#having to evacuate every time something goes wrong

[stellanslashgeode]

Okay, so. Star Wars has all these concepts that weirdo New Left boomer George Lucas tosses in there but because of storyteller limitations it would kill the plot to fully explain them all, so later writers have to come in for the spin-off materials and bat clean-up to fully explain all this crazy crap. And I would like to talk about something that made me actively angry at first, but which I now adore. And that is the Naboo.

So much about Naboo culture is infuriating from a logical standpoint. They have a queen, okay. A constitutionally elected queen? Weird, okay. Don't know why they'd do that but... She's FOURTEEN? Excuse me? Is it a ceremonial thing or, oh no it's not? Legit head of state? Why does she dress like that? Why does she talk like that? I'm so tired.

Here's the explainer. Let me go cook.

There's this joke in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where the last living human goes back in time and finds out humans aren't actually from Earth, but an alien culture that tricked all the middle managers, pedantic weirdos, and other infuriating folk into getting in a space arc which they gave the wrong evacuation coordinates to simply get rid of them. The Naboo are like this but they're all artists and poets and hippies, but like classy ones. They fled their home planet during a war and crash landed on Naboo, then did a colonism to the Gungans because, hey, they were fleeing a war and it was do or die. This spiritual rot in their creation story is later rectified by Padmé. But it's super important to their cultural psychology. They're hippies, but will subjugate if needed. They are "peaceful" but I guarantee you every single one of them has a tiny extremely shiny pistol up their sleeve and they will draw down on you if backed against a wall.

The scene that I think says it all is at the end of Phantom Menace when Padmé is surrounded by Nute Gunray and his droids, they've got her dead to rights, but Sabé her double creates a distraction so the queen can make it to her throne. This one piece of furniture is the Naboo in a nutshell. It's richly carved with artistic details, it has two seats to the side so the queen's handmaidens can read the lips of people in the back of the room and use hand signals to communicate with the queen while she can remain focused mostly on who is speaking to her. It is hundreds of years old. And it has a secret compartment in the armrest that is FULL OF GUNS. Layers of artistic opulence hiding their true intentions.

The Naboo were created to be backwards compatible with Princess Leia. They're compassionate pacifists, but they will shot you if needed.

Why do they elect teenage royalty? It's a little creepy. It's giving "age of consent is emotional maturity". It makes no sense.

The explanation they give outsiders is they want youthful idealism untainted by cynicism. What they don't tell you is that they take kids with stated interest in politics and put them in an advanced highly competitive Leadership Academy which is like Model UN mixed with Battle Royale. Well, they don't kill each other but it's intense. It's like what the clones went though just all diplomacy training and tea ceremonies all the time. Which is crazy but so Naboo.

Oh, and all the delegates for the royalty election run using pseudonyms for security. Imagine voting for the head of state but you can't run a background check. It's so crazy.

Why does Padmé dress like that? Well, fashion is one of Naboo's major industries so it's like she's wearing the entire Fall line catalog at once. To advertise not only the talent of her people, but to show how much they favor her. BUT that dress has multiple layers of padding and resin armor. And aforementioned spots for those little silver blasters. And it breaks up her silhouette making her harder to shoot. And it's so elaborate you pay more attention to the crazy dress and not if the person wearing it is really the queen or a decoy. Everything about Naboo is like this.

Queen Amidala has that weird accent while Padmé does not. Because all her handmaidens helped create the accent together so they all can imitate it. It's like if you gave girls at a rowdy sleepover the job of federal counterintelligence. That's what they came up with.

The handmaidens wear colorful identical clothes so you can't tell them apart, hoods to partially conceal their identity, and they don't wear the queen's fancy makeup. So one of them can be the queen and spy on people in the audience. Because the Naboo don't trust shit for shit.

Their public face is so silly to hide all the truly weird shit they do behind the scenes.

They use their reputation as artist hippies to conceal multiple layers of subterfuge and disguise their methods of self defense and assuage their paranoia due to wartime trauma and their disturbing colonial past. All of them are completely off their rocker even by Star Wars standards. And I love them so much. They put on a show so everyone thinks they have them figured out but what they have going on is far more weirder and more sinister than meets the eye. You know how catty, neurotic, and competitive art school students stereotypically are? Yeah, planet art student. Love them!

There you go, @charmwasjess

[scary-grace]

Bloody Valentine - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

When you get to school on Valentine's Day, your biggest worry is how you're going to give chocolate to your lab partner and crush, Shigaraki Tomura, without him knowing that it was you, and when it all goes wrong, you can't imagine how your day could possibly get worse. But when a plague of zombies erupts within the halls of UA High and the evacuation leaves you behind, you find yourself trapped with Shigaraki, both of you left behind. You've been forgotten. There's no help coming. Forget being each other's valentines - now you're each other's only chance to get out of this alive. (cross-posted to Ao3) dividers by @kodaswrld

Chapter 1

You slink through the aisles at the convenience store, blinking sleep out of your eyes and wishing you’d gone to bed earlier last night. You knew what kind of day today was going to be, because it’s the same kind of day you have every day – busy. Rehearsal in the morning, before school starts, team practice as soon as the final bell rings, and in between, the heaviest class schedule it’s possible to take while still reserving at least a few hours to sleep. You should have gone to bed earlier. A lot earlier.

But you didn’t, because you never do, and now you’re here, buying Valentine’s Day chocolate on five hours of sleep. You know you should have made the chocolates by hand, like you did for your friends. It’s something you’re going to have to explain, if the person you’re planning to give the convenience-store chocolate to figures out it’s from you and asks why you cheaped out on him. You’ll have to think of something to say. In the meantime, you pick out the package with the least-ostentatious wrapping and the fewest fruit flavors and make your way to the cash register.

You aren’t the only person in line who waited until the last minute. The woman in front of you is balancing a tower of boxes of the most expensive chocolate the convenience store offers, and the girl behind you in a middle-school uniform is holding a tiny box with an enormous bow on top of it. The cashier’s a woman, too. She doesn’t question the woman ahead of you in line, but when you step up to pay, she looks you up and down with a sly smile on her face. “Who’s this for?”

Your face burns red. You haven’t admitted this out loud to anybody yet, but you have to start somewhere. “My lab partner.”

She chuckles and checks you out, and you wander off to one side, trying to store your loose change and hide the chocolate in your backpack at the same time. You overhear the conversation the cashier has with the middle-schooler. “Sorry. You don’t have quite enough for that one.”

“But it’s the smallest one!” the girl protests. She’s barely old enough to be in middle-school – not more than thirteen. “I looked at the price –”

“Sales tax,” the cashier says. You wince. “Go on. There are people waiting behind you.”

You hear the girl sniffle, and you still haven’t stored your change. You step back up to the counter and slide the coins across it, back to the cashier. “That’s enough, right?”

The cashier nods. You pick up the small box and hand it back to the girl, ushering her outside into a cold, mostly-dark February morning. “Thanks,” she says to you, but her mouth’s still turned down. “He’s my best friend, but all the girls like him – he’s going to get so much and mine’s so small –”

“Write something to go with it,” you suggest. “If you put a note on it it’ll at least look different from the others.”

“Is that what you’re going to do?”

You’re going to stealth-mode the chocolate into his locker and hope he guesses it’s from you – or at least hope that he doesn’t think it’s from somebody else. But you haven’t put much thought into it, and this girl’s best friend is probably a far cry from your lab partner, who’s capable of exuding an aura so grumpy and malevolent that first-years have been known to leave the building to get away from him. “Yeah,” you say, feeling only a little guilty. “Good luck with yours.”

“You, too,” she says. She heads for the metro stop; you store your chocolate away at long last, wrap your scarf a little more tightly around your neck, and start the walk to school.

UA High isn’t for everybody. It’s academically rigorous, to the point where the kids taking remedial classes there could still run circles around the advanced students from any other school, and it’s got so many class and extracurricular offerings that it could almost pass for a university. It’s prestigious to the max, and it’s also really expensive. Students who go there come from rich families, or else they’re on scholarship, their grades and participation reviewed at the end of every term to see if the scholarship will be renewed.

Nobody ever comes out and says which one they are, but it’s pretty easy to tell. Rich kids have class schedules that wouldn’t be out of place at a normal high school. Scholarship kids have schedules like yours. A schedule which begins bright and early at seven am with rehearsal for the school play. This year, it’s Romeo and Juliet, performed pop-opera style – next to no spoken dialogue, almost every piece of dialogue sung. The drama club doesn’t have enough good singers to make it work, so they pressed the choir into service. That’s where you come in. You’re not a good actor or the best singer, but your voice isn’t objectionable and you don’t make a lot of mistakes. That’s enough to earn you a part in the chorus.

And enough to make you an understudy – and the girl who plays Juliet is out sick, which means you’re stuck holding hands with Amajiki Tamaki as the director tries for the billionth time to coax some life into his performance. “Come on, Amajiki! This is a girl you’re holding hands with. The most beautiful girl in the world.”

Amajiki frowns. “I thought Rosalind was the most beautiful girl in the world.”

“That was last week,” Yamada-sensei says. You try not to laugh. “This week it’s all about Juliet, and unlike Rosalind, Juliet likes you. Get hyped! Okay, let’s take it from the top –”

Yaoyorozu starts playing the introductory notes of the song. Amajiki looks directly down at your joined hands and starts singing to them. “If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand, to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss –”

He’s on-key, which is a big deal for drama club kids, but just as wooden as ever. Off to one side, you see Yamada-sensei shaking his head. “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,” you sing. Your performance is probably at least as wooden as Amajiki’s, but you’re not supposed to be here, anyway. “Which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands which pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”

“Cut,” Yamada-sensei announces. “You’re killing me, Amajiki. Look at her for a second while you’re singing it. Chemistry is all about eye contact.”

“They don’t have chemistry,” Monoma, who plays Tybalt, announces from off to the side. “He and Kenranzaki have chemistry.”

That chemistry is probably the result of Amajiki being terrified of Kenranzaki, just like every other guy at school, but at least some sparks are flying onstage when they’re together. You’re not even sure how Amajiki ended up in the play when he’s got the worst case of stage fright you’ve ever seen. His hands are really sweaty. “Pretend it’s not me,” you suggest. “Pretend I’m the person you like, if you like anybody.”

“There’s an idea,” Yamada-sensei says. Amajiki’s face turns bright red. “Ooh, there it is! We’ve got something. Let’s move.”

“You have to do it too,” Amajiki says to you. “Pretend I’m someone you like. If you like anybody.”

“Fine,” you say. If Amajiki gets a good run-through, you get to go wash your hands. The piano playing starts, and you give it your best shot.

Your plan was to picture an actor, somebody cute but distant, but instead your lab partner pops into your head. Your face goes instantly flushed, probably even more obviously than Amajiki’s, because if you confessed your feelings to Shigaraki Tomura by singing them, he’d laugh you out of the school. If he were the one standing across from you right now, you’d be cringing in despair, knowing for a fact you’d already blown your chances, trying to enjoy the few seconds of holding his hands you got before he yanked them away. You definitely wouldn’t feel like singing about it.

Still, you get through your first lines, and manage to hold Amajiki’s gaze during his response. Saints and palmers have lips, et cetera – and then it’s your turn. “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer –”

“O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,” Amajiki says. His eye contact is a little too direct, a lot too earnest. Now you’re really uncomfortable. “They pray: grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”

“Okay, that’s good enough for now. We don’t want Romeo to faint,” Yamada-sensei says. “That was a lot better, Amajiki. I could tell you were feeling – something. Go get some water. And you –”

He points at you. You cringe. “Stay put,” Yamada-san instructs. “Count Paris, you’re up. We’ve got some back and forth we need to run.”

Tetsutetsu, the first-year who plays Paris, hops up from his seat and comes to stand on the makeshift stage. All you can do is hope his hands aren’t too sweaty.

You stagger out of the rehearsal space at eight-thirty, desperate for a place to wash your hands, and Nejire, who was waiting for you outside, follows you into the bathroom. “I got a Snapchat,” she sings out, brandishing her phone while you run water over your hands. “You and Amajiki sound so good!”

Your heart sinks. “Somebody filmed it?”

“Just on Snapchat! It’s not a story or anything,” Nejire says. “Amajiki’s so cute when he’s blushing!”

“He looks like he wants to die,” you mumble. “How did he end up in the play, anyway?”

“He failed English last term.” Nejire lowers her voice. Amajiki’s a scholarship student, just like you, and you know what failing a class means. “Yamada-sensei convinced the principal not to kick him out as long as he made it up somehow, and since he can sing, being in the play is the best way.”

If it came down to being kicked out of UA or doing some extracurricular activity you really hated, you’d pick the latter without blinking. Nejire replays the Snapchat again while you dry your hands. “How come you were up there? I thought Kenranzaki was the lead?”

“She is,” you say. “She wasn’t here this morning. It was weird – she never misses rehearsals, and she didn’t even text.”

“People were missing from dance practice, too,” Nejire says, frowning. “Kodai and Hagakure didn’t text, either.”

“Maybe something’s going around,” you say. Whatever it is, you hope you don’t get it. You have too much to do. You dry your hands and straighten up. “Come on. I brought you chocolate and I don’t want to give it to you in the bathroom.”

Nejire has chocolate for you, too. She bought chocolate rather than made it, and because she’s not on scholarship, she can afford the really good stuff. You feel awkward handing over your homemade chocolates, but Nejire exclaims over them anyway. You know she’s sincere, because she can’t fake anything for more than a few seconds. “I bet we’re giving them to all the same people,” she says, beaming. “We still have a few minutes. Let’s go hand them out together!”

Your homemade chocolates look like nothing compared to Nejire’s expensive ones, but you’re not friends with your friends for no reason. They compliment Nejire’s generosity and your hard work, and hand chocolate back to you with enthusiasm. You manage to pass your chocolates out to three of your friends before homeroom – Keiko, Saki, and Hinata, girls you’ve known since your first day. The rest you’ll have to get on the run.

Other than homeroom, most of UA High’s classes are sorted by ability rather than by year, which means you’ve had the chance to make friends with second-years and first-years, too. Kyoka is a first-year, but she stands next to you in first-period chorus, so you’ve talked to her almost every day since the start of the year. She gets a box of chocolates. So does Camie in second period advanced calculus, even though she thinks you’re sort of boring and you think she’s kind of an airhead. You helped each other study for your final exams last term. You owe her.

You don’t sit next to any of your friends in third-period English class, but someone in that class is on the climbing team with you. You aren’t close enough to give him chocolate, but you’re friendly enough to say good morning. Spinner returns your greeting, but he’s looking apprehensively at your gear bag. “Wait, were we top-roping today? I forgot all my shit.”

“Coach will probably change it to bouldering if you ask her,” you say. Spinner’s the best climber on the team by a mile, but he’s not the most motivated, and Coach Usagiyama will do just about anything to keep him interested. “If not, I’ve got a spare harness in here.”

“Thanks.” Spinner breathes a sigh of relief. Or yawns. “If it wasn’t movie day in here I’d be screwed. I need a nap.”

“Same,” you admit. “Do you know which –”

“Ladies and those of you who are not ladies, take your seats!” Yamada-sensei booms as he slams the door of the classroom shut behind him, and you scurry back to your seat. Yamada-sensei skids in for a landing in front of the blackboard and switches to English. “I only have one question for you this fine movie day – rom-com or action?”

You vote action, and so does Spinner, but it’s Valentine’s Day and advanced English is mostly girls, so of course you lose. As the vote’s happening, though, you realize just how many people are missing from class today. Kenranzaki from the drama club, two people from Nejire’s dance team, and at least three from English class. Something must be going around. As the bell rings to signal the end of the class period, a terrible thought occurs to you. So many people are absent. What if Shigaraki’s absent, too?

Spinner would know. They’re friends. You stop by his desk as he’s waking up from his nap. “Hey,” you start, “do you know if Shigaraki’s here today? We’re starting a new experiment in chem lab, and –”

“He’s here. I saw him this morning,” Spinner says. “He’s probably going to be late, though. He’s late to everything.”

That gives you time to drop the chocolate on his desk, if you hurry. The thought makes you nervous. Spinner notices. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll text him and tell him to hurry up.”

“No, don’t –” you start, but Spinner’s already got his phone out. You’re running out of time. You mumble an insincere thank-you to Spinner and book it to the lab, trying not to think about how Shigaraki will respond to the idea of you – you, through Spinner – bossing him around.

You get to chem lab first, ahead of everyone – all your classmates and Sasaki-sensei, too. You tuck your belongings under the bench you share with Shigaraki, pull the chocolate out of your backpack, and set it down on his side of the bench. Done. Your heart is racing, and he’s not even here yet – and once he does, he won’t even know it’s from you. Your high school experience hasn’t been a dream by any means, but this might just be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you.

It would be different if you had a crush on a nice guy, but Shigaraki Tomura isn’t a nice guy. He’s older than you, courtesy of being held back a year sometime in middle school, and while he has friends, every last one of them except Spinner has a reputation just like his. When you were paired up with him for chem lab at the beginning of the year, most people felt sorry for you, and they said so. But you were determined to make the best of it, not to get off on the wrong foot, and so you were friendly. It took two months for him to start being friendly back. For a given value of friendly.

He makes fun of you for being such an overachiever, such a perfectionist – but never for being here on scholarship. The first time he complimented you, it was vague and almost backhanded, but it had your heart racing for the rest of the period. When you finally swapped phone numbers, it took you three days to work up the courage to text him first. Sometimes Shigaraki leaves you hanging, but if you catch him at the right moment – usually at night, when both of you should be sleeping – you can draw him into a conversation. And he’s different than anybody else you know.

You know you’re a cliché, the stereotype of a good girl with a crush on the dictionary definition of a bad guy. But you don’t think that’s why you like him. You just – like him. And you remember something he said a while ago, when the two of you were complaining about couples hanging out in the hallways and blocking you from getting your shoes back, and he mentioned something about Valentine’s Day being even worse – everybody and their cat gets chocolate, and I just have to look at it. You read between the lines. The idea of bringing him chocolate was in your head way before you admitted you had a crush.

Your classmates trickle into the lab slowly, and once again, you register that there aren’t as many as usual. More than a few benches have an empty seat at one side, but Sasaki-sensei arrives thirty seconds before the bell rings, as usual, and starts taking attendance before the final notes ring out. He has the strictest attendance policy in school, and you watch the door anxiously out of the corner of your eye as you organize your pre-work for today’s lab. Acid-base titration. It should be an easy experiment to run, but not if you’re running it alone.

But you won’t be. A shadow darkens the doorway, then falls across your bench, and Shigaraki Tomura drops down in his seat next to you just as Sasaki-sensei calls his name. He doesn’t hear Sasaki-sensei, though – he has headphones in. You elbow him and he yanks them out, just in time for Sasaki-sensei to repeat himself. “Shigaraki Tomura?”

Shigaraki half-heartedly raises one hand, then lets it drop. Sasaki-sensei addresses the class, all business. “I see multiple absences today. If your partner is missing, pair up with someone whose partner is also missing. As usual, you will not be allowed to begin the experiment until I confirm the completion of your prework, and if you run out of time to complete the lab, you will receive no credit for the day.”

The familiar anxious shooting pains lance through your fingers. You can be as prepared as it’s possible to be, and Sasaki-sensei’s reminder of just how willing he is to fail you always scares you. Next to you, Shigaraki pulls a few crumpled pieces of paper out of his backpack, muttering under his breath. “Half the school’s out sick. He can’t cut us a break?”

You move your papers alongside Shigaraki’s, sorting them to make it easier for Sasaki-sensei to see that you’re both done, and take a risk. “I’m glad you made it.”

“Yeah, I figured. Spinner texted me,” Shigaraki says. You cringe. “This lab’s so scary you can’t do it alone?”

“I could do it alone,” you say, stung. It’s the kind of thing he usually says with a teasing note in his voice, but instead he’s strangely flat. He’s not looking at you. “It’s just weird, with so many people out. Did all your friends make it in today?”

“Everybody but Twice,” Shigaraki says. “He can’t shut up when he’s sick, usually – we all get a newsflash every time his body does something disgusting – but this time he hasn’t said a word.”

Kenranzaki didn’t, either. Neither did the girls who were missing from dance team practice. Shigaraki glances at you. “Is that really all it takes to spook you?”

“I didn’t say I was scared. Just that it’s weird,” you say. He’s in a mood today. Is it really just that it’s Valentine’s Day? “Are you feeling okay?”

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because you seem – different – this morning,” you say, stumbling over the words. You thought the two of you were past this. What did you do? “I just wanted to ask. In case there was something –”

“Something you could do?” Shigaraki finishes your sentence. He scoffs. “Nice try. I know what –”

“I certainly hope you do.” Sasaki-sensei looms over the two of you, scooping your prework off the desk. “Shigaraki, your handwriting continues to be atrocious. And you – how many times do I have to ask you to stop writing in 10-pt font? You’re going to strain my eyes.”

“You need better glasses, then, Sensei,” Shigaraki says, almost sneering. That sounds more like him. You can almost fool yourself into thinking he’s defending you. “Our handwriting doesn’t matter. Are we right or wrong?”

Sasaki-sensei glances over your work again. “If I docked points for illegibility, you’d both be on the verge of failing. But your calculations are sound. You may begin.”

You’d be more relieved if Shigaraki wasn’t acting so weird. The two of you start setting out your equipment. “I just wanted to know,” you start, “because I –”

“Shut up,” Shigaraki snaps. You startle. “What the fuck is this?”

It’s the box of chocolates you bought. He scoops it off the desk and brandishes it at you. “This was you, wasn’t it? What is wrong with you?”

“Who said it was me?” You don’t know how to cover up your shock, so you return fire instead. “Whoever it was –”

“I know it was you,” Shigaraki cuts you off.

“How?”

“Because it’s on my desk in fucking chem lab and you’re the only girl in here who talks to me,” Shigaraki says. He drops the box back on the table and shoves it towards you. “Unless you’re going to pretend I’ve got some kind of secret admirer –”

“Maybe you do!” Your voice starts to scale up, and you clench your jaw. You shove the box back across the table towards him. “It could be anybody who left that there. Why are you mad at me?”

“Because it wasn’t anybody. It was you!” An angry flush is crawling from beneath Shigaraki’s collar. He picks up the box of chocolates and drops it on your notebook. “Take this back or I’m throwing it away.”

“Somebody decided to show they like you and you’re throwing it away?” You’re shocked by the acidic note in your own voice, even as you make up your mind to never admit that you were the one who put it there. “You can be mad at me all you want, but you shouldn’t punish them for what you –”

“That’s enough, Station 11,” Sasaki-sensei snaps, from up near the front of the classroom where he’s correcting Yoarashi’s and Togata’s prework. “Focus on your experiment and stop distracting the others.”

This is the wrong class to try to fight with somebody in. You set the box of chocolates down exactly equidistant from you and Shigaraki and start testing the scale you’re supposed to use to weigh your reactants. Sometimes Sasaki-sensei calibrates them wrong on purpose just to throw people off. Next to you, Shigaraki’s sitting still in his seat, visibly seething. His face is still flushed, and when he opens his mouth, it’s to come after you again. “Fuck off with this ‘somebody else’ bullshit,” he says – quieter than before, but not by much. “I know damn well it wasn’t Toga, so that leaves you. You’re the only –”

He breaks off, curses, but you can fill in the rest of the sentence. You and Toga are the only girls he talks to. “And I guess you think this is funny or something, because –”

“Why would I think this is funny?” you hiss.

“Like I’d know. Like I’d ever know what the fuck is going on in your head! I thought –” Shigaraki breaks off again, this time without the cursing, and the look he turns on you is so disdainful that you can barely keep your composure. “You really can act, huh. That nice-girl thing you’ve been putting on since school started. You almost had me fooled.”

Your temper breaks free. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You expect me to believe you’re stupid now?” Shigaraki laughs, so cold and derisive that your eyes sting. “I’m not falling for that one. I’m done almost falling for –”

“Is it really that hard for you to believe that someone might want to be around you?” As much venom as there is in Shigaraki’s voice, you can match it. He might think you’re a nice girl, but you wouldn’t have survived almost three years as a scholarship student at UA if you weren’t tough enough to hold your own with anybody. “I have to tell you, it’s hard for me to believe right now. If this is how you react to some stranger who cares, anybody who wants to be around you must be out of their mind.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you,” you fire back. “Hate yourself as much as you want. I’m not just going to sit here –”

“No, you aren’t.” Sasaki-sensei looms over you, and your heart sinks so far and fast that you feel nauseous. He looks pissed, as pissed as you’ve ever seen him, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed over his chest. “I warned the two of you once. Not only did you fail to save your lover’s spat until after class, you were both made aware of my policy on profanity at the beginning of the year, and the first-years across the hall could hear the two of you swearing.”

“Sensei –”

“Manners,” Sasaki-sensei snaps, and you fall silent. “To the principal’s office, both of you. And take your belongings. You won’t be coming back here today.”

He’s kicking you out. He won’t let you finish the lab, and if you completely miss a lab, your chemistry grade will plummet. Shigaraki might not care about his grades, but if your grades drop, you’ll be thrown out of UA with a semester left in your third year. “It wasn’t me,” you protest. “Shigaraki started it!”

“Based on what I heard, you were a willing participant,” Sasaki-sensei says. He throws Shigaraki a dirty look, but the vast majority of his disdain is reserved for you. “I expected better of you, at least. Get out.”

Shigaraki’s already packed up his things. He shoves his chair back and it lets out an awful screech as it skids across the tiles, but you’re frozen in your seat. Your heart is racing, and your eyes are starting to prickle and burn. No matter what you do, it feels like the wrong choice – refuse to leave, blame Shigaraki for starting this again, try to make your case? Sasaki-sensei drums his fingers against his forearm, waiting for you, and when you don’t move, he barks at you. “Now.”

Someone giggles, and the sound snaps you out of your paralysis. You whip around to find two of the first-years in third-year chemistry snickering behind their hands – Kaminari and Ashido, who get in trouble for talking every other class, whose grades are worse than yours, who are here on their parents’ money instead of on scholarship. You’re not going to stand here and let a bunch of rich brats laugh at you. You stand up, jam your things back into your backpack, grab the gym bag with your climbing gear, and storm past Shigaraki out the door.

You held it together in class, but now that you’re out in the middle of an empty hall, you’re losing the fight against your tears. At least you are until you hear Shigaraki’s footsteps in the hallway behind you. This is his fault. There’s no way you’re going to let him know how upset you are. You pick up the pace down the hall, then up the stairs, heading for the administrative offices on the second of the school’s five floors.

Shigaraki catches up to you on the stairs. He says something, but you deliberately shift your gear bag, drowning him out with the clatter that results. Then you pick up your pace again. Shigaraki’s legs are longer than yours. He catches up and repeats what he must have said earlier. “Are you happy now?”

You were right to drown him out. You reach the administrative offices ahead of him, but as you reach for the door, it bursts open outwards. Principal Nezu nearly collides with you, and you stammer an apology. It’s as if you’re not even there. Shigaraki, on the other hand, nets a remark from the principal. “If I find out that you’re involved in this, Shigaraki –”

“Involved in what? I got sent here from chem lab.”

“If I find out you’re involved, I’ll personally ensure that you’re sent to prison,” Principal Nezu snaps, and you can’t hold in a shocked gasp. Principal Nezu’s radio crackles, and he raises it to his mouth. “Yes. I’m on my way. Do nothing until I arrive.”

He motors off down the hall, walking even faster than you were. Shigaraki steps past you into the admin offices, and the door closes in your face. You stand there for a moment, stunned. You don’t know what’s going on, what incident Principal Nezu’s referring to, but you can’t imagine what would make the principal say something like that to Shigaraki. You know Shigaraki was in trouble in middle school. Based on the few things he’s said about what it’s like for him at home, you know it isn’t good. And you know that since he started at UA, Shigaraki’s been sent to see the principal for showing up late, for falling asleep in class, for mouthing off to teachers, for throwing a punch after someone else punched him first – but he hasn’t done anything that the other school troublemakers haven’t done, too. You can’t imagine Principal Nezu threatening to send any of them to prison.

It strikes you as really harsh. Almost mean, since whatever incident is going on started while you and Shigaraki were arguing in chem class. But as awful as what the principal said to Shigaraki was, there might be a silver lining for you. If Principal Nezu hates Shigaraki that much, it won’t be hard to convince him that what happened in chem lab was all Shigaraki’s fault.

You feel awful for even thinking it. You open the door to the admin offices and step inside, addressing the first secretary you see. There are twelve of them – with everything that’s going on at UA, Principal Nezu needs all the help he can get. “Sasaki-sensei sent me here to see the principal.”

“Principal Nezu just left,” Secretary Kurose says shortly. She’s always been nice to you before now. “He’ll see you when he gets back. Wait in his office. Shigaraki’s already there.”

He’s probably waiting for you to come in so he can start the fight back up again. You wonder what he said to Secretary Kurose to put that tense, frustrated look on her face. It can’t just be because of you, can it? “I saw the principal leaving. Is something going on?”

“Wait in his office,” Secretary Kurose says. The phone rings and she picks it up, shooing you away. You walk slowly, dejectedly. Partly because you’re hurt by how she talked to you. And partly so you can hear what she says as she picks up the phone. “Yes, the principal is on-scene. The other faculty have Chisaki restrained.”

Chisaki’s one of the biology teachers – anatomy, specifically, and he’s the youngest one on staff. The weirdest, too. They have him restrained? You step into the principal’s office and shut the door behind you, so lost in thought about whatever’s going on down in the anatomy lab that you almost forget what you’re doing here.

But you can’t forget for long. Shigaraki’s sitting in Principal Nezu’s chair, feet propped up on the principal’s desk. He leans to one side to peer at you, half a smirk on his dry, scarred lips. “Come here often?”

You grit your teeth. “Never.”

“It’s your first time. I bet he’ll be gentle with you.” Shigaraki’s smirk sharpens. He leans further back in the chair. “I had to lower this thing about two feet to be able to sit in it. Do you think Nezu hates everybody who’s taller than him?”

You sit down in one of the chairs you think students are probably supposed to sit in and drop your bags by your feet. Your phone buzzes from inside your backpack, and you extract it to find a text from Nejire. What happened??? I heard something went down in lab

I’m in the principal’s office :( you text back, and that’s when it really hits you.

You’re in the principal’s office because you got kicked out of class, because you were fighting with your lab partner, because you gave him chocolate, because you have a crush on him and it’s Valentine’s Day. You might lose your scholarship. You got rejected by the person you like in the worst way possible. And now you’re stuck in here with him until the principal gets back from dealing with whatever the anatomy teacher did. This might be the worst day of school you’ve ever had.

Nejire texts back – ten texts in a row – and you ignore them. Behind the desk, Shigaraki looks up. “You get service in here? I thought this place was dead.”

“I’m on the school’s WiFi,” you say. “Third-years get the password.”

“I don’t have the password,” Shigaraki says. You struggle not to roll your eyes. “I guess it’s only for teacher’s pets.”

“If not wanting to be in trouble all the time makes me a teacher’s pet, fine. I’m a teacher’s pet,” you say. Shigaraki scoffs, and your desire to burst into tears temporarily converts to anger. Anger makes you mean. “You know, you’re a way better actor than me. You did such a good job pretending not to be exactly what everybody said you are that I actually fell for it.”

You’re expecting him to return fire right away. You’ve left him an opening to call you stupid for believing any better of him, and any second now he’s going to jump on it. But Shigaraki stays silent, and without something to react against, your anger starts to fizzle out. All that’s left is hurt and confusion. “I thought we were friends.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Shigaraki says. ��Except my friends are a bunch of assholes just like me, and none of them would pull the kind of stunt you did.”

“It wasn’t me,” you say.

Shigaraki’s jaw clenches. “I know it was you,” he says. “Why are you lying about it?”

“It wasn’t me.” You’re never going to admit it to him. You’re going to put this somewhere so far in the back of your mind that you’ll forget it ever happened, and every time you feel that pull towards Shigaraki, those butterflies, you’re going to remind yourself how you feel right now. “Why won’t you stop? You’ve already gotten me kicked out. Isn’t that enough?”

“Kicked out?” Shigaraki laughs at that. “I get sent here three times a week. They haven’t kicked me out yet.”

“You’re not on scholarship,” you say. Despair settles heavily over you. “I’m in the principal’s office and my chemistry grade is ruined – and they can kick me out for breathing wrong. Whatever you think I did, haven’t I paid for it?”

“They’re not kicking you out.” Shigaraki’s not laughing anymore. He takes his feet down off the desk and sits up in Principal Nezu’s chair. “When he gets back, you’re going to tell him I started it –”

“You did start it.”

“Yeah, and I’m gonna cop to it,” Shigaraki says. You blink. “It’ll be my fault, I’ll get detention again, and your record won’t get messed up. They’re not kicking you out.”

“Why do you care if I get kicked out?” you ask. “Do you need a lab partner that bad?”

Shigaraki’s jaw clenches. “No,” he says. “It’ll just be a pain to have to break a new one in.”

That’s what you’d thought he’d say, or something like it. Maybe this morning you’d have thought he cared, but by now you know a lot better. You slump down in your chair, cross your arms over your chest, and wait for the principal to get back.

Fourth period ends without Principal Nezu coming back, which means you and Shigaraki are now missing lunch. School lunches are expensive. You packed your own, like always, and you dig it out of your backpack and open it. Shigaraki takes his feet down off the desk and sits up. “You brought food?”

“Yep.”

“I want some.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” you say. Shigaraki stares back at you, unrepentant. “I’m not giving you my food.”

“I didn’t say I wanted all of it. I said some of it,” Shigaraki corrects, like an asshole. “Share. Unless you’re done pretending to be nice?”

“Maybe I am, since you’re done pretending not to be a bully –”

“A bully?”

“You’re trying to steal my lunch.” You put it back into your backpack. Maybe he’ll leave you alone about it now. “Most guys give that up by seventh grade.”

“Yeah, well, I was in juvie in seventh grade, so –” Shigaraki breaks off suddenly, then glares at you. “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything,” you say – and then, from somewhere at the edge of your hearing, a sound hits your ears that’s got no business being in a school. “Did you hear that?”

“What? I didn’t –” Shigaraki’s head snaps up. “I heard that.”

So did you. Two screams, from two different people, and a moment later, there’s a third. A chill goes down your spine, and you hold still with an effort, even when the fourth scream rings out. “People don’t scream like that when they’re just screwing around.”

“No,” Shigaraki says. More screams. They’re getting closer. He gets to his feet. “Get out of the way.”

“What?”

Shigaraki doesn’t answer. He kicks Principal Nezu’s chair out of the way, knocks everything on the desk onto the floor, and starts shoving at the desk, to absolutely no effect. It’s so bizarre that it takes another scream to snap you back to awareness. “What are you doing?”

“Blocking the door.” Shigaraki’s voice is strained. “Whatever’s making people scream like that, I don’t want it in here.”

What could it even be? A school shooter, like they have in America? You’d have heard gunshots. Maybe it’s a crazy person with a knife running through the halls, or a rabid animal, or something. Now there are so many people screaming that you can’t distinguish anything about the voices – male or female, young or old, victim or perpetrator. Whatever it is, Shigaraki’s right. You don’t want it here either. You leave your backpack off to one side and join Shigaraki behind the desk, giving it an experimental push. Sure, it’s heavy. You can see why Shigaraki’s having trouble. You square up, plant your feet, and shove.

The desk skids forward, and you keep pushing. Shigaraki’s not doing anything to help, even though it was his idea, and when you turn to look, you find him staring at you. “Are you on steroids or something?”

“No, I’m on the climbing team. We have to work out.” You shove the desk again, thankful for the fact that Coach Usagiyama makes you and the rest of the team cross-train at least twice a week. “Are you going to help? It’ll be faster with two.”

At first Shigaraki just stares at you, but the screams are so close now, close enough that your ears hurt, and blocking the door was his idea. Shigaraki lines up next to you and starts pushing the desk, and together the two of you wedge it against the door. Almost as soon as you’ve pushed it into place, something thuds against it from the other side. You recoil backwards, but Shigaraki throws his weight against the desk, keeping it firmly shut. “Let me in,” Secretary Kurose pleads. “They’re coming!”

Who’s they? It doesn’t matter, not when she needs help. You grab the desk and pull back, only to catch Shigaraki’s arm squarely across your chest, hard enough that you’ll have bruises. “No,” he snaps at you. “Nobody gets in.”

“She needs help!”

“You think she’d help us? No.” The door handle is rattling, and Shigaraki shoves the desk against the door again. “She can run.”

“Please,” Secretary Kurose wails. “They’re –”

Her voice breaks into a high, wavering scream, and the door shivers on its frame as at least three people collide with it. Secretary Kurose’s scream reaches a new pitch, one that makes Shigaraki flinch and makes you jam your fingers in your ears to drown it out. But some part of you knows there’s no drowning this out. Not the scream that hitches and splits. Not the low growls and wet, meaty sounds of flesh being torn away. Not the rattling breaths that go suddenly, horribly silent.

You can’t see anything that’s happening, but some part of you knows exactly what you’re listening to. Those are the sounds of a person being eaten alive, and before you can even think, you’re throwing your weight against the desk just like Shigaraki is, desperate to keep whatever’s out there from getting in.

[mingis-orangejuice]

MC gets Swarmend by a Bunch of Fans

Summary: MC starts to become popular because a video of her fighting wanderers goes viral. How will the boys react to your new-found fame?

a/n: I'm back after not writing for a billion years, I've been busy with life. I'm still not sure if I'm going to be consistent on here yet, but thanks to those who actually stuck around even tho I don't post often. Also this is my first time writing for Caleb. I haven't played many of his cards yet, so I'm not as familiar with him as I am with the other boys, so keep that in mind while you read his part, no hate please

Genres/Warnings: No warnings, just Fluff, established relationship, a bit of jealousy, but nothing toxic, and sassy boys :)

Word count: 1466

You were recently named the number one hunter in all of Linkon City after a video of you went viral. You simultaneously killed 2 large wanderers while also evacuating the local elementary school. All the comments were singing your praises. This has resulted in multiple massive online communities forming around their love for you. You became really popular with male fans too since you’re one of the few female hunters in the industry. They constantly leave comments, asking if you have a boyfriend and if you could crush their heads like you did to the wanderers.

After your overnight success, your man calls you. He wants to take you out to celebrate, hopefully it will just be a nice quiet date with no distractions, right?…

Xavier:

-Takes you to get ice cream in the park, he didn’t really think it through

-he was confused about how all these people showed up to your date in this very public park

-They push past Xavier, trying to get your autograph

-You don’t want to disappoint, so you ask Xavier to sit down for a bit while you sign a few autographs

-You get tons of questions and comments about Xavier that the fans make sure to say loud enough for him to hear, like: “Is that other hunter your boyfriend? He doesn’t look tough, I could take him.” and  “I can treat you better than he would.” “You can do better than that guy.”

-Xavier is seething with jealousy, not just cuz a bunch of guys are interested in you, but because he's a hunter too. Why doesn't he have any fans :( 

-he’d  squeeze past the guys to get to you

-once he finally does, he’d grab you by the waist and hold you close, letting everyone know you were his 

Xavier: Shows over everyone, thanks for your support. But me and MY GIRLFRIEND need to continue OUR DATE,

-he would make sure to glare at the guys he heard earlier as he says the words “Girlfriend” and “date.”

Rafayel:

-Takes you to a nice restaurant far enough out of the city that the swarm of fans wouldn’t be able to get to on foot. And too expensive for them to get into anyway.

-he was used to having to avoid crowds of fans; this is where he would usually go to escape them.

-but he didn’t expect you to have fans outside the city

-All eyes were on you. He hoped that since this place was so sophisticated, the fans would just stare and nothing more.

-he was wrong. 

-All night, men were sending you drinks from the bar, and they even offered to pay for the most expensive meals on the menu. Some even asked you to ditch Rafayel and sit with them instead.

-Each time a guy sent something to your table, he would get more and more sulky

-he moves in closer and wraps his arm around you to make sure they know you’re taken

-He can’t take it anymore, he looks towards the main group of guys that had been doing most of the drink-sending. 

Rafayel: She’s with me, ok, don't get any ideas. And stop sending her stuff, I’m more than capable of buying her every item off the menu without even making a dent in my wallet. And what's with sending her all these drinks? I bet you poisoned them. She would never accept drinks from just anyone, especially creeps like you ! Come on, let's get out of here. I guess this place isn’t as sophisticated as I thought.

-Rafayel takes your hand and leads you out of the restaurant

-You guys drive to his place. 

-The moment you guys get in and close the door, he gets all pouty again.

- Please cuddle him till he feels better.

Rafayel: I thought I'd lose you today. To make sure you’re safe, I guess you’ll just have to stay here for a while, maybe even forever.

MC: *eye roll* Raf, I’m going to have to go back to work eventually

Rafayel: No, you don’t, you can just retire now that you’re at the top of your game!

- he’ll get all pouty once you try to leave, he’ll insist on driving you home and everywhere from now on, you know, just to make sure you’re safe, definitely not cuz he’s scared you’ll leave him.

-Long story short, he doesn't want to share you 

Zayne:

-Zayne would be very proud of you. He would make sure to refer to you as “his number one hunter” as much as possible just to tease you.

- but would also watch these guys like a hawk, 

-If any of them touches you or makes you uncomfortable, he'll step in

-Zayne will take you to your favourite cafe, it's small and quiet and serves your favourite drinks.

-Once you two finish up and walk out, there's a line of fans waiting for your autograph.

-Zayne intertwines your fingers with his so he doesn’t lose you in the crowd 

Zayne: If you’re here for an autograph from MC, please form a straight line, and she will get to as many people as she can.

-The fans somehow listen to Zayne and form an organized line.

-Zayne will be like your talent manager; if a fan is taking too long, he’ll move them along. If any of them say or do anything inappropriate, he’ll make sure to glare at them while politely asking them to leave

-The whole time while you’re signing stuff and talking with fans, Zayne will be standing closely behind, making sure everything goes smoothly.

- as much as he doesn’t like the crowd, he knows you’re having fun being in the spotlight

-but he can tell when you’re tired and will shoo everyone away so that you can rest.

-He’s proud of you for your achievemen,t but would rather not have to deal with a large crowd of people trying to hit on his girlfriend.

Sylus:

-will most likely try and hide cuz if they're Hunter fans, they probably know who he is and would be wondering why the top Hunter is on a date with the leader of Onychinus. 

-He'd probably try to keep a low profile, or use Luke and Kieran as a distraction so you two can get away quickly.

-but if you really wanted to go out he’d make sure to wear a disguise, and do his best impression of Skye the fruit vendor.

-the tabloids would be all over this story “Local big-shot hunter in a relationship with small-town fruit vendor?”

-He wouldn’t really mind the guys hitting on you, cuz at the end of the day, he knows you’re going home with him

-he actually feels proud knowing that his girlfriend is so desired, it makes him want you more.

-He would take you somewhere out of the country once the news stories start to circulate, he can fool a few local fans but once his face gets photographed in the news, it could be over for him.

-you two would go to a tropical island where he of course has a private beach house. 

-He would pamper you as much as possible, and buy you as many gifts as possible, food clothes, accessories etc…

MC: Sylus, this is too much. How am I gonna bring this all back to Linkon?

Sylus: What? Can’t I be proud of my brave hunter girlfriend? After all, you’re going to need new outfits and accessories when you get back, I can’t have you in the tabloids wearing the same old hunter’s outfit from befor.e”

Caleb:

-He would brag to EVERYONE and I mean everyone.

-people he know’s people he doesn’t know, the mailman, the grocery store clerk, he would take every opportunity to let them know that he is dating the numer one hunter in Linkon.

-he wants everyone to know, especially if it embarrases you 

Caleb: *loudly in the middle of the restaurant* who would have guessed this little Pipsqueak who used to follow me around as kids, would become the number one hunter in all of Linkon?

MC: *slaps his arm* Caleb shush, you’re being annoying

-even though he wants to put the attention on you, the second any boy even thinks about hitting on you he’ll step in and let them know you’re taken.

-he’ll fly you to skyhaven and keep you in his apartment all weekend and have a movie marathon of all your favourite movies to celebrate.

-he says its because he just wants to have a chill relaxed weekend but really he just doesnt want to share you.

-after the weekend together is over, he’ll personally fly you back to Linkon and escort you to your aprtment.

-he trusts you, he just doesn't trust the men in Linkon

[contentloadingandstuff]

Rip And Tear - Xilonen & Chasca x Male!Doom!Reader

A/N: Alright, here's something inspired by Doom. It doesn't include specific references, and is based on the human version of Doomguy (pre DOOM 2016). If you like it and want to see more of this idea, the asks are open. Enjoy! CW: Violence, established relationship, some made up lore to flesh out the Reader. I'm honestly not sure what genre this is.

“They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you… You will be worse. Rip and tear, until it is done.” - Xbalanque, The First Pyro Archon

“In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened, one stood. Burned by the embers of war, his soul blistered by the fires of Abyss and tainted beyond ascension, he chose the path of perpetual torment. In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Abyssal Void seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him. He bore the ancient name of Natlan, and those that tasted the bite of his sword named him Askari. Though his body fell, consumed by the eternal fires of conflict, he rages on through each that bears his name.” - Tablet of Tona, Third Cycle, Passage CLXXIV

Xilonen

Every time the nation of Pyro goes to war, a new Askari is selected from the tribes by the unified will of all six Wayob. The legends say that this man, worthy of carrying the name, will not seek it or desire it, but will bear it until his role is done. He shall never grow old, they say, as he will meet a glorious death. Then, his successor will be selected should the need arise. 

As for Xilonen? She is not happy with it, by any meaning of the word. Of course it is her husband that happens to be the tormented, death-destined slayer. That’s just how life is going to treat her, huh?

First it was the massive abyssal invasion, one unlike any other in the previous century. She was one of the first to be evacuated from the Children of the Echoes, as her skills - no matter her combat prowess - were too valuable to put on the line. As such, she spent most of the conflict in the Stadium’s forge, crafting weapons at inhuman speeds for the ever dwindling defenders. The moments when she was allowed to leave its safety were anything but a break, as were her nights. She tossed and turned restlessly in the empty bed, worrying about you. Her family was safe, but you were not. There was no news of your fate. But Xilonen never assumed you were dead - you were strong, yes, you couldn’t have died so easily. If she only wasn’t so crucial to everything! She swore, looking out the window towards her overran home, that she would turn the world upside down to find you when it was all over. But fate had other plans. 

The war wasn’t over yet when she was taking a breather near the entrance, subconsciously scanning for any familiar faces amongst the constant inwards flow of ragged, scared refugees. At some point, the crowd started parting to make way for someone. Curious, Xilonen peeked out - only to see you. You, her beloved, her second half, covered in black blood and corrupted goo. Head to toe in armor unfamiliar to her, in one hand you carried your helmet and in the other, much to her horror… the obsidian shard with ASKR inscribed in runes. 

She froze. This was not happening. It took an entire day and a terrible hangover afterwards to come to terms with what just occurred. In one moment, you were fine. You were back. In the very next second, you were dead. Your fate was sealed by the name you were given. No matter how hard she would try, you wouldn’t be able to grow old with her. Before a single hair grayed on your head, you would scamper off to some dank hole and throw yourself at some gross monster just to die and leave her a broken-hearted widow, and your children fatherless orphans. For the first time in a long while, Xilonen was at a loss for words. The only things she could do, after countless rounds and hours of anger at the gods, she could only curl up and cry. 

Once the emotions passed, and alongside with them the war, the mood was bittersweet when she embraced you. You were alright. You wouldn’t die just yet. Then, she promised that no matter what the world was to throw at you, you wouldn’t shed a drop of blood until the prophecy demanded it of you. And she intends to hold that word to this very day. 

Now that the war is over, Xilonen is your primary arms dealer. No matter how tired she is, she puts even a little work into a new weapon or a new equipment piece for you every day. She has the freedom to do so, as Mauvika is obliged to foot the bill for the Warrior’s needs. Xilonen made sure to analyse your armor, finding that it was the same exact set worn by one of the ancient Askari - his spirit led you to it, no doubt about that. Though it’s mostly alien to her, a remnant of draconic technology of old, she does try to not only fix it, but improve it as well. So far, she is quite successful. Whenever you go out, expect to have your equipment fixed up, cleaned, sharpened and polished to perfection. 

Even if you find that too much, Xilonen will turn your refusal down. It’s not only her job as the Name Forger to care for the Askari’s gear, but she is also obliged to look out for you as your wife. It’s the least she can do for you. 

She can’t help you on your quest, as most of it is secretly planned by Mauvika so the information remains clandestine, and she absolutely cannot match you in combat. Xilonen is a good fighter, as every name bearer in Natlan, but you are several grades above her. Hell, you could even go head to head with Mauvika should the need arise - after all, one of the Askaris is famous for killing a Pyro Archon when he turned malevolent and embarked on a path of oppression. She saw you wield both blade and gun with repulsive efficiency…

Repulsive, as Xilonen dislikes gore. Yes, she is aware that it lies amongst the methods of Askari, and yes, she knows that it is very efficient at routing monsters, but it’s so spine chilling to watch you rip your enemies apart. She read about the terrible strength of your predecessors, she saw the murals, but nothing could compare to the sight and the sheer brutal efficiency of your massacres. Because that is the only word to describe most of your encounters with both monsters and humans. After a few brief moments, all that is left of them is a pile of mangled bodies and the sickening stench of iron in the air. 

Luckily, she sees it quite rarely. Nobody sane in Natlan dares to stand in your way - after all, no man or woman would like to have their head skewered with their broken radius, so it's clueless and arrogant Fatui that end up on the wrong end of your weapon. Hilichurls, especially stronger ones, are often too limited in their minds to appreciate just what will happen to them if they come too close to you.

Xilonen thanks Xbalanque each day that your Ancient Name does not corrupt your mind. With just how coldly ruthless you are in combat, you would think an Askari unable to feel or love. But you are still the same man she fell for - just with a tougher look and more blood on his hands. 

Your wife feels incredibly safe in your arms. She knows that you would never raise a hand on somebody undeserving of retribution. Your divine muscles, gained thanks to the supernatural power of the Name, makes you a perfect pillow. Be ready to be her headrest - Xilonen has limited time with you, and she aims to make the most of it. She already started preparing a children’s room for your heirs. It’s best to start as soon as possible so they get many fond memories with their father before he inevitably gives his life for her, them and all of Natlan. 

Chasca

Her role as a peacekeeper didn’t really exist as a separate profession in the ancient times. Most of it was done by the chiefs and their loyal entourage of warriors, but when the population grew and the tribes expanded into more complex structures, that wasn’t sufficient. In recent years, it has been even harder to maintain order as a long period of peace, and the absence of an Askari to be wary of, brough the people of Natlan further apart from each other. But not anymore.

It happened in the middle of the invasion. Buildings of the Flower Feather Clan were burning with unnatural, purple flames. Dark ooze was leaking from several Abyss portals, constantly spewing new monsters. Her fellow defenders were fighting bravely, but at that point corrosion and simple, human exhaustion started to set it. She watched as they dwindled in number, falling to blows of clubs and axes, others being torn to pieces by jagged, corrupted fangs of Rifthounds. You have long vanished from her sight, and in the midst of combat, she assumed you died as well, and realized that she was soon to follow. In her mind, it was the end. The end of her tribe, her family and herself. Her human parents, Chuychu, you, maybe even Chimpu and Coya.

Her ammunition ran out, and it was down to just her Vision. Exhaustion was slowly robbing her of strength to fight on. A lapse in concentration and she found herself knocked to the ground by a corroded Mitachurl. It raised its axe, ready to kill her. But then, a roar - no, a battle cry, coming from the skies. Both she and the monster looked up, its last sight being the underside of your boot. Chasca watched as it came crashing down, its head splattering against the wooden platform under the force of your attack. You were bleeding, wounded, wielding the remnants of your weapon like a short knife. But on your face was an expression of hate. Rage. Combat fury that she hasn’t seen either in a human or a saurian. Hilichurls approached you, only to be met with a barrage of cuts, fists and knees. You broke one’s arm like it was a twig, breaking its face alongside its mask on your fist. Another was cut open, the broken blade passing through muscle and bone as if it was butter. One was unfortunate to stumble after a kick; you stomped on its leg and, holding onto the monster’s shoulder, pulled the head alongside the spine out of its body like it was a weed. Chasca could only watch as the foes were killed, one by one in a torrent of blood and guts. Eventually, they just… broke. They fled, leaving you standing alone amidst the bodies of your comrades and whatever was left of theirs.

Before she could even speak a word, you hoisted her by her collar and, without a word, carried her to the chief’s hut where survivors were gathered. When she came to her senses, she didn’t ask any questions - it wasn’t the time for that. Both of you led whatever was left of the tribe to the Stadium. Only on the way back did Chasca notice that it wasn’t a broken sword you were wielding. It was an obsidian sigil mounted on a handle. A sigil with nothing else but the letters ASKR carved into the obsidian. Once you got to your destination, you wandered off and she saw you again only after the invasion

You weren’t there to comfort her when Chuychu succumbed to corrosion. She knew, however, that you couldn’t. Your new name, just like hers, came with duties that had to be attended to.   

Who would have thought that Chasca would be the one to witness the cursed name, the mark of the beast, be granted to a chosen Warrior? And her husband no less? That was one of the only two good things to come out of the invasion. The latter being that, even if it’s a bit cynical to admit, only one of her loved ones died. There were many among the tribe who lost everyone they held dear. But you were still here, stronger and… cooler than ever. 

Every Askari has similar traits of character, you being no exception. Calm, laconic in speech and dutiful… How could she have not expected you to be this generation’s Warrior? Perhaps it was the part of her that hoped you wouldn’t be marked for death. But alas, the will of the Wayob comes from their wisdom and strives for the good of all Natlan - it would be selfish to try and resist it. 

On top of that, you didn’t seem opposed to your new destiny. You wore the armor and wielded the weapons with a grim determination and hatred boiling in your veins as you tore your enemies into pieces. While you weren’t eager to voluntarily put yourself in danger before, now you were the first to go in, and soon your given name became a synonym for victory. The remaining nests of the Abyss and the monsters lurking around dark corners were stomped into the mud, the survivors too scared of you to come out and threaten the people ever again. Then, riding on your Qucusaurus, you took to the ruins of Ochkanatlan to clean the corrosion. Although the Traveler got to the dragon first, you still had lots of things to kill. 

And when all was said and done, you looked around at all the bodies and scoffed, for there were no more monster necks to snap, no more skulls to pulverise under your boots. So you returned home. 

Chasca was with you all the way. Temporarily, there was a smaller need to keep the peace since everybody was still united and wary of a possible counterattack. She observed as you purged the monsters, and couldn’t tear her eyes away from you. The way an Askari fought was described in legends, but the retellings were nothing when compared to seeing you in the flesh. You were fearless. You brushed off any injury they could inflict on you, your body quickly regenerating as soon as you wet your blade with another monster’s blood. Your newly enhanced size and musculature let you snap necks and crush heads with spine-chilling ease. She is more than perfectly aware of why you fight this way - fear is the only way to get through to the primal minds of the monstrosities you fight. And it is effective, for they fear only one thing - you. 

While she was very intimidating before, it’s an entirely different matter now. Just a mention of her getting involved creates an instant link to you in the minds of the troublemakers. If they pull her into this, she could definitely ask you for a hand and render them into nothing but ground meat. And although you don’t usually fight humans, she saw you drive back Fatui and similar criminals before. And the rest of Natlan has heard about it too. Now very few dare to rob caravans or poach saurians, fearing that they might land in the center of your attention. And nobody wants that. 

Even if you made her role a bit less necessary, you do make up for it by being an absolute piece of cinema. Chasca could watch you train and fight for hours on end, seeing every muscle flex as you deliver well-earned retribution.

And when there are no monsters in urgent need of a proper beatdown, she can… enjoy your strength in greater detail, so to speak. But you don’t mind that, do you?

Thanks for reading!

[records-of-a-slacker]

Earth 2 KRS dies (?) AU

Thinking of an AU where in Earth 2, instead of Kim Roksoo being the only survivor after the unranked monster attack, everyone else except him does. I'm pretty sure a bunch of people already came up with this somewhere but it's so. tragic. so i'm gonna ramble about it as one does.

He saw the records. His world may be better off than the other earth he saw in Cale's memories, but that doesn't mean they're invincible. he pictures that record over and over again, memorizing the movements of the monster and the exact moment his team members were struck and how he could prevent it. He prepared every possible measure, from the best ability users that could go at the forefront, any kind of special material they could use in order to defend against the monster's special features, scheduled evacuations, everything. Everyone believes him, of course, because he's the prophet that could tell the future. ("I have faith!")

But then on the fated day, something goes wrong. One thing that was off the mark. Just one strike that started too soon, the timing of an attack that was off, anything. But now the monster, as a last ditch strike before it dies, was about to hit Choi Jungsoo like in his record, and he's not about to let that happen. He lifts his metal shield and takes the hit.

He thinks, no, he's pretty sure he's going to die. The gash was deep, and he can hear the horrified yelling from around him. Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo were holding onto him tightly and he was about to blackout when something weird happens, but it was too late for him to tell.

Miraculously, he woke up.

...Inside of an unfamiliar room.

"He just popped out of nowhere! From the sky!" Was that a 5 year old??

"Shh, we shouldn't be too loud, he's asleep, so we might disrupt him." A voice that sounded... kind of Korean? A 17-year-old kid? Who's house was this-

He winced as he got up , realizing the bandages he was wrapped in. The two figures tense up and whip their head around, the human of the two hopping to his fee- is that dragon!?

"You!" the little 5-year old dragon exclaimed as Kim Roksoo immediately sat up and moved back against the wall, cautious. "You're the weird human who looks like Choi Han that fell from the sky! Who are you?"

He blinked. What the- "Choi Han...?"

He raised his brow. "Are you Korean?" he seemed concerned. "Did you also suddenly get dropped here?"

"What-" Kim Roksoo froze. Hasn't he... seen this little black dragon somewhere before?

"Well, listen up, weird human. We saved you, so it's time to pay for your meals!" he puffed his chest as he flew closer to him, with Choi Han hovering behind him in slight concern. "I am the great and might 4-year-old dragon, Dodam Miru!"

Kim Roksoo was suddenly overcome with the urge to cuss out a certain god.

---

In another world, Choi Jungsoo and Lee Soohyuk are out for blood and are trying every possible demon-summoning method in the book and cussing at the sky until GoD appears so Choi Jungsoo can beat him with a broomstick and Lee Soohyuk can scam him into a deal that sends them to Nameless 2 immediately. Because by god if they leave him unsupervised for a day he will start world war or sacrifice himself to the nearest cause in no time flat

(yes, Alberu who met chaotic servant Cale is also here. The timeline configuration will be dealt with later)

[miniwheat77]

Lavender. (Ghost x Reader.)

!Cute, Simon being protective, blood, military stuff, you know the deal. No minors!

I went with lavender because the colors on here are limited. This is not edited. This was a request and you can find that here.

Lavender is the smell that Ghost awoke to that morning. His head pounded and he felt a dull pain in his abdomen. He didn’t understand what was going on or where he was. He was just about to start pulling the cords off of himself when you came in, clipboard in hand. “Hey, you’re awake.” You smile. Ghosts lips part slightly. He can still feel his balaclava on his face thank god. You’re very stunning. “Who are you?” He asks. “My name is Y/N. I’m a combat medic. One of your mates said you’d been shot and called for evacuation, we were the closest military base.” You smile. “They uh.. they took your mask off but I put it back on. It might be a little crooked.” You laugh. “Thank you.” He’s quiet. “Hey LT” Soap appears behind you. So that’s who called for evac.

Lavender makes him think about that military base with you. He’s always drawn back to you, night and day. He doesn’t know where the smell came from, maybe from somewhere outside or an air freshener of some kind. But anytime he smells it, he thinks of you. He thinks about how sweet and gentle you were. Reassuring him. You helped him fix his mask, adjusting it on his face and he let you. Not flinching away as your fingertips brushed across his face. Johnny watched as it happened. His eyes looked up at you as you adjusted it. Johnny couldn’t believe it.

Lavender happens to be the color of fabric he’s got in his hands when Captain Price tells him that there will be a new medic joining them on base. A little birdie told Captain Price about how well you had done and how you would make a great part of the team. Johnny smiled when he heard the news. Watching Ghost stiffen. Ghost couldn’t believe his ears. You would no longer be a memory, but a constant in his life. Ghost feared that he would get attached and something would go horribly wrong. But the smell of lavender in the morning seemed to soothe him of all of those concerns.

Lavender is where he dreams of you. He sees you walking through the massive field of purple flowers. When he’s daydreaming about you on base, eyes following your every move, he can’t help himself. You would look so pretty. Anytime he sees the color or smells it, you invade his mind like a plague. When you officially start, you approach him first. Asking him how he’s doing, if he’s recovering well. Getting enough rest, drinking enough water. Johnny can see it in his eyes when he looks at you. Usually Ghost has dark, harsh eyes. But when he looks at you they soften and he’s got adoration behind them.

Lavender is the smell of the air freshener he sees you setting down in the watch tower. You’d been filling in for Soap and you were complaining about the smell, how everything always smells musty and old. He finally understands why the smell follows you everywhere you go. “It’s not my favorite scent but it’s far better than what we’re working with now.” You mumble. Cracking open the little pot. It’s clearly meant for a car. “They sold them in bulk at the store by the other military base and it’s the only kind they had. I was desperate.” You smile. “It’s not so bad.” He mumbles. He watches you in adoration as you move around the watch tower, tidying it up. The more you were around, the harder he fell.

Lavender fills his senses everywhere he goes. He hovers around you like a lost puppy all the time. He notices a few things about you. Like how your socks are lavender and sometimes when your bra strap pokes through your shirt when you lean just right is also purple. He doesn’t know if it’s your favorite color. But it’s what he uses to associate you. You’re tidying up the infirmary when he finally decides enough is enough. You’re folding sheets when he approaches you. “Y/N?” He asks. You turn around and don’t have even a second to react before his lips are on yours. When he pulls away and doesn’t have his mask on, you’re in complete shock. Your lips are slightly parted and your eyes are wide. He cups your face and makes you look at him.

Lavender is the color of the outside of the card Johnny sends you. It’s got purple flowers and a purple background. He’s upset he missed it, but he was there in spirits. Military doesn’t always allow for time off. You use a magnet to stick the congratulatory card to your fridge. “Too bad he missed it, hm?” You turn to look at Ghost. “Ah, he’ll be here soon enough. When he’s off we can’t get rid of him.” Ghost laughs, pulling you into him. He takes another look at the wedding ring on your hand. “We’ll go out for drinks and he’ll forget all about it.” You laugh. He leans in to kiss you.

Lavender sheets are what your baby lays on. The entire task force watches over her in her crib. Mesmerized by the fact that the Lieutenant now had a baby with the girl that saved his life all those years ago. They watch her sleep peacefully. Seeing a new life when all they see is death is a blessing they’ll never fully get to appreciate. “Congratulations you two. I’m glad we were able to fly out to meet her.” Captain Price smiles. You smile back and he gives you a hug. “She’s so precious. I just can’t believe it.” Johnny looks over her. Sniffling as he tries to hold back the tears, but he’s losing. “You’re such a sap Johnny.” Ghost laughs, patting his back. “Of all of the people I expected to end up together you’re who I least expected.” Gaz laughs. Seeing Ghost wrap an arm around your back. Pulling you closer to him. “Yeah. It’s crazy how things ended up huh? Gotta say I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” He laughs.

[creampuffqueen]

people who don’t experience hurricanes on the regular do not understand the ‘hunker down and wait’ culture we have in hurricane areas

hurricanes are so incredibly unpredictable. the storm that’s supposedly going to be “the worst ever” will no longer even be a hurricane by the time it lands, a tropical storm nobody was worried about can be a cat 2 when it lands. they change on a dime. a hurricane can blow through right through and keep moving, a hurricane can sit over your house for days. it is HARD to predict

and for those of us who live in hurricane prone areas? if we evacuated for every single tropical storm or hurricane we would be evacuating like 5-6 times a year. that is completely unsustainable. and the amount of times that a storm is supposed to devastate your area, only for something to change at the last second and you don’t even get rain… it happens all. the. time

so no, lots of people don’t evacuate. even when it’s a big storm. even when it’s supposed to hit you head on. because a vast majority of the time it doesn’t

my heart goes out to everyone in hurricane helene’s path. believe me, i’ve been there before. i’ve lived through ike, harvey, beryl, and so many other storms i can’t even name because that’s how often we get them. my family has never evacuated for a hurricane before. we are a hunker down and wait family. and i am incredibly lucky that it’s worked for us in the past. i’m so, so sorry for those who did the same and were unfortunately proven wrong

stay safe out there

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

in the rare and unusual case that something were to imminently threaten the planet of gallifrey - as in the whole plant would just explode in ten seconds or ect

what would be procedure?

What would happen if something were about to destroy Gallifrey in ten seconds?

First of all, congratulations: you've just triggered the Gallifreyan endgame. Is it a planet-killing meteor? Collapsing star? Antimatter bloom? Or the result of a Gallifreyan thinking, 'what if I pushed this button?'

It doesn't matter, really. Let's walk through what theoretically might happen, second by second.

⏱️ T-minus 10 seconds: Everything Goes Wrong, Loudly

The Cloister Bells would activate across all temporal facilities. Every Chapter, every TARDIS, every hallway of the Capitol. The noise would be overwhelming. If you were in denial about the danger, the bells will solve that for you.

The Matrix, High Council communications grid, and every functioning TARDIS console will light up, all issuing high-level priority alerts: IMMINENT PLANETARY FAILURE. Hopefully in large, blinking Gallifreyan script.

⏱️ T-minus 9 seconds: Temporal Distortion Begins

Gallifrey doesn't sit within conventional space-time. It operates within Inner Time. This sealed-off continuity is walled behind transduction barriers and temporal engineering.

What this means is: if the Universe itself is collapsing, Gallifrey will experience it either never or, for the purposes of this theoretical scenario, later. Time on the surface of Gallifrey may dilate or warp or switch or change or... get a bit floopy.

⏱️ T-minus 8–7 seconds: In Absentia in Chaotica Protocol

The In Absentia in Chaotica Protocol (established under Pandak II) dictates the following:

If the Lord President is off-world, the High Council must immediately appoint the most strategically placed Council member as Acting President.

If time permits, a formal appointment can be made and ratified by the Chancellor.

If the Lord President is alive but missing, the Council may even depose him in absentia and hold an emergency election.

Of course, this is all very dignified and constitutional. And completely useless.

⏱️ T-minus 7-2 seconds: TARDIS Recall and Evacuation, Matrix Salvage

There's good reason to think that the Citadel has an emergency TARDIS Recall Command—a Universal override that forces all active TARDISes back to Gallifrey. This could serve two functions:

Act as a last-ditch evacuation fleet, and/or

Ensure that no Gallifreyan tech gets left behind for scavengers.

It's elegant in theory. In practice, the chances of getting every TARDIS to behave at once are slim. And let's not pretend anyone besides important people are getting evacuated.

Meanwhile, someone may or may not attempt to salvage data from the Matrix to take with them on evacuation. If you really have your act together, you might even activate Protocol 0—a rumoured failsafe that rips Gallifrey's history from the Matrix and launches it into a secure temporal pocket.

⏱️ T-minus 2-1 seconds:

At this point, it's only polite to clean up after yourself.

Seal the planet to prevent the explosion from affecting space-time

Place barriers around the space-time area to prevent anyone from accidentally stumbling into the debris

Ensure vital structures and metaphysical structures (things like Web of Time and the Eye of Hermony) are bolstered and protected.

💀 And then ... Kerboom.

🏫So...

If Gallifrey's about to explode, the alarms will scream, the bells will toll, the TARDISes may (or may not) come home, and the High Council will argue about procedure until there's no one left to argue.

🎓 Supplementary Material

Excerpt from Standard Operating Holographic Scenario #917 "In Absentia, In Absolute Panic" (Required viewing for all junior Councillors.)

COUNCILLOR BRY (sipping tea): Ahhh. Don't you just love days where absolutely nothing catastrophic happens? [00:10 – Deafening Cloister Bells start. Everything flashes violently red.] COUNCILLOR BRY (blinks): Ah. Must be the Friday fire alarm test. [00:09 – Distant sirens. Lights flicker. Garden fountain begins to vibrate.] RINDA (flatly): This is not a test, Councillor. Transduction barrier integrity: critical. Event horizon destabilising. Atmospheric core predicted to detonate in approximately... eight seconds. COUNCILLOR BRY (frowning): That's ridiculous. Someone would've told me. I'm on the Council. [00:07 – Tremors begin. Skies shift violet. Cloister Bells now unbearable.] RINDA: The President is skiing on Mohobos Minor, and everyone else is still drunk on ginger ale from last night's function. Congratulations. You're Acting Lord President. LORD PRESIDENT BRY (holding a sandwich): I'm what now? RINDA (producing datapad): By authority of the In Absentia in Chaotica Protocol, you are now Acting Lord President of Gallifrey. Please sign here. LORD PRESIDENT BRY: But I—I don’t know the override codes, the vault access phrases, the truth about Omega, I—! [00:04 – Buildings phase in and out of reality. A TARDIS howls somewhere offscreen.] LORD PRESIDENT BRY (shouting): What do I do?! RINDA (calmly): Absolutely nothing, sir. I've already initiated the TARDIS recall and evacuated anyone important. The planet will be sealed. Escape is no longer viable. Please enjoy your new role. LORD PRESIDENT BRY: You could've warned me I needed to evacuate! [00:01 – Gravity inverts. Sandwich drifts upward.] LORD PRESIDENT BRY (deadpan): Oh, Rassilon's socks. [00:00 – Gallifrey explodes.] Note: While exaggerated for educational purposes, this scenario has proven accurate enough that it was once used nearly verbatim during the 9th Crisis of Skaro Ridge.

Related:

💬|⏰⏲️How does time work on Gallifrey?: Overview on the complicated system that is Gallifreyan time and time conversion.

💬|🧑‍⚕🖥️How would the Matrix connection have affected the Doctor when Gallifrey was destroyed?: Exploring if the termination of the Matrix at the end of the Time War might've made the Doctor have a 'moment'.

💬|📱🕸️What does the Web of Time look like?: Overview on the Web of Time and its relevance.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[teenage-mutant-ninja-freak]

Would each of the turtles be comfortable with letting one rip in front of their S/O or would they hide that part of themselves for awhile?

If I had a dime for every time someone sends in a request to do with farting I'd have 3 dimes, it's not a lot but it's weird that it's happened 3 times, right?

Leo

The calm, totally controlled leader

he does not feel comfortable letting rip in front of you, at least, not straight away

the only thing is, he can't control it in his sleep

so the first time you spend the night, he is ripping ass under those sheets from holding it in all day

he actually wakes up to you wheezing and crying with laughter because, as you put it: "It sounds like you're shitting yourself, babe"

after that he kind of realises that there's no point holding it in

still tries to be discreet about it

will leave the room and such

he gets embarrassed a bit too easily when it comes to something he sees as his "downfall"

bless him

but keeping it in makes him tummy hurt

Raph

so Raph is actually similar to Leo in the sense that he gets flustered really easily

but it's less to do with it being considered rude

and far more to do with that fact that when he passes gass, everyone and their grandma knows about it

boy could evacuate a room with that ass

so he hides it

leaves the room, but he can only say he's going to the bathroom so many times before that becomes a gross image as well

you can hear his belly rumbling with what he's keeping in

until, when getting up off the sofa, he accidentally toots

it's only small, but it's powerful

the lad drinks a lot of protein shakes, ok???

it messes with your intestines

he's so, so sorry

but you can't help but laugh

it makes him a bit less upset when you pull him closer to tell him it's alright

but then he laughs when you say "Oh god, I'm squeezing you, please don't fart on me again"

after that he just warns you when it's coming

you have a running gap that involves you pulling a clothes peg out to put on your nose

he gets more comfortable with it

Mikey

I know what you're all thinking "Oh Mikey doesn't really have shame so this blog guy is going to write him as farting 24/7"

wrong!

Mikey does not let rip in front of you for a good amount of time

thinks it will put you off him

he waits for you to do it first

then, and only then, does he feel like he can be gassy in front of you

mainly to turn it into a competition to make you laugh

he lives off an eclectic diet of pizza, pizza rolls, anything with cheese and candy so it will not smell great (does it ever?)

when he gets comfy enough it does also turn into a "pull my finger" type of gag too

but he knows that he can't just blow off then and there when you first get together

he's a gentleman after all

would totally never try to dutch oven you....

Donnie

poor, nervous, insecure baby

he knows logically that it's only natural

but he also knows that it's gross

weights up the possibilities of you leaving him because of it

thinks it's low but not impossible

then one day he gets a stomach bug and, god help you all...

he cannot help it

his intestines feel like they're going to explode if he doesn't

and you want to be there all the time to take care of him

it happens, he goes red, head in hands

until he hears you giggling

then he looks and the giggle turn into full belly laughs

"Better out than in, sweetie" you laugh

he feels a bit more comfortable after that but he still doesn't like doing that around you

normally leaves the room but is honest about why

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - Number 9: Danganronpa Another Case 6

//When I got to ordering this list, it honestly surprised me just how much I liked the ending to the original Danganronpa Another Despair Academy.

//Up until now, I've talked about all of the game ending trials with only one more to go, and so far, my opinions of them have ranged from catastrophically bad to "eh, it's alright."

//While not my top ending, this one still deserves a lot of credit. Mainly in the way it wraps up all the mysteries of the school, while also delivering an emotional punch to the face. Narratively, it's very well handled, but it still falls a little flat purely because of some contrivances contained within it.

//Which makes it all the harder to defend because I've seen that quite a few people are REALLY not on board with this ending. And trust me, I get why, but what are problems for you might not necessarily be problems for me, and if they are, then maybe I think about them differently in ways that I feel they're justifiable.

//I'm pretty sure that this is the trial that most of us have been anxiously waiting for me to cover, because I have drawn reference from it in almost every other Another trial that I have covered on the list so far, especially in regards to its masterminds, and finally, we are here.

//But let's go beat by beat, and let's start by explaining the full circumstances behind DRA1's Killing Game, as revealed in this chapter and trial. Sit down, because you're gonna spend the next hour hearing me lecture plot at you:

//As fans of the Danganronpa series know all too well, the franchise loves its convoluted plots, memory-erasing shenanigans, and high-stakes death games. Most of the action revolves around the antics of Class 77-B, who become the future Ultimate Despair, and Class 78-A, the unlucky stars of the first game, at Hope’s Peak Academy. These two groups are iconic for their tragic descents into despair and their respective experiences in nightmarish killing games.

//But Another Despair Academy takes a sharp turn, veering off into an entirely different story by introducing the stragglers: Class 79, the underclassmen of the Danganronpa 1 cast.

//Now, if you think this is going to be a copy-paste of Makoto and friends losing consciousness in the entrance hall, only to wake up trapped in a killing game with zero memories...

//Well, you’re right...

//But also spectacularly wrong. Class 79’s situation spirals into its own unique, chaotic mess.

//The story begins with Class 79 arriving for their first day at Hope’s Peak Academy. Or so they think. Like their predecessors, they lose consciousness right in the middle of the entrance hall, and wake up to find themselves trapped inside the school, with the only way out being to kill a fellow student and get away with the crime in the Class Trial.

//It's revealed in this trial that they’ve already been attending Hope’s Peak for months. As with Class 78, their memories have been wiped clean by the Killing Game’s resident neuroscientists.

//By the time Class 79 arrived at Hope’s Peak, the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History was already in full swing. Junko was busy doing what she does best: wreaking havoc, brainwashing Reserve Course students, and sowing chaos.

//This is where Yamato Kisaragi, a student in Class 79 and an early candidate for “guy-who-tried-his-best-but-still-failed-spectacularly," award comes in.

//Yamato realized something was very wrong at Hope’s Peak. Instead of sticking around to figure it out, he decided the best thing to do first was to evacuate his classmates to safety.

//This "safety," however, turned out to be a secluded Kisaragi Foundation research lab on a remote island. And because nothing in Danganronpa ever goes according to plan, things quickly went south.

//Unbeknownst to Yamato, and in an eerily similar fashion to Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba, two of his classmates were secret agents of Despair. These double agents infiltrated the lab, and what followed was a slow, methodical takedown of the rest of the group. Even Tsurugi, the group’s resident justice fanatic, couldn’t escape their grasp, despite holding out with a head-to-head confrontation.

//As tradition demands, the survivors had their memories wiped courtesy of Junko and Yasuke Matsuda’s patented "Forget Everything and Suffer" operation.

//But Here’s where the plot gets spicy: Class 79’s killing game wasn’t just another tragedy...it was the FIRST killing game.

//Junko orchestrated this bloody rehearsal to test the waters before unleashing her masterpiece with Class 78. Think of it as a twisted trial run for Despair Incorporated.

//To sell the illusion, the traitors and masterminds behind the operation even erased their own memories and remodeled the lab into a replica of Hope’s Peak Academy. The result? Class 79, now brainwashed, believed they were still attending school while being forced to participate in the experiment.

//This final trial reveals that the masterminds behind this disaster were the Ultimate Maid, Akane Taira, and an undercover Despair bigwig hiding among the survivors. Akane, regaining her memories before the final trial, takes on the role of the main villain and sets the stage for the grand finale.

//She scattered clues around the facility, leading the survivors to believe that solving the Killing Game’s mysteries in a class trial would secure their escape.

//The game’s protagonist, Yuki Maeda, has a rough time during all this. Thanks to some memory manipulation quirks, he keeps experiencing random flashes of how the Killing Game worked, which only adds to the chaos. During the final class trial, the surviving quartet, Yuki, Rei, Tsurugi, and Teruya, unravel most of the game’s secrets.

//Just when things seemed to be wrapping up nicely, Akane dropped the ultimate bombshell: the true mastermind wasn’t her. It was one of them.

//Cue the panic. The survivors scrambled to prove their innocence by recounting their lives, but Yuki hits a wall...literally.

//He can't remember anything about his past, not even his own mother’s name. Things go from bad to worse as Yuki’s headaches intensify, and he suddenly finds himself inside his own mind space. Here, he was presented with two choices: embrace Hope or give in to Despair.

//In the canonical ending, Yuki recovers all his memories, but his current persona vanishes, and his true identity emerges: Utsuro, an Ultimate Despair with godlike Divine Luck and a spot on Junko’s VIP list.

//As Utsuro, Yuki’s transformation reveals the depths of Junko’s machinations and sets the stage for everything to come.

//And there you have it: Danganronpa Another Despair Academy. It’s a prequel, a sequel, and a rehearsal all rolled into one. Now where do we start unpacking this?

//First of all, A-6's investigation is generally pretty solid. Similar to 1-6, it does, for the most part, feel like you're solving a mystery. However, the way it's executed is different from it in a good and a bad way.

//For one, the trial is still ultimately Akane lecturing you on everything that's happened, and all you're really doing is finding the clues that she on purposefully placed in the academy. So it's not just a matter of you finding the proof that was already there, it's basically just Akane planting them, and you're going on an easter egg hunt, which kind of takes away from the sense of accomplishment.

//But what I think balances that out is the fact that Akane genuinely gets ANGRY if you don't do as you're told and solve the mystery. And honestly, with how painstakingly obvious all the clues are, I totally understand that. She genuinely gets pissed when no one recognizes the fact that Yamato's diary referred to the Masterminds in plural, and she's the one who has to say "Jesus Christ, there's an S at the end of these words, what part of there being more than one of us are you not getting!?"

//Of course, the real reason why she's so frustrated is because she put the clues down to coax Utsuro out of Yuki. I just think it's funny, but it also really reinforces that everyone in this trial is just...really dumbed down so that it feels like Akane is in control the whole time. Akane herself is great, and she does feel like she towers over the others in terms of status for this trial, and the fact that the investigation is directly managed by her reinforces this.

//But at the same time, everyone who has made it to the end of this game is decently smart, except Teruya really, but it feels like the investigative skills they've all shown through the game don't even apply here. Even Teruya somehow feels as dumb as he's ever been here, because he's the one who has to ask the questions so that the other characters can explain things to him, and by extention, the player.

//And for what it's worth, the characterization for these characters in this final trial is generally fantastic despite this.

//ESPECIALLY Rei.

//This is just my personal bias really, but I think this trial and the way that Rei reacts to the fact that not all of them are going to make it out together is kind of heart-wrenching.

//The way that she breaks down and reveals her true feelings doesn't feel unnatural either. Throughout the whole game, through every class trial we go through, Rei becomes gradually more and more not okay with everything that's going on. And this just feels like the final nail in what is a slowly building coffin for her.

//I think what I like about this final trial is that this feels like the kind of death game ending that Uchikoshi would think up. It kind of ticks all the boxes for this genre.

//For one, it's the only one of the five main games to have a very prominent good and bad ending. Like the bad ending to the first Danganronpa game, it's pretty sudden, but I think it's way more impactful and way less...strange.

//Okay, so the whole point of DR1's bad ending was to be discreetly unsettling. But the bad ending of the original Another is far more...I guess poignant would be the best word.

//And no, I don't mean that in the sense that Yuki gets a claw run through his chest.

//At the end of the trial, when Akane urges everyone to figure out who the Mastermind is, and Yuki starts to bluescreen because he realizes that he knows nothing about himself, you are given two choices. You can either go through a white door, or a black door that forms in Yuki's mind.

//Going through the black door unlocks the true ending where Yuki reverts back into Utsuro, but if you go through the white door, he regains all of Utsuro’s memories, including the weight of his past atrocities and the existential despair that led to his identity crisis, but ultimately still remains Yuki Maeda

//Akane, as you can imagine, is furious over the experiment’s failure, but her rage doesn't come from a villainous origin so much as it does her desperation to save her beloved Utsuro, highlighting her complex, misguided loyalty to him. And when she realizes Utsuro had lost the will to live long before the Killing Game, her heartbreak drives her to end Yuki’s life, leaving his existence as both Utsuro and Yuki unresolved.

//And the last thing that Yuki hears as fades away are her tears.

//Can you see how that's already so much better than 1-5's bad ending!?

//This ending works well because it encapsulates the despair that defines the Danganronpa series. The stark contrast between Akane’s rage and her eventual sorrow adds depth to her character, showing her as more than a villain. It shows off the tragic figure that she was before she became a Despair, trying to hold onto the only one she ever cared for.

//It's just so incredibly creative that the ending where Yuki retains his personality and stays as himself is the "Bad Ending" while the one that he reverts back to Utsuro is the "True Ending."

//Because even though Yuki turns back into Utsuro, he's STILL the protagonist of the game, so the fact that he returns, and manages to kill off most of the students in the killing game IS HIS GOOD ENDING! He ACHIEVED his goal, and Akane achieves hers at bringing him back.

//It's just...SO genius!

//If I have any problems with the fact that Utsuro comes back, it's...I won't say it's bad, but it's conflicting that after he reappears, Yuki is basically just GONE!

//You've spent the whole game playing as this character, and while it's awesome that this is how it happened, Yuki effectively dies when Utsuro pops out again, and this is how his story ends.

//He just completely disappears until he gets resurected in SDRA2. Which ironically gives him a happy ending at long last and after all this, dear god he deserved it.

//Anyway, I kind of want to go through all these points in order as I can, so the next thing I want to talk about, and something that I kind of HAVE to talk about, is the huge flashback sequence that happens in this chapter.

//Before Yuki makes his choice to choose between Yuki and Utsuro, there's a lengthy scene that shows the events that unfolded with Yamato's evacuation, and how it actually happened, as well as how Utsuro and Akane subdued the rest of the students.

//It's...pretty long, and kind of doesn't need to be, but it's still interesting to watch. Especially in the sheer parallel between Mikako and Yuki.

//Ironically, Mikako is this bright and bubbly person who believes in people to a fault, while Yuki, or Utsuro, is just deep in thought, quiet, and doesn't speak to people. Meanwhile, both these personalities are completely flipped on their head when they actually meet in the Killing Game.

//The flashback sequence offers a glimpse into how the students interacted before their memories were erased. Unlike most games, where we meet characters already thrust into the despair-filled chaos of a killing game, this sequence peels back the layers to show their pre-tragedy lives and relationships.

//While Danganronpa 3: Despair Arc did something similar with Class 77, the focus there was more on Junko and Izuru’s rise to infamy, leaving the classmates as a supporting cast. Here, however, the spotlight is firmly on Class 79, making the flashbacks feel more personal and impactful.

//What makes these moments so intriguing is the contrast between the tense, fractured dynamics during the killing game and the warmer, more natural bonds we see in their past.

//During the game, it’s clear that trust is a luxury none of them can afford. Nobody truly feels like "friends." But in the flashbacks, when their memories are intact and their relationships less strained, you see glimpses of a group that could have grown into something special.

//Some standout moments include Kisaragi’s growing suspicion of Akane and Utsuro, which are ultimately undermined by Mikako’s misplaced trust in them.

//Seeing Mikako and Yamato as their true selves, unburdened by the effects of Yamato’s infamous retention machine, is a bittersweet reminder of the personalities they lost along the way.

//And then there’s Yuki, eerily silent as chaos unfolds around him, his passive demeanor from his own POV hinting at the dark truth of his identity.

//The truck sequence, where the classmates use their talents to defend themselves against Monokumas, is a real highlight. It showcases how each character reacts to the crumbling world around them, offering flashes of growth and camaraderie even in the midst of destruction. Even characters like Mitch and Kizuna, who we've already established as the bad eggs of the group, get their moments to shine, proving that they’re more than just walking red flags. There’s an underlying sense of tragedy in seeing the potential for all of these characters to become better versions of themselves, only for it to be snatched away.

//The key takeaway from this flashback is the strength these students draw from their bond with one another. They may not have reached the tight-knit unity of Class 77, but there’s a budding sense of a dysfunctional family forming among them.

//The killing game’s ultimate purpose, to strip them of that foundation, becomes all the more devastating in this context. By showing us what these students could have been, the flashback adds layers of depth and heartbreak, turning what could have been a simple backstory into a critical, character-driven tragedy. It’s the kind of storytelling that Danganronpa excels at, giving you just enough hope to make the despair hit that much harder.

//And speaking of flashbacks, as I already said, this game is actually a fanmade prequel to the entire Danganronpa series.

//I largely think the reason why LINUJ made the DRA series part of the same timeline as Danganronpa's is ultimately to play it safe. As one of the first big fangans, you already know the stakes as a player, and there's already established lore that you can work around. Ultimately, Utsuro and Akane do get tied back to Junko in this way, and the game itself is a prelude to the killing game that happens in Trigger Happy Havoc.

//A means of the Ultimate Despair testing the waters, if you will.

//These days, Fanganronpa games and series often choose to distance themselves from the Hope’s Peak timeline for a variety of reasons, with the primary one being creative freedom. The Hope’s Peak saga is rich with lore and intricate connections between its characters, but that complexity can also be restrictive.

//By creating entirely new timelines or settings, creators free themselves from the constraints of canon events, allowing them to explore unique storylines, characters, and themes without being tethered to established lore.

//This freedom enables creators to reimagine the series in fresh ways while still adhering to its core mechanics, such as the killing game and class trials.

//Also, unlike how this game seems to do it decently well, integrating their stories into such a tightly knit narrative without contradicting canon is insanely difficult.

//The Danganronpa series has a detailed timeline that spans decades, involving global events like the Tragedy and the rise of Ultimate Despair. Trying to slot a new killing game or set of characters into this timeline risks creating inconsistencies with established events. So instead, many creators opt for alternate timelines or settings, where they can craft original stories without the burden of reconciling their narrative with the complex events of Hope’s Peak.

//So people tend to really not like Fanganronpa's that tie into the Hope's Peak saga an awful lot. I already know a few of you who have admitted as much to me yourselves.

//However...I'm actually going to have to disagree with you.

//I'm not going to claim that a Fangan that takes place within the original timeline is better than one that doesn't, but I don't think they deserve to be looked down upon as a result of it.

//Granted, Another 2 seperates itself from the main timeline to branch off what LINUJ established in the first game, but Another 1, demonstrates that fanmade games can still take place within the Hope’s Peak timeline effectively.

//Another 1 acts as a prequel to the first Danganronpa game, leveraging the established world-building while adding its own layer of storytelling, which I think was the most creative approach to go about it.

//It's equally risky, but it works because it respects the existing lore while expanding on lesser-explored areas, such as the potential underclassmen of the original game, and their relationship to the overarching story of Hope’s Peak and the Tragedy.

//Most people would say that a safer approach to go would be to make a Killing Game that takes place after the series, like...

//Well...THE AFTER...

//But what makes Another 1 particularly successful is its ability to add new dimensions to the established timeline without overshadowing or contradicting the original story, even though it's really easy to add a detail that probably doesn't make sense in the main game's context.

//By simply presenting the 79th Class as precursors to the killing game experiments seen in the main series, it provides a unique perspective on Junko’s machinations and the broader impact of despair. It explores a fresh angle while still respecting the core themes and structure of the Danganronpa universe.

//Additionally, Another proves that stories set in the Hope’s Peak timeline can enrich the series by answering lingering questions or providing new insights into established events. For instance, it delves into the psychological effects of memory erasure and examines how the killing game concept was developed and refined.

//Ultimately, while many fanmade games choose to break away from the Hope’s Peak timeline for creative freedom, Another 1 stands as an example of how a well-crafted story can thrive within those boundaries. It demonstrates that even in a world as intricately detailed as Danganronpa’s, there’s room for new narratives that honor the source material while offering something fresh.

//But it's not this concept, or the truths that are revealed necessarily, that are the highlight for me with this trial. For me, my love for this trial, and why I put it so high up on this list, comes down to two things.

//The first...are the villains.

//This is going to be what I think is definitely...a take...But it's how I genuinely feel, and it's this:

//UTSURO AND AKANE ARE THE BEST VILLAINS IN THE ENTIRE SERIES!

//Genuinely, I was so excited to get to this trial PURELY because it means I get to rant and rave about how these two are FUCKING EXCELLENT! Not only are they portrayed as incredibly diabolical, but engaging antagonists in the game, but they leave such an astounding legacy across the Another series, and are well-rooted into it thanks to their backstories.

//Akane, on her own, is handled PHENOMENALLY well. The sheer fact that she is effectively this game's Deutragonist, as well as having such critical moments of frienship and potentially sexual tension with Yuki, really rides home the fact that she was one of the Masterminds behind it.

//And what's great is that LINUJ doesn't even make it obvious. Akane has such a compelling character arc throughout the game that really blindsides you to how she really is as a character.

//In Chapter 2, things take a dark turn for Akane. One night, she’s called to the Switchium by Kizuna, who tries to rope her into a plan to kill Yuki. Akane outright refuses, but Kizuna, desperate, attacks her. In the scuffle, and because it’s pitch-black, Akane accidentally stabs Kizuna. Shocked, she flees with blood on her hands, only to be seen by Ayame. To protect Akane from being executed, Ayame kills Kizuna instead. However, this selfless act seals Ayame’s fate, and she is executed.

//Akane is deeply traumatized, falling into a state of shell shock after Ayame's execution. The day after, the students investigate newly unlocked areas, but Akane isolates herself, refusing even Yuki’s attempts to comfort her. When she finally rejoins the group for breakfast the next day, she barely speaks, only murmuring Ayame’s name in a broken voice when someone mentions her.

//Things worsen when Monokuma reveals the third motive: personalized videos designed to provoke the students by showing them their desires. The videos are shown in a private, soundproof room, and students are forbidden from discussing the contents. Akane’s video, cruelly tailored, features Ayame blaming her for her death.

//This sends her over the edge. By the time the viewing session ends, Akane snaps out of her daze, screaming and running out of the gym. The others speculate her reaction was tied to the motive video and go looking for her, eventually finding her in her dorm room.

//The next day, Akane’s despair culminates in a suicide attempt. She’s discovered by Haruhiko, Satsuki, Teruya, Mikako, and Yuki, covered in blood and muttering about needing to join Ayame. Mikako steps in to calm her, offering reassurance and trying to remind Akane of her worth.

//This, coupled with the fact that Tsurugi spends all of the game after Chapter 2 refusing to let Akane live down what she did, and probably trying to STEER her towards this suicide attempt, leads to a long-running character arc that really keeps you hooked on Akane T. and her relationship with Yuki.

//The only other Mastermind who hides as part of the main group for the whole game is Tsumugi Shirogane, and as we've already said about a dozen times already, she's so pointless as a character throughout all of V3 that it ultimately means when she finally is revealed to be the Mastermind, nobody fucking cares.

//But this character is effectively your BEST FRIEND, possibly your love interest! Imagine being in Yuki's shoes for THAT revelation!

//But what makes Akane so bloody fantastic is that her being revealed as the Mastermind...DOESN'T WASTE THIS!

//As I've already said, Akane does cry when Yuki dies in the Bad Ending, which already shows a far more human side than the likes of Junko or the others.

//After Utsuro reveals the harsh truth about their families, sending Rei, Teruya, and Tsurugi spiraling into despair, he orders a group of Monokumas to finish them off. However, when the Monokumas close in, Akane unexpectedly turns against Utsuro, destroying the Monokumas with sheer force and disobeying his commands. Furious at her defiance, Utsuro orders Akane’s death as well.

//Just as all seems lost, the monitor broadcasting Monokuma’s presence is suddenly hijacked by an Alter Ego of Yamato. Yamato’s hopeful message reignites the trio’s will to fight, and they rally to confront Utsuro.

//As a Monokuma charges toward Rei, Akane throws herself in front of it, taking a deep slash to her side to protect her. When the facility's self-destruct sequence is triggered, Akane urges the trio to escape, choosing to remain behind with Utsuro.

//In their final moments together, Akane reveals to Utsuro why she defied him. She confesses that she heard Ayame’s voice in her head, reminding her of the person she truly was. Acting on that voice, Akane chose to reclaim her humanity and protect others, even at the cost of her life.

//What simply makes Akane such a fundamental and amazing character in this game is that unlike the rest of LINUJ's characters, she just never stops growing or developing as a person. And when you look at her backstory, and how she was an orphan who was saved by Utsuro, and swore undying loyalty to him, you kind of see how it works out.

//In reality, the Akane Taira of old grew up with just Utsuro to love. But as part of the memory erasure, she made genuine friends and bonds in the Killing Game, particularly Ayame, and that had an affect on her. When she saw what was happening to the survivors, even though she knew it was part of the plan, she found herself...not liking it.

//In a way that she herself couldn't explain, and before she knew it, she had acted on that doubt and turned against the one person she was faithful to.

//I just...GOD I love it!

//Akane is such a good Mastermind and villain compared to the other villains in Danganronpa because she feels like such a human by comparison. As far as the characters in this game are, she's written exceedingly well, and this reflects back on her brief appearances in SDRA2, and how she influences Sora in the final trial of that game.

//But of course, despite how amazing she is, Akane is ultimately the second fiddle to Utsuro in the same vein as Mukuro is to Junko. So we need to talk about him as well, and you might be wondering what do I actually think of Utsuro as a villain?

//Well, I really like him too!

//First of all, with Utsuro, let's not beat around the bush.

//One could argue that the twist that Yuki is the true Mastermind of the Killing Game is eerily similar to the twist that Hajime Hinata is actually Izuru Kamukura. There are very similar beats to it, namely that Utsuro and Izuru themselves seem devoid of any personality, ally themselves with Junko, and are beings up nigh unstoppable and ridiculous power, respectively with Divine Luck and Ultimate Hope.

//And you know what? I will concede with this. And I have said before that one of DRA's most controversial issues is that it copies/borrows a lot from the games that preceded it, due to LINUJ playing it safe with his Fangan.

//However, fundamentally, I actually think Utsuro ticks all the boxes for a stoic, overpowered antagonist that Izuru failed to tick for me. And I can boil it down into just one comparison:

//Utsuro is a character.

//Izuru...is a plot device.

//As much love as I do tend to show Izuru, I like him really as a concept, and for his role in the story. He exists for two reasons: to explain why Hajime is involved in the plot of DR2 despite being a Reserve student, and to show the moral corruption of Hope's Peak Academy and how Junko used it against them to end the world.

//Izuru’s design as the "Ultimate Hope" who possesses every ultimate talent makes him excessively powerful. This diminishes tension in the story because he lacks significant personal challenges or growth, he's essentially perfect at everything.

//And similarly, Utsuro's ability of Divine Luck, and the way people tried to exploit that from him is very similar. However, by comparison, Izuru doesn't evolve meaningfully as a character.

//While this reflects his existential ennui, it results in a static portrayal. Even when he appears in Danganronpa 2 and Danganronpa 3, he serves more as a plot device than a dynamic character.

//A tool to drive the story forward rather than a fully fleshed-out personality. His role is more about being a catalyst for Despair by creating the Tragedy and assisting Junko rather than a nuanced individual with his own compelling motivations.

//The big issue with creating this type of character is the concept of someone burdened by perfection and robbed of humanity is interesting, but it’s not explored deeply enough. This is something that I mainly do with his role in DR Survivor, but Izuru could have been used to explore themes like individuality, the value of imperfection, or rebellion against societal expectations. Instead, his apathy dominates his characterization, leaving these themes underdeveloped.

//But while Izuru fails to do that...Utsuro succeeds.

//Utsuro only appears twice in the series. He appears for the first time in this trial, and is present for the whole second half until the end, and then he shows up in the final chapter of SDRA2, where he's there, and has some good dialogue, but isn't as interesting as he is here.

//But somehow, not counting DR3, that's more screentime than Izuru ever gets, and really good things are done with it.

//For starters, yes, he's equally as stoic, and his facial expression rarely ever changes, but Utsuro has far more personality than Izuru. And on top of that, he is far more of an antagonist.

//I think largely the reason why this is is because Izuru had his personality taken out of him physically, but Utsuro fell into it naturally as a result of his abilities.

//Additionally, and this may ultimately be my personal opinion, I like Utsuro more than I like Yuki. At least more than I liked Yuki in the first game. I most assuredly, 1000% do NOT like Izuru more than I like Hajime.

//Hajime's journey of self-discovery, insecurity, and growth throughout Danganronpa 2 makes him one of the best characters in the franchise, but Yuki feels like such an everyman by comparison that it's hard to be as compelled by him. No disrespect to Yuki, of course, it's just that it's only when he vanished from the story, and was outed to secretly be the mastermind is when things got really interesting.

//In relation to that, the key difference between Izuru and Utsuro's origins is that while both of them undergo personality shifts and loss of memories, Utsuro was the ORIGINAL personality.

//Now, I still like Izuru's backstory more because the story of how Hajime fell into his slump after repeated mental abuse is fascinating to me (I'm not approving of it obviously, but still) but for Utsuro, it's his story from start to finish, instead of how Izuru just ends up as the unfortunate end product, then Junko steps in and is like "Quit your job, join my edgy high school boy band."

//(I say "boy band" most of the villains in this series are women, but...you get what I mean...)

//To recap, Utsuro was originally born into a loving family and had a happy early life born with a blessed power called "Divine Luck," "Divine Fortune," or "Heavenly Luck," depending on your translation.

//Utsuro possesses a unique ability tied to fortune, allowing him to bring anything he desires into reality and spread good luck to those around him. His power is absolute, and whatever he wills will simply happen. For instance, Tsurugi survives a gunshot to the head in the previous chapter solely because Utsuro (as Yuki) wished for him to live. Similarly, his extraordinary luck reshaped his appearance to perfectly resemble the real Yuki Maeda, aiding his deception.

//However, his parents soon discovered his supernatural luck and began exploiting him to satisfy their greed. This realization left Utsuro miserable, and while he eventually gained control over his luck, it came with an unusual caveat: his abilities bypassed the natural process of achieving things.

//For instance, he could ace a math test without ever learning math, or instantly become an expert in machines just by thinking about it. This effortless success robbed him of any sense of fulfillment or purpose, leaving him disillusioned and bored with life.

//Gee...doesn't THAT sound familiar...!?

//Frustrated, Utsuro ran away from home and survived on his own, using his luck to navigate life on the streets. Along the way, he helped many people, including Akane Taira and the members of VOID (Nikei, Iroha, Hajime M. Emma, and Mikado). However, his acts of kindness weren’t out of genuine altruism; they were simply things he thought he should do. Over time, even good deeds lost their appeal, and Utsuro became apathetic to everything. Repeated attempts at suicide failed, as his luck always intervened to save him.

//Eventually, Utsuro crossed paths with Junko Enoshima, who introduced him to something he hadn’t felt in a long time: Despair. A negative sensation, but the only one that he had felt in a long time.

//Fascinated, he began following her lead, assisting in her plans for Ultimate Despair. Utsuro masterminded Class 79’s Killing Game, which he orchestrated at Junko’s request as a precursor to her own.

//To infiltrate Hope’s Peak Academy, Utsuro kidnapped the real Yuki Maeda and assumed his identity. As part of this plan, his memories were altered at the start of the killing game to ensure he blended in seamlessly with the other participants.

//First of all, what makes this so interesting to me is that this answers a question of why people still rally behind Junko despite the fact that she's not shy about killing her allies, and is absolutely the worst person on earth to ever live.

//This. This is why.

//Because unfortunately, there are people out there in the world of Danganronpa who are just like Junko. Utsuro, Izuru, and Junko all fell into Despair and became some of the most dangerous people in the world because they all share a similar pain.

//Izuru was born with the power to do anything; Utsuro was born with the power to make anything; and Junko was born with the power to estimate and predict anything with 100% accuracy. As a result of this,

//They were all born too powerful. They were born with abilities that made life easy for them, regardless of what they were doing, and as a result, they all quickly became...bored.

//This is why all of them, even fucking JUNKO, are somewhat sympathetic as villains. Izuru was the only one of them who got any kind of look into the light, which is why he ended up as a more neutral party in the end, but they were all people who were there to be exploited by others, or who had no help or anyone to bring excitement to their lives.

//The sad thing is the only reason why they cause so much pain, despair, and destruction to humanity is because it's literally the only way any of them can FEEL anything anymore. And this is why Utsuro is so compelling, because he sits on that fine line between Junko and Izuru on the Scale of Villainy.

//He's sympathetic, and someone that you feel for, but at the same time, DEAR GOD this guy is FUCKING EVIL!

//In a typical Danganronpa format, what you might expect to happen is Yuki will reveal himself, and through the power of Hope, friendship, and the other shonen anime BS that the series is famous for in its finale's, he and Taira will somehow turn around and Yuki could come back.

//While Akane does see the light and try to comply to the power of Hope, Utsuro makes it abundantly clear to all of them that there's no going back for him. And this, for me at least, is my FAVOURITE PART of ANY of these class trials, at least of the one's in Another 1.

//You can kind of see me replicate this in ReProgrammed, but this final Non-Stop Debate is single-handedly the best thing I've ever had to do in a Class Trial for this series of games. See, what makes the final twist with Utsuro so awesome is that even after Yuki is repressed back into Utsuro, the perspective DOESN'T CHANGE!

//You'd expect maybe the protag view could switch to Akane like it briefly does in Trial 5, maybe to Tsurugi or someone, but no. In a way that eerily mirrors the final NSD of Danganronpa 1, you play as UTSURO, and your goal is to plunge the remaining Survivors into DESPAIR, instead of "planting your seeds of Hope to overcome Despair."

//And by GOD does Utsuro do this in the most fucked up, but entertaining way possible!

//Utsuro reveals harsh truths about their loved ones to drive the remaining trio into Despair. To Tsurugi, he explains that the leader of the Despair External Agents was none other than his father, Juu Kinjo. After mistakenly believing Tsurugi had died, Juu fell into despair, becoming the catalyst for the chaos in Japan. Utsuro further reveals that Juu consumed the remains of Tsurugi's childhood friend, Sasaki Kouhei, deepening Tsurugi's anguish and plunging him into madness.

//Rei learns from Utsuro that her parents, whom she believed had abandoned her, actually loved her deeply. They had gone bankrupt trying to repay dangerous loans and arranged for her to be cared for by a relative, only to be betrayed. Left destitute, Rei ended up on the streets. When they believed Rei had died, her parents sought out Junko for answers, but Utsuro intentionally withholds their ultimate fate, leaving Rei to spiral into despair over the unknown.

//To Teruya, Utsuro reveals that the funding used to transform the lab and create the executions came from his father, Kojiro Otori. Overcome with grief after Teruya’s presumed death, Kojiro donated vast amounts of money from his business to Junko's efforts. Utsuro cruelly blames Teruya, as his supposed death indirectly enabled the horrors that befell his friends, pushing Teruya into despair.

//Bro, I'm sorry, but NO friendship speech is saving this man!

//Utsuro definitely shows his more human and victim-of-circumstance side at the end of both stories, ironically both times speaking with Akane Taira or a form OF her (Sora.) And in the end, he stays with Akane in her final moments, largely because he wanted to die himself, but he also uses his Divine Luck on her to protect her body and somewhat keep her alive, even though she ends up braindead by SDRA2.

//But I think for me, what DRA tries to convey with this finale, and what makes it so great, is a simple idea that V3 later tries to explore with its theme. And I think it's an incredibly underrated part of the Another series narrative:

//Hope and Despair are two sides of the same coin, which in turn, means they can be equally as dangerous as each other.

//If you don't understand what I mean, let me give you a short list of some of the moments that convey this idea:

Utsuro is the main character of this game, even though he guises as Yuki Maeda the whole time. Utsuro is an agent of Despair, tride and true, while in comparison, Izuru/Hajime is more of a neutral party, and the only reason Hope wins out in the end of DR2 is because Izuru intentionally leaves a caveat in the Neo World that allows it to, should the survivors choose Hope for their future.

The final Non-Stop Debate is about shooting down the Hope of the surviving trio; Rei, Tsurugi, and Teruya. Implying that Despair is the side that you should be fighting for, while Hope is the enemy.

Picking the side of Hope, where Yuki remains as Yuki, is the BAD Ending. The one where he awakens to Utsuro, and falls back into Despair is the TRUE/GOOD Ending.

Akane is still technically a member of the Ultimate Despair when she does her heel-turn and saved Rei and the others.

If you really think about it, it's Mikako's Hope that caused this entire incident. Because she held onto Hope that Utsuro and Akane were actually good people, it stopped Yamato from taking care of them before it was too late. Unlike Jin, who genuinely trusted the students out of kindness, Yamato caught onto the fact that something was up with the two, and it's only because of Mikako insisting they were good people that he didn't act on those feelings. A fatal mistake that cost them and most of their classmates their lives.

All of the killers in the game are driven by the idea of Hope that Monokuma, or other circumstances, give them, not necessarily them falling into Despair or dissaray. 1 - Mitch's motive was entirely for himself and the Hope he carried for himself. He tries to convey the idea that he's doing it for soccer, but he doesn't really care about that. He just loves himself so much that he was willing to off anyone in the game 2 - Ayame killed Kizuna as part of a sacrifice so that Akane could keep on living. She had the hope that Akane would survive the game and move on from her and the pain she feels. 3 - Kinji betrayed his religious code as a priest, and committed two brutal murders because he held hope for the orphaned children of his church. If it meant they could survive, he acted against his almighty judgement. 4 - Haru set up the scheme so that Satsuki could get out and survive on her own. But Satsuki chose not to take that out because she was too kind to sacrifice everyone else like that, and even betrayed her loved one's wishes. (Maybe this point's a bit of a stretch, but it's how I kind of feel about it.)

By the time the game ends, despite having regained his feelings and gotten his head on straight, not only does Tsurugi regress by the time the trio escape the island, but by the time SDRA2 happens, he's learned to wield Despair and evil as a weapon against greater Despair and evil. Not through the power of Hope like the Future Foundation do.

In the second game, Mikado is not defeated through the power of Hope. Instead, Sora ends his reign of terror by speaking with her memory of Akane Taira, then uses harsh facts, and her power of Divine Luck, to slowly pick Mikado's plan apart and send him squirming. This is the EXACT strategy that Junko and Tsumugi use on the final players of their games to send them into a state of disaaray and Despair, and Sora's final line in the final PTA is even the same as Utsuro's.

In relation to this, the climax of SDRA2 is literally you trying to save Utsuro. And it's largely thanks to Akane Taira speaking directly with Sora that she snaps out of her BSoD.

Neither DRA nor SDRA2 have a necessarily "happy" ending. Another ends with Rei, Teruya, and Tsurugi severely traumatized, and both Utsuro and Akane die on the island. Another 2 ends with none of the people who died in the sim coming back to life, unlike DR2, Yuki is now forced to live in Akane's body, Sora herself gets erased from reality, with no guarantee that she'll return, Syobai and Iroha remain criminal scum and on the run, and the Kisaragi Foundation remain morally corrupt.

//For me personally, it doesn't feel like the message LINUJ is trying to convey is that life is pointless and that giving up and dying is the right thing to do. Obviously, that's a horrible way to think about it, even for some of the shit he pulls.

//It's more the idea that in this kind of world, the fact that things can end on such a high note are...highly unrealistic, to say the least. And you know what? He's exactly right. The fact that most, if not all of the Danganronpa games end on such a positive note really feels like the trauma you experienced throughout the game had no lasting impact, and that rubs me the wrong way.

//The Another series really handles the everlasting consequences of the death games well, and ultimately, this theme is what solidifies this trial in my good books.

//Now, I don't want to end this on a negative note, especially since I've already spent at least 5 hours of my life talking about this damn trial, but there are two final aspects that I want to talk about regarding this trial and what's revealed in it that ultimately prevent it from being my favourite finale in the series.

//Both, in short, are plot holes and problems that I have with the ideas at play here, so crucial in fact, that I actually had to RETCON them in Survivor so that it would make sense as part of the plot.

//First and foremost is the revelation that Mikako and Yamato used a device Yamato created to resist the memory erasure, meaning that when the Killing Game happened, the both of them still had their memories. The downside was that the machines side effects made it so that Mikako couldn't talk without slowly dying, and Yamato couldn't form a comprehensive sentence.

//So even though Mikako knew what was going on, she was physically incapable of talking about it to anybody. But...If that's the case...why didn't Mikako just write down her words for everybody to read?

//In Survivor, Uchui creates a type of pill that gives the same effects of Yamato's machine to Seiko when he demands Zetsubou release her; a maneuver that means Seiko can be cured of the affliction thanks to Dr. Ando. But not only does speaking hurt her, but her hand spasms when she tries to write, making her writing unintelligable, and sign language makes her dizzy.

//I added these weaknesses to reinforce the fact that Seiko couldn't communicate in any meaningful way to the Future Foundation, but these weaknesses, as far as I'm aware, were never established with Mikako. It's even dumber when you remember that the students were literally given notebooks at the start of the game for them to write in.

//So there's really no excuse or reason given for why Mikako just didn't do that immediately. The only reason I can imagine she didn't is because she still held on for hope that Yuki and Akane could be saved from becoming Utsuro and Ultimate Despair again, but even for someone as hopeful as Mikako, surely all bets would have been off the table by the time Chapter 4 came around.

//The other issue is with Utsuro's Talent.

//Divine Luck as Utsuro’s defining ability fits snugly into the pattern of over-the-top, reality-bending powers that seem to be a staple for Danganronpa masterminds:

Junko, and by extension, her AI version, have extraordinary analytical abilities, enabling her to process information at near-superhuman speed, memorize details effortlessly, and master new skills with just brief exposure.

Izuru, as a result of Hope’s Peak Academy’s experiments, possesses every talent researched at the school, making him superhuman. His most notable abilities include superhuman analytical skills, like Junko, enhanced physical abilities, stealth expertise, extreme luck, specialised knowledge, and being adept at basically every single human function in existence.

Though more of an assistant than a Mastermind herself, Mukuro has shown to have an absolute god-like level of speed and power thanks to her abilities as the Ultimate Solder; fighting on several battlefields and never recieving a single scratch.

Monaca in UDG is a natural-born genius who possesses exceptional skills in robotics and programming, which enabled her to lead the Towa Group's Robotics Division at a remarkably young age. Her most notable creations include the Monokuma Units, the Original Monokuma, Kurokuma, and the robotic double of Miaya Gekkogahara. It’s also suggested that she designed the mechas used by the Warriors of Hope during their activities.

On top of her cosplay effectively allowing her to shapeshift into anybody she wants, Tsumugi has said she has a certain degree of control over the narrative of V3, and the plans and actions each of the characters take. To what extent, is unknown.

Mikado is a highly skilled wizard capable of executing a wide variety of magical feats. It soon becomes evident that he can perform genuine magic within the context of the killing game. Notable examples include his ability to levitate for extended periods and his frequent demonstrations of fire-based magic.

//The bad guys in this franchise tend to operate on a level that transcends normal logic. Villains in this series aren’t just evil, they’re almost comically invincible, and Utsuro is no exception.

//Luck itself isn’t new to Danganronpa, either. Makoto and Nagito have already demonstrated how this seemingly mundane talent can warp the narrative in ways that benefit them, often hilariously or dramatically so. Utsuro is essentially the ultimate culmination of this theme. He doesn’t just have luck; he IS luck incarnate.

//But while the premise of Divine Luck might seem fitting, it’s also so overwhelmingly powerful that it feels like LINUJ wrote himself into a narrative corner trying to balance it.

//The problem lies in how Divine Luck operates. Utsuro’s ability is so absolute that whatever he desires, even casually, becomes reality.

//This omnipotence creates complications in the story because it makes Utsuro more like a walking deus ex machina than a character, giving him the power to twist the plot at will. While that might work for a thematic villain, it also leaves a trail of contradictions and plot holes.

//Take Utsuro’s backstory, for example. His luck initially brought his family wealth and prosperity, but their greed eventually turned him into an object to exploit, leading to his Despair and eventual departure. But if his Divine Luck can make anything happen, wouldn’t there have been some incident that corrected their behavior? If Utsuro could subconsciously will good fortune into existence, why didn’t it influence his parents to suddenly become loving and supportive? It feels like LINUJ overlooked this while trying to portray Utsuro as an embittered wanderer detached from the world.

//Then there’s the way Divine Luck functions during the Killing Game. For instance, when Tsurugi shoots himself in the head and miraculously survives, it’s attributed to Yuki subconsciously wanting him to live. But if Yuki’s will can override the lethality of a point-blank gunshot to the brain, why didn’t his desire for everyone to escape together override the deaths of the other participants?

//Does Utsuro’s plan override Yuki’s wishes? If so, why did Yuki’s will save Tsurugi at all? It creates a weird inconsistency that undermines the stakes of the Killing Game.

//Even worse, Divine Luck threatens to undercut the dramatic tension of the story entirely. It’s essentially a catch-all explanation for any narrative contrivance, making conflicts feel cheap or pointless. This becomes especially frustrating in the case of Yamato and Mikako, whose disagreements over whether to trust Yuki and Akane could have added depth to the narrative. If Utsuro can will the Killing Game into being anyway, why bother debating faith and trust? It robs the story of meaningful struggle and makes the characters’ actions feel like window dressing against Utsuro’s godlike control.

//And above all else, what transitions the game between the end of DRA and the plot of SDRA2 is that before his death, Utsuro gives Akane Taira his power, so that he'll die while Akane's body lives, albeit in a vegetable state.

//So you mean to tell me that you can just GIVE your whole-ass power to somebody else at will!? WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST DO THAT!?

//In reality, Divine Luck probably isn't perfect, and in Survivor, I do play with its weaknesses. One of the main ones is that in order for the Divine Luck to work, Yuki has to be present to trigger it. He also can only give a fraction of his power to people at any given time should they need it.

//But even I have trouble dumbing down this ability because of how manic it gets to be.

//In the end, while Divine Luck gives Utsuro a sense of grandeur and inevitability, it risks breaking the narrative by being too absolute. The stakes and conflicts lose their weight when a single character can essentially rewrite reality on a whim, and even the story’s emotional core gets lost in the shadow of Utsuro’s overwhelming power.

//It’s a classic case of a cool idea taken too far, where the mastermind’s abilities become more of a plot device than a believable, balanced element of the story.

//But even with all of those problems, it still doesn't stop this trial from being awesome as a finale, and getting into my good books.

[aesthetic-day-dream]

I was planning on keeping this away from this blog, seeing as I want to use it as an escape and a place of good, but l've been so anxious and scared and mad about the current state of the world that I just need to rant about it.

This may sound ignorant or delusional, I don't know anymore, but l'm really hoping we end up okay. I've been telling myself that there's still a lot of good in this world. Good things are happening every day, but they don't get as much traction as bad things do in the news.

News media has become more and more focused on only spreading the bad over the years and I just refuse to believe that the bad outweighs the good. Call me childish, I don't care.

I feel as though I can't pray for answers because I don't feel as though I'm being heard anymore. I hope I'm wrong. I want to grow up. I want to get a head full of gray hair. I want to experience life and everything that comes with it. I want to find love. I want to buy my own house. I want to decorate said house with all the stupid, small little things that make me happy. I want to decorate for Halloween and Christmas. I want to see my nieces grow up and start families of their own. Aging is a privilege and it is something that I will never take for granted. I have been blessed in my life and I am eternally grateful for that. I know that others have not been as fortunate as me and my heart is entirely with them.

It’s childish to say that I wish we could all get along, but I don’t care. I have never understood the hatred that some people have for others who are different than them. We are all human beings. There has been too much hatred, bloodshed, war, and everything awful you could think of in this world. I hate that everything we stand for, everything people strain their voices for in the hopes of change goes unheard of by people in power. The people who actually have the money and ability to help our planet - the very same people who just don’t care. The money hungry, greedy politicians who make everything a political war to turn us against each other.

I just want to go outside and enjoy the weather. I want those around me to be able to do the same. Scientists have been warning us about Climate change for YEARS!!! It pisses me off more than anything that we have had the time to fix things and yet here we are. Why did no one listen?! Why didn’t they fix things before it all spiraled out of control?? Maybe this is the ignorant, delusional, hopeful part of me, but I really do believe we can fix things before it’s too late. It’s just, the people who really need to change their ways for this planet to get better just don’t care. They like to put the pressure on us, the little people, when it’s them who are the problem.

You don’t have to read this. If you did, I hope I didn’t cause you any anxiety or discomfort, but I needed to get my own feelings out.

I believe that we’ll be okay, but we need to actually take the steps to get there. I hope people start to listen, if anything good can come out of Hurricane Milton, I hope it’s that it opens peoples eyes to the traumatic state the world is currently in.

If you’re in the path of Hurricane Milton, I hope that you’re okay. If you couldn’t evacuate or stayed behind to be with your pets or loved ones or you’re a healthcare worker who stayed to help, I wish the best for you. Please stay safe💚💚💚

I’m not sure if I will see any damage from Milton yet, I’m hoping we will be okay. I’ll update later if anyone cares to know. Be safe out there! 💚

[hero-of-doom]

Gonna actually put together some of my thoughts on Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On. We're only about... 26 episodes in (out of 75, can you believe it!?) but we've been having a really fantastic time with it, so I wanna share some things I really enjoy about it. And spoilers ahead! For the first third(ish) of the anime, that is.

Ride On does what pretty much any extremely invested super-fan (much like myself) would do and extrapolates on the source material. The base game of Stories 1 already had a really solid foundation, and tells its story in a perfectly succinct and fun manner. However, I really enjoy how the anime adapts this same story into something strictly narrative, as opposed to a mix of story and gameplay. Y'know, how video games work.

It feels like a really natural way of telling the story, going over the same plot beats with much more context in between. One event I really want to draw attention to is the Nargacuga attack on Hakum Village, comparing that between both the game and the anime.

In the game, the attack takes place within the first ten minutes or so of gameplay. You, Cheval, and Lilia return from getting your newly hatched Ratha, Cheval gets gently chastized by Vlau, his mother, for a few text boxes, and then the Blighted Nargacuga shows up and starts tearing the village apart. Cheval's home gets crushed while he watches, killing Vlau inside, and Ratha gets swiped by the Nargacuga and plummets off a cliff to his supposed demise. We also see Cheval picking up Vlau's mirror pendant, and getting a newfound look of rage-filled determination on his face.

It's still a heartbreaking scene, don't get me wrong, but the point of it is to both hook the audience in and give the player a kickstart into their journey. It does a good job at telling the player 'Hey, shit's fucked. This is your goal. Go.' It fills its purpose.

...However, in the anime, this event doesn't even happen until about twelve episodes in. They let you steep yourself in the world of Hakum and it's residents, getting to know each and every one. The dynamic between the main trio (plus Navirou) is the main focus for the most part, and you get a real sense of a genuine friendship between them all. They bicker (well, mostly Lute and Navirou), they laugh, they cry, all in genuinely surprisingly natural ways. It was unexpected how good the character writing was, coming from a children's video game turned anime, also for children.

There's also a very heavy focus on Cheval and Vlau's relationship, which, if you're like me and my friends, and had already played the game, and knew what happened to her, that made pretty much every moment they spent together have an underlying feeling of dread. But, this works to it's benefit as it really works to make you get attached to Vlau and how much she cares for her son. One change I really like is that Cheval had gotten his hands on a Rathian egg, and Vlau makes a comment about how if Lute's Rathalos was named Ratha, then this Rathian should be named Rathi. Vlau being the one to name Rathi really deepens the connection that she has with her. Cheval and Rathi genuinely have a Shinji and EVA 01/Yui Ikari situation going on, and the anime only made that comparison stronger. If you've seen NGE, you'll know exactly what I mean. If not, what are you doing? Go watch NGE.

But, ok, back to the Nargacuga attack. The village has been aware of the blight in the area for a while now, and knows there's a Blighted Nargacuga on the prowl and headed towards them. Dan and some of the other senior riders evacuate the townsfolk into the cave at the back of the village while they try to fend off the monster. As it goes, it doesn't work out as well as planned, even with Lute and the other kids joining in to help. The Nargacuga gets into the village and starts destroying everything it sees. Meanwhile... Vlau, having a flash of remembrance cross her eyes, exits the safety of the cave. She starts to run back home, remembering the Rathian egg still swaddled up on Cheval's bed. Lute sees her go inside, and tries to stop the Nargacuga as it jumps from building to building, but... it lands on their house, and the whole thing caves in on itself. All that's left is the rubble as the Nargacuga escapes into the woods.

Cheval runs up to Lute from behind, seeing the aftermath, and just... collapses. Completely passes out from the shock of it all. When he wakes up from a nightmare, he's got a blanket draped around his shoulders, and the Rathian egg in front of him. He's catatonic with grief, unresponsive as Lute and Navirou try to talk to him. I'll delve more into it later, but the portrayal of grief on display with Cheval is insanely fascinating and truly hard to watch develop.

Obviously, it hits a lot harder actually watching the show rather than hearing my recap of it, but the improvements to just the attack on Hakum alone elevate this story to a whole new level. And the entire show is like that! It adds all this further context that makes things hit harder and linger longer. These plot beats hurt in the game, sure, but they sock you right in the nuts in the anime.

Moving on- I've been really enjoying a lot of the anime-only characters, namely Hyoro. He's an anxious and timid new rider, trying really hard to live up to his brother Genie's expectations. They used to get alone pretty well, but ever since Hyoro became a rider, his brother has been increasingly harder on him and it feels really bad to watch. Chastising him for minor mistakes or lapses in judgement, going so far as to smack him around when he didn't finish a fight the way he wanted, all while Hyoro's just trying his best to get Genie's approval. He lives his life in his brother's shadow and his character arc of basically standing up for himself and proving that he's a competent rider has been really interesting to watch. I feel so bad for this kid.

On a lighter note, this show is fucking hilarious. Especially Navirou. It's just joke after joke, and each one lands so gracefully. It's like Spongebob, the bit-per-second ratio is insane. Navirou could have so easily been the annoying, whiny voiced comic relief that nobody actually finds funny, but he carries the show in the humor department. World's strongest NPD warrior.

The animation is so... mixed, but in the most charming way ever. Clearly a budget cutter, they decided instead of actually animating the monsters in 2D like the rest of the show, they just ripped their 3D models directly from Stories and plopped them in like that. Which, due to the art style, isn't as jarring as you might think. Stories already had a pretty chibi anime art style, so seeing 2D Lute standing next to a 3D Ratha doesn't look too out of place. My favorite byproduct of this is when any of the characters are riding on their Monstie, they turn into an almost crude looking 3D model themselves to better interact with the scene. They're usually in motion and at a distance so you don't see how janky it looks, but trust me, you still notice sometimes. It looks extremely silly. They look like plastic toys.

The 2D animation also has its ups and downs, most of the time looking just alright, sometimes looking really fantastic (usually the fight scenes, that's where all the budget went!), and sometimes looking supremely scuffed. My friends and I point out every time there's an awfully busted looking Navirou. But, when the show looks good, it looks good. There was a moment in one of the last episodes we watched (episode 25 I believe) where I got actually jumpscared by the good animation paired with the scoring (which is also a genuine 10/10, it's crazy), it really elevated an already emotional scene.

Lastly, to loop back around, I want to talk about Cheval for a minute. His characterization in the game was already extremely solid: a deeply traumatized child dealing with some intense grief in ways he can't really handle, lashing out at anybody and everybody, even his own Monstie, truly the definition of the hedgehog's dilemma. He desperately needs someone to get close to him again and help him, but he refuses himself that connection.

In the anime however, they make his 'Vriska arc' a lot more... gradual and painful to watch. In the game, it feels very quick. Again, it's a point for the players. Cheval is effectively your rival that you encounter throughout the game, so his shift in perspective is pretty fast. In the anime, his descent deeper and deeper into depression takes time, having near constant nightmares about his mother, his detachment from the world around him, and most importantly, his bond with Lute growing thinner and thinner. Even soon after Vlau's death, Cheval had hope and came to travel with Lute and the others. But, as time goes on, he sees that his and Lute's views on the situation weren't really lining up. Their ideals about what monsters should live or die simply just didn't match. He starts lashing out more often, and begins taking this anger out more on the blighted monsters he fights: the way he attacks these beasts is distinctly more violent and aggressive compared to the others. There's more venom behind the kills, but he never seems to get the catharsis he's looking for, just another dead monster.

Spoilers for episode 25 here, but Cheval reached a breaking point where after defeating the Blighted Diablos in Albarax, he wanted to go his separate ways with Lute to go hunt more blighted creatures himself. In an effort to keep the group together, Lilia shares something she learned about Lute's father and Cheval's father (which like, what, Cheval has a dad!? Anime only dad!?) where the two of them had a strong kinship with each other, combining their efforts to defeat a Blighted Nargacuga that was attacking Lute's old village when he was just a baby. Lilia says that this kinship between Cheval and Lute had existed before they even knew each other, and that should prove how strong the bond really is.

But... Cheval doesn't see it that way. His father died, protecting Lute. Cheval is forced to suffer because of Lute, time and time again, even if deep down he knows Lute truly has nothing to do with it. He has nothing left in his heart but anger and can't do anything but push Lute, his closest friend and brother, away from him. It's the only way he can achieve his goals. His and Lute's views will never intersect again. So Cheval leaves, Hyoro and Mille in tow, to pursue his hunt. The gradual destruction of Cheval and Lute's bond is devastating to watch happen, knowing these boys have known each other for years and years, and all Lute's trying to do is help. Cheval's grief and desire for revenge are too overpowering and Lute isn't sure what to do. We haven't watched much beyond this point, but holy shit, Cheval's character arc is agonizing to watch.

TLDR, I'm really surprised with how good this show is. I was expecting it to be pretty middle of the road- actually, I was expecting it to be a short OVA series with 5 or 6 episodes, like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon adaptations, not a whole entire 75 episode romp animated by the same studio that made JJBA. It's been an absolutely wild ride so far and I can't wait to see what else they do with this story. This definitely isn't all my thoughts, and I may make more posts in the future about this show. Go watch it. I command you.

[aventurineswife]

So I finished the 3.3 Trailblaze mission and while I was exploring Okhema’s new Evernight map I saw the chimeras hiding / taking shelter in the baths 😭

I’m also reminded of my earlier Okami-inspired idea I sent you about chimera!Reader running around saving / helping people, and I’m thinking about them keeping vigil at Dawncloud below Kephale, waiting for Phainon, Trailblazer, Dan Heng and Hyacine to return with Aquila’s Coreflame and keeping watch for any sign of the Flame Reaver. They also have a new dagger strapped to their back, a gift from Chartonus for their hard work.

Visitors and priests alike note that Reader has been sitting in their exact same spot for hours, ears flicking every now and then to listen for anything out of the ordinary, keeping their eyes held on the rainbow bridge to the Eye of Twilight.

And then Reader notices the Dawn Device flickering and darkening into that ominous shade of red and orange and realizing something has gone wrong and the black tide is now encroaching and now they’re running around yowling for the guards and trying to get everyone to get off of Dawncloud and “Run! RUN! THE BLACK TIDE IS COMING, EVERYBODY RUN—!” Not that anyone who hasn’t worked with chimeras can understand; but those that have and do understand what Reader is trying to say, immediately realize that something is seriously wrong and spread the word so people can get a head start on running for their lives, just in time before the Dawn Device actually goes out and all hell breaks loose.

Part of the chaos is spent dodging the stampeding legs of people racing to get off of Dawncloud and away from the black tide, another part protecting those people and fending off monsters from the black tide, and another part doing search-and-rescues for anyone who got stuck and left behind.

Unfortunately, Reader doesn’t come away from that totally unscathed. When the Flame Reaver finally does show up to collect Kephale and Aquila’s Coreflames, Reader tries to pounce only to get thrown off and slammed into some debris, adding some major injuries onto the minor ones they got from the first hours of the disaster; so they’re pretty much forced to head back to Okhema for whatever treatment they can afford amidst the evacuation. 🥲

The image of Chimera!Reader just silently, faithfully watching the bridge for hours, completely alert and unmoving, hits hard. There’s something so noble in their vigilance, especially with everyone else going about their day, not realizing how close the danger really is.

The moment the Dawn Device flickers and they immediately spring into action, yowling warnings even though most people don’t understand them—that’s heartbreaking and powerful. The urgency, the chaos, the desperation to get everyone out safely, it feels so visceral. And the part where those familiar with chimeras trust them without hesitation? That was such a beautiful detail, it shows the quiet bonds Reader's built over time.

And then that ending—getting hurt so badly after giving their all… you really know how to twist the emotional knife just right. It’s painful in the best way. Reader deserves the biggest nap and some gentle tail-brushing after that mess! >:(

[rickmymanrick]

one rule | chapter two |

[rick grimes x original female character slowburn]

summary: the statewide evacuation is underway and it goes terribly wrong terribly fast. daphne and glenn undergo an impromptu rescue mission and soon their group of two becomes a group of 5.

note: twd-typical gore starts now. there's vivid descriptions and mentions of vomit among many other things. this will be the only warning from now on until we get into the sexual content of this book. but expect anything as gory as what you saw in the show and/or read in the comics. :)

"God, I fucking hate Atlanta."

"Daphne..."

I ignored him, pressing a hand against my forehead and squeezing my eyes shut to try to will the traffic we were currently stuck in away.

"In fact, I hate all big cities. New York, LA, Chicago..."

"What is—?" I peeked at Glenn to see him leaning forward, nearly smacking his head into the windshield.

I chose to complain without a care. "I could really stretch my legs right now..."

"Daphne!"

"What? What?" I glared at him through an eye. I quickly sat up when I saw the horrified look on his face. The fear of what I'd see up ahead paralyzed me for just a moment. I had never ever seen Glenn so terrified in his life.

"We need—" he started blindly reaching out for the door handle, pressing every button on the side door console. "Out. We need to get out right now!"

I whipped my head forward when the screams started and nothing could've prepared me for what I saw.

There was a crowd— no—herd— of people stumbling down the adjacent empty side of the freeway. Some of them were crossing the small median barriers that separated the lanes that led out of the city and the lanes leading towards it, where every single car in the state of Georgia crammed into.

From a distance, it looked just... odd. Then they started to get closer and I realized with a start what was causing Glenn to panic in a way I'd never seen.

These people were... dead.

Flesh hanging off their cheekbones and extremities... a horrid stench of death and rotten flesh that I could smell from a mile away... I instantly wanted to throw up.

I tuned back into my immediate surroundings and found that Glenn was still desperately grabbing at the door, eyes wildly looking at the chaos unfolding around us.

He was saying something— more like screaming something — but my hearing went into a strange state of white noise.

It was my body's fight or flight. The sort of survival instincts I'd never had to tap into before in my mundane life.

I slammed my whole hand on the driver's door console and in his panic, Glenn instantly re-locked the doors with his button. "Goddamnit, Glenn!"

"I'm sorry! I'm—"

"Let's go," I rushed out of the car and made it to Glenn's side in record speed. He was still struggling, halfway out the car, his hands reaching for whatever he could find useful in the car.

"We don't have time for this," I dragged him by the shirt and started running towards the woods adjacent to the highway, desperate to create some space between us and the dead.

A corpse lunged in front of me out of nowhere and a scream ripped through my throat. It tackled an older lady that was trying to grab something out of her car trunk just a few paces ahead of us.

I completely froze, the terror was icy cold and spreading from the tips of my fingers to the bottom of my feet. My stomach started turning painfully —

My arm nearly came off my body from how hard Glenn pulled me away.

We began running, sprinting faster than we had ever pushed ourselves before and I couldn’t even feel myself break a sweat.

The adrenaline pushed me farther and farther away until I was the one leading Glenn by the hand, tearing through the woods and never looking back.

The screams were louder than ever and I could faintly hear Glenn hyperventilating over the pounding in my ears. 

I didn’t let go. I didn’t ease up.

We had to run.

It was only what felt like hours later (it had only been minutes really) that I skidded to a stop, no longer recognizing my surroundings. It was finally quiet, just a faint chorus of beeps and sirens from a distance away.

Glenn fell to the ground and instantly curled into a ball, his hands shielding his head as his back started shaking.

It felt like my heart soared up to my throat and I barely made it a few steps before throwing up everything I had eaten this morning.

My eyes stung, tears streaming down and mixing with the vomit. My nose was running and I was crying all at the same time. I threw up until there was nothing left in my system anymore, just dry heaving and a burning in my throat.

Glenn was still curled up on the ground.

I didn’t know how long we’d been sitting here in our state of shock; it could’ve well been over a half hour.

”You know,” I began hoarsely. “I was supposed to go on a date today.”

This made him look up, bloodshot eyes squinting at me as if he were trying to figure out if I’d truly reached my breaking point.

Maybe I had. Hell, everything I thought I knew about this world was flipped upside down.

As of this morning, there were two things I was absolutely certain of in this world — we, humans, are born and eventually we die. It was the natural order of things and there was no way around it. No do-over, no coming back— that was just it.

Now, now I was questioning my grip on reality and desperately holding on to anything I could remember from my life before this afternoon’s events.

There was life then, and there’s life now.

Maybe Glenn realized that too because as soon as the confusion crossed his face, it was gone and he was laughing.

”This is one hell of a way to stand someone up,” he said, sniffling. “At least you’ve got a valid excuse.”

“Yeah, true. Maybe he’ll be willing to reschedule.”

We don’t comment on the ridiculousness of that statement. It’s very clear to me that Shane might be dead.

”Who was it anyway?” Glenn asked, picking at the leaves under his hands.

I jolted at the sound of a branch snapping. An icy cold sensation gripped my throat and I snapped my head to look in that direction.

It was a squirrel.

”Uh - it was the flirty cop. You know, the one who asked what the best night of my life was like when we met and then - ”

”Then he told you he could give that to you. Yeah, girl, what the fuck?”

This was the first taste of normalcy since the highway.

”He - he’s not that much of an asshole anymore. I only agreed because he promised to take me to Ilio’s.”

”He knows about that place?”

”I told him yesterday morning and I guess he does have hearing for things other than sex.”

He snorted. “That’s some character development.”

”Surprised me too,” I said quietly.

It was silent for a few moments and I had to strain my ears to listen for the screams. They’d died down significantly.

We had to get out of here soon. Maybe go home, find a car if we could. Anything. Sitting here would surely end in our death - through starvation or otherwise.

”I was gonna quit today,” Glenn said suddenly.

I quirked an eyebrow. I stared over at my best friend and he stared back.

”You’re bullshitting,” I denied after a solid thirty seconds.

“I’m dead serious, Daph. I was thinking of becoming a cop, just like you,” he said with that proud bullshitting smile.

“Shut up. I’m not a cop,” I grimaced. “You know I would’ve never stepped foot in a precinct if it wasn’t required in my training.”

“So we hate cops but the flirty one’s alright?”

I rolled my eyes and sat down beside him.

“What about Griiiiimmmeeesss?”

“Oh shut the fuck up,” I shoved the annoying fucker aside, so hard that he landed on his side in the grass.

He fell over in giggles, knocking his hat into the ground and laughing even harder. I couldn’t help but laugh too. It felt bizarre after what we just experienced.

Glenn slowly recovered and it all went silent again.

”What made you say that anyway?” I glanced at him.

He shrugged. “Thought we were saying random things.”

I shook my head in amusement. We sat there for a few more minutes.

”What do we do?” I stared at the ground.

I saw Glenn turn to me from the corner of my eye. “I don’t know.”

”What do you think we should do?”

Glenn's idea ended up being 'borrowing' a car to drive back to our apartment and figure it out there. We'd both refused to go back to the highway and so with burning legs and dry mouths, we trekked through the woods until we eventually hit some concrete again. We stayed along the road, following whatever little signs we could find until we stumbled across an abandoned Jeep halfway on the road and halfway on the grass. It was still on, its windshield wipers moving and the lights turned on despite the bright sun out. 

"Looks like there was a struggle here," I noted. We both stood at a good distance just in case. 

"Which means we shouldn't linger around any longer than we need to," Glenn made a start for the vehicle. "I'm willing to bet one of those geeks are close by."

"Wait - " I followed after him quickly. "Grand theft auto?!"

"Does it even matter anymore? I don't see any law enforcement around here, do you?"

A nearby human-like growl was all the convincing I needed. Surprisingly, Glenn let me drive and I noticed his shaky hands resting on his lap as we sped down the deserted roads. 

When we made it to the complex, it was just as empty as every other road we'd been on. There was some cars here and there but not a single soul in sight. They must've left as soon as the evacuation was announced. I cringed at the thought of our neighbors stuck on that highway from hell. 

I ran my hands along the comforter on my bed, feeling the soft fabric between my fingers because something told me I wouldn't be back in a long time.

For a moment, our little apartment felt like the only safe haven left in the world. I wanted to stay, beg Glenn to help me barricade the doors, but it wasn't possible. The I-85 was too close to our town for comfort. 

Between the two of us, we silently emptied our pantry into the trunk of the half open-door, half window-less Jeep. I tried to shove every knife I could find in the glove compartment, wishing I had more than just a handgun. 

"We should stop the station," I thought out loud. "Maybe they'll let me grab some more ammo. We can warn them if they don't know yet."

Glenn nodded and we rushed to finish packing as much as we could fit. I was grabbing a pack of batteries when we heard the first gunshot. 

Without hesitation, I threw myself to the ground, crouching behind the island as a vase behind me shattered. 

"That's not good,” Glenn stated the obvious. He rushed on all fours and then grabbed me, running toward the front door without hesitation. The bullet had entered through our side window, one of the perks of having a corner unit. I barely had time to grab the keys of our stolen car.

I kept my head down, sprinting to the driver's side and twisting the key in the ignition. 

Glass rained down from the apartment building, windows shattering as bullets entered them with precision. I realized with a start that this wasn't an accident. 

"It's the military," said Glenn as soon as we safely sped away from our street. 

"You saw it?"

"Yes, I saw it," he said exasperatedly. "They're shooting everyone down. Look!"

I did my best to look over at his phone and saw a shaky video of military soldiers raining down rounds on groups of people-- living civilians…

There was a military truck ahead, two lights away, so I turned the wheel into a sharp right. We were already halfway to the police station in the next town over - King County. Our only option was to try to speed through the town square; it was the only exit I knew and maybe I could've thought of more if I wasn't terrified of being shot in the head. 

We raced closer to the town, going well over the speed limit and I was forced to slow down when I finally saw signs of civilization again - people running for their lives, thankfully, no children in sight until --

"That's - that's Shane! What the fuck?" I yelled over the wind, recognizing the back of my coworker as soon as I laid eyes on him.

"Who's Shane?!" Glenn yelled back. 

I couldn't answer, not as I was staring straight ahead at a group of armed soldiers, aimed and locked on Shane and the two others that were with him. 

My consciousness would never let me live if I didn't act fast. I pressed the gas straight into the floor and it felt exhilarating for half a moment. We began approaching the intersection with frightening speed.

I suddenly slammed the brakes and used whatever momentum I had to twist the car around. Right between the military and Shane's group. 

Glenn made a desperate grab at the handle above beside him, screaming something along the lines of me being insane. Shane pulled himself off the ground, releasing Lori and Carl Grimes with a relieved smile.

“Yes, fuck yes!” He cheered as he opened the back door quickly. Carl and Lori climbed in first, breathing so quickly I feared one of them was hyperventilating.

“T-thank you,” Lori reached over and grasped me by the shoulder. Her hands were severely shaking. “Thank you.”

I squeezed her hand back, a bit shocked at the company. Shane came barreling in with a large KCPD duffel bag.

I managed to crack a joke. “I thought you were picking me up, Walsh?” 

The soldiers kept yelling orders from the other side of the intersection and I realized they would start shooting again if I didn’t move now.

Shane leaned forward and grasped the side of my head with one hand, pulling my temple against his lips firmly, breathing into my hair like I was the best goddamn thing that had ever happened to him. I smiled, gripping the steering wheel and shifting into drive just as they raised their guns again.

Shane let me go quickly and the shooting started again. Lori screamed and I saw her pull Carl in close through the rearview mirror. I slammed my foot into the gas, adrenaline pumping through my blood and I remember feeling a sharp pinch in my left leg as I sent the car from 0 to about 100 MPH in record time.

“Where are we going? Daphne, where are we going?!” Glenn panicked from the passenger’s seat.

I wished I could answer him but the only thing my brain was allowing me to do was drive. Survival kicked in and I was doing everything I could to keep us alive.

“Ayala, listen to me. We gotta go in-land. It’s the only place they won’t find us, you hear me?” Shane asserted from behind Glenn. He grabbed me by the shoulder.

I saw an opening between the trees a few yards ahead and without warning, took a sharp left into the wild greenery.

Carl cursed. Lori didn’t seem to care.

It was only until Shane told me we were safe that I stopped on the edge of a cliff, the view of Atlanta in the distance, the endless traffic on the I-85 eerily silent now.

“Holy shit,” Glenn said. “Daphne, your leg.”

“What?” I asked absentmindedly.

I hadn’t bothered to check out that strange pinch until now. Before I could force my head to look down (it had gotten strangely heavier since I put the car in park), my door was opening and Shane was right there, crouching at my side. Lori and Carl had gotten out of the car, one of them crying. Or maybe both of them were— I wasn’t sure anymore.

I was all of a sudden dizzy.

My mind drifted off in a million different directions. Were we the only survivors? Was it just Atlanta and the surrounding cities? What the fuck was happening? What the fuck—

“Hey, Ayala.”

What the fuck —

“Look at me.”

What the fuck—

“Daphne!”

I looked back down at him with a newfound strength. My mind cleared enough to realize the situation.

Shane’s hands were covered in red, ripping at his undershirt and I felt the first sting of pain as the adrenaline wore off.

“Fuck,” I gasped, tempted to clutch onto my leg but he quickly pushed my hands away and began to wrap the fabric around the wound tightly.

“One of the bullets got you,” Shane grunted. “We’re lucky it’s just a graze. Any longer and you would’ve lost too much blood.”

Glenn pushed Shane aside as soon as he was done. When had he gotten out of the car?

He wrapped an arm around my torso and began to help me out of the vehicle.

“You crazy asshole. You can’t leave me like this,” said Glenn dramatically. We hobbled over to a nearby rock.

“I’m not going to die, Rhee,” I slurred.

Glenn looked at me. “You better not.”

“Nope,” I shook my finger. I think the blood loss was getting to me now and I distantly hoped if I passed out, I wouldn’t hit my head too hard.

“Here,” offered Lori as she walked over to us. I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on what Glenn had accepted from her hands.

“Thanks,” I said without knowing. I’m pretty she gave me a smile before walking back to her son.

Glenn thrusted the object in my face—

A go-gurt in all its glory.

”The kid grabbed everything that was in their fridge,” he pointed his thumb at the second duffle bag that laid next to Carl. “You need to eat something.”

I was too tired to argue. I slowly began to rip the top off and made eye contact with Shane.

”What’s up with him?” Glenn eyed him and sat beside me.

“I was supposed to go on that date with him,” I explained. My strength was slowly coming back.

Glenn looked at me and then back at Shane with wide eyes.

“Do you fucking know the definition of subtle?!” I whacked him on the arm, ducking closer to him so Shane couldn’t read my lips.

“He’s the flirty coworker?” Glenn whispered quite fucking loudly.

I rolled my eyes. “I need to stop telling you every little detail in my life. It’s really backfiring on me now.”

I didn’t mean it of course. Glenn was a part of me and me, him. We were pretty much each other’s first everything and we’ve been attached at the hip ever since we met.

”It’s just weird. How we all ended up together… ” I trailed off.

”You know them?” He looked over at Lori and Carl; she had her arms wrapped around her son, holding him close.

I smiled sadly. “Yeah, you can say that.”

“Daphne, I’m going to go scan the perimeter. See if I can find us some tents, shelter…” Shane looked over at Glenn. “You comin’ with?”

My first instinct was to protest. Glenn looked down at his arm, my hand clutching at it like a vice.

”Hey, I’ll be fine. We’ll be back before sundown, right?”

Shane looked between me, Glenn, and my hand. “Right.” He said stiffly.

To our luck, Shane and Glenn found a camping store within the last few hours of daylight.

I’d spent that time talking to Lori, skillfully avoiding the subject of her husband though I was dying to know what happened to him.

Was he alive? Did they evacuate the medical patients in time? 

The not-knowing made me anxious… All in all, Lori Grimes was a really sweet woman, just a few years older than I was and easy to hold a conversation with. I imagined it would be even easier if the threat of death and gloom wasn’t hanging over our shoulders. That was another thing I was desperately trying to ignore, but I was failing horrendously.

Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was the corpse ripping apart that old lady’s torso on the highway, blood soaking the ground before my feet, intestines spilling like rope from her abdomen as she screamed in agony -

“Hey,” Lori put a hand on my knee. I jumped in fright. “We can’t get lost in our heads. Now now.”

She had an understanding look on her face. I wondered what she’d seen before Glenn and I found them in the town square.

I looked over at Carl and wondered the same thing; he was only a boy. 

I squeezed Lori’s hand and gave her a shaky smile.

“They’re back!” Carl exclaimed. It was the first thing he said since the car ride.

I nearly cried in relief. My leg was still aching, the blood dried up on the fabric of my pants, so I couldn’t get up even if I tried.

Carl ran over to Shane with a smile. Glenn slammed the passenger door shut and came running over.

”How was it?” I asked quietly, keeping an eye on the police officer.

”Could’ve been worse,” he shrugged and I instantly knew Shane had been difficult. “We found some supplies though. A national park shop, it had tents, flashlights, we grabbed it all.”

The first bit of hope flooded through me. Maybe we would survive this. Wait it out until the military found some better way to control the virus.

”And this - ” Shane came out of nowhere, holding a bottle of vodka. I gave him an impressed look, nudging Glenn in excitement. If this was the end of the world, at least we could get wasted one last time.

" - this is gonna hurt," finished Shane. He was looking straight at my leg. My heart sank at the implication. 

”Hey, at least we can drink it after, right?” Glenn cheered. “Be optimistic, man!”

I glared at him, clutching Shane’s shirt with pale knuckles as he crouched at my feet.

"Remind me to never get shot for one of you assholes ever again," I said through gritted teeth. Thankfully, Lori and Carl were distracted by the supplies. I wouldn't want them to think I was talking about them. 

"I'm sure the pain will be reminder enough," Glenn smiled sympathetically. 

Whatever witty response I had instantly died on my tongue at the first drop of vodka. 

next chapter...

[feroluce]

Hello!! I came here because I was informed you had some Wriowinne headcanons and ramblings to share? Would it be alright for me to ask for some 👉👈 (or as much as you want to share please I'm desperate for food)

OH BOY DO I.

I feel you anon, I've been shipping them like...since the PV. So I've been stuck in utter absolute hell, getting nothing but father&daughter content from the fandom (shoutout to @hydrachea for being able to dual wield and letting me talk ship to her, light of my life fr weh). I'm hoping now that 4.1 has been out for a little bit, we'll get some more of them, though. I've dug through our dms, and found a hc that takes place after 4.1. So spoilers for that archon quest, but no leaks are involved!

Anyway, I love thinking about how close they cut it at the climax of 4.1, and the aftermath of it all.

Sigewinne somehow finding out what happened down there at the bottom of Meropide while she was evacuating the inmates, and like. She knows what the stakes were. The Primordial Seawater could not be allowed to rise. Clorinde made the right decision in shooting the gate lock. Even if it had killed Wriothesley, it still would have been the right decision.

That doesn't mean it's not a bitter pill to swallow.

Sigewinne can usually put it out of mind during the day, especially when she's busy treating patients, but it's harder when she's asleep. She dreams of the evacuation, and the alarm blaring, and waiting and waiting and waiting, and Clorinde walking past, alone, with her head down and her fists shaking, until Neuvilette finally approaches. Wriothesley isn't with him.

And Neuvilette's face doesn't really show much. It never does. But Sigewinne is close enough to the surface that she can hear the absolute downpour raging outside as Neuvilette tells her that he's sorry, he's so so sorry, and he gives her a gray and black and red coat, so soaked through with Primordial Seawater that he'd been afraid to let anyone else touch it, and the fur collar is matted and wet against Sigewinne's face when she clutches it close-

Sigewinne jolts awake, grasping at whatever is in her reach, which just happens to include Wriothesley's arm. His eyes almost immediately fly open, slurring out a mix of what's goin' on and what's wrong, and then a do we need to evacuate and poor Sigewinne, she feels awful. He hasn't been sleeping as well since the almost-flood, every little sound wakes him up now.

(There are nights where she'll wake up alone, and if she goes looking, she'll find Wriothesley, still in his sleep clothes and looking exhausted, down under their secret passage and staring at Neuvilette's seal over the sluice gate. Like he's keeping watch over it, or just daring it to try and do something.

Whenever she finds him like this, Sigewinne tells him to come on, come back to bed, and he'll keep his eye on it until the last possible second, but generally Wriothesley comes when called, and he'll let her lead him away. On his worse nights, he'll tell her to go back without him, he can't sleep anyway, he's going to stay down here for just a little while longer. He'll be back later. And she does occasionally go back to bed, but most of the time she stays, because she doesn't like the idea of him alone down there. Sigewinne will tuck herself into his side, or she'll get him to relax his guard just enough to lay with his head in her lap, and they'll stay there like that until Wriothesley finally decides he can bear to leave it alone and go back to bed with her.)

So with all that in mind, when she accidentally wakes him up, Sigewinne quickly gets her breathing back under control and pets his hair until he relaxes again. She tells him it's fine, everything is ok. Meropide is safe. Their home and everyone in it is safe. Go back to sleep. He needs his rest if he's going to go up to the overworld for supplies in the morning. She'll go sleep in the infirmary, she just had a nightmare, is all (the truth), it was nothing, she barely even remembers it anymore (a lie).

Sigewinne doesn't even make it out of bed, though, because when she tries to go, she finds her wrist suddenly caught. She turns back and Wriothesley is squinting up at her face, human night vision isn't nearly as good as a Mélusine's. They sit there like that for a moment, until she can see through the expression on his face that he's come to some sort of decision. Wriothesley pulls her back in and Sigewinne lets him, lets him rearrange them into something more comfortable. It's easy to give up when it's him, she didn't truly want to leave anyway. By the time he makes a satisfied little huff into her hair, Sigewinne is tucked under his chin, her face against his chest, one arm wrapped around her to keep her there. She pats his side and tells him ok, ok, she gets it. She won't go anywhere.

Wriothesley buries his face in her hair and sighs at that, something deeper and more content that hilariously reminds Sigewinne of a dog asleep on the floor. "Good." Wriothesley sounds like he's already half-asleep again. His arm still tightens around her waist though, just to make a point. "How could I sleep, when I know you're off somewhere crying alone?"

Sigewinne touches her cheek, and sure enough, it's wet? She has tear tracks. No wonder Wriothesley had been staring at her so hard. She hadn't even realized. And she opens her mouth to protest because she wasn't crying, some tears in her sleep doesn't count, but. Wriothesley is already asleep again, breathing slow and deep and even, and his arm is heavy and warm around her, and his sleep shirt is soft and comfortable against her face, not at all like the fur-collared coat in her dreams.

Sigewinne gives in again, curls into all that warmth and wraps herself up in it, until it lulls her back to sleep.

[tellmegoodbye]

What would 911: Sunshine* look like?

*Texas = the Lonestar state, Florida = the Sunshine state

LEMON!! This is my dream!!!

And yes 911: Sunshine is absolutely what I would call it!

Okay so first of all, location! I think the city a spinoff would most likely take place in is Miami, but in order for me to really personalize this (it's my dream, I do what I want) I'm going to switch things up and have this take place in my city: Tampa!

This location is interesting for many reasons, but mostly because of its layout and it being on the bay. The city itself is probably where most of the show would take place in terms of emergencies, but there's a lot going on here for a city on the smaller side! Of course, there will also be opportunities to see the rest of the bay area. (Tampa is the city, Tampa Bay is the region)

Here are some potential locations/ideas for emergencies

Skyway Bridge. Visually, it's just stunning, and yes many people are scared to drive on it. It collasped once over 40 years ago and it has safety mechanisms to prevent such an event from happening again, but I'm sure a 911 spinoff would get creative and find another way to make something go wrong.

The airport. Like 3x08 except worse because I have a chaos brain.

The arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play.

Busch Gardens (a theme park)

Pick a beach. Any beach.

Literally tons of forest area where there could be a wildfire. Also tons of natural springs and rivers where you could have accidents.

Toursists. There is never a shortage of snowbirds being idiots in these parts.

Ybor City. There's a LOT of history here. It's also just a really cool place to explore. They have parades here (I've been in a few of them!) so maybe something goes wrong there.

Alligators. 🐊

Now lets talk major disaster arcs. 911 OG has earthquakes and tsunamis, Lone Star has ice storms and tornadoes, and 911: Sunshine would have a massive hurricane arc.

We kind of have an interesting history with hurricanes in Tampa Bay, at least in my lifetime, where every time we're about to get hit it shifts last minute and everyone who evacuated inland ended up being directly in its path. This happened with Charley in 2004, and Ian in 2022. Both made landfall in the exact same spot after shifting away from the bay area, which is kind of eerie.

I'd say a disaster arc like this would have one finally directly hitting the bay, and it would be a lot like the tsunami in 911. Very angsty, similar scenarios where peolpe go missing, and potential for the kind of water rescues Marjan was talking about doing back in Miami.

One little fun fact before I go. This doesn't apply to the city of Tampa, but I absolutely had to share this. If you venture out into the rest of the county like where I live, the firetrucks and ambulances are a lovely highlighter yellow! Or is it green? I've never been able to tell.

Don't ask me why. I have no idea. 😂