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snowbellewells · 1 year

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Self Promo Sunday: “Got My Angel Now”

This week’s re-run is another that I’ve always been pretty fond of (What can I say? I’m a sucker for the hurt/comfort and emotional angst and healing that could easily have fit into canon, but which the show didn’t always take time for) I initially wrote it after 5x03 “Siege Perilous”, and though some of the events were quickly made canon divergent as the Camelot arc went on, I don’t think it’s so far off as to be ruined for enjoyment’s sake. The title comes from a line in “Halo” by Beyonce, and the lyrics included in the scene breaks are from Christina Perri. (Neither of them, nor our lovely Pirate and Princess duo are mine. I just like to give them quiet moments ;p )

Summary: A post-5x03 one shot where the Storybrooke gang learn of Arthur's treachery much sooner, and in much more painful fashion. (Some whump aftermath and definite CS hurt/comfort involved)

Also available on AO3 and ff.net, if either of those are your preference...

By: @snowbellewells

They should never have trusted Arthur so blindly. Have they learned nothing yet after meeting so many heroes and monsters of myth and legend and finding them the opposite of how they are painted in the tales of old? Oh, aye, the royal had been stealthy – welcoming them to Camelot, throwing a grand ball in their honor, knighting David as a brother-in-arms and seating him in the very Siege Perilous once held by Lancelot himself – but it had made them let down their guard…and now Emma was paying the price.

Standing surrounded in the tower room Regina and Belle use as they research and experiment trying to find a way to communicate with and free Merlin, Arthur’s treachery suddenly comes into sharp focus for all of them. An entire phalanx of Camelot knights – Dave’s supposed comrades – surround Killian, Henry, David, Robin, and Belle (unfortunately Regina is not present to wipe them all out with a wrathful fireball) with swords at their chests or throats, circled closely enough that breaking free or moving to help the last member of their party is impossible.

Arthur himself stands facing Emma, his blade drawn and pointed just above her heart, poised to pierce her chest and make that precious, priceless organ spill its lifeblood and go still. Killian feels himself practically vibrating both with rage at the betrayal and his fear for her; not to mention the bitter anger he can feel radiating off of the prince beside him. He reaches out a hand to clutch Henry’s forearm, feeling the boy nearly jerk forward to his mother’s aid. He doesn’t think these men would hurt one so young, but he is no longer certain.

“Now Dark One,” Arthur spits, his voice harsh with controlled venom, “you and I are going to the tree. Your magic and the mushroom your noble father so kindly procured for me,” here he slants a gaze at Charming, “will show me what to do to free Merlin and to trap you instead, where you rightly belong.”

Killian knows Emma now possesses enough magic in her little finger alone to blow all these men away, but she holds back, as afraid as any of them that magic use will only continue to give the darkness more footholds in her psyche. She slants her eyes from boldly staring Arthur down to seek his. He wants to tell her to fight, to disappear - escape - and he wishes to know what he can do to comfort her, but the words and the knowledge elude him. Instead, his only ease is found in knowing that Emma’s dagger is nowhere near here – not where Arthur can lay hands on it and control his love. Though he does not know where Snow and Lancelot have taken it for safekeeping, it is at least beyond this broken monarch’s reach.

There is nothing to do but watch as Arthur has two more knights bind Emma’s hands and force her none-too-gently from the room behind him, the rest of the guard linger menacingly, to be sure none of them can follow or try to help her until they are well away.

It matters not; he will catch up, no matter where they take her. Emma must only hold on, keep her faith…

I believe in the lost possibilities you can’t see

and I believe that the darkness reminds us where light can be;

I know that your heart is still beating, beating, Darling,

I believe that you fell just so you could land next to me.

So hold on, hold on…

Though naught but a quarter of an hour passes before the rest of Arthur’s men withdraw from them, it is well into the evening before Killian finds Emma in a moonlit clearing of the dense forest which encircles the kingdom. Their group had split up in the hopes of someone reaching Swan that much faster, once word spread of Arthur’s failing to trap the Dark One and how she had used her powers to vanish from his grasp in the courtyard. Killian still does not know what had been done to her before that, but he can only be glad she has outsmarted their treacherous adversary and saved herself. He practically deflates with relief at the sight of her before him, appearing hale and in one piece. He cannot be anything but glad that it is he who will have a moment alone with his love. It does not matter that it has not even been a whole day, his relief upon seeing Emma again is almost too great to bear. The vision of her before him across the clearing is like the first breath of fresh spring air to his weary soul after too long locked away in suffocating winter. The last few hours he has been struggling for breath, consciously forcing his heart not to skip beats in agony and worry for her and what she might be suffering. His joy is great enough to override caution, and he doesn’t take in the raw, unhinged look in her wild eyes, nor the way she fairly vibrates with some unknown strain or injury.

The air around Emma pulses with electricity, and she throws out a hand to ward him off – pulling Killian up short when he feels the force pressing him back. Drawing in a steadying breath and hesitating to truly study her expression of confusion and anxiety, he realizes with a sharp pang in his chest that he is not sure whether she is merely trying to protect him while out of control, or if she truly doesn’t know him in this moment.

Those mesmerizing green eyes which never fail to capture him in their depths, flit nervously from his face, to his hand and hook, to her own trembling fingers outstretched between them, to the trees that surround them, and back again nervously – clearly unsettled and pained. Their emerald depths have never appeared so dark before, as if the forces fighting within to color her very mind and spirit are attempting to spread into even the smallest details of her being. His Swan literally shakes, even as she attempts to hold herself steady, staring at him across the open space. “What are you doing here?!?” she demands, looking shaken and angry, but at the same time as if she wants nothing more than to close the gap, fall into his supporting arms, and hold on for dear life. “I brought myself here for a reason, Killian! I barely got away from them, and I had to use my powers to do it. I can’t risk something like that happening again. I’m too dangerous to be near anyone until I find Merlin – and not when Arthur is waiting. Not until I get rid of this, this…thing inside me. I feel it swirling and clawing… even when it isn’t speaking to me in Rumplestiltskin’s voice, it’s trying to break free. So…y-you can’t be here! I w-won’t hurt you…” Her lower lip trembles, but she looks so firm in her decision and determined to suffer alone in her misery that his heart constricts, breaking a bit more at the sight of her anguish.

He cannot bear to see her hurting this way, to hear the agony in her voice; the yearning loneliness made plain beneath her warning to him makes him continue to inch closer, regardless of the threat Emma thinks she poses. He had known the wretched feeling of hopeless despair she is feeling all too well himself – for years – until she came along and brought more to his life than revenge, brought back the man of honor he once was. He takes another hesitant step forward, cautiously reaching out for her with a gentle hand and equally coaxing voice. “Easy now, Love,” he practically croons. “We can be careful…but you should not – and will not – have to do this alone.”

“Please stop!” she cries out, shooting another regretful look of longing at him.

Killian shakes his head, unwilling to let her go on like this, sure that he can help her, soothe her, and ease her pain if he can only reach her. He watches as Emma continues to tremble, but she remains still, allowing him to approach, even if she does so fearfully. Finally, the very tips of his fingers graze her cloak, then his whole hand rests on her upper arm, gripping gently as if unsure that she won’t still flee.

Just as she did in that circle of stones when their whole party first arrived in Camelot, Emma expels a terribly ragged breath and deflates, falling into him and clutching his shoulders as desperately as he clings to her. Killian breathes again, having barely realized he was holding it, and smooths a hand through her hair. He is not at all deterred by Emma’s moment of weakness, her nearly unhinged power, nor her fear. He is only glad she has finally reached for him in time of need. He will not give her up; he will find a way to help her, show her he will never fear her – whatever betide – and he will not fail to fight for her against any threat or foe. Watching her battle the Darkness within allows him to see, not her faltering, but even more of her strength. His admiration for her has only grown. No one else could understand the allure of the dark and the valor needed to claw away from it as he can.

‘Cause I have been where you are before

and I have felt the pain of losing who you are,

I have died so many times, but I am still alive

So hold on, hold on….

Tenderly, reverently, Killian’s hand travels on – down from the silken waves of her golden hair to trace Emma’s shoulders, then her back, pressing just enough to draw her closer, only to release her quickly when she cries out in pain at even the slight weight of his hands on her back. She tries to swallow her reaction in the next instant – hide it away – but she cannot conceal the wince that escapes as she curls in on herself protectively, nor can he fail to see the stiff way she holds her shoulders now that he is looking for it.

His calloused fingers come to cup her strong chin, tilting Emma’s face to meet his gaze, so she cannot avoid his eyes. “Where are you hurt, Swan?” he murmurs lowly, voice rough with concern. His words might be soft, but they are taut with worry and anger that these brigands would dare to lay a rough hand on his princess. “What did they do to you?”

Emma shakes her head, pulling away from his cautious grip and biting down on her lower lip in that way she has when trying to avoid baring herself to him, especially if the knowledge he seeks might be painful. “It’s nothing, Killian. Don’t worry over it. I…I could have healed it already…if I weren’t worried about using my magic.”

Impatiently, he shakes his own head once, frustrated at her stubbornness and unconcern for her own well-being. “It is not nothing, Emma. Of that I am quite sure.” His words are clipped with the force of his emotion, accent more pronounced, and Emma feels a shiver skitter down her spine that is as much from attraction as foreboding over what he will do when he sees her injuries. Carefully, but firmly, Killian places both hand and hook on her shoulders and turns her around to face away from him.

For a moment, Emma clutches her cloak about her, trying to keep this revelation from his eyes in one last desperate effort, but when pain lances through her shoulders and she cannot bite back the whimper that escapes her, she knows it is a losing battle. Slumping forward, she releases a sigh and ceases to fight against his gentle determination.

“There now, Lass,” her pirate coaxes in that warm burr of his. His hand and hook barely skim over her form as he unclasps and pulls the cloak away. “Let us see, hmm? Everything will be…” However, his voice chokes and trails off before he can finish his gentle reassurance. A strangled noise in his throat and the sudden heavy tension in the air around them tells her without doubt that once the cloak was off her shoulders, the wide neckline and low back of her dress leave the stinging marks on her flesh exposed plainly to his eyes.

Neither of them move for several long, silent moments, and Emma presses her trembling lips together tightly, trying desperately not to let the tears that are welling in her eyes fall. She hisses when the cool metal of his hook gingerly traces the brand burned into her right shoulder, serving to mark her as a witch, and the scattered whip weals she bore rather than admit anything about where her dagger was hidden, further endangering Merlin and the rest of them. The lash marks pulse hotly along with the beat of her heart and the blood rushing through her veins. Somehow, though, the tender care in his touch soothes her a bit, and she relaxes, almost sinking to her knees in relief and exhaustion as he continues. Her eyes slip closed, and she nearly feels safe again until he whispers in a broken voice. “Oh, Love, how could they do this to you? …I am so very sorry, Emma.”

Her tears do fall silently then, and she turns back to him, wordlessly trailing her fingers across his face, up over his cheekbones, wiping his matching tears away. Shushing Killian even as his shoulders shake with silent emotion, Emma leans against his chest and tries for the first time in what feels like ages to let down her guard and catch her breath at the safety she finds in his arms.

Eventually, Killian pulls back slightly, brushing a loose tendril of her mussed hair off her forehead and resting his hand along the side of her face softly. He shifts to take her hand in his and then leads her to the banks of the small river running placidly behind them. Urging Emma wordlessly to sit on a large rock at the water’s edge, he pulls a clean black scarf from inside his long coat, bends to wet it in the cool water, then comes back to crouch behind her. Clearing his throat in a nervous way that warms her heart, Killian asks gently. “Not to be indelicate, Swan, but can you shrug out of your frock for a moment? Hold it up in the front if you wish, but I need to see your whole back if I am to clean your wounds properly.”

Emma dips her head, blushing fiercely, and does as he asks, sucking in a sharp, pained breath once more as she eases the material from her shoulders and the movement stretches the torn skin of her back. Finally, she wraps her arms tightly around her torso, holding the front of the dress up and bracing herself. Hissing as the damp cloth first makes contact with the bloody stripes sliced into her pale hide, she tries not to flinch or wince and make Killian’s task more difficult; however, she can feel Killian’s hesitance and guilt at hurting her more, even in order to help, regardless of how she tries to hold her reactions in.

Slowly, the water begins to cool the enflamed agony, and she eases a fraction, feeling a bit like his ministrations are healing her as well as any magic could. The feel of his fingers ghosting over her back and down her arm as he finishes and tells her she can pull her gown back into place remind her vividly of another time so long ago, when he used another of his scarves to bind a wound to her hand, seemingly reading her mind as he did so and seeing the attraction she had felt for him even then simmering under her skin. His care that day atop the beanstalk had made her ache to trust him, and looking back now, it nearly floors her to realize just how completely she does trust him – so much so that she would place her very life in his hands without question.

Emma feels the warm exhalation of her pirate’s breath on her neck mere seconds before he lightly rests his forehead there, seemingly needing to hold her as he draws in a shaky breath. They are silent for some time; the running water, bird calls, and scuffling of wild creatures in the brush are the only sounds around them. Finally, he eases away and speaks once more, circling to face her as he does so. “Emma, I know you do not want to put yourself at more risk – nor do you want to be forced to use your magic again to defend yourself, or any of us – but you must return with me. We can find some place for you to stay where Arthur and his sorry excuses for ‘gallant’ knights will never know of your return. You must have some salve or medicine and better treatment than I can offer for those cuts, and especially the burn. I fear it could become infected. Regina will be near enough to guard you with her magic this time, and we will not be taken unawares again. I certainly will not be making the mistake of trusting anyone else in Camelot.”

She wants to argue with him, to be strong enough to stay out here alone and in hiding, but she cannot make herself form the words. In fact, she knows with painful certainty that she cannot bear to have Killian out of her sight right now. Weakened and vulnerable, she needs his comfort and his strength, needs someone with some faith and hope that all which has gone wrong can still work out right. Not only will she worry for his safety and the rash action he might take to right the vicious wrongs done to her, but she yearns for his care just now; his steadfast love the strongest thing keeping the darkness at bay, even as her situation grows more dire.

I believe that tomorrow is stronger than yesterday,

and I believe that your head is the only thing in your way.

I wish that you could see your scars turn into beauty.

I believe that today it’s okay to be not okay…

Hold on, hold on…

This is not the end of me, this is the beginning

Hold on…

Later that night, as moonlight filters into the isolated old hunting lodge that Killian and Henry have somehow located in a far-flung corner of the castle grounds, deserted and dusty from long disuse, Emma wakes from a light doze, still uneasy enough not to sleep deeply, despite her wear and strain. Sitting up stiffly, her eyes search the room, seeking her guardian knight, even as his name escapes her lips worriedly. “Killian?” she asks, a soft, plaintive note in the single whispered word.

He stands quickly from where his lithe form had been curled up on a settee near the window keeping watch, himself bathed in dark shadows and moon glow as he steals across the room to sit on the edge of the bed at her side. “I’m here, Love. Are you in pain? Regina is just outside, I can summon her…”

Emma merely shakes her head, reaching her hand out from under the layers of warm blankets she remembers him tucking around her a couple hours before. Looking up into his fathomless blue, blue eyes, she closes her fingers around his hook, hanging on for dear life. “No, it’s not that,” she assures him, gazing up into his face, drinking in every perfect, adoring feature as he stares back at her. “I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t disappear, that you were still with me…” She trails off, looking sheepish but also honest. They might be more than she would usually say, but she cannot make herself take the words back.

He traces his hand across her forehead soothingly, then lets his fingers tangle gently in her hair, pulling her up to press the softest of kisses to her lips. “Don’t worry, Darling,” he murmurs, his caress easing her pounding heart. “It took me centuries to find you. I won’t be letting go of my saving grace now. We will put an end to this darkness and treachery. Our love story is only beginning.”

And with those words Emma is able to fall back into a healing, dreamless sleep.

Tagging a few who might enjoy: @jennjenn615 @searchingwardrobes @kmomof4 @whimsicallyenchantedrose @laschatzi @jrob64 @apiratewhopines @spartanguard @tiganasummertree @optomisticgirl @teamhook @revanmeetra87 @therooksshiningknight @cosette141 @sotangledupinit @bdevereaux @stahlop @kday426 @gingerchangeling @gingerpolyglot @winterbaby89 @hollyethecurious @killian-whump @artistic-writer @cocohook38 @motherkatereloyshipper @thislassishooked @elizabeethan @the-darkdragonfly @donteattheappleshook @xsajx @justanother-unluckysoul @drowned-dreamer @anmylica @iverna @kazoosandfannypacks @booksteaandtoomuchtv @scientificapricot @tomeandflickcorner @lfh1226-linda

#self promo sunday #ouat canon divergent one shot #cs post-5x03 one shot ff #got my angel now #cs hurt comfort #emma whump aftermath

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winterpinetrees · 3 months

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This is 1500 words. Tumblr is infectious and the symptom is “write about your ocs and post it online”. I don’t think I’m even using consistent tenses, but it exists. @caliburn-the-sword and @lokiwaffles, this is for you and also your fault.

………..

There was no way that the computer on the table was making it to the end of the road trip. Sierra has her (heavily modified, like the car) laptop on open to a google map of West Coast highways. The rich kids have been arguing over it for half an hour. In that time, their acquaintance had (re?) introduced himself. His name was Martin, his family was somewhere in the elaborate network of power that the boys had grown up in, and details weren’t important. The important thing was where they were going next.

“We should go south to Los Angeles, and then west. That way we’ll be in the desert for the solstice and have the most hours of daylight.” That was Clay’s plan. He had a goal to visit as many national parks as possible.

“If we do that, we’ll be in the desert for the hottest part of the summer! We go north on route 101 and follow the ocean all the way to the Canada border”. Brian explains for at least the fifth time.

“You only want to follow the ocean because you’ll die if you go a summer without surfing” Clay replies.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. We can go to Redwoods!”

“We live in San Francisco. We have been to Redwoods a dozen times”.

“And they rock! Those trees are thousands of years old. We can drive the car through a tree.”

Martin speaks for the first time in a while. “The hottest part of the summer isn’t the solstice. It’s a few weeks after that. Anyway, the Mojave desert will be miserable until October. You want to go north”. They’d almost forgotten he was there. It was a little shocking. The boy carried himself with confidence that didn’t feel like it should be ignored.

Clay immediately yields. “Fine. We go north to Redwoods.”

The boys put away their things and walk outside. Martin -Marin, whoever he is- follows behind them. Telling him to leave was unthinkable. Literally, the thought never crossed their minds. They walk down smaller, empty streets. Oddly empty. Well, it isn’t good weather, and that mild earthquake two days must have everyone a bit nervous. That must be the reason. Brian keeps looking over his shoulder though, especially as the fog grows and their visibility drops.

Sierra fidgets with the zipper of her sweatshirt. “Why is the fog so thick? It’s the afternoon?”

It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but there was also movement, and lights down a side street. Sierra’s vision flashes electric blue. She knows that humans sometimes see blue light when exposed to high amounts of radiation (It’s called Cherenkov Radiation, but where would it come from?) but she also remembers a rumor that a strange glow might be your only warning if supernatural danger is near. She reaches for Brian. The taller boy has already stepped away to stare down their strange acquaintance, but Martin looks even more afraid than they do. He swings the messenger bag off of his shoulder. “I’m sorry I dragged all of you into this. You need to run”.

Brian takes another step towards him. “Dragged us into what?”

Sierra finally grabs his arm. “I think I know. Run.”

By this point, Clay is already fifteen feet away from them. Brian does not run. Instead, he and his friend watch as -somehow- Martin reaches an entire arm into his small bag. He spins on his heels and draws an entire quarterstaff. His ears grow pointed, his hazel eyes begin to glow, and as if waiting for that signal, four figures step out of the fog.

They are from a different genre. That’s the only explanation. The soldiers around them hold glowing guns and shining blades and wear helmets that completely cover their faces. Lines of colored light run underneath the silver plates of their armor, which seems made for speed instead of true protection. One, tall and thin and wearing the electric blue that Sierra recognized, dashes at Clay fast enough that they are only visible as a blur. They have the human boy in a chokehold within a second. Another, more broad and colored pale yellow, turns to Martin and yells something in a language that is very much not English.

He throws his messenger bag at the remaining humans. “Grab the gun and turn the dial all the way to the left. We win or we die!”

Martin turns back to his attacker and snarls a reply in the same language. He drops into a fighting stance and briefly flickers like a hologram. Brian catches the bag and they finally run, ducking behind a car parked on the street. He passes the bag to Sierra, who puts the entire top half of her body inside, “It’s bigger on the inside! ...wait”. (She refuses to die making a Doctor Who reference).

The bag is at least the size of their car. She hears the sci-fi sounds of guns firing outside and pulls the rest of her body in. Sierra grabs a gun, hopefully the one Martin told him to, and crawls back out. The gun is pretty big, more like a rifle than a phaser, and she needs both hands to aim it. It’s a difficult task. The five elves in the fight are all moving faster than they should, and her acquaintance (ha) keeps blinking in and out of sight. Sierra checks to make sure that the dial is to the left (Is that the stun setting or the kill setting? What is she about to do?) and fires the moment one of the faceless soldiers pauses for breath.

A blast of emerald green energy shoots out of the gun and nearly misses the figure. Instead, it hits the soldier just above the elbow and all but takes off their left arm. They fall to one knee, then disappear with a faint pop and a bit of cobalt blue light. Simultaneously, the kickback sends Sierra to the ground. Brian picks up the gun and fires a useless shot. He manages to stay standing, at least. Three enemies remain. The speedy blue soldier who knocked out (Brian can’t let himself think about the alternative) Clay, the yellow leader, and a short cyan one that has raised its gun at- oh no. Brian ducks back behind the car and reaches back into the bag as light sears the air right above his head.

The boys hiding behind the car look at eachother and reach a silent agreement. Sierra takes back the gun. Their inhuman ally seems to be winning, at least. He’s impossibly fast and is keeping up with all three opponents. With the cyan one distracted, Martin takes the opportunity and does something magical that leaves the soldier on the ground. They vanish with a pop, and unlike Martin, don’t come back. Clay, thank god, starts moving again. He makes eye contact with Sierra just as the blue soldier knocks Martin’s staff from his hands. The prince looks towards the humans behind the car. He seems terrified. The leader charges at him, holding their shortsword in a backward grip. They say something again, quietly, and Martin doesn’t respond. He tries to vanish again, but some magical pulse from the leader reveals his location. A blue blur knocks Martin to the ground and points its gun at his head.

Sierra tosses her own gun at Clay, and Brian vaults over the hood of the car towards the fight. He is still holding the bag in his left hand. The leader notices the 6’3”, adrenaline-fueled teenager running at him and turns away from Martin. Wild humans, even untrained ones, are very dangerous. Brian pulls something heavy from the bag as a sword swings at him. He dodges the weapon on instinct and feels the edge of a blade skim his chest. He lifts whatever it is he’s holding. A club? A crowbar? Brian holds it in both hands like a baseball bat and swings like his father is watching. The bat connects. He brings twenty pounds of pointed steel down with arms that can hit a baseball at 100mph. The armor over the soldier’s chest cracks- and so do the bones. They gasp and their armor begins to glow far more brightly. Brian is close enough to see two blindingly bright eyes behind their dark faceplate. Then a bolt of energy hits the soldier in the back and the light fades. They sway for a moment and fall with their sword still clutched in their hand. Clay glares at the body over the barrel of his gun. He adjusts his glasses without blinking.

The blue soldier is gone as well, also having been shot while Brian charged his enemy. The street is quiet again. The fog begins to lift. All four of them cautiously move towards the fallen leader lying face down on the pavement. Whatever these soldiers are, they bleed red just like humans do.

#by me #the gap years #writing that *is*#my oc stuff #the road trip

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canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 09 first part

(Masterpost) (More Canary Funsies)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

This episode features so many eternal minutes of zombie shambling that I thought I could fit everything into a single post. HA HA HA HA nope.

Zombie Temple

The trio do their best to fend off the not-zombies in the temple. Lan Wangji tells Wei Wuxian that he can’t go carving them up because they’re not actually dead, and drops a callback to their very first meeting at the gate of Cloud Recesses, when Wei Wuxian caught his attention with his pillowy lips comment on the not-dead cultivator.

Lan Wangji: You said it in that golden moment that will be seared into my memory for eternity, where I heard your voice and laid eyes on your angelic face and lost my heart forever, remember? Come on, babe, it was our very first zombie! How baked were you?

Wei Wuxian: I jerk off to the sword-fighting memory, not the zombie memory, you weirdo.

Nie Huaisang’s fear of the definitely not undead has apparently gotten him the rest of the way over his fear of Lan Wangji, because he’s now yelling “Lan-Xiong!” right along with “Wei-Xiong!” as he struggles. Note that although he later mentions that his fan is made of some fancy metal, we don’t see any evidence that he wants to fight with a fan any more than he does with a blade. I don’t hate anyone’s fan-fighting NHS headcanon, but my take is that he just isn’t a physical fighter, and that’s ok.

This is a good time to remember that our entire experience of the Nie clan so far in this story is 1. Clever but hopelessly combat-unready tiny artiste Nie Huaisang 2. Quietly helpful, absurdly pretty sidekick Meng Yao.

We don’t know yet that Nie Huasang’s gege and Meng Yao’s sugar daddy is literally the toughest motherfucker in the entire cultivation world. But his friends do! Which makes me love these dynamics even more, because not one of them criticizes Nie Huaisang for being the person he is.

(more after the cut!)

Never Let Me Go

This scene is where Wei Wuxian gives his tacit consent to being used as the eventual agent of Nie Huaisang’s vengeance....ok not really.

But he does make it clear what Nie Huaisang should do when he’s in a pickle. And NHS doesn’t forget things.

Priorities

Meanwhile, Lan Wangji isn’t nearly as patient as Wei Wuxian, and he drops a silence spell on Nie Huaisang basically out of annoyance. It’s not like they’re trying to be sneaky.

Lan Wangji: How about you have an exquisitely crafted ceramic cup of shut the fuck up?

Flute Girl

Wen Qing comes to the rescue by summoning all of the not-zombies, who happen to be her extended family, to come toast some marshmallows.

She’s another person who unwisely demonstrates, where Wei Wuxian can hear her, the power of flutes over zombies.

This move doesn’t seem to do anything important but it looks cool.

Brother Dynamic: Bad. Really Bad.

Jiang Cheng shows up in the temple and trolls everyone, because this is a great time for childish antics. Wei Wuxian is super happy to see him and runs over to hug him, which earns him a shoulder slam.

This is a regular part of their body language with each other. Wei Wuxian covers his hurt reaction very, very quickly, with a smile that doesn’t involve very much of his face.

Wei Wuxian is so good at pretending his feelings aren’t hurt, he probably convinces himself.

Then he gives a too-honest answer when Jiang Cheng accuses him of...daring to enjoy himself, basically.

That’s more truth than Jiang Cheng was looking for, and he raises a hand to Wei Wuxian, who hides behind Nie Huaisang. This move is interesting because on one level it’s just clowning; obviously Nie Huaisang can’t protect WWX from anything, and WWX doesn’t need protection from Jiang Cheng.

WWX can easily beat JC in a fight, as he’s let us know before. On another level, this retreat signals WWX’s harmlessness, his childlike-ness, in a semiotic dance that has been playing out for over a decade between the brothers. NHS is taking on Jiang Yanli’s role in the choreography, this time.

All of this troubling hostility doesn’t make Jiang Cheng a bad person. He’s young and he’s still under his parents’ control and subject to their abuse at home. It takes time to develop mindfulness about this stuff and learn to treat people beneath you differently than the way you are treated.

Jiang Cheng isn’t ready for that yet, any more than he is ready to say out loud that he cares about his brother.

Leave My Boyfriend Out of It

This interaction is noteworthy for Wei Wuxian defending Lan Wangji to his brother, before Jiang Cheng even has a chance to blame Lan Wangji.

Wei Wuxian says that following Lan Wangji was his own idea, and then gives LWJ the sweetest, warmest smile.

Lan Wangji also gets a pair of totally unearned, delighted smiles of thanks from his two besties when he lifts the silence spell on Nie Huaisang.

Being mildly dickish all the time works out fine, I guess, if you only make friends with people whose brothers are legendary grouches.

Grilling Wen Qing

Wei Wuxian finally decides he’s had enough of Wen Qing’s crap, and gets slightly aggressive in questioning her.

He’s not actually roughing her up but he is approaching her as a near-enemy for the first time, rather than as someone who wants to be her friend. Once Wen Qing tells him what’s up and agrees to a sort of temporary alliance, he goes back to being his normal slightly awkward self with her.

I don’t romance-ship WQ and WWX, except maybe as corpse-mountain era FWB, but I do like their chemistry. And their friendship is really refreshing and interesting, based on sharing goals and working together, not on emotional intimacy. It’s nice to see people with a lot of barriers around their hearts, building a strong, trusting bond without having to actually open up very much.

The idea of perfect sharing between people is a nice one, but it’s pretty alien to many of us who are recovering from trauma, or people who just aren’t wired that way, and it’s good to see other models of friendship and love.

Wei Wuxian, at Lan Wangji’s direction, parts the Red Sea drops a cage on the other 3 cultivators before going to hunt the dire birdy.

Jiang Chang is, predictably, pissed off about it, in spite of Wei Wuxian’s “you’re good at this” parting words, and says, according to the subtitles, “you bastard!”

“Bastard” is a pretty specific epithet, in English. In the current century, it’s generally used to mean “asshole,” more or less. But it still does carry the meaning “of illegitimate birth,” and since The Untamed is often concerned with legitimacy it seems pretty strong for JC to use with someone who is rumored to be his own Dad’s by-blow.

Let’s have a look and see what he really is calling him... 你混蛋 = Nǐ húndàn = “you bastard” per Google translate. Wow, Jiang Cheng, you really went there, huh.

Wen Granny

Wen Qing and the others in the golden cage watch as the not-zombies try half-heartedly to get to them. Wen Qing is super sad about it, as opposed to the two guys who are just annoyed (Jiang Cheng) or scared (Nie Huaisang).

The first time I saw this, it was just - oh, Wen Qing sympathizes with this poor random woman, she feels bad about what's happening, this is to show us she has a heart.

Now though -- that's HER granny. Maybe not her bio-grandma but clearly a granny of her clan, who she knows well, who later cares for A-Yuan when he's a child, so may very well have cared for A-Qing and A-Ning when they were small, too. Owie.

Dire Bird Hunting

Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian run off to hunt the smoke bird together. They are quickly trapped in cool-looking fog. Kudos to the Director of Photography.

They spend some time being confused and also being peak Wangxian 1.0 as they help each other out.

Lost in the fog and unable to summon talismans, Wei Wuxian is mainly about checking on Lan Wangji, making sure he’s ok, making sure he’s near. He doesn’t spare any worry for himself.

(We get a rare instance of seeing an actually glowing sword here, instead of just having a character say “I saw the beams of swords!” to save money on VFX.)

Lan Wangji, meanwhile, understands the mental attack they are under, explains it to Wei Wuxian with only a little snark about Wei Wuxian’s overly busy mind, and teaches him how to handle it.

Lan Wangji is super disciplined in mind, body, and sword - his fight moves don’t change, really, throughout his life, but he gets better and better at execution. Wei Wuxian isn’t exactly undisciplined, but he’s super creative and busts out a new skill in nearly every encounter. Lan Wangji sees this and is learning to make use of it.

After Lan Wangji helps Wei Wuxian overcome the confusion that is blocking his talisman use, he tells him which talisman to use.

This isn’t a talisman that LWJ uses himself, it’s just that he’s paying very close attention to WWX’s battle moves, and has a great memory, so he knows which ones will work. In a pretty short timespan he’s moved from thinking like a solo swordsman to thinking as part of a team with a broad range of battle skills. Very soon, he’ll be starting to use Wei Wuxian’s talismans himself.

WWX takes a hit from the flying death chain, but uses it to his advantage, as in so many encounters. He’s not just self-sacrificing--he is definitely that--but he’s also a chess player, knowing how to use a sacrifice or an injury to his advantage. Cue Lan Wangji being worried for the entire rest of his life.

Part Two is here!

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #chen qing ling #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #nie huaisang #wei wuxian #jiang cheng #lan wangji #wen qing

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morosemagick · 3 years

Text

On Your Lips, Like a Prayer | Sihtric x Reader One Shot

Warning: References to Suicide, Minor Character Death

Words: 4449

Tagged:

@solinarimoon @emilyhufflepufftlk @magravenwrites @obipoelover @thebohemianpenguin @ivarinleatherpants

You remember falling.

Through the sky. Into a river. Drowning. They could’ve been dreams or your imagination or may you’re hell because when you wake up you don’t recognize the place you’ve found yourself in. The first thing you try to do when you wake is reach for your phone... until you remember you didn’t have it. What you had done, you had done with nothing on you. You didn’t want to be found or recognized. The plan was to scrub yourself from the pages of history. Yet from what you are told by the man and his daughter; who found you in the river half dead, it seems you did the far opposite.

Instead of erasing yourself from history, you’ve fallen through it.

And that was six months ago.

They believe you to have amnesia from the accident, but you remember every detail of what happened. It’s the ninth century from what you gathered. From what you remember from taking history in school, King Alfred the Great is the King of Wessex, but you are in Mercia. Who is ruled by Lord Ceowolf? You’re unsure. Everything you’ve known is gone or rather has yet to be. You have no idea how you’ve gotten here and you want out. So in a moment of foolishness, you try to redo what you did to send yourself back but instead you wind up stuck in their beds again for a month with a broken leg. It’s hard to run after you do that, and now you know without a doubt in your mind that you’re stuck. You cry about it for weeks, and the family who found you doesn’t understand why. You can’t tell anyone, because you’re certain they’ll set you on fire if you tell them.

Because you… you are from the future.

————————————<3—————————————

You’ve been here for a year now. Osmund and his daughter, Mildryd, are kind and loving people. They treat you like family, with love and respect. This place becomes your home and they teach you all the skills you’d need to survive these times. You learned about farming, rank etiquette, and all other manners you would need to blend into your surroundings. Soon enough, you embraced this world as your own. Not that you had a choice because every day it became more clear that this was not a dream and you were indeed stuck here.

Also, you had no desire to repeat what you did to get here in the first place… again.

“Lynne? Lynne, where are you?” You can hear Osmund call out to you. Lynne was what they called you here. It meant waterfall, from what you understood.

Which made sense, because that’s where they found you... At the bottom of a waterfall.

You come out from the stables, where you’ve just finished brushing the horses with a smile on your face, “Right here, Osmund. Everything alright?”

“I sent Mildryd into town to get grain but I didn’t realize she didn’t bring water in for the goats,” He tells you as he wipes the sweat from his face with a rag, “I hate to pass on her chores, but you know my daughter-”

“She’ll be flirting with the trader for a while,” You chuckle. Mildryd fancied the boy a lot and hopes he’d ask her father for her hand in marriage soon. She was young and full of life, the opposite of you if you were honest with yourself. You envied her spirit, “I’ll go to the river.”

“Thank you, Lynne,” The older man smiled, “You’re an angel.”

You only smile as a response. They show you so much love and part of you feels like you don't deserve it. Still, you grab your bucks and head down to the river, which is quite a walk away, to fetch some water as requested. It's beautiful here, and perhaps taking a moment to stand there and admire its beauty will be one of the moments you will grow to regret for the rest of your life because by the time you turn back to return to the farm you can see smoke.

You drop both buckets to the ground and run as fast as your post-broken leg body can take you, but you're too late.

A sob breaks from your lips as you walk through the ruins of Osmund's home. His body lays blood and lifeless on the floor, the sword he carries still in its sheath. You take the weapon from him, belt and all, and tie it around your waist. Leaving the house, you head into the rest of the small village you call yours in search of the man's daughter.

The rest of the village is no better than Osmund's home. Everyone is dead, from what you can tell, and your expectations for finding Mildryd are lowering by the second.

When you find her, she's holding on to her final breath, and her body covered by the trader she loved so much.

"Mildryd," You call to her with tears in her eyes, "Mildryd… who did this to you?"

"It… it was the Danes," She coughs and blood comes up, tears flowing down her cheeks, "Is.. my father-"

She dies before she can finish the sentence, and you sob over her dead body.

The time you get to mourn is cut short by a voice calling out from behind you, “Lord! A survivor!”

From the accent in his voice, you can tell he must be a Dane, and you ready yourself to face with your hand on the hilt of your sword. It’s heavy, and you haven’t had much practice but the one thing you have plenty of right now is rage. Rising to your feet, you pull out your sword and swing it without care as you turn around but the Dane behind you is quicker. He bobs and weaves his upper half to avoid your aimless swings and pulls out a blade of his own.

It does not take him long to disarm you, your sword dropping to the ground with a clang.

“Just kill me already,” You tell him as you lower your eyes to the ground, trying not to cry in front of him, “Please! Get on with it-”

“I don’t desire to kill you, Lady,” The Dane tells you, his voice softer than anticipated, and you open your eyes to see him put his sword away. He picks up your sword, and then lends out a hand to help you to your feet, “I am sorry to have startled you.”

You are hesitant to take his hand, but you do so anyway.

It’s his eyes; one blue and the other brown, they are mesmerizing and all but command you to trust him.

“Sihtric?” Another man calls out to him, this one also dressed like a Dane but something about him looks Saxon… like the others you’ve grown to know, “Who is this?”

The one you trust, Sihtric, turns to face you and they stare for a moment as they await your name, “I am-” You almost use your real name, but you stop yourself and continue again. Hoping they don’t notice, “I am Lynne, Lord.”

“This is your village?” He asks you.

“Was,” You replied looking back at Mildryd’s dead body behind you, “They killed my family…”

“Did you see the raiders who attacked this place?” The man asked and you shook your head no.

“My… my sister, she told me it was the Danes,” You glance between the two men, watching for their reactions, “That was all she said before she died.”

“Lord?” Another voice calls out, this one with an Irish accent, and from the side, another man appears followed by one much taller than he is, “There is no one else. If they had survivors, they must have taken them.”

The Lord sighs, and puts away his weapon, “Do you have somewhere to go, Lynne? Family somewhere else in Mercia, perhaps?”

You look between the men who surround you and shake your head no, “This was my only family, Lord. I have no one.”

“We can take her with us to Coccham, Uhtred,” The Irishman starts to say, but you are quick to jump in.

“I am not a slave!” You snap as you reach for your sword, forgetting you no longer have it.

“Nor do we wish you to be, Lady,” The one named Uhtred replies, “You will be safe in Coccham, should you choose to follow us. I am the Ealdorman there, we shall find someone to take you in.”

You nod okay, knowing you don’t have any other choice, “Thank you.”

Uhtred and his men start to walk away, and when you step to follow them your bad leg gives in and you start to fall. Luckily, Sihtric is there to catch you.

“Are you hurt, Lady?” He asks you as you wince.

He helps you straighten yourself upright, and you take a deep breath, “I broke it, six months ago,” You explain to Sihtric as he tries to help you walk, “It still feels weak some days. Just… give me a moment.”

“Should I carry you?” He asks and you blush as you furiously shake your head no.

“No, no,” You chuckle shyly as you attempt to walk again, “I can walk. I just need to go slow.”

Sihtric smiles lightly, and it brings you peace, “We’ll go your speed then.”

You nod okay, and together you walk slowly out of the village that was once your home.

————————————<3—————————————

Lord Uhtred finds you work as a stable hand in Coccham. The owners of the stable is an older couple whose children have moved away with their own families, and they are more than pleased to let you stay with them. After a few months of being in Coccham, you find yourself growing to like the place. It’s a booming town, and the people who live here all seem to be grateful for their half Dane half Saxon Lord for keeping them safe and prospering. About six months into living here, Lord Uhtred puts you personally in charge of his horse, as well as the horses of the rest of his men. The old couple tells you it’s a privilege for the Ealdorman to hold you in such regard.

You wonder why they seem to like you so much.

When you aren’t working you find yourself in the company of Lord Uthred’s men. There is Finan, his cheeky, Irish right-hand man. He’s a flirt and a tease, but you find him harmless and kind. Then their Clapa, the large bear-like Dane. He’s quiet but courteous. Last, but certainly not least, there is Sihtric. You never expected to like him as much as you do, but he makes you laugh and smile and feel like maybe you survived that fall for a reason. He visits you frequently at the stables and he tells you it’s to make sure you aren’t overworking your leg.

Part of you wonders if there is an ulterior motive for his visits.

Not that he needs one to visit you. You enjoy Sihtric’s visits probably much more than he did. So part of you finds it ironic when those around you weren’t fond of you spending so much time with a Dane. Their Lord was a Dane, too, after all.

“That Dane boy,” The stable owner, Cedric, started to say one day, “Does he bother you?”

You glance his way as you brush Lord Uhtred’s horse, readying all his warriors’ horses for their departure, “Not at all,” You tell Cedric, “Sihtric is kind.”

“You are of marriage age, Lynne,” Cedric tells you as he brings over a saddle for the horse, “Perhaps we should help find you a husband. I know some young eligible men. Hard workers,” he starts to say, and you know what’s about to come out of his mouth next before he can even say it, “Good Christians.”

“I’m not looking for a husband,” You tell him with frustration as you take the saddle from his hands and place it on top of Uhtred’s horse.

“My wife and I are only getting older, Lynne,” The old man tells you, and you keep your eyes away to prevent yourself from making a face, “It is not good for a Lady of your age to be unwed. This is your prime. You should be having children, starting a family.”

Part of you is ready to tell the old man off, but before you can say anything a familiar voice interrupts the conversation, “Cedric, Lynne! How are our horses?”

“Lord Uhtred,” Cedric smiles, and you can’t help but hate how hypocritical he is, “They are almost ready, Lynne ready the other saddles please.”

You nod at the two men and make yourself scarce as you go to prep the other horse. Your first stop is to Finan’s horse; because you know the mare can be fickle some days, and as you reach down to pick her saddle, you don’t see Finan and Sihtric sneak up behind you.

“Lynne!” Finan all but shouts, giving you a fright and making you drop the saddle to the floor.

“I swear to God, Finan, one would think you are the heathen and not Sihtric,” You scold with your hand over your heart as the two men laugh.

“We are only teasing, Lynne, I swear,” Finan tells you as he picks up the saddle you’ve dropped.

Sihtric leans up against a post and nudges you with his elbow, “Cedric does not push you too much, does he?”

“No, he does not,” You tell Sihtric as you go to ready his horse, but he stops you, carefully taking the saddle from your hands, “I do not need your help, Sihtric.”

“I want to help,” He tells you with a smile, and you can’t help but smile wider.

“She says she doesn’t need your help, Sihtric,” Finan teases from close by, and you both blush, momentarily forgetting he was there, “Hate to ruin the moment, but we need to get goin’.”

“Where are you riding for?” You ask them as you stand back and let the men finish readying their own horses.

“Mercia,” Sihtric tells you and a small part of you feels anxious, “Dane’s have taken Lundene."

“And King Alfred has decided he does need Uhtred, after all,” Finan chuckles and Sihtric smirks, but both of their calm demeanors don’t make you feel any better, “Don’t you worry, Lynne, we’ll be home before you know it.”

Finan passes by, rubbing your shoulder as he goes, and then leaves you alone with Sihtric. You sigh, folding your arms over your chest, “Be careful out there, okay?”

Sihtric chuckles as he takes a step closer to you, “Will you pray to your God for my return?”

“You know I don’t pray,” You lie with a smirk. You pray every single time Uhtred and his warriors leave, and you do so every night till they return. Reaching into your pocket, you pull out a thin gold cross on a blue, beaded string. It’s the only thing you own, from before, and you hand it to Sihtric with a weak smile on your face, “But just in case.”

He takes it from your hand so slow, the feeling of his fingertips lingering even after they are gone, “I will take good care of it.” Sihtric pulls you closer by the back of your head and kisses your temple as he moves around you.

Your cheeks stay a rosy color even long after he is gone.

————————————<3—————————————

They are back sooner than expected.

Or at least, that is what you hear when the crowd gathers to greet their returning warriors. You overhear the Lady of Coccham, Uhtred’s wife Gisela, make mention of returning too quickly for men holding a city under siege. Lord Uhtred is the first to walk through Coccham’s gates, looking surprisingly clean for a man coming from war, then Finan comes in close behind him… and then-

Wait.

You feel your heart pick up its pace when you realize Sihtric is not with them and for a moment you find it hard to breathe. As the crowd lets its lord through, and Uhtred and his men reach the stables, you rush over as fast as your legs can take you to meet them. You feel your bad leg ready to give up as you reach the stables, but this time Finan is there to catch you.

“Slow down, Lynne, you nearly killed yourself,” Finan tells you as he holds you steady with one hand.

“Where...,” You start speaking but you can't, instead you’re huffing and puffing trying to catch your breath, “Where is Sihtric?”

Finan sighs, wiping at his mouth with his free hand, “You’re not gonna be happy, Lynne.”

You try really hard not to cry as he explains to you what has happened at Lundene and how the King’s daughter has been possibly taken as prisoner. In fact, you do relatively well at holding it all in and keeping yourself together for most of his explanation. That is… until he gets to the part where Lord Uhtred has sent Sihtric and another warrior named Rypere to Beamfleot to spy, and you suddenly forget how to breathe again. You go to reach for your cross in your pocket until you remember you’ve given it to Sihtric for good luck and almost immediately you begin to cry.

“Lynne,” Finan puts his hand on your shoulder as you sob, covering your face with your hands, “Lynne, he’s coming home… okay? Sihtric is good at what he does. The best spy we have, and I know he’s got a good reason to come home in one piece.”

You shake your head okay, and furiously wipe away all your tears away the best you can, “How long do you think he’ll be gone?”

“I cannot say for certain,” Finan shrugs, “But he is coming home, I promise.”

Finan’s words only give you some reassurance and you spend the next few days feeling absolutely miserable. You continue on with your workdays with the best fake smile you can muster, and at night you find yourself at Church. Usually, you pray in your room, partially because you feel like you aren’t really doing it right and you feel too embarrassed to pray in public. You weren’t a very religious person before, but now that you are here in this church, you pray to every God you can think of that Sihtric comes home safely.

“Lady?” A voice from behind you calls, and you jump to your feet in a moment of fear. You weren’t expecting anyone else to come to the Church that night, coming late enough in the night to certainly be alone for as long as you wish, “I am sorry, I did not mean to startle you.”

His words remind you of the first time you met Sihtric, and you can't help but smile.

“It’s okay, I’ve just been… jumpy, lately.” You tell him as you sit back down on the bench, “I haven’t lived in Coccham for long, but I know I don’t recognize your face.”

“Ah, yes,” His smile is kind as he joins you at the bench, “I am Osferth, Lady. May I join you?”

“Of course, Osferth,” You smile back the best you can, but you’re tired and it’s late so it’s hard to put on your usual fake face.

Osferth takes his seat next to you, making sure not to get too close, and keeps his eyes on the altar ahead of you, “What are we praying for?” He asks, glancing your way.

“My-” You paused, not knowing what to call him. Your friend didn’t sound like a good enough way to explain what he meant to you, and you definitely didn’t think of him as a brother. So you go with this, “My family. Someone very important to me has been sent away on a dangerous mission for Lord Uhtred.”

"If he is a warrior for Lord Uhtred, he must be very brave," he tells you, reassuringly

"Only a special kind of warrior is lucky enough to serve a Lord like Uhtred," You agree with him, "And I have been told Sihtric is good at what he does, but I can't help but worry."

"Has prayer helped?" Osferth asks you and you look his way with a chuckle.

"Not at all," You tell him, and you both laugh.

"Sometimes it is hard to have faith in something we don't see," Osferth tells you as he looks forward again, "I try to put my faith in people. Lord Uhtred is a good warrior. So are his men. Having Faith in them… it's much easier."

So that's what you. You put your Faith in Uhtred and all of his men that will do whatever it takes to bring each other home.

————————————<3—————————————

More time has passed.

Rypere eventually returned to Coccham, and with his arrival, Uhtred and his men rode for Winchester to bring his findings to the King. You hear that men are sent to Beamfleot to bargain for the Princesses return. They are gone for a long time, longer than you anticipated. The days that pass make you increasingly more anxious.

You don't want to say your faith in Uhtred and his warriors is wavering but… it hasn't been as strong as you hoped it to be.

Cedric and his wife have been pushing the marriage thing. They aren't your parents so they can't just sell you off, luckily for you, but it's gotten annoying just how many single men they've tried to introduce you to in the last month.

None of them are Sihtric, so you do not care.

You're in the Church again one night, and you've been there longer than you wanted due to your bad leg. It's been aching something fierce in the past few days, and you think maybe you have been overwhelming yourself. You can't help but smile at the idea of Sihtric yelling at you to take it easy, and just as quickly as the memory comes to you so do the tears that start to cloud your eyes.

"You lied to me, Lynne," That familiar voice you've been hearing in your head speaks out loud, and you gasp when you turn around to find Sihtric standing behind you, "You said you do not pray for me."

You chuckle as the tears fall from your face and your lips curl up into a smile, "You're all I pray for." It stings to stand, but you push through the pain anyway and rush to greet him.

Sihtric catches you as you jump into his arms, and the two of you stumble back until he falls to the floor with you in his arms, "You need to be more careful," He smirks as he moves a hand to your cheek, "What would the people say if they see us in the church like this?"

"To hell with people," You laugh as you wrap your arms around his neck and pull him in for a kiss. Sihtrics' free hand pulls your body closer as you sit there on the floor of the church, all but devouring each other with each kiss.

"Let me carry you home," Sihtric tells you when he breaks the kiss, and you nod okay. He moves to stand, taking you in his arms as he rises. Making sure to be careful with your bed leg.

Being like this makes you feel so safe. So loved.

You giggle and kiss his neck as he carries you back to his house, and whispers things in your ear that send shivers down your spine all the way back to his house. Your sure people saw him carry you, and they are more than likely to gossip about you but you don't care.

You've never felt more alive than you do right now.

Sihtric lays you carefully in his bed, his lips reconnecting with yours as he hovers above you. He tastes sweet and your heart is racing in anticipation of what is going to happen next.

That is until you hear him moan out that name.

"Lynne," He starts to say as he breaks the kiss, "Lynne, I-"

"Wait!" You cut Sihtric off with a finger to his lips, "Before you say it, there is something else I've been lying about," Sihtric raises a brow and you take a deep breath, "My name is not Lynne."

You expect a poor reaction, but instead, Sihtric smirks, "That doesn't surprise me."

"Really?"

"Yes," He tells you as he places a kiss on your lips, "The day we met, you stuttered when you told Uhtred your name." You chuckle at the fact that he remembers that, and his smile is soft, "So tell me, what is the real name of the woman who has stolen my heart?"

Your smile is wide when you get to finally speak your real name out loud for the first time in almost two years, "My name is Y/N."

Sihtric smiles, leaning in to kiss you again, "Well, Y/N," another kiss, and then another, "It is nice to truly meet you," one more kiss, and then he leans up a bit and you can see the smirk on his face, "Is it too soon to say that I love you?"

You shake your head no as the tears come back to you, "Not at all."

"Good," Sihtric replies as he leans his forehead against yours, "I love you, Y/N."

Sihtric whispers those words for what feels like a hundred times that night. He whispers it as he strips you out of your clothes and as you remove his. It comes out as a moan when he slips himself inside of you, and it sounds like a prayer on his lips as he chants it in your ear as you reach your climax with your back arched and his lips on your neck. And it's the last thing you hear when Sihtric reminds you one more time before bed.

A few months later on the two year anniversary of you finding yourself here, on this page of history, Sihtric tells you he loves you again when the two of you return to the place where Osmund and Mildryd found you, and you tell him all about what brought you to this world. You can't help but feel this is where you were meant to be when Sihtric tells you he prayed for you, too.

For someone who could love him, more than he could himself.

It seems… you were exactly what the other was looking for.

#sihtric x reader #sihtric #the last kingdom #sihtric kjartansson #fanfiction #fanfic #mcloveproductions #tlk sihtric #tlk

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phoxphyre · 3 years

Text

In honor of the gorgeous Snowbaz Pride & Prejudice art from @laeve-leve--and because it’s looking like it’s still going to be a while before I finish and start actually posting this thing--I’m going to do something a bit different for WIP Wednesday and post an entire scene.

I’ve posted bits and pieces of this before, but here’s my version of the 2005 P&P rain proposal scene.

Tagging @super-duper-twelve (for encouraging me to keep writing in the middle of a crazy month), @captain-aralias, @flammable-grimm-pitch, @otherworldsivelivedin, @nightimedreamersworld, @palimpsessed, @wetheformidables, @ninemagicks, @aristocratic-otter, @sharkmartini and anyone else who wants to share!

~~~~~~

Once in the park Simon summoned the Sword of Mages and swung it viciously, slicing the heads off of flowers and cutting new pathways into the spring grass. His mother would reproach him for using it for something so trivial—but after all, she was not here.

When the skies at last poured open Simon bent his head back and stood staring up into the clouds.

“Perfect,” he said.

He was soaked to the skin within moments. He strode onwards; something about the weather matched his mood.

“Her family,” Simon said viciously.

It was impossible that Mr. Pitch could have meant anyone other than Shepard and Penny. He was hardly surprised that Mr. Pitch had opposed the match, but he had believed Miss Wellbelove the chief architect of their separation. To learn that Mr. Pitch was the cause, that his vanity and pride were the cause of all that Penny had suffered—that she continued to suffer—

Simon decapitated a hapless daisy. Mr. Pitch had ruined the hope of happiness for the best person Simon knew—the person who had saved him when he had lost everything.

“‘There were very strong objections against the lady,’” Simon bit out. What were the objections? That she had one uncle who was a country attorney, and another who was in trade?

Mr. Pitch could not possibly have objected to Penny herself. She was perhaps somewhat irregular in her way—but also sharp as a blade, a talented magician, on her way to becoming a brilliant magickal scholar. She was exactly the type of person Mr. Pitch should respect. Nor was there anything to object to in their mother.

His father and siblings, on the other hand…but no, that could not possibly be the reason. It was all vanity; Mr. Pitch must object to their lack of connections, their want of wealth. And perhaps Simon’s own bastardy.

Simon swung at a stump; the sword stuck in the wood, and he had to use two hands to pull it out. Even the cold felt good: the act of driving his body to escape the tyranny of his mind.

Simon broke free of the trees and found himself on a long lawn. To his left it sloped down to a picturesque pond, all surrounded by willows weeping into the gray water; to his right it climbed to a ridiculous Grecian folly, the kind of thing that rich people planted on their lands when they grew tired of hedge mazes. The rain pounded down, stronger here without the trees to shield him. He broke into a run, less to escape the rain than to feel the blood pumping through his body.

The folly was little more than four columns reaching to the sky with a marble floor and a rounded wall on one side; it was roofless, and once within the columns Simon tipped his head up again, drinking in the rain. He felt hot with rage, as if his anger might overflow his body and run down the hill like the rain.

Then, without warning, there was the tap of riding boots against marble—and suddenly Mr. Pitch was there.

For a moment they stared at each other. He was as wet as Simon, his hair plastered to his skull. Water ran from the ends of his hair and tracked down his cheekbones like tears.

“Simon,” Mr. Pitch said. Through his anger Simon saw that his eyes were the color of the pond. The storm washed everything about him grey-green; he might have been the statue of an angel carved from the same rock as the columns.

“I—” he said. And then he took two steps forward, pressing Simon back into the stone of the wall, and crushed Simon’s lips against his.

For a moment Simon was frozen, too surprised to resist. He felt the cold stone against his hips, the cold rain running between their two faces. Against his will his hand came up and wound itself into the hair at the back of Mr. Pitch’s neck. Somehow he had already known how it would feel, soft as down under the pads of his fingers. His mouth opened; Mr. Pitch’s lips were gentle on his, even as his body pushed Simon’s into the stone. Simon could feel him down the whole length of his body, warm where he blocked Simon from the rain.

Then Simon’s hands came up; he placed both palms against Mr. Pitch’s shoulders and pushed him away, hard. Mr Pitch stumbled back a few paces; he raised his hand to touch his lips.

“What. The hell,” Simon spat.

“Simon,” Mr. Pitch said. “I have struggled in vain. It will not do.” He took a step forward. “I came to Hampshire to see you—” He shook his head, the wet ends of his hair whipping past his face. “I had to see you.”

Simon could only stare at him.

“I’ve fought against my family’s expectations, my better judgement, the lowness of your birth—my rank and circumstance…” His voice hitched. “All of it. I know any connection between us must be reprehensible. But I must put those considerations aside and ask you: please, end my agony.”

Simon had never seen that expression on his face, had never imagined that face capable of making such an expression: open and yearning, as if all of his walls had fallen and the gates thrown open.

“I love you,” said Mr. Pitch. “Most ardently.”

Simon made a noise, halfway between horror and mad laughter. “You love me?”

Mr. Pitch extended his hand, pale in the darkness of the storm. Rain ran down the curves of his fingers and pooled in his palm. “Believe me, I wish I did not. It is ridiculous—unthinkable. But I do.”

Simon stared at the hand and did not take it. “It is ridiculous to love me?” he said slowly.

“Yes,” said Mr. Pitch. He sounded relieved that Simon had understood so quickly. “But here we are. So I must beg you to accept my hand.”

“You have a strange way of begging,” said Simon.

“What?”

“I am sorry if your—passion has been difficult for you,” Simon said. “But no. No.”

He watched Mr. Pitch’s face close as he spoke, the gates swinging shut and the walls fortified.

“So you are refusing me?” Mr. Pitch said coldly. He withdrew his hand, wiped it on his coat, and placed it in his pocket.

“Yes.” Simon could not help the bite in his voice. “But as you have so little esteem for me, I hope you will recover quickly.”

“Might I inquire why I am thus rejected?”

“I am surprised you need to inquire, after telling me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character.”

“I did not mean—”

“You should thank you me for saving you from such a terrible fate,” said Simon. “In any case, did you think I would marry the man who has ruined the happiness of my dearest friend? My sister?”

Mr. Pitch paled further. The rain fell between them like a veil.

“Can you deny it?” Simon demanded. He stepped forward, thrusting his chest forward, forcing Mr. Pitch back a step.

“I have no wish to deny it,” said Mr. Pitch. Simon searched his face for regret and found none: only pride and bitterness. “I did everything in my power to separate Shepard from your sister, and I rejoice in my success. I have been kinder to him than myself.”

“Why?” Simon demanded. He put his hands against Mr. Pitch’s shoulders again and shoved, pushing him back. “How could you do it?”

“I believed she was indifferent to him.”

“She danced with him! She laughed with him!”

“She argued with him! Continually!”

“For Penny, that is love!” Simon snarled. “She was supposed to show her true feelings? You will not even show your true feelings when you find your mother’s journals!”

Mr. Pitch stumbled back another step, away from Simon’s hands. “And I suppose you despise me for what I am as well?”

“No! I would never—”

“After all, why would you tie yourself to a dark creature?” Mr. Pitch said bitterly. “Even when it would save yourself and your family.”

“Yes, it is always about money, with people like you. I suppose you think Penny was hungry for Shepard’s fortune?”

“I would never do her the dishonour. Although it was made clear that an advantageous marriage—”

“Did Penny give that impression?”

“No! But there was your family—”

“My family. What was it—our want of connection? My bastardy?”

“It was the lack of propriety shown by your father, your younger siblings—even your mother on occasion.” He looked away. “Forgive me.”

“Oh? Is that all? And what about Mr. Lamb?”

“Lamb?” Mr. Pitch said blankly.

“What excuse can you give for what you did to him?”

“You certainly take an eager interest in that gentleman’s concerns.” The earlier openness had been entirely wiped away; Mr. Pitch’s face showed only anger now.

“How could I help it, once I knew of his misfortunes?”

“Oh, yes, his misfortunes,” Mr. Pitch said savagely.

“You were the one who reduced him to poverty, and yet you mock and ridicule him.”

“So this is your opinion of me!” cried Mr. Pitch. He paced from one side of the folly to the other, his steps quick and angry. “This is the estimation in which you hold me! Thank you for explaining it so fully.”

Suddenly he was before Simon again, having moved too quickly for Simon’s eyes to follow. It was so inhuman a motion that Simon could not help himself; he shrank away, as one shies from a snake. Mr. Pitch’s eyes narrowed.

He thrust his face into Simon’s, almost spitting now. “But you might have overlooked all of this, if I had not injured your pride—if I had lied and flattered you.” He raised a hand, and Simon thought for a moment that he would strike him. Simon put his hand over his hip, wondering if he could summon his blade quickly enough to prevent Mr. Pitch from killing him.

But Mr. Pitch was already dropping his hand, turning away. “I refuse,” he said. “I will not lie to you. I abhor disguise of every sort.”

Simon grabbed his arm, preventing him from moving away. The skin was cold beneath his fingers and slippery from the rain. “You have been lying from the moment you met me,” he said. He yanked at Mr. Pitch’s arm, wrenching it in its socket. “All you are is disguise! And there is nothing you could have said to make me consider your offer.”

“Simon—”

“My name is Mr. Snow,” Simon spat.

Mr. Pitch tried to wrench his arm from Simon’s grasp, but Simon held on doggedly. “I’ve known it from the first moment met,” he said. “You are the last person in the world I could ever marry.”

Mr. Pitch’s arm was still in Simon’s grip, so instead he leaned in, his face a breath away from Simon’s. “Are you quite finished?” he said coldly.

This close, Simon could see the rings of colour in Mr. Pitch’s eyes, all the hues of the sea. He could feel Mr. Pitch’s breath on his face. He loosened his grip, and Mr. Pitch’s arm slid from his fingers.

“You have said quite enough, sir,” Mr. Pitch said. “I perfectly comprehend your feelings.” He turned to go; his boots made a dull plashing in the puddles gathering on the stone floor.

“I have now only to be ashamed—” his breath hitched, and Simon watched his shoulders rise and fall. “Of what my own have been.”

He looked back over his shoulder, his voice full of venom.

“Forgive me, sir, for taking up so much of your time.”

He strode from the folly. A moment later Simon heard the sound of hooves, pounding away.

#pride and prejudice au #valour vanity and vampires #snowbaz #WIP Wednesday

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walkerwords · 4 years

Text

“The Savior Sessions” Part 1 of 33 - Negan x GN!Reader

IMAGE CREDIT: Gene Page/AMC

SERIES MASTERLIST

Summary: This will be a collection of conversations set before the events of season 9 in which the reader speaks with Negan while in his cell as they recount events and memories from their time in the Apocalypse as well as stories of his own.

Word Count: 2417

Warning: None

Song I Wrote To: “Open Season” by Josef Salvat

Note: These are going to be smaller stories that I will be updating randomly. Each fic will be a conversation/situation about Negan in his cell in Alexandria. Some maybe very short, others not. I am still working on the other stories, but I wanted to post this as I work on those as well. Thank you for your kind words about my family, I really appreciate it.

------

“I just don’t know why you’re asking me to do this, Michonne.”

You stood across from Alexandria’s head of security in her kitchen. Michonne meticulously cleaned her Katana as you spoke, remaining calm the entire time. When she had asked you to meet her today, you never imagined this would be the reason.

“Gabriel is worried about his state of mind,” Michonne said, “He thinks somebody should be speaking with him on a regular basis.”

“Isn’t that already Gabriel’s job?” you asked. “He’s always the one who’s down there.” Michonne sighed, sliding the blade back into its sheath.

“He believes that he can no longer get through to him and that they’ve become too familiar with each other,” Michonne said, placing her sword down and bracing her hands against the kitchen counter, “I also think we can benefit from it and I suppose he can as well.” You frowned.

“You’re asking me to become Negan’s therapist,” you pointed out. “How is any of that beneficial?”

“Whether we like it or not, Negan did run an entire community unchallenged. He may have insight into this world that we don’t and I have started to think that perhaps keeping him so isolated isn’t doing anyone any good,” Michonne explained. “I am asking you because you don’t have a relationship with him. The two of you never interacted during the war and you made sure to stay out of his line of sight for most of it. You’re not a total stranger, but he doesn’t know you like he knows Gabriel, me, or even Aaron.”

“So, basically, you want someone he can’t push around by pushing their buttons,” you concluded and Michonne grimaced.

“You were also a teacher, (Y/N),” said Michonne, “that is something you two have in common. Maybe that will get him to open up or at least… God, I don’t know what I want the outcome to be, but Rick wanted Negan to be a symbol for how we can grow as a society. I don’t know if he can ever be redeemed, but if he can even a small amount, then it may start with you.”

“You pulled out your Rick card,” you said with a sigh, “not fair.” Michonne smiled with a shrug.

“I knew it would come in handy someday,” she said and you finally gave in.

“Okay, I will be the big bad wolf’s confidant, but if he tries anything or pisses me off to a degree that makes me want to commit murder, that’s on Gabriel,” you said with a wink and Michonne visibly relaxed.

“Thank you, (Y/N),” she said, relieved. “I’m going to let you run it the way you want to, but try not to piss him off if you can.” You smiled at her brightly.

“Oh, you know me, Michonne, something like that is inevitable.”

-----

When you arrived at the cell an hour later, you dismissed the guard who stood out front.

If you were going to be talking to Negan to gain insight and trust, you didn’t see the need for a chaperone. As the guard left, you pushed open the heavy door and sealed it behind you.

“Gabe, if you’re here to give me another life lesson, you can save it. I’m not in the mood,” Negan said in the darkness of his cell. You had never been this close to the man before. You had fought against the Saviors of course, but always at an outpost or in a larger fight. Rick had also used your talents with the sniper rifle and kept you up high most of the time. This whole situation was alien to you and while it was unnerving to be so near to a killer, you didn’t let that stop you from stepping out of the shadows.

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not Father Gabriel,” you said, dragging a chair from the wall and centering it before the jail cell. Negan, who had been laying on his bed with his back to the door, slowly sat up and turned towards you.

In the cool light of the room, you could see him clearly now. His hair was shorter than the last time you had seen him which was when Rick had dragged him into this cell about five years before. He still had the stubble on his face, but the cocky grin that you had gotten used to seeing through your scope was nowhere to be seen.

“Have we met?” he asked, tilting his head in curiosity. You shifted slightly in your seat, trying to get comfortable.

“Not officially,” you told him. “I’m (Y/N).” Recognition dawned on his face then.

“Yes,” he said, sitting forward on the edge of his cot, “Little Miss Grimes has mentioned you before.” It wasn’t news to you that he spoke to Judith. Most people knew that she visited Negan often. The only person who probably didn’t know was Michonne. Judith had confided in you that she wasn’t scared of the man and that all she wanted was for him to know he wasn’t some kind of wild animal. You now started to realize that her reasoning was exactly why you were here. “So what can I do for you, (Y/N)?”

“I’ve been sent by the overlords of Alexandria to be your new best friend,” you explained, crossing one leg over the other.

“Is that right?” he asked, leaning forward. “Gabe get too bored with little ole me?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t ask,” you told him, “but I am here as a favor for Michonne so how about we just accept the new normal?” Negan bowed his head slightly.

“Well then, what exactly do the big shots upstairs want us to do? Compare breakup stories? Organize a block party?”

“I see you haven’t lost your wit,” you pointed out, leaning back in your chair.

“We all have our things, (Y/N),” he said, “I am curious, though,” he went on, “where were you when your people were trying to kill all of mine?”

“Usually on a rooftop,” you explained, “Grimes always had me up high with the guns.” Negan seemed genuinely thrilled by the thought of that.

“And you never got me in your cross-hairs and took a shot? Damn, that is incredibly terrifying.”

“I was never ordered to,” you told him. “I was more surveillance than an assassin.”

“Either way, my men never saw you watchin’ me,” he said and it sounded like a compliment. The way Negan was looking at you reminded you of kids staring at a lion in a zoo. Ironic seeing how he was the one in the cage and not you. Every glance was out of curiosity and you thought you noticed a bit of gratitude in his eyes. Perhaps Michonne and Gabriel were right after all. The man just needed someone to talk to.

“Okay, how about this?” you said, after a moment of silence. He waited for you to continue. “You and I are just gonna talk. You can ask me anything you want and I’ll answer and hopefully, you will return the favor when I want to .” Negan raised a single brow.

“It’s that simple?” he asked.

“Do you want it to be difficult?” you asked. “I think I could add some really brash and annoying terms to the arrangement if you want."

"You are a very strange person," Negan said.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"As you should," Negan said with a cheeky grin. "However, I am curious about one thing. Don't you hate me?" You mulled over his words for a few seconds before shaking your head.

"Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but has not solved one yet," you quoted easily. Negan's eyes lit up.

"Morrison?"

"Angelou," you corrected.

"Ah," he said. "Wise woman. So what you're saying is that hating me isn't going to solve anything, am I right?"

"Pretty much," you agreed, crossing your arms.

"But I killed your people," he reminded you. Negan was clearly trying to put you off, but you had expected this.

"And I killed your people," you said. "Do you hate me?" Negan scoffed, leaning back on his hands as he watched you through the bars.

"You're good," he complimented.

"You didn't answer my question," you said. Negan licked his lips before shaking his head.

"No, I don't hate you. Although, I don't even know you so that could change." This time you let out a quick laugh that was pure instinct at this point.

"Fair enough," you conceded.

"Alright, (Y/N), if you are so inclined to answer questions, answer me this: how did you end up with this merry bunch of survivors?"

"Simple," you said, "I saved Carl Grimes from a Walker." Negan's face dropped at the mention of the late teenager. You knew about the soft spot Negan had for Carl. It wasn't a mystery, hell, Carl wouldn't have lived long after he attacked the Sanctuary if Negan didn't like him.

"You saved him?" Negan asked, pulling you from your memories.

"Yeah, I met Carl and his mom, Lori, shortly after everything happened," you began, "They, alongside other survivors, were camped at a quarry outside of Atlanta. I was on my own, trying to make it to the coast when I came across their campsite. I was wary of people, of course, but I knew I wouldn't make it far on my own. I stayed around the edge of camp for a while, just gettin' a feel for the people when Carl ran off when Lori wasn't looking. He was running around with another kid from the group." You paused, unsure if you should divulge much more, but Negan was staying entirely focused on your story.

"Carl was with Sophia...Carol's late daughter." Slight surprise entered Negan's eyes, but he remained quiet. You went on, "The two of them got turned around and then Carl being Carl, decided to run off alone without Sophia. He was near me when the Walker came out of the trees and grabbed him. I didn't really think at that moment. I just ran for the kid. I shot the Walker in the head and the next thing I know, I had a crossbow pointed at my back."

"Let me guess, Daryl?" Negan figured.

"Damn right. Son of a bitch thought I was shooting at the kid, but luckily Carl spoke up and explained. They took me back to their camp and Lori insisted I stay so that's what I did."

"And here you are," Negan said, impressed.

"Here I am."

"That kid was pretty damn special," Negan said fondly. "This world really does take the good ones, don't it?"

"I always think that it would have been easier if a person had killed him instead of a Walker, you know? At least then we would have an enemy."

"What, you don't think the Walkers are the enemy?"

"They're just a part of the new world," you explained. "Can't really call them an enemy if they didn't intend to be here in the first place."

Negan was quiet again as your words sank in. In fact, you were surprised that he hadn't spoken over you whenever he got the chance. According to the rest of your friends and family, the man loved to hear himself talk. You stored that new observation away for later.

"In your opinion," Negan said slowly, "what kind of person classifies as an enemy, or rather, just evil?"

"I've seen darkness, Negan," you told him. "We all have and it was before we even heard your name. If you're trying to ask me if I think you’re evil, the answer is no, I don't. Most of us here like myself, Daryl, Michonne, we've all seen what happens when someone has lost all trace of humanity. Seen what they do to other human beings and trust me, those are the evil people of this screwed-up world. You haven't lost your humanity, Negan, and I pray you never will."

Negan leaned his forearms onto his knees, rubbing a calloused hand over his bearded face. Something had clicked inside his head, that much was apparent, but you weren't sure what.

Yet.

"Sounds like you've been through hell," Negan whispered.

"And back," you finished. "Multiple times."

"You gonna tell me that story? About the loss of humanity?" His question wasn't overly eager, instead, it was all curiosity and you were starting to think that was the main characteristic of the man who once called himself the "big bad wolf".

"One day," you nodded. "If you'll let me come back again."

"I get to decide?" he asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, no point in coming down here if you won't talk to me. That would be wasting both of our time."

"Then by all means, (Y/N), feel free to drop by," Negan said, spreading his arms wide in a welcome gesture. You rolled your eyes but nodded.

"If it means anything," you said as you stood from your seat and turned towards the door, "Carl once told me that you were the only person he always trusted to tell him the truth, and coming from him, that's a lot."

Negan looked at you for a long moment before bowing his head. "Thanks for that," he said softly. You gave him a small smile, one more out of understanding than anything. Whether people hated him or not, nobody could deny that he cared about Carl Grimes and that the teen's death had affected him as well.

"I'll see you tomorrow," you told him as you pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the sunlight. Negan didn't call you back as you climbed the steps and began walking home.

You watched as Alexandria spun on, unaware of the emotions that ran deep through you at the moment. Gabriel and Michonne had been right, after all, Negan needed to talk to another human being, but perhaps that was exactly what you needed as well and you had a feeling this was just the beginning of an odd relationship.

TAGS: @thanossexual

#the walking dead #twd imagines #twd imagine #negan imagine #negan #negan x reader #reader insert #daryl dixon x reader #y/n #negan x y/n #the walking dead imagine #TWD fanfiction #the walking dead fanfiction #walkerwords

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sanoiro · 4 years

Text

Lucifer 5x09 - Family Dinner -Spoilers & Speculation

Written by Joe Henderson

Directed by Nathan Hope

Nathan Hope has directed

1x02 - Lucifer, Stay. Good Devil 1x13 - Take Me Back to Hell 2x01 - Everything's Coming Up Lucifer 2x07 - Trip to Stabby Town 2x10 - Quid Pro Ho 3x05 - Welcome Back, Charlotte Richards 3x19 - Orange Is the New Maze 5x07 - Our Mojo He will also direct Episode 2 or 3 of S6

Behind The Scenes Video

youtube

Ignore the fact that I accidentally watermarked it with the number 519...

The Case & Deckerstar

Now we can start with the case of the week.

The murder happens at Golf n Stuff which is rather popular due to the scenes that were shot there for The Karate Kid. Rafferty was actually giddy over that.

So we have a murder. After over 70 episodes we know that the case of the week is somehow connected to the main plot and that it leads to a resolving of Lucifer’s issues or at least a small or big breakthrough.

The victim in this case was burned to death or at least he was… charred. A bit like how Mum ‘enlightened’ Jared in 2x17 but worse.

(In order to make sure most bts are included I have put them in the same file in their original resolution and you need to open the image and zoom. You can do it from your PC, MAC or mobile)

The mini golf has several fun statues like knights and pirates but what was not supposed to be there was the figure at the hole where nearby the victim was found. To be more You might have guessed it has many teeth by the photo and the answer is, it’s a reddish dragon head.

Back in December I came across the props building it and I thought it was cool but I wasn’t aware it was for Lucifer as the account is not affiliated with our crew or production. So imagine my surprise when a friend told me about what she had seen on the lot and going through the archived bts I found the victim photo as well.

You may have noticed it but in two particular episodes more dragons made their appearance. First it was at the second showrunner’s office in 503. There we see a dragon impelled by a sword, it seemed really out of place but I then correlated it with Baphament’s blade which is a representation of Azrael’s blade.

Later on I saw something else. In 508 Pete’s apartment had shelves dedicated to dragon figures as well as some knights. All along I was wondering can I even meta about that? What can it symbolise if it means anything at all? For some reason all I could think was the movie ‘Dragonheart’.

But let’s assume they have laid some hints, so far we have seen that they go very basic on bible and comic material so it’s funny how dragon-like Lucifer was presented in Series 3 of the black label of DC/ vertigo. But there are also more tidbits.

Now in 1x12 you all remember the Angel who was defeating a very Lucifer-looking Satan?

That was a prop. But it is derived by the work of Guido Reni ‘Michael and Satan’ (1636) Who was in turn influenced by Raphael’s painting ‘St. Michael Vanquishing Satan’ (1518) and if we go to Raphael’s early works... St. Michael (1504-1505)

Anyways!

The investigation of this ‘week’s’ case has its usual suspect chase which leads us to an arcade where we can spot some members of the crew doing rounds with the go-carts on that location. What I do know is that we are looking for someone young as far as guest posts go but other than that not much is known. The case seems to be progressing slowly but at some point the murderer appears to want to skip town so the leads bring us to L.A.’s train Union Station.

We also have scenes at the precinct during the case as we have seen from Aimee’s bts but not much is known there.

Now the suspect might be played by the elusive guest of this episode John Clover whose appearance was posted on Reddit and had sparked the first speculations over the title of the episode.

We should now wonder whether the theme of this episode’s case which takes us to gaming areas has anything to do with how Lucifer views his Father’s appearance in the mid-season finale and whether it will provide him with a resolution to not act in a rush way. The same after all happened with Mum.

Do not forget that Lucifer in Season 2 and especially at the beginning with Mum and when he thought Earl Johnson was his Father, Lucifer’s plans changed as his vengeance turned to a slow paced questioning over why their relationship deteriorated.

For an Angel who was ‘forced’ - not yet clarified so let’s not take that for granted- to punish the guilty Lucifer seems to be more merciful, understanding and open to explanations in the long run especially with the people who wronged him. Amenadiel, Michael, Uriel, Azrael, Mum, and Earl ‘God’ Johnson.

As Amenadiel said in the Pilot Lucifer away from Hell showed restrain and mercy… Perhaps it is true that we cannot escape from what we truly are. In any case that’s meta talk!

Back to the Union Station.

In the train station we have a bts where we can see Chloe and Lucifer chasing the suspect and from the photos and videos outside of it we can safely say they are successful on apprehending the murderer.

Now a funny incident was that during the shooting the area was closed to the actual travelers but somehow a Japanese tourist ended up sitting where the background actors were. No idea if it was her Pizza or it was given by the craft service but the girl was obviously bewildered on what was happening. It’s the little absurdities of life I guess…

It seems though as a lighthearted episode at first...

Do not be mistaken, the writers, cast and showrunners have revealed that in S5P2 we enter the emotional and equally dark (In P1 I missed the darkness aside from Pete of course) part of this season. It means that by the end of 5x09 as we roll on the last minutes of this episode, Lucifer is heavily conflicted and a resolution is needed, one that seems to be somewhat provided.

Since P1 I thought it would be weird to have Deckerstar break up for effect, in order to break us, especially since S5 was supposed to be the last season and S6 is effectively from what they imply (again cast and showrunners) an epilogue. So do not expect Deckerstar to break up but on the contrary as we saw Lucifer and Chloe in 507 they pull each other back up.

It is why I’m wondering what will be unraveled after the arrest of 5x09’s murderer.

The end of the episode takes us at night to L.A.’s Grand Park. The Grand Park is across the City Hall by the way, and for the Christmas season it was decorated with a Christmas tree made out of light bulbs.

In the bts the prominent colour of that tree is deep lilac. That’s where our next Deckerstar moment will unravel. We should also be ready for the Lucifer Universe to acknowledge yet another holiday of the human world, Christmas!

A tiny break here but you should remember that on each side of the elevator we have two bronze plates depicting the transfer of Christ after he was taken down dead from the Cross. So in the most discrete of ways Lucifer’s Universe has acknowledged Christ and perhaps it was because before the Sumerian text set Amenadiel as the favourite son, in Season 1 and for the majority of S2 we knew Lucifer as the favourite one.

On the cross Christ (no I didn’t write Lucifer at first :P) according to the scripts in a moment of lapsed faith “Father, Father why do you abandon me?”. In a way we might meta that for 516 but also for what Lucifer has experienced so far and has so eloquently expressed in 3x11 and in 1x09.

But back to the Deckerstar moment…

It takes place on the ‘balcony’ above the fountain as the purple Christmas tree is behind them. The setting happens at night and provides the place for our characters to talk, to open up and perhaps even express certain fears but also be urged to take advantage of the current circumstances.

From my perspective is the scene of a couple that talks a difficult matter but at the end of that talk they know each has the other’s back so they can step forward, take that chance and their partner will always be there to catch them if they fall. It is also how we will experience Lucifer finally opening up without Linda probing him. But whatever comes forward also gives space to truths and a realisation which will break our Devil as we have seen from the bts of the next episodes.

We might even have an understanding why ‘I love you’s’ are difficult for Lucifer and for Chloe to also realise that. We might even get Lucifer to say it. Here is to hoping…

On a final note. Maze in this episode seems to have gone MIA but many times we do not see the bts of every scene so all we have is Lesley-Ann’s bts from her trailer during that time. Also do not forget how things ended in 508. Maze did betray Lucifer and with God on Earth...

The Dinner

This episode is expected to open back to the precinct. The reason is because it is a mid-season finale which means that the in between scenes are not implied but also because of some spoilers we had back in December.

As you remember the actress who played officer Cacuzza had posted on Twitter that she and Lauren were in a ‘very small’ room which had just been painted. That room we can safely say is the ‘evidence room’ and that Cacuzza managed finally to find a way to close the surveillance in order to take a nap.

Now do remember that back in S4 Cacuzza was also the officer who let Lucifer ‘sample’ the drug busts… I’m not sure if that will come back somehow but we do know that Cacuzza will appear later this season, whether alive or not is yet to be seen.

What we do know is from the clues that were given by the actress.

1) She will be in the same room as Chloe meaning we will revisit the evidence room once Dad arrives and perhaps it will be a comic moment? Perhaps a random human will figure things out? But what was interesting is that according to the bts photo we see the actress and Lauren in their own clothes while Dennis is in his ‘Dad/God’ clothes.

2) Both Chloe and Officer Cacuzza were supposed to act distressed and shaken. If we take the ‘I love you’ element from that scene for Chloe let’s remember that the evidence is suddenly a bit of a mess. A glass has broken, the sound and effect will be heard once the time has started running again and they are two cops in a room with no idea of what is happening outside. So perhaps the shaken and distressed effect comes before they open the door (or walk out) and are sure there is no imminent threat.

3) In my opinion in this episode Cacuzza has some lines no matter how brief they might be.

Now the question here is how to proceed.

We obviously have a Family Dinner from which only two bts exist.

If we assume that the Family Dinner is arranged after the brothers have hid their wings and then Dad has met Linda then the dinner is set up by a very flabbergasted Linda.

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I do expect Linda to bow by the way and for this dinner to bring some elements from 1x10 Pops. For this speculation I’ll include the video of the scene from that episode and I’ll try to tie them up with 5x09.

All the episodes in P2 are meant to do a full circle and the writers have based most of their storytelling on the events of S1 and S2.

So first the spoilers of what we know from 5x09 and then the ties we may find with 1x10 and some more past episodes.

The 11 minutes are quite long but is it really all things concerning?

Henderson tweeted that there will be 5 actors but as we know know Ellis plays two characters which is why the dinner scene may have taken three days to shoot so we should count six people at the Dinner Table.

The location will be (most probably) at Linda’s house as we have seen from a bts that her main table is full of different varieties of fruits and food in an attempt to recreate an Olympian affluent meal. For Linda is only normal to be out of her element and try to impress God. So far she has been almost killed by his ex, has a child that can be snatched away to the Silver City if she is not deemed worthy perhaps or even because of Charlie’s half genetic code.

Remember there was a stand in actor for Michael

The problem Linda also faces is that she has supported Lucifer. Yes, he is her friend but how will God react to that? Having a human siding with His rebellious son? Linda as it has been written knows how far pissed off celestials can go and I’m sure she remembers Lucifer’s agony and fear over his Father where Chloe was concerned. So she tries, really tries to present a wonderful setting for the grandfather of her child.

So we do have Linda in the mix. Obviously God, Amenadiel, Lucifer and Michael. That makes us five characters and four actors. Little Charlie also makes an appearance as far as I’m aware as the twin babies were on set and that also contributes on why the scene took so long to be shot. However the babies do not count as the sixth character. Chloe though does.

In short we have:

Linda

God/Dad

Amenadiel

Lucifer

Michael

Chloe

and

Charlie

Another thing we should take into account for this scene is Rafferty’s posted script page of the midseason finale.

While Amenadiel and Lucifer appear shocked and in awe, Michael seems rather pleased. I mean he literally ‘Grins with excitement’.

Amenadiel in 5x03 said that the only one who was talking to the throne meanwhile Henderson as far as I remember in one of the post P1 interviews, revealed that God and Michael have a relationship that Lucifer wishes he had with Him. D.B on one of the virtual cons (or ET interview. I have issues with keeping track of them now) have said that the scene at the family dinner would be gut wrenching and absolutely fall down hilarious’.

So in this dinner we will get to know our characters more and as Ildy and Henderson have said Lucifer will go back being a 14 year old at the Thanksgiving table. That perhaps is the reason why the script episodes 510 and 511were reversed. The last time that had happened was in S1 in order for Lucifer’s vulnerability to not come too soon in the season. In the case of these two episodes I believe it has to do with Lucifer’s emotional state but also the constant collisions he will have with his father in the Family Dinner but also during the Musical episode.

Another aspect to consider is that if 5x09 reminds us a lot of 1x10 -Pops right now and 5x10 the Musical episode is directly influenced by 2x16 - God Johnson.

The next section will now be dedicated to a quick recap of 1x10 - Pops and the possible connection to Michael and his story.

Michael in 5x09 teases Chloe as she is kept captive that there is a bigger plan and ‘Spoiler Alert’ it will be EPIC. That can be left alone as a promise to see more of that plan in S5P2 but before we go forward we should also go back in 2x04 - Weaponiser.

Do you see the parallel? How far Uriel’s view of the ‘Patterns’ could go was always a meta I couldn’t crack. Sure Michael hinted as per one Anon hinted on Tumblr that Michael might have been the one to urge Uriel on Earth to kill Mum and hopefully Lucifer as well. It is also perhaps why we were reminded of Azrael’s Blade in 5x03 - Diablo with Baphament’s blade, the only blade that could kill the Devil. Perhaps that was Michael’s plan back then but it didn’t work out.

But is Michael the big villain? According to the showrunners no. There are more things happening but Michael has a reasoning, has a story, one that explains his deformity and is the hero of his own story as all the other season ‘villains’ so far were. Mum, Amenadiel, Malcolm, Kinley, even Cain.

What the Interviews say about Michael:

Beginning with the parallel between the dinner we had in 1x10’s dinner and plot, and in what may have in episode 5x09 I would like to remind you-

- at this point I have censored some spoilers, not speculations, spoilers for episodes of P2 that will not be added in the S&S -

I’ll return to this topic and explore it thoroughly as the S&S are written but for now remember that 1x10 might tell us more than what we think right now and it might take us as a point of reference even up to 5x16.

Between 1x10 and 5x09 we can also wonder what are God’s intentions, can we attribute them all to Michael’s manipulation or it goes beyond that because the showrunners have promised us an emotional P2. I do believe issues are addressed and Lucifer will have to come face to face with some hard truths without that meaning that Dad was always right.

In the Pilot - wait.. Pilot? Yes, 5x09 is an episode that slowly builds us to the very end. There are spoilers and references that need to be addressed from past and future episodes before and after 5x09.

We need to address that in the Pilot, Lucifer told Delilah the very truth he uttered to Linda where he was concerned in S4 (4x08). God has nothing to do with your mess. Like Delilah, Lucifer was putting the blame to others, circumstances and even questioned God. He was wasting his eternal life and his talent, which he eventually found in crime solving.

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On cue we get to the scene with Chloe asking God what she is doing to a bar with Lucifer. And what follows is Chloe telling Lucifer how she saw things differently from everyone and she paid for it. That story for me at least rings a bell.

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We still do not know why Lucifer was cast out, the actual reason. No matter the sexescapeding with Eve or the rebellion what was the core of all that acting out as Linda called it in season 2? Whatever it was if we go back to 3x11 we will see that Chloe in the Pilot is basically Lucifer in 3x11.

They feel alone, misjudged and while Chloe tries to move on and later in S1 finds what actually happened, in Lucifer’s case he gives up on waiting for forgiveness from his Father until Michael comes, and tells him that even his Fall was a manipulation.

In Pops Lucifer asked something very interesting what did the sous chef wanted? And the answer was to surpass Pops. I do wonder if that’s what Lucifer wanted in a way and of course Michael on Lucifer’s expense. Two ‘children’ fighting for attention but only one was groomed to take over.

Speaking of taking over at the end of the episode of 1x10 we learn that Pops despite what Junior had done still had his son in his mind for taking over the restaurant. Pops believed in his son but allowed him space to grow eventually when everything failed.

If you remember Zadkiel’s spoiler we see that in 5x15 for some reason Lucifer wants to re-join the Host. That aside from a reconciliation shows that like Junior, Lucifer for his own reasons - we do not know what has happened but we will go back to that in the S&S of 5x15 - wants what divine power has to offer.

What happens next is again interesting -censored-. I just want you to see how we do not deal with standalones but everything progresses towards a point, a familiar yet innovative point for the series.

In episode 2x01, Lucifer asks mockingly an offended Chloe who did she thought he took after, his Dad? That happened because Lucifer believed to have taken more after his mother but as we know genetics is a funny thing, Celestial genetics even more so.

God’s absence from Lucifer’s life shaped him. He did drove Lucifer to become something he wasn’t but after 4.5 seasons can we claim that Lucifer and God are nothing alike?

Maze I believe was spot on on the similarities God and Lucifer held.

Lucifer believes in justice, in truth and is able to love. He has been more of an Angel than any non fallen Angel has ever been so far.

Amenadiel tricked a dead human to kill Lucifer thus condemning him again in Hell however as we know from Charlotte’s case a redemption was not impossible.

Uriel wanted to kill his mother and wouldn’t hesitate to kill Chloe in the process. Azrael is basically a liar and manipulator, Remiel would gleefully cut open a human for their half-celestial baby while Michael is really-really messed up.

So what has happened?

Like with Junior, Lucifer was pushed by his Father to become the man he is today. And Lucifer likes what he is, who he is because he sees the change and is even afraid of not being real when that change is questioned or exposed to him.

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The same happened with Amenadiel, once he decided to embrace humanity and brotherhood. He changed for the better and became more ‘angelic’.

So yes, Junior’s story does apply to Lucifer on many levels. But Junior didn’t have that dinner with his Father, Lucifer will as they will do two more of his siblings. Some will be hurt, some will feel betrayed and some may walk out.

Which brings us to a very big question.

Was Mum truthful when she said to Lucifer, his Dad wanted to destroy him? If the answer is yes, how will both deal with that? Because Lucifer may have not totally believed Mum.

If that answer comes to play we should consider it as the common question children come forward to when they learn they were not planned or their parents had opted at first to have an abortion. The fact that they didn’t get on with the abortion or had willingly made a child does affect their feelings towards that child now? Do they regret it? Do they want what that child has become?

These are all tough questions and sometimes the answers are not easy either. Mainly because humans like celestials with human emotions as it seems, are secure and balanced only with the totality of a circumstance. Everything or nothing, the rest in between are not welcome and it’s bound to hurt.

Finally, on this 1x10 weird reminisce. Can we say that Lucifer will be allowed in the end to create something that represents him? I think he may but more about that in 5x16 S&S.

Probably the story will not end with redemption but with Lucifer finally becoming his own person one that resembles a lot of Dad and Dad may accept or even encourage that path. That does not mean he will start anew though

Which brings us back to the adversary of 1x10 - Pops. The sous chef believed that Junior was not worthy of his father’s tolerance and reward so she made sure to destroy his reputation and went as far as trying to kill him. That sounds a lot like Michael.

Michael’s speech towards Maze about what was happening in the Silver City in 5x02 did echo the sous chef words:

So we should wonder if Michael will succeed to a point to ruin Lucifer’s chances and leave Lucifer live with the consequences in the end as our hero learns to move on from whatever injustice happened or the writers will provide a catharsis.

And a final question here… Is Amenadiel really the favourite son? I somehow doubt that, perhaps I’ll be proved wrong as in many interviews Henderson has gone back to Amenadiel’s arc as he learns he is the ‘favourite’ and so far he has not said anything to contradict the belief 2x17 brought to us with so many translated Sumerian words.

But as we said teh Dinner will not be cathartic on the contrary so does that mean that Lucifer eventually walks away? Probably.

At the photos that were posted near Christmas we have two bts one crystal clear and the other more hazy which shows Lucifer at the Penthouse and Dad being there in his white cardigan. I do suspect that meeting at the penthouse happens after the dinner but it does not resolve things between Father and son. it is also possible that it’s why we need the very emotional scene from the musical to be moved forward and 511 script to become 5x10 aired episode.

Perhaps the comment on it’s not just Lucifer who hits the keys was referring to Dad and not Maze in 5x01.

Although we cannot be sure on what will happen in the penthouse and whether Scarlet was meant to join that scene or simply was on set for the day (highly probable) for another scene, we do know that in this episode we had a LUX night. A most perhaps unconventional one.

By this point you know that the writers are ready to address everything or at least make parallels and so somehow we have one with 1x09 - A Priest Walks Into A Bar. This time however it is seems like God Walks Into His Son’s Bar.

If the camera is clear enough we can see God (?) talking to a white person. I would have loved it if it was Dan but I cannot tell for sure.

Whether that visit happens before or after the family dinner I believe it may happen before as the clothes Dennis wore at the lot around that time were different from the white we saw him appear with in the end of 5x08. Of course that does not say much as we will see Dad in the same/similar white clothes in at least three different episodes in Part 2.

Therefore in the conclusion of this S&S we should speculate that the Dinner is placed at the middle of the episode and a resolution is reached for Deckerstar in the end of the episode but Lucifer’s turmoil did fit better through the musical episode hence the change.

#lucifer season 5 #lucifer season 5 part 2 #lucifer S5p2 #Lucifer - Family Dinner #Family Dinner #Lucifer spoilers #lucifer speculation #lucifer S&S

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theholyyuunoaduck · 4 years

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Reasons why i hate mikaela hyakuya

@gurensangel @chaoticgaymess sorry i know you wanted me to repost your post but its easier just starting my own and making my own hashtag so incase anyone else asks me about this i can just look for the hashtag and send them this

Mikaela is honestly one of those characters i desperately and i mean desperatly tried to love i mean his kid self was so so easy to love and want to protect and hell i cried a shit ton for him and his past his problems everything but the reality is mikaela is a toxic person and here im going to be explaining everything as clearly as i can though im sure that everyone has heard most of these arguments i also have some most people wouldnt even consider

Why is mikaela toxic? Well simply said when you have one person and only one then its obviously going to be an underlying mental health issue now you could say other characters are similar to mikaela within that regard like every other vampire but heres the thing we dont get to see much of the other vampires so im more or less apathetic to those vampires and their actions however in accordance to mikaela we have watched his actions since day one and his chemistry with the rest of the cast of owari no seraph what grinds my gears isnt the fact that mikaela acts with violence and distrust towards everyone but the actions that the rest of the cast have taken towards mikaela and his inability to react differently towards those same exact characters aka shinoa squad

Shinoa squad has never once treated mikaela with prejiduce with agendas or anything of ill will since day one the fact that shinoa basically is the cause of death of many of her comrads during the nagoya arc where mikaela attacks the jida troop (and yes it is a troop considering that after reading pannel after pannel theres upwards to 20 soldiers who the majority of which are equiped with standard blades unlike the protagonists you know basically cannon fodder) but my problem is the fact that in that chapter shinoa instigated their betrayal to save mikaela from the rest of the troops shinoa's life was threatned straight after acknowledging that this could be the last she ever layed eyes on yuichiro by letting mikaela escape with him first threatened by a random soldier and then right after rika inoue and by her superior narumi makoto and shinoa the fucking chad she is just took all the punishment because she knows damn well that it is her fault her comrads died because of her distraction to allow mikaela to escape eating away the precious time guren baught his soldiers to run away and escape and how does mikaela respond? He tells yuu to abandon them it doesnt take a genius to say that betrayal especially to the hiragi family is met with death even if mikaela doesnt understand the rules and regulations of human law i doubt vampire law is much different meaning he knows damn well shinoa could lose her life for betraying the army for his sake and not just shinoa but her entire squad

I already know what youll say "but but mikas a vampire he has no emotions" bullshit absolute pure fucking bullshit of an argument considering the fact yoichis mention of the word family/freinds was cause for pause for mikaela and not just mikaela look at ferid look at crowley theyre all so vibrant and brimming with personality and emotion and i am damn well sure no one disagrees this could just be kagami's writing and forgetting about this plotpoint

The fact that despite this mikaela is a manipulative fucker we all know yuu is a dumbass no one can deny this the fact that mikaela is willing to point his sword towards yuichiro and threaten him his so called beloved speaks volumes about mikaelas ego his straight up ego thinking that he's the only one that could be right after all mikaelas the wisest of the bunch right i mean after all everyone of his other decisions was followed through with outstanding results anyone? Anyone? Thats right not once has the squad or especially yuichiro listend to mikaela and do to that fact everyone is alive and kicking examples? (This is also an example of manipulative mika) Mika: Yuu abandon shinoa because if she's as great as you say us sticking around will only cause her trouble you cannot tell me that isnt mikaela trying to twist yuu's feelings for his family to abandon them because had they listened to mikaela shinoa would have been impaled by the chains kureto produced to awaken the seraph of the end

And almost right after that same situation upon mahiru injuring yuu awakening abadon mikaela high tails and runs away carrying yuu and we actually see a pannel of shinoa squad scrambling for saftey straight up abandoning them again and going so far as to yell that he is yuu's only family despite all the other shit

Alright so lets play into the whole mika doesnt have feelings dont you think that having no feelings would make your sense of judgement all the better? And if so with all the evidence and actions of shinoa squad why in Gods blue earth would he basically act like an actual dick towards shinoa who saved his life risked her life for him as if shinoa is the sole reason yuu is in the prediciment of being possessed by yuu?? Isnt that the least bit infuriating??

On next of we shouldnt listen to mikaela in the same arc again mikaela suggests lets leave shinoa squad to face off against crowley AND FERID with this bullshit of "theyre after us theyll just ignore them" i mean are you kidding me? Ferid the man youve been with for 5 years is going to not have the time of his life killing a bunch of teenagers for the simple fact that if yuu is running away and leaving them.they must not be important to him therefore easy pickings for him

Lets not trust guren after all he's just using you he doesnt care the man loves that boy like as if he was his son and you can argue against me with this some time later but alright lets give mika the benifit of the doubt so obviously in mikas infinit wisdom his set course of action is killing him infront of yuichiro??? Really??? In front of him?? Killing his father infront of yuu man that just speaks volumes about how mikaeala only cares about the feeling he gets with yuu rather than carring about yuu as a person

Imo mika cares about how yuu makes him feel rather than who yuichiro is what do i mean by this? Its simple mika doesnt give a damn what makes yuu happy hell mika would cage yuu up if it ment keeping him safe and alive but is that really living? Its cruelty if i adopt a dog feed it and give it water but never play with it and isolate it thats basically animal cruelty

Anyway back to mika trying to kill guren just right there yuu begs mika to stop and grabs his arm pulling him back and what does mika do? What does he do? He lops off yuu's arm the one that was holding mikaela back from attacking what makes this scene even worse is i had so much hope for mikaeala because the last battle they won mikaela said the thoight of losing his.comrads made him dizzy what happened to him not having feelings? I lived loved loved that statement i imagined uncle mika to yuus kids being the best man to yuus wedding begging to be the one to make the wedding cake so so so so so many au's based off those little words and right after removing yuu's limb from him kimizuki and yoichi step up for guren weapons drawn and mikaela threatens them?!?!?! I mean honestly how fucking hypocritical can you be how big is his fucking ego???

Ill end it with this point because i have work in the morning i Still have another 20 bullet points i want to add but im starting to think i have artheritistis in my hand because my fingers hurt so much but anyway my point being mikaelas character contradicts yui's in an unhealthy way while yuu's character trait is to run towards danger to be a hero mikas is to run from danger its basically a tug of war and the thing is the story so far has actually turned out well for the cast running into danger for yuu made the 6th angels trumpet to grow silent destroying all of the four horsemen monsters and letting humanity take a huge step towards rebuilding but had it been mika's way theyd have run right out of that building never to see it again my point is if someone pulls and runs towards something and another character ties a rope to them and runs the other direction that tension will cause nothing but problems instead of running forward with the protagonist in order to keep them safe and actually contribute into the success of the mission

Also like the hashtags say this is only part 1 because as i said i have to sleep and my hand is killing me i should have done this earlier when i had more energy in order to bring along all the sources like the chapter and page where you can find these exact moments along with photos of said arguments/bullet points

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end #yuichiro hyakuya #shinoa hiiragi #mikaela shindo #mikaela hyakuya #reasons i hate mikaeal hyakuya part 1

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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5 underrated Richard Donner movies you need to see

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Richard Donner will forever be remembered as the filmmaker who created the blueprint for the modern superhero blockbuster with 1978’s Superman starring Christopher Reeve.

Yet that doesn’t tell even half the story of the Bronx-born filmmaker’s brilliant filmography.

Donner was in his late 40s by the time Superman came along, having made a name for himself in Hollywood two years earlier, with 1976’s suitably terrifying The Omen.

Prior to that, he was a budding director making the transition from the small screen to the world of cinema. Donner worked on everything from Gilligan’s Island to The Twilight Zone. Even then, it was clear he was destined for bigger things though, as anyone who saw “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”, the iconic episode of The Twilight Zone he directed, starring William Shatner, can attest.

While a disagreement with producers ultimately saw him walk away from Superman II, the 1980s saw Donner establish himself as an incredibly versatile big budget director capable of handling everything from the epic family adventure fun of The Goonies to the balancing act of action and comedy found within the buddy cop antics of Lethal Weapon.

It was a skillset that drew admiration from the very best in the movie industry, including Steven Spielberg who was among the first to pay tribute to Donner after learning he had passed away, aged 91.

“Dick had such a powerful command of his movies, and was so gifted across so many genres,” Spielberg, who worked with Donner on The Goonies, said.

“Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favourite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally, and – of course – the greatest Goonie of all.”

Donner may not have had the same impact in the 1990s and early 2000s but he still enjoyed major success with the Lethal Weapon franchise and as a producer with movies like Free Willy and X-Men.

More importantly, the other films he made during that period and in the years between some of his biggest hits remain well worth revisiting or seeking out for the first time – starting with these five.

Ladyhawke

Coming hot on the heels of The Goonies and two years prior to Lethal Weapon, Ladyhawke represented another major departure for Donner. A dark medieval fantasy, it centred on Rutger Hauer’s mysterious Captain Etienne Navarre and his female companion Lady Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer), a pair of star-crossed lovers on the run from a vengeful bishop who has placed a demonic curse on their heads. While Navarre transforms into a wolf by night, Isabeau exists as a Hawk by day. Teaming up with petty thief Philippe Gaston (Matthew Broderick) they embark on a quest to overthrow the evil bishop and break the spell.

Something of a passion project, Donner had attempted to get Ladyhawke off the ground several times before finally getting the green light from Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox in the mid ’80s. The film then suffered another setback when Kurt Russell, originally cast as Navarre, dropped out during rehearsals.

That ultimately proved a blessing in disguise with Hauer going on to deliver arguably his best performance since Blade Runner. Not everything about Ladyhawke works – Broderick’s character feels a little too close to Ferris Bueller while the runtime could be trimmed down – but it remains a beautifully realised fantasy epic, full of memorable action set pieces, stunning cinematography and a spellbinding turn from Pfeiffer.

A box office bomb upon release, Ladyhawke has stood the test of time too, garnering a cult following as an authentic and fresh take on the sword and sorcery formula.

Maverick

Maverick is the film Will Smith must have hoped Wild Wild West would be; a funny, clever action comedy based on a classic TV show. Coming in an era when most westerns were deadly serious, Donner’s film also felt like a breath of fresh air and benefited hugely from a masterful William Goldman script that was both witty and unpredictable.

The latest in a series of films featuring Donner’s muse-of-sorts, Mel Gibson, this time out Mel plays Bret Maverick, a brilliant card player and equally impressive con artist trying to collect enough money to earn a seat at a high-stakes poker game. Along the way he is forced to contend with a fellow scammer in the form of Jodie Foster’s Annabelle Bransford as well as lawman Marshal Zane Cooper, played by James Garner, who starred in the original TV series.

While the glut of cameos from country music stars and the likes of Danny Glover can be a little distracting, there’s something wonderfully charming about Maverick with Gibson, Foster and Garner all on top form and boasting an undeniable chemistry that helps keep things entertaining.

The climactic poker game which sees Maverick face off against Alfred Molina’s psychopathic Angel is also expertly handled by Donner, who cranks up the tension as Maverick reveals his final, decisive, hand with a slow-motion toss of the final card towards the camera. A critical and financial success, Maverick has been largely lost in the shuffle since its release but should be sought out.

Conspiracy Theory

There’s something strangely prescient about Conspiracy Theory given the current predilection for such thinking on the internet at large. One of Donner’s most inventive and intelligent outings alongside Gibson, this time out Mel plays Jerry Fletcher, a New York City cab driver with a penchant for paranoid conspiracy theories.

Jerry’s life takes a turn for the strange when he finds himself being targeted by a set of shady government goons led by Patrick Stewart’s Dr Jonas. He quickly realises one of the conspiracies he has been promoting in his weekly newsletter (this was the ‘90s) is based more in reality than he thought. The question is: which one?

An engrossing thriller featuring Donner’s trademark dashes of witty humour, Conspiracy Theory is bolstered significantly by the presence of the ever-reliable Julia Roberts as a government lawyer with a soft spot for Jerry. Despite a lengthy run time, Donner also keeps the action moving along at an engaging pace while Gibson’s performance is just the right side of manic to keep you rooting for him.

A first foray into the kind of deep state conspiracy thrillers that were commonplace in Hollywood at the time, the film also boasts some genuinely striking moments, not least the sequence where Jerry undergoes “psychotic testing” at the hands of Dr Jonas, which wouldn’t have looked out of place in A Clockwork Orange.

Though it was a hit with audiences, Conspiracy Theory earned mixed reviews but appears increasingly worthy of reappraisal.

Timeline

Some movies are big, dumb but lots of fun. Timeline sits firmly in that category despite what many naysayers would have you believe. It’s a brash, simplistic sci-fi flick to rival the likes of The Core and Geostorm and thoroughly entertaining to boot.

The fact that it features Gerard Butler, as well as the late, great, Paul Walker only adds to that sentiment.

Walker plays Chris Johnston who, along with Butler’s Andre Marek and a team of fellow archaeologists travel back in time through a wormhole to 14th century France to rescue their professor, Dr Edward Johnston (Billy Connolly), who just happens to be Walker’s character’s dad too.

Based on a book by Michael Crichton, Donner had been in the running to direct Jurassic Park a decade earlier and jumped at the chance to adapt Timeline for the big screen. While filming went off without a hitch, Donner repeatedly clashed with Paramount Pictures in post-production and was forced to re-cut the film three times in a development that saw the release date pushed by nearly a year. The resulting edit did not sit well with Crichton either, who disliked it so intensely he stopped licensing his work for a few years after.

Whether Donner’s original cut would have earned better reviews or Crichton’s approval remains to be seen but what remains of Timeline is still a well shot, enjoyable sci-fi yarn with some neat medieval action flourishes.

16 Blocks

Donner’s final film also ranks among his most unappreciated. On the surface, 16 Blocks sounds like the perfect fodder for a game of buddy cop movie bingo.

It stars Bruce Willis as Jack Mosley, a worn-out NYPD Detective with a drinking problem tasked with transporting Mos Def’s trial witness Eddie Bunker to court. Problems arise when some of Jack’s fellow officers arrive to kill Eddie and prevent him from testifying. Eager for redemption, Jack decides to take the would-be assassins on and get Eddie to court on time.

A formulaic enough premise, 16 Blocks is emboldened by the fact it plays out in real-time with Eddie required at the courthouse by no later than 10am. In this sense, Donner found himself in new territory with an action thriller that thrives on a unique sense of urgency.

While the filmmaker is no stranger to the action formula, this setup sees him imbue events with a renewed sense of chaos, as Jack and Eddie fight their way through armed adversaries, busy crowds and bustling traffic, all against a cacophony of shouts, car horns and gun blasts.

Ostensibly a chase movie on foot rather than four wheels, the action traverses 16 blocks in 118 minutes and rarely lets up for a second with Donner proving a dab hand at balancing the action with the engaging back-and-forth between Willis and Def who are both understated yet effective throughout.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Throw in the ever-watchable David Morse as the leader of the shady cops baying for Eddie’s blood and you have arguably one of the most underrated action thrillers of the early 2000s

The post 5 underrated Richard Donner movies you need to see appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3AA61tK

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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lady-divine-writes · 4 years

Note

I don't know if this was on the original drabble list but can I get "That's all I ask" for GO please?

Hey nonnie! Thanks for the prompt! I hope you enjoy this one

Lucifer in the Garden of Eden (1743 words)

Lucifer lures Crowley out of Eden, using his favorite principality as incentive ...

(This is a pre-Fall fic, that assumes that Crowley was an Archangel - possibly Raphael - who fancied Aziraphale before he became a demon.)

“Hey. You. Angel.”

The angel addressed stands in the shadow of an obscenely large apple tree, staring up at the wall surrounding Eden. Eyes tilted towards the Heavens, they gaze upon the silvery stars shining bright amid a sea of deep purple infinite.

And sneer at being disturbed.

“What?”

“You’re Raphael, aren’t you?”

The angel shivers when he hears that voice inches from his left ear, though its owner stands more than a foot away. It’s a sonorous voice … a dangerous voice. But an intriguing voice, too, if the angel is being completely honest. He’s never heard it for himself - not directly from the source, always in recountings by other angels. Its existence dates a bit before his time. The stuff of legends. But he knows it nonetheless.

Mostly by the way it makes him feel.

Anxious.

Expectant.

And slightly angry.

“Depends,” the angel says, sighing subconsciously as the object of his wistful gazing finally comes into view. Dressed in a flowing gown of pure white with wings spread, hair the exact same shade forming a halo around his head, outshining the golden one hovering above him, he is the truest vision of an angel those hiding hazel eyes have ever seen. With the cosmos behind him - a cosmos that his secret admirer helped create - the angel on the wall cuts a dashing figure.

The brightest star in the sky.

“Uh … you busy right now?” the voice obnoxiously persists.

“Maybe. Why?”

“I wanted to talk to you. Perhaps over a drink?”

The angel glares over his shoulder, hoping to send the intruder away, but also to make absolutely sure the voice behind him belongs to whom he thinks.

Standing in a shadow darker than his own, a shadow this demon brought with him, the angel spots glowing yellow eyes; long black hair – raven black, a match to his glossy, well-groomed wings; pearly white teeth, his fangs in particular boasting an unsettling sharpness; and pale skin, smooth as cream.

Yup. The angel nods internally. That’s him.

Lucifer.

God, he is beautiful, the angel thinks. Of course that beauty is an illusion. It’s how Lucifer looked in Heaven before he fell. He chooses for others to see him that way now, uses his demonic power to achieve that look, cover up what he truly is, probably to lure angels out of Heaven.

But he’s not this angel’s type.

He turns back to the wall.

“No thanks,” he says, eyes following as the angel on high starts patrolling the Eastern Gate. “I’m good.”

And that’s the end of that. Or so it seems. The voice behind him goes silent while the angel continues to watch the guardian in private. For a moment, the angel forgets Lucifer was even standing there till he says softly, “You know, She won’t let you have him.”

“Hmm, what?”

“That angel you’re mooning over. God won’t let you have him.”

“What do you mean?” the angel asks, defensive of his God, but followed quickly by an insecure, “H-how do you know?”

Lucifer takes a step forward, his footfalls light, barely bending a blade of grass. “Because it’s one of Her rules. How She keeps you under Her thumb. You’re not allowed to love anyone but Her. And Her humans. The first man and the first woman?” The demon motions to where Adam and Eve lay beside a crystal clear body of water, regarding the stars. “She made them in Her image. She favors them over you, you know? You who made the stars in the sky. Heck, She’d probably let you have a human before She’d let you have him.”

The angel swallows those words hard as the Guardian of the Eastern Gate turns and starts walking back to his original post. The angel had always suspected as much, but to hear it out loud severs heart strings – ones that bound together tightly his deepest admiration of Her. But why should he believe it when it comes from the lips of a demon? This could be a trick!

What does he mean could? Of course, it’s a trick!

“Maybe She has Her reasons,” the angel says.

“Yeah.” Lucifer chuckles. “I just told you. She’s a huge narcissist.”

“Why should I trust you? How do I know you’re not lying?”

“Have I ever lied to you before?”

The angel scoffs. “You’ve never even spoken to me before. Besides, you’re a demon. That’s what you do.”

“You’ve got me there.” Lucifer’s voice comes closer, his body moving closer with it. “But answer me this – what about God?”

“What about Her?”

“Has She ever lied to you?”

“No!” the angel snaps.

“Honestly?”

“Yes!”

“Right.” Lucifer rolls his eyes. He knows blind obedience when he sees it. “Let me put it another way - does She answer your questions?”

The angel opens his mouth with another hasty response, but Lucifer jumps in before he gets a word out. “Really answers? Not that beating-around-the-bush backwards way She dodges answering, but truly answers? In a way that leaves you satisfied?”

The angel closes his mouth slowly, searching for an argument he can employ before his lips touch. He wants to defend Her, wants to find the logical spin to the way God does things. But he can’t. Because he doesn’t understand. She would say that he isn’t meant to understand, but that doesn’t make any sense. Her words have long since stopped filling him with confidence.

He’s beginning to linger in doubt.

The things God does defy logic, which infuriates him since She created logic! She has devised rules for all Her creations that She Herself does not follow. Of all the questions he’s asked, he’s never gotten a straight answer.

Not a single one.

And he’s heard, he knows, She’s losing patience with him.

How much time does he have left in Paradise before he’s sent sauntering downstairs to join Lucifer’s ranks anyway?

Would it be better for him to fall willingly, make that choice for himself, then to have it thrust upon him?

“Why is She so opposed to us knowing the truth, hmm?” Lucifer presses. “Why this Tree of Knowledge no one’s allowed to touch? What is She hiding?”

The angel shakes his head – both in defiance and in response. But his defiance is growing weak. He doesn’t want what this demon is saying to make sense but it does. Shamefully, it’s something he’s thought himself more than once.

“If you come with me,” Lucifer whispers, sharp nails lightly brushing long hair from the angel’s shoulders, “you can have the best of both worlds. You’ll get your answers … and your chance.”

“My chance? At what?”

Lucifer snaps his fingers. The low branches pregnant with fruit that the angel has been hiding behind rise a few feet, revealing him to the moonlight … and to the angel on the wall. Frantically, he steps backwards into the darkness, but Lucifer’s body stops him.

“Him,” the demon says, forcing the angel out of hiding with a shove.

The angel on the wall startles at the disturbance. His attention turns to the garden, his pale blue eyes finding the tree, and its occupant, instantly. He peers down in alarm, raising a flaming sword in battle-ready position. But when he sees the Archangel loitering there, hands clasped in front of him, eyes darting nervously, the guardian angel smiles and gives him a wave.

His admirer gasps. That smile – it rivals the sun in its brilliance, takes his breath away. He waves back, heart fluttering in his chest like the beginning sparks of a new nebula, pulsing and stretching in its attempts to be birthed into the Heavens. The angel feels it just about burst through his chest, ready to join its brothers and sisters in the sky.

Lucifer puts a hand to the angel’s shoulder and squeezes. “Give it some thought. My offer will stand. I can wait an eternity. Can you?”

“You’re wrong,” the angel says, emboldened by that smile, that wave. “I don’t need your help to have a chance. I already have a chance.”

“Possibly,” Lucifer says, a shrug in his voice. “But consider this – he’s a principality. You’re an Archangel. He’ll get sent to oversee the humans as they evolve, guide them as they grow. You’ll get locked to Heaven, stuck creating stars till they crumble. Then, you’ll make some more. You’ll drift farther and farther apart as the Universe expands, and you might never see him again. Do you think God will care about your little crush? She’s wrathful. Vindictive. She might do everything in Her power to ensure the two of you stay apart. Do you really want to risk it?”

“And how will falling ensure that he and I get together?”

A grin of perfect deviance burns slow on the demon’s face. “Have that drink with me and I’ll tell you.”

Lucifer’s words weed their way into the angel’s ears like a thorny probiscus searching for blood, pricking his brain and bringing to light his fears and anxieties. During the time the angel has spent lurking beneath this tree, watching his guardian of the garden, he has never once found the courage to reveal himself, not even to speak a single word of greeting.

Because he’d been afraid of exactly that.

The Almighty would find out and send one of them away.

She seems to play favorites in the cruelest of ways. Being one among Her favored won’t necessarily protect you from Her judgement. On the contrary. It makes you more of a target. Perhaps because She expects so much of you. The angel doesn’t know.

She would never deign to tell him, and it’s sacrilege to assume.

And as She has begun to tire of him and his endless questions, the angel has begun to tire of walking on the edge of a knife between favor and disgust. He didn’t chose to be an Archangel, didn’t choose to create nebulas and galaxies. And where he is proud of the things he’s created, maybe it’s time he chose his own side for a change.

A side with the chance to have that guardian angel beside him.

“One drink,” the angel grumbles like a threat, stepping back into the shadows, keeping the angel on the wall ever in his sights.

Lucifer’s grin completes its journey across his face. He snaps his fingers, opening a portal underground, and thinks: This was almost too easy. “That’s all I ask.”

#good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #Frankie writes #inbox ask

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20021 · 4 years

Text

okay so i’ve been helping with the wiki a lot for like the past week or two and ive been suppressing my Need For Theorizing bc Objectivity but anyway

we know the gist of how each tezcatlipoca works except, obviously, the black tezcatlipoca, which has thus far been kept largely shrouded for what i presume to be story telling reasons

what has been stated explicitly by betsy is:

each tezcatlipoca does a specific thing to everyone. judgement scythe is destruction, mercy bow is healing, liberation machete is destroy magic. thus far, it seems in no evil, with the exception of charles, black tezcatlipoca puts people to sleep

each tezcatlipoca has a specific requirement of its wielder. white wants kind, red wants just, and blue wants willful. ill get into the blacks in a moment.

brother swan shows charon wielding the tezcatlipoca as something of a familiar, and as a means to extend her life.

charles can make weird spider things

the black tezcatlipoca is described as “silencing” things

in judgement we are told that the tezcatlipoca was supposed to serve as a push for unity through four different things.

judgement

freedom

mercy

peace

three of these are explicitly covered by a tezcatlipoca. 1 is red, 2 is blue, 3 is white, which leaves 4.

so the associated virtue for black is peace. we’ll see how that works in canon later, but for now we’ll get into form.

we see in and the raven brought fire and brother swan that the black tezcatlipoca will shape itself into a cat-like visage (likely a jaguar, reflecting aztec myth). we don’t see this with charles.

the forms we have for all four of the tezcatlipoca’s are weapons or tools. red is the judgement scythe/firepoker, which isn’t a true weapon despite its destruction, they are tools.

both the white and blue are explicit weapons, to some degree, what with the mercy bow being a...bow and the liberation machete being a blade. however, it’s good to note that the mercy bow is supposed to be an implement of healing, and so it’s only really a weapon in the hands of someone not meant to wield it. machetes can be used to cut vegetation in addition to being used as a weapon analogous to a sword.

so what about the black tezcatlipoca, in no evil we only really see it hurting people, with charles as the outlier. in brother swan, however, charon is able to use it as a familiar and do various magical tasks.

this is what charon was says about her wielding the tezcatlipoca:

[Image Description: A cropped image from Brother Swan showing charon with a purple eye and curling spirals of black on her skin. She is dressed in a similar color scheme and has lavender hair. She is saying in a speech-bubble, “This dark power was given to me and extended my life. In exchange, I was to bring peace to the people of Scourosi, even if it means my life. This is not required of Font. But since the people of the Outer Ring refuse to be saved I will rescue the one who has reached out to us.” Another speech-bubble from out of frame says “So...you’ll...the Outer Ring?”. End ID]

with all that in mind, my proposal is this: the black tezcatlipoca’s virtue is peace, it’s form is magic, and it’s requirement is that the wielder was supposed to die due to strife. the reason it puts people to sleep/makes people sick is because its pulling the magic out of them.

to elaborate, both Charon and Charles’ pursuits are, at least initially, both aligned with peace, which is a component of their being able to use the tezcatlipoca. charon is supposed to bring peace to scourosi, and charles was to bring peace between hatfield and mccoy, both of which are on scourosi.

note that, for the most part, charles was only able to get the pieces when strife was being resolved, or trying to be resolved. we don’t know what happened with ixtlilton, but xochipilli was trying to make the hatfield and mccoy kids stop fighting and xochiquetzal was making a deal with him instead of sending him away. this isn’t really the case with murder’s piece, because he just grabbed it, but also kitty did resolve the conflict of the red tezcatlipoca, which might count.

^^this is less support for why the black tezcatlipoca is peace and moreso about why things might have been written the way they were

anyway:

charon is able to wield the tezcatlipoca much like a familiar and do great feats with that, but charles is somewhat limited in the tezcatlipoca’s use. we’ve seen him make his spider things, and they have been doing some spying in that vein. he’s able to put people to sleep.

i won’t speculate too far into why charles is so limited, because there is any number of reasons of why that might be the case. it could be because, up until black, white, and red all over, he didn’t have all the pieces. it could be because he’s not actually pursuing peace, or because he’s pursuing peace on scourosi in such a limited scope rather than trying to reconcile the bigger divisions between, say, the industrial men/science folk and the traditional individuals/magic folk. maybe it’s because charles is less duty bound.

who knows! betsy does, but i sure don’t.

anywise, my support for the black tezcatlipoca being magic is because its a tezcatlipoca.

just kidding, it’s the duality of the tezcatlipocas. judgement-mercy, liberation-peace. destruction-healing, magic negation-magic. it’s a clear corollary, and it’s supported in how both the wielders use it. charon has it instead of a familiar, it made a magic violin for fontleroy just. out of nowhere. like all the tezcatlipocas, it is a tool, and it depends on the wielder. charles is using it as much more of a weapon, because he’s like. 12. literally. i’m willing to bet that amaroq fucked off maybe two-three years after the black ick got sealed (which is supported by corn being more like a young kid, since he’s 15 in canon and the black ick was sealed 14-ish years ago according to betsy and also he was Literally Born in judgement).

like we’re told charles was supposed to die as a baby, except angel took him and amaroq just did shit. so there’s the meant-to-die aspect. charon was supposed to die when she was 10 or so if i recall correctly and she couldn’t be saved with medicine. so the strife bit comes in where charles was supposed to die because he was the child of a girl from mccoy and a boy from hatfield. charon couldn’t be saved with science and had to turn to magic. both went to mictlan, aztec land of the dead, before they were able to wield the black tezcatlipoca.

i think in angel is somewhat aware of this and that’s why she got baby charles. and was able to recruit charon later. that’s also not the purpose of this post.

the pulling-magic-out is mostly based on fontleroy, somewhat magic user, feeling sick when charon used it on him when the first meant and the spirits reverting to human form.

bonus theory below the cut:

what the fucks up with icky?

well what i wish would happen is:

he just pops up like “whats up” and wields the black because he’s so conflict averse and is the link between science and magic that is missing in both brother swan’s outer ring and the industrial men. he’s skeptical of many magical aspects and likes to test them (the turquoise in alien), approaches them in an analytical way (makes a magic ritual in miniature even though he doesn’t use magic ), and is a spirit who genuinely tries to fit in w Hollow’s bs, which i think is more the result of a not-great upbringing in that context (see: his black eye in alien).

also he looks like fontleroy who ends up black tezcatlipoca-adjacent bc of his working with charon. plus that fact that we have never seen him touched by the black tezcatlipoca--not in judgement, not in and the raven brought fire--until it literally will not come off him. i figure the almost dying thing could be covered by a variety of situations, but i would say that the situation in hollow would count because he’s caught between using magic like he knows he should to transform into his nagual form and maintaining his standing with the people of science. the black ick serves as something of a threat to life because im pretty sure it literally sucks the life out of things?

but again this is somewhat a crack theory that i have wiggled support out of canon for.

also it explains why he won’t wake up, because the other wielder’s fucking shit up for him.

other theory is just that, since he’s the only spirit we’ve seen get hit by the ick in human form, the black ick isn’t able to get to his magic and so it clings.

#long post #very long post #no evil betsy lee #no evil betsy lee spoilers #for black white and red all over #no evil betsy lee meta #brother swan

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queenofnohr · 4 years

Text

Gawain Profile (FGO Material Book IV)

Hey hi! It’s been a month (well, a month and a couple days...), so here’s a patreon post from last month! The original can be seen here, at my patreon (this particular post also now public).

💜 If you like these translations, please consider supporting me on my patreon - for just $1 you’ll get early access to translations I do that aren’t commissions, and for $5 you can have a say in what I decide to translate! If patreon isn’t your cup of tea, I also have a ko-fi you can donate to! As always, thank you for supporting me!

Class Skills

Magic Resistance: B

Negates Magecraft with an incantation that is three verses or fewer. It is difficult to hurt him even with things such as High-Thaumaturgy, Greater Rituals, etc.

Riding: B

The ability to ride (vehicles, animals, etc.) He can handle most mounts better than ordinary people, though he cannot ride Phantasmal Species.

Personal Skills

Numeral of the Saint: EX

A unique characteristic Sir Gawain possesses. It allows his power to triple from 9 am to noon, and from 3 pm to sunset. It is indicative of the number 3 as sacred among the Celts.

Charisma: E

One’s ability to attract others. As a perfect knight, it works particularly strongly on junior knights and soldiers.

Noble Phantasm

Excalibur Galatine

Rank: A+ Type: Anti-Army Range: 20~40 Maximum Number of Targets: 300 people

Excalibur Galatine. The Sword of the Sun - its hilt holds a pseudo-sun within. Just as King Arthur’s “Sword of Promised Victory,” Excalibur Galatine is its sister sword given by the fae “Lady of the Lake.” It is a Holy Sword not oft spoken of in the legends. Whereas the king and his sword received the divine protection of the moon, Gawain and his sword were blessed by the sun. If the “Sword of Promised Victory” slices in two with the light of the stars, the “Sword of the Ideal Ruler’s Victory” burns all in its path to nothing with the scorching heat of the sun. Additionally, while the “Sword of Promised Victory” is an attack concentrated on a single point, the “Sword of the Ideal Ruler’s Victory” is a lateral emission type of attack meant to obliterate enemy soldiers.

Personality

Hailed as the “Knight of the Sun,” he has a serious personality that nonetheless never becomes stiff enough to be oppressive. It’s this attitude that makes him come off as an upstanding and purehearted young man. Though he’s tall and cuts a trim figure, he has quite a sturdy build. Furthermore, he’s a handsome man with a gentle face and fine features. His tone is refreshing, and he never makes light of an opponent nor holds them in contempt. Even if his opponent is unskilled, he will assess their fighting spirit and preparedness, and courteously have a bout with them. However, because he deliberately keeps his personal feelings in check - for reasons to be discussed later - his intrinsic high-mindedness and earnestness-to-the-point-of-seriousness become all the more emphasized. To put it gently, he’s inflexible; to put it bluntly, he’s the type of guy who can’t read the room. Known as a loyal knight, with his left-over regrets at not being able to save his king the last time he was summoned as a Servant, as well as his iron loyalty and unwavering trust toward his king, he wants nothing more than to be the sole sword that swings for the sake of his king alone. Witnessing that blind devotion during the Moon Cell Grail War, Nero (Saber) put it well - “So, should you be ordered to cut down a faithful friend, would you do it?” she asked. To which he responded, “Of course. If it is my Lord’s desire, I will dirty my hands with any act, no matter how shameful. That is what it means to be a sword. My Lord is never wrong. If anything must be cast as ‘wrong,’ then the fault lies not with my King, but with my now-executed friend,” he responded, smiling.

Motivation and Attitude Toward Master

From a Master’s perspective, he’s an ideal Servant as he’s placed selfless devotion above all else due to allowing Britain to split because of his personal grudge during his lifetime, and the regret that stems from that. He is a Servant who embodies the role of a knight serving his king - though whether or not his Master is worthy of being king is up for debate. For the sake of his raison d’etre - to serve as his king’s assistant - he devotes himself fully to being the sword of a Master who he has recognized as carrying the king’s authority. While his Master is speaking, he’ll never say a word himself, and will only speak during times such as acting as a proxy to his Master after they leave, always taking into consideration his attitude as a knight and a vassal.

Dialogue Examples

“I am his loyal servant, Gawain. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hope you will make for a worthy opponent to my lord.” “As you wish. My holy sword is the embodiment of the sun itself. By my king’s decree, I shall reduce everything on this earth to ashes.” “This sword is a reflection of the sun. Another holy sword of the planet…… Excalibur Galatine!” “Make way for the brilliance before the evening’s tide, the sweeping blade that is the holy sword of the planet! Excalibur Galatine!!” “Doesn’t quantity matter more than quality in a meal? A huge amount of potatoes, vinegar, and bread should be fine. And if there’s ale, that’s all I need to be satisfied. I suppose vegetables are good, too. Even eating just carrots should be alright. My king used to eat everything without a single complaint, after all.”

This Figure in History

He appears in the Legend of King Arthur as an outstanding knight of the Round Table, able to rival even “Lancelot of the Lake.” He is the firstborn of King Lot of Orkney. As Arthur’s relative, he was entrusted with the holy sword, Excalibur. He was known as a virtuous man, and many legends extol his various martial achievements. His sole weakness is his strong affection for his family. This resulted in conflict with knights that dared to harm his relatives, starting with King Pellinore who defeated his father in battle. Sometimes these conflicts would end in the death of the other knight. Even when Lancelot and Queen Guinevere fled to Gaul, he strongly opposed King Arthur’s forgiveness of them, and drew him into a war against Lancelot. This is due to Lancelot killing Gawain’s brothers while he absconded with Guinevere. He fought against Mordred’s rebellion while severely wounded after dueling Lancelot, and with his dying breath begged King Arthur to call on Lancelot for reinforcements. He bears a profound regret due to his personal grudge resulting in the schism between the Knights of the Round Table…...

Role in Previous Works

Appears in Fate/EXTRA. Because Gawain regretted that King Arthur died because he could not let go of his hatred of Lancelot during his lifetime, he devotes himself completely to the role of his king’s assistant, considering it his duty above all else. Thus he is selflessly devoted to his Master, a young King who from birth was deemed to possess the ability to be the ideal ruler, who he recognizes as such. However, he understood that what his Master lacked in order to become a True King was “defeat.” Even so, he chose to serve as his Master’s sword with all his might until that time came.

Ties to Characters

Arturia: The chance to fight together once again…… When will another miracle like this happen?

Mordred: I understand her situation. Among other things.

Lancelot: No comment.

Galahad: Putting aside the issue of Lancelot for the moment, Galahad is a wonderful knight. If an angel took human form, it would be someone like him.

Tristan: He’s Sir “Sometimes-I’m-Actually-Sleeping”……

Illustrator Comment

I drew Gawain’s third ascension wanting him to have the feeling of being on his day off. I’d be happy if he could become someone who gives the impression of a muscular yet princely type, but… Tapping into that kind of feeling - because his default standing pose was already a little relaxed, I thought it’d be nice if he had the feeling of pulling the viewer to their feet slightly firmly. - Wada Arco

#my translations #long post #fgo #fate grand order #grand order

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thessaliah · 5 years

Text

Who is the “Person of Chaldea”?

For those who didn't know, there is a mysterious helper who appears in the Lostbelts and aids Chaldea indirectly by helping the people they made contact or would make contact. Here cut under spoilers the information we have and already old destroyed guesses and theories:

We know little about this man (assuming is a man which seems most likely right now) who appears in Lostbelts when Chaldea isn't around to give a helping hand. The direct (not speculation related) info we have is:

He is referred specifically as the "カルデアの者."

Wears white.

His clothes are dirty and tattered, covers his head and face with a hood.

He apparently fights with a curved, thin sword or something alike it (note this is an old Yaga describing this so if he was using some magic trick he wouldn't know).

He knows magecraft of the Ages of Gods that isn’t rune based.

He knows how to treat injuries, plague, and has the skill as a physician. He is called a 'sensei' in LB3.

Knows assorted skills like how to take care of fields.

He is able to manifest in the Lostbelts by mysterious means.

Pronouns: 私 and お前 to address others.

He has a 'tch' tongue clunking quirk but he claims is because of his sore throat and body.

He is shocked to find people who would put themselves in a disadvantage to offer him kindness and hospitality.

He seems detached about humanity at some level and a pragmatic point of view.

He might appear different than he used to look or have a different body.

He says his goals haven't changed and he has done the same things in the past (without such welcome). "His actions are the same."

Holmes speculates he’s a “survivor of Chaldea.”

Those are the official things we know. There is more I could add that could be related to him but that goes in identity theory.

DEBUNKED: MUSASHI+ DIFFERENT SERVANT ON EACH LOSTBELT

When Musashi appeared in LB1, plenty of fans (and even the characters) assumed Musashi who also claimed as an ally of Chaldea (but using a completely different label and not カルデアの者) was this mysterious helper: she had covered her face with a hat, she wielded a katana and all. But they didn't notice the lack of quirk and the lack of healing expertise. In LB2, the Person of Chaldea is an overpowerful mage, so ruled her out unless he was a new one. By LB4, it leaves clear that is the same person that travels in all Lostbelts, he gets dialogue and internal monologue for the first time. Leaving the theories of Musashi, Ryoma, Muramasa, Paracelsus, etc out of the running.

DEBUNKED: IT’S A CRYPTER

Before LB4, there was a popular theory the Person of Chaldea was actually a Crypter, in particular, Kirschtaria Wodime, because he favors white. But after LB4, we know the man travels alone and that for a Crypter to move between Lostbelts, they need the help of an Emissaries. Evil Mercenary Tamamo is good for such task. Crypters are more than antagonists but they are unlikely to be the Person of Chaldea.

POSSIBILITY # 1: IT’S A NEW SURPRISING CHARACTER OR SOMEONE UNEXPECTED LIKE MARISBURY ANIMUSPHERE

Because the person is hard to fit on the old characters we know, perhaps it's a new one. Abe no Seimei is a good possibility when there are characters related to him introduced. Murasaki, his student, his foes Tamamo and Douman. However, my only complaint here is that they yanked our chains for two years of mystery to introduce a new character? The possibility exists, but it seems like poor writing. If we are talking of dark horses, Marisbury Animusphere is certainly another possibility, although the pronouns don't fit, and he has no notable physician experience that we know, he wears white, he's from Chaldea, and the shoes (not the coat) match the man in the OP. I mean to put him here as a possibility he's connected, but my suspicion is that Marisbury is more unfortunately linked to the antagonist, the God of Another Planet. I'll leave that for another post. His possibilities to be the Person of Chaldea raises if Daybit is an antagonist and not the potential aloof ally he seems to be.

POSSIBILITY # 2: IT’S SOLOMON

Romani, Goetia, a combination, etc. Solomon. "But Solomon disappeared!" I can cite a lot of things, from Goetia voicing the PV, to Roman in the Lost Room, to the fact both left remnants (which Ars Nova shouldn't have allowed) and Chaldea is stated to want to build a record for Romani specifically. But I frankly don't care about this, Nasu would explain this if the time comes. The Lostbelts have revised the Modern History anyway, and whatever happens inside their Wall of Storms is not "our World" technically.

So far is the most likely possibility, and why there's a tease and red herring from one or the other. Unrelated but completely important is the scene in the Lost Room, the final shot of someone picking up one of Solomon's rings from the thrones before leaving. The question remains is which Solomon?

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST GOETIA: "Goetia is in Romani's body" seems to be the most popular theory since the OP image show up (along with the initial "was that Marisbury?"). Goetia does use, among other pronouns, watashi and omae. The personality of the Person of Chaldea seems colder and harsher than Romani usually displayed, so fits more Goetia, as well as the fact of "is this appearance?" which makes him mull over how he's treated, which could refer to wear Romani's body and clothes as he did to Solomon. Maybe he gained medical knowledge too. However, are we sure is him or Nasu wants us to assume is him for taking to face some superficial statements? The main case against is that his current actions don't match his past ones, even if one is to assume his goal and motivation remains the same (he feels sorry for humans), that he has indeed wear Roman's likeness in the past (with Mashu) and he shouldn't be shocked about the benefit of a human appearance when his shtick was passing himself as Solomon or Roman or making his pillars take human vessels. The other case against is the tsking. Tsking and tongue clunking to my memory are not one of his quirks. IMO, Goetia is a strong if not the strongest contender. I'm not sold about Roman's body, because Roman's body disappeared (and I feel it's irritating for his sake and Roman he's still under his shadow rather than stand as his own character), the tongue quirk could be because whoever body he’s using or inhabiting has it.

THE CASE FOR AND AGAINST ROMANI (SOLOMON): "A doctor in white" was the second most popular theory but fell off a little after the monologue of the Person of Chaldea because he lacked Romani's nicer personality and his usual pronouns (Boku/kimi). It's true it cannot be the same Romani Archaman we know, but this doesn't mean it cannot be him. We'll start for the case for: a physician with assorted talents (all that could be feasible for Romani/Solomon - and yes, includes having a legendary long thin blade listed in wikipedia - and this also can be listed on Goetia’s favor too!) that wears white, is from Chaldea, and still has the same actions, goals, and motives. The actions might have been weird, but with episode 0, we saw Romani walk the world on his own and doing odd jobs including acting as doctor in disaster zones, until he turned to Chaldea to complete his mission. How is that different from the Person of Chaldea’s present actions? The main objections are sound: the man doesn't talk or acts (in temperament) like Roman, and the quirk isn't his. However, after becoming Solomon again did use watashi and omae (he switched gradually from boku to watashi in the temple, if you carefully replay his unused voice clips and read his farewell scene) and his personality would be different if he was in possession or manifestation of a new body, as most Pseudo Servants (Ishtar wouldn't act like Rin if she wasn't in Rin's body, for example, we know this from Strange Fake - the vessel influences the spirit). The Servants who cannot manifest alone require vessels and the vessels can influence the way they talk, their temperaments and -obviously- give them a new appearance which our Person of Chaldea might have. Despite his friendliness, Romani seemed to speak and think of humanity from the distance (Accel Zero comes to mind where he reveals he's pretty pragmatic who wouldn't go around to change things as Waver did), he also thinks people should hate him (in his Blurb of relationship with the Master), so if it's Solomon post Roman's self-loathing, him acting surprised that those people in India Lostlet are willing to accommodate him with the little they had and were so kind toward him is unfortunately not as weird as we might think. Da Vinci changed from a sassy libertine to a (dull) angelic younger sister type after her rebirth just after the Prologue if we need a precedent.

As for me, whoever the person of Chaldea is, I would prefer if Roman remains Roman. I absolutely dislike the change in Da Vinci (looks and personality) but I am not blind not to see the possibility with the metaphor of the "peppermint green book" in the latest event the doctor appeared (you know that whole “things -people- you believe lost might be returned to you but with differences”). There is another case I'm considering but is more self-indulging, because doesn't mean desecrating Solomon's second corpse (even if it disappeared!), Goetia's arc, and Romani's whole self. The one of assimilation like Kingu and Enkidu which means the Person of Chaldea could be a new Solomon created of Romani and Goetia mutual elements. They used to share a body. That’s another case, but I’m not sure. My heart leans closer to Goetia in this, but my gut feels he could be red herring for Solomon 2.0.

Of course, this could be all be wrong and it’s truly Abe no Seimei or something outlandish like Future Ritsuka (I forgot to debunk this, it feels laughable when Ritsuka has a very limited character or arc, and cannot do a single healing spell to know magecraft of the Ages of Gods - plus would give Gudako an edge over the male Ritsuka -who uses ore as pronoun- and that won’t be allowed, sadly). You never know. I just wanted to share past and present theories. From a writing perspective, I just don’t think some new character would be right when they are treating this as a slowburn mystery arc and purposefully used Musashi as an in-game red herring. Maybe if Abe no Seimei -or whoever if it’s a new character- gets a better set up, certainly. Marisbury possibility is still strong if he’s not an antagonist.

#fate grand order #meta #speculation #fgo spoilers #cosmos in the lostbelt #person of chaldea

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ryqoshay · 5 years

Text

Heavenly Life: Cursed Blood

Primary Pairing: YohaRiko Words: ~5.8k Rating: T Warning: Fanciful Depictions of Violence Fanfic Fandom: Love Live! Sunshine!! AU: Angelic Time Frame: ??? Story Arc: Stand Alone Event: Fictober19 Prompts: 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 13, 17, 22, 25, 30

Author’s Note: So I guess I’m writing a third fic now...

This chapter serves a dual purpose. First and foremost, it is a proof of concept for an idea that has been brewing in the back of my mind since I first starting writing Happy Life. And second, it is my entry for the Fictober19 event.

Worth mentioning that readers need not have read Happy Life or watched Love Live to understand what is going on in this fic. However, those who have watched or read may find the occasional Easter egg.

Links to Happy Life, the Fictober19 list, and the like will be in the Followup Post.

Edit: It was brought to my attention over on AO3 that I may have been overly cautious with my warnings and rating. Thus, after consulting a few other readers, I decided to downgrade things a bit. I don’t believe the violence depicted in this work will exceed the likes of what was shown in the Harry Potter movies, which retained PG and PG-13 ratings. Also, I do not intend the violence to ever truly be the focus of the story, merely a framing device and a consequence of the setting. The characters and their interactions should always take center stage as far as I’m concerned. As such, I shall try modifying the warning to “Fanciful Depictions of Violence” and the rating to T, and see if that works.

“So, they’ve made it this far…” The blue-haired girl observed from her perch above the chaos.

She hadn’t been summoned to battle, though she hadn’t expected to be, but there had been no ignoring the pillars of smoke rising or the sounds of battle coming from the direction of the gates. Upon arrival to her current position, it was immediately apparent that this was one of the more aggressive invasions in quite a while. Below, countless combatants fought to the death with all manner of sword and sorcery. Blades flashed. Magicks shimmered. Yet another chapter in the story of their eternal war was being written as she watched.

“Are we to join them?” A voice asked.

“Of course.” The girl replied to black kitten that had materialized on her shoulder. “This is our home as well, so I’ll be damned if I don’t help defend it.”

“You will likely be damned anyway.”

“You know what I mean!” She protested before gently swatting her familiar atop his head. “Anyway,” Her hand slid down to scratch under his chin “if nothing else, it will be fun. Trust me.”

“Always. I’m with you, you know that.” He replied before dematerializing. “See you on the battlefield, Master.” His voice emanated from the æther.

With a shrug of her shoulders, wings as dark as the Void sprouted from them and with a single flap, she was borne aloft. Then, with only a thought, her body was rendered invisible to all but all but the most powerful of entities. Finally, she descended into the fray.

Her first target was selected with ease, a single demon that had pushed a bit too far and was now separated from the rest of his line. Despite being alone, he stood pridefully over the broken bodies of several angels she did not readily recognize. Not that she cared much for their identities, and the angles would be reborn soon enough anyway, but the assault still required a response.

“Welcome to Hell Zone!” The blue-haired girl sneered as she became visible to the demon.

“Hell wha?” He baulked in confusion before a black dagger embedded itself in his chest. He grunted and reached to remove it, but before he could touch the hilt, the dagger dissolved, filling the wound with dark energies.

“Here, have another on me.” The girl said as a second dagger appeared near her hand. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it hurling toward her foe.

This time, the demon made no attempt to remove the summoned blade and instead raised one of his own, a giant axe almost as big as the girl herself. With a roar of anger, the demon charged. For her part, the blue-haired girl merely put a finger to her eye, pulled down its lid and stuck out her tongue. A mighty swing cleaved her from shoulder to hip, but her taunting smirk never faltered, even as her body dissolved.

“Wrong one.” The girl cooed into the demon’s ear from behind.

Before he could react, the toe of an ebon scythe protruded from his belly. “H-how…?” was all he managed to get out before the girl heaved upward to repay the favor bestowed on the duplicate she had left when teleporting.

“One down.” The girl cheered, twirling her scythe in triumph a few times before it disappeared.

“And hundreds, if not thousands more to go.” Her familiar stated from wherever he was. “We should find more, it has been far too long since I last tasted demon.”

“There’s one right here.” The girl gestured to the slain demon at her feet.

“Weakling.” Her familiar grumbled. “One defeated by you alone is not worthy of my fangs.”

“Hey!” She protested. “He faced off against all of these guys before we got here, surly they did some damage before going down.”

“A fair point.” The familiar conceded. “But I sense a more powerful foe in the next passage over. Shall we?”

A groan caught the blue-haired girl’s attention before she could reply. “Ah, still alive, are we?” She asked of one of the angels on the ground.

The angel’s eyes focused on the girl standing over her. “Cursed Blood?” She growled in recognition.

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Begone! Remove thy foul aura from my presence!”

“Tch…” The girl shook her head. “Yeah, yeah. I know you didn’t ask for it, but you’re welcome for the save anyway.” With that, she turned and headed toward the gates and the heart of the battle. “Ingrate.” She tossed over her shoulder.

The blue-haired girl took to the air and disappeared from view. Upon clearing the building between the passages, she immediately realized her familiar was wrong. There wasn’t a powerful foe over here, rather there were several. However, that did not stop her familiar from materializing, in his monstrous battle form, beside one of the demons and clamping his jaws down on its legs, nearly hewing it off in one bite.

Not one to be left out of the fun, the blue-haired girl made a sweeping motion with her arm, summoning half a dozen daggers along its arc. The act of casting dispersed her invisibility, but the demons below barely noticed as their attention was focused on the giant cat attacking them. Of course, when the daggers rained down upon them, along with a bout of laughter, she was harder to ignore.

With each foe felled, the blue-haired girl became more excited. With each injury incurred, she became angrier. The manic mix of emotions drove her deeper into the invading forces. Her daggers flew in all directions, piercing all in their path. Her summoned scythe separated souls and limbs alike. And her decoys distracted the demons to allow her every dirty and demoralizing trick she could think of to destroy them.

At her side, her familiar fought as well. His claws shredded lesser foes while his fangs ripped sizable chunks out of the bigger ones. She was vaguely aware that he had likely swallowed at least thrice his own weight in demon, even with his larger form, but she cared little, so long as he was able to keep up with her.

This was her life. This was what she lived for. Life in this place was only interesting when the enemy invaded, which had been less frequent as of late. No doubt they had been building up their forces for this attack, so there was a chance that once repelled, they might stay away for a while. All the more reason to make the best of this assault and get in as many kills as possible.

Of course, there were plenty of angels around also engaged in battle. And while some were grateful for her assistance, if put off by her tactics, most treated her as had the one she had saved from the first demon. But their jeers and sneers went ignored as the blue-haired girl focused solely on the fight.

All was going well, or at least well enough. She and her familiar had just repelled an attempted ambush and were ready to move on when…

“Wait!” The blue-haired girl was halted by a hand grabbing her wrist.

She wheeled around. “What are you…” Her snarl was cut short as her gaze fell upon a redheaded girl and she immediately stopped trying to break free from the surprisingly strong hold.

Holy hell…

She was beautiful. A true angel.

Auburn tresses flowed down past her shoulders. A small, pink flower adorned a clip that held aside her bangs, but only on the right side for some reason. A few other highlights of pink stood out against the otherwise expected shades of blue and purple of the standard battle armor. Golden caps imbued her wings with a sapphire hue of angelic magic.

Golden…

By the gods… The girl’s golden gaze made the blue-haired girl’s heart want to sprout its own wings and take flight.

“Are you alright?” Her voice… “You look like you need healing.”

“I’m…” The blue-haired girl’s voice cracked, forcing her to clear her throat before trying again. “I’m fine.”

“You have a spear sticking through you.” The redhead stated firmly. “You are not fine.” She reached for the weapon in question but recoiled as though touching a hot stove.

“Careful with that.” The blue-haired girl warned.

“How is it not burning you?”

“Perks of the Curse, I suppose.” She shrugged.

The redhead’s eyes never left the spear, and after a moment of silence, her expression became one of determination. She took a deep breath and reached for it again.

“Hey, what are you…?” The blue-haired girl protested, turning in an attempt to keep the spear out of reach.

However, the redhead was too quick and was able to grab hold. “I’m sorry, but this might hurt a bit.” She explained before hauling back. Hard.

The blue-haired girl’s face twisted in pain as the spear was pulled free, but no more than half a second later, a warm, soothing sensation began spreading from the wound. She looked down to see the redhead’s hands glowing with a gentle pink aura as they fed healing magicks into her.

“There, that should do for now.” The redhead patted the area she had just healed.

“Thank you…” the blue-haired girl said after a moment. “But… why?”

The redhead blinked. “What do you mean, why?”

“Why did you heal me?”

“I’m a healer?”

“Yes, I know, but…”

“I mean, you’re an angel, right?”

“Technically…”

“But you’re at least on our side, right?”

“You mean you didn’t know before you…?”

“I assumed as much after watching you kill those demons, including the one who ran you through with that spear.” The other girl tilted her head with an expression of both confusion and concern. “Would you have preferred I not have healed you?”

“That’s not what I meant, I… uhm…” The blue-haired girl’s shoulders slumped. “I guess I’m just not used to it.”

“Not used to being healed?”

“Not around here, no.”

The redhead furrowed her brow as her concern grew. “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Perhaps it isn’t” The blue-haired girl admitted. “But such is the case for one of a cursed bloodline like me.”

“Cursed blood…” The redhead repeated. “Is that why your wings are…”

“Black? Yeah. They kinda stand out, don’t they.”

“They’re unique.” The hint of a smile tugged at the other girl’s lips. “And they suit you. I think they’re quite lovely.”

Lovely…? The blue-haired girl felt heat rise to her cheeks.

“A-a-anyway, I… should get back to the battle.” The blue-haired girl tried to get her composure back together. “Those demons aren’t going to defeat themselves.” She forced a chuckle. “Oh, but before I go, might I ask of you a favor?”

“Certainly.”

“Would you be willing to heal my familiar as well?”

“Absolutely.”

As if on cue, the air between them shimmered for a second before a black cat popped into existence. The redhead’s smile grew as she held out her hands, upon which the cat alighted.

“You have my thanks, m’lady.” The familiar offered his gratitude.

“And with that…” The blue-haired girl turned.

“Wait, I’m sorry.” The redhead reached out to touch her shoulder.

“Hm?” She turned back.

“I actually have a favor to ask of you as well, if you don’t mind.”

Mind? Did she mind? Certainly, part of her wanted to hasten her return to the fray, knowing full well it would take a few kills to ramp herself back up into her frenzy. But a different part of her wanted to do just about anything the redhead might ask.

“… Perhaps…” was the answer she heard come out of her mouth.

“I need help locating our captain.”

“Our captain?”

“Of the defense force?”

“Not my captain.”

“Oh…”

“No, sorry.” The blue-haired girl shook her head. “I know who you mean, I just… never mind.” She paused for a moment to think. “You know, I haven’t seen her out here yet, so she’s probably still back in the cathedral. Probably planning her counter strike.”

“Where is the cathedral?”

The blue-haired girl raised an eyebrow. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“I was just transferred.”

“You picked a hell of a time to arrive.” She couldn’t help scoffing.

“So it would seem.”

“Anyway, I’d say follow me as I know the area, but…” She glanced at her familiar. “How does the path look?”

The cat turned in the direction of cathedral and concentrated for a moment. “Not good.” He stated.

“Right, so teleporting it is.”

“Teleporting?” The redhead inquired.

“Yup. It’s going to take me a few jumps, but just hold on and trust me.”

“Alrii~aaah!?” The redhead panicked as she was suddenly several meters in the air, holding on to… nothing?

“Sorry, sorry.” The blue-haired girl apologized. “Force of habit with the invisibility, but I got you, you won’t fa… never mind.”

Of course she wouldn’t fall. She’s an angel. She’s got her own wings. The blue-haired girl mentally chastised herself.

Despite this observation, the redhead still clung tightly to her as though she was actually afraid of falling. And while the behavior struck the blue-haired girl as odd, she had to admit she didn’t particularly mind it. In fact, the redhead’s anxious expression was rather… cute.

A couple jumps later, the two landed in the courtyard of the cathedral.

“Ah, you’re here!” A blonde girl in front of a couple dozen angelic troops exclaimed happily as she stared directly at the blue-haired girl.

Gods damn it… She should have remembered that there was no hiding from one as powerful as her.

“<Now, now.>” The blonde said in an ancient tongue as she sauntered past the redhead and over to her. “<You should know better than to blaspheme in front of me.>” She wrapped her arms tightly around the blue-haired girl and with a single spoken syllable, forced her to dismiss her invisibility.

“<As if you actually care. Hey, let go!>” The blue-haired girl struggled vainly against the strong embrace. “Oh for the love of…”

“Hmmm?”

The blue-haired girl growled. “Here, hug him.” She reached over and snatched her familiar out of the æther. “You two always get along so well anyway.”

“<Pretty kitty!>” The blonde cried, releasing the blue-haired girl in favor of her cat.

“Hmph… I should just transfer his contract over to you one of these days.” The blue-haired girl grumbled as she watched her familiar snuggle against the blonde and start purring.

“Captain?” One of the other angels attempted to get his leader’s attention.

“Yes?” The blonde responded as she began to scratch the cat behind his ears.

“Our battle plan?”

“Oh yes, of course. Well, with our new arrivals, the plans have changed.” She gestured to the two girls beside her, flatly ignoring the looks of disapproval from many of her troops. “Give me a moment to debrief them.”

“Hey, I just came to deliver her.” The blue-haired girl said jutting her chin toward the redhead. “And now I’ll get out of your hair and back to doing what I do best.”

“The demons’ general is Jhank” The blonde stated, her entire demeanor becoming more somber as she dropped the name like a hammer.

The blue-haired girl cursed in the ancient tongue, ignoring the twitch of the blonde’s eye. “You know I’m not powerful enough to take him down, right?” She said after a moment. “I mean I suppose I can help, but on my own, his regeneration can overcome anything I can dish out. Hell, I don’t think your little squad here could take him on.” She glanced at the gathered troops, making a rude gesture in response to several leers. “You on the other hand.” She pointed to the blonde. “If you did your thing, we could have a chance. But you’d need the right window of opportunity. And for that you’d need a good…” It clicked in her mind. She closed her eyes, tilted back her head and released a sigh. “Distraction.”

“I knew I could count on you.” The blonde nodded.

The blue-haired girl gritted her teeth. “I haven’t agreed yet.”

“I know you will do what is right, eventually.”

“You know you’re going to owe me big for this, right?”

“Anything. Whatever your little heart desires.” There was no teasing in the blonde’s tone, she was dead serious. And that managed to bother the blue-haired girl more.

“I’d ask for that in writing, but I doubt we have time.”

“You know I never break my word.”

“Yes, but… oh never mind. Let’s just… get this over with.” The blue-haired girl flapped her wings once to take her up half a meter. “C’mon.” She said to her familiar. “I don’t think I’ll need you to show me the way, even I can sense that power.” She began to drift listlessly in the direction of the city gate.

“Uhm…” The redhead spoke up.

“Yes, I’ll be needing you to help protect my troops.” The blonde stated, finally acknowledging the other girl’s presence.

“Alright…” The redhead’s gaze drifted toward the departing blue-haired girl.

“She’s not one of my troops.”

“But…”

“She’ll be fine.”

“You guys coming or are you just going to stay here and chat?” The blue-haired girl tossed over her shoulder.

She didn’t wait for a response before she cast her invisibility and took flight. She avoided teleporting so as not to leave the others too far behind and ensuring the distraction she was expected to make would not be unnecessarily extended. Still, she made pretty good time in traveling to the gate, as she wasn’t stopping to fight every single demon along the way.

There he was, the lumbering behemoth of a demonic general. Jhank. The blue-haired girl wasn’t quite sure, but he seemed bigger than the last time she had seen him. His aura had changed as well. He was stronger now than she remembered.

For the briefest of moments, the blue-haired girl wondered if the blonde would be able to succeed in taking him down, even with perfect timing and aim. But she immediately dismissed the thought. She would have to have faith in the blonde, because if she failed… she didn’t want to think about that.

She approached the general from behind as he engaged a handful of angelic guards. She knew the latter didn’t stand a chance but would probably last long enough for her to make a quick analysis of the area to finalize her part of the plan. Landing near the entrance of a sizable stone structure and leaning against a stone pillar, she summoned a dagger.

Here goes nothing… She sent the summoned blade forth to strike the general squarely between the shoulders.

Jhank barely seemed to notice and finished off the last two angels with a single swing. He then reached behind himself to where the dagger had hit and scratched as though itching a insect bite. Finally, he turned toward his attacker.

“You.” The general pointed at the girl. “You’re a Tsushima.”

“Yes. I’m aware.” She crossed her arms defiantly as he approached. “Your point?”

The general leaned down until his face was barely a centimeter from hers. The two stared, unblinking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. The intense aura between them spread out, catching the attention of nearby combatants until an eye of uneasy calm had formed amidst the storm of battle.

Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. “Are you sure you’re fighting on the right side?”

“You asked me that last time and my answer hasn’t changed.” The girl replied defiantly.

“I see.” He stood back up to full height. “It’s been a while since I fought a Tsushima.”

“I know.”

Jhank’s laugh was like a landslide bearing down on a small village. “Ah yes, remind me, little one, how that fight went.”

“It didn’t end well.”

“For you.”

“Or anyone.”

“On your side.”

“Sure…” The blue-haired girl decided not to point out the losses on his side because she was well aware the general cared little for those below him, so long as he achieved victory.

“So, are you expecting a different outcome this time?”

“Of course.”

“Very well.” With speed that belied his size, he brought his sword down upon the girl, carving through her and the pillar as though they were little more than sea foam.

From her new position, the blue-haired girl watched her decoy disappear under the collapsing stone and prepared another shot. However, no sooner had the blade manifested than a red glow appeared around the general’s off hand. A hand that was pointing directly at her.

Two spells narrowly missed colliding in the middle as they both sped toward their targets.

“Tch…” The blue-haired girl barely dodged the fiery ball of energy, but when it exploded against the wall behind her, she was still peppered with shrapnel. The burning scent of brimstone filled her nose. Hellfire.

“You think I don’t remember your tricks?”

Not good. Not good. Very much not good! The girl thought as she sought a new vantage point. Not only did Jhank remember her abilities, he had gained new ones of his own. She cursed as she dodged another blast that set ablaze a statue that by all rights should not have been flammable. By the gods, how long was the blonde going to take?

A fierce roar caught her attention and she looked in time to see her familiar materialize and clamp his jaws down on the general’s leg.

“Blasted cat!” The general growled, swinging his sword.

Fortunately for the familiar, in battle form, his fur was as strong as any shield and the blade bounced off his side. Unfortunately, the sheer force of the blow still managed to deal damage.

Seeing an opening, the blue-haired girl teleported directly behind the general and summoned her scythe. However, the general, true to his point about knowing her tricks, swung his sword, seemingly blindly, behind him. Thus, instead of getting in a strike, she was forced to block.

The girl chastised herself for being predictable. Then how about…

She teleported into a position hovering just in front of Jhank who raised a curious eyebrow. She made quick eye contact with her familiar, who seemed to understand, before raising her scythe. The general wielded his blade around from the other direction, making it obvious he had no intent to block. But halfway through his swing, the familiar planted his feet and pulled, throwing the general off balance just enough for the blue-haired girl to dodge. She immediately used the opportunity to drive her blade into his chest.

“Not bad.” Jhank admitted. “I actually feel that.”

“Good, now feel this.” She heaved up to… do nothing. “Geh?”

The general chuckled as the girl quickly dismissed her blade and prepared to flee.

“<Lock on!>” A distant shout could be heard over the din of battle.

The blue-haired girl groaned as the tone the blonde chose was far too cheerful for what the situation warranted. Not that she was typically any better, but…

From on high, pure white energy radiated down like a sunbeam. A deadly laser that pounded down on the general, melting his armor almost immediately. For the first time since the blue-haired girl had arrived, his expression became one of pain. He tried to move out of the way of the attack, but found himself hindered by a sizable cat still attached to his leg.

Hindered, but not completely immobile, and he managed about half a meter with effort. However, black tendrils suddenly sprang up from the ground and wrapped themselves around his limbs.

“What the hell?” He bellowed.

“You’re not the only one who learned new spells.” The blue-haired girl said from nearby.

She clenched her fist and made a gesture as though pulling something down. Obeying the command, the tendrils began dragging the general back under the beam. For his part, the familiar redoubled his own efforts in the brutal tug-of-war.

This is it. The blue-haired girl allowed herself a smile as the general was set ablaze by the holy light. She was, however, a bit disappointed that he was not screaming in agony, despite having collapsed to his hands and knees. In fact, she was rather surprised as to how calm he had suddenly become.

“Vignari.” Jhank intoned.

“What?”

“Vignari.”

“Wait, no!”

“Yth shio wielg vhira!”

“Oh gods…”

“Tsushi

“Still here, are you?”

The redhead looked up to see the blonde enter the room and offered her a smile in greeting.

“Yeah…”

“You can’t leave her alone, can you?”

“I am a healer, you know.”

“I also know that I ordered you to protect my troops, not her.”

The redhead felt her smile fade. “But, I…”

“May I ask why?” The blonde cut her off. “Why did you disobey my order? Why did you risk yourself to protect her?”

“I… don’t know.” The redhead admitted as she turned her gaze to the blue-haired girl on the bed. “There’s just… There is just something about her…”

“Something?”

“Something that makes me want to protect her.”

The blonde snorted and the redhead looked up to see her making a poor effort to hold back a smile before eventually laughing.

“<It’s fine. It’s fine.>” The blonde waved off her previous seriousness as she approached the bed. “I had others who were able to make barriers to protect us. Not as strong as yours, but…”

“…”

“And I’m not mad.” The blonde continued. “In fact, I’m quite grateful. You know, she could use more friends like you. Honestly, she could use more friends in general, but I think someone like you in her life would do her a world of good. Might keep her out of trouble.” Her smile turned into a smirk as she gave the redhead a visual inspection that seemed to linger far too long in certain places, making the redhead shift uncomfortably. “Or maybe get her into some trouble.”

“Get her into…?”

“Yes, I know what you’re thinking. You’re reputation precedes you, Rikocchi; you’re a rule follower. But you don’t always have to break rules to get into trouble.”

“I’m… not sure I get it.”

“And who knows, perhaps I can use you to finally convince her to join me.”

“Join you?”

“I said earlier she isn’t one of my troops, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like to have her under my command.” The captain explained. “As I’m sure you’ve seen, her skills would be invaluable to the defense of this area. And I’d prefer to have more control over them.”

“In other words, you want to put a leash on her?”

“Mmm… I think I’ll leave that up to you.”

Riko felt her cheeks heat up. “C-Captain Ohara!”

“Just Mari is fine. I’ve never been one to care much about all the formalities of rank and whatever.”

“But your other troops…”

“Yeah, I know, it bugs me, but I’ve pretty much given up on them. But you’re new, so maybe…” Mari considered before shrugging. “Anyway, I need to go make a report to Her.” The captain’s tone shifted strangely when she mentioned Her. “But there is one more thing.”

“Oh?”

“When she wakes up, tell that you have an idea about my debt.”

“I do?”

“She’ll know what you mean.” She winked, spun and was out the door before Riko could inquire further.

“Is she gone?”

Riko jolted at the unexpected question coming from the blue-haired girl. “Y-You’re awake?”

“I am.”

“How much did you hear?”

“Pretty much everything.” The blue-haired girl opened her eyes and smiled when her gaze fell on the small cat sleeping on her chest. “Hey, boy.” She cooed gently, running a hand from head to tail a few times, causing him to start purring. “So it was you I heard calling my name at the end there.” She stated, turning back to the redhead.

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.”

“Though I am curious if you actually needed it.” The cat interjected.

“Phobetor!” The blue-haired girl swatted him gently. “Even if I didn’t, it was still a kind gesture.”

“You didn’t need my shield?” Riko inquired, confused.

“My master is practically indestructible.” Phobetor stated.

“Practically?”

“Practically.” The blue-haired girl confirmed. “Jhank’s self-destruction spell was extremely powerful and your shield is the main reason I’m still here…” A thought occurred to her. “Say, why aren’t you over there?” She pointed to the other bed in the room. “Weren’t you right next to me when your shield broke?”

“I’m sorry.” Riko turned her gaze down and to the side. “I only had time to throw up an emergency barrier. I couldn’t cast all of the other personal protections on you that I already had on me.”

“Anyway, without your protection, that blast probably would have killed me.”

“Killed? But I thought you just said…”

“I’d’ve come back.” The blue-haired girl shrugged.

“You would be reborn?”

“No, I go through a bit of a different process. It’s…” She paused and put her fingers to her mouth in thought. “Listen, I can’t explain it, just trust me, it’s different. Less time consuming, but more painful.”

“Painful?”

“Extremely. And you saved me from that…” She winced as she tried to sit up and instead clutched at her side. “Or, maybe just most of it.” She barely noticed her familiar rolling off her chest before settling back down on her lap.

“I’m sorry!” Riko rushed forward to put her hand where the other girl was holding and cast a healing spell.

The blue-haired girl chuckled. “I’m fine.”

“You also think you’re fine when you’re impaled on a spear.”

“You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”

“No, I’m not.” Riko shook her head. “For all I knew, that could have killed you.”

“And I just told you that I’d’ve come back.”

“And you just told me that doing so would be extremely painful.”

The blue-haired girl opened her mouth to counter but was cutoff as the redhead continued.

“As a healer and protector, it is my duty to ward against such things.” Riko crossed her arms decisively. “You seem like the type who is bad at taking care of yourself, so I intend to keep an eye on you. And as Mari said, you could use someone in your corner.”

“I’ve got Phobetor. I’m fine.”

“As fine as…”

“Alright, alright, I get it.” The blue-haired girl held up her hands. “I’m sorry, I just… I guess I’m not used to anyone caring so much, or at all really; they’re always so turned off by the whole cursed blood thing.” She sighed. “Mari cares, but sometimes I think it’s only because she sees me as another tool to used, another weapon to be wielded.”

“I get the feeling she cares more than she lets on.”

“Maybe…” The blue-haired girl shrugged. “But you know it’s not always like this.”

“Like what?”

“This.” She gestured widely to everything and nothing in particular. “This whole waking up in a bed thing after falling in battle. Usually I wake up where I fell. Or somewhere else; don’t ask. But never in a comfortable, clean bed with a friendly face smiling at me. I never knew it could be this way, but I think I could get used to it.”

“Or maybe you could get used to not pushing so hard and fighting to the point where you fall in battle?”

“Hrm…” The girl in the bed considered. “I don’t think that’s going to happen… although… Perhaps with your shields and wards and whatnot.”

“They can only do so much, as you’ve seen.”

“You came out of that blast unscathed, did you not?”

“I had some healing I needed to do on myself afterward.”

“But not as much as on me.”

“No, not as much as… why do you seem happy about that?”

“Because I survived.” The blue-haired girl proclaimed with a grin. “Another notch on the belt. Another achievement I can claim that ordinary angels would be incapable of.”

Riko observed the other girl warily for a moment before asking. “Is this war just a game to you?”

“Well…” The blue-haired girl rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, as though realizing her faux pas.

“Yes.” Phobetor stated in her stead, earning another swat.

“I mean, what else is there in life?”

“There are plenty of…” Riko started.

“What else is there in my life?” The blue-haired girl quickly corrected. “I mean here I am caught between two side at war, neither of whom really want me for me, but both are willing to use my power… so…”

The room fell into silence, an awkward silence that felt like it was lasting far too long.

“Perhaps,” Riko was the first to speak “maybe I can help change that?”

“You’d be willing to do that for me?” The blue-haired girl seemed like she wanted to believe, but her life experience warned her otherwise.

“I would.” The redhead stated definitively. “And not just out any sort of sense of duty either, in case you’re worried about that.”

The blue-haired girl stared at the redhead, gears spinning in her mind. Finally, a smile pulled at her lips. “I’d like that.”

“Good.” Riko nodded. “So, Tsushima, that’s your family name, right?”

“It is.”

“What is your given name?”

“You may call me Yohane.” A prideful declaration.

“Johannes?”

“Her name is Yoshiko.” Phobetor said.

“Curse you!” Yoshiko scolded her familiar.

“I’m no more cursed than you.” The cat seemed to shrug. “Because of you, I might add.”

“Because of…?” Riko tilted her head.

“As her familiar, my soul is bound to hers, and through said bond, the curse of her bloodline afflicts me as well.” He explained in a matter-of-fact tone. “However, be it labelled a curse, it has allowed me access to powers I would have lacked had I been summoned by a normal angel. To that end, I am grateful to serve Yoshiko as my master.”

“It’s Yohane!” Yoshiko insisted. “And of course you should be grateful to be my most elite familiar.”

“You’re only familiar.”

Yoshiko growled in frustration as Riko chuckled at the interaction as she got the feeling this was a fairly common thing between the two.

“So, Yochanan was it?” Riko asked after a moment.

“Yohane.”

“How about Yocchan?”

The blue-haired girl’s expression changed, and pink began to dust her cheeks. “A-alright…” She stuttered out. “B-b-but only Riri can call me by such a cute name.”

“Riri?”

“It’s only fair that I get to call you by a cute nickname as well.”

Well, it wasn’t exactly a name she would have chosen for herself, Riko couldn’t deny that the name was kind of cute. Kind of… maybe…

“You know, now that I’m awake,” Yoshiko continued, “I could really eat something.” As if on cue, her stomach grumbled.

Riko laughed as she stood up. “Alright, I’ll go see what I can find.”

“Oh, and whatever you find, bring some for Phobetor as well.”

“Alright.”

As the redhead made her exit, the blue-haired girl settled back down on the bed. Staring up at the ceiling, she thought this moment might mark the start of a new life. A more… heavenly life.

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

#fictober19 #YohaRiko #YoshiRiko #Sakurauchi Riko #Tsushima Yohane #Love Live Sunshine #Heavenly Life #fanfic #Tsushima Yoshiko

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