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evilminji · 4 months

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Back at it again with the BNHA crossover Ponderings!

Nedzu is LITERALLY one of THE smartest beings on the planet, right? Like... he's probably on some internationally recognized list of Top Planetary IQs? Which is why Japan let's him get away with so much?

Cause they REALLY fucked him over, he has the power to leave, and that would be really, REALLY bad Brain Drain wise/politically for the Japanese Government? (Also pls don't become a Supervillian we literally can not afford that, Mr. Nedzu Sir? Etc etc)

You think he has... like? Chats? With the OTHER top intellects? Some kid in Siberia with the New Super Intelligence Quirk his parents can't begin to even handle, gets put in history's WEIRDEST group chat? I like to think so.

But the REASON I ask this?

What hero do you call? For Weird Shit in international waters?

Suspicious, floating, weirdly two dimensional and HIGHLY radioactive... corrosive... green goop? Rings? Orbs? CAN it be an orb if it's two dimensional? It certainly LOOKS like there is depth to it... somehow...

A THING. In the sky.

Shouldn't be there, man. This is a shipping lane. It's scaring the people on passing ships. No one knows what Quirk could have made this. Might be a trafficking victim's call for help. Might be a first Quirk Use mishap. They need to know what it IS and how to get rid of it.

They go the normal routes first. Doesn't work. Okay, call in some professionals. Kinda pricey, but no big. Right? Doesn't work. Okaaaay, call in a SPECIALIST. REAL pricey, but this thing is holding up international trade, making people in fancy ass suit all Nervous(TM).

Doesn't Work.

Specialist tells um to not to bother with calling anyone else on their normal list. Is looking at the green goo like it spat on his mother and called his dog a whore. They would prefer he NOT make that facial expression. That is a facial expression that will get them yelled at by their bosses. Fuck(TM).

Now Politics(TM) are involved. People want to STUDY the green goo. Harness it for dubious and unknown green goo experiments. Poke it with their Quirk to see what'll happen. There's fuckin REPORTER with no concept of self-preservation, trying to get CLOSER to the RADIOACTIVE POISON GOO.

Fuckin Heros have shown up.

Why are you bastards even HERE. What? Are you peacocks gonna PUNCH it? Get off their rig! Stop posing in front of the GOO!

Then? Oh thank GOD. The SMART people show up. Certified, highest grade, triple refined, PREMIUM Nerds(TM). The WAY above our pay grade folks. We're SAVED! Can we PLEASE go home now? We are just ocean cleaners! Our job is debris! Not weird GOO!

Enter, stage Super Cool Helicopters? The Elite Nerds of Earth. Of which Nedzu is one. Since Japan is closest. And it's a school weekend! He had some time.

And?

Ha ha... Thanks, he hates it! Nedzu's stoat brain is SCREAMING and he wants NOTHING to do with...? What he is somehow CERTAIN is a floating pit of Death! Interesting effect. Anyone getting that or just him?

Then? Some hot head on loan to Korea from the states? Spots something. SomeONE. And does he TELL the newly arrived professionals? So they may do a risk assessment? Figure out a way to rescue this individual SAFELY? Of course not!

Said hot head has supposedly indescribable chains! So he just flings them rights on in! Grabbing the boy from the center of the portal, pulling him free, and in the process? Immediately destabilizing it. Causing it to collapse down towards everyone bellow.

He also then proceeds to DROP the young lad, in his alarm at this entirely predictable outcome.

Right. Into. The Ocean.

A boy, who is dressed in filthy medical scrubs, haunting familiar in a way nothing should EVER be again, and entirely unconscious. Plunge down into the briny deeps and bitter cold. Alone. Abandoned. Death, thick and viscous, losing form and raining down like bile.

Everyone saving themselves.

Ah, he rather liked this suit.

The salt water ruins it. The droplets of Green, burn like molten glass each time they touch him. He will likely have at least a few new scars, after today. Assuming this is not the end of him. But he swims fast. The boy sinking slower then his size would suggest he should. He grabs hold and arcs, dragging them both from beneath the fallout of yet another humans hubris.

He does not stop swimming. Not until he knows he is near the helicopter. He is thankful, that he dragged Aizawa along. The man takes one look at his serious expression, the state of his rescued young friend, and merely hauls them both out of the water and into the machine.

Time to go.

They saw nothing, it seems. And there is nothing to be found.

The boy does not wake. Not for quite a while. Long enough, that Nedzu, perhaps unwisely, has grown attached. Is considering adoption. If only too terrorize a few goverment bodies. And... well... the boy will need some who UNDERSTANDS. And the scars paint a very specific sort of tale. But first, the most important question, when beginning these things...

"Tea? Or would you prefer coffee?"

@the-witchhunter @mutable-manifestation @hypewinter @hdgnj

#minji's ponderings #bnhaxdp #dp x bnha #principal nedzu

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venus-is-thinking · 10 months

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Deciphering the DRDT Character Playlist

Hello DRDT community! @accirax and I took a look at the official character song playlist [remade version bc it got deleted or privated] and decided to take our own shot at figuring out whose is whose and what it means. It's pretty late, but we have at least some sort of a guess with reasoning for every song!

We used a combination of Genius lyrics, the vocaloid lyrics wiki, and google translation of Japanese lyrics in the YouTube description to get a decently functional interpretation of every song. Our theory goes through the songs in the order they show up on the playlist (we're pretty positive it isn't kill order), which means our confidence varies heavily from song to song. With that being said, let's go!

Diamond is Unbreakable by Yunno Kago: Ace Markey

This song does not have many lyrics, so a lot of our guess is based on vibes (though it gives much more than some other songs). The rock instrumental with more yell-based vocals feels like it suits Ace though, and I feel safe to say that Ace has had a breakdown (and may have many more in the future).

Sing Along by Sturgill Simpson: Teruko Tawaki

This song fits Teruko quite well. It has an edgier sound to it, but it isn't completely uncaring if you look at the lyrics.

I can't go on living alone now that you're gone You done me wrong, so here's your song

It reminds me of the scene where she plays with the cacti. She clearly misses Xander (and possibly others in her past), but that obviously doesn't stop her from feeling betrayed by them either.

There are a lot of lyrics about bitterness too (ex. "words can stab as deep as night," "bitter air and the winds of spite"), which reflect how Teruko has been treating the rest of the cast in Chapter 2. It's a duality of caring too much and acknowledging the harshness of the world, which encapsulates Teruko's character quite well.

RUNAWAY by half alive: Hu Jing

Not gonna lie, we were struggling on this one. This song is pretty much entirely predictive of a character arc that Hu might have later on. We're predicting this based on Hu's secret quote, which is basically the only reason we gave this song to her: "I want to pay for what I've done. But even then, I still want to live."

This implies that she has not paid for "what [she's] done," which probably relates to her secret. I know a lot of people think she might be the hopeless child, but I'm far more partial to the theory that Hu is the one who poisoned her competition. If she hasn't paid for it, it's possible she feels like she ran away, from the situation which could open the door for her handling those feelings later on.

cartoons by Louie Zong: Rose Lacroix

This entire song is about drawing and thought processes, which both relate to Rose's character pretty strongly. The recurring lyric of "it's all just cartoons in [her] head" makes me think of her photographic memory, which takes real life and permanently stores it in her mind.

There are also lyrics like "feeling every day the same" and "trying to make that old deadline" that strongly relate to her background with the Spurling Foundation. She feels like she's just watching the rest of her life go by as a corporate slave, and those feelings are wrapped up in a light and airy song, matching Rose's demeanor.

asymptotic by Louie Zong: Charles Cuevas

This is a silly little nerd love song. As a CharWhit shipper, I definitely think that there's a strong chance that this relates to Charles' feelings about Whit, calling him a "cutie face in x-y space" and other such things. It's pretty simple, but it's true that, romantic or not, a lot of Charles' character arc thus far has revolved around his relationship with Whit and realizing that he does enjoy spending time with his classmates.

However, notably, there's also the lyric "I'll forget," which made me start thinking about Charles' past he forgot about.

Asymptotic, obliquely Here's the point of this speech As close as we could ever get, you'll be just out of reach

This reads to me as being about Charles' memories or the older brother he doesn't remember losing. As close as he can get to remembering or understanding what happened through things like the secrets motive, it won't be the same as actually returning to that past or remembering it in full. Maybe that's reading into things a little too hard, but I think the interpretation is there to be read.

A Mistaken Belief of Love by Niru Kajitsu: Eden Tobisa

I'll be direct: this relates to our theories about how Eden is the Chapter 2 killer. I'm a particular proponent of the interpretation that Eden didn't believe Arei when she said she wanted to be friends and decided she wanted to escape back to her old life, to the girl she kissed. I'm not going to go into that Eden theory now, but @/1moreff-creator and @/thebadjoe have a great thread going back and forth which goes over a lot of what I personally believe to be true.

If you assume that Eden is the killer and wanted to be Arei's friend but gave up on the possibility when Arei snapped at her, the lyrics start to make sense. "Then I'll kill you at our rendezvous" would clearly relate to Eden summoning Arei to the playground just to kill her. "I just wanted to mistakenly believe that you loved me" relates to Eden's feelings towards Arei and the rest of the class, but that "mistaken belief" was shattered, causing her to kill.

Shunran by John/TOOBOE: Arei Nageishi

This song chronicles Arei's entire character arc, from prologue to death. It starts out much more aggressive and unfriendly, saying things like "I won't pay attention to small fry" and "I become angry easily." However, there's a recurring lyric that shows how she actually feels.

They say that praying to be loved is a sin. It has such a sweet scent.

Arei desperately wants to be loved, for people to be nice to her, but she's learned over the course of her life that she couldn't have that. Still, she can't help but want to be loved, so even when she knows that David is a manipulator, she still listens to his words. Even when she knows she's been awful to Eden, she swears she'll do anything to prove to Eden that she's serious, that she really does want to be her friend.

I pledged a ceasefire. My personality peeled off and fell because I have the courage to accept disappointment

As the song progresses, that desperate desire to be loved creeps its way into the actions the singer takes as well. Arei was willing to put aside her meanness she learned as a defense and try to stop the fighting, try to become friends, because she's strong enough to try even if she might fail. Through it all, all she wants is to be loved.

Yesman by Niru Kajitsu and Hachiya Nanashi: Nico Hakobyan

This song has a lot of lyrics relating to how the singer expresses scorn or insults. We know that this is a focal point of Nico's struggles with communication: they don't know what comes across as hostile or helpful.

However, as the song progresses, it gets more purposefully aggressive. There's a particular set of lines that seem to relate to how Nico interacts with Ace. They can tell Ace that they hate him, directly, and no one even blames them.

You could say that and you're still just a kid. How amazing!

This, in my mind, relates to Nico saying that they'll kill Ace (and clearly meaning it), but Hu still babies them. They can get away with all kinds of things.

There's no reason for me to turn back now, huh? I was caught in my own trap

Nico then, realizing that they can get away with a lot, goes after Ace, trying to literally kill him. They were caught, though, explaining the second lyric here.

The song also has a prominent lyric: "I'm an introvert, just waiting." There are variations on this, but I think it gets across the core idea: Nico is quiet, but they're still a part of the story the whole time, waiting for an opportunity to get their way.

Undead Enemy by Suzumu and Giga P: David Chiem

This song hinges around David's false persona of smiles and motivation and his true self who hates everything and everyone.

For whatever reason, he put on a mask symbolizing The leading role he had yearned for in the past.

Here, David is choosing to put on that motivational speaker persona.

And, from the next day onward, The unhappy boy's smile did not falter, He was even loved by someone

David then keeps up that happy and inspirational self, without fail, so that the world will love and accept him as the Ultimate they expect him to be.

However, the lyrics are filled with more hateful lines that sound more like him in Episode 11.

Slander and criticize, and then, I won't need anyone else. Just leave me alone

I act spitefully in disgust and force a smile

While he pretends to be happy and good, he knows himself to be much worse. This song focuses on those true colors.

Drawing Pins by Nothing but Thieves: Levi Fontana

Levi is a very pensive character. The main line of the song is "tell me what you did it for, 'cause I can't figure it out." That could relate to Levi's apparent struggles to understand others and what the "correct" thing to do in social situations is, like when he asks others how to handle the situation with Ace. I also like the interpretation that he could be talking to himself, wondering why he did what he did in the past. (Whatever mysterious past Levi has, it's clear that he did some things he's not thrilled about, and he seems to have a lot of feelings surrounding it.)

What do I have to do To be loved, loved by you

I'm personally not an AceVi shipper, but this line would definitely relate to Ace. Levi messed up in the first trial, threatening Ace, but in Chapter 2, he's trying to make up for it. Nothing he seems to do works, though, so he's at a loss as to what he could possibly do to make it up to him.

Hi-Fi Evolution Theory by Keu Studio: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Disclaimer, we had to put this song through google translate, so our lyrics might not be entirely correct.

Given that, though, I'm pretty confident this song must be Veronika's. There are a lot of lyrics that indicate her, but the most important ones surround what we've most recently learned about her: she can't stand boredom and will do just about anything for fun.

But is it selfish to have fun?

The one who laughs last is the winner

Even though Veronika knows that enjoying the killing game or possibly even working against the group's best interests in it is stupid at best and evil at worst, she'll still do it as long as it keeps her entertained. If she's selfish, she's selfish; she'll do it either way.

tip toes by half alive: Min Jeung

This song heavily ties into Min's outlook which she explains in her bonus episode. The lyrics mention a "need to be known," or a "pride" that's "screaming." She internalized a core need to become an Ultimate to keep her going forward and to preserve her hope.

She does want to change her behavior, though.

My future will listen to me, Listen to me, listen to me

Min is trying desperately to find a life for herself now that she's become an Ultimate. She wants to learn how to live after she's achieved the goal that her entire life has centered around. This song is her searching for the life that she wants to live in spite of her previous experience.

The song also sounds sort of desperate with its repetition of "listen to me" and the overall vibe of the instrumental. This fits in with Min's increasing desperation as she realizes, at the end of the first trial, that she won't have a future to figure out anymore.

Polygonal by fallstay (ふぁるすてぃ): Xander Matthews

This one was also put through google translate, so apologies for any mistranslations!

This song makes sense for Xander if you consider his clear survivor's guilt, visible through both his bonus episode and his secret quote, which is, in the most literal way possible, the dictionary definition of survivor's guilt. It mentions a "life full of mistakes" and describes other similar thoughts.

I'm dizzy and it hurts so much that I feel like throwing up

The urge to scream and someone's loud sobbing

That's my pain

These all feel like ways Xander interprets his past, which is his pain. We already know that Teruko accidentally running into him and hitting his eye hurt so badly he passed out, which is a step beyond "dizzy." Someone could be sobbing about his past; maybe it's even him. The things in his past that haunt him are what shape who he is and his actions, and that's what this song is about.

Spitfire (05 Version) by The Prodigy: J Rosales

This one has like one lyric. The vibes fit J though, and I don't really know who else's it would be or what other song would be hers, so it stays.

desk rotation by RQ laji-2: Arturo Giles

I'm not gonna lie. This is an instrumental. We have no idea what it means. This was process of elimination. I don't know what other song Arturo's would be so he gets this one.

(In all seriousness, you COULD give this one to Hu because it's music and she's a musician, give Arei the more hopeful RUNAWAY and give Arturo Shunran. The beginning of Shunran fits him decently, but I think the interpretation sort of falls apart in the middle of the song, at least given what I know about his character, and I think it fits Arei much better.

After we read some other theories, too, we think there's a viable shuffle that goes like this:

desk rotation: Hu (musical connection) tip toes: Arturo (generally prideful, future emphasis contrasting with his secret forcing him to think about the past) asymptotic: Min (abstracted to apply to the life she wants to seek out, math works as Ultimate Student) RUNAWAY: Charles (relating to him "running" from his past memories, positive growth arc)

While I still like our initial interpretations for Charles asymptotic and Min tip toes, I like the handling of RUNAWAY and desk rotation better with this one.)

For whatever it's worth, I also think there's a slight possibility that desk rotation is a placeholder song. It's a complete instrumental (all other songs have at least SOME lyrics), so it wouldn't be too insane to me if they had a song that they decided was just too spoiler-y to be released to the public. In that case, I think it's possible desk rotation will one day be replaced with a different song. Realistically, though, it's probably just here and we have to figure out what the hell it means.

Good Grief by Bastille: Whit Young

Whit obviously lost his mother at some point, who he clearly idolizes. You can see the glowing way he talks about her in the laundry room with Teruko and Charles, and his secret quote is literally "We tend to idolize the dead." He loves his mother, but given his secret, it's clear that she is dead.

This song is about grief. Whit represses a lot of his emotions, so I expect he hasn't yet felt his grief in full and hasn't processed it. He has, however, made it very clear that he struggles with loneliness, and that has a lot to do with his loss. I think that, over the course of the story, he's going to have to actually process grief and experience sadness. While it's possible that'll just be due to the feelings he has surrounding his mother, given that he's in a killing game, I think that he'll have to confront personal loss again to have this arc.

Regrettably, I think that that'll probably come in the form of Charles dying, likely as a Chapter 3 victim. Others have theorized on that, but suffice it to say that, narratively and based on hints they've dropped, I think it's probably true ( :( ). Whit, as he clearly cares about Charles, would then be confronted with grief again. He'd have to endure it and learn to deal with the loss.

On the plus side, I'd expect he'd be likely to survive afterwards.

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fantasyinvader · 3 months

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I think we've been limiting ourselves with the Buddhism takes. While Buddhism does play a part in Houses, it's not the only symbolism the game uses. There's the easy Christian stuff, elements relating to the tarot, there's the names of ancient greek philosophers, it invokes Napoleon and even the nickname El refers to ancient Sumeria as a title/name for a god.

Nirvana isn't just from Buddhism, it's origins are from Hinduism where it's not the ultimate goal. In Buddhism, Nirvana is achieving a form of enlightenment portrayed as extinguishing of the self. The ultimate goal of Hinduism is elevating ones consciousness so that it becomes part of the universal truth, indistinguishable from the creator god Brahma. When you die, you return to the energy that created the universe.

If you want a very scary version of this, someday I'll explain Getter Robo and what exactly is Getter Emperor.

The Nirvana class seems to be a reversal of the Hindu version. Byleth gains Nirvana when the Creator Goddess Sothis fuses with them, extinguishing herself for Byleth's benefit. The deity fuses with Byleth, fading into Byleth's subconscious and from there Byleth gains their power (Hopes admittedly fucks with this as Sothis fuses to save Byleth, but can take over if pushed). Even the fact Byleth is male by default but is referred to as a spiritual mother in the ending points to the Hindu version, complete with Flayn trying to figure out his pronouns in the S support, a combination of male and female like Brahma.

While the game does seem to support the Buddhist takes of extinguishing the poisons/flames, for Byleth extinguishing themself seems to be the problem. They grow during White Clouds, eventually defaulting to siding against Edelgard. Byleth's flag, the supposed Fire Emblem of the game, reflects a belief in Byleth themself. But by altering the story, by going against Byleth's choices and characters thereby extinguishing Byleth as a character, in the words of the devs it's about believing in something else entirely and instead Byleth becomes subservient to El (a false god figure). The Japanese explains the Crest Stone disappearing at the end of Flower by saying it "shattered," Byleth's actions were bad enough it broke the heart of the Goddess and caused her to unfuse with them thus Byleth loses Nirvana.

This would also carry implications about Byleth's karma. Hindu belief is based on the caste system, where if you have good karma you'll be reborn in a higher caste, a form of spiritual meritocracy where your good deeds benefit you in your next life, such as being born into wealth and privilege because you earned it in your last life, and even plays a role in achieving Enlightenment. Buddha rejected this, believing that anyone can achieve Nirvana regardless of class. But considering that Flower is called the animal path, it's ultimately about Byleth's demerit.

Flower Byleth might fight so that Fodlan can know “true peace,” but they need to ignore the fact that Edelgard is invading other nations post-war in the Japanese script or having anyone who challenges her rule offed from the shadows in the English all while using Slither tech. Byleth is a soup sandwich if they submit to Edelgard. Meanwhile, fighting Edelgard might be hard now but it bears fruit in the future, as that way Fodlan doesn't suffer her tyranny, which does tie into Eastern beliefs.

Also noticed this in Wind's ending, the Japanese makes it out Byleth's goal is to make a world where everyone can hold hands regardless of nation or ethnicity. Bloodlines don't figure into it, likely that change was to support the change where Edelgard's ideals aren't too far off from what Claude and Byleth support in Wind in English.

But, as a whole, this just illustrates a problem with Houses and it's writing. The game loves it's symbolism and uses one set of symbols to reinforce another. But when you don't understand those symbols, or mistake one for another, it can throw the reading off even before Treehouse got their hands on the script.

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house-of-slayterr · 4 months

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Daddy’s Home: pt. 2

Maggie’s POV:

I stared at him my eyes twitching slightly. What the hell was he doing here? A low growl sound left the back of my throat.

“Careful kitten, that’s no way to greet your father.” He taunts.

“What do you want?” Basil asks.

“Mmm, all in do time my boy. The adults are talking”

Slade turns his attention back to Y/N. I can see Basil’s eyes scanning him for weapons and reading into his body language. He has the same thought I did. If this turned into a fight, we’d be ready for him.

“Is what he says true child?” Y/N asks.

I nod, dispointed in the answer.

“Sadly, yes, I only found out last year which was when I left town. I didn’t want Oliver to find out.”

“Well don’t you get more interesting everyday puppet? Why are you both standing so far, come, be civil.”

Basil was the first to sit on the couch near Y/N, always obedient of her orders. I lingered, my feet not wanting to move. Judging the danger between disobeying Y/N and getting physically closer to Slade. I got a glare from the older woman which would normally send chills down my spine, but I didn’t pay her any min.

“Mmmm, it would be rude not to get our guest a drink don’t you think?” I asked her.

Y/N rolls her eyes.

“Fine, drinks and then you come back…”

I slipped into the kitchen to catch my breath, trying to come up with a plan. I could poison him but he’d unfortunately be too smart to fall for that stick. I grabbed a knife from the block and stuck it in my boot, mixing four drinks and carrying them out to the living room. I handed Y/N hers first, then went over to Basil. He paused, grabbing my wrist when I handed it to him, locking eyes with me.

I gave him a simple smile, gently prying his fingers off me and walked over to Slade.

“Old fashioned, figured it would suit your… brutish taste” I jeered.

A short huff of a laugh came from him, as he takes the glass.

“I’m more of a scotch guy” he grins.

I go to sit by the window, able to run down the fire escape if I need to, but still engaged in the conversation.

“As I was saying, Y/N, I could use the help of that little boyfriend of yours to fix a problem I’m having. Zsasz is the best- no second best in Gotham”

I rolled my eyes at his lame attempt at flattery. All those years on the island and being imprisoned, he must have lost his touch. A small smirk grows on Y/N lips.

“Who exactly do you need to bite the bullet?”

He chuckles softly reading between her words.

“Don’t worry, it’s not the kids brother this time. Oliver isn’t being a pain in my ass right now. It’s this Dark Guy, he’s fucking things up and keeps getting directly in my way. But he has an annoying habit of predicting my endeavours. Found out he has a spell over the city- Zsasz isn’t from there, won’t fall to the spell.”

A small shiver rolled down my spine. I hadn’t heard that name in a while. I thought he ran away after his last fight with Oliver and the crew he had at the time.

“I’ll consider it, if you have the right thing to offer me in return Wilson.”

“I’ve got some vintage Japanese weapons you can’t get your hands on in Gotham. And I’ll owe you, and victors a favour each.”

“Tempting”

I scoffed, turning to look out the window.

“You have something to add to the conversation kiddo?”

“First” I stop to glare at him- “call me Kiddo again , I’ll be sure you can never make another kid. Secondly, do all of your plans come half baked out of your arse?”

Basil chuckled slightly under his breath and I smile, feeling accomplished that I could get him to produce such a rare sound. Slade groans.

“Teenagers” he says to Y/N.

“I’m not a teen anymore Slade, something you would know if you ever bothered to be around. So drop the “I’m your father” act because frankly I couldn’t give any less of a shit about your existence then I do right now. Because you’re not my problem, you made that very clear when you abandoned me. So go ahead with your idiotic plan to kill Damian Dark, but do not drag my people into this.”

“Your people? I thought Oliver and Thea were you people-“

“Don’t you dare fucking speak her name you human leech- not after everything you’ve done! You treated all of us, killed our mother infront of us and have kidnapped and tried to kill Oliver more times than I can count. If you can’t even kill my brother how the hell do you plan to kill a sorcerer way above you damn pay grade? Even if you do succeed, your problems not gonna be over. Because some dads actually parent their children… and I assure you, you do not want Nora after you.”

He seems to stop and actually think over my words. Basil just watches intrigued form the couch.

“Now Maggie, what did I say about being Civil?”

I growl under my breath. I fucking hated the diplomacy that came with my new choice of mates, but the security that came with them was worth it. Always having to be polite to your enemy in public is exhausting.

“She right you know. I’ve never met Nora but I’ve heard stories. She’s deeply devoted to her father and would do anything for him.”

“She’s the most competitive person I know. She won’t stop even if it puts her own health at risk. You’d have to kill both of them and together they’re not gonna be easy. I’m not letting Victor put himself through that.”

“You don’t believe Victor can handle these two”

“Not unless you went with him- you know how he can be when he’s distracted…”

A small annoyed sigh falls from her lips. Slade seemed to grow annoyed with my lack of providing an actual solution to his problem. Not that I was trying.

“Come here Magnolia”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“Excuse you?”

“Come here, I’m not asking again.” His tone was colder.

I sighed, hoping down from the window sill and walk over, standing infront of him.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to make something very clear to you here-“ he looks down at me with malice. “If you can’t handle a conversation with the grown ups, then you’re going to have to go to your room. I won’t stand here and have you call me stupid with no consequence. Oliver and Thea aren’t your family- I am. I killed your mother to prove that… and I will get rid of both of them if they become and issue. Do you understand me?”

I glared up at him clenching my fists. I heard Basil try to move from the couch but Y/N stop him. Seemingly amused and eager to see where this goes.

“You can keep running and moving and playing house with whoever you want kid. But the second that interferes with my life and what I want, I can easily take it all away from you. The only reason Oliver Queen is not dead is because of you… but that doesn’t mean I won’t hurt him. Zsasz is up to him and his lovely partner, you don’t get to speak for a man who’s not here.”

Of course he’d be sexist ontop of everything. Was there anything redeemable about this man? How the hell am I related to that?

“What, nothing to say now? Not so feisty when you don’t have your distance huh?”

A low growl emitted from the back of my throat and before I knew it I reached for the knife in my boot. Quickly plunging it into his empty eye socket behind his eyepatch. It seemed over dramatic to blind him, but it’s not like the area had no feeling. Eyeball or not, being stabbed in the face still hurts.

He stumbled slightly, as I back away closer to Basil.

“You stupid little bitch!” He growls.

“Don’t ever fucking talk to me again.”

I grab Basil hand and drag him outside, leaving Y/N to deal with Slade and his tantrum. If they wanted to talk just adults, they could be my guest. I almost walked out into the street not paying attention but Basil pulled me back.

“Woah, hey! Earth to Maggie. Breathe.”

I slowed down, closing my eyes and took a deep breath. I ran my thumb over his hand to feel the sensation of his skin.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re ok. Just chill out. What the hell was that back there?”

“He pissed me off.”

“I can see that. But Jim and Victor have pissed you off many times, you never tried to stab them.”

“Doesn’t mean I didn’t think about it” I sigh. “I hate his guts Basil. I don’t want him here, I don’t want him in my city.”

A small smile blossoms on the corner of her lips.

“So Gotham is your city now?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes. I like it here. There was nothing for me in Star City that can’t come to visit. Gotham is where you are, where my first business is, it’s got my three favourite teens in the whole world to babysit” I smile softly.

Then I realised this was his plan. To distract me. How he always knew what to do is beyond me. He couldn’t have learned from Oliver.

“Better?”

“Better. Thanks.”

“Wanna go do something entirely stupid that Y/N will most likely yell at us for, since we’re already going to get yelled at anyways?”

I giggle softly.

“Yes”

He drags me away form Y/N apartment and over to Oswald’s. He’s in a meeting so we’re able to sneak in without much fuss or getting pulled into conversation. He immediately drags me to weapons room and I raise an eyebrow at him.

“What are we doing in here”

“You want to get back at Slade right… Oswalda got some explosives stored in the back. Let’s blow up his ride home” he grins.

I contemplate how my life got here, but it doesn’t much matter now. I’ve long past been into deep.

“You know what? Yeah, fuck him, let’s go blow up his plane.” I take Basils hand.

He smiles down at me grabbing what we need and putting it in his messenger bag before we sneak out.

“It should be fairly easy to find. Not many places you can park a private jet around here.”

“You’re leading this.”

He gets a weird glint in his eyes and I look at him worried. Without warning he scoops me up into his arms. I let out a soft squeak and cling onto him.

“Hold on tight” he laughs, launching off the ground and flying us over the city before he spots it.

He flies rather fast and it’s a bit disorienting when you’re not used to it, my hair would certainly be a mess. I glare at him when he puts me down.

“You’re the worst B.”

“But you love me anyways” he smiles that boyish grin. “Come on, all I have to do is attach this, then I’ll hand to you detonator and fly us up to watch the chaos from a safe distance. Who knows maybe your knight in shining armour will come to investigate” he teases.

“Don’t bring Jim into this. He’s the last thing I need right now.”

I watch as he straps two explosives to the jet and wait for him to be finished.

“You really gonna do this?”

“Planting bombs on a plane is just as illegal as blowing it up. The crimes already started, might a well see it through.”

“Gotham really is rubbing off on you huh?”

“Yeah yeah. So I’m done being a pushover, sue me.”

I take the switch and wait for him to fly us up.

“We should be safe here”

I smile looking down at the hanger it’s in before pressing the button. The explosion is loud and bold due to the jet fuel. We hover for a while watching the smoke before Basil flies us back to Oswald’s.

“Feel any better?”

“You know what, I actually do. I’m sure Y/N can handle Slade and whatever weak threats he was spewing at me when I left.”

“He’s a joke.”

“Tell me about it” I huff.

We walk in and are almost immediately greeted by Oswald.

“Hello little songbird, how are you this evening?”

His tone is strange and off. I simply shrugged.

“She got off work early so we’re just been wondering around” he chimes in.

“Oh? Was there a problem-“

“No, no problems Oswald everything’s good. I just felt a little under the weather and needed the fresh air. Feeling much better now.”

“I’m glad to hear that Maggie. Will you be staying here tonight?”

“I was thinking if that was alright with you, yes. I miss your stories” I attempt to butter him up.

I hear a scuff come from Basil and send him a small glare.

“Well in that case I’ll they my chef to make you’re favourite. I have another meeting today but I’ll come find you after”

He leans in and kisses my cheek. I smile up at him and let out a sigh of relief when he’s gone.

“What was that?”

“Relax, he’s gonna find out who did it anyways when Y/N figures it out first”

“You’re right” I let out a heavy sigh “should I sign my will now?”

“No, I think she’ll be proud. Pissed but- you stood up for yourself. Your biological father is a prick. You deserved better.”

“Thank you.” I smile fondly. “Now let’s go binge watch horror movies until our eyes hurt!”

I grab his hand and drag him to my room in Oswald estate. Basil was the only man who rarely pissed me off. And I wanted to see if I could get to know him as well as he knew me. My punishment would come in the future, but for now I could be happy and carefree in this moment. And that’s exactly what I needed

AN: so sorry I haven’t written in so long. Things have been insane all year and I haven’t had the mental energy to write. So sorry if this is bad, I’ll get back in my groove soon. Love yall 🫀

Tag: @howl-fantasies @keffirinne

#Maggie #magnolia blossom #Gotham oc #slade wilson #deathstroke

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leatherbookmark · 1 year

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thinking abt jin rusong again. specifically his death. sorry songsong

there was this person who argued that it was shown in an obvious manner that jgy was the one who killed jrs, because jgy explains that the dagger’s blade shows the faces of people it killed -> qs looks at it --> suddenly grabs the knife and kills herself, the obvious interpretation being that she saw jrs’s face. and it’s plausible! especially if you consider that jgy’s feelings towards his son were, shall we say, conflicted, and that he as a weaker cultivator would probably have a harder time resisting the dagger’s Murderous Aura. it would have been enough for jrs to accidentally wander into the secret torture room!

but personally i have 2 problems with it, namely

That’s Not What Sect Leader Yao Said!

jgy’s fear of other people.

ehhhhh

1) in itself is uhhh problematic because sect leader yao is not the most reliable source of information etc etc. at the same time, i feel like wwx, who managed to figure out the thing with the soul-eating goddess statues and well as everything about jgy post-guanyin, wouldn’t just miss something as obvious as this.

i’m talking about the fact that according to sect leader yao, jrs was poisoned. not stabbed. last year i made a post about it based on cql subtitles, but i checked both the japanese translation and the original novel text, and indeed: 毒殺, 毒害.

of course, one could argue that wwx doesn’t really give a fuck about jgy and the whole case is just an interesting puzzle to him. well, sometimes he goes “oh yikes”. he would have no reason to care about how exactly jgy’s kid died, whether by poison or a dagger. but again, after the events of the guanyin temple he talks about jgy’s mother, even though with his current knowledge of jgy having done It All Some Of It, it would be perfectly understandable if he gave even less fucks, bye everyone, the bushes are waiting.

2) is... slightly complicated, but basically it just doesn’t work for me characterization-wise. jgy says to nmj in the stairs conversation that he’s scared of everything -- not only the heavens, but also people. obviously, that applied to nmj in particular, but also there’s jgs, who holds jgy’s life in his hands, there’s madam jin with her less spectacular but no less painful physical abuse, there are people in general, powerful cultivators or not, who wouldn’t bat an eye before tearing him down one vicious rumor after another, and finally, there’s everyone in that he just doesn’t feel safe. he doesn’t trust anyone not to turn away from him, not to withdraw their friendship and affection when he’s not convenient or helpful to them anymore. according to his words, the man is in a state or perpetual paranoia and insecurity.

he doesn’t even tell his future wife that they’re siblings! i’m firmly in the camp They Were In Love -- otherwise why the fuck would they fight for the marriage to happen -- so imagine the state of mind jgy must have been in to hide something like This from the woman he loved. from the woman that loved him first! and fought people to be with him!

why am i talking about it? because people like to call jgy an expert manipulator, and i’d like to call bullshit.

an expert manipulator probably should not be shaking like a chihuahua for every single moment of their life. some ways of manipulating people, crowds in particular, are easy -- you don’t need to be a genius to carefully drop a few allusions to the yiling patriarch and how dangerous he might be, etc, etc, and Just So Accidentally end up with an angry mob. but i feel it it significantly more difficult to get a specific person to do exactly what you want, in particular when that person is in a state of extreme shock. you’d have to feel confident that you can predict all their reactions, and this is not something jgy would say about himself.

because... qs says she wishes she’d never met him. she slaps him. who’s to say that she wouldn’t grab the dagger and stab him? or even -- if she couldn’t bring herself to do it -- scream and say what she saw reflected in the blade? jgy knows why wwx&co are there, and he knows that another accusation wouldn’t help him. out of possible outcomes, there’s one that ends badly for qs, silencing her forever, and at least two that end badly for jgy himself. and if anything can be said about jgy, it’s that he does everything he can to survive. i just don’t think he’d risk that! also -- others could look at the dagger too, and confirm that qs said the truth, and while technically jgy could say that wellll yes, the murderer killed a-song with this dagger... it really falls apart quicker than a wet tissue.

so: either jgy is scared of everything and everyone all the time, OR he’s a skillet skilled manipulator. if he was a skilled manipulator, he would’ve avoided many unpleasant things, having manipulated people out of hurting him. he would have manipulated the jianghu into thinking he’s the best dude ever, lxc into never ever ever doubting him, and qin su into... that as well. she’d get the letter and her first thought would be ‘my a-yao would never...! someone is trying to frame him!’ and poor bicao would be dead fifteen minutes later.

(bonus: re: sending jzxuan after jzxun, i’m... not quite sure. of course, it would be perfectly valid of him to want to kill two annoying peacocks birds with one yiling laozu stone; i think the fact that everyone kissed the ground jzx walked on when he was an awkward mess at best and a pompous asshole at worst, when jgy wasn’t even the son you push into the background but a literal servant doing the dirtiest, most humiliating and unpleasant jobs, was already infuriating enough to warrant wanting at least one person dead.

still: as jgy said, he couldn’t have predicted that things would go this bad, and i choose to believe him. it would’ve been bad enough if wwx had lost control and made wn fight, not kill or injure but just fight jzx -- that would show everyone present that he’s not harmless at all, and the lanling jin sect is doing a good thing by seizing his superweapon and dealing with him. and the fact that wwx helped their case so much, well. shit happens?)

finally, 3) or my personal thinky thoughts:

if he wanted to kill jrs, thinking him an abomination, why wait? why allow him to be born at all, if he could have slipped qs appropriate herbs into her morning tea many, many times? okay, technically she could have gotten over losing the first pregnancy and asked him to try again -- but he could have refused and given her many arguments, including but not limited to “i’m still grieving what could have been”, “i’m scared it’s my fault”, or even “sooo there was this night hunt and uh. my dick doesn’t work anymore :-(”. jl was already the heir, and jgy wasn’t everyone’s favourite, so it wasn’t like it would be a huge disappointment (or a surprise) if he and qs had no children.

and like. yes, i guess “only son dying tragically as a toddler/child” would traumatize qs more, but there’s still no guarantee that she wouldn’t eventually ask him for another child! it’s a Very Weird way of purposefully making sure you never have to bang your sister again, is what i’m saying.

finally -- okay, suppose that that one sect leader really was stubborn and bitchy about the watchtowers. why doesn’t lanling jin, the richest of the sects, simply pay him to shut the hell up? i’m not saying jgy is the most logical of men, but surely that’s easier than fabricating a whole murder and killing a whole sect as punishment.

#i feel i've made this exact post already but i can't find it so if i have... please ignore it and act like it's a new thing #shrimp thoughts

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basedkikuenjoyer · 11 months

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Moe Violence: or How I Struck the Jidaigeki Goldmine

I lost a close friend recently. A really close one and it was the kind of sudden bolt from the blue that’s really just fate waking up and deciding to kick you in the teeth. He liked old Western movies and was enough of a film buff to know how much back-and-forth there was with samurai cinema. So we had a lot of fun talking about movies. Made me want to finally get through a stack of films I’ve dug up on archive.org. Liking what I like, I think this binge has helped get a lot of clarity on where we started with looking at Lady Snowblood & Red Swallow Oyuki. (Oh...by the way. I plum forgot Snowblood’s auntie/confidant type figure was named Okiku. Always has a basket of yellow mums outside her door)

Started with checking out a trio of films the absolutely wonderful Junko Miyazono did after Red Swallow. Series is called Tales of the Poison Seductress; Hannya Ohyaku, Quick-Draw Okatsu, & Okatsu the Fugitive. They’re all standalone, caution though they’re very violent. SA is a factor too but from what I’ve seen most of the scenes may drag but try to keep it not too graphic. I say that as someone pretty turned off but “losing her virtue” is a threat hanging around frequently in these and there’s a torture element. This is 60s/70s Japanese Grindhouse cinema, the type of thing that inspired gory directors like Quentin Tarantino. It ain’t for everyone and that’s why I wanna gush about it here. What I’m getting more and more though is that pinning our beloved Okiku to one jidaigeki reference is a fool’s errand. My dears, she’s an ode to an entire subgenre!

Let’s not split hairs over the specific category of Toei films and slightly different ones with a female lead. The term I see used is “Pinky Violence.” Pinky coming from having female leads and being very sexually charged affairs. Toei needed to do something to compete with more Western movies making it over, so they opted for shock value and the way they went for it ended up giving us a pretty feminist genre. Not to say these were all jidaigeki which means “period drama.” There were a lot of modern ones I have yet to dive into heavily. Before Lady Snowblood Meiko Kaji gave us a really fun looking 6-part series called Stray Cat Rock for a great example. Machine guns, motorcycles, and LSD. They look awesome and check this aesthetic! I’m in love.

That knowledge does make me think of Nami and the early design with a missing arm. Jojo’s Stone Ocean as well while we’re at it. There’s also a fair number of Yakuza movies that fall sorta in between like the Red Peony Gambler (Hibotan Bakuto) series. It’s all a little nebulous if you want to get into the weeds. There’s a few different styles from a few different studios but make no mistake. These were popular movies in Japan. Big studios like Toei were churning them out as B movies to maintain relevance. Compete with television and Hollywood’s resources.

Know what isn’t nebulous? Yeah...the hallmarks of the genre are big things we see out of Okiku’s role in Wano. The otherwise perfect lady with some little hook that means she isn’t “marriage material.” The whole arc of showing she can kick as much ass as any man but always reminding you of the lady playing the part. A big, big shared element is this core theme of taking down corrupt officials who abuse their power. Urashima the Yokozuna is exactly the type of guy who’d end up a villain in these. Sticking up for humble villagers, looking out for other women and children. Being the collateral damage of “great” men’s ambitions is what we tend to see over traditional fare like say, reinstalling a dynasty. I love the running theme of these being so much more local in scope. And Kiku gets that modern twist of her being trans for the “excuse.” I adore that in contrast to anime trends of needing to make an excuse for the deviance. My dead sister was the favorite, I went silly due to trauma, etc. This trope and trend of subversion is a big reason I love the mistaken bride idea.

The more of these I see, and I’m friggin hooked these days, the more I see little bits and bobs that feel like they may have shaped our beautiful flower of Wano. And others! She’s a little more than a simple homage though. We do see the violence part pretty well for One Piece. Kiku gets the shit beaten out of her on Onigashima and it is gory by this manga’s standards. That’s where the modernization seems to be though. We tone down the sexuality for cute. Which isn’t that off base, the archetype in historical settings typically does have that innocent and sweet side. One Piece just isn’t the type of series you’re going to actually see things like making good on Tama’s intro of fleeing from being sold to the red light district. Even if it didn’t make it in the proper story, Kiku & Izo’s origin does flirt with that kind of content more than the series usually would. Hell, we do get Holdem torturing Tama and the series just fades to black on a similar spot for Tsuru.

Wano made this genre feel familiar already. Snowblood loves it some anachronic storytelling, Red Peony sets up and ends films with a non-diagetic theatrical framing. Ohyaku uses a big simpleton to bust out of a prison camp. Speaking of, can I please get someone whipping a hair stick like a dart? That’s my favorite little signature from the Red Peony. Oryu in those is a fun protagonist played by Junko Fuji. That’s one of the more accessible series, less graphic than One Piece so far, and she plays with gender as a theme more. Proclaims to be a man but we always see deep down she’s still a lady that wishes she could have married the honest merchant’s son. Oh...and almost all of these ladies are total daddy’s girls like Kiku acts towards Kin. That whole series gets its own because there’s eight of them and they’re soooo good.

Eiichiro Oda is a great writer and worldbuilder...but he’s actually pretty derivative. One Piece doesn’t break ground as much as refine the dominant genre when it started, even Rurouni Kenshin was more subversive for shonen. The more I see of these though, the more I see Oda just being this big kid who thought these old movies were so cool and couldn’t wait to rip into his samurai gang. Of course one of em if gonna be a little Junko Miyazono/Meiko Kaji being a fierce strong-willed lady of war. These movies are classic cool!

#one piece #wano arc #okiku #red peony gambler #hibotan bakuto #hannya ohyaku #quick draw okatsu #junko miyazono #junko fuji #inspirations and influences

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successionmanga · 9 months

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Chapter 8

At the Neue-Favrille Palace Gates Square, Musca is being wished good luck on her trip. Where is she going? To a convent near the Schez Villa, where she can make some friends! Musca protests that she's not sick and that she wants to see Orcelito but her wet nurse drags her off into the carriage, saying the Schez air will be good for her health. In the palace, Lord Lagen asks if she's gone; he needs her later as an important diplomatic tool, after all. It turns out Musca is sick: Kiliko had her poisoned with diluted snaked venom which gave her a slight fever. Then Orcelito runs in, straight into Kiliko's arms.

Lord Lagen says "control your ho, man" and Kiliko says in time, Orcelito will be fully under control. Lord Lagen then leaves back to his colony, saying being away for too long makes him uneasy. He also says that while he'll leave Kiliko in charge for now, he better not be disappointed when he comes back.

Sighing, Kiliko tells Orcelito not to surprise him like that next time. He then invites the prince back to his own room so that they can read a book together.

But what of Belca and Eco? Well, Dietrich wakes Eco up while the latter is napping at the desk in the former's office. Dietrich asks Eco to go on a ride with him and Eco calls him crazy, reminding him that his fiancee is supposed to be visiting soon. Then, he asks if he hates the prospect of marriage so much, why doesn't he just leave? Dietrich answers that he knows he has to take over as head of the family but he wants to enjoy the single life just a bit longer.

You're probably wondering "what the fuck does this have to do with the last chapter's cliffhanger?". Well, that moment was a flashback. In the present, Belca is still exploring the grounds and comes out to find a part of the mansion that bridges to a locked small tower thingy. You figure it out.

He wonders if it's a cabin or a storeroom and walks in, bitching about how cold it is. He mentally compares it to the killing room in the royal tomb...but nah, The Earl of Arlon would never do a thing like that! Then he finds a cage with Eco locked up in chains inside.

Dietrich is there too, putting on his best "whoopsie! I've been caught!" face. Belca demands to know what he's doing, saying him and Eco are supposed to be friends. Dietrich just tells him to watch where he's walking; it's cold in there so some areas are iced over. When Belca asks him why is he talking so formally, Dietrich says it makes sense that he's speaking so politely to a prince, after all. He then apologizes to a shocked Belca for making him wear servant clothes (I thought they were his...) and reveals he found out who he was when he had his clothes inspected last night, realizing the materials needed to thread them could only be purchased by royalty. He then says his suspicions were confirmed when he sparred with the prince this morning, saying his stance is that of a knight's but his style is explicitly that of Astelion. The smoking gun is when he reaches over and pulls out Belca's pendant, saying his Primseed is proof and advises that Belca wear it with pride.

He says that Lord Lagen wants him returned safely and Belca will be sent back to Neue-Favrille. Prince Orcelito will definitely be happy (cluing in Belca to the fact that his brother is still alive). Belca then says if he truly thinks he's a prince then let Eco go; he saved his life. Dietrich says he can't do that since he doesn't know what Eco is up to. Belca says there is no proof of him doing something but Dietrich tells him that he sent someone to Sana to investigate and they found out that there is a rumor that someone, a bard in particular, who caused a ruckus there died...yet, a man with a golden ponytail who plays an eleven-stringed koto (a Japanese harp...in a European setting) is right in front of him. Eco says he played a song to escape with the prince but Dietrich counters if he what he told him earlier about Orbus killing Hector is true, why didn't he contact help from the nobles and merchants he's worked for in the past? By not asking for help and making the decision to travel dangerously on foot, Eco looks suspiciously like he's trying to use the prince for his own ends.

Belca tries to tell him the real reason why Eco took him but they are interrupted by a messenger (The Squadron Captain from the last chapter finally reaching them.). Dietrich points out since a messenger and not a carrier pigeon came, it must be important and drags Belca off with him. When Belca asks about Eco, Dietrich tells him not to worry about him: he'll have him sent back to Neue Favrille too. The council of elders will decide what to do with him...

Eco tells Belca to go ahead with Dietrich, reminding him that no matter how powerful people are, it doesn't mean that whatever they are saying is true. People will use their words to influence the thoughts and actions of others.

The important thing is what Belca thinks and not what those people say; he tells him not to forget that even if he's not around.

Outside, the Shingetsu and the Amontels (Album dropping on the 30th) notice the lights out in the mansion but the perimeter is well-guarded: they're being expected. Tenrou (the Amontel with Shingetsu) jokes that Shingetsu's curse didn't work. Shingetsu tells him to drop it and come with him.

Inside, Dietrich thanks the Squadron Captain for warning him about the attack, saying they were able to buffer their defenses because of the information. The Squadron Captain brushes off the praise, saying he was doing what was expected of any person in his position but Dietrich cuts him off by revealing that his horse has been fed and cared for and offers the Captain a room for the night. The Captain offers to assist but Dietrich tells him not to worry about it and leaves.

Belca marches up to Dietrich in the hallway and demands to know what's going on...and the Captain sees him.

Dietrich tells him it's not a big deal, just some wild Amontel wandering outside so the guards are about to hunt them. He tells him not to stress and that he sent a blanket and a heater for Eco so Belca can rest easy.

Inside the room, turns out the guard didn't recognize Belca as the prince. However, he turns out to be the creep captain from a couple of chapters ago and does recognize Belca as "Mariebelle", the courtesan he saw at the brothel who is actually a boy!

Outside, the guards bait and capture one of the Amontels, saying the rest won't abandon a comrade so they can get them too. Inside Belca stews in his room, listening to the hunt. He says if he stays, he'll be sent back to Neue Favrille. This mansion has become a further extension of the castle; he might be more comfortable here but it's still the same as being caged. Going outside his room, he discovers everyone is outside, giving him a rare opportunity to get Eco out of the jail. He thinks about the fact that Dietrich has a point but he can never forgive him for what he did. On the bridge to the jail, however, he catches an Amontel with a sword to a maid's throat, making Belca dash forward to save her...only for the chapter to end with Shingetsu firing an arrow at Belca, deriding him as a fool for falling for their trap.

#+c: sword and cornett #plus si #manga #review #cliffhanger #in case you didn't get the gif #this wouldn't have happened if he just stayed in his room #psa #mind your business

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absolutebl · 3 years

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This Week in BL

April 2021 Part 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Love Poison 2 Ep 3 - incomprehensible plot, confusing characters, terrible audio, I’m dropping this one.

Second Chance Ep 2 - they are my adorable babies and I LOVE THEM. Must protect Jeno at all cost. Chris, come on, boy needs you. (They’re the jock/nerd pair.) Then there’s the friend-to-lovers (Paper & Fah) and cafe cute boys (M & Near). We got artful injury tending (finger & lip) and some jealousy or something. Is the script good? Hell no. Is anything happening? Nope. But I’m INVESTED in the nothingness.

Lovely Writer Ep 7 - mostly set in the past, but the child actors they got were decent. I actually liked how they explained Sib’s behavior (I mean losing your BFF + figuring out you’re gay at the same time gotta mess with your head). We got touch my lip, carry baby to bed, let’s sleep facing, face touch, hair touch, and a hand kiss as well as The Kiss. With so many intimacy and caring tropes, I’m well pleased. BONUS: NO SOUND EFFECTS. Please make then have fired the sound tech. OHPLEAESEOHPLEASEOHPLEASE.

Fish Upon The Sky Ep 1 - I like it. Might as well break the 4th wall if you’re gonna do a voice over. Some super cringy moments but I think that’ll improve post makeover. Yet again we have a BL poking fun at its own tropes. 2021 is definitely the year of meta. Oh and Phuwin’s English is really good.

Call It What You Want Ep 1-2 - it’s slow and more arty than I expected. The actor playing the main character looks eerily like Up (Gene in Lovely Writer) + an ex of mine - it’s disconcerting.

Brothers Ep 10 - my two got together and ARE ADORABLE. I actually really like how they dealt with Khun’s seme ownership freak out. That’s some sexy communicating, boys! So many couples (and triads) I’m well confused, but I only love KhunKaow so no one else matters.

Y-Destiny Ep 2 - cute, bit raunchy, kinda fun, about a million tropes in one tiny ep. I’m getting So Much in Love meets something from Strongberry. No bad thing... no real good thing either. But I was expecting a lot worse.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

HIStory 4: Close To You (Taiwan) Ep 4 (AKA Ep 7-8) - I don’t wanna blog about it. I can’t even think about it. I’m still gonna keep watching it. Conclusion? I’m trash.

Word of Honor (China) Ep 22-24 - Wen is as much as a drama queen as Gene (in his own special way). Most of his past is now revealed plus obligatory bathing scene. (Is Gong Jun contractually obliged to be topless in all his dramas or is it just for the good of the planet? Asking for a friend.) A good 60% of the time I have no idea what is going on (so many names! who is this Lovelace putz allasudden?) but I don’t care cause they so pretty.

Most Peaceful Place (Vietnam) Ep 3 - didn’t drop this week, or was it only 2 episodes? I’m so confused.

We Best Love 2 (Taiwan) Ep 6 fin - It’s GREAT, they’re great, everyone’s great, the world is great. So pleased to get Shu Yi and his dad talking Japanese. I love it when Taiwan makes use of bilingual actors (see Because of You) almost as much as them flexing their marriage equality muscles. The full circle pool kiss was adorable and this series is officially a favorite. (@heretherebedork your boys don’t end unhappily but they don’t get an HEA either, everyone else does. I think you’d be okay with this one.)

Stand Alones

Tell the World I Love You (Thai BL movie) released into theaters? Or not? Haven’t heard anything about it.

Breaking News

Bite Me got a full trailer and it looks GOOD. Mark Siwat seems to be carrying this one, which is fine, we all know he can (especially if you’ve seen his non-LBC stuff). Quality controls seem relatively high, although this may only be a fund-raising trailer. No eng subs at last check but I’m disposed to be hopeful. It feels like we are in Oxygen territory and that was one of my favorites last year.

You’re My Sky dropped what they’re calling an “official pilot.” No eng subs. I think this is a tester trailer to raise funds. MDL listing makes this sound like a standard college BL, but trailer portrays a sports romance. Stars almost-familiar new faces from Y-Destiny. It’s like we have a new crop of BL actors chomping at the bit to take over from MaxTul or MewGulf, and with the 91 line aging out*, maybe they aren’t wrong?

* Don’t crawl into my craw, they’ve most of ‘em said they don’t wanna keep doing BL after turning 30 and frankly, why should they?

Gossip

Nitiman dropped BTS from their publicity shoot. No eng subs.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Some shows may be listed later than actual air date for International accessibility reasons.

Upcoming 2021 BL master post here.

Links to watch are provided when possible, ask in a comment if I missed something.

Spring Line Up:

Close Friend the series (Thai trailer) April 22.

2gether the movie (Thai trailer) April 22 to Thai theaters.

Nitiman (Thai) May 7 on One31.

I Told Sunset About You 2 (Thai) May 27 on LineTV

Ossan’s Love (Hong Kong) June to Viu

I joined MDL under this handle AbsoluteBL. Find me there if you like, currently it’s just ratings, tracking, & three lists:

Japanese BL & Live Action Yaoi Manga

Korean BL

Taiwanese BL

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ashintheairlikesnow · 3 years

Note

📋 Hello I am putting a formal request in for more Chris Saves Himself AU ft Mama Nakamura taking him I’m home only to realize the full situation

Continuing the Chris Saves Himself AU: One | Two |

CW: Grief, memory loss, recovering whumpee, some very brief and very vague references to noncon, minor whumpee (OC is 17), angsty fluff, reunion

It takes six days for the cops to let Akio's mom bring Tristan back to their house.

He's ready to be discharged from the hospital by day two, but there's nowhere for him to go. WRU is still saying there's no record of his existence, even with the barcode on his wrist. Tristan's only known living relative, Joanne Botham, is claiming he ran away from home and she had no idea what happened to him, that what she had told the Nakamura family was out of frustration and anger at Tristan for disappearing. The governor is out on bail facing charges for keeping Tristan in the mansion in the first place.

There are a lot of charges.

Akio feels by turns numb and enraged when he hears a news anchor read them out loud, bloodless words that don't seem to reflect at all how serious their meanings are.

The first few, he can process - false imprisonment, bodily assault - but then they keep going, and they get worse in ways Akio can barely even begin to imagine.

What Tristan has lived through... Akio's brain refuses to let it coalesce fully, but he has nightmares, dreams about Tristan screaming for him and being on the other side of a door Aki can't open.

He dreams about hands on Tristan's body and the way he might have screamed for help. Akio wakes up crying, retching, running to the bathroom to throw up whatever he's eaten that day as if he can rid himself of the poison of knowing.

His mom calls a therapist.

His father tells him to stop watching the news.

Akio just waits until they're in bed and searches for everything he can find on twitter, on reddit, on every-fucking-place anyone is talking about this. And it's everywhere.

He stops telling his parents about his nightmares after the second night.

Oliver Branch says WRU sold him a product they knew was outside the bounds of the law and lied to him about it. WRU says they don't know what he could possibly mean by that and they have no paperwork or documentation that Tris was ever in the system at all, and if he was, then there must have been a mistake about his age. They swear they'll do a total review of every single Box Boy, Babe, or Buddy to ensure absolute compliance.

The soundbites make Akio's mouth dry.

How many are there, then? If they have to keep looking to find more? How many like Tristan?

How many?

Joanne Botham, who never answers Aimi's furious calls and then changes her number after the second day, goes on TV and says she did nothing wrong and there's no proof that anything happened except maybe Tristan lying about his name and age to make WRU agree to take him in. Oliver Branch says he has the proof WRU knew, and he'll provide it in exchange for immunity.

They all point fingers at each other on national television, in press conferences and through their attorneys.

Through it all, Tristan sits in a hospital bed staring out the window at the blue sky as though it will be stolen from him all over again, waiting to be told where to go, what to do.

And it takes Aimi nearly a week to get the police to agree to allow her to take him home. She brings everything she can think of to meetings with the detectives heading up the case, shows them reams of team photos and home movies, folders and folders of everything Aimi and Mrs. Higgs had ever talked about or done together with the boys.

The hospital needs the room, needs the bed. The detectives don't want to put him into foster care when he barely seems to understand he's a person. The social services people won't take him because they're not equipped to handle a situation like this one. The adjustment houses don't want him because of something to do with what kind of Boxie he was, and Aimi doesn't elaborate and something in the set of her expression makes it clear Akio shouldn't ask.

After a week of mostly just being able to look at him through the small little square window in the hospital room's door, Aimi finally gets legal permission to take him out of there.

Akio isn't prepared for the slew of news vans that are there when he and Aimi arrive, someone having tipped off reporters that they might get a glance of the governor's secret Box Boy today. Aimi, though, simply sets her shoulders, slides a pair of dark sunglasses on, and walks through the crowd like a queen with her head held high, a small duffel bag handle in hand.

Akio hurries behind her, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, hood pulled over his head, trying to ignore ten thousand camera flashes. It's so much worse than the leadup to the Olympics would have been, if he were still performing at elite.

Or at all.

He has a strange, surreal hope that Tris won't be disappointed in him for quitting after Tris died.

Even though he's not dead.

They step into the hospital room around 10 in the morning to find Tristan not in the bed, but sitting on the couch built into the wall under the window, curled up on the crinkly plastic cushions to look out the window, humming low, soft and tuneless.

The hum makes Akio's heart ache with a sudden realization that this odd waking dream he's been living for a week isn't a dream at all. Tears flood his eyes and he has to blink them away as fast as he can. He's heard that hum in his ear as kids during sleepovers, he's heard it when Tris was nervous before performing a new routine, he's heard it while they waited anxiously for scores or studied for school.

"Hey, sweetheart," Aimi says, her voice low and soft, but even so Tris jumps and turns to look at them with wide, startled eyes. One hand goes up to his neck, and Akio swallows when he sees Tris has wrapped gauze around his neck to sit like the collar he was wearing when he fell from the governor's bedroom balcony.

Akio watched the cell phone video that made the rounds over and over and over again. The flash of red hair, shirtless, the bruises he was covered with, his hazy drugged eyes. Over and over and over again.

Watch him fall, watch him land, watch the people run to him and get him out of there when Akio has been sitting here crying his eyes to red half the time for a dead best friend who wasn't dead at all.

"H, Hello," Tristan says, but he doesn't know them. Akio can tell, the way his eyes move between them is uncertain, unsure. "Hello, ma'am. Can, can, can I, what..." He swallows, shivering, and Akio watches the fear move across his face. "What... what can I... do for you?"

His slowed-down voice makes Akio feel sick. He's only ever seen Tristan do that when he's with people who don't understand him or love him for who he is. Now it seems like it's the only way he remembers how to talk.

All Tristan's muscles from gymnastics are gone, leaving only faded shadows of his strength behind. He's skinny, so pale he nearly reflects the light from the ceiling. His freckles are faded, and his hair is shorter than Tris ever liked it.

Being so thin makes his eyes even bigger, they seem to overwhelm the rest of his face.

"Honey, we're going to take you to our house," Aimi says, keeping her voice the same low gentle cadence. "While we figure out what happens next. Aki and I will be taking care of you for a while. How's that sound? Would that be okay?"

Tristan looks between them again, and something shifts in his face. A kind of desperation moves there, and he turns more fully to face them, leaning over a little to look up at them. Hair falls over his forehead, and his hands move to rub over the texture of a loose pair of sweatpants someone gave him to wear under his hospital gown. "To... your house? Would I be... yours?"

He looks at Akio again, and there's something in his face that says he sees that as the best case scenario, that he was ready for far, far worse than simply changing owners. That he's... hoping he'll be Akio's property now.

Akio's stomach flips at the thought and he has to put a hand over his mouth and turn away, catching the sob before it can make its way up out of his throat.

Aimi's arm moves around his shoulders instinctively, and she leans over, pressing a kiss to her son's short black hair. "It's okay," Aimi whispers. "It'll be hard at first. But it's going to be okay, Aki. Saishūtekini wa daijōbudesu. Tristan wa mada anata no shin'yūdesu."

Tristan, sitting on the little couch, blinks a few times. "Friend," he says in English, a little haltingly. "Shin' yu. Means... best friend." He scoots closer to them along the couch, and his eyes are so big and so very, very green. Just how Akio always remembered them.

Aimi's head raises and turns to look at him, her arm tightening around Aki, breath catching in her throat. "You remember that?"

"No." Tristan shakes his head. Scoots a little closer, even. "Yes. I don't know why. Are you..." He looks at Akio. "Wa-... watashitachiha... sh-shin, um, shin-shin'yūdeshita. Yes? Did I-... did I say it right?"

Tristan's Japanese was never great, he'd just picked up some here and there from all the time he spent around the Nakamuras at home and in their car. They used to lay awake at night during sleepovers practicing over and over until Tristan had a new phrase to impress Aimi with.

But hearing his voice, his living breathing real live voice, sounding out the words...

It's too much.

It's too fucking much.

"Yeah, um, y-yeah, you-..." Akio's words are suddenly gone. He chokes on his fear that this somehow is a dream he will wake up from to find Tris still cold in some unknown open grave, and he can't keep the tears back any longer.

His knees buckle under the onslaught of grief and hope and fear and love, and he drops to the cold tile hospital floor, hands pressed over his mouth until his lips are pushed painfully into his teeth, and he wails, muffled but loud enough that there's rustling as the cops guarding the door turn to look inside through the viewing window.

Aimi drops into a crouch behind him, rubbing at his back as he curls over himself. Her voice trembles with tears she doesn't shed. Akio remembers the days after they were told Tristan was dead, how she would cry in her room at night with Aki's dad when he was home from work, but somehow when he and Emi were bawling their heads off, her voice stayed calm, she kept her composure.

Right up until she was alone.

Now, though, she's barely hanging on as her son sobs on a hospital room floor before the emptied-out shell of his best friend.

Bare feet pad along the floor until Tristan drops down in front of him, reaching slowly out. Cool fingertips touch the back of Akio's hand, and he pulls them slowly down to look and see Tristan only a foot or so away from him, kneeling, watching him.

"I know you," Tristan whispers. "It hurts, but... I know... you. Don't, um, don't I?"

Akio can barely see him through the tears that have turned the world to watercolor suggestions. Nothing's in focus. But he grabs onto Tristan's hand, those familiar always-cold fingers, and holds tight.

"You know m-me," He manages. "You do, Tris. You know me. We-... we know you. We want to t-t-take you h-home."

Tristan tilts his head to the side, and it's such a familiar gesture, one he was so sure he'd never get to see again. "My... name is Baldur," He says, softly. "My Sir named me-"

"Please don't call him that. Can you... can you answer to Tristan? Please?" Akio is the one to reach out this time, touching Tristan's shoulder, hesitant. Waiting for him to pull back and away, to flinch like he's been doing when they watch him with the nurses.

Instead, Tris takes a breath and leans into the touch.

"It hurts," He says. "But, but, but, but-... but I can try."

Akio nods, and then Tristan is moving forward, and their arms are around each other and Akio is scared of himself for a second, scared of the welling of feelings he can't control. He's afraid he'll crack Tristan's ribs with how tightly he holds on.

Tristan's face buries itself against his neck, into the crook of his shoulder.

"I missed you so much," Akio whispers against the coppery hair. He's going to start crying again. He can hear his mom sniffing behind him, digging into her purse to pull out the little pack of tissues she always has in there. "I missed you so, so much, Tris."

"I think... I think I, I, I missed you, too," Tristan whispers back, and Akio isn't sure if he can even know if he means it, but he also knows that it's so good to hear the words that he doesn't even care.

@burtlederp @finder-of-rings @endless-whump @astrobly @newandfiguringitout @doveotions @pretty-face-breaker @gonna-feel-that-tomorrow @boxboysandotherwhump @oops-its-whump @cubeswhump @whump-tr0pes @what-a-whump @whumptywhumpdump @downriver914 @whumpiary @orchidscript @nonsensical-whump @outofangband @eatyourdamnpears

#whump #chris saves himself AU #chris the strawberry blond romantic #akio nakamura #rescued whumpee #escaped whumpee #recovering whumpee #memory loss #dehumanized whumpee #reference to collars #grief tw #referenced death #caretaker and whumpee #memory recovery #bbu #box boy universe #box boy #box boy whump #minor whumpee

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demonslayedher · 3 years

Text

Ramble on the Limitations of Looking for KnY Interpretation based on Japanese Mythology

One thing I notice a lot in the Japanese side of KnY fandom theories is a lot of deep dives into religious and mythological reasons behind Gotouge's creative choices. It is super interesting stuff, and Gotouge borrows enough and does homage to enough that there is a clearly a solid knowledge base there. While I find historical details handy for interpreting the characters, ultimately, I find that the canon of demons and Breaths can be interpreted in a vacuum without relying too heavily on the uncanny coincidences lurking in deep dives. This isn't going to be a well-supported essay, this is going to be a ramble that may include a bunch of interesting nuggets. (And then she went on to ramble for 3249 unedited words...)

First things first: I'm a nerd. I like to say I broke the weeb scale a long time ago, but I'm not exactly a university professor or anything like that. That said, I do read a lot of stuff from experts who have jumped on the KnY trends to talk about how elements in KnY are taken from, say, the sword making traditions of the Okuizumo region that results in black swords or simply making comparisons to famous swords, or local legends of supernatural encounters that resulted in split rocks, or comparing specific oni with and the heroes who slayed them or at least comparing elements of specific characters to other famous oni legends, or that Hinokami Kagura is based on a specific Shinto legend and has 12 forms based on existing Kagura traditions, etc. And I love reading this stuff, because I wouldn't had learned about some of it without my interest in KnY leading me to those articles, or as I read it I cheer because they're making references to things I already (as a nerd) really enjoy and therefore it strokes my inner echo chamber bias, or I nod along and think, "oh, yes, why of course, that makes total sense, Hinokami Kagura must be based on the dance Amenouzume performed to enticed the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of the cave, how silly to think it could be based on anything else" but I then also take a step back to think, "...but it also doesn't have to be." For as many similarities as there to existing legends, it feels to me that Gotouge made it a point not to make specific reference to any particular mythological or religious elements. As an example, Gotouge considered titles with reference to a Shinto fire god named "Kagutsuchi" but never made actual reference to any fire god (or sun god) by name in the finalized direction canon took. Granted, a lot of fan theorists have read into that, going so far as to say because Nezuko's fire powers she represents Kagutsuchi, Yoriichi represents Amaterasu, etc., but while I find the idea of borrowed elements makes for highly interested interpretation of canon, one-to-one comparisons really don't work for this series. By not invoking a name like Kagutsuchi in the title or otherwise, Gotouge succeeded in not being boxed in by the canon of any particular deity. (Granted, "canon" for mythology can vary significantly by whatever historical writings you're looking at, with standard interpretations going through many big changes throughout the centuries. It can be as loose as it is limiting, depending on what sort of historical/mythological/religious figure you're talking about.) I feel there's more evidence of this avoidance by never invoking Amaterasu as a deity, despite the emphasis on the power of the sun in slaying demons. Even looking back and trying to figure out who Akeno placed so much faith, it was only called a "god of sunlight" as opposed to a "sun god." It's as though KnY works with a generic approach to religion. Even if the use of Buddhist element, the Nenbutsu prayer is called such, and Himejima's repeated phrases are legit Buddhist practice, but there is a huge variety of Buddhist sects and practices and theologies, and throughout history, many of them didn't get along. Going back to Akeno and wondering if she might had been Buddhist, I went so far as to suspect she was influenced by Nichirin sect philosophy based on its emphasis on the "Nichi" (sun) representing Japan and incorporating Shinto gods into its philosophy, and for its likely influence in the Kanto area in Akeno's time period, and for its encouragement for the salvation of women and therefore popularity among women. I felt pretty satisfied that it was all lining up, but also, none of this is necessary for a quality interpretation of canon. If Gotouge wanted to say specifically what informed her religious conviction, then it would had been said. But that's not what was important, was it? What was important, and therefore focused on, was Akeno's feelings toward her son and wishes for his sake.

While KnY's worldbuilding feels richer with all the clear religious influence, the details are not actually important. If anything, I feel like Gotouge dove into the heart of the elements of, say, Shinto mythology, and played those core elements up. It's different, yet still familiar, to take sun-associated elements and used them in a way that serves the story without being boxed into existing traditions. The sun is clearly important, and once you start looking for it, you find subtle recurring references to it. Like, Akeno's name? The "Ake" is one way of writing "red," and there are all sorts of uses of other ways of writing "red" throughout the series, in everything from the sand used for making Nichirin blades to the way that Haganezuka calls Tanjiro an auspicious "red" child with a very rarely used kanji. Our commoner main characters, though, just use regular old ways of saying "red" when referencing Tanjiro's appearance without thinking deeply into it, like there's something special right in front of them but they don't recognize it. Similar to how something as special as Sun Breathing was hidden right in front of them in Hinokami Kagura, with a name so generic and simple that it's entirely unsurprising that the Taisho era Kamado family would interpret it as "fire god." The very lack of limiting real-life details is what allows Gotouge to sprinkle these deep touches around, cover them up with branches and leaves, and then sit back and wait for readers to stroll through and invitingly pleasant looking field and then trip and fall down a rabbit hole. This is also what I think gives Gotouge the freedom and malleability to work with the sun in a way that serves the story, especially in ways that tie it to fire. While I don't think there's strong ties for this is general Japanese culture, the way canon is written implies a close tie between fire and the sun as being a very closely related element, hence the influence on the Kamado family, Tanjiro's appearance, his suitability for Sun Breathing based on a history of tending fire for careful charcoal burning, and Tanjiro and Nezuko capability as demons to overcome the sun. Here is where I go into a bit of a tangent about the purification element. This, again, is not strictly tied to any particular Shinto canon (and Shinto does place heavy emphasis on purification), but instead is an example of Gotouge getting to the underlying heart of a lot of common religious elements. Fire is associated with spiritual purification in everything from Buddhism to Catholicism, it's very easy to apply Nezuko's fire abilities as something which burns away something evil (demon poison) so as to purify something good (human flesh, or even other physical substances). Maybe lesser known, but very deeply entrenched in Japanese culture, is the purification element of charcoal. While it may be known around the world for soaking up undesirable elements and therefore used in everything from fish tank filters to treating food poisoning, in Japan, there's a bit of a spiritual side to it as well. For something so closely tied to the way of life for citizens throughout hundreds of years of history for everything from cooking to heating the home, it's unsurprising that quality charcoal would receive as much emphasis as good water and rice. Japanese charcoal is especially known for not producing undesirable smoke or odor, making it appropriate for use in a lot of settings. Charcoal farmers have often not just been that; they've been caretakers of the forest. Keeping the right trees, at the right sizes (both for use as charcoal and for how you pack it together when making charcoal), and in the right numbers to ensure you have stock for coming years, requires management of the forest. (Other tangent side note: many of the other names in the Kamado family are references to plants. Sumire both has the "sumi" sound of charcoal and is the word for violet, Kie is in reference to hollyhock, Nezuko is in reference to red beans (and the asanoha pattern of her kimono is in reference to hemp leaf, an

auspicious symbol of strong and quick growth), Takeo is in reference to bamboo (ironically bamboo can be a problematic plant for charcoal farmers, because it may spread too fast and take resources from other trees--stop stealing all the takuan pickles, Takeo!), Hanako is in general reference to flowers, Shigeru is in general reference to (plants) flourishing, and maybe by the time they got to Rokuta they gave up and said "he's our sixth child, let's just call him 'Six-Boy', lolz." BUT I DIGRESS.) That means the Kamado family not only had careful management of fire in the actual days of charcoal production, but of a wide variety of natural resources to ensure the trees were healthy. Natural weather phenomena, clean water, pest control, minerals from rocks getting into the soil, hmm, so many elements to pay attention to. Hmm. These sure sound a lot like other Breaths. And Breaths all stem from Sun Breathing. That means there may be certain elements of Sun Breathing that have been emphasized in each of them, but none of them encompass so many qualities of the natural world. The natural world which Yoriichi saw with such clarity than nature accepted him with open arms, practically, in how well animals took to him. Sun Breathing, while especially using that all-important purification aspect of sunlight which burns evil demons, is like an all encompassing embrace of nature. While being closely tied with fire is hugely important, there's more to it than just flames. While Shinto is very much so closely tied with nature (the extent to which this is emphasized may vary from shrine to shrine, scholar to scholar), what I see in KnY is a clever use of emphasis on spirituality in nature as opposed to emphasis on Shinto mythology. And I think that was a smart move. While stories based more directly on various theologies, mythologies, and religious ideologies often use those building blocks often wind up having very creative takes on them (even and especially with the confines of them), ultimately, the story of KnY is whatever Gotouge wants to do with it, and it does not seem guided by the specific conventions of more specific religious elements. But again, those deeper elements are still everywhere. You know what color Japanese charcoal burns? It's a gorgeous jewel tone red, spanning many of those rare shades of red Gotouge make reference to. And, in wider Japanese culture, red is the color of the sun (as opposed to how other cultures may represent it as yellow or orange or white or so on). (Not as exactly a KnY tangent, just personal: Japanese charcoal is so freaking pretty, I had no idea until I saw it used in the tea ceremony at parts when guests crowd around to enjoy the sight of it as the host prepares it for boiling the water. I can stare and stare and stare, it is so so so so so pretty, but also this element of the ceremony has gotten rarer both as many places have made a more practical switch to electricity, and tea ceremony quality has gotten more rare both due to fewer producers and due to beetle-related damages to the trees used, and I will always state HOW DISAPPOINTED I am that Kanata and Sumihiko are not out there raising charcoal, because charcoal is precious and I'm always so terrified of wasting charcoal in my practices because its so precious, but seeing the amazingly beautiful burn of the charcoal is absolutely one of my favorite elements of the ceremony and this of course gives me an extra soft spot for Kamado Tanjiro BUT I DIGRESS AGAIN, I TOLD you this was going to be a ramble, but SERIOUSLY IT IS SUCH A GORGEOUS RED).

So anyway. My point is, as interesting as incorporating outside elements may be, I don't find them necessary in interpreting KnY's canon. Even if it takes tons of Taisho Secrets to do so, Gotouge presents the details necessary, and that's more than enough to work with. After all, despite all the care taken in historical details in building the setting, KnY takes place in a fictional universe, it can make its own rules when it comes to things that don't actually exist in our universe. Demons, for example, follow a chronology and power system with sources and limits that is unique to a this universe, as tempting as it is due to general cultural familiarity, it does not call for a one-to-one comparison with existing demon legends. Breath as well, as a power system, is very interesting. Again, this is because it has a lot of basis in core concepts of real life physical and spiritual training. It's presented as a method available to anyone who can pick it up, not drawing on a mystical outside power or summoning the actual superhuman elements of nature. Other stories that present their power systems like that are well and fine, but when it comes down to it, this is a story about mere humans doing everything in their limited power to wave swords around and defeat creatures that seem so likely to outpower them. This is a common, relatable basis of stories throughout history, and a lot of analysis I've heard of KnY's success says that it shows how classic this story structure is. Many Japanese demon stories have their origin in epidemics, and some people suggest that the world looks for hope in stories like KnY in times of seemingly insurmountable crises like coronavirus. I think that's an oversimplification of KnY's success, but again, because of Gotouge's use of core cultural elements, it can be applied easily. OKAY BUT ON THAT NOTE we can do some really interesting digging if we want. : D Gotouge does make some highly specific references, included religious ones (granted, not in ways that impact the plot). The example coming to mind is the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing, the "Flaming Thunder God." In Japanese, this is "Honoikazuchi-no-Kami," the name of a lightning deity who had a very, very brief mention in the Kojiki and who appeared among a handful of other lightning deities named in reference to other aspects/phenomena of lightning, like the sound or the rumble through the ground. Honoikazuchi is not so much the lightning itself, but the fires started by lightning. Stick with me a bit longer, I'm building up to something here. You've probably heard of the twelve animals of the Chinese (poorly translated as) Zodiac, right? Well, the system is way more complex than that, and really, if you want complexity, skip Japan and go dive straight into ancient China. I laugh and cry at myself for having a graduate degree in Chinese studies, the extent of my knowledge is is pitifully small, I know nothing, nothing. Suffice to say, China has its own five element system of water/wood/metal/fire/earth, it's more a philosophical application than a more physicality-based four element system popular in the west (fire/water/air/earth, why hello there, Avatar), with attributes of these elements assigned to every about anything through Chinese culture, from medicine to, you guessed it, the Zodiac animals. Japan saw all this and said "cool, we'll do that too" albeit their sort of mixed and matched a bit and made their own take on it in Onmyodo. An Onmyoji, who keeps track of, like, really any other-worldly matter you might have on your hands as a Heian noble, is someone who is paid to know all this stuff (it was very likely an Onmyoji who told the Ubuyashiki clan, "yeah, you got an evil family member to blame for your curse, squash him"). Yours Truly is not an Onmyoji and therefore will not attempt to go into more detail, save the one that a handful of Japanese theorists in the KnY fandom love to bring up: The Boar is a water sign. This means that, especially in Shinto practice, boars are considered an animal that protects against

fire, hence, a lot of practices to protect against fires were done on days of the Boar, in the month of the Boar, etc. So? So-o-o-o-o-o? You see it? You see it??? Boar = Water, Honoikazuchi = Fire, Inosuke and Zenitsu are basically foils to Tanjiro? Yes, yes, see it, yessss??? Deep dive Kamaboko theory, yes?????? Hahahaha. Naw. It's just a fun coincidence. ^_^ Again, I find these details completely unnecessary, for we are already given so many details in canon to work with on its own, and I think Inosuke and Zenitsu as foils to Tanjiro works entirely well simply based on their personalities, not because of any supernatural elements that require a high level of nerdery to have any hope of appreciating. Besides, once you start reaching too hard for cultural details Gotouge might have used and clinging too tightly to those ideas, there's likely something in canon to make it doubtful. For instance, Inosuke more widely presented as a king of the forest who wears deer and bear hide as well, and the fanbook state that Beast Breath is considered a likely offshoot of Wind Breathing. Even if we rely more strictly on historical detail, there's still the question of, say, what one of the basic Breaths, Thunder Breathing, even was when it was but a thunder inspired sword form not necessarily powered by Breath, you know, back when swords were longer and it would have been harder to make the fast draws katana would later be better suited for. Maybe they called it Thunder because it was practiced by swordsmen who stomped around really hard, and then when they added Breath technique, they figured out "oh dude, we can use our strong legs to go fast"??

Those are the kinds of things I find more fun to play around with in interpreting canon by bringing in little outside details, because as a work of fiction, there are already so many fun details to work with already even when treating it in a vacuum. But, giving Gotouge extensive and subtle use of cultural elements, especially core elements, it sure makes a lot of outside details applicable. Which is all to say, it's all super interesting, and I think the more people realize these things, the deeper they read into it, to an extent more than canon calls for. As much as I like it, and as much as I've enjoyed pulling outside elements in to fanfiction (like Kagutsuchi and lightning god tidbits), ultimately, if Gotouge thought these things were necessary, they'd have been included. Since they are not, I try to stick to canon details and Word of God-touge in answering Asks (lolz, I didn't plan on becoming a meta blog, it just kinda happened). BUT ALSO, JEEZ, I AM SO EXCITED IF PEOPLE TAKE A DEEPER INTEREST IN JAPANESE CULTURE BECAUSE THEY LIKE KIMETSU NO YAIBA, YOU CAN HAVE SO-O-O-O-O-O MUCH FUN PLANNING A TRIP TO JAPAN AROUND KNY THEMES, DO IT DO IT DO IT, GO TO YAGYU AND POSE IN A TANJIRO HAORI AND STICK YOUR SWORD IN A SPLIT ROCK, THE LOCALS THERE LOVE IT, DO IT but also like maybe learn about the tea ceremony and appreciate how beautiful the charcoal is with me k thx bye

#kny fandom theories and meta #sooooorta #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #am I a Pillar or a Demon?#neither #I am but a nerd

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chocoladieimagines · 3 years

Note

1) Love ya blog already I need more black x readers on my dash

2) Is it possible to get some fluffy headcanons about dating Zenitsu and introducing him to black culture? (I hope that made sense this is my first time ever sending in an request liek this)

Thank you, also yes it makes sense! I’m excited to get my first request and I’m glad you feel comfortable about asking for a scenario! That’s what this place is for, helping readers feel comfortable.🤎🍫

Zenitsu x Black!Reader

(A bit long)

“In the mid-16th century, a significant number of Africans came to Japan as crewmen, servants or slaves on European ships. Their presence generated great interest and wonderment. But along with the presence of white Europeans, it influenced an evolving discourse on race among a people who had previously divided humankind into three civilized nations: Japan; China, and India, and miscellaneous barbarian people. Their skin color caused Japanese to link them with the inhabitants of India yet their treatment by the Caucasians who had brought them to Japan implied that they were an inferior people who ought to be despised. During the Tokugawa period, (1603-1868), the increasingly critical, even hostile view towards India and Buddhism had a negative impact upon all peoples considered dark skinned. Thus, black Africans, and other peoples with whom they were commonly conflated, were alternately honored, tolerated and disparaged.” (Leupp).

- This would change years later as you set foot in the final selection.

- You succeeded honing a unique breathing style; executing it with expertise as your sword was cloaked with green ribbons of ectoplasm.

-You took in the scenery of the beautiful vining plants with cascades of blue to purple flowers. They felt ever so alluring to the fate sealed for an examinee’s failure.

- As you caressed the velvety petals between the pads of your fingers, you heard a blood curdling scream nearby.

- Of course it was as expected due to the exam you were taking, but the primal cry bypassed your eardrums to the lining of your brain; coming from a place of terror, telling of a mind in absolute fear.

- A boy ran under the safety of the wisteria trees, as they are poisonous to demons, thus the creatures must stay on the mountain top.

- You looked at him as he ducked his head into his body with his hands covering the back of his neck. His trembling form curled into a ball, hearing as he talked to himself in a whisper.

- “I don’t know if I’m ready. I won’t be able to catch up to the other slayers. I’m going to die...I’m going to die...in fact I’m already dead.” He spoke in self doubt and despair, his mind already subduing to the pressure.

- You walked over to him and crouched to his level. You reached your hand for his shoulder, lightly prodding your fingers against the yellow fabric of his haori.

- He lifted his head at the touch of comfort, turning towards the direction of someone’s hand.

- “Do not cower.” You tell him. “We are to fight to rise above demons. To prevail against the monsters who try to level us to the bottom of a status quo. But we are strong, we will not submit to them, we are more powerful if we band together and fight as one. What’s your name?”

- He froze when he saw you; paralyzed in surprise and silent panic. Under the moonlight, the moon bounced off your melanated skin. The light shined under the construction of your cheekbones, defining the muscles in your cheeks and showing your risen smile of your full lips. Your kinky hair huddled in profusion as they defied gravity. Then it was your eyes.

- He couldn’t stand eye contact but yours captured his into a trance, stuck in the mental state of high arousal as nervousness washed over him like a wave.

- “Z-Zenitsu...Agatsuma.” He finally spoke. “Zenitsu Agatsuma, my name is y/n l/n. They will remember our names and I will remember yours. Would you like to fight by my side?”

- Despite his rosy cheeks by your presence, he nodded.

-After you two became demon slayers, you caught the eyes of many people.

- To be honest, it wasn’t common to see black people during the time. No one was used to your skin full of the sun’s rays or your voluminous hair that others described as being “all over the place”, “showy”, “lazy”, “a distraction”.

-Nevertheless, Zenitsu warmed up to you and found you an easy person for seeking comfort. He hated himself for cowering, running away and sniveling but your calming voice reassured him that everyone is scared of something. That we were born with survival instincts necessary to respond to fear when we sense danger or feel unsafe.

- Not only did he constantly want comfort and motivation, but he was curious. He knows little to nothing about black people because of his lack of seeing one.

- He found your beauty intimidating and overwhelming; the transformations of your hair, your curves, the vibrancy in your walk and the way you talked. You expressed yourself fearlessly, not boldly, but such as being able to remain calm without altering under an opponent which helped your teammates stay levelheaded during battle.

- One day, you two shared a conversation. It was about your past missions and some of the funniest looking demons you came across. It suddenly faded into the awareness of how people looked at you like you were an alien.

- You only shrugged it off with a laugh but it lured Zenitsu back into curiosity. He wasn’t sure how to word it; “How come your skin is so pretty?”, “How is your hair different from the others?”, “How are you so magical?”

- Once your talk came to an appropriate pause, he hesitantly asked a question, “H-Hey, erm, y/n, can you tell me about yourself? Like your ethnicity or who you are as of people?”

- You smiled at his big brown-golden eyes showing his intrigue. It was almost the biggest he’s seen you smile before it elicited your sweet laugh.

- “Well, it’s really a long story but my favorite is to study about my culture. There is a such thing called ‘Black is beautiful’, which included identifying and expressing yourself by doing your hair in a myriad of styles. Using a grooming tool like a pick, which is a type of comb, customized with a black fist was a way to proudly assert political and cultural allegiance to the black power movement. Black writers used their creativity to support a black cultural revolution. Soon enough, we rose into mainstream like music entertainers, sports figures and in stereotypical roles on television. We increasingly demanded more roles and more realistic images of our lives, both in mainstream and in black media.”

- You doubted Zenitsu understood what you were saying so you showed him pictures from school books and showed him videos from a film projector. He could hear the thrill in your voice as you spoke and explained things to him.

- Learning these things from you, he fell even deeper into his crush for you, telling you out uniquely from other girls.

- Sometimes, he watched you braid your hair into protective styles or listened as you sang a song to him that was picked up within your clan. You explained that as slaves, black people prayed and sung joyful songs to keep our heads level headed with what was going on.

- But you felt bad since you thought you were blabbering on about the things you were interested in, instead of finding out the things that Zenitsu would want to hear.

- So one night, while getting ready for bed, Zenitsu wanted to confess to you. Although he is aware of his desperateness of wanting someone to commit his love to, he could no longer take ogling you day to day without the imagination of what your lips felt like or what it would feel like to be ultimately comforted by cuddling and sharing kisses. He wanted you more than anything.

- That night, you two were unbeknownst that you wanted to talk to each other about something. While everyone settled in to go to bed, Zenitsu bumped into you while you were in your pajamas. He blushed at the sight of your hair being braided into cornrows; openly showing your face to him.

- “Zenitsu, what a convenience, I just wanted to talk you.” You chuckled. “Heh heh, I-I had something to say to you too.” He stuttered. “Ok, come in my room.”

- He followed you in, adjusting the collar of his shirt as he felt his body temperature escalate. “You can go first.” He said, clearing his throat. “Well, I just wanted to say, I don’t want it to seem like I’m making you bored, ya know about the things I talk about. I wonder if it’s fair to talk about them to you or if I could be scaring you. History is just a nice thing I like to talk about, one of the things I favor most.”

- He looked at you in shock, “Oh no! I-I don’t mind at all of you coming to me about that. I want to be a person you can come to talk about anything to. I-If anything, I see you as a really pretty person. To see you idolize people and—because of them—feel empowered to show your beauty means a lot to me. As long as it means you will continue to appreciate who you are as a person, I love that about you, y/n.”

- He lost himself in his words and felt himself carrying on and on. You stood in silence, completely surprised how he confessed his feelings to you. “I really really like you. You’re so unique from everyone else, you help me feel better and saved me from getting my ass killed god knows how many times. I...I...”. He felt his nerves come to him, cutting his words short as he looked at you with fear.

- He suddenly watched your lips stretch into a smile, feeling himself freeze in place as you walk closer to him.

- You say to him, “Although people may think you’re a coward, no matter how many times you may break down into tears or feel scared, you are just as much brave. You have the biggest courage of everyone to overcome your fears and take a leap.” And you gently captured his lips with yours, comforting him just as he yearns.

Hopefully I answered just as you requested. As well as having hope that everyone else enjoyed this scenario🤎🍫

#kny x reader #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer #zenitsu x reader #black reader #demon slayer x poc!reader #demon slayer x black reader #zenitsu fluff

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queen-ofsunflowers · 3 years

Text

My favorite moments I've written for Shujin Assassins so far:

Kayano: How do you say ‘unkillable’ in Japanese? (Ren pauses and thinks about it.)

Ren: Korosenai. (The entire class whips around at the sound of Ren speaking.) Korosenai… Koro… sen...nai… Koro...sen...sei? ...Korosensei? Huh?

Nagisa: Korosensei? (Ren pauses. Oh crap, he said all that out loud.)

Korosensei: A pleasure to finally hear more of that voice of yours, Amamiya. Five whole words!

---

Korosensei: Shoot and stab all you want, class! Even with this handicap, I am too fast for you! (Ren looks up and takes the gun from Nagisa.)

Nagisa: Hey, what—

Korosensei: Only in your dreams do you have any hope of getting the deed done— (Ren fires, not aiming for Korosensei but the rope tied to the tree. The rope breaks and Korosensei, stunned, falls. They watch as the rest of the class takes the initiative to attack him, forcing a panicked Korosensei to roll around on the ground.)

Ann: Wow. I didn’t know a BB could break a rope like that!

Ren: It was starting to break anyway.

---

Ren: You’d really help me?

Ryuji: ‘course. We’re friends, aren’t we? (Ren blinks. But they’ve only known each other for like… a week and half. He still smiles all the same.) Ain’t that right, Ren-Ren? (A shiver goes up Ren’s spine at the sound of that nickname. Of all things to call him…) So call me Ryuji, got it?

Ren: Thanks. I think I’ll stick with Sakamoto.

Ryuji: Oh man, that's cold.

---

Kataoka: Does anyone else think it's weird that she’s all over Korosensei?

Ryuji: I dunno. Maybe she’s into tentacles. (Someone swiftly kicks his seat.) OW! Hey! What was that for?!

---

Ann: But we bought those for ourselves! *groan* I was so looking forward to that for later…!

Shiho: I’m starting to think that he just used this lab to feed his junk food habit until payday.

Ren: Why does an octopus need to get paid a teacher’s salary…?

Shiho: Huh. Eleven words now.

Ren: What?

---

(And the door opens before Ren can run away.) Oh.

Ren: Uh… H-Hello. Sir.

Principal: (more warmly that Ren expected) I look forward to your midterm results. Let your mother know that I said hello, would you? (Ren swallows and nods. When he leaves, that warmth disappears and is replaced by ice cold.)

---

Ann grabs Ren’s wrist to pull him back to her.)

Ren: Huh? What’s up?

Ann: Did you really mean all that? (Ren raises a brow.) What you said to those guys back there. About us. Did you really mean it?

Ren: ...Every word. Why?

Ann: ...Like I told Kayano, I always thought I was an outcast because of my looks or the fact that I didn’t grow up here. So hearing all that… Thank you. I really appreciated it.

Ren: No problem. It’s like Ryuji told me. We outcasts have to stick together, don’t we?

Ann: *giggle* Right! ...um, hey. If you want to, you can call me Ann, alright?

Ren: Okay.

Ann: Okay! And… thanks again. ...Ren-Ren. (Ren bristles, turning bright red. Ann laughs out loud, patting his back.) I’m just messing with you!

Ren: Please don’t do that… (Nearly killed him…) Can you maybe… not call me that?

Ann: Okay, okay! (She’s still laughing.) I promise!

---

Nagisa: What did you even do to them?

Ren: I have no idea. I got this really bad headache… and I think I heard a voice in my head? There was this thing… I’m not sure what it was.

Nagisa: Whatever it is, I could help with it. We’ll figure out what it is.

Ren: You don’t have to.

Nagisa: I’m already figuring out Korosensei’s weaknesses. Who knows? Maybe whatever that was

Ren: You’re not… freaked out?

Nagisa: Amamiya, our teacher is a giant yellow octopus. Whatever happened to you is the least strange thing that I’ve seen this year. We can figure out what it is. And hopefully it’ll help us with our assassination.

Ren: *nods* Right! Let’s do this! (He holds out his hand. Nagisa stares at it for a moment before shaking it.)

---

Ryuji: Wow, she’s seriously cute.

Ren: She doesn’t really look like an assassin.

Shiho: Neither do we. But still… I’m curious about what this new girl’s all about. Amamiya turned out to be quite the joker.

Ren: Joker?

Shiho: A wild card! I mean, you didn’t hesitate to jump out a window or off of a cliff.

---

Ann: Uh, no offense but I don’t think your usual tactics will fool Mr. Karasuma. He knows your M.O.

Irina: Don’t you think I don’t know that!? (She sighs.) It’s like a paid escort trying to put the moves on her old man. (Ren shivers at the image.) If I don’t get this done, I’ll have to leave.

Ann: What?!

Irina: C’mere, I wanna try something. (She drags Ann off.)

---

Kayano: Here’s the thing, if they really are related… I mean, don’t you think that Korosensei would’ve known about it?

Fuwa: Hmm… not necessarily.

Ren: Right. They could’ve been separated at some point.

Kayano: Um, that still doesn’t explain why Itona’s human.

Fuwa: Easy. He’s a mutation.

Kayano: You’ve totally glossed over the core issue here!

Ann: Uh, no offense, but the whole separation thing is really kinda cliche.

Fuwa: Hey, no one asked for your criticism.

Ann: If you didn’t notice already, we’re sorta dealing with real life!

---

Sugino pitches and Shindo swings again. The ball hits the bat, and Ren leaps back just in time, flipping backwards and actually sticking the landing.)

Karma: (jumping up to catch the ball.) Oh, now you’re just showing off. Heads up, Nagisa! (He tosses the ball to their catcher, who tags the home plate.

Ren: Maybe.

---

(The whole time Ren had been taunting Takaoka and keeping everyone’s eyes on him, Nagisa had come around to sneak up behind him. The cat and the snake both strike, Ren flipping over Takaoka’s shoulders as Nagisa brings him down to the ground, knife at his neck and a hand covering his eyes.)

Nagisa: Looks like we win.

Ren: Nagisa, you’re using the back of the knife.

Nagisa: Huh?

---

(She jumps onto his back.)

Terasaka: What the hell?!

Shiho: What the heck did you mean when you called me a rabbit?! If I’m a rabbit, does that mean you don’t think I can kick your ass?! Because I can! (Her weight eventually toppled them both over and they landed in the water. Ann laughs as she goes to help them up. Ren moves over to get his glasses from Karma.)

---

Ren: And finally, the grand overachiever himself holding the top spot: student council president Gakushu Asano. He got the top spot in the National Mock Exams, and tends to get perfect scores in just about every subject. He’s the principal’s only son, so I think that might have something to do with it. if we could somehow catch him off guard, surprise him somehow, it could get him to mess up and make a mistake. He’s always been like that as far as I can remember. For example, despite being adept at martial arts, he didn’t remember how to catch himself when he fell after I… might’ve shoved him.

Shiho: You know a lot about Asano. It’s kind of creepy. (Ren only hums in reply. It’s not that creepy when you think about it.)

---

(Ren’s eyes widened. He… He actually did it?)

Ryuji: Way to stick it to that know-it-all, man! (Ren softly smiles.)

Ren: I guess.

Ryuji: You guess? The guy’s ranked nationally! Even Nakamura only beat him by the skin of her teeth!

Nakamura: What was that, Sakamoto?

Ryuji: Uh, nothing! Just sayin’! Ren challenging the King of the Hill is definitely awesome!

---

Ann: Yup! (as she and Shiho take the drinks from the waiter passing them out. Ann takes a sip from hers) C’mon, guys! Drink up! These things are like… super good. So sweet!

Ren: (holding up the water bottle he thought to bring with him) I’m fine.

Ryuji: Don’t mind if I do! (He takes Ann’s, which is still at least a three-fours of the way full. He drinks right from the glass)

Ann: Hey! Get your own!

Ryuji: Too late! My backwash is in it! It’s mine now. I LICKED the glass! (He does so to drive his point home. Ann huffs as Shiho chuckles, downing the rest of her glass.)

---

Karma: Oh, sorry ‘bout that. Let’s see if there’s a way to help you out there. (He gestures over to another classmate, who brings him a sea slug. Karma plops it on the sphere.) This do anything?

Ren: (as Korosensei screams) Karma, knock it off.

Karma: Why should I? Not like he can do anything about it. (Ren pulls himself out of the water and the sea slug off of Korosensei.) Now, I wonder if we could find a creepy old beach hum anywhere. I want to shove Korosensei down his pants. (Ren groans. What the hell…? In hindsight, taking this form probably wasn’t the best idea. Especially around Karma. That is why Ren snatches up Koro Sensei and runs over to Mr. Karasuma.) Hey!

---

Ren: ‘Eliminate the impossible and whatever remains is the truth’.

Fuwa: Hey, yeah! I didn’t know you read Shonen Jump, too!

Ren: I uh...

Karma: He doesn't. I saw him reading a little something else on the way over. Sherlock Holmes, wasn’t it?

Ren: Maybe… ...okay, no. ...It was Arsène Lupin. ...I finished the Sherlock Holmes books a while ago. A friend recommended Arsène Lupin to me and I haven’t been able to put it down.

Ryuji: Nerd.

Ren: You were reading over my shoulder.

---

Ann: Hey, are you okay?

Ren: Yeah… just a little bit of a headache. I’ll be fine.

Ann: How long have you had it? (Ren looks down at the ground.) Ren, how long have you had it?

Ren: ...Since the mastermind called, saying he poisoned everyone. It’s just a small one, Ann. I’ll be fine.

Ann: Liar. You know what happens when you get those headaches, though. Don’t act like none of us noticed. I saw your phantom try to come out when that guy had Karma. Ren, I know it’s hard, but you need to keep calm.

---

Ren: Ryuji, you’re-- (Ryuji puts a hand over Ren’s mouth, shushing him.)

Ryuji: I’m fine. It’s just a fever. Ann and I split the drink, so if she’s fine, then I’m fine, too. (Ren takes Ryuji’s hand off of his mouth.)

Ren: Ann barely drank any of it at all. You drank most of it. The virus is deadly, Ryuji.

Ryuji: I don’t care! It’s like everyone said earlier. I’m the fastest in the class. I can’t just sit and wait for help while this creep gets away with it. I don’t care if I’m sick, I’m not gonna let everyone down!

Ren: Ryuji--

Ryuji: Please. Don’t tell anyone. Especially Ann… I think she already blames herself for what happened to Shiho, I don’t want her to blame herself for not stopping me earlier, too. (Ren bites his lip but nods either way. Once Ryuji decides to do something, it’s hard to stop him. But still… He really hopes that they can get that antidote.)

---

Ren thrashes against whoever’s holding him and loudly screams, dropping to his knees and letting it all go. He doubles over, catching himself on forearms as wind whips around him.)

“Nagisa, back away from him! NOW.” (There’s a blue light streaming around him, travelling up his body as the voice in his head now echoes in his ears.)

“I am thou, thou art I. Thou who would accept blasphemy for the sake of thine own justice, call upon my name and release thy rage!” (Ren shakily pushes himself up, his knees feeling like they’re about to give way as he stands. The light shifts and morphs into a figure behind him.) “Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou shall be chained down to Hell itself!”

(A single name appears in Ren’s mind.)

Ren: ARSÈNE!

#shujin assassins au #assassination classroom au #assassination classroom #persona 5 #persona 5 au #ren amamiya #kaede kayano #korosensei #nagisa shiota #ann takamaki #ryuji sakamoto #shiho suzui #karma akabane

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emimothvine · 3 years

Note

📂 I love your headcanons so much!!!

Thank <3 I hope you know that every time I see your username it makes me happy.

TW: Mitsuki is a terrible fucking parent.

Every time Katsuki is forced to come back home for a visit, his mother decides to watch the news instead of her usual soap operas. Her favorite channel is one garnered towards young heroes and hero-hopefuls specifically, and she never fails to turn up the volume when they inevitably start talking shit about her son. He’s been one of their favorite topics ever since the sports festival, and Kamino only made it worse.

They call him unstable, volatile, and dangerous. They suggest that he went with the villains willingly and that he had a hand in All Might’s downfall. They spit poison and hate, claim to fear for the safety of those around him - and in the same breath they shove it under a guise of concern for his mental health. As if they didn’t just waste ten minutes verbally eviscerating his character.

Mitsuki likes to send him blog posts, too. And articles. She texts him links throughout the week, all written by either fake-worried parents or alleged “professionals.” It hurts him, having everything she says about him confirmed through writing. It feels like dozens of tiny needles slowly digging their way through his chest, into his heart.

He still reads all of it. Listens to everything they have to say. He doesn’t know why; he doesn’t want to see this - doesn’t even need to, really. He already knows he’s bad, knows what to expect with every familiar ping of his phone. But for some reason, there’s this thing in his gut, this pull urging him to look, look at that. It tells him to read and to re-read; to hear it all and see it all a hundred times over; to dissect every word.

When he’s home, it’s all she talks about outside of reprimands and strange, bipolar bullshit with his father. His father, who sits silently as she pokes and prods at everything that makes Katsuki bad and wrong; who tells him that she loves him. Wants what’s best for him. His father, who tells the prettiest lies.

(And her husband, too, whom she calls a pushover and a coward. Whom she scolds relentlessly for every mistake and every weakness, and then laughs at when he tries to change. Katsuki isn’t like Masaru. Katsuki won’t change a damn thing for her, no matter the hurt. He isn’t like Masaru, because cruelty is all she’s ever given him, and he refuses to fight for something that isn’t there.)

(No, he won’t seek her kindness or her affection. He doesn’t need something as superficial as his mother’s love to succeed.)

(And yet.)

(And yet he’ll never admit to the bitter ache he feels when he hears her tell Masaru she loves him.)

When Katsuki has the nerve to snap back, to match her loud volume, or (when he’s feeling particularly daring) to raise his voice first, she slaps him. But Katsuki doesn’t care - she smacks him all the time. What really gets under his skin is the question that follows, the “you gonna try to fuck me up like you did that gravity bitch at the festival?” Fuck, does it piss him off.

All of this, every word and hit and passive-aggressive taunt, her way of saying “See? The world agrees with me. You can’t be who you are and still be a hero.”

Katsuki refuses to believe the second part. But the first? Yeah. He’s a piece of shit. Makes sense that the world would hate him. He can’t say he likes himself much either.

...What Katsuki doesn’t realize is that Mitsuki’s sources are a load of bullshit.

That news channel? Filled with misogynists and homophobes and just about every brand of bigot out there. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone that actually takes them seriously - not in this day and age.

The blogs, the articles? She has to spend hours scrounging the internet to find people stupid enough to bash her son. And when she does, the comments are either filled with angry fans of his, or the comment section has been deleted entirely.

Katsuki doesn’t know that after the sports festival, UA went under fire from all directions. Furious parents, angry teenagers, various news outlets. The school was canceled on Twitter, and the hashtag was trending for a solid four weeks before the internet calmed the fuck down.

Then Kamino happened, and All Might fell. That one reporter that questioned Katsuki’s morality got demoted after a petition to have them fired received over a hundred thousand signatures. UA was canceled yet again, and it was even worse this time - because All Might’s fall is big news, and it was inevitable that its reach extended past Japanese borders. The whole world caught wind of All Might’s end, and with it the story of the boy who was stolen from right under the heroes’ noses. The infamous scene from the sports festival spilled across international borders, along with speculation that this was the reason villains targeted Katsuki in the first place.

And the fucking. Backlash. Good lord.

A couple thousand Katsuki stan accounts were created to go along with the dozens he had before, and anti-UA hashtags were trending in France and Russia for at least two days. UA ended up releasing a public apology for their actions at the sports festival and their negligence at the training camp (neither of which are seen by Katsuki, courtesy of his mother).

His classmates make jokes, sometimes, about all his “fans.” But Katsuki thinks they’re just that: jokes. He sees people staring at him on the street, and he assumes their looks come from a place of disgust. He knows that people are intimidated by him, but he doesn’t know that their trepidation goes hand-in-hand with their admiration - he’s powerful, to them, and he’s been through some shit. But he’s still standing tall and proud and unshakeable. He burns so brightly, and he has this air about him that makes you want him to like you, to be impressed by you - and that makes people nervous.

That was way longer than I intended, what the fuck.

tl;dr Katsuki thinks that the public hates him way more than they actually do, and thus does not realize that half of Japan’s population (plus a small percentage of the rest of the world) hardcore stans his oblivious ass.

(He finally starts to figure it out when some douchebag on the train starts heckling him, and he stays quiet because he’s learned by now that lashing out will make it worse.)

(He does not expect an enraged five-year-old girl to show up out of nowhere and kick that motherfucker in the shin.)

(He also does not expect for half the train car to back her up. Loudly.)

(All he can do is stare in blatant astonishment as a crowd of complete strangers rises to his defense; as some random teenagers approach his gaping visage and tell him to ignore that bastard, that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, that his opinion means shit.)

(And Katsuki doesn’t know what this is - if it’s pity, if he should be angry - but it makes his chest burn and his eyes sting and for once, he thinks, it’s okay. Doing nothing and watching in heart-wrenching astonishment - it’s all okay.)

#france and russia both have a respective hero school that is considered on par with ua #the rivalry is partially why backlash was so rough in those two countries #okay now I'm gonna start posting au ideas and wips along with headcanons #bakugou katsuki #bakubowl #kinda #bakugou mitsuki #bakugou masaru #all might #yuuei #I just want my boy to be loved okay

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aikrus · 3 years

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What It Means To Be Dead (Tokoyami x Reader)

Fandom: Bnha Warnings: Mentions of Dying, depression, bullying, abuse, and strong language Words: 2k259 Requested By: Anon <3 Request: Hi I love your writing! Can I request one where Tokoyami )or anyone you'd like really,) finds a collection of old-ish diaries and letters while cleaning? The person's handwriting is very distinct and pretty (Think 1700's love letter find) but they never mention their name. As they read more of it they find newer entries where Aizawa is mentioned so they ask him about it only to find out the person who wrote them died almost 100 years ago and 'haunts' the school. (Sorry for long request) A/N: I deviated a little from the request, but I hope you like it!

The night had already came and claimed the land of UA for itself. Shadows overtook the courtyards, and darkness fell across the classrooms, but not everyone had retreated to the safety of their comforters which shielded them from the secrets which the black abyss held so dear.

After a draining day of learning and training, Tokoyami wanted nothing more than to go to sleep- sadly, it was his turn to clean the classroom. It was annoying and boring and he’d give anything to be able to go to sleep, but fair is fair and he wasn’t the tyrannical type.

And so, he washed the windows and wiped down the desks. He swept the floors and organized the textbooks, and he turned to put the broom back into the small closet in the corner of the classroom. With a heavy sigh, Fumikage realized he should probably tidy up the dirty, dust-filled, death trap that was called a broom closet.

Narrowing his eyes at the cobwebs, he started to knock them down with the end of the broomstick (Seriously praying to whatever god there is that no spider fell onto his feathers). The room was in worse condition on closer inspection, it looked like not a soul had thought to clean it since the school was built.

After taking the time to sweep the floors, wipe down the door and the counters, and organize the books, Tokoyami was beyond tired and ready to fall asleep in the still-somehow-dirty closet. No matter how many times he swung at the cobwebs, how many times he picked up the coats and books and papers on the floor, despite the effort he put into tidying up the smallish space, it still seemed to have a weird layer of age coating itself entirely.

The closet felt preserved in time, like the oldness it felt was not just in the items littered about, but in the very walls itself. The things it’s seen, the memories it held, something about the space simply felt... wrong.

He turned to a corner he hadn’t worked on, inwardly groaning at the amount of work he still had to do despite the time of night. With a huff, he began to organize the textbooks and pages of work sprawled around the space.

His hands fell upon and old leather book- very different in both appearance and age when compared to the marble notebooks that surrounded it. Leaning over, he saw ten to fifteen more of there journal like collections shoved deep into the corner of the room.

Tentatively, he peeled open the first book. Looking at the pages, it looked to be the diary of a girl- the beautiful handwriting looked like it belonged to someone who saw the beauty that exists within the written language, someone who stops to smell the flowers, a person who looks at sunsets and bakes goods to say they love you.

The ink that bled onto the early pages spoke of a student, a girl who wanted to be so much more, someone who wanted to save the world. He became enthralled by the speech patterns, the phrases and swirls of the letters drew him closer, enchanting his eyes to never leave the pages.

------

Soon the pages became all he could think about, even after he had to abandon the closet to race to bed. During class all he could think of was the feeling of the crisp paper under his touch. The voices of his friends seemed ugly, seemed to be missing the douse of honesty and beauty he had been exposed to, even when he was practicing all he could focus on was the experiences of the girl who wrote down all her inner thoughts.

It was like she haunted him, appearing everywhere he went. Like she poisoned him, infecting his thoughts and feelings. She became everything to him so soon, every word had him on edge, every sentence a beautiful stream of imagery that he would give nothing but to experiencing along side her, what he wouldn’t give to see the world through her eyes of love.

As the day ended, he had quiet easily convinced Sero that he should take over his night of cleaning. Sure the actual work was quiet annoying, but he would be rewarded with her sweet words, he had left the book in the corner in his rush to get back to his dorm; he regretted his oversight the moment he laid down.

“Tokoyami, wasn’t your cleaning duty last night?” Aizawa asked, his eyes lazy looking up from the papers he was grading to make contact with Fumikage’s red ones.

“Yes sir, it was. I volunteered to take over tonight as well,”

“Mhm, and is there a reason for this?” He raised his eyebrow, dragging his briefcase off the table with him.

“Cleaning helps me think,” this wasn’t a total lie, reading the journal will calm his raging thoughts of the mystery girl.

“Just don’t make a habit of it,” his teacher echoed, not having enough energy to further investigate a seemingly innocent interaction.

Tokoyami was much faster with cleaning that day, and he was even faster to sprint inside the broom closet. He grabbed the leather books and raced back to his room, already feeling the warmth her voice provided.

------------------------------

The passages started off innocent enough, complaints about school, fantasizing about a better life, just a teen writing down their emotions. It then morphed into the beauty in everything, words that didn’t release Fumikage’s eyes until they were tearing up from dryness.

Then, things took a darker turn. Dark thoughts disguised in poems, things others have said to her, representation of her pain in drawings scattered throughout the book. The beautiful world- though still majestic in its own way- turned dark and twisted.

It was painful to read, and yet he couldn’t look away. It was like the book became a part of him- no. It was like he became a part of the book, nothing more than the cracked parchment and spilled ink. It was dehumanizing, but he wouldn’t change his position for anything in the world.

His bed was taken over by the old pages, dating back over two hundred years ago. The writer was in the post-quirk awakening. The world had just discovered the glowing child right before she was born. She was one of the first quirk holders in the world- one of the first one hundred Japanese citizens to have a quirk.

The journals started when she was ten- though that book was the fifth one he read. After that discovery, he categorized them in chronological order to read along with the flow of time. She wrote of the manifestation of her quirk- her parents had been struck with terror when their daughter walked through the wall of their living room to get into her bedroom.

That was the first moment she realized how different she is. Her life never seemed to go back to the way it was before, not even after the initial shock of what she could do faded from her parents; because, there would always be a new shock, a new ability, and no one was prepared to help her.

He realized, reading more about how the quirkless treated her, that her life would have been much different is she had lived in his time. Hearing the slurs and bullying they put her through, he wishes she could see how much the world has changed- would she be happy or sad that her bully's became the minority and were mocked in their normal-ness or if she would be ashamed of the people like her.

He was very satisfied that the people who made her life so awful were getting a taste of their own medicine, but he did wonder if that made him a bad person. Tokoyami figures that it really didn’t matter, she was gone so her opinion would never be known.

--------------------

“Death didn’t feel like I thought it would. Surprisingly, it was reminiscent of when I use my quirk to posses things or people. My body was there, on the floor, but I was floating above it. Much like I am when I leave my body before finding my target. The cold was instantly recognizable- like an abyss with no end.

The only difference I’ve noticed so far is the lack of body to return to, though I can enter it, it acts as an object. While I cannot move it, I can see out of it. It’s therapeutic in a way. Really, this must have been the best case scenario- I could see how everyone reacts, see who really cares about me.

It was hard at first, seeing all theses people, who I believed were simply pretending to care, braking down behind closed doors. It was only my sister- whom held no quirk- that cared. She did everything she could to make my funeral how I wanted it, and she preserved my bedroom the way I liked it. That was a nice gesture, it truly was.

Now my life has come to an end- my body buried under ground, never to be seen again- I can’t help but wonder what comes next. How long will I be held in this mortal world? Will others be like me, or will I be forced to live alone in the agonizing realization that comes with immortality? I guess I’ll simply have to wait and see,”

-----------------------

He had fallen asleep after reading the last passage in the ninth book- where she described how she stayed a student at UA even after death. The names she referenced had been lost in time- Pro-heroes that have long been dead and are now another name on the Hero Memorial wall.

She had possessed her home room teacher and walked to the headmaster- there she said what had happened. Her headmaster agreed to keep her on as a student, but only under the condition that she wouldn’t unnecessarily possess an unknowing student. It was fair- annoying but fair. They gave her her old desk and she worked along side everyone. When he woke up, the book had moved on its own.

There was a page opened- an elegant scipt sprawllled at the top but had been smuged since it was written- the only elligable part following what could be assumed to be a name: Phatom-- The Ghost Hero. The script was familiar, but it wasn’t the handwriting the rest of the journal was written in. Beneath it was a drawing of a girl- a girl more beautiful than anyone Fumikage had ever seen. It was a realistic depiction and it looked modern- it was only with that realization which led Tokoyomi to realize this journal wasn’t one he had seen before. Flipping through it, he hadn’t even noticed its sudden appearance. It was the newest one of them all- spanning for the last decade. He leaned back in his bed and began,

So I guess it’s been a while huh? Here are some general updates: Shouta from class 2-A is an idiot but I guess he’s kinda cute. We picked out hero names today, I wanted to just keep my name but he dubbed me Phantom.. I called him Eraserhead in return. I hope it sticks.

I’ve graduated from UA more than six times now- but I kinda like it. I do some professional hero work- especially info recall- but I’m worried about how the public will react to a ghost. It would definitely fuck with some peoples religious views.

It’s better this way. I’ve also decided to distance myself from Shinso- she and I got along great, but her twin brother has been acting weirdly around me for a while. His quirk is amazing, but I’ve seen plenty of unstable students pass through these halls and I know enough to keep my distance. Shouta doesn’t seem to agree- neither does Hizashi. I guess only time will tell.

As for manifesting my physical form- it’s a lot harder than I had hoped. I can become visual for three active minutes or ten minutes with no moving. I’m still not touchable, but I hope that will change with time. That’s all for now- I’ll try to check in soon.

He shook his head- surely those names must be common, but she was in UA and only so many coincidences can happen at one time. He wonders how she was now. Mostly, he wonders if she’s still at UA. They hadn’t announced her as a student, so was she a pro hero now?

Was it weird to still be in the body of a sixteen year old? There were so many issues with immortality- he wondered how she coped with it. These questions abused him throughout the morning. He thought of how lonely she must be, how it must be so awful to be all by herself.

He wondered why he cared so much- why had he developed such a strong scene of attachement to this girl? The fuzzy feeling in his chest when he saw the drawing of the girl had taken up his entire mind- he needed to know more.

As soon as he entered his familiar class room he marched straight up to his teachers desk with passion in his eyes- “Professor, can we talk after class? I have some questions I’d like to ask you,”

Aizawa glarred at the corner of the room, an annoyed frown tugging at his lips. This was gonna be a long day.

-------------------

A/N

Sorry for dropping off the planet everyone! This has been in the drafts for a long time and finally gets to see the light of day. I’ve had some mental health issues (not related to this story don’t worry) and am working on myself. I fully intend to finish the Christmas countdown I committed to and this account is still active, but this will remain on the back burner until I am well on my way to recovery. Requests will remain open for the time being and I will continue to make progress. Thank you for the lovely anon’s in my inbox with constant support and requests, I appreciate all of you. Thank you all and I hope you enjoyed this work <3

#boku no hero #boku no hero academia #My Hero #my hero academia #tokoyami fumikage #bnha fumikage #tokoyami x reader #tokoyamifumikage #fumikage x reader #bnha reader insert #bnha x reader #tokoyami fluff

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freeseafirefly · 3 years

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Soulmates (RinHaru fic)

Set after the All-Japan Invitational. Albert invites Haru to hang out, and Haru drags Rin along. Rin is stuck with two mackerel obsessed introverts and has to communicate between them. Except he doesn't really need to, not when they get along so well regardless of the language barrier.

Canon compliant, pre-relationship. A bit of angst and cracky fluff. Albert is a dork. So is Haru. Rin is a drama queen. Will be 2 parts (probably? maybe 3).

Read on AO3

Part 1

“Why don’t you get your AC fixed?” Rin whines as he sprawls on the wooden floor, limbs slack from racing all morning, glistening with fresh sweat after their short walk from the pool. He looks a lot like the eleven-year-old boy Haruka met at a tournament, panting on the poolside tiles and goggling at him while pretending he’s not. The scorching afternoon sun breaking through the shutters casts burning stripes across his skin, laser-beam red where they touch his hair.

“I had no time for that. It dries up the air anyway,” Haruka says and flicks on the fan. Ignoring Rin’s grunting about his water obsession, he pulls his T-shirt off over his head and walks over to the fridge. There were some sodas left since Asahi’s visit about a month ago.

Rin follows his example, rising to peel off his T-shirt and dropping back down, this time closer to the fan. “Ah, the steaming hell aka the Japanese summer… I surely didn’t miss that.”

Haruka scowls. It’s Rin’s fault he wanted to race him so bad today; Rin’s fault he came second yesterday on their 100 meter free race; and it is definitely not Haru’s fault that it is winter now in Australia, a divine chilly winter Rin will mention ever so often, only worsening his own suffering.

Haruka throws a can at him. Rin catches it with “Hey, how am I supposed to open it now?” but cringes as soon as he sees the neon-bright fruit mix printed on the side. “Whatever, it’s better like this anyway…” he mutters, pressing it to his neck. His Adam’s Apple bobs as he lets out a satisfied moan.

“Go take a cold shower,” Haruka says.

“I just did.”

“Wanna go back to the pool?”

“Not agaaain. I swear I reek of chlorine even though we took like a dozen showers today.”

Haruka flops down beside him and pops his soda open. He swallows a You smell of your fancy toilet water along with the gulp of the icy liquid, for a moment feeling blissful. Until the acid sweetness assaults his receptors all at once. Choking, he puts the poisonous drink down.

The humming of the fan almost drowns out Rin’s quiet chuckle Told ya so but not the cicadas going mad in the tiny park between the apartment blocks. Somehow, the relentless chirping sound makes the heat even thicker.

“Want water instead?” Haru offers.

“Nah. Too much water. Water everywhere. Even the air is water,” Rin complains, rolling his can up his cheek and pressing it to his forehead.

His eyelids flutter shut as a streak of the sun that is beginning to descend on the west crawls slowly up his nose, illuminating the normally unnoticeable freckles. Rin scrunches up his nose and shifts a bit away from it, a bit closer to Haru. The skin on his chest is glittering with the tiniest beads of sweat, goosebumps popping up every now and then as the fan sends a thick wave of air their way. His small nipples harden underneath the chilly caress, dark-pink against his pale skin. His shoulders are broader now, his pecs even more prominent.

Haruka stirs to stretch his legs out. There is a buzzing strain in his body but not the kind he could stretch away; not even from swimming. He should have made plans, come up with something to spend their first day off. He really didn’t have time, though. It was a spur of the moment exchange in Asahi sister’s cafe: “Want to sleep over tomorrow?"—"Sure” when they finished their celebration dinner with the rest of the gang and were about to part.

Haruka just felt a sudden urge. The dinner wasn’t enough. Their long car drive for the high school Nationals and back hadn’t been enough either. There was still a lot they had to catch up on. To talk about. To do. Haruka didn’t know what, though. And that was exactly the problem. He had Rin all to himself for another 24 hours, and he didn’t know what to make from it.

Rin hasn’t been helpful either, so uncharacteristically lacking plans and urgent things to do and new sights to show him, seemingly content with just spending an ordinary day together as if they were going to hang out like this regularly, as if they did it countless times.

They did, but in Iwatobi; in their high school days, before they left on their own journeys, before they changed—once again—apart from each other.

Haruka leans back. The wood presses hard into his elbows. He sinks down until he’s lying flat on his back beside Rin. Takes a long breath, wishing the strain away. Closes his eyes. Rin’s perfume, unfamiliar yet similar to his usual kind of breezy and a bit spicy, carried over on the musky scent of his body—not too strong, totally familiar—transports him to the Sydney beach. Foaming waves and salty wind and seagulls squawking. Sparkling blue infinity. Haruka wonders if it’s him who is reeking of chlorine instead, but he can’t smell himself this close to Rin. Rin who is the same Rin from elementary school and at the same time not. He has changed, indeed, and at the same time he hasn’t. He is too much and too not enough. It doesn’t make sense; Rin doesn’t make sense.

Except he does, somehow. Maybe enough for Haru to give him that something he has been keeping in his closet since last autumn.

Or maybe not. He has the rest of the day to figure that out.

…This morning, Rin rang his doorbell with the first licks of dawn on the rooftops across the street, in that annoying impatient way of his that once shook Haru from his nightmare and sent flying to the other side of the ocean. Haruka, a night owl he was, complained all the way to the pool as Rin literally dragged him through the chilly morning shadows, his grip strengthened by unshakable resolve. “We are racing now! I’ll show you those milliseconds were just a fluke!”

“You’re taking advantage,” Haru mumbled, his tongue still numb from sleep. “’m not even awake.”

“You’re not fooling anyone here, I know you only need to touch the water to grow a tail!”

“No I don’t. It was just a weird dream of yours.”

Rin stumbled a bit. “You’re really out of it in the morning,” he muttered, his cheeks red. “I meant figuratively.”

…Of course, Rin was right about him touching the water, though figuratively. And of course Haruka won all of their races, even if Rin insisted they tied in one of them and another one didn’t even count, since Haru suddenly started to laugh on the starting block at the way Rin routinely snapped his goggles strap, to fucking laugh like a weirdo, according to Rin, and thus treacherously ruined his focus before the dive.

Haru was just amused that some things never changed. He felt giddy and lightheaded and a little bit childish having Rin by his side, finally having Rin by his side again.

They were completely spent by noon, and had to make it home in the midst of the deadliest heat after finishing their katsu curry in the sports complex diner (it never had mackerel on the menu.) There was nothing interesting in Haruka’s neighborhood to drop by. Maybe they should have taken a ride somewhere. But Haruka had never been good at these things, like coming up with the ideas of where to go and how to spend time with someone, and Rin’s focus was still on swimming, national team, can you fucking believe we made it??, world championships, medals. Maybe cooking, too. He wouldn’t shut up about proving his skills and his recipes superiority to Haru as soon as they had a chance.

Well. That is at least something.

Haruka cracks an eye open. “Let’s go to the supermarket to fetch something for dinner.”

…Because there is an echoing void in his fridge: Haruka hasn’t been home enough recently to keep something edible there.

The idea doesn’t seem to bring Rin back to his usual energetic self, though. He just says absentmindedly, “Yeah, whatever, I need some AC right now or I’ll melt down and ruin your floor.”

This is when Haruka’s phone buzzes and bursts into a loud rendition of the default ringtone, startling them both.

“Huh? So that thing of yours can actually ring?” Rin arches an eyebrow curiously, propped on his elbows.

Haruka tsks at him—he did pick up Rin’s rare calls, except for the weeks in the training camp after racing Albert, which Rin was still salty about—and crosses the room to fish the phone from the bottom of his bag. The number is unknown. Probably a spam call, but there is a chance someone from the National team wants to contact him about the upcoming training, so he answers it.

“Hi! It’s Albert.“

"Eh?” Of course, Haruka recognizes him immediately, but the idea of hearing the Swedish swimmer on his phone seems rather surreal. “Oh. Hello,” he answers awkwardly in English.

Rin shoots him a bewildered glance and rolls over to sit up.

“Some guy from your team gave me your number. Congrats on your win yesterday! It was amazing. Even through the screen, I could feel how free you were in that race.”

Haru frowns at himself; he has been sure he made quite a progress in English but as always, a real conversation with a real human proves him wrong. It takes him a moment before the meaning sinks in.

“Ah. Thank you.”

Haruka feels a pleasant tingling spreading all over his skin. It’s not like him to get flustered at someone praising him, but Albert has been on his mind ever since they raced. A blinding light of the global level. A goal to reach. A wall to overcome. A shy guy who had trouble dealing with Japanese specifics on every corner but learned in no time.

Just as he had learned how to swim, probably. A powerful, untamed freestyle.

Albert continues, in his casual fluent manner but a bit faster than Haru heard him speak before, “I somehow managed to escape from my coach and ditched Ralph at some traditional Japanese spa, since I’m not really into hot water. How do you not get lost in this city? I wondered if you could show me around and we could have some amazing Japanese mackerel again.”

Haru catches some words, like spa and city and japanese and mackerel, but Albert sounds hasty, as if he's a bit nervous, and Haru’s brain fails to quickly connect the words together. It’s strange. He didn’t struggle to understand Albert before. Maybe because they were doing something those times, actions backing up the words. Or maybe because in the corner of his vision, Rin keeps staring at him questioningly which is kinda distracting.

Oh. Rin.

Exerting an effort to pronounce the words as good as he can, Haruka asks, "Sorry… can you repeat?”

Albert agrees with the same easy kindness that never leaves his voice just like his smile permanently hides in his eyes, “Sure. So, I was saying…”

Haru quickly turns on the speaker mode so that Rin can hear, and sends him an expectant look. Rin frowns at first, confused, and when Haruka mouths Albert Wahlander his eyes go round. By the end of Albert’s talk, his face smoothens quickly back to normal. Bored even.

“So, basically, he’s inviting you on a date.”

“Eh…? Seriously, Rin.”

“Whatever, just say ok”, Rin sighs, clearly pissed.

“But we—”

“Didn’t have plans anyway.” And he adds in a heated whisper, “Oh come on, it’s the fastest guy in the freaking world, Haru.”

Haruka catches a fiery glint in Rin’s eyes before the latter averts his gaze.

Better than a supermarket, he concludes.

“Uhm, ok,” Haruka utters in full voice. And squints at Rin, who has found a sudden resolve to open the dangerous can and is dramatically pouring the fizzing liquid into his throat. “Do you mindo ifu I take a… furendo with me?” he adds.

“Sure, I’m fine with it! Does he love mackerel, too?”

Tbc. The next part will be from Rin's POV. Poor baby.

#free!#free! fanfiction #rinharu #harurin #rin matsuoka #haruka nanase #albert volandel

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