My Part Of An ArtTrade With @squishsquishcult

Leave my crown on the branch to the east, where the last ray of light shines at high noon; rest my sword behind the two rocks, where the moss grows green and soft. And I will always be there to guide you, among the souls of our forefathers, in this Sanctum of Kings, Temple of Death.

-> ATKB Masterpost

(Small spoilers ahead in case anyone is actually reading this AU and cares)

Crows burn the bodies of their dead to free the souls from attachments as far as possible and allow them to pass beyond the veil more easily.

Kings and Queens however are oath-bound to the land upon coronation and once they die, their crowns and blades are brought to a sacred cavern beneath the highest hill, in order to bind their souls there so that they may be called upon and provide wisdom and advise to their successors.

Nobody who is not a crowned royal is allowed to enter to sanctum and nobody who has entered is allowed to ever speak about it with anyone who hasn't.

In the night after a coronation the older/ruling kings/queens show their chosen successor to the sanctum and decide where they want them to hang their crown/place their blade once the day comes. In order to complete their anointment, a newly crowned ruler must submerge in the waters—this will bind their soul to the land for eternity. This is why becoming a king/queen of Karasuno is binding for life and can not be reversed.

The cavern also has a much older purpose: It serves as temple and resting place to the Angel of Death, whenever they aren't inhabiting a vessel (which they current are -hint hint-). The Angel, who embodies the concept of death, is worshipped by many although barely anyone knows what the being really is and that is is far less omnipotent than commonly believed.

I‘m really excited to write some MatsuHana mayhem for this project so if you have Twitter, please give it a look and check out all the other amazing contributors ✨

I had the joy to not only contribute my own fic to the recent @spyxangst zine, but also make some spot art for @fallsintograce super angst-juicy fic "The Face of Love" (on Ao3) ~ 

The whole zine is free to download, so please check it out, there are so many amazing pieces in there ☺️✨

The peculiar case of Tadashi Yamaguchi

Fandom: Haikyuu (My contribution for the @hqurbanfantasybang) Type: Chaptered (3/3 - 40.1k words total) // Urban Fantasy AU ; University AU Focus: Unknown Species!Yamaguchi (Yamaguchi/Kuro/Bokuto friendship/support/mentorship) Ships: TsukiYama, BokuAka, KuroKen, IwaOi & DaiSuga; implied LevYaku, UshiTen, KageHina & MatsuHana Rating: Mature (descriptions of blood and injuries & explicit language)

Summary: Tadashi Yamaguchi has problems. As in: A lot. People can't stop reminding him that he smells tasty and they'd like to eat him. His best friend and he are indirectly responsible for burning down their previous university. He can't figure out how to stop turning orange whenever he's nervous, keeps hitting his antlers on the lintel and the lion's tail growing out his back seems to have developed a mind of its own. Oh, and of course there is that cute but grouchy med student vampire living across the hall who he is crushing on hard but doesn't have the courage to ask out! On top of everything he now has to transfer to a new uni and try to survive campus chaos. Luckily, a pixie with chronic bed-hair and a shapeshifter who transforms into a duck rather than an owl whenever he's upset, decide to take him on and teach Tadashi some confidence. Inbetween mysterious mentors, headless centaurs, annoyed dragons, hungry werewolves, kickboxing archangels, literal gods and sassy half-ghosts he isn't quite sure if they are actually helping his increasing anxiety attacks, but hey... it's the effort that counts, isn't it?

Partner: DazzleTwig (on Twitter & Instagram) -> Art made by them (please support their amazing works!)

Read on Ao3 -> The peculiar case of Tadashi Yamaguchi

Preview:

“So, tomorrow is the big day, isn’t it?” Yachi asks and Tadashi takes a sip of tea.

There is nothing better than a witch’s homemade tea, even if the blonde’s speciality is time-based magic and not herbology.

“Yeah,” he nods and shudders.

“You got this!” she reassures him, but her own hands clench nervously around her cup as she goes on, “I mean Central is a big uni with lots of people - you can blend into the herd and nobody will notice you, that’s good, isn’t it? It has to be good!”

“I hope you are right,” Tadashi sighs. “I still wish I could have joined your uni” - ‘If only it wasn’t a damn expensive, super fancy, private one!’

The two of them met about a year ago, in the bathroom of another uni out of town. Both of them had been invited to an application interview and both of them had been so nervous they needed to throw up. Eventually, they bonded over rinsing their mouths at the uni-sex sinks. When Tadashi was in need of a place to live, Yachi volunteered to vouch for him with her landlord who owned several flats in this building, the one he is living in now included and since it’s one of the smallest it’s surprisingly affordable.

It’s not like his family is poor, they get by quite well, but Tadashi doesn’t want to be a financial burden on his mothers any more than he already is, since his tendency to attract trouble in combination with his non-existent self-confidence has gotten him either denied or fired from every job he’s had so far.

“Me too - then I wouldn’t be so alone in my design classes anymore,” she frowns into her cup. “But doesn’t Tsukishima-San goes to Central as well? Maybe you could stick to him and - oh”

From the look on his face, she must have deducted that plan already went down the drain - rather spectacularly if he might say so. Yachi is well aware of Tadashi’s crush on the blond vampire. He appreciates her attempts to help and her encouragements every time he gets flat out ignored in his attempts to organise something that could count as a date if you just squint hard enough!

I’m super pumped to be writing some next generation Seijoh for this awesome zine! Go follow the main account and all the other amazing writers and artists ~

meet our contributors: writers edition! we are so happy to finally show off who will be creating this zine! we’re proud to have all of these wonderful writers working with us.

Seeing how I am a lot more active on BSKY than I thought I'd be, I'm giving this another boost.

🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/charlythelee.bsky.social 💕

With the annual updating of all my links I've made the decision to (finally) formally phase out Amino in favor of BlueSky.

Tumblr is and will remain my main, but I'd still be thrilled if you give me a follow over at BSKY (handle is charlythelee, same as here, link through the LinkTree in my bio) 💕

Commission for @sapphirecereal

Character Ossis belongs to Sapphire, Art made by me - only we may use this in any way!

Find my comms via DeviantArt (link in my bio).

Okay so basically I have two ways to approach this.

On that is just me being a petty sucker for love and the other a little more… scientific.

So what if we had them going all the way to ‚properly‘ - which I just assume is kissing and/or sex.

For one Kaz shows that he is starting to work on his trauma by holding hands with Inej at the end of CK.

And Inej with her backstory at the menagerie it‘s like: Bruh, don‘t get me started on how she must feel about sex!

So they both just start to tackle their individual problems slowly, which is absolutely fine (and possibly leaves room for a third book).

But they are just so darn hecking cute together I want them too smooch for pete's sake!

(As I said I just am sucker for love in a well developed story)

And so, the let us say ‚scientific‘ reason I think they are ‚only‘ holding hands at the end of CK (appart from a possible third book) isn‘t Kaz character but Inej.

Kaz is shown in his flashback scenes that he actually tried before to live without the gloves (with that other girl, sorry I forgot her name, that he was collecting fight bets with). He just choose not to, because working through his trauma was getting in the way of business and that was simply more important to him and his big revenge scheme. So I think if Leigh had just started to ‚rehabilitate‘ Kaz just a little earlier in the books she could have comfortably made him confident enough to go out ‚properly‘ with Inej by the end.

And that is why I think It‘s actually about her and her past as prostitute.

Idk how to explain this but at least to me, Inej might be trying to work through her history but even close to the end she is still terrified by the menagerie.

She is not like Kaz, who sort of choose to just go along with his trauma, she is still somewhat in it‘s thrall.

So that will just take a lot more time to unravel and she is only just beginning with it.

Sure she stuck her middle finger into Tante Heleens face but isn‘t that the exact reason why she wants to be a pirate and fight? To work her way through the trauma?

To become stronger? Strong enough she can leave the nightmares of the menagerie behind once and for all?

So in conclusion

*Clears throat after typing a lot of probably unnecessary explanation that got kinda of topic at the end*

Leaving aside my petty desires and also I my imminent need a Wesper/Kanej double date because fu** you, that is my jam!

*nervous sweating*

I don‘t think it would have been realistic for Inej to make that step, even at the end of CK.

Which is just a too long explanation of: I want it, even though it definitely doesn‘t fit into the novel!!

So I am glad Leigh didn‘t actually let them get together ‚properly‘ - and here come my big big hope - yet.

(Even though it would have been just so cute *silent sobbing*)

Also @arin-saintsforsakencity - no problemo ;)

Oh man so a couple days ago I met a high school teacher who had read Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom and she had the coldest fucking take I’ve ever heard despite being otherwise a very smart, sensitive person. I knew she had read them and I was so excited to talk about my close readings of metaphor and subversion/reinforcement of racial tropes and all the other stuff I’ve never quite managed to type up. So I asked her what she thought. And she said.

She said that she wished Kaz and Inej had been able to “properly” get together at the end of CK and I almost choked on my fucking orange soda. I’ve never been so let down by a literary opinion in my entire life.

I managed to argue with her a little but her heart wasn’t as in it as mine was. I’m so disappointed. So yeah if you hold this same bad opinion, this is an open invitation to hash it out with me.

🔎 ZINE RELEASE 🔍

Sharpen your pencils and polish your binoculars, the time has come — 40 contributors are bringing you 180+ pages of Haikyu!! themed murder and crime mystery adventure across 6 different cases, as well as a wide variety of digital merch.

📁 FREE DOWNLOAD HERE

Thank you everyone for your patience and support and we wish you a thrilling investigation — The StS Mods

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