The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)
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Read between October 22 - October 22, 2025
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She wanted to scream at someone. Anger pulsed through her like a wave of heat.
Ariel
Mhmmmm
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She glanced down at herself and almost shrieked out loud. The soft candlelight illuminated pools of crimson everywhere. She was covered in an enormous amount of blood.
Ariel
Holy fuck i beg ur pardon
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She hadn’t somehow ejected all of her inner organs. A fresh flow of blood trickled down her leg that moment, and she traced it to the source with soaked fingers. Then she was just confused.
Ariel
Oh did shes get her period for the first time bc shes no longer malnourished?
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“So you’re not dying, sweetheart, your body is just shedding your uterine lining.” Rin’s jaw had been hanging open for a solid minute. “What the fuck?”
Ariel
BRO IM FUXKIN DEAD
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She did not sleep so much as lie in a fevered daze. She turned deliriously on the sheets, dreaming of unborn, misshapen infants, of Tobi digging his five claws into her stomach. “Rin. Rin?”
Ariel
Bruh this is like trainspotting except its heroin withdrawls lmao
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She glanced down at the basin with a deranged satisfaction. Better to get the blood out this way, she thought, all at once, rather than slowly, every month, for years.
Ariel
Uhh this doesnt seem v healthy
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She stopped sleeping. She sat in the front row so that there was no way she could doze off. Her head ached constantly. She always wanted to vomit. She stopped eating.
Ariel
Thisi is the relatable college excperience for unstable individuals such as myself lmao
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But the misery she felt now was a good misery. This misery she reveled in, because she had chosen it for herself.
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She couldn’t reason through Hesperian, so she memorized it, the way she memorized everything she didn’t understand.
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Rin craved his approval more than anything.
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spent the second half of class lobbing hypothetical military situations at them, challenging them to think their way out of various quagmires.
Ariel
This is how everything should be taught in schools, I hate that they teach based on specific things and don’t show kids how to apply it elsewhere and then apply it on their own
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That makes it difficult for the enemy forces to see the river clearly. Their archers will mistake the scarecrows for soldiers, and shoot until they resemble pincushions. We will then send our men downstream and have them collect the arrows. We use our enemy’s arrows to kill our enemies.”
Ariel
This is how my brain works
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“Evacuate the children while they’re preoccupied with a small guerrilla force?”
Ariel
Havd half the army attack from behind or A separete section and/or find a way to hold them someone hostage on their side or Even better light that building on fire, thatll smoke them out literally,itd have to be a fire arrow tho
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Rin raised her hand. “Cut around the second army and get onto the dam. Break the dam. Flood the valley. Let everyone inside drown.”
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“Sunzi said to always give the enemy a way out,” Irjah said.
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“Enough, enough.” Irjah slammed the table to silence them. “Nobody wins this one. You’re dismissed for today. Runin, I want to have a word. My office.”
Ariel
Bro let them debate?!!
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Rin’s solution had been to burn down one of the minor island villages.
Ariel
WHy is she a psychopath lmaooo
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She nodded. “Losing Speer during the Second Poppy War pushed Hesperia over the edge—made them uncomfortable enough that they didn’t want Mugen expanding farther into the continent.
Ariel
Could be staged too honestly
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“They wouldn’t know it was Militia troops,” she said.
Ariel
Rin u cant just kill civilians i hope u know that
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“I’m not entirely sure that’s not what happened,” Rin said. “There’s some evidence that the attack on Speer was allowed to succeed.”
Ariel
Factual
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“Explain.” “I find it very difficult to believe that the strongest fighting force in the Militia could have been annihilated so easily. That, and the island was suspiciously poorly defended.”
Ariel
Babes be careful idk how the empire would feel bout the conspiracies and u cant trust anyone here
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“Now why would we have wanted to lose Speer?” Irjah asked quietly. She took a moment to formulate a coherent argument.
Ariel
I personally think either it has to do w the magic they have OR their power was also a threat…especially if they switched sides
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speak, but the moment she said it, her answer sounded startlingly plausible to her.
Ariel
MEEEE
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Nikan does not like to speak of Speer, and for good reason.” “Yes, sir. It was just a theory.”
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“Good,” said Irjah. He raised his eyebrows. “Very good. You know, you are astoundingly bright.”
Ariel
hellllllllya
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He’s not letting me back in.” “What?” Irjah looked outraged. “That’s absurd. Does Jima know?”
Ariel
Im glad someone cars!!!
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“Jima can’t intervene in a Combat matter. Or won’t. I’ve asked.”
Ariel
Yeah def "wont" shes the fking grand master of th school
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“You’ll find a way,” Irjah said. His eyes twinkled. “Sunzi would.”
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different forms belonged to different families, similar techniques taught and improved upon by pupils who had shared the same master.
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Asking Arda was also not an option; she spent all her time in the infirmary with Enro and never returned to the bunks before midnight.
Ariel
Who are these ppl
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He fought more often than not. Throughout the semester his challengers only grew in number—it seemed every single one of Jun’s apprentices wanted to have a go at him.
Ariel
I dotn wanna think this way and im prob wrong but something feels off about Altan to me…why is he ALWAYS fighting
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Rin watched Altan fight twenty-three matches before the end of the fall. He never lost.
Ariel
Like huh?! idk abt him
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The snow was lovely to observe for all of two serene minutes. Then it became nothing but a pain in the ass.
Ariel
Aintthat the truth
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In the months since the semester began, Jiang hadn’t shown up once to class. Students occasionally spotted him around campus doing inexcusably rude things.
Ariel
Honestly insane
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turn flipped Nezha’s lunch tray out of his hands and walked away whistling, petted Kitay on the head while making a pigeon-like cooing noise, and tried to snip Venka’s hair off with garden shears.
Ariel
Brooooo this guy is out of his mind
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Whenever a student managed to pin him down to ask about his course, Jiang made a loud farting noise with his mouth and elbow and skirted away.
Ariel
IM DEAD
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regained her balance only after a few heart-stopping seconds of frantic windmilling.
Ariel
Lmaooo relatable
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“Altan could have pledged whatever he wanted. For some reason he was hell-bent on Lore, but then Jiang changed his mind and Altan had to settle for Irjah instead.”
Ariel
Hmmm
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have taught her class the crushing sensation of disappointment and the even more important lesson that they do not matter as much as they think they do.”
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“Sinegard likes to collect the Warlords’ broods as much as it can. Keeps them under the Empire’s careful watch.” “What for?” she asked. “Leverage. Indoctrination.
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“Can we just do it like we rehearsed?” Jiang demanded. It was the first time Rin had seen anyone actually get to him. “You’re killing the mood.”
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“There are five principal elements present in the universe—get
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all things were made of fire, water, air, earth, and metal.
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“This is where the statues to the Four Gods used to stand,” said Jiang, pointing up into the dark void. “Where are they now?” He shrugged. “The Red Emperor had most religious imagery stripped and looted when he took over Sinegard.
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“Martial arts came to the Empire by way of a warrior named Bodhidharma from the southeastern continent. When Bodhidharma found the Empire during his travels of the world, he journeyed to a monastery and demanded entry, but the head abbot refused him entrance.
Ariel
PARALLELS TO RINNY BOO
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painting depicting a dark-skinned warrior and a group of pale men in robes. “That’s Bodhidharma there in the center.”
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Rin recalled the myth of Mai’rinnen Tearza committing suicide for the sake of Speer’s unification with the mainland. Martial arts history seemed to be riddled with people making pointless sacrifices.
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Martial arts used well would produce a wise commander, a man who could see clearly through fog and understand the will of the gods. The martial arts in their conception were not meant solely as military tools.”
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This is the basis of what you are taught at Sinegard. This is the common core that is taught to the Imperial Militia. This is what your classmates are learning.” He grinned. “I am showing you how to beat it.”
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You must be grounded in your center, able to see and control everything. Each of the five elements must be in balance. Too much fire, and you’ll lash out recklessly.