recurring-polynya - Tumblr blog

recurring-polynya · 1 day

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hello, congrats on one mil!! you mentioned (very) off handedly in the tags a long time ago that an au where renji was byakuya's sibling would be difficult because renji would want hugs and Kuchiki Do Not Hug. ever since ive been wondering: what exactly would it take for byakuya to give renji a hug? this is my prompt to you. any and all external influences are permissible but it has to be a real, proper hug. no side hugs allowed. bonus (infinite) points for rukia being somewhere in the mix.

I thought about this for 20 minutes and then just yes, and...'d my way through the rest of this. It was very fun! Hopefully someone else finds this half as funny as I did.

| read on ao3 | request guidelines |

❄️ ☃️ ❄️

"Hitsugaya here."

"Hello, Captain Hitsugaya, it is Captain Kuchiki."

"..."

"I am calling from Lieutenant Abarai's phone."

"Of course you are. What's up?"

"I have a question. What is the standard treatment for hypothermia?"

"...why are you asking?"

"When a person dives into very cold water, say, if they were chasing a semi-aquatic Hollow into a lake and the air temperature is below--"

"Kuchiki, how do you have Abarai's phone if he just jumped into a lake after a semi-aquatic Hollow?"

"Because he threw it at me and yelled 'call Rukia and ask her how to treat hypothermia, I'm sure she knows.'"

"But you didn't call Rukia."

"I did not. I would prefer if she did not find out that I let Abarai jump into a frozen lake. I did not mean to. He is very quick and also a bad listener. Hmm. The water is turning very red. Hollows do not usually have red blood. It would probably be a bad idea to jump in after him, don't you think? Then, we would both have hypothermia."

"Where are the two of you?"

"The thirty-first district of North Rukongai."

"Okay, that's too far away. (yes, it's your brother. no, everything is not fine. no, i think it's better if you let me talk to him.)"

"Is my sister there?"

"Yes, your sister is here."

"What are you doing with my sister, Hitsugaya Toushirou? She already has an official, family-approved suitor!"

"Does she, Kuchiki? Or does she have an official, family-approved popsicle? (no! no, stop grabbing! Matsumoto, some help please!)"

"Forget what I said earlier, he is coming out of the lake now. (Abarai! What is the limb situation? Ah, excellent, well done!) He even has all of his limbs. He does look rather pale and is shaking a lot, so perhaps we should get back to the hypothermia question."

"To be honest, I don't know that much about it. Usually I'm trying to freeze people to death. I only know what they teach in the decadal first aid refresher. Maybe you shouldn't have done that sleeping-with-your-eyes-open thing the last time we had--"

"Captain Hitsugaya, perhaps we could save the recriminations for later. Abarai is dying."

"Fine. I'm giving the phone to Rukia, who is here to work on her bankai, the same as every Tuesday afternoon. Kuchiki, tell your brother how to fix the hypothermia he gave your boyfriend."

"Brother!"

"Hello, Rukia! I would like to clarify, I did not 'give' Abarai hypothermia. He is very difficult to--"

"Stop talking, I know how he is. I am not holding you responsible. I only heard half the conversation, is he wet?"

"He dove into a lake, so yes."

"Okay, your first priority should be to dry him off."

"(Abarai, Rukia says you need to dry off. Yes, I know I have told you not to do that. Go ahead and do it. Just try not to get me--ugh! I told you not to--!")

"Is he trying to dry off by shaking himself like a dog? Don't let him do that!"

"It is surprisingly effective."

"It could also cause him to go into cardiac arrest so please don't let him do that!"

"(Abarai, Rukia says your heart will stop working if you do that. Yes, it sounds fake to me, too. I am just the messenger.)"

"I would hang up on you, except that then Renji would definitely die. Look, is there shelter nearby? Somewhere you can get him inside?"

"No. Can I just pick him up and flash step him back to town?"

"No, that would also cause his heart to stop. (Captain Hitsugaya, can we send a message down to-- oh, you already have? Oh, great, thank you!) Captain Hitsugaya has already called the Fourth. They're sending a medic to you, but it'll probably be at least an hour. In the meantime, you need get him dry and start to warm him up. Do you have any spare clothes?"

"Why would we have spare clothes?"

"I don't know! Sometimes people carry spare capes! They come in handy! Can you give him your haori?"

"Of course not, he hasn't passed the Captains' Examination."

"Okay, well, make him take his wet clothes off, and you figure out which parts of your outfit you can spare. Don't tell me. I don't want to know."

"Oh, I see. Hmm. Wait, Rukia. Before I disrobe, I read a book once, where someone was in a cold climate and they were freezing to death, and they killed a bear--"

"Do not put Renji inside the dead Hollow, Byakuya. I mean it."

"Hollows disintegrate when they die, Rukia, and even if they didn't, he left it at the bottom of the lake. (You did kill it, right? All right, good.) Ahem. I was just thinking that I could find a bear--"

"You do not have time to find and kill a bear, Brother."

"Hmm. Very well. (Abarai, take off your pants. Rukia says so.)"

(various mumbling and other noises)

"All right. I have returned. Abarai is wrapped up in both our cloaks."

"Wait, you had a cloak this whole time?"

"Of course I had a cloak. We went to the mountains of North Rukongai. Of course we dressed appropriately. Abarai even had the presence of mind to remove his before jumping in the lake. (Yes, I know it was so you could swim better. Do you wish to take this phone call?)"

"You could have--you know what? Never mind. Okay, do you have any field rations with you? Getting some warm food or liquid in him would be very helpful. Even if you can just warm some water with kidou and give it to him, that would be good."

"We did not bring any provisions. We were only supposed to come out here for an afternoon and we did not expect to have to leave town. (No, Abarai, I do not think you should drink that lake water. Well, a Hollow died in it, for one thing.)"

"Brother, do me a favor. Go touch his skin and tell me what it feels like."

"His skin?"

"Yes, I want to know if it's cold."

"Does it matter where?"

"Not really, I guess."

"(Abarai, stick your arm out of the cloak. Look, this is very unpleasant for both of us!) I am touching his arm. I would say it is approximately 30C."

"How can you-- never mind. I don't want to know. Is he shivering? Are his teeth chattering?"

"Less so than before, on both counts. That is good, right? That means he is warming up?"

"No, it means his body is shutting down. Is he still talking to you? Is he lucid?"

"He is still talking, a thing that I assume he would keep doing even after all other vital signs have ceased. I will check the state of his reason. (Abarai, who was the captain of Sixth Squadron during the Hellish Dangai Incursion of 892? No, it's not a trick question. All right, it's a little bit of a trick question…That's a really questionable interpretation of events, Abarai. No, I do not think there are any historians that would agree with you.) Rukia, I will be honest. He is not at his best."

"If he's talking and making sense, that's…something at least. But he's not in good shape and you've got to do something to help him warm up until the medic gets there."

"'Sense' is really debatable, Rukia."

"I think you're going to have to do the kaidou, Brother."

"My understanding is that the body temperature stabilization kidou should only be performed in a sheltered location by a trained Squad 4 medic."

"Yeah, that's the clinical one, and you are correct. You need to do the emergency one. It's not as good generally, but it's less tricky. It should help, though! Zabimaru runs hot, so if you can just give them a jumpstart, Renji will probably stabilize by himself."

"(Oh, is that so?) Abarai says you cast this on him 'all the time.' Why didn't you bring this up earlier? And why are you freezing my lieutenant 'all the time'?"

"He likes it. And I assumed you would refuse!"

"Why would I refuse? Which kaidou is it again?"

"Did you really sleep through the decadal first aid refresher? It's number 17!"

"Number 17…that's the one where…oh."

"Can you do it, Brother?"

"..."

"Brother?"

"When you say you do this to him 'all the time', is it because you are truly giving him hypothermia constantly, or is it just a ploy to…you know?"

"..."

"Rukia?"

"Must it be one or the other, Brother?!"

"Well, I was just wondering if the full body contact was truly compulsory, or if maybe I could just…do it from a respectful distance."

"You have to hug him, Brother."

"..."

"It's not so bad, Brother! You nearly cut off an arm and a leg to save me once!"

"...what if I were to sit next to him, so that our sides were touching? I…I could probably even put my arm around him."

"A side-hug is not going to cut it! The whole trick of the thing is getting your saketsu and hakusui close enough to his! You can hug him from behind, if that makes things better."

"I think that might actually be worse, Rukia."

"You're just going to have to hug him normally, then. Renji gives very good hugs! I tell you it won't be so bad! Just do it!"

"I am only doing this for you, Rukia."

"I appreciate it, Brother."

"(All right, Abarai. Brace yourself. As unpleasant as it is, I am going to have to--no, I will not 'bring it in!' Why must you make this worse than it already is?)"

(unintelligible)

"Brother? Brother, are you still there?"

"I am still here. I am doing it. I am hugging him. This is terrible."

"Are you doing the kaidou?"

"...right. The kaidou. I am now doing the kaidou. Ahem."

"Hi, Rukia, can you hear me? He's got the phone kinda close to my face and I can hear you!"

"Renji, is that you?!"

"It's me! He's hugging me, Rukia! This is so weird!"

"We can memory wipe both of you later, probably."

"No, I mean, he's really bad at it! This is the worst hug I have ever gotten!"

"Shut up, Abarai."

"I think you need to relax a little, Captain. Loosen up those arms."

"I do not want pointers, Abarai."

"Well, I'm having--a little trouble--breathing."

"Oh. I see. Yes, sorry."

"Not to interrupt all the fun you two are having, but does it seem to be working?"

"I have no idea. Abarai, is it working?"

"It's pretty different than when you do it, Rukia, but I think it is. Can I have a real hug when I get home?"

"You can have as many hugs as you want when you get home."

"Ahem."

"I am trying to keep him thinking positive, Brother! You can also have as many hugs as you want when you get home! It sounds like you need some practice."

"..."

"Or if you'd rather just have a stiff drink, I'm sure that can also be arranged."

"As you say, Rukia: why not both?"

"Sounds good to me, Brother!"

~end

#byakuya kuchiki #renji abarai #rukia kuchiki #toshiro hitsugaya #1M words request event #my writing #i used to write dialogue-only fanfic all the time when i was a teen and normally i consider it very lazy and try not to do it #but in this particular case i felt like it really added to the bit #anyway big ups to the mayo clinic and webmd pages on hypothermia #couldna done it without you

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recurring-polynya · 1 day

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speaking of great bleach mysteries, i often hear people wondering 'oh, did hitsugaya and matsumoto recognize isshin when they were in the World of the Living during the advance team arc?' and there was even a klub question about it, but what i want to know is, did anyone notice that Worst Ryouka and Savior of Soul Society Kurosaki Ichigo's one and only attack, Getsuga Tenshou, was also used by Captain Shiba Isshin, a guy who conveniently disappeared roughly 20 years ago?

#we are watching the deicide episodes right now and i was like 'hmm. hmmmm'#the timing lining up is sort of a red herring b/c shinigami have no idea how living world time works and how humans ago #i still maintain that when rukia told ichigo she had lived 'ten of his lifetimes' it's because she thought he was six years old #fun fact! before i read the tybw and had just seen a bunch of spoilers on tumblr #i assumed that isshin had lost his powers by doing the final getsuga (saving ichigo's mom possibly)#which i actually think would have been kind of cool but oh well

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recurring-polynya · 1 day

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have we ever once heard byakuya recite a kidou chant? I did not research for this post, but I feel like we have not.

#the amazing thing about kidou chants #is that they sound metal as hell when you do them #and also it is a sign of a Notable Badass when you *don't* do them #except that it's even more badass to start doing one and then start chanting after the fact #there is simply no way to go wrong with kidou!#(unless you are renji)#anyway byakuya does a literal mic drop to go to bankai i feel like never using the chants goes with his whole deal

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recurring-polynya · 2 days

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Request Time!

I am sure this is a categorically terrible idea, but I am too squirrel-brained to pick a writing project to work on, but also I'm tired of not writing and additionally, I am puffed up on my own hubris from hitting 1M words on AO3, so let's gooooooooo!

I am taking requests from now until I get tired of this! I promise I will write at least one thing! I do not promise when that will be!!

This is a fanfic event

I will do the ones that speak to me the most. It’s not first-come, first-served! If you have a good idea, send it in! It's fine to send in more than one!

I delete the requests that I don’t accept.

No theme this time! Anything goes!

Here are some tips:

I do have anon asks on, but if you log in, it means I can ask questions if I need to, plus it makes me feel like we’re friends when I get a name with the request.

Ideally my short fiction comes out between 1k and 2k, so we’re usually talking just a scene or two. I am notoriously bad at sticking to this.

You can see all my previous short fiction here. (Each yearly volume has a table of contents in the first chapter). Try not to request things that I’ve done before, unless it’s explicitly a continuation. Alternatively, you can check out some of my previous request tags like 500 Follower Drabble Weekend or What If Requests

You can request extra scenes from my existing fanfics.

The best requests are specific enough to be inspirational, but not so overconstrained that you’ve basically written the whole thing yourself. Specifying a set of characters is okay, but it’s better if you add a setting or a scenario or a mood. Think about what the description would be if you had to post it to ao3 yourself.

If you read my blog and/or my fanfic, you will probably get a good idea of which characters I love and the kinds of things that delight me and the things that do not. I primarily do these requests for the benefit of my regular readers, so if this process is biased towards them, that is by design.

Here's a list of stuff I am probably going to say no to. If you feel like you know me really well and have a killer idea that you think I'll love, go ahead and hit me with it, but otherwise, please don't.

Reader/x (this is a hard no, don't even ask)

Kidfic

Any ships that are captains/their lieutenants or Karakura Kids/shinigami. No Aizen ships period.

The only endgame romantic ship I will write for Renji or Rukia is Renruki. I might be open to some explorations during their separation years or like some weird AU thing that's Wrong on Purpose, but in both these cases, you're getting undercurrents of Renruki for free, whether you want them or not. The only Byakuya ship I will write is Byahisa. Friendships and other kinds of non-romantic relationships are always welcome!

Anything featuring Sternritter, aside from as villains. Actually, same goes for Nnoitra and Szayelaporro. Mayuri also on extremely thin ice, but I have a lot of Mayuri-loving pals on this site, so I might be convincible with the right prompt.

I am not explicitly ruling out NSFW, but you gotta give me a good hook, I’m only good at writing smut if it’s weird. The only smut I will write is Renruki. Also, my smut is always super consensual, no exceptions.

Send your requests to my Askbox!

#reader requests #1M words request event #it's been forever since i've done one of these. here's hoping it will be good for me!!#also it's been so quiet lately i'm not sure if there's even any interest in this sort of thing anymore #oh well! we'll see!!!

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recurring-polynya · 2 days

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I have always loved this shot from the Very First Captains' Meeting we see in Bleach. Between some combination of Early Kubo Art Rizz and the fact that he hadn't exactly nailed everyone's aesthetic yet, everyone looks sublimely scrungly.

Anyway, I was delighted to find that the anime gave us a companion shot for the lieutenants, a loving pan over These Sure Are Some Individuals.

Bonus! The manga panel this is based on doesn't have quite the same degree of charm (or the full roster) but they did Mike Wazowski my boy Iba, and I am incredibly charmed by this.

#gotei-13 middle management #the windows were much cooler in the manga #which is only important because renji jumps out of one immediately after this and no one notices #king shit behavior #why is the 3rd seat of squad 4 running this meeting anyway??? i would jump out the window too #i've been meaning to try developing a more scrungly art style. i should try re-drawing this.#lol as if i have any executive function at all these days

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recurring-polynya · 3 days

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hey guess what happened last week

#ONE. MILLION. WORDS.#it took me 5 years and 3 months #which is slightly longer than i expected but also i'm kind of amazed i did it at all #this is a tiny bit of a lie b/c i do have a small amount of duplication amount in my works #which is to say the fade-to-black version of portions for foxes and the first bits of the tattoo artist au that started out as shorts #on the other hand i still have another 50k of damage history on deck so it'll be legit soon enough anyway #i just wanted to see the odometer roll over!!!!#i feel like i should do something to celebrate this but i'm kind of an idiot right now and if i open requests i'm afraid i'll just blow it #on the other hand maybe getting other people to give me ideas is what i need #i don't knooooooooooooow i am still thinking about it

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recurring-polynya · 3 days

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Hi!! Just wanted to say that I love love love your fics!! Thank you so much for sharing them!

And your RenRuki somehow reminds me of the song Like My Father by Jax. Like, if the lyrics is written by Ichika or something. Cute and playful and domestically romantic

Please stay healthy and safe!

That's so kind of you, thanks! ! 💕

That was a nice song--my writing definitely leans towards the healthy-and-supportive-relationship + people-who-aren't-afraid-to-be-silly-together, so I can see how the vibe fits.

Thanks for sharing, and I hope you're enjoying the latest story!

#my readers are the best and nicest

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recurring-polynya · 4 days

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Hello, I hope I'm not being weird here.

I just wanted to pop in and say I'm a huuuge fan and longtime tumblr follower, and have been reading your work for ages now. I just never got the courage to engage when you and the other handful of Bleach fans are talking on my dash hahahaha.

Your interpretations of their Renji and Rukia are basically canon to me -- I don't think anyone else has done as much work to capture their voices and dynamic as well as you have. The 2 of them have had me in a chokehold since I was waiting for Bleach updates every Thursday on Onemanga at the tender age of 11 (16 years ago!!), and they still have me in a chokehold now -- I credit that to your excellent writing and analysis. In a smallish fandom (and a smaller-still ship), it's so comforting to know that there're still people who're still here and still care enough to engage with the material.

I love how you write the vice-captain posse also, their workplace (and off-duty) shenanigans give me joy, especially now that I'm no longer 11 and, like, get it.

I'm delighted that Damage History is up after seeing your updates on Tumblr, and am saving it as a treat for after my finals. I'll leave a comment on AO3 when I read it - HKShadowWorks if you wanna know who I am!

😭😭😭💕💕💕

Thank you so much, this was such a sweet note!

Also, please know that I am just a normal, boring person and no one ever needs to be nervous to talk to me. I am actually an incredibly shy and anxious person in real life, all of this ::gestures at blog:: is just a bit that I do, where I try to be kind and talk about the manga that I love and share my work even when it's not perfect and gush over other people's fan creations so they will want to make more.

Even for a quiet ship within a (currently) quiet fandom, I feel like it's gotten even quieter lately. Maybe it just feels like that because a lot of people on here I really like have gotten Overcome with Life Stuff, or moved on to other things. It may just be legit quieter since the anime is on break for now. Sometimes I think about giving up on all this, except that a) lol i am not going to stop, what else am I going to do? and b) if I stop making incredibly niche posts about the decor in the captains' offices, that's one less person out there making niche posts about the decor in the captains' offices. My point is, thanks for writing in! It is nice to hear there are people out there enjoying my work.

I hope you enjoy the fanfic! A story is only half a story until someone has read it, and I'm really enjoying hearing people's reactions to it. Good luck with your finals and thank you again for all the nice compliments, they have been very good for my heart!

#my readers are the best and nicest

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