warriorslash50 challenge
— STARTED 10/24/2009
— FINISHED xx/xx/xx

001. all things to all men 002. amputation of pride 003. beliefs 004. blunt 005. clouded judgement 006. crush 007. curse 008. danger danger 009. do you believe in magic? 010. enemy camp 011. epiphany 012. favouritism 013. fight or flight 014. fighting blindly 015. fruit 016. Go 017. gold 018. goodbye 019. heart's armour 020. in case we die 021. incredibly incredulous 022. it started off like any other tea ceremony 023. it's funnier when you're drunk 024. it's not funny at all! 025. it's only a flesh wound

026. let me be your weapon 027. music 028. once under a red moon 029. our spirits are officially broken 030. perhaps 031. poetry 032. point of access 033. primitive 034. scandal 035. sharp blade, sharp mind 036. the stars are talking to me 037. the way I see it 038. this is why I'm the strategist 039. time? don't give me "give me time"! 040. tomorrow might be another day 041. tooth and nail 042. when push comes to shove 043. wine/whine 044. you will die and I will take over 045. you will never get to heaven if you break my heart 046. author's/artist's choice 047. author's/artist's choice 048. author's/artist's choice 049. author's/artist's choice 050. author's/artist's choice

(funny thing, I don't even know Motonari, but lately I've been using this icon like crazy)

Lately I've been addicted to social networking reading management sites. Like Shelfari. However, the more I navigate through them, the more disappointed I get. Most of the book reviews are shamefully stupid. They're exactly what I was complaining about in my first post yesterday.

Am I getting too demanding or something? Because I just can't bear anymore those "I liked this book" or "I hated this book" without a given reason. Oh, sure, everyone is free to love or hate books, but would it hurt to say WHY you liked/didn't like it? Was it a boring reading? Was it funny? Fluid? Fast? Didn't add anything new to your life? Doesn't make sense? ANYTHING!!!

*sigh*

Other than that, Skoob so far has been the best "book management" site I've known so far (amongst the three I accessed). It is simple to use and it has the feature I like the most: the reading history, in which you can put the page you're currently reading along with the book rating so far and your comments. At the end of your reading, you can also write a review of the book. What I didn't like about it was the fact of being able to add mangas and magazines to your shelf. Some people may have more than 1000 titles in the "read" part and when you go check it, they're all mangas. It would be cool if you were able to separate the reading categories.
Oh, and this site is in Brazilian Portuguese.

Shelfari is a good site, but the reviewers have been doing a crappy job lately (and it was a series of crappy "I LOVED/HATED THIS BOOK." reviews that made me rant in the beginning of the post). I saw a couple of bugs in it. First of all, the "Next" link doesn't always work. But a cool resource they have is to put the books you read/are reading/will read/want in your blog, like I did in my profile page.

The last one is one that I have just found through starrbeam's LJ: the Goodreads. I can't say much about it because I didn't use it much, but I already found something that I liked: the book-quoting system.

Meanwhile, there are a couple of books in my Amazon Wish List already, but I would feel guilty if I bought them without finish reading the ones I have...

OMG. I DIED. I HAD A HEART-ATTACK. A FANGIRL SQUEE MOMENT.

JON FOO. AS JIN KAZAMA. IN MOST OF THE TRAILER.

This movie is going to be another HUGE failure and the worst part of it is that I KNOW that. But HELL.

SERIOUSLY.

I LOVE JON FOO.

I LOVE JIN KAZAMA.

He Jon already ruined Jin's character with his non-male voice but WHO CARES? I STILL LOVE THEM. BOTH. SDLJASLKDJASDKJAS

*biased*

I'll get infinite screenshots of it as soon as I get home. Or make a wallpaper and spend the rest of the night staring at them like a sick obsessive person. I just won't put them as icons because I have no more icon slots and the quality of the images won't be quite good.

Omg.

*dies*

This meme was originally from sengoku_basara , created by hollowchan , but I'll use it for Dynasty/Samurai Warriors purposes as well. :D

Rules: Just fill it out and post it in your own journal, and if you'd like you can tag others to do it.
Nah, I'll just fill it. If you feel like doing it, then go ahead. (^__^)

1. What are your favorite straight pairings?
Azai Nagamasa x Oichi (SW)!! Well, actually I like all straight pairings from the Musou series (except for Orochi x Da Ji, but that would be because I dislike the characters), but Nagamasa x Oichi happens to be my favorite pairing and I never really understood why. Their relationship is almost as sugarish as Toshiie x Matsu in Basara, but for some reason they don't annoy me. In fact, I actually think I started to like Nagamasa just as soon as I saw Oichi's opening movie in Samurai Warriors 2. I guess I always liked the "gentleman" kinds of guys.
...that explains why I recently started to like Muneshige Tachibana. He and Ginchiyo are almost... ehrm, Cao Pi x Mitsunari. *gets slapped*
As for DW, I think my favorite pairing would be Guan Ping x Xing Cai, but it's kinda hard to say. I must admit that, although Xing Cai is my favorite female character, I feel kinda jealous about her.
Liu Bei x Sun Shangxiang is also adorable, in a weird sort of way.
Aside from Orochi x Da Ji, I guess there is no canon pairing I don't like. I like even Nobunaga x Nouhime. Or Hideyoshi x Nene. Or Lü Bu x Diao Chan.
For Basara... I find Sasuke x Kasuga kinda cute (even though Kasuga absolutely hates Sasuke). Nagamasa x Oichi would be okay if Nagamasa weren't so tsundere. But I do enjoy the rare moments in which Nagamasa is explicitly kind and caring with Oichi.

2. What are your favourite non-straight pairings?
Lu Xun x Guan Ping, Ma Chao x Zhao Yun, Cao Pi x Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang x Jiang Wei (master x apprentice = CUTE) for DW.
Nobunaga x Nagamasa, Kanetsugu x Yukimura for SW.
Date Masamune x Sanada Yukimura for Basara (though Motochika x Motonari is adorable).

3. What are your favourite crack pairings?
Date Masamune x Inahime. Don't ask me why, I just think it's cute. In fact, Ina matches with most of the "under 18" cast from SW. Even Ranmaru Mori.
Shima Sakon x Inahime. DAMN SW2 OPENING.
Yukimura x Inahime though, as I previously said, their relationship is not exactly "crack", specially if you consider Yukimura as representative of the Sanada family.
Basara: ANYONE x Yukimura. (LOL for Mitsuhide x Yukimura *awakening of sadistic side*)

4. Which member of the cast would you most like to date?
DW: Guan Ping. He's a kid, alas he's not a brat like Masamune.
SW: Azai Nagamasa, because he's a perfect gentleman. :3
Basara: omg gee. I don't know. Yukimura? Masamune? If Nagamasa takes off that stupid super sentai clothes and puts on the cute red hakama, I may even choose him! (*___*)

5. Which member of the cast would you most like to marry?
To choose to date = to get married. I wouldn't go back in my decision and would most likely choose the same guys from the previous question. :D

...I was supposed to write the reasons why I chose all those guys, but the post wouldn't meet an end if I did that. Sorry, LOL.

...back when Leon was a stupid 0wn3d sore loser n00b. I loved him so much back then. (º____º)

...and his romance with Ada was a cute, fast, simple almost teenager romance. (*___*)

Man, this Darkside Chronicles looks SO COOL. It makes me REALLY want to buy a Nintendo Wii...

*sigh*

EDIT:

( CAPCOM you damn fanservicer )

Stole from animesque . I won't put it in a meme format because I'm currently in only one fandom (which would be DW), but I'll shove here my favorite DW, SW and WO pairings:

Dynasty Warriors:
1. One True Pairing: hell, any of the hetero couples. Grrr. But if I had to chose my favorite one... Guan Ping x Xing Cai. :D
2. Canon Ship: Ma Chao x Zhao Yun
3. "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork": Dong Zhuo x Dian Wei
4. "You are one sick bastard": Cao Pi x Zhao Yun
5. "I dabble a little": Zhuge Liang x Jiang Wei
6. "It's like a car crash": Lü Bu x ANYONE
7. "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet": Lu Xun x Guan Ping
8. "Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not": Jiang Wei x Guan Ping
9. "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it": Zhang He x ANYONE.

Samurai Warriors:
1. One True Pairing: Nagamasa x Oichi <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
2. Canon Ship: Yukimura x Mitsunari x Kanetsugu
3. "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork": Yoshimoto x Yoshihiro
4. "You are one sick bastard": Ieyasu x Yukimura
5. "I dabble a little": Masamune x Yukimura (well... it works on Sengoku Basara (.__.))
6. "It's like a car crash": Yoshihiro x Sakon
7. "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet": Nobunaga x Nagamasa
8. "Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not": Inahime x Yukimura (well, if you consider that Yukimura represents the Sanada family, it actually does make sense, since Ina was married to one of Yukimura's brothers...), Sakon x Inahime (man, I just HAD to mention this pairing. It's only hinted in the game's opening, but I just love it), Mitsunari x Date (c'mon, you can't make me mention only ONE pairing)
9. "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it": Yoshihiro x Ginchiyo

Warriors Orochi:
1. One True Pairing: Nobunaga Oda x Guan Ping
2. Canon Ship: Yukimura Sanada x Zhao Yun
3. "If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork": Kiyomori Taira x Ieyasu Tokugawa
4. "You are one sick bastard": Da Ji x Guan Ping
5. "I dabble a little": Ma Chao x Kanetsugu Naoe
6. "It's like a car crash": Sun Wukong x Kiyomori Taira
7. "Tickles my fancy but not sold just yet": Cao Pi x Mitsunari Ishida
8. "Makes no canon sense but why the Hell not": Kanetsugu Naoe x Guan Ping
9. "Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it": Orochi x Da Ji

http://epicwinftw.com/2009/12/30/uuuuh-a/

If you want to pwn your teacher, do it with style. :D

Prompt: 30
Pairing: Ma Chao/Jiang Wei
Rating: K

( Cut for "artwork" )

This drawing was supposed to be a "thank you" for animesque 's cute Cao Pi/Zhao Yun fanfic, but...

...I FAIL INORITE.

OTL

This Ma Chao DOES NOT LOOK LIKE MA CHAO. This Jiang Wei DOES NOT LOOK LIKE JIANG WEI. OTZ THIS CRAP IS SO CRAPPY THAT I WON'T EVEN POST IT ON WARRIORSLASH.
*commits suicide*

Now, seriously, I DO have the conscience to say that my drawing skills suck. However, even by knowing this, I entered the "challenge" with the only purpose of improving them. Due to personal issues, I stopped drawing six years ago and now, for some reason, I decided to start it all over again. I don't expect to be a professional, but would be very glad if I could do at least ONE decent work. (In fact, writing fics was not in my original plans XD)

Either way, I was supposed to draw something like Ma Chao and Jiang Wei looking at each other as if they were casually passing by and suddenly faced each other, but it comes out that Jiang Wei looks like a giraffe and Ma Chao has completely unproportional eyes. *rage* I'm starting to think that I really need to follow a certain drawing style. I'm still choosing an artist to copy take base for my own drawings...

Anyway... I'll put this task as "completed", but perhaps when I notice that I improved, I'll remake this drawing/idea and make a decent work out of it. Wish me luck!

It seems that Kindle is coming free of import taxes. I wasn't planning to buy one because I thought it was too expensive (it seems that the original price is something around 260 dollars, but the price doubles when it gets here). Because of import taxes, it was not feasible to have one, but after this "law" you can buy it via Amazon and it will come here in the price you payed (that is IF the law is approved). But to be honest, I still don't think it will be worth having one around here. I mean, depending on the number of books that a person can read, yeah, it may be worth the price and it doesn't occupy too much space in the shelves. Not only that, I was reading about Kindle's specifications and it is quite tempting. Overall the books are cheap (specially if compared to my country's book prices) and Kindle has a great storage capacity. And it is thin and light, for someone who reads in the bus, with would be very useful... but it doesn't work here. Kindle still looks too fancy for someone who lives in a 3rd world country to have and that is one of the reasons why I'm not gonna buy one. At least for now.

On Tuesday I borrowed Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires with only one goal: marrying Guan Ping. I ended up screwing the game and kinda lost my patience, so I decided to play as Guan Ping at least to enjoy the game a little.

( You see, this is why I can't play Empires )

Thank goodness I always check the main page. Happy birthday, dear starberryfiesta !!!!! I truly want to send you a birthday gift, but it will get a LITTLE bit late (like... a month late (x__x)) because the Post Office services are usually a bitch, but they can actually get WORSE in December. I hope you don't mind. (.__.) Also, it won't be anything cool and fancy like a photoset or anything of that sort because these cool things are not sold around here. (X__X) Sorry!!! m( _  _ )m

Anyways, I hope you have an excellent... ehrm, everything. *awful to write birthday wishes* Thank you for being the great person you are!

Prompt: 36
Pairing: Guan Ping/Jiang Wei (implicit Zhuge Liang/Jiang Wei)
Rating: K

If there was one thing that Jiang Wei liked the most on spring nights, aside from reading and studying by the breeze of the fresh nights was gazing at the stars. Master Zhuge Liang taught him a lot about stars, constellations and stuff like that. Lady Yue Ying always told him that every change in the sky meant something different. Both said that every star, every comet, every cloud would to give out a different message each time he saw them. And for someone who had good eyes, the message would always be clear.
At first, he had some difficulties. All the nights seemed to look exactly the same. Great, stars. They're small, white little dots in a black background, so what?
However, little by little, he started to notice the small differences on their location, on the intensity of their light. Sometimes, he saw a shooting star that seemed to connect one star to another. Some stars faded away. On the following day, something would happen accordingly. One general had died. Someone had been betrayed. An ambush had been set somewhere.
The sky didn't indicate only bad things or things related to warfare, though. Sometimes, one star started to shine more brightly. Other times, they seemed to be arranged in such a way that he could see forms in them. Dragons. Tigers. Snakes. Sparrows. And in the next day, he would receive the news that someone was born or that a dear person had gotten better from sickness. Things like that.

Little by little, like a child learning how to walk, Jiang Wei learned to recognize this signs of the stars and interpret them accordingly. Soon enough, even for smallest events he recurred to the stars. Not always he would get the answer he wanted, but... oh well, that's how life worked. He also avoided to put nasty ideas in his mind, like "when will be my dying day?" or things like that. It was like a hobby.

In the previous night, his master was looking at the stars with him. He mentioned that Jiang Wei "looked troubled" and asked him if he wanted to talk about it. At this point, the apprentice avoided Liang's eyes, because he knew that just by looking at him, his master would guess it in no time. Alas, Wei somehow felt that his master already knew what his problem was and that already felt bad enough. But Zhuge Liang really didn't seem to mind.

...in fact, he seemed amused.

As for the young apprentice, all that was not amusing. Not at all.

"So... my star is such a small one. I didn't notice that it was kinda red.", he said to himself that night. By the way, what did that mean? Not too long ago, Lady Yue Ying mentioned something about a torn heart.

A red star means that the one born under its protection had a torn heart. Or a torn path. Was that it?

Beside his star, he could see a bright one, shining almost as much as the moon.
"That's my master's star.", he thought.
On the other side, as if approaching timidly, a star at the same size of his shone shyly, almost fading away.
"Huh? That's the star of someone whose destiny is sealed.", he regarded. Then, after two or three minutes of reflections, a twisting agony overcame his feelings.
"...sealed destiny, huh?", he thought, with bitter sadness.
A little while after that, he heard footsteps getting near. It was Guan Ping.

"Oh, regent Jiang Wei. I beg your pardon, I didn't think I would find you here, I'll go somewhere else..."
"NO! I mean, no, not at all, please don't mind me, I was just taking some fresh air." Jiang Wei replied, looking away so that Guan Ping wouldn't notice his face blushing.
"Thank you.", said Guan Ping. He approached, smiling. "It's a beautiful night, I thought it would be a waste to miss this starry night."
"Y-yeah, it would.".

Now Jiang Wei became really upset. Not because Guan Ping was there. In fact, that was kinda... okay. The thing is that his heart was beating really, really fast, to the point of making him afraid that his friend would listen to his heart pounding crazily against his chest. He felt that when his heart was beating like this, he was very likely to say something the he actually wanted to say, but maybe he shouldn't say it, and THAT made him upset.

He also felt like this when Master Zhuge Liang was nearby, but the feeling was kinda different. It felt... much likely a father-to-son relation.

Or maybe he wanted to believe that.

He wouldn't know how to explain.

"A torn heart, huh?"

"Say, Guan Ping..."
"Yes?"
"How's your relation with lord Guan? I mean... how do you feel when he is nearby?"
"Hm..." the lad looked at nowhere in particular. "I guess... I admire him. A lot. I wish I could be strong as he is. I'm very proud of him. And happy that he considers me as his real son."
"I see..."
"Why do you ask? Are you questioning your own feelings towards Master Zhuge Liang?"
"WHAT?" Jiang Wei's face was ruby-red. "NO!! NOT AT ALL! WHATEVER MADE YOU THINK THAT WAY? HAHAHA."
He looked to the other side, forcing out a laughter. Ping smiled.
"Isn't he like a father to you?"
The young strategist looked at him, without knowing what to say. He looked at those big dark brown, sincere eyes and started to think that yes, maybe that's how he felt. His heart paced down as he lost himself in his inner thoughts.
"Yes... maybe that's how I feel. He's... like a father to me." he pondered. "He took me as his apprentice, even though I was from a rival kingdom and taught me lots of things. Like a father would do to a rebel son." Only then, he realized that he was still looking at Guan Ping, even though the youngster was no longer looking back at him.
"But to you" Jiang Wei asked himself, in his own thoughts "...what am I? Do you consider me like your brother? Or as... something else?"
Again, his heart was pounding as hard as the drums of war would be beating in the next days.
"That's funny..." said the son of the Guan Yu, gazing at the sky "There's a star that seems slightly different from all the other ones. The most shiny one can't really hide its sparkle. But... I don't know, it feels kinda sad. It's almost as if that little star was torn between surpassing the one that is sparkling the most... or fading away with the other one right beside it."

"Say, Guan Ping..."
"...yes?"
"...what would you do if you were that star?"
"Me?"
Guan Ping looked at the back of his hands.
"I guess... I would try to shine as much as the star that is sparkling the most. To live my life in the best possible way."
"Would you let that other one just fade away?", Jiang Wei asked looking down, an uneasy feeling in his chest.
"It can't be helped. Every star has its lifespan, other stars won't stop shining because one of them was gone."
"I see..."

The two of them were silent for what may have been seconds, minutes or maybe hours.

"Jiang Wei..." said Guan Ping, breaking the silence.
"Huh?"
"What do you say of playing Go after I come back from He Fei?"
Jiang Wei looked confused. He tried to say something, but words just wouldn't come out of his mouth.
"Father said that after we take Fan Castle and come back to Jingzhou, he'll teach me how to play Go. How about a match after that?"
The strategist was now pale. Without noticing, he gave out a sad smile.
"Sure! I'm not a good player, though..."
"Then it's a promise! After we take Fan Castle, we will have a match! Well... I'll call it a night. See you soon!"
With a smile and a last friendly glance, Guan Ping left the place.

A couple of weeks after that, the small star near Jiang Wei's faded away. He and Guan Ping were never able to play that match.
Eventually, more stars faded away. That little star beside the big one, even though it was always red, went on shining as bright as it could. Maybe to overcome the brightest one. Maybe to remember the smaller one that faded away.

__________

( Notes )

So, TODAY Samurai Warriors 3 was released for Nintendo Wii in Japan.

While I was anxiously checking on YouTube to see if a benevolent soul had uploaded Nagamasa's ending (or Oichi's. Or Kiyomasa's), I ended up finding this EPIC WIN AMV. It has probably one of the best edition works I've seen so far.



It makes me want to hunt all the DW/SW series cutscenes and work again on some AMVs. Oh man, how nostalgic...

(btw, if someone happens to find Nagamasa's ending, as well as Oichi's, please send me the link for it! (T__T))
(...oh, and if you Rick Roll me, you'll die. :D)

I don't know why I suddenly started to think about fanservice. It most probably has something to do with the Musou series and tomorrow's release (Samurai Warriors 3), about which I don't seem to be able to stop talking (seriously, no one can imagine how freaking anxious I am to see Oichi's ending, as well as Nagamasa's. And Kiyomasa's.). I don't even know what I expect from their endings. The fact remains that I just LOVE to see Oichi and Nagamasa together. And would love to see Nene petting Kiyomasa.

Back to the subject, I was thinking about the evident fanservice made by gaming companies. Square-Enix in particular seems to love doing that. The last one that occurred to me was Leon x Cloud on Kingdom Hearts 2. Oh, well, Advent Children was full of that and Advent Children Complete... I won't even mention it (damn you, Square-Enix, you guessed I ALWAYS dream about a slashed Cloud). Prince of Tennis' OVAs were also full of that. Shishido x Choutarou, Renji x Kirihara, Inui x Kaidou

But the thing that matters to me now is Sengoku/Sangoku Musou.

Other than the "regular pairings" (that, for me, are already a fanservice themselves - and I wonder if anyone else actually likes Liu Bei x Sun Shangxiang. I read somewhere that the reason they were put together and happily ever after was because the fans were unhappy with the tragic - and canonical - ending from the previous game), it (fortunately) seems like Koei likes to do fanservice. You know, to the point of making Warriors Orochi and stuff. I thought it was quite mean to separate Guan Ping and Xing Cai, though. *the one that loves them both* On the other hand, this "separation" created an interesting Nobunaga x Guan Ping possibility and I actually liked it.

The one that, in my opinion, seemed to please the fangirls the most was Cao Pi/Mitsunari. I didn't know the two of them by that time, so I didn't feel moved by this "pairing" when I played WO. At first, I was squeeing when I saw Zhao Yun x Yukimura. I was always a big fan of poster boys, so... After meeting Nagamasa, I kinda stopped liking Yukimura, but in the third game of Samurai Warriors his appearance was reformulated to a short-haired version of Zhao Yun in such a way that I started to like him again.

I must say I was amused to see Sun Ce and Hattori Hanzou working together.

I didn't play too much of Warriors Orochi 2. I was able to play two stages of the Dream Mode at my friend's house. Only the one with Guan Ping/Cao Pi/Gracia against their fathers. I heard about Jiang Wei/Lu Xun/Sakon Shima against their masters, though. For some weird reason, I actually DO like Zhuge Liang x Jiang Wei. And I like when Lu Xun semes Guan Ping or Jiang Wei. (>_____<)

...am I forgetting something?

Can't wait for tomorrow. (;__;)

So. What do you consider fanservice (not necessarily from the Koei/gaming/anime series)?

EDIT: tiuneo made me want to play the strategists Dream Mode in Warriors Orochi 2 SO BAD. I couldn't stop about the possibility of...
Zhuge Liang: HAH, I predicted that you HAD to go through this area, so I set AN AMBUSH HERE.
Jiang Wei: HAH, I predicted that you would predict that I had to go through this area, so I set AN AMBUSH FOR YOUR AMBUSH HERE.
Zhuge Liang: HAH, but I predicted that you would predict that I predicted this, so I set AN AMBUSH TO YOUR AMBUSH.
Jiang Wei: HAH, but I PREDICTED THAT YOU WOULD PREDICT THAT I WOULD PREDICT THAT YOU WOULD PREDICT THIS, so I set an AMBUSH TO AMBUSH YOUR AMBUSH TO MY AMBUSH TO YOUR AMBUSH.
Zhuge Liang: HAH, but I predicted that you would predict that I predicted that you would predict that I predicted your plans, so I set an AMBUSH TO YOUR AMBUSH TO MY AMBUSH TO YOUR AMBUSH TO MY AMBUSH...
Jiang Wei: ...wait, I got lost.
Zhuge Liang: ...this is why I'm the strategist.

...DAMN, I COULD'VE USED THIS TO WRITE THE FIC. *facepalm*

As I promised to animesque , I uploaded the pictures of the genderbend Dynasty Warriors. Check out the style of the drawings:







I will leave you to guess who is who. But in case you can't figure them out, I'll post the rest of the characters under the cut. It's not really hard to find out who is who, but I'll put their names anyway. :D
I'm also missing two characters. One of them is Jiang Wei, but I honestly CAN'T remember who is the other one. If you happen to be a Dynasty Warriors fan and figure who they are, please, please send me the picture of the missing characters! (T___T)
EDIT: Thanks to animesque 's incredible, amazing, superb GOOGLE POWER, I think I have all of them now!! Thanks, Linc! (T__T)

For the sake of my layout, I resized them a little. You can find them all slightly bigger here.

By the way, these pictures are NOT mine and (un)fortunately I randomly found them while browsing through the internet. If you happen to be the author, let me know and I'll credit you in this post. :D

( Cut for lots of cuteness! )

Back when I was a Suikoden fangirl (well, actually I STILL love Suikoden, but it doesn't help if the guys just don't want to release new games from the series), me and tiuneo had a conversation of this level:
chikyu_star : I don't like Sasarai. I only like Luc. He's cuter. He has a cool hairstyle.
tiuneo : ...BUT THEY'RE TWIN BROTHERS.
chikyu_star : ...but I still like Luc! :D

As he mentioned before, if someone ever plays Suikoden 3 before the first ones, yeah, people tend to like Sasarai better than Luc (but Luc STILL looks cooler in Suikoden 3 :D) and people who played in the chronological order tend to like Luc. But it really depends, some people dislike heroes simply because they're "too nice". Go figure. D:

I wanted to do this for warriorslash challenge, but fortunately (or not) I checked out the rules just in case and... well, it can only be either a fic or a fanart, so I'll just leave this as a random thing I did in my "free" time. Meh, that's ok, I had fun doing this anyway. And yes, if someone asks me, I took most of the scenes from my previous NagaIchi AMV. Yeah, this is how lazy I am, but I just LOVE this couple... and I also LOVE this song.
The song I used is the piano version for the song 天天夜夜 (F.I.R.), which I ABSOLUTELY ADORE (seriously, if I get married one day, this song MUST be played at my wedding), which came as a hidden track for the song "The Person I Love the Most". I was in doubt about using this song and Lydia (F.I.R.)'s piano version, but I have other plans for this one. The good thing about this AMV is that it is a shorter version for the original one, LOL. :D

Anyway, here's the thing:

Prompt: 11
Pairing: Zhuge Liang (Kongming)/Jiang Wei
Rating: K

Two months have passed since Zhuge Liang's death, but the image of his closed eyelids in his wise face was still fresh in Jiang Wei's mind. The pain of the loss was heavy, but he didn't have time to weep. Even though the position of Prime Minister or whatsoever wasn't Wei's, the burden was still the same, and replacing someone like Kongming in hard times like those wasn't easy. The war waging against Sima Yi, the State issues, the alliance with the Wu kingdom hanging in a thread and taking care of a indulgent king who was putting the kingdom's future in check... everything was now in the apprentice's shoulders. Days went by with the blink of the eye. Soon enough, the young strategist was being consumed by his own tiredness and for several times he neglected sleep.
Sure, Zhuge Liang was doing the same thing back when he was leading the campaigns.

But him?

Nah, he just wasn't used to it. It's not that he didn't work back when he was working under Wei kingdom's orders or when Kongming was still alive. He just wasn't used to THAT MUCH pressure. And he tried not to think that the future of the kingdom of Shu was now lying in his hands.

And there he was once again, awaken when the sun was about to rise in a few hours, the blanket hanging on the back of the chair (because he didn't even notice when the wind coming from the open windows blew it from his shoulders). For the tenth time in the night, he was about to collapse in the table from exhaustion. It took only one glance to that feathered fan that once belonged to his master (and was now always with him) to recover his strength, at least for a couple of minutes. Then, he would write a few more drafts of strategic plans, sketch some maps, study some more of Kongmings inventions, think on how he would ask the engineers to help him out and then collapse in his bed, completely drained out. That is, IF he ever got to his bed. Sometimes he would collapse on the table and wake up with his face black from sleeping on the writing brushes.
"You're working too hard, young master" is what his counselors and generals would say, but Jiang Wei just wouldn't listen. Hell, he had a kingdom to take care of and didn't accomplish not even half of what his master had.

It was night before Wei Yan would rebel against the Shu army that Jiang Wei would collapse in the table after a sleepless night that the sheets in which he was working on starting to fly in all directions, even though there was no wind that night. The fire in the candle vanished and he suddenly heard a noise of the door of his room opening. Startled, he turned around just to see the door as he left it.

"...I think I'll have to admit that I could get some sleep." he said to himself, with a long sigh.

"Perhaps you could save it for later, tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity to execute this plan."

Jiang Wei got up, half in astonishment, half in disbelief. Right before his very eyes, a man stood in black tunic, hair tight in a Taoist headress, holding a feather fan with crane plumes.

"...Your Excellency..?" whispered Jiang Wei "...is that really you?"

Zhuge Liang walked towards his apprentice, fanning himself.

"It appears that tomorrow, at the third watch, a huge storm will come. Use this opportunity to sneak through Bao and set an ambush there. Make sure you pay attention to the sign Wei Yan will give. At this time, Ma Dai will do his part."

"...Master, it's really you!!", the lad said, tears falling from in his eyes as he prostrated in utter happiness.

"Have you payed any attention to what I was saying, Jiang Wei?" Kongming asked with a light tone of reprimand in his voice.

"You have no idea of how happy I am to see you, Your Excellency!" cried the apprentice, nearly without voice.

The strategist smiled. "I know. I foresaw that you couldn't do it on your own, so I decided that I should lend you a hand one last time." is what he said before carrying on with endless strategy "hints".

Only two months went by, but it seemed like years. Yet, Zhuge Liang, in Jiang Wei's eyes, had in his face some sort of youth and vitality that he hadn't seen not even when they met. There was so much Wei wanted to say. The only thing that he was able to think at that time was "Why, Master? Why did you have to leave?", but he just couldn't voice his feelings and it hurt so much and his Master's voice only reminded him of what he was about to face and that he still had a long path to follow.

The strategist went on and on and on until the dawn break and Jiang Wei, exhausted, lied on the table. Kongming noticed that and smiled gently, carefully removing the writing brush near his apprentice's face, as he put his warm hand on the young man's face without saying a single word.

It was such a small, almost meaningless gesture, yet Wei's heart was filled with a kind of joy that he didn't feel since a long, long time ago.
"Thank you, Your Excellency." he whispered. "With this plan, we're sure to conquer the Northern lands."

Zhuge Liang pulled the blanket over Jiang Wei's shoulder once again when someone knocked at the door.

"Regent Jiang Wei, can I come in?"

Jiang Wei opened his eyes. He was alone in his room and a light wind blew the curtains hanging in the windows.

It was all just a dream.

He was all alone in his room and everything was silent, except for the maid knocking in his door. But the blanket was on his shoulders and he still could feel the warm touch of his master in his face.

I'd seen this video before, when I only knew Zhao Yun (...when you think about it, it's not too much time ago). Now I decided to re-watch it (well, actually I was looking for a Nagamasa Azai version for Caramelldansen) and NOW I see why it is so funny. XD

It's always good NOT to be a complete n00b.