#but they’re also not innocent and light has literally no ability to pick a solution in between ‘do nothing’ and ‘kill them’

[quicktimeeventfull]

its like. the specific energy of watching people get arrested for being unhoused but knowing it is actually literally legal for people to threaten to kill you when you walk down your street as long as they do not specifically say those words, that’s what i think a NA adaptation could very easily play off of.

unironically though. i think every day of what a north american adaptation of death note could be like if they didn’t make the baffling choice to whitewash it, and i think light getting death threats every tenth time he goes outside but also receiving the model minority treatment at his school and workplace would lend a different and useful weight to his decision to use the death note. same with matsuda and light’s conversation about kira protecting the weak and afraid. idk!! i think it could be good and complicated and interesting. it could engage really usefully with both the existant themes of death note and the divergent context of the new setting.

[djinmer4]

Rasputin’s Model 3/? (Lovecraft AU)

“This is fascinating.  Here, the two of you need to take a glance at this.”  Kitty and Jubilee shared a glance.  They’d come for Jubilee’s follow-up appointment, not to participate in one of Hank’s experiments.  Still, McCoy was definitely one of the saner adults around, it probably wouldn’t hurt to look.

“Beast, what should we be seeing here?” asked Shroud.  The scientist had set up a terrarium in his lab, with about a dozen small plants.

“Do you remember the blood samples I took from you earlier this month Kitty?”

She nodded.  “You said all the tests showed up negative, and that you couldn’t see anything unusual under the microscope.  Just that all the cells had turned black for some reason.”

“Yes, then you told me about Jubilee consuming some in your spar.  Given Ms. Lee’s sudden onset porphyria, I wondered if there might be a causal relationship.  So I exposed some Brassica Rapa to your blood.  Now look.”  Kitty and Jubilee didn’t know what Brassica Rapa was, but they would lay money down that it wasn’t supposed to look dark brown, purple and black with red veins, nor have spikes growing everywhere nor be moving around.  Hank dropped a pair of beetles in, and two of the plants stabbed the insects and dragged them into their pots.

“Despite demonstrating no other alterations than refractive spectrum, your blood has developed mutagenic properties.  I do believe that consuming it has caused Jubilee to evolve a secondary mutation.  Jubilee, you should spend some of your leisure time in the Danger Room, to see what other abilities you are now expressing.”

Kitty turned and walked out of the room.  Beast watched after her, dismayed.  “Kitty is quite good at interpreting my explanations on a regular basis.  Did she not understand this time?”

“Probably better than I did,” said Jubilee.  “But what I got out of it is that I’m turning into a vampire because I swallowed some of her blood, is that right?”

“That’s vastly oversimplifying but essentially correct on the main premises.”

“Right then.  I’ll go talk to her.”  When Jubilee got out, Kitty was right there, on the floor, curled into a little ball with her face smushed against her knees.  The younger Asian girl sat right next to her.  “You know it’s not your fault, right?  I don’t blame you.”

“From the sound of things, you should.  It’s my blood that made you this way.”

“You didn’t even know anything had happened when we sparred.  Just promise me you’ll be more careful where you bleed in the future.”

“I will.”  Kitty looked up at the other.  She hadn’t cried, but Jubilee could tell it had been a near thing.  “We should go back and listen to the rest of Hank’s speech.”

Jubilee helped her up.  “Yeah, I hope he’s got a solution for how to keep this from spreading.  Otherwise, you’re going to end up behind a desk again.”

Piotr had a new canvas this time.  No black paint, no velvet.  This time, it wasn’t going to become a new image of horror.  Something light.  Or maybe holy.  Yes, that was it, he’d paint a cathedral.

He kept to lighter paints, white, gold and ivory, with just a little dark red and black to show the background and the sky.  The stars he didn’t bother to pattern, just letting the white fall where it will.  He also drew a small figure, clearly human, carrying a torch to illuminate the interior details of the cathedral.

“Painting again?  Living on the wild side are we?”  Shroud must have just finished her workout and showered.  Her hair was still damp, but her clothes smelled clean.

“This time I didn’t let my imagination run away with me.  Just man, exploring cathedral at night.”

“Okay, fine, I’ll look.  But if this turns out to be one of your horror scenes, I’m going to have to ask you to stop for a while.”

“Nope, completely innocent.”  Kitty came around and smiled.  “Oh, I don’t recognize anything at all!”

She spent a few minutes admiring the painting, careful not to touch the still wet paint.  But the longer she looked, the less she smiled until she almost seemed fearful.  “Piotr, what type of structure is this supposed to be again?”

“Cathedral?”

“Why does it appear to be made from bodies?”

“какие?”

“Look at the pillars.  Look at the lintel above the door.  They’re all in the shape of people!”

“I don’t- maybe it’s carved like that.  Some houses of God do that!  Or maybe it’s ossuary so people could still be with church!”

“One face is turning away from the light.  Another has eyes open and it’s pupils following.  A third is smiling at it.  I don’t think statues would be carved at just the right angle to react to a torchbearer.”  Now that she had pointed it out, he could see the same things.  And some others- “Is that a tail on the wanderer?”

It was.  A tail and tentacles reaching back and forth from the wanderer to his lighted staff.  Piotr resisted the urge to just throw a bucket of paint on his work.

“I think I should stop painting for a while, Katya.”

“I agree.”

“I don’t know what it is, Paige.”  Beast grasped the younger girl’s hand carefully between his gloved fingers.  “From your description, I thought it was cancer but all the tests came back negative.”

“Is it some sort of parasite maybe?  Something I picked up from our last mission in space?”

“No, the tests state that it’s still your body.  Still your own DNA.”

“If that’s true,” she wailed.  “Then why am I developing tentacles!?!”

“I don’t know.  Did you happen to spar with Kitty before this occurred?”  The blonde shook her head.  She hadn’t seen the other girl since before the mission in Germany went to hell (literally).

“Then all I can recommend is that you cease the use of your mutant ability for now.  You said the blot increases every time you dispense with your epidermis.  Maybe if you discontinue its use, the canker will recess.”

“But I can’t.  I can’t.  I can’t.”  She ended up so hysterical that McCoy had to sedate her.

Scott ignored the whispering.  Careful observation had proved the voices were all in his head.  None of them sounded like the people he lived with, so it was easy to distinguish the paracusia from reality.

The rivers of blood flowing down the walls and the corpses covering the ground were much more difficult to discount.

“Jean a quick scan, please.  Have all of the AIM agents been neutralized and is everyone alright?”

Phoenix raised her hands to her head and closed her eyes for a second.  “McCoy reports few injuries to the students and staff.  Darwin and Marrow each got shot but received First Aid, and the operation to remove the bullet from Marrow was a success.  Darwin has healed himself and is currently assisting in the clean-up.  All other injuries were along the lines of bruises and broken bones, so he says everyone will be as good as new in a few weeks.”

She frowned.  “Most of the AIM agents have been neutralized and are here except for three.  Rogue is bringing an unconscious agent down from the roof, Iceman-”  Someone ran by them, dumping a frozen body on the ground.  “-killed his target.  And Logan is chasing the last one into the woods.”

“Well, let's dump these guys into their van.”  Scott followed words with actions, while Jean assisted with her telekinesis.  Once that was complete, he and Jean followed Logan to pick up the last one.

When they got there, they saw Logan hunched over the body of the AIM operative.  “Jean, do I hear chewing?”

She frowned, then activated up her fiery halo.  “Yeah, I hear it too.  Logan.  Logan!”

No response.

“Wolverine, report!”  Scott’s voice cracked in the air like a whip.

That caused the Canadian to respond.  He dropped the body on the ground, jumped up and turned to face them, giving Scott a professional salute.  “Yes, sir.  At 2000 hours-”

Neither Scott nor Jean heard a word he said.  Instead, they stared at the body Logan had been cradling.  They could clearly see the bite marks, that started at the throat then went down the chest until they reached the torn open belly.  From the ragged hole, the bitten off entrails were also visible.

Jean averted her eyes from their teammate, but Scott kept his gaze on Logan, his hand hovering by his visor.  “Logan, what you just-”

“Logan?  Who’s Logan?”  The genuinely confused look on the shorter man’s face stopped Cyclops words in his throat.

Scott took a deep breath and coughed to regain his composure.  “Jean, have Kitty and Piotr call Yana as soon as we get home.”  The redhead nodded, stunned into silence.