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eaglefairy · 2 months

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I have no liveblog to offer this weekend, so instead please take 2000 words of Meyneth analysis because I have opinions and I'm no longer afraid to share them. Summary: According to the canon of xenoblade 1, Meyneth is either an existentially less powerful god than Zanza, or her stated morals are in direct conflict with the actions she takes within the plot of the game. I walk through the reasons the former is at most implied by the game while being contradicted by the game's events and lore and what about Meyneth's characterization points towards the latter explanation. Huge thanks to @likestoimagine16 for chatting with me about this and looking this over before I posted it, it was super fun!

(Before we begin, a note: all of the following analysis is based solely on the canon of Xenoblade 1. I will not be incorporating any potentially relevant information from 2, Future Connected, or Future Redeemed. Anything from after the first game is just not true to who Meyneth is or to the characterizations of the people surrounding her in 1.)

Introduction For all of her stated importance in-game as the Mechonis's soul, Meyneth really does not do a lot during the game. The sum total of her actions are as follows:

Speaks to Zanza at Prison Island, begging him to cease their war and let the living be at peace

Saves the party from Egil at Galahad Fortress

Briefly acts from within Fiora to guard the party from Gadolt after his boss fight, but does not speak

Reveals herself properly for the first time in Agniratha and exposits the history of the Machina to the party

Saves the party from the explosion and holds them in the air long enough for Miqol to catch them

Battles Zanza at Mechonis Core and dies

At first glance, this doesn't seem too terrible. Zanza also doesn't actively do a ton over the course of the game; in fact, he probably does fewer discrete actions as himself than Meyneth does. There is one big difference between them, though: Zanza is inactive because he has a plan. He's controlling the narrative via the passage of fate, making him extremely active even if the party and player don't know he's there. Meyneth, on the other hand, is almost entirely reactive to what Zanza is doing and gives us no indication that she has any sort of plan to fight him. The most she does directly as a means of fighting him is ask to talk to him at Prison Island (which Zanza immediately rebuffs) and then debate him on philosophy before dying at Mechonis Core.

Option 1: Weaker God I can see two potential explanations for this inaction. Option one: she’s just less powerful than him, and so any attempt by her to fight him is immediately doomed to fail. There are some things in-game that support this. Most strikingly to me, she and Alvis never directly interact. For a while I was concerned that they never directly acknowledge each other’s existence at all, leaving open the possibility that Meyneth doesn’t know Alvis exists*. Alvis does have a single line of thought immediately pre-Mechonis Core where he acknowledges that it’s Meyneth residing within Fiora. However, Meyneth herself never acknowledges Alvis. If only Zanza has direct access to Alvis’s power in Providence, that would in fact make Meyneth significantly less powerful and extremely disadvantaged against him.

*To be clear, I don’t actually think this is the case. Based on everything else in the game, it would be absurd if Meyneth didn’t know about Alvis. Where else could she possibly get her divine power from? However, I do think it’s notable that the writers didn’t consider it necessary or narratively valuable to show Alvis and Meyneth interacting as an overall indicator of her status in the narrative, so I’m pointing it out here.

However, very little else in the game supports this. Both Zanza and Meyneth have titan bodies, they seem to be about evenly matched within those bodies given that the battle at the beginning of the game ended in a standstill draw and not Zanza winning right then and there, and both Zanza and Meyneth seem to have created successful civilizations of people on their titan bodies.

If anything, Meyneth might have been “better” at it, as the Machina worship her directly while neither the Homs nor the High Entia know of Zanza. The Homs do hold the Monado in reverence as the fabled sword of the Bionis that can cut through Mechon and they have their funerary rites centered on the Bionis, but neither of those require a direct knowledge of Zanza of the kind we see the Machina have of Meyneth. The High Entia I find even more interesting; while it would make sense for them to have intentionally erased the cultural knowledge of Zanza after the first battle of the titans when they sealed Arglas and the Monado away, there’s no evidence of that cultural knowledge ever existing, considering there are multiple side quests concerning High Entian history and not a hint of Zanza’s presence as an object of worship. (Would the Valak Mountain War God count as an aspect of Zanza in this sense? Interesting idea to think about…)

Additionally, Zanza says “Now that I have both Monados, I should be at one with the passage of fate,” during one of the cutscenes before the final boss fight. That implies that Meyneth’s presence in this world as the bearer of a Monado interfered with his control over the passage of fate (which is corroborated by Shulk interfering with Zanza’s sight during the final battle). That in turn suggests that Meyneth had some amount of power over fate as a god, if we believe control over fate to be something that can be divided as Zanza alludes to in his dialogue. All of this leads me to believe that if Meyneth is a weaker god than Zanza, it doesn’t affect any of her actions in the backstory or during the events of the game.

Option 2: Weaker Writing That leaves the other option: a writing flaw in which Meyneth’s stated character does not align with her actions and morals within the game. We’ve been through her actions, but what are her stated morals? She believes in the right of life to self-determination. She sees Zanza’s actions specifically as directly in conflict with said stated right, and potentially the existence of gods as a whole. Most of all, she believes in peace to the exclusion of things such as revenge or justice. She (and the other Machina) want Egil to give up his plan of revenge and live in peace with them to heal from what Zanza has done. When she’s speaking to Zanza telepathically on Prison Island, she asks him how many more he’ll kill and then tells him she’s there to talk. Even when they’re battling in Mechonis Core, Meyneth is more focused on arguing against his philosophy and telling him that gods should not interfere with the lives of their people.

This is the heart of the problem. Meyneth is portrayed as an unconditionally good character, Zanza’s rival in every way who wants mortal lives to be lived in peace, not under the tyranny of gods. However, her actions and apparent values within the game make her near criminally passive against a god who fundamentally does not care about any of that. Zanza creates and destroys all life in order to sustain his own existence (and I have to assume also Meyneth’s? If she’s figured out the secret to divine immortality and hasn’t shared it with Zanza to make him stop that just makes her even worse, so…). Narrative choices are narrative choices, but that Meyneth would still be at the “I can fix him” stage after who knows how many cycles of this is a narrative choice that strains my disbelief.

Characters choosing to adhere to their morals even when it puts them at a disadvantage against their enemies is not a bad thing; however, having her hold to pacificism to this extent just makes her seem selfish and callous. It is simply incompatible with her stated goal of opposing Zanza when Zanza’s actions are so extreme. And to be clear, her choice to continue to try and talk Zanza down wouldn’t be so bad if the narrative didn’t absolutely stonewall her for it. It’s very clear that Zanza is not open to negotiation, and Shulk doesn’t win by convincing him that living beings have inherent value outside of the resource they are to him. It just makes Meyneth look silly to keep trying to talk the genocidal maniac down from doing genocide.

Objections Before I conclude, I want to take a moment to address some objections I could see to what I’ve laid out here so far. First, as far as her actions go, Meyneth does have Vanea place her into Fiora with the stated intent to get closer to Shulk, but it’s still unclear what the end goal was there. Was it to counterbalance Zanza’s influence on Shulk as the wielder of the Monado? If so, Meyneth does remarkably little towards that goal. The party isn’t ascending the Mechonis because of anything Meyneth said to them, they’re going up to fight Egil. They don’t even know Meyneth is there until Agniratha, and the exposition there is mostly delivered by hologram. Meyneth never directly interacts with Shulk about anything, let alone the cycle of war, which I feel is the bare minimum action if her goal is to erode Zanza’s influence on Shulk.

Notably, there are some suggestions in-game that imply peace with Zanza could be possible. While I wouldn’t believe Zanza’s definition of “friendship” that he says he longed for at the end of the game to be reliable or at all similar to what friendship actually is, Alvis does repeat that Zanza wanted friendship and I’m much more inclined to take him at his word. After the final battle, Alvis says that Zanza’s future and the desires of the party (and by extension Meyneth) could have coexisted, “but that time has passed”. However, the game doesn’t indicate exactly when the time passed; the timing certainly implies that it was Zanza’s death that ended the possibility, but there’s no reason it couldn’t have been earlier.

In addition, we’re given no indication of how likely that event was. Given that nothing else in the game supports Zanza’s world being compatible with the freedom of mortal lives, I find it likely that the chance was infinitesimally small, something never quite impossible but extremely unlikely nonetheless. While this does open up the possibility that Meyneth was justified in continuing to try to talk to him, the way it’s tossed in at the last second and is only told to us, never shown in any way throughout the game (through, say, High Entian legends or any kind of relationships between Zanza and his disciples) make me more inclined to believe it’s a last-second effort to add false depth to Zanza’s character.

Conclusion Overall, Meyneth suffers from a lack of focus that is sadly common to many of the female characters in xenoblade 1. A lack of insight as to her inner thoughts combined with her extreme pacificism make for a narratively weak character who seems to be either fundamentally weaker in-story than her sworn nemesis or so committed to talking to him and making him realize the error of his ways that it literally gets her killed. I find it most likely that the writers simply intended for her to be weaker than Zanza for unspecified reasons: disappointing, but not surprising.

What gets to me the most is that it didn’t have to be this way. Even if she were just as strong as Zanza and/or more willing to fight against him, she would still have a significant disadvantage against him that sets the ground for the conflict seen in the game: her care for the lives and wills of mortals. Her care to minimize collateral damage in the form of mortal lives will always give Zanza the upper hand in battle, whether directly in the form of attacking mortals being another way to hurt Meyneth or indirectly in the fact that Zanza has no qualms about manipulating mortals to do his will, while Meyneth likely would consider such a thing to be immoral and avoid it. That, to me, would be a far more interesting setup than what we got in-game.

If you made it all the way to the end, thanks for reading! Please drop a comment or leave some tags, I'd love to keep discussing this.

#original tag #xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade chronicles 1 #meyneth #fandom meta #my writing

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snickerdoodlles · 1 year

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I have finally learned the real reason why I haven't change my username yet...how else would I know my tumblr year in review.....

(jk)

Anyways, only posting the relevant things;

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@/zeldahime

@/rythyme

@/snow-and-saltea

@/likestoimagine16

@/aethersea

^ this makes me laugh, because Emily should actually be the top 4 spots here 🤣 most of my reblogs are from her, except she sends them to me directly. some friends curate tumblr via your dash, other curate them via DMs

*edit: IM SORRY I THOUGHT I REMOVED THE MENTIONS THE FIRST TIME AROUND

I tagged 7,946 of my posts in 2022

#q* - 5,920 posts ← doesn't count, i do almost everything via queue 🙄

#bad buddy - 634 posts ← LISTEN IKIVE SLOWED DOWN BUT ITS STILL GOING STRONG IN MY HEART 😭😭😭😭😭😭 cannot WAIT for my break, im going to bury myself in blankets for 24hrs and watch only THEM there will be SO many tears

#kinnporsche - 561 posts ← hahahahahahahaha hello new obsession, im not letting you go any time soon ❤

#hey yuu - 471 posts ← HEY YUU ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

#the untamed - 242 posts ← lol

#mdzs - 239 posts ← LOLLLL

#writing woes - 187 posts ← ........hahahahahahahaha

#jeff satur - 160 posts ← i feel exposed

#not me - 130 posts ← i found a bunch of unposted meta for them in my drafts, now im wondering if i should've posted those after all...

#kinnporsche cast - 100 posts ← THEY'RE GOOFS I CAN'T HELP IT

Longest Tag: 124 characters

#👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀 ← i have no idea what this post is for because tumblr says it doesn't exist but i am 90% sure it's a fucking jeff satur post..... he is my favorite menace ❤

My Top Posts in 2022:

Chay’s living the Wattpad dream life, Pete’s living the manic AO3 dream

210 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

actually one of my favorite little details in ep12 was pat and pran taking graduation pics with uncle tong and junior. not only because their relationship with those two is absolutely delightful and im so glad they kept their connection to these two strangers from the beach that signified two huge shifts in their relationship, but specifically because we don’t see any graduation pictures with the parents

their parents are still fighting. ming hasn’t apologized, dissaya’s still upset. pat and pran cannot be open about their relationship with them. but this doesn’t change pat and pran--they’re going to keep on loving each other and living together. it’s their parents who will miss out on the milestones. so long as they hold onto their grudge, they will only get the filtered parts of their sons’ lives. until they learn to forgive and move forward, they will lose chances to make memories. but pat and pran? they’re still going to be living their lives to the fullest with their own found family until then

324 notes - Posted January 21, 2022

tumblr_video

(x) EMERGENCY EMERGENCY IM ABOUT TO FUCKING D I E

351 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

WIꓘ says DON’T DO DRUGS KIDS

- this is an (un)official D.A.R.E. PSA

*Edit: made for from concrete fic

399 notes - Posted November 27, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

it took a kidnapping, an explosion, a confrontation with his brother, his life getting entirely uprooted, AND a bad breakup with his boyfriend to make Chay cry. the second time he cried still took another home ping pong match, another attempted kidnapping, his brother nearly dying, his mother returned from the dead, AND the emotional equivalent of a cannonball in the form of his ex-he’s-maybe-definitely-not-over soulfully wailing why don’t you STAYYYYYY

Kim broke up with the boy he likes then cried over their date polaroids

they are not the same

1,331 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

👆 i should not find these top 5 posts as funny as i do but i really do

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr #tried to make this less annoying i maybe half way succeeded? lmao #anyways

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swiftwidget · 4 years

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Have you read the latest bnha chapter (253) yet? After I finished it (and finished screaming internally), the first thing I thought about was how well it fits with Toshinomu. (Hilariously enough, I decided to reread I Am like, two days before this :P)

Just saw this and yes and yes and yes hhhh Aoi and I are freaking out

#mha #bnha #toshinoumu #I Am... series #likestoimagine16

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pitviperofdoom · 6 years

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Where does skeleton dad might fall on the 'creeped out by Izuku scale', if you don't mind me asking?

His position’s a little shaky because he’s right up there with Aizawa in the “worried” department, but he attributes most of Izuku’s stress to the pressure of One For All. He’s not entirely wrong, but he still lacks the full picture, and Izuku definitely said some stuff in their All For One conversation that unnerved him. In fact, Izuku’s whole reaction to All For One threw him for a loop; he wasn’t expecting the boy to be so calm and accepting of it.

So All-Might is plenty concerned and vaguely unsettled, but not as creeped out as he could be since he thinks he has the answers to why Izuku is the way he is.

#deku sees dead people #likestoimagine16

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rayshippouuchiha · 3 years

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https://likestoimagine16.tumblr.com/post/187014531679/

https://likestoimagine16.tumblr.com/post/188080530904/

https://a-crimson-lion.tumblr.com/post/190350215911/

https://a-crimson-lion.tumblr.com/post/190332874286/

https://a-crimson-lion.tumblr.com/post/190352904191/

all of these give me life !!

Oh ohhhh yes hot damn these are good reading. I’m pretty firmly in the “don’t like Bakugou/his temper’s not cute/BakuDeku aren’t frienship goals” camp I enjoy this

#BnHA #MHA #Anti Bakugou #no hate on those who like him #i just can't get all up behind him or his actions #Anonymous #RayRambles

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skygemspeaks · 7 years

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Okay but imagine Yuuri retires from competitive figure skating at 27, and he decides to go back to college to become a teacher.

So this boy walks into class sporting the just-rolled-out-of-bed look with the sex hair and the big comfy sweater and the starbucks cup in one hand.

And you know, he’s enjoying his life, he makes friends in his program and on the weekends he helps his husband teach cute little kids how to skate and they have this cozy little house together in a nice neighbourhood. He probably has girls and guys falling for him left and right.

And then one day, Yuuri’s out with his friends, and they’re at a cafe or something.

And a group of girls comes up to them, and they’re all blushing and nudging each other saying “You talk first!”.

So Yuuri just turns this absolutely blinding smile on them and asks, “Autographs?”

The girls squeak, and nod furiously.

“Sure!” he says, reaching out for the notebooks they’re holding out for him to sign.

And about ten minutes later, after several selfies and autographs and a lot of gushing and squealing and “Please let Viktor know we’re looking forward to Yuratchka’s upcoming season,” the girls leave.

So Yuuri turns back to his friends, and they’re all just staring at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths.

Yuuri kinda wonders if there’s something on his face.

The first thing that comes out of anyone’s mouths is, “...who’s Viktor?”

And Yuuri’s kinda confused as he replies, “....my husband?”

“YOU’RE MARRIED!?!?!?!?” his friends all shriek.

Yuuri looks down at his hand to make sure his ring is still there. “Yeah?” he says, holding his hand up.

“I thought that was just a fashion statement!” one of the girls exclaims.

“Why did they want your autograph though?” asks another of his friends, and Yuuri just looks away sheepishly.

“I’m...uh....a retired competitive figure skater?” he asks, his voice going higher with embarrassment. “And I...uh...got 2 golds in the Grand Prix...and 2 golds in Worlds....and maybe a silver in Pyeongchang?”

His voice gets progressively quieter as his face gets even redder.

His friends are staring at him in horror and shocked disbelief now.

And he thinks he might as well get it all out now.

“And...my husband might be the most decorated athlete in figure skating history?”

Fics based on this post:

A Name I’ve Heard Somewhere by GwenChan (@gwen-chan)

A Prince in Disguise by lourthor (@kurtdontcurr)

A Real Life Cinnamon Roll by Seito (@seitosokusha)

And the answer is... by nessiesaur

anonymous by eu_nao_sou_um_chapeu (@eu-nao-sou-um-chapeu)

Comfort Zone by BertholdvonMoosburg

Did I Forget to Mention... by nevereverever

Ethical Dilemmas in Sports Psychology: When Googling Your Friend Gets Weird by Adrianners (@adrianners)

How do you not know? by missykristy

icebreaker by Cesare

It’s like some surprisingly inclusive and irritatingly sugar-coated rom-com by RocioWrites (@rocioandthatsall)

Long time no see by ddugeun (@chukichi)

My Fun Fact Is: by stillmadaboutpetra

New Friends by viktuuri (@softvictory)

Now I Know by CassidyMoffett (@sweettigerotakureviews)

Of College Classes and Googling Friends by IceIceSkaters

Outed By Victuuri Smut by Anonymous

Storytime: Celebrity Blindness by likestoimagine (@likestoimagine16)

Tale of the Russian Punk and the Japanese Cinnamon Roll by JamieAvenBell

The Internet Exists for a Reason by tomorrowsdreams

The Moment of Truth by little_miss_laughs_alot

The Secret Life of Professor Katsuki by FreakingOutGirl

This is Why You Google People by StarlightPhoenix (@cleverlittlejay)

Trivia Night by RinaRose (@marina-and-the-fandoms)

Wait, What? by @realisticallycynical

Yuuri Katsuki-Induced Feels by @i-w-p-chan

~If you want to officially gift your work to me, my AO3/FFN penname is SkyGem!~

Tumblr posts/additions for this post:

Hilarious addition by @p3hero

Comic by @lauravian

On why Yuuri’s friends don’t know about Viktor by @blindiemac

Retirement au: Yura edition

Retirement au: Viktor edition by @rocioandthatsall

Translations of this post:

Italian by @randomwalksoul

#yoi #yuri on ice #katsuki yuri #victuuri #guys #if you decide to write this #please hmu with a link #i want to read it just as much as y'all do #my writing #my yoi writing #prompts #yoi prompts #retirement au

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saltroundsandpeppersquares · 9 years

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Thank you for the adorable unicorn! I'm sorry you got overworked by all that, though... I hope you feel better soon, and that you get to draw exactly as many unicorns as you want :)

aww thats so sweet, finished for now and feeling achieved! thank you for this ask, its makes me feel really happy!

#so sweet!#thank you #ask #likestoimagine16

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yourockthebeatofmyheart · 9 years

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likestoimagine16 answered your question:Why do people keep calling Tadashi “Dorito”?

Its something about the shoulder to waist ratio being approximately diorito proportioned. Also refers to Chris Evans/Steve Rogers in MCU

Ah. So basically, "broad shoulders, skinny waist"? Got it.

#likestoimagine16 #okay then

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shuryorin · 10 years

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Hayate's guilt complex makes more sense the way its framed in the manga, if that helps.

That does, actually. I guess I really should track that down...

Thanks!

#ryorin watches Pretear #likestoimagine16 #ask

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magicalgirlsofshoujo · 10 years

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If you want to add to the triforce of plot-relevant love triangles, Seiji is possibly a foil to Phantom, judging by both of them having a red and white color scheme, a particular closeness to the leader of their respective groups, issues with Blue, and a minor odd-man-out status in their groups. So, there's that.

That's interesting. I have a tendency to forget about boys (because I'm still amazed Seiji is actually relevant in this show) and I sort of forgot about Phantom after Iona's story wrapped up, but now that I remember. That's right. He's sure to become relevant at some point later.

Actually oddly enough, they do have similarities. Phantom's devotion is already a lot like the selfless love the show is promoting. He's still a turd and a half, but he does whatever he thinks is best for Mirage without expecting anything in return. He's obviously super wrong for how he goes about it and his mind might change if Mirage makes the move to change sides. Still something to ponder though.

I'm really hoping they get into the backstory of how Mirage got her followers, because it seems like all of them have some sort of story given their bitter speeches. (Except Oresky. Oresky just poofed into existence on the highest mountain proclaiming his love of himself.)

I tend to think of Phantom as being more of a foil for Iona though given their stories. They're both the loner of their respective teams. The difference gets demonstrated when Iona changes and gains the strength from her friends to defeat him.

I also like the idea of Seiji being this completely unique existence for the HappinessCharge team. That he's considered a part of the team with the girls by itself is enough of a difference from the villains for me. Because since he doesn't have powers all he can do is support stuff, like talking to them or cooking for them, helping them keep their secrets. But that's still super important to them because friendship and family and all.

#asks #MGS: HappinessCharge Precure!#likestoimagine16

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snickerdoodlles · 3 years

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12: "Not my circus, not my monkeys." gives me a strong Robyn+Qrow birb sibling vibe, if you're interested :P

Birds of a Feather

from this prompt list. also hi ilu, this is 1000 words longer than originally intended <3 Final word count: 1816

The most recent turn of events is...bizarre. Not that Qrow is ungrateful, it’s just that Qrow never would’ve bet on James’s most loyal dog and one of his Ace-Ops conspiring with his nieces against him. Maybe that’s why it’s happening, come to think of it.

The plans have been set, everyone knows their plays, but they linger still for just a moment—an odd, frozen bubble wrapped tight around them all as they hesitate to hang up just yet. It’s foolish, they have no time to waste, but Qrow’s equally reluctant to break it as he takes the chance to drink in the sight of his nieces, safe and smiling with new hope.

Movement breaks the stillness and Qrow’s eyes unwillingly tear away to see Robyn squinting and counting...something on Winter’s screen, mouth moving silently. Qrow raises an eyebrow as Robyn frowns and starts counting again.

He knows she sees him staring, especially when Winter and Marrow join him, and he swallows down a swear when Robyn looks up, frown still in place, and the quiet moment bristles tense.

Except Qrow has two nieces, was on a team with Tai and Summer, was friend to Oz. He knows that mischievous twinkle in her eye—

“I thought you said you only had nine kids?”

“I have two. Two nieces.”

Read full story on AO3

[[request a story prompt]]

#rwby #qrow branwen #robyn hill #ft some winter schnee and marrow amin as a treat #rwby8 #cookie's writing #birb shenanigans #likestoimagine16

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snickerdoodlles · 4 years

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🐰

(Alternatively 🍞 🍞 is the closest I could get you to ‘bunbun’ that wasn’t an actual rabbit)

hi u ILU, here is the first full scene of the living dead rewrite

They’re resting at a little wayside tea shop on their way back from Qishan when they first hear the whispers.

“So sad, it used to be such a lively town…”

“After the clan going all at once, what else could they have expected?”

“Don’t be so disrespectful! Children died last night--”

Wen Ning’s head jerks up and around sharply at that, for once heedless of the black veins snaking up his neck. He’s too busy frowning at the large group huddled close around their table to care that his robe’s tucks fall away, or that the brim of his hat or the fall of his bangs is no longer hiding what his robes cannot.

Sizhui’s not surprised. Uncle Ning has a soft spot for children.

This tea shop isn’t a part of any town. It can barely be called a village. It’s more road and dust than establishments and it collects rumors more than it does people. Sizhui knows them well—his father dislikes gossip, but tucked away villages could know more about the area than the watchtowers if you were looking for trouble. After all, they have nothing better to entertain themselves, while the guards for the other are often too prone to naps.

The gossipers have yet to notice Wen Ning’s unblinking stare. One of the women, her whispering entirely uneffective, says, “I hear Fu Feng threw out all their candles and lanterns on the side of the road. A wandering traveller tried to pick one up for his journey and the villagers beat him to death out of fear.”

“Yan Liling, do not spread false rumors,” snaps another, her voice like a switch. “They can’t get rid of all the lights. I hear they daren’t even light their stoves though.”

A man winces beside her. “Not even through the winter, when the grounds were hard with ice…”

An old man one table over, blatantly listening in, shakes his head sadly. “Such a shame, such a shame. It used to be such a bright town.”

The group, finally realizing most of the dining room’s been listening in, wince and huddle closer, and do not continue their conversation. A few of the patrons shoot the old man dirty looks, but all return to their own conversations quick enough.

Wen Ning turns back to his and Sizhui’s table, frustrated. Despite being dead, his face has little trouble settling into dark expressions. He lightens when he realizes Sizhui’s already flagging down a nearby server.

“How can I help you, young master?”

Sizhui looks across the table and is greeted by the top of Wen Ning’s strong hat. The way his shoulders shuffle tells he’s tugging up his robes too before the server can notice his marks, which is...good. Sometimes Sizhui forgets not everyone is okay with his gentle giant uncle.

“Sir?”

Sizhui shakes himself aware and turns to the server with a sweet smile. The server doesn’t seem to find anything amiss (after all, he stares at Sizhui’s ribbon with a knowing, greedy eye--what Lan would travel with a corpse? What could a Lan travel with that could cause more concern than what their wallets could pay?)

“Good sir, do you know which town they were discussing?” Sizhui asks in a quiet murmur, eyes flicking discreetly to the large group.

The server stares at them blatantly and hums, lips pursed in a thoughtful expression. Sizhui swallows down a sigh. He has no interest in continuing to drink this establishment’s bland, over-brewed tea for several hours as he wheedles out the information the server might have to provide for such a meager fare. Such thing would put Wen Ning at risk for discovery, no matter Sizhui’s presence and ribbon, and if children are going missing...

“If you have no information to offer, I’ll have three bottles of your finest liquor.”

The server and Wen Ning both snap to attention at that--the server with an easy grin and a gleam in his eyes, Wen Ning with as much astonishment as his expression could hold (the faintest rise of his eyebrows, jaw unlocked to allow the smallest gap between his lips).

“Let me get that right for you, sir.” The server licks his lips eagerly. “I won’t be but a moment.”

Sizhui nods politely and lets the server run off with little fuss. Father had taught him that trick--Sizhui never understood how Father of all people had come up with such a notion until Senior Wei had returned to their lives. The first time he’d been present for Father’s trick, he positively gaped at Father, slumped like someone had cut his strings, and then he’d thrown himself into Father’s side with a delighted laugh and a loud cry of, “Lan Zhan, you do remember the things I say!”

The warmth of the memory fills him better than his next sip of tea. Wen Ning is still staring at him, dumbstruck, and Sizhui hides his smile behind the rim of his cup and sips carefully.

“Do you think Senior Wei will appreciate such a gift?” Sizhui asks after a few more moments of fun. He taps his lip thoughtfully. “I do not know of anyone else that might like such things. I am, after all, a Lan.”

Wen Ning’s astonishment softens into the warmest look. His lips, briefly, like the flicker of a candle, quirk up just slightly at the corners. Corpses’ facial muscles are some of the most affected by death--Sizhui returns his uncle’s beaming smile with his own.

“Master Wei will love anything from his beloved A-Yuan,” Wen Ning says softly. Sizhui’s smile loses to his blush, and he can almost swear Wen Ning’s eyes crinkle fondly in turn. “You know, once, when you were little--”

“Here’s your liquor sir,” the server says happily as he sets down three heavy, rough ceramic jars on the table. Sizhui frowns sharply and wants to snap at the server to go away, but if he does, he’ll have to buy the entire liquor stock just to soothe the wounded ego and he still might not learn everything he needs. Children are dying.

Wen Ning retreats back under his hat. Sizhui smoothes his expression into a faint smile and pulls out his wallet. “You said you knew which town those kind people were talking about?”

The server’s eyes never leave Sizhui’s wallet, though his smile grows. “Mn. It’s called Fu Feng. It’s half a day’s walk south from here. You’ll know when you reach it--they have a bell tower on the tallest hill and they ring every morning, midday, and night so people don’ forget.”

Wen Ning frowns under his hat again, head blatantly tipped to the side to catch the words. Sizhui wants to ask what he knows so badly. Instead, he rummages through his wallet and lets the coins clink together faintly.

The server licks his lips again. “Fu Feng used to be some big deal ‘round here. Festivals all the time, with all them floating lights, and people would come ‘round from all parts to visit. Then, last year, during the cursed ghost month, a fire wiped out the entire village.”

Sizhui frowns. “A fire? An entire village?” he asks, wracking his brain for a corresponding incident report. Even so far away in Gusu, they would’ve heard of an event that bad. Should have heard, even despite few watchtowers in this area. During his time as Chief Cultivator, Jin Guangyao had reached out to all nobles across the nation to reassure them that they could report incidents to the towers, and then clan cultivators would go out to assist any cultivation matters. The nobles love having someone else clean up the messes, and the cultivation world benefits by preventing any resentful energy from building into larger problems. It’s a very efficient system; Jin Guangyao’s designs always were.

So why has Sizhui never heard of Fu Feng until now?

The server shrugs. “The sky was dark overhead for two whole days. You don’t get that from a small fire.”

“If the entire village burned,” Wen Ning says softly, hand tugging his collar tighter across his throat, “then why are people still dying in it?”

“I--” The server opens his mouth, but doesn’t reply. Sizhui frowns thoughtfully--no survivors would explain why the watchtowers never received a missive about the destruction. They could perhaps be forgiven for not investigating the matter themself. But Uncle Ning is right--if the entire village burned, why are there tales of haunting ghosts now?

“Well, people must’ve moved back in!” snaps the server. He’s flushed a dark red and his eyes flicker between Wen Ning and Sizhui’s wallet nervously. Sizhui does not roll his eyes at the server’s suggestion--Sizhui is polite and the server must not be familiar with the ways of cultivation. The last thing he wants to do is drive off an informant--even an awful one.

Sizhui places the exact amount of coin for the drink on the table. He barely moves his hand away before the money disappears in a quick snatch, the server visibly calmer. He eyes the large coin peeking through Sizhui’s fingers hungrily. “They say it’s the work of a single spirit. A vengeful demon. It finds the people by following the lights, then it sucks the flesh from their bones.”

Wen Ning and Sizhui share a glance, then Sizhui hands the coin and a twin to the server. “Thank you for your information.”

The server smiles and looks Sizhui in the eye for the first time that night. “You’re welcome sir, thank you sir,” he says, and then he’s gone into the bustle of the crowd.

Sizhui pouts. “It’s not good information, but at least we know now there is something afoot in the town of Fu Feng.”

Wen Ning shakes his head. He still clutches his robes tight around his neck. “It’s more telling than he realized.”

“Really?” Sizhui leans forward eagerly, but Wen Ning’s eyes skitter to their side. Sizhui follows the look discreetly and sees a fellow squinting suspiciously in their direction. Sizhui leans back, disappointed.

“Shall we begin our journey to Fu Feng?”

Wen Ning nods gently, ducking under his hat’s brim. “Let’s.”

#the untamed #the living dead #mdzs #wen ning #lan sizhui #wen yuan #i only realized now that i havent actually posted the complete first scene of my nonsense SO #<3 #soup fic #thats gonna be the tag for this series bc wtf is a title #for anyone curious: the draft is currently nam #time for the living dead: brotherhood treatment #bc ini is hilarious and i love them #also how tf do u pick where to put a readmore i am Struggling #likestoimagine16

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snickerdoodlles · 7 years

Note

(For 15, bonus is Yuuri is the one left unsupervised instead of Yurio or Viktor :P)

>:3context for secret saturdays au: the animals are cryptids and Yuri (11) is the adopted son of Yuuri (27) and Viktor (32), the power couple of the secret scientist society15. “In my defense, you did leave me unsupervised.”

“In my defense, you did leave me unsupervised.”

“That’s your defense?!” Viktor huffs as he tears through the thick jungle underbrush. The mud sucks at his boots, his skin clammy with sweat and slick with rainwater, but Viktor refuses to relinquish his grip on Yuuri or slow down as the cryptid behind them roars and crashes through the trees after them. “Really? ‘Sorry my darling light of my life, we’re being chased through the Congolese jungle because you turned your back on me for two seconds-’”

“Watch out!”

Yuuri slams into Viktor’s back and they both go toppling into the mud. The creature’s tail whizzes above their heads and crashes into the tree next to them, raining them with splinters. Viktor and Yuuri scramble against the sticky mud while staying low to the ground as the cryptid thrashes above them.

Viktor manages to get to his feet first and he hauls Yuuri up. He also gets his first real look at the cryptid, though he can only make out a sharp barbed tail embedded in a tree and glaring gold eyes and hard, grey armored scales before he and Yuuri are running off again. The cryptid wails behind them to the ominous chorus of splintering wood.

Yuuri and Viktor burst into the clearing they had first come down in. Their bright pink airship glitters above them and Yuuri pulls their silent radio from his belt. They both wince as another roar echoes through the jungle, automatically going back to back. Silence descends across the jungle, thick with anticipation.

Viktor checks over his shoulder and sees Yuuri furiously scrubbing the mud and leaves from their radio. He looks up at the airship once before looking back to the tree line. Sweat and rainwater run down his back with the chills.

“So,” Viktor squeaks out. He coughs to break the heavy silence. “What do we know about this cryptid?”

“It’s a dingonek. Didn’t know they existed until now, but it’s mean and territorial and that’s all I got.” Yuuri whacks their radio with a curse.

Viktor winces as the silence falls again. “And it’s after us because…?”

“I didn’t realize the mulilo slug trap was hanging over it’s territory.”

Viktor barely resists shooting Yuuri a frown. “How’d you recognize the trap?”

Yuuri whacks the silent radio again. “Because it had a slug in it,” he snaps.

“You were trying to rescue a two meter poisonous slug?!”

The radio bursts into rough static and the argument is forgotten as Yurio’s loud grumbling bursts through.

“Finally! Are we done here, I’m so bored! Why can’t we ever go places where I can go-”

“Yurio, send down the ladder now!”

“Hah?!”

“Yurio!”

Yurio bickers with Yuuri, but the airship hatch opens regardless and the rope ladder drops down.

Then, icy dread settles along Viktor’s shoulders and he stiffly searches the tree line. Two glaring golden-orange eyes flicker from the leaves and Viktor’s breath catches in his throat as the dingonek melts slowly into view.

“Yuuri!” he hisses, clutching Yuuri’s wrist.

Yuuri’s hand squeezes his. “Shit. Yuri! Ladder!”

The dingonek is a magnificent beast, long and snakelike, graceful as it circles them. Glistening teeth come into view as it snarls, growl growing in crescendo. It’s horn bares down like a lance, barbed tail curling behind it.

The ladder is still a meter above their reach.

“Yuuri!”

Yuuri shouts and throws the radio at the dingonek. The dingonek watches the radio sail by a good two meters from its head before turning back to them, unimpressed.

“…Bugger.”

Viktor shoves Yuuri back behind him towards the ladder. “Go!”

The dingonek roars. Viktor’s eyes widen and his legs lock up at its fury, helpless as the dingonek curls up to pounce.

Yuuri snakes his arm around Viktor’s waist and yanks him back. Viktor’s arms automatically wind around Yuuri’s neck and then the ladder is retracting, swiftly hauling the two to safety. But it’s not fast enough, the furious dingonek surging forward, fangs bared. Viktor’s panicking, they’re swinging towards the cryptid and its shiny teeth, they’re too close to the ground, they’re not going to make it-

“No, bad boy!” Yuuri yells, right before he kicks the dingonek in the nose.

Viktor’s jaw drops. The dingonek does as well, stunned stupid, and it watches the two swing up and out of its reach with wide startled eyes.

“Holy shit,” Yuuri says, breathless. “That worked?!”

Viktor looks back to his husband. Half his hair is sticking is standing upright from the mud in it, leaves and branches tangled in the rest. Yuuri’s face and glasses are coated with mud, the little that isn’t painted with grey mud is flushed and shiny with sweat. Hiw eyes are blown wide with shock, his mouth gaping with surprise.

He’s the most stunning thing Viktor’s ever seen.

Viktor buries his face in Yuuri’s neck and laughs.

[[request a fic]]

#yuri on ice #viktor nikiforov #yuuri katsuki #secret saturdays au #cookie's writing #and no this isn't the heartbreaking one missy #that one comes later :pp #also not featured in the fic:#''i may be swooning rn but we are having a Serious Conversation about reckless behavior when we get back''#''when have i ever been reckless ever in my life??!?''#''i keep a list. it's alphabetized''#(like i could resist putting this quote in. it's the most famous thing from ss i need to get it in SOMEWHERE)#likestoimagine16

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