#really funny in hindsight but I didn't know okay. it was just haha it's been so long since I did ink like this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gothicbarbie · 1 year

Text

MY TOP 15 BL SERIES OF 2021

I did one of these for 2022, so figured I should do one for 2021, 2020 and then one for the shows before that. I started watching Bls seriously at the start of 2021, and its been such a fun journey. These lists are probably more so for me than anything else but maybe someone will find them helpful when trying to decide which ones to check out... let me know what your favs are!

1. We Best Love [Taiwan] - To date, my favorite BL series thus far. IMO it really has everything. Great premise and storyline, great acting and dialogue, and amazing chemistry between the main two, plus decent enough intimate scenes and kisses. It really ticks all the boxes for me. Plus, I love a good rivals to lovers storyline and samyu are pretty darn sweet.

2. Utsukushii Kare [Japan] - This one is a bit messy and there are definitely some problematic elements, but gosh, it's so entertaining. From start to finish I was hooked into the storyline and the relationship betwene the main two. And I think it was a well-rounded story with a good ending, so it left me pretty satisfied. For a Japan series too, it had a nice kising scene in the finale.

3. Light on Me [Korea] - Adore this series, and finally we get a longer Korean BL. The main characters were adorable, and the show was light enough and funny but had some good drama as well. Not the best kissing scenes ever but the main two's chemistry made up for it imo. Very sweet series.

4. To My Star [Korea] - This one took a few watches to grow on me but in hindsight its one of the better BL's out there (lets not talk about season 2)... the storyline was fun and it was one of the first Korean BL's that I watched, so it was a good one to start on! Korea goes unmatched for me with their BL's.

5. Kieta Hatsukoi [Japan] - Not a lot to say about this one tbh, I would have to rewatch to really give some better insight but I remember really enjoying this one. Japan BL's can tend to be a bit dramatic and sometimes a bit dark, but this one was so light and fluffy. It was a nice change of pace.

6. Don't Say No [Thai] - Okay, storyline wise, this BL kind of dragged for me. I didn't find the premise overly interesting. HOWEVER, Jafirst and their chemistry really made up for it. It's obvious how comfortable they are and their kissing scenes were one of the best scenes from this year. (We won't bring up THAT scene with FIAT in episode 2 (or was it 1?) because I lost my brain there.) But yeah, we'll just say this series was very enjoyable haha.

7. HiStory 4 [Taiwan] - This was a solid season. Not the best the series has ever done but I love that each season is different. The brothers storyline was a hot frickin mess but the main pairing was cute. Overall, I just found it very enjoyable.

8. Peach of Time [Korean] - Is this Korean or Thai? Not really sure, but it was a cute season that felt like a bit of both worlds. Not the most amazing chemstry or storyline of all time but it was sweet and interesting to watch. It had a certain charm to it.

9. You Make Me Dance [Korean] - It's hard to find a korean bl I dislike. And while this one is not that memorable compared to some others, it was still a nice watch.

10. Tale of a Thousand Stars [Thai] - People go crazy for earth+mix... they aren't really my cup of tea. Nothing against them, they are sweet, I just dont go crazy for them. The setting wasn't really my thing either but I did like the energy between the characters and all their cute moments and scenes, so it kept me entertained. Wished they had a better last kiss though.

11. Lovely Writer [Thai] - Found parts of this boring and the storyline didn't really hold my interest all that much but I did enjoy the scenes between the couples. I wish the side "pairing" had gotten more focus cuz that kiss on the street was great! But it was nice.

12. I Promised You the Moon/I Told Sunset About You part 2 [Thai] - Part 2 was nothing compared to season 1 at all. Season 1 imo was masterpeice and season 2 was just like a typical bl series imo. I hate cheating storylines so this series made me pretty mad haha but it wasn't UNWATCHABLE and I still liked the chemistry between the main 2.

13. Nobleman Ryu's Wedding [Korean] - The time setting wasn't really for me, but it was a cute and fun series. Not much else to say!

14. Fish Upon the Sky [Thai] - TBH I don't remember a WHOLE lot from this series and am planning to rewatch for pondphuwin, but I do remember enjoying it.

15. The Tasty Florida [Korean] - Again, can't go wrong with SK for me. But, compared to the other Korean series, this one wasn't AS good. Still enjoyable.

Honorable mentions: (Won't go into detail on these, but overall I found all of them nice and pleasant to watch, but they didn't grab me in the same way as some other series.

BxJ Series - (still have yet to see it but I did enjoy season 1), Bad Buddy - (watched a reactor watch this so technically couldn't add it to my list, but will try to watch it eventually), Be Loved in House I Do, Tinted With You, My Sweet Dear, The Man Who Defies the World of BL, The Novelist, Behind Cut, Stuck on You

Also check out my lists from other years! https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705678223200174080/my-top-bls-of-2019-and-earlier https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705674738528354304/my-top-15-bls-of-2020 https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705139242020618240/my-top-20-bl-series-of-2022

27 notes · View notes

steamishot · 5 months

Text

funky

although there have been a lot of good moments this past month, i overall was in a funk. in hindsight, i was really disappointed with how the job search was going and a lot of my expectations going out the window. our plan of moving back in winter (aka now) looks more like summer of next year or later. i was in LA for three weeks and matt and i were semi-long distance. i felt really sad that after all these years of hard work, we were where we started: me in my parents house, him in a tiny apartment in NYC, and the future uncertain. i felt like we had nothing to show for all the years of sacrifice and it is embarrassing. also, being at home feels different recently. like there is some silent disappointment that we haven't moved back home yet and it keeps getting delayed (could be me projecting).

my ginger/headspace app from kaiser finally reactivated during a good time. i had a couple texting sessions with life coaches which were helpful. the main takeaway from this is that i became so tunnel-visioned on something that is essentially out of my control, and basically forgot to nurture all the things that are in my control. i felt like i had job search depression by extension. reading about how others were struggling to find a good job (and remembering that my own brother was unemployed for 8 months) helped me feel less alone. i am planning on doing therapy starting december since it is covered by kaiser when i'm in CA.

finally, i cried at least 6+ times in the last two weeks instead of holding it all in. i usually only cry a couple of times a year max. it felt very releasing, and i reminded myself it's okay to not be okay.

positive things

my cousin stephanie came to visit from TX and she slept over at my parent's house for 3 nights. it was so nice to get to know her a little bit more. i never felt close to her because she grew up a lot more americanized and i am naturally closed off, but there's also many commonalities by just being related. she and matt connected because they're both in healthcare. she joined us for hot yoga one day and was quite good

one of the days, my niece had a 102 fever. luckily, there were two healthcare professionals in the room. i went along with matt (MD) and stephanie (PA) to CVS to pick up an ear thermometer since we didn't have one at home

attended S&A's wedding. it was an intimate setting and the bride was gorgeous ;) got to finally meet the groom A and see J&O again after 3+ years. we really liked the succulents and food.

had a craft's day with G at her parent's house in east LA while watching twin flames and no hard feelings. we made felt ornaments that i later gave to my niece

went on a hike and ate dinner with matt's family at ho kee cafe.

got hai di lao and matcha with stephanie at westfiled santa anita. i gifted her my old coffee grinder, but my clumsy self broke the glass container at the last minute :/

had dinner at my aunt's house for veterans day. i got to see my baby cousin E who is taller now! i picked up cousin B from color guard practice. it was inspiring to see how hard these teenagers were working

as part of the long distance lifestyle, matt and i met up in norcal to celebrate his birthday. we stayed at alila ventana big sur and carmel valley ranch. alila, though beautiful, was TOO indulgent for me lol. due to it being all inclusive, we basically planned our days around eating at the same restaurant and i just felt meh and stuck. i much preferred our carmel valley ranch stay, where we were more active and got to explore the town

funny side note, we took a class called balance and fit at CVR and it turns out everyone in the class was at least 80 years old. the instructor was nice enough not to treat us differently haha

did a corepower sculpt class in redwood city before flying a red eye back to NYC

matt has an interview with USC next week. a few other places have responded: kaiser, UCLA, memorialcare and cedars. fingers crossed (but keeping expectations low)

i started watching abbott elementary and really enjoyed it. recently enjoyed the movie a million miles away. i also started playing chess on chess.com. this is me learning how to nurture other parts in my life i've been neglecting. i am literally learning resilience by playing chess. i have a tendency of not wanting to lose/fail, and rather give up than learning how to do better. but, here i am losing and continuing to try lol

thanksgiving: matt is on a hard rotation and it is his birthday on thanksgiving day. R&T mentioned hanging out but we haven't finalized plans yet. i have plans with T to watch marvels on friday.

black friday wishlist: manduka yoga mats, yogitoes yoga towels, breville bambino plus espresso machine to keep at my parent's house, fellow opus grinder (already purchased) and maybe a new kindle cover

note: life is much more enjoyable when i don't try and control everything. appreciate the here and now, because i might miss it once it's gone. having such rigid expectations will always leave me feeling disappointed. enjoy the journey as it is 70-80% of the process.

0 notes

b4kuch1n · 3 years

Photo

toy doctor

ink under the cut bc it’s been over a year since I last used this brush and I’m proud of how it came out lol

#pokemon #swsh #champion leon #More Wizard Leon Babey !#when I said I will never stop I fuckign mean it. I mean every word #if there is an upper limit to what design can be considered 'wizard' I will find it. and I will kill it #anyways: plague doctor too #I drew this as a way to uh. wind down. after finishing the first file of wassenveld #really funny in hindsight but I didn't know okay. it was just haha it's been so long since I did ink like this #and then. flowers too. just to really get the message across #to. myself.#I think the one thing I keep consistent between wizard designs is the pointy hat #(except for spirou's street wizard design)#but I also love the common plague doctor hat #so when I thought of putting the mask on top I was like hey that sounds stupid as fuck. but I'm willing to try #and you know what. I like how it turned out. it's great. a win for baku #also messed around with colors a Lot for this one #I think I definitely have a better grasp of colors than I did a year ago #that's good! that's tangible improvement #okay I bet this looks like shit on mobile but a win is a win #a win is valid across platforms even if the colors arent #I'll take what I can #alright. I will probably go out and get stuff or something now #or take a nap I do need a nap #have a good day!! your memories are your own even if someone partakes in making them

616 notes · View notes

cosmictulips · 2 years

Note

1 and 19 for the polytheist asks :D

1. Were you born into your faith? If not, how did you discover it?

I was born into a heavy catholic family but was raised southern baptist.

just let that sink in lmao.

My struggle began with literally not understanding the bible lmaooo. I was so interested in the book of... revelations I think it's called that I didn't care for the rest haha.

but as I got older and started doing something called Christian Science, I just got more interested in other religions. to be fair, I never felt good at a church. I never felt like I could connect to God. and I always wondered how Priests would connect to god.

I remember something so fucking stupid that got me on the path to wicca haha. my friend was talking to me in art class and i had drawn like.. the four elements and she was like, oh so you're wiccan and I was like ??? what?

so I started googling it a bit and I found wicca. from there I learned about native american shamanism and for awhile I was like, yea I guess I'm wiccan.

but stranger shit started occuring like seeing spirits and having some funky ass dreams and i was like, wicca isn't answering everything. so I started this witchblog. wasn't good for much of anything it was just holding all the information I was interested in.

I have an older sister who is into chakras and that stuff and by this time I was becoming aware of what closed practices were, how the west ... uses those practices and so I wanted something that was very... cut and dry so to speak. which, I know now I would have to figure out on my own lmao.

but essentially, she ended up giving me my first tarot deck. and I hated tarot. and I was like, okay so I'm not a diviner but perhaps I could write to some sort of god.

so someone... Noonymoon or something, she was giving out these deity readings. and this was backkkk in the og days of witchblr haha. and I was like, I do want to worship a god. but, given my connection to nature I didn't want to be monotheistic. it never and still doesn't seem right to me that one powerful being...rules everything.

and that's when I discovered which gods wanted to work with me. I purposely stuck to Greek because I know their myths well and i love their culture and history.

in hindsight I probably should've chosen celtic LOL. but, it's fine. from there, I just started working out my kinks. like I found a tarot deck I really connected with. I found pendulums I like, and I suddenly didn't feel in pressure -and this is where we cut to the second question-

but yea, I discovered it through some people essentially. through my grandmother mentioning shamanism, my sister telling me to go into anthropology, my old friends telling me about wicca, my older sister who despises but gave me my first pendulum and tarot deck.

and then from old witchblrs who got me thinking haha.

19. How have your Gods affected your life?

well, that's also a funny story.

I asked aphrodite to send me the love of my life. she sent me two men. one didn't care enough and left within a few months. the other used me for two years to cheat on his wife.

and then every man who has sense come in has not been good enough for me. and I wouldn't even have to say it, they did . each and every one of them has told me that I'm above their league. that I'm too good for them and they want me to find me someone in my level.

I asked athena for guidance with school and I would proceed to flunk every fucking semester until I forced myself into a major that is risky but I know I would excel in.

since then I have found so many like minded peers. I don't feel so strange in what I'm doing, and I have basically gotten over my social anxiety.

I ask Hermes ... well. I don't ask hermes, I just ask him to get me to where I need to be safely, and along the way he sends me so many dogs! so many fucking dogs. I love them. I have to scream hermes every time.

I ask Eirene and Soteria to feel safe and at peace with my own body and I feel good about who I am. I ask Enyo and Ares to help me get over my anger issues and not only have I learned to control my anger for the most part but I'm not longer ashamed that I have it. I am proud to be aggressive when I have to be. I am proud to be the protector of my friend group and of what little family I call...family.

they have taught my what it is exactly that I've been feeling for so long. and they taught me to honor my rage but to also let it go.

and I guess in a way, they have all taught me many things. Aphrodite taught me to trust my intutiion and to demand more out of romance. Athena taught me to stop settling for things that don't sit right with me. Artemis has taught me to get out more. to enjoy the nature around me and to just... breathe to put it simply.

Then there's zeus.

he is my father figure to say the least. he... is still very intimidating to me lol and I try to make him proud. he wants me to be sure of who I am before I approach him. and it's funny cause right now I am sure of who I am. I am ALWAYS sure of what makes me me.

but then we talk. and he asks me who I am. he tells me not to be so hard on myself and is there to comfort me when shit gets rough. and suddenly it's like i don't know who I am.

and I think he's the reason why I've been getting into therapy. I've found some great exercises on youtube when it comes to that stuff because I can't afford a therapist right now.

he's made me grounded.

also quick shoutout to apollo for showing me so much classical music. my GODS i love the french horn haha

but yea. for better and for worse the gods are there helping me. and I try to honor them everyday.

#this is long af an im sorry haha

8 notes · View notes

that-is-where-they-wait · 4 years

Text

That is Where They Wait Ch 14: The Letter

previous / next all chapters AO3 FFN

[so funny story I actually posted this on FFN and ao3 forever ago but not here. oops. but posting here is a hassle, in my defense. hope everyone is doing okay? also check the notes for some Haha Funny Jokes because I don't want to add them to the. actual post.]

Perhaps the way to answer the present is with the past.

The metal of the hinge was cool under his finger, intricate design branching onto the actual door. It should've been smooth, but instead it was rough and red.

Rust.

Kai frowned. Rusty metal was usually brittle — but the door hadn't come down, even when he and Karlof rammed into it repeatedly. That plan of ripping at its hinges and hoping it came down was starting to look flimsy.

Ech. Well, they had to keep trying and hope for the best. It wasn't like they could stay in the small, dark room much longer. Kai had cobbled together a makeshift flame with pieces of rope and cloth from his gi, but it would definitely not last much longer.

Plus, he was getting really antsy, and it'd be just plain stupid to be so isolated when they weren't safe. When he'd asked about Lloyd and found out he was, in fact, both inside the mansion and unaccounted for, he had been about ready to knock Karlof's helmet off of his head.

… In hindsight, maybe he'd been a little forceful.

But hey, in return, he'd informed Karlof about everything they knew on the mansion and the spirit so far. So he didn't feel too bad about it.

"Psst." He went over to where he'd left Karlof and poked. "We gotta go."

No response.

Ohhhh, perfect. The guy had to go and fall asleep on him. They'd already spent so much time staying put! He was itching to get moving again, and Lloyd and Skylor were still out there, who knew where! Not to mention, if the others woke up and noticed him missing … (It occurred to him, a little belatedly, that they might blame Jay for that. Another twinge of guilt. But he could apologize for that when they went back.)

But it had been an exhausting trek just to get here. Karlof had endured that, and no sleep to recharge afterwards …

Kai sighed, seating himself next to him. Yeah, they weren't going anywhere until Karlof finished his beauty sleep. But then there came the issue of having nothing to distract himself with. Already he could just feel himself tiredly debating whether to indulge the pessimistic trains of thought forming in his head in all their bleak glory.

Abruptly, something slammed against him. Okay, so it didn't slam into him, but it definitely felt that way, because oof! It was heavy. Kai squirmed briefly, but a moment later, he realized he shouldn't even bother. Instead, he hissed an irritated puff of air through his teeth and tried to pull an overly-cuddly Karlof off of him. Why in the name of the First Spinjitzu Master was he—

An exposed part of his bandaged arm made contact with Karlof's for a second, before Kai drew it away and grimaced at how cold it was.

… Oh.

The way Karlof's arm was draped on him, Kai couldn't reach his face with his hand. He settled for a drawn-out groan instead. Just because he was the human toaster … and now he couldn't move!

Oh well. If nothing else, he could totally hold it over Karlof's head later. Blackmail material or something. But what was he supposed to do now?

A bleary yawn escaped his mouth.

There was one idea.

Nope, he thought to himself immediately. No way, José, someone had to stay awake, and he'd already bailed out on that once. But the door was locked, and the whole day and the effects of staying up so long were finally catching up to him …

Kai tried to debate the point a little longer, but as it turned out, he was pretty tired. Too tired to properly argue with himself, and before he could, he'd already fallen asleep.

The tiny flame winked out and left the room engulfed in black.

Lloyd wrapped up a summary of the search he'd just gotten back from.

Considering that depressingly little had changed since the last time they'd looked, it didn't take very long. The ever-encroaching cocktail of panic and despair clawed at his guts and his chest, made his throat tight, and he could feel it radiating off of Jay and Cole near him, optimistic as they tried to remain. At least Skylor had gotten some work in on fixing her bow while they'd been gone, although she hopefully wouldn't be needing it anytime soon.

The light trickling from the windows had become thin, silvery moonlight and long, fragmented shadows streaking across the floor and cutting into each other. Cole glanced at everyone in the room and declared that it was probably about time they slept; both searches had taken quite a while, even with how much of the mansion was still closed off to them. It didn't seem likely that much more would happen that day.

Zane took in everything they said solemnly, then pulled something out from beside him.

"It's disheartening to know that the two of them are still missing. But perhaps I can offer something else to think about before we rest for tonight?"

On closer inspection, it appeared to be a faded eggplant-colored satchel.

"I found this on the mantle while you were investigating in the tunnels. I didn't want to look through it without you …"

"Can I?" Lloyd reached out, opening the bag and peering into it for a moment. Then, as the rest of them watched, he stuck his hand in and, one by one, set its contents onto the floor for better examination.

On the carpet, there currently sat a small black inkwell, a quill stand, a bound book, a faded set of folded purple clothes, an assortment of large and small weapons, and a few loose pieces of parchment with writing on them. Maybe it all belonged to the person that owned the place, ages ago?

Evidently, they were all wondering a similar thing.

Lloyd set aside the empty bag and stared at the various items he'd placed down. "Hm. They were carrying weapons …"

"Whose stuff is all this?" Skylor finally voiced the question.

"It likely dates back to the Serpentine war," Zane said. "The antiquity of all the items would fit."

"Well, then, we should find out, shouldn't we?" Jay grabbed the book, slowly teasing open the binding and riffling through the pages. Lloyd caught a glimpse of inky letters over paper lightly yellowed with time; all things considered, it was pretty well-preserved.

"Careful, Jay, that looks heavy. Wouldn't wanna pull a muscle lifting that thing." Cole's mouth twitched up in a smirk, Jay briefly peering over the book with narrow eyes.

"… I mishandle an empty packing crate one time."

"Yeah, well," Lloyd huffed. "You nearly dropped it right on my foot. I still get splinters from that crate when I'm not watching my step."

"Thanks, Lloyd!" Jay looked supremely offended. "I didn't ask!" Still a little sullen from the disappointing results of the day, Lloyd didn't bother sassing him back. He scoffed when he noticed Jay looking helplessly at Zane — they all knew full well that never worked, so when the nindroid minutely shook his head there was hardly any surprise.

"Silly zaptrap," Cole shook his head and tsked. "Once is all it takes on this team. You of all people should know better."

Jay hmphed and nearly went back to skimming the book he'd picked up, but his head popped up curiously when Skylor spoke.

"Isn't it kind of late? If we're going to look at anything, maybe we should read one of the loose sheets instead. I feel like trying to get into something that long when we need to sleep isn't the best idea. I want to stay in-the-know, but I'm not sure how much longer I can pay attention to anything right now …" She shrugged, looking a little self-conscious. "Sorry."

Oh, right. It was usually Lloyd's job to be one of the voices of reason.

Looking around, he was certain that last sentence didn't pertain to just Skylor, though. The banter was being tossed rather lazily and there was a sluggishness to everyone's movements, even Zane's. As for himself, the temptation to just plonk onto the next piece of bedding he picked up while cleaning up the aftermath of the pillow-and-assorted-accessories fight and sleep on it right there had been overwhelming.

"It's quite alright," Zane reassured her. "You have a point, at that. Perhaps something like this would suffice for tonight?" He held up a messily rolled piece of paper, and pulled it open. Lloyd eyed it and nodded; seemed interesting enough. Most likely, they could learn a thing or two, discuss, and then go to bed without too much further ado.

"Looks good to me," Cole said. "Let's see about this person, then."

Zane's eyes fell to the paper for a few seconds before freezing, glowing ever so faintly brighter, and doing a funny skip between Lloyd and the paper before settling back on the paper. Lloyd frowned, unsure he liked the new furrow in Zane's brow.

"What is it, buddy?"

Zane coughed awkwardly. Amazing how even nindroids did that when they were nervous.

"This appears to be a letter addressed to Garmadon."

Lloyd's eyes widened, breath hitching. Abruptly his heart felt less like it was beating and more like it was trying to break itself out of his chest.

Dad.

It had been, safe to say, a little while since he'd thought about his father. The same father he'd gone through hell and back to finally have by his side, only to banish and then drown for good.

He'd kept himself good and busy, helping the team move base to the abandoned Temple of Airjitzu. Warded off the lingering pain from remembering, during the Day of the Departed, pretty well with dusting and heavy lifting and organizing what needed to be packed.

Lloyd had always done his best to draw strength from his father's memory. Like he'd told his mother during Day of the Departed: "Sometimes it feels like he's still with me."

It sure didn't feel like he was with Lloyd now.

"Lloyd?"

He blinked.

"Lloyd, you good?"

He looked over. Cole and the others were all watching him with concern, trying to gauge his reaction.

Quietly, he took a deep breath. He was supposed to have gotten past this. It wasn't supposed to still sting so much when he'd moved onto something healthier, more bittersweet than the more raw, consuming pain he'd known for a while.

Maybe the mansion's atmosphere was digging deeper than he'd thought, ripping open old wounds on top of slashing new ones.

"Yeah." Then, to ensure they couldn't press him about it, "Are you sure, Zane? Lemme see." Zane obliged, handing him the letter. Lloyd took it and held it up to the firelight, careful not to wrinkle the aged parchment, and skimmed it silently, feeling everyone's eyes still on him.

Having caught his reaction to Garmadon's name, they were probably a little surprised when he chuckled.

"What is it?" Skylor tilted her head. "What did they say?"

"It's just the first paragraph. Listen to this!" Clearing his throat, all too glad to focus on the letter, he read it, the ninja going from attentive listening to confused snickering as he did.

"My dearest friend, Garmadon, it seems fitting to start with the most important subject here—thanks a lot for letting me blunder into that whole mess, you absolute withered honeysuckle. I was delayed two whole days trying to firstly explain how I accidentally deposed a chieftess, and then restore some semblance of normalcy to the village. I don't," Lloyd had to catch his breath, barely managing to stop snickering long enough to finish the sentence, "I don't even know why we're still friends." "What in the world is this talking about?" Cole wheezed.

"Absolute withered honeysuckle," Jay mimicked, cracking up himself.

"Well. They were friends, we've learned that much," Skylor stated, desperately trying to regain a straight face.

"Absolute chums, from the sound of it. Just the best of buddies. Like you and me, huh, Cole?"

"If this whole 'accidentally deposed a chieftess' stuff is anything to go by," Cole said, still laughing, "they were even better."

"I wonder what they got up to if this was forty years ago." Zane set about tidying up the remaining letters and the bound book earlier held by Jay, probably figuring he might as well get it over with while they were all distracted. "Or who this was, to be so evidently close to Garmadon."

"Uh, am I the only one wondering what a honeysuckle is?"

Metaphorical crickets, much to Jay's chagrin.

"Just me? Okay."

A sigh. "They're flowers, Jay."

As the room got quiet enough to hear the crackling fireplace again, Lloyd went back to skimming the letter. The little smile that had lingered on his face fell flat again as he took in the words.

"What's the holdup?" Jay complained after a moment.

"Honestly, with the way this is written, if I read it verbatim you'd probably fall asleep," Lloyd muttered over the page. "Shut up and let me summarize."

"I … okay."

Lloyd squinted at the words. "This is an awful lot to take in. What's a … Shhh … Shuuuuravansha?"

"A what?" A confused chorus met his ears; evidently the rest of the room only knew about as much as he did.

"Maybe the word comes from the local language," Cole suggested. "I did hear a lot of the villagers speaking something I didn't recognize."

"Probably. Zane, you wouldn't happen to have that language in your databases or anything, would you?" Jay asked.

"I'm afraid not," Zane said apologetically. "What is the rest of the sentence, Lloyd? Perhaps the proper context will make it easier to guess."

"'I spoke with the Shuravansha and revised the contingency plans based on the information I got from them, as well as reports from you and our spies on the Serpentine's movement.' How do you even say that?"

"I guess the jury stays out on that one," Cole replied. "But I don't think that's a person. It says 'the Shuravansha'. I don't call Jay 'the Jay'; it'd be weird."

"So a group of some sort?" Jay suggested. "The word 'the' implies more than one."

"But it could be a title," Skylor pointed out. "Like 'the chief' or 'the sensei'."

"Either way, it reveals little about the nature of this Shuravansha," Zane said. "All that sentence gave us is that they had information about the Serpentine relevant to the author of this letter."

"Whatever it is, it's probably important," Lloyd muttered, rubbing his eyes and going back to the letter. "But maybe we'll find more clues about them later."

"Then we should remember it," Skylor muttered. "How do you spell that?"

He spelled it out and kept reading. The room went back to quiet anticipation, until Lloyd sputtered, squinted at something on the page, then looked up at them.

"What the heck, Cole?"

"Huh?" All eyes were now on a flabbergasted Cole. "Wh-what'd I do?!"

"I, it's not you, it's just — since when was the last master of earth a traitor?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, what?" Jay piped up. "That's kinda a heavy accusation to just bandy around!"

"What is this coming from, Lloyd?" Zane asked.

"It literally says right there, 'Earth went traitor on us'! There's only one way to read that!"

Skylor was scribbling like mad.

"Wha—well, don't look at me!" Cole said. "I don't know anything about this!"

"Maybe that's not all there is to it." It was difficult to see Skylor's eyes behind the shades. "My father turned the Anacondrai and the other tribes against humans to start the whole war in the first place. Then he turned the elemental masters against themselves."

"Maybe that was the case here too. Is there anything else about the master of earth, Lloyd?" Zane spoke up.

"Full sentence is 'The Constrictai among them can burrow, and ever since Earth, the weasel, went traitor on us, we lost our best protection against that tactic.' So they're really still talking about the Serpentine."

"Hmm."

"Mmmaybe we should go back to the rest of the letter?" Jay said tentatively.

"I dunno. I kinda wanna hear about this." Cole curiously poked his head closer, wanting to get a look at the letter. Lloyd drew back and immediately felt bad when Cole regarded him a moment before scooting back, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

Right. It was late.

"I mean, there isn't anything else in the letter about them … just the one sentence."

"Fine. What's the rest of it say, then? We really don't have the rest of the night here."

He had a point. Lloyd was pretty ready to be done with the letter and get some rest, by now.

"Wait a sec," Jay said. "'Went traitor on us.' Who's 'us'?"

"Oh." Cole's eyes widened. "Oh my god, you actually have a point. Yeah, that sounds an awful lot like … they called him 'Earth', not his name."

"How do you know that's not his name? Maybe his mom had a weird taste in names."

"... I'm pretty sure that wasn't his name, Jay."

"The word 'us' does seem to suggest camaraderie," Zane mused. "Given that and their knowledge of elemental power, perhaps they were acquainted with the elemental masters, or worked alongside them in some manner."

"That makes sense," Lloyd agreed, not looking up from the paper he held. "Or maybe they even were a master!"

"There's nothing to confirm it yet …" Skylor pointed out. "I'll just write down that they probably knew about the elemental masters. I think that's a safe conclusion."

"Fair enough," Zane said. "I think we should hear the rest of the letter now, before it gets much later. Lloyd?"

"Okay, so. Basically, my dad sent this person, whoever they are, info about Serpentine movement in the area. There were more loose gangs causing trouble than anything, they were just harder to predict because they weren't associated with the Anacondrai commanders. But according to them, the Southern Woodlands were in too strategic a location to risk—"

"Southern Woodlands?" Jay interrupted.

"That's probably what this forest is called. The villagers called it that on our way here."

"Yeah, I think I remember hearing that from someone," Cole said.

"Anyway. Like I was saying." Lloyd coughed pointedly and continued. "The Woodlands were too risky to leave unprotected because the thick plant life would give the Serpentine a naturally-sheltered base to recover and hide in. And they didn't have a lot of time left because … wait." The loopy handwriting in thick black ink cut off abruptly near the middle of the page, the last sentence never to be finished. "It just cuts off mid-sentence."

"Why did I ever think I'd have an easy time of this." Skylor sounded disappointed. "There wouldn't happen to be a name or anything at the bottom, would there?"

Lloyd shook his head. Of course there wasn't; that'd be too easy for them, now, wouldn't it?

"So why didn't they have time, exactly?" Jay said.

"An abrupt end of that nature would suggest some kind of interruption, would it not?" Zane said. "They never had the chance to finish writing this letter."

"If this is from the same era as everything else we've been seeing, then there was a war on. I imagine that'd do it," Cole said.

"Okay, but there's no signs of a fight in this room," Jay pointed out.

"... Ah. That is. Also true."

If he were a little less tired, Lloyd would've chuckled at Cole being caught off-guard without even a witty defense.

"I wonder what they were expecting not to have a lot of time for …" Lloyd wondered. "There's no signs of a fight here, but it's super messy everywhere else, especially downstairs. Maybe something happened there."

"And maybe it's related to the spirit." Cole ran a hand through his thick, messy hair, eyes dark. "There's no way something like that came out of nowhere."

"Given what we know, it is still impossible to gauge exactly what took place in this mansion," Zane said. "It does seem likely that the Serpentine activity this person mentioned had something to do with it, though. The only way to know for sure would be to find more information"

"So we don't know that, either," Jay muttered. "Write that down as a solid 'maybe', I guess."

Skylor nodded. "Anything else I should put down?"

Lloyd shook his head, and Skylor gratefully flipped the notepad closed and set it aside. Her words had actually begun to slur together with tiredness, so even if there were, he wasn't about to put her through writing it.

"Well, if that's all, then." Cole yawned, again. "Let's call it a day. How long's it been?"

"My internal clock is completely frozen," Zane sighed. "And PIXAL says she can't start it up without any connection to the outside world. But according to my timer, it's been approximately 15 hours since Jay woke me and Cole up to inform us Kai was missing."

Yep. Definitely time to wind down.

The mood dipped briefly at the mention of Kai, but Cole determinedly moved on to the topic of keeping watch, and whether they should do it tonight.

Eventually they decided that it definitely needed to stay, but split it up into two equal shifts. Two of them weren't even options to be considered. Lloyd offered to take shift, but given that he'd gotten out of a tough scrape with the spirit earlier and gone on both search expeditions, everyone else refused to let him, arguing he needed the rest. That left just Cole and Jay, but Cole, having gone through the mansion both times, was tired too. Jay would have to keep watch first.

Then came sleeping arrangements, which also worked themselves out quickly enough. Zane, for whatever reason, stayed in a corner to recharge, Skylor was on one bed, and whoever wasn't on shift would be sharing a bed with Lloyd.

"Alright, Jay, don't do anything stupid this time," Cole ribbed Jay, who was shifting around burnt kindling and trying to keep the little bit of fire left alive.

Jay stuck his tongue out.

"You have sooo much faith in me. Come on, I've learned my lesson here."

"Your timer's working, right? Make sure to wake me in … four hours?"

"Four and a half," Jay corrected him. "And yeah, I will."

"Cool. Night." And with that, Cole left him to his current task: striking a match onto a pile of kindling and hoping for a fire big enough to last.

Soon enough, everyone had bid each other goodnight and settled down.

Lloyd pulled his blanket a little closer to himself, still feeling a residual chill seep into his bones. With nothing to keep preoccupied with, ugly thoughts about the mansion, the horrors of its obscure history, their current conditions, his own utter incompetence, the way he'd just let Karlof get lost, Kai came creeping in far too readily. He tried to push them away.

Not now. Couldn't think about all of those things now or he'd never rest. Even tired, falling asleep was a challenge with sore limbs and unceasing nerves scratching away at him and a bitter resentment towards it all beginning to sink into his bones.

Lloyd closed his eyes regardless, trying to empty his mind. He could faintly hear Jay's breathing under the familiar crackle of the flames that were only too reminiscent of their missing piece.

Shadows twisted and danced on the walls.

Exhaustion won out eventually.

#ninjago #ninjago fanfiction #lloyd garmadon #zane julien #kai smith #cole brookstone #jay walker #skylor chen #that is where they wait #I love spamming tags and hoping someone sees them #we also love posting without links and then editing them back in so tumblr lets this post show in tags

8 notes · View notes