#I still miss Obake

[victorluvsalice]

Hi all -- I'm on vacation this week, and I wanted to share with you some shots of my trip earlier today to Roger Williams Park Zoo to look at their "Dragons & Mythical Creatures" exhibit! This is a special exhibit running until August 11th where they've set up a bunch of simple animatronics of various mythical creatures from around the world around their Wetlands Trail path. The animatronics are a bit goofy, as you can probably see from the above pictures, but they were still fun to look at, and I had a good time going through and looking at them all with my folks. :) In order of their appearance in the photoset above, we have --

-->An alicorn (winged unicorn) right at the entrance

-->A siren by the lake -- they actually had three mermaids, but the other two were the traditional lovely ladies, so I decided to prioritize getting a picture of the one with the goofiest smile XD

-->Your traditional European dragon, who roared with glowing eyes

-->The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, depicted in feathered serpent form wrapped around a pyramid

-->The Ninki Nanka, a West African beast with the face of a horse, the neck of a giraffe, and the body of a crocodile, which lives in muddy mangroves and according to the Limba people in Sierra Leone, causes thunder and lightning -- as you can see, this one has a horn for extra value

-->An Egyptian Sphinx sporting the traditional Egyptian funerary mask for pharaohs -- honestly, between that technicolor mask and the way it was wiggling its head, it was one of the most off-putting exhibits there

-->A Japanese kappa, a mischievous creature that here appears as a turtle standing upright with a vicious-looking beak and a divot on the top of its head -- I believe that divot is supposed to hold water, and if you can trick them into bowing to you, the water will flow out and they'll lose a lot of their powers

-->A Japanese Kasa-obake, which is an old and neglected umbrella that has picked up a spirit and become a mischievous ghost with a long tongue and a single eye. ...I will admit, I immediately accused it of being a Pokemon. XD

-->A traditional griffin, with the white feathered head, wings, and talons of an eagle and the body of a lion -- I especially like this one because it includes feathered ears as well, something you don't see on a lot of griffins -- but that you do see on the GRYPHON in the original Alice books!

-->A yeti -- who you may recognize as Bumble from the Rankin-Bass stop motion Christmas films, because apparently the park couldn't resist

-->FUCKING CTHULHU. With his head out of proportion to the rest of his body. If you're wondering what the hell he's doing here, Roger Williams Park Zoo is in Providence, Rhode Island, which just so happens to be the birthplace of HP Lovecraft. I guess they felt they had to. XD

[barid-bel-medar]

Psst. Is the ask game still open? (Did I miss an announcement?)

If so, may I request five more Pound of Flesh headcanons?

If not, my apologies for adding to your inbox.

You did not miss a game, I'm honestly toying with some old stuff/feeling bad I keep not fulling asks I get during games since I've been having a lot of difficulty writing this year (hence my very limited output)

There is actually a lot more going on behind the scenes than Enji, Kaina, AFO, or Hawks realizes. Namely there are some less than human forces involved in the situation.

Toshinori did not assume even after being in Tartarus and Enji finding out what happened to Shouto that he'd join AFO. He *did* think he'd go villain however.

Shouto is not handling things well, especially since they're busy trying to 'deprogram' him from what the HPSC did. On top of that, he's now dealing with the family he feels 'abandoned' him since his grandparents didn't want to take him in/deal with such a young child, and feels like Fuyumi or Natsu should have looked in on him.

Dabi refused to join the LOV once he realized Enji was connected to AFO. Instead Dabi got recruited by a certain army...

Deals with devils and obake should always be made carefully.

[drkineildwicks]

October Snippets--10/3/2024

Yes I'm posting this on the fourth yesterday was busy.

Anywho, spent a good chunk of the seven pages yesterday working on Ghost's Reign, we're not in updating range yet but we are getting closer to finishing part 1, which is my goal for the year.

“I’m—I can’t even—I’m just so cross with you!” Felix managed finally—apparently this had been simmering for a while.  “I had to reset the days without incident board because of this!  We had finally gotten into the double-digits!” “Wait, we have one of those?” Dibs asked, baffled. “I told him making one was just tempting fate,” Ralph said. “I’m sorry—I just figured that with us not getting attacked by dragons it might be worth making!” Felix railed, waving his arms around.  “But nooo, you have to go and find a way to cause mayhem anyway!  Be honest, you were bored and just wanted to blow something up!” “You’re confusing me with Vinnie,” Momakase said. “You’re still partially to blame,” Helga shot at her.  “Felix, have you done a status report yet?” “No, and I don’t have to do boo—forgive my potty mouth,” he said, holding a hand up.  Considering he also had his eyes closed and his head turned away, he missed the two women raising their eyebrows at him. “So one of us is going to have to teach him about swear words,” Momakase told Helga. “Don’t you think you’ve done enough damage?” Helga asked her drily. “Hey I had help this time.” “At best this is like, half my fault,” Dibs said.

Obake's not allowed to leave them unattended anymore.

[tarisilmarwen]

Whumptober 2023 - "Secluded"

(WHUMPTOBER TIME AGAIN BITCHES. I dunno about any of you but my RL situation is sucking right now so I was only too happy to take it out on a few of my favorite characters.

First up, Hiro Hamada. Sorry kid.

This can be considered a Bad End AU of "Countdown to Catastrophe", basically exploring what if Globby wasn't able to free Hiro.

Prompt used:

No. 3 - "Like crying out in empty rooms, with no one there except the moon": Journal/Solitary Confinement/"Make it stop."

Warnings for depression and self-harm ideation.)

---

Day three. I think. There aren't exactly windows so it's a little hard to tell time, but the lights in here have been shut off twice.

Not like I could sleep any.

Found this notebook in the desk drawer. Dunno why I'm doing this. Maybe just in case... in case I die in here, so someone can find it and tell Aunt Cass and my friends and Professor Granville and everyone else that I'm sorry. If they're even...

Hiro stopped, his pencil scratching to a halt, his fingers and chest tight. The breath shuddered out of him, rattling all through his body.

He dropped the pencil and pushed back from the desk, out of his seat and pacing again as the familiar gut-churning panic and fear coiled in his stomach. His shoes tapped softly on the metal floor as he paced from end to end of the small room—the small cell, his brain unhelpfully reminded him—trying to work though the clenching tightness squeezing his diaphragm.

He couldn't think about that. Don't think about it, he told himself, scoldingly. Don't think about everyone and everything being gone, wiped out by the invention he helped make.

After a long four minutes his insides finally loosened. He stopped walking, pressing hands up against his face, dragging his fingers through his messy hair.

He returned to the desk and grabbed up the pencil, biting his lip to hold back the heat stinging his eyes.

I can't get out. I've tried. Bruised up my whole arm bashing against the door.

I don't know what happened. I think my friends managed to stop Obake's device. There was a loud rumble and I could hear a lot of shouting. Obake sounded pissed . I haven't seen him at all since he locked me in here.

He won't tell me what's going on.

That was the worst part, Hiro thought, feeling acutely again the cold shallow pool of dread that was now a permanent fixture in his stomach. The silence. The not knowing. Not even the echoes of Noodle Burger Boy's bright chipper voice gave any clue or hint as to what was happening outside his prison.

His left hand drifted up to gingerly touch his sore right shoulder, tender from his fight with the door.

He sighed and scratched out a final, miserable line.

I miss Baymax.

Getting up again he crossed over to the flat cot that served as the bed, both arms crossed now, fingers curling tight into the folds of his blue jacket. He sat and scooted back to the wall, knees up by his chest, angling his head to look towards the door and the single porthole that was his only view outside. He watched for a long hour for a flash of shadow, a flicker of movement, something, anything.

But there was nothing.

***

Day four. Obake must have a camera in here somewhere, watching me. Swear I only drifted off for ten minutes but when I woke up there was a food tray waiting for me on the desk. Don't understand why he waited 'til I was asleep; he couldn't stop talking my ear off before. I'd almost take that, right now. The quiet is killing me.

Hiro stared down trepidatiously at the plate of food sitting there on the metal surface of the desk.

He should eat. He should. Starving himself wasn't going to help.

But the spit tasted like ash in his mouth and his stomach rolled over, queasily.

Swallowing thickly, Hiro stepped back away from the desk, wandering to each of the far corners of the room in turn.

***

Day four still. It's late, I think, but the lights haven't been shut off yet. Finally ate a few things off the tray. I feel fine so I guess it's not poisoned or drugged.

Worked at the door again for a while, but the wheel doesn't budge, and I can't access the lock from this side.

Checked the bars on the air vent, no luck there either.

If he was just a little bit scrawnier he might've been able to slip through the narrow gaps between the bars, assuming he could pull himself up high enough. Hiro stared at the vent, wondering if the dresser would be tall enough to reach if he shoved it up against the wall underneath.

His ears pricked at the sound of footsteps in the hall and then he jolted as the metal bolt in the door scraped back.

Hiro whirled around, tingles of fear pricking around his head, buzzing his ears. He felt very cornered as he looked towards the opening door.

A long silhouette stood there. Obake stepped into the room and Hiro swallowed. This had been what he wanted—a break from the oppressive silence, a chance to confront Obake and demand to know what had become of San Fransokyo and his aunt and friends—but now that he had it... he wasn't sure he wanted it anymore. His heart raced with cloying fear and his throat was so tight he couldn't make himself speak. He trembled as he gaped at the villain, who looked back at him with impassive, eerie calm.

Hiro forced his voice past the claws tearing at his lungs. "What-" he attempted, words hitching in his throat. "What happened to the city? Are my friends—?"

"The city remains standing and your friends are making a nuisance of themselves," Obake interrupted, turning his gaze clinically towards the desk. He stepped into the room and placed something on it—the broken pieces of Hiro's energy amplifier. "For now," he said. He stepped back again, hands clasping behind him. "I need you to rebuild it," he ordered, a terse edge in his voice.

Hiro shuddered with a small sense of relief, then firmed his eyes and glared as he crossed his arms.

"There is... no way I'm doing that," he emphasized.

Obake's mouth twitched, the hints of a creepy smile playing at his lips. "We'll see," he said simply. "I'd like to point out, I can make your stay here very unpleasant if I have to, Hiro, though I'd much prefer not to. Do try to be cooperative," he said, patronizingly, putting a hand on the door's edge as he stepped back across the threshold.

Belatedly, Hiro lunged for the door, tramping across the room only for it to slam in his face, the lock clicking back solidly into place. His fists thumped against the solid metal block, his heart sinking, the weight of his guilt and despair dragging down his head.

Hiro inhaled shakily as he looked at the floor, then pushed up from the door.

He pointedly ignored the broken parts on the desk as he went back to the cot, curling up on its meager cushion.

***

Day five. The lights weren't turned off last night. Obake waited until I was right about to fall asleep and then he pumped a FREAKING ALARM into my room. It's been going off for hours now.

Hiro groaned miserably, clenching hands over his ears as the shrill screech of the alarm echoed in his tiny cell. His eyes blinked blearily. Every limb was tired. But the sterile white light and the blaring ring wouldn't just let him close his eyes and drift away.

He blinked back tears. The lack of sleep was getting to him. Clenching his hands tighter around his ears he grit his teeth and tried to endure.

How early was it now? 1AM? 3? He couldn't tell; the alarm had been going for an eternity it felt like, and he didn't exactly have a watch.

Feeling a scream building up in his chest, Hiro stood from the chair, journal entry forgotten, trying to block out as much of the horrible sound as he could with his hands.

The alarm continued, unceasing. Uncaring.

"Stop it..." he muttered. Louder, he cried, "Stop it!" He stumbled back, thighs hitting the cot. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" he begged.

The alarm didn't stop, but a squeal of feedback sounded in hidden speakers before Obake's voice piped in.

"You know what I want, dear boy," the villain said pleasantly, disturbingly cheerful.

Hiro clenched his teeth, glaring at the pieces of the energy amplifier on his desk. Defiantly, he took his hands off his ears, grabbed one of the pieces and hurled it into the closest wall, bouncing it off the side and shattering flakes off.

"Suit yourself," the voice in the speakers said, and the alarms seemed to grow even louder, pounding inside his head with painful pressure.

Hiro's face screwed. His eyes squeezed tight, mouth firming until he couldn't feel it.

He sank to the floor and scooted up under the cot, trying to escape the awful noise.

***

Day five six?

I caved. He threatened Aunt Cass. I'm sorry, Tadashi, I can't... I can't lose anyone else.

Hiro blinked hard, willing away the threatening blur tearing at his eyes. His hands shook on the grip of the screwdriver as he tried very hard to twist back in a bolt.

He hadn't been given many tools. Obake had apologized for what was on hand, promising to give him whatever he needed, sounding uncharacteristically concerned.

Hiro couldn't think about that. He couldn't think about anything.

He focused on the ringing still reverberating through his ears and the meticulous motions of his hands as he tried to piece back together the broken parts of the amplifier, the pinch and click of metal the only sounds in the now-silent room.

***

Day ????

Amplifier's almost fixed. I don't remember when Obake was in last, but he sounded pleased with my progress.

Ears finally stopped ringing.

This is all my fault. I'm sorry, Tadashi, I'm so, SO—

Trembling fingers dropped the pencil, and Hiro covered his face, sobbing through his hands harshly.

***

The journal lay open and unupdated on the desk, next to the nearly-repaired amplifier. Hiro stared morosely at it from the cot across the room, ear pressed to the pillow, too depressed to move.

Maybe if he sat here long enough, Obake would just get fed up and kill him.

Emotion welling up his throat, he turned and pressed his face against the thin pillow, holding back the tears that wanted to steal from him.

He hated being here. Hated this cell. Hated himself.

His clothes were starting to stink. He wanted to hurt himself, force Obake to let Baymax in to see him.

He couldn't bear to lift a finger. He just sat there.

Unmoving. Unblinking.

In the utter silence.

***

There was a noise at the door.

Hiro lifted his head groggily, confused, pulling out of some fitful sleep. There seemed to be voices, frantic and worried, out in the hallway.

Blue light stabbed suddenly through the door and Hiro yanked upright, sleep falling rapidly off him. His heart lodged straight in his throat, windpipe threatening to crush itself from the strain in his neck as he stared in guarded, fearful hope at the plasma laser blade slicing through the metal.

Great pieces and chunks of the door fell away, and Hiro flung himself up, stumbling on shaky feet until he hit Wasabi's chest and flung arms around his middle, openly sobbing into his friend's stomach.

Wasabi was frozen for a moment, plasma blades held up awkwardly as he glanced towards the others, all wide-eyed with worry and pinched with concern.

He dispelled the blades, dropping arms around the quivering, shaking shoulders of the fourteen-year-old and squeezing tight, ignoring his own quibbles about open PDA and how rank and disheveled Hiro was.

"Hey, it's okay," he reassured the boy, hugging harder. "We've got you."

The others crowded in, arms joining the embrace and holding the youngest member of their team with fervent emotion.

"We've got you," came the whispered repetition, echoing around the group.

Hiro just cried in relief.

---

*whispers* I'm sorry.

[echoes-of-kemet]

This is probably random but can u tell us more abt Medjed

Not to worry; random questions are some of my favorites! For the sake of not missing something- and because I like having an excuse for longer replies- I'll answer in two parts; the real world, historic information on Medjed, and their incarnation in EoK.

As far as egyptologic knowledge goes, not much is understood about Medjed. We're not entirely sure what specific purpose or role they were meant to play, their connection to the greater pantheon, even definitively whether they were male or female, both or neither. All that is documented is their appearance and mention in the Book of the Dead and the Greenfield Papyrus (specifically appearing visually on sheets 12 and 76.) In Spell 17, they're described as such; "I know the name of that Smiter [Medjed translates to "the smiter"] among them, who belongs to the House of Osiris, who shoots with his eye, yet is unseen." Researchers have been able to discern that Medjed plays some role in the dead's journey through the Duat, but the specifics remain obscured and yet to be recovered. (I'm stubborn and refuse to say "discovered" with ancient cultures.)

In significantly more recent times- specifically 2012- Medjed was among those figures featured in an exhibit at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo. The deity's appearance, curiously reminiscent of the cliche Halloween sheet ghost as well as the character Obake no Q-Taro, captivated many that attended the exhibit, and by 2013 Medjed was enjoying a second life as a meme. They've been the subject of plenty fan art, appearing in videogames and manga/anime, and the mysteries surrounding them have been given "answers" of sorts in the way internet memes gradually develop their own lore regardless of source material (if any.)

(As a side note, I'm not 100% confident in this, but the way I've taken to pronouncing their name is like "medge-ed." The d and j noises are separate but still in the same syllable.)

For Echoes of Kemet, I've embraced much of the pop culture evolution of Medjed as there's so little on them to employ in my characterization.

Similar to the enigmatic Kherty, they're an example of the Duat's apparent mysterious quality of producing new entities and warping preexisting ones. Which of these Medjed is an instance of is unclear- whether they're a demon, Netjer, or something else- but they've made clear their willing allegiance with those in the Hall of Two Truths (despite being mute save for the odd noise.) They seem to be particularly fond of King Osiris and Prince Anubis, often competing with Ammit for their attentions- though they're also capable of getting along with the Devourer, sometimes sharing a feast of hearts with her.

Another role they've accepted is a watchman of sorts; possessing the ability to travel through walls and shadows- suggesting they may have some relation to the Khaibit (shadow) portion of the soul- they suddenly appear in front of anyone or thing not expressly invited or permitted entrance to Osiris' kingdom. They've gradually learned to adopt a different policy after a few unfortunate smitings, but they used to be inclined to incinerate trespassers with their other ability to shoot streams of fire from their eyes.

Many of the gods besides Anubis and Osiris- including Heqet, Wepwawet, Thoth, even the mighty Shezmu- find Medjed offputting. Many will vehemently deny being afraid of or creeped out by the deity, but they certainly possess a disquieting aura (despite their small stature and simple appearance) few are immune to.

[liza-lilly]

Bobby: I just realized that although I still know and acknowledge I'm an obake fictive, I also realize how weird it is almost?

Like I admire my old self so much that I forget that that's who I used to be.

And while I know I'm a fictive.. I think a part of me is also forgetting I'm a fictive. I still forget I'm not that tall anymore, I still forget the shape of the body's face is far different and I sure as hell still get the dysphoria.. but I've come so far from who I was that.. idk who I am anymore sometimes.

Looking in a mirror is trippy as hell.

Actually taking the time to realize things aren't as small as they seemed when I was taller is disorientating.

I know who I am, who I feel like physically. I just know who people also don't see me as anymore and how I am not physically who I was.

Sometimes I worry people think I'm fraudulent. Especially since I can't remember my old science things. Or I talk about a non canon past.

Sometimes I wonder if.. if anyone notices. Notices that it's actually me and cares.

Somehow the lack of acknowledgement has made me almost forget who I am. The fact that people don't actually fear me anymore. I mean-

I want to be acknowledged as legitimate. How I feel. And I want to have friends, but at the same time I miss when people simply just feared me. Where I had control. Where I had everything.

Thinking back on it and how much I've changed is almost heartbreaking. But nice oddly enough at the same time.

[nightwatch-ithaqua]

oh, our discord is raihansofficialboywife if thats .. reassuring (?) for you. .. dont say anything about the username, i know its silly but its personal for us so just dont question it lmao . again i dont really have any interest in moving this over there but im.. sure youre well aware of that by now hm?

we have the inner voice thing, kind of. im not really sure if thats actually even what it really is, but we can talk to each other without saying anything outloud, headspace or otherwise. ("i think thats just telepathy" - luca .. true, but still lol..) admittedly sometimes i miss my old bodies, but i think the one i have now is pretty nice. i dont really have a solid form, i kind of change tiny things about my appearance constantly even when i dont mean to, but mostly i latch onto whatever im presenting as at the moment with my own things added, some of them are surprisingly consistent between forms, like my fucked up eye whcih is why i have the x as that eye in the little emoticon thingies (x_o <- those) .. i like having my own little typing related things that are specific to me because theyre tied to my personal appearance in headspace, its a nice special comfort. andrew does it too, he puts little bunny ears on the sides of all his kaomojis.

i could talk a lot about my headspace appearance, because i personally find it very interesting .. but i also am very much a narcissist (npd holder, along with.. just being incredibly self absorbed and otherwise narcissistic by definition even outside of the pd, hahah) so i personally find every little tidbit about myself to be utterly fascinating.

man thats fuckin awful, im sorry that shit happened to yall. like.. i cannot express enough how genuinely insane that is..? and excuse my language in referring to it.. just. lord. it still disturbs me to this day how malicious people can be for no real reason greater than for the sake of it. how i wish it was just humans but i suppose every being is unfortunately prone to that ill natured behaviour ..

thats a really crazy coincidence in all honesty лол. i forgot how exactly i started using it for myself, i think it started as an aesthetic thing to go along with an old layout of a blog i dont use anymore, and then i started using it as signoffs in asks and just.. got attached, and started using it for myself in general. we even use it for ourselves as a collective now, its been in our discord status and bio for like.. a month or two i think? maybe three. were really bad with time perception so i couldnt give a very good estimation if i tried.

🪷

No no it's okay, we don't need your discord but I am thankful you were at least open. While we are on discord far more frequently we should be talking where you're comfortable. Where both of us are comfortable.

And yes, I believe telepathy is very common in the headspace so I'm not too surprised it's not just us. It's funny too, because while we don't have a fucked up eye, we often feel like we do. It's so strange and I think almost like phantom feeling, like having a phantom limb except it's more of a phantom scar we can't explain. Of course we're not going to be dumb like those "trans-abled" people and fuck up our eye just because we think it would feel right, that's just stupid. (it's our left eye)

And yeah we know what you mean, having little things helps a lot. We have a hood with ears on it but it's got paws attached too. The ears are fixed upright but it's a black hood. Still, we love it and we're glad we have it.

We love our self absorbed alters /hj

No okay for some odd reason our brain tends to latch onto alters that tend to have more self-absorbed personalities. Does this go for all of our alters? of course not. But Edgar Valden, Bob Aken (Obake), Me and the multiple doubles we have of each. But then we also have our Andrew and Aesop doubles and they aren't self absorbed so much as they just prefer their space. It's so strange how our system works. Systems are fascinating tbh.

And yeah, it was just beyond fucked up. It was ridiculous and even when we tried to move someplace else they followed us over. It's just.. such drama. The idv fandom is really fucked up in general. Already a few servers we've come forward on have either been hostile towards us or have actually infantalized me. And I mean waving images of baby keys in my face level and "feeding me meat and rice."

Frankly our status will not hold that emoji forever. We actually.. have no clue why it's even still there lmao. We just put it there one day and never changed it. Time perception is hard fr.

[theendos]

Why are all of my fanfic characters a doctor’s worst nightmare

(Warning: There are so many characters that my fingers are blistering writing about them all):

Chainsaw Man:

Zen: Ovaries, spleen, appendix, gallbladder, 1 lung, 1 kidney and 3 ribs all missing from her body. Has a devil contract where the devil is basically a tapeworm.

Miwa: Leg below the knee missing, refuses to wear a normal prosthetic and instead only wears a running blade.

My Hero Academia:

Kosa: Autistic, dissociative identity disorder (I did my research on both), you can see his molars because of his lack of cheek skin (not genetic, that was a fun one to search), gay for the same man his whole life but still has a biological daughter (not m-preg that’s kinda weird).

Fukawa: Unspecified mood regulatory disorder (the doctors know there’s something going on up there, they just don’t know what it specifically is), falls in love at the snap of a finger.

Jin: Has been bitten by snakes so many times that he’s immune to most simple venoms, would give up his hospital bed at the sight of a sick woman.

Goh: Disguises as a woman most of the time - surprisingly convincing -, cataracts, reflexes of a higher power.

Hoshi: Can become allergic to any plant if she grows it with her quirk too often, allergic to peanuts anyway.

Izumi: Gambling addiction - quirk is literally a blood roulette -, drinks her own blood, DNA changes so often it’s nearly impossible to trace her (result of her quirk).

Rei: Raging alcoholic, has so many children he can’t count on one hand - hasn’t met most of them either.

Ino: Is one of the most normal people in a family of heroes and villains.

Mei: Has stretch marks from when she was 2 - result of quirk -, elastic skin - hard to cut, also result of quirk-.

Enki: Has a fire quirk but external sources can set him on fire, SWEATS MAGNESIUM.

Yayoi: Could learn 10 years of training in two minutes - quirk -, doesn’t realise how dangerous things can be.

Fuji: Is the most normal.

Jomei: Produces glue from glands on her body, wears the most unsupportive shoes ever conceived (they’re just the walls of the shoes, there’s no sole).

Kogen: Psychopath, can dislocate his joints at will and keeps total control over them.

And that’s just ONE FAMILY!

Future students:

Obake: So many artificial quirks you could probably supply the whole quirkless population with them, literally immortal, can be shut down by a specific hue of green.

Takara: Stuck in a basement for six years - only ate on wednesdays and sundays - underweight, vitamin D deficiency.

Aruhi: Could carbonate somebody else’s blood.

(Would write them all but I don’t have that level of patience)

Demon Slayer:

Kanpekizu / Mara: “Dead”, would refuse medical treatment if it affected her beauty.

Irinoto: Feeble/sickly, such versatile vocal chords she can imitate most sounds she hears to pin point accuracy, marechi blood.

Mikata: Raised by demons for the first 8 years of her life, is a demon slayer despite being 9 years old, ginger.

Atazuko: Can barely tell the difference between life and dream - uses dream breathing -, can imitate sounds he hears, ginger.

[ssachiko707]

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀she smelled sasayuri ‘ s. 

fragile, unremembered flowers⸺left as grave offerings by the myth-tormented people of her hometown. the sort of people that believed smelling one out of season meant you’d been chosen by the “ hannya. 般若 “ a flesh-driven cacodemon: rotten with the envelop of envie and narcissis singed delirium. a product of lust and greed ‘ s unforgiven coitus; an abomination scorned by kamisama and the nauseated angels just behind him, irrevocably, …irreversibly mad with sadness. the set, which only a moment ago smelled distantly of lunch’s catering, had been hijacked by the overwhelming parfume of blooming sasayuri ‘ s.

aoko gawked, in awe, in adoration, as the atmosphere around her transmogrified; where models once existed, they did no longer. in their place stood crooked, malformed corpses with an amalgam of disparate bits and pieces eaten from within. some, straight through, like a plum someone had taken a bite out of and decided they no longer wanted. ripe with open, bleeding wounds that she could see. hear. touch—喘ぐ oh, how she wanted to touch, fingertips to gash, gingerly, and watch them, watching her; their misery, their desperation, their carnal repressions and shadow and secrets still stuck on subdued tongues, leaning out of themselves like an untucked shirt, peering at her. 

it was only then that her anxieties quelled themselves. that people became people and not the poorly designed machines this world—this industry—made of them. it was so dull to her: the ego that guarded something raw and destructive: subjecting themselves to a limbo that could only go one way⸺to destroy itself completely. ‘ what lead me to this place? ‘ she asks herself ( sure that it had to be more than her weak desire to model ) the humanity of the set serving as a mundane symphony, ‘ something i can’t find. ‘ something hidden. something only for her. something wanting—no, needing to be found. 

day after day, she patiently allowed her face to be painted into someone unlike herself. she contorted. posed. watched. reeled with boredom. learned. participated in idle—sometimes meaningless, sometimes not—prattle about who was fucking who, their dreams and quite often, them remarking in one way or another that aoko seemed to be quite demure. 

“ shy, are you? you remind me of a little mouse, ku-ro-sa-wa. “ said one of the models. 

she understood the insult and digested it well; in this world of name-brand and notoriety, one had to earn the right to have your surname remembered, lest your only other option be to become a flower that never bloomed.

@yaoogui

him. it was him. the obake playing in human skin⸺unearthly gaze skulking to and within, colliding against a seemingly nescient aoko. she felt him without seeing him; phantom imprints leaving invasive, palpable indentations the places his eyes traveled and in some they did not. 

downcast was her gaze, only becoming animate to feign a smile at a joke she’d missed: to answer a question, avoid a question. wistful and kittenish, like a feline with an affinity for twining around your ankles lovingly and then, at once, disappearing. 

it was loud: the ice in their cups, the melding of chitchatter and ear-piercing, obnoxious chortle to jokes that weren’t funny. aoko has sensitive ears and is trying to avoid sen’s gaze; she doesn’t like to be perceived and his eyes feel like they’re searching. she decides to play neko to nezumi with him⸺a game that could be a gift but came at a price. finally, this close, their eyes meet: one of them, a lamb, the other, a knife. 

he’s… easy to get lost in. his eyes, very dark, are hypnotic and unwavering, drawing her in like swan maiden to cliff: should you stare too long, you risk walking clean past it, leaving behind, of course, an ethereal—smiling—corpse. she’d found it, him. inside of her, somewhere deep and nagging, was this deep, pounding ache, with a message that seemed delivered by some supernatural force from above… or below;

that what she’d been seeking had been looking for her, too. 

‘ i want to be alone with you. ‘ did her eyes convey this wish? aoko waits a little while before standing, uttering an inaudible pardon before setting off to wedge herself in a hiding place, to be sought. found. by him. maybe, if she was wrong, he wouldn’t come. but the familiar shutter of a camera catches her in her private desolation, back turned to him, immortalizing their first moment together.

“ couldn’t help myself, “ he says. aoko finds that amusing, waiting until he’s done speaking to fully turn towards him and finds that unnerving, haunting gaze. she can’t ruin this moment with noise. she mustn’t. an even longer silence finds them but aoko thinks words aren’t needed. there she stands, wordless and doesn’t utter a single thing until finally, a simple, “ why? “ she doesn’t smile. “ if i am, will you follow me again? “ 

their first memory smells like cigarette smoke and someone else’s cologne; it reeks through the walls, clinging to her like a needy spirit. “ can you hear it? “ there was no particular noise, nothing abstract to pick out amongst the humdrum of the izakaya. she closes her eyes as though to focus, to pinpoint it. “ stand here, “ she steps back and motions towards the spot she’d just moved from like it'll help him hone in on whatever it is. there was nothing to find, nothing to hear. the noise she spoke of came purely from inside of her.

“ how silly, “ she suddenly remarks, mostly to herself, “ probably not. “

"Nothing. Aoko is an ordinary girl, the kind of haunting, beautiful ordinary that you just can't leave alone. like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from paradise." Oh how much he has despised these words. Or perhaps, he despised them, hated them even more coming from the mouth of a man who knew nothing about beauty, a pretender, a thief who only does what he does to satisfy his ego : Goto Shoji. The words of the retired photogtapher, they echo in Sen's mind, like a pendulum banging against the back and the front of his skull as his eyes linger on her, from the distance. It has been five days now, that the shoot have started on this floor of the building : a casual, mundane, almost boring one : twelve models hired for a compaign of low exposure and a decent paycheck. Sen wasn't on the project no, he is assigned to a different one on the floor above. But he saw her in the morning, her long floating in her back, disappearing at the corner of a corridor. He followed her, tracked her to found his steps leading him every single day to here, on this set. There were a billion of souls in the room : make up artists, artistic directors, stylists, assistants, interns. He simply was hidding in the crowd, obsessed the idea of finally witnessing the object of his obsessions before his eyes : she is real. Their eyes meet sometimes, as he cannot take them off her. A shame it is he thinks, watching the other models occupying a space that should only be hers. Hers, and hers only. This ridiculous shoot is below her beauty. The first time he landed his eyes on Serizawa Aoko happened online, months ago, through a scandal of the leaked pictures, intimate ones that traveled the entire web and the tabloids. Serizawa was described as a nobody to everyone's eyes, all their attention was on Goto Shoji, the infamous, the grand, the master. Sen spent hours, days, fascinated with her image, dissecting Goto's work, its flaws, its weaknesses. In all pictures taken of her, there was the Goto's annoying signature, His pretencious technique, his obnoxious style, his disgusting print - objectively speaking, the pictures were good but Sen hated them all. If only it could have been him behind the lens, close to her, close to her skin, Sen would have unravelled, peeled her core for it to govern every single frame of her, for his presence to be fully forgotten through hers, for it to be an ode to Her. It lived in his head, for her to become her muse, for him to dive into her as deep as possible, to show her like no other did before, to make of her the face everyone would recognize in the streets. A fantasy.

       for @ssachiko707

Mishima. What's up ? Done with your day already? Would question one of his colleagues. "Yeah. So I got free time. I just come to watch. Spend time. How's the shoot going?" Comments Sen. A lie obviously, standing next to the other man, behind the scenes, their eyes on the models from the distance.

He finally hears her voice. By the last day of the shoot, a get together is organized at the izakaya at the other side of the street, here in Shibuya. A private room with paper walls in a complex, everyone sitting down around a gigantic wood table while he, is sitting accross from her. They are all introducting themselves, even though he knew already. It is interesting that night, to watch the other models completely fade into oblivion to his eyes as he is finding it hard not to just stare at her. Sen would have never come in the first place, he is not truly social, not one who would want to waste his time with a bunch of animals. The alcohol, the laughters, the jokes change the atmosphere then, into these blurry lines of seductive models and the all mighty coked up photographers. Of arms around their shoulders, hands down thighs under the table, and games and games of power plays. For models, it is the perfect time to catch the eye of the most influantial ones and make sure they remember their names, meanwhile for the photographers well, a pretty and drunk model in their bed sounds perfect to end the week. She stands up at some point, Aoko, and disappears for a bit. To the bathroom perhaps, to catch some air, for a smoke, to leave? He has no idea what crosses her mind, if she is having fun or not. He believes the Aoko he built in his imagination is better than them, better than all of them, that they are unworthy of her presence. It only takes five minutes before he stands up, too, leaving the room, aimelessly wandering through the narrow corridors. It is a maze in here, he turns right and left and left, and right, dogding whoever stands on his path. Is she she is gone already, what if it was the last time he would ever see her? He fears. And there she is, meters away, her back turned on him. He stops. Perhaps the light intoxication makes him feel like it is an hallucination, an angel visiting him down this disgusting earth. He seizes his camera, the one he always has hanging by his shoulder, catching this frame of her. Her long black hair cascading down her fragile back, her thin figure caught in between these walls. The sound of the picture being taken could only catch her attention. A silence follows. A silcence that seems to last an eternity.

"I couldn't help myself."

Are the words he replies to his action, his camera lowered now, his eyes still on her. "I see canvases. Sometimes. Pieces of art before my eyes and I get greedy, I must capture them before they're gone."

He means Her.

His voice is steady, deep, slow.

"Are you leaving?"

[castametric]

haven’t seen the new baymax show yet but I promise that when I do I Promise if there’s a mention of other robots. or Brain Surgery. or any mention of past bh6 villains. or even the Color Purple if I’m being honest. I will Riot and Not Shut Up about it Ever I stg those of you who have been here since the early days know what I was like when they killed my Random Favorite Guy and at this point I will take Anything as a sign that he’s still alive and coming back someday

[betasuppe]

Sorry, but now that there's multiple selfies of the villain gang, I had to post these all together!

& now, I don't know about you, but I feel I have no choice BUT to draw some more & add to this ahaha xD

IT'S JUST TOO FANTASTIC NOT TO!!!!!

[arctimon]

Big Hero 6, Volume 1 Review - Something Old Or Something New?

(Before we get started, I would just like to note that, as always, this is my personal opinion.  I am allowed to have one, just as you and everyone else are allowed to have one.)

I was very excited, as well as a lot of people, when Yen Press announced that there would be a new Big Hero 6 graphic novel coming this year.  The artist was brand new (Hong Guyn An), but it would be based off of the series and not the movie, and as the series finale was a bit...lackluster, it would satiate our needs until Baymax! comes out in 2022.

And I did end up getting the novel a week early.

And while the novel itself is a fun read on its own, I feel like fans of the show are going to find themselves a little disappointed.

(Spoilers for the novel are below.)

Of course, this is where I would normally put spoilers for something that’s brand new.

But, as other people have mentioned on here...it’s not new.

And that is perhaps what annoys me the most.  All of the descriptions and blurbs made me personally believe that we would be getting a brand new story.  Again, the press release description: The gang is back in an all-new adventure! Join Hiro, Baymax, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred as they fight to protect the streets of San Fransokyo. Based off of the animated Disney feature film, the comic will tie in with the animated TV show.

“All-new adventure”.  “Tie in with the animated TV show”.

It’s not either of those.  It is the animated TV show.

So let’s explain a little bit.  Volume 1 has three chapters in it, based off of three of the episodes in the first season: “Issue 188″, “Failure Mode”, and “Baymax Returns: Part 1″.  The chapters are in that order, which is also confusing because you don’t read the book like a regular manga from right to left.  Even if it was like that, the order still wouldn’t make any sense.  And if you haven’t watched the show, you’re going to see Globby in the middle of the book with no introduction and be instantly confused.

Which leads to my second point.

I previously linked a review for the novel, which now doesn’t read like someone expanding on details on anything new, but now reads like someone who...well...

...Volume one features a good dose of humor, a reliance on old characters that fans of any of previous iterations will know and love (as well as introductions of what I assume are comic-only characters, including a new young genius that’s quite a fun addition), and a mixture of episodic and arc-style stories, sometimes both within the same chapter...

It reads like someone who clearly hasn’t seen the show.

Because if you have seen the show, you would full well know who Karmi is.

None of this is the fault of the artist, though.  The art is actually really good, and captures the anime/manga style for everyone beautifully.  Sometimes it can be a little much (like the fights with High Voltage and Globby can be overwhelming for the page), but those instances are few and far between.

As for the plot?  Well, like I said, you’re not missing a lot.  It’s pretty much the plots of those episodes.  If you watched said episodes (and I think a lot of people who would be getting this graphic novel already have), a good 90-95% of the lines, places, and situations are a copy-paste from the show.

There are a few differences (Hiro and Karmi have some cute additional lines in their interactions in “Issue 188″, as well as Hiro starting at the cafe and then going to meet Granville at school as opposed to just being in his lab before meeting Karmi for the first time), as well as some shoutouts to other Disney titles (crowd members from Wreck-It Ralph and Emperor’s New Groove), but I don’t think you’re going to miss much.  “Failure Mode” suffers the most from this, IMO.

And I think that’s what frustrates me the most as a member of the fandom.

Perhaps it was a bit self-inflicted, but I truly believed that we were getting something new, not just a retelling of the series.  Yes, it’s better than nothing (and as mentioned, we’re all starving for new content), and I don’t want to be an “old man on the porch” complaining, but I am disappointed that we aren’t getting that brand new adventure that I was led to believe.

Now, having said that, depending on the amount volumes we’re getting, we could end up having something new when everything is said and done.  But who knows when that will be?

We know that we’re getting a Vol. 2, but there’s been no release date announced.  It could be months before it comes out.  And how many do they plan on making?  And do they plan on doing all the episodes, or just certain ones?  If they want to keep going the Obake and Karmi route, “Fan Friction” and “Big Problem” would probably be their best bet.

Long story short, at the end of the day, this is a young kids/adolescents book, and I am neither of those.  It’s a beautifully drawn book that is very faithful to the series, but almost to a fault.  If you’re looking for something brand new, this may not be the thing that you’re looking for. (Big Hero 6: The Series Vol. 1 is available in bookstores and digital outlets now.)

[drkineildwicks]

BH6 Snippets--2/20/2024

More work on the sequel to (Not So) Hated by Life Itself, we're past 200 pages and starting to knuckle down into finishing episodes.

“Oh wow,” Wasabi said, stopping dead. Why he felt that way was because the base was finally finished. “Isn’t it great!?” Fred asked, bouncing up and down next to them.  “Roddy finished it this morning—” “Coding was the last thing we needed—your keys, your passwords, my card, don’t lose any of them,” Roddy said, handing them out.  “Also you three,” he said, indicating the Hamada brothers.  “When you graduate let me know, I got contracting work for you.” “We will definitely let you know,” Tadashi said, giving him a thumbs up. “So now it’s grand tour time!” Fred exclaimed.  “Who’s ready to check everything out?  We got a hangar for any vehicles we might get, our costume holders for fancy storage and ease of access, the ball pit—” “I can’t believe we got a ball pit,” Wasabi said. “Ya-huh.  Also a chem lab, an indoor track, training rooms, one of which the bros did up all fancy so we can have like, virtual battles…am I missing anything?” “Computer lab,” Roddy said. “Also,” Tadashi said, tapping on the wall in the conference room—a black line formed on the wall before two eyes blinked open, in imitation of Baymax’s eyes.  “We have our own personal AI assistant—meet Basemax.” “We’re not calling it Basemax,” Obake groused. “Also Roddy it’s still in the planning stages but I’ll let you know when we got a Buildmax for you to test.” “Tadashi.”

Tadashi is sticking with the naming theme because he knows it bugs Obake, ngl

[elfy-sketches]

I wanted to start off with like, a fully colored reference of Obake and the various stages of his prosthetic/robotic hand, but that's taking longer than I thought so have some doodles first instead!

So this is my redeemed Obake AU that I've been playing around with in my head. I'm still barely halfway through season 2 (I haven't seen the mid-season finale yet), but that hasn't stopped me from imagining what he'd be up to and how he could get involved and stuff.

He has a lot of scars from the lair collapse, as well as a missing hand. His hair started growing out while he was recovering in the hospital, and his red streak has began to fade, because I headcanon the streak is actually white, from his first accident, and he dyed it red while he was a villain because he thought it'd look cool/fit his aesthetic.

The hug from Globby is mostly just because I wanted to draw Obake getting a hug (he needs so many hugs, you guys), and it's from Globby because he's the first person Obake goes to once he's out of the hospital. The thought process is that because Globby knows what it's like to be a villain and then wanting to change/"become a good buy", he'd be more likely to accept Obake and now turn him away. But Obake also didn't have much of a relationship with Globby before besides their villain leader - dumb henchperson one, so it wouldn't hurt as much to be turned away from him either (as opposed to how it'd be to approach Granville or Hiro).

Well, Globby accepted him and now they're friends :3

Currently I'm imagining them as roommates just so that Obake doesn't have to bother with finding somewhere to stay (or having to pay rent), but I've got no idea how Globby actually lives rn and I don't wanna risk spoilers by looking it up, so that might change. Actually, a lot of this AU is very fluid and might change as I keep watching the show (where I am rn in the timeline, Obake wouldn't even know Trina and NBB are still "alive"), so yeah. Once I'm done with the reference and have posted that, yall can probably expect a lot more exploring doodles (like my idea for a mutated Obake in this au) :3c

Ok that's all for now!

[tarisilmarwen]

@badthingshappenbingo

Title: “Breached Sanctum”

Prompt: Faux-Affectionate Villain

Fandom: Big Hero 6 (Series)

Character(s): Hiro Hamada, Bob “Obake” Aken, Cass Hamada, Wasabi-no-Ginger, Fred “Fredzilla” Frederickson, Gogo Tomago, Honey Lemon

Warnings: Mild panic attack

AO3, FFNet

Set somewhere nebulously in Season Two, post "Something Fishy" but pre-"The Globby Within", and a bit AU-ish. You'll see.

---

Just got off the tramm. Be home soon.

Hiro sent the text message off. It blipped and appeared in the thread, and he exited out of his conversation with Aunt Cass and began scrolling through his phone to check for other new messages.

Ever-active, his brain remembered something else important and, absently, he called back to Baymax, who was walking squeakily behind him.

"Hey, can you put a reminder in my calendar about the Applied Physics test next Thursday? Mr. Arnold said it's an easy one, but I still want to squeeze in an hour or two to study for it. In between... everything else," Hiro said, grimacing, thinking back to their very busy past few weeks, both as SFIT attendees and as Big Hero 6.

Baymax's stomach switched on with an image of Hiro's agenda and a blinking icon appeared on the calendar. "I have set your reminder," the bot assured him. "Will you require anything when we get back home, to the... Lucky Cat Café?"

Hiro was busy typing out a quick response to a homework inquiry from Wasabi. "Nah, Fred cancelled tonight's night patrol on account of the thunderstorms that are supposed to be rolling in later. So I think it's just going to be dinner and then some suit debugging in the garage before turning in early."

"Understood," Baymax replied.

Cars beeped noisily as they passed, Hiro's shoes tapping steadily on the sidewalk and Baymax's awkward poly-plastic steps following after. The rhythmic sound lulled him a bit into an idle stupor; his feet knew the way home so he trusted them unthinkingly, focusing instead on the missed messages and notifications on his phone.

Hiro frowned a bit as he turned the last corner. Aunt Cass would have usually replied by now; she liked it when Hiro checked in after school, always immediately had a funny story or a bunch of smiling emojis for him in response.

She was probably busy with the café, he figured. It was some kind of government holiday wasn't it? His aunt had mentioned pre-prepping for an expected lengthy lunch rush that morning; maybe it was still going strong.

He glanced up briefly, warm smile tweaking his lips as the side window of the Lucky Cat Café could be seen just up ahead. His eyes dropped back down to his phone, scrolling through an excitable message from Honey Lemon about a cute lizard she had seen outside her Chem class that morning.

When they were only a few paces away from the door, the squeaking steps behind him... stopped abruptly.

Hiro alerted to the unusual motion, even as he was tacking out a reply to Honey Lemon.

"Something wrong, Baymax?" he asked.

There was an unusually long pause.

"...My scanner indicates that the patient known as 'Bob Aken'... is inside the café," Baymax said eventually.

Hiro froze in place, his limbs locking up briefly, involuntarily. Flickers of panic danced on the edges of his mind for a moment, before he shook his head, dismissing his robot companion's statement as fanciful glitching.

He reached forward for the door.

"That's impossible, Baymax, Obake's—"

The bell above the door rang brightly as he opened it, but Hiro wasn't even halfway over the threshold before he froze again, everything inside him stiffening, his eyes widening with abject mute horror.

There, standing in place in front of the pastry counter, posture relaxed and leaning on the glass like it was perfectly natural for him to be there... was him.

Hiro forgot how to breathe for a second. His hyper-active mind was taking in a million little details at once—Cass's door sign was turned to "Closed" position, there were no other customers inside the café, the chairs were half-stacked on the tables as if she'd been in the process of cleaning up, Obake's eyes were lighting and fixating on him with a creepy kind of glee, the kind that had always, always, unnerved him before, just standing there and looking at him like he was some kind of proud father.

His fingers tightened on the handle to the door, still half-open, hanging on its soundless hinges. His head was screaming with an incoherent flood of noise. Carefully, he slipped his phone back into his pocket, though not before dialing 911 and keeping his thumb poised over the call button.

Hiro swallowed, unsticking his throat.

"Baymax, stay outside," he ordered firmly, mouth dry.

The heathcare bot tilted his oval head, metal irises blinking in concern.

"Your heartrate is... elevated... and your breaths have shortened," he observed. Lowering his voice, Baymax whispered, "Would you like me to call the others or... the police?"

Hiro's heart was beating a million miles per minute, but he shook his head. "Not yet," he said quietly, voice so low it was almost inaudible. "I don't want to risk him reprogramming you again. Just be ready. In... in case," he stuttered.

Baymax nodded silently and withdrew a few steps, holding position outside the doorway.

Hiro took a deep breath and then let go of the handle, letting the door swing closed behind him.

It thunk!ed with an ominous, almost unnatural sound, an auditory portent of doom as it closed and sealed him inside, with the villain who still haunted his nightmares.

Hiro took in a shaky breath, every nerve ending twitching, every molecule of his brain firing off with fear and distress. Air dragged in through his lungs as he composed himself.

"...What do you want?" he demanded, voice low and dangerous.

"Now Hiro," Obake chided, leaning up off the pastry counter, arms folded so casually across his thin frame, "is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Hiro's tongue felt like a leaden lump, he swallowed again, struggling to ignore the ringing alarms that were blaring inside his head. "Wh—where's Aunt Cass?" he asked, his eyes starting to dart around in search of her. "What did you do to her?!" he demanded, voice pitching a bit shriller.

"Relax," Obake told him, crossing over towards a nearby table and chair set—as of yet not put up, just out of line of sight of the door—where Cass was slumped with her head on her arms, eyes closed and head tilted in soft sleep. Obake placed very gentle hands on her softly rising shoulders. "She's not in any danger... for now. The sedative will wear off eventually."

Hiro's throat tightened upon seeing her, wordless worry screaming up through him, clashing and mingling with his anger as Obake patted her shoulders affectionately.

"Don't touch her!" he cried, his free hand tightening into a fist, his other twitching against the phone screen in his pocket.

Obake made a noise in his throat like a disapproving cluck-cluck, reaching down and gingerly straightening a loose strand of Cass's hair, moving it from her face to behind her ear.

"Why are you so worried?" the villain asked, eyes searing with false sincerity. "No harm will come to her," he said.

A vaguely dangerous glint entered the soulless ice-blue eyes.

"That is..." he drawled, every syllable sounding ominous, "...if you cooperate."

Hiro tensed even tighter. His head was filling with racing panic, his mind flashing back to the secret underwater base, ringing with flashes of memory—Baymax's hand tightly gripped around his arm, the uncomfortable enthusiasm with with Obake described the utter destruction of the city, the cold sparse cell he was locked in to await the fulfillment of the villain's horrible plans—

He gulped, forcing the panic down, forcing himself to narrow his eyes, glare with all his might at Obake.

"What do you want?" he repeated his demand.

Obake straightened casually. "Right now, from you?" he said, adjusting the cropped cuffs of his sleeve. "Nothing."

He sidled a look towards Hiro that made the boy's skin crawl—too fond, too affectionate, too much like how Granville might have looked at him when giving him a bit of oft-withheld praise.

"Except to warn you and your... little team... not to interfere," he said. There was a dangerous note in his voice, one that made Hiro immediately apprehensive, not helped by the pat he gave Cass's head.

His aunt murmured softly in her sleep, her head barely stirring from her arms.

"What are you planning to do?" Hiro demanded, his free hand gripping tighter, nails digging into his palm, trying not to freak out. He had undefined doubts, as his other finger twitched towards the call button, as to whether or not Obake would actually follow through on his implied threat. Hiro's mind was spiraling; his eyes were darting from Obake to his aunt and he was beginning to wish he had not shut the door behind him, had not ordered Baymax to keep careful watch outside.

His thoughts were beginning to fray and dissolve from the fear and knowledge that Obake was here. He was alive and he was in the café, making demands of Hiro as he held Hiro's aunt in implicit danger and Hiro was starting to hyperventilate, starting to have less and less control over his own breath.

Obake just smirked in response to Hiro's previous frantic question.

"Now that would be spoiling," he tutted, finally pulling his hands off Cass and tucking them into his pant pockets. "But I would appreciate not being interfered with as I enact it." A feral light was in the villain's eyes. "It should be even more spectacular than before," he promised breathlessly, the left half of his face glowing with excitement, purple blazing from his skin. "Something even your newly-appointed chief of police won't see coming."

Hiro realized, after a painful half-second, that he was shaking.

Obake was closing in, drawing nearer to him, and Hiro stiffened, every muscle on high alert. His eyes were frozen in a wide-eyed expression, his breaths short, frantic, tensing as the villain came closer.

"I'll come to collect you after it's finished," Obake promised, and a cold shot of dread congealed in Hiro's stomach, the dry panic choking his throat as he stood there, aware of only the closed door behind him, the claustrophobic space, the threatening vibes off Obake as he loomed in front of him. "I suggest you find somewhere safe to hunker down until then. I would not want to be street level when things go down."

Obake started to reach past Hiro for the door handle.

Despite his fear, Hiro firmed his jaw and shifted slightly, deliberately, blocking Obake's way.

"I—I won't let you," he declared, his voice shaking, squeaking on certain syllables. "I won't let you destroy the city."

A displeased flash passed over Obake's face.

"You really don't listen, do you?" the villain before him spoke up. Obake's eyes gleamed cruelly on his target. "You—and the rest of Big Hero 6—will do precisely nothing, Hiro Hamada." His stare was cold and serious and Hiro felt himself quivering a little, as Obake further cautioned, "You will not warn the police, you will not try to evacuate or run away, and you will absolutely not suit up in those silly little colorful costumes to playact superhero and confront me. If I see one flash of any of you, well..."

One of the villain's hands placed itself on Hiro's shoulder. Hiro's throat tightened so thick he almost couldn't breathe, watching Obake lean in with a cordial smile.

"Let's just say I wouldn't be able to guarantee the safety of your precious aunt."

Hiro was absolutely paralyzed a moment, hyper-aware of Obake's hand sitting warmly on his shoulder, of the deceptively pleasant smile turned down on him, the thoughts and questions screaming in his head—Whyishehere, whyishehere, how is he still alive, is Aunt Cass okay?—and then...

...He dropped his eyes and lowered his head, resolve weakening.

He could feel Obake's smile widen, more than he could see it. The fingers on his shoulder squeezed approvingly, another hand tousled in his hair.

"Good lad," Obake cooed, "I'm glad we could come to an understanding."

The hands left him and only then did Hiro flinch, his eyes pinching closed a second as he forced himself to step back.

Obake pulled open the door, the bell ringing out all-too-happily, a spiteful noise, considering. Hiro was almost so numb and incoherent he missed the exchange between the villain and Baymax.

"Ahh, Baymax," Obake was saying. "Nice to see you agai—"

"You are causing my primary patient physical and... emotional distress," Baymax interrupted. The irises narrowed in the bot's oval eyes, giving him a very serious look. "You will leave now." Baymax's monotone had a threatening edge, a sharpness to it that was unexpected, almost protective.

Even Obake was taken aback, slightly. "Of course," he said, quickly recovering his composure. "Keep him safe for me. I'd hate to see him damaged."

He walked off without another word, disappearing around the nearest street corner.

Hiro felt himself stir as if released from a spell, staggering back, weak-kneed, several paces further into the café as Baymax grabbed the still-closing door and shuffled his way inside.

"I am calling the others now," the healthcare companion told him.

Wordlessly, Hiro nodded, finding one of the unpacked tables and falling bonelessly into one of its chairs.

***

He was still shaking openly when his friends arrived. His aunt was bustled upstairs for a thorough examination, Baymax and Gogo and Honey Lemon all going with, stepping quickly out of view.

Hiro pressed fingers against the table's surface, throat so dry he almost couldn't speak.

"He was in my house, Wasabi," he said, shakily. "He was here. He threatened my aunt," Hiro choked out, hands opening helplessly to the air.

Wasabi put a comforting hand on his shoulder, warm eyes beaming soft concern. "I know, buddy," he told Hiro. "Just breathe."

Hiro tried to do so, a trembling, awkward inhale pulling through his nose.

His throat choked up again. "He said he was coming back for me..." came his small, warbling, fear-filled utterance.

"We won't let him," Wasabi said firmly.

Across the café, Fred was surprisingly sober, twitching with his hands pressed against the window for any untoward signs of danger. "Yeah man," he said, turning his eyes this way and that to look out the windows warily. "No way we're gonna just let him take what he wants!" he declared earnestly. "Especially since that includes you," he added, redundantly.

Hiro tried to steady his breathing. He inhaled slowly, held it, and then exhaled. Repeated the motion. After several painful moments he felt his heartrate calming a bit.

Baymax's squeaky steps sounded on the stairs. Hiro alerted, his palms going flat against the table as he pulled his head up.

"Is Aunt Cass okay?" he asked anxiously.

"I did not detect any permanent harm," Baymax informed him helpfully. "She has been dosed with a mild sedative, and should awaken in approximately... five to ten minutes." He raised a chunky finger. "There were no further anomalies that my scanner could pick up."

The sigh of relief from Hiro whistled across the table. His shoulders slackened.

Still, he pressed, "Are you sure, Baymax? Nothing even on the microscopic level?"

"It's a mind game, Hiro," Gogo growled, as she appeared at the base of the stairs. "Just like it always is. He wants you too afraid to act against him." She crossed her arms. "Or it's another sick test of your resolve."

"I know, Gogo," he said, exasperated and exhausted. One hand strained up through his hair, tugging at the roots in agitation. "But—but I can't—Aunt Cass..." His words faltered, hitting a block in his throat. "She's all I've got left, I can't—"

"She'll be okay, Hiro," Honey Lemon's voice piped up to assure him. She followed after Gogo and descended the stairs, one hand on the railing as her heels clicked on the wood. "We were very thorough." She reached the bottom and stood next to Gogo. "And," she added, "while we were at it, we also did a thorough sweep of the café and the house. Just in case."

Her reassuring smile beamed across the way, and Hiro felt the anxiety alarms in his head begin to subside.

Slowly, the disparate parts of his brain began focusing, shifting into hero mode. His friends were right; this was all a twisted mind game.

Still, knowing that Obake knew where he lived, had physically invaded a place he'd thought was safe, just to scare him, psyche him out...

A shiver ran down his spine.

He inhaled slowly, and then straightened up with determined eyes.

"Obake has to know we won't just sit idle," he said, standing up from the chair and putting palms flat on the table. "So I'm guessing he's already planned for some kind of distraction, to steer us away from what he's actually planning."

The others nodded. Gogo declared fiercely, "We'll deal with that when it reveals itself." Her eyes softened; she stepped forward, uncrossing her arms. "Did he say anything?" she asked him. "Anything, that could give us a hint as to what he's got in mind?"

Hiro reluctantly let his mind play over their brief, tense conversation.

"He mentioned Chief Cruz specifically, said he wouldn't see it coming," he told them. "He also said I should 'hunker down', that I wouldn't want to be street level when things happened."

"So he wants you to get underground," Wasabi concluded. "All right. Well... there's only so many places he could be referring to."

"Shimamoto's basement lab," Hiro concluded, silently squeezing his eyes closed in realization. "That's where he wants me to go."

Honey Lemon's hands slowly rose up to clasp in front of her. "Are you sure?" she asked him.

Hiro nodded, throat tightening again. "You said it looked like it was titanium-reinforced, right? Almost like a nuclear bunker?"

Quiet notes of horror reverberated through all of them, as they wondered what Obake could do that was enough to merit hiding in a bomb shelter.

Hiro lowered his head in resignation. "We'll have to split the team up," he decided. "Half to handle whatever diversion Obake will try to obstruct us with, half to keep digging for the actual threat... And..." He felt the words pulling out of him slowly, like thick-stuck burrs. "I'll... I'll go to the lab... do what I can to distract him."

A stirring went through all of them; they twitched forward, even Baymax, tightening a protective circle around him.

"Hiro, no," Honey Lemon said with concern, heels rapid on the floor as she rushed over, placing hands on his shoulders. "You don't have to do that."

His smile strained grimly. "I'm the one he wants... the one he's obsessed with," he said, trying not to remember Obake's hands on his shoulders, the playful tousle of his hair, the fond look in his eyes. "If I can keep his attention off the rest of you..."

His confidence was warm and grateful, his look full of intimate trust.

"...I know you can stop him."

He met each of their gazes, mingled apprehension and understanding in all of them. Fred, Gogo, and Honey Lemon all gave him a nod. Wasabi curled his hands nervously before dropping them to his sides with a steely look.

"Hiro...?"

The groggy female voice was like a cold shock to his system. Honey Lemon startled aside as Hiro caught a glimpse of Cass stumbling down the stairs, one hand rubbing at her eyes in confusion.

Panic alarms raised inside his head. Hiro's eyes darted around frantically, the boy shoving his own hands behind his back, trying to put on a casual, unbothered smile.

"Aunt Cass!" his voice squeaked. "I, uh..."

"I dunno what hit me..." came his aunt's slightly delirious confession. "I was helping this one last customer in the café and then I just... I felt so dizzy and tired."

Hiro nervously looked towards the others. Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Wasabi were all evasively looking away, Baymax blinked neutrally, and Fred was frantically waving and mouthing a long string of "No"s at him.

He felt an instinctual urge to lie, to play things off like Cass had just gotten sleepy on the job, that nothing bad was going to happen to her.

But he saw flashes of Obake patting her head, the creepy smile he'd shot Hiro as he deliberately invaded both her personal space and his... They'd kept the team secret from Cass to protect her but it hadn't worked, Obake had targeted her anyway. She deserved to know why, to be aware of the danger.

She deserved the truth.

Cass seemed to read the serious tone of the room, the brows pinching between her eyes in concern. "Hiro?" she called again. "Is everything okay?"

"Not—not really." Hiro exhaled slowly, committing himself. "Aunt Cass?" he said, raising eyes to her. "There's... something I need to tell you."

***

Cass shot sharp, severe eyes around the room, from her place seated opposite Hiro.

"You all knew about this?!" she demanded indignantly.

Awkward, embarrassed faces were all that met her, none of the young men and women looking her in the eye. Wasabi whistled shortly. Honey Lemon rubbed her arm.

Cass turned her glare across the table to her nephew, who had his fidgeting hands in his lap, eyes down at the table. "Hiro, why didn't you just tell me?!" she cried, voice straining.

He curled up tighter into himself, flinching. "I-I didn't think you'd let me keep—keep doing it if I—" he stammered, "—a-and—I..." He visibly swallowed. "I didn't want you to worry."

"I worry anyway!" Cass cried, her hand snapping forward across the table, grabbing for the collar of his ubiquitous blue hoodie. She pulled herself out of her seat, using the handhold to pull herself to him, envelope him in a crushing hug. "God, Hiro, you don't even know how much I worry! All the time! About you, about if you're fitting in and eating enough, if you're getting home safely..." she squeezed the boy tighter, her heart cracking with emotions. "You think knowing you're a—a—a superhero and going out to fight actual monsters and villains every night would change that?!"

"In fairness," Fred piped up, "it's not every night."

Gogo elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Right," he squeaked, stiffening. "Shutting up now."

Hiro was mumbling into her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Aunt Cass. I... I should have told you. I just... I never meant for you to be put in danger because of me. Because of what we do."

And then he was pushing her away, pressing hands against her shoulders as he pushed her back.

"I wish I could apologize more," he said with regret. "But Obake's out there, and we have to stop him. We have to protect everyone. Including you."

He looked so brave and determined. Cass felt her eyes well up; a shaking gasp escaped her.

"But why does it have to be you?" she asked, voice wavering. Her vision blurred around the sight of her nephew, her little boy, her son in all but name and legality, feeling helplessly selfish for a moment.

He smiled grimly, looking so much like his older brother it made her heart pang. "Someone has to help," he told her.

Cass crumpled, noisily wiping her eyes and nose with the back of her wrist. "We're going to a have a talk when you get back, young man," she said sternly.

Hiro grimaced a bit, but nodded. "Yeah. I understand."

"And you'd better come back!" she snapped. "Or so help me I will march out on a warpath and wring this Obake person's neck myself!"

"Heh," he chuckled. "He wouldn't know what hit him."

***

After several more stern admonitions, directed at both Hiro, Baymax, and his friends—who all rushed to assure her they would keep Hiro very safe—Cass finally stepped back and slightly marveled as the Skymaxes were called and the group began suiting up.

Hiro felt self-conscious as he finished tugging on his gauntlets. He'd already begged Cass to find somewhere to keep safe, in case things went wrong—somewhere Obake wouldn't know about—but his aunt had insisted on stubbornly staying right there in the Lucky Cat Café, expressing a confidence in him and in the team that Hiro couldn't help but appreciate, couldn't help but feel bolstered by.

Still, he felt a twinge of sorrow and regret, as Cass looked at him in his hero gear with misting eyes.

Her collar shuddered as she inhaled shakily.

"Be careful," she told him, voice almost a whisper, one hand curled tightly into a fist against her chest, eyes tight with concern.

He nodded soberly. "I will. I promise."

A beat, and then—

"Last hug," he said, taking two steps forward to toss himself at Cass, wrap arms around her.

She clung to him with a desperate tightness, feeling the odd shapes of his armor pieces under her hands, pressing her palms to his back firmly. Hiro felt her nose burying in his shoulder, and wished he could do more to comfort her, assure her that nothing would happen to him, that'd he'd be okay.

But he'd already resolved to be honest with her.

He pulled back before she did, once again, giving her a tight smile, eyes straining to convey everything he wanted to say.

She nodded.

That was the release he needed to turn towards his team.

"Let's go," he told them, in firm determination.

The six of them proceeded out the door and separated, going off in all directions to face the challenge and danger ahead.

[liza-lilly]

Wrath: a little about myself as an Obake fictive. One of many. It's important in all cases to remember FICTIVES ARE NOT THEIR SOURCE and may differ slightly or gravely.

PART 2

- meeting Hiro -

(bouncing back a bit for clarification from my last post, not so important just a little extra information) years have passed between my time building trina and meeting Globby by the way, and Liv was still working on her stuff but sometimes she had Di out doing things in her place. Di was made long before Liv experimented on herself and ended up in her suspended state. So this was long before meeting Yama or Globby and long before my real ambitions began. Di and I did a lot of things we shouldn't have -especially behind Liv's back- and it's hard to say who influenced whom.

- (coming back to the actual part 2) -

I was visiting the lucky cat for a quick morning meal. I really hadn't known much of anything regarding the teen genius Hiro. I'd heard of big hero six but since Yama hadn't done everything the same way as in the show and had broken my amplifier on his own.. things were different and had well changed. Big hero six was nothing more to me than some group who'd defeated Callaghan.

I had advanced my technology and my ambitions quite well and grew even more versatile with my hand that I'd lost my fingers in. Di and I seemed to be getting along okay though we had some differences and argued occasionally. By now Liv may as well be a vegetable and Di was working on some crazy experiments.

Speaking of, Knox was charging right at me while I was getting a meal at the cafe. The damn beast version of him had smashed the window in and attacked me. I still remain certain this was no accident and somehow Diane was threatened by me.

The whole thing is a bit of a blur to recall but I remember him biting part of my jaw clean off (teeth, bone and all) and clawing at my arm, knocking me over and pinning me. One of his claws sank into the side of my robotic eye quite deeply and left some scarring. I did my best throwing out some punches.

Again, it was a blur and I don't quite remember everything that happened. All I knew is Knox had run off shortly after and Hiro was there helping me along with his aunt cass. Paramedics were on their way.

When I got out of the hospital later I used more metal to cover my arm to cover the scarring there as well as make myself an artificial jaw in place of my missing one rather than their work at just making sure the hole around it would heal. It was hideous seeing that gap and I knew I'd had to fix it. I never forgave Diane (who claimed it was an accident and she lost control over Knox) and cut her off entirely.

Hiro had commented on my robotic eye before and so I went back out of curiosity the next morning. It was a weekend. There we talked of tech and such. I never went deep into my story, I knew better than to be open about these things. But that's it, when he talked about the neurotransmitter. My interest was piqued and I recalled Globby.

Eventually I looked into it and modified one of my own. But I managed to turn it into an earring and have it connected to my metal fingers to it and began to think about how wonderful it would be if I could get the teen genius to join me and my world. But his friends were holding him back. They needed to go. But first.. tests.

Later I eventually made fingers with joints and added a large but thin battery to my arm piece which wired over into my fingers. Yes I had to sit there and charge it for an hour but from there it lasted about a week before it needed recharge again. As for the earring, I only needed to change the battery on that every few months to about a year if I was lucky. I still forget the fingers exist from time to time-