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violetrainbow412-blog · 1 year

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Dressing for revenge [K. B]

Kaz Brekker x fem!reader

word count: 7k

summary: when Kaz and his crows return from Ravka they run into trouble, and to solve it, he looks for a childhood friend who is too resentful and too in love with him

warnings: trauma, PTSD, spoilers for S&B season 2, no physical contact, here Kaz has no romantic feelings for Inej

A/N: I LOVE Kanej, but I wanted to write something with Kazzle Dazzle because I love him too, lol. I hope you like it!

taglist (who I thought might be interested): @rustyyyyspoonz

The rumor had already spread throughout the Barrel: “Kaz Brekker and his crows are back” How long had it been since they had embarked into the Fold? Just a couple of months? They had felt like years, if you were being honest.

If it was true that they were back, you felt sorry for the trouble they were going to run into. The change of ownership of their club, the strengthening of the other gangs, and mainly the fact that they were being tried for murder thanks to the fact that Pekka Rollins had awarded it to them... all these problems were going to fall on them like a bucket of water cold. It had already fallen on them, in fact, since the rumor was accompanied that they had escaped from the stadwatch once they were captured.

You didn't know how much of what everyone was saying was true and how much was false, trying to stay as calm as possible when the name Kaz came from someone's lips for fear that Pekka had some magical ability and could read your mind or sense the fear in your eyes every time you met him. Afraid of him and afraid of what he might do to you if he knew you knew the black-haired man.

Things had changed a lot since the last time you saw the boy and that was more than noticeable. Your story goes back long before he made his reputation when you were just a couple of neighbor kids playing on the farms. You two arrived in Ketterdam together, with nothing but hopes for a better future and Jordie as your protector (or an attempt at that, at least), after your father and Mr. Rietveld died in the same accident, reuniting with Kaz’s mother and later to be matched by your mother, who had died of sadness, if that was possible. Three helpless children thrown into the cruel world were what came of that and the rest is history.

Crime, robbery, gangs, and a life of hardship were what you had to adjust to as a child, but you doubted very much that a single person living in The Barrel would be in a different situation. You weren't fully involved in the disgraced jobs of the majority, but if there was one true thing, it was that when it came to obtaining information you were, to say the least, excellent. You and Kaz had to fend for yourselves, and you learned what you could from the streets. In this way he and you became a team, so to speak, for a few teenage years, and for that period of your lives having each other was the only thing in the world. Over time he became ruthless, rude, a great fighter and earned the nickname 'dirtyhands' thanks to his gambling skills, from which he obtained most of the things you had. You learned to move quickly, to go unnoticed, and to defend yourself from those who tried to harm you, always supporting the boy’s plans.

Less than a year was enough for his name to become known and he began to think big. Sometimes he would tell you about the plans he had: to run Fifth Harbor, to establish the crow club, to become the best of The Barrel. All of that sounded like crazy ideas at first, but looking back you realized that he had accomplished too much in that pit for your relatively young age.

You never knew what made you and Kaz go their separate ways, but somehow it had happened. It was gradual, maybe that's why it was hard for you to notice, but one day you woke up and realized the distance that existed between him, who previously was practically the only family you knew, and you. It didn't take much for him to decide to break the bond that had held you together from a very early age; he never gave reasons for this and you never asked him.

You lived under some protection from the leader of The Crows, of course, but very few people could link you to The Bastard of the Barrel. Sometimes you still provided him with information, but when he found someone else, the inquiries became less and less frequent until one day they turned into none. You managed to eat and have a roof over your head pretty well (and mostly honestly) and you tried to stay out of trouble for a long time.

Until one day he flew away from Ketterdam without warning and order in the Barrel was disturbed in every possible way. With his team gone, it didn't take long for Pekka to seize control and anyone who didn't work for him was inevitably against him. It was only a matter of time before he found out the talent you had tried to hide and forced you to carry his lion shield... figuratively speaking.

If he ever knew that you used to work with Kaz he never mentioned it or maybe your relationship with him had been severed so long that no one remembered it anymore. Now you were just a little girl, as he used to call you, slippery enough that she seemed so harmless that, in his eyes, that became a benefit. You were never one to look rude, unfortunately for you, and that allowed men like him to feel entitled to take advantage of you. You thanked the saints that Rollins didn't find you attractive or who knows what other services he would have requested from you. It was always better to provide him with the information he needed than for him to force you to be his lover.

You weren't a part of the meetings that the Dime Lions had and you weren't considered a member either, which kept you calm every night. You were just another piece in the enormous chess game that Pekka moved at his convenience, the same game that was threatened by the mere existence of Kaz Brekker and much more so now that he had returned.

In the middle of the night it was logical to ask yourself, what kind of strange plans would he have in mind now?

One, two, and three knocks surprised you at the rickety wooden door and made you jump out of your chair, where you were already asleep. An old lamp was on the even older table and it illuminated the little space that your provisional home had so you took it to approach to open the door. It was raining outside (quite unusual for that time of year) and by the time it was you figured it was one of Rollins' idiots coming to do a job for you. What would he want now? Harbor information? Talk to a policeman? He was supposed to control everything, sometimes you kept wondering why he asked for your help.

When you opened the door, the air slipped in and almost extinguished the flame of the fire, but the temperature of the night wasn’t what left you freezing, but the presence that was in front of you. With his hat, a completely black outfit, and his cane in hand, but above all soaked from head to toe, there was him; Kaz. You almost feared you were imagining it, but you knew it was him by the clear, penetrating eyes that were watching you, even though you admitted that he had changed so much that in other circumstances you would have had trouble recognizing him.

“Did I arrive at a bad time?” he asked. No warm greetings, no smiles, no explanations. Just a cold, serious question, just the way he was.

“Someone followed you? If this place is horrible by itself, I don't want blood staining the floor” you replied with the same tone. You wanted to tell him that you had missed him, ask him if he was okay, and give him a huge hug, but those actions should be reserved for your nocturnal fantasies, because as soon as you took a step forward he would be able to hit you with his cane. Or at least that's what the Kaz you knew would do, but you doubted very much that the passing of the years would have softened his heart.

"Nobody followed me" was all he said and you stepped aside at the door so he could go inside. Even with his words, you felt the need to look out on both sides of the street in search of someone, but with the level of rain, you doubted very much that someone would want to stay and spy because he would probably die of pneumonia.

When you closed the door and turned around he didn't say anything, he just stood in front of you while the water drained from his coat. During that moment of silence, you allowed yourself to admire it under the warm light of the candle; his eyes definitely hadn't changed one bit, but now there was a tinge of contempt more noticeable than before. His features had hardened and he was thinner, barely resembling the boy you remembered, perhaps as a reminder of just that... that he was now a man.

“So the rumors are true…” you started to say “You are back”

"I think that's more than obvious," he exclaimed. For a second you forgot that it was he who had knocked on your door and you felt uncomfortable as if you were an intruder who had to get out of there.

There was silence again and you two just looked at each other. Kaz had made his own mental list of changes he noticed in you and was reflecting on when was the last time he had looked at you in such detail. You were wearing light clothes, because before he arrived you were about to go to sleep, and your face, although as childish as always, looked more tired than before. You had also cut your hair, which was messy around your shoulders and a bit darker in tone.

“And may I know to what I owe your visit? I guess you don't want to have tea” you said to break the silence. The dryness of your words in a certain way was to protect yourself because you never knew how much a sharp tongue like his could hurt you.

"I'm in a job and I need people"

Of course it was going to be due to a job, and of course that was why he had sought you out after so many years. A part of you, tremendously stupid, to tell you the truth, was hoping that during the time your friend was away from Ketterdam some divine clarity would have illuminated him so that he would realize that he had to look for you to repair your relationship and offer at least apologies. But you would have to pay him every kruge in the country for him to do something like that.

"I'm glad you considered me, but I'm sorry I have to decline."

"Why?" he asked immediately, his raspy voice showing annoyance at the refusal.

“Because it happens that you can’t work for opposing sides. At least not at the same time” you replied. Maybe it was due to fatigue, but you swore you saw a slight look of surprise on the man's face when you answered that. Most likely, he had assumed that you would be one of the few people who wouldn’t be on Pekka’s side and therefore a safe option.

“Do you work for Pekka?” he muttered. You knew him well enough to know that he was hurt, you could see it in his posture, in his voice, and especially in his look “After all he did to us?”

"And what did you want him to do?" you said, trying to ignore the fact that he had spoken in the plural. Us “You practically handed us over to him. My options were that or receive a bullet in the forehead."

"I didn’t hand you over to anyone"

"You abandoned us and left us in his hands, it's the same thing" you replied, shrugging. There was so much resentment and pain from never-closed wounds floating in the air that it was hard for him and you to think clearly. “Your vacation in Ravka may have been nice, but things only just went to hell here. So don't you dare judge me by the choices I made” you exclaimed defensively.

You didn't imagine that your first conversation with him after so long would be like this, but unfortunately, things never turned out the way you expected. After all, they were a crook and a spy talking in the dead of night.

"You could get information from him more easily," Kaz concluded, shrugging the same way you did. "And so we sink him from the inside."

"And risk him finding out and killing me?"

“You know that would never happen,” he said firmly “The thing about killing you. I wouldn't allow him” his eyes stared at you almost offended by the lack of trust you had towards him. There was silence for the third time and this time your gaze moved away to focus on anything but him.

"Plus you have this girl you took out of The Menagerie, don't you?" you said in your defense. The one you replaced me with, you wanted to add, but held back "So I don't know what you might need me for"

"With so many problems going on, I thought it would be better to have as many alliances as possible," he explained to you. You continued without looking at him, with your head still full of worries and sorrows, and when he didn’t receive an answer, he spoke again "You know that it is your best option"

"I don't know that, but I do know that I would have liked you to at least ask how I am before asking me to join the team you never wanted me in and from which you separated me as soon as you had the chance" you exhaled, in an attempt to lighten the weight on your chest.

It was no secret that you had always felt betrayed by Kaz’s treatment of you, even though he treated dozens of others the same way, because you somehow thought that your backstory was enough to deserve at least the sympathy or some consideration on the part of the crow. And of course you wanted to run from Pekka's clutches and plunge him into the deepest muck, but the resentment for what you considered your friend’s abandonment was stronger. You didn't even know if it was correct to call him ‘friend’.

"You would be a good ace up my sleeve" was all he replied, in an attempt to convince you. Kaz begged absolutely no one, but if there was one thing he had decided before coming to find you, it was that he wouldn't leave until you agreed to help him. Although the nature of your current job made things a bit difficult for him, "Pekka never knew you worked for me, did he?"

"With you" you corrected him "I didn't work for you but with you. We got to The Barrel at the same time”

"Y/N" he murmured. Your name sounded strange coming from his lips after so long without hearing it and that caught you off guard “I'm trying to help you so you don't end up hurt or dead. If you work for… with me, I can tell you where not to be. Otherwise I could find you in the rubble of some confrontation or with a knife from Inej or a bullet from Jesper through your chest”

"Always so thoughtful," you replied with a smirk, but as much as it pained you to admit it, he had a point. You knew what he was capable of and what Pekka was capable of… which side was more convenient to be on? "How much are you going to pay me?" you asked and Kaz smiled, but it wasn't a sign of happiness but mockery “You've always said that's what's really important, haven't you?”

He took something out of his coat and tossed it on the table. They were bills.

"An advance, when I recover the crow club, I will pay you the rest"

“So my pay depends on whether we win or not. That doesn't sound so convenient to me,” you muttered, clicking your tongue, as you fought the urge to say yes just to be near him. It was cold outside, the rain was making a lot of noise and you just wanted to sleep at once, but you knew that you could have been arguing with him all night and neither of you would back down. Kaz was stubborn, one way or another he would get what he wanted. "This isn't just about the club, is it?" you said, with your voice noticeably lower and you would even say with a touch of softness. You and Kaz never talked about what had happened, but each of you was dealing with the weight of the trauma in your own way. He didn't say anything and this time you saw something in him that was different from his usual behavior, knowing that it was those ghosts from the past tormenting him.

"If someone should make him pay, it's us"

Us, again.

"I'll think about it" was what you answered, after reflecting on what would be the appropriate response. The speechless moment gave you something else to think about, and you knew that a huge flaw of yours was how easily you let your heart take over. Because even with all the other feelings on top, you still worried about him "Now that the crow club isn't yours..." you started to say, afraid of what he might say "do you have a place to stay?"

You would have offered to sleep there if he said no, but instead he said he’d manage. That didn't completely reassure you, but you decided not to insist.

“First thing tomorrow, send a reply to this address,” he asked you, holding out a piece of paper that had a few drops on it “Don't go there personally or you'll screw everything up, just send me a note. A yes or a no will suffice”

“What if someone tracks down the note?” you asked, which was a totally valid concern.

Kaz was silent while he thought of an alternative, and then spoke again.

“Just write crows of a feather, murder together. I'll understand” he murmured and you nodded. You knew the poem he was quoting from, had read it many times from the worn-out book he had gotten for you. Kaz didn't wait for anything else and took long steps to the door, which he opened as soon as he could. "Good night, Y/N."

And then he left.

That night you thought a lot about the solution you would give him in the morning, thinking about the pros and cons of each possible answer, until you decided that it was best to say yes. You needed to do it if you wanted to live peacefully (as much as the place allowed) but the main reason was to support him. If he had been about any stupid dispute you would have said no, but you knew this was something else. Kaz missed Jordie every day of his life and his way of honoring him was by planning revenge against the one who led him to that fate, so it was kind of an obligation for you to help him with that too.

You wrote the note on a piece of paper and carefully folded it to put it in an envelope. You signed the outside with his name, written in the best handwriting you had, and although you were hesitant to do so, at the end you wrote a little ‘from a friend’ in the hope of making it clear to him, and perhaps even encouraging him that, if he was willing, you could recover a little of what you had lost. And you weren’t referring to physical things, but to what existed between you.

All your life you had lived with almost opposite feelings when it came to Kaz. Somehow you were upset with him for only seeing you as an instrument that he could dispose of for his interests, but this was linked to the feeling of affection that you wanted him to experience for you and that apparently didn’t exist. It was difficult to decipher anything he was thinking, not just about you, since he had taken it upon himself to build such a convincing facade that it made it complicated to see beyond. Added to that was his aversion to touch of any kind, which, while quite understandable and justified, still made you feel sad. More than once you tried, in vain, to be able to touch him in some way, even if it was something tiny, but he always pushed you away. He pushed you away physically and eventually emotionally, and yet with all this background you wanted to help him.

You knew you couldn't expect a reply to your note, but you were confident that he had received it, and your suspicions were confirmed when another letter came back a couple of days later. It contained a day, a time, and a place, which you assumed was a meeting with him.

You were very careful when you headed there, because you thought that the fewer people saw you together, the better, or else Pekka might suspect something. You covered yourself with a long black cloak for this task and when you arrived you noticed that it wasn't Kaz who was there, but a couple of boys.

"Who are you?"

"And you?" you asked, with the same defensive tone. The place seemed to be an experiment workshop and looking at it in more detail you noticed that there was a bed, so it could even be some kind of apartment. The two men, one brown-skinned and the other pale as snow, wore simple brown suits and were looking at you warily.

“She is Y/N,” said a voice behind you. By the sound of the cane accompanied by the footsteps you knew it was Kaz, “she will work with us”

"Oh," said the dark-haired boy, looking happier with the answer, as he walked in your direction "Welcome, in that case" he muttered flirtatiously, as he held out his hand for you to greet him "Jesper Fahey, at your service”

"I am Wylan" intervened the other, from his place, timidly and quickly.

"You arrived" Kaz spoke again. You turned and a couple of women appeared, you guessed that the shorter one with Suli features was the famous wraith of Kaz. And she was beautiful, you couldn't help but notice.

There was a brief conversation with the six of you there and then Kaz asked you to walk him up to the roof of the place. Once there you instinctively stood next to the only one you knew and he just looked at you out of the corner of his eye while he adopted the typical position of him leaning on the cane.

“Brick by brick” whispered the man’s raspy voice and you were about to ask what you were supposed to do there when an explosion went off in the distance so impressively that you stepped back a bit. It didn't take you more than a few seconds to locate the space and realize the place it was.

"The crow club" you said in a low voice, only for the black-haired man to hear you, while you watched him in profile. But he didn't look at you, just exchanged words with the others and talked about how Pekka's apparent reign was coming to an end.

You'd always known that Kaz Brekker was a little unhinged, and that night you proved it for sure, but you weren't even the least bit afraid. Rather, it was some strange hope that this madness would allow you to go far. Even freedom, perhaps.

After that clear declaration of war, things got considerably complicated, especially when you were summoned before Pekka and he asked you to investigate someone in particular and it turned out to be none other than the man you were now secretly working with. You assumed it was something logical, but even so you feared that Rollins had noticed the slight tremor in your hands when he asked you to complete the task.

You summoned Kaz to Black Veil Cemetery, late at night, and there you confessed to him everything that had happened. He of course found something good in this and devised a way to use it to your advantage, which put you at ease. It still amazed you a little at how nervous you became around him as if you knew nothing of what you were doing, but when you regained your composure you thought it was an excellent plan.

Meetings with Kaz were regular, but always in secret and alone, and they worked to exchange information that you considered useful for him with what he would allow Pekka to know.

You didn't know the full plans and you weren't part of them in any way, or you would be found out, but you knew about almost everything that was going on. The attacks, the fights, the traps, the injuries... you had to look at everything from the outside without being able to intervene. It was frustrating for you, more than anything in the world, and you had to admit that you had taken a liking to crows, even if you had seen them only a couple of times, so you also looked after their safety.

One day you received a note and went to a meeting with all the members of his group present, to finally hear the full version of what Kaz intended to do to finish off your boss. It was a brilliant idea, but you were a little worried about your position in all of this.

“You mean I'm going to be there watching everything Pekka and his thugs do?”

"It will be the best" he answered you. His face still had a bruise on his cheek, a memory from the last fight he had, and he looked exhausted "Jesper and Nina will be there, plus you'll be in disguise" he added and you nodded at that.

When the moment came you thought it would be an easy task, but when Kaz started to get brutally beaten you had to muster all your willpower not to throw yourself into trying to face Pekka, even with your zero skill. He sounded so convincing when he said about Alby that even you believed it, feeling suddenly awed by the cynical smile on Kaz's blood-smeared face. And he also mentioned you in the story, although not directly, saying that it was all about revenge for having abandoned you two when you were children.

You were able to breathe again until Pekka and his entire gang left the place in search of a son who wasn't really buried and you four were left alone. Under other circumstances you would have run to Kaz, cupped his face in your hands, sobbed, and told him it was over. But instead, you just stood in front of him and watched him; his eyes were wild with fury and a thirst for revenge that had already been quenched, but you sensed a hint of calm when he became aware of your presence.

"Breathe," you said in a whisper. Jesper and Nina were dismayed by the closeness with which you spoke to him, as they knew little of your history together “You're fine. We all are,” you assured him. That situation took you back to multiple panic attacks in the past where, given the impossibility of physical contact, all you could do for him was talk to calm him down. It always worked and Kaz had forgotten how soft your voice was and the way you brought him back to the real world. You decided to risk trying to do something else to comfort him and cautiously stretched out your hand towards him, instantly seeing his eyes widen in terror. But your hand ended up landing, more like a touch than a squeeze, on the man's bicep, which was covered by his coat; it wasn't intrusive, or abrupt, and Kaz was surprised that he didn't feel anything negative about it. He looked at your hand and then he looked at you with that usual serious expression, but he didn't push you away and allowed you to stay that way for just a few seconds, after which you decided to move your limb back.

You didn’t receive a verbal response at any time, but you did see him exhale shakily (so softly that you barely noticed) and nod his head while still looking at you, as if he were letting go of a huge weight that was stuck in his chest and at the same time assure you that it felt like a victory. Victory for beating Pekka, victory because he wasn't engulfed by an attack when you touched him, and victory because somehow you were there. You were with him, again.

“Now can we go back to normal?” Jesper asked, to break the silence, and you felt like laughing. Have they ever had a normal life? you asked yourself, but you didn't say.

"Yes" was all Kaz said and taking one last look at you he began to walk in the direction of the exit.

Both of them were curious about the type of relationship you had with Kaz but neither thought it wise to ask at the time, although Nina was getting an idea of things thanks to your racing heartbeat and his that it was impossible not to hear a moment ago. You stayed there just long enough to have a drink with Jesper and then you left the Emerald Palace. You didn't want to go back home, but going with one of them didn't seem like an option either, and once you were on the street you felt worried about remembering the state the black-haired man had left. You trusted that by that time he would be calmer and as if they thought for themselves your legs began to walk to look for him.

It was cold again and you feared you would meet someone dangerous on the road, but you only saw a couple of drunks and a girl looking for clients. Until you were in front of the door, you wondered if it was a good idea to go in, thinking that you would probably be crossing a line that Kaz was not going to allow you to, and wondering if you were going to put up with his refusal, which was a pretty good chance.

With trembling hands you opened the door, which luckily was unlocked, and as if some unknown instinct were guiding you, you found Kaz's room; it was the only one from which light came out through the crack in the door and something told you that he was there. You knocked twice, fearing you had knocked so low that he hadn't heard, and even considered walking back the way you came, but didn't have time to as the door opened a few seconds later. He had already taken off his coat and vest, probably because they were stained with blood, and his black shirt was open at the top buttons, with the suspenders that held up his pants hanging on his thighs. But what caught your attention the most were his pale, gloveless hands.

"What do you need?" he asked you directly. His face looked worse now that the bruises had swollen and the blood was dry. He'd probably have them for a couple of days, and he was definitely going to have a scar over his eyebrow.

"I wanted to see you" you replied, instantly regretting not having considered your sincere words better "I mean... to see how you were" you tried to correct. You thought he would slam the door in your face, but instead he scooted to the side to let you in, then closed the door behind you with a soft click.

Again you felt alien to the place for a moment, thanks to the fact that he looked at you from head to toe as if your presence bothered him. You had to mentally remind yourself that he saw most of them that way.

“Your pay will be ready soon”

"That doesn't matter," you said softly. Several things had changed since the first conversation you had with him, because now that you knew why Kaz had done everything he had done and the traumatic memories returned to both of you, the money had taken a backseat.

You didn't say anything for a moment and you looked for a place where you could sit later. Kaz’s room, once painted green but now just damp walls, had a small bed by the window, a desk littered with papers and a lamp facing another window, with a simple bookcase placed on the top of the side wall; a nightstand, a place to wash your hands with a mirror above it, a circular table in the middle of the free space, and a single armchair that at least looked comfortable. It wasn't the prettiest place, but at least it was cozy.

"Your girl, did she leave?"

“Inej is not my girl. Or from anyone, she is free now” he answered you. He still wasn't looking at you and you noticed that he was having a hard time staying on his feet.

"I'm glad to hear it. She deserves it” you murmured sincerely. You thought that she would be important to Kaz, like all his partners, and you decided to venture out to see if he revealed something else to you. "She's very smart."

"She is"

"And she's pretty too" you added and without moving his head he looked out at yours. You felt as if he was reading your intentions through your eyes, a quality he had always had.

"I think so," he said without much interest.

"Are you very hurt?" you asked, changing the subject, as you took a step towards him. By inertia he took the same step, in the opposite direction, and that made you stop abruptly.

"Nothing to worry about" he exclaimed and though he thought, you couldn't have known, of course, get close to you, you decided to take that step back before he did anything else.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Mhm"

"What did I do to make you walk away?" you exclaimed, finally expressing a question that had been eating away at your chest and tormenting you for many nights in a row. And since there was silence, you spoke again: “Not like right now, but a long time ago. It's just… I never understood it. Before we were friends and for me… you were even like a family. I loved your brother too and I know losing him never affected us the same, but I was glad you were there for me after that. Then we got older and things got more difficult, but I still had you and that calmed me down. And then… we just drifted apart,” you muttered, shrugging, as you avoided his gaze. Kaz still didn't answer anything and you felt the obligation to fill the silence “Sometimes I remember the things we went through when we were young. The good ones, of course. Like that time we stole a cake to celebrate your birthday and it was probably the best sweet I've ever eaten” you commented, smiling at the memory "And when I made you laugh with my bad jokes, no matter how angry or sad you were... I haven't seen you smile for a long time and I don't know if you celebrate your birthday anymore” you reflected wistfully, almost as if you were talking to yourself. And well, in the face of Kaz's inexpressiveness, that's practically what you were doing.

He hadn't said anything yet and you concluded that all your effort was useless. It had been a mistake to go looking for him, as well as trying to get even the slightest proof that he had ever missed you and you wished you had never opened your mouth. You sighed to contain the urge to cry and without saying anything else you turned towards the exit, intending to leave and return only for your money, but Kaz's voice echoed.

"Do you remember what I told Pekka?"

You stopped.

“You told him many things, you will have to be more specific”

"About not loving anything" he replied. Your hand trembled on the doorknob at the mere thought of what he was implying and I was able to hear your racing heart pounding in your chest. You heard footsteps and, still without moving, you heard him speak again "That's why I drifted apart”

You never, even in your wildest dreams, imagined that he would say something like that to you and perhaps you were just deluding yourself with the implication of the words, but it was enough to make you freeze in place.

"I still don't understand how that relates to me” you expressed in a low voice. Kaz took a few more steps towards you until you could see his shadow mingling with yours and you felt it was time to turn. He was watching you from above, seriously.

"I didn't want…" he trailed off. You would almost say he was nervous “I didn't want you to be…”

"A weak spot," you said without thinking, followed by a sigh that sounded almost amused "That's your problem, Kaz," you continued, your gaze far across the room, "You think love is a person's greatest weakness, when it's not like that"

"It is not?"

"No" you exclaimed with determination "I believe that... many times love is what keeps us alive. Struggling"

You were speaking for yourself when you said this. What was your motivation every day? In the past, the love for Kaz. Now, it was love for yourself and the hope that one day someone could love you with the intensity with which you loved others.

“I had already lost Jordie. I didn't want to lose you too,” he finally said and that's when your eyes locked with his. You never thought he would verbally express something like that.

“And did you prefer that I lose you?" you whispered in pain. You wanted him to be aware of things, because it seemed like it had never crossed his mind to stop thinking about your well-being and start thinking about your feelings. “You don't just lose someone when they die, Kaz. You can also lose those who are fully alive”

He didn't say anything, because he clearly didn't know what to answer to that, and while he reflected on your words, you caught a glimpse of a certain vulnerability in his blue eyes that you had rarely seen. I couldn't say that you knew the man in front of you better than anyone, but you had a considerable advantage thanks to the years you had lived with him.

“Okay, just… listen” you started to say, knowing he most likely wouldn't give you an answer “I know it's hard to live as we do— as all of us at The Barrel live, but the risks I decide or don't take. They are my decision, not yours. These years you have sought to keep me out of danger and I appreciate it, but you have to learn to trust me”

"I do. I trust you"

"Then show me," you replied. You couldn't help noticing that, even with his stained face, Kaz was still the most handsome man you'd ever seen “Friends do not avoid each other, nor do they move away and despite that, during all these years I have trusted you as from the first moment we were left alone”

You didn't know if you were saying the right thing, but at least you were saying something.

"And if it's too late?"

It was too late? Kaz wondered. He wondered if it was too late to open up to someone, to try to get over his trauma, to let go and finally love you the way he wanted to.

But all this remained as a thought, phrases that couldn’t leave his throat.

“It's not for me,” you assured him. “But my patience won't last forever. I think you should know that”

You couldn't even imagine how many emotions Kaz was trying to process at that moment, but even he himself didn't understand what a mess you'd made of him with that conversation. From his perception, he had admitted that he loved you, but from his eyes, you didn't seem affected by it. And you, contrary to what he thought, felt like you were going to faint.

You were about to leave, for the second time, but he spoke:

“Stay,” he said, sounding more desperate than he would have liked. “I don't know what to say, but… just stay here. I don't want us to be alone tonight”

Us. That fucking habit of Kaz's to speak in the plural and make you a nervous wreck.

You looked at the bed and found that it was too small for both of you, to which we had to add his refusal to be close to others. Proof of this was the unconscious movement of sticking your hands as close as possible to his body during the entire time you were talking.

"Use the bed, obviously you need it more than me" you muttered and went directly to the armchair. Fortunately your first impression wasn’t wrong, it was very comfortable.

The room was so small that the apparent distance between the pieces of furniture didn't mean much, so when he sat on the bed you could see him perfectly.

The memory of one of the times when both of you were in similar situations came to your mind. That night you had been woken by frightened screams from the next room, in that abandoned house where you and Kaz found shelter, forcing you out of bed to investigate.

It was hard to comfort a person without physically touching them, especially when he had nightmares, and over the months you'd had to get used to it. The boy hated waking you up, it made him feel guilty and stupid, but you always kept him company. You never spoke, never asked questions, you just stayed there so he knew he wasn't alone.

Maybe something like that was what Kaz needed tonight.

"Rest" you exclaimed. His head turned to look at you and you detected a different and special glow in his eyes; as if it were a mixture of fear, softness, and gentleness. You appreciated that look for a few more seconds, which you feared you would never see again in your life, and then you reached out your hand to turn off the light on the desk.

Silence reigned in the darkness.

You settled in the chair, trying to figure out what would be the best sleeping position, and at the same time you heard Kaz slide between the sheets on the bed. After a while, your eyelids felt heavy, a consequence of the fatigue that the hustle and bustle of the day had left you, and when you were about to fall asleep, a voice pulled you out of your reverie.

"Thank you. For everything”

The phrase was a whisper, a delicate caress in your ear, but you understood it clearly. And you decided to think that when Kaz said 'for everything' he meant literally everything you had selflessly done for him during his life; like he just realized you were important. But it's not that he had just noticed it, but that he had just accepted it.

You wanted to stretch out the moment as long as you could because, even if you weren't looking at him, you knew he was awake thanks to the sound of his breathing, but at some point sleep overcame you and you fell fast asleep.

Kaz had nightmares that night, like always, but the difference was that when he woke up in shock in the morning, you were in the same room. So seeing you there, keeping him company, was reason enough to calm him down.

And like every time this had happened, he felt like the luckiest man in the world.

#kaz brekker #kaz brekker x reader #the crows #six of crows #jesper fahey #inej gafha #wylan van eck #nina zenik #mathias helvar #shadow and bone #shadow and bone netflix #kaz brekker x you #kaz brekker fanfic #kaz brekker imagine

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tobiasdrake · 7 days

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Fun Fact: Goku fights smarter. Vegeta fights harder.

As a martial artist, Goku's developed and cultivated his skills over the course of his life, mastering a variety of creative techniques and, more importantly, honing his mind. A quick-thinking and analytical counter-fighter, Goku prides himself on a creative and clever dismantling of his adversary's capabilities.

This is where Goku excels as a fighter. He's a formidable martial artist in his own right but when pressured, he falls back on a generally high understanding of violence and a creative mind for opening solutions. He reads his opponent's style and abilities, finds its weaknesses, and exploits them.

This, incidentally, is part of what what made Majin Buu such an insurmountable hurdle for him.

Majin Buu is a taffy monster made of magic who defies even this universe's conventional physics. He has no fighting style; He just does things, and his infinitely regenerative body and supreme liquid flexibility leaves no weaknesses to exploit.

He cannot be fought the way Goku fights.

For his own style, Goku has one particular signature technique and a couple other moves he's picked up from others. His mainstay is the Kamehameha. But he's innovated a wide variety of ways in which the Kamehameha can be used, based on the needs of his situation.

Goku's used the technique in a variety of ways, such as using it for propulsion instead of as an attack.

Bending it around the opponent's defense for a surprise attack.

Making stationary torpedos that he can fire at will to startle and disorient his adversary.

The coolest attack in Dragon Ball history YES I SAID IT. Learning to teleport? Cool. Kamehameha? Cool. Teleporting in while charging the Kamehameha in order to throw it directly under your opponent's guard before he even has an instant to react? Top-tier.

Point is, this is who Goku is as a fighter. Brilliant and innovative, bringing a great deal of cleverness and creativity to his fights. He breaks down his opponent's technique and adapts himself to the needs of the situation at hand.

Vegeta is also highly observant and analytical. Do not mistake me for calling him stupid. He makes plans of his own, and his greatest asset is his ability to follow everything happening on the field at once. It is next to impossible to get the drop on this man.

Vegeta pays attention.

Vegeta is always paying attention. He splits his focus incredibly well and quickly interprets what he's seeing and hearing with a critical eye. He misses nothing.

He is. Always. Paying attention. The one time someone actually managed to get the drop on him - and I cannot stress this enough - it was a person Vegeta did not know existed because he had not been a part of this battle up to this point.

Am I saying that Yajirobe's cowardice saved the world by not revealing his presence to Vegeta until this fateful moment? Yes. Yes, I am saying that. We literally have a counter-example from someone Vegeta did know and account for to contrast it with.

Vegeta is always paying attention. Unless he doesn't know you exist.

So. Yeah. Vegeta is incredibly brilliant and observant. But what he's not is a martial artist. Vegeta, instead, is a soldier. He's comfortable in the realm that overwhelming power creates.

Vegeta hits hard.

He hits very hard.

He hits very, very, VERY hard.

In fact, Vegeta hits harder than Goku does. That's not to say that Vegeta is stronger than Goku; Vegeta and Goku go back and forth on who's stronger in the given moment over the course of the series. But Vegeta's attacks are stronger than Goku's.

To understand what that means, you need to understand that certain kinds of ki attacks have a multiplying effects on their user's strength. Attacks such as the Kamehameha or the Makankosappo, which concentrate ki before firing it, produce a much greater level of ki than their user's standard power output.

When charging a Kamehameha, Goku's battle power reading on the Scouter rises dramatically. This is the secret of techniques like the Kamehameha: they concentrate ki into a point before releasing it all at once, like pulling the pin on a grenade.

As concentration moves go, the Kamehameha isn't actually that great. The versatility and creativity that Goku brings to it is what makes it so formidable. Pound for pound, it kinda sucks. Piccolo's Makankosappo here makes the Kamehameha look like noob shit.

This kind of ability is non-standard among ki attacks, which are typically like throwing long-range punches. In fact, it's super-rare among the Planet Trade to be able to do this. Raditz had never even heard of a move like this.

Vegeta had. He knew of exactly one.

I am so sorry to do this to you but we're going to have to talk about battle power numbers here for a moment. Vegeta's clocked at 18,000 BP as of his battle with Goku on Earth; it's brought up a few times in the Namek arc.

Goku, iconically, is OVER 9000 8000!!!

At the moment Vegeta and Goku's attacks meet, Goku is channeling the Kaio-ken x3 which is exactly what it sounds like. He's inflated the ki inside his body to 300% capacity. The drawback is that his body is now an overinflated balloon ready to pop at any moment from all this swelled and bloated ki inside of him. But the gain is that he's outputting 300% power.

At this point in time, Vegeta has a battle power of 18,000. Goku, formerly >8,000 is now >>>24,000. Goku, further, is using the Super Kamehameha rather than the regular one he used against Raditz, which brings with it a higher level of power multiplication.

Nonetheless, the Galick Gun is winning against the Super Kamehameha. Goku is forced to resort to a x4 Kaio-ken - which does leave his body utterly destroyed and incapable of continuing the fight - in order to have enough power to overcome a superior magnification from a weaker opponent.

We see another direct comparison between the two in the Cell arc. That killer Warp Kamehameha fired point-blank into Cell when he least suspects it, which hits him dead-on and unloads its absolute maximum power into him? It does this.

Brutal. If Cell didn't have both Frieza's ability to survive ludicrous levels of harm and Piccolo's regeneration, it would have been over right here. Meanwhile, a glancing blow from Vegeta's Final Flash left him looking like this.

Despite Vegeta being far less powerful than Goku was when he fired that move, the effect is about the same - With implication that if Vegeta hadn't pulled the Final Flash back at the last second to avoid destroying the Earth, he would have erased Cell completely.

Goku's shot hit Cell point-blank and full-on to do about as much damage, albeit with deadlier aim in terms of killing a humanoid being.

This is the distinction between Goku and Vegeta as fighters. Vegeta is very smart, and Goku is very strong. Neither of them is lacking in intelligence or power. But they are philosophically very different fighters.

Pound for pound, Vegeta's moves hit harder than Goku's. He is the unparalleled master in taking the power he has and channeling it into as much destructive force as humanly possible.

On the flipside of that coin, when backed into a corner, Vegeta falls back on outputting as much direct force as he can. Goku gets to thinking his way around the problem at hand and devising a creative answer.

Goku is a surgical scalpel. Vegeta is a warhammer.

#dragon ball #dragon ball z #son goku #vegeta

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comradekatara · 3 months

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sometimes i feel like the teen in charge of saving the world trope is too overused but i feel like it works so perfectly in atla. the way they utilize it for character/story purposes as well as to teach lessons to their young viewers is so great

yeah like it’s obviously a pretty necessary convention of the genre, that a children’s fantasy adventure narrative requires child protagonists that the primary audience can relate to and identity with. and usually they’re orphans and ontologically special in some way, so as to justify their role in these magical shenanigans, since it’s fundamentally unrealistic for a bunch of tweens to be saving the world. and there’s pretty much always an in-universe explanation as to why it has to be children specifically for all of these various works, either because children stumbled upon a magical teleportation device by chance and now they are tasked to complete The Prophecy (eg, narnia, amphibia, etc), or because they are in some way The Chosen One (eg, harry potter, atla), or because the stakes are so high that they need to risk their safety to go on this quest (eg, a wrinkle in time, also atla).

i think revolutionary girl utena and neon genesis evangelion both do an excellent job of deconstructing this trope from within their respective genres (the works themselves functioning as deconstructions of their assumed narrative functions). like, the reason these kids are the ones tasked with shouldering these unique burdens is actually because they are being exploited by the adults in power. the fact that they are orphans (especially in the case of the eva pilots, but also in utena’s case) makes them especially viable to these modes of exploitation (spoilers: they need to have a dead mom so that they can be piloted, utena needs to be an orphan so that she can idealize the illusory promise of family and something eternal).

so in the case of atla, it’s not as overtly deconstructing these tropes, but the stakes do feel sufficiently heavy and tragic (if you choose to read into the underlying implications). aang should be an old man, if not dead by now, but due to his temporal displacement, he is now forced to carry a weight that is unfathomable to anyone, let alone a child. as he says, “i’m just one kid.” katara is similarly forced to carry a burden due to being the sole remnant of the systematic extermination of her people. sokka, like aang and katara, is also alone in his own way, and must grow up too fast to compensate for the devastation his people have suffered. zuko was disfigured and banished by his abusive father at the age of 13 specifically to emphasize the extent and depth of his cruelty. azula was raised as a weapon by the same man, and her friends taught themselves to be weapons from a young age for similar reasons. suki is a kid who sees other kids her age travel the world and attempt to save it, and is inspired by their courage to leave home and help out in any way she can, only to end up in a maximum security prison. toph isn’t directly affected by the war, but she nonetheless chooses to join the avatar because of her status as a child being denied autonomy by her family. yue is barely sixteen, and thus deemed old enough to marry, and is essentially sold off against her will. jet and his freedom fighters are so young, and yet have no choice but to fight because their families and homes have been destroyed.

the point atla is making is that in war, children are forced to grow up too quickly and become the kinds of people who must make ruthless, impossible decisions. we see katara and toph fight like sisters over meaningless, trivial bullshit, and then episodes later risk their lives to fight the fire nation. we see sokka awkwardly try to woo the girls he has crushes on, only for him to lose them in horrific ways. aang and sokka fight over whether killing is necessarily wrong, sokka already too jaded to understand aang’s point of view. killing is second nature to him by now. he’s barely sixteen. aang is twelve. as a kid, seeing kids your age or older fight evil is awesome. as an adult, seeing children forced to sacrifice everything to resist against the imperialist forces that have destroyed their lives is devastating.

#sapphikatara #asks #analysis #synthesis #i guess thg also does the nge thing of children being exploited specifically by adults in power #i mean these were just the first examples i could think of off the top of my head #obviously there is a wide array of children’s stories out there #and they ALL hit different watching them as an adult #even the ones that don’t necessarily hold up

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echobutgirlypop · 2 months

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me when Lance and Keith’s connections with the blue and red lions gives them a BOND *wink* *wink* that connects to their growth as characters. me when Lance and Keith’s discovery of the blue lion mirror Keith’s parents. me when Keith’s initial closed off persona opened up after meeting Lance and lances initial need to be a great pilot like Keith grew into a talent of supporting his crew (including Keith) and developing a role in which he can support the team without trying to one up someone else’s talent (sharpshooter instead of pilot), which set both of them up for their roles as the leader and his right hand man.

SO. Let’s start at the beginning. Lance, in attempting to find the glory he’s been failing to achieve, directly piggybacks on Keith’s plan in order to save Shiro because he could not come up with a plan of his own. These characterizations allude to the fact that…

1. Lance is incompetent in everything he’s tried up to this point. His dreams of being a legendary fighter pilot are crumbling around him because he simply is not naturally talented in flying planes. Of course, he could practice and work hard to improve, which he does later in the series (which we’ll talk about later), but after he became a cargo pilot, he decided he had nothing to offer. Consequently, he began to put up an overconfident front, really the only thing he excelled in. Confidence. Even though he had achieved fighter class, his overcompensating confidence prevented him from making sound decisions and overall improving as a pilot. Lance doesn’t trust himself to make decisions in a situation as important as saving his hero, so he used Keith’s already established plan to involve himself as a savior of his hero.

2. According to Iverson, the only major authoritative figure in lances life at this point, Lance is only a fighter pilot because Keith, the best pilot, had a discipline issue. Lance knows Keith as an amazing pilot that got him where he wanted to be. While Lance would rather do anything but have to work with Keith to achieve the glory he so desperately desires, he knows that since Keith is not loved by the garrison, so Lance can take more credit for the rescue. In lances mind, he got him where he wanted once, he can do it again.

Later, we learn about Keith’s investigation of the blue lion. He’s been trying to find this thing for ages and you know who magically reveals clues Keith has never been able to access before? LANCE. He enters Keith’s life and changes EVERYTHING. Keith’s search for the blue lion gave him a sense of purpose after losing Shiro and the garrison. Just before Shiro returned he sort of hit rock bottom in terms of that investigation. When lances connection to the blue lion guided the paladins to the blue lion, Lance helped Keith discover something new, something he had never seen before. Keith had been living the past few months or even years without doing anything meaningful or developing any meaningful relationships with people his age or discovering anything new. Lance brought a spark into his life, allowing him to use his talents to explore the stretches of space and help others. Yes, the other paladins were there when they found the blue lion, but no one was as connected as Lance and Keith to each other and the blue lion. Pidge and Shiro were more involved with investigating/informing others about the galra, not the lions. Hunk did absolutely nothing (ironic considering his character was never developed in the show to the extent of the others and was fairly useless to the team, unfortunately - he deserved better). If I remember correctly, it was Allura who said that the connection Keith felt to the blue lion was present in order to bring the paladins together, or rather Lance to his lion. Quite literally, the magical connection from keith and Lance to the blue lion (an exact match to lances personality at the time) helped both of them to discover themselves and live happier lives that ultimately brought the team and sort of the universe together???

When Lance became the paladin of the red lion and keith became the paladin of the black lion, their official roles within the team accurately matched the personalities and unofficial roles that they had finally gained through their character development. Lances early journey centered around learning he didn’t have to be the best pilot in the galaxy, but instead could be a pretty good gunman and a major support pillar for the team emotionally and tactically. The journey mirrored his transition from the “confident and friendly” blue lion to the “instinctual and fiery” red lion. The blue lion, said by the dreamworks team to be the lion most accepting of its pilots, typically paladins who it/she see potential in and intend to nurture towards growth. While the red lions descriptions don’t necessarily match lances personality because the descriptions were written to match Keith, its paladin must earn the respect of the red lion in order to pilot it/her. Once he becomes the paladin of the blue lion, the confidence Lance had been parading about became more rooted in his actual skills as he finds himself useful to the team with his sharpshooting abilities. By the time he takes up the mantle of the red paladin, Lance has matured in personality and skill, allowing him to act on instinct and match the role of Keith’s right hand man (HIS INVISIBLE RIVALRY TURNED INTO ADMIRATION AND LOVE). His acts for the team and universe have proved him worthy to be the red paladin.

Keith’s struggle with accepting his new role as the black paladin was displayed much more overtly in the show. Scared of losing Shiro again and feeling unready to lead a team after a life of isolation and struggle with people, Keith was extremely skeptical about becoming the black paladin. His journey focused on learning to work with as well as lead others and develop meaningful connections with his teammates. While keith piloted the red lion, he didn’t need to work with anyone because of the sheer talent him and his lion exhibited in combat and flight. However, Shiro’s guidance in forming relationships with his teammates helped him to use his strengths to boost the team. When he became the black paladin, keith had to officially adopt the role he had unofficially grown into through the bonds he made with the paladins and the tactical knowledge he used to guide the team. The “unstable” red paladin of the beginning of the show accepted and understood the importance of adopting a major leadership position, despite his own insecurities and fears.

Lance and Keith’s shared connection to the blue and red lions, their connection to shiro, and their willingness to reveal their deepest values and emotions to each other have established them as having one of the most powerfully bonded relationships in the series. Lance and Keith have been through a lot, but despite it all, they have always been devastatingly, meaningfully, and compassionately intertwined, to the deepest internal themes of their characters and storylines.

#wow this was long #klance masterpost sorta?#but this isn’t everything it’s just a rant #klance rant #klance #keith #keith kogane #keith vld #lance #lance vld #lance mcclain #voltron #voltron rant #voltron legendary defender #vld

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shijiujun · 1 year

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Why You Should Watch 少年歌行 | The Blood of Youth

TLDR: Super good, you should absolutely watch this! Not at all a BL/danmei but from what the donghua gave, there’s quite a healthy bit of bromance and brotherhood between the two male leads, and this show has comedy, plot, excellent pacing, exciting wugong moves and conspiracy, plus tons of gorgeous women and men who can all fight!!! CGI is great too, I initially thought this was gonna be a trashy but funny and moderately good wuxia drama but it’s really well-made and it is still funny and really good on all fronts.

*It has a donghua but I haven’t watched it!!!

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Summary:

Xiao Se is a handsome but relatively poor inn owner in the middle of nowhere on some snowtop mountain, and said inn barely sees any visitors year after year. Just as Xiao Se is deciding whether or not to sell the inn, they finally get one visitor, a young traveler, Lei Wujie who’s traversing jianghu for the very first time on his own, and then they soon get a bunch of hooligans who want to rob the inn. Lei Wujie ‘saves’ Xiao Se by defeating the hooligans but in the process damage the inn; Xiao Se demands payment and Lei Wujie says he needs to get to Xue Yue City to find money to pay him back essentially, so Xiao Se follows him out of his inn in the mountains on a journey.

Along the way, they stumble upon Tang Lian, a skilled and well-known disciple of a famous shifu from Xue Yue City, who’s guarding and escorting a golden coffin to another city, not knowing what is in the coffin. He’s been hunted down repeatedly and ambushed by multiple groups of skilled experts, all coveting what’s inside the golden coffin. Xiao Se and Lei Wujie get accidentally embroiled in the mess, and then realize along the way that a monk - Wu Xin - is in the coffin. And everyone is after Wu Xin, from the demonic sects to other sects in the pugilistic world, all the way to the royal palace.

As Xiao Se and Lei Wujie end up traveling with Wu Xin, conspiracies and past feuds unravel, and Xiao Se is not who he seems to be.

Watch on Youku (YT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1xIuBPN-lk (Total 39 episodes, from Dec. 2022 - Jan. 2023)

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Main Characters:

Xiao Se/Xiao Chuhe (Li Hongyi): The exiled 6th prince who was once a prodigy in martial arts and cultivation before he lost all of it after an attack, and he’s been at the inn ever since. Very well informed of everyone and who’s who, plus all the big happenings in the pugilistic world. Nonchalant, dealing with some issues, very bold and haughty (rightfully so), and this man was a prince and skilled fighter from before too, HAS A LOT OF BAGGAGE, banters a lot with Lei Wujie (cuz this boy is dumb) and is forced to face his demons with the help of Wu Xin. Mysterious, but not really because the moment he walks out everyone knows him like come on he’s the beloved 6th prince before he was exiled

Wu Xin (Liu Xueyi): The son of the demonic sect head before his dad went to war with the royals and was betrayed and defeated, and the demonic sect had to send him over to the royal palace as a hostage, but he gets ‘adopted’ by an old monk and is taught everything that he knows (and was loved) by the old monk. He looks very demonic LMAO more than a monk, super skilled, known for his magic eyes, and he kidnaps Xiao Se and Lei Wujie to be his companions, has a bit of daddy issues too and a lot of pent up anger from when he was younger, but also like super zen at times, and then flippant at other times

Lei Wujie: Dumb husky or golden retriever. Very skilled, pure-hearted, but still very young. SO DAMN FUNNY!!!

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Why You Should Watch This:

1. Possible bromance between Wu Xin and Xiao Se - So far they’ve been very brotherhood but I expect that all to change soon, their first meeting is hilarious af this is the first thing they say to each other, when Wu Xin asked if Xiao Se would accompany him to place and bro went “No wtf”

I mean look at how demonic and slutty Wu Xin is with his eyes and that jawline and see how close they sitting to each other even though Xiao Se is like get-away-from-me

GUYS WE REALY DO GET BROMANCE!!! HAHAHAHA also i was wrong xiao se at this point isn’t the 团宠 just yet, wu xin is!!! he’s the center of attention do you know how many people ran to catch him when he fainted?!?!??!

AND THEY WERE FORCED TO BE SEPARATED FOR A BIT AND LOOK AT HOW THEY TEARED UP WHEN THEY WERE BACK FACING EACH OTHER WTF YALL WERE BARELY BROS FOR AN HOUR

2. Gorgeous men and women and they all can fight and murder you with their eyes?!?!?! (There’s more than the below LIKE A LOT MORE)

3. COMEDY

Example this dumb boy introducing his big name to everyone and then hitting his head

Example the whole fucking carriage has been exploded to smithereens BUT guess who is literally untouched and still in his bed?? Sleeping beauty Wu Xin

Example Xiao Se praising how amazing Wu Xin is but then like “We’re his hostages but we’re praising him” wtf

4. The CGI!!!! And the fighting sequences are really amazing!!!

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And lastly am I the only one thinking about Xue Xian and Xuan Min from Copper Coins!!

#少年歌行 #the blood of youth #liu xueyi #li hongyi #wu xin #xiao se #why you should watch #cdrama

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chaoticstarlightwonderland · 23 days

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One Piece x Dungeon Meshi AU

Specifically where the straw hats act out the dungeon meshi story with some slight alterations

I was thinking about a One Piece au with Delicious in Dungeon and how you would put the stories together and it seemed like the obvious thing would be to have Roger as the dead king at the beginning of the story. But that made me realise- What would Luffy be like in this world?

Roger, instead of his canon self who died with a smile, this version is filled with regrets. I’m assume his crew and other people close to him would be in the cursed kingdom. That includes buggy, shanks, and Ace. Without Shanks and Ace, what would Luffy grow up to be.

In canon, it was revealed from a young age he wanted to do something great to change the world, which turned into deciding to be pirate king thanks to Shanks. But there’s no great pirate era just a dungeon amongst many other dungeons all across the world.

So this is where a get a bit… “creative” with what Luffy will be in this AU. Brace yourselves.

Luffy is actually the half-elf in this AU and is known famously as “the least elf-like elf you would ever meet.” His grandfather Garp is a full elf who left Luffy with a group of humans to raise him. He learns just how badly the long-lived races can treat the short ones, which builds an anti-authoritarian attitude. While he is still cheery and adventure-loving self, he is fully aware that he will outlive all the friends he will ever make. Which gives him an idea, “If only every race could have the same lifespan.”

Such a powerful goal can seem very attractive to certain hungry demons…

But before all that happens, let’s talk about some of the others!

Zoro is a half-Ogre from the Eastern Archipelago. He left with his Tall Man cousin Kuina, the latter leaving because she didn’t wanted to escape an engagement and hone her magic. (They are canon cousins in the Shimotsuki family, I’m saying Zoro’s Roronoa ancestry are ogres/oni).

As you might guess, Kuina is the one that gets eaten by the red dragon and sacrifices herself to save the party.

Usopp is a half-gnome magic user. (I know another mixed race but I was reading and apparently many gnomes have vision problems and we couldn’t have that for Usopp). He has excellent vision from his human father, Yasopp. He became entranced by stories of adventuring and wanted to become one himself when he grew up. (Yasopp is probably dead from old age cuz gnomes are long-lived). Usopp is also the resident hair expert in the group like Marcille. (He and Robin are the canon hairdressers in the straw hats so it’s fate).

Nami is a half-foot trying to get rich to help her mother and sister on their family farm. She doesn’t have Chilchuck’s spouse and children problems but I reckon she gets a lot of slack from other half-foots for not settling down and getting married.

Sanji I think is a full elf fighter. Judge is an elf race supremacist. Sora is her kind self but only Reiju and Sanji grew up to be decent people. And even then Reiju is still forced to work for the family as the heir due to politics. Sanji escaped, but spent a long time on the streets half-starved. He could only make a living working lousy jobs for unscrupulous adventurers. One day he was left behind as bait in a dungeon but rescued by a dwarf named Zeff. Zeff took Sanji under his wing. Teaching everything he knows about monster cooking so that Sanji would never have to go hungry again. (Sanji was probably a little older than canon when he met Zeff). Zeff eventually started a restaurant within a dungeon, that isn’t very popular cuz of the monster meat taboo, but it’s known for being a good last resort and has saved many adventurers. Unfortunately one day the dungeon ended up closing up and Zeff and Sanji were left adrift again. They end up at the new dungeon where the rest of the straw hats are. Zeff is trying to make a living above ground to save up for a new restaurant and Sanji goes into adventuring to help. Sanji is an infamous eccentric elf cuz of the way he is helpless around the ladies and how open he is with monster cooking. While his food smells really good, he hasn’t been able to get anyone else to try it until Luffy came along.

While some of the other straw hats got sadder stories but Nami I think got off easy here lol.

Anyway I hope any of this makes sense.

#one piece #dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon spoilers #delicious in dungeon #dunmeshi #dunmeshi spoilers #one piece au #dunmeshi au #monkey d luffy #roronoa zoro #Usopp #nami #one piece sanji #vinsmoke sanji #black leg sanji #sanji #op nami #usopp one piece

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jojotier · 1 month

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so you have half foot TZ, but what about the rest of Karkat's party? what are they?

lemme also add in their roles too-

Aradia: Tallman, originally from the East along with Equius and Nepeta. She acts as the party's exorcist, monster expert, and a secondary healer! +

Sollux: Gnome, from the Island itself and thus having a heightened sensitivity to the whispers of the dead. He's a battle mage, with the majority of his spells being incredibly destructive.

Tavros: Gnome, from a neighboring country to the west. He's the elemental whisperer and animal handler of the group, helping Aradia charm and handle less intelligent monsters and calming spiritual monsters like undines.

Nepeta: Beastman, specifically spliced with the soul of a Giant Cat. She's the party's fighter and, later on, becomes an excellent monster hunter when the party starts running out of food!

Vriska: Tallman, a native to the island known for being a thief and notorious gambling addict. She's been trying to amend her ways so that she isn't permanently banished to the dungeon by working as a lockpick and fighter for hire, and now stays on with the Vantas party

Equius: Ogre, acting as the party's tank and close-range fighter, able to deal massive damage in one hit.

Gamzee: Kobold, a clown and a bard. While his capricious nature can sometimes cause trouble, his nose is particularly sensitive to magic, making him an ideal scout for monsters on the horizon.

Eridan: Beastman, specially spliced with the soul of a mermaid. A native to the island along with Feferi. He acts as the party's ranger, manning crossbows and minor offensive spells.

Feferi: Beastman, specifically spliced with the soul of a mermaid. A native to the island who acts as the party's third magic user and main healer, having a varied array of spells, as well as the more practical spells like water walk. She's also the one responsible for reviving someone if they die in the dungeon

Kanaya: Elf, and the newest member of the party. While she can use magic, she prefers to use her own hands to dispatch enemies instead. She's the party's resident scholar and current benefactor, as she approached Karkat and Terezi to escort her so that she could investigate the writings of a mysterious magic user known only as RL...

#homestuck #dunmeshstuck #asks #vriska serket #aradia megido #sollux captor #feferi peixes #at least that's what i'm thinking!#might switch some things around lol #kanaya maryam

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fareehaandspaniards · 7 months

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Also really curious about how you see Ludwig!

Seems really like the perfect role model guy!

Perfect role model guy? Maybe xd

I haven’t thought much about his past, but I think that he is also a foreigner (as many other characters!), or rather his family is from other lands. He himself was born and raised in Yharnam, but his roots are southern.

Another doodle to show how exactly I see him (It's Laurence in the left and Edgar in the right, nevermind xD) :

What can be said for sure is that he is very cute!

A "father" for his soldiers (hunters), an excellent fighter, a strongman. An exemplary family man - in my headcanon he is married, and perfectly copes with the role of a father and husband. However, what he couldn't do is to be the "head" of the family - I think he is very shy and timid in private and in more intimate settings!

He's also a great knight! Like, a true knight (I mean not a medieval robber and feudal lord, but a really exemplary servant, master of the sword and sir in shining armor. I swear I read a legend about a knight with a magical, talking sword, (no, not Excalibur xd) It reminds me a lot of Ludwig, though I've forgotten the legend ;_;)

He has a lot of virtues, but his flaws.....

Stone-faced. Which made it hard for Laurence to get along with him at first. Ludwig is very closed and takes deeds rather than words. Laurence couldn’t understand his loyalty and endeavor to serve for some time, but when he got it – he started to fear that Ludwig will abandon the Church after discovering it’s dark secrets.

Ludwig is quite infantile inside - he loves strategy and tactics, but mostly uses it in games for children! And actually the one who got him talking and also befriended was Gehrman, who offered him to play a board game. Gehrman and Ludwig are good friends in my opinion and drinking buddies xd I just like to imagine them drinking a huge mugs of beer while Laurence sips juice through a straw from an exquisite glass. Both friends were a bit silly and eventually acquired enough local jokes that pissed Laurence off LOL

Ludwig had nightmares very often, and a restful sleep is a reward for him. Moon influence – thanks, Laurence.

He is Edgar's idol also! He dreamed of being like the perfect knight (but didn’t succeed xd). And I really like the headcanon that Ludwig picked up little Edgar on the street in his last sane year and gave him to the Orphanage on which the Choir was based. In my headcanons Edgar is stuck being 20 years old in a Nightmare, so I guess that's probably a pretty realistic course of events...? How did he survive his stay at the Orphanage, where children were "used" to communicate with the Great Ones? I-don't-know! xd I just like to think that way, haven't tried to seriously consider it.

Ludwig conducted the massacre of Old Yharnam with true steadfastness. That's why people started call him "The Beast" - he never once showed compassion for people turning into beasts. The problem is that when he does something, he shows no doubt. All his doubts and worries were left in Laurence’s hands, and Vicar was in no hurry to clear his image in front of people or dissuade them.

The Moonlight, after the incident with Old Yharnam, had been the only source of meaning for him. The moon called, the moon comforted, the moon promised. Under its influence, Ludwig forgot everything that brought pain, just as he had forgotten his wife and son and daughter, who had died turning into beasts.

Ludwig had faith in Laurence. Ludwig also believed in healing blood. It had healed his wife, and he believed it was the future of Yharnam. Vicar asked him not to ask questions, promising to tell him one day WHAT the Church was doing, but he wasn’t able to fulfill a promise. Ludwig found out everything for himself later.

Djura admired him at first, but later joined those who called Ludwig "The Beast." He could understand everything, but he couldn't forgive him for following heartless orders.

Ludwig had been an inspiration to Damian(Me? Not to mention Damian? HAhahahaha) during his years of service as a Tomb Prosperctor. Although Damian considered this service "unholy" (the old belief that the dead should not be disturbed), Ludwig inspired him to keep going.

And! Also he was a good friend of Maria. She wasn’t as naive as Ludwig, because tried to discover secrets of Research Hall, but they both had sensitive hearts. He was a good man and she valued it during those hard times. Also how couldn’t Ludwig not appreciate Gehrman’s best apprentice? Young, talented, kind-hearted – Maria was another «knight». (I love so much female archetype of «knight». I have some examples from other games and OH MY GOD, AHksdhfksjhfiwhe General Beatrix from Final Fantasy IX plus Lady Maria is a duo of my heart…)

I used to call myself holyvicar shipper, but actually no… I like it, as much as other pairings, I can even feel it, especially if feelings are one-sided (Ludwig is in love), but Laurence really wants to feel the same, but simply can’t. Ludwig is too easy for him? I don’t know. Ludwig/Maria? Ludwig/Micolash (lol)??? I appreciate any fanart or fanfics but not really into these ships. So Ludwig is married in my world.

#bloodborne headcanons #my art #mutuals #ask #ludwig the holy blade #ludwig the accursed #I love him #I started crying after second phase cut-scene so couldn't beat him that try xd #I love pure and sincere knights

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heart-forge · 1 month

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interested in yr starfield take. played a lot of skyrim as a teen as one does but am not per se a bethesda fan and am mostly bemused by how little i have seen anyone talking about starfield either way in my social circles

well listen this with the important distinction that I am a Bethesda fan. Todd wrapped his chess-master's hands around my throat as a child and has not let go, so perhaps it's me that is biased, but I've been asking for years for a Starfield-esque game and I will not complain now that they've given it to me.

The critical like friction point I think with Starfield and mainstream gaming is that it's an FPS that isn't an FPS. I rarely had to actually fight outside of space flight mechanics. Most plot-based fights could be avoided with a keen enough charisma-or-whatever-space-equivalent skill. I think overall Starfield's flaw was Cyberpunk's flaw in a much more professional setting: it didn't commit enough to what it wanted to do, and by doing so added some watered down stuff that didn't work. Starfield wanted to be an exploration game: No Man's Sky, Garden of the Sea, something that's focused on studying the flora and fauna.

But also they doubled down on settlement building, something that people only wanted to use to make themselves home bases in Fallout 4 and otherwise didn't enjoy as a method of resource management (unless there was some bethesda forum silent majority: generally I gauge whether something is broadly popular or unpopular by asking my brother if it annoyed him dsfkjhds). And then also there was combat, but not just the ship combat which was the real novelty, but also base level FPS combat? But only sometimes.

And then of course there were the procedurally generated worlds which everyone knew immediately was not going to work, because No Man's Sky had already fumbled that hurdle. Bethesda narrative structure is not suitable for random distribution: they excel with specific and focused quest lines in limited, fleshed out locations (ie Shivering Isles, particular abandoned Vault side quests in Fallout 3, Rivenspire in ESO) and become overly generic and repetitive once they remove that element (all the busywork in Skyrim, all the backtracking in Starfield).

This is a problem with a lot of AAA video games as time goes on because...they don't want to commit to genre. What if someone doesn't like that genre? Then they won't buy the game. And it's gotten to the point where games are starting to flop because the mechanics are so broadly generalized and bloated that even the interesting stuff isn't relevant enough to do more than annoy players. I love scanning things in Starfield, I loved scanning them enough that they were fully researched, I loved finding different planets with variations on gravity...but there was literally no reason to explore. There could have been: I was in a guild of explorers. They could have done so much to make it worth my while to explore planets, but instead it was a radiant quest that I didn't even get the first time I played.

I've asked for a long, long time for a video game where my core purpose was not "bloodthirsty fighter itching to kill something with a gun or several guns or a knife or a sword murder kill death death death I don't understand magic I just want to cull my enemies". I hate playing ESO and getting treated like a barbarian in every interaction. I hate being railroaded into being a combat marine in Mass Effect (and was thrilled when Andromeda gave me cool biotics like everyone else got except for Shepard even if Shepard was a biotics class). I want class variation, even if we need to take money away from fidelity and put it into narrative so I can have someone treat me like I'm not a complete drooling neanderthal even if I specifically pick a magic or stealth class.

Starfield gave me that. I was able to pick dialogue options that reflected my skills. If I had points in geology, I could reassure Barrett that the story that the mining company fed him about his husband's misconduct was implausible. I could scold people for improper storage and care of relics even without sinking any particular skills. I could choose to be in religious awe of the relic visions, I could choose to be scientifically fascinated by them, I could choose to be power hungry about them. It's the most flexibility that's ever been allowed in a Bethesda game that I've ever played, and combat was so unfocused that I frequently forgot that fighting was even an option.

I really liked building my ship. I liked that it was a bit of a puzzle when it came to connecting things. The UI was awful and there wasn't much of a tutorial, but I said already that I'm a Bethesda fan. I liked ship combat once I got the hang of it, I liked the act of flying the ship around space. A lot of people said "Starfield gets really good...twelve hours in har har har" which I don't think is strictly fair. Starfield gets good once you figure out how to do stuff and use stuff the way it's supposed to be done and used.

Overall I think Starfield was a really positive experiment in trying something new with the FPS genre. Not everything worked which is grounds for a mass murder-suicide when it comes to how level-headedly gamers react to things that are really popular that they're just not clicking with (seriously I think a lot of problems in the game industry could be at least alleviated if we unlocked the 'just because you want to like it does not mean a fundamental right of yours is being violated if you don't' skill tree), but I like that a company the size of Bethesda is still kind of trying new things. Some quests REALLY hit me in the face: there's one where you're hunting down a relic and find a permeable reality where you have to decide to canonize one particular timeline over another, which involves a lot of switching through timelines in order to advance through to the next room. That was incredible, and meant so much more to me than any generic fetch quest. Grinding mechanics are difficult: not all players like to grind, but if you leave off grinding altogether then it becomes more complicated to balance for difficulty, especially if your goal is to present specific challenges to your player.

Anyway I thought Starfield was fun, I thought the story was good, I think fidelity is overrated, I think that many problems with video games would be solved by carefully integrated accessibility features, and I watched multiple videos criticizing Starfield for things that have always been true across Bethesda games (ie "why do guards know I've stolen and what I've stolen between different planets" because that's how Bethesda has always handled theft mechanics, maybe you just don't like Bethesda games and don't have an immutable human right to frictionlessly play and enjoy every video game that your friends are also playing (not YOU anon just the general you)). There's plenty of things to criticize but at this point I think some people just start nitpicking for nitpicking's sake. It's okay that some people didn't like it. They don't have to, but much like not liking something doesn't make it evil, not liking something also doesn't make it bad.

Overall though I'm not surprised that no one has heard much about it: it ran terribly without many options outside of modding to fix that issue. Maybe things are different over on Reddit, but I'm willing to wager that a lot of PC gamers have outdated systems. I said it about Cyberpunk and I'll say it here too: it's nice that your NASA computer can run one billion fps with high detail shadows and 4K reflections. Mine needs to be able to turn that shit off or else I just can't play your game.

As far as what you haven't heard about the main plot, I'll say this: it's a very, very interesting twist on infinite replayability. Nothing is truly infinitely replayable, but Starfield makes a very bold and frankly fascinating leap into how to achieve such a thing, to the point where before I found the ending I was like "it would have been better to redirect resources from x to the ending in order to achieve this insane thing" and while it's not perfect, I was SHOCKED that they just...literally do. It's so fascinating that I'm kind of surprised that no one talked about it.

#talkForge #it's like precisely the type of thing that I think if tumblr had grabbed onto it it would have popped off

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ystrike1 · 2 years

Text

Rodesha and the Mountain Troll - By LesPiggies (8.5/10)

I love a good short story. This one feels atmospheric. It's a snapshot of a legend that also happens to be a one sided love story. The troll in the title falls in love with a girl who saved him from his long sleep. When she realized what he was she ran, but he still has lingering feelings for her.

Every year, on Rodesha's birthday, a dead animal appears in her icy cold village. There is always a bloody X on it. Everybody knows the Mountain Troll is the one doing this. They think it's an ill omen, not a courtship gift.

Everyone is afraid of the Mountain Troll, including Rodesha. She hates him and her birthday, because of these gifts. She feels guilty because she woke up the man eating monster everyone desperately hates. To be clear she believes her village elder, and he believes the Mountain Troll is a brainless monster.

The village elder thinks the bodies come on her birthday for a reason. He assumes the Mountain Troll senses Rodesha's potential as a warrior. Only she can grow strong enough to kill it. Why else would it leave such dire warnings every year? Rodesha accepts her destiny, and she becomes an amazing fighter. Her guilt motivates her.

She says a vow. She must return with the Mountain Troll's heart, or she can never return to the village. She tries to kill him as soon as she sees him. When she screams and says she wants his heart he blushes.

These two do know each other. Their death match is rather awkward. The Mountain Troll clearly doesn't want to hurt her, and she's in alot of emotional pain. The villagers labelled her as a bad omen, and placed a ton of responsibility on her shoulders, because of him. His culture and her traditions are too different. His presents caused a huge misunderstanding that kind of ruined her life. Now Rodesha is stuck with this destiny, where she has to kill him if she ever wants to see her family again.

She can't do it. She woke him because she saw him crying in his sleep. She pitied him and touched his face until the moment she realized what her touch had done. It's unclear how exactly she woke him, but her genuine compassion probably did it. Maybe.

There's a little montage of memories. The Mountain Troll brought lots of tasty prey for her, but she never smiled again. She grew up cold and unhappy, and she hated his presents. Her rejection made him cry, because he couldn't understand why. She freed him, and woke him up. According to the Mountain Troll that's practically marriage, but his partner is completely miserable.

It gets a little dark. The Mountain Troll really, really wants to give Rodesha something that she wants. He really, really wants to repay her for waking him up. He tears out his own heart to give it to her, and he turns to stone.

This story has one flaw. It moves a little too fast. Rodesha immediately regrets everything. She shoves the heart back into him. They hug. There's more romantic tension, and the plot ends there.

Everything wraps up neatly. The ice village worships a god named Isolde. After the end we find out the truth. Isolde was just a monster. A demon that wanted to destroy the land. The Mountain Troll used his heart (which is extremely magical) to defeat the beast, which is why he fell into a coma. The ice village religion is a complete mistake. They mistakenly believed that their ancestors savior was the man eater. This is a really great short, and the Mountain Troll's love is really heavy. The scene where he yanks his heart out is...uh...yeah...I'd say this counts.

It's an excellent yandere honorable mention.

#yandere #male yanderes #yanderes #male yandere #webtoon #manga review #monster guy #monster boy #Rodesha and the Mountain Troll

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lewis-winters · 2 months

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please please PLEASE tell us what you think the easy boys' dnd classes would be! i agree with dick being a paladin and nix being a rogue 100% but i'd love to know what your take would be for everyone else!

Caveat: I'm not as well-versed at DND classes just yet (mostly because I haven't actually encountered a lot of them, and I've only ever played in 5E) so these are probably not the most creative of builds but I did my best! Also! These are classes, not DND races! Just assume everyone's a variant human... and also that everyone has the Soldier's background... Also don't come for me about which edition rules or game source I'm going by, we're playing it fast and loose, everyone.

I did say Dick was an Oath of Redemption Paladin-- mostly as a joke, because of the whole healing-Blythe's-combat-blindness thing. But now that I think about it, it doesn't really fit him very well. Something about Dick could drive him to be very vindictive, I think. He's definitely very petty. Story-wise, since he's so young in-show you can explain this away as a young Paladin picking a path and learning the ways and the discipline that comes with it... But he can also very well be Oath of Devotion Paladin, since Dick is very big on honor and duty. I also see him being Oath of Glory, mostly because something about Dick always strives to be the best, and that man has a lot of self-discipline.

You know who else is a Paladin? Ronald Speirs.

Listen. I know people would automatically think: oh, Ronald is a Rogue. And while that's what I think Ron would like to think of himself as (and maybe he multiclasses-- though I have no idea how that'd work), this bitch is a fucking Paladin through and through. Oath of Vengeance? maybe, but not quite. Oath of Conquest? oh, yes, that fits very well. Listen, a Paladin does not garner divine power from their Faith in their god-- that's a cleric. No, no, a Paladin garners divine power from their devotion. Try and look me in the eye and tell me Ronald Fucking Speirs wouldn't have the ability to divine smite someone simply because he has strong opinions about something. You can't. Did ya'll just forget *points at the interrogation scene in episode 10.* GIRL. He can multiclass, of course, but I feel like he's like. Locked the fuck in, ya know?

Or if you really wanna lean into the strange-and-off-putting vibe, we could borrow from Critical Role and he could definitely be a Blood Hunter. Ronald would be the kind to become a Blood Hunter. Order of the Lycan, because he's from DOG company, and I like to think I'm funny, but also that'd play excellently with both the almost animal-like way he moves and thinks + his care for easy as a whole (pack).

Ron could also be a monk. But I like him better when he has a weapon in his hands.

Lewis is a rogue though, and mostly because he's an Intelligence Officer, but also knowing his family background, it fits. I do love the idea of him being an Arcane Trickster, mostly because in my mind he could definitely multiclass as a Shadow Sorcerer (because let's be real, New Jersey would be the type of place to house a Shadow Sorcerer bloodline) because of his Nixon name + Charisma, which he has in spades. But only until like... level 3 or 4 because Lew would be the type to forgo magic-- since it's not something he can precisely control + it's his bloodline, so it's not like he worked for it-- to opt for something he can control and work toward perfecting. But another subclass he could fall under is Inquisitor Rogue. That's literally his job description.

Or Lew could be a College of Whispers Bard! That'd be fun, too, especially since Nix doesn't do much combat, but he would have a ton of Bardic Inspiration.

Wouldn't it be so funny if tiny Harry Welsh was a Path of Wild Magic Barbarian? I think it would be funny. Idk if it would fit, mostly because I think he's a Fighter, but it would be so funny.

David Webster, this bitch would be a College of Lore Bard for sure. But I did think for a bit that he might've been a School of Evocation or Order of Scribes Wizard (who multiclassed Bard), just for the high intelligence, low wisdom joke. It would be so funny if he was School of Evocation though-- can he cast spells? Yes? Gracefully and subtly and with finesse? Oh, gods no. He's a mess.

Web and George Luz are probably the only Bards in the whole company. George could be either College of Eloquence or College of Swords........ but if you want to up the angst potential, how about College of Spirits Bard? Oh, he watched his friends die in front of him? Let's make his survivor's guilt WORSE by making him have the ability to talk to ghosts!!

Shifty Powers, obvious. Ranger, of course, and in numerous subclasses, too. Though I did toy with the idea of him multiclassing as Arcane Archer, but then I figured that's more for Earl McClung, ya know (because, historically, he was a better shot than Shifty-- even Shifty says this)? The class in itself is fairly weak though, so I imagine Earl'd multiclass Arcane Archer (Fighter subclass) with a Ranger, though what kind of subclass is still up in the air for me, too. Truthfully, much like Shifty, he could be any, so take your pick. I'm partial to Horizon Stalker; but Hunter/Monster Hunter would be good, too. Also? Just imagine casting Arcane Shot on a gun instead of a bow-&-arrow. Magnificent.

Shifty and McClung could also be Circle of Land Druids, but then they wouldn't be as proficient in combat, so we'll stick with Ranger.

Eugene Roe could be a Life Domain Cleric, of course. But I feel like that's a bit too obvious. Grave Domain Cleric, maybe? Way of Mercy Monk sounds more appropriate for his character, since he's easily the kind of character to strive for inner spiritual balance, the way monks do-- let's just pretend he focuses more on healing than he does combat. Though both these classes do have the abilities to go on the offensive.

Ralph Spina strikes me as a non-magic user healer, though, so I think he'd be a Thief Rogue with a focus on the medicine skills + an extensive Healer's Kit, since thief rogues have like... more object interaction (I think?) per turn than anyone else. Though that would also fit Eugene, too, if you want non-magic user!Eugene, since he's often described as having a sixth-sense for when people need him, then appearing outta nowhere + the whole scissors thing. And the looting for supplies.

Carwood Lipton could go like... 3 ways. Fighter, Cleric, or Monk. I'm partial to him being a Light Domain Cleric, though, since that's the first thing that popped into my head. He could multiclass as Bard too, for the Bardic Inspiration, but idk, there are other subclasses that have the Suggestion spell in their back pocket, and he would use that extensively in Bastogne to keep morale up.

Malarkey is a Wild Magic Sorcerer. Mostly for the angst potential. Can you imagine him losing control of his magic when Skip and Penkala die? I know I shouldn't torture this man, but alas, it's just too good.

I also think Joe Liebgott would be a Divine Soul Sorcerer, though. That literally popped into my head first thing the second I saw this ask. He'd have some Healing Word by Level 2, and I think that works best for scenes like the one where Tab gets stabbed and also the one where he's comforting Tipper.

I can't shake the image of Artillerist Artificer Pat Christenson, Skip Muck, and Alex Penkala out of my head. They're on machine guns and the mortar rounds, respectively, so it fits for me.

......... an evil part of me wants Buck to be some sort of Warlock, he just hides it very well? But, again, that's mostly for angst potential. Realistically, he'd be a Fighter and/or a Barbarian. But a Warlock in the Military, though, wouldn't that be something? Of course the military would never allow it, because the Patron would take precedence above all else, but who says he can't hide that by claiming to multiclass as a Wizard? Idk how that would help in any way the plot, but the vibes are immaculate.

Everybody else, though, to me are either Artificers, Fighters, Barbarians, Clerics, or Monks, of course with multiclassing in between!

......... uh. yeah! that's it!

#ask #band of brothers #bob hcs #bob aus #thanks for this anon this was fun #and if anyone wants to fight me about it... don't do it. i cry easily

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somethingclevermahogony · 8 days

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Happy STS! I know you've got lots of warriors and fighters among your characters, but do any of them have a specific fighting style? Where did they learn to fight?

Hello and thank you for the question! I won't go too in-depth for this question. Edit: (Damn it, I accidentally posted this before I put tags)

(Some of) The Arts of Combat in the Green Sea

In the first three books of the Testaments of the Green Sea (The Ninma Cycle) there are a number of named characters who have received actual training in the arts of dueling and combat. These people are differentiated from characters like Jani and Imn, who while trained to function as part of a formation, have not received training when it comes to one on one battle. This also does not include sages who have been trained to use magic in a martial context such as Kerim and Zenit. Narul will also not be addressed as he is both untrained and not particularly skilled, he is reliant on his strength and durability to get him through a fight.

I will not be addressing every fighter as that would take ages and would get repetitive.

Basics

Central to nearly all traditions of combat in the Green Sea is the use of the spear and of the shield. Axes, hammers, maces, slings, and bows are additionally well-represented. The sword is a relative rarity, typically reserved for nobility, particularly in the Kishite culture.

Several cultures have strong dueling cultures, and it is from these cultures that these specific fighting arts arise. These are in large part influenced by their environment, the fighting arts of Apunian nobles for example, are quite different from those of pirate groups in Ikopesh and Makora.

Hutbari

Kishite Chariot Archery, Kishite Wrestling, Kishite Dueling

Kishetal

As a prince of Labisa and not the immediate heir to the throne, Hutbari spent much of his youth learning the arts of war. He was trained in the art of archery both on foot and from a chariot, as is befitting of Kishite nobility. In addition he received training in Kishite wrestling, used to sharpen the body and mind, and in the art of dueling. Hutbari’s weapon of choice was a particular variety of long hook-like sword, the ishkapa. Hutbari was a large and powerfully built man in his youth and excelled at these arts, he even won awards for his prowess in wrestling. Unfortunately his old age and increasingly sedentary lifestyle have tempered much of his skill.

Hutbari was trained by a number of tutors, including his father, King Mushadi.

Kishite wrestling is primarily concerned with grappling and pushing, while mostly used for sport, it can have marital uses as well, practitioners are often taught how to break or dislocate bones, and this knowledge can at times be used in combat.

Kishite Dueling is a strictly noble art, not practiced by commoners, and the event of a duel is a highly organized and rule bound affair. Locations, weapons, and time must be agreed between participants. Armor, spears, and shields are all typically banned in such confrontations. Duels are typically based around the use of bladed weapons, swords and axes. Thanks to its design, and resultant fragility, the ishkapa is not used for warfare, as against a shield or armor it is likely to break. However the ishkapa is used in duels. Its hooked shape does not allow for stabbing, so rather the weapon is meant to slash, the hook may also be used to grab or disarm. The long thin blade is particularly suited to slipping between joints and vertebrae. The sign of mastery with the ishkapa is the ability to decapitate an opponent without breaking the blade. Dueling with the ishkapa is a fast paced and vicious affair, for this reason, the art of combat with the ishkapa is sometimes called “viper fighting.”

Akard

Kasesh Dueling, Namut Longbow Archery, Apunian Boxing (Pykhema)

Apuna

Akard was raised in the Apunian Palace at Nashawey and was educated in the ways of warfare as an officer in the Fapacha’s army both in Namut and in Pyria.

Archery and bow-hunting is a regular past-time for Apunian nobility. The Apunian use two primary kinds of bow, the native shortbow, and the adopted Namutian longbow. The shortbow is favored for its speed and accuracy while the Namutian bow is favored for its power. It is said that a warrior with a strong enough bow can shoot an arrow clean through the hide of a crocodile. Akard was initially trained in the art of the long-bow by a Namutian servant by the name of Jwa, held in captivity at the palace of Nashawey. He would further hone his skill with the weapon well fighting Namutian raiders in the south. Learning more about the practice from and in the process befriending the Namutian prisoner, Qiruk.

The Kasesh is a sickle-sword, relatively long when compared to the shorter leaf-bladed short sword favored by most Apunians. It has roots in the lands of Jezaan, roots which it shares with the Kishite ishkapa. However the kasesh is not so drastically curved and is much more sturdy in its build, because of this, the sword may be used in battle, though it typically only used as a secondary weapon. Kasesh dueling typically involves an even number of participants (2-10) with even numbers on either side. Participants use a sword and shield and are otherwise unarmed. Kasesh dueling is a close quarters style of combat, often shield to shield. Many duels are ended when one combatant is shoved off of their feet, thus allowing for the application of a killing blow. Akard was trained by the Apunian lord, Khuti.

Apunian boxing or Pykhema is viewed as the purview of the common people, brutal and crude. It constitutes not only strikes with the fist, but also with the elbow and knee. Participants typically wrap their hands in linen before a fight in order to prevent damage to the knuckles. Pykhema is not a particularly subtle practice and often the strongest combatant (or at least the one that can deal the hardest and fastest strike) will be the winner. Akard learned boxing from his soldiers while fighting in Pyria. He is a relatively amateur boxer.

Zatar

Kishite Wrestling and Spear-Dancing

Kishetal

Zatar is a prodigy when it comes to combat. His supernatural heritage has afforded him a speed and strength unmatched by normal men. Even before receiving training under the rule of Akard, Zatar was a skilled wrestler and a deadly hunter. He learned his craft on the streets of Labisa and the surrounding forest. He made his first spear from wood and stone at the age of 13, and killed his first boar at 14. After joining Akard’s court he was trained in the art of the spear by the palace spear-master, Mosiru. He would quickly surpass his master in skill, as evidenced by the fact that he killed Mosiru in a fit of rage during a spar, using nothing but a wooden stick.

Zatar’s style of fighting is unique to him, he moves with a speed and grace which is comparable to dancing. He moves with an ease which does not seem befitting of a man of his size, which makes him all the more dangerous. He fights with a short spear, 6 feet in length, a shield, and a small curved sword. In battle he roars and howls like a beast. He is called the Wrath and the Blood-Dancer. Zatar is far and away the greatest and perhaps the most vicious warrior and duelist of his age.

Even without his weapons he is force to be reckoned with, with a punch he can kill a man, and he is not afraid to rip, gouge, or bite.

Galatides

Atamasian Dueling

Korithia (Atamis)

Galatides is the head mercenary of a band of Korithians under the employ of the Kishite merchant, Wadakir. In his youth Galatides was a traveling duelist, fighting in the Atamasian style. He won renown and fame, unbeaten in his discipline, before moving to Chibal to enjoy the privileged position as an employee of Wadikir.

He learned his art from his father, the general Akamalenon. Atamasian dueling and Korithian dueling in general is far less organized and rule-based than its Apunian and Kishite equivalents. Duelists may wear armor, use a shield, and use any weapon they choose (with the exception of the bow or sling). Atamasian and southern Korithian styles are unique in their use of the waphios a long and thin sword, somewhat similar to the rapier. The waphios is designed to slip between armor to deliver a killing blow. The most famed expression of this is a downward strike behind the collarbone and down into the chest-cavity, typically done after an opponent has been driven to their knees.

Galatides fights with a typical Korithian spear, 7ft, with the waphios acting as a side arm.

Istek

Ikopeshi Knife Fighting and Knoshic Boxing (Pyokem)

Ikopesh, Makora, and Knosh

Istek received most of his training later in his life after escaping from the Cult of the Golden Poplar. He learned the art of Ikopeshi knife fighting as a pirate. Ikopeshi knife fighting, while it originates in Ikopesh, has been adopted by most sea-faring peoples. It involves the use of one or two small knives, and is reliant on speed and attacking vital areas such as the throat and under the arm. Istek fights with two stone knives, which he replaces with relative frequency. These knives are often favored at sea as the salinity of the air and water does not cause corrosion as with iron, copper, or bronze. This particular style of fighting was developed for use on the crowded decks of ships, where a spear may not be practical. This style is not particularly well-suited in combat with armored individuals.

Istek learned Knoshic Boxing (the ancestor of Apunian Boxing) from his first mate and partner, Dati. While he lacks Dati’s finesse and speed as a boxer, he makes up for it in force. Istek is a rough and rugged brawler.

He has combined Knife fighting and Knoshic boxing in his own way.

Dati

Ikopeshi Knife Fighting and Knoshic Boxing

Ikopesh and Knosh

Dati is the opposite of Istek in many ways. He learned Knoshic boxing from a young age. Compared to the Apunian style, Knoshic boxing is not quite as brutal, it's faster, more reliant on jabs and swift kicks rather than haymakers and other hard and high-intensity attacks. Dati was taught this style of boxing from a young age from his father and older brother. The particular style of boxing used by Dati and his tribe is unique, in that it makes use of the prehensile tail found in his people. The tail is used to grip and unsteady a person, causing their guard to drop.

Dati learned knife fighting from Istek, and like Istek combined it with his own experience with boxing. Dati is faster and more fluid fighter compared to his partner, and while he may be quieter overall, he is a better fighter. Dati uses stone knives, much like Istek, however Dati’s tail makes his style of combat unique, and on rare occasions he may even use it in order to fight with an additional small knife, used to attack the unsuspecting ankles of an opponent. Sihunu, his other opponent has affectionately referred to him as “The Scorpion”.

Ninma (Teenage and Adult)

Ikopeshi Knife Fighting and Kishite Boxing (Inspired)

Ikopesh and Kishetal

Ninma, against the wishes of Narul and Otilia, was taught the art of knife-fighting by Dati. Because of her relatively small size, she is largely reliant on speed rather than strength. Unlike Dati and Istek, she typically only fights with one knife, one which was gifted to her by Dati.

Her particular style of knife fighting has also been influenced by Kishite Wrestling. While she herself has never been taught in the art, she did watch her brothers practice and was subsequently able to pick up certain parts even from such a young age. She would later apply these skills when learning to fight later in life. She grapples, using her body to trip up and partially immobilize an opponent before striking with her knife. She is quite adept at using her opponents' greater size against them.

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