#but it still have their own instinct and unique aspects at most

[werewolfdog]

Why pit Digimon and Pokémon against each other when they can be soulmates

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Make sense that Skully's UM is still developing. He's a first year and most of the first years are still adjusting their unique magic especially when they are still new on practicing magic. Epel and Deuce recently got their unique magic and need time to develop. Same goes to Sebek as his unique magic needs to be mastered. Jack is the only first year who is still okay with his unique magic. Ortho is confirm to unable to have his own unique magic. I figure once Ace's unique magic comes around, he will also need time to develop.

[Referencing this post!]

I mean, yeah 🤔 It makes sense that younger and less experienced mages would need more time and practice to get the hang of their UMs. It feels like a normal part of “growing up” for them and “discovering themselves”.

Deuce didn’t really know what he was doing (he was acting on instinct in book 5 still doesn’t know how to fully utilize his UM well by GloMasq), Epel needed instruction from Rook (but seems to have found his footing by book 7 and GloMasq), and Sebek laments that he still suffers from the aftereffects of his UM. Jack is very diligent, but he may be figuring out the kinks of his UM too. Maybe part of why he physically trains so much is to keep his body in tip-top shape so he can maintain his wolf form for extended periods of time. There are other instances of “growing” one’s UM too: Riddle states that he “mastered” his UM by age 10 (most likely due to the intense studies his mother put him through) and Azul also implies that he worked hard to “develop” his UM. This is probably something all budding mages go through, so we can see expect the same for Ace and any other immature mages we meet.

I think part of it must also come down to the nature of the UM itself; more complicated magic like spells that change appearance/form and mind manipulation magic are noted as being particularly difficult to master. Additionally, there are instances where the UM has many aspects to it or certain conditions that must be met first; I’d imagine these have to be discovered through trial and error, since it sounds the mage doesn’t always initially know what their spell does or how it works. For example, Silver, despite being a second year, confesses that he still doesn’t fully understand his UM.

… Anyway, I’m just praying Skully doesn’t go on a pumpkinizing rampage 💀 It sure would suck if we got baked into pumpkin bread…

[epickiya722]

You know what, over the past few days I have been trying to come to the conclusion of how I truly feel about Yuji and his family and everything I say here may come from a place of bias (since Yuji is my favorite character) and I'm not saying I'm right about anything because these are my feelings, not facts.

(Some of you clearly need to learn the difference.)

You might consider what I say to be a "hot or cold take", an "unpopular opinion", whatever, I don't care. I don't even care for you to agree with me because at the end of the day, you have your own opinion as I have mine.

Just thoughts, these are just thoughts I wanted to share.

Starting off with Yuji, I will say that he is still my favorite of JJK, there's no changing that. And coming from a Yuji fan, the direction that was taken with Yuji and his family... I can't say I actually hate it.

I'm still processing, but I'll say that it's rather... unique and interesting.

We all joke about how Yuji has a complicated family tree (but who doesn't) and all, but it's probably one of his character aspects that has came to plague my mind over and over but in a good way.

I love that Yuji's character isn't really banked on a "legacy". He is just a kid who got wrapped up in jujutsu and just so happened to be related to a rather odd group of people.

Yuji's most emphasized familial relationship is with Wasuke, his grandfather and then later with Choso, his eldest brother. Both of those characters cared for Yuji and when they could, helped him in some way.

His mother is Kenjaku when they possessed Kaori, but that's just about it. Well, two mothers. Kaori was the body and Kenjaku who was the brain.

While I do wish to have seen more interactions, I'm also glad Gege didn't put any much. I feel like had Kenjaku and Yuji interacted more, it would lean into the typical "evil parent fights hero children" trope because of family drama. Nah, nope. I love that the distance was kept because what was the point of Kenjaku and Yuji ever interacting when no mends would have been made anyways? Kenjaku was never one to care about family, unlike Choso and Wasuke.

The animosity present between them didn't come from "Oh, you weren't there for me, you didn't raise me, you abandoned me". Yuji opposed Kenjaku because Kenjaku was straight evil. That, we need more of that. More children in fiction opposing their parents for being people, not just bad parents.

Kenjaku was seen as the enemy because they were. They barely shown any parental instincts... like at all, so is it even fair to give them any title of a mother or father? I don't think it is.

Jin, honestly, I'm actually glad it turned out he wasn't the twin. He was just the red herring. Turns out, he was just a guy.

And listen, I do like the idea of Uncle Sukuna, but in the case of Jin's relevance I don't think he really mattered all too much. While him being the reincarnated twin fits, it wasn't something that tightly secured.

Jin shows up for one chapter, one chapter now. Is mentioned not even a lot even after chapter 257 revealed Sukuna would have been a twin. So actually what would have been the point of him being that reincarnated twin if it wasn't brought up again?

Probably because he was meant to just been some guy. And frankly, I'm all for it because I like that fact that Yuji has some "normal" guy for a father. It's common for MCs to have "absent fathers", "fathers with a reputation that makes them great in some way" or both.

No, Jin was just a guy who was grieving his dead wife, had a kid with said wife who should have been dead, didn't listen to his dad while Wasuke tried to warn him and maybe was killed by Kenjaku for whatever reason.

But Wasuke? Again, I'm all for Sukuna being an uncle, but I'm fine with him also being a great uncle because Wasuke being that reincarnated twin. It just makes more sense. It's more fitting for Wasuke because unlike his son, Wasuke does have more relevance to Yuji's story. He may have died like in the first five minutes, but he was able to leave behind a presence that followed Yuji through the story. When you really think about it, Wasuke was like the good version of Sukuna.

And just thinking about it, that's probably what Gege wanted us to figure out. The reveal of Wasuke being the twin in the extras may have made some people upset but not me. At first, I didn't know why it didn't upset me that it wasn't in the story, but it then came to me.

Maybe Gege didn't want us to focus on Wasuke being the twin. Maybe we were supposed to focus on Wasuke being Wasuke. That he was still his own individual. We were supposed to see him as Yuji saw him.

(So with Jin, it did make sense for the twin reveal to be dumped on him as a cover because he was just there and nothing much else to focus on.)

Probably why Yuji didn't keep his battle scars he got from the final fight. When we look at Yuji, we're not supposed to see him as another Sukuna. We should see him as Yuji. Had he kept those battle scars, it would have been like looking at Sukuna.

Speaking of Sukuna!

I'll tell you something that does stand out to me about the relationship him and Yuji had.

Sukuna never told Yuji that they're (soul) related. And I doubt Yuji would ever find out.

Just like with Kenjaku, what would have been the point? Given what happens in the manga, I doubt it would have made a difference. Yuji would have still wanted to give Sukuna that second chance because he is just that kind. He is just that compassionate and merciful, related or not. He was able to connect with how Sukuna and him are two sides of the same coin not because of them being related. But because of who they are and how their lives went.

The thing is Yuji has an interesting chain of family members, but they're not the reason Yuji is Yuji. They may be influences, but Yuji is also capable of making the choices of who he wants to be and how he chooses to live.

True, Yuji is able to do what he can physically because some of his family members are menaces (looking at you, Kenjaku), but does his skills and family should be the only traits of Yuji that define him?

No.

Yuji probably didn't get much emphasis on his family because that may have been the point. If it isn't, it unintentionally works because it goes in line with him being that odd one out.

A lot of the other characters turned to jujutsu because their families is connected that society. Yuji though had no idea. He didn't know his mother, Kaori was a sorcerer/someone who had a technique and that Kenjaku, his other mother kind of, was the one possessing her body and happened to be 1000+ years old and created him to be Sukuna's vessel. Yuji didn't know he had nine older Death Painting siblings until much later. He didn't know and still don't that Sukuna is his great uncle by soul relation by his grandfather Wasuke being the reincarnation of Sukuna's twin. Even his father, just some guy, he doesn't recall memories of him.

See how different it from other characters?

Examples being Yuta is related to Gojo. Megumi, Maki and Toge are from sorcerer families (Zenin and Inumaki respectively). Nobara's grandmother is a sorcerer herself.

Overall, again, Yuji has a rather interesting family, I like that not every relation he had was emphasized as them being family. Or was brought up a lot. It's fitting that Wasuke and Choso were able to be shown as family to Yuji because they cared about him. His parents were but distant memories while the others were his enemies.

It made it all the more entertaining for me, at least and focus on Yuji being Yuji.

[lgbtlunaverse]

I think one aspect of Nie Mingjue that is critically overlooked in fandom is that he failed.

What I mean is that I think it's strongly implied that a significant part of Nie Mingjue's moral rigidity and his tendency to universally fall back on his principles instead of trying to see the unique context of a new situation is that he is strongly aware that at some point his sense of judgement will be greatly impaired due to the saber curse, and he hopes that a strong rule-based morality system that he sticks to at all times-- ignoring any specfic feelings or doubts that may arise-- will help mitigate the damage when that happens. If he's trained himself to ignore his instincts and stick to the rules, he can continue doing the right thing even after he emotionally can no longer tell what the right thing is!

And it fails! Miserably! He essentially tried to destroy his ancestral curse with Facts and Logic and it didn't work! And he doesn't even realize that it's no longer working because surprise surprise: the curse that severely affects your sense of judgement also ruins your ability to gauge whether you're still standing by those rules you made up for yourself.

And the system was flawed from the get-go, because there is no such thing as a set of moral rules that are so universally applicable you'll never have to make unclear decision in edge-cases or re-evalutate the rules themselves based on new information-- a thing this system won't let him do because What If That's The Curse Talking? (nmj is basically a walking version of the slippery slope fallacy. Any small change is bad because it will lead to eventual catastrophy)-- and also because facts unfortunately do in fact care about your feelings and your attempt to be objective and unclouded by your emotions is still going to be subjective and informed by your own views, which is why Nie Mingjue's moral code has a core tentant that says self-sacrifice is not only Good but Mandatory and wanting to live is Bad, actually.

But even if the rules had somehow been perfect it would still, in the end, have failed. Right as the moment Nie Mingjue made that whole fucking system for arrives, it becomes useless. It's honestly really dark and tragic and deeply fascinating because of that.

Any fix-it that includes Nie Mingjue recovering from late stage saber poisoning should include him being absolutely horrified. Not just in the generic "oh my god I'm so sorry I hurt you" way, but in the sense that the thing he has committed to to the utmost degree since he was a child failed completely and instantly without him even noticing. Dedicated most of his life to it and it didn't matter at all. That's gonna fuck with a guy's head.

[katyspersonal]

Idk if I've asked you this before

but what are your thoughts on Millicent's sisters in Elden Ring?

Hey Bim! No, you haven't asked this before, and sorry for the delay :pensive:

I've been thinking about the sisters for some time, but moreso conceptually than developing the characters on their own (this one is for later I guess)! But, I agree with the interpretation that Malenia's spawn are fractions of her self. Millicent is the one we can judge by, she is the dignity and pride Malenia had forgotten when she gave into Scarlet Rot, the courage to live and perish as herself rather than persist to see herself become something else.. The side of her that would rather amputate her own limbs that are afflicted by the Rot the most, after all. I personally ended up focusing on this "loss" aspect in my interpretation of the girls, and with them I've found their weapons of choice can tell us something?

(Images by Zlofsky ( x ), careful though, this is a large compilation of references)

So, Malenia's spawn having two "types": one are the stronger kind, which is also the one capable of blooming (Millicent and the sixth sister but about her later), and another are more "underwhelming" in comparison (Mary, Maureen, Amy and Polyanna themselves). And whereas the former result from cracks in Malenia's strongest, most fundamental qualities, the latter are loss of memories and influence from the important people for her! Scarlet Rot eats away memories; Malenia has to repeat to herself that she fights for Miquella like a mantra to not forget, and he is the most important person for her, so it would only be expected she barely can hold others in mind, if at all..

Amy was the one who made me think this way, since she is using Flowing Curved Swords! They were once wielded by the blind swordsman that taught Malenia to battle the way she does, and I thought Amy reflects Malenia forgetting her mentor, or having the impact he had on her as a person slowly vanish. Following this idea, Mary reflects Malenia's memories about her connection with Finlay fading. She is using Halo Scythe, a weapon wielded by commanders of Malenia's army of Cleanrot Knights.

Heck, now that I think of it, maybe Malenia didn't recognize Finlay upon waking up at all.. At the very least, I think Scarlet Rot definitely attacked their connection.

The Treespear Maureen uses is even less personalized and belongs to the guardians of Leyendell, but I think if we are to choose a Golden Order person that influenced Malenia the most, that'd be her losing memories of Godwyn. The statue depicts both Miquella and Malenia being hugged by him, and Golden Order was still a large part of her life apparently, even if Miquella (and herself) had to abandon it as it'd avail them no help with her condition..

Polyanna actually had me puzzled for a bit, because the Blade of Calling she uses is very much associated with Melina within the story.. but in fact, this is a very possible answer too - Malenia should have known Melina, if Melina knew the "previous owner of Torrent" who so far seems to have been Miquella! And they could have been close too, like if she was a third sibling standing in the shadows. (All three are also associated with types of a butterfly <:3) It could even be a reason why the sisters instinctively gravitate towards dressing up this way x)

Melina cherishes life in all its forms, no matter how broken or struggling. I'd imagine she would be another person to help Malenia to love herself. Sure, these people all loved Malenia, but Melina could offer a sort of unique support, de-focused on Malenia's recovery, and it would be so helpful should Malenia doubt her life could ever get better... Who else would reassure Malenia (or anyone) that life was worth living, even if so painful and dangerous, even if it was to be shortened and full of wrestling with inner horrors for every next day of it?

....soo, yeah, I think this is a working interpretation for now! Malenia's rune offers recovering if attacking right after taking damage and it is explained by her spirit of resistance, so sides of self that she'd lose persisting for some longer even if in other form feels appropriate for me! (I also have this theory that when something bad effects the body of an Empyrean they will spawn an "alter ego" to defend their integrity as one, so Radagon was a defense against a curse from Giants and Trina was a defense against FF, so being permanently afflicted would mean frequient alters lol) Personalities of the four sisters would be taking the effects associated people had on Malenia and how she remembered them. Polyanna is the only one helping us to fight that guy for the golden needle, determined and autonomous like Melina, Mary the only one who survives the battle with Millicent, being the last one standing like Finlay tended to be. Always restless Amy and diplomatic Maureen (source: dude trust me xd). I will get back to this properly but this is roughly the direction I want to work in!

And I am not sure whether this one is going to count in this context, but...

This is a big flower not far before Malenia's arena, and next to it you pick the same traveller set the sisters are wearing! I think this could be a sixth (known) sister, but of a similar kind as Millicent; coming from Malenia's core traits rather than memories and connections. But if Millicent is her pride and dignity willing to return to her after giving a crack during battle with Radahn, which one would this sister be?

I am thinking, maybe her faith in Miquella being able to find the solution wavered some time? It would be a crack in her hope and faith. And this sixth girl had a similar pursuit to return Malenia what she had lost, only, she succeeded. We get Miquella's Needle from Malenia after defeating her, and I don't think this is what Unalloyed Gold Needle "turns" into; the designs are too different for that implication IMO:

So maybe Malenia had HUMANITY RESTORED when this sister brought Miquella's Needle to her? I concluded this needle is "useless" for her condition, but simply holding one of the tokens of Miquella's talent and effort helped to recollect that sense of knowing he will always figure something out?

_________________________

I might find a different interpretation later, for the last one especially, you just never know for sure with Soulsborne games! But these are my thoughts at the moment! This post.. turned out unexpectedly sad for me, not gonna lie hhhytfhggfg It still was helpful to actually organize my thoughts on the topic, thank you for the ask!

[tigreblvnc]

BLUE LOCK MATCHUP — m1ckeyb3rry

Your match WAS...

— Nagi Seishiro

✦ Well, I didn’t think about it for very long :D

✦ I was waiting to read the part about the traits you like in the other person and… Well, honestly, I hesitated for a moment but still brushed it off, thinking, "meh, it's part of life."

✦ So here’s our most motivated player from Blue Lock :)

✦ (No.)

✦ And I have to admit that Nagi isn't a character I can easily place because he's so unique and not at all receptive to anything related to human relationships. I even think he belongs to his own manga, within the manga itself.

✦ That’s probably why we end up with a movie named after him and a series of mangas dedicated to him.

✦ For me, what creates a funny and unusual chemistry right away is the fact that you’re extremely different… but that you connect on very specific details that form a common bridge between you two.

✦ Example: "I’m also pretty quick-witted and good at thinking on my feet BUT I’m kind of judgmental." Without saying Nagi is the most reactive guy in the world, in moments of despair (lol, going straight to the tough stuff), it almost seems like he doesn’t think and manages to instinctively react to anticipate a decisive move on the field. Stimulated correctly, he unleashes potential that, in my opinion, is unmatched by anyone else. He’s got this ON and OFF mode! Most of the time, he’s sleeping, slacking, or playing games; but during very specific key moments, he wakes up and breaks all performance records. It’s almost like it doesn’t require any effort, you know? It’s just an aspect of his personality that awakens under certain conditions, but it’s part of who he is. Meaning, he didn’t really have to work on it beforehand to possess it. Some like to call it "genius."

✦ And I see that trait in you when you explain to me, "I’m quite smart but I don’t really try to be?? Like I mostly play on my phone or watch shows/read in my classes but I have perfect grades anyways."

✦ It’s both awesome, and it can also attract a lot of jealousy. Those who work hard but end up with average or even bad grades, while you don’t need to spend time studying; you succeed no matter what.

✦ I can see my duo of prodigies :)

✦ "It’s hard for something/someone to keep my interest for long, but when it does, I am SUPER into it, so I’m really good at pursuing goals and whatnot!!" Yes, it’s the same for Nagi. You both need a goal that makes sense to you to become productive. A discipline in which you can excel once you get into it; but also one where you become passive once an activity loses its appeal. A downside that’s not easy to manage, on top of driving those around you crazy, who see your potential but feel like you’re not using it to its full extent.

✦ "I’m pretty cheerful and kind for the most part, and I’m a chronic people-pleaser, so I’ll bend over backwards to help out people I don’t know that well/to be agreeable, but when I know a person super well (ex. my family), I can def be kind of demanding/picky." For Nagi, it’s really the opposite, and it causes him problems in the other direction; he cares too little about his surroundings and what others think to even react accordingly. Which leads people to label him as heartless and selfish, something he doesn’t deny but doesn’t really approve of either.

✦ I’ve often observed that people who expect a lot from their surroundings are those who don’t let just anyone into their personal space, out of a need to protect themselves. This involves a very meticulous and sometimes extreme filtering process, often demanding a lot and becoming tough or guilt-tripping others when they don’t meet those expectations—sometimes unrealistic ones.

✦ But this behavior wouldn’t last with someone like Nagi, from whom you really can’t expect anything, absolutely nothing. Even Reo, who might be the character who knows Nagi the best, experienced his worst moments of doubt because Nagi didn’t quite meet his expectations—the one of staying by his side no matter what. What seemed obvious wasn’t true, leading to a violent disillusionment for Reo.

✦ So, I think it’s a match that could be complicated because it’ll require both of you to make efforts to step out of your comfort zones and accept each other’s flaws, but it could be extremely rewarding and fulfilling. I’ll come back to explain with some MBTI, but you’re typically a duo where almost everything contrasts.

✦ "As for what people tell me… I guess that I’m super confident, funny, kind, trustworthy (I was the one in high school who knew ALL of the tea because people would just tell me their secrets unprompted)." Yes. Really, with EVERYTHING in contrast.

✦ Side note, but when I read texts, certain words have colors, sounds, and sensations for me. They give off something, and when I read your whole section of likes, I see springtime paintings, sweet, fragrant scents. I see lots of nature, countryside, flowers, I feel silk, the smell of books, the careful unwrapping of packages to keep in a drawer. When I read the word "pomegranate," I see the fruit and feel the texture and hear the flowing, viscous sound of its seeds. All of this gives me a very colorful overall vision, and I think it’s the complete opposite of what I feel when I read about Nagi, who for me is very monochrome, on the same horizon line.

✦ "Traits I like in others: people who are passionate about things, people who are very kind/gentle." Well, you can see why I hesitated, right? :D

And that’s when I stopped everything to rewrite it all. The ""real"" matchup is right here.

© TIGREBLVNC 2024 | SEPTEMBER '24 MATCHUPS EDITION.

[somnefarious]

In your PROFESSIONAL opinion, what are the major types of hypnosis itself? Perhaps that’s too broad, but I believe I mean how the hypnosis interacts and affects the target? (Confusion, corruption, etc). Sorry if this is pretty general, but I’ve really loved the breakdowns on certain tropes and aspects involving the topic!

Oh, that is pretty broad. Well, if we're not going into specifics and going with the broadest types (and I'm going to be limiting this to fictional depictions of hypnosis that are often seen in media):

Confusion - often mixed with smooth/fast-talking, 'convinces' the person to be or stay in a brainwashed state. Starts off saying something that the person agrees with, but gradually changes and guides the hypnotized person's dazed thoughts and opinions in the conversation until they're agreeable. They eventually can't grasp their own thoughts or fully understand what they're doing or why, so they blindly follow what their hypnotist tells them to do. I thought about including focused based hypnosis (eyes, pendulums, etc) as it's own category, but I think it falls into Confusion style nicely.

Surprise/Immediate - without introduction or preamble, this type of hypnosis takes hold of the person immediately. Can be met with or without struggle or resistance. Often this is a style that comes with the soulless/emotionless/mindless hypnosis aesthetic, though not exclusive to this depiction.

Conditioning - typically includes a change over time, sometimes through long-time exposure to a hypnotic power, other times through gradual small changes or tweaks to one's personality or day to day life. Sometimes done without their notice, other times done through 'training' sessions.

Corruption - Pretty straight forward but definitely unique enough to set it apart from the rest. Corrupts someone so it seems like they still have their personality in tact, but it's a darker and often more violent and callous version of their personality. Acts as a groupie to the villain.

Emotional - most frequent example of this forcing someone to fall in love with another, making them do whatever the hypnotist say out of a newfound obsessive affection. Can also be done with emotions of anger or hatred, maybe feelings of inadequacy, targeted towards their friends/families/rivals in a moment of weakness - latter ties together well with 'confusion' style hypnosis.

Torment - mind control reinforced with pain or mental trauma (ex. bad memories of a traumatic past or relationships used to weaken a person's mental defenses). Can be harder to break out of due to the trauma from the induction, where the person hypnotized is desperate to stay in trance to avoid it. This one can be a little hard for some as a hypnosis trope.

Possession/Infection - An outside force takes control of someone, overlaying their own physical personality/instincts over the hypnotized person in order to achieve a personal goal

Conscious - this is the type where their body is being controlled but they are fully conscious. Not my brand of hypnosis, I wouldn't always consider it as a category myself, but it is often included in line with regular hypnosis so I'll include it as it's own group.

I'm sure that there's more than that, I'm far from an actual professional haha, but that's just what I could think of off the top of my head. And I didn't go much into other ways to transfer hypnosis to the hypnotized (signals, technology, telepathy, scents, potions, etc), cause if I did I think we'd be here for ages

[bluegekk0]

does hallownest have pride parades?

Oh that is a pretty interesting question, I'd love to ramble about this. I'm going to say that no, they don't, but not because their society would be against it. Quite the opposite, actually.

The way I imagine it, their culture is far more animal-like than ours in many aspects. They do have morals, obviously, and more complicated social structures and views that distinguish between those who break the law and those who follow it. That being said, it's far from what you see in our society - they don't have an elaborate justice system, so for example, a murderer will simply be executed for their crime without an extended trial, and killing someone in a fair duel doesn't raise any eyebrows. Death is a part of their life and it's not as big of a deal as it is for us, humans. Though things like murder and other serious crimes are frowned upon. The laws are in place to maintain order and peace between different species that coexist, and embrace progress, even if many of their values do not overlap with ours (for example, in some cultures, eating other sapient bugs isn't even considered a crime, though naturally that wouldn't fly in most places).

I mention this, because those kind of animal-like views also contribute to how they see concepts like gender or sexuality. While reproduction and having offspring is an essential part of an animal's life, individuals that engage in behaviors outside of the norm aren't ostracized, discrimination simply isn't really a thing. And I think this aspect would carry over to those living in Hallownest and many other lands in their world. Relationships between different species are generally widely accepted (as for how that even works when it comes to producing young, I won't get into the biology. "It just works" as Todd Howard would say) And similarly, a same-sex couple or someone who explores their gender in ways that go against their biological sex would not be frowned upon, it would simply not be a big deal for most.

I say most, cause I do imagine there are some species/cultures where such behaviors would be questionable at best and treated with hostility at worst. Perhaps some of them put great value in relationships that result in offspring, maybe their mating rituals are so essential in their culture that couples that can't perform them the way it's intended are seen as outcasts and shunned. As an example, I actually have lore that touches on similar concepts with my Lurien interpretation - his species is extremely rare, encouraging relationships only within its kind that can produce children, and its quite unique wedding traditions put a massive emphasis on their sexual dimorphism, which unfortunately leads to discrimination against those who don't fit those norms.

But those would be a minority, and I think most of the communities living in Hallownest would have a much more accepting view on same sex couples and so on, in many ways thanks to FPK's accepting and open nature. Ever since he became the king, he encouraged peace between different communities and believed in a united society, where bugs reject their brutal beastly instincts and instead live as one big community (though unfortunately that part backfired, leading to hostility towards those deemed as "beasts", propagated among the upper class of the City). A naïve view, perhaps, but the bugs still followed the ways of their king.. While he himself struggled with his own sexuality for many years, primarily due to his lack of experience with relationships, he's always been supportive of those who openly embrace their identities.

And because their society has never dealt with substantial discrimination, there was also no need for events such as pride parades - to them, love is love no matter what, so there is no need for specific holidays. If there is a day dedicated to love, then love of any kind is celebrated.

I hope this makes sense. I think their society being so much more accepting than ours despite its animalistic ways is quite interesting. Not to mention, there's a lot of comfort to be found when exploring a world that simply welcomes queer identities as part of life. You might get stabbed and robbed by a bandit in the City if you're alone at night, but at least you can hold hands with your partner and not get called a slur. Love wins ♡

[aortaobservatory]

On Lunar Sway and Classpecting

-aortaObservatory

In my quest to analyze all of the potential classpects that make up Homestuck's Mythological Roles system, I've come to figure that Lunar Sway has an effect on a player's specific classpect as well. A Prospit dreaming Heir of Breath will be a drastically different character in some measures when compared to a Derse dreaming Heir of Breath.

While 144 different individual types of people is a very broad spectrum, people are still individual and unique outside of that. Lunar Sway provides another angle of variation to consider when classpecting, and determines the approach a player may take towards their aspect and their class.

A varied combination of these three may produce up to 288 different individual "types" of players.

Aspect is the force that is most important in a person's life, whether lacking or abundant, whether good or bad, whether they want it or not.

Class is the intended role of the player, and how they interact with or are shaped by their aspect, either actively or passively.

Lunar Sway is the worldview of the player, their perspective on life and the world around them.

To shift gears, so to speak, I also came to the conclusion that aspects and classes both fit into Lunar Sway categories themselves.

Derse

Derse Dreamers have personalities marked by a distinct and restless skepticism. Whatever their waking circumstances, chances are they will live in a state of dissatisfaction (LIFE, PAGE). Rebellion is in their blood, manifesting whether they are fighting back against a fascist dictatorship, or the most recent trend in casual footwear (RAGE). Derse Dreamers are cerebral and self-aware (SYLPH); they have a far better grasp on the landscape of their own minds than on the world around them, which they can find alienating and confusing (MIND). But as so much of their identity is built on control (MAID), they will do their utmost to hide any insecurities, often with false humility or self-deprecating humor. They may be inflexible and pessimistic, but they are also great problem solvers (MAGE), facing conflicts head-on with shrewd, calculating minds. They see one true path among an infinite snarl of wrong ones (LIGHT, SEER). They tend to be introverted, but if you win their trust Derse Dreamers are extremely powerful allies (BLOOD). However, they find sincere vulnerability difficult and will often keep people at arm's length (KNIGHT). Letting go and living in the moment is hard for a Derse Dreamer; they constantly look toward the future and analyze the past (TIME).

DERSE LEANING ASPECTS: Light, Blood, Time | Mind, Life, Rage

DERSE LEANING CLASSES: Mage, Knight, Sylph | Seer, Page, Maid

-

Prospit

Marked by a flexible optimism, the personalities of Prospit Dreamers are reactive and intuitive. They naturally exist in the present, rather than look to the future or obsess over the past (SPACE). When making decisions Prospit Dreamers tend to rely on gut instinct and whatever emotions they are experiencing at the moment (BREATH). This makes them quick to act and reliable in a crisis, but it also can make them capricious (PRINCE). They have trouble thinking things through, and their feelings toward specific situations and decisions can change from day to day (WITCH). They solve problems with creativity rather than cold logic, often seeing multiple options with ease and clarity (VOID, ROGUE). Because they generally take things as they come, Prospit Dreamers are less rebellious than they are adaptable (THIEF)-instead of struggling against authority, they will find a way to coexist with it (HOPE, BARD). Possibly because they are so instinctual and flexible, they like having a defined set of rules-a safety net for their passionate lives (DOOM). Naturally trusting, they have trouble with deception or hiding their true selves, and will often worry about what others think of them (HEART). The self they project into the world is often not under their control (HEIR).

PROSPIT LEANING ASPECTS: Heart, Doom, Space | Void, Breath, Hope

PROSPIT LEANING CLASSES: Witch, Thief, Prince | Heir, Rogue, Bard

-

Despite this binary sorting system, it isn't necessarily an automatic tell of Lunar Sway. Nepeta (Rogue of Heart), Eridan (Prince of Hope), and Dirk (Prince of Heart) were all Derse dreamers despite being of Prospit-leaning aspects and classes. Karkat (Knight of Blood), Terezi (Seer of Mind), and Jane (Maid of Life) were all Prospit dreamers despite being of Derse-leaning aspects and classes.

When classpecting, it is also important to consider that Lunar Sway and class may also obscure a player's true aspect. I suppose the more well-known term for this phenomenon is "ghosting", but what I intend to convey by this is that it goes deeper than that, and "ghosting" is not necessarily limited to the Prince/Bard destroyer classes. A player may "ghost" depending on the combination of Lunar Sway, class, and aspect.

To use a canon example, Gamzee was a Prospit dreaming Bard of Rage. His Lunar Sway (Prospit) and his class (Bard, Prospit-leaning) made him appear as a Hope player (Prospit-leaning), and obscured his true aspect, Rage (Derse-leaning).

To use myself as an example, I am a Derse dreaming Seer of Heart. Originally assigned Mind (Derse-leaning) as an aspect by the official TEZ True Sign quiz, I later came to the conclusion that my Lunar Sway (Derse) and my class (Seer, Derse-leaning) had obscured my true aspect, Heart (Prospit-leaning), on the surface level, which a quiz could not accurately or adequately decipher. My desire to know more about myself and about classpecting... culminated in this blog. But you might have figured that out already.

[wonderinc-sonic]

helloo!!! your team dark fics are so so good and mean so much to me!! your characterization of shadow is really meaningful and important to me specifically, i especially love your variety of pronouns it's so awesome! and in the fic where they're teasing omega about his name, i think there's a part where shadow has a compulsion to finish a line of numbers after being interrupted. i'm ocd and this part made me so crazy and happy!!! especially brcsuse it's really similar to one of my own compulsions! i was just wondering, if you would like to, if you could share or elaborate on any more hcs when it comes to shadow and ocd or pronouns or anhthing you'd like! thank you, love your work!! :D

Oh my gosh thank you so much! It's really appreciated, I'm so pleased that you enjoyed them and thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! ❤️❤️❤️

Putting in a read more for scrollers 🙏

Shadow + Obsessive Compulsions

I started exploring compulsions and OCD tendencies more specifically with characters when I was diagnosed with OCD for the second time. (NB: I no longer think I would qualify for a diagnosis as I am, because I manage much better and also am in a less distressing home. I would say I still have tendencies, but do not claim a diagnosis)

I think Shadow as a character in canon shows some of the risk factors for developing compulsive tendencies: he is very fixated on wrongdoing and punishing that as well as perfectionism. Although 'Destroying Earth and Everything On It' is not a common symptom of OCD (lol), I do think that his black and white morality which is informed by trauma could very easily be turned against himself, especially when he comes to the conclusion that what he was doing was wrong.

He also has extremely high expectations of himself, so I could see him becomingnfixated on repeating actions to a point of overexertion and obsession to make them perfect. He has a hard time forgiving himself for not achieving to his own standards, which is something that can make a person become obsessed with their ways of doing things.

I haven't dug that deeply into all of these things specifically, because I don't like to write characters with a specific diagnosis/ neurotype in mind. But I do like to give him some of the traits I experience and experienced within my OCD. I have always had an issue with repeatedly saying sentences under my breath after I said them (I mostly resist it but the instinct is there always) and have a hard time sometimes with both not being able to finish words and also not being able to do anything else until I manage to get the words out. I also have a lot of organising and correcting calming behaviours, and cyclical thinking. I try to present these with Shadow, because I think they fit well and make sense for the character - plus it's always advised to write what you know!

Shadow + Gender

I believe Shadow is a character with quite a unique relationship to gender, and this is fun to explore. My favourite mental playground has Shadow eventually becoming a trans and using she/they pronouns, but after some 10-15 years of slowly getting comfortable with the ideas. However, a la ShtH05, I think there's a lot of ways Shadow could go with gender, including rejecting traditionally gendered pronouns overall. I think the character works for all of these, and I enjoy the subtle differences in writing Shadows with different pronouns, implying different experiences and examinations of the world, with overall similar experiences. Even when I write Shadow with he/him pronouns, I usually have a measure in my mind of how gendered this particular presentation of Shadow is, and most are somewhere on the neutral aspect. I'm pleased at least some people like this! I know that my differing pronoun choices can alienate some readers. Hell, it does confuse me at times, like now when I'm writing 4/7 of my Team Dark fics at the same time, which use different pronouns across them!

Ahh sorry that got long! I do think a fair bit about these choices, so I'm over the moon when someone notices and even better likes them!

[echo-lover]

Would you mind sharing with us why Echo is your favorite clone (or the clone that you feel most connected to)? 🥰

Hi! Thank you so much for this question! I'll be happy to answer💕

Each clone is unique and many of them have a special place in my heart, but there is one that is especially close to me. I was looking for a character that would fit me the most for a long time. First Obi-Wan, then Rex and Tech, but in the end Echo took first place. I feel connected with him the most. I could write an entire essay on why Echo is my favorite clone- I'm sorry if I write a bit too much- I think I won't be able to include all aspects anyway. Echo is just perfect in his imperfections❤️

I can mostly identify with Echo's personality and personal change due to the events he's been through. Fortunately, not with his medical trauma.

Echo used to follow every order and tried to be the perfect soldier. He constantly tried to deepen his knowledge, to be as effective as possible. Even his own brothers were laughing at him, when he concentrated on reading reg manuals. He also had some problems with adapting to new situations, which did not fit in the number of things he had learned so far. He needed experience, which he gained quickly after completing cadet training and joining the army. He wasn't a shiny anymore.

Thanks to his will to fight for what is right and his skills, Echo became an ARC trooper, side-by-side with soldiers of one of the most effective Legions. He learned how to improvise in the middle of fight and gained experience alongside one of the best captains, who also became his close friend and role model. They trusted each other and, thanks to their tactical instinct, created special plans together that were used in battles even long after the Citadel. After this mission, everything changed. This rule-following soldier didn't hesitate for a second on the battlefield. He had to act quickly. He was ready to give his life and he was given a second chance.

Echo always had a brother by his side- a soul mate who always supported him. Fives... They were the last two domino, and they were still standing despite all terrors they had to experience. No matter what happened, they always had each other. They complemented each other like the sun and the moon - one could not shine without the other. Echo - always organized, calm, quiet and a bit introverted. Fives - a bit crazy, cheerful, open and rather extroverted. It's a very similar type of dynamism between me and my sister. (but, as time goes by, I see my sister becoming a bit more like Tech, which makes my heart go even closer to Echo.)

Due to this traumatic event in his life, Echo has changed a lot. After rescuing him from Skako Minor, he had much to do to restore both his physical and mental health. He had to get used to the overwhelming amount of changes that had taken place in his body and around him. After all, he now lived in a world without his twin... he had become the last piece of domino.

Despite his own problems and difficulties, he put on a brave face and did his best to compensate for the losses he had unwillingly caused. Thanks to him, the scales of victory shifted for the Republic.

However, Echo had changed so much that he no longer found himself as a member of 501st. Legion. With the support of Rex and his new squad, he decided to join the Bad Batch. He went from being a rule follower, to a Rebel who didn't follow the rules at all. Even though he had a new family, he never forgot about his closest brother, and always tried to be where he was needed the most.

Not only did his physical appearance change, but so did his personality. He is more mature and assertive than his past self. He fits perfectly into being a "mom", he is caring, observant and ready to make any sacrifices for his family. Sometimes all it takes is one look to understand that something is wrong. He may seem a bit cold and distant at first, but inside he hides a lot of good, not just bad experiences. He needs some time to adapt to the changes, but when someone gets to know him better, he becomes more open and trusting. He also tries to be close to Omega, who, like him, shares similar trauma of being a "lab rat". He is looking for someone who will understand and accept him for who he is.

Echo wants to be useful and is afraid of being left without the ability to do something, to defend himself. He's also afraid of being lonely. Despite all the hell he went through, he can still be gentle, tender and compassionate. Despite his own doubts, he is able to silence emotions at a critical moment and control the situation. He is the most experienced in Bad Batch and knows how to make the best of it. He has lost many brothers and you can tell he is used to constant grief, but each loss hurts just as much.

I think the main reason why I love Echo so much is that I can relate to his changes at some personal point. There was also a "breaking point" in my life. I lost a person who was very close to me, my role model, the person who introduced me to the Star Wars Universe, someone I could always count on, who always stood by my side, someone who was like Rex to Echo... my dad... It was unexpected, quick and forced our family to make changes that I really don't like and find it hard to get used to. As an older sister, I try to fill the gap that is left. I try to make everyone happy, often ignoring my own feelings.

I used to be very quiet, extremely introverted, struggling with anxieties and problems related to relationships with other people. As a child, I was not liked that much and I was a loner. I preferred to lock myself in my room with music on and read books or simply study alone. However, life forced me to change. I try to be more open and overcome my own weaknesses. I've also learned not to shut down my emotions, which has been a great relief. Sometimes it's worth talking to someone and that's why I'm so grateful that I have my sister - my Fives and my Tech❤️ Life goes on and you have to deal with it. Now I am stronger and try to be the best version of myself. I try to stay positive and share a smile with others.

Echo is a person who deserves to be happy. If I had one last hug, I would give it to him without hesitation.

[nenekobasu]

I’m curious on whether you think Isagi can regain his protagonist throne? Should he even? Love you btw!

hi anon, i think isagi's existence is so strongly tied to the concept of "shonen protagonist" that he'll be, become, and remain the protagonist until blue lock ends. isagi is in a unique position within a manga where the protagonist status needs to be fought for, of being a character who doesn't need to fight to earn that status— like his name, "world's first", implies, there are certain roles he's fated to fill. since he's the only character who "is" the definitive protagonist even when he's not the protagonist, isagi exists in constant tension with blue lock; he's not someone who "can" or "should" regain his throne but he "will", because that throne is promised to him, which greatly complicates blue lock's claims about protagonist-hood.

i think of it like this: every character in blue lock is in a "become the protagonist" game of musical chairs and isagi is guaranteed a chair regardless of his actual performance, but the catch is that, since he isn't aware of this fact, he'll still play his heart out. but i think on some level isagi (and other characters?) may instinctively sense the truth about him, and isagi during ubers match leveraged his power as the predetermined protagonist to obtain undue success. "please use hiori yo to make me the protagonist": isagi forces hiori into the game while breaking the team's 'rationality' rule; he senses he is allowed to break the principles of blue lock individualism to fulfill his fate (and that he must break them— "i don't see a future where i can win against barou and kaiser!"— because if isagi had remained committed to blue lock's principles, he could not have won as a striker. match's fucked up). to me, this is a case where isagi's fate of becoming the protagonist overpowers blue lock's principles, and isagi is allowed this unique power because "being the protagonist" is an intrinsic aspect of his existence.

in this way, isagi breaks blue lock. his guaranteed position as the protagonist gives him the power to betray, even erase, the most sacred tenets of the work he inhabits; for this reason, he's the core of blue lock that all other characters revolve around. blue lock worships power, and isagi is the only character whose mere existence is laced with the power to break his own manga

i'm saying all this anon because i struggled to answer your question straightforwardly, as doing so would follow the assumption that isagi is capable of losing his protagonist's throne or his access to that throne. if "protagonist's throne" is defined simply as "scoring in a match" though, my answer would be that isagi can regain it but he shouldn't for the sake of his and blue lock's remaining dignity. i just thought that such an answer wouldn't be enough as it fails to account for isagi's relationship to blue lock's understanding of "protagonist". at heart, isagi is blue lock's greatest contradiction: he's a predetermined protagonist, in a world where no such thing ought to exist— like his name, "april fools' day", implies, isagi's existence within this world is a joke. blue lock's decision to place at its center the mechanism by which it self-destructs is an intentional aspect of its design that reveals its ambition, scope, and malice. all in all, i think isagi is chained to his protagonist's throne; this works to his immediate benefit, but it's equally likely that this ultimately was, and will become, the reason behind his annihilation

[sapphos-darlings]

i think i might be both lesbian and ftm (definitely homosexual, female, dysphoric, have considered transition for years and think it genuinely may help - its just putting the pieces together that gives me hesitation). im single, have dated a few other trans men when i identified differently, but ive never tried to date in the lesbian community. im trying to figure out how it would, i guess, work if i did transition? my current plan of "meet women & transmascs looking to date women or transmascs, tell them im a transmasc lesbian immediately, hope they understand what i mean and also mutual attraction is there" seems honest but possibly unlikely to work. am i missing something, or is it just a hard path im considering? i know one of the mods previously lived as a trans man so i was hoping you might have some experience or advice to share

Your identity, while it will sound wildly conflicting by the book, is actually not at all out there or anywhere near as rare as you'd believe. People are rarely black and white or fit into neat boxes, and transmasculine people have a long history with homosexual women. There have been, and continue to be today, butch lesbians who are taking testosterone or who have had mastectomies, and who go by male pronouns. Gender dysphoria and breaking the rules of our gendered society, in both gay and lesbian communities, has always been so prevalent that this cross-gender expression is rightfully part of our recognised cultural heritage, and one of the most rooted stereotypes associated with us. Even with the rise of transgender people's own, clearly separate rights movement, there is much more overlap in reality than these easy to identify labels would let you believe.

You, as an individual, do not have to be "lesbian" or "ftm" or "female" or "male" or "man" or "woman" in any particular way. It's up to you to express yourself, not your categories; while people instinctively assume that a label will cover all that you are, this is never the case for a person. We are so much more than these aspects of our identity.

And yes, the opposite is still true: there are gay men who date transgender women, and gay women who date transgender men. I follow plenty of trans channels to date as it's both relevant to my life now and to my history before and remains an interest, and some of these channels are for partners of trans people. One of the most common topics brought up is how to match one's identity label to the seemingly out-of-bounds relationship that is happening now, and seeing so many of them, and the unique situations of the people behind them, you come to realise that a label is not a natural fit for people, it's just something we make up to find community.

Further... beyond just exclusively gay people, we bisexuals are also here, we are plentiful, and we are absolutely wonderful. Not all of us, of course, are open to dating gender diverse people - but many others are, and we're typically quite relaxed when it comes to label complications simply because they don't challenge how we're expected to be dating, which is often a source of distress for both exclusively heterosexual and exclusively homosexual people when confronted with a relationship that isn't quite what the handbook said it would be.

Lastly, yes, you are choosing the hard path. That's just how things are, universally, for transitioned and transitioning people, and for lesbians, and for anybody else who is not the norm in our society. There are fewer of us, we are less understood, and we have fewer people whose attraction will naturally match with us either because it isn't how they're wired or because they've never brushed up with the idea beyond a hypotethical concept. However, this doesn't mean you're doomed by any means. Just using myself as an example: I'm truly a mess when it comes to gender, both trans and not trans at the same time and which label applies to me more depends entirely on the subject and the alignment of the stars, and though it's taken its sweet time coming, I've now been in a relationship with a wonderful nonbinary/gender diverse partner for well over a year. While they may not always understand the fine details of how my identity works, that can't really be expected of anybody, even somebody using the same label as I hypotethically might. I don't understand how theirs does all of the time, either - I'd say more than they don't get mine, as my struggles are largely of the transsexual variety, more about the body than expression, and theirs are more of the gender variety, where their identity and inner perception of self reign superior to the matters of the meat. But we don't have to be fully up to date on any of that: what we have in common is much more relevant to our everyday life than the fine details of the things we don't, and at the end of the day, what we have is a gay relationship, which - while it comes with its own struggles and difficulties - still allows for an amazing variety of self-expression in gender and identity both, even within this simple overarching label and state of existing in the world.

Whatever you choose, you'll find people you match up with, and in the end, it's better to be happy with yourself than unhappy with somebody else.

[nettleshuttle]

Ask meme: Yusei.

yusei it is!

my fav thing about them: definitely his backstory. i love how we get a protagonist that’s already entangled in a net of complex relationships with different people, whom we get to encounter throughout the series and gradually get to know what was actually going on between them. i miss that a lot for protags such as jaden or yuma, all of whose interesting relations are established within the show and who seem to have little to no history of their own to explore and wonder about. besides, cheesy and run-off-the-mill as it may be, yusei’s talk about how every card is unique, precious and worth treasuring is really heartwarming and it’s great to see him putting all these strays to good use and properly appreciating them.

least favorite thing about them: actually, i find yusei to be quite boring personality-wise. i’m halfway through 5ds and he still hasn’t shown any more interesting characteristics. i get that it’s nice how caring and determined he is, but i’d like to see some flaws of his, some less ordinary and predictable reactions and/or developments. i feel like the great backstory is partially going to waste because he’s so standardly fixed as a character. also, maybe the following episodes will prove me wrong, but i see little room for development in him, which is kinda sad — or at least, he’s far inferior in this aspect than even the yuma or jaden i have already mentioned.

favorite line: not a single line, but i live for the two prison duels where he uses other people’s decks/cards to beat the shit out of the arrogant bullies that his opponents are. i remember i started this short arc being rather indifferent and left it so emotional about him it was actually funny.

brOTP: jack. i totally see them as exes, but either way their reconstructed friendship is a great thing to follow throughout the series. they have wildly different approaches to many things, but respect each other and get along anyway — their mutual backstory is very well-constructed and with a suitable pinch of bitterness where necessary.

OTP: akiza! i feel like i wrote that a hundred times already, but i’m dying to see more of the trust and care that has built up between them. yusei being a far healthier replacement of divine for aki is the best development ever, while it’s obvious he’s worthy of that assurance. the date episode was so precious too,,

nOTP: i used to like his ship with jack a lot, but now it just doesn’t appeal to me anymore, i guess? for once, their canon romantic relationships with akiza and carly are just far better. in terms of actual notp i’d put sherry because she’s a lesbian and i’m gonna die on that hill (also they make far cooler friends, c’mon).

random headcannon: yusei always has trouble building his decks because, no matter how responsible his duelists thinking is, he just wants to put every single card he has in there — it feels so wrong for him to leave anyone out. similarly, i feel like he’d love to exchange decks with others for a single game, even people he doesn’t really know: if his instinct finds someone trustworthy, he can borrow them his deck without fear. he’d really like to get to know new people this way and see how they use his cards too; exchanging decks with closer ones, like akiza or crow would be quite special too. he’d dislike using power decks though, like jack’s (or, hypothetically, stuff like ddds, blue eyes etc) — it’s not that he doubts using them requires as much skill, but he doesn’t find it nice to use such archetypes, that’s it. in a modern au, i’d totally see him enrolling in small tournaments all the time, testing the most obscure card sets imaginable and trying to make all of them as good as possible. by the same token, he’d avoid meta stuff in this au — not his cup of tea.

unpopular opinion: i guess what i said about his personality counts as rather unpopular? oh, and i just find it ultimately stupid that when he faces ghost and the meklords, who totally trash all synchro decks, he still thinks about using synchro without synchro summoning instead of just?? idk?? building a non-synchro deck?? i’m not saying he should switch to some fusion or whatever, but there are viable decks that don’t even rely on ed cards. why make shit so difficult for yourself and wonder why you’re still on the losing position. i get that it has to align with the plot, this being a synchro-themed part and all, but it’s just so stupid i can’t get over it — the creators should have never maneuvered themselves into a corner like that.

song i associate with them: cohen’s heart with no companion (this will always be a ryo bakura song in my head, but i’ve also thought it somehow fits yusei’s vibe, though in a very different way) and, contrastingly, probably born for this (the score). btw i’m an enjoyer of sappy romantic shit in context of his ship with akiza, so walking the wire (imagine dragons).

favorite picture: i like his regular design a lot so seeing him whenever is great, but a shout out to this edgy boy right here:

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 94

There was something disconcertingly clinical about the way that Sai let his fingers trail over the lines of the seal on her chest, despite the fact that the slow glide of his fingertips sent shivers up her neck. Unconsciously, Aiko leaned into the touch—and then sighed when he drew his hand back proportionally to keep studying the new tattoo.

A bit grouchily, she settled back into her old position, seated on her bed with bent knees. When he sat at her side like that and leaned over her knees… Well, her thoughts didn't go to fuinjutsu, to say the least.

"Are you certain this is safe?"

Aiko picked his hand off and flopped back down onto the bed, fed up with his worrying. Easily, she dug her toes under the covers crumpled at the edge of the bed and watched with satisfaction as he snapped to attention, seemingly mesmerized at the way the movement made her breasts bounce. That was more like it. There was something off-putting about having a boy stare at you while in a bra in a way that implied he might have been thinking about making lunch. "Yes, Sai," she drawled. "Jiraiya-sama himself told me that leaving it was the best course of action for now. I'm not going to up and explode."

Sai frowned, (though whether it was because he didn't like the reminder that Jiraiya had seen her shirtless or that he wasn't convinced about the seal's safety remained to be seen) but let the topic slide. Instead, he stood to slip his own shirt off and neatly placed it at her bedside, piling his weaponry on top of it.

"You're spending the night?" Aiko confirmed, mildly surprised. He hardly ever did that. Not that it was a problem, of course, they were both adults and she could sleep alone.

Well, okay. A lot of the time she slept with Mitsuo and Hōseki. But she totally could sleep alone if she had to. It was just nicer to have a warm body.

Sai nodded and pulled the covers at the end of the bed up to stretch over her body before slipping in himself. "I leave on a mission tomorrow."

Aiko frowned and rolled onto her side, propping her jaw up with one hand and resting the other on his chest. She absentmindedly tangled their ankles together, as if in a subconscious effort to prevent him from leaving. "Again? I think I'm still stuck in the village." She was correct, of course.

The next day, Aiko found herself picking Fukiko up from school. It felt strangely maternal in a way that wasn't unpleasant, but made her a bit self-conscious. Luckily, taking the girl out to work on taijutsu erased that lingering sense of oddity.

It did bring up one depressing point, however. Fukiko had the initial Academy stances memorized, and a fair few of the kata, but she had no practice whatsoever in taking those lessons and turning it into martial arts that was useful for a fight. Not only did she completely lack an aggressive instinct, Fukiko faltered and let her carefully memorized stances slip whenever she was asked to use any respectable speed whatsoever.

That observation, which she had initially hoped was a passing phase, didn't fade in the practices that followed. Fukiko became faster and stronger through physical conditioning. She demonstrated an adequate grasp of both tactics and strategy. But her slow plod towards taijutsu competency showed no hint of gaining momentum.

Aiko was getting frustrated. She'd expected that she would have to polish Fukiko's taijutsu, of course. She had even planned to teach her the variations Kakashi had given her over the years, to enlarge the girl's repertoire. But at this rate, she'd be lucky to get Fukiko to respectable genin taijutsu in a couple of years. Fukiko was a sweet girl, but she'd much rather be out in the field than restricted to the village as a teacher and running messages between the kage. That part wouldn't change anytime soon, but she didn't see why the fact that she was the most logical option for passing information had to mean she was grounded in-village all the time. The whole unique aspect of Hiraishin was that the travel was instantaneous from anywhere—why the hell couldn't she go directly from a field posting on a quick trip to Konoha or wherever when she was needed, instead of sitting around all day?

"You're going to be leaving soon?" Aiko frowned, tossing a rock out onto the hot water.

'Why not, everyone else gets to,' she thought bitterly, but tried to keep that thought off her face. Being trapped in Konoha was driving her mad, and running messages hardly felt like a break. There was no stress relief in instantaneous travel to offices filled with jumpy bastards who tried to lop her head off half the time that she showed up. C might have been trying to assassinate her on purpose, to be fair, but Chojuro, Mei, and any other random asshole lurking in a kage's office who made a leap at her was really getting on her nerves. Gaara, at least, had never attempted to kill her on reflex when she showed up carting papers, which made Suna the least actively stressful place to go.

'But that doesn't matter right now,' Aiko tried to convince herself. She should take a distraction from those depressing thoughts when it was offered, as if by fate.

She'd come upon her godfather doing what he did best after leaving dinner with Ino, and approached him after he'd inevitably scared off all the bathers. Once he'd stopped pretending to quail at their wrath, he'd settled with her at the edge of the pool to dangle their feet in and talk.

"Yepp." Jiraiya crossed his arms and closed his eyes, looking uncharacteristically wise and solemn. "Tsunade-hime doesn't want me to go, but I need to see what's going on in Ame for myself. If Naruto can take shifts chasing Akatsuki, I think that I can go to the border."

She pressed her lips together tightly to hold in what she really thought about that. Naruto shouldn't be involved in those missions. And there was no need to risk Jiraiya.

'Not that there's much of a risk.' Fondly, she glanced up at her godfather. Akatsuki couldn't possibly have anyone who could challenge Jiraiya. Even Itachi and Kisame had fled from him. Still… "Can I give you a seal, then?" she asked. When he gave her an inquisitive look, she flushed a little and explained, "I'd feel better if I knew where you were, I suppose."

Jiraiya snorted and ruffled her hair. "I'm not one of your puppies to keep track of," he huffed, eyes crinkled in amusement. "I think that I can take care of myself, Aiko-chan. Thank you for the sentiment, but I'm a little too old to feel comfortable with the idea of giving a lovely young lady such as yourself the means to track me at any time. That would undermine my air of mystery, wouldn't it?"

His words were light-hearted, but there was some odd undertone in the words that made her drop the topic entirely.

He left the village before dawn the next day, which Aiko quickly regretted. Not for his company, really, though that was pleasant enough. Her sudden yearning for Jiraiya had more to do with the fact that for the first time in months, Aiko woke in the dead of the night to a white-masked figure standing at the foot of her bed.

She responded by throwing off her covers and rolling to the ground to avoid the expected blow, popping up into a defensive posture and-

"I apologize for the intrusion, Uzumaki-sama." The man knelt. "I feared contacting you in open air."

Dumbstruck, it was all Aiko could do not to stare. That was a ROOT uniform. He had to be here to kill her for selling them out… But he didn't seem to be hostile.

"What's going on?" she asked, voice portraying a calm she didn't feel.

The intruder didn't raise his head. "It was my mistake. This one did not immediately know what Danzo-sama had intended in the event of his passing. I only sensed that you had been gifted his mark when I passed you on the street."

It took a shamefully long moment to connect those dots. 'ROOT members can sense that I took Danzo's seal?' Unconsciously, Aiko let the fingers of her right hand rest against the seal hidden under her clothes. 'But how? I couldn't feel anything earlier… unless it's…' She swallowed, remembering something. 'The really horrible feeling I always got from Danzo?' Aiko half-questioned, already knowing that she was right. That was what this man had sensed. He'd made the connection between something he'd only felt in relation to one other person, and had been so desperate for orders that he had come to the conclusion that she had taken legitimate control of the organization.

Now that she mentioned it, she could feel Danzo's chakra lingering on this man… but it was faint. No. That wasn't right. It wasn't faint, she just wasn't noticing it because she had a large concentration of it on her chest constantly. It was like wearing perfume—eventually, the wearer couldn't smell it anymore.

"You are forgiven," Aiko settled, trying to come up with an idea. She had no plan for this. What use could she possibly have for ROOT? What would Tsunade want her to do? She couldn't tell him to come back once she'd asked Tsunade for help… though she could tell him to come back later. "What information do you have?"

The reply, when it came, was tentative. "Clarification, Uzumaki-sama?"

She let a hint of irritation into her tone. "Have you told any of your comrades what you have discovered? What do you know of Danzo's passing and what it means for us?"

As it turned out, he had told his one contact person, who had also had no idea that Danzo-sama had made contingency plans. The poor lost lambs had jumped at the possibility of following the person Danzo had supposedly entrusted with his legacy. And didn't that make her feel guilty? She'd known that his conditioned, brain-washed soldiers would be bereft after his death, but hadn't thought that it was her problem. But it was, as she found out when she took what she'd found out to Tsunade the next morning.

The Hokage had no idea how to deal with this, frankly. Telling them that Aiko had turned traitor (and therefore would not be giving them orders) would only set them on a warpath for her head—she hardly wanted to arrange the situation so that an unknown number of confused hostiles would be trying to assassinate Aiko. But letting them believe Aiko was carrying on Danzo's vision in opposition to Tsunade would either fall apart when they noticed that they had no missions, or inadvertently actually work against Tsunade's interests in an attempt to trick them.

Perhaps on an individual basis, they could be gauged for the possibility that they could be rehabilitated. But as a group… it would be obscenely dangerous to put out a blanket order for them to report to Tsunade or the hospital for counseling.

As a stop-gap measure, Aiko told the few ROOT who attempted to report to her in a trickle after the first man that they would going underground for now, and to wait a month for further orders. It meant that she wasn't sleeping well, however, even on the nights when no one came by.

"Again," Aiko clipped out professionally one practice considerably after Fukiko's spectacular lack of talent had come to light, trying to keep her irritation from showing. Fukiko seemed self-conscious enough without coming to the mistaken impression that she was doing something wrong. Well, she was, but she couldn't exactly be faulted for lack of natural ability. Eventually, Aiko grew frustrated enough that the lesson switched tracks, and she set the girl to meditation when she might have otherwise forced taijutsu practice. It might have helped Aiko to calm her mind as well.

'It was stupid to expect her to have natural taijutsu ability,' she criticized herself, pacing while the timid girl attempted to interact with her chakra. 'Just because Sasuke is talented… Well, there's no reason for that to have any bearing on Uchiha in general. Besides, he was trained practically as soon as he could walk. She's barely had any training, sickly as she's been.'

But Aiko had been naturally talented herself, benefitting from an adult mind to analyze and remember stances, and an exceptionally healthy, athletically inclined body from an excellent pedigree (as much as the thought made her feel like a dog).

'Maybe Fukiko just isn't going to be a taijutsu type,' Aiko mulled, biting at her lower lip. She'd still have to train the girl up to at least high-genin level, of course, but it might be a good idea not to invest too heavily in that discipline. Fukiko was prone to bodily infirmity, after all. Sasuke was a damn good medic, but if he hadn't been able to confidently drive out whatever illness she had, then remission was probably the best Aiko could hope for. It would be foolish to put all her hopes on Fukiko making it as a taijutsu specialist.

But what did that leave? Uchiha were traditionally front line fighters—elite ones too. If she ever attained the Sharingan, then Fukiko would have a possible affinity for genjutsu. That was one idea… if it weren't for the fact that Aiko's own skills in that area were patchwork at best. But Fukiko didn't have exceptional chakra control, nor did she have the impressive reserves that made a student an easy pick as a ninjutsu specialist.

'Well, I can only teach her what I know.' she thought. 'Fuinjutsu? She's a pretty smart kid, that could work out. Maybe she'll have a knack for traps. If so, I could get tips from Naruto.'

Aiko stilled. Now, there was an idea. It didn't have to be Naruto in particular, per se, but was there any reason she couldn't ask for advice from other outside sources? If her skill sets weren't optimally aligned with what Fukiko would need to become truly formidable, then she could work to attain those skills, or at least how to help Fukiko learn them.

Cheered, she collapsed into a seated position across from her adorable little student and tweaked her nose. With a gasp, Fukiko's eyes shot open and the girl jerked backwards, away from Aiko's smiling face.

'She really needs to work on her reflexes,' Aiko noted idly. 'Awareness of her surroundings will come with time, but staring at an enemy with big startled doe eyes is never the appropriate response.'

"Alright!" She clapped her hands lightly to draw attention back to what she was saying, and not whatever Fukiko was self-flagellating about now. "Tell me about your chakra core, Fukiko. How does it feel to you? To me, chakra is cool and tingles, but I know that a lot of people experience warmth. How is yours?"

After she had taken one sweaty little pre-genin home, Aiko set out in search of Jounin. Two Jounin in particular, actually. She ran into Kurenai before she found Gai. It would be dishonest to pretend that she was disappointed. She could postpone seeking out his help until hopefully she didn't need it any more. Maybe Fukiko would experience a sudden bout of athletic genius. Or competency—she'd settle for mediocrity.

Curious red eyes pinned Aiko when she politely made enough noise to draw attention to herself. Asuma and Kurenai had probably noticed her already, of course, but it was a bit uncouth to sneak around allies. "Hello, Aiko-chan," the older woman greeted calmly. Her fingers were laced in Asuma's hair, but she didn't jerk away from the obvious gesture of affection or look otherwise uncomfortable.

Asuma was sitting between her knees in front of the park bench Kurenai was seated on, worrying an unlit cigarette in his lips.

"Sorry for bothering you, Kurenai-san, Asuma-san," Aiko apologized, doing her best not to let on that she wanted to smile at the sight. They were a handsome couple. "I was hoping to get some advice on E and D level genjutsu. I'm trying to figure out how to teach Fukiko-chan, and her talents don't really line up with mine." Sheepishly, she fluffed up her hair, and wished that she'd run into Kurenai when she was on her own.

Her mild discomfort seemed to amuse Asuma, but Kurenai merely blinked it off. "You have a student already?" She arched one perfectly formed brow and shook her head slightly. "I can't imagine I can really tell you much about teaching genjutsu to someone with an affinity, since none of my students are so inclined. I would suggest that you try to get permission from Hokage-sama to look around the archives. There should be physical copies held there of all sorts of techniques. It's not traditional, but you're a smart girl. I'm sure that you can figure out low-level genjutsu yourself without a personal tutor, given adequate instructions and illustration." Her hand curled in her lap, tugging at her dress, and Kurenai gave an odd little smile before adding, "I'd offer personal assistance, but I'm going to be rather busy in the oncoming months. Feel free to come for me for help on a case-by-case basis if you get stuck, however."

Aiko just blinked for a moment. There were public domain jutsu records? Granted, she'd known that clans and shinobi families often kept some sort of physical records so that nothing was lost, but she hadn't realized that the village as a whole stored techniques.

'That's not completely true,' she realized, absentmindedly thanking Kurenai and turning away. 'Naruto was supposed to have stolen a scroll of kinjutsu to learn the shadow clones. I'd assumed that meant that it was a special, one of a kind type thing, but it could just have been the highest security of what is otherwise a mundane storage.'

It seemed to be her best bet. She didn't want to bother Kurenai for titchy little genjutsu. She was past the age and level of ability where it was acceptable for her to beg personal attention from a Jounin. It was normal for shinobi to get all their genjutsu and jutsu from their teacher or parents. If Kurenai never had another student, she would probably teach her arsenal to her children. Aiko fit neither of those categories, of course, so it was a bit rude to do more than give Kurenai opportunity to offer if she was so inclined.

This was better. Tsunade rolled her eyes, but obligingly let Aiko take one scroll at a time and read on the couch in her office. That proximity meant that she ended up flickering back and forth to Suna several times to pass frivolous messages and ask questions, but it was a small price to pay.

Aiko had a good memory, but not a perfect one. So as she flipped through the scrolls and books for possibilities, she took brief notes summarizing their functions and associated handsigns. A lot of it was above her level, of course, but that was expected. As far as casting genjutsu was concerned, she probably wasn't much better than Fukiko. She had a couple of blanket techniques that worked by preying on someone else's subconscious and flooding it with chakra, but that was hardly what she should be teaching to Fukiko, even if it was a viable solution. Complicated as desire and fear based genjutsu seemed to be, the ones Aiko relied on were terribly crude and reliant on the victim's ineptitude or desire to believe the vision was real.

The first technique that she marked as something to attempt to learn allowed her to tweak the victim's perception of color. It was a little thing, but would help as a basis for more complicated techniques. She learned that one the first day and had picked out the second she wanted to learn before Tsunade kicked her out of the office. Aiko was there when Tsunade made it to the office the next morning, holding a box of sweets aloft as apology and tribute. It seemed to do the trick—Tsunade let her continue that pattern for six days straight before she was thoroughly fed up with the company and constant experimentation in her office and booted Aiko out with the recommendation that she only show her face once a week from then on.

It was intensely relieving for Aiko to discover that Fukiko had more of a knack for genjutsu than hoped for, even without the Sharingan as an aid. Fukiko was obviously interested, and didn't complain about being told to perform chakra control exercises for a full hour alone before she headed to the Academy in order to make learning new techniques easier. She was a little more reluctant about being required to study brain chemistry and the anatomy of eyes in detail in order to facilitate tricking them and other sensing organs, but it had to be done. Oddly enough, it actually became a struggle to learn low-level genjutsu at enough speed to pass them on before Fukiko had finished the last assignment. She was restricted to single-sense genjutsu, of course, and nothing with a persuasive element like causing emotion or confusion, but it was impressive nonetheless.

Her taijutsu still sucked, though.

'One thing at a time,' Aiko told herself, trying to channel serenity and not crush Fukiko's little spirit by letting on that her teacher was absolutely baffled by her lack of ability. 'I can concentrate on one thing at a time. If I have her keep working on taijutsu, she's bound to get better eventually. In the meantime, she might actually make a genjutsu specialist yet.'

At the rate Fukiko's voracious genjutsu appetite demanded she keep researching techniques to keep her student occupied, Aiko might make a decent genjutsu user herself. She'd probably have no use for E and D ranked techniques in the kinds of fights she found herself in, but they'd make learning higher level genjutsu easier as Fukiko progressed.

Of course, gains in one part of her life seemed to correspond to struggles in another.

"What are you planning on doing with ROOT?"

Aiko blinked, lowering her chopsticks and swirling them around her soup instead of answering immediately. Sai was paying even less attention to his lunch, which was a bit strange, since he'd picked the place. She only now theorized that it was as part of an insidious plot to arrange the correct conditions for a conversation. Tricky boy.

"I don't have a plan," she admitted with a shrug. And wasn't that depressing? "I wish Jiraiya hadn't left so soon. Tsunade doesn't know what to do."

Sai seemed spectacularly unamused by that response. "What does that matter? I asked what you intended, not the Hokage."

Stunned by the implications of that, Aiko raised an eyebrow. "Ouch, Sai," she mumbled, setting aside her uneaten lunch and turning to face him entirely. "Why is it my responsibility?"

Displeased, he intentionally contorted his face into a slight frown. She took a moment to wonder if he'd been practicing. "When you save a life, it becomes your responsibility," he said finally. "The Hokage does not understand."

'Survivor's guilt of a sort, for people that Danzo hurt?' Aiko theorized, trying to pick out clues in his posture and coming up blank. 'Maybe he feels like he should be helping the other ROOT trainees to function outside?' It wasn't as though he had time to take care of them himself, even if he had the means to do it. He'd been kept obscenely busy, probably in an effort to keep him out of trouble and allow him to work professionally with a large amount of people. If Tsunade was trying to improve his social competency, it was working. He did a far better impression of normality than he had before.

It was hardly fair for him to put that on her workload, though. She couldn't be responsible for keeping his conscience happy as well.

He didn't like that answer much, though. She didn't see him for days after that.

'Kami, what fools these mortals be,' Madara mocked internally as the man who called himself a god deigned to communicate with his subordinates. Pein was pretentious and weak.

Obito wouldn't call the man weak, per se, but he couldn't help but note that Pein was overly dramatic. Sometimes it was funny. Like now, as Pein darkly informed his organization via projection that they were to return to Ame to protect the village and borders from encroaching dangers brought by four of the five great shinobi nations. He took himself far too seriously. The alliance was more interested in hounding Akatsuki than invading Ame—it would have been more sensible to keep them apart for now.

Mocking Pein was a temporary amusement at best for both Obito and Madara. Neither of them was paying the false god all that much attention. The future had much more appeal than the present.

Tobi, however, was listening patiently with an eager posture that all but begged to be either kicked or given a pat on the head. He was such a good boy, after all.

Not like the other Akatsuki. Hidan and Kisame were both very bad boys for failing in their duties. Not only had Kisame let Tobi's friend go, but Hidan hadn't been able to stop her from taking the captured jinchuuriki with her.

Even as Madara had cursed that the brat had set back his plans, Obito and Tobi had understood. She was a good girl who wanted to help others. A very good girl, who had risked herself to help bad shinobi she didn't even know, shinobi who weren't even her friends. Perversely, he found himself hoping she was alright. She must be a very sweet, gentle girl. And she had been so nice to Tobi! The others yelled at Tobi and called him names. They thought that he didn't understand, but he did. But Aiko-chan had actually played with him, and talked to him about Hidan-san's feelings. What a nice girl, to be interested in someone she didn't even know.

'She reminds me of Rin,' Obito thought morosely, once more reminded of his grand purpose. Sweet, gentle Rin, who had suffered so much in this dark world.

Really, the similarities were uncanny. For all the he'd expected to dislike the girl when all he knew was that she was Bakashi's apprentice, Aiko was most well known for sparing her opponents. That didn't sound like Bakashi's influence at all. Kakashi had murdered Rin, after all. What would he care about turning a little girl into a killer?

'He'll probably get Aiko-chan killed too,' Tobi sniffled, already picturing her with a sizzling hole through her chest. Obito knew Kakashi's clenched fist would be coated in her blood, bits of her heart caught under blunt fingernails. He could remember the slow collapse as she realized what had happened far too late, no medical jutsu could help her and he'd just watched, he'd just watched.

It was the innocent who suffered most in this imperfect world, Obito knew. Madara, the outside Madara, had taught him that well. The Madara that resonated in his mind was just as critical as that Madara had been, however. That voice scoffed.

'You may as well assume the girl is your precious Rin's reincarnation at this rate,' he criticized idly.

Obito stilled, even as Tobi moved through the motions of applauding whatever Pein was talking about. The statement had been a jab, but it rang with truth. Was it really possible that Rin had been reincarnated so soon? It would have been so like her to become flesh again as Minato-sensei's daughter. He'd been like her father. And the timeline fit. Aiko-chan had been born so soon after Rin had died. She'd come back to Konoha, even though he hadn't. Had she known how bereft he was of her presence and tried to find him by being reborn as another Konoha kunoichi? That must be why he'd never been able to forget her and why the pain had never dulled. They were connected on an intrinsic level. He'd somehow known she'd lingered and he would never be happy until they were together again.

It was the only explanation, he realized. These things repeated, and that was why such a good girl was with Kakashi. But that was terrible: Rin was under Kakashi's dubious care again. He was going to get her killed, if he didn't do it himself. Kakashi couldn't be blamed, of course, he was an imperfect product of an imperfect world. Already twisted and stained. But Rin wasn't. Rin was pure, and good, and needed to be protected. Rin was Obito's friend. Aiko was Tobi's friend. Aiko had been kind to Tobi when no one else had, just like Rin had always been kind to Obito. She was just that kind of person, regardless of the body she wore. And how could he hold that change of flesh against her? His own flesh was warped and hideous. Only Rin would be able to love him like this, but she shouldn't have to. She deserved a perfect world. Rin deserved a perfect man.

'You'll have Rin once you finish the Eye of the Moon plan,' Madara reminded him firmly. 'There is no use in chasing this idea.'

He could tell that Madara thought this was a distraction from his true purpose. That wasn't right; he wouldn't allow it to be, because of course the plan was still important. With the Eye of the Moon plan completed, he would have Rin again and they would all be together.

But that didn't mean she should suffer in this world as well. If he knew about this and let it hurt her again, he'd be trash.

Obito stirred, feeling a new resolve to take interest in the outside instead of slipping behind Tobi and Madara. He could do this one thing for her. He'd do anything for Rin, after all, no matter how transitory and stop-gap. She had to be protected. Konoha wouldn't do it, Konoha sent Rin out to fight when she wasn't meant to; she was loving and gentle and not a killer, never a killer. Her hands weren't stained with blood like his were.

As filthy as his hands were, perhaps they could be of some small use in this still. The bad must be punished and forgiven, and the innocent helped. He could keep Rin safe.

'No,' Madara warned. 'Do not kill any of the Akatsuki yet. They still serve a purpose, even defanged as they are by the failure of Pein's first strategy.'

But Kisame had risked Rin. He'd let her go back to people who might harm her again.

'Irrelevant,' came the dismissal. An uncharacteristic anger was already welling up in Obito when his ancestor pacified, 'Kisame has caused no permanent damage. His error was one of ignorance, not malicious intent. He is our best and most loyal supporter, and he showed your teammate kindness while she was in his care.'

That was true. Kisame had been a good boy after all, hadn't he?

Well, there were other ways to help Rin. She would be sad if he hurt her friend Kisame, so it was really for the best that Obito didn't have to have Madara kill the shark-man.

Madara sighed. 'If you insist, I will talk to Pein about leaving on a trip alone,' he gave in. 'We have nothing to fear in Konoha. That's where the girl will be found. If it will make us happy, we can remove Rin from Kakashi's dubious custody.'

No, Obito responded, firmly pushing his mentor's voice down. He could do this on his own.

"Hey, shithead," Hidan grunted conversationally, tossing a rock through Kisame's shimmering form. Either the insult or the projectile caught his attention, and the Mist nukenin turned an unimpressed eye on the Jashinist. Hidan just grinned and indicated the cloaked and masked figure that also shimmered to Kisame's left. "The fuck did you do to the retard? He's been looking at you like he loves you."

Hidan was a jackass, but he wasn't completely wrong, Kisame noted. Tobi was indeed fixating with an unusual intensity on his person.

The kid had been running hot and cold in regards to Kisame for a while now—ever since little red had escaped. The little idiot probably thought she really was his friend or something and was sad that she'd hightailed it out of there. Kisame didn't have the patience to pacify Tobi. He'd barely managed to divert Pein's irritation after that goddamn fiasco.

It probably hadn't helped that he'd had a hard time not laughing about it, once he realized that she'd even told him she was about to escape. The kid hadn't even been able to stand up properly for kami's sake. There she'd sat, in clothes twice her size with dark circles under her eyes from sleep deprivation, and calmly thanked him for breakfast before she blew through their defenses, proving that Pein and Konan had both been completely remiss in information gathering.

Kisame didn't blame himself in the slightest. He'd followed his orders to perfection, and had Pein been correct, there would have been no opportunity for her to escape his custody. The leader hadn't seen it that way, of course. The leader was perfect, at least in his own mind, so it had to have been Kisame's fault. He tried not to scoff, concentrating on the real issue and not the fact that the puppet leader of Akatsuki was fooling himself.

More to the point, she'd taken proof back to Konoha in the form of two jinchuuriki that had persuaded many of the shinobi nations to stand against Akatsuki and Ame.

They had been prepared for outsiders to declare themselves Akatsuki's enemies. Ame, however, was not ready for such an assault. The civilians and the actual hidden village who depended on Pein and Konan for guidance would never be able hold the borders on their own. Which was, of course, why Pein was recalling all of them from their current missions to protect the country while Akatsuki licked their wounds. There was something bitter about being called to protect someone else's country after being forced to part ways with his own, Kisame noted.

His attention was drawn sharply back to the conversation when Pein seemed to lift his head and stare off into the distance.

Konan stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. "Pein-sama, allow me to take care of the intruders," she murmured, as the rest of Akatsuki actually demonstrated interest in what was going on.

Pein shook his head just once and disentangled his arm. "No, tenshi. I will handle this personally." With that said, he cursorily dismissed the group and faded out of sight. Kisame was almost regretful that he was too far away to join in on whatever fight had been unfortunate enough to stumble Pein's way.

His mind trailed back to the kunoichi who had complicated his life by escaping on his watch and getting Pein angry with him. For such a small thing, little red had put a surprising dent in Akatsuki's plans by virtue of making it all but impossible to capture and keep jinchuuriki. If she had one of her tags on them, Akatsuki now knew, she would be able to travel to them and probably escape nearly instantaneously to the safety of Konoha. That made it more useful to either capture jinchuuriki she'd never touched, or remove her from the equation first.

There were obvious ways to deal with that, of course, both of which centered around neutralizing the plausibility of her apparent plan to steal away any jinchuuriki they gathered. The simplest way would be to kill her. It could be done. She was fast, but that was her strongest trait, and her perception and reaction time still paled in comparison to Itachi's. Especially for a kunoichi who was little more than a child, she was highly formidable in the areas where she was strong. But conversely, her weak points were almost tragically exploitable. If she could be kept from fleeing, she could easily be killed by a fighter of Akatsuki caliber. Kisame himself knew how he would do it. Even with her speed, it would just be a waiting game. She was inexperienced, and would make the first mistake. He'd only need one mistake to finish the game, and her ability to dance away from blows wouldn't matter then.

Simple, yes. Killing her would be the most obvious way to keep her from ruining their plans, but perhaps not the easiest or more practical. Really, what they needed to do was prevent her from using her Hiraishin against them. That could be part of a plan to kill her, but it could also stand independently. If they could force a confrontation in such a way that retreat was not an option, she would never again trouble their cause. That could be done by somehow neutralizing her Hiraishin, or by ensuring that she had no safe place to travel to. Perhaps it would be simpler to raze Konoha than it would be to trick that flitting kunoichi into staying still long enough to be caught in a glass jar.

Shame, Kisame sighed, beginning the trudge back to Ame. Little red wasn't a bad kid. Reckless and possibly stupid, but not a bad kid. Perhaps she was even charming, if he was honest with himself.

Didn't matter. She was standing in the way of a world without lies. That goal trumped any other concerns, even if he would prefer the least damaging method of neutralizing her so that Akatsuki could collect the rest of the bijuu.

"Damn that slug bitch," Oonoki growled, bringing a tiny fist to bear against his desk. The motion lacked any real anger, thankfully, so the blow had no visible affect.

"It's unbelievable that four of the five great nations are allies in this," Kurotsuchi observed with a frown. "Perhaps there is something legitimate to this fear of an Akatsuki."

Oonoki snorted at his granddaughter and gave her a thoroughly unimpressed look. "Little idiot! Something isn't true just because everyone else thinks it is." He settled back into his chair with a grumble. Kurotsuchi sneered silently at him, but didn't talk back this time. Eventually, he broke the silence. "And you say that the Mizukage seemed genuine in her alliance with Konoha?"

"Yes," she sighed. They'd gone over this how many times now? Dutifully, she listed off the evidence. "The Hokage and Mizukage spent much time in conference, and the Mizukage referred to the Hokage's attendant most familiarly."

The Tsuchikage snorted. "Yes, the Uzumaki whore," he sardonically countered. "Who we supposedly have to thank for the Raikage losing his senses and agreeing to treat with Konoha. What a fool, to be swayed because Konoha returned a kunoichi that they probably stole in the first place!"

His granddaughter merely rolled her eyes. She'd heard variations on this theme since she had first reported to him, but he still had yet to compose a plan of action for dealing with the threat. The current situation absolutely could not be allowed to stand, after all.

Three great nations locked in alliance had been horrifying enough. Now that all but Iwa were united, the danger that they would turn their greedy gaze north was high. The alliance was supposedly merely in regards to this criminal organization hunting jinchuuriki, but Oonoki had seen enough political shenanigans in his day to know that afterwards, relations would be warmer than they had ever been between those four nations if all went as planned.

And why wouldn't it go as planned? This was an idiotic witch-hunt for less than a dozen shinobi. The military prowess of one nation after their heads should have been enough.

He had no sympathy for their plights. It served Kumo right to have the criminals they'd hired for their dirty work turn on them, and so far Kumo had been the only ones to suffer. The other nations were witless worms, moving to prevent an incredibly vague and unlikely future danger because their jinchuuriki were weak and inadequate. Iwa could keep their jinchuuriki safe without joining this fool's errand. Han was safely within the village, and Roshi could protect himself in the highly unlikely event he was found.

Helping in this quest held no appeal and no benefit for Iwa, aside from the possibility that groveling now would keep the alliance from turning on them later. But stone did not bend to fear. No, their purposes would be much better served by chipping away at the foundations of the relationships that kept four of the great nations in a tentative truce.

Oonoki did not wish to provoke war, of course. Iwa was the strongest of the great villages, but only the worst kind of man sought that kind of violence for his people. But surely there was a way to restore the old equilibrium of uneasy coexistence between the great nations without toppling it into chaos.

He just didn't know how to do it. The obvious answer was to trick them into breaking their alliance, of course, but who was the weak link?

He might have thought Kumo, as the last to enter the alliance, would be the easiest to manipulate into leaving it, but Kumo was also the only nation who had really suffered against Akatsuki. The Raikage would not be swayed from what he saw as his chance for revenge for his brother, as well as a chance to regain the strength brought by the eight-tailed bijuu.

Suna had not lost a jinchuuriki, but they were led by one. Sabaku no Gaara had been attacked by Akatsuki, and reputably saved by Konoha's assistance. They would not be easily convinced to leave the alliance. Losing their Kazekage and sole jinchuuriki was far too devastating a possibility for them not to agree to at least a token participation in Konoha's witch-hunt.

Mist probably had the most to fear from Akatsuki and the most to gain from that alliance. Oonoki had yet to meet the new Mizukage, but he knew enough not to expect her to be easily bent to his will. He hoped that Kurotsuchi's report about the personal nature of her relationship with Konoha was inaccurate, but wasn't about to hold his breath. The Mizukage had much to gain from friendship with Konoha. Her one jinchuuriki was almost certainly the weakest in existence, so they needed the protection. And Konoha had provided the seal master who had given them back that strength in the first place. If Terumi Mei was anything less than an idiot, she would be hoping to gain that seal master for herself, of course. But barring that, she would want to remain on good terms with Konoha so that when her renegade jinchuuriki was captured, she would be allowed to take back the beast he held and given assistance in creating a more pliable container.

That left Konoha, of course, the originator of the alliance. Most probably, Akatsuki was a shade for their own goals. Oonoki wasn't yet convinced that they had no desire for the bijuu, but even if they didn't, they still stood to gain. They were gathering allies and creating relationships with other nations that would be difficult to break, making it very unlikely that war would be sustainable between those friendly powers any time soon. They would never be persuaded to leave the alliance, not by any device he could muster.

All the same, they were the backbone, Oonoki mused. And there was more than one way to cut a gem. If the other nations were to lose faith in Konoha, the alliance would probably completely fall apart. Even if Mist, Suna, and Kumo agreed to work together without Konoha, the danger was still significantly lessened. Konoha was Iwa's ancient enemy: without the slug bitch at the helm, who would stir up malcontent against his nation?

The only question left was how to do it. Konoha was stronger than they had been in many years, and they had never been weak enough that Oonoki had felt comfortable crushing them to completely eliminate the threat they raised against his people. After having been inactive for well over a decade, it had finally come out that Konoha once again had the power of the nine-tails, and it had been hidden in the twice-damned spawn of the fourth Hokage and his generation's Uzumaki whore. For all intents and purposes, it seemed that the whelp was replacing his mother, and the whore standing in for her father. And what hero did Iwa have?

Oonoki sighed tiredly, feeling every inch his age, though he would never admit it. It didn't seem to have been that long ago when the yellow flash and bloody habanera had terrorized his forces. Even if neither brat was truly equal to their parents, Konoha was still formidable. They had two sannin, Sharingan no Kakashi, that damnable taijutsu beast, and Sarutobi Asuma. With their respectable numbers, large clans, and intimidating force of high level shinobi, it would be foolish to enter a direct conflict with even just Konoha, barring the fact that they would probably be dragging along their alliance with them to war.

Direct military intervention was out of the question, an absolute last resort that would result in pyrrhic victory at best. That left the possibility of covert operations to turn all others from Konoha.

Easier said than done. It would have to be something truly horrendous, and they didn't have any evidence that would suffice. That meant they needed to gather information so that they could at least frame Konoha convincingly.

Something with Orochimaru, perhaps? He was supposedly dead, but they were still at least partially liable for his activities, Oonoki mused. Had it really been half a year ago that one of Orochimaru's former slaves had come to him offering technology and a wealth of information in exchange for instatement into Iwa's forces?

That mission had presumably failed. None of the shinobi sent to investigate his claims had returned. Oonoki had seen no point in sending more to die in whatever ambush had caught four Chuunin level shinobi for so little guarantee of gain. But perhaps now, it was time to try again, he mused. Their informant had provided a fair bit of information. Assuming that he had ever intended to keep his word, then that information should still be valid, and the informant had merely been either an idiot or led the team into an unlucky encounter. The truth of the matter could be ferreted out easily enough.

Thus decided, Oonoki snapped at his granddaughter to prepare her team for a mission, and settled in to scribble out the parameters before turning his mind to what else needed to be done. There was a good potential that this mission would turn up nothing of use, so he could hardly bank all his hopes on it. Perhaps he should be sending an information gathering team directly into Fire Country… The Kamizuru clan would be a good choice. Their insects were remarkable tools for covert operations, being able to travels dozens of miles from their partner and then return without fail. No one but a damned Aburame would know the difference between a trained insect and one that merely happened to perch near interesting conversations.

The Kamizuru would enjoy the opportunity, he knew, so he wrote that up as a possible course of action as well. He'd already asked their assistance for that possibility months ago, and had hoped to send the caravan providing famine relief back to Konoha with their insects. Of course, Konoha had just happened to send an Aburame with the group, ruining that plan and...

Oonoki purposefully changed tracks. That line of contemplation had been unproductive. He needed a delicate balance between subtlety and gathering as much as possible, since he had no idea what Konoha might be blamed for.

War-mongering was always a good standby, as was profiteering. Perhaps he should be looking to set Konoha against Fire Country nobility instead? It was indirect, but the other nations would quietly back away from association in order to calm their own legions of fat idiots who filled the villages' coffers by funding missions.

Accusing them of bloodline theft or espionage was a reliable possibility, of course. They were known as the village that was most invested in bloodlines, so others were wary of them for fear of having their soldiers lured away. But thinking of Orochimaru and the fact that Konoha was headed by a medic of all the things brought up another interesting idea. No one would disbelieve that Konoha had the ability to conduct kidnapping and unethical human experimentations that might give them an edge. If the taint on Konoha's reputation left by Orochimaru could be utilized, it would be highly effective to convince the other three major villages that fire country was after their children as test subjects, or was creating a test-tube army they couldn't fight. Fear of unusual abilities was known to cause all sorts of outlash—like the recent kerfuffle in Mist over bloodline users, or when Uzushiogakure had been destroyed for fear that the chakra sensing bastards would use fuinjutsu that could not be countered.

So the Tsuchikage sat and thought, discarding and piling possibilities in a silent seated position with his hands folded in front of him, outwardly peaceful but inwardly fuming with a century's accumulation of distaste for Konoha.

[flfverse]

I love reading your worldbuilding posts! It’s so fun to have that extra context for the story. Your recent post about sub-circling got me thinking about the issues trans-oriented subs might run into trying to join something that is designated Strictly For Subs in such a deeply-rooted biological and cultural way. I guess I wanted to poke you for your thoughts on like, HOW ingrained in biology and instincts that kind of thing is, bc I think it’d be kinda fun to examine the particular nuances of that kind of inter- and intrapersonal conflict 🤔 It also got me wondering if there would be any anti-trans orientation movements who see that as like a predatory endangerment to sub spaces? I guess I’m just recreating terfs tho lmao. Er sorry if that’s too heavy or invasive of a topic? You can feel free not to answer that one 😵‍💫

Also not related, but it was such a treat seeing Aizawa in your recent chapter and I love how you write him! I was curious if you were ever thinking about writing an erasermic fic in this verse, since their relationship is so unique for your au! 💓

ahhhh thank you!! i usually dislike worldbuilding bc it feels so overwhelming, but i’m having fun with it here so far

i….actually had not thought about trans rights vs the sub-circle tho, THAT’S a thought. i will say chapter 8 of Free Falling will have a little bit about sub circles in it, and i did include a line where someone asks twice (trans switch, bio dom in this au) if he’s going to stay. twice declines, but the offer is there. HOWEVER, that is the league and not society at large, so in a less trans-accepting space it would probably be different.

i haven’t written about it directly (and probably won’t, tbh? at least, i have no plans to rn, never say never), but i DO imagine there are both run of the mill transphobes and a terf-adjacent group in this ‘verse. hm. like actual terfs they’d probably be very “submissive rights” but be so transphobic that it loops back around to oppression.

i’ve done a fair amount of waffling on how biologically ingrained stuff is, because on the one hand it’s fun if the answer is “very,” but on the other hand, i’m trans and i’m wary of bioessentialism.

so my current stance is that it’s not as biologically ingrained as subspace/domspace itself, but it’s still important for things like social development. think of it as a kid growing up isolated from their peer group for whatever reason. they’re probably going to have trouble connecting with people their own age, they might pick up some strange habits, they’ll likely have gaps in their knowledge like not knowing pop culture. but overall (assuming nothing else bad happened), they’ll be okay, physically and mentally. not to trivialize that experience as i’m sure it’s very difficult, but there’s nothing life-threatening about it. and like i mentioned, a sub circle takes some level of intention; it’s not something you can trip into or be forced into against your will like subspace.

that said, it is Very culturally important. not something enforced, but if you told someone you never had a circle as an adult they’d probably give you a “wtf” look. a lot of the importance comes from the defensive aspect and how dangerous it can be to break a circle up. they’re respected because not respecting them is a good way to get attacked.

so anyway all of this is very long-winded and a bit stream-of-consciousness, but in conclusion i don’t think most people would welcome a trans sub/switch into a circle. like women’s bathrooms, except there’s no cultural expectation of politeness/not rocking the boat (also since when are women’s bathrooms some super culturally important place….but i digress). i feel like a trans sub would also have a lot of internalized Feelings about it even if they were allowed to join bc of all the messaging about how a dom near a sub circle is the Worst Thing Ever.

…..and now i’m thinking that would be fun to write. hm. back burner.

but!! yes!!! very cool questions defo a lot of food for thought. and to answer your last question about erasermic—i definitely want to write about them in this au!! i don’t have any specific ideas at the moment but i do adore their relationship and i very much want to delve into it. since they’ve adopted hitoshi i could also explore what raising a teenager in this world looks like….very fun