never know it? How many doors must close while we hope for a mere window, all unknowing?

If Shirayuki had thought the steam thick before, it is nothing to how it rises from the actual bath. It might well be a curtain for how well it shields the edge from her; she risks a few toes at first to feel for it, and with a steeling breath, sinks a whole foot right down to the knee.

It’s hot, enough that the fresh skin these prickles with pain before the heat soothes it away. Her other leg follows, then the rest of her, sinking down into its warm embrace.

As much as it stings, it’s pleasant as well. As if she’s been made new again, the Shirayuki of the palace washed away, and leaving behind only her.

And then, when we least expect it--

“Caw, caw,” the crow says, swooping down to the little girl, “Good day, good day, little one, what brings you here?”

“Well, well, well.” A lithe body slides into the pool, tawny trailing after her like a comet’s tail. “Didn’t think I’d find a fine young miss like you here.”

--We are found once again.

For better or for worse.

[armoricaroyalty]

Previous | Chapter Start | Beginning | Next

author's note: welcome to the denouement! charles, as always, belongs to @the-lancasters

Transcript under the cut.

11:00 PM / August 6th, 2016

FREDERICK | Did we have to meet in the boathouse? It stinks in here. ROSALIND | Do you have to complain about everything? It's annoying. MARY | Enough. MARY | Roz, be nice. ROSALIND | [sighs] Fiiiiiine. ROSALIND | You two are the front page of The Shield on Sunday. Vance Marshall called me to ask for comment. EMILY | But how did it get out? Almost no one knew. ROSALIND | [offscreen] I'm having someone in Josie's office look into it. EMILY | Maybe it was a guess? Did you confirm the story to them? FREDERICK | [sighs] FREDERICK | When are they publishing it online? MARY | Sane time it hits the newstands, 6:30 AM. FREDERICK | Sh— Er, crap. That's not much time to prepare. EMILY | Prepare what? ROSALIND | Wardrobe, media training, press strategy— FREDERICK | Security. MARY | Em, does your building have a doorman? ROSALIND | You've got nothing to worry about. You're starting from a much stronger position than Vivi did, and look how quickly they came around on her! EMILY | Um, where is she? I'd like to talk to her, actually— ROSALIND | [offscreen] Oh, I asked her to make sure we weren't interrupted. VIVI | [sighs] CHARLES | Why the long face? VIVI | Charles! What are you doing out here? CHARLES | I was looking for you, actually. CHARLES | I'm glad I found you. I was starting to worry that I wouldn't have the chance to tell you how lovely you look tonight... VIVI | You know...I was warned to stay away from you. CHARLES | [amused] Oh? And will you, Vivi? CHARLES | ...because I'm not going to be able to stay away from you. VIVI | Charles, if someone sees us— CHARLES | Who cares? CHARLES | Everyone knows how your husband treats you. No one would blame you. VIVI | Charles... CHARLES | [softly] Don't make me beg, Vivi. ROSALIND | [offscreen] Vivi? ROSALIND | ...what's going on out here? CHARLES | Rosalind! There you are. ROSALIND | Good to see you, Charles. ROSALIND | [offscreen] I didn't know you'd be in town for the wedding. CHARLES | [offscreen] Josie didn't tell you? [conversation continues, indistinct. Mary gives Vivi A Look.] FREDERICK | [sighs] I hope you're ready for a lot more of this. EMILY | What do you mean? FREDERICK | All the bullshit. The briefings and the meetings and the pointless intrigues. What we're looking at right now is the rest of our lives. FREDERICK | ...you know, the news hasn't broken yet. If the royal life isn't what you want, what you really want....you've still got one last off-ramp. EMILY | Freddy... EMILY | You've been trying to scare me off the entire time we've been together, and it's not going to work. I'm committed. FREDERICK | Well...then I guess you're stuck with me. EMILY | [laughs] I guess I am.

[quaranmine]

day sixty eight: outline work (firewatch)

writing challenge (month three)

month two of the challenge! block #quara writing challenge if you don't want to see this on your dash everyday.

rules:

Firewatch AU or IBW are valid projects for this.

250 word minimum per day.

Challenge goes until I either finish Firewatch AU or reach 10 chapters on IBW, whichever comes first--unless I risk burning myself out first, at which point I will also stop. i may never complete this challege help

Fic-related research and art are valid uses of time and do not count as a skipped day

[aseriesofunfortunatetexts]

Now that the raffle fic is out of the way, I am forced to reckon with the age-old dilemma that has plagued writers for centuries: which WIP should I try to work on next? Luckily, we now have polls to outsource all my decisions!

(As a sidenote, although the Lemony chapter of the zombie fic is at 1700 words already, continuing will require me to reread All The Wrong Questions, because it's been literal years since I first read them and I need a refresher, but that's hardly a chore. It will just require four days of reading)

[mikkeneko]

"You have to go to the Master's Chamber in my place," Shen Qingqiu said.

"What? No," Shang Qinghua said.

"What, yes!" Shen Qingqiu snapped, like that made any sense. With enormous effort, he managed to move one hand over to the edge of the bed, reaching to grasp at the hem of Shang Qinghua's sleeve. "You have to see Binghe, you have to tell him what happened. You have to tell him why I didn't come back, he's going to think --"

"Bro! No! These are the same caves which, may I remind you, nearly just put you into a coma, they could driven you insane, they could have killed you, they did drive you blind," okay, he was getting a little too deep here, "and can I just say, my mother always warned me that might happen if I did it too much --"

--

Shen Qingqiu made it out of the Whispering Caves in one piece, but there are still consequences. Shang Qinghua has to deal with them.

As a heads up -- The next chapter will probably take a little longer to be ready than the previous ones, mostly because I fully expect it to cover the whole denouement (with ch10 being more of an epilogue/cooldown chapter) and I don't know how long that will end up being. 

[empty-pizza]

thoughts on gideon the ninth epilogue

damn it's god. you don't meet that every day.

he sure is implying things, about what they're fighting, that i'd like to know the details on.

hmm. lots of bodies missing. interesting. i wanna know what camilla is up to.

interesting. like i said last chapter, i'm most interesting in where things go next. there are a lot of possibilities, plot-wise. i don't know if harrow's choice is good or bad. and there are many things that are not resolved, that harrow doesn't seem like she'll have time for.

i'm a big fan of long denouements but it does feel fitting that there isn't one here also i have the next two books from the library already so i can just keep reading.

i'll put together my overall thoughts on this book at some point. maybe do a new pecking order, since there were some big changes. feel free to ask me any questions of what i thought about things, if any of y'all reading this care.

then i'll start the next book.

[molter-writes]

What an excellent denouement! It continues to be glorious. Rhaenyra crying during the movie! Rhaenyra fighting the impulse to absolutely rail her beautiful magnificent girl at all hours of the day! Alicent not helping her with that even a little bit! Viserys on his way out! Aegon growing up! (Ouch, on the mom thing, but good for the therapy, good boy). Just amazing. Thank you so much!

*screams incoherently*

🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹💗

the next chapter tho 👀💦💦💦