#also he gave me a link to his youtube channel

[wakuseicloset]

Also wrt that trauma dump post that’s why i always like talking to old people uber drivers because they will tell you their entire life story unprompted

[amaliazeichnerin]

Not separating the art from the artist

July 29, 2024

When the news about the allegations against Neil Gaiman broke at the beginning of July, I was shocked. In this text, I’ll write some thoughts about this. I’ll put links down below, in the footnotes.

I listened to the podcast that broke the news (1), all four episodes. I later read a bit about it on Reddit (2) and listened to an extensive video (YouTube channel Council of Geeks, footnote 3).

Then I read that another woman had come forward, talking about her experiences with Gaiman ten years ago, in another podcast (4). I also read about rumours how questionable behaviour of Gaiman towards young female fans has been a thing for decades.

And he has admitted to some of what one of these women, Scarlett, has said – having a consensual relationship with her.

Well, even if the relationship (and other similar ones) has been completely consensual - which I doubt after listening to Scarlett’s experiences and what the other two women said - there still is a strange power dynamic at play: A wealthy, privileged older man and at least three young, inexperienced women, two of them fans who likely were to some extend starstruck by the attention he gave them. And Scarlett was employed as the nanny of his child.

In my eyes, this kind of power dynamic in a relationship is unethical, especially given all the details in those podcast episodes.

Why am I writing about this here? I have a hard time with „separating the art from the artist“. Some time ago, I have written a blog in German why. (5) I used to be a fan of the Sandman series and the Good Omens series. I also like the Dead Boy Detectives series and I watched and read American Gods.

I think the connection between the Dead Boy Detectives Netflix series and Neil Gaiman is not that strong, because while he has written a part of one episode as far as I heard and has created the characters for the Comic books, he wasn’t that much involved in the creation of the Netflix series. They also changed the two main characters quite a bit, as far as I know, for instance making them older.

When it comes to Good Omes, Gaiman was heavily involved in creating the series. I used to love it. I wrote an alternative universe fanfiction about it, I created some fan artworks and two cosplays. I also bought some fan artwork and hung it on my wall. I also love how Michael Sheen and David Tennant portray the main characters. However, after these news about Gaiman, „Good Omens“ feels … tainted to me. I lost my enthusiasm about the show. I have to admit about season three that I was mainly interested in a happy ending for Aziraphale and Crowley, preferably a romantic one. At this point, I do not much care for the rest of the plot. So far, there haven’t been any news that season three gets cancelled because of this controversy. So we’ll have to wait how that goes on.

But there is more, and here is where it sort of gets a bit more personal. „Good Omens“ inspired an urban fantasy novel I wrote last year and want to publish next year. I even wrote an acknowledgment in the book thanking Neil Gaiman for the inspiration, but I have deleted that now. I have written that acknowledgment also this June in a question to Neil Gaiman here on Tumblr, but I now hope that he never sees or answers it.

As for Sandman, I am not sure anymore if I want to watch the second season which is said to come out some time in 2025.

I have never bought books or comics of Neil Gaiman, except for an e-book of „American Gods“ and a print copy of "Good Omens" which I both bought last year. But I have deleted the e-book some days ago. I used to read some of his books from our local library, back in the early 2000s.

I am going to keep my copy of „Good Omens“, because at least half of it was written by Terry Pratchett. And so far, I haven’t heard about any controversies about that author.

I would like to close this blog with a German article from a SFF website why we shouldn’t put famous popular authors on pedestals: https://www.tor-online.de/magazin/mehr-phantastik/neil-gaiman-und-co-wir-muessen-aufhoeren-menschen-auf-ein-podest-zu-stellen

Addendum August 2, 2024 Two more women have come forward with allegations, in a new podcast episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/master-the-allegations-against-neil-gaiman/id1756088562?i=1000663998586

Btw, if after all you are still a Neil Gaiman fan and enjoy his works – you do you. But please do not reblog this to come to his defense, do not comment, do not message me. Just scroll on. I am not going to discuss this any further.

Footnotes: (1) „Master: The Allegations against Neil Gaiman“ by The Slow Newscast Episode 1 of 4: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1NxQdD9F1vb4YxtAPEiI5J

(2) https://www.reddit.com/r/neilgaimanuncovered/

(3) "About those Neil Gaiman allegations (and the outlet that broke the story)" by Council of Geeks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xmeEXDFM8I

(4) Podcast „Am I Broken: Survivor Stories“ by Papillon DeBoer Season 4, Episode 2 https://open.spotify.com/episode/47enk8V96GGkJtXEgwpXbs (5) Blog: „Muss man die Kunstschaffenden von ihrer Kunst trennen?“ https://amalia-zeichnerin.net/muss-man-die-kunstschaffenden-von-ihrer-kunst-trennen/

This is also interesting: „Manufacturing consent“ by Annabel Ross https://politicsdancingxyz.substack.com/p/manufacturing-consent

Rollingstone Article: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/neil-gaiman-denies-sexual-assault-allegations-two-women-1235053131/

A round-up with a time line of everything going on with the allegations, reactions and more: https://muccamukk.dreamwidth.org/1678972.html Transcripts of the Tortoise Media podcast as PDFs for free download (TW: graphic descriptions of SA) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CuFVjs06gtQcPhhUEeR4GMORY37iMfz3

Addendum August 31, 2024 Two more episodes of "Master: The Allegations against Neil Gaiman" have come out, with more women coming foward with allegations.

Vera from "Council of Geeks" has done a second video on the topic.

[saintmeghanmarkle]

YouTube and Stuff by u/SecondhandCoke

YouTube and Stuff First, I'm trying to get my YouTube channel up in the next couple of weeks... just for those who care. If you have naming suggestions, I'm all ears. If there are things you like to regularly hear from me, let me know. I know y'all want "tea" when I've got it, and I will provide that from time to time, when appropriate. I plan to do a lot of debunking using the logical fallacies and an insider's look at PR strategies. I plan to do a lot of Markle Snarkle, but if you've enjoyed things I've done in the past like the Handwriting Analysis, I can do that once a week, I can do tarot spreads (for fun only, ovbs), I can critique in a constructive and friendly way other content creator's assertions (if y'all ask and direct my attention to it). Also, thanks to TRG for ALREADY giving me a lot of great advice. I also need advice on the easiest way to manage graphics, editing, etc. I'd LOVE to be able to animate my little Secondhand Coke avatar to say what I'm voicing over, but don't know how. Music is set. I'm a musician, and I've gotten my little instrumental zinger almost read to go... I really just have to figure out how to edit it together. Like using a macbook pro or iphone. Any helpful hints would be appreciated. Inexpensive or free editing software recs, places where I can get images and video that are free, even other music blurbs... I can use all the help I can get. Anyway, re: Prince Harry, the impression I am getting is that the people around Harry want to be worthy of Harry's trust. They won't leak his location, but if I'm reading between the lines accurately, he reportedly gave Meghan a fake locale that only she had, and she leaked it. So I think the scales continue to fall from his eyes. It's been weeks since we've seen Harry, at least 21 days since we've gotten a verified location. (I think). I get the feeling the people around him are looking after his best interests while he focuses on getting himself together. That's just my read based on what little bit of info I could get. But for those of you who've encouraged me to do a channel in the past, I'm pretty much ready to get her going and would love your advice and input. post link: https://ift.tt/x3bpoes author: SecondhandCoke submitted: October 21, 2024 at 05:25PM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[phoebosacerales]

Are there any other astrology books besides the ones you mention in your master list that you would recommend to read?

Oh, I should make a list, thank you for asking. I'll first give you these few ones that I use the most, but I'll try to update it regularly, I have many more recommendations than this. If anyone thinks it's hard to find a good version of any of these you can talk to me through chat and I can send you a link ;)

Beginner's books:

On the heavenly spheres/Tratado das Esferas by Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro is the ultimate beginner book, that's used as main bibliography in my school, Saturnália. It covers a bit of everything, except predictive techniques. The authors are also historians who have great academic research on astrology. You should definitely take a look at the Astra Project website and follow their youtube channel. In fact, I met Luis Ribeiro two weeks ago at a conference at my university (coincidentally my university is the only one in Brazil that has a research group that brings together researchers in astrology, called Academia Celeste), where he gave a mini-course and I was impressed above all by his rare way of valuing astrology as an object of academic research, emphasizing the history of its techniques as well, and the ease with which he can teach about its epistemological debates and fundamentals etc.

Deborah Houlding's Houses: Temples of the sky is the best book on the subject of houses. I believe you have to go to a book that's specific about houses, because the topic really deserves the depth and it's probably the most important thing to understand in astrology.

Demetra George's Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice volumes I and II. I haven't read them yet, it's just in my bucket list.

Predictive techniques:

The Seven Stars Astrology blog was actually my first source on this subject, it's easy but very well researched and it was very important for me to find. The articles do a pretty good job at gathering the hellenistic sources and explaining what's important to understand about them, it's the best to have someone to hold your hand through things before you dive into the primary sources.

Astrología Hermética by Eduardo Gramaglia. I'm not sure if there's an english translation of this one, it's one of the best introductory books too, complete and concise.

Astrologia Gallica book 23 by Jean-Baptiste Morin, which is about Revolutions. I always go back to chapter 18 as recommended by my teachers, where he gives universal rules for solar returns that you can adopt.

Ancient sources (from I to IV AD):

Marcus Manilius' Astronomica is just beautiful on a lot of points, you should go to it for the poetry, just to have the delight. And his poetry also gives the best and concise insights on the fixed stars and the signs.

Dorotheus of Sidon's Carmen Astrologicum is probably the first most technical book of the ancients that you should go to. It's the most influential and easiest to find. Dorotheus was a contemporary of Manilius, but the versions we have of his book are influenced by later Arabic translations.

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos. Even though astrologers are right to be ingrates to daddy Ptolemy we should still read him.

Vettius Valens' Anthologies is everybody's favorite hellenistic source.

Firmicus Maternus' Mathesis is a bummer of a book, his delineations are super dramatic, but it's great to read from the beginning to understand Firmicus' logic and you'll be able to get how he thinks and predict what he's going to say next, and this is a testament to how good of a teacher he probably was.

On Mundane Astrology:

The Meio do Céu newsletter is my first and main source. The writer Ísis is one of my teachers. I participate in her workshops, where we contribute collectively to the predictions and learn a lot. It's in portuguese, but it's pretty understandable with the translation option on your browser. It's free with special editions for paying subscribers. I recommend starting with the edition 72 and then edition 101 on the Solar Eclipse in Aries.

Bonatti on Mundane Astrology, by Benjamin Dykes. This is one of our sources with Ísis on the workshops, I've been trying to read it and I'm far enough to say it's a great read.

Tetrabiblos book 2, Ptolemy.

On philosophy, history, important topics etc:

The Daimon in Hellenistic Astrology: Origins and Influence, by Dorian Greenbaum. This is one of my favorites and I can't recommend it enough, because very few astrologers take much time to understand before talking about the daimon. And it's impossible for you to avoid the daimon in your practice, because it is crucial and predominant in everything in Hellenistic astrology.

On Horary:

William Lilly's Christian Astrology. There's a reason we all go back to him, it's the fact that is such a didactical book, you can always use it as an instruction manual basically. He gives instructions on how to approach any kind of question and gives so many examples, it's a hit.

On the fixed stars:

The Constellations of Words website is still the easiest source for learning about fixed stars, but here are their most cited books:

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos book I chapter 9-11, of course, because he's the earliest source and it's important to see the difference between how the hellenistics called and understood the fixed stars and how things changed after the arabics.

Vivian E. Robson's The Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology (XX AD) is a must have. It's another one that's strictly astrological and plus gives a method on how to interpret fixed stars, though you don't need to follow it necessarily.

Marcus Manilius' Astronomica book 5. I always make sure to read attentively Manilius' poetry about the constellation I'm researching. It's always incredibly useful, never disappointing.

William Tyler Olcott's Star Lore: Myths, Legends and Facts (XIX AD). This is a great one to get a lot of the different stories and histories of the stars. It really helps you to understand the constellations in depth.

[dearweirdme]

The problem with Daeun is, and that's probably the biggest reason why not a lot of fans are taking this seriously, at least not as seriously as Taennie back then, she was caught actually faking things to get herself connected to Jimin. Obviously I'm not just talking about how literally every picture or video she posts from Jimin's apartment are from 2020 or early 2021 but also her straight up manipulating the dates of pictures she uploads.

For example last year she uploaded the same picture twice in her stories, with a couple of months between and both times manipulated the date of when the picture was taken. The picture was taken in a NineOne apartment. (There's an app for Android, people tested it out and it's working.) The other time where she was caught manipulating things was when Jimin and Jungkook were filming their travel show in Japan and she posted a picture of her in Japan at that time. She manipulated the date again to make it look recent. But people found out that a restaurant that was seen open behind her was closed in 2019/2020. So it was impossible for that picture to be recent.

I do think her old videos and pictures are actually from Jimin's apartment, no matter how much "debunking" Jikookers are doing. But I genuinely think she's an ex-girlfriend that got triggered by something and now wants some kind of revenge. Hence her having to fake anything recent. (Like for example that picture of her with a wine bottle was clearly not taken in Jimin's apartment as the kitchen layout doesn't match.) Jimin just screamed single for the past two years or so. Not only did he full time live with Pdogg for months when creating Face, his song Face-Off is also very clearly about a break up.

All right

I guess the blame is on me

Look at me right now

Living like a fool

Believing in people

Is the beginning of a terrible nightmare

Gave you all the money

Gave you all my heart

Your masquerade party

I was fucking drunk

Even those damn days in the past

It’s all over now

or

With those sweet words of yours

You tried so hard to take every single thing from me

Look at yourself

You want more, don’t you, why?

It’s okay if you do

It suits you, babe

or

Even though you test me

Even though you try me

Even though you kill me

Even though you stab me harder

I don't care about you

Even that day that felt like hell

This is way too romantic partner coded. To add to all of this Jimin continously mentioned living alone for the whole past year, spent his days before leaving overseas with his friend Saeon and even the days after coming back he was immediately seen with Saeon again. Jimin made sure to mention that he's just by himself or meeting up with friends after work. But that there were also times where he didn't speak with anyone for two weeks or so. Of course he could be lying but I feel like he wanted to make it clear he's single, probably because he saw that Daeun posted old videos.

That would also explain his silence. Because if he said something, he would have to admit that she is his ex-girlfriend and I think that's something he doesn't want to do. I think they've dated from the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 and ended things in early 2021 because that's the latest pictures and videos she has. Something triggered her to get revenge. Maybe she feels wronged. Or maybe she just wants attention. She announced that she would start a Youtube channel in 2024, so it's also possible she wants some promotion for that, who knows. I genuinely can't imagine her dating Jimin currently with the information we have right now. But those are just my two cents and have nothing to do with Taekook. Sorry. 😅

Hi anon!

Thanks for the input! I haven’t followed the whole situation this in-depth, so I have no clue whether this is all correct. I think what’s most interesting in all this, and that cannot be debunked at all, is that she very publicly linked herself to Jm. It’s not even small hints, it’s undeniable that she means to point to him. The reasons as to why can be speculated on ofcourse. It seems unlikely to me that it’s solely for attention and there not having been a relationship between them. So perhaps she is an ex who feels sad/angry/whatever and decided to expose some things. Could very well be.

[lizaluvsthis]

What got you to start drawing the boys do you take requests? Cause I like the cafe au

IT MIGHT SEEM CRAZY ON WHAT IM BOUT TO S-

When I said I've been a SMG4 fan for 4 years, I left the channel for i dunno how many weeks or months has it been. Then one day I saw WOTFI 2023 recommended in my youtube page and was.

"Wotfi 2023? But I thought- wait- who are these characters again?"

Turns out I forgot that Ive only seen SMG4 and SMG3's (cocomelon ass) designs during wotfi 2022 where it was both of their first redesigns from the movie. I stopped watching for a bit cuz I got busy.

Then I came back to see they were both redesigned in a better version now. Now that I thought about "where was their second redesign then?"

So I knew that I had to binge watch every single episodes from smg4's channel right after wotfi 2022

I then saw how much Three has changed ever since after the 2022th christmas episode.

If I were to be honest, watching igbp for the first time in my life even Mar10 day. I was about 85% sure that Smg3 worries too much for Smg4's sake.

They both are cosmically linked and three can feel what the other of his partner is feeling soooooo?

*circles both of my hands*

Three's gay. He looked fruity he felt fruity. During the movie and during right after he helped four's ass to get his channel back from running again.

It suddenly gave me some time for my brain to tell me "DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING THIS COULD BE A HINT- THIS IS MAYBE AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS!" I responded to my brain like- HELL YEAH I'M NOTING THAT DOWN.

Cuz I cant just sit here and just "watch the movie without sayin nothin" I HAD to do something AND make analysis about it because thats what I do when I notice simple details!

So when smg3 confessed those feelings of his to Smg4 and even running to save his life back again and even after saying "we're friends!" This gave me a bit of a shock. Three. Did you know what you did? Did you realize how much it meant for smg4? Did you FORGET- that you said you and him werent friends during the 2020th wotfi?

So then after all of this time... that means smg3 has been the one and always a tsundere to smg4

Even after the castle disappeared, him and three's chemistry started going into an actual progress from both of their chemistry from the relationship.

Thats a dedication for me right there. I do it not only for fun, I do it for my wants, have, and needs.

I know its funny for a minor like me to do all of this dedicaded in just a simple job, I have all kinds of specialities to include my works and skills and use them for this fandom again from how I did to the past ones. (But those past fandoms are dead-)

Ahem- what was I talking about again? Oh right- 3 and 4... sorry got a little bit too chatty-

So I noticed even more about Smg3's notebook and was like- "gahd damn- three had his own personal notebook this whole time?! Whats even inside of it? I'm curious..." so yeah-

Now jumping to where I watched 2023 of wotfi again (twice now) to see its context about it- I was flabberGHASTED in after the "drawing" and also the mysterious tv guy whose also appearing on as the final antagonist in the modern era and a new one from the new era.

"Holysht. This is about to go bonkers for the fans making up stuff about those 'what-ifs' that smg4 made from the previous video back then. (The part where waluigi won or desti being alive)

I'm curious enough to see what happens and even if its about tv adware. Yes too.

(THERE. In November I started to become quite more invested from the fandom and decided to drop in my luggage and load out all of my junks called Info-Analysis?)

So- hello! (Again-) :D it was a pleasure meeting every and one of you all- I stopped in just to come back from the fandom that I never made commentary about but now I can ^^

I started with doodling and knowing basic anatomy and shapes of SMG3 and SMG4's design (the new one) so that I could start on doodling about them. But what I didnt expect for myself is that I had created a long time chapter of "Indigo Secret" that wasn't supposed to be there on purpose.

It was just supposed to be a "silly" comic about it from where ■■■■■■■■ to ■■■■■■■ about the problem and then the part in this that came into ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ from ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

*BEEP*

I took myself a big motive after my blog gained 10+ followers and more notes. I thought working here 24/7 would make me feel something more for destiny and the trip!

So- yeah. Work. :) even when I'm at school I also complete my assignments and all of the shts and after that I can continue on with continuing the pages and with some cute doodles with the boys from a scenario playing through my head.

Now you have me making all of this and that ^^

Thats whay I'm popular for :)

--

---

--

2nd answer...

Thank you for liking the cafe au! It means so much to the both for me and shay from the collab to move on!

I did say from my boundaries I take free art request 1 at a time only- and I could allow a second art request if I do have the time ^^

Yes I do take art request :)

(Except for-

oc-shipping with SMG3/SMG4 cuz they're both together in the au

NSFW

Some stuff that I can't approve on-)

Ask away :)

Thanks for asking me stuffs anon I really enjoy talking ^^

[webnovel-deluxe]

Isn't Being A Wicked Woman Much Better? Side Story Chapter 13

I also upload this chapter in my YouTube channel, read there to support my effort, to read click here👉Link

“Because of those bad rumors, when I went to the department alone, the only senior who looked after me and took care of me without prejudice was Dohee.”

“She was a real wingless angel. When I was thinking about taking a leave of absence because of a big problem in my family, even though Dohee was busy, took part in the work and helped out until dawn, so I didn't drop out of school.”

“She was a senior with a really good personality, but she looked so busy that she couldn’t even talk properly… .”

“Everyone liked Dohee, but I’m really, really sorry.”

“You know what? When the staff cleaning the hallway collapsed, senior Dohee gave first aid and called an ambulance, so I was able to receive treatment right before a major problem occurred.”

“She was really kind, so there were a lot of good kids around her. I couldn't even talk because Kim Han-jun sunbae kept her from coming.”

“Ah, that dog is the real senior bastard.”

I'm so grateful that someone told me what I wanted to say.

“Ah, but Kim Han-jun, that crazy little dog is funny.”

“Why?”

“Suddenly, while drinking, he called out Dohee's name and he was sobbing and vomiting, and he wasn't even angry. I was filming a new monodrama by myself, but I saw something I couldn't really see!”

“You can’t see that person’s face these days, so what is he doing?”

“I don't know. He said that he was drinking alcohol every day, and then Matteng went and couldn't doze off, and he just took a leave of absence before the semester started. Rumor has it that he is still drunk these days.”

It's not that Mattang didn't graduate because he went, but he didn't have any skills at all.

The professor would never let him pass the thesis, and even if he graduated, there was no answer, so he was on an indefinite leave of absence to save his face. It's called an honorable death.

“Oh, by the way, is there anyone in touch with Dohee’s senior family members?”

“I keep getting letters to the department office to see if her family has moved. It must have been written down as the second address on the paper.”

“What letter?”

“It’s a letter from a facility kid that Dohee-senpai donated. So it's kind of like calling not to send... ”

“Wow, only real waves and waves are coming out. ”

“That’s it.”

As I listened to them, I quickly walked towards the department's office where the letter from the child was.

thought body spoke to me as I was moving silently.

- There are too many people who like you here without knowing it.

-… I see. I didn't know.

I just scratched the tip of my nose. Although semi-transparent state did not scratch properly .

- That's why, Lucifer's curse that covered your soul was purged in an instant, and a strange thing happened when the God sensed your lost soul.

- What kind of anomaly?

-You are not originally born in Korea, but you were born.

-right.

- Two completely unrelated dimensions intersect, and cracks form at the intersection, allowing you to see the future of this place, albeit for a moment. The future of Asteria without you.

-ah! That +19 novel.

-yes. It's like reading a prophecy.

- If possible, I'll show you to the end.

The thought-form caused a great ripple as if sympathizing again.

-If the rift was bigger, we could have seen more of the future.

- The writer was not lazy. Anyway, I was lucky enough to have averted a planned catastrophe thanks to reading the novel.

I felt a strange feeling.

It's a phone call, and it seems that only bad luck comes in succession in life.

Life in the previous life seemed like only misfortunes were overlapped at first glance, but there were good relationships within it, and thanks to not losing goodwill, I was able to quickly escape the curse of the great devil.

'Also, the knowledge I gained here was very helpful.'

Thanks to different experiences and information about the future, I was able to face the devil more easily.

-Maybe, there won't be a single moment of meaningless time... .

Shoot-ah-

The moment I entered the department's office, a strong wind blew in through the open window, and the white letter on the desk fluttered like a butterfly. It was a reply from a child who I used to sent monthly donations and letters.

They were scattered one by one by the wind, and I slowly scanned the contents in the sunlight that shattered like jewels.

[thank you.]

I filled my eyes with the four letters engraved at the end of the letter.

It was probably the only word I wanted to hear the most in my previous life. And I felt that a true farewell to this world had come.

- Thank you too.

I muttered a bit bitterly. Now it was time to go back to where we were.

***

… I thought so.

-Hey, Mr. Thought?

It seems like it's time to go slowly, but at some point the guy doesn't answer.

-Mr thought-nim?

So I politely called.

-Answer me. I want to go home! You brought me all the way here, so I need you to take me home.

Where did he really go? Is it possible to become a ghost wandering the campus like this?

- This kind of joke is no fun. If you don't show up in 3 seconds, I know how to grind it to a fine powder as soon as I get out! Don't you think I can't break dragon bones? So, to be honest, it's a waste, but you know I'm very rich, right?

I even threatened outright that I would change the body, but the guy doesn't think about responding.

- Ha, what's really going on.

I scoured the campus for a while, trying to find the thought body, and then I felt exhausted, so I sat in the back of the faculty room where I was always sitting and fell on my desk.

- Where the hell did you go?

'I wonder what happened in the sanctuary that contained the rosary?'

But if it were, the thought body would have sensed it first and took action, but it was strange that it was so quiet.

-If you sleep like this, a miracle like that might happen the next day when you wake up in bed.

Deborah Bing's early days of 'sleep', which she tried many times while denying reality!

I didn't come to the place where I slept the best for nothing.

- through this time.

I lay on my stomach for a while and closed my eyes when suddenly something tapped my shoulder.

… wh, who?

I raised my head in amazement, and then I looked at the person in front of me and opened my eyes wide.

-Who the hell are you?

- By any chance, you don't know me?

A soft smile crossed the man's eyes.

I was lost for a moment, then I came to my senses and coughed in vain.

-… Because he's the one I know.

The reason why I didn't recognize it for a moment was because Isidor was wearing an unfamiliar outfit.

- Probably right?

He was wearing a slim fit shirt with a toned body, and even had a watch on his wrist.

He grabs the desk and leans his head in front of me. He had a tight vein on his forearm, with his shirt rolled up.

He smiled as if he was going to decorate the cover of a foreign men's magazine, and he gently trimmed my messy hair.

- Am I dreaming?

- Please. It's time to go home, Deborah Youngae.

-by the way… Sir Isidor, why are you dressed like that?

- These clothes. Don't like it?

-no way. Handsome. the best. Perfect. thank you!

Since it was a state of the soul, the truth began to come out without any fuss.

-I tried to imitate the costume of the portrait that the princess had kept in the past, and you really like this. But who is that bastard? I thought it looked pretty good.

-uh?

- Princess, I saw the house of your previous life.

Aww! aww! Wait a minute.

Come to think of it, the clothes Isidor is wearing. It is similar to the one worn by the GQ cover model I kept in the box in my previous life.

That's... .

- Have you been watching Isidore? Since when!?

-Is it from the time the Princess followed Locke Visconti with a very excited face?

- Me, when am I? And if you're by my side, give me a sign! too bad!

-When the thought body pulled the princess's soul out of the body, my soul came with it too, but even though I could hear it and see it, my voice couldn't reach it.

- Why?

- The thought body didn't seem to want to be interrupted by the conversation with the princess. Maybe now he's allowed us to meet.

He looked around slowly with his characteristic quest planted eyes.

- It's a strange dimension. The fact that he has no mana at all and he has a high-level civilization. This stuff is also interesting.

He looked at the magazine and said, waving his wrist watch that he realized.

- You seem to have already adapted to this place.

Maybe Isidor is the real possessive body. Now, he was a Harley Queen's male protagonist, who can be seen by anyone.

-If I could understand the language here, I would have known better about Princess, but that's a pity.

Isidore didn't seem to understand the words of his family and classmates due to the language barrier. But everything else seemed to have been grasped through conversations between me and the thought body.

- If you didn't see it with your own eyes, it would have been hard to believe.

He said in a voice full of determination.

- thanks.

- what?

- Not so long ago, Princess-sama thought our world was a novel. But in order to be considerate of me, I tried to hide that part and tell only the truth and the core as much as possible.

-.....

As always, he is very kind.

-you… Makes me feel like a really good, nice person. every time.

- You're a good person, aren't you? So it must have been love at first sight Twice.

It was a contradiction to fall in love at first sight, but it was true only to the two of us.

He smiled as he loosened his tie.

-I want to explore this world more, but I don't think the time will be long... .

- Do you know where the thought body is?

-yes. But before...

-yes?

- In the past, who was the man that the princess held until the portrait?

Obviously, he is smiling brightly like a flower, but I can feel the thorns inside.

Although there is a language barrier, there is no barrier to painting, so Isidor was mistaken for the GQ magazine as a portrait of a certain man.

I can't even tell a proper lie because I'm in a state of my soul and I can't make up my face. It is impossible to overwrite that magazine with Yoon Do-yeon, a blood relative of a previous life!

Support me with your like, comments & reblog. That will encourage me to upload next chapter faster

[airasora]

A pawn upon a board

A Thrax and Odette fanfic.

Rating: T

Word count: 11.249k

Prison AU

FanFiction.net link

Summary: How does a queen get exiled from her kingdom all the way to a prison not even in the same galaxy? That's exactly what happens to poor Odette! Sadly though, after years of abuse from everyone in her life, her hardships are far from over when one of the extraterrestrial inmates decides she's his to claim. But can an unexpected romance blossom in an equally unexpected place?

Author's 1st note: Less than a month ago, I shared a quick draft idea for a Thraxette fanfic that I shared on my tumblr and YouTube channel. This fanfic is inspired by that draft. It turned out WAY longer than I originally planned to, but it’s been a long time since I last wrote a piece of fanfiction that wasn’t just 1k words or such, so I took my time with and allowed myself to just keep writing as long as I felt inspired to do so. This is my first actual piece of Thraxette fanfiction and I am very happy with it!

For now, this is just a one-shot, I am not planning on writing more for this… for now 😈 Let me know what you think and where you hope this story will go!

There’s a FAQ at the very end of this fanfic, so please check that for any questions you may have! If you can’t find an answer, feel free to leave a review/comment etc. If you prefer to be anonymous, you can also ask me on my tumblr which allows anonymous asks 😊

Also, this story takes place in the same universe as Treasure Planet does, meaning both humans and aliens exist etc.

Warning: Domestic physical and sexual abuse is mentioned.

Odette was thankful that her father died years ago. Surely seeing his daughter be sent to prison for murdering the man he had arranged her marriage to would have sent him to the grave anyhow. At least he died knowing she would marry his intended for her. At least he died thinking they were going to be happy. At least he died not knowing what his only child would become.

A few years ago, Princess Odette married her betrothed Prince Derek, successfully joining their kingdoms forever. They had been betrothed for as long as Odette could remember, spending every dreaded summer together. The only thing she and Derek agreed on was that they hated each other. Summers were spent bullying each other, being pushed around by the adults around them and were the most dreaded time of the year for them both.

Due to the lack of her deceased mother’s influence, King William over-compensated by ensuring that Odette was brutally encouraged to only spend time on ladylike behavior. Outside of lessons on manners and how to be a good wife – not a good queen – Odette was pushed to learn how to sing, dance and how to be support her future husband. As a child, Odette loved to climb around, practiced with swords, and had a slingshot, but those hobbies were quickly cast aside the moment she used her slingshot to fling a tomato at Derek. Despite him having done the exact same thing to her years prior. She didn’t recall him being scolded in the same way at all.

The only hobby Odette was allowed to choose for herself was reading. William wasn’t happy with it, what did a lady need with books after all, but allowed it to pacify her fiery spirit. Therefore, Odette often found herself reading story after story about imaginary worlds, magic and where good always triumphed evil. It gave her an escape from the tea parties, the lessons and the men in her life.

Despite both Odette and Derek fighting against their betrothal their whole lives, Derek suddenly changed his mind and declared to arrange the marriage. Odette had been so confused, asking everyone around her to wait and causing a scene. When asked why Derek changed his mind, he told her she was everything he ever wanted and called her beautiful. After a confused thank you, Odette asked what else? Surely the man whom she had practically grown up with could think of something else that made him want to marry her. Despite her father giving a grunt as a warning and shaking his head at her, she stood her ground and waited for Derek to answer. Even his mother, Queen Uberta, asked him to answer. Nothing could have prepared poor Odette for his answer. The bullying, the lessons, her bruises with her father’s fingerprints were nothing compared to the humiliation of Derek asking her:

“What else is there?”

Odette held her head high as she refused to marry him and left with her father a few hours later, after giving a curt goodbye to her almost-husband. On their way home, William told Odette he didn’t understand her and what had she wanted Derek to say. Before Odette could answer, her father suddenly grimaced and put a hand to his left arm. Before Odette could even begin to comprehend what was happening, her father fell into her arms and she screamed for the carriage to stop. With the help of one of their traveling companions, Odette got on a horse with her father placed safely on it and she had the horse sprint back to Prince Derek’s castle.

Lord Rogers had met her outside, seeing the urgency in the way her horse was riding towards them, and had immediately called the guards for help. King William was taken to a private chamber and was attended to by multiple doctors while he was struggling to breathe. Derek had joined Odette and insisted to be there for her during what would turn out to be William’s final moments. Before her father passed away, Odette had taken his hands in hers and told him he didn’t have to worry about his little girl and that she would marry Derek.

Derek had, completely inappropriately, excitedly hugged his best friend Bromley to which Lord Rogers immediately hit him at the back of his head to get him to behave. Odette hardly cared in the moment and simply cried in complete silence when her father passed. As he had taught her, she picked herself up, hid her tears and behaved amicably to the public eye. Only when she was truly alone did she allow her frustrations and fears to take hold of her heart, and she let out cries into the darkness of the night.

Odette and Derek’s wedding took place just a few weeks after her father’s funeral, and they had visited his grave to pay their respects before returning to his castle. To Odette’s surprise, Derek did initially not wish to consummate their marriage. He claimed it was due to her still being in mourning, and that he did not want to put any strain on her, but Odette always had a feeling that it was something else entirely. Either way, she was grateful for his decision and avoided going to bed before Derek every single night for as long as she could.

Fortunately, for a very long time, both Derek and Odette were busy with the new development in the world. When they were children, humans discovered that they were not alone in the universe, and that intelligent life was found outside their own hemisphere. Royalty and world leaders alike were asked to gather in an attempt at contacting life outside their own galaxy. While Odette was excited about the idea of intelligent life away from their own planet, Derek was not. The unknown and uncontrollable scared him and so, he continuously insisted that they both kept away from this development. To his dismay though, intelligent life was indeed found and after just a few years, the world leaders were gathered to meet creatures from other planets, previously unknown to people on Earth.

Odette could barely contain her excitement when she saw the first extraterrestrial step off the ship. Whenever a new creature appeared, they looked so different from each other. Since Derek feared them and wanted nothing to do with it, Odette was allowed to be the representative of their kingdom and speak to the foreigners herself. Most of them could not exactly speak any human languages, but some sort of communication was made through body language or by simply guessing. Some of the extraterrestrials communicated in very unique ways and Odette was eager to learn and understand them.

While Odette never spoke too long with just one species, there was one who stuck out of the crowd. A people humans dubbed “Virus” due to their ability to immediately make someone feel very ill, but also heal within minutes. They were the people that looked the most like humans despite having many differences as well. They had two eyes, a mouth, two arms and legs and wore garments just like humans did. They had something akin to hair on their head, but it didn’t look nor felt like human hair. They had hands with claws rather than fingers, and one of their hands always had one appendage that was three times as large as the rest, which harbored all their powers; the healing, ability to make you ill, glow in the dark and much more.

Viruses were also tall beings, the tallest one Odette had seen was twice her height. Their tongues were split into two and were longer than human tongues as well. Their eyes altered depending on their mood, so their eyes never stayed just one color. Odette had tried learning what each color meant, but there were many variations of colors she hadn’t even ever seen before on Earth.

But what really made them stand out was their ability to learn any language instantly simply through a kiss. The first time a Virus kissed a human, humans were shocked until the Virus started speaking English. They could, however, not teach each other their newly-developed language skills as they could only learn from a native speaker. And so, the willing humans kissed the Virus one by one and the Virus kissed the other extraterrestrials and worked as translators between everyone. A Virus had approached Odette as well, trying to kiss her, but Derek had pulled her away immediately.

To Odette, it almost felt like one of her most beloved books had come true. Intelligent life far beyond her reach was suddenly standing right before her. It felt almost magical. What she wouldn’t have sacrificed to see any of the other worlds out there in their infinite galaxy. Derek, on the other hand, remained suspicious of the extraterrestrial and insisted Odette stayed far away from them. When it was time to return home, Odette couldn’t hide her disappointment. The thought of going back to everyday life after everything she had learned was heartbreaking. Derek couldn’t understand Odette’s point of view, not that he tried.

Soon after, Derek expressed a desire to have an heir, which Odette thought would be lovely as she had felt a hole in her heart since her father died, and desperately needed someone to love. While Derek never forced himself on Odette, their attempts at creating an heir was far more unpleasant for her than she had ever expected. She praised her lucky stars that it never lasted too long and the discomfort she felt was usually remedied with a long, warm bath.

The physical discomfort at least.

Despite their many attempts, Odette never got pregnant. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was blamed for this by the court. Rumors of her infertility spread, jokes were made at her expense and Derek was shown sympathy for marrying a barren wife. Odette knew Derek was not, at heart, a bad man. Not really. He just grew up being told he could do no wrong, and whatever he wanted he could take. His mother was by no means a bad woman either, she had simply doted on her one and only child while mourning the loss of her husband. King William and Queen Uberta didn’t handle the loss of their spouses well, but the way they dealt with it was very different.

As such, Derek slowly started to become resentful towards Odette. First she had humiliated him by refusing to marry him when he first agreed to the engagement and second, now she was apparently trying to punish him by not giving him an heir. The change in his behavior around her was so slow that Odette almost didn’t notice it at first. It started off with not engaging in conversations. Then he stopped reaching for her hand, touch her cheek or dance with her, unless other people were around. Then the snide remarks started, little things that started to annoy him. A dress she had worn too often, a piece of jewelry that distracted him, something she said that he thought sounded stupid. One of his favorite insults was towards her long neck. He would compare her to a swan, making his arm into a gesture that was supposed to symbolize a swan, walking around and “biting” people around them, which everyone laughed at.

Derek would whip his arm away from Odette if she tried to hold it, he’d sneer at her if she was in front of him rather than behind him and he would go out of his way to be with anyone else and leave her on her own. Bit by bit, Odette became friends with other people in the court and would spend her time with them at gatherings instead, since Derek clearly wasn’t interested in being around her anymore.

Derek took issue with Odette’s new friends as well. They were men. All three of them. Prince Jean-Bob, Captain of the Royal Guard Puffin and Mr. Lorenzo Trudgealong often nicknamed Speed. Speed, as far as Odette knew, had no specific royal duty, but instead helped everyone here and there. A sort of everything man, always doing something new every day, without a specific title.

Odette grew up with many people around her; servants, teachers, ladies-in-waiting and so forth. Friends though? Never. Bromley was Derek’s best friend, who also tormented her when they were children. He grew out of it though and was friendly with her, but in the long run he was Derek’s friend, not hers. Jean-Bob, Puffin and Speed were her friends, and her friends alone.

A wife being this friendly with three men without her husband present sparked rumors immediately, and Derek took them very personally. Suddenly, it was not only Odette who had been mocked, now he was the target instead. What kind of King couldn’t keep his Queen’s attention? Where had he failed to make her seek out the attention of other men? Despite Odette never speaking a single ill word about Derek, he blamed her for the humiliation and his treatment of her worsened and became public.

Derek would openly mock Odette for anything he could think of, even things Odette didn’t know could be criticized to begin with. If she had thought her father was strict, Derek was downright cruel. He would push her if she walked too slow, roll his eyes when she talked, openly share intimate details of her to get a cheap laugh and much more. Through all of it, Odette held her head high and didn’t allow anyone to see how much her husband’s treatment of her stung. When they were alone however, Odette would try to talk to him about his behavior. She was shut down each time and, eventually, she tried yelling at him. If he wouldn’t listen to reason, perhaps he would listen to anger. He, of course, didn’t.

Soon, the abuse turned physical. Derek never hit Odette, but he would deliberately be rough with her. The small pushes were nothing compared to the way he would hold her down in their bedchambers. Odette quickly realized that asking him to stop or showing any sort of resistance only angered him further. So she learned how to hold back her voice and forcing her body to stay still. She would try to excuse herself to the bathroom afterwards, but Derek would keep holding onto her until he’d fall asleep and it would be far too late for Odette to draw her evening bath.

When Odette and Derek’s fifth wedding anniversary approached, Odette spent all her free time preparing for it, hoping to rekindle what little love they had for each other before the marriage. Surely they could spend the evening together, having a meal and talking for just a bit. Derek never showed up. He forgot. Her husband forgot their wedding anniversary. Even though he was the one who wanted the marriage in the first place. She knew he was busy, that’s what he claimed at least though she had no idea with what. He stopped having audiences with their people, he was never in his office and, more often than not, she found him in the garden practicing archery with Bromley and Lord Rogers.

Odette didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to; Queen Uberta came to visit and wished her son and daughter-in-law happy anniversary. The look on Derek’s face when he realized was almost amusing. Queen Uberta’s reaction though, when she figured out Derek had forgotten, was definitely funny. She was furious. In front of everyone in the hall, she scolded Derek like a child who stole from the cookie jar. While Odette appreciated the gesture, she knew Derek would blame her for the public humiliation and tried to stop Uberta, but nothing could stop that woman once she was fired up.

Like Odette had foreseen, Derek did take it out on her later that evening. He yelled at her, asking her if she had enjoyed making him look bad in front of his mother. Odette had dared tell him he made himself look bad without her help, which had earned her a slap. It wasn’t a particularly hard slap, Derek had just swung around to face her and accidentally hit her. He didn’t apologize and neither did he seem to even realize what he had done and simply kept yelling.

At one point, Derek grabbed ahold of Odette’s dress and ripped it off her, making her stumble backwards onto the bed. The force of it made the night table shake and she quickly saved the statuette before it could fall on the floor. When Odette looked back at Derek, he was in the middle of taking off his own clothes. For the first time, Odette begged him not to touch her, not when he was so angry with her. Derek rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her by her legs, pulling her closer to him before he spoke his very last words.

“You really do only have beauty and nothing else.”

Odette didn’t mean to hurt him… What he said scared her and proved to her what she had been told almost all her life; she was just a little trinket. Something pretty to look at. Seen, not heard. All her insecurities, her trauma and the ever evolving abuse from her husband all came crashing down on her at once and she swung the statuette at Derek to get him away from her. She immediately expected to get yelled at, but Derek was completely quiet. It wasn’t until Odette dared opening her eyes she realized he was lying on the floor, completely still. She looked at the statuette in her hand, noticing the dark red blood dripping from the head down the body. She kept staring at it, until the blood reached her hand and she threw statuette away, screaming.

It didn’t take long for some guards to enter the chambers, after hearing their Queen scream. Nothing could be misunderstood by the scene in front of them; their King laid lifeless on the ground, blood appearing from a wound on his head and their Queen on the bed, blood on her hand and a bloody statuette accompanying her. One guard went to console Odette and the other left the room to gather more guards and sent for a doctor. Odette’s entire body was shaking, sobbing uncontrollably and was mumbling incomprehensibly. She couldn’t hear what anyone was saying and she kept her eyes shut tight, as if that would make it all go away.

Everything after that was a blur. Odette remembered standing trial, accused of deliberately murdering her husband and King and the discussion of her sentence. She remembered hearing discussions of beheading or hanging, but Queen Uberta had insisted on exile rather than execution. More specifically, galactical exile.

During the development between humans and extraterrestrial beings, a new concept of galactical exile was created. Instead of spending funds and creating space for the criminals of their own planets, many planets had started to send their criminals to an asteroid prison for the purpose of permanent exile. This would be the first human to be sent to The Galactical Exile, at the very edge of the galaxy, 1.000 jumps from the next inhabited planet. It being a Queen who had killed the King seemed oddly fitting. And so, Odette was put on a space ship and sent to The Galactical Exile.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Odette swallowed a lump in her throat, but it was difficult with the shackle around it. She was chained to her own two hands and the seat she was in. The shackles were merely for show, you couldn’t escape this pod even if you tried to. The space ship was cramped, practically claustrophobic, with only about 15 people in it, including the two guards and captain. Odette looked around, as subtly as she could, to see all the different creatures around her. She recognized most of the species from her time at The Introduction. She wondered why they were there. What could they have done that was so bad they were exiled from their planet?

Odette had a feeling that she would be the only one with an unintentional murder on her sleeve.

When the ship stopped moving, Odette looked out the little round window. All that could be seen was darkness and the edge of the asteroid they had landed on. A voice on a speaker interrupted the silence and the inmates all stood up and lined up in single file. Odette, despite not understanding the speaker, copied her inmates. One of the aliens pulled out what looked like a digital pad and asked the first inmate some questions before the inmate was then grabbed by another guard and pulled outside. This happened one by one until it was Odette’s turn.

He was a slender beige green alien, wearing a blue agent uniform with gold epaulets that carried brownish gold trimmings, three matching vertical buttons, matching wrist linings and a matching brooch with a small red jewel on it. He also wore a black belt with a round gold buckle and a brown pouch with a flap on the left. He had one big eye with what looked like an antenna at the top of his head.

The alien smiled brightly while reading her name. “Queen Odette Nicastro from Earth. Welcome, you’re our very first human. I’m very happy to meet—” the alien spoke happily until he looked up and saw Odette. She was about two heads taller than him, but she had a feeling that’s not why his smile faded. A look of concern crossed his face and he looked at his tablet again. He coughed, seemingly to collect himself and bowed to her. “Well… Your Highness, it’s an honor to meet you.”

“Thank you… but I am hardly Queen anymore.” Odette replied, doing her best to smile back at the alien. “How come you can speak English, Mr.…?”

“Pleakley, at your service! I have always been fascinated by Earthlings! You have so many languages, but English is the most common one. Everyone here can speak English as well, some better than others though. Well, the Galactical Exile’s staff can anyway. You probably won’t be able to understand anyone else though, um…” the inspector started muttering and looked behind him. He spoke in an unfamiliar tongue to the guard behind him who then grabbed Odette, but did not pull her outside like the others. Instead, he kept holding her shackles and simply had her stand next to him while Pleakley spoke to the next inmate in line.

Odette was confused to say the least. Pleakley seemed very friendly, but why did he want to keep her around for a bit longer? Perhaps he simply wanted to sate some curiosities he had about Earth. That suited Odette just fine, she was a big fan of procrastination before entering prison for life. It wasn’t like she didn’t have time. Once the last inmate had left, Pleakley gave what sounded like an order to the guard holding Odette who then let go of her, exited the ship and had the door shut down.

OK, perhaps Odette was a bit worried what Pleakley wanted with her.

“Your highness, we don’t have much time so I’m going to have to be brutally honest with you.” Pleakley spoke in a tone that warned Odette she would not like what he had to say. “You are in terrible danger here. This is where the galaxy’s worst criminals end up and no one here cares for its inmates. If you wish to survive here, you have to find someone willing to protect you. Otherwise, you’re considered fair game. The guards will not protect you from anyone who wants to harm you.”

Odette allowed herself a moment to recover from what she had just been told. Like she had been taught though, she swallowed her fear and put it aside for later. “What would you recommend I do?”

Pleakley nodded, happy to see that Odette understood him. ���Find one of the scarier inmates in there who can speak your language. I know there is a Virus in there, he may speak English already, but I know there are other inmates who have spent their time here learning languages. Convince one of them you’re worth having around by any means necessary, so they will protect you from other inmates.”

“And by worth having me around, you mean—”

“By whatever means necessary.” Pleakley repeated sternly before putting on his hat and bowing to her once again. “I wish you good luck, Your Highness. Your cell number is 667. I hope to see you again at my next inspection.”

And with those words, the guard grabbed Odette by her arm, pulled her outside the ship and closed the door behind them. Odette turned around, walking obediently with the guard through a long hallway of other inmates. She was put in line with them once again, when the guard removed her shackles. She massaged her wrists and her neck for a moment, while following the inmates into a new room that looked like a cafeteria.

Odette looked around at all the metal around her. Everything looked about as miserable as you would expect; dark, hard, rusted metal as far as the eyes could see. Unappealing food on the cafeteria tables with inmates scarfing it down like it was the most delicious thing they had ever tasted. And, finally, above the cafeteria on level 2, some inmates were eyeing the new meat from the mezzanine. Odette felt like she was in a parade so every inmate could size her up.

Remembering Pleakley’s advice, Odette looked around and got eye contact with multiple inmates, some scarier than others. Some seemed indifferent to her presence, but most were at the very least curious. She assumed it was due to her being the first human there, she may have even been the first human most of them had ever seen. Odette couldn’t help but try to find the Virus in the crowd, but far too many inmates caught her eyes.

One of the first Odette noticed was a cyborg Ursid, large in size yet more fat than muscular. He was wearing a cream colored shirt, red shorts, a black belt, a heavy black jacket and a tricornered hat. He had cybernetics on his right arm and leg, along with a cybernetic ear and eye with a yellow glow. He smirked at her and tipped his hat, but immediately went back to his card game. He seemed friendly enough, but Odette got the vibe he wouldn’t be interested in protecting anyone.

Then Odette noticed a Canid, but he looked like he was even weaker than she were. She noticed a Felinid not far away from him, but she showed absolutely no interest in Odette whatsoever. A Cragorian was next to her who did look at her briefly, but then immediately looked at the Felinid again.

Odette walked a bit further into the hall, noticing an alien leering at her with a very wide grin. Every fiber of her being was screaming at her to run away, but she forced herself to make eye contact. He was definitely interested in her. His skin was a pale yellow with scales all over his body. Some scales were brown, like the ones on his hands, right under his chest and scattered around on his shoulders. Something akin to snake skin decorated his face, jaw and neck as well. He also had an enormous tail, long enough to make him twice as long. The way he looked at her made Odette’s skin crawl. Whatever he would want in payment for his protection… was not something Odette would survive for very long.

With a shiver, Odette looked in the other direction and immediately got eye contact with someone else. This one was watching her intensely. Their skin was a pale pink, almost human like, but the horns on their head and shoulders were dead giveaways. They had markings on their face and their eyes were twice as big as Odette’s, were triangular and fully red. They kept looking at her, but almost looked uninterested at the same time. Odette couldn’t figure out what they were thinking and wasn’t too keen on that level of constant uncertainty in this place.

One by one, Odette felt like she had run out of options and none were particularly tempting. Perhaps she didn’t have to choose immediately. She wasn’t the only new inmate, surely she could keep herself safe for at least a day or two so she had time to figure out what to do. For now, she had to give the food a chance. She couldn’t remember the last time she ate.

Odette wasn’t even sure what to call this supposed food on her trey, it looked like slob. She was debating where to sit when she felt something soft slither around her hips and pull her backwards. With a shriek, she landed on the lap of whoever had pulled her to them and she looked up at them. It was a Lolligo, a cephalopod mollusk creature with ten tentacles, similar to squids and octopi on Earth. They were holding her on their lap with at least five of their tentacles, one around each arm, her waist and two on her legs.

The Lolligo spoke to Odette, but she didn’t understand. What she did understand was the laughter she heard across the table, that sound was apparently universal. She looked towards the laughter and saw another pair of Lolligos looking at her. One of them let a tentacle take her hand and shook it curiously, almost mimicking a handshake. The other Lolligo started touching her hair, pulling at it curiously. Once the shock ebbed away, Odette pushed at the tentacles to get away. The Lolligos merely laughed at her. Apparently it was really funny to touch her as they pleased, without any care for her at all. When she felt a tentacle touch her leg, she started kicking and yelling, hoping making enough of a fuss for them to give up. It only seemed to make it more interesting though if the way yet another tentacle was caressing her cheek was any indication.

Odette was about to grab her tray and slam it into the Lolligo whose lap she was sitting on, when she suddenly felt something far more solid lift her off the soft alien. She dropped the trey and reached out for whoever had saved her. Well, she hoped they were saving her at least, and not just replacing her aggressor. She heard the person speak in the same language the Lolligos understood and they seemed to growl at them in response.

Odette looked down at the arm around her, noticing it being clad in a black coat. On the floor, she saw big black boots and a shadow mixed with hers, but this person’s shadow was far taller than hers. She looked to the side of her that was pressed against this person’s chest and saw one of their hands which was a deep red color and had long claws. Odette got a feeling and looked up to confirm it; yes, this was the Virus Pleakley had talked about. His skin was deep red, his hair looked like purple dreadlocks and his eyes were, currently, light blue. Odette couldn’t remember what light blue eyes meant, but he was smirking confidently. His teeth were sharp and had a green tint to them. His cheekbones were sharp, chin even sharper and he was at least three heads taller than her.

The Virus looked down at Odette, flashing her a toothy grin. Without a word, he closed his eyes and kissed her. She gasped in shock and almost slapped him before he leaned back and spoke to her in English: “Hi, Princess. Remember me?”

Yes, Odette did very much remember him. He was the Virus who had tried to kiss her doing The Introduction before Derek had pulled her away. The scolding she got from Derek afterwards – despite her having no intention of kissing the Virus -  was one of the worst ones. She couldn’t blame the Virus, she knew that, but back then she couldn’t help but to.

One of the Lolligos started talking again and Odette looked at them, wondering what they were saying. The Virus, in an almost playful voice, responded in their language. Despite his casual tone, the body language on the Lolligos changed immediately and they seemed tense. One of them waved a dismissive tentacle at them and went back to talking with each other instead.

Without a word, the Virus lifted his hand towards Odette’s tray, lifted it off the floor and threw it towards the trash can with a simple wave of his hand. “Let’s find you something more humane to eat.” He suggested, kept his arm over her shoulder and pulled her with him. Odette looked around them, noticing how everyone was watching them intensely. Was this Virus someone with power in The Galactical Exile? She looked up at the mezzanine, noticing the large yellow creature whose smile had completely disappeared. Yes, this Virus must have had some control in this place.

The Virus brought her around a corner, entering another section of the cafeteria. About 10 other species were already seated there, eating completely different food that actually looked edible. Delicious even! The Virus brought her up to the table where a Sagitta was standing, ready to give them food.

“Let’s see. What would be worthy of a Royal Earthling…?” The Virus said pensively and looked at the menu. After a few seconds, he spoke to the Sagitta who nodded, turned around for a few seconds and then presented a tray with a stew that smelled heavenly. The Virus threw a small satchel at the Sagitta and lifted the tray with a wave of his hand. What was in that satchel? Money? Was that what made him powerful?

The Virus lifted Odette for a moment before placing her in a soft chair. He put the tray in front of her and sat next to her, turned completely towards her with one leg under the table and the other leg away from it. “Eat, Your Highness. I bet it’s been a while.”

Odette grabbed the spoon, filled it with the stew and apprehensively put it inside her mouth. To her relief, it tasted heavenly. She took a couple more bites before she decided she didn’t care about manners and simply lifted the bowl and drank it all in one go. She was going to have a stomach ache later, but she didn’t care. This was the happiest she had felt since… she wanted to say since Derek died, but the truth was she had been unhappy for much longer than that.

Odette looked to her right at the Virus who was smirking in amusement. She noticed his eye color had changed; this time they were magenta. “You must be so scared.”

Who wouldn’t be? Odette thought, but forced a stern expression onto her face. “Only until I get used to this place.”

“You don’t get used to The Galactical Exile. Especially not a princess.”

“I’m a queen—”

“Was a queen.”

Odette couldn’t help but grunt a bit at that. He wasn’t wrong, her status on Earth meant nothing here, especially when her title was stripped away from her to begin with. “Why did you help me?”

“Oh, I think you know why. Now, you’re indebted to me.” The Virus replied, his grin spreading. “The name is Thrax.”

“I’m Odette, and I was not aware that your kindness came with a price.”

“Everything comes with a price around here.” Thrax chuckled. “Or are you really this naïve?”

Odette grimaced. “Thank you for the lesson. I will no longer fall for any tricks.”

“If you think getting tricked into a meal is bad, you’re in for a really bad time here.” Thrax laughed. “No… you should really stick with me.”

There it is.

“And what will you expect in return for protecting me?” Odette asked, putting on her best business queen mask. She wasn’t sure she could trust Thrax, well, perhaps she couldn’t trust anyone in a place like this. But it was too soon to know whether Thrax was her best option.

“Simple… do as I say, and I will be your slave.”

“… That makes no sense.”

“It will. Just…” Thrax started and moved so close to Odette that she could feel his breath in her ear when he whispered. “… let me claim you.”

Odette felt a shiver travel from her neck down her spine. “That was more of a statement than a question.”

“That’s because I’m not asking a question. I don’t want to give you the option to say no.”

Clever.

“Thank you for your offer, I will think about it.” She responded defiantly, looking straight into his eyes, which had turned purple at some point.

“I recommend thinking fast, Your Highness. You’re a very easy target. A pretty little bird like you couldn’t possibly protect yourself.”

At that, Odette stood up from the table, clenching her elegant hands into fists. “Luckily for you, I’m done thinking. I have no intention of becoming someone’s trinket again.”

“Again?”

Had Odette not been a princess, she might have cursed her own name for her stupidity. “Thank you for your offer, but I want nothing to do with you.”

“Oh? But I want to have everything to do with you.”

At that, Odette felt goosebumps grow on her skin. She looked at Thrax, an unmistakable look in his eyes as a hint of pink traveled across them before they turned magenta again. Odette had to force herself to look away so she could finally walk away from this loathsome creature. For a moment, she thought she had found someone decent in this place. Well, that was definitely a mistake she wouldn’t repeat.

“Hey, Princess!”

Odette sneered as she turned around. “I’m not a—” She was interrupted by something being shoved in her mouth and she instinctively hid her lips behind her hands. She glared at the Virus who was just smirking at her while she chewed whatever was in her mouth. It tasted sweet and familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Couldn’t let you leave without your dessert.” Thrax explained and walked past her. “I’m in cell 666 if you change your mind.”

Odette turned to look at him, still trying to figure out what she was currently eating. Her curiosity got the better of her and she spit out a tiny bit into her hand. Custard bun? She thought in confusion, recognizing the texture and color. How in the world did this place have custard buns? Even though Odette would usually never be caught dead putting spit-out food back into her mouth, her love for this particular pastry won her over and she swallowed the bite.

Odette spent the rest of the day getting to know the place. She found out there even was a library in this place, but the books and tablets were mostly non-human, and she couldn’t understand them. She found one book in a human language, but it was in Chinese. Odette eventually also found the shared showers and a sort of schedule where you could sign up for when you wanted to take a shower. Apparently there was some sort of technology that would scan you as you tried to enter and if you weren’t scheduled for a shower, the door in front of you would close. That made Odette feel safe enough to schedule a shower for herself. She had only ever had baths, but surely it couldn’t be that much different. To her surprise, there was an available time slot in just a few minutes, so she stayed put until then.

Turns out showering was a bit more different than Odette was prepared for. There were far too many nuzzles for her to figure out what to do with and the water didn’t feel like water on earth. Odette realized that despite her independent nature, she truly had relied on servants her entire life and she didn’t know how to do even the simplest of things. The shower was unsuccessful and Odette didn’t feel any cleaner than when she entered the shower. It had helped a bit, but mostly it was more stressful than relaxing. Just another thing to add to the list of things she had to get used to.

A loud bell ran across the entire prison and an announcement was made in a language Odette didn’t understand. She looked around, trying to find someone who might translate for her, but the people she saw either scared her or clearly had no interest in her at all. What she did notice though was that most prisoners were now walking away from the area. Odette watched as a few inmates entered a cell individually and she realized the bell must have announced roll call. The cells all had signs above them with a number – fortunately these signs were translated into all languages, including Earth numbers. Odette ran through the hall, counting down as she reached her cell on the sixth floor.

To Odette’s shock, she noticed Thrax standing near her cell, almost like he was waiting for her. He saw her immediately, a wide grin spreading on his face. “Made it just in time. Get in your cell before the guard comes or you’re in trouble.” Was all he said to her before walking inside his own cell.

We’re neighbors… great.

Odette went inside her cell immediately, closing the door behind her. To her horror, their cells were divided by just a few bars. He could see her completely, there was no area to hide or be alone. Their beds were even placed up against each other’s. Thrax sat down on his bed, gesturing for Odette to sit down on hers. In defiance, she grabbed ahold of the bed and pulled it away from him, planning to put it against the bars on the opposite side. To her surprise, all Thrax reacted with was a smile, almost as if he knew she was going to do that.

Once Odette’s bed hit the bars though, she looked up and saw who her other neighbor cellmate was; one of the Lolligos from earlier. Almost immediately, one of its tentacles reached out for her and she pulled her bed back in panic. The Lolligo made a sound that sounded an awful lot like a laugh and went back to whatever it was doing before it saw her. Odette looked over her shoulder at Thrax, who was smiling knowingly at her. Begrudgingly, she pushed the bed back towards him and sat down.

“You made the right choice.” Thrax praised despite Odette not even looking at him. “Lolligos aren’t known for keeping their limbs to themselves.”

Odette lied down on her bed, her back turned to Thrax. He laughed at her like she was a bratty child, but left her alone otherwise. Once the guard had come by to confirm everyone was in their cells, the lights were shut off. It was completely dark and Odette immediately felt terrified. She always had a candle near her, she had never been fond of the dark. She struggled to calm herself down, but the darkness made room for her memories to haunt her as well. The memories she had tried to keep at bay, memories of Derek and their last moments together. The sound of Uberta wailing when she saw her son, killed by her daughter-in-law, the one she had chosen for him. The guilt, shame and fear all came crashing down on her at once.

Odette felt the sobs approaching just when a flicker of light caught her eyes. She looked to her right, towards Thrax, and realized the light came from him. It was that elongated claw that harbored all the Virus’ powers, such as a source of light as well. Odette couldn’t resist; she turned on her side so she was facing the glow and willed her sobs to go away. To her surprise, the orange glow felt warm, almost as if it were fire. Odette wasn’t sure what had made Thrax’s claw glow, but she was thankful for its soothing effect. Not long after, exhaustion overtook her and she fell asleep.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Waking up in The Galactical Exile was not an easy thing to do. However, the sound of the bell made sure that it was a rude awakening either way and Odette flinched from the sound. She opened her eyes, looking down at herself. The uniform she saw confirmed that the last few days weren’t just some wicked nightmare and she sighed. She looked ahead of herself, seeing Thrax’s face in front of her. In shock, she pushed herself off the bed and landed on the stone floor. She groaned from the pain and sat up.

“Am I that scary?” Thrax teased and stood up from his bed

Yes, Odette thought, but kept it to herself. As soon as she stood up, her cell was unlocked and Thrax was standing right in front of her. “What are you—”

“Hold still.” Thrax ordered and put his elongated claw on Odette’s back. Despite every instinct inside of her screaming to get away from him, she held still as she felt a soothing warmth spread across her back. When the warmth was gone so was the aching from her fall. Experimentally, Odette stretched her arms and any discomfort she had felt from the bed was also completely gone. Truly, any physical ailments were gone from her body and just with a stroke from Thrax’s claw. She almost wanted to joke that he would become the most prosperous healer on Earth, but then remembered some kingdoms on Earth still burnt witches. Though something told her mere fire wouldn’t harm a creature like Thrax. “So, would you prefer a proper breakfast or whatever slob the kitchen has found inside the vents this morning?”

Odette felt her stomach turn from the memory, but shook her head stubbornly. “Thank you for… whatever to call what you just did. But I have no intention of becoming someone’s property.”

“You wouldn’t be my property any more than I would be yours.”

“I have a hard time believing that.” Odette dismissed and walked out of her cell.

She hard Thrax closing her cell door behind her before following her to the cafeteria. To her surprise, he stuck by her and took a tray right after she did. Why would he stay in the cafeteria with her when he clearly had better options literally around the corner? No matter his intentions, Thrax followed Odette and sat besides her with his own tray. Odette would have been annoyed by his presence, but the food on her tray took all of her attention. It was a big, round and blue ball with what looked like a bamboo stick next to it. She had no idea what it was, but it had a very distinct smell. What that smell was however she had no idea.

Odette looked up at Thrax, silently admitting she had no idea what to do. “Let me help you.” He chuckled, took the bamboo stick and hit the blue ball. It immediately opened, revealing a yellow substance inside of it. The uncomfortable smell turned vile and Odette had to hold her nose to avoid openly gagging. “Are you going to throw up, Your Highness?”

“Unfortunately not.” Odette answered nasally, her hand desperately closing her nose off to the smell. “What is this?”

“I believe Earthlings call them pill bugs, they are not as big on Earth though.”

Odette wanted to scream. She wanted to throw the tray away, run back to her cell and never come out again. That pill bug was the size of her head, its insides were laid open for her to see and, apparently, eat. The smell was more foul than anything she had ever smelled before. She looked towards Thrax who had just opened his own pill bug. He wiggled the bamboo stick at her, put it into the pill bug and sucked. He grimaced once the meat met his taste buds and coughed.

“Ew.” Thrax said simply, sticking out his split tongue. Odette couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. He looked like a child being forced to eat his vegetables. “Your turn.”

Odette’s laugh subsided immediately as she looked at her own untouched pill bug. She grabbed her bamboo straw, braced herself and sucked some of the meat into her mouth. What in the world, she thought when the warm goo hit her tongue. She looked up at Thrax who was looking at her expectantly.

“Why does it smell worse than it tastes?”

The laugh that came out of Thrax echoed in the cafeteria. He was in utter shock, but loved Odette’s reaction. She too was in shock. Why did it not taste bad? Why was it almost, kind of… okay? No good, but edible. She kept looking at Thrax who was struggling to stop laughing, tears even formed in the corner of his magenta-colored eyes. She would never have guessed he could laugh like that; so rambunctiously and without a care that everyone was looking at him. It was infectious. Despite not wanting to, Odette couldn’t help but laugh a bit as well. Their eyes met and for just a moment, she didn’t feel as lost as she had in a long time.

A voice interrupted their laughter and both Odette and Thrax looked towards the person approaching them. Odette couldn’t help but flinch and lean back into Thrax. The alien in front of her was an Arachnid, his face was insect-like with large, bulbous yellow eyes bearing star-like pupils. He had two large fangs in his upper jaw along with slim red fangs in his lower jaw. He had long gray hair hidden under a brown hat and a spider-like lower body complete with six slender legs. They grew from an abdomen with a black shell and a red underbelly. There were fang-like red spikes on the tips of his legs as well, he was hunched over and showing off his red crustacean claws. These claws looked like lobsters on Earth, not like the claws Thrax had.

“Oh, fuck off, Scroop.” Thrax dismissed and turned Odette away so she wasn’t looking at the Arachnid anymore. “Ignore him”. He whispered in her ear, but that was hard to do when she suddenly felt a claw grab a lock of her hair. The Arachnid, apparently named Scroop, was studying Odette’s hair. In fear of him cutting her hair with those sharp claws, she pulled her hair out of his grasp. A few hair strands were cut off in the process, proving just how sharp those claws really were.

“Don’t underestimate me, lass.” Scroop warned, still holding his razor-sharp claw threateningly close to her. “I could snap you like a—"

“Something tells me you’re hard to underestimate.” Odette interrupted before she could stop herself.

Thrax had apparently been in the middle of drinking because Odette heard the unmistakable sound of him spitting out the liquid, followed by a laugh which was only interrupted by a cough here and there. Thrax said something in a language Odette didn’t understand and suddenly, other people in the cafeteria were laughing as well. Scroop looked around in embarrassment and then reached for Odette, yanking her off the bench. She realized that insulting the creature who clearly wanted a reason to hate her wasn’t the smartest choice she had ever made. Perhaps it was only second to marrying Derek.

“Why, you impudent, little Earthling!” Scroop yelled and put his other claw threateningly close to Odette’s chin. “This is why I hate humans. You’re all—”

Scroop’s yelling was interrupted by a scream of pain from himself when Odette kicked him. She had expected her foot to be met with something hard due to his shell, but she must have found a soft spot because he immediately dropped her to the floor to soothe the pain. She got up on her feet and ran behind Thrax who had stood up from the bench. Scroop was about to reach for her until he saw Thrax.

“Get out of my way, Virus, or I will rip your head off your body!”

“Hm, sounds like a gas, baby. Bring it on.” Thrax responded whipping out his hand, the claw already glowing a threatening red color.

Before either of them could do anything though, Odette had thrown the tray of pill bug guts at Scroop, successfully blinding the Arachnid. She grabbed Thrax’s hand and he ran with her in a mix of shock and amusement. They heard Scroop yelling and others starting to give chase after them. Thrax laughed, caught up with Odette and turned the corner of a hallway. Before she could continue running, Thrax pulled her into a narrow passageway meant for the guards to make shortcuts. He pushed her up against the wall, trapping her with one of her legs forced around his waist to make room for them both. Odette wanted to protest against the inappropriate position, but Thrax hushed her as the group of inmates got closer.

Out of pure defiance, Odette pushed Thrax’s hand away from her even though it did little to change their proximity. He looked down at her and that’s when she realized just how tall he really was. Derek was taller than her as well, as most human men were, but Thrax was about two heads taller than Derek. She really had to lean her head backwards to look at him properly, he was truly towering over her despite making himself as small as possible to fit inside the narrow passageway. When his eyes met hers, fixating on her every move, she noticed a flicker of pink around his irises. Small sparks, almost like the crackles of fire in a newly-lit chimney.

Instinctively, though Thrax hadn’t moved at all, Odette knew what he was about to do. “Don’t you dare.” She whispered, hoping it sounded more confident than she felt. He searched her eyes, looking for any sign that she really wanted him to stop, and smirked when he found none. “No—” she hissed, but was very quickly silenced by his lips against hers. Her eyebrows knitted together in frustration, and she grabbed at his shirt as if wanting to push him away, but pulled him closer instead.

Odette couldn’t remember the last time she had been kissed, but she had never been kissed quite like this. The kisses she and Derek had shared were soft, gentle and romantic, mostly chaste pecks. Only their first kiss was particularly memorable. There was a certain hunger to the way Thrax was kissing her that she hadn’t known even existed. Was it possible to crave a person? This felt like she was being craved, there was a hint of desperation in the way his lips were moving against hers and she didn’t quite know how to feel about it. It wasn’t until the kiss ended, she realized she had been holding her breath and gasped for breath. Her eyes were closed, but she knew he was smirking.

“I think we’re in the clear.”

Odette’s eyes opened in shock, having completely forgotten why they were hiding in the first place. With a sneer, she tried to push Thrax away, but he was already against the wall and just laughed at her. She wiggled out of the passageway, tripping over her own feet in doing so, but was saved from falling by Thrax grabbing her by the waist.

“You usually this clumsy?”

“No!” Odette snapped and straightened herself up, hoping to save at least a little bit of her dignity. She pulled away from him, feeling a blush spread across her face as he far too casually smiled at her. “Don’t ever do that again.”

“Which part?” Thrax asked in mock confusion. While Thrax was talking, he was walking closer and closer to Odette, causing her to walk backwards until she hit the wall behind her. “When I saved your pretty ass yet again? When I hid you from them? Or when I… kept you quiet?”

Odette’s cheeks flared up again and she lifted her hand to slap him. To her surprise, her hand actually hit his cheek, and he did not try to stop her or even flinch. All Thrax did was wheeze followed by a moan, and that flicker of pink showed up in his eyes again.

“Stay away from me.” Odette snarled and walked away from Thrax whom she could hear chuckling behind her.

“You know where to find me when you change your mind.”

Right… his cell was right next to hers. Damn.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Odette spent the rest of the day in the library, hiding from Thrax and everyone else. She found a book with a bare bones introduction to all the known languages in the galaxy and studied it closely until she heard the roll call bell. She had run to her cell, noticing Thrax already being in his cell just like last night and she spent the night in the darkness with the exception of his glowing claw behind her. She slept better than she had the night before, but not by much.

The next morning, Odette got out of the cell, before Thrax had even sat up, and went to the cafeteria. She was determined to stay away from him from now on, and handle herself to the best of her ability. She might have lived liked royalty, but she wasn’t completely naïve. She got her food, this time it was some gray stuff, and sat down at an unoccupied table and started eating. It tasted like absolutely nothing and that was just fine. After the chaotic few days she had, she welcomed something plain and boring.

Odette managed to keep to herself, always watching over her shoulder to ensure she was indeed alone, until a cyborg Ursid approached her before lunch time. It was the one who had tipped his hat to her on the day of her arrival. He held out a piece of paper to her which she took while eyeing him suspiciously. It was a note asking for her to go to corridor A3 at the bottom level for a health check signed by one of the guards. It was written in perfect English with a very neat handwriting and so, Odette believed the note. She thanked the cyborg Ursid, though she wasn’t sure if he understood or not and she started her walk to the health check.

On her way there, it did occur to Odette that this was a little odd. Pleakley had told her this place didn’t care for its inmates, so a health check sounded uncharacteristic. But that note was so perfectly written, the cyborg Ursid had no reason to have issues with her and she hadn’t seen Scroop or the Lolligos all day, so she was hesitantly optimistic that this was just paranoia. As long as she kept her wits about her, she was sure she’d be fine.

However, as Odette almost turned the corner and entered A3, she felt her arm get yanked to the side. She gasped, but her mouth was covered immediately by an extremely warm hand and she tried scratching the person, but noticed the abnormally red skin on them. She looked up and, sure enough, it was Thrax who had pulled her to the side. She tried forcing his hand away from her, but he might as well have been made of stone. He used his free hand to hush her and her eyebrow twitched in confusion. He slowly let go of her mouth and pointed around the corner. Slowly, she leaned to the side just a bit so she could see.

Just around the corner, barely within earshot, was Scroop, the Lolligos and some extraterrestrials standing, clearly waiting for something. For Odette. It was a trap, and she had almost fallen for it. Her jaw dropped in shock. It was currently lunch time, so she would have been completely alone with them for the next hour and no one would have known. Odette couldn’t know for sure exactly what they would have done, but it could not have been good. Death might even have been the kindest outcome. If they could forge a note from a guard, who knew what else they could do to trick her.

Odette looked up at Thrax, still in shock thinking about what could almost have happened to her. He took her hand and gently led her further away from the corner so they were out of earshot. “Are you convinced?” he whispered when they were far enough away. He put his hands on her shoulders, leaning down until he was at her eye level, gazing at her with intense purple eyes. “You’ve only been here for a few days and you’ve already made enemies. They’re not gonna just leave you alone unless they have a really good reason to… let me be that reason.”

As disheartening as it was, Odette had to admit that Thrax was right. She would have liked not to feel like the damsel in distress she had been taught to be, but the truth was that she couldn’t protect herself. Not here. So, begrudgingly, she nodded and accepted Thrax’s proposition. He gave her a smile that almost didn’t look like a self-satisfied grin, and kissed her hand in a far too gentlemanly manner, considering what he had just made her agree to.

“Get back to my side of the cafeteria. I’ll catch up with you after I’ve told these guys to leave you alone.” Thrax instructed and gently patted her back to nudge her towards the cafeteria. Odette nodded and walked away as quietly and quickly as she could. “Good girl.”

Odette felt a weird mix of emotions at the praise, but decided not to dwell on it and get away from this cursed corridor. Thrax stayed until she was out of sight and then turned around to approach the inmates around the corner. They immediately noticed him when he approached.

“Nice work, boys.” Thrax complimented and laughed as he pulled out a satchel from his pocket. “Best damn money I’ve ever spent in this place.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t get what you’d want with that scrawny bitch to begin with.” Scroop sneered as he grabbed the satchel from Thrax. “Earthlings are filthy, nosy little—”

“Hey, hey, that’s my property you’re talking about.” Thrax interrupted in clear offense, but still laughing as well. He had just struck gold after all.

Thrax never thought he’d ever find that perfect little princess he saw months ago during the Introduction. There had yet to be a moment he hadn’t longed for her ever since he saw those big, amethyst eyes twinkling in curiosity at everything that was going on around her. There had been hundreds of people around them, but to Thrax she had become his sole purpose from that moment. It was impossible to take his eyes off her. The moment he saw her smile, his chest had begun to ache more fiercely than he thought was possible. He had fixated on her every move, every word she spoke and every smile she had shown. The only thing that had sullied the experience was that pathetic excuse of a man she was married to. This spoiled little brat who had dared interfere when Odette had shown a willingness to kiss Thrax to let him learn their language. Thrax knew this rat didn’t deserve someone like Odette and he knew it. Derek knew it and that was why he didn’t want his wife to even be present at the Introduction because he knew she’d someday realize she deserved better. Odette deserved someone utterly devoted to her in every single way, and Derek was not.

Thrax knew he could be what Odette wanted, what she ultimately needed. She just had to be willing to teach him. He didn’t know how to love, he had never wanted to experience such a thing. But this desire he had for her, the urge to protect her, the obsession he had to be in her presence every moment of every day, surely this was some kind of love? He couldn’t recall any time he had ever cared about someone, but Odette had consumed his every thought since he met her. He was committed to finding her, but as fate would have it, she had been brought to him with no effort on his part. All he had to do was convince her she needed him, which he was sure she would have figured out herself eventually, but he just didn’t have the patience to wait for her anymore. And, of course, he had to change his cell number so he was next to her even while she slept.

The Galactical Exile was a dangerous place, and Thrax was devoted to keeping Odette safe from everything and everyone there.

Except for himself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FAQ

What do Thrax’ eye colors mean?

Black = Afraid

Gray = Neutral/Bored

Green = Happy

Yellow = Embarrassed

Light orange = Tense

Dark orange = Uncomfortable

Red = Angry

Light pink = Flirty

Magenta = Playful

Purple = Focused

Light purple = Dazed/Tired

Dark blue = Sad

Light blue = Confident

Turquoise = Inspired

Who are the inmates Odette sees when she arrives at The Galactical Exile?

Inspector Pleakley is from the Lilo and Stitch.

The cyborg Ursid is Silver from Treasure Planet.

The Canid is Delbert Doppler from Treasure Planet.

The Felinid is Amelia Smollett from Treasure Planet.

The Cragorian is Samuel Arrow from Treasure Planet.

The Arachnid is Scroop from Treasure Planet.

The Lolligos, the Sagitta cafeteria workers, the big yellow alien with the tail and the light pink aliens are no specific characters from any specific franchises.

[danganronpadedication]

DAY 14: DANGANTOBER

(This is how I hope you guys react when you see me make another long post lol)

Day 14: Favorite Ultimate Talent

I don't know what I'm supposed to do about this one. Do I pick a favorite out of the ones that currently exist, nerd out and pick an obscure one from a light novel that 90% of the fanbase hasn't read, or do I come up with one for myself?

If I was an Ultimate, I'd be the Ultimate Yapper/j. For real though, I'd be one of two things, the Ultimate Filmmaker or the Ultimate Theorist. My career goal is to become a filmmaker, running my own movie studio and creating amazing movies for everyone of all ages. Bring back well-thought out movies that are so rare to come by nowadays. If I was a filmmaker however, I'd be a bit of a fraudulent one, since I haven't made any movies. I've written them, storyboarded them, etc. but they are not yet filmed.

Kaito hasn't gone to space yet, and I have yet to make a movie.

On the other hand, I've been told that I'd be the Ultimate Theorist. This is because in my off-time, I'm one of those kinds of people who make fan theories about certain shows and movies I like. I'd talk about one of them, but I fear it'd link back to me pretty quickly lmao. With that theory, I had a lot of people in that fanbase believing it, and it really took off. I actually gave this ultimate to my Danganronpa OC, he's the Ultimate Theorist, though his theories are largely more academic than mine.

This is him, for real.

This is probably also how I look to my friends and you lovely folks whenever I post long character analyses.

In terms of Ultimate that I'd want, I pick the unnamed Ultimate Make-Up Artist from Danganronpa: Gaiden! According to the wiki, the Ultimate Make-Up Artist is someone whose medium is the human body, applying makeup and prosthetics for theatrical, television, filmmaking, fashion, magazines, and other similar productions. That'd be so cool, and based on the description, I assume they're lumping in SFX makeup into this ultimate.

If you can do SFX makeup, you are one of the coolest people ever imo.

I also think Yasuke Matsuda's ultimate, Ultimate Neurologist, is pretty cool. The field of neuroscience is such a difficult one, you have to understand the human brain, and our brains are already very iffy and strange. Then you have to know how to apply that in a scientific and usually medical sense. Anyone with this ultimate is incredibly smart, and likely dedicated to their work to achieve that while still in high school.

Finally, an Ultimate that appears in-game that I'd want, is the Ultimate Cook. Yes, Teruteru is Teruteru, and I've already mentioned in a previous post that a lot of the food-related ultimates use underhanded means to make their food so beloved. But I've always wanted to learn how to cook.

You see, I'm one of those people who grew up as a "gifted kid". As such, I have been conditioned to believe that everything should come easy to me, and if it doesn't, then I suck and shall never try again. It's a bad mindset, but if you have it, you know its one that's hard to break out of because its so engrained within you. I work on it everyday, but I still catch myself feeling dejected when I'm not immediately amazing at everything I try.

I want to learn how to cook, I'm just scared that I'll try and not be good at it, and then I'll want to give up. It's something I'm trying to work through, picking new recipes to try every week, watching tutorials, Gordon Ramsey clips, Binging with Babish, and all the other cooking YouTube channels. I have like, forty cookbooks being delivered to me soon. I'm an adult, I need to have this skill.

I took a Culinary class a few months ago, and it was actually very nice and therapeutic for me. Despite the constant noise of the kitchen, everything was so soothing to me. Measuring, mixing, mincing, frying, frosting, it was heavenly. I'd only messed up my food three time, and two of those weren't my fault, but my teammate's. I'm still salty about the chocolate chip cookie incidents.

We had made chocolate chip cookies twice. Both times, my group was the only one to mess up. Both times, it wasn't my fault. The first time, the girl who was leading everyone didn't measure enough flour because she was too busy talking to her boyfriend, and the cookies were inedible. I had to scrape them off the baking sheet while her friends gave the rest of my group cookies. The second time, the other girl leading my group didn't put in enough of one ingredient, I think it was butter or sugar, and they came out rock hard and more akin to protein bars. Third time was my fault, I didn't know when to take the food off the stove and it burned.

But since then, I've successfully made beignets, spaghetti and meatballs, hamburgers, chicken mole, and so many more dishes. If I was the Ultimate Chef, you could bet good money on me making three course meals, I'd be so dramatic with it too. Adding garnishes and those pretentious dots on the plate like in The Menu. Ugh, it'd be so fun.

-Mod Tsumugi

Sorry, today's rant is shorter, but I'll be posting more today as well.

[korasonata]

My friend knows that I write fanfiction - he’s helped me with editing on some occasions, sometimes I ask for his opinion on specific phrasing. He doesn’t know EVERYTHING I’ve ever written, but he is relatively familiar with this one Hermitcraft fic in particular that I’ve been working on for the last 2 years, and every now and then out of the blue he’ll ask me about it. He’s never actually read it at all, but he knows it’s something I’ve worked very hard on and so occasionally he asks for updates on what’s happening, how far I’ve gotten, what chapter I’m on, etc.

Now, we’ve talked about Hermitcraft before, but he’s still not really 100% sure what it is. I’ve explained it to him, but he’d never actually watched or really even looked it up at all.

Until today.

I just had a full 3-4 hour conversation with this man. He started by asking me about some of the research I do and what role it plays, because I had previously mentioned that I did a lot of research that wasn’t necessarily “fact” related, but I used the knowledge a lot with how I describe certain situations. The example I gave was a previous chapter where I had researched a ton of astronomy so that I could better describe the behaviour of stars in this one specific section because I thought it sounded cool. I sent him a screenshot of the paragraph from the chapter, and he immediately asked me to link him to the full fic so he could read from the beginning because it sounded interesting.

Keeping in mind that he still doesn’t really know 100% what Hermitcraft actually is.

I sent him the link to the fic on my archive account and he was immediately confused by the set up and had another billion questions about all the symbols and the tagging system. One of the biggest things that confused him was the tag “RPF”. He plays dungeons and dragons, and so his immediate question was “does that stand for roll play fiction?” And I had to explain that no, this actually stands for “Real Person Fic” which confused the CRAP out of him for various reasons. The top reason being that about 10 minutes prior to this conversation he had decided that today was the day he was going to finally look up “Hermitcraft”.

Now, what I presume that he did was simply type “Hermitcraft” into a YouTube search bar, which then provided him with assorted episodes from different Hermits channels, one of which, I am presuming, was from a one ZombieCleo. Now, I’m assuming he picked this one deliberately because it was a name he recognized. I’ve talked about Cleo before, and so he knows I like them, and I ALSO know that because of this he can tell you the names of precisely 2 Hermits: ZombieCleo and BdoubleO - this is important later. The thing with the YouTube algorithm though is that I’m not really 100% sure how it works, as the video that I’m assuming popped up when he searched “Hermitcraft” was not actually a Hermitcraft video.

It was Cleo’s last episode of Limited Life.

And he loved this episode. Thought it was super compelling, loved the storytelling. The thing that confused him was Bdubs. Because obviously in Limited Life, Bdubs is Cleo’s son. Thing is, he ALSO knows about 3rd life, because I talked to him about Crastle duo when 3rd life was still the active season. Where Bdubs was Cleo’s partner.

And he did NOT particularly grasp that these 2 things were separate.

So when I explained to him that “RPF” meant “Real Person Fiction” as in “about real people” he was obviously VERY confused and a little concerned.

Yes I did explain to him that “RPF” in this particular case was used rather loosely because they are in fact playing characters in this sense - Bdubs is obviously not Cleo’s son in real life, they are just friends

Yes he did go look up the rest of the life series.

Yes, despite initial misunderstandings, he has now subscribed to ZombieCleo

[ask-sum-2ps]

Awakening

That's right! guess who's finally back into the swing of things! your favorite pink haired fox thing, things have finally settled down. and i'm somewhat caught up with my collage work, but now i feel safe and mentally secure enough to start working on my blog and my boys again; if you all have noticed or not the blog has gotten some visual upgrades, mainly it is lore and that lore will be unlocked going further down the line. i want the lore to be like a fun puzzle, i will be sprinkling hints as i go. now that states this blog will still be goofy silly haha 2p hot men, but lore is still fun to have and i like making it now some more updates below

For Starters, it's been a while since i've shared about my precious cats. We'll start with my older son, Thomas (tried to be Tomato but Thomas stuck) he is a big fat boy, love him a lots and his Brother Catalina (we thought he was a girl until he grew nuts)

so those are how the cats are and of course if you guys ever want i'll happily show some more pictues of my sweet baby boys. but now to the actual star of the blog and what you really wanna see. . . . . .

Me (just kidding)

Now the 2ps, so i have made a realization that on this blog i currently have 41 2p characters for the blog and 164 characters in total for the blog. so to make it so i don't end up fucking dying from trying to ya know trying to draw and keep track of every character. i will be separating main 2ps from side 2ps, you can of course still talk and ask the side cast stuff but i will mainly be focusing on the main cast. speaking off the main cast they will be getting some outfit changes/new looks just because i wanna give them some nicer outfits, the main cast will also be getting some more Indepth information that i will be posting on the blog so you can learn more about some of the lore i have for them

Klaus and Azrail are in grey cube jail because they are so ungodly pale that they disappear on the white background so i needed a different color to help them pop out but looking at it they are still kinda pale, at least they're a little bit more visible.

of course i also have a good few asks that i need to answer from last i left the blog off, although i won't be answering all of them as i will mainly be cleaning out my inbox and answering the ones that i feel like i can answer in a way that won't be disappointing. that includes a joke one my boyfriend gave because he is silly (i love him despite his silliness) so rest assure that there will be some asks finally answered but i hope i will get some new ones seeing as i will be more active (the art will be simpilar to help me do this easier)

i will also be doing more artist adventures with my 2ps, one of those things i want to do is animation and animatics. so expect to see some of those in the future, but if you would like to see early wips and other stuff i may do i do have a youtube channel although so far it's only character playlists for some random 2ps but i will still give the link if you guys are interested

um i'm not sure what else i should mention in this update, uhhhhhhhh oh! right you might be wondering why i'm orange simple reason is that it's autumn so ya'know orange. yeah seeing as my Sona Jam is an animal like creature i made it so she changes during the seasons. mainly to reflect how i like to change during the seasons (close and hair wise) funny enough in the species i made for Jam the they only change for winter but Jam is special as she changes seasonally.

each are different flavored too, Spring: Strawberry Lemonade, Summer: Cherry lemonade, Autumn: Orange Lemonade, Winter: Blackberry Lemonade

and those should be all the updates i need to give, i'm happy to be back! i missed everyone a lot

[clowngames]

Nature is healing. Cw: big sad like a rain storm.

https://youtube.com/shorts/7n4tH65y2Ec

My first thought is why would the title and description both say "full vid on tiktok and insta" and nowhere is there a link to the full video. What do I even search to find it? The youtuber handle and hope it's the same handle on other platforms? And then I scroll through their feed to find the right video, which I can't find by title because the title is "full video on tiktok and insta"???

Look I know that's not what you want me to say about the video but honestly the most important way I can contribute is by telling any prospective creators out there that your job as an Internet Person is to make viewing your shit as easy as possible. I hit the meatball menu to open the description to hopefully find a link and that's still more work than 90% of youtube shorts viewers are willing to go through even if the video literally ends mid-word. I'm willing to bet most of the commenters never ended up seeing the full video.

Also, like, if you're gonna cross-post onto youtube in a format with a limit of 60 seconds, and you're making a video with an extended metaphor, you can pare down that metaphor, cut out some of the middle sections to make the whole message land on youtube. Just upload the longer versions on other platforms. This is common practice.

StreetcraftShorts will take a clip from his longer videos on the Streetcraft channel and re-edit it to cut some of the fat so he can fit one idea into a 60-second clip and not have to cut things off mid-sentence, and even he fails to link to the full videos. The only reason I was able to find his main channel was because it's featured on the StreetcraftShorts home page, and the only reason I did that is because I'd already watched all of NotJustBike's content and this scratched a similar itch.

This was supposed to be a micro-rant before talking about the video itself but honestly at this point I think it'd be weird if I gave it a genuine response as if I hadn't just gone off.

[sana-yan]

Just 4 Guys formed in January of this year with the "remnants" of Suzuki-gun and became "5 Guys" with the addition of SANADA, quickly becoming a central unit in the New Japan scene. Taichi was the "bridge" for SANADA joining the team, and the latter would later win the IWGP World Heavyweight Title at Ryogoku on April 8, 2023. The two men, who share a common background in All Japan Pro Wrestling, have long resonated with each other and candidly discussed the past and present in a friendly atmosphere.

Interviewer: Toru Ichikawa / Photographer: Yoshihisa Kikuta Published in: Issue No. 2240 (May 3, 2023)

NOTE: This interview was conducted around April 10, 2023. DISCLAIMER: I am not a native Japanese speaker, and while translating, I utilized ichi.moe and yomichan transliteration dictionaries to get the most accurate meaning. I've attached a link to the unedited Japanese text here. Please let me know if there are any discrepancies. I will correct any mistranslation. I also tried to emulate the layout of the magazine as best as I could and add in some extra behind-the-scenes images (which will be noted as my own inclusion). As always, please do not share outside of Tumblr! Thank you, and enjoy!

Taichi sensed the signs of a "big shot" from a young SANADA!?

Ever since their days in Suzuki-gun and in Los Ingos, respectively, the two's singles competitions against each other have shown their roots through their offense and defense.

Apr. 8, 2023. All team members seconded for SANADA in Ryogoku and exchanged jokes backstage.

INTERVIEWER (INT): We arranged a talk between you two at the world's fastest pace.

TAICHI: Nah, I'll do it on YouTube later tonight. [laughs]

SANADA: It'll be released first. [laughs]

INT: That's only just a video.

TAICHI: And this here is text.

(Extra inclusion.) Apr. 10, 2023. Taichi and SANADA pose for a photo to plug Sana-yan's first live on Taichi's YouTube channel following SANADA's victory over Okada at Sakura Genesis 2023.

INT: This is in writing for the first time in this country. So, how did you feel when you look back on Sanada winning the belt in Ryogoku?

TAICHI: As you can see, his match was completely different from the Sana-yan of the past. He was a completely different person. Everyone who saw it felt that, didn't they? The costume, the hairstyle, the entrance music...

INT: Sanada, whom Taichi called "Kenichi Mikawa"* in a comment after the match, had a sparkling entrance.

TAICHI: You're teasing me this early? [laughs] Before the match in the locker room, we had "Scorpio Woman"* playing. [laughs] We relaxed in the room so Sana-yan wouldn't be tense. We thought it'd help him loosen up by telling jokes and drinking tea.

INT: Taichi, you were leaning forward and shouting during the match.

TAICHI: That's right. We were excited, but we were also desperate. We were also afraid that Sana-yan and we could fail at this point.

INT: It felt as though the entire unit was fighting together (with Sanada).

TAICHI: Oh yeah, even if he didn't know it. [laughs]

SANADA: No, no. [laughs] I could hear his voice, and for the first time, I thought it was great to have a second. I heard precise advice such as "rest now" and "attack now," which gave me confidence during the match.

TAICHI: We're not just a unit. We're going to win together. [turning to Sanada] Because LIJ is a business unit, aren't they? [laughs] We aim to win collectively as a team and rise to the top together.

SANADA: It's an amazing feeling, thinking of what we'll be building from here on out.

TAICHI: I wanted to create a unit with a never-before-seen scenery.

INT: The sight of Sanada being carried on your shoulders after the Ryogoku match was reminiscent of the 90s All Japan Pro Wrestling, similar to Misawa Mitsuharu of the past.

TAICHI: Naturally, with me, Uncle Nobu, and Sana-yan in the middle, our blood stirred to do something old school. If you win a belt, it should also have a shoulder ride, no? [laughs] I think it was good for us as a trio together, and I'm sure Uncle Nobu's presence was also very significant for Sana-yan.

SANADA: All three of us (from our debuts to our tenure in All Japan) didn't overlap.

TAICHI: We never lived together at the dojo. When Sanada was still young, I once raided the dojo as a surprise. [wry smile]

INT: Why did you raid the dojo?

TAICHI: I was having dinner with Old Man Kihara (Kihara Fumito, the AJPW ring announcer), and we talked about heading over to the dojo. There happened to be a wooden sword at the dojo, so I put on a full-face helmet and went into where the trainees were sleeping. I should have said, "It's a joke," but because I left with my helmet on, the young guys had no clue who I was even at the end. Maybe instead of being surprised, they were afraid. [laughs]

INT: Sanada, you once said that your first impression of Taichi was that he was a "yakara"*, right?

SANADA: Hahaha!!

TAICHI: I guess if you were attacked with a full-face helmet. [laughs]

INT: I think his appearance is more than a "yakara," though. [laughs]

TAICHI: After the raid event, I went to the public baths with Old Man Kihara*, who was doing a diet then. He went into the sauna many times and collapsed from dehydration.

Since Old Man Kihara is such a prankster, I thought, "Yeah, yeah, another one," and let him be until someone had to call the ambulance. As the staff rushed in, I thought I better leave it to them, so I ended up drying my hair with a hair dryer. [laughs]

After I was at the hospital, I called the All Japan Dojo, told them of Old Man Kihara's situation, and asked someone to come over. One of those people ended up being Sana-yan.

INT: At that time, there were young trainees who came to the hospital.

TAICHI: There was another young guy, and he and Sanada said they'd look after Old Man Kihara. Then, Sana-yan poured a bunch of candy on the waiting room chair and started to snack. "We'll eat and wait for him," he said while munching, and I thought to myself: who the hell are these guys? [laughs]

SANADA: At the time, I didn't like alcohol yet, so I gravitated towards sweets.

TAICHI: I told them Old Man Kihara had collapsed, but they appeared unconcerned and ate sweets. [laughs]

INT: In a way, that's a big response. [laughs]

TAICHI: No, really. I was a bit taken aback. I thought this guy was going to be a big shot. [laughs]

INT: By the way, Sanada, did you ever watch a Taichi match when you were a fan? (T/N: Meaning before Sanada became a pro wrestler.)

SANADA: Yes, I had.

INT: What was your impression?

TAICHI: There weren't any, right. [laughs]

SANADA: You had brown hair, no?

TAICHI: I think I colored my hair brown halfway through.

SANADA: At that time, Akira Raijin-san, the leader of the training camp dorms, was like this... [bows deeply] ...in front of Taichi-niyan. For the training camp dorm leader to be like that...

INT: So you had an image of a scary person. [laughs] Taichi, you met SANADA in Mexico before he joined New Japan, didn't you?

TAICHI: Ah, we met for a moment.

SANADA: We met during the month I was in Mexico after exiting All Japan.

TAICHI: It wasn't more than a greeting, just a "hello."

INT: Until Sanada entered New Japan in 2016, you two had no in-ring contact.

Although from a different unit, Taichi, who always cared, made me "feel love." - SANADA

{page 2}

SANADA: But, when I arrived in 2010, Taichi-niyan wasn't in New Japan.

INT: He was working at NOAH around this time, right?

SANADA: Even after he returned, we didn't have a match. Really, I believe it's been a recent thing.

INT: Taichi originally started saying "Sana-yan" because he created a character resembling Sanada in one of his video games, right?*

SANADA: Ah, it was very similar. [laughs]

TAICHI: It resembled him incredibly! [laughs] The name Sana-yan was easy to say, so I ended up calling it that on my own.

INT: There was a period where the two of you kept in touch through the organization's website diaries, but Taichi, did you feel sympathy towards Sanada?

TAICHI: In a way, I was curious about him, being from All Japan Pro Wrestling. I often said this for years since we competed against each other, but it felt like he had something great that was being wasted. Long before I was comfortable around Sana-yan, I said, "At this rate, he'll be a midranger (T/N: midcarder) if he doesn't change." I was a little worried about him. I know it was selfish and meddlesome, but I told him.

INT: Midrangers are overshadowed somewhat, aren't they?

TAICHI: That's right. Yellow or peach would still be better. [laughs] Something "green" is ordinary, like a nobody. I thought that was a waste.

(T/N: Taichi is riffing on the word "mid" sounding phonetically similar to midori, the color green.)

INT: Sanada, how did you take in Taichi's remarks?

SANADA: It resonated with me that he cared about me even though we were in different units. After all, one wouldn't usually say it, right?

TAICHI: Other guys have the attitude of not giving a damn about what happens (to anybody else).

SANADA: I felt loved that he dared to tell me, especially in a situation like that.

INT: You said you felt loved!

TAICHI: I don't know much about what Love is, but...

INT: Whether or not it was love, there was a lot of resonance between you both when you swung in your singles matches, right?

TAICHI: Somewhere, I realized that every time I did a singles match with Sana-yan, it was as if my true self came out. I was amazed, seeing the self I didn't know I had within me emerging. Conversely, I wondered if it was the same for Sana-yan. If he'd do things he wouldn't in LIJ when he was up against me. I thought what happened in the ring brought us closer together.

INT: How did you see the situation where Sanada could not reach the top?

TAICHI: Watching it, I thought he would surely be a midranger. Takagi, who came in from the middle of the pack, moved with a bang to the place I wanted Sana-yan to go. But you took something like the US title once, didn't you?

SANADA: Yeah, I picked it up.

TAICHI: But you got injured (with an orbital floor fracture). Even though he was in an enemy faction, I felt a sense of dread at the time. In wrestling, luck is also a kind of skill. Maybe Sana-yan didn't have the skills to hold the US title.

To lose the singles belt you worked so hard for due to injury felt like something was still missing, like the gods of pro wrestling said, "You're not ready to be a champion yet; isn't there something more you need to awaken?" I wondered if such forces were at work.

"I want to work with Takagi again and change my landscape." - Taichi

INT: In last year's G1 Climax, Taichi, you said to Sanada, "Why are you in that place?" After you said those words, it felt like the distance and the relationship between you two began to change around that time.

TAICHI: There's the G1, but the actual decisive moment was in the first round of last year's TV title tournament.

INT: The match was in Sanada's hometown of Nagaoka.

SANADA: Around that time, he asked me something like, "Won't you join me?"

TAICHI: It's plain to see. Looking back (at the fight footage), you can see we discussed it in the ring after the match.

INT: What prompted you to make such a direct offer back then?

TAICHI: It was a period where the faction members (Suzuki-gun) were looking in different directions, as there were talks of disbanding, so I was wondering what to do should the unit disappear.

During that time, Sana-yan's usual demeanor would be there, but a different Sana-yan would come out when he fought against me in a match. I thought if he worked with me, the things he couldn't catch up on, the talents he couldn't find results with, all those things I could help cover. So I asked him if he wanted to join me. To which Sana-yan asked, "Is Taichi-niyan going to be in (Los Ingos)?"

INT: He thought you were going to join! [laughs]

TAICHI: "No, no, Sana-yan is coming over here." The topic really started from that point forward.

SANADA: I thought I was being set up when he said that. I wondered if I was getting pranked.

TAICHI: What kinda prank is that! [laughs]

SANADA: I worried it might be some kind of trap.

TAICHI: I thought, "You should have moved up quickly (in the ranking)," but he seemed to give the impression of, "No, I'm fine here." I wished he was a little more greedy. He didn't need anything pretty; if he let go of his obsessive hangups, he could go far. It felt that LIJ's Sana-yan was becoming rigid.

INT: With that in mind, did you consider earnestly recruiting him into the unit at the beginning of the year?

TAICHI: I had been recruiting him since the TV title match, and in my mind, I believed my persistent prods would gradually work. That's why on January 5th (at New Year Dash), when I said that the four of us would go and change the scenery, I was sure he wouldn't join. I believed I was partly at fault for saying needless things, resulting in Sana-yan's poor performance and causing him to lose his way in his matches.

"I didn't want him to revert to the Sana-yan he had been in LIJ; I believe it was absolutely the right thing to do." - Taichi

Taichi / Real name undisclosed. Born March 19, 1980 in Ishikari, Hokkaido. Debuted at All Japan in December 2002. Around 2006, he started to appear on the New Japan ring, and became a member of Suzuki-gun in 2011. Moved up to heavyweight in 2018, and won the IWGP Tag, NEVER Openweight, and KOPW titles. Finisher: Black Mephisto. 177cm, 100kg. SANADA / Real name: Seiya Sanada. Born January 28, 1988 in Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture. Debuted at All Japan in March 2007. Left in June 2013, joined WRESTLE-1, and worked freelance, before joining New Japan in April 2016. He was a Los Ingobernables de Japon member until he left in March of this year. Finisher: Deadfall. 182cm, 100kg.

{page 3}

INT: On January 5th, at Ota Ward, you envisioned Sanada joining your team.

TAICHI: I told my teammates that Sana-yan might choose us.

INT: Sanada joining the unit wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing but something that had been set into motion.

TAICHI: Yes, although it was possible we weren't going to be together, we started to feel something the more we had matches against each other. And little by little, each nudge led to the action in March at Korakuen Hall.

INT: Honestly, what's the atmosphere in the unit like now that Sanada has joined?

TAICHI: It's crazy good. We four were already like that, so when Sana-yan joined, I didn't want him to revert to the Sana-yan he had been in LIJ. So, as I mentioned, we played "Scorpio Woman" and tried to make him laugh with our antics. As you can tell from the backstage, he started to laugh more often.

SANADA: I could bring out my natural, true self. I thought it would be best not to embellish it.

TAICHI: If people notice that side of you outside the ring, that aspect would also naturally appear inside the ring. As a result, he's come this far now. To a casual viewer, we might seem childish (with our backstage talks), or they might think we're doing a comedic bit, but I took a chance to do that and genuinely believe it was the right choice since it's led to the present-day Sana-yan.

INT: How do you plan to proceed from here as a unit?

TAICHI: Now that we've taken our first step into the new scene, we'll be a one-trick pony if we just keep calling out, "Sana-yan" this and "Sana-yan" that. Of course, myself, Uncle Nobu, Douki, and... I don't know about Taka [laughs], we should move together to see the new scenery. Uncle Nobu has the juniors (title), and I want to work with Takagi again and change my landscape.

INT: Regarding KOPW, Taichi, you said you didn't care if the title wasn't on the line.

TAICHI: I'd certainly appreciate it if the title was on the line, but I've already lost three times in a row, so who am I to demand they put the title up for grabs? Because of Takagi, I fell into a huge slump last year and couldn't win any singles matches. I have to defeat Takagi, the opponent who made me fall into this state, to move forward. Anyway, I'm only asking for a singles match. If KOPW happens to be included, that would be even better for my landscape.

INT: And as for its rules?

TAICHI: I'm in no position to declare the rules, so Takagi should decide. We could even do a "Return Sana-yan"* match if he wants. [laughs]

INT: It'd be too revolutionary to have the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion move to a different faction in the middle of his reign. [laughs]

SANADA: I want to do a shoulder ride.

TAICHI: You want to do it the other way around? It's a dream, then! [laughs] Will you and Uncle Nobu do it together? For real? Then let's get that on the cover (of Weekly Pro Wrestling) too! [laughs]

INT: Making shoulder rides a regular part of the tradition would be nice.

TAICHI: We'll carry whoever is the central person on our shoulders. Because no one is the boss, or the leader, so whoever stands out at the time is the best. So if Uncle Nobu wins the junior belt, the two of us will do it together.

INT: I would love to see Kanemaru being carried around. [laughs]

SANADA: It's a dream. [laughs]

TAICHI: Old school All Japan style is still a new scenery. [laughs] Even if Uncle Nobu doesn't make the junior title, we still have Douki and Taka... though I don't know about Taka. [laughs]

INT: Sanada, you're set to defend against Hiromu.

SANADA: Hiromu-san said that if he wins the belt, he wants to go up against Naito-san. I feel he's using the IWGP belt and me as a stepping stone, so I want to show him that it's not such an easy belt to win. I barely managed to get this belt, so I want to say that this isn't something that can be taken lightly.

TAICHI: Well... it could be a shot at you. Perhaps there's jealousy that you became a champion after leaving. But there's a chance that if he messes up (against Uncle Nobu), the three of us could be in Fukuoka holding singles belts and riding on each other's shoulders, no? It's a dream~ "Triple Crown Champions!" [laughs]

INT: Is there anything else you'd like to do with Sanada outside the ring?

TAICHI: I'm working two jobs as (a wrestler and) a YouTuber, so I thought it'd be nice to show the world the other side of Sana-yan that hasn't been seen before. He said he's curious about playing pranks, too.

SANADA: I badly want to try. I've seen prank videos on YouTube, and I want to cream (pie) someone in the face with a bam! I want to do it.

TAICHI: You think that'd work on Uncle Nobu? I'm sure it'd work on Taka. [laughs]

In the upcoming series, Kanemaru and Taichi will be carried on the shoulders... "Shoulder rides" will be a part of this faction's tradition!

The J5G team was on the cover of last week's issue. Will we see this scene again in the next series?

Footnotes:

Kenichi Mikawa is a gay drag personality and onnagata singer.

The "Scorpio Woman" Taichi refers to is the single by Kenichi Mikawa, not the song by Jimi Hendrix.

やから (yakara) is a slang word with various meanings, both positive and negative, meaning someone of the same "clan/blood/background" as you (kindred), or that they're "thugs/delinquents," etc. Taichi definitely fits both terms lmao. This word is mainly used in the Kansai dialect. Since SANADA's hometown is in Niigata, which is in the Chūbu region closest to the Kansai region, he sometimes uses this dialect.

Read more about Taichi and SANADA's first encounter here.

Read more about the creation of the nickname and "The Big Adventure of SANA-yan" here.

I can't believe Uncle Shingo denied us of a "Sanada-on-a-Pole" match, RIP

And this is the end! I hope you had fun reading as much as I did translating. If you enjoyed my scanlation and if you have the means, please consider leaving a tip through tumblr and supporting my translations! No pressure if you can't, and please reblog and support these two guys! :) Thank you very much!

[heartfelttry]

on a tiktok comment, i mentioned having taken notes of thepandaredd's OCs and whatnot to be able to name-drop them once i am un-sickly enough to commit to writing DC fanfics (and i mentioned them in a comment to begin with because either thepandredd has two OCs named Ted now, or we got a prequel or reboot of their original Ted OC) and it got over 1 Like which is all the attention i needed to post my notes lmao

(it just took me a while to post bc i got Too Into My Own Head about having maybe missed something, so i re-watched all thepandaredd's not-Comic-Book-Club videos (tho i do enjoy those, you should watch them) on his yt channel before posting this)

real quick, please note, i did leave all my headcanons in here because i am emotionally attached to them, but i did make said hcs labeled in blue and i made them tiny so you can know where to avoid them if you so wish. that was my big thing i want anybody reading to be aware of. onto the smaller notes of interest (no pun intended, i just prefer small-text when i babble and over-explain), these notes are messy chaotically organized. bc my brain is messy chaotically organized. (also: i have dyslexia and chronic memory loss, so please do forgive the accidental missspellings and the not-accidental "isn't this too much detail?" sections) this is all copy-pasted from my notes with some additions made for your guys' convenience (i put in links where i remembered links go (im sure i missed some citations i could have linked and forgot to even cite links in many other places, ugh, i do not want to cite everything, i gave up, i know my notes have evidence even if i didn't link the video every time, you fact-check, i'm tired lmao rip), i colored the text sometimes, i clarified things i theorize sometimes so things make sense to non-mind-readers, the works. i always speak to a hypothetical audience in my notes tho, so, shockingly, that wasn't actually added for you. idk why i p much always do that; i just accept it. but you're welcome). feel free to copy and edit this down further for your own use to update. i know i plan to update my private notes when new info/OCs come out, but idk if i will update this public post, ever, but hey! maybe!

also, above all: please follow thepandaredd (he/they) on your favorite social media of choice. support the guy on patreon. buy merch. all the good stuff. here's the linktree to all the important things related to thepandaredd's socials and whatnot. enjoy their creations, he's really fun lol

● was posted: 30 March 2024 ● was last updated: 2 April 2024 (reason for update: i realized i forgot the Reboot Hand, updated on March 31st + forgot to include a bullet-point on Bill being anti-smoking, and forgot to say who set Bill on fire, updated on April 1st + realized i got confused and my math on Bill's age was wrong as i originally said he was a minimum of "16+ years older than the 10 year-old Robin he met" when he is actually a minimum of 6+ years older to therefore make him a minimum of 16 years old to Robin's 10, updated on April 2nd)

↳ here is my "after posting this" thoughts if you are curious. it consists entirely of a friend of mine encouraging me to publish some texts i sent her answering "what was my favorite thing i learned?" and "do i have any questions?" (from 30 March 2024 original post) ↳ ill maybe make another one of these "after posting this thoughts" if i ever do a BIG update on this? who knows lol

also, please note i have yet to see any thepandaredd twitch streams (i just know my brain and my brain likes edited content, esp if it is short or short-ish bc my brain loves that shit. i like Dimension 20 more than Critical Role, i like ConnorDawg's gaming youtube channel more than CDawgVA's twitch or his VOD youtube channel that said edited gaming videos all come from, and i like audio dramatizations of books way more than audiobooks. it is just how i unfortunately or fortunately work), so idk if any additional info has been said there. i have heard good things about thepandaredd's Stream Dump youtube channel tho, so do go to that aforementioned linktree and check it out! if i ever am able to get my brain to accept twitch VODs, and not just zone out and disassociate when i should be engaged, i will delete this section (hence why it is under the Read More) and update accordingly ✌️

------------- associations --------------

★★★ AGENT OF THE REBOOT (DC only so far, created by thepandaredd. probably should have a Marvel equivalent or else also exist in Marvel? or maybe the TVA counts, idk, i havent seen "Loki")

● has one confirmed worker of an unknown name and unknown pronouns (hc/theories on pronouns: However, since this character's form can change, one can assume this agent character takes on the pronouns of the original form (eg. the character did take on Bill The Henchman's form and Bill uses he/him pronouns, so assumedly this agent character would accept he/him pronouns while using Bill's form. it feels respectful towards the original form. however, this is an argument one can use as a hc and is not confirmed. i hate JKR, but remember the scene where everyone used polyjuice potions to pretend to be Harry Potter in the last book and they all kept their original pronouns despite having Harry's face? like, as an explicit example, Hermione still had she/her pronouns while fully transformed into having Harry's body? weirdly pro-trans scene for a terf to have written. but yeah, same could go for this character. so an argument can be made both ways); but if i ever write about this agent, until proven otherwise: my hc and what i plan to do is either they/them or a neo-pronoun for this character due to a mixture of headcanon (kinda cool for an organization to be totally nameless, ageless, faceless, and genderless (maybe even of a omniuniversal hive-mind? idk, we don't know anything), so i assume this is that) and a lack of clarity/details on this specific agent character. but there you go, there are all the options one can assume for this agent character's pronouns. adjacently, personally, if i do a neo-pronoun for this character when writing: i think i'll either do the "the royal we", a classic; or i will do the definite article, as recently popularized in "Doctor Who", but idk, we'll see, might just do "they/them" for simplicity sake. or maybe we'll get pronouns if the Agent comes back, who fucking knows). (hc name of character: remember that Iron Man MCU joke about "What? Phil? No, his first name is Agent" about Agent Phil Coulson of SHIELD? yeah, if i write for this character, i will be assuming an acceptable name is "Agent, just Agent")

● Introduced as "I'm an agent of The Reboot". unsure if organization is "The Reboot" or "Agents Of The Reboot" or if its called something else and he just did layman terms for it so that it was "agent of the reboot"? i have no idea. i personally most prefer Agents Of The Reboot, or layman terms if i or someone else can come up with a cooler name. (if this was Marvel and i had seen "Loki", there would probably be a Time Variance Authority (TVA) joke to make here). could also be just a one-man thing where Agent Of The Reboot is the character's name/species, and they are the only fucking one?? idk, we aren't supposed to know shit about this character, they are supposed to be a mystery, it makes sense that nothing is confirmed and that nothing makes sense, idk what to tell you

↳ ThePandaRedd normally introduces character name differentiations via a text box saying who is playing who, but this guy's just said " ? ". what a fun meta detail lol

● Helps characters reboot and "get to where you're supposed to go"

● This agent/The organization is responsible for "Crisis on Infinite Earth", "New 52" reboots

● Reboot ability is activated via snapping. very Thanos of the character, but sure, why not, it's a cool fucking ability

● Copies other person's face because "it's what your brain will recognize the easiest". Visually, to readers, it looks like a pixelated version of it (i assume that aspect is for viewer's clarity of who is speaking when. kind of like how "Avatar: The Last Airbender"'s air is supposed to be invisible (y'know, as air generally is) to the characters within the show, but is drawn so viewers can see what Aang is bending and how. but. like. for character design)

↳ Was introduced helping Bill The Henchman, more about that in Bill's section. Said Bill's storyline "got too convoluted" and instead of fixing the storyline, Bill was deemed for a reboot-- well, the whole universe was taken to start over, actually. 

↳ speaks with a slight computer-y voice-changer effect. makes the character kind of sound like they come from an 8-bit video-game.

↳ my hc: is that this kind of works as a mixture of "The Digital Circus" and @/cholv0q (of tiktok)'s Alastor of "Hazbin Hotel" re-design (their linktree is over here btw). where the character kind of just comes from this early-internet days (which is when there was more widespread bingeing and cross-references of comics, due to them being uploaded digitally and fan-forums citing themselves and whatnot (which, fun fact: apparently, January 1, 1983 is considered the Internet's official birthday. so that is the fucking earliest we could be talking about) (i know also the idea of comics in academia, like getting analyzed in essays, became more popularized around this time. but i don't know how much of that is causation and correlation. it's still considered new and novel for a campus to include graphic novels in a required reading list, though it is on the edge of being "uncommon but welcome" nowadays. English classes entirely focused on graphic novels, albums, and comics are still a v new-ish thing. but im getting off-topic, that was just my experience in going to college in the ~2020s anyway). and ergo, comic companies had to care a bit more about continuity and it was less of a "well, it depends on the writer if they care about that" thing. hence, the kind of "the demand formed and so the need was filled" creation of this character/organization? (not as in "ah, i see a job oppurtunity here" type of "demand formed, and we can fulfill that need". but as in "the universe is ever-expanding and ever-repairing itself" kind of mysterious cosmic horror. kind of like Marvel Comics' The Watchers but 50× the eldritch horror. like whatever force in the universe made Earth's deep sea creatures and DC-Comics-version-of-Mars' white martians? that force played some early desktop computer horror games and said "let me put this on my pinterest board as inspo for this new project i'm working on" type of shit. nobody knows where this fucker/these fuckers came from, they just didn't exist before and suddenly they came into being, fully formed. very unsettling) and due to the tech of the time, the voice filter and pixelation of the face make even more sense. how does "The Digital Circus" apply to this? just the sense of "omnipotence in an old fucking desktop computer technology" really. as for the @/cholv0q's Alastor of "Hazbin Hotel" re-design bit, i just really fucking like that Chol included this bit about "changing[ this character's vocal abilities to come from] an old radio[ on his chest,] where his real voice comes from, instead of his mouth or throat". i really fucking like that idea so im yoinking it and switching the tech away from a 1920s radio. and i think that would be fucking sick to apply to this Agent character considering their shapeshifting, pixelation, implied vocal changes (i assume the voice changes with the form and its not That Voice with every form, just That Voice Filter ontop of the everchanging voice), voice filter, and general uncanny-valley-ness. just imagine a pixelated version of your face talking to you about rebooting your life while never opening their mouth, as the uncanny low-rez doppleganger version of you talks to you through a fucking 80s PC speaker lodged in its throat/clavicle area, sounding like the earliest versions of a voice-acted horror video-game. i love it. i think it maintains the mystery about "how the fuck, whomst the fuck" while upping the creepy to be even creepier, to me at least. plus, then there's the whole "snaps to reboot" ability, yes, but now we got the "Video-Game Boss with a Second Phase" built in right there because if snapping does all that reality-shattering/-bending nonsense then what the fuck do you think happens if the Agent does finally open their fucking mouth???

● also, this symbol flashed up while Bill the Henchman fell post-snap. i normally wouldn't think to screenshot such a thing, but i thought it was odd upon my most recent re-watch (bc anxiety about posting this publicly and maybe missing something, you get it) that it kind of has a hand-shape inside it? which a hand symbol + the act of snapping with one's hand correlates in an interesting way, not to mention the timing of this appearing IMMEDIATELY after the snap. but maybe it is a comic reference i am missing? maybe it is related to the Agents of the Reboot getting their own merch of some kind someday? do they get a logo, does that make sense for them to have, are they a team or...? idk. but i added it here just in case it is pertinent in some way (excuse the low resolution)

● the fucker (/tone indicator: affectionate) is within this compilation video, i will only link this video one more time in Bill The Henchman's section (below, under the "People" section)

.

.

.

★★★ RED HOOD'S ANTI-HERO ACCIDENT ASSURANCES (DC only. created in a comment within thepandaredd's tiktok that then thepandaredd replied to and acted out. the comment was by @/timelordpoet1273 on tiktok. i probably didn't need to write this one but it made me laugh so im including it)

● timelordpoet273's comment: "Red Hood just starts his own insurance company. He names it Anti-Hero Accident Assurances. Nobody answers the phone, and the voiceail is swear words."

● thepandaredd, uh, i mean, Jason Todd's said voicemail (yes, i made a fucking transcription lmao pls let me live, i have chronic memory loss and my notes are my lifeblood): [voice 1] "Hello. And thank you for calling Red Hood's Anti-Hero Accident Assurances. If you are calling in regard to one of our anti-heroes, please stay on the line for a recorded message." [voice 2] "Now I know for a goddamn fact that you did not just call an insurance agency to try to file a claim against a bunch of anti-heroes that kill people for a living. Do you have any idea how much ammo fucking costs? We are out here spending our entire life savings to buy you the briefest little moments of the only life you will ever live, and you have the audacity to try and file a claim against us? What the fuck did we do, shoot out your knee-cap? Fuck you. Whatever we did is going to save you down the fucking line. Goddamn— Hang up your fucking phone."

.

.

.

★★★ SUPERB PROWERS: SUPERHERO INSURANCE (DC only so far, created by thepandaredd. Marvel equivalent is "Damage Control")

↳ colloquially, it's apparently called "Superb Prowers Insurance Agency"

● Motto: "Superb Prowers insurance. If it's not a bird and it's not a plane, give us a ring and we'll do our thang." (note: Todd Andrews hates saying this at the beginning of every phone-call)

● Covers civillian damages done by superheroes + super-battles. "Our team mostly covers superhero and super-powered related accidents and injuries?"

↳ Does not cover supervillains (from damages done to said villains by superheroes) (however: Bill the Henchman was covered by them for the loss of his bones)

● is up the street from Vitriol Vindications (which is insurance for supervillains and the damages done to them by superheroes)

● confirmed workers: Todd Andrews (is one of their representatives, as in "I represent Superb Prowers Agency". more on Todd Andrews is below, has their own section with the other OCs in "People"); maybe/maybe not to be confused with Todd the Goonion Rep (section is below, under the "People" heading. where he works, The First Universal Henchmen's Union, is below, under the "Associations" heading) and/or maybe/maybe not confused with the Todd that is Bill's friend from high school (below, under "People") bc idk, guess they could all be the same guy? idk, i would assume no but maybe

↳ Todd Andrews' outfit is in their own character section, which could arguably be following the company's dress-code for its workers or be their employees' uniform or something

↳ in the first video Todd Andrews used a cell phone and paced around. second video on, Todd Andrews is seated, assumedly at a computer, and is wearing a headset with microphone attachment. not wireless. assumedly, the later is standard for all workers, the former was just Todd Andrews briefly based on materials thepandaredd had available for said skit, i mean an eccentric habit or done for the purpose of the documentary-interview style that only happened in the first video

● only one villain has called the agency, and it was Killer Shark, which that is both his civillian- and villain-name. so idk if the workers call villains by their civillian or villain identity when talking directly to them (i also assume "Cassandra", who is a few bullet-points down but still within the Superb Prowers section, is not Todd Andrews calling Cassandra Cain (or any other DC character phoentically named "Cassandra/Kassandra/etc") by her first name, esp since thepandaredd likes to play Cassandra as nonverbal in skits and Todd Andrews was on the phone. but there is also ways to use live-captions and text-to-speech, along with Deaf/HOH and nonverbal web-cam/chat services to have a hotline person call for you and whatnot, but i assume that's not what is happening here, i digress. i assume it's just a random Cassandra, and workers don't call heroes by their civillian forename)

● Insurances:

↳ ● Flashpoint Insurance: for damages in alternate timelines

↳ ● offers 2 different Gotham plans. (1) The Batman Plan; the Batman Plan has a Reckless Robin extension (only covers current Robin/s. does not cover former Robins). (2) The Bat-Family Plan (assumedly covers former Robins)

↳ ● Crisis Coverage: is a little different from Flashpoint coverage (is not explained how lol)

↳ ● Green Arrow coverage

↳ ● Bird Insurance: coverage for bird-themed superheroes, not actual birds 

↳ ● Multi-Verse Insurance: "No, sir, if a alternate universe version of you has multi-verse insurance, it does mean you are also insured."

↳ ● has Home Insurance and Buisness Insurance ("Uh, let me check. Hey, boss, are lairs covered under home insurance or buisness insurance?")

↳ not a type of insurance but important questions that have implications about the place's insurance stuff: "Okay, well, answer me this: did Superman punch your wall or did he get flown through your wall as the result of a punch?" (later) "No, you see, you're covered for him punching your wall. Not being punched through your wall." ■ "How many times do I need to tell you, Cassandra? We stopped covering sky beams last year after the Zod attack." ■ "Did you get punched by a Robin or by a former Robin? 'Cause you have the Batman plan, and that only covers one of those." ■ "What do you mean the city is just gone? What does that mea--?!" ■ "Yes, but do you have proof your house was still there before Coast City was destroyed?" ■ "Can you confirm that it was a bat-arang that hit you?" ■ "Okay, but which Superboy? Yes, it's important!" ■ "Okay, but did you get the license plate number? I don't care if it was the Bat-Mobile! Yes or no?" ■ "Okay, but which color arrow were you attacked by? No, it is important, you only have Green Arrow coverage." ■ "M'am-- M'am! The premiums are lower in Iowa than Metropolis because it's Metropolis."

.

.

.

★★★ VITRIOL VINDICATIONS: VILLAINS INSURANCE (DC only so far, created by thepandaredd. Marvel equivalent is "Damage Control")

● "Vitriol Vindications: verifying villainous violations, how may I help you?"

● is insurance coverage for supervillain (for damages done to them by superheroes) (does not cover Goon Union violation claims)

● is down the street from Superb Prowers: Superhero Insurance

● knows supervillains' civillian identities

● hotline workers can curse on the phone (eg. "I'm sorry, sir, but if you didn't want food poisoning then why in the hell did you eat a Joker Fish in the first place?")

↳ also, they can smoke while on the job

● confirmed workers: unnamed character (pronouns unknown). spoke with a gravely voice, assumedly from smoking as he smokes at work (what i assume is a cigarette anyway? or a cigar? it could also be a joint, i got no clue), and also an accent (im not good at identifying accents, idk from where exactly, it sounded vaguely the East Coast variety of American). appearance of said character includes a brown jacket with sherpa lining over a black shirt, had gray pants on. (my hc for name: Sol Abagnale. the Abagnale part is in reference after "Frank Abagnale Jr", a real life white-collar criminal who has a famous film as well as semi-famous musical under the title "Catch Me If You Can" (he also kind of inspired the show "White-Collar" in the sense of how the irl Abagnale became an expert consolutant helping catch other criminals. he has recorded lectures and everything, his analytical work is insane) where one of his most routine crimes was conning banks and insurance and whatnot, and also the IRS caught his dad (Frank Senior) who Junior learned a lot of his crimes from. feels fitting. the first name has to do with me kind of fudging the name "Saul" into a more unisex phonetic variant, "Sol" (which, according to BehindTheName.com, the Jewish version of "Sol" is masculine and the Spanish+Portugeese version of "Sol" is feminine, so "Sol" itself is unisex enough for me. though, technically Saul and Sol are not related, they do SOUND very similar which is the sticking point for me), in tribute to Saul Goodman of "Breaking Bad"/"Better Call Saul" fame who did a lot of insurance fraud as a lawyer. so my pitch is combining the name of two white-collar criminals, yeah, what can i say, i love intertextual references)

↳ appearance aspects about the worker mentioned above could also be notable here on whether or not if it is related to the company's dress-code, their employees' uniform, and whatnot

↳ workers wear a headset with microphone attachment. not wireless. they also have a swivel chair with arms.

● Insurances:

↳ ● Life insurance

↳ ● Anti-Life insurance: "M'am, I'm sorry but death by Parademons is nor covered under the Anti-Life insurance plan." (which? i assume?? is a censored version of a Death insurance plan? idk anything about insurance vocabularly terms)

↳ ● Discrimination in the workplace? (im surprised that isn't Goonion paperwork, idk) ("Well, if you didn't want discrimination in the workplace, then you shouldn't have been a goon for Gorilla Grodd.")

↳ ● the Two-Face Policy ("While I cannot exactly stop you from getting the Two-Face policy, I will warn you that coverage there is pretty 50/50." → "I'm sorry, I had to, it was right there.")

↳ not a type of insurance but important questions that have implications about the place's insurance stuff: "No, Mr. Cobblepot, you cannot put life insurance policy on your penguins if you are the ones who strapped bombs to them." ■ "What do you mean your contract is in the form of a riddle?"

↳ also not a type of insurance per sey but idk what this is but i feel like i should note it down: "Oh, no, you'd be surprised: the Joker actually offers an incredible dental plan."

.

.

.

★★★ EVIL LLP: VILLIANOUS ACCOUNTING (DC only so far, created by thepandaredd. probably should have a Marvel equivalent or else also exist in Marvel, idk if such exists)

● "Evil LLP: villainous accounting, how may I help you?"

● calls supervillains both by their civillian names and their villain names, but WAY moreso calls them by their villain names

● fun fact: it is a fandom joke that the Joker does not mess with the IRS (thepandaredd theorizes it is because the Joker doesn't want to end up like Al Capone and get put in actual-"you can't plead insanity this time"-prison), so Joker would be diligent about tax season (and hate it) and contacting his accountant (and hate that too), neato

● people working the hotline can curse to the customers

● confirmed workers: unnamed character (pronouns unknown). said character's appearance includes having worn glasses as well as a maroon-purpleish button-up, long-sleeve and with gray pants. drinks out of a red, tall drinkwear (no lid, no straw, not a tumbler) which is an odd enough detail i thought i would mention it (maybe he works remote and it is their kitchenware? maybe the Evil LLP office just has that type of kitchenware? idk. i know its just thepandaredd's kitchenware and isn't meant to be scrutinized, but i am detail-oriented and have AuDHD, let me live). (hc name: Brooklyn Kennedy Collector. because i recenrly found out Collector is a real surname and that feels fitting for an accountant. also, i think "The Collector" is a kind of cool villain allias? maybe this accountant was a taxes-related villain before pivoting? idk, probably not, but what i do really like is the idea of experienced villains scaring newbies with boogeyman stories of "The Collector" and about not paying your taxes on time as a way of hazing them before their first appointment with this specific character from Evil LLP who is like "What? No? Turbotax is way scarier than me, the fuck". as for Brooklyn, it is unisex, literally means "broken land" which feels fitting for a neutral person many territorial villains go to, as in the literal "groundbreaking" ceremony. but also Brooklyn can lead to the nickname "Brookie" which i think would be funny for this character to be like "...Only my [insert loved one here. eg: signicant other, sibling, etc] can get away with calling me that" when villains inevitably make Brookie The Bookie jokes. and i usually don't add middle-names to my hc names bc i usually only do middle-names if the culture the character is from has a middle-name as part of its naming conventions. but i gave this hc name one because "Brooklyn Collector" does not sound quiet like a real person's name, to me. but if you told me i went to school with a "Brooklyn Kennedy Collector" then that sounds vaguely familar and id be like "Oh? Remind me who they are?" rather than "What? We did?" with disbelief in my tone. i did look up what the name Kennedy means tho, on my beloved BehindTheName search-engine, which means either "armored head" (cool!) or "mishappen head" (rude!) which i think encompasses the level of mixed sanity-and-insanity you have to have in order to be villain's accountant lol)

↳ appearance aspects about the worker mentioned above could also be notable in case it is related to the company's dress-code, their employees' uniform, and so on

↳ workers wears a headset with microphone attachment. not wireless. they also have a swivel chair with arms.

● tax account comments and questions since i know next to nothing of tax info and will likely need this as reference if i ever include this company: "Joker, I need your tax returns yesterday. What the fuck do you mean you haven't filed them?" ■ "Black Manta, it says here you have an expense for the League of Villainous Chimney Sweepers, what the fuc--" ■ "So let me make sure I am understanding this correctly. You are going to hire a bunch of people to hide trophies all throughout the city? With what fucking money, Nigma?" ■ "Penny-Pincher, if you pay me again by mailing me a literal bag of fucking pennies, I will find you." ■ "Joker, I just got a call from the Goonion that you haven't been paying your workers? ...No, not killing them is not a form of legal tender!" ■ "Wait a minute, you buy all the penguins? Who is selling you that many penguins?! I thought you just found them!" ■ "Wait, Bizzaro, do you have the check or not? I don't understand!" ■ "Well, don't come crying to me when VOSCA gets on your ass. Yes, I said 'VOSCA': Villainous OSCA, keep up!" (i assume this was a continuation of the last line to the Joker, it feels implied, but idk) ■ "How do none of you understand how money works?!"

.

.

.

★★★ THE FIRST UNIVERSAL HENCHMAN'S UNION (aka: THE GOONION, or sometimes THE GOON UNION) (DC only so far, created by thepandaredd. probably should have a Marvel equivalent or else also exist in Marvel, idk if henchman union exists there of if the Goonion is implied to also be there) (i have shockingly little info on this considering how often it is brought up. huh. NOTE TO SELF: to rewatch some of thepandaredd's youtube compilation videos to see if im missing anything)

● Their motto: "Facere Malum Stercore Tuto" which is Latin for "Do bad shit safely"

↳ according to thepandaredd's merch: "Established in 2000"? i feel like that is a joke or reference i am missing, which makes me unsure of how literally to take it. i would've assumed it was older. i mean. i guess it technically could have been? like, in the sense that these guys are labeled the "First Universal Goonion" which implies maybe some villains had their own union of goons (definitely not Joker considering his implied VOSCA violations, above, under Evil LLP's section, still within the "Associations" heading) before it became a overall branching DC thing? which, if so, i do not envy the fuckers who had to unionize the Joker or Lexcorp goons, they probably did some union-busting, esp pre-2000 if that as the year the Goonion became universal in that sense, jfc. (edit of note: i have found the Todd The Goon Rep skit within the 2021 July compilation video, i am definitely correct about Lexcorp union-busting at least ■ edit of note ×2: i aM FULLY CORRECT. 2024 March 1st (or the compilation due to come out after March is over, since it is still March as of editing this docket) has a skit with Bill The Henchman doing work-trips with long flights for the Joker. and the Joker says "Hahaha, [The Goonion] is not a real thing!" and "Just to remind you, if I see you peddling that Goonion garbage all over that Comic-con, I swear to god, I will come to your house and rip those femurs out myself". so the Joker has dismissively resentful anti-Goonion opinions to the point that would imply he would love to union-bust/ignore it.) (or maybe "universal" is a reference to "cross-fandoms/brands"? because there is a Cobra Command, "G.I. Joe" joke pre-Bill-reboot (look at Bill The Henchman's section below, under the "People" heading)? which their most famous and long-running comic form is with Marvel Comics (though they also had a run with DC Comics for two individual issues, as well as Devil's Due, IDW Publishing, Custom Comics, and more). but, as aforementioned: idk how the reboot plays into that, and also idk how seriously i should take that since it was a gag for a one-off skit. idk...) (edit: wait, i forgot Marvel Comics also has The Solomon Institute For The Criminally Insane (also, and more popularly, known as: The Taskmaster's Academy), which is a trade-school where Anthony Masters (Taskmaster) teaches henchmen how to hench and get them a type of goon-certification as per the nature of trade-school. which, fun fact, the students there are called "Taskmaster's Acolytes", and originally this school started as a front? but then Taskmater went "actually, I have found my passion" which is aw, so sweet, wish it wasn't about murder and crime. but yeah, i checked the wiki because i couldn't remember if we ever saw anyone's certificate and, apparently, graduating meant you were now cleared for super-villany. so while youre there, you're a henchman. when you graduate, you're a villain. wild. though still not a henchman union, like, irl, we have both "places to get a teaching certification" and also a "union for teachers". this is just adjacent additional item to Marvel's henchmen situation, not an equivalent to the Goonion if that makes sense. so. uh, there is also that in the middle of this "is the Goonion omniuniversal?" spiral i am in, and that is Marvel-only as far as i am aware. still worth mentioning tho)

● there's possibly member-training? assumedly it is villain specific training, as you get hired then trained bc we have seen that before (evidence: (1) a skit within this compilation where a newbie was given the run-down working to the Joker about the dress-code and "just take the fall" if Batman/Robin come (Bill the Henchman was in the background, off-screen), and (2) another skit from this compilation where Bill The Henchman himself was translating the meanings to the various Bat-fam symbols to a newbie goon and the Red Hood interrupted) but maybe it is Goonion overall-villain's-henchman training, i have no clue. but in a skit (from 2021 October) where a Mr. Freeze goon (actually is the Red Hood faking being a goon the whole time? or knocked said goon out and took their place? unclear) was being given shit by Bill for not wearing a mask during COVID (more on the Goonion's opinion on COVID face-masks below in a few bullet-points) came back with a Cobra helmet that said goon (The Red Hood) had trouble taking off, Bill grumbled "How the fuck did you make it out of training?" before helping (could be referring to Cobra training or Goonion? again, idk)

↳ which there are Bat-fam symbol code btw, idk if that skit's code was for all goons or just that specific villain's workplace: Yellow circle = Bruce Wayne (Batman) is in a good mood, will probably let you keep knee-caps □ No yellow circle, just a black bat = you're probably going to lose a couple of bones from Batman (idk if that is accurate post Bill the Henchman's reboot. anyway.) ■ Any variation of a red bat, spikey or otherwise = don't bother screaming, gunshots will be heard and that is enough warning. Likely is Kate Kane (Batwoman) who does not have a no-gun rule. could also be Jason Todd (Red Hood) who also doesn't have a no-gun rule. also, sometimes the Red Hood has a red V-mask, and sometimes Red Hood's design is closer to a red bird design on his chest. ■ Blue bird or blue V-symbol = Dick Grayson (Nightwing) will give you a couple bruises and send you home ■ Yellow bat = probably be worried. □ Red hair (Barbara Gordon (Batgirl → Oracle)), probably going to get the shit kicked out of you, same as No-yellow-circle Batman. □ No hair and no mouth (Cassandra Cain (Batgirl → Orphan)), same rules as red bat, you will probably dead. □ Blonde hair (Stephanie Brown (Robin, Batgirl → Spoiler)), "you can kill that one". which. that is so foul, Jay Morton, what the fuck lol □ "[Generally,] The yellow bat follows the R-rule." ■ The R-rule = "Every single Robin has their own fucking deal." □ If the R is blocky = probably not going to get beat up too bad, unless the kid is very mad, then you might get thrown off a roof. (definitely Jason Todd (Robin → The Red Hood), maybe also Dick Grayson (Robin → Nightwing). i know Jason Todd threw a domestic abuser off a roof and claimed the guy "fell". idk if Dick ever did similar) □ if it is a Spikey R with no yellow circle = Tim Drake (Robin → Red Robin) get hit in the face with a metal pole a few times. same for if it is a Yellow Bird, Tim Drake (Red Robin) will just be hitting you harder □ if the R has just one spike = you will likely die bc Damian Wayne (Robin) has a sword. Red Hood also has a sword, but only sometimes, it's mainly Damian's thing ■ idk why i would ever need this for a fic or something but now i fucking got it just in case, i guess. glad that hypotheical-me won't have to search for this. but yeah, idk if this system is Goonion stuff or a specific villain or just something Gotham-henchmen set up independently, but ill put it here for lack of anywhere better

↳ Bill the Henchman said to Todd His Friend From High School that "it's a really rough career to get into, just to let you know. There's a ton of onboarding processes, super-villains all have their own hiring things, there's the Goonion that you got to sign up for just by obligation."

● Goonion buildings don't allow alcohol in their facilities (Bill took a break in one such building, an unnamed co-worker interupted his break and asked for a drink, and Bill said there was no alcohol here for that reason. idk how the logistics work on if villain buildings (or safehouses) have to be Goonion, if goons prefer to take breaks in a seperate Goonion building in which case does the commute count as part of their break, is this just the overall building similar to a temp agency building in which case why was Bill taking a break in one...? cool detail in theory, very confusing in application to someone as ignorant in temp-work as me). this was mentioned in the Man-Bat skit within 2021 November's compilation

↳ very likely works often with VOSCA (Villainous OSCA, was brought up in Evil LLP's section above, still under the "Associations" heading) ■ also has some sort of connection to Superb Prowers (section is above, still within the "Associations" heading) since their insurance covered Bill's loss of bones

● Works all over the country, sending goons on assignment as needed and where and with what uniforms and etc

● Mask mandates (for COVID) - report to the Goonion for not wearing one. even villain henchmen (esp if their villain is an evil scientist) gotta stay safe ✌️ (Bill the Henchman is esp big on that they protect each other in this way)

● Goons in the union get breaks (as in, like 30 min break, lunch break, etc)

● i assume there is some protection for long-distance assignments? like, Bill the Henchman (Bill's section is below, under the "People" heading) got sent on a 16-hour flight by the Joker to give Bane a pie and another flight to go to Comic-Con. i assume there was financial compensation (both in the sense of a wage increase for the inconvenience, as i know a few jobs get that (many more... don't, but hey, maybe the Goonion got it) because the idea of "your shift hours" also becomes messier though that is more likely if Bill is paid hourly; as well as not paying for your own plane ticket or Comic-con ticket in these examples) and other such work-travel-trips protections (evidentally, there is no protection for how much buffer-time between said trips there has to be, as Bill was sent to Comic-con immediately after the pie but still)

● confirmed members: Bill the Professional Henchman (look at Bill's section in "People" for his co-workers. i don't know which ones are in the union and which ones are out of union. he is very big on the Goonion and helping each other and whatnot, carries merch and everything, biggest advocate, love that for him) ■ Alex (pronouns unknown. was mentioned in Todd the Goonion Rep's skit as a confirmed Goonion member, working as a Bane henchman who is a victim of wage-theft and not-up-to-code company housing via pit/sewers. assumedly is not the same Alex that Ted works with (most of the info on this Ted section's can be found below, under the "People" heading. bc, yeah, for one thing, that Alex lives in a duplex and not in the pits/sewers). Alex wears a beige-white sleeveless torn up t-shirt with a black beanie. will not be getting their own section as this is all i know about Alex)

↳ note: members have ID badges (example of Bill's is in Bill The Henchman's character section)

● confirmed workers: Todd The Goonion Rep (look at that Todd's section down below, under "People". also, technically Todd's job-title is much more formal title of "Traveling Representative for the First Universal Henchmen's Union" but Goonion Rep is snappier); maybe/maybe not confused with Todd Andrews (section is below, under the "People" heading. where he works, Superb Powers, is above, under the "Associations" heading) and/or maybe/maybe not confused with the Todd that is Bill's friend from high school (below, under "People") because i guess all these Todds could be the same guy, but i assume they are not, but you can feel free to hc them as such

↳ Todd The Goonion Rep's outfit is in their section, which is notable here because it could arguably be following the company's dress-code, be their employees' uniform, and so on. assumedly, since members have ID badges, so should Todd The Goonion Rep, thepandaredd just hasn't had the prop yet? fair lmao

↳ not "competition" but definitely confirmed people to not be on the workers' side: Alan (who is a Lexcorp union-buster (lawyer?) person in sunglasses, black suit with black button-up and gold tie. pronouns unknown) ■ "Matches" Malone(?) (which is a DC-canon undercover-alter-ego of Bruce Wayne (Batman) when he wants to try to submerge himself in the crime world)

● their workers can curse on-call (eg. "Oh, yeah, to be perfectly candid: I hear some fucking wild stories.")

● their workers (and also their members? i think?? p sure that is a yes) tend to call villains by their villain-name rather than their civilian-name

● not technically "Goonion info" but is important stuff that have implications about how the place is run (all said in the Todd The Goonion Rep skit): "Riddler, how many times do I need to fucking tell you that: if you are going to use goons as part of your traps, you need to have multiple signed consent forms by both them, a witness, and yourself beforehand?" ■ "As the traveling representative of the Goonion, my job is to travel around the country, talking to various goons and henchmen of both major and minor super-villains, just to make sure they are being both treated fairly and safely within the workplace. Which, honestly, they, uh, they very rarely are." ■ Todd: "So, Alex, it says here that you are a Bane henchmen. However, I can't seem to find any wages listed. So, what does the pay for that look like?" / Alex: "Of course I don't have wages listed, we don't get paid. ...Wait, are we supposed to be getting paid?" / Todd: "Mmhm. I see. I also can't seem to find an address." / Alex: "Oh, I was thinking you were going to ask about that. We all kind of live communally in a pit, or sometimes the sewer." / Todd: "Do you know if this pit is up to code?" / Alex: "I mean, yeah, it's a fine pit. It's probably up to code. We get cable and everything. But, uh, now that you mention it: we do shit in buckets and live in cells, so I'm not particularly sure." / Todd: "Oh, that is definitely a violation of some kind." ■ Todd: "Who the fuck steals both of someone's femurs?" / Bill the Professional Henchmen: "Oh, yeah, you think that's bad? I should tell you about where his kid cut my fucking hand off." / Todd: "His kid did what?!" ■ "Y'know, contrary to popular belief: crime pays very, very well. Like, shit, what do you think, like, 90% of Gotham's economy is? It's just that often times you need to enforce that the workers are actually going to see the fruits of that labor." ■ Todd: "(Groaningly sighs) Hello, Alan." / Alan: "Hello, Todd." / Todd: "Let me guess, you're here on behalf of Lexcorp again to try to break up the union." / Alan: "Now, Todd, you know that we at Lexcorp are not against unions. We simply believe they are detrimental to our bottom-lin— uh, I mean, our overall workforce. And, in fact, I am actually here to join your union. For I think that I too deserve equal safety and pay and rights." / Todd: "Buddy, I work with professional criminals on a daily basis. I can see that you are wearing a wire." / Alan: "Now, how could you say such a... silly... thing? Abort, abort, I need to get out of here." / Todd: "If you just joined, you wouldn't have to piss in bottles anymore!" / Alan: "The official statement of Lexcorp is that we do not, in fact, have to do that!" ■ "If you would like to support your local community of contract criminals, goons, and henchmen: we do have t-shirts available. And, as the motto always says: do bad shit, safely." ■

.

.

.

★★★ VILLAINS OF (HERO) SUPPORT GROUP (exists for DC and Marvel, created by thepandaredd. i definitely do not need to include this, but i thought it would be funnier if i did)

● there is one for Captain America (p safe to assume it is Steve Rogers' Captain America. Marvel) and one for Superman (p safe to assume it is Clark Kent's Superman. DC) so far. the therapist in charge of either is unnamed, but both have glasses and button-ups (tho the Superman one came in late after getting black-out drunk and taking a nap, and came in with a black t-shirt)

.

.

.

----------------- people ----------------

★★★ TODD ANDREWS (DC Comics OC)

● unknown pronouns

● works hotline for the insurance company called Superb Prowers (listed above under "Associations"). spoke will Bill The Professional Henchman to help him with his insurance over the phone for his bone-loss claim

● appearance: wears glasses. Wore a white button-up long-sleeve in one video, wore a black t-shirt in one video, wore a black long-sleeve in a third video; every time had black pants(? or at least dark. may be sweatpants, which fair). Plays with a pen a lot (in one video, i think it is a capped pen; in another video it is, i think, a clicky pen which makes Todd slowly and silently clicks at one point while speaking/listening to a call. and i say "plays with" and what i mean is "has it in Todd's hand, between their fingers" a lot. i assumed Todd uses it like a fidget to spin or tap Todd's own chin with, but that is not seen; but Todd slowly + silently clicking the clicky variety is seen. this is too much overexplanation about a fucking pen)

↳ wears a headset with microphone attachment for work. not wireless. sits in a swivel chair with arms at work

● i assume this Todd Andrews is not the same Todd that Bill The Henchman went to high school with. (also, is definitely not the Tood The Goonion Rep) more on why i think that in Todd-(assumedly-not-Andrews)'s (as well as Todd-of-the-Goonion's) section below, is still within the "People" section

.

.

.

★★★ "THE GUY" (DC Comics OC)

↳ as in "Alfred, call the guy"

● unknown name. confirmed to go by he/him pronouns

● adoption social worker agent, maybe insurance agent? probably, i assume. nothing is confirmed, which is the point

● no further specific details known. i will never make hcs about this character; he is supposed to be a mystery

.

.

.

★★★ KEVIN (their first Marvel OC! that's rare for thepandaredd! yay!)

● unknown surname, unknown pronouns.

● was in exactly one skit about Marvel, which is unusual for thepandaredd, almost everybody else is a DC Comics OC

● designed the Sentinels' visually (The Sentinel Project are the giant robots who hunt mutants in X-Men). im ngl, i think thepandaredd forgot Bolivar Trask specifically already exists lol but maybe not, as thepandaredd did remember to include the headline "Trask Industries (mid 60s)" in the tiktok. hey! maybe Trask did the idea and/or engineering and hired Kevin as an artist, or maybe Trask pitched the idea after Kevin sold him on it and it's like a "Steve Jobs and all the unnamed workers who came up with the iPhone ideas" scenario (Kevin did at one point say "The President loved it", so Bolivar Trask could be President, sure), idk, i only know of Trask vaguely from the 90s "X-Men: The Animated Series" show i watched as a toddler and from the "X-Men: Days of Future Past" movie i watched a decade ago in theaters, maybe i'm the one forgetting shit, i dont pay attention to what is the generally accepted Bolivar Trask lore bc i dont care about the character, personally. Peter Dinklage is cool tho

.

.

.

★★★ BILL (THE PROFESSIONAL HENCHMAN) (DC Comics OC)

info that is unknown bc of The Reboot Agent stuff (the video of which i am only linking once and it is here) is [[[ bracketed ]]] already but i will also make it [[[ green ]]] inside the brackets for your guys' convenience

● he/him, unknown surname. (hc full name: William "Bill" Bail. i have a whole scene planned for Bill attempting to be vulnerable by giving an OC of mine his surname as a sign of trust, as he doesn't do that as a way of protecting his relatives/identity from the villains that employ him, followed by my OC fully not believing his surname is real and busting Bill's chops about it. it works for my needs, and i personally dont agree with the handful of fans i see that hc his surname should be Hench or Henchman though i do love their energy, that is a v funny joke. i just wanted a different variety of a jokey surname. uh, but, yeah! Bail is a real surname, and the surname itself is actually a diminutive of "bailiff". as in the job. which a bailiff is a officer of the court who keeps order and "looks after prisoners" (ie. "A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their offices and duties vary greatly.") which is all a vast simplification of bailiffs but i think it is a cute simplification for Bill's character specifically)

● confirmed to have worked runs with Joker, Two-Face, Black Mask, Penguin, Mr Freeze, Riddler (and also maybe Lex Luthor? it is implied due to how much Bill knows about Lexcorp working conditions, and also the Jimmy Olsen stuff as mentioned below)

↳ idk if this is still accurate post-reboot [[[ an unnamed co-worker worked at Cobra Commander (Cobra Headquarters in Springfield) earlier that week, is one of the places the Goonion sends people. Bill maybe has, maybe has not been there? idk, he seemed to know about how to take the helmet off but maybe Bill just saw the latch. hard to tell when the whole dialogue is "There's a latch" when he's already looking at the helmet. i assume no, Bill has not worked for Cobra, because he said "there's a latch" so late in the skit and also from what he said "Wait, so that's another villain's henchman?! That's even worse!" so he didn't know the uniform(?) which implies he didn't work there (which is odd bc he also said "Yes, because the Cobra Commander helmet is so much more reasonable to just have in your car?! Why do you even have that?!" so he recognized it. i guess he just thought it was cosplay instead of another henchman uniform, idk). you could make an argument either way, i guess, hc away lol ]]]

↳ answers phonecalls as "You got Bill."

↳ texts his bosses stuff like "On it, boss."/"Yes, sir. You got it, boss."/"On my way. Will do, boss."/"Yes, sir. On it, boss."/"Okay, boss. Be back soon." even though he'd rather yell (this is mainly @Joker)

↳ (this happened post-reboot) knows Jimmy Olsen well enough that Jimmy recognizes him on sight alone; meaning he has very fucking likely also worked for Metropolis villains (such as but not limited to Lex Luthor) and has faced Superman often

● appearance: generally always wears a black ball-cap hat (didn't use to way back but it is a thing by now), a necklace tucked into his shirt (i cant tell what his necklace is. is it a sparkplug necklace? → edit: NOPE. it's from 2022 January's PO Box Unboxing, it's "Skele-Gro: Bone Regenerator". it's a tube of amber-yellow liquid, with a pale yellow label, on a silver chain, with a silver skull-and-crossbones charm). he dresses in all black most of the time. generally wears t-shirts or long-sleeves, usually of the monochromatic variety (almost always a gray/black plain shirt with no graphic, except for in "How the Bat Boy treat henchmen" skit where he wore a few different shirts, and the skit with him and the 16 hour flight stuff where he wore thepandaredd's Lord Deathman merch shirt) (the red-gray henley Bill wore in his first ever tiktok appearance as the first goon ever beat up by a Robin? is generally ignored, hence the strike-through here). and sometimes wears a black jacket (which, generally, is a black denim jacket). does possess Goonion merch.

↳ optional-to-read waffling about the Skele-grow necklace: further confirmation of this indeed being necklace that Bill wears is in this 2022 July compilation, where Bill forgot to tuck his necklace into his shirt and you can see the amber-gold Skele-Grow bottle and the teeny skull-and-crossbones charm. more importantly, you can also see it in the September 2022 compilation, which is the one that features Bill getting shot by Alfred Pennyworth which then leads him into the reboot event in April 2023 compilation where he doesn't have a necklace? but that could be just a prop error (either in the sense "it is there, it just accidentally was hidden from the camera by being tucked into the shirt and whatnot" or in the sense that "it was forgotten on accident but was meant to be there"). plus the Instagram post mentioned a few bullet points down says Bill still has a necklace. i just dont know if it is the same one or not. i, personally, see the necklace as an extension or representation of Bill's connection with his audience and creator, and therefore connected to his Fourth Wall Breaks and everything Madoka-Magic-y i mention in a later bullet-point within Bill's section. so i will be very interested to see if this necklace is lost or not (to simplify his rebooted form additionally in the sense of less bone loss, maybe even no more Fourth Wall breaks? idk, maybe. the Agent Of The Reboot was Fourth Wall breaking a lot and Bill was confused, maybe it was out of overwhelmed panic but all those references went over Bill's head. there wasn't any "You can see them too?!" or anything. but who knows! could just be a prop error. maybe when the instagram post listed in lower bullet-point within this section talked about "a necklace always tucked into his shirt", it about the Skele-grow necklace, maybe it was about a wholly new necklace, whooo knowwwss ...i personally would like to know tho, so i do hope thepandaredd does another untucked-necklace Bill video so i can see if it Bill is still wearing a Skele-grow necklace or is it a new necklace)

↳ mid-reboot/post-reboot version has a white streak in his hair, confirmed in the tiktok Agent Reboot video itself idk the video's title

↳ in the Agent Reboot video, Bill also freaks out about how his hat has changed. which the hat he wore when Alfred Pennyworth shot him for breaking in to get Lord Deathman was a plain, all black baseball cap. and mid-reboot freak-out looks like an identically plain, all black baseball cap (to me, anyway). maybe that was a gag that went over my head. maybe it was a sentiment about how well-cared for Bill's things are that he would notice someone switching out his hat for an identical one like it. idk, to my inexperienced eye, it looks like the same hat lol

↳ optional aspect of appearance: leg-braces as "femur transplants are not fool-proof".

↳ note: most of this info comes from thepandaredd's 25 February 2024 instagram post (+ the leg-braces bit was posted by thepandaredd in that post's comment section) unless otherwise stated

↳ also, in the June 2022 compilation there is a PO Box Unboxing, an unnamed fan gave Bill his own Goonion badge. so that is also part of Bill's props assumedly. unlike most of the other badges we have seen in thepandaredd (vertical), the Goonion badge is the only horizontal one which makes me specifically happy bc i prefer horizontal badges. anyway. the info on it, i cannot read because it is too pixelated even at youtube's highest resolution at 2160p, alas. but thepandaredd reads out some of its info says the following: "His height has a little asterisk next to it saying his height was 6'3" before his femurs removed and now he is back to 6'1". Which is, oh my god, I love that. Also, his hair is just listed as 'Yes' and his eyes are listed as 'Currently two'; this is, this is fucking genius." so. there is that lmao i love the badge

● Injuries sustained:

↳ idk how much of this is still accurate post-reboot [[[ lost his bones before (eg. all the bones in his legs more than once. was covered by the Goonion tho. said bones are kept in a box on a bookshelf openly labeled "Spare Bones" apparently as uncovered when Bill broke into Wayne Manor to free Lord Deathman, though it is unconfirmed if Bill took any of the bones he had found and how many in the box were his or if the box was labeled that as a joke but actually contained something else). lost his femur x2 in one year, had to go in surgery both times. shot in both kneecaps by Red Hood. was put on fire "back in the early days" by Red Hood. generally been beat up by the Batfam weapons (eg. Tim Drake's bo-staff to Bill's legs). has been dropped off a roof by Batman (breaks legs, cops come get you). ]]] okay, instagram post by thepandaredd in 25 February 2024 confirms the femur replacements happened, as an optional thing Bill can wear is leg-braces since "femur transplants aren't fool-proof"

↳ idk if this is still true bc reboot [[[ note for age: Bill was The First Goon to ever get beat up by a 10 year-old Robin (assumedly Dick Grayson). i wouldnt be surprised if this was noncanonical because then it means Bill is a minimum of 6+, 8+ years older than 10 year-old Dick Grayson (Nightwing) (therefore making Bill 16, 18 years old when he was beat up, at minimum)? more likely is considered "an adult" in comparison to said Robin's then-age, so i'd go higher than 8 years older than a 10 year-old. idk how old Bill canonically is, but if it differs with that information then this would be noncanonical ]]] [[[ (also beat said Robin (again, safe to assume Dick Grayson) in second meeting, and Batman then beat Bill the fuck up and "did unspeakable things to my bones" so assumedly that was the first time Bill got his bones stolen) ]]]

↳ [[[ "Alfred, Get The Guy" and Other Probably-Non-Canonical Skits: has been "turned off" (stopped fucking existing for a sec). i seriously doubt that was ever canon for Bill, but the reboot happened so i assume the reboot doubly-so kills this ]]]

↳ idk if this counts bc reboot [[[ chronic issue: lost ability to feel temperature bc of fire (a Robin set him on fire? unclear which one, implied lots of time has passed so unlikely to be Damian Wayne) ]]]

↳ also a chronic issue: it's implied in one of the Lord Deathman videos (when Bill is going to break out Lord Deathman from the Wayne Manor as per Joker's request. the following occurs right before Bill texts the Joker) that Bill has tinnitus. i assume that is still true post-reboot because it is a small enough chronic injury, it makes sense, sure. but yeah, we hear the "ears ringing" sound during a scene where Bill has laid down to rest and relax before he looks at his phone

↳ can (sometimes? always? idk) speak Fourth Wall, likely because of a side-effect of how many times he has been hit in the head. i assume this still works in spite of the reboot, since Bill was able to, not only talk to the Reboot Agent, but very importantly: have the ability to have woken up mid-reboot. both of those things are likely related to this Fourth Wall Breaking ability. however, also, the Agent kept saying Fourth Wall breaks and Bill did not have a "You can see them too?!" reaction, but rather a very confused and overwhelmed panic reaction where he did not seem to get the references. so maybe he has now lost the ability. i have no idea

↳ my hc add-on as to why Bill was enabled to wake up mid-reboot: do you remember seeing just all of "Madoka Magica"? spoilers for that incoming (or you at least have seen Danny Motta's reaction series to it on youtube, assuming if you're like me and that show has triggers you don't want to risk potentially triggering yourself by watching the show but. like. you do want to know the events, impact, and pop-culture references) where Homura's love for Madoka to keep jumping into timelines to try to save her is singularly what ends up making Madoka the chosen one? because she was loved to that point? that even the universe took notice of her and claimed her as its prodigal child, because the universe reflects what we (in this cause: Homura specifically) puts into it? yeah, i hc that's Bill and this audience. that he just was likely some nameless goon, like a lot of thepandaredd OCs, but because fans (and thepandaredd) loved Bill so much, they took this throwaway skit character mid-overall-creation and gave Bill life where life was intended for him to be miscellaneous. hell, Bill even wears a Skele-Gro necklace from a fan in a PO Box Unboxing video that thepandaredd did a short skit mid-PO-Box-video of Bill receiving (at least i assume that is what he is wearing, he does keep it under his shirt). Bill became important enough to even be rebooted, much less wake up mid-reboot, because of how much he is loved. it's arguably why he has some on/off low-level Fourth Wall breaks too (we don't see that consistently be a thing for other goons). maybe im getting a little too Grant Morrison's "Animal Man" or, hell, even just fucking "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. because Bill's plot is still overall (to steal a line from Jo O'Connor's "Mind Blind"* game tag-line:) "A Story Where You Are NOT The Chosen One!" in a world of Supermans and billionaires and other lucky and not-so-lucky bastards. but still. the love is there, and it is important; and maybe it doesn't make Bill's life better, but it matters that it is still there. but i digress [ *: and bc i fucking love that game, here is the link to the free demo version of Mind Blind. go to Jo's patreon if you want more after the demo]

● confirmed co-workers: idk bc reboot [[[ Scott (unknown pronouns. was beat up by Batman while Bill was "the first goon to be beat up by Robin"). that's all that is known about Scott, so Scott does not have an individual section. also, we never saw Scott, so we have no idea what Scott looks like ]]] ■ [[[ Ted (he/him pronouns. was name-dropped in "how the Bat Boys treat henchman" video. was thrown out of a 73-odd story building window by Man-Bat; is dead. that's all the info i have on Ted, so i won't give Ted his own OC section. we also have no idea what this Ted looks like, we never saw this Ted on-screen. the skit featuring him is in the November 2021 compilation) (edit: possibly/arguably more about Ted, post-reboot, is below. maybe could be same Ted character, maybe could be a totally different Ted. idk. but this Ted has their own section) ]]] ■ [[[ John (he/him pronouns. was probably never canon. but he was mentioned alongside Bill in a skit about an old goon complaining about younger people calling Terry by Batman in "Batman Beyond", where John was a goon that Batman smiled at and John is "still at Arkham to this day, he never recovered from that"). that's all that is known about John so no an individual section. also, we never saw John either so there are no notes about that either ]]] + a bunch of unnamed co-worker goons lol

● idk bc reboot [[[ had jury duty with Bruce Wayne. is meant to imply he was present for (and that this is based off of) the famous "Bruce admits he is Batman because of Jury Duty and everyone in the courtroom laughs" comic. said courtcase was about the unnamed goon Bill and Batman briefly interacted with that got shot in the crotch because said goon insisted on keeping a gun under their waistband ]]]

● calls his work "independent contractor" and "this freelance thing, working where I can" // when not hiding his job, has called himself a "hench for hire"

● lives at "Company housing" // does indeed live in Gotham, is occasionally shipped on assignment outside of Gotham by the Goonion per aforementioned implications (plus, explicitly has been sent out by his bosses. namely Joker, who once had Bill go on a 16 hour flight to send Bane a pie in-person that assumedly had a bomb in it as well as Joker having assigned Bill to attend Comic-con. (which was post-reboot, as a fun fact, so it definitely happened). but yeah, i assume the habit happens outside of that specific event in terms of both the Joker sending Bill out long-distances as well as other villains also sending him out to far-off places. just. for more grounded reasons than the Joker lol)

● idk bc reboot [[[ knows a Todd from high school (wore a wire for the G.C.P.D., pretended to be into henching), tho Todd never graduated. nonetheless, Todd does have a section below ]]] 

● idk if this counts bc reboot [[[ tried to become a cop (G.C.P.D.) with a fake mustache, under tha name "Will. Just Will", even though 60% of Gotham cops are dirty + the good ones (eg Commissioner Gordon) knew Joker had only just broken out of jail and assembled a crew. Comissioner Gordon has personally arrested Bill over 50 times, he immediately knew it was Bill ]]]

● idk bc reboot [[[ was shown where the Bat Cave was by Cassandra when she made him help her dispose of Lord Deathman's corpse Joker made bc she had "tiny hands". he used this information to later free Lord Deathman. i would bet Bill knowing this info did not survive the reboot but who knows ]]]

● Bill chooses to work for villains instead of Wayne Industries because he sees billionaire Bruce Wayne as a villain too; and, between the two, he'd rather work with the villain with style (aka: Batman villains). this admission technically happened pre-reboot but i assume it is still his opinion

● idk bc reboot but i assume yes, still true, but just in case [[[ Bill is anti-smoking. does not seem to like it even if it's people smoking around him, will get all Disappointed Yet Sassy on other goons smoking. i assume this goes for cigarettes, cigars, joints etc; but the skit only implied cigarettes ]]]

● i assume this still counts in spite of the reboot, but idk, ill make it green anyway just in case [[[ Bill doesn't have kids. and assumedly from the following dialogue line, he doesn't ever want kids. there is an implication that he could have had kids, and idk if that was an implication as in (1) a significant other and him had a talk and likely mutually agreed to an abortion, (2) he and a significant other broke up because they wanted kids and he did not (and assumedly said partner had kids p soon afterwards with, like, their very next partner or so, hence why there would be a "could have been me" sentiment), (3) Bill had the oppurtunity to take a kid/some kids in as their guardian but chose not to (eg. as a step-parent, as in kinship care or kinship adoption, as a foster care or a foster child wanting to become Bill's kid, or maybe Bill got close with a kid in a non-foster setting and said kid wanted Bill to foster them/to be their legal guardian, idk), or (4) Bill almost donated to a sperm bank but decided not (or maybe he did donate and checked off the "never contact me" box and considers that still "not having kids". i personally think "no" to this bc i find the sperm bank system in the USA really corruptable and un-regulated, and i don't like that sperm-donor-kids don't have access to their sperm donor's medical records even in cases of medical emergencies/genetic disabilities or chronic illnesses that skipped the sperm donor (or that the sperm donor didn't realize they had, since so much of the sperm donation process is the fucking honor system and sometimes people get late diagnosed and sometimes certain genes activate later in life for a random reason) but did not skip the sperm-donor-kid/etc). in the Lord Deathman skit where Bill and Cassandra Cain (Oracle) bag up Lord Deathman. after she asks him for help carrying the bags, he grumbles "You have got to be fucking kidding me. You are the exact reason why I didn't have kids." before saying "I'll grab my coat!" with frustration. and, yes, all of this theorizing is because the verb-usage "didn't", as in "I could have had kids but I did not" (rather than using a line like "You're the reason I never want kids", where the diction would not have backstory implications), is very interesting to me lmao ]]]

↳ i personally have the hc that, as a connection of Bill's Fourth Wall breaks, similar to how the Joker knows he is in a comic and that the people he kills do not matter ("They're extras" to quote Bakugou), Bill knows he is in a comic and doesn't see much point in having kids. i also personally tie this in with his "Wayne Industries/Bruce Wayne is also a villain" belief in the sense that Bill either still has memories or else has unconscious premonitions from having been a nameless background character in "Bruce Wayne reconstruction stories that show how unstable Bruce/Batman is as a hero" comic stories. like. what is the point of having kids in that kind of enviroment where they could be Superman's "The Man Who Has Everything"-ified and you get rebooted and forced to forget/"forget" your own kids? then the verb usage of "didn't" could be "why I didn't have kids in this timeline". maybe he remembers or has vague premonitions abiut being a dad before (and maybe Bill didn't like being a dad? idk). i think it brings a new touch to his exhaustion in (the Lord Deathman video when Alfred Pennyworth shot him which featured) that scene of him having tinnitus, where he is just tired and sad and needs a break from all this

● i assume this still counts in spite of the reboot, but idk, ill make it green anyway just in case [[[ Bill can read ASL (American Sign Language), we know bc Cassandra Cain (Oracle. thepandaredd plays Cassandra as nonverbal) signed to him in the Lord Deathman skit where they bag up Lord Deathman and she makes him carry the bags because she signs to him "Help me. Tiny hands." ]]]

● i like what i said about Bill, comparing him to Mitchell Mayo in Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King)'s section below (bc i do kind of see thepandaredd's re-imagining of Mitchell as an OC. section is below, still under "People"), so i'm taking the hc-analysis and copy-pasting it here: (i kind of like the hc i have of Mitchell Mayo still being in the Goonion, but is a polar opposite to Bill The Henchman. doesn't connect with new goons or really guide them, Bill is kind of implied to be a bit of a mentor/big brother considering a few goons are excited to show him what they did (eg. the Jimmy Olsen kidnapping skit goon) or when he mother-hens the goon-that-once-worked-at-Cobra-HQ or the goon-with-a-gun-in-waistband, and also the hypothetical-"Batman Beyond"-elder-goon even says "Bless his soul" in talking about Bill. compare that with how Butch Moreti treats Mitchell Mayo. admittingly, Butch was acting under frustrating circumstances, but still. i think Mitchell Mayo is just a "big goon in a small pond" who is seasoned at his goon-work as a helluva scary pseudo-mercenary (one even civillians can immediately recognize), whereas Bill is a seasoned goon that isn't a renowned merc but is still really good at his job and also blends in easy with crowds (bc nobody knows who he is). like. Mitchell Mayo is kind of the asshole "truly evil" guy that Bill could have been, y'know?)

.

.

.

[[[ ★★★ TODD ??? ]]] (this one is Bill's high school classmate. DC Comics OC)

idk if this Todd exists because of the whole reboot thing (look at Bill The Henchman section under "People" + The Agent of the Reboot section under "Associations"), but sure

● unknown pronouns. unknown surname (hc full name: (bc i don't think he is Todd Andrews) my headcanon for Todd's surname is Turk. if you go to TV Tropes' page on "The Informant" trope, under the "Comic Books" section, you will read about a brief paragraph Marvel character named Turk who was an informant for Marvel vigilantees. and it's obvious in said paragraph why Marvel doesn't use him anymore lmao rip poor Turk to better differentiate this Todd from Todd Andrews, i also hc that Todd is a nickname for "Theodore" so it is slightly easier on my brain to differntiate all these "Todd"s lmao according to BehindTheName, "Theodore" just means "gift of god" which is sweet yet nonspecific. and its sister-site, Surname.BehindTheName,com said the surname "Turk" meant exactly what is on the tin, it means "Turk". fair. but, yeah, so my hc for this character's full name is Theodore "Todd" Turk. neato, alliteration, yay lmao)

● appearance: wore a black crewneck t-shirt and a wire for the G.C.P.D. also, has recieved a free Goonion black t-shirt from Bill to implement possibly into Todd's wardrobe

↳ as a bonus, the skit this Todd was in featured an G.C.P.D. Dispatch officer of an unknown name and unknown pronouns that wore glasses and a black crewneck t-shirt, and sat a a computer. there you go for anybody who wanted to ensure continuity with Todd and this unnamed G.C.P.D. connection

● idk if this still counts bc reboot [[[ was Bill The Henchman's classmate in high school. tho Todd never graduated high school ]]] more about Bill is above, albeit still under the "People" section

● idk if this still counts bc reboot [[[ wore a wire for the G.C.P.D., pretended to be looking into henching. idk if that means Todd works for the G.C.P.D. and was briefly undercover for this, or if Todd was asked to take a wire for a bit (by the G.C.P.D.) as a civillian. regardless, got a Goonion t-shirt from Bill ]]]

● assumedly not the Todd Andrews from Superb Powers (Todd Andrews' section is somewhere above, under "People". the Superb Powers is above even that, under "Associations") or Todd The Goonion Rep (said Todd is below, still within the "People" section. the Goonion is above, under "Associations") as this Todd does not wear glasses and i think you need to have finished high school to be an accountant? maybe they are the same and Todd got a GED after, i have no idea, hc to your heart's extent, maybe Todd Andrews' glasses are just for blue-light, maybe Todd the Goonion Rep wears fake glasses, or maybe this Todd wears contacts who knows

.

.

.

★★★ TODD (this one is the Goonion rep. DC Comics OC)

↳ technically, i have been calling this Todd by the wrong title kind of this whole time but i had to, i had to do it for the communicative clarity of consistency. because Todd's actual title is only colloquially "a Goonion Rep." as Todd's actual title is "Traveling Representative for the First Universal Henchman's Union". again, this is usually shortened colloquially to "Goonion Rep" but you get it, you get why i didn't call him that every time in the past, Goonion Rep is snappier and there's getting to quickly be too many Todds lmao

● unknown surname. unknown pronouns. (hc full name: Thaddeus "Todd" Malloy. and, with that, i have p much run out of things "Todd" can be short for. luckily, Thaddeus kind of fits a union rep, as BehindTheName.com says it likely derived from the meaning "heart". that's cute. and esp for a Goonion rep, as BehindTheName also says "In the Gospel of Matthew, Thaddaeus is listed as one of the twelve apostles, though elsewhere in the New Testament his name is omitted and Jude's [aka another form of Judas' name, apparently] appears instead. It is likely that the two names refer to the same person". and im not nor have i ever been a Christian but goons and Judas assumedly fit together? yeah? i hope? anyway, i picked the surname Malloy because of the 1954 movie "On The Waterfront" which is about unions, mobs, and an ex-prize-fighter named Teddy Malloy. you can see the connection. i haven't seen it in so many years, i apologize if it is a bad movie to connect to, the plot-summary i read seemed fine enough and my chronic memory loss-riddled ass remembers if fondly enough even tho i was like... seven lol. but, i digress. i should also note that according to Surname.BehindTheName.com Malloy also has connections to both "noble, proud leader" and "faithful servant". huh! even more fitting!)

● appearance: wears glasses. wears a white button-up and a black tie

● works at The First Universal Henchman's Union, aka The Goonion (more on that organization above, under the "Associations" section)

● this is p safe to assume not the Todd Andrews from Superb Powers (Todd Andrews' section is somewhere above, under "People". the Superb Powers section is above even that, under the "Associations" heading) or the Todd That is Bill's High School Friend (said Todd is above, though still within the "People" section. the Goonion is above even that too, under "Associations"). i explained in Todd That Is Bill's High School Friend's section some of why they might be different, might be the same, it's all up the hc, but im p confident they are all different characters all given the forename Todd, okay? okay lmao

● (@/thepandaredd, if you ever read this: i know you love Jason Todd, Jason is also my favorite in the Batfam (after Alfred, obviously, but you get it), and you have this many different Todd OCs is so fucking funny but also im begging you for other names in-between my laughs, please no more Todds lmao) [/tone clarity: this is me complaining as a bit. do what you want, it's your tiktok and your OCs. im just joshing. ill be fine if you do more Todds. much love to you and yours ♡]

.

.

.

★★★ DR. AARON MICHAELS (DC Comics OC)

● he/him pronouns

● Therapist at Akrham Asylum

↳ replacing an assumedly male (had he/him pronouns if nothing else) therapist that Joker seduced, much like the Joker also had done with Harley Quinn; they found out because the guy had downloaded videos on his desktop that were explict and graohic about clowns. he was fired and Dr. Aaron Michaels was hired

● calls patients by their civillian names (important contrast with Dr. Morton below, is also under the "People" section)

● appearance: wears glasses. in his first video, Dr. Aaron Michaels wore a red long-sleeve button-up with a gray vest and matching gray pants. in Dr. Aaron Michael's second and third video, he wore a red long-sleeve button-up with a gray wool suit jacket. generally has folders/binders/notes, with said folder/binder being darkly colored (black? gray? very dark blue? i cant tell). also has an Arkham ID badge (the card is verticle as a fun fact) that he wears on his suit jacket's breast pocket

● has to make a semi-regular video log ("to mak[e] sure I don't have any 'impure thoughts about the inmates'" which he doesn't like that wording for his patients but you pick and choose your battles)

● Works down the hall from Dr. Morton (is below, is also under the "People" section)

● Transferred from Seattle (doesn't have prior knowledge of patients, instead sits down with them totally blind and whatnot). for those unaware, that is in Washington, USA

.

.

.

★★★ DR. MORTON (DC Comics OC)

● he/him. Unknown forename (i know in his first video that Dr. Morton showed his Arkham badge to camera but i cannot read it so idk if it said his forename. but i like being a nerd about names+meanings; so, despite the fact that it is quite likely he does have a first name already, because it is illegible to me, im giving him a hc forename: very tempting to jokingly pick "Jay" because thepandaredd is Jay Morton, but that's low-hanging fruit, so i digress my pick is Victor, after Victor Frankenstein of "Frankenstein" fame. tho, like, Victor barely counts as a doctor, he's more of a hack insisting he counts, but he practices alchemy which even his classmates say is super-outdated and not a real science. im getting off track. my "BUT"-point here is that i associate them together because Victor Frankenstein sees the Creature, arguably his own son (i def see the Creature as his son, Victor literally created the Creature, but i digress) but is definitely a patient of his if nothing else, as a monster immediately upon the uncanny-valley-motherfucker daring to actually move &&& Dr Morton calls his patients exclusively by their villain-names so far as of 2024 March, implying he does see his patients as monstrous due to their actions or at least sees their villain identities as superseding their original civillian names, which is a really cool contrasting point between him and Dr. Aaron Michaels. i wonder if that's something they argue about but are still friends in spite of, if that sticking point of difference stops them from being friends, etc)

● Level 2 Medical Officer at Arkham Asylum. also called "A physician", is specifically a "General Care physician for all the supervillians housed at the asylum"

↳ 8 years medical school, minor is psychology

● Calls patients by their villain names (important contrast with Dr. Aaron Michaels, above, still under the "People" section. i have analysis about this character choice in my "hc for Dr Morton's forename" right up a few points)

● appearance: he wears glasses. in his first video, Dr. Morton wore red scrubs (or what i assume are supposed to be scrubs? idk, im not a scrubs expert) with a black longer-sleeved shirt underneath and black pants. Dr. Morton also wears what i assume is a scrub-cap, and it is black with skull-and-crossbones on it. in his second video, Dr. Morton wore a white labcoat on top of his scrubs, but otherwise dressed the same. also, he has an Arkham ID badge (fun fact: the card is vertical) that he wore as a lanyard around his neck

↳ hc: i think Dr. Morton stops wearing his ID around his neck. it's a common enough thing that patients will attempt to strangle their doctors in general clinics (much less around dangerously violent patients, like in Arkham Asylum) that doctors (1) dont wear stethoscopes around their neck anymore as a rule, or anything around their neck that could be used to choke them; (2) dont generally wear lanyards and, if they do, it is a break-away lanyard; and (3) instead of lanyards will wear a badge-holder-clip (often a retractable one for convenience) on their top somewhere (ive seen it clipped on their scrub-shirt's neck, their shirt breast pocket, and the hem of the shirt. i once saw it on the hem of their sleeve. i do not know if there is protocol about this beyond "above the waist", this is just based on observations and none of the odder ones are recent. i usually see breast pocket the most). which means someone probably tried to choke out Dr. Morton, and idk who would be the most likely candidate, but regardless it probably doesn't help Dr. Morton see his patients positively enough to use their civillian-names over their villain-names

↳ another hc: which, like. speaking of, i dont think Dr. Morton using villain-names over character-names is bad. it is part of the patients identity and probably the part they recognize the most (since v rarely are any remorseful for their actions). it shows Dr. Morton sees them for their (current) actions, rather than seeing them for their humanity out of his own perception of the world. saying that, i still disagree with the decision for a multitude of reasons, but it's a cool character detail and i wont go off in a tangent about this, this is already enough lol

● Works down the hall from Dr. Aaron Michaels (whose section is above, still under the "People" section)

● Listed treatments:

↳ Eyedrops many times a week for Two-Face's eye to not be a raisin

↳ Splinting Penguin's nose

↳ Has never seen Clayface shit

↳ Repairing "the grill" of Joker

↳ Trying to convince the Joker that wiping his ass does not, and can not, make the Joker gay (suspects the Joker is attracted Batman nonetheless)

.

.

.

★★★ BUTCH MORETI (DC Comics OC)

technically, this character kind of doesn't exist. as the character was just in a draft version of the "Make Condiment King Scary" tiktok, and not in the finalized video. but i am ignoring that

↳ idk if "Butch" was the character's forename or nickname, but i assume it is the forename (but you can hc it as a nickname if you want)

● Pronouns unknown

● Worked with Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King, canon character but re-imagined rendition is below, still listed under "People" section) died because of Mitchell due to Mitchel poisoning a dollop of ketchup (that Butch ate with fries from Big Belly Burger, one of Butch's favorite places to eat)

↳ died in a safe-house, after ripping off Falconé

↳ Mitchell Mayo was sent by Falconé to kill Moreti -- "Falconé sends his regards, Butch"

● appearance: was dressed in all black, with a black leather jacket (no lapel, had fake-motorcycle-padding-shoulder-pockets if you squint. this in contrast to Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King)'s leather jacket which did have a lapel), with a black t-shirt, black pants, etc.

● Butch was irritable (makes sense, after ripping off Falconé and finding someone in the safehouse) and waved a gun around for intimidation

● i hc both Butch Moreti and Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) were/are Goonion members and co-workers of Bill The Henchman (more on Bill above, still under the "People" section). i love Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) as what thepandaredd wrote him as now, i refuse to see him any other way after the "Make Condiment King Scary" video lol ■ more on thepandaredd's re-imagining of Mitchell Mayo (The Condiment King) below, still under the "People" section

.

.

.

★★★ MITCHELL MAYO (CONDIMENT KING) (DC Comics)

technically, shouldn't be here bc he is a canon DC comics character already. but i like thepandaredd's re-imagining enough to have made notes and consider him a bit of an OC of panda's

● assumed, he/him pronouns due to canon and masculine self-references (eg. a guy, a man, King, etc)

● hates the title "Condiment King", does not like to be called that and will tell you. the press gave it to him after a murder Mitchell comitted (more below under "Confirmed murders")

↳ "So patronizing. Like, I'm trying to make some some grand-standing with what I do, I'm not. I'm not."

↳ "Everybody in Gotham has got a gimmick."

↳ "See, my problem isn't with the name itself. It's with what the insult that is implied. People think that what I do is silly. But I'm gonna ask you something. If the ketchup was too tangy, would you stop eating it? Or if your hot wings tingled your throat in a way you didn't expect, would you all of a sudden stop? See, the thing is, apart from taking a shit: eating is when people are at their most vulnerable. I ask you: do you know what poison tastes like? Are you sure?"

● appearance: wears a green beanie with a pompom (reference to character's pickle hat in comics. (fun behind-the-scenes fact: the hat in question in the tiktok is a backwards "Friends" beanie. Mitchell's is assumedly not that. but it is what thepandaredd could find at the time)). wears all black otherwise, including a black leather jacket (with a lapel), a black t-shirt, black pants, etc (note: when killing the unnamed guy a few bullet points below, was wearing a "new sky blue suit" that got stains all over it from fighting said guy in a kitchen and getting tossed around. assumedly had to throw it away after, but who knows, maybe it got cleaned)

↳ very recognizable. Ted (below, still under "People" section) recognized Mitchell Mayo on sight, despite being a Gotham transplant who'd only been there for three months

● personality is generally laid-back? a bit of an "under the surface" type of control-freak? is kind of quiet, lets people make assumptions that benefit Mitchell Mayo. keeps calm while others fly off the handle. will get a bit loud and growly when angry, letting it slip for half a phrase or so, before laughing it off and continuing like he isn't annoyed/pissed off. smiles and laughs creepily at the idea of murdering people; no guilt, no shame, enjoys it. very much recommend watching both the draft and final versions of "Make Condiment King Scary" that thepandaredd made

● likes to eat french fries (in the draft version of "Make Condiment King Scary", Mitchell eats the fries without ketchup as said ketchup is poisoned for Butch Moreti to eat. in this version, the fries are from Big Belly Burger ■ in the final version of the video, Mitchell does eat his fries with ketchup) ■ according to Ted's second "Living in Gotham" video (Ted's section is below, still under the "People" header. Ted called Mitchell Mayo exclusively by "the Condiment King" which i assume did not help Ted's case), Mitchell got so mad at Ted for dissing the Bat Burger (+Joker Fries) that Ted had to hide in the bathroom of an abandoned building as Mitchell Mayo pounded on the bathroom door saying, "I know you're in there! I know you're in there! Open the door!". so i assume the Bat Burger is Mitchell Mayo's favorite and that he is the "No, you misunderstand. I'm not willing to die on this hill, I'm willing to kill you on it." type in regards to food-opinions

● drinks A&W rootbeer? i think?? idk what that can is of otherwise (in final version of "Make Condiment King Scary")

● worked with Falconé as "a goon" ("another grunt off the street"; kind of implies Goonion likely wasn't a thing yet back then? but who knows, Goonion doesn't seem relatively new, so Mitchell Mayo probably was a member when he started. edit: nah, according to the Goonion merch, it was "established 2000", so yeah, it is relatively new, nvm) ("Hands up, fucker, Falconé sends his regards"), implied to not being doing that anymore

↳ when with Butch Moerti (section above, still under "People"), is implied to still be peers. so still henchmen. Butch patronizes Mitchell, sees Mitchell as below Butch, and Mitchell allows Butch to underestimate him as it benefits Mitchell in the end

↳ i hc both Butch Moreti and Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) were/are Goonion members and co-workers of Bill The Henchman (more on Bill above, still under the "People" section). i love Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) as what thepandaredd wrote him as now, i refuse to see him any other way after the "Make Condiment King Scary" video lol

↳ implied to be a mercenary now? idk if this version is a supervillain (i kind of like the hc i have of Mitchell Mayo still being in the Goonion, but is a polar opposite to Bill The Henchman. doesn't connect with new goons or really guide them, Bill is kind of implied to be a bit of a mentor/big brother considering a few goons are excited to show him what they did (eg. the Jimmy Olsen kidnapping skit goon) or when he mother-hens the goon-that-once-worked-at-Cobra-HQ or the goon-with-a-gun-in-waistband, and also the hypothetical-"Batman Beyond"-elder-goon even says "Bless his soul" in talking about Bill. compare that with how Butch Moreti treats Mitchell Mayo. admittingly, Butch was acting under frustrating circumstances, but still. i think Mitchell Mayo is just a "big goon in a small pond" who is seasoned at his goon-work as a helluva scary pseudo-mercenary (one even civillians can immediately recognize), whereas Bill is a seasoned goon that isn't a renowned merc but is still really good at his job and also blends in easy with crowds (bc nobody knows who he is). like. Mitchell Mayo is kind of the asshole "truly evil" guy that Bill could have been, y'know?)

● Confirmed murders: (within thepandaredd re-imagining canon)

↳ manipulated Butch Moreti (section above, still under "People") via using Big Belly Burger fries (Butch Moreti's favorite. "Man, you know that's my shit") and poisoning a dollop of ketchup that had been untouched on a paper plate -- arguably non-canonical bc Butch only exists in a drafted version of "Make The Condiment King Scary" and not the final version, but im ignoring that ■ well, actually, i guess Butch kind of is also in the final version as there is some unseen person cough-choking to the end, assumedly poisoned. that could be Butch. or a reference to Butch. who knows lol

↳ (the following is a bastardized summary of the "Make Condiment King Scary" final video; please go watch it) Mitchell killed an unnamed guy in a pot of hot sauce (technically, "extra hot sauce", still on the stove ■ "You know, when you drown, they say your lungs feel like they're on fire. Can you imagine what that's like with capsaicin added to the mix?" (this line is only in the draft version) ■ "Did you know that it only takes three pounds of ground up chillis, consumed in one sitting, to kill a man? Purely from the capsaicin. Well, I'll tell you what, he figured out what it's like to inhale that shit."). drowned the unnamed guy in a pot of it. it is how Mitchell Mayo got the nickname "Condiment King" from the press. ■ event in further detail: Mitchell was sent by Falconé bc a resteraunt "racket" he had been running (slang definition: "an illegal or dishonest scheme for obtaining money". i assume that means the place was a front for money laundering? that the "owner" went "no, fuck you, i actually like doing this"? that's kinda sweet. or maybe Falconé was doing "pay me for protection (from me)" thing, idk, that's less sweet but still admirable lol) had itself an owner who decided not to pay, "So I was sent to relieve him of his station". Mitchell let the guy finish up his meal, followed the owner into the back, stuck a gun in his face. but the guy was a black belt in karate, kicked gun out of Mitchell's hand, fought and tossed Mitchell around, then Mitchell held the unnamed guy's head in that pot of hot sauce "until the fucking bubbles stopped coming up". therefore, Mitchell Mayo killed a guy with hot sauce in a suit covered in condiments got the nickname "Condiment King"

.

.

.

★★★ REGGIE BENSON (his second Marvel OC! yay!)

● unknown pronouns. (he/him implied via "dude" and "guy" diction? but idk, i use those gender neutrally myself)

● appearance: wears a red and a blueish-gray flannel with a black sherpa lining that is a zip-up jacket; ontop of a plain pale-red t-shirt. as a prop, Reggie often carries around an iPad (assumedly to draw on, write notes, and record audio with. i hc Reggie uses the Notability app a fuck ton, because that lets you record audio while you write notes which is great for lectures/interviews. Notability is a bit hard to draw with in my exp, but not the worst; plus you can switch apps easy. idk how well it works for Zoom/Facetime/online interviews, but in-person ones? esp pre-Wolverine-interview? Reggie probably used Notability a shitton. iPad is a very good prop pick for Reggie to have), said iPad seems to have a pale-gray case. Reggie also has a prosthetic leg (assumedly his right (the viewer's left) leg from how he looked down?)

↳ "How did I get [my prosthetic leg]? I, uh, mighy have asked Wolverine how he shaves? Listen, I'm just saying-- I know legal said don't talk about it, they asked, I want to tell them-- if a nuke gets dropped on a guy, and he comes back with perfectly shaved mutton-chops, I don't think it's unreasonable to know how he shaves his freaking moustache, okay?!" ("I, uh, I have been informed by legal team over at Marvel that I, I, I, uh, should stop talking about the Wolverine interview on camera. So, uh, can you just, tch, cut that, please?")

● works at Marvel Comics' Marvel Comics (bc Marvel Comics legitimately decided "let's put our comic company inside our comic-universe, selling comics about the heroes the universe has. like a graphic novel version of the news, except it is 'fictional stories with grains of truth' somehow", sure). thepandaredd explains this oddity a bit better over in the July 2022 compilation (which, for clarity, Reggie's introductory skits are over in the August 2022 compilation)

↳ Reggie's official position at the company is: "Earth 616 Reporter (Mutant Division) Marvel™️ Comics". Reggie just says "I'm a reporter for Marvel Comics" and that "Personally, a lot of the stories that I cover are a lot of mutant and mutant-related things." ■ they still say "Excelsior"/"'celsior" at fictional-Marvel, that's cool

↳ it can probably be safely assumed Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and whatnot still are still alive? since they were, at one point, in the comics? but idk if they are in the skit-world-of-thepandaredd. but they might be Reggie's co-workers?

↳ Reggie explains their job as a mixture of the news section and "the funny pages" section of a newspaper. it's reporting news, put in some graphics, and add "drama and spice to keep things fresh". ■ Marvel Comics (the fictional company) does try to be unbiased and also get "all the perspectives possible" (eg. the villains' pov). says that "Some people that rhe public has labeled as super-villains aren't really that bad of people to talk to. Others, (note: Reggie is clearly thinking of Mojo, more in a lower bullet-point) uhm [i cut out the heavy stuttering], some of the opinions are deserved." ■ Reggie sees himself as "I like to think of myself as their voice. I get to get their side of the story out to the people, y'know?"

↳ for work, Reggie has met with: Paste Pot Pete (no label within the skit. civillian identity: Peter Petruski. is sometimes also called The Trapster, but not in these skits lol) ■ Mojo (the skit labels Mojo as "Mojo. Media Tycoon. Professionally Gross. Entrepreneur. Owner: WatchMojo". Mojo is both his villain and civillian name. his alien species is called the Spineless Ones. in one specific comic-run, "Ultimate X-Men", he is a human named Mojo Adams, but i digress. Reggie gets general-canon-alien-Mojo, who terrifies/disgusts Reggie to the point that Reggie screams, even on video-call/Facetime) ■ Wolverine (the skit labels Wolverine as "Logan Howlett. Mutant. 'The Wolverine™️'. Avengers, X-Men, X-Force, History Teacher." Wolverine hates Reggie: he says "fuck that guy" and thinks Reggie is a total asshole) ■ Charles Xavier (the skit labels Charles as "Charles Xavier. Headmaster. Mutant. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngesters™️. Nobel Prize Winner". when asked about Reggie, Charles began by saying Reggie is "a fine young chap" until he was told this was off the record, to which Charles said "Oh, the dude's a prick.") ■ Namoor (Zoom interview. has fried the "complimentary iPad we gave him by going underwater" before, hope that doesn't happen again. is mentioned in skit, but not shown, so no label)

↳ i personally feel it is important to add Reggie will snort-laugh at some things the people they interview say, and Reggie will cover it up with a lie that the sound they made was "allergies"/that it is "allergy season"

↳ my hc: i think the Paste Pot-Pie interview was pre-Wolverine, and Reggie does all his interviews over Facetime/Zoom since losing his leg post-Wolverine interview? maybe legal over at Marvel advised it

.

.

.

★★★ ARNOLD (a third Marvel OC! very little info tho)

● unknown surname. unknown pronouns. (hc: i googled Marvel's version of State University to confirm if Arnold was an OC or not, and i couldn'find anything to say he is canon so i assume OC. i know very little Fantastic Four lore. anyway, i see it says there is a dean already there-- which is to be expected, and universities can have multiple deans-- but that same dean does not have a forename. so i am hc'ing slapping Arnold onto this dean whose entire wiki says he just "welcome[d] Reed Richards when he arrived with the the Fantastic Four at State U to deliver a lecture", the end. so, my hc name is Dean Arnold Mencken, or just Arnold Mencken when he is not a dean, i guess. also, i looked what the surname means on my beloved search-engine of Surnames.BehindTheName because i LOVE name-meanings and intertextual references and whatnot-- and nothing came up. so i tried google, and a site called "Forebears.io" that i am unsure about entirely trusting says that it is a variant spelling of the surname Menken (which BehindTheName also had nothing on) and both means "One who lived in a monastery" which sounds fitting and i kind of have an "i don't know enough about this to say you're right or wrong, and i don't like that" opinion about. but eh. the character's surname was already decided. it's whatever, it's just a hc. if you want to see the fandom-wiki pages on Dean [No forename] Mencken, the one listing him as staff from State U is here and his own page is over here)

↳ insists students call him by just "Arnold" when they try to call him "Dean". Victor Von Doom compromises, somewhat, and switches from "Dean" to "Dean Arnold"

● is a dean at State University in New York (which, yes, is a real university). was dean at the time Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom were students

● appearance: wears glasses and a plain black t-shirt in the skit

● is in just the one skit from the 2023 Oct./Nov. compilation, unlikely to appear again but who knows!

.

.

.

★★★ PROFESSOR FINGER (DC Comics OC)

↳ is actually a spoof on "Bill Finger", who worked on Batman comics. more below under Professor Kane's section (below, still under "People")

● he/him pronouns. unknown forename. (hc forename: Duval. after Marie Duval, the primary creator of "Ally Sloper" which was a then-famous Victorian comic strip to which her husband (Charles Ross) stole all the credit and was heralded as a comic genius for almost 150 years. only in the past few years, thanks to a comics historian named David Kunzle, has Marie Duval been given her full share of credit for what was ultimately her comic. but yeah, i checked if Duval is a forename and i found tons of people with it as their forename so hell yeah)

● appearance: unknown, Prof Finger was never shown on-screen

● switched mid-skit between calling him an "English teacher" and a "Philosophy teacher". (maybe he's English specialized in Philosophy, like ive had English college classes require we read "On The Consolation of Philosophy" by Boethius before) more likely, Finger is English and Jason Todd mispoke when he said "Philosophy"

● is a Professor at Tim Drake's school, and Tim is in his class; Jason Todd took his class, was implied to have taken it years ago. was called "Professor Finger" (note: not "Dr. Finger", this OC assumedly does not have a doctorate. which, it is fairly common for English profs to have up to a Masters, then its a toss-up if they stopped there or also got a PhD so that checks out. main reason i mention it is bc i kept making a typo the first time i wrote this section up calling him "Dr. Finger" and that isn't accurate, he was never called that in the skit, idk why i kept making the same typo).

↳ the phrasing of "Professor" leads me to assume this is university (idk how private schools work and if they have students call anybody "Professor") which Jason Todd i don't think is confirmed to go to university? (Jason Todd hc: i think he should go. i am very much Team Jason Todd The English Professor Or English (Public? or Gotham Academy?) High School Teacher (probably more likely public bc i can see Jason Todd wanting to reach out to disadvantaged youth at public schools moreso than help deliquent rich kids on principle. but i can also see him going "i dont want to hang out with teenagers who don't want to participate in discussions; i'm gonna teach on college campuses" bc he deserves students who are interested in his class, his life has been hard enough, let him have passionate students and, unfortunately, college English students are more likely passionate about the material than high school English students, idk what to tell you). but im also Team Jason Todd Takes College Classes (Mostly English) For Fun With No Intent Of A Degree tho. either or) and the only college Tim went to that i am aware of is Ivy University in Ivy Town. however, i think it is more likely both Jason Todd and Tim Drake are both taking college classes (or "has taken" in Jason Todd's case since it's implied he went Finger's class years ago, idk if he is implied to still attending or not rn, before was just my hc) at Gotham University in Gotham City, that feels like the most convenient place for them to both go. however, it would also make sense for this to be a reference to Gotham Academy (in which case Tim Drake is in high school and Jason Todd has since left), but again, idk if private schools ask students to call their teachers by "Professor". im probably overthinking this

● obsessed with Batman

↳ keeps having students every semester write a paper on the philosophy of Batman to the point that Jason Todd thinks "he should have a book of those by now"

.

.

.

★★★ PROFESSOR KANE (DC Comics OC)

↳ is actually a spoof on "Bob Kane", who worked on the Batman comics 

↳ (if you want to read up on why Bill Finger and Bob Kane are being discussed like this, this article goes over a good amount of introductory information (https://boldentrance.com/how-bob-kane-stole-batman-from-bill-finger/) and i also recommend this reddit thread to get a bit more of a window into the DC Comics fandom dialogue about it (https://www.reddit.com/r/batman/s/sf8P8hgBxv). but yeah, there's better resources if you want to know more in-depth stuff, i just picked the most accessible, quick-to-read, starter stuff) thepandaredd has also done a few videos on Bill Finger and Bob Kane, but i can't find them even though i know they exist (edit: found them (on accident), it's within their "DC Comics Discussions 3" youtube video). but this is just thepandaredd doing a "Wouldn't it be nice?" alternate reality where the students protected Finger and ousted Kane for trying to steal Finger's job, the actions dictated here did not happen in real life. it's just a nod to the irl drama via the names involved (and also maybe the enough "psychology/philosophy of Batman" stuff to make a book is a reference that Finger kept a continuity book of all Batman and Batman-associated-characters/places he came up with so as to minimize continuity errors. i am not aware of Finger having ever written a "Psychology/Philosophy of Batman" book or anything similar for that topic ad nauseam, again, as far as i am aware, that's just a popular point of pop culture analysis to the point that even i have written a paper on it for college), it is not a summary of said drama

● he/him. unknown forename. (hc forename: Ross. after Charles Ross, of the "Ally Sloper" fame, who famously took all the credit that his wife, Marie Duval did to making this Victorian comic strip an icon of its time)

● appearance: unknown, Prof Kane is never seen on-screen

● "Professor Kane tried to steal [Professor Finger's] job last year, but everyone kind of ousted him"

↳ "Oh, gross, Professor Kane? That dude's a dick."

↳ "Yeah, that's what everyone else said."

↳ assumedly, since Tim Drake doesn't have his own opinion of Kane voiced (just "that's what everyone else said"), though Professor Kane is at Tim's school, Tim has not interacted with him one-on-one or had his class (my assumption would be Tim is avoiding Kane's classes since everyone keeps talking shit. why willingly take a teacher you know might make your life hellish for a semester? i do that with RateMyProfessor all the time). in contrast, Jason Todd likely has taken a class by Professor Kane considering his wording (which makes additional sense when you realize Jason Todd is unlikely to use the internet or features like RateMyProfessor due to him having grown up without much day-to-day/non-Batman-and-Robin tech before the Lazarus Pit. probably isn't a habit for him to look profs up); but it's also likely Jason just came to his own conclusions firmly after hearing enough rumors/second-hand stories about it, that does also fit Jason's personality

↳ "ousted" implies Professor Kane no longer works at that campus. but who knows, maybe

● (note: same as Professor Finger's section above, still under the "People" section— this guy is not "Dr. Kane", this OC assumedly does not have a doctorate. which, we don't know what kind of subject this Kane OC is a professor of. but, considering he tried to steal Professor Finger's job, i think it's safe to assume Kane is also an English professor. it is fairly common for English profs to have up to a Masters, then its a toss-up if they stopped there or also got a PhD so that checks out.)

● i'm not re-writing my notes on "is this guy a Professor at a university (Ivy University? Gotham University?) or at Goth Academy (high school)?" so look above in Professor Finger's section (above, still under "People") for my waffling on about that

● i'm guessing on the spelling of Professor Kane's surname based on phoentics + "Kane" is how Bob Kane spelled his surname (same goes for "Finger" except i don't think there is any other way to spell "Finger"(?), unlike Kane/Cain/Kain/Cane/Kayne/Cayne/Caine/Kaine/Caigne/Kaigne/etc, you get the idea). i assume Professor Kane is unrelated to the DC Comics Kane (fictional) family/families (eg. one family is Katherine "Kate" Kane (Batwoman), Mary Elizabeth "Bette" Kane (Hawkfire), and Jacob Kane. another Kane family is the father-son duo Jesse Kane and David Kane (Black Manta; though i think it's more popular for Black Manta's civillian surname to be Hyde in-comics), from the live-action "Aquaman" movie series. and another is Cassandra Cain (Oracle; in some other universes, her surname is Wu-San though) and her father, David Cain; though that one is if i assumed incorrectly about how to spell Professor Kane's surname. and so on, im sure there's others with a variant of this surname. a lot of people in the DC Comic workspace used the surname as either a Biblical reference, which is not that important to what i am discussing here, or in tribute to Bob Kane before everyone knew about how much work should actually be attributed to Bill Finger) but yeah, hc to your heart's content if you want Professor Kane to be related to someone. just because there is no evidence of confirmation does not, in this case, mean there is any evidence of contradiction either. (hc: like i prefer Jacob Kane to be a good guy, bc Katherine "Kate" Kane (Batwoman) deserves a decent dad. but i know in the "Gotham Knights" game (idk if this is true anywhere else), Jacob Kane is a member of The Court Of Owls, specifically "The Voice of the Court". i think the Waynes/Kanes having a connection to the Court makes sense. i think it's kinda off to have everyone in the Wayne/Kanes be good, and all other rich families in Gotham have at least one bad egg in The Court of Owls; i think the Wayne/Kanes should be included as part of that corrupted mess, just, probably someone outside of the Batfam and their immediate relatives. id be perfectly happy having Professor Kane be in the Wayne/Kane family as the representative associated with The Court Of Owls in Jacob Kane's place. maybe he can be Jacob Kane's crotchety old uncle or someone in the family closer to Kate's age, but someone who they are all but officially estranged from. hence, no idea he/their family was involved in the Court. if you prefer drama tho, i don't think anybody really knows anything about Bette Kane's dad except that he's dead? maybe he came back, idk, basically all the Robins have died and came back. or maybe she has a brother, idk, i prefer my "distant family" pitch more personally. but also then i kinda wonder why Professor Finger isn't dead via a Talon getting assigned to kill him, so i also don't believe my own hc pitch. it is the most likely option that Professor Kane could just be an unrelated, miscellaneously benign but dickish Kane lol anyway, i digress)

.

.

.

★★★ TED (the Gotham transplant. DC Comics OC)

● unknown pronouns. unknown surname. (hc surname: Icarian. meaning i hc this character's name to be Ted Icarian. which "Icarian" is the adjective/noun form referencing the Ancient Greek lore character called "Icarus". most famous for wearing his dad's wax wings, flying too close to the sun, and falling to his death with a moral about arrogance, the sublime, and human error. which, y'know, is poetic because im hc'ing this as "uncorrupted Ted that has never been/has yet to become a goon" (more on that in a bullet-point below), ergo, "before the fall" morally and before Bill's-version-pre-reboot-of-Ted's fall from Wayne Towers ~73 stories high to his death from Man-Bat. so it is also a pun. also, as a brief self-note: applying the Hozier song titled "Icarian (I, Carrion)" to this intrepretation of Ted is fitting poetically and also funny in a dark-humor way. edit: Ted's life is going downhill fast between the first and second videos, and i feel like i accidentally condemned Ted with this surname lmao Ted, i'm so sorry)

↳ the following does involve hc, but also does analyze possible connections between "this Ted" and "the Ted mentioned within Bill The Henchmen's Confirmed Co-Workers section of Bill's whole bit above (yet still under the "People" heading)": i like to headcanon this is the same Ted who is/was Bill The Henchman's late coworker. since Ted-The-Coworker was established pre-Reboot Agent, this could either be a prequel to Ted dying from the Man-Bat (which btw the skit of that is linked here) or could be Ted in a rebooted alternate life. i like to assume the latter, because i think that'd be hilariously trippy for Bill to see his coworker still alive post-reboot but tragic that this Ted doesn't likely know who Bill is lol but also all of this, either way, makes the Henchman LinkedIn joke a few bullet-points down extra (bittersweet) fucking funny

● appearance: wears all black. first video included a black t-shirt and a black denim jacket. second video included a black scarf with a black-white-and-gray long-sleeve top.

● has a 4-door car. idk anything about cars. but has shot these videos, generally, in said car. so that is one of Ted's habits as an influencer → and now that car is where Ted sleeps, oh dear (at least is sleeping with a neck pillow? idk any silver lining here)

● now lives in Gotham (Batman's territory, which is in the East Coast and most traditionally is in pseudo-New Jersey), but is a transplant from Coast City (for context, Coast City's most famous protector is Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) if that helps you. it's in pseudo-California). lives in an apartment in Gotham → oh, god. uh, Ted no longer lives in an apartment in Gotham. Ted is now unhomed, now living in their car. their apartment was burned down into the shape of a giant smiley-face and there was a fireproof-paper note on "where my bed once used to be" that said: "Disrespect my Joker Fries again, bitch, and it won't just be the house". so. assumedly Ted's home was burned down by the Joker

↳ has lived in Gotham City "for 3 months". if you want to apply reality's timeline to the skit, hen he has been living in Gotham for 3 months from the point of recording the tiktok on 25 March 2024 (aka: 25 January 2024-ish is around when Ted moved to Gotham?)

● two jobs. job (1) is as an influencer, makes tiktoks (eg. "Top 5 Facts About Gotham City (from a Coast City transplant)" type videos. doing social media seems to be a side hustle or just for fun? each video has the top margin say "GOTHAM FYP" or "GOTHAM CITY FYP" so far (which i know is a fun trend people do and that's part of advertising that "hello, the following is comments about a fictional city; this a trend, i am a nerd (/tone indicator: affectionate); please do not think this is a real place (or that im stupid, as sometimes comic nerd get v patronizing in the comments. (eg. 'uh? op didn't know Harvey Dent was Two-Face? fake DC fan much' like? my comrade, it is a trend, it is a GAG, of course op knew, they did a skit playing as a character that's a Gotham civillian who wouldn't know that, oh my god, that's the BIT))", but also my not-tech-savvy ass assumes a part of it is also supposed to be a gag about the search-bar? and the idea is that the viewer is either watching Gotham City content within the DC-universe or, more likely, also lives in Gotham(?). idk. but yeah because [insert real city] fyp content doesn't ever have that "[CITY] FYP" stuff at the top that ive seen, but they do always have the search bar always filled in. usually with more "[real city] fyp" items, most generally it will be just "[city] fyp" but also sometimes the search bar says stuff like "[city] fyp to eat", "[city] fyp tips", etc as i watch the tiktok video VS. if i watch "Gotham FYP" content, my personal 50/50 experience on if my search-bar will give me more "Gotham FYP" content in my search bar or if it will be something else DC Comics adjacent, like a new movie. however, after saying all of that: i think i maybe went into an overthinking spiral again, ignore me if that is the case) summary content of video below in case application of Gotham Fun Facts is desired)

↳ does not think the Bat Burger lives up to the hype. thinks Joker Fries are not that good. prefers Big Belly Burger (same favorite resteraunt as Butch Moreti, another thepandaredd OC, above yet still under the "People" section). will still eat Bat Burger tho

↳ "Gang territory, here? Gerrymandered to fuck". have to change colors of outfit to keep safe

↳ Halloween is outlawed in Gotham (in part bc of copyright laws). even trick-or-treating is illegal

↳ Henchman jobs are available on Linked In. applying puts you on a watchlist for the GCPD but still

↳ Gothamites are both exaggerating about the crime rates here and not. Gotham has more than the usual number of villains but the crime is less of a disturbance than expected, in spite of how "in Coast City, we're used to, like, one intergalactic threat showing up every couple of months" VS "It is like almost every other fucking week here [in Gotham]"

↳ Ted got a Welcome Package when Ted first moved in. package contained: "a safety straw you use to drink out of fucking lakes, a gas-mask, [and] a gun"

↳ "The second the sun dips behind the horizon, the sky turns red. No, I'm not joking. Night-time doesn't exist. There are demon hours and that is when the sky is fucking red!" also, both Ted and i are chemically unsure how that works

↳ there are police blimps to patrol Gotham City from the sky. "I saw a dude jay-walk at, like, 2 in the morning; and, all of a sudden, a flood-light came out of the goddamn sky!" which Ted admits, despite having lived where Green Lantern "used to be" (is that verb-usage related to the Superb Prowers insurance question about Coast City being gone now? is Green Lantern also gone? idk), Green Lantern did not get Ted used to this kind of shit at all (fair)

↳ despite there being "like 10 million people living here", "more than half" of the buildings here are of abandoned buildings and all of them were former businesses (hc/theory: Ted, those were probably the results of fronts for money-laundering, and they they had to shut the place down in order to avoid the cops. and also poverty, making a honest business as a newbie entrepreneur with no familial pre-established networking is very hard, i imagine, esp with all the "pay my gang for protection (from our gang)" stuff. that doesn't help) ■ yet Ted found a way into a (working?) bathroom in one such building, admittingly under duress (Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) was chasing him) ■ "half the residential buildings are abandoned apartment complexes"

↳ Ted finds Robin (assumedly Damian Wayne; "a 12 year-old running around with a sword") is "scarier than you would think". not necessrily that Robin is scarier than Batman, but that not enough people warn you about Robin. plus the fact that said Robin has "two brothers" where "one of them is fucking packing heat and the other is just going to fucking beat you to death with a billy-club!" (okay so, that is assumedly Jason Todd (Red Hood) and Tim Drake (Red Robin). makes sense, since Dick Grayson is largely looking over Bludhaven, he would not be present, and Duke Thomas (Signal) is largely working day-hours. Ted is not going to be happy to find out that there are more than just those two tho) ■ "the Robins" went after Ted for loitering? bc Ted was trying to find a place to sleep, homeless, in their car?? "Loitering is a big thing here" (hc: i don't like the idea of the Batfam caring about loitering (which is v racially charged "crime"), much less pestering the homeless?? especially Jason, who im p sure did sleep on the street at some point. but i can accept the idea that they saw unfamiliar plates on the car and wanted to check out "who the hell is driving this slow (looking for where to sleep) at 2AM from Coast City?" and pulled out the random loitering as an empty excuse (reality: was checking this dude wasn't a runaway robber from Coast City, looking for a place to break-into, mostly to hide-out and maybe rob; and then realized the truth about Ted's situation). i can also accept them gently being involved in the homeless' lives so as to better protect them, remember them, break the ice, and just (again: gently) hazing new people. i like the idea of Ted seeing a couple comments from other unhoused people explaining that "getting to know you" method. just messing with Ted while they got down some details to look a bit more into Ted (eg. Damian memorizing Ted's license plate while Time distracts Ted might lead the trio to an article explaining how Ted lost that apartment) and see if they can get Ted off the street without being so obvious as to dish out hand-outs since some people have really negative reactions to those despite the good intentions. idk. it was just a gag, but one that greatly confused me so now i am spinning it and righting it in my head lmao)

↳ the G.C.P.D. police have to be at every single graduation from college. because, and this happens so often, that someone gets their doctorate and right then and there decides to commit their first act of super-villainy at the ceremony. part of me wonders how Ted learned that, what graduation did Ted attend or did Ted hear about it from others? idk

● second job: unknown. assumed to be Ted's day-job or main occupation (with social-media as a side thing).

↳ has co-worker there named Alex (confirmed he/him pronouns. Alex's duplex is split between Penguin territory and Two-Face territory. "has to change colors if he wants to go to the bathroom". Alex does not get his own section because this is all the info i got on him ■ though i will also say there is another Alex, likely unrelated for reasons listed in the other section, in The First Universal Henchmen's Union section's "confirmed members" listing, above, and said section is all under the overall "Associations" heading)

● Ted's Enemies, i guess (hopefully just temporarily): Joker (pissed off due to Ted dissing the Joker Fries; burned down Ted's apartment and left a threatening fireproof note) ■ Mitchell Mayo (Condiment King) (was also pissed off by Ted's food opinions, though Mitchell's was implied to moreso be about the Bat Burger; chased Ted into an abandoned building's bathroom and pounded on the door of said bathroom while yelling at Ted) ■ i assume there will be more

● (@/thepandaredd, if you're reading this, i know i said i have hcs but i truly do not actually care if this Ted and the previous dead-Ted are two different Teds, the same Ted but a prequel version, the same Ted but now rebooted into an alternate life... all i ask, is that Ted is not the next "Todd". it would be so fucking funny if you made a third Ted (even funnier if this one was Tedd, with two "D"s, but that is nOT TO GIVE YOU IDEAS), but i am also begging you between laughs once again to please consider not making more DC OCs named Ted. that is so close spelling-wise to "Todd". please. and thank you for coming to my TED Talk (ba-da-tish)) [/tone clarity: this is me complaining as a bit. do what you want, it's your tiktok and your OCs. im just joshing. ill be fine if you do more Todds and Teds. much love to you and yours ♡]

.

.

.

★★★ THE REGRETTABLES RE-IMAGINING PITCHES (exactly what it sounds like. not quite an OC, but fuck it)

★ you could also argue "Daniel Dyce (#711)" of "Regrettable Superheroes" is a pitch of an OC of thepandaredd (specifically, thepandaredd pitched for him to become a gag villain in Gotham who keeps breaking out of Arkham). which, uh, i do also have notes on. but i will not be sharing within this post because a lot of it is "me myself brainstorming a re-imagining of this character" which feels too tangiental to put here in "thepandaredd's original characters and associations" post. and, yeah, you would have assumed thepandaredd would have further re-imagining pitches of some of the "Regrettables" but these were the rare ones i could find and i am p confident i've watched all the videos in that series bc i was looking for exactly these kind of notes. all the rest were "Regrettable, don't bring them back" or "Not regrettable, bring them back (with said opinion not including a pitch for their re-imagining. at most just a vague 'as a gag'. anything more than that and i will attach them to this/my thepanndaredd's OC list)".

↳ but yeah, that was from a two-parter tiktok from 8 June 2023 (or thepandaredd's 2023 June Monthly compilation video, either or). i'm generally gping to keep these summaries short bc their pitches are short. but thepandaredd's pitch for Daniel Dyce is to have him come back as an Arkham Asylum patient who keeps breaking out of his room #711, and is a gag. Daniel is just delusional, keeps fighting the Batman and Bat-kids while thinking they are the villain Brick-Bat and that Dyce is a hero (read: Dyce is not a hero in his re-imagining, that is his altered reality he thinks he is living. he fails spectacularly every time he tries heroics). alternatively, it could be the Riddler putting on a Batman cowl to fuck with Dyce and make Dyce think Batman is bad (similar as to Hush), taking advantage of Dyce to throw in Batman's way. it is implied that Dyce does belong in Arkham and was not a case of Damon and Pythias* gone wrong, that was just another delusion in thepandaredd's re-imagining. but yeah, just a one-shot gag villain

↳ *: as a fun-fact the nerd in me wants to mention: Daniel Dyce's shtick with his best buddy in terms of the prison-swapping is actually an intertextual reference to the Ancient Greek lore story of Damon and Pythias (except Damon and Pythias was about Pythias being on death row (the version i know is Pythias being framed by King Dionysus I "for trying to kill King Dioynsus I". bc. King Dionysus I wanted to get rid of Pythias. for. reasons that i forget that i think were political), and Damon volunteers to be Pythias' placeholder (and be executed in Pythias' place if Pythias never returns) so Pythias can settle some affairs back home himself and ensure his family is taken care of before he comes back to be executed. then, in the original story, the whole time Damon volunteers and waits and waits and waits, everyone says "Damon, dude, Pythias is totally not going to come back, you're gonna die in his place, i'm so sorry, there is no way he is going to come back" but Damon has faith and then Pythias does come back (and was almost too late, like Damon's head was on the chopping block awaiting the blade, because Pythias got thrown overboard his own ship by pirates and swam as fast as he could to get back on the path so Damon wouldn't die, which is fucking wild, but i digress). and King Dioynsus I is so touched by the sheer Pythagorean Friendship moral ideal these two are that he pardons Pythias! so now both he and Damon get to live, yaayyyy!! and, as a bonus fact, the most popular recent re-telling of this in contemporary times is Dreamsworks' "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas", which is an animated pirate movie, ain't that neat. and, hey, while i got you here, you should watch Breadsword's "Sinbad and The Death of Pirate Cinema" on youtube because all of Breadsword's video-essays are poetic and make me wanna cry). uh, except if you have seen the two-parter thepandaredd made about Daniel Dyce (or somehow read Daniel Dyce's comic yourself), you'll know that's not how shit went down for Daniel Dyce, he did not get that happy ending lmao rip

.

.

.

★ next one is "Tony Trent (The Face)". again, i have notes about running with this pitch. not included here bc it's Very Much Me which is tangential for a thepandaredd OC listicle and im already pushing the envelope with my hc additions i couldn't bring myself to delete for the public version. so here we go. this one has a pitch way more minimal than Daniel Dyce (#711) right above, but still got more than just "as a gag" so here we are lol (plus, there is no intertextual reference i am recognizing and wanna be a nerd about. sooooo...) thankfully tho, this will be shorter

↳ video is in the May 2023 compilation. is p just putting a Halloween mask on and scaring people.all because he, as a radio announcer and part-time news anchor, got so disheartened and angry by what he had to read everyday, that he just had to become a night-time vigilante. he is like a private-eye pulp detective, "he's like Batman but shitty". "No gadgets, no superpowers, no supervillains, no continuous enemies". thepandaredd's re-imagining pitch is to keep all of that and just, as a parody gag, have this guy show up in Gotham to make a difference and have everyone be like "No, dude, we fight Batman? Who the fuck are you?". because, as thepandaredd so eloquently said "He's just a guy!" that's it lmao rip

.

.

.

the end, until i update this (if i ever do)

[goodolreliablejake]

I've had a thought on Game Theory and MatPat ever since I watched Big Joel's video on some of his film theories, and I guess this is the last chance to share it with any relevancy.

Game Theory was really important to me at some point, even as I increasingly saw the flaws. I fantasized about being MatPat: being a conventionally-attractive, able-bodied theater kid/science nerd with the full American Dream house-family dealio. I think that, whatever criticisms you may have, the videos have always been more harmless than not. They were like candy, and I enjoyed them as such.

But, at times there has been an undercurrent of something weird, something more nefarious. I first noticed it with his Scott Cawthon apologia.

After the news broke about the FNAF creator donating huge sums of money to support the campaign of Donald Trump and other conservative politicians, there was a huge backlash, especially from LGBT. Fan gave Scott Cawthon money, and he used that money to cause harm to them and theirs. MatPat's response is some centrist BS about how it wasn't about homophobia for Cawthon, it was about "national defense" (which is also bad for different reasons, and at best paints Cawthon as apathetic to the harm he's causing), and how even though it's okay to feel betrayed, it doesn't mean we should stop supporting the games, because the fan community has grown larger than one man.

As someone whose brand is deeply entwined with FNAF, the financial incentives for The Game Theorists are obvious; they weren't about to stop working with this franchise or its creator, they didn't want to tarnish their reputation by admitting past fault, and they needed to keep the cash cow rolling. So, they worked backwards from those conclusions to rationalize those decisions to their audience.

Then there are the more mundane gripes with the theorist channels: that videos are churned out so rapidly that they make sloppy errors, that they primarily advertise to children (with all the ethical ickiness that entails), that they use content from small creators without giving proper credit or linking to the sources, that the videos are overloaded with ads, usually including a paid sponsorship, several minutes of shilling their own store, and the usual youtube ads on top.

I think all of this speaks to the channels' underlying philosophy, and it's the philosophy of liberalism, by which I mean that marriage between capitalism and democracy. On the one hand, this is a moneymaking venture. It always has to be about making as much money as possible. But on the other hand, it needs to be (or seem, or allow the creators to feel) moral, and so the result is a view of the world where, yes, the company is trying to squeeze out as much money as possible, but also them getting more money is a good thing that benefits everyone. They do charity streams. They employ people. They "educate." "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."

I'm not just guessing at the motives here. Matpat has been transparent about Game Theory's Origin Story on multiple occasions. It's part of the narrative that justifies the channels' existence. At some point, Matpat pursued theater as a career. In college, he got his first taste of something like poverty, struggling to get by, camping out at McDonald's with its free refills and wifi (a life I've also lived at times and perhaps the origin of the Diet Coke fixation). And it scared the hell out of him. I don't think it could have had that kind of traumatic effect if he had not lived in privilege until that point. He didn't want to feel financially insecure ever again.

The solution was to create the Game Theory channel as a bridge into a much more lucrative career as a corporate consultant. Creating a popular, financially-viable youtube channel allowed him to sell himself as a social media expert to out of touch corporations. He's not really hiding that he's a sellout, just arguing that selling out is a good thing.

All in all, I can't bring myself to hate Game Theory. It had its place. But neither can I celebrate it, or look back with unconditional nostalgia. The problems with Game Theory are the problems with Youtube and the problems of capitalism. We compromise a little to survive, we compromise everything to make it big, and saddest of all are those who sell out and get nothing for it. The channels will continue without Matpat, and if the channels die, there will be countless other identical creators ready to take their place.

[haro-hawayu]

CCS: Clear Card Ch. 70

Chapter 70 is out! A friend told me that there was a lot to process so I had to make sure I wasn’t looking at any potential spoilers until I got a chance to read the chapter. Latest chapter can be found on CLAMP-net’s YouTube Channel. As always, do check out @meimi-haneoka's post on the latest chapter for any EN-JPN translation differences. I had to check after reading the chapter...

Links for previous chapter reactions can be found here.

Reading Reactions

Sakuraaaa so pretty. I LOVE THE COLORS AHHH.

Sakura opening her eyes!! What will this be??

Ohhh!! The Exchange happening in-story!! This was not what I had in mind BUT it kinda makes sense...

Wait... nvm, this is... different? This is the play!

Tomoyo looks so lovelyyyy~

Sakuraaaa TuT

WAIT WHAT--

TWIN?

AKIHO’S OR IS IT THE PLAY??

Okay... I think this is just the rest of the play...?

KAITO

WHAT

HOW COULD YOUUUUU T^T

Waaaahhhhh! 

ACTUAL TWIN??

Is it just memories? Or actual rewriting of things??? 

YOU CAN NEVER GO BACK! IT HAS TO BE THAT LINE!! WHAAAA--

Did Sakura actually sensed that?!!

WOW I really need to process this and I have questions!! I love how I just gave up on making sense with my reactions too LOL. 

Ahhhhh I’ve always known that Kaito is doing all that he is doing to help Akiho, but I’m relieved that his wish didn’t make things turn out really bad for Sakura (where Sakura and Akiho would actually exchange lives and Sakura suffer the bad end of it). It actually makes sense but to see how everything played out is just... wow. I’m so impressed. Kaito TuT I don’t even know what to say about him because ahhhh there’s so much to unpack and my mind is still just ???? I just want to point out that this is also where the art just speaks volumes because seeing his expressions this chapter, it’s like... wow... dude, you just... did all that for Akiho. I’m a little--more than a little??!!--emotional right now because he just looked so relieved and at peace (even if a bit sad) when he revealed his wish, and him smiling right as the seal was activating. LOOK AT THAT FACE! He really planned everything SO carefully so that he can give Akiho a good life TuT but ahhhhh why can’t he understand that taking himself out of the picture is not the thing either?!! Did this play not teach you anything sir?!! Momo is literally us. 

Also, with my questions. I’m wondering to what extent did the “rewrite” actually affect their lives. Akiho received no magic, so she’s still magic-less, but in this “rewrite” her sister has magic. So does she just happen to have all these memories of Sakura with magic? How does everyone else with magic make sense of this?? I’m sure that it also won’t be long before Akiho realizes and “remembers” Kaito and decide to go save him & this is probably where knowledge of Sakura having magic will make sense because Sakura will definitely get involved too. 

THE “YOU CAN NO LONGER RETURN” LINE!! The line that confused me so much!! I still remember from a while back that I was wondering who is saying that to Sakura, and in the anime, it was a man’s voice! I’m SO sure it was deliberate choice, like CLAMP probably requested for this, because tbh it would’ve made sense if it were a woman’s voice bc it could be Nadeshiko, or Lilie... or Momo?? and it could make so much sense but it was a man’s voice. Which is why I felt like this line is VERY important!!! Ahhhh and seeing it being used here!! This explains a lot but also gives me more questions because why does Sakura hear this?? 

I might go back to editing this later if I ever re-organize my thoughts... =u=