I'm supposed to be working but instead I'm thinking about Li Lianhua growing vegetables and how, once upon a time, he was so happy that he almost cried when he finally managed to grow some turnips.
Thinking about how he must've been at rock bottom then - sick, injured, heartbroken, having just lost in one fell swoop everyone and everything he's ever cared about. His shixiong, dead. He believes it's his fault. His shifu, dead. He believes it's his fault. His sect, in ruins. He believes it's his fault. His people no longer believe in him. A-Mian doesn't love him anymore. It's all his fault, it's all his fault.
He doesn't have Hulijing yet. He's alone. He's heartsick. He'll be dead in ten years, or much sooner than that if he can't find some food and shelter. His Sigu Sect leader token is only worth 50 taels of silver. It turns out everything he has built his life around is worth only 50 taels of silver. I can hear his self-deprecating laugh. How foolish he must've felt, having his life's ambition put so violently and abruptly into perspective.
Have you ever been so despondent that you cling desperately to just one thing, anything, that you can focus on in order to not think about everything else? So: turnips.
Tending, weeding, watering, counting, day by day by slowly passing day. The vegetables grow and he survives. And finally, one day, he discovers that against all odds, he has turnips. These hands which he believes have caused the destruction of all that he once held dear, somehow managed to nurture creation and support life. Everything and everyone is gone, but here in his hands is this one small glimmer of hope that perhaps he is not only capable of ruin. How happy he must've been. Was it the first time he felt joy since before the East Sea battle? How he must've wanted to tell someone, but there was no one there.
You know who he must've most wanted to tell? His shifu. His shifu, who once told him that he didn't care about Xiangyi becoming any great martial artist. Just eat well, drink well, and live well. Maybe kneeling there in the dirt, gently cradling his small misshapen turnips in his hands — maybe that's when Li Lianhua finally understands what Shifu meant.
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Hello!! so my request is;
What if the batter turned or was a dog? I think the idea of us the player being able to pet a Batter dog is very cute. But, How would he handle his mission? How would the player have to take care of him? is it now easier to decipher how he feels, because of his ears and his tail (like, it's easy to know when he's happy, since his tail wags when the player caresses him lol) Well, I didn't think much deeper than that, as I got this idea when I remembered the day I put a hat on my dog, playfully, covering his eyes and mentally saying to myself, "batter dog." aksbekd XD Anyway, the rest is up to you, you decide if he can talk or not, or what kind of dog he is. But that's it, hope you have a great day, be well ^^)
I am more of a cat person myself, but dogs just fit Batter so much better than cats! This is so cute! This entire time I was thinking to myself "Bog" (Batter dog)! Hats on dogs are so cute! Any hat on any animal is adorable!
Dog!Batter
If you were to ask me, Batter would be a German shepherd. They’re strong, resilient, fast, dutiful and loyal. As they’re quite large, but not the largest and have a pretty strong bite, he would still be able to fight well enough, all the while being completely loyal to his Player.
When he first meets you his face might not show much emotion, but his tail sure gives away how he’s feeling, wagging at a speed you didn’t even know was possible for a dog. Of course, he curiously sniffs you at first, but he’s smitten either way and completely loyal to you from the very start. The connection is still very much there, just in a different format now.
I’d also like to mention that he’s still wearing his baseball uniform.
Because of his exceptional sense of smell, he can tell when there are enemies up ahead, long before they even show themselves. He might be a dog, but he’s still from the OFF world, making him a bit different and capable of smelling ectoplasmic beings. Once he senses that one is nearby he goes stiff for a moment, stops following you and then goes into attack mode, staying as close to you as possible.
As he still has his intelligence, he knows how to use his strength and agility to his advantage, making him better at dodging the hits of the spectres. While there’s practically no equipment out there that would help him with increasing his damage, even though I’d imagine it’s higher than regular Batter’s from the very beginning, he can still wear some defensive equipment. It’s smaller and less effective than that of regular Batter, but that’s to be expected when you’re more of a heavy hitter.
Because he uses his bites to attack the enemies, and because not all of them are ghosts, there’s a chance he can inflict bleeding on the more ghoulish enemies and have them give in from that status effect.
If you pet him and tell him he did a great job battling then he might just do that dog thing where they try to jump up to you with their front paws and use you to stand on two legs.
If you ever feel upset then Batter will want to help you. Still, even as a dog, he’s kind of awkward, so he’ll just lie beside you and watch you, making sure he’s there when you need him.
He handles his mission still with utmost care, but he makes sure that you’re safe and sound even more so than before. He can’t help it, it’s his instinct. He’ll always be a bit ahead of you, a step or two, to make sure he can take on any threat ahead, while looking back from time to time to make sure you’re still there. In a sense, because of your bond and his innate feelings of wanting to be near you and protect you, you're a bit more important to him than his mission.
A big plus of him being a dog would be that meat would have a better effect on him. I’d say it’s capable of both healing status effects and health points. Plus you get to throw pieces of it away and watch him go after the food, excited he gets to play with you.
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fic moodboard concept in honor of @jbhmalumm birthday: the childhood best friends to lovers to exes to strangers to stuck in a storm together to lovers again malum au we all deserve
after not hearing from Calum for the past year, the last thing he expects is to see him at his front door, asking him if he could give him a ride to his parents' winter cabin, the same one he confessed his love to in a hushed voice when they were young and naive, the same cabin he broke Michael's heart in last november.
he'd love to say he declined, but he never could say no to him, not to Calum, not ever.
so that's how they find themselves stuck there together, a sudden storm preventing michael from coming back to his own place, a small apartment he could never call home cause that's only ever been a person, not a place. home was Calum, still is.
old habits are hard to break and over the course of the week they start to act like they used to, not only as the couple they were for five years, but also the best friends they were for twenty.
conversations are made, confessions are slipped out, a chance to start back again, and this time not making the mistake of letting go.
(Calum's cat, Lloyd, also joins the trip.)
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