#hence why its existence would balance the scales
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absolutely no one asked for this but. divorceverse timeline for ur viewing pleasure <3
mianite s1 takes place when jordan is 17 to 18, mostly sticking to canon, although with two exceptions: capsize doesn’t die, and the void-hopping works, landing them back in their proper universe. the heroes semi split from there. after saving the world, jordan decides the logical next best decision is to seek higher education. obviously.
the two end up at the same college. jordan’s there for chemical engineering; schlatt’s there for business.
they meet at a houseparty, with jordan having been invited over by antvenom, a mutual friend of theirs. they don't exactly hit it off, but they don't not get along, either. jordan becomes schlatt's weed dealer, become a couple a week after, then break up two weeks after that. this cycle repeats indefinitely.
schlatt gets pregnant at the end of their first year. at that point, jordan was already considering dropping out, as college was Not as filling as he thought it’d be, so fatherhood gave him a perfect escape. he had plenty of riches from ianite, and his upcoming clothing company was looking prosperous, so he jumped ship.
both of them had off-campus housing, but schlatt lived with roommates, while jordan lived alone. they decide to have schlatt move in with jordan for the time being.
tubbo's born when the two of them are 19. schlatt lives with them until he graduates three years later, although he ends up crashing on jordan's couch more often than not, at least when the two are actually together.
when the two are 24 and tubbo is 5, ianite calls jordan for a favor. a young godling somehow stumbled into their reality, and while she'd been looking after them since they were found, her increasing duties have made it harder and harder for her to be a good parent. the pirates are busy, and jordan is the only person she trusts with such a task. jordan accepts, and crumb joins the family.
(this is why the void-hopping worked, btw. crumb's quintessance mixed with what remained of dianite in tom was enough to balance out the scales, so there was no need for the other heroes to intervene)
the two are 37 when adam is born. tubbo is 17 going on 18, and age is hard to calculate with crumb, but it's Somewhere in its teens. schlatt once again moves back in with jordan after adam's birth for the first few years of his life.
#icarus speaks#divorceverse#as all my crumbs go. it is Kind Of a version of dianite. more of an offshoot of chaos#hence why its existence would balance the scales#it ages differently and weirdly. usually id have her in only in her teens but. let's just not think about it too much#essentially smplive is Canon but not directly. it's more in the sense that a lot of the silly stuff still happened and everyone still-#knows/met and stuff like hits are just pranks and stuff#but the Actual events do not happen. if they did i would be fighting a losing battle bc there's no way jordan's bitch ass is-#-winning over connor in schlatt's mind
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Other Sky Island Settlements Besides Skyloft Headcanon
In Skyward Sword, Skyloft is the only major settlement we see throughout the whole game. I do not believe it is the only settlement that exists. I think there are more islands that the game did not show probably for story sake (and maybe because of the limitations that the Wii had at the time). So here's a headcanon list I have of the other Sky Island Settlements and their roles.
Sidenote: if you had read 'An Impulse Decision' some of these may sound familiar to you so yeah.
First lets start with the big one.
Skyloft- The biggest of the islands. If all of the islands were part of one country, it'll be the capital. Basically the Sky Era's Castle Town. Houses the Knight Academy where the people of Skyloft attend to learn how to be a knight, if not then a basic education. Students from the other island settlements are also welcomed to join. Once they have achieve knighthood, the non-native Skyloft knights can remain on Skyloft or go back to their home islands to be knights there.
Now for my headcanon islands
Windloft- Similar to Skyloft but on much smaller scale. Often nicknamed 'Mini-Skyloft', much to the annoyance of the Windloft citizens. Is know for many markets all of kinds. The homes here are build as normal wood and/or stone homes, unlike Skyloft who most of the houses are seem to be built underground and I think with concrete (correct me if I'm wrong please). The Icon of Windloft is a giant windmill (basically picture Windfall Island from Wind Waker).
And if you have read my fic, Karane is also originally from Windloft.
Location: North of Skyloft
Cloudloft- Another quiet settlement. Provides the material needed for the Skyloft Knight Academy to make the uniforms. It is the only island with the kind of cotton needed to make the special fabric for the knights. Another cool thing about this cotton is that it changes color every year, hence why all the knight uniforms are different colors every Wing Ceremony.
Location: East of Skyloft
Rainloft: An island solely dedicated to agriculture. It's placement has the perfect balance of rain & sun, making it the ideal place to grow crops of food. It also has several animals such as cows & goats which provide milk. They also have sheep whose wool help make clothing. They also specialized in gathering unfertilized eggs from their brooding Loftwings. Rainloft provides most of the food, and other materials throughout the other island settlements.
Location: South of Skyloft
Thunderloft: A settlement that is a far cry from the simpler, quieter lifestyles of the other islands. This island is famous, or infamous depending on who you ask, for extreme Loftwing racing. Many would fly all the way to this island to watch these races, and the other sports presented. The natives of Thunderloft are a proud people and are happy to provide such entertainment for its citizens and visitors. Thunderloft is also where the most non-Skyloftian knights students often hail from.
Location: Northwest of Skyloft (beyond the Thunderhead)
Bonus:
Outer Isles- A serious of smaller islands that are not affiliated with any of the major settlements. Most would move here to live out more solitary lifestyles. However, they also serve as places for criminals who have been banished from their Island Settlement to live out their days in exile.
Location: Far West of Skyloft.
Sheikah Village- A secret city on The Surface. They're descendants of the Sheikah that served under Hylia. For the centuries the humans lived in the safety of the skies, the Sheikah people mastered surviving the unpredictable wilderness of The Surface. When the Cloud Barrier was gone and the humans started moving back on The Surface, the Sheikah came out of hiding and help the humans settled down. Providing them the tools they need to survive. It is thanks to the Sheikah's assistance that the human settlement grew and eventually became the kingdom we all know as Hyrule.
Location: The Surface.
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When you are dark, only white can balance you out.. not another shade of dark
I am not sure how people define “dark” when they use it in context of Pete (including Build).
In anything and everything, balance is the key (atleast that is my observation). Nature gravitates towards equilibrium. If you want to induce a state of non equilibrium, you have to apply external force. And, this is true for life, society, emotions, and relationships. (External force will eventually take its toll, you would need to take breaks to rejuvenate.. hence any relationship thriving on this kind of tipped scale is bound to blast off sooner or later)
Relationships, more so intense relationships, can exist only when they find ways to fit each other, co-exist and complement each other. The whole Permutation and Combination of “similar attracts” and “opposites attract” in varying degree has to find its equilibrium.
For people who are more mellow, or people with very high emotional maturity will mostly pair up with similar folks. One aspect of your life can be intense while other might not be (hence i said P&C). But, someone more hyper would mostly need someone less hyper to balance him out. Think impulsive artists, for a stable relationship you would need someone super stable to counter super impulsive.
From perspective of stories and content, the need for this equilibrium is more pronounced because you want to create compelling characters. However association of personality traits to one’s own value scale, and on society’s value scale is also important.
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Example - would an intelligent person fall for a non intelligent person. If intelligence is a very high upheld value for character A, he is highly likely going to look for the same level of high intelligence in character B. Anything less is a degrade. However, if the same intelligence suffocates you or is more of cunning shrewdness that does not make you feel good about yourself, a simpleton might actually attract you.
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In KinnPorsche, we see how each couple complements themselves.
1. KimChay
Kim is guarded. We hardly see him with friends, so fair to assume, he keeps everyone at bay including family. Very very closed off. But, nobody likes being alone and lonely. His constant lack of trust in the society (which is Kim’s case is more of a structural issue with people) is an emotional burden. This lack of trust is not “You did wrong to me, so i won’t believe you again”, but rather “People are selfish and would not do anything without a motive”. He is sane, collected, very sharp. While he is critical of society but he has his own sense of strong beliefs (his choices and code of morality)
Therefore, he is attracted to someone who is NOT critical of the society, who does not carry that burden, someone who can EASILY TRUST, but easily trust in face of having experienced wrongs. Someone who has a lot of friends and absolutely loves being with people.
The trigger is how easily can you trust.. how easily can you put your faith in this society.. how easily can you face this society knowing that it is not trustworthy.
And that’s why Chay has to be a school kid, but someone who has experienced selfishness, and yes needs to be same age so that the contrast of perspectives and responding to situation is more relevant.
This kind of “easy trust” despite being hurt and fooled really comes with the innocence of youth and lack of experience associated with age. That’s why Chay has to be an young adult, because this age represents the emotional naivety that brings with itself the utter positive hope of good things can happen, will happen.
Lastly, could any young adult do.. no! Because Kim is a smart guy. He needs that logic. You need someone who has suffered and yet is untouched by the pessimisms associated with the society. And hence, we go back to the same point, as to WHY Chay has to be a school kid when Kim meets him (closer in age, and someone who has seen pain, and yet is a sunshine)...
That is why it is essential that this one confesses his love just like that.. so early on
2. Which brings me to Pete- Vegas
Vegas is highly intelligent. But, he is broken. He doesn’t like himself, not something that he is proud off. Whatever, he is doing (and ep 10 gives you the glimpse of it.. also does ep 2 when he is speaking to his father) doesn’t make him happy, and neither is it something he regards with honor.
This constant planning, deceiving is an emotional burden. There are more things - his true nature not being accepted by his dad (ep10).
So, he is dark. He is dark as he kills, as he tortures, as he plays with people without knowing if he feels genuinely feels anyting. In his world, even families don’t stand with each other, don’t care for each other, they backstab, they are transactional (major or minor). None of this is something he is proud of.
Is he really reveling in torture because it is a genuine source of happiness, or because it is an outlet for him to get rid of repressed negative emotions.
With this kind of darkness, if you throw him with someone who is equally dark (likes to kill, likes to torture).. do you think Vegas will find it compelling? If someone outsmarts him, competitiveness will definitely take over.. but would love ever happen? Will he be comfortable, when he himself looks down upon all this dirty work ?
And, that’s why , in my perspective, the ONLY PERSON who can save Vegas is who can match the intensity of his darkness or override it..with own positive/white energy. Darkness will only add to the darkness, won’t be able to calm or comfort the mind and soul. But an energy any less in intensity will be consumed and obliterated by the stronger energy. Lastly, just as in case of Kim, this positive energy has to come with a caveat.. someone who has been hurt and YET CHOOSES TO love, forgive, be more of a straight shooter.. and do all of that without expecting something in return.
If Vegas’ darkness were mild (say like Tawan.. selfish and manipulative but not such a depressed soul) he would definitely get attracted to someone who is a mix of seemingly nice person but a good hint and control over his manipulative, shrewd side as well. But, Vegas is not that. He is someone consumed by hatred. So, the only thing that can fight that hatred, that pessimism associated with hatred, that feeling of incompetence, that emotional abyss.. is equally strong immovable love, loyalty, .. and all the good things.
That is why, you need Pete - abandoned by family (as Vegas was, so same footing), yet loves.. without expectations (his loyalty to major family.. it is not that they are treating him specially good.. he is just one of many and literally just one of the many dogs).. and smiles.. and believes in goodness (in god despite nothing being right in his world)..
In summary, Pete cannot be “DARK”. He needs to represent goodness, unshakeable goodness to break Vegas.
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However, goodness doesn’t mean no pain or dimensionality to a character. I am not sure if S&M preferences are psychological indicators of being “dark” personalities.. or it is just another outlet.
Which again balances itself out. Vegas anger, craving for love is associated with hopelessness and his need to lash out. Pete’s anger and craving for love is associated with devastating sadness of questioning one’s worth and hence being ok with pain inflicted upon him..
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5 Easy Sesame Oil Hacks for Authentic Asian Flavors: Help You Cook at Home Better
Sesame oil, the number one choice in many Asian cooking recipes, is not only limited to the finishing option. Despite the fact it is only one item on the list, the flavour and fragrance of hazelnuts can be an absolute game changer and transform simple home cooking to something that might appear on restaurant menus. where do you begin? Nallennai and gingelly oil, both terms for untoasted sesame oil, are particularly common in South Indian cuisine and boast a number of health benefits.
Here are 5 easy sesame oil hacks to unlock authentic Asian flavors:
1. Choose Your Weapon: Hand-made vs. factory-made, paying attention to details both small and large. Untoasted Sesame Oil
There are two main types of sesame oil: burnt and unburnt while waiting.
Toasted Sesame Oil: And this is when the real taste sensation comes: the unforgettable dark oil with a unique, walnut-like flavor that I cannot get tired of. It is just the right climax for making finishes for the noodles, stir-fries, spring rolls or dumplings. Hence, low smoke point is why it is not to be applied in high heat cooking.
Untoasted Sesame Oil: This liquid oil is considered to be a gentle and smooth flavoring which is different than full flavored extra virgin olive oil. It is suitable for family grilling, as well as to be used in salad dressings and drizzled over prepared dishes for an appetizing and nutty flavor. Its smoke point is high and hence allows lighter frying which is required in sauteing.
2. Unleash the Power of Sesame Oil in Marinades:
Sesame oil will add flavors of unparalleled intensity to the marinades for meats, tofu, as well as vegetables. Apply two teaspoons each of toasted and untoasted sesame oils (for personal taste) along with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and a small measure of honey to form an oriental marinade with which you will soak the dishes to result into soft and delicately flavorful dishes.
Challenge: Marination is the process through which liquids enhance our food with their flavors, a feat that requires time. Rather than last minute marinating especially the commonly used liquid marinades should be for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
3. Sesame Oil Magic for Noodles and Dumplings:
An adornment as simple as drizzling a few drops of toasted sesame oil suddenly creates an unexplainable elevation in the taste for noodle dishes and dumplings. Adding a layer of nutty richness, and creating a very balanced and aromatic flavor palette; this augments the quality of the food.
Impact on Flavor: A little is a much. Scale a couple of drops of toasted sesame oil and then add to your taste. Over killing is bad because it will overpower other flavors and make it unreasonable.
4. Don’t Forget the Dipping Sauce:
Sesame oil, which is commonly used all over the Asian region, becomes a main ingredient in many of these dipping sauce formulations. Mix it with soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili oil and a pinch of sugar for a dip that would be nice to serve on dumplings, spring rolls, and grilled meat.
Experimentation is Key: Go with your taste and alter the ratios of sesame oil, soy sauce, and vinegar to keep creating the unique blend of dipping sauce just the way you like it.
5. The Secret Weapon for Restaurant-Style Stir-Fries:
Sesame oil is a basic ingredient that professional chefs universally use to heighten the levels existing in any dish. Next, put the vegetables and your protein on medium-high heat and proceed to stir-fry and then add a little sesame seed oil to it just before serving. This vanification of sleeping will in the end uplift the pleasant smell of the stir-fry and will give it that slightwise nutty touch making it extraordinary.
Remember: Additionally, sesame oil has the property of easily burning. Introduce it literally in the last minutes before cooking as it can taste you bitterly otherwise.
Nallennai vs. Gingelly Oil:
Both nallennai and ingelly are just different for sesame oil, fortunately untoasted usually used in South Indian cuisine.
Conclusion:
Sesame oil is a super ingredient that can really help you become a master in Asian cuisine with these tricks of the trade at your home. These tips are handy, and they are going to supplement the flavor, aroma and consistency of your meals. Hence, you can introduce diversified foods to your menu. OK, people, go for your bottle of sesame oil and start your journey into one of the most diverse and delicious cuisines in the world!
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Increased social justice is a powerful tool to bridge gaps between different parts of any society, which is eventually critical to the development of any country.
If the potential of every individual of a country is realized fully and people are given equal opportunities to thrive economically, politically, and socially, sustainable development goals indicators will be realized easily.
Life Expectancy of People is related to Social justice practices
Increased life expectancy is one of the major indicators which shows that a country has smooth development. When people thrive equally in every domain, it helps them to get their hands on different things, which accumulates to increase the average lifespan of human life.
For instance, the increased access to social, economic, and political institutions are linked with increased happiness of an individual, which ultimately translates into a longer lifespan, hence more life expectancy of a nation.
As the life expectancy of a country is measured incorporating people of every race, if any specific faction of society is disenfranchised by any means, it will eventually impact the overall results of life expectancy.
How social justice impacts the per Capita Income of a Country:
Another major indicator to measure the development of any country is to see the per capita income of that nation. This income is calculated when the overall GDP of a country is divided by the population of the country.
Now, if any specific part of the society is denied equal earning opportunities, it hurts the overall well-being of the society at the end of the day. We talked about the economic disparities within the United States based on race, which is why Black people have lesser par capita income compared to other ethnic groups.
These sorts of behavior disturb the overall balance of the society and push the country backward on the scale of development.
Social justice and health indicators of a country
If we see the health indicators of the United States by dividing it into different races, it is easy to see that disparity exists in the health numbers as well.
On average, almost 18.7 percent of Black people aged 18 or more are in poor health compared to 12.8 percent White non-Hispanic population.
This means that the persisting differences are impacting the health of the Black population of the country. Now in the case of better racial justice practices, which ultimately is the subdomain of social justice, the gap between these numbers would be reduced, paving the way for better health opportunities for Black people.
The problem with poor health indicators for a specific part of society is that it impacts other indicators as well that are connected to health in one way or another.
For instance, it will poorly impact the life expectancy of Blacks which is also one of the reasons why Black people live less than Whites in the United States.
The same stands true for the per capita of the country as poor health means less productivity for Blacks, which eventually translates into the lesser GDP of the whole nation.
This is why eradicating social injustice in one field helps neutralize its impacts in other niches as well.
Final Thoughts
Everything that hinders the development of a society is a challenge in itself, which is why social justice is required to eradicate these menaces.
Segregated school days are gone, but still, Black people are discriminated against in the educational sector, as the data suggests.
Whether it is about the school passing out rate or the enrolment rate, people of color usually gasp in getting equal opportunity compared to the children of the same age as their White counterparts.
In order to bridge this gap, critical race theory and the inclusion of subjects like woke mathematics have been promising to help racial minorities.
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Everything has been going well. I am pleased overall with our direction and I think we have our priorities sorted for the most part. Starting a new job full time will be a big adjustment for us. I look forward to finding out how it affects my motivation levels and state of near sobriety.
I’ve tried so many medications for my illnesses and they all have had different positives and negatives. The results and side effects are sometimes temporary as well. It only makes sense that there is a balance that we must cater to in order to function. Some pills have made me feel nauseated and others made it impossible to reach climax. One even had me lactating for awhile. It is not an easily solved problem for two main reasons.
First, urbanization on the scale we have deemed acceptable in relation to time hence rate of expansion vs rate of human evolution is failing us miserably. We have created an unnatural environment for our society too soon. Everything is fighting for its own territory you might say. We use resources to build and stretch, but then we hardly replenish on any level that would be considered sustainable for future generations. What has this misguided goal done to us? Why do we imitate machines?
Cramped spaces and artificial lighting, demanding work requirements as well as home maintenance with little time to rest—- Why?
Food loaded with preservatives that we can hardly pronounce and of course red 5 maybe with a splash of blue 3. They are mixing paper materials and sawdust into the food! Not because of any kind of shortage but companies being cheap and greedy with no concern for anything. Who are behind these companies and their agendas? People. This may seem like an obvious thing to point out, but I believe it is important to draw attention to the fact that groups of human beings discuss and decide every aspect of our lives. They speculate and advise on how to be successful. You can get a whole degree in telling companies how to trick people essentially into buying whatever they’re selling. Marketing ploys have consumed our daily lives at this point. Many of us have gotten good at ignoring them though not as effectively as we assume.
Has advertising always existed in human history? Hunter gatherer communities would typically consume resources without waste and that was what prevented their populations from growing too large. They traded of course, but the matter of competition for goods directly related to survival I am unclear on. Agriculture changed everything. Not only could larger populations be self sustaining but trade offered man a taste of something he probably didn’t even know he craved… something new. Boredom leads to complete disaster in humans. The desire for variety is where we are weak. Not wrong, but there is a tendency to be reckless. But why?
Escape.
The sameness will make us all insane. The wonders of nature are all in trouble, but to most it is only an idea, maybe a 5 day cruise around a chain of islands. We are not simply enchanted by Nature. We feel connection to the world and we run from it. It frightens us with its power and unpredictability. We are free of any control over it so we must endure. It seems odd that the planet and all the life it contains would be deemed as “innocent” from blame. Is it grouped along with the “will of God?” Is it still believed to reflect the feelings/emotional reactions of a god when it storms and the ground shakes? What about the scorching heat in a desert, unrelenting sun beating down on your brow?
Is it a message? A tiny smidge of a clue?
Ahh yes marketing, hmm.
My head is spinning from so many thoughts and I can’t go on! I’ll have to return to this at a later time.
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Ko Hyuga is also more evidence that Hyuga have not changed and Hiashi is lying to Hizashi.
I read a post not long ago that stated that both Hyüga families reached the so-called “equality” on a very superficial level -using Neji as a parameter of how the main family (particularly Hiashi and Hinata) interacted with him. The examples they used to reach this conclusion were:
Hiashi training Neji after the Chünin Exams -let it be known that OP was against the idea that Hinata was the impulsor of that dynamic’s modification (hence, they were particularly contradicting that specific notion Hinata fans have) since it was Naruto who allowed such changes to occur.
Hinata and Neji’s improved relationship -to the point where she called him “Nissan”, and he didn’t want to slit her throat.
The infamous panel of Hiashi telling Hizashi that both Neji and Hinata changed the Hyuga clan (and how both of them were shown fighting side by side).
Again, the core of that specific post wasn’t to state that the Hyuga clan had changed -they quite specifically state that Neji is still very much a slave-, but that the “superficial equality” that had been achieved wasn’t Hinata’s doing -but Naruto’s (and, in a lesser extent, since he was the one who had to intrinsically change in his views, Neji’s).
Now, I know that I myself have succumbed to the treacherous use of Neji as the “prototypical” member of the Branch Family -but the reminder of Ko’s existence, who is another branch member, exposed how unfair that practice was.
Let me expand on this:
Neji is a prodigy. I have stated how I believe -not without the support of canon evidence and the knowledge of how Hiashi was with his nephew before he learned he was a prodigy and a genius, and how he approached him after; that Hiashi’s treatment of Neji is intrinsically linked to his desire of maintaining the status quo he represents. Him training Neji wasn’t because he changed his views on how the Branch Family worked or deserved to be treated, but on how an incredible asset Neji was to the main family. The modification of their dynamic wasn’t because of a change of heart of the leader -but a need to have the strongest member of the branch family (and Hyuga clan as a whole) on his side.
Linked to the above, the rest of the branch family is considered to be inferior on skills as both Hiashi and Hanabi, i.e the current and future leader of the clan -again, Hinata is also from the main family, but she isn’t considered to be better than them-. Therefore, the type of relationship between the main family and those “inferior” members of the branch family needs no modification. The biggest example of this is the interaction between Ko and Hinata and how her wellbeing is directly put on his shoulders, with the promise of retaliation should he fail: He directly mentions Hiashi and Hanabi -not Neji, meaning, solely the main family.
Despite not being of absolute importance, since their biological connection meant nothing to Hiashi when torturing his brother, the fact that Neji is directly connected with the Hyuga leaders is to be considered when pointing out the “acceptance” of him inside the “inner circle” of the main family.
In addition, the use of the word “equality” wasn’t exactly right to use -even if it’s preceded by “superficial”. It’s true that there’s a superficial change in Hiashi, Hanabi, and Hinata’s treatment of Neji, but there’s no equality involved. And again, the OP never claimed that Neji stopped being a slave, they implied that he stopped being “treated” as one -hence, the “equality” term -but there’s no canon evidence of an equal treatment either.
As Ko states, he would be punished should Hinata be wounded during Pein’s invasion; meaning that the modification of the main family’s treatment towards the branch family is simply directed at Neji -the prodigy. Furthermore, Neji is still expected to protect Hinata -which is why he jumped in to save her and fulfill the branch family’s destiny (even Naruto shows discomfort at the idea when he claims “you were going to change the Hyuga clan” -meaning that the Hyuga hadn’t changed and that Neji never went against the destiny he claimed was his to fulfill during the Chünin Exams). Furthermore, Neji still refers to Hinata as “sama”, something he only drops during that one panel where he fights alongside his cousin -that simple honorific establishes his position (and her position) in their dynamic. Hinata was comfortable calling Neji “Nissan”, however, Neji wasn’t comfortable dropping the “sama” -their relationship’s to be seen different according to the perspective we choose to analyze it with.
From Hinata’s perspective, who by all means is ignorant (and not a cute ignorant, but a dangerous one, whether she does it purposefully or not) on power scales and how they modify people’s lives and relationships, then there’s a more balanced dynamic -a familiar treatment.
From Neji’s, who is more than aware of how status influences the above-mentioned notions (having seen Hiashi torturing his father and diminishing him), who was quite literally marked on her birthday, and who is still marked despite the modification of the type of treatment he receives -while none of the main family members got the seal; the improvement of their relationship means no equality; therefore, he never drops the honorific when speaking to his cousin/owner.
The words of Hiashi towards Hizashi are technically a lie -since the dynamic between families hasn’t changed at its core, and the only one who seems to be benefited from a better treatment is Neji; but they have a sparkle of truth in the sense that Hiashi does believe there was a modification on his relationship with Neji -yet he can’t be foolish enough to ignore the conditions the rest of the branch family are subjected to, therefore he’s particularly linking the so-called “change” to both Neji and Hinata, whose dynamic was the most profoundly modified.
#anti hinata#anti hinata hyuuga#anti hinata hyuga#anti hinata fandom#anti hiashi#anti hiashi hyuuga#anti hiashi hyuga#anti hyuga clan#anti hyuuga clan#anti konoha#anti shinobi system#pro neji hyuga#pro neji hyuuga
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poison like you
Characters: princess!you & guard!Xukun feat. king!Yixing
Genre: historical, fantasy, royalty, bit of enemies to lovers, bit of childhood sweetheart to lovers, bit of i’d die for you, angst with hopeful open ending
Warnings: blood, violence, murder, poisoning and death
Summary: If you wanted to kill the last son of the Dragon Clan, first you needed to get through his right hand man. Too bad he knew you too well but it felt like you didn’t know him at all.
Words: 11.1k
Author’s note: please note that even though this historical fantasy is inspired by ancient China, it is not historically accurate because it isn’t set in any certain era or even at any existing place. the governor structure and politics might be confusing but this is basically about a lot of small kingdoms (called clans) having a never ending war for more power over the area. Chinese mythical creatures exist in this world but have gone almost extinct during the wars. to know how i imagine this world, watch Lay’s Lit mv!
for the one&only @lily-blue 💕
As the only daughter of the Jade Clan's head, you had your responsibilities. To your father, his men and all the people under them. Most importantly, you had to do everything in order to protect the Clan. When the Dragon Clan started expanding its territory, winning over more and more land, becoming more and more powerful, you knew that no army could fight theirs, so you had to go to the war with wits instead of swords.
When your father proposed the idea of a reunion between the two Clans by marrying you to the son of the Dragon, you hated it. The other Clan was everything you despised: ruthless, brutal, selfish and while you knew arranged marriage was your future, you didn't want to rule next to a tyrant. But when your father said that this would be the perfect chance for you to kill their leader and rule over the united clans yourself, it suddenly wasn't that bad of a plan. Although you never wanted a huge empire and you didn't want the responsibility over so many people, freeing them from a bloody rule sounded like the best you could do. Especially now that the man needed an heir to secure his bloodline and power.
It took ridiculously few letters between your father and Zhang Yixing before you were off, on the road with only a chest of your belongings and another one full of gold and other jewels as marriage gifts. You had your most trusted maids and soldiers with you but otherwise you were alone, alone with your plan to poison your husband-to-be. Surely, you didn't think it was going to be easy while being surrounded by his people in a palace but getting there, the dark monstrum of a building wasn't like how you imagined your future to be. Everything wore the pattern of dragon scales, the city burned in the colours of fire and ash, even the waters were dark. People wore black clothes and wore their hair down without many accessories but despite the grayness of the place, the men and women you ran into didn't seem unhappy or living in fear. They must not have known any other life, so you felt sorry for them.
You were escorted to a chamber right away and compared to the light flowery room you were used to at home, this was very different but you didn't complain. Instead you inquired about Zhang Yixing's whereabouts and when you could meet him but the maid told you that he had a meeting with his generals, so you couldn't see him until the next day when you were supposed to have lunch together. You thanked her for enlightening you and after blaming your fatigue on the long voyage, you requested to be left alone. Opening your box of accessories, you pulled out a small glass bottle with yellow liquid inside. A few drops of it was enough to put a man to sleep, a whole spoon was surely death, so your only job was to get time alone with your fiance. Until then, you needed to play your cards well.
You were quite restless and maybe a bit paranoid but you couldn’t sleep during the night fearing that someone might attack you. Even though you knew you were now under the protection of the ruler of the Clan just by being Zhang Yixing’s fiancée, it didn’t calm your traitorous heart. You have seen enemies in every corner and yet, you raised your chin high, confident and proud when you were called to that lunch with your man to be.
Followed by a bunch of maids, you walked to the room on which Yixing decided and you took your seat on the opposite end of the long table full of delicious goods. The young king was already there, his pitch black hair falling into his almond-shaped dark eyes as he looked up at you sternly, eyes narrowing as if he wanted to see through you. His skin was pale against his black clothes that were simpler than you would have thought of a tyrant. You had never met him before but you heard stories of him and you heard descriptions of his looks. However, he was younger than you had expected, only a few years older than you, but with his defined jawline and rigid expression you could imagine him being the one behind the destruction of your neighbours.
He didn’t greet you but signalled that you should start eating and tentatively you reached out for the rice, chopsticks freezing in your hold as soon as he spoke up in a raspy voice.
"It's quite unexpected, your father's wish to join hands," he said calmly and it sounded like a challenge or a test, you couldn’t tell but you didn’t like the tone he was using to talk about your father. As if he was a weakling crawling to his feet.
"Is it?” you raised an eyebrow, daring to look straight into his cold eyes, watching his every move, every twitch. “I think it's a very reasonable timing. After all, you just reached our borders," you explained because he must have known there were not many choices you could take: it was either seeking peace or a war and your nation was a peaceful one, hence you would have done anything to keep it that way.
“Is your father afraid of me?” Yixing questioned and you bet he wanted to believe that, that he could scare the Jade Clan’s head. But your father was a born strategist, he always had a plan.
“Isn’t that why you’re doing this? You want other nations to fear you?” you counterattacked with a question, knowing the lesson yourself as well: If you cannot be loved, you must be feared.
You were well aware that it was a reckless thing to challenge the king. He might have been your fiance on paper but he could have just lifted his hand and have you killed and everybody you had with you to make it look like you were attacked on the road, never reaching his palace. However, for the first time since you had seen him, the man ahead of you looked amused, the corners of his mouth curling upwards.
"You have a sharp tongue for a princess," he said and it almost sounded like a compliment. You took pride in that with a raise of your chin.
"I'm the only child of the Jade Clan's head. I have learned how to wield any kind of weapon," you answered confidently. You might not have been an undefeated warrior but you had learned how to protect yourself and you knew too well that spoken words could cause just as harm as knives sometimes. But still, it seemed to make the young king interested as he bobbed his head towards you, leaning forward with his elbows balancing on the table.
"We could test that. Are you good at archery?" he asked, probably with the intention to invite you for a game. But his smugness irked you because he made it sound like he expected you to lose no matter what. So you did the least princess-like and least wise thing you could have done in that moment: you pulled your hairpin out, letting your long locks fall onto your shoulders before swinging your arm forward and letting the pin fly forward.
In the next moment two interestings things happened. Not only Yixing’s guards weren’t by your side, forcing you down or even killing you for your brazen act but he himself didn’t move. He looked into your eyes without fear and without anger. At the same time, you saw a shadow move so fast you didn’t think it was possible for a human and his sword hit you hairpin out of its path before it could have landed in the painting behind Yixing’s throne, hitting the dragon on it in the eye. The soldier, guard or whoever he was, wore black just like his ruler but there was a textil mask in front of his face, so he must have been a special kind of warrior. Not that you cared, your attention was back on Yixing immediately.
"You tell me... do you think I would be good at it?" you asked, finding the silence a bit unsettling, it was almost like the calm before the storm. But then the king laughed and you were baffled.
“What a bride you will make,” he tilted his head and then finally, you started eating.
You were aware that you were lucky that you hadn’t been executed for that bold move you had made but it only ensured you that Zhang Yixing needed you. Or at least what you represented: the peace deal with your nation and a secured future bloodline. He could have probably forgiven as much. Or was he really that sure that either you miss the target or his guard would save him? You weren't sure but since you needed to know about his most trusted men anyways, you asked your maids about the masked figure. They didn’t know much, so you gave them the task to ask around among the Dragon Clan’s servants. You needed to know who your enemies were and where they laid. You also needed to know the palace as best as you could in case you needed an escape route or a secret passage to get to Yixing faster than anyone.
Hence, your night escapades started: once night have fallen, you pulled out a dark, comfortable clothing usually men wore and tied your hair high to not get into your way as you climb out of your window, up to the roof from where you could see the U-shaped building complex, knowing exactly where you should go: towards the king’s quarters. Running from rooftop to rooftop reminded you of your childhood when you practiced hide and seek in the palace back home. Your father had taught you how important it was to remain invisible and his advice still stayed with you as you made sure to dissolve into the shadows as you jumped to the gardens: step lightly, breath lightly like air in the morning but listen well and open your eyes because the smallest sounds, the smallest movements can be your enemy’s.
There were two guards in front of what you thought was Yixing’s suite but you didn’t care about that. You were more interested in the room where he planned his strategies to see if he really wanted to march through your home and bring war there just to conquer your other neighbours too. But before you could reach for the wooden door, you heard a shush and you crouched down just in time for the dagger to land in the wood instead of you. You bolted immediately, making a run for it, stepping up on a barrel you jumped onto the roof, so you could find a hiding place. You were prepared for such a thing. If things went South, you just needed to sneak back to your room, under the blanket and act alarmed when they banged on your door. You might have been from another Clan but nobody would have disrespected a princess by checking what she wore while sleeping and none of your maids would have said anything against you.
But you didn’t reach your quarters. No matter how lightly and in the shadows you tried to step, the one who followed you must have been really good because from one moment to another you felt yourself being hauled down from the roof, onto the ground. You and the man (based on his build) fell down together and lucky for you, it was him whose back hit the grass first with you on top of him. It gave you a bit of advantage to get to your feet immediately but you didn’t get far away. Dodging the man’s attacks, you had to admit that his training was very good, no fighter made it so hard for you to get even one hit and you grunted in annoyance when your back hit the wall of the stable. It was a full moon, so it was dark, only some tinkling light illuminating the palace for which you were grateful but it also gave you disadvantage because unlike your attacker you didn’t know this place. You felt a sudden pressure on your chest as a strong arm was pressed against it, a blade close to your neck but you only saw a silhouette.
“Speak, are you just a thief or a spy?” he asked, his voice sounding younger, softer than you expected but there was something dangerous to it. You didn’t wait enough to find out what it was. You tightened your grip around the ceramic cup you had picked up earlier and smashed it against his head. You had indeed learned how to use everything as a weapon.
For a moment, it looked as if the guard’s eyes flashed gold in the moonlight but you were too busy running away, into the stable, scaring the horses and hiding behind a straw pile, controlling your breathing until the man who had come after you gave up and left.
You hissed when you touched the wound on your fair skinned neck. It wasn’t deep and didn’t hurt a lot but it was obviously a blade wound, one that a princess shouldn’t have. So to hide it, you brushed your head over your shoulders before you left for your archery practice with Zhang Yixing who wished to see your skills for real. He greeted you with an expectant smile to which you bobbed your head politely.
You didn’t talk much while taking turns, shooting arrows but you carefully and discreetly eyed his guards when it was the king’s turn, wondering if one of them was the one from the day before. Not that you could have told with their masks on.
After practice (you lost but only because you didn’t try too hard), you went to eat fruits in the gardens and you learned that Yixing was about to leave to check on his Eastern borders. He would be away for at least a week but promised to get the wedding preparations started with his servants. You knew that was why you came but still, it made you nervous as it meant you had less time.
“Princess!” A sudden, unexpected voice called after you when you were ready to leave with your maids. Nobody other than Yixing had initiated a conversation with you since you arrived, everyone waited for you to step first. So you were curious what this man, one of the king’s closest guards, could have wanted from you. Turning around, you saw him holding out your hairpin, the one you had thrown towards Yixing the first time you had seen him, the one someone dodged, could it be…
You looked up at the young man, his hair, somewhat ruffled in his forehead, mask covering his face under his eyes. He didn’t look at you, he casted his eyes down like a good servant would.
“Thank you,” you spoke up, a bit uncertain and there was a flicker in the guard’s eyes the moment he glanced up at you after his gaze lingered on your neck: something familiar yet scary but you blinked and it was over. You took the hairpin and left, your dress sweeping the floor behind you. That guard made you feel uneasy for some reason.
The next day Yixing indeed left and when you didn’t bump into the man from the other night for the next three days you were starting to think that he went with the ruler as well. It was only after you managed to sneak into the king’s room and out when you had to realize just how wrong you had been. You knew something was off the moment you stepped into your quarters. Your guards weren’t outside of your doors and the candle you left there lit up burnt out. It was already cold to touch when you lit it again which meant it must have blown out when your intruder opened the door earlier. You pulled out your sword and pointed it ahead of you, alarmed. Your shadow danced on the walls as the candle light flickered.
“It’s been a while… Princess,” the intruder spoke up much too calmly for someone who broke into a royal’s room. You could have gotten him killed for that but you froze. Not only because he must have known about your night adventures but because the playful tint of his voice was somewhat familiar.
The shadow stepped out from the corner, hands held up, defensive, revealing the guard from earlier. You furrowed your brows, not lowering the sword, not until the other pulled down his mask and the man you faced made you gasp.
“Xukun...” you whispered, almost whimpered, and you felt your knees weaken. But he– you thought he was dead.
“I think we have a lot to talk about,” he suggested with a hint of a smile and you couldn’t agree more.
You could still barely believe that it was Cai Xukun in front of you, alive and grown up unlike the boy you had last seen him as. The boy you practiced fighting with, the son of your father’s general, your childish first love. He had never known, of course, you never had a future to begin with but still. You remembered being sixteen and so in love, secretly gushing everytime he had brought you wild roses saying they reminded him of you. But then at eighteen, he had gone off to a battle and never came back. You remembered the crinkle around his eyes as he joked, telling you not to worry, he wasn’t that easy to kill. Apparently, he was right but you didn’t understand what he was doing in the Royal Palace of the Dragon Clan as one of the high rank guards when he was supposed to be back at your home. If his father still lived, what would he have said about his son becoming a traitor?
“I knew it was you,” he spoke up, eyes a mixed colour, mouth in a thin line. You looked at him questioningly. Then he pointed at your neck without a word and you reached for the now scar on your throat. “Obviously, I didn’t know then. Sorry.”
“Why didn’t you report me then?” you asked directly, looking straight into his eyes and you let your gaze linger on the slope of his nose, the corners of his mouth, the sharp line of his jaw. He had grown up, he was more handsome than ever. “Or why didn’t you kill me during the past two days when you were following me?”
“So you knew,” Xukun nodded at you, impressed but you just raised an eyebrow. You had a guess. Everything was too easy, too quiet. When you didn’t answer, the once boy now man standing in front of you sighed as if he carried the weight of the world with him. “You should know I would never hurt you.”
You scoffed at him. You would have been naive to believe him and you weren’t a child anymore. Hell, you came here to kill the king.
“How could I be sure? It’s been years, Xukun, and you were nowhere! You gave no signs that you were alive and here you are, in an enemy clan serving their ruthless ruler?!” you spat at him and you knew that your words were harsh, that your tone was cold but honestly, you knew a barely 18 years old boy and not the young man who was in front of you. You were conflicted to say the least.
“Zhang Yixing isn’t ruthless,” Xukun corrected you. Of all things you said, he found this the most obnoxious thing you had told him out of all, he decided to correct that. You wondered why. Why was he loyal to him? Why when you had only known him to be a murderer and someone who dared you to show him her best shot?
“Isn’t he? Then how does he keep destroying these nations around us? He burnt the Moon Clan to the ground for the deities’ sake!” your voice rose by the end and you had to remind yourself to stay quiet. It would have been a scandal if someone knew you had a man in your room while your fiance was away. Your whole plan would have gone down the gutter if your reputation was ruined just like that. But you heard all the stories: the massacre in the West, the burnt towns in the South, the sunk ships at the sea. They were his doing or so people said.
“That… that wasn’t him,” Xukun objected, so sure of himself that it almost made you feel sick. “And it’s a war either way. There are no saints here. Your father isn’t one either.”
You knew how wars were fought, you knew that everybody including you was a sinner, you had both grown up in a world where you knew nothing but neverending fights, losing loved ones and never knowing safety. Yet, when the boy who your father thought of fondly dared to call him out, anger flared in you.
“My father sent his only daughter to marry a tyrant to save his people from suffering, so don’t talk about him like you knew him!”
Maybe it wasn’t what you said but how you said it, the sword you still hadn’t let go of trembling in your hand but Xukun paused, licked his lip in consideration and his voice was softer when he continued:
“I can prove that Zhang Yixing isn’t as ruthless as you think he is,” he claimed but you didn’t really care about that. You wanted to know why he was there, in the Dragon Clan instead at what you had known as a home.
“Does it have something to do with why you never came back? Like you promised,” you reminded him, sounding bitter at the memory. Gosh, you had been such a child. But who could have blamed you? He smiled and it tipped your whole world back then. But he just visibly gulped now, so you must have been right.
“I owe him my life,” he said curtly and you sucked in a breath, wondering whether he meant it figuratively or literally. You didn’t have to ask, Xukun kept talking as if now that he started, a river flood. “When the Phoenix Clan attacked us 5 years ago, I was captured. They must have known that my father was a general and they wanted to get to him. When they took me in front of their leader, Yixing was also there, barely a boy not much older than me, caught while sneaking into the tent while stealing maps on a mission for his father. They confused him for someone from the Jade Clan and thought he came for me. They let him go to pass a message to my father and then they left me in the desert far enough from the battlefield with an open wound. I was so sure I would die.”
You had imagined before how it happened. How he died, or so you had thought. You’d had nightmares about it. Seeing his beautiful eyes wide open in shock and pain. You’d imagined it on the battlefield but his body was never found. The nearby river had been red though, so you thought maybe… But it was all wrong. He was never really there.
Xukun unconsciously touched his abdomen with a grimace on his face and you wondered whether he felt the phantom pain of the stab but he kept talking without addressing that.
“The next thing I remember is waking up to being carried on horseback and Yixing yelling for a medic. I wouldn’t have thought he would come back for me, we didn’t even know each other after all,” he stopped short at that as if he was still dumbfounded that the heir of the Dragon Clan saved him then. Honestly, in his place you had been too. Maybe Yixing hadn’t had his reputation back then but you were still enemies. “When the royal medic told him I’m a lost case, he took me to a shaman and they made me drink something that cured my wound by the next day.”
“Dragon blood,” you whispered in shock when Xukun gave you a meaningful look.
There was no other way but the magical powers of dragons. Although there were more rumours than credible sources on that, nobody denied that any essence of the heavenly, snake-like creature could save lives. But there were too few of them, maybe exactly because humans dared to hunt them down for either their scales, antlers or their blood, you wouldn’t have thought it was still possible. Yixing must have paid a fortune to save someone whom he barely knew.
“See why I can’t go back home?” Xukun asked and mouth open in agapé, you casted your eyes down.
Such medication… such witchcraft was illegal in Jade nation. He would have been branded as a monster and exiled even if he went back. Dragons and creatures like that were considered sacred in your home.
“Where did they even get dragon blood from? Nobody has seen a dragon in years,” you took a shallow breath, trying to work through your messy thoughts.
“What do you think caused the fire at Moon nation?” Xukun asked knowingly and with hope in his eyes resembled the boy you had once known. He hoped you would believe him and you did but it wasn’t easy to digest all this new information.
The two of you just looked at each other in silence, a heavy one, before the sounds of the midnight patrol startled you. Hushed, you blew out the candle light, leaving you in the dark, speaking in hushed voices.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do but… please, don’t go against Yixing. I might not be able to save you then,” Xukun spoke up, his deep voice echoing in the room, you clenched your hands in fists. As if he was there to save you in the last years when you would have needed him.
“I don’t need you to save me,” you told him, hurt clear in your voice but he didn’t say anything. He left without saying a word, wind whizzing into your room as he became one with the shadows outside. His last words left you wondering. Would he have died for Yixing, even in his place even if the weapon was in your hands?
You told yourself it wasn’t because of Xukun but you didn’t sneak into the king’s quarters in the next few days. Instead you wrote a letter to your father telling him about recent events and what you have found out about the Dragon Clan’s plans based on what you had found in the strategy meeting room. You entrusted one of your best guards with the letter and sent him home.
Days had passed uneventfully then but only until Zhang Yixing and his men came back with news that knocked air out of your lungs: the Eagle Clan attacked the weakened eastern wing of your nation. You knew they had become daring lately no matter how your father wished to keep it a secret from you but it was still all too sudden. Your army wasn’t ready to not only stand guard in case you got attacked from the South but now from the sunrise side as well.
“You cannot tell me to just wait it out!” you rose from your chair at lunch when Yixing told you the news. You felt offended at how calm he was. It must have been just another attack for him, but for you, it was your home.
“What else could a princess do?” he raised an eyebrow at you challengingly and you would have liked to sneer at him.
“I’m not the type of princess you think I am,” you claimed, hating that he probably thought you were used to letting other people fight your battles for you. Just because your father didn’t let you go into the war because you were the sole heir of the clan, it didn’t mean you couldn’t have. But now, as Yixing’s fiancée you didn’t even have much choice. You knew you shouldn’t go against his words or he might dance back on his agreement with your father. But you panicked, so you did the only thing you could possibly do in such a situation. “What do you want? Do you want to marry immediately, so you would help? Or would you let them destroy my home even then?”
You were desperate, so you would have agreed to anything only if he sent a handful of soldiers to help your people. Hell, if you had become the queen you could have commanded them yourself. But the king seemed to have different ideas.
“I will help. On one condition,” he said slowly, tasting every word and you were holding your breath, waiting for him to reveal what he wished from you. “Show me what type of princess you are then. Let’s not lie to each other about these things, Princess.”
Well, you certainly did not expect that.
“What do you mean?” you stuttered and your heart skipped a beat when the man slid an overly familiar envelope onto the table. You were smart enough to not be obvious about what you wanted to discuss with your father but there were still hints in your letter about things you shouldn’t have known if you were just picking flowers and practicing embroidery like an ordinary princess would have.
“You don’t want to marry me,” the man said and even though it was an accusation, he didn’t make it sound like one. And yet…
“You don’t want to marry me either but it hardly matters what we desire. We come from the bloodline of royals, we have our responsibilities to our people. And my people need me,” you slammed your hand on the table, spilled rice wine pouring like melted snow. You caught one of the masked guards - probably Xukun - turning his head towards you at that.
“You don’t want to be a princess,” Yixing continued and it baffled you. As if you had a choice! “You have the heart of a warrior.”
Well, you couldn’t argue that, so you just gulped, looking over the table, at the man who was a mystery to you. What did he want you to say? You couldn’t possibly admit that you planned to kill him.
“Come with me,” the king said as if it was his ultimatum and there was something knowing in his dark eyes when he explained: “Come with me to the front. Fight with me and then I’ll help the Jade Clan.”
His offer was an interesting one, you didn’t quite get his reason but you nodded anyway. You were ready to fight alongside your people but you didn’t even have to look at Xukun to know he was frowning.
You left the next day, at dawn. You took all your guards with you and Yixing added his own as you departed towards the North… your home. You wore your comfortable man clothes, hair swirling in the air around you as you galloped on your horse next to the others. It took about two days to reach the endangered border, so on the night when you had to set up a tent you could be finally alone a bit. Since you were the only woman you got a separate place and nobody should have bothered you but the tent wasn’t empty when you got in there. Gosh, were your guards so imcompetent or how?
“Reckless of you to sneak into my tent. What would your king say?” you asked, words a bit biting. You didn’t have a chance to talk with Xukun ever since that night in your room and you knew, it could have been indecent to exchange words in front of others even if you explained that you knew each other from before.
“I came exactly because of that,” the once boy explained, sitting near your small table as if you had invited him over for tea. Only because you had known him before you noticed his fidgety fingers as a sign of nervousness. “Did you write about me in the letter he got his hands on?”
Oh. So that was what he was worried about. Disappointment made you taste bile in your mouth. You hated this feeling.
“I’m not stupid,” you told him curtly and turned your back on him to indeed pour some boiled water over tea leaves to soothe your nerves. Honestly, you thought about telling your father about Xukun but then you realized you didn’t know what to write. You weren’t sure what you should have. It wasn’t your place to decide and maybe it was for the better if your father still thought that he was dead.
“He… he has a man watching you. He told me he can’t trust me with that,” Xukun who once had jumped to hover above you when a wooden house fell upon the two of you during a heavy storm sounded pained admitting that. You gulped hearing his words and the worry lacing through them. You didn’t want to think of him caring. He disappeared from your life years ago, he didn’t get to worry about you now.
“Why are you telling me this?” you asked, slowly, tentative as you sat by the table across him, putting cups of tea between you. Xukun waited until you looked up, into his deep brown eyes that had the most beautiful golden specks in them you had ever seen. Maybe it was just the lights’ doing but he still took your breath away, unfairly so.
“You need to be careful. He knows you’re up to something,” he pressed, desperate and you forced a smile, a charming, confident one. Oh, Zhang Yixing had no idea what was coming for him if he betrayed you.
“If he helped my people, our people, I wouldn’t have a reason to plot against him, would I?” you voiced out your thoughts, the decision you made on your own. If the king proved to be not as ruthless, just as your old friend claimed, maybe he deserved another chance. So you meant it but Xukun didn’t look convinced.
“Princess, I have something to discuss,” the cold, authoritative voice of the Dragon Clan’s head could be heard from outside and the pace of your heartbeats picked up, whipping your head towards the entrance of your tent then back to Xukun… or where he had been just before. Now, nothing but a smell of smoke lingered after him. You had no idea how he did that.
As it turned out Yixing wanted to discuss the reports he had gotten from the battle and if he had noticed the two cups of steamy tea, he didn’t make a comment on it. The situation was quite bad, the enemy had already gotten over the walls you had pulled up all those years ago. He had already had a man of his own let the Jade Clan general there know that Dragon soldiers were coming to rescue and not to attack, so if things worked out, you could crowd out the attackers from two sides. If you were lucky enough you could bait them towards the river where they were more vulnerable. It didn’t sound like a bad plan at all and hearing Yixing’s strategies, you understood why he had won so many battles but what surprised you was that he didn’t intend to drown everyone in the river or kill them on the spot, he sounded like he hoped they would give up and retreat. You wouldn’t have thought that of the ruthless Zhang Yixing.
Knowing how wars worked was different than being there, in the middle of a battle, sweaty, limbs tired, blood dripping from the end of your sword and a painful bruise blossoming on your left shoulder. You saw red and adrenaline carried you as you shouted and attacked the next man with mace in his hand coming at you.
“Princess!” Someone screamed and you dodged the sword aiming at you just in time but its owner stepped closer, pushing you backwards on the slippery ground. You weren’t strong enough to push him back.
“Princess, huh? How interesting,” the man, covered in dirt and blood not his own, grinned at you, a hand clasping his hand around your throat, squeezing hard. You gasped, clawing at his arm with your free hand because he pushed the one that held the sword close to your chest with his. For the first time in your life, you felt powerless even with a weapon in your hand. You tried to kick and get away from the soldier but you couldn’t and felt disgusted by the names this disgusting leech called you.
You didn’t know how long you had fought back but the noises of the battle started to fade out when suddenly the man was yanked away from you but you still felt his blood splatter across your cheek as a sword pierced through his chest. Panting, gasping for air, you stared at Xukun behind the fallen soldier and he stared back at you, eyes glowing dark and golden. You smelled something burning...
You heard the screams before you had seen the source of sudden panic and shock.
You looked up to where everybody was pointing while running and you had seen a huge dragon appearing above the walls of Jade. Its fur and scales were dark like the night sky except a few gilded ones that looked like burning fire from afar while his antlers were long and ivory. It was terrifying yet beautiful. Its honey-coloured eyes gazed down upon you mere humans and it seemed to have a concrete target in its mind as it flew above you rippling the water and air behind.
Xukun grabbed your arm, trying to pull you away but his touch felt burning too and you couldn’t take your eyes off the dragon that halted in the air, levitating just above the ground, its huge head merely an arm away from Zhang Yixing who stood there alone, unmoving. It reminded you of the day when you threw your hairpin at him, how calm he was and you still couldn’t believe what you saw when the Dragon Clan’s leader lifted a hand and put it on its head as if he was trying to discipline a dog.
Thunder roared above and Xukun managed to pull you away now that everyone had scattered all over hell's half-acre. He took you farther, inside the wall of your nation and you only noticed that he must have been hurt when he stumbled and you had to catch him before he fell.
“Kun!” you shrieked, scared, the old nickname slipping naturally as you put his arm around your shoulder and pulled him inside of a half-destroyed house nearby. Your hands trembled as you let him sit down and then looked around to look for a lantern to light it.
In the dim lit room you kneeled next to the guard, his clothing soaked with his blood and you could see sweat forming on his forehead. How did it happen, you questioned, but it wasn’t the important thing. With a shaky breath, you reached out to peel off the bloody material from his chest to see the sword cut across one shoulder. You hissed seeing the fresh wound and all that blood. You cursed in frustration.
“Shh… it’s okay,” the boy whispered with droopy eyes, taking your hand, weakly pushing it away from the cut.
“It’s not okay,” you argued and you could feel tears in the corner of your eyes. Did he get hurt while trying to get to you? Did he forget to pay attention to himself because he saw you? You felt guilty and you hated that, you didn’t want to be the reason why he was hurt.
“There’s something you should know…” Kun coughed and grunted at the pain flashing through him. He had his eyes shut, teeth clenched and it hurt to look at him. “I– I heal faster than normal… The dragon blood that saved me…”
“I know,” you cut him off, not wanting him to exhaust himself with speaking. You could see him struggle, his eyes bright gold when he opened them briefly. His blood was working its magic.
To be honest, you didn’t know, you just had a guess up until now. His golden flashing eyes, the warmth radiating off him, how fast and soundless he could move or disappear leaving only smoke behind… It was because of the dragon inside of him.
There were legends saying that if a person spared a dragon, it would be bound to him for life and the blood of an alive dragon in a human would create a connection between the two. A connection that could call the other half if one felt threatened. Although it was just a theory, with the intensity of Kun’s eyes on you, the beautiful burning fire in his pupils made you believe you were right, that the dragon appeared because he feared for you.
There was a short cut growl leaving the boy’s mouth and you grabbed his hand, letting him squeeze yours while you could see his skin basically knitting itself back together, the wound closing in as if it had never been there. It might have been only a few minutes but it felt too long with how much it seemed to hurt the boy you had just saved your life. When it was over and he opened his eyes, they were plain brown again – your favourite though – and he looked tired.
Oh, thank the deities, you let out a relieved choked sound and you didn’t even notice you had been crying until Xukun didn’t wipe your tears off your cheek. He looked at you as if he had seen you for the first time, properly at least and you felt your lips tremble. Heavens, you had mourned him once and now you almost lost him again. Suddenly, a rush of emotions rippled through your body, your fingers tentatively touching the freshly healed skin.
“You’re so warm,” you whispered in awe since his skin was hotter than expected and you knew it wasn’t fever caused by the wound.
“Princess...” he muttered oh so gently and his hand, wet with your tears, slipping from your cheek to your neck, caressed your skin just like his voice caressed your soul.
“No,” you stopped him firmly and when confusion flashed in his orbs you told him to call you by your own name. It was a command, a request, a plea. It was everything and a sweet little nothing at the same time.
Kun’s eyes widened at the permission but pushed himself away from the wall to lean closer and he sighed your name into the seam of your mouth. You closed your eyes feeling his hot breath tingling on your lips and when he kissed you, you melted against him like wax melted near fire.
Once the storm passed, you could still feel Kun’s touch on you. It was like a vivid memory and it tasted sweet on your tongue even if you knew you were being naive.
You didn’t talk about it. About what it meant because you both knew you couldn’t. But you were stupid enough to forget about your other problems when you had seen the retreating army. Your people could be a bit more safe at least for a little while.
“Cai Xukun!” Another guard called out when he caught sight of his comrade next to you. He looked panicked and it scared you. What now? The man walking up to your duo looked at you warily before answering the question about his worried expression. “The king is injured.”
Oh. Interesting how it was what you had wanted since you had left home but now that Zhang Yixing was bedridden, you found yourself worrying and by the looks of it Kun too. The two of you were escorted to the king who lay on a makeshift bed, chest wrapped with a cloth that he had already bled through.
“What happened?” you questioned, looking from one soldier to another. This didn’t look like something caused by the dragon’s claws or teeth, it was definitely a human-caused injury and your guess was confirmed when one of the men told you that while he was trying to calm the dragon, someone from afar shot an arrow through him. It made you anxious because what if they captured the dragon? What would that have meant to your people, to Kun?
“And the dragon?”
“It chased them away and is probably in the mountains,” the man said and that made you a bit relieved even though you weren’t sure you were allowed to feel that while your fiance was bleeding out only a few steps from you. You nodded in acknowledgement and made a hand movement to excuse the soldiers. Soon, you were left with only Xukun in the room.
“Why isn’t he healing? Doesn’t he...” you looked at the boy, not understanding why the injury took its toll on the king when Xukun healed within an hour. Was it some kind of special arrow damped in poisonous liquid? Was it...
“No,” The guard cut your words off but you could already tell by the look on his face that it wasn’t how you thought. “He saved the dragon and it now serves him but he never got its blood and I… I think the dragon is hurt, too.”
“What?” you were dumbfounded how he could tell something like that when you had left the field together, so he couldn’t have known about this. Not by seeing it happen. But as Xukun clenched his hand in front of his chest as if he was hurting, you started to understand. They were indeed connected after all.
“I can feel it. I can’t explain but its energy...”
A hurt dragon in the mountains. A hurt king in the desert. Gosh, things really weren’t on the path you hoped them to be. You suddenly weren't sure what worried you more.
“Do you think the dragon is in danger?” you turned to Kun, fingers fidgeting with the handle of your sword by your side. If those from before knew that they managed to wound the creature, were they looking for it? Anyone who got control over a dragon could have immense power, you didn’t even want to think about it. Especially the dragon that had this special connection with the boy beside you. “Go then. Help the dragon!”
He seemed surprised and conflicted at your nudging. He didn’t move, eyes flickering to the bed behind you.
“But Yixing...” His protest fell short when you quickly explained:
“I will stay with him and wait for the medic,” you promised but weren’t sure Xukun trusted you with something like this until he reached out to take your hands in his. His palm was warm like every other part of him too, his fingers felt nice against your dirtied, dry skin. He squeezed your hand gently in agreement.
“Call for a shaman, too,” he added and you nodded with a lump in your throat. You needed to get prepared for any kind of situation.
You could have been called a loyal fiancée based on how you spent day and night next to Yixing, watching over his recovery. However, he didn’t get much better over the course of days and you didn’t hear about Xukun either. The only reassuring thing was that you weren’t attacked there, at the border of three Clans. You couldn’t leave either way because the king wasn’t well enough for such a long voyage and you wanted to be as close as the mountains anyway.
The medic said the arrow hit Yixing so close to his heart that it was a miracle that he was still breathing and it scared you more than you had expected. You let him change the bandage and stayed by the unconscious man, putting fresh wet cloth over his feverish forehead.
That night, marking the third without Xukun, the king stirred awake.
You looked up from your place beside his bed, startled. It was the first time he seemed more conscious than just to drink a bit of water or ginger soup because his eyes looked alert. For the first time since you had met him, he seemed scared.
“The dragon...” he croaked out with a hoarse voice due to not speaking for days.
“Xukun is looking after it,” you told him reassuringly and held a metal cup to the king’s chin, urging him to drink a bit. He gulped down the fresh water as if it was healing potion and once he finished with the entire cup, he fell back onto the sheets with a painful sigh. Closing his eyes, he traced his ribs until he reached the bloody bandage over his wound and hissed. He must have suffered more than he showed.
“I would have never thought I would have my fiancée look after me after a battle,” the man whispered, deep voice weak and uncertain, a little playful though. Although his words were conveying the truth, it made you feel like someone who committed adultery. You knew you didn’t swear either loyalty nor love to each other with the king but after learning how he had saved your first love from certain death, you didn’t want to do something like this to him. You needed to come clean even if the timing was quite off.
“With all due respect, Zhang Yixing, I’m afraid I can't marry you,” you said quietly, expecting a frown or a scolding but none of it came. Maybe because he was injured but he didn’t react at all and for a moment you thought he had fallen back asleep but then he slowly opened his eyes again and turned his head to be able to look you in the eye.
“I had a feeling,” he nodded calmly. He didn’t seem angry nor disappointed. He had already said your father’s proposal was an odd one, one with interesting timing. There was nothing interesting about it, it was just a strategy, a plan you didn’t want to follow anymore. But before you could have spoken up, to apologize, to ask whether it meant your alliance was off, Yixing continued: “Xukun treasures you too much. He was the one who urged me to trust your father.”
“He… Did he tell you about me before we met?” Words stumbled out of your mouth before you could have stopped them. You were more than dumbfounded to know that. Had Xukun known about your father’s wish to marry you to Zhang Yixing even before he agreed? Was it him because of whom the king agreed at all? And here you thought that he had been just another guard, loyal to his king until death.
“He talked about you all the time,” the man reminisced with a faint smile on his lips as he stared at the ceiling. “He always says how I saved his life back then but with him here, not being able to return home, I feel like I have taken his life instead. Taking you from him would have been even worse.”
You cast your eyes down bashfully as you listen to him talk. Yixing’s side of the story was an interesting one as well. Learning how he didn’t save Xukun out of the kindness of his heart but because he wanted intelligence was something you could understand, something you could relate to as you lived in a world like that after all. You couldn’t even be angry, not when he told you how they had become friends over the years. As the king drifted back to sleep, you thought that maybe you could become friends as well, maybe you could still be allies. You didn’t necessarily have to be enemies.
But once being enemies, it was hard to forget and not everybody had the same insights as you.
You woke up to a small noise, only to open your eyes to see one of your own soldiers from Jade Clan stepping inside the tent. You had always felt safe next to your guards but this time, something was off.
“What are you doing here?” you questioned as you sprang to your feet from the seat you accidentally fell asleep in.
“Princess,” the guard bowed with respect. Though, he was clearly surprised to see you still there and you could see the hint of hesitation in his eyes before he answered. “I am here as per your father’s wish.”
You furrowed your brows. You hadn’t been notified of anything like this.
“My father’s wish?” you raised a brow, looking at the man expectantly but he didn’t reply, not with words at least. Instead he took out a small glass bottle with familiar yellow-ish liquid inside. It made the blood freeze in your veins.
“That wasn’t the plan,” you reminded the man even though you hadn’t even known your father told anybody else about it. Didn’t he trust you or…
“It wasn’t your plan but your father had doubts whether you could do it with a cold heart. That’s why he sent me,” your guard informed you dutifully and your brain kept coming up with reasons why this was a terrible idea. It would have been much easier if Zhang Yixing was indeed the tyrant you had imagined him but after learning about his personality and starting to form an amicable acquaintance with him, it just didn’t make sense.
“I’m not the queen yet,” you objected but the guard didn’t seem to care.
He explained how the public sentiment had changed in your favour just because you stayed with the injured king in the last few days and there was something in his explanation that was quite logical: if Yixing passed away now, nobody would have looked for a murderer because he was already on his deathbed. Nobody would have known he didn’t die from the arrow. Nobody needed to know. But… it wasn’t the plan. If he died then, without a queen or heir, the Dragon Clan would remain without a leader and neighbouring nations would all want their pieces of it. If they got to know about the dragon too…
“It’s a chance we can’t waste. We need to prioritize the safety of Jade Clan,” your guard reminded you and for a moment you were stuck. If it hadn’t been for Xukun, you might have done it within a heartbeat, not even considering other options because Zhang Yixing was a dangerous man but now… you were torn, unsure what to believe. Your uncertainty must have been written on your face because your guard pushed the bottle into your hands, encouraging you to make a move and you gulped, too busy with your internal turmoil to react fast enough when you got company.
Four of the masked guards of Yixing stepped into the tent, one of them immediately slicing the throat of your man which made you scream. Two guards held you back from behind, not letting you move, to get any weapon while another one walked up to you, his dark eyes trained on you, his bloody dagger aimed at your throat. He forced the little glass bottle out of your hands.
“There was always something off with you, Princess. You should have been hung the moment you dared to fling your hairpin at the king,” he said, disgusted and you couldn't quite blame him. You raised your chin though, proud because as a royal it was expected of you even when you looked into the eyes of death. You weren't afraid of dying, you had walked out to the battlefield earlier with that mindset too, it was just… you wished you could have said goodbye to Kun.
You knew that the only reason the guard didn't kill you off like he did with your man was because you were a royal. If you died by a hand of a guard of the Dragon Clan, you knew your father would have gone to war against them and you also knew he would have lost which broke your heart even more.
"So what now? Will you kill me too, in the name of justice because one of my men blabbered? You have no idea what we even talked about!" you accused the guard of making a scene over nothing because as of now prolonging the conversation was your best chance. Either Yixing could wake up and stop them, if he believed you didn't want to hurt him any more, or your other guards could show up as well.
"I have a good enough guess, Princess, but of course, you can prove your innocence by drinking this. If it isn't poison, you have nothing to lose, am I right?" the man turned the small glass bottle between his fingers. You didn't show reaction to that even though you knew you were going to die if you drank it all. But at least it was said to be a fast killer. You were contemplating whether you should have taken it and then spit it out saying it was bitter for your 'princess taste' because he wouldn't have been able to prove anything then. He could still kill you though but maybe it was worth a chance.
However, before you could have decided the tent's entrance flew open and a very dishevelled looking Xukun showed up. He looked like he was running and hadn't slept properly in days. The presence of guards, his comrades, seemed to surprise him, the dagger at your throat even more.
"What's going on here?" he asked in an authoritative voice even though you weren't sure he had a bigger rank just because he was friends with Yixing.
"The princess and her guard were caught trying to poison the king."
"That's not true!" You protested heavily looking for eye contact with Xukun, hoping he would believe you. It was all just a terrible misunderstanding. Once you might have wanted to cause harm but you had no reason anymore, not if you signed the Lotus pact with Yixing like you had agreed. When you met Kun's gaze, it was confused but not unkind.
"Then prove it, Princess," the older man said and pushed the blade closer to your neck where your earlier scar was still visible. The situation seemed to scare Xukun but you didn't want him to save you again, you only needed him to believe you. He seemed to think differently though.
"Let her go and lower your weapon, we don't have time for this," he stood in front of you pushing the man's hand away and flashing his golden eyes at the guards you kept you caged. Their hands immediately loosened their hold as Kun lifted his bag. "I have the dragon blood. Where is the shaman?"
One of the guards ran off with the bag to fetch the shaman but you could only breathe peacefully for a moment. Then the masked man with a slit across his eye crowded you and Xukun into a corner.
"My bad. Why would I have thought that you of all people can be rational? Do you think you were so discreet about disappearing, just the two of you? Are you maybe in it too? Did the two of you, Jade bastards, plan to get rid of our king to take over?" With each of his words, he poked Kun's chest with his index finger until the younger swatted his hand away. His voice didn't waver as he answered:
"If you really think that after all the fights we fought together, I feel very distraught," he said with his voice so cold like you never heard it before. Xukun's pride must have been on the line with his loyalty being questioned just because of his connection – maybe affection? – to you because the next thing you knew was him grabbing the glass bottle out of the other man's hand. "You know what? I'll prove it to you!"
“Kun, no!” You grabbed his hands in panic, closing your fingers around his, so he couldn't lift the poison to his lips. Was he crazy? Did he want to die just for you to follow?
Or oh… he believed you. He really believed you and that it wasn't poison in the first place or maybe he believed you had nothing to do with it and knew nothing of it because when his eyes locked with yours, he seemed surprised that you stopped him.
You were both startled when the shaman arrived with the finished potion but before he could have stepped to the injured king, the man in front of you lifted his hand. Although you couldn't see his mouth, you would have bet he pulled it into a malicious smirk.
"Ah look at that, trying to save him from harm, how touching," he tsked, mocking before he pointed at the potion in the shaman hands and then at the bottle in Xukun's. “How about this? One cup has dragon blood that could save the Dragon Clan’s last son. The other which you claim isn't poison was retrieved from your room by your own guard. Choose wisely, Princess, what to give our king because your hero will drink the other one.”
“Why are you doing this?” you shrieked, having enough of this mind game of his. You knew he was just a loyal guard of Yixing and you couldn't blame him for not trusting you but did he have to go this far to make you suffer?
“I cannot let the filthy Jade Clan take over the Dragon Clan. So you either save him or be executed for killing him which was your original plan, wasn’t it?”
"Save the king, Princess," Xukun told you, determined and maybe he had a plan, a better one than you or at least you hoped. You looked him in the eyes mouthing Please don't at him but he just smiled. How could he act so nonchalant? "Trust me," he whispered.
You let go of his hands and maybe it was a mistake because he had told you: he owed Yixing his life. You barely stepped to the bed of the king, lifting his head to help the shaman give him the potion when you heard glass breaking. When you lifted your head you saw Xukun swaying, barely grabbing on a chair to stop him from falling and the broken glass was by his feet. The liquid from inside was nowhere which meant…
"Kun!" you screamed trying to run up to him, to help, to do anything but the guards turned towards you with their sword out and you could only do one thing, listen to the boy who had once saved you when the stable's roof collapsed onto you, he hovered over your body with his to save you from the impacts of the falling pieces. He always did.
So when Kun told you to run, you ran. Back to your own tent to get your sword to be able to fight off and it was ridiculous how only a few days ago you fought alongside these men but now they wanted to kill you. Oh, how fast the tables turn but maybe you deserved this, maybe you deserved to die for killing the boy you loved since you had been 16 and had given him your first kiss under the stars. You might not have a future but you wanted to believe nevertheless, but you ruined it all.
You felt tears running down on your cheeks as you dodged the daggers and swords coming your way, hissing when one managed to cut your arm. You ran, you didn't look where, you just wanted to get away. If you killed Yixing's men, peace wouldn't have been an option, so you needed to escape, that was the only way to stop another war.
You stumbled when a huge shadow overtowered you and heard the scared muffled sounds of the soldiers following you as well. Gulping, you looked up at the majestic dragon in front of you, its nostrils flaring and smoke coming out of its mouth as it huffed. It stood above you, staring at the soldiers behind you as if… as if it was protecting you. It made you feel safe, like Xukun, and gosh, you just cried harder because he was trying to save you even now. You fell onto your knees, not knowing what to do with this information and then…
"It isn't nice of you to chase my fiancée away from me, is it?" Yixing roared in a forever calm voice and through your tears you could barely believe your eyes when you saw him walk towards you. And not just him, it was Xukun who helped him move because he must have still been in pain. But how?
The masked guards seemed just as flabbergasted as you were. But Kun, oh the deities, Kun looked almost smug as he passed by them after Yixing pushed him towards you. Then he ran, ran until he knelt next to you, taking your face into his hands. You touched him as if you didn't believe he was real.
"I didn't want to…"
"I know," he assured you with a stupid smile on his stupid face like he did back in that ruined house where he kissed you like you were his life line.
"I can't believe you drank the poison! How could you be sure your blood would fight it off?" you whisper-yelled at him, hitting his chest all too weakly and he laughed, too. The nerve of him!
"I wasn't but Princess, I would drink poison over and over again if it tasted like you," he said with a smirk and you would have bet Yixing told him about your agreement because otherwise he wouldn't have been so daring. Or was it the near death experience? Or the thought of losing each other all over again? The wars might have been still messy, politics stressing, but in that moment, you didn't care, you just closed your eyes and kissed Kun back when he pressed his lips against yours, happily burning with him.
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In the Spadesverse universe, there are four kingdoms. Every kingdom represents an aspect of what keeps the world going and humanity’s connection to it. They all have their individual roles to fulfil- Protectors for every one of this world's fundamental mechanisms, thus each nation is known to oversee a certain aspect of this world’s magic. The ability to control these ‘types’ of magic depends on how dangerous the magic is, some can be used by everyone, whilst others are trusted to the Monarchs alone. It is the duty of each monarchy to work together to bring balance, peace, and prosperity.
The four kingdoms are Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades.
Diamonds
Magic
Diamonds’ connection is with nature. Their magic lies within controlling the elements; Earth, fire, water, and air. These are of course umbrella terms, water can extend to ice and other liquids, earth can also refer to plant life, etc. Elemental magic is the easiest to master as people are surrounded by nature, though it comes most naturally to citizens born in Diamonds or anyone who has ancestry from said nation, but it is not limited to just Diamonds alone. It can be wielded by anyone without connections to Diamonds who has a basic knowledge of magic or anyone in tune with nature. However, there have been cases where people have been able to resort to elemental magic without having studied any sort of magic before, usually under pressure, in distressing situations, situations that have activated one’s natural ‘fight or flight’, or under intense emotional responses stemming anywhere from joy, grief, rage, etc.
It should be noted, however, that the Diamonds Monarchy wields it the strongest. Diamonds Royals can complete elemental feats that even Masters (A title earned through training in the magical arts and mastering advanced types of magic) deem unimaginable, such as bending significantly more difficult elements like magma, or singlehandedly stopping entire natural disasters which would usually take hundreds, if not thousands, of magic users to stop.
General
Diamonds is known for its wealth and luxury, the nation of lavish galas and garden parties. They earn this wealth from their vast collection of natural resources, which they are able to take full advantage of due to their born ability to wield the elements. Before other kingdoms learned this magic, Diamonds was the first to hone this ability, getting a head start.
Their soil is already naturally rich, but it doesn’t hurt that farmers can make crops sing by taking advantage of plant based magic, for example. Most notably, Diamonds has exploited the caves that run deep within their grounds and the mountains to the North East, using earth based magic to create mines and harness resources all the way from coal to rarer finds like diamonds, hence the name of the nation. It’s fair to say Diamonds was quick to make significant profit, at least when other Kingdoms began to thrive, that is. The palace was decorated with the gold they mined to honour this show of wealth and, eventually, it became their national colour.
To put it simply, Diamonds thrives off of its agriculture and trade of luxury. They’ve become the fashion capital of the world, with fine silks, metals, and shimmering jewels for the most breath-taking of jewellery. You’ll find many aspiring designers migrating here, and often people retire to Diamonds after a lifetime of building their wealth. Diamonds has been able to enjoy the easy, expensive life with little financial concerns for the majority of the populace, leading, also, to a significant boom in leisure. Notably, Diamonds is home to some of the most famous theatres and the leading nation when it comes to the theatrical arts.
Hearts
Magic
True to its name, Hearts’ core magic revolves around the heart- More specifically, a heartbeat. The beginning and end of said beat. The Hearts Monarchy oversees life and death, tracking souls, so to speak. They do this through pendants (Can also be referred to as ‘amulets’). There are two types of pendants: Fertility pendants and soul pendants.
Fertility pendants are used to track pregnancy and the health of an unborn child. They are usually worn when trying to check if someone is pregnant, or if a couple is trying to conceive. A colourful ‘mist’ will appear in the pendant if the wearer is with child. The mist represents the soul of the child. If there is more than one child present, there will be more than one colour depending on how many embryos there are. There will be two colours in the case of twins, three for triplets, etc. The colours of these mists vary, the reason as to why is unknown. Some say certain colours depict what personality type your child will have, similar to Zodiac signs. There is no evidence to support this theory, however, and so the colour of the mist seems to be just up to chance. One colour is known, however, and only happens in a particular scenario. The mist inside a fertility pendant will turn black in the case of a miscarriage, which only happens if there is infidelity between a couple. Some say this is a punishment given by a higher power, but it is one that seems greatly unjust, especially if the wearer was not the party at fault.
Soul pendants are used to ‘store’ souls. Empty soul pendants will be worn by those who are aware they do not have long left, such as the elderly and/or the severely ill. When they pass, part of their soul/‘life force’ will then be ‘captured’ in the pendant, rather than moving on. Storing a soul using this type of connection to Earth allows the deceased to watch over the living realm as a part of them is still being kept on the physical plain. They can watch over their loved ones from a place most call ‘The Inbetween’. Not much is known of The Inbetween or the afterlife other than this, at least not to anyone still alive.
Soul pendants that are filled with a soul will be given to a loved one of the deceased to wear. The chosen wearer can be named in one’s will if, leading up to their death, the original wearer knows who they want to watch over the most.
A fertility pendant will act as a temporary soul pendant in the case of a miscarriage so that, if the parents wish, their child’s soul can be transferred into an actual soul pendant so that the child, in a way, will still be with them.
Finally, soul pendants (That have a soul inside) can enhance the magic of a wearer by using the life force of the captured soul, but this will weaken the soul overtime until it fades and the connection the deceased once had to the living realm will then be lost, forcing them to fully move on into the afterlife.
Only the Hearts Monarchy and their Makers (Term given to people that manufacture the pendants) can create these pendants. The Monarchy will bestow some of their magic onto Makers, so that they will also have the ability to transfer souls/make pendants that have the ability to capture souls as well. Makers are chosen by the Monarchy and there are very few of them, but they exist to to lessen the workload for the Monarchs themselves so they can still see to their Kingdom’s needs whilst not neglecting the demand for pendants.
It is rumoured that the King and Queen of Hearts share a power that no one else does, however. A final power that links to the human heart. This is the ability to see soulmates. But, again, this is merely a rumour and has not been proven nor disproven.
General
Hearts, well, has a lot of heart. As cheesy as it sounds. But it’s true. This Kingdom is known for its national pride, but also for its sense of community. Citizens will admit that it’s difficult to walk through most villages without at least one grandmother trying to feed them. Children are usually raised by whole towns, not just their own family.
Festivals are not rare in this Kingdom, and they usually surround its citizens’ love of food and alcohol. It’s a wonderful place to go when needing to feel loved and appreciated. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the hotter nations, with a beautifully warm climate.
Moreover, its citizens seem to naturally value life more, and not just their own life for that matter. Many of the world’s best medical schools reside in Hearts, and many of its citizens become doctors, nurses, etc.
Hearts is also known for its art. Diamonds may thrive when it comes to theatre, but Hearts soars when it comes to painting, sculpting, pottery, etc. Both are currently racing to prove who produces the better bards and singers, though.
Clubs
Magic
Clubs' magic revolves around the sun and moon, light and dark, good vs evil, etc. The Clubs Monarchy oversees the balance between light, dark, and neutral magic within the atmosphere, constantly making sure the scales never tip into darkness too much. Dark magic warps people’s minds, makes them give into their darkest desires and selves, having too much of it in the atmosphere can lead to drastic consequences. It will lead people to insanity, create chaos and discord. Thus, it is the Monarchy’s duty to balance out the scales. Say if someone was dabbling in dark magic and they released too much of it into the universe, the Monarchy would balance it out via releasing light magic into the atmosphere, usually by giving out blessings, such as ‘luck’. This is also seen as distributing ‘karma’.
Since balancing the scales is their duty, it is also the role of this Monarchy to decide what types of dark magic are too dangerous and will decide the legislature regarding these types, such as what is illegal and what isn’t, or what needs to be licensed to use, etc. They will consult the other Monarchies before making a final decision, however. Typically, it is also the Clubs Monarchy who will then choose the punishment given to those who are practicing illegal types of magic, such as curses or necromancy.
It is said that the King and Queen can take away one’s ability to do certain types of magic if they begin to abuse their power, and can give this power to remove magic to others they trust, too. It is also said that the King and Queen can harness the energy of the sun and moon to enhance their own magic or the magical abilities of those around them. Neither of these theories have been confirmed.
General
Clubs is...Barren. It’s mountainous terrain, freezing temperatures, and overall snow covered lands makes it difficult to grow almost anything. It’s citizens get by on luck alone, quite literally. The King and Queen throughout history, apparently, have had to bless their citizens with luck just to get by. It’s actually because of this that their national symbol, which had once been a sun, a moon, and an eclipse to represent the balance between light and dark magic, became misinterpreted as a clover through the generations.
It’s main trade is ice and vodka. It doesn’t produce a lot of profit, but it gets them by. Clubs is not a very lively place. Whether this could change or not is up to the New Monarchs.
Spades
Magic
Nothing is known about Spades’ abilities at this point in time. It will remain that way until its Monarchy is found. There are rumours that float around still, from the days of the Old Monarchs, that the Spades Monarchy had the ability to change time. One can dream.
General
Spades is not known for anything yet, other than being the last Kingdom to fall, but also the last to rise again. All they have to show for themselves is a hundred years worth of ruin, like every other Kingdom did before Diamonds rose. They have some farmlands to the West, forests everywhere else, the ruins of old docks. Who knows what the new Monarchy will bring, and who knows what legacy they will create for the Kingdom.
#hetalia#cardverse#cardverse au#spadesverse#notable event#02/08/2021#This project is called Spadesverse rather than Cardverse for multiple reasons which we will go into in a future post#We do not take credit for the pictures used in this post. We did steal them from Pinterest.#The picture limit does not do justice to the vibes and cultures of the Kingdoms. This will be explored in later posts and videos#You can use some of the lore from this post so long as you ask and also give credit to the blog#Our ask box is open so feel free to ask questions if you're interested in this project#Stay tuned to see the story unfold ;)#If you see a typo or grammatical error in this post. Then No You Don't.#Some small bits of lore or details may change as the team goes back and forth and develops the story#The post will be edited if that's the case though
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I'm not sure if this question has been asked before, but what would be usually the reason why people would torture someone? Not to justify (torture is unjustifiable in any situation) but I really needed a driving force for a villain why they would w/o sounding ridiculous or implausible, and any reason I come up with falls kind of flat (... Which I suppose is expected, since that's how the reasonings behind tortures are in rl I guess)
I can help you out here. And I want you to know that from a writing stand point this does make perfect sense. Motivation, however shallow, is important for capturing a character.
Yes a lot of the motivations in reality are flat, shallow and outright stupid. And it can be a careful balancing act, showing those motivations making them understandable without straying into justifying them. It can also be hard to make an interesting character with flat motivations.
I think I’ll start off with talking about motivations/‘reasons’ in reality and then talk a little about when and whether we should break from reality when we write about torturers.
Remember that there isn’t a lot of research on torturers. So I’m working from the little bit of research I can access, interviews with torturers and anecdotal reports. It isn’t perfect, but this is (so far as I can tell) the best information we have at the time of writing.
Understanding why torture occurs means understanding that it is structural violence.
I do take questions on abuse, I personally don’t see much point in sticking to the strict legal definition of torture when I’m trying to help authors do a decent job portraying trauma survivors. But sometimes the definition matters. And torture is essentially defined as abuse by government employees*, by public servants in positions of authority.
Over and over again the reasons torturers give for their crimes come back to flaws in the organisations they were part of. Consistently, across cultures and time periods, they describe understaffed, high pressure environments with no training, little supervision and the instruction to produce results or else.
This combines with cultural messages that violence ‘works’ and existing sub-cultures of torturers within organisations to perpetuate abuse.
It’s also worth mentioning that for most torturers they’re coming into an organisation where there are already established sub-groups of torturers. The group dynamics do seem to play a role in all this. Though it’s difficult to say how much when we’re entirely going from what torturers say and they are… demonstrably inaccurate when it comes to talking about torture.
Having said that; torturers do seem to encourage each other to more and more acts of violence. They treat it almost competitively. They will also, sometimes, approach new recruits and bring them into the torturer sub-group, pressuring them to participate.
I’m unsure how much of a role the social factor plays in torturers starting to torture, but it definite seems to keep them torturing when they say they’d rather stop. There are a couple of reasons why.
First of all there’s a sort of implicit threat; refusing to torture is seen as a threat to the torturer sub-culture. And these are people who have already shown a capacity for violence. There have been cases of torturers attacking other members of the same organisation for their opposition to, or refusal to, torture.
There’s also a social aspect; once involved with the torturer sub-culture the individual tends to become more and more cut off from the rest of the organisation. The group of torturers becomes more or less their entire social circle.
We’re social animals. So leaving, rejecting the entire social group, is a big deal. It’s hard for us to do.
The toxic sub-culture torturers form encourages them to root part of their identity in their capacity for violence and how ‘good at it’ the other members of their group think they are. They tend to tie ideas of toughness, dependability, achievement and (often) masculinity to torture. They frame themselves as especially manly, strong and ‘willing to do the tough jobs no one else has the guts to’.
It’s complete nonsense but it’s what they do.
And it means that facing up to the fact torture is pointless feels like an attack on their self worth. A lot of them choose to double down rather then face that reality.
This isn’t a definitive list of relevant factors. It’s my assessment of the ones that always seem to show up. There are usually other factors that feed into particular situations. Rejali’s Three Systems is a worth a read on that front.
Ideas about social hierarchy and transgression are common features. So things like ‘anyone who does That Terrible Thing deserves to be tortured’ or ‘no one Like That would be in this part of town for an innocent reason’.
All of this means that motivation can be tricky to write, because the real motivations are often not the sort of thing we’re taught are ‘interesting’.
Real, honest motivations are often things like:
‘I think those people deserve it’
‘I was told to’
‘Everyone else was doing it’
‘I couldn’t think of anything else to do’
‘I got angry and took it out on someone else’
‘I thought it would work and no one ever taught me another way’
That’s not a definitive list but you get the idea. And probably get the point about these sorts of shallow motivations being narratively unsatisfying.
So let’s step back from the reality and tackle the writing problem at the heart of this: how do we make this interesting?
There are a couple of different approaches.
The first approach I see is to accept that the motivation and the villain are shallow and shift the interest away from the villain.
Villains don’t need to be interesting. And they don’t need to be the focus.
If your story is structured in a way which primarily makes the villain a looming threat and focuses on the heroes, their journey, their relationships then adding detail or depth to the villain is unnecessary.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy does this with several of its major villains. The Shape of Water does it for the main villain. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (yes I bought a switch during lock down, and it’s my first Zelda game I am not sorry) does it with Ganon.
Another approach is to accept the motivation is shallow and shift the focus away from the villain’s motivation.
Villains do not need to have a grand philosophy or deep motivation or underlying pain in order to be a good read. They don’t need to be an intellectual threat to the heroes in order to be a legitimate threat.
For instance Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, I’d argue one of the best takes on the character ever. But if you go back and watch the episodes he isn’t deep. His motivation almost always boils down to pettiness, greed and a vindictive streak a mile wide. It is incredibly shallow.
But he’s fun to watch, because he’s unpredictable and funny. He’s also a legitimate threat to the heroes because he’s so incredibly destructive. More then any other villain his crimes are aimed at effecting large numbers of people. That sets the stakes high without any motivation or philosophy coming into it.
The focus is on what he does each time he shows up, not why.
Persona 5 pulls off a similar trick. Every single one of its villains has a shallow motivation. But each of them also has power over one of the heroes or another innocent person. They don’t need a deeper or more interesting motivation in order to make life miserable for the heroes. And every caper hinges on the heroes trying to stop that worst outcome.
As much as Fullmetal Alchemist is a deep story which touches on many complex topics, neither version (the original manga or the 2003 anime with it’s very different plot) had a particularly complex villain at the end of the story. In both cases the ultimate leader of the ‘bad guys’ just wanted more power. And didn’t care how many lives they destroyed to get it.
Not all stories need a Killmonger.
It’s always worth taking the time to consider what your story needs, rather then what’s fashionable in fiction at the moment. On a personal note some of my favourite stories have been either entirely focused on the heroes or had explicitly shallow villains.
The reality is that most of the time motivations for large scale atrocities are shallow and unsatisfying. Giving fictional villains deeper or more complex motives can work, but it can also mean twisting the narrative up to make it look like the villain (and hence their actions) are more reasonable then they are.
Killmonger’s twisted vision of what would make Wakanda ‘better’ works in Black Panther, just as White Wolf’s similar motivation did in the comics a decade or so earlier. They work because they’re directly competing with the hero’s vision of what would make the world better. And because ultimately it’s about showing why T’Challa’s way is better then the villain he’s facing off against.
But I can think of other stories where giving the villain a ‘deeper’ reasoning just served to make them look reasonable. While they were arguing for torture and genocide.
And… I just think we’ve got enough of that in real life.
At the end of the day your villain should be serving a role within the story you’re creating. Motivation is one of many ways that we try to make sure they serve that function effectively and entertainingly.
But, despite what some people would have you believe, it ain’t the be all and end all of whether a villain or story is entertaining. Personality, plots, aesthetic and sometimes how satisfying it feels to see their day ruined, all feed in to how well a villain works.
The threat they represent in the story isn’t dependant on whether their motivation is deep or nuanced or rational. It’s about their ability to follow through and sometimes the horrific nature of the desire itself.
So I guess a lot of my advice here is to consider what your villain actually needs to do in the story. Then take a step back and consider whether deeper motivation adds anything to that.
Be aware that the more complex motivations and drives you add the further you’re getting from a realistic torturer. Which is not inherently apologia, or inherently a bad writing idea, but consider what any deviation from reality implies.
I hope that helps. :)
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Disclaimer
*The international definition can include groups that control territory, ie an occupying force. In some countries the definition is slightly wider and encompasses some international criminal gangs.
#writing advice#tw torture#writing torturers#behaviour of torturers#motivations of torturers#threatening villains#motivation#writing villains#effects of torture on organisations#defining torture
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Prompt #4: Ferality
Ha-ha! Thought I was done with these, did you? This has now become the 2021 Whenever-uary seaswolchallenge, hosted by me, for me. Mostly because this one gave me so much trouble, hence why it took so long; too many ideas, and I broke my own rule about no editing and not thinking too hard about it. But I’m finally happy with it, so there. In terms of the prompt, I took some liberties with the definition and focused on this particular part of it: existing in a natural state. Throw in some metaphors and similes pertaining to the wild, and here’s what we got: Hien x WoL, 1500w, so much fluff you might call it schmoop, humor, and a fair bit of introspection. Maybe takes place some time post-5.3. Forewarning for some implications of and innuendos about sexy times. Enjoy!
“Have you ever been told that your hair resembles the mane of a Steppe gedan? Or a voidsent?”
She asks this as she observes him; him, and the way he fits so comfortably on the landscape of her bed, highlighted by the morning sunlight just beginning to stream through the windows. It fairly gilds him, burnishes the beige of his skin and brings the thick planes of his back, the scars on his shoulders, the lines of his neck into high relief. As if he has been carved into as reverently as any chuluu, the trials of his life written into the stone of his flesh for any to behold, if so granted the fortune.
These days, the fortune has been hers, and she cannot help eyeing the proof: in the luxurious stretch of him on her mattress, in the untamed flow of his loose hair across her coverlet, in the scatter of talon marks along the broad of his back, red and recent amongst long-healed scars. As if in the fit of her desire, she sought to leave her own history on his skin.
She may examine that more closely one day – history, and the impact she may wish them to have on one another’s – but for now, she cares only for the large black hedgehog of his head nestled near her hip, and the way it shakes with muffled laughter. When he finally chooses to reveal it, Hien’s face is alight with humor.
“No, I can certainly say no one has,” he answers with a chuckle. “Though a child in Reunion did once tell me it resembled a halgai that had fallen into a pot of soot black dye.” He tilts his head up at her, looking curious. “What do voidsent look like?”
“In a word? This.” After a short, hesitant moment, Odzaya touches her hand to his brow, just shy of his hairline, before allowing it to slowly ease its way into his mane, her fingers instantly disappearing into the thick of it. Hien’s smile turns toothy.
“Afraid it will bite?”
“Or swallow me whole,” she quips dryly, to his clear amusement. She fights her own smile in response. “Ensuring I am not overstepping bounds,” she answers honestly. “This is still new.”
Hien huffs a quiet laugh. “Aye, I suppose it is,” he agrees. Then returns the gesture, reaches up and grasps one of the long lavender braids hanging near his face, rolling it between his large fingers. As he does, he rolls further onto his back and nestles closer, his beard scratching at the skin and scale of her naked thigh, his lips inadvertently soothing the same spot as he speaks. “So is my being here, yes?”
Indeed. The last thing she expected during her minor stint in Limsa was to find him standing on her doorstep on the cusp of moonrise, his departure unknown to any and all, including Merlwyb and the dignitaries meant to be hosting him in the city proper. The disguise he wore – simple adventurer’s fare he procured from gods-knew-where – effectively threw her when she answered the door (for once actually taking the time to stay in one of her own dwellings), until he removed the bandana and his hair all but sprang free, shocking a laugh out of her system like precious few others could.
She should have sent him back; would have, if not for the excitement with which he described his stealthy escape (“easier than it should have been, to be honest. It makes me wonder…”), the single flower he coveted for her from a just-closing stand (“I suspect the man overcharged me, mayhaps thinking me a tourist? True enough, I suppose.”), as well as the way he lingered near the door, all soft eyes and boyish smile, as if waiting for her permission to truly call his risk worth the reward of her company.
He made it easier to give him that company than she chooses to admit. Makes it easy still, as she drags her nails across his scalp, silky, glossy spikes bowing beneath her palm and springing back to life in her wake, like tall grass, and he fairly melts under the ministrations of her hand, jade-green eyes sliding almost reverently shut as he arches into her touch, a sound emitting from his chest that rumbles into her skin and makes her stomach clench. “Should you not be leaving soon?” she asks him, a distraction for herself as memories of the past night set her nerves ablaze.
“I suppose I should be.” Contrary to the implication in his agreement, Hien merely shifts closer, a sigh, seeming near-blissful, releasing from between his lips. Odzaya counts the seconds, then minutes that pass in silence, with her fingers still his hair and his still tangled in the vines of hers. When the third passes, she smirks.
“You are not moving,” she observes.
“No?” he replies nonchalantly, eyes still shut. “I thought I had.”
“You have not,” she corrects, looking down at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I see.”
Another minute, then two, during which she thinks she may have to oust him herself, and then suddenly he is moving, releasing her hair and smoothly lifting the leg against which he rests. He plants it on his other side too quickly for her to react with more than a tiny yelp of surprise, so fluid in his motions that her balance is restored before she can register its loss as he simultaneously spreads her thighs and settles his head between them with aplomb.
Hien aims a smug grin up at her, surrounded by the roped curtain of her hair. “I have moved,” he proudly declares, to which Odzaya can only respond with a sharp tug to his mane and an incredulous huff of laughter.
“And yet failed to leave, you brat.”
Meeting her gaze, Hien’s grin gradually softens, quiets into something reminiscent of the previous evening when he first knocked on her door. “What if I said I wished to stay?” he suggests, almost bashful with the words. “Just a while longer?”
“Between my legs?” she asks, purposely obtuse as her brow lift once more.
He grins toothily again, his eyes crinkling at their corners. “For a start, I suppose.”
He plays with her hair again; the thick swath of his spreads all across one hip, trailing the width of her coverlet, almost a blanket in itself; she feels the tickling prickle of the strands on her skin, like silken canines.
It is still new, yes. The feel of him here, occupying intimate space like the friend he is and the lover he is becoming. New, but also already, strangely natural, like he belongs here, tangled up in her bedding, rather than alone in one of the Mizzenmast’s best rooms. Something else she may examine later, when he is not looking up at her like he would rather not be anywhere else, when she does not feel the inexplicable urge to straddle his hips and press the flat of her horn to his sun-warm chest, right over his heart, and deafen herself to all but its beat.
When she remains silent and still, his own thick brow lifts, his expression patient, yet gently entreating. A king asking permission.
...hells, but it works, as well as it did the previous eve.
This time, it is Hien caught in the throes of incredulity, grunting with surprise as Odzaya abruptly takes the pillow of her mound from under his head and he drops, only to be served a tantalizing view of her nude form as she stands over him, feet planted firmly on the mattress. It lasts not nearly long enough as she walks the length of it, turns, and unceremoniously drops once more upon it herself, forcing a guffaw from deep in his belly as she uses his own torso as her cushion, and stretches herself along the muscled planes of him, until her head is settled right over the center of his heaving chest.
“Is that a yes, then?” Hien asks between chuckles, his tone bright with humor. As he calms, he enfolds her in his arms, a heavy hand coming to rest on her head, to tangle back in her hair.
Odzaya’s half-lidded gaze follows the flutter of light-touched dust particles in the air. Already his heartbeat is lulling, tempting her to ignore responsibility and Azim’s call to rise, at least-
“For now,” she murmurs, and closes her eyes completely. “A time. Until your being here is no longer so new.”
“Ah,” Hien answers, and there he goes again with another sigh, settling even further into their hold, into her space, as if all he needed to do so was her blessing. “Most of the morning, then, I should think,” he postulates. “At the least.”
The satisfaction in his tone is as resonant as the thump of his heart in the hollow of her horn. Odzaya smirks. “We will see.”
A settling, it is. Into his hold, into this intimacy. Into this new normalcy, mayhaps, if ever it – this feeling, of him, of her, of them – becomes so natural as to become necessary.
Something to think about. Later.
#odzaya malaguld#hien rijin#hien x wol#otp: starry-eyed#storytime#in which hien manages to be both the littlest of shits#and the sweetest person alive#the man’s duality is astounding#what odzaya’s gonna do with him only nhaama knows#i had like 5 ideas for this prompt#all of which were developed in some way#only for me to circle all the way around back to this one#ie. the first one#the others might get attention later tho#also yes i changed their ship name#so far no regrets
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⚔️️ hello what about sword teacher king pal?
Lucina-sensei!
It’s Lucina. The biggest surprise he’s found at Garreg Mach so far, and probably the largest mystery? He’s tested her, and so as she him.
It’s without saying that for some reason, she clearly has a wealth of combat experience, the kind that comes from being in large-scale fights for decades. Did Lucina serve as a general, like Zelgius? He’s still unsure as to if she is Branded, but it would explain all of her skill rather neatly.
Whatever it is, she has enough wealth in the way of the sword to match the Library of Alexandria, and Ike is determined to try and learn a thing or two. Meeting a match in swordplay has awakened the zealous irrepressible youth in him, and one that’s new and has so many things to teach makes him ecstatic.
There’s no doubt that Lucina is the pinnacle of singular swordsmanship? He’s not quite sure what to call it. In many ways, it’s similar to Marth, but the style itself is far heavier. Her blade dances, but it’s a swansong of fluttering steel and severing guillotine. There’s a an unpredictable grace to them, but it’s been honed with mechanical precision, like the Goddess’ Chosen... But alive and breathing. It fascinates him. It’s like Falchion has taken up a life of its own in her hands, telling him of a legacy and how each strike is meant to carve out a new path of her will.
Hence, in a straight fight, Ike actually has a disadvantage at start and may lose straight away-- because Lucina simply has more experience. Any sort of attack he makes is something she’s seen a variant of, and in turn, he has to learn from what she’s doing. Her defense is absolute, and proofed against the heavier bladestyle that Ike prefers, to a certain point. Ike has no illusions that Lucina, herself, holds the same strangely penetrating power that Marth has. Perhaps it’s just a trick of the eye, but he can swear her brand flashes like a newborn star as she executes them-- perhaps that’s the power she’s gained from her blood.
Most of the time, he’s quite happy to watch and spar like this, because every match he comes away has him feel the improvement. Look-- Ranulf, that’s a prodigy! Lucina is one! If anything, he’s just picking up notes...
Er, anyway, if he actually wanted to win, Lucina has a few notable... weaknesses? He wouldn’t really call them that, just things she hasn’t practiced much in. She’s supremely skilled at defense and adapting to changing battlefield conditions, so he suspects that she’s fought monsters usually larger than her, and something he’s started to suspect-- things with worse footwork than she has. It’s-- how does he describe this... Her footwork is perfect, but it’s a perfect defense. When she starts going on the offense, occasionally there’s a point where he feels like her adaptive footwork is meant to take advantage of things that are slower in adapting to her.
It tells that she’s not as used to fighting someone of her own strength in a pure duel, one-on-one. He’s also noticed that she actually seems to have a somewhat average pool of swordbreaking techniques. It might be that she doesn’t favor them, but Exalted Falchion’s design looks exactly like it was meant to catch swords and break them! She instead has focused on her pure striking power and speed, as well as associated technique. It’s true that she does use breaking techniques-- but it’s just a little strange that she didn’t build a style around the base of her weapon’s strength...
All that comes down to what Ike needs to approach Lucina with-- a balance of averages, with just a little extra added in. Lucina is great at defense and pivoting and striking at weakpoints, so he needs to maintain an average of all three as a defense. He can’t be lacking in anything, and most of all, he has to remain patient. What he needs to do next is leverage his two advantages-- greater reach, strength-- and he suspects, natural stamina. Lucina’s endurance is nearly unbreakable, but her pool of strength for offense will lose power if he keeps forcing her to parry or deflect his strikes. She could dodge, which is what she likely did against the monsters she fought, but if he maintains enough precision, she’ll be forced to meet his sword. For each exchange, he’ll put in the general strength he uses and add a bit more, likely in the middle of the parry, so she’s forced to have to expend her own to match it.
In other words, unlike a feral creature, he’ll prefer ‘chasing’ Lucina’s sword over striking at vital points or using his strength to overwhelm her in a burst. He will attempt to stall her and derive a pattern from her strikes or techniques, and other tells if he has the time. As the time slips by, he’ll adapt and increase the pressure on her, focusing on detecting and analyzing her pace and technique changes.
He’ll throw in Luna and Sol at times, just to replenish energy and push Lucina’s repository of stamina. He might use other blade techniques as well-- so long as he sees it drain the heavy fencer’s stamina, and doesn’t overcommit. Things like Wrath are right out for that reason, and he has a suspicion that Lucina has some resistance to esoteric skills, so he likely won’t use any of Ragnell’s flames. He won’t really use Aether-- he suspects Lucina will not give him the chance to. Unless she does the same, of course-- he’ll simply match that and clash with that in turn, then reset.
Things that aren’t swordplay? Oh, he’ll throw those in, too-- so long as their precision work and require focus to dispel. Kicks, likely, targeted at vital joints if he’s given the chance. He will leave his gauntlet hand free for combat options.
Ike has no illusions that Lucina won’t adapt at least several times. He recognizes that, and he is ready and willing to match.
He has to be relentless and on her for every moment that exists between. This-- he’s used to. It’s what he’s trained for-- every spark run off the sessions with his father. Every screech as swordsmen and soldier locked blades. Every punishing staccato Mia put him through in the morning-- every morning. The mechanical, immaculate precision of the Goddess’ Chosen.
And Zelgius, eyes of abyssal calm staring back at his own, the glow of the tower sliding down the edge of Alondite like a single tear of the moon.
He knows his focus can last longer than hers. Every duel he’s been in with a matching sword, of conviction and skill, he’s had to stare death and friend and life in the eye on the blade’s edge, and win. All falls away until that remains, and in that moment, he never feels more alive.
...Right, he’s getting carried away. It’s been a long time since anyone’s pushed him to his limits! He has a right to be excited about this.
Maybe this is something he’d missed in his father’s swordsmanship. It turns out there was still more to go, after all. He’d suspected it. After all, Gawain had never lost in his prime. Perhaps this is why.
He’ll just have to work hard, and expand his horizons.
(asdlaksg im aware im incoherent, so unclear portion clarifications:
-Ike loses to Lucina on average at start. However, given time, he outramps her. --Ike’s tactical instinct and dueling adaptation are used to things that are stronger than him in most areas, where his only way of winning is to out-adapt all of those. Lucina fulfills those conditions.
-By putting pressure on her, he’s trying to chase her with Nihil to restrict her skill options. He does not expect this to last long.
-Skill use by him is optional, and he’s relying mostly on his greater stamina and laser focus to try and tide him through Lucina’s stamina. He has a suspicion that like Marth, she has an indomitable artificial pool, but lesser actual reserves-- so he’ll match her artificial pool with focus, and then chase through with his natural pool.
-‘Ike is a not a sword prodigy’ Poor self awareness. he’s a monster. Being able to match Zelgius of like 20 years of hardened swordsmanship in 6 years of combat is not natural in the slightest, especially since his inheritance is incomplete. Ranulf calls him out on it, and he has a nose for intrigue. He likely adapts within mere seconds of seeing a sword vector.)
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What Fundamentals? Revisiting Treasures in Disguise: The Ominous Ruins of Montenegrin Modernism
In today’s Montenegro, the remains of the 20th century architecture often stand as reminders of the opportunities squandered. Suffering the insufficient upkeep, poorly executed renovations, planned destruction, or death by neglect, modernist buildings are fading away – quietly retreating into the twisted skyline of a post-socialist city.
Read also “Emblem Of A Better Germany?”, “The Invisible Church” and “The Greek Experiment”
As the new urban reality emerges from the multiple crises of the last three decades, formed by piecemeal plans and projects (often permitted through murky decision-making procedures), sharp edges of the surviving modernist structures point towards a wistful “what if”. What if these buildings were used to envision and create cities that are more egalitarian, more sustainable, more just? Could the old idea of using architecture to make the city better reshape this used concrete into spaces for the community to learn and grow? Seems justified, reasonable, fundamental.
Treasures in Disguise at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. | Photo © Patricia Parinejad
In 2014, Fundamentals was the title of Venice Biennale, curated by Rem Koolhaas. The national curators were asked to respond to the topic of Absorbing Modernity 1914-2014, and Montenegro presented four of its modernist structures in an exhibition titled Treasures in Disguise: treasures for the undeniable value of the works on display, disguise for the veil of indifference and neglect enfolding them. The international team of curators behind the exhibition set out to explore what is to become of these and other modernist buildings scattered around Montenegro and to present them as resources, as something to work with, to build upon, rather than erase. It was a well-received effort: numerous visitors praised this opportunity to discuss the richness of historic layers, the relationship between architecture, society, and politics, and the importance of sustainable building practices. The unusual exhibition design was also appreciated for featuring large-scale models mounted in a narrow space, highlighting the discrepancy between the grandiose modernist structures and a tight spot they have been pushed into nowadays. Montenegrin Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism said how showing Treasures in Disguise in Venice “shows that Montenegro is ready to reevaluate its ignored architectural legacy and to rehabilitate buildings that are currently unused and decaying.” Then the exhibition ended.
Poster commenting on the treatment of the XX century architecture in Montenegro. | Source © Srđa Dragović
The concepts, the messages, and the ideas presented at the 2014 Biennale seemed to carry the potential to change the hearts, the minds, and the politics of modernist heritage protection. However, in the years since 2014, half a dozen of modernist buildings in Montenegro have been torn down, with many more scheduled for demolition. How does this make sense? The political support for rediscovering the Treasures in Disguise, voiced before the world in Venice, turned out to be entirely divorced from any actual, systemic action on behalf of Montenegrin authorities. This discrepancy between what gets promoted as important and what gets treated as important reflects the paradox of the contemporary spatial development of Montenegro, crucified between the idea of the world’s first ecological state [1] and the reality of utter economic dependence on mass tourism and foreign investment. Development policies keep reaffirming rather than trying to change this reality, hence creating a downward spiral in which both natural and architectural heritage are sacrificed, spatial resources depleted.
The avatars of the destroyed works of modern architecture in Montenegro. | Illustration © Srđa Dragović
The case of Hotel Fjord, one of the four buildings presented at the 2014 Biennale, is illustrative. Built in 1986 after the design by Zlatko Ugljen, whose work was showcased recently at MoMA’s exhibition Towards a Concrete Utopia, Fjord occupied a prominent location across the water from the Old Town of Kotor, hanging in a provocative balance opposite its Medieval walls. The fact that the hotel was included in the Venice Biennale exhibition did not save it from being demolished in the spring of 2018. The owner, eager to start developing a new project in its place, rushed to remove the building even though the demolition works would overlap and interfere with the upcoming tourist season. Once the hotel was turned into a heap of rubble, local landfills were not able to manage the sudden influx of such an enormous amount of solid waste. The debris stayed for more than a year on the spot where the hotel used to be, weighting heavily on two consecutive tourist seasons, reminding both the locals and the visitors that buildings cannot just vanish into a thin air. It was a practical lesson in sustainability, an illustration of the difficulty brought about by the arrogance of taking down an existing structure with plenty to offer, just for the sake of putting up something new and elusive. Case in point: Fjord’s plot remains vacant, as all the building activity in Kotor came to a halt due to ongoing concerns over a potential loss of the UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Praising sustainable while practicing unhinged development can only go so far. While it is not possible to know what comes next for the Bay of Kotor, it is clear that Fjord was denied a chance of a second life.
The foundational stone of Dom Revolucije lies discarded and abandoned in a city center parking lot. In the upper-right corner, a promotional banner for a local gym is visible. | Photo © Stojan Stamenić
Another structure included in the 2014 Pavilion, Dom Revolucije, never actually got to have a proper life at all. This giant memorial center designed by Marko Mušič – another important Yugoslavian architect – has been standing at the center of Nikšić since 1989, when its construction was interrupted due to a lack of funding. In the years since the Biennale, the curatorial team behind the Venice exhibition managed to help organize and win an international competition for the reconstruction of Dom Revolucije. Through a series of careful adaptations, the project was supposed to finally bring the estranged colossus into the city life. However, this attempt came undone and was discontinued soon after it started, as it became obvious the local authorities preferred not to stick to the plan and started recklessly reshaping the structure, tearing parts of it apart. The entire effort put Dom Revolucije in the spotlight – and possibly marked it open for business. Today, different sections of the building are rented out to various establishments (a gym, a supermarket, a TV studio, etc.) for a period of 30 years, along with a privilege to, seemingly, rebuild and adapt the structure as they wish. No unifying vision, no engagement with the past, no synergy effect: just an eclectic bunch of private commercial spaces, sharing the origin story of a treasure undisguised.
The events following the hopeful Montenegrin presentation of the modernist heritage at the 2014 Biennale reveal the lack of systemic consideration for spatial development. The absence of strategy stands in a way of creating a more nuanced, more inclusive approach to imagining urban future – and gives the floor to the highest bidder, along with the permission to move fast and break things. Within such a system nothing is perceived as essential, as part of the whole, as important enough to consider, to protect, to learn from: nothing is fundamental. That is why it would be a mistake to consider modernist buildings of Montenegro – or even its modernist ruins – as failures. The buildings did not fail, the system around them did. It is just that a few of them are still standing, as reminders that there (still!) is another way.
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VAB 07: Sonja Dragović
Sonja Dragović is a researcher in the fields of urban studies and critical geography. She obtained a joint master’s degree in urban studies in 2015 within the interdisciplinary program 4Cities, which consisted of four semesters of study and practice in Brussels, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Madrid. Prior to this, she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics. Her main interests include analyzing practices of urban activism and working with local communities towards improving participatory methods, public policies, and shared spaces. She is a member of KANA/Who if not an Architect, a group of architects and urban researchers dedicated to the preservation of modernist architectural heritage and to the study of policy and practice of contemporary urban development in Montenegro.
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Notes:
1. According to the country’s Constitution, Montenegro is an ecological state. The Declaration of the Ecological state was first adopted in 1991.
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⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆HEADCANON : RE/MIND SECRET EPISODE ( PART TWO )
WOW, it’s been a hot minute but I’m FINALLY happy with this. This is PART TWO of a THREE PART SERIES of HEADCANONS based around the secret episode and endings from RE/MIND. The first part ( which you can read HERE ) focuses on the CONTENT and LORE implied by the secret episode. This part focuses solely on his FIGHTING STYLE as per the boss battle at the end of the episode, whilst the third will focus more on Yozora’s CHARACTERISATION.
This HEADCANON is an amalgamation of what we can GLEAN from the Re:Mind boss battle itself, but ALSO includes a few of my own personal headcanons around Yozora’s FIGHTING STYLE AND ABILITIES, that aren’t directly EVIDENCED in the boss fight.
( WARNING: LONG POST + SPOILERS FOR RE:MIND BELOW THE CUT, INCLUDING SCREENSHOTS )
ONE. ┆ THE ORIGIN OF THE KING’S ABILITIES
It’s no secret that Yozora is equipped with a motley of abilities, most inhuman-- be it technological, or simply arcane. All of Yozora’s powers can be attributed to his astral core: the mechanical heart transplant tethered to the ichor of the stars. His standard abilities, such as basic combat skills, were obtained from his time under Gigas Corporation, training as a weapon of war whilst being primed to become the king of humanity. Some were even ‘coded’ into him, as part of his core’s programming.
His more ethereal abilities however, came at two costs. One, his own lifeforce: imbuing his crossbow and sword with his core’s astral energy. And two, his allegiance with the Watchmen of Fate, and consequent ascension as the god of death: granting him access to the Realm of the Dead along with other divine powers.
TWO. ┆ YOZORA’S FIGHTING STYLE & WEAPONS
Yozora is a considerably all-rounded fighter, with an equal balance of both melee attacks with his plasma sword, and ranged attacks with his crossbow. He excels at speed and evasion, and is particularly acrobatic. Making keen use of his surroundings, Yozora particularly likes to use setups/traps from a distance to snare his opponents, such as through his forcefields and vortexes, before launching himself into close combat. His ‘default’ strategy is playing defensive, keeping a hawkish eye on his opponent’s openings, before switching to a more violent offence.
Yozora primarily uses two forms of weapon: a crossbow and a plasma sword. Yozora uses his plasma sword for melee / close-quarters combat, whilst Yozora uses his crossbow as a mode of casting magic, similar to a mage’s staff. Lasers rarely shoot directly from the crossbow itself; rather, Yozora casts sigils with his trigger, which in turn summons lasers and forcefields.
In the absence of his weapons ( such as being too low on astral energy, rendering him unable to summon his weapons from the void ), Yozora isn’t averse to using hand-to-hand combat. This is often a last resort however, and whilst ruthless in fist-fighting, Yozora would prefer to retreat and recoup his strength.
THREE. ┆ GIGAS INHERITED POWERS / ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING
Yozora shares many abilities with the Gigas units, in particular, the Power ( red ) and Speed ( blue ) classes. The following abilities were inherited from Gigas Corporation, as a part of his military training and programming obtained from his astral core:
✧ LASERS
Standard laser technology from Gigas Corporation. Being equipped with Power and Speed Gigas unit programming, Yozora wields red lasers ( Power class ) and blue lasers ( Speed class ). Red lasers are standard, whilst blue lasers are unblockable; using his blue powers expends a greater amount of his astral energy, and thus Yozora will only resort to blue lasers when he has the losing hand-- hence why Yozora primarily uses blue lasers in the second stage of his boss battle. Originally programmed to shoot directly from his crossbow, Yozora can now shoot lasers from the spiritual realm, thanks to tethering his crossbow to his astral core. The arcane nature of these lasers can be gleaned from the sigils that appear before and during their summoning. ( seen above )
✧ DANGER DASHING
Like Gigas units, Yozora is able to ‘Danger Dash’ ( phase ) in short bursts, expending his astral energy to do so. Pre-ascension, Yozora could only dash without phasing completely - i.e. he is still in the physical realm, and can still be seen and hit. After ascending as the god of death, Yozora is able to phase completely into the spiritual realm, preventing him from being hit ( more details of this in the section below ).
✧ MAG ASSEMBLE
A standard ability of all Gigas units, Yozora can ‘Mag Assemble’, or move things with gravitational force. This Gigas technology is attributed to the cosmic nature of the astral core, which harnesses a similar gravitational pull to stars and black holes. Yozora casts this with his crossbow. With Mag Assemble, Yozora is able to move objects considerably larger than him, such as a whole Gigas unit, as seen in the Verum Rex trailer.
✧ CHARGE STRIKE
Yozora can charge his plasma blade for a short period of time, to invoke a more powerful attack. He directly imbues it with the astral energy of his Gigas core, hence why engine whirrs can be heard, and why he remains stationary during the charging. Post ascension, Yozora pairs this with Danger Dashing / phasing-- to rapidly close the distance and throw his enemies off-guard-- and steal lifeforce with each slash.
FOUR. ┆ POWERS & ABILITIES OBTAINED POST ASCENSION
Many of Yozora’s existing abilities have been enhanced, and new abilities discovered, after Yozora’s decision to ascend as the real Verum Rex-- aka the god of death. Most of these abilities and enhancements are linked to the spiritual realm, aka the Realm of the Dead, which Yozora is now able to access. The following abilities were obtained as a result of his divine ascension:
✧ ACROBATICS & ARCANE WEAPONRY
Much as Yozora can Mag Assemble, Yozora isn’t completely bound to gravity himself due to his astral core-- he is able to harness or reject gravity at will-- hence why he is so weightless in his moves. He can somersault, backflip and jump with minimal exertion. However, post-ascension, he is in full synchronisation with the cosmos, and is able to float at will. Yozora can also command his weapons to float, such as his plasma blade, summoning them directly from the spiritual realm. When he is out of combat, Yozora ‘stores’ his crossbow and blade in the Realm of the Dead.
✧ PHANTOM PHASING
Whilst Yozora was previously only able to phase in the physical realm, post-ascension, Yozora can phase in and out of the Realm of the Dead, creating crimson spectres in his wake. He primarily uses this as an evasive manoeuvre, pairing this with summoning lasers and unexpected assaults to really throw off his opponent.
When he phases into the spiritual plane, he cannot be hit by melee attacks or most magic. However, Thunder magic can ‘shock’ him out of the spiritual plane, as his ability to phase is linked directly to his astral core: a mechanical heart. Thunder magic essentially ‘short circuits’ the core long enough to bring Yozora back to the physical realm.
✧ OF TETRAHEDRONS & ECLIPSES - FORCEFIELDS & TRAPS
Yozora has a range of traps at his disposal. One of these traps is a tetrahedron of phantom blades, which ensnares his opponent in a pyramid of plasma, before unleashing a series of lasers at them. Thunder magic can also disarm & shatter this trap, as the phantom blades are projected from his Gigas core. The other is a spherical forcefield, summoned directly from his crossbow. This is often combined with Mag Assemble to manoeuvre or freeze his opponent.
✧ “ASTRAL PROJECTION”, ANTI-GRAVITY CHAMBER
What I endearingly call Yozora’s ‘disco ball’, this is the mechanical sphere Yozora summons during his DM ( desperation move ) in his boss battle. It is in fact, a projection of Yozora’s Gigas core-- and it holds exactly the same properties as his actual core, just on a grander scale.
Thanks to Gigas core’s cosmological properties ( note how it forms a galaxy within the chamber! ), the astral projection is capable of manipulating gravity to Yozora’s will. Within the chamber, Yozora can enforce anti-gravity, and suspend it just as immediately. ( When it does this, the chamber and astral projection pulse purple - the colour of karma! )
The projection also has access to the battle data stored in Yozora’s core, as a part of the standard Gigas technology. Because of this, Yozora can summon ‘creations’ of himself and the Gigas units, as seen in the boss battle. Note that Yozora can only ever summon large creations within the chamber; this is because they are all projected by the sphere. Yozora can only project creations of himself or Gigas units, as he has the most knowledge of their battle data.
Eventually, Yozora collapses the chamber and the astral projection, which in turn, collapses all the gravity inside it, creating a vortex that pulls everything in. He can also summon this vortex without his astral projection, as seen in the Verum Rex trailer: pulling all the Gigas units in to strike them down.
✧ “EVENT HORIZON” - LIFE DRAINING VACUUM
Inspired by this tweet, noting the similarity between this particular move and scientific diagrams of black holes. Yozora can summon a vacuum with his crossbow, which draws in anything that comes into contact with it, much like how a black hole consumes all light in its peripheral. A black hole reduces all matter atom by atom, and Yozora does exactly this when anything enters his vacuum. As the god of death, it is Yozora’s role to sever body from soul to reincarnate you-- Yozora literally reduces your corporeal form in an effort to reap your soul.
As per the ‘anatomy’ of a black hole ( as shown in the diagram above ), Yozora is the ‘singularity’, and the mouth of the vacuum is the ‘event horizon’ - aka, the point of no return. Sora reached the point of no return after abusing the power of waking, and Yozora is the singularity which meets him at the end of it. The event horizon is the Final World, which is quite literally an endless horizon. This move is not only representative of Yozora’s role in the universe, but the purpose he was built for. Much like a black hole, he was created to the the endless void to consume the Verum Regina’s endless light. Yozora has two variations of this ability: a quicker vacuum done within close-quarters ( seen below ), or slower more powerful vacuum done at range ( seen above ).
Through this move, Yozora drains Sora’s lifeforce, but also steals his healing items. Because of the necrotic nature of his role, Yozora only knows how to harm and not to heal-- in other words, he has no independent means of restoring life, including to himself. Yozora drains life from others, and resorts to using their healing potions and Kupo coins as the only means of recovering himself.
✧ THE KEYBLADE THIEF - SOUL ABSORPTION
Perhaps the most interesting ability of all, Yozora has the ability to absorb Sora’s keyblade-- and all of its powers-- and merge it with his plasma blade. Note that he is physically taking Sora’s keyblade, and not merely replicating it, as Sora is unable to summon his keyblade when Yozora is in possession of it. Yozora can only do this for a limited amount of time, as he is literally binding the keyblade-- i.e. extension of Sora’s heart-- with his own life force. Yozora cannot absorb regular weapons, as keyblades are bound and powered by the heart, much like his own crossbow and sword. He is essentially, as the god of death, stealing a part of Sora’s soul and using it for himself.
With Sora’s keyblade, Yozora has access to abilities he would not otherwise have in his regular form, such as the use of elemental magic. Upon releasing Sora’s keyblade, Yozora summons phantoms of it from the spiritual realm in a barrage of heavy attacks.
#tw: long post#long post //#( IT'S )#( FINALLY )#( D O N E )#( I'M SHAKING )#( honestly i've probably STILL missed out something but djfhdfjhgdfjhg )#( i can always add to it later i guess )#⚔️ *:･ﾟ✧┆a synthetic heart bled dry by the hands of fate. ❪ headcanons ❫#( my son is so STRONG i'm such a proud mom honestly i'M )
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The Toughest Lizard On Earth
Ghidorah is taking a long, slow boat ride from Antarctica back to Isla de Mara, courtesy of a rather reluctant supercarrier. It is, they think, a fairly pleasant ride.
Until Godzilla shows up.
And Ghidorah doesn't even know how to properly diss him.
This is part of an ongoing series of Rodorah one-shots—although this one is low on the Rodorah and mainly pure shenanigans. If you don’t wanna read the others, all you need to know is: Ghidorah's wing is currently shredded, hence their inability to fly; Ghidorah does not speak any Earth languages but is slowly learning Rodan’s; and Rodan goes by Nido and doesn’t refer to anyone by their canon names because his species names people based on the volcano/island/geological feature they call home. Links to the other fics are in the source at the bottom of this post.
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They didn't like riding on a machine maker ship. It reminded them too much of things they'd tried to leave behind eons ago—of metal militaries and hangars and holding pens. Of being someone's tool.
At least they could comfort themselves with the knowledge that this world's machine makers saw them as an enemy rather than a weapon.
One bold little soldier had circled around in front of them to point some kind of gun at their faces. What a heavy weapon for such a little creature! The gun was longer than its leg. Third slowly licked the gun out of the soldier's hands, made direct eye contact with the soldier, and swallowed its weapon.
No one else pointed guns at them.
The ship was painfully slow. Slow enough that even the red sprite had grown tired of serving as their escort and explained that he was going to head north—they presumed to get away from the cold—over the horizon, but close enough that he'd be able to hear if they yelled for him. They didn't begrudge him for taking a break. At this rate, they suspected it would take them half a month to get home, maybe more.
Perhaps they should tell the machine makers to drop them off somewhere they could absorb enough energy to regrow their wing. They were getting hungry—had been hungry since repairing Third after his decapitation—but they were pretty sure they could still mend the tears without straining themselves too far. A volcano would do as an energy source. When the red sprite came back, they could ask him where the nearest volcano was. (They actually had enough words that they could ask now. They were... proud of that. They were puzzled by being proud of that, when usually they were so proud of getting around from world to world without deigning to communicate with the natives—without deigning to get attached.)
For now, though, they'd content themselves with the ride.
It wasn't a bad ride, all things considered—aside from the uncomfortable sense of being in the hands of someone's military. Free drinks. They hadn't even realized they could find oil on this planet, much less that the machine makers liked to conveniently can it and leave it sitting around where they could devour it. They'd have to be on the lookout for more cans in the future. They'd resisted the urge to clear the deck of them, but they were now just tipsy enough to actually relax.
Third had let his head roll sideways and was marveling at how that made the ocean look both horizontal and vertical when their fields of vision overlapped. Second had noodled his way across First's neck to plop his head on top of Third's, and was now determinedly ignoring Third flicking out his tongue to poke at the bottom of Second's chin. First had curled up against them both, shut his eyes, and was dozing, enjoying the hazy light faintly glowing on their scales after a whole night in a frozen wasteland. Half a month of this would probably be torture, but day one was alright.
Then the little king poked his head out of the water.
Second and Third stared at the dark grey blur in the middle of their overlapping views, befuddled. First opened his eyes, just made the view more confusing, and blinked slowly.
Third recognized him first and jerked up, causing Second to slide off and land snout first on the deck. Him! What was he doing here? What did he want? Had he heard about their injury? Did he think he could kill them while they were vulnerable. They'd see about that.
One of them tried to stand on their wings and feet. Another tried to raise their wings threateningly. The end result was that they got halfway to standing, lost their balance, crashed chest-and-necks first onto the deck, and ended up rolled sideways with one leg propping up their butt and the other leg twisted sideways under them. Oh, this was not intimidating. Maybe they were more tipsy than they'd thought.
The little king, eyes barely above the water line, stared at them.
They hissed and menacingly rattled the tail that hadn't gotten caught under them.
The little king growled so low, they could feel it vibrating the ship. Oh, they ought to zap him for that. He would deserve it.
What if they got into a real fight, though? The ship would immediately sink, and then they'd be in the water with him and unable to fly, and that would be that for them.
So, they glowered at him a moment longer—and then pointedly turned away, to study the horizon as though it was far more interesting than anything he could be doing. (Two of them did, anyway. Second was put on keep-glaring-at-him duty. Because one of them had to watch him in case he tried anything, and because Second had the best glare.) What did the little king matter to them, anyway? They were on a boat and he wasn't. They had free drinks. He wished he was on a boat with free drinks. After all he did to help the itty bitty creatures of this world, and they didn't appreciate him at all, did they? No. They gave free rides to their near-conqueror instead. Look. Gaze upon their glorious ride and despair.
The little king continued to watch them with a complete lack of anything that even slightly resembled envy. Then he sank back down beneath the water.
They waited until they were absolutely sure he was gone.
Then they lifted their heads and shouted, "Hey! Nido!"
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Nido didn't think the golden ones were in any real trouble. They hadn't sounded distressed. All the same, he took off from the beach he'd been exploring (it hadn't existed the last time he was awake!) and flew to their side as fast as possible.
Partially, he admitted, because he wanted them to see how fast he could cut across the surface of the sea.
When he reached the boat, the golden ones looked about the same as he'd left them. Still a little... drowsy, maybe? Slightly out of it. But not unwell, which was what mattered. Definitely not under attack by a sea serpent or anything, which was the important part. Trying to hover in place without blowing at the boat, he asked, "What?"
"What is bad name?"
Okay, no, Nido now had no idea what was going on. "What?"
The question didn't seem to please them. They huddled together, silently ruminating over how to clarify their meaning. "You fight... it," they said, with a vague gesture with their good wing to indicate "it." Some unspecified enemy, probably. "You not love it. Not love."
"Hate," Nido supplied.
"You hate it. You... love it loses."
"You want it to lose?"
They gave him a skeptical look. "Yes?"
Nido clicked encouragingly, go on.
"You bad name it," the golden ones said. "What is bad name?"
Oh! Okay, a word for the kind of bad name you call someone you hate. "Insult," Nido said.
"Insult." They somehow turned the word into five syllables, i-nn-sii-li-T. It was kind of an amazing sound. "Ihi." And, apparently satisfied with their answer, they immediately switched topics. "Where is... near nest?"
"Why?" Nido asked, before remembering they hadn't covered that word.
They apparently guessed the meaning. "We want us... to... sit nest."
"Good!" Nido exclaimed. That was their most complex sentence to date. And of course they wanted a volcano—even without a proper layer of armor, they still had to find lava soothing when they were wounded, didn't they? Lava was inherently soothing.
Well, there was no place like home, and certainly no place like a crater that one of his own kind had carefully shaped into a cozy nest; but in desperate times Nido figured any vent with a bit of magma would do. After all day out on a metal boat in the ocean, immediately following a night out in a blizzard—the golden ones had to be cold, damp, and sore. Nido wondered if their thin gold armor eroded like stone did.
"Yes. I fly. You follow." Nido darted north and waited, circling in the air until the golden ones had glared at the humans until they got with the program and turned to follow.
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It took the agonizingly slow human boat over a day—but at last, they made it to the nearest volcano Nido knew of.
To humans, the island in question is called Bouvet Island. Bouvet Island has the distinction of being the single island farthest from any other piece of land on the planet.
It also has the distinction of having 93% of its surface area covered by a glacier, due to the fact that its volcano hasn't erupted in four thousand years.
The golden ones gave Nido a forlorn look.
Nido shifted uncomfortably on his icy perch. "It was supposed to be warmer."
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The Badass Fish—as he tended to think of himself when he was around the three-headed space freak—The Badass Fish had been following the boat for the past day.
And he didn't like this.
He didn't like the sound of the space freak's beating heart so close to the sound of a thrumming human ship. He didn't like hearing Nido's cries so nearby. The humans couldn't be stupid enough to help the freak, could they?
The Badass Fish wasn't sure. Humans, he had found, were collectively a pretty stupid bunch of people. He didn't have proof, but he was pretty sure they'd brought the freak back to life in the first place. Who knew what else they might do?
So he followed.
The freak departed from the boat on a small island in the middle of nowhere, and the boat hastily chugged away. He also didn't like that. He could hear the slow, tired churning of magma deep beneath the island; he could hear the cracking and splitting of ice above. If the freak planned to dig out the volcano, then that made this lonely island a little too similar to the kind of place he'd been when he'd mind controlled the planet. Did the freak need an island volcano to min control the planet? He didn't want to find out. But it was possible.
And so, The Ass-Kickingest Fish Ever swam into shallow water, lifted his head just above the water line, and observed.
It took the freak a moment to notice him; he'd worked himself deep into a plateau of glacial ice, and was initially only visible as a moving golden glow from behind the ice. But one head popped out to scan its surroundings, caught sight of him, and then all three were focused on him.
The freak narrowed all six eyes at him.
The Meanest Bitch In Town narrowed his right back.
"You," the freak snarled venomously. He clambered out of the pit he'd dug in the ice, practically slithering down to reach the water line. The freak was favoring one wing. Was the other wounded? "Hey, you."
He jerked his head a bit higher out of the water. The freak could talk now? He'd never done that before. The Baddest Boy In The Seven Seas had tried countless times to communicate with him—in every language he knew, in body language, in Mothra-assisted telepathy even—and now, suddenly, the space freak knew how to speak?
Maybe Mothra had been right, that there was a chance he could reform. If he was even learning to speak... "What?" he asked.
The freak stared blankly at him. "... What?"
Oh. The freak could only speak volcano pter language. Figured. The Great And Terrible Gorilla-Whale switched dialects. "What is it?"
The freak drew himself as high as he could without switching to bipedalism and said to him, with equal measures of menace, derision, and hatred, "Insult."
He stared at the space freak.
The space freak stared down at him, looking three shades of smug as hell.
The Reptilian Beast Feared By All In The Galaxy Who Value Their Continued Survival said, "You're an idiot."
"What?"
The Undisputed Master Of Both Land And Sea And Also Sometimes The Air When His Sister Is There snorted, turned around, and kicked back into deep water.
Nah.
This guy wasn't destroying the world today.
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(Replies/reblogs are welcome & encouraged! Check the “source” link below for my masterlist of Ghidorah-centric and Rodorah fics, as well as my AO3 and Ko-fi links.)
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@ckret2 replied:
Have you written a post yet on why their species claims planets as their territory, destroys them, and then moves on?
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Thanks for being the first to respond to my request! :D Sorry this took a bit longer than I’d like, it’s been chillin’ in my Drafts with some other posts that I feel don’t meet my quality standards just yet (lol jk I have no standards). This is all over the place and probably more than a little ramble-y, so brace yourselves XD
I have made a post on territorial behavior, but it doesn’t actually touch on why they do what they do. This is a topic I have contemplated on-and-off for, but never made a consensus on which canon to go for.
What is established in my stories already is that Ghidorah destroys planets because it’s instinct to them. They hatched with this instinct, it’s not something they ever questioned on doing. They just DEW ET because it feels nice to indulge this impulse, like they’re doing what they’re supposed to do and fulfilling a purpose they seem built for. It’s fun and satisfying to them, thus encouraging them to continue following that instinct! Like the joy a cat has while hunting; they take pleasure in exercising what they’re built to do and so they’ll continue doing it even if they aren’t hungry, up until they get bored! Except Ghidorah doesn’t get bored of it, likely due to how much time it takes to get from planet-to-planet, star-to-star.
The territorial behavior they display towards each other is instinct as well. When there’s another Ghidorah trying to snatch their planet, they feel an angry impulse towards them. Like how I imagine any solitary animal feels when an intruder appears in their territory. As dragons, Ghidorah are a very prideful species and that pride has them refuse to share the destruction of a planet with another of their kind. It’s like insulting their abilities and taking away the pleasure of knowing they brought an entire planet to its knees single-handedly. That feeling of power is something desired in all three heads and it’s less power if you’re not doing ALL of the destruction. Also, if they allow another Ghidorah in on the party, that Ghidorah is taking away fun THEY could be having! They want the whole planet as their playground, not half of it, so this other Ghidorah can go f-themselves on a DIFFERENT planet!
And from a story-writing angle, we don’t need Ghidorah being a social creature swarming planets in an unstoppable army. Territorial behavior seems like a perfect excuse to avoid that level of pure OP-ness!
But instinct isn’t good enough for me in this post. This post isn’t nearly long enough! WHY does that instinct exist?
I personally lean towards it being a natural evolution of their kind (You do the experiment-by-evil-aliens angle on their origin so well, I feel I can’t tread on that lol). Perhaps their species were birthed from creatures who are naturally territorial on the planet they originated from and this territorial behavior carried over into present-day. But space is so vast and most of it is so empty. It lacks any clear borders and that empty space holds nothing desirable, it would be a waste to guard it. But planets do have that tangible border that they can mark and chase others from and are the real treasures that Ghidorah seek. It’s more efficient to set up territory one planet at a time long enough to have their fun little power-trip before moving on to another.
Perhaps their instinct for destruction is to eliminate future threats and competition that may spring forth if they allowed another species to go space-faring.
Their evil nature? That certainly contributes to why they want planetary destruction as well. But how can their evil nature be species-wide if I’m going the natural route? There’s a big set-back to this option. There’re plenty of violent animals in the natural world capable of terrible cruelty, and some individuals of certain species like humans and dolphins take sadistic pleasure in it, but can any of them be considered evil on a species-wide level? Perhaps our specific Ghidorah is unusually sadistic, psychotic, and violent even among their own kind. Yes, they all have destructive instincts to destroy any life-form outside their own species that they come across, but perhaps our trio of bois takes it to a whole new level? I’ve stated before that our trio refuses pregnancy and its limitations so much that they will resort to killing their potential mate if they have to, should they be on the losing end of their ritualized courtship battle. This is not a usual occurrence among their kind (lest they meet with extinction). Perhaps they’re a bit of an anomaly and maybe there’s even some Ghidorah out there that can ignore their destructive instincts and become a force for good? *Looks at GMK’s Ghidorah*
…..
Granted, THAT Ghidorah was never meant to be a Ghidorah in the first place, hence the amount of OOC, so I dunno if I should even acknowledge its existence…
I don’t think I will. Ghidorah’s asshole-ness is so intense, it’s on a genetic level! There! That’s how it’ll be on the ‘natural route’. Natural evil.
Alternatively to this natural route, supernatural elements aren’t anything new in Godzilla. So this opens my second theory that Ghidorah’s species are of a more supernatural origin and that can give reason behind why they go around destroying shit. Ghidorah is often described as evil incarnate. The devil symbolism in the monsterverse with Ghidorah is very prominent throughout the movie. Not saying Ghidorah is the devil, but they clearly want to convey their demonic nature as being unnatural. Like how Mothra is practically a deity with reincarnation, and transferring power, and somehow influencing an entire lineage of chinese-female-twin-humans that each have a special, implied telepathic, connection to her and everything (try to tell me that happens naturally lol), Ghidorah and their species was perhaps made by the same supernatural forces that created Mothra specifically to cause the destruction of other lifeforms. Balance the good with evil.
Either way, like how even parasites have their purpose on earth, maybe Ghidorah’s destructive actions serve a purpose on a grand scale. Perhaps the destructive actions of Ghidorah is like the universe’s way of hitting the reset button on individual planets. Like how a wildfire destroys life wherever it goes, but in its wake, allows for a clean slate, for NEW possibilities to spring forth. Like how an erupting volcano can create a new island.
Ghidorah is a mass extinction event in the form of a living creature, wiping out life and leaving planets desolate, but in doing so, allowing new life to potentially start over in a new environment. They don’t stick around to know the hidden good in their evil, and yeah it sucks for those on the receiving end of this mass extinction, but the old has to make way for the new.
Oh, and Ghidorah’s just an asshole. That works too.
Anyway, nothing’s set in stone yet, hence why this is all over the place and got somewhat off-topic. My decision to make Ghidorah a species rather than a single individual was something I’ve contemplated on for a while but finally made official while writing ‘Brother, my Brother’. Aka, it was a recent decision. Therefore, I’m still working out the fine details and if anyone has suggestions, I’m always open for listening! I’m also still open to topic-requests for more Ghidorah/Rodorah post, so whatever you guys feel like asking, shoot it to meh! :D
#godzilla#king of the monsters#kotm#ghidorah#king ghidorah#this is all over the place#i apologize#reply#ckret2
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