Absolutely lovely work by @yakittydraws! Thank you so much for indulging my re-surfacing DAI obsession and drawing one of my fave ships! 😍😍
And torturing poor Solas in the process. :D
(More info on my Inquisitor can be found on his Carrd.)
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⭐⭐⭐⭐!!!
Or, send in a ⭐star⭐ to have the author select a section they’ve been dying to talk about!
Thanks for the ask~!
Lets play this as one scene per star.
⭐ #1 - Black and Blue - Chapter 29
I would have to say Ukitake and Kaien's physical reunion is one of the scenes I was most looking forward to (across all my projects tbh).
I have @yakittydraws to thank for how that scene played out because I was at a genuine loss about how to proceed at the time. Figured it out with a spitball session with them. Lovely conversationalist.
See, its one thing for Ukitake to intellectually know that Kaien was alive. They'd spoke on the phone after all. Exchanged a bit of banter and seemingly slipped back into old habits easily. However its quite another to actually see the man in the flesh. Thus emotions are on full display.
On Kaien's side, he's eager yet nervous and hesistant because of how much he's changed. He's half-hollow now, and the last time he saw his Captain, he was dying impaled on Rukia's sword after Ukitake failed to decapitate him. Unpleasant memories for everyone involved to be sure.
On Ukitake's side, he's eager but also racked by disbelief, sorrow, and regret, followed by relief and joy mixed with clear paternal affection and determination because 'my errant lieutenant and protégé and son is alive and well and I'm bringing this boy home'.
⭐ #2 - Black and Blue - Chapter 31
Not so much the scene was the character interaction. Rukia, Ichigo and Kaien's phone call at the start of this chapter is a little snippet of a dynamic I desperately want to explore. I dearly want these three in the same room because we all know the resulting shenanigans would be glorious.
Especially if Ukitake's there as the long-suffering parent trying to reign these three idiots in.
Kaien was and is bad enough, Ukitake was lucky to control him on a good day. Rukia follows his example because of course she would, making matters worse. Add Ichigo's particular brand of chaos into the mix? Well, thank god Ukitake is already grey.
⭐ #3 - Black and Blue - Chapter 31 (again)
Rukia and Ichigo crashing Kaien's date with Lisa. I love this scene because its fun, its light-hearted and Kaien is a troll, through and through. Lisa encourages it and only wishes she had a camera because that would've been amazing blackmail material.
To coin a BioWare term, Kaien and Lisa's relationship is best described as a rivalmance. They bring out each other's worst chaotic gremlin tendencies in the best ways. So naturally when the sprites were in the vicinity, they got a-trolling.
HOWEVER. Like with Isshin the very next chapter, karma will bite them both in the rump big time. I don't know how the conversation exactly will happen but I have no qualms revealing Rukia will unwittingly mention the incident to Ukitake (who will tell Kyoraku if he's not present).
As you can imagine, karmatic shenanigans will ensue, ultimately ending with Rukia and Ichigo having the last laugh while Lisa and Kaien squirm.
⭐ #4 - Once More To See You Again - General
Shaking things up for the last one. For simplicity, I'll refer to reincarnated Kaien as 'Neo!Kaien'.
I stopped writing this version for two reasons:
I realised that I was just following canon with extra steps and I felt like I could've done so much more with Neo!Kaien in hindsight. There are so many facets there I left unexplored.
I was rushing to have Neo!Kaien meet the Shibas, Squad 13 and Ukitake (I have mountains of variants for that scene alone, its not funny) and damned the consequences.
I couldn't salvage what I had so I've decided to re-do it. Such is the joy of fanfiction.
With this revamp, I'm giving Neo!Kaien a more complex layered character. Exploring his thoughts and feelings towards Masaki and Isshin, towards Ichigo and his sisters, his own name, the supernatural and so on.
I'm expanding on why its such a bad idea to associate with a loved one's reincarnation, why such a harsh penalty is in place, the tight rope Rukia (and Isshin) have to walk and general consequences of a perfect hybrid like Ichigo having a sundered soul (in cases its not obvious, Aaroniero has a chunk of Kaien's soul in his possession).
Addition to that, I had a far darker variation on how Neo!Kaien was prompted to unlock his powers. For the purposes of the revamp, I will proceed with this original version since it brings a lot of character drama. Which I thrive on. While functioning as a fierce cautionary tale about why its a bad idea to screw around with spirit magic like is a bloody sports game. **glares at Ishida**
I plan to write Neo!Kaien recognizably as himself yet fundamentally changed his human life, the experiences he's faced and so on. For one major difference: by and large, he views honour as vainglorious bullshit. A view emphasized and reinforced by the aforementioned cautionary tale.
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