#also I know he would likely survive the anchor I think we should have had the fatalistic option

[midnightwind]

alright, I beat DA:I and all the DLCs and I gotta say

they should have given us the option to just go "Solas, that's dumb as fuck, but I see you're determined. It's been fun." and letting the anchor rip

I wouldn't have taken it, personally, but it should have been there

[slytherheign]

A WALK TO REMEMBER | tasm!peter parker

PAIRING: tasm!peter parker x reader

WORD COUNT: 3.4k

SUMMARY: you take one last walk with the love of your life.

WARNINGS: illness (unspecified), HEAVY angst, insecurities, death. let me know if i missed any warnings. [⚠︎︎RATING: G]

AUTHOR’S NOTE: inspired by the movie/novel with the same title, but only slightly. THIS IS A GENDER NEUTRAL FIC BTW, but if you see something that pertains to specific gender then pls reach out so i can change it. also, i’ve planned another part for this focusing on their first walk but it’s still not finished. though when that part comes out, you can either read it as a one-shot or a prequel for this. EDIT: the prequel is out! READ HERE. again, i apologize for the lack of uploads, i just got busy with university and life in general. thank you for understanding and enjoy reading! you might want to get tissues before you proceed.

DESTINATION: Angst Avenue | GO BACK TO THE STATION. CLICK HERE FOR ALL THINGS AWTR (reviews, commentary, etc. about this fic).

The scent of the hospital permeated the room, mingling with the soft whirring of medical pieces of equipment. You were lying on your hospital bed, your frail form engulfed by the sterile white sheets. Your family surrounded you, their faces etched with worry and exhaustion.

The doctor entered the room, his expression grave. You watched him closely, a flicker of hope dancing within your eyes. Perhaps there was still a chance, a new treatment or some kind of breakthrough medication.

But as the doctor spoke, his words fell like heavy stones, shattering your fragile heart and optimism. "I'm sorry," he began, his voice laced with regret. "But it seems the treatments have stopped working."

Your heart sank like an anchor in your chest. You felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room, leaving you gasping for breath. Your family's hushed whispers filled the silence, their words a blur as tears clouded your vision. "I-I don't understand," you murmured, your voice barely a whisper. "What does that mean?"

Your mother's trembling hand reached out to grasp yours, her eyes brimming with tears. "It means we have to consider other options, sweetheart," she said, her voice breaking with emotion.

But you knew what those "other options" meant. It meant more pain, more uncertainty, and the terrifying prospect of saying goodbye. You turned away, burying your face in your pillow as a sob wracked your body.

The doctor spoke with your family and discussed the other options. You listened to his words, but they felt distant, as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel. You knew what he was saying, and you could grasp the gravity of his words, but you couldn't bring yourself to fully process them.

“What do we think?” he asked, looking at your faces for an answer. 

If you were being honest, a part of you didn’t want to try anymore. You didn’t want any more pain. You were already tired—exhausted, even.

But then you remembered him.

You remembered Peter.

And you remembered how you promised him that you would do everything to survive. You promised that you would keep trying until all was well. 

After a moment of unnerving silence, you spoke. “I think we should do it,” you breathed out, looking up at your parents and your doctor. “The other options… let’s do it,” you smiled weakly.

So, that was what you did. You kept trying.

Peter lightly traced the lines on your hand as you waited for your order. Every now and then, he would look up and gaze at you lovingly. You couldn’t help but chuckle. “What are you doing?” you said, smiling.

“Admiring you,” he smiled, intertwining his hand with yours atop the table.

The smile left your face almost instantly. “Even when there’s nothing left to admire?” you stated sadly.

He immediately frowned at that. “What are you saying?”

“You know what I’m saying…”

“Y/N…”

“Peter, I’m not the same as I was. I don’t look like what I used to when you fell in love with me.”

“Stop.”

“No, Peter. I’m pale as snow. I look so sick, I’ve lost my hair. This—” you pointed at your head. “This is just a wig. My real hair is gone—the hair that I know you loved playing with and twirling the ends with your finger. I’ve lost a lot of weight—I don’t have the chubby cheeks you loved to pinch anymore. I-I’m so w-weak,” you sniffed. “Look at me, Pete—I can’t even stand on my own feet anymore. I have to be in a wheelchair.”

A tear fell on Peter’s cheek but he quickly wiped it when he noticed the waiter approaching. You immediately turned your face at the window, pretending to look at the parking lot on the other side so the poor waiter wouldn’t notice the emotional distress you were in.

Peter smiled at the waiter. “On second thought, can we take these out?” he gestured to the food. The waiter smiled in return before picking up your table number and taking the food back to pack it up for the two of you. Peter sadly looked at you as you continued to stare at the window. He heard you sniffing and he cursed himself for not knowing the right words to say at the moment. God, if he only knew how to take this pain away from you, he would do it right this instant.

He thanked the waiter, grabbing the paper bag with one hand and placing his other on your cheek to turn your face to him. He wiped the tears with his thumb before moving his hand to clasp yours. “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” you asked.

“To your favorite place.”  

He sat on the bench beside your wheelchair before opening the takeout bag and handing your food to you. The two of you ate in peace while admiring the sight of the beach in front of you, the cool breeze that swept off the ocean instantly finding its way to your bodies.

You remembered this beach. It was where Peter asked you to be his, and it was where you answered him “yes”. You remembered how it was snowing then, and how both of you thought it was weird, but beautiful nonetheless.

Moments after you finished eating and Peter threw the trash in a garbage can that was nearby, he cleaned his hands with an alcohol spray. He then went back to you, knelt down, and held your hand with both of his. “I have an idea.”

“A good one or a bad one?”

“A good one. A very good one.”

There was a glint of excitement in his eyes and you couldn’t help but laugh lightly at him.

“Well then, count me in,” you smiled.

He smirked before standing up and starting to carry you bridal style. 

“Peter—Pete! What are you doing?!”

“Just trust me, okay?”

You looked at him, searching his eye for some kind of clue to what he was planning on doing. Unfortunately, you couldn’t find a clue or anything. “Okay,” you forfeited.

He noticed the slight pout you made and he rolled his eyes jokingly. “You really know how to get me, huh?” he chuckled. “Fine, I’ll tell you what we’re doing,” he said, starting to move his feet towards the beach. “You and I, my love, are going for a walk.”

Peter carried you as he gently walked along the sandy shore, his footsteps leaving imprints that would soon be washed away by the tide. You stared up at him, memorizing his features just like you did every time you would look at him. His hair moved smoothly with the flow of the breeze, his mouth looking perfect as he talked about something you weren’t really paying attention to because you were busy paying attention to his face. And then you wondered how a man as beautiful as him loved you. You smiled, thinking you must’ve done something really good in your life for you to have him.

Seagulls soared overhead, their cries blending with the gentle rustle of the palm trees lining the beach. The rhythmic sound of waves crashing against the shore filled the air, a poignant backdrop to the bittersweet moment you were having.

Right. This was a bittersweet moment. There was something you haven’t told him yet.

“Pete, can we sit for a moment?” he frowned but did what you asked for nonetheless. He set you down gently on the sand, sitting beside you right after. 

You sat in companionable silence, the only sounds you were focusing on now were the sounds of Peter’s breathing and your heart’s beating. With each beat, you drew closer to the inevitable. You needed to tell him what he deserved to know.

“Pete—”

“Y/N—”

You laughed. “Okay, you go first,” you told him.

He smiled. “You were wrong,” he stated after a moment. 

“I’m confused.”

“You were wrong,” he said again. “You were wrong when you said that there is nothing left to admire about you. You were wrong because there is always something to admire about you. When I look at you, I question myself if you’re even real, because surely a person as perfect as you could not exist. The way you smile at the smallest compliments, the way you tilt your head back when you laugh at something, the way your brows knit together when you’re confused, the way your tongue sticks out sometimes when you’re concentrating—everything about you, big and small, I admire them. And I love them.”

“Surely, there are some imperfections in me,” you said.

“Yes, of course, we all have them. But those imperfections are what makes you perfect.”

“But I don’t look the same as I was before—”

“And I don’t care. Y/N, you are perfect in my eyes. Listen to me, I love you. I don’t care if you lost all your hair, or if you lose your teeth, or if you lose everything you have—I don’t care what else you lose as long as I don’t lose you.”

Oh.

As long as he didn’t lose me.

Your heart should’ve leaped with joy when you heard those words. But instead, it shattered like a plate of glass getting thrown into a wall. You hated this feeling. And you hated the feeling you would soon make Peter feel.

“Peter…” you called his name. “Pete—I love you,” you sniffed. “I love you,” you repeated. “You know that, right?”

“Of course,” he nodded, a tear escaping his eyes.

“And because I love you so much… I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“They didn’t work,” you cried.

“What didn’t work? I don’t understand.”

“When my treatments stopped working, my family and I decided to try the other options. Those other options,” your voice broke. “Those options didn’t work either, Peter…”

“W-What does that mean?”

“That means that I’m dying, Peter. And there’s nothing left to stop it.”

“No.”

You held both of his hands when you noticed them shaking.

“It’s inevitable,” you explained, looking at his hands instead of focusing on his face. You couldn’t look at him while he was crying. You couldn't do it. Your heart wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“No no no no no.”

“I love you, Peter.” 

“Y-you can’t—no. Maybe there’s still a chanc—”

You shook your head, lips trembling as you kissed his hands. “I love you.”

“What about our dreams, the future we would have? The family we would make? Y/N…”

“Peter, it’s getting cold,” you whispered. “We should go back.”

“But—please, Y/N. Y-You just can’t…”

“Peter, it’s getting really cold…”

“You can’t just leave me, I don’t think I can live without you. I already lost a lot of people—”

“I love you, Peter,” you repeated.

“I–I can’t lose you too…”

And in one frail movement, everything turned black.

As soon as you opened your eyes, the darkness from your eyelids was changed into the blinding white of the hospital room. To your left were machines that connected to your body, the only reason why you were still breathing. To your right was Peter, sound asleep on his chair while he held your hand in his.

If you were back in here, then that would mean one thing… you didn’t have much time left.

Your face was pale and the once vibrant eyes you had were now dimmed by the weight of your illness. Despite the pain that was evident in your features, there was a peacefulness in your expression. You had come to terms with your fate. 

You could feel it. Death. It wasn’t just at your doorstep, it was already beside you, just waiting for the right moment to touch you and consume you. You supposed you should be thankful, for the heavens did not take you yet.

If it would take you within this week, then so be it. But you hoped it would at least be merciful.

If it would take you today, then so be it. But you hoped it would spare you a chance for one more wish. 

One last wish.

To give you time. 

Not more time to live, but just enough.

Just enough time to say goodbye.

“Peter?” you said, squeezing his hand with all the strength you had left.

He woke up, eyes widening when he realized you were awake.

“You’re awake,” he smiled, you swore you saw his eyes tearing up at the sight of you.

Your features were drawn with pain and fatigue and your body was weakened by the relentless progression of your illness. But despite your frailty, there was a quiet strength in your eyes, a determination to make the most of the time you had left.

“I don’t think I have much time left,” you admitted.

Tears welled up in Peter's eyes as he stood up to lean in and kiss your forehead, his heart breaking at the thought of losing you. He sat back down again, his gaze fixed on you with a mixture of love and sorrow. He longed to take away your pain, to make you whole again, but he knew that was beyond his power.

"I'm sorry, Peter," you said softly, your voice barely above a whisper. "I wish things could have been different."

He squeezed your hand gently, his heart breaking at the sadness in your voice. "Don't apologize" he replied, his voice filled with tenderness. "You have nothing to be sorry for. We've shared so much love and memories together. Your time may be shorter than what we’ve hoped for, but I’m very lucky and glad that you decided to spend most of it with me."

A small smile played at the corners of your lips and you moved your hand to caress his cheek. "I love you, Peter," you whispered, voice trembling with emotion.

"I love you too, Y/N," Peter replied, his voice thick with tears. "More than anything in this world."

“My parents?” you asked.

“They’re outside.”

“Can you please call them for me?”

“Of course,” he said, standing up to fetch your parents. He stayed outside the room to give you and your family some privacy.

“Oh, sweetheart,” your mother immediately ran up to you, stroking both of your cheeks gently with her hands. Your father stood behind her, you could tell by their faces that they’d been crying.

God, you hated seeing them like this.

“Mom, Dad,” you whispered.

“We’re here,” your mother responded, wiping your tears with her thumbs. “We’re right here.”

Your father reached out to hold your hand. “We’re always here.”

“I don’t know w-what to say… I can’t think of words that are nearly enough to express how grateful I am to each of you,” you stated. “Thank you for everything you have done and given me since I was a child. Thank you for reading me bedtime stories when I was little, for bringing me to school and then picking me up when it was done, for cooking my favorite meals, for hugging me when I was sad, for cleaning up my wounds whenever I injured myself while playing, for being there for me through my first period, first heartbreak—I am who I am because of you.”

You glanced at your dad only to see him crying, his grip on your hand getting tighter as if trying to see if the tighter he held you the longer you would stay with them. You never saw him cry like this before.

“We love you so much,” he whispered.

“We’re so proud of you,” your mother added.

Your father agreed, nodding. “You’re the strongest person I know. You’re even stronger than me,” he chuckled sadly.

“I love you both so much,” you cried. “I don’t want to leave, but the world has other plans for me… thank you for being the best parents I could ever ask for.”

And there it was.

You could feel death’s hand slowly reach for you. You closed your eyes, it was getting hard to breathe. 

“C-Can you please call Peter?” you breathed out.

With all your might, you opened your eyes again. Peter was now beside you, holding your right hand while both your parents held your left. You stayed like that for a moment, clinging to each other as if you could defy fate itself. But you all knew that you couldn’t.

Your breaths came shallow and labored, each one a struggle against the weight of your failing body. You closed your eyes, trying to block out the pain that pulsed through you with every heartbeat. But despite your efforts, you couldn't escape the truth that loomed over you like a dark cloud.

You could see and hear them crying, the grips they had on your hands getting tighter and tighter and tighter… afraid that if they held you loosely then you would slip away sooner.

But that wasn’t how it worked. A tight grip would not save you. There was nothing they could do to change the inevitable.

As the seconds stretched into minutes, your thoughts began to wander, drifting through memories of happier times. You thought of your childhood, filled with laughter and innocence, and of the love you had shared with your family, with your friends, and with Peter.

The memories faded as soon as they came. And then you felt death’s touch linger on your skin, its distance becoming closer to you than you could ever imagine. Like a distant echo growing louder with each passing moment, the realization dawned on you that your time was running out. You tearfully looked around the room, taking in the faces of your loved ones, each one bearing pain and sorrow.

Your strength continued to wane, your body growing weaker with each second. And as you lay there, surrounded by the ones you loved, you found a sense of peace in knowing that you weren't alone.

With a final breath, you closed your eyes. You welcomed death’s touch with a smile, surrendering to the darkness that beckoned you. And as your family and Peter wept beside you, you drifted away, hoping to have left behind a legacy of love and memories that would live on long after you were gone.

7 MONTHS LATER.

Taking a walk along the beach never felt the same anymore. 

Peter concluded that without you beside him, it wasn’t as fun as it used to be. The only fun thing for him, he guessed, was the fact that with each step he walked along the sandy shore, the memories with you played in his head and he would smile as he recounted them. Sometimes, he could even feel your presence somehow.

He ditched his shoes and played with the sand with his feet. It only took him a few minutes before he decided to wear his shoes again and leave the beach.

The next place he decided to visit was the cemetery. He stood across your grave, still not believing that 7 months had passed since you took your final breath. There was not a day that passed when he didn’t miss your presence or longed for your touch. He sat on the grass in front of your tombstone.

“You know…” he started speaking. “Walking along the beach used to be my favorite. After you died and I started doing it again, I wondered why I didn’t like doing it as much as I did before. But now I know why… I realized that it only became my favorite because I was doing it with you.”

He played with the grass with his hands, picking some of them as he tried to hold back his tears. “God, Y/N,  it’s been 7 months and it still hurts the same… I miss you so so much. I miss our walks, our dates—I miss everything about you,” he cried.

“I want to love walking along the beach again, but I know I only loved it in the first place because I was with you,” he continued. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ll do those walks again, at least not now… I don’t know… it’s just, without you, I can’t—”

Something just crawled and bit his hand. “Shit,” he swatted the spider, before facing your grave again.

“Anyway, I just want you to know that I will forever treasure those walks that I did with you,” he smiled weakly but genuinely, wiping his tears. “I will never forget them.” 

Especially that last one.

That last walk.

That was a walk to remember.

SLYTHERHEIGN TAGLIST: @writingstoraes @joshiiieeenesx @checo2011

TASM!PETER PARKER TAGLIST: @mymilkducts @i-am-woman-strong @lauraneedstochill @jeanettexkillian @ms-mandalore @enaraism @alessandralol @sad-darksoul @sincericida @mentallystablepotato @mich0731 @logolepsic-insomniac @k0miiki @dreamsarecloserwithyou @jumilzzz @primroseparker @preciousbabypeter @myheartonthemove @rebecca-johnson-28 @silkholland @ellievickstar @okkulta @geekygamerchick @starqwerty20 @the-quiet-observer @softiepeterpan @willowhaired @sflame15-blog @pompeygirl89 @remuslupinsdocs

[buckybarnesss]

Your tags in the post of Derek missing Laura. That hurst so much. I really wonder if Peter feels sorry or regret killing Laura. Did he ever apologize to Derek? We know nothing about hold older was she, but probably in his mid twenties. She was alone with his brother, with a alpha spark that was too soon to have. Did she even see that was Peter who attacked her?

it's no secret laura hale is my roman empire of teen wolf. i wrote a 5K essay on my thoughts about laura and my theory on the circumstances surrounding her death.

it makes sense that derek doesn't talk about laura. we already know he doesn't talk about these things.

in fact i think the only time he does talk about laura in a way that's not necessary to relaying information is when he goes to see peter in heart monitor and even then it's choked off by grief.

one of the testaments to how much derek is lost and grieving without laura though is that he declares brotherhood to scott hours after he's buried laura. he latches onto scott despite everything because not only does he see himself in scott but he sees someone he can save when he was unable to prevent laura's death.

there is also an element of desperation to derek turning erica, boyd and isaac. not only does derek need a pack for power in the face of hunters and the kanima but he's seeking the familiarity of pack which for derek is synonymous with family.

he would never admit to how alone he feels. he is a brother without anyone to be a brother to. a middle child cast adrift without his sisters to anchor him. derek in seasons 1 and 2 believes he's outlived his baby sister and now exists in a world without his older one.

this is why it makes me salty that derek and cora never talked about laura. they never let these two reconnect as brother and sister.

like, cora's entire predicament and why she's so fucking angry is entirely glossed over. maybe if she had stayed longer it would've been explored but the fact they couldn't spare one fucking moment is just egregious.

she thought she was the only survivor of the fire that killed her family only to hear there was a hale alpha in beacon hills. did she think her mother survived? or if not talia than her older sister who was clearly meant to be talia's successor?

so not only did she get kidnapped by the alphas but she's struggling with the relief that derek's alive while being angry he's the alpha when it wasn't supposed to be him which probably makes her feel super guilty.

than there's the anger that peter killed laura, that derek's just letting him loiter around but there's also the relief that uncle peter's alive too.

it's why frayed is so interesting. not only is it the episode that pivots derek and scott's relationship but it gives us the cora and peter adventure.

peter: It's just me! your uncle... uncle peter... cora: uncle peter who killed sister laura. peter: mmm, not my finest hour, no. but, i'm hardly the only dysfunctional family member! did derek mention that he killed me, too? slashed my throat, ear-to-ear. cora: so, that means i should trust you? peter : actually, I'm wondering if i can trust you. cora: you've known me for seventeen years! peter: i knew you for eleven, leaving the last six unaccounted for. and i'm not particularly fond of things unaccounted.

this ties in to the fact that i do believe that peter does feel guilt over killing laura but like everything with peter it's complicated.

i think if he had been in his right mind he wouldn't have done it but due to his circumstances killing her was the only viable path that he saw at that time. plus i believe nurse jennifer played a role in pushing peter.

peter regrets the way it played out and probably wishes it went differently.

when peter shares his memories with scott in co-captain we hear laura say his name as she approached him. she knew it was him and it's probably why she was slow to defend herself.

i think it haunts him but he would never say that out loud.

as for apologizing to derek for it? well. i think it was part of the reason he wanted to turn stiles and one of the myriad of reasons peter continues to help derek.

[rotblut]

i’m currently watching sweet home s2 (will finish today and i saved your rant ask about it to read after)

so far i’m mostly having a good time, it’s entertaining, but it’s just … making me reminiscent of season 1? i think s1 had more heart; learning about hyunsu’s backstory and the aching theme of wanting to live, of fighting to live, and humanity and hope in the darkness. idk if im explaining it well but like s2 just feels like a generic apocalypse show now. i know it’s completely diverged from the webtoon now, but i feel like we’ve lost the why of the show. i’m a little :/ because i was really really looking forward to this season because s1 left off on such a cliffhanger and i’d thought we could expand on the story, but lm not interested in military politics.

(also am i the only one put off by seeing song kang’s body so much!? im already not a huge fan of him as an actor - i like him in this show cause he’s just bloody and pathetic - but i think the directors forgot his character is supposed to be a teenager. his head is too small his shoulders are too broad his tits are too big like is this how lesbians feel?)

I agree with your criticism of the SH drama. that's why the drama shouldn't have deviated so strongly from the source material original story. again, looking at season 2 the title doesn't even make sense anymore. the story from the webtoon was always focused on hyun soo and his outer and inner struggles from the beginning till the end and strangly enough he was the human+supernatural anchor that held all the emotional storylines together and made it work but in the drama, it got lost and replaced with violent scenes of him being naked and chained, that had no meaning and felt flat and fanservice-y. also feel like it counts that hyun soo was hardly in s2 as well. and he felt more like a side character instead of the main one. I feel like they also should have explored eunyoo's backstory a bit more because in s1 it was all tell but not seen and they could have used s2 to show us instead of just told us all the time. and even tho i enjoyed her search for eun hyuk it would have been great if she had gotten room for her own character that did not have anything to do with either of the 3 guys. didn't also understand the reasoning why all the female characters were acting *antagonistic* in regards to her as well. also, the violence in general for s2 was just so different from s1. i feel like those kinds of dramas need to move on from having a military-political and scientific-medicine-focused subplot and just concentrate on the *normal people* as they struggle to survive but they won't let that cow die. see them put that same shite subplot in season 2 of all of us are dead as well once they finally decide to give us updates on that one after nearly 2 fucking years...............like as if anyone gives a fuck about any of the other projects that the main cast gets when we all want s2 of aouad.......... insanity

also i'm not commenting on kang's body. it's fine and pretty. and true he's not the best actor but when he hits he hits so it all depends on the role and writing. but also there was a 3 year time jump in sweet home so i guess they had to put some fanservice in there......... but i was surprised about all the bare skin left and right in s2.

[prinzrupprecht]

To Live or Die

Chapter 2 - the letter

Please read the previous parts if you’re new! Click on synopsis and see all the chapters linked.

Synopsis

TW: hurt/comfort and a bit of angst

WC: 1037

A week had flown by already as you were getting accustomed to your uncle’s business and telling him stories of living with Kondo-san. “I had no idea Kondo was that bad of a cook.” Your uncle laughed while putting anchors up on the wall. Yokohama was lively today with more people than usual stepping in your uncle’s shop. You were helping him dust the racks and clean some fishing rods that were displayed in the open.

“It’s normally me that would cook since well… he can’t. Also, Souji…” your throat felt swollen remembering what Okita would use to tell you how your food was good and that he preferred your meals over Kondo’s. Yet, he never told Kondo-san how his food was nauseating but he always ate his food because of how much he appreciated him since the day he took him in as his own son.

“Never mind,” you shook your head. It was too painful and not the right time to bring him up. Your uncle knew of him as well. He stopped by Kondo’s dojo a few times through the years.

“You’re free to speak what’s on your mind. You should let go of the past..” He spoke knowing how touchy the subject was.

“Oh! It’s fine, I should move on from the past. I think of them too much don’t I?” You moved aside grabbing a hold of some of the stacked papers that were on his front desk. You were going to go over some of the boat owners renting out dock spaces that owed money to your uncle still.

“Not at all, I’m sure he does as well. Well, we should get through to these.” He took the papers out of your grasp. You nodded wondering what he meant by that. He does as well?

After some time of your uncle explaining how he rents docks and slips to people, quite a few haven’t paid their monthly rent so he sends a notice out to them. Just as you were going to question how he does that, a mail carrier walked into his shop holding a package. You assumed your uncle must’ve ordered new boat parts to sell. Tsukino who was the mail carrier waved and greeted the two of you before handing your uncle an envelope and a box.

“This has your name on it?” Your uncle looked at it before handing it to you. Your name? You must’ve stared at the folded envelope looking at the handwriting for a good minute.

Your heart dropped indefinitely as your face must’ve turned blank. Your uncle immediately noticed something was wrong. “I know this… handwriting, I— I don’t want to open it.” You put it down and ran to the room you were given to sleep in. Why were you panicking? You didn’t want to believe it. It’s been months? You lost track of time and how would he know where you were at? Kondo? Only Kondo knew of your last remaining family and his business…

Did that mean he survived as well? You didn’t remember seeing his name as one of the fallen... you heard a knock on your door but you kept your head locked between both the palms of your hands. You must’ve been shaking and terrified to read what he had written to you.

“You can’t forever avoid your emotions like you have been.” Your uncle grimaced.

You said no word but you heard him shuffle behind you. “I’ll leave this here whenever you’re ready to read it.” He placed the envelope on the floor table before proceeding to leave.

Your heart was beating harder than ever as your throat clenched out of fear. You glanced at the letter and paused. Should you read it? Or toss it? No, no, no you’d regret that. Hesitation held you over but you reached for the letter examining the condition it was in. It was in one of those lick envelopes. Souji really liked them for some reason… as he would say they’re the most secure envelopes to send letters. You sort of chuckled but cautiously used your index finger to peel the top open.

The letter was folded obviously and his handwriting looked nice as usual. You saw your name at the top of the letter.

‘Sorry if this seems sudden to reach out. I’m sorry that we left off on bad terms and I hope you’re doing well.’ You could tell he was sincere by the way he wrote sorry two times. You were feeling horrible and didn’t know if you wanted to continue reading the rest of it. You sucked in a deep breath and saw he mentioned Kondo.

‘Kondo misses you, as I do. We’ve been working for the new reformed government so far. I guess I wish things had been different with you here. Again, I’m sorry if I hurt you and hope I can make amends.’

That was it? You didn’t know what to feel. Do you even respond back? After reading what he wrote, it would feel wrong not to write back. Your uncle came back around and saw that you had read it.

“I don’t— I don’t even know if I respond back. I’m not even mad, it’s just… this is making me too emotional.” You held the letter to your chest remembering the old days and how much you cared for him. You have been there for him through everything. He was as much attached to you as you were to him.

“If you want, there’s paper in the back. I will be going out in a few minutes to hand these into the office.” The office was located a bit north from where you were at. It was a short distance walk but you were fine with being alone. As you quickly nodded you thought back to what Souji said and decided you should write back to him.

However, you wanted to be vague about your emotions and the former grudge you did have. You told yourself it was all in the past.

You decided that it was best to write back and not keep him in the dark. It was better to move on from what happened between you two.

Proceed to the next part

➤ Chapter 3

Note: now it’ll get even more emotional next part in Souji’s pov. Imma work on a better Susano’o one shot. My last one was horrible…

[girltomboy]

Yesterday I wrote a long ass post that ended up getting blown into dust by tumblr, so I just gave up on ranting (I'd already typed out the whole thing anyway so at least *some* work had been done on processing what had happened) but during yesterday's "Easter lunch" (we don't even celebrate Easter, but we do like to make the traditional food anyway, and it seems we're also adopting the traditional Easter fights) my grandma went off on me about the way I dress (again, still, etc. except this time I'm almost 27, you'd think this topic would ever get old or stale or my family would get tired of fighting over it so much for so long for nothing, and yet it never fucking stops). I was thinking how to tell her that I'm seeing my friends today, it was like something was holding me back. The vibes were just slightly off, but it was an absurd feeling because it's such a mundane and normal thing. So I absent-mindedly mentioned it, and she replied: "what are you going to wear? It better not be those pants you came in" (she hates those pants because they're baggy - like 80% of my pants 🤡 I actually had a feeling she would comment on them when I packed them, but I didn't think they'd be SUCH a big deal, they're some of my normal pants). Those pants are dirty anyway, so I wouldn't have worn them. I told her they're not the only pants I brought with me, I have other pairs. And she immediately said: "NO, not pants. I bet they're also ugly anyway. We'll look for a nice dress in your closet." I said:"There's no need for that, I don't like wearing dresses." It was not a fancy dinner reunion, just a casual day out with some old friends. And she should know by now that I'm not a lover of dresses, except for the beach and a special occasion once in a blue moon, I would never choose to wear a dress. I've never kept this a secret, everyone who knows anything about me is aware of my preference and respects it (they have no choice anyway).

That's what set her off, I don't know what she expected to hear honestly, but she started shouting about my stylistic choices and about the fact that when I come visit her she expects me to wear my best and fanciest clothes "for the neighbors", otherwise I shouldn't even bother coming. And made it clear that the neighbors' opinions and impressions are much more important to her than what I want, feel good in, like, etc. It's not like I go outside in my pyjamas or in trash bags, I just wear normal casual clothes, but she wants me to dress like a news anchor basically. She also said that she's sure the reason why I don't own any nice fancy clothes is because I'm broke from always sending my boyfriend money?? Lol that is 100% a lie that my mom fabricated a looooooong time ago, I'm surprised that it's still holding up, but why wouldn't it? After all, they created it and planted it in their own minds and universes. Of course nothing can shake something that is unaffected by the actual truth, since it doesn't happen in real life. Aside from that, she also revealed some other lies about my boyfriend that are circulating in my mom's and her heads: he's stringing me along, doesn't have "serious plans with me" since he "hasn't married me yet". I was like? ON GOD? 🤭 Aww it's so cute how you get so riled up because you want him to marry me sooo badddd! But have you asked yourself whether or not we Want that? Did you ask ME?? What I want? Do you know anything about what I want, what we talked about? No, they never ask me anything and just survive off of the lies they make up on their own. I told her outright "I don't want that!" (on marriage), but I'm 100% sure that she (and mom too) will think it's because I don't want to marry my boyfriend, not that I don't want to get married to anyone ever. They would know it if only they would simply ask. But they dgaf about what my relationship is actually like irl, only what they invent about it, without any connection to reality, truly matters.

So yesterday I was not in the mood to keep the peace, smile and nod, for the sake of avoiding an argument, because the fight started out about clothes, and escalated into yet another attack on my relationship/my partner. And I'm completely over that, plus she kept adding more and more fuel to the fire by telling me Satan is influencing me to upset her in this way, as a result of me rejecting god (it's a good thing she figured that one out on her own, without me having to open that box of worms), that my way of thinking (which is... idk... wanting to live my life how I want and mind my own business. I guess) will make my family abandon me, which idk fucked up if true, but that threat is absolutely not making me want to fight for the love and respect of a family that is ready to cut me off as soon as I stray from the mold they created for me in their head. And of course everyone including my bf is out to GET me and hurt me except for - you guessed it - the family dangling their imminent abandonment in front of my face. Pretty hilarious but I wasn't intimidated by these words because I've heard them before and they are meaningless to me. And ofc she made it clear she "doesn't know" why I even came to visit her. Which, in the moment, I sure was struggling to remember as well, ngl. AND she said she is sure I must have joined some kind of cult or sect that "is unlike everyone else" which, if you think about the context in which I grew up and the church I was birthed and raised into, is IRONIC as fuck - how can you even think I'd join a cult like that (I'm not religious anymore btw, thanks very much) if I JUST escaped one? Girl, YOU ARE in that cult!! You are describing the sect YOU are part of, and that you want ME to stay in! Why would I chase another one like lmaoooo you think your sect is sooo normal and "like everyone else" when it paints anything and anyone outside it as the enemy and fabricates its own oppression.

So for the rest of the afternoon we didnt speak to each other after the meal, she didn't even leave her room or take any phone calls from various relatives and friends who called her, including my mom. Then in the evening I took a shower, and when I got out she playfully asked me to come to dinner. So I did, and she never mentioned the fight or any of the other topics, neither did I, and even when my mom called her and she answered during dinner she didn't say anything to her, and we all pretended like nothing happened. 😋 That's what we're best at. I'm glad that never sat right with me and I don't implement this tactic in MY interpersonal relationships. But today I was supposed to meet my friends before noon, so I went to have some breakfast. And after I was done I told grandma I was about to leave soon, just so she knows. As I was going back to my room I heard her shout: "Careful how you dress!! If you don't have any money for a taxi I'll give you some, just so the neighbors don't see you!" I was like... Now you'll just make me dress shitty out of spite. In hindsight this talent of saying something completely fucked up then carrying on as if nothing happened, that seems to run in the family because both my grandma and my mom seem to have it, is pretty amazing. Like the creativity and wit are quite rare. But I said nothing and got ready, and when I left I didn't announce it or anything, I simply left.

Story doesn't end here... While I was out I got a harrowing text from my mom telling me "don't bring ur boyfriend home if he's in town... Grandma told me you left without saying and she's sure he came to the city". I burst out laughing, but I haven't replied yet. I don't even know where to begin. I don't even know what to address first. I'm simply amazed at the world building skills that both of them possess. I don't understand why they fear neighbors' gossip so much if they are capable of so much worse on their own. Who even needs enemies talking shit about them behind their back and making up untrue stories and scenarios with a family THIS skilled and hateful? My biggest haters would not be able to come up with shit like this. The assumption that my boyfriend would come all the way to my hometown just to be left stranded in the city, meeting me out on the low like some secret agent, the assumption that I would willingly introduce him into this fucked up and bitter family... Why are you surprised that I would leave without announcing (not even a big deal, I'd already told her I was about to get ready and go) when not 24 hours earlier you made a whole scene and told me to basically never show up here again because you didn't like the pants I wore once. And you constantly and continuously throw tantrums about the way I dress because it doesn't fit YOUR particular taste & style. Why would you not put 2 and 2 together instead of fabricating yet ANOTHER lie to get mad at, and to force me to defend and justify myself against something YOU pulled out of your ass? I'm constantly amazed at the hatred my family is capable of and how easy they are able to weaken our relationship and ruin my trust & perception of them.

[alanshemper]

24 November 2023

Ah, our friend Rami Shmuel has popped up again to do some serious PR for Bibi.

I think we should not be dealing with politics now, I think there was a big underlying error in analyzing the information about the attack from Hamas on October 7th by the Israeli government and Israeli Defense Force, but I think right now Israel is in the middle of war and this is not the time to deal with politics.

Full transcript below the cut.

Rami Shmuel, an organizer of the Nova Music Festival that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, speaks with PULS 24 Anchor Thomas Mohr about what he has witnessed on this very day and why he believes, that there will be times when "we're going to dance again".

Thomas Mohr: Starting today, up to 50 hostages out of 240 in custody are being released. Do you have information about who the people are, that finally can be handed over to their loved ones? Forty hostages have been taken alone from the music festival area.

Rami Shmuel: I know who’s going to be released today are only little babies, children and a couple of women. Maybe also some Thai workers, that were working on the fields. This is all I know about the civilians and the hostages that are going to be released in the next hours. [How does he know this?]

The festival area is, of course, the largest crime scene in Israel's history. Bodies of more than 360 young people, guests, personnel - all gathered for a peaceful and joyful day - were found dead. Many got raped, shot, slaughtered on their escape, running for their lives, and some could hide for hours and uncertain if they ever would survive that horror. You have been on the premises until minutes before the attack and then returned afterward. What did you witness when you arrived again at the festival area?

When I arrived back to the festival area, I saw an unforgivable sin. Human bodies all over the place, on the ground, on the field. Naked women, butchered, slaughtered, executed. Young people, that had their head cut off. Burned up, like a torch – like garbage. Women that have been abused by monsters. I saw burned up cars with people inside. Safe zones, that turned out to be a death zone. After these monsters showed up, everybody that tried to escape from this safe zone got shot immediately.

They came with one purpose and one purpose only: to butcher and to kill. To kidnap, to rape, to humiliate young people whose only crime was, that they wanted to dance and to be happy for a couple of hours. What my eyes saw, the whole world should know. The whole world should be shocked by this act of terror by the Hamas organization. There were hundreds of bodies, you know we searched the ground for around thirteen days after the first attack on October 7th until we manage to bring back as many as we found - of our friends, colleagues and the audience.

Mr Shmuel, did you or do you personally know victims of that horrific attack?

There were friends of mine, festival security guards that have been working with us for years, DJs and audience members from all over Israel.

You know, this act of terror caught us off guard. Nobody could expect that there are monsters living among us that would kidnap little babies, the elderly, women... To negotiate a release of these monsters that took lives is unbelievable. The world should stand united with Israel against those monsters because this is not only our fight. The world should know that. And the world should realize that these monsters should not exist anymore. Because on October 7th, Israel took the attack. But let's go back in history. What happened in the other parts of the world? The United States took a horrible attack by a terrorist organization on September 11th with the twin towers. History teaches us, this kind of organization, this terror of radical Islam, should not have a place between us, and we should hunt them down.

After October 7th, Israel is conducting a large scale offensive to destroy Hamas. And since then, Israel is criticized for the deaths of many thousands of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Is this criticism in your eyes valid? Given the huge number of civilian Palestinian casualties there?

No, I tell you one thing: I don’t think there is any army more humane than the Israeli Defense Force. Hamas is targeting its own people by taking them and making them a human shield. Even if though we are at war, still, the Israeli government is sending them supplies and making a humane effort to help them. And making the humanitarian effort to help the civilians, warning them to clear an area that is going to be attacked. And what Hamas is doing is standing between the civilians that want to escape from the area that Israel is attacking now. When civilians tried to escape from the North to the South, as the Israeli government asked the civilians of Gaza to do, the Hamas organization hunted them down and painted them as victims of the Israeli Defense Force.

Mr. Shmuel, what is the political situation in Israel right now? Benjamin Netanyahu has been under political pressure before. Right now, he is prime minister of a joint war cabinet including the opposition. Is the pressure on Netanyahu growing, what is your assessment?

The civilians will not forget October 7th. And we will come demanding answers from everybody, including our Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I think we should now let go of politics and give them courage and support to win this war, to provide the citizens with what we need and what we want.

I think we should not be dealing with politics now, I think there was a big underlying error in analyzing the information about the attack from Hamas on October 7th by the Israeli government and Israeli Defense Force, but I think right now Israel is in the middle of war and this is not the time to deal with politics.

Will there ever be a new, a joyful, a fantastic music festival like it was before October 7th?

I want to believe that what Hamas did on October 7th is only making us stronger, only unites us, and only motivates us to do bigger festivals, bigger shows – we’re going to dance again, nobody can stop that, not even Hamas. And I think the main cause is to bring back all the hostages, all the civilians, all the soldiers that Hamas kidnapped from Israel. And I think after that and after the return of our kidnapped, Hamas will realize that they deal with the wrong people.

Zusammenfassung [Summary]

Rami Shmuel, an organizer of the Nova Music Festival that was targeted by Hamas terrorists on October 7th, speaks with PULS 24 Anchor Thomas Mohr about the tragic attack and the release of hostages.

Quelle: Redaktion / poz

[cars2-renaissance]

SCREEEEEE reading this made my freaking day!!!!

Okay!

Aw yeah I get that. I absolutely fell in love with Labyrinth (1986) but only saw it for the first time like three years ago. I soooo wish I could’ve grown up with it. But like, I’m so excited that Cars 2 is still getting fans a decade later!! That’s freaking awesome!

OMG!!!!!! YOU HAD THE OIL RIG LEG IDEA TOOOO!?? Loooool I love this so much. Yeah I did a little research on it too. From what I found, those legs do NOT go all the way to the ocean floor. The rigs are actually kinda floating out there on massive pontoons and held in place with anchors?? Don’t ask me how this is possible. It’s frickin wild to me. But I HAD to keep that headcanon so I’m saying the legs are hollow and they kept him at the bottom which would be right above the pontoon and right where all the waves are hitting so there’s a constant salt water spray from the leaky walls. Idk I need to do more research. Deep sea oil rigs are low key terrifying. It’s fascinating

But yes, he definitely wouldn’t be able to escape. The lemons would not leave him in any condition to be able to get away on his own and in my hc, after a couple weeks of getting hit with salt water, he’s not in good shape at all. Then the psychological aspect of it is unbearable. Torque helped him escape the first round of certain death but he never came back for him. Then Finn also never found him. And OMG YES WE MUST SHARE A FINNLAND BRAINCELL XD XD Zündapp really believed Finn was dead. They all did. So there’s no way they didn’t tell Leland. But he knows Finn. He knows how good he is at escaping impossible situations. He CANT be dead. But after days of being slowly eaten to death by salt water corrosion with no contact with the outside world, he’d have moments of doubt.

And with Torque, there’s no way he could go back to look for Leland without outing himself. He was willing to risk it all to help him in the beginning (we know it’s in his character cause he does it for Mater later) but at that point, there’s really nothing he can do and unbeknownst to him, Zundapp already has it figured out. He’s done for. And yeah. I don’t think he made it out of that one. Even if the lemons put out the fire right away so not to burn the whole place down, his entire inner workings are literally blown to pieces. Cars isn’t clear on just what it takes to kill a car but if that was something that happened to a real life car, you can’t fix that. Like the professor said, there’s nothing left to replace. But I’m all for theories on how Torque might’ve survived cause I personally want to believe it lol. Poor bastard. He didn’t deserve that.

Torque is such a great character. I love how much his personality shows through even in the few minutes we get to see him. I like to believe he’s worked with Finn and Leland in the past. He may have learned Finns name from Zündapp on the oil rigs but I think he would’ve known him from reputation too.

Finn didn’t know it was Torque he was meeting because Torque was so deeply under cover, they couldn’t risk letting his identity out. He could only know the bare minimum. Even the location of the meetup was left to the last minute when Torque activated his tracking beacon. He really took every precaution. It just wasn’t enough.

And Finn has just seen too much man. He must’ve seen some wild shit in his day for him to believe Mater was a spy. He’s just like yeah that tracks. Pfffft no buddy, you need to check your American stereotypes. But in all honesty, I don’t think he was 100% during that movie. He had just lost Leland. He was functioning because he can turn off his emotions to get a mission completed but he wasn’t all present. He took some bad risks, didn’t check things out as thoroughly as he should have and paid the price. He was messed up after what happened.

Omg yessssss we’re sharing more headcanons!!!!

Okay I had a fic idea for Finn and Holley going back to the oil rigs to help with the cleanup. Now that fic idea is not in line with my main fic so Leland is dead in that one :( the premise was that during the cleanup Leland’s body is getting packed up with all the other confiscated things cause no one knows who he is but Finn sees him and stops the crew. He’d make sure Leland got taken back home with respect. It’s just a sad miserable idea I had. I like your version of them finding him alive a lot better :)

And yup, Finn 100% started out right into field work. He would’ve never survived a desk job. Hes way too much of an adrenaline junkie. It’s all or nothing. I have sooooo many headcanons about this (most based off the 1960s Italian Job because I swear Finn McMissile is based off of Sir Michael Caine’s character!! THE CAR IS RVEN THE SAME AGSGHAGDJA) I hc young Finn was involved in some big time heists and was a professional crook before he got caught when one of the heists got mixed up with a CHROME mission and got put in prison (where he met Tomber??) but the CHROME agent who caught him remembered about him during another mission and he got offered a deal to help out with this rookie agent(a very young and exasperated Leland Turbo) and long story short, he accidentally became a really good spy!

…

Finn: you mean I get to blow stuff up?! And I can get away with it?!

Chrome agent: yes, that’s the job

Finn already signing his life away cause he’s about to have so much fun.

Leland Turbo: no! No! I did not sign up for this! Please give me a partner who values his life!!

…

Leland ends up getting really attached to Finn later on tho. And they’re both disasters, just in different ways. But Finn was always absolutely certain that he’d die first because he has no survival instinct and Leland is wayyyy more careful than he is. :’)

Also, Finn is gay as fuuuuuck. The way he interacts with Tomber? There is no heterosexual explanation for that. They are flirting the entire time. Even Holley is like *eyeroll* “we get it! You both know each other. You’re both old! [You’re both gay as fuck!]”

And he’s just so good at getting along with other vehicles. You can tell he’s been buddies with Siddeley for ages. He clicks with Mater right away and is willing to put his life in Maters hands (tires?) minutes after meeting him during the airport chase scene. Like Finn, I don’t know who you’re trying to fool with the “friendships can be dangerous” line but you’ve befriended every vehicle you’ve ever met!

Oh my god you keep predicting my freaking fanfic wip. XD Finn wanting to retire after finding out Leland survived? Mmmm

Okay your analysis of the clock scene has ended me. I NEVER NOTICED THAT BUT YOURE RIGHT!!! Finn would have died (almost) the same way Leland did. And… he’s so resigned. He’s cracking jokes about it (probably to ease Holleys anxiety) but he makes no effort to escape. He doesn’t even try. That is NOT like him at all. If Holley hadn’t pulled that trick with the taser that would’ve been it. He was ready to die there. And yeah. It’s cause that’s how Leland went out. God that’s devastating. Yeah you can see the moment he realizes that he’s going to die the same way and he gives that little chuckle because he’s okay with that. Ugh.

I need to make more posts about Finn. He lives rent free in my head 24/7.

And please don’t feel bad about the time you take to respond!! It’s like waiting for a lovely letter to arrive :) I’m so stoked to be able to have deep analytical discussions about Finn and Leland!!! :D

——

Okay I typed most of this the day after you posted but it’s been sitting in my drafts all week. Ahhhh I got swept up in a massive art piece that consumed my entire life. But back to my point, don’t feel rushed to respond! :) we all have our chaotic lives going on

the last transmission

__

shmol leland as a bonus because yea

[cielorinrin]

Why I like Sakumo x Orochimaru

I just looked up Sakumo x Orochimaru for the first time here on Tumblr despite me reading every single SakuOro fic there ever was, and apparently people don’t like it? I mean, I suppose at first, I was skeptical as well, like? How would that even happen? They didn’t even interact with one another. But then I eventually fell in love with the ship, probably because I like Orochimaru lol.

So first, let me talk about what I like about Orochimaru, or at least the Orochimaru that exists in my mind. I am under the impression, from the flashbacks, that Orochimaru wasn’t all that bad back when the Sannin was still complete. Jiraiya and Tsunade were there for him and made sure to keep him in the light. As we see during the time when he offered to kill off the three orphans. To me, that shows that Orochimaru was morally gray even before, but I don’t think he was malicious during that scenario. Think of it this way, they were orphans in a war-stricken place in a shinobi world, they would steal for food and they’d be able to survive, but time will come where they’d be caught and killed or taken and sold. Either way, had Jiraiya not stayed with them, they were going to suffer regardless. So, in my eyes, Orochimaru believed he was being helpful. (Or maybe I try to look too much for a good side in people lol I’m working on it I swear)

Then Jiraiya stayed behind with the orphans. Then Tsunade left. Then Sarutobi was busy with his Hokage duties, and we all know Orochimaru wouldn’t run to him for help anyway. And suddenly, Orochimaru was all alone in a village that barely tolerated him. Because the villagers didn’t really like Orochimaru like how they adored his two other teammates – who left the village in wartime might I add! Furthermore, he was also grieving because I assume that Nawaki was his student since he was with him on the mission that eventually killed him and his teammates. 

He was isolated and grieving without his two anchors. He was already morally gray even before all of this happened, so I see why he had ended up doing those horrible experiments. He started becoming obsessed with eternal life back when his parents died, now with his genin team dead and his teammates leaving him, I can see how he’d end up the way he did. And I bet my entire arm that Danzo had a hand in how Orochimaru eventually started with the experiments. Who else would provide him with orphans to experiment in but that ugly, slimy, disgusting, war-hawk bastard? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing Orochimaru’s experiments because those are horrible and he deserves death at least 100x, but also, what if he wasn’t alone and he had someone to keep him afloat before he even went down that road? That’s where Sakumo comes in.

We are all suckers for aloof morally gray men with golden retriever boyfriends! Admit it!! Okay maybe not all of us, but I bet a lot of us like that pairing! I adore those pairings aaaaa

I’m not incredibly certain regarding the timeline of when Sakumo died and when Orochimaru left, but let’s pretend that after Tsunade left Sakumo was still alive. What if Sakumo was there for Orochimaru when his teammates left him and his genin died? What if, in return, Orochimaru was there for him when the villagers were being stupid and hating on him for saving his team? What if they were there for each other before everything went bad? It’s all of those “what ifs” that makes the Sakumo x Orochimaru ship really attractive to me personally.

Side note: I also like how good of a parent Orochimaru is to Mitsuki and I want Kashi to have a nice childhood that’s all.

I’m not saying everyone should ship SakuOro because that’s silly, we all have different tastes and I know a lot of Naruto fans aren’t fond of Oro and that’s perfectly fine! I just wanted to give insight on why I, personally, like the ship. <3

[izzy-b-hands]

Stede’s kids, aka two little shits lol, come looking for him. On their own. In a dinghy.

They truly are his children.

I guessed on their ages, so put them about idk, like 8 or 9, maybe 10 at the oldest for Alma and maybe five or six for Louis, somewhere about there. I may be wrong or off but I’m winging it for now until I find anything definitive re: how old they are in show canon lol.

A note, I did combine some historical stuff for Stede here. Mainly his first son, named Allamby, who had died by 1715 per Wikipedia.

TW for descriptions of child death re: Allamby (made up, because I couldn’t find much to give an exact cause of death, so I just rolled with it.)

I stared at this all day and I think I caught any accidentally a words or major fuck ups, but if I missed something pls let me know and I’ll fix it ASAP dsklfjaskl. Also, if any additional trigger tags are wanted that I missed, let me know and I’ll add them them right away!

---

“Another letter from the kids,” Ed said as he handed the envelope to Stede. “I’ll bet they still want to come out with us.”

“And I’ve told them their mother will not allow that at this time, understandably,” Stede chuckled. “But we’ll remind them.”

He opened the letter and started to read. “Oh.”

“Oh?”

Stede nodded and handed the letter back, moving to sit on a nearby barrel. He’d expected some whining that he hadn’t come back for a bit, or to allow them to sail with him for at least a week or two (Mary wasn’t entirely against it; she simply wanted them to be older before they did so, and that no raid would take place while they were aboard. Sensible requirements that Stede agreed with wholeheartedly.)

He hadn’t expected this.

“They’re looking for us?” Ed said, shocked. “They aren’t old enough for that. Are they?”

“How old were you when you left to be a pirate?”

“Sixteen, or about there,” Ed replied. “How old are yours again?”

“Not that,” Stede laughed nervously. “Oh god.”

“No, don’t panic,” Ed said. “After all, they’re your kids. Smart, good head on their shoulders.”

“And a proclivity to make rash, potentially dangerous and/or poor decisions?”

Ed paused. “Well. Yeah, that too.”

“Should we head their way and see if we can’t find them?” Stede asked. In his head, all he could see were two panicked children aboard a dinghy, in rough seas, potentially about to drown or starve if they somehow survived it-

“You’re picking at the thread on your jacket,” Ed interrupted the stream of potential catastrophes. “Take a breath.”

“I will, when we find them.”

--

“What else did the letter say?” Olu asked.

“They’ve bought their own provisions, weapons-” Ed read, then paused to laugh. “That’s wonderful! Not even my kids and I’m proud of them. Wonder what they picked up for that, because-”

“Ed,” Stede interrupted. “They likely stole money from their mother, oh god I hadn’t considered that yet. Forget being hung for piracy, Mary’s going to kill me first.”

“No one is getting hung for being a pirate, and I’m sure Mary will...” Ed hesitated. “You know, if we all go ashore, you’ll have a head start.”

“I think I need to lie down.”

“Children are much more resilient than you think,” Izzy offered. “They’re probably perfectly fine.”

“Or dead,” Stede chuckled. “I’ll make myself walk the plank if that’s the case!”

“I don’t think anyone actually does that,” Pete frowned.

“What, make someone walk the plank?” Lucius asked. “Or let their kids die at sea?”

Stede whimpered, and Ed wrapped an arm around his waist.

“Let’s not say dead unless we should find them that way,” Ed said. “And no, walking the plank really isn’t a thing. Sorry, love.”

“Right,” Stede nodded. “Then you can tie the anchor to me and drop me overboard! Maybe let Mary do it, that would only be right. And any loot could go towards funerals-”

He let himself drop out of Ed’s grip to sit on the deck, staring into space. He didn’t exactly want to take back all the years of playing pirate, but at the same time, maybe they wouldn’t have come looking for him if he hadn’t done so.

Ed peered down. “So, we’re going to take the lead on this, and I’m going to help Stede to bed. Sound good, Stede?”

He managed a nod, and didn’t fight when Ed and Izzy helped him up and more or less dragged him to their quarters.

“Try to rest, and think of something else,” Ed said as they dropped him into bed. “Read a book, distract yourself.”

He went to the shelves, and pulled out a book on the designing of children’s funerals, and dealing with grief.

Ed frowned. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Come on,” Izzy whispered. “Sooner we find them, sooner he’ll either be alright, or we’ll lock him in here so he doesn’t jump overboard.”

--

“Do we know what they look like?” Roach asked.

“No,” Ed replied.

���Names?”

“Alma and Louis,” Ed said.

“Anything else?”

Ed looked back to the letter. “Alma has very nice handwriting?”

The crew groaned collectively.

“None of that,” Izzy scolded. “That isn’t helping.”

“More information would be helpful too,” Frenchie said. “What do we look for otherwise?”

“It’s two kids in a boat, probably just out there floating!” Jim shouted. “The fuck else do you think we need to look for?”

“Whoa, okay,” Olu took Jim’s hand. “Good point though, there can’t be that many younger kids out for a jaunt on the sea without any parents or someone to keep an eye on them.”

Frenchie raised his hand.

“Yup,” Ed nodded. “Go on.”

“Does their mum know they’re gone?”

Silence.

Izzy opened his mouth, then shut it and looked to Ed for direction.

“Possibly,” Ed finally said. “They didn’t say in the letter.”

“So in other words, their mum and her boyfriend might also be out there?”

Ed pondered it in a silent panic. “Yeah. Yeah, they might be.”

“Actually then, we’re looking for four people,” Frenchie said. “Good to know. Really hope we don’t accidentally find them by running over their dinghies.”

“I know we’re all probably a little scared for all of them,” Olu said. “But we need to keep our shit together. Stede’s lost his enough for all of us, frankly.”

“They are his kids,” Ed said sharply. “Though I wonder about the oldest one. Why didn’t he go with?”

“Isn’t the daughter the oldest?” Olu asked.

“Thought so, but before he came back I went snooping through his things,” Ed said. “And there’s a mention of a son, Allamby. He’s the first kid listed on anything that mentioned his family.”

“Could be he’s old enough that he didn’t want to go,” Roach offered.

“Then why not stop the other two?” Frenchie asked. “They’d tell an older sibling at least before they left. I would, were it me. Brother won’t necessarily yell at you about it, even if he doesn’t like it, and he could have been the one to give them money too.”

“We’re wasting time,” Wee John said. “Let’s get to actually looking for them, and then we can ask them about all of this.”

“Capital idea,” Ed declared. “All hands then, let’s get the show on the road.”

“At least we know they’ll be dressed fancy, if they’re that much like Stede,” Frenchie murmured to Wee John. “Could spot a bright silk from a mile away.”

--

The first three days were fruitless. Stede ate when food was brought to him, drank when water was presented. At night, he walked the deck while the others slept, no matter how much Ed protested. He argued that he slept enough during the days to distract himself from the worst possibilities, the least he could was take the night watch to see if they might be spotted then.

On day four, Ed joined him.

“Can I ask you something?”

Stede nodded, still looking out into the dark at the far end of the deck. The sea was calm, and the moon bright. Perfect conditions to find one’s missing children.

“Why didn’t their older brother go with?”

Stede turned. “Alma is our oldest.”

“Who is Allamby then? I may have peeked at some of your stuff before you came back, and-”

Stede shook his head. “I sort of wish you hadn’t.”

“I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have,” Ed said, and took Stede’s hand, reassured when he grasped back tightly. “I won’t again, not without your permission.”

“No, it isn’t the biggest deal in the world,” Stede sighed. “Allamby was our actual first. But he passed a few years ago.”

“When?”

Stede sighed again. “1715.”

“That’s only two years ago,” Ed scoffed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He’s gone and buried,” Stede replied. “What would there be to tell?”

“I’d imagine a lot,” Ed said softly. “How old was he?”

“Five,” Stede said, with another squeeze of Ed’s hand. “Very sweet. Liked picking flowers with me, to bring home to Mary. Wanted to study flowers, actually. Told me how he’d like to discover new ones, and he could name them after all of us.”

“Ambitious,” Ed laughed. “All that at five?”

“He had a plan for almost all of it,” Stede chuckled. “Didn’t really have any idea of how he’d make money to live of course, but truthfully I would have happily paid his way until he was on his feet. And even then, if ever he needed anything, all he would have had to do was ask.”

“What about playing pirate?”

Stede grinned, and finally turned to face Ed. “He loved it. Insisted we go down to the beach to play, the house wasn’t where a pirate would live! We’d walk down and he’d talk about everything involved with it: what weapons he’d use, what he’d most like to have as loot, even how he’d decorate his ship.”

“Flowers?”

“Lots of them. Painted on the walls, on the hull. Didn’t mind that it would mean repainting often. It was a worthy effort to him.”

He leaned into Ed, and Ed slipped his hand from Stede’s to wrap it around his waist instead.

“What happened? If you don’t mind my asking.”

Stede again looked to the sea. It was empty as it had been before.

“We don’t really know. He went to bed as usual, after two extra bedtime stories no less, and the next morning,” Stede’s voice caught in his throat. “He didn’t wake up. We thought he was having a lie in, since he did on occasion. Gave him an extra half hour to sleep or play in his room, whatever he was up to. Then Mary asked that I go up and bring him down for a late breakfast.”

Ed reached with his free hand to wipe a tear off Stede’s cheek as it fell. “Stede, if you want to stop-”

“No, he deserves to be known about,” Stede choked. “After we chose to not tell Alma or Louis about him, at least for now. That leaves only me and Mary and our parents, but they never did like him much. Too much like me, I suppose.”

He took a deep shaking breath. “I went up to get him. And it seemed awfully quiet, but he could sleep deeply. He’d played hard the day before too, all day at the beach, being the best pirate he could be!”

Stede smiled. “He would have loved it out here. I’m sure of it. Not that Mary would have wanted him out here either, but maybe when he was older, she would have...well. I suppose that doesn’t matter now.”

Ed nodded and tried to hold him tighter.

“I just thought he was sleeping deeply again,” Stede said. “He looked fine. Out cold, but fine. No blue in his lips, no gray on his skin. Not at that point, at least. But I couldn’t rouse him.”

Ed didn’t say a word, and waited for Stede.

“It was ridiculous, sitting on his bed, trying to shake him awake. Even went and got a glass of water and poured it over him, the poor thing!” Stede was openly crying now. His eyes hadn’t left the glassy water that surrounded them. “How he would have shouted any other morning if I’d done that! And it would have been deserved!”

Stede wiped away his tears, but they fell as fast as he could remove them. “Felt his forehead, expected a fever. He was cold.”

There was no wind, and the night was cool but not enough to chill. Stede shivered nonetheless.

“I picked him up and ran downstairs and called for Mary and to send for the doctor, or whoever could come by quickest that had any knowledge that might help,” Stede continued. “She knew before I did. Accepted it before I did, more like. She’d warned me before we tried for children, that there was always risk. They could die in childbirth and take her with them. Could have a horrid accident. Could be sick enough to die. Could simply die while in their cot, as a baby.”

He took a gasping breath. “But not at that age. Far too old to be a cot death. But it didn’t matter. Mary waited for the doctor at the door, and I stayed with him. Held him until the doctor made me let go.”

“And Mary?”

“Devastated as I was, but she didn’t fall apart like me until the burial. I think it really hit then. We spent days in the house, not eating, not sleeping. We talked once about what if we went to his grave and checked. Maybe he was really alright, and what if we’d buried him alive?! He’d be scared and want us and he’d think we had abandoned him.”

Ed gently prompted him to walk, to try and get him to their quarters or anywhere that he couldn’t watch the waves. At least for a few moments.

But Stede didn’t move an inch. “We nearly did it, too. Mary borrowed some of my old things, so she could move more easily. We were at the door, shovels in hand, and then we realized what we were doing.”

He sobbed. “And it would be pointless. He’d be as pale and lifeless as he’d been at his wake, in his coffin.”

It was by some grace that Izzy came out of his room, headed for the galley. At seeing them, he changed direction and strode over.

“Did we find them?” he asked Ed in a whisper.

“No,” Ed whispered back. “Could you help me get him to our quarters? I can take over the rest of the night watch.”

“You stay with him,” Izzy said. “I can do it. It’ll be nearly light before we know it anyway.”

With a bit more prompting and gentle pulling, they got Stede to walk away from the rail of the deck.

--

“Got something!” Frenchie called from the crow’s nest. “Small vessel, not close enough to see all who’s in it though!”

“Dinghy is ready,” Izzy said as he jogged past Ed towards it. “Roach?”

“On my way,” Roach hustled up behind him, kit of medicines and bandages and everything else in one hand. In the other was a small bag. “Got sandwiches and some jars of water in here. No offense to them, but I can’t imagine kids can estimate how much they’d need...”

“We fuck that up often enough ourselves,” Ed said. “And we’re old enough to know better.”

“And yet,” Izzy sighed, but it had no teeth behind it.

Ed tried to get a better look at the dinghy as they slowly made their approach. “I still can’t tell...looks empty.”

As they made their way beside it, he saw he was right. Still a jug of water and a basket of oranges, set by two daggers. But otherwise, empty.

“Fuck,” Izzy said softly. “Maybe they abandoned it and went ashore somewhere?”

“Why would they leave their supplies?” Roach asked.

Before any one of them could speculate, there was a ripple in the water.

Ed felt a hand grasp his at the edge of the dinghy.

Then, a face. “Oh shit! Louis, come back up!”

They watched as Alma dove back underwater and brought Louis up, a fish in his hands. “I caught one! Can we really stop somewhere to cook it and eat it? Can we go now?”

“No!” Alma looked over fearfully to them as she pushed Louis into their dinghy. “We don’t have anything you’d want! We’re looking for our dad, and he’s a pirate! Most fearsome to sail the sea, so if you’re planning to rob or kill us...”

She paused, clearly out of breath from swimming and panic. “Well, I would reconsider it!”

Izzy smiled, then broke into laughter. “Yeah, these are his. Fucking fuck, Bonnet.”

“You know him!” Alma pulled herself into their vessel, and moved her wet hair out of her eyes. “Where is he?”

“We sail with him,” Ed replied. “And he’s been a mess looking for you two, after he got your letter.”

“Told you he’d meet us halfway,” Louis said. “I told you!”

“Oh shut up,” Alma sighed. “Sorry about him, but he’s always like this, I should warn you-”

“I’m not like anything! I’m being polite and I was even going to offer to share my fish with them!”

“How about we tow you back with us, and then we’ll see about the fish,” Roach smiled. “I’m our chef and surgeon, so maybe you could help me cook it.”

Louis grinned, and set the dead fish on the bottom of the boat to hand over the rope tied to the dinghy.

“Curious,” Ed said as they started the trip back. “Did you two steal this?”

“Of course we did,” Alma scoffed. “We’re pirates.”

Izzy was still having giggle fits, even as he rowed. “Yes, yes you are.”

--

“Dad, ow. Dad! Help!” Louis cried out as Stede picked him up in a bear hug.

“Okay, let’s not suffocate him, metaphorically or literally,” Lucius said as he rushed over. “Hi! Your dad really missed you.”

“I can tell,” Louis said, voice muffled with his face jammed into Stede’s silk waistcoat.

“I was so worried about you,” Stede said as he finally set poor Louis down. “Did you tell your mother that you left?”

“I left her a note,” Alma said, then backed up as Stede moved for her. “Dad, I’m too big to pick up, Dad!”

He did all the same. “And look at you! Sailing in that dress! How on earth did you manage that?”

“You get used to it,” Alma said. “You’re squishing my lungs, I think.”

“Sorry,” Stede set her back on her feet. “I just. I thought you two were dead, and I had no idea how I’d tell your mother or what I’d do; it isn’t as if I’m likely to have any more children and...”

“Dad, you don’t have to cry,” Alma said, but she wrapped her arms around him and nestled her head into his neck.

“I’m hungry,” Louis said. “Mr. Roach, can we go cook my fish?”

“Yeah buddy, we can,” Roach replied. “Ed, if Stede’s looking for him-”

“I’ll let him know,” Ed interrupted gently, brushing away a tear of his own. “Let us know when dinner’s ready, hm?”

“Of course.”

The rest of the crew kept on with their various chores, but all of them stayed on the main deck, watching Stede lead Alma around to show her the ship. In return, she told him how they’d left, stolen their boat, how she’d been saving her allowance to buy everything from their food to their daggers.

No one interrupted directly, but there were smiles and soft giggles all around.

Ed was the only one following after them, listening in and silently cheering at Alma’s resourcefulness. Of all the Bonnets, she seemed the one who might not need any teaching about piracy. Maybe too young, but well prepared for it all the same.

“I am...” Stede sighed happily. “Your mother wouldn’t like to hear this, but I am so proud of you both. What you did was very dangerous-”

“You’ve said that like a hundred times already,” Alma interrupted.

“I know, I know, but I’m your dad. I have to say things like that, so you’re more careful in the future.”

Alma rolled her eyes, but smiled. “Fine, then we’ll board and steal a bigger ship next time.”

“Next time!”

“That or you come back and let us come with now and then,” she said with a little happy hop.

“While that would be a lovely achievement, I think it better I arrange with your mum something that would let you two come out and sail a bit,” Stede said. “If my co-captain is agreeable to it.”

He peered back to Ed with a hopeful smile.

“Absolutely! Say, how good are you two with those daggers?”

Alma blushed. “We aren’t. We didn’t get to practice before we left, and we’ve only used fake swords before.”

“Then I say we get you some lessons on knives with Jim before we take you two home,” Ed said.

“Which is Jim?”

He pointed out Jim, currently winning a knife-throwing contest against Frenchie and Wee John, with the Swede keeping score.

“Whoa,” Alma breathed out as Jim made their best throw yet. “Can I learn how to do that?”

“Jim can teach you that, and I’ll teach you how to take out an eyeball with a dagger, how about that?”

Her eyes shone. “Really?”

He looked to Stede, who chuckled. “I suppose. Better earlier than later, if you’re really going to be a pirate.”

She cheered and rushed away to Jim. They watched her tug on Jim’s coat, mouth moving a mile a minute as she pointed to Jim’s knife.

Jim looked back to them, seemingly waiting for permission.

Stede gave them a nod, and immediately Jim knelt down and handed Alma their knife, showing her how to hold it before tossing it.

“Think Mary’s still going to kill you?” Ed asked.

“Maybe not. Once we bring them back and work something out properly, and I’m sure they’ll need to promise not to run off on their own again. She might show mercy on me then.”

Stede leaned into him, arm at his waist, and they watched the rest of the knife throwing lesson in a contented silence.

--

“Roach said I did the best job he’s ever seen,” Louis told Stede proudly as they sat down to dinner. His fish was too small to share with everyone, but a portion were on his and Alma’s plates. “I bet I could learn how to be a ship’s chef from him.”

“He’s our surgeon too,” Stede said. “That means learning about bodies and blood and guts!”

Louis grinned. “Cool.”

“They get that from Mary,” Stede told Ed, sitting a spot away from him beside Alma. “She’s got an iron stomach.”

“You’re getting better with that,” Ed said. “Sometimes you just need to be around it more to get used to it.”

“Jim taught me how to throw a knife,” Alma leaned past Stede to Louis. “And Ed’s gonna teach me how to take out an eyeball!”

“Ew,” Louis giggled. “Can I learn too?”

Ed smiled warmly. “Stede, I love them. They’re awesome. I had never really thought about kids-”

“Is Ed like our stepdad like Doug?” Louis interrupted.

Stede looked to Ed with a chuckle. “Well, Doug said you two sort of decided if he was or not. What do you think about Ed?”

“Makes sense he would be,” Alma replied. “Cause Doug teaches us how to paint, and now Ed’s gonna be teaching us stuff too. Plus he’s dating you.”

They both blinked. They’d not so much as kissed in front of them yet.

“How do you know that?” Stede asked.

“I have eyes,” Alma said. “And you two act the way Mum and Doug do. You make eyes at each other.”

“I suppose we do,” Stede blushed.

“You’re literally doing it right now,” Alma said, and looked across the table to Jim. “Do they do this all the time?”

“Yes,” came a chorus of voices.

“We aren’t that bad,” Ed said.

“I bet they kiss like all the time,” Louis said.

“They do,” Izzy stage-whispered from his spot by Jim. “And hold hands, and-”

Alma and Louis broke into giggles, cutting him off.

“Alright, we have a decent feast tonight!” Roach announced as he finished setting down the last dish, covered by a high metal dome. “Hard tack, a stew that I think finally everyone will like, and-”

He lifted the dome off the dish. “Thanks to Alma and Louis, we had more than enough oranges for a cake!”

Louis turned to Stede, mouth open to speak.

“One piece for tonight,” Stede said before he could get out a word.

“Okay, but-”

“Stew first, then cake. It’ll taste better that way.”

Louis nodded. “And my fish before the stew!”

“Of course,” Stede said.

Dishes were passed from hand to hand, until plates were full. Everyone dug in, but Stede took the opportunity to take it all in.

Maybe, now and again, he could have both. His family at sea, and some of his family on land, together.

If he saved some cake for Mary, she’d be potentially more likely to say yes, and he made a mental note to set enough aside for her and Doug.

And maybe one extra piece, for Alma and Louis to share before bed.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 37

Shout out to @asongeverlasting for beta reading for me and making sure I actually got this out.

Check her writing out on AO3 as Ramblingwren

(Master post)

(Read the fic in a more condensed on Ao3)

(The latest chapter will be up on there once this reaches over 300 notes on tumblr)

_____________________________________________________________

Simularé looked out over the city from the top of the school.  Using her replicated powers, she took the form of Volpina so they'd be able to alter the illusion quickly should something pop out and accidentally reveal the true form of the school. Thankfully the sentimonster didn’t need to do much in order to maintain the illusion; Paris was a surprisingly quiet city.

As far as they could tell, no one in the city outside of the school had any idea what was going on. And that worked out perfectly for them.

“So, this is where Lila has you stationed,” a voice called out, resulting in the faux fox turning around. The figure behind them was a woman clad in dark blue, with blue skin and a feathery fan. She looked confident and the sentimonster instinctively felt that this individual was very much aware of what it was.

Mayura had quickly deduced it was the sentimonster as it was in Lila’s previous akuma form, Volpina. With Lila now Masquerade, it was unlikely she would choose to take such a form. She would likely want to stay in her new form to show it off.

“Do not be alarmed, Simularé, it is your creator. Mayura,” Mayura spoke again.

The shapeshifter leveled a sharp glare at the woman. What made her so certain of that?

“How do I know that is true?” Simularé questioned.

The villainess took a moment to examine the sentimonster. Mayura had to admit that this sentimonster was her finest work to date. The amount of emotion harnessed from Lila to create it made it far more unique, much less of a mindless creature than her previous creations. Amoks were created much like akuma were, locking on to intense emotions before sending off. But unlike akuma, amok can be shaped and tailored with enough focus. Simularé was a special case, as it was made from the conclave of emotions that Lila was experiencing during her breakdown. It had been quite difficult to focus on one specific feeling but Mayura had pushed through. Simularé was sculpted to be Lila’s ideal ally, but it was also so much more than a simple asset. This Amok embodied Lila’s core personality. Her cleverness, her cunning, her mistrust of others, her playfulness, her pride and so much more. To put it simply, this Sentimonster was Lila’s spirit given a new form.

“Trust me Simularé, you would be best not to ask that,” Mayura warned.

The sentimonster felt as if it was being talked down to and clearly did not approve of anyone talking to them in such a tone, save for its master. It charged at the peacock villainess, ready to make contact, But, before it could get close, Mayura stuck out her hand and pinched her fingers together, causing the sentimonster to feel as if some force was pulling its essence out. The pain it felt was indescribable! It felt as if its very being was being ripped out. Mayura was in range to sense the Amok and could easily remove it without difficulty, much like Hawkmoth could with an akuma. Though Mayura had a feeling that letting the Sentimonster know that keeping her out of range of the item was the key to its survival would not be wise. It was best in this moment to display power.

“Stop! Please!” Simularé begged. “I … I believe you! I will do whatever you ask, just please stop the pain!”

The villainess smiled, it seemed there was even more to this Sentimonster than Mayura had anticipated. It had a powerful sense of self preservation, something controlled sentimonsters didn’t seem to have. She took note of that.

“Good. Now, you are going to explain to me your master’s end goal and where Ladybug and Chat Noir are in the building.”

Simularé felt the grip that Mayura had on its essence and held back its burning resentment towards the blue bird villainess. She would behave. For now.

“Okay… I will tell you everything.”

_____________________________________________________________

“Duck!” Ladyice called out as she had Ice Noir lower their bodies to avoid oncoming ice projectiles.

“Surprising that she's only attacking us with ice. She's Stormy weather. You'd think she would be attacking with more, maybe some rain or like a vol....” Ice Noir commented.

“Don't talk about that! Do not give her any ideas!”

The two had skated out of the room and made their way through the now icy hallway while Stormy Weather gave chase.

“I was just saying it seems weird how...mediocre her attacks are.

“It’s like we saw before, the akuma servants are like robots, they can’t react quickly so changing up her powers is likely just as much of a problem. She's probably not as dangerous as we initially thought.”

“So maybe we should face this problem head on now that we aren’t cornered?”

Ice Noir changed direction and began skating towards the umbrella-wielding akuma.

Stormy Weather noticed the approaching cat and raised her umbrella, creating a mighty gale to blow him back and ending him flying past Ladyice to the end of the hallway.

“She can use her other powers… can confirm,” Ice noir commented as he got off the wall, still dazed.

Ladyice skated up to the dazed cat and helped stabilize him. Despite seeming like a wasted effort, the cat’s brash antics actually inspired Ladyice with a way to take her out.

“I just figured out how we can stop her, think you can give her one last charge for me?”

“Why Bugaboo, asking me to rush headfirst into danger? How heartless.” He feigned hurt.

Ladybug rolled her eyes.

“Silly Kitty. Just be ready to hang in there when she blasts you with wind. Don’t get blown back this time.”

“Got it.”

Ice Noir quickly skated across the ice as he drew his weapon. He was ready for her this time.

“Hey breezy weezy! The weather today was supposed to be sunny with a 20% chance of raining Cats and Dogs!” Ice Noir called out, clearly happy with his lame joke.

Stormy Weather saw the cat approaching once again and prepared to send another wind blast at him.

But the cat was prepared this time around and extended his staff to anchor himself to the walls on either side.

“Nice try!” Ice Noir snarked. “But a small little puff of wind won't blow me back again.”

The storm akuma decided instead of creating just another wind blast, she was going to step it up with a cyclone attack! A powerful tornado tunnel would surely blast the cat down for good.

“We were wrong! She can amp up the power too!” Ice Noir exclaimed as he held onto his staff with all his might while his body was being blown back by the massive winds. “This was not well thought out!”

He focused on digging his claws into his staff and doing his best to remain in the wind tunnel. The powerful winds blew into his face and he could see Stormy Weather slowly approaching.

“I don’t think I can hold on much longer, Ladyice!”

He felt his grip slipping. Any second now, he was going to get blown back.

“Don’t worry, Kitty. I got this.”

Stormy Weather didn’t get a chance to react when she felt something tackle her full force and rush her into the wall on the opposite end of the hallway.

The wind died down and Ice Noir was able to land on his skates. He released his grip on his staff and fixed his windblown hair to resemble its original state before quickly skating down the hall to help his partner.

“Nice job, Ladyice.”

The red-clad heroine stood up from her grapple with the storm akuma.

“Actually…”

Ice Noir looked up to see that his partner had shifted power ups. Her skates and ice skater aesthetic were replaced with a suit that had red spacesuit-like plating, a jetpack with retractable wings with red and light blue colors that matches her helmet.

She had changed into her space form, Cosmobug.

“Space power up! Because you can fly through the wind! Genius!”

Cosmobug smiled.

“Well, Stormy Weather is dazed but probably not for long.”

The two heroes noticed her about to grab her umbrella, but Chat Noir’s cat-like reflexes helped him snatch it first.

“Oh no you don’t!”

Ice Noir broke the umbrella over his knee.

“I don’t think she will be as mobile without her powers.”

Stormy Weather tried to stand but slipped on the icy floor she had created.

“Let’s just make our way to the boss,” Cosmobug said. She used the jet on her back to swoop up Ice Noir and fly slowly down the icy hall.

“Just like you to sweep me off my feet. But don’t think I will be a smitten kitten like usual.”

“Oh? Is that so?” The bug heroine raised an eyebrow. “It’s hard to imagine that you haven’t been dreaming about this scenario.”

“It helps that you aren’t riding a horse with the wind blowing in your hair,” Chat Noir joked back, catching Ladybug’s teasing.

Cosmobug quickly moved them to a part of the hall where there was no ice. Both undid their potion transformations, reverting back to their usual hero forms.

“Not keeping the jetpack?” Chat Noir asked. “It is really cool.”

“The room halls are pretty limited, and there's not much mobility, otherwise I might have,” Ladybug confessed.

The two heroes took a moment to catch their breaths and figure out their surroundings.

“We should thank Stormy Weather.”

The cat looked at his partner skeptically, remembering how a few minutes ago, the wind had nearly sent him flying through a brick wall.

“What makes you say that?”

“Lila probably had Stormy Weather out and about to flush out other people in the school and make sure the area was difficult to traverse. She likely sent out a bunch of other akuma to do the same, which means her forces are scattered and we have a better shot of dealing with her with fewer obstacles.”

Chat Noir nodded. He would not have deduced such a thing from one encounter with a weather akuma.

“Good to know, so the plan is to locate her and save the day.”

“No need to figure out where she is, I already have a good idea where she should be.”

Chat Noir noticed Ladybug had already started moving. He quickly followed behind, though he didn’t need an explanation this time. He already knew where Ladybug was heading — to his homeroom class, but he couldn’t say that without revealing what he knew.

_____________________________________________________________

‘This was a ridiculous decision.’

That was the thought running through Chloé’s mind as she ran for her life from a large group of Reflekta clones.

The two or three she had run into early were easy to avoid, but now it seemed like a horde of those tacky clones. And all of the ice that surrounded certain hallways made it impossible to traverse. She was limited in her running space and she was running out. But what made it all worse was that now those Reflekta copies had adjusted to running.

“HOW CAN YOU RUN IN THOSE HEELS!?” Chloé screamed as she ran down the hall.

She just had to try and be a hero. Why was she even doing this? The assistant probably got turned into one of those gross clones or got masked like those other students. She could have just sat back and just waited for Ladybug and Chat noir to find her or let them handle it.

“You can’t run forever” The crowd of clones sang in Rather impressive and creepy harmony.

Chloé took a turn down the hall and went into the door of the nearest room.

She closed the door and locked it before smelling the musty wet air.

“What the… EWW!” She spat in disgust as she realized she had locked herself in a janitor’s closet.

“Why did it have to be in such a gross smelly room?” she moaned.

Unfortunately, her comments caught the attention of the crowd chasing her.

She heard banging on the door.

“You can’t hide, we will find.”

Chloe put her back to the door to keep them out and felt herself slide down it in despair.

Was this how it was going to end? Getting turned into one of those fashion nightmares after hiding out in such a rank smelling closet? She didn’t even save… wait. She did save someone. She saved that old man. It hadn't been glamorous, but she did manage to save at least one person.

“I guess I did do something good after all. May not have been exceptional… but it was something.” Chloé smiled for a brief moment.

She took a moment to look at the positives, Ladybug and Chat Noir would likely come in and save the day, plus there were those other two heroes. Perhaps that would be enough. But she had to admit, finding solace in that was getting harder to do when the smell of the closet was destroying her nostrils. Just then, she remembered she had some nice perfume in her bag that she could spray to alleviate the smell.

“Well, at least I won’t smell awful when they capture me.”

She put her hand in her bag and felt around for her perfume. As she searched, she felt an unfamiliar object in her designer handbag. She pulled it out.

“What is this?”

She noticed a note on top of it. It was a bit dark to read so she pulled out her phone and turned on her flashlight.

“Return to Ladybug after mission?”

Chloé’s eyes went wide. Could this be what she thought it was? How was it possible? She didn’t have time to question it.

She opened the box and out came a floating bee creature, who Chloé recognized right away. It was real.

“Pollen!” Chloé exclaimed with cheer.

“It has been a while, my queen.” the bee kwami said.

Chloé would have loved to revel in this moment more but she knew that door was going to burst open any minute. She needed to be the bee heroine.

“As much as I would love to talk more, we need to hurry. We have some akuma clones that need bashing.”

“Right away, my queen!”

Chloe put the bee miraculous in her hair.

“Pollen, Buzz on!”

_____________________________________________________________

“It is a good thing there are so many copies,” Ryuuko stated as she leaped over a few Reflekta copies.

Viperion swerved and dodged the replicas of his sister’s akumatized form while avoiding getting caught in the bubbles that froze them and floated them up in the air.

Deadzone had been doing a lot of friendly fire thanks to its single minded obsession.

“After this, I really hope I never have to see my sister take this form again,” Viperion commented.

“Right, Adrien mentioned that you were Juleka’s brother. Older brother, right?”

“Older twin brother. But yes.”

“Really? You seem older.”

“I am a grade ahead of her, but we are the same age,” he explained.

“Could have sworn you were at least a year or two older.”

“A lot of people think the same thing. Even my mom forgets, sometimes. Rose, my sister’s girlfriend, says I radiate ‘big brother energy’ or something.”

“You learn something new.”

“What about you? Any siblings?”

“Sadly no. I was an only child.”

“Too bad, I think you would have made a great older sister,” Viperion encouraged

“A snake charmer, are we?”

“Well I am the snake, and I am not charming myself, so I think the more correct term would be dragon charmer.”

“Change that to fun killer because you killed my fun right there.”

Before Viperion could retort, they had made their way down to the end of the hall and noticed that it was frozen off.

“Dead end,” they say at the same time.

“No, Deadzone.”

The two turn to see the deadly akuma amalgamation pointing its blaster at them.

The two heroes looked at the deadly akuma.

“Any ideas?” Ryuuko questioned.

“Just one.”

Viperion moved his hand to his bracelet.

“Second chance!” Viperion activated his power.

“Now we have some options.” Viperion explained.

The akuma fired a bubble blast at Ryuuko, and she was frozen.

“Second chance!”

Things reset to how they were a few seconds before. Viperion grabbed Ryuuko and pulled her out of the way of the oncoming bubble blast.

“Thanks. For a minute there, I thought that thing had me.”

“It did, but I used my power to stop that. we still have to get out of here.”

“Look out!”

Ryuuko got hit with another bubble as they got up, protecting him from an attack.

“This might take a few attempts…”

_____________________________________________________________

Hawkmoth paced inside his lair.

Mayura was out there, his son was out there… and things were not going the way he planned. Masquerade seems to be building a base for herself and was more concerned with that than getting the miraculous. Adrien is MIA, and Mayura isn’t responding.

“I might need to step in. But there is a lot of risk in this. Far too many variables that I can't account for”

Hawkmoth never liked leaving his lair. It had too many risks to it. After Heroes' Day, he had nearly been exposed. And after that fiasco in Shanghai he didn’t want to risk getting taken out by his own akuma. He had already taken plenty of risks that had blown up in his face. Would this be another one of those times he would need to risk his miraculous?

“But it could also be just what is needed to beat Ladybug and Chat Noir once and for all.”

With an akuma this powerful, the two would likely have to use their special powers multiple times. If he can just locate them and wait for them to do so, he could potentially gain the advantage. Maybe Mayura was on to something with her actions.

Hawkmoth walked to the window.

“There will be a right time. I just need to wait for it.”

He felt an itch in the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure what it was but he could tell one thing, something big was going to go down, and he needed to figure out the right call soon or it could cost him dearly.

_____________________________________________________________

“…And that’s her plan.” Simularé finished. “As for Ladybug and Chat Noir… I am unsure. I lost track of them before I was given a new assignment. But they are in the building and they have not tried to leave.”

Mayura smiled at the information. While it was quite unfortunate that she didn’t have the exact location of the two heroes, it was good to know that they were still in the building, and Lila’s plan was certainly something interesting.

“Indeed, that is quite a clever plan. Ensuring everyone in the school couldn’t escape was pretty smart. You likely had a few escapes anyway, with how clumsy some of the akuma were. You are fortunate that neither one was Ladybug or Chat Noir. Still, though, it isn’t your master’s fault for that. They are basically mindless puppets. But then again, it seems that there might be zero escapes since there seems to be no new reports on the subject of a school takeover.”

Simularé let the peacock villainess muse, analyzing her movements as if trying to figure out any advantage it could handle.

“So, the next step now that all communications are cut is to send out a message that Ladybug and Chat Noir have already been defeated, so as to cause massive despair in order to create even more minions. Sounds a bit derivative, don’t you think?” Mayura mused.

Simularé said nothing. It held its tongue. Deep down, it knew that starting any dispute with this peacock was not wise. Especially given that crazy power she had over their being.

“Still, it is quite a plan. And with all those extra akuma recruited and Ladybug and Chat noir cut off from their guardian, they wouldn’t be able to get any sort of back up. They wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight before all of Paris is under Masquerade’s thumb. I approve of the plan.”

“I am glad you do,” Simularé stated with a forced smile.

Their conversation was cut short when an akuma appeared. Seeing one it did not recognize, the artist akuma prepared to fight. But thankfully the shapeshifting sentimonster stepped in.

“Stand down Evillustrator, this one is not our enemy,” Simularé ordered.

Evillustrator eased and walked over.

“Masquerade has ordered that we start reinforcing the building. She wants this place to be like a fortress,” he parroted.

Mayura looked at the artist.

A fortress? Yes, Simularé mentioned that Masquerade wanted to reinforce the school so that she could ensure Ladybug and ChatNoir would have less chance of escape.

Simularé nodded at the akuma servant.

“Alright, so she wants us to drop the illusion, then?”

“She wants the place to be like a fortress.”

“Go ahead and start,” Simularé motioned. She figured that her master likely didn’t care about the illusion much as she was prepared for stage two. But she would maintain it for a bit.

The akuma moved to the end of the roof and begins working to reinforce the walls

Mayura began moving to the door of the roof to get back down into the school.

“Tell your boss I will be heading to her, and she best be welcoming,” Mayura ordered.

“As you command,” Simularé replied, hiding a large amount of anger and resentment towards the blue bird.

As soon as the blue peacock is out of sight.

Simularé contacts its master.

“Simularé, what is going on? Did Evilustrator reach you?”

“Yes. He is working to make this place a fortress. You want me to maintain the illusion, right?”

“I am about to go public shortly. After I make the announcement. Drop the illusion and make sure this place is a full-on fortress. After that is done, report back to me.

“Yes master. By the way, I had an idea.”

“Oh?”

Simularé smiled sinisterly. She was going to show Peacock why she was sorely mistaken.

“I will report the details to you shortly.”

_____________________________________________________________

“Everything is set up,” Robostus noted.

“Excellent. Let’s do it now.”

The Reflekta camera crew was all set, and Gamer had set it up so the moment they went live, every screen in Paris would show Masquerade.

Masquerade got off her call with Simularé. Something seemed a bit off with her sentimonster but she was intrigued that she had a plan.

“We are live in 5….4…3….2…” the gamer stated before pressing the go live button.

Masquerade smiled.

“Good afternoon, citizens of Paris. You may not know who I am, but don’t worry! You will be very familiar with me very soon. I am Masquerade, and I have decided to make Paris my personal kingdom.”

She paused to let that sink in.

“Now you are likely very alarmed by this declaration and that is normal. It will only be a matter of time before I spread my influence to everyone in Paris.”

She paused to let her words hang in the air before continuing.

“Do not be afraid, I am no monster. I plan on being a fair leader. All I ask is for your undying admiration and absolute loyalty. After that, you are free to live your lives as you normally would. Do not resist and you will have no problems. However, if you do… well, I can’t guarantee your safety.”

Masquerade took a calm breath before finishing.

“This last message goes out to the heroes of Paris, Ladybug and Chat Noir. I know you are here, I know you believe you will stop me, and I know you have allies here. But you will fall to me. Your days of superheroing have come to an end, your miraculous will be taken from you, and I will expose you as the failures you are,” Masquerade finished with venom.

She ended the transmission.

“Now make sure that it is being looped,” she ordered.

“Already is,” Gamer confirmed. “And panic is starting to rise.”

Masquerade smiled. Her plan was already working.

It may have seemed like a simple ego boost, but that speech of hers was a crucial part of her plan. Her charm bracelet could hyper focus on anyone that was akumatized in the past and have their biggest insecurities exposed. But that one by one process took far too long, if the hope of the entire populace of Paris was already demoralized. Then all she needed to do was send out her masks and let them take hold. And all she needed to do was go out there and send the masks.

She could already feel massive amounts of negative emotion from outside of the school. As soon as she headed out of the school, she could easily go and get more akuma soldiers. She could feel her bracelet trembling with all the potential additions.

She was prepared to leave, activating one of the charms to give her black angel wings, but something she remembered caused her to stop.

“Simularé I am moving to phase two of my plan. Get down here.”

It only took a few seconds for the sentimonster to jump from the roof and knock on the window.

One for the Reflekta copies opened the large window to let in what appeared to be Dark Cupid, before it shifted into the phantasm form that was its base.

“Right on cue. So, what is this plan you wanted to suggest?” Masquerade inquired. “And be sure it is not a waste of my time.”

“What if I told you I could get you a Miraculous?”

The sentimonster could feel that Masquerade was very pleased with that idea.

_____________________________________________________________

37 attempts.

It took thirty-seven resets before Viperion figured out what they needed to do.

“Ryuuko, follow my directions exactly,” Viperion instructed. “I know how to win.”

He quickly pulled her towards him to make sure she dodged the first bubble.

The akuma was surprised by the avoidance.

Viperion smiled.

“Your next line is, ‘How did you know I was going to blast at her?'” Viperion stated confidently.

“How did you know I was going to blast at her?” Deadzone parroted in shock before realizing they had said exactly what Viperion had said they would say.

The dragon heroine looked at the determined expression of the snake. She could see experience and certainty in his posture. All her years of fencing taught Kagami the art of reading body language, and the hero in front of her was someone that exuded an aura of confidence. She knew she could trust him.

“Alright, Sassy Snake, I will let you take the reins.” Ryuuko responded.

“Jump to the left in 2 seconds and start running.”

Ryuuko followed the instructions and sure enough avoided yet another bubble attack from Deadzone.

“Head to their left and bounce off the locker at the end.”

Ryuuko dashed past the akuma and jumped as Viperion instructed, perfectly avoiding the barrage of blasts sent her way. Viperion had perfectly mirrored her motion as he explained the next steps.

“Now somersault twice and draw your sword.”

Ryuuko somersaulted as Viperion leaped over her and the dragon turned to draw her sword, now on the other side of the hall.

“Now as soon as it fires a bubble at you, activate your wind! No matter what! I believe in you Ryuuko.”

The last words seemed a bit strange to the fencer. What did he mean by that?

“Will you shut up!?” Deadzone shouted before sending a bubble at Viperion.

“For my final glimpse into the future, you will say, ‘Not so tough now are ya?'”

The bubble contacted Viperion.

“Viperion!” Ryuuko cried out.

The bubble enveloped the snake and floated to the ceiling, taking his frozen form along with it.

“No…” Ryuuko muttered. She looked down in sorrow.

I failed to protect him. He ended up protecting me. He had been backing me up to make sure I wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Ryuuko felt her mind flashback to a few days ago which now seemed almost like it happened a year ago. They had made such a good team back then and now… they get a chance to be heroes again and she couldn’t cover him like he did her.

“Ha, not so tough now are ya?” Deadzone stated with confidence.

Ryuuko’s ears perked up at the statement. That was the line Viperion predicted they would say. That means… Viperion knew this would happen! Which meant his previous statement was to show he planned this. She knew what to do.

Deadzone turned its attention to Ryuuko.

“Don’t worry, you will join him shortly.”

Deadzone fired another bubble right at her, but this time Ryuuko wasn’t moving. She was at the perfect distance to do what she needed to do.

Ryuuko smiled.

“Wind dragon!”

The dragon-themed heroine turned into a cloud and blew the bubble right back at the akuma.

“What!”

The bubble encapsulated the akuma, causing it to freeze in place and then float to the ceiling.

Ryuuko returned to her original form and smiled, seeing how they had finally incapacitated the akuma.

“We did it, Viperion. We took them down. I'm sorry it cost you so much… I won't let you down!”

She raised her blade, upon realizing that her partner was indeed trapped in a bubble.

“Wait a minute…”

Ryuuko walked underneath Viperion’s bubble. She wasn’t entirely sure if this would work, since akuma magic was weird and often unpredictable, but it would make a lot of sense if it did.

“It is a bubble, so this should work right?” Ryuuko questioned as she used the tip of her sword to touch the bubble. She pushed it forward a bit causing the bubble to pop.

Her partner dropped to the floor.

“Ugh… my head.”

“You’re okay!”

Ryuuko hugged her friend, but then realized her sudden action and quickly jumped back up. A bit flustered, she could swear Marinette was rubbing off on her.

“I am glad you are alright, friend. You had me concerned — slightly,” Ryuuko corrected herself.

Viperion was surprised by the quick motions but managed to steady himself.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course. But make it quick, we will need to get a move on.”

“Okay… Who am I?”

Ryuuko froze at the question. She could see the confusion on his face. He was completely serious.

“Oh… that is not good at all.”

_____________________________________________________________

Masquerade is on phase two of her plan and Simularé is starting to make waves.

Who will get to the akuma first, Mayura or our heroes.

What will happen to Viperion now that his memory is gone?

Will Queen bee be the right choice?

Reblog and Comment . Your support is invaluable in keeping this fic alive. And I love hearing your thoughts on it

[kaaras-adaar]

Lyrian was right, he supposed. There were those that would oppose them in their beliefs, as well. Especially the Chantry. Even as an Andrastian, or a... self proclaimed one considering the Chantry didn't like his kind, Kaaras was still spiritual in nature. He believed in the power of nature, the power of the Fade, and the power of people and their pantheons that once existed. He didn't know if gods were real or not, but he did know that they at least came from somewhere. Including the Maker.

It was ingrained in him, though. From a small child, his mother and father had always called him a blessing from the Maker, despite their beginnings under the Qun. They should have believed in the ways of the Qun, but when they'd escaped, and when a Chantry sister had taken his pregnant mother in so she had shelter to give birth, she'd turned to the Maker that night, and she'd never looked back.

It wasn't so simple for Kaaras. He'd been brought up in an entirely different world to his parents, and a different one to the humans that had surrounded him also. It was... complicated.

"Hmm," he replied in response, a nod of his head, "I'd say you're most likely correct. It is in everyone's nature to survive. Even ours." He moved his hand so his fingers linked to Lyrian's, much larger in comparison.

"And I suppose we all defy it at times also..." His eyes looked to his hand where the anchor sat, embedded in flesh and bone. He should be dead. But he wasn't. Perhaps the Maker was looking out for him. Or maybe there was some logical reason behind it all and religion meant nothing.

"I'm glad to be here. With you. And your mushroom knowledge," he chuckled, a smile spreading across his lips. "And I can teach you how to ranch when you visit the farm. I think the rams would like you."

As a farmer, Kaaras understood the importance of growth–whether that was fruit, vegetables or plants. He understood the life cycle of crops, but those were crops that were harvested in farmlands and soils that were man made. Even if he’d ventured off into the wilderness of the forest by his home as a child, he’d never survived in the wilderness like Lyrian had. He always had a roof to sleep under, he always had his mother’s cooking, even if it had been slim at times. Sometimes, a piece of bread was all they could afford to eat, thankful that Southron Hills was known for its breads and baked goods. But outside of that, his knowledge was minimal on the wild flowers and plants that they could survive on.

Lyrian was also a herbalist, so he didn’t just have knowledge in what they could eat, but also what could heal, what could poison, what could benefit this and that, and what might main and make someone fall ill. It was an essential skill to have as a healer, of course.

Kaaras’ ears lowered just a little. Well, this was why he stayed away from wild mushrooms. The only he’d ever eaten were the ones that he’d picked up from the farmer’s markets and knew were safe. Outside of that… he wouldn’t know a toadstool from any other mushroom.

“The world seems like it doesn’t know if it wants to kill us or save us,” he laughed. “I’ve got some experience with fruits and veggies, of course, growing up on my parent’s farm, but even then… livestock was much easier to maintain.” The cool weather of Ferelden, and the soil alone in Southron Hills had made things very complicated. That or… perhaps his parents’ lack of farming knowledge.

[thestalkerbunny]

Dnd One Shot that would only work if the party has a player who has ‘speak with animals’ or has some EXCELLENT animal handling skills. It would also work as a great filler episode.

Your party gets some tickets to go on the first ever LUXURY CRUISE-this is like...the fanciest shit your players or the world has ever seen, it is the premiere luxury cruise liner and it’s about to make it’s maiden voyage of a solid 30 day long trip. And most of the game you can have your players have fun and dick around, gamble, charm/upset/offend/get into  fights with other passengers-just finally live your dreams on a BOAT. Be as wild as you please with some boat shenanigans.

But each passing day as the cruises ship gets further and further out to sea, there are more and more odd complications. Something big keeps bumping into the boat and causing leaks in the hull, people sent to dive and check on what the outside damage looks like while the boat is briefly anchored find massive crushed bits of the boat like they‘ve been put into a vice grip, have one of the players even roll to have an unsettling dreams because their room is close to a port hull and they keep hearing odd deep calls in the night. These complications get worse and worse.

People begin to accuse each other of trying to sabotage the ship, maybe the ship’s owner trying to sink it to save himself on the insurance it has? Maybe the disgruntled captain who is being forced retired? A spurned mystery woman? Who knows, it starts to turn into a real ‘who is trying to sink this boat and endanger these innocent lives?’ who’s doing it?

The culprit?

Lobsters.

If at any time a player who makes a good animal handling check goes down into the main dining area, they’ll find the massive lobster tank where they keep all the lobsters they’re going to use on the last night of the cruise for a big lobster dinner. Most of the lobsters will, to a player that rolls high enough to notice, seem to look very resigned to their fates as the main course-except for one that is a rather large lobster and looks particular determined for a lobster.

If the player uses ‘speak with animals’-most of the lobsters will be very very sad and depressed about this. They understand this the way it’s always been, nature says that you’re most likely to be eaten if you are small-but it doesn’t mean they at all want to accept it. The Big Lobster will most likely say nothing. The Lobsters would ask that player to please come and visit them every night promising to tell them special lobster stories in exchange for spreading them around to the ‘land walkers’, because they believe if their stories survive then they will truely achieve immortality in the afterlife and not be forced to return to the mortal plane as another creature.

If they player continues to visit the lobsters, they will tell the player numerous amazing stories about the creatures under the sea, from beautiful temples, mermaid kingdoms, great fissures in the deep, ancient deities that live in the trenches bound in bondage unseen for thousands of years. (it doesn’t hurt to drop some lobster facts in there as well, Lobsters believe they are all royalty as their blood is blue and that they are obviously the sea’s favored creature as they live forever when left natural in the wild.)

Eventually, the player will hear all the lobster stories. They may notice that with each passing day-as the complications of the boat get worse and worse-the lobsters seem more perky and excited. They may even hear the lobsters talking about how they ‘might actually get out of this one’ but they never really elaborate on why they think this-most of them are too focused on getting their stories told. If the player listens to all the lobster stories, repeatedly tries to converse to the big lobster in a friendly manner, and rolls a high enough charisma check-they will finally hear the big lobster speak.

The Big Lobster will say one thing. ‘You should probably brace yourself.’

This is when the final seige happen on the boat and it is attacked by a massive horrifying sea creature trying to capsize the boat. The players can join to try and stop the monster from sinking the boat or help passangers evacuate. The monster is most likely be undefeatable or it will be severely injured enough for it to leave the boat alone-but not without it being so badly damage that it can’t continue it’s voyage. Everyone will be forced to evacuate and wait for help to come from the main land. Most everyone will make it out safe (except for the people eaten by sharks or smashed by the monster)

In the dark of the night, the party will see a bunch of lobsters swimming towards their life boat with the biggest lobster in the lead. The big lobster will climb in and begin to talk in common to the party-thanking the player who listened to the lobster stories for doing so as it helped them all keep hope. The Big Lobster will apologize for the destruction of the boat-as it was directly his fault for doing so. The Big Lobster will reveal that for days it’s been psychically contacting the great sea monster to come and save it from his fate in the boiling pot and was only able to do so because of one thing-the big lobster is not a lobster.

He is in fact a wizard under a true polymorph spell. He is a wizard who studies the magical currents in the ocean for a living and had polymorphed himself into a lobster to study the sea up close and personal. But the magic device he was going to use to break the polymorph when he was done was lost and he with all the other lobsters were caught.  At any time in the game, another player can find that device and in this ending, they can break the polymorph and he turns back into a wizard. He thanks the party, apologizes for the damage and trouble before jumping back into the water and disappearing, only for the big sea monster to rise up out of the ocean again with the wizard riding on top and them to disappear into the night with the entourage of lobsters following after.

This one shot can be used as a filler episode while the players are traveling between continents or a lead in for an under sea adventure. You can even have the party come into some amazing sea themed magic items or a great amount of a money, signed courtesy of the ‘Lobster Wizard and Co.’

TLDR: Lobsters on the titanic as it’s sinking: Boys I think we might actually be getting out of this one!

[colorfulbard]

Hopelessly devoted

Summary: Things between you and Levi got weird ever since you saved him.

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Warnings: Fluff and some angst(?)

Words: 4.6K

A/N: I got this idea from a tiktok a while ago, can’t remember the user. Yes, I know the title is very cliche, I thought it was cute.

~~~

The uncomfortable mix of sweat and blood was a common feeling most scouts got used to, but not you. To you, it was probably always going to feel bothersome like an itch you couldn't scratch. Not like anyone really blames you, even if the blood evaporated the feeling of it somehow always remained. With an annoyed groan, you grabbed the handkerchief from your pocket and attempted to wipe excess blood that remained along with sweet off your brow.

You sighed at the sight of your now dirty handkerchief and leaned back against the tree. It wasn't a good idea, but you decided to close your eyes even if just for a moment. Ever since the destruction of wall Maria, there had been no expeditions outside the actual walls. At the moment, all there was to do was figure out ways to plug up the holes and exterminate titans skulking around.

Those extermination missions have proven to be tiring considering the way almost felt yourself falling asleep. You shook off the sleep and opened your eyes to look down at the handkerchief again. There was quite a bit of blood on it now thanks to you. You stowed it away back into your pocket with a chuckle. He wasn't going to be too pleased to see the way you dirtied it.

"Y/N!"

You automatically stood at the sound of your name. Nearing your line of sight, you recognized someone from Levi's squad. You squinted to try and make out their appearance. Your eyes returned to their normal state when you recognized it to be Petra, making her way towards you at an alarming speed.

Your brows furrowed as she landed in front of you with a worried expression. "Is everything alright?" You asked, not giving her a chance to speak. It shouldn't be too much of a cause for concern considering Petra was always one to be a tad nervous, but something felt different this time.

After taking a quick once over of her, you noticed the edge of her cape was wrinkled. Most likely because she had been wringing it between her fingers. That was something you recognized to be one of her nervous habits. However, you'd never seen her do that during a mission. It was clear that whatever was happening was probably serious.

You placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a comforting look as if to will her into talking. She seemed to appreciate it and took in a deep breath before speaking, "we got separated from the captain and can't find him anywhere," she said, choking up on her words.

You rose a brow at her. Levi was a smart man, he was most likely fine. Besides squads get separated on missions all the time, you were even separated from your own at the moment. Miche was usually never concerned when you did either way.

Petra should have enough faith in her captain to know that by now. "I don't understand..." You took a moment to think, "why is this a cause for concern?" You inquired.

"Before the expedition, we distracted him and I don't think he ever got the chance to do maintenance on his gear..." She trailed off as her words got caught in her throat. The edge of her cape was getting more wrinkled as the seconds passed.

"So, you think there's a chance it could've malfunctioned?" You asked. Your eyes couldn't help but widen in surprise. Even after being apart of the scouts for years, it seemed like there was a first for everything. Even if it had to do with someone as meticulous as Levi.

"I'm not sure," she responded, "I can't remember the last time he did maintenance on it." Her gaze shifted down to the ground as if to try and remember.

You nodded, "alright go inform the commander and Mike of the situation. I'll go and begin searching-" you grabbed your handgrip- "after that, join your squad and continue the search," you instructed.

Petra nodded, "we already sent Eld to inform the commander," she assured. She was about to pull her trigger until she turned back to you, "thank you, Y/N."

You gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her shoulder. "No problem and try not to worry," you said, "I'm sure he's fine, we just have to be quick." With that said, you pulled your trigger and jumped down once the anchor sunk itself into a tree.

Once your horse was in your sight, you reeled back your anchor and landed next to it. The landing wasn't your best, you stumbled a bit, but there wasn't time to think about that now. You quickly mounted your horse and kicked your feet back to coerce them into running.

It felt like you had stopped breathing the moment you were able to pull your thoughts together. In hopes of saving time, you hadn't even bothered to let yourself properly breathe. You'd have to thank Petra later for telling you, you knew she didn't have to, but it was still nice that she thought of you at that moment.

After taking a deep breath to expel the nerves slowly forming in your gut, you willed your horse to go faster. Clearly, the words you had said to Petra weren't currently working on you. It wasn't as if you had no faith in Levi. It was more so that you had no hope that fate would be kind to you at this moment.

Taking deep breaths wasn't helping all the intrusive thoughts coming up. You couldn't even blink properly without horrific images flashing behind your eyelids. You tried to shake them off and pushed forward. This was Levi you were thinking about, he had to be okay, right?

~

How troublesome could this expedition get? Not only did his gear malfunction, leading him to slam his body into a tree, but he also had a rough landing causing his leg to break. At least, he assumed it was broken, even if he could walk a little. Not that it mattered at the moment considering there was nothing around.

Even with all these odds stacked against him, Levi was never one to give up so easily. Which willed him into attempting to use his gear about five more times to no avail. He groaned under his breath in frustration, "damn it..." He grumbled.

As much he would like to put the blame on an inanimate object, there was no point. There was no one to blame, but himself. Levi had been apart of the scouts for so long, you'd think maintenance would be second nature to him. He should've been more attentive, even if his squad was hammering with dumb questions. So much for that being one of his more exceptional qualities.

Levi supposed he should count his blessings. So far, everything was quiet. That calming thought lasted for about five seconds before he heard a loud groan in the distance. His eyes widened to see a titan slowly making its way towards him. "Just my luck," he cursed at himself.

No point in sitting around like a wounded, helpless animal. Levi knew he still had a chance to survive, even if it was slim. He took his blades to prepare to hopefully kill it. The titan's eyes narrowed in on him at the sound of his blades being unsheathed.

"Shit, so much for thinking it was already looking at me." He knew it was a curse to think this, but could it get any worse?

As if the titan could comprehend what he was thinking, it began crawling towards him at an alarming speed. Levi grit his teeth as it grew closer and closer. "It just had to be abnormal, didn't it?" He asked himself.

Levi looked down at his legs and his posture slacked, no point in running. He wouldn't get very far and would have to deal with wondering when the ugly fucker would get it over with every second. That meant the only thing left to do was try and fight back. He gripped his blades and thoughts of why he was fighting came to mind.

The first thing was him being known as humanity's strongest, meaning he had a duty. No telling how everyone would react knowing their strongest soldier died. The next, everyone he had grown close to in the scouts. Just imagining their devasted faces brought a sour taste to his mouth. Lastly, you.

Levi was usually never one to get sentimental in moments like this, but he couldn't help it. If there was a chance these were his last moments, it'd be nice to be thinking of you. All of those private moments together just simply enjoying one another's presence. You truly were good to him, always assuring him that those moments were enough and that there was never a need for an actual date.

You knew how awkward he can be when it came to public displays of affection and never gave him shit for it. You truly were a blessing in his eyes. Too bad the last time he would ever see that blessing was in his memories.

Once the ugly thing came close enough, he reared his arm back to prepare to take out its eyes. However, it seemed like there was no point in even trying. The titan didn't even get a chance to come within six feet f him before it went limp.

"Levi!"

There it was, the familiar voice of his savior. You stood from your knelt position at the titan's neck with a wide smile at the sight of him. "You're okay!" You exclaimed in relief as you slid off the titan's body. Without even giving him a single second to process your being there, you wrapped your arms around him.

You sighed as you felt him squished against you. "I'm so glad," you whispered in his ear, "I thought I was going to be too late."

Levi brought his arms around you, not even fathoming how you were here. Call him a sap, but you almost looked like a guardian angel in his eyes when you peeked over that titan's head. His grip on you became tighter, happy to feel your familiar shape in his arms. He could gladly stay forever like this, had it not been for this fucked up leg. A groan came from him when he readjusted his footing.

You immediately pulled away at the sound and inspected him. "What happened?" You asked, worried.

He gestured to his leg which was limp. "Gear malfunctioned and I had a bad landing because of it," he explained, "but I'll be fine."

You furrowed your brows, something you always did when you thought he was lying about something. Levi poked a finger between your brows to fix them. "Don't look at me like that-" he began to unconsciously lean into you- "I'm fine. Just need to get back to headquarters."

You nodded and knelt down in front of him. The silence between you two was thick as he stared two holes into your back. "You're kidding, right?" He asked rhetorically. Even he had to admit to himself being carried on someone's back was slightly embarrassing, it made him feel like a toddler.

"It's either this or I can carry you in my arms like a blushing bride," you responded cheekily.

Levi swore he could feel you smirking even if he couldn't see your face. Nonetheless, he relented, it was better than dying at least. Getting comfortable on your back was easier said than done, his shitty leg definitely wasn't helping. Eventually, he got the hang of it and tapped your shoulder.

You gave a nod and stood up, albeit a little shaky, but you managed. Even after getting used to the weight of your own gear, pairing another along with Levi proved to be a challenge. You tried not to let it show, but a pained grunt managed to slip past your lips anyway.

Levi tensed on your back at the sound you made. "Alright let's try something else." He made an attempt to get off, but you tightened your grip.

"No way, I'm fine," you said, your voice rasping. You managed to grasp your handgrip and placed your finger on the trigger, "hold on, it's gonna be an unstable ride."

Levi relented at the sight of your determination and wrapped his arms around your neck. He braced himself as you immediately took off at the feeling of his arms. A few hiccups occurred during your flight, but you managed to land close to your horse without a permanent scratch.

You took a breather once Levi let himself off your back. You bent yourself back to get rid of the ache that was forming. Your little break didn't last long when you spotted Levi limping to your horse. You quickly grabbed an arm and put it over your shoulder to aid him.

"You know, I'm starting to think all that tea is giving you a little extra weight," you teased in an attempt to make light of the situation. You knew he had to be feeling useless at the moment. It always happened whenever he got hurt.

The only response you received was a pinch to your side causing you to squeak. "Ouch..." You whined while trying to soothe it by rubbing it.

"That's what you get for teasing your superior."

You gawked at him. "Wow, you're pulling out the superior card now?" You questioned, "Would you rather I tease you in other ways?" You wiggled your brows at him. He looked away from you and pinched you again.

"Shut up."

~

Things had been a little odd ever since that day and you were positive you were the only one who noticed. Levi was still out of commission, but that didn't stop him from fulfilling other duties. The only reason why it bothered you is that he was currently using crutches to move around. You were, however, put at ease when you were told his injury was only a hairline fracture.

All of that wasn't the biggest issue though. The issue at hand was Levi was practically hovering over you as if you were the one injured. He never made it obvious in fear of being called out by comrades. You, of course, didn't miss the way he followed you everywhere until he was called away to do something important.

His hovering only got worse whenever you were asked to assist in Hange's titan experiments. There was also the issue of him getting weird headaches at random times of the day. You usually caught him suffering from them when you returned from different errands. You tried asking what caused it, but not even Levi could figure it out.

After long deliberation, you decided it might be a good idea to get out for a little while. Some time away from everything scout related might be good for him. So, you dragged him along with you to Trost. Fortunately, it was one of your days off so there was no need to convince Erwin to give you one anyway.

Before Levi could bother resisting you had already forced him to mount your horse. You had to come up with a creative solution for his crutch considering it'd be uncomfortable for him to hold onto, plus you were going to make him hold your basket anyway. You managed to tie the crutch onto the saddle and sat behind him to hold onto him. You knew he wasn't entirely opposed to the idea considering he could've shoved you off him, even if he was injured. You smiled when he leaned back against you to relax if only for a moment.

The ride didn't take too long and you quickly dismounted your horse when you reached some stables. You hesitantly held out your arms to assist Levi but judging by the look on his face, he'd much rather fall. You held your arms up in mock surrender and let him dismount on his own, a little clumsily.

The marketplace was a little more crowded than normal. You glanced at Levi to see if he was okay, it seemed like he didn't mind. You linked your arm with his free one and smiled. It wasn't notable on his face, but you could tell by the way he gripped your arm that he was content.

Even if it was crowded, it was nice to see it more lively. After wall Maria was breached in Shinganshina, everyone in Trost had been put on edge. But now, everything seems to have returned to some form of normalcy. Not to mention, more people meant more merchants.

"Should we go see if we can find some new tea leaves?" You asked absentmindedly. Your eyes went from stall to stall, not even paying attention to where you were walking.

Levi hummed. "With all these merchants around there's a good chance we might find something new," he surmised, pulling you closer so you didn't bump into anyone.

You nodded, "well then, we better start looking."

There was so much to see you couldn't help yourself. You barely ever had a chance to walk through markets thanks to the survey corps. It was fun walking from stall to stall with Levi on your arm. It almost made you feel like an old married couple with no worries whatsoever. The thought brought a big smile to your lips.

You glanced at Levi who was busy observing various tea leaves. You knew your life with him wouldn't change with a ring on your finger, but you couldn't help thinking about what it would be like. You giggled as you thought being referred to as Mrs. Ackerman.

"Oi, what are you laughing at?"

You tensed, "uh, nothing important," you said in between nervous giggles.

He rose a brow at you but shrugged it off. Fortunately, his seriousness with tea leaves made him forget of your silliness. You knew he'd be here for a little while and proposed that you would go ahead while he took a moment here. He seemed hesitant at first but nodded nonetheless.

As you walked ahead, the stalls got more scarce. "Oh well," you mumbled to yourself. They were a lot more exciting near the front, which made sense. Too bad there wasn't anything more exciting or rare back here.

You took a final look around and decided to walk back to where Levi was. The sun was beginning to set, so it was best that you went back to headquarters now anyway. Before you could even take another step, something grabbed your basket and tugged you back.

You grunted and landed back against something hard. You glanced behind you and saw a man standing there, his hand grasping your basket. You rose a brow, "I'm sorry, did you need something?" You asked, slapping his hand away.

He yelped in response and frowned at you, "is that any way to treat a gentleman?" He asked.

"Well, when a so-called gentleman grabs a lady without her permission, yes," you responded, crossing your arms.

He chuckled at your words, "how cute-" he grabbed your wrist- "don't you know that ladies should use kinder words when addressing a man." You could feel his grip was tightening.

"I could've used cruder words than that, sir," you sneered, tugging your wrist free.

Your choice of words only did more damage and excited him. "Oh, how crude?" He asked while laying a hand at your waist, "wanna tell me?"

~

To Levi, it felt like no time had passed as he stood at the same stand looking over various teas. Looked like coming to Trost wasn't such a waste after all. He managed to find tea leaves he'd never tried and his favorite. Now all that was left to do was locate you and go home.

The longer he walked the more he began to wonder how far you could've gotten. He knew you had a tendency to wander, but he never thought you would've gotten this far. Levi practically made it to the end of the market when he overheard your voice.

"I'll tell you when titans fly!"

Levi blinked as he processed the words you spoke, that's definitely you. He rose a brow before he caught sight of you. You were currently fighting off a man who had a tight grip on you. He immediately frowned and got ready to toss his crutch into the man's direction. He stopped his actions when you kneed him in the crotch and elbowed his back when he knelt down from the pain.

You huffed and straightened your clothes. You continued to frown until you spotted Levi standing a couple of feet away. The frown melted away into a smile and you waved at him. "Levi, are you all done?" You asked, walking up to him and taking his arm again.

Levi couldn't help but blink at you again. You rose a brow at his silence, clearly wondering what was wrong. "You just kicked him in the balls without a second thought..." His words trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

You chuckled, your brow still raised. "Of course, what else was I supposed to do?" You asked rhetorically, "now, come on. Let's go home." Your grip on his arm became tighter as you began to walk.

Before Levi could even take a single step, he flinched and gripped his head. That same familiar ache came back and once again, he had no idea what the cause of it was. These headaches were becoming a nuisance and he didn't know how much more he could take.

He could feel you staring at him, even with his eyes shut tight. He just knew your brows were furrowed, concern shown on your features.

"Levi, are you alright?" You asked, laying a hand on his head.

All he could do was nod in response. The pain was still making his head feel like it was throbbing, but he didn't want to continue making you worried. So, he pretended everything was fine and peeled his eyes open. He noticed you let out a sigh of relief when he did.

Everything would be fine as soon the both of you returned to headquarters. Fortunately, everything felt like a quick blur while walking back towards the horse and riding back to headquarters.

The moment the horse stopped he didn't bother waiting for you to help him and jumped down on his own. Levi ignored the small twinge of pain he felt and walked to his room as if nothing happened. He hadn't even seen the concerned look on your face as he did.

Later on, at night, you thought you would be able to speak with him. As soon as you had gotten to your shared room earlier, he had holed himself up in the bedroom. You figured he wanted to be left alone for a little bit based on the headache he had earlier. But, now, you assumed he had enough time to himself and walked in with tea in hand. You thought you might get him to relax a bit with some.

"Levi?" You asked softly, shutting the door behind you. "Are you alright?"

The only response was a small grumble. You sighed and walked over to his side of the bed where he laid. You watched as he perked up a bit at the new smell, it was the new tea leaves he had bought. With a small smile, you placed the cup on the nightstand and sat next to him.

"Levi, talk to me." You placed a hand on his leg, "I'm worried. You've been in here since we got back in silence."

Speaking of, the silence was suffocating. He wasn't looking at you, you couldn't tell if he refused to or if the only way to soothe the headache was to cover his eyes. You sighed again and moved your hand from his leg to get up from the bed.

Before you could fully get up his hand caught yours, stopping your actions. You looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm sorry..." He sighed while squeezing your hand. You rose a brow at his apology and sat back down. You remained quiet and waited for him to explain.

Levi's grip on your hand tightened as you watched him grit his teeth. You knew he was trying to find the right words to say. You moved your hand around to rub your thumb over his knuckles to soothe him. He seemed to slowly relax with the motions as he stopped gritting his teeth and became less tense.

The silence continued dragging on, so you decided to give him a gentle nudge to persuade him into talking. "For?" You asked.

Levi took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He was nervous about what he had to say and you had no idea why. His grip on your hand tightened again. "For not being able to protect you," he admitted, "I'm so useless like this." He gestured to his leg.

Your eyes widened at his words. It took a moment for you to get over the initial shock, but once you did you grabbed the arm that covered his eyes to move it away. You don't know if it was moonlight streaming in through the crack in the curtains or your eyes playing tricks on you, but it looked like there were tears in Levi's eyes.

You ignored it for now and placed your hands on his cheeks. You called his name forcing him to look into your eyes. "You're not useless, please don't say that-" you began stroking his cheek with your thumb- "you never say that to me when I get injured, so, don't say that about yourself."

You lowered your forehead to rest against his. "You don't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself," you whispered. "Don't you have faith that I'm strong enough to take care of myself?" You asked.

Levi let in a shark intake of breath as he heard your words. He began to sit up causing you to move away from him. "Of course I do," he replied, "I just... Can't help it." His voice was strained as if it was painful to even say.

"I want to protect you no matter what." He was staring down at his lap. "But when I can't-" he gestured to his injury- "it hurts..." He laid a hand on his forehead.

Your brows furrowed. He was being so cryptic, it was hard to tell what he meant. You couldn't help but ask, "what hurts? Why?" You laid a hand on his cheek to make him look into your eyes.

Levi didn't answer as he stared into your concerned eyes. Based on the inner turmoil you saw in his own eyes, it was safe to say that he couldn't even begin to explain the feeling. You shook your head as a way to tell him that he didn't have to explain. A shadow cast over his eyes when you did.

You let your hand fall to your side and dropped your gaze to your lap. You didn't want to leave him alone with his thoughts tonight, but you weren't sure of what to do next. Fortunately, an answer came unexpectedly.

Levi leaned forward and rested his head against your chest, his hands were on your waist. You welcomed the unexpected affection but froze for a brief moment. Most of the time, Levi was never one to initiate intimate moments like this, but it always made you happy when he did.

You brought a hand to the top of his head when he spoke.

"I'm just hopelessly devoted to you."

You said nothing and continued cradling him close to you with no intention of letting him go. There was no way of knowing if either of you would ever find out what was wrong, but you knew you would find out together.

[airashisakura]

My last entry for @ssskmonth | Prompts used Festivals and Family

Kin

Summary: When Sasuke struggles with letting go of pain from his past, Sakura and Sarada remind him that he doesn't have to do this alone.

Rating: Mature

_

“Anata?”

Sasuke stopped dusting off the shelves and looked over in Sakura’s direction. He frowned though, seeing Sakura perched on a stool dangerously, trying to clean the cobwebs of their apartment.

“I was asking…” Sakura scrunched her face in displeasure. She hadn't realized when she had left with Sasuke on his journey that it could bring this much work.

A week ago, when they unlocked the door of their apartment, back after a year with their three-month-old daughter, they had realized making their home habitable again wasn't going to be easy. The exhaustion of their journey back to Konoha hadn’t left their souls, but the Uchiha couple prioritized cleaning over resting.

Sasuke walked over to her and steadied her wobbling stool.

“What?”

Sleep deprivation had left him cranky. He had hoped that Sarada's wailing would cease after they had moved from roads to Konoha. Although he was glad that she was more safe under a roof, it hadn’t stopped her from crying the whole night.

Sakura caught the irritation laced in his voice, and considered whether she should say what she was about to.

“Obon is in two days..." She spoke cautiously, busy with her work. "I was asking if you want to…” She trailed off again, not sure how to phrase this.

“Obon?” Sasuke looked up in her direction. He was about to ask her again, when he realized. “Obon.”

Sakura turned, facing him, and asked nervously, “Should we?”

In all these years, he had never celebrated Obon. When he was a child, he remembered his mother strictly following rituals, preparing to welcome the spirits of their clan's ancestors.

He realized that although he always carried his long gone family in his heart, he never had given any damn about the festival.

“Aah,” he agreed.

Sakura's face lit up with a wide grin, but that died off when they heard Sarada crying at the top of her lungs.

While Sasuke rushed to attend Sarada, Sakura wrestled with more dust and ended up coughing.

Although Sarada’s shrill cries bore holes in his eardrum, all the chaos of his new-formed family had settled down all the internal chaos that he had carried for years.

_

Sasuke stirred out of his slumber engulfed with warmth . Sakura's body was pressed against his back, her arm snuggly thrown around him. Sarada had been quiet after days, and he felt fully rested, refreshed after a sleep devoid of nightmares too.

The light filtering from the curtain told him it was still early, and Sakura's breaths on his neck made him want to wake her up and kiss her numb. He had lost count of the number of days he had felt her bare skin on his, slowly and passionately driving her crazy. The days and nights after Sarada’s birth went by changing diapers and trying to understand the meaning between different kinds of cries, which he hadn't quite mastered yet.

Sasuke was tempted even further when Sakura pressed her lips on his neck and murmured 'morning,' her pert nipples brushing against his muscular back. Sasuke suppressed a gasp, his twitching member, and the urge to reciprocate his wife's desire. He gently pried away from his wife's leg, and regretted it when Sakura retracted herself from him.

"Anata?" Sakura sat up with a myriad of emotions on her face — confusion, hurt and rejection.

Sasuke didn't want to make her feel like that.

"I… I'm going to visit my parents' grave."

Sakura nodded and smiled, her features relaxing.

Sasuke never thought that gulping down the guilt of neglecting his dead family could be that easy.

_

Sasuke sauntered through the path that led to his parents' grave. The place was cold and distant like his heart had been for many years. Neglected even, he mused.

He stopped when he found the stone that bore his parents' name. Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Fugaku — names engraved with such beauty that was ironic considering the way they had died. A surge of rage and emotions pumped through his veins in a way that he was too familiar with — it had made him a person of sins that he was still redeeming for.

He stood there unable to repress the painful memories that had seeped from his past like a poison. His surroundings reverberated with the screams and blood that painted his nightmares.

Years of redemption had seemingly healed his wounds, but the sharpness of the past always cut, and the wounds bleed as they always had.

Unable to anchor himself, he looked anywhere but his parents' name. His eyes darted across the ungrazed grass, wild flowers, and puddles formed by summer rain. Stubborn weeds creeping over his parents grave, like the past that was attached to him.

His eyes caught something. And there it is, he mused again. A small pink wildflower intertwined with weeds, facing the sun. A gentle breeze that made its petals gleam in the sunlight reminded him of Sakura's unwavering love. The love that had waited for him through his sins and redemption — love that assured him every day that he no longer was in the darkness alone — love that gave him Sarada.

He crouched down, sighing. The summer heat was getting unbearable, and beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead. This reminded he should get going. Sometimes Sarada got all fussy, and it was hard for Sakura to manage her alone. Although his heart was heavy when his eyes glided over the name of his parents again, he smiled thinking about his new family.

Sasuke traced his finger on kanji of his mother's name, dirt gathering on his finger tip. He picked up the rag that he had brought with him and scrubbed the dirt and mud from the stones. With every swipe of the rag, the images of lifeless bodies of his parents became clearer in his mind. His fingers twitched, but he did his work diligently. The dirt from his parents' name was gone now, like the blood from the wooden floor that had pooled out from his parents' bodies.

Shaking his thoughts off, he held his shirt sleeve with his teeth and rolled it upwards. He went on plucking the weeds, wishing if it was this easy to pluck away memories of his past. There was a hopeful part of him — a little part — thought that with time, the pain of his lost family would wash away, but maybe hope wasn't a thing for Uchiha Sasuke.

He bid adieu to his dead parents, and got up to leave. As he walked away, he looked back over his shoulder to get a peek of the pink flower that remained. The pink flower that had grown in his life — accepting him and his past.

_

As he reached the threshold of his house, he stiffened when he couldn’t feel the familiar chakras he was accustomed to.

He looked around and found Sakura had almost finished cleaning their house. Bookshelves no longer had cobwebs, the white sheets had been removed from the furniture, and the floor was polished.

“Sakura?”

He was answered by the empty hallways and a note. It was a note from Sakura that said she was going out for grocery shopping.

He ran fingers through his hair, sighing, and walked towards the kitchen. He decided to cook a proper lunch. They had been surviving on simple food after they had returned, courtesy of Sarada's fussiness. It amazed him sometimes how their child managed to command all their attention.

Sakura always jokingly complained that it was something Sarada definitely had inherited from him. Sakura boasted that she was a quiet infant, and her parents always backed her up. Sometimes he felt a tinge of jealousy at that.

He opened the fridge and grabbed the leftover rations that they had, and he remembered Naruto grumbling about something similar. He knew he shouldn't find that soothing, but he realized in that aspect he wasn't alone.

In fact, he wasn't alone at all anymore.

Sasuke delved into cooking, but as time ticked on, he got impatient. He decided to go out and look for them. Something made him scared that he couldn't pinpoint.

As he was going to turn the stove off, he heard the click of the door knob. He heard Sakura calling him and responded.

Relief washed through him as Sakura approached him. He had been worrying over nothing. Perhaps his heart was still as fragile as his younger self's. Too afraid to lose, yet too afraid to accept his weakness.

Sakura kept the bag of groceries, grinning widely at him before she complimented the smell of the food. He was captivated by her green eyes, but his daughter seemed to have his attention now. Sarada happily clapped her hands on seeing him and wiggled in her baby sling to reach for him.

Sasuke bent down, and Sarada reached for his cheeks and patted them with her small hands, grinning toothlessly. This was Sarada's way to embrace, Sakura had told him once. Sasuke kissed her little palm before straightening himself.

"When did you return? We were sort of feeling alone, so we decided to make a quick trip to the market. "Ne, Sarada-chan?" Sakura cooed, rubbing her nose on Sarada's head, and Sarada giggled, agreeing with her.

"But someone had more fun than she expected." Sakura tickled Sarada, and she joined her in fits of laughter.

A smile slipped past his lips, and all the heaviness that had settled in his heart from that morning began to dissipate.

"She seemed to be in a good mood," Sasuke commented, looking for something from the bag.

"Yes." Sakura hummed, sifting her fingers through Sarada's hair.

His eyes lingered on them, before he started grating ginger.

"Umm, Anata? Isn't that too much?" Sakura pointed out.

Sasuke nodded, but he added it to the pan and said, "Father always liked it this way."

Sakura blinked. She didn't know how to respond. Sasuke rarely talked about his parents, so she stood there just nodding.

The space between them stilled, with only sounds of food sizzling on the pan and Sarada's squeals.

"Father used to love the spice of ginger, so Mother used to cook like this," Sasuke explained.

"I see," Sakura replied, excitement spiking in her voice.

"Mother also added less Mirin than required," Sasuke went on, and Sakura listened raptly, watching him while he cooked Gyudon.

Sakura didn't miss the melancholy in his eyes when Sasuke said that Gyudon was his father's favourite, and it stirred Sakura's heart

Sakura knew the things which are gone always hurt, but she knew too it took time to heal them. So when Sasuke told her bits of his family, she was glad that Sasuke talked about them without any resentment — sharing his lost happiness with her. She wanted to thank him, so Sakura tiptoed, her arms wrapping around Sarada, and she pecked on Sasuke's cheek.

It was unexpected, and Sasuke stared wide-eyed at the contents in the pan, while the tips of his ears turned red.

"I'll remember this when I cook next time," Sakura blushed.

Sasuke nodded, smirking.

Sarada wiggled in her sling to reach for Sasuke again while Sakura giggled and commented on how restless she was growing.

The house, the people, and the meal he had once shared together with his parents were long gone for him, but now he saw himself in Sarada who was trying to get her father's attention like he used to. He realized time had its own way to fix things.

_

Sasuke watched the sky, summer clouds lazily drifting and strings of smoke whirling between them. The smell of smoke from the neighborhood mingled with the evening breeze, and he felt nostalgic.

His clan breathed fire, and where there was fire, there was smoke. He remembered tasting the bitterness of smoke that lingered on his tongue when his lungs had flamed out a great fireball in childhood. He’d been excited to share his experience, and Itachi had confirmed with his too gentle smile that he had felt the same way

It was a memory that had been long forgotten. Years and years of using katon jutsus and chasing his older brother for revenge had made him ignorant to these feelings that he had held precious in his childhood.

The orangish hue of the setting sun told him it was time.

It was the first day of Obon. He looked around and saw the lantern that was tied at the entrance of their house swinging with the wind along with a windchime.

The lantern will guide them home, Sakura had said when she had tied them.

He knew that too. His mother had told him during childhood while Itachi had set up the bonfire for mukaebi. He had complained that bonfires are for winters, not for summers. His mother had laughed and had corrected him.

Sasuke, this bonfire and lanterns are for the spirits of our ancestors to guide their paths back home.

He had shrugged back then, because he thought he wouldn't have to bother about this in future.

Sasuke set the twigs, and lit them using a small fireball jutsu.

He sat there, remembering that Obon during his childhood had never been so solemn. Lots of people visited during that time. He hadn’t remembered any of them, though Itachi remembered some of them. Sasuke had challenged Itachi: Just you see, nii-san, next time, I'm going to remember everyone's name. Itachi had chuckled and had flicked his forehead.

The next time hadn't ever come. Before he could add more people to his growing list of people he knew, Itachi had wiped out everyone. And then Sasuke was alone.

He realized after all these years how much he had missed his older brother. He always wanted to bury the feeling because it came with the realization that Itachi was dead because of him. Itachi was dead because of Konoha.

Itachi was dead because he wanted his otouto to live.

"Anata?"

Sasuke lifted his eyes from the flames to Sakura, who looked worried. He looked back to flames.

"Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded. He knew they had spent enough time together for Sakura to know he wasn't alright. His eyes were fixated on flames, so he didn't notice the way Sakura's eyes softened when she sat beside him.

He didn't want to ask her, but he found himself talking anyway. "Do you think Itachi can find his way?"

For the second time in the day, Sakura blinked in confusion.

Sasuke clarified again, "He doesn't even have a grave."

For a second, Sakura felt like she couldn't breathe. She had never seen Sasuke so vulnerable before.

"This place… Konoha…" He gritted his teeth. "I- I don't know how to call Konoha my home after what they did to my clan… to Itachi."

"I can't," He said, his voice louder and filled with accusation.

But as soon as these two words left his mouth, his eyes widened in the realization of what he had done. He shut his eyes and apologized to Sakura.

He felt Sakura's palm on his left cheek. It reminded him of his daughter's gentle touch — that they were his home.

Sakura smiled when his mismatched eyes met her green, and spoke softly, "Hate it till you can love it back, Sasuke-kun."

_

Sasuke swallowed the soft moan that fell out of Sakura's plump lips before he moved down on her neck, leaving a trail of kisses. When their house turned silent from Sarada's cries, they both sought comfort in their bed, limbs tangled innocently. Sasuke was comfortable enough now to delve into his wife's gentle touches. Gentle touches soon turned greedy when he kissed her the way he had wanted to that morning. It wasn't too long before their clothes were scattered across the polished wood of the floor.

He nipped her neck, eliciting a whimper and a delicious clench of her walls around his pulsing cock. He groaned and pushed deeper into her wet velvety cunt. The air from the ceiling fan cooled their sweating bodies, but the heat where they were intimately joined made both their spines tingle.

Sasuke leaned down to capture her lips again, and Sakura reciprocated wantonly meeting with his thrust. They gasped for air when they parted, saliva smeared across the corners of their lips. Sasuke held his gaze with hers, which was always soft, assuring, and accepting. Like a wanderer on a cold night regarded the flames that kept him warm, Sasuke tried to emanate his gratitude for her through his mismatched eyes.

He inched deeper, relishing the warmth of her skin. Sakura's lips parted in a silent cry when he hit the spot that he knew made Sakura come undone. Their rhythm became more erratic, and the heaving and slapping of wet skin was driving Sasuke to his own finish.

Sasuke angled his hips and thrust roughly. Sakura shuddered, her nails digging deep in his bare shoulder. He closed his eyes, focussing on the pleasure unknoting in his belly, he pushed roughly again, and felt—

Sarada's whimpers reached their ears. His eyes snapped open reflexively like he was waking in the midst of a nightmare, and Sakura's grip loosened on him. Sakura winced as he reluctantly pulled out of her. He wasn't sure if it was because Sarada's cries intensified, or if it was because they’d been interrupted.

She smiled weakly and slid out of bed. Sasuke huffed and dropped onto the bed, watching Sakura hurriedly putting his shirt to cover her curves.

When he made his way towards them, Sakura was pacing along the room, cradling Sarada in her arms trying to calm her down.

"I fed her, changed her diapers, and still she is crying," Sakura said, expression etched with worry and irritation. Sarada shrieked louder, and Sakura's patience was waning thin.

Sasuke stretched his arm towards her, and Sakura handed the baby over. When he took her in his arm, rocked her and carefully nuzzled his nose on her forehead, she stopped crying. Somehow, it felt strange yet so good that someone needed him.

He was sure Sakura was red with envy and embarrassment when she mumbled something and walked away. He couldn't help himself but let out a chuckle, and Sakura turned and laughed too.

_

Konoha's streets were overflowing with families, people enjoying and dancing around the yagura stage to the beats of Taiko drums on the second day of Obon.

"Ino and I always loved dancing to this rhythm."

Sasuke didn't remember anything from his genin days. Maybe Sakura had told him back then, but he never paid attention to it like the other things he had missed while chasing blindly after revenge. This festival, this tradition, and Sakura were always there, and he had always been a piece out of the puzzle.

But Sarada with all her charm had made him fit in the puzzle. And now he and Sakura sat on the engawa, basking in the comfortable silence that they shared while the sound of Taiko drums reverberated with his heart beats.

Sakura held Sarada close to her body. He smiled, eyes falling on the Uchiha fan on her little back.

"I sprained my ankle the previous year. It was all stupid Ino's fault."

Sakura went on telling him about her Obon experiences while his eyes lingered on the swell of her chest, the bindings tugged down for Sarada to suckle. Sarada fed herself without any complaints, her little fingers clutching on folds of the beautiful green yukata Sakura was wearing.

The beautiful cherry blossom print on her green yukata accentuated her beauty, but it was the Uchiha crest that she sewed on her yukata in the afternoon that accentuated her beauty.

Sasuke's eyes trailed upwards to her exposed skin, and he noticed the hitch in her breath when his eyes stayed on the purplish mark he had given her the night before. They locked eyes, trapping her green with his mismatched ones.

Sakura blushed furiously under his gaze. Sasuke smirked and asked, "Want to go to the festival?"

_

The sound of heavy breathing disturbed the silence, as both of them came down from their high, basking in the afterglow. A sheen of sweat covered them like velvet, limbs entangled and limp. Sakura's yukata lay crumpled between their bodies, tugged upwards and sideways unceremoniously.

Sasuke had committed to memory the way her pink hair seamlessly smudged with the green of her yukata when he had pushed inside her from behind, losing himself to pleasure. His fingers lightly traced her pink nipples, and Sakura gasped.

She turned her head back, and Sasuke pulled her closer to his body, his palm now resting over her beating heart. Sakura smiled, and Sasuke realized there were so many colours that adorned his life now — the red of her lips, the pink of her hair, the green of her eyes, and that mirthful smile.

His heart skipped a beat when he felt Sakura's heart dancing under his palm, synchronising with his. Their lips found their way to each other, the uchiwa on the Sakura's garment silently observing their love.

_

A wisp of smoke rose into the air while twigs in the bonfire crumbled down to ashes. Sasuke sat in front of the extinguished bonfire, looking above at the dark sky.

The moon hid behind the clouds and stars twinkled, trying hard to compensate for the overcast skies. A breeze touching his skin gave him a familiar feeling. He had spent more time under open skies wandering than under a roof with a family. However, tonight he felt the same heaviness that he had carried for a long time.

After they had dinner, Sakura had reminded him that it was the last day of Obon. Reluctantly, he had lit the okokuri-bi — the bonfire that sent the spirits back to their resting place. Maybe he didn't want to part with his dead family. Maybe holding on to the illusion where his father, mother and brother were with him was easier.

The breeze swept the hair that covered his eyes, his mismatched orbs growing wet. It wasn’t because of anger anymore, though. It just hurt. He clutched at his chest, fingers digging into his shirt, trying to soothe the pain that was there. An invisible pain that he only owned — that Sakura and Sarada couldn't replace.

"Sara-chan, did you like it?"

Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts as Sakura approached him. Sarada fiddled with a toy that Sakura bought recently for her. Sarada cooed in excitement, and Sakura giggled.

When she reached closer to him, Sakura stretched out her hand towards him. Words were not their way, and Sakura smiled gently, coaxing him to take her hand.

And Sasuke did.

Because there were things Sakura and Sarada couldn't replace, but he could relive and recreate memories with them. Severing bonds would never ease his pain, he knew now; instead, new bonds would help him embrace the old ones.

They were there for him — he wasn't alone, and he didn't need to do this on his own.

_

FFN | AO3

Obon is a Japanese custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This custom involves a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon Odori.

Credits: Inspired from Warm by @catflorist . For those who haven't read, please read this wonderful piece.

Thanks to @fm-white for telling me more about rituals of Obon.

Thanks for @fictionalquacker's headcanon that Fugaku loves beef, which helped me making an assumption that it could be Gyudon. Also thanks to lovely @birkastan2018 for giving some tips about cooking Gyudon 💪. A big thanks to @theredconversegirl for naming my fic 🥺. Believe me, I would be forever grateful to you for this❤️

Thanks to @something-like-air for beta-ing this. 🤗

Last but not the least, @thatsakurastan :") with her constant support and nagging, I was able to complete and post this fic. You deserve big slabs of chocolate!🍫🍫🍫

[tartrazeen]

My main character would be an Aoi type. I loved her personality. Kaede reminded me a lot of her, but would also have uhhhhhh some weird moments thrown in. Aoi didn't have any of that.

So it makes her inclusion in this season really intriguing.

Think about it: would Aoi ever kill somebody?

👀

See? See how tricky that is to answer?

Because at first you're like, "No," but then you're like, "Weeeell, I remember Case 4." But then you're like, "No way she'd actually murder someone, though. If Sakura hadn't died, Aoi wouldn't have lost her mind like that."

So the capacity is there, but the circumstances are pretty damn specific to bring that out.

Having a character like her as our protagonist would be even better when we throw in all the curveballs Danganronpa's known for.

I'm picturing the game's cold open:

We get an intro about Hope's Peak or about how she's a nice person outside of this game. Standard DR intro.

We cut to her most recent memories: her, standing over a body. Someone walking in on that scene. Her insisting that she doesn't know what happened. Her memory cutting off mid-plea as the body discovery announcement goes off.

Cut to her waking up in this new season in the calm before the storm. It'll be like it was all a bad dream. Then she'll realize she's in Round Two.

That sets us up for a pretty cool case, too. Nobody said these characters had to come from different seasons, after all. Imagine that in the big introduction of everyone, our protagonist squeals in delight at seeing a familiar face - someone that was in her season!

She runs right up to them, so happy to see them again. But imagine this other guy looking at her, confused and maybe repulsed. He recognizes her too, of course, but he barely knows her. She was the blackened for the very trial. He made it all the way to the last one. She's a blip on his radar, while he's an anchor to anything she can even remember.

The context comes in clearer when they find out they were all the blackened on their seasons. She might have been 'pestering' him the whole time up to then, almost like Toko hounding Byakuya, to tell her anything about what happened after someone walked in on her standing above a corpse. But not only is he reluctant to tell her anything, and not only is distracted after everything else he went through, but he was the blackened later too. Maybe he meant to kill, and he's furious that his memories got cut off before he could see his handiwork. That's right - let's go ahead and make this guy our first antagonist.

He might tell her something eventually. Something vague or flippant like, "You lost. That's all. We kept going without you." It's the only fact she could've worked out by herself: obviously by him being here, she would've had to have lost in her own trial. But she doesn't understand, because she insists she never killed her victim. He says he's already heard this, and he doesn't want to hear it again.

(In terms of characters, who knows? Maybe I'll make this guy into my concept for the Ultimate Danganronpa Hater. 👀 Actually, I love that. Yes, yes, yes.)

In one of the final trials, our protagonist demands a showdown against Monokuma. She has new friends on her side: the last few survivors of the Killing School World. And she has new confidence from the trials she's survived here. She bets everything on her own innocence: if they run her trial again, and she wins, Monokuma has to let them all go. But if she loses, they all lose. It's the crazy kind of gambit that Monokuma (and Team Danganronpa) can't refuse. The ratings are too tempting to turn down, and Monokuma has the advantage of knowing how the last case turned out.

Really, it should be suicide. Monokuma accepting that means our protagonist definitely, definitely lost her case, and she's walking into a repeat of that. But a Danganronpa expert - that glorious Danganronpa Critic I concocted - could've had some way of finding out information about every trial that's ever happened. One of those could've been Kaede's, and the summary could include a spoiler about how she was framed as being the blackened. So our protagonist swears it's the same thing that happened to her. She must have been framed!

Being the Neo-World, it's not hard to recreate the scene of the crime. All the evidence gets laid out for everyone to investigate, as if it happened during this season. And everyone's able to find new angles and new ways to connect the pieces compared to last time. Of course, only Monokuma knows what 'last time' is.

I'd love for this to be the penultimate trial. Everyone can win, and everyone can find a way to prove her innocence. I'm seeing my Ultimate Girl Guide coming up with an impossible loophole within the rules to get our protagonist off the hook.

'Cause here's the other thing: the rules are going to be All Stars too. Every game had different sets - some were tried and true, but some were unique to a game or were added later in it. So the rules everyone gets this time are the ones that made their games the most interesting; Monokuma picks one of the rules that was unique to each season. This means that whatever rules our protagonist was up against in her season? They weren't in effect here.

Maybe it was something that Monokuma would've even had to prevent, because at that time in the protagonist's season, a particular rule wasn't added yet. Here in the All Star season, they were slapped with it right at the beginning. It's the kind of bullshit logic I'd absolutely see turning the tables on Monokuma, who'd have to reluctant admit that under the rules of this season, our protagonist could have never been the blackened.

It isn't perfect, but at least our protagonist can finally rest easy. She still doesn't know what happened during her original trial, but at least she knows that in another life, it would've never happened in the first place.

(She'd thank the Ultimate Girl Guide. The Ultimate Girl Guide, being a huge bitch, would coldly say they were only working together because the protagonist put all their lives on the line. It doesn't make them allies. To which our protagonist says, "Working together is working together. I'm not thanking you for being my friend. I'm thanking you for being a team player." :P)

This is a fun way to get a trial without having to shrink the cast, and it raises the stakes for the final trial, where Monokuma demands blood.

😍 I love it.

I'm actually wondering if this is something I could make in RPG Maker...

Edit: 😍 This could even be the trial and 'legal loophole' that finally kills my Ultimate Danganronpa Hater. The Ultimate Girl Guide finds the loophole, and the Ultimate Danganronpa Critic pins the preemptive rule-breaking onto the Hater instead. Monokuma's now forced to kill the Ultimate Danganronpa Hater, and our protagonist gets to live.

Oooooooh, I really love this.

Whenever I do make a Danganronpa fangame, I've already got the main conceit figured out.

An All-Stars Game

It'll be post v3, so it's sort of a desperate, last-ditch move by Team Danganronpa to spark interest in everyone again.

If the real world's been convinced to reject real murders (Thanks for ruining the fun, Shuichi), then the gimmick this time will be an All Neo-World Season. They'll call it "The Killing School World" or something dumb like that, and they'll trot it out as a more socially conscious version of the game.

But the gimmick on top of that gimmick is getting to fully recreate past characters. There'll still be volunteers or whatever, not AI, but the memories implanted will be specifically crafted to bring old fan favourites back. And in the Neo-World Program, they can even look like the original characters too. (Not 'original' as in "actual characters from DR1 or DR2." These'll be new characters to us, but they'll be from like season 5 and 27 and 14 and whatever.)

These returning characters will all have two major traits in common:

They have all been the blackened in their season

They remember everything from their season - right up to when the body discovery announcement was made for their victim

This opens the door to a bunch of cool things I could play with.

Technically, if their memory cuts off that early, they won't know Danganronpa is fake yet. I'm not interested in having that be the big reveal again - and like DR2, I'd actually want that revealed early on to get it out of the way - but I love the disparity in knowledge it gives them. Some of them will have suspicions that gets them to figure it out sooner, and some will be sideswiped by that.

Depending on when their trial was, they'll have more or less experience heading into this All Star round. The people who made it to trial four or gonna have way more to draw on than people who killed at trial two.

Not knowing how the trial went is going to give so much overinflated confidence to some, repeating their past mistakes, or artificial doubt, causing them to screw up on a detail they managed to hide perfectly last time.

Not knowing if they won brews a lot of questions around why they're All Stars. Did they get away with their murder, and that's why they're here? Did they lose and just get a gloriously gory death? Was someone just a fan favourite for their personality, their brains, their glorious screw-ups, or their motives? What does an "All Star" even mean when everyone's supposed to be an Ultimate?

Does being in a second round change a character's total attitude? Do they think it's a second shot at life that they can't squander, or proof they'll never truly escape this place? Do they start pandering to an audience out there, or outright flaunting their status as a fan favourite to see how much shit they can get away with? (And how does Monokuma react to that kind of fourth wall breaking? 👀)

How dangerous is each character, depending on the trial they made it to? Somebody who got to trial 5 might have an incredible strategy to have made it that far, and someone who hasn't seen a single trial surely landed on their face right out of the gate. Or at least, that's what they can claim. We all know Hiro survived DR1, so it doesn't take a genius to survive that long and then screw up on their own at the end. And someone who doesn't even remember the first trial? Maybe they're so good that they won on their very first try, under the maximum number of noses around to sniff out the truth. Or so they can also claim. 👀

What were the motivations? Not everyone has to be a dick, just a killer. Were people justified? Do they try to moralize it? Are they honest about having a shallow reason? Do they regret it now, or wish they could've gone bigger? And will the circumstances surrounding all that make another appearance this round too?

And of course, if everyone here's a killer, how can any of them be trusted? Then again, if everyone is a killer, surely they understand each other better than anyone else.

The main theme I want to dig into is gonna be "teamwork" versus "trust". That'll be my hope/despair, truth/lie thing. They don't have to necessarily trust each other, but they do have to work together. But how can you work with someone who can't trust to not stab you in the back? 👀