#says that she should sit this fight out because her combat abilities are a liability

[malewifehenrycooldown]

Re-reading Bleach’s Arrancar arc, and… god I want to give Orihime a shoulder to lean on and cry on. Just… gosh the poor girl… she can’t catch a break :’(

The moment she has self doubts about her own abilities (a very understandable and normal teenaged thing!) she has an even more stronger insistence to be stronger, and just when she’s about to get a tremendous improvement in her abilites, the bad guys show up (specifically Ul//quiorra) and basically coerces her to join the arrancar because the value her abilities. That refusal would lead to the deaths of her friends, and as a pacifist who doesn’t like violence and wants to keep her friends safe, it’s understandable that such an offer is VERY HARD for her to decline.

May I remind people that Orihime at this point in Bleach is a teenaged girl attending high school. Who just a few months ago almost saw her best friend die (they’re okay but they’re not the same person anymore), had a near death experience herself, and also saw the person she has a crush on be violently defeated in a battle he wasn’t prepared for.

Arrancar arc is really just… Orihime and the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day :(

#I was really emotional when typing this up.. #the momen she considers getting stronger urahara comes around and well intentionally #says that she should sit this fight out because her combat abilities are a liability #LIKE ITS WELL INTENTIONED… but the dude explains it so horribly it just adds to orihime’s self doubt #and she vents this to rukia who LOSES HER SHIT. rukia is like ‘HEY WITHOUT YOU I’D BE DEAD’! and she’s right!! and she trains with orihime #after orihime’s fairy friend gets fixed!! and it’s like!!! FINALLY!! she’ll get the time to shine on the battlefield! #but the arrancar saw that and went ‘hey… what if we stole this human and kept them as our medic? it’s a piece of leverage over #that ichigo guy :) we win either way and they can’t stop us. it’s a foolproof plan!!’ #and they coerce her to join them by threatening the lives of her friends and it’s like!!! #then taking advantage of an emotionality vulnerable orihime is like.. genius storytelling #it’s a consequence of the characters not allowing orihime stand on her own in a fight. they try to protect her so much that they end up #losing her in the end anyways as she joins the bad guys. obviously this is a coerced betrayal. the enemy threatened #the lives of her friends in exchange for her to go with them. so of course!! she’s going to follow their instructions to save her friends!! #I don’t think orihime is THAT naive I think she’s more kind than naive. she wants to see the best in people even if they are her enemy #she did that a lot in the soul society infiltration arc #i think her real weakness is that she’s kind to a fault but the fact she chooses TO BE KIND even in the face of evil gives her #so much character and personality to her. she’s a good person who wants to do good and to be better; to help OTHERS BE BETTER!! #hi I’m normal about a fictional character sorry… #bleach spoilers

[pathogenic]

Chapter 2: The Prophet

Shorter than Chapter 1, but let’s fucking goooooo

Prologue

Chapter 1: The Necromancer

Chapter 2: The Prophet

Chapter 3: The Hag

Chapter 4: The Brigand Vvulf

Chapter 5: The Brigand’s Cannon

Chapter 6: The Drowned Crew

Chapter 7: The Siren

Chapter 8: The Swine God

Chapter 9: The Formless Flesh

Chapter 10: The Ancestor

Epilogue

Be weary, there is a violent death here.

Our frontline fighters still needed time to recover as they were just as badly burned as I had feared. I knew Reynauld would be fine. He was a young and healthy man and was capable of recovering quickly, but I had to admit that I was worried if Baldwin would come out the other side of this. Burns on top of his condition was a recipe for disaster, but I should not have doubted him. His will is the strongest I have seen in any man and I had to wonder if he was even human.

Still, I did not feel it was right to send them out to battle just yet. I would rather allow them to rest before I ask them to put their lives on the line again. Besides, it seems that until then, they’ve picked up things to do around the Hamlet to keep their mind off of the stress. Some may be a little less than honorable, such as Dismas and Reynauld’s less than honest gambling, but Julia, Baldwin, and Paracelsus have been seen around the Hamlet either aiding repairs or offering service to the townsfolk to help them. It warmed my heart to see the town starting to recover and heal from the tragedies they have seen.

With them out, however, I have been forced to keep a look out for more heroes to aid our quest. One came to us late in the evening. He said his name is Alhazred and that he is an esteemed professor from a distant University. Further research indicated this to be true, but I was not overly familiar with his studies as I never truly even touched occult studies before I arrived at the Hamlet. After our adventures against the Necromancer, however, how could I turn him down? He would know far more on the topic of the arcane and the supernatural than I ever would. The fact that he was capable of combat despite his frail appearance was just another point in his favor.

Once he was hired, he set upon his work, requesting access to the library that my Ancestor had made. I granted this, but I told him there wasn’t much to see that I was aware of. He was understandably disappointed, but still, he has been there every day I have not called upon him, diligently working away. I also managed to get the old books from the dungeon pulled and brought to him. He seemed more satisfied with those, despite being as damaged as they are.

Alhazred was not the only person to arrive to my Hamlet, however. A brash woman who announced herself as Boudica came in one day and loudly challenged Reynauld. He, thankfully, refused, but an older gentleman that had arrived earlier that day that I had not had the chance to meet with just yet. Reynauld told me that the fight was nothing short of awe-inspiring. The man Boudica had challenged is an old war veteran by the name of Barristan, so it was a battle of old knowledge versus young wit. Boudica came out on top, but just barely. Despite blowing through a table (which they mercifully paid for), I allowed both of them to serve the Hamlet. I admit that I was hesitant with Boudica, being as young and brash as she is, however a conversation with her laid my fears to rest. Despite her behavior, it appears she had nowhere else to go and genuinely wished to help. Perhaps she hoped her earn her keep into the Hamlet, and I found it heartless to say no.

With a new crew assembled of Barristan, Boudica, Julia, and Alhazred, we headed for the dungeons once again with the intent of making sure there was nothing undead left behind within them. As we ventured deeper, we did find some more of the cultists. However, since I did not see anymore moving skeletons, I think it is safe to assume that while they do have some dark arcane powers are their beck and call, they are not capable of Necromancy. The idea brought me some peace.

We traveled beyond the chamber we fought the Necromancer and his minions in and found some undead shambling further within, but with no master they were disorganized and disorientated. I was fooled into thinking this was going to be a simple task as we cut through their ranks. By the time we reached the last door that we left unopened in the dungeons, I had put the prophet out of my mind. What a mistake that was.

I opened the doors to a grimy old man sitting upon the floor. His head and one hand were firmly locked inside a stockade. His other was free and was closed in front of him in a gentle fist. I came to the conclusion that he must have been holding something fragile, but at the same time he did not want the world to see what he was holding. When we entered, he lifted his head. There were old wraps that draped from his head and over his eyes. There was blood over where his eyes were, and I had a sinking feeling about what he was holding.

For a moment, his expression was blank before there was a look of contempt on his face. He asked if I knew what I had done the moment I set foot in the Hamlet. I had to admit, I did not know how to respond to such a question and begged for his pardon. This did not seem to be the answer he wanted as he pushed himself onto his sinewy legs. I asked for him to explain further since I was uncertain as to what he was talking about. This irritated the man and he flew into a tirade about how he tried to warn my Ancestor once, but “look what happened now”. He even claimed that short-sightedness must run in my family for me to arrive here.

Then all of a sudden, his rant was done before he gave a sigh. A smile crept upon his face. He claimed that he “would end the cycle”, though at the time, I had no clue what this meant. All I know is that he held out his free hand and exposed his two gouged eyes to us. He claimed that he could see the ceiling of the dungeon caving in and would cause grievous injury. I was about to speak once more when I suddenly felt Barristan rush and grab me. He pulled me close and held his shield over our heads as a boulder collided. I could hear him cry out in pain from the weight, but we were alive.

Julia, on the other hand, was crushed under the weight as Boudica could do nothing but move out of the way before it got the both of them. The sound of her body breaking is not one I would forget anytime soon.

I admit I did not pay much attention to the battle from there as I was so shaken by the death of Julia to notice much. I had experienced loss prior to this, but never something so sudden and violent. I can’t say I know of anyone who was able to process the first time they saw someone die like this. The idea that perhaps I could have done something to protect her played in my mind on a loop despite the fact that I know it was not something I could have prepared for. How could I have known the Prophet had such terrifying abilities?

What I do know is that eventually there was a hand upon my shoulder. Barristan pulled me away from the side of the boulder, away from what I could see of Julia’s body. I looked over and saw the corpse of the Prophet laid open, wondering when the world had moved on without me. He never took his hand off of me as he helped me out, leading me back towards the Hamlet. No one said much of anything during that trip back.

It took me a few days to truly process what had happened. We eventually sent in Reynauld, Boudica, Dismas, and Barristan in to fetch what they could of Julia’s body. Her grave now is by the Abby that she tried her best to tend to. Reynauld picked up that duty in her stead.

As for me, I attended the service, and then I found Barristan and Reynauld and made a request of them. I do not want to leave the heroes I have employed on their own. I plan to travel with them as often as I can as it is my duty to ensure the corruption here in the Hamlet is driven out. I did not want to be dead weight to them any longer. I asked for them to teach me how to use a blade and how to be a tactician. They seemed to understand why I was asking this of them and agreed to my requests.

In the following weeks, Barristan taught me the basics of planning ahead for these types of battles. He taught me how to think about formations, weighing out our fighter’s strengths and weaknesses, and how to read the enemy. Reynauld drilled me in the ways of a sword and helped me be fitted for some basic armor so I would be less of a liability.

While I know that what happened to Julia was not the result of me being inept as a fighter, it did bring me some comfort to know that no one else would die because I couldn’t even raise a blade to defend myself. I suppose a way, it was me trying to do better for everyone in the Hamlet.

#Darkest Dungeon