#blackjacks used to also be evil

[twilve]

i wanna know how some kpop groups harvest the most toxic fans and others dont

[liillyliilly]

Mercedes-Benz

miya atsumu x reader words; 4467 synopsis; underground racing, she has a slight gambling habit, he drives a sleek black mercedes-benz

Evil incarnate. Satan spawn. Devil’s favorite drug dealer.

Then why was he so delicious?

“Well folks, what we have here today is a game truly unparalleled by any other.”

“Well, Iwaizumi Hajime, I think the level of competition we have here goes beyond just a game.”

“You’re right Miya Osamu, what we have here is a battle of man versus man.”

Miya Osamu burst into laughter, “Oh but Iwaizumi, it’s a battle between boy and woman.”

You didn’t appreciate them narrating your current state of undress. In all fairness, they were also commentating on Atsumu’s lack of fabric entrapments.

Yachi was too busy nursing her heart by downing all the orange juice the Miya’s had in their fridge. Kiyoko was duly scrolling through her phone outside, waiting for you to finish up so she could drive the three of you back to your dorm. Everyone else in the frat house was mad that Suna Rintarou had confiscated all phones before entry into the Inarizaki Phi Alpha mid-term party.

Because of the photos, they would have gotten. Oh, the images of moments they could have captured.

“Hit.” You dealt Atsumu another card from your deck. A seven of spades. Adding that to his nine of hearts, two of diamonds, and four of spades, he had busted. With one measly point above a perfect twenty-one.

He groaned, tugging on his hair and rocking back slightly. You two were sitting cross legged in front of each other, with less clothes on than should have been allowed at the moment.

“You’re such a cheater.”

“Nope. Always bet on the House for a reason ‘Tsumu. You have two options left, your sock or your underwear.”

He threw his sock at your face. You put it on his folded trousers, t-shirt, sweatshirt, other sock, and watch.

He had your top, pants, and one sock. This left you in a bra, underwear, and one sock.

“Listen, Atsumu, it’s in your best interest to not play another round. She still has a sock. You’re screwed. Point-wise, she even started with less clothing than you. Take the punishment.” Miya Osamu carefully advised his brother.

Iwaizumi just scoffed and passed another twenty-dollar bill to Matsukawa. “How’d you know that she would win?”

Matsukawa inhaled, his mango vape on its last leg, “She always beats him in these things, it's almost like she’s cursed him with what I like to call: Boobs Over Boners”

Atsumu shoves his leg back into his pants, and you shimmy back into your shirt. The party quickly dissipated after the two of you shook hands in agreement to end the game.

“I like your white bra better.” He stretched, sitting down on the hardwood floor had dulled his spine and made his back hurt.

“If you won you actually could’ve seen me in it again.”

“Don’t remind me of what I’m missing out on.”

Strip Blackjack was a creation you and he had invented two years ago, it had become an annual event to play it at each mid-term party, so far, you were leading in wins with four and he had one.

This time he had put seven minutes in heaven on the line, you put his brand new Mercedes-Benz on the line. You weren’t going to take his car from him, he would just become your chauffeur for the foreseeable future.

You told Yachi she could head back with Kiyoko, you had gotten a sweeter ride. Kiyoko rolled her eyes and put her hand on your arm. “Don’t wait up, I have some plans.”

“It’s already midnight, what more could you need to accomplish?”

“The fun’s only starting. I have five more hours of entertainment awaiting me.”

“When you get sick, I’ll have the medicine cabinet ready for you.” You hugged Kiyoko as she pulled Yachi away from a Health Science major who had been lurking around.

The Benz life was something you could get used to. A sleek black finish, rich leather, and seat warmers. Atsumu grabbed his water bottle before meeting you in the parking lot.

Leaning back on the front of the car, your back was supported by the hood of his Mercedes-Benz and your arms were slowly touching the curves and edges. Atsumu thought that the view of you and his car was going to put him into cardiac arrest.

Pressing the start engine button, Atsumu turned to you. “Where to first?”

“The highway. Let’s baptize this bad boy,” You leaned forward and slid your fingers over the textured glove department.

“I am not taking my car to whatever blood demon summoning ritual you have in mind.”

You faced him, noticing the volleyball keychain hanging from the rear-view mirror, “You’ve seriously never baptized a car?”

“My car is agnostic.”

“A car baptism is when you hit a little over 160 kilometers, or if you like 100 miles per hour.”

“Those are the same speed.”

“Miles is lower than kilometers, more likely to get you to agree that way.”

He nods, backing his car out of his spot. Neither of you had made a move to turn on music quite yet, preferring to just embrace the smooth transportation.

Several texts from Suna popped up on Asumu’s display on the dashboard. Atsumu kept his eyes on the road, while you had free reign to watch whatever was going to unfold.

You sexy mofo

Why arnt you flirting back babe

Atsumu you dick

Ohhhhhhhhhh

You're actually doing something with her huh

I know a good detailer

Cleans everything right up

Several eggplant emojis later, and you just shook your head in amusement. All Atsumu had to do was ask, and this scenario Suna was proposing could very well be real, but he’d never tried anything more than grinding with you at the clubs.

Minus all the times he had leaned in for a kiss, especially after acing an exam he thought he would fail. Or when he felt sore from volleyball. Or when he just wanted to get a taste of your lip gloss. The attraction was there, and you saw no reason for him to hold back. He held back anyway.

There was still time before you reached the highway, so you just sat pretty, soaking up his presence. He smells expensive. With a physical presence so demanding, you have to wonder why Atsumu and Osamu were received so differently by those around them.

Atsumu couldn’t stand just being there with you, if he got any more jittery then he fully believed his driving skills would be impeded, which only had worst-case scenarios. So he reaches below his information screen, grabbing the aux cord.

“What do you wanna listen to?” You took the cord and plugged your phone in, mentally crossing off songs you didn’t want him to know that you listened to.

“Whatever you want to listen to. I’m not picky with car music, that’s ‘Samu’s field.”

“Driver picks the music, that's the most unspoken but most important car rule known to man.” A recollection of all the times Kiyokyo lightly slapped your hand away from her Spotify search option on her mom mobile. And all the times Yachi discreetly changed your music back to hers when she was giving you a ride to the grocery store so you both could get more juice.

“Passenger Princess picks the music in my car.”

You could live with being his passenger princess. The silence was chopped up and boiled alive with your late-night playlist.

Atsumu taps his fingers on the steering wheel, signaling left to merge onto the highway.

It was practically empty, minus the usual car here and there. The best part of driving on the highway at night was the lights. Towering buildings with spotted office lights still on, colorful lights from bars and various other fast-food restaurants, and lights from airplanes in the sky. Tokyo at night was perfect.

Atsumu, Tokyo, and you, however, that was a trio made to be.

He sped up. Not quite hitting your desired speed, but enough to put a chill around the car that was slowly seeping in.

“I have an extra sweatshirt under the seat.” Atsumu tilts his head slightly, urging you to accept his offer. He prayed that you wouldn’t ask him just to turn up the heat in the car.

You reached down and took the sweater out of the cubby below the seat. It was straight fleece on the inside, but a smooth cotton blend on the exterior. It was also a sweatshirt that had embroidery on the cuffs. His family name was on the left, and what you could only assume was his jersey number on the right.

“Thanks, it’s soft.” You brought the collar up slightly to rub the side of your face on the fleece.

Atsumu was grateful for the lack of lighting in the interior of his car, hiding the way he knew a blush was spreading rapidly across his ears and face.

Clearing his throat, Atsumu questioned your plans for the night, “Besides my veto-ing the baptism, what else did you have in mind? You said to your friends you were going to be busy until at least five.”

You had two possible options in mind. Both of which would terrify Atsumu. You picked around his glove box for a moment, before grabbing a coin.

“Heads is option one. Tails is option two.”

“Aren’t I supposed to know the options?”

You reached over and put a finger to his lips, “Shush, my game my rules.”

You warmed the coin up in your palms, before tossing it slightly and then hitting it against the back of your hand. Atsumu kept his left hand on the wheel, letting his right lay on your armrest closest to him, invading your undefined bubble.

“Option one.”

“I didn’t even tell you what the coin faced.”

“I know, I chose option one.”

“There’s a drift competition I heard about from the Grapevine.”

Of course, it was from the Grapevine. The vaguely illegal social media site that all college students would die to get an invite to join. No one knew who ran the platform, just that one day, if you were lucky, you got a text with an assigned username and password key to join. Atsumu had decidedly not been cool enough to receive such a text yet.

You, however, were one of the first people to get onto the Grapevine.

You clarified for Atsumu, “I won’t put your baby through the ringer, I just heard the gambling’s good. Apparently all the people who said they’d be racing are either bringing an imported car or they have a super tricked-out home-cooked car.”

Atsumu would be lying if he said he wasn’t interested. He just hummed, pulling up his GPS, and you typed in the address.

It was half past one when you got there. Atsumu parked his car about half a mile away from the location you had input. You praised him, calling him smart to do his best to avoid damaging your escape car.

When you got into the abandoned car parking lot, and walked down to the basement level, you were surprised. Atsumu stayed close by, walking slightly to the right of you but staying behind you.

Bumping from speakers was all kinds of music.

A yellow 1997 Mazda RX-7 had J-Pop blaring, with a decently young guy tweaking wires under the hood. A red 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX had Teriyaki Boyz’s “Tokyo Drift” playing, with various stripped-down women investigating the lights embedded in the wheels. There were several other cars similarly tricked out, each with their unique personality and appeal.

Atsumu pulled you back into him by your elbow, “This is insane.”

“It’s dope, that's what it is.” You scanned around for any kind of money being exchanged. “Winner, winner.”

You grabbed Atsumu’s hand, leading him to a turquoise-colored car.

“There’s my mischievous queen.” Oikawa looked you up and down, you just kicked your leg up and put your hands under your chin in an attempt to appear cutesy. “And then this stick in the mud.”

Atsumu just did a head nod to acknowledge Oikawa’s presence.

Oikawa was dressed in a white ribbed tank top and some lilac cargo pants. His Aoba Johsai medallion hung on a gold chain around his neck.

“I don’t suppose this perfectionist is gonna race. Bet he drives a Toyota Sienna.” Oikawa grazes your hip with his hand, trying to tug you over to him.

You can’t help but go over to Oikawa’s car. “2001 Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S, my friend Ushijima helped me to change the colorway.”

“It’s gorgeous, just look at those LEDs,” You skimmed the attached lights around the door of the car, appreciating the overall look of the car, then investigating the smaller decals in the corners of the windows.

Inside Oikawa’s car were his over-the-shoulder seat belts embedded in the driver’s seat, a silver pack of something you couldn’t quite identify in the central console, and his phone lying on the passenger’s seat.

“Wanna go for a quick spin before it’s go time?” Oikawa flipped his keys around his finger, and a small diamond decoration caught the light from the various beamers around the car garage.

You looked back toward Atsumu, his eyes had narrowed.

“Nah, I’m happy just to do some gambling.” You wrapped an arm around Atsumu, holding onto his side. This was an effective enough deterrent for Oikawa.

“I see how it is, put your money on me though, some of these other drifters can barely keep their throttle going long enough for a good spin.”

“Noted. It was nice seeing you,” You waved, and Atsumu copied the wave, adding the repeated motion of bending his fingers at the knuckles, a teasing victory wave of sorts.

Oikawa and you knew each other through a mutual friendship in Iwaizumi, he was older than you by a few years, working on a graduate program in Argentina. He came back to Tokyo for the racing, only the racing. At least, that’s always what he told himself.

It would be a lie to say that Oikawa didn’t still love you. How can you not when you propose twice in one month, begging someone to come to a foreign country with you, telling them that you would take care of them, and they would never have to worry about anything? Just be with me and everything will be perfect.

You put a few bills on Oikawa, much to Atsumu’s chagrin.

The lineup was two cars at a time, going from the bottom floor up to the roof of the parking garage. There would be six brackets, for a total of twelve competing drifters.

If Oikawa did indeed win the whole thing, you stood to make a crisp four hundred dollars. If he placed in the top four, you got two hundred. Anything below the top four and you’d be out a flat hundred, all the money you skimmed off the bets from Strip Blackjack earlier this night.

People were lined up on either side of the starting point, you didn’t have the best vantage point seeing as all the tallest guys had already conglomerated to see the skidouts fail. Atsumu asked if you could see alright, and you just shrugged, it was an inconvenience but wouldn’t ruin the experience.

So he scouted for a better standing spot. “How’d you feel not watching the beginning of the race?”

In a moment, you two had jogged up the stairs, going to the roof. Only the various car techs were already up here, typing away on laptops.

The view was stunning. And had an ample vantage point. The car garage was scaffolded, so each floor going high was smaller than the layer below. The spiral going up to the finish line was readily viewable from where you and Atsumu were leaning against the concrete half-wall. You would get to see the final moments of the race, as well as see the billowing tire smoke from the levels below, various obstacles were on each floor. Barriers, iron gates, and pillars originally designed to guide cars to parking spots now functioned as ways to show off the iconic sideways slide of drifting.

Atsumu pulled out his phone when you were leaning over the half wall, inspecting the route the cars would have to take. It was just a few subtle pictures he told himself, of the way you were grinning wildly at the upcoming race, wearing his sweatshirt.

He couldn’t resist just sending one or two photos to Suna to humble brag.

Youre gonna kill her?

Push her off the ledge?

Im not gonna hide her body with you

Necrophilia is not hot

Youre such a douche you know that

Only for u my asian baby boy

she really is your type tho

Look at those legs, scrumptious

I will push you off a ledge

You think she would play strip blackjack with me? Without cards ofc just the stripping part

Blocking you rn

Ohhhhh noooo how will i survive without my precious

The roar of cars is louder than expected, Atsumu fumbles while trying to shove his phone back into his pocket. You just start giggling, lightly stomping your feet in excitement.

“Watch this!” A rapid twist from the yellow car as they continued to cut off what Atsumu recognized as Oikawa’s car.

The speed at which they were going shook Atsumu to the core. Each new drift circling a barrier to a straight path just intensified as they managed to go up each level in progressively intense challenges. Smoke billows from the tires against the pavement, flaring out the lights attached to the cars, creating what looked like a chalk bomb in the air full of color.

In a second, Oikawa spun out, cutting another corner and overtaking yellow. When he was sliding his way up the spiral, Atsumu had to admit to himself that what Oikawa had accomplished was pretty solid. Impressive even.

The rumbling and purring of the cars scratched a mental itch that you didn’t know you had. Like live animals, the cars came alive with each round. Despite the same route, new shortcuts and clean ‘barely made it’ moments richly colored each round.

It was exhilarating. For a moment you tried to imagine what it was like inside the car, the wind on your face, the jerking of your seatbelt while trying to move the steering wheel. It was golden material for a daydream just waiting to be utilized in your boring moments.

You made your full four hundred dollars, tucking it away in your bra when the coordinator passed you the cash wrapped in a rubber band.

Trying to fight a yawn, Atsumu ran a hand through his hair.

“Are you good to drive back to university?”

“Yeah, I’m good.”

On the walk back to his car, you didn’t realize just how tired you were as well. You tripped on your foot. But he caught you, both hands holding your waist, lifting you up so just your toes were on the ground. You sheepishly smiled.

“What time is it?”

You checked your phone, but it was dead. “Mine’s outta juice.”

He checked his phone only for the result to be the same unfortunate situation.

Suddenly the lights on the streets were flickering, not fulfilling their role of being beacons of guidance back to Atsumu’s Mercedes.

A low hum approached the two of you from behind, “Not this guy again.” He mumbled. Atsumu was face to face with Oikawa again.

“Need a ride out the boonies?”

You looked at Atsumu, and despite sensing the potential for conflict, you decided it was more important to get back to the car than to worry about his ego.

“Yes please.”

“Hop in,” Oikawa held the door for you as you climbed into the sole back seat, Atsumu clambered into the passenger’s side.

He drove for around five minutes, but then after flashing his brights, you located the car. In a change of attitude, Oikawa gave Atsumu a smooth dap. “I can respect a man with a Benz like that.”

“Your car isn’t too bad either.”

“Oh no, mine's definitely better. But if I was placing a bet, I bet this is the car she likes better at the end of the day.” Oikawa threw a thumb in your direction as you were already at the car, wrapping your arms around yourself, teeth chattering.

Oikawa considered the possibility of rekindling something that had fizzled out. Then he remembered all the times you had talked about the little games you played with Atsumu, a light that shone on your face that never appeared when you were with him.

Argentina was home now. Could it truly be home without you though?

In a storm of dust, Oikawa drove off, leaving you and Atsumu sitting in his black car. He turned the heater up to maximum levels, easing your chill little by little.

The car clock showed the time being close to four in the morning.

“Still want to stay out until five?” Atsumu was back on the main road, he had found a piece of mint gum to chew to help him stay awake. He was grateful for all the flights across the country for volleyball matches that he was able to stay awake and cognizant even running on low sleep hours.

“I think I’m good actually.”

Atsumu was curious, so he asked what option two was. The other thing you had thought had the potential to burn through the night besides an underground drifting culture experience.

“Seven minutes in Atsumu’s Mercedes-Benz.”

“You tease.”

“True that.” Your phone finally reached a charge point where you could take it off the charger, hooking up Atsumu’s phone in place of yours. You started to stare out the window, glad that Atsumu didn’t care for music so you could let the meek hum of the car lull you away from consciousness.

“Genuinely, though, what other things could you have seen us doing tonight.”

You had fallen asleep within three minutes, curling into the back of the seat. Atsumu pulled over to the side of the road, reached over, and lowered the seat, so it was as close to flat as the car would allow. He took the emergency blanket from the trunk and wrapped it around you, tucking the blanket beneath you to secure it.

Once Atsumu got back to the university, he realized that he did not have either of your roommates' numbers. And your phone didn’t have facial recognition so he could just quickly call them while you were still asleep.

That was when he saw the note taped to the front of your housing unit. His name was written on the front in cursive lettering.

Hey Miya, we know you have our roommate with you. She’s probably asleep, and you never got our numbers. I, Kiyoko, am at a friend’s house, and Yachi sleeps like the dead so it is very unlikely that you’ll be able to put our sweet best friend back into her bed. Sorry for the inconvenience. We love her, but she never thinks more than three steps ahead at most. Touch her and you die. Sincerely, Shimizu Kiyoko.

Well, there’s that.

He makes his way back to the car. He can’t leave you asleep in the car. He can’t get you back to your room. So he does the next best thing, taking you back to his fraternity.

Transferring you from the car to the house was easy enough, he had called Suna to open the door while he brought you in.

“Osamu snores too much.” Suna supplied but agreed to not wake Osamu up and make him move back into his shared room with Atsumu.

With no deliberation, Atsumu put you on his bed, removing your shoes and putting them at the foot of his bed. He pulled his grey covers up and over your body. Your chest was rising and falling slowly. He sat on Osamu’s bed just watching you for a moment.

He couldn’t fight sleep forever though.

He woke up when the sun finally started to peek over the mountains in the distance. He would plan to take a nap later in the day, enjoying his Saturday to the fullest.

The notification on his phone did shock him for sure, his very own Grapevine account. Atsumu didn’t care much for social media, but he did enjoy knowing that he did something to warrant one of the rare invites.

It functioned the same as most other online communities, following options, posting options, etc. There was a main tab of events curated by whoever was behind Grapevine, he clicked on the official account. There he saw a picture of you and him at the drift event, when you had grabbed onto his arm and leaned into his side before the race started.

Ignoring the creepiness of getting this specific photo, he looked at the subtitle of the picture.

“Drifting’s Hottest New Couple, The Gamblers Who Love To Flirt With A Good Wager”

Who were they kidding, you were the one who actually made the money, Atsumu was just there to observe. But at least they had associated you with Atsumu instead of you and Oikawa. He considered this a win.

He turned off his phone.

You were stretching, shifting around the sheets, and you pulled your wad of cash out from your bra.

“Want gas money?” Waving the stack of twenty dollar bills, you kicked your feet slightly, shaking off your sleep.

“Nah, keep it. I lost Blackjack fair and square.”

Both of you were still lying in the beds, but facing each other.

“Want to stay in bed and watch this show I found?” Atsumu unplugged his laptop from the shared desk between the beds, clicking away.

After nodding, you sat up, and Atsumu crawled in next to you.

The intro music to the limited series drama started to play. It was raining outside, leaving raindrops racing on the window in the dorm room. There was some chatter outside the room, but together, you and Atsumu created your own space, undisturbed.

You think you love him.

Downstairs, in the shared fraternity kitchen, Suna was sipping coffee.

He was on his software program, checking for anything that needed to be fixed on his magnum opus, the Grapevine. He saw another request from a moderator on the platform, asking if Suna (under his pseudonym) would make an official post about another drift race.

Suna posted the details, swapped back into his personal account, and sent the link to Atsumu.

“No rest for the wicked.” Suna killed off the rest of his coffee, shoved his stuff into his backpack, and sent a text.

U got one more shot

Man, Oikawa owed Suna big time for this one.

[wario-speedwagon]

The Blackjack Essay I thought up at like 3am because Blackjack is a great character if you really think about it hard enough

I had some Blackjack Thoughts yesterday night (cuz I woke up in the middle of the night and I always soothe myself back to sleep by brainrotting over characters or made up scenarios). Cuz yknow, okay:

So Blackjack is the soul, and he's a soul that was blackened by regret yeah? And not just that, but he takes the form of a his childhood dog rather than of himself (which is interesting, more on that later). I think we can agree that, while we never get to know in meaningful detail what the living Jack Kennedy was TRULY like, soulless Corpse!Jack is probably closer to his original living self in personality than the Blackjack we saw at the end of DSAF 3 True Ending, or rather, in most of what we see of Blackjack's coded/capitalized lines (more on that later too). Corpse!Jack is more chill (in a feral way of course) in that he moves on from things like grudges or regrets, which in the good routes manifests in him being able to keep going despite how emotionally hard it should be to e.g. leave his family once and for all, or to forgive his sister's murderer in favor of seeing the good in him. It's not a perfectly moral aspect, as there are things he probably should be hung up on (cough cough Dave), and Blackjack sure is. (We love some moral greyness in this household.) And then of course, in the evil route, it manifests in Corpse!Jack having a very easy time befriending and emulating his siblings' murderers and even killing his siblings himself. Obviously Blackjack could never conceive of acting in any of these ways, and he definitely lets evil Jack know.

So. I am of the headcanon that, all the trauma of Jack's death and the events leading up to it, all of his regrets from it, Blackjack took it all with him, leaving Corpse!Jack with little to none of it left. For better or for worse, Corpse!Jack does not carry the same emotional baggage from his personal tragedy that Blackjack is completely lost in. And then my point about Blackjack taking on the form of a dog instead of himself... and him not really acting like his old self compared to at least TrueRoute!Jack. At least most of the time, as we'll see soon. Because in the True Routes, Dee and eventually Peter are able to recognize True!Jack as their old brother pretty easily even despite the circumstances, but Blackjack? He's unrecognizable to all of them except eventually Corpse!Jack himself. According to her, Blackjack warned Dee about Evil!Jack's true nature in DSAF 2 (when you're doing a route with her as Legacy!Jack), and she didn't realize who he was, she only saw a Shadow Doggo; and of course at the end of DSAF 3, even after revealing who Blackjack is, Peter and Dee sure don't treat Blackjack like their dear old brother the way they regard Corpse!Jack. He's just a stranger to them now, and of course he is, because he's little like how he used to be in life, how Corpse!Jack still is in life. And after a faux eternity of being a Shadow Doggo operating behind the scenes with every opportunity to reveal himself, I'm of the opinion that he wants it to be this way, that he be forgotten in his failures while someone else takes his old role for him and does it well.

And it's because he is so steeped in his hatred born from his regret, that it completely warped his way of thinking to focus on revenge against Henry, or also his hyperfocus on Evil!Jack's wrongdoings. But while that's what most people see him for in his entirety (in both canon and fandom), as it's the front he nearly always puts on, people often forget one really important scene from him that may be the only glimpse of his more authentic self, one that isn't steeped in regret or any emotions stemming from it based on it. Do you remember the little speech Blackjack gives to Corpse!Jack after the True ending in DSAF 2 after the Happiest Day? He talks about him being "proud of us" (hinting at his and Corpse!Jack's link), but then ponders the possibility of redemption and decides, if it is possible, then he is glad that Corpse!Jack has been redeemed. So still excluding himself from that redemption despite just prior finding solace in what Corpse!Jack has done on both their behalf. It's like he sees Corpse!Jack more as himself than, yknow, himself (and you can imagine that this same truth probably also leads to why he despises Evil!Jack so much). And all of this must be very good for his self-esteem /s

Very notably, this one scene is the only dialogue of his that is not Caps locked or coded, and a recurring theme among souls is that caps locked dialogue is always steeped in more powerful (often but not exclusively negative) emotions, while regular lowercase text seems to show much more human authenticity. We see it in Jacob before vs. after he calms down and comes to terms with his death, we see it in Dee always being lowercase, as she seems to always be her honest self, we even see it in Fredbear, as he is always grandly talking in all caps as the powerful entity he is except in his promise with Jack's corpse where he is entirely lowercase and talks much more sincerely like a real person to him out of honest humility. So anyway, this one scene with Blackjack in my opinion is the only scene we really get to see Jack's real personality shine through in him, a personality we see much more readily in Corpse!Jack.

And now to finally return to my point about Blackjack taking on the form of a dog instead of as himself. So lets combine all these previous points: 1) He is blackened by Regret; 2) He is in a nearly constant state of negative/powerful emotions stemming from his regret as indicated by all his his caps/code text; 3) he is still capable, if rarely, of showing his more human personality; 4) Dee and Peter seem to much more readily recognize Corpse!Jack as their brother than Blackjack; 5) Blackjack is proud of True!Jack's good actions in DSAF 2 and implies that only he (but not himself) is deserving of redemption; (and heck, let's also throw in) 6) the fact that he chooses not to hide in an unrecognizable form and seems to estrange himself from his siblings to let Corpse!Jack fulfill his role as Jack for them in his place

What I'm getting at (finally) is that I think Trauma Fucked Him Up™; I think it completely fucked up his self-esteem replacing it with deep-rooted self-hatred and shame. It might be that he simply cannot bear to resemble himself, not after all he's done (leaving his sister's party to bury their dog and drink away his sorrows, which left her to die, lowkey (highkey?) betraying both of his siblings' trust, and then failing in his attempt to right his mistakes by dying instead and making things worse, at least from Blackjack's POV who didn't have any sort of promise to turn his death into a chance at redemption).

Except, he can hopefully make his death into some sort of chance for redemption thanks to his powers born from sheer regret-fuelled hatred by trapping and seemingly torturing Henry. At least, this is how he chooses to cope with all of his feelings in a way that feels productive. But of course, they don't solve the root of his regret, or the root of his low self-worth, as he is really just indulging in and marinating in his negative emotions for a theoretical eternity. And during all this, he is also watching over Corpse!Jack in all of his parallel timelines, seeing both the best and worst versions of himself (literally). He sees his neutral/evil route selves indulging in the worst vices imaginable without care, and he must see himself in them anyway, because Corpse!Jack did inherit his vices after all, naturally including his drinking problem for a start, except now he's actually acting on them much more freely without a soul to restrain him either. He is forced to see the worst of himself played out in reality, and he's the one who feels shame for them. (Now Corpse!Jack also experiences things like self-hate and regret for his actions, but again, he seems to move on from these feelings fairly easily, coping with them instead with a "no fucks left to give" attitude, the kind of attitude someone who knows he doesn't have a future would have. A soul does not have that luxury.)

Meanwhile, though, Blackjack is also forced to see the best of himself in True!Jack; the Jack that actually worked his ass off to right his, or rather their mistakes. And also the Jack to actually be present in their siblings' lives as their brother Jack, the one that actually acts like their brother Jack, like his old self, while Blackjack seems to have either forgotten how or lost interest in doing so. It's easy to forget because DSAF is fiction, but experiencing something like what Jack has experienced is gonna leave severe trauma, and severe trauma is gonna change you pretty fundamentally whether you like it or not. Except being soulless, based on his actions and reactions, Corpse!Jack seems to have escaped much of this trauma while Blackjack is practically characterized by it. I wouldn't say Corpse!Jack is entirely unaffected by any trauma by any means (even Evil!Jack loses his shit when seeing Dee's scarf), but again, he sure seems to move on from it by shoving his negative feelings aside for later or even outright ignoring them, while Blackjack copes by feeling them and acting on them all the time. They both cope with the same issues in completely opposite unhealthy extremes.

So while Corpse!Jack is seemingly not affected enough by what happened, Blackjack is unrecognizable to himself, to anyone who could recognize him (including even Corpse!Jack himself, as Corpse!Jack doesn't realize who Blackjack is till the very end), so Blackjack takes more comfort taking on a form that isn't himself. (Instead, he takes on the form of the only family he got to send off with closure, the only family member whose death doesn't inspire some sort of Regret, hm?) He even doesn't take on his own name, preferring Blackjack over just Jack. Despite holding some contempt toward him, he still allows Corpse!Jack to keep their original name.

And he clearly does have mixed feelings toward Corpse!Jack, even toward True!Jack, as he is "proud" of him at the end of True DSAF 2, but then also spiteful toward him in True DSAF 3, and honestly that's pretty understandable, as True!Jack has done the work and reaped the rewards for redeeming himself and getting to be family with Dee and Peter again, essentially living as Jack for him, but Blackjack, despite his uninvolvement in reality or the Flipside where his family are, he is the one who faces the trauma and emotional burden of what happened to him, and it's not like Blackjack hasn't done anything either (even if what he did was misguided and ultimately harmful). It would be hard not to hold some contempt for a version of you that can move on so easily from your worst regrets and who can get to live your life where you left off for you in your name. And he's happy, and he deserves to be happy, and you aren't, and you don't deserve to be. You don't even deserve to be yourself, you've decided without realizing, because he's doing it much better than you ever could anymore anyway. He's the one who can actually save them all, he's the one who's worthy of redemption, but you? You're the only one who can make Henry face what he deserves, and by god you're gonna do it even if it costs your entire self, it's not like it's worth much anymore.

All of this is to say, yeah, Blackjack's character is perhaps a little disappointing in DSAF 3 due to lack of time to explore it after the reveal, but combined with his character in DSAF 2, he is a much more interesting and 3-dimensional character to explore than people realize. And also I think I might have ADHD. Might.

[paleio]

dude.... DUDE...... DUDE

OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY

FIRST WATCH HIGHLIGHTS/GENERAL EMOTIONS

> the attic looks IDENTICAL to how i imagined it in my head. i literally screamed and punched the arm of my chair

> every single thing percy says to the oracle. the halloween decoration line made me go hee hee.... that is my boy :)

> OH AND THE VOICE CRACK...... IM GONNA THROW UP HES SO PRECIOUS TO ME

> love love love the way they split the prophecy into 2 scenes. fucking cinema

> annabeth trying to hide her excitement when percy immediately picks her. the quiet pride in her eyes. this twelve year old girl really does think shes THE shit

> GROVER TALKING TO..... BLACKJACK???? I KNOW NOT EVERY SINGLE BLACK PEGASUS HAS TO BE BLACKJACK BUT LIKE. WHYD THEY MAKE THE HORSE SPECIFICALLY BLACK WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY COLORS A HORSE CAN BE. YA KNOW

> grover not believing percy actually chose him and then how much it affects him when he realizes its not a joke... oh boy... i will be making multiple posts exclusively about my beloved g man. aryan you CANT be doing this to me you are irreversibly altering my brain chemistry

> "that's bees" GROVER!!!!!! 💖💘💖💖💕💕💖💘💘💖💕

> different monsters being able to smell different aspects of a person FUCK THATS GENIUS. THATS GONNA BE RELEVANT FOR THE REST OF THE GODDAMN SERIES. i wonder if it will connect to the fatal flaws thing..... i wouldn't be surprised but i would be delighted

> consensus song 🥺🥺🥺🥺 and... like.... the way all of them interact with each other. the way you can see their entire personalities, the way they were raised, their weaknesses, just in the way they talk as a trio. im really emotional thinking about

> every second of annabeth in the gas station. you know what im talking about. yeah. fuck you and your evil mean fucked up foreshadowing mr richard riordan and jonathan e steinberg

> the babygirls!!!!!! (furies) (im so faceblind i cant figure out which is which

> the second she started talking to annabeth i fucking CLOCKED IT. i was like OHHHH.... this is a SHOW. these are EPISODES. they have contained ideas and conflicts. there are episodic arcs WITHIN the seasonal arcs WITHIN the series-long arcs. goddamn it now i have to personally kiss every writer and producer and director on the mouth

> im in love with the trio dynamic because it fucking sucks. there weren't many communication issues or interpersonal conflicts between any of them in the book. even percy and annabeth got along for the most part, despite the awkwardness and bickering. here, though, annabeth is bossy as FUCK. she's acting like this is her quest. percy is whiny and impatient and he deflects every time he's questioned. grover is an ineffective mediator and is clearly uncomfortable being around both of them at once. the vibe feels so beautifully off the whole time and it makes the eventual reconciliation SO much more impactful and compelling

> medusa hot. awooga and all that.

> i like that they all realized immediately who aunty em was. im sad they abandoned the pseudonym so quickly but it makes sense that they'd understand seeing as they all know a good amount of mythology. i think it would've been a scream-at-your-tv moment otherwise

> this is exhausting why am i doing this on my phone

> the plan they came up with is fantastic. i audibly gasped. once when the hat came out and once when i realized they were gonna kill alecto with the head. SMART AS FUCK even though it's not quite a perseus reference anymore

> grover crying over uncle ferdinand.... i can't decide if im sad they didn't make it a funny moment because it's so iconic in the book, or if im glad they played it straight because it gave us a SAD GROVER MOMENT AND ALSO FORESHADOWING. not that i like seeing grover sad... i just like seeing him. i like to look at his haunted eyes and go damn boy... you are one sad boy. good luck with your feelings of inadequacy and trauma repression <3

> writing this is draining my sanity. cmon almost done

> HE SAID THE LINE HE SAID THE LINE HE SAID THE LINE!!!!!!! i am impertinent. top 5 percy jackson quotes of all time. i feel sick just thinking about the other 4 in that list.... im not gonna survive

> cue drive from tlt musical as they leave aunty em's

> oh hey thats lin manuel miranda. im sure he wont be crucial to the overarching plot of the series

> i will be honest the vibe IS kinda perfect. he does look like an emotionally immature divorced dad who complains about his job all the time but constantly works overtime for no reason. its just that he also looks like lin manuel miranda

> love the song choice for the credits

> i will talk about the ep4 preview in a different post im too tired

FINAL (very sleepy) THOUGHTS:

best one yet by far. the more screen time our trio gets the better. grover is a dork and id die for him. its so cool that we get to see the story and characters from a slightly more omniscient perspective, even though i do miss percy's narration. i cant fucking believe this show is real and that they made it just for me

I AM IMPERTINENT!!!! AND IM ALSO GOING TO BED!!!!!!

[rxyhiraeth]

SO PJO CAME OUT TODAY

and i have a lot of thoughts

this is just me screaming into the void about this show that i’ve been excited about since it’s been announced.

i haven’t personally really read the books in a bit, so if i am remembering things incorrectly or forgetting if something was in the books or not, forgive me (and correct me and my terrible memory)

OBVIOUSLY SPOILERS AHEAD

EPISODE 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher

first off - chapter titles. i knew about this a while ago but im so happy we are doing this

getting the whole speech from percy in the beginning oh we are so back

blackjack??? that was blackjack right??

MYTHOMAGIC CARDS

if this gets us actual mythomagic cards we can buy, so help me god. i’m gonna spend all my money on them

i will never be able to speak highly enough about sally jackson. best fictional mom ever and i love her with all of my heart.

the “hold fast perseus. brave the storm” parallel at the beginning and end of the episode oh i’m sick to my stomach

the fountain scene felt a little… goofy? from what i remember percy just remembers her ending up in the fountain,like it sounds like he kinda blacks out. maybe that’s actually how it was in the books, but i did imagine it differently.

grover and brunner being the KINGS of gaslighting

percy is stronger than i could ever be if grover exposed me like that i couldn’t talk to him for like a year.

the biggest issue i’ve seen everyone talk about: gabe. i understand WHY they made him how he is in the tv show. it’s a disney show, they can’t have him be completely book accurate putting his hands on sally and threatening percy for money so he can play poker, but i feel like this doesn’t fit with how he ends up at the end of book 1. maybe we will see a more ‘evil’ side to him through the news interviews and stuff, or he will have a different ending, but i feel like the way he acts now doesn’t justify his end in book 1 that i expect to see in the tv show.

sally in the rain listening to olivia rodrigo i love her so much 😭😭😭

d’angelos??? it’s spelled differently but reference perhaps? i cannot WAIT to see nico i hope we get to see him in the casino

i didn’t get this until i saw someone point it out but the cuts to black were ends of chapters!! and it makes so much more sense. i will say it feels a bit odd?? but i honestly prefer it more as someone who has read the books.

i find the whole sally explaining the gods to percy interesting. it fits for the tv show more, but i love book percy just getting forced into camp half blood without any real knowledge just like “what the fuck is going on”

“Like… like Jesus?” PERCY PLS

i love this grover reveal, but the BEST will forever be the musical

“She was a fury!” “YOU’RE a furry, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR LEGS?!?”

grover dropping the fact he is 24 in a super intense scene is very grover

that first shot of thalia’s tree lit up by the LIGHTNING gave me CHILLS

the entire minotaur scene was incredible. sally’s speech to grover and percy. percy killing the minotaur. insane

not to mention sally taking percy’s jacket to throw off the minotaurs scent? such a cool choice

EPISODE 2: I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

"you droll when you sleep" YUPPP MHMM YUP

ik that the whole 'Mr. D trying to use percy to get a drink' thing is supposed to be a little joke, but its also such a good way to explain the whole "gods can get their kids to steal shit for them because they can't do it themselves" without having a whole dramatic moment explaining it.

in my head I imagined the entire camp being very heavily wooded, maybe that's just the movies having some influence over me when it comes to visualization, but it was cool to see the camp in the actually valley in a very book accurate portrayal.

OH THE CABINS MY EYES WERE GLUED THE WHOLE TIME

THEY LOOK SO GOOD

this tv show has already captured the two personally traits of percy jackson: 1. he loves his mom 2. he hates the gods

the jelly beans

seeing Luke befriend percy and be his first friend at camp luke I am in your fucking walls

I personally feel like the way they have chosen to portray clarisse is quite different from the books, but I absolutely love it. i was not a fan of her for a while in the books, but I love her immediately in this version.

also did we get to 'see' the cloven council in tlt? I don't think we did, and I like seeing it in prep for sea of monsters.

the entire scene of percy praying to his mom breaks me. oh my god. favorite scene in the entire show so far. it breaks my heart he loves and misses her so much.

"I think I've made some friends here. like real friends" luke I have a gun

the whole bathroom scene. that's it.

ANNABETH

maybe its just different seeing all these characters portrayed well on the screen, but she feels super different than book annabeth but also exactly the same. im not 100% how to explain it but there is no one better to play annabeth than leah

I am so excited to see this slowburn all over again

"she my little sister" luke please

thalia name pronunciation how are we feeling team

i have 100% been pronouncing it the other way this whole time but oh well

"sunshine" hey! when we get the first "seaweed brain" I am going to go crazy

"percy's on it. when its time he's gonna be ready" are you sure about that luke

in the books the main 'introduction scene' we got with clarisse was the bathrooms, but this scene with her in the woods feel much more like an introduction scene and im not sure if this was done on purpose, but I love her and this scene.

annabeth. I cannot stress my love for her enough

annabeth pushing him into the water instead of him falling. love her

percy FINALLY finding a place he belongs only to be forced out on a quest for his dad that he fucking hates

"good kid" from tlt musical was so right

"I am Sally Jackson's son!" what if I just started eating glass rn

anyway I am absolutely obsessed with this show already. I am so sorry to anyone who doesn't want pjo on their feed you are getting it anyway.

if this show is your first introduction to the series. read the books! or at least the lightning thief. and for the love of god LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL. I cannot stress enough how good of a portrayal of the book it is and it is my all time favorite interpretation of the books (although this show may take that top spot soon).

[fishrpg]

2024-10-26: Area 26 (Golden Paradise Casino)

Located in the heart of the Indian Acre is the Golden Paradise Casino. It's not open 24 hours a day (closing at 3AM and opening just before lunch), but it is open 7 days a week, much to the chagrin of the Methodists who travel from Linkville solely to espouse the evils of vice for an afternoon before returning to their more godly hometown the following day. The Golden Paradise (AKA Pair-o-dice and no gold for those with recently-thinned wallets) is a single story building with high ceilings and a fancy chandelier. There's also a restricted loft area that goes around the whole casino where 1d4 guards patrol and look for cheating and threats to public safety.

With respect to games, the casino has several popular activities: faro, 5-card stud poker (though straights flushes as a hand haven't made it this far west yet), keno (basically bingo), craps, blackjack (though called Vingt-et-un here), roulette, and hazard (a zero-skill dice game where it's pretty easy for the house to cheat). Each dealer pays up-front to rent a table from the casino for the night, and then receives a percentage of the table's earnings. It's a strategy that is designed to naturally weed out the generous/unsuccessful dealers while motivating renters to choose games that are popular and profitable. Unfortunately, this arrangement does little to discourage crooked dealers from applying.

There are also two billiards tables that can be rented for games when people don't want to play against the house. In addition to the games, there is also a bar that sells sandwiches of questionable health value, cheap liquor that is adulterated but not advertised as such, and unadulterated middle shelf liquor that is sold at top shelf prices.

Harrison Lyons is the longest-serving dealer at the Golden Paradise, and although he isn't the casino's most profitable dealer, he's one of the most popular ones because he doesn't cheat. Harrison sticks mostly to running poker games because of the skill threshold, though he runs blackjack and faro periodically when demand for the game is high. Although he doesn't cheat in card games, he does often wear the colored glasses that are commonly used by crooked card dealers to read the hidden designs on the backs of marked "advantage decks." This is so he can tell if other folks are cheating and remove them from the table. For Harrison, the ultimate goal of a game is about the skill of play is to see the skill in action by itself, not artificially inflate its effects through cheating.

Anyone Harrison notices is using marked cards will be asked to "buy a nice drink and a sandwich" to repay some of the money the house would have lost to cheating. If they don't leave the table (or if they come back and keep cheating), Harrison calls the guards down to deal with the cheater by a particularly impressive fake sneeze.

There is also another popular fixture in the casino, but this one is on the other side of the table. Maude "Moneybags" Sanders is a young woman who traveled westward (though from where is unclear, as it seems to change each telling) after she discovered a knack for making money from gambling. She wears her hair in thick black ringlets, and dresses only the slightest bit provocatively (especially compared to the ladies of the evening in the Acre). Like Harrison, she is interested in games of skill and refuses to actively cheat, but she will do everything up to that line if it will give her an advantage.

Maude's primary game is blackjack because the games are quick and give relatively predictable payouts for her. Over her young life, she has developed an intuitive sense of the game, effectively relying on a large series of small bets to produce average returns. Maude gets her nickname from two things: the first is that she keeps the paper money she wins in her bra and successful evenings see her leave the casino with noticeably larger bust. The second is that if anyone attempts to engage in any hanky-panky with her, she will beat the assailant with her coin purse (a reinforced canvas bag that looks like a doctor's bag) that is more than capable of breaking bones even when only partially filled.

Additional Reading

"Gambling in the Old West" by R.K. DeArment

[stitched-cosmos]

I've been working on a DSAF AU for a while now and what better first post about it than about Jack himself. His role in the AU is below the cut cuz long lol

I just realised that the Tumblr quality thing makes the text under the flags kinda hard to read so just in case, he's omnisexual, omniromantic, gender non-conforming and he has avoidant personality disorder, bipolar I and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The equivalent endings for this Jack were the Gnarly Ending in DSAF 1, the Pure Evil ending in DSAF 2 and then the Evil Route in DSAF 3.

Henry successfully convinced Jack to continue his scientific research, using Legacy Jack's violent urges against him by constantly tempting him and antagonizing him. He also uses the end goal of being able to bring people back to life to tempt "good" Jack to keep going, planning to bring those dead people back to life once they find out how. Even after finding out about Henry doing the same thing to Dave, Henry convinces both versions of Jack to dismiss it.

After all of this, however, the two found out there's no secret of immortality to be found and they killed all of those people for nothing. This revelation snapped Jack out of his tunnel vision and watching Henry try to convince him that this was still worth it made him realise he never would've done any of this if Henry didn't convince him to.

When Blackjack gives him the chance to go back in time and fix it all, he takes it and wakes up in the house he lived in while working at the Bakersfield location. When going into work that day, he's greeted by Peter and realises it worked. The next day, he meets Dave and tells him why it's not a good idea to go through with his initial plan, which Dave surprisingly gets convinced by.

While he tries his best not to kill people anymore, that temptation is still there and Henry still talks to him and messes with him, albeit a version of Henry that doesn't know that this dream he's working towards isn't obtainable. Legacy Jack is still a problem but after being forced to confront his actions he's able to understand what Legacy is and how to "deal" with him.

[aeoki]

Blackjack - Miracles Don't Exist: Chapter 13

Location: Star Fest Stage Characters: Shinobu, Souma, Mayoi, Tetora & NEGI Season: Winter

TL Note:

“禰宜 / negi” is the term for shinto priests. They primarily address prayers and general worship to the deities.

NEGI: “He’s right, Mayoi-sensei.”

“You’re a pretty amazing person, so don’t put yourself down so much.”

“Just kidding. Hurts my own ears hearing that.”

Tetora: Is that Kurone-san? No, NEGI-san, right? He’s got a dress on…?

NEGI: “Yup. It’s NEGI.”

“I do have a real name, though. I was raised to be a NEGI[⁎] – a priest – so that’s what I use to call myself. Pretty ironic, though.”

“But today, I’ll throw away the irony and hatred.”

“And I’ll sing of love as an idol with an innocent smile on my face.”

“Let’s celebrate Christmas Eve. That’s what you wanted, right, Anzu?”

“That’s what you wished for.”

“Ahh, I couldn’t have imagined this when I was still alive…”

“What a happy future.”

“Haha. I think I might accidentally go to heaven.”

 “~......♪”

Mayoi: Hehe. Anzu-san looks so happy.

Shinobu: I see. So Anzu-san came to see this. She risked her life to escape.

Mayoi: Come to think of it, NEGI-san mentioned this, didn’t she? That she was looking forward to “Star Fest” and standing on stage with the outfit Anzu-san made for her.

I tried to stop her by telling her it was dangerous over and over again, though.

But she isn’t the sort of person who would listen to those warnings.

We only lived together for a short amount of time, but I can tell.

Souma: Sengoku, Ayase-dono and Nagumo as well – You should all come up on stage.

Right now, it is indeed his… her solo stage, but I have sensed something unpleasant from a short while ago.

It appears there is something evil…

Who has poked their head out from someplace safe and has their sights on their prey – on her.

Based on what I’ve heard from Sengoku, they must be the followers of the one controlling the “aidoru industry” from the shadows, correct?

And judging by the sort of event “SS” is, we who have passed the “SS” Qualifying Round and are set to participate in the Main Stage should be assets that are difficult for him to let go of.

We will be useful pawns he needs to control the “aidoru industry”, no, the whole world in the future.

We overcame the difficult qualifying round and were selected as those sorts of people.

Therefore, if we stand by her side and become walls of flesh, then it should also be difficult for that detestable individual to lay a hand on her.

It would be impossible for someone to control an industry if they are a fool who defiles and destroys their own assets themselves.

If they can make decisions in a calm manner, then they should not attempt something so foolish.

NEGI: “I sure wonder about that. I told Anzu this but ‘Priest’ isn’t sane anymore.”

“Perhaps he’s lost all sight of his priorities and might just come directly to kill me.”

“He might have simplistic thoughts and not care about the aftermath, ordering his subordinates to finish me with a bang.”

Souma: Then, that would be splendid. If he is that foolish, then this “Priest” will eventually lose miserably against us and leave with Hasumi-dono guiding him to the exit.

We can bring his weakness to light. That is what we want.

And if he takes action, then Hasumi-dono will be angered. If Hasumi-dono is angered, then his childhood friend, Tenshouin-dono, will as well. If those two start moving, everything else will too.

If there are casualties, even “Priest” will have a difficult time trying to cover it up. For that reason, his footing will be unsteady and an opening will be created.

It is highly unlikely that those troublesome upperclassmen will let that opportunity escape.

Shinobu: So we’re the diversion, huh. Well, stirring up the battlefield is the job of a ninja ~de gozaru.

It would be a ninja’s honour to become a sacrifice for victory.

Tetora: That’s a cool line you’ve said there, Shinobu-kun, but you’re also trembling like crazy.

Mayoi: Indeed – How cute.

Souma: Hehe. It is natural to be deterred when faced with an extremely dangerous situation. But despite that, you all braved the fear and came up on stage.

It is admirable, my dear younger brothers. You two are truly men amongst men.

Tetora: Hehe. I’d prefer if you complimented me and said I’m an “excellent idol” instead.

Shinobu: Yeah ~de gozaru. “Star Fest” isn’t over just yet – As long as the stage stands, it is an idol’s job to perform on it.

We are simply doing what’s natural, Kanzaki-dono.

Souma: I see. Hahaha, the future of Yumenosaki is a bright one.

I am relieved. You, too, are the same, no, Anzu-dono?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ← Previous Chapter ᠂ ⚘ ˚⊹˚ ⚘ ᠂  Next Chapter →

[sawdusst]

Coroika Pirate AU part 2 (?)

Alright we’re back again :D I have a bit more info on the pirate AU which I’m gonna ramble about ig 

Here is part 1 of the AU if you’d like to read that first! 

I didn’t really get a lot of other character sketches done, other than Rider--- So i guess in this post I’ll be talking about him & some other characters in this AU! :D There won’t be any drawings in this post unfortunately, just more stuff about the characters :’) 

Enjoy :D 

(the infodump is after the cut, this might be another long post lmao----) 

Rider:

I might try to make a full character thing eventually--- I just haven’t had the chance to draw it out. So, I guess I’ll post that separately :/ Anyways! 

He’s technically a part of the S4 pirates, but he’s not on board with them. He’s an ally to them, but they’re not in the same ship.

Captain of the Chartreuse Pirates, which are another band of fearsome pirates. He’s also friends with the Blue Pirates (Goggles, Bobble Hat, Headphones, Specs) 

The Chartreuse Pirates is such a cool name fr

Sworn enemies with Captain Gloves (it’s more of a rivalry between the two, nothing serious)

He’s also somewhat well known across the seas for being as strong as the S4 pirates 

So basically, he was captured by Emperor’s army (Emperor’s family rules a kingdom in this AU) and separated from his crew. He manages to escape with a few injuries. After running away for some time, he eventually collapses somewhere because of his injuries. Aloha finds him and recognizes him as Captain Rider. After asking Skull what they should do, they decided to bring him aboard since his crew was nowhere to be found.

Rider wakes up a few hours later and he freaks out because he’s in the middle of the ocean aboard Captain Skull’s ship and his crew probably thinks he died or something and now he’s probably going to actually die because Captain Skull whatever evil pirates grrr and he has no boat and he can’t swi--

Anyways, Rider tries to escape but you can’t exactly get too far with a twisted ankle. Aloha found it pretty amusing though, hysterical even. 

Mask manages to catch Rider, sits him down, and gets him to chill out. He explains what happened and a whole “we’re not gonna hurt you” spiel

Eventually the S4 helps Rider reunite with his crew and as gratitude, Rider and the S4 become allies and help each other out whenever one needs it.

Rider is trying to be a kinder person

He’s pretty good at playing cards, specifically Blackjack and Speed.

Gloves:

Captain of the Dualie Pirates, a crew of pirates known for using two weapons. Two swords or two guns-- because they’re cool like that B) 

Captain Gloves is fairly new to the whole “pirate” biz, he thinks they’re cool and wanted in on the action overseas. 

He thinks Captain Skull is cool and wants to meet him someday, although his crew is HIGHLY opposed to this (they could probably die)

He also thinks the Wireglass Pirates are cool too and wants to be friends with their captain.

His crew also HIGHLY opposes this, as they are definitely going to die if they ever cross paths with the Wireglass Pirates. 

Gloves is bummed that he can’t meet the S4 pirates, but is still hopeful he’ll run into them eventually.

He’s friends with the Blue Pirates & Captain Hachi 

He’s fiercely competitive, he doesn’t take losing very lightly.

He doesn’t have any scars of his own-- yet, but he thinks they’re cool 

Gloves is friends with Prince, and sometimes sneaks into the kingdom to visit him 

He’s rather clumsy even though he tries to look cool

Emperor & Prince: 

(I put them under the same header since there’s not much about either of them) 

Emperor’s family rules over a kingdom, Emperor is next in line for the throne and he’s still learning to be a king alongside his younger brother.

Prince often sneaks out of the palace to wander around the town square. His brother actually knows about this, but chooses not to tell their parents. 

Emperor doesn’t really like pirates, but he does know a few of them. 

Emperor is aware that Gloves sneaks in to visit Prince, but he chooses not to do anything about it since his brother seems to enjoy Captain Gloves’ company.

Prince helped Rider escape after learning Rider knew Captain Gloves. 

The Wireglass Pirates: 

Everyone knows to stay out of the Wireglass Pirates’ way, as they are some of the most powerful pirates to patrol the waters. Even the S4 pirates steer clear of them. 

They supposedly got their name from their Captain, but it’s not really known where the name came from.

The Wireglass Pirates will try to take any ship they encounter, regardless of who it is. Very few survive their raids.

There are some rumors that the Wireglass Pirates serve Emperor, which explains why he hasn’t ordered anyone to stop them. However, it could also be because a lot of sailors are absolutely terrified of them.

Ocho is thought to be a part of this crew, but nobody really knows for sure. He’s mostly found away from the crew and hanging out by himself.

Ocho sometimes interacts with the S4 and Captain Rider. 

The S4 could probably beat them, but they don’t want to risk trying.

The Wireglass Pirates are also in possession of these things called “Black Labels” which temporarily disable weapons. But only the Captain is in possession of these. 

“Black Labels” are illegal and supposed to be outlawed in the seas. Not a lot of pirate crews use them. 

If Black Labels were stuck onto a pirate, they are unable to use their special ability for a little bit. 

aaaaand, I think I’ll just end the infodump here in case it gets too long to read :’] Thank you for reading! :D 

[zeravmeta]

“🖊“

Pray tell me, have you heard the tale of Johannes, the supervillain geologist?

So fun fact about this character: He's actually an OC i developed for, of all things, DC comics

So I'm sure anyone even halfway familiar with DC and the stories they tell know that one of the most popular storylines they like to recycle is that of metahuman rights. Anyone whose seen the Justice League/Young Justice cartoons knows exactly which one I'm talking about: government gets scared of superpowers, theres a bunch of people dehumanizing people with super powers, amanda waller is usually there, sometimes they throw in doomsday and a bunch of other genetically engineered super weapons, the whole shebang

There's also the joke about mad doctors/scientists in non-biology/mechanics based fields, where like the evil psychologist is NOT going to prescribe you your medication, or the evil linguistics major is going to say sentences thatll Hurt You, etc

So I had the idea of an evil geologist with earth based powers who isn't like FULLY evil but more that it's a snowballing joke of him getting more and more infamous because he's just too damn powerful

The thing with Johannes is that he's supremely powerful, THE single most powerful geo manipulator ever, and as a result he's highly feared. However, instead of using his powers to get rich through crime, he gets rich by using his powers for geological digs: instead of robbing banks, he's just digging up the earth, getting any rare jewels/resources or other things, and putting it back no sweat. Of course, any government would take offense to a metahuman using their powers like this and not giving them a share of the cut, to which he's like "oh I'm sorry, was I not causing enough permanent damage to the environment or something? I know you guys are the masters of polluting the planet and all, so..."

This of course gets a bunch of people mad at him, to which he ultimately pulls a bender futurama and goes "alright FINE i'll make my own nation with blackjack and hookers!" So, he goes to the middle of the pacific ocean, some of THE single most isolated places on Earth, and just slowly but surely starts causing a series of controlled eruptions to make his own landmass where he can live.

Now what does any of this have to do with the establishing first act? Well, Johannes told every single government in front of the entire world to go fuck themselves, literally made his own nation, and is also one of the single most wealthy people on the planet from all this.

Of course, he's going to have refugees from these nations come to him.

And the thing is, he's not nearly enough of an asshole to tell these people to go back where they came from, but this in itself also raises even more red flags with political opponents, and at this point he's now considered a hostile nation whose slowly building up his own force despite the fact that he's literally just an abrasive guy who wanted a beach house where he could fuck around with his powers

And with everything else established about DC comics and their world, I'm sure you can imagine how these events would play out, where he goes from random guy to high profile villain to leader of his own nation and advocate for meta human right, EVERYONE wants a piece of him for whatever reason and he's just so very tired, why him?

[gemini526sdumptruck]

This is like the 5th heart character I've made this year, and like the third time they've been the leader lol. I guess I just was drawn to hearts this year.

Meet the Blackjacks, Heart, Diamond, Club, Spade, and Ace. They're a gang of magicians gone bad from Magica who's favorite pastime is robbing banks, homes of celebrities/millionaires, and expensive jewelry shops from the normal world. They were all born into a pretty mischievous and evil family, but they're simply evil for the heck of it. The reason why they specifically rob the normal world folks because, well, what are they going to do? Throw them in jail? Okay, they do get caught sometimes, but usually they're out of jail and back in Magica within a few hours or so. If you were to see just how much money they've stolen, you would think they couldn't possibly need any more, but they just love the thrill of it all, and they don't have any plans of stopping.

They're capable of all sorts of magical spells, but they usually use their cards for specific purposes when it comes to robbery.

Heart is the leader of the gang. He's tough and unruly, and he seems to have the most fun preforming robberies at banks. Just because during the daytime he can watch everyone else be afraid by his mere presence. For as tough as he is, he's also a fair bit of a jokester, liking to make snarky little quips every now and then. His cards of choice are hearts, which he usually uses as weapons, but they also have the ability to make pink smoke that makes anyone that gets a whiff of it become zoned out, usually with thoughts of romance or love.

Diamond is vain and narcissistic, and often uses the money he steals to buy himself very expensive things. The others sometimes give him gruff for using up some of the money, though. Jewelry stores are some of his favorite places to rob, especially when they hold real gems. His cards of choice are diamonds, which can create barriers that prevent anyone else from catching him or the others. He also quite often uses his cards as mirrors, too.

Club is the seemingly innocent one, but just because she's all cheerful and bubbly doesn't mean she doesn't like what she does. In fact she has quite a lot of fun robbing places, she compares it to riding an exciting rollercoaster. She's usually the one to hold onto the money when a robbery is taking place, mainly because she can fly. Her cards of choice are clubs, which she usually uses to make sticky webs to trap the objects trying to reach her.

Spade is the youngest in the gang. He's not as experienced as the others when it comes to robberies, so most of the time he's there to make sure nobody at the scene tries to pull a move on the Blackjacks. He's said to be pretty agile and sporty, and he's got quite a bratty attitude. Most of the way he acts was influenced by Heart, since Spade looks up to him the most. His cards of choice are spades, which are able to teleport himself or other people to a specific location.

Ace is the oldest in the gang. He doesn't always accompany the others during robbings, but 95% of the time that's where you're gonna see him. Despite being the most experienced, Ace is quite easily the goofiest. He likes to go full into the "villain" act, to the point where he's like a living parody! He likes to mentor the other four, especially Spade because he sees potential in him. Ace's cards can do a whole lot of things, but his favorite use of them is using them as confetti bombs.

[lightdancer1]

And then you get into how the biggest US Baptist branch got started by slaveowners who were told 'Jesus doesn't like people who own slaves' and went 'fine! We'll start our own church! With blackjack and hookers!'. The same movement, BTW, that also touched off the Taiping Rebellion, one of history's bloodiest wars.

That would be the Southern Baptist Convention, which is the root of so much of the Theocratic evils infecting American politics.

ppl talk shit about catholics on this website but i think we need to give some hate to baptists. these bitches really looked at catholicism with its aesthetics and its statues and prayer beads and fancy baby baptism rituals and said "hmm... too Pagan for me" and literally traded it all for metal folding chairs in a building that looks like the backrooms

[fakemenenjoyer]

Off topic but Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows ebook is free on Amazon today (idk if it is on other sites or if US only) There's a catboy and the Main Girly is asexual. I really loved the book. synopsis: Bloody Spade is the first installment in an upper YA urban fantasy duology that follows a cat-eared thief and a scythe-wielding girl as they navigate his wild magic, her hotheaded brother, a sinister plot, and the feelings they're developing for each other. Suitable for fans of A Darker Shade of Magic and This Savage Song, or anime/manga such as RWBY and D.Gray-Man. A girl full of heart A thief touched by darkness A hot-tempered golden boy An unwitting servant of evil The era of magic was thought to be a myth until the Reemergence unleashed powers both dark and light upon the mundane world. Now those touched by this strange magic—a specialized group of Empowered dubbed Jokers, known collectively as Cardplay—must defend their world from the malevolent forces that threaten to consume it, all the while fighting for equality in a society clinging to normalcy. But the Reemergence was only the beginning. When another influx occurs on the seventh anniversary of that fateful event, a clash at ground zero lands Iori Ryone, a teenage boy in possession of a corrupt legendary magic, in the care of recent Joker graduate Ellen Amelia Jane. From him, she learns the Reemergence may not have been the unforeseeable natural disaster it first seemed. Someone is behind these incidents, and with the criminal organization Blackjack as the prime suspect, it's up to Cardplay to find out what they're planning and stop them before it's too late. ~~~~~~ Anyway, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/Bloody-Spade-Brittany-M-Willows-ebook/dp/B08QG76CRH book two is also currently free:

[healeroflightanddark]

The Lucky Dragon, Chapter 3: No Dice

Yuto walked around the casino pit, keeping an eye on the tables. He was the pit boss today, which meant that he was in charge of monitoring everything in his assigned pit. He smiled a bit as his eyes fell on Yugo, who was currently the boxman for a craps table. Craps was Yugo’s favorite casino game, so Zarc usually assigned him to a craps table whenever he wasn’t working as the pit boss. Yuto, Yuri, and Yuya were also usually assigned to their favorite games when they weren’t pit bosses, Yuto’s favorite being roulette, Yuri’s being poker, and Yuya’s blackjack.

As much as Yuto would have loved to watch his boyfriend work, he too had a job to do. The eggplant continued walking around the pit, keeping vigilant. It would not do for him to get distracted by his cute banana and miss an issue.

It was currently 8AM on a Monday, one of the slowest days and times of the casino, but each table in Yuto’s pit still had at least two people playing. Yuto recognized a couple of them as regulars. One of the girls at Yuya’s usual blackjack table appeared to be quite drunk. Yuto made a mental note to keep an eye on her, just in case she was drunk enough to do something stupid like try to steal chips. It had happened a few times before.

As Yuto was making his rounds back toward Yugo’s craps table, he heard the sound of someone whining, “But why noooooot?”

“It’s against the rules,” Yugo replied. “You can’t use your personal dice in a casino.”

“But they’re my lucky dice!” the whiner argued. “I never play a dice game without them!”

“Sorry, but rules are rules,” Yugo said. “You either play with the house dice or you don’t play at all.”

“Why you—I wanna speak with your manager!” Oh great. It was a Karen. Yuto sighed and walked over to the craps table. “You can’t play with your personal dice. Casino dice games are strictly regulated. We can’t bend the rules for anyone. Either play with the dice we provide or leave.”

The Karen appeared to be about to argue, when suddenly Zarc arrived. “Get. Off. My. Property. Sara.”

Yuto and Yugo blinked in surprise. Zarc had, of course, told them, Yuya, and Yuri about his gold-digging ex and how she was the one that had been the one that tried to fight Yuri when he kicked her out of the casino for counting cards, and how she had somehow contacted Zarc. The five boyfriends kept no secrets from each other. But they didn’t have any idea how she could have gotten back into the casino after Zarc had specifically told the front not to let her back in.

“But Zarcy!” Sara protested. “I’m not even doing anything wrong! It’s these horrible, evil, ugly men! They’re the ones being mean to me by not letting me use my own lucky dice! You should fire them!”

“One, using personal dice in ANY casino is forbidden by the Casino Regulation Committee,” Zarc snapped. “It’s not my rule, even I can’t change it, and my casino could get shut down if I allowed it. Two, you are on the Banlist, I could have you arrested for trespassing. Three, these two men are doing their jobs properly. I’m not going to fire them for doing their job the way they’re supposed to. And finally, these two men are also my boyfriends, and if you EVER insult them or my other two boyfriends again, well, I still have that video of you at that party in high school that you told everyone to delete. I’ll post it online! Now get off my property!”

“No! You can’t make me!” Sara shrieked, drawing the attention of everyone in the pit. Zarc raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Seconds later, Sara was once again being dragged kicking and screaming out of the casino.

Yuto stared after the woman, shaking his head in disbelief. “How the hell did she manage to get back in?” he wondered out loud. Zarc sighed. “The bouncer left to use the bathroom without getting anyone to cover for him. Don’t worry, I called the police on Sara. She probably won’t have the chance to try again… Hopefully…”

[jacqueline314]

BN/MHA x Lupinranger Fanfiction AU

hot-pinkI’ve been watching Lupinranger vs Patranger recently, and I enjoyed every episode so far (rn, I’m at ep17) My mind then then thought, “What if Lupinranger was implied in BNHA/MHA?” So that’s what I did. However it isn’t where Lupinranger powers are converted into quirks, it’s more of a merge of two worlds but there will be no Ganglars nor Patrangers & past Lupinrangers. It’s just going to be a story about an OC Phantom Thief stealing back Lupin Collection Pieces from BNHA’s Yakuza, Villains, Gangs, Leagues, and Museums. Meanwhile, there’s a detective and a UA Student chasing after the Phantom Thief. It has been a while since I’ve done some story writing, and now I’m going to give it another shot. I might do some artwork of this when I feel like it.

Pilot

In a world where the majority of people poses a unique ability called a Quirk, there are those who will use their supernatural abilities for good or evil. However, there are a very few number of people who don’t need to rely on a quirk to do get the job done.

Hidden from the public streets, there is an underground Masquerade Casino, being run by a Yakuza Family. This Yakuza in particular are a group of gunslingers who were each rejected by society for having a worthless/useless quirk. Almost every member is highly trained to use a gun by carefully watching and learning from the pro hero Snipe. Even though their level of skill is far from the pro, they are still considered dangerous to the average person.

Blending in among the Yakuza, is a hero in training, infiltrating them to retrieve a stolen piece. Momo Yaoyorozu. A UA Student disguised in a hot-pink color dress with a ribbon wrapped around the waist and tied to a bow at the back. Carries a hand bag over her shoulder. Her hair style is also different, so it’s to make people not recognise what her normal hairstyle looks like. Her new hair has two long bangs that split and go down to the side of her face. Her tied hair is relatively similar but it’s styled in a curved design. And of course, a mask to obscure her facial features. This is a masquerade, after all.

Five days ago, while Momo was working for Majestic, her work study mentor got an unsuspecting visit from a detective named Gorou Ogasawara. He has seen Yaoyorozu’s performance in the school sports fest and license examination. And based on what Majestic told the detective, he finds her as a reliable asset. Even though she’s young, he sees great potential in her.

Detective Gorou offers Momo an opening to a sting operation with him. He informs her about an up coming underground masquerade casino, held by a yakuza. They learned from their sources that they will be selling a prized Jewel that was stolen from a historical museum 5 years ago. 

The detective went to Momo for her quirk and her careful wits. And after giving it a day to consider, Yaoyorozu agrees to help Detective Gorou with the sting operation.

The jewel that was stolen is known as the Calder Jewel. Encased in a gold piece, that’s aesthetically designed to be, descriptively, a canopy of a tree. It’s also worn as a neckless.

In order to get pass the security unnoticed, Momo has to break in by disguising herself as a staff member and then change in a private room into a formal masquerade attire.

And now that Momo has infiltrated the casino, she has to look around for where the yakuza has kept the jewel.

She passes by an open bar and the tapper(aka: a bartender) asks what she would like to order. Yaoyorozu replies in a nervous tone “N-No thank you. I’m driving.” The tapper happily respects, and goes to another client to serve.

The casino is relatively spacious. There’s three lines of 5 slot machines at one side of the room, 4 total blackjack tables on the opposite, and 8 roulettes filling up the rest of the space. There are two sets of stairs that lead up to the 2nd floor balcony where gamblers can find a couple or few poker tables. In this same spacious area, Momo spots a pair of large doors being guarded, located at the 2nd floor. Perhaps that’s where they’re keeping the prizes.

Momo eventually makes her way up the stairs after pretending to play one of the slot machines so no one would be suspicious of her. When she reaches the 2nd floor, Momo hides behind a corner and informs the detective through her ear piece. “Detective. I’ve spotted the location.” She says. The detective replied “Be careful and be vigilant with your approach.”

When Momo peaks around the corner, she is then spotted by the guard. Momo quickly pulls back to hide, but the guard has already spotted. The guard approaches Momo after she yells out “Hey!” The guard catches Momo and asks a few questions. “What are you doing at the corner?”

In Momo’s head, her thoughts are jumbling around. “What should I do?” “I’m caught!” “Should I fight?” “Immediately run?” The guard slams her hand on the wall to get Momo’s attention. “I’ll ask again, What is your business?”

There is a momentary pause between the two. Before Momo could speak, the guard goes “If you’re not hear to try your luck in roulette, you’re not going to participate in the bidding.”

Thanks to Momo’s quick wits, she under stands what the guard meant. “Oh, Y-yes!” Said Momo. “I’m here to play.” The annoyed looking guard then places her hand behind Momo and shoves her in to the direction of one of the roulette tables. That was close. Her cover was almost blown.

Now in order to avoid suspicion again, Momo steps into the poker table and meets a few poker players and a dealer. After standing in front of them for a moment, Momo quickly takes an empty seat on the table. Fortunately for her, the other gamblers are about to start another round. The dealer looks at Momo, and lets out a cough to get her attention. Momo turns and is puzzled by the way the dealer is looking at her. Did she do something wrong or is it an actual bad time to join?

The player next to Momo gives her a nudge by the elbow to inform her. “Your poker chips?” Said the player. That’s right! She knew she forgot something. She tells the dealer to wait for a minute, then she put’s her hand in her bag to “bring out some poker chips” In actuality, she’s just making her own poker chips. Fortunately, she has a good look on what they looked like from where she is sitting.

Being relatively new to gambling, she just drops an arm-full of poker chips onto the table. She then mimics the other players on how they organize their poker chips. Once Momo has fixed her pile, she’s ready to play.

The dealer deals out each player 2 cards faced down, after two players raise the pot. Each player secretly checks their cards. Momo’s cards are the 4 of clubs and the 8 of hearts. When the player next to her calls their chips, everyone turns to Momo to she what she does.

Momo is relatively nervous playing, but fortunately Detective Gorou has already taught her how to play. As it was her turn, she calls her chips to the pot. Once all the players have placed in their starting bets, the dealer places 3 cards face up on the table. There’s the 5 of spades, king of hearts, jack of spades. One of the players fold, and the others call. The next card is placed and it’s the Ace of diamonds. All of the players, including Momo, checks their turn. The final card, the 3 of hearts, is placed. This is the final turn of the round. The other players have checked their turn. Momo is carefully studying her cards and the probability. Eventually, she checks too. Once all of the cards are revealed, the winning pot does to the player at the opposite end of the table. This is just the first game, Momo will win next time.

After a while, Momo walks out of the poker room with her poker chips. After losing and winning multiple rounds, she earns 2% more than she initially started. There was not much of a profit from playing poker.

Momo then places the poker chips into her bag. Just as she was done pouring, she accidentally bumps the side of a person while she was not looking as she walks.

As Momo and the person in front of her catches themself, they go “Oh pardon me.” before turning towards her. Momo sees the person in front of her wearing a black morning coat attire with some pink aesthetics, a pink decorative mask, and a fedora with a pink ribbon around. Everything about their outfit gives out a pink aesthetic yet still dressed formal.

Once the two looked at each other, Momo softly yips before bowing forward. “I’m deeply sorry!” She apologize. “I wasn’t paying attention on where I was going!”

The pink person replies, “That’s quite alright, ma’am. In fact, I should be the one apologising you. For I just came out of the poker game.”

“Oh really?” Momo awkwardly laughs as she tells them her first experience playing poker. “I didn’t get lucky with every hand I got.“

“You’re just relatively new to gambling. Heck, I bet a lot in these games but I’m not a gambler. I only lasted one round of the game that I was just in. I betted 500 and I lost 500.” They laugh at their own irony. “I just started playing and I only bet in a poker game, Once.”

Momo finds it hilarious too, but also feels sort of bad for their loss.

Once after the two of them shared a laugh, the pink anonymous takes a drink from their glass that’s shaped like a bee hive, topped with a honeycomb and a piece of cotton candy.

While they were savouring their drink, Momo’s ear piece goes on and she hear’s Detective Gorou’s voice. “Yaoyorozu.” He said. “Come in. Have you spotted the stone yet?”

Momo turns to secretly respond. “Negative.“ She replied. “The room is being held by guards until the bidding starts. I have to blend in until they’re open.“

“Affirmative.“ The detective then ends the call.

When Momo turns back after the call, she sees the guard who yelled at her earlier, had just turn towards her direction. “Did she see me that I was in a call?” “Does she suspect me?” These are the thoughts that are going around her head.

"Say, I can lend you all of my chips.“ Said the pink individual.

Momo is shocked when she heard their offer. “Uhh, n-no. I can’t do that.”

“I insist. You can use them to earn more chips.”

The offer is intriguing to Momo. The chips she has in her bag are her creation and doesn’t want to inflate the economy. So using the actual money would sustain it.

“That’s... Quite generous of you. But are you actually fine with this? Giving your money to a complete stranger you just met? Aren’t you interested in buying something from the bidding as well?”

“I only came here to have fun.” They replied. “And fun I will have!“ They raise their hive glass as they cheer.

“O-okay.” Said Momo, hesitantly. “I’ll accept your offer.“

“Very well. Shall we?“

“Ehh? You’re coming with me?”

“Sure.” The pink anonymous opens one side of their coat, showing the poker chips being kept in their pocket. “Someone has to carry them while your bag is already full.“

Momo looks down at her bag then sees and feels how cramped it is inside. Right... She hasn’t realised until now.

And so, the two of them head down stairs to bet in other games. Roulette was worse than poker, it’s too random to come up with a strategy. Slots are next, however, 10 times in a row, they won nothing. That is until Blackjack. Momo made a huge comeback with her wits of probability analysis. In the end, they earned about half from what they’ve started with.

After the back to back gamble, the pair sits down at the open bar. Momo still refuses to drink while Mx. Pink orders the same glass from before.

The tapper takes out the hive-shaped glass and sets it on the table. Then pours in 1 part of whiskey, half-part mead, honey, maple syrup, and stirs until the honey-syrup is diluted. He then adds a piece of honeycomb and cotton candy, before sliding it to Pink. They thank the tapper and takes another sip.

To Momo, that looks like a lot of sweet flavours going into their mouth. Perhaps too sweet for Momo’s liking.

“I’ve got to say, you have quite a sweet tooth there.” She said.

Pink replies. “Well, this is a night where we get to be happy. Does it not?”

Momo sees how genuine their smile is. Even though this person might be a criminal, she can hear the tone of happiness in their voice.

Momo nods to their response. It’s probably a good thing that they gave her all of their chips. Otherwise, they would’ve been devastated when they found out that a particular item was taken from the bidding? If they didn’t crossed paths, would they still attend the bidding and be wiped out by the competition?

A moment passes, everyone in the casino then hears the speakers turn on. Everyone hears a message. “Attention. We may now be starting the bidding in 5 minutes. Please bring your chips and pick a number sign. Those who out their chips together with others are allowed. And to those who do not have any, will be kicked out of the casino immediately.” When the ends, the speakers become silent. Then, Momo sees the majority of gamblers start heading their way to the two doors where she suspects where the jewel might be. The other players are cashing out and leave. The staff are leaving as well.

Momo stands up and turns to Mx. Pink. “Looks like this is where we part. I appreciate your help but I need to head up there.” Before she could hold out here hands to receive their poker chips, Mx. Pink stands up and says “Wait a moment.”

And just as they start to walk over, Momo’s thoughts are running around her head again. “What?” “D-did they change their mind after everything?” Was being so generous an act to get more chips?”

When they stand next to her, they let out an unexpected info.

“I thought you were just here to get extra money, but you actually want to bid on something. You see, those chips I gave you are registered to me. If you walk up there with my chips alone, they’ll accuse you for stealing from other.“

Does that mean the chips Momo created wouldn’t be accepted?

“What do you mean by ‘registered’?“ She asked.

“You remember that one staff who provide you your chips, asks for your thumb prints? Well, that means you registered an account. And for every chip that was first touched gets added to the player’s account. This is so that no greedy gambler here would snatch anyone’s chips.”

Oh no. The detective heard what that individual said was not aware of the anti-piracy system. This is bad. How is Momo going to take the jewel now?

Pink turns and sees the troubled look on Momo’s face.

Momo looks down and is standing in the middle of the room, internally panicking. She messed  up. The sting operation has failed.

Pink holds out their open hand to Momo. When she sees the hand, she looks up to them. “It’s okay.” They said. “Your not going to get in trouble, because I’m going to be paired up with you.”

Well, that’s quite kind of them to say, but that’s not really the problem. Before Momo could say anything, Pink grabs her right hand and pulls along with her to the two doors, up on the 2nd level.

When they arrived in front of the door with the guards.... guarding the door, each holding a device. Mx. Pink demonstrated how the device works. They take their poker chip and place it in the slot. Then they press their thumb on the scanner. The light turns green, meaning the chips belong to them.

Now it’s Momo’s turn. She’s entirely anxious at this moment. Her poker chips are a fraud. This is not going to end well. Momo opens up her bag, reaches in, and pulls out one of her chips. Pink then snatches the chip from her fingers and places it in the slot. Now, is is the troublesome part.

Momo hesitantly reaches out and presses her right thumb on the scanner. As it’s pressed, the device starts scanning, analyzing the her thumb print. Momo readies herself for the worst. When the device says negative, she just has to fight her way through the guards and break into the stash some ho--

The light on the device turns green. Confirming her chips are valid. This has come to a surprise for Momo. How did the light turn green?

“You’re clear. C’mon in.“ Says the guard. The ear piece is still active. Detective Gorou was being so worried about Momo getting caught, he let out a big sigh of relief when she is granted access. He would’ve called for back up and stormed the casino if anything bad happened.

Before she could question to herself more, Pink grabs hold to her hand again enters the room.

Once they enter, the doors close behind them. The room they have entered gives off a small cinema vibe to it. There’s multiple rows of chairs and a stage at the front with small sets of stairs leading up to the stage. There’s a large curtain backdrop and two lines of yakuza guards on each side across from each other.

The speakers in the room turn on, and the two head over to take a seat. The bidding is starting. When they sat down, Pink whispers to Momo. “You can use all of my money to buy anything you want.” and then goes back to their sitting position.

That’s generous of them, but Momo has eyes on a bigger prize. The first item to bid is a gorgeous chinese house pot with a lid. It looks really pretty. Momo has about 10 of them in her [“house”]. Pink whispers over to Momo again. “This is one is an antique.” They said. “This used to be a soup pot.”

Momo turns her head and looks over to Pink with a concerned face. Pink’s comment even get picked up by the ear piece microphone, Detective Gorou becomes puzzled also.

Pink continues to whisper. “No one uses them anymore, but back then, in almost every household in china, they have pots like that one, used for making soup. That’s why the pot has a lid, to prevent the steam from escaping. Now a days, we have modern cooking pots and stoves to have better control.”

So it used to be a kitchen utensil. Imagine using an old kitchen pan or steamer to act as a plant pot. That would be weird for a lot of people.

Once the pot was sold to the highest bidder, now comes the second round. An anthropomorphic shark walk in, wearing the same attire as the yakuza, carries something with a blanket over, on a dolly. This is strange considering that there are no yakuza members with powerful quirks. Momo’s friend, Tsuyu Asui, talked about her experience with a shark quirk during her internship and how strong he was in her encounter. So why is there a shark in the yakuza?

When everyone sees the shark, all of the guards draw out their gun. Looks like he isn’t apart of the them. He doesn’t seem hostile yet either. He’s just slowly walking on stage.. Once the shark stands in the middle, he sets the dolly down and then pulls away the blanket. He reveals a tied up old man with duct tape on his mouth. It looks like he’s struggling to get out.

The audience and guards gasped when they say all saw what was under the blanket.

The shark draws out a gun and points it at the old man. “You damn bastards!” Shouted the shark. “Do you even know what it’s like to lose someone you love?! You all treated him like one of you. And then you just threw him under the bus?!”

The guards point their guns directly towards the shark. He sees them and places the tip of the barrel at the old man’s neck. “Go ahead! Your guns aren’t strong enough to penetrate my skin. If you do, I’ll blow your boss’s neck off.”

The old man is the head of the yakuza? Momo turns to the guards and sees that they’re shaking as they’re holding their guns. They eventually lowered them before the shark swaps out a tommy gun and starts spraying the room. He mainly aimed at the guards while the audience and Momo ducked down. A couple got shot.

Momo tells Pink to take cover before she crawls over to the other side of the sitting row. The detective hears gunfire and immediately calls for back up.

At the end of the row, Momo peaks over a seat to see the shark. Then she pulls back and creates a shield. She has to take down the villain before things escalate.

Momo rolls out the seats and runs up the stairs with the shield facing towards the shark. He sees her running and then fires the gun at her, but the shield reflects off the bullets, protecting her. She rams it at the villain, making him drop the tommy gun.

Momo quickly creates a rod and swings it at the shark. When she strikes however, there was no damage done. The villain absorbed the force like a brick wall. He grabs the rod and tosses Momo across the stage. Just as she gets up, the villain then pulls out his hand gun again and places the tip at the same spot on the yakuza boss.

“It’s useless. No one is going to help him.” Says the villain. “He’ll be the first to pay for what he did!“ Said in an infuriating tone.

To Momo, hope is not lost. By now, the detective has already called for back up when he heard the gun shots picked up from her ear piece. She just needs to stall for time until they arrive. But the real challenge is, how is she going to save the yakuza boss?

Just then, she notices a red card flung into the air. It changed trajectories and flies pass the shark’s hand. Giving him an unbearable sting on his and and dropping the gun, before the card vertically sticks onto the stage floor.

The boss, Momo, and the villain, focuses on the card when it landed. They look concerned on how it got here.

“Ehh?” says the villain. “What is this.” He then hears a gunfire as he fells something hitting his back before he fall down to his face from the force behind him. His fall domino effected the yakuza boss, making him fall as well. Momo heads over to the boss and crates a sharp tool to quickly cut the rope.

After shots were fired, the shark and Momo hear a voice replying to the villain’s question. “You may have tough skin, but everyone gets paper cuts.” To Momo, it’s entirely familiar.

The two looked behind the villain and sees the Pink Maskarade person with a fedora. Momo thought they were still hiding. She then noticed a strange looking gun in Pink’s hand. It’s white with some orange stripe features and a grip handle at the back. She has never seen a gun or a blaster like that before.

“Your weapon may have hurt me.” Says the shark. ”But your power will be overwhelmed by mine!” He says that as he and the freed yakuza boss behind him stands up simultaneously.

There was a brief pause and then the two looked at each other. Just as the villain goes “Huh?!?!” in shocked, the boss immediately flees the room with all of the bidders and other yakuza members in a fast forward zany visual and leaving the doors open.

The villain turns back to Pink with an even angrier look oh his face. “LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE!!! YOU LET MY PREY GET AWAY!!!”

“Well then.” Pink replied. “Looks like you’re my opponent now.” They then pull out a pink-silver aesthetic jet that's the size of their hand. Momo sees it and wonders what they’re going to do with it.

Just before Pink could do anything, the villain picks up the tommy gun he dropped and sprays at the ceiling. The debris then fall on top of Pink. Momo couldn’t help them in time because everything happened too fast. Pink got crushed.

When the villain is about to laugh at their demise, he stops and sees a silhouette in the cloud of dust. When it has cleared, the shark and Momo sees Pink has changed into a black helmet with a pink top hat-shaped mask at the front, and a Pink cloaked tuxedo. They are also holding the gun but with the pink jet from earlier, attached to the gun.

“Ehh? Wh- who are you?!“ the villain asked as they point at Pink-top hat.

Pink replies as they start walking towards the villain. “You didn’t introduced yourself. So you don’t need to know, for now.” Then they start firing a few shots at him. He takes in the hits and shoots back with the tommy gun. Pink evades the bullets, swerving in front of the shark as he continues to lock on them.

Momo takes this opportunity to create something to capture the villain while he’s distracted. She sets one knee down to create a special cannon that’ll shoot soft ammo. Once the cannon is set, the shark turns his head towards her as she hold an orange sphere that’ll fit into the weapon. The villain turns around and points his gun at Momo and fires before she could load up the cannon.

Momo quickly holds up her shield to defend herself from the bullets. Pink sees all of this happening and then blasts the tommy gun out of the shark’s hands. When Momo notices no bullets fired at her, she immediately loads the cannon pointed at the villain, and fires.

The villain gets hit by the projectile then it covers him with a soft-yet sticky substance upon impact. The shark’s body is now trapped in a tar-like blob, leaving his head sticking out. “What is this? Release me at once!” he demanded.

Pink ignores his demands and walks over to Momo. But before they could say a word, she disappears from where she was last standing. Meanwhile, Momo ran to the back of the stage to look for the stolen Jewel. After rummaging around, she finds a jewellery case. Upon closer inspection, the case has already been open and the necklace is gone. “Wha- Who- Where did it go?!” she thought.

Just then, Momo hears the police entering the room and shouting “FREEZE!” and the detective calling out “Yaoyorozu!”. They’re here to apprehend the villain who caused trouble. She immediately heads back to the front of the stage. “I’m alright!” She responded. “But detective, we have a pro-” Just as Momo passes through the back drop, she sees Pink having their hands raised while the police and detective are pointing their guns at them.

Momo stares at the scenario she’s witnessing. Detective Gorou turns his head to Momo. “Yaoyorozu, don’t go near them!” he said. “They’re the Phantom Thief.”

“So they are a criminal.” She thought to herself. But if that’s the case, why would they be so generous by giving all of their money for the bidding and help Momo get through security? If they’d haven’t bumped into each other, they would’ve attend the bidding anyway because the chips were registered to Pink.

“Glad I could help out.” said Pink as they look at Momo. “But I’ll be taking this with me.” Then they hold out the Calder Jewel in their hand. Momo is shocked that the stranger who was helping her, has taken a priceless artifact.

The police opens fire and Pink gracefully evades them while keeping the jewel undamaged. They swiftly run towards the exit door while slipping pass, pushing, and redirecting the cops away. They immediately jumped off the 2nd floor balcony and then lands on the ground floor. Detective Gorou follows along by quickly taking off his long coat, grappling it by the railing, and holding on to the other end as he jumps off. His rope-cloak allows him to decrease his momentum when he reaches to the ground.

The detective stops at 3 feet above ground, then he lets go of his cloak before immediately dashing towards Pink. Who has already called the elevator. The detective jump towards the Phantom Thief to tackle them and prevent from escaping. However, just as the elevator doors open, the Phantom Thief grabs Gorou’s arms uses his momentum turn and redirect him down on the floor. Causing him to feel excruciating force on his body. When he’s on the ground, Pink lets go of his arm and steps into the elevator. The detective watches them press a button and say “Adieu~” before the elevator closes.

The detective is infuriated from the sight of the Phantom Thief escaping. He slams his fist on the ground as he lays there. Momo sees the detective pacing on the floor from the 2nd floor indoor balcony. She then reflects on what happened tonight. She interacted with a criminal, but they helped her get into the bidding room. “Why were they after the Calder Jewel? How did they changed appearance?” She then takes off her mask and looks at ti in her hand. “And who is the Phantom Thief?”

[cardboardhyperfix-games]

You can paint them and make a labyrinth you have to navigate in the dark (self promotion):

https://cardboardhyperfix.itch.io/house-of-cards

Also, ive been stewing on a game that uses the rules of Blackjack to tell a Lord of the Rings (evil ruler fighting little pockets of good people) style game.......... much to consider.

I do want to make a game that uses the hand of cards as "pre-rolled" dice. Might do that for the one page jam on itch.

Ultimately an RPG that uses playing cards as a randomizer but doesn't actually utilize the cards for. You know. The things that cards can do. Is just using them as a fancy, weirdly shaped die.

A few things that cards can do that dice can't:

You know that dice superstition that people have about how if they roll enough low numbers they're bound to get a high one? That sort of actually works with cards provided cards aren't immediately returned to the deck and the deck reshuffled. Because there's a limited number of each "roll," good or bad.

You can hold them in your hand. It's basically like pre-rolling a bunch of numbers and then getting to spend those numbers as they become relevant. Maybe you only get to draw more cards by playing all your cards, meaning that if you don't conserve your good cards your character's luck is eventually bound to run out.

You can make poker hands with them. Added to the previous point, maybe you will be forced to play a worse hand and have your character flub a non-critical roll because you're hoping for that better hand that'll turn the tide.

There's suits as an added bit of information that can be utilized for some mechanics. Maybe matching suit with an action type results in an extra benefit?