#when a demon treats you better than a whole village

[justanotherlostgrl]

I've found one of the best sns fix-it fics ever and I'm so invested and i love it and it's so good. The only catch? It's not finished, and hasn't been updated since 2020. How am I supposed to continue my life normally now? Maybe y'all have read it, it's Of Harrowed Hearts by @sablescribe, and if you haven't, please read it, I promise you won't regret it. It has tons of fluff but it doesn't abandon the original plot, just some significant changes and istg it's one of the best fics I've ever read

[ponderingmoonlight]

could you do an obanai x reader where the he treats the reader rlly badly like being rude/cold and when the reader gets badly injured (like on the verge of dying) he realises he loves them and treats them better. 🔥🔥

Beneath the serpent's mask

Pairing: Obanai x fem!reader

Word Count: 1,8k

Synopsis: Despite you always staying soft and thoughtful, it seemed like Iguro Obanai hated you more than anything else. Until you risk your life for him. Until your nearly die.

Warnings: big big angst like we all love, Obanai is really sassy in this one, but you'll learn to love him hehe

Obanai Iguro was never an easy man to get along with. Known for his sharp tongue and cold demeanor, he kept most people at arm's length, including you. Despite your best efforts to form a connection with him, Obanai remained distant, cold, and sometimes even outright rude. You, on the other hand? Maybe the greatest sunshine within the whole corps.  

Nobody really understands how you could fall for a man like him. Something about the way he carries himself, his unwavering dedication, and the flashes of vulnerability he rarely shows made your heart long to know him better. But every time you tried to get closer, he pushed you away with cutting words or outright indifference. And even though the rejection hurt each and every time, you continued to fight by his side, believing that one day he might see you as more than just a nuisance.

Today wasn’t that day, though. You are on a mission with Obanai, tracking a particularly dangerous demon that has been terrorizing a remote village. The tension between you is unmistakable as you walk side by side through the darkened forest, the only sound being the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. Obanai barely spoke a word to you since the mission began, his expression hidden behind his usual bandages.

“Obanai,” you begin, trying to break the silence,

“do you think we’ll find the demon soon? The villagers said it’s been getting more aggressive these past nights.”

He doesn’t even glance your way, his voice as cold as the night air.

“If you focused more on the mission and less on talking, we’d find it faster.”

You flinch at the harshness of his tone, your heart sinking. It shouldn’t even bother you anymore when he talks with you like that. After all, he’s been like this since the moment you’ve met him. You have no right to feel hurt by his cold tone.

And still, you do.  

“I’m just trying to help,” you murmur, feeling the sting of his words really sink into your heart.

“If you really want to help, then stay out of my way. You’re more of a disadvantage than anything else,” he snaps.

When his gaze finally meets yours, it’s filled with nothing but irritation.

The words hit you like a physical blow. You trained hard to be where you are and hearing him belittle your efforts is painful. Those countless nights you’ve spent training, the pain you’ve had to endure to finally get called a hashira…for nothing?

But instead of contradicting, you swallow the hurt and nod, falling silent as you continue to walk beside him.

When you finally reach the demon’s hideout, you feel the evil aura in the air. The demon is close, without any doubt. Obanai unsheathes his sword and you follow suit, your heart pounding in your chest. This is your chance to prove yourself, to show Obanai that you are capable.

After that, you have no further time to think or react. The demon is powerful, its speed and strength far surpassing any you faced before. You barely manage to shield your throat from its teeth when it attacks out of the shadows, leaving you falling to the ground.

Obanai continues to fight with the skill and grace that had earned him his reputation as a hashira, but even he’s struggling to keep up with the demon’s relentless strikes. Over and over, you try as good as you can, attack again and again in order to support the man you have your eyes on. But that demon… It targets your weaknesses, exploits your lack of experience without any mercy.

You can’t stand a chance.

“Stay back!” Obanai shouts at you as the demon lunges at you with full speed.

You tried to dodge, but it was too fast. Its sharp teeth rack across your side and pain explodes in your abdomen as you were thrown to the ground.

Obanai’s eyes widened in shock when he sees you fall, blood pooling beneath you. The demon turns its attention back to him, but something in him snaps. With a roar of fury, he unleashes a barrage of attacks, his blade moving faster than the eye of the demon can follow. In the matter of seconds, the demon is finally decapitated, its body disintegrating into ash.

But Obanai doesn’t care about the victory. The only thing he can think about is you lying motionless on the ground. He rushes to your side, his heart hammering in his chest. He drops to his knees beside you, his hands trembling as he reaches out to touch you.

“(y/n)…”

His voice is barely a whisper, all the harshness of those past weeks gone and replaced by a raw, desperate fear. Blood stains your entire uniform, your skin deathly pale as your eyes flutter open weakly.

“Obanai...”. your faint voice mumbles.

And despite the visible pain that glisters in your eyes and all those things he said to you earlier, you smile up at him.

“Why did you do that?”, he demands, his voice cracking as he pressed his hand against the wound to stop the bleeding.

“Why didn’t you listen to me? You should have stayed back!”

“I wanted...to help you. I couldn’t just...stand by and do nothing,” you gasp with shallow breath.

“You idiot,” he mutters softly.

And for the first time since you know him, tears sting his eyes while he looks down at you for the first time.

“You’re so stupid. You should have let me handle it.”

“I know. I’m sorry…” you whisper.

You feel so tired. It’s impossible to stop your eyes from closing when exhaustion overtakes you.

“No, don’t you dare to close your eyes. Stay with me, (y/n), I’ll help, just…just stay with me!”

Panic surges through him when he sees you slowly but surely fading away. And for the first time since his childhood, Obanai is forced to feel the stinging sensation of fright again.  

You’re growing colder in his hands with each passing minute, your breathing more labored.

“I’m sorry...for being...a burden,” you whisper, your voice barely audible as your eyes begin to close.

Obanai’s heart clenches in his chest. Why would you think you were a burden? All the times he had pushed you away, been cruel to you... His eyes widen in sheer horror. He realizes now, in this moment, how blind he has been. So afraid of getting close to someone, of being hurt, that he hasn’t allowed himself to see what was right in front of him.

You with your warm smile. You with that voice so angelic that he could listen to it all day. You in that uniform or in that kimono you only wear to special occasions. You, loved by everyone with your eyes on him only.

And now, it might be too late.

“No, no, no, please...”

His voice cracks while holding you close, tears spilling down his cheeks like a waterfall.

“Don’t leave me. I…I need you. I can’t do this without you. Please, (y/n)... I’m sorry. I’m so sorry...”

You want to respond, to comfort him, but you can’t find the strength. Your vision starts fading, darkness creeping in from the edges. The last thing you see is Obanai’s tear-streaked face as he begs you to stay with him.

Then, everything goes black.

-two days later-

When you open your crusty eyes, find yourself in a bed with soft sheets wrapped around your aching body. The room is dimly lit, the soft glow of lanterns casting warm light across the walls. You blink a few times, disoriented while trying to remember what happened.

The last thing that comes to your mind is that demon, the pain, and Obanai’s voice, desperate and pleading.

“(y/n)...?”

This voice. So soft, filled with a mixture of relief and guilt. You turn your head to see Obanai sitting beside your bed, his eyes red and tired, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Obanai...”

Your voice is weak and your mouth feels dry like the desert, but you manage a small smile.

“I’m...alive?”

“Barely,” he murmurs.

He reaches out, hesitating for a moment before taking your hand in his.

“Shinobu…said you were lucky to survive. I thought... I thought I’d lost you.”

“I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to worry you,” you croak, squeezing his hand gently.

“Don’t apologize,” he replies quickly, shaking his head.

“It’s me who should be apologizing. I’ve treated you so horribly, pushed you away when all you wanted was to help. I was so afraid of losing someone I care about that I didn’t realize I was hurting you.”

You look up at him with your doe eyes, surprised by the vulnerability in his voice. This is a side of Obanai you have never seen before, a side that he kept hidden beneath layers of coldness and indifference. But you always knew it was there. You always knew that Obanai has in fact a big heart.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong and you almost paid the price for my stupidity. I don’t know if you can ever forgive me, but... I promise I’ll do better. I’ll be better. I don’t want to lose you. It took me way too long to realize how important you are to me, (y/n)…”, he continues, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tears well up in your eyes a, the sincerity in his voice breaking through the last of your defenses. You waited so long to hear him say something like this, to show you that he cared about you as well.

“Obanai...”

You squeeze his hand tighter, your heart swelling with emotion.

“I forgive you. I always have. Just... don’t push me away again.”

He nods, his grip on your hand tightening as if he’s afraid to let go.

“I won’t. I promise.”

For the first time since you know him, you see Obanai smile. A small, hesitant smile, but it is real. And in that moment, you know that things will be different from now on. The walls he built around his heart begun to crumble, and you are there to help him rebuild.

Together.

-a few months later-

„Shinazugawa-san, have you any idea where (y/n) went? I need to ask her about the medicine she produced earlier.”

“Where is she supposed to be apart from Obanai, huh? Seems like all these guys do is piling each other with love”, Sanemi grumbles through gritted teeth.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you are jealous, Shinazugawa-san-“

“Me, jealous? Because he found his true love and a girl that adores him more than anything else? Jealous because he only spends time with her now, because they sleep in the same bed every night? Jealous because I can’t understand how he pulled a girl like that? Just…shut up!”, Sanemi snaps back, earning a heartfelt giggle from Shinobu.

“I will go find (y/n) now. But maybe you should talk to Iguro-san about your discomfort”, the insect pillar comments before making her way towards Obanai’s estate.

There you sit, devoured in his arms and cloak, your face bathing in the sun with that signature small smile decorating your lips.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I was wondering if we could talk about the medicine you gave the blond-haired boy earlier”, Shinobu begins, earning a deadly glare from Obanai himself.

“Sure! Did it work?”, you question while peeling yourself out of his longing arms.

“Amazingly. He’s fully healed now.”

There it is again. That signature bright beam decorating your face that makes your eyes sparkle.

“I’m glad to hear that. I’ll be back in a few hours, my love.”

“Don’t be gone for too long. And take good care of her, insect pillar”, Obanai replies in a warning tone.

“Of course!”

Tags: @chilichopsticks @hellkaiserinphoenix  @ynackerman9499 @keepghostly @beatrexworld

@froufrousnowman @hidazinie @tomiokathedepresso  @poketrainer2270 @chaoticwinnercupcake

@lees-chaotic-brain @wordskeeper @polarbvnny @sugu-love @ryva @baku2345

@komelrebi-san @kentocalls @barbuse @sunshine7queen @lavenderdrxp

@yaninnaacu @hopefulbelievertimemachine @vrystalius @sanemifucker @blunderland

[newkatzkafe2023]

Can you please have the Monkey Kings reacting to their monkey S/O (gender unimportant) who's super motherly/fatherly/parental towards any kids they cross paths with? Like SWK's knew his S/O to be a fierce sharp-tongued warrior, now he's seeing them playing with human kid and monkey cubs like they were their own...

Baby fever incoming!!!!!🤯🤯🤯🤭🤭🤭

(Lmk Wukong) He couldn't believe his eyes. You With the ability to put the fear Of god into your many enemies. You are over here caring for the baby monkeys like you are their mom. I've been doing that for many years being together with him , but sometimes it still baffles him. One time you were caught away. What are the long keys that wouldn't stop crying? And the second he was in your arms. He was at peace again. It was like you were meant to do this while being a powerful warrior. He tends to daydream about. What would it be like when you guys have your very own cub. God never fails to put a blush on his face. He is really wondering if you are trying to tell him something???

(NR Wukong) He has been noticing does something's going on with you. You who can beat the crap out of demons Enemy is left and right You've been getting side tracked by the children of the city. You would watch all of them like a hawk and made sure they don't get into it any trouble. One time a little human girl almost ran into the street and you with your inhumane reflexes got her by her arm before a Motorcycle can hit her. You even treated Li like He was your son making sure he ate healthy got plenty of sleep even go As far as washes clothes or bandage up his bruises. He's starting to wonder if you yourself wants to be a mother. But he's nervous to ask cause last time you broke his mask While he was wearing it. But between you and me you will love to be mother

(HIB Wukong) He noticed how You are much more attentive to Liuer then he is. Not just with him but with all the village children. He has seen you viciously rip the head Of a demon that was messing with the tool of you. But the next moment you're helping a young mother calmed down her new born baby. Like you were the mother of that child as well. It probably doesn't help out a lot of the Village children dubbed you as mama (Y/N). As you were always protecting them along with protecting Liuer If this doesn't get it through Wukong's Thicks Skull that you want a child then I don't What to tell you.

(Mk Reborn Wukong) He seen you like that with fruity. You lay watse to demon armies for a living yet You find yourself attending to a tiny baby fruit fairy??? You clearly don't seem Mind but it's confusing to him a little. He would always tease you about it and you would always cave his face in. Even with the monk in the village , the children would rather talk to you than to him. Your answers to things are funnier , but it makes more sense to where they even they'll understand. Then they will come and ask more questions what's your patient enough to answer. He could not believe his eyes. Usually when people are annoying, you would already rip their heads off their shoulders. But then again, these are just children that are talk into you. They're no real threat or annoyance they're just being themselve. When this whole journey thing is over , he'll wanna pull you to the side and ask if you want to start a family. You know wanna you won't kill him.

(Netflix Wukong) He is already aware of how popular you are with the village children. One moment you're caving in the face of a invader Is demon who dared to attack Your home. The next moment you're on your helping a small child who scraped their knee. You even kissed it better to be sure does there no longer in pain. You also get protective Of my inner things falling objects treacherous walk ways Do we even take the time to explain to the children That there are some tools they are far too young to use yet Such as kitchen knives. You don't even like them running around with sticks they found on the ground You watch every single one of them like a hawk just like a mother would. A lot at a time he will be on the side blushing of already imagining the family you would probably have In the late future.

FEEL FREE TO REBLOG

[aokoaoi]

hello, i forgot if i already send you my request or not... but if i am alreadg forgive me, i just want a lo'ak x f!reader when she closes to tuk and tuk loves her so much. when quaritch captures them, loa'ak saves them and saying he will never leave them alone again. thank you

protectiveness.

— pairings : lo'ak x fem!reader.

— warnings : slight avatar the way of water spoilers. slight violence.

— author's note : i loved writing the last parts sm💀. ty for the request! sorry it took so long though:').

Lo'ak loves how you treat his younger sister, Tuktirey. Often times, he even feels jealous of how close you and Tuk were. Like, him and you would just be hanging out by yourselves, and then the little girl would just randomly spawn outta nowhere and start crying for your attention..

You shouldn't have fed that girl your love all the time. Now she hogs you away from him as of there was no tomorrow for your attention. But of course, Tuk is just little after all, so she has to be treated fairly.

Still, Lo'ak just wishes she'd stop taking you away every few hours.

Not only him that loves you, but his whole family does. In fact, they treat you like you were apart of the Sully's. See, a small backstory for you was that you've never really had real parents. Yes, you were real Na'vi and did come out of a mother's womb, but you weren't raised by them.

You were left on your own in the clan, and your parents were no where on sight. You didn't have any other relatives too, so you practically just raised yourself. Neytiri was the one who learned about the absence of your parents and decided to take you in despite you repeatedly refusing.

You were probably around eight or nine around the time his mother decided to raise you. She said you still had lots to learn, but it wasn't too late for you to be taught the Na'vi ways since you were still somewhat young.

But even though his mother took you into her care and family, you didn't live with them like Kiri did. In fact, you had a place of your own and that's where you always hid when you wanted to be alone. You only ever come to their place when they want you to visit(which is practically everyday) but you always end the day back at your home.

Lo'ak had to admit, he wished you'd stop being so stubborn and just live with his family. He'd get to see you everyday, and he'll probably get more chance to hang out with you. Without Tuk.

And so of course, when the sky people landed their dirty asses back on pandora and the Suli family had to move to a more hidden village in order to protect their home in the forest, you were dragged with them.

You've got to admit, you wouldn't last a week without Neytiri's kids being literal chaos around you. You simply loved their bond.

It was nice living with the Awa'atlu, but minus the bullying, constant fighting, and how Lo'ak literally almost DIED. You loved their village, it was so open and fresh. You also happened to befriend a pretty girl named Tsireya.

You wondered if she liked Lo'ak considering how she looks at him.. you hoped not.

You'd rather be dragged under solid ground than admit you liked the boy. It was just a simple admiration anyway, it'll probably just pass as another crush phase like always. Plus, the boy probably only sees you as a reaaally close friend.

Anyway, Tsireya and him would look much more better. You've got to say it for yourself as well, you're probably starting to like Tsireya too. In a slight supportive platonic girl friend way.. yeah, totally.

And as the days went by, the more you learned about their ways. From the Ilu's, the proper way to swim, and to their environmental differences. But in those days, the sky people were also nearing. Ready to attack.

You so badly prayed among greatmother Eywa to stop those demons from harming your family and the Metkayina clan, but it was to no avail when you learned those demons were going from islands to islands, demanding of Jake's location.

You've never learned alot about the sky people, but Lo'ak along with his parents have told you enough to make you curse their every existence.

You desperately tried to shake away the marines trailing after you as it gained on your trail. You looked back, seeing as they were now closer. You didn't know where you are, and you were lost amongst the sea of long kelps with none of your friends with you. You swiftly turn, coincidentally missing a fire they shot at you as you did so.

Ditching the marine as you forced your way through the big leaves, and then you see Tuktirey desperately trying to swim away from an approaching underwater transportation. You swam past Lo'ak and Tsireya as your mind was on the little girls safety. You grab the girl from the waist as you caught up to her, surprising her as you leaded your Ilu away from the marines.

But when another underwater machine emerged from the forest of tall kelps, you were startled and accidentally bumped your Ilu's body onto it from the lack of instinct. You held Tuktirey close as you watched the machine near you both, trying to swim away until a net caught you both.

Ikrans dived into the water, grabbing the net as they pulled you up to the surface of the water. You instantly let out a big breath as your head made contact with the air, looking around you as Tuktirey choked for steady breaths. You tried to steady yourself onto the net, attempting to grab your knife from your thigh holster.

Tuk inches closer to you, desperately grasping onto your form as she sniffed, looking around in fear. You stabbed your knife through the net, trying to cut off its unbelievable material. "Hurry!" Tuk yells, looking at your knife as the net refused to cut.

"I'm trying, Tuk!"

"Why won't it cut?!" She yelled furiously, watching as the Ikran dragged you both by the boat. You let out a pained thud as your side landed on the cold surface of the mechanic, glaring at the sight of the demon bloods. You grasped Tuk by her arm, pulling her close to you as you kicked the net off your bodies, pointing your knife at the woman who tried to take Tuk.

"Drop the weapon!"

You hiss at her, knicking her arm as it drew blood when she tried to reach out for the young girl. You're too focused on her as you didn't notice another fraud reach out for Tuktirey, pulling her away from your hold. "No!" You yelled, spinning around to face the fraud who took Tuk.

Immediately, your hair was pulled as a hand reached to the back of your head, harshly pulling you down with great force. You tried to turn your head at the Avatar who took a hold of yoh, glaring at her. "You bitch! Go back to your dying planet and leave us alone!" You struggled under her hold.

"What'd she say?" Another Avatar perks up.

You scoffed, completely forgetting those morons don't speak your native tongue.

"She just called me a bitch!"

Never mind.

You watched, unthreatened as the man who was the reason of the last war back many years ago walked over to you. The woman grips on your braid tightly, making you yell in pain as she forced you to look at the Avatar in front of you.

"Oh, are you another Sully?" He questioned, crouching down at your level as if he was inspecting something. You glared at him, your unoccupied hand coming up to punch him in the face. When you successfully landed a hit, he let's out a grunt, before his own hand came up to grip the first you just used to hit him.

He glances at you slowly, before he turned at your hand.

"I guess not." He laughs. He took you by the arm, tugging on you without mercy as he dragged you to the railing where Tuktirey was held hostage on. He keeps you still as you tried fighting back, forcing you on your knees when you tried landing a hit on him.

"Let me go, you freak." You yelled at him in your native language. He laughed at you, amused as if he also understood your words. "Oh you're calling me a freak? Ironic." He states, raising his brows.

He leaves you with the young girl as she goes closer to you, her cuffs tugging on the rail. She drops by your side, leaning her head on your chest tiredly. "Don't worry, Tuk. Well get out of here." You attempted to reassure the girl.

"Navi inbound!" You hear the Avatar yell, pointing his gun at the sight of Na'vi's emerging from the side of the an island. Tuktirey let's out a gasp, "Dad!" She cheeres.

You grinned, turning around to face the Avatar man. "Neytiri's gonna kick your dumbass." You insult him. He growls at your words, ears twitching. He steps towards you, snatching the throat comms Lo'ak's father gave you just in case of emergencies and easy communication. He take your earpiece from your ear, and presses it on his ear instead.

You looked at the clan worriedly, simply wishing on Eywa they won't be hurt.

"Jake. Tell your friends to stand down." The man behind you spoke into your throat comms. "You want your kid back, you come out alone." He pulls out a gun, slowly pressing in on the back of Tuktirey's head. The girl whimpers, glancing at you worriedly as she feared if she made a single movement, she'd have to face consequences.

You hissed at his actions, glaring at the Avatars behind you. "Put that gun off the child." You growled.

"I took you under my wing, Jake. You killed your own, good men, good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid." Your eyes widen at his words, finally getting a hint that he was not just making empty threats.

"(name), I'm scared." Tuktirey spoke in your native tongue, looking at you teary eyed. "It's gonna be okay, Tuk, I'm here." You comforted the girl, smiling at her as you tried to take her mind off the gun at the back of her head.

"Offers fixing to expire. What will it be?"

"Easy shot."

Quaritch blocks the Avatar's gun, looking focusedly on the sight of the Toruk Makto slowly approaching the boat. Alone.

"You hit him now, they attack. Wait till' he's on board." Tuk sniffed at his words, eyes shutting closed as she continued to bury her head againstyour chest.

Your heart dropped to your stomach as you saw a Tulkun emerge from the waters, your ears ringing as you hear the Tulkun let out a hollering roar. "Payakan!" Tuktirey yelled. You watched as the Tulkun dropped down into the cold surface of the boat, crushing the small sky people in the process.

You yelped as gunshots ran around you, making Tuktirey bury herself against you even more as she tried to silence out the sounds. Payakan let's out a shriek as an human aims at his face, making you wince.

You stood up and harshly bumped your body onto the mecha, making him yelp and fall to the ground as Payakan brutally crushes the demon form with his thick fin. You cheered at the sight, taking pleasure of the scene. "Yeahh! That's right Payakan! Do more!"

"Kneel, you fool!" Another sky-people turns to you, aiming his gun at you as if trying to intimidate. Payakan dragged his body further into the boat as his tail hits the mechanics around the place, making more further destruction. You see the Na'vi at the corner of your eye start to attack, with Toruk Makto leading them.

Small boats from another side get a better view of Payakan, and you notice that it was the same ones who tried to take a hit on him earlier. The Tulkun let's out a hollow roar, before you yelled out his name in warning. The tulkun swiftly closes its mouth as he ducks, his thick skin making the shot from the boat slide through instead.

Payakan goes back into the water, and you diverted your attention back to the clan. You watched, starstrucked in a bad way as attacks happened from left to right, and you lost sight of Jake.

An explosion ignites from the side of an engine, dangerously close to it. Your eyes widened as it suddenly turned on, and the fire immediately spreads onto the mechanic. You yelped as you were slightly tugged back, and the boat started going for at full speed. Tuktirey let's out a shout when the boat was lifted up in the air when it ran through rocks, making your head dizzy, and then you two were thrown back down as the boat almost crushed another boat.

"Ah– fuck, what the fuck is happening?" You grunted in pain, the side of your hip stinging from the harsh impact. You turned to Tuktirey as she starts tugging on her cuffs, biting her lips. "Are you okay, Tuk?"

She only let's out a hum as she dragged her hands back and forth as if it would do something. You looked around for a sharp item nearby that your foot can't reach, not noticing two boys arriving at your scene.

"Brother!"

"Tuk, I'm not your brother—" You shook your head at her, turning around but was met by the sight of Neteyam and Lo'ak. Lo'ak snickered at your shocked expression before strutting towards you, bringing out his knife.

"You alright there, princess? You look a little.. surprised. What? Did you not expect for your not expect for your knight and shining armour to come and save you?" He teased, looking at you as he cut off your cuffs without effort.

You looked at him with a blank face. "Stop talking, skxawng. You aren't even cutting my cuffs right!" You yelled at him, a playful smile coming to your face as he finally noticed his mistake. He cuts off your cuffs while Neteyam takes Tuktirey away as Tsireya was waiting for you all by the water.

"But you are alright, though, right?" The boy immediately starts inspecting you as he grasped your hand. You chuckled, nodding your head. "Yes, I am. No scratches whatsoever." You answered him. He let's out a sigh of relief before his other unoccupied hand comes to your cheek.

"I'm so, so sorry for dragging you into this," he starts apologizing for Eywa knows what, leaving you confused. "I'm never leaving you alone, ever again. If you see me leaving you alone, slap me. Okay?"

"Lo'ak, you skxawng." You teased, brushing your finger on his nose with slight mischief. You take his hand, starting to go to where Neteyam and Tuk exited from until Lo'ak went the opposite way.

"What are you doing?" You questioned, grabbing his hand before he could do anything else. "What about spider? We can't leave him." He spoke up about the boy. You looked behind him, looking further into the boat as you bit your lip.

"Come on, I'm sure he's fine."

"But, he's—"

"Lo'ak. He'll be saved later on." You told him strictly,cutting him off as you looked into his eyes, noticing how he was now hesitating by your words. "..alright." He nods, giving in.

You smiled, taking both his hands as you lead him away from the boat.

[cherrybomb107]

Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist (though that term was literally coined by the powers that be to discredit people who got too close to the truth, but I digress), but does anyone else think that we’re being primed to believe that fighting back is morally wrong? Think about it. In kids’ shows, it’s a running joke how the MC will slaughter the bad guy’s henchmen like it’s nothing, but when it’s time to face the big bad, all of a sudden they can’t kill them got whatever reason. “I can’t kill you, cause that’ll make me just as bad as you.” “I’m better than that.” “That’s not the way.” Or something to that effect.

And it’s just like, no??? Wtf are you talking about? Why is the evil intergalactic overlord who flooded our village, burned down his village, killed her whole entire family, and kicks puppies every Thursday still alive? Why, when he has told and shown us, time and time and time again that he has no desire to change his ways? Why would you ever think, let alone say, let alone actually BELIEVE that killing that mfer puts you on the same level as him? What the actual fuck are we even talking about rn? If you don’t put that mfer in the ground EXPEDITIOUSLY I SWEAR I-

Nah, but really tho, what kind of message are we teaching our youth? “Violence is bad, full stop, and even though I can’t/won’t do anything to help you, I want you to know you’re just as bad as the villain for hitting them back?” Huh??? And it’s not just that this message is peddled in media. Let’s say if you’re getting bullied and you get fed up. You already told your parents, your teachers, your school counselors, and the principal, but nothing’s changed. That mfer and their bum ass friends have bullied you for 99 days in a row. The ONE DAY you decide to fight back(whether that’s with words, fists, feet, etc) both of you are getting suspended. Why? Because the school has a “zero tolerance policy”. But wait, that can’t be right. You being bullied for God knows how long wasn’t just tolerated; it was practically cosigned by the school! So why, when you have your back against the wall and get desperate, do the powers that be FINALLY decide to step in? Why now?

Another example, the way the phrase “respect your elders” has been twisted. It’s supposed to mean, have respect for those who came before you, and they’ll do the same to you. Treat people how you wanna be treated, right? But instead, “respect your elders” usually means “tolerate their disrespect towards you, or else”. If not, then you’re the one who’s “being disrespectful”. You’re the one who’s “talking back”. You’re the one who needs to “stay in a child’s place”. Why is that? Why do we make up terms for people who won’t take that shit lying down?

To summarize, demonizing people who fight back against the powers that be and framing that will to fight as a “bad thing” that makes them “just as bad” as the person/people/corporations/institutions who are doing the actual oppressing is a terrible lesson. It’ll only serve to dissuade people from trying to make a difference by any means necessary. Instead, they’ll try to do things the “right” way, like voting for example, which sounds good, but still relies on the institution working FOR the people, when it doesn’t. It never has.

In conclusion, I always have been and always will be a fan of “don’t start fights; finish them. Do what gotta do to get a mfer off your back”. I hope all that made sense lmaoo 😭😭😭

[howlsofbloodhounds]

You know I was thinking. When you talk about Chara's and Killers stages dinamic, and how they trained and disciplimed them. One thing is stuck in my mind, where does Chara even know how to do all of that? Where did they learn the whole, psychological manipulation and training thing they used on Killer? Because a normal child, shouldn't have any knowledge on any of that. Does it have something to do with Charas life on the surface?

Well, other than the fact that Chara is unfortunately no longer a normal child and has basically evolved into the closest thing Something New has to a God (able to evade death, create and change timelines, etc.), I think it very much has to do with how their life on the surface was—when they were alive—and after, under the watch of the Player.

In the canon Undertale, Chara is a dead child learning by watching the Player/the human—they learn a lot from us in the Genocide run. Chara didn’t start the Genocide and likely was horrified and confused in the beginning, but by the end they had accepted that this was why they woke back up. And they don’t understand why the Player wants to go back.

In a timeline where the Player is intending to try and do everything they can, see everything they can, even if that means fucking around with the game’s files, character codes, messing around with things they probably shouldn’t and risking ruining the game completely—that alone is enough to try every single option they can think of. No matter how violent or abusive or depraved, because it’s just a video game with characters that aren’t real or sentient, and they have to see everything. They have to.

When Chara was alive, they already had such little regard for their life and well being they were willing to die if it meant freeing Monsterkind. No child gets that low an opinion of themself, so willing to embrace death, if something or someone didn’t make it seem like a better option than being alive. Especially if they truly did climb Mt. Ebbott with the intention of not surviving the fall.

Especially if now that their death could mean freeing Monsterkind—the ones who took them in and loved them and showed them kindness—then maybe they can finally be good for something.

(I like to think Something New!Chara has specific trauma surrounding dehumanization and demonization.

Grown up told that they’re an evil child, similar to the way Passive Nightmare was treated by the Villagers. And they thought that by freeing Monsterkind they can finally be good, even if it meant dying.

Only they didn’t die and now all of Monsterkind is dead and that’s their purpose for being awake now. Similar to a fanonish Nightmare, it became a self fulfilling prophecy—they were always meant to be bad, they can never be good, so just embrace. You are a bad, evil child and all will die by your hands.)

So I’m thinking that it’s a mixture of lived experiences, watching and learning from a seemingly all powerful invisible entity and its tactics, and possibly any books about psychology, the effects of abuse, conditioning, etc. in pets, humans, and monsters.

Chara is a kiddo and was a victim of these tactics once, a possibly even witnessed it done to any pets they may have had on the surface (possibly was even treated as a pet), so I’m sure they made a ton of mistakes while trying to train the Stages.

Very likely due to the possessive attachment they have to Killer and their own inability to control their emotions when the right trigger points are hit—feeling betrayed, lied to, abandoned, taken advantage of, rejected, looked down on, dismissed, ignored, feeling weak or out of control, etc.

Chara always tries to maintain a facade of being mature, being intelligent and calm and in control. But they’re a child who’s just as traumatized and unstable as Killer is. Push the right buttons and they’re as violent and unhinged as Killer in Stage 3 can be.

It’s also important to mention that although the overarching goal is to maintain control over Killer, the strategy of how they got there may not have always been planned in advance or improvised.

It creates an unstable and uncertain environment when Chara lashes out during moments of rage, hurt, or perceived abandonment and betrayal. It keeps Killer on his toes and in fear, and he comes to associate doing or saying certain things with pain and fear—ingrained so deeply in his mind, body, and soul that even potentially just thinking about or considering doing or saying those things can cause him fear and pain, even without Chara around to enforce it.

And it certainly doesn’t help that Chara is inside his head.

But they have time to learn and develop. Neither of them are staying permanently dead anytime soon. Mistakes can be fixed, learned from. Killer and Chara are above time and even death now.

[toxooz]

i dont know if you've ever said anywhere- but we know that Remy and Ollie are both half orcs and that Ollie's other half is ~Demon~

Do we know what Remy's other half is or is that a future secret?

I'm just curious cause Ollie is So Clearly Orcish so is Remy's other half just super strong blooded or is he a twink?

SHEW yall I've been sittin on a huge lore breakthrough with Ollie and Remy that my high ass accidently unlocked a few weeks ago that I've been debating on just dumping here but I'm still considering if it's too spoilery for what is literally just about to come up in the comic, but tbh it would probably just help contextualize things a little better so IDKK if i dont drop it soon it'll be after-not this update or the next-but the one after but before I slap a little snippet, the short answer is I still don't know what his other half is exactly, it's demon no doubt but a mangly unimpressive one for sure. Adding onto that I don't even know what Remy's mom is part UUH and imma have to design her up Real Soon so im still wracking my brain for that one. The closest I got right now is maybe the demon resembled a giraffe somehow hence the giraffe esque spots on Remy ??? both Ollie and Remy's "fathers" came from the same demon cave hence the kinda dark look even around Remys eyes and similar horn stripes:

believe it or not it isn't eyeliner LMFAO its basically what Ollie has horn with just to a much lesser extent (they used to be more of a brown hue to i guess show that they weren't as tough and more sensitive to the touch but making the comic i kinda dropped it oof) but anyway the whole reason Remy was born in the first place was just for a "anything you can do I can do better" attempt by Remy's mom (Mogaks sister) ie. a lil snippit from the lore dump in the drafts:

*SIDE NOTTE Remy's mom has mental issues due to the hierarchy in the orc community over being a half orc and the fact that she isn't involved in combat and just minds the village, so she already wasn't really seen highly of (Mogak would treat her equally however) meanwhile Mogak was a pretty hefty solid full blooded orc and was a warrior of sorts and a leader in that aspect (her 'occupation' for lack of better word wasn't necessarily THAT high ranking in their society considering battle fighting was a common 'career' within the orc tribe so she's still even among the orc community, but still well liked and respected regardless) but her sister was seen as less-than in subtle ways. Due to her tough upbringing she quietly dealt with jealousy of Mogak throughout her life and during their young adult years she would take up the habit of trying to outdo Mogak with little things. When she was told about Mogak being pregnant with Ollie by her quest into a demonic cave, she planned on doing the same. The demon she ended up mating with wasn't all that great to say the least and didn't put up much of a fight either (Mogak declared a battle with the demon she wanted to make the deal with and chose a Pretty Fukkin Big Ass Boi one of the biggest in the cave I'd argue) so that's why Remy turned out Like That. After everything happened and they moved Remy's mom still carried self conscious habits and would get with men who would play off of those insecurities

[kanaokanzaki-op]

🩷~Kanao Kanzaki Profile~🪻

“All my Tsugoku, except for you and Kanao were killed…” Shinobu turned to the young girl next to her, continuing softly, “Yet unlike Kanao, you’ve taken on my breathing style… Insect Breathing.” 

The girl next to her nodded and Shinobu turned away, looking back into the moonlight. She asked, “Kanae’s Breathing Style is much stronger to use then mine, you’ve seen so yourself. Plus you can hold a Nichirin sword better than I can, so why’d you want to learn Insect Breathing?”

She smiled brightly, laughing a little before saying, “Because, I like bugs and insects!”

🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻

Name: Kanao Kanzaki

Nick name: Kana

Age: 15

Height: 5’4

Gender: A Taisho Secret 😛

Birthday: November 14th

Breathing Style: Insect Breathing, she can master all forms and may just make one herself. ;>

Slayer Rank: Kanoe, almost Tsuchinoto.

Nichirin Sword: Similar to Shinobu’s but has a much longer tip. Her sword brim is a spider shape instead with all 6 legs curling towards the blade.

Personality: Kana is a pretty fun-loving girl who's a bit insensitive. She smiles a lot or pouts depending on her feelings(Pouts: sad, angry, nervous or confused. Smile: happy, malicious, determined and cocky). There isn't much she shows in her expression to indicate her emotions. Kana tends to treat things others would deem scary or hurtful as normal, not understanding simple morals. Despite this, she still tries her best and wants to meet new people and be their friends.

Backstory: Kana was abandoned by her family at the age of 10 in a small village away from them. She spent a whole several years alone, barely ate anything and was just getting by. People simply ignored her presence. She would spend most her time in the forest alone with a few animals and many bugs, she considered those her friends. She never harmed them and they never harmed her back, she thought of them as her family.

One day, 11 years old, she was simply sleeping in a bush like usual when she woke up to some strange noises… They sounded like- fighting? She moved the branches a little and noticed a strange girl in a butterfly Haori holding a blade. In front of her was a weird… creature? Kana didn’t know but they barely looked human. The two were slashing at each other, the girl using her sword and calling out weird “Breathing styles” while the creature was shouting out a “Blood demon art”. Kana was amazed by the fight, she’d never seen anything like this before! This was a dream, right? No matter, the fighting was so cool! She stayed in her place, not moving a muscle so she isn’t noticed. 

After a rough battle, the girl in the butterfly haori cut off the demon’s head and they turned into ash. She wished the demon a happier next life and shed a small tear for them. Kana came out of the bush jump-scaring the other into a mini panic. They learned her name was Kanae Kocho and that what she was fighting was a demon, then she asked what her name was. Giggling after knowing her name, Kanae reached her hand out to Kana asking if she wanted to come with her. 

She accepted…

🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻

[Guys what if I do Taisho Period Secrets every 2nd week]

🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻🩷🪻

[grokebaby]

@magnuficentwo

AYYYY UNDERRATED VARPUNEN FAM TIME LESGOOO. I'm thinking I'll try to say one positive and one negative but I won't force it if it stalls me

P - Negative: See she was born into a warrior family (aka she's the beast variety of demon), which in itself was just not the right lifestyle for her personally. Real stressful. I could pick probably multiple experiences from here but let's highlight the string of clashes between a Plague from those days who ended up killing and injuring several beasts. There are still two living Villagers that bear the scars from this time. P, however, bears the mental scars of having one or her co apprentices and teachers murdered. She has survivors guilt and various other kinds of guilt from this and suffered a bad freeze reaction that has stayed with her for a while.. The victims weren't even super close to her, but it was the sheer horror of the fact that anyone could just die (and in her mind, it'd be her fault bc she failed to help them).

As a bonus, btw, the plague involved in these events is dead nowadays. Please, do take a guess as to how.

Positive: One time, P and Nan were left home alone together for roughly a week, and since P mostly didn't interact with Nan aside from what she deemed necessary, things got quiet and awkward for a bit.. P was honestly scared, bc she had the fear that this was some kind of test from their husband - one she could fail miserably, somehow, so she remained on her tiptoes the whole time. He said he'd be off on a business trip and as the author I can verify this is actually true, and it wasn't a test, but unfortunately Ps mental state was... Not good. Thanks to him. A few days in, Nan approaches P carefully and tells her that it's okay if she doesn't know what to say, and if she needs her alone time. But if she did want to hang out, or talk, or anything, Nan would be here listening, no pressure to come up with anything special. See Nan had thought that the avoidance had more to do with Ps social anxiety and being a very withdrawn person, rather than paranoia over their husband. Although I won't deny she had a hunch..

Either way, this left a very positive impression on P, and she found some kind of strength in the fact that maybe, just maybe, if things get bad enough, she can lean on Nan. That, and she decided then and there to try her best to treat nan better and try to approach her on her terms. It didn't end up happening too much (not enough in her eyes), but it did still happen.

Sighs lovingly. P deserves way more attention imo. I did not hold back from rambling. Anyways!

Pesticinger - Negative: (TW TORTURE FEEL FREE TO SKIP) So it's widely known she's unpopular amongst humans for obvious reasons, so they often plot various things to get back at her, and often try to even capture or kill it. So there's this waterfall. A group of humans really want Pesticinger to have her "comeuppance" for what she's put them through. So this waterfall. They've set a trap there, where there's a rope that ties into a noose when released, and it hangs under the rushing water. Pesticinger is lured into this trap, and here's the situation: she's got a noose around her throat, and it tightens the further you pull on it. If she gets swept up by the water's pull, it starts choking her, combined with the water trying to pull her under. So she has to literally constantly fight the water, or she suffocates (either by drowning, or noose). It is not a good time. Her feathers get soaked the hell out so flying becomes difficult, she's quickly exhausted and it's kinda hard to call for help when you're trying to fight suffocation. She was rescued, of course. Poor bird. But she can barely even look at a noose, and the noise of waterfalls gives her anxiety. So do ropes, if they're put anywhere near her body.

This next memory I'm not sure if I'd label it necessarily either strictly positive or negative but it was very impactful for her. See Pesticinger has the mental capacity to get really, really introspective and existential, but the way her brain works, also sometimes leads it to tie itself into knots and leads her down dead ends she can't think herself out of. So it can definitely overwhelm itself by overthinking. When she was still very young, in one of these cases, she came to speak to her creator henself; the Mistress. It asked many panicked, disjointed questions, trying to untangle it's mind, and getting distressed, it started knocking at it's head with it's foot. The Mistress, gently, places hens hand on Pesticingers face to block the hits, and they share silent eye contact for a moment.

"Dear bird.. You don't have to know all the answers. You might, someday, but you don't need to. You are more than just a bird, or a beast; you are a force of nature. Even still, you can be as ordinary as you want. Just don't forget yourself."

Pesticinger still feels.. Bittersweet, about it. She's frustrated that she didn't get the answers, in fact the denial of them entirely upset her back then. But she can't say it wasn't also comforting. The reason this memory isn't purely positive is mainly due to Pesticingers mindset.

I think I'll cap this post here BUT BEFORE I DO I'll include just a little something from Nan bc. My number one Varpunen fam for sure. It'll be under the cut

I'll be vague bc I was actually writing a whole thing about this and it's still kinda in progress. But.

Something that's really stuck with Nan was when she, at one point, took her kids to see their grandpa, aka Nans father. He knew there were kids, but hadn't met them due to life just sweeping everyone up for a while.

He did not react well to seeing them. Their visit became very short and very uncomfortable. Nan had to have a talk with her father privately, (His name is Yngve Surström, btw) while the kids awkwardly waited outside.

This would become the last time Nan sees her father before he disappeared completely. Nobody knows why. Or how.

[mdzs-owns-my-ass-i-guess]

Grassroots

@captain-stab-a-hoe your tags on this post have inspired me to write this little ficlet below! Thank you for the idea!

Here are the tags for reference:

"Ridiculous!" a female voice boomed, angry and scandalized. "Are you even hearing yourself?! Has old age messed up your mind already?!"

"What are you getting so angry for?" the much calmer, gentle voice of an old man followed. "Is it not true what I said? Us here in the village, haven't we suffered more from the greed of the Jin sect than the so-called evil ways of the Yiling Laozu? Do you not remember how they came asking for those high taxes for the watchtowers, and how nobody came for help when we asked the cultivators there to purge those haunted graves?"

The woman huffed. "We got help in the end, though!"

"Not from them! If you remember, madam Yan, it was a group of rogue cultivators that slayed the beast! And there were demonic cultivators among them, too!"

"Tch. So what are you trying to say then?" A younger, male voice intervened. "That it was wrong of the Great Sects to kill him? Was he not harboring Wens? Didn't the Wens kill your son during the war?"

"I don't know if it was right or wrong, but what I do know is that I saw no evil from him the way I did from those cultivators you lot praise so much!" The old man crossed his arms over his chest. "And about the Wens, I don't know either. Those that killed my son were soldiers, those in the Burial Mounds I heard were not."

"Who knows what you heard!" the woman exclaimed, an air of disgust about her. "Wen dogs are Wen dogs and they were right to be treated as such!"

"Were they?" the old man rose a defiant eyebrow. "Was it not Wen Ruohan who sent those he despised into cruel work camps without proof of any crime or misdeed? How was it any different when Jin Guangshan did it? Do you really think they told us the whole truth about those Wen remnants, or about Wei Wuxian for that matter?"

"You're losing your mind, old man." the younger male rolled his eyes. "Why would they have lied to us? Our families died for them in the war."

"Why wouldn't they lie? If we were to know the whole truth, maybe we would revolt, so they only tell us the things that make them look good."

"Such conspiracies!" the woman laughed, derisive. "Maybe you should stick to shopkeeping, old man, cultivation matters aren't for you!"

"They're really not!" the young man agreed. "Do you remember when he took up demonic cultivation of all things? We had to hide him in the forest so sect leader Jiang won't find him when he came raiding the village for demonic cultivators!"

"What was I meant to do?" the old man smiled. "Nobody else was slaying the ghosts and people were dying. And it's not like I ever got caught either, and I'm too old to invoke anyone's wrath now!"

There was laughter before the man and woman paid their items and went their merry way. The shopkeeper rearranged his wares and sat down behind his little counter, opening a book to read through.

"What an unusual conversation!"

The old man rose his head and smiled. "Hello, young masters! Could I help you with anything?"

"We're just looking, but we couldn't help but overhear you and those two talking. You seem to have a bit of an unpopular way of thinking!"

"I've been through a lot in this long life of mine, young masters, and I've learned not to trust those that so easily put blame on others while fully absolving themselves of any fault. Those that are so quick to point fingers are often those that need the most scrutiny."

"Mn. It is rare to meet people like yourself."

"I am not a scholar, nor a noble, I only talk of what I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. I have lived in this village for the better part of my life, and I can tell you this much: ordinary people have not enjoyed the spoils that the cultivation world claims to have provided them."

"You said you... practiced demonic cultivation once?"

"Well, more than once!" the old man laughed. "But it's not something everyone should know. It gives you quite the reputation, you know?"

"Oh, trust me, more than anyone!"

"And it's a shame, because it's something that could really help us, regular folk, a lot! It's so rare for cultivators as well-known and powerful such as yourselves to show up, and hauntings are plenty!"

"How did you-"

"As I said," the man's eyes flickered red for a brief second, a knowing smile on his lips, "I have seen a lot in my life. I know who I am in the presence of. Please take whatever you like, free of charge. Consider this my thanks for everything you have achieved for the common people."

Several customers entered the little shop seconds later and the old man returned to his book as if nothing at all had happened, leaving his two esteemed guests pleasantly surprised.

Lan Wangji gazed towards his husband, a soft-turned-worried look in his eyes. "Wei Ying? Are you crying?"

"...a little. But it's a good cry."

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Chapter 17

I can't believe I've pulled this off. I am going over this chapter on the third Sunday in June 2024. In other words, this comes out "On the Night of the Cotton Drifting".

This is the first time since all the way back in Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 where the festival itself was the focus itself rather than a backdrop for something else.

For the first time since before we even knew anything that was going on the point of the festival is to give our cast time to have fun and enjoy themselves.

The scars from the Dam War are finally beginning to heal. The villagers come to Satoko to apologize for how they've treated her and promise to be there for her if she needs help.

And Keiichi and his dad have garnered a great deal of respect in the village. It's a far cry from how the council elders were calling Keiichi a disrespectful brat and acting like Ichiro is a failure of a parent.

Is that Makino-san!!?

This shot is so amazing because the more you look at it, the more you realize these are people who helped save Satoko.

I can't tell if any of the people on the left are anyone of note, but this shot includes Irie, Akane, Oryou, Kimiyoshi, the Angel Mort Otakus, Tomita, Okamura, a few classmates, Kameda, Chie, and Kaieda.

And Chie is eating curry of course.

Just to further emphasize how we're supposed to enjoy the festival itself, this is also the first time since Abducted by Demons Chapter 2 that we see Rika perform the ritual.

Congrats Akasaka. You have dethroned Keiichi as the biggest screw-up in the series.

Rika doesn't hold his absence against him though. After everything that's happened, she realized she shouldn't be relying on some single individual to save her.

And really it's better that Akasaka didn't help. He's completely unconnected from the village, its people, and its history. If he had been responsible for saving Satoko, the village wouldn't have been forced to confront the stagnation and scars left behind from the Dam War and Satoko would still be a mistreated outcast.

Akasaka has a role to play in all this, but rescuing Satoko was not it.

Rule X is utterly shattered. Rule Z is defanged. All that's left is to guard against Rule Y. Rika has brought her friends and Ooishi in on protecting Takano and Tomitake but despite everything that's happened, Hanyu is still going on about unshakable destiny.

The Schrodinger's cat paradox is a thought experiment involving placing a cat and a vial of poison in a box. Depending on some quantum conditions, a mechanism will shatter the vial and release the poison, thus killing the cat. It's not possible to know whether the condition was met until you open the box and check.

It was originally made as a critique to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics because by that interpretation, the cat would end up both alive and dead but we would only be able to observe it being in one state or another.

Frederica Bernkastel's poem said no one knows if the cat is alive or dead until someone looks in the box. When she looked in, the cat turned out to be dead.

Rika is frequently compared to a cat.

This chapter is a celebration of everyone coming together to overcome what was thought to be an unbreakable fate. But it ends in an utterly cruel fashion as we're shown we fell right into the enemy's trap.

It turns out that Takano and Tomitake aren't killed by some unknown assailant. Takano is behind it and the Wild Dogs are part of her conspiracy.

Rika's never been able to find her killers because they were a group she'd trusted this whole time led by someone she always thought was dead.

Rika's friends called Oyashiro-sama's curse a fear within the village of upsetting someone who doesn't exist. Keiichi said the curse wasn't because of a deity, but because of people. They spent this arc breaking that curse, but now Takano has stepped in and she intends to set a new curse on the village.

We've seen it before how Takano only sees Oyashiro as some cruel and evil god, and she revels in spreading that idea. She writes horror stories based on the village's history. Her interpretation of Oyashiro-sama's curse is just another aspect of that.

It turns out that "Tokyo" is behind everything, though Takano's words imply this is happening because of some internal dispute. This faction's end goal is to bring about some grand catastrophe related to Hinamizawa Syndrome. In other words, they're likely behind the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. And Irie and Tomitake will be killed to get them out of the picture.

Whether it's fear of a non-existent being or the utter destruction of the village, it turns out that Oyashiro-sama's curse truly is just the work of people.

The kidnapper is finally named. He's Okonogi.

This chapter started with the highest highs and ends with the lowest lows. Going forward, this will just be another dead-end timeline. I hate that Hanyu was right.

back

[sleepykye]

Once and only once... but never again.

Summary :

A forbidden love between you and giyuu. Your a demon, while giyuu is a slayer. You can only have him once, and only once....never again

This is my first time writing something that isn't fluff. I'm sorry to all the giyuu lovers.

You were a demon, a ordinary one. Not a lowermoon nor a uppermoon. Just like nezuko, you don't crave humans. You live by surviving by sleeping and use your powers to protect civilians from other demons at night.

You had found a slayers nichirin on the ground when you were wandering around the forest at night. So you just took the nichirn and started practising your swordsmanship. Apparently, it's wrong to just take a random slayers nichirn, but your a demon so who cares !

If the sword broke while fighting demons, you would use your flesh to wrap around the nichirn blade and reconnect it. Just like how kokushobo's nichirn is made on his flesh ! But less creepy...

Anyway, one day, while you were protecting a village. You didn't expect a hashira to arrive and to almost think you were one of the evil demons until he saw you cut off the other demon's head using the nichirn.

He wanted to put you to the test and to see if you were like nezuko, so he cut his hand ( just a little wound ) and placed it in front of you, watching your reaction. You just tilted your head and asked if he wanted it treated or not, cuz you were confused as to why he would cut his own hand and put it in front of your face.

In the end, you treated it and asked how was he. But giyuu didn't answer you, instead, he looked into your eyes as his gaze was fixated on you. You looked straight back at him and it turned into a staring contest. Giyuu really liked how the both of you was similar. You both didn't really like to communicate.

Giyuu literally just downright said " your interesting, I like you. " with zero hesitation. You blushed upon hearing that though, you never really thought about love ever since you became a demon. Wait no you didn't even think about love your entire whole life. You basically just stared at this guy with a red face, your eyes shifted to looking at the drawer beside you as you couldn't bear to look at him anymore without getting a face redder than a tomato.

Tomioka just laughed an "asked how about you go on a date with me ?"

Okay I know this whole thing is fast but the schedule for fierce winds and ferocious flames together with once and only once...but never again's schedule is really close. Like its just 1 day !! So I'm sorry for the rush 😔

You nodded your head in response as giyuu guided you to the lake across the street. You didn't realise what you had missed out on for so long. The lake was decorated with flowers that fell from the trees. The lantern hanging the villages formed rainbow colored lights in the lake. You were captivated before tomioka kissed you in the lips.

You were shocked at first but kissed him back, you knew that this kind of love was forbidden. After the kiss, giyuu said " I'm sorry but, because of my job as a hashira, I am not allowed to be seen with you. I truly love you but, I will share a kiss with you just once and only once..but never again. Maybe if you weren't a demon, I could be together with you. But looks like fate had different plans, I'm sorry. But we will most likely never cross paths ever again.

Was all he said before getting up and leave, no matter what you said or did, he did not turn his head to face you. Only his back faced you as he kept walking forward, not a single glance spared to you nor looking back at all.

You could only look back at the lake's reflection, you, yourself. Without giyuu nor anybody by your side to comfort you. In the end....fate was cruel to both you and giyuu.

But it was cruel to you especially, first, you were made to be a demon, and now you can't even find true love.

Okay it turned out to be better than what I had expected it to be if I was being honest. 😭

[soulntes]

SEYKXEL KAY'S FIRST COMMUNION WITH EYWA

BONUS CHAPTER - PART 2

PART 3 COMING SOON

the preparations for ingyen's son is almost ready for the big day. being overly excited she forgets her duties that need to be done. the mother couldn't help it as his communion should be perfect for her child and with the suggestion of norm and max what they call an 'after party' at their original home, she decided for them to go with it since her seykxel deserves to be treated spoiled.

she didn't get the whole explanation of it when they mention their kind of music and decorations that were weird but she knows there's going to be gifts what the scientist will give to seykxel in his honor. everyone waited for the set date from the mother and grandmother so they all discreetly organized something away from ingyen's knowledge for a surprise.

it began to creep jake out a bit at how ingyen chat with his human friends in harmony, without a nasty look or threatening hiss when they tried helping her on his normal walk around the village as olo'eyktan. he liked the change overall on spider's influence, taking the role as his mother and it's nice seeing his sister in law with her genuine nature better than when they first met. but this felt different, they had something special going and can not tell as if it were a secret amongst themselves.

even neytiri catches on her sister's drastic change of behavior towards the sky people. her smile more genuine than ever. her eyes told the gratefulness she appreciates and willingness to learn their ways in hopes of being a proper mother to the demon child. everytime she saw that child, her anger and bitterness got the best of her but never displayed it because she didn't want to tarnish their sister relationship.

both mates were curious on their sudden private meetings late at eclipse and ingyen making numerous trips to the tsahik on advice and seeking guidance. jake went to ask his friends in anyway he can help but they brushed it off as if it were something regular amongst themselves.

neytiri goes to ingyen's hut to discuss of her odd behavior but her sister said it wasn't important to her and to let her be on what's going on in her life. ingyen just carried out with her chores while having her son in his prrsmung while telling him stories about their mighty warrior. neytiri never felt ignored by her their entire lives since they've stuck together and told everything about anything.

ingyen knows she'll find out eventually of her plans for her son but she'd rather enjoy it in peace so nothing will ruin seykxel's big moment, including her being against the idea of her son having a communion with eywa.

mo'at helps her daughter's nerves by asking for her grandbaby in spending time with the tsahik so eywa knows the hands guiding the next child to live within her. her singing and chants with the wave of her hands, seykxel in the prrsmung over her back, for eywa's advices and last prayers before the grand day.

family is the support everyone needs but they can be the people who hold you back on what you believe and want in life.

ingyen is preparing his ceremonial clothing, weaving the last line of thread and new blanket he'll be needing to lay in front of the tree. her grin grew and squeals each time she was close to finishing everything for the grand day. she already knew what to wear for this moment thinking it would never come or cease to exist. it's forming into a reality.

meanwhile she was finishing up her sister came into her hut carrying neteyam in the carrier and kiri in her arms, sleeping peacefully.

"oel ngati kameie tsmuke." she gestures her a welcome into her home.

"oel ngati kameie tsmuke, i've come to check up on you and see what you are doing. What are you making?" neytiri sat down next to her in a slow pace without waking her children. ingyen looks at her for a brief second thinking if she should just tell her to get it over with and whether she goes or not, it's up to her.

"i am weaving the last part of seykxel's clothing, something i made specially for him to wear on such occasion." she ties the knot firmly, accomplishing her task so she can head to her mother's hut so her son can see fit.

neytiri examines the clothing, it is small for the demon child, the clothing looked traditional and woven and sewn with such care of the hands of her sister, "what occasion would that be?" she asks curious if that is the reason she's been so fully of light.

ingyen again stares at her and decides it best because an argument before a special day is overwhelming when she won't be able to concentrate well for seykxel.

she says, "it's my son's first communion with eywa. i'm preparing him to live within the great mother as she whispered to mother of embracing all her children.. without leaving one out. if you are not wishing me and my son well then keep it to yourself, i would like to go to his special day with a positive mind and happy."

when neytiri heard her reason, she didn't know how to respond. the child is having a communion with the great mother. it's a wonder truly but the possibility is the question knowing from who he was born from.

neytiri felt she should tell her how absurd it is for a sky baby having a communion but she bit her tongue, "eywa holds all her children in her heart. i can not say what i do not like against the great mother's will so i hope it goes well for you and the child."

she grins only the slightest because of the distaste of the situation so she will only be there for her sister in time of need. ingyen sighs that the day will never come when her sister call her son by his name and see him as family.

all good things come when they're put into an amount of effort and love to unravel the mysteries that lie in the naked eye and shielded off from potential care.

in the end, ingyen is doing this for her son to become someone he wants to be that the great mother chose him for instead of what people expect from a child.

...

the scientists were doing their own thing on the surprise they have for spider's mother before the grand day since the baby is going to need more help. on something so historical that anybody couldn't imagine on earth the opportunity and once in a life time moment will happen in front of their very eyes.

with the abandoned hell's gate available for them to finish up their gift for spider, it is improving and been tested a couple more times just to be sure before giving it to the mother. endless hours of effort and time put into this gift shows how much it means to that ingyen thought of them to invite first.

their relationship improved tremendously all because of spider chosen by the great mother, guiding the young woman for a new hope and dream. they've been so busy preparing the gift and discussing about their clothes for the ceremony that they've forgotten about jake sully still having access to the lab, not noticing he entered from the cameras.

max caught glimpse of a blue tail so he alerted the rest of his friends that a na'vi entered, heading their way. they did as much as they could in any case it was ingyen, hiding what they can if she asked but it wasn't her. it was jake.

jake smiles at them trying to see what they're trying to hide, "hey guys, what's going with you?" nobody wanted to answer and some were bewildered that ingyen didn't invite jake to her son's big day.

max sighs, "well, me and the rest of us are preparing for a big day for ingyen and spider."

his face was mixed of confusion and unaware of how important it was to his sister in law that she never mentioned to him. "and what kind of big day would that be? because all of you are acting suspicious and hostile. ingyen especially."

"it's spider's first communion with eywa. the great mother wishes the boy to live within her and ingyen invited us to attend this important event of his life, we're almost done with preparations, all is missing we finish this gift for her so she can have spider in her home without worrying about his mask every second." norm explains while showing his friend the dismantled mini mask with missing parts and the shield in front of the face.

jake stood there surprised in awe of what they were keeping to themselves and the news of spider, son of deceased colonel miles quaritch, about to be embraced by mother eywa. he couldn't believe that a human child would gain an opportunity as sacred as this.

to believe the reason ingyen looked so uplifted and smiling is the thought of her son enjoying a beautiful moment as this so he wanted to help, "that's great news you guys. can i help? i've been feeling left out by all of you keeping something so important from me. hurtin' my feelings over here."

everyone laughed at his antics and include him to resolve what they were trying to finish.

later that day when they were done majority of the gift just missing the final piece to gift it with a final test, jake went to pay ingyen a visit at her hut. there he saw her singing a lullaby to spider which he does a big yawn, curling up to his mother.

this little moment reminds him when humans back on earth hold a barely newborn puppy by how small he is in the hands of a na'vi. she creases her head and pecks his tiny head, grinning ear to ear from excitement.

jake grunts lowly getting her attention and she greets him respectfully, "oel ngati kameie jake sully, my olo'eyktan." he greets her back sitting down with her.

"oel ngati kameie ingyen. how's spider doing?" he asks watching the baby gripping onto his mother's top for comfort. ingyen signals where the machine was in her home, "checking that contraption once in a while so seykxel can breath, i wish there was a better way for him without such a machine."

the olo'eyktan nods knowing what he's been up to with his their friends for both of them.

"i heard seykxel is having his first communion with eywa." ingyen turns to him and back at her son. "ma sa'nok spoke to me before that eywa heard my wishes and heart of what i desired for ma'itan. eywa wants seykxel to live within her, my son, jake sully. it is such a blessing for her to accept him to be with her." the young mother tears up rocking her baby when she felt him fuss a little.

jake nods and pats her on the back, "i know and i'm proud the great mother heard you. norm, max, and the rest of the scientist told me and couldn't shut up about it when they were showing me their ceremonial outfits for the grand day." he chuckles soothing her with a side hug.

his sister in law wipes her eyes, breathing in a deep breath, "i apologize jake sully."

his ears perks interested, "what do you have to apologize? you've done nothing wrong."

"for not thinking of inviting you to my son's event. it was before i told tsmuke and i don't think she'll come."

jake shakes his head as to wave it off, "nah don't worry ingyen. i know how neytiri is. if it means so much, i'll come so you wouldn't feel left out when you attended neteyam's and kiri's communion. i can bring kiri." ingyen gives him a smile and nods at his consideration and goes to hug him.

"thank you jake for everything before and ever since i made seykxel my son."

a brother she never had.

a brother she needed.

a brother who would do anything to help his sister feel included. jake is the brother she dreamed of being at her side.

...

the day of seykxel's communion has finally arrived. at early morning ingyen woke up refreshed and ready for the next step in their lives. seykxel becomes the child of eywa.

before she could prepare herself and seykxel, jake entered her hut in his olo'eyktan outfit to tell her something before the ceremony begins.

"ingyen, can you join me to hell's gate? norm, max, and the rest want to tell you about something before everything is in place plus seykxel's waiting there." jake says as she agrees, packing their outfits and jewelry for later.

once they arrive, jake told her to wait outside the lab for a bit to let them know she's here. it was only a few seconds that he motions her to come in with a goofy expression of happiness. she felt weird that he was looking at her like that as if he planned something ahead.

the lab was dark, the only thing that helped her see was her and jake's dots on their body to glow, the next thing she knows is he covers her eyes, guiding her through the room, "jake, what is going on? where is seykxel?"

she reach her hands out to grasp whatever she can but her brother kept nudging her away from anything.

just when they made a stop, jake pulled his hands away from her sight, the lights blinded her vision for a few seconds as she blinked as much as she could. she saw everyone there in their special clothes with smiles on their faces.

what the humans think this is something she will appreciate and be thankful for their hard work and patience with her when she first started being a mother to a human child. this will change their lives for the better because of spider.

max and norm presented the gift in her hands and she looks at them curious on what this means, she thought gifts were suppose to be for later at the party.

one of the lady scientist, by the name of rue who takes care of her child at nights, with spider in her arms came up holding onto ingyen's hands, "it's a early gift for you and spider."

max cams forward along norm on his side, "we were working on it ever since you showed determine on raising a human child who was an orphan and you changed for the sake on his behalf to survive the first few months. we want to thank you for trusting us and taking our advices about raising him."

"all of us with what we know, pitched in on working this mask specifically for spider until he grows, it's customized for him with batteries to last up to two days. all you have to do is change with another and charge the previous ones. we're in the progress of making more batteries for you so you can have him at home with you in the village." norm explains waiting for her reaction to a gift so well thought out.

ingyen couldn't believe it. nights to nights missing her child, only to sing him inside the lab and leave him there when she had important duties to attend to. how she wished on having him in her arms, hours of playing as she cooks for herself and tell him stories of her father and tsu'tey.

immediately she grabs her son from rue's hands to try on the mask on his delicate face. she places it carefully as she soothes him, "ma wey ma'itan. ma wey. oe mong." be calm my son. be calm. trust me. she speaks in a gentle tone, her son was a little fussy but cooperated with her by the reassurance on her face and breathes.

norm suggests testing it by stepping a little outside the lab to see how it was working. their first steps outside was cautiously nerve-racking because there is no telling what could happen if a few seconds late, spider would become unfortunate since he is a baby after all.

she hesitates but with the encouragement jake gives her she steps out holding his mask close.

he was doing well, cooing as he watches the nature for the first time outside other than a window. the rich colors illuminating above them, he reaches towards the sky at feeling the warmth of his mother's embrace and sun. her smile told them he was going to be raised well even if he lived somewhere.

the young mother weeps at this gift given to her and seykxel, to be able to have him closer than ever and raise him properly where he will call home. she faces her friends and brother with a smile, "irayo, nga na nìsoaia. oel ngati kameie aynga." thank you, you are like family. i see you all.

her words brought such a wonderful feeling of being welcomed by a na'vi woman who had nothing to do with but now thanks for all their hard work and consideration.

"it is time for seykxel's communion with eywa. i thank you for everything. let's welcome the child of eywa." ingyen announces with her yipping celebration of her son's important part of his life and for more to come.

TAGLIST

@skinmittensgoblin @eternallyvenus @winxschester @perseny @cleverzonkwombatsludge @reallysparklychaos @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @liyahsocorro @violet-19999 @drinking-tea-and-be-obsessed @ratchetprime211 @analuw

[justmenoworries]

unpopular opnion ahead!

Jesus Christ was Ruby's rant in this episode just the most egotistic bullshit!

Like, no, Jaune was right! You had your weapon and you did straight-up nothing to help in the fight?

"But muh trauma Q_Q-" Hoe, stfu. Blake has trauma, Yang has trauma, Weiss has trauma, fucking Jaune has trauma! You ain't special, you got no excuse for just... doing fuck-all when your friends' lives were in danger! Your friends' and your older sister's lives!!

And look, I'm usually the first to say Jaune is pushed into the spotlight way too fucking often in this show, but this one time, I'm on his side.

Ruby is having her little tantrum while he's mourning his whole-ass village, which was only in danger because of her. These people, real or not, were basically his safety net in the years and years he spent alone in the Ever After waiting for Team RWBY.

Ruby doesn't get to stand there and act like she's the only one suffering or the only one who has ever suffered.

"Why are you asking me? Because I'm the leader? Because I'm just supposed to have something to say?"

Girliepop, Weiss was literally just asking for confirmation, a simple 'yes' would have been enough, you weren't expected to come up with shit.

"Why do I have to be the leader anyway? Why do I always have to be the one to pick people up?"

No no no no no no, we are not going along with your bullshit retcons RT! Ruby fucking chose to be part of this war. She chose to go to Haven. She chose to go to Atlas. She chose to lie to Ironwood and she chose to come up with that escape plan. No one ever forced her to get involved. Heck, if anything people around her actively discouraged her from getting involved several times.

Ruby was the one who insisted on being the world's most meddling seventeen-year-old who knows better than all the adults and can save the world from Salem all on her own, no biggie.

"No time, right? Gotta get home!"

Um, yes, Ruby, y'all do need to get home! Did you just forget about the immortal demon woman who has half of the magical items she needs to bring about armageddon? I'd say that makes a return home pretty urgent, yeah. Besides, you were the one who was most insistent on going home. You literally said last episoe that's all you and your team want.

"Gotta stay postive, right? Smiles all around!"

Your teammates asked you if you were okay several times. You rebuffed them repeatedly and pushed ahead.

"I'm sorry, is this a bad time?"

It kinda is, Ruby, yeah.

"Are we supposed to be mourning Jaune's make-believe friends?"

Ruby, what is your fucking problem??? First you're bitching about nobody acknowledging your feelings and now you're straight-up just trampling on Jaune's? How the hell am I supposed to feel any sympathy for Ruby here, she's being the fucking worst and the show treats this like something she's right to say!

Honestly, Jaune's response lashing out was on point.

Ruby refused to help. The Jabberwalkers were only even there because of Ruby. Just like all of Team RWBY and Jaune are only even in the Ever After because Ruby somehow forgot about Cinder, Salem's left-hand-woman who was still alive and still in Atlas. Ruby insisted on everything being done her way and consistently villainized everybody who didn't agree with her.

The way Jaune actually calls Ruby's responsibility-allergic ass out here and she can't actually rebuff him, so she just pouts like a fucking three-year-old and runs away.

Okay bitch, stay gone if you're gonna be like that.

[elendsessor]

because someone was interested here’s some flynn headcanons, mostly which involve issachar!!!

i think a lot of the villages outside of the eastern kingdom of mikado’s boarders would struggle in general, so keeping kids and the elderly alive and well is hellish. based on what little npcs from kiccigiorgi that can be interacted with, many of the adults (at least who we see alive) likely have to juggle tending to the usual farm work and caring for the kids. both flynn and issachar living to be 18 was likely a miracle, or having capable youth in general was one. i also like to think they were born in a really close timeframe, or even on the same day, so off the bat their families got along well and they were sorta just. born best friends.

flynn was definitely influenced by issachar in many ways but i think it’s because he genuinely looked up to him. i mean, dude’s pretty outgoing. he probably helped with a little bit of everything and might’ve been more physically capable of things than flynn.

that being said, issachar also did a lot of stupid shit. i’m pretty inspired by this post for this hc. flynn would always end up doing the same stuff even if he knew he could get hurt/in trouble just because he didn’t want issachar to take all the blame for something or the only one suffering an easily preventable injury.

despite physical differences, both ended up succeeding in different areas when it came to usual tasks. flynn was much better with animal handling.

you can’t tell me he didn’t grow out his hair just because issachar did, but low key flynn is bad at actually using hair ties and the like. he always has to get help.

they were basically inseparable from day one. can’t do shit without the other present.

they started visiting lake mikado for fishing purposes despite the trip being pretty long. it gradually became their usual spot on rest days, and both of them started training to become samurai by the lakeside.

flynn was actually the one who presented the whole becoming a samurai no matter what idea, though it was originally him thinking issachar would be the perfect fit while he’d stay back home. a little convincing lead flynn to eventually promise that. both were constantly motivating one another in the first place for everything. as the day of the gauntlet rite neared, though, anxiety surrounding the worst case scenario increased.

first few nights without issachar being there were hellish for flynn. the idea of being the only one of the two to become a samurai in general hurt. he initially considered seeing if he could find a way to drop out but i bet either sometime before or right when they got separated issachar encouraged him to stay.

it’s not like he could if he wanted to. samurai business outside of them protecting people was hush-hush, and due to how little end up getting accepted during the rite combined with how many likely died in naraku, yeah no take backsies. communication with anyone outside the samurai was likely strictly forbidden. even on holidays they had strict regulations on what they can and can’t talk about with folks.

didn’t stop flynn from trying to get in touch with issachar (to no avail).

in regards to the black samurai incident as it was deemed, he likely did end up mercy killing issachar. idgaf about the choice to not do so. aside from that being what issachar wanted, realistically speaking, he’d likely be killed either way, so better to die by your best friend’s hands than a stranger’s. i would imagine that the tragedy overall did leave kiccigiorgi unable to recover and those who turned into demons before death weren’t given any proper burial or respect. they were treated like the lowest of the low. i do think flynn ended up finding a way to hide issachar’s body just long enough so he could bury him at lake mikado.

for a long while after the fact, flynn tried his hardest to recover by never thinking of issachar by name or even saying it. worked for a little while, though occasionally he’d end up asking himself what he’d do if issachar was there with him still whenever he got stuck.

part of what inspired him to help out tokyo was because he felt like it was his duty to defend those who couldn’t defend themselves. it’s not their fault they’re in constant life or death situations. though i think he also overworks himself.

he’d take constant trips back to mikado while he could just to gather supplies for the people of tokyo to use regardless of what rules that broke.

oh and he’d turn down buying certain things if he felt like that would deprive others of materials they likely needed more.

flynn really did become better overtime at fighting but adopted the ability to use magic because he’s secretly not that great at sword wielding. using guns also just feels too unnatural. learning from demons does make him feel a bit guilty though.

you could so easily guilt trip him into doing stuff it’s not even funny.

last hc for now i guess but i really like thinking that the option for nanashi to give flynn the fishhook helped put his mind at ease in 4a’s bonds route. he just automatically knew it was something that belonged to issachar despite looking nothing special. it’s kinda like having a piece of him there.

sorry this was so long btw. wouldn’t mind putting more headcanons out there in the future tho maybe idk ;-;

[nayialovecat]

Narinder cleans up after others (2/3 chapter)

I don't know if you like my literature, but I'm want to post one fragment that I really like - and to make it fully understandable, I'll have to post this one first… This is about 2/3 of a chapter titled "Narinder cleans up after others" (vol. 3, chapter 3). Hope you like it :)

This chapter takes place after the part about the Crowns, but just before the part where the Lamb makes a deal with Helob…

Enjoy!

————————————

Chapter 3 - Narinder cleans up after others

(...) It had been more than a dozen days since he was overthrowed. Narinder was waiting. He himself didn't know for what. After a failed attempt to take over any of the Crowns, he decided to lie low. He waited... until Lamb begins to have problems. Until begin to fail in the domain they had taken over. But they... they probably wasn't even trying. They lived, as far as he could tell, as they had before. They looked after the village, cooked meals, said prayers, sometimes some ritual to the delight of the crowd... And nothing else. This irritated him. After all, Lamb was the new god of life and death! When was they planning to get down to managing their domain? (...)

Lamb floated suddenly to the ground in front of him. "Nari, you didn't show up for breakfast," they remarked calmly.

"I'm not hungry," he growling answered, and then made such a movement with the broom, as if he wanted to sweep the leader out of his way.

"That's what you said yesterday. But you need to eat something. You are mortal now, your body requires both sleep and food, and..."

"I have work to do. Don't bother me." He slipped past the leader. The one sighed deeply.

"After all, I know you like this work," they said. "Just as you like to eat and you like my dishes. You yourself have already noticed that it's not all that bad here..."

Narinder's fingers tightened tighter on the broom. After a moment there was a cracking sound, so he loosened his grip.

"When are you going to take care of the important things?" He asked in an indifferent tone. He glanced at Lamb. "You are a god now... You can't deal only with your little followers!"

"Can't I?" Lamb crooked his head.

"No, you have responsibilities! You have a domain to take care of!"

"And I take care of it. I make sure that the living stay among the living. For example... Not letting them die of hunger... Please, I brought you a dish. Eat it while it's warm."

"Since you don't want to be the god of life and death, hand over the Crown to someone else!" growled Narinder, ignoring the plate extended in his direction. "I'm not saying me... But let someone competent take care of it, if you can't!"

"Why do you care so much?" puzzled Lamb.

Narinder turned violently towards him. "Because, contrary to what you and the rest of the world think of me, contrary to how my siblings have demonized me, I have always taken my duties as a god seriously! I am a god! Maybe a former god, but still, I know what my domain is, what needs to be done and that it should not be left alone, you know? And you... you are just a frivolous kid," he assessed them with his eyes, "who plays dollhouse with a whole village of followers."

"You're hurting me a little...," remarked Lamb. "I don't treat this as a play... I take care of my followers - is that bad?"

"If you devoted even half the time, you devote to them, to your domain, perhaps the world would look better..."

"Do you think that if I gave you the Crown, then in Limbo, the world would be better?"

"Monsters and beasts would not be rampaging through it, murdering whole hosts of creatures, and my siblings' domains would have long since been conquered and I would have brought order to them..."

"With terror and crime," added Lamb.

"It doesn't matter by what means, the important thing is that it is effective."

Narinder focused again on sweeping, feeling anger. His thoughts raged with fury at Lamb. He debated again the injustice that had befallen him. More than a thousand and two hundred years in prison - only to be transferred to a new prison. Fate had mocked him cruelly. He felt like screaming, but he mastered himself. He may not have been a god anymore, but he had his dignity. Only, since he could no longer be a god, it could at least be someone who was competent!

"But that didn't happen," remarked Lamb calmly. "And the world has only... me. I guess you have to get over it."

"Egoistic Lamb" snorted the cat.

"Stubborn cat. You try to hide behind the welfare of the world, meanwhile... you don't give a damn. You just want to prove that I'm not up to it, that I'll fail. Will you deny it?" Narinder didn't answer. Not even a thought, although he was boiling internally. "If you cared about the welfare of the world, you would have started giving me advice long ago... force them on me. Of course, I don't need your advice and I don't give a damn about it," announced Lamb with superiority. "I can handle everything on my own... But first of all - I will take care of my followers. Because they are the ones I care about the most, do you understand? I didn't ask to be a god! All I wanted was to be able to live on here as a cult leader! You got me into all this god stuff! Because of you we both ended up in this situation! So now shut your yap, if you please, and eat that food before you starve to death!"

A crackle sounded. The broom handle went into splinters. Narinder looked at it, and then without a word picked up the broken off handle and moved towards the sanitation section.

"You let him get off your balance," remarked Red Crown.

"I know," replied Lamb in their mind. "And judging by his thoughts and this... destruction of the broom, I got him off as well... And I think I offended him a bit..."

"Well... I warned you that it would be difficult. Narinder... is difficult to deal with. I know, because over these few thousand years I've had an insight into his thoughts just as I have into yours now..."

Lamb only sighed. "Well, I myself wanted there to be a challenge, to make it interesting..." They looked at the plate with the meat dish. It smiled slightly. "But I know one thing: Narinder loves this dish. I'll leave it for him at his cottage, he will eat it when he is sure that I'm not around."

"Thoughtful. Or he'll throw it out the window and eventually starve to death."

"One of two things...," sighed Lamb.

---

Shortly after the meal, the ringing of bells sounded again. As promised to the followers, Lamb had decided to do the sermon early that day. Everyone headed toward the church, abandoning their activities, curious as to why such an early meeting... Narinder looked out the window with his mouth still full of food. He squinted and then lowered the curtain. However, it was not given to him to stay at home. A green giraffe knocked on his door. He remembered that her name was somehow Liliyan or Liliana, or something equally dorky and not fitting.

"I noticed that you still stayed at home... You don't want to be late for the sermon, do you?" He bestowed on her his most contemptuous look. She sighed. "Look, it's been almost two weeks... You can't rebel for so long, it's so far from appropriate."

"The only reason I'm not trying to show you the truth about this usurper," Narinder growled, "is because I swore to him that I wouldn't do it. But he can't make me worship him and blindly adore him, as you all do."

"Well, I, on the other hand, don't understand why our leader has not yet put you in a prison and re-educated you," replied the giraffe with a shrug of the shoulders, and then added: "But your behavior is attracting attention. If you don't want to end up getting beaten up for it by some of our more zealous brethren in the faith, I advise you to at least give the appearance of being a follower."

He growled something under his breath, then slammed the door. She waited for a moment, then with a shrug of shoulders moved toward the church. She wanted to help him. The cat may not have evoked sympathy, but for some reason she felt sorry for him whenever she looked at him.

After a while, she heard the sound of the door opening. With a quick step, full of obvious nervousness and anger, the cat passed her without a word and headed straight for the church. She smiled and then, with joy on her face, ran after him there for the sermon that was already beginning.

Lamb, as usual, spoke inspiringly - they talked about love for one's neighbor, how much happiness comes from fellowship and working together... seemed to be looking at one point, but no one in truth wanted to take their eyes off their face to look at what they was looking at like that. Narinder, standing in the shadow of the aisle, was sipping leftover stew soup, almost ostentatiously even showing disregard. He felt Lamb's gaze on him, but he didn't care.

"And now, my dearestes, do not go away yet..." said Lamb cheerfully. "I ordered today's sermon so early, because I will have to leave you for a while... We thought it was over, but... I'm forced to go on a crusade to Darkwood."

The followers were amazed. Narinder snorted contemptuously, thinking of a follower who had some business with the leader. He thought to himself: and such a weak, submissive to the whims of his followers fool is supposed to be a god. In turn, they took a breath, hearing these thoughts, and then raised their hands.

"Fear not... we are not threatened by this domain, nevertheless.... I need to check a few things, do a few things. And I also ask you to do something... Recently, even in the vicinity of the totem of our faith in Glade of the Passage, dangerous creatures have begun to appear... And I'm not just talking about Helob, who has no reverence or respect for other beings, and the only reason he doesn't hunt you is the symbol of Red Crown on your robes... There are others, just as dangerous. Heretics who believe that the right sacrifice will return their false gods to them. Therefore, I ask you, do not leave the village until I return. Any business: shopping, going fishing or visiting friends - can wait until I return. The second matter... I have appointed my deputy... Amaru," he pointed to the bright orange capybara, which blushed slightly, "will try to replace me with dignity. With all matters, direct yourself to him, report to him and convey your wishes - he will inform me of everything as soon as I return. Thirdly..."

Narinder snorted again, and then left the church, not wanting to listen to all this any longer. What kind of leader behaves so incompetently? And what kind of god ignores his domain? Outside the church, he glanced toward the Crowns with undisguised dislike and hatred. If only he could persuade at least one of them to cooperate... If he could free himself, occupy his own domain, let it even be Kallamar's domain... he would quickly show Lamb how a god should behave. He suffered, unable to do so.

The faithful began to leave the church. The announcements had apparently been completed. He became concerned, but failed to move away when he heard behind him: "I don't have thousands of years of experience, forgive me...," the voice was cold. "And I'm not subject to anyone's whims. I have no obligation to explain myself to you, but if you already want to know.... that rabbit there, Charming, informed me that (...) his sister is in Darkwood. I intend to go there for her." Narinder remained silent. "You are a stubborn donkey, not a cat," added Lamb. "But I ask you one thing... I may be gone even a few days..."

"Do you want me to be polite and not do anything against you?" snorted Narinder.

"Oh, no... I don't doubt that all the time you are looking for a loophole in our agreement, a loophole that will allow you to start rebelling my followers against me... No, I'm asking for something else... Don't get beaten up or killed, okay? You irritate a lot of people. Even if they don't know who you are, they feel a subconscious dislike for you right from the start - and your behavior further annoys them. I wouldn't want to find your dead body again upon my return, is that clear?"

He squinted his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders. "Go, die," he snorted contemptuously, waving his paw. He hesitated. "But thanks for the stew. It was even good..."

"Well, now Amaru will take over the cooking, he rather prefers vegan dishes..." Lamb smiled. "But as if anything, the pantry is at your disposal. If you promise not to burn down the kitchen..."

"Sure. Maybe I still have to cook for the others," snorted Narinder, and then took off running towards the houses. Lamb sighed.

"I can bet that we'll find quite a mess when we return," noted Crown. "This is the moment when he'll really mess us up here."

"I know, but I can't ignore Charming's request. If his sister is really alive, I even have a duty to rescue her. I will search Darkwood until I find her."

"Do you know what Narinder thinks about this?"

"Yes. I have seen his thoughts..." sighed Lamb. "'It's just one lousy follower' and then about the abandoned domain, blah, blah... But I'd really like to take care of the domain. Only... there are still so many other things to do, and all this divine stuff is going poorly for me..."

"You'll mastered it," Crown was trying to cheer them up. (...) Contrary to what Narinder thought and says, Lamb tried very hard to understand their domain first and foremost. They practiced every night together with Crown based on what he knew about it. But... Narinder was right. Crown didn't understand life, nor did he understand death. In addition, it was hard for him to teach a ten-year-old child who didn't understand everything. He couldn't even judge which things were easier and which were more difficult, which meant that certain things took them far too long. Lamb needed a better teacher. But the only one available... He sighed.

Meanwhile, Narinder went back to cleaning. He felt angry at Lamb and the whole world - but the steady movements of the broom slowly began to sway him with its hypnotic rhythm and pleasant rustling. He really enjoyed this work, he didn't even expect it. He happily indulged in his occupation and remained quiet until he saw a large poop behind one of the houses. He roared in frustration, looking for the culprit, and then, groaning under his breath at the stupidity of Lamb's followers, went immediately to get a shovel. When he returned, the poop was gone, and two houses away he spotted Popo the hippo.

"You... you've got to be kidding me!" he growled. "Popo, the leader forbade you to eat poop!"

The hippopotamus heard his shout, and then hurriedly escaped between the houses. Narinder hit himself in the face with his hand. Awkwardly with the hand in which he held the poop shovel. He cursed.

"And this is what my whole life will look like now...," he thought. "With any luck, maybe I'll eventually get sick and die. Limbo stops being such a bad option..."

————————————

And of course, Polish version:

Rozdział 3 - Narinder sprząta po innych

(...) Minęło już kilkanaście dni od momentu, gdy został obalony. Narinder czekał. Sam nie wiedział na co. Po nieudanej próbie przejęcia którejś z Koron, postanowił się przyczaić. Czekał... aż Jagnię zacznie mieć problemy. Zacznie nie radzić sobie w domenie, którą objęło. Ale ono... ono chyba nawet nie próbowało. Żyło, na ile mógł to stwierdzić, tak jak wcześniej. Doglądało wioski, gotowało posiłki, odprawiało modlitwy, czasem jakiś rytuał ku radości tłumu... I nic więcej. Drażniło go to. Przecież Jagnię było nowym bogiem życia i śmierci! Kiedy zamierzało zabrać się za zarządzanie swoją domeną? (...)

Jagnię spłynęło nagle na ziemię przed nim.

- Nari, nie pojawiłeś się na śniadaniu - zauważyło spokojnie.

- Nie jestem głodny - odwarknął, a potem zrobił taki ruch miotłą, jakby chciał zmieść sobie z drogi lidera.

- To samo mówiłeś wczoraj. Ale musisz coś jeść. Jesteś teraz śmiertelny, twoje ciało wymaga i snu, i pokarmu, i...

- Mam robotę. Nie przeszkadzaj.

Wyminął lidera. Ten westchnął głęboko.

- Przecież wiem, że lubisz tę pracę - powiedziało. - Tak samo, jak lubisz jeść i smakują ci moje potrawy. Sam już zauważyłeś, że nie jest tutaj wcale aż tak źle...

Palce Narindera zacisnęły się mocniej na miotle. Po chwili rozległ się trzask pękającego drewna, więc poluźnił chwyt.

- Kiedy zamierzasz zająć się istotnymi rzeczami? - zapytał obojętnym tonem. Zerknął na Jagnię. - Jesteś teraz bogiem... Nie możesz zajmować się tylko swoimi małymi wyznawcami!

- Nie mogę? - Jagnię przekrzywiło głowę.

- Nie! Masz obowiązki! Masz domenę do zajęcia się nią!

- I zajmuję się nią. Pilnuję, aby żywi zostawali pośród żywych. Na przykład... nie pozwalając im umrzeć z głodu... Proszę, przyniosłom ci potrawkę. Zjedz, póki jest ciepła.

- Skoro nie chcesz być bogiem życia i śmierci, przekaż Koronę komuś innemu! - warknął Narinder, ignorując wyciągnięty w swoją stronę talerz. - Nie mówię, że mnie... Ale niech zajmie się tym ktoś kompetentny, skoro ty nie umiesz!

- Czemu ci aż tak zależy? - zdziwiło się Jagnię.

Narinder obrócił się ku niemu gwałtownie.

- Bo, wbrew temu, co sądzisz o mnie ty i cała reszta świata, wbrew temu, jak zdemonizowało mnie moje rodzeństwo, do swoich obowiązków jako boga podchodziłem zawsze na poważnie! Jestem bogiem! Może byłym bogiem, ale jednak wiem, czym jest moja domena, co należy robić i że nie należy jej zostawiać samej sobie, wiesz? A ty... ty jesteś tylko niepoważnym dzieciakiem - ocenił je wzrokiem - który bawi się w domek dla lalek całą wioską wyznawców.

- Trochę... mnie ranisz - zauważyło Jagnię. - Nie traktuję tego jako zabawę... Dbam o swoich wyznawców - to źle?

- Gdybyś poświęcał choć połowę czasu, który poświęcasz im, swojej domenie, być może świat wyglądałby lepiej...

- Uważasz, że gdybym oddało ci Koronę, wtedy w Limbo, świat byłby lepszy?

- Nie szalałby po nim potwory i bestie, mordując całe zastępy istot, a domeny mojego rodzeństwa dawno zostałyby już podbite i zaprowadzałbym w nich porządek...

- Terrorem i zbrodnią - dopowiedziało Jagnię.

- Nieważne, jakimi środkami, ważne, że skutecznie.

Narinder skupił się znów na zamiataniu, czując gniew. Jego myśli szalały wściekłością do Jagnięcia. Roztrząsał znów niesprawiedliwość, jaka go spotkała. Ponad tysiąc dwieście lat w więzieniu - tylko po to, aby zostać przeniesionym do nowego więzienia. Los drwił sobie z niego okrutnie. Miał ochotę wrzeszczeć, ale opanował się. Może nie był już bogiem, ale miał swoją godność. Tylko, skoro już nie mógł być bogiem on, to mógł chociaż zostać nim ktoś kompetentny!

- Ale tak się nie stało - zauważyło spokojnie Jagnię. - I świat ma tylko... mnie. Chyba trzeba się z tym pogodzić.

- Egoistyczne Jagnię - prychnął kot.

- Uparty kot. Próbujesz zasłaniać się dobrem świata, a tymczasem... masz to gdzieś. Chcesz tylko udowodnić, że ja się nie nadaję, że polegnę. Zaprzeczysz?

Narinder nie odpowiedział. Nawet myślą, chociaż gotował się wewnętrznie.

- Gdyby zależało ci na dobru świata, już dawno zacząłbyś mi dawać rady... wmuszać mi je. Oczywiście, nie potrzebuję twoich rad i mam je gdzieś - oznajmiło z wyższością Jagnię. - Poradzę sobie ze wszystkim samo... Lecz w pierwszej kolejności - zadbam o moich wyznawców. Bo to na nich mi najbardziej zależy, rozumiesz? Nie prosiłom się o bycie bogiem! Wszystko, czego chciałom, to móc sobie żyć dalej tu jako lider kultu! Ty mnie wrobiłeś w te całe boskie sprawy! Przez ciebie oboje wylądowaliśmy w takiej sytuacji! Więc teraz zamknij łaskawie jadaczkę i jedz to żarcie, zanim zdechniesz z głodu!

Rozległ się trzask. Uchwyt miotły poszedł w drzazgi. Narinder popatrzył na nią, a potem bez słowa podniósł odłamaną rączkę i ruszył w stronę sekcji sanitarnej.

- Dałeś mu się wyprowadzić z równowagi - zauważyła Czerwona Korona.

- Wiem - odpowiedziało jej w myślach Jagnię. - I sądząc po jego myślach i tym... zniszczeniu miotły, ja jego także... i chyba nieco go uraziłom...

- Cóż... ostrzegałem cię, że będzie ciężko. Narinder... jest trudny w obyciu. Wiem, bo przez te kilka tysięcy lat miałem wgląd w jego myśli tak, jak teraz w twoje...

Jagnię tylko westchnęło.

- Cóż, samo chciałom, żeby było jakieś wyzwanie, żeby było ciekawie... - Spojrzało na talerz z mięsną potrawką. Uśmiechnęło się lekko. - Ale wiem jedno: Narinder uwielbia tę potrawę. Zostawię mu ją w jego domku, zje, gdy będzie pewien, że nie ma mnie w okolicy.

- Przemyślne. Albo wyleje za okno i w końcu umrze z głodu.

- Jedno z dwojga... - westchnęło Jagnię.

---

Niedługo po posiłku rozległo się ponowne bicie w dzwony. Tak jak obiecywało wyznawcom, Jagnię tego dnia postanowiło wcześniej zrobić kazanie. Wszyscy udali się w stronę kościoła, porzucając swoje zajęcia, ciekawi, skąd tak wczesne spotkanie... Narinder wyjrzał przez okno z ustami jeszcze pełnymi jedzenia. Zmrużył oczy, a potem opuścił zasłonę. Nie dane mu było jednak pozostać w domu. Do jego drzwi zapukała zielona żyrafa. Pamiętał, że nazywała się jakoś Lilijka czy Liliana, czy coś równie durnego i nie pasującego.

- Zauważyłam, że jeszcze pozostałeś w domu... Chyba nie chcesz spóźnić się na kazanie?

Obdarzył ją swoim najbardziej pogardliwym spojrzeniem. Westchnęła.

- Słuchaj, minęły już prawie dwa tygodnie... Nie możesz się tak długo buntować, to aż nie stosowne.

- Jedynym powodem, dla którego nie próbuję wam ukazać prawdy na temat tego uzurpatora - warknął Narinder - jest fakt, że przysięgłem mu, że tego nie zrobię. Ale nie jest w stanie mnie zmusić, abym go czcił i ślepo wielbił, jak wy wszyscy.

- Cóż, ja natomiast nie pojmuję, dlaczego nasz lider jeszcze nie zakuł ciebie w dyby i nie reedukował - odparła ze wzruszeniem ramion żyrafa, a potem dorzuciła. - Ale twoje zachowanie przyciąga uwagę. Jeśli nie chcesz zostać w końcu za nie pobity przez co gorliwszych braci w wierze, radzę ci chociaż stwarzać pozory bycia wyznawcą.

Warknął coś pod nosem, a potem trzasnął drzwiami. Przez chwilę czekała, potem ze wzruszeniem ramion ruszyła w stronę kościła. Chciała mu pomóc. Kot może nie budził sympatii, ale z jakiegoś powodu robiło jej się go żal, ilekroć na niego patrzyła.

Po chwili usłyszała odgłos otwieranych drzwi. Szybkim, pełnym wyraźnego zdenerwowania i gniewu krokiem, kot wyminął ją bez słowa i skierował się wprost do kościoła. Uśmiechnęła się, a potem z radością na twarzy pobiegła tam za nim na już zaczynające się kazanie.

Jagnię jak zwykle przemawiało inspirująco - mówiło o miłości do bliźniego, o tym, ile szczęścia daje współnota i zgodna praca... zdawało się patrzyć w jeden punkt, ale nikt po prawdzie nie chciał odrywać wzroku od jego twarzy, aby spojrzeć, na co tak patrzy. Narinder, stojący w cieniu nawy, siurpał resztki gulaszowej zupy, niemal ostentacyjnie wręcz okazując lekceważenie. Czuł na sobie wzrok Jagnięcia, ale nic sobie z niego nie robił.

- A teraz, kochani, nie odchodźcie jeszcze... - rzuciło wesoło Jagnię. - Zarządziłom dzisiejsze kazanie tak wcześnie, bo będę musiało was opuścić na jakiś czas... Myślałom, że to już za nami, ale... jestem zmuszone wyruszyć na krucjatę do Darkwood.

Wyznawcy zdumieli się. Narinder prychnął pogardliwie, myśląc o wyznawcy, który miał jakąś sprawę do lidera. Pomyślał sobie: i taki słaby, ulegający kaprysom swoich wyznawców dureń ma być bogiem. Ono zaś odetchnęło, słysząc te myśli, a potem uniosło ręce.

- Nie obawiajcie się... nie grozi nam żadne zagrożenie ze strony tej domeny, niemniej... muszę sprawdzić kilka rzeczy, zrobić kilka rzeczy. A was proszę także o coś... Ostatnimi czasy nawet w okolicach totemu naszej wiary na Polanie Przejścia, zaczęły pojawiać się niebezpieczne istoty... I nie chodzi mi tylko o Heloba, który nie ma żadnej czci i poszanowania dla innych istot, a jedynym powodem, dla którego nie poluje na was, jest symbol Czerwonej Korony na waszych szatach... Są inni, równie niebezpieczni. Heretycy, którzy wierzą, że odpowiednia ofiara zwróci im ich fałszywych bogów. Dlatego proszę was, nie opuszczajcie wioski, dopóki nie wrócę. Wszelkie sprawy: zakupy, pójście na ryby czy w odwiedziny do przyjaciół - mogą poczekać do mojego powrotu. Druga sprawa... wyznaczyłom mojego zastępcę... Amaru - wskazał na jasnopomarańczową kapibarę, która zarumieniła się lekko - będzie starał się mnie godnie zastąpić. Z wszelkimi sprawami kierujcie się do niego, składajcie mu meldunki i przekazujcie swoje życzenia - poinformuje mnie o wszystkim, gdy tylko wrócę. Po trzecie...

Narinder prychnął ponownie, a potem wyszedł z kościoła, nie chcąc tego wszystkiego dłużej słuchać. Co za lider zachowuje się tak niekompetentnie? I co za bóg ignoruje swoją domenę? Przed kościołem zerknął w stronę Koron z nieskrywaną niechęcią i nienawiścią. Gdyby tylko mógł namówić choć jedną z nich na współpracę... Gdyby mógł uwolnić się, zająć własną domenę, niech by to była nawet domena Kallamara... prędko pokazałby Jagnięciu, jak powinien zachowywać się bóg. Cierpiał, nie mogąc tego zrobić.

Wierni zaczęli wychodzić z kościoła. Ogłoszenia najwyraźniej zostały zakończone. Zaniepokoił się, ale nie zdołał się oddalić, gdy usłyszał za sobą.

- Nie mam tysięcy lat doświadczenia, wybacz mi... - głos był zimny. - I nie ulegam niczyim kaprysom. Nie mam obowiązku ci się tłumaczyć, ale jeśli już chcesz wiedzieć... tamten królik, Czaruś, poinformował mnie, że (...) jego siostra jest w Darkwood. Zamierzam udać się tam po nią.

Narinder milczał.

- Jesteś upartym osłem, a nie kotem - dorzuciło jeszcze Jagnię. - Ale proszę cię o jedno... może mnie nie być nawet kilka dni...

- Chcesz, żebym był grzeczny i nie robił nic przeciwko tobie? - prychnął Narinder.

- Och, nie... nie wątpię, że cały czas szukasz luki w naszej umowie, luki, która pozwoli ci zacząć buntować moich wyznawców przeciwko mnie... Nie, proszę o co innego... Nie daj się pobić ani zabić, dobrze? Drażnisz wiele osób. Nawet, jeśli nie wiedzą, kim jesteś, odczuwają do ciebie już na starcie podświadomą niechęć - a twoje zachowanie dodatkowo ich denerwuje. Nie chciałobym znowu po powrocie zastać twojego martwego ciała, jasne?

Przymrużył oczy. Wzruszył ramionami.

- Idź, zdechnij - prychnął pogardliwie, machając łapą. Zawahał się. - Ale dzięki za gulasz. Był nawet niezły...

- Cóż, teraz gotowanie przejmie Amaru, on raczej preferuje dania wegańskie... - Jagnię uśmiechnęło się. - Ale jakby co, spiżarnia jest do dyspozycji. Jeśli obiecasz nie spalić kuchni...

- Jasne. Może jeszcze mam gotować pozostałym - prychnął Narinder, a potem ruszył biegiem w stronę domów. Jagnię westchnęło.

- Mogę się założyć, że zastaniemy po powrocie niezły bałagan - zauważyła Korona. - To ten moment, kiedy on nam tutaj naprawdę namiesza.

- Wiem. Ale nie mogę zignorować prośby Czarusia. Jeśli jego siostra naprawdę żyje, mam wręcz obowiązek ją uratować. Będę przeszukiwać Darkwood tak długo, aż ją znajdę.

- Wiesz, co myśli na ten temat Narinder?

- Tak. Widziałom jego myśli... - westchnęło Jagnię. - "To tylko jeden marny wyznawca" i dalej o porzuconej domenie, ble, ble... Ale ja naprawdę bym chciało zająć się domeną. Tylko... ciągle jest tyle innych rzeczy do zrobienia, a mnie te wszystkie boskie rzeczy kiepsko idą...

- Wyćwiczysz się - pocieszyła Korona.

(...) Wbrew temu, co myślał i mówi Narinder, Jagnię bardzo starało się przede wszystkim zrozumieć swoją domenę. Ćwiczyło każdej nocy razem z Koroną bazując na tym, co ona wiedziała na ten temat. Ale... Narinder miał rację. Korona nie rozumiała życia, nie rozumiała też śmierci. W dodatku ciężko jej było uczyć dziesięcioletnie dziecko, które nie wszystko rozumiało. Nie umiała nawet ocenić, które rzeczy są łatwiejsze, a które trudniejsze, przez co pewne rzeczy zajmowały im zdecydowanie za dużo czasu. Jagnię potrzebowało lepszego nauczyciela. Ale jedyny dostępny... Westchnęła.

Tymczasem Narinder wrócił do sprzątania. Czuł złość na Jagnię i cały świat - ale miarowe ruchy miotłą powoli zaczęły go kołysać swoim hipnotycznym rytmem i przyjemnym szelestem. Naprawdę lubił tę pracę, nawet się tego nie spodziewał. Z przyjemnością oddał się swemu zajęciu i pozostał spokojny, dopóki nie zobaczył za jednym z domów sporej kupy. Ryknął z frustracją, szukając winnego, a potem powarkując pod nosem na głupotę wyznawców Jagnięcia, udał się natychmiast po łopatkę. Gdy wrócił, kupy nie było, a dwa domy dalej zauważył hipopotama Popo.

- Ty... chyba sobie żartujesz! - warknął. - Popo, lider zabronił ci zjadać kupy!

Hipopotam dosłyszał jego okrzyk, a potem pospiesznie umknął pomiędzy domy. Narinder uderzył się dłonią w twarz. Niefortunnie dłonią, w której trzymał łopatkę do podnoszenia kup. Zaklął.

"I tak właśnie teraz będzie wyglądać całe moje życie... - pomyślał. - Przy odrobinie szczęścia może w końcu zachoruję i umrę. Limbo przestaje być taką złą opcją..."