#and that's just how noa is!

[tinderbox210]

Noa and Mae + swearing

[blueroseempress]

"GIRL CALM DOWN, IT'S JUST A SILHOUETTE"

The silhouette:

[fineline-b]

look beauty and the beast has definitely had me in a chokehold since childhood because why was i really out here shipping noa and mae??? MAYBE tim burton was onto something with the 2001 movie. iykyk.

[aru-art]

fun fact about me is that if i don't draw these two regularly i will die

[crimsonmoonlight88]

Together Strong

Pairing: Noa x Mae

A/N: Help, I've fallen and I can't get up. Just a short drabble inspired by a scene from Avatar that refused to leave my mind.

--

It was hard to believe the war for world domination was over for now--harder, even, to think how much had changed since the first time Mae had stepped into this ruined observatory and gazed upon the stars.

Like that fateful night, the sky was dark and cloudless, glittering with stars and the promise of a brighter future. Mae had been wrong, then. The world did not belong to the humans--it belonged to humans and apes, and together they would need to navigate this new age.

The Eagle Clan had tripled in size, and was now established as one of the leading territories. The Clan had chosen a new Master of Birds and Warlord, which called for a celebration. Mae had never known what it was like--to feast and laugh and tell stories over bonfires. To listen to the beating of drums and chants of song.

The festivities that followed the ceremony would last long through the night, and she had needed a moment of quiet, seeking this long forgotten place beneath the stars.

As Mae moved toward the telescope, she heard him enter, intentionally making himself known as to not startle her. But he did not speak. She wondered when he had noticed she had slipped away; he always seemed keenly aware of where she was, just as she was of him.

The past few weeks--months, really--had been nothing but plotting and planning and fighting. There had been blood, and death, and little time to talk about much else but war and peace. Mae did not mind. It let her avoid the truths she feared to acknowledge.

But she knew she could longer avoid them.

"It feels like ages since we were here," she said finally, a hand trailing over the cool bite of metal. "You are the Master of Birds now." She dug a finger into a groove, feeling moist dirt there. "Anaya says you will make a bow from the wood of the tallest tree." She paused. "And you will choose a mate."

Noa said nothing, watching her from the shadows in that silent, still way of his.

For some reason, Mae could not look at him, even though she could hardly look away during the ceremony. He had been covered in dark blue and white woad, adorned in armor that made him look more a knight than an ape. Master of Birds and Warlord. A leader.

Mae reached up to the necklace she always wore, her fingers playing with Raka's medallion--the symbol of peace and strength. "Nina is a good singer," she admitted. The female was one of the best in the clan, taming even the most wild of eagles.

A beat of silence. And then Noa said, his voice drifting from the shadows, "I do not want...Nina."

Mae suppressed a smile, but it quickly faded. "Soona is a good hunter. And an even better friend." And you were born within a sunset.

Another beat of quiet. And then--

"She is...all those things." He paused. "And family."

Mae stilled, not just at his words, but because he had snuck up behind her. She turned, half dreading what she might find. Noa stood at his full height, intimidating in his warrior's garb. He was hardened from war, but his eyes were still soft as he looked at her.

"But I have...already chosen," Noa went on gently. He reached out, his large hand covering hers over the medallion, his eyes bright. "But this woman...this...Nova...must also choose me."

Mae smiled at him, blinking back tears. "She already has."

His lips parted slightly, almost in disbelief. He leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers, his strong hands finding the back of her neck.

"You choose...this?" he breathed. "You choose...Eagle Clan? Me?"

He had once asked her if apes and humans could live together. Then, she had not known. But now, she could see no other future. Noa and Raka, Soona and Anaya and the others, even the humans that had joined their forces, they were family now.

"Yes," Mae answered. "Our cause is important. What we have built is important." She reached up, cupping his cheek. "You are important. To me."

His hands tightened on her neck, no doubt remembering those words, how he had said them to her on the battlefield when he had begged her to run. She refused. She would not leave him and the others then, and she would not leave them now.

Mae closed her eyes. "Together," she went on, "strong."

"Together," Noa echoed, his voice a promise, "strong."

And as they stood there under the stars, ape and human but somehow twin souls, Mae knew, no matter what the future held, they would face it side by side.

Together.

[risartblog]

#miqomarch day 11 :: Loss

Overwhelming.

[lisupandowntown]

Rory Protective, Part II

A/N: huge thank you's to @bellysoupset and @writing-whump for indulging my panicked and impulsive DMs while I was writing this. It was going to end much further along but breaking up the story makes more sense. And a little bit of sick Drew too. EDITED TO ADD: realized that if you aren't from the US, all the talk about brackets and March Madness and basketball might be a little hard to follow - it's the big college basketball championship - starts with 68 teams put into a huge bracket with the best playing against the lowest seed and so on, until there is one winner. Google NCAA March Madness bracket if you have a burning desire to know more.

The alarm on Rory’s watch vibrated and he automatically opened the probation tracker app on his phone.  Damian Smith was at a McDonald’s more than an hour away in Worcester.  He blew out a breath.  Only one more check-in for the day before Smith was required to stay in the rehab facility until 8 tomorrow morning.  Good. He sent a quick text to Noa.

R: Hey love; want me to pick you up after work?  I’ll be done at 5. And then maybe we can grab dinner. I love you.

He expected Noa to respond quickly since she didn’t have any therapy sessions that afternoon.  But it was 45 minutes before she texted back.

N: A ride sounds perfect. But I’m going out with my friends for dinner; Jacey got a promotion and wants to celebrate. Can you drop me at Lolita’s? Love you too. 

Rory frowned at his phone. Lolita’s was a trendy Mexican bar/restaurant known for its strong drinks.  It was exactly the type of place a group of girls would go to celebrate, which was why it was also popular with groups of guys.  Noa had actually gotten drunk enough to get sick there once - but fortunately Rory had been there that night. Still, it was a Wednesday, and Noa did have to work tomorrow.  He took a deep breath. Nothing was likely to get too wild on a random Wednesday, he told himself.

He gave Noa a rather longer kiss than usual when she got into the car, and then rested his forehead against hers.  “I missed you,” he mumbled.  “Sounds like you were busy today.” 

Noa kissed him back.  “Not any more than usual.  One of my individual clients cancelled so I had time to catch up on my paperwork without working through lunch.”  She looked at him curiously. “Why do you ask?”

He shrugged.  “Took you a while to text back,” he said lightly. It was the kind of thing they joked about - how well they knew each other’s schedules. Rory usually tried to text when he knew Noa wasn’t in a therapy session. A month ago he wouldn’t have thought twice about teasing her about the delay. But ever since Vermont, when Noa told him she thought he was worrying too much, he’d promised her he’d try to be reasonable.  Knowing her schedule was clearly reasonable though, he reassured himself.  

“I was in a training; we’re getting ready to start a couple of new group sessions with different focuses.”  She launched into a story about one of the senior therapists and his technique for getting the participants in new groups to engage with each other.  Rory relaxed at the normalcy of it all. Sure there was still that nagging bit of worry at the back of his head that wished Damian Smith would just get the hell out of Boston.  But as long as he was able to track the guy it was all fine.  Even better, he and Noa didn’t have a lot of plans this weekend and they’d talked about cooking dinner together and watching a movie.  It was supposed to snow - not unheard of for March in Boston - and Rory was looking forward to staying in, just the two of them.

“Hello?  Earth to boyfriend.”  Noa was waving her hand near his face and Rory realized he hadn’t heard the end of her story.  “You zoned out there; are you feeling okay?”

“Fine; just . . . thinking about work.”  He cleared his throat.  “Umm, do you think it’s going to be a late night?  I’ll come pick you up.”

“I just told you that Rhyan’s driving me home.”  Noa sounded more amused than annoyed.  “She’s on an antibiotic and can’t drink anyway.  Or else I’ll take an Uber.”  

“It’s not a problem; I don’t have anything going on tonight,” he lied easily.  What he wasn’t saying was that he’d left work early to pick her up and had a couple of reports to write up before tomorrow. 

 “Maybe; I’ll let you know,” said Noa happily.  “I’m just excited for guacamole and margaritas.”  She touched his cheek. “Just one Marg though.” 

Rory chuckled.  She knew him so well.  “It’s all good; Smith’s curfew kicked in at 6. He’s probably staying up all night gaming or something.”  

He knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say, even as a joke.  Noa sighed.  “I wasn’t worried, Ror.”  She pulled her hand away.  

“You’re right; I’m sorry.  It was a dumb joke,” he said quickly.  He wanted to explain - although he wasn’t sure what he’d say - but they were already pulling up to the restaurant.  Instead he reached out and squeezed her hand.  "Call me if Rhyan can’t bring you home.”  

She nodded.  “I will. Love you.” She gave him a quick kiss and got out of the car, squealing in delight at the sight of her girlfriends.  

Rory drove off, trying to reassure himself that it wasn’t a big deal.  He thought about calling Gabe, or maybe Jeremiah, but it was a random Wednesday with no sports and they were getting together tomorrow night to watch March Madness.  Might as well go home and work.

Noa didn’t call him to pick her up, but she came home mostly sober and smiled at the sight of him sitting up in bed reading.  He opened his arms to her and she snuggled happily against him and he figured he was forgiven.

*****

“My bracket is so busted; why’d I have to pick Wisconsin to make it to the finals?”  Logan plopped next to Gabe on the sofa.

“I told you not to underestimate BYU,” said her boyfriend smugly. “Ow!”  He rubbed his ear dramatically where she’d flicked it.

“Don’t underestimate me.” she warned ominously.  “Win the bracket but lose . . .” She leaned over and whispered rapidly in Gabe’s ear. After a few seconds a flush climbed up his cheeks and he raised his hands in surrender.  Logan sat back, satisfied.  “I thought so,” 

Rory grinned.  “One year Noa picked her entire bracket based on which team’s uniforms she liked best.  What was that, 9th grade?”  

“Hey, I came in second place with that strategy,” said Noa indignantly. She nudged Rory’s knee and he nudged back before flinging his arm around her shoulder. 

“Yeah, and I was first that year, just like tonight,” Adam boasted, even more smug than his brother.  Rory didn’t know if it was being in the lead for their bracket challenge or the fact that Avery wasn’t there, but Adam seemed to be in a much better mood than the last time he’d seen him.  Of course, the last time, Adam had been telling him all the reasons he shouldn’t be worrying about Damian Smith.  Being very self-assured and Adam about it all.  Rory loved Noa’s twin, most of the time.  But the guy was absolutely wrong there. 

And Avery had apparently discovered just how exhausting it could be dealing with Adam when was sure he was right.  Rory had stayed out of it so far, but he had a sneaking feeling he was going to end up dragged in one of these days. Everyone else seemed to have an opinion about the situation between the two men, even though it was mostly side conversations and subtle comments so far.  He made a mental note to talk to his partner about it.  Normally he wouldn’t care who Avery slept with (and he certainly didn’t want to know the details).  But if distracted him from more important issues then Rory was going to get involved.

“Drew, what can I get you; are you eating food yet?”  Logan had taken it upon herself to play hostess at Gabe’s apartment.  “I can make you gluten free toast.” 

Drew smiled weakly.  “That’s what I had for dinner before we came.”  He held up his cup.  “And I’ve got my Gatorade.  Thanks for letting me come; I really shouldn’t be contagious anymore.”  

Logan shrugged.  “I’m going to catch it from Gabe before you; unless you want to go make out or something.”  

“And I’m going to catch it from Rory,” added Noa. “So you may as well stay here.”

Rory couldn’t resist getting in a dig. “Adam, is there anyone you might catch the stomach flu from?” he asked innocently.  Across the room Jeremiah snorted.

“Someone remind me,” he requested. “Who else was here the night Gabe got sick and started this? Anyone we should warn about . . . Adam?” 

Adam scowled for a moment and then his face smoothed over.  “Offer’s still open, Drew, if you want to see where Jeremiah learned it all.”  He raised his eyebrows suggestively. 

“Not all,” Drew smirked. He’d been slumped into the sofa but now he sat up to point at Adam.  “He’s picked up quite a bit since then; definitely more than I could show you in, you know, just one night.”  

His tone was so casual that Rory almost missed the innuendo.  But then Gabe whistled under his breath and Jeremiah bumped fists with Drew.  Adam’s face shuttered and Noa hummed with amusement.  “I’ve warned him,” she muttered to Rory.  Her breath was warm on his cheek.  “If he’s going to insist on sleeping around, he’s going to have to live with the consequences. This is just the first time those consequences are attached to someone we like hanging out with.” 

A second later, Adam seemed to get his bearings..  “Your loss, sweetheart,” he shrugged nonchalantly.  He rested a hand on Jeremiah’s shoulder.  “I’ve learned a few things too, you know.”

“I am not going to ask Morrison what those things are,” Rory whispered to Noa.  He was feeling relaxed and comfortable, and when the alarm buzzed on his phone he didn’t even stop to think before opening up the government’s tracking app.  

DAMIAN SMITH LOCATED - 183 GREENE STREET - WORCESTER, MA blinked across the top.  The app was designed to be read quickly and easily by probation officers in case a subject wasn’t where they were supposed to be.  Which also meant that Noa easily read it too.

“What’s that?”  She sat up and took Rory’s phone out of his hand  “Why are you keeping track of where Damian Smith is?  I thought that was all settled.”  Her voice was mostly calm, but there was an undercurrent of something else in her tone that Rory couldn’t read.  He quickly took the phone back and closed the app.

“It’s nothing; just me being cautious.”  He reached for one of the beers on the table.  “Hey, when does the game start?” 

Noa grabbed his arm.  “But why?  Why are you being cautious?”  There was a winkle between her brows and Rory had to resist the urge to smooth it out.  “I thought Avery was keeping an eye out; he said there was nothing to worry about.”

“Well, if Morrison said so, then I guess it’s FBI law.”  Adam pushed his way onto the loveseat next to Noa.  “Because apparently no one else can be allowed to have an opinion on the matter.”  

Another time, Rory might have pointed out that Avery’s opinion about Smith was pretty close to what Adam had been insisting himself.  But now Noa was staring at him, obviously waiting for Rory to answer. And Adam had been loud enough that everyone else in the room was listening too.  

And he wasn’t finished talking.  “So tell us, Rory, who’s right about Smith?  You or Morrison?”  

“Shut up, Adam.”  Noa pushed her brother hard enough that he slid off the sofa.  “Stop thinking with your dick.”

Jeremiah spit his beer out and started choking.  Drew leaned forward again and began patting his boyfriend on the back.  Rory thought he looked uncomfortable; maybe Adam’s jokes about hooking up had affected him more than he wanted to admit.  Gabe was talking quietly to Logan, about what, he didn’t care.  Because Noa was still watching him, unsmiling.  

“Why, Rory?” she asked quietly.  “Is there something you aren’t telling me?”

Rory shook his head.  “There isn’t; I promise.”  He grabbed her hand, wanting to offer reassurance..  “Smith’s been exactly where he’s supposed to be all week. You’re perfectly safe.”

“I know that, and I know there are a lot of other people whose actual job it is to keep an eye on Smith.”  Noa sounded cross, not comforted.  She took the phone from him again and pressed the button to open the app. “How often are you checking in on him?”  She peered at the graph showing the guy’s whereabouts.  “Every three hours?” she asked incredulously.  “Every day?” She dropped the phone in his lap.  “Are you sure there’s nothing to worry about?”

“Nothing,” said Rory firmly.  “I’m just being . . . you know.”  He gave a sheepish shrug.  “Me.  Your very protective boyfriend.”

Noa gave a small smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes.  “Maybe I need a little less protection and a little more honesty, okay? I’m not breakable.”  She was speaking to him deliberately, and Rory didn’t like it.  It was her “I’m in charge here,” voice, and she almost never used it with him.  It was the voice that had told Adam to shut up.  He nodded.  “Noted,” he said, meaning it.  He was about to apologize again when there was a sudden groan from across the room.

For a second, Rory assumed someone was unhappy with the score of a basketball game.  But then he realized Jeremiah was leaning over Drew, who was hunched over in his seat, head in his hands.

“Logan, can you grab me a garbage can or something?” he asked calmly, even as Drew’s body jerked with a queasy-sounding hiccup and a line of saliva dripped onto the floor.  “He’s not feeling great; apparently not as recovered as he thought.”   

“Yep.” Logan jumped up and walked quickly towards the powder room.  

“H-hurry,” Drew slurred, burping. The sound seemed to come from deep in his belly and Rory winced. Having just gotten over the bug himself, he could imagine how terrible the man felt.  Although selfishly, he was a little relieved, because Noa jumped up to help, grabbing a roll of paper towels from the kitchen.  

Drew retched harshly and Logan got the trash can under his chin just in time to catch a fountain of blue Gatorade.  He panted heavily, spitting, and then his body lurched again.  The second heave was mostly empty; clearly Drew hadn’t eaten much.  But it seemed to ease his nausea.  He sat shakily back against the sofa and wiped his mouth with a napkin.  

“Here.”  Adam held out a glass of ice water.  “I squeezed a lemon into it; it helps with nausea.” 

No one bothered to point out that Adam had just explained nausea remedies to a nurse.  Drew took a small sip of water and swished it around in his mouth before spitting it into the bin.  “Sorry,” he croaked.  “Really thought I was better.”  

Jeremiah pinched the skin on the back of Drew’s hand to check for dehydration.  “I did too,” he sighed, sounding frustrated with himself.  “Or I wouldn’t have let you come.”  He brushed Drew’s hair back from his face.  “Ready to face an Uber back to Cambridge?” 

Drew belched into his fist.  “Give me a couple more minutes for my stomach to settle and I should be okay.  I pushed it with the toast earlier.”

“I’ll get you a bag to take, just in case,” said Noa.  Despite the fact that this wasn’t her apartment, she bustled around making up a little package of supplies that included a water bottle, damp washcloth, and a packet of crackers, along with two plastic Target bags. “That should be enough to get you home,” she soothed.  “I hope you feel better, Drew.”  

“Me too,” he said grimly.  “Because this sucks.”

“No shit,” agreed Gabe.  He seemed perfectly content to let his sister and girlfriend take care of things.  “When I had it I thought my stomach was going to turn inside out.”  

“I take back my offer of a makeout session then,” said Adam dryly.  “But feel better.”

After Jeremiah and Drew left, it seemed to be a signal that the night was over, even though there were still more basketball games.  Logan pulled Gabe off the sofa so he could help her clean up.  “It’s your apartment,” she reminded him cheerfully.  “And besides, don’t you want . . .” She began whispering in his ear again.  

“Hell yeah I do,” laughed Gabe.  He pushed Logan down onto the sofa.  “Sit there and let me do all the work here.”

“You guys are too adorable,” said Noa appreciatively.  She hugged each of them goodbye.  Logan got back up from the sofa and said something to Noa and she nodded.  “I will,” she promised. 

Rory’s goodbyes were a little less effusive than his girlfriend’s.  He wondered if Logan would say anything to him too, but she just kissed him on the cheek.

Adam walked out with Noa and Rory and of course he had plenty to say.  As soon as  the elevator’s doors closed he started up again about Damian Smith. 

“Just so I’m sure I’ve got this right, since certain people think I don’t know anything,” he groused.  He trained his eyes on both of them.v “Is there, or isn’t there a reason for Rory to be obsessively tracking Damian Smith’s whereabouts, even though he’s not involved in the case?”  He crossed his arms and looked at Rory expectantly.  “That’s not a rhetorical question.” 

Rory glanced at Noa before answering, considering which of Adam’s insinuations he wanted to respond to first. Normally, jokes about his overprotective behavior didn’t bother him, but normally Noa was firmly on his side.  Right now he wasn’t sure where she stood, and it was making him feel unbalanced.  

“I’m not being ‘obsessive’ as you put it,” he said shortly, making air quotes with his fingers.  “And don’t be obtuse, Adam. Of course I’m involved in the case.  I was one of the arresting officers, remember?  And the guy attacked my girlfriend.  So of course I’m interested in making sure he’s not going to do that again.”  He shook his head.  “What, you think I should ignore the guy now?” 

“Not ignore, Rory.”  Noa’s voice was much quieter than her brother���s and Rory immediately shut up.  “Like I said earlier, try to make your actions match the actual risk, okay?”  She threaded her fingers with his and lifted their combined hands so she could kiss along his knuckles.  “I’m tired of feeling off-balance because I don’t know what I’m supposed to be worried about.”  

Rory responded quickly before Adam could say anything else.  “You’re right.  I agree.”  He pulled out his phone and showed it to her.  “I’m deleting the app, see?”  He pressed a few buttons and the icon disappeared.  It would be difficult to get back; he’d had to get special permission from probation services to have access in the first place.  He’d have to figure out a different way to keep up with Smith’s whereabouts.  But Noa looked pleased, and that’s what mattered at the moment.  As they walked off the elevator she snuggled more purposely into his side and he wrapped an arm around her.  

Adam sighed loudly.  “I suppose Morrison approves of all this?”

Rory didn’t bother asking Adam what he thought Avery approved of, or what Rory was doing wrong now.  Instead he just gently punched the guy in the shoulder before they headed off in different directions.  “Listen to your sister, Calder; stop thinking with your dick.”

Adam gave him the finger before hailing a passing taxi. "Take care of yourself, Noey," he directed before getting inside.

After Adam was gone Rory turned Noa to him. "We're good, right? I won't be using the app anymore, I promise."

Noa nodded. "Thank you. And yeah, we're good.." She rose up on her toes and gave him a peck on his lips. "And I know you'll always be watching out for me. But you don't need to worry so much, okay? I'm actually pretty good at taking care of myself."

Rory kissed her back more insistently. "I know you are," he assured her. His mind and body were on other things right now. Fortunately a taxi was approaching that was going to help make those things real.

[jessenitrogen]

oh these idiots again

[amebelladonna]

I didn't question this until just now but certain details about the mystery surrounding Edelgard's siblings fascinated me.

Because isn't it somewhat weird to anyone who isn't in the Adrestian hierarchy that the emperor's 11 kids suddenly just go poof with only the 9th child remaining and that they all quote-unquote "died from some disease" when no sort of plague like what happened in Faerghus ever took place? The game seems to hint that Ionius probably kept the details about his children's identities in privacy, but I'm still somewhat suspicious about it because it doesn't feel like there's enough evidence to confirm it.

Another thing that intrigues me is the possibility of her siblings that do bear a Crest but said Crest isn't the Crest of Seiros. Like Ionius had to bring in so many consorts who definitely had Crest-bearing relatives and try for a kid bearing a Crest, yet there could be an instance where a kid bears one, but it turns out to be the other saints' Crest instead of the Hresvelg bloodline exclusive that is the Crest of Seiros. Given how adamant Adrestia is with sticking to their superiority, a Hresvelg child having something like the Crest of Macuil instead of Seiros could probably be an outrage even worse than a Hresvelg child with no Crest. (They'd be saying shit like how that kid must ONLY have the Crest of Seiros or something when the mother's genes just couldn't be helped.)

[blog-of-reaction]

So were they talking to someone in space at the end there?

[lunasdestiny]

If anyone starts treating Noa like how ppl treated Korra then I will fight you

[deathandnonexistentialdread]

The real tragedy is Noa still craving validation from a dead person

This might be conspiracy theory like but i think that this Noa is a programmed ai meant to mimic the real Noa. i think real Noa is dead and the ai has just been fed information about Noa and his want for parental validation. And then when the big 5 found out about Noa's existence they told him about Seto and then ai Noa calculated how real Noa would react and found out that Seto was sailing right above his base and he made his move

[sumiscribes]

ego is actually the goat. I don't care about noel noa. I can't wait to have ego back to lead the team.

[hidden-nowhere]

AC Forsaken: Yeah, Edward was kinda a sexist who didn't want to teach his daughter assassin way and wanted to give her away into a marriage to a guy she hated...

AC4: Well... he had Mary Read as one of close friends and Anne Bonny as his quartermaster... so I guess he kinda respected strong women

AC Forgotten Temple: Yeah, he respects strong women... but with our "modern-days-Edward-descendant" we kinda implying that he wasn't faithful to Tessa...

[iristial]

Fumiya and Hideyoshi!! 🦗🦊

Nakagawa and Hideyoshi!!! 🦅🦊

[boinin]

Last minute speculation about the next chapter, which will hopefully leak today. 247 will carry the title "Originality" according to PO2 Scans.

In this chapter, Noa rounds up the Japanese players for a strategy meeting. He finds Igaguri and Kiyora training (calling it now: they're rehearsing malicia foul 💀), while the other seven are in the monitor room checking out the new rankings.

...but there's ten players in BM.

...Kunigami, I'm trying to give your emo ass plot relevance, bear with me.

More likely than not, "Originality" will be Noa glazing Isagi and his MV powered plays, during the strategy meeting. Maybe it'll be the coach throwing Igaguri, Kiyora and Neru a bone at last, with an order to showcase their originality. Because they're unseen talents, that might give BM an edge over PXG.

Go figure. But what the title made my mind jump to was the inverse of originality: imitation.

Kunigami is Noel Noa's mimic, the Wild Card copycat. Although it's hard to get a read on the frigid bastard, it's unlikely he's pleased by this hulking teenager trying to ape his playstyle. He's an egoist himself, after all, if not one in Ego Jinpachi's mould. Besides, the experiment has arguably failed.

Being Noel Noa hasn't worked in Kunigami's favour.

Wild Card improved his physical stats, robbed him of his ability to co-operate on the pitch, and has rendered him next to invisible in Bastard Munchen. Yukimiya and Hiori had more impact in round 3 against Ubers, and the latter barely played five minutes of that match.

I could go on and on, but I already have: here I talk at length about Kunigami's character arc. But in short, in my view, this is the key thematic question of the Neo Egoist League, for both him and Isagi:

"Originality" is one of the qualities needed to adapt and survive. Isagi shows it in spades, and has all but conquered the team for himself. It's about time Kunigami took that advice on board and changed tactic.

But.... let's see. Watch the next chapter be an Isagi-glaze fest—I'll head to Tumblr Live on its deathbed to wipe the egg off my face.