#but it also means they go through ink really fast

[the-east-art]

The tango Maureen Sora

[tlou-reid]

!smut, mdni!

thinking about spencer reid who has had a crush on the pretty BAU agent at the desk across from him ever since she started. she has been so swamped with work and paperwork and life recently and spencer notices the small changes in her behaviors because he notices every little thing about her. he sees the tighter grip she holds on her pens, making the ink bleed through the paper just slightly. he notices the way she starts to slam her coffee cup on the desk as opposed to gently sitting it down. he notices the heavy uptick of the amount of cups she’s having.

and it’s worse when they’re given a case. naturally, since they get along so well and since they’re probably the two smartest people in the world, hotch pairs spencer and his crush up throughout their time in phoenix, arizona. spencer sees the way she’s always cracking her knuckles and rubbing at the small of her back. he hear the tone in which she talks to the officers.

so, when they’ve finally caught their unsub just 6 days later, spencer makes sure to pick up her case files before she can even make it from her hotel room. he tucks them neatly under him as he sits down on the jet, carefully hiding them from her. he holds them hostage, knowing if she doesn’t see them, she won’t worry about them. out of sight, out of mind, as they say. she falls asleep quickly in the seat across from spencer. he can’t help but ogle at her beautiful sleeping form, knowing she really needs the rest.

and, once they returned to the musty bullpen that belongs to the BAU, spencer stays with her. he watches as she starts the paperwork he’d sneakily put on her desk, not letting her catch on to the fact that he’d taken it. he tries his best to focus on his own work, but the way she keeps groaning as she rolls her head back has him completely distracted. he’s barely three pages in when hotch emerges from his office, bidding both of them a goodbye and complimenting their work on the case

that just leaves spencer and the pretty agent across from him in the space.

time moves slower now, spencer thinks, which makes it even more agonizing to listen to her try to work out her over-exhausted muscles by herself. he can’t help himself as he breaks the comfortable silence that had been established.

“hey, y/n,” he inquires, knowing she probably doesn’t want to be disturbed right now. his suspicions prove to be true when she doesn’t look up, letting out a less than enthusiastic “hm?”.

“do you know the benefits of getting a massage?” this piques her interest, wondering where spencer was going to take this. sure, the recent stress in her life had her muscles aching at every hour of the day, but she didn’t think anyone had picked up on it. “i know the basics, spence.” she giggles, finally looking over at him.

he can’t dwell on the fact that this is the first time she’s smiled in about two weeks because his brain starts moving too fast for his mouth to keep up, “yeah, most people know they helps with muscle aches but they actually have a lot of benefits. massages help improve circulation and joint mobility. there’s also research that connects them to cosmetic effects, like improved and more even skin tones.”

he doesn’t expect her to still be paying attention to him, but he’s pleasantly surprised at the small smile spreading across her face. “hm, that sounds amazing. if only i wasn’t trapped here doing paperwork at almost three in the morning.” she answers sarcastically, turning back to her work. “i could give you a massage.” spencer stumbles out.

her cheeks start to heat up as she makes eye contact with him, wondering where he would take this. “i mean,” he backtracks, “i’ve read books on how to do shoulder and back massages. my eidetic memory means i could probably do an almost perfect one, if you’re interested. i’ve noticed the way you’ve been struggling with muscle aches.”

her face feels like it’s on fire with the way he’s making her blush. “um, sure, spencer, if you don’t mind.” she stutters and stumbles as she tries to accept his offer. he excitedly pushes himself of his hair, pulling up a closer one behind her.

his large hands start to knead at the knots at the base of her neck. he can feel the tension she’s built up over the past couple of weeks and tries to recall the techniques he’d read about so long ago.

this quickly becomes a challenging feat, as he moves his hands along the expanse of her back. she lets out light moans when he massages a particularly tight part of her muscle. the moans and grunts she’s making are going right to spencer’s cock. he’s so glad he’s behind her, because the tent in his pants continues to grow as he reaches the base of her back, where most of her pain had been.

her light moans have now increased in volume, and spencer is sure he should stop. he was not expecting to have this reaction from her, or react this way to her. his mind is cloudy and beginning to fill with filthy images that match the sounds she’s making now.

and god, he should stop. he knows he should pull his hands away from her, especially as he feels his stomach tighten and his dick throb in his pants. but he can’t. he needs to reach his release so bad, so he presses his fingers harder into her back, listening to the joyful sounds she’s letting out.

he doesn’t pull his hands away until he finally cums in his pants, too embarrassed to keep going. “thank you, spence. i feel a lot better. a lot less tense now.” she thanks him as he turns away from her, pushing in the chair he’d pulled over. he makes a few exclamations, saying it was no problem at all, before dashing off to the bathroom to try and get himself cleaned up.

[loverofpiggies]

You posted two new parts?!

How can you post like every day?!

Impressive o o✨

Hey! I got a couple things workin for me that makes it possible at this time. Mostly, when I started working on the comic it was part of a slow period for my work. I'm a full time convention artist, and sometimes that means I can have like a month without travel, and sometimes it means I'm working nonstop for three weeks.

Another thing, is I'm a very fast artist, I don't erase much, and all my comics are done in pencil:

Pages take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hourish to draw, and since I don't have to ink them and just adjust them in my art program, that saves a LOT of time.

Here's another example:

I also reuse backgrounds a LOT. Most of chapter two involved two new background designs, along with the table and chairs. So that also saves a ton of time too!

Pages that already have backgrounds designed, can usually take about 40ish minutes to an hour to adjust the lineart, color, and do the text.

Since it was my slow period I wasn't really doing anything else at the time, so I'd get up and essentially go "well... what else am I doing today?" and I'd sit down and work on it.

Also because drawing pages are so fast for me, I'm halfway through drawing chapter 4, so there's at least lots of pages I can color when I get downtime.

I know also this is definitely hyper fixation territory, so I need to rework myself so I'm not ignoring the outside world. I just missed making comics so much ;_;

[kinicheous]

cherry | xiao

it doesn't happen often, but sometimes you catch your boyfriend bolder than usual. this time, it's kind of your fault.

genres/notes: fluff, xiao is down bad, reader wears lip gloss (let me know if something is missing!)

xiao is staring. he’s definitely staring. you don’t even have to look up from your book, because you can feel how he’s staring the hell out of you, and archons is it making you nervous.

“you know,” you clear your throat, “if there’s something you want to tell me, just say it.”

you hear a quiet gasp, one that makes you feel a hint of victory. it’s short-lived though; xiao is quick to recover from being caught as he just hums from the other side of the table, propping an elbow on its surface, resting his chin in his palm. “nothing special. go ahead. keep reading.”

you, only half-heartedly, shoot him a glare from above your book, but regret it just as fast upon seeing how intently he’s actually looking at you. you quickly look down again, down at the inked words you hardly can focus on. “well, i’m trying, but it’s kind of hard when you’re staring holes through me.”

“even when your book is upside down?”

perhaps that’s one of the reasons you can’t focus.

nonetheless, you hurry to shift the book to its rightful position and return to the story with a groan of mild frustration, as if nothing just happened. 

something is off. he’s being different. he’s xiao but at the same time not, but it’s still him because he’s still as unpredictable as ever, in that one way only he is—you just cannot for dear life figure out what it’s about this time.

xiao knows though, he knows perfectly fine. he knew from the very beginning, as soon as he entered the kitchen just earlier this morning. he’d found himself oddly intrigued by the unfailiar tint on your lips; a gloss so subtle, but shimmering in a way that complemented its shape, your features and every inch of skin oh so perfectly. a new product you’d purchased somewhere? a gift from someone? hopefully not, he’d prayed, but at the same time it didn’t particularly matter where it came from. he did like to think you put it on for him — not that he would ever confess that — but was equally fine with knowing it’s probably for yourself. either way, it looks good on you. too good. was he always like this?

he never commented on it (still hasn’t, frankly), and had opted to simply take his seat by the kitchen table despite only having half a mind on the breakfast. the other half has been on your lip gloss ever since.

xiao wants to know what it feels like, what it would feel like on his thumb. he also wants to know if it has a certain flavor. at the same time though, he doesn’t want that, partially because it would mean wiping it off and partially because wiping it off felt nothing short of impolite. so he remains in his seat, admiring it instead.

you’re, on the other hand, starting to get impatient. sure, he doesn’t always speak his mind, but at this point it feels like he’s just messing with you. aware that you probably won’t get anywhere like this, you soon let out another groan, this one rather tired. you shut your book and slide it a bit further away, and his attention falters a bit as he both confusedly and curiously watches you slam your palms on the table to stand up.

“okay,” you puff out, trying to keep the eye contact as firm as you possibly can. it’s a bit hard, but by the end of the day it’s still just your lover. “something is up and i want to know what it is.”

the lover in question blinks at you a few times, actually a bit surprised. yet he can’t help but find the temper of a child you carry a bit amusing. he doesn’t take too long to collect himself and upon seeing the chance while it’s there, he finally moves just to mimic your posture.

across the table, xiao reaches out to hold your cheek in his palm. bold isn’t a word you frequently use to describe him, so it’s safe to say you’re surprised when he suddenly leans in, lips meeting before you can really process it. the way his move against your own isn’t as daring as the entire process itself, but there’s a humble tinge that one has to kiss countless of times to tell its eagerness and with the half-lidded eyes never diverting from you, you’re grateful the table is there to support you figure.

at last parting, there’s a faint red on his cheeks, but xiao isn’t as stunned as you are. he glances down at your lips, unable to stop himself from dragging his thumb across the corner where a bit of the gloss had smudged. he lightly smacks his own, and you soon hear him hum again, like he’s trying to figure something out.

“is that cherry?”

“y-yeah…”

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Curious Sight

What is this?! Two Drabbles?! @spotaus It is more likely than you think.

Mostly because i was REAL impressed you guys managed to keep it equal. like how? Also because i really wanted to do both so here you go! both!

This one is a lot shorter though hihi

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

*--------------------*

Just his luck.

Why did he have to have a favourite pie in a whole other universe?

The Toriel looks very apologetic “I am very sorry. They just sold out very quickly this time. I will have new ones tomorrow morning!”

Blue smiles as he pushes down the disappointment “It is okay! I can always try again later.”

Toriel smiles before motioning towards the other goods she has for sale “Anything else? The cupcakes are amazing today.” she smiles.

Blue shakes his skull “No that is alright. Thank you so much for checking!” he waves and leaves the small bakery.

He sighs as he stands outside.

Damnit.

His luck sucks today. He had hoped he could cheer himself up with some nice pie but it seems like they are out after all. Ugh. Then again, maybe it is his own fault for liking things outside his own universe so much.

Blue looks from side to side. Maybe he can look around a bit? See if there is another bakery. He doubts it because the town, and well this very universe, is very small and he hadn’t seen it when he visited this place with the Stars all that time ago.

But well. He doesn’t really have anything planned today.

He looks left and right and decides to go right for now. He wanders down the street and waves at people along the way.

Okay. So he can’t get the cherry hazelnut pie he wanted. Which is a shame. But he can do something else to cheer him up!

It had just been rough in his underground. Alphys had been very distrusting of the human this time around and it had been exhausting to get her to at least try to get to know them. That is not even the multiverse mess.

At least people don’t demand his help at every turn anymore. Sure he loves helping others but before it got so bad. Back when Dream was still doing the positive guardian thing. People had also demanded help of Blue. And Blue loves to help! But there had been the fear that if he said no it would reflect badly on Dream and Ink.

There is a reason he hardly travelled the multiverse alone before. It was just easier to give himself rest that way.

But now with Dream officially having a new god goal and Ink still being MIA it means people stopped bothering Blue all the time!

Blue tries to ignore the hurt that thinking about Ink brings. He had done so much to help Ink and had thought they had been friends! That Blue meant something to the other! Apparently not. Seeing as Ink hasn’t even shown his face anywhere yet, aside from meetings but Blue doesn’t really count that. They don’t even hang out afterwards. Ink just leaves again.

Blue shakes his skull and keeps walking. It is fine. Ink is also a god and probably busy with god stuff. Reaper was going to talk with Error and Ink about their godhood after all. Ink is probably just busy.

Blue just… he hopes Ink didn’t just… forget him…

Blue shakes his skull and pats his own cheeks twice. Come on Blue! Snap out of it! You got this! No need to dwell on the negatives. Especially if you don’t know what Ink’s reason is! There is no reason to worry or feel sad about things you don’t even know yet!

Blue sighs as he grabs his phone. His phalange hovering over Dream’s icon. No. Dream is dealing with enough. And asking him to track down Ink just so Blue can ask him why he doesn’t want to hang out anymore is just… a lot.

Blue scrolls through his contacts and pauses when he sees Red’s name. Huh. It has been a while since he hang out with Red. Maybe the two of them can go to some motorcross universe and drive a set of bikes around? Just go fast and have fun with a friend? He taps a message and sends it.

Blue grins at his phone as he waits. Oh this is going to be great. Just him and a friend having fun and talking about motorcycles!

A ping and Blue grins before it falls. Red says he can’t at the moment. Bad run going on in his universe and that his brother is very stressed. Apparently the last reset had gone very badly and Red had died and apparently Edge had gotten somekind of memory or dream about it and is hovering a lot more than usual.

Blue sighs but types back that he gets it and if he needs help just to let him know. Red answers with a thumbs up and a thanks.

Blue sighs and just looks up. Huh. He recognises these streets but can’t quite remember where from. Maybe all these areas just look alike? Blue shrugs and looks back at his phone.

Maybe he can ask Sans, or whatever everyone decides to call him. Sans is a bit… strange. No one is quite sure why, Sans least of all. It is just weird how everyone just decided that no nickname really fit him. They tried Comic and Classic. But in the end everyone just ends up referring to him with Sans.

Which is weird as fuck with all of them originally being Sans. Yet Sans is the most Sans.

It is hard to explain.

He finds the number and grins as he is typing a message.

A moment later he answers that he is down to hang out.

Blue grins as he starts typing, not really paying attention to where he is going. He texts his friend about maybe going to Outertale to just hang out at the café. Or even to try and find a new universe.

Sans says he is down and asks if he wants to meet wherever he is now to travel together or to meet at Outertale and search for each other there.

Blue thinks and is about to type for Sans to come to him as he looks up for a reference for Sans to teleport to. Only to freeze.

That is the Cuddly Cat.

More importantly.

That is the back of Killer’s jacket leaving around the side of the building.

Blue doesn’t even answer the text as he runs towards the other road.

He gets there just in time to see the portal melt shut. Blue searches for the right app on his phone and holds it near the slowly fully closing rift. Praying he was fast enough to manage and get there in time.

It takes a moment and the signal the app is picking up disappears. But it is still loading and Blue stares at the program as it slowly slowly loads.

Then it pops up with coordinates to an universe!

Blue stares in shock before seeing another message of Sans appear at the top. He quickly texts him that he is very sorry but that he just spotted the gang out and about.

Sans’s reply is mostly confused. Asking why it matters as Sans thought that was all already solved? So why try and track their movement?

Blue is thorn. Does he share that Dream doesn’t actually know if Nightmare is dead? That Dream is actually looking for Nightmare?

Blue ends up typing that Dream still wants to personally apologise for the gang and Sans says he gets it and just let him know when he got time to hang.

Blue sighs as he opens the right chat window and starts to type. But then removes the message as he tries to type one again.

Over and over as he struggles over what to exactly say before he settles on a message.

“I saw the gang. I know to which universe they went. We got a lead if you want to check it out?”

And he waits.

His phone pings.

“Please.”

Seems like he got plans after all.

*--------------------*

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

[itsabouttimex2]

Can you do escape attempt headcanons with the bullfam?? I’ve been reading your headcanons lately n they’re literally so good 😭😭!!

Bullfam

Escape Attempt Headcanons

Out of this powerful trio, I think Red Son would notice the soonest that you’ve gone out of bounds. With how likely it is that you’re wearing a collar (of his own design) with the sigil of the Bull Clan emblazoned on it, it’s very probable that he has a tracking device on you. Even if you don’t have a collar, there’s always bracelets, phones, shoes… plenty of places to snap an unassuming tracker.

So if you somehow do manage to escape, your foray back into the familiar streets of Megapolis is bound to be cut short in record time.

Red corners you as by sharply rounding the curve of an alleyway, slamming into you hard. As you stumble and fall, the prince snatches a wrist or leg (whatever’s easier) and pulls until he’s dragged you roughly across half the concrete-paved block. After your whimpers and begging turn to pained screams, the half-taurine demon blazes up a runic portal and tosses you in.

Jumping in mere seconds after, Red Son surveys the scene before that unfurls before him.

You lay curled up on the plush purple carpet sobbing into your hand as blood oozes slowly down the road rash torn across your back.

As it always does, a cold regret seeps slowly through his veins at the sight of your suffering.

Red Son hasn’t come to realize something very important to him yet- he hates hurting you.

The prince explodes in a fit of fiery wrath, lashes out, hurts you- then stews in remorse and self-anger. An uncontrollable and ever-raging wildfire that torches even that which is dearest to him.

This is the part of himself he hates the most.

The part he can’t stop from hurting you.

Damage control is the most he can manage after these little fits.

“…come on, Y/N. I’ll get the bandages.”

Oh, boy. Absolutely not. I mean, you can try. Really, feel free. Go for it.

What’s a few broken bones or bloody gashes in return for a brief glance of sunlight? For a singular breath of fresh air?

Okay, so the Demon Bull King isn’t exactly itching to hurt you. You wouldn’t be locked up inside his foundry like a fragile antique if he just wanted to grind you into a bloody smear on the concrete (that’s his son’s job) or pop you like a swollen tick. If he’s got you bolted into a nice little guest room with a Bull Clone, it because this big lumbering warlord actually and honestly cares about you.

Probably, the king sees you as a sort of “youngest child” naive and soft and so very malleable.

So the aspect of “protecting what is his” applies very strongly as the taurine demon catches sight of you fleeing, mild yellow eyes narrowing into glowing pools of fury.

This man is fast- we’ve seen it in canon. Also, his “on all fours” run?? Seeing that coming right at you, clearing miles in literal seconds??

You give up, hit the ground, and go still- if only because you’re entirely unsure of whether or not he’d actually be willing to actual physical contact at such high speeds and atomize the lower half of your body.

Instead, you allow him to corner your cowering form, not struggling as two clawed fingers pluck you off the ground. He’s too angry to even speak- and instead just fold his powerful claws around you, and the begins to stomp home.

You’ve earned yourself a custom-made metal shackle, to be worn through all through the day and night, paired with reduced rations and limited access to water.

But at least he hasn’t harmed you.

Yeah, okay. From everything we’ve seen, Princess Iron Fan is basically… unflappable and unstoppable? I can’t actually remember her directly losing a fight outside of the Sworn Brotherhood when they had the ink scroll. She’s powerful, intelligent, patient… I can’t imagine many ways to truly “get one over on her”.

An enchantment on your nape that prevents travel past a certain area. A magical tracking device planted under your skin. Cursed jewelry that tightens when you disobey. Mystical statues with strange eyes that track your every movement and spring to life when you make for the door.

It’s not happening.

You can try- Iron Fan doesn’t intervene with your escape attempts. You’re bound to fail one way or the other. Why should she waste her energy when your efforts are worthless to begin with?

At least watching your desperate struggles and harebrained schemes puts her in good mood- there’s something about your frustrated tears that she finds all too cute.

[tiktowafel]

hi and hello i'm back from the dead here are some 1b quirk headcanons (that may or may not contradict canon but i'm too lazy to check everything)

Kuroiro

dad had a very limited phasing quirk, mom had an ink quirk. neither had #000000 skin that part kinda came out of nowhere

despite obviously being connected to his ability it's just a mutation that appeared along with it and isn't required for the quirk to be usable -what i mean by this is that Monoma's skin doesn't turn black when he copies it

it's. a really confusing quirk mechanics wise. Kuroiro himself isn't exactly sure how it works, it just does and thinking about it too hard makes his head hurt lol

he can merge into dark surfaces. doing so doesn't increase the weight of the object he's merged into. it's like he straight up disappears.

when he fully submerges himself in a shadow, he finds himself in kind of a black void in which he can move freely (without using his muscles, i think. just zooms around somehow...) and which he can leave whenever he wants through the same surface he used to enter or another one connected to it. is it some sort of super limited alternate dimension that he can enter through shadows?? PERHAPS

since he doesn't lose his clothes when he uses his quirk, he has to be able to bring objects into the darkness with him. i imagine he can do it with all things that aren't living (them being black is not necessary because it seems to work with white shoes and bracelets) and as long as they're touching him - if he lets go of an object while in a shadow, it will just fall out. therefore his quirk can be used for transporting things, but not for storing them.

you can also explain him not losing his clothes by them being mirio style dna fabric but that's the more boring option so screw that

when jumping out of a shadow, his speed matches that at which he was moving inside of it. i think it would be cool if he could build up speed while moving through a shadow and then just SHOOT out of it and kick someone real hard

Pony

Pony actually has "two quirks" - the one that gives her horns and the ability to shoot them (inherited from her dad) and the one that gives her the appearance of a horse/pony (inherited from her mom). it's registered as "horn cannon" for the same reason why Tokoyami's quirk isn't "raven" and Mina's isn't "pink alien thing" - it's a passive mutation quirk so it gets "overwritten" by horn cannon, which is more "active" - does this make sense?

thanks to her secondary quirk Pony is much stronger than the average person and can run really fast when on all fours. she can also neigh like a horse, digest celulose a bit better than average and sleep while standing. it's... not much besides that

Pony's horn cannon quirk requires keratin to function, because it's what her horns are made of. regrowing her horns too many times causes her to suffer from keratin deficiency, worsening the condition of her hair, skin, nails and hooves

most telekinetic quirks cause headaches when overused, but Pony's ability to control her horns is very minor so that drawback doesn't really affect her

Kendo

her quirk is a mix of her parents quirks - her mom can extend her fingers and her dad has superhuman strength in his arms

enlarging her hands increases their weight a lot, but Kendo's abilities don't suffer from that because her back and arms are naturally extremely strong as an adaptation to her quirk (she can beat everyone in the class at quirkless hand wrestling - it's highkey unfair, but she can)

however, she still sometimes ends up with lower back pains if she uses her quirk too much

Setsuna

her dad does have a lizard quirk (that actually gives him a tail that he's able to detach and regenerate), but her mom's quirk is actually more similar to Setsuna's. it basically lets her detach and re-attach parts of her body along predetermined lines, and lacks the regenerative abilities

her quirk makes her basically indestructible because it lets her regenerate any destroyed or injured body part, plus she seemingly doesn't even need any of her organs to be connected to each other. her only weak point is her head, attacking it is the only way to knock her out (or kill her)

her head/brain is also her "core" - she can only regenerate body parts that are connected to her brain. i'll use the final exams as an example - if she managed to get her whole head outside the gate, she would be able to regenerate her whole body around it and pass (she would probably pass out from exhaustion, but still). however if she only got some other body part, like one of her arms outside the gate she wouldn't be able to do that because the arm isn't connected to the brain. hope you get what i mean lol

in-universe, her quirk probably isn't censored with black, so i'm guessing it looks quite gory and tends to freak people out when they see it for the first time. an upside to this is that thanks to having to deal with the sight of it on a daily basis, no one in class 1-B has to worry about the shock of first seeing gruesome injuries during hero work. they're all desensitized through safe means👍

a drawback that is shared by most regeneration quirks is that due to the rapid cell division that occurs when regenerating body parts, she is at a high risk of developing cancer. however that's far less troublesome than it sounds, as she can always just painlessly detach the cancerous part and grow a new healthy one. doctors hate this one weird trick or something

as you can probably tell from my art, i really like the headcanon that her skin looks kinda patchwork-y because her regenerated pieces are never exactly the same as the original body parts

due to those imperfections, she's extra careful about her brain pieces bc it's such a complicated organ that the tiniest change in its structure can seriously mess things up. like cause memory loss or personality changes, setsuna finds that terrifying and honestly who wouldn't!!

Tsuburaba

another 50/50 mix - his mom can create colorful smoke/mist with her breath and his dad can produce a glass-like liquid from his skin and solidify it at will

i gotta admit that i'm not sure what the "solid air" actually should be. if it was actual solid air, it would be incredibly cold, unless there's some pressure fuckery happening here. and since i kind of don't understand that hypothetical pressure fuckery i generally prefer to think that it's some different substance that's a solid in normal conditions and was just named "solid air" because the way it's created makes it seem like it.

while the amount of solid air he can create does depend on his lung capacity, the quirk itself doesn't give him any extra amount of it. in other words he has the lungs of a regular athletic teenage boy, nothing special

his actual "quirk factor" is his throat, using his quirk too much first dries it up, then proceeds to damage its walls, which can result in him not being able to use his quirk for a while. throat damage due to external factors does the same thing

he can make the stuctures created with his quirk disappear at will. it's not required, but he likes to snap his fingers when doing so. makes it look cooler.

he's only ever been shown to create stationary structures, but i like to think that he can also make mobile ones (in other words i think he should be able to make solid air weapons and tools because that's cool)

Tetsutetsu

exact copy of his mom's quirk. gotta go with the joke

along with the temperature resistance, inability to regulate his hardness and dependence on iron consumption, another difference between his quirk and Kirishima's is that turning into steel also significantly increases his weight, which allows him to hit harder at the cost of slowing him down a little

the wiki says that it was never clarified what "iron consumption" means, so it's up to me to decide - i think they meant that he needs to eat food that contains iron, judging by the fact that the (stereotypically!) rich in iron spinach is his favorite food. i don't think he eats the actual metal, lol

even when his quirk is off, his hair is slightly affected by it at all times, which makes it resemble thin metal wires. he styles it by bending it with his hands

Reiko

since it's an extremely basic quirk, i think she also directly inherited it from one of her parents i don't have concepts for them so idk which one oof

she can only use her quirk on entire objects, not parts of them

while she doesn't have to always keep the objects she's manipulating in her field of view, she has to see them in order to "pick them up" in the first place

i believe that the "can only lift things that weigh less than an average person" limitation she has in canon is supposed to explain why she doesn't just use it to throw people around, and yeah that makes sense. what doesn't make sense is why she can't pull them by their clothes instead, so i'm going to make up an explanation for that too - clothes are usually pretty thin, so trying to grab them without also grabbing the person themselves and therefore exceeding the weight limit usually requires quite a lot of precision, which Reiko doesn't have (yet - one day she'll learn, i imagine)

the term "weight limit" is a simplification, it's actually a mass limit. in other words when she can't lift something it's not because can't exert a strong enough force to counteract its weight, but because she can't manipulate this much matter at once. she wouldn't be all-powerful in space or when cooperating with ochako

speaking of the force that she can apply to objects, it can be pretty insane if she concentrates hard enough for a long enough time

she doesn't actually need to move her hands to use her quirk, but it helps her focus and visualize its effect better

as it's a major telekinetic ability, overusing her quirk gives Reiko headaches

(i'm making up so many rules and limitations because telekinesis is a BROKEN ability if you think about it enough lol)

Shiozaki

mix of her dad's ability to speed up plant growth and her mom's ability to manipulate her hair

since her vines are green, it's safe to assume they contain chlorophyl and therefore are able to photosynthetize. however, due to the way they're shaped, i doubt it's very efficient (bad surface area to volume ratio), so i suppose Ibara has to provide most of the nutrients herself. in other words i think she eats way more than the average person and drinks more water, too

failing to provide those will cause her ability to extend and move her vines to suffer, and in more extreme cases, they will just fall off. she can regrow them when that happens, but it takes time.

while theirs are obviously very different from ours, plants do have senses, and Ibara can use those plant senses of her vines as kind of an extension of her own

Kamakiri

another exact copy, of his mom's quirk this time. she actually used to be a pro hero, too (one day i might elaborate on this)

it does come with the innate desire to cut things, however thanks to his mom sharing the same quirk he received proper support so it never grew into a problem. on the other hand despite seeming scary, it's not that much to handle. he just satisfies that desire by cutting vegetables lol

by default his blades are extremely sharp, but if he focuses hard enough he can make them more blunt and less lethal

unrelated to the blades, but due to part-bug biology, he's much lighter than you'd expect someone of his posture to be.

and that's it for today~ i do have thoughts about the others' quirks but i felt like they weren't coherent enough to put here lol. maybe another day? also if anything here directly contradicts canon or if you just have other ideas, you are more than welcome to share your thoughts, i really like discussing quirks :]

[silent-raven13]

When Miles rizz Hobie

"Nothing could woo me, mates." Hobie began as his friends were picking on him for turning pink around Miles. "It's merely affection, like how comfortable I'm around with someone I trust." The small group were hanging around Headquarters just to pass the time.

"Huh uh?" Gwen snorted.

Pav nodded having to get on his tippy toes to at least face Hobie on his level, "Dude, you turned pink when Miles even looks at you!"

"No, I have no idea what you're talking about." The punker plays it off still disagreeing.

"Oh yeah! Alright, bet!" Gwen said out loud.

"Hahaha, where's Miles is at?" Pav giggles with sweet delight.

Hobie rolled his eyes, "Miles is just a mate."

"Yet you call him, Sunflower!" Gwen said out loud.

"And luv, darling, dear, Brooklyn, Peter Pan!" Pav uses his fingers to show how many nicknames Hobie used on the young Spider-man. "You like him, huh?"

"Still have no idea what are you two talking about." Hobie pretending he didn't understand what they mean. He's being a cool guy deny their words.

"You always touchy feeling with him!" Gwen throw her hands up in the air, "Do we need to say anymore!"

Miles appeared from the corner of the hallway having to look at his holo-evaluation from Miguel from his watch. The meeting with the older Spider-man ended on a positive note, and it got him super happy. There was progress here!

His honey-brown eyes glanced up to make sure he doesn't bump into anyone, and spotted his friends. "Hey GUYS!" He happily went up toward them with a small jog.

"Ohh, he's here." Gwen whispers to Hobie.

Hobie froze having his eyes on Miles running up to them. Pav said, "Hey, Miles. What are you doing here?" The two saw Hobie turning pink and giggles.

"Oh, I was in a meeting with Miguel! We were talking about my last mission." Miles sounded so happy that it had Hobie's color shit to an awful muted red with murky green and yellow. Is that jealousy colors?

Gwen's eyes widen at the punker's colors being amazed yet not so surprised. Pav being the instigator, "Ohh, you and Miguel, huh? Sounds spicy!"

"Wha?" Miles's being unaware of Hobie's sudden changes in color since he's focus on Pav's questions.

Hobie had newspaper texture with black ink, Gwen leans over to read the fonts, "Fuck you, Pav. Are you going do that in front of me?" Oh. She giggles softly at this.

"You know, Spider-people like to talk." Pav snickers, "So are you and Miguel doing the nasty? Come on, tell us!"

"No! Hell nah, man. He could be the same age as my dad- what the fuck?" Miles quickly held his hands up in defense, "and I'm sixteen years old! Man, you want him to catch a case?"

"I dunno a lot of teenage Spider-heroes would, y'know." Gwen quickly added.

Pav saw Hobie's paper texture changing into a dark red and grey color with aggressive rips and ink marks. Hobie stood with no emotion showing, crazy huh?

"Well, not me! Anyway, my evaluation came out really good. I might go on missions with him. Hopefully." Miles casually said still being naive.

"Solo mission with Miguel?" Hobie thought to himself showing his jealousy, his body went through three different paper textures and turned murky green. Gwen and Pav awed at how fast his reality colors changes.

"Hopefully? That sounds like you're hoping for something, Miles!" Pav giggles having to nudge Hobie, "Huh, Hobie?"

"Not like that." The black Latino Spiderman rub his naked neck being a bit weirded out by his friends' sudden questions. "I see Miguel as a mentor. He's not bad when he's not trying to kill you. Also," Miles went up to Hobie, which causes the punker's color to change with a surprise fonts with a soft purple being surprised by his crush being so close to him.

Miles happily smiled at him, "Hobie, what's up? You been quiet. Something wrong?" His hand touches Hobie's cheek, "Are you sick? Si es así, Puedo prepararte caldo de pollo?"

Hobie turns bright pink staying frozen with his eyes widen. "No. No, luv." he crosses his arms trying to be cool. "I'm only listening."

"Oh," Miles pulls his hand away, "At least you're fine, man." His smile widens showing off his teeth. "I was beginning to worry."

Gwen and Pav look at each other then saw Hobie turning a brighter pink with heart stamps and fonts, a bit of shimmer this time. "Hmm?" They hummed at him.

Hobie scowls a bit at them, "Shut up!" The two laughing out loud.

"What happen?" Miles being so confused.

[dimensionzero]

so anyway if y'all've got an insatiable craving after atsv, here's some spiderverse fics that deserve some love!

gotta start with Spiders' Night Out! by Chaos_and_Sparkles, my favourite of the rapidly forming pavitr-and-hobie-rob-the-british-museum genre --- in this one, their master plan drags the Spot along for the ride and it's great

courage (never forgotten) by stars_and_scars1 is an interesting character study on miles during atsv. I'm very intrigued by the writing style. it might go well with Look at me, falling fast by umwelt, gwen's POV of her visit with miles, which manages to be extremely funny and kind of heartbreaking at the same time.

speaking of gwen, State of Grace by Fichistory is gwen's POV of itsv, and I love her and miles in this one, I will be imagining it as her inner monologue every time I rewatch itsv after this. I'm also obsessed with how 14Passionz describes earth-65's mood-ring watercolour style throughout ink pallette, a great fic to cry about over gwen and her dad. and rounding out my gwen recs is the mark of a true spider-man by joshriku, in which gwen crowd-sources the meaning of being spider-man and has a conversation with peter b about, y'know. the elephant in the room.

if you're in the mood for a laugh, please read restorative justice by Nanashi07, the one where miles decides to rehabilitate miguel using restorative justice techniques while gwen and hobie heckle them and peter b cackles from the sidelines. for a slightly angstier post-atsv fic, there's also i only see you in the city light by yukla, in which miles has struggles and hobie is a bro. and you can find yet more post-atsv fics with the run run fast as you can series by Quillium (speaking of Quillium, they've also got equifinality, in which prowler!miles gets forcibly befriended by spider-man. while trying to murder him. it's complicated.); my favourite of the series has to be pavitr prabhakar and being spider-man, a character study that addresses how pav must feel over his friends knowing about canon events and not telling him in a way that feels very true to his character.

speaking of pavitr, Chaos_and_Sparkles is also writing a character study/speculative backstory for him in One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy, which starts off very sweet and funny and halfway through takes a deep dive into angst. if you want sweet and funny all the way through, try na dekhi koi aisi girl by whatcaniwriteinthis, a pavitr/gayatri meet-cute. Who wants to punch a fascist? by I_have_hella_nice_abbs is a different kind of sweet and funny with noir and hobie bonding, three guesses how--- I like noir's internal monologue in this one a lot. and speaking of hobie, my favourite fic centred around him has to be Teenage Anarchist by gender_bender08, a character study that runs from his recruitment into spider-society to his exit-stage-center from atsv. it does both hobie and his relationships really really well.

and lastly, this is technically an older one but I can't make a spiderverse fic rec and not recommend Spider-Man Is Dead (Long Live Spider-Man) by aetataureate, it's a series of character studies on ripeter, gwen, peter b, and miles during itsv and it's insane how few hits it has for being some of my favourite pieces of writing in anything ever. anyway that's all for now, have fun y'all

[crowroboros]

the main echo cast and their splatoon mains. GO!

Oh fun, alright! I'll also put an explanation for my reasoning at the end. Really enjoyed thinking about this. This will be Splatoon 3 focused by the way, as it is the most recent game.

Chase Hunter - Octobrush (Suction Bomb/Zipcaster)

Leo Alvarez - Dread Wringer (Suction Bomb/Reefslider)

Jenna Begay - .52 Gal Deco (Curling Bomb/Splattercolor Screen)

Carl Hendricks - Splatana Stamper Nouveau (Toxic Mist/Crab Tank)

TJ Hess - Big Swig Roller Express (Angle Shooter/Ink Storm)

Flynn Moore - Custom E-Liter 4K Scope (Squid Beakon/Kraken Royale)

Bonus! Syndey Bronson - Custom Blaster (Point Sensor/Triple Splashdown)

Explanation time, spoilers will be mentioned.

Chase: Chunter mains Octobrush. The weapon cannot take fights head on due to having shorter range than many other weapons and thus has to rely on off-angles to get kills and take space or by poking with bombs from a distance. Chase rarely if ever wins a fight he's in one-on-one, having to rely on a distraction from people around him to get any sort of advantage. He also tends to avoid confrontation all together, usually running when faced with a danger like Duke or Brian. This works very well with Brushes as they are highly mobile when brushing along the ground which they use to escape situations that they would get splatted in otherwise. Chase is also referred to as having stubby legs that makes running not his strong-suit and that works with Octobrush specifically as it it slower in both its flicks and brushing when compared to the Inkbrush (though it is still faster than the Painbrush but I don't think Chase is that slow so it still works). Octobrushes tend to shark in ink, swimming around and popping up when an opportunity presents itself. So an octobrush user is often in swim form a noticeable portion of a match, which works great with Chotter who is an avid swimmer! Zipcaster may be the odd one out when it comes to this weapon being Chase's main but I do think it plays into all of the aforementioned traits with how Octobrush tends to use the special.

Leo: I might need to defend myself on this one but here me out. Leo is headstrong and very straightforward in how he does things right? He's intelligent but stubborn, rarely considering alternative options which can backfire on him. That is the Reefslider special. It is straightforward; Rush forward on an inflatable shark and explode. But because of that, it can be predicable and ends up getting countered a lot. Beyond that, Leo really does care for his friends and wants to be their protector. Originally I thought that a Big Bubbler weapon could be pretty good for that, but I think that Reefslider fits Leo better but also a main weapon like Dread Wringer also can cover that aspect. Dread Wringer paints an insane amount, which means that the team has a lot of ink to swim through, hide in, recover health, escape through, etc. It also is AMAZING at comboing with weapons like the Range Blaster or Snipewriter so it ends up working a lot with other weapons. Sharing the sub weapon of suction bomb with Octobrush can be representative of his relationship with Chase and how he sticks to the image of Echo, Chase, and the past.

Jenna: .52 Gal Deco and Jenna okay. I had a few ideas for Jenna, initially thinking of her maining a dualie of some kind but I just couldn't figure out which one would work best. Jenna is practical, self-reliant, and resourceful while also having a playful streak about her. She loves pulling pranks and joking around with her friends while still being generally supportive and helpful towards them even if she can come off as harsh at times. Also being a fox, she is rather mobile and fast on her feet. It's that last part that originally made me think of giving her a dualie, but I couldn't find one that I thought matched all of her traits. That's when I decided to approach it from a different angle. I started from her independence and worked from there. I started thinking of weapons that were very self-reliant, able to hold their own in fights, can paint well for themselves, etc. Then I started thinking about weapons that can be a bit playful and sneaky while keeping their mobility. And after a lot of consideration I landed on the .52 Gal Deco. The main weapon, .52 Gal, is a mid-range shooter that is pretty much the definition of a self-reliant and resourceful weapon. It is a very consistent two-shot weapon with a pretty solid fire rate, making it very reliable in fights while minimizing the amount of time it takes to kill so it can splat the opponent before it can get splatted. It can be a bit ink-hungry so the user needs to be resourceful and aware of their surroundings and their own resources to fully utilize the weapon's strengths. Curling bomb as a sub weapon gives this otherwise okay-mobility weapon much better movement, which the user can use to get around the map quickly and distract opponents. This weapon ends up playing rather fast paced and sneaky by using its range, kill-time, and curling bomb to move around the map to take positions that the enemy team might not be expecting. And then the special of Splattercolor Screen works as a smoke-screen of sorts, concealing your team from the enemy sight. That plus curling bomb allows for a bunch of mind games on where the .52 Gal Deco user could be at any given time, especially if they're running Ninja Squid.

Carl: This one was a bit more difficult to figure out than the first three but I think the Splatana Stamper Nouveau is a good fit for him. Carl is more laid-back and chill, so I didn't think a weapon that is very fast-paced, aggressive, and "high energy" would work for him. He also dislikes being the center of attention so in my mind that pushed me towards weapons that work well as an anchor in a team comp rather than a slayer or skirmisher or something. Carl also has a stockier build and for a time worked out, which made me think of Crab Tank. This narrowed my thoughts down to Splatana Stamper Nouveau and the Heavy Edit Splatling Nouveau. Both are strong, slower, sturdier weapons that play at the range that Crab Tank favors. I went with Splatana Stamper Nouveau over Heavy Edit Nouveau because Heavy Edit as a main weapon is much more fast and mobile and really likes fighting. Stamper Nouveau — unlike the vanilla Stamper — isn't as much as a fighter. It can still fight pretty well, it is a Splatana Stamper after all, but it plays more to support it's team by painting for Crab Tank to apply distance pressure and comboing with other weapons by using it's 70dmg charge slash or the aforementioned Crab Tank. Nouveau as a weapon brand also tends to make weapons based around art supplies, and Carl is an artist.

TJ: Okay TJ and Big Swig Express. TJ as a character is very altruistic and kind. He loves and supports his friends and I figured that a more supportive weapon would work very well with that. The Big Swig roller as a main weapon is focused on putting down paint for your team to swim through, heal, etc. And with Ink Storm also expanding upon that I thought that the Big Swig Express fits TJ's caring personality pretty well. It also is a weapon that doesn't fight much due to it's low damage, which I again think fits with TJ's personality. He tends to avoid conflict and often gets very uncomfortable when pressured by Flynn or anyone else. TJ is also very athletic, and the Big Swig is a faster weapon in terms of its flicks and movement.

Flynn: One I think is pretty self-explanatory. Flynn is proficient with a rifle and the charger class of weapons fill the archetype of sniper-rifles in the Splatoon games. I chose the Custom E-Liter 4K Scope specifically as a callback to Flynn's role in Jenna's route where he takes a position far back to aim his rifle on Heather at the dam. Kraken Royale is a transformation special that transforms the user into a large invincible kraken, in which the user can swim around and perform melee attacks to fight before turning back about ~7 seconds later. For Custom E-Liter, this allows it to protect itself up close. The main gun is very long range and has a very slow charge time. It is meant to take vantage points and snipe from a distance and thus it can't fight when rushed down. Kraken helps cover that weakness. Flynn does throw some punches a few times in the vn, though he doesn't always win these fights. I thought that this dynamic between E-Liter and Kraken represents that pretty well. Also spoiler. Flynn transforms into the Socket Man, a seemingly immortal entity that can rush down and kill things kind of like how Kraken functions.

Sydney: I think this one is also pretty self-explanatory, right? Sydney was rambunctious, loves to wrestle, was a big fan of things like ninjas and treasure hunts. Custom Blaster is a short range blaster that plays to its aggression and being able to get up to an opponent and hopefully hit its one-shot direct before the opponent can fire back. Point Sensor marks any enemy that enters its aoe, so the Custom Blaster player will know where that enemy is while the enemy won't know where the Custom Blaster player is. This allows the user to get up flank and get up close to either direct or use Triple Splashdown, which I mean looks like this.

The user rises into the air and summons two massive fists, smashing into the ground and creating three large explosions.

Custom Blaster has a very aggressive, fast-paced, up-close playstyle that rewards both rushing down your opponent and being creative in ways that you approach to compensate for your short range. It also is a weapon that favors gear with Quick Respawn, cause it ends up dying a lot.

[immoralimmortals]

we adore it, deidara and sasori and itachi are perfection--

a cake for judgment lol for the bombastic artistic duo~

so, deidara would like geode cakes, wouldn't he?

does obito like mirror glaze cakes? or would something about their smooth, perfected surface make him shy away...

itachi and kisame make us think about taiyaki and raindrop cakes, haha

obito has the vibe of someone who eats fast food "late night" deals aimed at young adults (cough jack in the box cough taco hell) often

mango is a strong flavour? shook

we've always thought it was pleasantly sweet but not that overwhelming.....

somehow we're picturing zetsu eating honeypot ants, now, haha, because of eyeballs. zetsu eating eyeballs amuses us because of the sheer creep factor (worse for the two Uchihas, lmao)

what kinds of gifts would the akatsuki appreciate? (separately or collectively)

I googled Raindrop Cakes and holy shit that's gorgeous. Also yeah...I think the flavor of real mango is really mild but perhaps being American, the iterations I most often see are like watermelon candy is to actual watermelon. I'm used to it being super duper sharp if it's a mango flavored thing, versus using real mango.

Akatsuki gifts! :

Pain:

I think while he's a very practical man, he'd enjoy something that clearly came from the heart, too. I think it's a hard feat but a good way to make him soft. Something, perhaps, that he can see in his personal space and remember your care.

Konan:

Little things. A rock you think she'd like. Things you made with your hands, just so long as it isn't too clearly laborious or time consuming. (Thinking about when she made an origami rose for Jiraiya)

Tobi/Obito:

THE WORLD No, I think anything that demonstrates you're giving him the time of day on your own free will out of love. I bet he melted anytime Rin so much as shared a snack. He can see through your intent like glass, though, so its less about what is actually done and more what you mean by it that'll matter.

Zetsu:

He might be the hardest sell, I don't think gift giving is a love language he accepts easy. Maybe *gives*, because humans are weird and it's an easy way to express affection or admiration, but to *accept* is different. I think he'd more or less have the same placid, pleasant expression regardless of if you gave him a flower or bought him a house. You'd have to attach some sort of context to the gift to make it matter more.

Hidan:

Personal headcanon: for as much as he talks about how he feels or thinks, he does not know how to express affection with his words. He gives gifts if he likes you. In my fic, he gives the performer a loaf of bread and because she's starving, she wolfs it down, and so every time after he's like "wow I guess she really likes food" so he steals gets her food.

wait this is a post about what gifts HE would want.

Appreciate his faith or demonstrate your own. He'll catch on if you only give him things with the Jashin symbol just for the sake of it, though. After the first few times he's going to get the idea that you're not actually putting any heart into it, like the equivalent of buying anything you see that has a frog on it because your friend said once that he likes frogs. It's only going to take you so far if you're using it as a shortcut. Get him a prayer mat, some candles, maybe a free coupon for the human sacrifice warehouse.

Kakuzu:

This man is NOTHING if not pragmatic. The gift needs to be worthwhile, for one, and for another, because he ultimately sees where every bill comes and goes in the Akatsuki's hands, he is going to want you to spend it WISELY. Don't buy this man anything gold. You're basically handing him his own money back to him in a different, less liquidated form. Be thoughtful, pay attention to the kind of things he tends to use, or tends to need and never seems to have enough of. It matters most how your gift serves to improve his life. Better ink for writing, an updated bingo book, a meal he forgot to eat. Things that fill a space that is already open, not trying to forge one and pretend it is needed for its own sake.

Deidara:

You need to make the gift. I don't know if anyone could ever think there'd be a different answer than this. It needs to be made in some form or another with your own two hands. He wants to see your fingerprints on that ceramic, hear the quiver in your voice when you sing him a song. Don't be mistaken: home made will not necessarily mean less expensive. He's gonna notice if you cheap out on the materials, and then he is (while not intending to be ungrateful) going to critique you on that. Save yourself the lecture.

Also: let him watch you make it! That'd be the best part.

Sasori:

Also needs to have artistic purpose first and foremost. I think he'd love things in resin, honestly. Preservation of something beautiful, especially if its the kind where you go in with a needle and position everything before it solidifies. But mostly, purpose is secondary to beauty. It needs to be beautiful or otherwise obvious in the delicate nature of its craft. Also, if you have the kind of relationship with him where he is showing you how he builds his puppets, a demonstration you've learned what he's taught would be phenomenal. Give him a lil puppet and let him do a critique. The time in his day to do that is the most meaningful gift he will give in turn; it is a hard one to earn.

Kisame:

He strikes me as an "experience versus physical object" kind of guy. Take him out for something fun! Go to the boardwalk, the festival, a hike, fireworks. He's not necessarily social with strangers, but he's more than willing to be around them and handle stares to go live life and enjoy himself. Of course, it's all the better if you're there with him to share it.

Itachi:

Easiest to gift for, even if everyone thinks otherwise. Just because he doesn't always smile doesn't mean it means nothing to him. If you went to the store and got him any gift basket of body care items, he would reserve a space in his heart for you till the day he dies. On that note, I do think he'd like body care items a lot, things that are perfumed, make his hair softer, let him relax for a second. He may not be able to sleep, but a lavender scented bath is a pretty close imitation. I also think he's the type that would genuinely be touched if you donated to a charity in his honor.

[blinddreams24]

Hideout

A Mermay Prompt

Masterlist

Prev / Next

“Let go of me!!!” Water rushed through your hair and ears as he dragged you downhill, deeper into the ocean and further away from your pod.

“Hold on, hold on!” The squid tried to calm you. “I just have to get you somewhere safe first! Also! You’re not being very… appreciative! I’m saving you, y’know!”

“You’re not saving me!!! I was perfectly fine!!!” You thrashed. “Get your suckers off me!!!”

“Wow! You’re really new! You don’t even know that Killer would kill you! I mean, it’s in his name, but good for you for not judging, I guess!” He shot you a smile over his shoulder even as he swam.

“I know he can kill me!!”

“Oh…” He frowned. “You’re just dumb then.”

“Hey!!!”

He shrugged. “Dream really knows how to pick ‘em. Did you know he found another useless siren before you?”

You’d had enough. Growling, you bared your teeth and bit into the tentacle that held you. The taste that hit your tongue had your face coiling in disgust. It tasted like pastels and paint. Gross.

The tentacle twitched and Ink glanced back at you again.

“What are you doing? Oh, you’re biting me. Stop that. It won’t help you.” He sounded so calm and unaffected by the bite that you faltered. Could you even get away if he wasn’t hurt by you?

Your answer came when you pulled away from the bite and a chunk of tentacle came off. You could bite through the limb.

You attacked again.

“I mean in, pal. Leave my arms alone.”

You ignored him.

“Hey.”

Bite.

“Dude.”

Bite.

“I said stop!”

You were whipped around through the water and spun. The tentacle left your waist and you steadied yourself, ready to run. Or well… swim.

Ink floated over you, his tentacles curling around and over you, caging you in as he spoke. “Do you know how long it takes to grow those back? Besides, they don’t taste good.”

Your eyes darted around, looking for an opening. He was much bigger than you and had the advantage of ten extra arms, one of which was wounded but still working. He did seem pretty oblivious though. So maybe you could outsmart him.

“Why are you doing this?” You asked.

Ink smiled and the question mark was back. “What do you mean? What am I doing?”

You stared blankly at him. Was he serious? “…You’re taking me away from my home.”

“Oh! Was that where you lived? I’m sorry! We’ll get you a new home as soon as we can! Nightmare is a bit of an urchin when it comes to territory. You won’t be able to go back until he leaves.” Ink informed you.

“I… I was living with Nightmare.”

“…”

“…”

“…Oh.” Ink backed up and displayed his tentacles. “You worked for Nightmare?”

“Well, not exactly? But we do call him Boss.”

His left eyelight changed into a target. “But you would do what he said if he asked?” The water was turbulent with how much his tentacles were moving. It made it hard to focus.

“Well, yes. He’s been very nice to me.” You gently paddled backwards with your tail. He was starting to scare you.

The question mark was back but the target stayed. “Why do all of you say that? How is Nightmare nice? Tell me. He has torn apart entire islands, sunken ships, he’s massacred pods upon pods of sirens, he attacks Dream on sight, and he has taken each of you from your homes. How is he ‘nice?’” He threw his hands in the ai- water as he spoke.

He was so absorbed in his rant that he didn’t notice you’d moved just out of reach.

“Nightmare didn’t take me from my home. Cross did.” You turned tail.

“What- Wait! Come back!” Ink startled.

You swam. You swam as fast as you could. You didn’t know where you were going but anywhere was better than with this strange squid siren that thought you were evil. He was fast too. You could feel him gaining behind you. You twisted between and around the boulders on the sea floor but, as long as you were moving, he was right behind you.

Getting a risky idea and taking a chance, you darted into the first small cave you found and froze, not letting yourself move a muscle.

The rush of water stopped outside.

“Hello? Where did you go? Human siren? I’m not gonna hurt you and I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ink called. “What do you mean ‘Cross did?’ Hello? Are you even over here?” He sighed. “You’re not here are you? Did you go this way?”

He continued to mumble and chatter further and further away until you couldn’t hear him anymore.

You didn’t move for several minutes afterwards, careful to make sure he was actually gone. When you were certain, you slowly dragged yourself further into the cramped cave and laid down.

Nightmare could find you. He would feel your fear and come find you.

One thing was for sure, you didn’t like Ink. He was big and mean and scary. Not that the boys weren’t big or scary. They just never belittled you like Ink had. You weren’t dumb. Living with the boys was the smartest and best decision you’d ever made.

Who was Ink to judge your decision after he kidnapped you?

You growled softly, aware that he could still be nearby. Now you didn’t know where you were, Killer was injured and panicking somewhere if Dream hadn’t killed him, and Dream knew Cross somehow. He said something about Cross being new to the ocean and not knowing what to do. Like you.

That made sense with Cross’s floppy dorsal fin indicating that he came from captivity. But if Dream knew him first, why was Cross with Nightmare now?

Wait.

Oh my stars.

Dream was Nightmare’s brother, wasn’t he?

“Ugh!” You blew bubbles that dispersed like clouds, covering the small cave in fog. You had a god of puns to punch if you ever found one.

[hellhound5925]

Hey so please don’t hate me but this is going to be part two of the tattoo short story with Hunter. Part three will be smut I promise!

Also let me know if you would like to be tagged in future posts! (let me know what kinds)

One Shot- Sargent Hunter

Tattoos (Part Two)

Warnings: intimate moment (no minors just to be safe)

Summary:

Part One here 😉

Later that night, Hunter found himself laying in his bed, replaying the events from earlier in his mind. He couldn't let it go...he was mentally cursing himself for not telling you how he felt there. Was it the right time though? I mean is there ever really a right time? You were an absolute tattooed goddess and he? The fool who was falling hard and fast.

Before he even realized what was happening, his feet were carrying themselves to your door. He hesitated to knock at first, wondering if you had already gone bed and if he would be bothering you. Pulling his closed fist away from the door, it was too late. "Just a second" your voice came from behind the door. His mind wandered to where you were and what you were doing. Just then the door flings open and there you stand, your hair looks like it was just pulled from its braid, falling in gentle waves around your face reminding him of the ocean and when your big bright eyes met his? He felt his heart skip a beat.

The oversized shirt you have on was the next thing he couldn't help but notice, and how it hangs just perfectly of your sun kissed shoulder, revealing part of your tattoos. His eyes slowly make their up to your collar bone and your neck. The smell of the salt left by the ocean water, creating the need to pepper your neck with kisses, allowing him to taste it. Again his big brown eyes meet yours, causing your breath to hitch in your throat while butterflies dance in your stomach. He felt it too.

"Come in" your voice pulls him out of the trance and he steps inside. He makes his way over to the couch and sits down, eyes wandering back over to you, roaming your body, as you close the door. They stop at the skull tattoo on your leg, causing once again an awaking of his arousal as he plunges into deep thought. The silence washes over the two of you.

With one hand still on the door knob, you hesitate to turn around, the feeling of his eyes roaming over your body. You finally take a deep breath and turn to face him, watching as his eyes make their way to meet yours. The look in his honey brown eyes heating you deep in your core. Offering him a warm smile you make your way over to him and sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of him. His eyes search your face like he's looking for the answer to a question. Only he hasn't spoken a word.

"Is everything okay? You look a little lost."

He sighs and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, eyes wandering back down to the tattoo thats got him wrapped around your finger. "I do like your tattoo."

That warm feeling in your core spreads throughout your body, rising to your face and you try to suppress your blush. You put your leg up on the couch next to him so he can get a better look. "Thanks" it comes out as whisper because at any moment, your voice might betray you.

He leans back and reaches for your leg. You watch as he gently rubs his thumb over the ink, the warmth of his touch causing electricity to shoot through your body in ways you never thought imaginable. He seems to notice this and looks up, making eye contact. Those beautiful brown eyes, blown wide with desire. It reminds you of an animal with it's prey in sight. The reason for him being here suddenly clear as day.

"Hunter" you whisper as if not to startle him. He slowly blinks as you slide forward making your way onto his lap. Like finding their way home, his hands find their place just under your ass gently holding you in place. Pressing your forehead to his and placing one hand on his chest, you trace his tattoo on his face with your index finger. His chest vibrates with a hum as he closes his eyes, causing you to chuckle softly.

"It all makes sense to me now."

His eyes open and he leans back raising an eye brow, "oh?"

"They way you are when I'm around. The brave soldier almost crumbling to pieces."

His right hand makes it's way up to your shoulder, fingers gently dance across your skin. Goosebumps rise all the way down your arm as he traces your tattoos.

"Can I see them?" His request simple but not much of a surprise.

Nodding you reach for the hem of your shirt but his hand stops you. He gently tugs it off over your head careful to get a good look at you from this angle. Dropping your shirt to the floor his hand finds its way back to your shoulder, and traces the tattoos all the way down your arm to your wrist. You have to bite your lip to prevent any kind of noise from escaping, and potentially stopping him.

Letting go of your hand, he traces over your core, hand stoping at the tattoo on your ribs. He rotates his hand so he now has a hold of you. The gentle but firm grasp, making you feel like your the only thing in the whole entire galaxy that matters. It's as if he thinks you would some how slip through his fingers, like sand, and disappear forever.

Cocking your head, you can't help but watch his facial expression this whole time. It's one of deep desire, like he needs you the way he needs water, food, and air for that matter. His chest is rising and falling at a rate that give away how much of him you've taken over and overwhelming his senes. The self control he has is quite impressive to say the least.

Deciding its your turn, you reach for his chin and tip his head up so he meets your eyes. As he comes up for air, you let out a light chuckle.

"So much for talking."

P.S. Sorry I lied there's going to be 3 parts because I'm a tease 😈

Taglist:

@cloneloverrrrr @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @idoubleswearimawriter @maybethatfanfictionwriter

@savebytheodore @savebytheodoresnonjosestuff @jediknightjana @techs-goggles9902

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

Splatoon 3 Version 5.0 Patch Notes Breakdown

Nintendo dropped the patch notes for patch 5.0 just about an hour ago, so let's do what we do and take a look at the changes, which won't take long, because there's not a lot of them this time around.

Starting with the Main Weapon section, three weapons are seeing changes:

Splat Brella and Undercover Brella are getting the same change, a one second/half a second decrease to shield recharge time. A lot of things can tear through Brella shield quite fast in this game, so this lets you get back into the action faster. I don't think it was the first change anyone would have asked for, but it's good all the same.

I also wanna mention that Splat Brella is getting a pretty significant bugfix in this patch, further down in the patch notes:

This change should make the shield more reliable, and couple that with the new buff, and the fantastic new kit, and I think Brella players have a lot to look forward to this patch.

Meanwhile, REEF-LUX's spread has been tightened when tap-firing and at one level of charge. I've seen some people speculate this might be a nerf because it'll reduce its paint, but I doubt it'll change much considering how much of a machine this thing is in the ink department, and I think the fact that it's able to splat more reliably without fully charging is going to be very positive for it.

Moving onto Specials:

Killer Wail is being changed to be more reliable, as it'll do more of the aiming for you, meaning you won't have to keep looking at your targets.

Zipcaster can now attach closer to you than it did previously, and the explosion damage and radius when you land has been increased. This means you'll be able to use it in close-quarters combat almost like a Burst Bomb, and Zipcaster actually has pretty good damage already, so it'll combo a lot more reliably with all of the Main weapons that have it like Stamper and Luna. Keep an eye out on this Special once the patch drops, because it might be kinda scary now.

Finally, Tacticooler is getting a nerf, having the period between when you use it to being able to charge your Special again increased by 2.5 seconds. After all of its buffs, Tacticooler has become a staple of the meta game, and this will reduce the frequency with which its most prominent users, most notably N-Zap and Snipewriter, are able to output them.

On that note, let's take a look at Points For Special changes next:

And hey, would you look at that! N-Zap gets hit with another 10p for its Tacticooler. If you've not been keeping up with competitive play, I think some important context is that N-Zap is almost completely ubiquitous at the moment, because it gets Tacticooler so fast that it can have the buff basically permanently if it doesn't die. This is a very deserved nerf, because frankly it shouldn't ever have been 180p to begin with.

The only other change is the Annaki Nova, which also gets an additional 10p, and I think this one is deserved as well, albeit for different reasons. The Annaki Nova is hardly a competitive allstar, but it's range and ink efficiency means that it can very often just spend entire matches farming Inkjets. Weapons that do nothing but paint the ground and spam Specials are not healthy for the game, they're dull to play and even less fun to play against, and I am happy to see that this seems to be Nintendo's opinion as well.

And that moves us onto the final balance changes, the Abilities:

Tenacity will now charge your Special gauge faster when its active. While we can't tell how much faster it is, it's still an uncomplicated positive change. Tenacity is currently very niche, only really seeing frequent use alongside the Hydra, but now more weapons might gravitate towards it.

And finally, Last-Ditch Effort's maximum effect has been reduced from being equivalent to 8 sub slots of Ink Saver Main, Ink Saver Sub and Ink Recovery (that's 8 for each!!! 24 sub slots total on a single main slot!!!!) to 6. This is one of the most explicitly competitive play-targeted changes they've done in the history of the series, because LDE is incredibly popular for its ability to sustain extended fights over the object. One particular thing worth mentioning is that this change means LDE will no longer be enough to give you two Fizzy Bombs on a full tank (though it'll still do that if you have 1 sub slot of Ink Saver Sub, but don't tell anyone I said that). LDE will still be incredibly good, but this will mean it won't be as much of an uncontested obvious pick for your headgear slot any more.

And that's all of the balance changes! This is a small patch, but while I think they could have done more to buff the weaker main and sub weapons, I still think it's a very good patch. The current meta is actually very healthy and diverse, more than its ever been, so some cautious buffs and a couple of nerfs aimed with laser-like precision are all very good!

But let's go over some cool miscellaneous stuff in the patch notes, as well. It's not just all balances changes, after all.

The Grizzco Dualies have been official confirmed! Additionally, random weapon rotations can now have multiple different Grizzco weapons, and not just the same one each time.

Three new songs are being added, separately from the new Deep Cut banger they revealed last week. These are presumably all tracks by that new band we heard in the reveal trailer, H2Whoa.

If I'm interpreting things correctly, the two Splatfest queues will now have different stages available?

Matchmaking is looking like it'll be a bit more reliable!

Not content with dropping 80 banners and 400 titles on us, we are also getting 160 decorations and 140 stickers! That's a lot of stuff!

And that's all of the fun and/or noteworthy stuff in the patch notes. I think. I bet a lot of people will see this patch as disappointing, thinking it should have changed more things. But change for change's sake is not necessarily a good thing, and when the top-level meta is so healthy and diverse, the last thing you wanna do is violently destabilize it. Nintendo chose to approach the patch with a scalpel, and I'd rather that than a hammer.

[brainyrot]

The crew meeting BATIM Bendy in your fic be like: Oogly boogly bitches.

Them: AHHH

Hhhehhe. Not quite, since I wanna experiment a little idea I had 😈

But!! You got lucky because I was writing more of it so now you get the part I wrote for now.

————————————————————————

"..bu- but it's not possible! Wh-"

"How did it get..here?" The two dishes wondered, how could a machine this massive could possibly be in this.. tiny studio.

"this is just getting weirder and weirder." The red one said, well now yellow. "How- first an animation studio, then those posters about bendy and the cutouts, then- cussing Boris cut open—"

"Woah- wait. This is an animation studio- Bendy's cutouts, wh- BORIS?!" too much information at once, mugman couldn't even register one that the other popped out.

"what do you mean Boris cut open?! He's here? Where's the rest?!" He demanded, that poor kid.

"Bro, I don't know mugsy. I just found Boris on this metal table an-.." he couldn't even finish the phrase, the image still printed in his head, clearly. Not leaving any time soon.

"look- whatever happened to boris, might happen to us as well. We-"

"We can't just- leave him there!"

"he's dead already mugs! what are we gonna do, drag him with us?! what if bendy finds us with his brother's dead body going around?!"

"but we can't just leave him there! At- at least..I don't know.." maybe bury him, or something. Don't know. He didn't think the kid would end up like that.

"look. There's something or someone going around, and it's probably going after us like it did with Boris, so let's get outta here and fast." the elder said, firmly. Quietly. It hears.

"But what about the others?" The younger asked.

"What about 'em?"

"What if they are here too? What if whoever did..that..to Boris is doing it to them? holly, Felix..bendy or-" he was right. They didn't know how or why they were here and they also didn't know who was here.

Sure, a threat was around. He could feel it.

He was being watched. It was listening, lurking in the shadows and the ink, but they didn't know who else could be in this weird studio.

"Mhm." He nodded, and now that he thinks better of it, if this is really some cult meeting place or- somewhere to worship bendy or some stardust like that, then bendy must be here.

If they got mugman and him, then they must have gotten bendy as well, it's the cult's "lord" after all.

If his theory is right that is.

But..how?

Boris is here, mugman too..

Maybe a sacrifice? Possibly, sacrificing for their lord. Using boris and the rest as a sacrifice for bendy.

"Okay, here's the plan. We search the whole place up, it shouldn't be too big. It's just some old studio. If we don't find anyone or anything important, we scram. I know where the exist is, we just need to get that door open. Got it?" Quick, effective and most importantly quiet.

"..got it. I got it." So quiet it was almost as if he didn't talk at all. "Let's- let's just be quick." He can already feel tears coming out- it's. he thought he was stronger than this but..Boris.

the had to search for others, quickly.

And so they did.

But they didn't find anything, just a random closet with a radio on, playing a tune.

someone must be in there.

"Behind me." Cuphead whispered, slowly approach in the door and turning the knob.

He thought he would have found someone, maybe a cult member or some dead body or something. I dunno.

It was just..a closet with..bacon soup? Again with bendy on them. And the radio playing, and someone listening to it.

almost jumping back and shooting, he realized who it was, the very demon he saw everywhere in here.

Bendy.

he wasn't doing anything too special, just eating some bacon soup and listening to the tune, stopping midway through to look at the stranger in front of him.

"..bendy?"

"Bendy??" Mugman spoke louder from behind, but the demon didn't answer, just drank the soup while looking at Cuphead. Was he scared ? Scared of what? He was gonna take the soup?

This demon and his weird obsession over bacon soup.

"Dude- dude we've been looking for you!" Cuphead sighed in relief. "Do you know if anyone else is here?" Let's hope he doesn't ask about Boris.

Raising an eyebrow, like if he wasn't even expecting guests. He was scared, the cup could tell. He was nervous, gripping that can like it would have done something.

"Like- do you know if holly or Felix are here?" And suddenly, an imaginary exclamation mark appeared, like if bendy found the reason of life.

Jumped back up and got Cuphead hand, and bolted into a direction that wasn't promising nor it felt or looked safe.

"Wait- hey wait!!" Mugman called before joining the two in a run for who knows where.

"Dude- hey!" The handgrip was firm, strong. and this was gonna be the last time the ink demon was gonna be this friendly and actually approaching someone, especially strangers with finger guns, in this pathetic,weak tiny form of his.

But he didn't like strangers, so, since he knew where those..holly and Felix whatever it was are, might as well reunite them and get them out of of his hair.

he didn't care if they died, got lost and got consumed by the dark puddles or just, walked out (if it was even possible) he just wanted them to go away.

They were loud. Gullible and most importantly, annoying and dangerous.

unless he manages to change back, then it's no issue. He'll eat them, easy peasy.

He knew where the other two where, they were sitting and quietly chatting in the lunch room.

That room that employees here used to eat, in that one or two hours of break they had, along with chatting, laughing, kind of like those two strangers are doing, before going back to work at their desks of pipes that will soon be their eternal torment.

opening the door, at this point broken with how many times Henry has abused this door to open it in a rush.

finding the two...toons, sitting at the couch right after the stairs. Giggling at whatever they were talking about, jumping at the noise of a cup with the body of a human cursing and almost screaming at the ink demon.

"Dude!" He finally gets his hand back, holding it like if it was gonna fall off. Funny. Maybe it will.

"Guys! There you are!" The cat said happy, and relieved. "we thought we were the only ones here."

"..yeah." holly agreed, quietly. Clearly not comfortable with a certain person in the room.

"Bendy dragged me here, we found him in a closet." Mugman popped in from the doorframe, only his head could be seen. Rather amusing if the ink demon must say.

"Yeah, we were looking for you guys and whoever else is here." The other crossed his arm, already making his way down the stairs, while bendy simply watched them chat about useless stuff.

he's already sick of all of them.

"Hey, are you two okay? Have you seen anything weird?" The younger cup, joining his what the demon assumes is his brother, asked. Worried.

Nervous.

"No, not really. We woke up on the floor in this room and just,, didn't move. We didn't know who was out there, especially since we heard multiple footsteps.

"Maybe it was bendy?" Cup pointed out.

"Maybe,,"

"No. No these footsteps were..weird. it was like if whoever was passing by was constantly stepping on mud, or ink considering this place. I think it was a guy, he was humming something I didn't even recognize." Holly. he thinks. she's the smart one and she just heard a certain someone who won't be pleasant to talk to.

"Yeah now that I think about it bendy is rather quiet in his footsteps, he was quick but kept quiet." Mugman remembered and said.

"Mhm, whatever it was, it's good that we're all together. We just need to find boris-" mhm. "-and whoever else is here." Good point Felix.

"There aren't many rooms lefts anyway, it's all desks and papers all over the place, it's easy to tell if someone else is here. And hopefully it's people we know." That aren't our enemy. You have many Cuphead, you better start praying.

"Have you two found anyone else, aside from bendy?" Holly asked.

"..no." forget about what you saw.

"Mhm. What about you bendy? you've been standing there all along, are you worried about Boris?" What a silly question the cat decided to ask him. The wolf is more worried about the ink demon than the contrary.

But if they mean that dead body, then no. He's not worried about that, it's been there for ages now. And there are many others anyway.

All he did was shake his head and shrug. He can't talk anyway and at the moment he isn't worried about focusing on hearing the many screams, cries and maniacal laughter from the various people here to identify the stranger and lead these fools to them.

He was hungry, but he can't eat a lost one now, he has to stick to regular food like he was doing earlier, it's safer with his situation.

And so he did. Walking back to that closet so he can finish what he was doing.

"H- hey bendy wait!" The cat quickly mustered before following like some lost puppy the demon. "Don't you think it's dangerous to go around like this, in a place you don't even know?" A place you don't know, he knows this place very well and by experience it's only dangerous for you, mr.cat.

but he shrugged.

"Don't tell me you're looking for Boris- look we can look for him together, I'm sure he'll be fine. I'm as worried as you-" why does he talk so much? He doesn't care for that wolf. and he doesn't wanna search for anyone.

he just wanted to eat. And you're lucky he can't eat you.

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Pomegranate Ink: XVI

Series Synopsis: Unable to heal but willing to fight, with a fiancé in Kyoto and a last name that looms over everything you do, you accept an offer to study at Tokyo Jujutsu Tech. What you did not know was that your salvation and your ruination alike would soon join you at the school, neatly wrapped in the form of a boy followed by death.

Chapter Synopsis: Your outing with Gojo is interrupted by the higher ups requesting that you go check in on Megumi Fushiguro, who still hasn’t returned from his mission from the morning.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Yuta Okkotsu × Female Reader

Chapter Word Count: 6.7k

Content Warnings: angst, misogyny, naoya zenin, forbidden relationships, canon-typical violence, character death, original characters included

A/N: i hate writing sukuna because he’s such a little freak in canon that almost any decision i make abt him feels ooc so sorry to my sukuna lovers but this is the way he is in this fic please don’t be too mad. also yeah megumi is probably kinda ooc here too feel free to be annoyed abt that. I ACTUALLY CAN WRITE HIM (# shameless ‘a song for the drowned’ plug) I PROMISE. just not in this chapter apparently.

“My father resents me for it,” you said. It was the first thing you said to Gojo as you sat down together. He pulled out a napkin from the holder sitting in the middle of the cheap linoleum table and used it to wipe away the crumbs that still littered the surface. “For finding a way around that ultimatum he gave me.”

To heal or to fight. According to your father and the rest of the higher ups, these were the only choices you had, and they were very much so mutually exclusive. You could do one or the other but not both, and the fact was that they were actually correct in saying this. On your own, you could not do it, could not have both, but you were no longer on your own. Not anymore.

“Is that so?” Gojo said, lips quirking up in amusement. “Well, I’ve always wondered how your poor mother married such a man. Isn’t it something, that he has somehow fathered such a prodigy and yet hates her for the mere fact that she is out of his control? Ironic, really. You are exactly what the L/N clan has needed for so many years, and yet now that you are born, you are despised.”

“I am a girl,” you reminded Gojo. “I’m not exactly what they were hoping for in terms of an heir.”

It was a little disquieting when he smiled with his teeth bared. If you did not know him in the way that you did, you’d consider it almost unnatural, even, but as the case was, it just seemed to you as if it were too wide. Too bright, too false. An emotion conveyed that he did not even mean.

“No, I’d wager you’re a great deal better,” he said, reaching out to pat you on the shoulder. “The girl who brought someone back to life and the youngest Grade 1 sorcerer in recent history; you’ve really proven yourself in the past year. I can say that at least I am proud of you, even if your family isn’t.”

“Thanks, I guess,” you said, uncomfortable with the praise. “Anyways, my mother is proud of me, so that makes two of you. As for the rest of my family, I believe that they are unsure. They do not understand what it means for the clan, that I can do both — albeit at Tullia’s expense.”

The past few weeks, you and Tullia had been training intensely with Shoko Ieri, the only Reverse Cursed Technique user not associated with the L/N clan. It had been a slow process at first, trying to figure out how to push your limits without putting Tullia through the same torture that you had inadvertently subjected her to in the process of healing Toge.

You were not always successful. You could not count the amount of times you had had to stop Composition but were not fast enough, were not able to cut it off before she began to bleed again. But it was better now; though nosebleeds were an inevitable side effect, it was a compromise that all parties were somewhat satisfied with. According to her, she barely even felt them.

It was through such tireless practice that you discovered the way to use the contract to your advantage. By pushing the entire responsibility of the cursed energy supplication to Tullia, you were able to ensure that your body was naturally receptive to receiving the repercussions of the Reverse Cursed Technique. An exchange for an exchange, a burden for a burden, but a far more advantageous one than the earlier scenario, because you possessed the body of a L/N, uniquely designed to handle the pain of Composition, and Tullia had that rare cursed technique which meant her reserves were not dependent on her innate self but instead drew from outside sources and could approach infinity if she had sufficient access to poison.

“The healer and the empty glass,” Gojo said, nodding in approval. “Who would’ve thought that things would turn out like this?”

“I suppose that’s the case. Isn’t it strange? I feel like I should be thanking Naoya. It’s only because of his irresponsibility that Tullia and I could even form the contract in the first place,” you said. Gojo choked on the pastry he had ordered.

“There’s never a situation that would justify you thanking him, so you can put that thought out of your mind,” he said.

“I was only half serious. If there’s anyone to thank, it’s Elakshi, for bringing that curse to Japan. By the way, have you heard anything from Iori about her and how she’s settling in?” you said.

“Nope, Utahime is in one of those phases where she won’t respond to my texts or calls,” he said, pouting comically. “I wish she wouldn’t do that! It makes planning faculty get togethers a real pain, you know?”

“I‘ll ask Noritoshi about it, then,” you said. “And I’ll tell him to tell Iori to text you back or whatever.”

“I knew you were my favorite student for a reason,” he said.

“Technically, I’m not your student anymore, I’m Kusakabe’s, so I believe that means Megumi has to be your favorite. By process of elimination — after all, he is the only first year,” you said.

“The other one is coming soon!” Gojo said. “She’s a girl, too. The one who you’re going to try to mentor or whatever. Are you excited to meet her?”

“Naturally. Though I don’t know if the mentoring life is necessarily for me, it would be nice for someone to look up to me and find me cool and occasionally ask me for advice,” you said.

“I always wished I had someone like that. Nanami was my greatest chance, but on the whole he found me mostly irritating,” he said. You smiled, taking a small bite of your own pastry, chewing and swallowing before you spoke.

“Maybe you already have someone like that,” you said. He cocked his head.

“Do you think so?” he said. You shrugged.

“It could be,” you said. Gojo waited for a moment, but when you did not speak further, he sighed.

“Honestly,” he said, and though he was wearing a blindfold, you could feel the weight of his eye roll. “Of course you won’t elaborate. Frustrating child.”

“I learned from the best,” you said. He stuck his tongue out at you, but could not otherwise argue; after all, your logic was irrefutable. In the year that you had become truly close with Gojo, you had found his personality to have rubbed off on yours the slightest bit. It was both a positive and a negative — that is to say, it was a positive for you and a negative for just about everyone else.

“Moving on, have you started thinking about what you’ll do after your graduation?” Gojo said.

“Huh? Become a sorcerer, of course. I’m already a first grade, it only makes sense that I’d continue to fight. I guess I can heal on the side, if Tullia permits it, but the main thing I’ll do is exorcising,” you said.

“I don’t mean for your occupation. When you don’t have your schoolwork to occupy you and you don’t live in the same building as all of your friends, what will you do? For fun. To entertain yourself. That kind of thing,” he said.

“I’m not sure,” you admitted. “I’ll take up something or another. Though, if we’re being realistic, how much free time do you genuinely think I’ll have? There’s not a large amount of sorcerers in the first place, and of that sum total, ones that are as highly ranked as I am barely even number in the double digits. I can worry about entertainment once I’ve retired, and I doubt that that’s going to happen for a very long time.”

“Sorry,” Gojo said. It was unclear what he was apologizing for. That you had inherited such a world? That he had brought up the topic in the first place? That he was so aware of the problem but could not fix it?

Maybe he might’ve explained himself further, but just then, your phone rang. You frowned at the contact flashing on the screen: Yoshinobu Gakuganji. Motioning for Gojo to pay for the desserts you had been eating, you clicked the ‘accept’ button and held the phone up to your ear.

“I didn’t know you could use a phone,” you said critically. “I thought you only communicated by mail, principal.”

“Don’t be daft, girl,” Principal Gakuganji snapped, as if you were saying something entirely unbelievable — as if he did not consistently send you mission instructions through letters instead of emails, as was the commonly accepted practice! “Of course I can use a phone.”

“Why have you called me? I’m a little busy right now,” you said. Gojo mouthed who? at me. You made a face and mimed playing a guitar at him. He pursed his lips, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

“Did you know that first-year student Megumi Fushiguro is on a mission to pick up a cursed object at present?” the principal said, his voice heavy and wheezy as always.

“Still? I thought he was sent on that mission in the morning?” you said.

“That is the case. Because of the sensitive nature of the object — it’s one of Sukuna’s fingers, you know — we’ve been trying to get ahold of Satoru Gojo to go and check on his progress and make sure everything is alright. Unfortunately, it seems as though all of the higher ups’ numbers have been blocked on his phone,” he said. You snorted but disguised it as a cough, though judging by Principal Gakuganji’s fed-up exhale, you had not exactly been successful.

“Why didn’t you just email him?” you said.

“We thought it would take too long, so we decided to call you. As a first grade sorcerer, you’re the next best option, and we believed your personal relationship with Fushiguro might incline you to be prompt,” he said.

“Personal relationship?” you said, causing Gojo’s jaw to drop in surprise. Digging your school uniform out of your bag, you stomped towards the bathroom so that you could change. Though you were none-too-pleased about it, it remained that Principal Gakuganji was, in a sense, correct: certainly you would not leave Fushiguro in danger without even trying to help.

“He is your underclassman, so naturally there is a friendship that exists between you two that would not be there if we were to call in one of the older Grade 1s. Even Aoi Todo would not have the same fondness. Unless there is something more to it?” His tone ticked up with suspicion at the last question. You gritted your teeth as you bent over to tie your shoes.

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s my dear little junior, so I’ll go make sure everything’s alright, but there’s nothing more to it at all,” you said.

“That’s a relief to hear. And if you can, please let that wastrel know that he’s needed as well,” Principal Gakuganji said.

“You’re so rude to Gojo, for being someone that depends on him so greatly,” you said. “I’ll pass along the message.”

With that, you disconnected the call and strode out of the bathroom, not feeling up to discussing anything more with the aged principal, who was nothing like your own Principal Yaga — now that was what a principal ought to behave like, according to you. To be sure, he was a little eccentric, but after so many years as a sorcerer, who wouldn’t be? At the end of it, though, he did care about his students more than the status quo, which spoke more than enough as to the quality of his character, in your opinion.

“We have to go,” you said, returning to Gojo, who was sitting at the now-clean table, his chin in his hands. “The higher ups want us to check in on Megumi’s mission. Apparently he’s not back yet.”

“Oh, is that all? It’s fine, he’s strong enough to take care of whatever’s going on there,” Gojo said. You gave him an incredulous look and tossed a sugar packet at him. It bounced harmlessly off of his Infinity.

“You’re not even a little worried? He was assigned the mission in the morning and he isn’t back yet, so late at night. I’m going to go whether you come or not, but I’d appreciate it if you don’t make me do it by myself,” you said.

“Go ahead and go,” Gojo said, waving you off. “You’ll be fine. I have to pick something up, since we’re in the area and all, so I’ll catch up with you later. I’m telling you, though, everything is definitely fine! Megumi’s no weakling.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” you said, doubting his flippant attitude just a little bit. How could he be so careless with one of his student’s lives?

Sliding into the backseat of Ijichi’s car, you pondered it as you stared out the window at the blurring scenery. Wasn’t this something like Gojo’s method? He would always put his students into the most absurdly dangerous situations, but never too far out of his sight, never anything you all couldn’t handle if you pushed yourselves.

The thought that you might be interfering in this form of training was outweighed only by the thought of the paycheck you’d receive for something that took relatively minimal effort. Checking in on Megumi was essentially glorified babysitting, except the so-called baby was frighteningly mature and self-sufficient, making it the easiest task ever.

Megumi’s mission was, fittingly enough, in a school. Creeping through the hallways reminded you of the first time you had met Yuta, how he had hidden under that desk, with Rika in the closet and the stars hanging high in the sky. He had come so far since then, hadn’t he? From the boy frightened of himself and his own shadow to the special grade sorcerer proper, the one who had faced even death itself and won.

Unlike that night, however, the hallways in this school were destroyed, rubble and glass littering the tiled floor. You stepped around stray shards, not wanting to cut your feet, and allowed your brow to furrow. There were signs of a genuine struggle here, ones hinting that the scope of the mission had been far beyond Megumi, who was still only a Grade 2 sorcerer.

Clicking your tongue, you leapt out onto the roof, finding your target standing there, his back ramrod straight, his hands curled into fists in front of him. It didn’t look like a defensive posture, but there was a certain desperation to his posture that didn’t seem warranted, considering the total lack of curses in the vicinity.

No, that wasn’t right. That pink-haired boy standing across from him…you could only tell because of how advanced your cursed energy perception was, but there was something strange about him. Something emanated from him, something cruel, dark, malevolent. It was at odds with the gentle expression on his face and the wide eyes he was looking around with.

“Say, Megumi,” you said, placing your hand on his shoulder, as much to alert him of your presence as to stop him from doing anything drastic. “What’s going on here?”

He turned to face you in surprise, blood seeping from a wound on his head and dust covering his cheeks. You let out a laugh and quickly whipped out your phone, taking a picture of him and texting it to Gojo first and the second year group chat next.

“What was that for?” he hissed.

“Sorry, it’s just that Maki and Gojo would be terribly disappointed if I didn’t memorialize your sorry state before healing you,” you said, sending another text to Tullia, warning her to take a couple of shots of bleach or something. She responded in the affirmative, allowing you to put your phone away and place your hands on Megumi’s temples, trying to judge the extent of his injuries. “The wound isn’t terrible. Do you mind?”

“We have bigger issues at the moment,” he said. “Namely, that boy.”

“I’m Yuji Itadori!” the boy in question said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“That wasn’t an opening for you to introduce yourself to her!” Megumi said, exasperated. “I don’t think you understand the magnitude of what you’ve done yet, but you should get on that so that you stop acting so goddamn cheery!”

“It’s nice to meet someone so positive, actually,” you said. “It’s a not a common trait to see in a sorcerer.”

“Oh, I’m not a sorcerer,” Itadori said. You paused and contemplated the development.

“You’re not?” you said.

“He’s not,” Megumi said. You scowled, though it was more out of befuddlement than any real anger that you did so.

“Are you a curse, then? No ordinary person would have as much cursed energy as you do,” you said.

“I ate a curse? I don’t know if that makes me one or not,” Itadori said.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean? Is that your technique or something? I haven’t really heard of people that eat curses, but I guess one of my best friends has a technique that’s just ingesting poison, so I can’t really judge,” you said.

“It’s not like that,” Megumi said. “He literally ate a curse. As in, Sukuna’s finger.”

Reflexively, you gagged. “Ew. Don’t be such a boy, Megumi, that’s not a funny joke at all; it’s just gross to think about. I thought you were above such things.”

“He’s not joking,” Itadori said. “I really did eat the finger.”

“Really?” you said.

“Really,” Itadori said solemnly.

“Do you understand the situation now?” Megumi said, pinching the bridge of his nose. You shook your head.

“In truth, I don’t,” you said. “What — in what scenario does there exist a need for one to ingest a rotten, shriveled old finger? Didn’t that taste putrid?”

“A little like soap, actually,” Itadori mused. You gave him a disgusted look. He shrugged. “I don’t know. There was this massive curse about to kill Fushiguro, and because I was just a normal human, I couldn’t do anything to harm it. So I swallowed the finger and gained the cursed energy required to kill the curse! Sukuna manifested and got the job done, and then he started going on and on about all of the evil stuff he wanted to do, so I suppressed him. He’s such a headache, ugh! But that’s the story.”

“You suppressed Sukuna,” you repeated incredulously.

“According to him,” Megumi said suspiciously. “But what if he’s lying? This could be a trick.”

You peered closely at Itadori, who blinked nervously as you inspected him before tapping on his forehead.

“Dissection,” you said. The normal weak spots glowed white on his body, the full proof that he was a person — though, when you unfocused your eyes, you could just make out a hazy green glow that was not really centered on Itadori but somewhere inside of him. His inner domain, or his soul, or some other such related concept; this green, you surmised, was the presence of Sukuna. But if that was the case, then Itadori really wasn’t lying, so you turned to Megumi and nodded in confirmation. “He’s the real deal.”

“You believe me?” Itadori said.

“I believe myself,” you corrected. “For the moment, you are who you say you are. Megumi, I’m going to heal you while we have the chance; if this comes to blows, I’d rather have you on my side.”

“Fine,” he muttered, ducking his head, his cheeks turning pink. “If you could refrain from sending pictures of it to Maki and Gojo, though, I’d appreciate that. They’d never let me live it down.”

“Don’t stress, I won’t do that. Go on, then, get on the ground while that boy is still in control,” you said, watching over Itadori as Megumi lay on the ground. For his part, Itadori just seemed confused about the proceedings. This came as no surprise, though; if he really had been just an ordinary boy until just today, then how would he know anything about Reverse Cursed Techniques and such concepts? “Composition.”

Instead of a knife, it felt like you were being repeatedly punched in the stomach, each successive blow winding you until you felt like doubling over. Your cursed energy remained intact, however; it was Tullia’s that was rushing into you, allowing you to use it at will, the reward you got for taking every ounce of the pain that you were feeling, that Megumi was feeling, that even Tullia herself was feeling.

Coughing, you wiped away the tears that sprang to your eyes and placed your hands on Megumi’s forehead. Focusing Composition on his battered cursed energy reserves and the injuries his head had sustained, you used the positive energy of the cursed energy reversal to heal the wounds and replenish his reserves until he was somewhat close to the state he must have been before engaging in the battle.

“How do you feel?” you said, reaching into your backpack and taking greedy swigs of water from the bottle you had packed just in case. Megumi sat up and glanced at Itadori, who was watching you in awe.

“Fine. Hey, what are you staring at?” he said.

“Woah! Miss, did you just heal him or something?” Itadori said, ignoring Megumi completely.

“Yes, I did. It’s part of my inherited technique, though I assume those words would be on the whole meaningless to you,” you said.

“They are, but it’s still so cool to hear about! I can’t believe there’s like this entire secret world that’s existed and I knew nothing about until now,” Itadori said.

“We do a very good job at hiding our work from normal people. It helps that most can’t see curses,” you said. “Enough talking, though. We have to figure out what to do with you. You said you suppressed Sukuna? Do you think you could un-suppress him?”

“Why would you want that?” Megumi said.

“Gojo’s on his way,” you muttered under your breath. “It’s the perfect chance to see if he has potential as a vessel or if he should just be killed immediately.”

“Do you really think Gojo of all people should be trusted to arrive on time for anything?” Megumi said.

“It’ll be alright. Don’t underestimate me; I’m a Grade 1 sorcerer, aren’t I? He’s only had the one finger, so even once he manifests as Sukuna, it’ll be in a severely weakened form. I promise, even I can deal with him when he’s in such a state,” you said.

“Are you sure?” Megumi said.

“If I’m wrong, then I’ll have you to help me hold him off, at least until Gojo arrives,” you said. “You probably couldn’t do it by yourself, but if the two of us are working together, then we can probably manage at least that much.”

“If you say so,” Megumi said.

“Itadori, please let Sukuna out for a little bit. I’d like to talk to him,” you said.

“Are you guys personally acquainted or something?” Itadori said. “Sure, I can do that, but are you really certain you want to talk to him? He’s not exactly the greatest guy.”

“Hm,” you said, thinking back to a certain story and chuckling under your breath. “I guess you could say that. Don’t worry, it’ll be a quick conversation. Ten seconds is all I need; after that, I want you to take control back, alright? Or else Megumi and I will have to kill you, I’m afraid.”

“Okay!” Itadori said. “Wait, by the way — what’s your name?”

“Y/N,” you said as he closed his eyes before dark markings made of undulating cursed energy crept over his face. “Y/N L/N.”

Eyes as red as pomegranates flew open, staring at you in horror. They were narrower than Itadori’s, and indeed the entire bone structure of his face had changed ever so slightly, matured a little bit, his nose sharper, his chin squarer. Underneath his eyes were two more with the same crimson irises, though these were smaller and seemed less focused on you. There was no doubt about it: this was the King of Curses himself, the one for whom the stories and the songs were written.

He took a step towards you, but you stood your ground, reaching into the small pouch you always carried and grasping a silver needle in between your thumb and index finger.

“Y/N L/N,” he said, his voice deeper than Itadori’s, gravelly and rough instead of warm and bright.

“Ryomen Sukuna,” you said. “The King of Curses.”

“And the woman who sealed him,” he spat. His canines were sharper than any normal human’s had the right to be, his nails more like claws than anything. You looked over at Megumi, who could no more move than a mouse faced with the jaws of a tiger could. “I would kill you if I could.”

“Nothing is stopping you,” you said, fighting to keep your voice level, though you knew it trembled. Even if it was only a shadow of Sukuna’s true self, it remained that the being in front of you was known as the King of Curses for a reason. In terms of curses, just this small fragment could only be beaten in power by Rika herself.

“You would say that,” he said, and then suddenly he was in front of you, those fingers like talons wrapping around your throat, squeezing to the point of discomfort but nothing more. “You would say that, you witch. How fortunate am I! To be born again into this new body, this new world…and yet, I cannot escape you. Y/N L/N. What is this coincidence, that I must find you again, that I must manifest in the same place that you are?”

“I am not the woman who you think I am,” you gasped out, not wanting to fight the body which ultimately was Itadori’s. Not yet, anyways, not while he was still not actively hurting you, only threatening to do so.

“Yet you share her name, and there is some similarity to your features,” he said.

“She was my ancestor. The one who helped seal you. The one you killed — but her husband brought her back to life in the end, so it amounted to nothing,” you said. Maybe taunting Sukuna wasn’t your smartest idea, but you wanted him to know. You wanted him to know that he had been unsuccessful in this one thing, that the original Y/N L/N had lived beyond sealing him.

“You share her blood,” Sukuna said. “It is close enough. In fact, likely it is exactly the same thing; I cannot risk it. That means, no matter how much I want to, I cannot risk your death in the first place.”

Suddenly, abruptly, he threw you away from him, watching with some satisfaction as you barely managed to break your fall and spring to your feet. It was an odd stare which he trained upon you, equal parts concern and pleasure, like he had not wanted you to get hurt but at the same time could conceive no greater joy than the thought of harm coming to you. You could not understand it. You could not understand any of it.

“It’s been ten seconds, Itadori,” you called out carefully, cautiously, still not sure why Sukuna insisted that you could not die but not wanting to test your limits, either, in case that was the breaking point which led to him changing his mind and going after you anyways. Or, worse, he might decide to turn his attention to Megumi, who he presumably held no convictions about as of yet, and that was something you were keen to avoid, since Gojo still hadn’t shown up.

“Oops, sorry, I lost track of time!” The markings and extra eyes had vanished, and the youthfulness had returned as Itadori regained control of his body. He sounded like himself again, all eager and affectionate. “Did your conversation go well?”

“I’m left with more questions than answers, to be fully honest with you,” you admitted. “But nobody got hurt, and you managed to take back control when you needed to, so it’s a net positive. Now we have some solid proof to take to Gojo in the defense of your control as a vessel.”

“Yay!” Itadori said. “But, um, who’s Gojo?”

“That would be me,” a new voice said. The three of you turned as one unit to stare at the newcomer, who was as late as usual and toted two shopping bags, most likely full of souvenirs from wherever he had gone while you were helping Megumi.

“Gojo,” you said. “It’s about time you got here.”

“About time, indeed! What’s all of this talk about vessels and whatnot?” he said.

“That boy is Sukuna’s vessel,” you said.

“I ate a finger,” Itadori supplied helpfully.

“On Megumi’s watch, not mine,” you added. “I’d certainly never let something like that happen. I did confirm that he has control as a vessel, though, with the ability to suppress Sukuna at will.”

“Wait, slow down. So he ate Sukuna’s finger and became his vessel?” Gojo confirmed.

“He did,” you said.

“It’s true,” Megumi said. “I saw it happen. The most idiotic thing I’ve seen in a while.”

“I don’t know, I mean you do see Gojo on the daily, so can you really consider it to be the most idiotic thing?” you said, earning an offended gasp from Gojo and a look from Megumi. “Anyways, I used my signature detection on him, as well as Dissection. He’s the genuine article.”

“But you said he has control?” Gojo said. You nodded.

“Yes, I asked him to let Sukuna out for a total of ten seconds. After that time was up, he managed to regain control without too much of a problem,” you said. Gojo grew even paler than he usually was, which was saying something, as he already had the complexion of a pearl.

“Are you hurt?” he said.

“No, we just talked for that time,” you said, subconsciously rubbing at your neck, which still felt a little odd after Sukuna had grasped it so tightly. “Nothing more.”

“That’s a lie,” Megumi interjected. “He choked her at one point and threw her on the ground afterwards.”

“You shouldn’t have done such an experiment, knowing the dangers,” Gojo said. “You’re sure you’re fine?”

“Yes, positive. He’s being dramatic, anyways; I could’ve handled it, but I chose not to,” you said. Gojo glanced at Megumi for confirmation, but to your relief, Megumi nodded reluctantly.

“She wasn’t exactly overpowered,” he admitted. “It was more like she was letting it happen.”

“Why’d you let yourself get treated like that, then?” Gojo said. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re into—”

“Shut up!” you said. “No!”

“It’s as fair a guess as any!” he defended.

“No, it is not! I didn’t want to hurt Itadori’s body unless it was absolutely necessary, and to be quite honest with you, I was interested in what Sukuna was saying. You see, he kept talking about how he wanted to kill me but couldn’t. Wouldn’t you be interested if the King of Curses said he couldn’t kill you?” you said.

“Not exactly! If I were you, I’d thank whatever deity intervened on my part and run very far away!” he said. “Now, of course, if it were me, I’d not be surprised. It’s likely he couldn’t kill me, so it wouldn’t be new information.”

“What’s done is done,” you said, deciding there was no point in letting the argument progress any further. “We have to decide what to do with Itadori, and then Megumi and I should probably check in with Ieri. I healed him earlier, but I don’t know if it was enough or not.”

“Good idea. Well, there’s not much deciding that needs to happen; he’ll be executed, that’s all. It’s sad, but that’s how these things go,” Gojo said.

“Wait,” Megumi said as Gojo used an incredibly weakened version of his technique to knock Itadori out in an instant, slinging him over his shoulder and preparing a portal to teleport to jujutsu headquarters. “Can you…can you please save him?”

“It’s strange to have you ask for something from me,” Gojo said. “You think I should save him?”

“Yes,” Megumi said. “Please. He’s the kind of person that deserves to be saved.”

“Do you really think so? Even knowing that he’s Sukuna’s vessel?” Gojo said. You knew him well enough by now to pick up on the fact that he did not doubt Megumi’s words but was rather testing his conviction.

Megumi was silent, casting about for something to say, so you took pity on him and decided to jump in. Besides, it was true that you didn’t want to see Itadori die just yet, either, though your explanation was a little different than Megumi’s was.

“He reminds me of Yuta,” you said. “Not in personality but in circumstance. If there’s a way for you to give him a chance the way you gave Yuta one, I think it could be worthwhile. How often will we meet another person capable of being Sukuna’s vessel? We could use him for our own ends. A mutually beneficial deal, as the case may be.”

“You’re so sentimental,” Gojo cooed. “Did it bring back fond memories for you, being at a high school and going on a dangerous mission like this?”

“It did,” you said shortly. “Not that that’s any of your business, by the way, so stay focused on the task at hand. I hate how involved you are in my personal life!”

“It’s my job!” Gojo whined.

“It distinctly is not!” you said. “Regardless, that’s my opinion on the matter. You may make of it what you will. In the end, I suppose it doesn’t really impact my life all too much if you save him or not, so do what you’d like.”

“My student wants me to save him,” Gojo said, giving Megumi one of those serious looks of his that meant he was being one hundred percent genuine in what he was saying. Megumi shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. “I’ll do my best to that end. Y/N, if you could ensure that Megumi gets back to the school, I’ll bring you with me to Africa the next time I go to check on Yuta’s progress.”

“I’m on it,” you said. You would’ve done it anyways, of course, but the thought of seeing Yuta again gladdened you greatly, so you weren’t about to turn Gojo’s offer down. Even though you talked to Yuta on the phone as much as you could, you wanted to be with him in person, wanted to feel his arms around your body and his lips against your own, even if it was only for a little bit. That little bit would be enough to tide you over until he came back for good. “Let’s go, Megumi.”

“Do you think he’ll be able to save Itadori?” Megumi said as Ijichi drove off in the direction of Tokyo Jujutsu Tech.

“He said he’ll try his best. Coming from Gojo, that’s basically a guarantee that he will,” you said. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If I ask you a personal question, Y/N, would you answer it?” Megumi said. You shifted in your seat so that you were facing him, but he did not do the same, focusing on the moon and how it shimmered through the tinted glass of the car window.

“I used to pretend like the moon was following me so that it could watch over me,” you said.

“That’s not how it works,” Megumi said. “Scientifically.”

“Of course, I learnt that later on, but to a romantic child, it meant all the world that there was that one entity which cared enough to chase after me, no matter where I went,” you said.

“I see,” Megumi said.

“You may ask your question,” you said. “If it offends me, I’ll choose not to answer. That is all. I won’t be angry or anything.”

“You’re the youngest Grade 1 sorcerer in quite some time,” he said. “Was it worth it?”

“That’s heavy,” you said.

“The difference between us is like a chasm. Even though it’s only one level — two if you count Semi-Grade 1 as its own separate thing — you can claim to defeat Sukuna’s manifestation and not sound utterly ridiculous. You made it sound plausible. I could not even manage to fight against the curses that that finger attracted,” he said.

“You’re younger than me, so it’s not some great weakness to be down about,” you said.

“That’s a separate matter. What I really want to know is what it’s like? Being someone so powerful that when they needed a sorcerer to go in Gojo’s place, the higher ups thought of you,” he said.

“Power,” you said. “I don’t think that’s something I can ever lay claim to. Not truly. I know what you must be thinking — I’m a Grade 1 sorcerer, the one that everyone in jujutsu society seems to be talking about at the moment, so naturally I must be powerful. But it’s not like that. I’m no more powerful than you are, Megumi; in fact, I’m likely your inferior in that department by several degrees. I could never go up against the truly strong and win: people like Gojo, Yuta, even Hakari and Todo, all of them would beat me in a fair fight.”

“So then?” Megumi said. “I know you’ve beaten Todo before, so you’re not telling the full story.”

“So I never fight fair. I use people’s weaknesses against them. I strike from the shadows at the places which shine like beacons to me, and people think of me as some great hero for it. Can I really be considered as such, though? I’d like to answer your question, but I can’t. I don’t know what it’s like to be powerful. I don’t know if all of this was worth it,” you said. He was silent for so long that you nearly thought he had fallen asleep, but finally, he deigned to speak once more.

“What should I do?” he said. “Now that I’ve made such a request and asked Gojo to save that boy. What should I do?”

“You do the only thing any of us can do. You keep trying to grow stronger. You hope that in the end, you don’t regret any of it. Might I offer some entirely unsolicited advice?” you said.

“Sure,” he said. He was oddly vulnerable, in this light. You did not think that Megumi would open up to you like this in normal circumstances, but the trauma of the day’s events had probably worn down whatever defenses he might ordinarily have. Besides, it was generally difficult for someone to keep secrets or be stoic around the person who had healed them — it was a phenomenon that you had noticed, that the patients of your family could not help but bare their deepest secrets to them. Who better to do such a thing to than the person who already knew your entire body and soul so intimately, who had risked their own just to save yours?

“Your decision to save Itadori may not go the way you want it to,” you said. “There’s a reason he would ordinarily be executed, after all. I threw my support behind you because I felt pity, for you and for him, but in the end it was your request that did it, not mine. I think you are aware of this, but are you prepared for what that might entail?”

“No, I don’t believe so. Did I make a mistake?” he said.

“Yes,” you said. “You did. But don’t live like that.”

“Huh?” he said. You thought about Yuta, about the many mistakes you had made and he had made, about how many times the two of you had risked everything for one another.

Bringing him back was the one accomplishment you were proud of. It was the one thing you guarded fiercely as your own achievement, one unsullied by self-doubt. You had not let Yuta Okkotsu die. For better or for worse, you had not let him die. It was the one of the things you guarded deep and close to your heart, that you had saved him. Whatever came of it, you would not, could not, feel apologetic for doing that.

“You chose not to let him die,” you said, and then you twisted in your seat again, so that you, too, could stare out at the moon. Even now, it followed you, as it had when you were a child, and you smiled, resting your finger against its reflection. “That was your decision. No matter what the consequences are, you must always, always hold your head high and be proud of it. Don’t you ever dare let anyone tell you otherwise.”