And thy mercy shall follow me

3. The physician came, examined the wound, listened to the labor of Anjin’s breathing. He looked at his palms and felt the pulse at his throat. He frowned and shrugged.

“Someone should stay with him. The maid will do.”

Mariko nodded. When Sugi rose to come to Anjin’s side, Mariko shook her head slightly.

“This is my undertaking. And he speaks almost no Japanese. Should he wake, he will not be able to ask for what he needs,” she said.

Sugi returned to her previous position, her head inclined in an expression of deferential obedience though Mariko had caught a look in her eyes that suggested Sugi thought Mariko’s explanation was not entirely sincere, her motivations something more than pragmatic and dutiful.

Mariko owed the maid nothing and so said nothing. She knelt again beside Anjin and dabbed at his brow with a folded cloth. Beneath their lids, his eyes moved and she thought he must be dreaming. She hoped there was consolation there or respite; perhaps he felt himself sailing out under a clear sky, the sails of his ship full-bellied with a strong wind. Perhaps he dreamt of his home, of seeing his family, the children crowing with delight. Perhaps he dreamt of being welcomed in the Japans, not treated as a stray mongrel, of Toranaga looking upon him with a hard-won approbation.

Perhaps he dreamt of her, offering him her hand. Drawing him close, offering her lips.

He lay still, his vital strength seemingly in abeyance, his soul in retreat. She let her mind withdraw, aware of Anjin but at a remove, able to take in the pane of sunlight lying across the mats, to consider strategy, purpose, to recall passages the priest had taught her. Hours passed. She registered the change in the quality of the light, the fatigue that began to collect at the small of her back. Anjin barely moved. It could not be a good sign.

Mariko began to think she would ask Sugi to fetch some lamps, the room grown dim. She opened her mouth to speak but Anjin stopped her.

He moaned, a low, broken sound that could only mean he was in pain, a misery he had not the power to overcome or subdue, an agony whose onslaught felled him. It was a sound she knew he would have done anything to keep her from hearing, for Anjin was bold and defiant, undaunted in the face of defeat, convinced he might find a way to overcome any challenge.

He moaned again, more softly, and Mariko felt the sting of tears she dare not let fall.

“It will be well, Anjin-san,” she whispered. She dampened a cloth in fresh water, stroked it against his bearded cheek and laid it against his throat. Her fingers grazed his skin, so hot, and he grimaced, as if the light touch hurt. “I only want to help—”

“Fetch Mariko-sama,” he said suddenly, his eyes barely open, unfocused, their blue dimmed as a dusk is dimmed by a storm. “I want her, fetch her, now, God damn you, fetch her—”

“I’m here, Anjin-san,” she said.

“John,” he said. “If she would only call me John.”

buffing up my tcba outline so that I can FINALLY get back to it and. y'all. I'm so excited. everyone is going to flip.

We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that.

I've posted the intro to my Shōgun AU fic.

This story will jump between two timelines: events set during Episode 9 and 10, and events set post series, some time after the Battle of Sekigahara. It’s AU starting from Episode 9, but many of the story beats will be the same, and Toranaga still becomes shogun in the end.

Fuji, Ochiba, Mariko, Yabushige and Blackthorne will have POVs. Some other characters like Omi and Toranaga will appear but won’t have POVs. (Toranaga’s storyline was the most resolved on the series and he got a pretty happy ending, all things considered. So the focus here will be on other characters.)

This story will still involve character death and will still be pretty sad, but there will be some hope amidst all that.

(Read on AO3)

Sephiroth (CC) -- Rose

Here is another Sephiroth artwork from Crisis Core with a rose 🌹 Tbh, I actually LOVED how this turned how. I just love drawing my favorite FF character (or villain lol), especially the FFVII trilogy <3. I’ve been wanting to draw more Sephiroth lately, so here he is I did probably last week (?).

SPOILER ALERT for those who hadn't played Crisis Core and/or Crisis Core Reunion, and the original and the remakes of FFVII of what I am about to say! So be aware of spoils!

I managed to do chapter 8 of CC-R, finally managed to see the Nibelheim Incident, which was an essential, and most shocking event I have EVER seen in my life ever since getting into FF. I hadn't even known that the people that created FFVII to have the most crucial event that probably is popular and shocking at the same time. I hadn't even gotten into that event in the OG and the remakes of FFVII just yet, nor seen the full thing of Last Order, but I did manage to get through it in Crisis Core Reunion. I was NERVOUS of playing that chapter 0_0. My heart was beating fast and my stomach was turning just thinking about it and how I will get through it! (I started to love Tifa's voice, btw :3). Sephiroth’s fall from hero to a threat was INDEED heartbreaking. I feel like he is the victim of Hojo’s experiments and the origins are just heartbreaking. Unfortunately he fell into insanity. I also felt if that wasn't for Hojo, and all the experiments he had done, and what he had done to Sephiroth, and probably the company did this to him as well, none of Sephiroth’s insanity would've happened. And yeah, Cloud killing Sephiroth at the reactor by stabbing him and throwing him into the Mako pit (or lifestream) was hard for me to watch after the battle. It'll be hard and NERVOUS for me to watch that scene from the OG as well along with the backstory from Cloud's POV in the OG and Rebirth. Oh, and that Sephiroth battle… was probably one of those battles that got my blood boiling but loving at the same time for some odd reason. I wasn't even READY for the Sephiroth battle at all, and I hated it, but loved it at the same time. Things I love was his stances and and intros before the battle, but what I hate is trying not to die from every powers he's using. The second phased I don't really like. So yeah, Sephiroth's fall from grace sucked, but will be forever my favorite FF villain ❤️

Alright, that's enough with the long description of my time playing chapter 8 and discussion before I get myself carried away lol. I had the shirtless Sephiroth art with a rose done on this book, but I didn't like how it turned out. So I decided to redraw that piece on my iPad and will display it as soon as it's done :). I'll be playing more Crisis Core soon!

WIP pics:

Sephiroth and Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunion ©Tetsuya Nomura, Hajime Tabata, Yoshihiro Hirota, Mariko Sato, SQUARE ENIX and Tose

Artwork ©RosePrincessArts

No copyright infringement is intended

Used: Soho Studio pencils and markers, fine artists pens, gel pen, illustration markers, non toxic alcohol markers and calligraphy pen

john and mariko were so cute eating together, and the look john gave her 🥺 i need more of that!

And we saw it from Buntaro's POV. Haha 😈 dickhead. My headcanon is that all the scenes from the book that we're missing are just happening off-screen. 😌

Shogun is very...modern.

John Blackthorne should be no stranger to a world where death lurks around every corner. The show is set in 1600. Famine and war are sweeping across Europe routinely in the last century, for starters. He's a sailor, too. When we met the man, he is dying of scurvy. You ever watch Master & Commander (you should, very good movie)? Death and the sea are perhaps more companions than freedom and the sea. The man must be well-traveled, too, to be so good at his job; he's been some wild places and seen some things, he had to.

The social strictures of Japan should be no shock to a sailor in their degree, because to this day, and definitely in 1600, a captain's word was law among the crew as intensely as a lord's word was law in feudal Japan. Violence at court? This is the later day of Queen Elizabeth I! It wasn't exactly all tea and crumpets and paeons of glory to the Enlightenment! Beheadings and kinslaying and intrigues all day! Don't tell me it wasn't the subject of speculation in London. Secret police! Bad harvests! Nothing resembling modern medicine existed, so people and especially children died all the time! Elisabeth I was only three years from her death in 1600, too, and the high court was a mess at the time. Let's not even get into what Elizabeth I the one was doing to the Irish. The cult of personality that had grown around her (and since been regrown) was waning for very good reason.

John Blackthorne being clumsy and rough at this high court intrigue in a foreign land makes sense, but his brand of shock at its violence and Mariko's lectures about death make no sense. It's just so modern, written from the perspective of people who are very unlikely to die from a random infected cut and who probably don't have any female relatives who died in childbirth for several generations, which has not been the case for most of human history until very very recently.

It's a brilliant show, don't get me wrong, entertaining and beautifully crafted and just magnificently acted, but whatever it's trying to say about Japan or the world at the time or humanity in general just falls flat because it misses that, in 1600, no one, great or small, east or west or north or south, did not know death as a too-casual companion in a way thankfully utterly foreign to most of us now. Especially not its POV character, a veteran British sailor with a letter of marque to harass and kill if possible the enemies of the Crown.

(What really bothers me about all this is that it feels like it means we forget how to be grateful and how to guard the safety our forebearers found against our own madness.)

Title/Link: Ace of Hearts Rating: Gen Fandom: X-Men [Comicverse] Warning: canon-typical mutant racism but not super explicit Pairing: Logan & Amiko, Logan & Remy, Jubilee & Amiko Additional Tags: Father-Daughter Relationship, Remy POV of said relationship, Grief, Logan is a Good Dad, Remy is a Good Friend, Marvel might forget Amiko exists most of the time but I do not Word Count: 3.3K

Summary/Preview:

The most surprising thing about their terrible, awful trip to Japan to rescue Jubilee from jail is not the reveal of Logan’s not-Wife-but-should’ve-been Mariko, nor was it the fact that she is - was - the heir to Japan’s biggest and most influential Yakuza clan. No, the real big surprise was learning he had a daughter.

A/N: I wrote this within a couple hours after waking up this morning I don't know what came over me or why it was X-Men fic so suddenly but here we are! God it was so hard remembering how to write Remy's accent again I should get praised for that alone

Megaman Production Art Scan of the Day #849:

Rockman.EXE Axess Episode 6 (Part A) Storyboards [Page 43]

Hastily Translated Summary: 97 - Pan from the bottom of the lane up to the pins. Ball with a classic curve into the pocket 98 - It's a stunning strike Sound Effect (S.E.): Pins crashing 99 - Mariko standing Mariko: "Hehehe...Both of you are pretty good... Ball appears in Mariko's hand Mariko: "But so am I!"

POV when Mariko-sensei is going to obliterate you. Full Resolution Scan: https://imgbox.com/er2KvJBs

And thy mercy shall follow me

2. He woke in an hour, crying out, fearful, the color leached from his sun-bronzed face.

“Mary, Mary! Christ, the babe’s screaming, quick, lass—”

He spoke in his native tongue, far more guttural than Portuguese, but Mariko could make out the name he’d spoken. He must be calling for his wife, as the priests said the heretics did not honor our Blessed Virgin. In any case, he was frantic, trying to sit up, trembling with fever, with weakness, his lips beginning to become chapped.

“Anjin-san, you are safe. I am here, Mariko-sama,” she said as calmly and slowly as she would speak to an elder with eyes milky with age. She reached out a hand to touch his wrist and gauge how high his temperature had climbed but he jerked and flailed, hitting her away with enough force he would have bloodied her nose if she’d leaned in closer.

“Ai!” she exclaimed before she could stop herself. 

In the next moment, Sugi started to rise, called out “Lady Toda—” and Anjin’s eyes lit with awareness. They were the color of the night sky as dawn broke and recognition was overcome with shame in an instant.

“I beg your pardon, most sincerely,” he said, his voice like a frog’s croak, too rough to go on.

“You needn’t,” Mariko said. “You’re very ill. You weren’t even awake. You must drink some water and a little of the tea the physician left for you.”

“It tastes of the grave,” he muttered.

“It will help,” she said, though she was unsure if it was the truth. He needed it to be, so she gave it to him. He tried to lift his head and she saw the effort it cost, an effort he couldn’t sustain.

“I’ll manage the cup. You swallow,” she said.

“You shouldn’t,” he began, then coughed, a harsh, wretched sound, his shoulders hunching up with the force of it. Mariko laid a hand on his chest lightly, as if it might soothe him. Anjin looked at her, panting as he caught his breath. “I’ll try not to make a mess.”

She put the cup to his lips and moved the hand that had been on his chest to the back of his head, helping to bring him forward enough to drink. His hair was softer than she’d thought, the curls tangled and matted.

“Swallow, Anjin,” she said.

He got most of the tea down, only sputtering at the end. She used the sleeve of her robe to wipe his chin, forgetting the cloth that had been left with the medicines. It was a gesture she would have used with her son or her sisters. Not with Buntaro.

“Thank you, Mariko-sama,” he murmured, spent. His eyes fluttered closed. There was something terribly young about his face as he drifted off to sleep, something old in the hollows of his cheeks. She felt the memory of his skin against her palm, the silkiness of the hair at the nape of his neck.

He still burned.

tcba ch 23, mariko pov pt 8

something interesting midori translators have pointed out is that, while mariko goto makes many songs about domestic abuse, violence, and toxic relationships, something she does frequently in her lyrics is refer to the "girl" in the relationship as "that girl" (anoko) and refers to herself as the "boy" in the relationship with the pronoun "boku". at first I assumed she was simply writing the lyrics from the POV of the "boy" until I learned she was into women. i don't want to speculate too much on matters concerning her sexuality or private life or trauma but I can't help but wonder if that contributed to her putting "herself" within all those lyrics depicting abusive relationships

Which comics or media do you like with Poison Ivy? Genuinely, I want to see the take on the character you like.

hi anon, thanks for the ask! :)

the definitive version of the character for me is in the harley quinn animated series! it's also one of my favorite takes on harley, their relationship with each other, and honestly the batman universe in general. if you want to give it a go, though, do note it's very much an Adult Animated Series TM with lots of violence, gore, foul language, and crude/off-color humor. people can be put off by it, but as someone who normally can't stand that type of series, i've found it carries itself with considerable elegance. it's genuinely funny and has remarkably good character development, many emotional moments, and great development for harley and ivy. so if you have the stomach for this kind of show, i definitely recommend it.

when it comes to comics:

gotham city villains anniversary giant: a villain-centric anthology that includes an ivy oneshot by g. willow wilson, serving as a prequel for ivy's current ongoing miniseries. featuring beautiful, delicate art and incredibly poignant and gripping writing, wilson does an amazing job of getting into ivy's head and sharing her inner world with the reader. she's deeply troubled, more plant than person, part gorgeous ethereal forest spirit and part terrifying bog witch-- but ultimately still incapable of burying her own humanity. if you only read one thing out of this list, read this!

poison ivy 2022: the aforementioned continuation of the above story, it's fantastic for all the same reasons. only one issue out of six is currently out, but for once in my life where dc comics are involved, i have very high hopes!

more under the cut--

secret origins: gardener is the current canon origin story for ivy in the main continuity, told from the pov of her college girlfriend turned also-ecoterrorist, bella garten. the art is lush and gorgeous, ivy is shown in an extremely sympathetic light (bella might be MILDLY biased), and it reinforces her romantic relationship with harley from early on. i'd say my only fault with it is that it insists on her relationship with woodrue being mutual and romantic, instead of y'know, her college professor exploiting her, conducting inhumane experiments on her and ruining her life. still, though, a great read! 

poison ivy: thorns is a young adult reimagining of her origin story, including gorgeous shoujo manga-esque art, an original female love interest for ivy, and a story that makes her equal parts sympathetic and fearsome. on its own, it's not exactly groundbreaking literature -- the plot is fairly predictable, the romance is shallow -- but as an ivy story, it's a gem. it focuses on her trauma & her craving for human intimacy that's ultimately eclipsed by her connection to the green, and spins a narrative of a victim that learns to stand up for herself and take revenge on those who've wronged her.

catwoman: soulstealer is another ya retelling, this time focusing on-- you guessed it-- catwoman. despite being clumsy at times (the comic adaptation has a bad habit of slapping entire paragraphs from the novel directly onto the page) and featuring a wholly uninteresting romance between selina and batwing (apparently that’s a real guy?), it's also got some of the best sirens content dc's ever put out. selina's budding friendship with ivy and harley is one of the focal points of the book, and the two of them are fully fledged, engaging characters in their own right. they're all just starting out in their villain careers here, and ivy is young, optimistic, and confident, her character focused less on the trauma of becoming poison ivy and more on the ways it's empowered her. (she's still, however, very weak for harley, and desperate for friendship). a very sweet and enjoyable take, if you skim through the dragging/cluttered sections. the art and designs are top notch, too!

dc pride 2021: features a short harlivy story by mariko tamaki and amy reeder which, despite being around twelve pages long, manages to nail so much of what makes their relationship great. it shows them bantering, arguing, revealing their vulnerabilities, and talking out major issues in their relationship that seem so obvious and yet have basically never come up in mainline canon. it was really great to see. plus, the art rocks!

dc: love is a battlefield: a romance-based anthology featuring a harlivy short, detailing the evolution of their relationship through the years. though it's condensed into a handful of pages, it shows probably my favorite 'redemption arc' for ivy-- in which she gets older, mellows out (in big part due to harley's influence, but also, i think, just due to the passage of time), batman and the justice league also mellow out, and then they kinda meet halfway when they realize that by compromising, they can join forces and actually make the world a better place. on the whole, it's a very sweet, emotional story.

though she’s only a supporting character in them, and they’re still ongoing series so who knows how they’ll turn out, the alternate universe titles knights of dark steel and catwoman: lonely city feature great takes on ivy, as well.

you’ll notice practically all of these recs are standalone, and don’t require immersion in any of the bigger canon titles to read. this is because getting into the meat of comic continuity is a nightmare process that is simply not worth anyone’s energy or time. there are a few points in mainline canon where i've enjoyed her characterization, like the everyone loves ivy arc starting in batman vol 3 #41, or the harley quinn and poison ivy 2019 miniseries. in my personal opinion, though, the majority of main canon arcs are so bogged down with crap that it’s just not worth it. they sprawl across a billion titles, featuring heaps of characters i don’t care about, and the plot itself is usually nonsensical at best. but yeah! if you’re interested in ivy, this list should keep you busy for a while! hope ya dig :”)

Books I’ve Read in July

Found some new favorite books ✨

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner | 3/5

First, there was trust. Then, there was betrayal. You cannot have one without the other. You cannot be betrayed by someone you do not trust.

This book features dual perspective between modern and historical times, which I typically like. Though the historical perspective was interesting, the modern one was lacking substance in contrast; I found the link between the two pov’s somewhat weak as well. The theme of magic was foreshadowed poorly; the entire book we were led to believe that magic was not real in the setting, yet in the end it unequivocally was. This book has a lot of unused potential.

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield | 5/5

I want to explain her in a way that would make you love her, but the problem with this is that loving is something we all do alone and through different sets of eyes.

Honestly, I’m unsure where to start with this. This book is incredibly poetic (if a tad strange) and features disturbing body horror, but is overall romantically melancholic; It’s about love as much as it is about grief. If I were to describe this book in one word, it’d be the ocean. The writing ebbs and flows, and I think it really represents the grief process and the want to hold onto someone. Akdbskdhsj I’m going to think about this book for actual months!! (Endearing)

Bunny by Mona Awad | 3/5

Why do you lie so much? And about the weirdest little things?", my mother always asked me. "I don’t know", I always said. But I did know. It was very simple. Because it was a better story.

This was so bizarre I’m unsure how to review it. I liked the aesthetics, the Bunnies, and how certain characters represented different aspects of the main lead. The parallels were well done, but oftentimes the language used didn’t convey the message of the story well; I was confused as to what was going on, which made it considerably less enjoyable to read.

Chlorine by Jade Song | 2/5

I guess hearts are slippery because they’re covered in blood. I wish I could bleed mine dry. Then I’d miss you less.

This book tells the reader what’s going on, without showing it at all. Ren sees being human as weak, and repeatedly states she wants to transcend to become mermaid; but her actions don’t match the direness of her words in the buildup of the novel. The climax feels like a stand-alone event because it wasn’t properly supported by the narrative. Furthermore, the mermaid plotline is completely pushed aside for the high school drama plotline; there’s no balance. Overall, it reads as unfinished, slow paced, and dependent on unnecessary exposition.

Nimona by N. D. Stevenson | 3.5/5

“No I wouldn't. And I'm the villain. What do you suppose that says about you?”

I loved the characters and their dynamics with each other, though the plot felt poorly set up. Some pages felt very disjointed, and more akin to short comic strips rather than contributing to an overarching narrative. I think there was a lot of potential that wasn’t expanded on; if there was clearer exposition and more worldbuilding, I feel it would be a more enjoyable read.

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki | 5/5

It’s true that giving can be a part of love. But, contrary to popular belief, love should never take from you, Freddy.

I loved everything about this book; the art and use of colors are absolutely stunning, the heavy themes were handled well, and I found the resolution very satisfying. Overall it was very compelling and heartfelt read.

so just watched the Shogun episode… i dont think the main issue is “oh they’re ditching the Mariko/Blackthorne romance for the Real Serious Politics and Drama” but that it’s been more obvious for the last few weeks that they’re doing away with Blackthorne as a Main Character.

technically he still is, but his impact is not felt anymore and isn’t the same as the first few eps. many of the plot points (including the romance) that concern him has become either reduced or just gutted out of the script. i’ve been watching this show with my family & at times, they’re like “oh there’s blackthorne, where has he been” “oh he knows japanese? how?? that was fast” 💀 its just kinda disappointing how they somewhat trivialized Blackthorne… (which is..strange even just from a storytelling POV) i kinda got the feeling they would do this from some of his scenes in Episode 4 ngl.

They did that in order to tell a more authentically Japanese story. Cutting out Blackthorne, who like it or not, IS one of the most important characters in the book and his relationship with Mariko a very character defining thing for the both of them just changes the story entirely. It's a personal take of the showrunners more than a true adaptation post episode 4. That's when the decision was made to shift things.

I personally would've much rather watched a different show that was new and looking to tell how Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power than another drastically changed book adaptation that leaves half of its audience frustrated.

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And thy mercy shall follow me

4. The truth was, she had fallen asleep. She sat beside Anjin and watched him breathe and slowly, her eyes had drifted shut. For only a moment, she had told herself. She would rest and allow herself to husband her strength. She would not leave him, but it was not so much to close her eyes briefly.

“Mariko-sama, wake up,” Anjin said, his voice rust. Ash. Whatever destroyed and was destroyed. She blinked, flushed with shame at failing him, licked her dry lips in preparation of making her apology. Anjin spoke before she could, low, each word clearly costing him. “You should not be here.”

“I should not have fallen asleep. I am here to care for you. I was negligent,” she said, inclining her head in regret. It was the accepted form but it was sincere; she had said she would be responsible for him and had failed. He needed more than a maid could provide.

“You’ll make yourself ill. I won’t have that,” he replied, some of his usual contrary spirit imbuing the words with vitality. A sham, unsustainable, but she took it as a good sign, as there were too few of them.

“There is no risk to me,” Mariko said.

“You don’t know that—there are noxious airs, spirits—" he said, breaking off when he was seized by a storm of coughing. The catarrh sounded worse, deeper, more violent, and he was breathless when it ended, unable to speak.

“Your illness comes from your wound. I am uninjured. Safe,” she said. “If your physician had fears for me, he would not have allowed me to stay and nurse you.”

She poured out a cup of water and moved closer to him. He could not lift his head.

“Drink this now and I will have Sugi prepare tea for you,” she said, holding the cup to his lips, trying hard not to spill any water onto his chest or the linens around him. They would need to be changed and she and Sugi would likely need assistance to help him while the bedding was taken away and fresh bedclothes brought to the room.

“Rather have sake,” he rasped. “Home, Mary would make a posset with cream and egg, plenty of ale, not this infernal mess of greenery.”

Mariko could not imagine anything more repulsive to choke down, ill or healthy, but he’d spoken with such fondness. She wondered how much was for the drink and how much for his distant wife.

“When you are stronger, perhaps,” she said.

“Never get ill,” he said. It did not seem like the bluster of a sick man and he was well-built, sturdy, his numerous scars well-healed. He had been, before his wound festered. Now, the fever having overtaken him, he’d turned gaunt and his scars stood out livid against his pallor.

“You must rest now,” she said.

“So must you, Mariko-sama,” he replied. 

“If I agree, will you stop arguing?” she said.

He gave her a crooked smile in response, but there was exhaustion in his blue eyes and pain.

“Tisn’t an argument, but I’ll leave it,” he said. He moved, as if to find a more comfortable position, and then stilled, unable to improve his situation. “My head aches most fearsomely.”

Mariko moved closer, put her arm beneath his shoulders and lifted him so his head was pillowed on her lap. He looked at her wordlessly, gratitude and wonder mixed together in his gaze. She stroked his forehead and his tousled hair, the intimacy of a lover, not a nurse. Sugi, in the corner of the room, must see but would not speak of it. 

“Sleep, John,” she said quietly. She felt some tension leave him and he closed his eyes.

“Sweet,” he muttered.