#ultimo chapter reactions | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

j-graysonlibrary · 1 year ago

Text

The Xiang Chronicles: Book Two Chapter 18

Title: The Xiang Chronicles: Book Two

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 98k

Genres: Fantasy, adventure, drama, LGBT+

Available on: my website

Synopsis: With another Xiang in the mix, for the first time in history, Pangu decides to reevaluate his methods and his place in the world. Along with taking his little sister Heidi as his last disciple, he also chooses to take the more political path in his efforts to end the discord throughout the land—particularly within Terra. (And gaining favor from the handsome Lord of Ultimos does not hurt.)

Heidi butts heads with everyone in the group, save Raine, and tensions are higher than ever. There are failed love confessions, in-group fighting, and demons from Kira’s past but that all comes to a head when they meet a servant of Shakti who is more than what she seems.

Could it be that the Mistresses of Shadow are more nuanced than previously believed? Or that the strict dichotomy between light and dark are, perhaps, a touch exaggerated? That and more begin to plague Pangu’s mind and his faith wavers…

Full chapter 18 under the cut

Chapter XVIII:

Empty glasses littered the tabletop along with a few half-eaten dishes and steady chatter buzzed about the group. The very first topic breached, after everyone had their starting drinks, was how Pangu had decided on all of his disciples. Raine was glossed over since Ryu and Sampra were already familiar—being present for a good portion and all.

Though they had met Kira previously, they had yet to hear how, exactly, he had joined.

To hear Raine tell it was particularly fun and Pangu started to lean into the story, as if he had not been there the entire time. Raine did not pull back from the fact he was not Kira’s biggest fan at first, getting some pointed laughs from Heidi and Baiya because of it.

Ryu and Sampra went almost dead silent as Raine’s recounting of the second disciple’s antics turned into a full-fledged tale about the Xiang’s journey, over all. A few times, Pangu would pop in to add detail or give his perspective on something or Kira would pivot the topic seamlessly and get them off track. The guard’s joint intrigue always brought them back to the plot, however.

The two leaned in, acting as if they could not possibly guess the outcome of the stories. When Baiya’s part was covered, they even jeered at him—Sampra throwing a spare potato spud at the disciple for his involvement in Pangu’s troubles.

The spud did not hit it’s mark, flying left of Baiya’s shoulder but it’s intended target was clear when Sampra shouted, “How could you try to kill Pangu?!” with his words slurred together.

Pangu cackled, grabbed onto Baiya’s arm and then shielded him, as best as he could, while still fighting off laughter. “It is okay! Please, not the potatoes!”

“Yeah, I was eating those,” Kira said, hammering in his point by plucking another spud off the plate and popping it into his mouth. “If you want to throw something, throw a fork.”

“Hey!” Baiya raised a hand, in preparation for another attack and, while Sampra did pick up a fork and draw his arm back, he ultimately just set it back down with a boisterous laugh.

Ryu was a bit delayed in his reaction, only circling his arms around Sampra’s shoulders after he had already given up. “The issue is resolved, dear, it is alright.”

The two fell into each other, snickering.

“I asked Baiya to be my disciple right after,” Pangu said, directing the story back to where it was left off. He and Baiya took over for the next few beats, sometimes being interrupted by Kira who usually had something scathing to say in regards to the Agni disciple, leading to several small bickering sessions.

“They do this all the time,” Heidi huffed after a long swig of her drink while the two guards laughed. “It gets old, I promise.”

Sampra then, spontaneously, remembered her offer from the beginning of the night. “Oh!” He sat up straighter and pointed across the table. “You were going to tell us about stories from your childhood.”

“You do not want the rest of the journey?” Raine asked, arching an eyebrow. They had stopped, more or less, around their first trip to Ultimos.

“We can infer the rest. It was not so long ago.” Sampra grinned from ear to ear. “I want to know what little Pangu was like.”

“I must admit, I am curious as well,” Ryu added.

“Ugh.” Pangu sunk into his seat and drowned himself in another drink. He felt eyes on him, from all angles, but most directly from his left. Everything in him warned him from looking over and meeting that stare but in his addled state, he ignored that voice of logic and turned his head.

Baiya’s eyes deep maroon connected with his and, in a second, his disciple was smirking, clearly eager about whatever Heidi had in store. “Are you nervous?” he asked, giving zero indication that he would come to Pangu’s rescue regardless of the answer.

He stuck out his lip, ready to stoop to begging. “She’s going to be mean.”

“Mean?!” Heidi echoed, clearly having overheard. Everyone laughed at her shout but then she crossed her arms and said, “You were the one who was mean when we were little!”

Pangu’s face of pure confusion only elicited more laughter. “I was mean? How? When?”

“Lies and slander,” Kira, at least, defended him as he stretched his arm out, holding the back of Raine’s seat. His other hand rested on the edge of Heidi’s chair as well, so he could more easily point a finger at her. “Careful, or we might fight.”

“We are always fighting, what is the difference?” Heidi challenged, not fazed in the slightest.

“You fight with this lovely lady?” Sampra asked, hiccupping after. “That is not very gentlemanly behavior.”

“I am no gentleman. I will fight anyone.” Kira removed his hand from her seat but kept his other arm around Raine. “I will fight old people, children, babies…dogs…”

Raine silently laughed, shaking his head while Baiya rolled his eyes with a smile and Pangu openly snickered. Heidi let out a half sigh and half laugh. “Anyway,” she forced the attention back on herself, “The time Pangu was mean was a very specific incident. I am sure he has forgotten but it scarred me for life.”

“Was it, perhaps, an accident?” Ryu gave the Xiang the benefit of the doubt at least.

“No,” Heidi shot him down instantly. She glanced to Pangu, smirked, and then continued, “I was pretty small still and he was a preteen. He was visiting and we went to play in the woods by our house. I saw this huge bug with pretty wings on a tree, way over my head, and I pointed it out. I had never seen anything like it so I was curious…”

Pangu watched her with a slowly slacking jaw. “This is the story?” he interrupted, “Really?”

His sister smiled for a second and then pointed at him. “So you do remember.”

“I remember you asking me to get the bug down.”

“I did no such thing. I simply said it was pretty and wanted to have a closer look.”

“Yes. That means you wanted me to do something. At least it was implied.” Pangu threw his arms out. “You knew I could control the elements. It sounded like a veiled request—when you said ‘Oh, I wish I could see it better,’ I heard, ‘oh, Pangu, could you use the air to bring that bug closer?’”

“Well I did not mean that,” Heidi responded as she crossed her arms. “And you threw it at me!”

“It flew! I did not know it would fly once I disturbed it!”

“It was a flying bug! You should have known!”

“I was, like, eleven!”

The sound of everyone else’s laughter nearly overshadowed their argument. Heidi was not deterred, however, and attempted to embolden her case. “Then you laughed at me!”

“Your scream was funny,” Pangu could not even get it out without breaking and chuckling at the memory. Though little Heidi had certainly been terrified, her shrill scream had been so sudden and unexpected that it inspired a fit of hysterics.

She threw her pointer finger around Baiya and shouted, “MEAN!”

“Is that all?” Kira asked, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

“It does seem…undeserving of such vitriol,” Ryu agreed. “It was just a bug.”

“Do any of you have sisters?” Heidi glanced between them. When the two guards shook their heads, no, she turned to Raine. “Would you have ever tortured Ami with a bug?”

“Tortured,” Pangu mumbled the word, rolling his eyes.

“I…do not think she was afraid of bugs?” Raine answered slowly.

“My sisters are fine with bugs. Maybe you are just a wimp,” Baiya said, gaining Heidi’s full ire.

She grabbed a potato spud and nailed him with it. Of course, since she was sitting right beside him, the spud practically exploded on impact.

“Hey!” Kira objected. “Still eating those…”

Raine, wordlessly, dragged the plate closer to them and then shielded them from the outside.

Heidi ignored them and kept her eyes on the Agni disciple. “Surely you did something dick-ish to your sisters at some point. I find it impossible that you were some perfect angel.”

“Baiya is quite sweet with his family,” Pangu attempted to speak for him.

“Yeah, in front of you,” Heidi cut him off at the last syllable. “He was trying to impress you.”

Ryu laughed at that, drawing attention to himself. “Sorry,” he said, “Carry on.”

He and Sampra shared a whispered word with the younger of the guards snickering and jabbing his elbow out, into Ryu’s side as if to half-heartedly punish him. Pangu raised an eyebrow at the two but was promptly distracted by his sister’s insistence.

“You had to have upset them at least. Even on accident.”

“Air your laundry,” Kira joined her side, his cheek full of the last potato spud.

Baiya sighed out and then shrugged. “There was a time I made Loa cry but it is still dumb, if you ask me.”

“Of course you would think that,” Heidi clicked her tongue and then dug further, “What did you do?”

Pangu watched with genuine interest. He could not imagine Baiya doing anything malicious so he suspected it was a scenario quite similar to his and Heidi’s bug mishap—something that was mostly out of his control in which he, maybe, did not react in the most ideal way.

“There was a boy in a nearby town that would always pick on her when we visited. He was a little prick and a general menace but he was the worst to her. Every time we went, she would come back with tears in her eyes and she would cry to our mother and father about what happened.” Baiya set the scene and everyone silently listened although, judging by Heidi’s expression, anyone could tell that she already found him guilty of whatever came next.

Pangu, on the other hand, was caught up imagining a small Baiya. It was tricky to think of him as little, scrawny, and without any facial hair. He suspected if he was shown what he looked like as a kid, he would be completely unable to tell it was him.

He was pulled out of the thought when Baiya continued, “So, I decided to put an end to it. When I was around thirteen, I took the kid to the side and I beat his ass. I threatened him with more if he ever bothered Loa again.” He sighed and then pointed to his forearm where a thin, pale scar stretched down half the length. “The bastard actually gave me this. It was the only hit he landed on me and, while it did scar, it was not especially deep at the time.”

“Do not tell me that your sister cried over you being hurt,” Heidi grumbled, letting her disappointment show.

“Should have expected as much.” Kira crossed his arms.

“Does that even count?” Even Sampra frowned.

“No,” Baiya pushed on, “Loa was upset that I was hurt for…about five minutes until I told her what happened. Then she, unexpectedly, pushed me and cried, saying that I ruined her life.”

Everyone’s collective confusion made him laugh.

“I know. I did not understand either until, a few years later, she admitted that she, for some reason, had a crush on that boy and she was upset that I chased him away.”

“But…she came back crying every time she encountered him…” Raine tilted his head to the side.

Baiya shrugged. “She said she liked the attention but was also painfully shy about it. Of course, a few years after that, she realized how backward that was and decided she was just confused and going through a rough patch in her life. But, at the time, she was really pissed at me.”

“I think Loa will be more upset that you told us that story…” Pangu mumbled, unable to see a scenario where she would be cool and collected about having that embarrassing tale be told about her. He certainly would not appreciate it if he was in her shoes.

Heidi snorted with laughter. “Oh, I cannot wait to meet her now.”

“You are a dead man,” Kira tacked on, smirking.

“You…you all bullied me into it!” Baiya tried to point out but the two of them and even the Kyrie guards turned their noses up and avoided eye contact.

Sampra even pretended to be distracted by a small bug that most definitely was not there and then he cleared his throat. “Anyway, we were talking about your time in Ultimos, right Pangu?”

It was so sloppy it was funny but Pangu did wish to take some of the heat off of Baiya so he returned to the old topic and walked his friends through some of the more recent events, leaving out the stressful and unnecessary details.

That lead to talks about the future and any plans they had going forward and, after some careful maneuvering, Pangu was able to get the two to talk about themselves. By then, most of the other patrons had cleared out of the space, leaving them and two other drunken tables for the staff to wait on.

Raine was the only one who had stuck to the initial plan of having a single drink while the rest of them had gotten carried away with the refills offered by the bar. Pangu, personally, had lost track of how many new drinks he had been given but, at this point, he cared little.

As Sampra discussed his and Ryu’s potential new house, the light around them stretched out and shined ever brighter, reflecting in their eyes. The way they looked at one another, the way they touched each other, it was so evident that they spent nearly every moment together.

Sampra’s fingers trailed over Ryu’s chest and Pangu followed the path they took, knowing with certainty that their relationship had been physical for a time and they were quite comfortable with one another in that regard. A pang of jealousy mixed in with his happiness for them.

And that happiness expanded when Ryu mentioned the fact that some of their friends knew about them, as a couple, and were supportive.

“We are suspicious that the King knows as well,” Sampra said, unable to break away from his lover’s eyes as he spoke, “but he has said nothing and keeps us as a pair. Honestly, we do not need to announce it formally or anything but I have considered telling my parents…once we get the house.”

“They are open-minded,” Ryu responded, just as lost in Sampra’s gaze. “I believe they will accept us.”

Their joy, almost untainted by fear of the unwelcoming world around them, was enlightening. Pangu had been bogged down, for a time, over the seeming hopelessness for those like them—like him. He could not help but think of Viren and was struck by a desire to show him the guards as an example of what good could come from fighting for themselves.

Even if there was a selfish root, it could help people like Ryu and Sampra of whom there were more than either of them realized.

Pangu rested his chin in his palm, putting a good deal of weight down as he smiled lazily while watching the couple. Maybe it could not be him, in any future, but he could bask in this one win.

The good feelings, however, did not last in the morning.

Alcohol sucked all moisture from Pangu’s body and, try as he might, he could not even estimate how many drinks he had downed the night before. His head hurt and it was difficult to get up but he had promised the King to ride out first thing.

His disciples looked just as ragged except for Raine. “Ready to go?” he asked in a chipper voice as they gathered around the entrance to the hotel.

A chorus of “Uuugh,” was his answer.

#the xiang chronicles #my novel #my writing

1 note · View note

kawahageshii · 7 years ago

Text

Karakuridoji Ultimo VOLUME 12

What’s poppin’, Ultimo friends?!!!!!!!! I got this volume on the day it came out last year, but life happened and I havent gotten the chance to read it until now. Aaaannd I’ve been inactive on tumblr for pretty much a whole year, and I come back and I see the fandom looks to be dead T-T. So I dont even know if anybody will even read this. But!! I wanna finish this little series I had where I read every volume and liveblog it lol. So LESSS GOOO

So yeah can we just talk about how beautiful this artwork is

I actually have not read any translations of the final chapters, so I’m going into this completely blind. Tbh I barely remembered what happened last volume (and this summary doesn’t really help lol)

Okayyyy I remember now. Yamato and Rune had just completed their Love Battle, then Sayama comes in all of a sudden and is about to erase Rune’s memories.

BUT YAMATO BEING THE GOOD MAN HE IS STILL LOVE HER (AND RUNE) REGARDLESS

AWWW SAYAMA LIKED YAMATO TOO. Also oh shit that’s right she’s Dunstan’s daughter and Yamato found out!

Murayama Musashi (I’ve forgotten a lot of things, but I can NEVER forget that name) knew too because of his #policeboy skills

OHHH that’s right Sayama joined Vice too! Wtf is going on I forgot everything LMFAO

Aww Sayama. So she knew this WHOLE time about her father and the experiment he was doing? She didn’t suddenly become aware of it when Eco gave all the good doji masters memories of the past? Wow that’s some heavy shit

Drag them Sayama it’s been 12 volumes and they still haven’t made any real progress

NO NOT A GOOD PLAN

Hana & Eater, Sumako & Desir, and Mizho & Paresse arrive all of a sudden!!

Aww Sayama. Yamato is such a good person.

Oh shit Dunstan and Milieu are here now!!

‘Reeducated” okay that isn’t creepy at all.

Soo Dunstan took Sayama to the year 2989 and now everyone’s fucked.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Vice is having an existential crisis it seems

Awwww this chapter cover is so nice

I love how K immediately jumps to asking about Vice’s well-being while that little brat Jun is like “dafuq is wrong with you”

Nooo Vice nooo Jun is.....seriously disturbed

I’m crying K noticed Vice didn’t poke his eyes out like he normally does. ALSO LITTLE KID K IS SO CUTE LMFAO

Deep thoughts from K’s grandma, making K realize something....but what?

Awww Fussa Fusataro (a name I also can never forget) is a real MVP for sticking around.

Lmfao Rage is like “Oh. Thanks. Thanks for informing me that we’re staying here. Thanks fam”

So Vice goes out and finds Ultimo all alone???

OH SHIT ULTIMO USED TIME STOP ON VICE TO KILL HIM

But was deterred because Jun is Vice’s master now so there’s extra evil to stop his attacks (right? that’s how it works? I don’t even remember fam)

OH SHIT

Omg but Vice is hesitating when attacking Ultimo

I forgot how creepy this kid was

LMFAO EVEN VICE IS LIKE “Nahhhh that’s not cool”

AWWWW THAT SELF-AWARENESS

OH SHIT ULTIMO TOOK THE CHANCE AND STABBED VICE

BUT NOW JUN IS SHOOTING VICE??? LMFAO LET’S ALL GANG UP ON THIS POOR DUDE TODAY?????

I literally said “Yaaaaaassss” out loud. K really is the hero we deserve

Vice has learned to love I’m crying (also K’s grandma actually seems to be the real hero here)

HOLY FUCK JUN SHOT K???? CAN THIS KID STOP

BUT YAMATO AND THE WHOLE CREW SHOWED UP SO NOW I GUESS WE’RE GOING TO THE FUTURE

Oh wow. It’s the final chapter.

But we still got half of the volume left??

Anyways, here’s a familiar scene

OH the ending already happened??

ULTI IS GONE IN THE ENDING?? EXPLAIN

Ohhh so that’s why Musashi has literally NO body in the future. Wow

OKAY I GUESS WE’RE GOING TO COMPLETELY SKIP OVER THE FIGHT BETWEEN VICE AND EVERYONE RIGHT AFTER THAT

Lmfaooo Mizho is speaking the truth here nothing happened to her at all. Because I can count on my fingers the number of times she has appeared in this manga. #tragic

Okayyy so they all combined and are now going to fight Dunstan

War. War never changes.

YAAAASSS YAMATO SAVE SAYAMA

YAAAASSS Universal Milieu has come into the fight

Andd wiped everyone out with Dimension Hammer lol

OH SHIT IT’S YAMATO, K, VICE AND ULTIMO FROM THE 21ST CENTURY. That’s a fucking squad right there. So I guess Dunstan destroyed future!Yamato and crew, but not our Yamato?

OH MY GOD THEY’RE COMBINING IT’S HAPPENING

That’s deep guys

OH MY GODDDDDD EVERYONE’S COMING TOGETHER

(interesting how the Evil Doji are naming their attacks after the planets?)

YAAAAAAAAASSSSSS chills

wait what?????

What

Okay the fuck is going on lol

HUH??????

So all the doji are human now....I remember learning that when I read the raw last chapter, but it’s part of the experiment? Dunstan’s endgame this whole time was to create Ideos Ultimo therefore making the doji human?????

Okay??? I guess that’s the ending???

Milieu’s face is my reaction

Okay......... I guess.... at least it was a happy ending??? (even though it was total cop-out)

so let’s move onto the profiles

Takei gives us all the God/Demon Icon forms of the doji, included their combined forms and Ideos Ultimo

Jun’s Demon Vice actually looks pretty cool. Lol @ the crossbow being included in the design

Ohhh so that’s why the Evil doji has that planet naming

Aww they even included the karakuri soldiers

And here’s a cute afterward from Takei

so....that’s it...wow. That was the final of Karakuridoji Ultimo. I’m glad it was a happy one, though I do feel it was very abrupt. But what can you do

It’s been a wild ride. A wild, and often confusing ride. But I had tons of fun reading, loving, and obsessing over this manga all these years. I already made an emotional post about how much KDU means to me, so I’ll just leave this at that. I hope this isn’t the last time we hear about this manga (anime in 2040 anyone? I predict it now),and I def hope the fandom continues to live on~

#ultimo #karakuridoji ultimo #please dont read this on mobile lol #ultimo chapter reactions #stan lee #hiroyuki takei #karakuridouji ultimo

26 notes · View notes

evien-stark · 4 years ago

Text

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 182

Returning to life was hard, as always. But having that extended time away really helped you refocus. It helped you prioritize. Tony, more than anything. Your life with him. The promise that you’d made when you’d stepped away from Avengers.

Throughout September you started drawing up a timeline. Your ideal version of events, if everything went fine. If nothing bad happened. If the universe didn’t step in and interrupt… The house wouldn’t be ready- fully ready, built and painted and decorated and all that good stuff- until into next year. But you’d be keeping an eye on it every step of the way. The foundation was so important. Having a home with him, something that was yours and only yours, was so very important.

His ring would be ready in November. Which was perfect. You’d have it at the start, and be ready to give it to him by your anniversary. Cheesy? Absolutely. But there was a threshold for that sort of stuff that the two of you would allow with one another. ...recently you’d been realizing it was a very high ceiling. That was fine, too. You’d propose. He’d accept. And the two of you would hold on to it just a little while longer. Peggy’s excitement over the wedding had infected you a small amount, but you didn’t want to rush things.

You were thinking Valentine’s Day. Another moment of well deserved cheese. But if the media wanted to get their hands on it, you’d do it the same way the two of you had come out- so to speak. You’d be brazen and open in public after hiding it for so long, and make it coordinated. Make the statement that your lives were private, that you’d live them without anyone’s permission but your own, and when you were ready to tell the public something, you would. But no sooner than that.

You were still trying to back off the Avengers business- though you had checked in with JARVIS, god damn you, about how the mission regarding Hydra and the missing Ultron parts had gone… it had been an interesting turn of events, really. JARVIS had gone on and on about how they’d built a giant robot named Ultimo or… something just as stupid. But that it hadn’t held up very well. And that this new squad of Avengers had come together to finish them off and round up the Hydra agents. Job well done.

One of the big ways you wanted to do that was sort of start trying to slide control of the whole UN panel nonsense to somewhere else… it didn’t feel right. Maybe it wasn’t right. That team still needed someone big on the inside and in their corner. Just in case. But it wouldn’t matter anyway. Even if you found a suitable replacement (you had been mildly considering Natasha because she knew how to take a government lashing without batting and eye and she’d at least always have the team’s best interests at heart), Ellis wasn’t picking up his phone. Neither was Talbot. There were only a few reasons that would be. None of them were good.

But you tried not to let it stress you out. ...it did. A little. But you tried not to let it. Instead after finding that a dead end, you threw yourself into Stark Industries related endeavors. Making up for missed time after you’d taken the month off. It led you all the way through September. Right on the cusp of October, when the fourth quarter was about to begin. You’d scheduled a company conference in a nice hotel in Midtown for presentations.

You were also running extremely late, having gotten pulled into a discussion with a senior exec that hadn’t amounted to anything. Tony was waiting downstairs in the car. Happy was waiting, hand on the open door, when you finally got outside. But just as you exited the lobby, someone called your name. And then- “I need to talk to you!”

Your reaction was instinct. Holding a hand up. “Whatever story you’re chasing, I don’t have anything to say right now.”

“I’m not a reporter!” Her shouting this stopped you just a little as you were almost off the sidewalk, and you turned back to look at her. Short, thin woman. Deep-set frown. Long dark hair. “I used to be a lab tech for Stark Industries. And I need to talk to you. ...please.”

There was a certain amount of desperation wafting off of her. This was probably a job for HR- if she was a disgruntled employee- she had said she was a lab tech. As in, used to be. No longer worked for the company. You glanced inside the back of the car and Tony held a hand up in question. You put a single finger up to signal you’d be there in a moment. And then, as you felt Happy looming, watching just in case, you stepped closer to the building. “How can I help you?”

Disbelief soaked her, which might have been fair. She had just halted one of the CEOs outside the building. She might not have had a plan what to do next. Though she did cross her arms. “Look- I know- everything you do- this is probably not very important to you, but. I wanted to warn you. About Quentin Beck.”

The name struck you as mildly familiar. And when you realized why, it just popped out of your mouth. “He has a presentation today.”

“I know. That’s why I need to talk to you. He’s- I don’t wanna say dangerous, but something is not right with him.”

“In what way?”

She gave a shrug. “Every little thing sets him off. I wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last- he got me fired. Over nothing.”

Despite not wanting to come off callous, your brows knit and your head lifted just a little. “Got you fired? How?” That was a lot to put on one person, especially considering your very well staffed HR department.

The shake of her head was satisfying. “I can’t say for sure. But. He’s gotten lots of us fired. For questioning him. Or proving him wrong. Anything. Anything that makes him angry. He’s frustrated- I get it- his project is going nowhere fast- but it’s not right, what he’s doing.” Much as this sounded like an incredibly tall tale… she at least believed herself. There was no note of dishonesty about her.

Something only you would know. Which meant you couldn’t turn away from this information. “What’s your name?”

“Vivian.” She glanced up at you, not sure what to make of your reaction. Self-doubt took a heavy hold of her. “Like I said- I know this isn’t important-”

“This is incredibly important to me, Vivian.” Stopping her. Speaking firmly and slowly. “Here’s what i want you to do- if you haven’t already found another job-”

Her scoff cut you off. “Are you kidding me? I got fired from Stark Industries. Nobody wants me after that.”

That made sense. But… if Beck was ruining lives like that under your nose- this was a problem. “In that case, I want you to go upstairs to my office. I’ll let Pepper know to expect you. Give her a list of the other lab techs that were thrown out by Beck. You’re officially rehired. I’m going to start an internal investigation into HR in the meantime. And I’ll watch his presentation very carefully today, and let him know what I know. And what that means.”

You would have an incredible burden. Firing him for something like this outright was a legal nightmare. Especially if he wasn’t mentally sound, like she was claiming. God knows you and Tony didn’t need any more homegrown enemies.

Both of her brows shot straight up and shock cut clear across her. “You’re- ...you’re being serious?”

“Yes. Now- I have to go. I’m running a little late. I’ll check in later, alright?”

For whatever reason, Vivian seemed to have thought you were going to shoot her down. Ignore her. Tell her this was nonsense. Send her away. Stand by Beck- it made sense. HR had. HR had heard a complaint about her and several others from one man. Sure, a man in charge of a lab, but, it seemed to be that they didn’t do their due diligence in investigating the matter. But you would. This was your company. And you weren’t going to let this fly.

She nodded, a little numbly. “Uh- sure- hey- thank you.” A little bit of relief hit home finally, when reality set in. “This- this means everything to me. Thank you.” You’d probably just given her her life back.

“Thank you. For telling me about this.”

That was what you left her with as you finally hurried your way into the car. Once the door was shut behind you, you pulled your cell phone out to text Pepper. Tony was very curious. “What was all that about?”

“I think I’ve been so focused on the Avengers stuff- you know, saving the world is important and all- but, Stark Industries has been suffering. That changes now.”

You felt his frown without looking at him. “That bad?”

Looking up at him, you shrugged. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

---

Like with all big presentation meetings, you thanked everyone for coming. Thanked them for their hard work. Said some things about how fourth quarter would be fantastic. Made sure to alert them that stocks had been bouncing back steadily. The company was doing great. Stark Industries was always doing great, and it was thanks to some of the people in the conference hall. You were excited to see what they had been working on and what they had to share. Tony gave his usual quippy sassy remarks afterwards. And then the two of you sat. And let yourself be wowed by the innovators of Stark Industries.

Beck’s presentation was last. Small miracles, you supposed. Over the course of a few hours, you’d texted back and forth with Tony about the details that Vivian had given you. Pepper already had troubling news about Beck’s lab assistants. Many had been fired. Most without investigation. Beck signaled an order and someone executed it. For small things. Inconsequential things. Sure… people were employed with the company at will, but that didn’t give him the right to throw people out like he owned the place.

No. You owned the place. You and Tony. And you were going to make this right.

He was nervous when he took the stage. Gave some platitudes as he hooked up a projector- and you remembered this. Remembered him struggling with a powerpoint presentation … years ago. Too long now to be still stuck in this phase of drawings and blueprints and-

Well. He did have some sort of prototype. Some headband- headgear- something. But it just sat on a mannequin head. And nothing he said convinced you it would ever do more than that. You pulled his patent files, what he’d been working on, and just how much money had been spent on this. It wasn’t becoming to belittle a member of your staff in a conference hall full of people. So you let them thin out once everything was over.

And then you and Tony met with him backstage. He seemed startled by your sudden appearance, and the poor assistant he had with him was terrified. Not of you. Which made it all the easier to let him know how things were going to be. There was a small crowd backstage. You’d wanted to do this privately, but you couldn’t put it off any longer. “Mr. Beck.”

“Oh- Quentin is fine.”

“Mr. Beck.” Doubling down. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to shelve your project. Starting immediately.”

“What? Why??” Anger was already stirring inside of him.

You didn’t let it dissuade you. “You’ve been working on this project for five years now. Stark Industries has backed you- to the tune of twelve million dollars so far. You have nothing to show. You’re barely out of the concept phase-”

“That’s not true! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Despite who you were, Beck seemed to have no problem raising his voice to you. Then again, you were threatening his baby. And this wasn’t the first time you’d done so. He had such a disdain for you. Easily felt. Picking the headband off the mannequin he waved it in your face. “What about this? This isn’t nothing! You just don’t get it. You aren’t smart enough to understand what I’m trying to do here!”

“What I get, Mr. Beck, is that after five years and twelve million dollars and you showed up to a Q4 meeting with a powerpoint presentation and a plastic piece of junk that doesn’t do anything. It’s basically a fashion accessory.”

“You can’t-!”

“Furthermore.” Not letting him talk over you. “We’ve been receiving some very troubling reports that you have some sort of confidant in HR that’s helping you abuse your position. I don’t know who it is yet, but I’m going to find out.”

He gnashed his teeth. Not even surprised he’d been caught. He didn’t seem to care about that at all. He cared about you shutting him down. “You’ve been trying to shut this project down since its inception phase. I’m not surprised. This is beyond you-”

“And you, apparently.” Staring him down.

Realizing he wasn’t going to get anywhere with you, Beck completely ignored you and waved his hand at Tony. “Tony, please. I know you get this. Can’t you do something?”

Tony’s brow arched, one of those high marks that came with a face of true disbelief. Disbelief that this guy would disrespect you like that. “If you wanted my help, that was the exact wrong way to go about it.”

Beck’s shoulders went higher, tensed. “Look- I’m just trying to-”

Tony continued, “The idea is impressive. Not your initial concept application of it, though. We can use it for something better.” Oh- you remembered this- Tony had been interested in the… what had he called it? Neural-interface? Too bad Beck wasn’t smart enough to get it off the ground. But Tony was. He’d have this figured out in a few months, no doubt.

When that realization hit, Beck grew darker. Even angrier. “You can’t do that.”

You spoke up again. “All your work is owned by Stark Industries.” You could, in fact, do that.

“You can’t do that!” Yelling.

Holding a hand up to him, you decided you’d had enough of this. “Calm down. Now.” Issuing a real order. With the power to back it up as you threw that upon him.

He went a little slack, like you’d cut his strings. And then it seemed like he quickly changed his mind about his attitude at your behest. Little did he know, that’s exactly what had happened. He Painted a perfect picture of apologetic. Because you wanted him to. “Look- I’m sorry- I just- I’ve been working on this for so long… please… I’m begging you… don’t do this.”

“Any of your lab techs beg you to keep their jobs the same way, I wonder?” Unable to help yourself asking. The look in his eyes suddenly- the drop in temperature- ...he was wishing for murder right then. Vivian had been right. Dangerous was a very apt word, whether or not she’d wanted to use it. But this would not help anybody. If you threw him out now you’d only be proving his narrow minded view right. It’d also put a pox on the project. “Here is my only offer, Mr. Beck.”

When he realized you weren’t about to take everything from him, he straightened up and nodded. “Anything.”

“Tony is now in charge of this project. Vivian will work under Tony. And you under her. We’re hiring back every lab tech and assistant you fired over the last five years. At double your salary. You’re going to give up the name of your connect in HR- and it better pan out or all of this goes away. You’re going to take anger counseling with one of the therapists on staff. None of this is negotiable. And you have five seconds to decide.”

“Yes- yes. Anything. Just- don’t throw me off this. You don’t understand it.” He kept on saying that. Kept on talking down to you. And now, after that offer, there was nothing you could do about it. He was agreeing to everything, but something deep inside him, something only you felt was twisting with agony and turmoil.

And a fresh new hatred for you.

But you couldn’t be liked by everyone. Nor did that bother you in the slightest. You gave him a nod. “Pepper will serve you papers on this new agreement tomorrow morning. I want them signed by the afternoon.”

His eyes narrowed, understanding what you were doing. You were throwing your power, your position, and your authority in his face. Ordering- though he saw it as demanding- him to do this. At the risk of everything else. He had no choice, and he saw that as your fault. Not his. But he was helpless but to obey you. ...this probably wasn’t going to work out very well. You’d have to keep an eye on him going forward. “Yes, ma’am.”

---

Back in the car you took a deep breath and it immediately escaped as an even deeper sigh as you sagged into the backseat. Tony was the one to speak your thoughts. “Well. That was a nightmare.”

Though you found yourself nodding, you tried to look at the bright side. “We’re done with it, now. And… you like this project. So that was worth something.” Tony wanted to work on this, so be it.

“You didn’t have to keep Beck around to keep it in-house.”

“No, I didn’t.” Agreeing with him as your gaze went foggy. Tired very suddenly. Beck was volatile and it had drained a lot out of you.

Leaning closer, Tony put his arm around you, drawing you in. You reveled in his warmth. In his protective embrace, closing your eyes as you laid your head on his shoulder. “Sometimes I think you’re too nice.”

This got a bark of a surprised laugh out of you, and you raised your hand to stifle the rest. “Sorry- I just- that’s ridiculous. Ask Beck.”

“I’m not asking that guy anything. He’s a few crayons short of a full box.”

“Fair enough.” You took another long breath in, this time holding it and then slowly letting it out. “It’s over now. You’ll take over and make it something good.”

His grin was easily heard, not to mention you could feel his enjoyment. How much he liked you complimenting him like that. “You might be giving me too much credit.”

“Never.” Snuggling up close to him. “You’ll put that money to good use-”

“And spend a whole lot more.”

“-and bring something to the table the world needs.”

“Again. Too much credit.”

“Mn-mm.” Shaking your head no as you got even closer. “That’s what you do.” Confident in him. Knowing him. When he didn’t argue a third time, you decided to move on. “Wanna get some dinner?”

“I was waiting for you to ask.” Smiling wryly at you when you finally looked up at him. “I put reservations in at Luchio’s an hour ago.”

“My hero.”

You needed a good dinner to fight off the drop in energy and the entire mess that had been. But it was a small mess. Nothing like the other ones. Easily handled. Now all you could do was hope no more messes found you before the close of the year. It was three more months- and only two before your anniversary, even.

How much could go wrong before then?

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Eighty Two

5 notes · View notes

sixmorningsafter · 7 years ago

Text

SMA Flashback, Maroline

Hey guys, I posted this flashback a while ago on ff.net but just in case anyone missed it or skipped it, it’s going to be pretty relevant to the next chapter, so I’m posting it here, too.

Summary: A surprise visit from Matt leaves Caroline reeling, and Bonnie gets a glimpse of what's been going on behind closed doors. TW: implications of domestic abuse.

Emory University Spring Semester, 2012

It was her fault.

He'd driven all the way from Texas to surprise her. Twelve hours in his rattling rust bucket of a 1982 Ford Pickup, windows down, stereo busted, likely listening to nothing but intermittent flares of talk radio between long, mind-numbing stretches of static. Twelve hours of no air conditioning in the southern humidity, of swampy Louisiana, muddy Mississippi, and balmy Alabama whizzing past him in a russet blur of not-quite-summer.

He'd stopped in Houston to get her favorite tacos from Ultimo's Taco Truck—extra guac, no sour cream—and they'd braved the heat in a dingy little cooler in the backseat. He'd even picked up a bottle of her favorite champagne, a bottle she knew he couldn't afford, because he'd wanted to celebrate: he'd been promoted to manager at the Grill. He could finally make a decent salary, enough to chip in for Vicky's rehab—maybe even enough to get a decent place in a year or two.

So really, it was her fault. Most of it, anyway. Maybe all of it.

She hadn't meant to seem unhappy to see him. She just wasn't expecting it. She'd been in the middle of cramming for her microeconomics final, brow furrowed, highlighter a citrine blur in her fingers, when she heard the knock on the door. Seeing Matt standing there with his crinkly-eyed smile, taco bag in one hand and champagne bottle in the other, made her giddily, soaringly, stupidly happy.

It always did.

But it also stressed her out. Her final was on Monday. She needed an absolute knockout performance to pull off a decent grade in the class, and she hadn't budgeted in Matt time. The tension began creeping in about thirty minutes after he got there, right as the rush of surprise began to fade, and like all of her emotions, it shone bright and obvious on her face.

He'd never been big on school, so the concept of caring about grades wasn't something he really sympathized with. She understood where he was coming from—he was only there for the weekend, she could probably just study Sunday night after he left, what did one stupid class matter in the big scheme of things, in the scheme of them, of their heady, hungry, songs-written-about-it kind of story—but obviously not enough, because it started a fight.

The first one, anyway.

The second fight was different, but also her fault. They were twined in her bed, lolling and lazy, naked skin auroral in the fading glow of the Georgia sunset, and even though they'd just made up, even though their last fight had ended a mere orgasm ago, she pushed a bit. About the job, about his goals, about Wimberley and whether he had any plans of getting out of their tiny Texan hometown.

She hadn't meant to sound pushy, she'd just meant to open up a realistic dialogue about their future and how they might navigate it together, but he immediately went on the defensive. He took it as her belittling his promotion, as her patronizing him and being a snob, and maybe there was a bit of truth in that, really, because Matt was smart as hell and it was hard for her to watch him sell himself so short, but at the same time, if that's what made him happy, she needed to support it, right?

The second fight was worse. A lot worse. It had all its own fire plus the embers of the first one, and it spread far beyond the bounds of its starting point. It spread to old resentments, past fights—to her signing him up for the SAT four years ago when he'd said he wasn't interested in college, to him being high more and more often when they talked on the phone, to Tyler and the time she'd accidentally passed out next to him while studying on her bed, on and on and nastier and louder until their throats were raw.

The sex that followed was different, too. Less 'make-up' and more 'make-a-point'. Bruising grips replaced meandering caresses. Sweet, whispered nothings became possessive growls, demeaning growls, growls of 'you think Tyler can make you moan like that?'. He didn't walk the line between pain and pleasure so much as zigzag it—one second she was on the brink of climax, the next she was wincing and trying to slow him down.

He'd chalk it up to rough sex. He always did, always gave her that baffled look of his, the one that made her feel like a moron for even saying anything. 'Since when is rough an issue for you?' She could never find the words to explain what was different about it, what made it feel like there was spite in his movements, like a part of him was trying to hurt her, trying to show her he could do whatever he wanted to her. So she'd flounder, and with a flare of amusement that screamed of humoring her, he'd concede that maybe he'd still been a little worked up from the fight, maybe he'd lost himself a bit in the leftover adrenaline.

Before he left, he told her, like he always did, that all the shit in his life was worth it if the trade-off was her. That he was sorry about the argument, that he'd start looking into the future, and that ultimately, the only thing that mattered to him was having her in it. She couldn't help but think that it was all said with a glint, though—the smug glint of the benevolent victor, of the person who knew he'd emerged in effortless control of a situation but wanted to seem gracious. It was an apology that had nothing to lose because it'd already won.

But then he pressed his forehead against hers and breathed her in, fingers gentle against her chin, angling her mouth up so he could brush her lips in light, nipping kisses, and she felt herself backtracking. Maybe he hadjust been a little too riled up from the fight—after all, how could someone holding her the way he was now, like she was the most delicate thing in the world, ever want to hurt her? It didn't make sense. Matt would die over hurting her. He was right, she was just being stupid.

He'd driven all the way here.

He'd brought her favorite tacos.

He'd splurged on her favorite champagne.

And she'd started two fights in exchange.

It was obviously her fault.

So why was she sitting alone in her bathtub, nauseated and trembling, unable to stop staring at the marks on her skin? Why couldn't she stop imagining the brief, terrifying flash of satisfaction she swore sometimes crossed his face whenever his mercurial fingers shifted her gasps into grimaces? Why did she feel like her bones were dissolving, like she was slowly caving in on herself one shaky breath at a time? Why did she feel so pathetically, inconsequentially, crushingly small?

The sound of the front door swinging open made her stiffen. "Sorry, guys!" she heard Bonnie's wry voice call out from the living room, and she immediately abandoned the bottle of wine in her hand, straightening up and scrubbing a hand over her face. "I don't want to interrupt the love nest, I just need to grab my—" Bonnie halted in the bathroom door, face crumpling at the sight of Caroline huddled in the bathtub in her underwear, "…curling iron."

Caroline's face broke into a fiercely bright smile. "Hey, girl!"

"Hey." The reply was puzzled, hesitant—Bonnie knew her well enough to know the bathtub never meant anything good. She blinked for a second before casting a glance over her shoulder. "Where's Matt?"

"Oh, you just missed him—he left about an hour ago." Her stare slowly shifted back to her, and Caroline felt her lips struggling to hold her smile. "He said have a safe flight."

Bonnie gave a slow nod, eyes fixed below her face, and it took Caroline a second to remember he'd grabbed her by the neck. Hard. She shot an instinctive hand up to her throat, blocking it from view, and Bonnie's stare flickered. "Care…"

Tears pricked at her eyes and she averted them. "It's nothing."

Bonnie dropped her bag on the floor and approached the tub, and Caroline wrapped her arms around her body to try and hide it, hot with shame, bracing for the inevitable reaction. It came in the form of a sharp intake of breath. "Caroline," Bonnie gasped, stopping about a foot from the tub in shock, and Caroline shoved a nervous hand through her hair.

"It's not what it looks like."

"Like hell it isn't," Bonnie replied, stare raking over the constellation of deep, burgundy bruises spanning her upper thigh in horror, and before Caroline could give another instinctive negation, could throw out a tinny 'I bruise really easily!', could invent some kind of accident that shifted the blame, her phone began buzzing against the sink. Even from a distance, she saw the name 'Matt' flashing on the screen.

Furious, Bonnie surged over to the sink and swiped it up, and Caroline felt her veins flood with panic. "Bonnie, no!"

"Matt," Bonnie hissed in greeting, voice wavering with rage, and she whirled around to look at Caroline. Upon catching sight of her desperate face, however, she froze.

"Please," Caroline whispered, shaking her head no, tears hot against her cheeks. "Just… just not yet." Bonnie held her stare for a long, heart-breaking beat before drawing in a tight breath.

"Hey," she said over the phone, pushing a stiff hand through her hair. "Yeah, I'm okay, I just…" she closed her eyes, running her hand over her face, and Caroline felt her heart racing in her chest, "I actually just got some really shitty news about my mom, and I'm not really sure how to deal with it, and I really need my best friend right now, so I was wondering if you could just talk to her tomorrow."

Her chest loosened in a wave of relief.

Bonnie's stare sharpened slightly, jaw locking. "Yeah, I know she has a test tomorrow." Her lips pressed into a humorless line, fingers tight around the phone. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it." A long beat. "She's in the shower right now, but I'll let he—" she let out a sharp sigh at what was likely an interruption, hand closing into a fist. "Matt. I need my fucking friend, alright? Just give me tonight. You'll survive."

She hung up without waiting for a response and proceeded to shut the phone off. Caroline stared at her hands, unable to bring herself to look her in the eye. Bonnie had always known Matt could be intense—she'd overheard enough of their fights to have a sense for that—but Caroline knew she'd never seen her quite like this. No one had.

She didn't know what to expect. Her skin burned with a paradoxical mixture of denial and shame. Was Bonnie mad at her? Was she mad at herself? Was she responsible for letting it happen, for letting it get to this point? She simultaneously wanted to convince her that it was all a misunderstanding and cry out all of the pent up emotions she'd been hiding, but before she could make a call, Bonnie's arms were around her, pulling her into a quiet, gentle hug.

And that was all it took for her to crack. She didn't know how long she cried. Minutes, hours—time blurred, dusk faded into night, and Bonnie merely sat with her in the tub, stroking her hair and occasionally murmuring that it was going to be okay. When Caroline finally managed to ease her sobs into the occasional hitched breath, she shot Bonnie a watery look.

"I'm s-so sorry."

Bonnie shook her head. "Care, you have nothing to be sorry about."

"No, no, I…" she swallowed, slowly pushing herself up to a full sitting position and letting out a strained little laugh. "This is my stupid melodrama and I dragged you into it and—"

"Caroline," Bonnie said firmly, pushing herself up along the side of the tub with a serious expression, "I don't know what you're going through right now, and I'm not going to pressure you to talk about anything you don't want to talk about. But please, please know," she reached forward to take light hold of her shoulders, giving her a loaded stare, "this isn't stupid. This is the antithesis of stupid. This is completely, heartbreakingly serious, and if he's somehow made you feel like any part of this is a joke, he's lying. The last thing this is is a joke."

Caroline merely stared at her, struggling not to start crying again—God, she was so sick of fucking crying—and before she could crack, she gave a quick nod and cleared her throat. "Can we talk about something else?"

Bonnie's expression softened. "Whatever you want." Caroline kept her bleary eyes on her trembling hands, struggling to come up with a topic, and after a long beat of silence, Bonnie slowly leaned forward. "Did you see yesterday's Real Housewives?"

Caroline slipped into a hoarse laugh. Bonnie hated The Real Housewives. "Orange County or Atlanta?"

Bonnie scoffed. "You know Hotlanta is the only way I roll."

Caroline's lips took on a weak smile. "No, I missed yesterday's." She waved a tired hand, smile straining. "Matt and all." Bonnie nodded, biting her bottom lip, and Caroline let out a shaky sigh. "I mean, I was supposed to be studying all weekend anyway, so… wouldn't have seen them either way."

Bonnie's brow furrowed. "Right, your final's tomorrow."

Caroline sighed, dropping her head against her knees. "I'm going to bomb it, Bon."

"You don't know that."

"Oh, but I do," Caroline said with a weak laugh. "I have twelve chapters left to cover and three of them are brand new."

Bonnie straightened up and checked her watch. "What time's your test?"

Her shoulders lifted into a vague shrug. "Nine."

"Nine," Bonnie repeated, eyes narrowing in brief calculation before she reached back and pushed herself up to her feet. Caroline's brow furrowed.

"What are you doing?"

"Switching my flight," Bonnie replied, stepping out of the tub and heading over to her abandoned bag, and Caroline lifted her head off her knees in alarm.

"What?"

"It's 8:30 now, which means that factoring in the time it'll take to get to campus, we have exactly twelve hours to get you ready to kick this final's ass."

Caroline merely blinked. "Bon, no, you're—" she shook her head as Bonnie fished out her phone and began typing away, baffled, "—you're done with the semester, people are expecting you back home, I can't—"

"Too late—done," she said, lips quirking at the corners, though her brow promptly furrowed. "Actually, should I fly out tomorrow night, or are we going to want to go out to celebrate your slayage?" At Caroline's dumbfounded silence, she nodded, lifting a finger. "You're right—figure that out later. Let's start with reinforcements."

She tapped her phone and brought it up to her ear, chewing her lip. "Lockwood," she said after a beat, "I need you to peace out of whatever party you're terrorizing freshman at and pick up literally every source of caffeine you can find from the 7-Eleven. Yep. Caroline's got a final tomorrow." Her brow furrowed after a second. "Obviously. And sour worms, too. And twizzlers." Her eyes flashed with attitude. "Do not snack shame me." She shot Caroline a 'can you believe this guy' look before turning around and waltzing out of the bathroom. "Oh, and see if the Delts have one of those study bibles for Micro…"

Caroline merely stared at the empty doorway, thoroughly overwhelmed, chest tight, tears once again pricking at her eyes, but this time they were from an entirely different emotion. She was so grateful she could burst. She'd been convinced her night would be her alone in their apartment, dreading the break of day, drinking cheap wine till she finally managed to pass out and forget for a while.

Instead, her night was Bonnie acting out vocab terms through overzealous interpretive dance, Tyler coming up with wildly inappropriate mnemonic devices for all the different laws, a constantly brewing pot of coffee, sixteen different heart-attack-waiting-to-happen snack options, and more five-hour-energy shots than should've been survivable. Tyler passed out on the armchair at about 5 AM, drooling on a stack of flashcards, but Bonnie somehow stuck it out till the bitter end, even going so far as to make her a 'healthy breakfast!' of pop tarts and runny eggs.

Caroline managed to survive the class with a B+.

A few months later, she would manage to survive Matt, too.

What she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to survive, wasn't sure she'd ever want to survive, was a life where her best friend and knight in 5-foot armor wasn't Bonnie high-kick-means-appreciating-asset-droppin'-it-low-means-depreciating-asset Bennett.

#six mornings after #sma caroline #sma matt #sma bonnie #sma tyler #sma maroline #sma baroline #sma forwood #writing #flashback

25 notes · View notes

kcexp-blog · 7 years ago

Video

youtube

MACHU PICCHU : TURISMO EN 360 GRADOS ( REALIDAD VIRTUAL ) a machu picchu de mochilero, a machu picchu en auto, a machu picchu en moto, calle 13 machu picchu, claudio iturra machu picchu canal 13, dschinghis khan machu picchu, famosos en machu picchu 2016, g adventures machu picchu, julian casablancas machu picchu, k-on machu picchu, kaliman machu picchu, karl pilkington machu picchu, katy perry machu picchu, los jaivas machu picchu 2011 hd, los jaivas machu picchu full album, machu picchu, machu picchu 100 años, machu picchu 100k, machu picchu 1080p, machu picchu 14, machu picchu 1911, machu picchu 1911 fotos, machu picchu 2, machu picchu 2007, machu picchu 2012, machu picchu 2015, machu picchu 2016, machu picchu 2017, machu picchu 2017 david cruz, machu picchu 360, machu picchu 360 grados, machu picchu 360 travel, machu picchu 360 video, machu picchu 360 video cloudscape 8k, machu picchu 360 virtual tour, machu picchu 3d, machu picchu 3d model, machu picchu 3d tour, machu picchu 3d virtual, machu picchu 4 day hike, machu picchu 4k, machu picchu 4k drone, machu picchu 4k ultra hd, machu picchu 4k video, machu picchu 5 dias 4 noches, machu picchu 5 pasos, machu picchu 60fps, machu picchu 7 maravillas, machu picchu 7 maravillas del mundo, machu picchu 88, machu picchu 8k, machu picchu al descubierto, machu picchu al descubierto - national geographic hd, machu picchu alan x el mundo, machu picchu alejandro guerrero, machu picchu alienigenas, machu picchu alienigenas ancestrales, machu picchu all fest, machu picchu antiguas megaestructuras, machu picchu antiguo, machu picchu arquitectura, machu picchu banda, machu picchu banda de musicos, machu picchu banda sinfonica, machu picchu barato, machu picchu barman in red, machu picchu bbc, machu picchu bebida, machu picchu blog, machu picchu brasil, machu picchu buen viaje, machu picchu cancion, machu picchu cara del inca, machu picchu chapter 3, machu picchu chato grados, machu picchu chile, machu picchu chileno, machu picchu coctel, machu picchu como se construyo, machu picchu construccion, machu picchu cusco, machu picchu cuy, machu picchu de noche, machu picchu descubrimiento, machu picchu desde el aire, machu picchu discovery, machu picchu documental, machu picchu documental history channel en español, machu picchu documental para niños, machu picchu documentary, machu picchu drone, machu picchu dschinghis khan, machu picchu electro, machu picchu elegida maravilla del mundo, machu picchu en 3d, machu picchu en 4k, machu picchu en 5 pasos, machu picchu en gta 5, machu picchu en ingles, machu picchu en minecraft, machu picchu es chileno, machu picchu es de chile, machu picchu explicada por ingenieros, machu picchu extraterrestres, machu picchu famosos, machu picchu fantasmas, machu picchu fifa 12, machu picchu foods, machu picchu foods planta callao, machu picchu footage, machu picchu forma de cara, machu picchu foster the people, machu picchu fotos, machu picchu full day, machu picchu full hd, machu picchu google, machu picchu google earth, machu picchu google earth 3d, machu picchu gopro, machu picchu gratis, machu picchu grupo, machu picchu guia turistica, machu picchu guiado, machu picchu guitar cover, machu picchu guitarra, machu picchu hd, machu picchu hd 1080p, machu picchu hecho por extraterrestres, machu picchu hidroelectrica, machu picchu history, machu picchu history channel español, machu picchu hotel, machu picchu hq, machu picchu huaylas, machu picchu huayno, machu picchu imagenes, machu picchu in english, machu picchu inca trail, machu picchu incas, machu picchu indu, machu picchu ingenieria, machu picchu ingenieria inca, machu picchu ingles, machu picchu instrumental, machu picchu isaac sanchez, machu picchu jaivas, machu picchu january, machu picchu japon, machu picchu jorge orellana, machu picchu jout jout, machu picchu jungle trek, machu picchu k-on, machu picchu karaoke, machu picchu kayak fest, machu picchu kids, machu picchu kramer, machu picchu la cara del inca, machu picchu la ciudad perdida de los incas, machu picchu la joya del emperador, machu picchu la puerta secreta, machu picchu la verdad, machu picchu live, machu picchu los simpson, machu picchu love for you, machu picchu lugares turisticos, machu picchu luisito comunica, machu picchu maqueta, machu picchu maravilla, machu picchu maravilla del mundo, machu picchu maravilla del mundo patrimonio de la humanidad, machu picchu marca peru, machu picchu minecraft, machu picchu misterios, machu picchu mochilero, machu picchu montaña, machu picchu musica instrumental, machu picchu natgeo, machu picchu national geographic, machu picchu national geographic english, machu picchu national geographic hd, machu picchu neon dreams, machu picchu neruda, machu picchu netflix, machu picchu noche, machu picchu nublado, machu picchu nueva maravilla del mundo, machu picchu o chichen itza, machu picchu obra, machu picchu obra banda, machu picchu obra de extraterrestres, machu picchu obra maestra de los dioses, machu picchu obra maestra de los dioses full hd, machu picchu oficial full hd, machu picchu ombligo del mundo, machu picchu orquesta, machu picchu ovnis, machu picchu para peruanos, machu picchu pedida de mano, machu picchu pelicula completa, machu picchu peru, machu picchu perú #1, machu picchu pio pio, machu picchu pop up, machu picchu portugues, machu picchu preparacion, machu picchu promperu, machu picchu pueblo, machu picchu que forma tiene, machu picchu que llevar, machu picchu que visitar, machu picchu quien construyo, machu picchu quien descubrio, machu picchu quien lo creo, machu picchu quien lo edificó, machu picchu quien lo hizo, machu picchu quilapayun, machu picchu qué es, machu picchu reaction, machu picchu realidad virtual, machu picchu recorrido, machu picchu reportaje, machu picchu reportaje al peru, machu picchu restaurant, machu picchu resumen, machu picchu road to the sky, machu picchu rock, machu picchu ruinas, machu picchu salkantay, machu picchu salsa, machu picchu satoshi yagisawa, machu picchu secretos, machu picchu secretos ciudad perdida, machu picchu simpsons, machu picchu sin alcohol, machu picchu song, machu picchu strokes, machu picchu su historia, machu picchu the strokes, machu picchu the strokes lyrics, machu picchu the strokes subtitulado, machu picchu tiene dueño, machu picchu tour, machu picchu trago, machu picchu trago preparacion, machu picchu travel, machu picchu turismo, machu picchu turistas, machu picchu ubicacion, machu picchu ufo, machu picchu ultimos descubrimientos, machu picchu ultra trail, machu picchu un misterio en el mundo, machu picchu una de las 7 maravillas del mundo, machu picchu una de las maravillas del mundo, machu picchu unesco, machu picchu viaje, machu picchu video, machu picchu video corto, machu picchu video promocional, machu picchu visita, machu picchu vista aerea, machu picchu vr, machu picchu vr 360, machu picchu vs isla de pascua, machu picchu walk, machu picchu walls, machu picchu water, machu picchu water system, machu picchu weather, machu picchu wikipedia, machu picchu wikipedia english, machu picchu willyrex, machu picchu wind ensemble, machu picchu wonder of the world, machu picchu y cusco, machu picchu y el huascaran saya, machu picchu y el rio vilcanota, machu picchu y huayna picchu, machu picchu y la puerta secreta, machu picchu y los extraterrestres, machu picchu y los ovnis, machu picchu y montaña, machu picchu y su arquitectura, machu picchu youtube national geographic, machu picchu zipline, machu picchu zoofunktion, ovnis en machu picchu 2016, spirits of machu picchu 2, terra x machu picchu, the strokes machu picchu karaoke, trial xtreme 4 machu picchu, trial xtreme 4 machu picchu 11, trial xtreme 4 machu picchu level 11, until dawn machu picchu, viaje a machu picchu 2016, zumba en machu picchu

#machu picchu en 360 #machu picchu 360 vr #videos en 360 #videos vr #videos peruanos en 360 #videos peruano vr #realidad virtual peru #realidad aumentada peru #mejor video 360 peru

1 note · View note

j-graysonlibrary · 1 year ago

Text

The Xiang Chronicles: Book Two Chapter 14

Title: The Xiang Chronicles: Book Two

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 98k

Genres: Fantasy, adventure, drama, LGBT+

Available on: my website

Full chapter 14 under the cut

Chapter XIV:

Siffi’s words rattled around in Heidi’s head as they walked through the thinner, more colorful forests of Kyrie. They no longer had to travel in a line or even in pairs down the road and crisp orange and blood red leaves floated down from the branches overhead. But Heidi could not appreciate the lovely scenery and she doubted she was alone in the matter.

Although her conversation with Siffi was undeniably less explosive than what happened inside of the cabin (which Heidi had yet to get specific details on but, still, having been right out back she had heard some yelling and slamming), she still felt exhausted from the ordeal.

The woman who stole her pouch apologized again for robbing her though for more selfish reasons than Heidi expected. “I wish I had just left all of ya alone…Miss Daila wouldn’t be dealin’ with this hassle…”

“Is she going to be mad at you?” Heidi asked curiously.

Siffi shook her head. “She might take a little more money as compensation for the trouble but she won’t be real mad. She’s a nice lady, really. I wish you all could see that.”

“No offense but just because someone is nice to you, that does not mean they are a good person.” Heidi crossed her arms as a few examples readily came to mind. She would not share them with this woman, as it was none of her business, but she was definitely thinking of two men in particular.

But, Siffi seemed confused. “What’s that mean?”

“It means what I said,” Heidi was not especially sure how to state it another way. She tried anyway. “Daila being nice to you does not mean she is nice to everyone. You get it?”

The woman’s face twisted even more. “What should I care how she treats other people? If she’s nice to me, then she’s a good person.”

Heidi almost laughed at the brazenly self centered explanation but it also filled her with a foreign sadness. “So why then, knowing you feel that way, do you care to prove to us that she is great?”

“Because you all are attacking her! It’s not fair!”

“You attacked us first by stealing my pouch and then your savior in there spent all of her son’s life attacking him—I think we have acted quite fairly,” Heidi argued.

But Siffi scowled. “I know nothing about the son. He’s probably just making it up. That’s what men do, after all, they lie.”

While it was true that Heidi did know Kira to be a liar and she had sometimes caught him doing so just for the fun of it, it seemed, she did not believe this was fabricated. There was real hurt on his face and, even if she did not know the details, she felt she had enough context to put a story together.

It was not as if this was something Kira would not lie about, it was more that, when faced with his mother, it was something he could not help but tell the truth with his expression and his reactions. Not only that but everyone else had reacted too which meant it was something Kira had talked to them about previously. If he was lying, for whatever reason, it would be a long and disturbing lie and for no notable gain.

“You are hopeless,” Heidi told the woman and sighed. There was a loud slam from the other end of the cabin, followed by a series of heavy snapping sounds. Not wanting to deal with Siffi anymore and also worried about the commotion, Heidi suggested, “Why don’t you check on your dear Miss Daila?”

After Siffi ran back in, Heidi looked around the area, quickly finding her brother and Baiya. She ducked behind a tree when she saw they were quietly talking and sitting rather close.

While being decent at lip reading, she would have needed to arrive at the beginning of the conversation to be successful��or at least have some context. A few times, she was sure she saw them say Kira’s name but, considering what all had just happened, it did not feel like a stretch.

Heidi focused harder and then stiffened up when the two leaned in. She expected a kiss, with that sort of motion, but Baiya must have chickened out at the last second and opted for a hug instead. He wrapped one arm around her brother’s body and, with his free hand, he wiped a few tears from his face.

She wondered what all Daila has said after she left to elicit tears from her brother. Maybe he killed her, she considered. In that scenario, perhaps Baiya was right not to move in for a kiss—although she was displeased to give him any credit, even hypothetically.

The two stopped talking as they held onto each other and Heidi ducked back behind the tree with a strange feeling settling in her gut. She was both happy for Pangu, in the sense that he was spending time with the person he liked, but she could not help but also suffer some level of heartache with an origin she could not quite place.

If only Baiya would just grow some balls and confess, she found herself thinking. Part of her considered interrupting the two, just to get the Agni disciple back for denying all of her previous attempts at help but she was not quite so petty.

Instead, she wandered about until the two were finished and came to find her on their own. Then, they caught up with Kira and Raine and returned to town.

It was shocking but also not surprising when there was a consensus not to kill Kira’s mother. Heidi could feel the hate and resentment coming off of, not just Kira, but everyone yet they left her alone. She figured it was related to the rules of being a Xiang but she could have sworn that, if a disciple murdered, then it was technically okay.

She still wondered if Kira regretted not killing his mother. He had been quiet since then—everyone had been really—but it no longer felt like they were on the edge of a knife or that they were wound up so tight they would snap at any moment.

Heidi slowed her pace and waited for Kira to catch up with her. Already, the Terran disciple shot her a wary expression but she did her best to smile. Then again, she thought at the last minute, maybe smiling was not the best approach so she wiped it away.

“Hey…” she started.

Kira sighed. “What, Heidi?”

“I just wanted to tell you that…” She paused to collect her words. “I…am sorry about what happened. With your mom…”

One of his eyebrows raised and he did not seem all that bothered but then he said, “You should be. It was your fault.”

Any sympathy Heidi had was ripped away. “Excuse me?” she scoffed. “How?!”

A smirk tugged at his lips. “Two reasons,” he said and held up two fingers, “One, your coin pouch is out in the open. You really need to hide that thing somewhere safe. Two, you can control air. Once you realized it was taken, you could have just drug the woman back or taken your bag away from her.”

Heidi’s jaw dropped. “Well I didn’t think of that! A lot was going on!”

Kira chuckled under his breath. “Just remember for next time, alright?”

And to think she had been trying to extend an olive branch, she stewed. That was the last attempt on her part for sure.

The horses slowed as they came upon a campsite and Heidi tied her horse to a tree while still grumbling to herself. When Kira walked off into the woods, she had half a mind to follow him and scold him for being such an obnoxious bastard but someone caught her arm.

Their grip was firm but not at all forceful and, once she turned to look, they let go. Of course, it was Raine. And he looked down at her with a smile. “Heidi, will you help me set up camp?”

For anyone else she would say no but she could not object to his face.

Raine needed her to leave Kira alone—perhaps after a few more days, he would be more open to speaking with her but now the wounds were still fresh and he was bound to react defensively.

As terrible as the debacle with Kira’s mother had been, Raine was grateful for one thing. Everyone, while being mostly silent since, had also been breathing easier. It seemed that even Pangu had let go of some brewing stress and he and Baiya were not avoiding each other anymore.

When Raine noticed the Xiang walking the same path through the woods that Kira had taken, he smiled a little to himself. Those two probably did need to talk, alone, so he committed to keeping Heidi occupied.

The trees were a mix of the colorful leaves native to Kyrie and some spry evergreens, especially as Pangu walked closer toward the sound of flowing water. A dark gray rock formation, almost tall enough to blot out the sun, peaked above the treetops as he walked closer and he saw that a steady flow of water sprayed off the rocks and down into the pool below.

At the waters’ edge sat Kira.

His eyes stayed on the rocky shore and Pangu followed his gaze to see a washed up fish which was soon filled with miasma and led back to the water to swim. It was not alive, of course, but Kira needed to release some of the poison building up in his body. Pangu was happy to see him take the initiative to do so on his own. Though he had been thinking lately that, with less miasma to deal with and the state of Kira’s body, perhaps he should start taking more of that burden again.

Pangu silently took a seat next to Kira although the sound of the pebbles under his weight gave him away. Still, his second disciple did not look over.

“I have mixed feelings about leaving your mother alive.”

That got his attention. Kira let go of the fish, causing it to float, belly up, on the surface, victim to the pushing and pulling of the falling water and subsequent ripples. He looked over at Pangu with his eyebrows narrowed in toward each other. “What?”

Pangu offered a short lived smile. “Never before have I wanted someone to die…I think I felt hate for the first time. I…I thought I knew what it was already but…” he shook his head. “I have never felt it so intensely.”

Kira was, naturally, surprised to hear the Xiang talk in such a way but he was also curious. “You mean you could not find any good in her?”

“I did not care to look for any good but I also doubt I would have had I looked.” He closed his hand into a fist and then said, much softer, “I almost killed her.”

“You what?” Kira turned in the rocks to face him better. It was hard to believe and even harder to imagine.

But the look in Pangu’s eyes told no lie. “She was so evil to you…she hurt you and talked so badly of you…I could not take it anymore. I felt nothing but rage and I…I almost choked her to death—crushed the air from her body…”

Kira tried to picture it and it was incredibly difficult. Still, he did feel touched in some way. He knew Pangu disliked people talking ill of him, even if their words held truth in them, but to think he would actually almost kill his mother?

He swallowed down the lump in his throat and asked, “What stopped you?”

“Baiya, for starters.” Pangu gave a dry, humorless laugh. “But I also did not have the right to take her life. That belongs to you and when you said you did not want to bother with her any longer…none of us had the authority to dispute it.”

“Well I figure she’ll die eventually,” Kira muttered. Really, he would have loved to have marched back into the cabin and tore her limbs off but not only would that have taken more time but he worried what long lasting effects having to keep that secret would have on everyone. He and Baiya had killed people together so he was not worried there and he already had permission from Raine and, while he did not care what Heidi thought, he could not help but be concerned over Pangu’s feelings on the matter. It was just ironic that, apparently, the Xiang had wanted her dead just as badly.

“I am glad in a way,” Pangu said, bringing his attention back to the present. “While I think you are the only one with the right to kill her, I also do not believe she deserves to be killed by you. It does not make much sense to me but…it is how I feel.”

“It is a bit contradictory but…what can you do? Emotions are just like that sometimes, I guess.” Kira sighed and looked back out to the pond and up at the waterfall.

Pangu took Kira’s hand while he was distracted and pulled off his glove. He turned his palm up in his hands and traced over the new black spots and lines. If he pushed the skin around his wrist, he could see his darkened veins.

“Does it look terrible?” Kira asked after a moment spent in silence.

“I should start absorbing miasma again,” Pangu said what had been on his mind earlier.

“No.” Kira pulled his hand back. “I just need to remember to dispel what I have more frequently.”

“Kira, there is not much left and I have already filtered out what hit me Ultimos. I am fine to take some.”

He shook his head and started to puppeteer the dead fish again. “I do not wish for you to have to do it at all.”

Pangu almost rolled his eyes but his disciple would not have seen anyway. So, he just leaned his head against Kira’s shoulder while he worked to clear out some more miasma from his body.

They stayed that way for a time, no longer having anything pertinent to say but just enjoying the company. Pangu could have fallen asleep a few times but the distant smell of dinner was keeping him awake.

Then, as the sun began to dip further, the sound of boots kicking rocks alerted them both to a new presence. Because Pangu was feeling out the energy in the area to ensure Kira was properly disposing of his miasma, he could tell right away who was standing behind them.

So he did not have to turn back to say, with confidence, “Hello, Baiya.”

“This is a nice spot,” he responded as he walked closer, coming to a stop in line with Kira’s other side. He set his hands on his hips and pushed one hip to the side more than the other. “It is no wonder you two were out here for so long.”

Kira stared at him hard for a second before commenting, “Whore.”

Pangu laughed without really meaning to but he blamed it on the scandalized look that came over Baiya’s face. It was even harder to keep the laughter at bay when the Agni disciple echoed in contempt, “Whore?”

“Yeah. Whore.” Kira smirked. “Who are you sticking that hip out for?”

Baiya threw his arms out after struggling with his words. “I do not know why I was even worried about you.”

“That is your mistake.”

He sighed but, instead of walking away, he took a seat beside Kira and kicked out some rocks as he got comfortable, sending them plopping into the water. “You are such a pain,” he commented and looked over at him.

Pangu smiled and lifted his head from Kira’s shoulder just so he could see them both. “I am glad to see the two of you in such a decent mood after how difficult these past few weeks have been.”

Neither could keep up their façades and they smiled. “The same could be said to you, Pangu,” Baiya replied.

He grinned and rested his head on Kira again to watch as the pinks and purples began to paint the sky behind the waterfall. Right after, Baiya moved an arm around Kira’s back and rested his head against the man in the middle as well.

“Get off me.” Kira grumbled yet made no effort to shake him, possibly out of worry he would disturb Pangu or possibly because he really did not mind as much as he pretended to.

Either way, Baiya took advantage of his position and nuzzled his head against Kira’s, laughing at the series of dissatisfied noises coming from him.

Kira, while muttering about Baiya’s indecency, could not help but think that it was now impossible for him to lament over his lack of family in his life. Not with these leeches around.

#the xiang chronicles #my novel #my writing

1 note · View note

kawahageshii · 9 years ago

Text

Karakuridoji Ultimo VOLUME 11

YAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

A LOT of pictures and caps lock under the cut, the word of the day here is “beautiful”

OK SO I went to Barnes and Noble and I FOUND KDU Volume 11 and I was so HAPPY (surprisingly - B&N’s manga selection is getting rather good these days…actually alarmingly so… are weebs finally taking over the world?) I would’ve screamed and just started reading it right there but I had work so I spent the next 9 hours pent up in anticipation.

Pardonner looks so beautiful. So, so beautiful. He’s my favorite character in this entire manga, and I always wished that he got a cover. AND HE DID. MY BEAUTIFUL BAE <333333333 This volume cover is seriously gorgeous, I especially love the detail on his gauntlets. It’s definitely my new favorite.

HUMANFORM!BAE

KIYOSE

Here’s the book summary of the shit that’s gone down so far

ALL RIGHTTT HERE WE GOOOOO, 5 CHAPTERS AND PROFILES AFTERWARDS

SO IF YOU REMEMBER FROM LAST TIME, YAMATO WAS SUDDENLY TRANSPORTED TO THE FUTURE, TO FIND EVERYONE TEAMED UP

Hana is now 12, and Sumako is now 34, and Hana thanks Yamato for “messing” with her back in postwar Japan.

HI VICE! Our Yamato is called Hopeful Yamato by his new allies to differentiat from Pimp coat Future!Yamato

Vice’s VBFTD Icon Form is badass

RUNE!!!!!!! #Finessing on all of us as always <3. He looks TOTALLY impressive Yamato whatya talkin bout? Also, seven years older means he’s 21 now right? mi bebe is old enough to turn up now ;~; Anyways, explanation time

So many exclamation! points! in this translation! Ok so Beginning Yamato came up with the idea to bring everyone together to defeat Dunstan, but they failed because Vice went wild and shit. Ending Yamato (Pimp coat Yamato that came and got our Yamato) tried again, and we are now in his future.

Rune ;~; someone wikiquote this shit. I wonder how him and Ending Yamato resolved - or at least settled - things between them to join forces?

YAAAAAAAAAAS ENDING YAMATO

The gang’s all here :’)

Everyone looks pretty cool - except for….Murayama Musashi. What….Happened to the rest of your body brah? Did someone finally try to chop that long neck of yours down? How did you manage to survive decapitation for more than 2 seconds? I have so many queschions

OH SHIT - BUT WHERE’S THE SIXTH MEMBER SAYAMA??

She’s joined forces with her father, it seems like.

This is my favorite title page from KDU, it’s been one of my laptop backgrounds for a while now

Yamato :(((((

Seeing these chapters collected into one volume makes it more apparent how abrupt and, dare I say, rushed this story development was?

Ok so I guess she didn’t erase his memories, Ending Yamato sent him back in time before she was able to do that

Nooooo Yamato don’t say that. Also Ulti’s Houndstooth cap is still everything

YOICHI AND SERVICE!!!!!! Ahhhhhhh my chest hurts Service looks so freaking cute. and YES YOICHI GO OUT AND DRINK YOU DESERVE IT we all deserve one too

So at the bar/lounge place Yoichi gives Yamato a pep talk and Yamato sees that everyone has burdens that turns them either good or evil, and Sayama must certainly have a huge burden herself.

AAAAANDDDDD

HOLY ROCK ‘N ROLLY IT’S FUSSA FUSATARO AND RAGE!!!! And what beautiful placement of the security sticker

Rage also looks so, so beautiful.

“My duds” “Bizness” Jesus Christ

“Maybe.” LMFAO WHAT

tfw not even Fussa has faith you’d make it in the music industry

#whohurtu

For some reason, Fussa wants to help Yamato with his quest to join good & evil

LMFAO with these lines it’s a wonder how come nobody is flocking to be your bro Fussa. They sure have had a lot of fun translating this series

Rage’s face here tho

Fussa Fusataro is probably the most well-developed evil doji master in this series (besides from Rune). bravo? bravo.

Also RUNE MI BEBE!!!!!! Oh you with your…..hurtful and misguided misogyny!

Rune dressed in a beautiful patterned kimono, flower in his hair. Kuroshitsuji!Jealous. I’m content.

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT

Strategy shit idrc, but Rune’s like “FOOLISH BAE THAT’S MY BAE”

Ok Rage is a fucking badass in this battle. It’s quite a pity this is the most we’ve ever seen of his actual persona he’s a pretty cool character. He is dragging Ultimo and all of the haters that ever made fun of his hair right into hell with him

“Now we’ll NEVER be bros…but that’s reality” FUCK I love him

Rune intervenes before they can kill Yamato tho. That panel with Rune looking scary omg I need an adult. Also, for some reason it reminds me of something Togashi Yoshihiro would draw, circa sloppy YYH Three Kings arc days?

Jealous’ hesitation here is #beautiful, very nice character development

I need an adult pls

What just came together?

Hi Ulti!

Hi Yoichi and Service!!

YAAAAAAAAAASSSS THE LOVE BATTLE IS HAPPENING

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, here we have (I believe) the last times we see my beautiful daughter Mizho and Jun up close

hahhhahahaha BURN HIM VICE

oh nooooo Sayama’s gone over to the dark side

GOD ULTIMO FRONTAL TILL DAWN

Ok so I don’t want to bend my book too much, but one of the best battles in the entire manga goes on, and Rune is getting absolutely rekt, so much so that Fussa wants to step in

This is more or less what Musashi told Fussa earlier - his rage is just a product of his love, whether it be for music or for his teammates.

For some reason Jealous can’t read Yamato’s heart anymore because it’ll make them weaker? The battle ends with Yamato managing to grab Rune’s spear, stopping him.

I’m posting this speech in its entirety because it’s quite amazingly #beautiful, and I feel that this right here both is the climax of the entire manga and a lovely summary of the message this series has been trying to convey. Yamato has truly become such a great leader, and this shows how far he’s come throughout everything that’s gone on.

Rune :-:

BUT ALL OF A SUDDEN SAYAMA SHOWS UP!! Dun dun dun - cliffhanger. To…. the next and last volume :(

Ok, now onto the Character Profiles. Yamato looks very stressed at having to memorizes all of these faces haha

They show the doji’s Icon forms and give a brief description of each of the doji themselves. It starts with Sophia. The sentences describing how their particular vice or virtue manifests is interesting. Sophia’s wisdom “consists in devising solutions and making decisions”. Also it’s nice to have a list of all of their battle moves theyve used

Here’s Pardonner’s - the page wouldn’t bend all the way so that’s why this pic is lopsided af btw. Minor typo - I believe it’s supposed to be “patience” instead of wisdom.

Goge~~~~ His theme color is revealed to be…. chestnut?

Slow~~~~ I really like his Icon form

Service~~~~ I don’t recall ever seeing his attacks Jackknife and Jackhammer

Rage’s Icon form is a good contender for coolest design, along with Slow’s, Paresse’s, and Desir’s imo. The gauntlets on his arms are shaped like guitars. His theme color is revealed to be *drumroll* azure. Rage is blue!! Does that mean his ridiculously long pompadour is blue, or white? So many #queschions

Also I feel that they should’ve translated it as “ox” rather than cow. Demon Ox sounds a lot better than Demon Cow haha

Ahhh Paresse!! “His sloth consists in being lazy” o k. His theme color is revealed to be pine green!! And his animal is the snake!! Ok so I know a lot of people anticipated his animal to be the snake, but idk I was looking up how praying mantises are perceived in Japan, and I feel that they fit his attack style and design more. But then again, snakes are just as dangerous lying in wait too, plus snakes are cooler lol.

Also, take a look at his attacks… the first one listed for all of the doji is their Noh… Paresse’s first attack is called “Netherworld”. HOLY FUCK. Does this Paresse’s Noh was actually necromancy?????!!!!!!!!!!! I’m really disappointed we never got to see it!! It could’ve played as a pretty huge factor in the manga - example would be earlier in this manga Rage falcon punched Yamato and Fussa went “O wait hurting doji master’s is against the rules”. Well if Paresse’s noh is indeed necromancy, they wouldn’t have to worry about that. Hmm but perhaps his Noh would’ve been limited to only doji? But also in that case, they wouldn’t have to worry about any of the doji getting destroyed?

So many #queschions and….missed opportunities…..

Avaro!! Last but not least. His theme color is revealed to be gray. You know I would’ve liked a cover with Avaro on it. And instead of just being him, it would be a bunch and bunch of copies of him all crowding the cover & the back. His attack names sound cool too - I wonder what “Void Star “ does

And…..that’s the end to the penultimate volume of Karakuridoji Ultimo :’(. I’m not ready for the end. I actually have not seen the last chapter at all, so I’m in complete suspense wondering what happens. At least a major plot point that got resolved ( well, until Sayama showed up) was between Yamato and Rune, and I’m very happy with how it was done. It was also nice to see some great action, both in doji and Icon form.

Thanks for reading, I’m sorry of the varying quality of each picture & the angles T_T please like comment and subscribe kthx&bye

#karakuridoji ultimo #karakuridouji ultimo #ultimo chapter reactions #long post #i wouldnt recommend reading this on mobile....

42 notes · View notes

kawahageshii · 10 years ago

Text

ULTIMO VOLUME TEN

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR...THE ANNUAL EVENT WHERE JUMP USA REMEMBERS TO RELEASE MY FAVE MANGA....

First off, THANKS SO MUCH TO lu—douji for the translations of these chapters! No really everyone go to her inbox now and say thank you.

~Spoilers, Confusion, and lots of pictures under the cut~

Eater/Edile/Edere on the cover~ (I think his name is supposed to be Edere?)

Purple is my fave color so I like this cover

Ume <3!

Look at this mess

Five chapters in this volume~ I hope Takei continues the character profiles, they were interesting to read.

All right chapter 39 let's do this

I love how Yamato always mentions his mom's job but he doesn't know what it is

tfw Ulti will never cook dinner for you

Aww Yamato wants to defeat Dunstan so that he can free Ultimo

Yamato's mom is the best

(also idk whether it's my dying phone or not but I'm sorry for how blurry the pictures are)

ULTI I-------

This is the first time Yamato's father was mentioned.....foreshadowing....?

If Dunstan turns out to also be Yamato's father I would lose all of my shit

tfw Ulti will never call you MOM-SAMA

I fucking cannot

for those who are new to this series and are just picking up this volume Welcome to Karakuridouji Ultimo.

SAME AKITSU

ASLK;AGDKSL;

tfw your crush keeps walking in on you undressing little boys

Ok... apparently the Good Doji Club is going on a field trip

Why though

Ok....? They're going back in time to find out how good and evil came to be in modern Japan...?

Back in her previous life she was the leader of the gang but was she really on Kaizo Oume's side or did he just think she was evil?

YAAAS AVARO YAAAS

His Noh is called Pyramid Scheme very fitting

I wonder if Ulti ever takes advantage of his Time Noh like he'd be cooking dinner for Yamato and his mom and the food accidentally burns and he's like "NO!!" and turns back time five minutes.

Cute doji and cute friends to the rescue

Sayama can be (and is) very unsettling sometimes

They say it was Regula who noticed the fight going on but we know it was her daddy who told her about it

HAY VICE

OH SHIT

VICE STOLE ULTIMO'S NOH

"THAT IS EVIL'S BADDEST MOST WORSTEST INCOMPETENCE!!"

Idk if it's intentional for Vice to always come off like a 9-year-old in his lines but it's cute

I don't like how they translated his Noh as "Incompetence" that's so...not badass sounding?

But anyways, in Vice's new form he can now steal any Noh ability, good or bad, and use it himself.

Why is Vice so amazing and cool and not my son

HAY RUNE AND JEALOUS

Hopefully Vice didn't hear that since they are on a rooftop right above him

I agree Sense Manipulation is a pretty scary Noh when you think about it

Rune gets it

RUNE'S ONTO HER

Not Sophia!!!!

But hey Vice what's up

"This is a gun" quickly turned into "this is a hand" this time

When will Murayama learn to never bring a gun to a doji fight?!

Idk what exactly happened here but Vice got distracted attacking Murayama, and that let Yamato stop time?

Murayama's turn to be badass, I guess

Lol ok, we encountered a slight delay but don't worry, Crane Plane will continue its scheduled flight to 1947. Did they just shoot Vice then run to the van?

Aww this chapter title page is a family photo. Haha @ Slow squatting like a slav

It's ok Yamato I too talk everyone's ear off when I'm driving....probably why I'm not a good driver....

Musashi is handsome when he's not being rude

MURAYAMA'S ONTO YOU GIRL

yeah wtf was Dunstan thinking giving Vice that power If I'm understanding this correctly Vice could potentially steal Dunstan's powers and shut the whole funeral down

BUT SAYAMA'S ALSO ONTO HIM BECAUSE HE'S ONTO HER DADDY

I thought Milieu only controlled Reincarnation, and it was Dunstan who had all of the Noh?

It would be nice to learn more about Milieu he's so ~mysterious~

Aww Yamato's always thinkin about his best friend

They arrived~ to 1947

Kaizo we did not just travel back in time 70 years to see you again pls go away

Pastlife!Ume!!!!

Machi and Hiroshi!!! Omg I remember they were my fave when the manga was just starting they were my dear OTP <3

Future!Yamato sent them to this time....but like....why

AWWWWWYEAHHHHHHHH So my theory from a year ago was right everyone did travel back in time

Now, the question is if it was intentional for them to travel three years before the Good Doji Club....Imagine Vice and the crew getting there and Vice is like "HAHAA GOTCHA BITCHES" cue crickets and Jealous goes "...no one is here." When everyone figures out Vice traveled them back in time too early BY YEARS they all get pissed and refuse to talk or listen to Vice for months afterwards.....

RUNE!! Or should we call him(her? I'm pretty sure this is our Rune?) Officer Rune now ;)

Does Yamato even know what erotic means either

Yoichi adopt me I'll eat dinner with you!! ;A;

Yamato it's post-WWII Japan no one's going to be swimming at the beach

Aw, Kiyose, Akitsu, and Ume are ~soul sisters~

Yay delivering food

Miyu was very wise I wonder if she would have been a good master for Sophia (then again, I think Dunstan picked Musashi because he's so naive)

YAMATO PLEASE

HANA KOGANEI AND EATER!!!!!

Yamato it's only been like 2 days how can you forget that toothy grin

Hana looks delightfully evil here

Uhh I thought her last name was Koganei? Like after the train station in Tokyo? 小金井?

Battle of the Bowling Ball Heads

Topsy Turvy Bright Killer!!

Ultimo came to stop time~

I like Murayama but why is he such an asshole to Sophia

Yamato <33

Hana's dress is too cute I'd like to think that all of the doji masters and/or Eater spoil her

You know for being the Contemplation Master Hibari doesn't think over her decisions that much

I LOST MY SHIT THE FIRST TIME I SAW FUTURE!YAMATO AND I'M LOSING IT AGAIN

This series is reaching insane levels with every chapter

Holy Rock 'N Rolly it's Fussa Fusataro!!!

And Hidaka Akira!

AND MIZHO!!!!

Savate Deathsa-Scythe!!!!

Avaro's ICON is the best copies and copies of him are so badass

I still cannot handle K

Hay Vice and K (how did K convince Vice to lug him up there?)

Yaaa that's the end

This was a very eventful volume. But like....this series is becoming increasingly convoluted. I can't put my finger on how, since everything is explained to the point of redundancy. There's always something new developing about the plot, or a new ability being shown, but we're not actually moving forward? No one has actually made any progression in the 100 Machine Funeral yet, or find out anything on Dunstan and how to beat him?

But anyways 10/10 congratulations on reaching 10 volumes Takei, and here's to hoping you are able to wrap all of this up!

#karakuridoji ultimo #ultimo chapter reactions #karakuridouji ultimo #long post

33 notes · View notes