Tumgik
#i remember the original post had something about the blind bandit
my-bated-breath · 3 years
Text
A look into the “parallels” between Kuzon/Painted Lady and Blue Spirit/Painted Lady
Tumblr media
The Painted Lady/Kuzon parallels do exist on some level, yes, but they’re more conceptual than anything else. Since the first half of season 3 was largely focused on humanizing the Fire Nation, these two episodes followed the same themes, so similarities would obviously result from that. Other than these episode’s end goals, however, I don’t think there’s anything too profound about these parallels, especially because Aang and Katara’s character arcs revolving around the Fire Nation are mostly separate. The moods permeating these two episodes were vastly different as well, since Kuzon is much more grounded, playful, and youthful, while the Painted Lady comes across as an old and terrifying spirit. (There are more differences between the two of them, but I think the “atmosphere” surrounding these episodes is able to explain a lot of it.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(Just look at how different these two screenshots feel from each other, at how connected to reality and other people these two aliases are.)
Now, this may be an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think the Painted Lady and Blue Spirit are intentional parallels either. What do I mean by that? There are similarities in their set-up, purposes, and messages -- the Painted Lady and Blue Spirit share much more than the Painted Lady and Kuzon because both the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit present a morally gray stance on justice, a duality within Zuko and Katara’s characters (the prince and the refugee for Zuko, and the healer and the fighter for Katara), a mask they can wear to achieve the freedom to do what they desire, and they both have a mythical quality about them, a fleetingness to their reality. However, while these set-ups were there, the show never expanded upon them and truly connected their characters, especially since the Painted Lady only appeared in one episode and was a one-off character while the Blue Spirit appeared in three. Thus, the Painted Lady’s relevancy to the plot was reduced, and thus its connection to the Blue Spirit was reduced too.
(Of course, the parallels that do exist in the set-up do leave you wondering.)
Tumblr media Tumblr media
To be honest, when I watched the show itself, the Blue Spirit/the Painted Lady never struck me as a parallel that was developed in-depth. This makes something that’s well worth exploring in fandom, both in meta, fanfiction, fanart, and other fan content, and I love seeing that. As I mentioned before, the mythical-like, morally ambiguous quality both the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit have lent themselves very well to transformative works, much better than the Painted Lady and Kuzon would at any rate.
99 notes · View notes
ninbinary · 3 years
Text
DnD Character Backstory Datapoints - Example 1: Human Orphan Lives Dangerously
Hey, thank you to @kursed-curtain (who tumblr will not let me "@", good application u got here) for reblogging my DnD Character Backstory Datapoints suggestion :) (It goes without saying you could ideas like this for non-RPG character or story generation too, and could add more dice representing different things!)
In thanks, I decided to type up an example of me using it to create a (reallly overly-in-depth -- this is gonna be a long post!) character backstory idea from thin air.
(Let me know if you guys out there like this, and I'll do it again sometime! Also let me know if you use this datapoints-system to create a chararacter (or feel free to use this character backstory), and let me know how it goes!)
A) Human character, Younger (d2 + 1 periods)
(I'll refer to the character as "Character", and I'm not doing anything to bake Character Class in to the story (though I'll talk about that at the end), to try to make this as "generic" as possible!)
A0) number of time periods:
d6 roll of 4 = d2 roll of 2; +1 = 3 time periods.
A1) First Time Period:
d12 = 10 [10/12 Danger]
d10 = 6 [6/10 City]
d8 = 1 [1/10 Species Diversity]
That's an Extremely dangerous time, in a Relatively Urbanized area, with only 1 kind of species. Given that its the First time period for a started-adventuring-younger character, I think my overall summary would be:
"Abandoned Orphan in a Medium-Sized Exclusively-Human City"; they spend their early years with a few slightly-older orphans living in alleys and stealing food.
(Alternatively, other interesting ways you could interpret this: if your gameworld has "bad guy countries / city-states" near your "generally friendly demihuman species", you could do these dice as "orphan human in a [bad guy species] city")
A2) Second Time Period:
d12 = 11 [11/12 Danger]
d10 = 3 [3/10 City]
d8 = 3 [3/10 Species Diversity]
Wow, it's somehow gotten MORE dangerous for poor Human Character; but its also only half as Urban, and they're finally around a few more species of Demihuman. How would moving OUT of the city be MORE dangerous? Well, 'city invaded' is always an option, but because of the other two dice, here's how I'd turn these dice into a story point:
"Character's youth life of petty crime / cutpurse-ing for basic necessities finally ends in trouble so serious that they flee the city / their orphan-gang / the only home and family they've known, and join up with a travelling caravan." Depending on how "dark" you want the character to be, you could take it any number of ways; but let's say you want a Shit-Life-but-Charitable character and go with: one of their pickpocketting sorties goes bad, and as the pack scatters, Character and a close friend get caught in a blind alley by a city guardsman. Character is at the top of a ladder while Friend is scrambling up, but the guardsman is closing in, sword drawn, so Character throws a brick and kills the guardsman. Friend gets away, but before Character escapes, the next wave of guard sees their dead comrade and gets a good look at Character.
Character makes arrangements ASAP to sign on as a caravan guard, calling in favors to get semi-respectable looking leathers (and maybe the dead guards' sword) and a forged letter-of-reference from their gang's fence. Within a nervewracking 24 hours of lying low, Character's friends have managed to sign them on to a caravan, and one last sprint through the city's allies and undermaintained warehouses later, Character is all set. The next morning they're marching out the city gate with a 4-wagon, 15-individual caravan, run by a halfling merchant, taking fancier fabricks and fashionable metalworked jewelry to the more rural human/halfling backcountry outside of the city.
(So, here all the Danger is about the transition TO this period of Less-City, More-Species-Diversity time period). Let's see how it wraps up with Third Time Period:
A3) Third Time Period:
d12 = 10 [10/12 Danger]
d10 = 9 [9/10 City]
d8 = 2 [2/8 Species Diversity]
Oh dear; danger DOES seem to follow poor Character around! We're back to a Lot of danger, in an EVEN BIGGER CITY, around only a Few different species. How should this conclude Character's pre-Adventure story?
Well, since its so dramatic (STILL Danger, BIGGER City!), its going to end with such a bang, you'd probably want to think about where Campaign's going to begin.
(One way to read the Danger is by saying, "the caravan was raided and the survivors were taken prisoner", but how does that result in such a high City number (while the Species Diversity stays pretty low)? For example, if City stayed low, you could have Character be prisoner of a small bandit camp operating out of a wooded area.)
Well (and if this fits with the campaign setting), we could read it this way:
"the Caravan was raided by marauders from Underground-living [Species X], which hasn't been active in this area for decades..." The survivors were taken back through Species X's New Outpost in this region, and then a select few (including Character) were sent to the capital for one of the following unsavory ends (Ritual Sacrifice, or Gladitorial Combat, or Being Eaten at a Feast Celebrating the New Outpost, etc).
Fortunately for Character, one of the Species X jailors becomes sympathetic because.. they take pity on Characters' youth; or because of the Character's brazen tenacity defending a fellow prisoner from the head jailor's abuse [hey, tying back to their killed-a-guardsman moment], or something; and arranges for Character to be smuggled out of Species X City into the surrounding countryside.
(Another Alternative Idea, had One Dice Gone a Different Way: maybe if Species Diversity was higher, the Species X City could have enough different kinds of folks walking around that you could think about letting Sympathetic Jailor take on Character as a servant, apprentice or even adopted child -- albeit temporarily, or else they'd never be a player-character meeting up with the party. But it would definitely be interesting to see what a Human Orphan from the Mean Streets of [Medium-Sized Human City] would be like after spending their formative years as Adoptive Mindflayer Dad's protege).
Anyway, Wrapup:
Now a long way away from their 'home' city and probably home country (remember, they were captured by Species X nearby, but then moved days (or weeks) travel underground to Species X Huge City), Character finds their way to [wherever the Party starts], and will hopefully have a much less dangerous life just killing monsters and collecting treasure.
Character would definitely have a lot of street-smarts, might have a "I will survive no matter what" mentality, a healthy disrespect for law-and-order, probably standoffish about friendships but a deep loyalty to those they get close to (many of these being Great traits for an adventuring party!).
There's a lot of ways to tweak this outline to make them more "dark and moody" or give them different responses to their travails (if you wanted to make them more of a "mad dog", or utterly ruthless), and there's also room for plot hooks (who were their parents? What happened to their Orphan Gang back home? Does [their original city] have enough intra-city communication that their guardsman-killing will haunt them (for example, make the guardsman they killed someone with connections or seniority, so there's someone with a big axe to grind about eventually getting the guardsman's killer)? Did they grow close to some of their fellow Caravan people and did any of them survive the attack?)
Also if you have a specific character class in mind you can tweak bits of this -- Rogue or Warrior types fit perfectly, but a more Wizard-y character class could certainly fit too: you could play up their burgeoning powers, and have power flare-ups central to Character's 2 dramatic acts -- when they killed the Guardsman in Second Time Period, and have it be the reason that Sympathetic Jailor helped them in Third Time Period.
Thanks for reading all this, anyone who made it all the way through, and let me know what you think! (And no thanks to Tumblr, whose Text Popup stopped letting me type certain letters -- I wrote the actual Character Creation thing in a textfile cuz it was so long, but I then had to compose the incidental comments / intro in a textfile too then copy-paste-format it into this tumblr window >:P)
6 notes · View notes
aros001 · 3 years
Text
Read through light novel vol. 11. Random thoughts.
Tumblr media
Okay, right off the bat, this
is my favorite art in the books yet just because of how annoyed Naofumi looks.
It's always been a thing but I've been seeing it more in these last couple of books, especially in contrast to Sadeena and Alta, but I really like that Naofumi likes that Raphtalia will push back against him when she doesn't like something, be it his attitude, his action, or his ideas. He doesn't want a yes-man or someone who'll worship and never question him. Child Raphtalia was kind of his sidekick but adult Raphtalia is definitely his partner. They trust each other completely and they never have to worry about holding back their honest thoughts. This is especially important if there is to ever be a romantic relationship between the two of them. Romance is not supposed to be just the guy and his prize. Naofumi and Raphtalia I can see working as a couple because they genuinely see each other as equals.
So, as has been revealed so far, Trash's family, save for himself and his younger blind sister, were murdered by the hakuko. He hated Siltvelt because it's where the hakuko came from and his own kingdom for taking no action against them for those murders. Then later his sister was attacked by a hakuko and presumably murdered and possibly raped but the body was never found, thus pushing him to overthrow the king of Siltvelt because he was a hakuko.
And he hates the Devil of the Shield because...! ...A previous Shield Hero helped to found Siltvelt? I get that Siltvelt is a demi-human supremacist country and that it worships the Shield Hero but I feel like there's a little bit of a disconnect in Trash's hatred. I suppose his hatred for Naofumi didn't blow up until he thought he tried to force himself on Malty and before that he just treated him dismissively, but I can't help but feel like I'm missing something here. Also, didn't the previous Shield Hero die in Siltvelt a month into him being summoned? I get that hatred and the desire for revenge are not always very rational, especially when religion is thrown into the mix, but I feel like it's odd he's placed so much of it on Naofumi and the Shield Hero as a whole.
So Fohl and Alta are possibly the nephew and niece of Trash through his sister and the grandchildren of the hakuko king of Siltvelt whom he killed. Obviously I'm hoping Trash's sister wasn't raped to conceive them and that it was just a forbidden love like was one of Naofumi's theories, but I guess I'll find that out in a later book.
Also, poor Naofumi and poor Raphtalia. Either Alta wants to be with Naofumi (romantically or...) or she's on her way to becoming the new pope of the Church of the Shield Hero. She was reminding me a little bit of Neia from Overlord and her devotion to Ainz in the latter regard.
“Apparently there’s a new bandit chief that’s risen to power lately, and we’ll be wasting our time unless we capture him.” ... “That’s the thing. I don’t know all the details, but apparently the boss is really distrustful and rarely makes appearances. But he’s also supposed to be strong enough to pick off even the toughest of adventurers one by one without a problem.”
This is going exactly where I think it's going, isn't it?
[Five minutes later]
Yep.
Reading this book and I realized my main issue with Ren, beyond the issues he shares with the other two heroes, was how unbelievably condescending he'd been to Eclair, someone who knew her way with a sword WAY better than he did, just to protect his own ego after he would have lost if he hadn't cheated in their duel. That left a really bad taste in my mouth but it's still not as bad as what I dislike about Motoyasu and especially Itsuki. He hasn't yet specifically apologized for that but he is showing her a lot more respect and being clearly remorseful over his actions. Even him blaming his loss against the Spirit Tortoise on his party's weakness and not his own I could swallow fine because there was the implication that he was unable to deal with the guilt of it being his fault that they were all dead, which, while bad, is a very human thing to feel. As long as he takes his training seriously from this point on and doesn't regress back, I can look forward to his progress and his interactions with Naofumi.
I actually was slightly spoiled before I started reading the light novels that the other heroes were going to unlock their own curse series as well. It was minor because I didn't hear any specifics beyond that but the person I was reading I remember being really unhappy about it. Personally, I'm fine with it. The Holy Weapons are meant to be equal to each other so it makes sense they'd have similar unlockable abilities (relative to what each weapon is, of course). The reason Naofumi is so much stronger is supposed to be because he actually bothered to learn how to use his weapon and because he took how he was told to power it up seriously. If he had an ability the others had no equivalent of it would basically be cheating. Part of the criticism too was that Naofumi had been through so much worse than the others to unlock his curse series, but everyone has different levels of stress they can take and it definitely helps that, thus far, each curse series embodies a different sin and thus has different effects. Motoyasu is clearly being effected differently by his Spear of (I'm assuming) Lust than Naofumi is by the Shield of Wrath or Ren by the Sword of Greed.
Speaking of which, I'm not the only one who felt a big red flag over Motoyasu's Temptation ability, right? I'm not saying he would abuse such a thing but powers that force attraction on people always makes me feel very uncomfortable. Just the fact that it worked on Naofumi whom is both straight and can't stand Motoyasu shows it can work on pretty much anyone who doesn't have specific resistances. It's a scary thing, your romantic and sexual preferences being altered by an outside force. Like a date rape drug weaponized.
The whole controversy over RoTSH's first episode holds less and less weight the further into the series I go. Naofumi vs. Motoyasu I'd argue has several great examples of feminism vs. sexism throughout the story. Naofumi was horribly betrayed by Malty but he doesn't hate women or use what she did as an excuse to. He's simply distrustful of anyone who can potentially betray him and is put off by the idea of any romantic or sexual relationships. Motoyasu gets betrayed by Malty (and his two other party members) and now sees all women as pigs, save for Filo, whom he's now obsessed with. The stupid criticism of RoTSH was that the series had Malty representing all women; that all women lie about being sexually assaulted and that all women are horrible bitches. That is the mentality Motoyasu now has, judging all women by the actions of one.
“Mr. Ren . . . I’m sure you’ve felt just terrible this whole time after losing your companions. It’s okay to cry now. Don’t worry. Even if the whole world insists you’re a criminal, I still believe in you, Mr. Ren. I believe you were fighting for the sake of the world.”
I love how, even after everything else she's done, the thing that makes me hate Bitch almost as much, if not more, as when she made the false rape accusation was her plagiarizing the words Raphtalia had said to finally reach Naofumi's heart and earn his trust. It just felt like such a violation, sullying that moment so much that you just want Bitch to die almost as much as Naofumi does.
Though I suppose it's Witch now, huh? Doesn't have quite the same punch as Bitch but I don't want to call her the Witch Bitch because that's my nickname for Satella in Re:Zero and that's more a term of endearment ironically enough. I don't want to sully her by putting her in any kind of association with Malty.
Original Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/shieldbro/comments/fh9syh/read_through_light_novel_vol_11_random_thoughts/
2 notes · View notes
the-dragons-knight · 3 years
Text
FFXIV Write 2021
Prompt #14 - The Dragon Queen
Tumblr media
<Post-Heavensward MSQ, Post-Dragonsong War, Slight Spoilers ahead>
Commend - ‘to present, mention, or praise as worthy of confidence’
————————————————————
“That sounds like it must have been so scary, but also like an amazing journey,” Maelie smiled up at Katsum as she petted the small dragonet in her arms, “To have visited another world…it sounds so very strange, yet so fascinating!”
Katsum smiled back as she handed Midgardsormr, who sat on her shoulder, another piece of the cookie she had in her hands, “It was quite the adventure, there is no denying that for certain.”
Ever since the day the True Brothers began their attack on Ishgard and took the refugees of the burnings in the Brume as hostages, the same day that Maelie was dropped from the top of the Vault and Katsum jumped after her only for both of them to be saved by Vidofnir, they had been good friends ever since, especially as Maelie began to have a fascination with the Dravanians. And who better to answer any questions she might have than the ‘Queen of Dragons’ herself. Katsum grew fond of the young girl and told her as many stories and tales that she could remember in hopes to share the beauties she’d seen of the world to another who could scarcely even have dreamed of seeing such things not so long ago. Each time she came home to Ishgard from a journey, she would seek out Maelie or the young girl would find her and they would walk the city’s streets as they talked, waving hello to all they passed by and marveling at how bright and cheerful the city had become since the end of its long war. There was still much to be done to make the nation whole again, the progress so far was still so beautiful.
The dragonet in Maelie’s arms purred as it butted its head against her hand, as she scratched its scales, “You’ve seen so many amazing things, Katsum. I would love to see the Churning Mists one day, and the vast and endless seas of water, but I imagine not all things were so beautiful and good…”
Katsum chuckled softly, “You are a smart girl, Maelie. Always have been. Yes, it’s true, but,” She looked at her seriously, “Don’t let that stop you from going to find your adventures. There are far more precious and wonderful things out there to outweigh the bad.”
Maelie nodded, “Right!”
“And next time Vidofnir, you should ask her if she can show you the Mists, I am sure she would be happy to.”
“Really?! Oh yes, I certainly shall! Ah, I’m so excited just thinking about it!”
Katsum laughed at the giddiness of the young girl as it reminded her very much of her younger self which only made her smile more brightly. They soon made their way to the aetheryte plaza in Foundation, still talking and laughing as the snow fell softly around him. Katsum’s feline ear twitched at the sound of a very familiar voice speaking not far away and she turned her sapphire eyes to lock onto the royal blue regalia of the Lord Commander, and a warmth fluttered through her chest as she smiled brighter. Sure, she had seen Aymeric this morning and every morning since they were married, but that didn’t mean her heart ever stopped fluttering when she would see him. As they approached him and Lucia, who was standing behind him, she noticed that he was speaking to a Lalafellan man and young woman, who were both dressed in fine robes and furs of an Ul’dahian fashion. Curiosity swept over her as she and Maelie moved in closer.
“Ah, good morning Lord Aymeric and Lady Lucia,” Katsum mused sweetly as she smiled brightly at them, her tail swaying happily behind her.
Aymeric’s ice blue eyes warmly met hers as he too smiled, “Lady Katsum, there you are good morning. And a good morning to you as well Maelie, Midgardsormr.”
The little dragon just nodded slightly as he continued to munch on his piece of cookie while Maelie nodded her hello.”
The paladin woman turned her head in question a bit, “Were you looking for me? Is something wrong?”
“No, not at all, but I was about to search for you yes. You see—”
“I can explain myself from here, Lord Aymeric, if you’d like,” The Lalafellan man rudely interrupted her beloved as he stepped forward with a grinning smile on his muschasted face, making a sweeping bow before her, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Katsum. My name is Aguda Kesuguda, head of the stock and trade of Kesugu Industries of Ul’dah. Before I begin, I really must commend your undeniable strength and poweress on the battlefield. I’ve heard many tales, and while I have not seen them for myself, they never cease to send my heart aflutter to recall them, yes yes!”
The miqo’te narrowed her eyes slightly as her smile shrunk into a rather small and fake expression of kindness, shifting her posture into a more regal and defensive stance; the posture of a queen. This did not go unnoticed by Maelie as she took a step back and watched cautiously. Aymeric too noticed, yet he didn’t not say anything, only sighed at the interruption and eyed the noble.
“Yes, I believe I’ve heard your name mentioned before in brief passing. ‘Tis a pleasure, yes, yet what is it that you sought me out for?” She knew that pleasantries from a merchant of Ul’dah meant only one thing: they wanted something done for them. She had not the patience or care for such games either.
Aguda grinned and shrugged, “Ah yes, a woman of action, of course. Forgive me, it is but the habit of nobles to win over the other with flattery, but you and yours here I see are far too smart to play in such nonsense.” Katsum just stared at him and he cleared his throat, “…more so than I thought too. Ahem, I came to beseech you aid in a most urgent matter. I have a shipment of resources and supplies I am trying to transport to the warfront, and every time it begins to leave on its journey to Ala Mhigo, it has been attacked by bandits trying to steal its contents! It’s not been anything terribly dangerous of course, but I wondered if I could ask for your assistance in protecting it to its destination. Or rather, one of your dragons.”
The group stilled and Katsum’s eyebrows arched in confusion, “ I beg your pardon? And please do not repeat yourself, it is just an expression of my astonishment.”
The noble nodded, “Of course, of course. My reasoning for such a request is that while I could hire a group of mercenaries to protect the cargo, such beings can be unsavory themselves and cost right much gil you understand. But dragons are loyal and ask for nothing, with just a word from you and they fly to your beck and call. And what better way to show your power as a queen than having one of your subjects deliver rations and supplies to the soldiers and people of a wounded nation, hmm?”
There would have been a time that Katsum would have shouted at this man that he knew nothing of dragons and nothing of her throne, and to leave their city before she threw him out herself, but instead, she remained quiet and listened to his greedy words with that simple expression of thought on her face.
Aguda seemed to take that bait as a sign of winning her over as he continued, “So, what do you think? Could you spare a dragon to help out a poor old merchant deliver his wares to those in need?”
She saw Aymeric narrow his eyes, “Would they not appear to be supplies from Katsum herself then if a Dravanian were to be protecting them rather than from you yourself Lord Aguda?”
Aymeric had already caught on Katsum knew, and luckily he was laying out the road for Katsum to ride down as Aguda answered.
“I suppose they would, but I have little worry for that. As long as they get the resources they are due, yes? Plus, they would be packed in crates bearing my seal so a bit of publicity for everyone, hmm?”
It is a very interesting suggestion, my lord, but first I must ask,” Katsum clasped her hands in front of her as she asked, “Are these provisions truly yours?”
Aguda froze in that moment and her eyes sparkled silently; she had him, “Whatever do you mean by that, my lady?”
Katsum smiled to herself as she feigned a curious and oblivious expression, “Pray, forgive me for causing such upset, but I had heard the most awful rumor of stolen goods and provisions meant for refugees of Ul’dah recently, and even more unsettling takes of the people trying to take them back from the thieves only to be injured and then arrested on false charges. As some of those provisions were ones that Ishgard and Dravania both had traded with Ul’dah for such purposes of aiding those less fortunate, it seemed only right that the Sultana inform me of these most dreadful events. So again…I ask you,” Katsum’s expression narrowed and her eyes almost seemed to glow in her fury, “Are these provisions truly yours? And I would beseech you to speak the truth, good sir, for we shall know if you do not.”
The noble’s jaw dropped as she moved her first piece into the winning square. Indeed, she and Nanamo had been speaking on the subject just a day or so ago and how the Sultana was worried about how restless the people were getting at being wronged so, and Katsum had offered to keep an eye out. It had been her cargo originally anyway, and such fine Dravanian resources should not fall into hands they were not meant for.
Aguda finally got over his shock and glared at her then, “Uh! The audacity of such claims! I came to seek assistance, not to be blamed for such villainy!”
“Nay, you came here for a dragon —for a “free” guard as you said—that would discourage anyone wearing only tattered rags for clothing too afraid to step forward to take back what is rightfully theirs so that you could spread the name of influence into the city of Ala Mhigo, thus earning potential buyers for future trade. it was made plain the moment you spoke of dragons ‘asking for nothing’. Dragons are loyal to their kin and to those they have come to trust, yes, but if you truly believe they are so blind to follow mine or anyone else’s word and ask for nothing in return like a hound, you are far blinder than you believe them to be.” His jaw dropped again, yet she did not wait for him to answer as she pressed further, “Now, if that is all you wished to discuss, I suggest you take your leave of our city and see to the return of those goods to their rightful owners. Unless…you would like me to inform the Sultana of the information I have just come across and let her and the Brass Blades handle it..?”
Aguda’s face paled, and he tried to retain some of his noblistic confidence, “Why you—”
“Father, please!” Finally, the woman behind him spoke and stepped forward to stand in front of him with a deep look of concern on her face, “She offers you a way to fix it yourself, don’t throw it away with your shame of being caught! I told you you mustn’t do something like this and look where you’ve put us now!” His head dropped as the girl turned to Katsum and bowed her head, a look of sadness filling her eyes as she looked up at her, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea that he had gone through such lengths as this. Please, forgive us, and I will see to it that the supplies are returned to Ul’dah and given out to the less fortunate personally. Please, my lady.”
Katsum stared at her for a moment, looking her over and her lilac colored garments and grey furs. Her eyes showed sincerity yes, but the eyes can be made to fool anyone who looked into them. She glanced at Midgardsormr, seeing he too was staring at her closely, taking in his assessment. With a breath, Katsum summoned Raihogg’s gaze as the dragon’s eye gem began to glow softly and his voice whispered through her mind.
“Her words are genuine as her heart is broken by her father’s deeds. You may believe her as she indeeds to do just as she says.”
The eye in her necklace fades back to its shining red and blue color as Katsum’s eyes softened and she asked the girl, “What is your name, my lady?”
“Kemoda. Kemoda Kesugada, m-my lady.” Her voice trembled as she answered.
Katsum smiled, “There is no reason to fear, Miss Kemoda. I thank you for your honesty and in your offer to right what has been wronged. In return for the good being returned to their rightful owners, I will only speak of the matter being closed with her Grace, nothing more. No names, no suspects. But I will be checking in to be sure our goods were returned as promised.”
Kemoda nodded furiously, bowing low as she breathed, “Oh thank you, my lady! Thank you! You have my word, I shall fix this right away!”
The miqo’te nodded and the lalafellan woman turned and glared softly at her father amidst her worried expression, “Come father, we have much to work on.” With that, she started on her way towards the gates of Ishgard with a determined step in her stride.
Aguda glanced back at her for a moment before looking up at Katsum again and glaring at her, hoping to get in one final word she guessed.
But Midgardsormr hissed first, “Go now, mortal, while I still allow it.”
The deep voice of the ancient dragon seemed to be enough to send the lalafellan man running after his daughter, any thoughts of sassy retorts dying on the squeak of his shout of terror. Midgardsormr chuckled at this before going back to snacking on his cookie and Katsum took a deep breath and shook her head.
“I will never get used to politics and the games you must play,” She sighed.
“No one ever does I’d imagine,” Aymeric mused, stepping up to. her and leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead, “But I dare say you are getting better at playing them. Well done, my queen.”
Katsum blushed lightly as her ears fell back shyly, though her warm smile spoke of her happiness, “Not in front of the child, Aymeric, please.”
He chuckled, and they glanced over to both blink in shock at the wondrous look in Maelie’s eyes as she watched them and she hugged the dragonet tight. She blinked as they looked, “Sorry, I don’t mean to stare, you both are just like a fairytale come true. ‘Tis a love I hope I find one day too.”
Katsum blushed again as Aymeric did and they laughed lightly as Katsum nodded, “I never thought I would have it myself, but thank you, Maelie. That is very sweet of you.”
The girl nodded before Lucia stepped forward then, “Regretful as I am to cut this beautiful moment short, there are other matter that require attention, Lord Commander.”
Aymeric sighed and nodded, looking to Katsum as he drew her into a short yet loving kiss, “Thank you for your assistance, Queen of Dragons. I shall be sure to repay your kindness as soon as I can.”
Katsum grinned knowingly, “And I shall look forward to it. Until tonight, be safe, both of you. And farewell.”
The Lord Commander nodded warmly as he reluctantly pulled back from her and turned to follow the First Commander back to Congregation. katsum watched him go before she turned to Maelie with a grin, “Well, shall we continue our walk?”
“Yes! Or course! Oh, I wanted to ask. How did the Dravanians first come to this world? You mentioned they were from another star right?”
“They did indeed. We’ll be happy to tell you.”
4 notes · View notes
callioope · 3 years
Text
Continuing my reactions to Avatar: The Last Airbender. 
This post is about Book 2. See my overall impressions and thoughts on Book 1 here.
Quick/General Thoughts
Uhhh pretty wild there is both a solar eclipse and a super comet happening in the same summer… anyways!!!
Ba Sing Se was so messed up omg
Aang
SMH more adults trying to take advantage of Aang. I was furious with the Earth Kingdom general who tried to force Aang to fight the Fire Lord well before he was ready. Clearly he was not ready! And then the audacity for him to attack Aang and then Katara to provoke the Avatar state was whole levels of messed up. 
The Great Appa Kidnapping: Yeah, so, as soon as the sand traders took him, I was like, “Oh no. I’ve heard about this. They are going to be in trouble!” But even then I didn’t know it stretched out over so many episodes. These episodes broke my heart! Aang’s complete distress at having lost Appa. Then the episode from Appa’s POV. Poor Appa! He goes through so much. It’s devastating. And then both Appa and Aang both dream of how they originally met each other? UNFAIR. CRUEL. HOW DARE THE CREATORS DO THIS TO ME. (I’m being facetious I love it I live for this kind of drama this is how i express they were doing good storytelling)
The whole “final chakra” being about letting go of attachments… hmm that felt VERY Star Wars of them… Filoni is this your doing? (Although actually I don’t remember seeing his name on any Book 2 episodes.)
Sokka
My fave continues to be the long-suffering Sokka, just trying to get his family to Omashu, it shouldn’t be this hard!!! This was literally what I wrote at the time of watching “Chapter Two: The Cave of Two Lovers,” and OH LITTLE DID I KNOW!!! [cut to Book 3… lmao… anyways]
Sokka making a map to help keep track of the maze-like cave/tunnel is actually really clever. I can’t believe people think he’s stupid. I mean, sure, it didn’t end up working, but that’s because the cave was magic or whatever, and that is beyond his control!
Side note, but lol at Sokka’s purchases and love for shopping. His ridiculous belt! How excited he was that it matched his bag!
Second side note, I was pretty excited to see that gif where Sokka is making that “I’m watching you” gesture and then goes “Water tribe!”
Katara
Yeah, notice how I don’t have much to say about Katara? It’s not that I don’t like her or that I don’t think she’s interesting, but. I just don’t really have a lot to say about her. 
I was amused by how she handled those bullies. My impression before I started watching was that she was going to be this like, pure and GoodTM character, but she definitely has her flaws and that is better.
I really liked the scene where she is able to calm Aang down while he’s in the Avatar state. There was good build up to that, showing her worry every time he entered it and her awareness of the fact that he only ever enters it when feeling upset. The fact that she was able to do that clearly Meant Something. So again, I suppose, I really feel up to this point that the show is very much like “Aang/Katara Endgame!” it felt very obvious to me. And I knew before starting the show that Zuko and Katara are a thing — but Aang and Katara is just so heavy handed that it was impossible for me to ship them with anyone else. They were just foundational to the show. Like it always felt like a foregone conclusion to me, almost as if they were established from the beginning although they obviously weren’t.
Toph
I spent like, the second half of Book 1 thinking “WHEN TOPH WHEN TOPH!” Imagine my ire that she still isn’t around for the first five episodes of Book 2, which is titled “EARTH” my goodness.
But OH was I delighted by “Chapter 6: The Blind Bandit”!!! I loved her intro, I loved how Aang is just immediately in awe of her skills when he sees her. He knows she’s exactly the teacher he’s been waiting for. “She waited and listened!” he says. Yes. I love it. (But also, lol at Sokka booing Aang.) Despite this, Aang really does not handle that first interaction very well!
So frustrating how her parents were treating her. “She’s fragile and helpless!” what a thing to say about your daughter. [Also you literally named her “tough”?!] And he is basically going to imprison her, wtf. & how do you get off saying “the avatar is no longer welcome here”?! smh children whose parents try to “control” their kids always end up being the most rebellious.
I was amused that “my dad changed his mind” apparently was a popular lie daughters use on this show. *facepalm*
I liked the contrast between how Toph wanted to teach Aang and how Katara thought he should be taught! That was interesting. And yeah, Toph certainly lives up to her name. 
Zuko & Iroh
Spent a good portion of the early part of this season wondering how Zuko and Iroh could possibly be related to the awful Fire Lord (and Azula for that matter — jeez she is nuts!), and longing to know what happened to Zuko’s mom. (Obviously that would be answered soon!)
Knowing that Zuko eventually joins the Aang crew, but also remembering that I never saw Iroh with them, made me SEVERELY worried that something terrible would happen to Iroh. And I spent the entire rest of the series worrying about that. Uh, especially since, apparently Iroh is hopeless at Survival 101. Honestly that was surprising to me. 
Zuko deciding they needed to split up was devastating!!! No!!! I loved the adventures of Zuko & Iroh!! He said, “There's no reason for us to stick together,” and I was like, “Yes there is you idiot! Because you’re family and you love each other!!!” I was so sad. I mean, also Iroh is currently the only person who likes Zuko, so, you know, that might be a good reason to stay with him. Just a thought. 
The last thing Zuko needs is to be alone, that will NOT be good for his issues. And lo and behold, look! Immediately, he’s struggling on his own. But I did like that episode (“Chapter 7: Zuko Alone”) because we get to see Zuko’s mom! (Uh, did she have a name?) Turtle ducks are so cute.
“Everything I’ve done I’ve done to protect you.” THIS. SLAYED. ME!!!!!! I mean, y’all know Rogue One is my jam so this parallel with Zuko’s mom and Galen Erso????? I lost it. I just lost it. Plus, though it isn’t confirmed until later, we can tell she’s sacrificing herself to save Zuko and just. (A) what a completely messed up family, but (B) MY HEART. SHE BETTER BE ALIVE is all I’m saying.
Interesting side note: they never show Ozai’s face in the early seasons. 
If you assumed that I was delighted to see Iroh has been tailing Zuko this whole time, you’d be correct. I had hoped that was the case and was very glad it was. Although *facepalm* again at Zuko. I suppose he had no way of knowing Katara had healing powers but it was so frustrating knowing if he had just listened to them for one minute they could have helped Iroh after Azula blasted him. At least he made him tea and nursed him back to health. 
If the evil advisor of Ba Sing Se had files on everyone and knew everything that went on… I mean… did he know about Iroh and Zuko? 
I didn’t jot down any notes about this at the time, BUT. Man. Did I ADORE Zuko and Iroh’s adventures in Ba Sing Se. I mean it was a nice relief from all the other crazy stuff happening. (Not happy to see Jet though. Ugh.) 
Finally, though, Zuko’s betrayal at the very end of the season totally shocked me. Because of spoilers, I knew he’d join Aang’s crew, and so it was so confusing! And such a regression, I really didn’t understand it and was very worried about what it would mean for his redemption arc — but more on that in the next post, don’t want to get ahead.
Azula
Oh. Boy. Again, I knew she was going to be crazy, but I don’t think I was prepared for just how messed up she is. “Do the tides command this ship. You said they would not allow us…” Jeez that is pedantic in a very bizarre way and obviously not what was meant… Yikes.
Also, Azula is much better at finding Zuko than Zuko is at finding Aang. Just a stray observation.
“Father regrets your banishment. He wants you home.” [insert IT’s A TRAP gif here]
“If the Earth Kingdom finds us, they'll have us killed. If the Fire Nation finds us, they'll turn us over to Azula. Earth kingdom it is.” Yeah, this line was hilarious but also sad. It really said a lot about Azula, and Zuko and Iroh’s relationship with her.
Had no idea Azula had her own crew. It was incredibly clear that Ty Lee felt coerced to join her and didn’t really want to, but that was less clear to me for Mai. Mainly seemed like Mai was bored with where she was and was just like “shrugs might as well do evil stuff.” 
I did know that a character named “Mai” would eventually be Zuko’s love interest (and it is pretty heavily portrayed that she has a crush on him), so at this point, I was very much like, “Hmm. This character is too apathetic and annoying, I don’t want her to end up with Zuko!” Plus, the fact that her name was pronounced “May,” (which was not how I thought “Mai” was pronounced) and I knew Zuko would have a thing with a lady in a tea shop, I wasn’t 100% sure Zuko/Mai were end game. 
“She’s crazy and she needs to go down.” I think Iroh said this. I just don’t know what to say. Why is Azula the way she is? That’s never entirely clear to me. In some ways, it’s implied she was just Like That (in the flashback where mom is like “What is wrong with you?”) and perhaps she’s just her father’s daughter. I don’t need a reason, per se. Idk. I just don’t know what to say to her. She clearly needs help. 
7 notes · View notes
chosenkeepersworld · 3 years
Text
Starpath Guild
Original Work Word Count: 5,545 words Date Posted: 09/30/20 Author’s Note: Requested by the lovely @tairano8​​! This is the first time I’ve tried writing Sci-Fi so I hope this goes well since I wasn’t able to do a lot of research. Much of what I wrote here was inspired by Star Trek and Final Space.  This work is unbeta’d but I hope you’ll all enjoy it. I’m always trying to improve my writing so critique is welcome!
Tumblr media
“Captains Bandit and Shadow please report to Commander Snowball’s Office. I repeat Captains Bandit and Shadow please report to Commander Snowball’s Office" the voice over the PA system announced.
Two figures walked down the hall of their guild's headquarters. On the left was an anthropomorphic cat, in his early adulthood. His fur was reminiscent of a tuxedo, dark fur spread from the tips of his ears down his back all the way down to his tail, while white fur began in a thin line between his eyes trailing down to his feet. His sharp blue eyes strayed to the other cats in the hall, mainly the ladies winking at them as he walked by. 
His companion was a little shorter and leaner, black fur covering him from head to toe, those same eyes staring down their path with a scowl on his face. He was clearly the more serious of the two.
Both males, despite their differences, were highly respected officers of the Starpath Exploration Guild.
They were told to wait when they arrived. Once seated Bandit entertained himself with his phone causing Shadow to glare at him.
"Really?"
Bandit raised his head "What?"
"He'll be calling us in soon, the least you could do is look presentable" Shadow sneered
The other male sighed then leaned forward “Will you relax? You’re uptight, all the time, you make people tense every time you’re in the room which is probably why no one likes you”
Shadow’s eyes narrow, his pupils narrowing “At least I’ve never embarrassed myself or my superiors in a critical meeting”
Bandit scoffed “It’s only happened a few times, and the worst punishment I’ve ever gotten was a suspension. I only have one strike left before something happens to actually damage my career” he leaned back staring seriously at the male in front of him “But despite all that I’m still a captain and I do my work well”
"You do the barest minimum if there ever was one" Shadow scoffed
"At least I have nothing to prove, runt" Bandit sneered
Shadow's pupils quickly turned to slits, and his body tensed. His eyes narrowed at his brother, a low growl built in his chest a clear sign of his agitation.
But before either of the two could do anything more, the secretary lifted her head smiling and clearly unaffected by the aggressive display. "The Commander is ready to see you now"
Both males stood up, Bandit walked in first followed by Shadow. Commander Snowball stood by the wide window behind his desk, his back to them. The first time someone meets Snowball, they wouldn't think too much of him, He was a little shorter than the average height of their species, and his fur and coloring, reminiscent of white, fluffy felines with grumpy faces, didn't help his case.
But he worked his way up, and was now considered one of the most respected highly ranked officers in the Guild. 
He turned to them, his poofy tail swishing behind him, and assessed both males standing before him. Shadow was who people would consider the more professional of the two but it was also clear to his superiors that Shadow was a little reclusive and eager to prove his worth. While being a runt did not limit one’s prospects, the stigma of being one followed them even to adulthood.
And then there was Bandit, charismatic, loyal, brave and impulsive. One brother knew how to follow orders and protocol while the other had a tendency to run all over the place and do what he liked.
“Please seat” Snowball offered before sitting down as well.
Once both males were seated the Commander began speaking “As you both know I haven’t been as active here at the Guild or on explorations. I’ve been getting on in age and I’ve been missing my family which is why I will be retiring next year.” he watch as the two brother exchanged a look of surprise but the older feline continued on “The rules state that I need to find my replacement” Snowball paused watching the implications of that statement sink in “And I want one of you to be my successor’
Bandit let out a laugh before standing up “Commander I would be honored to be your successor and might I say sir your judgement is absolutely-"
"Sit down, boy." The Commander said, giving him a look "and enough with the brown nosing. I do not have an official successor and if the higher up had not pressured me to pick I would have retired in peace" 
"But no, they want me to pick someone and make sure they do the job right before I leave."
Shadow leaned forward "What exactly are you saying, Commander?"
Snowball sighed "I never wanted to pick a successor because it might cause disturbances between the other captains but they gave me no other options and told me to pick two candidates and I did."
"And how will they decide who takes over from you?" Bandit moved forward smiling coyly
Snowball narrowed his eyes at the monochrome furred male "A retrieval crew went to pick up an artifact that was discovered last week but they haven't come back. So I proposed that whoever brought the crew and artifact back may have the position but the welfare of the crew and the safety of the artifact are priority."
Shadow opened his mouth to speak again but was surprised when Bandit leaped from his seat and lunged toward the door.
“Bandit, sit down” Snowball thundered, causing the black and white cat to flinch, his  ears dropping and returning to his seat. 
The Commander gave a long suffering sigh and glared at Bandit “Neither of you are allowed to leave until morning, so you both have an equal chance at getting there first." He looked directly at Bandit as he said this "We'll also be giving you the coordinates of the planet the ship landed on. After all you won't be able to find the crew and the artifact without it right, Bandit?"
The male blushed under his fur "Yes, sir"
"May the best captain and crew win”
Tumblr media
"Since we'll be traveling tomorrow, shouldn't you be taking it easy with the drinking?" Ginger pointed out as Bandit drowned another shot. He wiped his mouth and grinned at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder the orange furred feline shivered at his closeness but Bandit did not notice.
"Ginger" he started "Ginger, Ginger Ginger '' he went on saying her name again and again but never really saying anything else. Normally she liked it when he said her name and when he was making sense but all he was doing now was babbling her name.
“You are the most reliable, hard working and nurturing feline I know and there is no one I would want more as my second in command” Ginger shivered, she also liked it when he praised her “but you need to relax” she crossed her arms and glared at him.
“I’m just concerned”
Bandit grinned at her, his tail brushing up against her arm causing her to squeak and lean away 
“Bandit!” she hissed, even as her fur stood straight.
The male only chuckled in response then grinned when he spotted a group of females enter the club then whispered to the bartender. Ginger turned to where her Captain was looking and saw the females, she rolled her eyes. Even after so many years together she still wasn’t used to his tomcat ways, he was always on the lookout for the next female to catch his interest...even though there was already a strong, level-headed female right under his nose.
Ginger shook those thoughts from her head. She turned to talk to Bandit again but he was already headed toward the group of new arrivals, carrying a tray of drinks. She grimaced before turning back to order her first and last drink of the night before going to bed.
"Ladies" Bandit purred as he approached the group "Please take these drinks as a welcome to the best club in town  and as a sign for an amazing night" he finished with, in his opinion, a charming smile. The females giggled and each took a drink from the tray until there was one left, he stared at the left over drink sure that he counted right.
Someone cleared their throat behind him, he turned to see a short female, her white fur gleaming under the light, her hazel eyes wide with delight "Good evening Captain Bandit" she greeted cheerfully.
"Patch" he gave a nervous laugh, glancing around to see if his brother was with her "Surprising to see you here"
She giggled "My Captain isn't here, he's in his quarters resting for tomorrow's journey" she shrugged "I came to hang out with my friends since I won't be seeing them for a while but I won't be staying too long either. I have to make my Captain proud" she sighed, dreamily.
Even a blind person could tell that Patch had a thing for Bandit's brother, well except for Shadow apparently. Both brothers entered the guild at the same time, went through training at the same time and joined the guild at the same time. It had been some time since then, which meant the two Captains had been with their crews for a while too.
And Patch's feelings for Bandit's brother had only grown since then, but Shadow's work ethic prevented him from noticing.
Bandit shook his head "What you see in him as a potential mate I will never understand" he muttered.
She looked up at him, her eyes narrowed and her pupils thinned into slits "You just don't understand him" she said, crossing her arms.
The male snorted "I'm his brother, what is it about him that you know more than I do?"
There was a lot to say about Shadow in Patch's opinion and she opened her mouth to give Bandit a piece of her mind but she heard her name being shouted at from across the club, she suddenly remembered what she was supposed to be doing tonight.
The female took a deep breath to calm herself down, she always got riled up when Shadow was involved. She sighed and gave him a look that made him tense, she said her last words to him for the night before joining her friends.
Tumblr media
"So much, Bandit. There is so much about him you do not know."
Sleep eluded Bandit as Patch's voices echoed in his mind throughout the night all through the morning. The dual colored male plopped down in his Captain's chair, his coffee sloshing in his cup.
"Rough night, Cap?" his navigator, Leo, chuckled as he came in.
"Just had trouble sleeping Leo"
The rest of his crew slowly streamed in, when Ginger came in Bandit immediately straightened in his chair.
She regarded him "Captain" she greeted coolly then went off to her station.
He turned his head to survey the deck, when everyone was accounted for he sat back "Comms" he called out to his officer "Set?"
"Affirmative" was her response
He called out to his officers on deck and all responded positively.
"Affirmative, Captain. We just received the last SOS call the retrieval crew gave before the Guild lost them" Leo related the coordinates to his partner, the helmsman
Bandit grinned "Excellent. Let's be on our way"
Their ship rumbled to life and took off.
Their destination was a planet a short distance away from their own solar system. There was still time before they reached their destination, this allowed Bandit to check on the rest of his ship and to check on his brother's whereabouts.
He quietly made his way back to the deck, and spotted Ginger at her station typing away at her pad the male grinned and snuck up behind her.
"How may I help you, Captain?" she asked, not turning around when he opened his mouth to scare her.
Bandit grimaced "Aw you ruined it"
She chuckled and lifted her head, there was a small smile on her lips "I've been your First Officer for years, Bandit. I know you" she teased lightly
Something warm fluttered in Bandit's chest as he took in her smile and the rare playful look in her eyes. She caught his gaze "What's that look for?"
He scratched the back of his neck "I know this is not the best time but I just needed to let you know..."
Ginger straightened "Let me know what?"
He took a deep breath to steady his rising nerves then chickened out "Join me for dinner and I'll tell you"
She stared at his retreating form, mouth agape ‘What?” she whispered under her breath.
Bandit headed for his communications officer, he then checked in his brother's location and coordinates. The dual colored male face twisted in displeasure, Shadow was ahead of him, much closer to the planet they crew was stranded than Bandit's crew
At this rate Shadow would get there first and get back first then the prize would be his. Bandit's mouth pulled back baring his teeth, he would not lose to his runt of a brother.
They finally neared the planet, Calthenox, they could see the dark clouds surrounding the planet as well as Shadow's ship. Bandit's eyes narrowed, the fur on his tail standing up.
He collected the team joining him for retrieval then stalked out of the room.
Tumblr media
Leo gave a low whistle as he took in the planet's environment and atmosphere "Geez, this place looks…"
"Absolutely depressing?" Bandit supplied
Leo chuckled, his green eyes lighting up "Yeah, that's one word for it" he then turned to the other two currently huddled together, the Communications Officer, Bud and the Medical Officer, Daffodil. Daffodil's poofy cream colored fur ruffled in the breeze, a shiver going down her spine.
Leo grinned "Cold, Daff?"
The poofy feline rolled her eyes "Hardly" but looked out to the distant and barren wasteland "But thereI'm something unsettling out here is something about this place that makes me uneasy” she then turned to Bandit “We should get moving, the sooner we find the crew the sooner we can get out of here”
“She’s right, we need to find them first. Leo, how are the readings you set up earlier?”
“Well” Leo then typed out something on his pad then a hologram of the planet appeared “since the ship landed around this area “ he pointed to a point south of where they were “the crew would have salvaged what they could have from the crash and then looked for some kind of shelter especially if there was anyone injured. My best bet is that they found a cave perhaps, but it would have to have be close by"
"So head to the crash site then we'll probably figure out which way they went?" Bud grunted with approval
"All right team, let's go!"
They had brought transport bikes to get themselves to their destination and as they neared it, they could see a transport shuttle by the crash site causing Bandit to speed up upon the site of his brother by the downed ship.
The taller male brought his bike to a screeching halt. The dark furred male’s ears were flat against his skull, trying to block out the sound. He scowled at Bandit who swaggered towards him and his two crew members that Bandit did not recognize. 
Bandit smirked “Well, well lookie who it is, widdle Shadow and his widdle crew” 
The runt’s scowl deepened and the two members glared at him, Patch came around from the back of the wreckage, her ears perked up with curiosity.
"What's going on?" Patch asked joining the group, she then caught sight of the expressions on her fellow crew members' faces as well the deepened scowl on her Captain's. The feline's eyes turned Bandit's way, her fur standing on end "What did you do?" she hissed.
The male at his brother's left opened his mouth to answer but Shadow raised his hand, effectively keeping his crew member from speaking. 
"What he said is no longer of importance. We have what we came for." Shadow began walking back to the shuttle, but then his ears swiveled around, causing the other to pause as well.
A figure walked slowly towards them, his tattered brown cloak fluttering in the breeze. It was difficult to get a good look at whoever was underneath but if the walking stick was any indication there person underneath was either old or injured.
The cloaked figure stumbled, causing Shadow and crew, as well as Daffodil, to rush over as quickly as they could. Shadow reached him just as he fell over and as he did, the hood of his cloak fell back. Bandit quickly came over to them and balked in surprise when he saw the figure's face.
He  was young, very young, dirt and blood all over his oddly soft features. The young boy had long blonde fur, looking over the young boy Bandit noted that he was also quite short.
"Man, this kid must be super young. He's super small" Bandit mused aloud.
Shadow paused, his face scrunching up and looked up the his older brother with an incredulous look "He's a she, you idiot"
Bandit was taken aback and made to respond but the young woman's eyes fluttered open, her amber eyes flickered to each of their faces then tensed, her ears stood up alert.
They young feline sat up abruptly and scrambled backwards causing both males to hold up their hands, palms outward, to show her that they were not a threat. She stopped at a good distance from them taking a good look at the strangers before her, she shifted into a crouch, wincing but ready to take off in case any of them came at her.
"Please, let us help, we mean you no harm I swear" Patch said, slow and calm, taking unnoticeable steps while keeping her hands free and up.
The stranger's eyes shifted to each one of them, before relaxing her posture, her legs finally tweaked and she fell into sitting position.
Daffodil and Patch quickly moved to help the young female up, aiding her as they moved to shuttle.
The brothers shared a look, whoever this female may be, she would be the key to the result of this rescue.
Tumblr media
Her names was Hazel, and she was part of the retrieval crew, much of the crew were injured when they crashed and due to the loss of their ship's loss, the world's hostile environment and scarce resources many of the crew succumbed to their injuries, some of the others never returned from scavenging. One by one the crew either died or disappeared until Hazel remained.
The brothers were hunched over together, whispering about themselves. "The safety of the crew come first, Ban"  Shadow insisted
"We're getting her checked out but afterwards we need to know where she and the rest of the crew were hiding out. We can't just leave their bodies there" or the artifact  the bigger male added silently
"Good point," Shadow said, nodding. They sat quietly for a moment but Bandit couldn't help but stare when a slow smile spread across his face. His brother's ear twitched when Shadow chuckled "I still can't believe you thought she was a boy" Bandit blinked before giving out a loud laugh " It honestly didn't come to mind that we'd see some little girl running around a place like this" he looked towards the the med bay, where Hazel was sitting on the examination table, feet kicking light and tail swishing softly as she talked rather animatedly to Daffodil.
“She kind of reminds me of Luna” Shadow admitted to him "It's impressive that she's lasted so long…" he trailed off, his eyes losing focus as he lost himself in his thoughts.
At the mention of one of their sisters, Bandit instantly felt guilt. The older male had not been home since the accident that caused Bandit to join the Space Exploration Guild in the first place. He had not seen his sisters and younger brothers since, he often wondered how they were now. Bandit had wanted to ask Shadow about them for the longest time, but their rivalry strained their  relationship to a point that neither of them could hold a civil conversation.
Shadow snapped out of his reverie and shot his older brother an apologetic smile. It was a rare moment of peace between them but both of them knew that despite their rocky relationship they would never be able to truly hate each other.
"Captains" a voice came up behind them breaking their moment. The masks both males wore slid back on, Shadow's stared at Bandit's communications officer with cool composure. "I hope I'm not interrupting"
Bandit forced out a grin "Of course not, Bud. Is everything alright?"
"Our science officer wanted to let you know that they're analyzing the drones they sent and should have the results shortly"
Bandit could feel his brother's gaze pinning him to his seat. The dual colored male thanked his officer and dismissed him then turned to dark furred male next to him "Brother-"
Shadow shoved away from the table where they sat " Please excuse me" he said, biting back a growl "There are some things I need to take care of in my ship" without anything else to say the young male stalked out of the room.
Slouching in his seat Bandit could only sigh in exasperation, running his paw down his face and his ears drooping.
“Ahem”
Bandit leaned his head back to see Hazel standing over him, a timid smile on her face “Hi, there”  
“Oh!” Bandit quickly moved to stand “Ms. Hazel I trust that my crew has been taking care of you”  he moved into a practiced stance, standing straight and smiling gently.
Hazel’s face brightened, her tail swishing behind her “They’ve all been very kind. It’s good to finally get some good food and not have to worry about dying from the elements” she laughed.
“Very good” he nodded
The rescued female turned her head clearly looking for someone “I thought I saw Captain Shadow here earlier”
Bandit rubbed the back of his neck “He just left”
Green eyes blinked at him “He’s your brother, correct? You don’t seem very close”
“We have a rather strained relationship, it comes with the whole older brother, younger brother dynamic.” He sat down suddenly feeling exhausted "Sometimes I just wish he backed down a little, he's always trying to prove he's better than me. It feels like I can never make my mark with him always in front"
She regarded him curiously "As an older brother you have a lot of responsibility, right? It only makes sense that you be acknowledged and appreciated for your efforts" she said into the seat next to him "If this rescue can do something for you and your career then why would you allow anyone to stand in the way of that?"
Wordlessly she stood up and went back to the Medical Bay, leaving Bandit to think on her words. A little while later Bandit leaves with a determined look on his face; Hazel watches through the glass doors of the Medical Bay and a smile spreads across her face.
Tumblr media
A few hours later they were suited up again, ready to get the rest of the crew's remains and the artifact. To Bandit's knowledge it was only his crew that was going down there, with Hazel coming along of course. The feline was just doing what he needed to do, even if it meant that he and Shadow would never truly get along.
Hazel was right, this was opportunity for him. Why should Bandit let sentimentality hold him back?
"Bandit" Ginger called out softly as she approached him.
"Hey" he sighed, reaching behind him to tighten a doohickey on his suit. He spun around a few times trying to grab on to it. Ginger rolled her eyes and grabbed his shoulders "Hold still, dummy" she whispered before fixing his suit, Bandit held still as she did so.
"Thanks" he muttered
"No problem" she raised her head, surprised. Bandit lacked any of his usual bravado which, to Ginger at least, was very concerning .
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” she asked
"Nothing, it's just Shadow again"
Ginger raised an eyebrow "From the security tape it looked like you two were getting along pretty well" she said as she finished helping him.
He turned to narrow his eyes at her "Spying in people now, Ginger?"
"I'm just making sure both of you will make it back to bade" she crossed her arms "Now, what happened?"
Bandit explained it to her, their talk, their little moment as siblings, Shadow finding out about the drones and the things that Hazel told him after Shadow left. Ginger looked concerned after hearing Hazel's involvement.
"She seriously said that?" Ginger asked, disbelief all over her face.
"She was just being honest"
"You barely know her enough to take any advice she has to give" she pointed out.
"Strangers are unbiased!" He argued "at least it doesn't feel like she's holding me back" he muttered.
But Ginger still heard him, her ears stood up straight, the fur on her tail bristling and her pupils thinned into slits "Well excuse me, sir!" She growled, baring her teeth "All I'm trying to do is keep you from making decisions that you'll regret for the rest of your life!" she stomped away, her tail lashing out behind her "Since you don't seem to value my input as your friend, I'll gladly leave you to your idiocy!"
The automatic doors closed, cutting off Bandit's vision of the  orange furred female. He turned to the rest of his crew, all looking uncomfortable and unable to look him in the eye.
Bandit let out an exasperated sigh "Let's just move out team"
Ginger watched from the control center as Bandit and his crew went back down. She watched the shuttle take off then picked up a Comm device "Hey Patch, it's Ginger. You have all the files on the missing crew, right? I need you to send them to me, I have a bad feeling"
With Bandit and his team, Hazel was able to show them the way back to the cave the retrieval crew used as shelter. Bud, Leo and Daffodil watched with displeasure as Hazel plaster herself to Bandit, who was too preoccupied to even notice. They eventually came at a fork in the road.
Hazel turned to each entrance "If I recall correctly the left tunnel leads to the artifact and we used the right tunnel as a place to set up camp.
"Why not just set up camp with the artifact?" Daffodil asked, her gaze narrowed on Hazel.
The young feline flashed her a smile "There wasn't enough room for all of us to fit so one of us would go there to make sure it was safe. We kept watch over the artifact on rotation, so everyone had a chance to rest." She explained "We also hid to be sure none of the scavengers would come in and take it "
Leo eyed Hazel cautiously "Captain let one of us accompany you and Hazel"
Hazel kept a smile on her face, but something dangerous fluttered in her eyes.
However Bandit did not notice but did allow Leo to join him and Hazel. The trio traversed the darkened cavern, the only light available came from the small flashlight on their suits. They were quiet while they walked, Bandit was much too preoccupied with his own thoughts to notice the quickly rising hostility between Leo and Hazel.
Bandit cautioned the others once they got close enough to the entrance of the artifact. They walked in slowly surveying the small room and relaxed when there was no else there.
“I hid the artifact behind those rocks before I left to scavenge more food” she turned to Leo “Help me out, would you?” Bandit’s navigator hesitated.
Bandit narrowed his eyes on the other male, his tail lashed out in irritation “Leo, do it. We’re wasting precious time”
Leo clenched his jaw and moved with Hazel towards the far corner of the room. As they did so, Bandit’s Comm rang, he reached up to take the call but before he could say anything Ginger was yelling in his ear.
He turned to face the wall trying to make sense of what Ginger was saying “Ginger, Ginger slow down and say that again?” He heard the female take a deep breath and repeated in the same urgent tone “Ginger is not who she says she is”
The dual colored male froze “Explain”
“I had Patch send over the retrieval team’s files and combed through the individual members. “ she paused to catch her breath “There was someone named Hazel on the team but when I looked at the photo, it was a completely different person. Whoever is with you right now is someone else”
Bandit opened his mouth to respond when he heard the charge of a blaster directly behind him. The male slowly turned to Hazel holding a downed Leo at gunpoint. She gave him a smile but there was a dark look in her eyes “Hang up, Captain. Unless you have replacement in mind for poor Leo here” the blaster lit up ready to fire.
"I have to go" Bandit said
"But Ban-" he cut her off when he hung up.
"Now, take them out and destroy them" 'Hazel' ordered
He glared and complied, his only means of communication now gone. She gave him more orders he was forced to comply with thus leaving him completely defenseless against any attack. Still, he had to find a way to get to Daffodil and Bud but first he had to get to his navigator.
She studied him and smirked "Don't bother trying to get to the others, the other members of our organization were waiting for them, they're either dead or captured"
Bandit's lips lifted into a snarl "Who the hell are you?"
She regarded him carefully "Let's just say that the organization I work for is...intent at righting the atrocities your Guild has committed over the years. It was ridiculous how easy it was to manipulate you with the wide eye, lost little kitten look." She smiled shaking her head "Gave me a real laugh. I honestly still can't believe how well our timing was" she paused for a moment, her ears standing at attention and her expression shifted into something that made Bandit' guts twist into knots.
She smiled again, but this one seemed crueler than the one before "Speaking of timing..."
Bandit's ears twitched, slow footsteps came from the tunnel, straining to look at who might be approaching.
He silently hoped it would be an ally, that way they would be at an advantage. The figure coming in their direction finally stepped into the dimly lit cavern to reveal Shadow's tense form, holding a blaster in the female's direction.
"Female, you are unidentified and in violation of the law. Unhand your weapon and release your hostages or else I will have to use force"
Bandit and the unknown female stared at him, his brother giving him an incredulous look before yelling out "You're seriously playing this by the book? Shadow, you idiot, this isn't the time!"
The black furred male glanced at his brother, anger rising in his eyes.
"I told you" 'Hazel' said quietly, the way she looked at Shadow made Bandit uneasy. She looked at him with a soft expression, it was a look of understanding, a look of compassion it was a look a friend and confidant may have when they see someone they care about struggling.
"I told you he didn't have any faith in you or the decisions you make. He doesn't think you're capable of handling this situation." She told him "Maybe you would have been able to talk me down and I would have come peacefully, no violence necessary"
"For the love of-, she's playing you!"
"Your talents are being wasted, Shadow. You have so much more to give to the world." she could see his resolve weakening, the tension leaving his body "Peace is your goal, isn't it? We can help you achieve that. The Guild has too many people with selfish agendas, using their power and resources for their own benefit, not for the benefit of minorities, not for those who need it most"
"Shadow-" Bandit started to speak but the female continued on "He" she gestured in his direction "is just like them. How many times has the Guild been like your brother? Taking things that don't belong to them and silencing those who are trying to succeed?"
Shadow turned his gaze away from the female to stare at his brother with anguished eyes, memories of all the horrible things Bandit had done as children, taking away opportunity after opportunity from his younger brother for his own benefit.
"Get rid of the weight, Shadow" she spoke softly "Free yourself"
The blaster lit up and the dark furred male whispered something to himself and fired.
7 notes · View notes
hellsparadiseessays · 4 years
Text
Aza Brothers Week - Day 4
And the week keeps going, with Part 3 of my Aza Bros Analysis! It was originally released in early May on r/Jigokuraku, right after chapter 55 got out (and got me distressed af for obvious reasons). More under the cut!
Aza bros, an analysis - Part 3 : who really is in danger as of chapter 55?
As a disclaimer, three things need to be mentioned. First, thy enter spoiler territory; flee while thy can, new reader! Second, I am not Japanese/Chinese nor raised in Japan/China, so my take is solely based on the academic documents I read, what I know and what I understand. If there’s a mistake in my understanding, please, feel free to address it. Third, English is not my native language, so while I’m fluent in it, I don’t promise a 100% quality and may make some grammar mistakes here and there. On this note, let’s start a not-so-academic write up. I hope you’ll deem it an enjoyable or educative read.
Screw the initial “two posts only” I guess, depending on the future events in-story, the Aza Siblings write-ups should keep going. To be honest, I initially wanted to wait for more chapters before going at it again, but chapter 55 was most interesting for various reasons. Considering the characters involved, this part will mostly be focused on Chôbe and Lord Tensen, starting with a reminder of Chôbe’s overall strength based on what we’ve seen until now and with the addition of the material provided by the latest chapter, then following with some observations about Lord Tensen – and more specifically, Rien. You already know some of my thoughts on him (considering it’s canon for the seven aspects of Lord Tensen to favour one gender or the other, and that until the end of chapter 55, Rien has solely been seen with a male form, I’ll use masculine pronouns), but I’m going to expand on it and something I said in part 2 considering Lord Tensen’s nature. I’ll then end it on mixed observations and questions concerning the stuff I suspect will happen next in the story. Overall, again, it’s mostly opinion-based – though justified as much as possible by canon information -, so you’re all invited to share your thoughts or cry with me in the comments.
1. Friendly reminder of Chôbe’s mental and physical fortitude
A whole point of Part 2 has already been dedicated to Chôbe’s strength so I’ll start with this, before pointing out what has been shown in chapter 55. Right in the first 9 chapters, we get to learn a lot about him. First, he’s exceptionally strong at a physical level and a solid fighter: kicking a man up to 6 meters in the air easily, starting a fight to death with fellow criminals and remaining alive at the end of it while he has his hands tied, he can handle an entire month of torture and withstand three to four days on an unknown island, with barely anything to eat or drink, and while fighting his way in to the point of having his very physical being modified via a form of alchemy... A transformation that actually makes him even stronger, to the point a Doshi, one of Lord Tensen’s apprentices, who’s probably been doing everything he could for centuries to reach his current level, was not only overpowered, but also openly deemed Chôbe a threat that should be destroyed before he gets to Lord Tensen.
Furthermore, Chôbe isn’t just dangerous at a strictly physical level, he’s also blessed with an incredibly keen mind and isn’t afraid of taking risks when he deems it necessary. When we get to read his train of thoughts during a fight, we can see how methodical and calm he is behind an apparent savagery, wondering if X thing is possible, trying it, and immediately adjusting his tactic as a consequence. He’s also incredibly strong-willed, which has been openly spelled out in chapter 55, when Chôbe himself points out that he’s been constantly fighting against the Waitanhua in him ever since he’s been out of the Tan pit, and that’s why the human Tao prevails for now. But what makes him especially interesting is that despite being qualified as a murderous bandit, ruthless when fighting and often showing a behaviour that could easily be described as unhinged from an external perspective, the insights we obtained by accessing both his thoughts and his flashbacks showed us the human behind that thick wall of ruthlessness and resentment. And what we saw behind was a lot of love for his little brother, to the point of being borderline overprotective while still trusting Toma with various tasks, as well as, in chapter 55, the will of not abandoning his brother the way he feels they have been abandoned by their father. He even pictures Toma as smiling softly with a fairly confident pose, during the dream he has when he’s passed out. Chôbe has such a positive image of him, which makes the gap with Toma’s own perception of himself and his recent progress even more jarring. We even get to see new glimpses of Chôbe’s own point of view, as a small child crying with yet again these still cryptic words, come apart, break down. Whatever these words mean to him (and I wonder if they have something to do with their Lord’s actions), it’s clearly a painful memory and something bad enough to seriously trigger him.
Remember Mei’s “strong weak”? Well, UG is giving us a lot of it with the Aza bros, and it’s what makes them both so strong (little reminder that despite his apparent more delicate nature, Toma is considered a prodigy among the Yamada and can come out unarmed of an all-out fight against an entire group of Soshin. He’s not weak). It’s in their own fears and hang-ups that they find their strength and it’s also what keep them moving forward. It’s also what makes me love them so much (aside from the fact that they’re the type of characters I tend to quickly become fond of in a story). Now, let’s compare that to the other character (s?) we got to see during chapter 55.
2. Lord Tensen: humanity and state of godhood
In Part 2, I had already commented on Lord Tensen and how, in my eyes, they felt so human despite thousand years of efforts to move beyond their condition and reach immortality. Lord Tensen truly is a curious case of scientific madness, in my opinion. And no, I don’t say that just because I’ve been qualifying Mu Dan and Rien of Mad Scientists for some weeks now. They, themselves, are the successful products of experiments on Immortality, and they consciously repeat the process to obtain an even more successful result. The way they organised the island and the hierarchy on it is especially interesting, because it doesn’t just feel like some sort of pseudo-Paradise. The entire organisation – as well as the narration – seems to purposefully place them in a position of Godhood right from the start. After all, meeting them didn’t end well at all for Tenza, Chôbe and Toma, and more generally, all the corpses found in the Tan pit weren’t there for decoration. Even the Palace in Hourai, at the center of the island, seems to have a godly vibe about it – and what’s with the awesome training room Taisei arranged for the Doshi and the seven aspects of Lord Tensen, looking like the postal card of some idyllic beach and hotel in the Carribeans. The thing is, it’s all fake, it’s all pretense despite their intimidating powers. They want to be immortal, but they aren’t. They just happen to be the strongest fish in the pond at the moment, but the recent arrival of humans changed the paradigm without them fully understanding the situation yet. They aren’t immortal, nor are they omniscient. And the Doshi who was aware of Chôbe’s strength never got back to the Palace, he’s still with the GabiGang.
This is the one thing that had me gleefully smiling as Rien got seriously interested in Chôbe as an accidentally successful experiment. Lord Tensen lacks crucial information concerning our Bandit King and is thus not as far ahead of everybody as they think they are. Worse even, Rien let himself be blinded by Chôbe’s abilities and put his full focus on him instead of investigating further on Mu Dan’s suspicious demise. Maybe he sent someone else in his stead? Either way, it’s a bit too little too late to obtain proper information in my opinion, especially with Chôbe representing a distraction in the Palace and the GabiGang not being likely to stay put for too long for various reasons (general security on a dangerous island, a ship full of murderous ninjas and executioners...). I suspect one of these reasons may also create further distraction for Lord Tensen, either because of exceptionally strong people that could serve their research or because of the general mayhem caused on their island (something they doesn’t seem to enjoy that much).
All of that to say, that as big and scary Lord Tensen be, they have blind spots and our band of misfits is in a better spot than we could expect because of that. Because they have the upper hand when it comes to information. Even worse, I suspected Chôbe to become the Wolf among the Sheeps, and it’s happening (despite the bad situation he’s currently in IhateyouRien). We already know he’s an incredibly fast learner – that’s how he got the upper hand on a Doshi with hundreds of years of experience, that’s how he was deemed a danger to Rien himself by the same Doshi -, now Rien is basically giving him free lessons to have better mastery of his Tao and more than that, gives him a good reason to be pissed at someone Chôbe doesn’t consider human (he calls Rien a creature, in chapter 55). What I’m saying here, is that by trying to reach a higher state while living on a fairly isolated island for centuries, Lord Tensen seems to have forgotten what humanity is and how much strength one can get from it.
3. Various observations relating to the turns the story may take
I’d like to add one potentially important thing about Chôbe, highlighted by Toma: his ability to come on top, even when he’s technically the one in a position of weakness. His ability to take split-second hard decisions, his sharp intellect and strong-will already allowed him to take control of a group apparently stronger than him in the past. Considering his actual level and the predicament he’s currently in, I personally wouldn’t treat him as a Princess in Distress. At. All. Granted, Toma’s help will most likely be welcome and a relief (especially for someone suffering from abandonment issues), but I can’t see Chôbe staying still. Well, he’s not the type to rush blindly either, but we may see a switch of role between him and Toma, with Chôbe being the sneaky one until he sees an opening, while Toma focuses on polishing his techniques and becoming stronger.
That’s why, as much as I love Chôbe, I wish to get the focus back on the GabiGang for now. A lot of things will happen on their side, and I suspect it all to happen real fast. Also, I’m still upset by the end of chapter 55 (though definitely not mad at UG, if anything I applaud him for his story-telling), so I don’t know about you all, but switching focus for the following chapters would be a bit of a breather for me before I get pissed at Rien again, as soon as I see his face.
Well, that’s all for now. I’m expecting not only UG to potentially destroy my speculations tomorrow, but to exceed them as well, because I certainly didn’t expect Bochu Jutsu to happen so fast for Chôbe. Just thinking about it makes me uncomfortable, this is the reason why Mei wants out after all, and in this situation, Chôbe is still perceived as a puny human and an experiment so I don’t think it’ll be the greatest moment of his life, no matter how Rien puts it (“how do you like it” to the dude kidnapped, tied to a damn bed, openly disapproving the situation with a scowl and a good dose of snark because that’s literally his only defense at the moment - even his smile has a drop of sweat next to it, and that's visual manga code for "uncomfortable". Did I already say I hate Rien’s guts?).
[Note as of 3 Oct.: Well when it comes to information, Chôbe spilling the beans to play along (and maybe get rid of both the Tensen and the competition in a single strike) and bid his time kinda destroyed my point on Lord Tensen’s lack of info lol But that’s fair, it was a cool twist and one I should have seen coming tbh]
14 notes · View notes
chibivesicle · 5 years
Text
Golden Kamuy chapter 192; another member of the 27th, and shift to the recovery of the injured group and reunion of Asirpa and Sugimoto.
Chapter 192 picks up with members of the 27th at the onsen and the introduction of yet another new character in addition to Kikuda.
A new Ainu character was introduced this chapter, Private First Class Ariko. He has a large scar across his face as well as some stitches on his forehead linked to the scar.  He’s got a fair bit of very curly chest hair and a decent beard as well and some epic eyebrows.  He also has longer hair but it is tied up in a bun, but they are at an onsen as well.  Nice onsen etiquette Ariko!
Tumblr media
Unlike most of the members of the 7th, he does not have dark eyes all the time.  In this panel he has some sparkle.  Below is another panel where he has some sparkle.  Remember that Kiro almost always had some sparkle as well. 
Tumblr media
Also remember that my theory isn’t that sparkle implies goodness/innocence but that it implies some sort of goal or vision.  Ariko has something that he would like to achieve.  What that is we don’t know yet. 
Once the men retire to their rooms at the onsen they are talking with Warrant Officer Kikuda.  There is so much happening in this scene with Ariko.  He’s wearing his dress shirt and pants and it looks like socks. His position is so formal and so Japanese.  He’s got his fists on his legs right above his knees while sitting in seiza.  This posture displays so much respect to Kikuda who is in the middle of a massage. Nikaido is in a super relaxed position on a futon.  It is hard to gauge Usami’s position but Ariko looks so formal. 
Tumblr media
We have seen this formal position several other times:
Tsukishima maintains this formal position when addressing Tsurumi for Koito.
Tumblr media
And the one time Ogata was properly seated in this position was when Tsurumi came to check up on his attempt to corrupt Yuusaku.  But Ogata’s a little more relaxed as you do not see the straight arms, his are bent.
Tumblr media
I’m guessing this was the best a commander/superior could hope for from Ogata. . . .
Anyways back to Ariko, he’s got a very formal posture that respects the man with whom is he talking to.  Furthermore, his hair is still tied up in a bun.  He has not let it down or anything like that.  Another interesting observation is that Ariko does not have his ears pierced. . . . now Wilk also lacked pierced ears, but he is half Karafuto Ainu, half Polish.  Since he grew up in a household that is more culturally mixed, his father may not have wished for him to pierce his ears like the other kids.  He still got the bead triangle though for when he made his first successful hunt.  But most of the Ainu characters have pierced ears; Asirpa, Cikapasi, Inkarmat but not Makanakku (Asirpa’s uncle) or Huci.   It is also not a gender specific thing.  I wish I knew more about the practice and distribution.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Wilk was all for cultural mixing so he came from an environment where it would be more flexible.  Wilk, early proponent of multiculturalism. . . .
A really important contrast is immediately being set up with Ariko with Kiroranke.  The youngest image that we have for him was at age 15 when he assassinated the czar with Wilk.  This is the most western he ever looked, he has a short haircut and no earrings. 
Tumblr media
But his ear piercings are very visible and remember that Asirpa explained to Sugimoto how they pierce their ears young and use the vines to keep them open for future earrings.
Tumblr media
When Kiro was later on the run with Wilk and Sofia he was going by his second fake name of Phillip.  He had his longer hairstyle, but still nothing in his ears.
Tumblr media
Even though he is again in Western style dress, there are parts of his appearance that indicate he has aspects of the culture that he was raised in.  Kiro frequently has very similar posture to Ogata a lot of the time.  Both of them appear very relaxed (perhaps b/c they are cats?).  When they first talk to Kiro, he’s smoking his pipe, his legs are loosely cross legged and he’s even slouching a bit.  Kiro always looks comfortable and chilled out when seated for the most part.  And Kiro is frequently barefoot (as is Asirpa) when they are indoors, no socks for them.  My point is b/c the Ainu have a different type of shoes, they don’t seem to wear socks with them.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
I could find only one instance where Kiro’s hair is tied up - during the blind bandit arc at the onsen.  For obvious reasons, he politely tied his hair up as he stares at the viewer here. Kiro has good onsen etiquette.  For the entire arc his hair will remain tied up.
Tumblr media
I tried to look to figure out what his hair looked like when he was in the 7th during the Russo-Japanese war, but no luck, you only see him sitting in a bunker tinkering with a grenade and his legs sticking out here.  I would guess he didn’t cut his hair that much since he has it relatively long when they are in search for the gold.
Tumblr media
But again, look how relaxed his posture is, he’s got his right leg crossed over his left as he’s leaning back in the bunker.  Even though this is a serious situation, Kiro is still looking a bit more chill (like slightly chill, it is a war).
Throughout the entire story we never learned if or what Kiro’s Japanese name was. . . his original Tatar name of Yulbars, his fake Russian name of Phillip and his assumed name of Kioranke, an Ainu name.  Kiro has existed in different societies and cultural groups but he definitely retained his original cultural habits and mannerisms.  After the war was over he left the military and went back home immediately.  When he assimilated himself into the Hokkaido Ainu, he put his earrings back in and he grew his hair out even more.  In a way, Kiro returned to an appearance much closer to the one he grew up with.
In direct contrast we have Ariko.  He’s being referred to by his Japanese name, not his Ainu name.  He doesn’t have pierced ears, he has his hair tied back and his posture is super formal and Japanese.  
The timing for his introduction is no coincidence, my crazy theory is that he’s supposed to serve as a direct contrast to Kiroranke.  Kiro died fighting cultural assimilation and the extinction of the native people’s life styles.  Enter an Ainu who clearly has been much more culturally assimilated and is still in the military.
It is revealed that Ariko is the one who saw an individual who is likely Toni Anji, the sound of geta in the dark and snow but who left footprints with straw shoes (that would make no sound) as opposed to geta.  Why Toni Anji was naked or partly naked is unclear, unless he was enjoying the secret Ainu hot springs where Ariko was at the time.  He does imply some knowledge of hunting and tracking since he immediately realized there was a mismatch between actual shoes and what it sounded like.  But he simply states the man’s clothing e.g. tattoo looked unusual.  Is he playing dumb or does he not know about the gold hunt?
Is he acting as a spy for someone else in the 27th and is going to an extreme to appear trustworthy by assimilating?  Or is he actually assimilated enough that he’s being potentially ostracized or left out of the Ainu information loop?
Right now my gut thinks that he is more assimilated than most Ainu and is out of the loop. Kiro was totally fluent in Japanese but his mannerisms were most definitely not.
This segment of the chapter ends with Kikuda looking very relaxed as Ariko describes the situation with the mystery man.  He’s getting a post bath massage similar to the one Sugimoto got from the informant for Tsurumi.
Tumblr media
So of course they are chatting about this when boom, next panel the masseuse is revealed to be Toni Anji himself.  Doing some recon in the heart of the 7th, well the 27th, likely for Hijikata. .  . .
Tumblr media
Meanwhile, Kikuda looks so relaxed . . . . if only he knew!
The chapter then moves back to our injured and recovering group of the remains of team Kiroranke with that of team Tsukishima.  We get some background about the various houses and structures made by the Uilta and Nivhk peoples. 
This then leads into one of the houses.  An entire page is dedicated to the entryway/foyer looking outside.  It shows, a basket (likely used by women for carrying items), wooden containers (maybe for water or milk) and then an empty cradle for a baby.  The final part of the panel focuses on Ogata, alone, lying on a bed, sweating under the covers. 
Tumblr media
No one is attending to him nor is anyone with him.  Ogata lies there alone on a bed of some sort of fur with a fur on top of him as well.  It is hard to tell, but it looks like they may have retied his bandage but he’s sweating like nuts just like when Tanigaki was also poisoned. The visual link to the basket, containers and cradle makes me think Ogata is being linked back to childhood, more specifically his birth or in this case, his likely rebirth.  So many motherly and domestic items are shown that page before a sleeping Ogata who is literally being swaddled.
When they stayed with the Oroks after Ogata shot one of their reindeer, Kiro presented the needles to the mother.  It then shifted to the child in the cradle.
Tumblr media
The story highlights that a woman cared more for her needles than her own child - that sounds harsh but in a way Ogata’s mother cared more for making anglerfish nabe than for him.  I love how while they are chatting Ogata is just there noming away on some bread but it is a very sad saying, and refers to him in a way.  Lastly, that child in the cradle looks pretty similar to Ogata wrapped up in those furs . . .  . the little purrito that he is.
The next panel pans out to show Tsukishima also on a bed but with Tanigaki and Koito sitting in front of him before the fire.  Both men have their backs against the bed/shelf that Tsukishima is on and they are also bundled up in blankets/skins. 
Tumblr media
Koito looks like he’s got a skin similar to the one that Kiro and Ogata were wearing previously.  Based on the angle of their heads, we can see both are looking over at Ogata. 
Tanigaki is the first to speak stating that he wonders why Ogata chose to team up with Kiroranke.  He thinks that Ogata would/could not sympathize with minority populations nor would he want to fight for their independence as Kiro wanted to do. 
Tumblr media
Tanigaki looks so upset when he makes this statement.  Why?  Does he think he misread Ogata?  That he understands him even less?  That he doesn’t have a clue what Ogata is thinking?  Has he made very incorrect assumptions about his motivations and now he’s confused? 
Please note that @goldenkamuyhunting and I had a thread about our thoughts on Ogata being sympathetic to the revolutionary cause here . . .
https://chibivesicle.tumblr.com/post/178614164592/an-odd-thing-i-noticed
We both wondered if Ogata could be mixed-race or that b/c he was ostracized he could connect with the feelings of the native peoples.
Koito simply states that he thought Ogata was in it only for the gold. 
The shot then pans out to show Sugimoto stating that he wished Ogata were only in it for the gold.  That way he could kill Ogata with no regret, but that statement implies that Sugimoto might have an inkling of a feeling that Ogata’s motivations are more complicated than simply getting some of the gold. 
I’ve already written at great length that Ogata likely started out with a goal to get some of the gold and then his goal changed to gaining Asirpa’s trust which would be demonstrated by helping him potentially attain the gold. I also think he is involved in the gold hunt to likely disrupt or foil Tsurumi’s plans  . . . to what end, I’m still unsure.
There is a lot going on here, but first, I’d like to focus on Tanigaki. 
Tanigaki was once an enemy of Asirpa, Sugimoto and Shiraishi.  He used Asirpa as a human shield and he almost died from the amappo (arrow trap).  But Asirpa rescued him and they made a stretcher to take him back to her temporary hunting tent.
Tumblr media
We see their conversation where she tells Sugimoto and Shiraishi that they need to take him back to her kotan to help him rest and heal in a cise.
Tumblr media
Tanigaki pleads for them to leave him but he is overruled and he is taken to Huci’s place.  Here we see Osoma supporting Tanigaki’s head as Huci spoon feeds him.
Tumblr media
Tanigaki was critically injured by a poison arrow trap and he was cared for by the relatives of Asirpa, whom he tried to physically harm.  Tanigaki later refers to himself as one of Huci’s children and accepts the hand mitten thing (which I have no idea what the name is) from Osoma.
But my point is this - Tanigaki was helped and healed by Asirpa’s family when he was lost.  Asirpa later convinces Ogata to help rescue Tanigaki b/c he returned to being a Matagi by saying with Huci.  But did he really?  Tanigaki followed Kiro all that way up to Karafuto to kill him in revenge for stabbing Inkarmat.  Nihei went to a great length to tell Tanigaki to return home to the Matagi and he was given a second chance.  He did not shoot Sugimoto in the head, but he tried to kill Sugimoto and had no qualms with hiding behind Asirpa.  He was sold out by Inkarmat to Tsurumi b/c she thought she was doing the right thing for the Ainu and he asked her about her actions she told him that she was doing what she thought was best.  Ultimately, I think Tanigaki wrote off her reasons or never tried to understand them.  Furthermore, Tanigaki wanted to kill Kiro out of revenge but he never really seemed to understand that Kiro was doing what the thought was right for his people.  Tanigaki is okay with passive native individuals like Huci, Osoma, Inkarmat, Cikapasi but when those individuals exercise some sense of autonomy he sees them as an enemy - in this case Kiro.
Despite the fact that Ogata rescued him from the Ainu during the Anehata arc, he still told Hijikata about his background and sees him only as a killer (which upset Ogata greatly).  He also would not admit to being complicit in the bullying of Ogata in the 27th in Meko Oyasi (ch 169), I don’t think Tanigaki participated in the bullying but he likely let it happen or stayed silent.
It is clear that both Tanigaki and Koito are not pleased that Ogata is being helped but only by the bare essentials.  They didn’t leave him to freeze to death out on the ice.  But Ogata is not getting the first hand attention that Tanigaki got from everyone else when he was healing despite being an enemy.  Is Ogata a worse enemy based on his actions?  Yes. Does that means he should be denied basic human compassion? No.
Koito has made it clear he does not like Ogata and he likely participated in the bullying despite saying he didn’t; he looked at Ogata as only one possible option - greedy for the gold and he has no honor for his father’s status or “suicide”.  The look in his face shows that he really does likely want to kill Ogata and he really wants a simple reason to do so.
Tumblr media
Looking back at Sugimoto, he seems to be gaining a little more insight into Ogata.  Tanigaki isn’t sure why he’d align himself with a revolutionary but maybe Sugimoto is starting to think based on Ogata’s hard to determine goals in combination with his meltdown on ice with Asirpa, that he might be in this crazy quest for the gold for more than that gold.  He’s learned enough to know that he’s an illegitimate child, his mother was referred to as a whore, and he’s a bastard child.  He might begin to recognize that the guy might have had a tough go at times with everyone either attacking him or trying to bully him.  Sugimoto is obviously still angry, livid, and upset and totally wants to KILL Ogata if possible.  But the fact he aligned himself with Kiro and has been bouncing between different groups is perhaps indicating to him that Ogata has a more complex goal than the simple acquisition of the gold (one of those likely looking for a place to belong and to have a leader or mentor).  I hope that Sugimoto is on some level starting to understand that just like his own goal to get the gold to help Umeko has become intertwined with helping Asirpa, that Ogata also has a more complex goal or had a more complex goal before he just lost it. 
I wonder if Sugimoto is even more cautious around Ogata since he knows the “secret” about Umeko from the start.  When they were trying to measure each other up in chapter 5, Ogata asks if Sugimoto is in it only for the gold - and makes it clear this is a dangerous game but he replies it is for the woman he loves making his rationale more complex than just simple greed.  Ogata later calls him about about his motivations in the swamp and it does upset Asirpa even though Sugimoto doesn’t realize it.  Sugimoto is trying to keep his personal goal for the gold separate from the quest with Asirpa, but with them as “partners” they should be more equal in their rationale.
When they were reunited their hands meet on equal levels.  But now that they are back together, Sugimoto has returned to treating her like a kid sister.  After Svetlana and Gansoku depart to head to mainland Russia to make it big (a whole ‘nother story).  Sugimoto tells Asirpa that she needs to return home to Huci healthy.
Tumblr media
Asirpa then looks serious as she asks Sugimoto if Tsurumi will let her return home to the kotan, since everyone knows she’s the key to the gold (and now that she knows the key it is even more important).  Sugimoto simply replies that they’d be stuck with Tsurumi for the time being but once they’ve solved the code it is implied better to the code to go to Tsurumi than to Hijikata’s group.
So right now this implies that Sugimoto is more okay with Tsurumi creating a military dictatorship on Hokkaido than HIjikata’s goal of a free and independent Ezo Republic.  Asirpa then asks Sugimoto why? since Wilk was more than willing to work with Hijikata to create the tattooed skins to save the code for the gold.  Hijikata and Wilk both wanted an independent Hokkaido, Hijikata never completely trusted Wilk but I’m sure Wilk never completely trusted Hijikata either.  But both has/had a more morally “higher ideal” than Tsurumi’s goal to make money off of warfare in the future.  This is very interesting since Sugimoto despite no longer being in the military seems most okay with Tsurumi, an ethnically Japanese military man choosing the fate of Hokkaido.
Sugimoto was not okay with Kiroranke getting the gold for fight for the rights of the native peoples.  Which is independent of Kiro and Ogata stealing Asirpa  away from him.  This then leads to the fact that Sugimoto has now decided to hide his understanding of Wilk’s intentions for Asirpa’s future in the Ainu independence movement etc.  Sugimoto has a flashback to his conversation with Wilk . . . which when he was on the boat heading to Karafuto he told rear admiral Koito he has so much to say to Asirpa and . . . and. . . .
Tumblr media
and . . . in response to Asirpa asking him if her Aca told him anything useful, he says “Nope, nothing.” With a very sinister looking face here . . . as he flat out lies to Asirpa.  You had a very long conversation with Wilk, you were upset that you concluded he was training her to be the Ainu Joan of Arc, which Ogata concluded that she was the “idol” of the Ainu revolutionary movement.
Tumblr media
So after Sugimoto decides to omit the details to Asirpa, she asks what they will do about Tsurumi, Sugimoto then states he doesn’t want to go along with him and he has no intention of being loyal to him but he’s the best bet to solve the gold hunt for the time being.  As far as Asirpa sees it they are back on the same path.
Sugimoto states that they have renewed their partnership as they look at least other with super sparkly eyes.  Asirpa looks very softly up at Sugimoto as he says this.  This is what she would want to hear, that she’s being treated as an adult and a partner again by Sugimoto.
Tumblr media
But the final page of the chapter then ends with Sugimoto looking very severe as he promises himself to find the gold and free Asirpa from this burden.
And at this point, Sugimoto has just thought the same words that Ogata said to Asirpa several chapters ago (185).  He tried to get her to trust him and allow him to find the gold to release her form this crazy quest to allow her to go home to Huci and Osoma.  Except the difference is that Ogata verbally told her this (and currently I still believe he was being truthful in his intentions) while Sugimoto is thinking this but not telling her this.
The irony and parallels of this situation are so obvious.  The difference is that Ogata seems to have started out by being honest and slowly omitting details and then outright lying to get her to trust him.  Sugimoto has Asirpa’s trust so he feels it is okay to lie to her for her own good.  He’s protecting her, and he thinks he knows what is right for her.  These two men are being always set up as two halves of a whole, if you combined them you might get a well balanced individual!  Both men are hurt and incomplete.  Ogata rationalizes his lies were okay b/c all he wanted was Asirpa’s trust eventually and he likely did want her out of the quest for the gold as he learned more about the partisans.  Sugimoto rationalizes his lies as being protective and shows that their partnership is UNEQUAL, he is an adult and she is not and her innocence must be preserved.  At this point, Asirpa deserves to know what Wilk wanted her to do - in a way she knows this - Ogata brought it up to her, she likely isn’t quite ready to face the truth in his statements.
My final comment on this chapter is my disappointment with the resolution of Svetlana.  She goes to Russia with Gansoku and Tsukishima is like “hey, um send a letter to your family.  I emotionally connected with their pain and your pain. . . .”.  Uuuummm okay. . . . That wasn’t what I was expecting from her, maybe Svetlana was a read herring for us readers to think the story would go another direction?  There goes my hope for her to be Tsukishima’s girlfriend but he deserves better!
As far as Shiraishi, I see three possibilities:
1.) He’s deeply in pain over Kiro’s death and is crying or hiding.
2.) He’s drunk.
3.) He’s getting laid.
#2 & #3 would be him trying to run away from #1.  I really hope it is #1.
24 notes · View notes
dreadlock-detective · 6 years
Photo
Tumblr media
Diary Entry List
Whoooooo boy I haven’t updated this since this original post, so to keep things simple I’m just going to plop 4 entries (2-5) into this post after the cut. Middle of the night post, but eh, figure there’s not a large audience for my D&D writing anyway~ Sooo yeah! Cut!
Entry #1 is here 
Entry #2: Soap and Snakes
Geeze, so much has happened I'm already forgetting stuff! Okay, so back to the banquette real quick, because a few more things happened that I totally forgot about somehow! First, there was a representative from Delzimmer there, but they wouldn't help me get a payment sent over to you. They refused to deal with the Barons at all. Not that I can blame them, but it's just like some cushy family in Delzimmer to be as helpful as a bucket of vom. The Soverin... Soveren... Sovereign’s daughter did some kind of magic prophecy reading thing and long story short: something about three shadows of different colors all about horrible things happening... Essmer knows more about it than me. Didn't sound pleasant though. She passed out afterwards too. Sounds bad but I've got enough to worry about at the moment than some spooky divination or whatever. I guess that's the reason I've got this job though so I guess I'm glad she's seeing whatever it is!
It wasn't all doom and gloom though! After the Sovereign and most everyone left the hall Essman and Niles started playing music and Sir Veil asked me to dance! I mean, I have NO idea how to dance in a ballroom, fancy dress, and shoes, but I guess Veil doesn't either so it wasn't TOO embarrassing! Essmer got in with the dancing too after a bit with some dwarf lady who's dad didn't seem too keen on her being around such an old drunk human. It was quite an evening!
The next day we get prepped to head out north into the wilderness towards some old church. The Sovereign's son was our contact to help us. He's... much more what I'd expect from “nobility”. Stuck up, unpleasant, untrusting, and rude. We were able to get some nice horses, a cart, and some basic supplies but he wouldn't so much as help us get medical supplies, saying I am supposed to be able to take care of everyone! I'd be flattered if he actually thought that highly of me, but I'm sure he was just using me as an excuse to be a cheapass. Only towards us lowly commoners of course – didn't see him complaining about the absurd amount of food at the banquet! He's not the only problem though. I swear that Niles is going to be a pain. He had to run out and buy bars upon bars of soap before he'd gallop off into the wilderness! We're not traveling for relaxation! Gods forbid he feel a bit sweaty or dirty! He didn't get any better when he lost his horse- OH! Yeah, okay so how Niles lost his horse!
We were trying to pass a big o' river in our way and Lucan found a nice shallower safe place to cross so we got all ready to go. Lucan led the way across to a sand bar with me, Veil, and Essmer in the cart behind him, with Niles picking up the rear, likely because he was too busy preening himself to keep up. Anyway, the cart just got to the sand bar when I turned around just... saw Niles's hat as he plopped into the river as a MASSIVE snake back arched over him! (I swear Sir Veil heard him and just kept the cart moving until I yelled out about it). So yeah, this HUGE snake, with a mouth the size of Veil's body had a hold of Niles's horse! I hit it with some magic and it was, just, wow, largest living thing I'd ever seen! It nearly killed Sir Veil too! Tried to gobble him up and drag him away! But Sir Veil managed to kill it and claw his way out! I was actually worried for a moment but Sir Veil really can hold his own against monsters. Niles might be worthless and Essmer a drunk but with Lucan leading the way and Sir Veil to fight off anything that comes our way I think we really do have a chance out here!
He and Lucan managed to pull it's giant mass over to the far bank of the river and Lucan and I helped Lucan cut it up and dried out as much of it as we could! It's at least a week or more's worth for all five of us! Maybe if this doesn't pan out we can turn to hunting river snakes or something. Niles's horse didn't make it though, and he was super moody the whole rest of the way to the church. Guess that soap can't wash away his screw ups~! We're at the old church now – some old orc lady seems to be in charge here. Guess we'll be helping out around here for the moment. More on that after it happens I suppose!
Love ya!
Entry #3: Sheep Eaters
It'll be hard to sleep after tonight so I guess I may as well stay up and write a bit. Um. I guess I'll start with the reason for that and then end on a happier note. Maybe that'll help. But anyway, short version is we left the church outpost to look for a roaming shepherd who had complained about his animals being killed in the night – stripped down to the bone without a sound. Well, we found him and stayed up all night to watch his sheep and GUESS WHAT, WE FOUND THE PROBLEM. Giant. Bugs. Centipede or Millipede or something. Horrible things! Borrowing up from the ground! They came up everywhere! Their bite had some sort of paralyzing venom in it! You couldn't feel a thing! That's why the sheep never made a noise as they got eaten alive! Same thing nearly happened to Niles and Lucan too! And me! Thankfully Sir Veil was behind me and saw the one that had crawled up my back! Lucan got bit pretty bad but Sir Veil and I were around to help him. Niles though, he nearly didn't live through it! Thankfully I had just enough energy left to blast the last one off him before it could finish him off. Didn't have anything left to actually heal him up afterwards, but better than dead. Essmer got bit up too but not enough to take him down, thankfully.
That was terrifying. I don't really feel like sleeping anymore.
But on to the less horrible bits... not exactly pleasant ones but are less likely to give me nightmares. I went out scouting alone with Lucan for a day. First time I had been separated from Sir Veil in a while. Was kind of nice to remember I can still survive just fine without him watching out for me all the time. I screwed up bad though! I got excited since Lucan is also elf blooded so I asked him about his parents and... well... they're dead. The whole rest of the day was awkward after that. I'm such an idiot! And we didn't find what we were looking for, but we did find the tracks for that shepherd we followed later. The only other major thing I can think of to talk about is the big cat the store owner at the church had! Not sure what it was really but it was huge! Seemed to be fond of Sir Veil. He really is just a large weird kitty man! Growled like a demon when the rest of us went near it though! Niles tried to use some kind of magic on it and the shopkeep nearly slit his throat for it! She and Sir Veil insisted I try to pet the cat too... thought it was going to rip my face clean off... apparently it's just some game the shopkeeper lady taught it to do! I thought I was going to die! That's not a funny joke to play on someone!
Okay no thinking about that did not make sleeping any more appealing, really... I think the rest of them are looking to take on a group of bandits that have been harassing the church lately next. Not sure how many of them there are and I'm worried we're going to get in over our heads but I guess I'd rather fight some thugs than those bugs again. And now I'm thinking about the bugs again. Great. This hasn't helped at all. I'm done for tonight...
Entry #4: -
I'm not sure I want to write down how I feel about the last few days... But I want to keep this up to date so I'll at least talk about part of it. The shortest version is, I was very, very wrong before. Those bugs were not worse than fighting bandits. I mean, they honestly were probably a bigger threat but... watching bugs get smashed isn't nearly the same as it happening to people...
We found the trail of the bandits easily enough thanks to Lucan but he noticed the fresher set of tracks was headed back down south towards the church. Naturally we couldn't let the church go undefended so we took off after them and caught up to them earlier than we expected. They ambushed us in the tall grass with a few dogs and five or so men but they didn't put up too much of a fight. I focused on keeping people alive while the rest made pretty short work of them until their boss (some fatter man) came into view with a larger crossbow and fired a bolt straight into my shoulder. That, of course, got Veil rather upset but before he could do anything I went to fire a blast of radiant energy back at the man! It... behaved strangely. The glowing light slowed, dimmed, and burst into blackness! I tried to wander out of it but I couldn't find the end of it! I was beginning to think I had actually blinded myself when Essmer managed to dispell it with his glowing magical rock thing he made! By then the rest of the fight was over... I'm not terribly sure what happened but Essmer went off into the grass towards the rest of the noise and next I knew they were dragging the body of the bandit leader with them, now with most of his head caved in and a gaping wound in his chest.
We opted to head back north rather than return to the church for the night. Not a great idea, turns out, as rhinos of all things showed up and stomped out our camp fire and wrecked a bunch of our stuff. Especially Niles' tent. Thankfully they left without any major damage. The next day's travel we could see this gigantic tree off in the distance for the longest time. Before we slept, Veil and Lucan ran ahead to check out the tree, since that was an obvious place for a bandit camp. They didn't return until nearly the end of my shift on watch well into the night, exhausted and bleeding – the tree was a massive illusion that covered not just the tree but the area around it! Where the tree itself was stood a large watchtower and around it was a few cabins. Veil had broken the illusion when he got up to touch the tree and got shot with an arrow for his efforts. The two fled and ran in circles the rest of the night to throw any pursuers off their trail. When they got back they quickly passed out from exhaustion.
The next morning we went to attack as a group. Lucan snuck in first but was spotted and rushed out only for the rest of us to rush in. Niles, surprisingly, led the charge, ignoring the forward guards and their dogs and went straight for the tower! As for the rest of it, I'd honestly not like to write about. It was... barbaric. We all came out of it fine enough but... I don't know... it wasn't what I expected...
Entry #5: Sanguacon
It’s been some time since my last entry. The battle isn’t quite as distant a memory as I wish it was, but the fear has died down a bit at least. We found plenty of supplies in the camp so it was decided two of us should head back to the church to let them know and return with horses while the others stayed back to watch the camp for other bandits. Sir Vale suggested we be the two to go… I wasn’t really feeling up to it, after everything, but I didn’t have it in me to argue so, away we went. There and back was a full week of travel, so it was a lot of time together. It was pretty awkward at first but… one night, the “Sanguacon” found us. The thing the sheep herder thought was attacking his flock originally. It was supposed to be a legend.
Snuck right up on me while I was on watch and got a good bite on my shoulder before I even knew what was happening - spun around to see this massive… THING! It was taller than Sir Vale, super bulky, with stumpy little arms and legs. Like some freakish fat bunch of flesh just globbed together and became some horrible freak! It definitely drank my blood too, and I felt weak after it. Thankfully my scream woke up Sir Vale and he rushed over to fight it bare handed. It got a good bite on him but Sir Vale, for some reason, bit him back. Tasted like death, apparently. I lit up its back with my magic which it really, REALLY didn’t like but instead of fighting us further it plopped away before poofing into mist. Nothing left. No trial, no body, nothing. It was pretty crazy scary to be sure. Where it bit us the wounds don’t seem to be properly healing over even with magic. You can still see where it got us. But as scary as it was, seeing Vale fight it… it’s hard to imagine much being scarier than the thought of being on the other end of his rage… I think I’m starting to understand something though. We’ll see if it pans out later I guess.
Aside from that run in with a myth the trip was otherwise pretty dull. The people at the church were amazingly happy to hear the bandits were dead though! They had a super huge drinking party to celebrate. Pretty sure they all felt that in the morning…Trip back was a little more lively, since we had two ladies from the church with us and didn’t run into any trouble. Apparently the camp had been just as dull - after the week of traveling we did, Esmer, Niles, and Lucan looked bored out of their minds when we got there. As it turns out we couldn’t fit everything onto one wagon and though we had two the others had found other trails away from the bandit camp so we decided to try to follow those and leave one of the carts there.
And that’s where we’ve been for days. Just… out… on a path in the middle of all this grass. It goes on forever in every direction. We came to a fork in the path. Chose to go straight north as we had been instead of northwest. Got attacked by a flock of huge crazy birds because THIS PLACE IS JUST THE WORST and all the animals here want us dead. And just after that we came to another fork… this one continuing north and the other going southwest… so they’ve decided we should abandon our current path and see where the two side ones meet up.
I can’t help but think, if Vale had just listened - if he hadn’t murdered that last bandit - we might already know where we were going. We may have been able to prepare. We could have set out instead of heading back to the church. Could have saved nearly two weeks of wandering around in this sea of grass.
I’m starting to miss the muddy dumps of Delzimmer somehow… And I miss you too, Dad. Hopefully I can make it through this in one piece and work up enough gold to get you out again.
Until then!
23 notes · View notes
raendown · 7 years
Text
Lightning Strikes
12:45 AM counts as being August 1st. I’m awake and I’m posting.
First story for KakaSaku month! I used the theme myth/fairytale au.
Summary: When the lightning strikes, Sakura catches it.
Under the cut or on AO3!
There was a legend in the small village where she grew up that if you found the lightening and held it in your hand, it would never let you go. Sakura thought that sounded nice even if she wasn’t sure what it meant. No one did, really. The legend was so old that even the elders couldn’t remember its origins. It was only a myth nowadays, a tale told to children as a bedtime story.
It went something like this:
In the deepest part of the forest rose a tall hill, the tallest hill in all of Fire Country until you reached the mountains to the North. When the night turned dark and stormy and thunder rumbled across the sky, that was when the lightening came down. It always struck the same spot, only ever the top of that tall hidden hill. If one could find that hill and climb it, if one could catch the lightening as it came down and hold it tightly, the lightening would somehow mark you as its own. Then forever after that the lightening would come at your call.
Little pink haired Sakura had no siblings and no friends. Her parents had died when she was too young to remember how it happened. She grew up in an orphanage, listening to tales of the lightening and always getting stuck on that one line. Only the Matron of the orphanage ever phrased it that way but the idea that the lightning would ‘never let her go’ was an inspiration to a lonely little girl.
Sakura was seventeen when her village was attacked. The night was dark and stormy and thunder rumbled across the sky. Fires lit the darkness and choked her breath with black smoke as she and the other street waifs scrambled desperately through alleyways and back streets, fear driving them forward. She had seen bandits and warriors before. She had never seen the likes of those who stalked among the fires that night. The painted masks they wore dehumanized them, made them appear as demons striking from the shadows, raining wanton destruction upon the homes of the innocent citizens.
She escaped her village alone. Sakura was one of the fastest runners in their little community and she gained the dubious safety of the forest before any had spotted her pounding across the dark fields. As she rushed over the damp loam and crashed through the reaching branches of the twisted black trees, Sakura began to weep. She didn’t have much in life – didn’t have anything, in fact. The only thing she had ever had was a village to call home. Now that home burned behind her, the screams of people she had known her whole life rising in the air as she fled. She wept for those who had never shed a tear for her, mourning the passing of lives who had taken no noticed of her own.
The forest seemed to grow darker and the air almost fuzzy the longer Sakura ran. She could feel the hairs trying to stand up on her arms but she did not stop, only hurled herself farther, deeper. Her tears blinded her until she almost missed what was right in front of her. She nearly stumbled before slowing to a stop, marveling at the sight before her eyes.
The hill was indeed massive. She might have called it a cliff if one side were shorn off but the word simply didn’t seem to fit, not when the hill was so perfect symmetrical on all sides, rising out of the ground like an earthen swell. No rock nor tree dared defile the perfect smoothness of its shape. Sakura admired it for a few brief seconds before the taste of the salt in her tears reminded her of why she had come here, why she had fled in to the forest to find this awesome sight. She looked upwards, seeing the flickering of light within the inky clouds above her. The legends came to her mind then, the myths she had devoured as a child and could still recite by heart.
With a choked cry Sakura lunged forward. The hill was steep and she found herself climbing on all fours, hands scrabbling in the dirt as she fought desperately on. It seemed to take forever. Her feet slipped on the dewy grass and her fingers cut themselves on the earth but she never paused.
When she hauled herself up on to the very peak the air felt strangely charged. Her hair was rising from her head and her mouth flooded with a metallic taste. As she rose to her full height she heard a buzzing sound in her ear, a ringing she felt as if she had heard before in half forgotten dreams. Sakura blinked and it felt as if she were moving in slow motion. As her eyes opened she saw it begin – the lightening was striking. This was her chance.
The charge in the air reached a peak, humming in perfect synchronicity with the buzzing in her ears and Sakura knew without knowing how she knew. The moment simply felt right. As thunder shattered the air Sakura reached towards the sky and in that same moment the heavens struck down with a single bolt of brilliant light. It came for her, aiming straight and true. Still seeing time move so strangely slow, Sakura watched the lightning as it raced down to her and she stretched her fingers towards it, reaching, reaching.
It struck. For a moment she felt too hot, too bright, too full. Surely this was what dying felt like. Then she felt fingers slid in to her palm and a hand grasped her own. Her eyes refocused to see something she had never expected: the shape of a man hidden within the lightening. He seemed to draw the power back from her until she no longer felt as if she were going to fly apart.
The flash of lightning faded and time seemed to move naturally again. As the light dimmed it seemed to retreat until it was contained within the man who held her hand. He had appeared almost upside down but now he slowly rotated in the air and floated down until his feet barely brushed the grass in front of her. Sakura stared at him with wide eyes, strangely unafraid.
“Well look at you.” His voice was the booming of thunder, contained to a manageable decibel. “You’ve caught the lightning in your hand. But why do you cry, human?”
“My village…they destroyed it.” Her mind seemed fogged and yet crystal clear. She couldn’t believe this was happening, was helpless to do anything but answer the being’s question. Light flickered beneath his skin in random patterns, as if he was the lightning which had struck her.
“Who has done this?” he asked. His words were calm but there was an edge of steel in his voice which flooded her mouth with the taste of metal again. The hairs on her arms rose again as she answered.
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “They had masks. They looked like demons.”
The man smiled and the flashing behind his teeth made his grin wicked. He seemed to drag through the air, bringing their bodies closer together and taking her other hand in his. Sakura felt as if the brilliance he had retrieved from her were flowing back and forth between them now, their joined hands creating a full circuit for the power to run around.
“You hold the lightning now,” he told her through his bared teeth. “How will you wield me?”
Sakura thought about it for a moment. Wield him? She wondered what his powers were, what he could do. Her poor, fragile human heart had a different question first, however.
“If I let go of your hand, will you leave?” Had she only captured him for a short time? Would he go if she let him?
“I have waited a long time for you, my Bearer. I will never let you go.” The sharp edge of his smile somehow looked not out of place below the softness of his eyes and the fondness with which he looked at her. Sakura couldn’t help but smile, tears drying on her cheeks.
“Never,” she whispered. He nodded.
“Now. Wield me. Show me the demons that I may strike them.”
Sakura nodded and reluctantly let go of one of the being’s hands. The feeling of power surging through their connection faded away and she sighed in disappointment. Just as she moved to turn away and lead him back to where she had come from, Sakura realized something. She stopped and faced his curious expression.
“What’s your name?” she asked. He blinked at her in surprise.
“I am Raikiri, the Lightning Cutter. I do not have a name. You may give me one, if you wish, so long as you give me yours in return.”
“My name is Sakura,” she said. “Hmm…I think…your name is…Kakashi!” He blinked slowly, then brought his free hand up to trace it slowly down one side of her face. It left a burning tingle in its wake which she found oddly pleasant instead of painful.
“A good name,” he rumbled. “I will cherish it. As you shall cherish the mark I gift to you. You now belong to me, Sakura, as I now belong to you.”
Sakura bought her hand up to touch the place where his finger had touched her face. His power seemed to crackle under her skin along the path his finger had taken and she wondered what it would look like if she saw herself in a mirror. Beautiful, doubtlessly.
Without further words, Sakura turned to lead Kakashi down the hill and back towards her dying village.
A new legend was born that day.  The legend of the Lightning Bearer. It was said that she held the lightning in her fists, wielding it against those who would cause harm to innocent people. The legend spoke of the brand on her face that lit the night sky, shining with the power she struck with, and the unholy calm in her eyes, the peace in her expression as the lightning raised the hair from her shoulders to float in the air around her.
They called her a goddess but Sakura knew better. She was more lucky than that. Instead she had taken the hand of a god. And neither one of them had ever let go.
109 notes · View notes
firjii · 6 years
Text
DAI fanfic: “Brittle Eyes, Brittle Dreams” - part 1
SFW, minor brief language
Ace Solavellan
Words: 2,458
I originally wanted to wait until this was finished because it's not meant to be a book-length thing, but IMO it’s getting too long to be a one-shot item at this point. Any future portions I post beyond this will actually be part of the same extended scene (my writing style just doesn’t have fast pacing).
Angsty/gritty. Set after JoH but before the Temple of Mythal. A mage Lavellan in a state of shock returns to Skyhold after a tough mission. She is straining under crippling self-doubt and a colorful past.
She didn’t waver as Skyhold’s gates opened. Her chin was staunch and stalwart. Her eyes shone, but so did every other soldier’s against the stiff winds. Her hands were quiet fists in bulky gloves, clenched to conserve their warmth as much as to keep them from shaking. One huddled mass looked much the same as another to a tower guard. It was nothing noteworthy. It was nothing strange.
Her shoulders were hunched, as ever, but anyone glancing at her wouldn’t have seen the convulsions. They were disguised too well. She had borrowed another soldier’s armor that very morning, knowing that Inquisition scouts were so prodigious at clearing the mountain paths that she wouldn’t need the best of armor for the final leg of the journey. The set she’d chosen was two sizes too large and made of thick plate, nothing at all like the delicate scales of her favored equipment. The extra metal set a chill in her core, but it almost completely concealed her shaking – and, despite its extra weight, it was stiff enough to keep her standing upright, a proposal which would have otherwise proven challenging.
In the main courtyard, sentries coming and going from watches or missions observed the usual courtesies as she passed by, but she hardly acknowledged them. No matter. Every able body who had managed to return with her was in the same general state of dumbfounded weariness. As she shuffled through the great hall, the lingering smells of a hearty supper only served to turn her stomach further. Each crackle of each inviting hearth and torch only made her twitch and flinch on this night. The vibrant hues cast by the flames did little to brighten her ashen face. Her heavy plate boots – also borrowed, though for the purely practical reason of support for a sprained ankle – imposed a grim, echoing patter through the hall.
She abandoned the idea of scaling her private stairwell in armor when her foot buckled after just three steps. She tugged her gloves off with her teeth, which only made her gums ache when she accidentally bit down on metal instead of leather. Her fingers shakily plucked at straps on the boots, which she heaved against the wall with a clatter when she was finally free of them. The process to remove the remainder of the armor was similarly lengthy. Her face was flushed by the time she completed the ritual. Her nose reddened. She sat in silence, momentarily satisfied that she had at least found a solitary corner to retreat to.
She stayed fixed in place for an hour. Finally craving her quarters and a more hospitable material than ancient stones to lean her head against, she managed to scale an entire flight of stairs before pausing again. She struggled on as far as the forgotten Red Templar banner, the one whose presence utterly baffled everyone in Skyhold, including her. She watched it flutter slightly in an invisible draft, transfixed by the color otherwise absent in the passageway.
Her ankle actively throbbed. She sat again and sobbed, but it gave way to something else when her throat was raw enough.
She slept.
                                               * * *
“There must be easier ways to bring discomfort on yourself.”
She jerked awake and reflexively gasped at the sound of a voice – any voice. She drew a few chaotically rapid breaths before she fully processed the face before her. “Who told you where I was?” she rumbled.
Solas kept a neutral look, though the light in his eyes seemed to shift to something still and careful. “No willing person would choose such a place for sleep without a reason.”
She blinked, slow to realize both the apparent passage of time and her place within it. “And what about you? It’s an ungodly hour for anyone but a bandit.”
He moved his gaze down to his feet as he plucked his way up the steps. “My experiences have shown me that sleep and rest are two very different things.” He carefully sat down opposite her. “No warrior easily finds either after a skirmish, short of complete exhaustion.”
His bright eyes were a mismatch to his serene face. His relaxed sitting posture contradicted his perfectly-squared shoulders, ever assertive. She observed the unlikely combination for a moment. “Even exhaustion can keep you awake if you’re tired enough.”
He watched her stiffly shift against the wall. “You were wounded.”
“Everyone was.” She gestured weakly to her face, to dozens of glancing nicks along her jawbone and a mild burn on an ear. “It’s not bad. Most saw worse.”
“And your ankle?”
She glanced down, slightly sheepish. She shook her head. “I was stupid. I tripped and fell. I wasn’t used to the new stave. The weighting’s wrong.”
“Staying in a cold corner like this one will only worsen an injury.”
She drew a heavy breath. “It’s alright. I’ve had worse. They already did what they could.”
He watched her amicably for a moment. “With your permission – I could do more.”
“No. It’s alright.” She cringed away. “Don’t.”
His eyes flashed. “Do you enjoy letting something blind your judgment?”
She shrugged. “It’s easy to endure pains you can prove.”
“I doubt that the poor in Kirkwall or slaves in Tevinter would say the same.”
She ran a distracted hand through her sweat-dulled hair. “We’re all slaves to something.”
His forehead constricted a fraction, though she didn’t see it. “I know. Let me break those chains.”
“It’s not about my damned foot,” she huffed. Her voice held a strangled quality.
“Then let me remedy it so you might focus on your true problems.”
She held her head as she propped her elbows on her knees. “Alright,” she finally muttered. She straightened. “Fine.”
He removed both layers of her third-hand socks and brushed off the dirt and grime that had somehow snuck into the impenetrable-looking plate boots. He peered at the swelling at length, analyzing each vein and tendon. She cast her gaze away determinedly. “You’re not as hurried as the field surgeons. Were you ever a healer?”
He ignored her at first, too intent to speak. “One who has been out alone in the world must know a little of everything.”
She winced when he checked a bruise on her heel, but his tone drew her eyes onto him. “And what do you know?”
He stopped his work. “We will not stop Corypheus tonight or even tomorrow. You should not try to tell yourself otherwise, especially when you only have one sound foot to stand on.”
In her dazed, pained state – though his quiet magic was correcting the swelling even as he spoke – it took her a protracted interval to realize that the advice was, perhaps, partially a joke. She tried to smile but managed little more than a grimace.
He returned his attention to her ankle. “No wonder. You dislocated it as well as sprained it.”
“I know. They set it back into place.”
“Yes, and then they very likely redoubled the problem by making you walk several miles through slippery mountain passes,” he lilted. His chipper scorn barely aimed past her.
“Mountain fortresses aren’t meant to be found.”
He made the smallest noise of neutral, distracted agreement. A glow slowly formed around his hands, green like the Anchor’s light but somehow less – unnatural. He murmured spell words, though so quietly that he scarcely made more noise than a few random consonants. His eyes narrowed a fraction, peering at her as if unable to see her correctly. His face quietly lit up. “You dislike the damp inside Skyhold.”
“Anyone would. It gets into your bones if you’re not careful.”
“Of course. You are unused to great buildings.”
She snorted. “I’m unused to trekking miles up stairs just to get to my own bed.”
“I have no doubt that any soldier or scout in Skyhold would have lent you–”
“It wouldn’t be any good,” she snapped with a jabbing wag of her head. She closed her eyes and sighed. “It’s as you said. I won’t sleep properly tonight. I only want the quiet. I can’t get that with dozens of people nattering on a few yards away.”
“Adamant upset you.”
She focused her tired face back onto his and frowned. “What’s that to do with it?”
“Everything, I suspect.” He hooked one eyebrow up a fraction as a ghost of a smile tugged at one corner of his mouth, but both gestures soon evaporated. “Since then, you stay outside as much as possible. I sometimes think that you want to be sure that we escaped the Fade by checking if the sky is the correct color.”
Her eyes darkened. “You never say what you mean. Speak your damned mind for once.”
“Would you like to check it again – now?”
“Check what?”
He smiled in earnest and dipped his chin down. “The sky, vhenan.”
Vhenan. The tiny word softened her face, as if it made her remember something equally elusive and reviving. “It’s nighttime.”
“Then it should be all the easier to see if anything is amiss. The raw Fade is vivid and strange no matter the time of day.”
“Don’t be stupid.”
“Was that not what you planned to do?”
She rubbed her eyes and huffed, but she considered the offer soberly. “Help me up.” Even without armor, she stood heavily as he braced her lame side. He ably harmonized his sound steps with her timid ones as they ascended the final stairs, even when she abruptly paused several times for breath.
“Are you still in pain?”
“It’s just the memory of falling. It knocked the wind out of me.” She chuckled weakly. “I always remember the way I earned a bruise better than the pain from one.”
They mastered the final stone steps. He spied a multicolored stole on a table – one of many tokens from the Avvar for thwarting Hakkon – and snatched it up as the two tottered past. He opened a balcony door for her, but she suddenly removed her arm from his shoulder and stubbornly limped the few remaining steps to go outside. She clumsily eased herself down against a pillar. He draped the stole around her, taking an unusual length of time for the task. She nodded blandly and tugged the stole tighter. He sat next to her but noted her irregular shaking – which had persisted since she had woken – and thought the better of embracing her.
“The snow has its own glow at night,” she muttered. “I forgot about that.” She chuckled soundlessly and tightly. “Isn’t that silly? We spend half our time in Skyhold, but I still don’t remember everything about the place.”
“We often ignore what is nearest to our faces.”
“Does that make us foolish or stupid?”
“Neither. It only means that we constantly adjust to circumstances.”
She sighed. After a long moment, she leaned against his side – barely. “Everything always circles around on itself, doesn’t it?” she muttered. “Sooner or later, we always find the same paths and the same markers as everyone who came before us. The paths might look a little different, but you can’t avoid them – not really. They’re the only choice.”
A muffled but musical whir of mountain gusts echoed out for a long moment while they both stared at the snow, made all the more brilliant that night by the full moon.
She ground her jaw. “I can’t ignore it anymore.”
Solas crinkled his face at the remark and glanced at her only to find her tired stare fixed firmly on mountain peaks. “None of us can.”
She sneered. “You don’t even know what I mean.”
“I know your frustration. What else is there to understand?”
She shivered and leaned a little harder into his side. “I don’t mind being something different than what I began as. I just don’t want that to be less.”
“You –” He swallowed his words and shook his head gently. “That will never happen.”
“You were there. You heard what Ameridan said.”
“The Avvar siege was the most difficult since Haven. You took his words too harshly in the heat of battle fatigue–”
“He couldn’t even stand,” she cut over him. “You saw him. That’s all that was left. He was alone for centuries. Who knows what he thought while he was there? No one should have to sacrifice so much and be remembered for so little. The world almost lost him.”
“Do you expect to be forgotten after all this?”
Her head lowered abruptly, as if a drug had overwhelmed her waking senses. Her shoulders rounded forward, just as they had done upon returning to Skyhold. “He knew. Things weren’t the same for him, but –” Her jaw clenched. “Everything’s been a blur since this started. Either I don’t know what to do and I need to defer to others or I know exactly what to do but can’t. When I saw him, I saw myself.”
“Is that such an evil thing? He was an honorable man.”
“We’ve recruited dozens of agents and thousands of soldiers. None of them ever made me think about it. When you’re all thrown together because the world’s gone to hell, it’s easy to stop seeing yourself. But Ameridan –” Her lip curled. “He made me look. He made me see it.”
Solas finally stared at her.
Her face was slick. Her chin jittered. Her eyes were cavernous. She didn’t look at him – not even a glance.
His far hand clenched and unclenched. It moved several inches above the ground, but his elbow was an immobilizing splint. He let his hand rest back on the stone slabs again.
A single sniffle escaped her. “It doesn’t matter about being chosen. It matters because everyone will suffer if I can’t get this sorted. And if I can’t, it won’t matter. We won’t matter.” Her face crimped, but her sobs were silent and dragging, like the breath inside her was insufficient for the act.
His far hand conducted the same argument with itself a second time. He looked away and frowned before his head bobbed back in her direction. As if in care of an ancient scroll, he took the closer of her hands in his. His other hand soon joined it. She scarcely reacted. “I doubt that Ameridan’s words drove you here.”
“Why?” Her single word held the stretched singsong of barely-restrained collapse.
“You let the most important ones drift away.”
She set a keen glare on him, but it wavered when he met it with quietude.
“‘Take moments of happiness where you find them. The world will take the rest.’” He squeezed her hand.
She went a long moment without blinking as her mouth curled into a grimace. “It already did.” She limply removed her hand from his.
5 notes · View notes
reinbowcat96 · 6 years
Note
Fanfic Ask Game: D (Fly Away), F, I, L, M, N, Q, S, and T.
D: Fly Away actually does have quite a bit associated with it, but it’s been ongoing for so long I can only tell you the ones I remember, whoops. I know the Wind Waker end credits medley has always been a MAJOR source of inspiration for Fly Away. I can listen to it and envision perfectly the events of the story going along with it. The title itself actually comes from... was it an ending? Or an opening? Whatever the case, Eureka 7 has a song associated with it called Fly Away, and I had an association with the sound of it to this story. That’s all I can really remember now at the moment, unfortunately. ^^;
F: “We need to talk.” She said irritably.“So talk.” He replied just as irritably.“I can’t marry you.”“If you don’t you can be sure that Hyrule won’t be as prosperous as it is now.”“See? That’s why I can’t marry you – this is not how healthy relationships work!”He forked an eyebrow as he smirked. “It almost sounds like you want a relationship.”“And maybe I do!” She snapped, ignoring her reddening face. “Maybe I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re not as horrible as I initially thought and I might consider – might – that having some sort of relationship with you isn’t so hideous a prospect!”While Vaati’s expression seemed relatively unchanged, his thought process couldn’t be guessed by Zelda. He simply stayed in that unreadable state for a few moments before finally saying, “Won’t your beau in green have an issue with that?”“He’s not my beau!” The princess practically shouted. “Aside from being my best friend, he’s my cousin! That would be gross! Of course, that also means I really don’t want you killing him either!”I’m not formatting that properly, lol. Sorry. I have complicated feelings on Reversal as whole. On the one hand it was fun to write, on the other practically zero effort was put into it and it remains one of my most popular stories and that kinda pisses me off. But man oh man, did I love writing them backsass each other all the time. And that’s literally it, I just liked the backsass. XD
I: Blinda. BlindZelda. I love it. And it doesn’t exist. -sad trombone- ASIDE FROM THAT, I really actually enjoy twisted hatemances, like people who are obviously not good for each other at all and maybe some dubcon but uh... That’s just my guilty pleasure. I also really like fluff for certain pairings. Whoda thunk it? And something else I love that I never see anywhere: CLOSE PLATONIC RELATIONSHIPS. sjkhvhsjbdshj love them
L: Ehehehehe... Hardly ever. If at all. I write it, and that’s it. Generally, nothing plotwise ever changes, so no heavy revisions. Things like corrections in grammar and whatnot also usually don’t get fixed until later, but Im trying to be better about it these days. All in all, nothing really ever gets revised, and I’ll go over a chapter about maybe once or twice before posting it.
M: Blinda fic taking place post Botw in which Zelda, moving on after realizing Link does not share her romantic feelings, now has to deal with more than just the remnants of monster tribes in Hyrule, due to human on human crime going on. She eventually meets the leader of the bandit group, one Blind, upon which the two decide some teamwork is in order - because Blind has what Zelda doesn’t: A functioning and united society. They butt heads a lot due to differing ideologies, and then something else pops up and they gotta teamowork more to take it down - stuff like that. A friendship that grows to mutual affection, type of thing. Another premise is some more botw shenanigans, this time featuring my version of Link, who is a robot that knows only how to murder, struggling how to tell Paya and/or Sidon he has feelings for them. the only way he knows how to show affection to them is by presenting them with the heads of their enemies.
N: I would never want anyone else to finish my stories. They’d get them wrong. :
Q: I don’t feel any which way about them? I’ve never really been in a true collaboration, but I get the feeling I’d be very hard to work with. I don’t really like compromise in how I characterize certain characters. >>;
S: Tsunderes, hate to love, slow burns... Im sure there are more but i can’t think of any off the top of my head.
T: Get high school AUs out of my fucking face. In fact, get all AUs out of my face unless they somehow actually do relate to the elements of the original source material, cause otherwise you have no excuse not to be writing an original story. :
1 note · View note
Photo
Tumblr media
Atypical
Sigh.
Where do I even begin with this? So, Netflix wants everyone to believe that all autistic people are these violent monsters, prone to rape, stalking, physical abuse, and worse. That might be true of manipulative sociopaths, but usually autistic people just mind their own business and don't make a habit of punching women. I want to just point out that from the autistic people I've spoken with who've been involved in long-term, loving relationships versus the neurotypicals I know who break up every three months or so? Yeah. And is it autistic people who're the people you usually find involved in domestic abuse statistics? No.
This is the kind of thing that plays on my mind's desire to be tribalistic. I have to take a very, very deep breath and remind myself that whilst it's true that some neurotypicals can be vapid, hollow-minded, manipulative, borderline, and nauseatingly parasitic, that's not really true of the majority.
I want to think that. I have to. I can't keep falling prey to the kind of tribalism that results in these smears being used against us. It's the golden rule. So, do the sordid examples of humanity responsible for Atypical fit the descriptors above? Yeah. I'd say that's true of the actors, too, for going along with it. Is this true of most people? Nah. And yes, there are autistic people who can be like that too. The problem is is that reality can be twisted by the 'default state.'
This is something I've talked about at length. At length. And I'm going to again. I'll do it until I'm blue in the face. I'll do it until I die. I'm sick of it. It's such an innate flaw with teh human condition. I actually think we need an AI to conquer and nanny us because we can't get over something so easily conquered. If I can be aware of it and fight it, why can't others? Why would a show like this ever make it to Netflix? I'm not being unfair, I don't think. Do you remember the premiere of 'Neurotypicals,s' a series about the self-proclaimed "beautiful" zombie-vampires who prey on the unwitting by being degenerate manipulators? I didn't think so. That's because that never happened, of course.
And yet here we are, Atypical. A show that's doing basically that with autistic people, putting every horrible autistic stereotype front and centre. And why aren't we getting 'Neurotypicals?' That's because neurotypicals are the 'default state,' the correct way of being. That's how they view themselves, because they're taught to think that way, and they don't realise why it's wrong. That's why we have entitled white men who think that prejudice is 'those filthy plebeians who talk about me behind my back.'
This reminds me of Dreamfall Chapters.
I had a lot of faith in Ragnar before this happened. I still remember just how disappointed I felt in him. I wasn't angry. It was just sad. What did he do, what did Dreamfall do? It had a scene where someone was verbally stripped down and abused for being autistic. Ragnar's excuse? "If people in the real world can be so terrible, so can people in believable stories. Grow a spine!"
Lovely fellow. I really had more faith in him than that. You see, the problem was actually not that the prejudice was there in the first place, but the self-congratulatory air with which it happened.
No one called it out, there was no one to chide the abuser and speak up against a rather obvious social faux pas and taboo. It normalised ableism and made it appear okay, normal, and acceptable. It no doubt made ableists happy, to feel normalised by this game. That's just sick. What was Ragnar's response? He knew that this was the reason that people were objecting, but he stuck to his original argument and spammed it across the Internet in the hopes it would just go away. Eventually, of course, it did. Mostly because Dreamfall Chapters was a massive disappointment in and of itself, as a package, going far beyond just the autistic slight. It was forgettable, so I suppose that's a small blessing.
The thing is? This kind of thing keeps happening. Now it's happening with Atypical, which Netflix thinks is okay. Would Netflix have greenlit 'Neurotypicals,' do you think? I don't think so.
No, autistic people have to deal with this shit all the time. Frankly, looking at the current climate, things haven't improved much since I was young. And when I was young I was physically abused beyond measure just for being autistic. I think that things for autistic people right now are worse even than for people of colour and women. It's unfortunate that I have to say that, but look up the Judge Rotenberg Center and tell me I'm entirely off the mark. In fact, have a read of this letter.
When was the last time this happened to a neurotypical? And this is what fires my brain to get tribal about it, to despise neurotypicals. Because NTs are blind to this, because they never take notice, because they think it's funny and cute to take the piss out of autistic people? It creates this division, this tribalism, and it's really difficult to fight it. It feels like a one-sided fight. I feel that, as an autistic person, I am fighting my own mind -- day in, day out -- to not despise neurotypicals. And every day I see new examples of neurotypicals abusing us, treating us like shit, or just having a 'good old laugh' at our expense.
It's really tiring, you know?
The whole 'default state' thing sickens me. If you're white, healthy, cishet, privileged, good for you! You're the 'default state,' you're neurotypical, you're 'normal!' That's great! Now look around you and see how many people are weaponising that to make the lives of others miserable. I'm so detached from humanity that I've even become sensitive to the prejudices in fantasy settings, which I've discussed in prior posts. Often I feel more sympathy for and open empathy towards non-humans than humans.
The humans in fantasy settings just always come across as the abusive, nasty examples I've had to deal with all my life. The non-humans feel like autistic people, persons of colour, and those others who're outside of the 'default state.' I mean, when a neuronormative person who's a part of the 'default state' and not aware of it, when they look at a picture of a bunch of 'heroes' ganging up on a dragon, it comes across as 'epic,' to them, it's 'heroic.'
I see a bunch of looters and bandits, who've burst into someone's home with murder in their eyes. I see the dragon as someone who's found themselves in a position where they have to defend themself against invaders, against people who'd kill them for no reason other than that they're a dragon. That makes me feel a little ill. This is the world I live in, where even fantasy prejudice affects me. I can't help it. When I live in this reality, one where Atypical is a thing, can you blame me?
I'm going to end this on a more positive note and give a shout out to my favourite boys, the McElroys. They've been making strides in trying to be inclusive. What I will say is that if you really want to do that, one thing I'd love to see in The Adventure Zone is a believable autistic character. One that isn't just all about the stereotypes. I'd really love to see that. One that isn't portrayed as sociopathic (which is wrong) just because they have so much empathy it short circuits them sometimes and they have to withdraw, and so on. I'd really, really appreciate that.
This is why I'm glad I don't watch 'normal' TV any more. Fuck 'normal' TV. Fuck Netflix, frankly. I'd prefer something that's inclusive and doesn't make money off of ruining the lives of others. So, yeah. Fuck Netflix. I'd prefer to give my money to people who choose to be inclusive and permissive. That's something I truly value about the McElroys, and they're a constant example to me that neurotypicals aren't all terrible, awful, parasitic, exploitative people. Whenever my mind wants to fall into that pit trap, I remind myself that they exist.
Could be that they're all as autistic as fuck, of course. Heh. But I doubt it. I'll just take them as examples of good neurotypicals, proof that they can exist.
I know this has become a bit of a thing to say about them by this point but... They're good boys. I wish that more people could create entertainment founded on the truly inclusive ideals that they have instead of othering people for entertainment. That shit is harmful. It's going to just reinforce negative stereotypes of autistic people, and autistic kids are going to grow up to another generation of people who aren't self-aware enough to realise that Atypical and shows like it aren't accurate depictions of autism.
At the end of the day, though, I don't hate neurotypicals. I won't. In fact, I categorically refuse to let tribalism win. I want to reach them rather than just turning this hate back on them. So I'll just say that I wish that more of them were aware of this 'default state' is really toxic, and how miserable it makes the lives of others when it's weaponised for their entertainment. It's really not cool.
Not cool at all.
Edit: So, I've done some more reading about this and the autistic community at large seems to be in consensus about Atypical. It's generally just neurotypical writers creating a 'ha ha, look at the idiot' show for other neurotypicals. It's quite painfully obvious in how they did their best to avoid casting autistic actors for the main role, as that may have -- oh no -- resulted in someone calling them on their evil BS.
It gets even better. Check out this review from TV Line. The excuse this reviewer gives is golden. Apparently, for not being the default state -- O Glorious Superiority -- autistic people are unfit for television. We need neurotypical actors to humanise us. What the actual fuck? This is precisely the kind of ableism shows like Atypical promote. It's pure exploitation.
It really is just exploiting us for NT yuks, pure and simple. It's awful, honestly. I watched bits of it here and there and I couldn't stand it.
I saw one post on Twitter that had the following exchange:
"So, you're going to marry your best friend..." "Edison?" "No, not your turtle!" "But you said my best friend!"
And this was followed with 'Atypical is my new, favourite show.' Why? Because it's funny to laugh at the poor, sub-human, troglodytic autistic retards? Oh, poor little hobgoblins.
Sigh.
My brain wants to give into the hate so badly, I can't convey to you how difficult this fight is when all I see are neurotypicals talking about how fantastic Atypical is.
It fucking hurts. It just makes it all the more difficult to not just blanket hate neurotypicals. I am trying, believe me.
I am trying. But Atypical is also trying, it's fraying my last nerve.
That TV Line interview, god. Why do neurotypicals hate us this much? I can't get over it. I try not to make blanket statements but I don't exactly see neurotypicals talking about how bad Atypical is for us. Like I said, generally they're just being vapid all over Twitter and Facebook about how much they love it.
I'm trying so god damned hard to not blanket hate neurotypicals, then something like Atypical has to come along and make the fight against my own darker urges all the more difficult. I don't want to be responsible for that kind of prejudice. It's just so difficult.
I don't even hate them, I guess. I just... I hate them in a way for what I have to be, and the kind of fight I have to fight against myself to not hate them. Which may sound illogical, I know. I admit to having hated neurotypicals for the longest time for precisely this sort of thing. It hurts. It hurts a fucking lot.
I just feel that as much as I try to not hate neurotypicals, they want to hurt me back for trying to hate them twice as bad.
Why? Why is that?
I'm just going to leave this as another shout out to the McElroys, I'd love to see them talk about this. I think it'd do me good to hear neurotypicals actually decry this kind of thing. I just hope they happen to see this, I really do.
That TV Line interview... FML. I'll just leave this at that.
0 notes
Photo
Tumblr media
On Conversing with the Unusual
In my last post I talked about how much I liked the McElroys, and why (which is important to read before this), but I'd like to expand on that with why this whole thing bothered me so much. As I said, as a person who endures an invisible prejudice, I've become very sensitive to all kinds of prejudice.
I know it might sound absurd to think that mentally disabled people really do experience so much hatred, but we do. The thing is? There's no skin colour to unify us, no gender, no obvious physical marks of our supposed deficiencies; so we're not a homogenised factor. When you add in the oddly individualistic personalities autistic people can have, and how different two autistic people can be fro one another (far more so than I've observed in neurotypicals)? This all adds up to something ugly.
Usually people need something simple they can grasp to grab ahold of in order to understand the injustices a person is suffering. As I said, this will so often come down to reductivism -- their skin is black, they're old, they're in a wheelchair, et cetera. In fact, people are so used to having that criticism levelled at them that they'll often snap back at anyone whom they think is being reductivist. I remember on the Battleborn community I mentioned how pleased I was with the treatment of a character who had a notable disability. I got a very angry response.
You see, it was assumed I was talking about Kleese. It was reductivist to say that because he had full use of his body and faculties, so his chair was instead more of an old person's aesthetic, the lazy chair, rather than something required for his mobility. This would be a fine argument, of course, were I even actually talking about Kleese. I was, instead, referring to Benedict. When I pointed this out, it actually took a good number of people a while to wrap their brains around this, as to why I viewed Benedict as a disabled character. Not much introspection in the world, these days.
Thumbs up to you if you've already figured this out. If you hadn't rushed off to look up pictures of Benedict, I'll give you this: He lost part of a wing, it's relevant to his character and origin story. It's been replaced by cybernetics, but it doesn't work nearly as well as his original. He can hover and glide, but no longer fly. Yes, he still has the use of all of the limbs a human would consider to be important, but what of his wings? I suspect of those reading, more will have twigged on now to where I'm going with this. Yeah?
Consider a world where flight is an everyday occurrence. Just imagine it. Would it be likely for there to be stairs, lifts (elevators), escalators, and so on? If everyone can fly, the living space would likely be much more vertical with an emphasis on building things in higher places. Birds do this as an instinctive factor, there's less danger above than there is on the ground, so I'd imagine that much as how we've adopted instincts from our simian ancestry, they adopted factors from their avian heritage.
And what if a person in such a world could no longer fly? Certainly, there would be the equivalent of ramps (lifts for disabled people), but it would be seen as something they have to grudgingly use because they've no other choice. Others might look at them funny, start treating them differently, since they're no longer "the same" as the rest of society. It's always the case that neurotypical society rewards homogeneity, the status quo, and an earnest effort to uphold the Zeitgeist.
Often, neurodiverse people are told that in order to survive in a world "owned by neurotypicals," they have to behave, act, and fit in as them. They have to assimilate into neurotypical culture. When your nature is as contrary to homogeneity as an autistic person's is, however? That can be really bloody tricky. And even for those who even care to make that effort in the first place, the body language and smalltalk are so irritatingly tricky to emulate that cracks in the facade will shine through. Which is why many will simply choose to not bother -- opting to be a hermit or merely accepting the inevitable, that they're always going to stand out no matter what.
I noticed that Benedict, that Battleborn character, was unduly obsessed with both flight and his wings. This can happen with someone who finds theirself newly disabled, or discover that they have a disability. There can, for a time, be an unhealthy fixation upon this fact as it separates them from the rest of humanity. They haven't yet come to accept that they're different and that there really isn't a lot they can do about it, so they haven't come to terms with who they are and that perhaps there's nothing they need to do about it in the first place. Some, possibly due to a lack of introspection and self-awareness, may never arrive at this point.
So consider my reaction to a fantasy world.
I like insects. I like snakes. I mean, of course I do. I love wolves. It's probably quite obvious that I like dragons. So, that lich... Is it really a malignant evil or simply a downtrodden individual chased from society for having no choice other than to exist outside of the norm? I mean, consider this. It's a little jovial and facetious because that's my nature when I'm trying to help people understand something, but it's what I want you to think about. It's a very Pratchett-esque perspective. More people should read Discworld.
Anyway... A townsperson spots a gathering of undead, accompanied by moaning, shambling, and strange, fel lights that seem to ebb, flow, and bob around with wanton abandon. The immediate assumption is that this is an undead invasion! The reality, however, is that the spirits of the dead were feeling restless and pestering a nearby lich to raise them so that they could have something of a party. They wanted him to throw together a shindig, since it's nice to get out of one's grave every now and then.
The lich resisted, initially. "You know how they'll react," he bemoans, listlessly. "It'sss alwayss the saaame with them. It'sss an undead horde! It'ss an invaaasion! They're going to eeat our braaainss. Have you ever tassted brains? They're grossss... I don't know of aaany undead that even eeat brainsss. Do you? Didn't think ssso. They'll sssee the lightss, hear all of you chuckleheadsss yukking it up and I'll have another paaarty of blasssted adventurersss on my hands again."
It's an empathetic lich though. It's not nice to be stuck in the ground all the time, especially when you really don't want to be. So he rises the dead, puts together this wild party for them, and everyone's having a great old time. Then the adventurers turn up and what do you think happens next?
Perhaps if this were The Adventure Zone, maybe good things! Sadly, most people aren't like that. And most tales told aren't, either. It's really quite the depressing state of affairs, quite sordid and unfortunate, that we can't envision something that's inhuman as anything other than evil. When I say "we" I do of course mean neurotypicals. I don't have that problem. They seem to have it Universally, though.
"It's aesthetically displeasing. It's evil! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"
And they never really question it, do they? They never stop to think about it. Like I said, there's just a general lack of self-awareness and introspection amongst neurotypicals. Not a whole lot of Theory of Mind to go around, there, I feel. They are sorely, sorely lacking in that department.
So, these gnolls have amassed a small pile of gold by hunting, tanning, and preparing hides to sell to traders who'll then sell them in human cities. "They came from a nomadic group of noble savages, humans, of course. No gnoll merchandise here!"
Then one of the merchants gets a little bit clever, he cooks up a cockamamie cock-and-bull story about how these gnolls jumped him, killed his guards, and robbed his caravan blind. His last stop was at an opulent port city with riches to spare, says he, and his wagons were overflowing with gold. "Oh, I just knew I shouldn't have passed through the fallow glades, but I was trying to make good time to get here before the market! You know how it is..."
A witless, hapless troupe of murderers under the job description of ‘Adventurer’ decide to... investigate this terrible crime. They find a small encampment of gnolls with a marginally sizeable pile of gold. What do you think happens next? Isn't it depressing? And how often do you think you're lied to by quest-givers in video games, had you considered with ho much regularity you could be being manipulated by bandits, thieves, and excessively avarice-laden, filthy rich autocrats?
How often is it that these "monsters" are simply acting in self-defence. Indeed, how often does an adventurer charge in slashing their blades before so much as a by-your-leave. Not even a how-do-you-do? No, you were given a quest by a human and the antagonists of this narrative aren't humans so naturally they're the evil ones, here. No need to even bother with an investigation, why even bother conversing? What use is reason?
And it just feels grotesque.
I mean, it's just another expression of prejudice, isn't it? A normalisation thereof. If a right wing mendicant can't be permitted to slag off real world groups, they can commit murder and genocide against fantasy creatures for the mere sin of what they were born as. I don't like that. I'm sorry, I really don't like that at all. I think that's awful. I think that a good narrative should always dictate good or evil based upon one's personality and what drove a given soul to be who they are and do what they do by that point. It's inexcusable laziness (and worse) to put it down to a species.
And maybe I would like to have a chat with these liches, these dragons, and these gnolls. Whatever sorts of creatures regularly blunder in on and slay without ever really thinking aobut it, honestly. I might find like-minds. It might just be that these creatures consider themselves an abused underclass, seen as sub-people, troglodytes who're just there for "glorious humankind" to besto its "infallible justices" upon.
That dragon stole your prize bull? Did he? Are you sure? See, I bothered to investigate and I found out that actually it was one of your competitors who did the deed before the next farm show. You're apparently edging them out of all their fields and cutting into their profit margins so they wanted to humiliate you a little. It was the "perfect crime," kidnap your bovine under the cover of darkness and then spread rumours of the local dragon having a taste for domesticated beef. Your negligence might've cost that dragon his life. There's always someone out there who'd be happy to have just about any excuse to slay a dragon and steal his hoard.
I don't know. I just find that I empathise and connect with these creatures who constantly seem to be the targets of never-ending persecution. Is there that much of a difference between Jews and fantasy gnolls? Whilst that might sound offensive, it's because it really is. Fantasy racism is just another analogue for what happens in the real world, and I find it... I don't know. I find it oddly distasteful. I don't like it. I don't like neurotypicals, I guess.
And the thing is? That's the norm. I can cite exceptions, anyone can, but they're so few and far between that they're the exceptions that prove the rule. For example: Phantasy Star had an option where you could try and converse with the creatures you'd encounter. And I thought that was incredibly nifty! I could glean useful information from these friendly, giant spiders just by being genial and polite to them. Imagine that! How many games offer that as an option, though?
How many games can you think of that actually give you the chance to converse with inhuman creatures as opposed to just slaying them? I bet you can't go beyond just your fingers with the examples you can actually come up with. I know I can't, and I have a very extensive knowledge of video games, I've played the vast majority of them over the course of the decades I've spent on this planet.
And that's why people like me are fit for derision, because this is an uncomfortable truth about the ugliness of people. An ugliness that I don't possess. As I said in a prior post, I'm quite the quasimodo so I've ugliness to spare, but this particular flavour of it isn't my own. And with this bizarrely homogeneous, almost hive-like way that neurotypicals look at themselves, this reflects badly on every last one of them. So they have to defend despicable actions rather than owning them, which is the "norm."
And another day's lesson on why I don't like neurotypicals very much, nor am I all that fond of the video games made obviously for them. If they were made for me? Empathetic discourse, with a basis in reason, would be a way to solve most problems. I mean, there was New Vegas and that was lovely, but sadly not a huge amount of non-human life in that one. I guess that reason is only okay when it's human and beautiful, right?
You know, those oh so desirable qualities. White... Beautiful... Straight.. Healthy...
Point made? Yeah. I'd hoped so.
So, as I said in my last post? I'm happy that Travis wanted to converse with the voidfish. That's a very non-neurotypical thing to want. I admire that.
1 note · View note