#She also found the evil laugh that pride demons do to be very interesting. It was funny to watch

[satans-knitwear]

We finished dragon age inquisition last night. Sabine enjoyed the increase of dragons in that game.

[jasthelazyelf]

The beginning of a long friendship

Word count: roughly 2100

Jas awakens in the Devildom. Gets introduced to the program. Decides to murder a certain demon with words. That's how you make a good first impression, right?

Jas‘ day started like any other, there was nothing particularly strange or odd about it. After waking up snuggled up to her favourite seal plush Chonk, she got up and headed straight to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Thinking if she should eat something other than her regular breakfast, she opened the fridge and looked inside. Her still tired mind refused the idea, though, so she grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge and cereal from the pantry.

After eating her breakfast, she decided to change into her comfortable daily clothes consisting of sweatpants and a doge tshirt. She loved it, she loved making her brother groan and then laugh when he saw her in it. Not having much to do that day, she decided to grab the book she’s been reading and sit on the couch. However, she found it rather difficult to concentrate on the words, she was feeling rather tired even though she’s been awake only for about an hour now. She marked where she stopped, closed the book and not even putting it on the table, she fell asleep again.

After a short dream she immediately forgot about, she woke up in a completely different room from the one she remembered falling asleep in. She blinked a few times and realized there were several men standing right in front of her, all dressed in black uniforms, one in a red one. The room looked like a court room.

„Where am I…?“ she thought to herself. The man sitting on the seat that would be that of the chief judge opened his mouth.

„Welcome to the Devildom, Jas,“ he was smiling brightly as he spoke and his eyes sparkled with happiness. Once he saw the confused look on her face, he made an apologetic puppy eyes. „… Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we? Well, that’s understandable. You’ve only just arrived, after all. As a human, it will probably take a little while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom.“ Devildom? She has never heard of such a place. Not that she was the best at Geography, anyway. But she had a feeling if she ever heard about such a place, she’d remember it. She realized that when she went to sleep on the couch, it was morning. It seemed impossible for it to be that dark outside now, since she never slept that long.

„Is this a dream…?“ she asked the red haired man. A dream sounded like the only logical solution to her at this point.

„Hmmm… what a very human thing to say. Outstanding. I have a feeling you might be just the sort of person we’re looking for.“ A human, huh? Well… it wasn’t actually a lie… but also not a complete truth. Not anymore. But since the difference wasn’t visible on her now, she decided to play along. „I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me. And someday soon, I will be crowned a king.“

Jas slightly raised one of her eye brows. So, she was in literal hell? Was that it?! Rather than being scared, she now started to wonder who the other people in the room were. Did she hear about them? Maybe she did. She decided to keep her curiosity to herself for now and just rolled with the given situation. Diavolo stood up and showed Jas the view from the nearest window. As he gently guided her with his hand on her back, she realized she was still clutching her book. And that she was still wearing her day clothes. She felt a bit embarrassed being dressed like that here.

„This is the Royal Academy of Diavolo… though we just call it RAD.“ Once he showed her the campus from the window, he turned them both around again. „You’re standing inside the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business. I’m the president of said council.“

Jas smiled a little. Of course he would be the president. She kept that one thought to herself, though. „Why am I here?“ she asked instead.

Another man stood up, this time the one with jet black hair with light ends and piercing red eyes. Jas had to admit, he looked a bit scary. „I will explain everything to you.“

„Jas, this is Lucifer. He is a demon and The Avatar of Pride. He’s also the vice president of the student council and my right-hand man… and not just in title, I assure you. Beyond that, he’s also my most trusted friend.“ Diavolo’s eyes were sparkling again as he was talking about Lucifer.

„Flatery will get you nowhere, Diavolo.“ Lucifer furrowed his eye brows a bit. Then he looked at Jas again and smiled. Jas still found his smile creepy. „Speaking on behalf of the entire student body at this great and storied school of ours… I offer you a most heartfelt welcome, Jas.“

„On behalf of the students?“ Did… did demons really go to school? She found it a bit funny. No one is saved from school.

„Diavolo believes that we demons should start strengthening our relationship with both the human world and the Celestial Realm. As a first step toward this goal, we’ve decided to institute an exchange program. We’ve sent two of our students to the human world and two to the Celestial Realm. And we’re welcoming four students to our school: two from your world and two from the Celestial Realm. So, I take it you probably put two and two together at this point, right?“ he stopped for a few seconds to give time for the new info to set in. It was quite a lot for such a short period of time. „You’ve been chosen from among the people of the human world to participate in this program of ours. You are our newest exchange student. Your period of stay is one year. You will have to work on the tasks that you will receive from RAD. After one year, you will write a paper about your exchange here in the Devildom.“ Wow, out of seven billion people on Earth, these demons picked a human… who isn’t actually a full human. It’s not like it was Jas's problem, though, she was willing to pretend. She wasn’t so happy about the final paper though.

„Write a paper?“

„I am not telling you to write a doctoral thesis. You can take it easy.“ Well, that was at least SOME good news. „Don’t glare at me like that. It’s not like I will abandon you all by yourself here in the Devildom.“ Well, he better not. „You need someone to look after you, and I think that someone should be my brother Mammon. He’s The Avatar of Greed and… how should I put it…? Oh well, you’ll understand soon enough.“ WHAT WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! Was this Mammon weird? Evil? Would he kill Jas on the spot? Before she could get properly nervous, Lucifer took out something that looked like a phone. „Here, take this device. It’s called a D.D.D. It’s a lot like the cell phones of your world. This will be yours to use as long as you’re here. Now, go ahead and try calling Mammon with it.“

Jas did as she was told. The voice of the man on the other side was… loud, to say the least. But otherwise he sounded… okay? She would judge his personality later when she actually met him.

„Sounds like you had a nice chat,“ Lucifer brought her from her thoughts again.

„He seems reliable,“ she shrugged as she answered him.

He furrowed his brows again. „… You really think so?“

Before he could say anything more, the red haired prince took the word again. „Well, if you were suddenly brought to a strange place and then get told that an unfamiliar face will now také care of you, you’d certainly feel anxious. However, Mammon isn’t the only one to help you out. Now then… we still need to introduce our new friend to your brothers, Lucifer. And, it’s probably better that you do that instead of me, wouldn’t you say?“

Lucifer looked down for a bit, a bit anxious. „Yes… As much as I dread the idea of doing so,you’re right.“

One of the guys who was still sitting looked up. Wow, he looked so adorable. „Oh, come now, really? You should be honored that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!“ and certainly confident. Jas had to giggle at that.

„This one here is Asmodeus. He’s the fifth eldest. He’s The Avatar of Lust.“

„Wh… I can’t believe you just totally ignored what I said! And not only that, you referred to me as THIS ONE. How rude!“ Fiesty man! He looked like fun! The last man in the room lazily raised an eyebrow, pouting a little bit in the process. Jas saw that he had been eyeing her for some time, he especially looked interested in the booked Jas still held in her hands. Was he trying to discover what she was holding of was he judging her taste? She couldn’t tell at that moment. Now he was looking at Asmodeus, though.

„Hmph, at least he didn’t ignore you altogether. How do you think I feel?“

„And this one is Satan, the fourth eldest of us. At first glance, he may seem like a responsible demon with a good head on his shoulders, but looks can be deceiving.

„Aha, so I’m THAT one, am I? Nice to meet you, Jas. I am Satan, The Avatar of Wrath.“ OH. Now it finally fully dawned on her. Yep, so these were the big scary demons everyone who believed in them feared so much? Come on, they looked pretty nice. Then she remembered something. Even though she wasn’t religious, she knew quite a lot of mythological stuff. She knew that Lucifer was one of the fallen angels. She knew what was being said about Lucifer’s look. She inhaled and opened her mouth. Everyone in the room was paying attention to her.

This question.

„Wait… Isn’t Lucifer supposed to be super hot even after the fall?“

This one single question.

Oh boy. It struck everyone like a lightning. Diavolo blinked a few times in sheer surprise. Asmodeus widened his eyes, opened his mouth and was at loss for words. Satan laughed out loud, oh, this he did not think would happen. Oh, he likes this girl. He quickly put himself more or less together and looked at Lucifer. And oh boy was Lucifer not happy. Nope, the nice and friendly face was gone and he looked utterly pissed. Before he knew it, Lucifer turned into his demon form, a coat themed after peacocks, two sets of wings and black horns coming out the top of his head. Jas started to take steps back, startled by the sudden change.

Before Lucifer could actually attack her, Satan stood between the two them and glared at Lucifer. At that point Lucifer realized what he was just about to do and turned back to his human form and promptly left the room. Diavolo recovered fast and went after his friend to see if he’s all right. Once the door fully closed, Satan turned towards Jas. She was shaking a bit, but otherwise looked fine.

„Are you all right? That was a quite impressive move you pulled there. Good job,“ he laughed as he was making sure the human was truly unharmed.

Jas recovered shortly after and looked at Satan. She was still shocked, but managed to answer Satan. „I thought you were The Avatar of Wrath, not him?“ Satan laughed again.

„Oh gosh, what foolish bravery! To go into enemy territory like that and say such things! You were lucky Satan reacted so quickly, or you would have been a goner by now!“ Asmo chimed in. He got up from his seat, came closer to the two of them and moved his arms up to offer a hug. Jas approved and hugged the lean handsome demon and finally stopped shaking. „Now, now, it’s okay, but don’t ever do that again, okay?“

Jas let go of him and nodded. Satan pat her gently on her hair. „Enough about that butthurt prick, what do you have there?“ he asked excitedly. So he hasn’t been able to identify the book after all. She showed him the book. It was The Sword of Shannara. Oh, he has heard about this saga, but never actually got around to read them. He heard that the books were pretty good, though. Looks like this exchange won’t be so bad after all.

Satan smiled. He knew this was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship between him and this human. He couldn’t wait what they’d be up to in the near future.

A/N: Apologies to the Lucifer stams. :'D that really was my first reaction to him over a year and a half ago when I started playing. He's still not hot hot me :'D

[scoutception]

Yet again ranking the 5 animes I’ve watched most recently

After losing the will to just sit down and watch it for quite a while, I’ve finally gotten through 5 anime series yet again, and, as is tradition for me by now, I’ve decided to just type out my thoughts and rankings of them, with my first two posts of this nature being here and here. As usual, this is just my personal thoughts, and the only other thing worth noting before I start is that, unlike last time, I do think everything listed here is at least decent on its own. With that, I’ll just get to it. 5. Robotics;Notes

Number of episodes: 22. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Robotics;Notes is an adaptation of a visual novel, which I actually just wrote a review on, which can be found here. Long story short, it’s the third entry in the Science Adventure series, the same series Steins;Gate is part of, unknown to most people, with Robotics;Notes technically being the sequel to it. Originally aired in 2012, the same year as the visual novel was released, and made by Production I.G, Robotics;Notes is in an interesting middle ground between the acclaimed and popular Steins;Gate animes and the downright awful and obscure Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child animes, and until 2020 was the only option those who didn’t speak Japanese had to experience it at all. Since I went into so much detail in said visual novel review, I’m mostly going to focus on how the anime holds up both by itself and as an adaptation. Ever since its creation nearly ten years ago, the dream of the Chuo Tanegashima High Robotics Research Club has been to finish Gunbuild-1, a lifesize recreation of Gunvarrel, the titular mecha of an insanely popular anime that’s credited with starting a “robot boom” within Japan, and the club’s current president, Akiho Senomiya, the little sister of the club’s founder, Misaki Senomiya, is extremely determined to see this dream achieved. Unfortunately for her, the club has fallen on hard times, with its funding being cut, its advisor being completely unreliable, and the few other members it has, namely Kaito Yashio, Subaru Hidaka, Junna Daitoku, and Kona Furugoori, aka Frau Koujiro, being quite difficult in their own ways, and often more than Akiho can handle. While Akiho puts her all into finally bringing the club to greatness, the otherwise apathetic Kaito finds himself involved with a mysterious AI called Airi, who exists within the augmented reality app IRUO. Airi’s creator, the deceased Kou Kimijima, turns out to have also created several AR annotations scattered throughout Tanegashima, titled the Kimijima Reports, which warn of a grand conspiracy that will utterly devastate humanity if unopposed. I’m not the most unbiased viewer, since I had played, and enjoyed, the visual novel months before watching this anime, but generally, it’s actually an enjoyable time. Some of Robotics;Notes’ biggest strengths were always its cast of characters and lighter tone, and for the most part, the anime preserves both well, keeping it mostly silly, but endearing early on. The artstyle actually matches up fairly well with the VN’s CGs, and the dub, which I watched just to spice things up, since I already knew the Japanese voice cast was quite good, is overall solid, with Clifford Chapin as Kaito, Lindsay Seidel as Akiho, and Monica Rial as Junna especially sticking out to me. As an adaptation, on the other hand, it falls short in quite a few places, namely when it comes to characterization. While obviously, no adaptation could feasibly fit in every detail from its source material, the Steins;Gate anime managed to preserve almost all of its cast’s characterization, whereas in Robotics;Notes, several characters lose prominent details to their backstories or personal conflicts, or act differently in scenes unrelated to that, making quite a few of them come off different. While instances of the latter case, such as Junna coming off as less shy and hesitant, don’t necessarily worsen anything for the most part, the former definitely does, as it makes the affected characters much less developed and interesting. Nobody suffers from this worse than Kaito himself, who loses most of his backstory, motivations, and arc, to the point of one of his best moments being changed from something intentional to completely accidental, with the end result making him come off as a completely different character, and an inferior one, at that. Additionally, around episode 16, the anime starts diverging pretty significantly from the VN, and not in ways that are improvements, to the point it even leaves a few otherwise preserved scenes in earlier episodes without context. Overall, I can imagine the Robotics;Notes anime still being a decent, if unremarkable watch on its own, and was certainly an interesting and fun way to reexperience the story, and definitely fares better than many visual novel adaptations, but I can’t quite say I’d recommend it. If Robotics;Notes interests you, the visual novel is very much preferred. 4. Nichijou

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming options: Funimation. Here we have one of the most acclaimed anime comedies out there, an adaptation of Keiichi Arawi’s surreal sketch comedy manga series, produced by Kyoto Animation, a name that’ll be showing up here again later. Nichijou mainly focuses on two different trios of characters. There’s the ordinary high school girls Yuuko Aioi, a rather dim and reckless girl with terrible luck, Mio Naganohara, the most relatively normal one of the cast, whenever she’s not having explosive freak outs that involve beating people up, and Mai Minakami, a stoic girl who enjoys messing with people just for their reactions. On the other hand, there’s the far less ordinary Shinonome Laboratories trio of Professor Shinonome, an 8 year old girl who happens to be capable of building incredibly advanced machines, Nano Shinonome, a robot built by the Professor who desperately desires a normal girl more than anything, and Sakamoto, their pet cat who, thanks to a special scarf also made by the Professor, is capable of talking. The series focuses on their would-be ordinary lives, were it not for the seemingly daily chaos they get involved in, from witnessing the school principal wrestle a wild deer, to being trapped in an elevator for hours, to the school science teacher attempting to capture Nano for study. It also follows the antics of several other side characters, such Koujiro Sasahara, the seemingly upper class student who is actually just the son of a family of farmers, to Misato Tachibana, a very typical tsundere towards Sasahara, whose tsun side manifests as assaulting him with military-grade weapons, to little effect, to the equally quirky teachers of their school. Needless to say, it’s a very silly and chaotic series, and that’s exactly what makes it so memorable. The humor is pretty hit and miss in the first half of the series, but from episode 14 onwards, they thoroughly master it, with every episode having at least a few scenes that got me laughing. Beyond the silliness, though, the series actually has a lot of heart to it. There’s a few moments that change up the status quo, or even develop the characters just a bit, and some scenes are surprisingly sweet, if still played for laughs more often than not. There’s also a lot of continuity, which in later episodes often provide the punchlines to some of the best gags, which definitely encourages watching the whole series. The Japanese voice acting is fittingly crazy for each character, and the animation fits perfectly, as while the character designs are quite simple, there’s many would be mundane moments that have contrasting overly impressive and exaggerated animation that makes them very memorable. All in all, Nichijou is a very enjoyable series once it finds its groove, and about the only reason its not higher on my rankings is just because pure comedies aren’t really one of my favorite genres. Still, if you ever want a good laugh, you can’t go wrong with this. 3. Soul Eater

Number of episodes: 51. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Netflix, Funimation. Soul Eater is yet another adaptation, this time of a manga by Atsushi Ōkubo, produced by Studio Bones, who also did the Fullmetal Alchemist animes, and is quite similar to the original FMA series in that it outpaced the manga and, rather than simply overloading itself with filler, decided to go in an entirely different direction by the end. The Death Weapon Meister Academy is a school founded by Death himself, dedicated to the training of Meisters, who wield Weapons, humans with the ability to shapeshift into weapons, for the purpose of destroying Kishin Eggs, evil beings who have consumed the souls of others, and pose the risk of transforming into extremely dangerous demons. Any Meister who can collect the souls of these corrupted beings, as well as the soul of a Witch, can transform their Weapon into a Death Scythe, the personal arms of Death. Among the students of the DWMA are seven Meisters and Weapons who stand out in particular: the teams of Maka Albarn, a kind hearted and responsible, though temperamental, girl, her Weapon, Soul “Eater” Evans, a laidback and snarky wannabe “cool” guy, Black Star, a prideful and loudmouthed ninja who’s seemingly always out to make a spectacle of himself, regardless of how it hampers him, his Weapon, Tsubaki, a humble and levelheaded woman, Death the Kid, the son of Death and one of the top students in the cool, held back only by a crippling obsession with symmetry, and his Weapons, Liz and Patty Thompson. While these seven gradually come together as a team, a Witch named Medusa begins to put an ambitious and destructive plan into motion, one involving her “child”, Crona, and the strange, insanity inducing black blood that courses through their veins. Soul Eater has a lot going for it. A likeable and crazy cast of characters, even the side ones, like the maniacal Doctor Stein, or the surprisingly goofy and casual Death, or the tragic Crona, or the hilariously egotistical Excalibur, to a lot of fun action scenes, to its great animation and overall unique visual design, including the sun and moon having giant, creepy laughing faces. It has a lighthearted, comedic tone that doesn’t detract from the serious moments, and the main characters get some pretty good development as the series goes on. The dub is also great, with Laura Bailey as Maka, Micah Solusod as Soul, Brittney Karbowski as Black Star, and Todd Haberkorn as Death the Kid especially sticking out to me. In general, I don’t have a lot of significant criticisms, besides how the story is handled once the villainous organization Arachnophobia is introduced, which is also about where it begins to deviate from the manga. Most of the villains part of it never really feel like a threat, and the story becomes much more simple and typical compared to how the manga went, and when the ending arrives, it just kinda, happens, with several notable subplots just kinda left unfinished. It definitely feels like an underwhelming ending, and is a big reason why I place this lower on the list, but Soul Eater is still a pretty entertaining watch that’s worth a try if you want a decently lengthy, but not horribly long shonen. 2. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya

Number of episodes: 28. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation. Here we have the big one, an extremely memetic and famous series by Kyoto Animation, based on a series of light novels by Nagaru Tanigawa, a series that was finally completed back in November 2020 after its start in 2003. Kyon is a lazy and down to earth high school student who wishes for little more for himself than an uneventful, normal high school life- a hope that’s abruptly shattered when, on a whim, he becomes involved with Haruhi Suzumiya, an eccentric, hyperactive, and thoroughly self centered girl, who claims to have no interest in ordinary humans, and instead wishes to discover things thoroughly unusual, such as aliens, time travelers, or espers, and forces Kyon to form a club, the SOS Brigade, with her to achieve this. Haruhi quickly pulls three other students into the brigade, those being Yuki Nagato, a stoic and quiet bookworm, Mikuru Asahina, a shy and passive girl often subjected to humiliation and abuse by Haruhi, and Itsuki Koizumi, a calm transfer student who acts extremely subservient to Haruhi. While Kyon initially writes off the club as an unreasonable use of his time, his fellow members reveal an unexpected truth to him: the subjects of Haruhi’s fascinations actually do exist. Yuki is an alien, of a sort, created and controlled by an entity known as the Data Overmind, Mikuru is a time traveler from some point in the future, and Itsuki is an esper, and member of an organization of similar people. All three of them have been sent to observe the oblivious Haruhi, who appears to have the unconscious ability to change reality itself according to her desires, and is at threat of remaking the entire world if not placated. With Haruhi apparently having taken a unique interest in Kyon, he finds himself taken along for all sorts of supernatural adventures spawned from Haruhi’s whims. There’s a lot I could go on about regarding Haruhi, but in the interest of not turning this into a full on rant, I’ll keep shortish. It’s more or less an insane mishmash of several different genres, from slice of life, to science fiction, to fantasy, just depending on what each individual story feels like being. The episodes are mostly adapted from the early light novels, mostly the multiple stories from the third and fifth novels, The Boredom and The Rampage of Haruhi Suzumiya, respectively. It’s not often you’ll have any idea just what to expect from each individual episode, which makes the series very chaotic, but interesting. The characters are likeable and memorable, including the side characters, and the sheer ridiculousness of what goes on makes for many amusing moments. At the same time, the series is surprisingly complex, with many possible interpretations of its characters and the events they go through, furthered by the antics Kyoto Animation pulled when it was originally airing, such as airing the episodes out of chronological order, meaning the plot would often jump from the middle of an arc to something else. The end result is a very unique and enjoyable product, helped by the fantastic dub, with the actors capturing each character perfectly, from Crispin Freeman as the grounded and snarky Kyon, to Wendee Lee as the aggressively energetic Haruhi, to Stephanie Sheh as the gentle, yet secretive Mikuru. That said, there is one pretty disappointing part of it all, and that’s the second season, mostly thanks to the infamous Endless Eight arc, an eight part arc that’s more or less the same things happening over and over, with only the first and last episodes having anything noticeably different. Regardless of its own uniqueness, more than half the season is taken over by this, and something that may have worked if cut down to three or four episodes instead singlehandedly killed off the series’ goodwill. About the only redeeming factor of the second season is the five part adaptation of The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, which has some of the funniest moments in the whole series. Overall, Haruhi is still a very fun series, and I’m really gonna have to watch its movie, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, one of these days. 1. Trigun

Number of episodes: 26. Language options: dub and subs available. Streaming availability: Funimation, Hulu. Finishing off this list is an adaptation of a manga series by Yasuhiro Nightow, produced by Madhouse and another adaptation that overtook its source material. Compared to how Soul Eater handled it, however, Trigun went down much, much better, to the point Nightow himself had nothing but praise for how the anime turned out, and the series is generally considered one of the best animes of the late 90′s. On the harsh desert planet of Gunsmoke lives a wandering gunslinger known as Vash the Stampede, the “Humanoid Typhoon” with a large handgun known to leave tremendous destruction in his wake, who amassed a bounty of $$60,000,000,000 after destroying the city of July, leading to an endless trail of bounty hunters out to collect the price on his head. In the middle of all this, Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson, two representatives of an insurance society which is often forced to pay for damages caused by Vash, track him down for the purposes of minimizing the chaos he causes. Upon catching up with him, however, the duo discovers that, contrary to his reputation, Vash is a kindhearted goof, and self proclaimed hunter of love and peace, who absolutely refuses to ever take another person’s life, even at great personal risk to himself. Vash continues his travels carefree, helping out whoever he can, with the occasional assistance of Meryl and Milly, as well as a traveling priest known as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, only to one day have an encounter with a mysterious and cruel man known as Legato Bluesummers. Vash soon learns that Legato has hired a group of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns to kill Vash, and leave a trail of bodies wherever they go, seemingly for the sole purpose of tormenting Vash. As Vash hunts down Legato, he is gradually forced to face his past, and consider whether he can truly stay committed to his pacifist ideals. In general, Trigun is just a very, very well made series. It has a likeable and developed cast of characters, with special mention going to Vash, who is a very compelling and sympathetic character, and Wolfwood, who makes a great foil to Vash with very interesting development of his own, with characters outside of the main cast being memorable as well, from Legato himself, to even some of the more minor villains, such as the varied members of the Gung-Ho Guns, or Brilliant Dynamites Neon, who makes an inexplicably strong impression for a one off villain not even important to the overall plot. The space western setting is quite good, and the designs are great, with many villains having distinctive looks that further help them make an impression. The action is great, and the animation is also quite good, and has that 90′s anime charm. The dub, while a bit rough around the edges, is generally solid too. From Lia Sargent as the ditzy but kind Milly, to Dorothy Elias Fahn as the hotheaded Meryl, to Jeff Nimoy as the weary Wolfwood, to Richard Cansino as the calculating and disturbing Legato, with special mention needing to go to Johnny Yong Bosch as Vash. Despite it actually being his first voice acting role ever, he does a great job in portraying the many sides to Vash, and absolutely sells many of the biggest moments in the story. Speaking of which, the series started quite lighthearted and wacky, with the first four episodes actually being filler, but gets gradually darker as it goes on. The earlier episodes are still quite enjoyable on their own, though, and manage to slowly reveal new aspects to Vash in each one, before finally setting his nature in stone in episode 5. What really sells the series and makes it so memorable, however, are the themes it explores, of the practicality of unwavering pacifism, and whether taking a life, whether for heinous crimes committed without remorse, or with the purpose of protecting others, is ever justifiable. While quite a few series have touched dilemmas like this before, what makes Trigun stand out with it is the emphasis placed upon it throughout the whole series, with many episodes touching upon it in some regard. It genuinely fairly looks at the different sides of it all, and the consequences of each, with many emotional moments coming from it as a result. While the manga did ultimately take a very different turn from the anime, the anime actually preserves several of the most important plot moments, and manages to come to a satisfactory conclusion of its own regarding the themes. Ultimately, Trigun makes for a very fun and interesting watch that I highly recommend. And with that, my ranking is complete. With the exception of Robotics;Notes, I can pretty confidently recommend every show on this list. Got some more shows I plan to get through soon, so another ranking like this may be soon in the making. Either way, till next time. -Scout

[shadowdianne]

Since I'm not totally evil and now that I'm back in front of the computer I'm just going to copy-paste the first 1k or so of what I had written. It's not edited and considering the notes I've erased for this version but the original one has I was still working through plotholes and worldbuilding. The coding of the archive suggests that it was an informal prompt made by a friend -the titles of the things that were inbox prompts were codes for me to know at which bach they were linked to but this one has only the one I reserved for mutuals or friends so I could properly tag them even if the prompt had been sent via, dunno, whatsapp or the like but I have lost the word document I had to know which number represented which mutual so, dunno, friend, if you happen to see this hi xD

Anyway, I'm not going to finish it but if anyone wants to know the original lines of the prompt (looking at you, @yaminoendo, @italymystery-swanqueen ) things were like this:

If anyone recognizes this as something I finally got to publish -dunno, I truly cannot remember if I did but considering that it's not finished if I did it was under some other storyline- tell me so I can try to find the damn link and make another post about it.

Word reached the town’s inn in a slow night, the kind of nights Emma had learnt to dread as much as the ones in where she was unable to have a respite. And so, as rain poured outside and only a selected few patrons battled against the storm that flagged the lands around the wood and stone made houses in order to get a drink from Granny’s, she found herself rising her eyebrows as one of the Lost boys nodded vehemently, fingerless gloves doing nothing to prevent the boy from almost sticking his hands into the dim fireplace the old woman had asked both Ruby and Emma to keep an eye on.

“To keep the sorceress at bay. One never knows with this storm.”

Emma had bitten her tongue at the words: she knew magic was real; had seen the occasional wizard, the kind of one that traveled from town to town, promising magic and dreams to whomever that paid them in silver or a place to stay but Granny’s sorceress; the ones that roamed the forest at night, the ones who vowed to the moon and soil, were just the stories one would tell to children. Children barely younger than the one who, still shivering, put his hands beneath his armpits, rolling his shoulders as the soaked coat he wore, the one with Pan’s colors, remained stuck to his scrawny frame.

“She gave us a piece of gold each.” The boy repeated for the umpteenth time ever since he had come barreling into the inn, soaked to the bone but sporting a toothy grin. “She told us to spread the word. I’m not joking!”

Emma sighed and offered the boy one of the few sips of wine that they still had from the merchants that had passed by the month before last. Despite it being acrid the boy took the small vase and drank it all, smiling at her with his eyebrows raised, some color returning to his cheeks. She was about to offer him some bread when the owner of the inn herself tutted at him, eyes severe.

“Hasn’t the woman already suffered enough? It’s not nice to lie, Nibs.”

The boy opened his mouth, ready to defend himself if the sudden rage on his eyes was anything to go by and Emma sighed inwardly at the moment as she casted a glance around the inn, at the ones who were not-so-subtly listening to the conversation. Sometimes, times like this, she truly felt tired of the gossip-hungry citizens. Always trying to learn about the next detail, the next piece of information they could all later on share, make bets on. The scent of dampened wood and greasy food grounding her as she found Ruby’s eyes at the other end of the place, she shrugged minutedly, asking for the lanky brunette’s friend. Not like she wasn’t able to tackle the woman’s grandmother but Granny had been, and would always be, the kind of person one didn’t want to get on the bade side of.

And she was truly grateful the woman had let her in after last years’ flood.

Ruby bit down on her bottom lip and tilted her head to the right as she placed yet another pint in front of Leroy. The short man was probably the only one who wasn’t pretending to not be listening to the conversation, his glazed eyes trained on both Granny and Nibs and Emma almost smiled a little at that. Placing her hands on the counter, letting the three-quarter sleeves of the cloth she wore rile up on her forearms, she leveled her gaze with Nibs, silently asking him to just let the subject drop.

The boy, however, was still a boy, and he didn’t listen; his pride affronted.

“I’m not lying!” He replied, shaking his head while doing so. “Widow Mills told us that if anyone was able to open the door with the key she would…” He halted there, cheeks reddening and Emma heard Ruby bit back a laugh as the brunette approached the front of the tavern. The Lost Boys were a group of orphans that no one had taken in aside from the small group of women that worked relentlessly under Blue’s orders but they weren’t shy to sex or how it worked. It was interesting seeing Nibs so tong-tied in front of Eugenia, angry or not.

“… marry them.” The boy finished, lamely, but Emma, just as she had had at first, didn’t catch any lies on his words. Despite them being, probably, slightly edited.

And that, despite her best intentions, made her feel interested. Which was something she was purposedly trying not to be.

Widow Mills was the kind of woman that brought attention wherever she went: not new to the town her wealth, her house, close to the end of the town, bigger than any other else and always guarded by a big black cat, helped on cultivating an air of mystery around her. The kind of one that would usually make many spit behind her, muttering words they thought would protect them after she waved and kept on with her day.

And yet, despite that, she was also the woman many thought on trying to get her to remarry, the news of her late husband known and shared within the same walls Emma was currently surrounded by. It was strange, interesting, how the woman seemed to have finally decided to play the game Storybrooke citizens were so adept at; get others to marry. If what Nib was saying was true.

And Emma had the feeling that it was. As shocking as it could sound.

“I guess it’s cat-hunting season then. Isn’t that right, sis?” Leroy’s crude smirk made Emma clench her jaw and say nothing, even when the town’s drunkard eyed her, hoping for someone to reply to his comment but finding very few who seemed open to the idea.

Albeit, the blonde thought as she turned and busied herself, she was fairly certain that within the hour the rest of the Lost Boys would manage to get the entire town known that the brunette woman living at the edge of town was waiting for a husband.

She didn’t exactly knew why that bothered her.

-.-

She had been right, of course, by the next night the town was abuzz with the story from the Lost Boys. The only real socialite the town owned, Kathryn Midas, had even passed by, sharing a few opinions she had on the whole thing. Opinions Emma hadn’t been there to listen to as she had been sent by Granny to run an errand no Lost Boy could tackle quickly enough but ones Ruby had later filled her in as they both readied the tavern for the night.

“Many think she is bluffing.” Ruby shrugged and shook her head as Emma listened to her, using a brief moment of respite to lean against the tavern’s southest wall. The one in where the fireplace rested, the residual heat from it warming the stone slabs of the floor around it and the wooden walls. “A cry for attention.”

“And you think that’s right?”

She tried to sound nonachalant but Ruby narrowed her eyes at her, mirth on her eyes, and Emma knew she had been caught.

It wasn’t, she battled against herself, that she was interested. Not in the same way she suspected others would be. She had barely shared a few words with the woman. It wasn’t like the brunette beauty often came to socialize to the inn.

But she had seen her, walking, buying herbs and other things. Always slightly away from others, the black and red from her clothes obvious as both a statement and a message. She wondered, briefly, while she grazed the mark on her wrist, the one left by broken vows of marriage, if the woman would wear another color next time she saw her. For some reason she couldn’t exactly picture that.

“Want to give it a try, Emma? Is that what this is about?”

Ruby’s voice brought her back from her reverie, the words her friend had just said made Emma narrow her eyes, spine straightening as she walked away from the wall just in time for Eugenia to walk in; stern-looking as ever.

“Don’t be stupid.”

But Ruby didn’t seem convinced. Not like neither of them were able to discuss it further as the old woman frowned at them before putting them both to work, the storm from yesterday already gone and the first round of thirsty villagers about to arrive.

-.-

During the next days many were the ones who arrived to the inn with scratches up their arms; muttering about cats and demons and far too many complicated schemes they couldn’t be bothered to try. Emma remained mute during those tales; silently serving drinks, dodging handsy miners that were the other source of income for the town and pretending she wasn’t entirely far too curious.

And, in a way, that feeling was what made her keep listening to the stories; unwilling to let go the promise of something different in a town she felt drowning her every day it passed.

[kathyprior4200]

Welcome to Wacky Wally Wackford’s World!

Greetings, I say, greetings demons of all ages! The name’s Wally Wackford, an oh so suave man of business! You may not know me, but surely you’ve seen me…pretty much everywhere. Yes, I’ve never been the type to stay in one place for long. Life can be pretty wild at times. But that’s what makes it oh so fun!

 So what’s my story, you say, you say? Well look no further, ‘cause I have a tale to tell.

 I’ve been doing freelance work off and on, laboring at one job, moving onto the next. The jobs vary a lot, but I’m a Wally of many trades. (Yes, I’ve been fired many times as well, figuratively and literally…it is Hell after all.) Early on, I found out that living in poverty is never a lot of fun. I quickly learned how to scam other people…and boy did I enjoy it! It was the only way I could inch toward the top, get some power of my own. I’d make a few deals here and there and then when clients got desperate, I’d say something like, “Oh I’m so sorry but there’s an extra fee you have to pay. Forgot to mention that.” Then I’d point to that small scribbled section on the contract I added in moments ago.

 “I’m starving, sir!” they’d say. Or, “I left my money at home,” or my favorite: “Shove it up your trickster rear!”

 Sometimes they did pay me extra. Other times they didn’t…and those were the ones who soon forgot about everything forever. (chuckles).

 Anyway, moving on.

 Sometimes when my days got long and hard, I’d go to saloons for a nice bottled drink. The emerald colored Greed Mead is my favorite. Twirling my thin black mustache, I’d wink at some pretty imp gals nearby and say, “Hey there. You’ve been in Hell for a long time. Is that why you’re so hot?”

 Most of the time, I’d get a swift punch to the face in response. The glares on their pretty faces, “Take that remark to the Sloth Ring, lazy bootleg fucker.”

 So many aggressive people these days. I could tip my black hat to many imps and they’d either fall to my charms or roll their eyes. I was fine with that. There’s not much else to do in Hell then to live your life and amuse yourself with watching others struggle. In fact, pretty much every sin is encouraged, so why not keep going?

 After stalking around looking for more people to scam, I came across Loo-Loo Land in the Ring of Greed. I’ve always loved that place, its vibrant atmosphere emitting joyful fun and chaotic flair. I walked on over and asked the vendor, “I say, you have any jobs here?”

 “I’ve heard of you, Wacky Wally,” he said at the ticket stand. “You may be a good pick-pocket, but your skills are nothing compared to Mammon. In fact, this whole place is a fucking rip-off of Lucifer’s Lu-Lu Land!”

 “All the more reason to love this place!” I exclaimed.

 “Robo Fizz is putting on another show at 7pm tomorrow,” said the beefy imp vendor. “Made in Mammon’s factory and modeled after the famous imp Fizzarolli.” He then spoke in a low whisper, “It includes some behind the scenes moments for the VIPs…you know, with tentacles and ‘special features.’”

 “Oh that sounds delicious!” I said with a slow grin. “It’d be great to see how his…mechanics work someday…”

 The imp vendor rolled his eyes and flinched at my lighthearted comment. Always know what to say to get that grimace reaction.

 “Anyway,” said the vendor, “We’re running low on staff, so you can go sell those torches over there.”

 The imp pointed to a pink cart with Mammon’s jester face on it. I shrugged and got to work.

 I happily rolled my cart around, selling torches wherever I went. I could honestly stare into those mesmerizing green flames all day.

 “Torches here!” I drawled in my Foghorn Leghorn southern accent. “66% off when you buy four! Parties, decoration, destruction and more!”

 One time on my break, I got to talk to Robo Fizz about money, shows, sex and chaos. We even cracked some jokes together. The robot seemed a little nervous in my presence but then again, he was very unpredictable on a daily basis.

 “A duck, a frog, a demon and a skunk go into a bar. The bartender told them that the drinks were one dollar each. How did they pay for them? Answer: The duck had a bill, the frog had a greenback, the demon had a soul…but the skunk only had a scent!”

 “Hahahaha!” Robo Fizz laughed, sparks flying near him. “Your jokes are much better than Blitzo’s corny puns!”

 “Why thank you,” I replied. “But nothing beats your organ-playing animatronics in your ‘Wonderful World of Evil’ puppet show you did last month.”

 Robo Fizz grinned at the compliment. “You do anything else besides selling torches?”

 “I scam, I kill, I do a little bit of both. Oh and I’m also a great inventor!”

 “How marvelous!” Robo Fizz grinned. “Perhaps if you have enough mayhem in you, you could perform with me at the next Fizzarolli N Friends show!”

 “I say, I’d love that! I’m sure your show will be top notch, copyright be dammed…won’t it?”

 Robo Fizz smiled widely, hiding a strain. “You bet it will!”

 It was during one interesting day when I pushed my cart by a large tent where several Robo Fizz posters were posted. I held up a troch with a hand and called:

 “Torches, I say! I say! Get your inconvenient torches here!”

 Then before I knew it, the robot and a random imp crashed right into the cart.

 “Ow, I say OW!” I cried as the green flames quickly spread around. After getting the flames off me, I ran for the hills out of the burning park. I sat, dejected shortly afterward. So much for that job. Along with figuring out what to do next, I also happened to watch the imp fight off Robo Fizz…and the robot falling into the dragon’s mouth.

 How unfortunate.

 After helping Robo Fizz from the dragon’s insides, (killing said dragon, pulling out said robot, cleaning and making quick repairs), I inched closer to him and said, “You made some new friends, I say.”

 Robo Fizz stood tense with just long wires for his body, a metal skeleton of his previous appearance. “Yes…an old time co-worker of mine. A clown of an imp named Blitzo. He and his sisters were once part of a circus act called “The Amazing Imp Siblings. A bit dowdy if you ask me. ”

 Robo Fizz looked around. “Hahahaha! That was some chaotic fun. But now the park is ruined!”

 “I say, if I were you,” I told him, “I’d do all I could to get this park repaired and back on track. Costs a whole lotta money. The last thing you need is to have your boss disappointed in you.”

 A brief look of fear came on his face. “Oh yes, yes, good idea, Wally.”

 “And your friend…whether you upstage him or what, you’d best be sure Blitzo stays out of trouble. I lost my job and almost my life because of that fight!” My yellow eyes shined in a show of sadness.

 “I-I will not let master Mammon down…not that I have a choice.”

 “Let Asmodeus know what’s up as well.”

 Robo Fizz nodded, spun away and laughed. “Time to find that rodeo clown imp!”

0 0 0

 Later on after leaving Greed, I got a brilliant idea. It was after I saw some old fashioned 1800s snake man in Pride plow down buildings with a metal bulldozer vehicle. That was it! I could start my own business!

 I walked over to 666 News station. “Oh Katie,” I said in my sweetest voice.

 “What is it, scum?” she asked, sitting at a mirror and doing her hair. “Can’t you see I’m preparing for a back to back broadcast right now?”

 “I was considering doing my very own commercial about me exploiting…erm, employing other demons for my new factory.”

 Katie barked out a laugh. “Good luck with that, filthy old man! Now get out of my studio.”

 “Very well,” I said. As quiet as a hell mouse, I snatched a camera with an eye at the center and made my way out the door. The rest of the materials I needed came from a nearby junkyard. (Thankfully I avoided the wrath of some hungry kangaroo parasitic queen demon). I was running out of money fast; with no job around the corner, I figured I’d start my own!

 Even I don’t really know where I got my inventing skills from. Many say it was my natural trait. Others say I learned from other experts in the trade. After all, one of the quickset ways to a man’s wallet is through the latest technology.

 But I, Wally Wackford would not settle for your standard modern devices. No. I preferred to make things…well, wacky.

 In no time at all, I had built myself my own mini studio where I could film my commercial! Now, what to call my company? Hmm…

  The Onceler One In a Lifetime Opportunity? No, not enough Ws.

 Wowing Whimsical Wonderous Wonders? Nah, too many Ws.

 Ah…of course! What is a company if you don’t have your name on it?

0 0 0

“Uh huh, keep going, keep going, keep going!” Blitzo insisted at the I.M.P. office.

 Moxxie switched the channel again. This time, an imp appeared wearing a large black top hat, a white shirt and pants, gray vest, black bow tie and black boots. He held a cane in his hands and he also had a thin curly mustache. A mischievous grin of sharp teeth appeared on his face.

 “I say, I say!” the imp exclaimed, briefly pointing his cane at the camera. “Are you looking to get work making crazy contraptions and goofy gadgets?” “Crazy Contraptions” and “Goofy Gadgets” appeared in bold spiked icons to the imp’s left and right. The imp twirled his cane.

 “Well call me at Wacky Wally Wackford’s Wacky Idea ‘Factory!’”

 He pulled down another screen. The title appeared in bold red, gray and white letters surrounded by pinkish circles reminiscent of classic cartoons. “Factory” appeared in quotations. Wally Wackford appeared again.

 “Where you make the things and I make the money!”

 Wally Wackford then got up closer to the camera with a pleading look. “Please, I’m very desperate!”

 “Bingo!” Blitzo called, shooting and exploding the TV again.

 0 0 0

 It was actually really easy to find where Blitzo was and the new sinner inventors. The killing company of imps had me very curious. If they could start a business, why shouldn’t I? And being in the company of amazing inventors…

 I could almost see the soul dollar bills floating into my hands.

 I snuck up to the building, merged into the floor, eavesdropped on their fascinating conversation…

  0 0 0

Crash!

 A metal plank crashed into the room from above as Moxxie scurried out of the way. Loopty Goopty strolled down the plank. “Blitz!”

 “Loofa!” Blitzo called, saying his name wrong. “We can explain everything. I was…”

 Crash!

 Millie pulled Moxxie out of the way before another metal plank landed in the spot where he would’ve been. From on the floor, Blitzo’s butt was very much in view. Blitzo glanced down at him and remarked, “Oh chill out Moxxie, if you kiss my ass any harder you’ll go right inside me.”

 Moxxie turned beet red in the face and scooted further back. Millie helped him up again.  

 “Thanks for saving me again,” Moxxie said. “I would’ve foamed at the mouth and maybe died again.”

 “Why would you think I would ever ignore you?”

 Moxxie shrugged.

 Just then, the demonic form of a man rolled down the plank. His body was black and spherical, with a mint green head wearing a black bowler hat on top. He had a large bushy light gray mustache and pince-nez goggles with dark red spirals on the lens like Loopty. His grinning teeth resembled piano keys.

 “Lyle Lipton?!” Millie, Moxxie, and Blitzo asked in unison.

 “I don’t understand,” said Millie. “We thought you went to Heaven.”

 Lyle Lipton chuckled. “Heaven?” He rolled toward Loopty Goopty. “You don’t make millions in technological advances in robotics by not experimenting on the poor!” He laughed.

 Loopy Goopty grinned as he unleashed his weapons in front of Lyle Lipton. “Finally! We meet again at last! Now that you’re dead, you have no money to keep from me!”

 “Well, I’m a better inventor than you!” Lyle scoffed. “And I’ll make the most money here first!”

 “Nonsense you no good son of a bitch!”

 “Tie yourself in a knot, loony Loopty!”

 “Roll in your grave, fat shit inventor!”

 “Two robotic inventors?!” called a nearby voice. A steampunk blimp hovered in the air and a well-dressed snake demon appeared from a hole in his ship.

 “Who is that guy?” Lyle Lipton asked.

 “I’m the one and only Sir Pentious!” he declared. Several Egg Bois were steering his ship. The eye on his dark top hat peered at the other sinners in curiosity. “With my dominating machines, I aim to take over all of Pentagram City!” Then he muttered, “The repairs were a fucking nightmare to endure.” He glanced at the leftover cracks and holes on the metal sides of his ship.

 “Oooh!” Loopty exclaimed in admiration. “I’ve only seen such inventions in old time history books. How long have you been here?”

 “Since eighteen eighty eight!”

 “Love the loopy numbers!” Loopty grinned, making three small eights with his contraptions. “I’m Loopty Goopty! Lyle is my could’ve been partner in crime but actually rival!”

 “When you’re rich as me, who needs a dead partner!” Lyle exclaimed.

 “You’re dead too, you know!”

 “Where did you cowardly sinners get here?” Sir Pentious asked.

 “Well we just got here,” Lyle called. “Experimenting on the poor made us millionaires! Just…be careful when messing with anti-aging machines. Made us both old.”

 “A machine that changes one’s age?” Sir Pentious pondered. “That could prove to be ussseful in the future,” he hissed.

 “Oh, you should join us, snake man!” Loopy suggested. “Or me, rather.”

 Sir Pentious briefly glared. “Hmm. While I’m perfectly capable of spreading my constrictive terror on my own…I suppose having some…lackey sidekicks would suffice.”

 “Don’t call us lackeys!” Lyle sneered. “And I’m not working with him!”

 “Maybe if we briefly collaborate as a team…”

 Lyle grumbled in annoyance.

 After a moment, Sir Pentious sighed. “Okay, you may join me, but…”

 He spread out his hood, revealing pink eyes. “Don’t even think about crossssing me.” He pulled his hood back. “Now go gather your contraptions and help me manage those scrambled fucking eggs!”

 A bunch of eggs in top hats and suits rolled out and jumped on the two inventors, who were stunned.

 Loopty then laughed evilly. “Inventors to inventors it is!”

 Just then, I popped out of the ground in the room.

  “Did someone say, I say inventors?! Name’s Wally Wackford, and I am lookin’ for creative new people to exploit! I mean employ.” I twirled my mustache with an evil grin.

 At last, a chance to expand my business of the mass production of robotic Fizzarollis! All of Hell will go crazy when they get a chance to buy all the sex robots, the merchandise, everything...and all to profit ME!

 “Everyone, stop fucking up my walls!” Blitzo yelled. “Moxxie’s gonna have to fix all this shit! Satan’s balls! First we deal with Heaven’s table-scraps, now this?”

 I smiled. “Well I guess you can say, you say, you have a holey operation here, Blitzo!”

 I slapped my knee and laughed at my own joke.

 “Get out,” Blitzo muttered.

 Soon I doubled down on the floor laughing. “Oh! I said, ‘o’!”

 Blitzo yelled, “No, I’m serious, get the fuck out!”

 Everyone in the room looked at Blitzo in shock and surprise.

0 0 0

 And then, that one other time where I helped host the Harvest Moon Festival Pain Games!

 Wally Wackford a.k.a. me…stood on the wooden stage, holding a gray microphone decorated with an eye in the center and small horns on the top. I wore my usual white shirt, vest, white pants and dark boots. I twirled my black cane and tipped my black top hat.

 I spoke dramatically through the microphone.

 “Welcome, I say welcome all to Wrath Ring’s annual Harvest Moon Festival! To kick things up, we have the great prince Stolas-a here to user in this here Pain Games!”

 Stolas took the microphone from me and chuckled in slight embarrassment.

“How kind, Wackford.”

 Stolas then addressed the audience. “Greetings tiny Wrath Ring imps. I hereby welcome you all to another year of celebrating the spoils of your labor that continue to feed the citizens of Hell!”

 A crowd of imps glared at him and several boos were heard. Many of these Wrath imps were impoverished farmers who lived on scraps, meat or good crops if they were lucky. The food they worked so hard to produce was consumed by royalty and those in the other Rings. But the reward for their work was being underfed, underpaid and underappreciated instead. The unbalanced cycle had lasted for generations.

 I, too, stared at Stolas with a glare in my eyes. That rich royal thinks he can parade around, doing whatever he wants. Well unfortunately for him, I have plans of my own. Once he sees what I’m capable of…

 He will know who really rules the roost.

 Stolas obliviously continued. “I’m happy to kick off the start of these games that will challenge the toughest imps to show their skill and dominance.” He did a little wave with his fingers. “Good luck to you all!” He noticed Blitzo in the crowd beside Moxxie and Striker and spoke lower. “Especially that sexy little one there! Yoo-hoo, Blitzy!”

 “Oh fuck me,” Blitzo scowled.

 A gun went off and the games began.

 The first event was the race. Moxxie was instantly trampled by the other racers.

 The second event was the high jump. Striker climbed over the high wooden ramp structure with ease and raced after Blitzo who jumped past him. Moxxie struggled to keep his balanced as he reached the top. He slipped down, trying to use his claws to hold on. He fell with a splash in a small puddle…and was promptly chewed on by a monstrous black and white shark with several red eyes.

 The third event was an event with rope. Striker grinned as he held a tied up Blitzo. Blitzo’s arms, legs and horns were all tied up. Moxxie gulped as a stronger grinning imp tied him up with ease.

 The fourth event was tug of war. The crowd cheered as the two teams pulled hard. Striker, Blitzo and Moxxie were on a team. Moxxie stumbled and fell into nearby water, where the shark attacked him again.

 The fifth event was mud wrestling. Blitzo and Striker grinned as they wrestled each other, Striker getting the upper hand as he held Blitzo down, arms locked. Moxxie was instantly crushed in a football hurdle by a group of imps. As they got off of him, Moxxie sat up. And the shark leaped out of the water and over the fence.

 “Mother fucker!” Moxxie screamed as the shark crushed him. (Moxxie somehow survived all this.)

 I hopped back on stage.

 “I say, I say for the first year ever, we have a tie, for the winner of the Harvest Moon Pain Games!”

 Stolas took the microphone from me again.

 “The winners are…Striker, and my darling Blitzy!” Stolas did a one-legged pose as the crowd cheered.

 “Just say my name right!” Blitzo complained. He muttered “Fucking dick,” as he and Striker walked onto the stage.

0 0 0

After the event, I noticed that I.M.P. and Stolas had left. After sharing an undiscernible look with Striker, we parted ways.

 I soon returned to a special place in Greed, tired but determined. I walked alone down dark hallways, torches burning green flames on either side. I wagged my pointed red tail.

 I pushed open the double doors and came across a marvelous sight.

 Gold. Heaps of it, just shining brightly all around the vast spacious chamber. Gold pillars held up the cavern-like ceiling, a chandelier made of bones and diamonds hung from above. There were chests of necklaces, precious gems, goblets and weapons of every shape and size. Hanging on a far wall, concealed in shadow were angelic weapons…at least half a dozen.

 I stared around in amazement. Even Lucifer would be surprised if he could see this place.

 I raced around and tossed the gold coins into the air. In a craze, I rolled around in a nearby pile of green dollar souls. With a grin, I stood up and stared with pride at the grinning face of the jester printed on there.

 A face confident in his ability to deceive others, pursue wealth and bask in endless entertainment.

 The grinning face was all too familiar…

 …because it was my face.

 Wally Wackford leaned his head back, mouth open in a high pitched shriek as dark magic flickered around him. The imp form fell and morphed into shadow. In the imp’s place, a large black beast with thick fur, razor sharp claws and red eyes decorating the body. The figure stood up on two powerful furry legs and sat comfortably in a giant golden throne that occupied the center of the chamber. Angular jester clothing of red, gold and purple stripes adorned the wolf body. And finally, a large spiked black crown sat atop the dark loopy jester hat with bells at the ends. A white and gold jester face showed sharp white teeth and glowing yellow eyes. Dark clawed hands juggled fresh demon skulls into the air and popped them into his large mouth. He crunched loudly before swallowing every bit.

 My imp disguise was perfect. Literally no one else save for Robo Fizz and a few elites knew who was underneath. And even then, my magic was so powerful it could easily confuse anyone around me.

 Being an imp has its advantages; you can travel anywhere and gather information along the way. You can track imps from a killing company and find out where they’ll likely travel to next. You can affiliate yourself with your own robotic creations, some slave imps and succubi…and then in your own form, work with a fellow Deadly Sin on the next stage.

 A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

 Funny, really. Wally Wackford could easily be a separate being, born into poverty, learning to scam others at an early age and go up from there. I, however, didn’t need to learn anything…deceiving others and attracting material wealth was a natural talent. As was shapeshifting.

 Lucifer might not be happy with me coping his idea of a theme park…but business is business…and in Hell, anything goes.

 That incompetent prince Stolas would be dead soon enough. No more Goetia showoffs to get in the way of my rule and reputation. At least the prince’s wife was rightfully concerned with maintaining tradition that has existed for centuries. Aside from my dear friend Lucifer, I was, and should be, the most powerful being in Hell. I’ll keep exploiting those I choose because money is money.

 Those I.M.P. assassins have no idea who they were dealing with.

 I let out a crazed evil laugh, intermingled with a wolf’s howl. With a single touch of my hand, my nearby scepter turned into gold. I admired its shiny flawless sheen. Asmodeus, Leviathan, Lucifer, Satan, Belphegor, Beelzebub and myself…the Seven Deadly Sins…circus-loving rulers of the Overlords and in charge of maintaining chaotic order in our respective Rings.

  I, Mammon, had much to do.

[a-forgotten-spirit]

Love Isn’t An Illusion (4)

Pairing: Todoroki x Bakugou, Todoroki x Reader x Bakugou, VERY SLOW BUILD

Summary: Training with the class, dealing with Mineta, waiting for parents and then studying with the class. 

Words: +-6500

Warnings: bad parents, the video about saving Stain, training, using reader quirk during training, Mineta, changing rooms, tight clothing for hero costume, making an illusion in the boys changing room to yell at Mineta, talking to Todoroki, crying, sad, fighting with parents, slight breakdown, excessive/destructive studying, being yelled at by parents, anxiety, depression, not sleeping.

Tagged:  @kittycatspervertedheart​ @lemorrite​ @gwendlynn​ @marleps​ @thicctati2​ @saitamastamaticsoup​ @succulent-momma​ @aurorahoneybuns​ @imjusttireddudes​ @misconceptualised​ @ochabby​ @katsukisuwus​ @gayverlinq​ @star-witchs-blog​ @fallbb123 

A/N:  I wrote this for the fans. I do not own My Hero academia or the characters, I don’t own most of the plot for this story, I had watched the show and re-written the dialogue and plot as if the reader was the main character. Everything is centred around the reader. Please comment, makes me happy. Ask if you wish to be tagged. 

Masterlist

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

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Chapter 4

The week was over, though I hadn’t slept in days. Stain and I’s conversation running through my head like a mantra, I heard some of my other classmates had helped in areas around the city, I was happy for them. I didn’t want to go back to school, not while I was like this, coming home was nothing major. My parents ignored me still caught up about how I hadn’t gone to those interviews, not that I cared for what they thought anymore. I know I wasn’t meant to use my quirk without permission in school or out of school for that matter but as I walked through the school I made it seem like I wasn’t there. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had gotten messages and a few calls from Deku but not right now. 

Coming into the room I sat down making sure to not bump into anyone and listening to everyone's conversations. Both Sero and Kirishima were laughing at Bakugou, from what I had heard he was interning at ‘Best Jeaniest’s’ agency number four hero was extremely impressive. They were laughing at his hair, slicked down and neat, not the usual explosive hair he had. I thought it was cute but I did much prefer the raging hair, it suited him far more than this. 

“Stop laughing, my hair has gotten used to this and I can’t get it back the right way. Did you not hear me, I’ll kill you both” he was shaking as the words grit out of his mouth, I couldn’t imagine just how much product was in his hair right now. His hand was open and ready for one step too far from the boys and I was sure he would kill them. 

“I’d like to see you try pretty boy” Sero laughed out, mouth open wide and eyes bulging from his head. It was nice to know Bakugou did have friends, he may be very high and mighty but I couldn't imagine other people in the class saying those things and getting away with it. 

“What did you call me” and just like that his hair was back and spiky as usual. I liked his spiking hair, going in every single direction and not caring for looks. Even though he suited the style. My hand came to lightly play with my hair H/C locks smooth and silky to the touch. I don’t think I could pull off that hair but it was nice to look at, I wonder what it felt like. He seemed to take immense care of himself so I didn’t doubt his hair would be skipped. 

“Awesome, you got to face actual villains. I’m super jealous” my eyes moved from the still laughing duo and an angry screaming Bakugou to Mina. She was smiling and looking at Jirou, she helped those people in the hostage situation I had heard.

“Well, I didn’t fight. All I did was help people evacuate” I was going to speak up but my voice was caught. She shouldn’t belittle her internship, it was a lot to even do that. When you’re in such a situation, you do what you have too even if it is only escorting people to safety. “And provide logistical support” it was still more than some, she should be proud. Her voice was quiet and she was playing with her earphone jack, twirling it around her finger. 

“Still sounds like so much fun” Mina was leaning over the table as she called this fact out. She was always so happy and upbeat. I wondered what that felt like, to be so excited for like and things. Sure I was excited to be a hero but with that conversation still running through my mind, it was still a lot to take on. 

“I spent the whole time training and cleaning the ship deck,” Tsu thought out loud, her finger placed against her chin as the two other girls listened in. “Oh there was this one day we caught a bunch of drug smugglers,” she said it so calmly that I almost laughed. The two girls seemed to freeze, mouths open and shocked looks. “What about you Ochako, how was your week” when I turned to see Uraraka tense and looking ready to fight I too stopped in my tracks. 

“I’d say it was very enlightening” her voice was so cold and I swear to whoever could hear me she had this menacing purple glow around her. She was in a fighting stance then began to punch the air. She must’ve had a very good week if she was so in the zone on a Monday morning. 

“I think she found her fighting spirit” Tsu croaked out. I couldn’t agree more, she looked so ready and I wished I could have seen her train. Maybe joined in, not to say my training wasn’t enough. It was more than enough, Snipe and I bonded and got to know each other. I hoped he would still like me later on down the track for more internships. 

“Yeah, that battle hero must have been something else” I had to agree with that statement. He seemed nice enough even though Gunhead was a big guy and the name suggested a powerhouse. I had spoken to him and he seemed kind and compassionate, just what Uraraka needed. 

“After one week she’s like a totally different person” Kaminari pointed put hands out on the table and looking to be leaning away from where the girl was punching the air, the aura still moving around her. She wasn’t different, just more focused I thought. 

“Different. Don’t be fooled Kaminari” Mineta waved his finger back and forth in front of them but then, his eyes widened and he licked his lips a scowl coming to face “All women are demons at heart they just hide their true personalities behind pretty faces” he whispered out. His teeth were chattering and he was shaking?

“What did Mount Lady do to you” Kaminari questioned, gripping the smaller boys arms in a firm grip bringing him back to reality “Everyone at my internship loved me. It was kinda great” I enjoyed my internship even with all the inconveniences and the little mishap partway through the week. “Now if you wanna talk about the ones who changed was those three” Kaminari pointed to Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki conversing at the back of the room “and Y/N” 

“Oh yeah the Hero Killer, did you guys see the video that kept getting taken down. Y/N saved him” Sero pointed out, Bakugou having a tight grip on the boys collar his other hand occupied with Kirishima. 

“I’m glad you guys and Y/N made it back alive. Seriously” Kirishima sighed out, he looked so calm even though Bakugou had him by the collar though he didn’t seem to be short of breath so he wasn’t choking him which was good. 

“I worried for you too” the soft voice of Yaoyorozu spoke out, everyone moved to the back of the classroom and I was nervous someone would bump into me at my desk, no one did. 

“It was a good thing Endeavor showed up and saved you guys. Y/N too, her quirk is super powerful. I saw that she stood between Midoriya and the Hero Killer” Sato's voice seemed to be deep but also light in a way. Strange but I liked it, it was calming. 

“So cool” Toru wiggled around, her clothes moved as she moved her hands. Her voice sounded like she was interested and seemingly up to date on the topic. It was hard to gauge an emotion or expression with no face to look at. “Just what I’d expect from the number two hero” even though he had done nothing and it was all a cover-up, not that they could hear me. 

Todoroki’s eyes fell just as his head did “Yeah, that’s right” he wasn’t very good at lying, he looked uncomfortable and on edge. He had to learn how to lie properly, no one batted an eye but I could see the truth. My heart fluttered knowing I could see the difference. “He saved us” no he didn’t but, just something they had to let go. I got videoed and we couldn’t lie about that. Plus that mysterious video someone taped and posted. 

“Did you guys hear the news about the Hero Killer” my ears perked and my eyes left the dual coloured ones of Todoroki and turned to Ojiro instantly. What was he talking about, what news? Had he broken out? “Everyone has been saying he’s somehow connected to the league of villains” I froze, he couldn’t be right? He seemed far to prideful to work with them. He was on a mission, he went on about ridding the world of fake heroes, he wouldn’t associate with them but then again the Nomu were there at the same time. “Can you imagine how frightening it would have been if that creep was there when they attacked the USJ” I didn’t want to think about it if I was honest. I didn’t like thinking about that day. Though he only went after heroes, I don’t think he would have done much damage to us more so the teachers. 

“He’s scary, yeah but, did you see him in that weird video” again the video was brought up. I hated that video, it showed me helping him. My ear to his chest and then as I tried to help him. I had watched it so many times, every time it came up I watched it at least five times. Not that the real thing wasn’t constantly playing on a loop in my head. “It’s all over the internet. Stains’ a pretty evil villain but super tenacious, he’s almost kinda cool don’t you guys think” Kaminari pointed out. No, no I didn’t think that at all. He was crazy, totally and utterly bonkers. Mnirodriya called his name and it seemed to snap him back “Oh dude” his mouth was covered as he looked to Iida. 

“No, it’s fine. He is quite a tenacious villain. I understand why people might think he was cool but, instead of helping the world his views lead him to cold-blooded murder. No matter his motive killing cannot be condoned” Iida was right, it doesn’t matter your views or thoughts on anything you can’t kill people and everything will be fine. That’s not how the world works nor should it would like that at all. “To keep anyone else from suffering like me. Well” his arm was up straight and his voice rose to shout the next words “I promise, I will strive to be the perfect hero” I was glad he was getting back to his normal self again. He looked up to his brother so much, so many people did. 

“Speaking of recent events. Where’s Y/N she’s usually here before most people” Kaminari voiced and then looked around as did everyone. I sighed and let the illusion fall, all eyes turned to me instantly. “Wait have you been there the whole time” he shouted. 

“Sorry” I whispered and looked down scratching the back of my head, “Said recent events were quite a lot and it’s taken some time to” I paused and moved my hands around “Accept them” I saw a few nods. 

“You were in the middle of the city fight, weren’t you. I saw the videos of you taking down the Nomus’” Jirou turned and smiled. I nodded slowly and then came the yelling. Mina hadn’t seen the videos and was yelling that she was quite jealous of my activities. 

“Yeah, I was Snipe’s sidekick for a week. I told all the heroes that wanted me. I wanted to be treated like a hero not a tool for a week” again more yelling and questioning. Most said they thought I was kidding when I left the first time. I couldn’t blame them. “I trained and went on patrol. Even keeping a villain alive, it was a long week” I closed my eyes and smiled. No one other than the three boys at the back of the room knew I had, had a personal conversation with the said villain. I wanted to keep it that way. 

“Well now everyone. Class is about to begin” Iida shouted and I mouthed a thank you, I was met with a firm nod. I didn’t want to talk about it, it was quite a lot to deal with especially alone. I would manage. Everyone made their way to their respected seats quickly still quietly chatting away. Though Iida continued to shout. 

We were asked to change into our hero costumes and I was so excited. Sure some had seen it but I loved the new look. The iridescent colours and smoke looking mask. I loved it all. All Might was teaching us today and I smiled walking out of the changing room. I got a few looks and I walked down to the training area, my hips swaying and a smile on my face. 

“I am here” All Might shout loud and clear for everyone to hear, his hands on his hips. I hoped that one day I could shout something like that and everyone wouldn’t be scared. Everyone would know I was there to help. “I hope you are ready to return to lessons. Today it’s hero basic training, it feels like I haven’t seen you in a while” he wasn’t wrong it had been quite some time. A week at least though I had spoken to him once when I was dropping off something at the end of my internship. “Welcome back. Now listen carefully to what’s in store, we are going to be conducting a little race. Taking everything you’ve learned from your internships and applying it to this rescue training” he explained. Rescue training I admit was important but I didn’t like it at all. I wasn’t good with words and people annoyed me quite a bit but it was part of being a hero. 

“If it’s rescue training shouldn’t we be at the USJ instead” Iida yelled hand straight in the air. He still had bandages on and the memory that he might have permanent damage ran through my mind. He was always so confident and pointed out things, I had to thank him some time for talking so much that the teachers didn’t pick on me. 

“That facility specialises in disasters. As I said earlier this is a race” the way he spoke those last few words, head tilted down and smile wide I got nervous. Were we racing him because if so, I was going to quite enjoy making myself invisible and running away? “So prepare, you are about to step inside field gamma. Inside is an area full of factories, an intricate labyrinth. Good luck finding your way around. You’ll be competing in groups of five, each group starts on the outskirts of the model city. I’ll send out a distress signal and you do what you must to come to save me. Whoever finds me first, wins. But try to keep the property damage to a bare minimum please” I laughed lightly as his eyes changed from looking at all of us to only looking at Bakugou who was now looking away a scowl etched on his face. His quirk was strong, very strong but his quirk was also destructive which was a problem.

“Tch, why are you pointing at me?” Bakugous’ voice was low and croaky. He was offended by the poor thing. He was looking away not even bothering to make eye contact as I smiled laughing silently. I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of his anger. 

“Alright first group get to your places” and then we were off. Splitting up. Deku, Sero, Mina, Iida and Ojiro. The rest of us were moved in front of a TV screen where we could watch the playthrough. I had to learn everyone's attacks and weaknesses...for future reference of course. 

Everyone began to talk about who they believed was going to get to All Might first. Sero was at an advantage of simply being able to go over the buildings. Mina couldn’t destroy a lot, Midoriya I wasn’t too sure about. Ojiro could jump around and Iida was fast so they all had fast quirks. This would be something very interesting to watch. 

I ignored what everyone was saying. I needed to pay attention, I had to watch them closely in case they made us do it again and we had to fight them myself. I needed to watch them. Once it began Sero was the first to fly off, just like I predicted above everything. Then Mina skidded along the top of the buildings, she was fast. Ojiro on his tail and then Iida running along the ground. This was going to be a race of speed not so much anything else. Then out of nowhere came Midoriya, quick and jumping around on top of everyone. He looked like Bakugou and bit and from the angered look on his face he knew it too. Then he fell. The match was over quickly, Sero won just like I said. He knew his quirk too well and the fact he could easily maneuver through the place was definitely on his side. This was important to remember all their strengths. 

I was in the last group. I was up against Bakugou, Todoroki, Uraraka and Tsu. We were on the outskirts and I smirked. This would be easy, when we were allowed to go I watched as everyone began to quickly run off to get to All Might. I looked at the Camera and waved, then sent out an illusion, Cameras could only see the illusion. 

“Where did All Might go” I was running along a bridge to his spot, quick and fast. “Dammit Y/N” I could hear Bakugou yell then more explosions. The rules never stated I couldn’t use my quirk to confuse them. I was running full speed as I ran towards All Might who was smiling at me. 

Jumping down I let the illusion fade and down I was in front of him as the others landed and I got the sash. “Your quirk is so good” Uraraka looked down painfully her arms swinging by her sides as she sighed. “I thought I had a chance” 

“Sorry” I called out and leaned to one side. I could see the angered face of Bakugou as I smiled at him, he huffed and I shrugged. “I like to win” was the last thing I said as the class was over. I let everyone walk along another bridge with me so they didn’t have to walk the whole way to the entrance.

Jumping off I was met with congratulations, soon after we were sent to the changing rooms. I stretched as I walked, my hips swaying. An unfortunate side effect of wearing a skintight suit. I sighed out bringing my arms down and rolling my neck. I had gotten complimented on my new outfit and I flushed instantly. Sure I expected someone to notice but the way Toru went on about how pretty it was and how good I looked, then Mina and Tsu added in their thoughts and then it was all the girls. I couldn’t help but blush. 

In the changing rooms, I was getting undressed when I saw all the girls crowd around a little hole. I tilted my head walking over as I pulled my skirt up to my legs not having put my shirt on. I watched as Jirous’ earphone jack went straight through the hole. I could hear Mineta talk about what he wanted to see and I grimaced. I was guessing Jirou hit something at the scream we all heard. 

“Thanks, Kyoka” Toru spat out. I was so disgusted that the little pervert would try something like that. I could hear Iida going off at him and I didn’t think it was enough, he shouldn’t be in this course if this is how he acted. Jirou had her hands around her body as if to somehow cover herself. 

“Despicable, we will close up this hole immediately” Yaoyarozu huffed out, she had a very angry look on her face and I was sure my face mirrored hers. I was pissed, how low did he have to be to try something like that. 

“I’ll have it closed, for now, you can get changed Jirou. He can’t see in” I was met with a smile and then used an illusion to block the hole. “Just give me a moment” I whispered and then heard a scream as an illusion came into the boys' locker room, I could see if I wanted to but instead I only created the illusion. 

“You are honestly disgusting” I looked to Mineta, the illusion was clothed, I made sure to put that in as I looked down at the boy who was still standing in front of the hole. “If you ever try something like that again, I will personally make sure you know the full extent of my quirk” with those words the illusion faded. 

“Good one. Can you see through it” Uraraka asked and I flushed immediately as I moved to place on my shirt. I wasn’t looking at any of them and I couldn’t blame her for asking. 

“If I think hard enough yes. But an illusion isn’t me so no I didn’t see anything though I would have liked to do a bit more damage than yelling if I'm honest” I smiled and heard a group of laughter as I buttoned up my shirt before tucking it into my skirt. The skirt was shorter then I would have liked but that was a price I had to pay by not trying it on before I bought it. It was of a decent length and no one could see anything but paranoia was a key factor.  

-

Soon it was the end of the day and I was off on my way home. It was afternoon as I walked out of the main building and looked at my phone seeing a message. “Picking you up, wait” that was the only thing my mother had written. I was going to tell her not to worry but I knew it would just lead to drama and most likely another fight. Moving to a side bench I sat down and then waited. I continued to wait and wait and wait. An hour and a half later I was now staring at the parking lot waiting for my mother to arrive. 

“Y/N” I heard and turned and saw Todoroki standing behind me, book bag in hand and staring at me confused. I looked to Todoroki trying to see any emotion “Why are you still here, school ended hours ago” he commented. I could ask him the same thing. 

“Oh, well, you see” I stuttered, should I lie. Should I say I'm in an after school group, no he might ask which one. He could see my hesitance and my words fell “My mother told me to wait” I whispered and looked down to my phone. All the messages were delivered but none had been replied too. “I’m sure she’s just caught up with something” even though I could hear the lie in my tone. 

He heard it too as I nodded and looked back to my phone “Do you want me to wait with you” I felt like my heart stop. He was so nice, yet so quiet. I had seen him lose his cool though, at the hospital. I moved to meet his eyes “I’m happy too” he spoke as I looked down again.

I considered it, it was lonely and I needed to make friends. What was I thinking, I softly shook my head “No” I breathed out, licking my lips, shaking my head as I fakely smiled “No, it’s ok. You go home” I tried to smile again but it was small and didn’t reach my eyes. 

“Are you ok?” he asked and I tilted my head confused “You’re crying” I paused my hand coming to my eyes, I was indeed crying. Tears fell down my face as he moved to sit next to me. I quickly wiped my eyes. 

This was so embarrassing “I’m so sorry” I whispered trying to desperately stop crying in front of him. This was extremely awkward and my eyes hurt a little after as I rubbed them harshly. “It’s just been a long week is all” I smiled. 

“There’s no need to apologise. It’s ok to cry” no it wasn’t, it was not ok to cry especially in front of a classmate you’ve had one conversation with. I was so embarrassed I could feel my hands shake, I put them in my lap so he wouldn’t see. “You don’t have a good relationship with your parents do you” I looked at him quickly, he had a face as he understood and I sighed out and nodded. “I don’t either” he was always so honest not thinking twice about his words “I saw how your mother treated you after the festival” I nodded slowly. 

“Yeah” I whispered dismissively “She’s just got a lot on and is always busy” I rubbed my shoulder subconsciously “She doesn’t mean it, I don’t think” my fingers dug into my skin as I nodded and tried to hold back my tears “She’s just” I paused and then let the air leave my lungs. “Her”. 

“My dad isn’t the best” he admitted and I nodded agreeing. We spoke for a while, just talking and getting to know each other. It was fun to just talk to Todoroki. I found out he likes Cold Soba and wants to be the top hero to throw it in his dad's face. 

“You should head off, it’s getting dark and I don’t want you going home when it is dark. My mother will be here soon, I'm sure of it” a little bit more persuading and he was off walking out of the school. Teachers left as I sat there and waited. 

It was dark now and I was running low on battery as I tried to pass the time. I wasn’t worried as I was still on school grounds though I was getting angrier by the second now that most of the parking lot was empty. Then after almost four hours of waiting her car shows up, getting into the car I notice new nails and dyed hair. 

“Did you go to the salon?” I asked as she began to drive off. No, I just hadn’t been paying attention right? I looked back seeing bags in the back seat, she just grabbed a few things earlier today on her break. Yeah, she wouldn’t make me wait four hours for no reason. 

“Yes and” she commented brushing her hair behind her ear. We made it out of the parking lot as I was trying to reel in my anger, I could feel it rolling off me in waves. I was about two seconds away from losing my mind. 

“So you made me wait at school for four extra hours, when I could've gotten home by myself, to what” I began throwing my arms around but making sure to not go on her side. I may be angry but I didn’t want her to crash. “Piss me off. Why would you make me wait if I could’ve just gone home” my voice was loud and I was yelling. 

This started an argument, both of us yelling and her making excuse after excuse for no good reason. “I had shit to do Y/N” that didn’t excuse it. I hadn’t asked her to pick me up. I was fuming, my eye twitching “Besides I’m doing something nice for you, be grateful” she snapped her hair beginning to move. 

“Grateful” I whispered “Grateful” I screamed, we were at a red light as she turned to me “Be grateful for having to wait four hours. My teachers and peers are looking at me in pity. Be grateful for you not talking to me for a week, what else should I be grateful for” I yelled my hands rising above my head “Please enlighten me” I finished and her hair was now moving around in the air, she was pissed but by god, I was about ready to pull the car onto the other side of the road. She turned to the road ignoring me “Wow would you look at that” I commented.

The rest of the drive was silent, as soon as the car stopped I grabbed my things opening the door and then slamming it harshly a loud bang is heard and yell from my mother. I opened the front door and my dad was angry already. How amazing. 

“Where have you been?” he shouted and came to stand in front of me, chest puffed and nose flaring “I have been waiting for hours. No message, no call. Who were you with” I was about to talk when he stomped his foot “Tell me this second”

I was past my caring limit, past angry and past hysteria. I was so livid “Your wife made me wait at school for four hours while she went out shopping. If you were so worried, message me yourself for a change” as she walked in the door bags in hand I growled as she too began to scream at me. “Enough” I screamed and shook the house. My quirk running into my voice, both stilled. “Enough. I’m over this, I have had an extremely long week and I don’t want to deal with the two of you right now” with those words I stormed to my room. 

Putting up a sound barrier, my quirk did work wonders sometimes. I screamed. I screamed and screamed and screamed. Placing myself into an endless box, I flipped and broke things that came to mind. When I was a little calmer I let the box fade as I sighed out. My room was fine, no damage done. I was livid, I was over this house. Over my parents caring only for themselves. I couldn’t bear it. I had to calm down. I had to be calm. I sighed and then got changed into something more comfortable. 

Falling onto my bed with a huff I was glad I had locked the door as I was not in the least bit presentable at this given moment, hair a mess and only wearing a jumper and underwear with socks. I hadn’t studied at all today, lifting myself from the bed I moved to my desk getting my books and pens ready. 

I had muted the class group chat but when I got a notification on it I knew someone had said my name. Putting in the thumbprint I moved to look at the message. It wasn’t just me, it was ‘@everyone’ Kaminari was asking for help. Within seconds he had gotten a few replies. I was the top student in the class, something I had to keep. 

Putting on some light music I hummed along while I studied. Pages upon pages as I sat at my desk, the music changing and shuffling. I made sure to put on the ‘Calm’ list when studying. Mellow music with calm beats and slow lyrics. I loved it, it helped to stay focused. I skipped dinner, something I had been doing the last few days. When I considered myself done it was well past midnight and I knew I had to awaken in only a few hours. I had been overworking myself the past few days both physically and mentally. 

Getting up from my desk I stretched my back and then turned off the light. Heading to bed for at least a few hours. This routine went on for a while, I was getting more and more tired. I was showing up on time but later and later until I was walking in with Aizawa. I was using all my effort to participate and pay attention in class. I had helped Todoroki and Midoriya study a few times, Kirishima, Sero and Kaminari tagging along then it turned into a half a class thing. 

“Y/N you have such neat notes” Kaminari complimented and with hooded and under shaded eyes I thanked him. I helped whoever needed it, I began talking to them more often and even Bakugou had tagged along. I ended up helping him a few times even though I played it off as he was helping me for the others. 

“How does someone have the mental capacity to take these kinda notes in class and then study” Mina called out throwing her arms in the air and her head falling back with a cry. I was sitting next to Bakugou and Todoroki, I should say in the middle of them when I received a call. 

I didn’t even look at the caller as I tiredly answered “Hello” it was silent for a few moments as I yawned and held the bridge of my nose. I could see everyone being quiet as I waited for a reply. 

“Where are you” came a scream and I could see I was getting a few stares. With a confused glance and pulling the phone from my ear, I looked at the caller ID and saw it was my mother. I nodded slowly and put it back. “Answer me” she screamed. 

“I am at a study group with people from my class” I answered calmly, I didn’t have the energy to deal with her today. I hadn’t slept in days and my anxiety was through the roof at this point. “I told you I was going, you said and I quote ‘I couldn’t care less’” I didn’t care who could hear I was tired and on my last brain cells of living. 

“Don’t expect me to pick you up” she shouted, it sounded like she was in the car. I put my hand up to the class and stood, stumbling over a little way away from the table to have this conversation somewhat private. 

“I didn’t” I answered and leaned against a wall, not quite able to hold myself up at this given point of time. I sighed out and rolled my eyes as the yelling continued. 

“What time will you be home” as I was about to answer I heard a beep “Idiot” so she was driving, I rubbed my eyes just trying to keep them open. “Answer me” another scream and I pulled the phone away from my ear for a moment to not go deaf. 

“When it’s over, I have keys. I always have keys” I answered softly. If she even cared a little she would be able to hear just how tired I was and how much I wanted this conversation to end. More screaming. “I need to go” then all went silent. 

“Whatever. You know what, whatever. Do as you wish, as per usual” then she hung up. I pulled the phone away looking at the call symbol disappear and sighed. I ran my fingers through my hair. It was only just after dinner, I could go home but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her but I was so tired. I had to study, I sighed, I had to study. 

Now I was angry, walking over I threw my phone on the table with a loud bang, not caring for the device at all as I grabbed my book and began to write. I was writing so fast, I was so mad, so burnt out. I was writing science formulas and going down the page as I changed colours and wrote my notes as I usually did. 

“Are you ok?” Kirishima asked slowly and I looked up, eyes lidded, the bags beneath my eyes felt like they were pulling my eyes down. I nodded with pursed lips “You don’t look ok” he added and I heard a few agree. 

“Just a normal day, nothing to worry about” I whispered and I could see the worried faces begin to blossom. I didn’t like the attention and swallowed, I looked down and saw all my calculations and noticed I had done an entire science calculation in anger. A hard one too. Dropping my pencil I rubbed my eyes. 

“When was the last time you slept?” Sero asked his smile fading but teeth still showing. Now everyone seemed interested in this question, I too was interested in the answer. 

I thought about it “Monday” I said questioningly “I think I slept on Monday. What day is it” I asked and looked down, it was Thursday. “Saturday I had an hour, I think I had about half an hour Monday” I answered and nodded “Or was that the Saturday study breaks” I whispered and shrugged “I don’t know” I answered. 

“That’s not good” Bakugou spoke in a calm voice. I turned to him and nodded slowly. My eyes closed for a second and I shook my head to bring myself back. I could hear people saying I should go home and sleep, eat something. “You haven’t been eating either” Bakugou pointed out. 

“I have to study” I swallowed and all conversations died down. I shook my head “I can’t fall behind” I whispered and I felt the air get sad. I began to highlight and write and the conversation came back into the room. Laughter and other things. I sat in between Bakugou and Todoroki just doing my work, helping them a few times before returning. It was well into the night when we all departed. I was packing up my things as I almost fell over being caught by packing up Bakugou. “Sorry” I whispered. 

I watched as people watched me stumble out of the room and then down the hall. I accidentally bumped into Aizawa who was holding papers and almost fell over again “Y/N” he asked and I was off again down the hall.

The next few days began the same until Monday morning when the class ended. I was having trouble staying awake through the whole class but I had to pay attention to every single second. I didn’t have time to fail. I needed to do this. I needed to pass, I needed to do well. I could only sleep on the day of the exam. 

“Alright, that’s it for today, you only have one more week before the exam” I was smiling ear to ear, I could sleep. One week, I had to sleep. I had to be fully rested for the exam, I was so tired. “I’m sure you’re all studying constantly, right?” I nodded. Yes, yes I was. “Don’t forget to keep training, the written exam is only one element” no sleep for me then. I had been training but not enough, I had learned skills but I needed to put them into action. I had to do well, there was not an option for failure. “There’s also the practical portion to worry about. Good luck” and with those words the door was closed and my anxiety shot through the roof.

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Chapter 5

[k-liight]

it's been a hell of a long time since I did OC stuff, but here at last is my full cast for Warlock Enterprise! and by full cast, I mean all the characters that are at least somewhat important to the story. lmao there'll be other characters that are just kinda there for maybe like two seconds, and I may add more characters to the actual plot in the future lol. but this is everybody for now! I'm gonna ramble about them all like I usually do with my OCs so if you're interested keep reading dflfjbhgfdkgjs (also note that I made some major design changes to most of these characters LMAO)

Richard Duchaes is the confident dad who comes from a long line of demon hunters going way back into the early medieval times-- pretty much as far back as warlocks even existed in this universe! he can be quite goofy at times, but don't mess with him or his family unless you wanna see him go into angery papa bear attack mode. he's a very powerful warlock and wants his son Mason to even more powerful one day. he's very outgoing and supportive and likes to incorporate witty banter into his battles. Denise Duchaes is the sweet yet badass angel mom who can also be very goofy despite her magnificence. even around other transcendents, she'll keep in her human form, because her true angel form can be quite overwhelming. she's 90% pure light and can bend light rays at her will-- a master illusionist. when alone with her family, she'll carry herself in a dimmer form of her true self so as to not blind them-- that form is translucent and makes her look like wispy smoke. she's very protective of her children, but also likes to embarrass them both, as moms do, haha. Mason Duchaes is of course our hero, a young warlock who dreams of following in his fathers footsteps, but he's rather shy and a little bit behind in magical development. he has a degree of social anxiety making it hard for him to get comfortable around people, but he's very devoted to his family and very protective of his little sister Kalisha. he's down-to-earth and no-nonsense, but he knows how to have fun and it's very easy to make him laugh. he might get insecure of himself at times, but he's very determined to achieve his goals no matter how long it takes. he's more of a left-brain thinker, very logical in what he does and is able to make calculated decisions quickly. Kalisha Duchaes is Mason's adoptive younger sister who's extremely excitable and energetic to the point where she innocently thinks being in danger is fun. she's kind of a mystery baby, her transcendency is unclear and her parents have no idea where she came from. she was found in the woods at a mere three years old and the only thing she remembered was her own first name, and when Richard and Denise couldn't find her birth family, they took her into theirs. now, Kalisha is happy with her family and is eager to join them in the long line of demon hunters. she's quite pugnacious and enjoys fighting demons. she's a tough little rascal that gets right back up when she's knocked down. Amy Stilton is Mason's best friend and magic partner who's also here for a good time and has the unique ability to telepathically communicate with animals. Mason's parents discover that Amy is half-transcendent and half-banal, which is a big no-no in transcendent code of conduct. she also has no idea who her own father is, leading them to believe that her father is/was a transcendent who broke the rules. similar to Kalisha, her transcendency is unclear, so after Mason partners with her and dubs her an "honorary warlock", Richard and Denise set out to solve her origin mystery. she has ADHD and is thus a very creative right-brain thinker to balance Mason's logical demeanor. she's very energetic and emotional, and while she gets easily scared fighting demons, she can channel that fear into good fighting tactics. Sasha Stilton is Amy's aloof and standoff-ish mother who only shows her emotions when she wants to. she's rather trashy and sleazy, but she's also very mysterious in her ways. she smokes a lot a wears too much jewelry and makeup, but she's sympathetic as a minimum-wage worker and single mom. she seems cold at times, but she has instilled a great sense of responsibility in Amy. Maureen Burgstaller is Amy's best friend alongside Mason and also doubles as her school tutor. she's very smart and academic, but she's also sporty and loves working out in her free time. she's a star student and a loyal friend who has known Amy since they were knee-high to a grasshopper and helps her work with her ADHD. she's great with kids and wants to be a teacher one day. Edward Copperton is a wise and friendly old chap who's still very strong for his age and owns the local transcendent tavern, The Waning Gibbous, as well as the head of the area's Warlock Enterprise (which is where the name of the story comes from hollaaaaaa). he exudes kind grandfather vibes and shares mutual respect with Richard and his family. he's very fond of Mason and Kalisha and becomes a sort of mentor to them both. he's been worn down from years, no, decades, of fighting physical and emotional battles, but he is able to take something good from all of his experiences. he's rather prophetic due to his age, but never overbearing. Lucy is a bubbly and cheerful witch who loves good times and all things cute. she's extremely friendly and devotes herself and her magic to helping others. she herself is very cutesy and takes pride in being girly and powerful both. her magic is strong, but her passion is even stronger, and she can cast complicated spells with ease. Lora is Lucy's dark, evil twin sister who is much more stoic and unfeeling than her other half. she frequently teams with demons to get what she wants, but she doesn't strike a fair bargain and is very selfish even to them. despite her cruel nature, Lucy holds no hard feelings towards her. Quentin is an evil warlock and Richard's arch-nemesis since high school. he's very cocky and outgoing, and almost campy in his speech, but paring that with the many lives he's taken makes him all the more twisted. he's over-confident and has a dark sense of humor. he's very violent, but doesn't like getting his hands too dirty, though he just loves pissing Richard off. Kyle is a lowly demon and Quentin's acolyte/scapegoat. he's practically a slave to the evil warlock and is far too weak to rebel against him. he's extremely shy and unsure for a demon, and doesn't even like too much violence. he has a Stockholm syndrome towards Quentin because he believes he's the only one who sees the demon's potential. Grent is a smaller but much stronger demon who frequently annoys the other villains, intentional or not. he's incredibly obnoxious and doesn't seem to know when to shut up, which frequently gets him in trouble (not that he'll ever learn his lesson). while he is powerful, he tends to overshot himself, especially if it's to impress a clearly uninterested woman. he's obsessed with jazz music and thinks he's hot shit, but he's really not. Lady Ultimatum is a rouge vampire who feeds off others' fear. she has built her entire identity to being as terrifying as possible, and loves scaring people into eventually letting her get her way. she's a gambler, but she doesn't play fair at all. if she tries to strike an unfair "bargain" with you, you can turn her down, but over time, you'll be tormented in your nightmares by all your worst fears and eventually become so paranoid that you give in and accept her offer just to make it all stop. she's highly feared and loves every drop of it. Felix is a Norwegian hudrekall who works as a bartender/waiter at the Waning Gibbous tavern. he's very soft-spoken, but is also quite a flirt, and always pays a compliment where he can even when he's not flirting. nearly everyone is attracted to him and he knows it, but he doesn't let it get to his head and is very humble about it. he's sweet and soft, but he definitely has a mischievous side as well. Ildiko is a female warlock of Hungarian descent and Lucy's girlfriend. she's much more intimidating and less bubbly than her beloved, but she's very much a gentlewoman. she's been through a hell of a lot and has the battle scars to show it, plus the horrific marks of a severe burn to her lower face and upper torso which she covers. she's tough as nails and doesn't fuck around, making her well-respected in the Enterprise. and last but not least, Uriah is a new character added to the line-up; he's fun-loving twenty-something warlock who uses his magic in very creative ways. he has a natural ear for music, and likes to use soundwaves from his mixtapes to his advantage. sometimes he can be a bit naive, but he's still a valuable member of the Enterprise. he quickly befriends Mason and becomes like the brother he never had. damn, it took me like two hours just to type up this description XD but I think that's it for now! hopefully I can get back into the swing of OC stuff, especially for this story flbfjgkljds

[cherriipeachcreme]

Witch’s Heart + YTTD Crossover AU

I’ve mentioned that I was coming up with a crossover AU involving Witch’s Heart and Kimi ga Shine for a while, and here are some of the details so far! I really liked coming up with ideas for this. More info including potential spoilers will be under the cut.

!! Please read my links before you interact!!

The setting may take place in a fictional island region containing both Eastern and Western elements. It is set in the modern era but may have more old-fashioned things mixed in. I’ll be sure to do research on this to keep things accurate.

Main Characters:

Claire Yabusame; Claire with the Reko’s role. A cheerful, friendly woman with a love for music. She was adopted by an old couple, and has spent much of her life helping others and following a music career. “The Witch’s Heart” is one of her favorite book series’, consisting of many different stories. She enjoys both punk things and girly things.

Noel Egokoro; Noel with Nao’s role. A kind, polite artist who has an interest in astronomy. While he seems mysterious to many people, he’s very attached to his friends, such as Claire, Sirius, and Professor Mishima. He often sleeps more during the day and is active at night.

Sirius Yabusame/Gibson; Possibly Sirius with Gonbee’s role? A short-tempered man who highly admires and respects Lady Dorothy, a well known witch. He seems to know Claire but doesn’t say much about it. Although he prefers to keep to himself, he can show kindness to others at times.

Shunsuke “Shun” Hiyori; Ashe with Sou’s role, but more similarities between the two are mixed in. He comes across as friendly and laid back, but also keeps his distance from others except those he’s closer to. His hobbies/skills include reading, cooking, and computer hacking. He doesn’t trust witches, and seems to have an ulterior motive involving the mysterious “game.”

Wilardo Satou; Wilardo with Kai’s role. A quiet person who doesn’t say much about himself, but is willing to work with the others to escape the “Sacrifice Game.” He had found a job in helping people with housework and flower arranging. He often doesn’t show fear regarding the monsters that roam around the building.

Keiji Shinogi

Kazumi Mishima

Gin Ibushi

Kanna or Hinako (+ Kugie or Anzu)

Qtaro or Naomichi

Demons, floormasters of the games;

Giselle/Zizel Sue-Miley [The Laughing Demon]; Giselle with Miley’s role. An elegant but sadistic demon who enjoys the killing/sacrifice games and tormenting others. She doesn’t care much for their lives and finds their reactions amusing. She seems to be following her own agenda alongside Rouge.

Charlotte Rio-Ranger [The Fashion Demon]; Charlotte with Ranger’s role. A cruel demon with a fairly childish disposition. She also enjoys the suffering of others, having a very low view on humans, and speaks in a rough tone. She likes fashion and works with Lime.

Lime Tia-Safalin [The Crying Demon]; Lime with Safalin’s role. Despite her title, she shows a relatively cheerful and peppy personality. She’s mainly in charge of the facility’s medical office and offers hospitality to others. She also likes to surround herself with lavish things. However, she has a dark side which shows her true nature. She mainly works with Charlotte.

Rouge; One of the floormasters who is working with Giselle. She’s also very narcissistic and sadistic.

Nicholas Egokoro [The Receptionist Demon]; Nicholas with Gashu’s role. He is first referenced in a newspaper article Shun found. Once the governor of a town, he became a researcher of negativity, especially since that is the specialty of demons.

The prologue shows Claire having a dream of her childhood with her close friend. After that, the story begins with a scene of her returning home after exploring the mountains and finding a field of flowers. It starts to rain and eventually she falls unconscious, awakening in a mysterious building/facility. (Not sure how exactly this would go yet)

She and a few people face a “First Trial”, running into many strange monsters and having to fight them off. They succeed, and while trying to find an exit, they fall and find themselves in the main floor with everyone else.

There are windows in the facility, but while peering out they realize that there is no way out and they are all trapped. They must learn more about the mysterious “Sacrifice Game”, and try to survive.

The Sacrifice Game is revealed to be run by the demons, who claim that the winner must also discover the legend of the Witch’s Heart.

~ Spoilers Ahead!! ~

The characters must help various demons with side quests. Doing so will help them with exploration and finding clues within the building.

“Shun’s” real name is Ashe Tsukimi. He deliberately joined the Killing Game because he wanted to grant a wish with the Witch’s Heart. However, when he was told he has a 0% chance of survival and granting his wish, he chooses a new name.

He hates witches because of the rumored connection to them with someone who betrayed him in the past and killed his family.

Nicholas was an evil man and Noel’s father. He turned his townspeople against witches, and raised his son to become an assassin. Although he’s already dead, a doll replica was made of him in the facility possibly using demon magic and advanced technology. His doll along with the demons value negative things since they are contrary to positivity.

During his childhood, Noel was not used to things such as love and friends. When meeting Claire and Sirius, he realizes what affection is like and highly values their friendship.

Demon magic and technology was also used to create doll and AI replicas of the participants, and analyze their lives as if they’ve been studied for years.

The legend of the Witch’s Heart involves finding a gemstone made of crystallized blood and making a wish. Claire possesses the Witch’s Heart, which is her literal heart. She is the granddaughter of the witch Dorothy.

Wilardo was in search of a way to get rid of his immortality, as he became immortal due to contact with the Black Lily. But upon finding the facility, he realizes that he gets in the Death Game.

Charlotte and Lime are Hater Demons; Those who were previously human but due to tragedy and negative emotions they became demons after their deaths. Giselle and Rouge are Purebred Demons, those who were demons their entire existence. They are quite prideful of their status.

When Charlotte became a demon, she developed strong jealousy and an inferiority complex toward humans, which is the reason of her disdain toward them. Realizing she was a tool for war throughout her previous life fuels this hatred for humanity.

The real reason why Lime is the “Crying Demon” is because of her cruel past. For her entire human life she was labeled as a “witch,“ and had no freedom and dealt with abuse along with other witches. She swore revenge by cursing/hexing everyone in her town during her death. She wants others to suffer as she did, and is searching for someone who is just as miserable as her.

The demons have been around for thousands of years, while Wilardo has only lived for centuries.

[teddystrap]

[神なる君と] Osananajimi Duo - Yakumo

Second route of the game. #mfw ==== (ง•̀_•́)ง‼

*

-Takekiyo Yakumo-

Niiiiisssssaaaannnnnnn!!!

Yakumo is the other osananajimi of the trio. He is one year older than Sakuya and Narumi, and acts as the protective big brother - when they were young, some older kids took Sakuya’s *precious amulet*, and Yakumo went to get it back from them and got beaten up really badly. 

Sakuya later tells him that at that time he seemed like a ‘hero’ and she had always looked up to him. So I guess there’s like a love triangle (...love flowchart??) that goes: Narumi --> Sakuya --> Yakumo since the very beginning.

Also early on in the story, Yakumo tells Sakuya in a ‘simulation event’ that, even if he loved her, he would never confess and they can never be together, because it would end in tragedy. Pfffft whatever nii-san, that just means I will have to make the first move *evil laugh*. 

My feelings during his route went from hilarious, to sad, to finally disconcerting. He’s kind of a poor bastard and MIA in half of his own route. When I finally got the the two endings I wanted to throw my game console out of the window... (╯°□°)╯︵ ԀSԀ

Yes, exactly.

Aaanyway, there are two big revelations here:

1. Aki’s backstory: Kibi Aki is the 16-year-old spirit medium sent by the Ministry to spy on monitor Kunihoshi Shrine, because Mikoto forgot to send in his report (#justMikotothings). After Sakuya accidentally fucks up one of her assignments, it’s revealed that she actually comes from a renowned onmyouji family, and left home to train under the ministry at a young age in order to prove herself.

2. Kunugi’s backstory: Kunugi is the shape-shifting demon who stole the *magical seal* that protects the town, and Aki’s target of investigation. I didn’t expect to like him at first, but his tragic romance is pretty kewl I have to admit:

Kunugi was a douchebag since birth and terrorised the village so all the villagers hated him. One day, a girl named Yuki wandered into his territory. She was a grade A-level village idiot idiot, and after 3 days of trying and failing to find her way out, he gave her some food and water so she wouldn't die on his grounds. She was very grateful and started to get close to him. She also begged him to stop terrorising the village. Eventually she annoyed him enough that he agreed.

Then gradually, he began to help the villagers here and there, and even became friends with them. One day they wanted to thank him for his help. They gave him a small wooden box, and told him it was some kind of national treasure. Just then Yuki intercepted, and the box emitted some light beam that went into her body.

After that Yuki got progressively sicker and on the brink of death. Out of anger and confusion, he tried to destroy the box, but it's more sturdy/fireproof than an LV tote bag. Eventually she told him that the box contains a cursed rock (i.e. the remains of the Great Demon), and once every two hundred years the village has to offer a human sacrifice to prevent the curse from escaping and causing disaster. This time the villagers chose him, so she gave her life to save his...

Kind of hard to imagine how she fell in love with this (ahem *Aki*)... hopefully a few hundred years ago he took on a sexier appearance...

But I digress. Let’s get back to Yakumo XD. So his deal is basically that the Takekiyo bloodline has been chosen as the human sacrifice every 200 years. As a result, Yakumo is inflicted with a curse that puts him to sleep for longer and longer periods, until he eventually goes into a longggg sleep and never wakes up. This also explains his superhuman athletic abilities and sixth sense, because the Force be with him powers of the Great Demon live within him.

Early on in the common route, he occasionally says things like, ‘you must live on happily when I am gone’ and gives Sakuya a #sadface, like someone with a terminal illness. Eventually Sakuya finds out the truth from his parents, after which he couldn’t hide anymore, and starts to reveal all his fears and doubts, as well as his feelings for her.

As it turns out Yuzuru knows a way to break the curse, but it requires putting Yakumo into a coma for years, and there’s a good chance of death. Basically the supernatural equivalent of a high-risk medical operation I guess. He has until the hoshimatsuri to decide whether to take a gamble with this method, or let the curse continue slowly chipping away at his lifespan.

...Of course he chooses the former. You’d be an idiot not to.

1. Good End: It’s been 7 years (!), and he still hasn’t woken up from his coma. According to Yuzuru, 5 years is the ‘safety period’, and after that he’s as good as gone. Sakuya doesn’t give up, and **10 years later** (#tumbleweeds) he finally wakes up on hoshimatsuri night. They go on to have a baby who looks ridiculously like Yakumo ...and will probably be affected by the same curse...? Oh well let’s hope Yuzuru is still alive by then to do his thang.

2. Tragic End: Under Yuzuru’s advice, Sakuya gives up and lets him erase all her memories. Yakumo eventually wakes up after 10 years anyway, and it sucks for him because unlike in Narumi’s end, Yakumo still remembers everything and has to live with it for the rest of his life. Like I said, poor bastard...

Understatement of the year.

*

[Thoughts] Somehow this route felt shorter and less tearful than Narumi’s, maybe because I got used to the general setting and gameplay. Yakumo’s ema events feel like they came out of a shounen manga and had me in stitches the whole time. I can’t recall any other otome game that made me laugh this much (...except maybe 「私のレアルは充実している」).

What I like about this route is the added tension here compared to Narumi’s route: in Narumi’s case it’s pretty obvs that he has a crush on Sakuya. He said it himself that he’s never viewed Sakuya as a sister from the beginning. So on that front there’s no doubt from his side, his whole conflict revolves only around the ‘forbidden love’ aspect.

Whereas with Yakumo, when he shows hints of feelings towards Sakuya, they’re often ambiguous between the actions of an older brother towards a little sister vs. a love interest. That made it all the more exciting.

Also apart from the curse/risk of death and that stuff, Yakumo also had his ‘manly pride’ to reckon with - letting Sakuya see his weak side and realise that he’s not always her ‘hero’. It was pretty damn emotionally satisfying when he finally came clean about his secrets and started letting Sakuya into his world. Although, much of his later dialogue is pretty cliche tbh. I actually found his baka persona more interesting. But eh.

I guess it’s this pride of his that makes it necessary for Sakuya to be an adult here. Whenever his white lies or ‘fake cheerfulness’ made her angry, she had to learn/choose to coax things out of him gently instead of calling him out on it. Conversely I felt that with Narumi she was more direct, and had more leeway for wagamama.  

The Aki/Kunugi story arc was a high point of the route for me. Aki’s background helps to explain her personality in so many ways. I love her character growth and development here, as she eventually learns to accept help from other people, instead of trying do everything by herself. Ahh... her whole story strikes so many chords with me. I also love how she got her own grand love story here.

(Part of me is curious if the Aki-lookalike and Kunugi’s ‘true form’ will make an appearance later on. It’s a long shot, but let’s hope!)

This route also revealed a lot about Yuzuru, whom I’m liking more and more and whose story I’m really looking forward to... I thought I had more to say about him but nahhh. Asshole who’s a secret softie at heart <3.

I’ll sign off this post with the following pun from Genpei which I thought was pretty cheeky -

[tisthenightofthewitch]

LAUGHING WITH THE DEVIL • GHOST PREPARES TO RIDE A PALE TOUR NAMED DEATH THROUGH SACRAMENTO

When I was a fourth grader, a friend of mine got me hooked on Iron Maiden’s Live After Death. Sure, there was a zombie looking dude on the cover that kind of creeped me out, I figured it was harmless fun. A cousin of mine found out I was listening to heavy metal and freaked out on me. She told me it was the devil’s music and I was going to go to hell or something for listening to it. I don’t really remember the whole thing because I was, like, 10 and it was the ‘80s, and she freaked me the fuck out. Turns out that traumatized me more than any Maiden song ever did. I thought about this while I was coming up with questions for the following interview with Tobias Forge, frontman for Swedish metal band Ghost, who has tapped into that whole satanic panic thing and ran with it. Heck, it’s even earned him a Grammy.

Ghost released its debut album (Opus Eponymous) in 2010, but no one even knew who was in the group—at least officially—until 2017. Forge, Ghost’s sole songwriter, had his identity revealed when former bandmates filed a lawsuit against him. The ex-band members claimed they were owed profits because Ghost was a collaboration, whereas Forge saw the band as a solo project with a rotating cast of players. After our interview, on Oct. 17, a Swedish court dismissed the lawsuit, ordering the ex-band members to pay Forge’s legal fees, according to Blabbermouth.net.

Prior to his legal battle, Forge was known as Papa Emeritus I, II and III, the skull-faced anti-popes who front Ghost’s band of Nameless Ghouls. For the band’s latest album, Prequelle, which was released April 2018, Forge has taken on the mantle of Cardinal Copia, who looks sort of like a demonic Tony Clifton. The album is loosely based on the Black Plague, which ravaged Europe during the mid-14th Century. The lead single from the album, “Rats,” is a driving, arena-sized rocker. Its corresponding music video is as whimsically choreographed as it is gory. These things may seem contradictory, but Forge probably wouldn’t have it any other way.

Your stage presence is pretty theatrical. Are rehearsals for your live show more akin to, say, those for a Broadway show, or do you focus primarily on the music? We tend to focus more on the music. I’m not a super-fan of rehearsing [laughs]. It’s hard to summon the spirit to appear when there’s no smoke machine on and when the lights are different. I tend to find those sort of rehearsals are more for muscle memory, in terms of just making sure I can sing a certain thing … Especially when you’re rehearsing a new set, because this time around we’re going to change up the set a little and at least try to play a few songs that we haven’t played before, and you always want to try that … More than often, there’s a reason for a song not being played, and it might just be that it doesn’t work out very well. It’s hard to play, and you never really get that vibe going. The placement of the song in the set is very important. Like, OK, we’re going to try this song after this one now and see if the energy is right. It’s a little bit more mathematical and in a sense more scientific, whereas once you do the first show, that’s when you go into the role a little bit more, and it gets a little bit more magical or whatever.

Is there a particular song that you’re looking forward to playing live for the first time? Oh … aaaahhhh … I don’t really want to give it away right now! There may be a song on the list right now that we end up not playing. Let’s put it this way, there are some songs from the new album that we haven’t played before, and also there are some songs that we’ve played in the past, and other songs that we haven’t played from previous albums that we are considering playing. But again, you need to play them together and try them out. The real test is trying them in front of an audience. There have been songs throughout our tours that I thought were going to be really good to play live, but then once you play it, it just does not fly because the crowd isn’t responding very well. It doesn’t mean that they start booing, but you notice that it goes down in intensity … or you see people lose their interest, or that’s when they all of a sudden go buy beers.

Does that take you out of character when you’re on stage? You have the music, which is awesome, but you also have the visual component that goes with it. Is that part of why the setlist is so important? Oh, absolutely. Sometimes, I guess people, especially nowadays, people have a tendency to watch live shows beforehand on YouTube, and some people want to know the setlist beforehand, which I strongly recommend people not to. There’s a reason for a setlist being the way it is. As much as I admire Bruce Springsteen for taking requests, basically, for us it does not work like that …

In my perfect world, I’m a little bit of a … what do you call it? I like comfort in the sense that preferably, I’d like to play the same set every night and get better at performing it that way, because you know how to distribute your energy so that by the last couple of songs, which are our most intense … You need to sort of sit on energy to make them explode.

It’s interesting to hear that you look for comfort in your live sets since you change your persona every album. Is that something that’s difficult to juggle—comfort versus not wanting to repeat yourself? When it comes to certain aspects, yes. When it comes to the live show, I think, let’s just say, most bands throughout rock history have found their form at some point. And then, after you’ve found that form, you don’t want to change too much. If that form has taken you to a certain plateau and that has given you a certain amount of success, that will be what people expect of you and that will be what you’re comfortable doing … However, what we do intend to change up, what will always change, more from a production point of view, is what we wear, what the stage looks like, effects and props and actors or whatever. One easy example of what I’m talking about that we should not do is that over the years, ever since Papa I became Papa II and onwards, there’s been a little vocal minority that felt that Papa I was menacing and evil, and they wanted that menacing evil to stay and any animation that went beyond that rigor mortis that he had was selling out or whatever. The thing is we can never return to that. That worked because we played 30 minutes in the dark, basically, with all fog on stage. That worked because you saw very little. But we can never go back to that because we’re playing big places now. We’re playing for two hours. You need animation. You need things to happen.

I watched the webisodes for the Prequelle album, and what struck me most about them was how funny they were. I liked that there was a sense of humor to them and not just all grim and foreboding. Is that something you enjoy playing with, too? I don’t want to say absurdity, but maybe the campiness that’s always been the backside of horror. Absolutely. I think campiness—for the lack of a nicer word for it—is very much in line with the trashier nature of the culture that is horror. I’m a big fan of kitsch. I’m a big fan of trash culture. For some reason, there’s a minority of people who tend to think that the devil and death metal and all that shouldn’t be in any way about humor. Even though, believe me, I truly admire and I really appreciate a good dose of serious, orthodox darkness as well, but for me, looking at it from a philosophical point of view, laughter and satire and comedy is very, very against establishment, church, conformity. For me, humor and comedic elements is, for one, very natural for me. I like things that are in one way or another comedic. But I think if there was an argument for the campiness overshadowing the seriousness that should be satanic metal, I definitely beg to differ. No, no, no, this is very blasphemous, because it’s about laughter. Laughter is the work of the devil. Remember The Name of the Rose? According to old ways of Christianity, laughter and comedy were definitely the work of the devil. I think this is in all aspects utterly blasphemous from that point of view. But, at the end of the day, I’m a big culture fan. I love kitsch and having fun and living my life and filling it with as many enriching things as possible. I think a lot of the things I find rewarding and pleasant in one way or another are represented in what I’m trying to do with Ghost.

Prequelle is sort of a modern re-telling of The Black Plague. How do you think that period of history relates to now? I’m talking from a Westerner living in a Western world perspective—we tend to talk about our contemporary time as being almost pre-apocalyptic. We tend to talk about the world as something that’s about to end. Of course, from an environmental point of view, maybe it is. I do not know, but maybe it is. But there are a lot of people on this earth who tend to persevere. We will probably do whatever it takes not to melt the ice, eventually … Maybe too late, but whatever. The thing is, the world has come to an end many, many times. In the 1340s and 1350s, people thought this was the end of the world. I’m sure that people in places other than the Western world are facing the end of the world. We all know that in Syria, millions of people were facing the end of their world. Looking in hindsight on The Black Plague in the 1300s, we know that it wasn’t. We had the 1400s, the 1500s … way further than anyone in the 1300s could ever imagine. I think especially now in modern days, we tend to pride ourselves in thinking, well, there’s nothing new to say, there’s nothing new to write. I think we overblow our significance and also the ultimate nature of the day that we’re living in. Who knows, maybe in 20 years, we’ll look back and say, “The 2010s, wow, I’m glad that’s over.” Like, look at a presidency. It’ll end after a few years. It’ll change. Things fucking change. They always do.

That’s an oddly hopeful message from the leader of a satanic metal band … It’s there to shine a light on the idea that things do change. Even though Prequelle on the surface is a record about death and dying, it’s actually a record about survival.

SubmergeMag.com

[gold-from-straw]

Consequences - ch 3/3

How Cuba went down in the Consequences ‘verse... especially tackling Charles’ STUPID ‘just following orders’ comment! I hope you like it ^_^ Thank you so much for all the love this has had! This has been the first full fic I’ve written for this ship and everyone’s so lovely! I’ve got another story to come soon, the chapters will be a lot shorter but there are more of them. Thank you!

There was something different in Charles now, a resignation. He was quieter, even with the children’s training, spoke less of morality and the greater good, and when Erik narrowed his eyes at that realisation, he simply sent an image of his stepbrother being led off into one car to return to California while his stepfather carried on into New York city without a backwards glance. Who am I to speak of ethics? he asked softly, and turned to walk away.

Erik followed him, caught up with him in the corridor outside the study and pushed him against the wall, kissing him breathless. “You’re the only one I’d listen to,” he answered, and lifted him up, breathing kisses into his neck as he clung to him like he was drowning.

They lay close together afterwards, not bothering to emerge for dinner, wrapped in each other’s arms until the sun rose on the day they’d be flying to Cuba.

Charles flew with his jaw set, his eyes hard, and Erik was the one left to encourage the team, keep them calm and safe. He kept his focus on them, on the serenity needed to protect the children, both older and also so much younger than he had been when he first hunted down the same evil.

He faced Shaw. He heard Charles’ voice in his head, calming him, talking him down from the panic. I will not let you die here, Charles said, and Erik found his balance. He whipped the helmet away from his monster, felt Charles’ mind wrapping around Shaw’s, holding it in place while Erik drove the coin forwards, his mother’s brave smile at the front of his every thought.

As the coin burrowed into Shaw's skull, Erik thought he heard a truncated scream of pain .But it was gone in an instant, and he kept his focus, driving the coin through and out, ending it. He almost slumped when he saw Shaw’s body fall an empty, lifeless thing with no more power than a stuffed animal, and for a moment hysteria overwhelmed him. Was this it? Was it truly over? How could that be possible, with him still living? Charles had told him, over and over, breathed into his ear, into his very mind as they moved together, as they played chess, as they handed each other coffee, he wasn’t going to let Erik die destroying Shaw, but… he hadn’t realised until now that it had all felt like a dream, an impossible wish.

He stumbled out of the risen submarine, met Charles’ eyes as he staggered out of the downed jet, and laughed. Charles smiled, his face tense, and Erik started forwards to him, and stopped.

“The missiles… they’re firing…”

“What?”

“Charles, check! They’re both firing, both navies.”

Charles turned to the ships, his face going slack with horror, and he turned back to Erik, speechless.

“Oh my God,” Raven said, almost under her breath. Moira raced back to the jet, screaming into the radio.

Erik felt the rage rise in his blood again, tipping the balance, only this time, the balance had shifted. Shaw was dead. He had done the impossible, and come out the other side, alive. He held up his hand as the missiles screamed towards them, and stopped them, every single one bobbing in the air, peacefully.

How dare they? How dare they try to take everything from him again, after everything he’d lost, everything they had all given to stop the annihilation of their world, and the humans had the audacity to fire on him? He turned the missiles, his focus complete, and every single one aimed itself towards its origin.

“Erik… Erik, please, no…” Charles’ voice shook, and he reached out to touch Erik’s arm. Flashes of panic started to come through. Going to die Someone save us.

Erik projected calm towards him. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to Charles, not to any of them. Our Father, who art in Heaven. “Please… oh God, there are innocent people on those boats!”

The panic rose as the missiles got closer to the ships, I’m never going to see them again and Erik wished, selfishly, please God let us get through this that he could block out Charles’ worry, my children, what will they do the way it was disrupting his concentration. Will she name the baby after me

He frowned, and several missiles fell into the water. “What?”

“They’re just oh God I should never have signed on following my little girl, only four orders will it hurt Erik”

And suddenly, I don’t think I can handle feeling them all die.

“What?” he said sharply, and all the missiles fell. Erik turned and grabbed Charles’ wrists, shaking him, and the skin contact made the voices flow faster are we safe oh my God my heart is it gone what are we going to do oh God please don’t let them tell us to fire I can’t do this we’re outgunned I just want my babies I just want my mother oh God, my head

“Charles!” Erik snapped. “Block them out, shut them down!”

“I… I can’t, it hurts!”

“You, Azazel,” he said, turning to the teleporter, held tightly by Hank. Like all of Shaw’s people, he had seemed to deflate when Erik had emerged unscathed. “Take all of us away - if you get us all to safety you can go wherever you like after that, I don’t care, just…”

He nodded, and everyone gathered together, linking hands. Erik wrapped his arm around Charles’ waist, held Moira’s hand tightly, and nodded. The beach disappeared in red smoke.

They appeared in a field, and Charles sighed, his tense muscles relaxing and slumping closer to Erik. Erik glared at Azazel, not willing to trust him yet. “Where are we?”

“Wisconsin,” Azazel said. “Am I free to go now?”

“He’s telling the truth, Erik,” said Charles, straightening up. “Although,” he added, looking from face to face in the Hellfire club. “You’re welcome to come with us, if you’re interested in a different path for mutantkind. One that doesn’t lead to a nuclear winter.”

“The humans obviously aim to destroy us,” Erik ground out. “We’d be better staying together, all of us.”

“Not all of them wish to destroy us,” Charles said softly, glancing to Moira.

Erik rolled his eyes. “Only the ones in power, Charles.”

Charles made a face, and rubbed his temples. “I’m too tired to argue.” He looked up at Janos, Angel and Azazel, shifting uncomfortably. It didn’t take a telepath to see their mistrust and confusion. “The offer stands. Stay as long as you like.”

“Why are you so trusting?” Angel shook her head.

He gave a false smile. “I’m a telepath. I don’t have to trust you. I know when someone means me harm.” His face hardened. “And you should know I am perfectly capable of protecting myself and those I care about.”

Angel stared at him, then nodded once, sharply. “I’m in.”

Janos shrugged. Azazel held out his hand. Erik held tight to Charles��� shoulder, just in case the teleporter had a trick up his sleeve, but Charles simply shook on the agreement. “If I give you the location of the mansion, will you be able to take us all there?”

He nodded, and the world disappeared once more, replaced by the lawn outside the Westchester mansion. Erik felt something under his ribs uncoil at the sight of the pretentious old pile. As if some part of his body and mind recognised it as home. Charles smiled tiredly at him, and at that, his entire soul recognised home.

They couldn’t simply collapse into their room as they both wanted. There were rooms to find for the new people, by unspoken agreement in a different wing to the current inhabitants of the house. There were ground rules to cover, and even, thanks to Alex and Angel, a screaming fight about Darwin, which resulted in both of them storming off in opposite directions, Alex down to the bunker to burn off some grief.

When Erik started noticing Charles wincing and rubbing his temple every time someone snapped or glared, he realised the steady migraine he was feeling wasn’t actually his own. He slapped some money in Sean’s hand, told him to call for pizza, and hauled Charles off to bed.

“I’m really fine,” he protested, which was clearly utter rubbish by the way he was rubbing his eye socket. “I should be there to keep the peace.”

“It’ll be good for them to sort out their own problems - you’re not their parent, Charles.”

He sighed and let Erik manhandle him into the huge, dimly lit room. “It’s only eight o’clock. Would you like a drink?”

Erik just shrugged and sat on the window seat, staring out at the dusk. Now that he was finally at rest, his mind went back through the battle. It had always been like this. He’d focus on the present until the fight was over, then, exhausted, he’d revisit it and dwell, and analyse.

It was a good thing. He always remembered more than he realised at first, and he’d learned new techniques and strategies from analysing his own actions after the fact. He was just a little surprised that it was hitting him while he was still in Charles’ company. He had thought it would wait until he was completely alone.

Now he revisited the beach, a fierce pride at having lifted the sub, irritation at having lost his focus and allowed Riptide to knock the jet off course. At least he had been able to stop Charles from tumbling around as they crashed, and he shuddered at how close they had been to ending the battle there.

The fight with Shaw drew out in his mind, every moment observed from every angle. Charles was right, there was no new peace to be found from killing the man, but he did feel like he could take a breath at last, his greatest demon vanquished, his greatest threat eliminated.

And then the nukes. He clenched his fists at his sides, the thought of those ungrateful, stupid humans turning their weapons on them - and Charles! Now, without the whirlwind of voices coming through from the humans’ minds he remembered what Charles had said, how he’d tried to stop him - ‘they’re just following orders’. How dare he? What was he thinking?

There was a clatter of glass on glass and Erik looked up to see Charles staring at him in horror, whiskey dripping onto the tablecloth. “Erik… oh my friend, I’m so… I can’t believe I said it like that, I’m so sorry.”

Erik raised his eyebrows as Charles approached him, his hands fluttering. “I’m sorry, I heard… my boundaries are all shot to hell since… but I’m so sorry for being so thoughtless!”

“Charles, Charles! It’s fine,” he said, standing and touching Charles’ cheek.

“It’s not,” said Charles, looking distraught. Erik could hear his regret, and a current of fear underpinning it, and he frowned. Charles closed his eyes, and the fear peaked. Stupid stupid careless insensitive stupid boy.

“Charles! Calm down, you’re projecting.” Charles gasped and opened his eyes again, and the sound cut off completely. So did the throbbing pain in his head. Erik had expected that at least some of the pain would have been his own headache.

He pushed it to the side for a moment, running his fingertips through Charles’ hair. “It was… a stupid thing to say,” he admitted, and Charles nodded, eyes damp. “I’ve already lost one family to men who were just following orders - and I know that’s all it is for some of them. They were just too weak, too scared to do what was right, so they did what was easy.” He pulled Charles close and kissed him on the forehead. “I refuse to lose another family to men just following orders.”

Charles whimpered and pressed himself close to Erik, his fingers gripping his shirt. “Erik, I know… I know you probably don’t want me anywhere near… it’s so selfish, but… please…”

“What is it, liebchen?” he asked, trying to pull back to look at Charles’ face.

Charles struggled against him, trying to press closer. “I… I need…”

“What do you need, love? Anything.”

Charles reached up a trembling hand to Erik’s temple. “Please?” he whispered.

Erik held his hand there and nodded. “Of course.”

Before he even finished speaking Charles was sinking into his mind with another whimper, and he gasped. Charles seemed to be completely immersed in him, his mind spreading out with a greedy sigh, tangling into his very soul. I’m sorry I’m sorry so selfish I need you, your mind, so safe, I’m so sorry.

“Why are you sorry?” he asked, with a little laugh.

 It must feel so invasive… I just… you’re my anchor. You feel so wonderful.

“I’m glad to hear my mind is comfortable. And it doesn’t feel invasive,” he said, wrapping his arms around Charles’ back, plastering him against his chest. “I like it.”

“You… you do?” So cool so safe doesn’t hurt any more

“Why was it hurting?” Erik frowned.

Charles pulled back, tendrils of thought going silent. Erik tightened his arms. “Charles,” he said, warningly.

“It’s fine, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Don’t lie to me, my friend. What was it? When you heard all the sailors?”

Charles shook his head, and tried to pull back again, but as he did so, a memory slipped out. A coin, a struggle to hold two minds, and a scream that went on and on.

Erik stumbled back, gasping, his hands pressed up to his head.

“Erik! Erik, are you OK?” Charles scrambled for him, touching him on the face, the head, the hands.

“Wh… why didn’t you tell me?” he croaked, his throat as raw as if it had been him screaming. “You felt Shaw die, you felt the coin… I hurt you!” His eyes widened with horror. “The scream that cut off, that was you!”

“I’m so sorry,” Charles said, his blue eyes rimmed with red and tears. “I never meant for you to feel it, I pulled back from you as soon as…”

“I don’t want you to apologise for that!” he shouted. “I hurt you, Charles, how can you be apologising?” He grabbed his hands, torn between shaking him and protecting him from the world. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have… I would have…”

Charles closed his eyes. “There was nothing you could have done, no other way for us to… to kill Shaw. And I know we had to, I agree with that. I told you I would take the consequences with you, Erik, and this was one of them. If I hadn’t been in control of his mind, he would have been able to absorb the energy of the coin.”

“You say you will take the consequences with me, but it seems like you’re unwilling to actually share these consequences with me! Charles…” he cupped his face in both hands. “Are you trying to punish yourself?”

“No! Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Because that would, truly, be ridiculous. Sebastian Shaw was a monster, who did his best to turn me into a monster just like him, and you do not need to force yourself to suffer for his death.”

“I’m not, Erik,” he said, sighing and slumping into him. “It really was the only way.”

“Then why, when you started feeling the pain, did you pull away from my mind? We were in this together, I would have borne the pain with you. I should have, as the one inflicting it.”

“It… it would have distracted you.”

He raised his eyebrows. “It could have distracted you, but you managed to hold him immobile the entire time. You may say you’re not punishing yourself, but I think you are. I think you’re punishing yourself for your stepbrother, as well.”

Charles seemed to give up, closing his eyes and looking wretched. “My stepbrother… I went too far.”

“He was hurting you. He hurt Raven. What were you supposed to do? Just allow him to do so?”

“I was stronger than him--”

“No, you weren’t. Your mind was stronger than his, it’s true, but you weren’t in full control of your powers then. You acted out of fear for you and your sister, and you stopped the abuse.”

“I went too far. I could have--”

“But you didn’t. You can’t punish yourself for that forever, you know.”

“I deserve to be punished for taking a life.” Charles was almost whispering now, and Erik wrapped his arms around him. Even now he could feel flashes of pain and grief and guilt.

“You know, you can come back,” he said softly, lifting Charles’ hand to brush over his temple.

Charles looked up in shock. “Oh, I’m sorry, am I… God, my defences are just shocking right now, I’m so sorry.”

“Stop saying sorry, Charles! I’ve said before, you’re welcome.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, looking up, deep blue glinting through black lashes. “I know it’s uncomfortable and intrusive, and--I just, your mind, it anchors me, I sometimes don’t even… I think my mind reaches out for yours without my intent.”

“I like it,” he shrugged. “I like the thought that I’m holding you in my mind. Protecting you.”

Charles stared at him for a moment, then surged forwards and kissed him, and their minds sank into each other at the same time. Charles sighed and went pliant in his arms, nuzzling into his neck, tendrils of thought twining around Erik’s, soft and peaceful.

“We’ll face it all together,” he said softly, stroking Charles’ hair, the strands matted with sand and sweat. “We’ll fight, and we’ll protect each other, and we won’t let anyone get away with treating us, or other mutants, like we’ve been treated. And we’ll face the consequences together, you hear? No more hiding the pain from me.”

Charles didn’t answer, but pressed even closer, clinging on, and in his mind Erik felt a whisper of yes, thank you, I love you. He smiled, and wrapped him in love.

[twoofcups]

captaindog replied to your post

“captaindog replied to your post “i can’t FUCKING wait for halloween...”

Honestly any! I’m always particularly hungry for ghosts and monsters but I like pretty much anything except shock torture stuff (like saw or audition)

honestly i Hate torture porn so much like...it sucks and it’s boring but i can break down a list! most, if not all, of these have very few jump scares because i fucking hate jump scares.  sadly i don’t have a lot of “the classics” on here because i JUST started being able to stomach gore, and a lot of classic horror movies are like ... incredibly gory so i still need to watch them. 

COMEDIES - horror comedies are honestly one of my favorite genres. most of these aren’t too scary, but they’re all very good. 

jennifer’s body- peak 2000s culture. we weren’t ready for this movie then, but we sure as hell are now. monster: demons. 

shaun of the dead - a STAPLE in british comedy and in british horror. monster: zombies.

little evil - a really heartwarming story about a real estate agent trying to bond with his new stepson, who is the spawn of satan. 1000/10 the most pure movie i’ve ever seen. monster: demons and cults. 

what we do in the shadows: aka queer eye for the vampire guy. it’s not really scary, but obviously it has spooky themes!!! monster: vampires. 

tucker and dale vs. evil: a classic story of misunderstandings, where classic horror stereotypes are analyzed from the other end. monster: some dumbass college kids. 

zombieland - an american CLASSIC. definitely a must-see for new horror fans. monster: zombies

housebound - very witty and creepy. makes you laugh but also feel a sense of unease. monster: ???? 

the addams family & addams family values - not scary, but definitely spooky and zany. i think this was really like...my intro to horror. i used to watch these movies over and over again in like...first grade and they’re v dear to my heart. i was wednesday addams for halloween in 4th grade and everyone thought i was a pilgrim and i was Enraged. morticia and gomez adopt me challenge. monster: DEBBIE. 

practical magic - because who doesn’t love cute little witchy romcoms???? we need more of them. where are they. monster: some dick ex boyfriend and witchphobia. 

HISTORICAL - period horror movies really butter my eggroll. they’re just really fun and they always have an added sense of creepiness depending on the era 

the conjuring series (the conjuring, the conjuring 2, annabelle, annabelle: origins, and the nun) - these films go balls to the wall because they’re based on the true accounts of ed and lorraine warren, a demonologist couple who performed exorcisms in the 50s-60s. obviously things are dramatized, but knowing that they supposedly happened adds an extra flair of creepiness. monster: demons and ghosts. era: 50s and 60s.��

bram stoker’s dracula - apparently, keanu reeves and wynona rider accidentally got married filming this and have just like been married for 25 years without realizing it. monster: vampires. era: 1800s? i think??? 

crimson peak - this movie is like the DEFINITION of slow burn horror. its attention to little details creates such an amazing build up, and then it goes balls to the fucking wall at the end. ALSO guillermo del toro’s ghost designs are so innovative and creepy. monster: ghosts. era: 1910s. 

the awakening - one of my FAVORITE historical thrillers of like...all fucking time. a woman who makes a living off of debunking spiritualists is asked to investigate a boy’s boarding school that’s dealing with a ghost problem. shit gets VERY real. monster: ghosts???? era: 1920s. 

the woman in black - oof this has EVERYTHING you want from a gothic horror movie. she has the vibe. she has the range. she’s a little slow moving, but not any more so than any other period drama. monster: ghosts. era: 1800s. 

pride and prejudice and zombies - the bitch goes OFF. literally just a retelling of pride and prejudice, but better, because there’s zombies. lena heady once again takes on her most famous role as That Petty Bitch. era: regency england (1770s ish?). monster: zombies. 

the witch - WIG !! this bitch goes off!! another historical slow burn, but this one really isolates you with its use of olde english. you feel unsettled by the vibe, but also because you feel like you’re in a different world and you don’t belong. monster: you’ll see. era: early colonial america like the 1600s 

FOREIGN - these movies left me SNATCHED from across the fucking globe. i need to watch more tbh 

train to busan - one of the best and most claustrophobic zombie movies i’ve ever seen. i highly, highly recommend it!! it just goes balls to the wall. monster: zombies.  language: korean 

the orphanage - up there with little evil on my list of pure horror movies. the ending made me cry happy tears. a very intriguing ghost-kid story done right. monster: ghosts. language: spanish. 

dead snow - love zombies??? hate nazis??? this is the movie for you. just like 2 hours or smth like that of good old fashioned nazi killing. also has a comedic edge to it. monster: zombie nazis. language: norwegian

les diaboliques - a black and white CLASSIC, and a mind-bending story of psychological manipulation and murder. so good that hitchcock himself said he wished he’d made it. language: french. era: released in 1955

PSYCHOLOGICAL - they just...fuck with your brain and really make you think 

the purge series - the purge series gets a lot of shit because it APPEARS as a hobbsian “people are naturally evil without order” fantasy, but it’s actually the complete opposite. the purge series is about a malicious government that creates a system of state-sponsored violence, where the wealthy + white are usually the ones perpetuating the violence, while poor people, people of color, and other minorities have to stick together to survive. basically the moral is that capitalism and wealth result in a lack of empathy. it’s VERY politically driven. monster: rich white people. 

get out - THE most innovative, mind-bending thriller of this fucking ERA. a fascinating, gut-churning investigation of racism in the modern age. . it’s just jaw-dropping. phenomenal. incredible. monster: rich white people (again). 

gerald’s game - HEAVY trigger warning for CSA, i’m gonna be up front with that. a woman is taken to a cabin by her husband on a romantic getaway. they attempt to do some freaky bdsm bullshit, and he dies of a heart attack while she’s handcuffed to the bed. she has to use her trauma, her hallucinations, and mental illness in order to save herself. monster: inner demons . 

MORE FAVORITES: 

world war z - just like...the most inventive and well-researched zombie movie i’ve ever seen. they hired real contortionists and dancers to play the zombies, and researched a virus found among ants that creates a zombie like effect. a very interesting and fast-paced take on the zombie narrative. also, those fuckers can RUN. monster: zombies. 

the babadook - gay icon. need i say more? (warning: a dog does die :( ) monster: depression. 

TV

the walking dead -admittedly i watched the first five seasons in a month and haven’t watched it since, but it’s phenomenal. monster: zombies and the governer. PEAK southern gothic. alignment: edgy bastard. 

ash vs evil dead - the goriest, crudest, and most disgusting thing i’ve ever seen, BUT if you can handle a ton of blood, guts, and other fluids, it’s really enjoyable. recommend watching the evil dead trilogy first, but you don’t have to as long as you know the premise. alignment: dumbass bastard. monster: zombie demons i guess? 

lucifer - not particularly horror, but still a paranormal show that’s here for a good time. the devil gets bored of being the devil and decides to solve crimes in LA. monster: i mean the devil i guess. alignment: edgy thot 

american horror story: oof this was where my real passion for horror started in high school!!! each season is different, but i highly reccommend the odd numbered seasons: murder house (season 1), coven (season 2), and hotel (season 5). asylum (season 2) is good too, but you don’t need to waste your time on seasons 4 or 6. i couldn’t get through season 7 because there was too much stuff about my phobia. alignment: edgy bitch. monster: EVERYONE. 

AND THERE IT IS !! a full, comprehensive guide for starter horror fans!!! i’m sorry this is so long kdjglkfdj i just really love this stuff. 

[randomnessunicorn-imagine]

♕ Cupfiction- The game of redemption- Second Part~ ♕

{ It's been a while since I've updated the first chapter. I wrote the first chapter of this fanfiction on November 25th 2017, last year and then I abandoned this story because I had no effort, and I didn't feel encouraged. So many months have passed and now I'm regretting it, so I want to try to keep on writing this story and I hope it can truly interest someone. Actually, it's also because of my mental lazyness I stopped it despite the fact I had the story in my mind and I know everything about it but I didn't find the spirit.

I hope I’ll be able to continue -- }

>>> FIRST CHAPTER <<<

Pairing: King Dice x Angel! Female! Reader

Rating: SFW (there will be harsh content in the future) and ANGST. 

⚜ DREAM ⚜

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek, A goodly apple rotten at the heart. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

―  William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice.

No one was able to distinguee dream from reality.

Dreams were just like an alternative reality where people were catapulted without their awareness. Someone was even able to tame dreams, those dreams that were called “lucid dreams”. There, the dreamers could do what they wanted. They could be who they wanted to be without rules or inhibitions because it was their realm. They were God in their dreams.

The reality Beatrice lived last night was so similar to a dream –or she should have said “similar to a nightmare” because it was terrible. She could still perceive the disgusting smell of smoke inside her nostrils. The sinister shadows that danced in the obscurity were the same she found in her own home because even her mind was tricking her and she saw mysterious figures as if someone was hunting her. This was only her imagination. The symptoms of her trauma.

It could be a dream or maybe not. It was still terrible and surreal. As surreal as a surrealist painting. As if she was inside a Salvador Dali’s picture and everything around her was enigmatic and mysterious. Creatures that did not belong to this earth chased after her: they wanted to feed themselves with her succulent flesh, sucking her blood. Their fangs were sharp and craved for her meat. She found herself in the Devil’s home, lost and scared without God, nobody could help her and now she was wondering if all of this was only a terrible nightmare or a cruel and merciless reality. Then, she remembered there was something even worse than this. The bet. That atrocious bet she did with him. A game of madness and immorality. She was forced to accept to save her protégé’s soul. If she wouldn’t have been such an irresponsible angel this would have never happened. Hers the blame. Hers the shame. The price she had to pay would have been very high if she would have lost his game. She would have lost her protégé and her own soul, too. She would have never gained her wings because this was another price. She was an angel without wings. Only three soul separated her from the realisation of her dream. Only three soul to redeem and then she would have been a real angel, gaining the respect she deserved.

Impossible was having a restful sleep after the atrocity she saw. She could not think to have been so stupid and naïve. Her pride blacked out her mind. Only now, she was realizing how she was weak and reckless for trusting the words of that scoundrel.  

The first thought that crossed her mind was calling her friend Markus who seemed having the solution at every problem. She grabbed her phone, composing his number. The phone rang three time but nobody answered her call. It seemed the phone line was disturbed and he only things she heard were feeble and disturbing buzzing but she did not understand where they come from.

Maybe it was only an interference and her mind was tricking her.

 “Help me…”

 Someone said. A voice in her head, maybe, or maybe it came from the phone but it was not his friend Markus, it was an unnatural voice, she could not identify the owner of it but it was almost a whisper and it was asking for help. Her help.

The girl threw the phone, she was troubled by the event just happened.

Subsequently, the voice returned to speak, but this time it was not only in her head but even in the air she was breathing.

 "Jamie Owen ..."

 The same voice pronounced a name unknown to her until the phrases it said became confused and overlapped each other. She covered her ears with her hands, frightened and dazed, tried to ignore that voice but it became louder until those words echoed in her brain. They were as mysterious and supernatural as the darkness of the human soul. In fact, just from the human soul they came because these were the screams of a desperate soul.

The realm of souls was an unconscious world that only the angels like her were able to perceive since it was banned to every other living being. Even demons could perceive it even if demons usually preferred to infect souls with their poisons and the aim of angels was to clean them up.

One of her powers was to feel and understand souls, she could listen to their beats and apprehend their conditions, if they suffered or were satisfied with life.

At times, souls, the spirit of a person, came into conflict with the mind and rationality and therefore Beatrice's task was to help people find the right path and learn how to respect their own life and the world around them.

The soul that was screaming belonged to a boy, he was unaware of the pain that his soul felt and Beatrice was able to perceive his soul sufferance, anxieties and insecurities. The owner of this soul was a boy who had to be saved because he was about to commit one of the most atrocious sins in the world.

She stood up, looking around, she tried to balance despite the pictures of violence that appeared in her brain. She saw death. The unfortunate destiny of that boy and she had to prevent this ominous omen from happening. She had to help him find the right path and serenity.

This moment of trance lasted a few minutes, when the phone rang and the girl jumped from the fright. Her friend Markus was calling her and he was worried that something had happened to her and he even imagined she had some other unpleasant encounters. Actually, she had had an encounter, even if it could not be defined as such, because it was a vision. A request for help.

She needed to talk to him, so she grabbed the phone and she answered with the voice of a person who had already seen a ghost.

"Markus. Thank God, you called me!” The girl shouted, making the friend jump on the other side of the phone.

"Oh, god, Bea! From your screams, I wouldn’t say you're okay!” He said, his voice was confused but amused even if it was not the right time to joke but he was curious to hear Beatrice's explanations.

"Please listen to me. Something absurd happened ... Well, relatively absurd but I am astonished!” She said unable to explain herself.

"I see. Take a deep breath, calm down, and tell me. but let's keep it quiet" Markus said trying to instil courage and even his tone of voice became more serious and he realized that it was a delicate and important matter for Beatrice.

She closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling, until the pure air of night filled her lungs and she regained her lost clarity.

"Ok, I'm calm. One thing happened before you called me. It is not the first time that such a thing happens but this time it’s different. The feeling was intensified and, at first, I did not realize that a tormented soul was trying to contact with me.” She explained, without ever taking a breath as if she were afraid of losing the train of her own thoughts.

"Has a soul contacted you? For real?" He said incredulously, he did not understand what she meant because her explanation was too vague.

"I had a vision, even though I did not see anything, it was more a sound experience," she clarified.

"Ah, I see ... What did you hear?" He asked.

"The voice of a boy, he asked for help. Then a name, Jamie Owner, and I think he's the owner of that dark soul.” The only memory of that experience made her blood run cold in her veins.

"Ah, I understand ... But why did it happen? Why did he contact you?” He asked and he was not yet aware of the bet she had made with Dice the day before and explaining this fact, and it was also very relevant and the origin of all her troubles, would have been quite complicated. She winced.

"Ah, it's a long story ... My head hurts..." she said, massaging her painful head.

"Are you hiding me something? I cannot help you if you don’t explain the entire story.” He said sternly but it was late at night and maybe it was better for the two of them to postpone the matter and talk about it the next morning in front of a delicious cup of coffee.

So the two friends said goodbye and went back to sleep, even if Beatrice’s night has not been peaceful, because a thousand questions were tormenting her young existence and she knew that this was only the first of many other troubles.

 .

.

.

 “You have to listen the word of God!”

“I always do, dad…”

 This conversation kept running through his mind, but they were the words that shaped his young life. He did not know anything else but those words, and he always tried to act in the pious and right way not to disappoint his family.

 “Look at him! Look how he’s ridiculous! Look how hug his stupid Bible” a kid apparently bigger than him said, laughing at him.

“It’s his teddy bear, he never gets separated from it!” another kid told, pushing him and then the huge kid took his Bible from the hands of his owner.

“Hey, give it to me!” the poor boy robbed moaned, trying to take his precious book back but it was impossible because he was pushed away and beat by the other children.

“Is this so precious for you? Why don’t you call Jesus to help you?” said the big kid.

“He’s got more important things to do, he’s busy!”, he answered with bitterness in his voice and maybe even a hint of naivety.

“Busy? Do you want to know the truth? He doesn’t exist. He’s a mere fantasy!” the arrogant guy said, laughing sadistically.

“No, lies! Yours are lies I don’t wanna hear!” he, offended, raised his voice and this made the bullies angrier and then the strongest bully hit him with his own Bible until the poor boy fell to the cold ground.

“That’s what my father says, and he’s always right. You’re a miserable rat, know your place, Jamie, on the bottom with rats and worms…” and the bully launched the Bible on Jami’s feet and this last could not do anything than crying.

“Blasphemy… That’s only a bunch of blasphemy, they’re not right. One day, they’ll burn in hell, I guess…” Jamie said, drying his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt and even this day, he did not show up at school.

[thedipster]

superbtheoristcollective:

Next week, it began.

It being school, it being a couple of classes every week, it being a whole swath of new students and new papers to grade and his free time cut into a tiny slice of time-pie he had to split between research and Jane.

Milo did not want to go back to school.

How ironic, yes? Milo remembered when it was him who was filling up his backpack with notebooks, highlighters, binders, etcetera, etcetera. For Milo, the beginning of school was his version of Christmas. He eagerly awaited it every year, especially when he was younger and awkward and had no friends but old Grandpa Thaddeus to keep him company during those Boston summers. He spent those summers reading. Every day, reading. And sometimes doing chores, like any normal 12-year-old would, even if that normal 12-year-old would be in university in four short years.

When did all that excitement to go to school fade into…whatever this was, Milo thought, as he clicked through his inbox, bored, one of his feet propped up on the desk. He supposed on the other side it was entirely different. School wasn’t an open book full of mysteries answered and mysteries raised.

School was a couple of classes every week, departmental meetings, teacher evaluations, and students snoring while you try to teach them about the founding of the damn town.

Ugh.

And so that was the mood that Milo Thatch was in the day that Dipper Pines came knocking on his door and then blustering in. Milo’s foot immediately slipped off his desk, slapping back onto the ground. He scrambled to sit up straight and appear professional, as a professor should be and–hey, did he say Dipper Pines?

“Wait, you’re the demonology kid!” said Milo brightly, because yes, he’d googled Dipper Pines after he got his first email or so and Dipper followed him on the Instagram. He’d seen the articles about how he’d summoned a demon and nearly brought his whole town down–

Which was very, very impressive to someone like Milo Thatch, impressive enough that his brain filled with questions and he didn’t even register that Dipper Pines was fawning over him.

He got up from his desk and thrust out his hand. “Hello, welcome to Pride U! You’re the one you did the summoning right? Was it a stage 4, stage 5…? I couldn’t tell from the newspaper articles.”

Dipper’s anxiety melted away the minute Dr. Thatch asked about the demon. Because Dr. Thatch didn’t do what most people did when the recognized him (bulge their eyes in fear, back away some, make a sign of the cross over their chest—once some stranger on the street doused him in Holy Water, that was an interesting day), no, he was offering Dipper his hand and Dipper shook it and smiled.

When Dipper was anxious, he rambled. And when Dipper was at ease—well, he rambled even more.

“Uh. Yes. Me.” Insert nervous laugh. If he was honest, Mabel had definitely had a helping hand in that, but she also did her very best to disassociate with any and all demon related things, and Dipper had done most of the research and work after “And uh…Well, my great-uncle—Stanford Pines—he theorizes that it was a stage 5, well, at the very least a very strong stage 4.”

<<Stage 5, thank you very much, I’m literally the thing the scale was based on.>>

“He was the one doing the preliminary research on it before…well. Ya know.” He shrugged. The whole Stanford-Pines-got-zapped-into-a-dimensional-pocket thing was pretty well-known amongst the Magick Studies community. Some (Dipper included) thought it was the coolest thing ever, while others thought it was incredibly dangerous and still others thought that it was incredibly stupid.

“We, uh, we dubbed it Bill Cipher, since that’s what it told us its name was. A lot of the news reports didn’t like that though, I guess they wanted something like Evil Devil Demon Scary….I don’t know. They just call it the Gravity Falls Demon, since I guess that sounds more ominous or whatever.” He gave a little shrug, then realized he was probably talking a mile a minute.

“Wow, uh, sorry for all that blabber,” said Dipper, fiddling with the strings of his hoodie. “I actually came in to ask about any opportunities within the department. That kinda stuff. And I had a question about the textbook—is the extended edition worth it or is it like the sorta thing where they just include some extra pictures?”

How To Meet Your Academic Idol Without Embarrassing Yourself || Thatched Pines

[satans-knitwear]

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We finished dragon age inquisition last night. Sabine enjoyed the increase of dragons in that game.