#let's go with...

[amageish]

If there's one thing that Marvel prose novels starring women named Kate can agree on, it is that America Chavez has very nice thighs.

Spoilers for What If… Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? beneath the cut.

America/Kitty is a ship I have joked about several times before and it's wild how close to canon it is in this novel. Please let them get together in the sequel.

Let them kiss!!!

[mikurulucky]

🎵It's hard to say what it is I see in you🎵

🎵Wonder if I'll always be with you🎵

🎵Words can't say it, I can't do🎵

🎵Enough to prove it's all for you🎵

[the-obnoxious-sibling]

do u think there is a possibility more characters will join up with cross guild? im manifesting the current amazon lily residents because it feeds into my remaining roger pirates reunion wish (and would also be a way for the narrative to force both Crocodile and Mihawk to be more civil to Buggy without either of them having to grow fond or tolerant of him. they just can't beat him up anymore cause his super strong pirate dad is here). Also Boa and Buggy together would be hilarious.

hmm. i don't know, i honestly hadn't thought about it! that group seems pretty crowded with strong personalities as it stands, adding more could make things kinda messy.

it would be funny if cross guild ended up collecting all of the former warlords who aren't, yknow. in jail, or already aligned with other factions, or what have you. and there's a simple enough way to pull one of them in: perona! if she manages to get moria away from blackbeard's island alive, i don't think either of them are gonna be in great shape, and who else would she go to for help but her old roommate?

the amazons, though… i don't know. buggy's crew is something like 90% male ex-felons, and the one woman we definitely know about (alvida) is very protective of her position as Most Beautiful Woman You've Ever Met. i don't think anyone comes out of an attempted union of these groups happy.

(except maybe rayleigh, since he gets to see buggy and is probably not super concerned about petty personality clashes after the life he's lived.)

…however.

if it's not a willing union, but more of the "needs must" chaos that's driven cross guild so far… i think that could be very, very funny. especially hancock and buggy! because one, yes, that's a man, grr argh; two, i would be very surprised if her petrification powers did anything to him; three, her second favorite man on the planet raised him! surely that counts for something!

& while i would love a roger pirates reunion at cross guild or literally anywhere, oda p l e a s e, i can't decide whether i think buggy would actually want rayleigh interfering on his behalf.

on one hand: i have my pride, damn it! 😤 i'm forty fucking years old, i can take care of myself! 😤

on the other: …no i can't 🥺 please make the mean boys stop hurting me mr rayleigh 🥺

i flip-flop on this, and tbh i think so would buggy.

[localpapereater]

Woah, he can speak!

Okay. I think I’ll take the time to remake the presentation of my blog. It hasn’t been updated in-- I believe more than 2 years? Some atrocious number. Either way, a lot of things need a better look, most needing better information, and good grief do I need a better profile picture.

[beneaththebrim]

I don't recall if it is in one of the books or the extra, and I am not very mtl proficient to be confident in my understanding but I think Sheng Lingyuan and Dan Li have a bet of some kind where he says if he loses he'll give his life and if he wins the suzaku patriarch should marry him? Was he referring to Xuan Ji? I couldn't quite get that because wasn't he a sword spirit at that time? or have I understood wrongly?

Liehuo spoilers (including in the ask itself)

lol no you got it.

But also understand that Sheng Lingyuan is teasing Xuan Ji in the present with that line, because the terms of the bet were never stated in the past.

You can go back to the last portion of Ch.94 to see how this 'bet' is set up. In reality, Sheng Lingyuan only says something vague about wishing that good things could last forever (where it's clear to both him and Danli that he's talking about his feelings for the sword spirit), while he and Danli are playing weiqi. When Danli replies, saying that the only constant is impermanence and, "The Shamans can say ‘remaining constant until death’ because their time of death is not far. But what if they couldn’t die? What if they could live as long as Chiyuan, would they still remain constant until the end of time?", Sheng Lingyuan is discouraged, and gripes with what amounts to "Well how do you know?"

Danli appears to be amused by his answer, seals up their game, and proposes a bet. However, he never states the terms of the bet (although it's implied that the bet is on whether or not Sheng Lingyuan's feelings can remain constant).

(....And, also involves their deeper conflict on how to deal with Chiyuan, Danli wanting to eradicate all kinds that use Chiyuan's energy, and Sheng Lingyuan wanting to shut off the source of energy and allow all kinds to live as one--but either way, it's Danli's unfeeling fatalism versus Sheng Lingyuan's optimistic sentimentality.)

There are two main ways Sheng Lingyuan is able to concretely win this bet:

First, he carries around the remains of the heavenly demon sword all the way to his grave, which causes Xuan Ji to turn back into a sword spirit rather than a pure Vermilion Bird. If Sheng Lingyuan hadn't done this, Xuan Ji's construction of the Nirvana Stone would have been successful (since only pure Vermilion Birds can refine a Nirvana Stone, whereas sword spirits are on a lower tier in the technical rules of Heavenly Law), and he would have never remembered Sheng Lingyuan or tried to save him as time went on.

Second, he risks bringing Xuan Ji to Biquan Mountain rather than going there alone. He does this because he no longer wants to hurt Xuan Ji by making arbitrary decisions on his own. He decides to put his relationship on equal footing to the bigger picture. If Sheng Lingyuan hadn't done this, Xuan Ji's body would have been destroyed when Chiyuan reignited, and Xuan Ji would have returned to the state of a wandering ghost and followed after Sheng Lingyuan. Now, Wanfei wouldn't have won, because Danli was always there waiting behind her, but Danli would likely have had to use both Wanfei and Sheng Lingyuan as sacrifice to return Xuan Ji's soul to his original body.

Thus, if Sheng Lingyuan hadn't done these two things (both of which relied on his feelings for Xuan Ji remaining constant), his soul would have scattered (but no matter what, Danli would have ensured that Xuan Ji returned to the state of a pure Vermilion Bird).

Because Sheng Lingyuan does these two things (and because his means of dealing with Chiyuan and his dream for the world turned out to be right--the main things Danli acknowledges in his concession speech), he is able to maintain a thread of vitality, and keep Xuan Ji while he’s at it. That's why he says teasingly in Ch.135 that if he lost the bet, his soul would scatter, but if he won the bet, the Vermilion Bird chieftain would have to join him in body and soul and be betrothed to him.

[aurallyaddison]

*holds my stack of lemon demon cds* don’t talk to me or my son ever again

[zens-mysticmess]

So....I've gotten into the Arcana. Got a few things to say. First of all, Nadia. Babe. I'm too gay for this and I love your dad.

Second, the artists really like visible pecs, huh? Dudes can be fully clothed and they'll be like men can have a little (read as a lot of) cleavage...as a treat

Third, if the courtiers are collectively the 7 deadly sins (Volta/gluttony, Valerius/vanity, Volgora/wrath) who are the others?

Also #ProtectVolta

I wanna draw an appearance now...but can't do a decent job digitally. I literally only have ms paint. I'll do it traditionally someday.

Anyways, I finished Nadia's route. Got good end. And now I wonder if o should do Asra or Julian next.