#I feel so good about how I was able to capture everyone's speech patterns and personalities here so well in such small chunks..

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting: Wutugald Results

All right, time to see what everyone came up with for the Wutugald! Again, if that statement confuses you, you may find an explanation at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting . If you want a refresher on the description the artists were working with, here is the original post:

This was a pretty good creature to start with, I think; the random number generator did us a solid with this one. It laid to rest some concerns I had: will people be able to put aside their real-world knowledge of these animals and draw as if they had never heard of them? Yes, apparently -- a number of comments and notes indicated that several participants had guessed what the Wutugald was, refrained from sharing that information, and drew something that fit the description while being nevertheless a fully distinct animal. I was also concerned about some of the upcoming entries that specify a type of animal (bird, serpent, &c.), wondering if that constraint would be a problem -- but a number of people drew some Very Good Birds for this one, so I feel reassured that future entries that are Explicitly A Bird will still be material we can have fun with.

So, let's see what people created. I'm putting these in roughly the order in which they appeared, below the cut:

@cosmic-flora (link to post here) produced this in Paint pretty shortly after the original post went up, and posted it with a brief explanation of their design decisions -- they were the first but not the last to interpret the rigid spine as spikes and the single tooth as a beak, and also to provide the creature with claws for digging.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) was also quick off the mark, posting this the same evening along with an explanation of their design process. I'm genuinely impressed by how quickly they were able to draw something so naturalistic -- this went up within like four hours of the original post. This was also the first (but again not the last) to include an apparent reference to the Wutugald's ability to change sex by including both male genitalia and noticeable teats. Also, I wonder if the coat pattern on the baby is a sneaky reference to the animal this is based on, as Silverhart does indicate that they figured it out.

@elodieunderglass (link to post here) created this rendition, which I think does a good job at capturing the vibe in the bestiary entry, of a creature that the medieval author clearly sees as discomfiting and somewhat sinister. That is a grin that makes me worry about the critter's intentions.

@geeoharee (link to post here) posted this along with a brief explanation of their design decisions. The human face and the speech bubble are great, I think -- it makes me smile. I think this is the first non-mammalian Wutugald, but several more come later.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) drew this with a dip pen, apparently, which is cool. Also this might be the cuddliest-looking version, but my desire to hug it probably says more about my own sense of self-preservation than anything else. That is a cute face, right? It's not just me?

@cinqueform (link to post here) produced this wonderfully medieval-styled image. We can see here the ruler-straight spine and the depiction of the Wutugald's sexual ambiguity, as well as a human-like face for imitating speech. Also a very nice stylized letter W.

@rautavaara (link to post here) has also done a medieval-style rendition, which is excellently sinister in presentation. That is a Worrying Creature. It's also the first (but again not the last) avian interpretation of the Wutugald, which I think really works. Also I'm not sure if this is a sneaky nod to what the animal actually is, or just a case of "great minds think alike", but Rautavaara's interpretation of the rigid spine is very similar to the one in the actual Aberdeen Bestiary illustration I will show y'all at the end of this post.

@spontaneousmusicalnumber (link to post here) posted this along with a brief explanation of their design process. I think they're right about the side pattern being appropriate for a bestiary critter.

@strixcattus (link to post here) did another avian rendition of the Wutugald complete with a fantastic lengthy reinterpretation of the bestiary entry through the eyes of a modern naturalist. Seriously, go check that out, it's very good.

@fidgetyhands (link to post here) provides this image of the Wutugald along with an explanation of their design choices. They also note that limitations in terms of artistic material are probably relevant to a lot of bestiary drawings.

@jamiethekeener (link to post here) gives us this Wutugald in the act of digging. She instructs that we should not ask why her interpretation of Wutugald ended up being so unsettling, which I cannot deny that it is. (That smile... that damn smile.) I also want to highlight the interpretation of the rigid spine as a shield-like plate along the back.

@thewhetherman (link to post here) gives us this rather-frightening-looking creature, along with a brief commentary that definitely ups the spook factor on this whole thing.

@bruncikara (link to post here) also went with a medieval stylization, with a very period-appropriate pose and frame. We can see again some digging claws and a nod to the animal's sexual ambiguity. Wicked-looking single tooth, also.

@mobileleprechaun (link to post here) has given us what I think is our only invertebrate Wutugald by interpreting the rigid spine as a shell and the single tooth as a radula. Shown here with its half-lion offspring.

@illogarithmil (link to post here) has also taken inspiration from medieval bestiary art, noting the unusual color and perspective choices typical of the genre. Note the straight tail, the skull, and the doorway in the background -- presumably into a tomb of some sort. The diamond-pupilled eye is striking.

@qwertyprophecy (link to post here) gives us this Wutugald who manages to strike an excellent balance between "cute" and "villainous". Like, I would expect to see these hopping around to signal that the Protagonists have entered the Sinister Fantasy Kingdom, but it's also kind of adorable. I think the gemstone pupil helps with that vibe. Vulture face is for easier eating of corpses, I assume.

@aaclysm (link to post here) provides both a final version and a "messy bus sketch". We can see the stone-like eyes, the single tooth interpreted as a beak, and the rigid spine interpreted as a carapace. Kind of griffin-like vibes, which I'm enjoying.

@scarlettbookworm (link to post here) gives us this drawing, which has some delightful details. I like the lines on the shadow, which I assume is meant to indicate the magical effects associated with it. Also love that the Wutugald's ability to change sex is acknowledged by giving it a little trans-pride flag to wave with its tail. I believe the text in its speech bubble is intended to be word-salad, demonstrating that it imitates but does not understand human speech.

@pachelbelsheadcanon (link to post here) gives us another very cute Wutugald. (More of these than I expected are downright cuddly.) I'm particularly delighted by the attempt to take the whole "single tooth that closes like a casket" thing at its word and make it work. They provide in their post an explanation of what's going on with that and some other interesting zoological details of their creation. I also enjoy the idea that the Wutugald talks like bot-generated spam.

@changeinenthalpy (link to post here) has produced this fairly-intimidating-looking critter. This definitely looks like something that could dig up and eat a corpse if it wanted. Nasty claws on that beast. The shiny gemstone eyes give it an unsettling gaze also.

@aethergeologist (link to post here) gives us this creature, which I both want to pet and also want to keep a healthy distance from because those claws look like they could mess you up. They provide an explanation for their design choices in the linked post.

@karthara (link to post here) has added to our store of avian Wutugalds, and includes a brief explanation of their design choices in the linked post. I like how happy it seems in the side view -- all excited about its corpse-digging plans for the evening.

@moustawott (link to post here) created this delightfully prehistoric-looking beast, and provides a detailed account of their design choices in the linked post. I think the snapping-turtle face really works here, and this is probably one of the most dangerous-looking interpretations of the Wutugald.

@cattorneyatlaw (link to post here) has drawn an unusually porcine Wutugald. Probably one of the spookier pig drawings I've seen. They provide an explanation of their design choices -- including "why a pig" -- in the linked post.

@curiouslyodd (link to post here) has given us a Wutugald with a very unsettling face and an interesting fur pattern. In the linked post, they not only provide an explanation of their design choices, but also a detailed and well-written reinterpretation of the bestiary entry based on the animal as they have drawn it. Go check that out.

@treesurface (link to post here) has done an interestingly chimeric Wutugald, and includes a brief explanation of their design choices in the linked post. I like the head particularly.

And... hm. We're not going to be able to fit all of the images in one post. The limit is thirty, right? Stay tuned for a bit, I guess. The remaining Wutugalds will be in a reblog of this post, along with the reveal of the animal's identity and the Aberdeen Bestiary's interpretation of the creature.

[moe-broey]

UUUUAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH LIKE. LIKE. Okay so, because I have no idea where to start, I'm just going in Book order for now. I esppp needed the refresh on the prologue. Also because I am just. This Fucking Close. To actually making a whole ass timeline of Events for Moe. I have a plethora of rough ideas in my head, things that are important to me, but will be extremely difficult to pull off all simultaneously ESP bc in true Alfonsecore fashion, a lot of things. Are just contradicting each other. Here.

But that's not the reason why I'm complaining. No. The REASON I've come back so soon to scream out in agony is because. This is supposed to be for my Alfonse quotes blog bit. And a study. Ect. Okay.

But as Soon. As SOON as Sharena hit the scene. Dude I'm gonna thrup I can't just OMIT her FUCKING DIALOGUE...... not only is she a cutie patootie but like. Her voice IS easier to come up with on the fly, because she's so casual. But. I Feel Like. And I have been feeling this way for quite some time actually. I NEED to capture her voice better, too. Because even though she's more casually spoken than Alfonse, she has this like. Whimsical and almost eccentric air to her. And she still has moments of "proper" speech patterns too, like. She has a VERY funky combination of being so personable and easygoing that you forget she's a princess, BUT! You sort of get the sense that she was raised a very specific way. For better or worse.

About to run in circles real bad and not even get to my point, but. I'm writing all this down in a notebook, btw, just seems like the easiest way as someone who doesn't have a computer (to be able to do two things at once, yeah I'll have to type all that shut out later BUT it's part of the Process).

NOT MAKING SENSE OR ANY POINTS. ALL OVER THE PLACE. BUT. If I don't have her dialogue at very least in this notebook I'm gonna thrup. ESPPPP as someone who's main focus really is just. The family dynamics. Like. My area of focus is SUPER narrow in that and I struggle to expand outside of it

AS AN ASIDE. LIKE. I DO FEEL LIKE. IN ALL OF THIS. I really should study Anna too. She really does hold the group together. And I'm very much thinking about the specific roles charas like Senshi and Chilchuck play in Dungeon Meshi actually. Chilchuck is a literal dad, and that does often bleed into his dynamics with his party members, BUT. He is like World's Most Number #1 Professional Work-Life Balance Business Man. It would be extremely reductive and a disservice to his character to just slot him into being "the group's dad", because. His whole DEAL is that separation of work and private life, how important that is to him. Meanwhile Senshi feels harder to place, in this category, but I feel like he plays a similar role. He's a mentor. He has skills and a lifestyle he's passionate about. What really is making me think this though, slotting him here, is near the end of Dungeon Meshi where everyone is thinking about what they want to do next. Senshi had a good time with Laois and company, but now he's thinking he wants to spend some time alone. LIKE.... I AM. STRUGGLING. TO MAKE A POINT HERE. BUT. No matter how much of a fatherly or even older brother role (esp in the way his old closest party member was, to him) he takes on, at the end of the day. We created some good memories and lasting bonds, but it also just feels factually incorrect to say "found family", here? He's a mentor. And at the end of the journey, he just wants to do his own thing again.

RAMBLING. SO BADLY. BUT. I FEEL LIKE. ESPPPPPPP in how absolutely VITAL both Chilchuck and Senshi ARE in rounding out the party dynamic. I feel like Anna plays that similar role. Keeping everyone together, professional style, mentor style. It is quite literally her job!!!!!!!

AAAUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY BRAIN. SOUP BRAIN. But the point of that ramble was acknowledging that characters like that are SO important to round out a cast. But again, my focus and vision is just so, so narrow. I really struggle with anything outside of it!!!!!!!! Esp bc I feel like in my own life if I'm interacting w someone in a professional manner, it just. Begins and ends there. Each of us have a role to play to perform the intended task to achieve the desired result. No matter how much I trust or am fond of someone in that context, I keep a degree of depersonalization and detachment. Doctor, patient. My task is to give you the information you need to perform YOUR task. Therapist, client. The very same. I have not been employed for several years. But that attitude is still there, with maybe a dash (or a heaping helping) of questioning of authority in there. As you do.

......... You are looking directly into my brain. It is such a mess, in here. You are watching me pace from the living room to the kitchen from the kitchen to the living room and so on, talking to myself. Is there anything worthwhile, in here? I'm talking at a rubber duckie. Throwing darts at the corkboard that's tangled in a web of red string of seemingly unconnected topics. Can anybody hear me. Hello........

IN SHORT I think at very least for my notebook I have to write down Sharena's dialogue, too. I WILL start crying if I exclude her. It is for the very same reason my Alfonse folder on my phone is also my Sharena folder. Do NOT separate them. They are A SET. Also some vague thoughts about Anna and how I really struggle to write anything that's outside of a familial or familially-coded context. But having those other flavors of bonds really do flesh everything out and like. Well when I try and think outside of my very narrow tunnel vision I just

All of that is just a lot of words to say I love Sharena with all my heart anf I'm gonna be unwell if she isn't At Least in the notebook, idk if I'll do anything w the dialogue I'm recording there outside of just. Studying it I fucking guess. And also, when it comes to Anna, just. Skill issue. Of some sort. But I am Thinking About It. For the sake of a well-rounded cast of characters...........

[michelleelizabethtanner]

Looking for some new AU Brio fic reccs, and you've got great taste so please share your thoughts with me

Hi Anon! Thank you for the ask. ❤️ I just feel that I’m one of the worst people to ask for AU recs because I haven’t read a lot of them. I’ve historically had such a canonic view of Brio that I had a hard time getting into AU. I’m working on it though! Slowly making my way through the backlog of AUs I missed out on.

I guess I can’t just keep repeating Both Sides of the Law and Delinquents, right? They’re just such rich worlds all in themselves. They almost don’t even need canon. Although, canon does lend them some additional color. But ok, if not these then…

I’m gonna keep repeating the Kingmaker series, which at this point is an AU. I was happy to see she updated a new piece in her series last night and thoroughly enjoyed the work, as I did all the rest. And I know, I keep saying it isn’t for everyone because this author really struggles with choosing what she wants Brio to be. But this work is SO underrated! This is such a beautifully written series of fics. If nothing else, read for the language and the author’s ability to world-build and characterize. I can SEE this universe. It isn’t just that she is able to emulate what the actors embodied. She is able to add value to her Rio character that has impacted the way I view canon. Her Rio is the Rio I see when I watch the performance. She understands her universe and her subjects on such a deep level that I believe who she’s made them be.

Another one I really loved was What a Sight to See. It’s a vampire AU where Beth is a vampire and Rio isn’t. What’s interesting is that the characters were still themselves. Their mannerisms, their speech patterns, their specific proclivities still made them very recognizably themselves. But the flipped power dynamic was perfection. Because Rio, as a mortal, was the vulnerable one in this scenario. And Beth had that quiet confidence of endless strength and power that was then challenged with something new to her — giving a shit about someone, loving someone. I found their relationship extremely emotional, and the outcome of it one of the most satisfying. The writing is always beautiful. “The inviting lift of her skirt, though, that's more of a revelation. All that pallid, pliant flesh; displayed for him. Rio can't not stride forward, grasp the opportunity…” I love this use of language to perfectly capture emotion with showing instead of telling. And how well it captures Rio’s inherent nature! “Grasp the opportunity.” Such a well-placed term.

The King’s Mistress is another good one. And smutty!! I don’t only read for smut, but I certainly love a well-placed pornographic scene. 😁 What I really love about this fic is the open vulnerability both Beth and Rio allow themselves in an AU setting. I don’t normally like too much openness from Beth in canonic works because I see that as OOC, but it’s certainly refreshing to see in a universe that has room for her that way. She doesn’t always have to be on guard. She can be soft sometimes.

I’m so not helpful with these recommendations. 😂 I just don’t have enough experience with the AU genre. In fact, I would be open to recommendations myself. I know several of you have given me some to try. I need to get to reading!

[monster-noises]

(I liked those OC questions post a while ago and forgot to send some bc I was mobile rip) For your fave OC: 🔫 PISTOL - do they trust people easily? how easily will they turn their back to someone? have they been backstabbed before? will they betray someone if given an ultimatum? Least talked ab OC: 🚆 TRAIN - what is their answer to the trolley problem? and the OC you love to hate: 🌪️ TORNADO - what is the biggest change you’ve ever made to them? how have they changed from their original verse

Oh gosh!! sorry this took me a few days to get to.. I needed time to draw the Images.. it got long again so off under the cut it goes!!

Pistol:

[img description: A speech bubble coming from Lazarus, a gaunt older white man with slicked back hair twirling a golden knife in his hands, reads: "Trust is not to be doled out without discrepancy. It is a thin and tenuous bond between individuals broken by the mildest of human urges with the same effort it takes to snap a small twig between your fingers. Trust can be faked, altered, and fabricated, it's existence is flimsy and unreliable. Equivalent to wrapping yourself in paper to try and protect your body as you tumble down the mountain side. So no. I do not trust easily." A separate speech bubble coming from a cartoon rendition of the artist reads: "Ignore him, he's absolutely full of shit. He's hardened himself over time, sure, but he wants to trust people. That old heart is as soft as the contents of a freshly peeled pudding cup." /end] Of course Lazarus is my favourite! I love my little meat boy so much... You can take his word (and mine) here on how easily he trusts others. lol, but as for the other questions.. When he does establish a trusting/reliable relationship with someone he is not likely to betray them or turn his back on them, he gets very committed to things, including people, and turning on someone he holds close is untenable. Even given a ultimatum he wouldn't dare turn his back on those he's committed to trusting. Everyone else however? fair fucking game. He's definitely been back stabbed before. I don't think Miranda's manipulative capturing of him cooounts so much (I think he thinks of it as a form of betrayal though, given what she promised him and what was delivered), but the fine arts world he came from in a previous life is cold and ruthless and he was definitely pushed around a lot. He hasn't really experienced any betrayal since coming to the village, this can more so be chalked up to his lack of deep authentic relationships than anything else.

Train:

[Img Description: A word bubble from Virgil, a middle aged white man in a cowboy hat with sandy brown hair and a scruffy beard reads: "That ol' chestnut ain't nothin but a heap' a philosophical fuckin' nonsense. I got more practical, and frankly more important science to be doin' than any o' yer damned ~Morals and Ethics~ mumbo-jumbo." A separate speech bubble coming from a cartoon rendition of the artist reads: "Short answer: He doesn't have one!" /end]

Well.. pretty much ALL my OC's are my least-talked about OC's because I don't talk about any of them. So I'll take the chance to re-introduce an older and very much beloved OC of mine; The original Middle Aged Bottle Blonde Disaster Bisexual, The Prodigy Chemist Who Decided To Use His Brain For Personal Gain And Ultimately Evil, Sometimes known as The Coyote sometimes as Braided Snake sometimes as simply 'That Giant Asshole' It's!!!!!!!! VIRGIL ARTHUR WHINCHESTER!!! (yes with an H and I named him that before supernatural entered my life so huSH)

Virgil's a pretty practical guy, likes to keep things physical, tangible, doesn't like to think to much about Implications or Moral Dilemma's. Doesn't mean he won't debate you if you push him (he will. For hours. You will regret your choices. He will be smug about it the Whole time.) but y'know.. when you're in his line of work it pays not to think about these kinds of things too much.

(also he was originally for a furry comic I was making with a friend in high school where he was Actually a coyote, here's a fun bonus sketch of his Original design)

[Img description: A separate portrait of Virgil but this time depicted as an anthropomorphic Coyote with light blonde fur and bright blue eyes. He is still wearing the cowboy hat. /end]

Tornado:

[Img description: Two drawings of Idris, A horned robot made of gold who wears a leather jacket. The drawing to the left is labelled "Old" and shows him with a simpler design. The drawing to the right is labelled "New" and shows him with an upgraded more detailed design, this drawing has a speech bubble that reads: "Brava darling!~ A -subtle- but marked improvement on the already Immaculate! ~<3" A small cartoon rendition of the artist in the bottom right corner is blushing and has a speech bubble that reads: "I just... Kinda made him hotter. Somehow." /end]

and last but not least! the glow up of the (23rd) century! This is Idris, The Golden Boy, criminal ring leader and founder of Smugglers Honour, a cosmos-wide smuggling operation run so tightly and bureaucratically if you didn't know any better you'd think it was a corporation!

.... it's... part of the setting for the sci-fi/cyberpunk ttrpg game I'm GMing right now...

which is exactly why Idris needed the glow up! While his change hasn't been Drastic he was originally conceived in about 2010-2011 for the comic setting that would eventually develop Into Andromadis as a catch-all leader for the criminal underground which was a bit vague even then but was Especially not going to do in the context of a TTRPG where players were going to have to interact with him and his long reaching actions in specific and unpredictable ways, so he kinda needed a new job, or rather a more defined one. So Smugglers Honour was born! A discrete organization he could be in charge of, something a lot less nebulous than his previous title of "Big No.1 Crime Boy" lmao. But with this new title I felt he needed a bit of... polishing up.

I wanted him to Feel the same, keep all the basic ideas, but just.. tighten the screws a bit so he felt a bit cooler and sexier and more mature. And also fix his dumb stupid badly designed head oh my g o d. I uhh, I think I landed it.

[nyx3927]

 @musicfeedsmysoul12​ and @lurking96 this is both of y’all’s fault with that thread about how too many fics where Izuku jumps, gets a quirk and just make Bakugo regret it without any actual character change. Just: Izuku goes splat, and now Bakugo is an uwu soft boy who’s really sorry but had no character development visible.

Y’all both get some of the blame for this fic outline I created after a bang, chocolate, and on 2 hours of sleep. It’s still a really rough outline and I don’t have time to polish it up into an actual outline, draft, then fic with my summer classes and job right now. Enjoy my stream of thought with no filter

The Ripple

Izuku has a concussion from Bakugo attacking him at school so his eyesight is off. Everything else is the same up to when All Might leaves him on the roof.

The concussion fucked with his vision, balance, and depth perception. So he ended up accidentally stepping off the side of the building. (Hush, I know that there’s a railing. We’re pretending that when All Might jumped away from Izuku on the roof, he accidentally took like half of it with him.)

Crash, boom, blood. Ambulance carted him off to the hospital and that’s the last we see of Izuku for a while.

They don’t know that All Might was the one who got him up to the rooftop because the notebook with the signature was blown off the roof and into the river. By the time that it was found, it was nothing but mush and the writing was illegible, all runny and blurry. They also just assumed that a villain ripped the railing off in a previous battle and the owner hadn’t gotten it fixed yet.

Inko tells Mitsuki that they think it was suicide because he couldn’t have accidentally gotten up on the roof (No evidence of All Might). Katsuki hears that but refuses to tell anyone that he told Izuku to jump off a roof because that could hurt his chances of being a hero.

Entrance Exam

Fast-forward to the entrance exam, everything proceeds as canon except for the bits with Izuku, which never happened.

Uraraka is stuck under the boulder with the zero pointer bearing down on her. Canon shows no evidence of any pro except Present Mic at the site, and he was last seen at the gates so he isn’t close by to Uraraka.

Uraraka couldn’t escape from the boulder in time and the kill switch takes up to 30 seconds to receive and process. So, the robot steps on the boulder and crushes her leg. She’s rushed to Recovery Girl but the damage is so severe that they have to amputate a leg.

As compensation, UA takes care of all the medical bills and offers her a spot in the Hero Course at UA with her entire tuition paid for all 3 years. Uraraka accepts to make it easier financially on her parents, so she shows up to the first day of classes with a prosthetic leg that she painted pink in an effort to make it less sad.

Quirk Assessment

A random extra is put into 1-A, but they and Mineta are promptly expelled. The extra just didn’t try at all, relying upon the idea that the teacher wouldn’t actually expel anyone on the first day. Mineta was just too pervy/not heroic enough so he got the boot.

Aizawa was reminded of the death of Oboro when Uraraka nearly got crushed, so he’s on high alert to expel those that he believes would never be good at heroics/ would just get themselves killed. Extra not trying and Mineta just focusing on being a perv, made him convinced they would get killed so he just expelled them straight away [No readmission for them]

This shocked Momo who thought he was bluffing and made her more cognizant of the fact that not everyone plays by the same rules as her.

Battle Trial

Battle trials happen. Momo and Uraraka are paired up together and fight twice in the trials. They won both times because Uraraka floated the bomb and Momo in the fight against Todoroki so that it was impossible for Todoroki to capture them. They win against Iida and Bakugo because Uraraka takes advantage of Iida’s unwillingness to hurt someone he views as disabled/helpless and knocks him out with a bat from Momo, then touches the bomb, Momo just created water and soaked Bakugo so he couldn’t use his Quirk and then ran from him.

All other trials proceeded as in canon.

USJ

Since Tsuyu is the only one in the Water Zone [Midoriya not in the story and Mineta expelled], she just went straight for the shore and got back to the entry area via the river. She witnesses the entire beatdown of Aizawa and his fighting, so she’s very traumatized. But because she’s amphibious and is completely underwater [In my hcs, she can breathe underwater as long as water can access most of her skin. So her suit is very permeable and water can get through it], Shigaraki never sees her and so he doesn’t try to kill her.

Rest of the USJ goes as canon dictates including Aizawa getting his head smashed by the Nomu

Sports Festival

Because 1-A has 2 less students, only the first 40 to get to the finish line can pass on. Todoroki ended up getting first place by icing over Bakugo’s legs at the tunnel entrance. Everyone else that originally passed in canon, also passed.

All the teams are the same, except for Uraraka’s team which doesn’t have Midoriya, and Shoji’s who doesn’t have Mineta.

Bakugo is going after Todoroki instead of Uraraka’s team because he’s focused on snagging the winning headband. 

Uraraka uses her Quirk on her team and they just hang out in the sky for awhile, since after the boulder, she practiced to be able to lift more weight so that never happens again. 

Shoji’s team is the same as canon, especially because Mineta never actually did anything important to the team.

Todoroki never uses his fire because he used his ice to create a dome that kept everyone else away from his team. Bakugo runs around stealing other headbands since he can’t get to Todoroki.

At the end of the round, Todoroki is in first, Bakugo is second, Uraraka is third and Shinso is fourth.

Ojiro and Shoda both drop out citing the fact that they couldn’t remember the event as the reason. Shiozaki Ibara and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu replace them

So now we have the 1v1 battles with the following students.

Uraraka Ochako

Tokoyami Fumikage

Hatsume Mei

Bakugo Katsuki

Kirishima Eijiro

Ashido Mina

Sero Hanta

Todoroki Shoto

Iida Tenya

Yaoyorozu Momo

Kaminari Denki

Shinso Hitoshi

Aoyama Yuga

Shiozaki Ibara

Tetsutetsu Tetsutestu

Shinso gets a free pass onto the next round because he is a gen ed student so they wanted to allow him the best chance possible and it’s better for the optics of UA for watchers to see a hero student beating up another hero student instead of a gen ed kid.

Todoroki v. Sero -Todoroki won ala iceberg

Kaminari v. Shiozaki  -Kaminari won by sending electricity through her hair and knocking her out because Aizawa forced him to start thinking outside of the box after he nearly died during the USJ [shiozaki has to have nerves to control her vines and nerves have electricity traveling through them. So they’re a conductor and Kaminari can send his electricity down them]

Iida v. Hatsume -He doesn’t accept her gadgets and just pushes her out of bounds. After the Uraraka debacle in his battle trial, he realizes that he can’t just go off his perceptions and has to be wary of them.

Ashido v. Aoyama - Ashido won

Tokoyami v. Yaoyorozu - Yaoyorozu won by creating an explosion of light and blinding them, then pushing them out of the ring. Uraraka taught her to take advantage of what she can do and Aizawa forced her to realize that others don’t have the same rules.

Tetsutetsu v. Kirishima - Kirishima won by charging Tetsutetsu and knocking him out of the ring. Again Aizawa forced him to not just behave as a shield because of the USJ

Uraraka v. Bakugo -Uraraka won by taking off her prosthetic, leaving it as a decoy and floating herself so that he couldn’t hear her coming, and the dust from his explosions had blinded him. She tackled him from above and hurled him out of bounds. He got a concussion and Recovery Girl forced him to stay in the infirmary.

Todoroki v. Shinso -Shinso won by coming after Todoroki’s weak spot and making him talk

Iida v. Kaminari -Kaminari won by shocking Iida’s engines when he tried to grab him. Made him collapse, and then just dragged him out of bounds.

Tokoyami v. Ashido- Tokoyami won by Dark Shadow kicking her out of bounds

Uraraka v. Kirishima -Uraraka won by preying on Kirishima’s desire for manliness and to not hurt a girl. Got close enough to float him and then just push him out of bounds. Aizawa has plans to lecture Kirishima about when to be manly and when to not be.

Shinso v. Kaminari -Shinso won. He could tell that Kaminari was a memelord, so he just took advantage of that and said a meme that Kaminari couldn’t resist completing. [Don’t know what yet, I’ll figure it out later]

Tokoyami v. Uraraka -Tokoyami won. Uraraka lost because she couldn’t use her Quirk on Dark Shadow and Dark Shadow was the one to attack her. [See doc of quirk analysis for more in depth in case we forget]

Shinso v. Tokoyami -Shinso won by mirroring Tokoyami’s speech patterns which knocked him off guard and got him caught into Shinso’s Quirk.

Shinso got first place, Tokoyami got second, Uraraka and Kaminari shared third place.

Hero names

Todoroki -Shoto

Bakugo -King Explosion

Iida -Tenya

Uraraka -Weightless [As a pun on weigh less because of her amputation and her quirk. She’s not quite as bubbly and didn’t feel like uravity reflected her anymore]

Tsuyu -Froppy

Kirishima -Red Riot

Yaoyorozu -Creati [I really want to change this but I don’t know to whaaaat!!! I’ll come back to it later]

Tokoyami -Tsukuyomi

Jiro -EarJack

Shinso -Silencer [Stupid but his quirk makes people silent plus I love MLB silencer design of the , not the helmet tho that is ugly looking and the coloring needs to be more muted imo]

Internships

Shinso gets an internship with Aizawa to assess whether or not he’s fit for heroics. Aizawa also prescreens all of his students' internships to make sure that it’s a good fit for them. [He’s a lot more protective of where they because he wants them to be actually learning useful heroics not shit like how to clean and pose for a camera.]

Mirko offers an internship to Uraraka because she wanted to teach a fighting girl that was perceived as helpless by society. [Society views disabled as helpless, a girl is also viewed as helpless, both is bad combination. Mirko wants to prove anyone can be badass with the right training]

Yaoyorozu gets put with Fatgum because Aizawa sees that she’s struggling with the fat part of her Quirk and knows that if she went with Uwabami, she’d develop more insecurities. [Uwabami is a TV actress/model. She’ll pass on weight/beauty related insecurities because that’s what a lot of actresses have and she seems focused more on a fanbase]

Kirishima goes with Rock Lock to be faced with the blunt truth that ideals are nice, but you can’t have them rule your life as a hero. [Canonly, he’s very blunt and pragmatic, so he’d believe that trying to be manly is fine, but there is a time and place for it.]

Everyone else goes with their canon internships.

The Nomus attack Hosu. Because Gran Torino isn’t there, the Nomus are more dangerous and more civilians die. All the heroes are focused exclusively on managing the Nomus and the interns kinda fall to the wayside since they can’t do anything.

Iida slips away and Manual is too busy putting out fires to notice.

Iida runs off and finds Stain. Battle commences and Iida loses.

Stain calls him and Native fake heroes. Native gets a sliced throat. Stain is a little more lenient with Iida because he is a kid. He goes through the fabric pants and slices the femoral artery to the bone. [Femoral artery cuts can lead to death within minutes especially with Iida running on adrenaline which kicks up the blood pressure and rate of bleeding.]

Endeavour comes through with Shoto burning all the nomus and destroying them. Finally the city is quiet and the search for the dead begins.

Every hero in Hosu grid searched the entire city to retrieve the dead and bring them to the morgue for claiming. 

Manual was the one to find his dead intern and Native. He had to call UA and tell them that he got a student killed while under his supervision. He gets blacklisted by UA and Aizawa puts out a warning on the Underground network that if others are under his care, that he might lose track of them.

Once everyone returned from their internships, they left red spider lilies on his desk as a way to guide him to the afterlife.

Training Camp

The villains still want Bakugo because they saw his aggression, violence, and determination to be the best during the sports festival and the internships. So they think he’d be an easy switch to flip.

This time, Aizawa doesn’t dump them out in the middle of the forest because he’s focusing on forcing his students to interact and bond with each other instead of doing their own thing. So they all stay on the bus and Aizawa makes them talk about something semi-important with a seat partner for 10 minutes before switching so that everyone talks to more than just their friend groups.

When they arrive, Kota is his bratty self and Aizawa shuts that down fast. He tells him that he has two options, one: stay with his aunts and uncle or two: stay with Aizawa. Aizawa can’t have an itty-bitty child running around loose in the forest when 17 hormonal teenagers are letting off their Quirks which are dangerous. [it was an awful idea in canon to let Kota hide in his treehouse. Imagine if one of the kids near the mountain lost control of their quirk.] Kota chooses to stay with his aunts and uncle at all times because Aizawa is scary.

Once the training starts, he pairs everyone up with different partners to force their Quirks to improve.

Ashido-Kirishima to strengthen her acid and his hardening by hurling acid at him

Tokoyami-Kaminari-Aoyama to force Aoyama to maintain his laser beam for longer, Tokoyami to force him to strengthen Dark Shadow against light, Kaminari to power multiple light sources without burning them out and not going into whee mode so he can avoid the laser beam and Dark Shadow

Ojiro-Koda to force Koda to vary the animals that he calls and Ojiro to give him experience with fending off multiple opponents of varying sizes and skill levels without seriously injuring them.

Todoroki-Bakugo-Tsuyu to force Todoroki to be able to control both sides of his quirks and switch them easily, Tsuyu to force her to get accustomed to varying temperatures and making sure they don’t knock her out, Bakugo to force him to sweat more in both cold and hot temperatures so that he’s more versatile.

Jiro-Shoji-Hagakure to force Hagakure to improve her stealth and fighting, Jiro to make her be able to detect people sneaking up on her, and Shoji to improve his locating skills and stealth. [Shoji is a big boy and needs to work on stealth]

Sero-Sato to help Sero with his dodging and speed, and Sato to help him retain more of his planning and forethought while his Quirk is activated

Uraraka-Yaoyorozu to make Uraraka work on her sickness and weight limits and Yaoyorozu to adapt to planning on the fly and create items quickly.

Aizawa forces them to break away from their training partners when it’s time to make dinner and everyone is required to help in some way during the meal. The help can be gathering the ingredients, preparing them, doing the actual cooking, plating, setting the table, cleaning up after, anything as long as they contributed.

Repeat until the trial of courage.

Vlad wants to do the trial and Aizawa refuses to do it. Aizawa is actively trying to squash out the competitiveness of his students in order to make them work together and ask for help so that they’ll survive longer in the hero society. Uraraka lost a leg because people wouldn’t cooperate to help her in the entrance exam and Iida died because he was too focused on himself and didn’t ask for help. The trial would just reignite the competitiveness and ruin his progress.

1-B does the trial on their own while 1-A is given a maze they have to navigate.

The maze is created by Pixie Bob and is huge. It’s large enough that the students on the ground can’t peek over the walls to see the path. There are two students on the ground, the leader and the guide. The leader can see the walls and the turns but has earplugs in so they can’t hear the guide if the guide tries to talk. The guide can hear the directions from the person who sees the entire maze but is blindfolded and has to guide through tapping the shoulders of the leader. The person outside and looking down has to direct their team through the maze quickly without crashing into other teams. The leader can’t just guess a direction because Pixiebob will shift the maze if they try to do that so they can’t backtrack. It’s in teams of three so Aizawa is directing the last team. [Kinda inspired by survivor but with my own twist]

All of them rotate through each position with different teams each go round to impress on them the importance of all the roles.

In the last round, Bakugo was the person issuing instructions, cursing and screaming through the mic the entire time.

That’s when the villains attacked. But there were a few changes in the lineup. 

Toga wasn’t there because the police picked her up and Inko got her case taken on to get her on parole and took her into her home when she saw her at the station while continuing with the criminal charges levied against the owner of the building that Izuku had fallen off of. The appearance of a girl bullied and ostracized for her Quirk, who was going down the path of no return, Inko saw Izuku in her. As such, she wanted to care for her and show her that villainy wasn’t the answer and that there are people who cared for her in spite of her blood Quirk. [Toga is stuck with Inko at this point in time and has a tracking anklet to make sure that she’s behaving. Rehab is going really well with the unconditional care that Inko is providing.]

Dabi got an infection and landed in the hospital ER as an unknown patient and wound up in a coma while his body was busy trying to fight the infection of his staples. [The man’s a walking open wound. You can sneeze in his general vicinity and have a high chance of taking him down in a couple weeks. Haven’t decided if I want to wake him up or not. Depends on my feelings]

Mustard joined the attack via Toga due to them being closer in age and talking. No Toga, no Mustard. [He’s sulking in detention right now.]

So the only ones left are Mr. Compress, Magne, Spinner, Muscular, Moonfish, Twice and the Nomu. Much smaller and no long-range attacks.

Their mission is to get in, extract Bakugo and get out with minimal damage. That’s what happened.

Muscular, Moonfish, and the Nomu all rampage on the opposite side of the mountain to draw attention to them. Magne and Spinner break up the 1-A class and drive them apart. Twice and Mr. Compress work together to snatch up Bakugo in a marble and then they all book it. Muscular and Moonfish are both left behind to keep the heroes distracted long enough for them to get back to Kurogiri and through the portal. Nomu ended up buried in a mountain via a very anger Tiger at the disruption of his naps. The students all worked together to try and bring down the villain to retrieve their classmate, but when that failed, Yaoyorozu managed to attach a tracker to the villains top hat.

Injuries were minimal and the three heavy hitting villains were arrested and locked up. The only casualty was Bakugo being kidnapped.

Kidnapping Arc

Blah, blah, join us you can be stronger and win a villain-Shigaraki

No, fuck off, go fuck yourselves-Bakugo

Repeat until All Might shows up

Then AfO activates goop Quirk [really need a better name for that. better than vomit transport quirk at least. That was my first thought], drags the league and Bakugo to him. Bakugo is held by him, hand on his temple ready to crush him.

Rest of Heroes all show up on the battlefield but aren’t moving so that Bakugo doesn’t get hurt. Essentially a stand off.

You know, you can tell whether or not someone has the potential for villainy by their greatest regret -AfO

AfO has a quirk that allows the user to see someone’s greatest regret, with more details the longer that the quirk is activated. He also has a quirk that allows him to project whatever he’s thinking about in a video format for everyone to see. [the man is old. he probably had a habit of taking whatever quirk he wanted when he was younger before all might turned him into a very ugly potato/alternate darth vader]

Quirks activate and it’s the scene of Bakugo telling Izuku to get jump off a building spliced with the news from Inko that Izuku was suspected of jumping off a building

Interesting. Why is that your greatest regret?-AfO

Quirk gives him more details. 

Bakugo only regrets saying that because if it ever became public, he'd never reach the spot of number one hero which is his only goal in life.

Guess you are nothing but a villain after all. Too obsessed with yourself to see the damage you caused.-Afo 

Afo shoved the boy away from him and forcibly activated Kurogiri’s Quirk to allow the league to escape.

Every hero on site is frozen in shock at the reveal of what a hero student of UA, the most prestigious hero school that graduated most of the top heroes in Japan, actually believed.

At that point, AfO flips All Might the finger and just goes through the portal because the news would shake society’s faith in UA which is really good. He can kill All Might later. [or just wait for any infection to take the man out. He lost his stomach so he probably lost his spleen too which is kinda important for the immune system.]

Fallout

Bakugo is booted to gen ed because Aizawa refused to teach someone that was just going to end up hurting someone later in life. Because Aizawa is an Underground Hero who specializes in information and predication, schools tend to believe in what he says about the potential/future of heroes in training especially when he has evidence to back up his beliefs. So no other school will take him on as a hero student.

Bakugo is essentially blacklisted from heroics because everyone wants to believe that a hero is good and just. And when the illusion is broken before it has a chance to solidify, they have no chance of becoming a hero. 

Aizawa goes and apologizes in person to Inko. Because even though he had no way of knowing, he feels like he should have recognized the abusive tendencies and/or egocentrism  of Bakugo earlier. So, allowing it to continue was a slap in the face to his victims.

Inko accepts his apology because she didn’t know about it either so how could she blame him when she was closer and still missed all the signs. She offers to let Aizawa visit Izuku because Eraserhead was one of his favorite heroes because of how much skill he had. But because Eraserhead was underground, he didn’t have any merch or enough information to write about him.

*Split path here depending on the angst level I want

1. Izuku is in a coma, all healed up, just hasn’t woken up. When they came, Izuku had just woken up a half hour ago so the doctors were busy checking all his vitals, memory, joints, etc. Inko cries, Aizawa stands away because he’s allergic to emotions, and Izuku is just silently fanboying because he sees one of his favorite heroes.

2.Izuku is in a coma and doesn’t wake up. Inko introduces Aizawa to him and tells Aizawa about his dreams and his story. Aizawa makes sure that at least once a week, he comes and visits to talk to him. He also brings other heroes to introduce to Midoriya to make sure that others know about him.

3.Aizawa and Inko go to a graveyard and the name Midoriya Izuku is carved into a family grave marker with flowers and an All Might figure in front of it. Inko tells Aizawa that Izuku died from falling from the building. They thought he jumped randomly, but with the new info, Inko is thinking that Bakugo might’ve pushed him verbally over the edge. Aizawa promises to investigate more.

[hadtochangemyurlquick]

can u write more leachel please

no but i can fuck ur bitch

Leah’s first public reading was not packed. Of course, the seven of them all filed into front row seats and of course her parents, grandparents, Ian, and most of her teachers were scattered throughout the audience. Even Emily, her friend from middle school who she hadn’t really talked to since she went to private school, showed up. It was a sweet gesture but beyond the people who knew Leah personally, only around fifty or so were actual fans. It was fine and Leah did an amazing talk and afterwards Rachel slapped her hand against her thigh, wishing she could actually clap.

Leah’s tenth public reading was standing room only.

The National book festival was held once a year in DC and while there were two panels Leah was put on, they also asked her to do her own talk because she had a new book coming out. It’d been called by the New York Times book review “the most anticipated book of the year!” And Rachel had only been allowed to read the first draft of the first chapter, which was slightly killing her. But her girlfriend had a process, even if that process was to solely talk to Nora about it. Nora and sometimes Toni.

When Leah walked onto the slightly raised platform the entire room erupted into applause. It was a standing ovation and Leah looked beautiful and also incredibly embarrassed. Her eyes found Rachel’s immediately and they were so fucking intense, Rachel just wanted her to keep looking at her forever. Forever and a half.

“Wow,” Leah began when she reached her microphone. “I haven’t even said anything yet.” There was laughter, more cheers, gradually people sat down. “Thank you all for coming, I know there’s some pretty amazing panels going on right now. There’s still time to go to Roxanne Gay’s talk, it’s a few rooms down.”

More laughter, more cheers, a “We love you Leah Rilke!”

Rachel shook her head, smiling. Leah could pretend all she wanted, but Rachel saw what was happening. The entire world was slowly coming to life under her touch. The English language was being shaped to fit Leah Rilke.

Every think piece, ever op-ed, every review, mentioned the words Leah Rilke somewhere in there. Every teenage girl was talking about her like they’d talk about the Bible. TV studios and movie execs sat in rooms and discussed about how they could capture her writing style. Publishing houses wanted to find their very own Leah Rilke. Tattoo artists were adding to their pre drawn collections symbols from her books.

It was happening slowly, a little at a time, but time happened all at once. And history textbooks were being printed in Texas for the year 2032 that had an entire chapter about Leah Rilke.

The world was changing, and for the next half-century it’d be one where Leah Rilke was alive. And after, it’d be one where everyone was looking for the next Leah Rilke, however futile.

Leah didn’t see it, but Rachel could. And Nora. They talked about it sometimes, when a Dolly Parton song came on or Tolkien happened to come up in conversation.

“I’m not really afraid of public speaking,” Leah continued. “But can you all look somewhere else for a minute? I just need a break, I feel like you all are staring.”

There was more laughter and Rachel felt her phone buzz. Her eyebrow furrowed and she ignored it, instead focusing on the woman wearing her engagement ring.

It’d taken her a minute to propose, insecurities thriving with Leah off giving talks or going to conventions like this one. In a big empty house it wasn’t hard to feel less than, especially with one hand.

It’d been Dot who talked sense into her. Dot surprisingly sensible when she herself had eloped with Fatin, annulled it, and eloped again.

“Okay,” Dot said. “Maybe she’s too good for you. So what? She doesn’t know that.”

“Exactly,” Rachel said. “That’s my fucking point. She’s gonna find someone better and realize that I’m just… me.”

“Yeah,” Dot nodded.

Rachel glared at her. “You aren’t making me feel better.”

“I’m not Fatin, or Shelby, or Martha.”

“I know that,” Rachel said.

“It sounds like you wanna marry her,” Dot said. “So fuckin’ marry her. Then she won’t be able to fuck off with someone else.”

“But I want her to be happy,” Rachel said.

“So fuckin’ make her happy,” Dot said. “I don’t get what the fuckin’ problem is.”

So she proposed. Leah said yes immediately, not even a moment of hesitation, and they were planning a small wedding with a rabbi they both knew and a Huppa but not a Ketubah. Some sort of halfway for the both of them.

Rachel’s phone buzzed again and she turned it off, slipping it in her backpack to focus on Leah.

“This is probably the hardest book I’ve ever written. Not because its deeply personal or anything, just because I had to do so much research for it,” Leah said. “I even had to dedicate it to my sister in law because she spent hours with me looking at flight patterns and chess strategies. Do you guys know how many different kind of tulips there are? I can’t say I don’t understand the dutch a little better now.”

Nora squeezed her wrist and she looked over at her. Shelby caught her eye from beside Nora and passed her a phone, the notes app open.

Jeffs here.

Rachel frowned. Jeff Greene? The book review guy? Or maybe Jeffery Wilson, the Sony guy. Didn’t they have a neighbor named Jeff who liked to complain about their noise level to the police?

“Jeff?” She mouthed back.

Shelby was stone faced when she nodded and something sunk in Rachel’s gut.

Fuck. Jeff.

Leah was still talking but Rachel couldn’t hear her.

Where?

Shelby took the phone back.

The back.

Rachel clenched her jaw and Nora squeezed her wrist again, eyes wide.

Has Leah seen him?

Shelby shook her head and Rachel let out a breath of relief.

She got to her feet, and cast a quick smile back at Leah who’s brow furrowed at her. She kept talking though, stumbling a little on her speech. Behind her, Fatin, Martha, and Shelby followed.

Jeff wasn’t hard to spot. He was the washed-up has been, with the fraying hair and dark circles under his eyes.

“You need to leave,” Rachel spat.

“I’m just here to apologize,” Jeff said. “I don’t even—”

“You’re leaving,” Shelby cut off. “Now. Or I’ll call security.”

“Take this outside,” Someone hissed and Fatin dragged him out, shoving him roughly through the open door. Several more people waiting outside slipped inside, entirely grateful.

“Listen, I know I fucked up, I want to apologize,” Jeff said.

“She was a child,” Fatin said. “You’re a fucking predator.”

Jeff paled.

“Wait,” Martha said. “Are you here to apologize for dumping her, or for raping her?”

“I didn’t—”

Maybe it was Shelby that threw the first punch, or maybe Rachel. Maybe they both came at him at once. But Martha didn’t hold Rachel back like she normally would’ve, and Fatin snapped at some people to put their phones away.

Leah said it was ironic later, that Fatin was telling people to put their phones away, while Martha urged on a fight.

But it wasn’t a fight, it was a beat down.

Shelby had taken Toni to enough kickboxing lessons over the years to know how to throw a punch, and Rachel had been picturing this moment with Jeff for too long.

No one intervened once Martha pushed a couple people away explaining he was a pedophile who prayed on teenage girls. One person said, “Isn’t that Jeff Galanis?”

And Martha said: “Yes.”

Jeff Galanis hasn’t published a book in five years at that point, he wouldn’t publish one again. Leah wasn’t happy Rachel broke her only hand, and Toni started going to kickboxing lessons alone.

“It was stupid,” Leah told her, when she met her outside after they’d all been thrown out. “I don’t give a shit about him anymore. I just wanted you there.”

“I know,” Rachel said. “But it wasn’t stupid to me. I wanted you to know you wouldn’t have to see him again.”

“Rach,” Leah sighed. “You remember how when we were driving here a Smith’s song came on?” Rachel nodded. “I realized then I literally couldn’t remember his last name.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Leah said. “We’re getting married in a few months, my new book is coming out, your starting your new job. We’ll probably be aunts as soon as Toni and Shelby finish those foster parent classes. Jeff is like—probably the least important person in the universe right now.”

“Sorry I missed the talk,” Rachel said.

Leah kissed her, soft and easy like they’d never once been.

“It’s okay,” she promised. “There’ll be others.”

There were.

[hains-mae]

Flowers - Pt. 5 (The End)

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 (The End)

(Damian x Reader) Soulmate AU

The Flowers: @call-me-prodigy @annoylinglyaries @zphilophobiaz @comic-brew @biglilwing @awkwardspontaneity @lozzybowe @mariiecapo @distressedearie @diyosku @dracoaereum @thesuitelifeofafangirl @chims-kookies @blade-xingston @danicalifxrnia

Rating: T

Ages: Damian and you are 16, everyone’s ages follow after.

Summary: Soulmate AU where the wounds on your soulmate turns into a flower tattoo on your skin, if it heals with no scars the tattoo goes away, if it heals with a scar then the tattoo stays.

Notes: Wow that was a fun ride. But every story comes to an end, I hope you guys enjoy the final chapter! And thank you everyone who has taken their time to like, comment, and reblog. I appreciate it a lot <3

Disclaimer: I do not own DC. If I did, I wouldn’t make it as confusing as it is now.

Robin visited every other night after that. It was surreal to have a hero that you’ve so long admired become your frequent visitor. Then again, nothing seemed normal anymore.

“It’s past the convention week. How do you keep coming here?” I asked curiously one night.

Robin gave me a lopsided grin and tapped the side of his nose. “I have my ways.”

After Mom’s week long leave was up she begrudgingly had to go back to work. The hospital assured her that I was healing fairly well, and that I would be transferred to Gotham Hospital the following weekend.

I was never really lonely though. Besides the friendly staff, my midnight visitor always came right on time. I wondered why he would take the time. Maybe it was to get to know me better? Perhaps my speech that night managed to get through to him. I had hoped it was both.

If I was being honest though, I was a little more than glad he did. I had meant it when I told the boy that I found him intriguing. He was a tough nut to crack though. I couldn’t blame him.

During the day when I would shower, I’d trace the flowers across my frame and wonder just how much he had gone through.

Soul marks start to appear at 10 years of age. You could imagine the shock (and worry) my parents had gone through when they found me one day absolutely covered in flowers.

From a young age I would hide them. Always wearing my sleeves till my palms, my neck constantly covered with either my jacket, scarf or high placed collars. It wasn’t that I was ashamed, but Gotham liked to talk – and when you’re the subject of attention, then you’re an easy target for criminals.

As I got older, the marks around my neck forearms slowly faded. I had worried about my soul mate and their well-being. Now that I understood everything, it was a different type of worry all together. The kind that would sit at the pit of your stomach and tie knots, heavy enough to keep you on edge.

My T.V in the hospital room was always on the same channel, Gotham News. Every battle would have my heart clenching as the camera’s desperately tried to follow the fight. Most of the time’s they wouldn’t be able to capture the end, and I’d be left holding my breath.

That’s one other reason I looked forward to our nightly visits. I could relax knowing he was alright.

I still wasn’t sure what I felt for this enigma of a person. But I knew that I wanted to get closer.

“I have an idea.” Robin said one evening. There was a glint his eye, the mask was off since my mom wasn’t around anymore. “And it’s got something to do with your invention.”

I arched a brow. “The bullets are complete but I still have yet to finalize the counter measures.”

He nodded understandingly. “Counter affect can wait. We don’t want to encase anyone in rock at the moment, but I’m putting it out there since you wanted to help.”

Intrigued, I urged him to continue.

Damian was quite brilliant in his own way. After much thought and planning, we had about 3 more types of chemically enhanced concoctions laid out. All of which were to go through Batman before beginning the experimentation process. He has assured me that I would be leading the research team for that under Wayne Ent.

I couldn’t wait to get out of the hospital.

“Do you like sweets?” He asked randomly.

Arching a brow I studied him. He was slouched on the couch with his leg dangling on one side and a book in his hands.

Charles Dickens.

“Yes.” I said, noting his obvious attempt to look natural. “Do you?”

“On occasion.” The boy shifted a shoulder to mimic a shrug.

The very next visit he had a black bag slung across his shoulder. His face gave nothing away but from the times I’ve spent with him, I realised it was his eyes that did most of the talking.

“Whatcha got over there?” I asked curiously, scooting closer to him at the edge of the bed.

“Patience.” He said and pulled up the make shift table that was attached to the side of my bed. Placing a medium sized box on top, he carefully undid the lid and opened it. “I present to you, baklavas.”

In the dim light I saw that they were flaky, almost like a croissant. There were some with a mix of nuts, from pistachios to almonds. Others were plain but still looked heavenly. They gleamed with a moistness, as if coated with a syrupy substance. I picked one up and popped it into my mouth.

It burst with flavour and dissolved much too fast. I squeaked at the exotic taste.

“Oh my gosh these are so good.” I said, licking my thumb.

Robin looked pleased.

“You should have one.” I pushed the box towards him but he shook his head.

“They’re yours.” He said.

“Nonsense. Food always taste better when shared.” I picked another one up intending to eat it.

“If you insist.”

I had barely managed to register the wicked glint in his eye before he took hold of my wrist and brought my hand that was holding the sweet close to his mouth. He took it carefully from me in one easy motion and lightly licked my finger.

“You’re right. It does taste better when shared.”

I felt the burn on my cheeks and ears before I heard the warning blare of the heart monitor. Immediately, Robin slipped behind the couch just as the nurses for the nightshift burst into my room in a panic. They fussed over me as I repeatedly tried to tell them I was alright. My heart finally calmed and once they left, Robin got up covering his mouth. He was trying to keep himself from laughing.

-x-x-x-

The weekend came much faster than I had anticipated. When the doctors checked on my progress, they gave the thumbs up for me to be transferred to Gotham’s hospital.  Mom was relieved, and wouldn’t stop fussing over me when we got there. I let it be though, thinking it was more for her own peace of mind than mine.

After that it was a short two weeks before I was fully discharged.

Robins visits never wavered though. If anything, he had stayed for longer periods of time. I got to know the boy under the mask more than I had hoped for and opened up in return more than I had intended.

I found out his brothers were vigilantes too. He pointed them all out one evening with a family picture he’d secretly stashed in his wallet. They were a “thorn” to his side — as he had so eloquently described, but I could see just how much he loved them. That was another thing I learnt about him, his speech patterns were very posh. He liked to use formal names and slang was not completely in his vocabulary. I asked him about that one time, to which he only replied “another time”. It was probably a touchy subject, where he exactly grew up.

His favourite colour was green, and his adoration for animals was as deep as black hole. It was crazy how perfect my mind painted him to be, and the more I knew, the harder it was to ignore the feelings growing inside me.

He enjoys reading, but would gladly spend the day locked in his room with his tablet and pen drawing the day away. He is good both in traditional and digital art, and sometimes dabbles in graphic design when he feels like it. He prefers his tea without any additives, but would not hesitate to pour bucket loads of milk and sugar in his coffee during the rare moments he drinks it.

I could list everything down but it would just solidify my attraction to him, and honestly I doubt this was he needed right now. Juggling a double life sounded a lot more stressful than he showed it to be. He hardly ever talked about it but from the amount of flowers blooming on me, it was difficult to see it any other way but exhausting. He’d kick butt at night, get hurt, then go to school the very next day like nothing happened.

He arrived one evening like he normally did and I had rushed up to pull off his glove. I felt a sting earlier and found a Sakura branch littered with pink flowers. I was right, his arm was soaked in red, and the gash looked bad.

“It’s just a scratch.” He promised me.

I didn’t reply. Taking him straight to the bathroom, I rinsed out the remaining blood and addressed the wound. After bandaging him up I finally looked into his eyes and showed him just how worried I was.

That evening we sat next to each other, with our fingers intertwined and his thumb randomly brushing against my knuckles.

-x-x-x-

Finally I was able to return home. Being able to lie down on my own bed, inside my own house, I could let loose and properly relax. I threw myself onto the soft comforters that smelled like fabric softener and smiled to myself.

Home sweet home.

But not for long, I reminded myself that this evening I would be dining with the Wayne’s. Swallowing hard, I hurried my face onto the pillows. I can’t mess this up, not after everything they’ve done for me.

Damian’s smirking face suddenly came to mind, and all his welcomed visits. It made my stomach grow warm. Remembering us sharing the sweets he gifted – soft lips against my fingers.

I groaned into the pillow, the room was getting a little hot. Getting up gingerly, as to not aggravate the newly healed stitches, I manoeuvred my way to the window and pushed it open. The cold evening air felt good against my heated skin. I sighed in content.

If I were being honest, I didn’t know what exactly was happening between us. I didn’t know if I wanted anything to happen between us. Wouldn’t it be weird, considering that I’d be interning for his dad in just a couple of months. Possibly work there if my luck doesn’t run out first. Not to mention WHO he was.

You’re just a normal girl, I chided myself. Not someone important enough to stand beside such a prestigious boy and his ridiculously wealthy family.

But even then – I found myself wondering. Seeking. Imagining… What if we were to become something more? What if it works? What if we fall in –

“Y/n!” Mom’s voice broke through my reverie, waking me up from the needless train of thought.

Closing my window, I poked my head out the door and found her putting on a bracelet.

“Are you ready? The cab is nearly here.” She asked.

I nodded and took a step closer to her. Looking quickly at the vanity mirror in the hallway, I gave myself a once over to make sure everything was in place. I had on a slightly fitting turtle neck sweater, paired with a high waisted pleated skirt and dark stockings. On my feet I sported on my boots. It was safe to assume no one would be able to see my soul marks.

My mom grabbed her purse and headed downstairs. I followed close behind her, handing her her coat before locking up the front door.

The cab driver arrived a few minutes in, and we drove off straight to Wayne Manor.

“This is exciting isn’t it?” She said to me with a lift in her voice, as she exited the cab to get the gates opened.

Once we could enter, we were greeted with a very large land that was pristinely kept. The grass was cut evenly, and the trees lining the estate were trimmed to perfection. Bushes were perfectly shaped into different animals, and flowers systematically grown to create swirls and shapes beside the road. A big fountain was situated just in front of the mansion while a man in a black suit waited beside the opened doors.

We exited the cab after paying and did our best to take it all in without looking like fishes out of water.

“Ah, Mrs. & Ms. Y/l/n.” It was the man who I saw pick up Damian that one night in Metropolis appeared. I also remembered him in the family photograph. His accent was thickly laced with British poise. “My name is Alfred Pennyworth, I shall be you’re attendant for the evening.”

“Thank you.” Mom was quick to compose herself.

As soon as I entered the house I felt my breath stolen away. It was huge. Everything looked so new and polished.

I barely registered my mom and Alfred chatting away as he led her to the dining hall.

“I know what you’re thinking.”

I nearly jumped at the voice that startled me. Whipping my head around, I found Jason standing with his hands in his pockets.

“I remember my first time coming in here. Completely floored.” He chucked.

I waved a small greeting. “Everything looks so –“

“Expensive? Exorbitant? Grand?” He tried to guess.

“Beautiful.” I breathed out.

He laughed. “Not what I expected. But you’re full of surprises aren’t you.”

I blushed. “Ah, I’m not sure about that. I’m just me.”

“Hey, no stealing our guest before dinner.” Dick walked down the stair case with Tim beside him.

“Feeling better Y/n?” Tim asked as we grouped just below the stairs.

“Yeah, thank you.” I answered, suddenly feeling flustered as they surrounded me.

Stay calm.

“Don’t be nervous.” Dick said with an air of comfort.

I wanted to ask what made him think so, but he answered before I even began to articulate the words.

“You’re fidgeting like a college student during a thesis debate.” He said simply.

“You’re… very good at reading people.” I arched a brow at him.

“One of my many amazing abilities” He winked.

Jason let out an air of playful frustration and pulled Dick aside. “And now you’re stealing her. Can’t hold a normal conversation can you Dickie, always a flirt.”

“First of all – do I need to remind you who mostly does all the talking during dad’s parties. And second of all – I am not a flirt. I can’t help it if I’m charming.” Dick mocked a suave look and shot it as his brother.

Jason looked like he was about to gag and Tim was less than pleased. I laughed at their antics.

“What’s funny?” Damian appeared beside me. I jumped and held a hand to my racing heart.

“Jeez, do all of you have a talent for sneaking up on people?” I wheezed out, trying to gather my bearings.

They all grinned at me without answering.

Robins, my inner muse whispered. I brushed off the thought as quick as it had come.

We had made it to the dining area just in time for Alfred to begin serving the meals. My mother was already chatting up a storm with Mr. Wayne. A wine glass in hand and a slight tint to her cheeks. She looked happy.

I began walking towards the seat beside my mother when Damian pulled out the chair like a gentleman. I bit the inside of my cheek and mumbled a thank you.

He took the space beside me and the rest of his brothers seated themselves opposite us.

As we opened our plates for dinner, I was amazed to see how well it was presented. Mr. Pennyworth continued to serves other dishes, and once he was done he left the room.

The food tasted just as good as it looked.

Easy conversation wafted around us, the usual topics of school, and future plans. Mr. Wayne brought up the internship which I nearly gushed over due to my excitement. Damian held back a laugh with a cough when he noticed my little slip up before I composed myself again. I bumped his knee under the table and playfully glared at him. He smirked and bumped me back.

“My compliments to the chef Mr. Wayne.” Mom said.

“I’ll be sure to tell him.” He smiled through a glass of wine. How many glasses in were they at this point? Damian and I were the only ones who weren’t allowed so both our glasses were filled with water and juice.

“And, please,” Mr. Wayne continued. “Call me Bruce.”

“Hey, we should give the women a tour.” Dick suggested. “I’m sure you’ll both love it.”

Jason and Tim had excused themselves, and I had an inkling as to what they were up to. Patrols were a common thing, as Damian told me.

And so with Dick and Bruce leading, my mother and I followed as they showed off the grandness of the manor.

I couldn’t help but be awestruck all over again. The library was huge. Their shelves towered from ceiling to floor, and filled with all kinds of books. From novels to more informative documents. I recognised a couple of titles from the times Damian spent the night reading.

The sunroom was next. The glass was near invisible. I took in the sight of the gorgeous garden just beyond the panels, being able to outline a gazebo at the far end with flowers twisting around its pillars. I unconsciously touched my stomach where the stitches were, randomly pondering what kind of flower had bloomed from such a brutal wound.

“Are you okay?” Damian was beside me immediately and his hand supported my elbow. His voice was laced with concern.

“Oh.” I realised what he was talking about and pulled my hand down. “I’m okay, just a little tired.”

“Honey?” My mom’s face pinched in concern. “Is it hurting again?”

“I just need to rest Mom, I’m fine.” I assured her. “You should continue, I’ll just sit here for a bit.”

Mom was hesitant but there wasn’t much she could do, and she knew it. So they moved on, but not without Mr. Wayne asking for some painkillers to be brought to me.

After taking the medicine, I thanked ‘Alfred’ (as he had asked me to call him) before he left.

Damian was sitting on the arm rest of the couch. My hand was in his and he rubbed random circles around my knuckles. His brows were furrowed, and his features were set in a deep scowl. I could practically feel the guilt and worry radiating off of him.

“I have to be honest, I thought I’d see more animals around.” I said, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Father asked me to keep Titus in my room for the time-being, he didn’t know how you two would react to a Great Dane, or vice-versa.” The boy said simply.

“Great Dane?” I asked flabbergasted.

The corner of Damian’s lips turned upwards. “When you feel better I’ll introduce you.”

“It’s a date.” I answered before thinking. All at once I realised what I said and felt my cheeks burn. “Ah – I mean, not date. If you aren’t comfortable with that, people just use the word date as a meeting time or –“

“It’s a date.” He brought my fingers up and ghosted his lips over them. I had to hold my breath fearing that my heart would stop.

I was momentarily stunned by his forwardness and calm. Looking away I managed to slow down my heart rate to a regular beat.

“I still need to guess the rest right?” I asked coyly.

He gestured for me to continue.

“Let’s see.” I rested my head on the couch and closed my eyes to recall our conversation back in the ball room. “We’ve got a dog, a cat.”

“Mhm.” Damian nodded, moving from the arm rest to the empty space next to me.

My brain brought up an old song from the Princess and the Frog, when they had to ‘Dig a Little Deeper’.

A dog, a pig, a cow, a goat – the lyrics were sung in my subconscious before I could stop it.

“A cow.” I guessed.

Damian’s eyes grew a little wide, before a grin made its way to his lips. “Yes.”

“What seriously?” I giggled. “You actually have a cow?”

“Bat-Cow.” He chuckled. “I was a child, and that was the first name to come up.”

I was full on laughing now. “I cannot wait to meet them. But that was seriously a random guess, now I feel like my confidence is dwindling.”

“Then how about you wait till you see them?” He suggested.

I bit my lip and shifted in my seat, our knees brushed and I felt that warmth spread across my chest. We’re close. A little too close.

When I looked at him I found he was staring at the garden outside. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I couldn’t take my eyes off him. There was something about this boy that just drew me closer, making me want more. I traced the little moles across his cheek and wondered when I had let this magnetic pull take over me.

“Take a picture. It’ll last longer.” Damian commented. His intense green eyes bore into mine as he threw a deviously charming smirk my way.

I blushed and looked away, suddenly finding my shoes a lot more interesting than it was. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

He turned towards me. And I made the mistake of facing him again, because now our faces were just mere inches apart.

I found myself gazing at his beautiful green eyes that contrasted so well with his tanned olive skin. There were so many different shades of green looping and mixing with one another, it felt like a maze – one that I would willingly get lost in.

My fingers rested in the spaces between his, and I marvelled at how everything in that moment felt right.

I tilted towards him, and he did the same towards me.

“What are we doing?” I whispered, stealing a glance at his lips.

Heart pounding.

Blood racing.

It left me dizzy.

“I’m… not sure.” Damian replied, his tone low. “But if you asked me to kiss you, I would.”

His thumb grazed the inside of my wrist with a feather-light touch and I burst into flames.

“Kiss me.”

And he did.

-THE END-

[random-thought-depository]

The infamously corny Star Trek TOS episode The Omega Glory was on TV last night and I watched it. My ideas for how I’d rewrite it to make it less silly:

---

The Yang ancestral culture wasn’t literally the USA, it was just a society that looked kind-of sort-of like the USA in the same way some pre-Columbian American and ancient Indian societies may have looked kind-of sort-of like ancient Athens. That by itself would make the episode much less stupid, and you could keep most of the same basic ideas.

Since we’re not bound to absurd levels of parallelism anymore, I’d personally be inclined to make the Kohms light-skinned blue-eyed blond(e)s and make the Yangs darker-skinned with darker hair and eyes, and imply that the Kohm ancestral society was fascist instead of communist. Maybe sprinkle some symbols distantly reminiscent of Nazi iconography around the Kohm village. It’s not like there was any meaningful connection between the Kohms and communism anyway, and I feel this resonates better with a lot of the ideas the episode was going for. Admittedly, this is probably influenced by my own biases.

---

Basically swap the roles of Cloud Williams and his mostly silent female companion who doesn’t really do much.

Why? Let’s think about how Yang society might work for a moment. I’m going to say they’re horse-riding big game hunters, like the nineteenth century Great Plains native American cultures on Earth, because 1) that fits with the idea that they’ve been driven into marginal lands and had to become nomads, 2) if you want nomads capable of assembling armies of thousands of people it’s either that or Eurasian-style herders, 3) it fits with the “they’ve become like native Americans” idea. They’re very slow-aging, theoretically capable of living over a thousand years ... but if they’re like their precedent cultures on Earth they probably live fairly rough and dangerous lives and I think would probably tend to live only a few decades or centuries before dying in a hunting accident or battle or something like that. But... going by Earth precedent, it would probably be mostly the men who do the most high-risk activities of hunting and war, which might result in very gender-asymmetrical life expectancy patterns, where men tend to only live a few decades or centuries while women stay relatively safe and have a decent chance of living to be thousand year old ancients. This would be compounded by 1) a lower death rate would mean a lower birth rate for replacement rate reproduction, 2) they’re almost immune to infectious diseases, which would make childbirth in primitive conditions much safer, so that would greatly reduce the probable primary cause of death for women in such a society (childbirth complications). So I think it’s pretty plausible that they’d have a more-or-less matriarchal society where women have a lot of power because they live a lot longer and hence have a lot more time to accumulate experience and become repositories of culture (important for a low-tech nomadic society that will have a mostly oral culture!).

So, I’d gender-swap Cloud Williams; my version of her would a matriarch with a leadership position in her tribe because she’s one of its oldest able-bodied members, she’s got a thousand years of experience and she’s had time to memorize a lot of the oral histories of her tribe and become basically a living library. Why would such a person be anywhere near a battlefield? Well, “the oral histories of her tribe” would include a lot of war stories, with detailed and often basically accurate descriptions of tactics and strategy because that’s how knowledge of how to win wars against Kohms and rival Yang tribes is transmitted in her society. She’s a living tactical manual, so of course she leads her tribe’s warriors in battle.

She could have a companion who’s a big guy who doesn’t talk much and does the brute strength side of what in the episode is Cloud Williams’s role (fighting Kirk in the cell, ripping out the bars). Maybe he’s her grandson, and was captured with her because one of his roles in the tribe is to be her bodyguard in battle.

----

Related to what I just said, have a bit where Captain Tracey says that he expected the primitive and superstitious Yangs to be overawed by phasers, but instead it was almost like they have a recent cultural memory of war with modern weapons and war against technologically superior opponents and they quickly started using effective counter tactics. Given the explanation in the episode for the long lifespans of people on Omega IV (very strong selection pressure for disease resistance), none of the Yangs would actually remember the ancient high-tech Yang civilization and original war against the Kohms, but the generational transmission chains from a lot of presently living Yang matriarchs to that time might be relatively short. For a lot of the presently living Yang matriarchs shooting down Kohm helicopters with surface-to-air missiles and ambushing Kohm armored columns in mountain passes might be something like “my grandma’s time.”

----

The reason the “Eee Plab Neesta” sounds like gibberish is that Cloud Williams is reciting it in its archaic original language, which the living Yang language has evolved into mutual incomprehensibility with. The Yangs might have one lovingly preserved paper copy of their equivalent of the Declaration of Independence, but their culture is mostly oral, and they mostly preserve the “holy words” in the heads of the matriarchs, who memorize it and transmit it from mother to daughter exactly (“by heart”), being careful to get every syllable right so it does not become distorted. The oldest matriarchs can still speak the ancient language, but for most of the Yangs, especially the relatively short-lived men, it’s like me listening to somebody recite Beowulf in its original language.

This is more-or-less my headcanon for what’s going in the actual episode too: the “Eee Plab Neesta” is just the text in its original now archaic form of the Yang language, which the universal translator can’t translate because it doesn’t have a big enough sample to work on. I’d make that much more explicit though.

The way I’d handle the scene is to have Cloud Williams start to recite the Eee Plan Neesta, and then have Kirk ask her what it means and suggest that she try to translate it into the everyday language of the Yangs so all her people could hear it with understanding, and of course it wouldn’t be the actual Declaration of Independence but something different but with a similar spirit, something like this:

“We the people of these five colonies of the nation across the sea and seven nations of the original inhabitants of this land, establish a Union, which we found in and organize according to the following principles: that all people are equally precious, that laws exist by the consent of the people and to serve the people, that leaders serve the people and hold their offices by the consent of the people...”

Then have Kirk give his speech about how these words are meant for everyone and not just for chiefs and should be something shared among all the people and lived by and not something gatekept behind archaic language most people can’t understand. Have him reference the USA founding documents by saying that his world has something very similar and he knows from the history of his own world how world-changing these ideas can be and how precious they are.

----

Obviously you can’t do that “the Yangs try to find out if Kirk recognizes the holy words, and Kirk almost recognizes them but not quite” thing with this version, so the equivalent I propose is:

Kirk recognizes the original functions of Yang “holy relics,” i.e. relics from the ancient Yang civilization: one is part of a machine that once carried people through the air (it’s a snapped-off piece of a helicopter blade), one was a device for seeing far away things as if they’re near (it’s a broken pair of binoculars), one was a machine which people could use to talk to people who were beyond the horizon (it’s a broken-down cell phone), etc.. OK, the last thing is anachronistic for TOS, but if I were writing this as a fanfic it’s what I’d do.

Cloud Williams starts to recite a long epic poem the Yangs have that tells their entire history, to see if Kirk will recognize it. Of course Kirk doesn’t, but while the Yangs don’t have history books they do use visual textile art as an aid to memory and they’ve set up a big story cloth that depicts the narrative in the room and Kirk goes over to it and starts pointing to pictures on it and correctly interpreting them:

“Here, the Yangs were oppressed by kings. The Yangs rebelled and overthrew their kings and made a new nation that had no kings. After this the Yangs became very rich and very powerful, they built great cities. The lords of the Kohms were threatened by this and they used terrible weapons on the Yangs and invaded the Yang land with great armies. Here’s a Yang city being destroyed in an instant by a Kohm weapon. The Kohm lords were so threatened that they tried to destroy the Yangs’ whole way of life. The Yangs retreated to the bad lands and kept fighting. Here are Kohm flying machines attacking a Yang village, and a Yang warrior hiding behind a rock destroying one of those flying machines with a lance of fire. The Kohm lords couldn’t overcome the Yangs until they brought the Death Thirst to the Yang lands in a box and let it out. But that weapon had a life of its own, and turned against the Kohms, and almost destroyed them too. Only a few Yangs survived in the bad lands, and the Kohms claimed the good Yang lands and settled them. But the Yangs survived, they learned the bow and the lance, and eventually their numbers started to increase. The survivors lived longer than people had before; you interpreted this as a gift for the Yangs and curse on the Kohms by the Great Spirit, so that both might live to see you retake what was once yours. And little by little, you did retake what was once yours...”

----

One way to suggest the Enterprise crew making a positive difference on Omega IV at the end of the episode: have Kirk convince the Yangs to spare the Kohm civilians in that village.

The victorious Yangs are all set to give the last Kohms the Numbers 31 treatment, which is what they usually do when they overrun a Kohm community. Of course, Kirk is horrified by this, and he manages to use arguments involving the Yang “holy words” to convince the Yangs to be merciful instead. “Your own holy words say that every person is equally precious! Every person! That includes the Kohms too! If you really mean it, it includes the Kohms too! They’re no threat to you anymore! Did you fight for so long just for a chance to do to them what they tried to do to you? If so, how are you any better than them? Your own holy words claim to be for all people! Your own holy words say that all people are more alike than they are different, and all people are capable of appreciating the gift of freedom! If that’s true, then your holy words are for the Kohms too! That’s why the Kohm lords were so threatened by you, because they were afraid of what would happen if the Kohm people heard those powerful, good words! Tell the Kohms about your holy words!”

So Cloud Williams agrees to make a merciful and peaceful settlement with the “last of the Kohm places,” let it integrate peacefully into Yang society with no further bloodshed and no abuse inflicted or spoils taken. And then Kirk says “If you mean your words of freedom, your work didn’t end today, it’s just starting. Build good seaworthy boats that can cross the ocean, and send people to the Kohms across the sea, so they can hear your words of freedom too! The words of your ancestors are for them too! You’d never be able to conquer them, but they can hear your words!”

[deafgaynerd]

what happens after dinner

Malcolm and Edrisa attend family dinner for the first time as an official couple.

(written for @brighttanaka)

check it out on ao3

Malcolm Bright walked into the Major Crimes meeting room to clean up their most recent case board. He had caught their killer by doing what he does best, going just far enough into danger that he succeeds (while also making everyone else worry) but not far enough to die. He organized everything into case files to put into storage. The Major Crimes team filed into the room for a debrief. 

Gil Arroyo, Dani Powell, and JT Tarmel joined Malcolm in the room. They didn’t sit down, instead electing to stand around the table as all attention turned to Gil. He went over assignments for paperwork, gave out praise for closing the case and thanked Malcolm for joining them. He did this after every case, thanking Malcolm for his work as if he was unaware that Malcolm was always, constantly itching to work on a new case, to solve a new murder. Gil made sure each case ended in a way that if Malcolm ever had to stop consulting, heaven forbid, his last case ended well and he was in good standing with each person on the team. That, and he knew that someone needed to praise Malcolm for being as smart as he was. Many people just expected him to be smart, they didn’t feel the need to congratulate him or tell him that whatever he did for the case was helpful and productive. Malcolm needed this occasionally though, and since Gil knew this, he made it a part of their case-ending routine.

Gil ended the meeting with a promise to see them all at family dinner and sent them all to their respective partners. Bright is the last to walk towards the door before he’s summoned back to talk with his surrogate dad.

“I know this is Edrisa’s first family dinner as your girlfriend, but make sure she knows that she doesn’t have to act any different than she is. We all know her, and we love her for who she is, she doesn’t have to impress us by being someone else,” Gil told Malcolm as he picked up the file box and walked towards the door.

“You do know that I can’t make Edrisa do anything, right?” Malcolm reminds the lieutenant. “I will remind her, though. If only to help reassure her. Dinner’s at 7:30 right?”

“Yeah, but you know your mother, you better-” Gil began.

“-Get there by 6:30, I know. Thanks, Gil. I’m going to go see if Edrisa is ready now. See you later.” Malcolm left Gil to put up the case file in the records room. 

Malcolm made his way to his girlfriend’s office a few levels down. His new romantic partner was the medical examiner for this NYPD precinct, Edrisa Tanaka. Edrisa had an eccentric personality that Malcolm had been drawn to ever since he started consulting for Gil. They had so much in common and were constantly in awe of each other’s intellect. They understood each other very well and were nearly perfectly in sync, saving each other from dangerous things at crime scenes, and just being able to brainstorm about cases together. 

Of course, Malcolm and Edrisa had things in common other than work. They were both interested in the same type of things, between human anatomy, ancient weaponry, and classic stories, among other things, they curated a wonderful friendship that blossomed to a romantic one. Malcolm was always worried that with everything that he deals with, he would overwhelm Edrisa, but she reassures him this isn’t the case, whenever he needs to hear it. 

Edrisa and Malcolm fit each other well, so well, in fact, that Edrisa says “Hi Bright!” before Malcolm has pulled his second foot across the threshold of the morgue. He smiled and walked the rest of the way to his girlfriend. “I figured you would be done soon,” she revealed. “I knew you finished the case, and Gil’s speeches tend to be around the same length each time.”

Malcolm smiled at her, nodding. “Are you ready to head home to get dressed for dinner at the Whitly House, Ris?” He asked, moving directly in front of her to capture her attention.

“I just have to finish filling out today’s paperwork on this autopsy, it should only take a few minutes.” Edrisa told him, smiling. She then proceeded to explain what she had found out in this autopsy, a case Bright was not assigned to, and Malcolm listened intently, fascinated by not only her findings, but the passion with which she talked about her cases. Once Edrisa had finished, Malcolm helped her gather her things and they headed to the car. 

When they got home, Edrisa held up two outfits. “Which one do you think would go over the best with your family?” She asked. “Ainsley helped me pick out some clothes that would look appropriate for your mother, which one do you think I should wear? I don’t want to wear something that would upset Jessica Whitly, ” 

Malcolm studied the two outfits. One was a knee-length, emerald dress. The other was a navy blue suit with a lighter blue patterned shirt underneath. “I think you should go with the suit, it feels more “Edrisa.” Besides, my mother loves you already, Everyone who will be there loves you already. This will go fine, I promise.” 

She nodded and left to change. “I know that I already know everyone, Malcolm, but this time it’s different. This time we’re going as a couple.”

“Edrisa, it’s just our friends and my family. You got this. We’ve got this. I’ll be right by your side the whole time.” Malcolm reassured her. She walked out and he couldn’t help but stare. She looked gorgeous. “Wow, Ris, you look amazing.” He got up and walked over to her, grabbing her hands and looking into her eyes. “We got this.” He said again.

“We got this,” Edrisa repeated.

The pair arrived at the Whitly House at 6:30 on the dot. Gil was already there, of course. So were Ainsley and Dani, since Ainsley had decided to live at home again to help out their mom and Dani coming over to visit her girlfriend before dinner. The only couple missing were the Tarmels. They started joining family dinners when Dani and Ainsley got together, because it didn’t feel right to have 3/4 of the team at dinner. They also invited Edrisa, before she and Bright had gotten together, and she had been participating. It had been a few weeks since Malcolm and Edrisa became a couple, but Edrisa had been busy for the past few family dinners. This was their very first one as an official couple.

At 6:45, JT and Tally came in, sheepishly. “We’re sorry, Jessica, the babysitter was late.” JT informed the night’s hostess. “We made dessert though. We brought brownies.”

“Who is this “we” you speak of, JT Tarmel.” Tally scolded, making Jessica laugh. Gil took the tray of brownies from JT and put them in the kitchen. 

“Now that we’re all here, let’s have a drink and prepare for dinner,” Jessica announced. 

At 7:30, the group sat down at the dinner table as the waiter brought out their dishes. They ate peacefully for a while, making small talk with the people around them. It was nice, getting to catch up with all their friends outside of work. They made sure to have family dinner at least once a week, because Jessica wanted to know what was happening with her children. All of them, which now included JT and Tally. 

“Edrisa, I hope Malcolm is treating you well,” Jessica said loud enough that everyone can hear. “I taught him better than to treat you poorly.” 

“Oh! Ma’am, Malcolm is wonderful. He’s so attentive, he’s kind, he’s sweet, he doesn’t leave a girl hanging, if you know what I mean,” Edrisa says, smiling at Malcolm who, all of a sudden, has a look of panic on his face. Most people can’t tell, but Edrisa has noticed. “He’s very thoughtful,” Edrisa continued, “and he loves me, too, even if he doesn’t know it yet.” She looked at Jessica with that statement and Jessica couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m sure he does,” she responded before going back to talking with Gil. No doubt, they’re discussing how all of their kids ended up dating each other. Or, something about how they ended up here. They’re sentimental like that during family dinners. 

After dinner and dessert, the couples broke off, heading to their own places. Edrisa and Malcolm went back to Malcolm’s place, where Edrisa always stayed over the weekend. They crawled into bed, Edrisa reading Dracula, sitting up against the headboard, and Malcolm scrolling on his phone, reading over a new psychological research paper. Edrisa has a favorite out of Malcolm’s clothes to wear, his old Harvard sweatshirt. No matter how many times it gets washed, it always smelled like Bright, and it was the warmest and coziest out of all of his tops, and he knew to leave it ready for her when they came home for the weekend. 

After finishing his article, Malcolm rolled over to lean against Edrisa. “Are you done yet, Ris?” He asked her. She looked down and smiled, before lifting her arms up to let him lay on her more. 

“I am not done reading yet, no. I’ll tell you when I am.” She responds to him. Malcolm takes the invitation and lays his head on her shoulder while she reads. He wraps his arms around her torso while she brings her hands back down, using his back as a resting place for the book and running the other hand through his hair. She knew that the best way for him to not have nightmares was for him to be holding onto her, and she knew that dealing with his family always exhausted him and he could use the rest. 

Malcolm eventually fell asleep cuddling her while Edrisa finished rereading her book. She turned off the light and moved just enough so that she's laying down with him. She fell asleep in his arms and it’s the best sleep either of them has had in a while. 

[panharmonium]

more scattered naruto thoughts now that we’ve finished season 8 -

[spoiler policy disclaimer first, as always: I am watching naruto for the first time and have only gotten up to the end of season 8 (after pain destroys the hidden leaf village).  i am trying to avoid spoilers, so please don’t interact with this (tags included, because the notifications now show them to me automatically) with any spoilery commentary, including even general things like “oh i love this show but it gets less good after X point” or “X season is better than Y season” or any general assessments of quality/likability/etc re: future seasons.  Thank you! <3 ]

- i like the way S8 ended.  i know that in real life maybe it wouldn’t be so feasible to just talk your enemy back to the light, but honestly, i don’t care.  i love that shit.  i love stories when people refuse to hurt the people who hurt them first, and then their seemingly inconceivable choice to refrain from striking back creates a connection (it’s the ‘return of the jedi’ effect, folks).  i understand that it doesn’t work like that in real life most of the time, and i don’t recommend it for real life people trying to defend themselves, but i do love it in fiction.  i LOVED how naruto went in pursuit of nagato to talk to him, not fight him.  even though naruto says straight-up “i can’t forgive you” / “I want to kill you so badly i can’t stop shaking” - he still recognizes that his enemy is someone who’s been victimized, and he has enough compassion to feel pain on their behalf even when he himself is reeling from having his entire home destroyed and both of his teachers murdered by the person he’s confronting.  his choice to control his (valid) rage and extend a hand in compassion is ultimately what changes the outcome and saves everyone who would have died, reversing the damage that was done, and i love that shit.  

- absolutely adore yamato abandoning his own mission and taking off at a run to try and help naruto when he senses that naruto is losing control over the nine-tails.  this man thought he was just a substitute teacher for a while there, but he’s become part of the family while he wasn’t looking.

- HINATA.  oh my god i couldn’t even enjoy this incredible moment because i was so stressed out (and angry, at the time, because i really thought they were going to kill her, and that would’ve crossed my line).  i want to watch this again knowing that she’s fine, because my anxiety over ‘fuck fuck fuck they’re actually going to kill one of the kids’ precluded me from even appreciating it appropriately.

- there’s been a lot of talk on this show about how sakura doesn’t have as much chakra as naruto or sasuke, but she heals people non-stop the entire time Pain is attacking and doesn’t show any signs of running dry.  SHOW HER SOME RESPECT.

- CHOOOOOOOOJIIIIIIII!  omg.  i was so afraid that his father was actually dead, and SO RELIEVED that he was okay.  you can’t do that to choji!!!

- also relatedly, how much do i adore choji for caring so much about kakashi?  <333 i mean this kid is there sobbing over his dead body, and then he bursts out crying when kakashi comes back to life - i really appreciate these little ties between characters who aren’t always in close quarters but who do have a relationship.  kakashi has been a teacher to ALL of the kids, and team 10 especially feels indebted to him - the respect and affection they all feel for him is very real.

- first time i actually thought ‘ok he’s cool’ with regard to minato was when he talked to the nine-tails so unfazed like “he’s a loudmouth.  let’s go somewhere more quiet.’  i’ve been kind of so-so on his character so far, but i liked this.  

- also later in that scene - the (rare) scenes we’ve seen where naruto totally breaks down absolutely kill me.  it happened once when gaara was dead, and then there’s another moment in this episode when he’s talking to minato - whoever voices him does just incredible work in those moments, and it is SO PAINFUL to me because naruto is always such a happy kid the rest of the time and eternally optimistic and positive and excited and popping back up every time he falls down, and so when he cracks it is just devastating to see.  i hate seeing him cry like that.

- similarly - that shot of sasuke at the end of the itachi arc wrecked me.  naruto’s breakdowns are upsetting, but at least he allows himself to have them - when he gets pushed past a breaking point, he explodes.  he cries and yells and spills every single thought in his head in front of everybody who’s around him, and after it’s done, things get better.  he’s with people who care about him.  he’s venting and making himself understood, and he always finds his equilibrium again.

sasuke, though, has been completely locked down ever since we saw him sneak out of the hospital to wander around the scene of his community’s mass murder, and he’s still locked down now, even crying all alone at the edge of the ocean.  this moment isn’t cathartic.  it isn’t a release.  this is barely even a sliver of what this kid has going on inside him, and it looks like it’s agonizing for him to even let that much out.

- the scene where naruto is about to give up and give in to the nine-tails’s power...that exchange!!!!!!!

i don’t know.  it hurts.  i hate this.  i don’t know.  what should i do.  i don’t know anything anymore.  someone...please help me.  give me...an answer.

destroy everything.  erase anything that causes you pain.  give me your soul, your spirit, your vital essence.  give it to me, and in exchange, i will rescue you from your pain.

this whole exchange is amazing.  the way naruto says ‘it hurts’...this is one of those scenes that expands to cover so much more ground than just what’s onscreen at that moment.  what naruto overcomes here is precisely the trap that sasuke has not been able to escape.  sasuke has never had any framework for dealing with pain that isn’t about pursuing vengeance.  it’s the only way he thinks he can free himself from his pain - by putting all of his energy into destroying the people who hurt him.  

but it becomes an endless cycle, because he never succeeds.  itachi dies and sasuke feels worse than ever, so he turns his attention to the hidden leaf in an attempt to finally kill what’s hurting him.  but even if sasuke were to raze the entire village to the ground, his pain would still be with him, and he’d then have to turn his attention to yet another target, because the alternative would be to recognize that he can’t escape his pain by destroying the things that hurt him, and that’s not something he’s able to accept right now.  he’s spent half his life fixated on the idea that revenge can rescue him from how terrible he feels, and abandoning that idea now would mean that nothing can save him.  it would mean that he’s going to hurt like this no matter what he does.  

kakashi tried to warn him about this.  he tried to tell sasuke that even after getting his revenge, sasuke wouldn’t feel better, that he’d only tear himself apart trying to achieve something that would leave him feeling empty - but sasuke was too entrenched in his own warped thinking to believe it.  and ever since then, sasuke has been in the company of people who are happy to let him dig himself deeper and deeper into a self-destructive hole as long as it benefits their agenda.  they don’t care if he’s hurting himself.  they’re happy to see him suffering.  his pain is a tool they can use.

- a note re: kakashi, when it comes to this topic - 

i think it’s relevant to remember that kakashi never tells sasuke not to pursue revenge because it’s “wrong” or ethically questionable.  he never delivers any moralizing speeches in the vein of “if you kill someone who victimized you, you’re just as bad as they are.”  kakashi doesn’t think it’s wrong if itachi dies, and if sasuke were in a better state of mind, he probably wouldn’t even mind if sasuke were the one to kill him.  that’s why kakashi is comfortable helping team 10 pursue asuma’s killers, after all - because they’re not unbalanced by rage or making self-destructive decisions; they’re acting with clear heads and pursuing a course of action that needs to be taken anyway (asuma’s murderers are on their way to the leaf to capture naruto - they need to be dealt with regardless).  team 10′s kids can handle that mission - they’re thinking straight.  they’re comfortable accepting adult guidance.  they’re grieving, but they’re okay. 

sasuke is not.  sasuke has been deeply traumatized since he was a very young child, and encouraging his quest for vengeance is equivalent to validating all of the fucked-up thought patterns that are hurting him so badly - that it was his responsibility (as a seven year-old child) to protect his clan, that he was weak and cowardly for running away, that he needs to take itachi down as penance for failing to save his family, that killing itachi is the only way for him to justify his childhood survival, that killing itachi will free him from his pain.  for kakashi to encourage any of these false convictions would be irresponsible and, ultimately, harmful to the child he’s supposed to be looking after.  if sasuke gets his revenge on itachi, he’s just going to be left with the horrifying realization that his pain hasn’t lessened even the slightest bit, except that now he also has to deal with the additional trauma of killing someone he used to love. 

kakashi doesn’t discourage sasuke from revenge because Revenge Is Morally Bad and You Are Morally Bad For Pursuing It; he discourages sasuke from revenge because in this particular case, sasuke’s fixation on revenge is hurting him.  it’s unhealthy for him, and it will cause him worse pain in the future if he allows it to continue driving his life.  sasuke is never going to feel better if he doesn’t stop distracting himself from his pain by focusing solely on vengeance.  if he’s ever going to actually be rescued from his pain, he needs to face (and FEEL!!!) his grief, which is precisely what staying fixated on revenge allows him to avoid.

- relatedly: i just.  am SO sick.  of all these horrible people.  getting their hands on sasuke.  and using him for their own ends.  when he has already been manipulated and victimized all his life.  it makes me wanna SCREAM!!!!  and i know that’s the point; we are supposed to be frustrated by this - but - hrnghghgnh

and like - it’s not like sasuke doesn’t know it’s happening!  he’s not stupid!  he knows the people around him are using him, and he just tries to use them back and play them before they play him, and he accepts that this is what his life is going to look like, and because he survives, he thinks he’s in control, but he has NO IDEA how far over his head he’s in now.  and besides, he never stops to think that maybe his life shouldn’t look like this.  he has no conception of ‘someone should be taking care of me.’  he’s never seen himself as a child who needs protection - he’s never seen himself as a child, period.  it’s why he’s such a brat to the other kids, and it’s why he never calls kakashi ‘sensei.’  he thinks of himself as an adult.  he has adult problems.  he can’t connect to children his own age because he can’t connect to the idea of childhood - his childhood was stolen from him, and with it went any conception of refuge or safety or the fact that relentless self-sufficiency and a constant cycle of using/being used by other people isn’t in fact what his life is supposed to look like.

i am continually infuriated by all of these people who have abdicated their responsibility as adults and chosen to exploit an already exploited kid, one who is too messed up to save himself or let anybody else help him.  none of these people care about him.  they all want to use him for something.  they’re happy he’s in pain, because his pain is what enables them to manipulate him.

the people who DO truly want to help him are the same people he’s desperately trying to avoid.  the only adult sasuke ever had a meaningful and non-manipulative relationship with is the same adult he keeps running away from.  and the only two people his own age who ever actually knew anything about him or cared if he was okay are the two people he keeps pushing away. 

there is, perhaps, a lot to be said about how sasuke continually runs away from the people who actually care about him and instead affiliates himself with people he’ll never have to worry about forming a connection with.  “having too many ties in this world just holds you back” - sure, and having no ties protects you, too.  nobody to love you, nobody to know you, nobody you can ever lose.

[pens-swords-stuff]

Happy STS! Can I ask you as a famous fanfiction writer, how do you go about capturing characters you like and want to write but can't seem to capture right on the page?

Oh my gosh, me, a famous fanfiction writer? I’m really not, but I’m super flattered that you think I am!

I’m actually not too great at writing existing canonical characters — I mostly write OC fanfiction for purely self-indulgent purposes, and avoid writing canon characters as much as possible.

That being said, now that I’m writing a fanfiction with no OCs in sight, I have a few strategies to help me when I’m struggling!

This definitely turned into more of an advice post than a Storyteller Saturday ask, whoops!

Re-engage in the source material

Obviously, one of the easiest ways to get a refresher on the character is to re-engage in the source material. Rewatch that TV show/movie, reread the book, replay that game, etc.

I find that it’s helpful to actively engage in the source material, rather than passively. Instead of just enjoying it, engage in it in Writer Mode. Really look at the character and how they interact with their surroundings and the people around them. Take note of their habits, their speech patterns, and how they move. How do they act around people they like, around people they don’t like, around stranger? Examine the important points in their character development arc, and dissect it. What worked? What didn’t work? Why did it have such a large impact on that character? Try to figure them out as if they were your own original character, back when you were still piecing them together.

Make a character cheat sheet

Some larger fandoms have really great resources, like massive, detailed wikia pages with every single detail about everything that’s ever happened. Other fandoms are smaller, or are just not as wikia-oriented as some others so information online might be sparse.

Regardless of the availability of information is available in that fandom, I find it really helpful to make my own personal cheat sheet full of information that is important to me.

Here are some things that I include in my cheat sheets:

A general timeline of their life, with quotes and page numbers/time stamps when appropriate

An inventory of general items that they carry around that has been mentioned in the source material

A list of physical character traits that have been mentioned/shown in the source material, including common articles of clothing

Quotes from the character that they say a lot, or I feel really captures the way they speak, or who they are

Excerpts of scenes that I feel are really important to look back on

Other details from the source material that I think are important

Practice writing them in the source material

When I say this, I mean actually go through the source material, pick a scene with that character and write it out in your own words.

If it’s a TV show, movie, video game, or some other visual medium, transcribe that scene into words. Write it out like you would in a novel; add their inner monologue, describe their quirks, add dialogue tags to whatever they say. 

It’s a little bit trickier if the source material is a book since the prose is already there. When the source material is a book, I swap perspectives. If the perspective in the original story is from the character you’re practicing with, I write the scene from another character’s perspective. If the perspective is from someone else, I rewrite that scene from the perspective of the character I’m practicing with.

This is a really good way to practice getting the canonical character in your own words, because you’re using actual canon to practice — they literally cannot be out of character here.

Read other fanfictions with that character

Everyone has a different interpretation of existing canonical characters, and that’s really cool! It’s totally okay to have your own version too.

If you’re feeling stuck on how to write a character, try reading some other fanfictions for that fandom and see how other writers portray that character. Their character interpretation might be different from yours, but it can definitely help open you up to new possibilities! At best, it might make a light bulb go off in your head. At worst, it can help diversify your idea of that character, and maybe make your idea of them a little bit more flexible.

Also I find reading other fanfictions in that fandom can really inspire me in general, so bonus points for that.

Practice, practice, practice!

Write drabbles about them, even if it might not end up in your fanfiction! Put them in a completely different AU. Have them interact with your own original characters. Find some prompts you like and write them with that character. Explore them like you would explore your own original character! The more you write them, the more you’ll be able to make them your own. Sometimes, all it takes it a lot of practice until they ‘click’.

Good luck!

I now have an updated FAQ and Ask Guidelines for Writing Advice, please check those out first if you have a question about writing or Writeblr!

Ask Guidelines | FAQ | Advice Masterlist

[fallershipping]

Looker x Anabel Retrospective

The absolute ultimate Retrospective post as to explain why I’ve been on this OTP since 2016. Especially made in mind with the idea that some new peeps on the boat may not realize the extent of the lore between these two characters. Feel free to read this or skip this if you want, because I did pour out my heart and soul and it can be kind of a lengthy read.

Enjoy~

So Looker and Anabel have been two existing characters in Pokemon for the longest time, with both being sort of beloved for different reasons but not too often thought about as compared to other NPCs. One’s a reoccurring comedy relief detective since Platinum and the other is probably the most memorable and strongest of the Hoenn Battle Frontier from Emerald.

But when SunMoon dropped, these two characters got a new lease on life that no one really saw coming. This special appearance made them go from NPCs I never really thought too much about to placing them as my top two favorite Pokemon characters of all time.

The UB Task Force mission, as much as a glorified fetch quest as it seems to be, continues some of the darker, more adult themes brought along with SunMoon. While the main story dealt with subjects of abuse and what it means to be a truly strong person in the case of hardships, the post game surprisingly delves into the corrupt side of a seemingly good organization and idea of sacrificing one life to save another. What appears to be another run of the mill Looker mission takes a dive into the tragic backstory shared between certain characters, and all of this lore was scrapped in the ‘definitive’ USUM games.

So while a lot of people might have played this portion of the game, many could have skipped it entirely or didn’t give the dialogue too much thought.

But you’re asking, why is it special? And why have I cared so much for a potential romantic relationship between Looker and Anabel enough to draw them as much as I have?

Haha. Buckle up buckaroo.

So right off the bat, Looker and Anabel’s banter sets up what kind of relationship they have with one another. They’re formal as coworkers can be, but the more they talk to one another, the friendliness that they share quickly becomes apparent. They also tend to speak highly of each other, no matter if the person is in the room or gone out.

And he’s not wrong! Looker is well aware of just how capable Anabel is for a guy that isn’t really known for Pokemon battles himself.

After the first UB on the list is securely captured, Looker insists on a feast for everyone to enjoy in one of Alola’s famous restaurants, in which Anabel points out asking how he had known of this already having just now arrived here. Looker, flustered, says that he’s read it in a magazine and dashes out to make reservations, cuing Anabel to react to his odd antics in a more...

Affectionate way.

Look at that lil smile.

He’s an odd fellow, for sure. A lot of characters in the past called him weird or were off put by his personality, but Anabel is very patient and sort of endeared by him. He constantly returns to the gang yelling “It’s a catastrophe!” in different languages-- And Anabel doesn’t snap at him angrily for it, but calmly asks him to repeat himself in english so that she can understand him.

During the course of the post game while Looker’s away, Anabel is always talking about him in a positive manner. Despite his quirks, she finds him a league of his own even amongst the elite of the International Police.

Despite this acknowledgment of Looker’s skill and ability, she seems to be awfully dead set on keeping Looker as backup in their base of operations.

Anabel knows how dangerous UBs are. They’re not human criminals that he can easily deal with with his own fists-- they are aggravated alien monsters. Her imagining Looker facing one of them alone without any Pokemon to defend himself with probably scares her deeply.

Scares her enough for her to constantly assign him to be backup for her and the Protag, despite his protests and his expertise in fieldwork.

And yet she never fails to remind him that he is important regardless of whether he’s on the field fighting alongside her or set to backup. Almost, in a way, finding a way to flatter him. (smiling at him as reassurance or perhaps even putting up a bit of charm) She is thankful for his help on getting intel and he’s a valuable asset to the mission, but she cannot bear the thought of her friend getting hurt when she can handle the UBs with her own fully trained Pokemon team.

However, despite her confidence, Anabel grows more and more fatigued with each UB encounter. Looker’s worry rises and he tries even harder to let himself take her place in the field.

As much as she also insists on not wanting to worry him, Looker’s usual goofy and eccentric demeanor begins to change. His speech patterns start to become more serious and his sentences trail off more often, which throughout all the games, is a rather rare sight to see. His care for Anabel brings out something vulnerable and emotional out of someone self proclaimed hard-boiled.

With all the respect he gives her and all the times he commemorates her aptitude, he still fears for her greatly.

And when a familiar character appears, we understand why.

Nanu comes in to talk about the truth behind Anabel’s reappearance in the series; much like the UBs, she came from another world through Ultra Space and ended up as what Interpol dubbed as a Faller. 

Fallers are bathed in the energy from ultra wormholes. Thus, UBs are attracted to these humans, mistaking them as a way back home and going on the attack. Back then, Interpol found a particular use for Fallers by using them to direct the attention of UBs away from public areas.

Which is what happened ten years prior to the events of SunMoon. Looker, Nanu, and a third member were sent to fight a Guzzlord. However, Looker hesitated in harming it further when it realized it was just scared monster sent here against it’s will. But his lapse in judgment cost the life of the third member, a Faller woman, to fall victim to Guzzlord’s attack.

Looker and Nanu took down the Guzzlord but learned the horrible truth about their companion, who was not trained in combat-- she was designated as bait, but the catastrophic results were a failure that shadows Interpol forever. Not long after, the two agents found a woman washed up Poni’s shore recollecting nothing about herself but her name; Anabel.

This is why Looker has been growing ever so worried for Anabel’s safety and why he even asked the champion in the first place to help. The protag is indeed a Faller as well. He thought he could be able to control the situation with having a fantastic trainer who befriended Solgaleo/Lunala to keep the UB outbreak in check-- To make sure Anabel was safe. After all, the protag is able to help the mission go along beautifully and safely capture each UB.

But not without a price. Anabel was still being hurt, and Nanu had to intervene to make Looker realize that he had made a big mistake.

After all, Anabel isn’t aware that she’s a Faller herself. Why doesn’t she know yet? Wouldn’t Looker tell her? Or Nanu?

It would appear as Interpol learned something after all these years, and isn’t really using her as Bait as they did before with the first Faller. Anabel is said to have autonomy over this and chose to save the UBs from a worse fate. Unlike the first Faller, she was properly trained for the UB Task Force missions and for many other Interpol related missions as her own strong, resourceful agent. However, Interpol is still quiet about her status as a Faller and anything relating to them from the past.

And Looker, years after the incident with Guzzlord, is now met with an Anabel with a newly built Interpol life determined to help people, Pokemon, and UBs in need no matter what. She absolutely believes in her successes and her cause. And she is adamant of going on these missions. Looker grows a bond with her and is faced with this troubling realization;

To tell her the truth would mean to collapse the whole world upon her.

After all... Having rebuilt her life, seeing her so confident, so passionate about what she’s doing... He sees her succeed in something he feels all too familiar with-- Starting from the bottom and creating an identity, somehow.

Having been found in the Battle Resort, washed ashore with no memory, not even a name to go by. Looker knows her pain more than anyone else. She needs to know about what she is going through-- But the uttermost pain she will feel and the lingering eyes of Interpol’s heads has been keeping him mortified and silent.

So he does anything and everything in his power to protect her in the meantime, before she can be told the truth. And with the way the Alola mission went, that time is coming up real soon.

However, with the protag and Nanu’s help the UB Task Force finally had every UB under control. And Anabel was kept safe and sound, much to Looker’s relief. They can finally enjoy some time off and no doubt will be in for quite a long, painful, but necessary conversation when the time comes.

Not of course before Looker going off into a slight panic over the idea of Anabel going on a date.

And that was the line that made me totally think “Oh yep, yep! Looker’s got a massive crush on her!”

SO! What’s the take away from all this madness??

The fact that Looker and Anabel care deeply for one another so much, as they go far too out of their way to protect each other from harm. Not just out of necessity, but their banter clearly shows that there’s a deeper connection between the two than just a professional coworker one.

You might argue that Looker is only worrying about her this deeply because of what he went through all those years ago and is trying to prevent the same thing from happening, and yet... He’s grown to appreciate and know Anabel for who she is. She is in fact her own agent that joined Interpol on her own volition and chose to do the UB missions due to her empathy to the lost beings so far from home.

He knows when she’s unwell, he knows why she hides it away. He understands her as a person and it’s wonderful how much they show that they grew to have a bond with one another. Enough for both of them to catch on to each other’s quirks and feel comfortable.

The small giggle that she gives him, the small yet playfully affectionate jab, the way it just says “Oh there he goes again thinking about the feast at this time... Just Looker being Looker~” Because she also knows him deeply as well! This man is not one of her best allies but one of her most trusted companions in this new life of hers and it shows!! 

They’re each other’s most trusted companions and their partnership is just wonderful to see.

Of course, romance can’t happen between them yet-- Not until Anabel knows the truth about Fallers and what Interpol did long ago. But let’s be honest, even the big angst/hurt/comfort fest that would come from that conversation would be a whirlwind of emotions that would just end up with them having an even stronger relationship than they’ve ever had before.

It’s not just that they look wonderful together, complement each other, and such-- It’s all those things plus the backstory and close bond and tragedy that comes from this mission. It makes me want to see them overcome every hurdle and be happy with one another and have all the joy and happiness they deserve after all they’ve been through.

I want to see them in more situations where they can be casual with one another, fight alongside one another, and so on so forth. They just have so much potential and I really think Game Freak sees it too.

And as for a lil bonus, Looker in USUM finding out the protag is the champion but is more impressed with Anabel’s knowledge than the actual champion. Also they’re always vacationing together mutually huh hmm wowie?

--

tl;dr go ship Looker/Anabel aka Fallershipping aka Lookabel best ship 10/10

[ladala99]

Cursed

(October event narrative part 3)

Lana, Ilere, Eclipse, Luna, and Sunrise hunted. They tracked a herd of zebra, waiting for one to lag behind.

Suddenly, the herd scattered. Lana turned to the direction they were running from and spotted another hunting party. Snarling, she bounded over to them, making sure to showcase her long Primal fangs.

“This is our territory...” Wait, she recognized these lionesses. “Sandy? Ashes?” The lionesses from the old pride. And three she didn’t know. One of which looked at her as if looking at a ghost. That one knew something.

Lana’s companions ran up behind her. Of them, only Ilere was from the old pride, and she stepped forward. “What are you doing here?”

“Hunting,” said Sandy, “same as you. You know how the old territory is - we need to search farther to find anything. We didn’t know this is where you lived.” She turned to her own hunting party. “This is Chill’s territory, let’s get out of here.” The lionesses Lana didn’t know grumbled a bit, but the other hunting party turned to leave.

“Not so fast,” Ilere said.

Ever since Lana had fallen victim to that fiery whip Chill held, she could sense when Ilere was about to do something. The air seemed to get colder and dark wisps rose from the ground, surrounding the demon lioness. Lana knew that these were invisible to everyone else.

The dark wisps scattered to surround the lionesses of both hunting parties, ignoring only Lana. Eclipse, Luna, and Sunrise of their own hunting party closed their eyes and lay down as if for a nap. Ashes and the three lionesses Lana didn’t know did the same, but Sandy resisted it.

“What are you doing?” Sandy demanded.

Ilere locked eyes with the leader of the other hunting party, freezing her in a trance.

“What are you planning?” Lana asked Ilere. “They would have left.”

“And denied us an opportunity. They came to us. Now Chill doesn’t have to go to them to unite us under one loyalty.”

Lana felt a cold chill of dread. “He doesn’t want this, you know.” She knew with certainty that, now that Chill more fully understood what the whip did, he didn’t want to turn it against lionesses of his own pride - or those potentially of his own pride - any longer.

“He’ll come around,” Ilere said. She started backing up, leading the entranced Sandy forward. “Come, we’re going home.”

“And leaving our pridemates to the vultures?” Lana asked.

Dark wisps rose from the ground, this time dancing around and above the unconscious lionesses.

“No one will approach them,” Ilere said. "It is best they don’t know what’s happening.”

Lana could agree with that, at least. While she didn’t understand why Chill didn’t want to make the other lionesses unafraid of him like she was, she respected his wishes. And if they knew what was going on, he might have to capture them as he had done Lana. Otherwise they might get the wrong idea and turn against him.

---

It was a long trek home with Ilere backing up and maintaining eye contact with Sandy the whole way.

Chill was resting at their current gathering area. He got up and approached as he noticed them.

“What’s going on?” he asked sternly, looking at Sandy. “Ilere, what are you doing?”

“Her hunting party trespassed,” Ilere said, still not breaking eye contact with the other lioness. “It’s a great opportunity. I can bring them here, one by one, and our pride will be united again.”

A full minute passed before Chill found the words to respond.

“No. Not like this. Bring her back to the others unharmed.”

“Chill—” Ilere began.

“—If you serve me as you claim to, you will listen and obey. Besides, didn’t you say I wasn’t strong enough to tame them?”

“With my help, you will meet no resistance from them,” Ilere said.

“I want them to return of their own volition. I want them to realize that I am not my father. I know I considered enslaving them before, but now I realize the victory would be hollow.”

Lana’s eyes widened as she noticed dark wisps rising from the ground again. They engulfed Sandy, who fell to her side asleep, not able to resist this time as she was already under Ilere’s power.

Ilere turned her gaze to Chill. “They will never return of their own will, and you know it. They distrust you because of your Primal appearance, and that is something you can never change.”

Lana let out the breath she was holding as she realized Ilere hadn’t used her powers against Chill. He pointedly avoided eye contact.

“Lana,” Sandy said quietly. Apparently Ilere’s power had been unable to hold for long, although it seemed the rebel lioness was having trouble moving.

Ilere had all her attention on Chill, and Lana knew Chill would want her to respond. Act as everything’s normal. Not that this situation was normal.

“Sandy,” she approached so they could speak more quietly.

“Help me get out. I’ll convince the others to let you stay with us. I can see no good is happening here.”

Chill wanted them to unite. Lana leaving would be against that.

“I have to stay here,” Lana said. “I’m sorry.”

“What, did she put a spell on you, too?” Sandy asked.

“We only need one,” Ilere said to Chill. She turned back to Sandy and shot a questioning look at Lana. “Then, perhaps, we can do it your way. She’ll convince the others to come back.”

“I will do no such thing,” Sandy growled. “We are independent of you. Leave us in peace and we will leave you in peace.” She looked past Ilere, straight at Chill.

“Maybe we can talk this out another time,” said Chill. “Just me and your alliance.”

“No,” said Sandy. “We will not meet you, and if you trespass on our lands, you will be chased away. Our time in your pride is over.” She attempted to rise, but the dark wisps surrounded her again, forming chains that kept her tied down.

Ilere looked at Chill expectantly.

Lana could feel how hurt Chill was at the prospect of not even having a chance. That Sandy rejected him and clearly would never change her mind. He hated that Ilere was right.

“Lana, help me,” Sandy said. “I can’t move.”

Lana could sense that Chill had made his decision. He hated himself for it. He hated Ilere for it. And he pitied Sandy for it.

Lana put a paw on Sandy’s. Chill no longer desired for her to keep her condition a secret from the rebel lioness. “You’re going to be like me,” Lana said. “I used to be afraid all the time, living here. I used to think Chill was a monster, and that my fangs showed that I was part monster, too. I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m happy to live here. You will be, too.”

Her speech didn’t have the effect she had hoped. Sandy recoiled away from Lana in horror. She looked between the three lions like cornered prey, even though she was sitting in an open field.

“Why does that scare you?” Lana asked.

“Lana, enough,” Chill said. He was ready. Lana backed away from Sandy to give him a clear shot. Ilere, noticing what Lana was doing, did likewise. He locked his gaze with Sandy’s. “I’m sorry.”

He flicked his paw and a whip of fire and evil extended out of it. It hissed through the air before coiling itself around Sandy, passing through the ground to do so as if it wasn’t there.

Lana could hear their battle of wills. Sandy’s body clawed at the air as if she were fighting dozens of invisible foes. Her will clashed against Chill’s as she struggled to remain in her convictions.

Chill stood firm in his own convictions. He would never accept ‘no’ for an answer when it came to the pride being reunited. Anyone who stood in the way of that had to be convinced one way or another, and if this was the only way Sandy would be convinced, so be it.

Sandy’s voice made a sound that should never come from a lion’s throat. In the battle of wills, though, it was a standstill. Chill only wanted her to understand. He wanted to change her mind, but he wasn’t making any moves to help the whip extinguish her will.

Lana wanted to help, but she knew talking to Sandy would only make her fight harder.

“Ilere, aren’t you going to help him?” Lana asked.

“He’s doing fine,” Ilere said. “All Sandy’s doing is drawing out the inevitable.”

“Wouldn’t it be merciful to end it sooner?”

“Lana, remember how cruel she and Ashes were to you when you we were all in the same pride? They bullied you. Ostracized you. All because of your fangs. They only acted worse to me, even if they were afraid to do so in front of my mother. Not only is my fur growing in an unnatural pattern, but I am part demon. I am different. I have no pity for her. I will only intervene if Chill starts slipping.”

While what Ilere had said was true, Lana didn’t hate them for it. And it wasn’t just Chill’s will running through her mind that felt that way - even beforehand she hadn’t hated them. They hated her, and it hurt, but she had been convinced that they were right. She had inherited Tiger’s Primal Fangs, and they were nothing to be proud of. They were a sign of the curse that had led to Tiger being a machine of hatred and malice.

Remembering how much she used to hate Chill and herself made Lana feel glad he had used the whip against her. She felt so much happier now. And watching Sandy struggle made her feel all the more grateful to Ilere for hypnotizing her to make it quick.

Chill’s will remained an unbreakable wall and Sandy slowly stopped fighting. Her thrashing got weaker and weaker until, after one last huge effort, she stilled, breathing heavily, her eyes dull. Her will acted likewise, repeating her mantra of independence over and over again until it was just a whimper. And then, after an exclamation of I hate you! it was extinguished. The whip retreated into Chill’s paw.

The whole ordeal had lasted over an hour, but Ilere hadn’t had to intervene.

“That felt dirty,” Chill said.

“It would have gone faster had you actually tried,” Ilere responded. “As it was, you just waited for her to run herself out of energy.”

“You’re the one who wanted me to do this.” Chill snarled. “Why didn’t you help this time?”

“You weren’t losing,” she said.

Chill huffed. Lana sensed him give the command to Sandy to rise and act relatively normal. Just not aggressive while they were still alone.

Ilere’s dark wisps cleared and Sandy got to her feet. She looked indignant. “Okay, you win. What do you want with me now?”

“You will return and act as normal to start with,” Ilere said.

“I’m asking Chill, not you,” Sandy said.

“She has the right idea,” Chill said. “Don’t let anyone know what happened to you if you can help it.”

“What about Lightning?” Sandy asked. “She’s a mage and might sense it.”

“Is she the one with the cobweb markings?” Lana asked.

Sandy nodded.

“She could tell something about me just by looking,” Lana said. “She’ll know.”

Ilere sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I would have chosen her first. Chill, perhaps we should do this one more time, for safety.”

“No,” Chill said. “I can’t repeat that ordeal again so soon. Sandy, you’ll just have to quell her fears by acting normal. If nothing happens for long enough, I’m sure she’ll lose her suspicions.”

“It does help that she already doesn’t like me,” Sandy said thoughtfully. “I’ve prevented her from doing her rituals many times out of distrust of mages. The others are more likely to write it off as her having a grudge.“

---

Ilere led the way back to the place the two hunting parties had been knocked out. Lana and Sandy lagged behind far enough that she couldn’t hear them talking.

“How do you feel?” Lana asked.

Sandy flicked her tail. “I’m a bit annoyed you decided to do this to me only to send me back with a request to act as I was. What’s the point?”

“To have someone on our side,” Lana said. “So you guys will come back. Maybe not soon, but someday, when you can convince everyone.”

“Maybe when Ashes retires,” Sandy said, “but that’s not exactly what Chill wants, is it? Penelope retired - she’s never going to rejoin. There won’t be this big happy reunion like he wants. All I can do is try to keep Lightning from stirring up trouble. I think she wants us to war with you.”

“If she does, we know you’re on our side,” Lana said. “I’d say you could be our spy, but Ilere already has that covered.”

“So Lightning was right; someone was watching through my eyes?”

"That was probably her, yes.”

Ilere stopped ahead of them - they had arrived where the hunting lionesses were still suspended in enchanted sleep.

“I am not quite powerful enough to erase their memories,” Ilere said, “Sandy, you will have to act as if you fought against me and won, freeing them from my spell. You must call a retreat.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Sandy said.

They took their positions. Ilere flopped down as if knocked over and Sandy hovered over her, unsheathing her claws and bearing her teeth. The lionesses slowly woke up.

“Retreat!” Sandy shouted. “Before she recovers!”

The lionesses in her alliance shot up as soon as they were able, hastening away from Ilere’s influence. Sandy roared in Ilere’s face as if giving her a warning and ran off after them.

Once they were gone, Sunrise hesitantly approached. “Ilere, why did you make everyone sleep? And why did you hit us as well?”

“I didn’t hit you,” Ilere said. “They have a mage, too. She attacked first. I retaliated. One of their lionesses was very resistant, though, and I had to hypnotize her. But even then, she broke free. Perhaps I need more practice.”

Sunrise seemed to accept that explanation. “Oh. Well, thank you for defending us, then.” She looked up at the sky, probably puzzled as to how much time had passed. “Let’s get back to hunting.”

---

Lightning hadn’t said anything to Sandy’s face, but it was clear she knew something was up. She kept giving her the strangest looks before looking away.

If she wasn’t going to bring it up, neither was Sandy. Sandy looked across the drylake, now empty due to it being dry season. If everyone came back together again, would they have to leave this place? It had been their home for generations.

The piebald cub ran gleefully along the sandy edge, playing chase with her brother.

“Are you still against rituals of every kind?”

Sandy jumped as Lightning spoke, standing a respectful distance behind her.

“Yes,” Sandy said. “We will not be using spells on our pridemates.”

“Even to dispel the evil magic used on you? The others seem to have recovered completely, but you still seem to be under some dark influence.”

Meercats. Lightning thought Ilere had done this to her, and that it could be reversed. It would be suspicious to refuse. What should she say? Should she let her try to dispel it? What if it worked? Would Sandy want it to work?

“Do you know what this spell does?” Lightning asked at Sandy’s lack of response. “Surely you can feel it. It’s pretty powerful.”

“Do you know what it does?” Sandy asked. “I don’t feel any different, actually.”

Lightning tilted her head. “It’s the same spell as was on one of the lionesses in Chill’s pride. Not the dark mage, but the one with long fangs. Perhaps it mutates your body.”

“Lana had the fangs her whole life,” Sandy said. “I don’t think that’s the result of a spell. I’d rather not be your experiment if you don’t know what you’re facing. Maybe it’s intended for you to try to cure, only for its latent effect to establish itself. It might be best to leave it alone unless it starts making me feel sick.”

“I would have thought you’d be more concerned,” Lightning said. “You may have a point, though. Trying to dispel dark magic is almost as dangerous as using it in the first place. I’ll just keep an eye on you and report if there’s any change. Will you do the same if you notice anything?”

Sandy nodded. “Of course.”

That went better than expected.

[undreaming-fanfiction]

A night to remember: The Magician and the Dancer

Fandom: Cats the musical Rating: T Pairing: multiple in future chapters, Tuggoffelees, Victoria/Plato, Demeter/Munkustrap etc. Category: magical circus AU, slow burn Chapter number: 3 Chapter summary: On the siblings mastering their gifts, their journey as performers and the seven kittens that Quaxo produced right out of a hat.

The previous chapter: The Gifts

The first weeks were spent practicing. Quaxo would test the limitations of his gift, swapping things in various locations and even managing to conjure up a thing or two, such as sparkles, glitter or tiny floating lights. Surprisingly, these were very easy for Quaxo to produce and even gave him a sense of calm. It seemed that those tiny alterations of reality he could do even included partial changes of how people perceived them; the shabby black suit he bought in a thrift store had looked anything but fitting for a magician, but Quaxo's decision that it should was apparently enough - the black was suddenly darker, the washed-out spots became glittery and flashy. And as for him...well, no one would come and watch a short fifteen year old scrawny boy perform magic. And once again, a minor alteration of reality was enough - Quaxo's unruly black hair and dark eyes, both of which often gave him a closed-off and aloof appearance, were now perceived as mysterious, intriguing. As he was getting more confident in his powers, he started to realize he wasn't keen on not using them, for whatever reason. If this was to be their only shot for a better life, he would go all out. He never offered to alter anything about Victoria though and she too never asked - to him, her dancing was perfection on its own and he would never want her to feel inadequate, that she is not enough.

Quaxo and Victoria learned very quickly that success had very little to do with actual superiority of skill. Luck, on the other hand, was what decided if they would eat the following evening or not. On those days when fortune decided to look in a different direction, Quaxo's gift would come in handy; a would-be coincidental turn of head to catch a glimpse of Quaxo's latest trick, a lucky stuble of a clumsy child who would become helplessly enchanted once Victoria helped him back on his feet, all those were only a matter of single thought for Quaxo. Slowly, they started rebuilding their lives. The goal was to get off the street and have a roof and a bed of their own, he decided.

The beginnings were difficult, but the siblings persisted. They would always find a spot during a busy time in the city, set the stage and begin their performance. They soon figured out that the best way to make people notice them was to focus on children - they were enthusiastic and ready to find a spark of magic in all mundane things. From there, it was easy to work their charm on the parents as well. When they gathered enough attention, Quaxo would clear his throat and greet the audience.

The boy honestly hated talking in front of people, even more so in a loud voice, but as there was no other option, he had to learn - learn how to capture the onlookers, how to sell his strange new power to them. Victoria kept commenting on his performance, make it more grand, more dramatic, more exciting!, and even though he felt like a fool at first, he had to admit that as time passed, he felt more and more at ease with his exaggerated gestures and magical exclamations. It was like acting out a beloved role, being someone he always felt he should become. After the greeting, he blew colourful sparks at the watching children, then made them disappear with a snap of his fingers. Then he made one of the parents take off his hat and produced a long, rainbow-coloured scarf from it, which he promptly handed over to Victoria for her dancing performance.

The children's eyes lit up as his sister gracefully moved with the music, and Quaxo felt something swelling in him, a strange sense of belonging. He added a trick here and there, changing the pattern of her dress, conjuring a shadow which was moving independently from her...small, but impressive things. Sometimes he didn't really plan them, they just happened on their own, leaving him as surprised as the onlooking children - he would lean against a wall and accidentally left a sparkly outline on it. When he sneezed, glitter would appear and cover the nearest member of the audience. He even created a local shower (a very local one. A man who catcalled Victoria during her performance found himself under a small cloud of rain which followed him wherever he went. Quaxo had no idea how to make it disappear and frankly, he didn't care to either). He wondered how many sides of his gift he had yet to discover.

---

Over several years, slowly but surely, their reputation grew. There was a small crowd waiting for them every day when they came to perform, some adults even approached the pair to request their presence at children's parties. Those were the moments Quaxo felt the happiest - sharing his unique power with others, their eyes full of wonder that mirrored his own, as he still could not believe that it was him doing these things, him putting smiles on their faces. Their quality of life was also improving, they finally managed to save enough money to rent a small apartment and the first night spent in a proper bed they could call their own sent Victoria shedding happy tears and even Quaxo, who often made playful jabs at her for being too emotional, found himself suppressing a sniffle.

After their performance became a regular and welcome occurrence on the street, something incredible happened. A man approached the pair when they were packing up their equipment and made them an offer - they could become performers at his club, giving them a steady income. Quaxo and Victoria did not think twice - how could they pass on an opportunity like that?

---

The club became their main source of income from then on, though they still performed on the street and at children's parties. The atmosphere there was usually nice and the owner didn't ask too many unnecessary questions, such as why Victoria would sometimes forget herself and "speak" without moving her lips. There were also some interesting regulars who would come and watch them perform; a number of parents with children that followed them from the street to support them, a couple of skeptics who wanted nothing more than to prove they knew how Quaxo's tricks worked (and obviously failed every time, which fortunately peersuaded them to visit again and again). There were also several love-struck young men who stared at Victoria as if she had been one of the seven wonders of the world. The most interesting ones were two men that never sat together, but always attended the same performance. One of them was in his late twenties or early thirties and, as Quaxo noted with amusement, looked like a rebel. He had a wild mane of light brown hair and always wore a leather jacket with a furry collar. He seemed laid-back and easily bored, but his eyes were sharp and never left the siblings. The other one was even stranger; he was very tall, thin and whenever their eyes met, Quaxo could never hold the gaze for long. It was intense, like staring at the sun. He too watched the performances with an unnerving focus.

Other than these strange audience members, the siblings were rather happy about their situation and their days fell into a pleasant routine. One day, they found a litter of kittens in the club's backyard, tiny and helpless creatures, apparently abandoned by their mother. They asked around, tried to get someone to adopt them, to no avail. Finally, Victoria refused to leave them in the cold and gathered them in her coat, taking them to the dressing room.

I want to help them, she gestured towards them, but...

"Yeah...but." Quaxo sighed heavily. They both knew that even though they made enough money to be comfortable, they could not afford to submit the kittens to their uncertain lifestyle. No one knew how long their employment would last. "I asked everyone. The boss is allergic. Everyone either can't have them in their flat because of landlord rules, can't afford to have one or doesn't have a permanent address."

Victoria tapped her fingers impatiently, then nudged Quaxo's arm. Maybe someone in the audience? Those people are usually well off, living in their own houses. We know some of them from the children's parties. If you're clever about it...

Her brother groaned and closed his eyes. "Clever about it? No pressure there, Victoria...the only fortunate thing is, I have two more hours to think it through."

She smiled and ruffled his hair. I know you won't let them down.

---

Despite his complaining and grumbling, Quaxo was clever. By six thirty, when their performance was about to begin, he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to achieve. Defining a goal was crucial, and once he set his mind on something, he was able to follow through. This evening, his goal was to get all seven kittens new owners and good homes. And to prove that Victoria was right in placing her trust in him, of course.

As always, there was a number of children in the audience. He chose a tiny girl in the first row who seemed lonely, standing apart from the group of chatting kids and shyly glancing in their direction. This one could work, he thought, now only to persuade the parents. He let the kittens rest in the dressing room he shared with Victoria, but not before bestowing some of his magic on them.

He bowed and waited for the noise to quiet down, noting with slight annoyance that the two strange men were present yet again. The rebellious-looking one seemed to be surrounded by people he was either graciously ignoring or, if they invaded his personal space, shooing away impatiently. The tall and thin one was alone in a corner, alone. "Ladies and gentlemen!" he began his speech, "thank you for joining us this lovely evening. Alas, I find myself needing your help tonight. As you know," he made his voice go quieter and leaned down towards the entranced children, "I use magic to entertain you. And magic, ladies and gentlemen, can be unpredictable! It can even be dangerous!" Waiting for the gasps of horror to quiet down, he continued. "But do not fear! You can help me to get my magic under control again! I can transfer the overflowing magic to you, saving us all from harm and perhaps even leaving something magical in your possession!"

"How can we help?!" called a young boy, hopping up and down to be noticed. "Let us help you, mister magician!" The other children joined in, drowning Quaxo's voice in their enthusiastic chattering.

The magician silenced them with a kind, but strict gesture. "I am glad you asked, young man! I will need an assistant, but not everyone will do, no. I need someone caring and responsible, someone who will accept any form the magic takes!" He scanned the audience, pretended to carefully judge each child before pointing to the shy girl. "You, young lady. Would you like to join me on stage?" When he saw her hesitation, he smiled at her and held out his hand. "There is nothing to be afraid of. My magic has never hurt anyone."

As soon as the girl was on stage, Quaxo quietly took a very deep breath. This was the decisive moment. "Now, young lady. Are your parents here with you?" When she nodded, he smiled at her. "Good. Because no matter what form my magic takes today, you can take it home with you. This is not the first time I have had to transfer its piece to someone else, you see. The last time, it took a shape of a cactus!" he lied through his teeth and waited for the children to stop giggling. "Before then, it was a swarm of butterflies. Once it was a parakeet! Magic is energy and therefore it can only manifest as a living creature or a plant, do you understand?"

The girl nodded and Quaxo felt a tinge of pride because her shy expression finally gave way to excitement. She seemed almost hopeful. "Yes, mister magician!"

"Splendid! Now, if by any chance your parents do not approve of you keeping a piece of my magic, that is absolutely fine. I will just have to hold on to it for a little longer, for the magical creature or plant needs to be safe and happy, otherwise it could have unwelcome consequences! But these pieces of magic make wonderful companions. For instance, the parakeet still lives with another young lady who helped me during a performance and it always makes her days brighter. Now, could I ask your parents for the permission to proceed?"

The little girl turned towards the audience and joined her hands in a pleading gesture. "Please, daddy? Can we?"

A man near the doorway chuckled, seeming a little nervous. "As long as it isn't an elephant or something like that." Not really the most enthusiastic answer, but Quaxo would take it.

The magician bowed and turned his attention back to the girl. "Thank you, kind sir. Now, young lady. Please stand on the opposite side of the stage. My dear sister," he gestured to Victoria who emerged from the backstage, "is carrying two top hats. I will keep one and you will hold the other one, yes?" He waited for her confirmation before he continued. "Hold it in both hands, like this. I will pour my magic into this hat now, slowly..." He held the in one hand, the other one moving over it and producing sparkling, colourful glitter that shined brightly in the stage lights. "Close your eyes, please. And when I say the magic word, reach into the hat to receive a piece of my magic. Ready?" The audience went completely quiet as Quaxo circled his hand in a magical gesture around the rim. "Presto!" he called out.

The young girl squeaked in surprise. "It's heavier!" Reaching into the hat, she gasped in surprise and (as Quaxo noted with a sigh of relief), open affection - in her arms, there was a tiny cat kitten with glitter sparks all over its fur. It was black all over except for its paws - those were white, almost as if it was wearing socks. Its round eyes were innocent and charming, irresistible for children and adults alike. She stared at the kitten in awe before nuzzling it with affection and jumping off the stage, running to her father. "Daddy! Daddy, look! Look at the magical kitten!" When the father caved in and allowed his daughter to keep the tiny creature, Quaxo knew he had just won.

From then on, things were easy. He only had to announce that he still had overflowing magic he needed to transfer and almost all children in the audience immediately started shouting over each other, wanting to be the one to get a magical companion. Quaxo always chose the more lonely or shier ones and repeated the process with them, making sure the parents were okay with their children participating and adopting a pet. The kittens didn't need much of his magic to be enchanting - they were tiny, cute and innocent, all that Quaxo had to do was calm them down and make sure their coat would be shiny and glittery when they were pulled out of the hat. Perhaps the magic would fade as they would grow older, but by then, the children will love them for who they are, not who they appear to be.

He had the children stand in different parts of the club, the ovations getting louder and louder as the distance increased. Once, the child even held the hat together with his father, but Quaxo wasn't worried - as long as he knew where to swap the kitten, he was confident (he had been swapping them with the glitter poured into the hat, he assumed Victoria's coat would be impossible to wash by now, the sparkles absolutely everywhere). Finally, he pulled out the seventh kitten and announced that his magic is all under control now, thanked everyone and proceeded to conclude the show with a few tricks, the audience's all-time favourites.

After the show ended, Quaxo made his way back to the dressing room and collapsed on the nearest chair. Victoria was right behind him, practically glowing. That was amazing, brother! I knew you could do it, you were spectacular! And all those kittens have homes now, did you see the way those children looked at them? They will definitely be loved. Then, noticing he was paler than usual, she frowned. Are you alright?

Quaxo was about to answer that yes, of course, but then he stopped himself. "I...feel a bit drained," he admitted. "I have never done so many swapping tricks in a row, not to mention with living things. But...I'm glad it worked out," he smiled at her and relaxed.

Me too, she beamed at him. Oh, by the way! I almost forgot. A man from the audience, you know, the tall and scary one? He gave me this. She handed him a handwritten note. It said:

Mr. Magician and Ms. Dancer,

I have thoroughly enjoyed your performance today. You may have noticed I have been observing your talents for a while. After today, I am absolutely convinced that your unique talents are exactly what I am looking for. I would very much like to meet you after your performance tomorrow, if you allow me to. I am certain you will find the offer I am about to make interesting and mutually beneficial.

With sincere regards,

Macavity

"Strange," commented Quaxo and re-read the note again and again, as if it would start making more sense. "What do you think he is offering?"

Victoria shrugged. Who knows? We'll see tomorrow!

---

In front of the club, the other visitor frowned. He saw Macavity hand the dancer a paper, which meant his time was running out. He had to act quickly. Turning his back on the club, he took long, fast strides towards the edge of the town. Munkustrap and Old Deutoronomy definitely had to be informed of the recent events.

The next chapter: One of us

[hyphypmic]

HypMic: Meme Lord S/O

Anon asked: It's my first time requesting (·ω·｀) I love ur blog btw 💖💕 May I request uhhhhHHHHhh.... hcs of the bois with a meme lord s/o? (·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)(·ω·｀) (·ω·｀)

Omg sure!

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Ichiro

He would probably know all the memes

Seriously, he would actually have the air horns in the house

He would also be game to recreate popular videos and memes with you and it would be so so so chaotic

And they would send each other memes and would try to outmeme each other

Jiro

No. Oh my god. They’re gonna be twins Jesus

Like every picture they will dab

And also they would shoot a lot

Seriously, the online challenges? Been there done that

They would also have the vine references in each conversation

69! You know what that means!!! It means I don’t have enough money for chicken nuggets

They would switch it up challenge everywhere

Saburo

He’ll be shy about it, but at the same time he would relate hard

Like he would try to brush it off, but his closeted meme Lord self demands it come out

So in a way, you bring him out of his shell and he progressively becomes more meme-y as you stick together

And in convos, it’s all popular references and memes and also pictures and all that

Samatoki

He would have no idea what to do

Will be confused 80% of the time, but then he would get it, like the references, though he wouldn’t know what to do

You tried to teach him how to shoot once and capturing it on video has been your legacy

He also gets your lingo and sometimes it makes its way to his everyday speech and Jyuto dies of laughter

Jyuto

He knows what’s up because he’s very educated in meme culture tbh

And like he makes subtle references and he dabs when he feels like it

He also would make jokes, but like not to your level because you’re the meme lord

And he would be into recreating pictures and posting them online

You know, for a good laugh and all that

Riou

He wouldn’t know anything

Though if you teach him, he will do his very best to copy you

But I really think he would dance with you, but he would stop when it becomes too meme-y

And he would smile at your references, but his brain won’t be able to understand all of them because he’s Riou that way

Though you do have videos of him blankly staring at you as you try to explain what exactly you were doing

Ramuda

Oh he would do it along with you, he would also be a meme king

Like he could quote vines and do dances at random because he just loves doing it

He would also take pictures of you and video recreations of memes

He would also make you do online challenges on the spot

The floor is lava is his favorite thing to do with you

And he would in general just have fun and like... I mean, memes

Gentaro

He wouldn’t get it as much as he would like to

But he does his research and finds whatever you’re doing hilarious

Though you have to explain some stuff for him and all that

And your lingo slips into his, and he surprises you when he remembers a reference or something, like even if it’s super obscure, he super surprises you when he remembers it because he has a good memory that way

He’s not willing to dance with you, but sending you outdated but funny memes is his game

Dice

Well versed in memes because he has nothing to do

Just as bad as Jiro and he would actually gamble something for air horns

Might slide in and dab because why not and like seriously, he gambles a lot so tons if vines and “more espresso less depresso” and the chicken nuggets vine works for him

Plus he would dance because he honestly has nothing better to do

Jakurai

He wouldn’t know much though if you teach him he’ll do his best

Though watching him dab is the best thing on this planet

He’d try to sound hip but it just fails because the timbre of his voice is way too fucking low

And when he does incorporate the memes into his speech, everyone is in shock but he also has the dad jokes about it like... the really misplaced memes thing

Doppo

He would also be pretty confused like no question about it

Though the more espresso less depresso is very very accurate for him

And he likes the vines you show him because they’re funny and they make his day

So whenever you quote a vine, he mutters the vibe under his breath because he’s still pretty shy about it because it’s for the youth and he’s not Youth

Hifumi

Meme lord number 3 out of everyone here

He would be into it and copy your dabs, your dances

He would also recreate the pictures and send you vines and memes

“Wig snatched”

and one time woke you up with the “I ain’t getting sleep ‘cause of ya’ll!” Complete with the pots and pans and the dress the gal was wearing

He’s also excitable so the meme lingo makes it way into his speech patterns perfectly

[ponyforyou]

But as cute as it is...I just hope Steven doesn’t feel justified in what he did. We talked about it on stream, but Steven has this complex of wanting and needing to help everyone despite not helping. He gets involved in things he’s not equipped for, and sometimes has this idea that he knows better than you and has to prove it. And I’m not necessarily upset with Steven for this - it’s a character flaw, and flaws are good for characters. I’m more upset at how it’s handled, and how everyone around reacts in the end. I don’t know, this episode is a bit of a mess and so is my brain right now.

That episode was really difficult. One of, if not the most, difficult episode in a long, long time. 

I’m uncomfortable with the premise from the beginning; the whole body swapping ordeal is done to death, for one. I also think the way it was handled was kind of poor. I don’t know, I can’t quite put my finger on what it is about the episode that makes me recoil - except for the penultimate scene, I know exactly what it is there that I hate. 

But focusing on the positives: Lars’s VA (Matthew Moy?) did a FANTASTIC job playing Steven playing Lars. He really sells it - his pitch is ever so slightly higher than normal and his speech pattern is spot on for Steven. Raven and Paul do a really great job capturing Steven’s mannerisms and behaviors and translating them to Lars, too. I think they’re always the perfect board team for anything calling for exaggeration. 

I also do really like getting more of a look into Lars’s life. I’m glad to finally see what his home life is like and to be able to cross that off as a potential candidate on the potential “why is Lars lame” list. It’s also great getting more insight into his relationship with Sadie; I won’t pass that up.

But at the end of the day, I just don’t really like this episode that much. I’m gonna give it like...a 4/10? Still not my least favorite episode, and it gets a few points for at least contributing to characterization, but far from my favorite. 

I’ll cleanse my palate with Beach City Drift tomorrow.

See ya then!~

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