#ow: mei beloved

[kolektsiakomah]

IM CRYING I LOVE SNOWDRAGON SM

[empressofthelibrary]

Hand kisses

Hualei chopped vegetables to the rhythm of the song on the radio, quietly humming along.

She glanced up from her work, watching her boyfriend grumpily flick through channels on the TV, sprawled on the couch. The late afternoon sunlight poured through the window and caught in his thick silver-blonde hair, so that it almost seemed to glow. A soft smile crossed her face, thinking about how nice it would be to help him brush it out that evening.

She and Kui Mulang hadn't been together very long, really. A few weeks at most. But after he'd broken ties with the guy who'd been pretending to be the mayor of Megalopolis a couple years back, he hadn't had anywhere else to turn once the dust settled. Mei and her family were still unsure about trusting him. And frankly, Hualei couldn't blame her friends for that. A giant wolfman tries to eat your soul and then your pig-dad, and then he shacks up with your friend? She wasn't sure she'd trust Kui herself if she was in Mei's shoes.

But Mei didn't know Kui like she did. All the others knew was the cold, stoic exterior he showed the world. They hadn't seen him get invested in her soap operas, heard him laugh, or seen the quiet wonder in his eyes as some mundane experience knocked him off his feet.

They didn't know the side of him Hualei did. The side she was falling in love with. They'd agreed to take things slow, to get to know one another again as new people -- no longer the Yellow-Robed Demon and Princess Hundred Flowers, but as Kui and Hualei, the people they were in the here and now. It was only logical, after all, only fair.

But sometimes Hualei had to talk herself out of carrying him off to the nearest courthouse herself.

"Ow!" Hualei drew her hand back, a line of red down her finger. "Aw, frick," she grumbled, scooping the contaminated veggies off the cutting board and into the trash. "I hate wasting stuff like that." Sighing, she turned the sink on and started to rinse the cut.

"Beloved?" There was a presence at her back, strong arms wrapping around her. "I smell blood. Are you hurt? What happened?"

Hualei smiled sheepishly. "Got lost in thought while I was making dinner. Nicked my finger with the knife, that's all."

Wordlessly, Kui's hand wrapped around her wrist, lifting the injured digit for his inspection. "The cut is small, but I've seen men die of less. Where is the medicine kit?"

Hualei nodded downward, towards the sink. "In the cabinet here, the white box. I was halfway to it when you caught me," she teased, leaning her head back against Kui's shoulder to smile up at him.

Kui let go of Hualei long enough to crouch and open the cabinet door. His fingertips still grazed her side, like he was reluctant to lose contact completely.

"Kui, I promise I'm fine." Hualei let the wolf-demon pull her hand to him, his thumb running careful arcs over the back. "It's not a big deal." She couldn't help but smile at the serious expression on his face, the focus in his eyes as he picked up the box of bandages and read the instructions.

"You're injured," Kui insisted. "It's a 'big deal' to me." He drew a bandage out of the box and opened the envelope slowly, carefully wrapping it around Hualei's index finger. He didn't let go once the bandage was in place. Instead they stood there, Kui holding Hualei's hand up between them, cradling it in both of his.

"I'd searched for you for centuries, Beloved," he admitted quietly. "It had been long enough that... That I'd begun to lose faith. I'd feared you hadn't reincarnated, and that you were lost to me forever." His golden eyes were focused on her hand, intense with emotion. "I feared I would never see your face again, never hear your voice." Gently, he pressed his lips to the injury. "I cannot lose you again."

Hualei's heart lurched, electricity singing along her nerves. The gentle way he treated her, the way he looked at her with such devotion... She wanted nothing more than to be with him for the rest of her life, and every one after that.

She stepped closer, free hand reaching to tuck a lock of hair behind Kui's pointed ear. "You won't, I promise. I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

Her hand landed on his cheek, and the demon leaned into the touch. The arm that wasn't holding Hualei's wrapped around her waist instead, pulling her as close to him as possible.

"I love you, my Prince," Hualei murmured. "And I'll never leave your side."

[thek0ifish]

Speaking of which Jaaku in the erebus verse is the only person that can and will kill Hsien-Ko-Fang wolf even at her strongest final form wielding both the power of the legendary makai knight Garo and the power of evolution and fate by her side. Jaaku and her oldest sister Sigma fudo are the anti Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling where Jaaku is the armor taking the wheel and Sigma being the powerhouse. In the original continuity the armor itself is created by the fallen Makai Priest and Knight, Sigma Fudo. Using the power of his demonic hand, he can copy any knight's armor and create a dark copy of it for his use in combat in the events of Makai Flash Knight. In the KKHTA:R story Jaaku was his own entity twisted by the goddess of makai Shinki when he was a monster burning bemstra becoming Gogeet for life support unaware that Bemstra just like his mother is a parasite. Feeding within the ady slate horror in exchange for life support until he couldn't handle Gogeet ripping him apart from inside out becoming the dark variation of garo makai knight with the title of knights shadows but here in the erebus verse story Jaaku and Sigma fudo are FAR worse than the original continuity.

Jaaku and Sigma fudo are THE FIRST ever clones to be created. They're created by Jedah as both his ultimate weapon against those who stand and or rebel against him. They're true purpose is to kill Hsien-Ko and the succubus morrigan for revenge however Jedah's thirst for vengeance and his manic psychotic mind after his resurrection led to his abuse upon the poor sisters but Jaaku has gotten the worse of it. The abuse have gotten so bad Sigma Fudo with her magic can't take it anymore and defeated Jedah in order to protect her beloved younger sister. The abuse had made Jaaku into a vicious ruthless psychopath. She and her older sister however was taken in and raised by Morrigan which led to Jaaku and Sigma seeing the succubus as their mother their lives were happier and much more fun than with their original creator. Unfortunately the happier times didn't last as Jedah send in horror to find and kill the twins and Morri eviscerated them. In order to keep them safe she thinks it's best they're safe in better hands at the ady slate family. Jaaku at first was upset the most cause Jaaku felt more closer to Morrigan than Sigma regardless she was happy. The ady slate family are as dysfunctional and happy as they are. The power both sisters possessed are indeed insane to a degree as both sisters can manipulate the boundaries and become stronger from eating humans and other darkstalkers alike. They taken heavy blows even from the sheer immense strength and power of Hsien-Ko herself enjoying harsh abuse since she was abused horribly by Jedah. Jaaku's relentless, tenacious and always thirsting for a fight against Hsien-Ko until she is dead. Jaaku also decimated even Demitri making him her bitch over and over again due to the fact Demitri is Morrigan's enemy and also because, and I shit you not thinks Demitri is a nerdy looser and owes her 25$ yes all of this was for fucking cash. Why? Because has watched a lot of movies like the big lebowski what's worse Her animal representation is a honey badger the most vicious ruthless animal in existence. Jaaku is a complete chaotic also saying the most random and weird things too.

[night-faye]

Wukong has ZERO CHILL he is going to roast Macky into melting all that ice on him 😂 but ow, bud 😭 yes, we do indeed wonder if Wukong is throwing shade back. Could Macky have said something about Wukong screwing back to the Monk? You might be wondering "anon why are you so fixated on lines repeating" it's what they DO. Some are narrative parallels, some are Season 4 that makes you go "oh so this is why you said all that earlier that pretty much didn't show up in S3" it was coming :)

"I couldn't care less about what the LBD wants." Ugh, my guy. You know it's pointless trying to tell people that, but thanks. I will chew on every one of those lines. Also. BRO WHERE IS YOUR CHILL. Sorry I know you're a frozen salmon right now, but "the Samadhi Fire is my last hope" also Macky: *LITERALLY BREAKS THE RINGS* sir. SIR. my brother in mammal, you are quite sincerely on a ticking timer before the ice consumes you back into the grave. WHAT were you thinking??? I don't think he's thinking at all. that noggin of his is too shaken up and he's swapping plans on the fly as soon as he hears the rings are with MK. my guy, they were going to do the ritual later anyway, or well, they already started, but were you allergic to waiting to ask politely for someone to use the fire on you? eh tbf, it was better they didn't rip the fire out of Mei to put into Wukong so. can't say it's THAT bad he forced them to finish it without Wukong.

Very optimistic take on Wukong's expressions there! Could be, but he doesn't inspire much hope in that lol. I think it was him feeling guilt about keeping secrets and leaving MK back in S2. And maybe some secret ShadowPeach past that *gets dragged off stage* *claws back onto stage* Ep 10!! Parallels my beloved, *reaches out for you* Him AND Mei I- *screams over the ocean flooding on me* SPECIAL. You will know the scene when you hear it. and see it.

"Don't get in my way, kid. I don't have time for you. I'm just here for the Samadhi fire, then, I'm done with you all." 😔😔😔 it's ok, let him think the fandom even cares about the fact he seriously wants nothing to do with this or interact with the Gang on purpose ever again and has decided hunting down MK is not as fun as it was in the first two seasons. Speaking of, he technically did neither as they came to his play and he was looking at the sky in his intro, as if waiting for Wukong to show up before MK popped up instead. he was even backing up to leave.

actually new thing because our friend Macaroni really isn't right in the head. he was in a mech and all trying to take the rings? when he just destroyed the fakes thinking they were real? and would've what, left it at that until that light shone from the altar? we know he doesn't want to bring em to LBD, unless if that was a moment of weakness/confession because of Wukong, and decided "ok maybe she's my last chance if I give them to her" because HE sure can't use them alone if he removes them from the altar. so WHAT CHANGED to make him force them to finish the ritual? unless if it was another test for MK and he was not impressed with the power. "So THIS was the Monkey King's great plan?" It wasn't actually, but how curious that you think so. "How do you still not see that he has no idea what he's doing." some villains drop false statements to complain about society that the hero denies bc they were biased extremists all along. other villains drop truths based in backstory that gets confirmed by Wukong and everybody else there, including the story and it's not meant to be bashing, but rather a character trait and flaw that also has a reason and its okay, it will get better. I'm 0.0 like that meme of slow head turn wide eyes at Macky's final emotional break. he's FULLY lost it here, amazing. this is the most vicious he's ever been oof. gotta also love his shadow shark moves and YES you caught that stressed twitch in his eyebrows!! he's walking pretty slow and heavy, bc of the weight of everything with battling emotions and decisions or bc of the weight of the ice? 🤔

It is so late at night I have no thoughts to articulate, so take this

Thought I will say this bit: I took it as he knew they were fake?

Like, the way he splays them open, stares at them, and then goes "Hm" as he narrows his eyes. and then when Wukong starts talking he glances back at him and raises an eyebrow, almost like "I know him too well, and he seems way too confident for these to be the real rings"

And then of course Wukong digs in the LBD dagger, which gets Mackaroni angry, so him breaking the rings wasn't so much meant To Break The Rings, but more. They were what were in his hands when Wukong started mocking him about LBD, so he broke them to take out his frustration. both at Wukong and at the entire shit situation he's in

and then Ne'zha going "they were fake?" and wukong owning up to it is just icing on the confirmation cake at that point

[amourem]

i nap then write more… owe many DH starters to nine, owe gem and saint ruan mei, owe jiyan stuff to astrid and my beloved, and want to write…. headcanons and work on scar blog.

i will also be invading the ask boxes of my favorite people randomly (beware)

okay bye

[googiewatch]

ok i know i did this with paladins (and i will forever love it i still love my girl maeve !!! and ying my beloved, but overwatch rlly got me)

but hey im looking for ow moots <3 if you like to infodump about the lore (bc I NEED TO KNOW i need to write fanfiction but i know nothing about the lore), or like gay homosexual ships, brigitte, dva and mei mains, pls follow me !!! i make art

[ninja-knox-ur-sox-off]

I usually do two eps per post with one in reblogs but since the last one was so freaking long this gets its own individual post. 

[Monkie Kid Season 3 episode 2 Spoilers below cut] 

GREETINGS AND WELCOME BACK TO KNOX REACTS TO EPISODE 2 OF MONKIE KID SEASON THREE. 

TODAY I WILL BE HOPEFULLY NOT TAKING THREE HOURS TO WATCH THIS TEN MINUTE EPISODE BUT GIVEN MY LATEST HISTORY WE’LL SEE HOW WELL THAT TURNS OUT BGS;DFM;MEF 

Honestly I get so excited before i even press play it’s insane how hyped this show makes me 10/10 

AIGHT TIME TO WATCH LES GOOOOOO

PAUSED

AW

THEY

PICTURES

I JUST NOTICED

THE

THE PICTURES AND DRAWINGS AND PHOTOS INSIDE THE VEHICLE IN THE THEME SONG ;A; 

BELOVED’S I’M CRYING THEY ARE FAMBLYGBDS;FMNA;OGEW

THE MUSIC OF THIS SHOW IS SUCH A BOP THO

is it bad i can tell what min storyboarded because bGLKAEMF;OAWHE

OKAY

their art is just go brr r my guy i dunno what to tell u bG;LWEAKMFOWAE 

THEIR ALL JUST SITTING THERE ARMS CROSSED I’M GBS;DLAKFMA;OWE THEY LOOK SO GRUMPY BGLSKFMA;WE

TANG BGDSLFKMAOWE 

 WOW WHAT A WAY TO START AN EPISODE

DROWNNG

MEI WITH THAT “HOLD THAT THOUGHT” 

HELPGNSDFOAWE

WUKNOGNNGBDBFA;LJKMGB;OWEFMNAWEF

A LITTLE WATER NEVER HURT NO BGLNFG;OAWE

BUDDY 

BUDDY SAYS THE GUY WHO

WHO CANT’ FIGHT IN WATER

BUDDY THEY CAN DROWNGB;LDFMAOWEF

HE 

“wait… MORTALITY—“ 

THE 

HELPGSIAFNGB;OAWEIFNAOGHOAWEF

THAT’S SO FUNNY I’M ON THE FLOORBG;SN;FAOWEDF

HE’S SO STUPIDBGLSDKF;AGB;OAWEMNFE I LOVE HIM 

JUST STRAIGHT UP FORGETS THEY AREN’T IMMORTAL 

BRO PLS

SUN WUKONG 

BGLKDFMAOWE

HELP

HE’S JUST 

SO CONFIDENT IN THE OLD FRIEND THING I’M ON THE FLOOR

PLACING BETS ON THIS GUY HATES HIM AND IS GONNA LOCK HIM IN THE DUNGEON OR SOMETHING

OLD FRIENDS TEND TO DO THAT BGDS;KFM;OAWEF 

FRIEND MIGHT BE STRETCHING IT BGLSD;KFMAOWE YESSSS HELPGNB;FSANDFOWEF

BROOO

HOW’D U FIND THEM SO FAST BGKLFM;AWOEF 

I JUST

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH 

CRYING BGLSD;KMFA;OWE 

OKAY SO LIKE THE FACT WUKONG’S STANDING AT THE BACK OF THE GROUP A LOT

HE’S USED TO BEING IN THE FRONT BUT HE’S LIKE IN THE BACK A LOT BG;ALSMFOAWE 

THE

THEY’RE ALL

U STOLE IT MAN WHATCHU SAYING

U BG;DSFMA;OGAOWIEMFAWEF

WHEEZING

I LOVE HOW EXCITED MEI IS THO

I LOVE ALL OF TEHMMMM HECKING BGSDA;FM;AOWEF 

“SMILESSSS EVERYONE, SMILEZZZZZZ” 

HELPGBNDF;JAMN;OBAOFAWEF

WUKONG: JUST SMILE, BE CUTE, WE GOT THIS

INSTANTLY DROP KICKED HIS HEARTS BGSD;FNAOWEFHW

I’M

INTERESTING APPROACH CAUSE LIKE IN JTTW THIS DUDE IS TERRIFED OF THIS MONKEYGBF;AMOWEF 

LONG TIME NO SEE, GUESS THE HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF NOT SEEING HIM MADE THIS GUY GROW A BACKBONE 

I’M KIDDING I’M KIDDING I’D BE SCARED OF HTE MONKEY TOOBGSDFN;OAGAEWF

UHH

I’M SORRY BUDDYYYYY

I DON’T SEE YOU DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT

SCOLDING THE MONKEY WHEN U SITTING HERE ON YOUR HIGH HORSE—HIGH DRAGON ACTING LIKE YOU’VE DONE ANTYING TO STOP THIS WHILE WUKONG’S TRYING HIS HARDEST 

MAN

WE’LL I’VE DECIDED THIS GUY CAN GO SUCK AND EGG 

MONKEY KING TRYING THE INTIMIDATION HE DID LAST TIME AND GETTING NERFED

TRICKSTER

MAN THE FACT THEY’RE ALL JUST STANDING THERE WATCHING HIM GET YELLED AT BEAT UP AND BLAMED FOR SOMETHING HE REALLY COULDN’T DO MUCH ABOUT

MAN 

AW

SEES THE SWORD

STOPS BEING SO JERK CAUSE FAMBLY

STILL HATE HIM

BUT Y’KNOW 

I LOVE MEI THO

SHE’S EVERYTHING 

SHE’S SUCH A PROTECTOR AND I’M HOLDING HER SO FREAKING GENTLY 

UM I’M 

CONCERNED ABOTU MEI ACTUALLY QUICK TANGENT HERE

Usually the protectors get nerfed, possessed, loose their humanity or trapped under a mountain for five hundred years so like I’M CONCERNED ABOUT HER NOW THANKS THE THEME OF EVERYONE BEING BEHIND HER AND HER BEIGN THE PROTECTOR IS IMMENSLY CONCERNING ACTUALLY HEKCINGBGF;SNF;AOWE

okay moving on 

GHGHSDLFSDJ THE 

“My brother”

Mk: SO LIKE SORRY TO INTERUPT THIS WHATEVER IT IS— 

THE OFFENDED SOUND I MADE

WHEN HE STARTED YELLING AT MK

I’M SORRY YOU WANNA DIE BUDDY 

HE MADE HIM CRY

MK HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS

I’M GONNA STAB THIS OLD MAN

HOW DARE U 

UP TIGHT STUFFY SNOB NOSED SON OF 

i’m good moving on bG;AEWRJWA4OHF

SANDY

“WHAT’D I DO??” 

MEIIIII NOOOOO

DON’T SEPERATE THEMMMMM

;A; 

OH

HI

THAT LITTLE 

THING BETWEEN MEI AND WUKONG WITH THE COMUNICATON

SO HE’S NOT TOTALLY POWERLESS

BUT THE MENTAL TALK 

GOOD STUFF 

WALKIE TALKIES BUT BETTER

WHAAAAT

SANDY ON CLEAN UP DUTY? 

RUDE

R U D E 

I CAN’T BEELIVE THEY LOCKED EVEYRONE ELSE UP AND THEN ASSIGNED SANDY CLEAN UP DUTY HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSEBKLG;SD;FAEM

THE DOORS

HOW MANY LOCKS DO YOU—

“MY MOTHER WAS RIGHT” 

BGSD;LKFMAWEO; TANG PLEASEB;G;MAWE

TAAANG WHAT DO YOU MEEEANNNN

THE RELFLECTIONS IN HIS GLASSES HE’S SO STUPDIGBSLD;FM;AOWGHAOWEFM

OHHHH THAT’S SO FUNNYYYYY

TANG TURNS ON EVERYONE AND ANYONE AT A MOMENTS NOTICE AND IT’S SO FUNNYGBFDSF;BGA;WOFWE

Pigsy. My beloved. 

I love him 

so much

he’s doing amazing

YOU’RE DOING AMAZING SWEETIE 

THERE IS

A SKELETON 

ON THE WALL

JUST PROCESSED TAHT BGSD,;AMAOGVHAWEF

PIGSY HOW MANY SPOONS DO YOU HAVE IN THEREBGLSADN;FOAGOAF

Love that motto ain’t nothing a spoon can’t fix BGL;AWEMFOW

AH THEY’VE DRESSED UP MEI

SHE LOOKS AMAZING BUT BACK OF BACK OFF BACK OFF BACK OFBGJASNF;AOWEHF

BARKING AT THEM /NEG

TACKLES KICKS PUCNHES THROWS THE DUMB GREAT GRANDPA UNCLE OUTSIDE 

THE JACKET

SHUT UP I SEE THE JACKET

MK’S JACKET

SES 3 JACKET

GRABS IT

DOES SHE GIVE IT TO HIM? 

DOES HE SNATCH IT HIMSELF??

GET IT GRAB IT GIVVVVVVV

I LOVE MEI SO FREAKING MUCH THOOOOOO

YEAAAHHH

GET ER MEI

GET THE 

YESS

STAB DRESS

U LOOK FAB GIRL

GET ER

HAHAHHAHAAHA

GET THE JACKET YESYEYEYSYEYYEYSYEYYESYSEYEYES

K BYEEEEEEEEEE

WUKONG ALSO 

THEM

YES

VIBES

MEI GRABBED THE JACCKEEETTT

DID SHE GRAB THE JACKET WITH MK IN MIND? BGSD;FMAW;OE

YELLSSSSS

SANDYBGDSLKFMWE

THE MO

MO

WITH THE GUARDS BGSDLKFMAWE

HELP[GND;SLFNAWGFWE

BE FUNNY IF THEY GOT THE GUARDS TO HELP THEM CAUSE MO BG;DSLKFAMAWE

PROBS NOT BUT A GUY CAN DREAM BGSALKFJ;AWE

THE FACT THAT

MEI’S HOUSE IS MORE GRAND THAN THE DRAGON KING’S ACTUAL PALACE BGSADLKFM;AWE

I think we know who the richer brother is— 

gGBSDLFJA;E /J /J 

RUDE

HATE THIS GUY 

UHHHH

YOU STOLE FROM THEM FIRST BUDDY 

RUDE

RUDE

PUNCH HIM 

HER FAM IS HER MONKEI FAM AND PARENTS HECK OFF ANGSTY EMO GRANDPA 

MAN MONKEY TRYING HARD NOBODY TRUST HIIIMMM

which like fair man he has no idea what he’s doingbg;lnase;ofaweof

WE HAVE TO TRY

DARN RIGHT

AIN’T NO GIVING UP

GET IT

SHE’S WAY COOLER THAN U GRANDPA

NO NO NO NON 

NO 

NO HOLD UP GO BACK

NOP[E

NOEPGN;SDFA;EWOF

NOPE NOOEP NOEP 

NOPE NOT NOT NAH NAT NO NOT THAT 

BG;SDLKAFN;AOWE

SIR

NO

IF Y

HEY

NONE OF THAT

STOP THAT

GO BACK

HECK YOU

NOT 

NO

NONONONON

NONO

OKAY

YOU 

SHUT UP

NOT

NO OKAY

HECK

THEORIES TIME IG 

MEI IS ACTUALLY A PIECE OF THE SAMADHI FIRE THAT WAS LOCKED AWAY IN HER FAMILY AND SHE IS NOW THE ONE WHO HAS IT AND WE’RE GONNA HAVE TO LOSE MEI TO GET THE WEAPON I WAS RIGHT TO BE WORRIED

DRAGON KING FOOL CAN SEE THE FUTURE AND MEI GETS POSSESSED BY OR TRIES TO USE THE SAMADHI FIRE AND IT CONSUMES HER 

SCREAMS

I have

um

YEAH OKAY WE’RE FINE

I MEAN

GREEN FIRE

SCREAMS

SHE’S SO FIRE 

I’M

DYING

THIS IS NO

NOOOOOO

NONONONONNONONO

SHUT UPPPPP

SHUT UPS UTHSPOTUIPHW[‘GNHGFWE

NO

SHE’S MY FAV

ALL MY FAV’S

HECKING

SCREAMIG 

OKAY

OKAY WE’RE FINE

WE’RE FINE

TOTLAL,LY FINE

NOT FREAKING OUT

WE’RE FINE

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHHAAHA

SANDY IS SO FREAKING GOOD I LOVE HIM

THE GUARDSBGDSFM;AOE

SANDY TALENTED

SO GOOD

SO COOL

I’M STILL LOOKING AT MEI THO

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY

OKAY I’M FINE I SWEAR

Sandy: so i was trying to rebuild the ship 

Sandy: missed a step, it’s a car now, get in 

bgl;kjsdafom;B;ALFJFMAWEO

THE GUY ON THE WINDOWBGL;KAMFAOWE

pigs is working v hard. He’s lovely. He’s so good. Just wants to rescue take care and YEAH 

LOVE PIGSY BELVOED BG;SDMFAWE

MK LAUGH THERE

;A; 

JUST CHILLING

VIBIN

after LBD everything’s chill BGVALKEMFOW

WUKONG WERE U IN THE CELING????

BGS;DKLMF;AOGHOAWEMF

SANDY AND MEI’S SMILES BGS;LKDMF;AWOE 

I LOVE THAT THEY ALL WENT TO THE FRONT SEAT ABGLSKD;AMF;AOGHAWE

BEDS 

GOOD STUFF 

OLD MAN

TANG

WHATCHU TRYING TO SLAY

SAY

BGL;KSAMHGO;IUAWEMNFOGOAWE

HE’S

BOI DAT AIN’T EVEN IN YO DECADE LET ALONE UR GENERATION 

TANG USING SLANG IS BGD;LFMAWHFOWEF

I LOVE HIM BRUH PLS

welp, Mk had to have a dad who attempts to blend in with the teens to look cool

course it’s tang bG;LAWKJDFE

THE FACT THAT MEI’S FIRST THOUGHT WAS “OOO NEW JACKET FOR MK” IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THAT

YOUR HONOUR I LOVE THEM

THEY ARE BEST FRIENDS

THEY ARE EVERYTHING TO ME BG;SDMFAOWIEF 

MK’S SO EXCITED TOO

JUST

BEST FRIENDS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH BG;SDAMF;AOWE 

ITS OKAY PIGSY 

WE KNOW U WORKED VERY HARD UR DOING AMAZING 

“OH MY SWEET AND SOUR PIGSY” 

I love the fact that everyone calls him “my sweet pigsy” at some point 

sandy

sandy 

sandy

buddy 

“i lost the instructions so i just built the equivalent to a multi-tool vehicle that can be exactly what we need whenever we need it for the rest of time” 

BHG;KLJDSNAOGBOIWEMFAWEF

he’s so smart tho 

SANDY??

DID YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOU NAMED IT?? 

HELP???

 BG;SLDKMAF;OGHAWOE

THE

OKAY SO LIKE

BUZZ OFF DK WE DON’T NEED YOU 

AND THEN THE EYES THING BG;DLSKFMAWE

SO EITHER

Wukong can literally sense Macaque’s presence 

Macaque literally outed his own sneak attack just so they could watch his cool entrance like  A NERD 

BG;KLSDANMFOHGOIWEFMWE PLS 

ALSO HIS CLONES SEEM TO BE SOLIDIFYING??? THEY HAVE UPGRADED TO COLOUR BG;LSAMFAOWE 

DK seems like he could be a semi-decent guy 

THE

The look between Mk and Wukong ;-;

I’m holding them so gently 

ALSO LIKE, SAMADHI FIRE IS LAST RESORT BUT IT COULD BE WORSE THAN LBD

then again they’ve locked it away before so :T 

GB;AFMWOE 

awwww

HE IS A HALF-DECENT NOT COWARD 

YAYYYYYYY

 MEI

I LOVE HER SM 

THE

AWWW BUDDY U DON’T LOOK SO MUCH LIKE A JERK WHEN U SMILE

sorry he actually looks very lovely his design is a bop and he actually looks like a very very intresting character i’m looking right at him 

LOOK AT THIS STUPID MONKEY

MACAQUE U BAFFOON

U LOVELY DORK

HE’S SO DUMBGLKSAMFOAEHW

I HATE HIM SO MUCHGBSAFKMAWEO /POS 

He looks fly underwater tho

ALSO HI MAC CAN BREATHE UNDER WATER HEY NEAT NOTED 

MAC OPENS HIS MOUTH AND I WANNA SAY SOMETHING SARCASTIC BACK AT HIM GBSDLFMNA;OGHAWE 

GET EM

GET EM OLD MAN 

YEEEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

THE

“you don’t really think you can stop me… right?” 

I’M S????

DUDE???

SOMETHING ABOTU THE WAY HE TALKS MAKES ME LIKE WANT TO HATE HIM BUT LIKE HIM AT THE SAME TIME HE’S SO STUPIDLY CHARASMATIC AND DUMB AT THE SAME TIME STAB HIM WHY ARE YOU WORKING FOR LBD YOU COMPLETE IDIOT YOU’RE SO STUPIDBGSDFNA;GHAWE

WWOOOOWWWW

I WANNA MAKE AN AMV SO FREAKING BAD 

DID SHE BOOST HIS POWERS OR SOMETHING????? CAUSE LIKE DANG HE CAN MAKE CLONES, SMOKE MONSTER— 

no wait yeah no this is normal. thinking about his first appearance. he does all the same stuff. uses smoke monster and clones at the same time

yeah nvm we’re good bGKLAWMEF 

that FRAME

HOL UP

THE

YSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

THAT FRAME IS SO GOOD

THE WHEN HE’S LUNGING AND THE DK AND MAC IN THE SAME FRAME HELLOOOOO THAT IS SUCH A METAL LOOKIN FRAME BRUH STARING RIGHT AT IT BG;LKSDAMFAOWE 

the LAST BIT

THAT ECHOY LAUGH IN BOTH HEADPHONES

SURROUNDING

HEY IS THAT FORSHOWDOWING?? SAYING THEIR CLOSING IN???

OH YEAH????

MAN

MAN

MAN

HECKING

GOSH THIS EP

GONNA FISTFIGHT IT

WHAT A BOP

HECK U

HECK U

HECK U

GB;SDKLFM;OIJAOWE SCREAMING SO FREKAING LOUDLGYSDLFA;KEWJFOAWE

I LOVE THE ENDING CARD SO MUCH THO WITH THE MONKEY 

GOOD STUFF 

[skellebonez]

Happy Birthday Winter!

Hey @winterpower98 it's your birthday! I really hope you enjoy this, I know I had a ton of fun writing it for you! Actor AU is one of my favorite AUs you've made and coming back to play around with it again was a blast and a half!

Painter MK cackled, taking the brushes filled with bright pink paint into his fists.

“Yes, yes!” He exclaimed, brushing them against his cheeks and bringing another to run up the center of his face. “The art is-OW! OW, THE ART IS IN MY EYE!”

“Cut!” The director yelled, bringing the entire film production to a halt in an instant. “Xiaotian, what happened?”

The young actor dropped the paintbrushes into the hands of a stage worker to rushed over to help him, one hand covering his right eye as he tried to keep himself from laughing. “I think some of it splashed when I waved the brush at my face. I guess the art really IS-”

“Don’t say it,” Heshang said from the other side of the set, doing his best not to join his co-star in laughter.

“-seeping into my pores!”

The entire cast and crew groaned as Xiaotian cackled again, with a few added ows, before another stage hand came by with a bottle of water.

~3…2…1~

“Uh…” Xiaojiao pulled, attempting to pull the prop sword from above her head out of the wall only to be met with… a lot more resistance than should probably be there. “UH…? It’s stuck?”

She stood, attempting to pull it out normally only to be met with just as much resistance.

“It’s stuck!” She laughed, out, bracing a foot on the wall with no change.

“Let me try,” General Ironclad, or rather Red in the costume of General Ironclad for the episode, offered, attempting to do the same with the exact same result as his co-star. “What did you use to hold this in place? Cement!?”

“It should have only been stuck in with force!” A stage hand yelled as Xiaotian and Heshang joined in, both failing to pull the sword out from the false wall and Heshang nearly toppling over backwards with his additional costume pieces.

“Whoever stuck that in there needs to be moved to making sure the safety equipment stays connected!” Xiaotian offered, watching as even more people tried to remove the sword. “That is not coming out.”

~3…2…1~

Heshang held Mo in his arms, waltzing around the set as he waited for places to be called for with the shockingly content feline in his arms.

~3…2…1~

“You are selling beautiful vegetables today?” Pigsy said, leaning over the the display to give an awkward smile to the disguised Spider Queen.

Tang looked over the produce from where he knelt, looking back up at his companion with a concerned and confused look. “Are you… a-are-PFT-FUCK.”

Everyone on set burst into laughter as Tang did, both of his fellow actors holding back from laughing themselves.

“Why is it this line!?” Tang yelled in frustration as he continued laughing. “It’s not a hard line! I wrote this line! Why do I keep laughing at the last word!?”

“Maybe if Ganglie wasn’t making goo-goo eyes at me you’d keep straight face,” Zhi-Zhu Jing managed to get out through her laughter.

“That’d be the only thing straight about me.”

~3…2…1~

Dicky Cheung, or the actual Sun Wukong disguised as a human actor in full costume of himself, took a running leap and jumped onto the counter of Pigsy’s noodles, sliding to a perfect stop with a wink toward the camera.

~3…2…1~

“MK, there’s something I wanted to tell you…” Mei said, looking at MK with sparkles in her eyes before snickering. “Stop looking at me like that, it’s hard enough to keep a straight face during this scene!”

“Sorry!” Xiaotian yelled to the camera. “I can’t help it! How are Jin and Yin this wrong about these two in the show?”

“Himbos!” was the shouted answer from Tang at the other end of the set.

~3…2…1~

“One of the rare talents that no one knew the great Sun Wukong possessed…” Xiaojiao said ominously, camera panning over to Mr. Cheung in full costume. “Surprisingly good peach juggling!”

“Gotta keep myself occupied somehow!” The actor laughed out, catching two peaches in either hand while the last one was caught perfectly in his mouth to the applause of everyone watching.

~3…2…1~

“Thanks for the Key los-AH!”

Red flung his arms wildly, key flying into the air as Tie Shan rushed forward and caught him just before he face planted into the ground.

“Mine!” Mr. Cheung yelled as he caught the key mid air and rushed through the frame.

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THIS EPISODE!”

~3…2…1~

“Thank you… for giving me all o-ooh, whoa!” Lui Er Mihou, or unbeknownst to nearly all Six-Eared Macaque in disguise much the same way as Sun Wukong was, yelped as the cable that was supposed to gently raise him and make him look like he was floating yoinked him as good 4 feet off the ground way too fast. “That’s too much power!”

“SORRY!” The line operator shouted, fiddling with the controls. “Someone loaded the weight setting for Xiaotian into your line instead of yours.”

“I already feel bad enough treating him like garbage and beating him up in this role, this is just rubbing salt in the wound,” Liu Er muttered, leaning back and swinging limply much to the amusement of everyone who couldn’t hear him before raising his voice. “When will my beloved friend Sun Wukong come to rescue me?”

“SPEAK MY NAME AND I SHALL APPEAR!”

Liu Er yelped in surprise as Mr. Cheung rushed in and grabbed him from beneath to hold him bridal style with a shit eating grin. He couldn't help the flush on his cheeks in response.

“HOW DO YOU KEEP SHOWING UP IN SHOTS WHEN YOU AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE YET!?” The director yelled with more than a little amusement in his voice despite the disruption.

~3…2…1~

“You!” DBK said, rounding on Red Son. “You have brought me nothing but failure! Time and time again! I keep telling you I… shit, I can’t remember the next line when you look that sad, I am so sorry.”

“Nothing but disappointment?” Red offered helpfully, immediately breaking out of his downcast somber gaze to the floor with a wide smile.

“It is scary how fast you get in and out of character sometimes, kid,” Niu Mowang laughed out, clearly resisting the urge to ruffle the younger actor’s hair lest he ruin the styling job that took far too long every time they got dressed.

~3…2…1~

The White Bone Spirit stood at the entrance to the Silken Web Cave, looking at the camera before far too much time passed from when she was supposed to say he line. She moon walked backwards out of the frame without changing her expression one bit as the other actors devolved into cackles.

~3…2…1~

“The Year of the Spider starts tonight!” Spider Queen proclaimed from her high vantage point before she muttered something under her breathe, narrowing her gaze and then looking off to the side. “Or next year ‘cause I don’t remember my line.”

~3…2…1~

Huntsman slowly lowered into frame, upside down and gripping the rigging holding him up like Spiderman.

~3…2…1~

“Oh yeah?” Sun Wukong said, appearing in frame as he walked down the wall MK was embedded in. He grabbed his staff, yanking it out of the wall and jumped down and smacked the wall with it.

… only for it to go through the wall once again and crack it. Or, rather, the false wall that was on a tilted angle to make it look like he was talking down it, rather than a heavily slanted floor.

“I’m sorry!” Mr. Cheung yelled, looking at the damage he caused. “I must have hit at weak spot!”

He hoped no one noticed that when MK offered to get the prop staff for this shot and put it into the wall… he grabbed the real one by accident.

~3…2…1~

Nui Mowang held the little bird that was Wukong’s transformation stand in for one of the final scenes, gently petting the little head with a big goofy smile on his face.

~END~

The entire cast sat around on various travel tables right outside the small Lunar New Year Festival set they had set up, various extras that had answered the open invitation for the shoot going about and getting the free food that was available at the functional stalls provided by the catering they had hired.

It was an odd sight to see Red Son and Spider Queen and Sun Wukong and everyone else sitting around together, but Liu Er Mihou being there outside of his Macaque costume broke the illusion a little bit.

It was the final day of shooting for the season 2 opening special to Monkie Kid, Revenge of the Spider Queen, and everyone was there. Even people who didn’t have to come in wanted to give a temporary farewell to Tie Shan, Nui Mowang, and Red before season 2 proper began shooting. There was still a chance they could bebcalled in for bit roles, the scripts weren’t entirely finished yet, but as far as anyone knew the Demon Bull Family wasn’t going to be returning properly any time soon.

Maybe in season 3, Tang had teased, holding the begun scripts for that in his little tablet away from prying eyes. And they were always welcome to help out in bit roles, background characters or voice over or to use their other talents to work other jobs that were needed around the set.

But even before then it would be a while.

And so that’s how Red found himself sandwiched between Long Xiaojiao and Qi Xiaotian, with the newly added member of their quartet in her full White Bone Spirit costume hanging over his shoulder to watch the compilation that Xiaojiao had expertly edited on her phone for them all.

“The director gave me permission to use whatever I wanted and I though that… maybe we could all have it for ourselves,” Xiaojiao offered, pulling up the wireless transfer option on her phone. “To watch when we miss each other being on set together. I know we’re going to probably be back together with Red Son eventually! But…”

“I’ll miss shooting with you too,” Red said smiling softly as he pulled out his own phone to accept the file. “Hopefully Mr. Tang isn’t just teasing us about season 3.”

[silentwalrus1]

“In cases such as these, mercy does not only endanger my son, Honored Princess,” Zhiqi Yao said - primarily to Mei, though not so subtly to Ed and Al with her, because they hadn’t been able to hide that they weren’t exactly thrilled with the results. “It risks everyone who protects him. If we do not make an example of those who attempt such bloody acts - if we do not make the risk greater than the potential reward - our people will know that we do not defend them. (1/2)

They will know that we are happy to throw away their lives and their loyal service for the sake of traitors and criminals.” She’d swept her fancy embroidered sleeves out, gesturing at the masked and hooded guards stationed around the room. “For it is our own beloved retainers who jump in the way of the blade, and take the blows meant for us, protecting us with their very lives. Deng Jun. Cao Lan Fan. Cao Xie. Cao Wei. Deng Zhang Min. (2/3)

Do we not owe them nothing less than the wholest commitment of our hearts, and the fullest extension of our power?” Mei had silently bowed. Ed and Al had bowed with her. They didn’t like it. They understood. (3/3) so i i wanted to choose something from the political discussion for the dvd commentary thing. it was hard not to just copy paste the whole thing in here but this was probably one of my fave parts.

————

AYYY THE YAO CLAN

aka: when Ling took the throne, it wasn’t some 15 year old kid, it was the entire Yao clan. HE isn’t emperor, his whole family is. (Well, okay, he’s emperor, but that’s the whole point - if some teenager gets on the throne WITHOUT very strong close backing, he’s gonna get murdered in the first five minutes by someone who does.) And we canonically know that the Yao clan are huge and powerful and have retainer clans of their own, just as we know that Ling - important enough strategically to have had assassins repeatedly sent after him from the cradle - was allowed to go to Amestris, alone, with only a teenager and an old man as bodyguards. To chase after a fairy tale.

This means whoever heads Yao considered Ling if not disposable then at least an acceptable loss. This means that Yao clan considers themselves in a good enough position that they don’t NEED Ling, their legal claim to the throne, to advance. And that tells me that the Yao clan are not a single politically united entity (which makes sense, if they’re so big) and that there are competing factions within the family. Ling goes looking for something to DEFINITIVELY seal his claim, with minimal resources, meaning that within the Yao he is not the shoo-in successor for the clan, let alone the imperial seat. Ling goes looking for outside leverage, on a VERY slim chance of success, with the bare minimum of support, which tells me, okay, probably at least some of those assassins were coming from inside the house, and he does not have a lot of supporters.

But he has some, and he was taught to fight, and fight well, and Fu and Lan Fan aren’t slouches, and they are VERY loyal to him - generationally loyal, which Ling wouldn’t have gotten on his own. Moreover, once Ling DID present himself as a viable candidate worthy of backing, he managed to take the throne and keep it.

So I was like, aight, given all these factors plus Ling’s dad is the emperor, what’s Ling’s mom like? What does the rest of his family look like? What made Ling look like a not very successful choice for the Yao to put forth as their inheritance candidate? Given all that, I was like okay, Ling’s mom is probably hedging her bets and doesn’t keep all her eggs in one basket, which means she probably has like eight other kids in the wings, including a son very close in age judged to look enough like Ling in certain lighting, along with several strategic husbands to help her juggle her position as the Imperial Consort and mother of the official 12th Prince of Xing. When the Emperor got sick and laid out his conditions for naming a successor, he essentially told everyone: I won’t name a successor, it’ll be an outright power struggle between you all, so you may as well get started. And under those conditions, Ling was NOT considered in the running at all, because he was allowed to fuck off to Amestris to go on a wild goose chase to hunt something everyone thought doesn’t exist, which means his mom probably kissed his forehead and told him good luck and then turned to Ling’s half brother Zhongce like “okay well he’s DEFINITELY gonna die. Looks like you’re up, kid”

But then Ling SUCCEEDS, and that gets him crowned, which means a lot of important powerful people backed him in a hurry. Which probably means Ling’s mom, as Imperial Consort who officially represents the Yao, probably saw their chance and did the political equivalent of HEY EVERYONE LOOK OVER HERE, THE RIGHTFUL KING HAS PULLED THE SWORD FROM THE STONE! Good job honey, well done, don’t hate your brother for keeping the seat warm for you, HUP HUP HUP EVERYBODY LET’S GO GO GO WE HAVE A PALACE TO TAKE

All that to say - the Yao clan knows power, and is familiar with what it takes to maintain your position at the top. And stuff like publicly executing your enemies isn’t just for the hell of it, it’s a deliberate strategy to maintain power in their political landscape. What Zhiqi says is absolutely true: if the Yao don’t demonstrate that they go above and beyond to protect their people, they immediately lose allies and paint a target on the vulnerable in their care, because those people WILL be used as leverage to destabilize them. And Zhiqi ain’t stupid: she can see she needs to placate two powerful allies in Ed and Al, and she knows exactly how to do it, by telling the truth and explicitly making it real by pointing out that people they know and care about (Lan Fan and her family etc) are in danger if the Yao don’t do enough to consolidate their position. That’s what being in charge means: you have final responsibility, for everything. The price of being at the top is having to maintain it, because if you fall, it’s not just gonna be your head on a pike, it’s gonna be everyone who helped you get there.

[lazuliquetzal]

a miscellaneous collection of jokes cut from AA Batteries

none of these snippets are meaty enough to warrant their own post, so i'll just group them all here!

this mostly scenes and jokes that don't really go anywhere.

1. The Joke I've Been Trying To Shove In Since Chapter 3

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard all week, and I’ve heard Kuramochi-senpai claim that Eijun has a girlfriend,” Akira snaps.

2. The Deleted Introspective Chicken Monologue

The first time Akira saw Narumiya Mei pitch, way back in the beginning of the summer, he was inexplicably reminded of their neighbor’s chicken coop.

“What?” Haruichi asked, when Akira voiced his observation.

“Loud,” Akira had explained. “And kind of terrifying?”

“You’re talking about chickens, right? The things that lay eggs and cluck around all day?”

“Obviously, you’ve never been chased by a flock of angry chickens.”

Kominato Haruichi, born and raised in the suburbs of Kanagawa Prefecture, didn’t seem to fully appreciate the comparison, but at least he tried to.

“In that case,” he’d said, struggling to grasp the metaphor, “Eijun is kind of like a flock of chickens too, right?”

“No, it’s —” Akira huffed. “Chickens don’t care. All they do is eat and poop. There’s nothing but violence going on in their heads. That’s what he reminds me of.”

“That’s kind of a strong opinion to have on a person you’ve never met,” Haruichi said.

“Oh, I don’t know what he’s like as a person,” Akira said with a shrug. “But as a player, he seems rather bloodthirsty.”

Akira had never caught for a pitcher like that. Eijun was Eijun, and Furuya was Furuya, and Nori-senpai and Tanba-senpai were themselves. But Naruimiya Mei seemed like another beast entirely — ambitious and fierce and proud, complete with the skill to back it up. He’d asked Miyuki-senpai about it later, and even though he’d barely answered, he’d gotten enough information to confirm his suspicions.

But it wasn’t until weeks later, after everything, that he’d been able to truly appreciate the danger of Narumiya Mei.

They were sitting in the stands, just after beating Sensen Academy, watching Inajitsu play Sakurazawa. Eijun had been sitting next to him, and they’d watched the game with wide eyes.

“I want to catch that knuckleball,” Akira said, upon seeing Sakurazawa’s ace.

“Of course you do,” Eijun laughed. He elbowed him in the side. “I bet you’d have been a knuckleballer if you were a pitcher. He even has the same name as you.”

“Maybe,” Akira shrugged. He lowered his voice so that the senpai couldn’t overhear. “I know they want revenge, but I’m kind of rooting for Sakurazawa.”

“Public school representation,” Eijun agreed.

But it wasn’t to be. Slowly, steadily, Inashiro Industrial had worn away at the ground under Sakurazawa’s feet. It was the first time Akira had witnessed such offensive defense.

It wasn’t like Eijun, spirited and fearless. Narumiya Mei’s pitching was insidiously perfect, a wall that couldn’t be overcome, a light so bright that it scared you away into the shadows. He was loud, like Eijun, and he was tricky, like Eijun, but Narumiya Mei just felt different.

Like he wasn’t looking at you. Like he had bigger giants to slay.

Inajitsu won, and Seidou’s baseball team boarded their bus and headed back to campus, and Akira took a nap.

Later, that same day, he would fight with his brother. He wasn’t thinking of Narumiya, then, but he would think of him later.

Eijun’s stronger than that, he told himself, after letting Miyuki Kazuya run out and chase down Eijun. He obviously doesn’t need me. He won’t break. Not for baseball.

But Narumiya Mei was an opponent he’d never faced before. Fierce, violent, and out for blood. Like a chicken, as stupid as that sounded.

Sometimes, it’s the stupid things that you have to look out for.

3. The Akagi Team Group Chat

“Where’s my phone? I have to tell everyone that we won.”

“Oh, use mine,” Eijun says, and he holds out his phone. “That way Wakana won’t get mad at me for not checking in.”

Akira rolls his eyes, but unlocks Eijun’s phone anyway and opens up the Akagi group chat.

!!!!! GUYS WE WNON A GAME IM LOSING MY MIND

eyyyyyy noice

Congrats, Eijun!

aki is that you? tell your brother to stop being a coward and respond to my messages

wtf wakana how did you know

ei only messages first when he finishes a manga and wants seiichi to write fanfic for it

Eijun rips his phone out of Akira’s hands.

I DO NOT????/?

hi ei, stop being a coward and respond to my messages

4. Teenagers are Idiots

Akira hovers in the first-years’ conversation, occasionally chiming in. It’s not until they’re halfway to the parking lot that reality finally hits.

“Holy crap!” Akira exclaims, nearly walking into a pole. Luckily, Kanemaru catches him by his windbreaker before he can bruise his face.

“You good?” He asks, lifting an eyebrow.

“We just played baseball,” Akira says, instead of answering the question.

“Why are you like this?”

“We just played baseball!” Akira repeats, still disbelieving. He swivels around and grabs Eijun’s sleeve. “Ei, slap me!”

Eijun doesn’t hesitate. He slaps him so hard that Akira almost falls over.

“Ow! That hurt!”

Toujou snickers while Kanemaru grimaces.

“What did you think would happen?”

“I don’t know?” Akira says. “Oh my god, it’s been so long since I’ve played in a real game! I think I’m high on adrenaline!”

Kanemaru looks at him incredulously. “Who are you?”

“Oh, no,” Eijun says, groaning. “I forgot about this part. Akira, you’re going to crash so hard later.”

Akira laughs. “Pfft, this isn’t middle school anymore, I’m fine! We just shut down Teitou High! I’m invincible!”

_

The next thing he remembers is Eijun shaking him awake.

“Go away,” Akira grumbles. “Leave me alone to die.”

5. EijunxTire OTP

“Your fielding sucks too, dumbass,” Miyuki reminds him. “And take that thing off. This is a warm-up jog, you’re going to strain yourself.”

“No need!” Eijun announces. “During my banishment, I spent several weeks in the company of my beloved tire! We have a bond that goes beyond that of an athlete and his training tool! This is nothing!”

“Sawamura!” Coach Kataoka yells from across the field. “This is a warm-up! Take the tire off!”

Eijun stiffens. “Yes, boss!” He yells back, and he stops to untie the tire.

[purble-turble]

...King Red attacking MK's birth parents. Because he think it'll please MK to be rid of them and it also angers him that they had the most perfect person in the world as their son and they threw him away. (Some pictures of MK pre-coming out are burned, while others Red takes to place in his collection.)

Oooooh MK’s parents... I’ve had some ideas about what happens to them in King Red’s universe for awhile now and I thought I had already shared them, but going back to check it seems that I have not. So let me do that..

When Red Son was dating MK for that one month they were actually together, he learned probably near the end of it about MK’s parents. They were manipulative and terrible and ended up basically throwing him out as a seventeen year old and they never accepted him for who he is... MK tells him this kind of in hushed tones, looking more solemn than Red has ever seen him before, but he ends the explanation with a bright smile and a quick wave of his hand saying but that’s alright he’s over it! He has a new family now, one who loves him. And he’s got Red Son now too! But the idea that MK would be treated that way.. that the people who were fortunate enough to know MK and raise him, the ones who were supposed to love him unconditionally, the fact that they would abuse him and reject him?? It’s infuriating! Red definitely goes diving for more information, but MK won’t provide it. He really wants to put it behind him, and despite the fact that they’re terrible, he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to his parents. They’re his parents, yknow? Red does not drop it, he just stops asking MK. Instead he goes to Mei. She’s pleased to share with her best buddy Red Son that she knows who MK’s parents are (having been his friend since before he transitioned and left their terrible house) and she makes a regular habit of going over there and sneakily causing chaos for them. She tells Red that she’ll be more than happy to have him along on her next mission to break into their house and slash their car tires and steal their couch cushions.

Red Son is looking forward to pulling some pranks on MK’s parents, but before he gets the chance he is contacted by his own parents.. it’s time for their plan to go down. Suddenly he has more pressing matters to worry about, like keeping MK from being killed by DBK and PIF. Then he’s got MK as a prisoner guest in his palace and is focused on keeping him there and happy, and the thought of getting revenge against cruel, controlling parents slips from his mind... So he never does learn who MK’s parents are or where they live.. luckily for them.

Then, much much later, Demon King Red is brought a report from their surveillance of the Monkie Kid. Seems that a pair of older humans showed up at Pigsy’s noodles and started harassing him as he tried to get into the noodle cart. They called him Xiaotian and used the wrong pronouns and seemed to be upsetting MK... it was hard to say what they wanted, though there was talk of money and MK owing them, but the reporting demon says they mostly seemed to be there to intimidate the Monkie Kid. They were considering stepping in to help their king’s beloved but the pig chef chased the two humans off before that was necessary. As King Red listens he gets more and more excited.. the terrible mortals who tormented his darling MK through his childhood have made themselves known at last. His spy was diligent too- this one encounter contained more than enough information for him to find them. And so he does. He learns that MK’s parents are actually pretty rich. They’re an aristocratic family with friendly ties to Mei’s (explaining their childhood friendship) and they live within the city in a fabulous mansion.. but not for long.

Once he has an address King Red goes off on his own to confront them. Maybe when he firsts arrives they’re not home, so he has a look around. The manor is expansive and kind of garish in Red’s opinion.. like they’re trying too hard to show off their wealth. He already hates them but the arrogance he sees here from these mortals is just embarrassing. They may be rich by human standards but they’re still just peasants compared to himself, and his own palace puts this to shame anyway. Unlike his palace, however, he notices a distinct lack of anything related to MK. Red is sure to put his love for his darling on display wherever possible and the fact that his so called parents haven’t got so much as a framed photo of him on a side table is infuriating! After some searching he finally does find a trace of his beloved... in some boxes down in the basement. The king rifles through them, his heart feeling so full as he finds pictures of a tiny infant MK looking absolutely adorable in little orange pajamas~ (he thinks absently about how cute their own kids will be someday) but his excitement on finding such cute memorabilia drains pretty quickly as he continues shuffling through. The pictures get less and less cute. MK’s face looks less and less happy as he gets older. The orange clothes get replaced by pink and flowers and frills. He looks miserable... Red stops looking, he doesn’t want to see the rest. He takes the handful of cute early pictures and burns the rest of the boxes.

Shortly after, he starts to hear movement upstairs. He goes up to greet his in-laws and let them know exactly what he thinks of them.

MK doesn’t receive any remains in the mail this time around. Red doesn’t want his darling to ever have to think about those horrific humans ever again, so he doesn’t send him a reminder of them.. he just erases them from existence. Once he gets done with them (and believe me he takes his time) all that’s left is ashes. Then he turns his sight on the manor and burns that into nothing as well.. much more quickly and efficiently than he did with them though.

Word of his parents demise doesn’t take too long to reach MK, though. A huge, fancy house catching fire and burning to the ground with them in it is a pretty big news story... the second after he hears about it, though, MK puts it out of his mind. If he ponders on what must have happened he’ll go into a panic spiral and he can’t deal with that. He’ll just believe what the news reported: that it was an accident.... the alternative is too hard to think about.

[potatotrash0]

So I just started playing honkai and since ur the only person that I know plays and I have no fucking clue what I'm doing any advice? (Also I havnt even played past the tutorial, I havnt even met the character yet, and idk what you thought but kiana seems pretty gay for mei because her literal first to lines about her are "I wonder what she'll make us for dinner!" and "Mei! Am I gonna meet up with Mei?!" Like I'm probably wrong but idk it just seems a bit 💅)

Oh Kiana’s totally head over heels for Mei dkfjskfjsk. I used to main her and jesus christ I had to hear her gush about Mei so many times a day ;;;;;;; one of her idle lines is basically “it’s so sunny outside!! This would be a perfect time to go on a date with Mei…..”

Sigh. That girl’s pining so hard it’s ridiculous. Love her. KiaMei my beloved <3333 dkfjskjdksjd

Anyways moving on, take all of this with a grain of salt bc I am not by any means a Professional Honkai Player skfjskdjks. I’ve looked up exactly Zero tutorials and done exactly Zero tests, I’m just spewing what seems to work for me

Idk if you’re a completionist or not but like it might be good to mention dkfjskdnsk ah, 3-starring all the levels isn’t really necessary unless you want crystals for gacha pulls. Well they give other things too but I usually do it for crystals. Don’t worry about it early on, you can always go back later and redo the levels.

Open World mode is unlocked at Captain Level 18, but CL35 is when you unlock Adventure Tasks; that’s what I mainly use OW for. I find that it’s a good way to get gold and materials. They also give battlesuit fragments, so it’s good if you want a specific character. But I’ve only seen a few specific battlesuits given so like. Idk. But yeah Adventure Tasks are good.

Also btw there’s three different Open Worlds. It doesn’t matter which one you do, but there’s one called A Post-Honkai Odyssey. Idk if it’s unlocked already for you, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that one since you’re so early into the game. It’s not bad or crazy hard or anything, but I think it’s better if you get farther into the story before you start it. I’m not that far in and it kinda confused me ;;;;

Oh oh! If you can, use those stamina replenisher items as well as the HOMU boxes. They give you stamina and gold when you use them. Istg you can never have enough of those, especially later in the game. I’m like. Level 73 and I’m still literally always broke because I need to level up my characters ;;;;;; usually it’s leveling up skills that makes my money evaporate into thin air, but enhancing weapons and stigmatas has done that as well………

^^ two types of HOMU boxes, the right one gives you the most amount of gold.

^^ and then a few items that give you stamina when used. There’s a ton and they all look different. Both HOMU boxes and stamina items can be found in Equipment, you can filter it by Materials to make it easier to find them. If you’re not sure what they do, just tap on them and check the description, it’ll say smth like “use to get 60 stamina” or “use to get 1000 gold”

Idk what level it is specifically, but when you unlock the dorms, there’s a thing that generates both over time. You’ll wanna claim those as often as possible, I usually do it when I first log in. (While I’m talking about it, I’d recommend trying to log in every day at least. It’s not mandatory, but the daily rewards are really nice imo.)

^^ those are the things I’m talking about dkfjksjd I know it says beta testing on the bottom, but the official dorm base looks basically the exact same. The dorm bonuses are still on the right, I just don’t have my ipad with me to take actual screenshots and for some reason I couldn’t find any pics of the actual dorm screen for the life of me

There’s also weekday events if you go to Attack and then events. On Saturday and Sunday, you can do the Super HOMU Run thingy and it’ll give you a ton of gold.

Ummm stigmatas are good! And weapons. Try to level those up, they help a lot if you wanna do more damage. I used to just put random stigmatas on my Valkyries bc I had no clue what they did but!! They have like. Actual effects and stats that help more when they’re given to characters who would actually benefit from them dkfjskjxskjd. So characters who deal fire damage would benefit from stigmatas who buff/deal fire damage, characters who have a damage boost against enemies who are paralyzed benefit from stigmatas that paralyze enemies. Would not recommend putting stigmatas that buff ranged attacks on a character who fights melee aha ;;;;;; same situation with weapons and weapon skills. It isn’t like. Game breaking or anything if you do happen to put mismatched equipment on your characters, but it uhhh might help a little

It also helps to take advantage of the leader skills!

There’s not any set character that has The Best Bonus, it depends on what you need on that level. Personally I like boosted damage and attack speed but that’s because my playstyle is basically just ooga booga spam attack button

Hmmmm I think Q-Singularis is good to do? I’m bad at remembering to do it because up until like. Yesterday, I was maybe a little tiny bit bitter that it replaced a previous Abyss that I really loved, but the rewards for it are pretty good even if the bleed effect leaves my Valkyries on life support sometimes. (There’s also Dirac Sea, they rotate between the two. That one’s good as well, I’m pretty sure they give the same rewards but I might be wrong. Like I said, I forget to do them skfjskjdsknd)

Armadas are also pretty nice, they’re basically guilds/groups you can join that give you rewards based on how much you contribute. I think you unlock them fairly early on? You have to play consistently to not get kicked though. I forget to log in for months on end sometimes so I’m. Pretty frequently kicked out aha ;;;;;

I thiiink that’s enough aha ;;; feel free to ask about anything else! This was fun to do haha. (My UID is 101609594 if you wanna friend me :3 I’m stuck as Emilia on there bc Mihoyo won’t let me change my name but it’s me I promise dkfjskjdksjd)

[writing-frenzy]

I Wouldn’t Risk It (SVSSS Fic)

Summery: In which one annoyed Shang Huan does not know why he puts up with a certain Demonic Cultivator- “I owe you.” ah, that’s right.

Warning: some Violence and blood, and cursing. All good things to be found in svsss canon~

(In which @hamelin-born is a terrible, wonderful enabler, thus this is how it came about.)

EDIT: Part of Wager verse, first Part HERE

----

“Welcome to- oh wait it’s you.” Shang Huan started to greet some incoming customers, only to give the pair that came in a flat look instead.

“Greetings Uncle Shang!” Cao Mei, an actually adorable raven haired girl, her purple eyes so dark one could almost think they were black if it weren’t for certain lighting here and there. Puberty was obviously treating her well, seeing she must have been 19 at least, was developing some curves, her baby fat also finally melted off. But despite this, Shang Huan was unmoved, as for one, he wasn’t a fucking pedo, and two, he could easily see that same matching intelligence and calculation she inherited from her grandfather’s own dark purple eyes.

As expected of Wife #45; not only a knock out beauty in the making, but even had more IQ points then most, along with a more developed character and backstory then a lot of his later wife plots.

Though, he could admit he was taken off guard with her story then most; the cause of that being one certain person-

“I see the place hasn’t burnt down yet; congratulations for that.” was huffed by said anomaly, making Shang Huan focus his deadpan face on the other.

“Thanks, my kitchen staff is always trying though.” and no sooner were the words spoken, then what sounded like multiple firecrackers going off in said kitchen... He could even swear he saw what looked like a blue firework of a bird fly out from there, before one of his handy golems ate it as it passed...

Closing his eyes, Shang Huan counted to three, before opening them once more; he would never be able to count as high as he really wanted, but time was rarely on his side, so three it was. Hazel eyes once more opening, Shang Huan was able to look at a source of many headaches, one Dark Poison Sect Leader, Cao Xiaowen, a true doting grandfather who still looked like he was only in his late 20s, his blood red hair peppered with black from all the resentful energy surrounding him, and greys from stress of life actually catching up with him.

And a character that was never in Proud Immortal Demon Way, but yet again from one of his other stories; a Demonic Sect Leader that had just been a random background character, just to flesh out that world a bit more. He had only named because while he could get away without naming the Sect the guy made, it wouldn’t make sense to have Cao Xiaowen be nameless, seeing as he had bullshited a whole bunch of techniques this infamous and well known demonic cultivator was supposed to have made...

Making a face at that smiling face before him, Shang Huan felt some regrets; just some more to add to his pile stashed in his closet and under his floorboards, but what can one do? Especially with a story that seems to make sure he can never forget any of them, always seeming to push willing to push cheery, willful mistakes into his face.

i.e. the Demonic Sect Leader before him.

But then again, to see these two characters, Cao Xiaowen and Cao Mei connect here, in this living world of PIDW and other mash ups, was honestly rather amazing, just with Demonic Cultivation and the same last names... It was as fascinating as it was paranoia inducing. Cao Mei had been just another revenge wife plot, the young woman wanting vengeance against her Mother for killing her loved family members along with trying to kill her... as well as to save her young baby brother, who their Mother was trying to mold into her perfect image of Sect Leader. The girl had only been able to survive for as long as she did because one of her dying relatives had sacrificed themselves, turning themselves into her Spirit Familiar and protecting her...

.... And as for Cao Xiaowen, when he had mentioned how he went down in his end in his own story verse, Airplane had only said that it was due to betrayal and sacrifice, that being the only ending he gave the character...

(How many other fucking throwaway lines does he have to worry about ohmygodwhyisthishislife-)  

“...So, why do you choose now to darken my doorway?” Shang Huan asked, the unspoken ‘I-know-you-hate-this-place-much-less-willing-to-bring-your-beloved-granddaughter-with-you.’ not said, but easily heard.

“... You would be glad to know, but I must now introduce you to Sect Leader of the Dark Poison Sect, Cao Meihui.” Cao Xiaowen introduced as he motioned to the young girl. Shang Huan stared for but a moment before closing his eyes once more, even as whispers broke out all around them in his place, from the gambling tables to even the bar and restaurant.

This time he allowed himself to count to 10, as a treat.

“Follow me this way, Elder Cao, Sect Leader Cao.” and with a simple hand motion, a few of his workers already getting things done, the Ruby Room already to entertain his ‘guests’. It didn’t take to long after all, with his standards and staff precision, but he needed to make sure there was nothing to spy on in this conversation.

Because oh, does he have a lot to say right now.

Once the door was closed and all the silences spells and talismans in place, Shang Huan rounded on the now sitting pair, letting his hands slam on the service table before him.

“Can you not?!” Shang Huan seethed, even as Cao Xiaowen grinned, his heir now leader beside him shifting ever so slightly beside him, smartly making some space between them.

“Why, Shang Huan, what ever do you mean?”

“You politic in my place again and I will make sure to show the world just how much I can beat you into the ground.” was practically growled, Cao Xiaowen smartly raising his hands in surrender as he did. “Why the hell did you even need to do that, didn’t you already get the stalker bitch killed and dispersed last year? I distinctly remember being there for the mad ramblings.” 

-Urgh- he never wanted that much TMI into someone’s deluded sexual fantasies, especially rounding around this who-me? Demonic Cultivator! Body stealing and marrying the guy’s son just to get a possible chance at him, and then killing him and half his family when she still couldn’t get what she wanted to spite him?

Shang Huan doesn’t move, but that still doesn’t mean he’s not fighting a shiver of repulsion at the thought. Seeing the way Cao Xiaowen grimaced at the reminder, Shang Huan was actually starting to feel in a better mood. 

“While she and most of her supporters are now gone, traces of those who still hold sympathies for her and her ideals still remain.” the man scowled, even as he took out a small sachet, handing the small plain back over as he did.

Hmmm, spicy roasted melon seeds; say what you will about the man, he did know his bribes at least.

“They’re also trying to push my little didi to be the next Sect Leader, even though he never wanted it in the first place!” Cao Meihui scowled in turn, taking out a beautiful, yet still deadly battle fan to fan herself. “Really, he has suffered enough under that woman’s ‘care’, he should be able to choose however he wishes to live in life!”

Shang Huan doesn’t even wince at those words, even as he thinks on the poor fate of canon fodder Cao Yun, a young boy desperate to leave his harsh home circumstances, even joining a certain Righteous Sect set to be doomed and destroyed, loosing his home once again and setting him in turn on a doomed quest to stop Luo Binghe...

Well, considering the boy had left home at 15, and had only just turned that this year, maybe that path could be prevented; there were still plenty of other Sects still up and running when his protagonist came into power, maybe he could join one of those?

Still though, maybe he should give the kid a transportation talisman for his birthday; you can never have too many of those after all.

“That still does not explain why you had to announce Young Mei right in front of my store.”

“Please, it’s the perfect place too; not many completely neutral places around anymore, what with Hua Hua Palace trying to police everyone and dragging the other Righteous Sects into it... Speaking of which, they haven’t bothered you after last time, have they?” Cao Xiaowen asks, with what looks like could be actual concern in his eyes.... Ha-

“I’m pretty sure they won’t forget my warding anytime soon; not to mention the rest of the towns folk’s farewells.” Shang Huan replies dryly, remembering just how all those golden pricks were beautifully thrown from his store, some of his staff even joining in on the beatdown the protection brought forth. If he remembers right, it soon became a whole town wide event to run them all out. 

And when you have a whole town seemingly a melting pot filled with Spiritual beings, humans, and demons, they definitely are going to have their wounds to lick.

“But again, my place is, as you said Neutral; so why are you bringing in politics here? Announcements of a new Sect Leader should be only at official events or places that one is already allied with after all.” The Owner of the Gilded Plane asks lightly, those hazel eyes taking on a deadly touch, like molten liquid gold is taking over bronze, a sunset of colors being the last of the sky you will ever see, easily to see it all reflected in the blade at his side.

(Ah, how terrifying, seeing the threat of Fortune’s Favored all out to bare, Dujin Xue at his side, the spirit weapon willing and bloodthirsty to take out any threat to its master.)

For a moment, all is silent, before finally, the red haired cultivator takes from his sleeves, a few boxes simple in their decorations and yet obviously of the finest Jade.

“I almost forgot; I have with me some of the finest of Blight and Poison Talismans with me, not to mention my newest creations; a Pipa made with Blood Drain White Wood and using heart strings of an abyssal creature, painted with curse residue.” Cao Xiaowen motions to an opened box with said black and purple instrument with white accents, truly a work of art and power, even unbound as it is, no master to really work those deadly strings just yet.

Another box is soon opened as well, revealing a twin pair of daggers, their blades white with a beautiful red handle for a hilt. “Not to mention these Ancient Necromancer’s Bone Daggers, recently uncovered in an old tomb, plenty of resentful energy and dark desires just waiting to be unveiled in any upcoming battle, madness in but a cut to be delivered...” the former Sect Leader says, a bit of sweat coming from his brow, those dark eyes uneasy even as he hides behind his bluster and charm. His granddaughter, Cao Meihui watches intently, her own dark eyes worried even as she is awed by her beloved grandfather’s work, and the man who can make him so nervous. 

The one Fortune’s Favored watches and listens, and waits, even as he is showcased all the wares most people would die to get their hands on, each item worth more then most lives to some.

“... I will give you a warning and you will be Marked for it; there will be no next time if you try and pull this stunt again, you hear me Xiaowen?” Shang Huan allows, eyes turning back into that warm and soft hazel, even as he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he does. Well, at least he now has more good things in store for his gambling patrons, who will no doubt go crazy for these goods.

(Never noticing how the familial pair relax, a breath of relief taken for their own that this gambit actually worked, even if they are now Marked by all the staff.

Best behavior is a must for now at least.) 

-----+----- 

~15 Years ago~

Cao Xiaowen, once just regular Cao Xiao, was a man most would never dare cross; as a Demonic Cultivator, you wouldn’t even be able to escape through death. He had cultivated carefully along his chosen path, having no talent for what was Righteous roads, so turned down to darker paths and alleys to get what he wanted. He had been smart about it, and equally talented for Demonic Cultivation, becoming a Bounty Hunter to be able to hide just what practices he used.

Not only did it get him much needed gold, but the resentful energy and blood of the wicked were quiet useful on his path. Unlike other Demonic Cultivators that sought to take in the energies as fast as possible to form their Obsidian Cores, killing innocents, and eventually needing Cauldrons in the end to balance themselves and to go farther in their Cultivation, Cao Xiaowen went for a more steadfast pace.

He first started with crafting items of Resentful energy, talismans and amulets to get a better feel for the delicacies of the energy he chose to work with. With time and effort, along with plenty of meditation and blood on his hands, he found a cultivation path that suited him rather well, untraditional as it was for the usual brutal force most Demonic Cultivators usually went. His path was like a slow acting poison, letting the wicked energies ever so carefully, ever so gently gather into his meridians, building up a steady foundation before he ever focused on building his Core.

And the results for it were astounding; when compared to traditional Demonic Cultivators, not only could Cao Xiaowen hold his own with those stages above his own, he could beat even those whose Cultivation that was said to be an entire level above him. Not to mention just how devastating his spells and attacks were against those of the Righteous Sects.

It was no surprise that when he founded his own Sect, he had plenty of disciples to chose and pick from...But he wasn’t stupid.

He knew he had plenty of enemies all around him, some just jealous of his power, others hateful of just how he got it, being a Demonic Cultivator was a sin for some even if he only went after criminals. That he was a rather attractive even as his red hair was peppered black and grey, and even a few tigers acting like pigs to be fatten all came for him in the end. He knows people were waiting in the shadows, eager to take him down and steal everything he worked for, salivating over his abilities and life work...

Though despite it all, he never expected the betrayal to come so close to home.

“P-papa.” was stuttered out by his honestly rather adorable Granddaughter, the young four year old sobbing as she reached for him; his daughter in law smiling all the while even as she held one of his crafted knives to the little girl’s throat. He had to give it to her, not many women could still look so devastatingly beautiful, covered as they were in their husband’s blood. He never expected the raven haired woman to be so ruthless, honestly sure the woman loved his son.

Looks like he still has errors in his judgement, even at his age; taken off guard on what he though would be a simple material gathering mission, only to be crippled and threatened by a woman he thought he could trust even as she slit his beloved child’s throat before his eyes.

“You really shouldn’t have refused me all those years ago; this all could have been avoided if you had just agreed to be mine... oh well, too late for regrets.” The woman mourns softly, making Cao Xiaowen feel his brow crinkle, dark eyes confused.

But trying to parse the words of the mad woman was not something he had time for, seeing as his lovely little granddaughter was suddenly in his arms, the both of them finding themselves being pushed off a cliff, and into the Broken Jaw Ravine.

Using what remained of his spiritual energy in his blighted Obsidian Core, Cao Xiaowen was fully prepared to become his dear granddaughter’s Familiar Spirit to protect her...

When in the end, it turned out unnecessary; they ended up landing in a Spirit Capture Net. And judging by the pure color and Qi he could feel running through it, a high quality one at that. Feeling how it blocked him from using any of his spiritual energy and Qi, he looked to his darling dear grandchild, the (forcibly) retired Sect Leader couldn’t help but feel so relieved to see her shaken, but well at least in body.

And then he heard the cursing.

“What in the fuck you soggy old vulture of a corpse! Curses on your fucking clothing to never be nice and pristine, to always stub your toe on the corner, to be miserable even when you have your favorite food! Do you know how long it took to make that net?! Could you have fallen somewhere else? No, of course the skies would decide to shit on me with some young man in my beautifully crafted net! Probably jumped off for the heck of it knowing how fucking dumb most Demonic Cultivators are! ARRRHGGGG YOU DAMN WALNUT!” was practically ranted below them, a young brunet man yelling up at him, who couldn’t be more then in his 20′s. (Though rather impressively at the Peak of Core Formation from what he could sense.)

As it was, two pairs of dark eyes could only give the ranting rouge a wide eyed stare, even when, in the end, the young man let them down, hazel eyes narrowed in on them. He raised one brow at his child that was with him, but easily narrowed them back onto Cao Xiaowen’s own.

Ah, he could probably sense his power (use his weakness).

“So, this is how it is going to go down. I’ll help heal you and your kid, won’t even leave her in debt... tho your ass is mine; I say jump, you better do it and ask if this is high enough. You will owe me till the end of your day and then some, and in return I will benevolently help you out. You agree or should I leave you and the kid here for any unpleasant fates?” was the rather grumpy, if smartly given offer, Cao Xiaowen finding he can’t help but respect it, even as crudely as it was put. Looking down to his innocent little Cao Mei, the grandfather could only nod at the offer, no other recourse that could ensure his little gem a better chance at life.

And thus marked the first meeting between the terrible and powerful Dark Poison Sect Leader Cao Xiaowen, and the Rogue Cultivator Shang Huan, who would one day have a title even greater then his own.

Amazing really, how some things start (and others end).

-----

:D Here we are, another story from this verse; it was really fun! (even if I actually had to create a damn timeline to make sure everything was straight TTxTT)

Anyways, here is an ally of Airplane! Their relationship can be described as.

Shang Huan: Why do I put up with you again?

Cao Xiaowen: Because I have the best gifts bitch. *Inwardly sweaty*

But Also-

Cao Xiaowen: So... Demonic Cultivating involves a lot of... Dual Cultivating huh... And are those innocents being brutally murdered over there?

Rando: Yeah, ain’t it great? :D

Cao Xiaowen: ... *proceeds to make a cultivation path that involves as little Dual Cultivation as needed while also being one of the nicest ironically* Ah, that is better, better get more wicked blood~

These two were really fun to write together, and with PIDW, I can make as many ocs as I want~ So much to do, so much to play with~

Oh yeah, Shang Hua’s blade, Dujin Xue means Gilded Blood :3

Cao I picked for being a common last name, while Xiaowen means red skies. Mei means red gem, but for Meihui I liked the meaning of monstrous/demonic beauty~ As you can see, I had fun~ 

[akatsuki-shin]

Review: 天官赐福 Tiān Guān Cì Fú (Heaven Official's Blessing)

Notes:

(Very) long post ahead

Contains spoiler

This is my personal review and does not represent the entire audience, you are free to agree or not agree with what I’ve written here

Feel free to reply/send me a message if there are things you want to discuss

Summary:

The most beloved Crown Prince, pride of the Kingdom of Xianle with abundance of talents and achievements, Xie Lian, ascended to Heaven and became a martial god at the young age of 17 on the path to fulfill his dream "to save the common people".

Three years after his ascension, he saw his kingdom beginning to decline and in order to save his beloved country, Xie Lian defied the rules of Heaven and descended back to the mortal realm. Nevertheless, instead of saving them, his interference ended up accelerating the fall of Xianle, annihilating the once prosperous nation under the war of rebellion and a mysterious, horrifying plague.

The people who once praised and worshipped him day and night now condemned him, his devotees left him, they burnt his temples and divine statues, and Xie Lian himself was ultimately banished from the Heaven.

He ascended for the second time a short while later, but was banished once more very soon after. Since then, he lived among the mortals - surviving by collecting junks as he was now branded as the "God of Misfortune", the "Scrap Collecting Immortal".

800 years later, Xie Lian ascended again for the third time. Though having neither temples nor devotees, he accepted his responsibility as a martial god and carried on with his duties until one day, there came a certain, incidental encounter with a mysterious youth clad in red.

STORY: 7/10

TGCF overall is an (almost) complete, satisfying read with well-written twists and development.

Unlike the two previous MXTX's novels, the main pairing here (HuaLian) did not have to go through complicated misunderstandings and is a beautiful representation of love and devotion. Of course, this means there is a lack of conflict between them, but considering all the trials and tribulations the characters have gone through, this lack of conflict feels like a relieving fresh spring amidst the painful and exhausting journey throughout the entire five books.

The best and my most favorite plot twist is the Earth Master Ming Yi having been dead for a while, and the "Ming Yi" we know turns out to be the Black Water Submerging Boats, He Xuan. I'm the kind of person who always suspects characters, but even my furthest suspicion was "only" him being the Reverend of Empty Words, not He Xuan.

Truthfully, prior to reading this novel, I've seen Shi Qingxuan's "MING-XIONG, I'M SORRY x9999" post before without context, and I thought Ming Yi was going to die a tragic death because of Shi Qingxuan. Turns out it's kind of the opposite, huh? Nice one, really.

I also like how each character's "end" feels satisfying. Especially for the villains, they didn't necessarily have to die some tragic, vengeful death, but was provided with an ending that perfectly fits their background story and deeds. For example, in most stories, a character like Xuan Ji would be most likely be given some well-deserved punishment as her death, given everything she's done. But no, in the end she was given a reality check and was finally able to let go of her hundreds of years grudge. And then Qi Rong - I will talk more about him later on in the "Character" section.

One part I really love is the Extra Chapter about the Cave of Ten Thousand Gods. The chapter itself overall is mostly nonsensical and chaotic, but it was just so touching when HuaLian created a "Little Hua Cheng" statue to accompany Xie Lian's "Crown Prince who Pleased the Gods" statue, especially when this Little Hua Cheng statue gave Crown Prince Xie Lian statue a flower, and then Crown Prince Xie Lian received it, lifted him up and carried him in his arms. This one was maybe a bit biased because as much as I love the current HuaLian, I have a special soft spot for the young Xie Lian carrying, cradling the little Hua Cheng back then in the past. ;v;

Though, with all due respect, I must say that TGCF is actually below my expectation.

The biggest issue I have with TGCF is... What is Xie Lian's motivation? What drives him to move forward in the story? What is even the whole story's purpose?

I'm not quite sure how to word this properly, but let me give some examples.

When you read Harry Potter, you know immediately that Voldemort is the bad guy and he must be defeated.

When you read the Lord of the Rings, you know immediately that the One Ring must be destroyed to prevent Sauron from regaining his power.

Or, in MXTX previous works...

In SVSSS, it was clear since the beginning that Shen Yuan's mission is to fix the "Proud Immortal Demon Way" if he wants to survive.

In MDZS, it was clear that Wei Wuxian, together with Lan Wangji's, needs to unravel the mystery behind that fierce left arm. All of their past stories and WangXian getting together in the end are just something they discovered along the way, not the initial "motivation" that drives the character to move forward.

What about TGCF? The Xie Lian who ascended for the third time actually looks like he just wants to go along with the flow, carrying out his duties day by day with responsibility. When Bai Wuxiang later, later, later on appeared to haunt him again, it didn't seem like Xie Lian has any ambition to hunt him down or exact a revenge, just that he wanted to forget about Bai Wuxiang and never recall anything about him ever again. The main character looks like he's not being driven by anything, just...carrying on where the plot takes him? It's just missions after missions and whatever huge things happening in between is just something they accidentally passed by along the way.

At this point, the only purpose of the story I can think of is bringing Hua Cheng and Xie Lian together. The romance is great, I have no complain. But if it's just that, no need to jammed-pack 250+ chapters just to make two people getting together?

Speaking of which, I also think that the way new characters keep being introduced all the way to almost the final showdown of the story feels info dump-ish, because the background story needs to be dropped there along with the characters, but then most of these characters fade away immediately after.

For example, the previous Civil God before Ling Wen, who looks like he’s going to pose some real trouble, but then was easily defeated and was never mentioned again afterwards. And this is especially true for He Xuan; after such a huge arc where he committed such extreme things, after that he was barely mentioned again, even having his “strong impression” leveled down by the joke about him being the poorest Calamity and owing lots of debts to Hua Cheng.

Basically what makes TGCF a long story is because there are too many stories about the side characters in addition to the main characters that are dumped out of the blue instead of slowly being revealed along the way.

Though, I love how the story gradually unravels the "Four Famous Tales" because initially, I thought it wasn't something crucial, and I wished they could've done this for other characters, too.

There is a little bit of plot holes here and there, as in who actually cut open Jian Lan/Lan Chang's baby and made it a ghost, and for what? Even if it turned out that she just met a bad guy or nobody important, at least provide an explanation in one paragraph? Especially because important side characters like Feng Xin and Mu Qing are involved here, so I'm pretty sure us readers need some explanation.

And more importantly, how can Jun Wu become the Emperor martial god? There's no mention about him ascending, only that he annihilated a dynasty of gods before sitting on the throne of the Great Martial Hall. But how can he, like, emitted god-like aura and not some evil aura? Is it because he used to be a god? But he's a ghost? Explanation where???

The gags and comedies are pretty fun, but honestly, the more I read, the more they ruin the atmosphere and suspense, added with the uncalled PDA between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian even during the most important moments. Honestly, I was bored the fuck out of my life from the moment they start fighting Jun Wu with those divine gundams, and only start gaining interest again much later on when Hua Cheng dissipated into butterflies.

Not saying the story's bad. Just... It's not up to my expectation... Characters being inserted here and there with a bunch of background story, gags and a show of PDA being flaunted during crucial moments. And when Mei Nianqing started telling the truth about the Kingdom of Wuyong, that's just plain info dump right there, seriously...

CHARACTERS: 7/10

Interesting characters, but only a few bore a lasting impression on me. Other than the main characters, which are Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, the only side characters (minus Bai Wuxiang as the main villain) who left quite some impression on me were probably just Feng Xin and Mu Qing.

Pei Ming is okay, at least he is still memorable until the end, and his character improved, too.

He Xuan, after having been introduced with such extreme, after his arc is over, was easily forgotten just like that.

Mei Nianqing, is borderline Deus Ex-Machina with a huge chunk of info dump that could solve everything, then he stopped being useful for the rest of the story.

Shi Qingxuan... Honestly, he's almost annoying, too noisy. I don’t hate him (and I kind of like him initially), but the way his character was being handled and presented post-Black Water arc feels disappointingly lazy and he was just there to make the party more merry.

Xie Lian himself, as the protagonist, how do I say this... This is maybe due to the translator's writing style (not MXTX’s fault), but whenever he screams in all capslock, it feels too extreme and borderline OOC? Of course, the original novel written in hanzi couldn't have included capslock.

What's great about him, though, is that despite all he'd gone through, he can still retain a pure heart and could not be swayed to be evil, just as he himself said "Body in the abyss, heart in paradise".

Now Hua Cheng, he is overall a super interesting character and I personally love this type of male characters. But he seriously is way too OP, almost like the original Luo Binghe (Bing-ge) a.k.a. too ideal, too perfect, no flaws, always capable of easily finding a way out in every single peril. I only forgive him for being like this because he dissipated into butterflies at the end of the battle with Jun Wu, making me think "oh, finally he's actually not invincible".

Still, his devotion to Xie Lian is very well written, very well presented, and his "I am forever your most devoted believer" is just downright the most powerful line in the whole story.

Now I promised to talk about Qi Rong, yeah? I haven't the slightest idea why it is even necessary to have Qi Rong as the Night-touring Green Lantern. I mean, yes he is there to make up the number of the Four Great Calamities, but that was for the characters who live in that world. As the novel's reader, I don't see any particularly important roles there for Qi Rong other than being an annoying meme fodder despite his actually pretty-cool first foreshadowing and appearance? Even his issue with Lang Qianqiu does not seem to give that much impact on the overall story, it could've just passed simply being explained in several pages.

Though I'd say he's got the best character development compared to others. Instead of dying as some hateful villain, the way he ended up deciding to protect Guzi at the cost of his own life can already be expected from miles away, but still bittersweet and touching nonetheless - how this crazed, mental person could still love when being presented with such pure, innocent feelings to the point that he acknowledged Guzi as a his own son.

By the way, E Ming and Ruoye are cute, I take no criticism.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS: 8/10

I can't really describe this with words, but MXTX's overall writing technique has greatly improved since MDZS.

It feels more "solid" to read instead of scattered here and there.

The info distribution has improved (fewer info dump compared to before), the story's no longer switching between past and present all of a sudden.

Description of characters and environment are sufficient, the plot is progressing steadily.

Several issues I have with this aspect though, the Prologue being ten pages is just way too long, I don't think I need that much information being stuffed right to my face right from the beginning.

There are excessive use of "Turns out..." every single time an explanation is going to come.

"Xie Lian didn't know whether he should cry or laugh" is honestly has been used probably more than 50 times just in the last two books. Although I'm reading a translation, I'm pretty sure the original Chinese version is being repetitive with this phrase, as well, because the translators couldn't just whip up any other phrase from thin air and put it in someone else's novel.

Almost half of scene transition is always caused by some sudden, external disturbance like "All of a sudden they heard someone's coming", "All of a sudden X visits their room", etc.

OVERALL SCORE: 7.3/10

Worth to read, satisfying overall. The main pairing's love story is just so well written and sweet. As long as you can withstand the violence and gore, though. 😂

TGCF highlights perhaps one of the ugliest natures of mankind: Being nice to someone as long as they're beneficial, and immediately throwing them away once the benefit was no more.

Once that person does not seem to be beneficial anymore, everyone would leave them instantly, even turning on them and start spitting on them without even trying to understand the reason why said person "stopped being beneficial".

Both as a Crown Prince and a martial god, Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong were praised, revered, worshipped by the citizens of Xianle and Wuyong respectively. Because they were always helping, always fulfilling the people's wishes. But how easily it was for those very same people to turn on Xie Lian and the Crown Prince of Wuyong when they encountered misfortunes, completely turning a blind eye to the laborious effort both characters have been putting to save them from annihilation, even if it was visible in broad daylight.

It is also worth to note another trait of mankind that this story underlines: To always find a scapegoat or blame others for one's own misfortune and failure - be it another human being, another group of people, the government, even the gods - after having taking their generosity for granted.

Which is why I think the true villain of the story is not Bai Wuxiang, but those citizens of the ancient Wuyong who were now nothing more than resentful spirits eternally burning within the lava of Tonglu Mountain - a well deserved punishment after what they did to their Crown Prince.

[fair-fae]

Entry #10: Foster

FFxivWrite2019 Prompt #10: Foster X’unmei hadn’t seen Melfice for quite some time--or heard from him at all, for that matter. And she had been content with the fact for a while, in all honesty. It was true he had looked after her for a time, as close to father as, if not more so than, the Nunh who had sired her. It was true she owed her life to him. It was also true that he had killed her fiance and neglected to tell her the truth at any turn, and that the only reason she had him to thank for her own life was because, rather than rescuing her, he had let her die only revive her as some sort of lab experiment. He’d neglected to tell her that, too. Really, he’d failed to tell her a lot of things. Things were... complicated, to say the least. But she did remember being ill for weeks, confined to her bed with not even Vallois allowed near, and Melfice paying her visits, remaining at her bedside at her request, and even inevitably delivering the antidote to her illness. Perhaps she owed him for that, at the very least. He did always seem so happy to see her. And, conflicted as she was, a part of her enjoyed seeing him, too--especially seeing him happy. And so, she took it upon herself to pay him a visit, entering that familiar home. The state of the foyer in such disarray gave her pause, the Seeker of the Sun momentarily freezing. She remained still for long enough to hear the pitter-patter of little feet upon the marble floors, a sound that certainly didn’t inspire her to move.

What skittered across the hallway was not some eldritch horror (at least, not that Mei could tell), but a giggling little girl with a head of blonde hair and bare feet, gleefully scampering toward Melfice’s study. With the telltale jingle of jewelry, a slightly exasperated looking Shadiyah trailed behind the girl. Both were too focused on their goals at hand to notice X’unmei lingering just inside the door.  “Melly! Melly!” the child’s voice squealed, echoed by a sigh from Shadiyah. The young girl had nearly reached the entry to the study when Shadiyah caught up to her. “Dru, you need to leave him alone. He cannot play right now.” The Keeper of the Moon bent down, scooping the girl up into her arms. “He is busy working.” Mei’s feline ears swiveled toward the study at the sound of a slightly muffled reply. The voice that responded sounded somewhat fatigued, and undeniably belonged to Melfice. “Mm, no, my beloved. I could use a break. Come,” he beckoned, and Shadiyah complied, disappearing into the study with Dru in tow. “How are my girls doing?” X’unmei winced. She didn’t wait to hear an answer before she turned in haste to make her leave. Perhaps he didn’t really need to see her, after all. @which-can-eternal-lie @of-darkness-and-dreams @shadiyah-ffxiv

[musicprincess655]

Mei clicked his tongue as another person cut in front of him, despite the fact that he’d only left a respectable amount of following distance from the car in front of him. For a country that had built itself so firmly around cars, most Americans really didn’t know how to drive.

Granted, Mei had learned how to drive after he’d moved here, so he wasn’t sure he was all that much better. Ueda had been the one to teach him, though, driving around an abandoned mall parking lot, and Ueda had learned how to drive in Japan. He’d instilled a healthy respect for right of way and safety laws, and Mei had never quite been able to shake it. Everyone else on the road didn’t seem to share that feeling.

Still, once he got through the tunnel every insisted on hitting their brakes for – why? – and everyone peeled off at the exit to the first big neighborhood after that tunnel, the road opened up, twisting around until the trees fell away and the entire cityscape was laid out before him, lit up by the sun setting behind it. Driving so fast, barely allowing himself to look at it, the skyscrapers blurred until they could’ve belonged to any big city, anywhere in the world. It was only ever when someone else was driving, when Mei had time to look and let his eyes focus, that he could pick out the pieces that made this skyline uniquely Pittsburgh.

Mei went past his exit without slowing down. Sometimes the knowledge that he had the power to just leave, to go anywhere he wanted without anyone to answer to, was enough of a promise that he didn’t feel the need to follow through.

Today wasn’t one of those days.

Over another of so very many bridges that ringed the city, out yet another tunnel that seemed to scare people no matter how many times they must go through it, past the last few neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, and within thirty minutes, Mei was one of only a few cars on the road, open enough that he could press his foot to the floor and throw all respect for the posted speed limit away from himself.

He could go anywhere, and maybe he would. For now, he was content to roar down the highway that was truly a highway now, not just a major road in the middle of a city, and the freedom roared just as loudly in his veins. He owed nothing and to no one, and he could just be.

The dying light slanted across the road, dipping into his eyes as he twisted around curves. No highway was straight here. They wound around tiny towns, around far-flung apartments and stubborn little settlements, bending to the shape of America.

When he finally turned enough that he could watch the angle of the dying light instead of being blinded by it, he couldn’t help a stir of nostalgia, though he couldn’t place it at first. Summer was slowly ending, turning into an autumn that would last a month if he was lucky, and then it was on to winter. It looked like ending, and Mei tried to hold onto the feeling. He’d always loved summer, although he’d never known if that love came from baseball or if maybe his love for baseball had grown from a love of the season it belonged to.

And as his mind wandered, chasing errant streams of dying sunlight, the memory suddenly struck him. Warm brown eyes and warm brown hands and a helpless smile and dying, dying sunlight as they chased each other into a secret place, hidden from the prying eyes of their teammates, somewhere they could just be.

Owing nothing and to no one.

Mei remembered it as sharply as if he was back there, how it had felt to have Itsuki look at him like that, how it felt to lace their fingers together and fight back laughter as they wove around teammates, the bitter sweetness of Mei’s last summer leaving them behind. The light looked the same now as it did back then, and Mei couldn’t breathe.

He very nearly slammed his foot on the brake so hard it would send him spinning out of control, and it would have been a fitting end, matching the outside to what he felt, but somehow muscle memory took over until the car was parked off the side of the road, and all Mei had to do was lower his head to the steering wheel and fight for air.

He’d been wrong. He’d been so, so wrong. Opening up this wound, trying to get everything he’d left unsaid off his chest and out into the open, trying to clean up everything he’d let fester for all these years, it was the worst kind of mistake. Even if it had been infected, even if it had never healed right, it had healed enough. It had let him live in willful ignorance, covering the hole in his chest with a scab that he only now realized had been too thin to stand up to a true test.

Mei had tested it, starting those letters to Itsuki, digging into it until it ripped clean off, leaking everything it had held back for these long nine years. Now he could only choke on it.

How was he supposed to go back to how he’d been? Now that he couldn’t even look at the last gasps of sunlight without remembering that one glorious summer where he and Itsuki had just existed and been them and felt no obligation to be anyone else, had been happy with just each other, how was he supposed to pretend to be okay?

Mei gasped sob after sob against the steering wheel, fighting so desperately for breath that he was convinced his lungs would never be whole again. He had to get this under control, because if he let himself go, would he ever come back? Was the promise of leaving enough to convince him to stay, this time?

Eventually, though, his sobs did slow down, and his breath came back to him. Mei desperately wanted to hear someone else’s voice. He had friends here, friends he’d called in a crisis before, friends that had called him in a crisis, whether it was a sick child in the hospital that needed distraction from the looming threat of death or the loss of a beloved parent and everything in between.

Mei didn’t want a single one of them.

There really was only one number he could feasibly use now, damning all the consequences of an international call. He didn’t have the energy to check time zones, only hoping it wasn’t too early for whatever he needed to ask for.

“H’lo?” Kazuya’s voice was thick with sleep, Japanese slurred, and Mei almost sobbed again in relief.

“Kazuya,” Mei said, and he hadn’t thought to control his voice, but it came out wrecked, too late now to change it.

“What’s wrong?” Kazuya asked, instantly more alert. “Ei, hush, go back to sleep.”

That, of all things, was what nearly broke Mei once again. The easy way Kazuya said it, the casual manner of assuring a lover, the effortless way it was said without even thinking. Kazuya and Sawamura fit so easily around each other, and once, Mei and Itsuki had fit together in just the same way.

And Mei had thrown that all away. It was his fault it was all broken, and for what? Because he was afraid? Itsuki had been afraid too, and they could have faced it together. But Mei had held it in, had lied by saying nothing, had let what was precious between them go brittle until he shattered it.

“I can’t fix this,” Mei said, trying not to sob once again. “I can’t fix it, and now I can’t even fix me. How am I supposed to live like this? I can’t put it back.”

“I don’t know.” Kazuya sounded so tired and helpless. “I thought it was getting better? Talking about everything was helping you?”

“I was an idiot, and I should’ve left it alone,” Mei said. “You were right. I never should’ve gone to talk to him that night.”

“Was it really better? Pretending nothing ever happened?” Kazuya asked. The faint sound of a door closing leaked through the phone. “Would you have been able to do that forever? Was it even working before?”

“I didn’t break down sobbing because I saw some fucking sunlight before,” Mei snapped. “I was okay. How am I supposed to be okay again?”

“I don’t know,” Kazuya said again. “I really don’t. But…can I make this about me for a second?”

“Fine.”

“If Eijun had let me make the biggest mistake of my life, if he’d let me break up with him because I was scared, and I got beyond the point of fixing it and beyond ignoring it…I’d want to be able to grieve for him.”

“He’s not dead, though,” Mei protested.

“But he’s still gone, and it’s still a part of your life you can’t have back,” Kazuya said. “I don’t know, I think you’re still allowed to grieve for that.”

“Isn’t that what I’m doing?” Mei asked. “What else would you call pulling over to cry like a fucking loser in some shitty chick flick?”

“Beating yourself up,” Kazuya said. “You’re hard on yourself. We both are. But just because it got so bad you couldn’t ignore it anymore doesn’t mean you’re grieving. It just means it exploded out of you.”

“So what then?” Mei asked. “I mourn for what I lost, and then what?”

“I don’t know,” Kazuya said. “But maybe it’ll get you farther than bottling it up for, what, almost nine years? Maybe this is just the first step, and you’ll figure it out as you go.”

“You’re not that helpful, you know that?”

“You’re the one who called me at seven in the morning to talk about feelings,” Kazuya said. “When have I ever been good at those?”

“Fair point.”

“Do you have somewhere you can go? Somewhere you won’t be alone?” Kazuya asked. “I really can’t do much to help from Japan. There has to be someone you’re willing to talk to over there, right?”

Mei was about to reply that if someone like that did exist, he would’ve called them, but then he paused. There was someone who had let him sit and work through homesickness for years after he’d first moved to America. It wasn’t the same thing, but it might still work.

“I do,” Mei said. “Sorry for calling so early.”

“I won’t hold it against you,” Kazuya said. “I hope whoever you’re going to is better at this than me. Text me later and let me know you’re okay?”

“Never thought I’d hear that from you,” Mei teased weakly. “Okay.”

He turned around as soon as he could, going back to the city but pulling off in one of those neighborhoods in the south, before the tunnel, outside the cradle of the rivers, outside of the city proper. It wasn’t until he rang the doorbell and was met with an unexpected face that Mei considered Ueda might not even be home.

“Uh,” Mei tried intelligently. “Hi?”

Talia Ueda stared at him, eyebrow raised in question.

“Is Ueda…is your husband around?” Mei asked.

“He had a meeting,” Talia said. “Do you want to come in?”

“I don’t want to bother…”

“Mei.” Her tone was firm, even if it was gentle, and he trailed off. “Come in. I’ll make you hot chocolate.”

“Don’t people usually offer tea?” Mei joked, following her into the house. “How bad do I look?”

“Like death flash frozen and then microwaved,” Talia told him. “Sit.”

Without anything else to do, Mei obeyed, sitting down at the table as Talia made the promised cup of hot chocolate. When she put it in front of him, he curled his hands around it, careful not to burn them.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Talia asked.

“I…fucked up,” Mei said. “A long time ago. I broke someone’s heart. And I guess I broke my own at the same time. And I can’t pretend I didn’t anymore.”

“First love?” Talia asked.

Mei shook his head. Between the puppy crush he’d had on Kazuya when they were kids and the string of girlfriends he’d had in high school, he’d definitely loved before Itsuki.

“I don’t think I ever got better after,” Mei said. “I don’t think I ever really tried.”

Talia considered him with eyes that were far too bright and entirely too sharp. Mei took a sip of the hot chocolate just to take his attention away from her. The sugar actually helped, somehow.

“You must be quite angry at yourself,” she said finally. Mei snapped his eyes back to hers.

“What do you mean?”

“To hold onto this pain for so long, to keep yourself from healing or moving on, it sounds like you’re punishing yourself,” she said. “I wonder if whatever you did was enough to justify this level of punishment.”

“I lied to him for months,” Mei said, not at all worried if Talia suddenly grew cold, knowing Mei had loved a boy. Still loved a boy. “I broke his heart. I knew he loved me, and he probably thinks I was just using him the whole time.”

“That’s not good,” Talia agreed. “But do you think it will help his pain? If you keep punishing yourself, will you erase what he felt?”

“Maybe it’s not about him.”

“Then is punishing yourself about you?” Talia asked. “Why? How does that help?”

“Because I deserve it.”

There. He’d finally said it. He’d finally admitted that deep down, he knew he had earned all of this pain, and if it could somehow balance a scale that would let Itsuki live free of it, he’d take it gladly.

“You know, forgiveness is a learned skill,” Talia said. “People seem to understand that part of it fairly well. We spend our lives learning to forgive. I’m almost thirty-three, and in some ways, I’m still learning. What they don’t tell you, though, is forgiving others is easy. It can be learned by the end of childhood. The much harder part, the part I’m still learning, is how to forgive yourself.”

“Maybe I don’t deserve forgiveness.”

“Maybe it’s not about deserving. Maybe it’s about healing, and acknowledging the mistake without letting yourself drown in it.”

Mei blinked at her. Not about deserving? How could he deserve to forgive himself? But…what would staying like this help? If he cried at sunlight and gasped sobs for the memory of hands in his, did it really matter if he deserved it or not? Could he just…learn to let himself heal?

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” Mei said quietly. He couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. Could he really just let all of this pain go?

“It’s almost certainly not,” Talia said. “The thing about big mistakes with a partner is, forgiveness doesn’t happen just one time. You have to wake up every day and decide that forgiveness means forgiveness, and you don’t get to walk that back. I think it’s the same with yourself. If you make the decision, you have to stick to it. You don’t get to suddenly revoke it just because you’re having a bad day, or you got reminded of the mistake, or whatever else happens. You can be upset, but you can’t walk the forgiveness back, even if it’s only for yourself. That’s how it works.”

Mei was going to need a lot longer to think about that, and probably an email to Itsuki to try and parse out his thoughts.

“Tally, did you say you wanted green onions or white?” Ueda’s voice called from the front door. “I tried to text, but you weren’t answering your phone, and the store was going to close.”

Ueda stopped in his tracks when he saw Mei in his kitchen.

“Look who I found on our doorstep,” Talia said. “Here, let me make dinner.”

“Are you okay?” Ueda asked Mei, trading the groceries off with Talia to take her spot at the table.

“I’m fine,” Mei said, trying for false cheer.

“I mean it.” Ueda reached out for Mei’s shoulder. “Are you okay? You’ve been a little off since we went back to Japan, and I know this isn’t homesickness. You look sad in the same way you were when you first got here.”

“I…” Mei’s insides were a churning mess, but rising from the chaos, against all odds, was hope. Mei hadn’t forgiven himself yet, but for the first time, he considered the possibility that he might, just maybe, be able to. And just that possibility was enough to keep him from leaving. “I think I will be.”

“That can be good enough,” Ueda said. He gave Mei’s shoulder one more squeeze before he got up, going to help his wife with dinner. “You can stay, if you want. We’ll feed you.”

“So generous,” Mei said, finally reaching for a genuine smile. “I feel so cared for. You two will make excellent parents.”

Talia dropped the pan she was holding.

“I thought we weren’t telling people yet!”

“We’re not!” Ueda rounded on Mei. “How did you know?”

“Know what?” Mei looked between them until the protective way Talia had dropped a hand to her stomach made sense. “Oh. Oh. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Talia said. “Keep it to yourself, though? Like I said, we’re not telling people just yet. It’s a very new thing.”

“Still, that’s exciting, right?” Mei asked. “You’ve been trying.”

“And that’s the extent I want to discuss my sex life with you,” Ueda said. “I’m glad you’re here, actually. I was just about to email you anyway. I was in a meeting about your contract. The Pirates have offered you a very generous extension. I’ve been through it, obviously, but you should still have a lawyer look at it before you sign.”

Ueda handed Mei a stack of papers, and Mei took them numbly. Oh. That was a lot of money. That, and the obvious exhaustion in Ueda’s frame that spoke of a long meeting to get it, was nearly enough to stop his next request.

“I think I want to change teams, actually,” Mei said. Ueda blinked.

“Do you have offers I don’t know about?” he asked. “Because they’re all supposed to come through me. Is it about the money? Because this is a lot of money. We can even maybe get more if you tell me how much.”

“It’s not about that,” Mei said. If he was considering forgiveness an option, then maybe he should consider that he didn’t need to stay so far from the place he’d been born that he barely even returned for the biggest holidays anymore, an adventure that had nearly turned into a self-imposed exile. “I think…I think I might be ready to go home.”