Word Prompts (K7): Knight

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“Will it open today?” you ask, sitting curiously before The Guardian of The Tower. Grass is prickling at your skin through your dress, but it is ticklish not scratchy.

The Guardian and The Tower have been here long before you were born, long before your parents or grandparents were born, too, which is practically an eternity ago.

The Guardian has never spoken as far as your memory stretches, but you are only six years old.

In a creak of metal, it shakes its head, left then right, never moving from its place.

That’s okay, you enjoy its company anyway.

///

You are nine years old now and not much has changed.

Your grandmother died last year, making your father king now, but your life is much the same.

The Guardian never speaks, never moves except to shake its head, but you think it enjoys your company just as much.

There is a festival today and you’ve bought it a beautiful, vibrant scarf. More decoration than warmth, true, but you think it will appreciate the gift.

You tie the scarf to its arm, bright and colorful against its metal.

Now, whenever you ask it questions, it will also nod its head.

///

You are twelve, much more mature, and terribly scared.

Your kingdom is at war.

Your mother is out leading the armies and so all you see is your father’s increasingly stressed and haggard face on the rare occasions when he can join you for meals.

The Guardian and the base of The Tower have always been your haven, but never have you felt so much a refugee in your own home.

The metal is far from comfortable, but it is cool against your cheek and the newest scarf flaps gently in the breeze.

You don’t ask The Guardian if everything will be okay.

///

You are fifteen.

Your mother has died on the front lines and your father is close enough to it. Your kingdom has been ravaged and over the years has become a shell of itself.

There are talks of marriage–you, reduced to a trophy for the winner. You feel sick.

Desperately, you run to The Tower. It is night now, but you know the pathway in your sleep.

There are no more new scarves for The Guardian, the old ones faded and threadbare from weather and sunshine. It almost makes you forget the war.

“Today?” you ask, grass prickling against your bare feet, “Will it open today?”

The Guardian does not shake its head, does not nod either, and for a heavy, awful moment you think that it has left you, too.

Instead, it moves, metal creaking and screeching and frightening and unfamiliar; it steps aside revealing a doorway.

“Enter,” it says, voice reverberating in your chest.

///

You step into The Tower, ascending the steps, looking back only once.

Before the doorway closes once more, you see The Guardian resume its place.

You will be safe.

Iron Will (2017-08-17)

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A/N: More of that Fire Nation!Tetsuki AU…

Perhaps, if it was just the three of them, it wouldn’t have worked. Azula’s abrasiveness and Mai’s negativity and Ty Lee’s desperate, failing attempts to hold them together dissolving with every passing snide and dark remark.

But you are there.

And you are not quite sure what you bring to the group, what missing component it is that you intrinsically have and contribute that makes it work so beautifully, but it does.

And instead of just drifting apart, only coming together when the Fire Lord sends Azula on her mission, bonds long frayed and ready to snap, leaving is deliberate. Is a choice. Is just the first step in a plan to make sure that when the time comes, the four of you will be stronger than ever.

///

For a while, you serve in the court as Azula’s attendant. Which seems like basically a glorified servant, but which your grandparents are ecstatic about–what an honor, they exclaim, their halfbreed heiress getting so close to royalty.

It works, for a while. You learn some things: what games are played amongst high society, political dealings and tangled schemes, and the power of below the stairs rumors, the lifeblood of the court.

But it’s not enough.

“I’ll become useless to you,” you say to Azula one night, after you’ve reported the most important secrets to her. You’ve seen her use even the most innocuous misconduct to bust a would be captain down to helmsman.

Your reports help, but they’re not vital.

“As useless as a pampered, pedigree catowl,” you finish, because this has been on your mind for a while and better to admit it now while you still have the self-awareness to do so than to have it thrown in your face months later.

“I’ve never know you to be a coward,” Azula responds, pausing mid brush and staring down your reflection, “If you want to leave me, you can just say so.”

I’m not leaving you, you don’t say. I could never leave you, you definitely don’t say.

“You don’t need me here,” you say, instead, because that is safer, “But one day you will and I need to know that I won’t be the anchor dragging you down when that happens.”

One month, she demands, doesn’t ask, and you are both relieved and disappointed; still, you take the time you are given and prepare.

Azula’s enemies are not here. Or, at least, not any that are a real threat to her, they’re out traveling the the world.

You need to do the same.

///

Zuko was always going to be a problem.

You knew this even before you noticed Mai’s persistent crush on him, the blatant way the Dragon of the West preferred him over Azula.

Before the Agni Kai.

“He’s incompetent,” Azula scoffs, dismissing the notion, “and soft.”

And normally that would be enough to convince you, but this is for Azula and for her, you are tenacious.

“It doesn’t matter that he’s not as skilled or smart or even if he wanted to be a tea server in Ba Sing Se! He is still the firstborn, and male at that, there will always be members of the court who would rather see him succeed your father than you.”

There are still whispers of discontent, after all, thinking Iroh ought to be restored to his rightful place over Ozai.

You will not have the same happen to Azula.

///

When you leave, Azula gifts you with a houndsnake. Its black and green diamond patterned fur is beautiful, of course, but you appreciate its sharp fangs and paralytic venom sacs far more.

And the way that, after a curious sniff and lick, it coils around your shoulders placid and ready to strike anyone who comes too close.

There’s one unfortunate cretin who will be spending the next week in the hospital for daring to assault the attendant of the princess–never mind that it’s her last day.

Houndsnakes are not native to the Fire Nation archipelago, nor are they a common creature in pet stores.

They are loyal and dangerous and not at all useless.

It is the nicest compliment Azula has ever given you.

Ode to 11010201 -> Heritage Script Brainstorming, 1/? (2017-08-16)

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I need to stream of conscious type this thing, because I’ve decided what I want to do for my first attempt at a full length script, but I don’t want to commit it to a word document just yet until I have it managed better in my brain. I used to do these kinds of things on my livejournal, but seeing as how the base of it is mostly on here, I figured for tagging/research purposes it’d be nice to put it here.

Also, missed posts are no good so…

Ode to 11010201 is a thinly veiled reference to my life, or what might have been my life in a world with magic. I am R and Zim is a nephew that I don’t have because if he were to have existed then he would already be five years old.

And so, the thing is, the idea of them being magical. Of them sharing magic, of using the term “gemini” to describe people who shared magic is very… American of me. Like, how America likes to tout about democracy (which isn’t really) and borrow Greek terms to make things sound more sophisticated or classical, when in fact, I imagine, that in a world of magic actual Greek witches would not use the Western Zodiac as a classification system.

They’d probably use Greek Mythology–like, earth witches in America would be Taurus witches, but in Greece they’d be called followers of Demeter or something like that. And it struck me that I know more about Greek Mythology and the Western Zodiac/astrology than I do about Filipino mythology and deities.

Which. Well. The series of invasions/conquering/imperializing/colonizing/occupation definitely didn’t help with that. The Philippines is caught in a struggle between Christianity and Islam, never mind that at their core both religions worship the same god. The same monotheistic, omnipotent, omnipresent god.

But that’s not what this is about.

Since Ode to 11010201 is based on me, I might as well flavor it even more with myself and make R Filipino-American, and Zim mixed. And the idea to contrast that with a Filipino immigrant who knows the ways of magic as their ancestors would have known it… and is still trapped in the American labeling: the Premier Taurus witch, who I had only vaguely considered being Faye Lin nee Peridot in the Court and Council ficlet…

Which. Well, seeing as how she blames Doctor Kaiza for the disappearance of her sister, Leanne, kind of gave an interesting parallel to R’s own search for her sister which I hadn’t really considered more fully until recently.

So the idea for the play that I have is more set in the Ot1 Redux ‘verse, with the main cast being Kaiza, Zim, R, and Faye–the latter two being called by their respective Council positions, Gemini and Taurus.

It starts much as the first Redux ficlet did, with Kaiza announcing to Zim that the Premier Gemini Witch would be coming to town.

Except it’s a much bigger deal because even if Zim doesn’t know much about magic–he’s the only witch in the region, even Kaiza, technically isn’t a witch, though she’s lived long enough to pick up some tricks and such–he knows that usually council luminaries only show up when something has gone wrong.

They don’t govern, they don’t dictate. They only mete out judgement when magical crimes have been committed.

And so, thinking that it’s a professional reason why she’s coming, Zim (and Kaiza, a little bit) are scared. And R, Gemini, that is, makes a good show of it. She’s only here searching for a particular witch. One who’s been shielding herself for almost two decades, who she has been trying to track down for nearly as long.

Which, obviously, construes to Zim as a criminal searching thing.

Except as time passes, more and more details are dropped, and it’s revealed that R/Gemini is not here in a professional capacity but a personal one. The witch she is looking for is her sister, who has only recently begun using her half of their shared magic. And she knows she’s here, she can feel it, but for some reason the scrying spells aren’t working (because she’s not scrying for the right things, or because Zim is in the same room as her when she’s scrying) and it’s been weeks.

She’s not allowed to renege on her duties for so long.

Because the role of luminary is just that, a duty. Not a privilege. It goes to the strongest witch of each category not because they want it, but because they’re the only ones with the ability to enforce punishments and tie together a new and chaotic society.

Btw, dunno if I wrote this already, but the idea is that magic had existed before, but went dormant for a very long time, and only awoke in the last century. More specifically, when Faye Peridot was a teenager. More specifically, when Leanne Peridot’s abilities went from cool party trick to bending the laws of physics. The Council was an attempt to bring peace at the sudden resurgence of magic.

I mean, I don’t know if I want the Counterclockwise backstory to be so specifically translated into the script–whereas this script will be as close to Ot1 as I can get–but the Peridot family were supposed to be descended from dryads and in pre-Spain Philippines, diwata were the main spirits invoked for good fortune, health, crops etc and they live in trees and if that isn’t some kind of sign that, hey, maybe they’re a family of Filipino immigrants then I don’t know what… I may have to tweak their background somewhat, though.

I mean, Peridot isn’t exactly a Filipino last name, now is it?

It could be something that got Americanized, though. Pamulaklakin means “to make bloom” which would fit and is long enough where someone could have just gotten tired and said. Slap some other P word on it. Or one of those families who did get renamed when the Spanish came, and Peridot in Spanish is just Peridoto so…

I’ll figure it out.

Sorry, I did say it’d be a stream of consciousness… honestly if anyone’s made it this far, I’m very surprised, this is mostly just rambling for my future self.

Uh, anyway. So:

KAIZA
ZIM
GEMINI ®
TAURUS (FAYE)

Act One would be Kaiza and Zim reacting to Gemini’s arrival. And the slow discovery of magic and family and the history of the world. It would end with Taurus’s arrival (a sort of bigger villain in the way of television shows, I suppose) who demands that Gemini come back and resume her duties.

Act Two would be a little more fraught. A lot of backstory for why exactly Gemini has no idea where her sister is until now. Taurus’ dislike of Kaiza. Possibly a red herring about how maybe Kaiza is eating them to power her immortality (which is, in her opinion, not something to be desired and thus absolute nonsense)…

Act Three would be the reveal about what happened to Taurus’ sister?

… or, wait, no… hm…

My sister says (ironically, the one that corresponds to the one R is looking for) that there’s no urgency to it.

Like. Why now? Why this story at this time with these people?

– Zim has only recently found out he has magic.

– As the closest thing to a witch in his area, Kaiza has stepped him to loosely teach what magic she knows to him.

– Gemini, feeling the other half of her magic being used for the first time in nearly two decades, takes leave from her duties as a luminary of The Council and goes across country to find her sister (who had sealed off her half of the magic two decades ago after some kind of fall out?** NEED TO CLARIFY)

… but still. Why now?

– Because there was a case before The Council which had been too harsh, which her words hadn’t been able to spare a witch who had made a small mistake, and so she seized this opportunity. She is the newest and youngest member of The Council, but only by default (Gemini witches are rare). Surely they would want to the complete set.

and then… ugh, shit.

I’ll continue in another part, maybe…

I love your pokemon au! I also love the tidbit about Shikako’s Arcanine. Like, I can imagine a little stray Growlithe following academy-team 7 around and Naruto is just begging to take care of it, and Shikako ends up doing it cause she has an actual home where it can stay (Naruto’s an orphan and pretty irresponsible), but the pup offers all three companionship and it just warms my heart to think about lil kids taking care of this pup haha.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

Maybe growlithe is shikako’s “starter” rather than a traditional Deerling? Like, the clan sees that Shikako’s basically taking care of it on her own, so they let her have the Growlithe to start with anyway. (2/3)

And maybe the deer contract consists of Virizion or Keldeo +a bunch if Sawsbucks, and thats where she earns a Sawsbuck instead? Waah, I’m just really craving a lot of Pokemon!DoS stuff, especially the worldbuilding of a Pokemon-DoS fusion. (3/3)

The thing is, I did want the Growlithe to be specifically Shikako’s. Like, everyone’s team is distinctly their own. Sometimes in crisis situations or in very messed up situations (which, granted, happens frequently with the Lucky Sevens) they’ll have to muddle through partnering up with their teammate’s… team… but otherwise Growlithe (and eventually Arcanine) does prefer Shikako.

Which is not to say that it wouldn’t cuddle up to the boys if they were in need of it, but probably only after making sure Shikako doesn’t need a cuddle as well and after getting permission. Like service dogs. They can be affectionate with strangers, but when they’re on the job, they are focused on their human and their human is their priority.

In the Pokemon-DoS fusion world, Academy students can get up to two Pokemon before graduating. Their third is the more traditional “go to the lab and receive a Pokemon” and that’s only if they graduate and become genin. Non-shinobi can have two Pokemon, but only shinobi can have more than that. So Shikako “starts” with both Deerling and Growlithe.

I did do some brainstorming about how there are Nara clan myths about “a legendary deer Pokemon with the power over life, whose very presence can create vast forests” etc. etc. And that’s Xerneas. But since Xerneas only shows up once every thousand years, it’s been assumed to be an exaggerated account of a very powerful Sawsbuck.

I’m never sure how Legendary Pokemon ought to be considered. Are they gods? Cryptids? Is it considered a religious thing or a historical/mythological thing or a deluded conspiracy theorist thing? Virizion and Keldeo (who is more horse/unicorn than deer, in my opinion) are a little too OP to be so accessible to the clan members. Maybe Sembei-obaasan once fought alongside Virizion long ago during her trainer days, but I don’t think it’s a current part of anyone’s team?

I will… well. Here’s some review response for now, because it’s already midnight and I don’t want another missed post, but I will ponder actual writing post for tomorrow.

Thanks, anon! 🙂

A/N: As promised! Some Shikako-centric world building in the Arm in Arm ‘verse. Enjoy!

The Nara clan compound is not as calm and sedate in the mornings as their members appear to the public. Or, perhaps, their calm and sedate reputations is because they are so exhausted by their chaotic morning routine:

Everyday, the unlucky younger members of the clan go harvesting for medicine ingredients.

Which, perhaps, sounds like a mild and even, possibly, calming venture. After all, people throughout the Land of Fire–and even beyond–travel to pick berries from the Aburame clan orchards and buy their premium honey. And, perhaps, if it were just picking berries from trees, all would be well.

Trees don’t walk around, after all.

Trees don’t run away at the slightest hint of movement, or charge at unsuspecting harvesters, or indulge said harvesters for a few seconds before getting bored and galloping away while smaller trees nose at the harvesters’ pockets for treats or maybe chin scratches or maybe just to be irritating and get out of trouble with their giant adorable eyes.

Sawsbuck change with the seasons, as do their antlers–their velvet is what makes Nara brand medicine so much more effective.

At the cost of so many younger Nara clan members’ dwindling patience.

—

Bizarrely, for a village with such a large and growing population, there are many abandoned sectors.

The most notorious being the Uchiha clan compound, of course, but there are other, smaller houses and neighborhoods that are just empty.

Of humans, of course.

Shikako doesn’t know what possesses her–figuratively, that is–to explore the Haunted Mansion in southern Konoha.

No, that’s a lie, she probably wanted to find a ghost.

Ghosts imply souls, imply something beyond death, and she already knows that exists, but still. She wants confirmation.

Or reassurance, maybe.

At the end of it, she comes out not with a ghost type, but a Growlithe that reminds her to focus on living than dying.

—

Shikako is the only one who sees it in Land of Rivers, then Land of Wind. She supposes it’s because its dark purple skin blends into the shadows, but all she can see are its sparkling red eyes and wide, sharp grin.

It guides her–and, in turn, their makeshift team–towards the shrine of Diancie where they arrive in time to stop Haido’s plan.

At the cost of Shikako’s life.

(It’s okay, it’s only temporary.)

I love your pokemon au! I also love the tidbit about Shikako’s Arcanine. Like, I can imagine a little stray Growlithe following academy-team 7 around and Naruto is just begging to take care of it, and Shikako ends up doing it cause she has an actual home where it can stay (Naruto’s an orphan and pretty irresponsible), but the pup offers all three companionship and it just warms my heart to think about lil kids taking care of this pup haha.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Maybe growlithe is shikako’s “starter” rather than a traditional Deerling? Like, the clan sees that Shikako’s basically taking care of it on her own, so they let her have the Growlithe to start with anyway. (2/3)

And maybe the deer contract consists of Virizion or Keldeo +a bunch if Sawsbucks, and thats where she earns a Sawsbuck instead? Waah, I’m just really craving a lot of Pokemon!DoS stuff, especially the worldbuilding of a Pokemon-DoS fusion. (3/3)

The thing is, I did want the Growlithe to be specifically Shikako’s. Like, everyone’s team is distinctly their own. Sometimes in crisis situations or in very messed up situations (which, granted, happens frequently with the Lucky Sevens) they’ll have to muddle through partnering up with their teammate’s… team… but otherwise Growlithe (and eventually Arcanine) does prefer Shikako.

Which is not to say that it wouldn’t cuddle up to the boys if they were in need of it, but probably only after making sure Shikako doesn’t need a cuddle as well and after getting permission. Like service dogs. They can be affectionate with strangers, but when they’re on the job, they are focused on their human and their human is their priority.

In the Pokemon-DoS fusion world, Academy students can get up to two Pokemon before graduating. Their third is the more traditional “go to the lab and receive a Pokemon” and that’s only if they graduate and become genin. Non-shinobi can have two Pokemon, but only shinobi can have more than that. So Shikako “starts” with both Deerling and Growlithe.

I did do some brainstorming about how there are Nara clan myths about “a legendary deer Pokemon with the power over life, whose very presence can create vast forests” etc. etc. And that’s Xerneas. But since Xerneas only shows up once every thousand years, it’s been assumed to be an exaggerated account of a very powerful Sawsbuck.

I’m never sure how Legendary Pokemon ought to be considered. Are they gods? Cryptids? Is it considered a religious thing or a historical/mythological thing or a deluded conspiracy theorist thing? Virizion and Keldeo (who is more horse/unicorn than deer, in my opinion) are a little too OP to be so accessible to the clan members. Maybe Sembei-obaasan once fought alongside Virizion long ago during her trainer days, but I don’t think it’s a current part of anyone’s team?

I will… well. Here’s some review response for now, because it’s already midnight and I don’t want another missed post, but I will ponder actual writing post for tomorrow.

Thanks, anon! 🙂