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confusedwitch · 3 years

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Witch-Related Books to Grab off Amazon: Masterpost Part 1

First off, I'll be sectioning this into different parts based off of what type of witch you are/want to be/want more info on, or what practices you wanna add to your craft :)

Green Witch/Magick Herbalism (a classic):

The Green Witch by Arin Murphy-Hiscock - $9.69 (Hardcover): This book had incredible reviews on amazon, and a lot of the written reviews said that the book wasn't specific to a religion and didn't try to push a religion on you, which is so wonderful because not everyone wants to be religious with their craft.

Plant Witchery by Juliet Diaz - $25.19 (Hardcover) $18.99 (Paperback): Again, stunning reviews, just a less popular book. This book isn't about general stuff, but instead it's more focused on mother nature and the useage of plants (non-herbal as well, so your houseplants might be mentioned too), which is great if you wanna center your practice around Gaia and the healing energies of the earth.

Herb Magick: An Introduction to Magickal Herbalism and Spells by Patti Wigington - $14.99 (Paperback): here's a review from a verified person- it explained this book WAY better than I ever could:

The focus of this book is on the folkloric and magical uses of herbs, rather than medicinal applications. It provides a few traditional uses of herbs, but the overall theme is knowledge of the plants and their associations, and incorporating them in your spiritual workings. This is an Introductory to Magical Herbalism.

The author's spiritual practice is rooted in traditional American and European Folk Magic. She is a licensed Pagan Clergy and is the founder of Clan Of The Stone Circle, a Celtic Pagan Tradition. (Funny, anything Celtic has been pulling my attention feelers lately, no wonder why I loved this book.) Her spells are derived/based upon the traditional folk magic practices of Western Europe and the British Isles, and the author's own experiences. They are positive spells for magical intentions of healing, love, prosperity, and protection. Baneful or negative workings with herbs are NOT used in this book.

The aesthetic of this book has my little, beginner herbalist heart gushing! The blue, green, and yellow earthy tones and hues used were perfect for the topic of herbs! The cover is GORGEOUS! It's so pretty and flowery, the illustrated pictures of the herbs were extremely helpful because I had never seen some of the plants before. This will make future identification much easier for me!

Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham - $16.43 (Paperback): A couple reviews describe it as being in a cookbook format, and overall an amazing book, like most of Scott Cunningham's other works. Apparently the Amazon shipping was literal trash for a bunch of people and they essentially left the book loose inside the box to bang around and get all sorts of messed up :((

The Witch's Herbal Apothecary by Marysia Miernowska - $18.69 (Paperback): Described by reviewers as the PERFECT book for recipes and rituals, even one of Marysia's personal students spoke very highly of her, saying that she's the real deal. Other reviews state the book as being very beginner friendly, and beautifully written and illustrated :))

Blackthorn's Botanical Magic: The Green Witch's Guide to Essential Oils for Spellcraft, Ritual, and Healing by Amy Blackthorn - $15.79 (Paperback): again, phenomenal reviews, just a lesser-known book. Again, here's a review from someone who explained the book a bit better than I could:

This book is way more than I thought it would be. I thought it would be like a dictionary - you look up the essential oil and get the definition. It is that but it's also got a few introductory chapters about oils and products and rituals to give you a nice and concise overview of a lot of things you might need to know as a novice. I also like the way you can reference different oils in alpha order but also look up your purpose and find the oil you need.

From the looks of it, this book is specifically about Essential Oils. Is that still Green Witchery?? Lol I'm not sure, but i felt like it should go in this category.

Kitchen Witch (another classic):

Blackthorn's Botanical Brews by Amy Blackthorn - $14.49 (Hardcover): this is mainly a book of recipes for drinks and cocktails and stuff. There was one review complaining about how it didn't have correspondences, meanwhile the book is literally described as being a recipe book? It's an AMAZING book if you enjoy/want to start making homemade elixirs and cocktails :))

The Natural Witch's Cookbook: 100 Magickal, Healing Recipes, and Herbal Remedies to Nourish Body, Mind, and Spirit by Lisanna Wallace - $20.69 (hardcover): This is again just a book of recipes, and the reviews are really good. Here's one of them:

I wanted to write the review as soon as I got the book. I was not expecting this book to be so fantastic. The recipes are very nutritious and the names are very inventive, but I could see that before I tried the recipes. I held off on writing the review until I tasted a few of the recipes. Even my kids were very happy with the flavors of these recipes. They are mostly easy to make and they are very delicious. Be aware though that the food can only be as great as the quality of the ingredients that you get. These are not recipes that call for complicated or fancy ingredients, or even a lot of ingredients. As a result, you have to use the best that you can find/afford to get the best results you can. I did not use expensive ingredients, but everything I used was very fresh and it does make a difference on the outcome. Overall, the book have some great recipes, easy to follow and the end result does look like the ones on the picture.

The Book of Kitchen Witchery by Cerridwen Greenleaf - $12.89 (Paperback):

I am so pleased with this book. It’s so magical and warm. Sometimes the new age genre can be a little too technical or focus too much on religion or putting down particular religions... this was not like that. There are so many lovely tips and easy spells and recipes that are kept fairly light so you can make them your own. The book just makes me happy, it has an energy to it that goes right along with it’s artsy illustrations and at-a-glance format. This will be a great reference. Very grateful to everyone who made this book possible.

A former editor said that there were a few editing mistakes, but nothing too crazy. If that's one of your pet peeves, just beware when buying this book lol (btw the editor still have a 4 star review because they said the book is still very good)

Potions, Elixirs & Brews by Anaïs Alexandre - $12.79 (Hardcover): I just had to include both of these amazing reviews, since both said what the other review did not.

This book is so gorgeous and everything I have been looking for in regards to potions. I love her writing style and the way the book looks. Highly informative and I can feel her good intentions behind the book. She is very intelligent. I respect her and I am inspired by her! I found her by chance looking up books for potions, she also has Instagram! Very grateful, amazing book thank you:-) so happy to be the first comment:p excited to see what else amazing things come from Anais!

And

I adore this book. The art and setup is simplistic and beautiful. There is a system that tells you exactly how difficult each potion will be to make, whether or not it’s alcoholic, and what is the ideal season to make it in. The instructions are clear, the preliminary information is well done, and there’s even a section for brewing large batches which I LOVE. The weight of the book is nice and it feels of good quality. The papers are glossy and, I haven’t yet, but I feel like it won’t be a disaster If you get some of your creation on it. The book is separated into types of potions depending on your intent. This is a perfect book for anyone new to making potions or is interested in a magickal recipe book!

The Witches Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire by Melissa Madara - $35 (Hardcover): This book actually isn't out yet, but it'll be released on October 26th of this year (2021). It looks promising, which is why I put it on the list, and for that much money, it better be good lol

Lunar/Moon/Astrology Witch:

The Complete Guide to Astrology by Louise Edington - $9.49 (Paperback) $22.99 (Hardcover): There's amazing reviews on this book, and one of them said that she's been researching astrology for 23 years!! Here's the review in it's entirety:

I've been a student of Astrology for the past 23 years now, and have read most of the books on this subject that are considered foundational. Many guides to astrology that I page through in a bookstore are fine, but covering information I already know. What I so appreciated about Edington's new book is that she brings a new angle to even the basics of Astrology. Her book feels like a fresh update, more appropriate to our current time in terms of language and sensibility. There are no "evil" aspects or transits in Edington's view, no dark warnings of disaster; her evolutionary perspective encourages us to see the opportunity in even the most challenging times, what can be learned, what can be accomplished. As she says in her book, she doesn't look at the natal chart as something fixed, unchanging, rather a "blueprint rich in meaning and possibility."

I also admired Edington's extensive knowledge of the stories behind the names and symbology used in Astrology: sharing her interpretations of them, how they are useful, how they can be limiting. Concepts I thought I already understood have been unpacked in greater depth by the author, so that I see deeper layers.

This text is beautifully written, well-organized, offering a fresh update, as well as a deeper dive than many astrology texts. This book is an invaluable resource I'll be returning to, and consulting, with appreciation.

Moon Spells: How to Use the Phases of the Moon to Get What You Want by Diane Ahlquist - $11.35 (Paperback): This book is a bit older fashioned in the sense that it's VERY heteronormative, we're talking about love magick SPECIFICALLY for men and all about being a father, and a section of love magick SPECIFICALLY for women and being a mother. So if this gets on your nerves, then i wouldn't recommend this book. Other than that, the reviews are very good and they describe the book as being a must-have for lunar witches.

The Complete Book of Moon Spells by Michael Herkes - $13.49 (Paperback): Yes, this book was written by a man. If that's something that might make you not want to purchase, please look at this and also keep in mind that SO MANY of the most highly esteemed witches of the world ARE MEN. So if you wanna be closed off and refuse their help and their knowledge, go ahead sis, I'm not stopping you.

He's most definitely not just "some guy". Aside from that, this book has very good reviews. Some people called it "fluffy" and a bit less serious then they anticipated, but it's very good for beginner witches who are finally wanting to start doing spells. Here's a review.

In this book you explore ways to conjure the mysterious power of the moon to manifest your intentions to achieve abundance and balance in your life! Each chapter is devoted to one of the eight phases of the moon and includes various spells, tarot spreads, crystal grids and potions that reflect that phase of the moon!

This is an overall amazing book if you want to build a foundation of learning about the history of the moon, astrology, cycles & phases, ritual tools, crystals, herbs, and essential oils- as well as the moon spells and rituals.

This is one of my new favorite books! I feel so connected to the moon and this book is a great reference for learning the best rituals and spells to use for the different moon phases and energies surrounding them! It’s easy to follow and the lunar rituals, mystical spells and magical drinks are so vibrant, creative and helpful in my spiritual journey. I’d recommend this book to anyone that loves the moon like I do.

Moon Magic: A Handbooks of Lunar Cycles, Lore, and Mystical Energies by Aurora Kane - $19.99 (Hardcover, although there's only three left when I'm looking at it) $9.99 (Kindle):

One review said that the book much surpassed their expectations, and another review said this:

I absolutely adore this book.

If you're just a beginner and want to understand the different moon phases, this is the book to get.

The information inside was extremely helpful without being overly complicated.

Well worth the money spent.

Astrology: Using the Wisdom of the Stars in Your Everyday Life by DK - $14.59 (Hardcover):

I saw this in store and was immediately drawn to it's beautiful and shiny cover! But when I open it, the inside is just as beautiful! I love looking through the pages. I would say it is a very good basic astrology book, but I have another one that gives much more detail. I like this one for more of a quick reference kind of book. It's more of a bullet point style book, where it gives little tidbits instead of paragraphs going in depth. (Though some pages do have paragraphs) BUT, it covers just about everything including all the houses, moon signs, and ascending signs. It covers everything, but it just covers he tip of the iceberg. (In my opinion) I still absolutely recommend it!

Apparently this book is also available in Barnes and Noble, so if you have access to one, you might wanna look there for the book before purchasing off of Amazon :)

Misc Books (General):

The Spell Book for New Witches: Essential Spells to Change Your Life by Ambrosia Hawthorn - $10.19 (Paperback) $20.69 (Hardcover):

This book... It's a very good spell book, and is true in the spells it contains, but MY biggest problem with it is that it's V E R Y Wiccan, and seems almost preachy about the "Threefold Law" and what they like to call "karma". Choosing not to do dark magick is PERFECTLY FINE and being Wiccan is totally okay! But don't be like Christianity and rub it in people's faces, dude. The book talks about how you can ONLY practice "love and light". Other than that, this book is AMAZING and rated literally 5 stars with over 11K reviews. If you lean more Wiccan, by ALL means, buy this spellbook. It's the one for you.

Practical Magic for Beginners by Maggie Haseman - $13.49 (Paperback)

This book is fantastic for the witch who wants to learn more about her craft but doesn't know where to start. Each subject is broken down into easy to absorb bits of wisdom without being overwhelming. A great jumping off place to decide where to dive in deep next.

This book is very comprehensive, and is a great reference guide for beginner witches, or witches looking to add another book to their collection.

Candle Magic For Beginners by Mystic Dylan - $10.86 (Paperback) $21.99 (Spiral bound)

This book is a must have for anyone looking to deepen their connection with the magical element of fire, ritual, and spell work through candle magic! Dylan not only teaches you how to use candle magic for things such as protection, abundance, love, healing, and more, but takes you through the fascinating history of the power of fire & how to properly charge, cleanse, and consecrate your candles to begin manifesting your deepest desires!!! Overall, the book is beautifully written with gorgeous illustration and will hook you from the start!!!!!!!

This book is perfect for beginners to candle magick, or beginners to the craft in general. I personally LOVE candle magic because I've always been attracted to fire. I could void out and just stare at a flame for hours on end lol

Crystals for Beginners by Karen Frazier - $8.99 (Paperback) $20.95 (Spiral bound)

Absolutely love this book!! It’s so informative! I am a beginner and this book explains a lot. Everything a beginner would need to know about crystals is in this book. I am so pleased with it. Best purchase of the week! Definitely worth it. The author explains crystals, chakras and energy so enthusiastically and in a way that is easy to understand. At the end of the book, is a “resources” page with all the websites, books and apps that the Author recommends.

Again, very beginner friendly, but this time it's not spells, it's crystals and such. I've personally been wanting this book for AGES

The Crystal Bible Series by Judy Hall - $38.99 (Volume 1-3 shrink-wrapped set, paperback):

This is my first purchase of the three-part series by Judy Hall. Volume 1 covers over 200 crystals! I can already tell you I'll be purchasing volumes 2 and 3 (each of which cover 200+ MORE crystals/stones, not included in volume 1) I love how each crystal description includes photos to further help in identification. I also appreciate that rarity and sources were included. Information about the spiritual and physical impacts of crystals on the body is in there as well! This book is loaded with a lot of great information and is the perfect quick reference. It's also small and fits easily in my hand. I highly recommend it for beginners.

This is a review from just the first book, and it's from a verified hauler/buyer :)) these aren't exactly newbie friendly, and some people say they're a bit harder to understand.

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weakeninghope · 3 years

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Clean freak

Pairing: Joseph Joestar/Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

Rating: Explicit

AO3 link here

Summary:

So Joseph starts working on his plan. If his room was out of the question, even if they shared the bathroom, he’d lock himself on there and jerk off in the shower. He’s sure that no matter the excuse he makes up Caesar is going to butt into it and ask him about it, but he’s too stressed to preoccupy himself further with this issue. He’ll just say that he is tired and needs some stress relief.

Fuck, no, forget about that. “Stress relief” can easily give out that he’s talking about jerking off, and he definitely doesn’t want Caesar to know, or even think that he’s planning on jerking off (even if the thought of the blonde getting the hint is a little bit arousing).

Maybe he could say that he’s thought about his personal hygiene and that Caesar has always been right when he’s told him that he should take better care of his body? That’s it. If he says that, even if Caesar tells him “I told you so” and pesters him about it, he’ll have a magnificent excuse.

Joseph has always been an excellent strategist, after all.

Notes:

Hello! long time no see, right?

This has been sitting in my drafts for months... but I have a job now and I've been really stressed, plus fighting against depression and anxiety, which has proven to be really complicated. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I'm going to upload the next (and last) one as soon as I can hehe

if you want to talk to me or request something you can hit me up in:

Tumblr: @weakeninghope Twitter: @Tsumikans

Thank you for reading! As always, kudos and comments are much appreciated <3

Excuse me for the OOC and grammar mistakes, I’m a poor Spanish person doing their best ;_;

fic under the cut!

After a really long day of training, Joseph collapses against his bed, not even bothering to take a shower first. He’s sweaty, and he’s one hundred per cent sure that if Caesar were to find him in this state, he would call him gross and tell him to take a shower already.

But it wasn’t that easy. Even if they had separate rooms, they still had to share the bathroom, and Caesar was always the one to shower first, and he took his sweet time. Joseph doesn’t understand why, because his hair is short, so he doesn’t have to take long washing it, and, theoretically, Caesar’s clothes are covered in something soapy that always smells good, so he shouldn’t be that sweaty, or at least, he didn’t feel sweaty. But he knows Caesar is a clean freak, and he probably has an obsession with smelling nice all the time, probably to charm a lady or something like that. If his stomach churns at that thought, Joseph pretends not to notice it.

What is hard not to notice though, are all the small details in Caesar. He spends most of the time wrestling with him and in really close contact with the blond, so of course he’s noticed small details about his body.

The first thing he noticed were his pink birthmarks, he had been wondering what exactly they were ever since they first met, but their first meeting wasn’t exactly casual, so he wasn’t going to say “hey, asshole I’ve just met, what are those things in your cheeks?”. He’s never asked Caesar about them, and he’s never brought up the subject on purpose either. Still, he wonders how they would feel against his hands.

The second thing he noticed about Caesar was how expressive he was, overall, but mostly how everything he was feeling was reflected in his eyes. Joseph hated to admit that, but Caesar was a guy with charisma, and his eyes sparkled with an enigmatic sheen that honestly, he understood how they could make any woman crazy. It made him crazy as well. It really wasn’t funny at all, how often he’d fall on his butt or on his face while they were wrestling just because he looked at Caesar in the eyes and he’d found the blond staring right back at him, conveying all the right emotions, conveying all the raw honesty and fire in their encounter. But looking anywhere but Caesar’s eyes wasn’t an easy task either, probably because Joseph had always been really observant, and Caesar Zeppeli had plenty of… quality material to offer. Quality material. Joseph cringes at his own thoughts as he squeezes his pillow, trying to keep his thoughts from wandering to dangerous and uncharted territory.

But he fails miserably, obviously.

The third thing he noticed about Caesar was his… clothing choices. It isn’t as if they were bad. Just… weird. But not a bad kind of weird. Just a kind of weird Joseph hadn’t felt before. Because the bastard insisted on wearing those incredibly short and tight tops that Joseph himself also used to wear, but that was a completely different story, seeing them on someone else, seeing them on Caesar, was a completely different story. The first few outfits he’d seen on the other boy were completely horrendous, but as a few days passed, he seemed to find them less ugly. That, or he was just enjoying himself too much.

Which brings up the fourth thing he noticed about Caesar. How fucking ripped he was. And considering Joseph was almost 6’5 feet tall and built like a goddam wrestler, that was a compliment, but he wasn’t going to tell that to Caesar, that might boost the bastard’s ego further. In all honesty though, Joseph started to let himself be pinned down by Caesar more often than not, to see how it feels, and it took every ounce of his mental control not to sport a boner right then and there, because if he got hard thinking about Caesar that meant that he had to get off, and the walls of his room were ridiculously thin, and he didn’t want to risk the blond hearing him moan. In other circumstances (if he weren’t dangerously close to death and with two deadly rings inside his organs) he’d think about his sexuality. But honestly, he couldn’t care less right now. The person he lusted after right now was Caesar, and what if Caesar was a man?

And maybe… maybe he didn’t only lust after Caesar. Maybe he felt… something more.

But his feelings were really hard to approach when he had to spend every single one of his days in close contact with Caesar. To tell the truth, he was kind of proud of himself that he has managed to control his desires until now, it would have been really unfortunate if he hadn’t succeeded and a boner had appeared between his legs during training. Caesar would certainly never let him live it down, even if Joseph never told him that it was because of him; but since Caesar was the self-centered bastard he was we would start questioning him about his dirty thoughts, and this kind of conversation was not on the list of topics he wanted to discuss with Caesar.

That’s it. He had to get off. At least once, because if he kept going this pent-up he would be even more unfocused in his training sessions and he could not risk it because his life, Caesar’s life, hell, humanity was in danger.

Joseph has always been an excellent strategist, after all.

So that’s it. Tomorrow he will tell Caesar that he wants to shower first because he can’t stand to be his sweaty and dirty self anymore. And there, in the private space of the shower he will be able to think about Caesar as much as he wants, having the knowledge that Caesar has showered there some time prior.

Anyway, he doesn’t want to think about it that much now because it wouldn’t be the first time a boner appears between his legs at the thought of Caesar in the shower, because every time training is over and they retire to their rooms, Joseph lays down on his bed trying to stop himself from getting more turned on than he should, and Caesar, always, at the same time, knocks on the door and tells him that he’s going to the shower.

And today is no exception. In fact, in five minutes approximately, Caesar is going to come to knock on his door and tell him that the bathroom is going to be occupied for at least an hour. Why does Caesar need that much time, Joseph doesn’t know, but it’s always been like this. The good thing is that when Caesar leaves and Joseph goes there to take a shower himself or to just take a piss. He wonders if Caesar washes his hair more than twice and spends the rest of the time carefully impregnating his body with his body gel that smells like wild berries. He can easily imagine it, Caesar locking the door of the bathroom, putting his towel and a fresh set of clothes on top of the bathroom cabinet, not quite close to the shower but not far either. Then he would remove his headband, leaving his hair sticking out in different directions and tousled as if he had just woken up. Joseph wonders how Caesar would look with unkempt hair, or even how would Caesar look outside of his usually calm and composed demeanor. But since he knows that Caesar can’t stand a single second like that, he wouldn’t linger more than the necessary time in taking his clothes off, which is, in reality, such a pity, because Joseph knew for sure that it would be really enjoyable to watch. It would put on a great show to say the least. And that would only be the starting point. Because one thing that Joseph knows and doesn’t need to see to confirm his suspicions (even if he would very much like to) is that Caesar would take his time to put his dirty clothes on the basket for Suzie Q to take when he left, instead of leaving them scattered on the floor like Joseph always does. Which means that there is a time lapse in which Caesar is naked and not in the shower.

God. This is really not helping Joseph’s determination to wait until tomorrow to jerk off in the shower.

And once Caesar stepped into the shower, he would have to wait a while for the heater to kick in, so that’s more time of naked Caesar without the shower. But when the heater kicked in and Caesar stepped into the warm water maybe he would release a hum of satisfaction once it hit his exhausted body. The warm droplets would slide down his skin, his dampened hair would stick to his nape and his wet hands would caress his body to release the stress and tension from his muscles. Then he would grab the shampoo and carefully thread his fingers in to his hair and massage his scalp to make sure his hair is thoroughly taken care of soaking up every fiber and enjoying the fact that, after an arduous day of training, he can wash the sweat and the dirt of his hair. Joseph is sure that, considering the amount of effort Caesar must put into selfcare (not only his hair, but his skin too) he must be really soft, in all places possible. If he closes his eyes he can vividly picture it, His hand finding its way to Caesar’s hair, threading his fingers into golden locks, and the other hand caressing his face, soft, pleading skin as the result oh skincare and expensive shower gel and shampoo. After his hair is washed up, he would start with his body, bubbly soap in his arms, his face, his long, muscular legs, his abs, everything this perfect body has to offer, standing naked under the water as the stream washes the soap off and Caesar relaxes… exposed skin under warm droplets…

Every possible bit of skin, even those that Joseph hasn’t seen yet…

How would it feel if Joseph were to…?

… Stop it before it’s too late, Joseph thinks.

But maybe it is too late because in these five minutes Joseph’s head has been full of thoughts of Caesar practically rubbing himself in the shower and, as it was destined to happen, Joseph has now a growing tent between his pants, and thinking of Caesar stepping into the shower again this afternoon to repeat the process that Joseph has pictured in his head only spurred him on even further.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to… just a little…

So Joseph carefully brings his right hand to his crotch, and even through the barrier of his clothes he just groans at the contact, and abandoning himself to his instincts, he begins rubbing himself through his trousers, pleasure making its way to his brain and transporting himself to another reality where he can fantasize about Caesar as much as he wants.

Wait.

Caesar? Was that his voice?

“Jojo!” Comes Caesar’s voice through his door. He’s demanding, which means that he’s probably knocked before and Joseph didn’t realize, too busy pleasuring himself. “Since you’re not answering, I’m going to come in to make sure you’re here and that you didn’t remove your mask or do anything funny.”

Shit.

Joseph has literally a few seconds to flip his position and lay face down the bed (as uncomfortable as that is) to hide his raging erection. He grabs a comic book from his nightstand and picks a random page to pretend he’s reading, and then Caesar steps into his room, probably to make sure that he’s wearing his mask.

“Oh, so you’re reading one of those lame comics of yours” Caesar chastises, trying to make Joseph to turn around to look at him, plus stepping closer to him so now he’s standing close to Joseph’s face, if the former tilts his head just a bed he will be able to see him. But that won’t happen. Caesar mustn’t see what Joseph is hiding. In no way whatsoever. So he pretends not to hear him and flips through his comic.

“Jojo, are going to keep ignoring me? Are you angry because you lost again today? Oh, come on, I didn’t take you for such a baby” Caesar taunts. He’s definitely trying to pick up a fight. And Joseph has enough of that. So he turns his face slightly.

And that’s when he sees it.

Caesar is half naked. He’s only wearing a towel, covering his nether region. His torso is full on display, his chiseled abs at plain sight. His pale skin shining with sweat. The sight is so breathtaking that Joseph even ignores that he reeks of sweat. From this angle he can’t even see his face, which he doesn’t know if it’s for better or for worse.

“So, you can’t bother to even look at me?” Caesar inquiries, still trying to taunt Joseph. The brunet doesn’t even know which game Caesar is trying to play, coming to his room half naked like that and pretending Joseph to stare at his face ignoring that, were the towel to full, everything about the blonde would be full on display.

“I have already had my fill of your ugly face, thank you.” Joseph retorts, returning his attention to his comic. Stay calm. Caesar will eventually leave, and this will be over.

Then Caesar crouches besides the bed, and Joseph turns upon hearing his knees crack.

Their eyes crash. Joseph can’t stand the enigmatic sheen of those green eyes for more than two seconds, and averts his eyes. In other circumstances, he would have no problem to participate in a battle of stares, being confident in his victory, but with a tremendous boner between his legs and the object of his desires a few centimeters away from him, he would rather this to end.

“Your next words will be ‘I’m going to use the shower, make sure to wash your dirty body when I come out’” Joseph lets go, staring at his comic. He knows that now Caesar will leave, and fortunately, he will have some alone time to enjoy himself. Fuck his plan to do it tomorrow. An emergency is an emergency.

“I’m going to use the shower, make sure to wash your dirty body when I come out” Caesar spits, even though there’s no malice in his voice, he’s just tired of Joseph’s antics. With no further ado, he gets up, leaves Josephs room and heads to the bathroom.

Joseph rolls into his bed and now, face up again, looks down at his crotch.

The boner is still there, and knowing what Caesar is going to do now…

Usually, when Caesar goes to the shower, Joseph hears him lock the bathroom door, he’s usually very quick doing this, because he knows Caesar enjoys his privacy more than anyone else, but today, Joseph still hasn’t heard the lock.

So that’s when he has an idea.

It’s a very dangerous idea, but it’s worse to fail than not to try at all. And just a peek won’t hurt.

Yeah, that’s it. He’s too horny to function though, in other circumstances he’s sure that this wouldn’t happen, but it’s too late to be a rational human being right now.

That’s it, he’s made up his mind. Joseph carefully stands up and, boner still standing proudly between his legs, removes his shoes from his feet and carefully walks to the bathroom, which is between Caesar’s room and his.

As he suspected, the door isn’t locked. In fact, it’s slightly open. Not half open or something like that, but it’s enough to see something if you try hard enough.

And, indeed, he does see something.

He catches a glimpse of Caesar’s ass when he removes his pants. It looks so plump, so inviting. And he can hear Caesar humming a song in Italian, an unknown song he has heard him hum before, and, as he had imagined many times prior, when he steps into the shower, even if he disappears from Joseph’s sight, Caesar hums in satisfaction. And that’s when Joseph loses it. He makes a mad dash to his room, and, T-shirt still on and all brings his pants and underwear to his knees.

Ready to start pleasuring himself, Joseph brings his hand to his cock, ready to start pumping.

He almost releases a moan at the long desired contact, but someone beats him to it. He hears a voice which is not his own release a sweeet, pent-up moan.

Joseph stops dead in his tracks because the only person who could do this is Caesar. How loud must he be moaning for Joseph to hear him through the sound of the water running down his skin? But still, the walls of these rooms are ridiculously thin, and the bathroom door isn’t locked so…

Well, hearing Caesar moan isn’t what he was expecting but it’s a sign that he has to jerk off now, that he can’t wait anymo-

“Jojo…”

What? Maybe he’s hearing things…

“J-Jojo…”

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

Caesar is a room away, jerking off to him?

Joseph’s cook is already flushed red, precum falling onto his stomach, and he has only touched it.

So this is what Caesar Zeppeli is doing to him.

Screw self-control, Joseph has had enough of that. How is he supposed to control himself when this is happening.

So he doesn’t waste any more time and starts pumping his length. He starts nice and slow, still hearing Caesar’s moans. Every time he hears his name Joseph can only close his eyes and imagine that it’s Caesar’s hand on his cock, driving him crazy. Or even Caesar’s clock sliding against his, the friction too much for Joseph to handle. He’s sure that were him to do this with Caesar (if sex was on the table) he wouldn’t last very long. His hand feels rough and calloused against his dick, but it feels amazing. He hasn’t felt like this in a long time, probably because since he’s here he hasn’t had the chance to jerk off properly, and now he’s dragging the moment as much as he can.

But this isn’t enough. He wants more.

So he slides a hand under his t-shirt to caress his nipples, long, circular motions at his buds, once again, imagining that it’s Caesar who is doing this. He also pictures how it would feel like, to have his moist tongue lapping there and sucking hard. He wants to feel Caesar eating him whole. He wants to feel Caesar on top of him, roughly grabbing his hands, putting them over his hands, tying him up so Joseph can’t move, wants Caesar to tell him that he’s being a good boy, wants to cum for Caesar.

Joseph’s hand starts speeding up his pace, and, apparently, Joseph has no control over his voice, even if he’s trying to muffle his moans through his hands, because when he reaches his climax and he’s teetering over the edge, a long, erotic “Caesar” escapes his mouth.

And that’s when he realizes that he’s left the door of his room open.

#jjba #JoJo's Bizarre Adventure #caejose #Joseph Joestar #Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli

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hysterialevi · 3 years

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Eitr | Chapter 12

Fanfic summary: In an alternate universe where the Raven Clan is wiped out, Sigurd ends up being rescued by the son of a Saxon ealdorman, and is tasked with being the boy’s new bodyguard. Upon meeting the boy’s father however, Sigurd soon realizes that the ealdorman is responsible for his clan’s destruction, and secretly plans for revenge while hiding behind the guise of a Norse pagan turned Christian.

Point of view: third-person

Pairing: Sigurd Styrbjornson x Male OC

This story is also on AO3 | Previous chapter

LATER THAT DAY

FORANGAL CASTLE, SIGURD’S CHAMBERS

Sigurd gazed down at his hands, staring blankly into the distance as his mind tore itself apart with guilt.

His clothes were still stained with numerous splatters of Gjuki’s blood, and even though Aegenwulf finally decided to spare his life, Sigurd remained trapped in a pit of remorse, suddenly feeling an urgent desire to return home.

...What had he done? What had the Saxons turned him into? Was his mind even his own anymore? What would Eivor think about all this?

Only a handful of weeks had drifted by ever since Sigurd first washed up on Agenbury’s shore, and yet, the man felt as if a lifetime separated him from the past. He hardly recognized himself anymore after everything that had occurred, and considering how things were unfolding so far, part of him wished Edlynne had left him at the river.

He didn’t deserve to be here, or in Valhalla. Backstabbers such as himself belonged in the darkest depths of Helheim, and Sigurd had no idea how he was going to face his brother once all this was over.

He wanted nothing more than to reunite with the fragments that remained of his family, but in light of recent events, Sigurd was now beginning to question his true motives, and how much survival really meant to him.

It would’ve been a dream come true to see Eivor’s face again, that much was true, but what would it matter if Sigurd didn’t even return as the same man? His brother was fighting to bring back the sibling he grew up with back in Fornburg, and yet, Sigurd felt as if he had become a total stranger.

There was barely anything left of the person he once was, and with Algar’s influence constantly digging deeper into the ealdorman’s mind, Sigurd didn’t even want to think about what he’d have to do to survive in the future.

Things were bad enough as it was. Any worse, and all Hell would break loose.

“Sigurd.”

Snapping out of his thoughts, the viking suddenly realized he wasn’t alone in his chambers and spotted Edric standing in front of him, trying to get his attention.

His brow was furrowed deeply in frustration, and judging by the weary look he wore on his face, Sigurd assumed he had just walked away from some sort of argument. Probably with Aegenwulf himself.

Sigurd glanced up at the man, still somewhat lost in shock. “...Edric? What are you doing here?”

The Saxon frowned in sympathy. “I apologize for intruding like this, but there’s something important you need to know. A decision was made after you left the throne room. Before I tell you about it, though... I wanted to see how you were doing first. That trial was just...” Edric sighed in disgust, “...well, you know.”

He took a seat next to the Norseman, bowing his head low in exhaustion.

“God, what an absolute mess. I knew my father had changed, but I never realized just how unhinged he was. What on earth was he thinking? Forcing two men to fight like a pair of animals. Jesus... if the Danes didn’t hate us before, they certainly will now.”

Edric turned to Sigurd, switching to a gentler tone. “I’m so sorry, Sigurd. If I had known what my father intended, I would’ve stepped in sooner. I would’ve tried to speak with him. I would’ve--”

“--You’re not to blame.” The viking replied, his voice cold with anger. “You did everything you could.”

The other man let out a breath. “Maybe. I just wish it would’ve been enough. I mean, I’m glad to see you alive, but... my God. That poor man. What was his name. Gjuki? What the hell did they do to him?”

“I feared he had already been killed,” Sigurd admitted. “But now, I’m starting to think that would’ve been a better fate.”

“No one deserves what he went through,” Edric agreed. “I still can’t believe my father would allow all this. He used to be so kind, and compassionate. He was always a firm man, but he never indulged in such cruelty. What’s happened to him?”

It didn’t take long for Sigurd to provide an answer. “Your father is no more than a pawn for Algar to use. You wish to eradicate the corruption in Wedenscire? You must get rid of him first.”

Edric picked up on his tone. “Why? Have you learned something?”

The viking nodded. “Before Gjuki drew his last breath, he revealed to me what he found in Algar’s crypt. Apparently, the man is part of the Order of the Ancients. His alias among them is The Colossus.”

Edric displayed a puzzled look. “The Order of the Ancients? I’ve never heard of them. Have you?”

“Yes, actually. Though, my knowledge on them is far from abundant. Before my clan was attacked, my brother pursued some of their members who were operating in Lunden. I also know there are many others spread across England and Norway. They worship a god whose name I’ve never heard, and their motives remain a mystery to me. I have no idea why they would be interested in your father, or how Gareth is connected to all this.”

The nobleman slid a hand down his face. “Christ Almighty. What has my family gotten itself into? I’m not familiar with this organization, Sigurd, but I’ll do whatever I can to learn more about them. If they’re as widespread as you say, there must be something we can find. Something that can put Algar down for good.”

“Just... tread carefully.” Sigurd warned. “Gjuki was on the same path as you before Algar captured him. I don’t want you to share his fate. There’s also the fact that he’ll likely be even more protective of his secrets now that someone has infiltrated his crypt.”

“Of course. I’ll be as discreet as possible.”

The viking decided to switch topics. “Well, enough about that. I’d rather not spare another thought on that bacraut after everything that’s happened. You mentioned you had something else you wanted to discuss?”

Edric sighed. “Right. You’re not going to like it. It’s... Bishop Hundwerth.”

Sigurd leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What has he done now?”

“He insists that you convert to Christianity. I told him it wasn’t necessary, but I’m afraid Lady Moira’s voice overpowered mine. My father’s decided that you’re to be baptized tomorrow morning, and recognized as a man of God.”

“But I already proved my loyalty,” the other man argued, his tone sharp with bitterness. “Wasn’t that the whole point of pitting me against my own friend? Or was that simply for their entertainment?”

Edric shared Sigurd’s annoyance. “That’s not how the bishop sees it. In his eyes, the only thing you proved is that you’re willing to murder one of your own if it means saving yourself. You may have given your word that you won’t betray us again, but for Hundwerth, the word of a pagan holds little merit. He’d rather trust the promise of a Christian.”

The Norseman rose from his bed, pacing around the room. “So it’s not enough that they torture my people and force me to slay them? Now I must also abandon my gods?”

The Saxon bowed his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Sigurd. The unfairness of this situation isn’t lost on me, but I’m afraid there’s not much else I can do. My words seem to fall on deaf ears nowadays.”

“...It’s not your fault. You’ve already done more than enough for me.” Sigurd placed his hands on his hips, gazing out the window. “I suppose there’s no use in fighting it now. I’ve seen the kind of punishment that awaits me if I resist. I do not wish to leave my gods behind, but...” his voice softened with heartache, “...if this is the cost of survival, then... I’ll do it. I need to get back home alive. I need to see my brother again.”

Edric’s head jerked up in confusion. “Your brother? I thought he was dead.”

“So did I, but Gjuki informed me of his survival not too long ago. He was the only thing keeping us in touch. Now that he’s gone, I’m at a loss as to how I’ll contact my brother again should the need arise.”

The young man stood up from the bed and stepped behind Sigurd, resting an affectionate hand on his arm.

“...We will get through this, Sigurd.” He whispered reassuringly. “I know it can be easy to forget, but you’re not alone in these walls. You have Edlynne, Joseph, Raedan... and me. We’re here for you.”

The viking held onto Edric’s hand and turned around to face him, finding a sense of solace in his words.

“Thank you, Edric. These are dire times, but your kindness won’t be forgotten in the days to come.” Sigurd pulled the young man close, pecking a kiss on his forehead. “I’m glad I have you at my side.”

Edric smiled in his embrace, resting his head on the man’s chest. “As am I.”

Falling into silence, the two of them simply stood there for a moment and savored each other’s company, attempting to cling onto any shred of comfort they could find. The entire castle had descended into disarray after Aegenwulf’s unpopular decision to spare Sigurd, and with Bishop Hundwerth preparing for the upcoming baptism, it seemed like peace in Forangal was naught but a distant memory.

There was arguing, debating, contempt, scorn -- and seeing as how Gjuki’s head was now displayed on a pike, Edric imagined that the war with the Danes would only erupt.

It was Hell on earth inside Forangal’s walls, but with Sigurd there to protect him from any threats, Edric was able to feel some sense of security. It meant nothing to him that the man was a Dane, or a pagan rather than a Christian. He knew Sigurd to be good at heart, and frankly, despite what he expected, he trusted him more than his own father these days.

He only prayed that the tides of fate would be merciful in the near future. If he were to lose Sigurd to the chaos that was beginning to unravel, Edric didn’t know how he would proceed. That man was the only one willing to help him look into Gareth’s death, and if his instincts were correct, then Algar was at the center of it all.

He would need all the help he could get in order to take that beast down, and if that meant they had to fight for just a little longer, then Edric was willing to endure it. He just didn’t know where to start.

~~~~~~~~~~

TWO DAYS LATER

ELMENHAM, EAST ANGLIA

Galloping towards the longhouse at full speed, Broder frantically stormed his way back to Eivor as rain heavily poured down from the clouds above, shrouding everything in a bleak darkness.

He had been running for his life ever since Algar cornered Gjuki at the crypt, and with the majority of their group now lying dead in the mud, Broder had no intentions of returning to Wedenscire until Eivor himself marched for the gates of Forangal.

He hated the idea of leaving Sigurd behind to deal with his troubles alone, but considering how erratic the ealdorman had become recently, Broder was no longer willing to risk it. Not on his own, at least.

He saw for himself what the Saxons did to Gjuki, and how they treated his corpse. He may have been eager to help Eivor reunite with his brother, but Broder had his own siblings to look out for, and the last thing he wanted was to end up being a mounted head for some Saxon nobleman.

He just hoped he wasn’t too late.

Yanking on the reins of his horse, Broder came to a screeching halt as the animal’s hooves went dragging through the mud, causing the steed to let out a panicked neigh. His body was aching terribly with fatigue thanks to the long journey, but even then, the viking refused to take a break. His mind had been trapped in a perpetual state of alarm ever since Gjuki’s death, and he was adamant to get the news back to Eivor.

Rushing to the entrance of the longhouse, Broder trudged through the storm and practically bashed the doors open, ignoring the curious stares he received from scattered civilians.

Even though the rain had washed away most of the blood staining his armor, he still remained quite a sight to behold and traipsed through Elmenham’s fields like a walking corpse rising from its grave.

Once inside, Broder spotted Eivor conversing with Oswald and Valdis as the three of them discussed the war, clearly devising some sort of plan. Their voices were nearly inaudible underneath the relentless howls of the wind, but in spite of the interference, their heads still jolted in Broder’s direction upon his obtrusive entrance, causing them to let out a unanimous gasp.

“Brother!” Valdis greeted with relief. “You’ve returned.” Her expression instantly dimmed. “...Are you well? You look awful.”

The man jogged up to them, doing his best not to collapse on the spot.

“Eivor...!” Broder exclaimed, somewhat out of breath. “There you are. I... I...”

“Easy, drengr,” Eivor said in a calming tone. “Slow down. Tell me what’s going on.”

Broder took a moment to get his bearings, finally recovering from the treacherous ride home.

“...Gjuki’s dead, Eivor.”

Valdis’ eyes widened in horror. “What? What do you mean he’s dead? What happened?”

Broder decided to spare them the details. “We were searching a hidden crypt in Wedenscire, not too far away from Forangal. We thought there might’ve been clues inside, and there were, but...”

Eivor urged him on. “But what?”

The other man shook his head in regret. “It was the ealdorman’s housecarl. An argr snake called Algar. He captured Gjuki and slaughtered the rest of our men. I was the only one who managed to escape.”

Oswald caught onto his last words. “Wait, he captured Gjuki? So he didn’t kill him immediately?”

“No,” Broder confirmed. “Algar took him to the dungeons.”

An alarming thought struck Eivor’s mind. “Wait, what about Sigurd? Where is he now? Is he alright?”

A dour look spread across Broder’s face. “He’s alive, but... Gods. It was madness, Eivor. When Algar took Gjuki in, it didn’t take him long to realize that he was working with Sigurd, so the ealdorman held a trial. They were willing to spare your brother’s life in spite of his crimes, but he had to do something in exchange. He had to kill Gjuki.”

Eivor froze at the news.

“...Sigurd... killed him?”

“Yes. He did not wish to, but the Saxons left him no choice. It was either him or Gjuki. He chose to comply in the end.” Broder turned to his sister. “...I tried everything I could to save him, Valdis. I did. But it wasn’t enough. I’m sorry.”

The woman crossed her arms, trying to hide her pain. “I--” she choked up, “--oh, Gjuki...”

Broder hesitated to get the last part of his report out. He hated to constantly be the bearer of bad news, but he knew it was necessary.

“...There is one more thing, Eivor. While we were in the crypt, we learned that Algar was part of the Order. There were a series of letters between him and some of the other members in their organization, but he’s burned them all now.”

Oswald paused. “A member of the Order? In Wedenscire? Are you certain?”

“Indeed. They call him The Colossus.”

Eivor mindlessly clenched his fist in response to the report and brought his attention to the king, unable to conceal the fire raging in his eyes.

“Oswald, we must march on Forangal now. We have enough allies.”

The Saxon hesitated. “You’ve rallied a decent army, Eivor, but I’m still not certain if it’ll be sufficient. Forangal is a hefty fortress armed with many defenses. If we’re not careful, it could result in total obliteration.”

“We don’t have time to forge anymore alliances!” The viking argued. “Sigurd needs us. Now. Those Saxons have already butchered Gjuki, and they have the Order among them. It won’t be much longer until my brother is the one on their chopping block. We need to get him out of there as soon as possible.”

Oswald remained unswayed. “I understand your urgency, Eivor, but we must approach this realistically. Not many people walk away from Forangal with their lives, and for good reason. We only have one chance to do this right. Better to wait a little longer and ensure we’re prepared, rather than march straight to our deaths.”

The king turned to Broder. “You were there, Broder. What’s your opinion on the situation in Wedenscire? Can Sigurd afford to wait?”

The man furrowed his brow in uncertainty. “I... I don’t know, my lord. It’s difficult to say. He’s managed to survive thus far, but his captives have become unpredictable recently. Relentless. They’ve even forced Sigurd to convert to Christianity.”

That took Oswald by surprise. “What? When did this happen?”

“Just after Gjuki died. I overheard the nobles in the castle speaking of a baptism before I left. One of them was against the conversion, but the rest decided to go through with it.”

Eivor’s expression flattened with frustration. “You see? We must go now. Before they try anything else. I’m done cowering in the shadows.”

“But what if--”

“--Eivor’s right.” Valdis jumped in. “Those people are animals, Oswald. You’ve seen for yourself what they did to the Raven Clan; what they did to Randvi. If there’s any chance we can save Sigurd from the same fate, we need to take it. We’ve idled for long enough.”

Oswald was at a loss for words. “...I really don’t know how this is going to work, you all. We have enough forces to put up a decent fight, but... assaulting Forangal Castle? That’s a completely different story.”

Broder offered his own thoughts. “Do not be so quick to dismiss the unlikely, my lord. It happens more often than you think. Those are Gjuki’s words. Not mine.”

“Have faith in our strength, husband.” Valdis continued. “We are warriors. Drengir. Children of Odin. We were born and bred for this sort of thing. We will not fall so easily to these Saxons. Let us go.”

Oswald fell silent at his friends’ arguments and sighed in defeat, conflicted on what to do next.

On one hand, he sympathized with Eivor’s eagerness to storm Forangal’s gates, but on the other, he honestly didn’t know if their soldiers could survive such an endeavor. Their army was just large enough that the plan could’ve succeeded with the help of a miracle, but despite his youth, Oswald was world-weary enough to know that battles typically didn’t favor the disadvantaged.

Anything could’ve gone wrong during this assault. Aegenwulf could’ve had more forces than they anticipated, an ambush could’ve stopped them along the way, or -- worst case scenario -- Sigurd could’ve already been dead. There was an abundance of unknowns lurking around the corner, and with so many risks obscuring the path ahead, Oswald wasn’t sure if war was the answer. At least, not for now.

Still, he feared what could’ve happened to Sigurd if they waited too long. Based on Broder’s report, it sounded like the man was going through hell at the moment. If there was any opportunity for them to rescue him from Aegenwulf’s clutches, Oswald felt complied to seize it.

Eivor did the same for him when he was taken prisoner at Burgh Castle, so it only seemed right to return the favor.

“...Alright, you three.” Oswald finally agreed. “We’ll march on Forangal Castle as soon as we are able. Eivor, summon your allies. Tell them to meet us here. When they’ve arrived, we’ll begin making our way to Wedenscire. In the meantime, the rest of us will focus on the assault. My troops are yours to command as well.”

The viking gave him a firm nod. “Thank you, Oswald. I won’t fail you.”

“I have confidence in your abilities. I just hope that it’ll be enough. As for the rest of you...”

Oswald linked his hands together behind his back. “Get some rest. And prepare as much as you can. We don’t know what sort of resistance we’ll face in Wedenscire, but I think it’s safe to assume that our forces will be stretched thin. Do everything in your ability to ensure you are ready for this assault, and keep your guard up. We have evidence that the Order of the Ancients is involved now, so Lord only knows what Algar will have up his sleeve.”

Broder stepped in. “I’ll join the assault too.”

“No,” Oswald refused. “you need to rest. You’ve been through enough.”

“With all due respect, your Majesty, Gjuki is dead because of my incompetence. Out of honor, I cannot simply sit by and watch while your people risk their lives for a mistake I made. I’m still here because of that man. This is the least I can do for him.”

The king decided to grant him permission. “...Very well, then. I expect to see you at Forangal. As for you two, spread word of the assault to our soldiers. I want them to be prepared as well.”

Eivor nodded. “As you wish.”

“Good. Then let’s get to work. Sigurd’s life depends on our efficiency, and there’s no telling what will happen once Aegenwulf realizes who’s behind the assault. From what I understand, the man is growing more and more unstable by the day. Brace yourselves for anything... and may your gods watch over you all.”

#assassin's creed valhalla #ac valhalla #sigurd styrbjornson #male oc #sigurd x male oc #ac valhalla fanfic #eitr

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flipomatic · 4 years

Text

Shortcuts Ch 4

Author Note: I know this is cliché, but that’s fine it isn’t going to stop me.

First Chapter Previous Chapter

______________________________________________

The next day, Emira was sitting in class wondering what her next steps should be. She was currently in the only class she shared with Viney, history of covens, which was what prompted the line of thought.

Ed was in this class too, but he sat on the opposite end of the room from Emira. They had been separated as a form of ‘trouble prevention,’ or at least, that’s what the teacher told them. Enchanting the chalk to write on the board whenever she turned her back had been the last straw.

Right now, the teacher was reviewing a concept they studied the previous week, going on about the accomplishments of the first head of the illusion coven. Emira already knew all of it by heart.

Though Emira looked like she was paying attention, her mind was actually focused on another student in the class. One who sat a couple rows ahead of her, a student who studied two tracks named Viney.

For every new thing Emira had learned about Viney while tailing her, she had two new questions to go along with it. It was somehow both intriguing and frustrating.

She learned that Viney was trying to learn a new spell and was studying for it in the healing track classroom after school. Emira wondered what kind of spell it was, what Viney was trying to accomplish, and what she was trying to find in those dusty old books.

She had also learned that Viney was friends with the other multi track students, which really wasn’t a surprise, and had enemies within the beast keeping track. She valued someone or something called Puddles. Emira had no idea what that was, perhaps a beast? That would make sense, since she was in the beast keeping track.

Lastly, she had softened slightly when Emira helped her. It didn’t change much, but it was a step in the right direction. Emira wondered what was going through her mind at that moment; she was hard to read.

All of these left Emira wondering and thinking, curious to learn more but unsure of what she should do. She absolutely didn’t want to worsen their relationship, especially because things were getting interesting.

“You’ll be working in pairs for the rest of class.” The teacher, a brunette witch in her 40’s, said from the front of the class. Emira tuned in, noticing that the topic had changed. “Your partner will be assigned after I give the instructions.” That meant Emira wasn’t going to be able to work with Ed. “You’ll be creating a small poster for one of initial coven leaders. You will need to include a drawing that is by hand or made with magic, information about their origin, why they were chosen to lead their coven, and what they achieved as head of the coven. As for which coven leader you pick, you and your partner get to choose.”

It sounded like an easy assignment, though that didn’t mean Emira wanted to do it. “But there’s a catch. You cannot choose a coven leader who matches your or your partner’s tracks. That means you will have to pick one from a coven that is different than yours.” That made it harder for Emira, but just slightly. She knew a little about the other coven leaders. “The pairs list will be on the board, along with a copy of the directions.”

The teacher cast a spell, projecting a large image onto the chalkboard. A list of assignment criteria was on the left side, with a list of student pairs on the right.

“Find your partner on the list, then move to sit together and start working. I’ll be walking around if you have any questions.” The teacher finished, moving to the side of the board so the students could read it.

Emira squinted up at it, looking for her name on the right side. She made it mid-way down the board before she found it, a grin creeping onto her face when she saw who she was assigned with.

Today was her lucky day.

For the assignment, she was paired with Viney. What an amazing turn of fate.

Viney was still facing forward in her seat, so Emira couldn’t see her reaction to the news. She didn’t look like she was going to move, so Emira got up to go to her.

She took her books and bag, since they were going to spend the rest of class on this, and walked between the tables to reach Viney. The student next to her had moved to find their partner, so Emira was able to sit down next to her without a hassle. Viney had taken out a blank piece of paper and opened her notes. She didn’t react to Emira’s arrival.

Emira cleared her throat, trying not to make things awkward. “Hey, I guess we’re partners.” She smiled, hoping for a better reaction than their prior encounters.

Viney turned her head towards Emira slightly and nodded. “Yes, we are.” She then looked back at her notebook, flipping through a few of the pages. She was being polite today, so she must’ve been okay with being assigned together. She didn’t bring up what happened the day before. “I was thinking of doing the oracle coven, any objections?”

Emira had no problem with that, her mother was actually in that coven, and even if she had she would’ve kept it to herself. “None.” She took out her textbook and opened to the table of contents. There she found the chapter about the oracle coven and flipped to the correct pages.

When she looked back over, Viney had written the name of the first oracle head at the center of the top of the blank piece of paper. This would probably be their poster. She had started drawing a few lines across it, two long ways and one near the bottom horizontally. For someone with tears and pins holding their clothes together, she seemed quite organized.

“Can you draw?” Viney asked, not looking up from her work.

As much as Emira wanted to say she could, that would be a lie. “Oh, very badly.” Emira replied with a chuckle.

This drew a hint of a smile to Viney’s lips. Though Emira could only see her face from the side, it looked good on her. Viney paused for a moment as if considering her words carefully. “I bet I’m worse.” She finally said when she finished the drawing the final line.

Emira sincerely doubted that, but wasn’t prepared to get into an art contest. “We’ll do the picture with magic then.” Emira flipped through a few pages of the book, stopping on a page with a photo of the leader when he was chosen.

“An illusion spell that can do that?” Viney turned her head fully to look at Emira, brow furrowed as she asked the question.

“It’s not the standard use for it.” Emira admitted, reaching for the nearly blank poster. “I discovered it when trying to make a copy of something. Let me show you.” Emira didn’t add that what she was trying to duplicate was Ed’s homework so that she could have a copy. Viney pushed the paper towards Emira, a clear invitation to continue. “The picture should go in the center, right?” Emira asked. She guessed that based on the grid formation.

Viney nodded, looking slightly surprised. “Yeah, that’s correct.”

Emira picked up the paper, standing to hold it over the book. She had to hold it above the image at the right distance, so the picture would fit into the center box of the grid. Then she drew the spell circle with one hand, which created a beam of light from the paper to the page. Emira glanced over and spotted Viney watching with wide eyes. The paper glowed for a moment, then slowly returned to normal.

When the light faded, the picture from the book was visible on the paper. It was inside the center box and below the title, exactly where it was supposed to be. Emira sat back down and handed it to Viney, who brought it close to her face and examined it closely.

“Impressive.” She finally said, putting the paper down on the table. “Didn’t think it could be done.” There was that blunt honesty again, that Emira had experienced from her before.

“I’m full of surprises.” Emira smiled and winked, keeping her tone light.

A slight pink dusted Viney’s cheeks. “I can see that.” She muttered, almost too quiet for Emira to hear, then cleared her throat. “I’ll start on his origins, if you want to look for the reasons he was chosen to lead the coven.”

If she could choose, Emira would pick none of them. She should probably pull her weight here though. “I’ll get right on that.” She went to the next section of the book to start looking for that information.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emira could see Viney working on the poster. She was using her notes for information, which meant she already had enough information about this topic to not need the book. Her mouth was set in a neutral line as she worked, focused on the task in front of her. Emira knew Viney spent time studying on her own, but was still surprised at how studious the other teen was.

When Viney glanced her way, probably feeling Emira’s eyes on her, Emira quickly looked back at her book. It was time to actually do some work, so she would have something to write on the paper when Viney finished her part.

For the next fifteen minutes they worked on the assignment. Viney finished the first section, then Emira added text to the next. She didn’t have as much to write, but she was able to do her part. Viney took it back for the third, about what the oracle leader achieved as part of the coven, which was fine with Emira.

When class ended they turned the assignment in, with Viney walking away after before Emira could think to say goodbye.

Emira packed up her bag to leave, already back to thinking about the other student.

Somehow, after having a civil normal interaction, she was more curious than before. What was Viney’s deal? Why couldn’t Emira stop thinking about her, the way she stood her ground, the way her handwriting curved down on the poster without lines to contain it, the way she focused so intently on her work, or the way she looked when she smiled.

This wasn’t just about the secret passages anymore, Emira was fully invested.

Next Chapter

#the owl house #the owl house fanfiction #emira/viney #emira blight #viney #viney owl house #chapter 4 of this one #flip writes #fanfic #fanfiction

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himarifuruya · 3 years

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Diamond Light [ That's the Tea ]

Preface: Diamond Light is a non-linear series of stories based around my OC Himari Furuya and her relationship with Tamaki Amajiki or Suneater.

TW: Chapters may contain Rated M [18+] content, such as graphic sexual content, canon typical violence and gore, body horror and explicit language.

Chapter Summary: Tamaki catches up with his friends and gains some unexpected insight.

Tamaki was in burnout.

Over these past weeks, he had been so exhausted. Ever since his work study had begun, he wanted to do nothing but go home and sleep. If he wasn’t on patrols, training, or studying for his classes, he was a living vegetable. His tired, aching body didn’t want to do anything besides lay in bed and waste the hours away.

It hadn’t been an unpleasant time though, working in Fat Gum’s agency had been a highlight in many ways. Though his mentor could be a tad overwhelming for his taste, he couldn’t have asked for a better one. He especially didn’t mind the partnership he formed with the ghostly hero, Wraith - who had despite her eccentric nature, provided valuable support during their missions.

Still, he could use a break.

On one of his free days, he agreed to go out with his friends. Nejire opted that the three of them should go to her favorite tea shop, saying that they have some of the best and most flavorful blends. He couldn’t deny that it sounded refreshing, especially after such a demanding week.

Lately, their schedules hadn’t been matching up, which had made hanging out difficult. Even at school, it seemed like they were always on the go. For Tamaki, it had been a little lonely, but he was happy to know that his friends felt the same. When the opportunity rose for them to get together, they immediately took advantage of it, like an oasis in the middle of a desert.

Once seated at the booth with their drinks, they began to play catch up.

He listened quietly as his friends chatted animatedly about their progress in their work study. Despite the hard work they endured, they both sounded happy with their respective agencies. Mirio spoke proudly of his mentor that he called “Sir,” with high enthusiasm, while Nejire couldn’t keep herself from gushing about the dragon hero Ryukyu. It made him smile fondly, knowing that they were having such a good time.

“How about you, Tamaki? How’s your work study going?” Mirio asked suddenly, nudging him with his elbow, causing the chimera hero to gulp on his drink loudly,

“It’s been okay…I guess…” He wanted to stop there, but he could feel his friends’ prying eyes on him, expecting further exposition.

Letting out a reluctant sigh, he continued. “Fat Gum is great and has been really helpful over these past few weeks. He’s always giving advice and loads of encouragement...perhaps a little too much praise from my perspective, but I─ really shouldn’t be complaining. We’ve been learning quite a bit.”

“We?” Mirio questioned.

A wave of warmth rose to his cheeks. “Uh…yeah, th-there’s a-a really nice girl there too she’s uh…um…o-oh no…” He face-planted into the wall beside him miserably. “…I’m such an idiot that I-I never got her real name.”

Mirio and Nejire exchanged sly looks.

"Is she cute?" they blurted in unison, catching the young Amajiki offguard.

“Don’t ask me that…” He grumbled. “All I know is that her hero name is Wraith…”

“Oh, you mean Himari Furuya?”

Tamaki’s head lifted. “Wait… You know her?”

“Yep! She was at the Sports Festival, don’t you remember?” Nejire asked

“E-eh - I g-guess I should, but I - well - I was kind of busy having a panic attack,” he mumbled.

“Oh yeah…” Nejire hummed softly with a tilt of the head, her laissez faire tone and relaxed expression easing the discomfort of admitting such a thing.

“Isn’t she also the daughter of Monochrome?” Mirio inquired.

“Monochrome…?” Tamaki was vaguely familiar with that name from some tabloids. If he recalled correctly, Monochrome was one of the more elusive heroes that stayed out of the public eye for the most part. Very few have ever met him in person.

Nejire bobbed her head. “Yeah, crazy right? They look nothing alike too, like night and day.”

“There’s a lot of rumors about that guy too...like really morbid ones.” Mirio remarked, scratching his chin. “I don’t know how true they are, but even some heroes are leery of him.”

“Why’s that?” Tamaki asked.

Mirio’s brows drew together, trying to find the right words to explain. “His quirk…he can absorb negative energies and use that to manipulate the things around him.”

Tamaki leaned in, growing more curious. “That’s quite the ability.”

“But how is that a bad thing? If he’s removing negativity, isn’t that beneficial? Wouldn’t that make any bad occurrence into a good one?” Nejire wondered aloud with her teacup held between her hands methodically.

“It does sound like a positive thing, doesn’t it? But, sadly, it isn’t that simple.” Mirio’s smile weakened as he went on. “Unfortunately, he can only store so much of that energy, so if he isn’t using it consistently, there can be some severe consequences if it leaks out. To put it simply, he isn’t exactly a lucky charm.”

Tamaki frowned deeply. “That’s pretty awful… I don’t even want to imagine the burden that could bring…”

Mirio hummed in accordance. “As long as he keeps it in check, there isn’t much to worry about, but that liability is always there.”

“I guess that makes sense, there’s pros and const to every quirk.” Nejire said, lowering her cup from her lips. “One way or another, we all have to figure out how to use the cards we are delt.”

"Oh!" Mirio suddenly blurted. "He can levitate, too."

"O-oh," Tamaki uttered in response. He glanced away for a moment, before a thought came to mind. He turned back to the blonde, uttering, "how do you know all this?"

"I heard about it at Nighteye's agency," Mirio replied brightly.

"I see," Tamaki replied softly, looking down at his tea again. It seemed that Nejire had refilled it while he wasn't looking.

"Does..." Tamaki began, trailing off as he mentally debated if he wanted to utter such a thought aloud. Furuya was a peer, someone he admired in her heroism, but who he barely knew. Yet, he couldn't help but wonder-

"...that mean he's often away, o-on missions?" Tamaki finished softly, glancing between his friends.

Nejire hummed thoughtfully. "I suppose so..."

Mirio added on more firmly, "I've heard he works a lot."

Tamaki looked back down, his lips pulled tight. So, then, did that mean Furuya was alone a lot...?

As if reading his mind, Mirio raised his cup and continued. “But, there’s a lot of unknowns, so we should be careful not to jump to conclusions.” There was a liveliness beaming in his blue irises, he looked at Tamaki, saying pointedly. “It’s better to get the information straight for the source.”

The color in the hero’s face drained. “L-Like – ask her d-directly? I-I don’t think I have the courage to do that…”

“I think he’s implying that it would be good to befriend her,” Nejire suggested kindly. Her expression lit up with a jovial smile. “Seems like it could be fun.”

Mirio nodded, following her statement with, “she’s in the other class, so it might not be as easy to meet up, but I’m sure we could work around it. What do you think, Tamaki?”

“I-I don’t know, I do like working with her…but – but I don’t want to m-make her feel uncomfortable - or think w-we only doing it out of p-pity.” While he appreciated their eagerness, he didn’t want to take Mirio’s warning lightly.

“Hm, that’s true too…” Nejire mused aloud, she leaned back into the cushion of the booth, twirling a periwinkle curl around her finger. “But, it doesn’t have to be forced either.”

“Exactly, it can happen organically – I mean, you want to be closer to her, right?” Mirio drawled.

The suggestiveness in his tone sent a blistering heat to Tamaki’s face. “E-Eh …? W-Well…y-yes, but w-why do y-you have to make it weird, Mirio!”

The blond chuckled, “sorry, but you left yourself open, dude.”

“Anyway…,” Nejire began, bringing them back on topic, “I’ve been wanting to get to know more people from class B, so this will be a great way to do that!”

“For sure, they are our future comrades after all,” Mirio agreed. “So, don’t think too hard about it, buddy.”

Tamaki’s shoulders slumped, pressing his lips together into a wobbly line. “Urk…w-when you point it out like that, i-it only makes it harder not to… - b-but, I’ll try.”

The trio polished off a few more pots of tea before going their separate ways. On his jaunt home, Tamaki could feel the brew sloshing in his belly, but he had to admit, he came out of their meeting feeling rejuvenated. If he hadn’t known better, he could have sworn his friends had a superpower for restoring energy on top of their established quirks.

Although he was still pretty worn out, he was more prepared to face the new week ahead.

In the back of his mind, he was still thinking about their discussion about the ghostly hero, Wraith. He wondered about the rumors that circulated around her family. Mirio hadn’t gone into detail about them, which left plenty of room for mystery, but maybe that was for the best.

For now, he was fine with not knowing – he was in no rush and there was no need to tarnish a clean slate.

#tamaki amajiki x oc #suneater x oc #oc x canon #bnha oc #mha oc

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mrslittletall · 4 years

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Title: Off Balance (Chapter 7) Fandom: Hollow Knight Characters: The Pale King, The Pure Vessel, Herrah, Hornet Word Count: 10.962 AO3-Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21805333/chapters/58496248 Previous chapter: https://mrslittletall.tumblr.com/post/616114517764685824/title-off-balance-chapter-6-fandom-hollow

Summary: The Pale King and Hollow venture into Deepnest to meet up with Herrah, so that Hollow can meet their sister. Not everything goes smoothly.

(Author's note: Long chapter is long!

I would have liked to cut this chapter in two, but it feels like it has to be this long, it would feel wrong to cut it in half and publish as two chapters. There was so much I wanted to put into this chapter and I am satisfied I managed, I am just amazed that I managed to break the 10k word mark. That is the longest chapter I have ever written.

Once again, I need to thank all of you who commented on this piece, your support is what keeps me going.

I also need to thank @catanutella, who draw some art inspired by my fic which you can find here and @ruthlesslistener which latest Hollow Knight oneshot inspired me to add a tiny scene at the end.

Also, I shit you not, I dreamed up a scene for this chapter! Ask me which it was if you want or try to find it our yourself ^^)

“We will take the tram from the Basin to Deepnest.”, the Pale King said to Hollow as they walked away from the palace. “Once we are there, we have to walk the rest by foot.” The Pale King had preferred to take the tram that would lead more closely to Herrah's den, but even though construction works had gone on for a while now, it just never seemed to get finished. Maybe he should use the opportunity and see what the problem was, when he was already there.

“Tram?”, Hollow asked, quickly signing each individual letter, not knowing a sign for the word they just had learned.

“It's a vehicle that moves on rails.”, the Pale King explained. “It can move rather fast and get you from one point of Hallownest to another in a short amount of time, but it is fixed on one layer. The tram we are going to take will get us to the lower levels of Deepnest and then we need to climb up to meet Herrah at her den.”

“Understood.”, Hollow signed, silently following the Pale King, only the foot steps of their void feet, mixing with the clacking of the Pale King's claws, were heard. If one didn't knew they were there, it was easy to forget about their presence. The familiar guilty pang bloomed in the Pale King's chest, his teachings of not to feel anything had made them that way, that was the only reason they were so good at being silent, at acting as if they wouldn't exist.

It was only a short walk to the tram station, Hollow didn't even need any help, their balance had improved vastly over the last week, they mostly still had trouble with balance while trying to fight and when teleporting, they just wouldn't be able to stand straight after it, they always would get pulled down by their horns, having a few painful impacts with the floor whenever the Pale King hadn't managed to catch them in time. It had gone so far that they had to transfer the training near a soul statue, so that they could deal with the constant cracks in their shell. For how much the Pale King encouraged Hollow to make their own decision, training until they were so dry of Soul they could barely stand wasn't one he approved of, they could be surprisingly stubborn about their training. He just wondered from who Hollow had inherited that train, or not, he exactly knew from who they had inherited it.

Arrived at the tram station, the Pale King breathed out a short sigh of relief at how empty it was. This particular station was mostly occupied by bugs coming from and going to Deepnest, which wasn't a common occurrence. The main reason why the Pale King didn't want to ride the stag ways, even though he had ordered to build them, wasn't only that the stags weren't too fond at his decision to build the trams, but rather that they were riddled with bugs, bugs who would stare at him, bow to him and do nothing but praise him, a thing that was fine when they were far away, but felt extremely awkward when he was in the middle of it. He would feel like wanting to run away screaming, but would be forced to stay and act regal, he was their king after all, a higher being. It would only make him incredible cramped and would give him a desire to stay in the palace for a whole year, he wouldn't be a good role model for Hollow as well. They had picked up on his anxiety anyway already, no need to display it in front of them any more.

The Pale King pulled out the tram pass he had organized before they left and inserted it in the slot at the station, only a short while later the tram arrived. Hollow stared at it and if they would have been able to make an expression, the Pale King could swear their eyeholes would have gone larger.

“That is the tram.”, the Pale King said and moved closer to the door. “Let us enter.”

The both of them entered and the tram was as empty as the station in front of them, which was much to the Pale King's preference. That was the good thing about having a bad relationship with Deepnest, nobody ever wanted to go there. The Pale King sat down and gestured for Hollow to sit down next to him. As the tram rumbled and started moving, the Pale King noticed that Hollow fidgeted with their fingers.

“Are you nervous?”, he asked them.

“Yes.”, Hollow signed and the Pale King laid his claws on their shoulder. One of the advices in Monomon's letter, make your child feel safe and understood when they are unsure. Physical affection always seemed to help with Hollow.

There were a few minutes of silence before Hollow signed: “What is Deepnest like?”

“It's a dark place.”, the Pale King replied. “Actually, while we have to wait to arrive at our destination this is a good opportunity to tell you about a few rules.”

Hollow turned their head at the Pale King and cocked it lightly, showing that they were listening.

“Like I said, it is a dark place.”, the Pale King said. “Quite literally. When the White Palace is a place full of light, then Deepnest is a place devoid of light. I, naturally, glow in the dark, so I would like for you to stick close to me.” Hollow nodded as the Pale King got something out of his robes, a tiny glass ball filled with a few glowing flies. “But if we ever get separated, I need you to have this. It is a lumafly lantern. It will grant you light in a dark place.”

Hollow accepted the lantern and stared at it, stroking it with their fingers, observing it from all angles, obviously being fascinated by it. “Of course it would be better if we don't get separated.”, the Pale King said, leaving Hollow a few minutes to observe the lantern until they were satisfied.

“Next, Deepnest isn't a part of the kingdom.”, the Pale King said. “It consists mostly of predators and they could attack us, especially if they are infected.” The Pale King shuddered a bit, the infection was still a problem with no solution. He needed to find one, soon, at least before Hollow would offer to be the Vessel again. He still got an icy feeling in his stomach when he even thought about that scene.

“Herrah is kind of the leader of Deepnest, we don't want to anger her, so don't kill anyone that isn't infected.”, the Pale King said. “It would be better if you use your nail only in an emergency situation, let me handle any predators, I know enough spells to incapacitate them.”

Hollow nodded, but still clutched their nail. The Pale King remembered, that while Hollow had trained with a nail since they hatched, they never actually had gotten send out to fight the infected with the five great knights. They truly were a skilled warrior, but they lacked proper experience.

“So, in short, stay close to me, only use your nail when absolutely necessary. Do you understand?”, the Pale King asked and they confirmed with a nod.

A few more moments of silence and then Hollow signed another question: “Why is sister at Deepnest?” The Pale King noticed that they used the signs for dark and nest for the last word, practically calling it Darknest, but he got it just fine.

“It's because Hornet is watched over by Herrah.”, the Pale King said. “She... was part of the bargain to convince Herrah to be a dreamer. It's.. complicated.”

While the Pale King would have liked to tell Hollow exactly just how Hornet had come into existence, he felt it was a bit too much to unload on them that he practically had engaged in a dalliance with Herrah and Hornet could be considered his bastard child. His Root never had been mad at him for it though and she even seemed fond of Hornet, often talking about her whenever she met up with Herrah. The Pale King assumed that it was kind of a coping mechanism for his Root at the loss of her biological children.

Hollow didn't ask further. Why should they, he had let through that he was uncomfortable talking about this topic and they surely wouldn't pry further. The rest of the ride was spent in silence until the tram came to a screeching halt and Hollow nearly fell over at the sudden loss of balance, being supported by the Pale King who had grabbed the end of their robe.

“We are here.”, he said. “Stay close to me, Hollow.”

Hollow nodded and the both of them exited the tram. Around the station, there was still light, but it was barely possible to see two metres into the dark. Now the daunting task to navigate Deepnest and actually reach Herrah's den was in front of them. The Pale King pulled out a map of the place and planned a route while Hollow was looking at every direction, taking in the sight, or more the darkness, there wasn't much to see.

Once the Pale King had mapped out the route and saved it in his mind, he looked at Hollow who clearly had waited for his attention, because they signed: “Place is dark.” They looked around another time. “Not even birthplace was that dark.”

“Can... can we not talk about this place, please?”, the Pale King said, having a sinking feeling in his stomach, the sinking feeling of several thousand dead children locked in this place.

“Sorry.”, Hollow signed and they looked down, almost toppling over. Whenever they even shifted their horns downwards, their balance would be off at once.

“It's quite alright, Hollow.”, the Pale King said. “I am just... not ready facing that place again.” Or more, he had vowed to himself that he would never return to it. What was the point? Hollow had been the only survivor. All other vessels had been stillborn, cracked shortly after birth or had fell on the way to the top. It had been a cruel thing to watch and he had been a cruel father to let it happen, the guilt gnawing at him even months later.

However, enough about being lost in thoughts. They were on their way to something more bright. At least for Hollow it should be, the Pale King only felt incredibly awkward around Herrah, especially after the had... He shook his head and started to put one foot in front of the other. The sooner they managed to cross Deepnest, the better.

“Follow me and stay close.”, the Pale King said and Hollow nodded, starting to follow him. His natural light illuminated the caves around them, so that there wasn't a need for a light source, like he had explained to Hollow earlier. Most of Deepnest's inhabitants were quite sensitive to light, so he hoped that this would be enough to keep them at bay, even the infected ones. He had overheard some of the Royal Retainers once and some of them had admitted that it downright hurt looking at him, so bright could his light be.

The Pale King looked back to make sure that Hollow was following him. Despite their void nature, they weren't bothered by his light at all and if, they were excellent in hiding it. He saw that they had drawn their nail, despite him telling them earlier to only use it in an emergency situation, but he also knew that Hollow viewed their nail as emotional comfort. They probably only were holding it, with both hands, he realized, one at the handle and one at the tip, to calm themselves down from any fears they felt.

“Hollow, if anything is bothering you, tell me.”, the Pale King said, but Hollow shook their head and continued to follow him. They either were fine with the situation or tried to be brave and the Pale King suspected the latter was the case. However, because he tried to encourage them to be their own person, he didn't want to to make them feel that they couldn't make their own decisions. If he would tell them that they didn't have to be brave, they would only take this as cue to fall completely back into their dependency on him. Getting this mindset out of them was still a work in progress.

The walk was silent, well asides from the noises that Deepnest would make, the constant crawling and chittering of the bugs in the darkness and generally noises that made anyone feel unwelcome here. In the outer parts of Deepnest there lived mostly Dirtcarvers, a predator that would burrow underground and strike when their prey least expected it. Luckily, most of them still seemed to have their wits about them and didn't emerge, probably knowing that even with the bad relationship Hallownest and Deepnest had with each other, that it wouldn't be wise to attack the literal king and whichever bug was following him. On the rare occasions of an infected Dirtcarver emerging, the Pale King summoned a few spears and would incapacitate them in place, still hoping that they could find a cure for the infection and wouldn't have to take down every bug which displayed symptoms. At least the infection didn't seem to have spread too much to Deepnest, for most of the time, their walk was rather peaceful, in lack of better descriptions for Deepnest.

A bit further in, the Pale King spotted the first Deephunters glaring at him, quickly running away once him and Hollow approached, either being bothered by the light or fearing that this prey could be too big for them, not wanting to waste their venom. Of course their venom would be hardly deadly for a Higher Being, but it would still hurt and in too high concentration could start to get deadly, so the Pale King was rather satisfied that he didn't had to fend them back.

Occasionally the Pale King turned around to check on Hollow, once again regretting that he hadn't given them a voice, because without them making a single sound, it was hard to interpret just how they felt. They looked around and took in the surroundings, bravely following him step by step, sometimes needing help climbing a ledge by the Pale King, because jumping still caused them balance troubles and their wings weren't useful for flight, never commenting on the situation, probably because their hands were busy holding their nail and they didn't want to let go to sign or write in their journal.

“Are you feeling fine, Hollow?”, the Pale King asked after they had approximately reached the halfway point to Herrah's Den. Hollow just nodded and seemed to clutch their nail harder.

“Alright then.”, the Pale King said and started walking again. The ground of that tunnel felt kind of off, he thought. It felt like it could burst anytime and just as he realized that the weight of two bugs may be too much for the already fragile ground, it crumbled. In the spur of the moment the Pale King spread his wings to lift himself up, turning around having kind of suspected that Hollow had either jumped or teleported when they felt the ground giving in, but his child was nowhere to be seen.

“Hollow?!”, the Pale King asked, panic blooming in his chest. “Hollow, where are you?!”

Of course they didn't answer, couldn't answer, how could they without a voice. He had to find them and quick. That they weren't anywhere at the edge of the newly formed gap meant, that they probably had fallen down and what if they had gotten hurt and couldn't move and not even cry for help down there? The Pale King got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Wait.”, he told himself, in an attempt to calm himself down. “If they have gotten hurt, then they must still be down there.” He flew the gap down, which thankfully wasn't that deep, but still deep enough for a bug to break their shell if they landed wrong and Hollow had the tendency to land on their head when they fell.

They weren't down there. At least that meant they hadn't gotten hurt enough so that they couldn't move or that they were able to heal any injuries with soul, but that was the only comfort the Pale King had. He actually had preferred to found them down there, where he easily would have been able to fix them up with his own soul, them not being there meant that they now were wandering through Deepnest, alone and scared and maybe out of enough soul to heal any injuries they could suffer.

“Hollow?”, the Pale King shouted again. “If you can hear me, make some noise.”

There wasn't anything and the earlier panic manifested back in the Pale King. What if he would never find Hollow again? What if he would only find their shell? What if their shade would get unleashed, lashing out at him for all the suffering he had inflicted on them? What should he tell his Root, that he lost their last living child? He sunk to the ground, heavily breathing, as the panic took completely over. The last time he had felt this hopeless had been when the Radiance nearly had killed him and he needed to channel every last amount of Soul to heal the life threatening injury. At least, that had only been about himself, now, he had lost the very one being he was responsible for, he had started to care so much about and he didn't want to lose for anything in the entirety of Hallownest.

The frantic beating of his heart in his chest slowed down as he made a decision. He wouldn't let Deepnest take his child. The Pale King got up and considered how he should start the search. Sadly, he had neglected to tell Hollow what to do when they got separated, it would be best for them to stay put, but judging how scared they seemed to be off Deepnest, they probably panicked once they got separated and ran away.

The Pale King noticed something on the ground which didn't reflect his light. Only one thing in Hallownest was able to swallow his light and that was... void. Indeed, there were traces of void on the floor, which implied that Hollow indeed had gotten hurt by their fall, but not hurt enough that they couldn't move anymore. If the Pale King would follow the trail, he would find them.

He hadn't followed the trail for long when he caught the glimpse of something white and black hushing along the tunnels, with two very big horns. “Oh, Hollow, there you are.”, the Pale King said, following their figure, not questioning why they didn't stop when they heard his voice or just why they could move so gracefully quick, even though they usually would fall over every few steps at this pace.

“Hollow, wait.”, the Pale King said, “Where are you heading? I am right here. Look, I am sorry that I left you hanging earlier. Aren't you hurt? Let's take a look at your wound.”

Hollow didn't answer, of course, but they also didn't sign or did... anything to show that they heard the Pale King. Sometimes they would stop and wait for the Pale King to catch up before hurrying into the tunnels again. “Have you discovered something and want to show it to me?”, the Pale King asked, getting more and more confused about Hollow's behaviour, a feeling that something was wrong with them grew inside of him, maybe they really had hit their head and now couldn't think straight or some parasite of Deepnest had taken over them. Either way, for the Pale King to help them, he needed to come closer and they always would run away again, when he was close enough to finally reach them.

“Hollow, stop this.”, the Pale King said “This isn't funny anymore.” They had arrived at a rather spacious tunnel and just now the Pale King noticed that there were two things wrong with Hollow.

The first one was, that they weren't carrying the Lumafly Lantern he had given them earlier. Judging from their earlier remark, they couldn't see in the dark.

The second, and that was the more alarming one, was that they weren't carrying their nail they had hold on so conscientiously earlier. Even when they had lost the nail, the Pale King knew that they would go search it before doing anything else. That was probably why they hadn't been there, they had let go of their nail and went to search it in a panic as their comfort item vanished from their grasp.

The suspicions of the Pale King about having faced an imposter became true when the “Hollow” in front of him started to transform and their body turned into one of a big black and orange predator (an infected one), hissing and bubbling at him. Of course it would attack, of all the bugs in Hallownest, he was the one the Radiance wanted to be dead the most.

“Hmph, don't underestimate me.”, the Pale King said, flicking his wrist to summon several projectiles, dictating them to fly at the predator and impale it. He knew he couldn't just incapacitate this one, but judging from the fury the creature had for him, its mind had been completely took over by the will and orders of the Radiance, getting it out of its misery could be considered an act of mercy.

The creature started to charge against him and the Pale King ordered his projectiles to target its head, but shortly before they could impact, he hesitated.

That was still Hollow's face the creature was wearing and even though the Pale King knew that he was unreasonable, after all he did to Hollow, he couldn't bring himself to hurt this face, even if it was clearly an imposter in front of him.

His hesitation was enough that he predator could pin him under its claws, roaring at him. He could practically hear the Radiance's excitement at finally having a chance to strike her arch enemy down, with the help of a powerful predator she had managed to overtake. The Pale King knew that he needed to attack, defend himself, but his gaze was still on the face of Hollow that the imposter was wearing and there was it, that crushing guilt. There was the picture inside of his mind of Hollow cowering in fear when he had made several projectiles fly at them, wanting to test their new balance, still thinking that they were nothing but an empty being, realizing how hard they had tried to pretend and it made him unable to move, even when the claw drove into his flesh, a hot pain searing through his shoulder and blood seeping out of the wound.

The pain briefly brought him back to the severity of the situation, if he wouldn't do something, anything, the predator would cut him down and the Radiance would get her will. Though, why she didn't order the predator to kill him right away... she probably wanted him to suffer, kill him slowly and painfully. He could use this to his advantage. He forced himself to conjure another projectile and hurled it between him and the claw, rolling away when the predator shrieked in protest at the sudden obstacle, struggling to get to his feet. He couldn't fight the creature, not as long as it was wearing Hollow's face and making him incapable of hurting it because of his own guilt, but at least he could flee and find the real Hollow, who hopefully hadn't become a victim of this predator.

That thought, together with the wound, was enough for the Pale King to struggle and fall over, the impact jostling the injury and making him incapable of getting up because of the pain.

“Focus...”, he murmured to himself, trying to conjure soul to heal himself, but it was too late. The predator had already caught up to him and he closed his eyes awaiting the impact of its razor sharp claws in his back, but it never happened. Instead, he heard the sound of metal clashing against claws.

As he opened his eyes and turned his head, he saw Hollow, the real Hollow, standing between him and the predator, their nail fighting against the force of their strike. They were shaking and the Pale King couldn't say if it was from effort or rage. He only knew that he was more than glad to see them, alive and well, though they did get pushed backwards one by one.

Enough of lying around., the Pale King thought to himself and though it would have been more wise to heal his injury first, seeing his child in danger made him lose any reasonable thoughts and so he jumped up and conjured several projectiles, ignoring the pain flaring up from his wound.

“Leave our child alone.”, he hissed, throwing the projectiles at the predator, now that his real child was here, that mind trick wouldn't work on him anymore.

His aim was a bit shaky, but most of the projectiles hit their mark, well, would, if the predator wouldn't have jumped backwards, dodging a majority of them in the last second. At least it gave Hollow some breathing room. The Pale King turned his head to check on them, only to see they were face first on the ground. Of course, they had tried with all their might to push back their foe and when suddenly the force pushing them back vanished, they would lose their balance and with them being still off balance, they wouldn't be able to keep themselves up.

With the nail in their right hand, they struggled to get up. The predator took this as a chance and their claw was about to strike down. The Pale King, while not being fond of it, it would cost him large amounts of soul, teleported between the claw and his child, summoning a barrage of projectiles to protect the both of them, but he wasn't quick enough, the claw managed to rip another wound, this time in his arm, he gasped as the pain hit him.

If he would have been in his wyrm form, that predator would have just been an easy meal, swallowed in one gulp, but he wasn't in his wyrm form anymore, he had changed himself to a form that was more akin to the bugs of this kingdom and with that came disadvantages. As he summoned another barrage of projectiles to not let the next strike hit them, especially not his child, he noticed that Hollow had managed to get up again and also noticed that they weren't waiting behind him, instead, they jumped up and drove their nail into one eye of the predator, which shrieked in pain, orange goop leaked out of it.

“Hollow, what are you doing?! Stay behind me!”, the Pale King yelled, unaware that he had been on the defense all this time and Hollow just wanted to give him an opening, he could only watch when after the attack they failed their landing and the impact with the ground sounded rather painful.

The Pale King dropped any projectiles he still controlled and hurried over to his child, summoning new projectiles on the way, intending to string them between the predator and his child, but pain, blood loss and exhaustion from all the soul he had used caught up to him and made him unable to spread his wings, instead, he scurried over the ground, having to see how the claws of the predator bolted down on a helpless Hollow, which stared, simply stared and shortly before the claw could hit them, they didn't use their nail in an attempt to block it, but instead looked away and flicked their left hand, spear pillars emerging from the ground, impaling the predator on them.

The Pale King watched with wide eyes as the death cry of the creature sounded and even Hollow managed to direct their gaze back, crawling a bit backwards when they saw what had happened. Copious amounts of the infection regorged on the ground, staining Hollow, and the shell of the predator soon fell lifeless on the ground once the pillars vanished.

Hollow started shaking and soon tears ran down their face. The Pale King was at their side in an instant to pull them into a hug.

“Father.”, they signed. “Scared.”

“I know.”, the Pale King said. “I was scared too.” Scared of losing you. “I am so sorry that I lost you earlier.” He hugged them tighter, their shaking still not ceasing. They must have been terrified and still, they had saved him. Without their interference, he would have let himself strike down by the predator, simply because he couldn't get the image out of his mind of a Hollow that had cowered in fear of him.

Hollow reciprocated the hug, but withdrew their hand and stared at the white liquid on it. His blood.

“Father, you are hurt.”, they signed. “You saved me. Now you are hurt.” They then proceeded to sign the word sorry in quick succession until the Pale King took their hands in his claws, not without wincing, that arm and shoulder of his hurt, preventing them from signing the word out once more.

“The opposite is the case, Hollow. If you wouldn't have come, I would have let myself struck down. It was you who made me able to move again and it was you who took down the predator.”, he said, slowly releasing their hands.

“I did?”, they asked. “Not you?”

Clearly they were confused and seemed to think that the last attack had come from the Pale King, not from them, no wonder, they never had used this attack before. The Pale King was once again astonished about their tight control over soul, even though they had done it in a panic, they had managed to copy a complex spell that he may have shown them once or twice when they still had been a grub.

“No, that was all you, Hollow.”, the Pale King said and then scanned their body. “Are you hurt? Are you in pain?”

Hollow first shook their head and then nodded, contradicting themselves.

“Well, yes or no?”, the Pale King asked.

They raised shaky hands to sign: “Cut my foot earlier. Is not bad. Healed my shell with soul.”

That meant, they had gotten hurt earlier by their fall and, like the Pale King had anticipated, fell face first, though that didn't explain how they managed to cut their foot. Which also was void and so couldn't be healed with soul, which only would heal the shell.

“Can you explain how it happened?”, the Pale King said.

Hollow was silent for a while and then signed: “Fell. Felt a panic. Teleported. Foot got caught in something sharp. Fell over again. Hit my head. Healed it with Soul. Then couldn't see you anymore. Went to search.”

Alright, that explained just how it had come to all of the events that led to this moment. The Pale King should have never let Hollow fall down into that pit, they didn't knew what they should do and had tried to find their only source of comfort and the person they depended on: Him.

“Let me see your wound.”, the Pale King said.

“Father, your own wounds...”, they signed, but he shook his head and said: “I can heal myself in a second, let's take care of you first.” The relief of his child being safe was enough to make him forget that there still was blood seeping out of his own cuts, staining his robes and the ground around him.

Hollow shyly presented him their left food, which indeed had a nasty cut in it which leaked void blood.

“I can't heal void with soul.”, he said. “But we can make sure that it doesn't bleed anymore.” He conjured a bit more soul and formed it into the form of strap, which wrapped itself around Hollow's feet, securing the wound tightly and keeping it from leaking. “There, now you should be able to strain it without trouble.”

Hollow got up and took a few shaky steps, nodding, then stared expectant at him.

“I know, I know, I will heal myself now.”, the Pale King said and conjured up soul to guide into his injuries, but he had to realize that there wasn't any soul left to guide anywhere.

“I … seem to be out of soul.”, he said and along with the realization and the relief about Hollow being fine, the severity of his injuries came toppling down on him and he could feel himself slip into unconsciousness.

When the Pale King awoke, he still noticed a dull pain in his arm and shoulder, but they felt much more manageable. He was propped up against a wall and when he investigated his wounds, he saw that they were wrapped tightly, not with soul, but with what looked suspiciously like Hollow's robe. He turned his head to search for them and found them in the middle of the cave, where the predator had hung it's prey from the ceiling, working on getting a Dirtcarver down with their nail. There were several more dead bugs hanging from the ceiling, clearly victim of Deepnest's philosophy of “eat or get eaten”. One of them looked kinda like a Vessel. The Pale King blinked and then shook his head, was his mind still playing tricks on him? Asides from Hollow, no other Vessel survived.

Once Hollow managed to cut down the Dirtcarver, they took the prey in both hands and brought it over to the Pale King, cutting pieces out of it with their nail.

“What are you doing?”, the Pale King asked, startling them. They turned their head to them, laid their nail down and signed: “Father, you are awake.”

“Yes, indeed.”, the Pale King said. “So, what are you doing?”

“Food.”, they signed. “Tried to heal you. Failed. Only healed myself. Patched up your wounds.”

Indeed, their robe was in poor shape and they obviously had cut off one sleeve to use it as bandages for his injuries and now they tried to feed him, probably hoping that his soul would be able to get replenished by eating.

“Soul doesn't get replenished by eating.”, he said. “Only by resting or directly absorbing it from a source. That is why we have the soul statues in the palace.”, he said.

They stopped cutting up the Dirtcarver and looked at the Pale King. He didn't need words to know what they wanted to say. “Eating surely won't hurt.”, he said. Even though in his current form he had started to cherish food that had been prepared, he had just ate everything raw once. It wouldn't kill him to devour one Dirtcarver, especially when it would make his child happy. “But I want you to eat too.”, he said. Hollow was still a growing grub and would need large amounts of energy once their second transformation hit. He wouldn't let them go hungry.

Hollow nodded and soon they were biting down on the Dirtcarver, which soft shell luckily was easy to break through. By tasting the raw meat, the Pale King even could feel some of his old instincts coming back, the desire to hunt and taste fresh blood on his tongue. He couldn't believe how primitive and brutal he once had been. Hollow ate in silence next to him, in their own unique way, which pretty much just looked like their void body absorbed the food. That was probably what they were doing. He needed to finally ask them just how they were eating, but that was a question for another day.

After they were finished, the Pale King got up and took a look at Hollow, their cut robes and the orange stains of infection on their shel as well as his own torn robes, his bandages shimmering through. “We are pretty worn up.”, he said and took out the map, until he found the landmark of the lair of the predator, studying it to find the route back to Herrah. Even though he would have preferred to get Hollow home that instant, they seemed to have calmed down and he could only imagine how mad Herrah would get if he wouldn't show up.

“Oh, there is a hot spring on the way.”, the Pale King said. “We should stop there, to get cleaned up and heal our injuries. Hot springs are a natural source of soul.”

Hollow nodded and the Pale King took a step forwards only to get dizzy and almost fall over. He had lost too much blood. Hollow tried to catch him, but only fell over with him.

“My apologies.”, the Pale King said. “I seem to be a bit weaker than I thought...”

Hollow got up, straightened themselves, put their nail into the ground and then lifted him up with a strength he didn't even know they possessed, using their left arm to support him and their nail to prop themselves up, giving him a stare that the Pale King only could interpret as: “Lead the way.”

A gladly uneventful, but rather painful journey later, the both of them had arrived at the hot spring. “Finally.”, the Pale King said, as Hollow released their grip on them. He opened his robe and let it fall on the ground before stepping into the hot water, already feeling how the natural soul in it seeped into his body and closed the cuts on his arm and his shoulder. As he was in the process to remove the bandages, he saw Hollow joining him.

“I don't know if the hot spring can heal your void body, so better don't take off the bandage around your foot, just in case.”, the Pale King said. Hollow nodded and in the natural light of the hot spring, he could see a lot better just how dirty their shell was.

“Hollow, come here.”, he said, gesturing for them to come closer, which they did, their empty eyeholes staring at him. “Turn around, I am going to wash your horns.”

Hollow did so without hesitating, even sinking a bit deeper into the water, giving the Pale King easier access to their horns. The Pale King started to gently clean their horns with the hot water of the spring, scrubbing off the dirt and especially the chunks of infection that had gotten stuck in the jagged parts. Hollow of course didn't say anything, didn't even move while he worked, but he had the feeling that their former tense posture seemed to relax under his care.

Once he was done, he laid his hands on Hollow's shoulder and said: “There, now you look presentable again.”

Hollow nodded and then watched as the Pale King proceeded to wash his own body, mostly making sure that his body would absorb all the soul it could. As he carefully cleaned the area around the King's Brand, not wanting to damage the charm, he noticed that Hollow stared on it or more, at a area slightly beneath it.

“What is it, Hollow?”, the Pale King asked, stopping to wash himself and waiting for them to explain. They raised their hands, or stubs, upon their relaxation they seemed to have released the shapeshift. After a few seconds of forcing the void to form fingers again, they signed: “Scar? How?”

The Pale King's face fell a bit upon their question. He had preferred for that question to be asked another time.

“...It was the Radiance.”, he murmured, staring down into the hazy water. “I grossly underestimated her and her willingness to attack when I was still a young and clueless wyrm and just had arrived at this kingdom.”

He raised a hand and laid it over the scar. He could still feel the pain, shock and panic from back then. “Trying to negotiate, she didn't want to listen and hit me with one heavy blast. I could heal myself with soul, but I used up all of it to heal up the deadly wound. It was the day that I learned that I wouldn't win a direct fight against her.”

He removed the hand from his chest and looked at Hollow, which, from the outside, pretty much looked like always, but their stance implied shock. It maybe had been too much for them, he was pretty much their whole world and knowing that he almost died to the enemy they had been supposed to seal...

“F..forget about this.”, the Pale King said, noticing that while he had told that tale, he had unintentionally flared his wings. “That hasn't anything to do with you.”

Hollow just shook their head and also didn't raise their hands to sign. Instead, they got up, staggering for a tiny moment before catching their balance and then moved behind the Pale King. The Pale King just assumed that they had enough of bathing and wanted to shook the water off, when he felt the icy sensation of their fingers at his wings and winced in surprise.

“What are you doing, Hollow?”, he asked. “Be careful, these things are sensitive.”

Hollow stopped and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. As he turned around, they signed: “Will wash wings of Father. Father complained about them not easy to wash.”

“You remembered that?”, the Pale King said, kind of amazed. He had indeed said something to them, shortly after they hatched and he had brought them in the palace, giving them their first bath and having talking to them as if they were a real hatchling and not a mindless construct to seal the Radiance. Well, now he knew they had been a real hatchling. That meant, they must have felt emotions since they had been very young.

Hollow nodded and the Pale King had the feeling they would have said more things, but their hands was busy gently grooming his wings, their icy touch combined with the hot water of the spring a completely new sensation, but not an unpleasant one. So far, he had only allowed his Root to touch his wings. Thinking about it, Hollow's touch was not unlike the one of his Root, proving once more that they were indeed his and his wife's child.

Once they were done and retreated, the Pale King felt not only clean, but also relaxed and bursting with soul. He stood up and shook the water off, walking over to his robes, because he didn't intend to stand in front of Herrah's door naked, even though she had already seen him like that, he didn't want to send the wrong message. To his disdain, his robe was not only torn, but also stained with his blood.

And Hollow's robe didn't look much better, mostly stained with orange infection blotches and that one sleeve completely cut off, having formed his earlier bandages, which were now laying next to the hot spring, soaked and stained with his blood.

“...Let's at least wash them.”, the Pale King said and used the water of the hot spring to clean the robes out, removing any stains and then using his soul to dry them, at least enough that they could be worn comfortably again.

He handed Hollow their robe and slipped into his own. “We can't do anything against the cuts.”, he sighed. “And I am afraid we have to get a new robe for you.” As Hollow let their head hang, he quickly added: “Oh no, don't worry, you did the right thing.” Hollow's head perked up again and the Pale King finished his thought: “However, it's better than to stand to stand in front of Herrah's door step naked. She will have to live with our clothes being torn.”

After all, it had been a predator in her territory that they owed their current state. Herrah could be glad that it had been infected, had the creature been lucid, it would have seriously worsened the relationship between Deepnest and Hallownest.

As the Pale King studied the map and planned out the route, Hollow stepped next to him and he saw the soul bandage around their foot, a stab of guilt in his chest. That had only happened because he hadn't paid enough attention. Once the Pale King folded the map and put it away, his hand found the one of Hollow and closed around it.

“I won't let go of your hand.”, he said and he could feel them squeeze his hand, telling him that they understood.

The rest of the way they didn't get attacked by an infected powerful predator anymore, but Deepnest showed beautifully just why it was so feared by almost all bugs, with Weavers scampering around, appearing from seemingly nowhere, Stalking Devouts demonstrating just how they chopped up their prey as well as the creature known as Corpse Creeper waiting in seemingly harmless husks, that had became prey for another bug, and bursting out when last expected, as well as the ground constantly crumbling and while the Pale King didn't lose Hollow anymore, the moment the ground vanished under them again, Hollow got a good scare.

Now they were finally in front of Herrah's Den and Hollow couldn't help it anymore, they were shaking, finally giving in their fear and nestling against the Pale King, who did his best to calm them down, by rubbing soothing circles in their back.

“There you are.”, the voice of Herrah sounded, appearing out of the shadows. “You certainly took your time.”

“There is a reason for our delay.”, the Pale King said, slipping in his monarch personality, but Herrah's gaze was entirely fixated on Hollow.

“What's wrong with them?”, the asked.

“...Deepnest was a bit much...”, the Pale King murmured and Herrah scoffed.

“Of course Deepnest would be too much for a child that you treated like a thing until you finally realized how dumb this was. Why did you even make them walk through the entirety of Deepnest when there is a stag station right there? Let me guess, because you didn't want to be seen by anyone in public.”

The Pale King shrunk down under her words more and more, each of her words was driving the nail deeper into the coffin.

“Come here, child.”, Herrah said, her voice taking on a rather motherly tone. “Let's get you a hot drink and some food to calm you down.” The Pale King saw how she gently guided Hollow inside, who turned their head to look at him, with that cocking of their head that portrayed concern.

After a good while had passed, the Pale King managed to get himself together and followed Herrah and Hollow inside, where he found them sitting at a table, Hollow having a steaming cup of ...whatever in front of them as well as something that looked like cookies, but probably was made out of meat. Either way, they didn't seem to care, because their shaking had stopped and they were devouring the “cookies” without a second thought.

“Ah, there you are, wyrm.”, Herrah said as she spotted him. “You said there was a reason for your delay. Is it the same reason why the robes of your child are torn?” She gave him another glance and he was sure she narrowed all of her eight eyes under that mask. “Your own don't look much better. How unusual for you to come into another's territory in such an unkempt state.”

“We were attacked by an infected predator.”, the Pale King said. “It lured is into its lair. Hollow managed to take it out.”

“Let me guess. Big, black, with long legs and showed you something you care about to lure you in?”, Herrah said. The Pale King nodded and Hollow added by doodling a picture of how the predator looked on their journal, which they apparently had used to converse with Herrah, judging by the few words written in it.

“Nosk, as I was thinking. One of the predators that could rival me, but never dared to attack my den. It always would hunt far away from it.”

The Pale King shuddered a bit, how casually Herrah was talking about territorial behaviour, it reminded him once again of the wyrm tribe, only that he had decided to take a much more civilized approach. The reason that Deepnest didn't get along with Hallownest was mainly because they still held on to their instincts, even with a mind to think.

“You must be quite a fighter to have taken it down.”, Herrah said, her gaze on Hollow, as opposed as when she was staring the Pale King down, it very much softened once they talked to Hollow.

They just shook their head and wrote something in their journal. Herrah looked at it and said: “What, that wyrm that just sits in his palace and tinkers in his workshop all the time? Unbelievable.”

“We can hear everything you say, Herrah...”, the Pale King said, not having enough energy to start a full-fledged argument. Herrah always seemed to be able to just put him into her pocket. He kind of found it unbelievable that he really had shared a night with her.

Herrah gave him that glance that looked like she wanted to say “Do I look like I care?” and he could hundred percent believe that this sentence was on the tip of her tongue.

“Whatever.”, she said. “You came here for a reason, mainly for the reason that Hollow had the chance to meet their sister.”

Hollow nodded and almost fell with their head on the table, balancing themselves with their hands just in time and then signed two words. Herrah looked at the Pale King and he knew that she silently prompted him to translate.

“They want to know where there sister is now.”, the Pale King said. In truth Hollow had only signed the words for “sister” and “where”, but he decided to embellish their words a bit more.

“Just in the back room.”, Herrah said and stood up from the table. “But before we go there, just a minute.” Herrah made a sound as if she had clicked her fingers, which felt impossible, because she didn't even had fingers, she was a spider after all, and shortly after, a weaver appeared. “Fix the robes of the king and the child.”, she said and the weaver got to work right away, soon the robes of the Pale King had been patched up with spider silk and Hollow's robe even got a whole new sleeve from the same silk. They tugged and prodded at it with interest.

“All your clothes should be made by spider silk.”, Herrah said. “You won't find a more sturdy material in the whole of Deepnest.”

It's not like Deepnest would ever offer their silk to us., the Pale King thought, but didn't enunciate. For now, he decided to stay polite. It was for Hollow's sake after all.

“We thank you very much for your assistance, Herrah.”, he said and even gave her a polite bow, which only earned him another one of those Herrah-glances.

“Now, let's get you to meet your sister.”, Herrah said, attention at Hollow, who stopped investigating their fixed up robe and looked from Herrah to the Pale King.

“Go.”, he just said and saw how one of Herrah's legs gently laid down on Hollow's shoulders and guided them through the room. He himself followed them at a certain distance, fearing a bit that his natural light would upset the child, that had been born in Deepnest and certainly was more used to the darkness, though Herrah's Den wasn't as dark as the rest of Deepnest. For once, he cherished Hollow's void body, that didn't reflect light. They certainly wouldn't upset their little sister with being too bright.

It surely was only a short walk, but for the Pale King it felt unbearable long. He hadn't seen his daughter since she had hatched, wanting to wait for her to grow until inviting her in the White Palace, hoping that Herrah would agree for her to come over and, he had to admit, there had been a part in him that hoped that she would allow him to raise her once she turned dreamer, but he had buried this part deep under his sense of duty. He hadn't even raised the child of himself and his Root right, how should he be able to raise his bastard daughter?

Finally arrived (though it probably only had been a minute or so), Herrah stopped and gestured to a red bundle sitting on the floor, a bright white face with black eyes and two horns starting to grow from the top, similar to Herrah's. She was busy stacking blocks on each other (the Pale King didn't want to know from which bug husk they had been fabricated) and giggled once the whole structure crumpled and fell.

“There, this is my sweet, little Hornet.”, Herrah said, nothing but love and devotion in her voice. Hollow just stood there and stared and then raised both hands to their face. The Pale King had never seen them done this before, but he could only assume that they tried to express just how adorable Hornet was for them. “Why don't you go over to her?”

Hollow once again looked back to the Pale King, who gave them a gesture to just go. Now that any danger was averted, they seemed to be full back on their dependency for him, though this was a new situation for them, so he could hardly blame them.

Hollow took a few shaky steps towards Hornet, fidgeting with their hands, then seemed to take a deep breath and took the last few steps to their sister with much more confidence, carefully sitting down next to her. Hornet stopped her game of block stacking to look at the new bug beside her. Hollow raised their hand to wave. Hornet waved back with one of her little spider arms, it was kind of adorable and then she took Hollow's hand and invited them to join her in her game.

“This went better than expected.”, the Pale King sighed out, not aware that he had said this out aloud.

“Oh? Did you expect for your child to attack their sister, wyrm?”, Herrah said.

“What?! No, of course not.”, the Pale King said, wondering how Herrah even could come to that conclusion and remembering that maybe after their union he had rambled about how it was common for wyrm hatchlings to eat their siblings and that Herrah maybe should keep her half wyrm hatchling fed as well as possible. “We were... worried about other stuff.”

“I noticed.”, Herrah said, crossing her two upper front legs. “All that glancing back to you, being unsure what to say or how to act, waiting for someone, anyone to command them.” The Pale King already flinched under her words, feeling that he knew what would come next. “When I took them in, I had to tell them to sit down, had to tell them that it was fine to take from the offered refreshments and had to ask them if they had a way to communicate, because they would literally not move on their own.” She gave him another sideway glance. “Wyrm, you have done your best to raise this child into an obedient little knight.”

“We know...”, the Pale King said, looking at the ground. “We are working on reversing it. It's... a work in progress.”

“Good luck trying to get this behaviour out of them.”, Herrah said. “Children need love, care and devotion and not being told that they are a mindless construct only there to act as a vessel.”

These words hit the Pale King so hard, that he could physically feel them. “We know we haven't been the best father to them...”, he started in a weak attempt to defend himself.

“Not the best? Wyrm, that is the understatement of the century. Or the millennia, to put it in a time span that your race understands.”, Herrah said and managed to drown out any arguments the Pale King had in stock for the moment.

After a few minutes, he regained his composure and said: “...You were fine with the plan.”

“To keep my people... and her..”, she gestured at Hornet who was currently clapping at how high Hollow was able to stack the blocks, “safe. I never was fine with your 'methods', wyrm.”

“We realized that our methods were wrong.”, the Pale King said, trying to put his attention on Hollow and Hornet. This whole conversation was making him feel sick.

“Better late than never.”, Herrah said. “However, be aware, that husks in your closet will come to haunt you.”

They already do., the Pale King thought to himself, not a single day passed where he regretted what had happened in the Abyss. Desperately trying to change the subject, he said: “Hornet has grown quite a bit since we last saw her.”

At once, Herrah's tone softened, it was more than clear that Hornet was her world, her everything and that she would do everything for her. Even becoming a dreamer. “Yes, she did had her last molt just recently. I still have her old exoskeleton.”

“Herrah, what?”, the Pale King said, feeling a tiny bit grossed out. He didn't remember that his parents had collected his molt, but wyrm society was a lot different than bug society. Also, he probably had eaten his molts as a hatchling, anything edible just wasn't safe around wyrm hatchlings. He silently thanked himself that his transformation into bug physiologically had succeeded that far, that at least his children hadn't tried to eat each other. Not that this would have helped them anyhow, they still were very dead in the abyss... He seriously needed to stop thinking about this. He blamed the shape similar to a Vessel he believed to have seen in Nosk's lair.

“Hmph, of course you haven't kept anything personal of your child, being too busy to convince them to be, you know, the Vessel.”

Ah, there they were again. The Pale King had to admit, he never had cleaned out the void chrysalis that Hollow had hatched from into their current adolescent form. Back then he had just convinced himself that he didn't had time for it, but nowadays he knew that he had grown attached and wanted to keep that sign of their development. He didn't try to engage into another conversation with Herrah and instead watched Hollow and Hornet.

Hornet had lost interest in her block stacking game and had became far more engrossed by Hollow, or more, their horns. They had lowered their head for her to take a better look and she examined especially the jagged parts, seeming to be fascinated by them. It made sense for the Pale King, she only knew her own horns and that of her mother, which were smooth, how Hollow's horn jagged at three places was something completely new for the little spiderling.

“They seem to like each other.”, Herrah said. “I haven't seen Hornet that fascinated since a while.”

The Pale King just nodded, not taking his gaze of his children. Looking at Hornet like this, still a tiny grub, not even able to talk properly yet, just reminded him how hard he had tried to convince himself that Hollow was nothing but an empty vessel, damaging them and their relationship in the process. He had never allowed them to be a child, raised them for a purpose and only realized how wrong he had acted when they already had reached their adolescence. The Pale King suddenly understood just why Quirrel had advised against letting them visit a school, they were emotionally certainly not ready for it, not only because of their dependency, but also because he had never allowed them to be a normal child and now that he allowed it, they had trouble getting the concept and it was his fault alone.

After Hornet had enough of Hollow's horn and they raised again (not with almost falling over the other way, which made Hornet giggle), she tugged on their robes. Hollow looked at the Pale King and Herrah and the Pale King knew this gaze, they were asking for advice, or more, asking how to act.

“She wants you to pick her up.”, Herrah said and as Hollow cocked their head at her, she added: “It's fine, she is a sturdy little grub. Just yesterday she climbed the cupboard and didn't had a single scratch when she fell down.”

Now the Pale King gave Herrah a side glance and that after she had lectured him about bad parenting, but then he remembered that Herrah was half spider and spiders just never seemed to get hurt when they fell down. Also, he doubted that Herrah would have let Hornet done something she deemed dangerous.

Hollow carefully extended their arms and searched for a way to pick Hornet up. Once they managed, the grub flinching a bit, surely because of the sudden coldness, they gently sat her down on their lap. Hornet looked up at them for a brief moment and then cuddled their face in their robes.

It was more than adorable and the Pale King averted his gaze, feeling his face blush, as all these feelings about his children, both of them, threatened to spill over, but was pushed forwards by Herrah.

“Why are you standing there, wyrm? These are your children, you should join them.”

He took a few shaky steps towards them, realizing just how much he acted liked Hollow earlier when he caught himself fidgeting with his claws, almost falling over his own tail when it wrapped around his legs. Then, he followed Hollow's example and took a deep breath, covering the last few steps with a newfound confidence, sitting down to both of his children.

“Hollow, do you like your sister?”, the Pale King asked, knowing that Hornet was still a bit too young to answer any questions. They nodded and if they had been able to smile, the Pale King was sure they would have done it. Hornet stared at him with wide eyes, that eyes that only grubs could have and Hollow picked her up from their lap and offered for him to take her.

“Um..”, the Pale King said, being ready to jump up and hide behind Herrah, “What if she gets fuzzy...”

“You are her father, wyrm.”, Herrah sighed. “Just hold her.”

So, the Pale King complied and gently took Hornet into his arms, she was a lot warmer than he anticipated and tugged at his robes, clearly being interested in them. Hollow sat next to the Pale King, their gaze on their sister and he could feel Herrah's watchful gaze on him, but mostly he was amazed. How this little grub, that came from an union between him and the queen of Deepnest, could feel so comfortable in his arms. He decided to just cherish this moment, for once not thinking about anything he would regret, thinking about that Hornet would be able to grow up with her mother and maybe, when she was older, even visit the White Palace, and if only to play with Hollow.

After a while Hornet had enough from getting cuddled and demanded to be sat down by rather loud chirping, which the Pale King did. The little spiderling dashed with an awesome speed to her mother which picked her up and said: “Well, I think that was enough excitement for her. I should try and lay her down for a nap.”

Herrah then excused herself and left the room, leaving the Pale King and Hollow alone.

“Father.”, Hollow signed. “I don't understand one thing.”

“What is it you don't understand?”, the Pale King asked.

Hollow signed a few words and then shook their head, clearly unsatisfied with how they formed the sentence and instead flipped their journal out.

“Herrah said she is Hornet's mother, but she is my sister, so why isn't my mother also Hornet's mother?”

“Um.”, the Pale King said, having preferred to explain it to them at another date. “It is true that Hornet is the daughter of Herrah. The daughter of Herrah and... me. We could say, the two of you are... half siblings, you share one parent.”

Hollow stared at the Pale King and then wrote another sentence: “Does that mean Herrah is a homewrecker?”

The Pale King had a bit of trouble believing his own eyes as he stared down at their journal: “Who even taught you this word?!” (Author's note: A big thanks to @dreamlikequality who inspired me to add the scene with Nosk. A thing about Hollow is, that I really enjoy the challenge of writing them as mute and not being able to form any expressions, so that I need to think about several factors when they want to talk. Their sign language improved in this chapter, but their sentences are still easy and simple. However, I am not perfect, so if you want to add anything to how to write a mute character and how to handle sign language, feel free to tell me. Hornet is still young in this chapter, young enough to not being able to talk yet, I would say as a human child she would be around one year old. It was my first time writing Herrah and as one of the characters we don't know much about, a lot of it is headcanon based, but I hope you enjoy my interpretation of her. Please tell me your thoughts and favourite parts of that chapter in the comments down below. Thank you very much.) Chapter 8

#hollow knight #fanfiction #the pale king #the pure vessel #hornet #herrah #littlewritesstuff #uh I am really insecure about this chapter #if you could tell me your thoughts would be greatly appreciated #herrah murdered pk in cold blood #hornet and hollow are so precious

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androgynousgardendeerdevraj-blog · 4 years

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How to prepare for IIT-JEE Without Coaching: [Definite Guide]

Cracking JEE exam is dream for the aspirants. Getting right guidance for the preparation is very important. Time management & strategies play a crucial role in any exam preparation. It becomes more important when you are preparing for JEE Mains without coaching.

But the condition is that you understand the questions and solutions fully. Remember this doesn’t mean that you remember solutions of all the example problems, solutions should always be your last resort. First understand the questions completely . Because mind works faster than the body. In the beginning, you should start solving by these steps:

Focus On what is given in the questions

Get the clue you have to find

what possible formulae may be used in this problem

Keep A quick revision formula

Then try to think about the logic to solve the problem. These steps will really help you to think in the right direction. If you think you are wastiong more time in that you can try it latter or get helps from your friends or teacher. After a while, you could skip these steps and directly think about logic.

If it is possible keep record of what problem you have sticked to that will save your revision time .If you can’t solve a problem for first time, read about the topic once again and then try. If you still can’t get it, refer the solutions and learn from your mistakes . Remember, you can learn a lot from your mistakes. Apply same procedure for any problems you solved.

Time management:

Being Optimistic can help you to keep focused. But give up your TV, games and other stuff so that you could study as much as you can. a study must be your top priority Don’t get distracted, Stick to your goal and Work hard. Make a schedule for IIT JEE Exam Preparation. Even if you start in April you need to cover 1 chapter per week for the JEE

Wake Up Your Mind and Body to be healthy

It’s very important that in the morning you’re focusing on waking up both your mind and body so that you’re wholeheartedly ready to take on a long test. A great way to do this is to put on music .It is not advised to take extra pressure. Always be in happy mood that develops a good productive mindset.

Always be prepared for tough competation

The competition is stiff for everybody. Whether you make it or not cannot be predicted. Approx 12 lakh applicants apply for this exam while only 50,000 seats are worth. What you should be thinking at this time is not whether you will make it or not but how to give your best with the preparation you have done.

Show Your Smartness

If it is 4 minutes for the question then it is only 4 minutes .You have to do it in the limited time frame otherwise you can loose your easy and scoring questions. It is necessary that the student solves the problems over a 3-hours period. In terms of mental stress, this is nothing. This is being done over and above the school curriculum. If you are able to solve the problems in the books, then the school exams are a piece of cake .Note that if you are facing some difficulty a study group will definitely help. However, if there is a lot of difficulty, then there is no point in forcing yourself. It is really necessary to enjoy Your Work

If you have just started preparing Physics, then you should start by studying HC VERMA. It really is a very helpful book for JEE. Also, you can get its solution on internet very easily. Read it line by line and understand it and then try to solve all the examples and questions by yourself .They are decent problems. NCERT is good for reading purpose, but its problems are not JEE oriented, so you should take it for board exam.

If your physics is very strong, then you should jump to solving mock test. It can be also help to score in Olympiads.

Previous years’ papers of both Mains and Advanced are a must. At least you should have to solve 10 years questions these are all conceptual. They will give you ideas about the standard of JEE.

You can also refer some monthly magazine .There are large no of magazine in market .MTG is one recommended. They are really helpful for students who are preparing at home. These contains questions from good coachings. They provide all sorts of study material, good questions and some motivational speech from toppers.

Internet and Online Classes

Classes these days are available on Youtube and many Online Applications. But Using these technology in a right manner is quite challenging. This is one of the best ways to help you prepare for JEE Main without coaching. Internet and Social media platforms like Facebook have emerged as an important medium connecting JEE aspirants. From pages/groups dedicated to JEE Main preparation to JEE Main question banks, you can find it all on FB. As part of your prep strategy, join some of these groups and forums on the internet.

How JEE Advance is different from JEE Main

JEE Main is more memory based and tests your understanding, speed and accuracy. Whereas JEE Advanced requires in-depth understanding of concepts. JEE Advanced questions are tougher than JEE Main when it comes to difficulty level.

When you start JEE preparation, don't think of JEE Main and JEE Advanced as two separate exams. The JEE syllabus, preparation books, study material, preparation strategy is same for both exams.

The ideal way of preparing for JEE Main and JEE Advanced is to just focus on working well with the concepts and the art of applying them wherever required. The difference comes when you solve mock tests and previous years papers of JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

Now it's the good time to look at the ideal preparation strategy and study tips for JEE Main and JEE Advanced.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) Pattern

JEE Mains will be the first stage which is usually conducted in the month of April. JEE Main have two exams and the marks from the greatest one is taken into consideration .The top 2 lakh students are eligible to take this exam which is conducted in the month of January to march.

Working in a planned manner is quite necessary . Being consistent is vital. Many students start the preparation with a bang but eventually get bored or procrastinating. JEE Preparation involves dedication, and one must concentrate on increasing the study time as the days pass by. Stick to the study schedule and prepare accordingly.

Major Topics To be Covered To Maximize Your Score

A good strategy should have to know the exam syllabus . Always Keep the syllabus on your study table or paste it on the wall. It is very essential for you to understand the exam pattern. There are basically two levels in JEE i.e. Mains and Advanced. Both of these have very different patterns. The first one is for B.Tech/ B.E. aspirants and the second one is for those who want to go for B.Arch/B.Planning.

The common thing is that they contain a mixed bag of questions from Physics, Chemistry, and Maths. JEE Advanced is divided into two parts - paper 1 and paper 2.

Physcs

Kinematics, Laws of Motion, Work, Power & Energy, Semiconductors, Waves and Sound, Rotation, Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Thermodynamics, Waves and Oscillations, Electrostatics, Gravitation

Chemistry

Nuclear Structure, Periodicity, Redox Reactions, Molecular Bonding, States of Matter, Electrochemistry, General Organic Chemistry, Chemical Kinetics, D-block elements, Aldehydes and Ketones.

Maths

Quadratic Equations, Applications of Derivatives, Binomial Theorem, Definite Integration, Differential Conditions, Coordinate Geometry, Vectors and 3D, Calculus, Circles.

Role of Coaching on Jee Main Prepration

Many School Studying students qualify the exam without any other source . But to choose or not to choose external aid for your preparation depends completely on you. Though, joining a coaching class is usually advised.

There are quite a few advantages of joining a coaching class. Firstly verything is well managed in coaching class, you have a timeline fixed by the class, so that helps in preparation. Then, your doubts are clarified, which is a major point, as your conceptual clarity also has some limitations, thus experts from these institutes help to remove those limitations. When you study together, it increases your conceptual clarity for example you might just find a few new ways (which is already being followed by a friend) to tackle a question, chapter etc. Thus, group study helps. These are a few advantages which you might have when you join a coaching institute.

Conclusion:

So It depends on Students How they prepare for exam. If You have patience to keep yourself motivated Then coaching is not going to matter a lot. An Important resource for applicants looking to pass the JEE are the question papers from past tests (freely available on the official JEE website). Go to the official website and take last year question paper.

Before some month of exam day you can also take mock test. Mock is a proven way to score more in the exam. Keep well managed and apply all the formulas you have learnt in a smart and problem solving way. Joining a good mock test and keeping record of what you study and most important of all revise properly. These are the Techiniques for cracking the exam. See regular exam Updates.

#Cracking JEE exam is dream for the aspirants. Getting right guidance for the preparation is very important. Time management & strategies pla

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verngyu-moved · 6 years

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war, tome, and crown || ch. v

pov: second person (mxr; gender neutral reader insert) ⟡ word count: 6.3k ⟡ genre: adventure, fantasy, romance (slow burn) ⟡ rating: pg-13 ⟡ warnings: food, death mentions, mild cussing, me crying at the end

⟡ CHAPTER 5 ⟡

Tomorrow afternoon comes and your stomach tied in knots, full of anticipation for the lesson to come. After stuffing the last biscuit laid out on the table as part of today’s lunch, Minghao’s figure comes into full view. He’s not wearing his black cape today, dawning a loose long-sleeve white shirt with a plunging V-neck line, laces sewn and tied together in the spot the fabric should be. Sporting casual black pants and black boots, he’s pulled his loose hair back into a baby ponytail, gold rings dazzling in contrast to his matte black tattooed hands. Watching in your peripheral vision as he strolls over in your direction, you swallow your food expectantly, turning your head to face him when he’s finally closer and swinging his legs over the bench. Chan and Hansol, who are seated a few feet over chewing quietly, twist their heads around to check out the scene playing out before them. Minghao’s elbows tap the table before he crosses one arm over the other, eyeing you curiously. “Are you ready?” he asks, making blatant eye contact with the other boys for a second, but not saying hello.

Minghao leads you all the way deep into the summer grass, just a dozen meters or so away from the beginnings of an evergreen forest. With the sun high in the sky, it’s now past the thirteenth hour of the day, your shadow now hanging below you, learning left of where your feet connect to the ground. “What am I learning today?” you ask, careful not to sound overly-enthused. Your eyes follow Minghao as he plants himself on the grass, criss-crossed, gazing up at you as if he just realized you’ve been following him and is wondering what you want. Eyebrows knitted together, you take in the scene before you muttering, “We’re...sitting today.” “I’m sitting. You’re standing.” he shakes his head. “You’re sitting, I’m standing…” you repeat, “Why?” He forces a smile, “Because you’re learning formations today.” “Formations.” You repeat his words again, vitriol and disbelief dripping off your tongue before a sigh escapes your lips as you move your hands up to rest on either side of your lower back, thumbs digging into your hip bones. “Formations are an essential beginning step to mastering both all types of magic. Joshua said you should take it easy, anyway.” A sarcastic smile appears on his lips, while his eyes remain miffed. Deciding to suck it up, you follow Minghao’s suggestion, requesting him to explain further.

“Formations themselves are easy: put this leg here, lift his arm up at a twenty-five degree angle, take in half a breath...what’s difficult is the repetition aspect of it, and soon thereafter, depth perception.” he explains, picking something off of his sleeve and flinging it to the ground. You blink. “What does depth perception have to do with anything?” “In this case, it means estimating how much space you have between yourself and an enemy, and knowing the exact right moment to strike. It involves a bit of timing, too, of course. The technique is learned through practice and muscle memory. But that comes after formations.” Your shoulder tingles as you listen to Minghao explain, shooing away an obnoxious fly that had landed on it. “Alright, so, what is my first formation?” His feet rearrange themselves so they’re stuck together heel-to-heel, legs forming a diamond shape as his hands hold onto the toes of his boots. Unhesitant, he responds in one breath, “Stand shoulder-width apart, feet slightly angled outwards, knees bent slightly, your dominant hand extended in front of you, and the other arm around your tome.” “I don’t have a tome.” your eyes dart from side to side, lips pursed together. “That’s the other part of this lesson: pretending.” That cocky smirk creeps back onto his lips. He won’t even let me borrow his just to hold? About fed up with his half-assed aid and arrogant smirks., you lead the conversation elsewhere, “Didn’t you say you wanted to learn to be a better person?” Minghao narrows his eyes, blinking a couple times, “What does that have t-?” “Can’t you just get off your lazy ass and help me over here like a helpful instructor would?” One arm comes to rest at your side, the other palm open, swatting at the air as you demand his help.

That seems to shut him up, his lips gather in a pout, tightly shut as he floats off the ground without any help from his limbs, feet kissing the ground once again when he reaches you. “How hard is it to stand?” Minghao crosses his arms, nose raised towards the baby blue sky. “Exactly. How hard is it to stand, Sir Lazyalot?” You retort. When he can’t respond, you explain further, “It’s not about whether I need your help, it’s just about being a respectful teacher and not a cocky bastard.” “Alright, I get it! Just do the stance.” he throws his hands up in defeat, stepping back slightly to give you space. You organize yourself just as he said, legs spread just far enough apart, toes pointed outwards, crouching slightly, one arm (pretending to be) holding your tome, the other arm lifted straight out in front of you, fingers clawed. “Are you finished?” he wonders, and you keep your head still as you tell him yes, afraid to move on the off chance that you’ve done it incorrectly. “Your feet look almost perfect, although your knees are bent a little too far,” you lift yourself up slightly after he says this, earning a single word of approval in return: “Good.”

“Your tome would probably be stable in your hand, the other arm, though, is terrible.” he wanders around behind you, examining the form of your arm. “What?” “It’s bent too straight. You don’t only use your arm when you project energy to the outside of your body. You use your hand, as well. The way your arm is positioned would suggest you plan to use only arm muscles when fighting because you’d have to bring your bicep back like this...” his fragile fingers snake across your bicep, hands feeling actually feeling warm for once in compare to his ice cold rings. He pulls your bicep towards him, “...and then forward.” He pushes your arm away from him, his breath just barely hitting your ear. “But never extend it completely straight. It fatigues the muscles too much.” You haphazardly turn your head to look at him, noses just centimeters from each other. His eyes are opened innocently beneath raised eyebrows, and his gaze quickly joins yours. “You got it?” Gulp. “Yeah, I got it.” His digits leave your skin, and for a split second you almost start to feel yourself ache from the absence. He’s left your arm just pulled back enough so that your elbow is barely bent, your head snapping back to look forward when he begins explaining the next formation.

⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡

The next few hours are spent running through the five basic formations, but Minghao never gets quite close to you again. By the time you finish, you’re starving, so the two of you head your separate ways—Minghao to his living quarters, and you to the big tent. You get word that some of the boys are out at the marketplace, purchasing the food that you and Cheol were supposed to get yesterday. The camp looks quite dead except for Wonwoo practicing his aim on the field outside, while Jun sits at his feet to keep him company, your three retainers, Joshua and Cheol (who are in Joshua’s tent), Minghao, and you. “How’d lessons go?” Seungkwan pushes his blonde hair out of his way, looking around the chessboard laid on a barrel in between him and Soonyoung, while you Seokmin and idly watch on either side. “Oh, fine, I guess,” you gnaw at the inside of your cheek, remembering the few short seconds you were within kissing distance from Minghao, heart gradually beating faster. “Just fine? It wasn’t everything you hoped and dreamed?” Soonyoung teases, moving one of his pieces before handing his full attention to you. Frowning, you watch as Seungkwan’s fingers hover over one piece, before he catches Seokmin’s judgmental gaze and retracts his hand to place it under his chin instead. “Nah, I mean, there wasn’t much I could do since I’m not supposed to overexert myself, so Minghao just taught me formations.” “Oh, that’s right.” Seungkwan’s voice comes out muffled, head almost literally buried in the chessboard, “Where’d he go, by the way?”

“Minghao? Oh, I dunno, he probably went to get some alone time after dealing with my sass.” “Oh, you talked back to the teacher, huh?” Seokmin laughs, elbow nudging Soonyoung while he wags his eyebrows, impressed. “By the way,” you change the topic, “Did you guys hear anything about Seungcheol? Like, is he okay?” “Seokmin saw him earlier today doing a perimeter check.” Seungkwan shrugged. Unsatisfied leaving the conversation at that, you bring up what Cheol talked with you about yesterday at the marketplace, watching Soonyoung rub his eyebrow as you speak. “Y/N, of course we’ll stay if you’ll stay.” Seokmin answers, lips pressed together, shrugging as if it’s no big deal. “Are you sure?” your eyebrows come together, “I mean, I’m not technically royalty anymore, so…you have no obligation to stick by me.” “I think I can speak for the others here when I say this,” Soonyoung crosses his arms, slightly hunched over, glancing at the chessboard before he looks you in the eyes, “when we took an oath, we gave our lives to you. With or without a throne.” Seungkwan smiles almost pitifully, “Yeah, I mean...we’re family. Long live Matrona, right?” Unable to contain a gummy grin, you sigh, alleviated. And long live the crown, you think to yourself.

After Jeonghan, Mingyu, Chan, Jihoon, and Hansol arrive back to camp, they’ve brought an assortment of food, some looking familiar, some you hadn’t even seen yesterday. After you call Mingyu over to ask how the marketplace looked, he scratches his head, confused until you ask if he saw any serious damage. Relieved when he says no, you breathe a sigh of relief, grateful nothing was destroyed. You watch as Jeonghan carries one of the wicker baskets off into the distance, a cloth covering its contents. Getting off the barrel, you say a word to your retainers that you’ll be back, feet swiftly dodging past the crowd of boys to see where Jeonghan is headed. The setting sun has turned the sky purple, casting shadows upon the front of the tents, but even without good sight, you can tell Jeonghan is crouching into Cheol’s tent. Deciding to eavesdrop, you begin tiptoeing swiftly, swallowing the urge to scream when you hear a voice behind you.

“What are you doing?” Minghao greets you after you reel around, in his default position with his arms crossed below a raised brow. Letting out a list of unfinished words before you finally can muster up the words to say, you exclaim, “Uh. Nothing!” “Oh, so we’re sneaking around now like it’s nothing?” His eyes remain fixated on your face, like they’re searching each corner for a weakness. You suppress an awkward shriek at his word choice, waving a white flag as you say, “I was trying to eavesdrop.” He huffs in defeat, stare falling to the ground as his weight shifts to one foot, “Dinner’s ready.”

Dinner commences with all but two boys. Jeonghan grabs one of everything and stuffs it on a plate, his own meal in the other hand as he jogs off to Cheol’s tent (so you assume). Joshua has dark circles under his eyes, blinking slowly as he reassures you he’ll get some sleep soon. You’re munching on some white rice when Jeonghan returns to snatch a few more dinner items, sneaking up practically perch himself on your shoulder, whispering, “Cheol wants to see you after dinner.” And before you can respond, you catch a glimpse of his back before he turns a corner, disappearing from view. A knot ties itself in your stomach, unsure of what’s to come after you finish eating. Is Cheol okay? Soon enough, you help the others clean the table and load the dishes into metal bins to be washed and dried, toes clenching in your shoes before hurrying off to where you were caught snooping before. “Ch-Cheol? Jeonghan?” you call out, a healthy distance from the entrance of Cheol’s tent. Jeonghan pops his head out, carrot-colored locks falling from behind his ears to brush against his cheekbones, “Oh, you’re here,” he says before withdrawing, palm open, gesturing for you to enter. The tent swims over you as you pierce through its walls, hand holding apart the fabric. One of Cheol’s legs is extended out, the other folded inwards, he chews vigorously, hand coming up to cover his open mouth as he snorts in bewilderment, “Hey!” Your heart swells. “Hey, Cheol.” “Sit, sit, sit!” he tells you, before shoving another mouthful of food past his lips.

You plop down across from him, cutting to the chase, “Cheol, are you okay?” His head jolts, and the one hand that’s scooping rice pauses, as if he believes you had no reason to be concerned about him. “Yeah.” he attempts to stifle a smile as he blinks a few times and resumes gathering rice onto his spoon, “Yeah, I’m doing a lot better.” “I just haven’t seen you all day. I didn’t hear anything about your condition, so I wasn’t sure what to think when you sent Jeonghan for me. I was worried.” “I was just tired after patrolling the camp for a couple hours, so I came to lay down and get some sleep. It’s been so long since I slept this much.” He sets his meal down, pushing it to the side. “That’s good to hear. Well, what is it you want to discuss with me this time?” you let out a half-chuckle at the realization that pulling you aside to talk privately one-on-one seemed to be his thing. “I didn’t call you here to talk, I just wanted to give you a little something.” he whips around and pulls out a tome from behind him, holding it loosely in his hand while he jabs it in your direction for you retrieve to it from him. “Oh, uh, no, Cheol,” he insists profusely while you mirror him on the opposite end, adamantly protesting against his efforts, “No, Cheol, please don’t…” “Y/N.”

Mute, you hesitantly take the tome in your hands, feeling the hard cover wrapped in cream leather in your palms. Lining the top and bottom are thick moss green stripes with smaller embossed silver stripes running through them, the top with six small silver diamonds, and seven on the bottom, all in a straight line, evenly placed. You gather that the top represents the group that saved you from being kidnapped, the bottom being the ones all of you met up with here in Midmire. But where your eyes are drawn to most is the middle of the cover where are three different crowns—the two larger ones stacked on top of a slightly smaller one—each easily recognizable. Your father’s crown—its essence wise and soft-spoken, but also authoritative. Your mother’s crown—fierce, free, and kind, like she was. And then there’s yours. You can’t quite put your finger on what it says to you about you, even though you had practically been wearing it since you were a day old. You’ve been without it for what seems like a lifetime. Too long that you can’t flesh out its own character. Nevertheless, your hand instinctively comes up to wipe a hot tear.

“Midmire is a spot the boys and I used to frequent when we were on our own, so I know a guy. You know yesterday when I said I was going to the bathroom?” by the way he chortles you can tell he’s trying to lighten the mood, “I put in a personalized order with an old friend, Samuel, a tomemaker, at his shoppe. He expedited it since I paid double, so it was ready for pick up when the others went into town this afternoon. Jeonghan brought it back to me.” That’s what Jeonghan was sneaking into Cheol’s tent earlier. “Cheol, I can’t...” you begin to protest, wiping away another tear that’s plunged down to your jawline, lowering your head in embarrassment. “No. No give-backs. I know you’re practicing magic, so let me cheer you on.” Cheol slouches over, his eyes begging to meet yours. After weighing your options to either accept the gift but feel burdened or refuse but feel coarse, you reply, voice low as you sniffle, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” your eyes meet to follow his train of thought, “I just thought perhaps I could make it up to you somehow.” “Cheol, if this is about the marketplace-” He cuts you off, index finger coming up to rub the bridge of his nose in frustration, “I should have listened to Minghao, and maybe you wouldn’t have been put in danger. It’s my fault.” You couldn’t believe your ears—Cheol tried to stop you from provoking the hooded men, and got hurt even more than you had. “It’s okay,” you grab both of his rough hands, calling out to him, “Seungcheol, look at me.” Although your gaze meets his from just centimeters away, he still feels far away, “It’s okay, I promise. I can’t believe you’re saying this when, if anything, I’m more to blame. But, Cheol, I…I...” You wait a few seconds while he blinks in anticipation, before you pounce on him suddenly, wrapping your arms around his neck and breathing in his scent like you’re reclining in a poppy field. As his built arms snake around you, gripping you tightly, you feel engulfed by all the warmth and comfort of a thousand fires.

“Thank you.” he says. “For what?” even though you initiated the hug you feel like Cheol needs it more than you; the embrace feels as if you’re cradling a helpless child. “Just being here with me.” His nose is pressed against your shoulder, voice muffled as his lips graze your clothes. You laugh halfheartedly, praying to Mila that with your chests glued to each other that he doesn’t feel your heart beating absurdly fast. “And I’m sorry, too,” you say, trying to focus on keeping this a redeeming moment and not a romantic one, “I’m to blame. I picked a fight with those...creepy guys.” He laughs, “So we both screwed up. We’re even.” After a few moments, you loosen your grip, pulling away to run your eyes over his face—eyebrows in a straight line, light pink blushing cheeks, soft silver hair brushing past his temples—backing away for good when you catch his pining eyes looking up at you.

Fighting the impulse to be a complete mess for the second time today, you rise from the ground, legs wobbly. Taking the tome and holding it against your chest, your arms wrapped around it, you find yourself saying, “Thank you, Cheol. I should let you rest some more. Uh, bye. Goodnight.” His mouth is agape, eyebrows knitted together while you spin on your heel, emerging from the tent at lightning speed. Thankful the lanterns have been lit since the sun has gone to sleep while you two were visiting, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to see where you’re heading if they hadn’t been there. Positive some of the boys see you emerge from Cheol’s tent, but unwilling to meet each mindful gaze, you march straight for your tent, tossing and turning for an hour, mind running over the events that transpired tonight before you’re finally able to doze off.

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The following few days after the marketplace catastrophe, the camp is up and running like a small village. Cheol is what he calls ‘mostly better’ and is more active around the camp, but you avoid him, using magic lessons with Minghao as an alibi. You’ve moved on from formations to depth perception, in which Minghao will create objects out of thin air to throw at you and tell you if you’re reacting quickly enough. Needless to say, lessons haven’t been quite what you were expecting. By the end of each day you have several bruises and scratches, and once you even develop a panging headache from when Minghao flings a wooden plank at you. So far, in the last four days you’ve seen Joshua eleven times.

“When are you gonna teach me actual magic?” you’re bent over, hands on your knees, panting from scrambling around to avoid the items being hurled in your direction—all ranging from stuffed toy bears to dinner plates. “When are you gonna stop asking that question, Your Highness?” Minghao’s arms are crossed for what seems like the umpteenth time, rubbing his chin in mockery while he stares off into the pink sky, “Maybe I should penalize you for asking that question.” “Oh, you mean you haven’t been penalizing me this damn whole time?” Something tells you Minghao enjoys throwing things at you. “Careful, or I’ll throw a piranha in there.” he wags his finger at you, eyebrow raised, a smile teasing his lips. Calling his bluff, you roll your eyes before he hollers, “Alright! Let’s run it again, one last time!”

⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡

Your nightshift arrives at 3 AM, and as chances have it, both you and Minghao are on the same night shift duty, keeping keen eyes out for danger in the pitch black. As you’re awoken by Wonwoo before he sets off to sleep for the night, you’re left thinking about the previous night’s encounter with Jihoon, a yellow-haired archer whose outfit reminds one of a crow, with a long black feathery collar that stands upwards, parallel to his shoulders. From your long conversation with him about anything and everything, you could easily see that he’s the strong silent type; carrying a powerful but reserved presence. The constant overnight shifts have become a drag, quite frankly, but they also make you feel like you have a place here. Besides, it’s been nice getting to know the others and talking is the only thing you can do when you’re ordered to stay up for several hours in the dead of night. There’s something vulnerable and raw about early mornings that feel otherworldly—almost like you could say or do anything without repercussions. You wonder what tonight’s shift holds for you, especially since you’ve been feeling quite frustrated with Minghao’s painfully slow teaching style. It leads to some spats here and there, one of which carries over into dinner, only to be shut down and never spoken of afterwards when Hansol says the two of you ‘fight like an old married couple.’ From then on, it’s like both of you have an unspoken agreement to keep disagreements private so as not to evoke a (however seemingly harmless) reaction like that ever again.

The sky twinkles, holding each constellation like chocolate chips in dough. Both Minghao and you have been sitting out here for an hour or so, and the less you two talk the more you both just gaze up at the stars. The last couple of days have been spent in the field with him, and although it’s exhausting dodging pancakes and rocks, your mind feels more tired than your body does. Adjusting yourself on that same sturdy log you sat on the night your powers were awakened, you involuntarily sigh, tracing over the stars and connecting the dots to form constellations. “Guess which one I’m looking at.” you glance at him as he hovers over his rotting log before shifting your focus back to the constellation in question. “Equuleus? Or maybe Vulpecula?” Minghao wonders, listing off more when he hasn’t guessed the correct one yet. “Aquila? Capricornus?” You chuckle, pointing up at the unfinished triangle on a leash that points west, “Do you see Sagitta?” “Ah.” he says, “In Greek mythology, it’s supposed to symbolize the arrow Hercules used to kill the eagle that Zeus ordered to eat Prometheus’ liver.” “I thought that it represents Eros’s arrow that caused Zeus to fall in love with Ganymede.” “Lots of Greek myths have multiple versions of the same story.” Among the crackling orange fire and the humming crickets in the field, you bask in the light from the moon. Sagitta. you think, pondering the two versions of the story told tonight. This was just one of the many nights you’ve spent with the stars, and just like one of the many nights to follow.

You make the choice to humor him. “There’s a good one I know where a determined and curious pupil humbly asks an antisocial and grumpy teacher for their counsel and the teacher accepts with his own (surprisingly good) intentions in mind but ultimately doesn’t really try help the student because he’s afraid the student will be more powerful than him.” Tone flat and full of dryness, he asks you, “Are you talking about us? Am I the pupil?” “No I’m the pupil. You’re the teacher.” you laugh, turning to look at him, realizing he now sits on his own log, feet touching the ground, his limbs frozen below a cold stare. “Is that why you think I haven’t sped my lessons up to your liking? Because I’m intimidated by your potential?” his fingers press against his chest while he tilts his chin down, glaring as he pleads his case, “I may not be the most friendly person around, but I wouldn’t hinder your learning progress for the sake of my ego.” Once again, you laugh—hoping it brightens the uncomfortably serious mood, “It was a joke! Lighten up, will you?” Geez. Hard to believe this is the same guy who laughed at a joke about our dead parents.

When he doesn’t bother to reply you apologize, remembering there’s not much he hates more than being misunderstood. “I’m sorry I said all that stuff, but just hear me out.” you beseech him, “Can I just try something a little more advanced?” In hopes of shutting you down, he replies monotonously, “No.” When you ask why, he shrugs all the while his eyebrows pull together, as if you should know this. “Because you’ll just end up hurting yourself.” “I’ve mastered all the formations, I’ve gotten pretty good with depth perception, and my reflexes are fine-tuned,” you try to reason with him, “C’mon, just let me try, I doubt anything will actually happen, but I just wanna take a shot at it.” After a few moments of contemplation, you warn him, “If you keep refusing, eventually I’ll just find another...more dangerous...means to attempt something advanced.” He sighs in defeat, “Alright, fine. Under two conditions.” “Sure. What?” Astonished that your bluff actually worked, hands coming together like you’re praying while your fingertips graze your lips, eyes wide. “One, you do exactly as I say, and two,” he lists them off on his fingers, “if you get out of control and pose as a threat to the safety of others, I put you to sleep.” “Done.” you nod once, rising from your log to meander around it and begin to head in the direction opposite of the tents, “Let’s do this.” “Well that was...easier than I thought.” Minghao mumbles behind while you wander off into the grass, stopping just far enough away from the surrounding tents, but close enough to keep an eye on the camp. Facing away from the snores drifting through the cracks of the tents, Minghao gathers near you; snapping into his teacher mode, beginning another lesson.

What feels like an hour of trying to follow through on his instructions clearly isn’t that long. Minutes shy of a half hour later, you still haven’t produced so much of a mustard seed-sized semblance of any magic. “You have to command it.” Minghao suggests for the umpteenth time, earning a groan of annoyance from you. “You’ve said that already! It’s just...not working.” you plop yourself down on the grass, cross-legged with your tome in your lap. Even from a distance, you hear the embers jumping out from the fire, emitting a warm glow off both yours and Minghao’s figures. “I’m trying my best to help, Your Highness. Dark magic, yes, is magic, but it’s not quite the same as light magic.” he says, your back facing him, “Are you gonna give up this easily? You’ve only been trying for twenty minutes—if that.” You groan once more, almost stomping as you pick yourself off from the ground and stand, feet shoulder length apart. To you, it’s unimaginable as to why Minghao’s expertise isn’t transferring. You’d only read books about light magic, but even then, you never would have figured that light and dark magic would be this different. The fundamentals seemed the same, but where to tap into its power was evidently different.

“Alright.” he begins once more, grabbing your hand and instructing you to hold your palm out. “Don’t point it at me, though,” he warns, scoffing upon seeing your eyebrows pulled downwards, your lips in a tight line. “Alright...” he sighs, “Dig deep down. This time try thinking about something happy...why you’re doing this, or rather, who you’re doing this for.” You swallow the lump in your throat. He means Mom and Dad. “Sometimes it also helps to come up with a string of words that immediately conjure those feelings as you say them aloud while casting a hex. Think of it as a shortcut.” He holds your palm in his own, and in an effort to not become plainly flustered, you close your eyes. You thank him in your head for not not being as close to you as he once was for your first lesson, otherwise focusing would be hopeless. “Okay. A string of words...like what?” You think of your parents, your retainers, your home. “It’s different for every mage. Mine is ‘Sultana alpha and omega, octan to ursa.’” You gather that Minghao is from the kingdom of Sultana upon hearing him recite its motto, and recall the star map he had in his tent, noting that like you, he can discern the northern- and southernmost constellations in our solar system, octans and ursa minor. “Now look for it.” “Wha-” “Shh. Just do it.” he counters, “You’ll know what I’m talking about when you find it.”

Behind your closed eyelids, you roll your eyes, attempting to focus on whatever ‘it’ is. You tune out the crickets chirping in the itchy grass, the thick and sticky summer air, the crackling fire beside you. Dig deep down, you tell yourself. Heart? Pumping blood. Legs? Holding you up. Lungs? Inhaling. Brain? Focusing on this. And soon enough, past all your organs and conscious thought is your magicae locus. You’re floating in your own subconscious again, sea dark but not dark itself, just lacking light. Where is the light? You swim around the cool water for a while, passing dated but vivid memories, ignoring the unpleasant ones. The light...these words pass through your mind, you see them dozens of times before your eyes sort out everything that isn’t what you’re looking for. You look at things in a new, intoxicating angle—the shimmering white flower on the ocean floor of that sea. You can finally see your legs and hands as you hold your breath, diving in deep. Your eyes sting—Is that saltwater?—as you head towards this glowing flower. The water is thicker than actual water, but it’s more inviting, more familiar, less scary...Your fingertips are centimeters away from its petals, you brush it, almost there. You will your legs to keep moving even though your thighs are burning, your arm is becoming tired having been extended out for this long. Clenching your eyes, while each muscle in your body ignores their desire to give up, you reach for the flower and pick it. Your grip tightens on the flower as you bring it closer to your face. It’s brighter than anything you’ve ever seen before—it’s magic. The words escape from your lips without having to think about them, “Father Camus, Mother Mae, Matrona, Sagitta.”

“Y/N.” Minghao voice brings you back to the surface of the water, you get one last look at the piercing white flower as you float in the water before your eyes drift open, sight drifting to your palm, where an orb of light hovers. Its white glow is all too familiar. “Y/N.” he repeats your name. You’re frozen in place as you meet Minghao’s gaze, and in your peripheral vision you take notice of how the glow grows the moment when your eyes meet before it returns back to its original size. But as both of you continue to maintain eye contact you lose focus, and the light flickers, drawing your attention to it before it disappears completely. Minghao grins ear to ear, eyebrows lifting as he whispers over the crackling fire, “You did it.” “I did it,” your lips mimic his, and all at once your body moves to wrap your arms around his neck, your chin touching the cold and lonely hood of his cloak. A confused vowel jumps from Minghao’s throat, but he doesn’t budge. Your eyes widen as you realize what you’ve done, but you pull away slowly so as not to frighten him further. Your heart stops suddenly when he gently places his hand on the small of your back, and you freeze, two faces just a hair apart. Your hands are now loosely holding onto his broad shoulders.

“Y/N, I...” Minghao whispers, swallowing the lump his in throat, adam’s apple bobbing, and licks his lips before his eyes—slightly hidden beneath long black locks—flicker around the details of your face, and you try not to overthink the softness in them as his gaze shifts to your lips. “Yes?” the words leave your lips clearly but quietly. It’s the first time he’s calling you not by some royal title, but by your real name. “I can’t teach you magic anymore.” “What?” Your smile begins to fade. This has to be a joke. “Didn’t you hear me?” his voice takes the form of knives, disdain dripping from his tongue. Moments of silence pass before you take control of the conversation. “I’m an idiot.” you shove yourself away from him, heart hardening as you watch his feet stumble backwards, “...to think that you wanted to become a better person and help me learn magic when all you wanted to do was to lead me to the water only to tell me I couldn’t drink from it. You may not be royalty, but you’re a king-sized asshole, you know that?” His eyes look at you like a child who’s being scolded, mouth opening slightly, before you stop him from speaking, “No! Save it!” you screech, abandoning all sense of consideration for the others sleeping, “I’ll teach myself.” You turn on your heel, marching for your tent while he calls out behind you, “Y/N.” Stopping in your tracks while you see Seungkwan pop his head out from behind his tent, followed by Joshua’s rose quartz hair. Making one last effort to shut him up, you whip around, lungs on fire as you try to curb your fury, “It’s ‘Your Highness’ to you.”

“Y/N, What’s going on?” Seungkwan brushes a blonde strand of hair out of his face, yawning. “You’re on nightshift duty.” You dismiss him, charging past him, sights set on your own tent. Your mother used to tell you to never go to bed angry, but you just assume she’d never tried it because that night you sleep like a baby.

⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡|⟡

That morning you wake up, unsurprised that the fire inside you Minghao started last night is still going strong. “Unbelievable,” you say to yourself after you sit up, scratching your head. It takes a special kind of evil to intentionally get someone’s hopes up like that only to let them down. You proceed with the rest of your morning, eating a big breakfast and ignoring everyone’s inquisitive stares. Although you’re greeted by several of the boys, no one seems to want to bring up last night’s events, even you’re sure they all heard what happened. Thankfully Minghao is nowhere to be seen, so you head out to your usual spot in the field for practice. Already in a foul mood, it seems that whatever magic you summoned last night doesn’t want to make another appearance, no matter how many times you chant, an aching frustration growing all over you like creeping vines. “Mila, please help me out here.” you crumble to the ground on your knees, desperate, begging the Earth Mother for help. Remembering you’re on your own here, you stand to your feet again, sighing as the sun beats down on you, closing your eyes for the hundredth time.

“I’m sorry.” a voice plainly speaks from behind you, and you pray it’s not him for his sake. Hesitantly turning to face the source, your fears are right, and you take your time drinking in Minghao’s figure, shrunk under your scrutiny. In his classic getup of black everything—black eyes, black robes, black cape, black sandals, black hair. Black heart. If your voice had eyes they’d be rolling right now, “Yeah, right,” you say as you cross your arms. “No, just...listen to me, please.” he takes a step forward, arms at his side while fingers on either hand fiddle with each other. “That’s all I’ve been doing—is listening to you. I don’t wanna listen anymore. So, if you excuse me,” you turn away from him, cracking your knuckles in preparation, “I have to teach myself magic.” Then it comes all at once: an uncalculated risk, a shock, a relief. A confession.

“I like you.”

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→ CHAPTER 6

!!!!!!! *INSERT 1,000 CRYIGN EMOJIS* !!! FINALLY!!!!!

in the future chapters i plan to address some popular tropes in fanfics that i dont think are handled “correctly” and will hopefully portray in a more accurate/less romanticized way....all the while trying to progress the main plot...like who were the 5 hooded fools from the marketplace???? who do they work for ??? what is the gang gonna do now that matrona is fallen + what are the effects of said kingdom crumbling...all good shit ive had plenty of time to think abt lol. now the trick is to not make this thing 35 chapters long

thanks to every1 for ur support + love 💕💕💕

& as always, heres the google drive link to the inspirations behind each members’ weapons and outfits here.

-deedee

#seventeen fic #seventeen #lgbtqcaratsnet #svtcreations #minghao #s.coups #seungkwan #dokyeom #hoshi #the banner is totally not spoilers...................#JUST U WAIT........#*wtac #*fic #*

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theguardiansseries · 6 years

Text

From the Beginning Chapter 3

Bonjour, mes chers! I'm finally back and settled in and looking for a job, but until that has to be worried about enjoy the latest chapter!

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Summary: Danny Fenton was a simple, sixteen-year-old teenager who loved fast food, video games, and getting a B on surprise pop quizzes. He’s also the half-ghost teenage hero Danny Phantom who defends Amity Park from ghost attacks on a daily basis. Somehow, the ghost attacks make a lot more sense than crushes, friendships, and falling in love with someone he is definitely not supposed to be falling in love with. It was a lot easier to separate Phantom and Fenton before, but now it’s getting harder the more he learns about himself. Just who was he? The dorky son of scientists who loved the stars or the hero that protected the town. He’s starting to feel like he won’t like the answer. (Iambic Prose) (Prequel to Guardians and Partial Show Rewrite)

<<First Chapter>> <<Last Chapter>><<Next Chapter>>

Chapter Three

“I’m pretty sure most people would label this as torture, you know!” As promised, Danny had come to the library the next day at around ten- Okay, he had woken up a little before nine, but then he had to eat, reassure his parents, talk to Jazz, and then he had to eat something else where his mom’s food had looked poisoned, and then he had to actually find his way to the library considering Clockwork had just formed a portal for him the last time. Still. It was already almost three, probably, and Danny was dying. “Why do you have so many books!”

“Surprising as this may seem to you, there’s quite a few books that exist out there in the world.” Ghostwriter seemed to be as cheery as Sam when a new Hot Topic opened, which, yeah, pretty terrifying. “Those go over in the spiritual growth section.”

Looking down to the glowing books he was currently killing his back with, Danny stared for a solid five seconds before he looked back to Ghostwriter. “Is that… Is that a joke?” It was almost bordering on a pun. Ghostly spirit-y books being put in a ‘spiritual growth’ area.

“Unfortunately, the Ghost Zone doesn’t seem to have a system when it comes to filing, so I’m forced to make do with what I can. Second floor, fifth shelf from the northeast corner.” Wha… What? “Oh, honestly. It’s right past the section on Geography.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not how the Dewey Decimal system works,” Danny grumbled, flying the books up to the second story and, seriously, this library looked way smaller on the outside. The second story was even more pretentious than the first one, too.

Like, okay, the library was covered in purples and whites and all that, but the second story had white railings that looked to have carved flowers or vines or something like that on them. It was stupidly pretentious. Not to mention the bookcases on the first floor were arranged like a goddamn maze, Ghostwriter using his powers to levitate them around to different places whenever he felt like it. Danny could get re-organizing, but this was just ridiculous.

Danny ended up staying there until at least six judging by how worried Jazz was when he finally got back, and the second day wasn’t much better. It seemed that he was there eight hours a day easy - although it was nice that Ghostwriter managed to find non-poisoned food for him to eat around ‘lunch.’ So, yeah, free, non-poisoned food. It definitely could have been worse.

By the third day of his guilt apology offer, it wasn’t so bad. The library was quiet and peaceful, which, yeah, kind of surprising in the Ghost Zone, but it was nice. It was also kind of fun to get lost in a simple task like shelving and ordering books. Yeah, alright, so, okay, maybe he had mis shelved a few books here and there, but Ghostwriter seemed to always find them quick enough, so that was something.

His back had even adjusted to the stupidly heavy books he was always flying and carrying around, and after that it really was kind of nice. Maybe he’d even get a part-time job in a library back in Amity Park if the whole ghost fighting thing ever settled down. It really wasn’t all that bad.

It was even nice making a ghostly friend who wasn’t totally batshit crazy - okay, so, maybe the guy got lost in his books pretty easily and tended to slip into rhyme and sometimes forgot Danny was even there until he almost crashed into him or tripped over him due to having his nose stuck in a book while he was walking, but, really, they all had their quirks - even if Ghostwriter’s had ended up leaving Danny near crying of laughter when the man had tripped over him and ended up on the floor in pure confusion. Just the thought had Danny snickering to himself again.

“I know what you’re laughing about.” Shit. Putting on as innocent an expression as he could, Danny huffed when the man didn’t buy it for a second. “You should be more careful where you choose to sit-”

“Dude, I was bending over to pick up a book I dropped.” Danny couldn’t be sure, but he was almost certain that Ghostwriter was blushing. It was great.

“My point stands.” Sure, it did. “Now, you were telling me about your sister before you went away with the pixies.”

“Before I- What?” Went away with the- What did that even mean? Was it some kind of ghost phrase that maybe meant-

“It means you were lost in your thoughts,” Ghostwriter laughed. Danny was still getting used to the fact ghosts could laugh and not sound evil. “It’s something you do remarkably often.”

“Yeah, well… It’s just that Jazz is always trying to help with all this ghost stuff, but it’s not- She’s not- It’s not safe, you know? At least me and my friends have had time to get used to fighting ghosts, but she hasn’t.”

“You haven’t thought to help her get to the level you’re on now? From the stories I’ve heard, it seems you were rather bad at all of this yourself when you first started.”

“That’s the point, though. I don’t want her to start ghost hunting period!” It was dangerous. At least Sam and Tucker knew how to use the weapons, and Danny had ghost powers! Jazz was- She was great, but she wasn’t ghost fight great.

“You should be fighting with each other, not against each other,” Ghostwriter tsked. He tsked. “My older brother was always further along in physical attributes than I was, but he always took the time to help me catch up, so we could fight alongside each other.”

“Why would you two even need to know how to fight- Nope, no, nevermind, too long a story and I need to prove a point.” Ignoring Ghostwriter’s ‘cough,’ Danny shook his head. “Look, Jazz is- She’s not a fighter, you know?”

“However, it sounds like she wants to help you. You’re siblings. No one is going to understand your struggles better, and the important part is to keep each other safe while fighting together.” Yeah, but-

“Look- Look, okay, you’re a younger sibling, right?” Waiting until he got a nod, Danny continued. “You should get it, then. Sometimes we have to protect the idiots who never even think of protecting themselves.”

There was a long moment where Danny was ready for Ghostwriter’s next argument before the ghost gave a small nod. “I see your point.” Ha! That was a win! A win on a technicality or something or whatever, but still a point! “I still believe that you should allow your sister to help, however.” Ghostwriter hummed, tone of voice turning casual. “She seems smarter than you, after all, and certainly a little more intelligence could never hurt.”

“Oh, ha, ha.” Still… Ghostwriter kind of had a point, himself. Jazz was smart, and she probably could help them without getting involved in an actual ghost fight. Maybe… Maybe he should start bringing Jazz more into the ghost side of his life. “Alright, c’mon, where are these books going now?”

Following Ghostwriter’s directions and random conversation starters was pretty easy after getting over his initial wariness, to the point that it felt like hardly any time at all before he was on his last day of break.

He had meant to help finish with the entire main level and get all the cases and shelves looking great, but, well… He may have gotten distracted reading the books rather than actually sorting them- It wasn’t his fault, though! They had finally gotten to the fiction books and there had been a pile of sci-fi books and, okay, look, Danny wanted to be an astronaut for a reason, okay, this was basically training for that.

“So, this is where you disappeared too, then.” Shiiit. Ghostwriter had found him. “Oh, please, I’m hardly going to take away a book you’re actually reading.”

“Hey.” Danny frowned up at the man, ready to argue and complain before he saw the plate of food he was holding and oh, yeah, he could eat.

“Honestly, you’re like a puppy the way you just perked up.” Wha- He was not a puppy! “Which book did you get distracted by?”

“In my defense, this was a danger the second you wanted me to shelf the science fiction stuff.” Danny tilted the book, so Ghostwriter could see the title before he was carefully setting it away from the food. He was kind of wary about damaging books after everything, which, yeah, definitely not gonna hurt a book when Ghostwriter was right there.

“You like science fiction, then?” There was no need to sound so surprised about it. “Mm, I shouldn’t be too shocked. Your parents did build a portal into a world full of ghosts.”

“I still have trouble believing that, some days.” Like, yeah, okay, ghosts. Ghosts were a normal, everyday part of Amity Park, now. So, ghosts, but also ghosts.

“If it helps, I still have trouble believing what I am, now.” Ghostwriter picked up the book Danny had been reading and started flicking through it, Danny staring at him and… He had forgotten, but the ghosts had been human once, too. He was used to the nutjobs like Skulker and Technus, but how many ghosts were like Ghostwriter who were still human? “I’m curious, what would you say was your favorite book?”

“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure asking that question is, like, blasphemy for a book lover.” Mostly because he had asked Jazz that question once, and she had looked at him as if he had asked her to murder a child in front of him. “Shouldn’t you hate that question?”

“You would think,” Ghostwriter laughed, taking a seat across from Danny at the table. “I actually find that asking someone for the name of their favorite book reveals a lot about a person.”

“Yeah, alright, Sherlock- And that’s not my favorite book.” Watching the man bite back what was probably a laugh, Danny sighed and leaned back in his seat and, right, favorite book… Nn. “Does favorite author count?”

“Oh? That right there says even more about you.” Ghostwriter was fucking with him. He had to be. Looking up, he saw a grin that showed the man was definitely fucking with him. “I’ll accept it just this once.”

“Ha ha.” Leaning forward and grabbing his sandwich, Danny took a bite and swallowed before glancing up to Ghostwriter again. “Don’t laugh.”

“I would never.” Somehow, that was a hard one to believe. Still, it wasn’t like his favorite author was bad, just not that well-known.

“My favorite author is M. J. Anderson.” Seeing the expression forming, Danny pointed at him. “I said don’t laugh!”

“I wasn’t going to.” Oh, wow, he denied that rather quickly. “I just- I suppose I’m surprised that of all the authors you could pick, you choose that one.”

“Hey, Anderson had a lot of really great books- I mean, have you read The Soundless Clock?” The other’s expression looked like some weird combination of embarrassment and amusement, Danny crossing his arms and choosing to ignore him. The Soundless Clock is one of the best books to have ever been written, and Star Gazers isn’t very far behind, either.” That had Ghostwriter laughing.

“Star Gazers? That book read like it was written by a sleep-deprived college student who had one too many cups of coffee! It’s riddled with small plot holes, grammatical mistakes, and the narrative seems to switch from Star to Ches at some places!”

“You mock it, yet you’ve read it?” A helpless little shrug was the only response he was really given. “Okay, yeah, the book doesn’t read the best, but that doesn’t- That doesn’t affect the story, you know?”

“Oh? What do you mean?” The ghost was up to something, but dammit, Danny had a point to prove!

“It’s- Ah, jeez, man, it’s hard to explain, but it’s like- The book isn’t the best, but the story is. Like, okay, yeah, it reads like it was still a rough draft, in some places, but it was a great story. It was all about being scared to leave home and leaving anyways because of the idea of what’s out there. It was about being sheltered and alone and not knowing what it was like out there but wanting to find out! It was a story about- About exploring the galaxy and being able to one day say, ‘Ah, yes, I know that star, and that one, and that one, and I know all their stories.’ It’s- It was a book about adventure and space and- And- Dude, that book is what made me want to be an astronaut!”

“Did it, now?” Ghostwriter had a small, silly little smile on his face, one cheek propped up on his hand as he stared at Danny. Deciding that he didn’t even want to ask, Danny quickly took another bite of his sandwich. “You seem to adore Star Gazers, but you still think Soundless Clock is better?”

“Well, yeah.” Right. Time to defend his books again- God, he had become his sister. “If you say anything bad about that book, I think I might have to fight you again.”

“Alright, then. Tell me what’s good about it.” That- Well. That was a very long list, but it was one Danny was willing to share- Or… Maybe not a list.

“Andrea didn’t want to be a hero.” Ordering his thoughts, and, yeah, okay, this was actually a good way to start it. “Yeah- Yeah. Andrea didn’t want to be a hero, but she became one because no one else was going to do it, you know? She was a kid off the streets, but she got into trouble and lied about it and then- Oh, man. She ended up on possibly the coolest ship in the entire world and she hated it just until she stepped on and realized she loved it. She was shit at every job they gave her, but then she worked on the ship and fixed it up, and that ship- That ship is a main character the same way Hogwarts is a main character in Harry Potter.

“But, Ghostwriter, man, dude, she basically went from this little kid who didn’t know what she was doing to a hero because she could help, because- Because she could, you know? She was there, and she knew she could help, and so she did.” That… The Soundless Clock had always been his favorite book, but there were even more reasons to love it, now. “She became a hero and even though she went through some really horrible shit, she still kept going. That… It was a great story.”

“Not including the plot hole in the chapter on the Airship Gala-”

“Fuck you, that was not a plot hole, that was foreshadowing.” That got the man’s attention, Danny smirking. “Looks like you don’t keep up with the fan forums. I mean, that guy- Oh, man, you don’t create a character like that and never use him again.”

“I suppose, and yet, there’s no sequel.” Yeah, and considering the book had been published in the eighties… “I like to think that the man she met was actually the friend of her mother’s and the Admiral.”

“Really?” Huh. That was- That was actually a pretty good theory. “I can see it. Oh, man, a sequel would have had so much potential.”

“There’s always hope,” Ghostwriter grinned, leaning back in his seat. “Thank you, by the way, for telling me why you love those stories.”

“Oh, uh, sure?” Such a weird ghost. “So, right, okay, shelving the sci-fi books. Where are these going?”

Much to Danny’s surprisingly disappointment, the end of the day came far too soon, Ghostwriter and Danny managing to talk about their favorite books before circling around to talk about their siblings and then ghosts and everything in between. It was great, and then the entry area of the library was clean and looked amazing.

“So, uh, I guess that’s that, then.” It looked a lot neater and a lot less dusty after everything, so Danny supposed Ghostwriter sort of knew what he was doing. “Five days of library cleaning.”

“You did better than I would have expected.” Oh, jeez, that was a compliment. Startling as Ghostwriter lightly touched his shoulder, Danny looked up to him to see the man giving a smile. “Apology accepted.”

“Good- Good. Now I don’t have to worry about being trapped in another poem, at least.” He was actually pretty sure he had seen that book when cleaning. He was also pretty sure he hid it under a couch somewhere. Maybe. Probably. Could have been behind a stack of books on one of the shelves. “So, uh, guess I’ll… Guess I’ll head out, then.”

“Danny.” Oh, shit, wait, Ghostwriter knew his first name? Well, technically all ghosts probably did, but all of them just called him ‘boy’ or ‘Phantom’ or ‘whelp.’ “You really should talk to your sister.”

“Oh- Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, I should.” Jazz… She deserved a real explanation for everything, and Danny was sure she could help them in her own way. Probably. Maybe. “Right, so, um… Bye?”

Ghostwriter chuckled and gently pushed Danny out the door and- “If you ever need a quiet place to read, my library will always be open for you.” With that, Danny found himself floating outside Ghostwriter’s library, the doors closing shut behind him- No, not closing. There was a sliver of a crack that showed he could easily push them back open.

“Always open, huh?” Danny had just made a friend who was a ghost. That was… That was great. “See you soon, then, GW.”

“Door’s open!” Opening the door, he had just knocked on, Danny poked his head into Jazz’s room and took a quick look around. She seemed to be organizing her backpack for when they went back to school and honestly. “Hey, Danny. What’s up?”

“Oh, well, see, I kind of- I maybe thought- It’s actually pretty funny-” Danny babbled as Jazz grabbed him by his wrists and effortlessly steered him into sitting down on her bed. “Rude.”

“Yes, I am. Now, what’s wrong?” Oh, boy, that was a question. “Anything you want to talk about?”

“Yes- No- Yeah. No, yeah, yes, there is.” Right. He just had to tell her… Well. “I… I kind of think there are some things we should talk about. It… It might take a while, though.” Everything would mean over a year of ghost fights, worries, fears, and injuries. “Will you listen?”

“Always.” There hadn’t even been a second of hesitation, and that was all the courage Danny needed to relax against the bed and give a grin.

“Well, it all kind of started last year. You probably remember when Mom and Dad couldn’t get the portal to work, yeah? The whole accident? It- I mean, you’ve probably figured it all out by now, but there’s a bit more to it all…”

“You have my attention for as long as you need it, Danny.” Right. That- Well. That was all he really needed, right now.

“Okay, so it all started with Mom and Dad’s bad engineering and this stupid button.”

#danny phantom #from the beginning #guardians series #iambic prose #ftb chapters

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usodanee · 6 years

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Regarding Ouma’s Talent || Analysis

Because I’ve heard about people bringing up theories regarding this topic, I decided to throw in my own ideas and why I think that the title of Super High School Level Supreme Leader suits Ouma perfectly. Many like to argue that just like pretty much everything else about Ouma, his talent is also fake because it doesn’t suit him or because he doesn’t show any kind of qualities a “Supreme Leader” should possess. But is that really the case?

This will be a bit longer, so prepare for a couple of paragraphs to read through. And obviously, this post will contain massive spoilers for all of V3, so be prepared.

Hello, thanks for clicking this post, I appreciate it. Anyway without wasting much time, I’m gonna get straight to the bottom of the issue. There are two particular questions I’d like to discuss, the first being “What is a Supreme Leader?” and the second being “Does the title suit Ouma?”

So I’m going to start with the first question. First of all, to get this out of the way because it’s a silly argument that goes around in the fandom every once in a while, the basic definition of Ouma’s talent. As taken from the wiki, his talent is Ultimate Supreme Leader 超高校級の「総統」 chō kōkō kyū no “sōtō” The issue that usually arises when talking about Ouma’s talent is the 総統 (sōtō) part, as it’s the same noun used in association with Adolf Hitler. It’s undeniable that this is at least partly intentional, considering that the association immediately puts the word into a negative context. In his promotional art, Ouma has been given a cape and a military hat, again to give him a more sinister impression than his canon self ultimately shows.

Everyone who has been a fan of the Danganronpa series for a while should already be aware of this fact, but for newcomers I’d like to point out that Spike Chunsoft loves to market this series with a bunch of red herrings. This has been the case ever since the first game, so I am absolutely convinced that portraying Ouma in this dark light was absolutely in order to fool us, the audience, into believing into his malicious intentions. And well, it goes even further than that, considering that Ouma does a bunch of very terrible things during the course of the game. While his intentions were to ultimately put an end to the killing game, it’s undeniable that he’s responsible for most bad things happening during the later half of the game (for example the entirety of Chapter 4, though I’d argue that none of it was his fault alone. He still fucked up pretty badly though)

However, it’s wrong to assume that 総統 (sōtō) is exclusively used in a negative context or only associated with evil dictatorship. Now my Japanese is pretty limited, but from my research and the words of my friends who are fluent in Japanese it’s safe to assume that 総統 (sōtō) is a very neutral word, used to describe “leaders who unite a large group of people under themselves, mostly on top of a state, and is used for many types of state leaders” according to the Japanese wikipedia definition. Evidence? Well, the same word is also used in order to describe Tsai Ing-Wen, the current President of the Republic of China. Someone not related to Nazis at all!

Even without any knowledge of Japanese, it should be easy to recognize that it’s exactly the same title that’s been used as Ouma’s talent. So, yes. The negative association is absolutely intentional. But, who would have guessed, it’s a lie! At least the idea that Ouma is an evil dictator who terrorizes the entire world is a lie. Because as we’ve taken from the game, the truth is that while Ouma is the leader of an organization, he’s also a pacifist and the worst he does is play pranks to people. That much I won’t have to explain. The game literally throws that answer right in your face.

Now another argument that could arise is that the motivational videos are lies as well. But my question is... why would they be? If everything had gone according to Monokuma’s plan, then every student would have gotten their own motive video. There would be no reason to lie if the only person receiving and watching the video is the person who already knows the truth anyway. Which leads me to another question. Harukawa too had her true talent hidden, which, at first glance, would make it possible for Ouma to have a fake talent as well. But there are two things that contradict that argument, and they’re all in the main story too.

First of all, yes, Harukawa’s talent was originally listed as the Super High School Level Child Caretaker, even in the Monokuma pad. But her true talent got eventually revealed due to two factors. First, her lab. Harukawa never got a fake SHSL Child Caretaker lab. Her lab was always that of the SHSL Assassin, which is why she didn’t permit entrance until the cat was out of the bag anyway. Ouma on the other hand has a perfectly fine SHSL Supreme Leader lab. He never got to see it, but it has his organization’s logo, a throne, tons of disguises, and so on. It’s definitely a lab suitable for his talent.

The second would be the previously mentioned motive videos. Ouma only knew about Harukawa’s true talent because he had taken a look at all of the motive videos by himself. So even when her talent as the SHSL Assassin was still unknown, the motive video never lied about it. Because as mentioned, there was no reason to, because Harukawa was originally going to be the receiver of it anyway. Ouma’s video, again, showed him as the SHSL Supreme Leader. That’s pretty heavy evidence for his title to be legit.

Another point I’d like to make at this point is that Ouma’s lies were always fabricated by himself. He never had any kind of assistance, and even during Chapter 4 and 5, his lies only held up because the mastermind played along with them. Ouma never had a lie ‘set up’ for him like Harukawa, who lied about her talent ever since the beginning. In fact, Ouma’s lies kept piling up with the duration of the killing game and the progress of it. While he had wanted to stop the killing game ever since the beginning, his big masterplan only really took fruit during Chapter 4 and 5.

Of course, Ouma was “meant to be” a villain-like character according to Shirogane’s imagination of the killing game. But as we also know, not even Shirogane knew the culprit of the 5th chapter until Saihara solved the case for her, so at some point, Ouma, much like Saihara and co. at the end of the game, decided to go against her script and did his own thing. One of the things Ouma never denied was his title as the SHSL Supreme Leader though. Yes, he obviously lied about the circumstances and the true meaning of that title, but at the core it wasn’t wrong. He never denied being the leader of an organization, he only exaggerated about the circumstances of it. Which finally leads me to the second question.

So what qualities that make a 総統 (sōtō) does Ouma possess? If we separate ourselves from the image that a Supreme Leader has to be an evil, crazy dictator, then honestly? Quite a few. We never get to hear a lot about DICE, which is a shame, but it’s enough to establish that the members of DICE were devoted to Ouma and that they undeniably saw him as their leader. And that in itself is essentially what makes him a 総統 (sōtō). He is the leader of an organization. Nobody ever said it had to be an evil organization. Well, Ouma did, but he is a liar, and the video is evidence against his words. Together with his last words before his death, in which he claims that he had to lie to survive and that he could never enjoy a killing game like that, it seems pretty legit that he’d be the leader of a group of pacifist pranksters.

Now things are going to be a bit more analytical. I saw a few posts that argued that perhaps Ouma could also be the SHSL Liar or SHSL Prankster or something like that, because that’s, well, the most obvious solution to the problem. My issue with that idea is that there is literally zero evidence supporting that claim. During the entire game, there isn’t even as much as an implication that Ouma’s talent could be fake. While most of his lies are eventually implied to be fake or downright proven wrong, this is the one thing that’s never once argued.

Now out of all Danganronpa games, V3 obviously has the ending with the most room for interpretation, but it still strikes me as... odd. Because while this game does leave a couple of things rather vague or only mentions them between the lines, this one, as mentioned, is never once questioned. Even after watching Ouma’s motive video, nobody starts to question that his title might not have been SHSL Supreme Leader after all. The definition, the background of that title, had changed, but not the title itself. As such, what reason is there to assume Ouma’s title is fake, except pure speculation?

During my research I began thinking and this is where things get a bit less matter of factly. I’d love it if you could hear me out though, because it’s a big reason as to why I decided to write this post in the first place. When I thought about the fact that Ouma, in fact, is not some evil mastermind, then I started questioning: “If that’s not what his title is all about, then what is?” And while yes, Ouma still has his organization, I started to wonder. What makes a Supreme Leader in the first place? Or what makes a great leader in the first place?

So I went and looked into it a bit and what I found out is that there are very little traits that are usually associated with leaders, at least according to experts and studies. In fact, and I’d agree with that, multiple sources I’ve read argued that a great leader is adaptable and that some organizations need stricter, more straight-forward leaders than others. If we assume that to be true, then isn’t Ouma perfect to be the leader of a trickster organization like DICE? And there’s more.

In What Makes a Leader? by Daniel Goleman, he states that after various experiments and researches, he found that the most important quality for any kind of leader is what he defines as Emotional Intelligence. Now EI defines itself as the capability to recognize their own emotions as well as others. Goleman’s model mentions five main traits that define Emotional Intelligence, and Ouma possesses every single one of them.

1. Self-awareness – the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.

Ouma is very self-aware. He’s not just self-aware, but also very much aware of his surroundings. In fact, he admits multiple times that one of his favorite things is to tickle reactions out of people. That’s one of the reasons he likes Saihara so much - because his reactions are “fun”. Without this kind of awareness, it would be absolutely impossible for Ouma to get underneath anybody’s skin. He can be highly manipulative too, another trait that’s only possible if you have the ability to recognize what makes people tick.

He’s also aware of his strengths and weaknesses. The lock-picking for example becomes useful to him multiple times, and what about when he regrets lying about carrying the cage because he knew he’d be too weak to do it anyway. Just because Ouma lies about his abilities doesn’t mean he’s unaware of them. He knows what he’s capable of, and more importantly, he knows what he isn’t capable of. He knew while he wanted to take down the mastermind, that it was impossible for him to do it without preparations and help. While he wasn’t against finding a way out of the school and working together, he knew that Akamatsu’s attempts to force them all together were very much futile.

On a sidenote, that’s a very interesting part in the story. Because while Ouma calls Akamatsu out on her admittedly foolish plan, if you talk to him a day later, he’ll ask you about your progress with Saihara, and while it’s played off as a joke, it’s likely that he wanted to know if they found anything useful in the meantime. He was also one of the people who were pretty much like “Hey let’s go to bed and think of something else tomorrow” Ouma never hated the idea of cooperating, but he knew Akamatsu’s idea of it was bound to fail. Monokuma then presented the first motive to them, which made cooperation between them all even harder. (As pointed out by Amami, who explains that the privilege of the first kill is very much like the Prisoner’s Dilemma) So Ouma was working against some pretty impossible circumstances here, and when the first kill happened, as also predicted, cooperation seemed so much more difficult.

2. Self-regulation – involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.

Very much Ouma too, except he does it almost in reversal. It’s interesting how his ability to lie more or less gets in the way of his qualities as a leader. Ouma is very good at controlling his emotions. During most of his interactions, he switches several times from sad, to happy, to sad, and back to happy again. With a bit of cynical insults here and there. It’s all an act, and an act is only possible if you’re very much controlled on the inside, if you suppress what’s truly there. He makes use of his emotions like they’re buttons he can press however he pleases. And he could use them to stay calm and keep everyone together, but instead he uses them for his own fun and sometimes safety.

The changing circumstances part could also be applied to the killing game itself. Ouma had trouble trusting people after so many of his fellow students had betrayed each other. Besides, there’s also Momota, who is supposed to be Ouma’s polar opposite in many ways. Momota believed that the way to survival was to blindly trust everyone, which was a concept Ouma thought was stupid and foolish. Because they were in a killing game, he adapted to the situation, and when more and more people started to die, he became more suspicious of them and eventually had to abandon the idea of cooperation all together.

3. Social skill – managing relationships to move people in the desired direction

Gonta? Iruma? Yeah. As already mentioned, Ouma can be highly manipulative. There’s this part in Chapter 4 in which he asks Saihara to cooperate with him and he refuses, and it’s only then that he realizes that it might be too late for cooperation after all. As mentioned, Ouma was suspicious due to the circumstances of the killing game, but overall he wasn’t against cooperation (though he figured that Akamatsu’s attempts were too straight-forward) That’s when Ouma really realized that if he wanted to do anything, he had to do it by himself.

Again, what’s interesting is that Ouma has the skills to manipulate people to follow him, but actively uses his lies to do the opposite. It was Ouma’s own fault that people had grown so increasingly suspicious of him, mostly because of how he acted like he wanted the killing game and like he enjoyed it. (It could be argued to how much extend that’s Ouma’s fault alone, but it’s undeniable that it would have been easier to trust him had he just admitted to hating the killing game. However, that was beyond his emotional capabilities after all)

4. Empathy – considering other people's feelings especially when making decisions

Ouma is very empathic. I’m not even gonna argue about that. The very evidence of that is in Chapter 4. To go back to that part for a bit, at that point Ouma knew very well that Gonta had killed Iruma. Has someone ever wondered why, out of all investigations, this is the one he assists Saihara with? Because he already knows the culprit. But it’s not like he doesn’t feel incredibly bad about what happened. He yells at Gonta., tells him to deny that he’s the culprit, because Ouma himself couldn’t stand the picture of Gonta getting sentenced to death without fighting back at all. After the trial, he even asks to be executed himself. And all the other times? He progressively grows less and less depressive whenever a body shows up, but considering how upset he is about murder, this just seems like another act. He cried when he saw Amami’s body, he was upset about Hoshi too, and then by the third chapter he slowly began to joke about it because he couldn’t take it anymore.

I mentioned earlier that Ouma can use his emotions like buttons and for the most part, that’s true. He can put on masks and hide his emotions, or create certain emotions, if the situation calls for it, but underneath it all, the killing game really got to him. He grew more and more paranoid and anxious, he grew more and more numb and in the end he even threw away his own moral compass in order to end the killing game. He’s just incredibly good at pushing these kind of emotions aside in order to keep up his strong act.

Wait, what? Yes. The fact that Ouma tried to end the killing game even though he had no personal gain from it is evidence enough for his care about his classmates. He could have taken the antidote to the poison himself. He could have let Momota die. But he decided against it. He decided to give his life so that the killing game could be stopped, even though he knew he’d die. He didn’t do it for glory or to be worshipped. He just did it because he hated the killing game and he couldn’t forgive someone who took any kind of joy out of something as cruel as that.

5. Motivation – being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement

And finally the last point, though that should already be clear. Ouma is incredibly goal-driven. He was willing to accept everyone’s hatred, being punched and being made the villain, even sacrificing his own life in order to end the killing game. We don’t get to see everyone else’s room, but I’m going to assume that Ouma is the only person who gathered evidence from past cases just because he was so determined to find any kind of clue that would lead him a bit closer to the mastermind.

These last points combined make me think of something that crossed my mind when I first thought about his talent too. I thought that Ouma volunteering himself for the plan to take down the mastermind was his way of making up for everything. The reason for that is that Ouma wasn’t suicidal. He didn’t want to die. He wanted to survive with everyone else, but after everything he pulled, and how nobody trusted him any longer it seemed pretty much impossible. Why I’m so sure that Ouma wanted to live? Well, because he sacrificed both Iruma and Gonta in order to do that. Because he wasn’t done yet, because he didn’t want to die a worthless death in such a cruel game.

However, by Chapter 5. Ouma had no one. Everyone was against him and considering that he only pretended to be the mastermind, he was surely aware of the fact that the true mastermind would come after him eventually. The mastermind can’t touch the students directly, so he was sure that something would happen eventually. And he was prepared for that. He perhaps wasn’t prepared for the exact details of it, like Harukawa shooting him with a poisoned arrow, but he had he hammers and bombs prepared and at his hand, and even the camera in order to set up the trick of Chapter 5′s case.

As much as Ouma had to act quickly considering he was literally dying, these little things are all evidence that he planned at least a little bit beforehand. Perhaps his original plan didn’t include him dying, perhaps it did, but at the very least he was willing to give his life for this plan, as later proven. (Again, he totally had the chance to survive. He could have pulled another stunt like in Chapter 4 and got away safely, but didn’t this time)

However, did he want to die as a hero? Was it a heroic sacrifice? Not at all. Nobody but Momota knew his true motivations until the very end, and even then everyone still doubted them until they saw his motive video. He did it for the sake of it. He did it because after everything he figured this was the only and best way to not only challenge the mastermind and end the game, but also to make up for all the things he couldn’t forgive himself for.

There is an unwritten rule about ships that says that the captain leaves last. This is because the captain holds responsibility for himself and his crew until the very end and should attempt to save everyone first and himself last. For some reason, while I thought about Ouma’s talent, it made me think of that fact. I was thinking, what makes a Supreme Leader? The size of your realm? The loyalty of your followers? Influence and power?

Personally, I figured that something all great leaders have in common, for how flawed and terrible some of them turned out to be, is that they eventually acquired power. However, it’s near impossible to gain power by doing nothing but terrible things. Even if their intentions were less than good, they somehow managed to earn the trust of a whole bunch of people. They listened, and they gave the people what they wanted.

And I feel like Ouma, who is known as a leader, is actually willing to give a lot to the people who trust in him, who he pulled under his wing and considers his personal responsibility. DICE for example. We don’t know much about them, but there must be a reason why a bunch of adults follow this high school kid so faithfully. They wouldn’t do that if he was just a great liar and prankster. He must have something else, something like Emotionally Intelligence, in order to gather people around them and achieve whatever he wants to achieve.

Ultimately, Ouma is a person who searches the best solution for everyone. The greater good. The ends justifying the means. Even by sacrificing himself. Even by sacrificing others. He sacrificed a lot in the killing game. People he liked, his own life, any chance of forgiveness from the people who ended up hating him for good reason. He sacrificed potential friends, the trust of his fellow students and he gets the consequences. He ends up alone, insulted, punched, hated and yet he still wants to end the killing game with his own damn hands. For all of them, because in the end, it’s the best solution for everyone involved.

And I think that’s what makes Ouma a Supreme Leader. The absolute clarity to know what’s best for everyone, even if it means he gets the worst end of it and even if it means he has to throw away his own morals, or even die.

#kokichi ouma #ouma kokichi #kokichi oma #oma kokichi #v3 spoilers #new danganronpa v3 #ndrv3 #analysis

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abctranslator · 3 years

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Chapter 34

Three weeks later.

Guizhou, Weng An.

“Hahaha! Good! Good! Really good!”

Lee Ui Chae danced and laughed out loud.

He liked the weight of the pocket he was holding.

Lee Ui Chae was certainly a merchant that was great enough to be called as the Merchant King in the future. He displayed his talents for doing business without regrets and earned money.

He hit the mark on the distribution of the products, the period, etc. He bought good quality products for the cheapest price possible and sold them at a reasonable price. Even though it may seem simple to do that, it wasn’t something anyone could do. The Merchant King was just too good in this.

Even the branch manager of Kae An, Shin Do Gyun, started to gain interest in his skills and he also gave him a commission not long ago.

It has been three weeks since he started doing business in Weng An and he had already spread to Kae An. The entire Guizhou didn’t seem to be far away.

Aside from that, he also earned money through other methods.

The Golden Merchant Organization didn’t only provide provisions but also weapons.

It wasn’t at an impressive level yet, they mostly picked up the weapons that were thrown away in the battlefield and sold them to the smithies of Chongqing.

After buying low ranked equipment from the smithies in Chongqing, they went out to the front lines to sell them to the warriors or ronins.

There were times when greedy ronins or vulgar fellows from nearby factions aimed for them but they calmly gave up on the idea when they heard that the organization was connected to the branch of Weng An and to Shin Do Gyun.

The only ones that could touch the Golden Merchant Organization in Guizhou was the River of Death, which opposed the Murim Association.

“Huhihi! It’s money, money!”

Lee Ui Chae laughed in a weird way and jumped in joy.

Money and especially gold filled up his heart. He enjoyed counting money more than embracing women.

Honestly speaking, Lee Ui Chae didn’t understand why people fell for alcohol and women.

“Smelling or touching is enough with money. Huhu, these guys...i’m dying, dying.”

Lee Ui Chae rubbed his face on a mountain of silver coins with enchanted eyes.

It hurt a bit but even that turned into a pleasant feeling.

“Buhihi, hihihi…”

It was madness that even the Blood Sect and the Demonic Sect would get tired of.

“Ah, I am greatly indebted to great Master Ju. If it wasn’t for him, I would still be licking someone’s butt.”

Lee Ui Chae removed his face from the mountain of silver coins.

“I want to pay back that debt but what can I do if he’s not in this world anymore? What should I do young noble Ju?”

He started to speak with less honorifics.

“Young noble Ju, have an easy passage into eternity. I will send you silver coins for...no, silver coins are a bit too much. He’s someone that doesn’t exist in this world anyways. Then, three pennies? Two pennies? No...even a single penny is too much. How will a dead person use money? Let’s just send him my feelings.”

Lee Ui Chae clasped his hands and bowed.

“Ju.. what was it? I don’t even remember his name.”

Lee Ui Chae completely forgot about the Ju whatever it was.

Knock knock.

“Who is it?”

Lee Ui Chae cleaned up the silver coins and asked.

“Head merchant, a martial artist says that he wants to meet you.”

A warrior that was guarding the door replied.

“Does he look like he has a lot of money?”

“He looks penniless.”

“Did he say that he belongs to one of the Nine Factions, the Five Segas or the Murim Association?”

“He says he’s a ronin.”

“Is he famous?”

“He’s not.”

“Chase him out!”

It would have been different before but right now, he didn’t have time to spend on that kind of person. It was much better to find something that was more profitable at that time.

“Yes.”

The conversation ended.

Lee Ui Chae took out the gold coins this time and started to count them. His lips curled up to the point it made people looking at it feel bad.

Knock knock.

“Agh, what now!”

Lee Ui Chae stood up from his seat.

“May I enter?”

A voice was heard from outside the door but the voice belonged to someone besides the warrior that spoke just now.

“Yes, come in!”

It was a familiar voice. He wondered if he was a guard that belonged to a branch of his organization.

Creeeeak.

The door entered and a kid that looked like he had just come of age entered the room.

“Uagh!”

Lee Ui Chae screamed and fell back.

“Yo, you, you are!”

Lee Ui Chae pointed at the man with trembling fingers.

“You don’t look well, head merchant. Are you ready to raid the treasury?”

“Huaaak! It’s a ghost! It’s undoubtedly a ghost!”

Lee Ui Chae embraced the money pockets and curled down.

“Don’t go killing people as you wish, head merchant.”

Ju Seo Cheon smirked and turned to look back.

“Come in.”

“What about the warrior that passed out?”

A kid that seemed to be nine or ten years old followed behind Ju Seo Cheon. He was a kid that looked weaker than kids his age.

“Don’t tell me…”

Lee Ui Chae’s eyes trembled when he saw the kid.

“He’s Zhuge Seung Kye. Do you know about him?”

“There are two ghosts! Fall back! I can’t give you a single penny to you!”

Lee Ui Chae was horrified and started to scream.

“Is there no one there!”

“You are noisy, head merchant.”

Ju Seo Cheon slammed the wall with his fist and a small hole appeared with a loud noise.

“I didn’t die and I'm right in front of you right now so please be quiet. There’s something I want to talk about.”

Lee Ui Chae raised his head slightly and confirmed the hole in the wall. And then, he stood up immediately and acted in a cringy way as if what he had shown until now was all a lie.

“Murim said that the Great Master had died but I didn’t once doubt that you would be alive, Great Master!”

Lee Ui Chae was really shameless.

One news struck hard on Murim about three weeks ago.

The death of a Hundred Expert, the Slipping Water Spearman Yook Dae Rang. And that the one that killed him was the Fourteenth Gallant Sword, Gu Pung.

Experts always attracted the attention of Murim and it also became a topic. What happened that day spread like rumors in no time.

“But why did you fight?”

“Don’t those pirates request for toll fees when you cross the Yangtze River? It seems like the kids of Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega couldn’t endure their anger and struck first.”

“Ho, certainly the future of the Nine Factions and the Five Segas. Mm, right. They are indeed martial artists of the Righteous Faction. It turned out well.”

The Nine Fleets of the Water Forest were called as chivalrous robbers and guardians but that was all nonsense. In the end, they were a group of bandits that stole other’s possessions.

It wasn’t only people of Murim, but even normal citizens felt refreshed when they heard those news.

“But the kids that could be called the future lost their lives.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

Ju Seo Cheon and Zhuge Seung Kye were treated as missing.

Because of that, the Murim of the Righteous Faction was in an uproar.

One of them was a member of the pride of Mount Hua, the Lotus Peak and the other one was a nephew of the family that led the Zhuge Sega.

Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega, which were the victims here, were so enraged they almost invaded their enemies.

“Do you know everything up to this point?”

Lee Ui Chae stopped speaking and wet his throat with tea.

“Yes, I somewhat heard it through the rumors but I don’t know what happened after that.”

“Indeed.”

Lee Ui Chae nodded and continued speaking.

“Before Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega could even inquire anything, the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest justified themselves saying that it was self-defense.”

“That’s a lie. That never happened.”

“Most people should already know. That is because the death of Great Master brought great repercussions, especially here in Weng An. They also heard about the details of what happened.”

However, Mount Hua and Zhuge Sega didn’t deny that argument as the rumors had spread as much as it could.

It wasn’t only in Kang Ho but most people in the Midlands thought that the group of Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega couldn’t endure the injustice of the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest and attacked first. And they were actually being praised for that.

However, the position of Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega would become vague if they denied that.

It could also mean as having stayed silent and allowed the injustice being done by the pirates.

If that happened, they would get criticized so they weren’t able to deny the rumors.

Even if Ju Seo Cheon’s and Zhuge Seung Kye’s identities weren’t ordinary, they weren’t at a level where they would consider to brave a controversy and avenge them.

“In the end, no one could give out an opinion about the matter and it ended like this. Great Master should also know this but Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega aren’t able to move as they wish because of the other forces of Murim.”

The damages they would suffer if they fought against the Nine Fleets of the Water Forest head on wasn’t normal. That would be a shattering in the balance of the forces. What came after that would be war aiming at the weakened Righteous Faction.

“However, Great Master Ju and young Master Zhuge have returned in the middle of that. Just what happened?”

Lee Ui Chae looked at the faces of the two people like he still couldn’t believe it.

“We were separated from the group and were washed away to a farther place by the Yangtze River. We almost reached Hubei like that.”

It was hard taking care of Zhuge Seung Kye, who had lost consciousness, when he had also suffered injuries but fortunately he managed to survive.

“We went south from Hubei to Hunan and then returned here to Guizhou. That’s why it took some time.”

“No, why did you return? Hubei is the territory of the Righteous Faction and on top of that...isn’t the Zhuge Sega over there?”

“That’s why.”

Ju Seo Cheon put on a vague smile and spoke before Lee Ui Chae could say anything.

“They would make a fuss if Seung Kye or I get discovered and each of us will have to return to Mount Hua and the Zhuge Sega and get protected. If that happens we wouldn’t be able to come out for a few years. Then, we just have to give up on the treasury of the Three Eyed Immoral God.”

“Ah….!”

Lee Ui Chae let out an exclamation.

“However...ah, it’s nothing.”

The treasury wouldn’t run away but it may get raided by someone else if he delayed anymore.

‘The treasury may really exist if I looking at the lengths he is willing to go to.’

He had heard of it about three weeks, no, a month ago but he was still not fully convinced. Precisely speaking, he didn’t think anything about it.

He had unconsciously taken care of things to obtain the commercializing rights of the provisions for the army.

But today, his thoughts changed when he saw how Ju Seo Cheon came to find him while keeping it a secret from others.

“The reason you brought young Master Zhuge is to take a secret mission? Indeed, Great Master is really thorough. You got a person and even prepared thoroughly for the plan...As expected of the Great Master.”

Lee Ui Chae rubbed his palms and made an obvious flattery.

“That’s not the case. Seung Kye is a business associate. It will be impossible to raid the treasury without him.”

Ju Seo Cheon started to speak about the mechanisms that were installed in the treasury.

“Are you certain the treasury exists?”

Zhuge Seung Kye put on a doubtful face from the side.

“Whether it is certain or not, you should just follow me. Little brother, you wouldn’t betray your life savior right?”

“Ugh.”

It seemed like Zhuge Seung Kye had something to say but he shut his mouth.

Ju Seo Cheon had made Zhuge Seung Kye follow him under the pretense that he was his savior.

Zhuge Seung Kye really disliked that but the debt still lingered on his mind so he still followed Ju Seo Cheon even though he was obviously dissatisfied.

“Now, head merchant. Are you ready for it?”

Ju Seo Cheon smiled faintly.

“I will follow you Great Master!”

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Utah Divorce Code 30-3-11.3

Utah Code 30-3-11.3: Mandatory Educational Course For Divorcing Parents — Purpose — Curriculum — Exceptions

1) The Judicial Council shall approve and implement a mandatory course for divorcing parents in all judicial districts. The mandatory course is designed to educate and sensitize divorcing parties to their children’s needs both during and after the divorce process. 2) The Judicial Council shall adopt rules to implement and administer this program. 3) (a) As a prerequisite to receiving a divorce decree, both parties are required to attend a mandatory course on their children’s needs after filing a complaint for divorce and receiving a docket number, unless waived under Section 30-3-4. If that requirement is waived, the court may permit the divorce action to proceed. (b) With the exception of a temporary restraining order pursuant to Rule 65, Utah Rules of Civil Procedure, a party may file, but the court may not hear, a motion for an order related to the divorce until the moving party completes the mandatory educational course for divorcing parents required by this section. 4) The court may require unmarried parents to attend this educational course when those parents are involved in a visitation or custody proceeding before the court. 5) The mandatory course shall instruct both parties: a) about divorce and its impacts on: I. their child or children; II. their family relationship; and III. their financial responsibilities for their child or children; and b) that domestic violence has a harmful effect on children and family relationships.

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6) The course may be provided through live instruction, video instruction, or an online provider. The online and video options must be formatted as interactive presentations that ensure active participation and learning by the parent. 7) The Administrative Office of the Courts shall administer the course pursuant to Title 63G, Chapter 6a, Utah Procurement Code, through private or public contracts and organize the program in each of Utah’s judicial districts. The contracts shall provide for the recoupment of administrative expenses through the costs charged to individual parties, pursuant to Subsection (9). 8) A certificate of completion constitutes evidence to the court of course completion by the parties. 9) (a) Each party shall pay the costs of the course to the independent contractor providing the course at the time and place of the course. A fee of $8 shall be collected, as part of the course fee paid by each participant, and deposited in the Children’s Legal Defense Account, described in Section 51-9-408. (b) Each party who is unable to pay the costs of the course may attend the course without payment upon a prima facie showing of impecuniosities as evidenced by an affidavit of impecuniosities filed in the district court. In those situations, the independent contractor shall be reimbursed for its costs from the appropriation to the Administrative Office of the Courts for “Mandatory Educational Course for Divorcing Parents Program.” Before a decree of divorce may be entered, the court shall make a final review and determination of impecuniosities and may order the payment of the costs if so determined. 10) Appropriations from the General Fund to the Administrative Office of the Courts for the “Mandatory Educational Course for Divorcing Parents Program” shall be used to pay the costs of an indigent parent who makes a showing as provided in Subsection (9)(b).

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11) The Administrative Office of the Courts shall adopt a program to evaluate the effectiveness of the mandatory educational course. Progress reports shall be provided if requested by the Judiciary Interim Committee. What is Parent Education and why do some States Require It? Divorce is not easy on the parents or the children. Families have increasingly relied on the courts to resolve divorce issues and problems including child custody, visitation, child support, paternity, emergency protective orders, and restraining orders. As a result, courts have found that parental conflict related to divorce is a societal concern because children suffer potential short-term and long-term detrimental economic, emotional, and educational effects during times of family transition due to divorce. To address this concern, many courts have decided to mandate parent education classes.

What States Require Parent Education Classes?

Seventeen states require all divorcing parents, regardless if the divorce is uncontested, to attend some form of parent education class: • Alaska • Arizona • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Hawaii • Illinois • Massachusetts • Missouri • New Hampshire • New Jersey • Oklahoma • Tennessee • Utah • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Virginia require all parents filing a contested divorce to attend a parent education class. The rest of the states either leave it up to the judge’s discretion or only mandate parent education classes in certain counties or judicial districts. Topics covered in parent education classes include: • The issues and procedures for resolving time-sharing and child support disputes. • The emotional experiences and problems of divorcing adults. • The family problems and the emotional concerns and needs of the children. • Family relationships and family dynamics. • Financial responsibilities to a child or children. • Issues regarding spousal or child abuse and neglect. • Skill-based relationship education that may be generalized to parenting, workplace, school, neighborhood, and civic relationships. • The availability of community services and resources.

Benefits of Parent Education

• Higher self-esteem • Higher grades • Fewer behavior problems • Reduced drug and alcohol use • Reduced early sexual activity Benefits The Parenting after Separation and Divorce program aims to: • provide for the best interest of the child or children in family disputes; • assist in increasing people’s understanding of the issues by providing information about the available options for resolution, legal issues, child support, custody and parenting; • provide information that assists in promoting consensual conflict resolution methods that lead to long-lasting resolution of issues; and • reduce the number of family matters that return to the court for adjudication or variation. The program is carried out over two three-hour sessions or one six-hour session. The following topics are covered: • Stages of Separation/Divorce • Options for Resolving Disputes • Children’s Reactions to Divorce/Separation • Children’s Developmental Stages • How to Make Family Changes Easier on the Children • Pre and Post Separation Relationships • New Relationships These sessions are facilitated by social workers, mediators and or educators.

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Utah Divorce Lawyer

In any family law proceeding (except for inter-jurisdictional support orders) in which custody, access or child support is an issue, the parents must take part in the Parenting after Separation and Divorce program. Parties are not required to attend the program if: • they file a certificate of attendance with the court proving that they have attended the Parenting after Separation and Divorce program or equivalent program within the last two years; • they obtain an order from the court exempting them from attendance; or • all the parties to the proceeding certify in writing that a written agreement has been entered into settling all issues respecting custody, access and child support. How to Apply The parent initiating the action must: • attend the Parenting after Separation and Divorce program and file a certificate of attendance with the court before taking any further step in the proceeding; and • serve the respondent (other parent) with the Notice to Attend the Parenting After Separation and Divorce program with the document commencing the family law proceeding. Benefits for your children Through your co-parenting partnership, your kids should recognize that they are more important than the conflict that ended your marriage and understand that your love for them will prevail despite changing circumstances. Kids whose divorced parents have a cooperative relationship: • Feel secure: When confident of the love of both parents, kids adjust more quickly and easily to divorce and new living situations, and have better self-esteem. • Benefit from consistency: Co-parenting fosters similar rules, discipline, and rewards between households, so children know what to expect, and what’s expected of them. • Better understand problem solving: Children who see their parents continuing to work together are more likely to learn how to effectively and peacefully solve problems themselves. • Have a healthy example to follow: By cooperating with the other parent, you are establishing a life pattern your children can carry into the future to build and maintain stronger relationships. • Are mentally and emotionally healthier: Children exposed to conflict between co-parents are more likely to develop issues such as depression, anxiety, or ADHD.

Improve Communication with Your Co-Parent

Peaceful, consistent, and purposeful communication with your ex is essential to the success of co-parenting even though it may seem absolutely impossible. It all begins with your mindset. Think about communication with your ex as having the highest purpose, your child’s well-being. Before having contact with your ex, ask yourself how your actions will affect your child, and resolve to conduct yourself with dignity. Make your child the focal point of every discussion you have with your ex-partner. Remember that it isn’t always necessary to meet your ex in person speaking over the phone or exchanging texts or emails is fine for the majority of conversations. The goal is to establish conflict-free communication, so see which type of contact works best for you. Co-parenting communication methods However you choose to have contact, the following methods can help you initiate and maintain effective communication: • Set a business-like tone: Approach the relationship with your ex as a business partnership where your “business” is your children’s well-being. Speak or write to your ex as you would a colleague with cordiality, respect, and neutrality. Relax and talk slowly. • Make requests: Instead of making statements, which can be misinterpreted as demands, try framing as much as you can as a request. Requests can begin with, “Would you be willing to…?” or “Can we try…?” • Listen: Communicating with maturity starts with listening. Even if you end up disagreeing with the other parent, you should at least be able to convey to your ex that you’ve understood their point of view. And listening does not signify approval, so you won’t lose anything by allowing your ex to voice his or her opinions. • Show restraint: Keep in mind that communicating with one another is going to be necessary for the length of your children’s entire childhood if not longer. You can train yourself to not overreact to your ex, and over time you can become numb to the buttons they try to push. • Commit to meeting/talking consistently: Though it may be extremely difficult in the early stages, frequent communication with your ex will convey the message to your children that you and your co-parent are a united front.

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• Keep conversations kid-focused: Never let a discussion with your ex-partner digress into a conversation about your needs or their needs; it should always be about your child’s needs only. • Quickly relieve stress in the moment: It may seem impossible to stay calm when dealing with a difficult ex-spouse who’s hurt you in the past or has a real knack for pushing your buttons. But by practicing quick stress relief techniques, you can learn to stay in control when the pressure builds. Terms Used In Utah Code 30-3-11.3 • Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths. • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of sequential steps authorization • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant. • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings. • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other. • Process: means a write or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.

Divorce Attorney

When you need a divorce attorney, please call Ascent Law LLC for your free consultation (801) 676-5506. We want to help you.

Ascent Law LLC 8833 S. Redwood Road, Suite C West Jordan, Utah 84088 United States Telephone: (801) 676-5506

Ascent Law LLC

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