#like. 1 or 2 steps away from kinning a real ass person

[eeveevie]

revelations (1/2)

Just as Brynjolf is coming to terms with his true feelings for Fiona, he learns about her true identity thanks to a dragon attack on Riften. She is the Dragonborn. Emotions run high, and he questions if anything they ever shared was real.

Just when things couldn't get worse, Mercer decides this is the best time to take Fiona to Winterhold for a mission. Can her and Brynjolf's already ambiguous relationship recover from this betrayal of trust?

x - x

*I was asked by a few people (because it is referenced in a few of my stories for the pairing) at what point does Brynjolf learn that Fiona is the Dragonborn. This is it! A dragon battle in Riften, that leads to a huge-ass argument about lies/betrayal. Angst-fest incoming! This has some slight references to a story I haven’t published yet, but have 80% written, so it made sense while I was completing this.

There is a follow-up companion piece to this that bridges the gap between this story and "Betrayal and Forgiveness." Basically will be Bryn during the events of "Speaking With Silence". Will be posted as a second part in a few days. *

Brynjolf x f!Dragonborn (Fiona) 

3306 words (under a cut) | Ao3

Part One: To Hide the Truth

The two sat at a table in the Flaggon, content in their silence as they ate their meals and drank their mead, taking in the surrounding chatter of their Guildmates. Brynjolf was perfectly content to stay there all evening if it meant studying Fiona’s face, watching the small secret smile on her red-painted lips, the sparkle of her sapphire eyes when they danced over to meet his. He couldn’t recall a time he had ever felt so content with a person—let alone a woman—not needing conversation to pass the time.

For weeks now he had been slowly coming to terms with the fact that the affection he held for her was much stronger than friendship, that the yearning in his heart went beyond flirting, lingering touches and stolen kisses. Fiona—the talented thief who had joined their ranks all those months ago had managed to sneak in and steal his heart in the process. Mara curse him, he wanted her—in every sense of the way—but something was holding him back. For all the confidence he had in being the Guild’s second, the thought of baring his emotions to the woman he cared for was terrifying, uncharted territory.

When Fiona’s boot twitched against his under the table, he knew she was starting a flirtatious game, one that he eagerly accepted with a small returned tap to her ankle. She bit back a grin as they continued, their feet pressing back and forth against one another in playful pushes for dominance. Finally, Brynjolf crossed his ankles over her own, lightly pinning her feet to the floor. She squirmed in her seat but let out a delightful laugh, head tossing back to expose the column of her neck that he so desperately wanted to kiss and mark as his own. Perhaps he’d find the courage to tell her tonight and act on these damned feelings—after a few more drinks, of course.

Her wide smile faltered with the first shake of the table, the bottles on Vekel’s shelf clinking together, a few falling to shatter on the ground. The bartender turned around startled and upset, but Brynjolf stayed focused on Fiona’s expression as her eyes flicked upward, lips forming a thin line as her jaw clenched shut. Another, more intense rumble echoed through the tavern, this time knocking more bottles and cutlery from the tables and countertops. As members of the Guild began to stand and move out of alarm, Brynjolf watched as Fiona remained curiously still, her eyes still glued to the ceiling.

“What is it?” Delvin asked to nobody in particular. “A quake or somethin’?”

Fiona blinked, quietly answering. “No.”

Before anybody could question her, there was a commotion at the Cistern entrance, a few bodies rushing to make their way into the Flaggon. Sapphire led the pack, her eyes wide as she bent over, breathless. She waved a hand upwards, and in the general direction of where the booming sounds had come from.

“A dragon,” she said. Brynjolf darted his gaze back to Fiona, whose brows had furrowed at the confirmation of what she already expected. Sapphire continued, shaking her head wildly. “I was in the marketplace when it attacked. Barely made it down here—”

Fiona stood up with a start, the chair she was just sitting in nearly toppling to the ground as another tremor shook through the Ratways, more powerful than the previous ones. Brynjolf watched her path for all of five steps before realizing where she was heading, scrambling to stand and walk after her.

“Lass!” he yelped, the two squeezing through the makeshift bookcase door that led back through to the Cistern. Inside, the remaining Guild members were laying low, speaking in hushed tones about the possible events occurring topside. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going to help,” she explained plainly, not bothering to stop to turn to face him.

“What are you talking about?” Brynjolf asked in alarm. “We don’t have to go up there—”

“You’re right,” Fiona barked back at him, her tone causing him to pause in his hurried steps to follow her across the walkway to the graveyard exit. “We don’t. But I’m not going to stand around down here and let the city be destroyed when I’m the only one who can defeat it.”

What?

Brynjolf rushed to catch up with her, reaching out to grip her by the elbow. He hadn’t meant to catch her so roughly, but her words didn’t sound like boasting. Fiona stared down at his hand on her arm before her eyes glanced up to meet his. The emotions there only confused him further—determination and fear were to be expected, but sadness and guilt? She pulled away from him again, wordlessly moving to leave the Ratways to the surface. Brynjolf steadied himself with a deep breath before realizing there wasn’t enough potions on Tamriel to calm his nerves—a dragon? He quickly followed Fiona up the ladder, thinking to himself that love made a person do crazy things.

Riften was known for its magnificent sunsets—the way the sunlight caught the lake waters and the foliage of the surrounding trees was truly a sight to behold. And when the evening mist settled in and the bright auroras lit up the evening sky—it any wonder that the town attracted so many visitors to the marketplace and pier just to get a glimpse. Of course, that evening, as the sun was setting, a different kind of shadow swept across the hold, sending the city into chaos.

As Brynjolf and Fiona ascended from the Cistern they were met with the sounds of screams, guardsmen shouting orders to citizens and soldiers, anybody who was able-bodied to help bring down the beast currently circling Mistveil Keep. The dragon’s roars heard loud and clear, relentless as it echoed across the sky. When Brynjolf looked to Fiona, her expression was exceedingly difficult to read as she focused on the dragon’s sounds, as if she was trying to interpret them.

Finally, she glanced at him, a steady calmness to her tone. “Protect the citizens. It’s an Elder Frost Dragon, so don’t do anything reckless,” she paused before adding with precision, “you mustn’t get in the way of its unrelenting force—the shout will break every bone in your body—killing a mortal man.”

Brynjolf listened, his mind rushing a mile a minute as her words started to make sense. He was a Nord, these stories weren’t unknown to his kin—but they were just that—stories, rumors that had been so far removed from him and his life in Riften. Ulfric killing the High King with a shout? The dragon attack in Helgen? The Greybeards suddenly summoning this cryptic Dragonborn? Dragonborn—Vekel had heard she was a Nord woman, but that she had disappeared months ago. Right around the same time Fiona had appeared in Riften and joined the Thieves Guild. When she had come into Brynjolf’s life and changed everything.

“Fiona,” he said her name slowly, and her eyes shined in way that told him she understood that he knew.

The veneer broke away, her bottom lip trembling as she stepped closer to reach for his hand, but he surprised even himself when he flinched away. She braced herself, fisting her hand closed. “I’m sorry for not telling you before.”

Brynjolf wanted to argue—a little late for that—but with the dragon’s screech, they were starkly reminded that this was neither the time nor place. Fiona shot him one last pleading look before sprinting off in the general direction of the Keep, her gaze quickly focusing on the enemy. An overwhelming sense of dismay settled in Brynjolf’s gut, and his heart wedged in his throat—he didn’t want to believe it, that she had been hiding this from the Guild, from him the entire time.

As he rushed across the marketplace to do as she asked, his mind continued to race—Fiona had lied from the very start, and now the last several months of their relationship started to crumble before his very eyes. Was any of it real? Was she just stringing him along? As blissful and content as he had felt earlier that evening, as close as he had been to revealing how he felt about her, now all he could feel was contempt.

“Dovahkiin!”

Brynjolf snapped his head skyward as the dragon swept low across the marketplace, landing on the roof of Black-Briar Manor. It arced its head side-to-side, expelling a large gust of frost that caught a grouping of guards on the wooden planks below, killing most of them instantly. Suddenly, an arrow pieced right between the dragon’s eyes, causing it to rear up in pain, and stopping the flow of ice. The dark ebony color told Brynjolf exactly who had shot it, and he followed the path until he found Fiona crouched atop the Bee and Barb’s roof, a mirror image of the dragon.

It kicked up from the Black-Briar Manor, hovering just long enough for Fiona to fire three more projectiles, all making their mark within the beast’s belly before it soared towards her. Brynjolf anticipated more shots from her bow—she was one of the best archers he knew and could easily hit a moving target, but instead she stood and lowered her weapon.

“YOL!”

A stream of fire blasted from Fiona’s lips, the echoing sound of her voice carrying the heat directly towards the dragon and engulfing it in flames. It shrieked, its large wings flapping in a panicked frenzy to fly away. Brynjolf could only watch in wonder, not realizing he had been holding his breath until he felt dizzy. The lass could breathe fire. He followed Fiona’s movements as she tracked the dragon, moving beyond the city’s northern gates before crashing to ground in a terrific crumble. She leapt from the roof without a second thought, landing into a sprint to follow. He quickly chased after, as did many of the guards, seemingly bewildered at what was happening to their city.  

Beyond the gates, the dragon lay thrashing, dark red blood oozing from its wounds even as the fire Fiona inflicted upon it died out. She lunged at it with a bravery Brynjolf had never seen in any warrior and one he could only dream of having. With one hand clutching the dragon’s neck she used her other hand to plunge her dagger deep within its jugular, tossing her legs across the beast’s head to steady her movements as it tried to toss her away. Fiona continued to cut and stab, her movements unrelenting even as the dragon slowed, her only stopping when the dragon slumped across the ground.

The dragon was dead.

Almost immediately the guards were shouting in celebration, moving to crowd Fiona as she simply stared down at the dead beast. But it wasn’t over. The thick black scales began to disintegrate and within mere seconds, there was nothing left but bones and ash. Swirls of yellow and orange spiraled upwards and condensed, concentrating as they searched for a host. Like a breath, Fiona inhaled the energy, her body glowing alive with the dragon’s soul before in an instant, all was calm, as if nothing had happened.

A guard spoke first. “Dragonborn, it is an honor.”

She didn’t say anything, only turning to find Brynjolf’s gaze where he lingered by the city gates. They stared at each other in silence, even as the crowd of spectators grew to cheer and congratulate Fiona on her victory. But it was hollow to her as she noticed that Brynjolf wasn’t joining in on the merriment. How could he when this power of hers had been unknown to him less than an hour prior? There was no denying it, now that he had seen it with his own eyes. She was the Dragonborn and things between them would never be the same.  

They returned to the Cistern without speaking a word to one another, the tension rising as the silence stretched. As if the Guild could see strain between the two, they strayed afar, a few even scampering away as Fiona briskly made her way to one of the back rooms. Brynjolf followed, determined to have her answer for her deception. As soon as they crossed the threshold of the training room he reached out, this time grabbing her arm much rougher than before. Fiona spun around on her heel, eyes widening in alarm as she blinked up at him, face so different from the fierce warrior that had just single-handedly defeated a dragon.

“I suspect you have questions,” she said slowly, eyeing his hand on her arm.

Brynjolf furrowed his brow, irritated beyond belief. What kind of game was she playing at? Was she playing coy just to get under his skin? He shook her once, but it only made her expression obscure into something akin to fear. “You’re damn right I have questions!”

Fiona yanked herself free from his grip, but did not move away, squaring her shoulders as she met his burning gaze. “I can start from the beginning, when I came to Skyrim, what it means to be—”

“No, no,” he interrupted with a curt, mocking laugh. “I get to ask the questions.”

He began to pace before her in a short path, bringing one hand up to rifle through his hair. “Why did you come to Riften?”

“I was looking for someone in the Ratways,” she started to explain. “Like I told you when we first—”

“Just stop,” he groaned in reply, interjecting her again. He covered his face with a hand, wiping it across his brow before rubbing at his jaw. Their first—second—meeting in the Bee and Barb—it wasn’t something he really wanted to reflect on right this moment. Considering that all his happy memories with the lass were quickly becoming tainted, he supposed it truly didn’t matter. Regardless, he shook his head. “I’d rather you not lie about that.”

“I’m not lying.”

“Why exactly should I believe you?” he asked. “Especially now?”

Fiona’s expression fell, her eyes darting across his face in a silent plea of sorts. “Bryn,” her voice was low. “Brynjolf, you’re the last person I wanted to keep this from. I never expected…I never meant to hurt you.”

“But you did,” he retorted, coldly. He crossed his arms. “I’m not overly interested in the reasons why. Not anymore. I’m more interested in if anything else you ever told the Guild was the truth. What you told me was the truth. If everything we ever shared was just one big fantasy that you never planned on staying in.”

“O—Of course it was the truth!” Fiona’s voice trembled as she stepped closer to him, her eyes widening in surprise at his words. Even he was shocked at his candor, the raw emotion flowing through him. But all the affection he had felt for the woman standing before him was missing, and his heart wasn’t aching with a want to tell her he wanted her—it was aching with a betrayal he hadn’t felt before.  

“How am I supposed to believe that, Fiona?” he asked in a desperate tone. His mind rushed with every detail they had every shared, from mundane to intimate and personal, over the last several months. “Are your parents even dead?”

She slapped him instantly, the sharp sting of her hand leaving a burning sensation along his jaw. Brynjolf immediately knew that he deserved it—guilt fluttered through his veins as he noticed the tears pooling in her eyes. He had seen her cry before, but he had never imagined that he’d one day be the direct cause. So not everything was a lie—but Fiona had still chosen to omit the largest truth about herself, and that was something that Brynjolf could not forget, or possibly forgive.

“I can’t believe I ever thought—” Fiona hesitated, her hand pressing to her forehead, and then to her eyes to wipe the stray spill of her tears that were flowing unapologetically now.

Brynjolf’s anger flared at what she could’ve possibly said, and he waved his hands in disagreement. “Oh no you don’t,” he argued. The sight of her tears made him less guilty, and more annoyed now. “You don’t get to …you betrayed my trust. I’m the one who gets to have second thoughts about our future now!”

“Excuse me?!” Fiona yelped, obviously taking large offense to his phrasing. “Cut the bullshit Bryn. You want to call me out on keeping secrets when you’ve kept plenty of your own as well! And don’t even get me started on playing stupid games with people’s emotions. You want to know how I feel?”

Brynjolf sarcastically rolled his eyes. “Oh lass, please enlighten me!”

“Tafiir,” she hushed, almost in an endearing way—he didn’t understand. Fiona shook her head, dissolving back into her irritation. “Sometimes I feel like I could…I could…”

“What are you going to do?” Brynjolf taunted, leaning in dangerously close to her face. “Shout at me?”

Fiona’s eyes darkened, and for a split second, he feared he had just signed his death-wish.

“If you two are quite done!”

Brynjolf and Fiona both turned, only moving the slightest bit away from one another at the sound of their Guildmaster’s booming voice. Mercer stepped into the room, expression one of disappointment and annoyance—though, he was always generally annoyed with something, Brynjolf thought.

“Fools, the two of you,” he spat. “Lowering yourselves to a lovers’ quarrel.”

Brynjolf bristled at the mention, and made to argue, but bit his tongue at Mercer’s icy glare. He glanced to Fiona and saw that while her jaw was clenched tight in frustration, there was the slightest blush to her cheeks—he tried not to let the appearance change his mind about how he felt about her now.

“I really ought to have split you up a long time ago,” Mercer suggested with crossed arms. “Perhaps this could’ve all been avoided.”

The two remained silent, as if they were children being scolded by their father. Mercer smirked, low grin causing an unsettling feeling to creep up Brynjolf’s spine. What was the Guildmaster planning?

“Fiona. It’s time you traveled with me. Now that you’ve made yourself useful and shown your worth,” he explained. “Gulum-Ei’s information about Karliah is taking us to Winterhold—Snow Veil Sanctum.”

“One way or another, this is going to end,” he said. Brynjolf felt perturbed by Mercer’s statement, but couldn’t place why, the feeling not dissipating even as the Guildmaster stepped away. He glanced back to look Fiona directly in the eyes. “I don’t like to be kept waiting.”  

She stood up straight, swallowing down a lump in her throat before anxiously picking at her armor. It was still covered in dragon’s blood—she would need to pick up some belongings from her home before the trip—Brynjolf watched her nervous twitching and wondered if she was stalling. Fiona looked up at him, lips in a taught line as she held his gaze, silently pleading for him to say something. But he wouldn’t—he was past that, too exhausted to think of the right words to speak—if there were any.

All he felt now was numb. Perhaps some distance between them would do some good…even if that involved Mercer. Seemingly catching the hint, Fiona took a half-step away and then another, slowly moving further and further away until she was almost completely out of the room. At the last second Fiona glanced over her shoulder to peer at Brynjolf, their eyes locking for the briefest of moments. Neither said a word—no farewells, no last-minute apologies. He closed his eyes, if only to move past this moment as quickly as he could.  

When he opened his eyes, she was gone.

x

leave a tumblr kudos? :)

#elder scrolls: skyrim #skyrim #brynjolf #brynjolf x f!dovahkiin #brynjolf x f!dragonborn #otp: I shall taunt you a second time #fanfic #I honestly don't know but it was wanted so here #I am proud of a lot of this

[shidiand]

How do you imagine Tenco's Story ending in your head?

that is a GREAT but UNEXPECTED QUESTION freshlybaked "spider" bread and i'm really happy to have the opportunity to try and answer this ageless question that has burned within all of us in the tenco's story iv waiting room community since 2013. it is an incredible coincidence (or is it? 👀) that i was just talking to Risa about tenco's this (edit: yesterday) morning so i am extra double super in the mood to talk about Tenco's Story today. so excellent of a coincidence is this that i am tempted to refer you to them in case you wanted to hear their thoughts on the matter that would probably turn out super cool, but that is neither here nor there; let us talk Tenco's Story.

i of course must mention my unadvertised and modestly detailed commentary on tenco's i-iii at https://shidiand.tumblr.com/tencos, presenting slightly interesting facts in an unwieldy and difficult-to-use format, but as it dates back to june 2017, i want to take some time to understand my feelings about the series once more.

tenco's story is a series that has a lot of meaning to me.

i took on my current name of shidiand in november of 2013. i was still in 11th grade at the time, 4th year of high school, and a very socially isolated person. i should say i was introduced to touhou in 7th grade, 2010, so i was still working through a 3 years-strong phase of trying to simultaneously both find an outlet for and bottle up an endless wellspring of awkward weeaboo-gamer nerd energy at the time.

i had my first real foray onto the internet in 2010, tried out twitter, followed some RPers and other people who had Cool Touhou Usernames. didn't really go anywhere. i had maybe 50 followers, i dont really know the count but it was definitely a) double digits and b) pretty low. didn't know what to tweet about. didn't know how to hit it off with others. i think there was basically maybe only 3 other people i ever properly interacted with. oh shit i was playing league of legends at the time. oh my god. i really did play league of .. oh my god. let's move on.

aw shit im super digressing amn't i. well.

this is just how it goes when i write essays on tumblr.com.

i'm afraid you're just along for the ride at this point so please do your best to enjoy it.

i got kind of tired of twitter at the time because i didnt know what to do with it. didnt know how to interact with people and didnt find the people i was following interesting, so i ghosted on out of there by the end of 2012. didnt deactivate it until like 2015 but at that point that was just burning away my dark history. anyways. november 2013.

--im taking a lot of time here trawling through old files on my computer, my tumblr blog, notification emails still lying around in my gmail inbox from twitter, the dropbox i didn't actually use but it had several tenco's story pictures on it but i deleted them so this was useless, ... to trace the timeline of this story and im really seeing a lot of remnants of dark history here you know? did you know i wrote a letter to a girl i had a crush on valentine's day 2014, slipped it into her locker, and anxiously hung around nearby at lunchtime to see how she reacted at lunchtime? i certainly didn't, or at least i made darn ass sure to forget about this incredible virgin incident and not remember it, ever, until i came across the records of it that i thoughtfully preserved for the me of 5 years later today. ok well now i have to read the letter to see if it was as bad as it just sounded there brb

ok so the good news is that it was actually very focused on being positive and full of admiration for the cool things she did instead of being a confession letter so i am very glad i was able to be a respectful chad 5 years ago, but the bad news is that the jokes, the actual sentences i put together. oh my god. but i mean. well. at least i got the spirit. its certainly a step up from this other person in my grade, WEEABOO ANDREW, YOU MAY RECALL THIS STORY AND HIS NAME FROM PREVIOUS STORYTIMES, THE MAN THE MYTH THE LEGEND who came to school on halloween once cosplaying kirito from sword art online and got very possessive about people asking if they could hold his black replica plastic sword, and probably worse, dropped a "will you be my girlfriend" letter into the locker of my homie and fellow trombonist samantha, who was a little bit nerdy, hung out with the anime-likers who were actually sociable and fun to be around so you can imagine why weeaboo andrew was into her, which had i) a direct quotation from SAO chapter 16.5 (origin of the famous "glopping noise" line), and ii) a condom. jesus christ. i dont want to talk about this any more. next topic.

i also put this drawing of iku nagae and her skarmory (actually an albinoss from 18 DRAGONS) on the other side of the letter because it was the coolest thing i could think of drawing at the time. and i completely agree with 2014 me because it IS super fucking cool. hell fuckin yeah

https://shidiand.tumblr.com/post/76301993387/iku-nagae-ft-that-thing-that-supposedly-is-a

alright that was a fun little trip down memory lane but lets get back on track. november 2013. i started anew as shidiand. still awkward, still learning how to express myself and looking for my place among others. i followed some touhou bloggers, hung around r/touhou a lot as well. in december i got my first tablet for christmas, a wacom bamboo splash. i still use this thing! the usb cable disconnects if you bump it so i have to find just the perfect position to sit in whenever i want to draw, but its served me well. anyways. i was just starting to play around with digital art but i remember, probably just before new years, for some reason i wanted to find out more about tenshi hinanawi (i don't remember why. tenshi wasn't even one of my favourite characters at the time) so i went googling and right there on zerochan i found this:

https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=23525572

this was during my dark souls phase so i just went BANANAS at the sight of this. this was literally the coolest image i had ever seen in my internet life. That image alone made me want to draw in hopes that I could make something as cool as that someday.

it wasn't immediately after but i soon discovered tenco's story, and it was love. kannnu was my very first artistic inspiration, and for a long time, my only one. i absolutely idolized them at the time. since then, ive found other artists to look up to, in a more healthy manner, but to this day i still look up to kannnu, still admire their work a lot.

i played around with drawing, followed the lives of people on tumblr, started reading touhou fanfiction, made a new twitter. i met a lot of new people along the way. some people i havent stuck with, some i cut ties with, and some people i still keep in contact with today. over those long 5 years of being shidiand, i found a name (i used to use shidian and then shid, but someone called me shidi once and i realized that was a lot better), how to reach out to others, how to express myself, places that i could feel included in. this is why i owe a blood debt to evelyn, who permitted me to kneel at her throne and was like "yea ok you can join my discord server u seem cool". evelyn, if you were confused by me ominously mentioning this blood debt/blood oath in a tumblr reply 1-2 years ago, this is the context. those 5 years were like a coming of age of sorts, that i never had when i was in high school.

and my love for tenco's story, that inspired me to draw that day, has been with me since almost the very beginning of my time as shidiand. from the beginning, i have always encouraged people to READ TENCO'S STORY, like the kin of those who cry PLAY MELTY or WATCH SYMPHOGEAR. i think my very first sidebar description was something akin to a prayer, written in very choral language, hoping for the day tenco's story iv was completed, ..., "meanwhile, furious shitposting". kannnu's work, finding delight in whatever they chose to draw, has been at my side, all along. my true mentor, my guiding moonlight...

so that's why i still to this day love tenco's story so much.

let's talk about tenco's story.

tenco's story is a story told through single pictures. the plot is vague, and details are sparse. dialogue is rare. we only know what has happened; we seldom know why. furthermore, there are many gaps between scenes that the reader is left to fill in for themselves; we see only snapshots that form an hazy outline of the events that occurred, and must imagine the rest. motivations and explanations fail me. but even with a barebones plot, tenco's story has themes, and if nothing else, those have to be carried through.

the main theme, of course, is journey and travel, but there are also other ideas, too. i actually think they start to change as the series goes on:

book i, where tenshi runs away from home, is about striking out on your own. it's a very fun and unpredictable journey, together with a friend.

book ii, where tenshi and iku are separated, forces tenshi to find and rely on companions of her own even more. but they do so, and they are able overcome hardships, and there is food and festival.

book iii marks a climax, reasserting tenshi's goal of finding the sword of hisou. i feel like the journey shifts from a travel (visiting) to a path forwards (making your way through). perhaps this is just something i get from knowing the locations from dark souls (Anor Londo, New Londo Ruins, the Great Hollow), but the locations start to give more of a sense of verticality, like they're emphasizing tenshi's climb to the summit. the hardships and enemies are the greatest they've been yet, and right when they near the top, tenshi and iku start to bleed. the book ends on an uncertain note.

if i had to describe the type of journey and travel that tenshi and iku undertake, there's this sense of wonder at discovering new places, wandering from vista to vista in delight, but also a sense of conquering, making it through a difficult patch. the sequence from pages 2-44 to 2-51, taken together, convey this sense of overcoming the best. it's one of my favourite parts. again, although the tone definitely starts to lean towards struggle in book iii, i think tenco's sense of wonder really is the heart of the series. there's no map of the world, no predicting where tenshi and iku will end up next. and through their travels, though they come across many enemies, they also find friends -- places of refuge, places full of life, people who will look after them for a few days, companions who will stay with them for the rest of the journey. at the end of book iii, we see a long haired tenshi with purple hair being impaled by the sword of hisou (3-33, see also this extra illustration that risa pointed out to me http://sinnnkai.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-195.html), and regular short haired tenshi continuing on her journey (3-42). if we ignore the out-of-story images where tenshi has the sword of hisou, tenshi has actually only ever used her sunlight blade (2-24, 3-26, etc), so i think that the long haired tenshi on 3-33 is a different person altogether. (if i had to guess, she might be the purple haired woman in the top left of https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=35443328 as we have never seen that woman appear anywhere.) she probably has something to do with the flashbacks at the end of book ii and she might somehow be short-haired tenshi at the same time, but this is just speculation.

however, in 3-43, tenshi's hair is rather blue, so i don't know if this is the purple haired woman or not. if it is, tenshi is probably still fine and closing in on the summit, but if it isn't, then it's very worrying to see a picture of tenshi without any of her companions. it's very ominous.

meanwhile, iku, while climbing the red carpeted corridor, is stabbed, and disappears for a few pages. there's a black page, a shot of a shrine that strongly resembles the hakurei shrine, and a picture of iku standing behind someone in a tux, with the line "In the past, I was saved by the lady I was serving, you see?". and then iku wakes up in a field of flowers.

i think what this scene makes clear is a theme that has continued to appear and reappear throughout every book of "being saved, being aided by someone's kindness".

i think another theme that is implied and has to be addressed by this story of running away from home is "return". something im imagining is that the reason tenshi makes finding the sword of hisou her goal is because she wants to have something to prove herself with, to vindicate her when she comes home. but i don't think she needs to prove anything, and i ultimately think that she would be happier spending the rest of her life exploring.

so i think this should be what happens in the ending.

open on iku's journey, and give her a long sequence of travel without seeing tenshi. underline her newfound resolve. she climbs to the summit with albinoss, and finds the rest of tenshi's companions fallen. and in the last room is sword of hisou tenshi, who has lost herself, and it comes down to iku to bring her back. after a difficult battle, when both of them are on their last legs, iku is unable to stand any longer. but at this moment tenshi sees her companions struggling to get back up and reach her, and that's what brings her to her senses. and iku gets to see how many friends tenshi's been able to make on her own, and they finally and properly reunite. together, tenshi and iku carry each other out of the last room.

i don't think it's necessary to return to heaven. as a conclusion, dedicate some time to tenshi and iku travelling together. they're on their way back, revisiting old friends who helped them along the way, enjoying the journey. their last stop is the house of the elderly nawis (1-42). tenshi shows off the sword of hisou; she decided to keep it not as a trophy to show her family but as proof of the bonds of her companions. surrounded by friends, tenshi and iku decide to part ways with each other, knowing that the other will be alright. iku drifts among the clouds once more, and tenshi sets off for the horizon.

that's the plot that i'd write/just wrote. i don't really expect tenco's story iv to ever come out, though. i mentioned my first sidebar description earlier in this essay, but of course, you can see that it's been changed. 2 years ago, i read my hopeful prayer once more and was struck with a terrible melancholy, so now it reads this: "having come to terms with the fact that tenco's story iv will never be released, i can still live, knowing that the spirit of the journey will live on through kannnu's original works [...] meanwhile, furious shitposting".

on one level, tenco's story is a story, but in the process of following it, i came to think of the work itself as a journey too. you can constantly see kannnu's improvement between and even within each book. they have always drawn whatever they liked; what plot matters in the face of "I wanted to draw a beautiful sky." "I wanted to draw a fantastic battle." "I wanted to draw Dark Souls and Monster Hunter and Pokemon and Brave Fencer Musashi and Bokura no Taiyou and Touhou."

its not really kannnu's style to go back and tie up old ends. they just draw whatever makes them happy. so as i watch them continue to draw beautiful places and fantastic creatures, new characters heading out on journeys of their own or just enjoying their everyday lives, it's as if tenco's story never ended. the limits and consistency of that world ignored, and a new one springs up; in a way, the world of tenco's, which had such thin boundaries, just gets bigger.

but even so, having said all that, i still see them draw that short-haired tenshi from time to time. it makes me happy to see them remember tenco's story with such fondness. often crossing over with orion or roar or elweiss, you can see tenshi on another journey.

#tenco's story #freshlybakedspiderbread

[blue-scorpion-king]

The 1st Monster Slayer?? -Silly Self-Insert-

Me/The Bat, if I am an self-insert mage in the universe of Fairy Tail:

-Name:

Cody Michael Hand.

-Nickname:

The First Monster Slayer, the Fiery Calcium Slayer, and nothing else at the moment.

-Age:

22-23 years old.

-Birthday (if known):

September 12th, X761

-Gender:

(Bearded) Male.

-Species:

Monster Slayer Human

-Sexual Orientation:

Straight.

-Birthplace:

The small city of Sterling, Fiore, Earthland.

-Living place:

An apartment, with me as the only person in it, five buildings away from the right of Lucy Heartfilia's apartment, with rent to pay of course.

-Likes:

Music, movies, magic computer time (Which exists in, but not as large of an use in Earthland than in real life), good female asses, since I am an ass man for female asses around my age group, thought breasts are good too, and some more.

-Family:

My mother, my father, Christopher and Michael, 2 younger brothers, Mikaleigh, my younger sister, Bob, the family friend, Sloviaka, the lion-sized orange bat monster that was an part of the family since my dad's younger days, until his death by old age (RIP), Pepper and Pumpkin, the 2 family cats, Glory, the family dog, and an expanded family beyond.

-Weapons:

-An Dane ax from Erza, an falchion sword sidearm, an (Viking) round shield, and throwing stakes.

-This alternate persona of myself is in an "Fant-Earth", with an circumference of 1,600,000,000 kilometers, which is smaller than Bagklock Earth, which has an circumference of 6,400,000,000 kilometers, where many, many continents, alongside the 7 real world continents, has countries from fantasy stories, like Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, He-Man, & Warhammer (Not 40K), certain Shonen, Seinen, Shoujo, light novel, and visual novel stories, like Fairy Tail, Berserk, Toriko, One Piece, Naruto, GATE, Hunter X Hunter, Akatsuki No Yoma, Fate Stay Night, and Soul Eater, JRPG stories, like Valkyria Chronicles, Final Fantasy 1 to XV to Type-0, Dark Souls, Dragon’s Dogma, Demon’s Souls, Pokemon, Dragon Quest, & Fire Emblem, and several other graphic novels and anime/manga that happened in the past, happening right now in the present, and could happen in the future.

-- And I could be like the Reimu of Fairy Tail, who settles 'incidents' that the main cast don't settle, like actually defeat an actual God, not an God Slayer, for causing the problem in the first place.

-

Learned to awaken the Fiery Calcium Monster Slayer Magic Art, which is limited to an degree compared to Fire Dragon Slayer magic, from an sentient, lion-size orange bat, made out of black bone and orange fire, named Sloviaka, that has been an part of my family of 7, including me, since my dad's youth, has been an former Chieftian until he hit 8,000 years old, and has drawn inspiration from old accounts of ‘Stand Users’ from his youth and middle age, expect it goes to all kinds of monsters that I might fight in my future. Then, he died of old age, leaving me with the info that his bat kin, along with several other monster/henry species, mainly lives in caverns in the mountains & in other natural environments, kind of like being neighbors to the dwarves, elves, and men, and has been similar to them since his ancestors first observe them, along with the so called ‘living plants’, called Pents, before drawing his last breath and made me laugh with a joke, even when dying of old age and I was crying. It might have been heart-breaking, but at least Sloviaka lived a long life and died happy. Also, thanks to getting this magick made me near-sighted, which got me to wear glasses ever since.

-Also, ‘Bat Monsters’/Henries have a rocky relationship with Dragons, like the dwarves are to elves, and with Demons, which are like orcs to the Monsters, or Henries. Also, several special monsters/Henries have lived to even 5 million years, but never beyond that, and unlike dragons, there is a still a big population of monsters/Henries around, with many wins at wars against enemies who shoved them down, Dragons and Demons included.

=The Henries are also known to be extremely sturdy, despite their big cat-like sizes (Puma to Liger range), with most of the population having an hefty amount of facial and head hair, just like dwarves, could be made out of any non-overpowered element, have 16 tribes that are like the Knights, the Samurai, the Vikings, the Old West, the Spartans, the Warring States Era Chinese, the Zulu, the Roman Legionaries, Pirates, Ancient Egyptians, the Highlanders, the Huns, the Irish, the Hawaiians, the Aztecs, and the Sioux tribe of the Native Americans.

-Type of Abilities:

Fiery Calcium (Fire + Calcium fusion), in an black and orange color, can only be manipulated to an limited degree, even from within m,y own body, has to eat three whole meals to fully have an backup energy source, I should be careful around flammable objects, I can’t resist fire or thermal heat, lack of oxygen may prevent this ability to activate, not immune to the side effects, or byproducts, of fire, like smoke, weak against explosive negation, affected by my emotions, like anger or rage, which would make the fire stronger, but more dangerous around the area I am in, can be overpowered by ice, water, and/or cold, and I need oxygen, heat, and fuel for my fire generation, which would lead to fire manipulation.

-

Also, I have been trying to effectively use what martial art that Sloviaka taught me in combat, if needed, which is called ‘CQC’, with its meaning not told to me (Street fighting + Muay Thai).

--An Monster Slayer form ability, that I already had, but rarely got used in my youth, and trained with it in secret; Up until the Tenrou Island arc, up against Hades--

"Ainz Henry!!": An advanced Monster Slayer form, that is different from the Dragon Force, for someone like Cody, and shockingly, an permanent change in appearance, unlike Dragon Force.

Their eye sockets sunken a bit and colored black, the hair becomes wild, grows to become an mane, like an lion, and fire-like, while colored orange, makes the calcium part of the fiery calcium element vulcanized & elastic, makes the user gain more muscle mass, but still be lean, even to making the torso wide, and the teeth get really sharp, with 2 different tooth shapes; Lion teeth and bat teeth.

Also gets an coat of white colored thin paint-like calcium to make an skull design, expect for the blackened nose, coat the rest of the body with orange thin calcium 'paint', gain large, retractable into under the flesh, shoulder to hand fiery calcium armor, with black Henry tribal markings, along with retractable hip to feet fiery calcium armor, with lion hand paws/claws and bat feet & claws.

Lastly, there are three organic-bone methane using jet pods on each ankle, and three organic-bone methane using jet pods, with 2 on the shoulder bones and one below the in between of the 2.

(First unveiled partially at the Laxus fight, for a little bit, and in full at the Tenrou Island Arc’s Hades fight.)

-======-

Injuries I received from the Tartaros Arc to the (alternate) aftermath, with no 1 year timeskip:

Right side of my eye socket slashed slightly, top of my left ear cut open, a couple of broken back teeth had to be pulled out, an horizontal slash on my forehead, bludgeoned left elbow, partially gashed off left hand skin, jacked up left knee, gashed top of my right foot, slashed right side of my collar, projectile to my right shoulder, three slashes at my left shoulder, 3 cracked right ribs, large bruises on my torso sides, and abdomen, broken ulna of my right forearm, to where the bone poked out of my skin, an bleeding gash on my head, bruised toes, knuckles, and fingers, bruised left side of my neck, and bludgeoned right side of my back.

-======-

Moved out of my family's house and joined Fairy Tail at Magnolia as my first guild after taking my dream goals to become an writer and be an better Mage than I was in my youth and towards the future.

-

Became an Mage of Fairy Tail a bit before the time of the Thunder Tribe Sabotage arc and was not going to become S-Class just yet, unlike many of my friends. But, after the Tenrou Island arc, I have made it to S-Class, despite my honestly modest view on it.

-Started as an guild member a bit before the Thunder Tribe Sabotage arc all the way through the aftermath of the Tartaros VS Fairy Tail Guild War.-

<=Job experience from slaying monsters like Demons, various monsters, fighting the battles of Fairy Tail, even to Edolas, training myself and with others, and at very dangerous locations that not even Natsu nor Gajeel would step foot into, like going through an journey to get to several treasures from an long 'dead' land in Sweden, next to Norway, which (Bagklock) Earthland is ridge-connected to it, named Lordran (Dark Souls kingdom), while finding the lore through my findings and through texts, like tomes, scrolls, and books. That was my latest job that I took as an legal S-class mage.

-Guild mark location:

Left shoulder, orange in color.

-One of many outfits:

Glasses, small black skull bead necklace, with an golden skull pendant piece with an Native American chieftain headpiece, an orange hoodie jacket, with an t-shirt underneath, one of various sweatpants, and combat boots/Light armor for mobility and an tunic over my jacket. (Main outfit, with an light, casual version, and an full-on version) An dull black and orange Viking attire, with red details, with gambeson, chain-mail, non-horned historical looking helmet, and all, from head to top. But, it is also with Swedish medieval shoulder armor, bicep armor, forearm armor, gauntlets, thigh armor, foreleg armor, and greaves; Along with the oranged colored Fairy Tail symbol on the left shoulder and an owl head belt buckle design.

So, this is just an basic scramble of what I would be as an member of Fairy Tail. As an self-insert Monster Slayer mage on Earthland. owo

But hey. At least I state it out there instead of making an bad 'original character' and even as an self-insert Earthland-born Monster Slayer/Stand User, I would still be human and make mistakes and fail at times.

I hope you like this scramble of something silly. XD

~The Bat~whitew

#The Bat speaks #fairy tail #self-insert #monster slayer #mage #random post #ooc #ooc post #blue-scorpion-king #self-insert character #scramble #silly post