#but then she’s fine! it’s not prolonged—she was mostly shaken because she didn’t know about regeneration at all until it was happening

[cowlovely]

just finished 8x01 in my doctor who rewatch and i feel like this

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 283: I'M MARY POPPINS Y’ALL

Previously on BnHA: Everyone was all, “Tomura what do you have?” and Tomura was all,” a quirk bullet!” and they were all, “NO!!” He then threw the bullet at Aizawa, who ironically actually did have a knife, and since no one bothered to say “no!!” this time he proceeded to CHOP OFF HIS OWN LEG. Just, schwoop. Lopped it right off. Didn’t even fucking care. Anyway so then Tomura was all, “you know what who even needs quirk bullets” and somehow broke free from both Deku and Ryuukyuu to go claw off Aizawa’s face. Thankfully Todoroki “I've spent the past eight chapters puttering around waiting for the coolest moment to strike” Shouto finally decided to join the fray by impaling Tomura, and everyone was all, “ahaha, classic Shouto”, and Tomura was all, “don’t worry though I’m fine”, and it seems like he really is now, since he’s finally regenerated and all his wounds have healed again! The chapter ended with Gigantomachia stampeding towards Jakku, which is super terrible, but what else is fucking new.

Today on BnHA: The Gunga kids spend a few pages standing around letting all that trauma soak in nice and deep as Machia rampages on towards Jakku. Back in the Shigaraki Wastes, the heroes regroup, which mostly consists of the remaining conscious adults tearfully being all “you kids get out of here... save yourselves...” and the kids being all “YOU JUST SIT THERE AND CHILL, DAD” and “[EXPLETIVES]” and “I’M YOUNG AND FILLED WITH RIGHTEOUS SHOUNEN RAGE”, all of which is very entertaining to me and makes me very proud. Anyway so then Tomura’s body sort of explodes a bit, and he’s all, “what”, and then it finally sinks in that he might have popped out of the toaster early, so he tries to end the fight right there and then with another round of Decay. Except that Deku counters it by SPONTANEOUSLY LEARNING HOW TO FLY, which is probably SO CONFUSING for all the non-Gran-and-Kacchan people around, which is just one of the many things I love about it. And the other things I love about it are that it’s (1) THE MOST BADASS THING EVER, and (2) just, really fucking great. So yeah. Rage, Deku, rage.

OH NO MY BABIES

don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to know what it is they’re looking at. how many of the pros are fucking dead now ffffmg

also that is an extremely intriguing chapter title, though. 75? as in percent?? oh my god is something finally going to go fucking right for our heroes. or at least, you know, less wrong

OOOF

dammit Momo he was supposed to go to sleep! WHAT THE HELL WAS ALL OF THAT MATH FOR, THEN. did he grow bigger, or did she just somehow miscalculate the dosage, or is he finally going to go night-night halfway to Jakku?

btw Momo I’m not actually mad at you, you’re still the only one who fucking did anything at all. if anyone tries to give you shit, just look them in the eye and ask them “okay and how many things did YOU do?”, and they’ll be like, “oh shit, none”, and you’ll be all “yeah that’s what I fucking thought” because YEAH

OH MY GOD SERO ANGST

I have never seen Sero this badly shaken before. it’s somehow so shocking?? holy shit you guys, I know I’ve been saying for ages “lolo all these kids about to be traumatized af” but somehow it’s one thing to know it’s coming, and another to finally actually see it. oh god

anyway let’s just hope all of the grown-ups aren’t actually fucking dead. but based on all of the kids’ expressions, it really feels like a lot of them might be, and that’s just... ...

and they had to see it. right? is that what this is implying?? holy shit. they watched it all happen. that’s it, the rest of this arc is cancelled, please proceed directly to the emergency therapy arc right now

TOKO!!

holy shit look at the size of that rock that fell on the medical tent. and DS pulling people out of the wreckage. it really feels like everywhere you turn this arc, the intrepid young scamps of U.A.’s first year hero class are the ones out here keeping things one step from total disaster

oh shit

excuse the hell out of me young Momo but what the hell is up with this use of the word “dead” with the implied “like everyone else” hanging there at the end?? what is up with that. that’s a very bad sentence I don’t like that at ALL

and what the actual hell is this panel of FATGUM AND TAMAKI IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CARNAGE, TWO PEOPLE WHOSE NAMES I’M QUITE SURE ARE ON THIS CONTRACT OF “PEOPLE WHO AREN’T ALLOWED TO DIE” WHICH HORIKOSHI IMPLICITLY AGREED TO THE MOMENT I STARTED READING THE MANGA. BOY WHAT

JESUS MOTHER F. CHRIST

THAT’S. THAT’S, UH

OH THANK FUCK

I mean, I already knew they survived, though. so WHY AM I STILL SO FUCKING ANXIOUS. good grief

and in before Majestic fucking dies on the next page, having saved the children with his very last act. I fucking hate you Majestic, you blue-balling child-preserving magnificent wizard bastard

HE FRISBEED THEM TO SAFETY GAH

WHY COULDN’T YOU DO THAT TO MACHIA THOUGH. BUT AT LEAST HE SAVED THE BABIES. TOO BAD HE’S FUCKING DEAD hahaha sob sob sob

is anyone still alive?? did the guys who were fighting off Snoopy Sno-Cone and RD back at the mansion at least make it out in one piece??

(ETA: from here on out all of these guys shall be referred to as Schrodinger's Heroes until further notice.)

so now Mineta is questioning whether or not their Smart Momo Plan even fucking did anything, which. same, Mineta, honestly. but it must have!! right?? ????

anyway so here’s some more panels of everyone dying do you want to see them. sure. why not

can we get back to the Tomura fight now. I’ve had just about enough of this, I’d like to see some 75% business now before this turns into the most depressing chapter of all time

BOOOOOOO

goddammit. well for now my money’s on Machia collapsing just as they make it back to Jakku. so Momo’s plan does eventually work, but the League still makes it back to Tomura thus ensuring more shenanigans can take place. goddamn, lol, just when I thought the arc was nearing its climax. feels like it just fucking respawned with a full life bar

also Toga is really looking... not great. I’m so scared for whoever she ends up fighting after this. OCHAKO MY SWEET BABY GIRL PLEASE WATCH OUT

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE

PLEASE ARREST HIM FASTER. holy fuck if you fucking screw this up and he gets rescued I SWEAR TO GOD

oh wait is he just here to provide more backstory on Gigantomachia

GO BURNIN’, YOU GOT THIS. also, gonna be honest, at this point I really would not mind if Machia did a little less living for Tomura and a bit more dying

FINALLY!!!

FKFKF Aizawa not looking too good oh god. and Deku looks like he’s about to spontaneously develop ALL OF HIS REMAINING QUIRKS JUST LIKE THAT ON THE SPOT, FUCK YOU TOMURA

oh my god DON’T GET DISTRACTED!!

Shouto’s arrival is either about to make Endeavor more useless than ever, or suddenly a whole lot LESS useless, and right now it’s up in the air and I am excited but also scared

EXCUSES EXCUSES

BLAH BLAH BLAH. “SORRY I’M LATE, I WAS SAVING PEOPLE’S LIVES,” Shouto lies through his teeth, clearly not aware that Tomura has a built in GPS and knows full well that Shouto was actually only a few feet behind Bakugou and Deku and so that explanation doesn’t fly at all. the real truth must be something so embarrassing that he’s ashamed to admit it. did you get lost. did you run into an NPC who wouldn’t let you pass until you had completed some sort of quest

THERE YOU ARE KACCHAN, I WAS WONDERING

just as enraged as Deku! it’s almost like he just witnessed his sensei chopping off his own leg and subsequently almost being murdered or something

(ETA: actually lol I think he’s mad at Deku, for taking off earlier and leaving him behind with Gran. though there’s no law that says he can’t be mad about two things at once! anyway so do you guys think that being beaten to the punch by Deku here may perhaps frustrate this young man and contribute to his decision to return the favor at some point later on in this battle, perhaps with dire consequences? hmm.)

anyway so if you all are keeping up with the math, and I think you are, it seems like just about every one of the adult pros is either down for the count (Aizawa, Gran), or recovering (Endeavor, Ryuukyuu??), or Might As Well Not Even Be There (a certain TWO OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE STILL IN A TIME OUT AND HAD BETTER BE THINKING GOOD AND HARD ABOUT WHAT THEY’VE DONE. OR MORE PRECISELY, DID NOT DO OR EVEN ATTEMPT TO DO). anyway so all of that means that the only ones actually ready and raring to go here in Round 2 against the newly regenerated and POSSIBLY HAS HIS DECAY QUIRK BACK Shigaraki Tomura are... drum roll...!

okay but FUCK YOU GUYS though oh my god YOU’RE EVEN RUINING THE DRUM ROLL

DID YOU NOT EVEN NOTICE HIS LEG BEFORE?!?!? holy -- can I -- can I please just slap them, I --

anyway so RockLockRock looks like he has something to say here. probably going to tell Deku to take Aizawa and run, as if Deku isn’t the fucking glue holding this entire operation together at this point now that Aizawa is KOed. can you believe these guys are so incompetent they’ve actually got me arguing in favor of the child soldiers now, what even

...fuck

shit. that face. he’s ready to die to give them all a chance. he knows he wouldn’t last two seconds against Tomura and yet he’s willing to sacrifice it all. damn it RLR... okay fine your time out is done now, but I’m still calling your parents

unfortunately, you’ll never believe it, but Deku doesn’t seem all that inclined to listen to this man telling him to bail and save his own skin sob

ngl though I am living for the Enraged Vengeance Deku we’ve been seeing in these last couple chapters. maybe now everyone will stop dismissing him as just a soft boi who always eats his vegetables and doesn’t swear, and remember that in truth he’s actually a mildly unhinged feral child with an infinite pain tolerance and a god-given talent for never listening to any life-prolonging advice that adults give him ever

oop don’t tell me he’s gonna do the Decay thing again, shit

-- uh

“eh?” lmao what the fuck. my boy's torso just opened up like a fucking door hinge and all he can say is “eh.” this fucking manga

like he’s seriously just calmly standing there trying to assess what the heck has gone wrong

you really don’t feel pain do you. “haha lol what why is my arm falling off I thought I fucking ascended”

OH MY GOD

IT’S OCTOBER THIRD. looool the fuck

Tomura. my sweet little S+ ranked death machine with an A rank in knowledge. who’s spent the past 15-20 minutes battling to the death with the number one fucking hero and all his pals. who all just HAPPENED to be there all ready and waiting to fight him the instant he woke up. Tomura. buddy. did it really only just occur to you that maybe something went wrong somewhere along the line. that maybe things were not, in fact going according to keikaku. that maybe the heroes didn’t just sit around waiting for you to finish cooking in your villain bake oven. like please forgive my impudence but TOMURA ARE YOU STUPID, is what I’m saying, I guess. but gently

(ETA: SHIGARAKI TOMURA, WHOSE ARM IS CURRENTLY DANGLING BY A THREAD: “hold up lol what day is it.”)

I really like how Deku’s just crying nonstop this entire time though. but like, you know. crying with RAGE

lol and he’s figured it out as well, and I fucking love the connection his mind made, look at this

sudden feelings of solidarity. “WE’RE NOT SO DIFFERENT, YOU AND I” lmao

AHH MIRKO

how does she still have two legs?? Horikoshi I can’t believe you forgot how many legs your own favorite character has. but anyways yes this has been your friendly reminder that Mirko saved EVERYONE and should have a battleship named after her

okay NOW he’s doing the thing

good job Tomura you finally got them!! good thing none of them can fly, or Float. RIGHT, DEKU

AHAHAHAHAHA YESSSSS

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT. AND A BLACKWHIP/FLOAT COMBO, TOO! TOMURA, YOU WERE SAYING??

(ETA: he even grabbed Kacchan too. “I can fly by myself!” YOU SHUSH MISTER.)

(ETA 2: and what I also love about this is that we know the SIXQUIRKS are seemingly in tune with Deku’s emotions, so it honestly makes perfect sense that in the heat of the moment with Tomura threatening to kill all these people that he cares about, the quirk just basically acts on his instinct to save and doesn’t stop to ask questions. we’re saving everyone, no buts. and he even activates Float at long last, acting on that same instinct. honestly Kacchan had the exact right idea the whole time, all the way back in chapter 217. “it’ll activate when he’s in trouble, right?” exactly.)

NO GRAN STOP NO ONE ASKED FOR THESE FEELS

OH MY GOD

NEVER HAVE I STANNED THIS BOY SO HARD. HOT DAMN

he’s so fucking mad. omg??! omg

okay so I’m gonna try my best to explain why I love this so much lol. all right. so the thing is, it’s actually so rare for Deku to actually take the reins like this. even though he’s the main character, even though he’s All Might’s heir, his personality is such that he genuinely doesn’t mind being in the backseat and is perfectly content to share the spotlight with others, or even relinquish it completely. BnHA has had... how many arcs so far? hold up let me check

-- okay I just checked and it’s 18. so, 18 arcs. and out of all those arcs, Deku has had a solo fight in approximately... five of them. and two of those fights were against Bakugou and Todoroki, respectively, so he was still sharing the spotlight even then. aside from that, he’s fought Muscular, Gentle, and Overhaul (oh, and Shinsou, I guess). that’s it! and it’s been almost 300 chapters! and again, he’s the main character. in a shounen manga. like seriously though, that is wild

and so seeing him here like this on the last page, ready to throw hands with Tomura, presumably while using Blackwhip as some sort of physical barrier to coat his attacks and prevent Tomura from trying any more Decay shenanigans with him? dude. I FELT THAT HYPE. it’s just a really effective way of keeping me from getting Main Character Fatigue like I might get in most other shounen series. because Deku doesn’t get the spotlight all that often in comparison, it still feels fresh to me, especially now with him actually going up against the Big Bad. just, idk what else to say except “hell yeah” lol

anyway, so I don’t even know how long it’s gonna last, and I expect that Kacchan and Shouto aren’t going to be content to just sit back and let Deku have all the glory either (Kacchan in particular is probably frothing at the mouth already), so in all likelihood it’s probably going to be more of a 3-on-1 than a 1-on-1. and it’s also very likely to end with Tomura gaining the upper hand and trying to take OFA! and so in truth this is a very fleeting moment of triumph, and the most premature of celebrations! but even so... damn. and also I just love seeing shounen kids lose their damn minds and explode with angry determination. and I especially love seeing it with Deku, because I love the reminder that beneath that sweet, unassuming nerdy exterior lies a core of fucking steel. that look in his eyes, though. TOMURA ARE YOU SCARED. you should be a little scared, lmao

anyway. so that’s the chapter! and I’m really glad we ended on this note, not just because Deku is a badass, but also because like I was saying earlier, this was about as bad a situation as the good guys have ever been in, and I felt like the manga was starting to lose that feeling of hope that still needs to be there at its core even when things are at their darkest. idk, I feel like we needed this. Tomura got a chance to catch his breath in the last chapter, and now it’s the heroes’ turn. whew

[ceescedasticity]

a terrible, terrible idea I will not be finishing

TMA SBURB session scenario

The setup is that somehow, one of the current main character survivors finds out about SBURB, and comes up with an outlandish plan to force a session and drag the fears into the Incipisphere, thus leaving Earth to return to its original state. Pretend this is a feasible plan. Pretend it comes with a good plan to keep the Reckoning from destroying Earth immediately after it's restored.

The fears aren't going to be naturally inclined to go to the Incipisphere. It has a very low population — I'd be surprised if carapacians and consorts together topped a hundred thousand, though if you count underlings that's probably at least doubled — and even setting that aside some fears are just not well-represented. It's a very sterile place. So, the plan is to fill the "player" positions with people who can provide anchors for the fears and drag them into the Incipisphere, too. Pretend this makes sense.

(That puts us at over twelve players in a session, so I'll be using some original classes and aspects.)

The necessary qualifications for "players" are that they (1) are well-marked but not overwhelmed, (2) can be convinced to cooperate, and (3) are… accessible. Obviously live people are most accessible, but most live people are either overwhelmed and most of the rest are Avatars who are… actually they could also be described as overwhelmed, just in a different way. And the Incipisphere does have that little "dreamself" mechanism, so if they (read: Jon) have a sufficient... trace on a person (read: direct statement, Archive contract, accumulation of indirect statements, or some weird stuff), they can toss them straight into their dreamself, thus reviving them, possibly closer to human than they were before. (Or possibly creating a functionally identical copy. Hopefully no one asks.) Pretend this makes sense, too.

(They didn't attempt to exert any control over which moon people got, or which 'role'.)

Also benefiting from a dreamself: Jon, who barely survived the gross overextension of his powers figuring out how to do this and pulling in the "players" but just dropped upon entering the actual Incipisphere. He's now definitely in pre-coma condition and possibly even more regressed; he's been too disoriented to do much experimenting.

Melanie agreed to be the primary anchor for Slaughter because it's one of the stronger fears in the Incipisphere (the Battlefield and Prospit-Derse war in general mean the carapacians tend to be a good source for it) so they need someone trustworthy in the position. She's monitoring herself VERY carefully. She's also a secondary anchor for Beholding, but there's not any shortage there anyway. Her role according to the Incipisphere is Mage of Breath, Prospit dreamer, Land of Reeds and Whistles.

Georgie can't really anchor anything but End. Which is fine because it's also a fear native to the Incipisphere, and the only one that's a conceivable flight risk since the horrorterrors aren't afraid of anything else. Her mythological role is Sylph of Time, Derse dreamer, Land of Knells and Echoes.

Martin is the primary anchor for the Extinction, which may be a bit player as far as the entities are concerned but which is deeply engraved in the Incipisphere what with the Reckoning and everything. He's a secondary anchor for the Lonely as well as Beholding. His role is Rogue of Blood, Prospit dreamer, Land of Smoke and Craters.

Jon is the primary anchor for Beholding and a secondary anchor for pretty much everything else. (Beholding isn't a major concern for the Incipisphere's natives, but it's a potential issue for players, depending on their awareness.) He hasn't been needing statements, which he hopes is because he's regressed past the need for them, but which is actually because his Aspect is standing in for them. His role is Prince of Light, Prospit dreamer, Land of Sand and Searchlights.

Basira is the primary anchor for the Dark (since Beholding is taken). It's of middling strength, more than Beholding but much less than Slaughter or End; you get some Prospitians and consorts scared of the dark, but usually it's the least of everyone's worries. Her role is Maid of Mind, Prospit dreamer, Land of Pitch and Frames.

Annabelle Cane probably would agree to participate, but no one trusts either her or their own ability to manage her. Mikaele Salesa wouldn't want to interrupt his retirement, and if coerced he might sabotage things. Uh… that Jordan Kennedy ECDC fellow still seemed to have his head on fairly straight, right? He can anchor Corruption. (All of Corruption's strength in the Incipisphere is built on Dersite revulsion for amphibians.) His role is Page of Fire, Derse dreamer, Land of Toads and Hellbenders. (Did I mention how reliant Corruption is on Dersites and amphibians just now.)

At this point we have exhausted our living candidates. So: cast some dead people as players, force their dreamselves to form, maybe give them a nightmare about the post-Change world so they understand what's at stake, and wake them up.

The remaining fears that are really seriously strong in the Incipisphere are the Hunt (players hunt underlings hunt consorts) and the Desolation (meteors and RED MILES).

The Hunt goes to Daisy, who has been rebooted to mostly human in her dreamself and is unsurprisingly very shaken up about everything, but at least she knew about the Change (though she doesn't remember clearly). She's a secondary anchor for both Buried and Beholding. Her role is Haunt of Heart, Prospit dreamer, Land of Tracks and Traces.

Desolation goes to Tim, who is... not thrilled to be alive and conscripted again. He's somewhat mollified by it at least DEFINITELY not being more of the SAME bullshit. He's a secondary anchor for Beholding and Stranger. His role is Heir of Rage, Prospit dreamer, Land of Stone and Ashes. (He really likes the sound of Heir of Rage but isn't about to admit it.)

Stranger goes to Sasha, who is having an odd time of it. A lot of the background information everyone else knows already is new to her, and bringing her up to speed is extra work, but Jon and Martin were feeling sentimental and everyone agreed she'd be a stabilizing influence on Tim. She has MOST of her memories. People have MOST of their memories of her. (The Stranger isn't particularly strong in the Incipisphere because the locals are predisposed to accept any kind of weirdness from players without being bothered. Everything is familiar to them, no matter how strange it should seem.) She's a secondary anchor for Beholding and Spiral. Sasha's role is Clerk of Doom, Prospit dreamer, Land of Masks and Music.

Since the game prefers an even number of players, and it's already established the fourteen/fifteen don't REALLY cover everything, it's more complicated than that, maybe include an anchor for 'Unclassifiable'. Give that one to Gerry. (Jon can't decide whether he should feel guilty about this; Gerry wanted an end, but this definitely isn't life as a book.) (For his part Gerry is in 'this might as well happen' mode.) Gerry's role is Knight of Grief, Derse dreamer, Land of Tomes and Boxes.

The Incipisphere's natives aren't automatically AWARE of being steered, but they are; players always have their options restricted by alpha timeline bullshit; this particular group of players mostly got thrown into it without asking them so may be even more aware of their lack of control. All of which is to say the Web is not particularly weak and they need a trustworthy anchor. They settled on Gertrude and still aren't sure whether it was a good idea. What she thinks of it she isn't saying. Her role is Seer of Space, Prospit dreamer, Land of Webs and Frogs.

To everyone's surprise, Gertrude apparently came with a bonus Agnes. Possibly because they were leaning on her Web connections? Who knows? They set her to anchor Lonely, because even though she never had room for any marks but Desolation before she was definitely lowercase-L lonely. Agnes's role is Witch of Void, Derse dreamer, Land of Smog and Drizzle.

(At this point someone finally figures out lunar alignment is apparently being determined by whether someone has ever signed a contract with the Archives.)

The Vast goes to Adelard Dekker. Vast isn't among the strongest of the entities in the Incipisphere, but there's space involved and theoretically an entire universe, so it has definite potential and needs to be anchored by someone who won't go out of control with it. Adelard's role is Count of Hope, Derse dreamer, Land of Stars and Stairs.

That just leaves Buried, Flesh, and Spiral. None of them are particularly strong in the Incipisphere — you might think the Spiral would be, but SBURB does have its own rules.

For the Spiral, the main thing is they don't want the Distortion. They could try for non-Distortion Helen Richardson, or even non-Distortion Michael Shelley, but if something went wrong then they'd have the Distortion alive again and who knows what would happen. So… uh… hmmm… Oh, Mike Crew had a prolonged Spiral problem! He might not be very happy with the because of… everything, but he could probably be talked into cooperating for his own benefit, right? So he's reluctantly anchoring Spiral, because it's supposed to be temporary, he wants to live, and at least that stupid Lichtenberg figure hasn't showed up. He's also more human than he's used to. His role is Bard of Stone, Derse dreamer, Land of Mazes and Ravines.

And as long as they're giving second chances to dead avatars who probably don't deserve them but who did start out as traumatized children, what about Julia Montauk? She could maybe anchor the Flesh — there were those beating hearts in the shed, and she probably ran into more while Hunting… Okay, Flesh. She's not super happy about the Flesh thing but is more disoriented by being much less Hunter than she has been in years. Her role is Ghoul of Life, Derse dreamer, Land of Ribs and Regrowth.

And finally… okay, they're going to throw Buried at Jurgen Leitner. He's probably marked by about everything, and he was "buried" in the tunnels for years. It's fine. His role is Thief of Strange, Derse dreamer, Land of Pits and Dust.

How does it all turn out in the end? Who knows. Almost certainly no worse than canon will.

[xathia-89]

A Princess, A Tiger and A Dragon Part 2

I’d woken up alone in the bed. It was nearly midday when I got a shower and managed to start processing the issues. Masamune and Shingen would both have lost their contracts due to the behaviour, and it sounded like I no longer had a job as well. My phone wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the bedroom, so I made sure to just get dressed into something that covered everything, before beginning my hunt into the living room.

My phone was plugged in on the side of the kitchen, next to the coffee machine as I began to make a fresh batch. I ran a hand through my damp hair and then saw that my phone had practically exploded overnight.

I had emails, texts and then fifty-nine missed calls.

Most of the calls were from my ex-boss, whilst texts were from new numbers. One had introduced himself as ‘Sasuke’, and that Kenshin had told him to text me to arrange an induction. Another was Yuki who had managed to get his old number blocked, it was badgering for me to get Shingen in and then the last one as an apology saying he had turned up at the office. I plucked Nobu’s text out from the masses, telling me to call him before the end of the day, and then a follow up one from Hideyoshi with the same content. Then some empty threats from my ex-boss about ensuring I would never work again in this industry after the embarrassment caused.

I was going through everything mostly to get rid of the notifications. I sighed and leant against the counter, taking sips of my coffee before the door was unlocked.

My head sharply jolted up to see Nobu and Hideyoshi.

“Coffee?” I offered, a bit stunned to see the two lawyers.

“Your ex-boss is going to be a problem,” Nobu opened straight up. “They don’t want you back in because of someone else’s actions, but then it could technically be classed as your resignation if you agree to it,” he explained.

“Can they not just fire me with the implications of other’s actions then?” I tilted my head to the side.

“No, they need you to have done the offensive,” Hideyoshi explained. “But you could just say you have another job and drop everything,” he sighed, before gulping at the coffee.

“I just need to get the confirmation then off Kenshin, or rather, Sasuke is the guy who text me this morning,” I shrugged, picking my phone up to show them both the text.

I wasn’t surprised when my phone was now in Hideyoshi’s hand and picked my mug back up as I leant against the counters.

“You’re surprisingly calm considering everything,” Nobu brought me out of my internal thoughts.

“Well, there wasn’t going to be much chance of stopping those two really,” I pointed out. “And it’s not like I don’t kind of have a job offer to walk straight in to from all this, so even though they made the mess, they also gave me something from it. And I know their hearts were in the right place when it was all going off, so getting mad at them isn’t going to solve a single thing.”

The CEO ruffled my hair with a smirk. “You’ve come so far from surprising us all at our first visit to the apartment,” he praised me. “You don’t look so young, lost and innocent.”

“I’ll take it that was meant to be a compliment,” I smiled as Hideyoshi reappeared.

“Sasuke Sarutobi is Kenshin Uesugi’s manager, and he’s been desperate for a personal assistant for Kenshin for months. No one has lasted more than a day, and Kenshin has never approved of a single one. Natsuki is the first one that Kenshin has apparently liked the look of, both in paperwork and in person,” Toyotomi stated. “I told him to get over here with the contract and we’ll go over things and then get her ex-boss off everyone’s case with that,” he nodded firmly.

“In that case,” Nobu smirked and picked his phone up to make a call. “We should be adequately catered for.”

Masa had apparently been looking for any excuse to get out of paperwork when the CEO lawyer had made the call. His boss was far from impressed at the situation that he had put the company in, but then again Masa was one of the head chefs and they were never short of clientele asking specifically for the man. They were returning the appropriate funds, and now he had to find himself a job to bring something in when Nobu gave Masa the perfect excuse and outlet. At least with Shingen being a partner in his business, then he didn’t really have a boss to argue with, just his other business, Yuki. Then again both of them appeared to be swimming in demands as Shingen was talented at networking to ensure the business would stay steady.

Sasuke was a slender gentleman, who also appeared to be referred to in the business as ‘Kenshin’s Handler’ for some reason. He managed the events and showings that Kenshin was showing up to, but Kenshin needed a stylist and personal assistant who would overrule anyone on set as to what he would be wearing, and also make the connections for when he appeared at events to ensure that he was wearing nothing but the best. Natsuki learned that she was likely also going to be photographed and would need to be media coverage ready at all times in her life, even when Kenshin wasn’t around.

“The contract sounds fair. No set work hours but that’s the demand of the job,” Hideyoshi nodded as he went through the contract with a fine eye, picking each page apart appropriately whilst Masa had served them all some sake and coffee after the lunch spread. “Hotels, when required, are paid for by Natsuki and then reimbursed in her next monthly pay,” he frowned.

“It’s to save Kenshin getting agitated, especially later on at nights after events,” Sasuke spoke up, carefully swilling the sake. “He has no head for money, he simply lets everyone else deal with it. Technically, I am listed as your boss for all purposes because it will be me ensuring your pay and benefits, but it is Kenshin you will be answering to for your actual work,” he explained. “But you are expected to travel on a whim’s notice, and your passport will always need to be up to date. I will be sorting visas, but you must be able to meet at Osaka airport with a couple of hours notice.”

“Sounds like Kenshin doesn’t worry about a lot of things,” Masa spoke up, eyeing up the manager with a dubious glimmer.

“He doesn’t. He has the funds to not worry, he simply will be paying me and Natsuki to do that,” Sasuke nodded in agreement. “As you can see, there is a handsome salary minus expenses to compensate, and there will be times to holiday of course. Kenshin likes to take frequent breaks, so you will rarely find that you’re working for more than a couple of months at a time.”

I glanced up at Hideyoshi and Nobunaga, who had just finished looking over the contract. “There’s nothing in there we can see that’s amiss,” Nobu nodded to me and slid the document over.

I flicked to the last page and signed my name before handing it back to Sasuke with a smile. “Please just let me know when I’m needed to start.”

Natsuki was away on her first abroad business trip, and the apartment felt more than a little flat as Shingen’s fingers were stroking through Masa’s shaggy locks, the chef’s head resting on his lap. A cup of sake was resting in Shingen’s other hand, and they were both staring into their fireplace with blanks looks.

“She’s back in a few days at least,” Masa broke the silence.

“We should get the rings ready,” Shingen laughed. “And organise to take her on a date to the restaurant near the seafront, she loves it there with the seafood.”

“Maybe,” the chef was a little hesitant.

“She’s not staying with us because it’s convenient handsome, she loves you and me. It’s the same when you walk in from work late, you clearly don’t notice how her face lights up and it’s always a competition between us to see who gets to hug you first,” the carpenter was soothing Masa over, his hand never ceasing in his stroking of the locks.

“Don’t you look at the photos of her in the media with Kenshin?” The chef pouted. “And they all say about how well she aesthetically suits him.”

“Because she spends just as much time attending to her own makeup and wardrobe as she does to Kenshin’s,” Shingen was trying to remove as much of the doubt as possible. “I did tell you to not listen to the gossip rags, mostly because you’ll get upset.”

“She’s shot into the frame and looks like she belongs there,” Masa sulked, turning over and hiding his head in Shingen’s lower abdomen, both men ignoring the stimulation of the carpenter at having his boyfriend in such close quarters after a prolonged abstinence.

“She’s a beauty who works in fashion and now has a job where it gets her properly recognised, I hear that her old company was trying to pay her to return with ridiculous amounts of money and she still refused. Natsuki isn’t the type who gets swayed by looks and the gossip rags, she’ll come bounding back home and it’ll be like she never left,” Shingen smiled down at the pouting male. “I’ll book the restaurant for a couple of nights after her return, she’ll have jet lag and need to catch up on sleep.”

Kenshin managed to look amazing even when we were jet lagged to hell. He had threatened the staff on the airline with many lawsuits because he saw how exhausted I was that I could barely even keep my eyes open the second we boarded the plane, so photos were definitely something I didn’t need to be worrying about. A pair of oversized sunglasses were my only protection when we landed, but they would cover the sins that a change of clothing wouldn’t as we walked through the airport.

Though the bodyguards apparently weren’t doing their job as a microphone was shoved into my face about the rumours I was warming Kenshin’s bed. I merely brushed it aside, not saying a word as Kenshin then pulled me into his protection, glaring at the offending journalist as the bodyguards then closed around us. Sasuke was speaking about being careful about what was published.

“Princess?” Shingen was sounding shaken as I opened the door to the apartment.

“Hey,” I smiled, dropping everything to get my welcome home hug.

“I can’t find Masa,” he whispered, trembling as he was holding me. “He’s not answering his phone, he’s not at work, and I can’t find him anywhere,” Shingen’s head was buried into the crook of my neck after he sat us down on the sofa, straddling me across his lap. “I think when the gossip rags started breeding stuff about a romance between you and Kenshin, it broke him.”

“What did the gossip rags say?” I was panicking.

“There wasn’t any denial from you or Kenshin about the romance, and a photo of you in his arms at the airport,” Shingen sighed.

“Yeah, a journalist had just broken through the bodyguards and shoved the microphone in my face,” I replied, my nails starting to dig in to Shingen’s back. “You don’t think,” I paused, and then both of us looked at each other. “His dad always was stubborn,” I could barely get my words in order, and I was willing to bet we both looked a state as the carpenter grabbed the car keys. There was only one pace for us as we headed for the garage.

[mosylufanfic]

All-Nighter

Reaction for a throwaway line and something I felt was missing in Run Iris Run

ETA: I don’t know what’s happening with the quotation marks, I swear when you click thru to the whole thing it’s normal. *glares at Tumblr*

All-Nighter

It being five in the AM, Cisco thought he'd be the first one in. But when he swung into the cortex, the light in Caitlin's lab was on. Her terrible hunched-over position and scowl of concentration told him she was ears-deep in something complicated and frustrating, and there was a fifty-fifty chance she would snarl like a bobcat if he interrupted her.

“Heyyyy,” he said, because he liked to live dangerously. “You're here early. When did you go home last night?” She'd still been working when he'd left.

She lifted her head. “Hmm?”

“Uh,” he said, taking in her Star Labs sweatshirt and yoga pants, swapped from Iris last night, the raccoon-smudginess of her eye makeup, and the four mugs scattered around her lab with varying levels of stone-cold coffee. “No. I'm wrong. You're here way too fucking late. You didn't go home at all, did you?”

“Time'zit,” she mumbled.

“Time for Cait to go to sleep,” he said, going over and trying to pull her up by her elbows.

"Noooooo," she muttered, resisting. "I've got to keep going, I -"

"Need sleep," he said.

"Coffee," she said, looking around. "I just - coffee. I'll be good."

He shifted his morning latte out of her reach. "No. Coffee will prolong the altered state of consciousness that's killing your brain cells one by one. Sleep will be good."

She looked up at him. Her lip trembled. "Nothing works," she said piteously. "I keep trying different things, modeling them in the computer, and I can't figure out how to replicate what Melting Point did or-or-or how to reverse it - "

He hugged her around her shoulders. "You'll figure it out," he said, grabbing the back of her chair and steering her away from her computer. "After you sleep. You want to sleep up here or use Ralph's sweaty futon?"

She made a face. "Disgusting. Up here, please."

"Okay." He wheeled her chair next to the hospital bed. While she kicked off her shoes and pulled herself up into the bed, he pulled the curtains and sang under his breath. "Rock-a-bye Caitlin, in the med lab - "

She snorted, and he turned to see her burrito'd up in the blankets. "You're very sneaky," she informed him.

"Me? I am nothing but open and honest at all times."

"Sneaky," she yawned. "Pretending like it was already a foregone conclusion and I just had to choose which way to do it. The nurses used that technique when I did a rotation in pediatrics."

"Act like a toddler who doesn't want to go to bed . . . "

She growled into the pillow, yawned again, and snuggled further into the blankets. "Wake me up in two hours."

"What was that you said? Four hours? I'm thinking more like six."

"Two hours!" she yelled after him as he shut the door behind him.

He wasn't planning to go in and wake her up, but he also wasn't surprised when the door to the lab clicked open exactly two hours later and she padded out in bare feet, hair a frizzy mess and eyes heavy. They'd seen each other in worse states, so he just double-checked that Ralph was at the other end of the building and didn't know Caitlin was about to get in the shower.

Killer Frost would probably freeze Ralph's gonads if he tried to "accidentally" walk in on Caitlin, but they didn't have time to kick his rubbery ass today. They all had shit to do.

She came back in twenty minutes, in one of the spare Star Labs sweatpants and shirt from the locker by the showers, with her hair all wrapped up in a towel. For a moment, he hoped she was planning to get some more sleep, but she said, "Is that coffee for me?"

"No, they just put your name on it for some reason," he said, passing it over. It was hot enough to toast his fingertips through the cup. When he'd walked in and said, "I need Caitlin's usual, the biggest size you have," the barista had rung him up for a giant latte with two shots of hazelnut without even having to think about it. There were advantages to being such regulars.

"Thank you so much," she said, sinking into his extra chair. She took a deep drink, closing her eyes and visibly letting the caffeine seep through her veins. Without makeup, she looked even more tired and worn down.

He turned back to his project on the screen. "Hey, I had a look at what you were working on last night." It had been in her open server, which meant it was fine if he looky-looed.

"Any thoughts?"

"We have a deal," he said, making some adjustments to his design and considering the effect. "When it gets into high level DNA and whatnot, my main contribution is fixing your centrifuge. But it looks like you're exploring a bunch of options."

She sighed and took another deep drink of coffee. "I don't think I can do it," she said, staring at the lid, flicking her nail across the little notch in the lid.

"You just need some more - " Time. Data. Miracles.

"I was running ideas through the modeling software all night. Nothing. I can't do it. I can't reverse it." Her hand clenched around the coffee cup, her nails digging into the cardboard sleeve. "I said I could and I can't."

He leaned back in his chair. "Are you going to start howling and throwing things and calling yourself too stupid to live because you couldn't replicate a DNA swapping meta's powers overnight?"

She gave him a long, cool look. "No."

"Good. Because we put up with enough of that nonsense from Harry."

She set her cup down. "True." She eyed him. "Although two heads are better than one, and yours is the best one I know, so if you were to help Harry - "

"Flattery will get you everywhere except there," he said. "Not happening. I've told you this."

"Then maybe I should help."

"Are you out of your mind?" She was working herself to the bone trying to figure out Melting Point's powers, and she wanted to add more on top? No way. Not on his watch.

Plus, Cisco could handle the sneering, condescending way Harry talked in the lab, because he'd refined the art of snapping back. Caitlin acted like she could take it, but it got to her. He knew it did.

She still looked like she was about to go downstairs and offer her help, so he said, "You've been working your ass off this year to prove you're a good little teammate and you're valuable enough to keep around even with Killer Frost in the mix. Stop it. You don't need to prove anything."

Her jaw worked. This was the closest they'd ever come  to acknowledging the load of guilt she carried around with her. Her suspicion that nobody had really forgiven her for last May, not really. Her conviction that they were all just waiting for her to betray them, or disagree with someone too vehemently, or simply not pull twice her weight for a split second, and she would be out, gone, booted from Star Labs.

Cisco waited for her to respond.

"I need more information," she said. "More data points. Is Frye in Iron Heights? If I study his DNA and compare it with Barry's - "

Okay. They weren't going to do it today.

"Or," he said. "We could find Matthew Kim and ask him to swap them back himself."

"Do you think he can?"

"If he can't, you'll still have him here to study."

"That's true," she said, but she still looked doubtful. "Cisco . . . "

"Mmm."

"What if he can't? And I can't. And this swap is permanent?"

The idea fell down between them like a stone - an irreversible change to the fabric of Star Labs. To who pushed and who pulled, who ran out into danger and who stayed behind, keeping a cool head and considering the big picture.

It had been weird yesterday, with Barry here during a situation. Cisco didn't know whether that was a weirdness he could get used to or not.

"I don't know," he said, fiddling with a few details. "Iris seems to be doing okay. She trained hard and she jumped into the field even if she wobbled some." He changed a panel's shape, looked at it, changed it back. "Did she say anything to you when you were patching her up?"

"We talked," Caitlin acknowledged. "She was pretty shaken by what happened up there. I think she's enjoying the speed in some ways, but sort of like a vacation, you know? Something new and novel. I don't know if she'd want to do it forever."

"Poor Barry," Cisco said, thinking of Barry's face as he watched Iris run, purple lightning crackling around her. "Sucks to be him right now."

"Yes, it must be hard," Caitlin said. "Disorienting."

He considered her, remembering that the few times she'd pushed back or said no this year had mostly been related to letting Killer Frost out. "Hey," he said. "If we get Kim in here - would you want him to take Frost off your hands?"

"No," she said immediately, without hesitation.

He blinked. "Really."

"You thought I'd say yes?"

"Frosting up still isn't your favorite thing ever, you have to admit that." She was stepping up more easily these days, but he still saw her setting her jaw as she did.

She turned her cup on the table. "First of all," she said carefully, "Killer Frost has never worked quite like any other meta. So I don't know if Melting Point's powers would even work on me. Her. Whatever."

"Okay, say they did."

"Then the issue is different. It's not like the powers dissolve or something when Melting Point takes them away," she said. "They get transferred to the next person he touches. What if you suddenly got an evil alter ego? Or Harry?"

Reverb, Cisco thought, and pushed that away. "Alter-ego Meta Harry might actually be nice."

"Or even meaner." She sipped her coffee again and shook her head. "No," she said. "I don't like having her here, exactly. But I'm learning how to handle her." She grimaced. "And getting to this point has been bad enough. Someone else would start right at the beginning. So no. I wouldn't want Melting Point to give Killer Frost to someone else."

Interesting way of putting it, he thought, but said aloud, "Fair. Very fair."

"What are you working on?" she said.

Subject: changed. "So I got to thinking this morning. Iris is going to need a suit of her own if this keeps up for very long."

She made a mournful face. "My sweater was trashed, it's true. All smokey and torn - Iris felt so bad."

"Yep. So I pulled up Jesse’s basic Flash suit, made a few adjustments and - " He turned his monitor so she could see.

"Purple!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Cuz of the color of her lightning," Cisco said. "You like?"

"Yes," she said. "Oh. That's a great color on Iris."

"It'll do for a Version 1.0," he said, sending some of the components to the 3-D printer and hitting a few buttons to whip up some dye for the suit material.

She tipped up her coffee and drank the last few drops. "Okay," she said. "I need to do my hair and makeup, and then get back to work."

He leaned down and grabbed a plastic bag. "Hey, I grabbed you an outfit."

"From where?" she asked, taking it. "I've worn all the extra outfits I have stored here."

"Your place. You remember when you gave me your key so I could water your plants?"

"Did you really use the key?"

"No," he said. "But I figured it was carte blanche to breach in when you needed something. Was that okay?"

She wrinkled her nose at him. "I'll answer that when I gauge the cuteness of the outfit you picked."

"I think it's very cute," he said cheerfully. "But hey, you could hang around all day in Star Labs sweats if you want." He started to reach for the bag.

She clutched it to herself. "I'll make it work," she said, and headed for the bathroom. "Thank you!" she shouted over her shoulder.

"Anytime!" he yelled back, already pulling out the suit material and his faithful dress form.

As he pinned and tacked the Iris suit together, he wondered what Caitlin would do if there was ever a chance to lose her Killer Frost side for good.

FINIS

[canaryatlaw]

okay well, today was mostly good, though with one noticeable negative incident but it was at least isolated. got up at 6, same deal getting to work and such, I was able to find out some critical information about a case right before I had it up in court that partially made me want to bang my head against the wall repeatedly, but other than that actually made my job going forward easier, so I can’t complain too much, just the sheer incompetence of people sometimes is mind blowing. so court was over very quickly, made some phone calls and did some writing motions and such, and then got drafted to take an EOP up so helping with that took most of the afternoon, whenever I do that the clients are always the nicest people, and this poor woman was just so shaky and had been crying pretty much the whole day, but we were able to get her up to a good judge (arguably the best one to get for EOPs, but I was just relieved it didn’t go to one of the bad judges who would probably rip into her over something stupid and case the woman to have a whole breakdown on the spot), I was able to do all the questioning and kept it controlled so I was pleased with the result of that. there were some complicating factors going forward so when I gave her my business card I wrote my cell number on the back and said if she needed anything outside of business hours she can just give me a call or shoot me a text. so that was at least fulfilling. I have another case that’s supposed to be up for hearing next week but apparently the dude got arrested today (on like, serious charges) so that’s gonna be a whole fiasco to deal with. but yeah, work day ended up fine and I left the courthouse at 5. and here’s when things get sticky. TW for stalking/harassment. When I was walking the like, two blocks from the courthouse to the train, I became away that a guy was following me and had started yelling things at me. at first I just told myself I was being paranoid and it was probably something else, but then it kept going and I had my earbuds in with music playing but I was able to make out some of what the comments were and they were definitely directed at me. This whole time I didn’t look back or give any indication that I knew he was there. I was hoping once I got to the train at least he would stop, but he fucking followed me down into the train station and through the fucking turnstiles, yelling things at me all the while. Once I got down to the train I was pretty sure I was able to lose him and got on the train, but I switched cars at the last second just to be sure, and once we left the station it was over. I don’t normally get too flustered over things like that but it was just so prolonged and scary I ended up being really shaken. and of course since I work in a courthouse I can’t have mace or anything like that on me. I do have a “personal alarm” on my keys that makes a super loud noise if you pull it, but like, it wasn’t like we were the only people there, there were a lot more people milling around, and I mean if I ever needed to I could just scream which would probably be louder than the alarm anyway because I can scream really fucking loud. but anyway. obviously there wasn’t anything I could do as far as reporting to the authorities, I didn’t even look at the guy so while I’m sure I could convince the cops to give me a police report (because I’m white and they give police reports out like candy to white people) but it would literally have no effect on anything so it really isn’t worth the effort. Slightly strange I guess, but in the moment I suddenly had a lot of contempt for my dad, which I think is drawn from our little text spat the other day with him once again defending his republican voting and I really just wanted to call him up crying and yell about how he helped create the culture where this kind of thing is becoming more and more common, and how incredibly hurt I am that he would know his vote would make me suffer things like this and he did it anyway. sigh. I may still bring it up to him at some point, hopefully in a bit of a calmer manner, but I am inevitably going to get angry about it if I did talk to him about it. I guess I’ll think about it. I’m debating making a facebook post about it too and tying it in the end to the culture of sexual harassment that has been created by certain politicians who don’t see to view women as human beings. sigh. anyway. train to the bus was fine, met up with friend for dinner and did have a nice and relaxing meal, so that was nice. home after that, watched the new episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that had been recorded, then switched over to netflix and watched some new episodes they had of a food show I’d watched the prior episodes to, so I put that on for a while while being on my computer until I decided to shower and start getting ready for bed, and now I am here. I do get to sleep till 6:30 tomorrow which is nice, but it’s already past midnight and I was really dead tired today, so I should really be getting to bed now, so that is what I’m going to do. Goodnight my friends. Happy Friday.