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holly-fixation · 6 months

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Silver Turncoat: Ch3

Summary: As night falls, the golden child and his kidnapper set up camp. On a far away island, the golden child's abandoned duty causes consequences for the unknown P0s.

Inspired by this prompt by @im-totally-not-an-alien

Please enjoy!

…

Chapter 3: Small Truths

After hours of searching in the dark, the pair finally found a decent arc in the mountains. Its walls barely dented the surface of the base, but it would have to do. Both of them placed all supplies on a single pile inside the deepest corner possible. Cloud opened one of the packs and emptied every support beam, fabric cover, and anchor of the tent.

“The tent is unnecessary,” Sephiroth explained. “We’re more likely to be spotted in something man made.”

“We’ll have to take that chance, because sleeping in those helmets is hell on your neck,” Cloud countered as he laid out the cover.

“It won’t affect my abilities.”

“What did I tell you before?” The blond assembled the support poles and matched them through their slots. “‘There’s no reason to suffer through pain if we’re not actively fighting’.”

“There’s no reason to waste resources during our first night in unknown terrain either.”

“I’m gonna pack it back up.” He almost chuckled before cringing a bit as he attached the rain fly, “Well, as long as no monsters attack it before I get the chance.”

“What’s the likelihood of that?”

Cloud shrugged.

Sephiroth said nothing before he sighed and assisted in jamming stakes into the ground.

“Thanks. Now it’s your turn.”

His knotting brows went unseen from under the helmet.

The blond rose and returned with the other tent pack.

“That’s more of a waste of resources.”

Cloud sighed. “Sephiroth, not everything needs to be efficient. I may have hijacked that helicopter but you’re not a prisoner.” There was an awkward pause before he continued carefully, “...for now, the least I can give you is some personal space.”

“...You’re doing this for my benefit?” The golden child regretted the words the moment they left his mouth, but it raised another, far more important question. “You never told me why you did this in the first place.”

They both began setting up the second tent as Cloud deflected, “I told you I would explain everything after-”

“If you still cannot provide the full explanation, then explain how taking me away from the battlefield benefits you directly or indirectly.” Sephiroth debated giving examples. Did he live in a country denying the expansion of mako energy? Did he sympathize with the enemy? Was this a way of getting back at Hojo? No matter the suggestions, the silver soldier needed to hear the truth without giving the blond an easy and falsified tale.

Cloud took a deep breath, thinking carefully about what he could reveal, about what possible angle he could take as a half truth.

Thankfully, the boy did not push and waited in silence.

“A powerful SOLDIER went insane and killed nearly everyone in my village, including me. Hojo showed up with security forces to clean up the mess and experimented on me and my friend, despite the fact that we both worked for Shinra and both did nothing wrong. I woke up in a mako tank. He’d take us out for these surgeries and tests and injections and gods know what else. I was barely conscious from the pain and mako poisoning. The friend broke us out and died protecting me.” The blond did not look at the boy, focusing solely on the task at hand. “That SOLDIER went crazy because of the stress Shinra put him under since the day he was born and the lies they told to keep him under control completely collapsed. I don’t want you to become that SOLDIER and do that to anyone else. I just hope that with all your battles you still have a chance to be saved…”

“Are you saying Shinra is lying to me? Why would they do that?”

“Between Hojo and everything else at Shinra, you’d be lucky to be getting half truths.”

The second tent finally stood tall. Cloud brushed the dust off his hands as Sephiroth reached for something in his pocket.

“Then tell me… Did they lie about her?” He held the small slip in front of Cloud carefully.

It was a photo of a woman with long brown hair and brown eyes. She wore a lab coat, a silver necklace, and a purple blouse. Her lips were curled in a soft smile, but her eyes were sad and empty.

Cloud couldn’t hide the look of absolute shock on his face as he supported the photo with both of his hands. Even Sephiroth saw the conflict in his eyes. “Wha… h-how did you get this?” His mako blue orbs didn’t hide this time, they stared straight into the helmet of the slitted ones.

“Professor Hojo gave it to me.”

“Who do you think this is?”

The direct accusation had Sephiroth’s lips parting in hope. “Do you recognize her? Do you really recognize her?”

Cloud nodded but continued to insist. “Yes. I do. But Sephiroth, who do you think this is?”

The boy allowed the teen to hold the photo as he removed the helmet to look at the photo clearly, a fond but pained expression in his eyes. “She’s my mother…” He spoke softly. “Her name is Jenova.”

The blond shook his head quickly, not in denial of the admission but of the dissonance with his memories. “If you knew what she looked like then why-?!” He cut himself off with a snap of his jaw.

“What are you talking about?”

He swallowed his emotions hard, scraping deep into his body with everything he had. “A half truth then…” Looking into Sephiroth’s large, innocent eyes nearly burned him. “They told you a half truth. That is your mother but her name is not Jenova.”

“But Hojo gave me the photo-”

“Her name is Lucrecia Crescent.”

Sephiroth silenced and listened to every coming detail.

“She was a scientist at Shinra many years ago and during that time, she and Hojo had you.” Cloud plowed through his explanation without a single pause. He couldn’t slip up again but neither could he stop his rapid thoughts. “Hojo stole you away when you were born and never let her see or hold you. She tried to get to you but he never gave her the chance.”

“Where is she? Do you know where she is?”

The naive desperation stung. “She’s…” He couldn’t hide everything from the boy. “She’s in a self induced coma.”

Sephiroth’s heart sank.

“After all attempts to get to you failed, she fell into a deep depression. She… never got out of it.” Why couldn’t Sephiroth look away? Why didn’t he direct that despair somewhere else? Why couldn’t he keep that stupid helmet on to hide his emotions?!

“...Can I at least see her? If you know where she is, can I at least see her? Just once?”

Cloud found himself nodding slowly. “I promise I will take you to her…” He sharply inhaled. “But we need to get to Nibelhiem first.”

“Does your friend know her too?”

Another nod.

Another look of pained hope in response.

“And he knows how to wake her up. I can’t do it by myself.”

Sephiroth held his hands to his heart and looked down. Hopeful. Broken. Too many opposing emotions ran through his mind. There was a long moment before something constricted him tenderly.

Cloud had hugged him.

The boy slowly moved his hands to the teen’s arms and Cloud tightened his hold.

He felt and heard a tear splash onto the black leather of his jacket.

“...how do I know you’re telling the truth…?”

The blond rubbed his back. “Because I have nothing to gain from lying to you. But the only way I can prove it is to take you with me.”

Sephiroth slowly nodded in agreement, but he never broke the hug. Cloud decided on his own what enough comfort was before patting his back twice and releasing him from his hold.

“Come on. Let’s eat something. It’ll help.”

Sephiroth didn’t have the will to argue. He sat in the open door of his tent and wiped his eyes as Cloud went back to the supply pile.

The blond returned with the remaining sack of sea worm skin and a few thin wooden sticks. He opened the sack and skewered three long pieces of meat. “Shoot…” Cloud glanced at Sephiroth. “Can I borrow your fire materia for a few minutes?”

Silver brows knotted. “Why do you need it…?” His voice still needed time to recover from the emotion.

“To cook the meat.”

“You can eat sea worm raw.”

“Yes you can, if you’re desperate or you hate yourself. But if you want it to actually taste okay, you have to cook it. Grilling is usually best too.”

“But you’re getting the same nutrition. There’s no benefit in eating something that tastes good.”

Cloud chuckled softly. “For all of Hojo’s research, he never looked this up?” Again, all he gained was a look of confusion. “Your body absorbs more nutrition from food you enjoy than food you don’t. An old friend always reminded me about the Wutaian food study. They made a group of Wutains the same meal, but half of them got the real meal, and the other half got this mashed up mush of the exact same meal. Same nutrition, right?”

The silver teen nodded.

“But the Wutaians that ate the mush absorbed less than half the iron of the Wutains that ate the normal meal.”

“They would need to run a control trial with the original meal first…”

The blond smirked at his correction. “They did. Everyone absorbed the same amount of iron at first. But with the mush, they absorbed less. What changed?”

He shrugged sluggishly. “...their enjoyment…?”

“Correct.”

Sephiroth glanced down. “That seems foolish…”

The blond shook his dandelion hair. “Call it what you want, but you can’t prove me wrong until you try it.”

A sigh left the child’s lips before he reached into his blade’s materia slots and tossed over the green orb.

Cloud immediately got to work, carefully turning the meal in one hand as the other held a steady flame below. Since the pieces were thin, they cooked fairly quickly.

The young soldier found the stick being pressed into his hand far sooner than he expected. “You want me to eat first?”

“I promise it’s not poisoned. But last time I tried to cook multiple skewers at once like this, I set the tent on fire.”

“Cooking in a tent is a bad idea.”

“Agreed. But I wasn’t in the tent and it still went up in flames.”

Sephiroth hesitantly gripped the skewer as Cloud returned to his own tent and began assembling another for himself. The boy took the slightest nibble of the cooked creature, barely a crumb reaching his taste buds and teeth. His eyes suddenly went wide and he devoured the meal before Cloud began cooking again. He licked the remaining stick clean almost possessively, not a single speck remaining after his task was complete.

Cloud glanced up and saw the boy staring intensely at the small spear. “Do you want another one?”

“...If we have enough, yes please.”

The blond smirked and nodded, making the golden child another simple meal without hesitation. A spark of hope fluttered in his chest that this might actually work. That this half baked, nearly impossible plan might actually go through.

* * *

All actions had consequences. SOLDIER’s failure to arrive on Rhadore was no exception. Whether or not the signal they sent to HeadQuarters made it was irrelevant. Rhadorans pinned the Shinra employees between the monster infested caves and their own forces in their forgotten temple. There was no escape. There was no effective last stand. The three P0s were dragged into windowless cells, the wooden gate somehow more than enough to keep them all trapped. Passive models. Project Zero. Zero loss if they died. And zero strength to escape.

Timeless hours of interrogation passed. Timeless torture for information. Timeless spills of truth, that they truly did not know what Shinra would do next.

And without any aid, why were they still blamed?

Each of the three sat against the stone walls with their hands and feet tied.

“Well, Team… look on the brightside. If I die, I’m no longer in debt!” The blond man joked despite the cough that followed, a small splash of crimson staining his sweater. “Ah damn…”

“Easy for you to say,” A bald man countered, his tone ever serious, “you’re not the one you owe money to.”

“Does it work if I send it in my will?”

“To my family?”

“Can you two just not right now?” The one woman with them argued, glaring at them both with sharp exhausted eyes. “This isn’t funny…”

“Gotta lighten the mood somehow,” The leader argued.

“Maybe the mood will lighten if they set us on fire next, Glenn.”

Glenn cringed but the other man spoke up.

“Lucia, don’t.”

“See what I mean?” Lucia sassed. “We can’t lose hope yet…”

“Team,” Glenn grabbed their attention with his suddenly grounded, serious tone. “...Matt. Lucia. Whatever happens to us, I’m sorry. I’m the leader and this is my responsibility. I never meant to walk you straight into danger.”

Matt closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall.

“It’s not your fault, Glenn. We got the coordinates HQ wanted but I don’t think they went through…”

A dark sigh claimed the room and silence followed. More timeless ticks of the invisible clock passed before the cell door rose and three warriors entered, each one covered head to toe in white cloaks and gray armor.

“This is your last chance to tell the truth,” The first Rhadoran spoke coldly. The other two simply followed behind and guarded the door.

“We really know nothing else…” Glenn muttered before wincing as his hair was grabbed tightly and the Rhadoran pulled up his head.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Believe whatever you want. It is the truth.” He glared harshly at the eyes staring daggers back, but he felt himself fall behind as he thought back on his time on these islands. “But before you kill us, tell me, is there still smoke coming from the other island?”

Their expressions dropped.

“That’s all I ask… please…”

“Why do you care about the smoke?” their captor countered.

“Just-! Is the kid okay?”

“What kid?”

“Do you think I’m making this up? The kid. The Eye of Rhadore.”

Another look of shock. The man grabbed Glenn by the collar. “What did you do to them?”

“Nothing. In fact, he helped us.”

He raised a fist, but one of the other men stopped him. “If you’re telling the truth, what’s their name?”

Glenn took a breath. “Rosen.”

At the sound of the name, they all stepped back. They glanced at each other, silently communicating what to do next. When they finally came to an agreement, they left through the door they came through, and the team was left without new wounds for the first time since their capture.

Thanks for reading!

To be continued…

Chapter list

Author’s Note: Matcha Green Tea (Matt, Glenn, and Lucia) are gonna take me some time to get used to. It’s my first time writing them but I’m excited.

#ffvii #sephiroth #final fantasy vii #ff7 #final fantasy 7 #cloud strife #glenn lodbrok #lucia lin #ff7ec #ff7 ever crisis #ever crisis

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bonesbuckleup · 4 years

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Lord, this answer got long. I’m a little embarrassed about it, but I wrote it, so it’s getting posted. It’s a literal essay. Sorry but also not?

TLDR: Yes, the show is arguably unfair to Sokka about Kya, but it also follows a pattern where Sokka stays quiet about Bad Feelings and plays by the rules established for his character. Katara, meanwhile, grieves loudly and often, and appears to be under the impression that because Sokka’s grief is silent it doesn’t exist, which also fits her character/interactions completely. Neither of them are right or wrong, but it sets them up on inevitable collisions.

Now. If you want to join me on a cactus-juice fueled descent into madness, proceed below the cut.

Number one. We’re referring to this exchange in “The Southern Raiders,” where the Gaang is talking about Zuko and Katara going after the man who killed Kya, which is vicious and brutal and never reflected on:

Aang: You sound like Jet. Katara: It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster. Sokka: Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right. Katara (angry, yelling): Then you didn't love her the way I did! Sokka (visibly hurt, softly): Katara.

And that’s it. Upon returning, Katara apologizes to Aang and not, as Anon is absolutely correct in pointing out, to Sokka, who is 100% the more injured party. Now. Is it possible this is one of the rare missteps from the atla writers? Yes. Absolutely. Is that the answer I’m about to write a literal fucking essay about? No. Because it’s more painful fun to take it as face value and talk subtext.

First, a reminder that this show is fucking good at what it does. It teaches you how each character grieves as we go: Aang explodes, often triggering the Avatar state, usually crying or angry, and when he does try to repress his Bad Feelings it rarely lasts longer than a day; Toph either shuts down or gets mad, but either way she doesn’t like people seeing her having Bad Feelings and often storms away, knowing that she can’t control it no matter how much she might want to; Zuko yells at the sky in a rainstorm or yells at his dad in an underground tunnel or challenges Zhao to an Agni Kai or yells at his uncle in a jail cell and generally is an emotive nuclear bomb because the boy has feelings and if he keeps them inside for more than three seconds he might explode okay.

Then we have Katara and Sokka.

Let’s start with Katara, since she has the most textual and straightforward displays of grief. She’s really the only one to talk about Kya’s death in Book 1. If Sokka mentions it, it’s barely in passing. I don’t think we hear Hakoda address her death at all (which I’ll return to in a moment.) Katara’s grief is loud. It’s angry. It’s still very much a living thing for her. She thinks she sees Kya in the swamp and breaks down crying, and tells Aang and Sokka about it with no hesitation. When she’s angry and sad at Hakoda for leaving, she acts out and is visibly upset with him, yells at him, cries at him. She out-loud hates Zuko when she comes to the conclusion that he told her about Ursa and got her to talk about Kya to manipulate her. It isn’t that her grief is performative, because it’s a very real and terrible thing, but it’s a grief that’s to be witnessed.

Then, Sokka. Sokka’s grief is more complicated because it exists almost entirely in subtext, especially in regard to Kya. We really only hear him talk about Kya twice, both in Book 3. First, to Toph, when he tells her that he can’t remember what Kya looks like. Worth noting, however, that even though it is Sokka talking, this is still centered on Katara and Katara’s grief. The next time is when Zuko asks what happened to Kya, and Sokka tells the story that leads into the initial flashback. Sokka doesn’t talk about his mom. This is a fact of the show. It’s such a fact of the show that, in “Southern Raiders,” after the exchange at the start of this post, while Katara and Zuko are on the hunt, Sokka doesn’t bring up Kya again and is messing around with Aang. Like nothing has happened or is currently happening--which I’ll come back to in a moment.

So while we can use Kya as a perfect example of how Katara grieves, we can’t really use her for Sokka. So let’s use Yue instead. Moments we see (or don’t see) Sokka grieving Yue:

In the opening to Book 2, we briefly have a shot of Sokka with the moon imposed behind him.

“The Swamp,” where Sokka’s vision is of Yue accusing him of not protecting her. This one is one of the more textual moments of grief--”I think about Yue all the time”--but what’s awful great about it is how Sokka tells Aang and Katara. Aang, obviously, has no qualms about sharing his vision. Katara openly talks about seeing Kya. Sokka only tells them about Yue when explicitly asked. Even then, he doesn’t mention what she said to him. From this, we can assume that Sokka is still holding onto a lot of guilt over her death--guilt that he won’t let Aang and Katara see. Anyway. Moving on.

“The Serpent’s Pass.” After spending all day panic protecting Suki, he tells her that he lost someone, but doesn’t go much further into detail, just saying that he can’t when she tries to kiss him. Of course, this is all happening in front of the moon. Again, though, Sokka stays vague. He doesn’t tell her any details.

“The Puppetmaster,” Toph posits that maybe the moon spirit has gone mean and is kidnapping people. Sokka snaps at her, in a moment definitely meant for laughs, saying, “The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady. She rules the sky with compassion and ... lunar goodness!” It is a funny moment, but here’s what we can take from it: Toph doesn’t know about Yue. Toph is a Feral Bastard a lot of the time, but she also knows where the line is, and I don’t think she’d’ve said that if she’d known.

“Boiling Rock,” in arguably the most quoted (and well deservedly so!) line in the entire show. “My first girlfriend turned into the moon.” “...that’s rough, buddy.” COMEDIC GOLD. Also, weirdly, the literal only time that Sokka explicitly tells someone about Yue in the course of the show.

“Ember Island Players” which I haven’t hit in my rewatch yet, but I definitely remember a moment where Suki asks Sokka when he was gonna tell her he made out with the moon, and he tearfully shushes her. Again, played for laughs, but the implication is that he still hasn’t told Suki about what happened.

This plays perfectly into the same way that Sokka (doesn’t) talks about his mom. When the Bad Feelings come, Sokka either avoids them and finds a distraction (Goofs with Aang--see, told ya we’d come back to that) or stays silent. When someone explicitly asks him about the Bad Feelings--what he saw in the swamp, what’s eating at him in “Sokka’s Master,” why he’s panic-protecting Suki--he’ll answer, but often talks around the actual issue. (Interestingly, it’s in regard to Suki we see the most explicit manifestation of Sokka grieving as Azula taunts him during the invasion: he cries, he attacks Azula, he yells and questions her despite the fact he knows she’s wasting their time. I think this one hits him because, as this beautiful post points out, Suki’s the protector in the relationship, and Sokka can actually chill out for 2 seconds. But he let his guard down, and Azula got Suki. Anyway. That’s probably a different essay: back to the matter at hand.) We even see this in “Boiling Rock.” There’s a moment where they think Hakoda is not with the other political prisoners. Sokka’s tense, drawn tight, but the only thing he says is, “No.”

Basically, we’ve got Katara, who grieves loudly and rages and is kinda like white-water rapids that churn and churn and churn. And we’ve got Sokka, who, to quote John Mulaney, looks at his grief and says, “I’ll just keep all my emotions right here and then one day I’ll die.” Iceberg grief, to keep the water metaphor going.

And where did these come from? Yup! Water Tribe gender roles! What we know from the show is that, while the South is typically more progressive (women can train as benders and marry who they want, at least) than the North, it’s still very rigid: the men are warriors/hunters/protectors, the women stay home to cook/clean/child-rear.

Now: subtext! And why I think they are this way!

We’ll start with Katara. The last waterbender in the South Pole. She no doubt grew up doted on. If I say she’s most likely a little spoiled, I don’t mean it in a bad way--I mean it in a she’s the last living remnant of this aspect of their culture kind of way. When raiders come, she’s probably the first priority to protect. Kya dies to keep her safe. Her needs are generally put before the community as a whole. (This isn’t to say that Katara doesn��t contribute or care about her community, because she 100% does). But! Especially in Book 1, we see Katara often considering her opinions as facts (trusting Jet, the waterbending scroll) and doesn’t always pause to consider the larger impact that her actions will have (scroll and Jet again, challenging Pakku, dressing up as the Painted Lady despite the fact the factory will hold the village responsible). And many of these actions are good! But we see a lot of Katara being pretty self-centered--what can I do, how does this impact me, how do I feel about this? And this isn’t a bad thing! This aspect of her character makes her complicated and complex! Katara loves her family and protecting people and caring for them! She’s extremely empathetic! But she also struggles to meet people where they’re at when they emote in a different way than she does (see: her clashes with Toph, her initial problems with Zuko joining the group, the above interaction with Sokka). It’s also worth talking about how Katara witnessed her mother’s death, which no doubt makes her grief about it a sharper thing.

Then, again, Sokka. Also loved in his community! But a normal kind of love, I’d assume. He probably was raised on stories of the Fire Nation dragging waterbenders away. No one exemplifies the Water Tribe ride-or-die mentality quite as well as Sokka, or the gender roles of the man as the warrior/protector, so you gotta believe Hakoda raised that kid to look after his sister at all costs, which we see throughout the show (already preparing to go after Aang in the South Pole because he know Katara’s going anyway, “You burned my sister!”) And he isn’t there when his mom dies. He finds out later. He goes from feeling like a victor who helped chased the raiders away to the worst realization of his life. I have to imagine he’s ashamed by the fact that he thought everything was going to be okay, which leads into his worldview of assuming that nothing is okay ever in any circumstance.

Finally, Hakoda. Who never, unless I’ve forgotten something, talks about Kya. All we know is that their family fell apart after her death (per Sokka in “The Runaway,” learning how Katara stepped up to hold everything together) and sometime after he took the warriors and straight up left. He apologizes for leaving but doesn’t address the fact that he left Katara and Sokka with no parents at all, only the war. This is, uh, not exactly echoing a healthy coping mechanism?

My theory: Kya dies. Since the Water Tribe is so embedded in gender roles, Hakoda probably shut down and/or checked out emotionally for a while. This leaves his kids on their own to deal with their shit, and we learn Katara does everything she can to keep her family going. As the most protected individual in the South, Katara’s probably been taught that emotions equal attention, and uses her temper/caring/sadness to help bring her community closer. Meanwhile, Sokka, who hero worships his dad, watches Hakoda go stoic and learns that “real men” shove their shit down. Additionally, Katara’s grief is deafeningly loud, and Sokka’s number 1 role is to keep Katara safe. He’s taught that the Bad Feelings only get in the way and make things worse, and so he learns to be fine no matter what kind of terrible is going down around him. Basically, Katara learns to use grief as a needle and thread, and Sokka learns to bury it as deep as he can and avoid it at all costs. Opposite reactions to the same trauma. Katara gets mad and demands to be heard and listened to and seen, and Sokka gets sarcastic and prepares himself for the day the Fire Nation ships come back for his sister.

So. Back to those above lines from “Southern Raiders.”

From a writing standpoint, I do wish the final moment was between Katara and Sokka versus Katara and Aang. They could’ve had an almost identical interaction, but it would’ve been more nuanced. I don’t think that Katara needed to apologize, but I think we needed some acknowledgement from both of them: Katara continuing the lesson she’s learned about how her pain doesn’t entitle her to hurt other people (including Sokka, who is there no matter what she says or does), and Sokka that Katara’s process of grieving had to involve this catharsis.

Or. Maybe not. Because again--subtext. Their grief works in such different ways that I have to imagine this isn’t a new fight. It was probably brutal and vicious for a very long time. Maybe that’s part of what made Sokka try and go with the warriors. Maybe that’s part of why Katara gets mad so quickly in the first episode of the show. But eventually, unable to find an answer, they just...stop talking about it. Because the two of them don’t talk about it. Katara only talks about her mom with people who aren’t Sokka, and Sokka does exclusively to Toph and Zuko.

The only time I can think of Katara and Sokka talking about it together is the exchange at the top of this post, and it gets ugly fast, and it isn’t brought up again. It’s a fight that will never be resolved, because they fundamentally can’t react to one another in a way that can be universally understood.

“You didn’t love her the way I did!” Katara yells, loudly, because if Sokka loved her then why isn’t he raging? Why isn’t he getting his sword and coming to help her? Why doesn’t Sokka want to burn this firebender to the ground and make him see and hear and look at what he’s done to the world? To their family? He must not understand. He must not care as much or he’d be screaming with her.

“Katara,” Sokka says, much quieter, and adds nothing else. Not because there isn’t anything else to say, but because Sokka can’t talk about this kind of thing. Not doesn’t want to, but can’t, because it’s his job to protect people, protect Katara, and if he lets all those old hurts come boiling up he can’t do that, because that ends with losing focus and losing control and people getting hurt or going away. Why can’t she understand that?

And then they do what they always do. They don’t bring it up again.

#LITERAL ESSAY BY TUMBLR USER BONESBUCKLEUP #Sokka #Katara #atla #this is what isolation has done to me #this is the nerdiest bullshit that I've spewed in a while #felt good though #writing's been hard recently #I'm working myself back into it through atla shitposts and meta #long post #If I could harness this energy into something other than fandom I might rule a small country by now?#oh well

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ygreczed-3 · 4 years

Photo

The Red Guard and the Snow Angel

Summer Falls desert concept art

Hank and Connor

Gavin and Nines meditating + thunder, snow, fire and wind seal

Gavin and the thunder spirit

More concept arts - traditional art & inking

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

When they go through the Summer Falls desert, Connor and Nines pass out fairly soon due to their intolerance to fire magic. They only get better at night, when the temperature drops, so they stay awake to watch out while the humans sleep. During the day Hank and Gavin have to take them on their horse/Sumo and walk beside them, even though the intense heat isn't making things easy for them either. They reach a village in an oasis where Connor and Nines get better, and when they realize there's a spring in it, they decide to go and rest a bit as the night arrives.

Nines and Gavin are gone meditating on a less crowded part of the spring.

Gavin : That's stupid… How can this make me stronger than my training ? Nines : Stop talking and focus on your breathing. Gavin : Grmphh.. Nines : Can you feel the source of magic inside your body ? Gavin : … Yeah. Nines : You have to… establish a connection with it. Show him you don't fear it Gavin : But I fear it. Nines : The war spirit you host is an incredible source of power, and you can believe me, it is as bellicose as you are. It only needs a goal to aim for and you'll be able to channel its energy. Gavin : … You know I'm your enemy… Why do you help me ? Nines, closed eyes : I know I can compete with you. I'm ready to be challenged. And it's funnier to fight a skilled warrior than a scared little boy. Gavin : … Fucker.

Connor and Hank in the hot spring

Connor : I think that's what your hug feels like. Hank : hm ? Connor : The hot water. I think it's what hugs feel like. Hank : You said my hugs... Connor : Did I ? I was just thinking… about how you hug Sumo sometimes. He loves it. Hank : Yeah, this big boy loves cuddles I admit that. Connor : It must feel good. Hank : What… You've never been hugged before ? Connor : Golems do have… intimate behaviors, of course but it's not… I mean we're… not physically warm, so... (NB : I was thinking golems in this universe would be like vampires, not as freezing as actual snow but still colder than humans) Hank : ...Thought you didn't like heat that much. Connor : Warmth from human's touch is different from fire magic : it feels more… safe, less aggressive. I think I'd like that. Hank : … How do you know that ? Connor : I touched your back to heal it, remember ? Your warmth feels nice. Hank : Yeah okay, you touched me, but you don't know what my hugs feel like ? Maybe you'd hate that. Connor : I wish I could know.

They look at each other, but then Hank looks away and stands up.

Hank : It's late, I'm tired. I'm going back to the inn. Connor seems disappointed, but then Hank keeps going. Hank : You coming ?

When they enter the room they share all together, Nines is already in stasis and Gavin is snoring loudly.

Hank takes Connor's wrist silently, looking at him in the eyes as if tacitly asking for permission. Connor just lets himself be enveloped by wide arms, and rests his cheek on his collar bone.

Connor sighs, closing his eyes as he enjoys that nice bear hug. He feels that warm something in his chest growing in his body, invading his stomach with pleasing flutters.

Connor : Hank… Hank : Shhh… it would be embarrassing to wake those two idiots up now.

Connor bites his lower lip as he silently reaches for Hank's hand, his skin turning white as he presses gently each of his fingers against Hank's. It's known to be a quite intimate gesture among golems, and the closest human equivalence to it would be a kiss. Connor is aware that it could even be interpreted as indecent given how close their bodies are, and that if Nines was to wake up at that moment he would probably choke on thin air. Of course Hank has no clue about that and just thinks it's funny.

Hank : What, you wanna dance ?

Connor realizes they're holding each other on the left side and touching hands on the right side, and it seems like they're going to waltz. He chuckles from the absurdity of the situation from a human's perspective.

Connor : I wouldn't know how to. Hank : Good thing, I'm a terrible dancer. Connor : Ahah...hmm, Hank, I like it. Can we stay like this for a moment ? Hank : Sure.

One night in the middle of the desert, Gavin is on the watch as Hank sleeps in the tent. Connor is with him, but Nines inexplicably stays around the fire, silent. Gavin is bored out so he just starts the conversation.

Gavin : I feel like the old man and your stupid brother are getting along. Nines : I have this feeling too. Gavin : Doesn't bother you? Nines : What can I do ? I asked Connor to be careful, but I'm not blind… He's shining with glee whenever Hank is around him. I can't… force him not to feel. Also, I think Hank isn't that bad of a person… for a human. Gavin : Still certain we're the bad guys ? Think about it : you were made to serve us. You betrayed your creators and let us starve like dogs. Nines : Humans didn't create us. Kamski did, and if he had wanted to, he could have made unthinking, obedient golems. Maybe we were meant to break free. Gavin : Oh yeah, so why can't you even procreate ? Simple answer: you were not designed to be an individual species from the start. You were built with no other purpose in life than to help us survive. Nines : Didn't that even occur to you that humans did bad things too ? Gavin : We're just trying to survive ! Nines : So we are. Gavin : … So what ? You're saying we're two evils ? Of course we are. But I have to protect my people, you understand that ?

Nines stays silent, exploring the surprisingly genuine glare Gavin throws at him. Of course he understands that. His own despise for humanity is only driven by his deep desire to protect Connor, Marcus, and his people. He looks back at the fire heating them, unconsciously processing how ridiculously similar they are.

And yet, something starts growing in his mind, the irritating sensation his relationship with Gavin has changed from the moment they met, and that he unexpectedly wanted to protect him as well.

Nines : Would you kill me ?

He can't even explain how this sentence even made it out of his throat. He already knows the answer. Gavin stares at him longingly, noticeably surprised by the question. He stays silent as he puts more wood in the fire.

Gavin : If I had to, I probably would. But I… hum… don't want to. Nines : … hm. Gavin : What about you ? Would you kill me ? Nines : I don't know. If lives were at stake, certainly, even if I'd find this decision… regrettable. Gavin : ... Oh wow, is that your way to tell me you like me ? Nines : … Don't set your hopes too high.

Gavin breathes in a laugh and goes back to silence, smiling smugly.

They arrive in Nestlepeek and split in two teams, Hank and Connor go to the center of the town, where Connor hopes to find more precise information about Kamski and where he hides.

Gavin and Nines were supposed to go buy supplies, but as they head to the covered market, they are challenged by a man in the street to defeat his champion in a fight. As Nines realizes it's all for illegal gambling, Gavin accepts and finds himself in a cage, combating a birdman.

He thinks he's got the hang of it but as soon as the birdman starts flying Gavin can't touch him with his sword anymore and becomes vulnerable to his aerial attacks.

Nines : Gavin ! Summon the spirit ! Gavin : No way ! Nines : You'll lose if you don't ! Gavin : I know what I'm doing, alright !? Nines : You obviously don't ! Thunder magic gives you advantageous long throw attacks, you can't win against a flying foe with close combat techniques ! Gavin : I think I killed enough Golems to know how to fight flying foes ! Nines : You bastard…

Nines uses his snow magic to catch the champion in ice and immobilize him.

Owner : What the hell !!! Who did that ?! Nines : I did. I'll replace your champion, open the cage.

The owner is confused first but then he sees the opportunity and accepts. Nines enters the cage and gets ready to fight.

Gavin : … You wanna die ? Told you I could do it. Nines : We've been talking about this fight for ages. It's time to see what you're capable of.

They start fighting and they're pretty even for the first ten minutes. Their fight gathered a lot of gamblers and spectators.

When Nines starts to take advantage, Gavin's eyes suddenly turn bright yellow, and he charges at him : Nines can see the thunder magic halo surrounding him. He parries many strikes but Gavin has gained in speed and ferocity. Soon enough, Gavin throws him to one extremity of the cage, and as the crowd around them is screaming in excitement, Gavin holds up his dagger. He's trembling, electricity forming around his hand.

Nines can make eye contact but somehow, Gavin isn't answering his glare.

Nines : Gavin- You hear me ?

Gavin doesn't say anything, and Nines is sure he's gonna die when the human warrior shoots down his dagger… only to hit one of the cage's bars just behind him. Gavin closes his eyes, and opens them, showing blue-green orbs again, and he straightens up, breathless.

The crowd boos them as Gavin takes a step back and drops the other dagger. He asks the owner to open the cage and leaves the place, Nines following him, still out of breath as well.

Nines : Gavin !

Gavin stops, letting Nines get closer, until they face each other again.

Nines : You did it. You mastered the spirit… Do you realize that ? Gavin : I could have killed you, then everyone around me. That's what the spirit wanted to do… Do you realize that ? Nines : But you didn't. With a bit more training-... Gavin : I almost killed you, Nines, for fuck's sake ! Nines : … So what ? Thought you were ready to. Gavin : Listen, this beast wanted you dead, everyone dead so bad… How can I… How can I use this power when I know how dangerous and unstable it is? Nines : … But you stopped it, right ? You can control it. Gavin : You fucker, if it wasn't for you, I know I couldn't have stopped it. I would have killed all those strangers, I know that, and I'm not… I'm not a murderer. Nines : … What do you mean, for me ? Gavin : Drop it. I need some air, don't follow me.

Hank and Connor enter the library, Connor is looking for the archived events-records to see if Kamski came into this village (which is most likely given it's the first one you can find after the desert)

It appears that the local people can fly so the library is very high, and most scales don't even reach the top of the bookshelves.

Hank : How the hell can we reach the archives ? Connor : Wait a minute, I'll go there and take some volumes with me.

Connor spreads his wings, that widen to support his weight as he takes off to the highest point of the library. Hank is impressed by how graceful Connor looks in the air. When the golem comes back with a consequential pile of old, handwritten books, he's just there, mouth open in amazement.

Connor : Here we go… the last 10 years of history in this village… Ready to pull an all-nighter ?

Hank doesn't reply.

Connor : Hank ? Hank : You're beautiful.

Connor blinks once, his lips slightly parted from the surprise, his eyes conveying nothing else than confusion and yet, low-key content.

Connor: ..I'm sorry ? Hank : When you fly I mean… that's impressive… and beautiful. Connor : Huh… Thank you, I guess ? Anyway hum… let's… let's find a table… Hank : “Thank you” ? But do you even realize how beautiful you are ? Connor : I was created to meet some human ideal. Why would I be proud of something that isn't my doing ? Hank : Ah, don't be so modest. Connor : … you know, I think I find humans more attractive than Golems. Each one of you is unique, and I love everything you call “flaws”.

Hank laughs halfheartedly at his last line.

Hank : You don't make sense, kid.

They read the archives until it's dark outside. Hank can't help but yawn as Connor lights the candles to keep reading.

Connor : You can go back to the inn, Gavin must be there already, and Nines can take over. Hank : Nah, I'm good. Connor : Hm… Hank : You okay ? You look… worried. Connor sighs : … What if we can't find Kamski ? What if… I was wrong, what if we had to go back to Detroit and Jericho with just nothing ? I don't want to return to a situation where I'll have to fight you… I just can't. Hank : … Yeah, I understand that. I don't think I can remain a Red Guard after what we've been through… After I got to know you. Connor : If we were to fail… nothing will never be the same again. Without you.

Hank just looks at Connor with sharp eyes, as if he's got the urge to say something. At this point Hank knows he's falling for the Golem, but of course, he won't say anything, because he's sure it's only one sided, Connor is so young and handsome he can't possibly feel the same.

Actually the dark haired golem is totally in love with the man, but again, he thinks Hank can't reciprocate his feelings since he's probably into women (after all he used to have a wife), and definitely not into Golems anyways. It just feels so unfair to both of them to consider going back to their normal life when they just want to stay with the other so bad. They just wish they could stay together and run away in some romantic and lovesick lunacy. Again, they won't tell each other about it.

#detroit become human #dbh #The red guard and the snow angel #TRGATSA #dbh hank #dbh connor #dbh gavin #dbh nines #reed900 #hankcon #dbh hankcon #dbh reed900

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crowsent · 3 years

Text

tales from the smp: the village that went mad ft. salt losing his goddamn mind

“im jack. and. im a farm person, and i like p o t a t o e s”

starting the stream well i see. ponk coming in with generic potato boy and i love him for it

QUACKITY

“my name is helga, wife of badboyhalo” QUACKITY

karl: “bad, explain your character other than person that beats up their wife”

bad, immediately: “well, i do declare that my name is jimmy and im the mayor of this town”

and then bbh just fucking starts spinning around when hes asked what the name of this town is, theres a pause, and then he fucking hits us with “not a very good town, town” like BAD

this is why i love this man

this is why i fux with this man

he is unparalleled

but as much as i love bbh and would literally murder god for him, he still canNOT match the quiet theatricality of mr corpsehusband saying “im gonna turn around and itll all make sense” and then he has a fucking CAT TAIL

corpse “choke me like you hate me” husband is a fucking CATBOY ladies and gentlemen

hes a fucking catboy which further proves something which we already knew was true all along: furries exist in minecraft and are, in fact, accepted in society and treated no less differently than humans

this is why fundy and antfrost can just walk around without anyone telling them shit

this is why wilbur can fuck a salmon

corpse “catboi” husband paved the fucking road and drove down in a custom vintage jaguar so every other furry on the smp could fucking drive behind him in a second hand porsche

i salute you mr corpsehusband

truly amazing

miles memeington, connoisseur of steak and bob, “bob the builder” need no explanation

CORNELIUS COMING IN WITH THE BRIGHTASS NEON GREEN BODYSUIT EVERYBODY

GIVE IT UP FOR CORNELIUS

BEST RPER ON THE ENTIRE SMP

CORNELIUS GREENBODYSUIT EVERYONE

tubbo with the very cute ‘i am robin, i am an orphan child” being IMMEDIATELY ruined by karl sayin

“dont let technoblade hear about that”

i love this already

feed me technoblade lore. the man never fucking uploads so i have to get content adjacent to him

i wanna hear about technoblade the orphan killer. i want that backstory lore

and also i wanna protect robin the orphan boy because hello???????????

that skin???????

let me adopt you mr orphan boy

i love quackity just very casually going “my husband and i had intercourse” at the fucking TOWN MEETING BY THE WELL

truly

quackity’s comedy is unmatched

“hes into lots of weird stuff. he taught me this one thing called dunderhead”

and IMMEDIATELY someone (cant tell who, i have auditory processin issues) fucking goes “i DO NOT know this woman” and tbh if i were in that fucking town hall listening to my fucking weirdass neighbour casually lay out all her family secrets, id fucking say that shit too. id fucking disown this bitch as my neighbour. id fucking pretend she doesnt exist

imagine your fucking next door neighbour siddling up to you in the fucking w*lmart while youre just minding your own goddamn business trying to buy a fucking banana and your next door neighbour helga is dressed in a fucking bikini going “my husband fucked me so hard i couldnt walk” and even though you are clearly not interested and trying desperately to get away from her and her wackass gossip, helga goes ahead and fucking LISTS OUT HER HUSBANDS KINKS IN THE FUCKING FRUIT AISLE AT FULL VOLUME

id die

id just fucking die

id uninstall life right then and there

id pack my fucking bags and take a fucking extended vacation to guatemala and never return. id fucking change my goddamn name just to ensure that people never associate me with this woman.

thats what quackity is doing and i am very thankful this man exists and has given us the treasure that is helga

cOuLd iT Be iN ThE nAMe oF SaTaN???????? 🤔

karl

bruh

bustin out the fucking OLD conspiracies huh

“or could it be in the name of content on karls stream”

and hes just casually breaking the 4th wall too huh

kinda stealing techno “ill read donations in the middle of rp bc i need a distraction” blade’s go-to method there huh

its fucking funny tho. hes narrating this all serious-like but then he just goes “content on my stream uwu” and unrepentantly shatters that suspension of disbelief (in a good way)

but it wouldnt even matter bc apparently, satan and karls content have no difference

does protection exist in the smp? im worried for helgas health

the woman visited 3 different fucking houses in one night

i love how the rp just stops dead in its tracks around the campfire

no one was using any of the names

corpse was out here calling everyone by their actual names and not the names of their characters

this might just be bc im a pathological liar whos seen and heard shit but

i love him but

i mean

bbh cant lie

the man cannot lie

his voice is off, pitch wrong, tone sus

he is deffo a murderer

being accused of something hes not would make a person defensive/angry and bbh is not either

the man is LYING

and his argument/defense was LITERALLY tubbos

man cant lie

send this murderer to hell

tubbo can lie, but imo hes not. his voice is the voice of a person whos telling the truth

man is legit the doctor

a doctor who chose to fucking lay on the LORE

father killed in the red-eyed village wars????? mother taken from a young age?

motherfucker brought the LORE

motherfucker brought the SOB STORY

motherfucker legit said “here is my canonical in-character reason for being a doctor fuck you”

and honestly

what is bads defense?

karl asked if the town should kill an orphan over a mayor and there is legit no right answer to that

there is no good rebuttal

so bad straight went “you make a great point. just execute me”

amazing

10/10

idk who said it but “orphans just suck up resources” whoever you are i love you

i was eating my chips in peace but then i almost choked

thank

I FUCKING KNEW TUBBO WASNT THE MURDERER

his voice did not match

my bets on fucking ponk

its fucking DREAM

DREAM MURDERER

my respect for this man

motherfucker

shouldve known

he was kinda quiet at first but then he suddenly started talking a lot

son of a BITCH

gg dream

round 1 wasnt very rp heavy but

i can excuse that

who in the FUCK is making choking donald duck noises

who

bbh got a new skin cool

WHO IS MAKING THE CHOKING DONALD DUCK NOISES

corpse, about dreams death: “they killed him in front of me”

the town: “who was it corpse?”

ladies and gentlemen corpse, without a moments hesitation: “im also blind”

so the murderer is deffo not corpse. deffo not tubbo. probably not lazarbeam probably not bbh

that leaves quackity, george, and ponk

MY PARTNER WAS KILLED

i knew corpse was a catboi but i didnt know that mr dream “i went on a date and almost married a fox” wastaken partnered with a fucking catboy

what is this

dnf is out, dream corpse is in /j

bruh

MY PARTNER WAS KILLED

bro

the tragedy

CALM DOWN WENCH THE BOY DID NOTHIGN

CORPSE

STOP

CORPSE

standing up for tubbo like that

corpse

please

my heart cannot handle this

okay so its deffo not corpse and tubbo. most likely not quackity after that fucking disaster at the campfire. probably not lazarbeam or bbh. still think its george and ponk

CORPSE

he got executed trying to console tubbo who legit WENT IN THE PRISON TRYING TO LOOK FOR HIM

BRUH

WHAT THE FUCK

TUBBO

technically its robin but

TUBBO

he lost his father so quick what the FUCK

i will murder god for robin

the little shaking head he does after corpse got killed. going completely silent as he lost the one family he had left.

bruh

robin bby no

I KNEW HE WASNT THE MURDERER

tubbo

im sorry

I KNEW IT WAS PONK

was wrong about lazarbeam/george tho

bruh

what the fuck

tubbo/robin honey i am so so sorry

catboi corpse i am so so sorry

#tales from the smp #dsmp #salt liveblogs

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himbo-the-clown · 3 years

Text

Okay yes I’m Jewish Father Brown posting again but I don’t yet have the time/energy to write my Jewish Inspectors fic and I want to project my Jewish Feelings onto these men so hear me out

Not only are all the inspectors Jewish, but they all deal with being Jewish in a heavily Catholic post-war small village in a different way

Valentine:

He’s kind of come to terms with the fact that antisemitism is just... part of his life. It’s gonna happen. He won’t actively antagonise anyone or flaunt that he’s Jewish, but he’s also not about to pretend to be xtian either

Yes he’s an atheist, yes he’s Jewish, no those two aren’t incompatible and he will be pissy about it if you ask him how he can be both. He’ll answer you, sure, but he’ll make it Very Clear he doesn’t appreciate it

Generally, he’s Not Here To Educate the xtians about Judaism

When he first meets Sullivan there’s a sort of moment of Recognition. He makes sure as he’s leaving to drop a hint that he’s also Jewish. Just so Sullivan knows that he’ll at least mostly be safe there

Okay so side tangent Sid headcanon that will become relevant: Sid’s Jewish. He was sent away during the Blitz (I’m estimating based on vague calculations that he was about 15 or so at the time) to an xtian family, and when his parents died he just sort of had to stay. So he was raised xtian and was never allowed to acknowledge that he was Jewish. I mean, most people can sort of tell and he gets stereotyped a lot for it, but he doesn’t know why because he’s just totally oblivious and the family he stayed with were Very Insistent that he was a good xtian boy and not a Jew and he ended up pretty much forgetting. He’s kind of heard hints of it from his grandmother when he gets to see her, but she wasn’t in a position to raise him and she thinks he’s probably safer not knowing

Anyway Valentine is very protective over Sid cause he sees this young Jewish guy who doesn’t even know that he has a whole culture, a whole family of people all over the country. A family who are collectively grieving. Sid doesn’t know what horrors have befallen his people (he knows what happened, but not that they’re His People). Valentine’s heart aches a bit whenever he thinks about it and he sort of vows to protect Sid in his own gruff way.

Valentine is proud of being Jewish but in a very quiet way. He’s not going to change himself to fit xtian society but also he’s sensible enough to know it’s a pretty bad idea for him to be Too Loud about it in Kembleford

Sullivan:

Oh this man fakes everything. He has never been authentic a day in his life. He pretends to be xtian, he pretends to be cishet, he pretends to be neurotypical. Nothing about how this man presents himself is authentic

He’s valid though, he knows the dangers of being different and he’s not about to give people a reason to hurt him

He’s from the East End of London, so he’s actually not used to hiding his Judaism as much. He’s from a heavily Jewish community and he was terrified when he got transferred to a small village

Why does he wear so much hair gel? Curls. Big springy Jewish curls. He can’t let people see them. He’s very very very strict about having hair gel in any time he leaves the house. Enough hair gel to keep his hair straight, which is a lot

He’s sort of... trying. To pretend to be xtian. But he’s really not very good at it. Like I said, he grew up in a heavily Jewish neighbourhood, he doesn’t know much about xtians other than, y’know, all the times they’ve oppressed the Jews. So he sort of goes to church when he remembers and tries to copy everyone else, but it doesn’t work very well. And he’ll pretend to celebrate Christmas but it doesn’t make much sense to him and he’s very uncomfortable

Most of his hostility towards Father Brown is because of the big alarm bells that go off in his head when he sees a priest in general. At all times he’s half expecting the Father to start talking about the “hypocrites in the synagogue” or some other equally thinly veiled antisemitism. He’s had Bad Experiences, he’s traumatised, and he’s having a Very Bad Time

He’s half envious of Sid and half pities him. Part of him wishes he was as ignorant of antisemitism and Judaism as Sid is, part of him wishes that Sid was as painfully aware of it as he is. But all of him feels a weird attachment to Sid because they’re both queer nd Jews, even if Sid doesn’t know it

He also sort of hates the Father for hanging out with Sid because he’s heard all the stories of priests stealing Jewish children to raise them xtian and while it’s not Quite the same situation with Sid, it’s a painful sort of echo of it, and he just desperately wants to save Sid, to teach him about who he is. And because of this mental association, seeing Sid do anything xtian feels like a punch to the stomach for him because it reminds him that Sid doesn’t know he’s Jewish

He got this sort of painful gut wrenching feeling when he saw Sid dressed as a priest. Like he felt physically sick even once he realised it was just an undercover job. It just hit way too close to home, especially with Sid not even knowing he’s not xtian

He’s calmed down a lot and is less jumpy by the time he leaves. He even thinks it’s a little funny when he finds out that the man taking over for him is also Jewish. He thinks about Valentine, he thinks about himself, he thinks about Mallory, and he thinks about how they’re sort of like a family. Almost like three generations, like being the Inspector is a family business. It makes him feel kind of warm and fuzzy in a way he hasn’t felt since his last Passover back in London with his whole family sitting around the seder table, and he can’t wait to have Passover with them again soon

Mallory (beloved bastard man):

He leans into it hard

Yeah, he’s Jewish, and what the fuck do you plan to do about it?

Durham has never really been known for it’s Jewish community, so he’s more than used to being the only Jew around

Part of why he’s such a horrible little bastard man is that he’s come to just accept Jewish stereotypes. His thought process is a little something like “if you’re going to accuse me of it anyway, I might as well do it”

He’s a stubborn guy, so he just decides to embody all the stuff people think he should be. Sure he’ll be annoying and rude and immoral and promiscuous and weak and all the other horrible things xtians think a Jewish man is

No he will not participate in xtian things if he can help it. He will not go to church, he will not celebrate Christmas unless he has to, he will not call Father Brown “Father”

He calls him “padre” because he refuses to call a priest “Father” it’s just too weird and xtian to him

He does NOT like Sid. He hates Sid a lot. He kinda blames Sid for not working harder to hold on to his Judaism (he’s Not valid for this, but it’s how he feels)

Anyway I’m not saying any of this is Good, but like.......let me have my Bad Jewish Representation

Also I like to think he speaks Yiddish :3

Anyway, one day I’ll write my Jewish Inspectors fic

#דיברתי #father brown #rabbi brown #I know there's probably an audience of like 3 Jewish father brown fans but I can and will subject the whole fandom to my bullshit #not to project my own Jewish traumas onto them but like... that's exactly what I'm doing #the Jewish Inspectors fic WILL be heart wrenching but I emotionally need to write it for my own sake tbh

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crashingmeteorz · 4 years

Text

zuko brings a lot to the table when he joins the gaang, especially the return of the ba sing se bimbos (jinjetsongko)

credit as always to @azenkii!

when they all eventually join team avatar, in my mind, it still happens after the Betrayal by zuko. this is obviously very Angsty and Intense, but that’s a post for another day.

song and her mother, through a series of Strange Events, make their way into the fire nation in disguise and end up in a village that the gaang passes through, just before the invasion. she and katara recognize each other, and song asks to go with them to help at the invasion.

at first, song positively Freaks Out at meeting aang and also at the fact that he’s ALIVE. katara eventually calms her down enough to ask, “are you comfortable going to the front lines of the invasion, song? we need healers, but this will get very dangerous.”

“oh, i think i’ll be alright,” song says mischeviously.

jin ends up at the boiling rock for trying (and failing, but not without a good hard fight) to free mushi/iroh. how does she end up in the crystal catacombs? idk yet, but she was there, and boy was she PISSED at lee. azula took her away before zuko had much of a chance to argue - he’s ashamed to say he didn’t try very hard.

of course, she meets suki, and has her own fan girl moment. she also develops a very quick crush. i mean, yeah, she’s the leader of the kyoshi warriors so of course sokka was obsessed but after meeting suki jin’s like how could you NOT fall in love.

jet, who has been brainwashed by the dai li, goes with them to the fire nation. he’s assigned to dangerous reconnaissance missions that azula plans, which she ensures that zuko finds out about, since she’s doing it purely as a way to test his loyalty. it works - because this, along with zuko’s other realizations in book three, is what makes him fully denounce the fire nation. when he leaves to teach aang, he drags jet along with him.

this trip is less than easy, because jet, who is, again, brainwashed, bounces between attempting to murder zuko for his betrayal, and treating zuko as his ward to be protected.

at some point on the trip, after an extreme mood swing, during which they both almost die, they’re breathing heavily on either end of the war balloon, and zuko says “you’re giving me emotional whiplash.”

“OH AM I, LEE?” roars jet, before collapsing with exhaustion. it’s a very song-like comment, and in spite of everything zuko really truly hopes his friends will forgive him one day.

when zuko first shows up to greet the gaang, jet is Not Well, and so zuko leaves him at the campsite. he also knows things between the gaang and jet did not end on good terms, so zuko figures it’s no big loss.

the second time, when zuko attacks combustion man, jet follows him on a Murderous Rampage, until he realizes zuko’s trying to help aang and the others, and then he joins zuko’s side.

“fucking prince, fucking avatar, I WAS A FREEDOM FIGHTER! I DID IMPORTANT THINGS, LIKE TERRORISM! NOW IM GONNA DIE, FOR WHAT? THE PEOPLE WHO KILLED MY GANG’S VIBES AND THIS TWIG-SIZED ROYAL MORON?” jet screams as he uses his hooks to hoist himself and zuko back up the cliff.

(of course, his anger mostly melts away when the others exit the temple after the danger passes, and song is there holding the duke’s hand. it’s the first happy thing that has happened to him in so long.)

song regards zuko/lee as a mixed bag because, you know, the obvious Bad Stuff, but also he saved jet? and he’s training the avatar now?

so she decides on the middle ground - forgiveness, paired with Never Letting Him Live Anything Down.

she hugs him, and tells him she missed him, and he’s so overcome with relief he almost cries, and then she says very loudly for the whole group to hear: “i forgive you, but i expect a herd of ostrich horses after the war.”

“song-“ he says desperately.

“you know. compensation.” she says.

“i only took the one-“

“zuko!” says aang, scandalized at the idea that zuko had personally affronted one his new friends even though it’s the smallest of his crimes.

“was it just one? i must’ve forgotten,” song says sweetly. “sure hope i haven’t been brainwashed. oh! like someone we know-“

“that wasn’t even my fault!” says zuko.

yeah, katara LOVES song.

when sokka and zuko go to the boiling rock, jet tries to go with them because he’s convinced zuko will betray sokka, but he’s still kind of out of it, and they try to convince him to stay back. he gets loud, threatening to tell everyone what they’re up to if he doesn’t get to come along, when a hand holding a rag comes up around his mouth and he passes out.

“it’s my turn to watch him tonight and i’m too tired to reason with him,” says song, dragging jet under his armpits back to the camp. “just go do whatever stupid risky thing you’re going to do.”

“that’s it?” zuko asks curiously. “no speech about how we shouldn’t go?”

“oh, i’m sorry, am i your mother?” song asks innocently. “i personally haven’t seen my mother since before the invasion, you know, the one we had to plan because SOMEONE’S nation waged a war-“

“okay, okay, i get it!” zuko snaps, and they go.

when they return with jin, however, song drops all the sarcasm and jet stops being so hostile. this is partially because they’re so grateful he brought her back, but mostly because jin is definitely the Friendship Glue.

she tells them all about how their daring escape, she mentions that everyone acted according to their sexy selves (hakoda, thankfully, does NOT hear this), but especially zuko.

“honestly,” jin says, “being the one of the first prisoners to escape the boiling rock has got to be the most legendary thing anyone’s ever done. i’m going to go down in history. so many fire nation prisoners are going to be like ‘who’s that pretty girl who escaped on the gondola?’ and they’re either going to be talking about me or suki, and it’s all thanks to zuko.”

yes, they have a ba sing se bimbo reunion hug.

“guys, you will not BELIEVE what i found out at that gross prison.” jin says at the campfire that evening. “the firelord singed his eyebrows off once, and now he has to draw them on every morning. also, he gets these little flames painted on his nails at the palace spa because he thinks it makes his firebending stronger, and, like, yes, guys who paint their nails are hot, but not when they paint them to look like a four-year-old drew them.”

“literally none of that is true,” says zuko, absolutely baffled.

“oh really?” jin says, rounding on him. “because i heard it from min, who heard it from the guard who shaved her head, who heard it from the watchtower guard, who heard it from the WARDEN HIMSELF.

“yeah zuko,” says song, “do you think you know more about the firelord than the WARDEN?”

“no offense, but you’re not exactly the expert on the firelord,” says jet, grinning because He Knows.

zuko says nothing at first. then he sighs, shakes his head, and asks happily, “so, is it all the nails, or just, like, the ringfinger?”

part two of this segment coming soon!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 masterpost

#jinjetsongko #the ba sing se bimbos #jin #jet #song #zuko #sokka #katara #aang #suki #hakoda #azula #the boiling rock #atla #avatar the last airbender #my stuff #jinki #jetko #jetsong

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tiredassmage · 2 years

Note

For the ship questions!

Who’s more protective?

More beloved ship questions! Thanks so much! <3 I should really take shippy banner pictures some time for these, too, the character banner ones make me happy lol ~~ Astor & Eden (@fatewalker-phoenix) ~~

Starting with the tough one because both of them are, in their own ways and at the corresponding times. It'd be really easy to say Astor is because he is the healer main and he's definitely, like, the inherent worrier of the two because he cares so much... so it wouldn't exactly be wrong.

But there was also a time, before they really got together, that I'd almost say Eden was the more protective one - and, to an extent, she may still be, or at least enough to go toe to toe with him for it. For those unfamiliar with my bestie's lovely lady, her Echo relates to the future - as in, all possible futures, good and bad and ugly and all the stuff in between, and with... no certainty of which may or may not come to pass.

And, boy, did it love to bother her about Astor.

They were fellow Scions and Warriors of Light before they were friends, and then friends before they were lovers, and part of Eden's hesitance to let herself get attached was because... well, there were a lot of red flags about Astor's fate. And it wasn't like his selfless nature was doing anything to prove her concerns wrong. When trying to keep her distance from him didn't work - either to keep him out of the many dangers they faced and she foresaw, nor to curb her growing affections for him, she wasn't above or below acting more... proactively against these visions of doom.

The second encounter with Zenos in Doma, for example, is one of the many times she saw Astor meet an end far sooner than she'd like, so she... tried to go without him. Except for Astor is a worrying bastard and ended up following her later with the villagers, Alisaie, Gosetsu, and co. anyway, but it was, at least, the catalyst for them finally fessing up about their feelings for each other, so all's well that ends well, right?

~~ Astor & Gaius ~~

This one I'm gonna have to give probably to Astor. For the aforementioned reasons of him being an inherently selfless bastard and worrying about it. Which is worrying, of itself, to everyone around him, especially his loved ones, but Gaius also knows that he is capable enough of looking out for himself.

And there's probably still enough that he doesn't... quite understand about what all Astor has gotten up to as a Warrior of Light. Trust us, honey, it's for the best. Aside from that though, I think Gaius likes to focus his energy on what he can do and what he can control, and that's be there for Astor when he's asked for. Of course, he worries, but... not quite to the extent that Astor does as the healer main, lol.

~~ Shay & Airi ~~

I will surprise no one who knows anything about them that it's Shay. It's totally Shay. He's basically always ready to fight. He will start them. Airi worries about him a lot more than Shay ever worries about himself, but Shay is the one that is practically prickling with defensiveness.

#ffxiv ocs #answered #ch: astor caulfield #ch: shay delacroix #sh: lovers of the light #shairi #friends' ocs #ch: eden azalea #ch: airi nakamura

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goddess-of-geeks · 4 years

Text

Grace and Power pt. 3

Things have changed

Me and a friend got one name, but we also want options you know...

A/N: How’s you're day?

Warnings: None, if you squint you might find a hint of violence, but you could also see that without squinting so, idk

Word Count: 2673 (This took up 12 pages in my google doc)

Pt. 2

~~~

You and Iroh stood on the outside of Zuko’s door looking at a map.

“He’s not gonna like this is he?” You asked Iroh.

“Not in the slightest.” Iroh nodded in response.

You both stared at the door for a couple of seconds before Iroh cleared his throat.

“Ladies first.” He said with a sweeping gesture.

You rolled your eyes before opening the door.

You cringed as the hinges squeaked.

“Zuko.” You called out his name announcing your presence, as if the door didn't do a good enough job of that.

Zuko was meditating, seated in front of 4 candles.

“The only reason you should be interrupting me is if you have news about the Avatar.” He said in a dangerously calm voice

You and Iroh cautiously entered, the map in your hand.

“Well, there is news, Prince Zuko, but you might not like it. Don't get too upset.” Iroh told his nephew.

“Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now whatever you have to say, I'm sure that I can take it.” Zuko calmly stated.

“You’re not gonna be calm after this.” You mumbled to yourself.

“Okay, then... we have no idea where he is.”

“WHAT?” Zuko shouted in Anger

The four candles surrounding Zuko flared to the ceiling with his rage. You and Iroh covered your faces with your hand in attempts to protect yourself from the flames. Zuko stands quickly and turns around to face Iroh and you, visible anger was sketched on his face.

Iroh pulled a fan out of his pocket whilst you wiped the sweat that formed above your brow.

“Never do that again.” You spoke to the prince at the same time Iroh said, “You really should open a window in here.”

“Give me the map.” Zuko said as he snatched it from your hands.

You quickly took it back before giving him a stern look.

“That was quite rude of you Prince Zuko.” You said, putting emphasis on the prince.

He turned to you with an annoyed look on his face.

“May I have the map please.” He said with gritted teeth.

“Why of course you can have it Zuzu, thank you for asking so nicely.” You said sweetly.

Iroh chuckled at the interaction whilst you were handing the map over to Zuko.

Zuko opened the rolled scroll and began to study it. Iroh continued to fan himself, whilst you leaned over Zuko’s shoulder to get another look at the map.

You could feel heat rise to your cheeks at your close proximity, but you didn’t let it affect you. Zuko seemed unbothered.

“There have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he is impossible to track down.” You said as you looked up from the map to Zuko’s face trying to gauge his reaction.

You noticed a slight shade of pink dusting Zuko’s cheeks that wasn’t there before.

Zuko may be a cold, detached, emotionless human being but he still harbored feelings for you. What feeling exactly you weren't quite sure, but a feeling nonetheless.

“How am I gonna find him, Uncle?” Zuko asked with his eyes trained on the map in his hands. “He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering.”

~~~

You sat next to Zuko and Iroh at a table in your robes awaiting your dinner.

When the cook placed the cooked fish in front of the three he let slip that the Avatar was on Kyoshi Island.

Zuko hastily stood up and spoke angrily.

“The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island? Uncle ready the rhinos. Y/N get dressed. He’s not getting away from me this time.” Zuko said as he walked toward the exit.

You looked down at your stomach as it began to growl.

“I was planning on eating.” You said sadly to yourself.

Iroh turned to face his receding nephew, “Are you going to finish that?”

Zuko turned and angrily walked back to the table to grab his fish.

“I was going to save it for later.” he announced before storming out of the room.

You looked at the doorway where Zuko just exited with his meal. You sighed and shook your head before looking towards Iroh.

“Someone needs to give that boy a chocolate bar.” You said before standing up to exit the room as well.

~~~

You were laying on your bed, in your battle armor, facing the ceiling. Your gloved hands clasped together and lay on your stomach.

You heard the door open with a bang. Without looking up you knew it was Zuko. His stupidity was so radiant you could feel it from miles away.

“Why yes Zuko of course you can come into my room.” You said.

“We need to talk.” He said roughly.

“That’s never a good conversation starter.” You muttered to yourself. You sat up and positioned yourself on the side of the bed. Zuko sat next to you

“Why aren’t you at home.” He asked you.

It took a couple of seconds for the question to register in your brain before you spoke up.

“How do you mean?” You asked.

Zuko made a face between curiosity and concern. He was quiet for a few minutes trying to word out his next phrase.

“Why were you with Zhao instead of your uncle? You and I both know that your uncle is overprotective of you. I truly doubt he would just let you join the army.”

He looked at you with concern in his eyes, it made your heart melt to know that he still cared for you, but you couldn't tell him why you left. You didn't even tell your uncle why you left, how could you possibly tell him.

You opened your mouth, trying to come up with a quick lie, but your answer was cut short when the lieutenant entered your room announcing your arrival at Kyoshi Island.

You quickly stood up from your bed and left the room, Zuko followed after you.

He grabbed your wrist and made you turn to look towards him.

You opened your mouth again, this time prepared to give him an answer.

“I promise i’ll tell you when I’m ready.” You knew he was too stubborn to take that as an answer but right now you had more important things to do.

Zuko reluctantly let go of your wrist and walked in front of you to give orders to his soldiers.

~~~

“Don’t do anything stupid.” You told Zuko whilst he sat on top of his komodo rhino. “We’re here for one reason and one reason only, there's no good enough reason for you to burn down an island.”

“As long as they turn over the Avatar no damage shall be done to their island.” He responded. You knew he was determined to capture the Avatar. No matter what was at stake.

You sighed and climbed up onto a komodo rhino of your own. You strapped a spear to your back. It may not have been your area of expertise but, someone had to make sure this idiot didn’t hurt innocent people.

As you, Zuko and the other firebenders rode out of the ship Zuko called out, “I want the Avatar alive.”

You, Zuko, and the others rode towards Kyoshi.

As you entered the village you noticed the absence of people in the streets.

“Maybe nobody is home.” You said turning to Zuko. “Why don’t we just leave and look for the Avatar somewhere else.” You suggested hopefully to Zuko.

“We’re not leaving because you don’t want people to get hurt. They’re harboring the Avatar, that by itself should be a crime.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. You were worried just how much Zuko was willing to do to capture the Avatar.

“Come out Avatar.” Zuko shouted, “You can’t hide from me forever.”

Zuko turned to his men, “Find him, Y/N stay with me.”

The firebenders dispersed. Traveling the island looking for the Avatar.

As the firebenders rode forward you noticed the Kyoshi Warriors jumping off the roofs and ambushing the firebenders below them. You couldn't help but grin as nearly all the firebenders were knocked from their komodo rhinos.

You noticed how one warrior in particular was running towards Zuko. You noticed how her head piece was different from the others.

“She must be the leader.” You thought to yourself.

Zuko shot volleys of flames that the warrior quickly and easily dodged.

You were impressed with her moves so you didn't bother interfering because you knew that this could only end one way. With the warrior winning. You just sat on your komodo rhino and enjoyed the show.

You were quickly proven wrong as the komodo rhino swung its tail and knocked the warrior out of the air.

You gasped as the warrior landed hard on her side

You noticed how Zuko was preparing to strike her. You changed the course of your rhino to intercept the attack, but your attempts were deemed futile as what appeared to be a boy in the Kyoshi uniform stepped in front of Zuko’s attack. Successfully deflecting it with a fan.

You squint your eyes at the sight in front of you.

“Is that boy wearing a dress and a full face of cosmetics?” You questioned aloud. “Not like there’s anything wrong with that, If it makes him happy, who am I to judge.”

Then from out of nowhere another Warrior Ambushed Zuko and knocked him off of his rhino and to the ground. You couldn’t help but laugh at what had just happened.

You heard the sound of moving air and turned to your side to the Warrior Boy, aiming an attack at you. He threw himself at you successfully knocking you down on your right shoulder.

The impact caused you to wince and the injury on your shoulder to sting.

You quickly kicked the boy off of you and stood over him.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you ever do that again I will dislocate all of your limbs.” You said through gritted teeth.

You used your left hand to reach towards the boy.

He looked at your outstretched hand curiously before asking, “What kind of attack is that.”

You rolled your eyes and blew hard out of your nose.

“It’s not an attack it’s an offer of assistance. So you could either take my hand, or stay on the ground all day.” You said, annoyance dripping your town.

The boy reluctantly took your hand and you helped bring him to his feet.

You let go of his hand and turned your body looking for Zuko, finding him sprawled on a porch.

“What did I just witness.” You turned your head and saw the warrior Zuko knocked down.

“I don’t know.” The boy answered, looking at you through narrowed eyes, “but we have bigger problems.”

The boy motioned towards Zuko. He, the girl, and another Kyoshi warrior made their way towards Zuko.

“Don’t hurt him too badly or I’ll never hear the end of it.” You called after them. You knew they weren’t listening but you wanted Zuko to know that you still cared whether he got injured or not.

The three warriors cautiously approach the prone Zuko.

Zuko spins around on his hands shooting fire bolts out of his feet at the approaching warriors. He knocks them all to the ground and pulls himself to his feet. Zuko leaps to the middle of the street.

“That ended so much worse than I wanted it too.” You said quietly.

You turned your head and noticed a flame atop of nearly every building.

“Now would’ve been a great time to be a waterbender.” You muttered to yourself as you quickly made your way to Zuko’s side.

“If we leave this island in ruins I will torment you for the rest of our lives.”

He ignored you and called out, “Nice try avatar but these little girls can’t save you.”

You looked at the Kyoshi Warriors he left on the porch.

“I'm pretty sure one of those is a male.” You told him.

“Not now Y/N.” Zuko muttered to you after sending a sideways glance in your direction.

“Battle is boring, don’t blame me for trying to keep us entertained.”

“Hey over here.” You heard a voice call out. You and Zuko turned the source and there stood the Avatar.

“This day couldn’t get any worse.” You mumbles mostly to yourself.

“Finally.” Zuko said when he noticed the last airbender.

Zuko swung his left air from right to left in an attempt to strike the Avatar.

What happened next was a split second decision, you couldn’t allow Zuko to ruin this town more than he already has.

As the fire started forming in his hands, you swept his legs out from under his body so he landed on his chest. You then quickly grabbed your spear and pressed the blunt side to his back.

“Y/N what are you doing.” He asked you. His voice was a mixture of hurt, betrayal and anger.

“I wasn’t going to stand here and watch you destroy innocent people's lives.”

You looked up and saw the Avatar fly away on his staff. You assumed it would be safe to let Zuko back up.

You took the blunt of your spear off of his back. He quickly stood up and grabbed your spear from your hands and broke it over his leg.

“Hey!” you protested, “That was my new.”

“I don’t care, because of you the Avatar got away.”

You heard a loud roar and looked up to see a flying bison.

“Back to the ship!” Zuko said as he turned to his men. “Don’t lose sight of them.”

He roughly grabbed your arm and pulled you towards the ship.

“I am soooo gonna die.” You muttered to yourself.

On your ride back to the ship a giant sea serpent sprayed you with water from above. Making the rhinos stop in their tracks.

“Well this was a fun trip.” You said to no one in particular.

~~~

When you and the crew arrived at the ship, Zuko grabbed you by the elbow and pulled you to the side.

Now, not only did stupidity radiate off of him but so did anger.

“Why did you attack me.” He said with a tone of authority.

“Becuase I told you not to do anything stupid, yet you proceeded to do something incredibly stupid.”

“I was trying to capture the Avatar how was that stupid.”

You narrowed your eyes at the prince, “If I hadn’t stopped you, you would have burnt that whole village down. I was not going to allow you to do that.”

“Why do you care so much about some dumb village.” If it weren't for the fact that you were a nonbender, there would’ve been smoke coming out of your ears.

You marched up to the prince and poked a finger into his chest, “That’s not just some ‘dumb village’ that is the home to the residents of Kyoshi Island.” You said, the anger in your voice far outmatched the anger in his. “I really hope you aren’t forgetting that everyone from my home village died in a fire. The reason my parents are dead,” you said, putting emphasis on the word dead, “Is because someone set our home on fire. The only difference between my home and Kyoshi island, is that there were people who were skilled enough to stop it.”

You turned on your heel and away from the prince. You felt the tears streaming down your face but you were walking too quickly for any of the crew to notice.

You entered your room on the ship and slammed the doors.

You slumped your back on the door and slid down till you were seated on the floor. You pulled your knees to your chest and cried. You never planned on getting so emotional, but every time you thought of your parents and your home, you couldn't help but sob.

Hopefully Zuko will realize the mistakes he’s making just to win his father's approval.

~~~

A/N: This is kinda shit but honestly who cares

Masterlist

Taglist form

#prince zuko x reader #zuko x reader #zuko x you #atla zuko #atla fanfic #fire lord zuko #atla #zuko fanfic #zuko imagine

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doodle-boy · 2 years

Text

Me: I like my villagers but I wouldn't say I’m obsessed with them...

Also me: Anyways here’s my giant list of all my islanders and what I think their relationship dynamics are with each other underneath this cut based on my recent and past playthroughs of this game from last year.

Renee: kind of a loner, she’s just being cool in the background in her leather jackets I’ve lovingly given her. Since she is a big sister type she'll often step in to help everyone out from time to time and give advice. She is defiantly my best friend thou, she is my homie.

Kevin: Homies since the beginning. They don’t hang out as much as they used too, though I still see her watching him as he gets to his sport antics with a smile on her face.

Penelope: thinks she’s a bit of a ditsy girl but likes her for her bubbly personality.

Rasher: have butt heads in the past but they have mad respect for each other now.

Naomi: Sometimes they bump into each other and will talk about their week briefly before parting ways. Very casual.

Kevin: Has talked to everyone at least once I feel. So high energy and always looking to hang out. My second best friend :3

Renee: First best friend and still his best friend, he just can’t talk to her all the time cause he gotta go get swoll and also respects her need for alone time.

Penelope: keeps trying to talk to him about “Squid Game” and he don’t know what that is, but he do love competitive sports so he’ll listen to her talk about her SaeHun ship.

Filbert: might have a thing for him?? He told him he was really handsome once and Kevin seemed super flattered by this so I think there may be something there.

The Old Man Squad: Kevin’s presence makes them tired and wish for their by gone days.

Penelope: Hangs out more with the “artist crowd” as well as the all the old men but she is very much a social butterfly who has touched all their lives with her outgoing personality. Very cutesy even if she kind of too much some of the time and leave the people she talk to either overwhelmed or tired lol.

Renee: She thinks Renee is the coolest. Renee is that cool older friend that she always wanna talk too but sometimes can’t find cause Renee went to the park to vape.

Kevin: Thinks Kevin got potential as a cool buff celebrity but can’t seem to convince him to get a twitter so she can tag him anytime they take a selfie together.

Filbert: Has figured out the best way to get him to come over to her house to binge watch the new season of “YOU” is to tell him there’s gonna be snacks.

Chadder: Seem very close in a sibling sort of way. Loves talking about fashion with him cause he’s the only one that freakin gets it. Supports his dream to become a celebrity.

Naomi: Gal Pals For Life! They watch “Pretty Little Liars” and “Riverdale” all the time together. She always got great tips to help keep her house’s interior fresh and they do each other make up sometimes.

Rasher: Confuses him with her way of speaking, once said “I literally died” and he immediately asked her if she was ok. Rasher would probably kill for her thou she is always so nice to him and gets him gifts.

Apollo: Have this little thing where they talk about “The Handmaids Tale” and “Outlander” but she’s watching the tv show and Apollo is reading the books. But the fact that she is cool with him not being into tv and instead found a way to still talk about it by incorporating the fact he likes books is very sweet and thoughtful of her.

Admiral: Always asking her what her plan for the future is and asking if she had anything to eat today and when she shoots back with “I’m gonna be a popstar duh!” and “Oh yeah I’ve been on the latest trend where you eat yogurt for two of your meals” he is left confused and concerned and probably takes her back to his house and cooks her a proper lunch.

The Old Man Squad: as a whole they love her and protect her fiercely.

Filbert: Is baby boy baby. He literally is the cinnamon roll of the island and everyone loves him.

The Old Man Squad: Always stressing him out cause they keep asking him about his plans for the future and if he’s met anyone nice yet, and when are they gonna meet them, and are you coming to family dinner on Saturday. Filbert knows they love him but he just wanna take his naps and eat pancakes. Also you know he coming to Family dinner lol.

Renee: asks him the same thing as the old man squad but is more tactful about it and so is less stressed about it. She absolutely helps him with his online college classes.

Kevin: Has crush on him maybe?? Recently told him he was handsome twice now and has invited him to his house before. They even went to each other’s respective birthdays. I feel like there’s something there.

Penelope: Has little brother/big sister energy when they hang out. Literally always inviting him over for snacks and to watch “Centaur World” and while know he should be working on his coding homework he can’t say no to snacks.

Chadder: Very much a snooty character. Always acting like he’s all that and a bag of very expensive imported beans from Madagascar. So I think some villagers find him overbearing. But Chadder got a heart of gold.

Naomi: His very successful, very beautiful, very smart tall girlfriend. He loves his, smart, tall, successful girlfriend. And though he acts like it’s a privilege to be dating him, he probably was holding his breath up until she said yes to going out with him. They are always together.

Penelope: His sister that he dotes on. Feels like he might be the older brother and she the little sister. Also always giving her stuff so he may be spoiling her a little lol. Also supports her dream of being a popstar.

Filbert: Has attempted to take him under his wings and be his fancy boy protégée but Filbert was too much of a snack and nap loving boi to fully absorb the lessons and at some point gave up.

Naomi: Also kind of aloof like Renee, has her select few friends. But she cherishes her friends and isn’t afraid to tell them that they’re being ridiculous and stupid when they are acting as such.

Chadder: Her small handsome boyfriend. I think out of everyone she is the first to tell Chadder that he’s being vapid and egotistical and roll her eyes at his antics. But at the same time she is always with him and going over to his house. I think she knows something about Chadder that even I don’t know about. Seems to genuinely cherish him.

Penelope: Her best friend. Always down to talk about the latest trends and help her think of new ways to become online famous. Even if Penelope is always bouncing around on new trends and what’s cool and fab now Naomi knows Penelope got that passion and drive to someday become famous.

Renee: They like to talk and catch up with each other from time to time. A very casual friendship.

Admiral: Old and has a surprisingly hot temper. Also very traditional and stuck in his ways, though he tries his best to understand the younger ones and their weird trends.

Rasher and Apollo: They are all the oldies of the island, so naturally the three of them have gravitated toward each other. I imagine they take turns going to each other’s houses to play Parcheesi and their own version of three person Shogi. Also take turns hosting family dinner with Penelope, Filbert and anyone of the other youngsters they can rope into coming that week.

Penelope: Gives him a headache and heart attacks on the regular but god dammit if he doesn’t love that girl to bits as if she was his own granddaughter. Will kill for her, hide a body for her and go to jail for her all in that order.

Filbert: Is just praying he is paying attention to his classes (doesn’t understand how he is attending classes though, he says it’s “all online” so is going to trust it’s a legit thing and not push it too much) that boy needs a degree and a job.

Chadder: If Penelope brings him over he tolerates it. Also is wondering when he and his girlfriend Naomi gonna get married, always brings that up when Chadder comes to family dinner.

Kevin: Makes him tired.

Rasher: Grumpy but not as grumpy as he used to be (he used to be a villager of mines back when I played animal crossing on game cube, trust me he used to have mad anger issues lol). He is retired now thou and plans to stay that way. Tries to be friendly with everyone but these youngsters tire him out just from watching them.

Apollo and Admiral: Thank god there are other people his age on this island, if he was the only old person on this island he would’ve fallen into a comma from watching the younger islanders. The three of them totally chill on the beach and drink the canned Pina Colada’s because he refuses to learn how to make them form scratch and thinks they taste better that way anyways.

Penelope: Much like other two from the squad he can’t help but love her as well. She is always sweet to him and while they sometimes fight when she comes around with a gift and an apology his heart just melts and he’s quick to apologize as well.

Filbert: Doesn’t think Coding is a real career and is trying to convince him to choose a fall back career but Filbert keeps dodging the topic. He and Filbert also definitely have an unspoken competition to see who can eat the most of Apollo’s special corn breads at the family dinners.

Renee: Thinks she needs to stop trying to be the parent to everyone else when she herself is so young. Thinks that should be left to himself and the rest of the Old Man Squad. But he respects her ability to not back down.

Chadder: Tolerates him since he’s Penelope’s brother. Likes it when he brings his girlfriend Naomi with him.

Kevin: Makes him tired.

Apollo: The most chill and with-it out of all the old men. Has a real cool older uncle energy that everyone on the island seems to adore including myself lol.

Admiral and Rasher: Loves hanging out with them. I think he was the first one to introduce the idea of “family dinners” and even though the other two pointed out they ain’t technically family Apollo just shrugged and said, “family are the people who you love the most. So you’re my family.” And the other two couldn’t help but be flattered by this and agree.

Filbert: Is always handing him pocket candy and also the most invested to his love life. He just wants to make sure that kid has someone to look out for him since Apollo is genuinely afraid that kid is gonna forget to take care of himself after he watched Filbert wear the same sweatshirt for three weeks and watched it get increasingly dirty and grimy until he finally pointed this out to Rasher and Admiral and watched them toss his stinky butt into the ocean.

Penelope: Introduced him to two new book series that he really enjoys. Loves to talk to her about them, though she seems less interested in talking about the themes of the story and more about her ships and head cannons. Still she is a sweet girl and he loves her.

Chadder: Has tried to talk to him before but he frustrated him with his shameless behavior. Still if Penelope invites him to family dinner he is polite to him. Likes him best when he’s accompanied by his girlfriend Naomi since she keeps him in check. Hopes they get marred soon.

Kevin: Makes him tired.

Merengue: Is new to the island. Literally brand new baby girl so hasn’t interacted with anyone yet. I am hoping she gets along with Penelope and Filbert. I feel like they would like her :3 (will update this list once she settles and makes friends.)

#animal crossing #new horizons #animal crossing villagers #headcanon #character dynamics #yeah no I do actually care about my villagers immensely #save for two who moved away cause they just kept asking too #I have refused to let any of them move away because I love them so much #DoodleBoy

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brooklynboysficrecs · 4 years

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Ria’s Top 10 Shrinkyclinks Fics

I will admit this isn’t my preferred AU -- I won’t immediately jump on a fic just because it’s pre-serum Steve and WS Bucky. I gotta like the plot, or the premise, or be really, really intrigued by the tags, but to be fair, that’s how I am with everything that isn’t Modern Bucky and Cap Steve, so. That being said, I have read some truly fantastic shrinkyclinks stories, and I do very much love Steven “Fight Me” Rogers at his scrappiest. And these fics also tend to feature protective!Bucky which is another personal favorite of mine. Oh, but also: shrinkyclinks generally refers to pre-serum Steve with actual Winter Soldier Bucky, but a lot of people use the tag just to imply body types, and when they say WS Bucky they mean he’s all huge and muscled and sometimes has a metal arm, though that isn’t required. That’s the definition I’m going with as well, so hopefully nothing’s confusing!

1. If Wishing Made It So by leveragehunters. Before I get into anything about the actual fic, let me say this: leveragehunters is probably my favorite stucky writer. Like, hands-down, I read almost everything they write, and they’re big into fantasy stories, which is a great bonus for me personally. So, so, so many good shrinkyclinks fics by them (Even Underneath the Waves, a mermaid AU that features equal amounts of pre- and post-serum Steve, and A-mage-ing Grace with mage Steve are two of my other favorites, and they would’ve been on the list, but I try not to put more than one story per author, ya know? And IWMIS kinda wins out above the others for me, so). This story features jinn!Bucky who finds himself in the baffled hands of Steve Rogers, who is perfectly prickly and stubborn and good. Bucky’s got a terrible past with humans in general (and Hydra in particular, what a shocker) that he and Steve have to overcome as their relationship progresses, but that progression is frankly beautiful to watch unfold. I come back to this story time and time again because of how much I love these versions of Steve and Bucky getting to know one another, learning to trust each other, supporting each other through the worst the world has to throw at them. Plus, there’s a few more stories in this series if you get as hooked as I am, which is always great!!

2. Roots Have Grown by AustinB. I remember reading this and just... completely feeling what Bucky is going through. Not everything -- he’s an agoraphobic veteran, and I can’t relate to either of those, really, but he’s so... awkward about his crush on Steve. And that’s -- that’s relatable to me. But it’s precious, really, how he tries to help Steve even though he’s afraid to actually meet him initially; he becomes Steve’s sort of... anonymous benefactor? Guardian angel with money? Like, it’s definitely a sugar daddy type deal originally but I doubt Bucky would describe it like that. I don’t know, it’s cute, though, and I loved seeing Bucky opening up to Steve as they became closer.

3. Through The Woods by VenusMonstrosa, alby_mangroves. Okay, hear me out: werewolves. I fucking love werewolves in fiction; I mean, not really the romance novels you’ll see in the grocery store, but. Werewolf mythology is one of my favorite things, so seeing it in fanfiction almost always manages to lure me in. And I was so not disappointed with this story! Steve’s living alone in a cabin in the woods, which of course sounds like the opening to a horror movie, but here it leads to love. Werewolf Bucky is both charming and terrifying, to a degree, he’s a wolf, but he and Steve are fantastic together. This is another story that goes in on the trust aspect of their relationship and I for one am a big fan of that. There’s some violence, minor character death and the like, but it’s definitely not undeserved so. If you can handle that (and the sex, because there is sex in this) then I highly recommend this one!

4. The Joy of Little Things by obsessivereader, Sealcat. And so we move from werewolves to dragons. Yup. Dragons. Another of my beloved mythical creatures that I obsessed over when I was kid. Bucky’s capable of shifting into a human in this, but primarily he’s a big ol’ dragon that surprisingly doesn’t want to eat the scrawny sacrifice from the local village. Steve ends up working for Bucky, instead, and from there hilarity ensues. Steve’s obviously wary of Bucky, but Bucky isn’t at all what he’d been expecting, and they grow closer the longer Steve’s staying in Bucky’s caves. There are a couple of stories with Dragon!Bucky, but this is my personal favorite; it’s cute and heart-warming and, well. I just really like it.

5. I Just Want to Love You in My Own Language by agetwellcard, inediblesushi. So this one has Cap!Bucky (Bucky!Cap?) but again, sometimes it’s more about how Bucky looks rather than his role as the Winter Soldier. Anyway, I remember my biggest take away from this story was how adorable Bucky was in his quest to win the affections of sassy Nurse Steve, who patches him up after missions and is probably playing hard to get. Bucky uses terrible pick-up lines, absolutely awful, and he is completely unashamed of that fact. Which is, as I said, adorable. Steve, initially, does not agree with my assessment, but he gets there eventually. After some requisite drama, of course.

6. Tint & Shade by forestofbabel. Oh, god, this one hurt me, I remember that pretty clearly. Bucky is the Winter Soldier in this, and Steve is a 21st century art therapist who just so happens to resemble his late grandfather, Captain Joseph Rogers, who fought in -- you guessed it -- WWII. Like I said in the intro, if I really like the premise of something I’ll usually read it regardless of the configuration of pre-/post-serum Steve and pre-serum/WS Bucky, and this was definitely one of the fics I got into for that reason. Having actual WS Bucky interact with a modern pre-serum Steve is always interesting, given how much they don’t have in common, generally (there isn’t even really the veteran status that modern Bucky sometimes has in fics), and it’s a journey to see how and why they connect. Having Steve resemble his WWII era grandfather caught my attention, and the fic itself made me grateful that I decided to go for it in the first place. This is another one where is trust is key to their relationship, considering the mental/emotional state Bucky is in at the beginning. Very good story overall!

7. Fourth Floor by dirtybinary, mithborien, picoalloe. So dirtybinary has written some amazing stucky fics, which is why I was so excited when I saw this being posted initially (a few years ago, but still). There’s magic! Mystery! Suspense! Some NatSharon! Looking this over, I’m wondering if I should’ve saved it for the Urban Fantasy list I wanna do (and If Wishing Made It So, if I’m being honest) but I do like it for the shrinkyclinks list. The writing is great, the characterization of Steve and Bucky is great, and like, they live in what is essentially a magical apartment complex, so what’s better than that?

8. my heart tells me you are lonely, too by FanGirling. Alright, so I read this one as it was being published, and the slow burn about killed me. You know, in a good way, though. Bucky lives in Steve and his mother’s apartment building, trying to figure out where to go with his life now that he’s broken free of Hydra and gotten his autonomy back. He’s obviously wary, skittish, but he takes a liking to Sarah Rogers when she reaches out to befriend him, surprised anyone wants to be near him let alone take the time to get to know him. Steve... is not so easily sold on Bucky. And I’m not gonna spoil anything here, but the shit these two go through is intense, and I cried a lot during this fic, sometimes out of frustration because they’re both ridiculous about their feelings (of course Bucky’s fears are valid, the man has been through literal hell, but also I was internally screaming a little as Bucky continually talked himself out of getting closer to Steve.) I wanted to wrap the both of them in about thirty blankets for pretty much the entire length of the fic. God. They’re just -- they’re so incredibly sweet in this one, once they work past their issues (Bucky and Steve are both more than a little messed up from their respective circumstances, but they make it work). Mind the tags on this one, also, especially because there is a chapter that deals with attempted sexual assault against Steve (obviously not with Bucky!), but Bucky handles the situation before anything truly nasty happens, that I can promise.

9. Local Raccoon Befriends Angry Chihuahua by charlesdk. This is yet another author I really love; they have a fantastic farmer!Steve/Modern!WS!Bucky story that I love to bits, as well as other great fics. But anyway, this one. The title sold me the second I saw it, honestly, I can’t even pretend that wasn’t the deciding factor in me reading this. I don’t think I can really do any better than the summary in explaining why I recommend it; feisty tiny Steve and lovestruck grumpy Bucky are a winning combination in my book. This one does feature the boys dealing with homophobia and ableism, though I can’t recall how severe it is. So I’d just mind the tags, and if you’re alright with them, thoroughly enjoy this story.

10. The Road to Hell is Paved with Tony’s Good Intentions by pinlilli. Bucky as a mail-order Russian bride. That’s the detail that pretty much demanded I click on this fic, and oh my god, it was even better than I ever could’ve expected. Tony, in a bid to help Steve get over his awful ex-boyfriend (fuck Brock Rumlow in every universe, honestly), literally orders him a husband -- in the form of beefy James Barnes, who is a fucking gem and I will not hear one bad word against him. He does chores, it’s lovely and adorable, and you will definitely fall just as hard as Steve does. There’s some canon-typical violence in this one that relates to James’ past, but nothing super graphic as far as I remember. Again, Rumlow is a dick and should be treated as such, but he’s hardly the most important part of this fic and I urge everyone to take a look at it if they’re as intrigued by Bucky being a mail-order husband as I was.

#stucky #stevebucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #captain america #winter soldier #chris evans #sebastian stan #fic rec #shrinkyclinks #top 10

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eleanor-devil · 3 years

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Boruto: Sacrifices [Remade] | Chap.6 - Storm Clouds

Written by: Eleanor-Devil & @mirage-05

Naruto's eyes widened in shock at the boy's words. "What...? Wait, Mitsuki, you don't have to leave..." "I... do. I don't want to cause any more troubles..." "Troubles?" the older cut in, unbelievable. "You haven't caused any troubles!" The Hokage stood up and walked towards the boy, putting his hands on his shoulders. "You are not at fault, I am. I should have found a way to avoid what you've been going through..." "Please, Lord Seventh... I know you're doing so much already. And... this is not about how people treat me, really." Mitsuki remained silent for a minute. "Then please, tell me what's troubling you." Naruto immediately answered, because he had no intentions of giving up on this boy. "But please don't leave, it won't do any good to those who care about you." "That's my point." the boy stated, his gaze on the floor. "I let Boruto and Sarada get involved in this... Boruto even got hurt for me... I... I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me. Either physically, or..." he slowly raised his hand to tap two fingers against his chest. "Here." "Mitsuki..." the Hokage sighed, how was he supposed to convince this boy to not leave? "You are part of this village, no matter what your connections are, and you deserve to be protected too." For some reason, the Hokage's words lifted that last bit of weight from his heart, that one thing that made him doubt his action, and the boy actually gave a small smile. "You know," he mused, meeting the blue eyes, "that's what I always liked about your speeches. That the whole village is your family... It has been like that for me, too. I never thought less, and slowly, in the year I spent in Konoha, the people became my family too."

The Hokage smiled slightly, had he convinced Mitsuki to not leave Konoha at all? That made him sigh of relief. "And... that's exactly why I have to go." Mitsuki said and took a step back, freeing himself from the Hokage's grasp. "My presence... nowadays seem to cause nothing but restlessness to my family. A restlessness that is possibly on its way to affect you, too." His smile vanished as soon as it appeared, and Naruto felt himself frowning slightly. "I believe that's my concern, rather than yours." At these words, the blue haired boy couldn't help but give a soft smile while he tilted his head to a side. "But Lord Seventh... I consider you family, too." Naruto didn't know what to say to that as the child's words touched his heart. "Mitsuki..." Just then, there was a knock on the door. Naruto found himself somehow glad to have this interruption. “Come in.” And in walked his advisor, with a - God help him - cat carrier under his arm. “Well… I’m sorry Mitsuki. He just doesn’t seem like he wants to stay away from you.” There was a soft, knowing tone in his voice that told Naruto he had been listening. The boy sighed yet again, honestly, was he expecting anything else? “Thank you.” he said, taking the carrier from the man’s hands. Just when Shikamaru was about to leave though, Mitsuki’s voice stopped him. “Umm, Shikamaru-san?” The man turned back to look at him. “Yes?” Mitsuki took a folded paper out of his sleeve and held it out to the man. “Can you please give this to Shikadai?” Shikamaru was visibly hesitant to take the piece of paper, but after exchanging glances with Naruto, he took it with a sigh. “You know as well as I do that Shikadai prefers a direct approach.” “I do.” The boy’s smile was soft but only a little bitter. “Please… tell him I’m sorry… And to Boruto and Sarada too… But that’s for the best. And maybe… as we pursue our individual dreams… we can meet again one day.” Mikazuki meowed as if he had something to say too. “Lord Seventh, it might be too much to ask but… I can’t take Mikazuki with me back to the hideout… And I only trust Boruto and Hima-chan to take care of him…” Naruto sighed yet again, this was turning out to be one of the hardest nights for him ever since he became Hokage… “I’m sure we can arrange that. But… even when I can’t force you to stay, please know that it’s not my wish to let the matter go like this. Boruto… he’s not gonna like this, he might want to come after you.” “I know he would.” the boy said, his eyes cast downward. “But if I want to follow my dream… this is the only way. Please make sure my friends see that too.” He looked back up at the Hokage, his soft expression now supported with a determined one. “Please let me protect my family.” Taking off his forehead protector, he left it on the desk. This time, it was Shikamaru’s turn to sigh. “Well… I guess then all we can do is to wish you good luck with whatever your dream is… I hope you can achieve it.” “Thank you…” And with that, the boy started walking to the door. “Mitsuki…” Naruto once again called after him, his tone sad. “No matter what… don’t forget that you will always be welcomed back.” A small, half-smile made its way to the boy’s lips. “Thank you Lord Seventh… for everything you did.” Then, just like that, he was gone… Naruto sighed and closed his eyes as he heard the door click close. … Mitsuki was trying his best to keep his thoughts at bay as he made his way out of the building, then turned and looked back at it once more. 'That's the only way...' a small voice in his head repeated. He didn't know how to counter that. He sighed and made his way to the tree under which he had left his belongings. ... Naruto had his face in his palm, deep in thought. He had failed... He had failed in his dream to make a better leader, to make a much better world in which only peace and love reigned... What kind of a leader was he...? He looked at the portraits of the previous Hokage one by one, his eyes lingering the longest on his father. He had always striven to be the best out of the best... But now he couldn’t help but wonder if any of the previous six had fallen as far away from their dreams as he had. "Don't be too hard on yourself. Sometimes, there is just no way of stopping these…” Shikamaru said, sighing. “People were just used to the peace so much... they react violently when there is a threat." "But putting the blame on a child?" the blond asked sadly. "To the point of making him leave?" "Well, at least we can do something about that." They hadn’t heard him entering, but Naruto could hardly begrudge Kakashi for not knocking now - he probably didn’t even hear it. "I have sent Konohamaru to investigate those harassments..." he said wearily, it seemed so long ago. "I have something better. A first-eye-witness account on who has been troubling the child." Both men were quick to react to that. "How? Tell us everything!" Shikamaru said. "When he was on his way here... he was attacked. I was nearby..." "Damn it..." the blond growled through gritted teeth. This was not going to go unpunished if that was the last thing he did. "Who?" "A pretty crowded group, actually. About fifteen kids, ranging between ten to sixteen years of age." "Do you know any of them?" "Most of the older children, yes. Naruto, they were from almost all of the clans. The ring leader was from Sarutobi, of course... There were also from the Yamanaka, the Akimichi... There was even a little Hyuga kid." That was about the farthest he was going to listen. "We are going to call for a meeting right now. Maybe it's not too late to change that child's mind..." Although, with an uneasy pang, he realized once again that he didn't really believe in Mitsuki's words about leaving tomorrow. "I'll talk to Boruto and Sarada about this first, though. They need to know." "In an hour?" "Yeah, that will do. And Shikamaru… can you please contact Boruto and Sarada and tell them to come here?” “Roger that.” As they walked out, Naruto took out his cell phone and dialed a number. When it was answered, he didn’t wait for the other side to speak. “Konohamaru… I need you to come to my office now. Yeah, it’s urgent.” … Mitsuki's pale golden eyes were following the guards at the border closely. Any time now... He didn't want anyone to learn that he was indeed leaving that very night instead of the morning, hence why he was trying to sneak out at the time of the shift change. Thankfully he had good ears, so he knew exactly when the shifts changed - and how the border doesn't have much surveillance during that. As he expected, at exactly 10.57 pm, one of the six guards there yawned, looked at his comrades and called the duty off. He couldn't take a lot of time. It was true that the procedures took a little time, but... He had to act quickly. When he made sure no one was glancing back, he jumped on the nearest tree to the gate and quickly sneaked out without a sound. It wasn't until he got a little away that he stopped. He pulled a traveling cloak out of the backpack, silently pulled it over himself. For one last time, he looked at the entrance of the village, once a welcoming and loving place, and now... He gulped, trying to remember the place only with the good memories, trying to block out the last few days... to not remember Konoha as the dark, cold, intimidating place it suddenly became... "Goodbye, Konoha..." he all but whispered, pulling his hoodie up. ... And that was how, about fifteen minutes later, team Konohamaru had gathered in front of Naruto - minus Mitsuki, of course. The kids especially looked anxious, it wasn’t every day that the Hokage called them in at such a late hour. “Dad, what is it? Is everything alright?” Boruto asked before he even stepped in. Naruto sighed, finally tearing his gaze away from the headband in front of him. “Come in and close the door behind you.” Konohamaru was indeed eyeing the headband, as Naruto knew that he would notice right away, a slight frown in his features. “Lord Seventh…” The Hokage sighed once again as he got up on his feet and walked to the front of his desk. “I need to talk to you about Mitsuki.” “What about him?” Sarada asked immediately, concern apparent in her onyx eyes. “Did those jerks do something to him?!” “No… he didn’t mention anything, anyway.” “He didn’t…” Boruto perked up as it dawned on him. “So he was here?!” Naruto just looked sadly at his son, not sure how to deliver the news. “So this means you can punish those guys finally! It means-” “Boruto…” Konohamaru cut in, but his eyes were fixed on the Hokage. “He… Mitsuki left… didn’t he?” Sarada had begun to catch up to what they were implying, there was an almost desperate expression on her face, wishing with all her heart that this wasn’t true. Boruto, on the other hand, was still lost. “Well- duh, he’s obviously not here…” “Boruto…” and it was then that Naruto was finally able to meet his son’s eyes, while he brought forth the headband he was holding. “He left the village… He came here to say goodbye.” There was a moment of complete silence following his declaration. Then wordlessly, almost soundlessly, the blond moved forward and took the headband gingerly in his hand, as if afraid that it would suddenly explode. "What..." he gulped as he had trouble recognizing his own voice. "What kind of joke is this, 'ttebasa...?" "He said he didn't want anyone else to get hurt because of him." said his dad sadly. "M... my cut...? Seriously...?" The blond felt his voice rising then. "That idiot left because of a damn cut?!" No one could say anything to that. Boruto gripped the headband tightly, so much so that his fingers hurt. Another minute passed in silence. Then he snapped back to the moment and stormed to the door. "Where are you going?!" he heard Sarada call from behind him. "To that idiot's house! I can't let it end like this!" … He had to take a break. There was a clean river flowing just out of Konoha, perfect for drinking water. It was also at the end of this river that he was going to meet his father. He set his things down, took a canteen out of his backpack and knelled... "Hurry up, will ya? Or we're not gonna make it to their curfew." "Who died and made you leader? Know your place." Mitsuki didn't know why, but he knew better than to question when his instincts told him to hide. He grabbed his belongings quickly and jumped back behind a rock, kneeling, as footsteps came closer. "Yeah, don't go act all bossy around us. Who called you for this mission? Who will get you paid in the end?" "Takeru..." he heard a gruff voice cut in. "And why did you call for us, vermin? As far as I remember, you have no guts to go up against the whole village - let alone the Hokage." Mitsuki tried not to gasp out loud, and actually had to press his hand over his mouth. Whoever was talking... they were... going to attack Konoha? "Ha!" a voice inside his head suddenly shouted, and the boy flinched a little. "Everyone gets what they deserve in the end!" What...? Was this... really... his own way of thinking...? "You were called an outsider, a freak... Show them what they are without you." Mitsuki's hands balled into fists. Why... was he thinking such things at a moment like this...? Konoha... had been a home for him for over a year. He was welcomed... "Were you, now? What about those past three days, then? What - you are gonna forgive them so easily?" The child closed his eyes for a second, that wasn't exactly wrong... If he was to be honest, he indeed felt resentful against those who kept picking up on him for no apparent reason - just because of who his father was... Why should he do anything? Did he owe them anything...? 'You are part of this village, and you deserve to be protected, too.' His eyes snapped back open as he heard the Hokage's strong and clear voice, as if he was standing there, right next to him. Those ninjas were after him, the one person who truly accepted him without any questions or hesitations, the person who truly believed in him... "The Hokage can perfectly save his own hide..." the voice spat out maliciously. "Don't bother!" But... was he the only person...? He thought about Boruto and Sarada, his teammates and best friends... no, his true second family, really... His other friends from the academy... They all acted together today against those who tried to attack him. The kids from the grade school... Aito... and so many other people... 'Mitsu-nii?' he heard a cheerful voice, brought by the wind itself and his hands tightened even more as Himawari's smiling face came into his point of view... How many innocent people would those ninjas hurt before they even got to Lord Seventh? Who knew what they were capable of? "That's my point, you moron! You don't know what they could do - do you even know how many there are?" Judging by their talk, at least three... "And if they're gonna aim for the Hokage, they wouldn't be ordinary ninjas! What do you think you - a simple genin - can do?" But the border was... pretty much at its weakest point right now… And it wasn’t like he was any simple genin... If he could only buy the guards some time... "Stop that! Do you have a death wish?" He wouldn't have to do much. Just a simple diversion... Surely, even if he didn't manage to lead them to the border himself - spoiling their surprise attack - someone would hear him and come to his help? They were so close... "I can see how this could go from bad to worse in at least a hundred ways. You still have time, turn your back and get away!" He heard the footsteps slowing down. "Now would be a good time to start," one of the nins said. "You were not raised to be a pushover... Show Konoha exactly how much they need you!" the voice whispered in his head. A determined expression crossed the boy's eyes... ... This... had to be a joke. A bad tasted, malevolent prank those idiotic villagers had pulled off. The house was empty. He and Sarada had looked from room to room even though the apartment was quite small - Boruto had even gone so far as to check the wardrobe and other tiny spaces his friend couldn't possibly fit in (logically speaking anyway), because he couldn't believe, he couldn't grasp. Mitsuki... was really, truly gone... "That idiot..." he whispered in a hollow tone, looking around at the dark house. "Boruto!" he heard the Uchiha call from the bedroom and hurried over. Sarada was holding a letter in her hands, shaking a little. The blond was quick to understand that she had read it over. When he came nearer, the girl handed the piece of paper without another word. "Dear Boruto and Sarada, Before I say anything else... Please forgive me for leaving you like this, without a word. But... I know you would try to stop me if I told you anything. I'm leaving the village to pursue my own goal in life. Don't get mad at anyone for what I chose. I think this suits me more in a way, to be a traveling medic who helps those in need wherever and whenever the need arises. I've thought a lot about it. I know someone who can provide me the necessary education. Please, don't come looking for me. Live your lives. Live your dreams... Sarada-chan, I believe you are going to become a very good Hokage when the time is right. Don’t take my goofs too much to your heart. Let your potential shine - you have more than enough. Boruto... you told her that you will be right beside her when she achieves her dream. Support and protect her for the both of us - not that she will need protection, not really. Thank you for everything. I hope that, no matter how far our choices drift us apart, we will see each other once again in the future, even if to just look back at our past, smiling. Best of luck, love you both... Mitsuki." Boruto just stared at the letter for a minute, his mind and thoughts coming to a standstill. He wasn't aware that Sarada had approached him. In the total silence that surrounded them, they read it once again, in the hope that they might have misread a word, might rephrase some of them, so suddenly, it would mean a whole another thing. And again. And again... once more until they memorized each word by heart. "I can't believe he did this..." the girl mumbled, her voice shaky as tears brimmed her ebony eyes. The blond slowly lowered the letter, his hand balling slowly into a fist... Then he banged it against the wall, making Sarada jump a little. "I'm going after him!" he said through gritted teeth. "That baka can't just leave like this!" "Boruto..." "I know what you're going to say! We should respect his wish, dad probably won't let us, either, and I know you always do things right, but I don't care!" "Boruto..." "He is our friend and he is like a brother to me, you don't have to come with me but I'm going!" "UZUMAKI BORUTO!" Sarada finally yelled. "What?!" the blond snapped right back. "Are you going to stay here and rant all night or are you coming with me?" … Naruto and Konohamaru were waiting outside. It had been quite a while since the two children went in, but they didn't want to interrupt. A slight rustling sound got their attention - a sound no big creature can make, but a small one. "What is that?" Boruto and Sarada came out of the house, adorning serious expressions. “Dad! We are going after Mitsuki, and-” “Hush!” Konohamaru warned them urgently, and only then did the children hear the rustle too - accompanied by a low hiss. The girl’s eyes widened slightly hearing that. “Is that-?” Her words were cut short as a small white snake appeared out of the bushes, coming to a stop right in front of the Hokage. “That’s Mitsuki’s snake!” Boruto exclaimed, although he wasn’t sure what to make out of this sudden development. He didn’t need to though, because fixing its gaze on his dad, the snake began to speak in his best friend’s voice. “Lord Seventh. Rogue ninjas. Attack. Eastern Border.” A chilled silence fell over the group for a nanosecond. Naruto and Konohamaru were naturally the first ones to snap out of it. “Should we mobilize troops?” the jounin was already ready for action, and although he was successful in hiding the brunt of his anxiety on the outside, there was a slight edge in his voice - they couldn’t be fast enough for his liking. “No - there’s no time. We will go.” Naruto was equally restless. Then he turned to the pre-teens, who were watching them with huge eyes. “Now, you two will stay here-” “No way!” Boruto cut in, terrified and incredulous at how his father should suggest that. “I won’t just sit around while my best friend is in danger!” “We don’t know the details of the situation, I can’t risk you too…” In response, Boruto just held out his arm and the snake obediently curled up on it, its golden eyes on the blond now. “It will lead us to Mitsuki, and it knows how to respond to me.” the young boy said, almost in a defiant tone, while the snake hissed quietly as if to back him up. “Lord Seventh please, you have to let us come…!” Sarada joined in, her tone almost desperate. Naruto didn’t like this option at all, but this argument wasn’t getting them anywhere and they were losing precious time. After a nod from him, Konohamaru turned to his students with a stern gaze. “You are to listen to my every command, and not act on your own, no matter what you see or hear. Am I clear?” The two friends just nodded solemnly, grasping very well the gravity of the situation. “Now follow us quickly.” … 'Which way could the child have gone?' 'He... Wouldn't try to fight a group of rogue nins... Right...?' 'No, no, no, he's a clever kid, he knows better... Damn don't lose focus, he must've sent the note just as a warning, of course he needed to record it in a hurry...' His thoughts jumbled together in a mess while running as fast as he can to the border, ahead of the others. He slowed down a little as he came to the border guards, surely someone would have seen Mitsuki leaving? He never thought he would see a familiar old face there, though. "Kiba?" he asked in surprise. The Inuzuka raised his head as soon as he heard the Hokage's voice not too far from him. "Lord Seventh," he said, of course he had to call him by the formal title, no matter how good friends they are. He spotted his son and his teammates. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" "We received a stress message... from Mitsuki. He said there was an attack..." Naruto explained quickly, and his slight panic made everyone look alert. "Did any of you see the child leaving? Where he could have gone?" He directed these questions to the border guards. "We need to find him quickly..." But the guards shook their heads. "No, Lord Hokage, we did not see anyone pass by." They were being honest, Naruto could see it, none of them were hiding anything. "Mitsuki?" Kiba murmured before looking back outside the gates. "It can't be..." "What is it, Kiba?" Naruto asked immediately. Kiba bit his lip, he could not say this loud, not in front of the kids... He approached the Hokage and Konohamaru. "Back in our mission... the dogs smelled blood, and so did we..." And just like that, Naruto felt his blood running cold as his fears returned to him in full force. "W... what do you mean? What blood, whose blood? Where was it coming from?" "I just rushed here to check myself - it's not too far from here, by the river near that clearing... But Naruto... It doesn't smell good..." "Dad?" Boruto suddenly appeared behind the hokage's elbow, worry and impatience apparent on his face. "Why aren't we leaving already?" Naruto turned around to face his son and tried to hide the fear on his face, he couldn't tell him simply what was going on in his mind… But before the Hokage could even open his mouth, there was a noise... Loud voices, it seemed, they couldn't really tell, not too far... The Hokage immediately turned towards the gates but there was no one there. Kiba shushed the guards' whispers as he too turned to face the forest ahead of Konoha. "You are not a weakling, are you? Bring me the boy's head." "You bastard! I'm not gonna do that to a child!" The phrases were enough to chill everyone to immobility. "What the hell...?" Konohamaru growled, his eyes going wide. 'God, no...' Naruto thought as he almost automatically sprung out of his shock, just out of the sheer need to save the kid, knowing that they were counting on seconds, maybe nano-seconds. Seeing his dad in action forced Boruto out of his shock, too, and the two children quickly sprung after the hokage. Naruto glanced back at Kiba for a second. "Kiba - go to the hospital, alert Sakura!" 'Dammit... Please make it in time...!' Konohamaru thought fervently, his teeth gritted.

#boruto:sacrifices #boruto #naruto #mitsuki #konohamaru #sarada #boruto fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

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botwstoriesandsuch · 4 years

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P-please talk about your Rito OC, please... ramble without any context, please... I have one too... please make me feel less alone...

Ok ok let me just *unloads all of Illeka’s super angsty self-indulgent backstory*

I technically have two backstories, one for botw that I’m gonna use for my fic Where Time Takes Us, and another I use for my dnd campaign. My dnd one is more fleshed out (thanks to my amazing GM) so I’ll probably just share that one.

Warning for super duper long post that is barely coherent and I haven’t checked for typos and also rip to ADHD folks because I have no pictures to ease your brain with. Anyhow prepare for like thousands of words worth of rambles this is not edited at all

This is just a copy paste of the random incoherent shit I sent to my poor DM. Anyhow, I technically have 3 ocs here, but Illeka is the one I play

A weird Rito, that one is. I hear they’ve only cried at birth...

- Illeka was born on the Day of Living Fire, its a celebration of the dead essentially, where you mourn and remember your loved ones and ancestors and all that. It’s superstition to be *born* on this day, because your life/creation takes away from the day that’s supposed to honor the dead, and some people on birb island believe these things, that if you let the kid live it’s a curse. But most people are like no wtf you boomers it’s fine there’s no such thing you crazy old people are weird, which to be fair is kinda true.

- When Talako is around 6, his single mom dies. He’s adopted by a new family, Kala (also around 6 years old) and her parents.

- Illeka meets Talako after he kinda follows her around, because he’s an innocent cinnamon bun that admires Illeka’s calm and stoic demeanor after they help him with some bullies. Through this, Talako, Illeka, and Kala all become best friends.

- The events in Illeka’s life aren’t really helping their whole curse case. Every bad event, from their dad getting injured and having the slightest limp, to their brother, Zekk nearly setting himself on fire— it’s all a supposed punishment for not killing them when they were bored. But at this point most people brush it off as coincidence, besides, nothing THAT bad has happened yet.

- the trio of friends grow strong, becoming some of the best in their arts on the island. And their relationship is seemingly adorable. The serious ~~cursed~~ one, the optimistic sunshine one, and the sarcastic firey one. Prides of their village, set to protect their people from harm.

- Illeka is the best in the village when it comes to physical fights. Trusty halberd, and a keen shot with a bow, they’ve never lost a sparring match on that front. Their personality is offputting to some, there’s a rumour that they’ve never cried. The easiest of jokes, and the vilest of insults don’t spark much reaction from them— except in the presence and topic of their family, Kala, and Talako. But otherwise, the story goes that the cursed kid doesn’t have a soul, and hence, no morality or emotions.

- When they train with Talako and Kala, they never back down, if only out of respect, Illeka wouldn’t want to embarrass them with pity. Talako always laughs at his inevitable defeat, though he tries nonetheless. He promises that one day he’ll be strong enough to beat them.

- Talako is a pleasant soul, but has an nack for adventure and a hint of chaos. He prefers to dual wield daggers, and on occasion a short sword or two. He’s great with the blade, loves the thrill of the fight, but is more skilled with cooking and physical healing and remedies. He’s always the one encouraging fun celebratory hang outs at the tavern, with his two closest friends after a day of guarding the village. Kala always sides with him, and Illeka typical gives in after at least putting on a show of reluctance. He humble and happy and loved by most of the village, if only things would last

- Kala is of wit and cunning, she’s typically the first to speak. She’s headstrong and not afraid to insult whoever she displeases, and a bit too arrogant in her abilities. She laughs at all of Talako’s jokes, if perhaps only to spite Illeka’s groans. She’s also the most strategic of her friends, being the “one with a plan” in battle. While she’s a decent wield of two khopesh, Kala’s mostly gifted with magic. She’s got a knack for conjuring, though is well researched in other types as well. Illeka and her are an even match, with decent win ratios on either end. Illeka doesn’t take it that personally, they suck/hate magic after all. Kala’s a bit more competitive tho.. While her power in magic is certainly the best on all of the island, she can’t help but feel salty/jealous for always being overshadowed by Illeka’s feats, since the people prefer/understand the physical over the magic.

- Oh, and she was born on day after the Day of Living Fire, according to her parents. How lucky.

- In a sense, they’re all a bit of an outcast. Kala the fiery independent one, a bit sidecasted for prefering magic over steel. Talako the weird orphan, for being a chirpy, happy boi, which is a bit annoying for some. And Illeka…well lets just say their situation isn’t going to be improving

- One year, Illeka’s family is expecting more kids, twin sisters at that! It’s the most excited anyone’s ever seen Illeka, thought perhaps that’s not the right word… They’ve still got their usual demeanor, but they did spend nearly a week crocheting little baby hats and tunics and scarves. They threatened to kill their brother if they told anyone, although Zekk was allowed to let it slip to Tal and Kala

- [They are absurdly good at crochet btw. They never do it anymore to try and maintain their “reputation,” but their family will never forget the time they crafted matching blankets and hats to win a little competition in their home town.]

- Then the Day of Living Fire arrives for that year. Theres a little celebration for Illeka’s birthday, before moving on to other activities.

- The twins die that night.

- The village was in a bit of shock…and rumours grow considering the timing of it. The mysterious circumstance of it…well it does turn the heads of even some of the less-superstitious. The rumours, the death, the silent thought that perhaps that cursed bird caused some babies’ death, Illeka endured it.

- Years later would it get worse.

- Illeka is still publically respected at this point, weird rumours sure, but try telling that to the edge of her halberd. Their mother had made the twin’s shrine, but they say Illeka didn’t visit that often. Talako was always by their side, trying to help them, which was always appreciated, even when they tried to hide it.

- Kala was busy in the library these days.

- Zekk had started a family by now, a little baby birb named Mili hatched into the world. Illeka would often steal her away for little cuddles when they (thought) no one was looking. Zekk would jest that they had to fight for the right to hold his own kid. Kala would also occasionally tease them about it, though Tal was mostly happy to see them in better spirits

- Then, another Day of Living Fire.

- Talako and Illeka were usually on guard duty together, the northern patrol by the village edge. But tal was still a bit worried about his friend’s state of mind, he’s not sure he’d even seen them mourn. He pushes for Illeka to take the day off, it’s technically their birthday after all, plus they can pay their respected at the shrines and attend the festivities and do the ceremonies and all that. Illeka denies it, brushing it off like they always do.

- Soon, their nightly patrol begins, and Illeka is about to set off to met up with Talako, but Kala intercepts. She has a talk with them, similar to that of Talako’s, but with…more well crafted and laced words. It’s nearly the same message that Talako tried to tell them, “It’ll be healthy for you, visit the shrines, be with your family, maybe brush off some rumours in the process.” Illeka nearly denies again, joking that Talako would get afraid of the dark if they didn’t show up. But Kala interjects, stating that she’s already made plans to take the patrol that nigth with Tal. Trusting their friends to be safe in each others care, Illeka relents and takes the day off.

- …yeah. so

- perhaps you can see where this is going.

- Kala’s jealousy had been growing over the years. Not only was she being shadowed by Illeka and their non magic ways, but it was irritating even more that all the talk about magic in the town was not of her exceptional abilties, but of stupid rumours and non-existent evil curses. If the people wanted show, she’d give them a show

- This mindset made her spars with Illeka a bit more personal as of late, getting it in her head that she needed to get stronger, strong enough to best Illeka with ease. Strong enough so that there would be no question who was the best warrior on the island, magic, bows, halberds, or no.

- The library had many forgotten books that she had been studying. Conjuring, rituals, illusions, necromancy. It was all…beautiful. Kala soaked in every word, sometimes berating the bookkeeper offhandedly for not keeping them in the best condition

- In her research she eventually found a beast. A..thing, a demon? A monster, the specifics weren’t there, but the gist of it was, if you had the courage to summon it, it would grant you the knowledge for attaining anything you desired. All it asked in return was…to eat some people.

- But not just any people mind you! Supposedly the ritual only worked for the people with the greatest of ambitions, willing to sacrifice the lives of people they might care about. The sacrifices had to be of someone with great trust and bond with the person.

- Kala’s parents disappeared that day, a few feathers laid about, but there was no blood.

- Near the northern border, by a open field, a weird circle dripped the grass red

- Talako waited by the village edge, ready to fly off with their patrol partner when they arrived. When Kala greeted him, he was a bit surprised, but happy when she explained that Illeka had gone off back to town.

- Indeed Illeka was with their family now, as the sun started to set. Occasionally, a passerby would give them a weird glance before walking swiftly away.

- Somewhere in the northern border, a warrior is knocked unconcious, and dragged upon a blood red pattern

- Illeka is by her sisters’ shrine. For the sliver of a moment, they contemplate crying.

- Then an explosion is heard off in the distance

- Talako was wide awake at this point, although his wings being pinned to his sides wasn’t that helpful considering there was a giant, *giant* dark monster in front of him.

- Kala lets off a final remark, saying it was for his own good. The death would be swifter if he didn’t squirm.

- He whipped back at her, glaring with a fire she hasn’t seen before. He calls her a coward for tricking Illeka, a coward for kill their parents, a coward for not even giving him the decency to fight for his life.

- She nearly smiles at the last remark. “Fine.” She tosses him his blades. “You were never much of a warrior anyway.”

- Illeka was flying towards the booming sound at full speed, nearly knocking over their family and other mourning, people in the process. A few others had tried to slow them down, claiming they should suit of better first, before confronting whatever had been the source of the explosion. Illeka didn’t listen.

- They barely had time to grab a weapon, before approaching the northern border. After gracing the crests of the hill tops, they finally saw it. A giant demonic beast, snapping it’s jaws against a flying dash of black feathers, Talako.

- Illeka called out to him, nearly dashing off into the air again, but they stopped when they spotted Kala, standing idlely by next to her.

- Before they could even speak, before they could even question why she was acting so nonchalantly while their best friend was fighting for their life against an evil monstrosity, Kala shook her head and spoke. “You always have to ruin my fun, don’t you?” She struck a magic blow and Illeka, square in the chest.

- It knocked them to the ground, but they got up, setting their halberd and pointing it at them.

- Then insert some dramatic scene where Kala is like “you’re so selfish, hogging all the attention, thinking you’re better than me, but today I’m gonna finally best you mwahaha” and Illeka is like “wtf why did you do this? I thought we were friends? I trusted you?? the fuck? also talako is our friend!!?” and then its “yeah thats right I manipulated your stupid feelings to gain the upperhand. you’re super pathetic honestly for falling for it. anyhow yeah talako will probably die, i tried to give him the luxary of a swift death but he wouldn’t listen, so now he’s probably gonna get brutally slayed lol” and illeka is all “I’ll kill you” and kala is “no u. This whole thing is gonna give me so much power no ones gonna question me again” and then they fight each other

- The duel is nearly a draw, Kala’s magical ability is certainly is certainly stronger, but she’s not as all powerful without that knowledge from the demon monster guy that needs to eat his meal. Illeka is fighting with all theyve got, but all they brought was a halberd, but they are very fueled by rage and spite so it’s still an even match. Illeka eventually lands a blow that’s got Kala bleeding severely, but Kala pretty much almost kills them with a direct attack. Kala’s too weak to finish the job, plus those other guards have finally started to fly and approach in the distance, so she flys off. Illeka finally slips into unconsciousness.

- When they wake up, it’s almost sunrise. Their mom is shaking them awake, part of the party that was investigating the explosion that summoned the beast. Illeka bolts up, they’re still in the field were they had fought Kala, but she and the beast are no where to be seen.

- They run off, trying to find Talako, and ho boy do they find him alright. His body is crumpled by some rocks, his wing nearly ripped clean off, theres so much blood, even a warrior like Illeka can hardly bare it. Some small bit of hope in their head thinks that he might still be alive, and they listen to his chest to see if he’s still breathing.

- His eyes flicker once at Illeka, his chest rises, then falls for the last time.

- Illeka cries.

- Then, still pretty wounded and tired, they collapse again

- The days following are living hell. Kala hasn’t been found, and their her parent’s [bodies]. The rumours are creeping as ever, at the coincidence of Illeka and this disaster. They spend nearly a weak in bed at home, recovering physically, thought probably not mentally.

- As soon as they’ve fully recovered, Illeka’s mind is set. They are going to leave, no more warrior/village protection for them. They’re going to travel far off, train and hone their skills in combat, and find and kill Kala.

- Their family is opposed to this at first, but in the end nothing they say changes Illeka’s mind.

- In a sense, there was another, unspoken reason Illeka was leaving the islands. They didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

- Hell, the rhetoric is even stronger down the line, concerning the fate of poor Mili. Illeka has given in and accepted it, they are cursed to cause pain to the people they care about. [It’s basically that trope of the character isn’t actually cursed but they believe they’re cursed] Illeka will stay away, and go it alone for as long as they can. Then once the deed is done, once they draw Kala’s corpse across the mud, they’ll probably fly off somewhere far to die, before anyone else gets hurt. It’s probably best for their family never to see them again.

- - - - - -

Wow you did it, you made it through the super angsty self-indulgent backstory congrats. Illeka is my lil baby and I love them and I’ve gonna send them on a revenge quest and then they were gonna have a cool character arc probably about learning to grieve and have self worth and all that and to actually allow themselves to show emotions for once in their lives. That’s the general plan I had in my head anyhow

But you know what my dm thought?

They were like how about mORE ANGSt

Fucking shit you not, session three of the campaign, I’m heading back to birb island because of circumstances, and I’m getting supplies from my blacksmith dad and showing off this sword that says “fuck” a lot that I got from a dungeon that took a selkie’s soul which they gave up willingly in exchange for fire hair...long story

but THEN I meet up with my bro Zekk and it’s like “wassup bro just passing through” but then I find out that Talako’s shrine thing was DESTORYED by some unknown entity and that’s very not good because spirituality and all that

and also I find Mili and they’re a cute lil toddler birb now aww it’s so great hope nothing happens to them because I sure do have enough emotional traume to burden right now. anyhow due to CIRCUMSTANCES our only lead to the thing that destroyed Talako’s shrine is 1) a delinquent named Chesio [that our party nicknamed cherrio because the GM misspelled it the first time i think] who apparently was Talako’s shitty cousin and his only living relative who could build his shrine and 2) the destruction of the shrine lines up with a period of time where Mili went missing but its ok she came back so her parents were like “chill we gucci”

Our party decides we should go down the Mili lead [because I accidentally knocked Cherrio i mean Chesio to near death with a crit roll with my halberd so they’re in the infirmary now but it’s really not my fault that they triggered my emotional trauma by mentioning how I keep running away from grief and never staying around to confront it it’s fiiiiiiiiiiiiine] so we stop by Zekk’s house and we’re like “hey so remember when you disappeared for like a week where did you go, and then mili was like “oh it’s in this cavern that no one knows about and I can’t really give you the directions but I can lead you there if you take me with you” in which I then glare at the GM for this obvious attempt to force us to take Mili with us to put her in danger and apparently I was the ONLY one who cared about this because everyone else in the party was ready to adopt this birb child, and Zekk was like “sure take the kiddy harness” so here I am, watching my niece run around in a kiddy harness that’s also attached to me, while my Chaotic neutral party someone gets grilled cheese sandwiches in the background

Badabing, badaboom, we come to some crystal caverns. while I, being one of the only members of the party with morals other than one chaotic good dragonborn, am watching the selkie, halfoot, and elf girl steal a bunch of crystals, Mili fucking DISAPPEARS the fucking KIDDY HARNESS fucking NOT GOOD she FCUKING SLIPPED OUT AND SHES GONE AND IM FREAKING OUT

after about an hour or two of searching through the deeper parts of the cavern and tunnel and also fighting a minotaur and discovering an abandoned arena and a cleric, long story. We find Mili fucking laying on A NECROMANCER’S RITUAL CIRCLE WHAT THE FU-

I pull a “I don’t hesitate bitch” on the hooded dude that’s hovering and chanting shit. He’s dead, it’s all swell. Saved the day, the evil’s dead. Mili’s fine she can go back to being a cute lil baby who loves shiny rocks and-

oh wAIT actually Mili is still transformed into a demonic monster and the necromancer dude was actually in the middle of completing a ritual to bring her back to life after he killed her a few times

So turns out, necromancer dead dude was hired by a mysterious someone, to steal something from Talako’s shrine, and to destroy any evidence. Turns out, his methodology for doing so was to kidnap some birb kid who had the misfortune of wander too close, killing them, turning them into some demonic monster that does their bidding, using that monster to steal and ruin some shit, and then when the day’s done he turns them back like nothing happened. Sure do wish he was alive to redo that last part

I’m freaking out, the party’s freaking out, that sword from earlier is cursing to high heaven for no apparent reason. Cleric unhelpfully remarks how it was a bad idea that we impulsively killed the evil dude bro, yes wow thank you for the help

Eventually everything’s fine. After a few round of shouting “NO ONE TOUCH MY FUCKING NIECE OR YOU DIE” after said demonic niece is kinda mindlessly attacking everyone, we eventually do some good ol blunt force trauma and a bit of magic and BOOM. Mili’s back. Although they do have permanent black ritual markings on them but its fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinee (its not)

We find a note on necromancer dude bro that his employer was from another island, so that’s a lead yay Find Out Next SessionTM but at this point I really don’t care as I’ve already started tying Mili to my chest and walking back to the village

I go back to Zekk’s house, hand off Mili, explain everything that happened, give a super heart feel apology about how I pretty much killed Mili (even though I really didn’t but also as we all know Illeka is an angsty birb who’s steadfast in the idea that their existence hurts everyone they love so yay <3) and then I leave as fast as I can before anyone can protest sure was nice visiting my family after i’ve been away for a few months sure am glad that my inner thoughts about staying away weren’t justified whatsoever hmmmmmm

A session or two passes. We try to assassinate and elf’s evil parents and fail, we get into a Fake Dating Being Someone’s Children Au with a dragon. The selkie keeps trying to date everyone, even thought they’re already married to a necromancer princess and a boat (long story) and inbetween we head to that island that note i got was talking about and turns out it was to a place where all your inner demons and anxieties manifest into reality and taunt you, until youre slowly broken down to the point where the evil dictator on the island can “magic” away your problems with puppet strings. fun for the whole family!

Anyways, after our party fights out evil neon-blue clones, I get a lead from dictator dude that the employer I’m looking for is a Rito that’s good with magic, and was last seen headed east, in the same direction we just came from. fun.a

So I’m kinda low on leads, other than the fact that theres a magic school in the east, but in between we have to deal with the fact that husboat (again, the boat that is married to the selkie who is also our entire party’s form of transportation across the ocean. wait a sec did I mention that we weren’t in Hyrule? We’re not in Hyrule, this is a flooded land with a bunch of islands. Think wind waker) was being chased by pirates. also these pirates were the ones that raised the selkie, and also they kinda also slaughtered an entire island of halffoots in their time with the pirates, and also that island was the one that the halffoot in our party grew up in. So basically that’s some cool tension and drama. Anyhow, back to moi

One talk about how “no we cannot kidnap aNOTHER priest” to the selkie and elf later... magic school! Magic school is pretentious and I hate it. Everythings glowy, they don’t allow you to fly over the gates. There’s puffy noble middle aged men and children in bedazzled cloaks. There’s magic in the air and I swear I would choke and die on the glitter and rainbows of it all.

Half the party is off getting into cloak fashion, I head off with my dragonborn friend Ness because highfive! We’re the only one’s with morals in this party! Morality pals! (This is saying something considering I am true neutral and she’s chaotic good but we might as well be clerics in this party...)

My morality pal and I and hanging around, then we catch word that there’s this transfer student that no one has seen in a while and “oh I wonder where she could be” and all that jazz from other students. Mortality pals are like “ok let’s go look for her” so we drag the rest of the party off of their larceny spree and look around.

Eventually, after I spot a tattered cloak roaming the halls that matches the description of the gossip, we find the transfer student.

TURNS OUT (unsurprisingly honestly given the way the dm framed stuff) this transfer student is someone I know. She’s standing there, in the middle of the room, preparing to do some ritual or something. She’s standing there, my life purpose, my one and only goal, literally the only reason I’m still going in life, my arch nemesis, my target, my mortal fucking enemy. It’s Kala.

Ness sees a demon dog in the background and says hi, ruining our element of surprise, but to be fair, she doesn’t know it’s Kala.

Kala whips around from her table thing. We make eye contact. Her face suddenly shift from confusion to surprise to bewilderment to shock to happiness.

Happiness.

“Illeka I thought you were dead!” Kala runs towards me, but I’m too shocked to move.

She’s smiling. It’s not sadistic, it’s not...harmful, it’s just genuine joy. For a moment I thought I saw a tear in her eye.

Kala hugs me for a long moment, before letting go. “So how did you survive?”

...

In my head I’m thinking, “oh you fuck face”

THE. AUDACITY. OF. THIS. BITCH.

“HOWD I SURVIVE” UH NO THANKS TO YOU FOR ALMOST KILLING ME FOR YOUR STUPID RITUAL WHATEVER THAT KILLED TALAKO WTFFF

ARE YOU REALLY TRYING TO PULL THE SAME TRICK AGAIN??? GONNA PRETEND TO BE ALL SENTIMENTAL AND NICE JUST TO TRY AND KILL ME LATER ON? HA OK OK

how about instead, I do the one good thing, the one worthwhile thing I can do in my entire life...just one simple course of action that might hope to make up for the mountain of regret that is my entire existence.

I am finally going to kill you.

Kala’s staring at me, eyes curious, head tilted as if all she ever did was ask what I had for brunch.

I blink once, and my neutral expression, faintly coated with shock morphs into determination.

I roll for initiative.

- - - - - -

It’s 1am.

So have a cliffhanger, kinda.

If anyone bothers to read this far, congrats! Your reward is me being lazy. I’ll tell you what happened sometime tomorrow if anyone really wants to know :P Long story short, it doesn’t end how I, and therefore probably you, would except.

#haha brain go- shamelessly talk about Illeka for 3 thousand words #i actually dont know the word count i didnt check i think it's 4k??#the thing i copy pasted is like 2k and the campaign stuff i added is....idk #not botw kinda #rito oc #kinda #dnd #kip talks for too long #i'd write this better but its 1am #good luck if you can actually read this

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susieskinner93 · 4 years

Text

Robert Sugden Week 2020

Day 7 - Free choice

At the age of 5, Seb didn’t know much, but he had a feeling that his family was… special. One day a man turned up, saying that he knew him when he was a baby, and he brought lots of pictures to prove it. He said he knew his dad as well. His dad… he knew nothing about. Because no matter how many times he asked, his mother always found a way to shift the conversation. And there are a lot of ways you can occupy a 5-year-old.

But ever since Aaron came back to his life Seb knew that something was different than it was before. He just didn’t know the reason.

At the age of 7, Seb knew he had a special connection with Aaron. They got on really well. And he always found a way to tell him about his dad. And Seb liked those stories. Even if Aaron didn’t exactly tell him why he’s not there. He told him more than his mother, that’s for sure. And Seb knew that Aaron was more than just someone who knew his father. He felt like a dad. Seb wanted him to be his dad. He just didn’t have the courage to ask.

When he did ask, it was unfortunately in Rebecca’s presence. He kind of whispered to her how he wanted to ask if he could call Aaron daddy. Aaron sat in the living room a couple of feet away, trying hard not to hear it on purpose. But he did. Rebecca suggested Seb to ask the man himself but Aaron could see it on her face, she didn’t like it one bit. But Aaron didn’t have time to think about Rebecca’s feelings, because a couple of seconds later Seb stood before him and sheepishly asked the question.

“You’d really like that?” – asked Aaron already wiping his tears away.

“If you don’t want it you don’t have to.” – he pouted, obviously misunderstanding his emotional outburst.

“No, no mate, I’m happy.” – laughed Aaron kneeling in front of him. – “I’m really happy, and of course I’d love that.” – he smiled. He only had to wait two hours before Seb called him daddy for the first time.

Seb was 8 years old when everything’s changed. He knew something was up because daddy Aaron started talking about his dad way more often. Then one day he told him that his dad came back, and he’d like to meet him. What Seb didn’t know was, that in reality, Robert was back 3 months prior to that. But he and Aaron spent that last 3 months arguing with Rebecca for her to let Robert see his own son. It was ridiculous but when Robert started talking about court, she agreed.

That’s how Seb met his dad after 6 years again. And much to Robert’s surprise and Rebecca’s dismay, they started bonding right on that first meeting. It didn’t take long before he spent weekends there permanently. Rebecca allowed it, as long as Seb continued to live with her. She told them, that if he asks about moving there, they tell him no. Either that or she forbids him spending the weekends there. Robert knew she could do it because even if he threatened her with court he knew Rebecca would try to ruin them in the process, and with his record, it was likely she would get her wish. Either way, he didn’t wanna risk it.

That’s why they kept their mouth shut for years.

By the time he was 11, Seb wanted nothing more than to live with his dads. He didn’t get along with Rebecca, he hated Liverpool, he hated the school there, he genuinely hated everything about it. Rebecca tried to buy his love with toys and empty promises but Seb only wanted one thing. That’s what he asked for every Christmas and birthday… basically any opportunity he’s had.

Robert and Aaron welcomed the twins not long after Seb turned 12, and it gave Rebecca another excuse to say no to his son’s greatest wish. He told him how busy his dad must be. He obviously meant Robert because one thing that Rebecca never did, was acknowledging Aaron as a father figure in Seb’s life. No matter how much his son loved him. It meant nothing to her. She was jealous, and she wanted to block it all out. She fed Seb lies about how Robert and Aaron canceled the weekend he would’ve spent there because they wanted to be with the twins. It wasn’t true, and it only didn’t come out then because Rebecca phoned them and told them that Seb was a bit poorly so it would be best if he’d stay at home. She even reasoned with how she didn’t want Seb to accidentally get the twins sick.

The whole story was beautifully orchestrated… that’s why it remained uncovered for at least 6 months.

Seb’s birthday was coming up and he spent the weekend in the village with his dads, helping them with the twins and out of the blue, he asked them….

“Why do you not want me to move here with you? Is it because you think I wouldn’t help around the twins? I would I swear!” – he pleaded. Robert and Aaron just looked at each other, immediately knowing that something wasn’t right.

“Wait a minute, who told you that?” – asked Aaron putting down the twins' clothes he started folding not long ago, while Robert made their bottles. At that he abandoned the task as well, coming to the couch where his son sat, with a baby either of his sides.

“Mum said you wouldn’t want it.” – he pouted and for a second Aaron remembered how he always did that, even as a little boy.

“Seb, that’s… that’s not true.” – said Robert carefully, because even though he was mad at Rebecca he didn’t want his son to hate her because of this.

“It’s not?” – he asked looking at both of them.

“Course not, we’d love if you’d move here. Do you want that?” – asked Aaron with a gentle smile.

“Yeah. I’ve been asking mum for years… I don’t like that school, I wanna go to school here, I wanna see nana Chas and play with Harry and I can’t because I’m only here for the weekends. I don’t like it.” – he said clearly upset.

“Seb if you really mean it I promise you, we’re gonna sit down with your mum, and talk about it.” – said Robert ruffling his hair.

“But I don’t wanna be in the way.” – he said sadly looking at the twins. He loved his siblings and right in that minute, his behavior made sense to Robert and Aaron. He always seemed a bit… distant when it came to the babies and now they knew why. They never thought Rebecca would be capable of sabotaging her own son’s happiness. That was plain cruelty.

“Seb, listen to me.” – said Aaron. – “We want you here, okay? You have your own room, we love it when you’re around, and to tell you the truth we’re always a bit sad when you have to go back.”

“Really?”

“Your dad’s right.” – said Robert – “If this is what you want… we’re gonna try to make it happen, okay?”

“Okay.” – he said sniffing a bit.

That night, after they finally put the babies down Aaron and Robert had a long conversation. Things needed to change.

At first, they only managed to persuade Rebecca to let Seb be with them a bit more, to take him to trips in school time, as long as they deal with explaining that to Seb’s teachers at school.

Seb was 14 when he moved to his dads' for good. It was an emotional turn of events, something that nobody saw coming.

They tried to argue with Rebecca, about how staying in Liverpool isn’t good for Seb, but she was adamant. She kept saying that Seb belonged with her and that they shouldn’t try to interfere. Their umpteenth argument got out of hands, and they started bringing up the past. Well at first Rebecca did. She shouted about how Robert didn’t even think about Seb when he killed a man and got arrested for it. That he abandoned him and that it was all up to her to take care of Seb… alone. That was the point when Aaron lost his temper. He told Rebecca that what Robert did wasn’t a selfish act, that he was protecting his own sister, and he told her what a hypocrite she was, after how she denied Aaron the right to see Seb for years. He told her how hard it was for him to cope with Robert’s sentencing and then on top of that with losing Seb as well.

What neither of them realized was that Seb came home from school earlier and he heard everything. Some things weren’t news to him. Like what his dad did. He obviously didn’t know the details but he knew he was trying to help auntie Vic, and that he didn’t deserve prison for it. He didn’t know about his mum forbidding Aaron to see him though. It came as a shock. It was all too much. He just stepped from behind the wall, revealing himself. Everybody froze for a second.

“Seb.” – started Rebecca already thinking about a lie to spin.

“You’re…. unbelievable.” – he said directly to his mother. – “Is this true?” - he asked.

“Seb, mate….” – said Aaron.

“You tried to see me and she didn’t let you?” – he asked Aaron. Aaron didn’t answer just looked at Robert. Neither of them wanted Seb to hold a grudge against his mother for that.

“Mum? Is it true?” – he asked again – “IS IT?”

“Okay yes…” - stuttered Rebecca. – “It’s true… but listen to me, your dad was gone and Aaron…”

“AARON’S ALSO MY DAD. HE ALWAYS WAS.” – he shouted crying already.

“Seb, come here.” – said Aaron quietly. He wanted to comfort the boy more than ever. Seb crashed against him in a matter of seconds saying how he had no idea. – “I know mate. I know.” – said Aaron.

“I’m… I’m gonna go upstairs… pack a bag… then I’m gonna leave… with them.” – he told Rebecca. – “I wanna live with them… I’ve wanted nothing else for the past 4 years.”

“But Seb… this is your home!”

“IT’S NOT!” – he screamed. – “You lied to me, who knows what else I don’t know about.” – he scoffed.

“You can’t…” - started Rebecca. She wanted to tell him how he cannot leave but Seb didn’t let her finish.

“If you won’t let me then you can go to court, and then they’ll ask me. I’m not a stupid kid anymore, I have a right to say where I wanna live. And it’s not here, and definitely not with you.”

“You!” – spat Rebecca looking at Robert and Aaron. – “You told him to say that.”

“No, we really didn’t.” – said Robert while he was amused by his own son… and maybe a bit proud as well. Okay, REALLY proud.

“This is the first time I hear about this. Do you honestly think that I would’ve stayed here a second longer if I’d known about this before? Why did you do this mum? Do you want me to be miserable?” – he asked.

“No, of course not!”

“Then let me go.”

“But… but… you’re gonna come back… right?”

“I wanna live with my dads. I wanna be there with them and I miss my siblings, I don’t wanna stay here.” – he said again.

“Go upstairs.” – told him Robert. – “Aaron, would you go with him? Help him pack.” – he said to his husband quietly. They went up, while Rebecca stood there, obviously furious.

“Robert… you can’t…”

“I can, actually. Look, I don’t want him to hate you. Why do you think we never told him any of this stuff? Or when you lied about him being ill just so he wouldn’t spend time with the twins. Honestly Rebecca this should’ve happened years ago, but we always thought it would be cruel to take him away. Even when his school rang and told us he was failing in math… even then we said okay he just needs a tutor. You know I never really understood how can he have those grades when he knows everything. When I sat down with him, he knew all the answers. I was stupid for not questioning it. And now ?? You’ve heard him. He’s 14 and he knows what he wants. He doesn’t hate you…. yet. Do you want him to?” – he asked finally looking at her.

“No.” – she admitted.

“Then let him go with us.”

“Will you talk to him?”

“If you want me to change his mind I won’t.” – warned her Robert. – “We’ve always wanted him there. I was an idiot for letting you take him all those years ago. It only brought us suffering. More to Aaron than me. But now that we know for sure it’s what Seb wants… I’m gonna be there for him, to do anything he wants to do.”

“Yeah me too.” – said Aaron as they appeared on the top of the stairs.

“You’re ready?” – asked Robert. Seb nodded.

“I still have stuff left, but… can we just go?” – he asked not even looking at his mother.

“Seb…” - she tried.

“I don’t even wanna look at you right now.” – he said to her before he turned to Robert. – “I’ll wait in the car if that’s okay.”

“Here’s the key.” – said Aaron handing it to him.

“It’s his choice.” – shrugged Robert as he took a look at Rebecca one more time. Only after they closed the front door behind them could Robert let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.

“You alright?” – asked Aaron stroking his back as they walked to the car, where Seb waited for them.

“Yeah. It’s just… somehow I think things are about to change… for the better.” – he smiled at his husband.

“Yeah, you might be right. I can feel it too.” – he smiled back at him as they got into the car, and drove back home. All three of them.

#robertweek2020 #robweek2020 #rs week 2020 #robron #robron fic

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elizabeatrice · 4 years

Text

Mystery Spot (Chapter 68)

Let’s Talk About JSHK Manga #4

If you get the title reference, I applaud you.

Warning: 1) !!! MANGA SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 68 !!! Duh.

2) I dropped a couple of f bombs and several curses here ... I really ranted lmao.

3) This reaction/review is closer to me spewing wild theories rather than an actual review. But these wild theories are my reactions. So. Ehhh these theories are probably wrong anyway. Lemme have my dark, twisted fun, mkay? Not sure if they’re entirely coherent though.

Had trouble copying some kanji this time around ‘cause they’re so freaking blurry! So I got too lazy to write this yesterday haha. Thank you Ropes of Fate for the translation! Truly commendable heroes of the fandom *sobs*. I also used three panels from Chapter 61, translated by Caim.

Let’s jump into it (ba dum tss).

This chapter is a bit shorter than usual and boy do you feel it. Well. At least I do. But I really hope sensei are taking some time to relax. Last chapter was 45 pages, after all. Y’all deserve it you wonderful creators.

First of all I would like to dedicate the biggest f bomb for the villagers because what the fuck. Why the fuck would you sacrifice poor, innocent young girls just to keep yourself safe? And it’s not even a sacrifice to kami-sama! Y’all just droppin’ these girls to be eaten by supernaturals! And y’all practically manipulated them smh.

Are y’all insane?! Y’all could’ve just moved the fuck out. What kind of insane people just decide to stay near a literal pit of hell? Don’t give me the ‘we’ve lived here for generations’ bs okay ‘cause y’all neighbors be getting eaten by supernaturals but y’all rather trade innocent young girls for your own safety. If Berkians and Asgardians can suck it up and be the bigger nation with all that ‘Berk/Asgard is not a place it’s the people’ shit, y’all can too.

I’ve disliked characters in JSHK before. But I’ve never hated JSHK characters before. Until now. Y’all fucking did it, dumbass villagers.

Ahem. Pardon me.

Because my brain is a literal self-debate machine let me just say that I did consider several possibilities in these ‘people’’s defense. There’s the obvious ‘some people back then didn’t know any better and believe a human sacrifice will solve everything’ mindset. Then there’s the possibility of them being trapped in their village for some reason, hence not having any other choice but to sacrifice those girls.

But y’know what else could be the case? ‘Cause my mind really went dark there for a bit.

The Minamoto clan let it happen.

In the last chapter it was mentioned that the Minamoto clan was involved. And this is a bit shocking now that I think about it more ‘cause Teru has always been adamant that all supernaturals are evil and must be exorcised, humans must be protected.

But what if they just let the villagers sacrifice these girls so that the monsters can be contained in this village, in that pit, instead of running amok to other places and cause more trouble?

Which makes me wonder.

Uh. Where did Teru go to? Does he know about this? Did he go to that pit (or that village, if Kamome Academy wasn’t built on its land)?

If he does know, isn’t he interested in saving a fellow human student and underclassman? If he does know about the Akane clan, isn’t he interested in telling his VP, who’s obsessed with an Akane? Unless ... you know ... he meant for this to happen, which I kinda doubt.

He must know something about this. He went out of his way to make Akane promise to protect Kou if something were to happen. What’s more dangerous than the Grim Reaper showing up looking for a sacrifice who turned out to be Kou’s beloved senpai’s best friend? What if Akane had to choose between Aoi and Kou at some point?

Okie next I wanna talk about Hanako. This is gonna sound just as far fetched as the previous bit lmao but here goes.

Boiiii y’all saw it. The pause before his answer. His face drawn out of view, in an evasive body language.

(Hanako my boy pls do us all a favor and stop lying to your girlfriend, we all know how well that turned out in Picture Perfect lmao)

Theory. He knew what’s been going on all along. Or at least the gist of it.

Remember this?

Imma take a detour a lil bit.

The Far Shore/torii gate refused Nene in chapter 67, right? In my Chapter 67 reaction I said it was the bracelet that saved her but now I think the bracelet probably disguised her as Sumire in the villagers’ eyes. So the Far Shore/torii gate refused her, and we all thought it was because she wasn’t an Akane.

But then we found out that Hanako was right about the village. It was just a ‘made up world’ inside Shinigami’s boundary. It’s just a reenactment of the day Sumire died, probably based on Shinigami’s memories, as the first page of Chapter 64 said.

So of course Nene was refused. Because in his memories, Sumire was the one who fell into the pit that day.

Sumire also said in this chapter’s narration that the villagers sacrificed young girls. Not Akane girls. Also, before the sacrifices began, the monsters already ate villagers anyway, right? They didn’t only eat young girls. It wasn’t said as such. The villagers probably just chose young girls because that’s sorta like the equivalent of offering the best meat or smth. Practically a please accept our humble offering of tenderloin wagyu, O Horrible Monsters.

The coveted bloodline thing was probably a plus, not obligatory. Often in stories, people with high ‘spiritual energy’ are supposed to taste more delicious and grant whoever eats their meat special powers or smth (e.g. Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West). Also ancient cultures sacrifice young girls often, that was the trend.

And they proceeded to try to sacrifice Nene anyway, despite her not being an Akane. They said it themselves. “It doesn’t matter if it’s that girl.”

So according to the (rather vague) information we have, it’s possible that the sacrifice doesn’t have to be an Akane or a girl.

Some of y’all have been theorizing that the Yugi twins got involved with supernaturals, and that sorta lead to their death.

What if this is it?

I myself am not sure how it went down if this is really the case. But I keep imagining our boy’s infamous ‘I’m not going anywhere’ being said by Sumire because bruh she’s the epitome of not going anywhere. She was chosen to be sacrificed since she was a child, not given a choice. Even after she died and became a yorishiro, she was imprisoned in this time prison world or whatever, reliving her death every single day with no escape.

And I couldn’t help but think ‘hoooo shit what if???’

I mean. I don’t know who was the chosen sacrifice. Could be Tsukasa, could be Amane. Maybe he killed his brother so that he wouldn’t get sacrificed, and decided that he’ll die along with his brother. I’m not going anywhere. Maybe it also means I’m not letting you send my brother to be eaten by monsters, and since we can’t escape either, we’re staying here no matter what.

And if the Minamotos were really in on it, it makes sense for Grandma Minamoto to accuse Amane of being an evil murderer. He practically got in the way ‘of other people’s safety’ by killing the chosen sacrifice.

banjjakz also said something about the possibility of Tsukasa being a previous sacrifice. Read about it here and here. It’s pretty interesting!

Besides, a wonder whose precious person got sacrificed and later became their yorishiro? That’d be some parallel, haha.

Sure, Sumire said ‘if the kannagi was switched’. But the early narration didn’t mention a sacrifice of kannagi. Just ‘young girls’.

Look just lemme have this, alright?

Oh. Also I wanted to point out the possible tension/trust issues between Hanako and Nene but many other blogs have pointed it out quite well so I’m just gonna stick with my wild theories.

But I will address what Nene said about the pit.

Where is said pit anyway? In Kamome? Why is it open? Is it Tsukasa changing rumors and allowing more supernaturals to cross back to the Near shore? More likely. I mean, he does grant wishes for supernaturals after all.

Oh. Speaking of Nene. Let’s give her a round of applause for her character development. She’s become of better judgement regarding men’s terrible behavior. Wow. That’s my girl. I mean, we still don’t know much about Shinigami, but from what I’ve seen so far, Sumire guuuurrrrllllll you deserve better.

Regardless of my ships, these supernatural boys should take notes from my precious Kou and how he loves so selflessly. Lmao. Remember that one post-chapter panels in Picture Perfect where he said he’ll find Nene a prince in the real world, even though he likes her? Broooo I want ten of this precious boy.

Lastly, Akane and Aoi.

Where are they? They look like they’re stranded in some wild boundary somewhere, the one with half sunken houses and lost things that usually appear in color spreads. I am so hyped, ‘cause I love the aesthetics, and I wanna see more of this place.

Oh. And Akane’s alive. Phew. I gotta be honest though, I kinda looked forward to his death. Not because I hate the kiddo. He’s technically still human, right. I’m just wondering whether his death or Aoi’s would cause Teru to outright declare war against the Seven Wonders because aren’t these folks supposed to protect students like they claim to be? (This, of course, ignores my previous theories about the Minamoto clan)

Basically I just wanna see some shit go down with Teru mkay ‘cause this powerful dude has been useless for quite too long now.

Aoi’s still pretty confusing, too. She went from this weird expression:

to this:

She kinda looked like she was still under the influence of the drug thingy. But she was also concerned about Akane, even though it’s not like how she worried about Nene in the past. And she knew Akane longer than her, they practically grew up together. Real Aoi would be in tears seeing his condition, y’all. So I guess the drug thingy’s effect is slowly wearing out.

Closing! JSHK is dark but usually not in ways my brain expects it to be. (And a lot of times I still get surprised with the amount of comedy it has lmao.) Sooo sensei are probably gonna prove me wrong about most of these, anyway. Haha.

As always feel free to discuss.

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #toilet bound hanako kun #jshk spoilers #tbhk spoilers #minamoto teru #akane sumire #shinigami #aoi akane #hanako #yashiro nene #akane aoi #bea rambles #see there's a reason why my tag is called bea rambles #here y'all have some wild theories y'all didn't ask for lmao #let's talk about jshk manga

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