Ranman

They used to get lost in those scrolls for days, another scribe muttered. "Now, they're just lost in thought." Before meeting Dansaburou, Ranman found a quiet purpose in the cold archives of The Teikodian Empire, a stark white chimper cataloging golden histories. The work was a precise distraction from the palace’s blinding sunlight and shadowed politics. Then they met the palace guard, whose stern silence was a language Ranman found themself desperate to learn. Their courtship became a puzzle of shared glances across sunlit courtyards and whispered jokes in dusty corridors. These days, Ranman still files imperial decrees, but now a tiny, invisible doodle sometimes appears in the margins—a joke only Dansaburou will understand.