#you’re about to be number 2 on my war criminals list | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

robininthelabyrinth · 3 years ago

Note

JC adopts stray/rouge cultivators after the war au to cope with the destruction of lotus pier. also i love your writing so much!!

Gratuitously Acquired - ao3

At first, he took anyone who would join, needing numbers – needing people. There were plenty of cultivators that wanted to be associated with a great sect. Plenty, too, that were barely more than criminals, wanting to use the smoke and ash of war to obscure the past, to cover up old crimes and wash themselves clean.

Jiang Cheng wasn’t in any position to refuse them. Soldiers were soldiers.

After the war ended, though…

Some he cast out. Others, even more despicable, he slaughtered for what they’d done.

A few –

“Yan Qiao.”

The female cultivator in question, who had been sneaking out of the still mostly ruined Lotus Pier at night in flagrant violation of curfew, froze in her tracks.

“Uh,” she said. “Sect Leader Jiang. Fancy finding you…here…now…at this time…”

Jiang Cheng looked at the basket of buns in her hands. “You’re stealing leftovers from our kitchens to feed orphans among the common people,” he said. “Again.”

She blushed. “No one wants them now that there’s better available, Sect Leader! Really, they’ll only go stale, and then rot – and I never stole when it was the army eating them!”

“That’s not the point,” Jiang Cheng said irritably. “Tell me, how in the name of heavens did you really get branded as a criminal? Distributed too many alms? Did too much charity?”

Yan Qiao coughed, turning red. “I told you before, Sect Leader. I killed a man.”

“He must have done something particularly heinous, then. You’re shitat killing.”

“Now I am. Sect Leader, if you don’t mind…”

“You’re one of the ones who wants my surname, right?” he interrupted. “Consider it granted.”

Yan Qiao – no, he supposed he’d better start thinking of her as Jiang Qiao – gaped at him. “But…Sect Leader!”

“I’ve barely granted it to anyone, so you’d better live up to it, you hear me?” Jiang Cheng said in his best threatening voice. He’d been assured by several people that it was really quite threatening, anyway. “I don’t want any excuses. Now go feed your damn orphans, and in the morning I want a report on how you think we can do it in a more structured manner. I can’t have you sneaking off every night anymore! Now that you’re a Jiang, you’re going to have work.”

When they were done with war and started firmly on rebuilding, the Jiang sect’s name was firmly reestablished as a Great Sect once more, it was the opportunists that came.

Smiling faces, sycophantic voices, cowards one and all – like beetles crawling out of the woodwork, not willing to risk their lives, but willing enough to beg for scraps and advantages later on when it seemed safe enough to do so.

Jiang Cheng wanted to chase them all away, but his sect was still weaker than he wanted to admit, still rebuilding, still more army than civilian operation. They had valiant soldiers by the dozen, but they needed more than that. They needed administrators, supervisors, artisans, smiths, merchants, laundry-women…

They needed workers. The ones they got – well, cowards they might be, but skills they had.

He still rejected most of the worst of them.

Most.

“Bo Zhou,” he said, inspecting the surprisingly flush list of taxes they’d collected that quarter, and the man in question turned to grin unrepentantly at him. “You’d tell me if you were a con artist in a previous life, right?”

“A previous life, Sect Leader?” Bo Zhou said. He was still grinning, but then, he was always grinning. He had a crooked leg and an even more crooked heart, and he’d probably steal candy from little children if he happened to have a hankering, but he was amazing at getting people to do what he wanted. Too amazing, really. “Why limit yourself? What about thislife?”

“…Bo Zhou. Tell me you aren’t a former con artist.”

“I may or may not have had a sideline selling snake oil and protective talismans before I became a cultivator,” Bo Zhou admitted cheerfully, and Jiang Cheng pinched the bridge of his nose – less out of actual irritation and more to keep from actually laughing. The only person he knew that was more shameless than Bo Zhou was Wei Wuxian; he couldn’t wait to introduce them once Wei Wuxian stopped skulking around in wine shops long enough to get back to doing his job as Jiang Cheng’s head disciple and right hand. “Who would’ve known that making all those fake talismans ended up making me pretty good at making actual talismans when I became a cultivator? Really, who could have called that?”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Who taught you how to cultivate, anyway? Can I – I don’t know – seek vengeance on behalf of the rest of the world or something?”

Bo Zhou rolled his eyes right back at him. Shameless! “Is this about the taxes? Just be happy I got them all!”

“I can’t just be happy! What if this money is stolen property?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Sect Leader. They’re what we shouldbe getting, and from all the right people. You told me this was the right amount yourself!”

“Yes, but no one ever actually pays the full amount!” Jiang Cheng enjoyed the way Bo Zhou’s jaw dropped. “I just wanted to see if you could actually do it.”

“I’m hurt at your lack of trust.” Bo Zhou paused, considering. “Also a little impressed at you for keeping a straight enough face to trick me. Well done, Sect Leader.”

“Yeah,” Jiang Cheng said. “You too, Jiang Zhou.”

“It’s Bo…” He trailed off, comprehension arriving and speech departing, and this time he didn’t have a quick retort. He’d been nagging Jiang Cheng on and off for the Jiang surname for the last few weeks, more joking than anything else – he knew that Jiang Cheng hadn’t given his surname to the vast majority of the new people in his sect, only the very few he thought were worth it.

Jiang Cheng enjoyed the newly dubbed Jiang Zhou’s moment of speechlessness thoroughly, since he was moderately sure he wasn’t going to get another one anytime in the next – ever, possibly.

“You proved your worth and your trustworthiness,” he said, patting Jiang Zhou on the shoulder. It occurred to him that he should probably come up with a courtesy name for the man, although he wasn’t sure the man would want one. “Also, congratulations, you’re now the person in charge of tax collection. See if you can think up some new thoughts about supplementing our income, will you? We have so many costs, and I don’t want to rely on Lanling Jin more than I can help it, not like Gusu Lan…”

“Oh, really?” Jiang Zhou interrupted, abruptly excited. “I have so many ideas! How ethical do you want to be about this?”

Jiang Cheng paused. “…very?”

“Be reasonable, Sect Leader!”

“…moderately?” he tried, a little more desperately.

“I can work with moderately. I don’t suppose you’d accept ‘thin and barely plausible veneer’?”

“No.”

“Oh well. Moderately ethical it is!”

Most of the Jiang sect was slaughtered during the attack on the Lotus Pier. Disciples Jiang Cheng had grown up with his whole life, had expected to see by his side in the future, his friends, his family, even his petty childhood enemies – all gone.

Well, not all gone. There were some Jiang disciples that had been away from Lotus Pier at the time, whether on some errand or a night-hunt or other reasons; they rushed back to his side as soon as they could, of course, and formed the core of Jiang Cheng’s new Jiang sect. When he’d felt utterly alone, when even Wei Wuxian was missing, they had been there for him. They’d preserved their lives and then they’d promised them to him, and it wasn’t until they knelt before him that he really felt like a Sect Leader.

There was no way he could give any of them up now.

“Jiang Meimei, you can’t go,” he said, having completely abandoned all shame in favor of clutching at her robes as if he were a child. “I need you!”

“I’m not even a proper Jiang disciple!” she exclaimed, exasperated – or possibly just annoyed that her grand plan to sneak out in the middle of the night had been stymied by his ambush. “Just because my surname is still Jiang doesn’t mean I didn’t get kicked out, remember?”

“I thought you just left,” Jiang Cheng said, temporarily distracted. “No one ever really talked much about it, actually, but to the extent anyone did, they said that you’d decided that your inclinations were more suited to being a rogue cultivator. That you didn’t want to be weighed down by sect expectations –”

“Hah!” Jiang Meimei tossed her head. “As if it wouldn’t be better to be a roving sect cultivator than a rogue cultivator! I won’t deny that I had a fair bit of wanderlust in my youth –”

“You’re only ten years older than me, you’re not that old.”

“Shut up, brat.”

“You can’t tell me to shut up, I’m your sect leader.”

“You’re my baby cousin is what you are, and, again, I’m actually not part of the Jiang sect!”

“That’s ridiculous,” Jiang Cheng argued. “You’ve been at my side during the entire Sunshot Campaign.”

“I wasn’t going to let my baby cousin get himself murdered, now was I?” Jiang Meimei sniffed. “But I’m still a rogue cultivator. They kicked me out when I wouldn’t accept a marriage, and I’m still firm on that.”

Jiang Cheng blinked. “Wait, you don’t want to be married? Really?” he asked, concerned. “But what about poor Liu Lingling? You shouldn’t be sleeping with her if you don’t intend to be serious about it! I’m pretty sure she’s just waiting for the current project you’re working on to finish to find a matchmaker to exchange birth characters –”

“They wanted me to marry a man,” Jiang Meimei clarified, but her habitual frown had eased considerably; she looked almost on the verge of a smile. “A-Cheng, you’re being dense again. You’re the Sect Leader of a Great Sect now. You know that that means you need to have alliances, marriage contacts with other sects, and that means using your subsidiary branches.”

“Jiang Meimei, you’re the one being dense,” Jiang Cheng said. “You think I’d force you into a marriage? I don’t have subsidiary branches. I barely have a sect, even after all this time. I’m not Wen Ruohan, handing out my surname to anyone who wants it – I only give it to the ones that matter, the ones I want to keep, and those of you that actually share my blood are even rarer, even more precious. How could I give you away?”

Jiang Meimei pursed her lips.

“I really do need you,” Jiang Cheng said quietly. “You weren’t part of the Jiang sect at all, not really, but you still came to help me – you were there from the beginning of the Sunshot Campaign, and you’ve never strayed, never left. You’re my right hand. I can’t do without you.”

Jiang Meimei turned her head away. “It’s not that I want to leave you,” she said. “But becoming a rogue cultivator was hard enough the first time. I couldn’t rely on any of the things that I had always had, everything always changing. I was young and angry then, I could handle it, but things are different now. I’m less flexible, less compromising, older, more tired – I can’t just walk out on a whim and just rough it anymore. I have a girl who, yes, I want to eventually marry; I want to have children. I need certainty. Are you going to give it to me?”

Jiang Cheng looked down at his hands. He’d known it was going to have to come to this, but he’d been dragging his feet, not wanting to succumb to a reality that already existed. Had existed for longer than he wanted to admit, as if simply denying it would mean that it wasn’t the truth.

Like a child.

“Yes,” he said, though it tore his heart out of his chest to do it. “I will. Jiang Meimei…will you take the position of Head Disciple?”

Wei Wuxian wasn’t coming back. Jiang Cheng had already cast him out of the sect, just like Jiang Meimei had been, except in Wei Wuxian’s case it had been something that Wei Wuxian himself had demanded. He was living in Yiling now, and by all reports was quite happy there with his little Wen sect family that he’d picked over Jiang Cheng and all his family.

He was never coming back.

It was time to move on.

“Yes,” she said, and shoved her pack into his chest. “Now go unpack that for me. Consider it payment for driving me to extreme measures!”

“I’m your sect leader, you know,” he grumbled. “Officially, now. You could show me some respect.”

“Would you rather pay for my wedding down the line?”

“I’m going, I’m going!” And then, as he scurried over away, he shouted over his shoulder: “As if I wouldn’t be paying for it anyway! You think my Head Disciple’s going to be married in anything other than top style? Better start planning…”

“Don’t rush me! Brat!”

Jin Ling wasn’t surnamed Jiang, but he was the most important person in all of the Lotus Pier – and Jiang Cheng wanted to make sure everyone knew it. It hadn’t been easy for him to get the chance to help care for Jin Ling, especially here, so far away from home; Jiang Cheng had expected to barely be allowed to visit, to have to cool his heels outside of Lanling City begging just for a glimpse of him. Being able to take him home to raise for half the year, even if it was due to the dangerous infighting amongst Lanling Jin, was more than he’d ever dreamed.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t clear that Jin Ling himself agreed.

“He’s still crying,” Jiang Cheng muttered, rubbing his eyes. “Surely he’s got to stop sometime? I mean, just – physically?”

“They say a boy resembles his mother’s brother,” Jiang Meimei said, echoing the gesture. “If he’s got your lungs and stamina, Sect Leader, we’re doomed.”

“I’m rethinking the whole having children thing,” Liu Lingling said blearily, having fallen asleep on her soon-to-be wife’s shoulder several times, only to be woken up by the next round of crying. “I need sleep.”

“Go get some, both of you,” Jiang Cheng ordered. When his cousin scowled at him, he scowled back. “I’m serious. If he keeps this up, we’re going to need to go into shifts. I can last a bit longer.”

“That’s a filthy lie.”

“It is not. Your sect leader has given you an order – get to it!”

It was a filthy lie.

Jiang Cheng opened his eyes when the crink in his neck grew too irritating to ignore, at which point he realized he’d been asleep – and, more importantly, that Jin Ling was somehow not crying.

He sat up with a start, suddenly terrified: had something happened to him? Had he been silenced forever? Had Jiang Cheng failed this one last duty he had to his sister?

“Shhh, little one,” someone was whispering, not far away. “Let me tell you the one about the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, yeah? You seem like someone who’d appreciate stars. It all started –”

Jiang Cheng went to go look.

A teenage girl was rocking Jin Ling in her arms and telling him a story in murmured tones, and Jin Ling was yawning and trying to gnaw on her shirt. She wasn’t even a cultivator, as far as Jiang Cheng could tell. Her clothing suggested some level of poverty, her accent the countryside – how’d she even end up here?

He wasn’t sure he cared.

Jiang Cheng didn’t want to disturb her, but he did anyway; a shift of his weight, a scuffling of his feet, and the floor creaked. The girl jumped, startled, but luckily Jin Ling was already most of the way asleep and just grumbled a little instead of starting to screech.

“How’d you do that?” Jiang Cheng asked, nodding at Jin Ling. “Make him stop crying.”

“My mother had seven kids after me,” the girl said, answering automatically. “And her sister had six. Someone had to learn to deal with all those babies, and it ended up being me. Think it’s just habit after this long.”

Jiang Cheng couldn’t handle one baby. He couldn’t even imagine.

That’s when the girl seemed to remember herself, and bit her lip. “Uh, sorry,” she said, hanging her head. “I heard him crying and I couldn’t resist...I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be here. It was an accident.”

“How did you get here?” Jiang Cheng asked, because accidental or not, a security breach was still a security breach. “And who are you, anyway?”

“My name’s A-Hua. I’m here to work in the kitchens, just got hired this morning; the fourth cook is my uncle’s wife’s cousin, she got me a job, said it was a good place to start – I was trying to find my way out so I could go to the servant’s quarters to get some sleep, but then I got lost…”

More likely she’d decided it was better to try to stay somewhere indoors than go out in the pouring rain to try to find her way to the right set of quarters, Jiang Cheng thought to himself. “Give me your hand.”

“Uh. What?”

He ignored her stare, took her hand and felt her pulse. There was a little bit of natural talent there, though not much; she might, if she tried hard enough, become a cultivator, but she’d never be more than a servant.

Unless, of course, she did something unusual to impress someone.

“Forget the kitchens,” Jiang Cheng told her. “You’re hired on a provisional basis to keep an eye on Jin Ling.”

The girl nodded, eyes wide as saucers. “Can you – do that?”

Jiang Cheng rolled his eyes. “Yes, I can. What’s your surname? You can’t go around being called A-Hua, we have at least seven people that I know of that go by that name.”

The girl looked distressed.

She probably didn’t have a proper surname. Some people in the countryside didn’t.

But they really couldn’t go around shouting “A-Hua” every time Jin Ling was crying, which was basically all the time.

“Fine,” he said, giving in. “Do well, and I’ll consider letting you use mine. But only if you do well!”

Jiang Cheng was covered in mud thanks to a successful-but-at-what-cost night hunt and angry about it, stomping around the lotus pools on his way back to town, when he heard the familiar sounds of someone having a panic attack.

He slowed, involuntarily, and took a look: it was some teenager dressed in black, heaving miserably by a tree.

Jiang Meimei had once said that Jiang Cheng was a bit weak when it came to teenagers.

Jiang Cheng said that was nonsense.

Jiang Hua chimed in, quite loyally (if perhaps not with the best timing), and said he wasn’t.

Jiang Cheng yielded the argument at once to keep Jiang Meimei from laughing herself sick.

In view of that, he was better off ignoring the kid. After all, what was it to him that some kid was having a fit of anxiety right next the same old lotus pool that he used to have his own teenage fits of anxiety next to, under the shade of the same old tree that had sheltered him – one of the few places that remained untouched by the Wen sect’s aggression, one of the few places that was exactly the same?

Jiang Cheng groaned and walked over. “Okay, fine. What’s your problem?”

The kid looked up at him. He had dark circles under his eyes. “I think my heart’s about to explode.”

“That’s just the anxiety,” Jiang Cheng said, and sat down next to him. “What’s causing the anxiety? Don’t say that someone is better than you and your parents are disappointed in you.”

“What?” the kid blinked. “No, it’s not – it’s not that. I’m about to screw up the very first job I ever got.”

Jiang Cheng considered that. It was just different enough from his own issues that he didn’t suspect a plot, and yet close enough that he might actually be able to offer some expertise.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked reluctantly.

“Not to some mud-man,” the kid said, and – hey! It wasn’t that bad. He thought, anyway. Actually, it probably was that bad. “I just…I’m the only one left. I have to make something of myself!”

Jiang Cheng’s eye twitched. “What do you mean, you’re the only one left?”

The kid stuttered through his story. It wasn’t as bad as Jiang Cheng had initially feared, but it was still pretty bad – his small village had had bad harvests, and there had been starvation, a bad winter; the kid had been sent out to get help, but it had taken too long and he’d arrived back to find them all already gone. He’d been lost, but some traveling cultivator had agreed to take him on as a disciple provided he proved himself, had taught him all sorts of skills, cultivation and talisman-writing and music –

“Music?” Jiang Cheng asked. “Not the sword?”

“There was only the one,” the kid explained. “Obviously he kept it for himself.”

Jiang Cheng didn’t think much of that – surely this cultivator, whoever he ws, could have shared, just long enough to teach? – but he didn’t comment. It seemed fairly clear that the kid didn’t actually think very highly of his teacher, although he was very earnestly trying to be appropriately filial.

It was a little cute.

“…and I was supposed to wait here for someone when they came by here, some fancy rich person, and then get them to follow me, but it’s been ages and no one’s come by at all!” the kid wailed. “I’m such a screw up!”

“You don’t even know who you’re waiting for?” Jiang Cheng asked, and the kid shook his head. “How were you supposed to get them to follow you, then?”

The kid scratched his nose. “My master said that if I showed off some of my cultivation, they’d follow me right away.”

Jiang Cheng suppressed a smirk. “It must be very impressive cultivation, then.”

“…not really. I only know one trick,” the kid admitted. “But it’s not that hard, and it looks impressive – here, see, wait; give me a second, I just need to whistle –”

Zidian crackled to life on Jiang Cheng’s finger before the kid finished the first stanza.

“Stop that!” he cried out, leaping to his feet, and – startled – the kid stopped, blinking owlishly at him. “Is that what your master taught you?!”

“Yes?” the kid said. “Did I do it wrong?”

Jiang Cheng gnashed his teeth. “That’s demonic cultivation. Never do that, okay? Ever.”

“But then how am I supposed to get the fancy rich person to follow me, assuming he ever showed?”

Jiang Cheng’s eyes narrowed. If he hadn’t tripped over that branch and fallen into the mud – if he hadn’t taken an extra half-shichen to struggle out of the mire – if he’d walked by in all his usual finery, rich person that he was, and seen some kid practicing demonic cultivation…

He’d have given chase in a heartbeat.

More to the point, everyone knew he would. His reputation had been pretty much set in stone by this point.

“Let’s go find that master of yours,” he said. “Right now.”

Of course, that ended up leading Jiang Cheng straight into the bastard’s trap, which would have been a problem except that he’d taken the time to send someone to tell Jiang Qiao, who’d been waiting for him back in town, that he’d be a bit late and not to worry, just wait where she was.

She’d ignored his instructions and arrived just in time to knife the demonic cultivator – a human trafficker whose operations Jiang Cheng had shut down with extreme viciousness only a few months before – right in the belly, gutting him like a fish in a swift easy motion.

“I think I’m getting the hang of it again,” she said, smiling at the knife, and Jiang Cheng made a mental note to ask exactly how manymen she’d killed to get that criminal brand of hers, except the poor kid was sinking down to his knees with a horrified look and, shit, that horrible bastard, evil as he might have been, was probably the last person the kid had in this whole rotten world, wasn’t he?

“Does Jiang Hua still have those beginner manuals we dug up for her?” Jiang Cheng asked, and Jiang Qiao nodded. “Good. Tell her that starting today, Jiang Jianwen here’s her little brother. She’s been pining over raising someone ever since Jin Ling got to be too old to snuggle.”

The kid looked up with wide eyes.

“No, you don’t get a choice on the name,” Jiang Cheng told him. “Whatever name this piece of crap gave you, just forget it, you hear me? You can do better than him. But no more demonic cultivation!”

“I wish I could visit the Lotus Pier,” Wei Wuxian mumbled, looking wistfully downriver. They were very close by, but he still didn’t dare, even though Jiang Cheng had grumpily extended an invitation through Jin Ling. So much had happened – he just didn’t know where to even start.

He didn’t want to get into all that messy history with Jiang Cheng.

He just wanted to visit, that’s all.

He missed Jiang Cheng, but he missed the Lotus Pier, too. The food, the places, the air…

“I just need a secret way in that even the sect leader doesn’t know about,” he sighed. He’d once known them all – but there was a different sect leader now, and a different Lotus Pier. He couldn’t risk it: Jiang Cheng might find out that he’d snuck in and feel hurt, thinking that Wei Wuxian was avoiding him, when he was just avoiding the conversation; that would just make everything worse.

Lan Wangji would have distracted him, but Lan Wangji himself had been distracted – some man in Jiang sect colors with a heavy limp and an excited sort of air had rushed over, shouting something about wanting to talk about tax policy and possibly also games of chance, and Lan Wangji had all but fled. It had been so funny that Wei Wuxian had nearly laughed himself sick.

“I know one,” someone said, and Wei Wuxian glanced over: it was a young man in Jiang sect disciple robes, little more than a teenager – only a few years older than Jin Ling, if he had to guess. He was smiling, ducking his head a little; he looked proud of himself. “I mean, if you really want. But only if you don’t mean any harm!”

How adorable, Wei Wuxian thought, and grinned at him. “I just want something spicy without having to go through the whole process of greeting people, is that a crime?”

“Not at all!” the kid exclaimed, beaming, and Wei Wuxian almost felt bad for conning him. Almost.

“Do you really know a secret way in?” he asked, pretending to be doubtful. “Really?”

Sure enough, the kid – Jiang Jianwen, apparently, he must be the kid of one of the ones that survived the massacre – was easily lured into insisting that he did know, and then to agreeing to act as guide.

And, moreover, it turned out he really did know his way inside, which made this the easiest infiltration ever.

Or so Wei Wuxian thought right up until he felt a knife point touch his ribs.

“Well done, Jianwen!” a young woman – also in Jiang colors – said, reaching out and ruffling Jiang Jianwen’s hair.

“Aw, it was nothing,” he said, just as bashful as he was when he’d been talking to Wei Wuxian. “I couldn’t have done it without shixiong luring off Lan-er-gongzi.”

Wait, that’d been part of this, too?

That was worrisome.

“Hardly nothing,” the older woman standing behind Wei Wuxian said. She had a certain sort of rock-hard steadiness that was more worrying than the knife she was holding on him – she was a powerful cultivator, familiar with killing and scarred with a criminal’s brand, and yet she seemed entirely at ease in a way that suggested a strong sense of righteousness, with no guilt or weak points he might exploit to make an easy out. “You successfully conned the Yiling Patriarch into following you right into a trap.”

Wei Wuxian wondered if he could deny it.

“I don’t know, shijie, that doesn’t seem that hard,” the first woman said. “Isn’t he the kind of person to run head-first into danger at the first instance?”

“Head-first into danger, and like his tail’s on fire away from dogs,” the older woman agreed, and – damnit. There was clearly no denying it; they actually knew him. Though from where, he had no idea. “A-Hua, Jiangwen, let’s go – we don’t want to be late for our meeting.”

“I don’t suppose I can convince you to tell me who we’re going to go see?” Wei Wuxian tried, putting on his most charming smile. “Or, perhaps, who you are, and what you have against me…?”

“Jiang Jianwen you know,” the woman said, rather unexpectedly. “I’m Jiang Qiao, and this is Jiang Hua. Our shixiong is Jiang Zhou – he’s the one that makes Lan-er-gongzi lose his wallet every time he’s forced to visit Yunmeng.”

Wei Wuxian was almost distracted with the tantalizing prospects of stories about Lan Wangji. Almost.

“You’re all surnamed Jiang?” he asked, surprised: he might have believed it for Jiang Jianwen, maybe, he was young enough to be the son of someone in the last generation. But Jiang Hua and Jiang Qiao looked absolutely nothing alike either to each other or to Jiang Cheng, and at least Jiang Qiao was old enough that he should’ve recognized her if she’d been a Jiang. There’d been a lot of people in the old Jiang sect, even if you limited it to those surnamed Jiang, but he’d been Head Disciple back then – he’d known almost all of them.

“We’re adopted,” Jiang Jianwen said. He looked very proud. “Sect Leader Jiang took us into the family as part of the branch lines.”

Wei Wuxian had never once in his life wanted to have the surname Jiang, not even when he’d been mocked for not having it. He’d never even thought about it. Not ever.

He felt a stab of envy at the word family, though.

“He gave you his surname?” he asked, and tried not to feel jealous when they all nodded. “Oh.”

It made sense, he tried to tell himself as they walked through the back streets of the Lotus Pier. The Jiang sect had been demolished, and Jiang Cheng practically the only survivor but for whoever happened by coincidence to not be at home – the Jiang sect would need branch family members, and adoption made sense. There was no reason to resent the idea of Jiang Cheng giving the name he had always treated as being so precious to a branded former criminal, to a con man, to a commoner from the countryside, to a –

“You were a what?” Wei Wuxian exclaimed.

“A demonic cultivator,” Jiang Jianwen said bashfully. “Not a very a good one, though.”

Wei Wuxian wanted to say something to that. He didn’t know what, but something.

“Enough chatter,” Jiang Qiao said. “We’re here.”

Jiang Hua opened the door and Wei Wuxian stepped inside.

Then he tried to step back out, only to be crowded in by the others.

“No, no, no,” he said. “No, I was willing to play along until now, but this is a step too far. You don’t understand! She’s going to eviscerate me!”

Jiang Meimei – older than the teenager he remembered her being when she left the sect, but still unmistakable – grinned with her teeth bared.

“Oh good,” she said. “At least your brain is still working. Now come on and have a seat, and we’re going to talk about how you’ve been treating my baby cousin recently…”

#mdzs #jiang cheng #original characters #wei wuxian #my fic #my fics #gratuitously acquired

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rivers-rambles21 · 3 years ago

Text

The one with Cupid

Part 11 of The one where Bucky has a cute neigbour series!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes X Reader (f)

Summary | Reader and Bucky become friends after he saves her from a creep in their apartment building. Each chapter explores a different point in their friendship - very slow burn!

Warnings | 18+ only, Smut in later chapters (this is a slow burn), swearing, unprotected sex, oral sex, (later chapters)

With a sigh you slid your phone back into your pocket and carried on with your day of cleaning.

Around midday you heard noise coming from the hallway you shared with Bucky. Fearing yet another visit from the Police, you investigated.

"Hi, can I help you?"

A kid no older than sixteen stood opposite Bucky's door, fist raised to knock.

"Oh! Hi, I'm looking for Mr Barnes, does he live here?" The young man gestured towards the door whilst fidgeting with his bag that was slung over his shoulder.

"Who's asking?" You boldly asked, hand on the door knob ready to slam it closed as a precaution

"I'm Peter, Peter Parker" he held his hand out for you to shake before hastily retracting it.

"Oh my god you're Spider Boy!"

His eyes practically bugged out of his head as he frantically looked around the hallway to make sure you were alone.

"First off I'm pretty sure it's Spider man and no I'm ...not.. I'm not him"

Peter wasn't overly convincing, unable to get each word out without nervously coughing in-between.

"Uhuh and Bucky has two normal arms" You let go of the door as you teased the kid, amused at his panic stricken expression. "Relax Peter, I'm a friend of Bucky's, I'm Y/N" This time you held your hand our to his which he took, shaking it with a firm grip.

"I didn't know Mr Barnes had friends"

"Because of the staring thing?" You joked, knowing how intense your best friend sometimes came across as.

"Well, I, er… he's a bit scary at times yknow?"“

“So how come you’re looking for him? He’s out of town at the moment.”

With a sigh Peter looked down at the ground, clearly disappointed. “Of course he is” He muttered.

Taking pity on him, you reached inside your apartment, grabbing your purse and jacket before closing the door behind you. “Come on kid, you look like you could do with a milkshake.”

Peter pulled a face, a bit taken aback. “I’m sixteen”

“Well what do sixteen year olds drink? I can hardly take you out for a beer to talk about whatever is clearly eating you up.”

Realising you were right, Peter nodded and followed you down the hallway.

It took Peter a while to eventually open up, but after you divulged a bit more on how you and Bucky met, he relaxed around you and started to word vomit.

He explained how the loss of a mentor was weighing heavy on his shoulders, how the girl he liked didn’t know his secret, how the responsibility of being Spider Man overwhelmed him at times. You could tell it had done him some good to speak freely and openly to a stranger but you knew he needed someone to relate to, someone who knew what being an Avenger truly meant.

You both exchanged numbers and you left him with a promise you’d speak to Bucky, asking for him to get back in touch with him when he had the chance.

______________________________________________________

“So you and Y/N?” Sam couldn’t contain the grin on his face. He’d been waiting for the perfect opportunity to quiz the Super Soldier on the subject and with Zemo and Sharon out of the room getting ready, he couldn’t pass up the chance.

“What about her Sam?”

“How long have you been seeing each other?”

Bucky's brows furrowed and his eyes shot up to meet Sam’s “We’re not- she’s-” he stumbled over his words before rolling his eyes as Sam held back a laugh, clearly enjoying making the other man uncomfortable. “Don’t okay? We’re just friends” With a dramatic sigh, Bucky fiddled with the edges of his worn out notebook, eyes no longer able to meet Sam’s. “Nothing more” He muttered, more to himself than anything else.

“So you won’t mind if I ask her out then?” Sam didn’t really have any intention on asking you out but he was enjoying tormenting Bucky too much to let it drop. He could see clear as day you both had feelings for each other but for some unknown reason, hadn’t taken the next step and admitted it to each other. Sam however, was more than happy to give a little push.

Bucky’s mouth opened and closed multiple times as he contemplated whether Sam was being serious or not. Inside he felt rage building up at the thought of you being with another man which mixed with an overwhelming feeling of sadness; knowing he didn’t stack up to Sam.

There was a reason Steve gave him the shield, he knew he was a good person, honourable, kind and decent. He protected people, stood up for the little guy and lived by clear morals.

Bucky on the other hand… he was damaged, he’d killed hundreds of people, tortured dozens, and protected war criminals.

But… despite this, something stirred within him. A need to claim you as his, to be selfish with you and have you all to himself. He sat for a while, pondering on what he should do but was mainly worrying about Sam asking you out, unaware the Falcon liked to act fast.

Please let me know if there’s any issues with the formatting or with the screen shots!

Tag list:

@iamtheonewhocares @indigo123789 @xpurpleglitter

#bucky #bucky barnes #bucky fic #bucky x female reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x reader #bucky fanfic #bucky x y/n #text fic #tfaws

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pi-cat000 · 3 years ago

Text

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (2)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters: Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

... PREV / NEXT

...

Life in his hospital bed passes slowly while he waits for his chakra to replenish. Always a sluggish process for Kakashi. With nothing to do, nowhere to go and a significant lack of motivation to find either, there is a lot of time to think. Too much time. With what was shaping up to be the fourth great shinobi war, there was no time for reflection or resting. To suddenly have this much downtime thrust upon him is throwing him through a loop. And he doesn’t even have his periodic trips to the memorial as a distraction. If only Sakura could see him now, resting and recuperating like a good injured shinobi.

Doctor Wada, the ever-attentive physician, returns a few more times to ask more questions and offer more reassurances. He seems set on his theory that Kakashi’s yet to be properly identified quirk was the cause of his memory problems. Kakashi runs through a sweet of memory and vision tests. A baseline for later testing when his eye is healed he is told.

“The police have a few questions regarding your situation. With your permission, they would like to conduct an interview,” says Wada on Kakashi’s third day of being officially awake, “Of course, as your doctor, I have the final say in the matter so if you would rather wait just say the word.”

Kakashi gives another bland smile, “Ah, you are too kind.” Police…as in, an authority the dealt with civilian conflict? “I think I’ll answer their questions. Wouldn’t want to stall an investigation.”

He had been wondering when or if he would be investigated. How similar would it be to Kohoha’s internal police force?

“Humph. If you think you’re ready for it.”

He maintains his smile. It was as good an opportunity as any to continue gathering information with the bonus of breaking up the monotony of waiting in a hospital bed for his injuries to heal. Doctor Wada spends the rest of the check-up muttering about pushy police officers and how underappreciated his medical opinion was.

The two men that come to question him are wearing matching uniforms which are very telling of the sort of organisation they belong to. White and dark blue. Not made to camouflage or reinforce. Restrictive seaming around the arms, preventing any extreme movement. Their shoes are sturdy but inflexible with heavy soles. Manurable but not designed for any excessive combat. Not a uniform you would give a force intended to physically subdue threats. Whereas Konoha’s police force was comprised mainly of genin and chunin, these men were closer to civilians in pure physical ability. Ah, but he is beginning to suspect that this was the norm here. The people here were softer in a way that was hard to define.

Kakashi watches them approach, seated upright in his bed, hands resting loose in his lap, aiming it create an impression harmlessness. One good thing to have come from agreeing to this interview was getting his own private hospital room. Now there was no one around to raise an alarm if something went wrong and he was forced to act.

“Good morning,” The older one of the two starts, politely dipping his head, “Kakashi was it?”

“Hmm,” he smiles, “Morning.” There is a pause like they are waiting for him to give his last name. He doesn’t.

“Well,” The man clears his throat, “I am officer Takata Toyokazu, currently in charge of investigating the circumstances surrounding the assault on your person.” An ID card, very similar to Konoha’s own ID cards is presented, “This is my partner. We’re from Hosu’s Central Police and we have a few questions if you don’t mind answering them for us.”

“Ah,” Kakashi eyes the ID, lamenting the fact that his sharingan is covered under a swatch of bandages and thus inaccessible without obvious movement, “I am afraid my memory just isn’t all there. Apologies in advance if my responses are lacking.”

He lets a little humour leak into his tone. It was time to do a little prodding and gauged how this place's ‘police’ conducted their investigations.

“Yes. We were informed about your memory problems.” The two share an obvious glance and there is a definite note of scepticism there. “Nevertheless, any information would be appreciated.”

“Of course.” He easily agrees, shrugging, projecting an air of casual nonchalance.

Takata blinks “Right,” and Kakashi can practically see his brain stalling, “Well, you were found on the corner of First and Eleventh street in Hosu’s Central Business District. Would you say this is accurate?”

Kakashi thinks for an exaggerated moment, “I do remember a lot of people. I think someone called for help?”

“You were picked up in an ambulance yes. Do you remember what happened before that?”

“Hmm, I was attacked…there were a lot of trees.” He nods like he has just delivered a useful bit of intel.

“Trees?” Is the deadpan response.

“You know��tall plants with leaves and a….”

“We know what trees are. So, you were in a place with a lot of trees before you were in Hosu’s business district.”

“Probably.”

“A park maybe? There are a few around Hosu. Do remember anything else. Distinctive landmarks?”

“Ah,” he waits for a beat, “No.”

Kakashi is the subject of a disbelieving squint. “No names. Streets. Nearby locations?”

“Nope. All gone.” He says cheerfully and Takata’s brow twitches into an irritated frown.

“You were admitted with multiple stab wounds. Do you remember how you got them?”

He shrugs, “A knife probably.”

“Well, do you remember anything about who was holding the knife?”

“OH!” The two men startle at this sudden exclamation, “It was a man.”

There are a few seconds of silence. “What did the man look like?”

“I don’t remember that bit.”

This time he gets a very obvious frown. Apparently, realising that the current line of questioning is getting them nowhere, the officer motions to his partner and is handed a large envelope. After some shuffling around, a paper file is produced and flipped upright in Kakashi’s direction. It is a photograph of kunai, shuriken, senbon, razor wire and assortment of other weaponry he carried around on his person. He had wondered what the hospital had done with his stuff.

“These are the weapons found on your person when you were admitted to hospital. All confiscated. It’s illegal to carry these sorts of thrown weapons and knives in Japan.”

He scans the photo with interest. The image has his weaponry all laid out in neat lines.

“Really?” He is not even faking his curiosity this time. No one carried around any weapons at all? That wasn’t just a trend limited to the hospital?

“Yes.” Comes the short response, “what were you using them for.”

“Oh, I don’t remember,” he says gleefully, “How scary.” And gets another round of scowls. After doggedly refusing to give more than vague answers and misdirection, the two increasingly frustrated men prepare to leave.

“If you do remember anything, please call.” A small paper card displaying a string of numbers is presented to him. “You’ll have to come down to the station and give an official statement once the hospital clears you as well so don’t forget. We’ll get in contact if any arrests are made regarding the perpetrator.”

Kakashi knows enough about investigations to recognise that one, the two standing next to his bed were searching for some specific information and had found Kakashi’s responses lacking, and two, they had no idea who Kakashi was and knew even less about how he might have gotten here.

In the end, they just leave. No threats. No mind games. No attempts to arrest or move him to a secure location for further questioning. Nothing. Kakashi follows after the pair, pausing behind his door to listen to the two talk just outside his room. Officer Takata is obviously angry going of his slightly uneven breathing.

“That was a waste of time,” he grumbles.

“Do you think he was lying?”

“Oh, that smiley bastard definitely knows something more than he is letting on. Tch. Memory problems my ass…”

The is a pause before the younger man asks, “still think it’s connected to that Hero Killer sighting from a few days ago?”

“If he is telling the truth then no. The stabbing lines up with the Hero Killer’s MO but the target is all wrong. There is no Kakaski with a ‘sharingan’ quirk listed on the Registry or as any Hero, Sidekick or Hero agency employee. If he did have a run-in with the Hero Killer, it wasn’t targeted. Probably annoyed the guy into stabbing him if anything.”

There is the sound of footsteps as the two men begin to retreat down the hall.

“A dead-end then.”

“Yeah, looks like it.”

“What a shame. I thought for sure, what with the extent of the injuries, that this was a Hero Killer case. Perhaps it was another Villain? Or a vigilante maybe?”

“Who though? Hosu doesn’t have any active Vigilantes or big-name Villains. Not ones who go around stabbing people to that extent. You saw the hospital report. The man was seconds away from bleeding out and that head wound was obviously aimed at disabling his quirk.”

“Tch. Without any leads, we have nothing to go on. And if Kakashi is a Villain or criminal himself, there’s no evidence and nothing we can pin him with other than a fine for carrying banned weaponry.”

The voices grow fainter as the two walk further away from his room. They seemed suspicious but not overly concerned with Kakashi’s lies so it is not a huge surprise that nothing came of the interview. Despite their obvious irritation, their response had been ones of mild annoyance and moderate distrust. If either of them had had a kekkei genkai it hadn’t been used. Perhaps, their abilities weren’t suited to interrogation. Kakashi had been obtuse enough that surely, they would have been tempted if it were a possibility. It does conform to a general trend in which people underestimate his threat level, treating him like a civilian. It was probably for the best.

Kakashi returns to his bed and stares at the paper card with the numbers. Obviously, they expected him to know what to do with it. Something to do with communication. Probably related to the small plastic devices nearly everyone in the building carried and spoke into on occasion. A radio of some sort. He had seen a few with numbers running across them.

From the exchange, he has a few more points to consider and mull over. Villain. Hero. Vigilante. He knows these terms, has heard people in his ward mention them before and knows they are important in some way.

…

Having a new room meant he needed to relearn everyone’s schedules. While doing so, he finally pinpoints why the people here feel so off. They lacked a level of…weariness…vigilance…that was both hard to describe and hard to notice until it wasn’t there anymore. Kakashi eyes the young nurse as she enters his room yawning, fixing her hair up as she walks, talking over her shoulder at someone behind her.

He had always thought the civilians of Kohoha lived free from most trouble. Not completely relaxed but still having a calm enough life. Well, calm when the village wasn’t being invaded. Now, he is revaluating that opinion. When compared with these people, Kohoha civilians were stiff, suspicious, almost paranoid. Konoha’s people had hardiness to them, a useful trait when living in a Hidden-Village. They were especially wearily when it came to interacting with shinobi no matter how banally and harmless the shinobi acted. It was an attitude to be expected when there was a very real chance of deadly injury should the shinobi be unfriendly or unstable. A very real possibility with all the war and ever-present threat of enemy invasion and chakra monster attacks.

Or maybe that was just his own experience as he never really interacted with many civilians and he his reputation wasn’t great.

“Hello Kakashi, how are you this evening,” The nurse greets him with a relaxed grin. He gives his bland smile and watches as she checks the various medical apparatus around Kakashi’s bed.

“I talked to the ward supervisor about your television. It should be working now.”

“Is it?”

Kakashi knows what a television is…they had a few of them in T&I, used for surveillance, and for a few more for monitoring remote training grounds like 44’s Forest of Death.

“Here is the remote. There are quite a lot of channels so now you’ll have something to keep you entertained.” He stares at the metallic rectangle object. He thinks that there might be a cultural difference between his understanding of a television and the nurse’s because watching an interrogation was never something he found particularly entertaining.

“Maybe it will help jog your memory as well.” The nurse gives him an encouraging smile before returning to her work.

Kakashi examines the object, bemused, “Ah, thank you Ms.”

“My name is Iori Ie I handle this ward on weekday evenings. I’ll be happy to answer any other questions if you have any. Anything to make this transition process easier.” She is sincere in her next assurance, “Just you wait, by the time your injuries are healed, we’ll have you right back up to speed.”

Television is…interesting and somewhat baffling. It’s not that Kakashi hasn’t seen examples of this sort of technology before now, it is just the availability and use he finds strange. Whereas a sensible village might hoard any new technology of its own use, here it is distributed and shared without limit. There was one of these things in every patent’s room! The same went for the information it communicated. Information so undervalued there was almost too much of it. Kakashi gives up trying to make sense of anything a few days into gaining access to the television and its hundreds of ‘channels,’ pumping out a constant stream of information. Some of it was obviously fictional, movies, entertainment, but most of the time it was hard to tell if what he was looking at was staged or if he was misreading a cultural difference. There were ‘channels’ devoted to daily status updates, delivering ‘news’ on everything from the weather, local politics, villain attacks, general crime and everything in between.

One thing he does confirm is that he is nowhere near any hidden villages or even on the continent, maybe not even in the correct world. This place was separate. This village or city as it was called, consisted of millions in a country of billions. There were more people in ‘Hosu’ than there were in the whole Fire Country. A logistics nightmare for sure. No wonder security was so lax around the hospital. Kakashi shakes his head and ends up switching off the television. Never would he have thought that having too much intel could be a bad thing.

“Ms Iori how would I go about getting something to read,” he asks the next day. She seems to be genuinely happy about his sudden sudden request. Kakashi hasn’t spoken or interacted much since waking, to busy trying to gauge whether the people surrounding him were threats.

He ends up with a pile of old manga volumes detailing the heroic adventures of some up and coming Hero protagonist and a stack of thin ‘magazines’ belonging to the nurse’s grown up son. The magazines are full of Hero analysis, speculation, and rumour like some sort of super detailed self-defeating bingo-book. He just…doesn’t understand why anyone would let this sort of information circulate.

At least now he has a better idea about what a Hero and Villain was. A Hero was this word’s shinobi equivalent- if shinobi went out of their way to draw attention to themselves- acting more like a police force in that they managed threats to civilians instead of taking commissions and repelling external threats. Actually, they were nothing like Shinobi apart from their use of blood line abilities in combat. A Villain was like a missing-nin, hiding among the ridiculously large civilian population…sort of…

He needs to start working on a way home because he definitely doesn't understand this world.

...

NOTE: When Kakashi discovers the internet his brain will explode.

PREV / NEXT

#bnha #naruto #my hero academia #boku no academia #hero killer arc #CrossOver #dimension travel AU #hatake kakashi #fanfiction #crossover fic #kakashi headcanons #culture shock

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legally-a-bastard · 2 years ago

Note

4, 12, 22, 34, and 41 for the oc adjective asks <33

elizabeth my beloved fellow sufferer of far cry brainrot of Course

4~ambitious

ooooo, this one’s a close tie between Capt. Arabella(she’s my Outer Worlds character) and Leonida, but I’m gonna have to give it to the Captain.

i mean……she woke up after spending seventy years in hibernation in space on a lost colony ship, was told ‘hey you’re gonna help me get more chemicals so I can wake up the rest of the people in the ship’ by a crazy old scientist who is literally a wanted criminal, and she then proceeded to NOT ONLY collapse the greedy corporate excuse of a governing body that was the Board, but ALSO unravel the mystery of the disaster at the Adreno-Time facility on Gorgon AND take up the role of Investigator and solve the murder of a fucking celebrity on the Rizzo corporation-owned production facility and hotel retreat of Eridanos.

And now that I read that back I am realizing it was actually not much of a tie at all between the Captain and Leonida. If she isn’t fucking ambitious then I quite honestly do not know what is.

12~soft

Aine, for sure. She’s an absolute sweetheart despite her occasional self-image issues and the fact she was raised in a VERY catholic household, n all she wants is to sketch the world around her and practice photography. she’s an absolute darling, really.

22~introverted

That one goes automatically to Adam. Poor man is a nervous wreck constantly, and as a result, really isn’t good at socializing with people. Especially everyone else in the Mojave. theyre mean to him a lot :( please be nice to him he’ll Cry

hes also a COMPLETE gay disaster. he just about Passed Away™ when Arcade first asked him out.

They are both in a relationship now and Adam still just Dies whenever Arcade does literally anything nice for him.

(also I would like to just let you guys know that this man is 6’3 and somehow still a twink. he is a twig and taller than pretty much everyone he meets but the Nightkins and Supermutants)

34~outspoken

Della, but mostly because 1. Shes fuckin stupid(affectionate), 2. She doesn’t shut up, and 3. Did I mention that she’s fuckin stupid? literally just honest to god stupid. absolute dumbass. she is the person who would ask ‘what’s a pronoun?’ In all seriousness if you ask her pronouns.

also she can’t read ansjxhhchdhdjsmndxhhdhbd

another one who is outspoken is Gloria, but she only has good things to say. she’s baby

Black Mamba would technically also be outspoken, considering that she is not afraid to be bluntly, brutally honest about things. She may be 5’2, but my god she manages to make every single inch intimidating just by fucking standing there and wearing her mirrored sunglasses.

41~popular

I bet you think I’m gonna say Valentina(cause. you know. she’s just hot and also a girlboss, and who doesn’t love a girlboss) but it’s actually Cass.

He’s a slut. Go figure.

Contessa is also technically pretty popular, since in her Pre-War(and also pre-getting-fucking-kidnapped-to-use-as-an-experiment), she did work as a music performer/singer at a club as a front to keep public attention away from her business in the ✨literal mob✨

however if we’re going to rate most popular based on how much my friends love them, that title goes to Kraw. Kraw is literally just a litttle fella, he’s just a little guy. Everyone I tell about him immediately loves him.

send me a number from this list and I’ll tell you about my ocs!

#my OCs #oc: captain arabella #oc: contessa lola rattenmeister sierro #oc: aine caoimhe roy #oc: adam kędzierski #oc: della josie riley carter #oc: gloria #oc: black mamba #oc: Cass a. nova #oc: kraw

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enbyboiwonder · 2 years ago

Text

WIP Challenge

Tagged by @kimbapisnotsushi!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! And then tag as many people as you have WIPs. (You can make your own post or reblog this one!)

Uh, so a couple addenda. I have multiple files that include multiple fics in them, and most of those are prompt lists; I won’t be including the prompt lists, but I will be including the multi-fic files that are series. And, I normally don’t tag as many people as specified anyway, but 1) I won’t even be counting my WIPs because it’s a lot, and 2) I don’t even follow nearly as many people as I have WIPs because it is a lot. I’ve been writing fic for almost 8 years now, so my ADHD self has naturally accumulated a ton of unfinished fics.

As usual, I’m tagging anyone who wants to do this!

Now, under a read more, because I really was not lying about there being a lot. They’re separated by fandom in alphabetical order (there are 41 total), and to make it a bit more navigable (at least in the browser; sorry, app-users), they’ll be numbered in the "##.” format.

01. 2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu

2.43 royalty au

aochi childhood friends au

aochi ferris wheel

aock

aock fwb

chika - alien

enby kanno

hshr

hshr first kiss

mmyn gym sex

mmoc

mmoc beautiful

mmoc dumb crushes

mmoc ice cream date

mmoc omi

future odaoki

odaoki

odaoki drink

odaoki flowers

odaoki modeling

odaoki not-so-casual

odaoki proposal

odaoki study omake

odaoki yeonga

odaoki 月が綺麗ですね。

odaoki 結婚

u-19 ynck

ynck cute

ynck fake dating to real dating

ynck fruity

ynck kuro no hane

ynck Lemon Squash (ch. 2)

ynck marrying guys

ynck miso

ynck nightmares

ynck no separation

ynck noise

ynck Open Your Eyes

ynck practice dating

ynck pumpkin

ynck red string of fate

ynck rinne

ynck skirt

ynck slow morning

ynck vday

ynck what’s your name au

ynck wrist

02. Arrowverse

atomvibe oral fixation

desperado

harrisco star wars au

soft sleepy harrisco (x2)

ralphloque

steelatom temporary amnesia fic

steelatom vday flowers

03. Battery

takugou

04. Bungou Stray Dogs

BSD Buddycop AU

hoshizora stray dogs

Bungou Stray Starships

fukunatsu

kuniakechi

kuniakechi casefic

kuniango

kuniango first date

kuniango magical realism au

kuniango morning after

Some Kind of Home

恋心

ayakashi au

Dimensionality

kunikidazai

pokego au

soulmates

tickle fight

Waves on the Distant Horizon

虹色の日々

Cloudburst

kunioda family series

kunioda modern au

Conditions of Grace

Soupcock Crack Fic

Yen Press Dazai Crack

05. Chou Shounen Tanteidan NEO

Meitantei to Kaijin

[endoake hs au 1]

[endoake hs au 2]

[endoake hs au 3]

[endoake soulmates au]

06. Chuck

(1) In Need of a Small Holiday Miracle

(2) A Miracle in Wolf’s Clothing

(3) By Some Miracle

c/s intersect bryce au

chuck/shaw

Chuck vs The Turncoat Lullaby

07. Cool Doji Danshi

13 first kiss

13 getting together

13 hs sports au

08. Criminal Minds

reid as blake’s son

09x05

autumn colors

Cherry Stems and Vanilla Lattes

dinner dates

ep where they say the unsub is bisexual because he wears his victims’ dresses

Everything for a Happy Ever After

girls take reid shopping

quarter past midnight

stargazing

wedding blues

you’re not wrong

cop + consultant au

ralvez, “we still have bad guys to catch”

slowburn ralvez series

09. CSI

“cool motive, still murder”

Lab Rats #3

sandrews the net au

08.22

canon-compliant j/r

j/r monk au

j/r, fake wedding date

late-s8 j/r novel

married jesse/ryan

su2 au

the clouds above opened up

DQ: Miami 2.0

11.07

12.18

david’s sister stays over

g/h “you know you love me”

g/h arachnophobia

movie night

Raindrop in the Sand

14.09

cat transformation

cat-sitting

dino museum date

frame by frame

grey-ace henry/genderqueer hodges

h/h drop dead diva au (ish)?

h/h movie night

h/h moving in

h/h secret admirer

idiots to lovers

Lab Rats #5

jess/hodges, cooking together

Crack or Jack

cutting tags

drag queen speed au

gay speedle

jeese/speed spring break 1992

Part of Your World (jesse/speed merfolk/su2 au)

sneedle college au

01.15

Crying Ourselves Awake

decaf coffee

Hello, I’m in Delaware (triptych)

high school reunion

post-01.18 h/c

speedko prince/gardener

speedko xmas roadtrip

summer in mara au

the rain saga

amateur photographer

catching crickets

ex-boyfriend

s/w crashing at eric’s

s/w crowded coffee shop

s/w grieving

s/w hogwarts au

s/w photography assignment

s/w science museum

s2 hiatus s/w novel

s3? history repeats itself

speedwolfe ride home

5.08

7.04

greg puts up mistletoe

greg’s bday

poa

02.21

stodges, a promise

post-04.01

d/w 1yr anniversary of speed’s death

d/w 04.08 tag

d/w fantasy au

d/w, listening to city and colour

d/w, wolfe’s brother

i promise i won’t bite (until you get me home)

one fine day, you’ll sing (your inevitable love song)

wolfeko heart attack tag

10. DAYS

indomizu first kiss

morning sbkm

sbkm bus ride

sbkm double strawberry

11. Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

brotzly - spock

brotzly first kiss

12. Downton Abbey

thommy, no o’brien in s3

13. Dragon Quest

kinai/romia

6terry bladesmith

6terry doldrum

6terry dumbass will/trans terry

6terry Light Through the Leaves of Love

6terry the prince and the frog

cold builderoth

luminerik girls’ mini medal academy

luminerik hot night

luminerik post-sniflheim

Prince of Dundrasil [luminerik]

You and Me [luminerik]

terluc

terluc 1 sentence

terluc cat terry

14. Empire Records

lucas/mark, didn’t know they were dating

lucas/mark, kiss to shut up

15. Fire Emblem

Iridescence

feh supports fredstahl

fredstahl morning fluff

fredstahl piano

Secret Agent AU

Untitled document

winter fredstahl

16. Firefly

simal apollo and icarus

17. Flawless

flawless fic

18. Haikyuu!!

hq library aus

The Prettyboy’s Guide to Falling in Love With Your Destined Rival

The Volleybaka’s Guide to Falling in Love With Your Airheaded Teammate

19. Hawaii 5-0

don’t wait

I’ll Surrender Honestly

not still in love w rachel

20. Isshuukan Friends.

Of Young Love and Karaoke-Filled Evenings

shouyuu canon rewrite

shouyuu fireworks

21. Kuroko no Basuke

100 knb drabbles

aosaku au

hyuudzuki drabble series

idutaka first kiss

halloween kagakuro

a pair of ordinary hearts

midotaka

midotaka enemies to friends to lovers

22. Level E

(YukiBaka - needs title)

23. MacGyver

gal gadot vid

01.04

02.06

2.14 coda

2.20 coda

3.12 coda

a high-five seemed insufficient

And a Happy Yeehaw

brother

cairo day

die hard (ish) au

Fleece Navidad

future fic

has kissing you been an option?!?!

jack returns

king + lionheart au

long-haired mac future fic

macdalton, slow dancing

Midnight (a ghost at the door)

migraine massage

paperclips

perfect stranger

road trip

temporary amnesia

The Edge of All We’ve Ever Known

the macdalton fake-dating-for-xmas fic

Twisted Steel + Sex Appeal

Untitled document

When the Stars go Blue

xmas 2019

24. Monk

08.16 m/s

m/s soulmate au

post-ep: mr monk gets drunk

25. Mystic Messenger

[Han Jumin/Seven]

26. Naka no Hito Genome

iridou

27. NUMB3RS

02.05

bbq at the eppeses

could start by not jumping from 2nd-floor balconies

guilt and gentleness

28. Ookiku Furikabutte

abemiha

hamaizu au

29. Saiki Kusuo no Ψ-nan

kubokai

30. Scrubs

jdox

31. SK8

🍵🌸

32. Special Unit 2

su2 fic

33. Star Trek

01.01 tuckerreed

[Hogwarts AU - Yule Ball]

[Kim/Bashir]

[Kim/Paris]

[kimshir]

jon’lek

post-series tuckerreed

34. Stargate

arachnophobic

City on the Edge of Forever

Close Where You Are

j/d, sugar high

retiring twice is one time too many

things you said under the stars and in the grass

Wayside

Far Beyond the Stars

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky

magician’s quest/beauty and the beast au

r/d

r/d arrival au

r/d literal cat burglar

r/d professors au

r/d, lost city of atlantis

r/d, trapped in a corridor

Relics

The Genius’ Guide to Falling in Love With Your Rival in the Soft “Sciences”

Time’s Orphan

[Daniel/Miko, ayakashi au]

[Jonas/Daniel college au]

[Jonas/Daniel five things]

[Sam/Vala, 200]

[J/D bodyswap au]

[J/D fake relationship]

[J/D five things (?)]

[J/D Love, Simon AU]

[J/D never-a-Stargate au]

[J/D post-Descension]

[J/D, 06x19 The Changeling]

[R/D soulmate au]

[R/D wrong number au]

[R/D, no-consent-issues alien ritual sex]

A Matter of Heart

35. Tennis no Oujisama

シャッターチャンスは一度だけ

君と一緒に

sryk - nobody knows what lies beyond

sryk depression

sryk detective au

sryk iphis and ianthe

sryk Nothing to Fear Even as Our World Comes to an End

sryk Song For You

This Crazy Yet Beautiful Love

(ShiraYuki Immortals AU)

nobody knows what lies beyond

[ShiraYuki]

Another ShiraYuki College AU

Ghost/Reincarnation AU

I’ll See You on the Other Side (Over There’s a Different World)

omnia vincit amor

Royalty AU

ShiraYuki College AU

テニプリの白雪王子様

氷帝の眠れるの森の美少年

36. The Glades

the glades - jim/daniel

37. The Rookie

the rookie - bradford moves on

38. Uramichi Oniisan

ikeura, dog

39. Wedding Wars

wedding wars: the sequel

40. Yotsuba&!

jumboh - camping

soft jumboh

41. Yowamushi Pedal

imaono, first kiss

toudou/maki

#thx for tagging me!#ask pls #ebw.op

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stillness-in-green · 3 years ago

Note

I felt like the plf war was rushed

1.Plf advisors getting hype but no payoff

2.Only miruko, Momo, and Kirishma got time to shine

3.Machia got defeated to easily

4.The war felt more like a raid

I don't know if I feel like it was rushed, per se--it's by far the longest arc in the story so far by number of chapters, and would be even if you cut off the Tartarus jailbreak and the entirety of the hospital aftermath. What it absolutely does feel like to me is unbalanced.

You note that the "war" feels more like a raid, and you're right. As a caveat, it's worth keeping in mind that "Paranormal Liberation War" as a name for the arc in question is entirely an invention of the fanbase. To the best of my knowledge, the reasoning for the name was that big action shonen series like BNHA (Naruto, Bleach, Hunter x Hunter, etc) always have a war arc, so what we were seeing in the lengthy, mass combat confrontation with the PLF had to be HeroAca's equivalent. It's not a term that's in the manga itself, however, not called as such by the characters, not referred to as such by Horikoshi or his editors, not even namedropped in chapter or volume titles. If it feels like a raid, that's probably because that's what it was intended to be.

And that's the problem, really. This arc shouldn't have been about a couple of raids; it should have been about a war.

(Below the cut: a bunch of fired-up complaining. Uses some harsh language, and talks about both injuries and deaths we did see and some we logically should have.)

From the outset, we were told that the resources Shigaraki had amassed were "on par with, or even stronger than" the resources of the hero-saturated society. Yet, we're expected to believe that a force that strong is so easily taken down by a single coordinated set of raids? Yes, the heroes had the benefit of surprise, but there's just so much that doesn't work for me.

First off, and to get this out of the way, it's ridiculous that the heroes even had the benefit of surprise. The MLA had an unknown number of hero double agents. They had people in the government; they had people in the infrastructure. This is an organization that had been living undercover completely unsuspected for multiple generations--how did the HPSC ever manage to carry out a massive, country-wide investigation on such a secretive group and coordinate multiple simultaneous, comprehensive raids without a single person finding out and alerting the higher-ups over a period of only three and a half months?

When exactly did Hawks have time to go and revive Best Jeanist--which he tells us he did personally--such that none of the bugs and micro-cameras he was covered with picked up on it, and both he and BJ could be back in the positions they needed to be in for the raid to begin?

How did Skeptic find out about the raid such that he only discovered it at the last possible second and not minutes, even hours, before it kicked off? How did hundreds of heroes (and even "hundreds" is being conservative, given the fact that they had seventeen thousand people to detain) close in on the villa without anyone from the PLF noticing, either Skeptic with his information network or mundane precautions like people on watch?

Even granting the heroes their surprise advantage--which I don't want to--if the advisors were all supposedly "stronger than the average hero," why didn't we see any of them winning? Okay, yes, Hose Face beat Midnight, but he had every possible advantage in that "fight"; I hardly count it as some big impressive defeat that shows us that the villains were holding their own.

Here's another thing: the MLA styled themselves as an army--they were demonstrably trained in troop tactics. When we saw them in Deika, even their nameless on-the-ground people were capable of coordinating with each other on the fly in response to the movements of the enemy, as we saw come up repeatedly:

Yeah, they were off-guard at first, but as soon as the advisors made the front line (which, you'll note, was immediately), that disadvantage really should have begun eroding. Certainly once Geten--Geten! The number one MLA member most willing to disregard collateral damage! And there he was being a proper leader!--got to the front and started yelling orders, we should have seen the PLF rallying, and I can't imagine any sensible justification for the tides not turning when a) Re-Destro showed up to occupy the highest-ranked hero on the field, b) a bunch of heroes peeled off to try to stop Machia only to get trampled for their efforts, and c) Trumpet got dug out.

You know who don't style themselves as an army, though? Heroes. Oh, they get some basic lessons in cooperation as students, but the extent of such lessons we see is stuff like "why it's important for heroes to have signature moves"--so that on group missions, their reputations will precede them and fellow heroes will already know their shtick. U.A. teaches the odd lesson plan that involves the kids fighting in groups, but there's a huge difference between you and 3 to 6 of your buddies fighting a similarly-sized group in a practice fight, or a handful of heroes teaming up to take down some criminal low-lives, and the mass combat scenario that was the raid. For heaven's sake, look at our closest other equivalent: the raid on the Hassaikai base. At every turn in that encounter, the heroes let themselves get split up and picked off, winnowing down their numbers. It's even explicit in the narrative that hero team-ups were, in the age of All Might, uncommon, and heroes are only just beginning to adjust to fighting in teams. The erstwhile MLA should have had the advantage there.

As to Machia's defeat, I think the big problem with it is not how it happened, per se, but the timescale involved. The plan itself was sound enough, and even with all the kids' efforts, it still took Machia reaching Shigaraki and not getting any new orders to follow to really do him in. Given what we can extrapolate about his movement speed, though, I just don't think the kids should have had time to set all those traps, especially given how much of that equipment would have had to be fabricated by Momo on the fly. I know she's gotten stronger and all, and good for her, but you're telling me that in the four months between Joint Training and the raid, she went from passing out because she created a bag of goodies and one (1) cannon to being totally fine and still able to coordinate her fellow students while cranking out 23 jars of sedative, dozens of feet of rope/cable, multiple fire-resistant coats, explosives they somehow had time to bury, and three cannons?

For fuck's sake, Jirou gave Machia's ETA as under ten seconds. Yeah, Mount Lady slowed him down, but "only a little"--how much time could she possibly have bought them, that the kids were able to to coordinate and enact everything that plan involved?

You guys, go read this post by @codenamesazanka. Machia is so fast. So unbelievably, incredibly fast. "Twice as fast as the fastest train in the world" fast. "Horikoshi clearly did not stop to think about the distances involved here" fast. Three miles in ten seconds fast. It would have been hard enough to square with the needs of the plot that the kids were sufficiently far from the villa to have the kind of time they needed to swing Momo's plan at all, but Horikoshi explicitly letting Machia get right on top of them before the kids even start just makes it completely impossible for me to credit. Machia clearly being slower aboveground than he is when burrowing does not make that much difference to my suspension of disbelief.

My other big complaint? More people should have died, for real. The PLF warriors would not have been holding back. They were ready and willing to kill anyone they came up against. The heroes did have to hold back, because heroes, as we're told over and over again, are not supposed to kill, no matter how dire the circumstances. That difference in ability to exercise force should have been yet another significant advantage for the PLF. I could write an entire list of characters that I think could have reasonably been killed during the raids. That wouldn't be to say that I think any individual, specific character on that list should have died, just that, based on the parameters as they were presented to audience, some number of them should have.

I mean, honestly. How did Horikoshi wanna show us Gang Orca's unmoving claw in the wake of Machia's passage and not have Gang Orca on the list of the dead? How did Fat Gun run right into a mass melee and still have enough fat left over afterward to survive getting trampled by a walking mountain? How did Thirteen survive not getting pulled out of the hospital basement when Shigaraki's Decay hit? How did Trumpet survive getting a staircase dropped on top of him? How did Gran Torino survive a fist through his tiny old man chest cavity?

I could go on and on, but it's not just about the deaths, either. I'm not saying that Kamui Woods necessarily should have died by swinging himself face-first into a blast of blue fire, but I am saying that he should have been out of commission for longer than three goddamn days. You bet your ass I'm saying that after telling us that Hawks' weak point is fire, making us watch him spend at a solid minute or more with his wings wholly enveloped in Dabi's 2000 degree flames, and having Dark Shadow exclaim that his back is completely burned away, Hawks should never have grown his wings back, much less so quickly that they were already visible under his shirt a single day later.

More deaths, more maiming--heck, even more retirements. I'm not saying I love that kind of thing in my fiction--I don't, actually. I think an overreliance on it is a sign of edgelordy nonsense. But the scenario that we had demanded to be treated with the kind of gravity that would have led to such an outcome. To set up a conflict like the raid and have the villains only barely be able to scrape a partial escape, to try to tell us that Shigaraki's victory in Deika granted him such a terrifyingly powerful force only to have them lose every battle they got into, to tell us this was a blow that shook Hero Society to its core, only to be so unwilling to kill or retire any heroes the audience cares about that Midnight is literally the only significant loss… It doesn't work. None of it works.

I don't have much to say on which characters did or didn't get a highlight. I think there were a few more people than you listed that got some good scenes--Tokoyami and Uraraka both got material I liked quite a bit; Dabi famously out-trended the U.S. presidential election on Twitter when he (literally) came clean, and Mr. Compress gave us some wonderfully interesting and characteristically opaque material to chew on. On the whole, though, adding more character moments would only have been dragging out the problem: the scale of the PLF's threat and the HPSC's chosen method of dealing with it are simply incompatible with the feeble "neither side truly won or lost" resolution we got.

And that's my rant on that--thanks for the ask!

#and yet #i still hate it less than the shitshow that went down with lady n and overhaul #inkbuckets #paranormal liberation front #meta liberation army #bnha #stillness has salt #stillness answers

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nebraska-is-a-myth · 4 years ago

Text

innocence never lasts - crime au

I’m back boys with another part, were getting closer to war time now dudes. This takes place before part 3 just if you wanted to get a better understanding of the timeline.

part 1 & 2 & 5

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Wilbur came to town on an invitation from the masked man himself

Dream had enticed the brit with promises of riches and power, and he already had connections within the city so really what had he to lose

Wilbur was supplied with a small team, he was in charge of one of the larger drug trades and production companies on the east side of the city. His job was to eliminate any competition and regain complete control of the eastern drug exchange, how he did that was completely up to him.

However, when dream sent a duo of teenage criminals to his door, Wilbur was less than impressed

“Dream, how do you expect me to run a drug cartel when two thirds of the cartel are fucking children”

“You'll figure it out dude, I believe in you.”

“No this isn't an ‘I believe in you’ situation dream, they aren't even allowed to drink in this country let alone kill a bunch of drug lords that by the way, are probably predators!”

“Admittedly, yes, they are a little young. But Tommy is one of the best kids I know, everything he knows he either learnt from me or the blood god himself.”

“Wait?” Wilbur moves his eye in front of the peep hole in his front door to inspect the blond on the right. “This Kid is technos?” He watches him pull a face at the shorter boy before punching him in the arm.

“Yup.”

“And you're okay with that?”

“It's a long story but yes.”

Wilbur looks back through the peephole at the smaller of the two and distantly hears “What if we just stab him” through the thin wood of his door. The older brit shakes his head and turns back into his living room

“And who's the kid threatening to stab me”

“Friend of Tommy's, I think. And don't worry about the stabbing, it's probably his way of saying he likes you or something.”

“If any of these kids die it's on you green man.”

“I can live with that.”

When Wilbur opens the door again, Tommy has his head in his hands and sighs as Tubbo puts a knife to his throat.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's a week in and Wilbur has considered shooting the both of them more than he would like to admit.

He's not really one for killing children, but he's not a fan of being outnumbered by the little fuckers. So to make it even he calls up some of his contacts in the city.

He almost regrets it immediately when Tommy asks who the furry is

Wilbur tries to hide his laugh when the blond boy says this, but in the child's defense, Who the fuck wears a fox mask

Fundy and Eret get along fine after their first meeting and Wilbur is just happy he doesn't have to sit around and listen to Tommy and Tubbo argue over who can fit more breadsticks in their mouth without breaking any on his own anymore.

The drug business continues under Wilbur's power and surprisingly, no one dies. They take down competitors and pump out more and more supplies to companies that are willing to pay higher prices than ever. He hates to say it, but maybe he's glad he took this job from Dream

That is until Tommy almost punches his front door down at 1am covered in smoke and blood, Tubbo barely breathing on the porch next to him.

Wilbur panics and shoves the both of them in the back seats of his car, instructing a shaken Tommy to put pressure on Tubbos wounds as he floors it to the nearest hospital. He can deal with the repercussions of running red lights after he comes up with a plan to get through the hospital without being noticed. Sure maybe Wilbur wasn't on anyone's radar yet, but Tommy definitely was, and who knows how many people Tubbo has actually stabbed.

Dream has to have some sort of protocol for something like this, a secret entrance or a codeword or something. He reaches to grab his phone from his jean pocket and swears as he realizes he left it on charge on his night stand, looks like he's on his own for this one. He can do this, just focus and fucking drive Wilbur

When he gets to the hospital he parks right out front in a place where he definitely isn't supposed to be and helps Tommy and Tubbo out of the car and practically has to carry the brunet through the front doors. As soon as he walks in he knows people know, they've been on the news more than once and it's not difficult to keep up with the city's most wanted list these days, but Tommy's limping now and he knows the adrenaline is wearing off so he drags tubbos bleeding body up to the front desk and swallows his pride.

“Help them, please.”

The woman at the front desk looks Wilbur directly in the eyes, sees the way tears are building there and switches her gaze between the two younger boys.

“Please.”

The woman takes a breath and nods. “We need help here.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later when both boys are patched up and on the mend the doctor lets him in the room. Tubbo is out and hopped up on pain meds, recovering from smoke inhalation and a shrapnel wound on his left side. Doc said it looked worse than it is, he was only out to let his chest ease up a little. Tommy's wounds on the other hand were a little more permanent.

He’s sat on the bed next to Tuboos watching his chest rise and fall. There were bandages wrapping around his left leg, a mix of shrapnel and soft burn marks underneath, and his right arm is in a sling meaning he wouldn't be able walk on his own for a while. Wilbur sits next to him but Tommy doesn't stop watching Tubbos breathing.

“They almost put him on a ventilator.”

Tommy says it so softly, Wilbur almost doesn't recognize it was him at first. He's got a few stitches on his forehead where a purpling bruise blooms underneath, he almost doesn't want to know what happened. Almost.

“What happened Tommy.”

“What, not even gonna compliment my wheels.” He gestures to the right where Wilbur sees a small black wheelchair next to Tommy's bed and he tries not to choke on his breath. He hates being right sometimes.

Tommy sighs and closes his eyes, his head droops and Wilbur rests a comforting hand on the young boy's shoulder.

“It was one of the warehouses on the outer perimeter of the east side, Tubbo had asked me to help him take stock, it was already late and he thought if we both did it we could catch the last bus home together.”

He imagines the two of them dancing to stupid music and running around the warehouse playing tag or something stupid, it wouldn't be the first time.

“We weren't even halfway done before one of the alarms went off, didn't think much of it, smoke alarms go off all the time for stupid shit right. Didn't even reach the office before the first blast. Was a Molotov I think, probably what set the alarms off, no idea what turned the warehouse into a fucking bomb though.”

“Something exploded, don't know what but it got both of us. Landed on my shoulder real good. We ran to the back entrance, or as close as we could get before another blast went off, fucking ceiling came down on me. Hurt like a bitch but at least it's nothing permanent. Think I was out for a bit, not for long but long enough for Tubbo to hurt himself trying to get shit off me. ‘Rest is a bit of a blur to be honest, don't remember much between getting hit and ending up at your door.”

Wilbur takes a deep breath and shakes his head, it's not gunna help anyone if he starts getting emotional right now.

“Who would have done this.”

“That's the thing, I got a call about two minit's before the alarm went off from the master arsonist himself asking where I was. He never calls me will, not once. I didn't even know he had my fucking phone number.”

“Wait, why would sapnap want to blow up one of our warehouses.”

“I don't know, but Will, I lied. He asked if were were out on any jobs and I fucking lied I don't know why but I told him me and Tubbo were playing fucking video games at home, and not two minits later the place where I told him we weren't goes up in fucking flames.”

Wilbur sits in silence and looks between the two injured boys. He can't help but feel fury building in his chest, he doesn't care about the thousands of dollars lost in the fire, couldn't give less of a shit about Dreams fucking money. He’s angry that two teenage boys had been ambushed in an attack at a warehouse that his employer had promised were protected. God only knows what would have happened if Wilbur hadn't been home. He tries not to think about what would have happened if Tommy hadn't been there either, he stands and tries to get the image of Tubbo being trapped in that warehouse out of his head.

He grinds his teeth together in confusion and anger hopes to god Tommy's wrong.

“Where are you going.”

Tommy looks up and meets Wilbur's eyes, the young boy sees the fury burning in them, he knows the older brit is mad and to be honest, he doesn't blame him. He watches Wilbur walk round to Tubbos bedside and picks up his cracked phone, he doesn't mention the way he’s sees Wilbur's hands shake.

“Ill be back okay, I've got a phone call to make.”

#sorry for the angst guys #it only gets worse from here #this is supposed to resemble the bit where tubbos house is burnt down #its war time soon #tubbolive #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #dream team #dreamwastaken #sapnap #arson #dreamteam #mcyters #crime au #eret #fundy

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tamorapierce · 5 years ago

Text

Tammy's Spring 2020 Reading Recommendations For the Bored

Sooner or later the bookhounds among us are going to start joining my relentless song, from age five on up, of “I don’t have anything to read!!!!”

I am here to help. In this space, as I get to it (knowing, as my readers do, that I have no sense of deadline), I will be posting a constant set of collections of book titles by authors my team and I have read and will recommend in a wild variety of genres and for a wild variety of ages. (And I’ll give a short hint as to the subject of the first book/series—if I did them all I’d never finish this.) This last is for the many of you who are reading teen and adult books in grade and middle school, and those adult readers who are reading teen and kidlit. These people are for those who love books and don’t care who is supposed to be reading them.

Also, you may have to look far and wee, since we will be drawing upon not only recently published books but older ones that we have either read recently or that we read long ago and have re-read or have never forgotten. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when the writing is archaic. If you’re a true nutsy reader like the rest of us, you won’t care.

-Tammy Pierce

* * *

Assume the book came out within the last 2 years unless I put LO next to the title, which means you have to check libraries and bookstores online and paper for copies.

* * *

Diana Wynne Jones LO

A generation or two of fantasy writers, particularly those who love humor, bow to this woman as our goddess. Not only was she out of her mind in a very British and manic way, but with her TOUGH GUIDE TO FANTASYLAND she taught a number of us to ditch some ill-considered tropes of our genre. If you write historic fantasy in particular, move heaven and earth to track this book down. There’s a bonus: some of the entries will make you laugh till you cry.

She is best known for her books for middle grade and teens, but they are enjoyable for all readers. I cannot list them all here because my fingers will break (curse you, arthritis!), but these titles will give you a jumping-off point. And remember, authors change with each book, so you won’t encounter the same author with each title as the author you read in the previous one!

The Chrestomanci books, all in the same universe, in order of story,

not publication

Charmed Life (1977) An innocent lad follows his plotting egotistical sister to live with England’s chief wizard

The Lives of Christopher Chant (1988)

Conrad’s Fate (2005)

Witch Week (1982)

The Magicians of Caprona (1980)

Short stories

The Dalemark Quartet begins with

The Spellcoats (1979)

3 sequels

The Derkholm books are

Dark Lord of (1998)

Year of the Griffin (2000)

The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is standalone, but is a kind of offshoot of the Derkholm books. You don’t have to have read the Derkholm books to get Tough Guide!

There are other books and stories by Jones—I’ll let you find them on your own.

Philip Pullman

To this day I am unable to call him anything but Mr. Pullman—that’s how much in awe of the man I am. We’ve had dinner together, talked on the phone, talked at an event or two, done a conversation on audio with Christopher Paolini—it’s still Mr. Pullman to me. (I was an assistant in a literary agency when I discovered his work, and I never recovered.) He is, in a word, brilliant, and his interests range through all kinds of areas, particularly history and religion. I could have talked with him forever that night we had dinner, but the poor man had jet lag and I let him go to collapse. It was one of the best exchanges of ideals, values, and books I’ve ever had.

Read his work carefully, because what he discusses is never just the story on top. No matter what he writes, he is making strong points about social justice, human nature, religion, and history without preaching. He is one of the few male writers out there who can write female characters as people, not Something Different. And you never know, with his work, where he will go next.

The Ruby in the Smoke,

book 1, the Sally Lockheart mysteries

Victorian mysteries with a female hero and male assistants,

The Book of Dust and sequel,

first 2 books of The Secret Commonwealth

His Dark Materials trilogy

The Golden Compass

2 other titles

THE COLLECTORS

LYRA’S OXFORD

THE WHITE MERCEDES

FAIRY TALES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM

I WAS A RAT!

TWO CRAFTY CRIMINALS

COUNT KARLSTEIN

(I will stop here and let you find the rest. Most are available as Nook books.)

Sharon Shinn

I discovered Sharon Shinn with JOVAH’S ANGEL, but a shortage of funds left me unable to pursue my interest (I am an economic disaster with libraries, so I buy rather than borrow) until, with a job and money to spend, I spotted THE SAFE-KEEPER’S SECRET. It is the story of a medieval-ish world and a small village where a baby was left with a childless couple. She is raised as their daughter and discovers, as she grows, that her mother is an important, a Safekeeper, the person to whom a secret can be told, relieving the person who told it of the weight of guilt from it, to be carried by the Safekeeper until the owner either decides to tell or dies. (And if they die without giving permission, the Safekeeper never reveal the secret.) The baby who is adopted by this town’s safekeeper becomes the safekeeper in her turn.

The next book is THE TRUTHTELLER’S TALE, about a girl who acquires the gift (??) of telling the truth, whether the person she tells it to wants to hear it or not. The third book is The Dream-maker’s Magic. The three main characters now learn why they have been brought together over the course of the two earlier books, in what I thought was a satisfying, if unusual, conclusion.

And there’s more! I just did the two I love best!

THE SAFEKEEPER’S SECRET (book 1, two sequels)

ARCHANGEL (4 books)

TWELVE HOUSES (5 books)

ELEMENTAL BLESSINGS (4 books)

SHIFTING CIRCLE (2 books)

UNCOMMON ECHOES

GENERAL WINSTON’S DAUGHTER

GATEWAY

Daniel Jose Older

I was a Daniel Jose Older fan before I was sent DACTYL HILL SQUAD for a blurb (preodactyls in flight! Of all sizes! Confederate spies! Thuggish bigot northerners! The backlash of Gettysburg and the forced recruitment of blacks for the war effort! And strong, smart, fierce kids of various ages, sizes, colors, national heritage, and skills doing their best to help the war against the slaves, keep escaped slaves safe, duck the cruel managers of the homes and jails where they are being kept, find a half-decent meal, free other kids in trouble, learn who’s killing their friends, and help the dactyls! That’s part of it, anyway!

Yeah, I loved it. And there’s at least one new book, and once I’ve mowed though that, there are his older teen books, and his grownup mysteries, with their half-dead taxi driver who doubles as a part-time troubleshooter for the undead powers in his Bone Street Rhumba series. {happy sigh}

Edgar Allen Poe

Yes, some of these are reminders of why we ended up to be the readers we are and to nudge us to corrupt—I mean, “introduce”—new readers to the glories that are our legacies.

THE COMPLETE TALES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE

Here are the greats:

poems like “The Raven,” and “Annabelle Lee”

stories like “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Telltale Heart,” and ::shudder:: “The Pit and the Pendulum” (yes, a deep pit and a swinging pendulum topped with a razor-edged blade will be featured in this story).

My dad would read these to us on dark and stormy nights when we lived near the Pacific ocean, when the fog came rolling in, softening every sound, when there were no cars driving by and no other sounds in our house but his deep voice and the crackle of the fire in the fireplace. We would listen, soundless, as he wove the stories and poems around us and the foghorn sounded offshore.

That’s the power of Poe.

N. K. Jemisin

I think I began with Jemisin’s THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS, soon followed by its sequel THE BROKEN KINGDOMS. The series ended with a third book, THE KINGDOM OF THE GODS. She presented a rich and varied world from the aspects of people of different classes, showing the growth of societies and their formation. I have a secret passion for society-building and social interaction, and whether or not a book is difficult to read (as Jemisin’s books are in spots because she refuses to insult a reader by talking down to them) is immaterial. I want the world and I want the characters, and with her far-reaching mind and her respect for her characters she delivers each and every time. I have read almost everything she’s written since that first trilogy: if I’ve missed something, it’s because I was in the middle of a deadline and on the road and somehow didn’t see it. I’ll catch up! This is just a sample:

For readers of all sexes and adult reading skills

The City They Became (pub’d April 2020)

The Inheritance Trilogy:

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, 2010

2 book sequels

Novella: The Awakened Kingdom, 2014

Triptych: Shades in Shadow, 2015 (3 short stories)

The Dreamblood Duology:

For readers of all sexes and adult reading skills

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, 2010

Two sequels

The Broken Earth series:

The Fifth Season (August 2015)

Two book sequels

And there are plenty of short stories out there. I may even have missed a book or twelve!

For those who prefer to hear my ramble in person, a video!

youtube

#tamora pierce #tortall #book reccs #book recommendations #YA #fantasy #science fiction #diana wynne jones #edgar allen poe #philip pullman #sharon shinn #daniel jose older #nk jemisin

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lidoshka · 4 years ago

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I follow you on Deviant Art and I discovered my favorite Voltron fanfictions thanks to your fanarts. How did you find them? I loved, among the others, "Where the light doesn’t reach", "Eternal Night", Discordiansamba's ones and "Desideratum": do you have more suggestions? We could do an exchange of fanfiction reviews if you want. I like long, well-written stories with Keith as a main character, space worldbuilding and deep emotions. With the Galra Keith trope also.

You started reading Voltron fics because of me? Really?! That’s really cool!

ヾ|*ﾟ∀ﾟ*|ﾉ

Ahh! Yeah, I totally agree, we need more fanfic recs… in the last few months I’ve been doing art for other fandoms, so I haven’t checked new fics, but I do have some I like here so I’ll start!

Now, I don’t think any of these fics is longer than Eternal Night, but they are still cool, I also added some info of what I remember from each fic:

cobbled glass by ShirosRedKnight (SweetFanfics) One of the first things Keith learns about himself is that he is different. AU where Keith was always part of the Blades of Marmora and the Paladin's of Voltron come looking for the Red Paladin.

[Keith is galra but looks human] [can’t remember any pairing]

It's A New Start Series by Darkscales In which Keith, raised Galra and forcibly drafted into Zarkon's army, escapes from the Empire and proceeds to steal (then subsequently become adopted by) the Red Lion.

[Keith is very galra] [can’t remember any pairing]

your sharp and glorious thorn by arahir

To end the war they inherited, Keith marries the King he lead an army against

[Sheith] [mostly Keith POV] [Keith being galra but still human-looking]

Collision Course by winterysomnium Keith gets adopted by the Galra empire rebellion, basically.

[Keith being galra but still human-looking]

Secret of the Blood by exclamation AU version of season 2. When Keith and Shiro were thrown from the wormhole, they crashed by the Blade of Marmora headquarters and were captured. When the Blade reveal the secret of Keith's heritage, Keith must decide if he can trust these people... and if he can trust himself.

[Keith angst] [can’t remember any pairing] [Keith is galra but looks human]

The Blade of Memory by exclamation (ß same author as previous one!) Kan has no memory of his life before he was found injured and adrift by the Blade of Marmora. When he comes across a slave that seems to be the same species as him, he decides to rescue him. But saving Matt broke a number of the Blade's rules and helping Matt further would mean going against Kolivan's orders.

[Keith angst…ish] [can’t remember any pairing] [Keith is galra but looks human]

hound by story_monger (is there any rec list that doesn’t include this one?? XD) Keith has a lot of practice being alone; you might almost say he's good at it. When he finds himself seriously injured and stranded on an unknown planet, he knows he's not alone there

[Keith angst] [can’t remember any pairing] [Keith POV] [beign galra is not part of plot]

baby, you're a dark star by Thesis When the Lions are separated from the castle, hurled out of the wormhole into distant corners of space, Pidge still finds Allura within an hour. Then Shiro, alone, injured, delirious, asking if they've found Keith yet. They force him into the healing pods and get back to searching. They find Lance, they find Hunk. But they don't find Keith for sixteen months. And now that they have, Shiro is starting to think - maybe he didn't want to be found.

[Sheith] [Keith is galra but looks human]

Insomnia by GriffinRose They reunite after the Wormhole Incident all in one piece. Mostly. But some scars can't be seen. Keith can't sleep, no matter how hard he tries.

[mostly Keith POV] [being galra is not part of plot…or was it?]

nothing can breathe in space by idrilka The truth is: what Keith wants or doesn’t want won’t bring Shiro back. The truth is: nothing can breathe in space. (Or: the story of how Keith and Shiro come together, come apart, and come together again.)

[Sheith] [Keith angst] [being galra is not part of plot…or was it?]

The Heat Was Hot and the Ground Was Dry by justheretobreakthings A glimpse into Keith's year living in a shack in the desert.

[Keith POV] [Keith angst…ish] [has a Spotify list on the last chapter] [can’t remember any pairing]

Small Heart, Made of Steel by inkfishie The fight with Zarkon, the battle with the Galra fleet, the crash; It came back in small measures. Keith finds himself stranded and alone.

[mostly Keith POV] [Keith angst] [survival stuff] [being galra is not part of plot]

For Everything a Reason by flyingisland

In Keith's life, the only true absolute was that everyone would always leave in the end.

[Sheith] [very Keith angst] [Keith POV]

these old bones by achievingelysium

He’s always been fascinated with dinosaurs. Keith isn’t entirely sure why—maybe it’s because their footprints are still here, even after so long. Maybe he’s hearing the echoes of history calling for him. Maybe, just maybe, it’s because he sees himself in those old bones. A Keith character study told in three parts.

[Keith angst…ish] [can’t remember any pairing] [being galra is not part of plot..or was it???]

The Long Way Back by fio As a gladiator, and now Champion, Shiro has given up hope of ever returning to Earth. But when his captors deliver his 'prize'—an omega, a descendant of both Galran and Altean blood used by the Galra to breed with the strongest aliens they capture—he's offered a chance to escape. There's just one catch: Shiro has to get him pregnant to do it. [Sheith] [it’s 40k words] [smut but I can’t remember in which chapter] [Keith is very galra]

The Faeries' Midwife by zjofierose the line between dream and nightmare, between asleep and awake, has always been a hazy one for Keith. Voltron makes it all that much worse.

[short] [Keith angst] [can’t remember any pairing]

Sands and Stars by Neyasochi Keith’s no stranger to shit going sideways, but mistakenly assaulting and robbing a crown prince is definitely the peak misfortune of his considerable criminal career. Suddenly in the custody of the royal guard and slated for a swift and unceremonious execution, he figures his short life is over. Imminently. But then Prince Takashi offers him an alternative.

Part 1 of the Bond and Blade Series

[Sheith] [slow, slow burn] [mostly Keith POV] [Keith is galra but looks human] [It’s medieval!au-ish babe!]

familiar voices and careful hands by bobtheacorn Keith hesitates, then lifts a hand to pat Hunk's arm. It's awkward returning the comforting gesture, but it seems to help Hunk calm down so Keith is glad that he does it. He keeps reaping the rewards of reaching out to the people he cares about, even if small things are the only ones he can manage right now, and he can't help feeling grateful.

[can’t remember any pairing] [team bonding] [keith angst…ish]

i never meant (i only wanted) by ADyingFlower It's a lot farther to Arizona from Washington D.C. than he thought it would be. The sun beats down on his scalp and dark clothes as he travels the roads of national highways, occasionally trying to hitchhike when he could. Not often, though. His soles burn into his feet, but he doesn’t dare stop.

[Keith POV] [Keith angst] [being galra is not part of plot…or was it???]

Well, that’s my fav ones about Keith... I didn’t add any WIPS nor any of Discordiansambas’ cause you know those ones already, but just like you I also like long stories with lots of worldbuilding, angsty stories... I love stories where they explore what being a galra hybrid means to Keith!

#fanfic recs #voltron legendary defender #Keith Kogane #just a smidge more alien

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depizan · 3 years ago

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100 Days of Writing

@the-wip-project ‘s 100 days of writing

Day I Lost Track Somewhere In There Part Two

Inspired by both what @tishinada been doing and her comment on my post bemoaning the fact that the recent prompts haven’t been working for me, I’m going to talk about the world building, spackling, clarifying, and Director Furying that I have done… in the process of working out my character’s backstories.

I kind of Director Furyed* a lot of what’s canon about bounty hunting in Star Wars, or at least what’s canon in SW:TOR’s version of it. (Now that I think about it, The Mandalorian presents something a bit more reasonable, and closer to how I look at it.)

In game, bounty hunters are basically assassins, which I object to on two points: one, those are completely different professions! Augh! and two, the game establishes way the hell too many ways to fake someone’s death, up to and including cloned corpses. You cannot tell me that most bounties aren’t wanted alive in a galaxy like that. The idea that most acquisitions are wanted dead, and can be killed in circumstances where there’s no proof they’re actually dead just drives me up the wall.

So, in my version of the galaxy, bounty hunting is 98% bringing people in alive and in that other 2% something went very wrong somewhere. Bounties are assumed to be wanted alive, or at least preferably alive, with only bounties that are absolutely only wanted alive, and the very few (which are actually hired assassinations) where they’re wanted dead indicated differently. Most bounty hunters are not assassins and many of the major guilds will kick out members who take wanted dead bounties. (Also members who “accidentally” kill a suspicious number of their acquisitions.) Professions have to have standards, you know. Even the amoral professions.

Going along with this change, I have bounty hunting accepted, to at least some degree, in all of the major galactic governments. The Sith Empire licenses bounty hunters (who are, by definition non-Imperial; its not a career that exists for Imperials) to operate in the Empire, as long as they abide by Imperial law regarding their behavior, and Imperials do sometimes hire bounty hunters, but the concept is still slightly distasteful to many of them. (It smells just a little of failure, somehow, hiring an outsider. Particularly to ordinary Imperials. To Sith, it’s more often just another way of taking care of something beneath their personal attention.)

The Galactic Republic also licenses bounty hunters (regardless of whether they’re Republic citizens) to operate in the Republic, as long as they abide by Republic law regarding their behavior, and Republic citizens and officials do sometimes hire bounty hunters. There’s no real standard view of bounty hunters in the Republic. Some people romanticize them, some people view them as lawless and either a necessary evil or an evil that shouldn’t be allowed, some people see them as useful, some law enforcement are happy for the assistance, others hate dealing with them, etc…

(Interestingly, the laws regarding bounty hunters are very similar in both the Empire and the Republic: abide by other laws, don’t cause a bunch of collateral damage, defer to local law enforcement, etc. In the Republic, a bounty hunter who kills someone – even their bounty – will find themselves on trial; though they might get off with a defense of self-defense. In the Empire, it would depend on who they killed and who they’d been hired by, but if they weren’t hired by a Sith or someone else with a lot of clout, and they killed someone who was an Imperial citizen, they’d be in deep, deep trouble.)

In Hutt Space, there are no regulations; anyone can pick up a blaster and call themselves a bounty hunter. There are also no protections, outside of the bounty hunter guilds. And most of the guilds do have standards for their members. That said, most of their members started out as just someone picking up a blaster and going after an open bounty. Once they had enough skill, they applied to a guild and, if accepted, got at least some protection from (other?) criminal elements and access to closed (guild-only) bounties.

Some closed bounties are guild specific – someone hired a specific guild – others are just better bounties that the guilds, who largely control the information about bounties, keep to themselves. (You could say there’s a guild of bounty hunter guilds.) They tend to be the “better” bounties – good profit to risk ratio. Open bounties tend to be small potatoes, or government bounties posted by the Empire, Republic, or any number of smaller galactic governments, which the guilds can’t really control access to information about.

While the “bounty hunter’s creed” is from the wrong era, I’ve had Savler reference it, if not by name, and in fic!verse, the bounty hunter guilds operate by something akin to it.

The Legends canon creed is: “No bounty is worth dying for. People don’t have bounties, only acquisitions have bounties. Capture by design, kill by necessity. No hunter shall slay another hunter. No hunter shall interfere with another’s hunt. In the hunt, one captures or kills, never both. No hunter shall refuse aid to another hunter.”

If I were going to list out my Old Republic version, it’d probably be something like: “No bounty is worth dying for. People don’t have bounties, only acquisitions have bounties. Capture by design, kill only by necessity. Don’t tarnish the guild’s reputation. Don’t interfere in a guildmate’s hunt. Respond to guild calls for assistance.” (Whether not tarnishing the guild’s reputation means that the last two apply to bounty hunters in general is a matter of some debate. And I fold not killing other hunters into only killing if necessary or not tarnishing the guild’s reputation, depending. Either it’s self-defense, or you’re making the guild look bad by murdering people. And making it generally about the guild helps with the fact that there’s some number of just random folks out there trying to become bounty hunters. No reason for the guild to care about them, at least not most of the time.)

Though perhaps my version of the bounty hunter’s creed should also include “Don’t take fool’s bounties.” I mentioned this in a ficlet, but there are people - cough - acquisitions who have gathered so many bounties from different crime lords that bounty hunters don’t bother going after them, unless specifically asked to. You can’t give one acquisition to two Hutts, an Exchange boss, and Black Sun, and you don’t want to have to explain yourself to the people you didn’t give them to. Bounties that look like a great payday, but there’s no good way to cash in.

What Savler didn’t mention in the ficlet is that fool’s bounties tend to eventually end up on the Great Hunt target list -- and then auctioned off in some fashion to the various people who put bounties on them. The Mandalorians who run the Great Hunt have the firepower to make that safe for all involved. (Well, except the acquisition, but one of the most important laws of bounty hunting says that’s entirely their problem.)

*Director Fury: “I recognize the council has made a decision, but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I have elected to ignore it.”

#100daysofwriting #worldbuilding #ficverse worldbuilding #Aori Savler #bounty hunting #long post

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jokerfan99 · 4 years ago

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My Top 10 Favorite Anime Heroines by DarkChild316

Being a hero isn’t easy, but someone’s gotta do it! And these ladies have shown to be just as capable as their male counterparts. Now I’ve already done a list showing everyone “My Top 10 Anime Villainesses”, but I figured: “Hey the good girls deserve some love too,” so I decided to give you guys my list of my Favorite Anime Heroines as well. So, with that in mind, here’s my list:

#10. Saeko Busujima (Highschool of the Dead): This is an anime that will give you plenty of two things in abundance…boobs and zombies! While it may seem like your run-of-the-mill apocalyptic fanservice anime, among the well-proportioned ladies is this kendo warrior who’s more than capable of holding her own against any foe and would fit right in with even the most old-school samurai-themed anime. When the dead start to walking most of the cast usually reach for a form of firearms, not this lady who prefers to slice apart the undead with the greatest of discipline and precision, whether it be with her signature bokken or her deadly Murata-tou sword. There’s no denying that Saeko’s the ideal companion we’d want on our side for a zombie apocalypse.

#9. Touka Kirishima (Tokyo Ghoul): Living as a ghoul isn’t easy, especially when you’re trying your damnest to retain what little remains of your humanity. Starting off as a cold, yet collected individual, Touka found shelter in both the horrors of her dark past and her constant hunger for flesh in her day job at a café as a waitress which serves other ghouls and as a hangout stop for ghouls. While she grew warmer as her relationship with one Ken Kaneki grew, she’s not without her bestial side, possessing an abject hatred for the CCG after they killed her parents. In a series where everyone seems to be on the edge of insanity and turning into a rampaging, bloodthirsty monster, Touka is one of the few characters genuinely fighting for a chance at a peaceful life.

#8. Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist): Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye is undoubtedly one of the best female anime characters of all time and for good reason, she is truly the perfect soldier. As both an Amestrian State Military’s officer as well as Colonel Roy Mustang’s bodyguard, Riza Hawkeye is a dangerous sharpshooter and firearms specialist. From the outside she can seem strict and even a little cold, but those close to her know that there’s much more to her than her strict no-nonsense attitude, including a courteous nature in the presence of her allies and a desire to protect those she holds dear. Beneath the strict persona is a kind soul who understands the difficulty of carrying a heavy burden and let’s not forget…she’s a true badass in every sense o the word!

#7. Erza Scarlett (Fairy Tail): She went from child slave to arguably one of the strongest mages in all of Fiore. All while battling against S-Class mages, terrifying demons, and even her own psychotic mother, now that’s dedication folks! Forced by her possessed childhood friend to build the Tower of Heaven, she manages to escape her captivity and make her way to Fairy Tail, where she would soon rise to become one of Fairy Tail’s youngest S-Class mages and one of the most truly badass fighters in Fairy Tail’s ranks. With her magical ability known as Re-Quip, she has an unlimited number of weapons and armors at her disposal, each possessing their own devastating abilities. She’s a stoic warrior with a soft heat and a dark past, and you can bet your ass that she’ll fight to defend her Nakama to the bitter end.

#6. Ryuko Matoi (Kill la Kill): Her choice of armor may be a bit on the revealing side but going against this rebel isn’t the smartest idea if you value your life. You’re not likely to find a more stubborn soul in this absolutely whacky series and trust me…NONE of these characters are on the subtle side of things. In search of her father’s killer, Ryuko takes up the sentient life-fiber uniform Senketsu, and openly battles the dictatorship that is the Student Council. Stubborn as hell, Ryuko will always stand up to anyone who gets in her way, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against her. How can you not love someone with that kind of drive!

#5. Saber (Fate/stay night): Before she became a hero in the endless Holy Grail Wars, Saber was actually Artoria Pendragon, known throughout history as King Arthur, the mythical King who united Britain. As the Saber-class servant, Artoria generally tries to hide her identity in battle by using an invisible sword. When pushed, she can brandish Excalibur instead though, a sword she wields with unmatched skill and can do long-range attacks as easily as close-range. With her holy sword, and her “Mana Burst” ability, she is one of the most powerful Servants. Saber is loved by fans worldwide for good reason: she is kind, valiant, and fierce, all traits that make for one divine heroine. None would mind putting the fate of the world in this blonde beauty's hands.

#4. Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan): Attack on Titan's Mikasa is one of those reserved, stoic characters who doesn't speak very often and seems to be stuck in her own head. After all the trauma she’s experienced living under the looming terror of Titans and the carnage she witnessed while part of the Survey Corps, not to mention the brutal murder of her biological parents by criminals, it would be difficult to come out unscathed. Perhaps it’s endurance that is one of Mikasa’s most relatable traits. Despite her often-cynical comments about the world around her, she manages to retain her humanity. Mikasa herself said, “This world is cruel. And yet... so beautiful.” The stereotypical boy-saves-girl gender roles that play out in media are also very much reversed when it comes to her relationship with Eren, which is a refreshing and welcome change of pace to see, though her protectiveness of him seems a little unhealthy at times. On top of everything mentioned, she’s also totally ripped.

#3. Asuka Langley Soryu (Neon Genesis Evangelion): I just couldn’t leave out Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Asuka Langey Soryu from this list of awesome female protagonists. Asuka is a classic anime heroine and remains beloved by fans of the show to this day. Asuka is an American teenage girl who serves as an Eva pilot for the Evangelion Project and pilots the Evangelion Unit-02. Asuka was raised in Germany and often swears in German. She was a child prodigy with a college degree at only fourteen years old, but definitely has her human flaws. She has a temper and is obsessed with being the best at everything she does. Despite these flaws, Asuka is hilarious in her own way and has the kind of confidence and pride you rarely see in a young girl. She knows she can do her job well and isn't afraid to tell you about it. Asuka is relatable in that she is stubborn and often has a hard time properly expressing her feelings and vulnerability to others. Her eventual nervous breakdown shines a light on her humanity-- she is not a perfect person and she is still a child forced to do a job that no child should be forced to do.

#2. Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell): Major Motoko Kusanagi is one of the primary protagonists of the popular Ghost in the Shell franchise of manga, films, and animated series. Motoko is a cyborg who works as a field commander for Public Security Section 9 on the Japanese National Public Safety Commission. Motoko is a very physically strong and incredibly intellectual who that is quick-witted and an excellent hacker. But put a firearm in her hand, and she’s especially deadly. As a child, Motoko was comatose following an airplane accident. After her health began to steadily decline, her consciousness was put into a "full-body prosthesis,” an augmented-cybernetic human body. Motoko causes us to question exactly what makes us human. She is an emotional, stoic, strong woman who fights for the citizens she protects, yet she lives inside an artificial body. But her greatest use is as a platform to speak on the nature of humanity in a technological age. She's a human mind that has been stuck in an artificial body since childhood, and her life and trials bring up the age-old question, "What does it mean to be human?"

#1. Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon): You really can’t have a list of awesome female protagonists without including everyone’s favorite schoolgirl superhero: Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon. Usagi is the embodiment of an empowering female in anime in her fearless display of conventional femininity without any implied weakness. Usagi is your typical teenage girl who is all about her friends, food, and cute things, while simultaneously being a badass heroine who cleanses the streets of evil. In the original manga and anime, Usagi was portrayed as reluctant to be a superhero and would often run away from fights and be a crybaby. However, through her careful character development, Usagi becomes a brave, reliable, and confident person who cares deeply for her friends. She becomes a better version of herself without stereotypically “shedding” her girliness. Instead, her femininity becomes a defining feature of hers, deconstructing the idea that being girly makes you weak. On the contrary, Usagi’s girliness makes her funny, relatable, and a good role model for young girls. Usagi set the template for a generation of female heroines for generations to come, and it’s for that reason why she’s well-deserving of my #1 ranking on my list.

So that's my updated list, what did you guys think about it? Love it, hated it? Go on and tell me what you think and let me know who your favorite anime heroines are. See you soon!

Deviantart: https://www.deviantart.com/darkchild316

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parrhesiablog · 3 years ago

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The Case for Trivial Anarchism

An analysis of proceduralist, legal obligation and political authority arguments against anarchism

The Consummation of Empire from The Course of the Empire by Thomas Cole (source)

Read here on my substack: https://parrhesia.substack.com/p/the-case-for-trivial-anarchism

I. Trivial Anarchism Defined

Think of the nature of a utopian society in which everyone lives up to their moral obligations according to whatever your moral theory is. Hardly anyone would envision an ideal society in which people steal, murder, trespass, cheat on their spouse or any other clearly bad action. If you are the type of person who thinks everyone should go to church, then imagine everyone does this. If you are the type of person who thinks everyone should donate 10% of their income to effective charities, then imagine people in this society do.

In this utopia, the laws were exactly how you would like them to be. Your wildest policy dreams could be implemented whatever they may be. If you’re a liberal, you can have universal basic income, wealth redistribution, subsidized housing, legalized gay marriage, reparations and anti-discrimination policies. If you’re conservative, you can have border control, strict policing and drug prohibition.

If you think for a second about what the laws would be, you might notice there would be a problem of sorts. If everyone fulfilled their moral duties, government would not be necessary. If nobody committed murder, theft, assault and so forth, you would not need laws to prevent people form doing this. You would not need police for enforcement or prisons for confining criminals. If nobody created drugs that were unsafe or prepared food in an unsanitary way, then you do not need regulatory bodies to check on them. If people donated a large portion of their income to charities, you would not need to tax them.

Government is an institution that punishes people who do not conform to the law but if everyone behaved as the law wanted, then you would not need the government. I think this position could be called something like being a Trivial Anarchist. In a utopian society with perfect actors that follow all their moral obligations, you would be an advocate for anarchism but in some sense this is a trivial point because we do not live in that world. This does not mean you want to reduce the size of government under present conditions.

Within the philosophy of anarchism, there are the extreme anarchists who would end the state immediately and there are those who are more hesitant. In an essay entitled “Do You Hate The State?”, Murray Rothbard critiques some Anarcho-Capitalists for being too gradual in their approach compared to his more radical “abolitionist” approach:

The abolitionist is a "button pusher" who would blister his thumb pushing a button that would abolish the State immediately, if such a button existed.

Relative to the trivial anarchist, the Button Pusher Anarchist would be toward the opposite end of the anarchist spectrum with the always-and-everywhere button pusher being the furthest extreme. So, wouldn’t everyone be on this spectrum as at least a trivial anarchist? I think no and the reasons that they would not be tell us a lot about political reasoning and ethics. I will argue that there is not a good reason to not be a trivial anarchist.

II. Instrumentalism and Proceduralism

In discussions of democracy, different justifications for the institution are provided. Someone may say that democracy is a good institution because it creates peace and thriving economic conditions. This is an instrumentalist argument. It takes the stance that democracy is good because it gives us good things. If other institutions were better, the institutionalist would probably want to switch systems.

There are other arguments which are about the process itself. For example, one could argue democracy is good because it allows a nation’s people to shape their own institutions and allows everyone’s voice to be heard. These types of arguments are proceduralist.

Proceduralism is the thesis that some way (or ways) of distributing power or making decisions is intrinsically good, just, or legitimate.

Pure proceduralism, the most radical version, holds that there are no independent moral standards for evaluating the outcome of the decision-making institutions.1

Pure proceduralism is not popular because it has absurd and revolting conclusions. For example, a democracy that elects a leader that commits atrocities would be the most good, just or legitimate option because the election process was good. Most people are a blend of proceduralism and instrumentalism. They believe in the institution of democracy to some extent and value the process but they also care a lot about the outcomes that it produces.

I would consider myself a pure instrumentalist. The only thing that matters is the outcomes that are produced. I want my policies to win. If letting children vote achieved my policy goals, I would support it. If raising the voting age to 45 and above achieved my policy goals, I would support it. Do I support the electoral college, DC statehood, gerrymandering, campaign finance laws or voter ID laws? It depends on what policies it would produce.

You could object that I should have at least some proceduralist considerations but the consequences of elections are important and the value of voting is either really small or non-existent. Does a gang of robbers out-voting a lost traveller about whether to steal from the traveller make the action anymore ethically acceptable? I would probably say no or maybe but ever so slightly if so. Presidents command influence over trillions of dollars, the wellbeing of hundreds of millions and the lives of many foreigners and soldiers in US war zones.

Imagine two Central European presidential candidates: Novak and Vesely. They will be the exact same in all ways except Vesely will invade Ruritania and kill 100,000 people for no good reason. You can tell the future. You’re in charge of counting the votes and notice that Vesely won by 99,999 but you can switch the number so that Novak wins by 1 vote, essentially switching the vote of 100,000 people. Would this be ethical? I think I would switch the votes. I value a life over a legitimately counted vote. How many deaths would it take for you to change the votes? Please don’t tell me people can’t tell the future or that more than one person counts the votes.

I believe that someone could reject trivial anarchism if they had proceduralist beliefs. That would mean that an ideal situation in which everyone was acting totally morally was not good enough. You would also have to have votes on issues. If you imagined a society in which everyone had the right to vote for what they believed, then they would likely vote for things that are ideologically appealing (I am skeptical of the self-interested voter theory2). The result would be that it would be necessary for government to enforce laws which people would not voluntarily follow even if they were acting morally. It is imaginable that the will of the people is not congruent with perfect moral action.

III. Discrepancy Between Moral Obligation and Legal Obligation

There is another reason someone may reject trivial anarchism regardless of proceduralist concerns. Someone could believe that you do not have positive moral obligation to do things like donate to the poor but that the government should enforce laws that take money from people. This would mean perfect law is more demanding than your moral obligations.

While I do not think that people would admit they feel this way, I think this stance is common. There is a common refrain among conservatives towards liberals:

If you really want to raise taxes so much, then why don’t you donate to the government?

This could be said with varying levels of snark and in some contexts it may be inappropriate because the person may not be the target of the desired tax increase. But I do think that this is getting at something important. This point jumps to my mind when I see an article like “These Billionaires Want The Ultra-Wealthy To Pay More In Taxes” with a quote like this:

At least a dozen billionaires have made public statements that call for the super-rich to pay more in taxes. On Monday, Salesforce chairman and cofounder Marc Benioff penned the latest in a string of billionaire op-eds calling for higher taxes on the wealthy. The California software entrepreneur, who ranked No. 93 on The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans released earlier this month, wrote that “increasing taxes on high-income individuals like myself would help generate the trillions of dollars that we desperately need to improve education and health care and fight climate change.”

For some reason, I doubt that he donates his money to the government. In fact, hardly anybody does. From what I found, in 2020, $1.6 million was donated as a gift to “reduce debt held by the public”. That may sound like a lot but the government spent $6.55 trillion in 2020. I can reasonably say that he does not donate the equivalent of what he believes he should pay in taxes because if he did the number would be greater than $1.6 million.3 Are these billionaires acting in a consistent manner or is this hypocrisy?4

It seems odd to me to think that someone would want the government to punish them for doing what they are doing currently (not paying “enough” in taxes or charitable contributions). You would think that if this billionaire felt that improving education, health care and fighting climate change were so important you could use coercion to solve it then you should be morally obligated to do it without coercion.

I want to provide an example to demonstrate the weirdness of this. There is a famous thought experiment popularized by philosopher Peter Singer in his essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality” in which he asks the reader to imagine a drowning child. Here is a description5:

Your route to work takes you past a shallow pond. One morning you notice that a small child has fallen in and appears to be in difficulty in the water. The child is crying in distress and it seems is at risk of drowning. You are tall and strong, so you can easily wade in and pull the child out. However, although you'll come to no physical harm if you rescue the child, you will get your clothes wet and muddy, which means you'll have to go home to change, and likely you'll be late for work.

In this situation, do you have a moral obligation to rescue the child?

It is as if you would say that you do not have to save the drowning child but the drowning child should be saved. In fact, the drowning child should be saved so much so that use of coercion is necessary. It would be like you saying if you had a gun, you would hand it to someone else and say “coerce me and others like me to save the child.” That person would take the gun and then point it at you and then you would save the child happily. Something seems off about this position.

IV. Political Authority

Some believe there is actually a duty to obey the government and that the state has a right to rule. This position is a belief in political authority. If the state is legitimate, then you should not abolish the state and the ideal society would be one in which people obey the government. Rejecting trivial anarchism because of political authority could make sense depending on what one’s justification is for political authority. The Democratic justification was discussed in the proceduralism section.

The consequentialist justification for political authority is the Hobbesian position against anarchy. It is the belief that without a government, things would be really bad. In his words “the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”6 If everyone behaves well, as stipulated in the thought experiment, then life would not be like this. Therefore, there would be no legitimate political authority.

If one was an advocate for the Divine Right of Kings, then one could see that a king had a right to rule regardless of the behavior of his subjects. Hardly anyone advocates this position so I will not devote time to rejecting the divinity of kings, a time consuming task.

The social contract argument is very popular. It usually takes the form that we tacitly consent to being ruled by the government In a world with ideal behavior, what would the government do? If there is no proceduralist considerations and no difference between legal and moral obligation, then this state would only interfere with society in unnecessary and harmful ways. It would be weird to have a government which is not necessary or desirable in the consequentialist sense but it exists because everyone consented to it by remaining where they are. This makes me think that social contract theorists would admit that it is actually for consequentialist reasons when pressed. I have never heard of someone who was a social contract theorist but thought government was not necessary.

If someone says that you continue to remain in the territory despite claiming you are oppressed by the government therefore the government is legitimate, they would have to assume that a government has a right to lay claim over the area in the first place. If I was a mafia boss and claimed a neighborhood in New York and then went and collected taxes, it would not be a good justification to say that the residents of the neighborhood should just leave. I would have to justify me laying claim to the neighborhood first.

Perhaps you would say that the citizen accepts services provided by the government. Maybe it’s like eating in a restaurant and not paying. If you are receiving services for which you have to pay regardless of whether or not you consent, in other words “an offer you cannot refuse”, then it is not analogous to services provided by a private business. If the mafia provided protection from other gangs, would that mean the mafia was legitimate in its collections?

One could argue that natural rights are real and ought to be protected by the government. But the government would only violate natural rights and not do more to protect them because nobody would be violating anyone’s rights in the ideal society. Government is the existence of an entity which takes away some rights to protect some others. Without other forms of justification for political legitimacy, under a natural rights viewpoint, taxation is equivalent to theft. To think that we should advocate taking some rights to prevent the taking of others is weighing and evaluating tradeoffs. It is in some sense meta-consequentialist. A non-meta consequentialist would believe that rights can never be violated, no matter what, and be an anarchist a la Rothbard.

V. Conclusion

What all does this matter? The point is that if you believe in this trivial form of anarchism then you believe that we should abolish the state in a world in which everyone acts according to their moral obligations. Although I am likely unsuccessful, I hope to have convinced you that proceduralism is not a legitimate justification, that legal obligations are equivalent to moral obligations and that non-consequentialist political authority arguments are without merit.

The conclusion would be that the only legitimate justification for government is consequentialist in nature if it exists. It is the belief that things would go poorly under any form of anarchy and that is why we need a state. This is a major change in political thinking. It means if a stateless society would function better than one with a government, there would not be a reason to have a government. I do not actually believe in political authority because I believe that there is no good justification for government, including the consequentialist one.

The task of convincing someone that consequentialist concerns about anarchy are not as warranted as concerns about the existence of government is too much for an essay of this size. It involves an extended discussion of possible objections, hypothetical scenarios and usually a lot of economic reasoning. For this type of argument, see David Friedman’s The Machinery of Freedom or Edward Stringham’s Anarchy and the Law.

1 Brennan, Jason. Against Democracy. 10 - 14. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 2017

2 See: The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan

3 Please let me know if you find this number to be incorrect. I didn’t find any other examples of donations to the US federal government.

4 Perhaps they donate the equivalent to a charity that they feel accomplishes the desired tasks more efficiently than the government. If this were the case, it is feasible to imagine a consistent argument in which they feel they are fulfilling their obligation in a more efficient manner but in an ideal world taxes would be higher and they would pay those instead.

5 https://www.philosophyexperiments.com/singer/

6 Hobbes, Thomas "Chapter XIII.: Of the Natural Condition of Mankind As Concerning Their Felicity, and Misery.". Leviathan.

#anarchism #philosophy #political authority #libertarian #ancap #anarchocapitalism #anarchy #freedom #political philosophy #blog

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bard-llama · 4 years ago

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WiP Wednesday: 2 snips

I totally did not forget today was Wednesday, nope, not at all. So anyway, I made up a list of specifically my WiPs that have no parts published that are various set ups to get Iorveth and Roche into a relationship. If anyone’s interested, I’ll stick that under a cut.

For now, 2 snips were requested on discord, so first:

Ceartas Minus Truas (means Justice Minus Compassion) (aka Gaunter curses Roche and drops him off for the Scoia'tael to find. Then Roche offends them all by speaking Elder because Gaunter took "I want to understand Iorveth" literally.)

Gaunter O’Dimm enjoyed traveling. It kept life interesting – wherever one went, there was always someone in need of a little helping hand. And in possession of some sort of interesting reward, of course. Sometimes it was merely their soul, and that was all well and good – but more often, Gaunter preferred to add a little extra something to his contracts.

After all, prey was so much more fun to play with before they died.

What he did not enjoy about traveling were all the busybodies who thought an innocent merchant of mirrors would be an ideal target. They were wrong, of course, and Gaunter did enjoy showing them just how wrong, but he had a schedule to keep and he so hated running late.

Someone would simply have to pay for his irritation. It wouldn’t be long before Gaunter came upon someone who deserved punishing. Humans, elves, dwarves, halfings – they held themselves apart in such silly little ways, but at heart, there were always cruel people deserving of punishment.

Like the approaching human, who exuded the air of having a Very Serious Conundrum. Just the kind of thing a helpful mirror merchant might prove helpful for.

Gaunter tilted his head, considering the man approaching down the road. On the surface, the only notable thing about the man was the way his armor proudly displayed the Temerian emblem while being entirely non-standard. Definitely not army issue.

But Gaunter wasn’t as limited as these creatures that only saw the surface. In addition, he could see through this man, down to the core of him: the things he’d done, the decisions he’d made, the impact his actions had had.

Another snip under the cut

Trust: More Precious Than Gold (aka Post-W2 AU where Roche and Iorveth team up to take down a slavery ring by having Iorveth pretend to be Roche's slave)

And so, even though Iorveth had been the one triumphant in the last battle between them, for the purposes of this investigation, Vernon Roche had officially captured the most wanted elf in the north.

And was now using him as a pleasure slave. Or so Roche was claiming. In reality, if Roche actually tried something, Iorveth would cut his balls off.

But for the safety of his people, he could pretend. Even if it meant wearing a dark blue (Temerian blue) collar with a fucking silver lily charm that hung right at the base of his throat.

In all honesty, Iorveth was more than a little concerned that this wasn’t as much of a farce as it should have been. When Roche had pulled out the collar, flushing red and stuttering but still meeting his gaze directly, Iorveth had felt… something. Something it was best not to explore. Something that should have always remained buried under the memories of their fights.

Something that found it a little too pleasing to be wearing Roche’s collar. Especially when Roche tucked his finger underneath it and pulled him forward, even if it was only to whisper intel in his ear.

This was far from the first time he’d posed as someone’s captive – the two times with Gwynbleidd in Flotsam stood out in his memory – but he’d never found it so intriguing before.

He’d also, Iorveth realized, never trusted anyone as much as he was trusting Roche by letting the dh’oine put him in this situation. Not that he wasn’t armed – there was no one he trusted enough for that – but one elf versus an unknown number of humans? His odds of getting out of this alive significantly increased as long as he trusted Roche enough to play their little game.

“Remember,” Roche had whispered, “you’ve been captured and presumably broken. You can be defiant – I can’t imagine you’re capable of not being so – but don’t push it too far or we won’t be believable.”

The reaction when they walked in the room confirmed Roche’s words. The dh’oine stared at him and talked about him, but no one bothered addressing him directly and Iorveth tried not to let it irritate him too much. They all thought that he had broken. Him.

As if.

But their determination to treat him as part of the decor meant that it was surprisingly easy to eavesdrop on them. And what he heard was… interesting.

WiP List (specifically of WiPs that have NO parts published and are specifically about/featuring Iorveth and Roche getting together. yes, I have enough WiPs that we need to clarify this)

Post-W3 Roche rescues Iorveth from slavers and ends up stuck with him

Gaunter curses Roche and drops him off for the Scoia'tael to find. Then Roche offends them all by speaking Elder because Gaunter took "I want to understand Iorveth" literally.

Post-W3 Iorveth sneaks into Roche's room in the palace (during his bath) to suggest they team up and murder war criminals together

Pre-W2 AU Iorveth is the elven ambassador in Foltest's court and Triss makes Roche be friendly.

Roche comes upon Iorveth in an empty Scoia'tael camp and saves him from dying from a curse with true love, not that they admit it. Then they team up to go save the rest of the Scoia'tael

Roche runs into Iorveth while trying to investigate a case of awol Temerian soliders and ends up pretending to be married so they can get into the couple's resort

Iorveth becoming obsessed with Roche's sweaty clothes and breaking into his house to steal some

The fic with Queenie where Iorveth takes a camp that had belonged to Foltest and a tied-up Roche was left behind.

Post-W3 Iorveth runs into Roche at a bar. An exhibitionist couple lead to Roche challenging him to see if he can be quiet thru a blowjob. he is not successful

Roche's mama takes him to a wedding where Iorveth happens to be a guest. They have a truce, get drunk, and have curious exploratory sex in a boat

Post-W3 at Corvo Bianco Iorveth and Geralt obsess over Roche's hands and then he overhears them talking about his hands while having sex

Pre-W2 AU where Foltest signs a treaty with the elves and both are stuck attending a weeklong banquet as representatives.

Post-W3 Iorveth comes to a solstice feast the emperor throws and runs into Roche

During W2, Geralt and Iorveth stumble upon Roche's sex dream of them, then wanna make it come true

During W3, Iorveth helps them murder Radovid and Ves and co tell them to get a room. They do.

Post-W2 AU where Roche and Iorveth team up to take down a slavery ring by having Iorveth pretend to be Roche's slave

Iorveth watches Roche sleep and then Roche wakes up and wants a kiss and they both don't really believe it's real

Post-W2 in Vergen, Roche gets caught in a cave in in the mines and is thought dead for a while. When he gets rescued, Iorveth has to make sure he's all right and finally kisses him

Post-W3 Roche is offered as tribute to elves for a ceremony where they gangbang him. Iorveth watches out for him

During W2, Iorveth has a crush on Roche and gets mad at him wearing Foltest's symbol

Thank fuck we all love the “getting together” trope... right?

#rorveth #iorveth x roche #the witcher #fic planning #wip wednesday #my fics

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