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#and their tendency to almost die in front of each other makes it particularly literal

canary3d-obsessed · 4 years

Text

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed Episode 10 second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Meta)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Unclean Realm

Lan Wangji has a Louis Henry Sullivan moment on seeing the Nie family home, becoming enraptured by its overwrought monumental architecture after a lifetime of restrained good taste and single-story buildings.

He approaches the fortress with the expression of delighted wonder that he usually reserves for when he’s looking at the moon or at Wei Wuxian.

Wei Wuxian is like, yep that’s a building, all right, but he supports Lan Wangji’s kinks.

Meng Yao tells them about the Wen Clan directive, and has what appears to be a moment of genuine, affectionate amusement at Nie Huaisang’s reaction.

Jiang Cheng kinda blames the Lans for inventing the whole “indoctrination” thing and for encouraging his brother’s disaster bi tendencies. Wei Wuxian responds by complimenting the Lan Clan, almost like someone who met his true love got some real value out of the instruction he received there.

(more after the cut)

One of the great ironies of this story is that Wei Wuxian sort of becomes a rogue Lan disciple because of his relationship with Lan Wangji. He relies on Lan temperament techniques, uses music as a primary cultivation method, has committed all of the Lan rules to his supposedly terrible memory and cites them on multiple occasions, and is an important mentor for the younger generation Lan disciples. Because Hanguang-Jun is just that good in bed.

Xue Yang in the background of this conversation is channeling OP’s church-enduring, school-enduring inner 10-year-old.

Nie Mingjue, Chifeng-Zun, appears, and couldn’t be more different than his brother. On first watching this episode, I saw him as a grumpy, sexy, very emotional leather daddy man who is quick to anger. Rewatching, I see someone who’s struggling with a growing illness...the resentful energy kind.

Nie Mingjue’s handling of resentful energy is very different from Wei Wuxian’s straightforward interest and acceptance. NMJ has a traditional cultivator’s view of it, regarding it as evil and as something to resist, while he is literally carrying it on his back. He’s like a secret alcoholic who is preaching temperence, and can’t find a way to be reconciled with himself.

At this point of the story, Nie Mingjue is keeping it together, but is under a hell of a lot of stress, and Baxia’s blood thirst is already maybe a problem.

The Yunmeng bros think that Nie Huaisang’s fear of his brother is hilarious, because they don’t understand the situation. They think he’s just living in a hideously toxic family dynamic like theirs, when actually he’s in a loving, sorta healthy, if parentless, family that is being crushed under a generational curse.

Compliments for the Yunmeng Bros

I’m not the first meta poster to notice how happy Jiang Cheng is to be praised by Nie Mingjue.

He never gets this at home. Jiang Yanli praises him, but in that watery “you tried your best” way that doesn’t really stick. Nie Mingjue’s praise really means something, because he is a fearsome warrior and stern authority figure. And this is a double compliment, because Nie Mingjue says he heard it from Lan Xichen, and agrees with it.

Let’s Make Terrible Decisions

Keep Xue Yang alive, says Wei Wuxian, and Meng Yao immediately agrees, although I’m pretty sure he would have proposed that even if WWX hadn’t.

So they do, not realizing that “kill him later” is never a good plan for someone who 1. super needs killing 2. has a whole lot of death-dealing skills.

Future clan leader Jiang Cheng notices how smart and talented Meng Yao is. Xue Yang finds it hilarious when the trio praises Meng Yao, possibly because their evil team up is already underway.

Boss’ Bed Warmer Son of a Ho

The constant insults toward Meng Yao are about his mom, but there’s another level of leering implication, that Meng Yao seems to encourage in his conversation with the soon-to-be-murdered guard captain.

Nie Mingjue elevated him way above his expectations, and he is ridiculously pretty, which has to create rumors. In the Nightless City scenes when he’s fondling Baxia and telling Nie Mingjue’s family secrets there’s definitely a sense of intimacy that’s not just “loyal retainer.”

I feel like maybe this whole exchange is a bit of theater designed to show Xue Yang something without showing it to anyone else. Meng Yao didn’t need to have this conversation in front of his prisoner.

Let’s Do Exactly What We Said We Wouldn’t

Once the younger quartet are alone with Nie Mingjue, Wei Wuxian crosses the room away from his friends and practically into Lan Wangji’s pocket, if Lan Wangji had pockets.

He has no pockets and also has no personal bubble any more, when it comes to Wei Wuxian.

We could make a weapon out of Yin Iron, Wei Wuxian says, completely forgetting his entire conversation with Lan Yi, apparently. Lan Wangji doesn’t argue with this idea.

Nie Mingjue warns Wei Wuxian not to try it.

I stabbed a man in Qinghe just to watch him die

Nie Mingjue is like the Johnny Cash of the cultivation world, carrying the weight of his poor choices and trying to steer the young folk to the path of righteousness. But--like Johnny Cash--his bad choices have made him really fucking cool, so he isn’t very good at deterring anybody.

Meng Yao Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends

Immediately after Meng Yao’s fellow Nie clan people call him “son of a whore” again, Wei Wuxian meets him, is nice to him, addresses him by his military title, bows to him, asks why he’s away from the party, and thanks him for his service.

But Meng Yao has already decided to make friends with Xue Yang, so Wei Wuxian goes onto his list of people that he doesn’t give a crap about except if they can be useful to him. Then Meng Yao goes to make out hatch a plot with Xue Yang.

I’ll Sleep On Your Roof

Meeting SongXiao seems to have done away with the last of Lan Wangji’s resistance to his connection with Wei Wuxian.

He hears a noise on the roof and, when realizing it’s Wei Wuxian, he smiles one of his tiny reserved smiles before heading outside.

When he sees Wei Wuxian drunkenly sprawled on the roof, limbs akimbo, wine on his chin and neck, mouth full of poetry about the open road, Lan Wangji gives him the most fond look imaginable.

Then he reluctantly leaves, with his signature “say goodbye, but only when he can’t hear you” thing.

They’ve both come a really long way since their first meeting. Wei Wuxian is openly and vocally attaching himself to Lan Wangji...but is not actually entering his space or asking for anything from him; he just wants to be near him, and wants to let him know that. “I’ll sleep on your roof tonight.”

And Lan Wangji just...loves him. Wei Wuxian is drunk, embarrassing, demonstrative, eager to make a hell weapon out of yin iron, touchy feely, and absurdly sexy. And Lan Wangji is pretty okay with all of that.

I Might Have Been Drunk

Wei Wuxian carefully avoids telling Jiang Cheng where he was last night.

Even if he did get blackout drunk, he would have woken up on Lan Wangji’s roof. And I don’t think he was as drunk as that. He just knows Jiang Cheng wouldn’t like the truth.

Wen Fucking Chao, Again

Wen Chao shows up to be annoying and boring. This leads to a pretty good fight between Nie Mingjue and Wen Zhuliu. Note that when the chips are down, Nie Huaisang stands with his Gege without any cowering. Almost as if he had hidden reserves of bravery, and is not as helpless as he lets on.

Wen Zhuliu isn’t styled to be super hot, although he’s certainly compelling, and in Dance of the Phoenix he looks good with sensitive-guy hair wispies. I wonder what actor Feng Mingjing looks like out of character?

BRB, adding a tag to my follow list

Battle Bros

When the fighting breaks out, the Yunmeng brothers are decisive and united, with Wei Wuxian giving orders to Jiang Cheng and JC following without hesitation.

I feel like if these two could have gone through a few big battles together, instead of being separated during most of the Sunshot campaign, their whole relationship would have improved. On the battlefield, they respect, trust, and understand each other.

The Pointy End

Nie Mingjue is holding his own against Wen Zhuliu, but he gets distracted by Meng Yao hollering “Xue Yang has escaped” and then shanking the guard captain right in front of him.

Wen Zhuliu takes advantage of the distraction to aim a very slow stab at Nie Huasang, and Meng Yao jumps in front to get stabbed on his behalf.

When the Yunmeng bros show up to help NMJ, Wen Zhuliu immeiately yanks Wen Chao back behind him and points his sword at Wei Wuxian. He absolutely sees these two as a serious threat. Considering that eventually WWX is going to kill Wen Chao while JC kills Wen Zhuliu, this concern is not misplaced.

Wei Wuxian tells Wen Chao to stop being such a jerk, and Wen Chao menaces Wei Wuxian and gloats about the burning of cloud recesses. The burning, that is, of some part of cloud recesses that doesn’t include the library, the Jingshi, the main cultivation chamber, the rabbit warren, or Lan Qiren’s house, unless the Lan Clan is really really good at rebuilding things to very exact specifications.

In a rare moment of seeing Meng Yao’s internal thoughts, he is worried about Lan Xichen when he hears about cloud recesses.

The Yelling Part

Now we have the particularly nasty breakup between Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao. It’s...got some layers. Meng Yao is cowering on the floor, but is not apologizing.

He never apologizes throughout this encounter.

孟瑤無悔 - Meng Yao (has) no regrets

This scene is amazing and excruciating to watch, even more when you know what’s ahead.

What the Fuck is Meng Yao’s Plan

On one level this is Meng Yao, manipulative sociopath, setting up a cover story for his aiding and alliance with Xue Yang. On another, this is Meng Yao, loving subordinate, being tossed aside by his lord because he dared to stand up for himself.

He uses the same “scout’s honor” gesture we’ve seen Wei Wuxian use to swear he’s telling the truth. Wei Wuxian is always lying when he uses this gesture.

I’m...not sure exactly what Meng Yao’s plan is, with all these chess moves? By stabbing the captain in front of NHS, he created an opportunity to plant a cover story about Xue Yang’s escape. He might be hoping that Nie Mingjue will forgive him and keep him on, while Xue Yang can stay in his back pocket to be used later.

Dry eyes? Try Visene

Or he might be intending to get kicked out, given his non-apology. In any case, Nie Mingjue is weeping during this encounter, and Meng Yao...isn’t. He is signaling distress in his voice, expression, and body language, but his eyes are dry up until the last moment, and even then they just glisten a bit. In a show where every actor is an expert at crying on cue, that’s got to be a deliberate choice.

Which isn’t to say that Meng Yao is faking being full of emotion in this scene. It’s just that the emotion isn’t necessarily sorrow.

What Does Nie Mingjue’s Head Think

Flip the view and this is about Nie Mingjue being betrayed by a subordinate, who has turned out to be a self-serving murderer. And on another level it’s Nie Mingjue being betrayed by his lover, who was just using him for advancement.

I rewatched the later episode where we get the scene as Nie Mingjue’s head perceived it, and he’s particularly brokenhearted and disillusioned from his head’s POV. In that version there is a telling addition to the conversation.

Nie Mingjue asks about the guys who were roasting Meng Yao behind his back. He asks, if I hadn’t come, would you have murdered all of them?

Um. No, dude. Of course fucking not. That’s what a patriarchal authority does. That’s the way an angry Nie Mingjue/Baxia team might solve a problem.

Meng Yao has to use subterfuge to kill his enemies. And while he super hates being called “son of a whore” it’s absolutely not enough to make him kill someone, with the risk murder brings. Likewise, being treated well isn’t enough to make him spare someone. Nie Mingjue totally doesn’t get this, because he’s been the patriarch of this clan his entire adult life.

And Here’s the Actual Problem

There is a betrayal here, but Nie Mingjue is not simply a victim. Whether it’s a sexual relationship or a non-sexual bond of affection, there can be nothing solid in Nie Mingjue and Meng Yao’s relationship within a feudal society, because it is fundamentally unequal. Even if they love each other deeply - which I’m not convinced either of them does - every encounter they have is tainted with power dynamics.

Meng Yao has been elevated by Nie Mingjue and quite probably taken into his bed, as well as being told many family secrets, but has not been given a new surname (like, for example, Wen Zhuliu was) or independent power. More importantly, Nie Mingjue has not used his authority to remove or punish the many people who disrespect his subordinate. Lan Qiren would have had all of those gossipy fuckers kneeling in the snow, and Wen Ruohan would feed them to his mosh pit zombies.

Meng Yao is a murderous little snake, but he is right to be angry with Nie Mingjue about some things, and his pursuit of his own agenda is understandable.

Well, That Was a Slice

Meng Yao leaves, hurt, with a dignified bow; just as he did that one time when his dad kicked him down the Carp Tower steps.

Take note, both patriarchal authorities: that is his way of saying “I’m going to murder you one day.”

Nie Mingjue sits with his broken heart, as we realize that we’ve only spent 20 minutes with this guy and we’ve gone on an entire emotional journey with him. This episode packed in a LOT.

Soundtrack: Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

#fytheuntamed #the untamed #wangxian #meng yao #nie mingjue #my gifs #canary3d-original #the untamed meta #the untamed gifs #restless rewatch the untamed

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glamrockenjoyer · 5 years

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Hey hey hey!! Maylor for the ship thing!

who hogs the duvet?

BRIAN adjdjsjfkdk brian definitely. this is a Tall Noodle we're talking about he just wraps himself in it and goes to town adjdj

who texts/rings to check how their day is going?

brian. he always has his phone by his side and whenever he can't focus he just texts or rings rog just to hear how he's doing because he misses him so much

who's the most creative when it comes to gifts?

they mock-gift each other a lot to the point where it's became a whole ass thing, and each one of these is increasingly more absurd from both sides, but - when we're talking about serious gifts, it's definitely roger. he puts a lot of thought into his gifts and might come off as annoying for it sometimes, - "you think brian would like this?" "you're his boyfriend, darling" - but it's worth it, because brian's reaction is priceless every single time; he just looks at roger like he's hung the moon in the sky.

who gets up first in the morning?

they both have this problem where sometimes they pull all-nighters or stay-up late, but at least roger can, most of the time, get his sleep and wake up early. brian. well. less often. it's not completely unheard of from roger to wake up to an empty bed and look for brian only to find him working, and having to nudge him into bed again in the wee hours of the morning.

who suggests new things in bed?

they both do, but the one to do it more often is definitely roger. brian isn't so adventurous when it comes to that and stays in his comfort zone a lot of the time, but roger is overall much wilder, which has resulted in hot situations, but also in safeword ones, and, in brian's opinion, the very best: plain hilarious situations where they just stop the scene because they can't control their giggling.

who cries at movies?

depends a lot on the movie, but rule of thumb is brian might get teary-eyed but rarely actually cries, while roger is one to cry a lot. HOWEVER, when it's a comedy movie, if it is anything like brian's sense of humour, he's gonna laugh. so much. he's gonna CRY LAUGH. he's most likely somehow ending up on the floor, stomach aching because he can't stop laughing. so roger ends up laughing more because brian just won't stop than because of the movie. the first time it happened, roger just. giggled and sat there thinking about how adorable his boyfriend is and how the hell he got so lucky.

who gives unprompted massages?

rog OH MY GOD definitely rog. there are times, particularly when brian's most stressed, when he just feels like spoiling brian with everything he can, and massages are definitely a tool under his belt. whenever brian feels the hands on his shoulders it's almost instinctive of him to throw his head back and close his eyes, and roger can't help but smile at the pleased sighs he hears.

who fusses over the other when they're sick?

both. they have this problem where they think they're so much better than their cold that they can do whatever even with it. brian keeps having to remind roger that no, roger, it's not a good idea to go to that party, you need rest, while roger has to keep brian from working as hard as he usually does.

who gets jealous easiest?

it doesn't look like it, but it's brian. they both know they wouldn't ever cheat on each other, but sometimes they enjoy making each other jealous on purpose. brian gets jealous easily (but hides it well), and roger likes to take advantage of that fact and, sometimes, when he feels like brian hasn't dommed in a good while and he misses it, he makes him jealous on purpose. it usually ends with a lot of creaking in their bed, roger on all fours, and a lot of loving reassurance after.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music?

ROGER oh my god DEFINITELY ROGER

like we remember roger for the punk feel and the hard rock and shit but this man listens to baby shark and unironically thinks it's a bop he DOES

who collects something unusual?

brian has a huge collection of coins that one just Does Not Touch. they both also like to collect vinyls and CDs, and roger might have a problem with compulsive pokemóning.

who takes the longest to get ready?

these disasters both take incredibly long (in part because they literally won't stop fooling around in the shower) to get ready, but at least brian can just go with his hair as it is. roger... not so simple.

who's the most tidy and organised?

none of them, but brian does try his best and his things are organised, it's just that it isn't tidy at ALL with the things he lets pile up. roger, meanwhile, has embraced the clutter a looong time ago, and is now an adept of the "organised mess" philosophy. he does still lose his things a lot.

who gets the most excited about the holidays?

roger makes it a point to buy whatever seasonal shit he can whenever he can. it's not that brian doesn't like it, but he figures every day is special enough without pretty lights or candies... but if there are pretty lights and candies, - and most of all, they're making roger happier - then everything is better.

who's the big/little spoon?

they switch a lot, so when they're spooning the little spoon is whoever is needier at the time - which usually means roger, but he himself won't hesitate to lay his front to brian's back and bury his face into his hair too.

who gets the most competitive when playing games or sports?

god, both. they will NOT let themselves lose at all, and if it's scrabble especially you might want to plug in your headphones 'cause a lot of shouting is bound to happen. it usually ends well, though, either with a sweet make-up kiss or the loser on his knees - they like it.

who starts the most arguments?

roger is usually the pissiest, but actual serious arguments are usually brian. he has a tendency to bottle some things and occasionally this shows in a bad way with his comments, he himself getting pissy over things that shouldn't matter. most of the time he deeply regrets it - so does roger - and after they apologise he just makes up for it the best way he can. that might be a physical gift or a blowjob in the shower the following day, but it's usually just a lot of hugging and spoiling and hair-stroking.

who suggests that they buy adopt a pet?

brian brian brian oh my GOD every single day someone save roger. cats, dogs, hedgehogs, foxes, and the list of things he wish he could adopt and raise but also doesn't because he knows they don't have the structure to do it. roger just finds it the most ADORABLE thing when brian gushes over the animals he passes by, and he swears one day they'll adopt a pet... or five.

what couple traditions do they have?

friday nights usually see them at parties, only for the following saturday nights having them on the couch watching a movie. they have a love of the rushing adrenaline and the resulting aftermath, and they're not seeing an end to it any time soon.

what tv shows they watch together?

roger insisted that brian watch game of thrones with him, which he did, and as much as he criticises the show (sometimes justifiedly, other times out of pure pettiness), he does enjoy it sometimes as some mindless entertainment and having roger there taking his guesses on who's gonna die next makes everything better.

(brian also might or might not have gotten roger hooked on star trek. he still won't admit it but rog absolutely loves that show.)

what other couple do they hang out with?

I mean, freddie won't stop bringing this man he met around to their studio and their hang-outs. his name is jim and they're not sure about him yet but he does seem like a cool, though closed, guy. aside from that, there's john and veronica, who they probably would die for at any given moment.

how do they spend time together as a couple?

lots and lots of ways. sometimes they'll simply stay home, take it slow and hold each other close in bed; but they're fond of going out, too, and roger loves taking brian to planetariums! because even if he himself can't understand much that's being said, brian is gushing all the way and it's so adorable. brian himself can say the same whenever he takes roger to a museum; he's fascinated by history and studying it and will explain all sorts of things when ask - sometimes brian wonders if he doesn't know more than some of the guides themselves.

who made the first move?

the thing about brian and roger is that when they fall in love, they're idiots. absolute Idiots In Love who dare not take a step forward, scared to get a slap on the face. they make advances, but are never really able to admit publicly they're advances - relying instead on the faith that the other one will take it platonically. he doesn't, and instead gets nervous and does nothing, and sends the wrong signs. that's why it took a lot lf courage (and a lot of alcohol) for brian to finally say it -"Look- I love you. Loved you ev'r since we met. Day one." and roger would have find it not more than endearing if he himself wasn't very tipsy too. they went to bed together that night, and the following morning was full of explanations and a little bit of crying. it was worth it.

who brings flowers home?

roger started doing it first. he'd just - "I know this is cliché, but I wanted you to have this." and *boom,* there it was, brian trembling with love. then he started doing it too, and roger sort of understood why brian got so weak at the knees whenever he brought flowers home.

who's the best cook?

roger still remembers a lot of local typical food from cornwall and he can still recreate them quite delightfully - much to brian's glee. he himself isn't a bad cook either, but to him, he'll honestly never compare. rog would disagree - he doesn't think he knows anyone who can deal with vegetables as good as brian - and he makes sure to tell him that.

#fuck I'm sorry this took me so long it's just. ajdjdjsjdjdj but I hope you like it darling #tricky taylor #marvelous may #maylor #shipping #fanfiction #fanfic #ask #metaphor household #pocket friends #long post

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still-a-hetalian · 6 years

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fruk!

Thank you for the ask!!!!

Big spoon/little spoon:

Honestly, I think it would justdepend on the kind of day either had.

Favorite non-sexual activity:

I think these ridiculousold farts just love sitting next to each other as Arthur works on his needlepointand France reads his current favorite romance novel. Like they strike me as thekind of people that really appreciate just being near each other instead of constantlyhaving to do something together.

Who uses all the hot water:

France, thelength of his showers is damn-near legendary, I mean it does take time to carefor those gorgeous locks of his tho

Most trivial thing they fight over:

Seeing as howthey bicker over everything I can’t think of the most trivial. Though one timeEngland said that Brie cheese is overrated and France kicked him out of bed fora solid week.

Who does most of the cleaning:

As for generalhouse cleaning I see both, they’re both busy and they know it’ll get donequicker if they work together. Since France always cooks though, Arthur alwayscleans up the kitchen.

What has a season pass on their dvr/who controls the netflixqueue:

Oh boy this isone thing they fight about a lot, England always wants to watch BBC dramas andFrance always wants to watch French art house films (and never with captions,the horror). It usually ends withtaking turns.

Who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working:

England, theirlandlord is kind of stubborn and he has absolutely no qualms about beingaggressive and calling every hour until the heat gets fixed.

Who steals the blankets:

Both, thefights they’ve had at 2am over blankets could rival any war they’ve fought in. They’vehonestly thought about just buying two sets of sheets for the bed.

Who leaves their stuff around:

Both, Francehas a tendency to just throw clothes around when deciding what to wear, andEngland tends to leave paperwork and his craft supplies scattered around theirplace (France has stepped on many a stray sewing needle and is. Not. Impressed.)they both want to get mad at the other about it but they both understand thatthey are literally no better than the other. England also strikes me as theperson who never can find his keys, wallet, or phone, and France just stands sighingthere while England cuts around like mad until France tells him exactly wherehe put all of it.

Who remembers to buy the milk:

Neither, theygo food shopping together (England insists on him just going since France doesall the cooking but France 100% does not trust England to grab the right thingsfor him so they both just end up going even if it’s a little hard to navigatewith their busy schedules) and literally both of them forget every time. LikeFrance even always writes out food shopping lists of everything they need butstill forgets until they’re like on their front doorstep it hits them that theyforgot it.

Who remembers anniversaries:

I can seeeither or. Like they both live such busy lives that neither of them get angry overit if the other forgets. France usually remembers naturally but England alwaysmakes sure he marks it on a calendar or something to remind himself, sometimesworks, sometimes not. Really they only celebrate their anniversary every yearafter, say, their ten year benchmark because France is a die-hard romantic andEngland knows it makes France happy.

Who cooks normally?

FRANCE! Hewill not let England step foot in his kitchen!

How often do they fight?

Bicker?Literally all the time, it’s usually about the little stuff. But like full-onfights? I feel like there was probably a lot of that in the beginning of theirrelationship bc lets be real these two have some major baggage to sort out butas their relationship progresses I think after they’ve gone through it allso it’s really not often. I feel like France would be really pragmatic aboutworking shit out in their relationship.

What do they do when they’re away from each other?

Seeing as how they’rejobs keep them in different countries a lot I imagine there’s a lot ofphone-calling (France insists on calling every night, and England says itstotally unnecessary but deep down doesn’t think he could fall asleep if theydon’t talk at least once a day) and once Skype becomes a thing, the distanceisn’t nearly as painful since they do at least get to see each other. They’re also both thankful that they’re stillrelatively close since they’re usually just a train ride away.

Nicknames for each other?

Nothingspecial. Darling, mon cher, love, etc. They use the really sappy and ridiculousones sarcastically when they’re mad at each other tho (cuddle muffin, babycakes, etc.)

Who is more likely to pay for dinner?

England, Francewill always insist but England always is able to distract him and take care ofthe check before France even notices.

What would they get each other for gifts?

I am completelyconvinced France would get England flowers like all the time, but besides thatI can see them as the kind of people would surprise the other with little giftsthat just reminded them of the other. One time though England bought France amug in the shape of a frog and in return France bought England a “magic tricksfor children” set.

Who made the first move?/ Who started the relationship?

I think Englanddid, I know it’s kind of cheesy but I like to imagine that they were in themiddle of a huge argument and a “Because I love you, you idiot!” slipped outand cue them being together ever since. They just don’t strike me a couple thatcould get together any other way seeing as how they’ve known each other for solong and France is usually so flirtatious in general that if he tried to startanything, England would just write off as him being his usual thing.

Who kissed who first?

France, definitely, after Arthurtold him he loved him he just went for it

Who remembers things?

Neither,they’re a mess tbh. Both will remember something at the last minute and justcue the mayhem that ensues.

Who cusses more?

ARTHUR! 100%!The guy has the vocabulary of a sailor (yes that is 100% a pirate!England joke).Though France definitely has been known to mutter a few swears under hisbreath, mostly during particularly annoying world meetings…

What would they do if the other was hurt?

I’m not sure ifthis means in like a physical or emotional way. As for physical, like I’m surethey’re both pretty well versed in first-aid at this point after so many warsso there’s that. If it was serious I feel like they’d be the couple that getsangry at the other for letting themselves get hurt then just dissolve into apuddle of tears. And emotionally, teaand blankets can solve almost any problem.

#ask meme #hetalia #fruk #aph england #aph france

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stvlti · 7 years

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♕ MISA-MISA皇后到着! ♕

the following notes were originally hosted under the URL @stvltiloqvent.

Queen Misa-Misa Arrives

In celebration of Misa’s birthday (25 Dec!) here’s a summative mix for Misa's life story. This mix is mostly based on manga!Misa's hidden depth (as I interpret it), as well as anime!Misa's song and death.

01. Fucked My Way Up to the Top - Lana Del Rey // 02. Still Sane - Lorde // 03. Bubblegum Bitch - Marina and the Diamonds // 04. Bad Girls - M.I.A. // 05. (One of Those) Crazy Girls - Paramore // 06. Bloody Mary - Lady Gaga // 07. 小團圓 - Ivana Wong // 08. Candles - Daughter // 09. 27 - Fall Out Boy // 10. Carmen - Lana Del Rey // 11. Valley of the Dolls - Marina and the Diamonds // 12. 小團圓 (from Octave the Musical) - Ivana Wong // 13. Little Susie - Michael Jackson

► LISTEN ON: 8TRACKS | SPOTIFY | TUMBLR (defunct)

(There is now a "sequel" to this fanmix! Check it out HERE.)

Notes and additional meta under the cut. Content warnings: referenced sexual abuse, alcoholism, drug use, suicide mention and linguistic ableism

May 2020 update: I finally found my translation notes for the Ivana Wong track! now added under the cut as well. and as per my other fanmixes, the Tumblr player option is no longer live.

01. Fucked My Way Up to the Top

When i picked this song i didn’t mean for the chorus to be understood literally - Misa is probably the least promiscuous person in the series. However, Misa certainly does in some way hustle in (as in, put a lot of effort into) her modelling work. Obviously, the refrain, “this is my show,” is also an apt literal description for Misa’s work in the film industry, aside from describing her work as Second Kira.

02. Still Sane

(CW: potential linguistic sanism in the lyrics)

After setting a bombastic intro with LDR’s song I thought it would be a good idea to examine Misa’s humble beginnings. Hence, a more honest song from Lorde (whose real-life rise to the top of the charts at age 17 might as well mirror Misa’s hardwork as a teenaged model). Check out the second verse:

All work and no play Never made me lose it All business all day Keeps me up a level

Like I said, hustle.

The song starts off admitting the speaker’s apprehension towards the entertainment industry – both in terms of her own success thus far and also her adjustments to such success:

Today is my birthday, and I'm riding high Hair is dripping, hiding that I'm terrified But this is summer, playing dumber than in fall Everything I say falls right back into everything I'm not In the swing of things But what I really mean is Not in the swing of things yet

I’d like to comment particularly on the line, “everything I say falls right back into everything I'm not”. A bit of a fanon interpretation that’s perhaps not too far off the canonical mark: Misa probably went through a lot of trauma, seeing as she canonically witnessed her parents’ murders, whose perpetrator went unpunished (before Kira came along); she also almost died at the hands of a murderous stalker, which led directly to Gelus’ death and her possession of a Death Note. So, as fanon interpretations go, Misa’s cheery exterior is only that – a front she puts on. Everything she says is everything she’s not on the inside.

I'm little, but I'm coming for the crown I'm little, but I’m coming for you I'm little but I’m coming for the title Held by everyone who’s up

These lines that I’ve highlighted on the mix could be taken both literally or not. When Lorde penned these lyrics she most likely meant her age by “I’m little”, which could apply to Misa too. But of course, Misa is also physically quite small.

Only bad people live to see their likeness set in stone What does that make me?

“Likeness set in stone” means statues or sculptures; Lorde is asserting that only “bad people” see statues/sculptures made for them while they are still alive, most likely because they will be the one to put the statue there (see: narcissistic and power-hungry people). However, “bad people” takes on a different meaning in the context of Death Note, as the Kira’s are supposed to be superior to the “bad people” they judge. Yet, here the speaker is obviously reflecting on their place in this pair of binary opposites – just as anime!Misa does starting from Misa no Uta, in which it is implied that she is aware of the moral greyness in her work as Second Kira.

03. Bubblegum Bitch

Ahh, if I could c+p the whole Electra Heart album onto this playlist I would, as the eponymous character from the concept album simply resembles fanon!Misa too much (self-centred, vain, and a heartbreaker who eventually breaks her own heart). Electra Heart’s invented personality (as seen in the music videos) especially reminded me of my own interpretations of Misa’s gender performativity – that her fitting Ohba’s patriarchal archetypes of feminine fickleness and irrationality coincides with a decided adoption of certain traditionally feminine traits is not unlike Electra Heart’s own experience.

But, more to the point, parts of her femininity is also genuine – take away her miniskirts and chirpy voice is her tendency to let her emotions get the better of logic, which is mirrored in Electra Heart’s demise (and is only to be expected of any human being, really).

By the way, the notebook pun is wholly intended in these lyrics:

Oh, dear diary, I met a boy. He made my dull heart Light up with joy. Oh, dear diary, we fell apart. Welcome to the life of Electra heart.

04. Bad Girls

Live fast, die young Bad girls do it well

I was looking for more Rem and Misa-specific scenes to add to this playlist when I remembered this song. These lines, as I intend, are to be associated with Misa’s torture in L’s captivity. Just before Rem erases her memories, she begs for Rem to kill her while she’s still young. But the “bad girls” part of the refrain also fits Misa, as this song is about girls going against ingrained patriarchal traditions that seek to keep girls silent and without agency (questionable stereotypes included).

Looking in the rear view swagger going swell Leaving boys behind cause it's legal just to kill

This is a continuation of the theme explored in Electra Heart, where the female protagonist claims to go through (relationships with) boys and coming out the unharmed one (because she is the heartbreaker). But, here the metaphor extends to murder, which might just be a tad too literal in Death Note context.

What we got left is just me and you But if I go to bed baby can I take you?

The second line reminded me of Misa’s sexual advances on Light starting from the Yotsuba arc, lol.

05. (One of Those) Crazy Girls

(CW: linguistic sanism)

I deliberately placed this song a few ones after “Still Sane” because ~character progression. In its original context the song’s protagonist goes from being sure they’re “not like those crazy girls” – girls that are driven irrational and stalkerish by their love” – to becoming “one of those crazy girls”. And so does Misa appear to be emotionally unstable when she first introduces herself to Light: driven by devotion she is willing to kill her friend who sent her Sakura TV tapes off for her, and in jealousy she threatens to kill Light’s other romantic interests.

The key similarity is in the chorus, where the lyrics go, “Baby, are we over now? / Maybe I can change your mind?” It reminds me a lot of the way Misa compromises with Light’s conditions at first (e.g. only meeting each other once every other week) despite her infatuation, but it is a compromise that erodes as time wears on: her second visit happens way before their scheduled meeting, and her efforts in getting Light to go on a date night with her parallels the sentiment, “maybe I can change your mind”.

06. Bloody Mary

Ahh yes, here’s the religious symbolism we’ve all been waiting for. The song on its own is written about Mary Magdalene as a figure of prophecy and loyalty to Jesus – or as Lady Gaga put it, the ultimate “rockstar’s girlfriend”. “Love is just a history that they may prove / And when you're gone I'll tell them my religion's you,” these lines that I have quoted on the mix illustrates Misa’s loyalty to Light beautifully.

When Pontius comes to kill the king upon his throne I'm ready for their stones.

Whether as Second Kira or without memory, she is willing to risk her safety for Light. As Second Kira she nearly commits suicide in captivity rather than to sell him out; without her memories, she says yes to L’s Yotsuba-infiltration plan without a second thought for her personal safety because she’d like to help memoryless!Light catch Kira.

I won't cry for you I won't crucify the things you do I won't cry for you, see When you're gone I'll still be Bloody Mary

Throughout the series, whenever Light as Kira is incapacitated and “gone”, Misa is there to be his voice and prophet. And she won’t crucify him, because she is his biggest supporter.

07. Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet

Originally, this song illustrates a wife’s infidelity, written from the PoV of the other man. However, specific lines of the song just resonate so well with Misa’s character, and it’s not as if her relationship with Light is a healthy one anyway. Think just after Yotsuba arc, when Light and Misa get engaged.

Head like a steel trap Wish I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't I don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness

As previously mentioned (see Kim/@casuistor’s meta), anime!Misa knows there are cracks in her and Light’s relationship. And like her state of understanding in Very/@dressed-to-keehl’s fic, she knows she will never give Light as much happiness as someone like L/Ryuzaki or Takada could, mainly because she is aware of the differences between their intellectual capabilities. And so her engagement/wedlock is like a steel trap.

Does your husband know the way that the sunshine gleams from your wedding band?

This being a rhetorical question, it is pointing out that the husband fails to notice the small details that speak of her loyalty.

Peroxide princess shine like shark teeth It's a sign (it's a sign) It's a sign (it's a sign) It's a sign - what if you peaked early?

“Peroxide princess” denotes the peroxide used to bleach one’s hair bottle blonde (i.e. Misa’s hair). To shine like shark teeth, however, implies trouble – that peroxide princess Misa’s appearance can only bring trouble. The next lines explain why: just as her artificial appearance may eat somebody else alive, it may also be a sign that she’s peaked early. She made huge success with her efforts in the entertainment industry, landing roles in American films during the second arc, but because of her early engagement with Light and her willingness to do as he wishes, she abandons further potential developments (both as an actress/entrepreneur and also as a Kira with powers of the notebook and eventually the eye, when she forfeits her memories). As such, she’s already reached her peak.

Keep a calendar, this way you will always know

Pertaining to the context of infidelity, to “keep a calendar” is to keep track of your lover’s times and schedules, so you’ll know if they start cheating on you. This sadly applies to second-arc!memoryless!Misa as Light starts seeing Takada.

this entire section is now redacted as I have later removed the song from the tracklist. this song felt much more shoehorned in than the other tracks as its lyrics didn’t focus on Misa’s POV enough.

07. 小團圓 (Little Reunion)

Full lyrics translation is hosted here.

Flipping open your novel mirth which chapter did it subside?

Opening with this very provocative line, this track introduces the start of the second arc in Death Note, the point in Misa’s life where all the happiness and mirth begins to subside, and all that is left are hard times ahead. It marks her regaining her memories and becoming Kira again, and the resumption of her relationship with Light as one purely based on their Kira partnership and not on any underlying goodwill Yotsuba!Light had shown towards her while he was memoryless. The rest of the track goes on to compare the ups and downs in life to an autobiographical novel from an introspective POV.

To know to bear settle for wear keep one’s calm in the worst of times In truth, you fear both pain and bitterness too no wonder you make a slightly dumber decision then imperfections will seem rounded then life will be a better play

The core idea of carrying on and enduring it all despite the ups and downs encapsulates Misa’s entire character in the second arc. For one, she definitely plays dumb and chooses the “dumber” decision even when she starts to suspect infidelity on Light’s part.

It is worth noting that the song title, “Little Reunion”, is likely an homage to the romance novel of the same name, penned by famed Chinese author Eileen Chang. In the context of this fanmix, this the reunion between Misa and Light as Kira, although their reunion is only in name to help Light keep up appearances.

08. Candles

(CW: referenced sexual abuse)

On its own, Lorde’s first lyric, “Today is my birthday and I’m riding high”, would not have made sense in relation to Misa, but this song answers the idea of a birthday and ties it neatly to the idea of an abusive relationship.

I'll do whatever you say to me in the dark Scared I'll be torn apart by a wolf in mask of a familiar name on a birthday card

This song focuses on the abuse from Light and imposed upon Misa towards the second arc, because as we all know in canon, it was Misa who threatened Light into a relationship at the start. However, without the presence and guaranteed protection of Rem, Misa is much more vulnerable and susceptible to abuse and manipulation. In this context, the metaphor of the big bad wolf and the little red riding hood is adequate. And the mentions of birthday and birthday candles continues throughout the song, signalling an end to innocence and blissful ignorance on Misa’s part – because, as noted earlier, she becomes aware of the cracks in her relationship with Light.

I personally do not believe Misa would ever suffer from sexual abuse at Light’s hands, because she seems canonically to be the allosexual counterpart to Light’s (grey?)asexuality. However, the metaphor still applies in whatever other abuse she suffers – emotional, verbal, and so on.

Well I have brittle bones it seems I bite my tongue and torch my dreams Have a little voice to speak with And a mind of thoughts and secrecy

Though Misa may have her own thoughts, they are to be kept in secrecy, because she needs to “do whatever [he] says to [her] in the dark”. Instead, loyal as she ever is to Light she must torch her dreams, abandon her career at Light’s first request.

09. 27

(CW: referenced drug abuse in lyrics)

I was not going to include this track as the next discusses very similar themes, but I realised Misa more or less dies at 27 and this song would be very apt. Pete Wentz writes about his own struggles in relation to the infamous Club 27 in this song, and I think the same themes of offstage hollowness, of desperation to feel the same high (either from being in the spotlight or from “sunshine” shot into the veins) and success other dead and “bottled” stars have felt, apply to Misa. All this comes back to the idea of peaking early (from “Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown...”) and dying young, although of course it is not as glamorous as initially perceived (see “Bad Girls”). And it does not help that when Misa returns home she returns to an empty nest at best – certainly, if home is where the heart is, Misa is fucked, because there is no one there to return her love.

10. Carmen

This song continues the sentiment in “27” but turns the tragedy up some more. It is also more specific to Misa, as Carmen’s character also has “cartoon eyes” that she bats when she is in the spotlight. Like Carmen, Misa is loved by all the boys and the girls, and like Carmen, she has become “famous and dumb at an early age” (dumb being a relative concept, of course, but she most certainly did not pursue further education).

She laughs like God, her mind's like a diamond

... A recollection of her earlier glory, when she was a God in her own right, as a powerful Kira. And her mind was as brilliant and strong as a diamond, although all that has passed.

11. Valley of the Dolls

The ending of Misa is very much like Electra Heart’s. Though she has gotten quite far in her life, due to endless unfortunate circumstances (starting from the murder of her parents to the collapse of her relationship with Light), she dies the death of a shooting star: brilliant at her peak, but fading fast.

12. 小團圓 (from Octave the Musical)

I included this variation of track 07 as a sort of reprise to recall the idea of Misa enduring it all even as life devolves into nothing but misery. As noted earlier, this idea is presented in the line, "在最壞時候懂得吃捨得穿不會亂" (in the worst of times, to know to bear [pain], settle for wear, keep one’s calm), which most poignantly is where Ivana’s vocals come in again after the piano solo in this version.

13. Little Susie

(CW: discussion of suicide)

This is a requiem for Misa Amane. “Little Susie” was originally written about child neglect, but it applies pretty well to Misa as well, for she has been pretty much all alone (at least emotionally) since her parents’ death.

It was all for God's sake For her singing the tune For someone to feel her despair To be damned to know hoping is dead and you're doomed Then to scream out And nobody's there...

She knew no one cared...

The repeated mention of Susie’s “tune” ties pretty well to “Misa no Uta” also. As said before, that is the first sign of distress in Misa’s character in the anime – it might as well be a cry of despair.

Susie’s death in the song is a fall down the stairs. Misa is implied to commit suicide at the end of the anime, so she too falls to her death.

#death note #dn fanmix #misa amane #dn edit #dn fst #eugenia edits #eugenia's mixes #eugenia's archive #eugenia makes stuff #dn meta: misa amane

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cetaceans-pls · 4 years

Text

The Bell and The Sword

My gift for @adamantineheart for the @sheithsecretsanta ! I’m sorry this is so late Victoria :( but I hope you enjoy it anyways! And happy belated holidays, I hope 2020 is really, really good to you!

I present to you an Old Kingdom/Sabriel AU!

The Bell and The Sword (1/2)

Who will guard the living when the dead arise?

The answer is usually the Shirogane, and Takashi has always been happy to leave it to his grandmother as he works to become a pilot. Some things, though, are beyond the control of even the strongest magicians, and when tragedy strikes Takashi finds himself picking up the sword and the bells of the Shirogane to do what he can to keep the Dead back in Death.

Luckily, he has help.

Chapter 1

Takashi becomes the Shirogane all at once at age 19, while curled up under a blanket in the common room studying for a heinous flight safety exam coming up the next day. He’s squinting at text he doesn’t want to read for one moment, and in the next, Black manifests, the summon that has served the Shirogane clan for centuries. She’s a startling sight at the best of times, unknowable but definitively feline. At home, Black usually takes the form of a massive cat-shaped Thing, stuffed with stars with eyes that glow like dying suns. She also enjoys napping wherever there was a patch of sun, and had a tendency to purr like an earthquake when Takashi’s grandmother scritched her just right under her chin.

Now she appears like a lion made of nothing, large enough to fill the room, and when he tilts his head back to meet her eyes, all he sees is nothingness. It feels like falling, and fall he does, right into-

The Valley of Death is a misnomer. Takashi realises that this isn’t common knowledge, not even to Shiroganes, who are among the world’s most powerful necromancers. Death is a literal place, a river that stretches endlessly into the dark horizon, and those who die have their souls pulled by the current on and on and on until their truest ends, while Shiroganes and other short-term visitors try to resist the pull of the current tugging at their ankles, and avoid spending too long there in fear that a quick trip becomes more permanent. How to safely navigate the gates of Death was among the first things Takashi was taught, as soon as he was old enough to understand exactly what it was that his grandmother did when she disappeared in full regalia for weeks at a time.

There was a lot less training and a lot more screaming when his grandparents realised that Takashi didn’t travel to Death the way the bloodline magic manifested in them. When he goes into Death, he takes his body with him, and for this reason he sees and feels things invisible to the rest of his family, and for this reason he knows that the Valley comes before Death.

He calls it the Astral Plane, even if it’s more like a canyon in the desert on a moonless night. Takashi comes here when he wants to be truly alone, because not even the great Shirogane Amiya can reach him here. The pull of Death calls a little more keenly, and the gravity and the weight and the light in the Plane feel just a little off, but it’s the one place that is truly, undeniably his, and so it’s a place that Takashi finds less threatening and more calming instead.

That’s the usual case, anyways. Today, though, forcibly flung through to the Astral Plane while still wearing his reading glasses and fleecy bright orange pyjamas, Takashi is trying to stay calm and keep his footing, as panic and the current both try to rattle him.

His bare feet slip on the damp gravel of the Astral Plane, but once he’s caught his breath and let the tension leak out of him and into the chilly waters at the start of the river of Death, Black makes an appearance.

Shrunk down now to the size of a particularly fearsome lioness, she rubs her jet-black skull against his hip, the bell on her collar ringing unusually loudly in this quiet place. A gentle headbutt almost has him falling over. “Hey, now,” he chides her, ignoring the fact that his voice is wavering and cracked. “What’s the matter? Why did you bring me here, Black?” Takashi looks around, part-expecting and mostly hoping to see a familiar face. It must be urgent, and it must be related to Shirogane business if Black was sent for him instead of his grandparents simply picking up the phone and calling the boarding school. It takes a moment to calm down enough for Takashi to centre himself and then let his consciousness flow out, to seek a sign of something, anything living.

Souls are a gray area, but souls tethered to living bodies give off some warmth; his grandmother is powerful enough a sorcerer that her presence rings as clear as a bell, but there’s nothing.

A sense of dread creeps quietly up Takashi’s spine, but whatever else might be wrong, Black is here and not another person in the world has so strong a protector. Takashi kneels down to draw level with her, idly rubbing under her chin and trying to ignore how the sensation feels like it’s too-hot-too-cold-too-soft-too-hard-too-sharp-too-blunt all at once. “Is everything all right?”

She licks up the side of his face, with a rough tongue that is neither warm nor damp, before she pulls out of his hold, and moves back to sit on her haunches.

Like magic, a leather bandolier and a sword appear at her paws, and Takashi tries and fails to hold back a gasp of dismay. The tools of the Shirogane office, the seven bells and the silver sword, are not something his grandmother would ever let out of her sight. And for them to be here, passed along to him by Black in this place, means that something has happened to his grandparents.

It’s a battle to stay calm, but there are some things that have been trained right into him. Even as he struggles to keep his breathing even, Takashi pulls the drawstrings from his pyjama bottoms and ties the sword to his waist, before heaving up the heavy bandolier and slinging it across himself.

The bandolier is tied too tight, and again Takashi has to struggle to not lose his composure as he adjusts the buckle a few sizes up from what his grandmother has been using for the last several decades.

He touches the handle of each bell, from smallest to largest, and though they are stoppered to prevent accidental invocation, each one hums a different note at his touch, responding to the Shirogane that wields them.

With time being kinder to Shiroganes than most and his grandmother Amiya as indomitable as she has always been, Takashi had been so sure that he would not be called upon to become the acting Shirogane for many, many more years. That’s why he chose to leave the family home and attend a boarding school, breaking the tradition of home-schooling and endless magical training that have been the hallmark of the childhoods of most every Shirogane.

That’s why he’s in Tokyo, working hard to join the airforce, dreaming of a good life lived in the skies before his grandparents retire and he takes up the mantle, the bells, the sword, and all the responsibilities that come with being one of the most powerful necromancers alive.

He really should have known better. If Death could come for his parents while they were young and powerful and his father was a full-fledged Shirogane, it’s mad that Takashi thought he would somehow be spared the horrors of the job.

Instead he’s a 19-year-old ankle-deep in the waters leading to Death, trying not to cry because there’s a good chance that a Free Magic creature or something from Death has killed every remaining member of his family, and now it’s down to him to go back home to find out what has happened, and become the serving Shirogane.

He touches the hilt of the sword, a golden lion’s head with a raw chunk of quartz in her jaws, and remembers the inscription.

I was made to slay those already Dead.

For a long, long moment, Takashi wishes that he wasn’t a Shirogane, that no one in his family was, and that he wasn’t here in the Astral Plane crying into the black abyss of Black’s semi-corporeal form because everyone may well be dead but already beyond reach.

It’s a good thing that time moves differently between here and the other world; Takashi thinks it’s many, many days before Black nudges him back to Life.

Bare feet on the threadbare carpeting in the common room, chest weighed down with grief and the weight of the most powerful bells in the world, Shirogane Takashi rushes back to his room to pack and leave for the home.

It’s going to be a difficult rest of his life.

While belief in magic and magic itself is sparser in Tokyo than in many other places in Japan and leeches away more and more every day, it took the headmaster all of a startled gasp upon seeing Takashi with the bells and sword before his request for leave was granted, and less than an hour after returning from the Astral Plane, Takashi pulls his greatcoat around him, checks to make sure the bulges of the bells aren’t too unseemly, grabs his hastily-packed bag and leaves the garrison and his dreams of being a pilot ordinary in all ways but skill behind.

So close to the start of the new year, the weather is terrible. Tokyo isn’t one for heavy snow, usually, but this year most of Japan has been swamped by a horrific cold front, and even in his coat that his father enchanted for him to keep him warm and dry, Takashi feels chilled to the bone. He isn’t sure if it’s because of the recent revelation of a tragedy, but something sinister seems to taint the air, and the harshness of the weather feels increasingly unnatural.

Black had remained in the Astral Plane, likely because it was the fastest way to travel if you had the knack and the power for it, but it means he is left to handle his travels home by himself.

The miserable weather means that even if he called in all the favours he's owed to 'borrow' a light flyer he could pilot in his sleep, the snow and blustering winds would sooner have him crashing into Tokyo Bay than reach anywhere close to Lake Biwa and the familial home.

The skies are a no-fly-zone, but the perpetual heavy traffic in Tokyo's streets means that while it's all treacherous slush, they are technically traversable.

It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission, and Takashi can find the time to regret his rashness in Death.

Stealing away like a shadow into the night, the golden boy of this garrison sneaks into the garage where the smaller military vehicles are kept, and liberates a bike with wheels enchanted to float just over the ground.

An all-terrain magicked motorcycle won't be the most comfortable ride in awful winter weather, but it’s wickedly fast, and the spells holding it in stasis and primed to ring in alarm are simplistic enough for Takashi to handle. Beggars, after all, can't be choosers.

They certainly can't choose the massive jeep in the back that looks like it could mow down most any wretched thing that drags itself out of Death, no matter how much they may want to.

Carefully Takashi removes the smallest, sweetest bell, fingers snug around the clapper to stop Ranna from singing her lullaby. He's horrendously out of practice, but part of the power of the bells is that they all want to endlessly ring, and part of the power of a Shirogane is their ability to control both the bell and themselves.

Ranna the Sleepbringer, rung by the gentlest side-to-side motion, never more than thrice or the wielder would succumb as well. Nothing can resist her lulling call, and spells are no different.

There's a feeling like the taste of a click, and Takashi revs the engine as soon as he feels the stasis break and the alarms turn off.

Unfortunately, spells fall asleep for only seconds at a time, much unlike people.

Fortunately, Takashi is very, very fast.

By the time the security spells snap back into place, Takashi is long gone into the dark of night, with no one none the wiser.

Well.

Almost no one.

In the shadows, yellow eyes catch the weak moonlight like an oil slick, and a deformed muzzle catches his scent in the air.

Even going at full-speed, disregarding all road laws and ignoring his body's desire for sleep and rest, it's still late in the evening of the next day before an exhausted Takashi crests a low hill and sees the glittering waters of Lake Biwa stretching into the horizon. He can't see the house yet, not from this far to the north, but the sound of waves lapping at the shore, the soft susurration of wind blowing through pampas grass, the way even the weak wintry sun lights up the crests of waves, oh.

Takashi takes in a deep breath of home, and feels frost and the fizz of hard, wild magic run right through him.

He loves flying through the skies in a light flyer, loves cutting through clouds and hearing the soft static of the radio, but the raw magic that runs absolutely feral here in the valley of Lake Biwa fills him up somewhere deep, and for the briefest of moments, Takashi feels like the ground is thrumming beneath him and booming right through him and for that moment

the bells ring in his head, and power rings out of him.

Takashi is so taken aback by the scale of magic here that it takes him far too long to notice the taint of corrupt magic building in the air, like smoke from a fire long dead. It leaves him feeling sick to the stomach and it burns his eyes, and fear starts to crawl up his spine. The stench is being carried on the wind, getting stronger by the moment, and primal fear has Takashi racing down the rolling hills, gunning the exhausted engines to outrun them.

The sun would be setting soon, and whatever it was that was coming towards him would be able to move faster and more freely in the dark.

Takashi's never been afraid of the dark, has never been afraid of much at all, having been to Death and back more times before he learned how to read than most people will in their entire lives. Fear comes all too naturally now, though, swift and frigid, and the relief of seeing the island loom on the horizon has him forcing the bike well beyond its capacity.

By the time he reaches the little pier that leads to the island in the lake and the large house on the island, sunset is well underway and the world is tinted pink. Takashi jumps off the bike as it sputters and groans and dies, and staunchly tries to ignore the howls and screeches of the Dead, as dark figures begin appearing on the crests of the hills behind him.

Samhir at his side seems to jump in her sheath, and Takashi hurriedly presses a soothing hand to the hilt of the sword. Unlike the bells, Samhir is less likely to strike back at her wielder, his grandmother told him once. But a sharp blade is like a fine woman, because their beauty belies a spine of steel and a biting edge that's hard to see until it's too close.

It's probably unsurprising that his father and his grandfather were the best swordsmen in the family, but Takashi's interests lie distinctly elsewhere, and now is not the time to have that point clearly illustrated for him.

Deep running water is a good ward against a lot of magic, which is why Shiroganes long gone chose Lake Biwa's larger island to make their home, but summoning a path to reach it is therefore extremely hard to do. Takashi has never needed to complete a full spell himself; it's usually a whole family affair when he comes home for the holidays, a royal flush of stately, loving grandparenst at the rickety train station to collect him, but now all he has is himself, and a thousand howling ghouls galloping towards him.

Painstakingly unclenching both his fists and his jaw, Takashi takes a deep breath. Remember, he whispers to himself as he rips out the shiny silver buttons of his greatcoat. Patience yields focus, his father always used to say, because a younger Takashi always used to be a bit of a hothead.

There are many ways to gain access to the Manor as a member of the Shirogane clan, but for every single one the water must physically be crossed. Takashi's favourite way is the little enchanted reed boat his grandmother would weave with grass and spells and flowers in the summer, and the funniest crossing was when he and his grandfather swam all the way to the island in heavily magicked shorts.

This is the emergency method, and all it needs is the breath of a living Shirogane. Bringing the buttons up to his mouth, Shuro takes a deep breath in, and exhales over them. The magic catches, the circuit complete, and Takashi flings them into the lake as they grow and grow into large floating discs, looking for all the world like the reflection of five moons in the water.

Not taking a moment longer, hearing the whistle of stones and spears and arrows coming his way, Takashi prays that the greatcoat can bear some abuse and leaps onto the first disc, gladdened to find that the platform is solid under his feet. Something hits him in the back, but it doesn't puncture through, so Takashi makes another flying leap onto the second disc, breaking the spell on the first platform and changing it back to a shiny silver button that quickly sinks to the bottom of the lake.

Head down, blood pounding in his ears, Takashi continues this terrifying game of skipping stones, and doesn't try to hold back his tears when he lands on the island, welcomed by the massive, foreboding torii that marks the entrance to the Shirogane home. Then and only then does he feel safe enough to turn and face his pursuers, a mob of resurrected creatures ripped from death screaming as they try to cross the lake, and get burned by the water as a result.

Limbs are falling apart, the grotesque monstrosities seeming completely unbothered by an arm falling off or an eye rolling astray. Where the water touches them, rotted flesh falls off in chunks, and tarry black ooze trickles out in a miserable parody of blood. The stench has Takashi bent over and throwing up into a bush, adrenaline running its course and leaving behind tear-stained cheeks and weak knees. A single figure seems more whole than any of the others, a hulking mass even far away on the shore, covered in mangy fur the colour of a purpling bruise. Takashi has the uncomfortable sensation of being measured up and being found wanting, as the ringleader peers at him with beady eyes that glint yellow in the moonlight.

The thing turns away to commune with its fellow nightmare creatures, and it's as if a spell was broken. Takashi snaps himself out of his daze, scrubs at his face with the sleeves of his coat, and hopes that the night brings a snowstorm with it so that the creatures may be deeply inconvenienced as they seek to wreak havoc. He staggers pass the torii, and through the heavily warded wooden gates that lead to home. The gates slam shut behind him, and Takashi rushes through a front yard rendered barren by the winter.

He can't sense any other living being here, but still hoping against hope, Takashi yells for his family. "Grandmother! Grandfather! Where are you!"

There's no answer, but the front door rattles open and hope burns bright for all of a second before grim reality settles in.

It's only Black, back to the size of a housecat, and she might be the single most powerful creature he will ever meet in both life and Death, but disappointment hits him full in the chest as Takashi tries to keep it together in the face of his worst fears realised.

Traditionally, at least one member of the family must be at home at all times, so that in a pinch anyone working in the field knows that invariably they can call for help and be answered. For it to be this silent, empty even of the little silvery helpers built from charms, means that no one is home.

The bells and sword strapped to his body means that no one is likely to ever come home.

The first swell of grief is a putrid, rotten thing, and Takashi feels bile rise in his throat. His family is gone, and that's likely related to the almost-ambush by the foetid creatures ripped from Death, and somehow all of this must be resolved by him, a fool of a boy who thought it was fine to neglect his training as a future Shirogane to try to take to the skies.

Takashi doesn't know how long he is slumped against the front door, on the precipice of a complete breakdown, but the moment is sharply drawn to an end when Black leaps into his lap, digging her claws into his thighs.

The sharp pricks of pain pull him back to the present, and Takashi tries futilely to dry his eyes. "What's the matter?" he asks her, rubbing just under her ear and ignoring his legs going numb under a cat currently the size of a very large dog. "Aside from all the big things, that is," he amends, because there is such a thing as too many things the matter.

Black nips his fingers, jumps off of him, and walks towards the front gate, turning back to stare at him in a blatant indication of Hurry and come. Even the gentle ring of the bell on her collar sounds like an admonishment.

Mindful of the occasional bespelled arrow crashing into the shores of the island, Takashi peers out from behind the gate, and the sight is somehow worse than all the objectively horrible things that have happened to him over the past 24 hours.

In the full dark of night, the hills are set ablaze, grasses dried by the winter winds catching fire from the torches held aloft by more Dead creatures than Takashi has ever seen, including on trips to the other side. The pristine, powdery snow has turned into miserable grey slush, as the purple leader funnels the endless parade of nightmares to launch themselves into the lake in endless waves. Outside of the ward of absolute protection that encases the household, the stench of the bodies boiling in the pure waters of Biwa is stomach-turning, even with the purification powers of the torii working to clear the air.

Takashi struggles at first to understand what was happening; why were they all throwing themselves back into Death? The deep water and unceasing flow of the lake was not something any Lesser and most Greater Dead could overcome with force alone, and while there is an army of them on the shores, it still wouldn't be enough to-

"Oh, no," Takashi whispers under his breath, once the intentions of the Greater Dead leader became clear. While Lake Biwa could and did destroy the Dead, Purple was throwing enough bodies into the water that as the bottommost creatures screamed and melted away into muck, more and more bodies were piled atop them, faster than the water could work to cleanse them.

There were now flotillas made from reanimated corpses and dark shadows meeting their miserable end, one layer at a time, and while the pace was slow, eventually the Dead would be able to form a macabre series of stepping stones to get to him and his home.

Instinctively his hand reaches for Kibeth in his bandolier, to use the Walker to control the Dead and have them walk neatly in single-file to a watery re-death. It made a certain sort of sense; have them march to meet their demise, and if his own will gets overtaken by it, then, ah, Black could grab him by the scruff and shake him back to wakefulness.

Kibeth's a tricky bell, though in many ways they all are. Even secured in its holster, it seems to reverberate with his intentions and demand for his hand to come closer, to wrap tight around the ebony handle and let it move the masses of Dead back where they belong.

It's only the muscle memory of having the back of his knuckles pinched whenever he got too cavalier with bell-handling that stays his hand. He leaves Kibeth be, and ignores the vague, deeply discomfiting feeling of having one of the bells be upset with him. One, two, even ten Lesser Dead would be manageable, and the potential kickback even at its worst would be worth the risk.

But a hundred? A thousand? Several thousand Dead things ranging from dull-witted reanimated corpses to whatever the hell Purple was?

His sense of self would completely be subsumed by Kibeth, and barring the glow of Life in his veins, a casual observer would have a very difficult time indeed separating him from one of the Dead.

No, not Kibeth. Not any of the bells, not for this number. Takashi pulls away from the gate and allows it to slam shut, cutting off the sight and scent of Dead industry, and heads right for his room in the ancestral Shirogane home.

He's tired and grieving and scared and dirty, and for the moment he can at least address one of those pressing concerns.

Black comes back to him after Takashi has had a quick shower and is sat on the kitchen table with an enormous map of Japan on one side, and a hastily-made batch of mackerel-stuffed riceballs on the other.

The rice is still on the crunchy side of properly-cooked, but beggars can’t be choosers, and there isn’t much that Takashi can’t stomach after years of dealing with the canteens of boarding schools and garrisons. Eating badly also helps remind him of his sense of urgency; in the warm, cozy kitchen, the troubles ailing him feel desperately far away, and it seems like his family will walk in at any moment to scold him for undercooking the rice.

But there is no warm, affectionate presence, there are none of the summons that usually help in the kitchen, and even if the spells of protection stop him from being able to smell, see, or hear the Dead, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

So Takashi chews on, and tries to think of what he should do. There are other powerful magic-user families that are allies of Shirogane, but the nearest house he could get to would be in southern Kyoto, and without a car or a bike, getting to it would be nigh-on impossible with an armada of ghouls on his doorstep. If there is some sort of large-scale uprising of the Dead, every single person in the country is going to be up to their necks in trouble anyways, and it’s a specific brand of trouble that is best left to a Shirogane.

If his grandmother were here, Takashi would happily declare that no number of Dead would stand a chance, but she isn’t, which means both that there was a fight she could not win, and also that the fight is now in his lap, except he’s a lot less experienced, and competent, and powerful, and-

He’s not an optimist by nature, but focusing on the fine details of how deeply out of his depth he is is not going to help, so Takashi tries to breathe and concentrate on nothing but chewing and occasionally sneaking Black bits of fish for a few moments.

There is, most definitely, an extremely dire problem with the Dead. First things first, he needs to let as many people know as possible to expect…. whatever this siege is. He suspects the epicentre of the Dead army will be wherever he is, because a dirty necromancer with the bells of Shirogane could drown the country in the Dead within a day. That’s information, and it’s information he can use.

Tugging a pen and his notebook out of his backpack, Takashi gets to work. First bullet point is, Let everyone know a lot of the Dead are up and about, with subheaders listing the names of the families and institutions that have a channel of communication open with the house. Second is, Find where the Dead are being risen.

To call up this number of monstrosities, even the strongest necromancer would need an incredible amount of power. Their options would be limited; they could enslave a Shirogane, but if that were the case the bells and sword would not be in Takashi’s possession, so that seems unlikely. They could break a Lionstone, monoliths built on overlapping leylines to amplify the power, but breaking a Lionstone is such a vicious corruption of the flow of power that there’s no way it would have gone unnoticed.

There were also powerful families guarding the four live Lionstones, and all their locations are kept secret, so it seems unlikely that that is the case.

The last option that he can think of, the one that feels the most likely, is that someone has gone to the sole broken Lionstone, desecrated when the royal family of the Chrysanthemum throne had been killed atop it over a hundred years ago, and repeated the ritual with the spilling of equally powerful blood.

In this scenario, it isn’t difficult to imagine whose blood this mystery necromancer would have gathered, but Takashi is not thinking about that right now. Though the Lionstone is in Tokyo, the capital is so immersed in harnessing technology and science to develop rapidly that it had lost touch of its magical roots, and in most places the atmosphere was so thin that there was a very real chance that something of this magnitude could have happened and not been detected.

It would certainly explain why he had felt so discomfited the whole way down from Tokyo; the summoning of this army of Dead had pushed dirtied magic ahead of them in their pursuit, like a burst of humidity before the onslaught of a stormfront.

Blood rituals are a tricky business, but if the unwilling sacrifice of a Shirogane was powerful enough to rip the path to Death open and allow passage for a cast of thousands, then Takashi is willing to bet that the willing sacrifice of a Shirogane could be powerful enough to shut it back down. Worse comes to worst, he can try out bell after bell on whoever is behind all of this and see what sticks, and have Black whisk away the bells to whoever she trusts as a successor once he inevitably succumbs to death as a boy doing his absolute best and falling short anyways.

Mind made up, Takashi goes into action mode. He hasn’t slept in over 24 hours by this point, and tea and questionable rice balls are his only sustenance for the day, but this is a Life and Death situation, it’s larger than just one man, and he

is promptly taken off his train of thought by Black bonking his head with an imperious paw. Takashi stares at her in red-eyed befuddlement and tries to get off his seat again, but Black’s as big as a lion now, sat on the table, and her paw near covers his face as she stops him from rising up and off to figure out how to get back to Tokyo when the family motorcar is on the side of the lake with thousands of Dead.

She stares at him, unblinking, and he’s caught in her gaze. There’s a pop!, like a dislocated bone popping back into place, and when Takashi looks around he realizes that he’s back in the Astral Plane, and that Black is pawing at her collar while maintaining their eye contact.

It’s not a place where he wants to be, currently, but he’s sure she has his reasons. “Do you need me to take it off, Black?” he asks, just to be sure. The collar is an ancient thing of beaten leather, with more runes inscribed in it than you could find in a library of magical works, and he’s never been sure why a Free Magic creature of her calibre has ever allowed a collaring.

He supposes he’s about to find out the reason, when Black blinks slowly at him in a cat’s fond way of saying yes, you idiot. He reaches towards her and she allows him to curse and struggle with the buckle. It soon becomes clear that it’s enchanted to stay closed, and at a loss, Takashi leans over to breathe over the silver.

It comes off easily after that, though Takashi has to catch it with both hands when it comes undone, the bell on it feeling shockingly heavy for such a small thing. He isn’t quick enough to stop it from ringing, though, and without Black’s pelt to soften the sound it rings a deep, deep note, heavy and tasting of iron, like an earthquake in your head.

Takashi gasps, and quickly stoppers the clapper.

It’s Saraneth, it’s the sound of Saraneth, why was a version of the Binder hanging from Black’s neck, what has he done-

In front of him, Black grows and grows in size, until she’s taller than the tallest thing he’s ever seen, and when she roars, the very mountains that enclose the Valley of Death rattle to their core.

Oh, Takashi thinks, this was not on the list, as he expects to be bitten clean in half, or potentially kicked straight through the ninth gate of Death for that one time he rubbed his grubby hands on her instead of washing them after dinner at age, ah, five? Maybe six.

He is not sent to meet permanent Death, he’s not even nipped a little bit for sins long past. Instead, he gets a voice in his head that sounds like a hundred million voices all rolled into one.

He assumes it’s Black, because it’s about the outer limit of what he feels equipped to handle at the moment.

Yes, she goes, booming like the whole world screaming the word. Without the Binder, I have my powers returned to me. Here, I am more as I should be.

What she should be is amazing, and Takashi has half a mind to be deferential, but respect is hard to dredge up in the face of something that has featured in your baby photographs, and is also an ever-present shadow in almost all Shirogane pictures taken at home. Black is Black is Black, even if she’s more a god than a kitten at this point.

So Takashi smiles, stepping back to try and look at her face. “Who binded you, Black? Are you all right?”

Her affectionate chuffing almost bowls him over. One of yours found me here, over a century ago, and humbly asked for my assistance. Saraneth bound me to my word; to look after the Shirogane line, and to restrict my powers in Life so that I do not throw the world out of balance.

“That’s nice of you to help,” Takashi says with a crooked smile, trying extremely hard not to let on how thoroughly overwhelmed he is. “I’m glad my ancestor made a good impression.”

She was timid but convincing, and I decided then that I would follow her. A few millennia means nothing to me, after all.

Takashi tries to remember what he can of Shirogane Kume, the Shirogane that prevented a complete breakdown of Life and Death after the breaking of the Lionstone, and has a hard time imagining the lady whose portrait is in most every textbook on magic and necromancy in the world being described as ‘timid’. After all, it must have taken unspeakable courage to run into Black in her raw form in the wild and still have the guts to proposition her. What could even drive someone to do such a crazy thing?

Considering that Takashi is ready for a last stand against an unknown enemy at a battlefield where he suspects his family have died in, perhaps the crazy is hereditary, hmm.

Focus, focus, patience yields focus. Takashi tries to keep himself on track. “Okay, Black, that makes sense to me. But why did you need me to take Saraneth off? Is there a promise you need to break?”

No. But I needed more of my power to stop you from rushing to your doom, little one. She bats him most gently with a massive paw, and Takashi tips over, landing on a patch of questionable moss with a light oomph. You bring your body with you when you come into Death; here I can bring your body with me to wherever you may wish to go.

Instantaneous or near-instantaneous travel! It’s not as thrilling and hands-on as piloting, but it certainly would be one for the record books. Takashi cannot believe that this was an option; despite all his curious adventuring while here in the Astral Plane, only two paths have ever been available to him. Down the valley, following the river into Death, and climbing against the current back to where he left Life. There were no other exits, no secret roads that lead to exotic locations, just forwards and back.

With this, though, his options have significantly improved. “So you could take me to our allies’ houses? We could keep hopping from place to place, and build support? That would be amazing!”

Black looks chagrined by his bright ideas. I would be able to come and go as I please. But you are still one of the Living, no matter what Shiroganes think of themselves, and if I move you through this Valley more than once a moon, your tether to Life will fray, and I do not know when it would snap.

Even for a Free Magic creature more akin to a deity than anything else, there are limitations. Takashi knows he shouldn’t be surprised by this, knows that even simply being here in the Astral Plane draws him towards Death, and that it’s more than reasonable to assume that any vigorous activities here likely will not end well for him.

He knows all this, and he still can’t help becoming upset, teeth clenching and grinding. One step forward, two steps back. If he decides to head to the wrong place, he won’t have a month to spare to rethink his decisions. He has to make a good call, and he has to make it now.

The answer seems depressingly obvious.

“Black, could you take me to the Lionstone in Tokyo? I think…. I think whatever happened to everyone, it’s going to be there, and whoever did it to them is also there. I have the bells and the sword, I am the Shirogane, so that’s where I need to go.” He hopes he sounds braver than he feels.

The extremely mighty celestial lion nods her head. I can. And I can also carry messages to the allies of the Shirogane. For now, however, you must rest.

Takashi laughs before he can help himself. “I can rest when I’m dead,” he tells her fondly. “So don’t worry about me. I’ve stayed up for longer for worse reasons. Saving the world, maybe, is pretty good motivation.”

Black adamantly rests back on her haunches, effectively blocking his path back to Life. Time is different here, you know this. It’s a gentle scolding, but Takashi is nevertheless deeply embarrassed. Rest. I will protect you, and when you wake, I will take you where you need to go.

It is true that time doesn’t flow at the speed of Life here, but it’s well beyond Takashi’s ability to predict. If Black says she’ll wake him when he needs to be wakened, he’s willing to take her word for it. And the prospect of some sleep, even in amongst the damp moss and river rocks of the valley of Death, has his eyelids grow heavy. Still, Takashi tries to protest. “I have to protect the house, before I go!”

Lions can’t smile, not really, but whatever Black is doing is that, with a lot of teeth. My collar also stopped me from using excessive force. That is no longer an issue, little one. Rest.

The command has the same force behind it as Ranna in full swing; Takashi is asleep before he’s fully horizontal.

Despite his training as a Shirogane-in-waiting and his own frequent jaunts into the Astral Plane, Takashi is confident that this is the first time he's washing his face in the waters of Death. It's a chilly wake-me-up, but Black had promised that it couldn't make things any worse, so.

Gargling with it seems just a step too far, though, and he hopes morning breath isn't an issue here in the valley. All in all, Takashi feels surprisingly well-rested and clear-headed, with the beginnings of a game plan forming in his head. It isn't an ideal plan, and success is a vague, distant hope, but for the cards he's dealt, Takashi thinks it's manageable.

He discusses strategy with Black before they leave this place, to try and squeeze out every second out of the time warp that they can.

"First is taking care of the house," Takashi says, holding up a jagged rock. "I need to get dressed for a fight, and get letters ready for you to send to our allies. We also need to figure out how to keep the focus of the Dead on the house, so that they're occupied and don't realise I'm gone, but still stop them from destroying the island. Thoughts?"

Black, today the size of a stand-offish Labrador, rests her paw on house-rock. With the will of a Shirogane, the summons made for defence against the Dead may be awakened. If you put a glamour on one of them to take your appearance, it may do what you wish.

He had no idea they had anything more heavy-duty than the kitchen spell summons, but he's glad someone had the foresight to prepare for the worst case scenario. But, even so… "And if they breach our defences?"

Then I will welcome them most warmly.

That's certainly one way to describe it, oh. Takashi grins despite himself, before trying to sound serious again. "All right. Once I'm prepared, you'll take me to the Kokugyoku Lionstone, where I think I'll find the necromancer behind all of this. If I'm lucky, my grandparents are there, and once I free them we can handle them together. If I'm not…"

It's a difficult promise to make, but it's a necessary one. "If I have to handle it alone, I'll ring Astarael." He touches the handle of the largest, heaviest bell in his bandolier, Astarael the Sorrowful. "I should be able to take the magician into Death with me, and with any luck we'll be thrown past the ninth gate, and that’s how it ends. If that happens, can you please take the bells and sword to someone you trust?"

No magic and no power in the hands of humans can force an escape back through the ninth gate. Takashi himself has only ever ventured to the fifth gate under the careful supervision of his grandmother, and he knows that if he rings Astarael, then that's how it ends.

It's a solution to the problem, and Takashi will, ah, cross that bridge when he gets to it.

Black gives her word that she will defend the bells and sword, and there are no further plans to be made. No point in counting chickens before they hatch, no point in strategising for a future that likely won't include him.

Takashi takes a brief moment to centre himself, and to remember that the river flows from Life into Death.

Endings are a man-made concept, and the skies past the ninth gate are supposed to be the most beautiful sight any mortal is granted.

Wherever they are, he hopes his family is all right, and that they know he's really trying to do his best.

They depart.

It should be quite late in the morning when they make it back home, but Takashi has to blink a few times and reacclimate himself as he stumbles back to life under the blanket of night.

The puffy clouds rolling across the sky are tinted red from the light of torches. The cold nips at his ears, and there's a promise of snow on this full moon night.

That works in their favour, water above and below the Dead. The moon shining bright and heavy helps with casting protective charms against abominations, too.

One step at a time, all the way to whatever victory he can grasp. Takashi hurries out the front gate, to the main torii by the pier. Its huge red beams seem to glow, and carefully ignoring just how close the rafts of corpses have come, he presses the palm of his hand to the lacquered wood.

It should feel like pulling out weeds, Black had told him. The third Shirogane was an avid gardener, and he made an army of golems out of the island soil to help him build the courtyard and protect the land. They will come when you call.

Concentrating on the slightly scratchy feel of wood under his hands and digging his feet deeply into the ground, Takashi imagines in his mind's eye the three other toriis on the island, each facing a cardinal direction. It's nerve-wracking work, concentrating as arrows and spears clatter against the wards while the Dead that float on their companions' bodies shriek abuse at him. The toriis were all built together, for each other, though, so after a few minutes he feels a crackle of power shoot out through the main gate, linking all four torii and reinforcing the shields and wards.

All above him the sky ripples and glows silver-white as the spells are powered up and the barrier surrounding the island thickens. With every corner of the island thrumming with magic, reaching down through the ground to call on the resting golems is made much simpler. Takashi had worried that he would need to pull them out himself, but instead all that's needed is for him to activate the little emergency button built into them, and out they pop.

(Like weeds!)

He snags one of them as he rushes back, and hastily draws out the runes for duplication onto its forehead, activating it with a drop of his blood.

Spell complete, there are now two Takashis, one of whom is well over ten feet tall, but hopefully perspective works in their favour here.

He has no other options.

Satisfied with his hasty spellwork, Takashi runs back into the house to pack his supplies. He readies enough food and water to last a few days, grabs the thinnest blanket he has, and grabs a polishing stone and mineral oil with some vague ideas about using them for Samhir. He chucks whatever spellbooks he thinks might come in handy into the bag, along with two changes of clothes. He’s halfway into pulling a warm sweater over his head before a thought strikes him in the head.

Aside from the sword and the bells, the Shirogane also has a costume that denotes their post. Leather leggings enchanted against the chilly waters of Death, light and strong chainmail crafted so finely the links could barely be seen, and a tunic over the top of it in thick black brocade, stitched with a moon over the heart and tiny stars scattered across it in silver thread. Every single piece of the outfit is ancient and magicked to hell and back, and would provide much greater protection against the Dead than anything Takashi could get his hands on.

It’s a long shot, because if his grandmother had been out scouting the source of this mayhem she would have been in full dress for her own protection, but it’s a shot worth taking. Takashi races to his grandparents’ room, apologising to the walls before slipping in and briskly searching through their chests and cupboards. He tries very hard not to think about why the room is empty and how it’s likely to stay that way.

With all the Dead creatures howling after him, Takashi only has time for one panic at a time.

In a beat-up leather chest that smells faintly of cedar, he finds what he’s looking for, though it occurs to him somewhat late in the game that an outfit that would fit his short, slim grandmother would at best look ridiculous on him and at worst rip at the seams.

Fortunately, the cloth-makers had more sense when they constructed the garments than he has at present, and as he pulls the leathers on and wears the chainmail over his undershirt, Takashi is pleasantly pleased to find that everything fits exactly right, down to the placement of the full moon shining on his chest.

It feels… right. It feels the most right anything has felt over the past day and a half, and what that entails is too heavy to disentangle right now. Looking around the room and making sure he isn’t missing anything, Takashi heads back to his bag and the awaiting Black, and closes the bedroom door very quietly behind him.

Stepping into Death in what amounts to the full armour of the Shirogane is a very different experience to visiting in his own clothes. For one, Takashi feels more confident in himself and in the mission, bolstered by clothes that have seen his ancestors through centuries of conflict. For another, they seem to actually keep him warm, which is a fantastic bonus for somebody who brings his physical body with him straight into the valley.

It’s even more an unusual situation to be racing down the mountainside on the back of a horse-sized lion-shaped Free Magic creature, and even though Takashi’s legs already feel like jelly trying to keep his seat on Black, he also has to try very hard to resist whooping and throwing his hands into the air.

It’s an amazing feeling.

Takashi had offered to make a makeshift saddle out of blankets and belts, which Black had imperiously declined, and bareback-riding isn’t something Takashi’s had much training in, but here they are. It’s the fastest way to move, and while time is more amorphous here in the Astral Plane, the sense of urgency of hurtling across the valley is helping Takashi to keep himself psyched up. In his mind, he’s half-expecting to roll into the tomb that holds the broken Lionstone and find some ghastly 10-foot-tall wraith, and in a panic Takashi will throw Astarael at its head and that will be the end of that.

In the meantime, he allows himself to feel the sharp, zinging thrill of the world’s most amazing mode of transport, hugging more tightly around Black’s neck and burying his face in the not-fur at her scruff. Something niggles at the back of his mind, though, and Takashi checks in on the network of toriis protecting the island. He frowns a little when he feels a heavy impact against it. He would have been happy to assume it was some sort of particularly large spear, or maybe a small Dead had been flung clear across the water somehow, but the boom boom boom of things smashing against the shield keeps happening. The wards are holding strong, but the steady assault is unnerving. If time is a fluffy thing here, then could it be possible that this is a forewarning about how bad things will get soon? Or eventually? Or?

Takashi groans. Life and Death he can handle just fine, but playing with time is beyond mortal magics for a very good reason. His alarm only increases, though, when Black suddenly skids to a halt, ears pricked up as she looks around her.

“Everything okay, Black?” Takashi asks, knowing entirely well that not much actually is.

One of the Greater Dead is trying to tear down the barriers. They have gotten closer to the island sooner than I anticipated. She’s growling, and it’s terrifying to feel skin to skin. Too close. The shields may not hold.

It’s not too difficult to come up with a solution. “Black,” he says, trying to soothingly pet her by her jaw where she usually likes it, “it’s all right. Drop me off at Kokugyoku, then go home and defend the house. I can wait until you come back before I try to get in a fight. It’s going to be fine.”

His voice doesn’t even waver, and Takashi is extremely proud of himself.

Black doesn’t look very convinced, and there’s no bell around her neck to make her listen to Takashi, but the boom boom BOOM is only getting louder and Takashi knows she can feel it to. “Trust me,” he says, because he knows that after the bells and the sword, the house with its armoury and library stocked with hundreds of years of knowledge and power is the most important thing in defending against the Dead.

A 19-year-old barely-trained Shirogane is a lot more expendable, and he hopes that she’ll accept that. He’s doing his best to accept it too.

The sound Black makes is probably Free Magic creature for indecision, but it comes off more like a roar that comes before a neck gets snapped. She reaches behind her and gingerly bites Takashi’s collar, unseating him and having him stand in front of her. This is foolish, and unwise, and impossible.

Takashi grins and presses their foreheads together. “You said the exact same thing when I jumped off the roof because I wanted to show granddad that I could fly. You caught me then, you’ll catch me now. Go take care of the house. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Black nuzzles against him, and licks down errant wisps of hair gone fly-away after a brisk lion-ride. You were always my favourite, she tells him almost conspiratorially. Be well, I will return soon.

Takashi rubs at her ear. “You’re by far my favourite unspeakably powerful entity created entirely from magic too. Now, just point me the right way, and-”

Instead of being reasonable, Black just grows a little larger, picks him up by the scruff of the neck again like he’s an errant kitten, and flings him towards a patch of rock face that looks like every other patch of rock face in this damned world. Takashi instinctively braces for hard impact, and-

instead, slams into absolutely nothing, rolling across a chilly stone floor instead.

“Magic travel is terrible,” he says out loud, once he’s rolled to a stop, nose pressed against a stone wall. Ego bruised but body well, Takashi sits up and looks around. He had expected to be dropped right into the chamber where the Lionstone is kept, hidden from the public except during the official week commemorating the Felling of the Chrysanthemum. People were allowed to view the stone then, kept safe in a massive glass exhibit, while little placards set everywhere explained how the Royal Family had been betrayed by the House protecting the Kokugyoku Lionstone, and were then slaughtered to break it. Takashi always found it a bit morbid, and didn’t understand how people could treat it like a fun little excursion when the Lionstone gave off so much rotten, putrid energy even the royal mages struggled to contain under their spells and wards.

His grandmother had taken him to see it, because it was a lesson in where the pursuit of power could lead you, and Takashi had hated it, and had been in tears when he found out that the King and Queen and Prince had died. His grandfather had then taken the Shirogane aside, tugging gently at her elbow, and had had Words with her about exposing their 6-year-old grandson to atrocities, and they had gone off for ice cream afterwards.

The gloomy cave-chamber remains clear in his memory regardless, and this place…. is not that. It looks more like a storeroom, than anything else, and Takashi assumes that even for Black navigating across worlds is difficult, and he’s a little off course. Once he checks that his bag and his weapons are in order, Takashi gets up to leave through the wooden door barring entry to the room, before something tugs at his consciousness.

It’s a strange sensation, and that’s saying something after all the strange sensations that Takashi has been having lately. It’s the opposite of having something crawl out of Death, but it’s also not just him sensing the presence of life inside a mouse or somebody passing by nearby. Takashi’s keen to get going and hunt down Mystery Necromancer, but he’s also prone to bouts of unshakeable curiosity.

Now is one such moment.

Partially unsheathing Samhir, Takashi stalks deeper into the storeroom, going down whichever path that seems to call on him, just the slightest bit. He eventually finds himself near the back end of the room, and bells are blaring in his head. Larger pieces are kept here, hidden under muslin, and Takashi keeps going until he stops in front of a shape that’s about his height, dwarfed by what he can only assume are statues of knights mounted on horses on either side.

This is the right one, and Takashi’s able to tell what exactly it is that he’s feeling.

It’s like the times when he ventures into his Death with his family, and he comes out first. It’s when he’s on this side of Life, and somebody’s spirit pushes through that thin but impossibly thick barrier to come back to their bodies.

It’s when somebody’s in Death and they’re trying to get back to Life, only this soul feels…. stuck. Takashi doesn’t know how this relates to a statue, but if it’s a cursed object, or there’s a restless ghost, he can at least help them find peace before the world potentially ends.

Taking a deep breath, Takashi carefully tugs off the sheet.

Underneath it, he finds a statue of the single most unspeakably handsome man he has ever, ever seen.

“Oh,” Takashi whispers to himself.

And he falls into Death.

A/N: Aaaand that’s chapter 1! I whole ass broke my foot in 3 places the week before Christmas, and then was on a wheelchair in a beach (which was an experience) with minimal internet and occasionally dodgy internet (imagine being in a wet bathroom at night at the lights flicker off and you look at the ceiling and go god you Really be like this sometimes HUH).

Second chapter will be out in a couple of days when I’m back, and I promise there’ll be more Keith next!

ALSO happy 2020 guys may your days be filled with whole feet!!!

#sheith secret santa #adamantineheart #sabriel au #takashi shirogane #keith kogane #shiro/keith #fantasy #god i love writing fantasy #and also #god i am so bad at writing multiple characters #writing is hard #when you're a goddamn idiot #whale writing

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wiiindyblathers · 7 years

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I love TAZ, Undertale, and magical girl warrior stuff, so if somebody found a way to combine all three of them i would probably die of happiness

Maybe take the concept of the Virtue Souls and assign them to a few TAZ characters, then give each Virtue Soul bearer a magical girl style power to make fighting evil a little easier

(Headcanons under the cut, I don’t want to flood people’s dashes)

Consider Magnus with a Soul of Kindness that gives him the ability to make plants grow and manipulate the earth. Railsplitter would have a field day, until he realizes, shit, this is draining his power, he needs to stop creating trees out of nowhere to chop down in one fell swipe, but if there’s one thing we know about Maggie it’s that he could not resist that opportunity. He has a bunch of low-maintenance plants in his room, as well as some starts for trees that he used to like making furniture out of. At one point, he started making little sculptures out of his friends around the Bureau - as well as some particularly fancy ones of the other reclaimers, and some people he knew before he began adventuring. The one he made for Julia is decorated with forget-me-nots and roses. Also, imagine him sneaking a dog onto the Moon Base and never having to sneak food to them because he can just conjure food instead with his cool new magic frying pan.

Taako would probably get Bravery. I have a mental image of him running around with the bandana tied around his waist, the ends flowing majestically in the wind as he whips out the classic “abra-ca-fuck-you” on a giant monster for the first time in ages. The gloves are too small and stubby for him, but has that ever stopped him before? He just puts them on his ears like earmuffs and gets a big hat that covers them. If anybody notices and point them out, he makes up some fashion-related excuse. His elemental power is fire, and he gets really emotional when he realizes that despite it, plants or poison still end up being what kills a lot of the people he cares about. He practices daily to find new ways to use his powers that help cleanse poison, but it’s just too destructive to work. He does get back into cooking, though, despite the fact than Maggie can just conjure food out of nowhere. He says he needs the practice. Honestly, he’s just trying to replace the traumatizing memories with something more productive, although he might be pushing himself just a little bit too much…

Merle would get Integrity, with water-based powers. He credits this partially to his devout belief in Pan (water is one of the most powerful forces in nature) and the fact he’s a beach dwarf. It gets a lot more difficult for him to lie, which makes their missions a lot more difficult, but he’s also a lot more stubborn (if it’s possible) and is the one who powers through a lot of obstacles instead of Magnus, who tries his best to give Merle plenty of shields before he runs into a brawl. Maggie is still the team tank most of the time, but he’s gotten a bit of competition over these last few missions. Taako finds himself learning a lot more healing spells to make up for it. Merle and Garyl get a lot of bonding time, since Garyl ends up more of a phantom stretcher than phantom steed. Mookie thinks his dad’s super cool with all these awesome battle scars and “battle ballerina gear”, but Mavis isn’t sure what to think of it. She’s settled on something between “aesthetic disaster” and “numbskull” for the meantime.

The Soul of Perseverance would probably attach itself to the Director. Lucretia has been to hell and back - literally, if you take Wonderland into account. She wouldn’t use her powers much, so it’s unclear what she has in her arsenal, but most people theorize that it’s something more abstract than the others, channeled through her notebook… “Notebook” doesn’t really do her weapon justice, though. Imagine a dusty tome, almost a half meter thick, full of mysterious spells and sketches of things she’s encountered over the years. She rarely opens it unless she’s talking directly to the Reclaimers, but even then she never, ever opens it to the later pages. Many people believe that it might even be of a similar power level to the Grand Relics themselves, but nobody dares say so in front of her.

I like to think that Angus would be one of the BoB members who gets a Virtue Soul, too, but he might be a little young. I have a lot of ideas as to how it would get passed down to him, likely from Jenkins… Anyway, he’d be the wielder of Patience. Sure, he does just fine as the greatest detective in the land without it, but nonetheless, the Virtue Souls are fickle, and don’t always operate logically. He has a tendency to experiment with his powers a lot more than any of the adults, often under Taako’s guidance - which doesn’t always work out, as his powers are related to substances like glass, crystals, and ice, and the method his mentor uses to control his fire powers doesn’t translate to Angus’ so well. On a similar note, due to his interest for testing his abilities, Angus is the first one to hypothesize that they might be related to the Relics. He has told The Director about his theories, but she hasn’t given him much of an answer; even to Angus, it’s unclear whether she doesn’t know how to react or has ulterior motives. He hopes that it’s the former. Besides Taako, Lucretia is the only person he can talk to about his powers - and unlike Taako, Lucretia seems to understand his struggles.

Justice would most definitely go to Killian. It has a tendency to get in the way of her doing her job sometimes, as it likes to mess with her definition of “fairness”, but it balances that by making her stronger and more agile, thus allowing her to execute what she decides as justice more absolutely. If she was powerful before she was given the Soul of Justice, she’s an absolute war machine now. Carey admires her, despite the fact that their beliefs clash sometimes; coincidentally, Carey seems to be just about the only person Killian will bend the rules for. Eventually, it’s revealed that the Soul of Justice is torn between them; although they have greatly differing ideas as for how “righteous judgment” should work, they both want what’s best for everyone, and both of their approaches end in the same thing: good guys win, bad guys lose, and everyone gets what they need.

And as for Determination… I’m not sure where that would go. Initially, I thought it might be linked to Magnus, but that seems like too easy an answer. Maybe we’ll meet someone later who fits the bill more accurately.

Anyway, thanks for reading about my nonsensical AU-ish headcanons… What would this be called, anyway? The Adventure Souls? The Grouptale Zone?… Either way I’m proud of it

… also I kinda sorta want to tag Griffin and ask for some feedback but I know he’s probably super busy, plus I haven’t even finished the Suffering Game arc, so *shrug* maybe someday

#the adventure zone #undertale #(the MG trope is called 'mahou shoujo' right?)#(oh well... there aren't any actual MG warriors in this post so :/)#undertale seven souls #TAZ AU

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jesusvasser · 6 years

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Track Drive: 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Sedan and Wagon

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky — I arrived at the NCM Motorsports Park (MSP) race track about an hour earlier than expected by the Mercedes ground crew. Not because I drove my allocated AMG GLC 63 S Coupe faster than anyone else, but because I took a shorter detour around some of my newly discovered favorite roads in the area. Those roads just happen to be close to the race track and Bowling Green happens to be my new home after 30 years in South Florida.

Getting there early gave me a chance to look over the 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Sedan and AMG E63 S Wagon before things got started on track. These two sporty people movers were our allocated track weapons for the day.

You may ask why anyone put a luxury sedan and wagon on a race track? First, because it’s fun. Then again, I’d take a shopping trolley round a race track if someone put an engine in it, so I may not be the right person to comment. Most importantly, Mercedes must think it’s a reasonable idea or at least, the company’s marketing folks have a good sense of humor—either way, no complaints from my end.

The E63 sedan and wagon feel similar to drive on road or track, which makes sense as they are almost identical. Both stealthy PG-rated missiles pack handcrafted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8s kicking out 603 hp and 627 lb-ft of torque. They also carry trick AMG handling technology to cope with all that power. So to feel the power and technology at its limit and save the driving licenses of people like me, to the race track it is.

Mercedes had racing legend and well-known sports commentator Tommy Kendall on hand to give the track talk and pace the lead-follow laps. (Tommy also heads up the AMG Driving Academy for Mercedes.) Each car was equipped with a track radio. Tommy gave running commentary as he drove the lead AMG GT R pace car to help the first timers learn the fast and technical MSP track. Even though I am based at MSP and know the track well, I was happy to follow Tommy and listen in. “An open mind learns something new every day,” my mum always told me.

I was in the E63 S Sedan first, but before I talk about the track handling, let me spend a minute on standing start capabilities. The Sedan weighs in at 4,515 pounds (versus 4,669 pounds for the wagon), some 900 pounds more than Tommy’s AMG GT R. And though the E63 has the benefit of 26 more horses and all-wheel drive, it’s still impressive how this heavy four-door can equal or even beat the GT R to 60 mph. According to Mercedes, the sedan needs just 3.3 second to hit 60 mph, while the wagon needs a 3.4 seconds to get there. My rear end and my chiropractor both think those figures might be conservative.

To get the best launch I used the “RACE START” launch feature. It is easy to use and brutally effective. If you’re in any drive mode other than Comfort, press the brake pedal hard, fully depress the gas pedal, and let off the brake when ready to hole shot.

Most of the technical help to effectively transfer the big power to the ground is provided by the AMG Performance 4MATIC+ system. This All-wheel drive technology has the ability to move 100 percent of power to whichever end of the vehicle can use it most effectively.

I used the Sport+ drive setting to put the E63 into the least intrusive level of nanny control. Sport+ causes the AMG Sport Suspension Air Body Control and Dynamic Engine Mounts to stiffen the car, slow down body roll, and enhance steering feel. The Electronic Limited Slip Differential also works with the 4MATIC system to quicken the allocation of drive to each wheel. In a nutshell, Sport+ changes the car from a luxury sedan to an extremely sporty sedan, allowing more vehicle yaw rotation and wheel slip before the nannies wake up.

At a brisk pace on track following Tommy, the steering gave me enough feel to easily control the rate of vehicle rotation going into any corner I chose. This would set me up nicely for smooth and fast corner exits. Chassis behavior was both impressive, predictable and a total blast to play with.

The AMG Performance Exhaust System is well worth the $1,250 buy-in. It sounds great inside the car with a little enhancement coming through the speakers, popping and growling like a serious performance car. The line of E63s going into turn one with Tommy leading in the GT R sounded great on the outside too. This car can definitely provide an early morning treat to upset that neighbor who leaves their poor dog outside barking all day.

I want to give a shout out to the E63’s Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires for good grip and consistency in the very hot conditions. The Pilot Sport 4S don’t offer Pilot Cup 2 levels of grip and are instead designed to grip and last, which they do. Considering the weight of the E63 and the sliding abuse I was giving them, the tires gave me all I asked for. Tire sizes for the sedan and wagon both are 265/35R20 up front and 295/30R20 at rear.

The driver seat is comfortable and supportive. No surprise for a vehicle at this price point. The steering wheel is a smaller racy circumference with a flattened bottom, which I like. The twin 12.3-inch wide screens are impressive—though I am not a fan of infotainment systems as I find them very distracting to try and use while driving, hands-free or otherwise, I like to try them out while parked. Once I figure out what I might use and how to access it, I’m good to go. The Mercedes system was as intuitive and easy to use as most. I particularly liked the twin gauge cluster showing on the fly horsepower and torque.

Driver aids such as Active Steering Assist, Active Lane Change Assist, and Active Lane Keeping Assist function the same way as other manufacturer’s. They are basically at level 2+ autonomy levels, meaning that the driver has to pay full attention to the road at all times while using them, which seems to miss the point a bit. The reason a driver is warned to pay full attention is in case the system goes blind (bad road markings) or another driver dangerously enters your driving space (because the technology can’t evade). I always opt to skip the driver assist systems when I drive.

I had been doing the on-track lead follow at the kind of pace you could never do on public roads without the probability of ending up in jail or being loaded onto a wrecker. I felt I had a good handle on the E63s but wondered aloud if it might be possible to do a couple of hot laps and really take one cars to the limit. Luckily for me, the Mercedes execs in attendance also have irrational tendencies and were all for it.

Of course, I chose the E63 S wagon for the hot lap. It just seemed right and pleased my cartoon sensibilities. My plan for the run would be to do a warm up lap, two flying/timed laps, and a cool-down lap. There was no time to do any practice runs at full speed, so off I went. I rocketed down the straight heading for turn one with the nine-speed AMG SPEEDSHIFT MCT (multi-clutch transmission) automatic spitting shifts like a champ. I braked as late as I dared, seeing over 135 mph before deploying the chutes and the $8,950 ceramic brakes did not disappoint, with the wagon immediately impressing me with its full-on panic stopping power. The nearly 4,700-pound wagon shredded speed as efficiently as a serious sports car. I was thinking we might be shredding the track surface also and the Michelins seemed to be trying to leave the vehicle, yelping and screeching in anguish, but everything held on and I made it through turn one. Only 22 turns left to go on this lap. Great.

The brakes and tires were holding up well as I blasted out of turn 15 at over 130 mph, on my way to the track’s infamous turn 16—the trickiest and one of the fastest corners at MSP. Getting through it clean, fast, and in one piece takes total commitment or sanity; I have commitment. Turn 16 is an up and over 100 mph turn with a blind climbing entry, changing to downhill and off camber as it sweeps away to turn 17. It is my favorite turn at MSP, mainly because I’m not well.

Entering turn 16, I had a quick word with the E63 wagon. I need you to rotate, like right now. Relying on only the front tires to make this turn at the speed I was carrying in a 4,700-pound car would have been futile. Using the cresting hill, I tried to kick out the rear end by aggressively tapping the brake pedal as I turned in. I was almost caught out as the wagon rotated really fast. Too well in fact. Even though I was in Sport+, the violence of the rotation totally woke up the 4MATIC and stability nannies, which, convinced we were all going to die, impressively and annoyingly brought the rear end back in line. Oh poo (or words to that effect) I may have said, while continuing to convince the rear to stay where I wanted it. The fight between me, the nannies, and the 4MATIC was a good one—one that was finally broken up by the approaching brake zone of turn 17.

The wagon ran like a champ for the two hot laps.The brakes took the hammering impressively well, especially considering the weight of the wagon and the ambient and track temperatures, giving me a solid pedal during the whole run. For those of you who know MSP and maybe run there, my best lap was the first one, at 2 minutes and 23.14 seconds. Tires were Michelin PS4S, ambient temperature 93 degrees, and track temp was over 125 degrees.

You have to give credit to Mercedes for continuing to bring their rocket ship wagon to the US when they know the US is a lousy market for wagons. They told us they expect to sell just 3,000 wagons a year in the States and only 10% will be E63s, which is not a lot.

I have always liked ultra-capable big sedans and am a huge fan of wagons. The 603-hp E63 S Sedan will push the new BMW M5 and Tesla Model S to their limits; the E63 S Wagon will do the same, while moving house. We live in strange but very good times for motor heads my friends.

2018 Mercedes-AMG E 63 S Sedan Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $105,395 (base) ENGINE 4.0L twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8/603 hp @ 5,750-6,500 rpm, 627 lb-ft @ 2,500-4,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 9-speed multi-clutch automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD sedan EPA MILEAGE 15/22 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 196.4 x 75.1 x 56.6 in WHEELBASE 115.7 in WEIGHT 4,515 lb 0-60 MPH 3.3 sec TOP SPEED 188 mph

2018 Mercedes-AMG E 63 S Wagon Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $107,945 (base) ENGINE 4.0L twin-turbo DOHC 32-valve V-8/603 hp @ 5,750-6,500 rpm, 627 lb-ft @ 2,500-4,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 9-speed multi-clutch automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD sedan EPA MILEAGE 16/22 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 197.1 x 75.1 x 58.0 in WHEELBASE 115.7 in WEIGHT 4,515 lb 0-60 MPH 3.4 sec TOP SPEED 180 mph

IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk WP Feed 4

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years

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Track Drive: 2018 Mercedes-AMG E63 S Sedan and Wagon