#defeated the evil somewhat demonic ‘king’ check

[fieldsofvarley]

the inquisition was to solas what travelling with the hero’s party was to frieren

[siriannatan]

A random thing

I was going through my files and found a couple of very similar fics so I mashed them together and finished that and here is the result...

AO3

(I might be considering posting the whole thing at once...)

In the past several hundred years he's lived Scott has never regretted something as much as going on a two years long self-imposed exile leaving Rivendell to his recently no longer possessed by evil demon older brother. It just made sense, Xornoth was the older one and Scott ruled for so long and needed to practice his ice magic now that it got a lot stronger with gods blessings and all that... Apparently, Xornoth hated ruling enough to just run away leaving the place to the council. The council saw fit to not tell anyone about there being no king on the elven throne. They actively hid that little piece of information.

And they had the audacity to try and kill him when he arrived to check up on things and maybe offer some advice. Being tired of them even before he left he did the most logical thing and froze them and left the resulting statues in his front garden. A little warning if anyone annoyed him. His decision was shockingly popular among the elven populace. Or maybe they were just happy to have stability? 

Eh. Not that anyone could complain seeing that the Lord Emperor's crown was currently fWhip's and he was known for hanging his councils. And creepy head displays his dragon brain apparently craved. Scott was not too shocked the damned crown moved from Katherine to fWhip. Just that there wasn't a big war about it, just a simple duel. At least according to what he heard from Katherine herself when making rounds to re-establish himself as a ruler. Leaving fWhip for the last visit just... because of preferences. And history.

What shocked him much more was finding the Cod Empire deserted. Logically he went to see if maybe Lizzie knew where he could find Jimmy. She had no idea. Jimmy just one day said he and his empire would be hiding for a bit in the deepest caves under the swamp, with passages too narrow and complicated for any of the Ocean Empire's merfolk. She grumbled something about cod gods being weird and Scott was on his way to visit the last person he ever wanted to see - Lord Emperor, Count of Grimlands, fWhip.

Grimlands has not changed at all in the past two years. Dark roofs and walls. Citizens were too busy with whatever it was they were doing to pay much attention to a winged elf dressed in blue white and gold. He luckily found a guard that somewhat reluctantly led him to fWhip's town office. And even more, reluctantly left him alone with the count when ordered to leave with a snappy command from behind the door. With a heavy sigh, Scott walked in. 

fWhip didn't change much. The Lord's crown was awkwardly askew on his head due to his horns. His wings grew a bit since they spontaneously sprouted out after the ender dragon was defeated. His jacket was carelessly tossed over a couch in a corner. And the redhead himself was pouring over a thick stack of papers. Luckily for Scott, he seemed too busy to keep Scott for all that long. He looked quite tired when he looked up at Scott.

He could not miss fWhip's famous crossbow mounted over the fireplace and the thin layer of dust on it. Or a table of half-finished contraptions and weirdly orderly organised tools. He remembered from visiting fWhip's workshop it was not an organised space. More of an organised mess where no one but fWhip knew what was where. Why did he even have his tinkering stuff in the office if he had a workshop?

"Oh... You're back... Is your brother still in charge or are..." fWhip asked flipping through some of the piles of paper on his desk. Scott guessed he did his best to not show how glad he was to have a break from all the papers.

"I am, since Xor ran away to Joey's and left the council in charge, they kept that a secret, of course," Scott explained the situation. "I froze them since they tried to kill me."

fWhip nodded, briefly glancing at the pile of papers. "I'm going to assume it was longer than at most two days ago?" he asked and Scott nodded. "I... I apologise I was rather busy lately. Being Lord Emperor comes with..."

"I know, I wore that crown once," Scott stopped him. A bit colder than he intended but he did just find out his best ally - friend if he dares to say - was hiding in a cavern for some Cod-Cult reasons. And he did wear the thing some two hundred years ago. And never wanted to repeat that... "I hope you heard about the Cod Empire pretty much vanishing?"

"Yes. Jimmy sent me a letter. Something about tradition and religion," fWhip sighed. It was clear that Lizzie already bothered him about it, and a lot too. "I'm sure he'll be back eventually, maybe even soon, he has been gone almost as long as you were, after all," he added as if it wasn't big news. He probably assumed Scott already knew. 

It took all of Scott's self-control to not ask more questions. Worry and almost fear washed over him all at once. Did Jimmy do something dumb because he left? Maybe it was just some cod tradition and had nothing to do with Scott? Maybe Jimmy didn't want to worry him? Could he have been hoping to be done before Scott was back? Could be... 

"I'll be going home now, I took enough of your time, Lord Emperor," Scott would be the first to say it was a bit stiff but his relationship with fWhip was nothing if not stiff, cold and awkward.

fWhip did not even try to keep him and soon Scott was on his way back home. He skipped visiting Joey and Xornoth for now. He was tired and had a country to run. A country his brother all but abandoned for a second time and Scott needed to get back in order after nearly two years of advisors and council members backstabbing each other and everyone else.

It was weird to be in Rivendell Castle and not have the council and advisors nagging him. It also meant he had to do some more work on his own. He slightly regretted sending maids to gather all the paperwork from his advisors and councilmen while he was out. It meant, once he had his afternoon tea and dainty cakes, Katherine was nice enough to invite him in for lunch, and he had no excuse to not start working. At least a lot of it was just looking over paperwork and deciding what he needed to keep and what could be used to warm his castle.

Big chunk was just back-and-forth letters between the now garden statues. Some would need him to talk to other rulers and people in town. Yet others were nonsense ideas he could just toss away and burn. There was still a big chunk that needed his seal and signature to be ratified or cancelled and brought to how it used to be. Some just put away n proper spots in the archive. In short, he was faced with several piles of documents, letters and other paperwork he needed to look through. He was never this glad to fully control the new levels of ice magic Aeor blessed/ cursed him with than when the maids kept warm tea and snacks coming and tended the fire.

It was several hours into the night and only two out of five paper stacks later that he decided it was not worth losing sleep over and requested for a bath and his bed to be readied. He'd at least get the bed himself but he was tired from the trip back, and all the visits he had to make. It was just not an option today. And he still had to preen his wings even if he could hide them with magic, only perk of being a god's chosen champion and having boosted magic. He really wished Jimmy wasn't in some damp cave at the moment. Scott would not mind getting Jimmy's help with preening... Maybe fWhip... No. He was damn busy with even more stuff than Scott ever was as Lord Emperor.

The next morning gave Scott a lot more energy to work. Having couple of years of a break in being a ruler, for the first time in the five hundred years he's lived. Even a pile of fresh mail did not deter him from looking forward to having a productive day. At least until he started opening it while waiting for breakfast. The maids forbade him from cooking.

His enthusiasm dropped as he looked through the letters. He had a week, only one week, not even a full week, just five days until the rulers meeting at Grimlands. Then there was a whole bunch inquiries about trade routes he already looked through or was about to today. And... The mage's tower said that through the past two years since Demon Xornoth was defeated and by extension Exor, elves started showing signs of magic. Apparently, the advisors and council ignored that fact. Scott wondered if it was because of the Cliffs. Gem would not like him having a magic school. Even if elven magic was very different from other races.

It used to be all elves had magic. Until about a hundred years before Scott was born that is. No one knew why but Scott, and the few remaining elven mages in the tower, theorised it was because of Exor. Not all elves were talented mages of great powers but still could use simple spells. Gem would hate it so much but Scott needed his citizens to be safe with this new power and would not send them to Gem. She had no idea, with all due respect, how elven magic works. 

"Maybe I can get to fWhip before she finds out?" he wondered as breakfast was served for him. "I could explain it..."

"Sir? Your brother and Emperor Joey came for a visit?" a guard broke him from his thoughts over a jam-filled puff pastry. Scott was the Elven King and could have dessert for breakfast if he so desired. 

Scott sighed. Of course, they already found out he was back. "Let them in," he shrugged. He might have been a bit cross with his brother but he'd not just send him away. He was still his brother no matter how upset Scott was. And he gave him a proper pretext to freeze his council and advisors.

"Just got back and already redecorating?" 

Scott barely looked up from his letters and food as he heard his brother's voice. "That's the council and advisors, they tried killing me," he said as if he was talking about the weather. Which, speaking of it was nice and pleasant day, perfect for another flight to the Grimlands. "Sorry I didn't visit yesterday, they left a big mess behind," he sighed just realising something. "Mia?" he called one of the maids.

"Oh... Sorry about that..." Xornoth muttered hiding behind Joey. "They kind of freaked me out and... I'm not a good ruler..."

"Obviously," Scott nodded as a maid came in with a polite 'yes sir?' "I'll be visiting lord emperor to talk about one thing, I'd like the last two years brought from the archives for review. And if there is a time I'd appreciate if all of those and the other remaining paperwork could be segregated by type and date, I think it might make dealing with it easier. And maybe any old laws about magic and anything that was added after it vanished? But that's low priority," he listed out all the things he could think of to make his life easier. "Get as many hands as you can, we need all the papers in order before the meeting," he waved the letter with fWhip's seal.

"We'll get to it as soon as we can," the maid bowed and left to inform fWhip he'd be having a guest.

"Back not even a day and already working so hard?" Joey cringed with a sigh. 

"As I said, the advisors made a big mess, the faster I have it under control the better," Scott shrugged.

Joey and Xornoth didn't stay long, they stopped on their way to discuss something with Sausage and Scott was glad for that. It gave him some time to get presentable to visit fWhip and gather all the thoughts on the matter he needed to talk about. He just hoped fWhip would listen to him. And that no one else was visiting him this early into the day. Like his sister for example...

Once he has eaten and was presentable enough Scott flew off towards Grimlands taking in the freedom of not having to have to tell any councils or advisors where he was going, why, and for how long. It felt nice. Maybe he wouldn't need a break as badly as he did if it was always like that. fWhip had a good idea of getting rid of his council.

All the relaxation from the flight was gone as soon as he landed. He wasn't here for fun but to talk about important things. And this time guards were a lot less hostile, almost instantly leading him to fWhip's office. The power of sending a warning letter? Or... Gem already knew and bothered fWhip about it? That could be bad... All his worries got pushed back a bit when he saw fWhip. The count looked very tired, with even messier hair and clothes more crinkled than the last day. Yawning widely as he drank something Scott doubted was tea. "Hello Scott, you got here fast..."

"I... I think I might have missed your message," Scott chuckled awkwardly as he took a seat. Gem certainly already noticed something. "I was coming over anyway to talk about an important thing happening at Rivendell." 

"How about you go first? In case it's the same thing?" fWhip offered leaning back. Scott caught a slight glance towards a clock above the door. The tinkering table was, as far as Scott could tell, just as dusty as it was yesterday. If he was honest... it seemed like fWhip himself didn't really leave his chair.

"Well... In the past six hundred years no elf was born with magic and now all the elves in Rivendell are slowly getting magic. Both I and the few mages we still have, think it had to do with Exor being defeated and all that," Scott had no reason to hide anything. "The thing about elves and magic is," he continued as fWhip remained silent. "It's different than with humans. Most elves have very little magic, just enough for some lights and sparkles, not all elves have a lot of talent... I'm worried how Gem might react."

"Elves won't be too eager to train at the Cliffs, not that they can fit every elf ever..." fWhip muttered.

"And elven magic is different from human magic as we saw with Gem trying to train me," Scott quickly added. It would seem that fWhip was leaning toward his side. "We have few mages still alive, elves live a long time, they can teach the populace how to control it and pick out anyone with a talent and help them further...."

"But Gem won't like you basically having a magic school..." fWhip sighed. "I must say, your idea is much better... Especially since... When do even young elves develop magic?"

"Some as young as barely two are already showing signs and my mages are secretly teaching their parents how to cope. The council was sweeping it all under a rug... Why I had to go to Gem with my magic problems, they would not allow me to meet the mages. Law stuff to keep them safe," Scott said, pulling out a copy of the mages report. "All we know is here. And I'm willing to modify any laws to do with magic..."

"That's good. And if we mention children, as much as I hate doing that, we might have Katherine and maybe even Pearl on our side, this will need a discussion at the meeting, Gem will not have it any other way," fWhip nodded, noting something furiously. "Honestly, this is great, Lizzie and Gem have been fighting about mages for ages..." he sighed. "You just might have given me a solution," he gave Scott a tired grin.

"Sure, it's important for me too so..." Scott fumbled a bit. He was used to fWhip's mischievous smirks, not tired smiles. "I... I should probably go back to cleaning up the mess I came to... let you rest a bit."

fWhip chuckled a bit sadly. "Yeah, rest, sure, will do that," he nodded but instantly came back to work.

Scott hated to just leave while fWhip was overworking himself but he himself was guilty of doing exactly the same, for like three hundred years too. So he'd be a hypocrite if he did. He wasn't Jimmy, he was no good at helping others or even caring for himself, not without maids... Or Jimmy... He missed him a lot more than he thought...

The flight back and cool, mountain air helped him calm down before he dove back into the even bigger now mountain of papers. There were so many he had to move to what used to be the council meeting room to have it all there and available. While working on all that he also started quiet preparations for 'magic school'. Nothing Gem would notice but enough to not waste time and fWhip was apparently taking his side. 

It took him pretty much all the time he still had to finish with all the paperwork, and there was nothing new from fWhip, but he managed to have an early evening the night before the rulers meet. He was slightly sad there was still no news on Cod Empire or Jimmy. Well... at least Scott was immortal meaning he had all the time in the world to wait...

[taeyongdoyoung]

summary: you are a mermaid and you save a handsome man from drowning but little do you know it’s not his first rodeo when dealing with mermaids. seonghwa, a former prince, is currently hongjoong’s first mate and boyfriend. hongjoong is the captain, the pirate king of the most savage crew across the seas. and you want nothing to do with them. not because they’re pirates, but because they’re humans…

ship: mermaid!reader x prince/pirate!seonghwa x pirate!hongjoong

genre: little mermaid!au, pirate!au, fantasy, romance, fluff, implied smut, angst

warnings: some swearing, a lot of making out, cliffhanger bc im evil

word count: 1.5k

chapter one ☠️ chapter two ☠️ chapter three ☠️ chapter four ☠️ chapter five ☠️chapter six ☠️ chapter seven ☠️ chapter eight ☠️ chapter nine ☠️ chapter ten ☠️ chapter twelve ☠️ chapter thirteen ☠️ spotify playlist 

You kept marvelling at your new legs and kept running around the deck like an excited puppy despite Hongjoong's loud protests.

"You'll break my ship, dumbass," he joked.

You stuck out your tongue at him.

"Deal with it," you giggled.

And before you could react, he was coming towards you in a somewhat threatening manner.

"Sorry, sorry, I take it back!" you took a step back, admitting defeat.

Suddenly, Hongjoong grabbed you by the waist, swinging you in the air so that your legs couldn't touch the ground. You squealed in surprise and yet, couldn't help but feel warmth for him. Despite the past, he'd still come for you and your sister. He'd still tried his best to help you out and eventually, he'd accepted you into his little family. And for that, you would be forever grateful.

"Come on, put me down already," you chuckled, playfully hitting his chest.

"You'll stop running?" he tried to reason with you.

"Why do you mind it so much?" you pouted.

"It's distracting."

"Unless you have a better idea of what to do with my legs."

"I might have something in mind," Hongjoong smirked.

But apparently, he had no intention of putting you down despite your objections. Soon enough, he carried you into what you assumed was his shared room with Seonghwa. And landed you right in Seonghwa's lap much to your amusement.

"Hi," you mumbled awkwardly the second your eyes met Seonghwa's.

"Hey," your beloved answered.

"Splendid," Hongjoong mused. "Keep her occupied, will you? And don't let her sprint across the damn deck."

"Why? Where are you going?" Seonghwa asked.

"Does it matter? I can't get anything done around here," he sighed.

"Can't you stay here with us?" you suggested without thinking twice about it. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait."

Hongjoong rolled his eyes.

"Fine. My productive day has been ruined already."

You stretched your hand out to grab Hongjoong's and pull him closer.

"Don't be such a buzzkill," Seonghwa teased his boyfriend.

"Or what?"

"Or...I'll have to teach you a lesson," Hwa warned.

"Ugh, you're both so annoying," Joong muttered under his breath.

"Care to repeat that?" Seonghwa whispered darkly.

Hongjoong shook his head. Wise man.

"That's what I thought."

You laughed and wrapped your arms around Hwa's neck.

"Don't give him such a hard time, love," you asked quietly. "Our captain has been doing so good lately, hasn't he?"

"Hm, I suppose you're right," Seonghwa agreed. "But I don't want to let him off the hook so easily. I mean, where's the fun in that?"

You and Seonghwa exchanged a meaningful look and immediately turned your attention to Hongjoong who looked vaguely uncomfortable, sitting next to you two.

☠️☠️☠️

Hongjoong's POV

Okay, I was completely done for. These two were going to be my ruination. Even the deal with that demon suddenly seemed less intimidating than their intoxicating presence. The way Seonghwa carried himself with so much grace and how he was capable of commanding everyone so easily...The way Y/N was capable of turning her playful stare into a menacing one in less than a second...If I wasn't so turned on, I would probably be terrified. The most savage pirate king of the seas made weak by a former prince and a mermaid. It was almost comical.

Seonghwa murmured something in Y/N's ear. Something I couldn't quite hear. She grinned wickedly and oh, how badly I wished I hadn't come here and just let her run like a kid around the stupid old deck. But it was too late now so I had to face the consequences for my actions.

Y/N moved away from Seonghwa's lap and approached me slowly, sitting on my legs instead.

"W-what are you doing?" I inquired in shock.

"Does it matter?" she said, mirroring my words.

"You're the one who asked me to stay here," I reminded her dumbly.

"So what? You agreed, didn't you?"

"And I'm starting to regret that."

"Aw, really?" she replied in a slightly mocking tone. Then, Y/N began stroking my hair ever so gently.

Damnit, I probably wouldn't admit it out loud, but it felt quite nice.

"You like that?" she wanted to know cutely.

"Y-yeah," I couldn't help it. So much for my pride...

After that, she completely took me by surprise and kissed me. Not like before. She kissed my lips and I wasn't sure why it was happening but I was fairly certain I didn't want it to stop.

"Does this feel good?" Y/N asked eventually. I was literally gasping for air and she had the audacity to call it good. This was so much better. It was heavenly.

"Mhm," I managed, not capable of doing justice to the reality.

Somehow, I had almost forgotten that Seonghwa was right there! Observing us...I wondered what was going on inside his head. Was he enjoying this? I broke eye contact with Y/N to check his expression. He looked utterly transfixed by what he was seeing. And a small part of me was telling me that Seonghwa was probably the one to suggest this in the first place. What amazed me was Y/N agreeing to it.

"Oh, don't mind me, just keep going," Seonghwa, upon noticing my distraction, ordered us to continue. And honestly, I would be a fool to argue with him.

"Where were we?" I pretended to have forgotten.

"I believe I was kissing you and you were having a jolly good time," Y/N reminded me boldly.

"That's an understatement," my response was barely audible but she probably had superhearing or something, judging by the immediate smirk that graced her face.

☠️☠️☠️

Seonghwa's POV

I couldn't believe my luck and yet, I was utterly overjoyed by it. They were right here. The loves of my life. And they were kissing happily. It couldn't get any better than that, could it? They were so beautiful...I spent a couple more minutes marvelling at Hongjoong and Y/N making out at a slow pace before I intervened greedily. I pulled her into a passionate but quick kiss, then, my mouth found his, as well. And so, I kept switching positions in order to give them equal attention. I didn't want either of them to feel neglected for I believed myself perfectly capable of pleasing them both. My two loves. Finally together. It was too good to be true.

"Fuck, you're so gorgeous," I panted in-between the thousands of kisses and squeezes and touches.

"Which one of us?" Hongjoong wanted to know cheekily despite the fact that he probably suspected what my answer would be.

"Both of you, silly. Of course, it's both of you," I insisted.

"I think Cap will agree with me that you're the most gorgeous around here," Y/N teased, tracing a finger down my neck.

"For once, we're like-minded," Hongjoong backed her up.

"It's not a competition," I chuckled. "But thanks, I guess."

"We're only speaking the truth," she winked at me.

"Suck-up," I scolded her playfully.

"Hey, that's no way to speak to a lady!" Hongjoong reprimanded me as a joke.

"Since when are you her knight in shining armour?" I exclaimed.

"Since I tasted her lips."

"Boys, boys," Y/N interfered. "Less talking, more kissing. Please and thank you."

I shook my head in amusement, completely infatuated by her. And him.

"Who put you in charge, hm?" Hongjoong tickled her belly energetically.

She shrugged, trying to escape his fingers.

"Captain Y/N has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Little devil," he kept stroking her sides as Y/N cried out.

"Children, children," it was now my time to interrupt the conversation. "I believe we were previously occupied with a far more pleasant activity. Kiss me if I'm right but—"

Neither Y/N nor Hongjoong waited for a second invitation and they took turns melting their cute little lips into mine. It was almost too easy to keep them wrapped around my fingertips. Soon enough, all clothes disappeared somewhere, I didn't even care where, and the three of us found more than comfort in each other's arms...

🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️🧜‍♀️

Reader's POV

A while later, you woke up from a much needed nap but there was still some time before the sunset, so you figured it wouldn't do harm to spend a couple more minutes lounging in the company of Seonghwa and—

"Where the hell is Hongjoong?" you voiced your concerns out loud. Seonghwa opened his eyes rightaway and looked around in confusion.

"Shit, no, no, it wasn't supposed to happen so early."

"Seonghwa, relax! What do you mean?" you asked. Seeing him so panicked was beginning to worry you even more...

"Let's check around the ship before we jump to conclusions," Seonghwa replied, trying to be rational.

"What conclusions? I don't understand what you're talking about," you mumbled in confusion, already putting on some clothes.

"He wouldn't just leave after what we did...He wouldn't," Seonghwa was not making much sense as the two of you were shouting Hongjoong's name, looking left and right for him, all across the ship. But to no avail. He was nowhere to be found. "I think that he took him."

"Who took him?" you were growing terrified.

"The demon."

To be continued…

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

Whumptober 27: Okay, Who Had Natural Disasters On Their 2020 Bingo Card?

Earthquake

This one was an absolute delight to write. I just love this type of fic. Thanks to LovelyStressedPrincess for feeding me ideas and writing a couple of the paragraphs.

Summary: MK wakes up to an earthquake. At first he writes it off as paranoia, but as the day progresses, he can't help but feel like he's been here before.

Trigger Warnings: serious injury, mild self harm

2537 words

MK woke up to the world shaking. Books were thrown from his shelves, various trinkets going everywhere.

Oh shit, was this an — earthquake. The word left a gross sense of deja vu. 

The earthquake stopped almost as quickly as it started.

Warily, he dressed himself, praying there wouldn’t be another one. This had been rather tame for an earthquake.

He hurried downstairs, not wanting to be late for work.

When he saw that the shop, too, was a complete and total mess, he couldn’t help but be a little bit relieved. 

In the calabash, nobody but him had been affected by the “earthquakes”. This meant that it had actually been real.

Thank god.

“Kid, are you okay?” Pigsy asked.

MK snapped out of his thoughts. “What?”

“The earthquake, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said.

Pigsy seemed satisfied. “Good. Let’s get started on cleaning this mess. I won’t have customers thinking we’re slobs!”

MK laughed breathlessly. Yeah, that was definitely Pigsy. There was absolutely nothing to worry about! Everything was all good.

An hour later, the shop was totally spick and span. Luckily, the earthquake hadn’t done too much damage.

From there, MK went on with his job, delivering noodles to people all across town. Rush hour had traffic, and there were no free samples.

Still, the earthquake had him on edge. But there was nothing to worry about. He was sure there was nothing to worry about.

The day proceeded to be almost painstakingly average. No horrible demons attacked, and he didn’t have to deal with any Karens at work. It was just… normal.

Almost suspiciously so.

At the end of his shift, Mei showed up. That was odd, wasn’t she supposed to have been busy? He could have sworn she was doing something today.

“Are you ready?” She asked, bouncing on her heels.

“Uh… ready for what?”

Mei laughed. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

“Forgot…?”

“That event the arcade is holding? You know, the one we’ve been talking about for weeks?”

MK’s blood went cold.

There was no event. He’d never made plans with Mei. He was sure of it.

He would have remembered if he had, which meant… no, no, this was the only strange thing that had happened, it didn’t mean anything…

But what if it did?

What if he was trapped again? What if this was all fake? The earthquake, the complete and total perfect normalcy of the day… 

Okay. Alright okay, there was an easy way to figure this out. He just needed to check for his staff.

Mei watched, looking somewhat concerned, as he reached for the staff. Only… it wasn’t there.

“Where’s the staff?” He asked, panic beginning to set in. 

“Locking away DBK,” Mr. Tang supplied from across the room as he slurped down his noodles. “Are you feeling alright, MK? You look a little… ill.”

He had never done that. He’d never defeated DBK, not for real. It wasn’t true. They were lying to him, none of this was real.

“I’m fine,” he squeaked, backing away very, very slowly. 

“Kid?”

He snapped around, coming face-to-face with Pigsy, who looked just as concerned as the other two.

Oh god, he was being boxed in, they were going to hurt him, they wouldn’t want to let him leave.

He forced his breathing to slow, and he gave the most natural smile he could muster. If he could convince them that he wasn’t onto them, he could buy himself some time.

“Everything’s good!” He said. “Sorry, I dunno what got into me! Anyways, I should probably make this last noodle delivery! I’ll be back soon for our thing, Mei!”

“If you’re sure…” Mei finally said, looking unconvinced.

“Please, I’ll be as quick as a bunny! You know how great I am at noodle deliveries, after all,” he said, as if he thought the concern was him not making it back in time. If he just kept playing dumb, everything would be fine. He just needed to get away.

He grabbed the bag of food, getting into his cart as calmly as possible. 

Almost there almost there almost there.

Finally, he deemed himself a good distance from them. He didn’t know to what extent the demons had control over this… realm? Pocket dimension? Illusion? But he had to figure this out quick, before they realized he knew what was up.

Still, he couldn’t stop the panic from growing. Everything was so much more natural than last time. Had he not been here before, he probably would have just written it all off as a bump on the head.

But he knew better. He wasn’t stupid.

He came to a stop on the side of the road, putting his head on the steering wheel.

He needed to go. But he needed to stop. Why was he freaking out so much? He’d been here before, this would be a piece of cake. 

But his breathing refused to calm, and he was pretty sure he was going to vomit.

Deep breaths, he demanded of himself. Deep. Breaths.

“MK?”

He looked up, his knuckles going white from how hard he was gripping the wheel. 

“Monkey King,” he greeted stiffly, swallowing down his fear.

“Well that’s a little formal,” he laughed.

MK just looked at him, ignoring his comment in favor of trying to determine what to do. Fake or not, Monkey King was too strong for him to fight. Especially without his staff.

Monkey King frowned. “You seem—”

Agitated, MK thought with a growing sense of dread. He was going to say that. Jin and Yin were just taunting him, they were playing with him, they were letting him know—

“Worried.”

Instead of comforting him, MK only felt the sense of nausea swirling in his stomach get worse. They had gotten smarter.

That wasn't good.

“Mhmm,” he agreed, not trusting himself to speak.

“Did something happen?”

Besides being trapped in an evil artifact again? Besides the fact that the world around him was completely and utterly fake? Besides knowing that everyone here was nothing but a lie?

“Nope!” He forced out. “Just had a long night!”

He needed to get his staff he needed to get out he needed to run.

“Anyway, I’vegottodeliverthesenoodlesbye.” He didn’t give Monkey King a chance to stop him, speeding off in his cart as fast as it would take him. By the grace of the heavens, he didn’t follow him.

Okay. Tang had said his staff was on the mountain. He found it a little odd that the demons would put it right back where it had been last time, but hopefully that would make it easier for him. If last time’s experience had taught him anything, it was that he would have to be fast.

He didn’t know how quickly Jin and Yin would send his “friends” after him. He glared at the street. Friends. They were nothing but empty shells, puppets on strings. That may have been the most cruel part of all. Trying to make him believe that the people he loved were real.

Focus MK. Just get to the mountain.

He could do this.

He continued to drive, trying hard to force all other thoughts out of his head. It was hard to not think about things when you were thinking about not thinking about them.

It was hard not to focus on the fact that he was trapped in a tiny world controlled by two people who were intent on destroying him, who were holding his life in their hands, who were manipulating and playing with it like putty, who wanted him to suffer and not know it until the very last moment.

Tears pushed at his eyes. It wouldn’t be like last time. He’d figured it out way faster, and now he was going to put an end to it.

This didn’t help to calm the panic.

Jin and Yin had done a better job this time. They were smarter. This could only mean horrible things for him if he let it go on any further.

He pulled to a stop again, squeezing his eyes shut. He just needed a minute. He just needed a quick minute. Everything was gonna be fine.

He covered his eyes with his hand, as if it would block the tears. It really only served to make his hand wet.

Shakily, he ran his other hand through his hair, flinching when a sharp burst of pain came from it. 

Carefully, he touched that spot again. There was a large, really fucking painful bump. When had that happened? He didn’t remember hitting his head… 

Whatever, he could worry about it later. Right now, he needed to pull himself together and get the hell to the mountain before he was caught.

He couldn’t manage to stop crying, but the tears had at least slowed enough that he felt he could drive again. His vision was only slightly blurry.

Just as he pulled up to the construction site, his phone rang.

“Um… hello?” he asked, cursing himself when he choked up. Fuck, now they would know he’d been crying.

“Kid? You okay?” Pigsy asked from the other end of the line.

“I’m—” so scared “fine.” He forced down a bitter laugh. They really had gotten smarter. A worried phone call instead of all his friends randomly showing up to stop him from taking back his staff, yeah, that was clever. But he wasn’t stupid. He was going to get out of here, and he was going to go home.

“Okay, great, care to tell me why this tracker app says you’re hanging around at that construction site instead of doing your job?” Pigsy asked, sounding somewhat annoyed.

“I’m not stupid!” MK yelled, unable to hold himself back. He all but flung himself into the elevator, directing it down. “You can’t keep me in here this time!”

“What?”

“You can’t trick me that easily again!”

“Kid, hold on, I’ll be right there—”

“Don’t even try it!”

He hung up, glaring at his dark phone screen as the elevator continued to descend.

And then, out of nowhere, it stopped.

“Come on, you stupid piece of junk!” he begged, “Work!”

Oh god. He’d given himself away, and if he didn’t get to the ground in time, they’d catch up with him. Fuck fuck fuck, he was so stupid, why had he done that?

He looked down, weighing his options. He couldn’t jump, not without his staff. He’d break something for sure.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. He kicked the wall of the elevator as if that would do something. 

He was a sitting duck. For a few, dreadful minutes, he sat there, contemplating his options. He was going to throw up.

“MK?” he heard.

No.

“Are you here? Pigsy sent me since I was already nearby.”

No no no, he wasn’t letting not-Mei ruin everything.

“MK?”

He covered his mouth, hoping it would quiet down his breathing. He couldn’t make a sound.

He heard Mei fiddling with the lever of the elevator. “Move, you stupid…” she gave it a kick, and then it started to move. Up.

No!

He didn’t have a choice. He forced the gate open, tumbling out and to the ground. 

The resounding crack echoed loudly.

“MK, oh my god!”

He scrambled to his feet, whimpering through the pain, limping frantically for the staff. Almost there, almost there—

“Kid, stop! What is he doing?”

“He’s going crazy, he just jumped from this thing!”

“Holy shit, MK, stop!”

He tuned out their words, forcing back the tears and the pain. Almost there. Just a little closer—

Someone grabbed him.

“No!” he screamed, wrenching himself from their grip. They only grabbed him again.

“MK, bud, take a deep breath. Can you do that?”

Monkey King was here why was Monkey King here he wouldn’t be here if this wasn’t all fake. 

“Let me go!” he screamed, twisting out of his mentor’s hold once more, barely making it two steps before he fell to the ground.

His not-friends were surrounding him.

He couldn’t breathe, they weren’t going to let him get to that staff, he could barely even think through the pain, he needed to move, but he couldn’t.

“Give him some air!” Pigsy demanded, pushing Monkey King to the side as he kneeled beside MK. “Kid, look at me.”

MK squeezed his eyes shut tight. “You c-can’t trick me, not again,” he whispered.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb! I know! I told you I know! Give it up already!” he sobbed, clutching his leg.

They were trying so hard to save this, it was almost pathetic. They’d gotten Pigsy just right this time, too.

He loosened his grip on his leg, slowly sitting up.

“Hey, hey, be careful—”

He bolted. He shot to his feet and ran for the staff, holding back every scream and every sob. He could hurt when he was free.

His fingers brushed against the staff—

He was yanked back.

Mei was there, holding her blade. “We can’t let you do this,” she whispered.

“You can’t stop me this time!”

He threw a punch, actually managing to land a hit on her. She looked shocked and horrified and scared all rolled into one.

“MK,” Tang said, approaching him with his hands up, as if to show that he wasn’t a threat. “You need to calm down so we can look at your leg.”

MK had to give the demons props. Tang really did look scared. 

“Stay. Away from me!”

Mei put a hand on his shoulder. “We just want to help,” she insisted.

Without thinking, he kicked her with his bad leg, nearly falling to the ground himself with the pain. Still, he scrambled for the staff once more.

Monkey King forced him to the ground. “Enough!” he shouted.

MK didn’t listen to him, crying so hard from the pain that he couldn’t see straight. He kicked, and screamed, and fought, but Monkey King, real or not, was so much stronger than him. He was helpless.

“Just kill me!” he sobbed, thrashing in Monkey King’s grip. “Just kill me!” he begged again. “I know that’s what you want! Just do it!”

Monkey King recoiled. “Where would you even get that idea? Kid, it’s me. I would never want you to be hurt. But you’re hurting yourself by doing this.”

MK thrashed harder, his sobs making his whole body shake and tremble. His leg twisted in the wrong way.

He screamed, the sound ripping from his throat painfully. His breathing picked up, he was hyperventilating again, get off him get off him get off him he needed to get out please let him go he wanted to go home he wanted to be in reality again.

“We need to get him to a hospital,” Tang said, from somewhere to his right.

“Mei, call an ambulance,” Pigsy said, looking over MK worriedly.

“No!” he sobbed, weakly fighting back. It hurt so much. He was beginning to get tired. “Let me go, kill me, please…”

“Help is on the way, bud,” Monkey King said.

In one last attempt, MK reached weakly for the staff, even as darkness began to overtake his vision.

He had been so close.

[ryuutchi]

Dearest Yulegoat [Mirrored Yuletide Letter] 

[General]

To start with, if you're writing fic for me, I love you. I'm going to be happy just to be able to share my fandom love with someone. You'll notice I throw a lot of ideas out-- feel free to take one, take many, take none. I know how hard it can be to settle on an idea once the assignments come in. So I'm offering a bunch of options that I will enjoy. None of these suggestions are hard and fast requirements. They're here to give you an idea of what's going on in my head and what my preferences look like. My current blog is ryuutchi, over on Tumblr. I can't promise it will be helpful, but in the interest of helping with the stalking process, feel free to check me out over there. I like: Plot, adventures, banter and dry humor, happy endings, over the top AUs (steampunk, noir, organized crime, rum-runners, harems...), casual physical intimacy, emotional interdependency, bad decisions and poor coping mechanisms, hurt/comfort and whump-with-comfort, loyalty and morality confusion, worldbuilding, identity porn, questionable healthy attachments, seeking out physical affection, accidentally caught feelings,  power-play, porn, gen, slash, femslash, het, any rating you feel comfortable with (for violence and/or sex), bittersweet things that are heavy on the sweet, Happily Ever After/Happily For Now endings I don't like: Deathfic, gratuitous angst, character-bashing, introspective character pieces, five times fics, mommy/daddy kink, A/B/O universes, contemporary social issues as the main focus/issuefic, sad or hopeless endings. (Also the standard DNWs: scat, watersports, necro, mpreg, homophobia, transphobia, etc) No Game No Life - Kamiya Yuu: Sora, Shiro The Series: They are both NEETs and Hikikomoris… but on the internet, the genius gamer siblings Sora and Shiro are known as the undefeatable “__” (blank). Sora and Shiro’s talents and skills are so abnormally good they are considered as urban legend.  One day, they are challenged by the god of games to chess and are victorious. As a result, the god summons them to Disboard, a reality which revolves around games. Intent on maintaining their reputation as the undefeated gamers, Sora and Shiro plan to conquer the sixteen ruling species and to usurp the god of games... NGNL is a series of light novels, of which 6 have been translated (PDFs can be found here, or bought legally at any online bookstore). The No Game No Life anime can be found on Crunchyroll here. Request: The fact that Shiro and Sora literally cannot be separated from each other is one of the dynamics that I like about the series. I really enjoy codependent siblings as a Thing. So I would be happy if you played with that dynamic. Plotty gen for this series would be great-- it's always fun when one of them is much better than the other or they have to separate and execute plans while relying solely on the intuition of what their sibling will do. Alternately, someone kidnapping Sora and Shiro having to play a game to get him back while they both battle their inability to get anything done alone... I'd love background on them, where they tried to separate or were forced to separate and failed to function, or where one or the other tried to interact with other people (maybe a gamer who tracked them down) but were either terrible at it, the other one quietly sabotaged the budding relationship,  or the third person got way too freaked out by the way Sora and Shiro act around each other. Future fic would also be great-- King/Queen Blank or even the Gods Blank, after they've beaten Tet. What does that look like? What kind of world are they making for themselves and each other? I ship them, but do not expect other people to, so if you want to write shippy fic (with aged up Shiro!!!) for them, I will be surprised but happy. I will happily admit to wanting kinky sex games. Extra Details: For reference, I've read through volume 8 of the light novel, watched the anime and the movie. I am not precious about spoilers for this series, so feel free to use later information. I know this series isn't everyone's cup of tea, with the sheer amount of fanservice and Sora's utterly otaku personality and the pseudo-incest thing with the 12 year old. Personally, as is probably obvious from the request, I'm less interested in the fanservicey characters, and much more about the dynamics of Shiro and Sora's relationship. I love the way they know exactly what the other is capable of and trust each other completely and whole-heartedly. Whether you write something small and domestic or big and plotty, for me the core of NGNL is that they love, care and respect each other in a way that is beautiful but also extremely unhealthy. If you want to go the shippy route, again, Shiro needs to be aged up appropriately-- it's always been interesting to me that Sora understands that it is inappropriate to sexualize his underage adopted sister, while Shiro goes out of her way to help sexualize other women for Sora's entertainment. There's a part of me that wonders if she's planning ahead for when she is old enough to be an "appropriate" (in age, if nothing else) sexual partner and is trying to get Sora to lose his virginity ahead of time. selector infected WIXOSS: Aoi Akira, Igarashi Rumi | UlithThe Series: WIXOSS is a popular trading card game in which players battle against each other with fighters known as LRIGs, using cards to support them. Certain LRIGs are able to communicate with their owners, and the girls chosen to wield them are known as "Selectors". Selectors are given the chance to have any wish granted by winning battles against other Selectors, but should they lose three times, their wish will be reversed into a curse instead. The main series, selector infected WIXOSS, follows a girl named Ruko Kominato, who becomes a Selector after receiving an LRIG that she names Tama. As she and various other Selectors battle it out for the sake of their wish, Ruko finds herself drawn into the dark, sinister world of WIXOSS, discovering that, win or lose, there is always a price to pay. The anime can be found on Funimation here Request: So, you know how in my "general likes" I said I don't like "gratuitous angst"? In this fandom, there is no such thing as "gratuitous". Darkfic is absolutely welcome here. The thing I am most interested in here is the manipulative, awful relationship that Akira has with Ulith-as-Iona. Like, I love them all, and for some reason in this fandom, that comes out to "please break them". Exploring their adult lives and how their relationships and the Wixoss game affected them in the future would be amazing. What else happened to them? What are their careers like? What are their home lives like? Are they... living together? Does some sort of magic continue to be a theme in their lives? Feel free to write in-universe plot or no-powers universe, or some horrible Madoka or Yurikuma Arashi  or other magical girl thing, where they can all be horribly manipulative lesbians together because that's magical and wonderful. OTOH, if you want to write codependent-but-vaguely-functional adult Akira and Iona/Ulith being horrible assholes and having adventures of some sort (magic, detectives, idk) that is ALSO A+. I mean, I like happy endings, and if you can come up with something heartwarming (or "heartwarming") I'm not going to complain. Extra Details: Evil lesbians are Problematic, I know. But Akira was one of my favorite characters from the word go and (if you're paying attention to my fandoms as a whole) I really really like codependent or unhealthy relationships. I love her love/hate relationship with Iona and with Ulith, and the way those two characters sort of get mixed up for Akira specifically. If you want to play with Iona and Ulith's personalities and interactions as well, that would also be pretty fun. I'm also down for other types of AUs, like they have to get their shit together and track down someone who is killing Selectors, or they become selectors as adults and not girls. I know they're young, but given that this is a super-fucking dark canon, I am totally cool with dubiously consensual sex either on or off-screen. FANDOM: Yoroiden Samurai Troopers | Ronin Warriors (Shuu Rei Fuan | Kento Rei Fang, Mouri Shin | Cye Mouri) The Series: Ronin Warriors, known in Japan as Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (lit. "Legendary Armor Samurai Troopers"), is a Japanese anime series and manga adaptation created by Hajime Yatate. It's the story of five teenage boys, given mystical armor to protect the world from the evil Arago. 1000 years ago, Arago nearly succeeded in taking over the human world when Kaosu managed to defeat him. Although Arago's soul is banished to the demon world, his armor is left intact. Kaosu divided the armor into nine separate armor suits. Each armor will choose its bearer, and together they will fight Arago. At least that was the original intent... Although Arago manages to corrupt four sets of the armor, the last five remain safe. It's a bit like Power Rangers, only grounded in more serious traditional Japanese cultural trappings. Being created in the 80s, the art style is a little wonky, but it's an enjoyable thriller and is somewhat more focused and serious than a lot of sentai shows. The anime can be found on Crunchyroll here Request: I love Shuu/Shin with Shin being snarktastic and Shuu being smug and solid and dependable. I used to frequent the Minkland archive back when this fandom still kinda existed, and was forever disappointed that the skinny pretty boys got tons and tons of fic and Shuu was just sort of there in the background. (If you used to read Mink and Jink's fic, I will be so happy I could cry if I got that sort of cracked-out porny fic with Shuu, okay. Due to that formative influence, if you want to GO FOR THE AU, GO FOR IT WITH GUSTO. I've always wanted nanshoku/samurai AU. Or, you know, hooker fic, or dark!troopers fic, or harem fic or something like that. I also like found-family fic, gen-ish mysteries and adventures-- more fighting Massive Cosmic Evil, and curtainfic. Futurefic is also awesome, where they get on with their lives, maybe together or maybe trying to keep their friendships intact when there's no massive Cosmic Evil to keep them close. Extra Details: If you used to read Mink and Jink's fic, I will be so happy I could cry if I got that sort of cracked-out porny, possibly AU fic with Shuu, okay Fics I especially enjoyed from that archive: The Grand One The Clit Club Chronicles The Harem Vinyl Wagashi Cherry Zima Threesome Theater of Magic Due to that formative influence, if you want to GO FOR THE AU, GO FOR IT WITH GUSTO. I've always wanted nanshoku/samurai AU (see this image). Or, you know, hooker fic, or dark!troopers fic, or harem fic or something like that. My usual ships are Shin/Shuu, Shin/Ryo, Touma/Seiji and Ryo/Nasuti. But I multiship and am willing to run with anything-- I'm a Sex With All Teammates sort of person, so fivesomes and alternate pairings are not a problem for me. Dragon Prince Trilogy - Melanie Rawn: Ianthe of Princemarch, Sioned of River Run The Series: To blatantly steal someone else's review on Amazon: "Melanie Rawn created a world and a people that gives everything you could possibly want in a fantasy world. It gives love, hate, peace, war, magic, royalty, commoners, children to take over the next generation and best of all; dragons." I want to say "if this wasn't the matched fandom you should go out and read them right the fuck now', because I have read these books So Many Times.  They're high fantasy novels about politics and the prince of a desert and magical people who communicate via sunlight and can conjure fire. AND DRAGONS. Also a lot of interpersonal and romantic maneuverings. It's a high fantasy politics and romance romp of somewhere ~550 pages. If that sounds interesting to you, pretty much every used bookstore I have ever been to has at least one copy of these books. I think they spawn on bookshelves or something. The books are also available in ebook form here (Kindle) and here (Nook) for 3 bucks. Please read them. (TW for rape in the first book) The Request: I love everything this series chooses to be. It's fun and cheesy and fantasy, which the best thing in the world. I've always thought that Ianthe had a serious hate-crush on Sioned and part of the reason she was so vicious and fucked up was that whole "you must marry a guy and expand the empire or your useless" thing when maybe she didn't want to do that. Ianthe's always been one of my favorite characters because she's brilliant and ruthless and clearly takes joy in clever plans that go well. Of course, being the villain in a cheesy fantasy, she got no depth whatsoever, aside from that whole sexually liberated, taking male consorts thing (which is AWESOME, okay.) Sioned is also awesome and brilliant and kick ass. Her hesitance in the first book while she decided what she really wanted to do was pretty great, as was the fact that she promptly made friends with Tobin and pretty much every character not designated "villain". It seems like up through Ianthe's death, they're playing a game of brinkmanship. (Which isn't to say I don't like Sioned and Rohan together. They're bookTP and totally awesome.) As for prompts, I normally prefer plotty fic to introspection. I feel like the whole sunrunner thing lends itself well to espionage, so political thriller, or murder mysteries or something would be great. If you want to do plot-what-plot involving these two-- either sex or just the sort of dancing around/pigtail pulling that would be great. Threesomes with Rohan-- also acceptable! Hell, if you want to do an AU where they end up together instead of Sioned marrying Rohan-- or alternately, an AU end to the trilogy, where Ianthe never died in the fire and ends up taking over as High Princess and making the Desert monarchs' lives hell and discovering her powers. Or something where she knew about her powers all along. Or Sioned, I don't know, realizing she kind of did think Ianthe was attractive. I also really enjoy Pandsala, but I didn't find her dynamic with Sioned and Rohan quite as engaging, even though she also did some bad-ass stuff in the long run. Her weird push and pull backstabby, politicized sisterly thing was interesting, though. Extra Details: Okay, like I said, I think this series is the cheesiest fantasy series in the WORLD and in a lot of ways it's one of my first nostalgia fandoms. If you haven't read them, they are kind of ridiculously long (Like, GRR Martin-long), but they're quick reads despite that and rather less depressing than a lot of high fantasy. It's silly in the way that "adult fantasy" that takes itself way too seriously can be. A lot of the main protagonists actively enjoy each others' company and that's as much integral to the book as the politics and dragon-slaying. That said, I kinda asked for a semi-serious plotty story. But if you want to run with the "it's cheesy fantasy" and want to write about Ianthe rescuing princesses or Sioned running away to be a knight and abducting Ianthe away from her toxic father, or something silly, I say get down with your nerd self and run with it. I've only read parts of the second trilogy, and the second generation aren't really very interesting to me. If you want to write future-fic, I would prefer that it continues to focus on the original generation (no matter how much I love Andry, Pol just seems like kind of a jerk).

House of M - New X-Men: Academy X: Any The Series: I'm surprised it took me so long to nominate and request this fandom. I love New X-Men and was GUTTED when Decimation forced them into killing off so many of the characters. If you've never read it, New X-Men: Academy X was an X-Man title in the mid-00's, focusing on entirely new students at Xavier's Academy, being taught by the more established characters. Some of the New X-Men have managed to escape and become general Marvel characters in their own rights (David Alleyne, for example), but for the most part, they were just teenagers at school who rarely got caught up in larger plots. 616 New X-Men were about teenagers fighting, and coming to grips with the fact that they're being raised and taught to go sacrifice themselves for a Greater Goal. They're all wonderfully, horribly traumatized teenagers with powers. The plots were fleshed out and realistic, and when they weren't they were still interesting or fun. This request isn't technically for that. It's for the House of M megacrossover from 2009. Wanda Maximoff, mutant reality shifter and sometimes-crazy-lady, decided that mutants should run the world. SO THEY DID. And suddenly the lives of our young students become very different. Half of them after still "New Mutants", working towards peace, and the others are "Hellions", SHIELD trainees in a violently anti-homo-sapien state system. I've always felt that House of M as a narrative concept has been dismissed too easily by Marvel fans, because there are so many pieces of worldbuilding left unbuilt. I'm most interested in seeing it from the eyes of younger participants who are being trained or have been trained for their places. What does that world look like? New X-Men: Academy X can be found online here: https://viewcomics.me/comic/new-x-men-2004. The House of M crossover runs for issues 16-19. The Request: There's a lot here to play with because the authors never really got to play in either the Academy X OR the House of M sandboxes long enough to do all of their ideas justice. So I'm going to lay out some of the stuff I liked most about NXM in general and HoM in particular. The nom is for HoM, but I think HoM is most interesting in conversation with the standard 616 universe, alongside having the fun YA action stuff and the complicated interpersonal relationships. For example: in 616 Josh joined the Reavers and pretended not to be a mutant until he was confronted with Laurie nearly dying. I can imagine a bunch of different scenarios for House of M that would lead to where we see Josh and Laurie in the HoM comics (Laurie undercover with the New Mutants, and Josh working as an interrogator alongside Kevin). Laurie's introversion in 616 juxtaposed against her brazen treachery and clear control over her skills in HoM. HoM shows Kevin in a full decontamination suit, but we know in 616 that his ability is blocked by wearing synthetic fibers (I imagined this to be a interrogator scare tactic, but it could be any number of other things). Kevin and Josh's relationship in 616 is fraught, especially with Josh's previous experiences with anti-mutant activists and the fact that Kevin killed his father when his powers manifested. But they seemed to work together well in HoM. And speaking of Kevin-- how did his powers manifesting actually pan out in a universe where mutants aren't seen as a threat? I have to wonder whether there's some concept of "acceptable casualties" because some peoples' powers clearly manifest first in dangerous situations. Alternatively: Fluffy Josh/Kevin with a backdrop of torture, murder and state violence. I ship mostly Josh/Kevin because rivals-to-lovers and boy-who-kills-anything-he-touches/boy-who-cannot-be-killed is Great For Me. I also love the abuse of powers and manipulation involved in being interrogators/torturers(/murderers?) for the House of Magneto. They work together, they hurt people together, but maybe they also... smooch? THAT SAID! Adding Laurie to that ship is always a great way to fuck up and destabilize them! Especially in HoM, where we know she's already keeping secrets and can and WILL use her pheromones to fuck with people. And David! OH, DAVID. The only real New Mutant in this request. Does he have previous relationships with Josh and/or Kevin? I don't mind David/Noriko, but I also ship David with Kevin and Josh, and also Tommy and Teddy from Young Avengers, if you feel like exploring other parts of the HoM world. I have never considered David/Laurie before, but if you want to give it a whirl, I'm down. As for David-- His responses to state violence (as evidenced by the Hellions and SHIELD) are clearly different from the rest of the requested characters, and it would be interesting to explore David and his experience of this universe. Are his powers still restrained the same way? I know he supposedly dies at the end of the HoM mini-arc, but we never see them die, so feel free to write David managing to crawl off and plan to take down everything and everyone. A specific DNW for this fandom is Josh/Rahne. I don't mind the relationship having existed and impacting the characters, but only as a past relationship.

Extra Details:

SENSORY DETAILS. When it comes to magic and meta powers-- especially ones that aren't battle-oriented-- is what they feel like. What does it MEAN for David to be able to know anything someone else knows? What does the emptiness and fullness of it do to him? Josh's powers are all tactile and his body actively changes after trauma (in 616, first by turning him gold, then by creating black spots on his skin after he kills someone for the first time). Does his power always alter him, but usually in unnoticeable ways? What can he know and feel from a touch? Same for Kevin-- does withering sate a hunger, or make him feel worse? What would it feel like if he touched Josh? And Laurie... I'd love both her thought-process and the sensory details of what she's doing. Can she smell her own pheromones? Do they ever affect her? What does she feel like when she's manipulating people so subtly that they barely notice a passing smell? If you want to bring in other 616 knowledge and see what it looks like in HoM, that's cool. So is bringing in other HoM storylines. There's a throw-away line in Luke Cage's HoM crossover that the Runaways are known as an organized crime group. Cage himself runs a resistence cell (and given the end of the NXM crossover, David seems like he'd be willing to throw in with that lot). Young Avengers, the other New X-Men who weren't given much screentime in the HoM crossover-- I'd love any of that. Young Justice (Comics): Match, Tim Drake

The Series: Comics are confusing! This request is for the late-90s version of Young Justice by Peter David, which consisted of Robin, Impulse, Superboy, Arrowette, Secret, and Wonder Girl, along with others. It's very much a young-heroes-trying-to-make-their-way. Unlike the newer show, this Young Justice tended to be left on their own without much of a guiding hand. It was a very 90s comic, with very 90s fashion and a lot of nod-nod-wink-wink in-jokes. I love it because it's a series that always wore its humor on its sleeve. It's an affectionate look at young superheroes, and allowed them to react to teen problems alongside the more standard superhero tropes. There's the possibility for angst and darkness (and once they graduated to Teen Titans especially, that came up more), but they were allowed to be both hurt and upset AND fun and cheerful. The comics weren't available collected until last year (it took them TWENTY YEARS JFC), and it's well-worth buying from your local retailer, but you can also find them online here. The character I'm requesting first appeared in Superboy's solo series (starting in issue #35), which can be found here and again in the first volume of Young Justice: Sins of Youth. The Request: SO! I have always loved Match in the original YJ and Superboy comics, and the writers gave him really short shrift. We have a clone of Kon, who is as smart, if not smarter, can pretend to be Kon for extended periods of time— but every time he tries, people get hurt or die. I’ve always wondered how Tim felt that he literally couldn’t tell his best friend from an imposter. And then Match went and ran off and disappeared and no one ever seemed to consider what he was doing, after thousands of his/Kon’s siblings/clones were murdered essentially in front of him and the Agenda fell apart. (I’m not entirely surprised that Kon didn’t pay attention to all of those clones of him dying, but think about it from the standpoint of someone for whom those were supposed to be an army of his siblings. What a way to get survivor’s guilt.) Did Match go to Lex? It doesn’t seem like it, but given that as Kon’s clone, he’s technically Lex’s son too, it’s a possibility. Or alternately! He got himself out of the superhero game and did something else! What was it? I’d also love for a story about him wanting to be a super and have that family that Kon and Clark have, but being shut out of that world because he’s a “villain”. Or him getting that family after so long. Or him showing up at the Kents’ place because “fuck it, if Kon can have this, so can I” and it goes… well or poorly, depending on you. Or him finding his own family in a place that is separate from the who superhero thing, and Kon or Tim or Clark stumbling on him. Or Lex trying to use him— whether or not it works is up to you, although I’d love for it to touch on Match’s need to be part of something larger— after all, he was built and trained to be the vanguard for an army that was summarily murdered in front of him. Tim's refusal to even vaguely hint about his real identity during this time is fun too-- we have two boys who are both hiding their identities in different ways. It makes me wonder if Tim COULD have figured Match out, if the Sins of the Youth plotline didn't happen or was delayed somehow, because he seems to have all of the pieces of information. Or maybe Match-as-Kon was the only person Tim revealed part of his real name too, and has to deal with the ramifications of trust. Actually, Tim and the Issues Of Trust is the YA novel that I'd love to see Tim and Match (and Kon and the rest of YJ) star in. Bring back Mr Sarcastic (PLEASE bring back Mr Sarcastic) and Alvin Draper. Bring back the way that Tim hides by burrowing under identities and performances, and collects information on everyone he knows. I love detective stories and, out of all the Bats, Tim has always struck me as one of the best actual detectives, rather than crime-fighters. So Tim getting lost in a mystery will always make me happy. There's also something interesting about a group of young teens fighting for their own autonomy and identity. At this point in Tim's story, I think he was still thinking of the Robin thing as almost an extracurricular, and probably grappling with how hard it is on him physically, as well as mentally. So, I guess struggling for a coherent snse of self and agency are really interesting touchstones in this fandom. ALSO, MY DEEPLY HELD RARE PAIR FROM THE 90s: Tim/Match! See above, re: Match being present for Identity Crisis instead of Kon. I’d love Match to be trying to follow Kon’s footsteps re: Cassie, and being way more into Tim, which leads to Tim being confused and into Kon. Also any of the above prompts can include Tim (maybe Tim tries to help cushion a meeting between Match and Kon or Clark! Or maybe he just ends up Match’s sugar daddy. I’m down.) Although this request is ripe for dubious identity weirdness with Match pretending to be Kon, I'd really prefer that you focus on Match getting to be his own person, even if there's some pretending-to-be-Kon in there. Extra Details: This has been a lowkey love of mine for literally decades. My absolute favorite gift of all time was original pages from one of the Superboy issues where Match appears for the first time. And as I've grown older, my love for this rare, obscure character has deepened. Also, as I've grown older, I've begun to want more adult!Match, or growing up!Match just because the idea of growing up in the margins of superhero culture after everything that happened to him is really interesting. He was straight-up groomed and brainwashed, and then the Agenda was gone, so how did he cope? What is he doing now? What kind of adult does he make? This request is specifically for the mid-90s comic, so feel free to stick to that. But if you read the 2010-era Teen Titans and want to explore some later story choices-- like Match becoming Bizarro-like, Slade making him part of Titans East, or his fear that Jericho would hurt the Titans in his body, or save Match from Superboy-Prime, I'm not going to complain. (Personal headcanon time: I think Slade was trying to mind control Match with the same stuff he used on Rose, and it caused the Bizarro-like symptoms). I also love Elseworlds and mirror!verse stuff too. As I've said elsewhere in the letter, I really prefer Happily Ever After/Happily For Now stuff, and I prefer my bittersweet fics heavy on the sweetness. Please give Match the love and affection he's always deserved. But also, please feel free to make both Match and Tim HURT first.

[wistsandmagic]

Heeeey so now I’m home from work, far more awake than I was this morning, and it’s time to do a bit more with this Legend of Zelda thing, so it’s time for a PART 2.

It has been nearly 1000 years since Calamity Ganon was defeated for good.

The teenaged Hyrulean princess, daughter of a Hylian king and a Sheikah queen, once was named Zechariah. She loved her parents, but she hated her name. Hated her body. It wasn’t her, and being the first male-born Hyrule heir in 400 years did not change her feelings. Even if many tried to reassure her that it was good luck; a sign that there was no need for the powers of the goddess Hylia in the near future, despite the odd, worrisome rise in monster activity, the princess was not happy. She had told no one but her parents that she had been born with the gifts the goddess had bestowed upon her female descendants, and to her, that was even more sign that her body had had a miscommunication somewhere before her birth.

 Her mother had trained her in the Sheikah arts, a matter of both tradition and caution, and her parents approved using her skills to change her body to one she liked far better. So, after a year of deliberation and preparation, Prince Zechariah became Princess Zelda, taking the name of her ancestors, blessed by the goddess. No longer was she in a body that she despaired of, and finally, she could bring her gifts to light.  Her parents officially struck the name  of Zechariah, Prince of Hyrule, from the records, and inscribed in its place the name of Zelda, Princess of Hyrule, daughter of King Daedenal and Queen Midana. 

Meanwhile, in Gerudo Valley, a slightly older teenager chafes under his nannies’ watching. His name is Ganon, and he is one of the very rare, male-born Gerudo. As such, he is precious, and in hopes of reclaiming what once was a noble name from the beast of Malice that had corrupted it, his mother, Valja, Chief of the Gerudo, had named him Ganon. The Gerudo believed that a name or word could be reclaimed from evil if given to something good, and their hope rested with the Chieftain’s son.

Ganon is, beyond all doubts, good. His spirit is free from evil, his heart kind and just, and his greatest ambition is to explore the outside world he has heard so much about, but has not seen.  His people believe he should not leave, that he is too young, too inexperienced, but Ganon is also gifted with a silver tongue, and eventually manages to convince even his mother that letting him see the outside world, to let him explore and learn, to understand, will make him a better ruler when he comes of age.

His mother agrees, but on one condition. As he travels, he must stop in the kingdoms of her old friends and ‘check in’, so they can instantly send word to her that he is alive and well. She knows that Queen Midana, King Sidon, and Chief Gokoro will do this for her, and she will let them know to expect him at some point. Ganon agrees after some thought, seeing the worry his mother has for him, and she allows him to be outfitted for long travel, along with a sturdy donkey.

Ganon manages to reach the middle of Hyrule the same time as a delegation from Zora’s Domain, consisting of King Sidon himself, a few guards, and the king’s two daughters: the elder a tall, stately Zora like the king himself, the younger...a slight, somewhat odd girl who could either be half-Hylian, half-Zora, or a full Hylian, no one can quite tell.

In fact, Ganon meets the delegation because he quite literally gets knocked off of his donkey by this second daughter, who had launched herself out of a tree (where she had been hiding from her father’s guards so she could go explore a bit) without looking to see where she was landing.

The poor Gerudo teen is knocked out, Link thinks she has killed him, and she panics and nearly drowns Ganon in a combination of healing power and marsh water in an attempt to bring him to. The good news is she manages to heal the concussion she gave him in the process. The bad news is that in the panic, Ganon’s donkey, with all of his supplies, fled to goddess knows where.

Out of sheer worry and the odd, nagging sense that there is a have to here, the odd blue-blonde haired girl insists Ganon comes back to her father’s encampment and travel with them for a bit, so she can at least replace what he lost. Ganon agrees, if only to ease her mind, and finds out once she leads him back to the encampment that he got knocked out by the younger princess of the Zora Tribe, who goes by the name Link.

Needless to say, this shocks him more than getting kicked in the face and knocked off his now-missing donkey. King Sidon welcomes Ganon with open arms, and upon learning the boy was heading this way to go ‘report’ to Queen Midana so she could let his mother know he was alive, offered to simply take him with them, so he would not have to travel alone, and he could come to Zora’s Domain next and make his next ‘check in’ whenever he pleased. 

Being offered something by a twelve-foot-tall fishman is not something one generally refuses, and Ganon has enough sense to realize this. Plus it means free food, King Sidon’s two daughters are pretty, Mipha immediately starts mothering him (which grates just a bit, but she is technically a young adult, not a teenager), and Link is....oddly interesting, though he can’t explain why. Ganon is a teenaged boy. This is really a no-brainer.

Thus a delegation from Zora’s domain plus one Gerudo chief’s son make their way to Hyrule Castle over the next few days, fighting entirely too many monsters to be comfortable along the way.

There, the three young royals are introduced for the first time, and they instantly feel a strange connection to one another. With all three of them in the same room, Link suddenly has a name for the nagging feeling she had when she first insisted Ganon come to her father’s camp. There is a connection between the three, all of them can feel it, but none of them can explain it. Zelda remarks how it feels as though she has known Link and Ganon for forever, despite having only just met, and there is an almost unsettling agreement between the three of them. It just feels right.

Unfortunately, the three of them do not get to explore this connection further, to try and find out just why they have this odd feeling of knowing, because disaster strikes.

Out of the ruins of the Sacred Grounds, a beyond-ancient evil rises, shattering the peace of Hyrule within one night of the as-yet-unaware Triforce bearers’ meeting. The Sacred Grounds sink beneath the earth, and in its place, the being that created Calamity Ganon some 11000 years before rises: Malice itself. Malice, not to be confused with Demise, the demon whose reincarnation would take the name “Ganondorf” and who would eventually turn into Calamity Ganon. Malice is who created Demise, and thus, through time, managed to keep the original Ganondorf on the reincarnation cycle, despite Demise’s ultimate power being sealed by the goddess Hylia in ages long past.

If Hylia is the goddess of Hyrule and the people of the surrounding lands, Malice was Demise’s god.  Hylia sealed Malice along with Demise, being made aware of the supernatural, incarnation of pure evil once Demise came to the surface, but where Demise had help in breaking his seal, Malice has had to work alone, in secret, for thousands of years. Now, the seals -- under the Sacred Grounds ruins, in the Forest of Spirits, on Daval Peak, in Dragon’s Exile, on Gerudo Summit, in Lake Totori, under the Forgotten Temple, in the middle of the Thyphlo Ruins, under Death Caldera, in the Rabella Wetlands, hidden on the Peak of Awakening, near Koholit Rock, and last but not least, under Lake Akala -- have failed, and Malice returns in full force, beginning to lay waste to the land.

The goddess Hylia appears in a shaken Hyrule Castle and informs Zelda, Link, and Ganon that they are the Triforce bearers, and as she awakens the true gifts  in the three of them - the triforce pieces of Wisdom, Courage, and Power -   the three teenagers who Fate has only just brought together now have to figure out how to work together to destroy this spawner of evil once and for all. Not only do they have to learn how to control their newly awakened powers, but they have to learn how to do so in harmony with Hylia’s blessings, because otherwise Malice can only be temporarily subdued, not destroyed. For the first time, all three pieces of the Triforce can be used to work in harmony, but in the hands of three kids who have never done this kind of thing before, their chances seem slim.

Except for the fact that all three of them can feel the bond that holds them together, and they determine to use this to their advantage...becoming friends along the way.

[doe-clotureofyellow]

Chapter 3, Section 2–The Conclusion of their Wish; Scene 3

Clôture of Yellow (VG), page 237-246

♦ Allen ~In the Lucifenian Palace, "The Servant's Quarters"~

.

“…It’s begun.”

I could hear a racket going on outside. The head maid had murmured her remark upon hearing it.

She and I were alone in the servant’s quarters. The other servants had all run away before we even knew it. Ney and Chartette as well.

"If Ney was going to run away, I wish she had said at least one comment to me about it…So much for the dutiful parent and child, in several ways."

“…”

“Allen, you've done enough. There’s still time. If you’re going to escape, now's the time.”

“I said it before, and I’ll say it again. Although back then it was directed at Elluka, but… I will protect Riliane.”

The head maid let out a single, long sigh.

“Her ‘prophecy’…It’s come true, hasn’t it? Just as Elluka said, in the end I hadn't been able to change a single thing."

“We don’t know that yet. The palace hasn’t fallen yet, and Riliane is still alive.”

"You're strong, aren't you?...In the end you're exactly as I'd hoped--" The expression that the head maid was looking at me with seemed to change slightly. “Hey, Allen. There's something that I've been thinking about this whole time, something to protect this country. Would you--hear what I have to say?"

"…If there's something I can do, anything."

"I see--Thank you."

No sooner had she finished speaking than the head maid suddenly knelt before me.

"Wha…"

"Allen--No, Lucifenia's prince, Alexiel Lucifen d'Autriche. I, Mariam Phatipe, one of the Three Heroes, do here now swear my　allegiance to you."

And she held out a single golden blade, and presented it before me.

"This is a sword handed down in the Lucifenian royal family--With this…You must defeat the 'Daughter of Evil', Riliane! …If you tell me that you do not want to do it, then I do not mind doing so in your stead. If you declare your support for the revolution after the princess is dead, then this battle will likely calm down."

"Wha--what are you saying…head maid?"

"Frankly I have always thought this…that the one most suitable for reigning over this country is not Riliane--but you."

Her expression was serious.

"I had…I had always thought you were someone who would protect Riliane--"

"It is not Riliane that I want to protect. It is this country called Lucifenia--this country that King Arth and Queen Anne bequeathed to us. The idea that someone of their blood would govern it…that was Arth and Anne's wish, and as such I must give my life to that."

"…"

"Surely you've always thought about this. Wondering why Riliane is given everything, and yet you are not. Today your roles are reversed. ...Come, give your command! Tell your humble servant to kill Princess Riliane!"

Her strength seemed different to me than that of Leonheart or Elluka.

That is, she was someone who could not find the meaning of her own existence without swearing allegiance to something, without martyring herself for someone--it was a loyalty that seemed like madness.

It reminded me of someone. I couldn't immediately think of who that was, but soon enough I realized it.

The loyalty she felt towards this "country"--perhaps it was somewhat close to the feelings I bore in reference to Riliane.

"Head maid…If you truly recognize that I am the prince, and are swearing your allegiance...then I have an order."

"Yes! What is it?"

"My wish, what I want…has still not changed. Please protect Riliane."

"…-sigh-" The head maid immediately let go of the strength in her body, immediately bent over on the spot. "I thought you might say that…Your stubbornness...You truly are alike, you and King Arth."

"Sorry…"

"You mustn't apologize. A prince mustn't carelessly bow his head to a commoner."

She had returned to her usual tone, and stood.

"I was joking, before. Please forget it."

It didn't look like she had been at all.

"Head maid…what do you intend to do now?"

"What do you mean? I will simply do as you commanded me to just now--I too will fight until the end…I have no intention of dying. But I want to do as much as I can."

She pulled some sort of knife out from the closet.

"I will show you…the willpower of the Three Heroes. I'll be seeing you, Prince Alexiel. …Allen. If we both survive, let us meet again."

Mariam fled from the room.

Mariam…a harsh, yet kind woman.

I felt that she was somewhat like my mother in that way.

 .

"Allen, you're still alive?"

Gast entered the servant's quarters in her place.

"This is a lost battle," Gast said, peeking at the state of things outside from the window.

What in the world did he want?

"You have given me a great deal of assistance. So I have come to bid you goodbye."

"…You plan on running away?"

"Don't look scared at me like that. I am after all a mercenary. I have no obligation to sacrifice my life for this country. Tell the princess that I don't need her money."

I reached into my own closet and pulled out a bag of gold coins, thrusting it at Gast. It was all of my savings from working at the palace.

"…What are you planning to do with that?"

"I'm going to hire you with this. Please, protect this palace…protect Princess Riliane, until the end!"

"Have you not been listening? I don't need money. First, why would a servant such as yourself go to all this trouble…?"

"The princess is…Riliane, is my twin sister."

It was a big secret, one I couldn't tell anyone.

But I didn't have the time or the necessity to stay quiet about it any longer.

There was a long silence.

Gast was gazing at me the whole time, like he could see something in my face…or rather, my eyes.

I couldn't look away. For some reason or other I became inclined to scowl at Gast's eyes as well.

"…Ho ho ho, ha ha ha…Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" He suddenly began to laugh loudly. What was so funny?

"Ha ha, I see, your twin sister is she? So you will give your life to the 'Demon of Asmodean' in order to protect your sister, the 'Daughter of Evil', hm? What an unexpected scoundrel you are. And pardon my saying this, but as far as I can see this revolution occurring is simply the princess getting her just desserts, ha ha ha!"

"…That is true, I am evil. Perhaps that is so. And perhaps this palace being invaded is retribution against a princess who did whatever she pleased."

"You understand very well, don't you? So then, why do you still try to protect the princess?"

"--Why should it matter? No matter what kind of person she is, even if everyone becomes her enemy, why shouldn't there be at least one person who is her ally? There's no reason, and I don't need to come up with one…If it's said that this is our punishment, I shall take it upon myself to oppose it!"

Was this the "contract with a demon" that came as a drawback to having killed someone, that Leonhart spoke of?

Because I wanted to oppose Elluka's "prophecy"?

Because I had a "loyalty to my country" like the head maid?

No.

This was--this was my own will!

Gast continued to laugh a little bit longer, but eventually he returned to his serious expression and began to speak again. "Fine, I've changed my mind. From this moment on, you are my employer. I will struggle as much as I can for you and the princess....I've been looking for a good place to die, after all. To die a noble death as a knight protecting a princess…there are worse fates."

Gast drew his sword, checked the state of the blade, and then once more returned it to its scabbard.

"With that, I will go at once. 'Servant of Evil'."

"…Thank you very much!"

Gast once more took a look into my eyes, and then turned his back on me.

"You remind me of myself, long ago," he murmured, leisurely heading for the door.

"I was the same as you…Evil."

<<prev------directory------next>>

[animeride-blog]

Top 7 Anime Like One Piece https://animeride.com/arspecial/animerecommendation/6184/top-7-anime-like-one-piece/ #7DeadlySins, #Gintama, #KillLaKill, #Magi, #OnePiece, #RaveMaster, #Toriko

New Post has been published on https://animeride.com/arspecial/animerecommendation/6184/top-7-anime-like-one-piece/

Top 7 Anime Like One Piece

One Piece 

One Piece started out as a manga, which was created by Eiichiro Oda and serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump as of July 1997. So yeah, this is a series that’s been going for almost two decades…how crazy is that?!

So where do we go from here. After all, we can’t sit and watch just One Piece all day long, even though some don’t mind gawking over Nami’s sexy curves for hours on end. Thankfully, we’ve compiled a list of anime that we think fans of One Piece will absolutely love.

Let’s check out the top 10 anime like One Piece!

7 ) Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins)

Similarities 

A small group of knights, known as the Seven Deadly Sins is headed by Melodius. And similarly to Luffy, Melodius is an outlaw who’s actually a swell guy once you get to know him better. Furthermore, The Seven Deadly Sins boasts a classic adventure vibe and colorful style which One Piece enthusiasts will enjoy.

Plot

The Holy Knights of Britannia use their immense combat and magic skills to protect the kingdom of Britannia. Surprisingly, some of these knights decided to go rogue and turn their swords against their comrades. They were defeated, but it’s widely believed that they’re still alive and are now known as the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’.

6 ) Groove Adventure Rave (Rave Master)

Similarities

Haru Glory is a Rave Master, and his goal is to retrieve to all the Rave Stones which are scattered around the world. He embarks on this grand adventure but soon meets friends and allies along the way, who he’s willing to protect at all costs – like Luffy! Plot

An age old battle between the forces of light and dark is soon to come to a head. An evil group known as Demon Card are gathering the Dark Brings, which are stones containing deadly dark power. It’s up to the swordsman, Haru Glory and his allies to stop Demon Card by utilizing the Rave Stones.

5 ) The Law of Ueki

Similarities 

The Law of Ueki is a more ecologically-orientated alternative to One Piece, but it’s just as entertaining. The heroes and villains all possess insane powers, which will excite fans of One Piece.

Plot

Kousuke Ueki, a student of the Hinokuni Junior High School, is picked by a Celestial King Candidate, Koba-sen, to participate in a competition where people battle out to become the Celestial King and only the strongest will prevail. Embodied with the ability to turn garbage into trees, Kousuke will be joining in the battle against other junior high school students in this selection. This sets the premise for the earth-friendly battle where the students will pit their powers against the rest, with a reward of the Blank Talent giving motive for students to win.

4 ) Soul Eater

Similarities 

The main protagonists of Soul Eater are a ragtag crew of individuals who are just as quirky as the Strawhat Pirates. And they all possess unique powers and abilities, setting them apart from each other, therefore, making it easy for us to root for our favorite Meister. But if you appreciate the humor in One Piece, then you’ll be pleased to know that Soul Eater is of similar comedic value; watch out for those funny fight scenes!

One Piece also has a serious side too, with a rich story. Soul Eater has those serious and more cerebral moments as well, but just a tad darker.

Plot

Shinigami train people with the ability to transform into weapons, as well as the wielders of these weapons who are known as Meisters. The training takes place at the Death Weapon Meister Academy in Death City. Meisters absorb the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch in order to transform their weapons into ‘death scythes’.

3 ) Toriko

Similarities 

If you thought that Luffy had a voracious appetite, then it’s time to introduce you to someone that can take him on in any eating challenge. Toriko is one big dude with immense strength, who just wants to chow down on animals.

There are many other startling similarities between Toriko and One Piece. The Gourmet Cells play a similar role to the Devil Fruits, and the Gourmet world is a dangerous and tricky frontier to navigate just as the Grand Line. And neither series skimps on adventure and intense fighting scenes.

Plot 

The Gourmet Age is upon us, and fine dining is all the rage. People of all walks of life crave the most exquisite foods made with the finest ingredients. But the best ingredients are difficult to come by, and only Gourmet Hunters are skilled enough to procure these. Toriko is a gluttonous but famous Gourmet Hunter who is called upon by Chef Komatsu for a unique assignment.

2 ) Gintama

Similarities 

Gintama presents us with a universe that’s chock-full of cool adventures. Only this time they don’t take place across the wild seas like in One Piece, but in feudal Japan.

Plot

Gintoki Sakata needs to take up odd jobs, even though he’s a samurai. The reason he faces such a predicament is because an alien species known as the Amanto have invaded Japan, and have prohibited swords. However, this situation opens up new opportunities for Gintoki that he wouldn’t have considered otherwise.

1 ) Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

Similarities 

Two boys, Alibaba Saluja and Aladdin come from completely different backgrounds. However, after a chance meeting they decide to team up and start exploring dungeons…kind of like Luffy and Zoro?

Plot

Alibaba is somewhat of greedy fellow who dreams of great riches. To achieve his dreams, he needs to enter the labyrinth-like dungeons and uncover the riches hidden within them. Unfortunately, these dungeons are heavily guarded by Djinns – powerful supernatural entities. So, Alibaba and Aladdin have their work cut out for them.

All these Anime have great story like one Piece ! If you know any other anime like One Piece comment down below ! 

[a-nerds-ponderings-blog]

THIS WEEK IN REVIEW

February 26 - March 12

FANASY

Emerald City

Season 1 Episode 10 – No Place Like Home

Tip and West arrive in Emerald City seeking vengeance. With a renewed confidence, Dorothy faces off against the Wizard and fights to save Oz from his oppressive reign. Meanwhile, Glinda brings her power to the battlefield as the threat of the Beast Forever looms.

It seems everyone has shown up for this season finale. The Wizard, the giants, Dorothy, and Glinda all end up on the same battlefield. Meanwhile, as the Wizard has gone to Ev, West arrives to Emerald City with Tip, who is now Ozma, and takes the throne. Ozma seems quite the just and righteous leader. Not wanting to kill or be as bad as the Wizard, but still seeking revenge for her family. It was interesting with the cowardly lion and how he was created. It is sad that this was the end of this season, but with the ending to this episode, the door was left open for a second season. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a return to Oz.

 Once Upon a Time

Season 6: Episode 11 – Tougher than the Rest

With Snow still asleep in Storybrooke, David and Hook race to stop Gideon before he can confront Emma. Gideon makes a startling confession to Belle and Gold about his whereabouts while he was missing. Meanwhile, Regina struggles with the realization that everyone, perhaps even Robin, is better off in the alternate world where the Evil Queen was defeated. And when Emma inspires a familiar face to help her and Regina return home, she discovers the power to change her fate.

Gideon’s plan is to kill Emma to take the power of the Savior in order to save his land. This is an interesting and somewhat noble reason to want to kill her, but… wouldn’t it be easier to come to Emma and ask her to help save his land? Considering who his parents are? But that wouldn’t make for good dramatics. Regna’s discovery of Robin in the alternate world was sweet, but almost too sweet. When she discovered that she could change her fate, it was almost too good to be true to bring him back. Sometimes they should just allow a character to stay dead. But we now have everyone back in Storybrooke, we have met the hooded man, so what will happen next week? It will be curious to see Belle and Gold working together to try to save / help their son.

NEXT WEEK

Season 6: Episode 12 – Murder Most Foul

Before Hook takes the next step in his relationship with Emma, he wants to make sure David sees him as more than just a pirate. So when David asks Hook to help him uncover the truth about his father’s death, Hook agrees. Meanwhile, Regina works to acclimate Robin to life in Storybrooke, but soon discovers he has a dark side that makes the task much more complicated than she anticipated.

PARANORMAL

Supernatural

Season 12: Episode 14 – The Raid

A chance to take out a nest of vampires backfires when the alpha-vamp shows up and turns the tables on Mary and The British Men of Letters, who are doing their best to recruit Sam and Dean.

Talk about kicking you in the feels. It was sad for some time, but I think the worst was when Dean called his mother “Mary”. It was such a blow to her you could see it on her face. And wow, did the Brits screw up their recruitment. Though it sounds like Sam was convinced to join. Even though everything screwed up, they managed to kill an alpha vampire. So perhaps it could work. It was interesting how they were able to get everyone all together, and it was Sam who took charge when all hell broke loose. This was an interesting story arch to get the boys and Mary on the same page and working with the Brits.

Season 12: Episode 15 – Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

An attack by an invisible hellhound at a campsite leads Sam and Dean to investigate the mysterious circumstances. Meanwhile, two of Crowley’s own personal demons uncover what he has been hiding. Castiel gets a lead on Kelly Kline

Talk about a dog gone rogue. The hellhound that could not be held on a leash. It was interesting to see the Winchesters working with Crowley again, including the Crowley repeating Dean Game. Who was able to spot the nod to The Walking Dead in this episode? It seemed too easy that Lucifer got out of his chains, and we really got to see Crowley being evil again. This is what a lot of people missed. In the past he seems to have been getting softer, and this episode gave us a bit of a look at how he used to be. Here’s hoping we get more of that side of him. The story with the girl and her boyfriend was a bit unnecessary, but it gave the episode depth. We’ll miss you boys

NEXT WEEK (3 week break)

Season 12: Episode 16 – Ladies Drink Free

Sam and Dean let Mick Davies tag along on a case as they search for a werewolf. The three men run into Claire Novak, also working the hunt. However, the reunion is short lived after Claire is bitten and the brothers race to find a way to help her before she turns

 SCI-FI

The 100

Season 4: Episode 5 – The Tinder Box

Clarke makes a desperate plea with a former allied force in an attempt to avoid a war and ensure the survival of her people.

And everything blows up in our face, literally. The looming war with Ice Nation was tense enough as it is, but when one of SkyKru’s soldiers goes after the king, we get some real nail-biting tension. It seemed that was the only problem, but then when the man who saved Octavia made his move, we were all shocked. I was waiting for Ice Nation to blame SkyKru for it, but it seemed that everyone was watching it with a look of lost hope. This was a great way to unite everyone to look for the other solution to the impending radiation. It should be interesting to see what happens in the weeks to come.

NEXT WEEK

Season 4: Episode 6 – We Will Rise

Clarke and Roan must work together in hostile territory in order to deliver an invaluable asset to Abby and her team.

 Please be advised that the comic book shows will have their own weekly post this season, just changing things up a bit. Please keep an eye out for the Superhero Low-Down

If there are any shows that you think we should check out or that we have missed, please send us a private message or leave a comment below.

 Until Next Time...

Thanks for Watching

[thebarrblog]

When Grown Men Cry…

“One guy started pounding on the table and weeping…” (continued below)

It was early 2000’s when I first read Wild at Heart. I remember mid-book a close friend characterized it as 75% Biblical and 25% Worldy. I became skeptical…at first.

By the time I finished the book I realized what he meant. John Eldridge takes a major masculine angle that at times appears to border machismo. He tells the wife to let her husband get the motorcycle and the everyman to climb a mountain. However, he later clarified this as a blueprint or metaphor or example of a general principle. And by the way, I actually agree with the first one. The difference is the motive. The man who wants the motorcycle should be allowed to get it if the only thing in the way is a wife’s fear of danger. It’s not the same as being reckless. The second is the one more about principle. We don’t all need to scale the rock, but we may all need to scale a metaphorical one. Here’s the slogan for the book. Maybe it’ll help.

“Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.” - John Eldridge

Now that I’ve set up the book for you, let me share some of the retreat.

More of the same? Not even close! I was worried I had romanticized this event. So I told myself not to expect too much. I was pleasantly surprised. More like blown away.

I had become complacent about some things, in particular the idea that spiritual mountain tops were a thing of the past. And in fairness, we shouldn’t expect or even need those if they’re defined by emotions alone. But this was something different. It wasn’t meant to just “retreat” and have a sort of spiritual high for a weekend. Of course, we were literally on a mountain top. It was beautiful Fraser, CO, just above Winter Park, at 8500’ elevation. I took a couple long soaks in the outdoor hot tub shaped like a dull 3-tear-drop Chinese throwing star. Some awesome convos took place there. Anyhow, I digress. The weekend was less about a getaway and more about introducing some freedom found in scripture. I’ll try and summarize some main points.

We watched a lot of movie clips. Manly movie clips of course. Like Braveheart, Gladiator, Last of the Mohicans, Lord of the Rings, and Superman. But we also watched clips from The Kid with Bruce Willis, City Slickers, Good Will Hunting, Les Miserables, Groundhog Day and Jerry MaGuire. What do all these movies have in common? Men seeking to fulfill an adventure deep in their hearts. I’ll just mention a few.

The Kid:

The movie The Kid was a touching fun Disney movie, but the premise is so crucial to the heart of a man, involving a 40 year old and his 8-year-old self, checking in on what he’s become. In one scene, the kid says to Willis, “where’s my truck?”…“my family?”…“my dog?”, etc. Realizing he’s just a single bitter Image Consultant, the kid responds, “I grow up to be a loser.”

City Slickers:

The same happens to Billy Crystal’s character in City Slickers. Faced with a boring job, he ropes his buddies into a cowboying adventure. I’m sure you know it.

Good Will Hunting:

In Good Will Hunting, Will (Matt Damon) is a wounded, beaten as a child, genius who’s concocted such an elaborate mask that it takes another genius (Robin Williams), wounded, beaten as a child, therapist to speak to his heart.

Jerry MaGuire:

In Jerry MaGuire, he (Tom Cruise) has an epiphany and calls it a “breakdown/breakthrough”. MaGuire writes a memo to all the sports managers on how to be more authentic and care for the players. He writes outlandish things like, “fewer clients” and “less money”. He’s ostracized from the business and saved only by a single player who chooses to believe in him because MaGuire gives him everything.

Braveheart:

My favorite is actually in Braveheart, and it’s not William Wallace. Robert the Bruce’s father convinces him to compromise his morals, his word, his freedom, his people, and ultimately his heart, to remain noble and wealthy. Eventually, after betraying Wallace and seeing the hurt in his eyes, The Bruce confronts his father in a rant ending with him screaming “BUT I DON’T WANT TO LOSE HEART!”

Aha Moments:

Here’s the main point of this thing: We are created to be warriors and Satan has it out for us.

John (Eldridge) shared that we are part of a story that is both large and small, both God’s and our’s. He has a story and adventure written for each of us! Just for you! And Satan has a mission to disqualify us from our story. He wants men to be nice, safe, tame, heartless, and of course, to assume he’s not even involved. Yes, Jesus defeated Satan, and that’s the judgement day result, but he’s still very active now! And it is very Biblical to think we are part of THAT war! We do that partially by proclaiming the Name of Jesus over the darkness, but we still need to recognize our authority to speak to it!

John empowered us with the truth that we are meant to be warriors on an adventure and meant for great things! This isn’t some prosperity of pride gospel. Jesus is still Lord and we are still sinful and desperate without him. But we are also fearfully and wonderfully made…in the image of the Most High, children of a King, heirs of a promise, and commissioned to fight in a very real battle…and the treasure is our hearts.

The Enemy, and his demons/evil angels, are fiercely trying to distinguish the flame in our hearts above all else. But we have the power and authority by the name of Jesus to command him to go. “Resists…and he will flee.” (James 4:7). Here’s how you do it:

Agreements:

We’ve made agreements with Satan that we are a number of things God does not say we are. Ugly, Lazy, ADHD, Selfish, Angry, Useless, Fat, Skinny, Dumb, etc. Sometimes they’re even little dismissive things we own like, “that doesn’t matter”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’ll never….“, “It’s just….” Now notice some of these things can actually be your current reality and even somewhat true. The problem lies in the defining. Don’t identify with negative terms that may be your temporary reality. We are redeemed and “will one day display the attributes that are already true about us” (partial quote from Truefaced). So whatever you’re speaking over yourself (or hearing and believing), command the lie to be broken, and believe you were made for greatness.

Last Thing:

I was in a room with 7 other guys from the KC area and we’re trying to keep in touch. While there, I think that also made us want to invest in getting to know each other. Out of 450 guys, it was helpful to be intentional with a few. One lunch, after a session alone with God breaking agreements, we began to share.

One by one the Holy Spirit hit us in the public cafeteria as we confessed things we had been believing. One guy started pounding on the table and weeping as he repeated, “I’m NOT selfish!” Another guy confessed some doubt. Another…dumb, which is one of mine due to my struggles in school and natural comparisons. On and on it went. Tears and honesty in public. I eventually said I struggled with the lack of education, but also some fear and jealousy that I didn’t serve in the military or something.

Afterward, the guy who never spoke, approached me and said, “I’ve known a lot of guys in the military, and they all say the real battle is at home.” And there it was: Another recognition that being a good father and husband is the biggest battle we can fight as men. And then it hit me. No one has ever told me I’m dumb or not strong. In fact, I’ve had the opposite communicated from my parents and wife and close friends. So it must be an agreement, not the truth! And certainly not from God or part of my story!

May you break your agreements with the Enemy, let the Father speak new names over you, become aware of the spiritual battle over your heart, see the value in your ability to father and love your wife, and pass it on!

Below is the scene when Robert the Bruce betrays Wallace. The moment that would force him to “never be on the wrong side again.”

And may you be free.