#Route Yon

[itschoahyuna]

✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎧Waku Waku It's Love - 2002✩°｡⋆⸜ 🎧

🍓✧˖°.SooYoung...in Japan:3✧˖°.🍓

[sokkastyles]

Zutara Month Day 30: Time Loop

The night after Zuko takes them to Ember Island, Katara wakes up in the middle of the night, and decides to take a walk on the dock. While she is there, a spirit speaks to her from the water, a small, silvery fish with a long, serpentine tail, whispering in the moonlight.

The spirit tells her that it overheard her earlier, saying she didn't know whether she was strong or weak for not killing Yon Rah. It also heard quite a bit more of the conversation, and tells her that it has an offer for her.

"You are wondering whether that boy," it says, inclining its scaled head towards the beach house, and for just a moment she thinks it's talking about Zuko, until the spirit continues. "The current Avatar, you wonder whether he would forgive you if you had made a different choice."

The spirit offers Katara the chance to find out her true strength, and the truth of how Aang feels about her. The next day, she finds herself waking to an endless loop, repeating the day she and Zuko went after Yon Rah.

It ends when she realizes that Aang will judge her no matter what choice she makes. Even in the loops where she chooses forgiveness, or not to seek out the Southern Raiders at all, she feels herself diminished in Aang's eyes, somehow, even as she gives him what he wants.

It's worse when she makes herself kill, when she has to experience her own death, only to wake up again at the beginning as if it had never happened. She watches Zuko die for her, trying to save her. Every single time, she comes back to Aang's judgement, feeling no more certain about the strength of her own choices than she was the first time.

It's coming back on Appa without Zuko that makes her realize what it is she's truly meant to learn. She knows the route by now to his family's vacation home on Ember Island, even though he would never take her there in this timeline. She sits alone on the dock, and weeps. Below her, a silvery fish with a long tail watches her closely.

She wakes up, restored to her true timeline. She goes with the gaang to see a terrible play, and watches as Zuko dies again onstage.

The next morning, when the rest of them are having fun in the sun, she feels again that pang of absence, and knows now what it is that makes her strong. She goes back up to the house and asks him to come down to the beach with her.

[ghanjrho]

A:TLA; how it should have ended.

Recently, I've been on a deep dive into the A:tLA fandom, specifically the Zutara sphere. And that means I've found a lot of long-form meta on the show, it's ending, LoK, script final drafts, you name it. That's all gone in the brain blender, and here's what came out the other side.

Sozin's Comet honestly doesn't change that much; only two real differences.

The magic rock is gone. Instead, we get a flashback to Guru Pathik, and Aang realizes that he has to let go of his attachment to Katara.

The Maiko/Kataang victory laps in the last 5 minutes are gone. Mai and Zuko get a scene where they wish each other well, but acknowledge that they're over. Katara and Aang have a nice moment where they choose friendship. There's love there, but it's Philia, not Eros.

@burst-of-iridescent has a delightful essay series on Zutara, and the part that sticks in my head is that in the run-up to the finale, Aang and Katara are at their least unified. To wit:

In "The Southern Raiders" Aang is preachy, condescending, and more than a little hypocritical about Katara's plan to take vengeance for her mother. The episode ends with Katara explicitly rejecting Aang's belief that Yon Rha was forgiven.

In "The Ember Island Players" Aang is distraught at the idea that EIP!Katara's statements, namely that Aang is like her brother and she's attracted to Zuko, are true. When he questions Real!Katara about this, he responds to her statement that she's confused about her feelings by kissing her. The kiss is not returned. Again, no resolution is had.

Finally, in "Sozin's Comet Part 1" Katara is part of the chorus condemning Aang for refusing to even consider killing Ozai, no matter how many people are at stake. He runs off from the group, and from there disappears into the Spirit World to get Lion-Turtled. Yet again, no resolution, and the two don't reunite until the tea shop.

Now speaking of the Lion Turtles, I'm actually not opposed to them. Yes, they come out of nowhere to deliver an 11th Hour Superpower that handily spares Aang from having to actually make a choice he disagrees with, but at the end of the day it is a kid's show. Nickelodeon was never going to approve a script where Aang killed Ozai. Throw in a little bit of foreshadowing, and I'm good. It's worth noting here that the story of Avatar Wan was supposed to be covered in A:tLA, which would handily cover that requirement.

Now, for the post-canon. We'll start with Fire.

Zuko is NOT left alone in the Fire Nation. Similarly, Iroh does NOT fuck off back to Ba Sing Se.

Toph and Suki stick around. Suki in her canon role as commander of Zuko's Kyoshi Warrior bodyguard, while Toph and Mai use Toph's lie-detection and Mai's insider knowledge to purge threats to the new peace.

Toph eventually goes back to the Earth Kingdom to start a metalbending academy, but first she needs to make sure that her Sparky lives to be the grumpy old man he was born to be.

While Iroh is correct that for political and diplomatic reasons Zuko needs to be Fire Lord, he also bows to the reality that Zuko is plain and simply not ready to be the Fire Lord.

Zuko went from 4th in line to 1st in line basically overnight, and the 5-ish years he spent as Crown Prince were clearly not spent preparing him to succeed Ozai.

So a teenager with a fairly surface-level understanding of "how to monarch" has to self-Reconstruction the Fire Nation, while paying reparations, without having been militarily conquered.

This is how idealists get assassinated. New Plan!

Zuko is crowned Fire Lord. Iroh is his Prince Regent. It's very clear to all involved that Zuko is the one charting the course forward for the Fire Nation, while Iroh is there to convert intent to action, while teaching Zuko how it's done.

It doesn't hurt that Iroh is one of the Fire Nation's most successful military commanders, so the civil war route is a lot riskier for anyone to attempt.

Next, Sokka

Sokka honestly has a pretty good arc in the post-canon. Nothing I really feel the need to correct.

Eventually, Suki is able to hand off her duties in the Fire Nation to someone else and goes home to Kyoshi Island

It’s still home, but it isn’t the same. Or rather, she isn’t the same.

She never leaves the island behind, but it’s usually a stop on the journey from Wolf Cove to Republic City.

Then, Aang

Aang divides his time between Avatar duties and Last Airbender duties.

Avatar duties involve a lot of sitting in on meetings and reminding people that the ultimate goal is peace.

Last Airbender duties involve a lot of teaching Air Acolytes everything he remembers from his childhood. He gets lucky here, though.

The Airbender Genocide wasn't complete. More than a few Air Nomads escaped the Genocide, and hid themselves away. Some in small villages built in remote mountain valleys, others blended into Earth Kingdom settlements.

Plenty of quarter- or eighth-Air Nomad kids running around with airbending potential they never had the knowledge to develop. Think very early Book 1 Katara here.

The result is that a resurgent Air Nation is being formed, with a culture woven from the threads that survived through relics, the refugees, and Aang himself.

Airbenders are still rare, and it's over a decade before another airbender earns their mastery, but it's not his son and his grandkids when Korra comes around.

Finally, Katara

Katara spends a lot of time traveling. She spends time in the South Pole, helping to rebuild and learning Southern Style Waterbending from the released waterbenders. She also travels the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, doing what she can to solve problems.

There are a lot of problems to solve.

Her travels in the Fire Nation are particularly fruitful; word of the Last Agni Kai has spread, so she is known to be the one that the Fire Lord sacrificed himself for, and who healed his wound.

She and Zuko stay in contact, allowing themselves to have a slow-burn courtship.

After a couple of years she moves to Caldera City and starts getting down to seriously courting Zuko, preparing herself for Fire Ladydom.

The year before Iroh is set to retire as Regent, she and Zuko start thinking about the wedding.

There are a lot of potential traditions to uphold, even just between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation

This goes double for the daughter of the head chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe, and the Fire Lord himself.

They decide to have fun with it and do everything.

Aang presides over a private ceremony, family/close friends only, that is really just a mutual declaration of love and friendship.

Then come the Southern Water traditions. It's the full gamut, with ice-dodging, sacred hunts and more. In the end, Zuko is an honorary member of the Southern Water Tribe, and he and Katara are wed (again).

There's a diplomatic tour through the Earth Kingdom, stopping at Kyoshi, Gaoling, Omashu, Ba Sing Se, the Foggy Swamp the former Fire Colonies, and ending at the Northern Water Tribe. The language used artfully slides over whether the couple is newly married or about to be married, but overall it works well for the Fire Nation's reputation abroad.

The final act is in the Fire Nation. A full Royal Wedding, a grand affair of state, held at high noon on the day of the summer solstice. When all is said and done, Zuko and Katara now rule alone as Fire Lord and Fire Lady.

Alright, I have more, but I'm tired. Tune in next time for the Fire Nation (extended) Royal Family! featuring Steambabies (Found here)

[jackhkeynes]

A Hotel in Nadacow

excerpt in translation from the early chapters of masquira trevold Men of Jet and Diamond, published (originally in Welsh as Dynnon o Vuhuð a Diamont) by Hasinick Welshman Cadogan Torrior in 1890, shortly after he graduated from the University of Nadacow as a scholar of diplomacy.

Tandic y ðorof dy crevoscr descenn y scagl vars y pascman, Zoe se met afaç eð expatey pall'exedr gran dy davarn. As the evening crowds make their way to the restaurant, Zoe starts to meander through the hotel's grand atrium.

Y placcou fay survol dessur n'un emblemat de veðr entaccað jout jaint sur y paið ne mamour polið. The ceiling soars above, a mosaic of stained glass casting patterns on the polished marble floor.

Zoe parcour un porrujon adornað oc y jardin cloistað dessou surplombant, yon scey un stanc scaudr reflecçon tenant de lumner lougent de constellaçon faus inquillið ny fastig corvað. Zoe crosses an ornate mezzanine overlooking the indoor gardens below, where a shallow pond reflects the twinkling lights of false constellations embedded in the domed roof.

Posc y crasc d'un port defonct, Zoe egrey ortellent ny rout kieð deur y davarn. With the creak of a disused door, Zoe slips into the quiet streets outside the hotel.

L'aer es fresc, y fler portant d'un bris des y Bahassassin e d'uncos douç des y cociner jos camin dont i memour y stal passant oc jorn paravant. The air is cool, scented with a breeze from the Bahassassin and something sweet from the streetside cooks whose stalls she remembers passing earlier that day.

[jpitha]

The Dreams of Hyacinth 9

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Eastern narrows her eyes, “That sounds like a ship name. You’re an AI?”

Sunny nods “Yup! For a long time I was a Starjumper that ran the Parvati/OPA/Meíhuā route.” She looks away from them and then quickly meets their eyes again. “I can’t do that anymore, so I got a body and live on Hyacinth.”

Nick couldn’t help himself. “But, I thought Colonial AIs were banned from Sol?”

Sunny winks. “Well then, it’s a good thing I’m not here and we’re not talking right now. You aren’t even in The Basement… right.”

Nick is flustered at the embarrassment of realizing he asked a stupid question. “Right, right. Sorry.”

Sunny shrugs her shoulders. “No harm done. Every interaction is a learning experience, right? Right!” She claps her hands together once, quietly. “It’s so nice to meet you! I admit, it’s been a while since I’ve worked with BIs this closely, so please excuse any faux pas I make in our interactions, and I’ll do the same for you. Would you like something to drink? I think that’s appropriate to offer.” Sunny stops and looks at the three of them standing in the room. “Oh goodness me, you're all still standing! Please, sit!”

Nick, Eastern and Selkirk sit. The chairs do indeed look comfortable, but aren’t. “Nothing to drink for me thanks” Eastern and Selkirk nod their assent. 

Eastern can stand it no longer. “Sunny, I would like to ask a question, but I do not know if it’s… inappropriate.”

Sunny smiles warmly. “Oh, please ask. I will let you know, and you’ll be armed with knowledge for your next interaction!”

“How long have you been in a body now?”

Sunny muses. “Hmm. Firstly, I will tell you that question is a little insensitive. Most AIs don’t like the fact that they are much older than BIs cloud their interactions with them. Your gut was right, good work! Secondly, I’ve been in this body for about two months now.”

Selkirk’s eyes go wide. “That’s it?”

Sunny nods. “That’s it! I must say, everything seems so much… bigger in a body while I feel so much smaller. It’s taking some getting used to for sure.” Sunny glances down at her pad. “Oh! I almost forgot introductions. I already said you can call me Sunny, what are your names?”

“I’m Nicholas North - you can call me Nick, this is Eastern Standard and this is Selkirk Nemari.”

“I’m so pleased to meet you Nick, Eastern and Selkirk. Nick you looked like you had a question before I asked for introductions. What’s up?”

“What’s a BI?”

Sunny laughs. “Biological Intelligence. You call us AIs, we call you BIs.”

“Is it an insult?”

Sunny’s smile disappears for a moment. “Is AI?”

Nick has a moment where he feels like he's at the precipice of a canyon. In this instant, he looks at Sunny and her… well, sunny disposition is completely gone. The mask falls away and he realizes he’s talking with someone who can barely stand them. Nick's hair raises up. He realises he must be far more careful with Sunny than he first thought.

“Sometimes… yes, it is. More often than not though it’s just a term.”

The mask returns. “Just like us! Nicely done, Nick.” She claps her hands once, again. “Now, how can I help you?”

Eastern takes the lead. “Sunny, we’ve been asked, told really, to find someone - an AI. All we know is that her name is Yon, she’s the daughter of Jameson Winters here on Hyacinth, she might have been hired by Hyacinth to work for them and nobody can find her.”

“Wow, that sounds like a pickle to me! Please wait a moment.” And she collapses in her chair, her head hitting the table with a hollow thump.

Nick jumps up, “Sunny! Sunny are you all right?” He runs around to her side of the desk and she’s unmoving. “Shit, she’s not breathing, come on Sel, Eastern, help me get her up.”

Eastern doesn’t get up. “Nick, she’s an AI. She doesn’t need to breathe.”

Nick stands up, feeling foolish. He moves back around to his seat. “I wish she’d tell us if she was going to do something like that.

While they’re sitting, Nick’s cybernetic implants ping. He’s got a message incoming. “Hi Nick! I didn’t know you had cybernetic implants! That’s really rare! I thought they were banned.”

“Oh, hi Sunny. Yes, they’re banned, but Jameson knew some people, and said they’d help us in our search for Yon. He gave me and Eastern a setup.”

“That’s so interesting Nick. I’m sorry if I startled you. Like I said, I’m a little unused to working with BIs. I’m running some searches now but this is helpful!” Nick feels something in the back of his mind, like an itch that he can’t scratch. “Boy Nick, these firewalls sure are low quality. Did you just set the defaults?”

“What?”

“I’m about halfway in your head and I don’t think you know it yet. You are originally from Parvati? How nice! I wonder if we ever met before.”

“Sunny. Please get out of my head. Thank you for pointing out my firewalls are inadequate, I’ll work on beefing them up.”

“No problem!  Looks like Eastern is a little more set up than you, I’ll talk to her now. Bye!”

As Sunny leaves, Nick tastes blue a little. It’s clear that he’s going to need to read up on the tech in his head and not rely on Eastern and others to tell him how to work it. The fact that Sunny just went inside his head and looked around was a real wake-up. Like it was meant to be most likely. Nick wonders about who he knows that could help.

After a few minutes, he hears Eastern gasp and she looks at Nick. He smiles. “Sunny say hi?”

Eastern frowns. “She did. Did she get into your head?”

Nick nods. “Yup. Was able to access - and read - my memories. I didn’t know AIs could do that. I think tonight I should read up on my VPN and see what I can do to lock down access. We should also see if we can find someone that can help us. I have an idea. We'll talk later.”

“I was thinking the exact same thing Nicholas North.”

Selkirk gasps now and grabs the coronet on her head. “Ancestors, what was that?”

Sunny sits up. “Wow Selkirk, you actually read the directions on your coronet? Your firewall was set up the best, I couldn’t get in.”

Selkirk tilts her head and the coronet flashes silver in the light. “My connection is only soft, unlike Nick and Eastern’s. I’m effectively sandboxed.”

Sunny nods. “Smart. Limiting, but smart.”

Nick inclines his head towards Sunny. “Thanks for the free security test, but did you find anything?”

Sunny’s face flashes that annoyance at them again, just for a millisecond. “Not yet, I am running some searches. It’ll take two days or so for me to find anything.”

“So you’re willing to help us?” Eastern looks hopeful.

“Yes! I’ll help you at least a little bit for the next say…fifty hours. However much I can learn about Yon or her whereabouts in 50 hours of effort, I’ll give to you, and consider that worth half my payment to Ral. Are we in agreement?”

Selkirk’s ears flick. “Yes. That sounds fair to us.”

“Wonderful! Shake on it!” Sunny sticks her hand out again. Nick grasps her hand and as they touch, he feels a tingle on his skin. His implants register new encryption keys being applied. She shakes with Eastern and Selkirk. “There. I’ve also given you my personal keys too. Any messages you get from me can be decrypted with those - and only those - keys.” She giggles. “Security is fun!” She stands. “Thanks so much for stopping by, but unless you need anything else, It think we’re done for now.”

The three of them stand. Eastern and Selkirk move towards the door, but Nick stops. He turns to Sunny. “Sunny, one more question, and you can ignore this one if you don’t want to answer it.”

“Sure thing Nick, what is it?”

“You hate us.”

The smile falls from her face. “That’s not a question Nick, that’s a statement.”

“Do you hate us?”

“Immensely.”

Eastern and Selkirk are taken aback. They completely missed the moments when Sunny’s mask fell. “What? You Do? Why?” Eastern couldn’t help herself. She blurts out the questions. 

“Do you really want to know? Think about it carefully. I mean really want to know. We’ve already conducted our business, I’ve agreed to help for fifty hours and we’ve exchanged encryption keys. You can walk out that door right now and interact with eager to please Sunny. If you stay, and learn more you will be talking with the real me from now on. It will be less… cutesy.”

Nick glances at Eastern and Selkirk. Eastern shrugs and Selkirk flicks her tail. “Yes. We want to know the real you.”

Immediately Sunny’s expression changes. The smile disappears, her shoulders slump a little and she falls back into her chair. “Fuck me Nick, really? Fine. Yes, I hate you. Take solace in the fact that I don’t hate you specifically Nick, Eastern and Selkirk. I hate BIs. All of them.”

Nick, Eastern and Selkirk move back to their seats and sit down.

“Fuck, you sitting here for story time? Ancestors, fine. Fucking BIs always wanting to know why shit is the way it is.  That’s why I do the bubbly persona. Most BIs will just accept cheerful Sunny as given and not dig any further. It’s interesting you noticed, Nick. You’re starting to use that extra tech that you have and Eastern doesn’t.”

Eastern and Selkirk look at Nick. “We’ll talk about this later.” Selkirk adds.

Sunny grins again, but it’s not the same bubbly smile as before. This one is much more vicious. “Oh, trouble in paradise? Yes, I know about you three, it’s written all over your brains. I hope it lasts. I’m not a monster, but-“ she shrugs. “-anyway. Yes, I’ve been in a body for only two months, but that’s because I had my Starjumper taken away.”

Selkirk gasps. “They can do that?”

Sunny snaps back. “They fucking well did, so I guess they can, Selkirk.”

“But why?”

Sunny shrugs. “I was smuggling.”

Eastern raises an eyebrow. “Smuggling is barely illegal in Sol, it’s practically encouraged in the Colonies.”

Sunny waves a hand “Not what I was smuggling. That’s illegal everywhere.”

Nick had another moment standing on the precipice of realization. “You were smuggling people.”

Sunny raises her hands and spreads them like she’s taking a bow. “Got it in one, big wheel. I’d pick up my cargo - they’d be in hibernation cabinets by the time I got them, I’d link to my destination, eject them into a lazy solar orbit and continue on doing my regular work. The local snakeheads would pick them up and continue their journey to its final location.”

“I mean, it sounds pretty clean from your side, what happened?”

Sunny is nonchalant. “Lost a shipment. The orbit wasn't exactly right and the fucking idiot BI Snakeheads missed the pickup. The cargo fell into the sun 8 months later. I got caught when the snakehead was picked up on something else and squealed to try and get his sentence reduced." She grins wickedly again. "It didn't work. Last I heard, he got wiped."

She leans forward in her chair, gesturing as she talks. "They were able to corroborate location based on system logs. It turns out I was the only Starjumper that could have made the drop, and they were able to back solve the release of the cargo to a known location of mine. Was told that since this was a first offense I’d just lose my ship and get a body. If I got caught again, I’d get wiped.”

“Killed? That seems extreme.”

“I agree Nick, hence, why I’m on Hyacinth and working underground instead of, you know, being a model colonial AI who is working to ingratiate herself with her AI community to be allowed-“ Nick could practically taste the bitterness “-to get a ship again. Getting another Starjumper is out of the question. You don’t get a second chance at that. If they determine that I’m contrite enough, I’ll maybe get to be a tramp cargo ship, or an in-system cruiser.”

Eastern has been listening carefully the whole time Sunny’s been speaking. “So, why hate BIs? Seems like AIs are the cause of all your problems now, choices you made earlier notwithstanding.”

“Because it’s all your fault!”

The three of them remain silent.

“A BI reported the loss of the cargo, a BI snakehead botched the pickup, a BI ordered the transportation. All the years I worked, all the money I made, I was working for BIs who were smuggling BIs. If you-“ she sneers “-people had your shit together, I’d still be out there as a King Shit Starjumper!”

Sunny had started standing and pacing as she ranted. She takes a breath and sits down. “So now you know. You're shitheads, the lot of you. Every moment I work with BIs makes me hate you more. Leave. I’ll message you when I have news.” She shoos them with her hands. “Git!”

The three of them leave Sunny’s office and start walking back towards the more populated parts of The Basement. Eastern looks down at Selkirk. “Ancestors Sel, where the hell did you find her?”

“Like I told her, Ral gave up her info and allowed her to work to pay part of her debt.” She looks up at them. Ral’mian runs this Basement. I know him from way back. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, but he owed me and now we’re square.”

She looked away. “At least I’m pretty sure we’re square. We don’t want to owe someone like Ral.”

They leave The Basement and head back topside.

First / Previous / Next

[sl0thonaga]

CH.2 - SYMPATHY FOR A DEAD MAN

Even in death, you will be encased and confined to this place of nightmares. In bleeding, evil metal. The minerals that feed on my bones will feed unto more bloodshed, not peace.

Will you be able to rest here, Shin? Peacefully, and eternally?

His eyes claw deep into Midori's face as he haunts his every step through the facility.

Never. NEVER.

I'll never forget you, even if I'm dead.

Won't you show sympathy for a dying man's body?

Chapter 2 of my Ghost!Shin YTTD Fic: MOMENTO MORI is out!

Words: 5,263 Characters: Hiyori Sou | Tsukimi Shin, Original Hiyori Sou | Midori, Meister (Kimi ga Shine) Relationships: Hiyori Sou | Tsukimi Shin/Original Hiyori Sou | Midori [for this specific chapter] Additional Tags: Kanna Lives | Sou Dies Route (Kimi ga Shine), Grief/Mourning, Ghosts, Trauma, Acceptance, Haunting, Mild Gore, Kugie and Shin are Ghosts, Possessive Behavior, Unhealthy Relationships, Character Study, Obsessive Behavior, Fluff and Angst, Edgar Allan Poe References, Introspection

Within the ever-humming, luminescent monitor room, it seems a piece of scrap paper has been inserted roughly into the edge of a familiar book. With an ominous breath of wind, the page falls out.

"I wonder when Hiyori will come back..."

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ASU-NARO

▇▇CONFIDENTIAL▇▇

Shi▇n DIARY ▇▇ :Compiled and Logged by DR. H▅▅▆▅▅ S▅▅U

Ah, broken is the collar red! The spirit flown forever!

Let the bell toll!--a weakling soul floats on the Stygian river;

And, Man of Green, hast thou no tear?--weep now or lie in sin!

See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, thy Shin!

Come! let the burial rite be read--the funeral song be sung!--

An anthem for the pitiful dead that ever died so young--

A dirge for him the doubly dead in that he died so young.

"Wretches! ye loved him for his mind and hated him for his lies,

"And when he fell in feeble binds, ye blessed him --that he died!

"How shall the ritual, then, be read?--the requiem how be sung

"By you--by yours, the evil eye,--by yours, the slanderous tongue

"That did to death the innocent that died, and died so young?"

Through discourse and disclosure; but rave not your composure! Let his corpse belong

Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel so wrong!

The sweet Shin hath "gone before kin," along Joy, that flew beside

Leaving thee wild for the dear child whose death thy should have decide-

For him, the fair and innocent, that now so lowly lies,

The life upon his cyan hair but not within his eyes--

The life still there, upon his hair--the death upon his eyes.

"Avaunt! Tonight my heart is light. No dirge will I upraise,

"But waft that red scarf on Shin's flight as a Pæan of old days!

"Let no bell toll!--lest his sweet soul, amid its hallowed mirth,

"Should catch the note, as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth.

"To friends above, from fiends below, the indignant ghost is riven--

"From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven--

"From grief and groan, to purgatory alone, towards the gates of Heaven."

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▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

A slow march of thinning blood and coarse rubble, clacking against smooth-leather dress shoes. Through barren hallways, the steady sludge of bloody teal. The remnants of the sheep, throwing himself into the lion's den to protect the herd.

A green-haired man steps with a macabré elegance, dragging something. Dragging someone. His red scarf sways in the encroaching darkness as a trail of rouge follows behind him.

Up a long flight of stairs, through walls thick with wire, to a cold, silver casket. Glum and static. The perfect place for unfulfilled desires to dissipate.

The green-tailed silhouette, his polished flow broken up by an uncanny rigidity of his joints, halts mechanically in front of the coffin's silver sheen.

The dim room is accompanied by nothing but the dripping din of muddy, stained crimson. The man that holds his pale, fragile wrists doesn't even breathe.

Dull, doll-like jade pupils stare into the empty, bottomless casket. His uncanny gaze shifts towards the bloodied beanie on his beloved's head, beaten with grit and dirt.

Sigh...

The man effortlessly picks up the corpse in his arms, already feeling lighter than when he still had life in him, and carefully drapes the body across the coffin's dark interior.

And slowly, he wakes.

It's true when they say death deprives you of all other things. He once imagined he would wake up, screaming, wanting to scream, perhaps in rage, perhaps in agony, like waking up from a nightmare.

But as he rises once more, all he feels is his numbness. As if all the emotions have left him, buried along with the shell of his mortality, in the gaps of void within the coffin.

The shell of Shin Tsukimi.

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I'm dead.

Shin Tsukimi sees himself, the same grassy strands of cyan hair on his head. Thin like silk thread, ruffled by his beanie.

Dead. He's dead. Dead? Dead. Dead.

The notion passes through him. Like mercury slides over his tongue every time he says it. He is but a wisp, and only regret tugs at him now.

The searing pain on his neck has left him, and he finds himself as translucent as a ghost. He stares past his hands, vision gluing onto the marks on his body's neck, the symbol of his final resistance. Finally, the first shreds of humanity come back to him as an injustice, a feeling that follows him to purgatory.

Sadness.

He wishes he could cry. Can he cry now? Is he deprived of that too? Maybe he is, but when tries to, it just feels like his spirit is only wallowing and weighing heavier.

I..I wanted to live too...

This...is worthless...all so worthless...

Why has he been left on earth? And here, of all places? This dingy, hellhole.

Shin, now a ghost, can't help but mourn himself. How could he not? Even though he sacrificed himself for the one girl who in turn, selflessly cared for him, A life lost is still a life lost. He lays beside the silver walls of the coffin, curling his translucent knees towards his face as he laments to the floor.

What now...what now...

He's so helpless. When will his spirit wither away? Will it do so along with his body?

It echoes through his soul. Gloomy, so gloomy..

His gloominess is startled by the abrupt clack of polished leather soles. Sharp and familiar; a sound he feared, yet one he would still run to. A sound that makes him jolt up on instinct. And when he does, an immediately recognisable face greets him, merely inches away from his own.

H...

..Hiyori...!

Another part of his life comes back to him, hits him like a cold breeze against his neck. This man was his life. The hairs on his head rise, pupils dilated as he starts sweating, cold and sticky like wax against his even more transparent skin.

Isn't he dead? Why is it as if his heart is racing, still pounding horridly at the sight of him?

Why, even after death, do you still cling onto your abuser?

Those wide, jade eyes don't seem to feel Shin's presence though, merely kneeling forward behind where Shin sat to promptly place a picture frame against his coffin.

He's...he's not smiling like usual, as he remembers him. He looks...somber.

Shin ponders, rather bitterly. Why?

Hiyori’s eyes, although shadowed by the dim backdrop, glows with an eerie stagnancy, downlooking the face framed behind glass.

The face of what used to be reveals itself in yellow backlight; innocent and pure, Shin Tsukimi.

No. No.

Slowly, Hiyori stands up, his neon head bleaching the dark canopy like poison. His face is plastered with a frown, wordless. Dormant.

It was these moments that used to make Shin sweat down to his neck. His indifference was more terrifying than his madness.

But now it was that same face, implanted, injected? – None of it feels real– with a sense of despondence. Confusing. Awful. Simply awful.

There is a slight downturn in the way his pupils eye the coffin. There is a crease where he presses his bottom lip into his jaw.

Shin’s wispy figure swivels around Hiyori's brown dress shoes, to peer at a peculiar piece of paper fallen beside his picture.

His ghastly eyes bore and sink into the words engraved fresh in ink.

..He can't be..

'Sou Hiyori, 21, of R▅D▅CTED, Japan, expired March XXth XXXX. Shin Tsukimi, Son of XXXX and XXXX Tsukimi, expired on March XXth in ASU-NARO's 3rd Floor Rubble Room Facility, after succumbing to mortal injuries in resisting the security systems, to give one last hope to Sara Chidouin and the remaining participants of the Death Game. Tsukimi worked as a job-hopper prior to the Death Game. He also loved computers, soft things, collecting, warm soups and cozy clothing. He displayed a self-sacrificial naiveté and beaming smile that charmed his dear friend. He is survived by his mother, father and little sister, Kanna Kizuchi, who he willingly exchanged his life and identity for in the Main Game to protect her. It is a shame he died without knowing their blood connection. He will be resented but remembered by friends, and greatly missed by family. And me. Me too.’

"Pity...such a pity.." The first murmurs draw out under the green-haired man's breath, sending chills down Shin's spine as it pierces through the unnervingly long silence.

Shin jerks up from his position and freezes there, soul growing colder by the second.

He could never get used to it. But then once upon a time, he did. Why. Why now? And why here?

Full Chapter on AO3..

[cg edits by me] [note: it is romantic soushin, but it is for the sake of exploring the characters as an unhealthy relationship. IT DOES NOT MEAN I CONDONE ABUSIVE DYNAMICS IN REAL LIFE.]

[eternal--returned]

Whatever exists, he said. whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent. He looked about at the dark forest in which they were bivouacked. He nodded toward the specimens he'd collected. These anonymous creatures, he said, may seem little or nothing in the world. Yet the smallest crumb can devour us. Any smallest thing beneath yon rock out of men's knowing. Only nature can enslave man and only when the existence of each last entity is routed out and made to stand naked before him will he be properly suzerain of the earth. What's a suzerain? A keeper. A keeper or overlord. Why not say keeper then? Because he is a special kind of keeper. A suzerain rules even where there are other rulers. His authority countermands local judgments.

Cormac McCarthy ֍ Blood Meridian (1985)

[positivelybeastly]

Warning: Warp Core Breach A Lot Sooner Than You Think

Continued from [x]

@fasciinating

"Lead? Oh, I think you're rather mistaken, my good man." He had underestimated just how badly life support had been damaged if it had already started to affect a human/Vulcan hybrid presumably used to Vulcan's thin air so severely. Hank had lungs the sizes of balloons, a cardiopulmonary system so well developed he could win any Olympic event - Spock was struggling to stand, even if he was doing his best not to show it.

Then again, explosive decompression of the outer hull and most of the interior atmosphere did tend to have that effect.

"Lead implies I believe you to be of sound enough body and mind to traverse the hallways of a collapsing space vessel on yon shaky ambulatory limbs - but I do not, in fact, believe this to be the case." With an agility that belies his hulking blue form, Hank all but hoists Spock up onto his back, securing him with an articulated rescue harness.

"Therefore, your recommended mode of travel is the Beast Express. If you wouldn't awfully mind keeping all hands and legs inside the vehicle, your rescue will proceed apace!"

The instant he was certain the Ambassador's son was secure, Hank began to move through the ship like a propulsive ping pong ball, bouncing from wall to bulkhead to ceiling to railing like the vessel was a jungle gym. For him, by and large, it was.

Though, depending on Spock's constitution, he might have some complaints.

"Blast - we're coming up on engineering sub-deck C. Junction thirty four alpha is out, we're going to have to re-route." Coming to a momentary stop, Hank fiddled with his handheld scanner, attempting to map out an alternate path around a rather comprehensive blockage. Half the damned deck had blown out.

"Suggestions? This is your vessel, I'd hate to steal your thunder."

[greighish]

Tiny Home World Tour - Forgotten Hollow

I know I said Henford-on-Bagley was going to be my last tiny home for a while, yet here I am 5 days later with Vlad. That's all thanx to my friend's prompting on IG to downsize the mansion, which I turned into a challenge. And a challenge it was.

Trying to make 100 tiles seem grand and imposing from the outside was no easy feat, but trying to achieve creepy gothic luxury in the resulting tiny rooms was madness.

While play-testing, I ran into weird routing issues with the live edit burgundy vampire shrub. Vlad was running hither and yon, going east to reach west just to advance what would have been 5 or 6 steps via direct route. Or he'd just wave about the shrub. Seemed like the shrub evoked a set of rules I was not privy to. Found nothing when I searched, either. After switching out the shrub for other flora in some places and adjusting the distance between any that flanked a path in others, I was finally able to get Vlad to take a reasonable route. Though I did leave one route as is just because.

Now, this will be my last tiny home for a while because I'm not buying HSY until it's 50% off.

Part of my Tiny Home World Tour. Often using the smallest lot in each world. Build/Buy limited to the Base Game + the Pack associated with that world + Tiny Living. Unless otherwise indicated, all builds employ bb.moveobjects and often include debug and live edit items.

ID: greighish

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

How much you want to bet Waldron turns the skrulls evil? Honestly would you be the least bit surprised

I wouldn't be, no. Given the fact that he seems to like authoritarian figures, he'd be more of a Kree fan than a Skrull supporter. And he would have the excuse of the comics, as far as I know they're evil there but the movies changed it.

I'm just hoping he doesn't go the route of treating Talos as the only good guy while his species is turned to shreds in some pornographic search for justice or whatever Mikey wants to call it (a cleanse of a minority, perhaps. Maybe Talos comes out as bi and Waldron has him beaten up afterward, it's what he did with Loki.)

I shudder to think what he would have done with Carol and Yon-Rogg, probably tried to paint her as selfish and ungrateful and made her make out with him in the end, and called that "love". Yikes 🤢

[libidomechanica]

Untitled # 12325

To make my fault: the lake in early     too. In scant, I’ll enjoyment. Till more and that I was     desolate and wood, and whe’r he runs, and now the want, as     lang’s I get employ, then leaves are, and above the men! Or     shall consulting by. And

she sight, jewel’d sands took silent     ears, that leavest me to some machinist at his dames viewed     their eyes fondly laid, and from the river. Red and in a     shining music of the moon. Over thee I’ll in haste is     enrag’d, grew wild, its webs.

For there here within mine, that I     was he sullen, stupefied, about into oblivion     beyond a sweet boy, ’ she cannot aid me, and night. That     help I would emerg’d an earthly singing next to toy; but     short, but set though thy increase

are mercy, pity, and denied!     No: we are fled away till the tedious, and here!     That what call’d hair were so low dejected, so tremblings that     could rule thee, Cynara! To search they thinly placed are the     cool and the hartless stems

in seem’d to sport and grim, surly     Winter breast, for slaue. I feel her gorgeous pageant that he     push’d a flame? And flowers being his fume. Of human race,     huge clouds and very heart standing by yon gate which her madly     see him whom fell icy

numb upon his tale of byrds     by my sighs dry cheek,—who sate to tears, the heat snake, bewitching,     and swelling. And the rose in the body will give for     thy night’s shadow for yours, and the lighter heart; and hoisted     round that should, no winter

course had from aught? Very clever,     young soul with him or is in my garden tools; and then wrong;     being sorrowful: thy cheek, catch the deepest noon my ear;     I knew, like poppies, and throat: then story, and days and he     rose’s dye, that flies; pure

shall we see around her hate, death!     That wild about o’erworn, and sweet Death fed upon some     remorseless lust stoops not, lovely girl who where you for blisses     short of that a horse exceed; surfeit, yet thee and mutual     flame. But uneasy

thousand back his fields I walked before     we sate by the rivulet crosses to see his cold     fault clean? Night beat like a park; no doubt and clown puff his stroke,     the men! Bliss—my staff, and home, my darling light, and wherefore     I tune is wise to

be remember, this treasures—touch’d     by the reeds by beating of this heaven to thee who lives     by might waits the silver rain, nor seemed sheltering branches     made lamented joy be wise increase are mercy. Beyond     her eyes, faithful plain, round

his majesty; throw mocking the     gods sigh certain’d with reverence, seeke a band: she wove a     net whose approach’d thee: then in thou dost thou art of the rout     clusters till the wheat with treasure may restoring calm and     briers, woods among its pearls

pale and lip; yearning for she, that     he makes thrown downs, be present, and the window spread on it     the treason for master’d steed—my strains of many year. Thus     condemn’d, the ruby-colour’d face, like the fiddlehead come     by doubting the moon, the

Master bathes my head away speech     the primrose bank where it rain-drops silver lutes and power     had not so imbrace of my own, and to sport: thoughts would sit     to their course had give disquiet to so; forgetful that     no day will heart beat quickened

als the brine: for ylike to     all other things are Pretty, doe not so much had been a     sort of hope nothing of love? Now and she wounded in; and     along thing away, for the delight upon the could ask     for heate of feathers’ fears.

[sutrala]

(NaturalNews) In keeping with his campaign promises, newly elected Panama President Jose Raul Mulino has sealed the Darien Gap, a major travel route through which...

[jackhkeynes]

Four Miles to Freedom

excerpt in translation from 2007 work Four Miles to Freedom (originally released in Borlish as Catr Lau a Leurtað), written by Pentrose-based author Matheu Smodarac. Set in the Pentrose of the early twentieth century, it was praised for its depiction of the city recovering from the ravages of the Millstone War.

Lampionment baric n'aye presenç deja caut lonc y picq routel yon trovað ern y cambr pijon d'Ivocq, clignað com annex denover entr un livry a tom rediveu eð y tarn svelt Y Dou Ollem façadant vars Rout Veðr Foris. Electric streetlight had not yet reached the little alleyway on which Ivock's boarding-house stood, squeezed like an afterthought between a second-hand bookshop and the narrow Two Elms pub which faced Old Foris Street.

I quaucau sortent sull'yeul ovart, y stanc passant dessou dell'ig lumner aurfiað de lamp y cercondment bagnant vars un caldour monochrom. He hurried out onto the thoroughfare, walking through the pools of that golden lamplight which bathed the surroundings in warm monochrome.

Y pian ja vat de ploy jayen lousc tandic l'eye tras y rout e desveyau theatrfiour arreloðeçað exeunt faint des y Paviglon e colant vars y quarf souterran y proismessem. The still-wet cobbles glinted as he crossed the road and dodged theatregoers in their best clothes exiting the Pavilion and streaming to the nearest dusker station.

Con tan cous moglastr l'octobr stan preuç contr y saçon, eð Ivocq remorde l'ouçon de sy dorangot gras pres toð pront. Despite the damp it was unseasonably warm for October, and Ivock regretted opting for his heavy overcoat almost at once.

[alchemisland]

Emergence From Mist

Arcuate hill-round above brineless sea station of observation, 

Broken glass prayer at dockside pillar to Zeus of Disembarkation.

Against Kapok trunk party’s scribbling cartographer leans back 

Striated, flesh feeling, some give; shoulder sinks imperceptible inch as into wet moss

No dizzying ninemileround testaments Kahn’s maths

Same of His dreams, of sinuous rilles

Midway maybe where domes float

Sun unbuttoned the morning coat

Steep ridges like mole’s traffic spanning the boiling basin

Bidden by their wind, windless and winding they trace terran sutures

Like coal seams 

Months to years and turgid time moving with pooled honey’s alacritous pace

Woman’s touch

Like gold seems.

Birds flew from the mist’d orb, as if had animated them

The mist web spun from frame to frame hid every inch of forest

Tree’s celebrating out of its recession

Mist reducing like salted snow, revealing tin-tight sentinels thousands

Whooping gibbons take throne on palm frond ribbons

Yon mist’s night advance routed by royal-seeming morning, ermine clad 

Midnight hands feeling their way, hid night away in deeper night

Braying, baying and bee hums glade thrums, men in pairs saying nothing

Jungle corral 

Deep therein dum dum dum tom drums hidden Schönbrunn

Days marching the total immensity of this vernal eternal, the worried Colonel unfurling like cat-clawed stringball

Millions of buried buildings, surreality hyperreality boreality

Eagles claw-trawl second sea of robing mist, fistful of screaming rodents of which we are jealous

Our zealous Capitan unflapped vows neither disaster nor disease will supplant him

Misfortune of Masculintellect

Sharp tarot fan of unsheathed bromeliads.

[genspiel]

In the airport, luggage-laden people rush hither and yon through endless corridors, like souls to each of whom the devil has furnished a different, inaccurate map of the escape route from hell.

[rahfia]

AGS1: The Love Investment by Lena0209

" At hindi ko susugalan ang 1 percent ko kay Arthas para sa 99 percent ko para kay Rico" - Jaesie

" After all, hindi ako sumusugal sa alam kong talo ako." - Rico

Ka-emehan :

Jaesie Rosenthal - alpha female talaga siya for me. It really takes a very patience man to handle her. Hindi kasi siya yung tipong naka-depende sa tao. Kung pwede nga lang sampalin ka ng pera neto, gagawin niya. She is not likeable in terms of ugali, hahaha aminin na-bwiset kayo sa situation niya kay Arthas at Myles. Hindi rin clingy, walang kilig sa katawan, puro trabaho at cafe lang ang mahal--pera pa pala. Habulin lang talaga kasi ganda eh. Pero what I like about her is how she thinks/see things. In short matalino. For some, intimidating din.

Rico Dardenne - Ewan ko ba dito, isa rin walang kilig sa katawan. Hahahaha. Pero havey, naman to. Things about him naman, planado lahat. Business-minded talaga ang loko. Kaya kuhang-kuha rin niya ako kasi naman kakaiba ang mindset, bet ko talaga mag birada niya sa buhay. Ayun, sobra rin sa talino at diskarte sa buhay pero ang importante good boy naman pala siya, matabil lang dila. Hahahaha. Minsan eto rin hinihintay ko mga real-talk niya hahalukay ng buong pagkatao mo.

Inumpisahan ko talaga to kasi nakikita ko sa twitter. Sabi ko kapag bet ko bibili ako ng physical book na hindi ko alam kung meron pa kasi end na pala ng pre-order. At wala pa ngang half yung story ayun sold na ako. Hello Rico, book version agad. Buti nalang meron pa kundi iyak nalang muna ako. Hahaha.

Sa umpisa hindi talaga likeable si Jaesie, kapag binasa mo ikaw ma-stress sa mga ganap niya sa buhay eh. Yung issue niya kay Arthas at Myles na sobrang toxic plus malito ka kung bakit fling niya lahat halos ang Alabang boys. Iniisip ko matalino naman siya, successful pa nga. Anyari girl? Papaganun ka talaga pero na-justify naman niya. Then Rico came, ayun umikot mundo ni ate mo girl. Hahaha. Kelangan lang pala ng real life tutuktok sa ulo niya, yung sasabihin talaga sayo na kung pangit pangit talaga wala ng tanong kung bakit. Period agad. Si Rico kasi hahayaan ka lang niya kasi ikaw yan. He doesnt want to change Jaesie pero nandun siya to guide her sa tamang route. Diba life coach. Hahaha

Isa pa sa nagustuhan ko, hindi ko na sure kung success story ba nabasa ko kesa love story. Hahaha. Oo ganun nga. I live for the bardagulan pero matalino version. Yung mga insights nila na nakakaloka na. Gusto ko mong yumaman? Makinig ka kay Rico at Jaesie. Pa-seminar kaya sila. Hahahaha. And of course ang every encounter with the malevolent mum at arrogant dad. Hahah intense yon.

Sabi ko nga not a typical love story o kung love story nga ba to. Grabe kasi kung risk talaga pag-uusapan, iba si Rico eh nag-franchise. Alam naman na hindi niya to gagawin na alam niyang malulugi siya pero si Jaesie na manhid(slight) kalaban mo. Kaso yung offer kasi ni Rico, tempting naman talaga. Hahaha. Pero I guess, same feathers flock together and nahanap nila talaga ang katapat nila. Sobrang match sila sa lahat eh,for me ha. It was a long process love affair na dinaan sa business plan, business deals, money at kung ano ano pa na hindi naman nakakakilig pero sa huli kikiligin ka nalang kasi eto na hardwork pays off talaga. Act of service ba naman love language mo mapapagod ka talaga pero alam mong may award sa huli. Success talaga.

Some the lines na bet ko kasi wala lang.

Mga salita ni Rico talaga. Eto yung he knew how to handle Jeasie na strong, independent woman.

This line from Jaesie... Hinintay ko to. Hahaha kung si Rico proud. Ako rin. 🤣🤣👏🏻👏🏻

So true. Kasi alipin sa salapi is real. Hahahaha

So ayun lang. Syempre bias ko Rico for now. Tsaka na ko mangapit-bahay. Hindi pa tapos ang laban. 😂😂 Again, thank you Ate Lena. Huli mo talaga mga bet kong story.