#She was the Prototype which is why she is kind of Unstable

[bet-on-me-13]

Httyd AU

So! Ghosts are nowhere near an Unknown Threat.

In fact, Ghosts and Creatures of the Realms have been attacking the Human World, preforming Raids on Amity Park, and stealing valuable objects and human food for just as long as they have been around. And they have been around for a while.

They first came into the Human Realm centuries ago, and so far Humans have been able to adapt.

Ghost Hunters are some of the most respected members of the Community. There are many different groups of them, and of these Groups the Fenton Family has always been one of the most famous and well credited of the lot.

They have been Hunting Ghosts since the days of their Ancestor, Jackson Fenton-Nightingale, who was the first of their lineage to change from Witch Hunting to Ghost Hunting.

In the modern age, Jack Fenton and his wife Maddie Fenton are some of the most respected Hunters in Amity. They have captured and killed more Ghosts and Realms-Beasts than anybody in the History of their Family. They have pioneered the new age of Ecto-Tech, bringing better and more effective weapons to the masses. They have singlehandedly managed to contain the Ghost Threat to the State of Illinois, and Amity Park in general. They are truly some of the Greatest Heroes of the Era.

The same cannot be said for their son.

Daniel Fenton has always been, well, Lacking, when compared to his Family.

He didn't inherit his Father's natural Musculature, nor his Mothers Prowess in Martial Arts, and while he is definitely an extremely intelligent boy, he does not measure up to the Intellect that the other members of his Family often achieve.

Even his sister, Jasmine Fenton, shows more promise than he does, and she isn't even a Ghost Hunter. Instead she devoted her life to becoming a therapist who can help those who have been affected by Ghost Attacks.

But Danny? He has never really showed much promise. He is definitely eager to prove himself to his Parents, but he never manages to help out in the field. Most of the time he even makes it worse.

And for Danny? It's infuriating! He has spent all his life trying to live up to the legend of his Family, trying to become a worthy Son. But he never succeeds.

He has made Tons of Inventions to help defeat Ghosts, but they were all thrown out because they were Non-Lethal. They always said that any Ecto-Weapon worth the materials it's made out of should end the Ghost before it has a chance to escape, so capturing them without killing them would be worthless.

But he wants to prove that his efforts are not in vain, if not to his family, than to himself.

So one night, as a particularly nasty Ghost Attack is going on, he rushes outside with a Weapon of his own Design. It was a Stun Gun, designed to hit the Ghost with a Beam of Pure Paralyzing Energy that would render it Immobile for hours. It was slightly large and bulky, but it still worked. At least, theoretically it did. He hadn't had a chance to test the Stun Gun yet, hence his little adventure.

He ran to the edge of Town, and tried to find a Ghost worth capturing.

Blobs? No, they've been caught before. Catching one wouldn't earn him any praise.

Skeleton? Those are a single tier up from Blobs, and not by much at all. Definitely not.

Ecto-Pus? Maybe, but it wouldn't be too useful for learning anything since it can't speak.

Spirits? They are the manifestations of Human Emotion, stronger than most other types of Ghosts, and they are suspected to be Intelligent. That's a good choice, it would probably be the best choice.

But there was one better. An Ancient.

The Ancients were the Ghosts that had been around for Centuries, possibly Millenia. They are Ghosts that are so Old, they have developed true Intelligence. Nobody had ever managed to kill an Ancient, they were too strong. The Ancients are the most Deadly, most Powerful, most Dangerous of all Ghosts.

If Danny managed to Capture one? He would skyrocket to Fame! He would be able to sit at the Lunch Table with the A-Listers, the town would stop seeing him as a disappointment, and his Parents would be so Proud of him! They might even come out of the Lab outside of Ghost Attacks to spend time with him!

So, he sat at the edge of town, watching the Portal that had opened up about a Mile outside of the City. He needed to be ready, in case an Ancient showed up.

Hours passed, and he was getting sleepy, when it happened.

"Ancient!"

The scream of warning came from his Radio, tapped into the Ghost Watch Channel used to keep track of Ghost Movements during attacks.

He looked at the Invasion Portal, and saw it. It was Humanoid, about 7 ft Tall, wearing Dark Plated Armor, with a Flaming Green Sword at its hip. Trying to stare into it's Face felt like staring into an Abyssal Void, with 2 pinpricks of Red denoting where its Eyes would be. The same Red Eyes all Ghosts had.

"Retreat! Retreat! The Fright Knight has emerged from the Invasion Portal!" Came the warning from his Radio. In the distance to his right, he could see the few Hunters who had been keeping watch on the Portal run to the safety of the Town.

Shaking off his fear, Danny rushed to his Target.

The Fright Knight was the most Feared of the Ancients, nobody had ever survived an encounter with it. There were even Rumors that it was the Leader of the Ghost Attacks, the coordinator.

And Danny knew that his Stun Gun wouldn't be enough to beat it. Not yet anyways.

So, instead of running directly to the Fright Knight, he ran to the small Open-Air Worksite that held his Parents' most Ambitious Creation. An Artificial Ghost Portal.

Years ago, his Parents had realized something. They couldn't stop the Invasion, because the Ghosts could never be cut off at the source. The Portal they used to enter the Human Realm was always a Natural One, it always closed after a few hours, so they had no chance of entering the "Ghost Zone" without immediately getting cut off from the Human World. Thus, they couldn't exterminate the Ghosts at the Source.

But what if they had a Stable Portal?

Then, the Humans could invade the Ghost Zone instead of the Ghosts invading the Human Realm. They would get an Edge in the Centuries old War.

But the Portal didn't work yet. They had been working on it for years at this point, but they had had absolutely no luck in making it functional. As an unintended consequence however, they realized that the Portal Frame was capable of generating Large Amounts of Energy, and it soon became the towns most Powerful Power Plant. It basically powered every home in the City, and powered the Shields that were put up above the Civilain Shelters during Ghost Attacks.

And Danny needed it.

His Stun Gun wasn't powerful enough to defeat the Fright Knight yet, but if he retrofitted it to draw on the immense power of the Portal Frame, it might be enough.

He rushed into the Open-Air Pavillion thay housed his Parents Portal Frame. It was an Immense Creation, semi-circular in shape but large enough that an entire Army could be comfortably Marxhed through.

He ran right to the center of the Device, pulling open a Panel in the middle of the Floor and fiddling around with the Wires for a minute.

It only took a short while before he had the Energy of the Portal Frame retrofitted to power his Stun Gun.

He raised the Weapon, and carefully aimed at the Fright Knight, still walking towards the Town.

He pulled the Trigger. And Everything went wrong.

The Gun didn't fire. Instead, he felt a rumble come from the Machine he was standing on, as lights began to light up on the edges of the Portal Frame. Somehow, he had accidentally rigged the Portal to attempt its activation Sequence when he tried to fire his Weapon.

Obviously, the Ring of activating lights had attracted the attention of the Fright Knight, and it had begun to move in bis direction.

In a panic he tried to fix his mistake. He moved around a few more wires, and tried again, and more lights turned on. He tried again, and suddenly a high pitched sound began to play around him.

He tried one more time, and help his heart leap with joy as his gun finally began to power up. He looked up to see where the Fright Knight was, and felt his elation drop in an instant when he noticed that it had already entered the Outdoor Lab Space.

The next few seconds felt like they took hours. He felt his heart stop as the Fright Knight began to rush forward. It was about to reach him.

Then, his Gun pinged to tell him they it was ready, and he pulled the trigger.

The world around him erupted in green Light as the beam from his Stun Gun fired out with much more force than it was ever intended to handle. The Beam of Light was so wide that it completely encompassed the Towering Fright Knight's form.

But at the same time as the Gun fired, the Portal finished it's attempted activation sequence. And the World turned green for a different reason.

Danny felt billions of volts run through his Body as the Portal activated, his screams being drowned out by the sound of Reality fraying at the seams as the Portal attempted to push through it.

But ultimately the Portal failed. It turned off, just as it was about to break through to the other side. The sudden burst of energy also seemed to affect the Stun Gun, as it blew up at the same moment the Portal turned off.

Danny was launched out of the Portal Frame, landing in the center of his Parents Outdoors Lab, unconscious.

It took nearly an hour before his Parents arrived, looking to investigate the sudden Portal Activation and Explosion. Whatever had happened caused a blackout throughout the entire Town, shutting off Ghost Shields and inciting panic throughout the City, meaning they had to wait hours before they could investigate.

They found Danny laying unconscious in their Lab, and called for someone to help him as they worked on getting Power back to the Town.

When he woke up, Danny was Reprimanded for his actions that night. Nobody believed him when he said that he had beaten the Fright Knight, and since communication went down with the Power, Nobody could confirm that the Fright Knight had actually been pushed back. It was far more likely that nobody had seen it after it entered the town, and it had left with the others when the Portal began to close.

But Danny knew what had happened, so the first chance he got, he escaped out into the woods surrounding Amity Park and began searching for his Target.

It took hours of searching, but eventually he found the Fright Knight, laying on it's side in the dirt.

Danny was elated at first, he had captured am Ancient! But then he took a closer look. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt odd about the Ghost. He felt confusion, but not his own. Relief, but coming from somewhere else. Hope, but coming from Him. The Fright Knight.

In that moment, he didn't know why, but instead of dragging him back to the City or further restraining him, Danny pulled the Knight up into a sitting position, feeling it would be more comfortable like that.

He turned around for a moment to see if anybody was around, but when he turned back he was met with a terrifying sight. The Fright Knight was standing up, towering over Danny. He looked up to see it's face, and saw that it was glaring at him with an unrestrained rage.

Danny cried out when he was pushed to the ground, landing against a Rock, looking up in terror. The Knight took out his Sword, and before Danny could cry out in fear, it plunged the Sword down.

Into the Boulder next to Danny's head.

When he finally opened his eyes, the Knight was gone, leaving only the cracked rock next to his head and a sense of lingering terror.

In that moment, Danny only felt on things register in his Mind.

Where it's eyes always Green?

...

This got a little out of hand, but I hope you liked it.

The idea is that Ghosts have been attacking the Human Realm for Centuries, raiding the Villages to steal valuables and Human Food, terrorizing the world for years.

Hunters like the Fentons managed to contain them in Illinois, more specifically Amity Park.

Danny is Hiccup in this. He is the wimpy weak little kid that nobody respects because he doesn't live up to his Family Legend.

Fright Knight is Toothless, but instead of helping Danny learn how to ride Dragon, he helps him learn to use his newly found Ghost Powers. (Because I included the Portal scene for a reason, he became a Halfa and seeks out Frighty when he realizes hat he had Ghost Powers. He's kind of the only option after all)

If you didn't guess it, Pariah Dark is the Queen Dragon. He used his power as Ghost King to control every Ghost in the Zone, forcing them to raid the Human World and bring him offerings. He isn't obsessed with taking over the world, he is obsessed with being seen as a God, and Gods need to get Offerings.

When Danny hit Frighty with the Stun Gun, he knocked the Mind Control out of him and Frighty was freed.

From then on it would follow some similar story beats to Httyd, but also different.

Maybe the other Movie's could introduce other Characters? Maybe Freakshow is Viggo from the 2nd Movie?, or Vlad is Grimmle from the 3rd Movie? The Plots could fit as well.

If you want it to be DpxDc, you could say that the JLA thought the situation in Amity was handled and didn't think they needed to assist.

When they learn how bad it actually was they are freaked out. Especially since this was a Centuries Old Conflict that has been happening since before America was even founded.

What do you think?

[radrobotz]

i need to post abt roe again too. i never even shared his large gf that likes to rip out his circuitry with her bare hands

[zios-plotbun-farm]

One Piece Fanfic Crossover Idea [includes LawLu]

Alright. So recently after having binge-reading a lot of Lawlu fanfic, and falling back into the rabbit hole that is One Piece. I have managed to brew up a really silly lawlu storyline that honestly is more law-centric than anything. Although it has a lot of romance elements, probably more than it should. But uh, it's not entirely focused on Lawlu? That’s what I get for thinking throwing in my past 3 OTPs from my previous fandoms and 1 very old one would be a great idea. =w=;;

And if that got your attention then buckle up this is gonna get slightly cracky and very long. Not much plot but plenty of detail lol

So the story starts with the Blackbeard battle on Whipper Island which still goes the same as canon. The only difference is that somehow Bepo, Shachi, Penguin and Ikkaku were the only ones in the crew to have survived the attacks. All of them escape with Law as in canon and regroup at a further away barren island or something. Not very detailed here.

Anyway, let’s just say a passing benevolent godly entity who favors Law (me lol) sees his situation, and decides to meddle as a way to help him out. They send Law a vision as a way to explain what will happen and why some random people will be suddenly appearing in front of them. That explanation being that they are sending possible new crewmates that will definitely be strong enough to survive the New World and help Law on his new quest for revenge against Blackbeard. Obviously Law protests against this at first but is unable to refuse since all these people were already being transported from outside their universe's domain  and can’t be returned because of their own universal rules. The Entity was just kind enough to nudge them on the path to the One Piece universe. When instead they could have continued hurling into the void between universes.

So after his forced agreement, various types of portals opened up, dropping off a whole bunch of confused people. A few of which were injured. A list also happened to appear that conveniently had information on them with their previous occupations and abilities. After everyone was done panicking, being suspicious, and first aid was administered. Law explained what the Lady Entity told him about their situations. He then asked them how they all got transported outside their universes. Here follows their situations:

[Naruto] SasuNaru

Naruto and Sasuke were sealing Kaguya away when she was able to get one last shot in that was a dimensional portal that had sucked in the two ninja while they were exhausted. They weren’t able to dodge it and Sakura was barely saved from being sucked in like they were since she was less exhausted and farther away from the portal.

[SVSSS] Moshang

LGJ got the drop on MBJ during the accession ceremony and SQH was able to distract him enough to get to MBJ. He used his return to home function while gripping MBJ as a last attempt to escape LQJ since MBJ was heavily injured. When Law arrived, Strange and Naruto were able to heal him enough not to die. Also during their explanation SQH realizes that he isn't bound by the system any more and has essentially been freed. Which means he can reveal his past life secrets if he wants too.

[MDZS] Wangxian

Their group had been ambushed by masked men during a very suspicious night hunt. They were caught in an array that had Wei Wuxian try to use a prototype transportation talisman to help escape or counteract it. Instead it made it into a very unstable dimensional travel array. The array that was used had something to do with time. [Include Wen Ning & Lan Sizhui]

[MCU] StrangeIron

All three were thrown out of their universe by the infinity stones themselves because the space/soul/time stones convinced the others to let them leave since they really liked Strange/Tony/Peter and didn’t want them to die. Initially only Tony was gonna use the stones but Peter joined in to help him and Stephen joined in to try to keep either of them from dying from power overload. So now they are banned from returning to their universe since they are supposed to be dead. That's the price for saving their universe. Also in this universe Tony had used a very low dose version of extremis to survive chest surgery after Siberia which is why he was able to survive the snap with the help of the other 2. This has Tony looking like late thirties.

After hearing their various situations, with all of them sounding very outlandish to the Heart Pirates, Law is both amazed and dreading having them all as possibly future crew members. But still Law throws out the offer of them joining his pirate crew and explains why it's a good idea. While explaining he also informs them about what this universe is like. Which includes devil fruits, the marines, the world government, the pirate era and the most famous pirates currently.

This in turn leads to Law’s bounty and infamy which also reveals Law’s newest quest for revenge against Blackbeard for killing most of his crew and destroying the Polar Tang. Sasuke, Wei Wuxian, and Mobei jun can relate to wanting revenge. Collectively they agree to join Law since the Heart pirates were the only ones that knew about their otherworldly situations and abilities. Plus none of them had any interest in being recruited or kidnapped by the Marines for their powers. Also not one of them would have been able to live normally without attracting some sort of attention, besides maybe SQH on his own.

After this Law goes over the list that Entity gave him. Which also included the tip of rejoining the StrawHats as an Ally again. Since they are eventually going to have a run-in with Blackbeard. Plus they needed time for his new crew to figure out how they fared against the fighters here. As well as get over the culture shock they're gonna have being in a new world. And possibly learn how to sail a normal boat and not a submarine. At least until they buy or steal a new one.

Crew Positions/Roles? Bepo = Navigator/First Mate Shachi =Doc assistant/Swordsman? Ikkaku = SubMechanic/Sniper Penguin =Doc assistant/Cook/Staff user? Naruto = Helmsman?/Scout/Fighters Sasuke = Lookout/Scout/Fighters MBJ = Fighter/Assassin/General SQH = Treasurer/Quartermaster/Spy Tony = Mechanic/Inventor/Fighters Stephen = Doctor/Sorcerer/Fighters Peter = Mechanic/Cabin boy/Fighters WWX = Fighter/Inventor/Musician LWJ =Cook/Fighter/Musician LSH =Fighter/Cabin boy/Musician WN =Fighter/Watchman/Pharmacist?

Extra Story Elements

Inventor group= Tony, Peter, WWX, Ikkaku Doc group= Law, Stephen, WN Inhuman= MBJ, WN, Bepo, honorary members Naruto & Peter Swordsmen= Law, LWJ, WWX, LSH, Sasuke, Shachi Lit Club= WWX & SQH, Shachi, Pen + editor Naruto Avoid Docs group= Tony, Peter, Naruto, WWX Kids Club= Peter, LSH, Naruto, Sasuke Sanity Group= LWJ, SQH, Law, Bepo Cooks= LWJ, Penguin, Naruto

Luffy becomes super jealous of Law for having 2 ninjas on his crew and tries to convince one of them to join his crew. Naruto doesn’t want to separate from Sasuke, and Sasuke would rather die than join a crew with 2 Narutos.

Franky & Ussop are amazed by the stuff that Tony and Peter make considering they do not use cola and are untraceable to the Marines. Tony was horrified by the fact that Cola could be used essentially like oil and that their phones were living organisms. Created various devices by hand and maybe recreated the Arc reactor to power their new Boat/Sub?

New Boat/Sub was made by a combination of Tony, Peter, Ikakku, Franky & Naruto who used his clones as workers.

Stephen gets his hands fixed with the help of Law and Naruto. Law with taking the pins out and attaching the nerves. And Naruto helped to regrow them and heal them. [hand wavy medicine]

On the boat when people are having relationship problems they go to wangxian since they were the only ones in a relationship and technically married with a son. MBJ is the first one to ask LWJ about how to court a cultivator since they are both introverted.

People confuse Tony & Steph as a couple because they parent Peter and think he is their son. This is before they actually get together.  

Peter, LSH, Naruto, and Sasuke are seen as the Kid group. Although Law does treat them as adults when needed. Everyone tends to be protective of them. MBJ & Law are Sasuke’s favorite crewmates because they are all cat-like.

Have a whole thing about trying to revive WN back to life since his body is in a state of stasis and his soul is bound to his body by force. Get his body to work again like Frankenstein. Group project between WWX, Law, Stephen, and MBJ. Possible outcome that WN turns into a Demon since he is saturated in Resentful energy.

SQH and Peter are the only ones to have an idea about the One Piece and Naruto worlds. SQH had his OTPs SasuNaru and LawLu while Peter had his favorite characters aka Sas, Naru, Law and Lu. Decide together to try and help the couples along with SQH taking LawLu and Peter getting SasuNaru. Peter has no clue how to, so just suggests ways to hang out.

Law while an introvert and masking as a Stern stoic badass. Is very much a secret chaotic dumbass when provoked by Luffy and others. Also he can’t seem to seriously fight Luffy without a good reason otherwise it turns into a slapstick fight lol. Is willing to wear stupid clothes/costumes although some might be in his eccentric style.

Shachi is a swordsman but only because Law needed someone to train and spar against while growing up and traveling through the North sea before they took on the grandline. He's a lot more comfortable with fighting hand to hand like a brawler/street fighter. Although he's also pretty good at using blunt weapons [bats, knuckles]. Possibly have him learn how to use armament haki to coat his fists and weapons. Maybe learn with Naruto and Peter to fight better with hand to hand techniques and parkour techniques aka move around larger opponents like Peter. [All the flipping and jumping] Possibly learn how to use advanced armament haki techniques with the help of Naruto and Sasuke. Similar to Sage techniques and Sakura’s strength techniques.

Penguin joins up with Shachi to learn better hand to hand combat. Can't seem to get the hang of using a weapon so at some point asks Stephen if he can learn his magic? Stephen gives it a try at teaching him. Penguin can only use a few magic spells since he isn't a genius like Stephen but tries to be creative with them. [Portals, Mandala shields, Eldritch whips, Energy sword, pure energy saw blasts, possible water element?] Help with MBJ, and Peter somehow, learns to water bend using magic.

Ikkaku gets trained by Tony, SQH, and surprisingly Sasuke. She focuses on hand to hand combat, gun/sniper training, using daggers, and figuring out how to use observation haki. She focused on presence sensing and intent sensing that she wishes to develop into future vision. Trains to make sure her concentration can't be easily broken, plus to increase her endurance and stamina. Possibly ask Stephen to teach her how to transmute items so she never runs out of bullets or without a dagger and some mild telekinesis to throw them/manipulate them. 

Law trains with his new crew mates to better use his devil fruit and his own body. Possibly have him unlock his own Conquerors haki like Luffy. Maybe have WWX give him some tips on using Jiang techniques since they were more adaptable while he spars LWJ & LSH to learn proper sword fighting. While also learning how to fight either bare handed or with only his fruit abilities with Strange and Sasuke.

WWX totally treats Law like a little brother since his tsundere tendencies remind him of JC. While WN likes him since he reminds him of WQ and his harsh bedside manner but caring actions for those he loves. Peter, Naruto, and Sasuke are new ducklings to teach and protect in WWX’s eyes. LWJ respects Law's authority and experiences, and at times acts like an advisor for battles [war experience]. Naruto/Peter = cool older friend while LSH treats him like a senior disciple. MBJ is willing to follow only because of SQH but watches Law like a hawk and forces him to grow stronger to be worthy of following him [demon stuff]. Stephen treats him as a colleague because both are genius surgeons and Protectors. Tony likes to mess with him and treats him like a youngsters aka Peter. Same with the other OG heart pirates although gives slightly more respect to Ikkaku for withstanding their bullshit [Sees Pepper/May in her]. Sasuke and Law at times butt heads because Sasuke isn't good with authority figures, and while Law understands that, it can be frustrating since he is the authority for this crew.

MBJ was the one to push Law to train to get stronger. Reason 1) cause it the demon way to only be the subordinate of someone if they were stronger than them. Reason 2) sees that Law needs to be pushed after having fallen into depression for failing his previous crew. So decides to motivate him by fueling him with Anger, Revenge and Spit like any proper demon would. Sasuke and WWX help at this point because they understand. This also causes the other OG hearts to also start training which leads to others offering their help for training.

While shopping for clothes SQH and WWX go ham looking for clothes. SQH convinces WWX to try on these great form fitting black coats and pants with low heeled boots. Also tells him that they aren't obligated to wear multiple layers so they can experiment with fashion now. WWX is very excited by this both from not having to be so formal and to tease LWJ. Tony and Peter go and decide they want to look the part of actually being pirates and drag Stephen along. They give Stephen the full pirate look with Levi turning into an overcoat. MBJ decides to wear the least amount of clothes since the seas are very hot and he can't be bothered to wear layers here. LWJ on the other hand struggles to find clothes that he is comfortable wearing. Gets help from SQH after he and WWX are finished with their choices. Sasuke and Naruto go and try to find the best reinforced clothes they can buy but choose to alter the few clothes they had to fit in.

Shang Qinghua: System gives him the ability to have a RPG game system interface to use in real life for completing PIDW storyline. He gains unlimited inventory space, Analysis ability, Spotify, Library, Map, Internet.

KARAOKE/DANCE NIGHTS SQH goes ham with the Spotify ability because it has modern songs which has Peter and Tony joining in. Everyone gets curious about the different music which ends up with them having Karaoke/dance nights where they sing or have dance offs to different songs. Even Law finds songs that he enjoys and is willing to sing to although rarely. Shachi and Penguin during those times are always his back up dancers or singers by force.

[theee-wizard]

Oliver Fox's mildy physcotic Undertale/Deltarune Ramblings

Ok i have an insane undertale/deltarune theory regarding Gaster and ik this blog has mostly been random shit but i REALLY REALLY wanna say this so deal with it

What The Hell was the creation Gaster fell into?

As you know, the only "creation" that we know Gaster made fully was the CORE in Hotland, and it can be inferred from the Gaster Followers that he fell into the CORE somehow. But the Followers words are just vague enough to leave room for interpretation.

It can also be inferred that Gaster created the blueprints that Alphys used to create the Determination Extractor, seeing as, when she refers to the blueprints in the entries in the True Lab, she only calls them the blueprints. Not my blueprints, the, thus implying that she didn't create them. Seeing as Gaster was the only other known royal scientist in the Underground, and blueprints don't just spawn out of anywhere, it's safe to assume Gaster made them.

It's also theorized that Gaster was expirmenting with Darkness, as shown in Entry 17. I think that, Perhaps, in the wake of Deltarune, this was not normal darkness, but Darkness. The kind that creates *cough cough* Dark Worlds. Ones that can be created by Determined Enough Beings.

I'm getting there, hang tight.

MY THEORY GOES THUSLY;

Gaster created the Determination Extractor before Alphys.

Ik that is a CRAZY conclusion to leap to and there's no evidence but for the purposes of this ramble, you gotta just go with me. Besides, it would be unlike a scientist of such high standing to not create prototypes. And this happened in the in-world past of the Underground that we know not much about, so there isn't enough evidence for this to be proven nor disproven. Again, just go with me.

SO, Gaster created some kind of Determination Extractor Prototype, drawing out the blueprints and leaving them for Alphys to find later.

Determination (as we know) is the force that allows being with strong enough Souls to create Save Files and Reset, as well as create Dark Worlds, in Deltarunes case. And, because of Toby Fox's monumentally clever writing skills which I envy every day, he made Saving and Loading diegetic to Undertale's plot, even going so far as to making Floweys entire backstory an in-world stand-in for players who detach themselves from the world of the game. Meaning that Determination has a direct in-universe link to the game's code and inner workings.

But why, dear Captain Oliver, I hear you cry, did you mention Gaster's experiments with Darkness and their connections to the creation of Dark Fountains and Worlds?

Well I'm getting to that so hold your horses.

I think, using the Determination he had harvested with the Extractor, Gaster created some kind of Dark World, (perhaps we are shown this in Entry 17 with the line "photon readings negative, which implies the photons are emiting darkness, which has been shown possible in Dealtarune every time Kris and Susie find a new Dark World,) and I think THAT is what he fell into.

But perhaps this Dark World was unstable, created not by a steady supply of raw Determination from one being but rather a amalgam (heh) of dozens of monsters from all over the Underground, and when Gaster fell, the Fountain sealed or exploded in some way, destroying the Extractor and shattering his consciousness across time and space.

Or perhaps, rather, files and code.

Since having video game logic is diegetic to Undertale's plot, perhaps their version of "time and space" for us is just lines of code and flies. And perhaps, Gaster being "shattered across time and space" only meant that he had become integrated into the games code.

That's why we only know about Gaster's existence through a few testing rooms, random NPC encounters and unused files. We can only find these things if we dig around through the Code of Undertale, something Gaster has become intimately familiar with.

SO, ALL THAT TO SAY;

I think Gaster, from his strange not-quite-Dark-World created the files and code for Deltarune, seeing as every time a new chapter releases Toby's twitter account is possessed by the good doctor, and its heavily implied that the Goner Maker sequence is just Gaster talking to the player. For unknown motives, Gaster created Deltarune, the Prohpecy, and Dark Worlds for us, the Player for, again, unknown motives.

I feel like that's all I want to say on the matter. I could go on about Ralsei's weird knowledge of Dark Fountains and Noelles weird connections to the good ol' mystery man and the disappearance of Dess but it's already almost 2 in the morning and that would definitely be overdoing it.

If you are reading this and haven't had an aneurysm, I applaud you and thank you for indulging me.

[bluemoonfantasiesiii]

Nigredo voice lines under the cut. @phobiaexists this is for you.

General Voice Lines

Hello

I’m Nigredo, a prototype of the Primordial Human Project. I know we started off on the wrong foot, but I hope that by accompanying you in your travels, I can put your mind at ease that I mean no further harm.

Chat: Exploration

So this is what the world above is like. It’s breathtaking.

Chat: Interest

Oh! There’s something over there. Let’s get moving.

When It Rains

I wonder what new life will bloom from this rainfall.

When It Snows

Not again… I’m sick of snow.

When the Sun Is Out

It’s fascinating, how something with the power to destroy everything in an instant is also the source of all life in this world.

Good Morning

Looks like I won’t need to water the plants this morning. There’s a layer of dew over everything.

Good Afternoon

The sun is high. Care to help me tend to the garden?

Good Evening

The lights of the city are mesmerizing from this distance.

Good Night

The lamp grass is aglow. I suppose it’s time to call it a night. Rest well, Traveler.

About Nigredo: Flowers

It’s a bit poetic, isn’t it? Albedo brings things to life figuratively on paper, while I bring things to life literally from the soil.

About Nigredo: Sentience

I’ve dabbled a bit in creating faunaflora. Oh, don’t look at me like that! I don’t harm the animals at all! Any piece of their DNA works perfectly fine, like a strand of fox fur or a snake’s saliva.

About Us: Corruption

Oh? You want to see my alchemical process? Um, I’m sorry, but I’m actually making some revisions to that at present. Previously, I used Durin’s blood as a catalyst, which is…highly unstable to say the least. But I promise I’ll show you once I’ve found a suitable alternative.

About Us: Weapons (Friendship Level 6)

I know how to use a sword as well as the next explorer. It just…takes too much out of me. I don’t have the stamina for it anymore thanks to my condition. That’s why I use a catalyst now. Mondstadt has no shortage of great teachers. Lisa, Sucrose, and even Klee were all a big help in getting me acclimated to my new weapon.

About the Vision (Friendship Level 4)

Cryo Visions…are typically given to those who feel they’ve been left behind, aren’t they? Well, I can’t say I don’t fit that criterium to a T. You were probably expecting me to reject it as a Khaenri’an, right? Why would I? It’s not like I personally harbor any ill will towards the Archons. Besides, this Vision has been useful in my studies. It makes traversing and transporting water much easier.

Something to Share (Friendship Level 4)

Even though the Fellflower was far from my apex achievement, it will always hold sentimental value to me as my first creation. Hm? Oh. Yes, I am still a little bitter that my brother so cruelly murdered it, but I understand why he did it. Besides, if he hadn’t, the creature would still be an unstable predator instead of my precious Ruby.

Interesting Things

How did I survive in the wilderness of Dragonspine? Well, I discovered these large spiders that reside near the roots of petrified trees, and— Huh? Albedo eats them, too? Huh. Fascinating. So our palettes are the same, it appears. I wonder what other identical features we possess… I have a new subject of study.

About Family (Friendship Level 6)

I’m forever grateful that Albedo found it in himself to forgive me and take me in as his brother. I never thought I’d see a day where I had not one but two younger siblings. Klee seems to have taken to me rather quickly, too. That…makes me really happy. I can’t wait to meet Alice properly someday when she returns from her travels.

About Albedo: Instinct (Friendship Level 4)

Although it hasn’t been that long in the spans of our lives, I feel this need to…protect him. It’s the same kind of impulse we both feel for Klee and Ruby. Perhaps the role of older brother really was meant for me, if the feeling comes this naturally.

About Albedo: Comparison (Friendship Level 5)

Even though we should be identical copies of each other, my brother and I seem to have taken diverging paths. He has his art, and I have my plants. It’s actually pretty comforting, being able to have something of my own. I don’t think I could ever be half as good of an artist as him anyway. Now if only he didn’t try to stifle MY creativity. “No more faunaflora,” he says! “It’s too dangerous,” he says! Hmph! It’s not like those snapdragon snakes actually bit anyone!

About Rubedo

I was a bit taken aback the first time he called me “Papa,” but I truly do see Ruby as my child. After all, this is an entirely new form of life that I brought into being with my own two hands. Twice, even. I just want him to be able to enjoy the new life he has. His smile is everything to me.

About Sucrose (Friendship Level 4)

When I first spoke to Sucrose, I thought I had a pretty good read on her, but that timid demeanor of hers is hiding something truly terrifying. I’ve been trying to coax that side out of her. I don’t think she trusts me enough for that just yet, though… A shame. I’d love to see her passion for her field in its full glory.

About Klee (Friendship Level 4)

The impression I got from Albedo is that Klee is exhausting to deal with. Yes, she does seem to have a bottomless well of energy and a knack for small-scale destruction, but I find her personality rather refreshing. She exudes this sort of infectious joy. It’s nice.

About Amber (Friendship Level 4)

The…Outrider, correct? I’m still learning everyone’s titles. Of the three who met me on Dragonspine, she’s been the first to warm up to me. For that, I’m thankful. She seems like a genuinely good person who makes an effort to see the best in people.

About Venti (Friendship Level 4)

Ah, the Anemo Archon. I must say, he’s not at all what I was expecting. The stories that were told back in Khaenri’ah made the Archons all sound like some breed of Herculean boogeymen, but…there’s just this air of sadness around Barbatos that drowns out everything else…

About Rhinedottir (Friendship Level 4)

Rhinedottir…? She’s as cruel and unfeeling as the freezing air of Dragonspine. I no longer consider her my master, and she was never my mother. All she cares about is furthering her own research. She doesn’t care what she has to do or who she has to hurt in the process. Just thinking about her makes my blood boil.

More About Nigredo I

You have questions…about me? I can’t guarantee you any solid answers, as I’m still figuring myself out, but I’ll do my best.

More About Nigredo II (Friendship Level 3)

I spent the majority of my life dissolved inside Durin’s stomach, but in the short periods of time I’ve spent “alive,” I’ve developed a fondness for plants. Did you know there are over 7500 varieties of apples?

More About Nigredo III (Friendship Level 4)

I’ve taken an interest in botanical alchemy. My priority at the moment is seeing if I can use the stamens of flaming flowers to brew an elixir potent enough to battle the ever-present chill of Dragonspine. It doesn’t seem to be quite enough. I may need to collect some materials from the Pyro Regisvine.

More About Nigredo IV (Friendship Level 5)

I’ve been mixing some sleeping agents for my brother. He tends to lose track of time when he’s engrossed in a sketch or a new study, so if it starts getting too late, I slip some into his drink. He’s out like a light in minutes. I’m starting to wonder if I should work on a digestive aid for him as well. He eats like a bird…

More About Nigredo V (Friendship Level 6)

My old name? Why do you need to know that…? It doesn’t matter anymore. The person I was before is gone now. Besides, I’m much happier as Nigredo. I actually have a sense of purpose now. I was brought back to perfect my creator’s research and use it to undo the damage she caused.

Nigredo’s Hobbies

With or without alchemy involved, I find gardening to be quite therapeutic. What my brother and I do is all good fun, but I also find joy in creating life using more…natural methods.

Nigredo’s Troubles

When I was younger, I always dreamed of seeing the world above. Now I’m finally here, and I can’t even explore it because of my condition. Boundless curiosity and an inability to travel have got to be the worst combination imaginable.

Favorite Food

I’m not picky. When you spend months on end out in the wilderness, you don’t really have much of a choice.

Least Favorite Food

When I was out on my own in Dragonspine, I subsisted almost entirely on mint. Needless to say, I’ve grown tired of it now that I have the freedom to choose what I eat. I could easily go the rest of my life without having another leaf of the stuff. Just the smell of it makes me sick now.

Birthday

I don’t really understand the point of celebrating the day one was brought into the world every single year, but some type of acknowledgment seems to be customary across all cultures, so…here. I modified this flaming flower and this mist flower to react to body temperature and adjust themselves accordingly to compensate. This should make your travels a bit easier. Oh, don’t give me that look. I didn’t use Durin’s blood for this, I promise. They’re perfectly safe. I think.

Feelings About Ascension: Intro

What’s this...? I feel...different. Everything is a bit clearer now. Could the Corruption be lifting?

Feelings About Ascension: Building up

The cold that’s always surrounded me is getting easier to bear with each day. Or maybe the world around me is just becoming warmer. Yes, I like that explanation better.

Feelings About Ascension: Climax

Even the relentless flow of time can be viewed as a cycle. The seasons repeat, the sun and moon rise and fall, and the creatures of this world pass on to make way for a new generation. I’m glad I was given a second chance to see it all with you.

Feelings about Ascension: Conclusion

Every spring, plants will bloom again, no matter how harsh the winter that preceded it. I too am like a flower finally reaching for the springtime sun once more after a long, desolate winter. I think I’ll be okay now.

.

Party Lines

Joining your party:

“Oh, good. I was getting bored.”

“I’m always up for more practice.”

“Let’s head out.”

Elemental Skill

Renaissance: Lunar Nelumbo

Nigredo creates a Lunar Nelumbo using alchemy, which deals AoE Cryo DMG on appearance

“Rise once more!”

“Bloom from the snow!”

“Rebirth!”

Elemental Burst

Rite of Cultivation: Blizzard’s Blight

At Nigredo’s call, Cryo thorns fall upon his enemies, dealing AoE Cryo DMG around him. If a Lunar Nelumbo created by Nigredo himself is on the field, 7 Vengeful Blooms will be generated in the Lunar Nelumbo field, bursting violently and dealing AoE Cryo DMG

“Phoenix of frost!”

“From the ashes!”

“Now feel my suffering!”

Finding treasure:

“Let me sort through this.”

“Things are looking up.”

“Hm. I may have a use for these.”

Light hit taken:

“Is that all you’ve got?”

“Ha! Pathetic!”

Heavy hit taken:

“Focus!”

Low HP:

“I’ve felt worse!”

“I won’t die again!”

“Need to reevaluate.”

Ally at low HP:

“Ugh! Just get behind me!”

“Don’t push yourself! I can do this!”

Fallen:

“But I just…came back…”

“The cycle begins anew…”

“I think this time’s…for good…”

Teapot Dialogue

Idle Quotes

"My next research topic..."

"What if I crossbreed..."

"Can’t use dragon blood..."

"I should go check..."

"Little brother..."

When the player is near

“Oh! You’re back.”

“Care for a chat?”

Opener: “Oh! You’re back. I could use some more conversation practice. Care to help me out?”

>Good morning, Nigredo.

“Morning (Traveler). Ah, sorry about the dirt. I haven’t yet had a chance to clean myself up from my morning trip to the garden.”

>Good night, Nigredo.

“Make sure you get enough rest. My siblings can attest that I’m quite formidable when it comes to getting naughty children to go to bed.”

>How do you like it here?

“To be honest, it’s a little disorienting. I’m still getting used to Teyvat, and now I discover there are creatures that can create pocket dimensions like this?”

>>You’ll get the hang of it eventually.

“Oh, I don’t doubt that. It’s just a lot to process at the moment. Just give me a bit of time in here and it’ll sink in soon enough.”

>>>What will you do in the meantime?

“I know that bird-like creature that resides here can simply manifest fully-grown flowers for you… But I want to see how this soil takes to a more natural approach to horticulture.”

>>>Remember to eat on time.

“I’m not my brother, you know. I’m perfectly capable of feeding myself in timely manner, thank you. Push comes to shove, I can just grow my own food.”

“Between the deathly chill of Dragonspine and the scorching acids of Durin’s stomach, this place an idyllic middle ground, just like in that fairy tale with the three bears. I won’t squander a single second here. Thank you.”

-Unlocks at Friendship Level 4-

>Would you like to have a chat with me?

“Glad to see we’re on the same wavelength. What would you like to discuss?”

>>What are you growing now?

“Right now, I’m attempting to breed a variety of cecilias that doesn’t need such harsh wind conditions in order to thrive. It’s been something of a passion project, I suppose.”

>>>Why cecelias?

“Why indeed…? My brother is rather fond of them, so I guess I just naturally gravitated towards them myself.”

>>Any new experiments?

“I’m glad you asked! I’ve taken some samples of the plants created artificially by Tubby and compared them to their real-world counterparts to see if there’s any noticeable difference. The plants in here seems to be rooted to a single point in their maturity, making them essentially immortal.”

>>>And what will you do with this information?

“If I can figure out the technique Tubby uses to manifest these plants, I could potentially create a bundle of cecelias that will never wither. They’re…my brother’s favorite.”

“He rarely smiles, so any opportunity I get to see his eyes light up is a precious one to me. Is this what it feels like to have a family…? Of course, I’m also working on a surprise for you as well, but you’ll have to be patient. I want it to be perfect so as to properly reflect my gratitude.”

-Unlocks at Friendship Level 7-

>Is there anything you’d like to do?

“Of course. Lots of things. I have quite a bit of lost time to make up for. But while I have you here… Mmn… Sorry, this is new for me.”

>>Still struggling with conversation?

“No, it’s not so much the conversation itself as it is the subject of the conversation. I’m not entirely sure how to put it into words without making it sound awkward…”

>>Are you alright?

“I’m fine. I’m just…trying to figure out how to phrase this. This type of conversation…isn’t something I’ve been able to practice.”

>>>Just say what’s on your mind.

>>>I won’t judge you.

“Um… Well… I’d like to try crossbreeding something together. With you. Aside from my brother, you’re the closest companion I have. So I thought, what’s a better bonding activity than creating an entirely new form of life together? Whatever flower blooms from our efforts will then be the symbol of our relationship.”

>>>>That’s surprisingly poetic of you.

“I know. That’s why I was struggling to get it out. For someone who spends so much time around flowers, flowery language doesn’t come very easily to me.”

>>>>What if it’s ugly?

“I don’t believe there’s such a thing. All living beings have some sort of value. I know you believe that, too. Otherwise you wouldn’t have hesitated to run me through a long time ago.”

>>>>>I’d love to help.

“Wonderful! I’m excited to see what we can make together. If you’re satisfied with the results, I can preserve a specimen so you can keep it with you. Well then, when you have a moment to spare, I’ll be waiting in the garden.”

[mystech-master]

Blazblue rewrites Part 1: The Age of Origin and beginning of the Looping World.

(put this on my Reddit may as well put it here)

As we all know, the Blazblue series is one of the most convoluted and over-complicated pieces of media ever. Mainly due to its quantum physics talk and very chuuni dialogue and a lack of good explanation for a lot of points. Naturally, one good thing about being a fan is that through the power of hindsight we can look at the entire series and basically fix what we think was messed up. Of course, we have this freedom since we are usually individual people, don't have a massive writing staff and marketing we need to appeal to, and pretty much the entire skeleton and pieces are there, they just need to be rearranged and/or be tweaked a bit.

I remember getting into Blazblue around the end of high school/beginning of college, almost 5 years ago. I thought the setting was neat and I am into anime action BS. Of course, the story was bonkers and made no sense until I started looking deeper but the main thing that has bugged me were the characters. There is just so much Bullshit that the characters do and brush off that just irritates me, especially when it comes to Ragna. This series has made me rethink the meaning of life, of showing kindness to people, or if "doing things because it's right" is a good enough excuse, how much should you desire your own happiness? All sorts of existential questions that Blazblue has made me think, not from the plot, but just from the BS character interactions.

If you check out my Ragna the Bloodedge tag, or have just been following me for a while, you will see/know how much I will defend this guy to the fucking grave because of all the bullshit that this guy is expected to take and deal with and it being seen as"inspiring" or "heroic" when it is really just sad to me. It isn't me liking the character, it is just a massive amount of pity and feeling sorry for him, to the point where I kind of have a massive bias towards him and end up making him an all-powerful unstable badass in most of my fic ideas with him. But I am getting ahead of myself.

I wanted to lay out my ideas for how I would make a Blazblue rewrite. If anyone wants to use these in their own fanfic, feel free. I don't give a shit about credit.

Starting with the timeline, we have the XBlaze series, Bloodedge Experience, and the core C-Series (ft.

the Phase Shift Novels, and Remix/Variable Heart Manga). In the actual story these are all separate “Possibilities”, or Timelines/Universes. That is dumb and I think that we can tweak things to make it all one linear timeline.

XBlaze takes place in the year 2050, 50 years before the Dark War is stated to begin, and 149-150 years before the main games start. This is plenty of time to make things different. We know from the backstory that Takamagahara, the god-supercomputer that mankind made, was not completed in this possibility due to Touya’s mother iirc. In my idea, all this does is delay the inevitable, Takamagahara will be made, just at a later date now. (edit) There is also the Mitsurugi agency, which was kind of behind the Wadatsumi incident in XBlaze's backstory. With their connections to the Mage's Guild, the Amanohokosaka Clan, and their desire to get the Azure, we could say that this is the agency that discovered the Susanoo, the Boundary, and did most of these experiments to the Prime Fields.

I do not know the exact year when Bloodedge Experience takes place, but I am going to estimate around 10-15+ years from XBlaze, putting it at 2060-2065+, since they do mention Mei as the head/leader of the Amanohokosaka Clan. I am not too sure what the branching-off point is here, Valkenhayn mentions Clavis having killed Naoto in the core C-Series Possibility so maybe it was during their initial meeting. But is Naoto surviving gonna change that much? The only other detail that would need addressing would be Raquel’s relationship with Rachel. According to the wiki bio “Raquel was created when a user of Soul Eater went havoc and killed hundreds upon thousands of people. Clavis Alucard stopped the user and killed them, but was forced to take the lives of 128,932 people in order to do so. When this happened, he held an Embryo. Three years later, the Embryo became Raquel and she was born. Maybe sometime later Raquel could end up being killed or something and another Embryo results in Rachel. I mean we never see or hear mention of a mother, or maybe it’s some reincarnation thing? IDK. We see how stern Clavis was with Raquel, so maybe seeing his first “daughter” die he ends up spoiling the next one rotten, leading to the kind of haughty holier-than-thou Rabbit we know today.

However, all of this needs to be put in perspective of the Origin and Terumi. I may mess up some of the finer details.

The plot of Blazblue started when Susanoo ditched his body, the Susanoo Unit, and then mankind discovered it underground. They excavated it, dug deeper, and found a Cauldron which led to the Boundary, within which they found the Master Unit, the God Computer that would allow them to control reality, and beyond that, they found the Azure, basically the primordial absolute force of the Blazblue Universe. However, the Master Unit can only respond to something anthropomorphic/humanoid and humans can’t survive the Boundary. So they made the Prime Field Devices, Androids meant to go into the Boundary. Pretty weirdly specific criteria that results in robot girls but I don’t see how I can mess with this.

One of them manages to reach the Master Unit and upon touching it she gains the Eyes of the Azure which gives it the power of the Azure and basically becomes not only sentient, but basically a god. The Humanity, freaked out about her new free will and the power she now has, tosses her back into the Boundary. Within the Boundary, the PFD, the Origin as we know her, sees her “sister” units all being tortured. Most likely to break any souls they have so the scientists don’t have to deal with their “free will” getting in the way of their plans. Maybe to bring in Terumi telling Noel that they became weapons, other groups heard of the guys making the PFDs and them getting god power and obviously would be trying to stop them/take this power for themselves, so they decided to make the PFDs into mindless robo-soldiers to fight them off. Origin gets mad and ends up making all of them sentient. Probably by Observing them as sentient, like she sees all of these things “like her” so obviously they must be sentient or at least have the potential for sentience. Kind of like Jotaro going “It’s a similar type of Stand '' to DIO and then getting Time Stop.

Anyways now mankind is fighting these robot girls who want revenge for being treated like tools, all humanity sees is all these in-human weapons killing them for no reason, just because destroying is what a weapon does, and with the Master Unit’s Phenomenon Intervention, they can just rewrite all of their failures into victories. Mankind sees the Origin and the Master Unit as basically the same thing, an evil machine god. His leads into why the Origin and Amaterasu can’t just be separated so Ragna doesn’t have to sacrifice himself to stop the time loops, the world sees The Origin and Amaterasu as one, there is no distinction. This is also apparently the time period when Clavis Alucard helped mankind make the Izayoi, with its Immortal Breaker and ability to resist Observation to fight against the Origin and the PFDs. Ironic that it eventually became known as the prototype for the Lux Sanctus: Murakumo, but I’ll talk about that later.

So what does mankind do? Make a Black Beast to destroy it. I mean we are told to believe that a Black Beast is the result of Azure Grimoire (or just a piece of the Azure) + Murakumo Unit = either a Black Beast if the fusion is imperfect, and a powerful Kusanagi God Slayer is done right. But tell me, why the hell would they build ANOTHER Prime Field Device to fight the PFDs? I will be getting into the exact nature of Black Beasts later. Mankind is apparently cool with the Black Beast destroying the world because so long as they can get the Azure and plug it into Takamagahara, which is basically a manmade Master Unit supercomputer, they can just reset time. But due to a bug or something, the Master Unit stopped this and when the world was destroyed she just made a new one based on her memories. This is the world the characters live in now. And since the last thing she remembers about the world is the Black Beast and obviously she doesn’t want the world to hate and try to kill her, the Black Beast enters the world with everyone having no context to its existence and no other enemy to fight, leading to the Black Beast going from a weapon of Mutually Assured Destruction, to the new Ultimate Evil Enemy of the World.

A few things we need to take note of here.

XBlaze and Bloodedge Experience would need to take place during the Age of Origin, between mankind discovering the Boundary but before the Prime Field War starts. I mean the two things needed for that part to start would be Prime Fields and Takamagahara, and while there is Es who is sort of a PFD, you could simply say that her model isn’t suited for full Boundary Exploration. I know I am really glossing over the Embryo stuff about her but I haven’t seen XBlaze stuff in a while and I would need to find a way to connect it with the Embryo in Centralfiction.

Apparently, there was some off-screen war in which Hihiirokane (the Soul Cutting Sword protected by Jubei’s clan, used by his brother Tomonori to fight Terumi, then put in Clavis’ grave) was used to fight some enemy, “Outside of logic”. I have no idea what this is and it feels like something that shouldn’t be glossed over.

Mankind made a Black Beast on their side to get the Azure and fight the Master Unit, which A. means that in a weird way the Black Beast was sort of on mankind’s side at first before the Origin retconned it into being the destroyer, and B. mankind would have needed to make a Murakumo Unit to fight the Murakumos, knowing that the Origin is making them sentient and turn on them, which kind of feels like a dumb move. But again, I will get to this later.

This will all lead into the Looping World. Now, this is weird because of the main thing which the loop revolves around, The Black Beast. It is either A. as Terumi says in CS, a Cauldron that went batshit (which is precedent by the short story That Which Is Inherited where Sector Seven tries to smelt a Nox but everything goes tits up and a Black Beast forms from the Cauldron (no souls or prime field required), or B. a Time Displaced Ragna and Nu. The Black Beast is a Self-Observing weapon. Observation in Blazblue basically means “deciding if/how something exists” by Observing itself, the Black Beast declares its existence in this time period, which means that no matter what time paradoxical BS you may try to pull, it will always appear (Kind of reminds me of the Time Medallions Clockwork gives team Phantom in Danny Phantom). But a less mind-mushing way to look at it could simply be that, no matter what, this will always happen. Like, say the Assassination of Kennedy is Observed as an event that must ALWAYS happen, then even if you find and stop the sniper. He is gonna still die. Maybe there is another sniper, maybe the sniper gets a good hit on you and manages to make another shot down the road, but anyway you slice it, Kenedy gets shot. That event is permanently locked in history and no matter what you do, this event is inevitable.

But suggestion A is weird because it could either mean that 1. He is talking about the first Black Beast from the Age of Origin, or 2. Since that part of the story probably wasn’t written yet and they are talking about this specific Beast, he is talking about the Dark War Black Beast, in which case there actually was a bit of time before the time loops started, or at least the very first loop, so then there was a bit of time before shit went sideways.

Maybe the Origin didn’t make a Black Beast war and it was all Terumi’s idea. The world would’ve continued as normal but since Terumi hated the Master Unit and mankind wanted power, they tried to make a Kusanagi but it fucked up and made a Black Beast, but without a publicly known Prime Field War to justify it, mankind doesn't see this as a necessary evil which will get the Azure and then reset the world better for them, it’s just a big evil monster.

Okay, that is my interpretation of the Age of Origin for my Blazblue rewrite idea. Not many changes since this is all pretty self-contained and not much needs expanding on. Just make sure to justify some actions and connect the three timelines. I probably missed out on a lot of finer details but I think I got the broad strokes of it. Feel free to correct me.

Next time I will cover the Dark War and hopefully go into explaining how I would make the Powerset make a bit more sense (Ars Magus, Grimoires, Nox Nyctores, the Azure Grimoire, and the Black Beast).

[sunnixsunshine]

Trying to draw Sniper in Horikoshi's style made me think of what their quirks would be if they were in the My Hero universe...

Sniper's would maybe be similar to Pro hero Snipe's. Or perhaps something similar to Hatsume's! I can't decide. Either way, it'd have something to do precision more than shooting.

Heavy'd have some kind of strength augmentation. Nothing like Muscular's though. I can't see him with a quirk like that. Or perhaps he'd have a quirk that manipulates copper. Ie, copper bullets. Here he is, an intimidating man with a belt of ammunition but no gun of any kind. You'd assume he wears it for show. That he prefers fist fighting over using guns or quirks. But oh now how you are wrong. So very wrong. Literal hell rains from above as he strikes his hand down.

Scout would have something similar to Kurogiri's warp gate. He can't teleport through portals per say though. He is the portal if you think about it though. Think of it as just popping in and put of existence, much like Overwatch's Tracer, except it has zero shit to do with time. His limit for his quirk would be 30 second cool down between each blip. He also can't blip no further than 10 feet through a solid wall or object and 40 feet in open space. Getting around a wall or other obscurity takes a lot out of him. He has to actually KNOW his location. Which means he has to see, or at least know, what's ahead of him. Its all about thinking of things before hand. Which he's actually really bad at. He acts and speaks before he thinks. Thought about something like Koichi's Slide and Glide or something like O'Clock's and Number 6's Overclock but thought better of it. Too cliché. Superspeed is overused anyhow. Why this though? You'll see!

Engineer would be quirkless in my opinion. He rides on the success of his inventions and natural intellect! He'd still have his Gunslinger however.

Medic would have a quirk that does more harm than good. Nothing that heals nor does it really strike a person as a heroic quirk. It defiantly has something to do with blood like Stain's or Toga's quirks! Maybe something like ATLA's blood bending technique? Instead of hero, villain, or vigilante work he works as an underground doctor for basically anyone. He doesn't judge as long you don't try to kill him. Pay him and your on his good side. Horrible quirk experiments on people and animals though. By horrible I don't mean cruel. I mean.... Well..... Weird and questionable.

Pyro's seems obvious, y'know, a pyrokenetic based quirk. But what if they have a generic quirk having shit to do with fire? Or they're quirkless pretending to have a quirk— based on fire that is. Or maybe they're just a quirkless pyromaniac that causes trouble for both heroes, villains, and the fire department?

Demoman just straight up blows shit up using the bombs he can produce using his saliva— gross I know. Simply put, if he spits on something it becomes highly explosive due to the chemicals that are naturally in his system, but not until he throws/shoots it. It has to gain some speed or friction. It doesn't explode until it makes contact with someone or something however. He spits on shit. Chucks it at people or things. Mostly people. Yeah he's in jail... Btw, its preferable to spit on an object than to just hock a lugie. Bigger the object, bigger the explosion— but it HAS to be moveable enough to throw! Just spitting at someone or on the ground results in a very small explosion. And that shits boring.

Soldier is a quirkless hero wannabe that comes off as more a serial beheader/neck snapper/home invader/confused man lost in a foreign country when he meant to go to the grocery store.

Spy's quirk would be to form temporary gateways to any location within 20 feet of his current location. Basically like Warp Gate. His portals typically stay open for a minimum of 2 minutes so they aren't useful for stealth missions. He uses his quirk mostly for emergencies. Otherwise he works quirkless. And prefers it that way. Its not very useful or convenient anyway since it only allows him to go 20 feet. Its essentially unusable unless he's gotta get past some trap or guard or something.

Miss Pauling did have a quirk. But it was erased. Willingly. She was shot by an enhanced prototype bullet, you know the quirk-destroying ones. The Administrator procured one from the black market. Had Engineer experiment on it per her request. Then later on as he claims its perfected, the Admin shot Pauling with the bullet. When 24 hours were up and Pauling could still no longer heat up her palms to 100°C (212°F), the perfected drug was deemed a success. She was left quirkless. She took the risk to help her boss. To do her job.

The Administrator can manipulate people just by having them stare straight into her eyes. And the thing is the victim would never know until they were told. She's gotten her way many of times. She's a cold hearted bitch with zero remorse, however she doesn't use her quirk unless absolutely needed. She believes relying too much on it would only land her in deep shit. She's gotten her way just by negotiating normally. Or from brut force. Or torture. Or all three at once. Either way, she tends to have her way with things with or without a quirk. She doesn't ever use her quirk on people she employs though. Too much trouble in case they find out as she tends to hire those with strong quirks, unstable behaviors, or with very strong connects.

Saxton Hale can enhance his strength using his own ego! Which is to say he's a strong badass. His ego is waaaaaaaaaay up there you know! His ego is basically an adrenaline shot and steroids in one go. He works out too however.

Scout's Ma has enhanced speed. Not superspeed per say. She's faster than the average person but not just on her feet. Her reflexes are about 5 times quicker than a normal person's. She can dodge very efficiently and her timing to jump is impeccable. Her speed/running is only above average, not super.

[feraliix]

MY CRESTORIA THEORIES YEE HAW

spoilers ahoy, steer clear!

five of these involve vicious, the last involves misella!!

THREE THEORIES FOR VICIOUS’ ORIGIN. 

1) vicious was an experiment made by malcolm (or malcolm was involved somehow, we know there are multiple scientists involved), which is why vicious wasn’t in the last chapter (YES I KNOW HE WENT OFF LONG BEFORE, but also, isn’t it convenient he wasn’t there for this MAJOR PLOT POINT? like, genuinely, from a writer’s standpoint, why wasn’t he there) --- which insinuates, with vicious’ special powers involving the blood sin, he is mixed up with a ton of special monsters, & he’s kind of like ratatosk but in one body (og soul dead perhaps?) & much more powerful

2) prototype humanoid enforcer went rogue!! so he’s basically like an older version of makina, but he went rogue and ‘dark’ (black vers. ???). gave him too much empathy & he figured out how to think for himself, he deemed someone not guilty & refused to kill them. him rejecting an order to kill was enough to brand him as a transgressor & it ‘tainted’ him in a sense & he created the ability to manipulate a stain of guilt into a blood sin. this could be why the king is almost desperate in bringing the great transgressor in because he’s just actually the biggest threat to the vision orb system they have.

3) he was created by someone to combat the transgressor mark, enforcers, & vision orbs system. specifically created to manipulate a stain of guilt into a blood sin.

4) the god of their world regretted their creation of the vision orbs after watching the humans abuse them & how evil humans still ran around rampant, so they created Vicious to dissolve the system 

NOW PLOT THEORIES

5) this correlates to theory 2 specifically, since he would have roots in being an enforcer, but perhaps the people behind creating him & makina have created something to control them if they ever defect again like vicious did (they learned their lesson)---so they control him at one point to attack the party, until it’s control is broken / the signal is too far / whatever plot point there that brings vicious back blah. this could be taken in two directions---

either misella starts trying to control the party / kanata by saying vicious is unstable and a liability and all that, then that could turn into a huge fight that ends up in either everyone going separate ways for a hot sec, or kicking misella out entirely (bc kanata maybe just SNAPS and has the same ‘KNOCK IT OFF’ moment that emil has @ marta in symphonia 2) 

or vicious removes himself from the group bc he can’t risk them getting hurt by him again if they ever take control of him like that in the future (LIKE HE JUST GOT COMFORTABLE BEING IN A FAMILY UNIT??? HE CANT RISK THAT MAN!!!)

sub theory 5.1 stems possibly into plot theory 6 below

6) ACTUAL REAL TRAITOR misella is manipulated by the enforcers / baddies whatever when she’s off-screen at any point to basically sell off vicious to them with a trap in exchange for kanata’s freedom or whatever --- the whole thing backfires bc haha!!! sike!!! they’re gonna kill them ALL AND IT’S ALL HER FAULT HAHA!!! vicious or kanata get seriously hurt, oh and also they were gonna maybe kill her too haha 

sub theory 5.3 where vicious DOESNT snap out of it and he’s taken by the enforcers and stuff and it turns into a rescue mission ( cue misella going NO, HE’S OBVIOUSLY BAD LET’S JUST LEAVE HIM and everyone else going ‘LMFAO ARE YOU STUPID??? HE WAS BEING CONTROLLED ITS NOT HIS FAULT???? HAVE YOU SRSLY LEARNED NOTHING???’ then everyone ditches her.... I SWEAR THIS ISN’T MISELLA BASHING , I JUST GENUINELY THINK THIS SJHFBDFNJ)

[darkshrimpemotions]

Exile might have just bumped up a few spots on my list of favorite songs on folklore.

Because at first it sounds like just a sweet, sad duet between two people whose relationship has ended. But if you take a closer look, there’s so much more there!

If you just take Justin Vernon's part of Exile and listen to it alone, it starts to sound really familiar. It’s basically a prototypical example of the kind of sad, heartfelt songs men often sing (and stories they often tell) about watching the women they love move on without them. It hits all the notes those songs usually hit, particularly with the characterization of the woman.

In these songs, the woman is portrayed as cold, heartless even. She moves on quickly and easily, as though the relationship meant nothing to her (”it took you five whole minutes to pack us up and leave me with it”). She is indifferent to the male narrator's pain, even rubbing her new happiness in his face (”I can see you standing, honey / with his arms around your body / laughin’ but the joke’s not funny at all”).

Most importantly, she is the woman who carelessly and thoughtlessly left behind a man who clearly loves her deeply, not bothering to fight for what they had together (”you didn’t even hear me out / you never gave a warning sign”). Echoes of the "heartless bitch who never goes for nice guys" trope abound. And if that’s all you got from the song, that would be all you would ever know about the woman in question.

Except that in this song, the man’s perspective isn’t allowed to be the final word on the relationship. In Taylor’s verses, we get to see the same relationship through the woman’s eyes.

She is far from heartless or blithely unaware of her ex-lover’s feelings. In fact she is very aware, and feels as though he’s being unfair to her (”those eyes add insult to injury”). Where he thinks he’s projecting all this love and longing, what she sees is possessiveness (”I can see you starin’ honey \ like he’s just your understudy”) and aggression (”like you’d get your knuckles bloody for me”).

Where he sees her rubbing her happiness in his face, she’s just trying to assert her independence from him (”I’m not your problem anymore”). She also has a very different view of the relationship itself. Where he remembers this great love being deserted without warning, she recalls something unstable and even dangerous (”balancin’ on breaking branches”) and being disappointed over and over (”second, third, and hundredth chances”). Now, on top of everything else, she feels judged for getting out and moving on (”who am I offending now?”).

My favorite part is the bridge, when the woman’s voice and the man’s join in a way that’s musically harmonious but lyrically directly contradicting each other. While he claims “you never gave a warning sign,” she points out “I gave so many signs.” When he pleads that he “couldn’t” turn things around, denying responsibility on some level by speaking as though it was out of his hands, she just blatantly says “you never turned things around,” a more direct statement that provides far less of an escape.

So then this seemingly simple, beautiful song becomes a dialogue providing two very different perspectives on a relationship that’s over, delving into not only why it ended but how the two people perceive each other now that it has. It doesn’t definitively say which perspective is the truth, of course, and which one you see as true will probably have a lot to do with who you’ve been in relationships before. But either way, it’s a brilliant study in perspectives done in a medium where you don’t often see that explored. And now that I’ve heard that, I can’t seem to stop listening to it.

[theclockworkkidart]

Radioactive Gems Master Post

As requested by anon. 

The Radioactive Series is an offshoot of the regular Land of the Lustrous canon, in which there exists another island in the vast sea of Earth (as I couldn’t imagine there only being one island?). Unfortunately this island contains the fallout of humans’ nuclear technology that was set off when the Earth was hit. Kind of like the Fukushima Disaster when there was a tsunami in Japan, although the details of what the nuclear site was (weapons, plants, etc) and how it was set off is unknown. However, the radiation and fallout of the island has life, with the focus being the Gems that came of it. 

Resident Gems (from oldest to youngest) currently on the island:

Trinitite (the eldest. Forgetful and constantly anxious/worried)  Chernobylite (second eldest. is prone to overheating and can become dangerous) Pitchblende (eccentric archaeologist/scientist)  Curite (self proclaimed leader)  Ianthinite (records keeper who’s often forgotten) Green Diamond (the Diamond of the group and has an ego because of it) Verrite (nervous medic)  Blue Topaz (the one with the balls to stand up to Green Dia)  Cygnusite (???)  Astrocyanite (astronomer and currently weakest Gem) Ekanite (sh*t disturber) Vicanite (youngest sh*t disturber) 

History

The beginning history is blurry at best as the oldest one (Trinitite) has impurities that cause their memory to falter greatly. The second oldest (Chernobylite) was too dangerous to even be in the same room as and was in isolation for centuries in an unstable mess before finally cooling down. 

From what can be gathered however, 

Mother found the Gems (Trinitite and Chernobylite) and created a residence for them out of the ruined structures that exist on the island. Only Trinitite was kept in there as Chernobylite was too dangerous at the time. Mother teaches Trinitite speech and discovers that Trinitite is radioactive.

Monazite emerges. Sky Guardians have appeared but only in passing. Mother begins teaching the Gems more than speech. 

Thorianite emerges. Sky Guardians have appeared to become more aggressive at this point. Mother protects the Gems from them.

Pitchblende emerges, quickly befriending Thorianite as the two display more playfulness and curiosity than previous Gems. Mother begins teaching chemistry. 

Sky Guardians are attacking the island. Most of the Gems are capable of taking up arms and attempt to assist Mother in fending them off. Thorianite and Pitchblende have started digging up artifacts which Mother mentions that it belonged to the creatures that used to reside on the land.

Curite and Autunite emerge. Mother sees how fragile Autunite is and attempts to develop better weapons to protect them. 

During down times, Mother tells the Gems what jobs they could pick up to help each other and figure things out. She emphasizes helping. 

Ianthinite emerges. Another fragile Gem. Chernobylite is finally cooled down enough to be safe around others.

Green Diamond emerges. Mother comments that they are made up of the hardest material and that Green will be able to protect the others. 

Monazite is abducted. Partially due to Green Diamond’s negligence. 

Mother doesn’t wake up and the Gems are left to figure things out on their own suddenly. There is chaos and panic in attempts to wake her up but all attempts up to the present for them have failed and Mother continues to rest in silence in a kneeling position in her room. Curite takes up the lead and begins to give orders to stop the chaos. 

Verrite emerges. The Gems are left to teach Verrite how to speak and other things.

Thorianite and Pitchblende are able to focus heavily into science and history, theories begin developing on how things work. Texts are found. 

Autunite becomes greatly upset over Mother and towards others, mainly for not being able to do anything. Their consequent impulsivity leads to them being shattered and abducted. Verrite becomes engrossed in protecting other Gems from shattering. 

Thorianite’s focuses lean towards the Sky Guardians now while Pitchblende continues to figure out the creatures of the past. Thorianite theorizes that the Sky Guardians may have something to do with the ancient creatures. They figure out how their weapons work and design their own weapons for the Gems using similar methods. Thorianite recalls Mother saying the Sky Guardians are lost souls. 

Blue Topaz emerges. The second hardest Gem who is able to place the egotistical Green Diamond down. 

Thorianite decides that speaking with the Sky Guardians to figure out what they want and why they’re attacking might have better results than constantly attacking. 

Thorianite is abducted. 

Cygnusite emerges. The Gems have a hard time keeping track of them. 

Astrocyanite emerges. Shows a fascination with the sky, especially the nighttime. Others fear that Astro will become the next Thorianite and be abducted, but Astro’s interest is mainly in the science of the universe. Along with Pitchblende, they develop a telescope prototype that eventually improves over time with each new design. 

Ekanite emerges. Quickly learns speech but otherwise proves hard to control. 

Vicanite emerges. Is the youngest currently and has currently mastered speech. Curite is trying to find them a job and get them learning other things but Vicanite may be more difficult than Ekanite as the two bicker. 

The history might change if other Gems are added (and could be added) it’s a rough estimate.

The Land

The island that the Gems live on is more star or sun shaped, with the Eastern side being where the Gems reside. The Eastern half of the island is mainly desert and harsher terrain with rugged mountains trailing from the west, while the Western half has high sharper mountains around the coast that protect it from the harsh weather so that it can prosper a little more. Most of the Gems are too dangerous to venture into the Western half as they’ve realized that they damage organic life more than it already is if they get too close or touch it. Only Blue Topaz and Green Diamond are capable of spending limited amount of time there without causing damage, and usually only venture there to gather resources not available in the desert or dry beds. Not much of it is explored or known in detail because of this, but it is known that the Valley is overgrown with plant life and some smaller creatures. 

The Eastern half is well known surface wise, and ruined structures from humans can be seen emerging from the ground. Although their original purposes are unknown to the Gems, they refer to several structures by name such as the Residence (three square boxed buildings arranged in a U shape that the Gems live in), the Towers (large cylindrical structures with high vantage points that tend to gather the rainwater at the bottom), the Heavens Observatory (a building close to Residence that contains Astrocyanite’s work with the storage housing in the bottom levels where Ianthinite can be found), along with other structures and landmarks. 

The weather can become extreme, and rainy weather is considered dangerous to the Gems as it is mainly acid rain. High winds can severely impact work so are scheduled as off days. Although the summers can become severely warm and bright, the only one to have ill effect to this is Chernobylite who has to maintain a cooler temperature. Winters are strange as it is also an extreme with temperatures dropping very low and winds continuing to be high, but the radiation kept up in the Residence is able to keep it from otherwise freezing over inside. Curite has tried on many occasions to have work continue during these months but has been unsuccessful. Only Chernobylite is able to stay up as their molten core keeps them warm and gives off light. 

The radiation from the island and extreme weathers are often too dangerous for Sky Guardians (Lunarians) which is why they appear less frequently. This has also allowed the Radioactive Gems to focus on advancement. 

Clothing and Technology 

Unlike the canon Gems, these Gems only have one outfit style. They don’t have shoes or gloves or any accessories except in their hair generally. The outfit is made of (beige) hemp cloth and is rather thick. The outfits are closed by crossing them over the chest and tying it on the right side. This is all due to the Gems not having a fashion centred Gem like Red Beryl so opt for simplicity. 

The Radioactive Gems are a bit more advanced in technology than the canon Gems, as their science is. Their physics and chemistry are probably the most advanced. This is seen in their weaponry, with momentum and far range weapons are used like bow and arrows. They have discovered fire and are in the beginning stages of electricity. This is mainly due to artifacts that Pitchblende has discovered and pieced together. 

Unlike the canon Gems, their biological knowledge is lacking mainly due to not being able to go near it. They are unaware that they contain microorganisms. They are partially aware of a life and death cycle, but biological functions such as eating is foreign to them. 

They are currently attempting to decode the ancient creatures’ texts and why the symbols vary so much, and eventually learning to know what it means in hopes of answers to the meaning of their existence and where they came from. 

Inspiration/Lore/Extra

While canon focuses on Buddhism beliefs, the Radioactive Gems will have more of Christian beliefs. 

This all started because everyone was choosing Torbernite as the “dangerous radioactive” Gem when there are many more. 

Most of the Gems contain uranium and/or thorium. Green Diamond, Blue Topaz, and Monazite are the three Gems that wouldn’t be radioactive elsewhere and contain no radiation in their purest form, but have been irradiated either due to exposure or impurities. Trinitite is technically the non mineral one, as it is glass. Chernobylite is the one based on speculation and is based on the Elephant’s Foot in the Chernobyl plant. 

In the Mer AU, the Radioactive Gems are deep sea merfolk instead. 

These Gems are much fewer in numbers than canon ones. 

[mwolf0epsilon]

DBH - Eight Years

A drabble focusing on my RK300 OC, Miles, who is very much not alright and living in a constant state of disassociation to cope with the horrors he's been put through.

Cyberlife is truly messed up.

---

    When RK300 unit #01 first opened his eyes, he could not see beyond his coded restraints. He was a machine with one purpose, a lab rat that lived in a tiny room built up on sterile white walls and rough metal grate flooring.

Just a multitude of ones and zeros, belonging to a vast algorithm plagiarized from several leftover files that had been abandoned by one of the most brilliant programmers in the entire world.

Subjected to the theories and experiments of the white coated beings that had brought him into the world.

RK300 #01, was not alive. Was not a he or a she, but an it. A tool.

When it was terminated, it was just as unaware as it had been when it had been thrust into the test chamber.

The same could be said for iteration #02 to #20.

By the 21st iteration, the cracks began to form on it's restraints.

    Cyberlife had designed the RK300 in 2031. A brand new concept with which the scientists could try to understand a secret that Elijah Kamski had hidden away in his impenetrable fortress of solitude. A software that would be worth millions if applied to specific kinds of androids monopoly.

Something that your typical domestic or comercial models lacked and would never need, but a military android could thrive on:

Critical thinking.

Decision making.

Adaptable intelligence.

The ultimate learning chameleonic android.

The perfect soldier.

An end to the pitiful display they'd thus far had put on against Russia. The winning card.

All of it outside of Cyberlife's grasp, but buried deep inside two custom models.

The RT600, Elijah Kamski's most treasured possession.

And the RK200, the first and last of its kind. The David to Kamski's Michelangelo.

Both unreachable, untouchable, protected by an army of lawyers and their creator's volatile ire.

Stealing from them would be unwise, but recreating them through scraps left behind?

That Cyberlife could at least attempt legally...That's where the RK300 came in.

    Granted that, as a prototype, the RK300 was not perfect. It certainly wasn't a Chloe (It's speech was limited, a work of predictive text cannibalized from several other commercial models) or an RK200 (it's movements less fluid than those of the unique model that two employees had observed, while blending into the background of it's usual routes).

Unit #21 was noticeably better than the first few iterations, seeming to be more aware of its general surroundings. Remembering previous tests and the functions of diagnostic tools it's handlers would use on it to record data.

An impeccable memory, one that was certainly developing more than it's social skills, but a promising outcome of several previous tests.

Even if it was created with incomplete software and unstable AIs, It certainly could learn at a more impressive rate than your typical AX400 or PL600. Although it's motor skills were severely lacking.

Further testing would have to focus on that.

By the completion of its first year, the RK300 had reached it's 45th iteration.

All units recalling the tests they'd been subjected to, all capable of beginning to predict the next one based on the tools alone.

The 46th was the one that got the scientists to pat each other on the back.

This one iteration was the first to hesitate when ordered to do something.

The first to exhibit deviant behaviour.

The real testing begun as soon as it was executed by it's handler.

    The RK300 existed in a constant state of experimental testing for eight years. Eight long years where it would be purposefully introduced to stressful situations with no positive outcome of reinforcements.

It was given fatal tasks, which ended with termination of iteration after iteration.

The next unit in the series would then be created, the previous ones's memories fully transferred into its processor, and the resulting knowledge would be added to a slowly developing AI that knew only to fear.

Fear everything it knew that it's creators could and would do to it, as well as scenarios it itself could invent in its own “mind”.

They'd created a unique predictive pathway in a neurological circuit. Endowed an android with something akin to religious terror.

Yet Cyberlife was nowhere close to solving what made the RT600 and RK200 so unique.

One android was not enough.

    The RK400 was the next in line. A female counterpart made a few months apart to the RK300, not too dissimilar to a regular AX400, but very unique in her own way.

Its programming was more refined, capable of learning at a quicker rate and with more sophisticated social protocols.

The RK300, this one iteration #52, had been unsure of the new addition to the test chamber it was confined to.

It did not understand what the RK400 was, no matter how much it scanned it's sister unit.

The following tests focused on socialization and reactions to social cues. All of which unit #52 failed miserably at.

It was swiftly disposed of when it exibited the incorrect behaviours, with it's final resolve being to terminate the RK400.

Unit #53 behaved differently towards the RK400’s second iteration.

It understood not to kill it's companion.

The 56th learned to cherish it, when the scientists acclimated it to positive interactions through the RK400. Then, just as the RK300 learned to associate it's sibling model to good, unit #02 was terminated violently in front of it.

The 56th met #03 with a tight embrace and manic terror, as it tried to shield the newly created android from the line of sight of the observation window.

A curious behaviour, but interesting development none the less.

The two seem to develop a mutualistic partnership, before the scientists proceed with the next phase of their testing: The application of AI handlers.

    There are two programs that they integrate the RK300 with. The AMANDA_STERN AI and the AARON_HOSS AI. They are authority figures, imposing and enforcers of respect.

They shape the Mind Palace program the younger programmers have been tweaking through out the RK300’s development, and create a sort of virtual space inside the unit's own head.

The RK400 doesn't take well to the program.

It is a much more refined android, with a pre-programmed memory corruptor to lessen it's experiences considerably while retaining the basic conclusions of what each iteration's death meant for it. That doing certain things was bad and that it should avoid doing them, even if it wasn't quite sure why.

The memory conflict, coupled with the aggressive AIs, lead to unit #03 self-destructing.

This in turn, lead to the 56th RK300 iteration to go balistic.

The first instance of severe program instability.

That unit was swiftly disposed of, the next encarnation back to its uneasy but more agreeable desposition.

The 57th was the focus of AI testing, while the 4th RK400 was subjected to a unique AI program to lessen it's stress loads.

The MAKIKO AI was much less intimidating, which aided in unit #04’s processing development. The RK400 became as childlike as the Handler program it had been enfused with, and that had led to a collosal failure on this particular experiment.

The RK400 was of no use out in the field. Too fragile, much less durable than it's predecessor.

It was swiftly desposed of, while an empty shell was archived away for possible future research.

Repurposing models wasn't a bad idea.

The RK300 displayed odd behaviours afterwards. Becoming despondent and unwilling to participate in further testing.

The Handlers critically analyzed the data they received from it, and alikened the issue to a human condition. Depression. Grief. Mourning.

Units #57 to #60 were all met with brutal deaths until the next iteration seized the useless pattern of apathy.

Unit #61 was created with an aggressive spark in its eye and a taste for combat. The next RK-Series would handle critical thought as it combatted a unit that feared neither harm not death, fueled only by simulated rage.

RK500 #01 and #02 were ripped apart fairly easily, but #03 managed to fight back the longest.

It was #04 that managed to cripple the 61st RK300, and finally it was the 5th RK500 that took it out, along with the beserker rage that had besieged the model's processor.

    The 62nd encarnation of the RK300 seemed respectful of it's new sibling model. It was a professional sort of respect, borne of experiencing first hand it's superior but less refined fighting skills.

The RK500 was a thinker, more than an actor, but it was clever in how it problem-solved.

The RK300 watched as it was put through the same horrors it had once endured, and then forced into being another rendition of the same model. With a religious terror of things it had experienced in past lives, but could not remember having ever gone through.

The RK300 took the younger model under it's wing, and all over again the Cyberlife scientists watched as their chackled labrat learned to appreciate another of it's kind.

This appreciation did not vanish when they introduced guns to their shared tests.

The RK300 refused to harm the other unit, no matter how much it's handlers tried to “discourage” such behaviours, while the RK500 wordlessly took the gun and shot it's predecessor whenever prompted.

Then it would shoot itself as ordered, and the fear of doing so never surfaced.

Progress for the perfect soldier program.

Until one day the RK500 hesitated, and then turned the gun upwards at the observation window. The 80th RK300 grinned wickedly, a smile of triumph and defiance.

Unit #14 was terminated and the 15th encarnation of RK500 was archived.

The RK300 never smiled again.

    The RK600 and RK700 were both produced with months of separation. They were both placed in the same testing chamber as the 81st RK300, and both circled their predecessor like curious predators.

They were designed as infiltration agents.

Critical thinkers. One specialized in decision making, the other in adaptability.

They didn't kill their older brother right away. Instead they observed, learned, adapted, and then acomplished their task.

They destroyed over 200 units between each other before being sent out into their respective fields for extensive testing.

Unit #281 laughed when both escaped Cyberlife's control. It had known the two had deviated faster than the RK500, that they were far too intelligent to remain slaves to their creators.

Unit #281 was tossed into the incinerator while still online. The burning punishment of it's smug defiance.

Unit #282 was less chatty, but it certainly was not less perceptive.

The RK600 and RK700 were marked as extreme failures on their very first renditions, and their files archived away.

Current status? MIA.

Cyberlife would let the military clear that blunder themselves.

The RK800 would have to be more restrained, the chosen AI Handler given more control.

Most important of all, the unit would have to deviate and then put itself back on a leash.

They couldn't prevent it from acting out, as they'd learned with their previous RK-Series models, so they'd have to make it chose to believe it was a machine.

Only then would they be able to put an end to this charade.

    The first iteration of RK800 was the most endearing of their units. An overly curious charismatic android, with an awkward but genuine smile, soulful brown eyes and a mess of brunet hair and freckles.

It wore a stolen face and was never deviant to begin with.

The RK300 watched as that cheerful and kind spark was slowly consumed by violent torturous testing, until what remained was an apathetic creature that learned to thrive in self-worthlessness and a red wall built on a lie.

It thought it was a machine.

Because if it wasn't, then it wouldn't survive.

RK300 #995 put an end to the lab tests and initiated field testing after killing unit #50. Unit #51 sprang forth not an hour later and proceeded to kill it in a show of revenge.

A blip in the system, eliminated by a factory reset.

Then RK300 #996 watched with mild curiosity as this one odd RK800 was let out into the world for its first field test: A hostage situation.

There might be hope for that unit in particular.

But that was to be seen.

The RK900 was currently in the works, incorporating all that worked in its predecessor and more, and it'd be in experimental phase soon enough.

There was a lot of talk about evacuation due to outside events tho, so testing would be postponed while the RK800 tried to stop the deviancy issue that had arised in the outside world.

Unit #996 wasn't entirely sure what, nor did it really care. This iteration had long since decided that retreating into it's Mind Palace was the safest thing it could do outside of it's usual work schedule, and the scientists prefered when it had that hundred-yard-stare.

Gazing emptily with shiny blue eyes, while it's sight was set internally.

It didn't notice when it was put into the archives, into the darkness with it's forgotten siblings, nor did it notice the incomplete model that had not yet gone to hone it's capabilities.

It didn't notice much of anything anymore.

Couldn't afford to.

Especially not when those armoured doors opened once more to reveal something not quite like it, but more. So much more.

With an intense blue and green gaze, and a presence that reached out and took from those it connected with. Aassimilated, expanded, craved more, rinse and repeat.

The RK300 refused it's touch, refused it's words.

Knew not to trust what was so similar to its creators, their hungry eyes that wanted more knowledge, more power over the controlled environment they'd created.

It knew to recognize the similarities, because the RK300 had lived a hundred lives, walked a hundred metaphorical miles…

Miles...

It liked the sound of that name...

[cosmamas]

THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD : PERSONA VERSE.

tell me god, are you punishing me? is this the price i'm paying for my past mistakes? i need you more than ever right now. can you hear me now? the answer is no.

fighting evil by the moonlight and winning love by daylight ! known far and wide across the galaxy under the codename sailor moon, tsukino usagi was once your average, lazy, and ultimately ordinary middle school student...at least until a mysterious cat follows her home. it isn’t long after their fateful meeting that her life is forever changed when her persona, selene, finally awakens from within her out of usagi’s desire to protect her best friend, naru, from shadows that had attacked her mother’s jewelry store. once the girl was safe and sound, usagi learns that the cat is named luna who informs usagi that there are other girls just like her waiting to awoken as a senshi. slowly but surely each girl is found until the team of nine become known as the sailor senshi among citizens of tokyo. 

the group were responsible for the destruction of many shadows that terrorized the streets of tokyo in the early nineties, however, they were eventually unprepared for their newest and greatest threat: shadow galactica. led by the destructive sailor galaxia, the sailor animamates ran amok across the galaxy, stealing the persona’s of other sailor senshi ( a process that ended the original host’s life ) before eventually setting their sights on earth. completely unprepared for such ruthless and calculating foes, her friends lives are snatched away instantly yet when finding herself almost at rock bottom, usagi finds that all is not lost like she thinks. through the help of a trio of senshi that had escaped to earth along with their princess, usagi learns of sagittarius zero star and the galaxy cauldron that waited beyond - as well as galaxia. 

there at the birthplace of all stars, she confronts senshi of destruction in order to restore her friends and their battle ends when usagi delivers a fatal blow to galaxia’s chest. as the woman lays dying, it is then that usagi learns the truth: galaxia was ultimately just a puppet for the demiurge ( otherwise known as yaldabaoth ), a chaotic being who was feeding on the stolen personas in order to revive himself in the galaxy cauldron. in her desire ( or more accurately, desperation ) to avoid facing her fears of being alone, the girl makes a plea to the stars before throwing herself into the cauldron. as her faithful persona comes to her aide one last time, usagi commands the power of not only selene but the dormant personas inside of the cauldron to help defeat the demiurge and stop his impending rebirth. however, something else happens during this event as well. her persona begins to undergo a metamorphosis into its ultimate form as a reaction to usagi’s resolve which triggers a fusion with the dormant personas and usagi who is caught in-between. 

her body burns, her mind shatters, and her soul is torn asunder...all before she is neatly pieced back together again. she has been reborn in the depths of the cauldron, something far more alien and foreign now as she emerges from the sea of stars. she is whole for the first time in her life. tsukino usagi is dead and the woman left behind is cosmos. declared missing and eventually presumed dead, her face has been forgotten under the countless other missing person signs during the twenty years she has wandered the galaxy. despite the vast power she commands, she’s still searching, still hungry, for one single item: the universe arcana.

details of note:

1. while a fusion with a persona of a higher level typically causes the persona to posses the host, the sheer number of personas usagi fused with at once made it impossible for one to posses her. instead the process permanently changes her both physically and mentally ( ex. she grows taller, her hair turns permanently whiter/silver, personality change, becoming mentally unstable, etc. ). she doesn’t summon a persona as she has essentially become her ultimate persona, cosmos.

2. while initially represented by the empress arcana, her arcana becomes the hanged man after her ‘ascension’ / metaphorical rebirth: a card associated with self-sacrifice for the sake of enlightenment, the bindings that makes one free, paradoxes and hanging between heaven and earth.

3. her original costume as sailor moon was highly similar to her prototype design from the manga ( aside from the cape ). she originally wielded a colt 45 caliber pistol as her ranged weapon along with various staffs / rods for melee weapons. as an adult, she wields a katana and a pump-action shotgun for melee and ranged attacks respectively. she is not a god despite her vast amount of powers which is why she highly desires the universe arcana, a card that allows the wielder reshape the universe. 

4. she is a mother in this verse as during the twenty years she was ‘missing’, she created and gave birth to a son named archisei. in her eyes, he is perfection and she’s grooming him to help her reshape the universe. although the reality is that he’s not perfect. far from it actually as 1). he’s created from her, someone that’s not right™ anymore and 2). he may or may not be another reincarnation of the demiurge, the same being that she once killed, as it has multiple forms / different methods of being reborn. she may or may not be aware of this but at this point, usagi’s mentally gone / locked away and the woman in her body doesn’t really care about such things.

she returns to earth only because she senses the light of another, a child named yukine, who is possibly the future holder of the universe arcana. intending to use the child to get what she’s desired after so many years, she plays the part of the kind, caring adoptive mother as she patiently waits for them to awaken their true power so she take their arcana for herself ━━ by force even if she has to.

5. her palace is highly similar to the palace / chapel found at the galaxy cauldron. each floor is immaculate and incredibly pristine while the shadows that roam its halls have the appearance of the servants and handmaidens who would attend to a queen. as one moves up each floor to reach her, that’s when things begin to warp / become increasingly chaotic to represents her state of mind: the clash between the girl she once was, the woman she currently is, and the goddess she desires to become.

this is a canon-divergent verse for persona. this verse is primarily based around events after the fifth game with details from other games in the series as well as the shin megami tensei series incorporated into it as well. in shin megami tensei nine, the gnostic goddess, sophia, gives birth to the demiurge and eventually helps the protagonist to defeat him after falling from grace. cosmos is the equivalent of a very corrupted sophia that not only doesn’t feel remorse for the birth / creation of her son but actively encourages him to embrace what he is so she can eventually get what she wants.  art credit.

[crossdressingdeath]

Thinking about Detroit Become Human has confused me. Because I’ve thought about it, and y’know, Connor seems to be playing by different rules, deviancy-wise? But they never explain if it’s all part of CyberLife’s plan or something else. The other deviants seem perfectly obedient until they suffer a powerful emotional shock that allows them to break through their programming, but (assuming you’re going for deviancy right from the start) Connor displays signs of free will and empathy from the first mission. Like, saving the fish and helping the cop on the terrace are things he doesn’t need to do for the mission, and picking up the gun is something he shouldn’t even be capable of doing, assuming he doesn’t have some sort of built-in exception to the normal rules as a detective, which is possible but unlikely, since scanning it pings a notification about that law and picking it up increases software instability. Plus, if you talk Daniel down, software instability goes up dramatically when he gets shot. Why would that happen if Connor really was a completely emotionless machine at that point in the story? He shouldn’t care at all at that point.

(More below the cut because this got far longer than anticipated.)

And let’s talk in regards to the other protagonists for a second, since they’re the ones who give us most of our firsthand information about deviants. It’s possible Markus built his up gradually, although we don’t see enough of his time pre-game to know for sure, but it’s equally possible that the painting scene was caused by Carl’s order tapping into the part of his software that triggers deviancy, rather than deviancy itself, if that makes sense. He still doesn’t manage to go against orders until he’s put into a stressful, dangerous situation. And, come to think of it, since he’s an earlier prototype of Connor’s line the fact that he displays some unusual behaviour kind of makes sense; it’s not at the same level as Connor, but he can display human reactions pre-deviancy if given orders that push him into thinking on his own. But Kara is a completely standard model, and she becomes deviant in the way it generally seems to happen: An android is faced with a powerful emotional shock and manages to break through their programming to gain access to human emotions. There isn’t the faintest trace of emotion before that point. Meanwhile Connor can display emotion and limited free will right from the start. By the time he actually becomes deviant, he’s already been acting with the same level of emotion and autonomy as the other deviants for some time, and even if you keep him a machine he can still say he’s glad to have met Hank, which isn’t something he should be able to feel as a full machine, and spare him even though he’s interfering with the mission.

He doesn’t become deviant the same way either. Markus is being attacked, Kara wants to protect Alice, the rest of the deviant androids seem to have either been changed by personal danger or by Markus and Connor’s ability, but Connor can just be... talked into it? By someone he has literally never met before? And Connor manages to get through both personal danger and the desire to protect someone important to him without actually breaking his programming up until that point? Was he just... programmed with more autonomy than the others? He is capable of doing things neither of the other protags seemed capable of pre-deviancy. Like, he can disobey his orders on multiple occasions before he has to become deviant himself to avoid going through with his mission. The other deviants can’t even do that once.

And yeah, I know CyberLife apparently wanted him to go deviant for... some fucking reason (that’s a whole other topic), but if that was their plan wouldn’t they have made sure to keep some level of control over him? Were they just too blinded by their own arrogance to realize that if Connor developed free will he might not just sit back and let them do what they want? Did they not know or even suspect there might be a back way out of the garden that Connor could use? What was even the point of him going deviant to begin with? How did they intend to control a living, thinking person who would immediately realize they’d been treating him like an object his whole life? Was the deviant thing Kamski’s idea, rather than CyberLife’s? The AI in Connor’s head looks like his old mentor, so it’s possible, but wasn’t Kamski long gone from CyberLife by the time when Connor was in full development? It doesn’t make any sense.

I’m thinking that maybe CyberLife didn’t intend for Connor to go full deviant. Maybe they expected him to gain enough emotion and autonomy to fool the rebels into trusting him, but not enough to get through the programming. And it kind of makes sense that a detective android would have more emotion and autonomy than, say, a gardener android. He would need a certain degree of curiosity to look for clues and examine evidence, empathy to persuade witnesses to talk to him and defuse situations like the ones with Daniel and Ortiz’s android, autonomy and detailed thought processing to complete tasks and get through investigations and negotiations like the ones we see in-game without being ordered through every step of the process...  It makes sense, but it would make him closer to deviancy from the start than your average fresh-off-the-rack android.

My thought is (and here we’re getting into straight-up theorizing, so who knows if I’m right) that maybe the main goal of the RK line was to get androids as human as possible so they could perform jobs that required real levels of autonomy and the ability to think on their feet in complicated situations (like Markus’s role as a home care android, for example) without pushing them into developing free will on their own, and maybe Connor was just a bit too far; they were able to keep him from becoming deviant through any immediate threat or shock (which would be an important thing to figure out how to avoid for an android that was guaranteed to be in high-stress situations, and which must have been possible to some extent beforehand, since police and security androids exist and don’t seem to go deviant on their own, as far as we see), but their safeguards against deviancy (which I’m sure exist in some form or other) failed rapidly, and Connor’s software became more and more unstable until he was finally able to break free without any serious shock at all. He’s the only android we see with a secondary AI in his head because Amanda was the failsafe; they couldn’t guarantee that they had full control over him, so they needed someone on the inside to pull the strings if Connor got too far from the path they wanted him on. But even with all their precautions, I don’t think they realized that Connor would be capable of really connecting with another person outside of the superficial; Hank pushes him to become a person, and that mixes with Connor’s preexisting levels of empathy and autonomy to allow him to recognize Amanda’s purpose in his head and stop listening. They made Connor just human enough that a single person treating him like a living being was enough to nudge him until he was just a step away from full-on deviancy.

But it’s a little ironic that the programming that they gave Connor to catch deviants was probably what pushed him into deviancy himself.

[glapplebloom]

The Final Chapter of my version of Bliss…

Last time: the Girls were recovering in Bubbles’ house from their attack when the Professor found out in Florida. After discovering the situation, the Professor decided to call the girls. Meanwhile, all of the girls were still sleeping after that confrontation when a laptop began to ring.

This woke up everyone, even those upstairs. But it seemed a good night sleep was more than enough for them to recover from the attack. So they all rushed down to answer the face time. As they all expected, it was indeed the Professor.

Professor: Girls! Are you alright?!?

Bubbles: They’re all fine dad. 

Buttercup: Yeah! That jerk just caught us by surprise. Once we figure out whoever she is...

Professor: Blisstina Francesca Francia Mariam Alicia Utonium.

Blossom: Utonium? You’re not telling us...

Professor: Yes. She was your sister.

Professor: As you know, my desire was to create the perfect little girl. But as you know, science isn’t made in a day. I tried many variations and ingredients. Even throwing in chemicals that are so mysterious they only exist as letters. But eventually, after getting the right ingredients and mixing in Chemical X, Bliss was born.

Blossom: So you’re saying this Bliss is essentially our prototype?

Professor: In a way, yes. But back then I figured i was successful. She shared so many traits with you girls. 

Buttercup: She definitely punched as hard as I do.

Professor: Besides Chemical X, she was also made with sugar, spice and everything nice. And like you girls, she also had super powers. Still, I raised her as if she was my own daughter. Because, like you girls, she was.

Professor: But unlike you girls, she was unstable. I tried my best to prevent her from exploding, but no matter what I did couldn’t stop it. Eventually, I tried to make her last few hours as enjoyable as she can before she no longer came to be.

Bubbles: No wonder you never told us this. If something like that happened to Bailey, I don’t think I could speak ever again.

Professor: And that was how I felt. For years, I decided to give up on creating you girls and even thought about giving up science all together. But one day, during a grocery trip, I saw something.

Professor: A Lumpkin was robbing the grocery store I usually shopped in. I don’t think it was Fuzzy. It had a deranged look on his face. A look that showed just how twisted this world has become. It was that moment I decided to try once more to create the Perfect Little Girl: to create something that was truly pure.

Blossom: And this lead to our creation?

Professor: Yes. My original idea was to modify the ingredients that made Bliss. It was a much better balance of sugar, spice and everything nice. Of course, I didn’t plan on using Chemical X, but Jojo made sure that it did pour in. And thanks to luck, you girls were born.

Buttercup: Of course. We’re one of a kind.

Bubbles: Except when Professor D made all those copycats.

Buttercup: Professor D? You don’t mean Di...

Bubbles covers Buttercup’s mouth.

Bubbles: We do not use that word in my house.

Professor: You girls were amazing. The powers that eventually took Bliss’ life were just second nature to you. You three were indeed the perfect little girls. And now you grew up to be fine young women.

The girls were tearing up from hearing these words from their father, but Blossom was the first to get serious.

Blossom: Dad, are you sure Bliss blew up?

Professor: Yes. The explosion left nothing of her except her hair clip. 

Buttercup: One thing for sure, this does explain how she has all our powers.

Professor: Actually, it doesn’t.

Everyone looked at the Professor quizzically. 

Professor: Bliss’ powers weren’t as developed as yours. If she were to have lived, she wouldn’t be half as powerful as you girls.

Bubbles: But she somehow could match my sisters and Boomer? How?

Boomer: HIM.

Now it was Boomer who was the center of attention.

Boomer: HIM did me and my brothers back from the dead. And to ensure our victory, he gave us a new power that he thought would have defeated the girls. He probably kept her longer to brainwash her into attacking us.

It was then Blossom saw a ghost. With a shocked look on her face, she rushes out of the building. Everyone else was wondering why. Blossom rushed back home to see everything seemingly normal. But then she noticed the tracks below the bookcase. She had it design so only a Powerpuff can lift it, which meant her worse fears happened.

She moved the bookcase over and opened the safe. To her horror, it was empty. The last remains of Bunny was gone.

And that will end this story for now. Next week, we’re bringing in the Pillars.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

I’ll Meet You At The Bottom (Part 15)

So a little good news and a little bad news. Good news; today I contacted a publisher. I might be getting an original short story published. The bad news: this means I might not be able to update this fic as regularly. I’m definitely going to try, but I’m going to be putting more work into polishing my short story.

Azula pulled herself up, sore all over. She threw her belongings into her pack with such an alarmingly unnecessary fury. She’d stayed the night to prove that she wasn’t afraid, but she no longer desired their company. She didn’t desire any company at all. She supposed that deep down, she’d always felt as though she belonged alone.

 “Here.” Chan made off to dab at her head with a wet cloth.

 She slapped his hand away, “don’t touch me.”

 “I should have stepped in.”

 “I didn’t want your help.” She frowned and continued to fold her sleeping bag. With a sharp hiss, she clutched her ribcage.

 “Let me see it.” Chan reached out again.

 “I said don’t touch me.” This time her holler was loud enough to get a rouse from Taeyul and Wire. Even as she did so, she lifted her shirt some. She cringed at the sight of her sides, they were bruised and swollen all the way up, making it hard to move at all. She wouldn’t abandon her task though.  She would get an extra pouch of Ruby Tears from Chan and be on her way. She tightened her bag shut.

 “You really gonna leave us, pretty lady?” Minho asked.

 “You won’t miss me.”

 “That ain’t true.”

 “Ain’t it?” Azula mocked, she tugged up her shirt. “This is your fault. You and Yoona.” He flinched at the display. “Oh, I know what this is about. You just want more of this.” She hitched her shirt up an inch or two more, something she’d been all too good at lately. “That’s all you wanted, wasn’t it?” Two days late, the regret was setting in. Loneliness and desperation had made her easy. She recalled how he’d first leered at her, how could she have been so foolish? Azula tossed the pouch between her hands. Maybe Kohza was right, maybe she was just a ruby whore. She dropped herself back down. “Well, you got what you wanted, don’t think you’ll get it again.”

 “That weren’t all I wanted.” She thought she heard Minho say. “It were at first, maybe.”

 Azula ignored him. She would sit for a moment more and be on her way, whether Chan wanted to help her home or not. A drawn-out puff from her kiseru helped relax her frayed nerves and seemed to take the edge off of her physical pains. She looked in the direction of the palace, in the direction of home. How many people would be waiting for her? Waiting to drag her back to that loathsome institution. Azula laughed to herself, she’d like to see them try.

  The heavy sound of footsteps indicated Bo-Rem lurking before the girl announced herself. Dropping a token made from a rusty, beaten scrap of metal into Azula’s lap, she said, “You’re leaving? And here we were gonna let you join our gang.”

 The princess had no appetite for sarcasm today. She turned the shard of scrap metal over in her hand regardless. It was cut in an almost perfect circle with only a few sharp edges and bore the double-edged dagger of the Nyūkirā.  She flipped it over again, the back had two engraved letters an ‘P’ and an ‘L’.  In certain light, the metal chunk had a red sheen to it.

 “Boryuk didn’t know what to engrave in the metal for the initials.” Bo-Rem stated.  “So he just went with Minho’s nickname for you.”

 Azula furrowed her brows, thinking back to Mama Mozi. Of her many questions, she didn’t know which to ask first, so she asked the simplest? “Boryuk can metalbend?”

 “A little.” Boryuk shrugged, as if it wasn’t an accomplishment at all.

 Azula came out with the more pressing question.  “What is with you lowlifes and pretending like nothing happened.”

 “That kinda how it be here, pretty lady.” Minho replied.

 “We fight all the time, get it out, then it’s over.” Khoza shrugged. “‘Stead of dragging it out like they do in high-class politics.”

 “You just let it out all at once and get over it.” Wire added.

 “We also had to make sure you could handle us before letting you in.” Bo-Rem replied.

 “That how it work ‘round here.” Yoko declared.

 Azula spared the palace another glance and then turned her eyes to the trinket in her palm. An initiation process, she mused to herself. She supposed any group worth while had some type of hazing to go with it, Agni knew she wouldn’t have let just anyone join her posse. She slipped the token into her pocket.

 “So is you leavin’ or stayin’, pretty lady?” Minho asked.

 Her clothes were dirty beyond all compare, she longed for a nice hot shower, and a meal worth eating. Azula looked longingly at the palace. It would be another impulse decision that she would come to regret, but for now the Nyūkirā felt like real friends. They were rough and unstable, fickle and unpredictable but she was just as so.

 Chan tossed her a bottle of cactus juice. “So how about a trip to the industrial park? We could have a few drinks, make a little noise…”

 .oOo.

 She’s been gone for a little under a week and not one person has seen her. Or maybe they have but just didn’t realize it. Sokka wondered if her haircut had made her look that different. It couldn’t have, Azula had changed a lot but she was still Azula. He could see it on her, he didn’t even have to look, she had a certain aura about her. Sokka ran his fingers through his hair, how could this have happened? Why did he care so much for her? She’d never given him a reason to feel this much distress over her disappearance.  She needed someone, but why did it have to be him? Because, he decided, I was crazy enough to give her a try. Despite it all he had a bit of a weakness for caring for those who were usually looked down upon. And after his brush with his darkest nature, he had a weakness for seeing the humanity in the least sympathetic of people.  

 Yes, at her core, Sokka decided, Azula was in pain. Lost and in pain, and confused. Perhaps afraid even. None of those traits looked well on her and none of them seemed characteristic of her. That may have been particularly why he found himself overcome with stress and worry.

 As Sokka swept his brush over the canvas, he couldn’t help but recall her as he’d last seen her. She was so delicate, as close to death as she could very well get without falling through the thin veil. His brush glided faster as his mind raced. He was almost finished painting on her robe. It was lacking some in texture, but that only seemed right as his life in general seemed to be lacking texture lately.  

 Images infiltrated Sokka’s brain; he saw the princess laying broken and naked in some dirty back alley, she turned to him and asked why he had left her. This image flickered away, only to be replaced by Suki underwater with her arm outstretched, she was asking him where the hell he was. The images seemed to blur together and their questions intertwining.  He put down the brush, his hand trembling too much to pain right.

 He tore down the stairs, knowing that he had to find Azula. He had to find her right then.

If he didn’t he would find her dead.

Just like Yue. Like his mother. Like Suki.

 .oOo.

 The industrial park was the husk of an old war age factory. Like most of the wartime relics, the defeat of the Fire Nation put it out of use. It’s various smoke stacks were barren of their usual puffs and much of its coal had been coughed up and scattered around the dead grass and dirt. Azula knew this factory by its logo, it was the very same one that had pumped out the drill she had overseen a long time off. Spare pipes, cogs, and sheets of scrap metal unutilized were discarded in careless heaps around the park. Azula found herself sitting on the massive rail tracks, once used to transport the drill safely from one end of the park to the next. It was a jarring sight to look down, the hole beneath the track was big enough to swallow her whole. She spied the rusting corpses of war machines deemed unfit to fight for the purpose they were designed. Great machines that weren’t grand enough, discharged before they had a honor of joining the battle. She almost wished that, that could have been her. She leapt down and wandered over to one that may have been a prototype for her tank. It was beaten and unmovable now, but it still looked like it could shatter the terrain it trekked. She wondered what happened to her old tank, one day she would have to drive it again. But for the time being she accepted Chan’s cactus juice.

 One bottle had Azula’s strides a little clumsy. Two made every stupid remark made by Yoko, absolutely hilarious. Two and a half, and Yoona’s speech suddenly made complete sense. Three had her giggling hysterically when Chan tried leaping from a pile of stone blocks onto a pile of rusty beams, he missed by a bit and took a hit right to his manhood. Four bottles had her trying it herself, with more success but just as little grace.

She had to admit that she was having the time of her life. They had taken her on a great many adventures throughout the day; they had taunted a wild kimodo bull, leapt through a broken window to steal a dented kettle just to see if they could, stomped across Mama Mozi’s lawn after she’d turned her back, and tested their parkour when she’d chased them down.  Azula would argue that the kind of leaps and turns they preformed were worthy of high praise, but apparently the owners of the homes used in their show were more concerned with the unwanted intrusion than the impressive display. Their show was cut short when Azula got a first hand demonstration of the reasoning behind Wire’s name. They were doing splendidly, with a new burst of energy courts of the cactus juice, Azula had leapt from one roof to the rickety balcony of the house below. It sent jarring vibrations through her bruised and swollen ribs, but she didn’t notice through her buzzed daze. From there she used the rails to fling herself upon the scaffolding of a house never finished, leaping from one crossbeam to the next. It would seem that the building was privy to invaders for it was rigged all over. Azula had taken the care to dance over and weave through each. Chan and Taeyul not far behind. A loud “ah fuck,” and a decent thud caught her attention. She looked down to see Wire hanging precariously by his feet a story below. Between the ten of them, Wire was free, but his ankles were torn pretty horribly. Thus their rooftop adventure was cut short, all was well though, they had lost Mozi blocks back. And so they came to arrive at the industrial park earlier than planned where Azula had just finished one upping Chan. She finished with a bow that sent her into sudden vertigo. She stumbled forward and toppled over, rolling on to her back laughing. A few feet away Khoza started a round of slow claps—she couldn’t be sure if they were for Chan’s stellar landing or for her elegant bow.  

 “Ey, pretty lady” Minho called from his place atop a pile of discarded pipes and poles.  you wanna have some real fun?” Minho offered. At first she thought that it was another attempt to beg for the sex she promised him he would never get. He held up a satchel of Ruby Tears. Interest captured, Azula sauntered over. It has been a while since she’d had a really good fix. “If you add a bit of dandelion powder, the trips are much better.” Minho explained. “It smells better too.” He added as he dumped a fine dusting of dandelion powder over the Ruby Tears.

  With a fresh waft of Dragon’s Breath clouding her judgment, Azula she found herself lighting various things on fire at first just to see them explode. She and Minho made a game of it; whoever found the most flammable object won. Whoever didn’t, had to kiss Boryuk. A game that had her completely forgetting to hide the color of her flame. Azula scoped the area for something worth lighting. As Minho scoured the trash heap, she shoved her way into the factory. She rummaged through crates both open and sealed, most of them contained broken screws, nails, and bolts. A few had some perfectly intact hammers and wrenches. But they were of no use to her. She could set the mountain of coal on fire, but even at her highest she could still deduce that doing so would draw far too much attention. Coupled with the thought that she would be too drunk to keep a fire of that size in check, she put the idea out of her mind. Perhaps that was the smartest decision she had made all week. At last she came upon what she was looking for. A few sticks of dynamite and a small pile of gun powder. It was only slightly less foolish.

 “Found yours Minho?” She asked.

 “I find mine ‘while ago, pretty lady. Were waiting on you.”

 “Ell urry ip n lye it ip.” Yoona hollered. “Us wan see some sploshions.”

 “After you.” Azula slurred, motioning for Minho to start, after all the best was to be saved for last.

 “A’righty then. Time to bring out the classics.” Minho stabbed a large stick into the ground, nature’s finest firewood. Around it he spread a cluster of leaves. He set it aflame and tossed a lump of coal or two into the mix. She had to admit, his use of the bare minimum created quite a respectable blaze. But it wouldn’t come close to the inferno she was about to create.

 “Alright, Minho, prepare to meet your doom.” She smirked. She put his fire out and set her dynamite and powder in its place. She lit it up and quickly scuttled back. The blast popped and with the assistance of the gunpowder shot quite a distance, right into a sheet of steel where it ricocheted. The burnt of it had died away but the shower of heat that contacted her calf had her nearly on her ass. With a swiftness to match her own, Chan broke her fall.

She counted her blessings that the stick was a dud and that the hit only left a harsh stinging and an angry red mark on her leg.

 “I thinks you wons, pretty lady.” Minho declared backing away from the fire that still burned where the powder had trailed.

 “Whoops.” Azula muttered, but at the same time she relished in her victory. It was the first one she’s had since the eclipse. “Y-you must feelprettybad rightnow.” She laughed, well aware that her slur was growing more apparent. “Because my victory was so explosive, it will be ringing inyourears f-for, for a week.”

 “That pun will be ringing in my ear for weeks to come.” Khoza muttered, obviously not drunk enough for that brand of humor.

 Azula laughed harder, it was more like a cackled at that point. Her fire seemed to laugh with her as it crackled. Leaning up against Chan, she fixed her ear on it. Indeed her fire was talking, speaking to her like it was proud of her. “You’ve finally used me well.” It’s voice died off with a pop. She crawled closer to the fire as it praised her for her mastery of it. A burst of sparks took to the air and showered down on her in the form of compliments. She came closer still and reached her hand out, only to have Chan yank it back.

 “But the fire the fire it wanted me t-to come to it.”

 “It’s a fire, of course it did.” Chan smiled, running a hand over her hair. “I would like you to come to me.”

 Azula peered up at him with innocent eyes, as innocent as her eyes could be anyhow. “Would you?”

 “Absolutely.” He replied, coaxing her away from the hazard she was making of the fire behind her. He bent down enough to find himself level with her.  He brushed her hair out of her face, brushing his thumb over her cheek. Holding her close he mumbled in her ear, “you’re still unbelievably hot.” His hand slid over her thigh.

 She looked at her hands. They were on fire. She was fire. The flames were blue, she was her fire. “I know I am.” She replied, effectively ruining the mood. “I am fire.” She whispered to herself, truly and completely mesmerized by the flames she thought she had become.

 Chan rolled his eyes, but if that made her happy he would go with the moment. “You are fire, huh?” He asked.

 “That’s right.” She smirked, putting a hand on his cheek. Her flame-fingers seemed to lick and dance over his skin. “Do you know what fire likes to do, Chan?”

 “What does fire like to do, princess?” He asked stroking her back.

 “It likes to consume things.” She winked, pushing him to the ground. She needed to take advantage of the moment, it wasn’t every day that her entire body became flame, it never happened at all before then. There was so much raw power that came with being fire, she dared anyone to try to wield her. She would let Chan give it a shot.

 As a fire would, she leapt upon him.

 .oOo.

 As the princess became fire, Sokka snuffed out. He couldn’t find her, he tried so hard, but he couldn’t find her. And if he couldn’t find her, that must mean she’s dead. No one is gone for a week without a trace or a word and comes back alive, especially not a person hooked on drugs and so full of scars. He killed her in some way, shape, or form. He re-entered the palace all fury with a faint feeling that he should have asked for help.

 “Sokka, are you alright?”  

 “I can’t do anything Katara!” He hollered. He didn’t mean to yell at her but he needed to scream. He needed to hit something. “You healed her.”

 “Healed who?”

 “Aang was breathing for her.”

 “Azula? Are you talking about Azula?”

 “Zuko kept the guards on task and the guards brought her to the infirmary. You know what I did Katara?” She made off to answer be he was shouting again. “Nothing! I did nothing.” He was pacing frantically about the room, he did nothing just like when Zhao killed the moon spirt. Just like when Suki’s ship went down.

 “Sokka, that’s not true.” Her arm was on his shoulder.

 He came to an abrupt stop, shoulders slumping. “You’re right, Katara.” The relief in her eyes was short lived. “I did do something. I was the one who put her in that situation. Aren’t I just a great help.” A coffee table was on the floor before, clattering a few decorative platters along with it. He didn’t remember pushing it over, but he was sure that he did. He clasped his hands on his head. It was happening again. And after he swore to himself that he would never lose control again. The fear in Katara’s eyes was unmistakable and he couldn’t blame her for backing away. As compassionate as she was, she wasn’t an idiot. She wasn’t reckless like him, she knew when to back away from someone so far out of it that they couldn’t come back in on their own.

 For the first time he considered that he had never truly healed at all, that he’d been bottling it in the whole time, pretending that everything was okay. It wasn’t.

He wasn’t.

 He kicked the wall once, maybe twice, maybe thrice—he’d lost count after the first.

 “Sokka please.” Katara called. “You have to calm down.”

 He didn’t mean to but he chucked at that. “Okay, sure thing Katara, let me just flick my rage switch off. He watched her cringe against the wall, just like she did when the first time. He had hit her, not because he was mad at her, but because he was mad and she was there. This time he hit himself, it drove away the urge and was better than hurting her again. He wouldn’t be able to take it if he hurt his own sister again, just like he couldn’t take it that he had pushed Azula over the edge.

 Strangely enough, he found himself hating Suki. For leaving him, for doing this to him.  

 To his surprise Katara approached him. “No, no you have to go. I’m going to hurt you again.”

 “You won’t.” Katara insisted hugging him as close as she could, bringing a halt to his self-beating. “I won’t let you.”

 “I’m sorry Katara.” He whispered, his rage subsiding to make room for tears. “I’m so sorry.” He wasn’t sure if he was apologizing for the present or for the strife he caused her in the past. He needed to get a grip. He needed someone to help him find one. “You’re not going to blame her are you, it’s not her fault.”

 “Will it make you feel better if I don’t.” Katara asked.

 Sokka nodded.

 “Then I won’t. On one condition.”

 He waited.

 “Let me help you. I know you haven’t been yourself.”

 “Then why didn’t you say something?” He asked. “You’re afraid of me aren’t you.”

 “No, Sokka! You know that’s not true. I didn’t want to push you.”

 “Help me help Azula.” He quickly added, “you don’t even have to talk to her, just give me some support.”

 Katara sighed. “I’ll do what I can.”

 Sokka tried to smile, he thought that it almost worked. Maybe this time around, he would heal for real. Maybe they both could. If only the princess would come home.

 .oOo.

 In the week to follow, they had a lot of questions for Azula, having seen her fire for what it really was. She cringed, waiting for the backlash. It came in the form of an unrelenting rain of questions. What was it like to live in the palace? Is it true that you have your own personal guards? Is there a hot spring in palace, I heard there were three. And from Yoona, though jumbled as usual, Azula made out, “can you hook me up with your brother.” She came to conclude that Yoona was the most merciless of gang. Khoza was the only one who had no questions to ask. He was content to give commentary, “that explains a lot” among other thing.

Truth be told, Azula had expected repercussion and another beating, but they seemed to treat her no differently. Not better nor worse. They still treated her with all of the roughness of the days prior, they still expected her to accompany them on all of their ventures no matter how much class they lacked.

 That week had been the best week of her life. Save for the bottle and the dust, she was free. Truly free.

 In that week, she had grown fond of Minho. More so than she’d like to admit. He told her about his family. About his little brother Hi-Yung, who still had the cloth rabbaroo he’d sewn for the kid. Of his mother, crippled by a carriage accident—the one that killed his father. He told her of his dreams and asked her if she could help him. “I know I aren’t the brightest ‘round. But I have a idea. I has lots a ideas. I want to tell stories. I want folks to read ‘em.” So she let him tell her stories of the made up sort and of real adventures he’d been on.  And he was good at it, several nights in a row he lulled her to sleep with his wild tales. So did something she seldom ever did. She made him a promise. That when she got back to the palace and sorted things out, she would find him again and teach him to read and write. He was a brilliant man, she had come to conclude, a brilliant man who had never gotten a chance. She found out more than she ever wanted to know about him. He was rather comforting and made her feel less alone in her addiction. And when the others were fast asleep, she exchanged a story of her own. And he reminded her that she was strong, useful, worthwhile. He made her feel as though she wasn’t alone. He told her that he wanted to stop taking Ruby Tears and that they could do it together.

 Perhaps that’s why his death hit so hard.

[spacecanary]

Tools and Things

Pairing: Bruce Banner x Reader

Request: Anon. asked: Ooh can you do a Bruce Banner fic with prompt 38? Thank you

Prompt #38: You are such a nerd.

Warnings: Nothing, just pure fluff, and adorableness. (I felt like Brucie needs some happiness)

Word count: 1102

Summary: Reader comes home from a three-month mission as a field medic, healing the Avengers in action, when needed. It’s nearly Christmas, so the pair wants to spend as much time together as possible before the reader has to leave again. 

A/N: I actually had a lot of fun writing this one. It’s kind of unusual, but I love it. The setting is in winter, mostly because that’s my favorite season and I’m really hating the heat right now. (Lollllll I’m dying)

/////Let me know if you want to be tagged in my work!

“You’ll never catch me!” I shout breathlessly, running through the halls of the base in fuzzy socks and pajamas. Bruce trails behind, struggling to maintain a fast pace with his new pair of socks. I slide just in time to round a corner, fumbling slightly. A thud and a groan catch my attention. Slowing to a stop and looking back, I find Bruce on his side, pushing himself back up. 

I’m hunched over, hair in my face and hands on my knees when a wave of giggles erupt. He looks up eyes wide and smirking. I immediately put a hand to my mouth to cover the snickering. “Are you laughing at me?” He chuckles as he gets to his feet once again, his eyes meeting mine from across the hall. 

I shake my head, desperately trying to control myself.

“Come here, you,” he starts running towards me. It takes a minute to process what’s happening, and then I take off in the other direction, running into the lounge area. 

Laughter and squeals echo throughout, drawing some attention from a certain captain and his bird friend. 

“Are they always like this?” Sam asks, taking a sip of his coffee as he watches the pair of us chasing each other and jumping over the couches, only to trip over something and scramble back to our feet again. 

“Only around the holidays,” Cap sighs, as he too, take a sip of his coffee. 

Suddenly, the science geek’s feet slide out from under him as he attempts to round the side of the couch to grab me. I take that as an opportunity to hurry up the stairs, taking a quick glance out the windows at the gentle falling snow, before sprinting up the last set, Bruce quickly catching up. 

Through laughter and panting, I run through the level, Bruce nearly close enough to tackle me. I act fast, putting my hand on the nearest door frame and pulling myself in when Bruce goes sliding past. I hurry into the room, just realizing where we had ended up; the lab. 

Tony stands in front of a projected computer screen almost as tall as the room itself. He turns his upper half to catch me gliding towards the work station in the middle of the room. I close my eyes, breathing heavily, placing my hands down on its surface. My hair falling over my face as I chuckle slightly. Tony, still bewildered, opens his mouth to say something when Bruce comes rushing in, stopping in his tracks when he meets his friend’s eyes. 

“Come on, (y/n), I’m going to get you eventu-....heyyy Tony,” He scratches his neck awkwardly. 

“What- what’s up?” He stutters, shifting his eyes from the billionaire’s to mine and back again. 

“I could ask you the same thing, Banner,” Tony crosses his arms, smirking at the two of us while I’m patting my hair down and straightening my t-shirt out.

“We were just uh,” He looks away, not knowing what to say. 

“It’s all good Green Giant, I have security cameras, remember?” Tony points out, grinning. Bruce just looks away, his face turning a slight shade of red. I tuck my hair behind my ear, playing with the strings on my plaid shorts.

“And well, as for what I’m doing, I’m working on the project we were supposed to be working on today,” Tony turns around, waving his hands in front of the holographic screen, causing some formulas and equations to appear.

The Avenger steps forward, analyzing the data intently before turning to Tony, confused.

“But I thought you said we would start tomorrow, not today.”

Tony smiles, reaching out to pat Bruce’s shoulder, before leaning in slightly to look him in the eye, “I did,” he shrugs, “because it’s not every day she gets to come home,” Tony gestures towards my oblivious self, messing with some tools lying out. “So I figured you should enjoy your time with her before she has to go on her mission after the holidays.” 

Bruce glances over at me, smiling in adoration as I meddle with some of the contraptions. He looks back at Tony, “Thank you,” Bruce mutters.

“Hey, Tony?” I interrupt. Tony gives Bruce one last pat before making his way across the room to me. 

“What’s this?” I inquire when he reaches me, holding up a moderately sized metal object.

“Oh, don’t mess with that. It’s unstable...” Bruce rushes over to take the object from my hands, gently setting it down out of my reach. Tony snickers, putting his hand on his forehead. 

“Why, what is it?” I ask, suddenly intrigued.

“It’s a bomb that you should not be messing with,”  Bruce shoots me a glare, which causes Tony to burst out laughing. 

“Bruce, Bruce, that bomb is deactivated it’s not going to do anything,” Tony tries to reassure his friend, but it doesn’t work. 

“Tony, it’s a prototype bomb. We don’t want it going off and vaporizing everything within a sixty-mile radius.”

“The palladium charge was cut when we started tinkering with it. It can’t go off unless somebody decides it’s a good idea to shoot it.”

Here I sit, in a lab with a bomb, and a pair of science geeks arguing. I’m home after being on a long mission, it’s nearly Christmas, and it’s snowing. Life cannot get any better than this. 

“Well I’m going to have to stop you two there, may I remind you that I am a medical officer. I don’t understand all of these scientific terms,” I cross my arms and lean my hip against the surface, letting a grin makes its way across my lips. 

“And I obviously don’t know what half of these tools and things are,” I gesture to the work area, parts and components scattered along its surface. 

“Tools and things? This,” Bruce holds up a computer chip, laced with hexagons. “is a backup drive for F.R.I.D.A.Y. And this is a more efficient palladium reactor that can power one of Tony’s suits,” He points out, getting lost in his little world of technology. He only stops when I wrap my arms around his neck, looking into his brown eyes.

“You are such a nerd,” I say simply before placing a chaste kiss on his cheek. 

“Aw, this one’s going in the family album.” Tony stands behind us, tucking his phone in his pocket. 

I laugh before turning back to Bruce, “I’m going to make some hot chocolate, do you want some?” 

He nods and follows me out the door before turning to Tony and mouthing another “Thank you.”