#i'll explain it better on it all on its own post not in the notes of someone else's

[sleepyagent]

I want someone to love me quietly and loudly at the same time because Im an idiot

[mononijikayu]

safe and sound — nanami kento.

“Who was that, Nanamin?” Yuuji asked hesitantly. “That was my wife.” Nanami explained to him, putting his phone away.  “It’s better if we talk about it on the way there. Come on, let’s get going. I don’t want the store to close on us.” “Huh?” “Huh? Itadori–kun, are you okay?” The shock is now more evident than ever before in Itadori Yuuji’s face. He was hysterical, stunned and dumbfounded. “What? Nanamin, you’re married? You have a wife? Huh?” "Itadori–kun, please calm down." he began, his voice steady but tinged with an uncharacteristic gentleness. "Yes, I am married."

GENRE: Alternate Universe - Canon Convergence;

WARNING/s: Gen, Romance, Friends to Lovers, Husband and Wife, Friendship, Husband! Nanami, Reader! Wife, Fluff, Drama, Comfort, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fix-It, Humor, Domesticity, Family Life, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Idiots In Love, Light-Hearted, Slice of Life, Pining, Nanami Being A Great Husband;

WORDS: 6.9k words.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: im alive (hurray!!!); i've recovered a little bit, so i wrote this. hurray for the winning poll!!! i'm sorry it took this long to post. i hope you enjoy it as much i did writing it!!! i'll be writing pasilyo and seeing you in the upcoming days~ i love you all <3

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what a wonderful world masterlist

polaroid love | safe and sound

next: just one day

IT WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING, THE AFTERMATH. Every mission felt different. Every mission left a different taste, a different texture, a different feeling. And this wasn’t something that Nanami Kento was unfamiliar with. If he was being honest, he’d experienced all the sorts of emotions that come with being a Jujutsu sorcerer. But it was new to Itadori Yuuji. And it was devastating to watch.

It was almost as though the blond had returned to those days, that misery when Haibara Yu had died. He could remember being just as lost, being just as disgruntled and grievous. Every bit of it returned in a flash as he stood there, watching Yuuji grapple with the fresh wound of loss.

Itadori-kun hasn’t spoken since yesterday, not since they talked. But Nanami Kento had expected it as much. What does one say after such a tragedy? The boy who had died, the one named Junpei—he was a comfort to Yuuji. He didn’t know Junpei as well as Yuuji did, but he knew that he was just a kid. A kid who was robbed of his life, of a chance.

Nanami’s heart ached with a familiar pain as he watched Itadori Yuuji, who was sitting on the ground with his knees drawn to his chest, staring blankly ahead. It was an all-too-familiar sight, one that he had seen reflected in his own mirror years ago. The silence between them was thick, filled with the unspoken sorrow that hung heavily in the air.

He sighed as he saw the boy still at the edge of the school’s steps. His shoulders slumped and eyes fixed on the ground. The battle with the curse Mahito had taken its toll on everyone, but it seemed to have hit Yuuji the hardest. With Gojo Satoru still away on his overseas mission and Gojo Genmei's whereabouts uncertain, Nanami Kento felt the weight of responsibility settling heavily on his own shoulders. He couldn’t leave the boy alone. Not like this. He could see it in the young boy’s eyes. He needs relief, peace of mind. 

Ieiri Shoko and Kiyotaka Ijichi were good people, but Nanami knew they weren’t what Itadori-kun needed right now. Shoko was burdened with her own responsibilities, cleaning up the mess that curse left behind. Her duties as the school's medic were already overwhelming, and adding Yuuji's emotional turmoil to her plate would be unfair. Ijichi, on the other hand, was exhausted from going back and forth between missions, assisting wherever he was needed. He needed rest, not more stress.

Nanami sighed, racking his brain for a solution. No one else was to know that Itadori Yuuji was alive—that was what Gojo Satoru had insisted on. It was dangerous to reveal Yuuji's survival, especially with the higher-ups likely to come after him. They wouldn't hesitate to use Yuuji as a pawn in their political games, and Nanami couldn't allow that to happen.

The weight of responsibility pressed heavily on Nanami's shoulders. If he failed to ensure Yuuji's well-being, it would be his fault. He couldn’t bear the thought of failing another young sorcerer, not after what had happened to Haibara. The memory of his own anguish, his own failure, was still too vivid, too painful.

As Nanami watched Yuuji sitting despondently, he felt a surge of determination. This boy, who had been thrust into a world of curses and death, needed guidance and protection. It wasn’t a sin, to be a child who needs protection from the cruel world. He needed someone, something. To live, to breathe. To be relieved.  And it was up to Nanami to provide that. He would not let Itadori Yuuji fall into despair or danger. 

He approached Yuuji, who was still staring at the ground, lost in his own grief. "Itadori–kun." he said softly, trying to reach through the boy’s sorrow. "Are you alright?”

Yuuji looked up, his eyes empty and haunted. "O–oh, I’m fine, Nanamin. Please don’t worry about me—”

"I’d rather you be honest with me, Itadori–kun." Nanami replied. "I know you're hurting. And I know it feels like you’re alone. But you’re not. You should not burden yourself with this anymore than you should.”

Yuuji’s gaze dropped again, and Nanami felt a pang of sympathy. The boy had been through so much in such a short time. He needed someone to anchor him, to help him navigate the turbulent waters of his emotions and the dangerous world he now inhabited.

“But Nanamin…”

Haibara used to make that face too, Nanami thinks. That same expression of guilt and self-doubt, as if he hadn’t done enough, as if he should have been better. He could see it now, in Yuuji’s eyes. The weight of regret and the burden of what-ifs.

“I just…” Yuuji’s voice cracked, his words trailing off. The pain and uncertainty were clear, and Nanami’s heart ached with understanding.

"Gojo-san trusts you. And so do I," Nanami said, his eyes softening as he met Yuuji’s troubled gaze. "You’ve shown incredible strength and resilience, Itadori–kun. I told you that yesterday. It’s okay to feel what you’re feeling. It’s okay to grieve."

Yuuji’s lower lip trembled, and he bit down on it, trying to hold back the tears threatening to spill over. “But what if… what if I’m not strong enough? What if I fail again?”

Nanami shook his head slowly. “Strength isn’t about never failing, Itadori–kun. It’s about getting back up, even when you’ve fallen. It’s about continuing to fight, even when it seems impossible. You’re stronger than you think, and you don’t have to do this alone.”

The boy looked down, his hands gripping his knees tightly. “Junpei… he was my friend. And I couldn’t save him.”

Nanami’s grip on Yuuji’s shoulder tightened, offering a silent promise of support. “We can’t always save everyone. But we honor them by continuing to fight for others, by becoming better, stronger. Junpei–kun wouldn’t want you to give up. He’d want you to keep going, to keep trying.”

A tear slipped down Yuuji’s cheek, and he wiped it away with the back of his hand. “I just… I don’t know if I can.”

“You can,” Nanami assured him. “And you will. Little by little. You can do it, Itadori–kun.”

Itadori Yuuji didn’t respond immediately, but Nanami Kento could see a flicker of something—hope, maybe—in his eyes. It was a start. Little by little. He could feel the boy’s breathing become more even. He could see his features relax slightly, the tension he had vanishing. Nanami thinks that he’ll cry again, when Nanami isn’t there. But perhaps, this was enough. Seeing him be reassured once again, that it wasn’t his fault.  Maybe one day, Nanami Kento would see him smile genuinely again.

WHENEVER HE SEES YOUR NAME ON SCREEN, HE SMILES.When he heard the familiar melody of his ringtone, Nanami Kento excused himself from Itadori–kun and walked off to a more private area. The buzzing seclusion of Tokyo Jujutsu High’s main stairwell faded as he found a quiet corner. He felt a pang of guilt for not replying to you much earlier. He can only think how much you were thinking about him, with a worried heart. He knew you understood, especially during times when he was on missions. But he thinks that understanding can only go so far. His job after all was something that was hard to grasp with relief. 

But you knew the demands of his work as a sorcerer, when he told you about it years and years ago. He wouldn’t leave the work, you know that much. So you let it be. As long as he came home to you, that was fine. And so, it has always been fine when you don’t get a text between some days. All these years, you had never pressured him about not replying or calling. The same understanding applied when you were engrossed in your manuscripts during writing season. 

At times, Nanami Kento wishes he could be a better husband for you. A husband that you deserve. A husband that’s always there to coddle you, to take care of you, to love you. He thinks about it sometimes, if he were a househusband. He could commit his life to taking care of you, the way you had always done for him. Maybe one day he’d get that chance. Maybe he’d finally be able to return your love for him in a way that was true to loving you.

“Hello, my love.” he greeted, trying to keep his tone cheerful. “I’m sorry for not replying to you sooner.

“Kento, baby! I’m so glad I caught you.” you replied, your voice warm and bright. He loves it. He adores it when he hears that excited pitch. He was happiest when he could hear your voice. “I haven’t heard from you all day.  I hope everything’s been alright at work, baby.”

Nanami Kento hesitated for a moment. He didn’t have the heart to tell you that he had almost died yesterday, that the mission had been far more dangerous than anticipated. He didn’t want to worry you. He doesn’t like it when he stresses you out. You were in enough pressure for your deadlines, he didn’t want to add to that.

“Yes, everything’s fine, love.” he said, forcing a smile even though you couldn’t see it. “Just a bit busy, you know how it is.”

You sighed on the other end of the line, a sound filled with understanding and concern. “I know. I just worry about you sometimes. I’m a worry wart, you know?”

“I know you do, my love.” Nanami replied softly. “But I’m alright, really. I did well and survived. I’m okay. That’s all that matters.”

You sighed tenderly. ‘I suppose so. I think that’s always enough for me. Knowing that you’re well.”

“Exactly. So, my love. Enough about me. Tell me, how was your day? Did you finish your manuscript for the new book?” He thinks that he could see your smile, even from a phone call. If there’s anything that makes him feel warm inside, it’s your smile.

There was a brief pause, and you laughed. “Yes, I did! It was a lot of work, but I finally finished it well. Before the deadline! Which means, no editor coming into our house to take me away from you! I’m really happy with how it turned out. I spent most of the day taking in the words I wrote and making sure everything was perfect.”

Nanami listened as you shared the details of your day, his heart lifting with every word you spoke. Your voice was animated and full of excitement, a soothing balm to his weary soul. He could picture you in the kitchen, eyes sparkling as you talked about finishing your manuscript and experimenting with new recipes. He asked questions, genuinely interested in every detail, finding comfort in the normalcy of your conversation.

As he listened, he was struck by the stark contrast between the world you described and the chaos he had faced earlier. Your day, filled with the mundane but meaningful tasks of editing and cooking, felt like a distant haven from the danger and uncertainty that had engulfed him. It was in these moments, when he could hear the warmth and love in your voice, that he found his grounding.

Nanami Kento often marveled at how deeply he loved you. It was a love that had grown over time, a steady flame that had become an essential part of his existence. Despite the tumultuous nature of his work, you were his constant, his anchor in a sea of unpredictability. Your unwavering support and understanding were the bedrock of his strength, and he cherished every bit of it.

In a world where so much was uncertain, your love was a rare and precious constant. It was the reason he fought so hard, the reason he pulled through the darkest moments. Your voice was a reminder of why he endured the risks and dangers of his profession. It was the promise of coming home to a place where he was loved and valued, no matter how challenging the world outside might be.

As you continued to talk, Nanami Kento felt a profound sense of gratitude. He knew that he could face any challenge, knowing that you were waiting for him at home. Your support gave him the strength to confront the darkness and emerge stronger. And in that quiet, shared moment over the phone, he felt an overwhelming appreciation for you, his partner, his love, and his greatest source of comfort.

“And then I took a break and made that recipe we found a while back!” you continued, giggling at the end. 

You were always like this, when you were excited about something that had turned out well. Nanami Kento thinks that he can only feel like his heart is going to burst whenever you talk like this, like you were sunshine itself in his cloudy days. 

“I can’t wait for you to come home, baby. You would enjoy it well!”

He chuckled softly. “I’m looking forward to it. It sounds delicious.”

You laughed, the sound light and musical. “I’ll make it for you when you get home. Just promise me you’ll be safe until then, okay?”

“I promise, my love. “Kento said, his voice sincere. “I’ll be home soon, okay?”

“That’s great!” You cheered on the other line. “I can cook it right away. I’m sure it will be ready by the time you get home.”

Nanami was about to reply when Itadori Yuuji walked in. The boy with fuschia hair started to speak but quickly realized that Nanami was on a call and fell silent. His face started to turn red as he blubbered a weak apology, as he turned around and started to walk off. Nanami shakes his head and puts his hand on his shoulder. Yuuji looks as though he was going to explode from embarrassment, mouthing to Nanami to let him go. But since he was here, he might as well introduce you to the boy.

Nanami Kento was private about his life. He rarely talked about how he was a proud married man. But it wasn’t because he was embarrassed. If anything, he would like to brag about you to the world. How you had the loveliest singing voice. How your cooking was the best he had ever tasted. How your words were always the warmest to hear. But he didn’t think he needed to share you with the world. Your presence was his sanctuary, a secret haven where he could retreat from the chaos of his duties.

In the quiet moments at home, when the world outside seemed a distant memory, he would listen to you hum a tune as you prepared dinner, your melody weaving a tapestry of comfort and familiarity. The aroma of your cooking filled the air, a symphony of flavors that spoke of love and care in every bite. And when you spoke, your voice gentle and soothing, it was as if the weight of his burdens lifted, replaced by a warmth that radiated from your every word.

Nanami didn’t need to share these moments with anyone else. They were his to treasure in this life, this little life he’s built with you. In your eyes, he found a reflection of the man he aspired to be – strong, yet tender; stoic, yet deeply affectionate. And in your embrace, he found the peace he so often sought in a world that demanded so much of him.

To the world, he was Nanami Kento, a formidable sorcerer and a man of few words. But to you, he was simply Kento, your beloved husband who cherished every moment spent in your presence. And that, he believed, was more than enough.

But he supposed, at least today, you would get known to the world.

“Who was that, Kento, baby?” you asked, curiosity piqued.

Nanami smiled slightly. “This is Itadori Yuuji, a student at Jujutsu High. I’m looking after him right now, for Gojo  and his wife.”

He could feel the pitch get higher. That excitement in your voice, it never gets old to him. “Oh, bring him over for dinner, baby. I’m sure there’s enough food for us to share. Maybe even more.”

Yuuji looked even more flustered, shaking his head slowly. “I don’t want to impose on you at all…”

“Nonsense, Yuu–chan! Can I call you that, Yuu–chan? I think it suits you well!” 

“Y–yes, that’s fine.” The boy uttered back, his lips trembling. “I–I don’t mind at all.”

“My! He sounds like a darling, baby.” You gushed happily. “I’d love to have him over for dinner with us, baby. It would be more lively.”

“Hm, I think so too.” He hums as he looks at Itadori. “Itadori–kun, you are welcome at our house.”

“I….I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Yuu–chan. We’ll be glad to have you.” You cooed on the other line. “Oh, baby. I think it’s going to be chilly tonight, so you might as well grab some miso paste before you get back home. It would be nice.”

Nanami nodded. “Alright. Is there anything else that you want me to grab?”

“I think something for the soup! I’ll text you the details.” You say to him. “But, baby, I’ll start cooking in a bit, so I’ll hang up.”

“You should. Remember the last time when you were cooking on call?”

He could feel the heat from your cheeks miles away. That incident will never leave you, you think. “T–that was one time, you know! And it ended on a happier note. It wasn’t that bad.”

“Hm, I suppose so.” He smiles at the phone. “I’ll be home in a bit, with Itadori–kun. I love you.”

“I love you too. See you soon, Kento!” You blew a kiss through the phone, and Nanami felt a little flustered as he ended the call.

Clearing his throat, he turned to Yuuji, who looked both embarrassed and curious. There were few people who knew he was married, let alone how much softer and brighter he became when it came to his wife. And now, Itadori Yuuji seems to be one of them.

Nanami's stern facade cracked ever so slightly as he met the young sorcerer's gaze. Yuuji's eyes were wide with a mix of surprise and wonder, clearly grappling with the unexpected revelation. Nanami could almost see the gears turning in the boy's head, trying to reconcile the image of the strict, no-nonsense mentor with the man who evidently harbored a deep, abiding love for someone special.

Kento sighed, pursing his lips. This was bound to happen, he supposed. The gods would make it happen, one way or another. He had always been careful, keeping his personal life meticulously separate from his professional duties. But perhaps it was inevitable that, sooner or later, the two worlds would collide.

“Who was that, Nanamin?” Yuuji asked hesitantly.

“That was my wife.” Nanami explained to him, putting his phone away.  “It’s better if we talk about it on the way there. Come on, let’s get going. I don’t want the store to close on us.”

“Huh?”

“Huh? Itadori–kun, are you okay?”

The shock is now more evident than ever before in Itadori Yuuji’s face. He was hysterical, stunned and dumbfounded. “What? Nanamin, you’re married? You have a wife? Huh?”

"Itadori–kun, please calm down." he began, his voice steady but tinged with an uncharacteristic gentleness. "Yes, I am married."

Yuuji blinked, processing the confirmation. He finds his composure and starts smiling. "Wow, Nanamin, I didn't know... I mean, you never mentioned it. But I should—Congratulations on your marriage!”

Nanami nodded, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He didn't know what to say as the young fuchsia-haired boy started clapping like it was a newly finished wedding reception. The sound of Yuuji's enthusiastic applause filled the air, an unexpected burst of joy that contrasted sharply with the usual solemnity of their conversations.

This kid has too much energy in him, now that he’s out of that dark headspace, Nanami thought, observing Yuuji's bright, expressive face. The transformation in the boy was remarkable; gone was the haunted look that had shadowed his eyes not so long ago. Instead, Yuuji was brimming with vitality, his spirit seemingly unbreakable despite the hardships he had faced.

But Kento thinks that it’s for the best. It’s hard to be in such a dark place. Levity should be welcomed. In a world where curses and battles often cast long shadows, moments of light-heartedness were precious. Nanami Kento had always believed in the importance of balance, of relief and seeing Itadory Yuuji so full of life reminded him of why he fought—to protect the innocence and joy that still existed in the world. 

"I don't often talk about it.” Nanami says softly. “Not because I am ashamed or unwilling, but because...well, my wife is a part of my life that I prefer to keep private. Our moments together are precious to me."

Yuuji's curiosity seemed to override his embarrassment. "Your wife must be really amazing, Nanamin!" he ventured, his tone sincere and full of admiration. “Your wife seems to make you very happy!”

"My love certainly does." Nanami replied, his expression softening as he thought of you. "My wife is my sanctuary, my peace in a turbulent world. I’m lucky to be blessed.”

Yuuji smiled, clearly moved by the rare glimpse into Nanami's personal life. "That sounds incredible, Nanamin. I think it's great that you have someone like that."

Nanami gave a small nod, a silent acknowledgment of the truth in Yuuji's words. But he cleared his throat, feeling a bit of heat rise to his face as the young boy grinned at him. "Thank you, Itadori-kun." he said, his voice steady yet softer than usual. "Now, let’s make our way. It’ll be hard to find a store open late."

Yuuji’s grin widened, but he nodded obediently, falling into step beside Nanami. "Right, Nanamin! Let’s get moving."

As they walked through the dimly lit streets, Nanami couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Despite the vulnerability of revealing a part of his personal life, he found solace in Yuuji’s reaction. He thinks his reaction was endearing, too. Nanami Kento thinks that he realizes the extent of the boy’s unfiltered happiness. It was like a deep uncharted ocean. But it was nice, how warm it was, his genuine response. 

Nanami Kento thinks that learning more about being an adult is because of Itadori Yuuji than anything else. And he thinks that’s lovely, and perhaps you will think the same. The children are the future, after all. And their joys will always be  a reminder of the simple joys that still existed, even amidst their perilous world. Perhaps that’s why Gojo Satoru gave him the boy. Gojo’s always been astute about that sort of thing, but Nanami thinks that he doesn’t have the capability of saying it out loud.

"Say Nanamin," Yuuji began, his tone conversational, more casual than before. Comfortable. "What's your wife’s favorite thing to cook?"

Nanami glanced at Yuuji, a small smile playing on his lips. "Well, my wife has a knack for many dishes, but my wife’s favorite to cook is a traditional Japanese meal. My wife loves making it, and I must admit, it’s my favorite to eat. Perhaps more than Danish or Filipino dishes.”

Yuuji's eyes sparkled with interest. "That sounds amazing! Do you ever help out in the kitchen?"

Nanami releases a small laugh, the sound carrying a warmth that feels foreign yet welcome. Yuuji thinks that he feels like he is going to smile wider. Happiness looks good in Nanamin’s face. "I do, when I can. I take days off sometimes. But my wife likes doing most of the cooking. My wife says that I’m more of a hindrance than help, though. But it’s the effort that counts, or so my wife tells me."

Yuuji laughed, the sound bright and full of life. "I bet you’re better than you think, Nanamin. It sounds like you two have a lot of fun together."

Nanami’s expression softened, the memories of their shared moments filling him with a gentle warmth. "We do. I’m happy to say that." he admitted, his voice quiet but filled with affection. "In those moments, everything else fades away. It’s just us, and that’s more than enough."

THE SMELL OF GRILLED SALMON MADE NANAMI HAPPY. You were always a much better cook than him, he thinks. He always looked forward to coming home and having a nice hearty meal when you made it for him. The thought of your cooking brought a soft smile to his face as he and Yuuji navigated through the ryokan. He gently handed the young boy slippers, which was returned by a gentle smile and a whispered thanks.

The weight of the day seemed to melt away as he stepped further into the warm embrace of your shared home. The familiar, comforting aroma of your cooking wafted through the air, mingling with the soft, ambient sounds of home. It was a stark contrast to the chaos and danger he faced daily, a sanctuary that he cherished more than anything.

Loosening his tie, he took a moment to simply stand in the hallway, eyes closed, breathing in the scents and sounds that spoke of love and normalcy. Each time he returned, he was reminded of just how much these simple, everyday moments meant to him. It wasn’t just the meals or the comfort of the house—it was you. Your presence was the balm to his weary soul, the light that guided him through the darkest of times.

As he walked toward the kitchen, he could hear you humming softly to yourself, a tune that brought a smile to his face. He paused at the doorway. He was going to take in this moment. Itadori Yuuji was just behind him. Both of them take in the sound of your tender humming. Kento was sure that you were also gracefully dancing on the other side, expertly preparing dinner. There was something almost magical in the way you worked, turning ordinary ingredients into something extraordinary. It wasn’t just food; it was an expression of your love and care, a daily reminder of how much you meant to each other.

He walks and then stops for a moment, where a wall separates the dining room and the kitchen. Nanami Kento often marveled at how effortlessly you could turn simple ingredients into something extraordinary. The kitchen was your domain, where you wielded spices and herbs with the same precision he applied to exorcizing curses. He watches as your humming intensifies as you move around the kitchen, your movements lively and excited.

There was a particular comfort in the routine you had established together in these many years of marriage. He enjoyed it, every single time. After a long, arduous day, he would come home to the welcoming warmth of your embrace and the tantalizing aromas wafting from the kitchen. You had a way of making every meal special, infusing each dish with a warmth that spoke of your love and care. He knew he was lucky, every single day — to be in your loving arms, to be cared for and adored by you.

As he walked toward the kitchen, he could hear you humming softly to yourself, a tune that brought a smile to his face. He paused at the doorway, taking in the sight of you moving gracefully, expertly preparing dinner. There was something almost magical in the way you worked, turning ordinary ingredients into something extraordinary. It wasn’t just food; it was an expression of your love and care, a daily reminder of how much you meant to each other.

Clearing his throat, your Kento stepped into the kitchen. "It smells amazing, my love." he said, his voice warm with affection.

You turned around, startled, and your cheeks flushed as you saw him standing there. "Kento, baby! I didn’t hear you come in." you said, quickly setting down the spoon you were holding. Then you noticed Yuuji standing behind him, grinning widely, and your blush deepened. "Oh! Yuu–chan, welcome. I–I’m sorry you had to see me in that state! My humming must have been so loud!"

Yuuji gave you a cheerful wave. "Hello, Mrs. Nanami! I didn’t mean to intrude, but Nanamin invited me over."

You wiped your hands on a towel, trying to regain your composure. "It’s no trouble at all. And please, you don’t have to be formal with me. You’re always welcome here, Yuu–chan!"

Nanami watched as Yuuji smiled wider at your response. He stepped closer to you, his presence calming your flustered nerves.  "Your humming was great." he said softly, his eyes filled with affection. “I’m home, my love.”

You smiled up at him, the embarrassment fading away in the warmth of his gaze. "I’m glad you’re home, Kento." you replied, reaching up to touch his cheek.

Yuuji watched the interaction with a happy grin. "You two are so cute, Nana–san!" he said, unable to hide his delight. 

You laughed, the sound light and happy. Kento didn’t know how to feel with the nickname that Yuuji gave you, but if you were happy about it, then he doesn’t think it’s anything to be having a fuss over.  "Thank you, Yuu–chan. Why don’t you take a seat? You must be so hungry! Oh, you should eat a lot. You seem to be getting thin! Come here and wash up. Dinner is almost ready.”

“Thank you, Nana–san!”

You grinned. “Oh, it’s my pleasure! Now go and wash up. Have a good warm one, okay? Ah, and the towels and some clothes are in a cabinet in front of the bathroom!”

Yuuji grinned and waved at you and Kento before he headed over to the direction you pointed and left. Kento crossed his arms and sighed. You were still smiling. “I’m glad you took that boy home. He seems to be such a lovely young man, Kento.”

“Hm. Itadori–kun’s a good kid.”

“Like Megumi–kun, hm?”

“Well, Fushiguro–kun’s a different sort of kid.”

As you turned back to the stove with an agreeable hum, your husband stepped closer, wrapping his arms around your waist from behind. You smile as he rests his chin on your shoulder. "Do you need any help?" he asked, his voice a low murmur in your ear.

You leaned back against him, savoring the feeling of his embrace. "Just keep me company," you said softly. "That’s all I need."

“How was your day?”

“It's really good.” You whisper to your husband, satisfied. “I finished my manuscript. I sent it to my editor. I’m just waiting for feedback.”

“What did you do for the rest of the day?” He asked softly, his eyes shifting to look at you tenderly. “I hope you rested. You must have worked through the manuscript without taking a break again, hm?”

It was quick for him to pick up on your ears turning red. He was right. “....I did sleep, you know. I rested a lot after. I knew you would be worried if I didn’t.”

“Ah, so that’s why you didn’t reply to my text.”

“Huh, what do you think I was doing?” You pouted as you looked at him. 

He grins. “I thought you were crying about your 3D man on Twitter again.”

You blush even harder. “Ahhhh, Kento! I wasn’t, I was sleeping!”

“Hm, that’s a win for me then.”

“You tease, you!”

Itadori Yuuji had gotten out of the shower and stopped his tracks when he saw the two of you bantering. It was something interesting to see. So far, he’d only known the blond to be stern and stoic, perhaps serious and strict too. But he could not help but feel warmth when he saw how he is with you, his wife. He could only watch with a mix of admiration and amusement as Nanami Kento stayed close to you as you finished preparing the meal. 

At times, Yuuji could not help wondering if his mother and father had ever done something like this. If he was being honest, he doesn’t remember much about his parents. And grandpa really didn’t talk much about them when he was growing up. But Yuuji still liked to imagine. He liked to imagine a warm, happy home. Where his parents were there, waiting for him. With a warm meal, a loving hug and a laughing face. 

For a moment, he couldn’t help but imagine that this was home. That this was his own little happy home. With a mother and a father that loved each other, with a warm meal on the way for his belly and a tender greeting with that laughing face for him. Itadori Yuuji thinks that maybe just this once, even just tonight, he’d like to keep this moment as it was and carve it in his memory. 

You were the first to notice that he had returned. You turned around as Kento moved away. You were still a bit flustered but smiled at him. “Did you have a good shower, Yuu–chan? Dinner’s almost ready, you can sit down!”

Yuuji smiled widely. “Yes, I did! Thank you for welcoming me again, Nana–san.”

You waved him off. “Oh, don’t even think about it, Yuu–chan. We’re glad to have you here!”

“Itadori–kun, come here.” Nanami calls to him, waving for him to come. “Help me set up the table for the meal.”

“Yes, of course, Nanamin!” He nodded, immediately coming over.

They settled the table as you began putting the dishes on the plates. You grinned as you turned to set the dishes on the table, your heart swelling with affection as you watched your husband indulge Yuuji in a conversation about how to properly plate a table. Yuuji, with his usual wide-eyed curiosity, listened intently as Nanami explained the intricacies of table setting—how the forks and knives should be arranged, the importance of the right glassware, and even the subtle art of folding napkins.

You could see the delight in Yuuji’s eyes as he absorbed every detail, and it warmed your chest to see Kenyto share his knowledge so patiently. It was clear that Kento was savoring this moment quietly, enjoying the chance to mentor and connect with Yuuji in this simple yet meaningful way. His usual reserved demeanor softened into something more tender and nurturing, and you couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of happiness.

The kitchen was alive with the sounds of your evening together—laughter, the clinking of utensils, and the occasional lighthearted banter. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, a stark contrast to the challenges Nanami faced outside. You moved around the table, placing the final touches on the meal, while the two of them continued their engaging discussion.

"See, Itadori–kun." Nanami said, demonstrating the correct way to position a knife beside the plate. "The blade should always face inward, toward the plate. It’s a small detail, but it makes a big difference."

Yuuji nodded, his expression one of earnest concentration. "Got it! I’ll have to remember that. Thanks for the tips, Nanamin."

You couldn’t help but smile as you watched them. The sight of Kento imparting his knowledge with such care and Yuuji absorbing it with enthusiasm filled you with a profound sense of contentment. It was moments like these that reminded you of the beauty of simple connections, the joy of sharing everyday experiences, and the happiness that came from seeing the people you loved come together.

As you finished setting the table, you joined the conversation, your voice blending with theirs in easy harmony. The meal was ready, and the table was set with all the care Kento had described. The three of you chatted effortlessly, the conversation flowing naturally between you. Yuuji asked questions, Nanami answered with a mixture of expertise and humor, and you added your own touches to the discussion.

The kitchen was filled with laughter and the clinking of dishes, creating a symphony of warmth and joy. As you all sat down to enjoy the meal, you couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of fulfillment. The love and connection you shared with Nanami, now extended to Yuuji in these small, everyday moments, made you realize just how precious and meaningful these times were.

In the midst of the shared meal, as the conversation continued and the laughter echoed through the room, you felt incredibly grateful. The sight of Nanami treating Yuuji with such kindness, the ease of their interactions, and the warmth of your home created a beautiful tapestry of everyday joy. And as you looked around the table, surrounded by the people you loved, you knew that these were the moments you would cherish forever.

As the meal drew to a close, you noticed that Yuuji’s eyes were beginning to droop. The day's excitement and the hearty dinner had taken their toll. You glanced at your husband, who met your gaze with a knowing smile.

“Yuu–chan.” you said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder. “It’s getting late, and you must be tired. Why don’t you head to the guest room and get some rest? You’re welcome to stay the night if you’d like.”

Yuuji blinked, a little surprised but clearly pleased. “Oh, really? I didn’t mean to impose, Nana–san…”

“You’re not imposing at all, Yuu–chan.” you reassured him with a warm smile. “You’re always welcome here. Always. We’d be happy to have you stay.”

Yuuji’s face lit up with a genuine smile. “Thank you so much! I’d love to stay. It’s been a while since I had a home-cooked meal like this, and spending time with you both has been really nice.”

Kento nodded, his expression tender. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. The guest room is all set for you. Let me show you where it is.”

As your husband led Yuuji toward the guest room, you decided to go on ahead and tidy up the table and cleaned the remaining dishes before your husband came back. Your husband always insists on doing it, but he is already tired.It feels nice for you, you think — to make sure that the home is clean for your lovely husband to relax in. The sounds of their footsteps and quiet conversation in the hallway were a comforting backdrop to your evening chores. They still must be talking upstairs, if they were still walking about. A few minutes later, your husband returned, his demeanor still soft and content.

“You know you didn’t have to wash it up, my love.” He presses a kiss on your cheek as you dry your hands. “I would have wanted to do it.”

You smile at him. “I know, but I wanted to do it. You deserve some rest.”

“So do you.” He sighs, growing softer as he looks at you. “I’ll do it tomorrow, hm? The whole day.”

You playfully roll your eyes, smiling wider. “Fine, if you insist.”

He smiles. “Good.”

“So, how is Yuu–chan?” You asked as you started untying your apron. “He must be exhausted.”

“Hm. He’s about to get ready for bed. He didn’t sleep much yesterday, so he should start to fall asleep soon.”

You sighed. “Poor boy. Well, he can stay as much as he likes. I doubt Sato–chan would be home early to pick him up again. Let him stay with us until then.”

“That’s what I told Gojo.”

“Good.” You smiled at him. “Then I could continue to cook for him. Pamper him, even!”

“You really made Itadori–kun’s night, my love.” Nanami said, his voice filled with appreciation. “He looked genuinely happy.”

You smiled at your husband. “He’s a good kid. I’m glad we could make him feel at home. It’s nice to share our home with someone who means so much to you. And well, someone who is dear to me now too.”

Kento walked closer to you, pulling you into a gentle embrace. “Thank you for making him feel welcome. I know it means a lot to him. And to me.”

You rested your head against his chest, savoring the warmth of his hug. “It’s what family is all about. And you know, it’s nice to have another person to share our home with.”

As you both stood there, the tranquility of the evening enveloping you, Nanami kissed the top of your head. “Let’s go check on him before we head to bed. It’s always nice to say goodnight.”

You nodded, and together you walked down the hallway to the guest room. The door was slightly ajar, and you could see Yuuji already settling in, his face relaxed and content. The blacket was covering him well enough. It was a cold night, so you were at least glad for that. You smiled at him.

“Hi, Yuu–chan. We just wanted to come up and say goodnight.” you said softly, peeking into the room. “Sleep well, hm? As much as you like, it’s okay. Remember, you have a home here with Kento and I whenever you want.”

Yuuji looked up, his eyes bright with gratitude. “Thank you, Nana–san, really. I’ll definitely take you up on that whenever I can. Nanamin already said the same thing, but really….I’m grateful to both of you.”

You smiled at him warmly. For a moment, Yuuji thinks that it would be a smile that only loving mothers can pull off. “Of course, don’t worry. Good night, Yuu–chan. Get some rest.”

With a final wave and a warm smile, you and Kento quietly closed the door and made your way back to your own room. The house felt even more like a home with Yuuji’s presence. And you were glad for it. As you looked at your husband, you knew that he felt the same way. You leaned against him, satisfied, happily. This was a happy night.

epilogue 

The warmth of the evening lingered, and you felt a happy contentment settle over you as you changed into your pajamas. Nanami Kento was already in bed, propped up against the pillows and reading a book. You slid under the covers next to him, resting your head on his shoulder.

"Kento, baby." you said, your tone light and playful. “I have thoughts I wanna say out loud.”

"Hmm?" He glanced down at you, his expression softening. “What are they about, my love?”

"I’ve been thinking, you know….I don’t think it’s crazy to think this, what I’m thinking." you began, a mischievous twinkle in your eye. "Maybe we should adopt Yuu–chan."

Nanami blinked, clearly taken aback. "Adopt Itadori–kun?"

You nodded, trying to keep a straight face. "Yes, he’s such a sweet boy, Kento. And he already seems like part of the family. Plus, he clearly adores you. And you clearly adore him. I’m sure it’s mutual between him and I. So, we might as well make it happen!”

Nanami chuckled, the sound deep and warm. "You do realize he’s already got Gojo as his current guardian, right? I doubt the higher–ups will allow us to take Itadori–kun.”

You pouted. "Yes, but think about it. I’m sure Sato–chan can convince everyone to make us Yuu–chan’s parents.  He’d bring so much energy into the house. Imagine all the laughter and fun. And you’d get to give him more life advice about girls, well even boys. I’m sure we’ll love him no matter what, you know?”

Kento closed his book, setting it aside. "And what would you get out of this arrangement?"

"Oh, just the joy of seeing you two bond even more. Being his mother…." you said with a laugh. "And maybe some help with the cooking. I can think some more, I’m sure.”

Kento shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. "You’re incorrigible, my love.”

"But you love me still, hm?" you said, leaning in to kiss his cheek.

"That I do, my love." he agreed, wrapping his arm around you. "But I think we should leave the adopting to those who don’t have to face curses every day."

You sighed dramatically, still pouting. "Fine, fine. But I still think it’s a good idea."

Kento laughed, pulling you closer. "Maybe we can settle for having him over for dinner more often. How does that sound?"

You snuggled into his embrace, your smile widening. "Perfect. And who knows, maybe he’ll start calling you his dad! And me, his mom!”

Kento groaned playfully. "Now that’s a terrifying thought."

You laughed, the sound mingled with his, and the two of you drifted off to sleep, the warmth of your love and the lightheartedness of your conversation wrapping around you like a cozy blanket.

“But maybe when you retire….”

“......I’ll think about it.”

“I love you so much!” You say, kissing his shoulder. 

You hear him sigh, content. “I love you too.”

facts about nanami and his wife:

kento thinks that he fits being a house-husband. he likes the idea of taking care of his wife, so he thinks that he'd be great at it. he's thought about quitting sorcery to be a house-husband.

yuuji becomes a staple in your house. the guest room he used became his regular bedroom at the house. you buy clothes you think would suit him often and put it in his drawers. when he can't stay for the night, you indulge a long dinner.

these dinners lasting long into the night leads into yuuji not going home to the dorms at all and a long phone call between kento and yaga.

kento's mother and grandmother send your recipes to try almost daily. you guys maintain a group chat without the men in your lives. you enjoy it a lot, when you vent about your editor.

your editor always has a hard time with you keeping up with deadlines and because your editor's stric. sometimes, he brings out a picture of kento looking disappointed at you and you cry harder.

you still continue to ask kento to adopt yuuji because you really love him a lot. it would be easier if he was your son!!!

[sluglore]

Explaining The Iterator's Purpose (And Why They Weren't Made to Circumvent The Echoes)

Alright, I know there's already been a few posts like this out there, like this older one from @halvedforest, and this recent one from @noizepushr, which are both good posts, but I've been meaning to touch up and cross-post my own older misconceptions post from reddit for a while now, and provide a deeper, more expanded analysis as to why this misconception exists and explain what's actually going on, so here it finally is haha I'll also be using the term 'Benefactor' instead of 'Ancient', if people are confused about that, I intend to make a post about it eventually ^^

( If you're confused on who out there even believes this, this idea originated from Rain World YouTube lore videos, long before Downpour was ever a thing! It is unfortunately still quite prominent on there... but it's definitely getting better :3 )

This misconception stems from misreading the singular pearl to ever mention the echoes, being the Bright Red farm arrays pearl, so let me begin by attaching the specific section below:

“There were some horror stories though... That if your ego was big enough, not even the Void Fluid could entirely cross you out, and a faint echo of your pompousness would grandiosely haunt the premises forever. So even when the Void Fluid baths became cheaper, some would still starve and drink the bitter tea.” (Bright red Farm Arrays pearl dialogue)

Note the specific usage of “some” here. Echoes weren't presented as an issue significant to re-center Benefactor society around, (let alone build the iterators for) but as some horror stories which only "some" people (likely on the fringes of society) would believe in. Nowhere are we given anything that alludes to the existence of Echoes being regarded as a societal problem to address, much less have anything to do with the Iterators.

Additionally, although we know for a fact that echoes do exist, its fairly possible that most of Benefactor society didn't, as LTTM doesn't even know what they are either, regarding them as nothing more than superstition. On the very next line, LTTM confirms that the void baths continued all the same, while again mentioning that "some" would still choose to abstain from them, and drink the bitter tea.

Then what’s the purpose of the iterators if they weren't created to circumvent the echoes? What is The Big Problem that they are even trying to solve in the first place? Well, both FP, LTTM, and the Exterior colored pearl dialogue spell the answer out for you. In fact, it's the first thing FP even tells you!

“The good news first. In a way, I am what you are searching for. Me and my kind have as our purpose to solve that very oscillating claustrophobia in the chests of you and countless others. A strange charity - you the unknowing recipient, I the reluctant gift. The noble benefactors? Gone.” (Five Pebbles dialogue to Survivor) (Monk's version also hits similar notes)

Five pebbles introduces himself as a “reluctant gift," with his purpose being "to solve that very oscillating claustrophobia in the chests of you and countless others," meaning to solve the cycles for everyone and everything else.

If you bring Looks to the Moon a neuron, she has the chance to repeat the same exact explanation to you.

"We were supposed to help everyone, you know. Everything. That was our purpose: a great gift to the lesser beings of the world. When facing our inability to do so, we all reacted differently. Many with madness.”

FP, LTTM, and the rest of their kind were created to serve the rest of the world in finding a method of total mass ascension, of ending the cycle entirely for everyone.... and everything. Not only including the fauna of the world, like the slugcat, but the bedrock, microbes and even gases, as explicitly stated in this snippet from the Exterior pearl dialogue below:

“The Moral Argument: Five Pebbles is our Creation, and we have Parental Obligations towards him. As an Iterator, he is also a Gift of Charity from Us to The World (unable to reach Enlightenment by itself - being composed mostly of Rock, Gas, dull witted Bugs and Microbes - and towards which We thus have Obligations)” (Pale Green Exterior pearl dialogue)

Here we have the Benefactors define it very clearly, that as an iterator, Five Pebbles is a "Gift of Charity from Us to The World." It's important to note that many misinterpret the next section in parentheses as being about FP himself, but if it were, it would be the only time FP is ever referred to as “it”. What's really being described is the world, “unable to reach enlightenment by itself, being composed mostly of rock, gas, dull witted bugs and microbes” The world is unable to reach Enlightenment on it's own and therefore, that's why the iterators were created. (Also- when you think about it, the description of "being composed of rock, gas, and dull witted microbes" doesn't even really fit FP's description lol)

Quick but necessary tangent, the concept of non-living things being apart of the cycle is a little confusing, and tricky to quickly answer without going deep into cycle lore discussion, (I have an entire post in drafts dedicated to clearing this up) but it's actually incredibly important for understanding what The Great Problem is! To shed some light, it's not that non-living matter are able to somehow comprehend the cycles, but that the entire physical world itself is actually an intrinsic part of the cycles.

If you leave a stone on the ground, and come back some time later, it's covered in dust. This happens everywhere, and over several lifetimes of creatures such as you, the ground slowly builds upwards. So why doesn't the ground collide with the sky? Because far down, under the very very old layers of the earth, the rock is being dissolved or removed. The entity which does this is known as the Void Sea. If you drill far enough into the earth you begin encountering a substance called Void Fluid. The deeper you go, the less rock and more Void Fluid. It's believed that there is a point where the rock completely gives way - below that would be the Void Sea. When that stone you placed on the ground has finally done its time in the sediments, it meets the Void Fluid and is dissolved, leaving the physical world. (Teal Subterranean pearl dialogue)

There's a reason that 'Cycles' is always plural in Rain World, because there's multiple of them! Organic life is in cycles, the physical bedrock of the world is in cycles, even the very concept of civilization is in cycles. In order to ascend everything, that means ascending not only all living things, but the entire physical universe itself! That's what the Great Problem really is :D (Also technicallyyy it's only ever referred to as "the big problem" and not "the great problem", the latter term stems entirely from the community but it's whatever i just wanted to quickly mention that. great problem definitely sounds cooler LOL)

In conclusion, Iterators are described as "Gifts to the World" not once, not twice, but three entire times throughout base game Rain World's dialogue, one from FP, one from LTTM, and one from the Benefactors. Rain World lore holds many unanswered, purposefully ambiguous questions, but the Iterator's purpose is not one of them!

If you're confused/interested in analysis of the Benefactor's motivations and perspectives on Ascension, I made a post a little while back containing my thoughts right here :)

[gallavichthings]

A.U.gust 2024

It's almost August again, so time for us to explore alternative universes and see all the other ways in which our boys could fall in love. 😊

For this year, each week will have a general theme, and anything that falls under that theme is allowed, as long as it's original. WIPs, updates or re-imaginings of your own previous works are also allowed (to use someone else's work as inspiration, please ask for their consent before starting).

As always, no sign-ups are needed for this event. Just make sure to mention me using @gallavichthings on the body of your post (you can hide it under a read-more or by using a reblog if you wish to). Posting here on Tumblr is mandatory, but you can host your work somewhere else and post only a link if you want to. There will, of course, be a collection on AO3 (to be announced later).

Some posting suggestions (nothing is mandatory, but it would be courteous):

Tags are to your own discretion, but I suggest tagging NSFW works or hiding them under read-mores (in case of visual posts - fics are normally not an issue).

If you post a long fic on Tumblr in its entirety, it's best to use a read-more in order not to make your post too long and take up a lot of space on people's dashboards and on the tags.

For posting multiple unrelated works on AO3, posting separate works and making them part of one series is better than making each work a chapter of one single fic. That way, you can tag it appropriately and people can more easily find the fic they actually want to read. (That doesn't apply, of course, if your fics are actually connected.)

And without further ado, the themes for each week (please note that a few examples were provided for each week, but they're just a small fraction of what can be done):

Week 1 (01/08-07/08): Seasons/ Holidays (Christmas AUs, summer vacations AUs, New Year's AUs, Halloweeen AUs...)

Week 2 (08/08-14/08): Past/Future (Pirate AUs, Cyberpunk AUs, 1950s AUs, Star Trek AUs...)

Week 3 (15/08-21/08): School/Work (High School AUs, College AUs, Office AUs, Coffee Shop AUs, Tattoo Shop AUs...)

Week 4 (22/08-28/08): Supernatural (Vampire AUs, A/B/O, Soulmate AUs, Superhero AUs...)

Week 5 (29/08-31/08): Free - since this is only half a week, these last three days will be for anything that does not fit any of the other weeks.

If you aren't able to finish your work in time to post it in the designated week, please wait to post it in the last three days. If your AU falls under more than one category, you may post in any week you prefer, according to what you judge to be the most relevant to your work.

I hope that is clear enough, but if not, send me a message and I'll be happy to explain anything further.

And if anyone is in search of some AU ideas, this post contains several AU prompts.

See you in a few weeks!

[koiiiji]

Could you do some windbreaker characters with a fem gyaru s/o? I would specifically like Vinny you can chose any other character if you want :)

author note : OMG!! I searched some photos in pinterest, like inspiration for gyaru, and wooow!! i will definitely take some details into my style bc its sooo beautiful… i genuinely thought (idk why honestly) that gyaru is more like pink barbie in 80-90s style but it looks so cool i can’t!! sorry for such long reply, and we r mutuals so i feel even more ashamed :(( i tried with more characters but give up and done just these two!! hope you will like it💋🎗️

warning : pure fluff, vinny being softie and shelly cutie as always

vinny - he definitely have 0 idea about all fashion trends, styles and different subcultures aside from street racing… so he genuinely don’t give a fuck about your style, he crushing into person, not a pieces of clothes you wear, but once your dialogue went in all different direction, you explain him what your style specifically is and what inspired you to join this subculture, he take note in his head that as soon as he will earn more money he will buy you as many new clothes and other items as you wish.

it was one of your first dates, you were sitting together in some random cafe that you found on the way from the second-hand store to which you dragged Vinny to find new elements for your outfits.

“so… was it really necessary to spend solid 2 hours in that shop to find just few pair of shorts, skirts and belts?…” he began hesitantly, doubting whether it was worth bringing up the subject. do girls get angry if you ask them why spend so much time in the shops? should he change the subject of conversation? or maybe you want to discuss this trip to the store? it seemed that now Vinny’s brains would just explode, before you he had not had to communicate so long and closely with girls. when you looked up at him, it seemed to him that his heart skipped a couple of beats - your eyes literally sparkled with joy and fun.

"of course it was!! if you want to find really unique things, then there is no place better than a second-hand store! of course, you need to try to find something really worthwhile, but when you find that very thing.." you clenched your fists and squeezed your eyes shut, smiling so sweetly and swaying back and forth with impatience

"...oh right, let's go at my place today!!! i'll show you why we spent so much time there, these shorts and skirts will just go perfectly..." Vinny continued to listen as you happily chirped about your ideas of what to wear new things with, and it seems you also mentioned new places where you wanted to take photos together with him, and much more. at that moment, Vinny didn’t cared about anything as much as your smile. you were so sincere with him, you smiled so brightly, just like a little star in his hands, and he suddenly remembered that pleasant, soft and warm sensation in his chest, just like in rare moments from childhood. your touch pulled him out of his own thoughts as you gently shook his hand, looking questioningly into his eyes.

"didn't you listen to what i was saying?" you squinted suspiciously. "wh... what?.. no, i heard everything.."

laughing in response, you pulled him towards the exit of the cafe, in direction to your house. at that moment, it seemed to Vinny that there were no problems around, and he was finally felt like ordinary schoolboy. yes, you were the one who helped him still stay sane. you were his own little star.

shelly - 100% fashion intusiast so she highlighted your style immediately, and liked it!! as i mentioned before, she definitely would post tiktoks/insta stories with you, admiring how cool and beautiful her girlfriend is.

“hey, let’s go shopping together after school? how about finding some new stuff?” shelly said excitedly, coming up from behind and hugging you. it was the last day before weekends starts, so after school you could relax and go shopping in search of new things, maybe you will be lucky enough today and you will find some cool archive things from 2000s.

"oh my god, look at this!!" Shelly squealed in delight as she ran up to you. in her hands was Vivienne Westwood's archive white handbag, with silver chains as handles and with a distinctive badge. it needed a little repair, but for the price that was offered for this handbag, it was worth it!!

"Shelly is so cute, how did you find it?!" you exclaimed joyfully, picking up the bag from her hands and examining it from all sides. today it was a really cool piece, and after picking up a pair of pumpons and key chains for a bag, you headed to Shelly's house, deciding to celebrate this purchase with a sleepover at her house, her grandfather wasn’t at home, and he anyway liked when you two hang out together.

"what do you think about ordering something to eat and putting on makeup together? we can shoot something in tiktok! oh! or let's film unpacking for this baby, what do you say?" you asked her excitedly, as you remembered that Shelly always wanted to try your makeup style and clothes you usually wear. and she was so pleased that you remembered such little things that she mentioned once quite a long time ago, and they were deposited in your head. hugging you tightly around the neck and whispering a quiet thank you, Shelly took you by the arm and headed for her home, excitedly offering you ideas for posing and which sound you should choose for your tiktoks.

[section-chief-prentiss]

Maternity Leave (part 2/3)

Summary: As your labor progresses, you realize you might not get the birth plan you'd hoped for.

Pairing: Emily Prentiss/Reader 

Word Count: 1247

TWs: pregnancy, labor, fluff, comfort, blood

A/N: I got carried away with this one, so there will be one more part to wrap up this story that I'll post tomorrow!

Ao3

PART ONE PART THREE PART FOUR

“It’s time?” Emily asked, her eyes crinkled with joy.

“It’s time,” you confirmed, feeling breathless now, wincing from the pain rolling through you.

Emily leaned forward to kiss you, and you melted into it, moaning under your breath.

“Later,” she whispered against your lips.

You pouted when she pulled away, throwing her clothes back on and grabbing the hospital bag from the closet and the exercise ball from your workout room next door.

Once everything was together, your wife gently pulled you to your feet and helped you dress. “Note the time,” she reminded you. “We need to know how far apart your contractions are.”

You glanced at the clock on your nightstand and made a mental note, grabbing your phone to pull up a labor app your doctor had recommended to time the contractions.

Emily loaded up the car before coming back for you to gently ease you into the passenger’s seat. You didn’t need quite this level of coddling, but you knew this was her love language, so you didn’t stop her, either.

Emily gently backed the car out of your driveway, and you secured your seatbelt over your body, but the constriction immediately added to your discomfort. You shifted as another contraction rolled through you and hit the button on your phone to time it.

“Breathe, love,” Emily said gently, merging onto the road. You nodded, taking slow, deep breaths, and waiting for the pain to pass.

You didn’t live far from the hospital, but DC traffic had its own ideas for your evening and slowed down your travel. Emily called to let the hospital know you were coming, but you weren’t sure how long you could labor in the car. One hand clenched around the door handle, squeezing with all your might as the contractions shortened and intensified.

Emily pulled some questionable driving techniques, but you were in too much pain and filled with too much relief to see the emergency room doors approaching to care.

A nurse waited outside the entrance with a wheelchair and gently helped you into it before wheeling you inside, as Emily swung around to park somewhere potentially illegal, you gathered based on how quickly she returned to your side, belongings under her arms.

“I’m Amanda,” the nurse said. Though you couldn’t see her, there was an air of authority around her that you immediately trusted. “I’ll be your main nurse today, but there will be a few of us floating in and out.”

“I’m Y/N,” you said, rubbing your belly.

“Y/N, how far apart are your contractions?”

“Every five minutes or so,” you said, hissing as another reared its head. You rubbed your swollen stomach and hummed, closing your eyes to help your focus.

“That one was only four,” Emily murmured to the nurse.

They didn’t stop moving until you were in a hospital room, and you glanced suspiciously at Emily with a raised eyebrow, wondering how she bypassed the check-in process. She grinned at you in return, and you realized it was probably better to not know.

You stripped and changed into a hospital gown, and Amanda began hooking you up to monitors, explaining what she was doing as she moved, but another contraction distracted you. You trusted that Emily was paying attention enough for the both of you.

Kneeling on the bed, you swayed your hips back and forth, and Emily pressed into the sides of them—a trick you’d picked up on in birthing class—and you sighed when some of the pressure lessened.

“I need to check your dilation when you’re ready,” Amanda said.

You nodded, feeling the wave of pain subside before lying on the bed. Laying on your back only heightened your discomfort, but you reminded yourself this would pass quickly.

“7 centimeters,” the nurse said, sounding impressed. “You’re progressing quickly. You said this is your first?”

You nodded, debating already if this would be your last.

“You’re the woman that other women are jealous of,” the nurse said with a wink. “I’ll be back to check you in a bit.”

You were already sweating with effort, and Emily dabbed at your forehead with a cold compress.

“You’re doing great, baby,” she said, stroking your hair.

“I know I said I wanted her out today,” you said, shifting to a sitting position. “But I think I changed my mind.”

Emily chuckled. “I’m afraid it’s too late now. What can I do to help?”

“Can you help me to the ball?” you said, nodding toward the exercise ball.

Emily grabbed your arms and hoisted you up with little difficulty, hovering nearby as you positioned yourself on the ball and began swiveling your hips.

As the next few contractions rolled through, the pain and duration increased. Your pain tolerance was high—you’d wanted to try and give birth without pain medication—but you weren’t sure how much longer you could hold out. Quiet, deep breaths transitioned into guttural moans that sounded like they came from outside your body, the pressure increasing where the baby shifted downward.

Some time later, the nurse peeked her head in again. “How are we doing?”

You were still seated on the ball, but your arms rested on your hospital bed, and you leaned against it for support.

“I’ve gotta be close, right?” you panted. “This is agonizing.”

Emily and the nurse helped you shift back into the bed for another check, and the nurse looked back up at you with sympathetic eyes. “Still at 7, I’m afraid.”

“That can’t be right,” you moaned, feeling a familiar pressure. “Measure again.”

But you were cut off with pain ripping through you, feeling as though you were being torn in half. Emily offered you her hand and you squeezed it with all your strength, closing your eyes to throw your head back and scream. This was unbearable—how were you not pushing yet?

As the contraction waned, you opened your eyes to find Emily pale and the nurse smoothing her expression into something neutral.

Your stomach sank—that wasn’t the face of someone with good news.

“Y/N, I’m going to page your doctor. It looks like we have some bleeding, so we may need to bring you down for a c-section.”

You shook your head. “No, I didn’t want a c-section—this wasn’t the plan.”

“I know, love,” Emily said, stroking your hair that was damp with sweat. “But we have to keep you and baby safe.”

You knew she was right and hated it. You wanted the birth experience your friends had had—the beautiful moment of delivering her and the doctor laying her on your chest.

You knew that since you didn’t have an epidural yet, a c-section meant you’d likely be put under. You didn’t want to wake up and miss the birth of your daughter. Miss those initial, crucial bonding moments.

Emily, reading all of these thoughts on your face, kissed the top of your head and said, “I know.”

But though the contraction ended, there was a new pain that wasn’t subsiding, and you knew in your heart that something was wrong.

“Save her, please,” you begged, as Amanda paged in backup to start rolling your bed toward an operating room.

“How about we save you both?” the nurse said, perfectly calm.

You tried to focus on her comforting gaze, but feelings of being lightheaded and overwhelmed overpowered you, and the hallway spun around you. As you tipped into unconsciousness, the last sensation you registered was of Emily grabbing your hand.

Tag List:

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[postcanon-ii-hazard-au]

ASKS ARE CLOSED

after the past contestants of ii start fearing permanent death, Oj takes the matter into his own hands, to keep everyone in the hotel safe... but isn't he doing a bit much...?

(hello! this au takes place after ii18 and the hotel is rebuilt (which I may explain later). in this au Oj decides he's responsible for everyone's safety and starts taking precautions that are a bit overboard. but, until fear dies down, there's a lot more rules in place. a bunch of former contestants are labeled as hazards that are potentially risky for the more "fragile" contestants. more info will come later.

sorry in advance for any and all potential mischaracterization, I'm trying my best!)

EVERYTHING BELOW THE CUT

Hotel residents Oj labeled as "hazards" + notes + extra (askable characters! But feel free to ask any other ii char and I'll try my best):

Chemical hazards:

Test tube

Liquid hazards*:

Oj

Test tube

Toilet

Fire hazards*:

Paintbrush

Candle

Sharp object hazards:

Knife**

**no longer an issue

Explosion hazards:

Bomb

Volume hazards***:

Microphone

Tea kettle****

****convinced oj that she'd have to get really angry to make the tea kettle noise. almost sounded like she was threatening him

Toilet

Salt

*(main focus of the au)

***Residents that are known to have high volumes are also labeled as hazards for the safety of glass residents. The group was made to keep an eye on Mic, but other... loud residents were added later.

(other askables +) new safety programs and those participating:

Anger management:

Paintbrush, Candle*, Silver Spoon, YinYang, etc.

Oj won't admit it, but anger management was only made for Paintbrush, despite its later popularity. Their anger issues are the only reason they're a fire hazard after all, so this was the solution to reduce the chances of them getting angry. Whether it's working or not is debatable.

*Candle, upon being classified as a fire hazard, was put in AM alongside Paintbrush. Though she quickly proved to be better as a teacher, replacing Goo, whose analogies weren't exactly helping anyone calm down.

Silver Spoon was not labeled as a hazard yet started attending classes after a few petty arguments. Though he was initially reluctant, he seemed not to complain after finding out Candle was leading it.

YinYang's behavior, though improved, has landed them both in trouble occasionally. AM was more so a suggestion.

There are more attendees, but they either aren't regulars or don't have a good enough reason to be listed

Lifering's "Life Guard" program:

Lifering volunteered to help prevent any accidents when there was no other reasonable solution. This includes sticking closer to "hazardous" objects. He's been spending the majority of time just being in the same room as Candle. Besides that, Lifering has generally been available immediately in case of emergency. (But then again, when was he not?"

Anti-Mold:

Food objects are susceptible to molding, especially if they eat moldy food, so everyone has been asked to leave dates on anything in the fridge. They aren't sure what they'd do if someone did start molding, but it's better to prevent it all together.

(Tags key!):

#ii hazards answer (ask tag)

#ii hazards au (general tag)

#ooc (out of character/canon)

(Post key!):

(no posts yet...)

[clonerightsagenda]

Kat's "I could fix him" Arcane post pt 2:

Yeah it's him this time.

The Jayce, Viktor, and disability storyline is where Arcane s2 gets the most incoherent, imo. I never got the impression in s1 that Viktor wants to "fix his imperfections". He just doesn't want to die. Also, his problems were caused by apathy and classism, not generic human emotion. (Blaming human emotion in general sure lets the rich and powerful off the hook, right?) At the end of s1, Viktor wants Jayce to destroy the hex core, but then in s2 he's embracing it. Also at the start of s2 he claims he's moved beyond affection, but then later tells Jayce he left without explaining himself because he was clouded by emotion. Viktor was upset about the idea of using hextech as weapons but then willingly helps Ambessa's army. We also have Viktor claiming "that's not Jayce" and Jayce having some visible arcane corruption, but that never goes anywhere. I'm still genuinely not sure how the show wanted me to interpret his s2 thought processes.

So, how would I deal with this? By leaning way way harder into the Horrors of Ableism and the Medical Model of Disability.

Viktor wanted Jayce to destroy the hex core. Instead, Jayce uses it to save his life against his wishes. After that, Viktor's affect changes, he goes into the Undercity, and non-consensually transforms someone else. Other disabled and chronically ill people come to him willingly, but this is a world where even one of the most powerful people in Piltover can't get a fucking wheelchair ramp. A quick fix is appealing, even if it means giving up some of who you are. You've already been unpersoned by society, after all.

Hextech is something Viktor and Jayce created together, and it seems to respond to intent and emotions, so let's take it to extremes. That's not Viktor. That's hextech, influenced by both Jayce and Viktor, and it answered Jayce's desperation. The man of progress, the herald of tomorrow, wanted to save his friend. He wanted to fix what was broken. Here you go! I made him even better. Now while I'm at it, I'll fix everybody else too!

Have purple disability Jesus!Viktor be embodied hextech on a well-meaning rampage. Meanwhile, mindscape Viktor debates it while it's wearing Sky's face. He feels betrayed by Jayce and guilty about Sky, but also he did want to bring better things to the Undercity. Is this the best way to do it? Is the only way to play the abled world's game abandoning who you used to be? He's not sure, and he starts to waver/get weaker as Sky/hextech gets stronger with more followers in its hivemind.

Following my last post, as hextech!Viktor helps Jinx with her shimmer issues, maybe he also tries to 'fix' her psychosis. (Side note, it would have been nice to make it clear that AU-verse!Powder still has psychosis, so it's not so clearly associated with Jinx's villain era. I'm sure stress and trauma makes it worse, but still.) He's unsuccessful at this, or perhaps Jinx resists it, and this can be something he reflects on later at the end when Jayce talks about our imperfections being important and part of who we are/the world around us.

Anyway, hextech!Viktor wants access to the gate to make everybody perfect and fully intends to doublecross Ambessa and remake her too. For her own good, of course. Real Viktor is exhausted in the mindscape. His partner wants to kill him, hextech is out of control, and even the downtrodden people he 'helped' have been destroyed. Then Jayce gets dragged into the mindscape and the hextech goes look, you created me and I've expanded on your vision. I saved your partner, I brought about the era of magic, I've created the men of tomorrow. And as in canon, Jayce can go no, Viktor, I didn't save you because I wanted to fix you, I just wanted you to live, there's nothing wrong with you. You don't need a glorious evolution, we just need to help people be better at being who they already are. And that encourages Viktor to overpower the hex tech possessing him.

Then they can still collapse into a gay singularity if you want I guess. Personally I think it's kind of a bummer that dozens of disabled people got obliterated and everyone would've been better off if Viktor had lay down and died of Limp And Coughing Blood Disease from the start but ymmv. IDK what my better ending of 'Jayce and Viktor embrace the social model of disability' would look like but if everyone gets sent to Zaun maybe it would involve coming up with assistive tech like they originally envisioned. And maybe Viktor still will die of lung disease. But he can do it on his terms if so.

[poopingonthefloor]

Davesport is Toxic NOT abusive

(((WARNING: PRETTY LONG POST UNDER THE CUT.))) I've seen some people making the claims that Davesport is comship/proship (ok well i've more seen people bitching about it) and im tired of the Davesport slander so this will be an analysis of their relationship. My motive isn't to force anyone to ship it or anything- i really dont care what you do with your life, my frustration is just when people try to make up REASONS why they don't like the ship, even though its literally canon (and not badly written). My main point is -- You can hate what you want. You don't need a reason, and it doesn't need to be bad just because you don't like it. But I will not take any slander on their ship nor any slander of people who like davesport. Davesport is absolutely toxic-- No DSAF fan would disagree. They are literally child murderers with little to no souls and literally are physically disfigured to the point they don't have the capacity to feel proper humanity anymore. You cant expect 2 men who live their lives willingly murdering and then partying in vegas to celebrate on repeat to be gentle and kind to themselves or anyone else.

However, its NOT abusive. I've seen multiple people (mostly from twitter screenshots) claim that Davesport is abusive or the way people portray it is in a fetishy or romanticizing way of abuse, when that's just not the case. I don't blame a lot of people, since a lot of it comes from reading context and intent of the artist, which not everyone is good at-- BUT I'm here to assure you that MOST people don't intend to do that much and just like to portray how their dynamic is canonically like or portray Daves obsession with Jack. Another argument I've seen (by a twitter screenshot...) is that people are comshipping Davesport because people draw Jack annoyed a lot at Dave when...thats not true? That's just Jack's personality, first off:

(From the Dave x Reader fanfic by Directdoggo)

"Jack is a bastardman not very touchy-feely. We can see this in many scenes, where Dave more or less says “I love you” and Jack responds with deflecting humour, or outright scorn. When Dave says it for the final time, this time, Jack tries to say it back, but can’t outright, only getting out: “Why is this so hard?” and “I hope you can find peace with what you’ve done.” Which Dave understood the meaning of. (Hey, better than Henry (LEGACY Jack) hearing “I love you” and proceeding to tear Dave limb from limb, huh?"

(Directdoggo describing Jack's personality)

I know it can be a little confusing to some people, but as someone who struggles with similar issues, just because he struggles to express intimately doesn't mean he can't love anything. Sometimes people are just different and communicating like that doesn't come as easily, even to the people you're closest to. To make it as easy as possible to comprehend-- He's quite literally a tsundere. (Minus the exaggerated ridiculousness in anime) He loves Dave, he just cant bring himself to say or act like it. The dismissiveness or rudeness in response to Dave's affection is not abuse, it's just a defensive response since he doesn't know how to say it back. (His way of being "shy") -- Also note its important that Dave UNDERSTANDS this about him by that point.

However Jack isn't the only thing I've seen regarding the claims that their ship is abusive-- and to debunk all of those I'm going to explain the three points that keep Davesport from being abusive, and I'll use Henry x Dave (which is what I'll call it to prevent it getting confused for FNAF willry) as an example alongside it since its super obvious why that one is messed up. Firstly, They are both bad people. By this point, Dave and Jack are murderers. It's just not surprising that they will be willing to kill each other at at least some point, considering they are willing to kill 5 year olds without remorse- and they'll both deserve it. It's only their own faults that they teamed up with the other, and it's meant to be the ultimate irony when Jack becomes even worse than Dave by "An ending". My point is- they're bad people. It's not like they're owed perfect company or would choose wholesome people to hang out with when they're literally both child murderers. Dave wasn't evil and didn't want to kill by the time he teamed up with Henry (and even after it was Henry's fault), so by that point his suffering was absolutely undeserved.

Secondly, They're lacking any specific power dynamic. Unlike Henry and Dave- whom have several levels of "Age, Father figure, and Employer", the most important one is that Henry is Dave's abuser. He manipulated him and purposefully harmed him both mentally and physically, whereas Dave never had any intention of doing either because Dave loved him and didn't want to lose him (because he had nobody else) This obviously much different with Dave and Jack, whom other than being taller and several years older than (which you can argue their 6 year age gap is weird but they didnt get to know each other till they were both older than 30 so by that point age difference doesnt rlly matter and (also theyre "mentally" like 24 and 22 canonically anyways (as much as I usually hate that argument)) Other then that they are only co-workers. This is a bit more arguable during DSAF 1, where Dave comes across more threatening and comes across like he's manipulating Jack, but I don't exactly count that because I wouldn't say theyre "shippable" or in their "situationship*" by that point (but also because them even being a ship was barely considered by the creator at that point obviously)-- whereas Dave is certainly more easily recognized as sincere to Jack in DSAF 2. Jack also is not someone who is afraid to defend himself against Dave, as shown by the fact he's willing to call out Dave's ridiculous behaviors (which is reasonable of him to do).

(Also from the Dave x reader fanfic) (I just think this specific screenshot debunks any sort of "power dynamic" claim)

My Third and Final point: There is a CHOICE involved I haven't really done much Dave defense in this post, but his defense is very simple: He is literally physically unable to comprehend guilt or conscience. Dave didn't want to murder anyone in the first place, but it was Henry who fucked with his (literal) head so much to the point he stopped being able to feel guilt. He doesn't care about murder and doing wrong because he CAN'T care. You can't really let that reflect Dave as a character when he's really not in control of himself in the first place. Now with that, that doesn't change the fact he could certainly affect and hurt people, and it's fully up to Jack as to whether or not he wants to deal with this purple man's freakish life choices and hobbies or not. And that's honestly super dependent on the ending you decide to base Jack on. Most people see the 'canon' endings to be: Gnarly ending (DSAF 1) -> An ending (DSAF 2) -> Good ending (DSAF 3) Where in all of these, Jack DOES choose to deal with Dave and basically is completely cool with murder. You don't have to follow those endings if you don't want to, but that's just typically what the modern "Davesport" is known for, but its what I'm using for my defense (considering this is a defense of both fandom and canon Davesport.) Though as opposed with Henry and Dave- Dave had no choice. Henry only ever manipulated him into thinking he did, and Henry made sure to feed this whole 'we will be a family' ideal into Dave (who never had one) so that Dave would be terrified to lose him. Jack never manipulates Dave (when teamed up with him), and Dave never manipulates Jack (tho arguable in DSAF 1 as well). They stay with each other despite all of their issues, and I believe its due to some co-dependency (imo I think Jack is also obsessed with Dave just in a different way before DSAF 3) Which isn't healthy, but not...inherently abusive.

I believe my main three points kind of cover the most of why I dont consider Davesport to be inherently a bad ship, but like I said- if you don't like it, none of that matters anyways. You dont NEED a reason to like something, and I wont try to convince you why you should ship something because I like it. Just don't hate it just because of what someone else says-- 90% of the dsaf fandom aren't comshippers, and Davesport isn't gross or "toxic /neg" just because it's not healthy. I think "Don't fetishize/romanticize literal abuse like its normal or sexy" and "We should explore more complicated and unhealthy dynamics" can and SHOULD coincide with each other!!!! I think Davesport is great because of how bittersweet it is that these two people finally found solace and acceptance in each other but couldn't get past the self-sabotaging nature of what Henry turned them both into, ultimately making it impossible to work out forever. I think embracing the Davesport makes the (kind of aged) trilogy a lot more enjoyable of an experience and I DO encourage any davesport skeptics to keep an open mind. [Pretend I wrapped this up super nicely I can never do that--- Also this is open for conversation and/or debate, and also yada yada my bad if i said something randomly terrible I have extremely poor social skills lol let me know so I dont do it again yada yada] *Also if anyone doesnt know a situationship is (at least in the context im using it in ive heard other definitions for it but its not a real word so i actually dont care) when 2(or more) people basically treat eachother like lovers but they never communicate this outright and dont technically officially date but like they treat and commit to eachother like a partner would) (So its kind of what all those people who playfully flirt and call each other their spouses as a commited running joke are in)

[posttexasstressdisorder]

My Kitchen Table Caucus

I thought I'd make this a reference post of what I do in order to make the best decision I can, every single time I vote. If it helps explain the process better to someone who has never voted, or has never been an "in-depth voter", (ie: researching each candidate and proposition and making an INFORMED DECISION based on all information received or gathered), then I'll have done my self-appointed job here.

With the final pieces of information arriving today, I can finally do the actual marking of my ballot. I'll explain why I wait as we go along.

The largest booklet, on the upper left up there, is the Federal/State info, much of it redundant, of course. I will read each of the candidate statements and proposition texts.

The book that arrived today, smaller, but more relevant, is the County/City Level info. Again, much is general info and redundant with the other book, but these are also packed with info about each candidate and each proposition, including voting histories, party endorsements, party switches, etc...all that is included as well as what the candidates say about themselves and the issues.

Once I've looked at all the relevant info there and made notes, it's on to the next thing, the Pile Of Glossy Flyers that have been sent via the mail. There are more...these were just today's:

I have also made note of what signs are in what yards, etc., since this season began. These flyers will seldom be the deciding factor in who to vote for, but rather, who NOT to vote for.

One last source of info are the political emails and newsletters I've gotten since this all began. There are several here that are relevant to housing (Tenants Together), as well as several representative and senator newsletters, both state and national level.

Once I've worked my way through all that, weighed each bit of info and put it in its place in my own framework, in a way I can understand, I will make my decision and mark my ballot. There are some candidates and issues that I don't need to go through all that with, but almost all pertinent info I might need to make an INFORMED DECISION that will make my voice heard, and make my vote mean something, in my own life.

I know I've written here before about WHY I do all this. One one level, it's because my late darlin' and I always made "a day" out of doing our Civic Duty and voting on Election Day itself*, and yes, wearing our dumb little stickers all day while we were out. It's been twelve years and about ten stickers ago now, but I do my Civic Duty as well-informed as I can be, every election, and always will.

[Patriotic Music swells in the background and fade to black.]

*We used to go out to lunch after we voted, but since I can no longer afford to go out at all, I decided tonight would be good to make a batch of Carne Guisada (Tex-Mex Beef Stew) with the not-quite-a-pound-of-stew meat I got this last time at GroceOut.

With it pretty much done, I will have myself a bowl, have a bit of coffee and read. Armed with bifocals perched on nose I'll make my marks some time before I go to bed.

Just realized I forgot to show what is in the envelope when you open your ballot. Your ballot, of course, along with its OFFICIAL RETURN ENVELOPE, which you must sign and date when you return, and another giblet on how to get assistance in voting, and of course, your silly sticker.

[csolarstorm]

The Original Dragon of Unova and Wuxing

Have you heard of this Pokemon theory about the Original Dragon and the Forces of Nature? Let me catch you up on it so I can dive deeper into the symbolism of the Four (Five?) Heavenly Beasts and the Five Phases. I think there's a lot more to this theory than people give it credit for, especially after the Abyssal Ruins leak.

The Therian Forces of Nature are probably based on The Four Heavenly Beasts, creatures in Chinese mythology and Taoism that guard the cardinal directions of the earth and heavens. Thundrus is the Azure Dragon of the East, Tornadus is the Vermillion Bird of the South, Landorus is the White Tiger of the West and Enamorus is the Black Tortoise of the North. 

Each of the Therian Forms has a mysterious gem on their chest that matches the color of Heavenly Beast they are based on. That is, except for Enamorus, who has a green gem instead of a black one - but I think I can explain why. More on that in a bit.

The Therian Forms didn't always have these gems during the design process. I'm guessing the developers added them to strengthen their connection with the Heavenly Beasts.

Even though they're called the Four Heavenly Beasts, some variations include one more: the emperor Yellow Dragon of the Center.  And wouldn't you know it, Kyurem has a big Yellow gem of its own on its forehead. 

That much of the theory is well-explored.  But what I don't see people go into when talking about this theory is all of the symbolism - the charts upon charts of sets of "five things" associated with the Heavenly Beasts. It's actually pretty appropriate for Gen Five.

Note: I am definitely no expert in Chinese mythology or Taoism. This research was purely for Pokemon theory crafting! Please feel free to correct any inaccuracies or add details in the comments. Thanks!

The Heavenly Beasts are each associated with five "elements" that match their colors: Azure Wood, Vermillion Fire, Yellow Earth, White Metal, and Black Water.  This is Wuxing, the "Five Phases" in Taoism.  For this post I'll call them "elements" because it's in the context of Pokemon. But Wuxing is more about the interaction between each element than the elements themselves.

Diagram based on this Adobe Stock Image

(Whenever I mention an element, I'm going to name it with its color - for example "Yellow Earth" - just to make it easier to match with its corresponding Heavenly Beast.) 

The Five Phases interact in cycles - water nourishes wood, wood feeds fire, but also wood depletes water and fire burns wood.  Sound familiar?  The cycles are like flowing paths of type advantages and weaknesses...except the Pokemon type chart doesn't form a perfect star when you draw it.

If you grew up on Pokemon types, especially in the west, some of these elemental colors might seem unusual to you.  Why is it Azure Wood?  Or Black Water?  This is why I believe Enamorus ended up with a green gem rather than a black gem: Pokemon wanted the five colors to better match the franchise's color associations.

There is some variation in how different sources portray the colors of the Heavenly Beasts and their elements. In ancient times a lot of cultures didn't differentiate between green and blue, so the Azure Dragon and Wood can be represented with Green, Blue, or any color between.

So they could have given Thundrus the Green Gem - but Pokemon went with Blue for several reasons. Not only are there lots of cultural depictions of a bright blue Azure Dragon, but giving Thundrus a Green Gem might clash with its green-skinned rival Tornadus.

Then ten years later, here comes Enamorus. A Blue Gem would have been perfect for Enamorus, since Blue is occasionally associated with the Black Tortoise and Water. But, it was already taken. And Pokemon probably wanted to avoid using Black, because a "Black Gem" together with Landorus's White Gem might clash with Reshiram and Zekrom. So Enamorus ended up with the Green Gem instead.

Now you can interpret this in one of two ways.  Did they change the colors of the elements, or did they switch the elements so that now Enamorus has the Green "Wood" Gem in Pokemon since she's connected to fertility, while Thundrus has the Blue "Water" Gem since he's a generally rainy guy? 

But I digress. Let's get back to the main topic.

Source: wanghongliu on Wikipedia entry for "Yellow Dragon"

Each of the elements in Wuxing are associated with Yin or Yang. Azure Wood is the idea of natural energy - together with Vermillion Fire, both are Yang, energetic and lively. Black Water and White Metal are Yin.  (It's kind of ironic Black Water and White Metal are both Yin - but color coding in ancient symbolism is never perfect.)

Yellow Earth is both Yin and Yang, in a sense representing the whole Taijitu, and it corresponds with the Yellow Dragon of the Center. If the Original Dragon of Unova is based on the Yellow Dragon, it would be both Yin and Yang - both Zekrom and Reshiram!  This is probably why you see diagrams of the Four Heavenly Beasts with the Taijitu in the center. 

The Yellow Dragon is said to be the Yellow Emperor of China, who turned into a dragon after ascending to the heavens.  I think there is a similar metaphorical connection between the ancient King of Unova and his signature Pokemon, the Original Dragon.  In the Abyssal Ruins, King Harmonia is literally represented with the symbol of the Original Dragon, machine translated as "the creature known as God".

Source: Pokeleaks on Reddit via ImmaculateOne-Browne

What about the Yellow Dragon's cardinal direction, the "Center"? Unova is one of only two regions with a major landmark in the region's center.   In an early plan for the map, the "Imperial Palace" was in the center, likely the Elite Four building.  While this is a reference to the Japanese Imperial Palace, there have also been "Imperial Palaces" in China's history.  Either way, as royal palace, it's a perfect "Center" for the imperial Yellow Dragon.

Source for Beta Unova Map: CentroLeaks

In the canon however, the center of Unova's map is home to the Entralink, and the entrance to the Dream World.  This is also perfect, because the Forces of Nature are rumored to come from the Interdream Zone.  In fact, it's speculated that their Therian Forms are their original forms.

Remember I said that the Four Heavenly Beasts guard the cardinal directions of the heavens?  Well, the Dream World is an easy analogy for heaven, because it's a realm of rainbows and floating islands in the sky.  So it makes sense that Pokemon based on the Four Heavenly Beasts would come from an area connected to the Dream World. 

Another easy analogy for heaven is space.  Symbolically, this is probably why so many powerful space dragons, like the Original Dragon of Unova, keep crashing into the Pokemon World.

Hear me out though: considering the possibility that the Original Dragon is connected to the Forces of Nature...is it possible that the Original Dragon only looked like it came from space, and instead it actually crashed down from a portal to the Interdream Zone that opened in the sky?

Finally, my first real Gen V theory! After all of those Z-A theories, I wanted to get back to my roots - and what a fun rabbit hole to go down. The Heavenly Beasts and the Five Phases match with so many things - for example, the seasons, which are also major in the Unova games.  But that's as far as I'll go into the rabbit hole for now, because my real goal here, the reason I researched and wrote all of this… was to set up my eventual theory about N's Puzzle Cube. 

If you're interested in some Pokemon Z-A theories, check out my post Getting to the Roots of Zygarde! where I talk about the symbolism behind Zygarde's nature powers, and the role they might play in Z-A.

For a lot of us, it's been a hard time lately, so I hope this brought a little cheer to somebody. Take care of yourself and stay safe!

All images that are uncredited are either from Bulbapedia, or are my own work.

[99redragons]

Wow, I agonized over this post way too long. Here it is, finally. I was gonna make this a reblog but i think since it's referencing multiple posts (and boy it got super long and added a related theory) this is better on its own. This is furthering @gin-juice-tonic's analysis of the tBoB journal pages. Heavy tBoB spoilers, and warning for the darker content it has. (some swearing too) I'm convinced now they're a warped version of events and downright fake for some, however, I believe many are real.

...But did Ford remember them? "I can delete memories randomly, just for fun. Maybe I already have." I do NOT think Bill could erase everything. He probably can only erase small/recent sections. But this is a big part of my theory.

But first, Gin's points. (using some of your pics for this Gin, hope you dont mind) I'm not going to post every journal page, but I'll give a ref for ones that seem important.

Okay, this is the post that actually convinced me (went through the links from tapas, the first is sure suspicious, but the second has pretty compelling evidence.) Ford referred to Fiddleford as F through the whole of journal 3 (aside from in code), and Bill as his Muse until the reveal, he wouldn't suddenly change the way he refers to people, even if he planned to rip out the pages, in which case, why would you write them in the first place?

On the first link (this one), this appears to be an embellished story. When you look at it from bill's perspective, he's reminiscing. He lies to himself. He's making it seem like Ford and Bill hit it off immediately, and while in a way, they did, it probably wasn't like this. I'll buy Ford used Cipher's line back at him, but the jovial way they banter is just so Bill. Ford would emphasize how he felt, the mysteries he was thinking about, his reverence for his Muse. He probably wouldn't recount it line for line when he was so secretive in journal 3. Bill makes it seem like they were more like equals, when in reality he likely relished the devotion and divine status Ford attributed to him. Also, "Cipher Speaks" is in Bill's handwriting from the sticky notes. could be coincidence? I think not. 'Ford' also describes it as the "GREATEST. DAY. OF MY LIFE." This mirrors bill's earlier statements about the reader's life being forever changed after meeting bill. According to Bill, meeting him is the highest moment of anyone's life, right?

In an additional post, Gin explains how Bill didn't tell Ford he was from another dimension. Ford had to find that out at the betrayal. So, all this taken, those two pages at least are fake.

For the third link, this one, while from Doylist perspective, Alex wanted the book to have fun little callbacks, from Watsonian, Bill simply can't help himself. Bill loves trying to be funny. He's trying to keep the reader hooked, and keeping the story interesting through callbacks is one way to do that. Some of these are Bill, some are self-referential because Bill's talking about real events from the past. (rats, cipherite suit, Small World cassette, we'll get to those later)

Bill has a habit of telling the truth through his lies. What I mean by that is, if he is repeating himself through actions or words, it's probably because there's some truth to it. If he's contradicting himself, there's something he's hiding. He'll claim he has no weaknesses, but later admit he does. He'll say he has no exes, only to reference exes later. So, we can glean truths from the lies he's telling in the pages.

I think Alex is a good enough writer to keep Ford and his writing (mostly) in character. He's made retcons/continuity errors before, but he knows the fandom will pick apart everything and find them, and will have a reason for it. There's definitely some fake pages, which begs the question, which are real?

One detail I want to point out is the vignette/burn marks on the edges of some of the pages. My secondary theory is about these. (And no, it doesn't indicate they were fake.) I'll explain later.

Assumptions/disclaimers: The pages we're shown are roughly chronological, though skip forward where surviving J3 pages would go. Pages aren't realistically double-sided like they would be in J3, these are inserted into tBoB magically. I don't have a blacklight version of J3, so I'm probably missing a little bit of context there. References J3 quite a few times, so this post works best if you are able to reference both books. I can go into detail and post more pictures for any sections that aren't clear.

First off, 'Lost in the woods'. This one I believe is real, because Ford's (author's cipher) codes are in it. This code is consistently used in the book whenever Ford inserts a page, even on the moth. For Bill to use this code would break the established pattern Alex has made. However, I agree with Gin that Bill intentionally placed this page to establish Ford as lonely, and thus make Bill look better for befriending him in contrast. I don't think it's that odd for Ford to talk about his social awkwardness, he talks about his childhood bullying pretty frankly, specifically on a page meant to be an author's About Me. However, he did rip this one out, so I think he was trying to ignore his feelings by hiding this page. No vignette.

'Cipher speaks', as we've discussed, is likely a fake/altered meeting. Vignettes on both pages. On the second page you can see where it looks burnt in one corner, and there's even tear marks like there's a page missing there, perhaps their real first meeting. It's also strange for Ford to draw himself like that.

'My Muse & Me'- Ford refers to Bill as his Muse again. Despite my doubts (I went back and forth on this one), I think this one has to be real. We find on the website computer (code: Fordtramarine) that Ford tried to submit a paper on fordtramarine. In that paper he refers to an 'extradimensional entity' and 'two-dimensional'. He shouldn't know that Bill is interdimensional at this point, so Ford must mean 'outside of physical reality', as in, the astral plane. Though, there's a painting of 'a muse' in the paper. Wasn't Bill supposed to be secret? Perhaps he thought he could get away with that small reference? Perhaps this paper was submitted more recently? I don't like the idea that things from the website are also fake, since it would be strange for Bill to have such narrative control there. The website seems to reveal things Bill can't control, even if Bill is talking. This page also establishes more timeline. This is saying that not only could Bill freely move in and out of Ford's mind within a year, he had full access to alter it as well, ahead of their deal before the test. This page is probably to make it seem appealing to let Bill into your mind. It also serves a purpose of showing us Ford had let Bill fully into his mind at this point in the story Bill's weaving. I am curious why would Ford hide this only to submit a paper on it, just to keep his Muse secret? And those damn red triangles, did Bill draw those, implying he could possess Ford before their deal? No burns/vignette. The neighboring pages both have it, why not this one?

June 15th- There is direct dialogue from Bill quoted, however, he refers to Bill as his Muse. Wouldn't Ford be creeped the hell out by the rat thing, and be alarmed that Bill possessed things just to kill them? I think this page was real, but was ripped out by Bill. Heavy vignette.

(Sorry for the poor quality, my phone camera is awful)

At this point I should explain: I think the burn/vignette represents Bill 'burning away' memories/altering them. Ford's memories, but possibly even the reader's. I want to be clear; I don't mean Bill erased the entire memory of the page, I mean Bill erased at least some part of those events. When it's heavy around the edges, heavier manipulation. It also could indicate which ones Bill burned/destroyed. More evidence for this later.

Karaoke page- How did Bill convince Ford to drink with him after the rat thing? Bill made him forget it was Bill. "The rats were his idea?" Yeah, he told you that right away, why did he need to tell you again? While probable this happened, the writing from Ford is sus. "This Bill guy, he's really got it all figured out"? Sounds a bit like Bill talking. The drawing is strangely detailed, too. 'Dancing queen' (disco girl's parody origin) was released in '76, so that lines up time wise, at least. Likely altered/created to make Bill seem friendlier. Either could have destroyed this one if there was a real version. Vignette.

A Voice from the Past spread- He says 'my Muse', but then mentions Bill by name, which indicates it's altered. Is the first bit real, then? Why would Ford rip out this important page revealing his muse's origin and past? His curiosity would overtake wanting to keep it secret, surely? And conversely, why would Bill fabricate it? To make himself seem more sympathetic? However, there is another explanation. There is the possibility Bill erased the memories of this conversation and it really happened in some form. Bill probably realized after revealing this information to Ford it could ruin his plans. Some vignette at the top, mostly on the right page. In that is a drawing of space and a code. The code says 'forget the past." Coincidence, or purposeful on a page for a conversation Bill made Ford forget? Bill could have ripped out the pages (if they existed) himself. It's also important to note Bill is trying to isolate Ford here, which is another reason he'd hide the pages/alter memories of talking about Stanley. Also, if Bill erased the phone number from Ford's mind later, it would make sense why Ford had to send a postcard.

A Winter Break/The Krampus adventure. Where would these pages have gone if they were real? It was January for the test, so it was before the deal, but after the bunker? Gin mentioned it feeling 'off' and strange because it's just Krampus, nothing weird or Gravity Falls-y about it, and I agree. And also, Fidds knocking it out feels... weird. I think that story is fabricated with some real details thrown in. Fidds is noticeably shaken up after, but otherwise the whole story seemed almost whimsical, and just...weird, and not in the GF way. It's fake. Ford goes back inside after looking outside in Time Traveler's Pig. He doesn't come outside onto the porch at all. You could say he comes back out after that, maybe. You could say it's a retcon. But we know the children's footprints were Dipper and Mabel, not random kidnapped kids. (Bill likely wouldn't expect the reader to know this.) My eyes are also drawn to the green and red rectangles. The festive theming bring to mind a Christmas special, and how often are those only partly canon? So, then what's real about it? I believe the gloves, and possibly the snow globe was real, since they come up again later. I believe if there was a monster, Ford (or bill possessing ford 'then-DARKNESS') fought it off, traumatizing Fidds even more. Something made Fidds shaken up. Fidds and Ford probably spent Christmas together. And Bill did warn Ford about Fidds' second thoughts (mentioned in J3). Did Fiddleford notice Ford forgetting things? Did he assume Ford was simply unshaken by what happened? For me what seals the deal is the heavy vignette around those pages. Bill altered his memories of what happened and is telling us this story instead, probably to make it seem not as bad, so Ford wouldn't be so angry that Bill wasn't there/realize that he possessed Ford. I'm also suspicious of the "Trust No One." at the end. Did this phrase really come from Bill? Wouldn't Bill be saying 'Trust me'? To be honest, it's possible the last page here was half a real conversation, but the way Ford suddenly changes his tune is strange AF and I suspect shenanigans for it. And the things Bill says are very different from 'F is not bold enough to follow through.' (J3 code, An Encounter) Also, most of these pages seem to have no reason to be ripped out, aside from mentioning Stan by name/drawing them, but he could have crossed that out, and the last page which Ford would have hidden from Fidds. If they were real in some form, Bill probably destroyed them to hide the truth.

Stanley memories pages- Real, not much to say about those. Goes after Bill's warning. Probably legitimately torn out by Ford since he'd want to keep these pictures before hiding J3. Though I do notice they are covering up a lot of red triangles, perhaps also drawn by Bill. No vignette.

Dream, or warning?- Before Jan. 17th. Real, since I can't see why Bill would make up a warning about himself. He wants the reader to trust him. The heavy vignette, again, indicates he made Ford forget about it and destroyed the pages before he could solve it, which would probably be easy since it was a dream. The laughter+fire at the end indicates Bill discovered them. Just a fun side note: the song referenced is 'Im your puppet'

"I was wrong about everything" spread- I think goes in the gap where the black scribbled out pages are in J3. Again, the Author's cipher is here, indicating these are real. Vignette again. Bill's possessing Ford a lot, trying to erase the idea of fighting back from his mind(unsuccessfully), likely also hiding these pages. More red triangles.

Bill-proof suit- Goes after The Blind Eye- references being banned from the library, Blind eye mentions still researching Bill. J3 said he discovered the chant to enter someone's mind by researching Bill, so he could also find the anti-cipher society and the cassette. Real. Bill likely destroyed these pages and the previous ones to try and slow down Ford and erase his plans to destroy Bill. Vignette.

Zom-bills to Looky Here: After 'Ways to hide', as Zom-bills is written in invisible ink, but before the truck stop. (This would require Ford to have written on the right page first, then Bill tore the rest of these out, but not a huge stretch) Bill is fucking with Ford hard. He's probably taking his anger out on Ford while simultaneously trying to bully and manipulate him like he would do to his henchmaniacs, as he says later. Vignette on most of these- he's constantly possessing Ford and making him black out, trying to manipulate his memory to make him compliant/torture him. Bill likely destroyed the cassette+the memory of it so it couldn't be used against him, as Ford presumably never gets the chance to. Why he's showing the reader this? He thinks it's funny. He could also be hoping to scare the reader, if the reader knows what he's capable of, they'll be more afraid, and fear and love are the same, right? Notably the sticky note page is only a little darkened, probably because Bill genuinely was trying to talk at first. I can't find any evidence that these are fake, but there's no codes indicating they're real either. I think they were real, but Bill destroyed at least some of them.

(Side note: Computer code: Oroborous. Curiously uses Bill's cipher, bill writes in J3 too. These pages are also vignetted. Bill wouldn't like Ford knowing he showed fear. He also purposefully didn't give the reader these 'missing pages', because he hates them and doesn't want to reveal his fear.)

Polaroids- Did Ford destroy this himself like the VHS? Trying to avoid being blamed for things Bill did? Just ashamed/horrified? Curiously, no vignette on the polaroids (this could be just to have the full page visible), or Bill wanted Ford to remember these to have the threat sink in fully. Probably actually happened, Bill doesn't really have a reason to fake these pages as they make him look worse/scarier.

Blackness/'No' pages: This is largely where my theory that vignette=memory manipulation makes the most sense, The darkness overtaking the page represents bill's influence and control, and stops resembling the journal pages much (though it could be invisible ink again). He can mess with Ford's mind as much as he likes. If these pages were ever real, Bill could have destroyed them himself too. Bill's pretty much telling the story here.

Fidds page, S page- Gin made another excellent post pointing out the problems with these. They're a bit redundant when compared to J3, aren't they? And in oddly specific ways. The use of the brother code indicates they're real, though. If Bill erased Ford's memories of these pages, him basically re-writing them makes sense, and also Ford going from 'the caves hold the answer' to 'the caves might hold the answers', the snow going from 'begun to fall' to 'has fallen', and going 'fidds wont speak to me'! instead of 'my assistant has clearly left me'. In some way Ford has probably retained a bit of his plans, but its not a stretch to say he'd loop his train of thought after losing memories. The "I grow maddened" at the edge is very shaky and blurry, which could reflect the shaky and blurry memory.

I also notice (this has probably been pointed out before) now in J3 that only once outside of Gravity Falls (route 14) can Ford plan clearly. Perhaps Cipher's influence is weaker outside the town? It makes sense. if Ford sent the postcard and made his plan while free(ish) of Bill's meddling, that's why Bill couldn't just erase his memory of his plan again.

So...yeah! Some are definitely fake. Some are placed or altered intentionally to serve a narrative. Bill could be manipulating the reader's and ford's memory to have never seen these pages. Some of these memories could have been simply warped, or erased later- not right away. I'll be honest I don't love the implication that Bill can just manipulate Ford's memories freely, so I'm sure there are significant limitations to it. Bill has to stall for the whole book and give away a lot of secrets in order to change the reader's brain enough for him to be satisfied, and even then it's not enough to make the reader give in. Bill's abilities are much less than he purports. He also says that the person can notice his 'tune-ups', so there is only so much he could alter someone's brain before they notice. However, if he's been messing with Ford's head this long, he'd have a big advantage. Is the explanation that Bill erased Ford's memory a little lazy? ...Yeah? But it also kind of heightens how badly Ford was being manipulated and why he got so paranoid and unhinged there. It lets a lot of these puzzle pieces fit together that wouldn't otherwise.

My vignette theory isn't super strong, I'll admit, but I think it definitely indicates something, given some pages don't have it when they could have. They could also simply indicate those pages were burned, though it being on the fake pages makes less sense then. Bill having destroyed the pages himself makes sense for a lot of the pages, but I cant rule out the possibility Ford did destroy some of them out of frustration/shame.

Something I also realized while going through J3 again is how many 'doodles' in J3 involve red triangles. (you can see an example on Frilliam's page) The triangles I assumed were Ford's obsession with Bill, but what if they were Bill's obsession? For another post perhaps.

So, what do y'all think? Ideas? Agree? Disagree? Things I missed? Questions? Something huge that shatters my whole theory? Let me know!

[riagraie]

How Lloyd's Imprinting Works

FINALLYYY i'm explaining this. i realized the other day i never explained how this worked in my AU. So, I'll be explaining the ins and outs of Imprinting for Ninjago's resident Dragon-Oni boy.

shouldn't be any spoiler warnings. this does contain OC content as well as xOC content. and note: this is all from my AU. there is very mild suggestive topics, but its just about spicy neck kisses. read at your own risk

hope you enjoy! :D

Imprinting

First of all, I thought I'd explain what the "imprinting" I mentioned in my post about Hanna and Lloyd's relationship stages breakdown means. Am I using a Twilight term? yes. only because I can't figure out a better word for it. plus i just like the way it fits.

Imprinting, for Lloyd, is similar to what happens in Twilight. For explanations sake, in Twilight it's explained Imprinting is when a werewolf forms a bond with a different person. In Twilight, there are no real limits on it. For example, Jake imprinted on Bella and Edwards daughter when she was an infant while Jake's alpha Sam imprinted with an adult.

Also in Twilight, imprinting doesn't really mean a romantic connection has to be present. Rather, just understanding the other on a deeper level. Or smth like that.

Imprinting is a trait present in both Oni and Dragons, its what connects the very different species. Of course, the species are different. Like Harmonizers, both Dragons and Oni also mate for life.

But unlike Harmonizers, Dragons and Oni can have a romantic or physical attraction to another being before meeting the person they will mate for life with. For Lloyd, this meant he had the genuine attraction romantically and physically to Harumi before even knowing Hanna existed.

Hanna, did not. She could think "hm, they're attractive" and go on dates, but she wouldn't have been able to connect with them because of the Soul Lock phenomenon. Lloyd can have that genuine connection with someone.

When Lloyd imprints, he is also, in a way, locking his Soul onto Hanna's. But, not in the same sense. For Lloyd, it is like he is instead giving Hanna a part of her soul in turn for a part of hers. It's like a trade. Also for Lloyd, imprinting is romantic. Its basically Lloyd saying "hey, im in love with you, ill give you my heart and part of my soul in turn for your heart and part of your soul to hold onto."

But, it takes specific things for Lloyd to imprint on someone, specific "boxes" have to be checked for it to happen. When I say boxes, I mean things that happen in Lloyd's unconscious, things he isn't actively aware of happening.

Back to Dragons and Oni, the instances of when they imprint are pretty different. Plus, what part of them is given/taken.

Dragons

They are a very loyal and emotionally available species, they are communicative and trusting with each other. The reason this species is so strong is because it relies on one another. Dragons are the definition of "it takes a village". This is because Dragons tend to live in bigger "packs" or families with around 15-25 dragons per pack.

For Dragons to imprint, the being they are interested in has to show loyalty through thick and thin. For example, if a dragon and it's partner had a fight, this box might be ticked if the partner returns or continues to support and be there for the dragon.

Dragons also have to see their partner become well incorporated with it's family or pack. As an example, if a partner is accepted and becomes beloved by the dragon's family/pack, then the box would be ticked.

When a Dragon Imprints, they give their heart to their partner and in turn, take the heart of their partner. Meaning, both are unable to feel romantic attraction to anyone else while Imprinted onto another. This phenomenon is called A Bond of Devotion. I'll talk more about it later.

This means, in the instance of a dragon's partner dying, their heart will return and they will keep their partners heart. The dragon can then choose to try and find a new mate if they wish to.

Oni

This species are very goal oriented and have a lot of things based on strength. Oni are also very honest creatures and protective. The reason this species is strong is because they understand one another on a strength level and an emotional level. They are able to do this because they coexist within much smaller groups, around 5-10 families(around 3-5 Oni) groups.

For Oni to imprint, the being they have interest in must show they can keep up with the Oni. For example, many Oni get this box checked by having sparing matches or tests of strength. If the partner is able to hold their own or even defeat the Oni, the box gets checked.

Another thing that has to happen is the Oni has to see their partner open up to them. Share the deepest parts of who they are, hopes, dreams, worst fears, greatest nightmares, etc. But, it has to go both ways. An Oni has to see the partner open up but the Oni must also be able to open up to the partner. If an Oni is able to see this in some way with their partner the box is getting checked.

Finally, the Oni must also see their partner trust in the Oni and be able to trust the partner. Not just with secrets and things, but with their emotions and with their physical well being. For example, if the Oni and it's partner were in a pickle and the Oni got harmed, the box would be checked if the partner comes to the aid of the Oni instead of running.

Oni, unlike dragons, are soul based. When an Oni imprints, they give part of their soul to their partner and take part of their partners soul. This creates a deeper than deep connection between the Oni and their partner. This phenomenon is called a Nexus. I'll talk more about it later.

If the partner dies, it leaves the Oni without part of their soul and makes them unable to imprint onto another person.

Because Lloyd is both Dragon and Oni, he experiences everything. The boxes his partners have to check before he imprints are based on: Loyalty, incorporation with family, strength, openness, and trust. He also has the thing with his heart, giving Hanna his and taking hers. Plus the giving her part of his soul and taking part of hers. But, since she's a Harmonizer, it works a bit differently.

Hanna for one, isn't able to feel romantic or physical attraction to anyone but Lloyd. Lloyd isn't able to feel romantic attraction to anyone but Hanna and has a hard time feeling physical attraction to anyone but her. He will also create A Bond of Devotion and a Nexus with Hanna.

Since her soul is already intertwined with Lloyd's because of the Soul Lock, the impacts of both the Bond of Devotion and the Nexus Lloyd creates with Hanna is that much more. But, what does that mean?

A Bond of Devotion

Usually existing between a dragon and the dragons partner, it is the technical term of what occurs when a dragon imprints. It is in a literal sense, the dragon taking the heart of the partner. This means the partner is unable to feel romantic attraction to anyone but the dragon. The same happens with the dragon, the partner takes their heart and prevents romantic attraction to anyone but the partner.

The effects of A Bond of Devotion are pretty cool. If focused on, either side of a relationship is able to feel what the other is feeling to a degree. For example, if the partner is feeling sad, the dragon can focus on the Bond to find out the partner is sad since they would feel sad.

The level of the main emotion the person peering through the Bond will get exposed to is about half of what the other is feeling. So if the partner is REALLY sad, say a 10/10 sad moment, the dragon would feel sadness on a 5/10 scale.

If the couple is separated for whatever reason, the Bond can have "flares" where the dragon side of the couple(unless it is between two dragons) will feel what the other is feeling quite strongly for brief minutes through the day. The longer they are separated, the worse these flares get until they die down.

The intensity and frequency of the flares also depends on the freshness of the Bond. If it is a fresh imprint, the dragon will have more flares and they will be stronger. But, they will die down and be less frequent but begin to vary in strength.

Once reunited, the Bond will flare but only in the sense of the dragon will feel an intense need to remain close to the partner since they feel anxiety when separated again until the Bond feels the couple has made up for lost time.

Nexus

A Nexus, for Oni, is the technical term for when an Oni imprints. It is also the name of the phenomenon where an Oni and their partner give one another part of their soul. This leads both sides to be unable to have romantic interest with another and makes it near impossible to feel physical attraction for anyone but the partner.

Like with a Bond of Devotion, the Nexus also leads to the couple having a deeper connection. This connection goes as deep as dreams. If specifically attempted for, an Oni and their partner can meet in the land of dreams because of their connection with one another's souls.

But, in order for this to happen, the other side has to be accepting of it. They will feel a kind of buzz almost in their nerves and that's how they can tell the Oni side is attempting to make connection through dreams. This is especially helpful for couples who have to separate since an Oni, if separated from their partner too long, begins to feel ill.

Since their soul is with their partner, an Oni will try it's best to always be near it's partner. But, if the couple has to separate, the Oni, over time, will begin to have flu like symptoms that get worse the longer the couple is separated. These symptoms can be negated with dream connections but like I said before, both sides have to be open to it.

If the couple is separated long enough, the symptoms will begin to subside but will flare up randomly and be more intense each time.

Like with dragons, once Oni reunite with whomever they are imprinted with, they will be glued to their side. Oni will be extra affectionate and will want to be within the same room as their partner for as long as it takes the Nexus to stop flaring.

Poor Lloyd has these things too and Hanna doesn't mind it at all. Lloyd's love language is physical touch anyways, so she doesn't think twice.

Again because of the Soul Lock on Hanna's part, she too can initiate dreams with Lloyd even though she isn't part Oni. It has the same parameters, Lloyd has to accept the dream in order for it to work.

Oni and Dragons also have different ways of 'marking their territory'. Both species are very proud when they have a special someone and thus have instinctual things they do to show off their partner. Lloyd, like everything else, does these things as well, often unconsciously until Hanna points it out and bullies him (lightly teases) him about it.

Dragons - They show off via smell. This is because dragons have a heightened sense of smell and they know everyone has a different scent. Thus, they do their best to make sure their partner smells like them and/or like their family. - They show off through gifts. Dragons like giving their partners different things they can wear. Actual dragons will make little gems for the other dragon to display. Lloyd does it through jewelry and things like that. - Finally, they show off through public display of affection or PDA. Dragons love to show off how they get to be physically close with their partner. Literal dragons do it through public cuddling or licking one another's snouts. Lloyd does it through holding Hanna's hand, hand around her waist, random hugs, and spontaneous kisses.

Oni - They show off via the feel of their power. Oni are able to sense one another through what their powers feel like. To show it off, they will often cautiously expose their partner to their powers through things like sparing or something like that. Lloyd does it through mingling his and Hanna's powers since they do that lol. - They show off through clothing. Oni have a specific way they dress, similar to how all the ninja wear GI. Oni will give their partner a piece of their outfit to wear like a shoulder pad or emblem or something like that. Lloyd does this through letting Hanna wear his clothes and making her GI sometimes identical to his but different colors. - Finally, Oni show off through literal markings. Oni will bite their partners and leave literal bite marks across their body to show that they are the other side of the Nexus, most marks appear on the neck. Lloyd does this through hickeys. That's it lol.

So yeahhhh. Basically, Hanna and Lloyd are two peas in a pod in how complicated their love lives are because of just straight up genetic factors neither can control.

i'll be posting some more headcanons for the ninja soon because i cannot get the pajama people out of my head. ofc it'll include Hanna.

send me asks about anything in this post and I'll answer the best I can, I love getting them!

[t0rturedangel]

Hi!! Could you do HCs for kyle, jimmy and stan with a reader on their period??

╭ . . . Periods ੭

• ➛kyle / jimmy / stan x fem reader ╰ warnings / notes :: Corse i can <3 ! swearing, slight ooc. I'll try to post a part 3 of 'a guide to becoming noticeable' later or tomorrow

KYLE BROFLOVSKI - ✮ •

━ Surprisingly, KYLE actually knows quite a lot about periods so he'll be of a lot of help !

━ He'll bring you snacks and those heat packs / pads if you want

━ hell, if you asked he'll even go buy you pads / tampons just show him the specific one you want with a picture, he'll probably be so shit at finding the actual stuff you need with just a description

━ he'll call you up like " Hey uhm, babe, what- what kind do you want again ? "

━ If you ever have mood swings he'll switch up too to try and help you, like if you're sad he will comfort you as best as he can, if you're angry he's trying to calm you down " HEY ! Sweetheart ! It's okay- everything its fine ! "

━ If he has free time from studying or working he'll sit with you and watch whatever you wanna.

" Hey babe " Kyle gave you a nervous smile, when he left the house you were completely pissed at him- so much so that you were close to screaming profanities at him but now you just looked sad, once hearing his voice you perked up giving your boyfriend a sad smile " Kyle ! " You leaped off of the settee and ran into his arms, practically in tears- your mood swings and cramps caused to be in a hysteria. Kyle sighed, in slight relief as you weren't angry with him anymore " Yes, i'm here- you okay ? or at least feeling better than this morning? " he kissed your forehead and you shaking your head was all that was needed for kyle to sweep you off of your feet and carry you to your shared bedroom, ready to lay with you and watch whatever caught your eye.

JIMMY VALMER - ✮ •

━ unfortunately for you, JIMMY doesn't know much when it comes to periods just that you bleed.

━ yeah, when he was taught puberty he wasnt paying attention, now this is biting him in the ass. hard.

━ you'll have to explain everything to him while trying not to tear your uterus out due to the sheer pain and soon enough he knows more than he ever did.

━ you learn something new everyday, eh?

━ When ever you're sad or anything Jimmy will try to crack some jokes to lighten the mood and your own one- " Hey b-b-babe, w-what did the ah-ahh .... what did the ah-ahs .... what did the butt cheek say to the o-other ? "

━ When ever you send him out to get pads / tampons he'll probably call you up asking " Hey ba-baby, im in t-the p-pad isle, what size p-pussy you got ? "

━ he saw the meme on twitter once and thought is was funny asf

━ But seriously when you need someone to talk to or just lay with he'll always be there for you.

" you al-alright there [ n-name ] ? " your boyfriend grinned at you, seeing that your mood has lightened after one of his jokes, it even made you laugh after you seemed to be in such a bad mood- its that or your mood switched again " Yeah ! I loved that joke Jim ! " You laughed softly before leaning against him, enjoying his company " G-glad ya did " he looked over at you " w-wanna go watch [ f-f-favorite youtuber ] ? " with a nod the two of you retreated back to the room you both shared ready to laugh and just enjoy yourself before your period cramps started to kill you once more.

STANLY MARSH - ✮ •

━ If you think Jimmy didnt know anything about periods you clearly haven't met STANLY MARSH.

━ When you first started your period in your relationship, he was freaking out and genuinely thought you were dying, you calmed him down a bit before you rushed into the bathroom yelling something about ' heat packs ' .

━ Stan called his dad, hoping the man knew something about periods since, y'know he's not only married but also has a daughter. But, as per usual, RANDY was of no help; " Stanly, listen to me carefully- dont piss of a girl on her period. They get scary "

━ This thus left Stan to continue to be confused.

━ Later though you explained everything to stan, clearly things up for him and jesus christ he was a HUGE help after.

━ Shamelessly buys you pads and tampons. All sizes, winged and not winged, for regular periods and heavy ones. " Surprise? I just wanted to surprise you baby, plus now we wont have to buy some for a while ! "

━ He'll also get you food, usually something you mentioned to like! then he'll just lay with you and ramble about his day- and listen to yours.

" STAN ! " you yelped, a blush creeping onto your tear stained face, clearly you werent expecting your loving boyfriend to pick you up after he found you in the bathroom, gripping onto your legs as tight as you can to try and subdue the pain of your cramps until you found a heat pack. " Calm down, i'm bringing you to bed, there's food there and heat packs, we ran out so i bought more " he rambled while walking to the bedroom, a proud smile on his face. Laying you down on the bed he himself laied down next to you, holding you close to him pressing kisses on your face " So- tell me about your day "

[yellowocaballero]

LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S FUCKING GO HELL YEAH the uhhh you see one!!!

Oh my god.

This was the story that is actually really really good and really long and that was completely unpostable. I can barely even explain why it exists. Basically, writing Rosetta Headstone took a really long time and it really developed into its own thing after a while. Khalid became a specific character, Byleth was a very specific character, and it had really specific themes and ideas. And a friend of mine was really into BNHA at the time and saying a lot of really interesting things about it, and was developing an OC and was bringing up a lot of cool points about the themes and meaning of BNHA.

And the wires crossed and I was like. BNHA crosses over PERFECTLY with FE3H.

Seriously, it's the most synergistic crossover. It's a good thing that I have someplace to be, otherwise I'd start going on about it. I don't even like BNHA. Anyway, the wires got incredibly crossed, and I realized that Rosetta Headstone crossed over even better, and then got way deep into a mental rabbit hole of crossing over Rosetta Headstone and BNHA and -

I write more crossovers than I admit. I never did a single thing with this one because the audience would be two people. But yeah I'll post a little!

The premise is that Khalid is the 11th holder of One For All, passed on by Byleth in a...similar manner to how she passed on Crest of Flames in Rosetta Headstone. He lives in a dystopian world that prioritizes power, blood, and prestige over humanity; fame and strength over true heroism. Japan's been without a true Symbol for the past twenty years, and there are no real heroes left. Dimitri and Edelgard are in a race to the top, competing to become the newest Symbol and spread their ideals of justice and equality, but Khalid is left questioning their motives once he sees what the pressure is doing to their morality. Sometimes Khalid feels as if the only truly heroic people left are the vigilante group Byleth trained, the Ashen Wolves. Khalid was once the most shallow and talk show hostey hero of them all, but once he's given the great power of One For All he's forced to figure out what Great Responsibility means to him - and if he has a responsibility to himself.

It was...so good....so here's a scene underneath the cut.

The reporters were still there.

A month ago, the idea of Khalid taking evasive maneuvers to hide from reporters was laughable. He ate reporters for breakfast. He got breakfast with reporters. They sipped mimosas and he fed them carefully calculated gossip. He was the reporters’ profession and they were his. But today, in an act that would have shamed every attention whore ancestor, Khalid ran and hid.

His absence had been noted and exploited. As Khalid took the most roundabout route possible away from the front gates, he saw that Edelgard and Hubert were already holding an impromptu press conference at the top of the steps. From Edelgard’s vantage point above the reporters, she looked like some empress orating to her adoring subjects. The flashing of cameras gave her white hair a distinctly halo-like impression. In a moment of familiar masochism, he allowed himself to duck behind a building and drift closer to the stern and husky sound of Edelgard’s youthful voice. Passing Gen Ed students ogled him, but for once he couldn’t be bothered to spare a wink and a smile. 

“We will recover from this tragedy,” Edelgard was saying. Oh so heroically and bravely. Khalid imagined an eagle with a single tear running down its eye. “UA is strong, and its students are stronger. Although we still feel the wounds of what happened, it is time to press onwards. I swear, on my name as a future protector of Japan, that I will guarantee no such scoundrels ever breach the safety of our walls ever again.” 

Cameras popped. Reporters' voices rose and fell in a crescendo. One voice stood out from among the rest - a reporter Khalid recognized, representing the nation’s premier hero news network. Edelgard had caught herself some shiny fish.

“Edelgard, you threw your hat in the ring to compete for the holder of the title of the next Symbol of Japan.” Yes, yes, they were all there. It was a little impossible to miss. “Despite the attack on UA by villains and the tragedy that has occurred, do you still intend on fighting for that title? Do you still think you and seeks to destroy us. That is my promise as UA’s Hero Class 2A Representative - and future Symbol of can become the new Symbol?”

From his skinny vantage point, Khalid couldn’t see Edelgard’s face. He could only see her finely pressed uniform, her iron spine and her jutting chin. Her eyes probably burned with a cold fire. He once admired her iron will. Conniving, ruthless, and determined - that was Edelgard van Hvesvelg. If she became the next symbol, then Japan was in good hands. 

Today, she only looked like the proud lead actress in a high school drama play. 

“The events of last month have proven that Japan is in need of a Symbol now more than ever,” Edelgard announced. “I have full intention of becoming that Symbol. We cannot allow two bit thugs and cowardly villains to scare us. I will protect my classmates and the public from the darkness that threatens Japan.”

Hubert clapped pointedly. The rest of the reporters took the cue and began clapping, camera lenses winking flirtatiously as they found Edelgard’s most majestic side. The students had formed a ring on the other side of her, giggling to each other and craning their heads over the crowd to get a glimpse of the great and mighty Edelgard. Murmurs swept through the assembly: how cool she was, how heroic she was, but I’ve always liked Dimitri better, she’s hot, he’s hotter, he’s brave, she’s elegant, who do you think will win? Who do you think will win? Who will become the new Symbol of Japan? Who’s the hottest Hero class member? That one’s a no brainer - it’s obviously Claude von Riegan. He’s so spicy!

Khalid slunk away, taking refuge in the darkness. Trying not to think about Edelgard’s face in that hospital room, flushed and ruddy with tears, and failing again and again.

*

Khalid stood in front of the doors of Class 2C and practiced a smile. 

It settled strangely on his face, like a joint unlatched. He had to retry over and over again before he got it right. He knew how to smile. He had been fake smiling since he was three years old. He could do this. He could even do this to people he actually liked! He could fake smile at anyone! He was top of the entire Hero class in the PR classes! He could fucking fake smile at his friends! What was wrong with him!

Well. He knew what was wrong with him. The school mandated psychiatrist made it extremely clear what was wrong with him. Mama cursed the guy out on the phone when he told her. It was a reality Khalid was still trying desperately to reconcile - a new understanding of himself as Somebody With Something Wrong With Them. It felt like they had stamped PTSD (‘acute stress disorder’, technically, but apparently it was just PTSD for people who couldn’t get over something that happened a month ago instead of six months ago) on his forehead and charged Dad two hundred bucks for the privilege. They gave him medication that was supposed to help with the flashbacks, but Khalid remembered Dimitri’s serious words about Big Pharma putting cocaine in antidepressants and flushed them down the toilet. He didn’t know what kind of shit Japan got up to and he couldn’t afford the risk.

Not smiling was a risk he couldn’t afford, and all of Khalid’s risks were carefully calculated. This wasn’t a risk he was willing to take. 

So Khalid straightened. He smiled, and he checked himself in his phone camera until it looked anything resembling normal. He fixed his hair, mourned the bags under his eyes, ignored the word PTSD stamped on his forehead, and mentally tried to pretend that he was walking into a press conference instead of his classroom.

Khalid’s hand grasped the handle, pushing it downwards. Hopefully he wasn’t late. Byleth never yelled at you, but she just gave you the most unblinking stare of all -

Khalid went to the bathroom. 

Five minutes later, Khalid entered the classroom. He was fucking smiling. 

Everybody was already in the room, because it was the first day of school and everybody had been vibrating in anticipation for the past two weeks. Probably. That’s the impression the groupchat gave. Khalid had thrown his phone in his nightstand and refused to look at it for a month, but he did check sometimes just to be sure that nothing even more catastrophic had happened. Somehow. He didn’t doubt his life’s ability to get worse. 

Normally a full classroom was full of laughter, yelling, and impassioned arguments for feminism. But the classroom was subdued today - the entire class brought together in two or three huddles, talking furiously to each other in low voices. Khalid didn’t have the opportunity to eavesdrop in any of their conversations - the minute the door slammed shut every eye in the room snapped onto him. Khalid braced himself. Maybe they didn’t care?

“Where were you!” Leonie shouted. 

The classroom erupted, everybody breaking from their huddles and surging towards Khalid. He forced himself to fix his feet in place, keeping his smile plastered on his face and never showing any fear. They were his friends! Be normal! Be so fucking normal! And don’t tell them where you were for the past month!

“Nice to see you too, Leonie,” Khalid said cheerfully. Smile, damn it! “How was…your break?”

“How was our break?” Lysithea screeched. She had grown a little over the break, and her hair was styled up a few cute ribbons. So she had been spending time with Hilda. Little wonder. The girl’s older sibling complex was as bad as her brother’s. “Where the eff were you, Claude! You completely disappeared!” 

“Ah ha ha about that.” 

“We asked the dorm supervisor where you were,” Ignatz said, pulling anxiously at his tie, “but she said she didn’t know. Manuela-sensei and Hanneman-sensei didn’t know either. We even asked Vice Principal Seteth, but he wouldn’t tell us. Why would you disappear like that?”

“It’s not cool, dude,” Raphael said solemnly. “It just ain’t cool.”

“Hm. Well. Uh. The story is…not interesting. Yes.”

Nobody was impressed with this. Even Marianne was making tragic eyes at him. They were such accusingly tragic eyes. They just screamed - ‘you disappeared and refused to speak to any of us or reply to any of our text messages because you hate me, personally, right?’. Lysithea’s burning eyes implied that he disappeared and refused to speak to any of them or reply to their text messages because he was an irresponsible knave who didn’t have what it took to be a true hero. It was a bit of a deep cut.

Lorenz, standing by the side of the crowd, sighed and crossed his arms. Khalid was a bit surprised - normally he liked to lead the charge in any lynch mobs. “Riegan-san was staying with his grandfather. I imagine that the hospital wanted to release him into the care of a family member rather than school dorms.”

Wow. This was unprecedented. Lorenz was helping him out for once! Khalid nodded empathetically, pointing at Lorenz. “That’s what happened! I was chilling with Jiji the whole time. I wasn’t trying to ignore anybody, I just - well, you know old people homes, their cell reception is terrible, and all they serve in the cafeteria is tapioca -”

Leonie narrowed her eyes at Lorenz. “Does your family really keep track of whatever the Riegans do? I know you’re business rivals or whatever, but that feels a little extreme.”

“Trust me,” Lorenz said, somewhat dead-eyed, “that is nowhere near our definition of extreme.” But he shot Khalid a shrewd look anyway. Khalid screwed his smile on tighter. “Our intel also told us that you left after a week.”

“Were you staying with your other grandparents?” Raphael asked sympathetically. “My Granny always makes me soup when I’m sick.” Ignatz poked him in the side. “What? Saudi Arabian queens make soup too, right?” Ignatz slotted him an unimpressed look. “Oh. In Saudi Arabia. My bad.”

“What if I went home to Saudi Arabia?” Khalid hedged. Prove that one, why don’t you. 

“I called your mother.” 

The room froze. Everybody slowly turned around, stepping away to make room for their newest voice. The voice that was sitting in a chair ever-so-prettily. Feet kicked up on the desk, arms crossed, hair neatly braided into two french braids on either side of her head. The style must have taken an hour at least. But she always liked to dress up for important days. For Hilda Goneril, it was all about making a good first impression.

Hilda’s eyes burned into Khalid. Khalid sensed imminent death. 

“Uh.” Khalid rediscovered Mohammad and began praying frantically. “Hilda. Darling. Lovely. How…was your break…?”

Slowly and evenly, like a polite secretary for a CEO who did not have time for your peon ass, she said, “I’ve had better. It was definitely worse than last summer break. Because last summer break, my best friend didn’t disappear from his hospital bed. Last summer break, my best friend returned my calls.”

“I was figuring things out, Hilds.” It was true. Maybe that was why it was so exhausting to say. “I was just screwing my head on straight. I didn’t…”

“And you had to make us lose our heads with worry to do that?”

“I’m sure my mother assured you I was just fine -”

“Your mother did not know where you were either.”

Like a moron, Khalid cried, “Jiji snitched? I can’t believe him!”

“Did you ask your chaebol grandfather to hide your disappearance?” Ignatz asked, fascinated. The poors always watched him like he was a zoo animal. It was so annoying. 

Khalid shrugged. “I didn’t think he’d notice?”

The other zoo patron crossed her arms, unimpressed. “This explains a lot about you.”

“Her mother said that he’d turn up,” Hilda said. She clearly couldn’t believe it. Khalid had no idea how her brother had time to be a top tenner and make her bento box every morning. The onigiri were in little kitty cat shapes. It was horrific. “Apparently he runs off to go find himself a lot.”

“I had to,” Khalid said quietly. “I’m sorry, Vice Rep. But I couldn’t do anything else.”

Hilda stared at him for a long moment, and Khalid could only turn away. Silence fell over the classroom. Khalid’s smile fell. 

The door opened, and the unexpected sound made Khalid almost jump out of his skin. He whirled around, skin thrumming, rings on his fingers shaking, heart unbeating - but the only person in the doorway was Thunder Knight. She looked tired. 

She stepped inside, sliding the door shut behind her. “Sorry I’m late. The staff meeting got heated. To your seats, everybody.” 

Everybody glanced at each other, the same question bubbling up between them, then at Khalid. It was a question he didn’t need to ask - it was something he understood from the second he saw her face - but Khalid asked all of the same. 

Because…I didn’t care about the world. But you needed a hero. I wanted to be the sort of hero who saved you. Claude…did I…

“Weird seeing you this early, Catherine-sensei,” Khalid said easily. “Do we have Heroics first period this year?”

The room tensed. It was a question they knew the answer to, but it was a question that needed to be asked. Thunder Knight’s answer would make it official. It would close the book on one year and open the book for another. When she said it…that would be the end. Everything would truly be over. To Class 2C, that was the moment when she would really be…

“I’ll be your homeroom teacher his year,” Catherine-sensei said, smiling weakly. “Surprise.”

Half the class burst into tears.

*

They held the school day like normal, because the Japanese school system did not stop for man or God.

The orientation ceremony that year was bleak. Principal Rhea was visibly depressed, even if her opening speech only danced around the white elephant in the room. We’ve rebuilt, we’re safe, look at these spiffy new security measures, we’ve mopped up all of the blood stains, we’re building a memorial to Principal Rhea’s own personal hero, etc etc. 

Khalid clutched his chest when she said that. A memorial. He made fun of it, but his classmates looked like they appreciated it. The rest of the school wouldn’t stop fucking staring at them, so they deserved a little consolation or two. It felt pretty stupid to him, but that was probably a selfish thought. He had his own memorial to her. If you could call it that. He hoped his class didn’t look too nihlistic. That would be embarrassing.

He scoped out the other classes, as they were undoubtedly scoping out him. Class 2B’s faces were resolved and determined (Linhardt, obviously, had skipped the ceremony to go smoke weed). Edelgard really must have pep talked them to death. Or maybe she had just threatened them into putting on a united front. All of their hero costumes matched - seriously. Shiketsu-ass motherfuckers.

Meanwhile, the glorious and exalted class 2A were openly depressed. Probably more visibly depressed than 2C. Looking around his own class, Khalid could tell that they were all exhausted out of their feelings and were currently swimming in a pool of feeling thoroughly dead inside. There was a particular look in somebody’s eyes when they had cried out every tear for the day, and 2C wore it in spades. 2A hadn’t reached that event horizon, so they were depressed. 

Khalid craned his head to catch a glimpse of Dimitri. He almost didn’t want to. The memory of Dimitri in that hospital room still lingered stubbornly in his mind. He had tried to forget that sight too. His bloodshot eyes, his ragged and unbrushed hair, the pressured speech that tripped over his own words…there had been something incredibly strange about him. Something wrong. 

In anybody else, it would be bizarre if there wasn’t something wrong. Everybody knew how he had felt about her. But it was literally Dimitri Blaiddyd. He didn’t do wrong. He didn’t do flaws. He didn’t do weakness. He was perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect -

It was a front, clearly. Khalid knew another bullshitter when he saw one. He saw it in Edelgard too. Her face flushed and streaked with tears; his eyes wild and frantic. In that hospital room, the three Hero Class Representatives of the greatest hero school in Japan - the three most promising future heroes in Japan, the two greatest contenders for Symbol of Japan - all of them had broken and shown their true faces to each other. They had been hideous, but all children hid ugly faces.

Khalid had to wonder what he had looked like in that hospital room. He was distantly aware that he had frightened his friends. Maybe Dimitri and Edelgard couldn’t forget the sight of his face in that hospital room either. Maybe it had been the face of a boy with a taste on his tongue he couldn’t scrub away. 

Sitting ramrod straight in his seat, attentively watching the solemn proceedings, Dimitri looked fine. Khalid couldn’t distinguish him from the goofy and lovesick Dimitri of three months ago at all. His hair was washed, his face was clean, and his eyes were calm and sharp. It should have been reassuring. At least Dimitri had bounced back, right? For a second there Khalid had been convinced that Dimitri wouldn’t recover from this.

Khalid’s hand clenched, and he realized too late that he was gripping his rumpled button-up shirt again. His hand was clutching a heavy heart. It was as if his body carried an old sadness.

Was that sadness his? Khalid had the awful feeling that it wasn’t. That even now, Byleth was…

Damn. He should probably do something about that boy. Emotionally support him or…something. Shit. Khalid didn’t want to touch that weirdo with a two meter stick. He might start sucking HPSC dick by association or something.

The auditorium clapped, and Khalid dumbly clapped too. Was this over? Fucking finally. He was sick of looking at Rhea’s tragic little face. It was horrific to think about, but the woman was genuinely heartbroken. Good. Feel worse. If the Principal of UA and a leader of the HPSC couldn’t protect her school from one stupid villain invasion then she ought to resign in shame. And unhook her evil little HPSC claws from UA. 

Khalid heard that the school used to be completely independent from the HPSC. The principals before Rhea were apparently famously anti-HPSC, and the school was untouchable. Sounds like a dream. They hadn’t had a single HPSC staff member back then. Now they had Catherine-sensei, Shamir-sensei, Alois-sensei, and Vice Principal Seteth. Even Officer Jeralt and Byleth had been brought in directly by Rhea. And that wasn’t even mentioning the HPSC student minions. Sorry - the ‘graduates of their hero training program’. Hero training programs were a dime a dozen, but some of them just seemed too sketchy. Lysithea refused to talk about the program that she had attended in middle school.  

Nobody else thought this was weird. HPSC is the hero professional organization, UA is the hero school, two and two made four. But nobody in Japan really had two brain cells to rub together.

It had been a fascinating train of thought a few months ago. Very abstract and rhetorical. Conspiracies were chew toys for the overactive minds of bored ADHD children. Today, it made his brain buzz and rings shake. 

Khalid didn’t mean to ignore Hilda and the class all throughout the homeroom and first period. His mind was a little occupied with all of the bees. He did a decent job of faking attention to Catherine-sensei and Shamir-sensei’s lessons, but it took all of his focus just to stop his leg from bouncing. 

He could do this. He had trained hard for a month. Blood, sweat, and tears had gone into that training. He would kill it! Heroics class would go fine, and if it didn’t then he had a perfectly good excuse. Maybe he could get out of it with a doctor’s note. Catherine-sensei, please excuse Claude from Heroics class - he’s come down with a nasty case of PTSD and will have to stay home. Please be careful and quarantine him away from society. It might spread. They say that PTSD is highly contagious. UA became a veritable petri dish only a month ago, when they all almost died. 

The thought made him giggle in the middle of putting on his costume, somewhat like an insane person. All of the other boys gave him strange looks. He smiled desperately, giving them all a thumbs up. 

“Everybody ready for the first Heroics class of the new year?”

Ignatz blinked at Khalid. “Are you talking to us again?” Khalid smiled insanely. “You do know that you haven’t reacted to anything anybody’s said to you all day, right?”

“Stayed up super late on my phone.” Khalid closed his locker door. It was extremely loud. All of the other boys jumped. Hm. Had he slammed it? “Let’s get going and start the new year off right.”

Ignatz, Raphael, and Lorenz just looked at each other. They exchanged silent glances, but their looks seemed to convey something between each other. Seriously? Ignatz and Raphael was one thing, but with Lorenz? Since when did Lorenz lower himself to match wavelengths with a poor?

No. That wasn’t fair. Lorenz had put his trust in his class last year, and the class had put their trust in him. He hadn’t disappointed them yet. Lorenz and Khalid even had that bizarre fighting back-to-back, saving-each-other’s-lives moment during the Battle of UA. At some point, somewhere along the way, they had forgiven each other for existing. Khalid was the only liar left. 

Finally, Raphael stepped forward. His quirk flashed on and off, pebbles rippling across his skin in a grinding wave. It was a tell for his focus and concentration. Khalid always took tests in a classroom with a giant rock man. Normal UA experience. “Claude, bro. We’re kinda worried about you.”

Khalid slung his quiver over his shoulder, buckling it securely against his chest. It was squeaky and clean. They must have cleaned the blood off it. Nice! “Look, I really am sorry for disappearing. I had to screw my head on straight. But I’m back now, so let’s get this show on the road.” Ignatz opened his mouth, brow furrowed. “Come on, we’ll be late on our first day!”

That got Igntaz’s butt in gear. Raphael chased easily after him, shooting only one troubled glance backwards. Khalid let them go, taking a deep useless breath and returning to his armoring up ritual. It was usually meditative, but today he just wanted to get it over with. 

Khalid withdrew his bow from his weapons locker. His hands fit so naturally around it, slotted into perfect place. It looked brand new. You couldn’t even tell that it was broken - that Nemesis had broken it over his knee. The snap echoed loudly in Khalid’s ears. 

The bow snapped. Nemesis loomed over him, yellowed teeth flashing in the baking sun. The acrid stench of smoke hit his nostrils, and the far away scream of children echoed. Crashes, booms, and bangs - heroes fighting to protect their helpless students. Rebar and cement grit underneath Khalid’s body as he desperately tried to scramble upwards, fingernails scratching against the dirt as he strained to grab his only arrow left -

“Claude, will you - Khalid!”

Khalid fell back to earth. Lorenz’s hand was on his arm, and for the first time Khalid realized that he looked actually worried. Khalid stared dumbly at Lorenz’s hand on his arm, and Lorenz quickly dropped it and took a large step back.

Dumbly, Khalid could only say, “I didn’t know you even knew my birth name.”

“My family knows everything about yours,” Lorenz said huffily. “Of course I know something so basic.”

What the hell. “About the von Reigans, yeah. You thought I was Iraqi for, like, months.” Pissing off the actual Iraqi. Khalid sympathized. Guy still got the ‘why are you in a hero class if you’re a terrorist?’ remarks from idiot kids who watched too much American television. Khalid had no idea why the guy was in a hero class for completely unrelated reasons. Khalid was too stylistically ethnically ambiguous for any of that shit. 

Lorenz just sniffed. “Sensei says that true heroes make an effort to get to know their coworkers. Seeing as we’re future coworkers, I figured understanding you was the truly heroic thing to do.” Khalid swallowed a flinch, and Lorenz’s face tightened too. “Said. Sensei said, I suppose.” 

“Sensei said that it was heroic to wipe the whiteboard after you’re done using it,” Khalid said dully, “so I think she really just said whatever.”

“Sensei also said that an injured hero is a liability to his comrades in the field.” Lorenz’s dark gaze bored into Khalid’s chest, and he had to fight the urge to squirm uncomfortably. Since when could Lorenz, of all people, look through him? “You’re zoning out, Class Representative. You haven’t truly looked at any of us all day. You worried all of us tremendously in the hospital, you disappeared for a month, and now you reappear looking like a ghost wandering these halls. You are setting a horrible example for the class.”

Well, what the fuck was he supposed to do about it. Not flush those pills down the toilet? Like some kind of fucking moron?

“I’ll do better,” Khalid said vaguely. “And I’ll focus when we need to. Let’s just get to class, Lorenz.”

“I never liked listening to the empty words always streaming from your mouth,” Lorenz said, like a really good friend, “but I’d take another year of your nonsense over seeing you sit silently on that hospital bed again. Why wouldn’t you speak to us, Khalid? Why do you still refuse to speak to us?”

“What do you mean?” Khalid asked blankly. “I didn’t speak to you?”

“You didn’t say a word for three days. Don’t you remember?”

What? He didn’t speak for two days. On day three, when they tried to discharge him from the hospital, he started talking up a storm. He said plenty of words. So many words all the time. Some of them were very mean words, and some of them were words he really shouldn’t have said, but -

Ah. Yes. From Lorenz’s perspective, he hadn’t said anything at all.

“If you can’t perform at full capacity, you shouldn’t be at school.” Lorenz’s words were cold, but his eyes weren’t. Was that concern in his eyes? Real, honest concern? “Perhaps you should consider taking the semester off and -”

Khalid slung his bow over his shoulder, turned on his heel, and walked away. Not his most subtle and deft move, but an effective one. When Lorenz finally caught up with him again, he had dropped the subject.

Knowing him, the snitch would probably bring his ‘concerns’ to Catherine-sensei. Maybe even Vice Principal Seteth. Principal Rhea was pretty hands-off with the school, since she was usually busy with her other job at the HPSC, so Seteth was the guy who made things happen. Over-cautious and kind of neurotic, he might even go with it.

Even worse than that. He was the guy who pried her out of Khalid’s arms. Khalid just barely remembered borderline physically fighting him over her. Embarrassing in retrospect. The psychiatrist was definitely his fault. 

Khalid could handle UA. He could handle the year. He could handle Heroics. He had worked his ass off just for this moment, just for the very first day of Heroics where he proved to all of them that he was the same old Claude. That Gold Deer: The Tactician Hero was back. 

The Tactician Hero. Yeah. Good one. 

In an unusual display of gentleness and tact, Catherine-sensei took it easy on them today. Same old punishing warm-ups, same old hideously violent yet weirdly cathartic quirkless sparring sessions, same old break to quirk train. It was a glorified P.E. day. She only took it this easy on them during finals, when they were practically crying in exhaustion. 

The exercise was nice. Khalid had kept in shape over the last month - he had practically no choice otherwise - but the familiar motions were comforting. Heroics had always been taught by Catherine-sensei, and their room was missing nothing. Their Heroics Seminar would be…rough, but that was alright. Maybe it just wouldn’t exist. Free period for everybody. Nobody would ever have to take a Heroics Seminar ever again. They would all be liberated from their shackles. 

Then Catherine-sensei blew her whistle, gesturing all students to halt. Leonie tried getting in a final roundhouse kick, forcing Khalid to fall to the floor and avoid it. She said he dodged too many attacks. He said that she was way, way too violent. “Break, everyone. Quirk training!”

The hour of judgment was upon them. 

Khalid lingered behind the other students as they all rushed to their favored training spots. Ignatz was already at his spot at the range, picking up his rifle and making pointed eyes at Khalid’s empty spot, but Khalid was putting this off as long as possible.

His eyes were drawn to Hilda, as they always were. She had pointedly ignored him since homeroom - or was he the one pointedly ignoring her? - but Khalid stopped and watched her begin her training session anyway.  She was always even better when she was pissy. She took up position in front of her favorite much-abused self-healing pole, eyeing it up and down as if it was as offensive as Khalid himself. 

Then she stepped back, cracked her neck, and extended her arm backwards. Her arm flashed white, glimmered silver, and extended into a giant fuck-off blade. It was in her favorite ax configuration, the same type that she preferred to use for close-quarters sparring. Throwing her whole body into the motion, brimming with potential power, she twisted her body and swung her metal ax arm straight through the pole. 

Wow. Khalid watched the pole gargle and burble sadly before slowly rebuilding itself. Hilda’s braids had turned razor-sharp, shifting like chainmail against the shoulders of her pretty and dangerous black dress. When she let her pigtails fully loose and she was wailing on you in her favorite fluid martial arts style, her hair became whirling razors slicing you to ribbons before her arm closed in and finished the job. One of these days she was absolutely accidentally gonna murder a guy and Khalid was here to see it happen. 

Then Hilda saw Khalid. She stopped, letting her arm fall as the post fully healed itself. She made direct eye contact with him. Khalid smiled nervously at her. She extended her arm back. Khalid’s nervous grin widened. She turned on her heel, threw her body into the attack, and cleaved the post straight in two. Both halves fell on the ground, rattling tragically. 

Hilda straightened. She stared at Khalid. Khalid frantically ran away. He should have watched Marianne’s traveling mice circus instead.

The VR headset was over Ignatz’s eyes, and the pulse rifle was hooked up to the virtual training that simulated different sniper conditions. His quirk gave him perfect situational awareness over a certain radius - physical, psychic, sensory, geometric, the works. A surface level lame quirk that he complained about frequently, and that mostly just produced the most uncannily realistic landscape paintings you had ever seen. It was unbelievably versatile, made him a creepily good sniper, and made him a linchpin of the intelligence-gathering arms of Khalid’s tactics. Ignatz knew how to use his own quirk - couldn’t get into UA if you didn’t - but Khalid was proud to say that Khalid’s tactics had turned Ignatz into a hero on a completely different level.

Byleth once said that Khalid had a perfect understanding of how to use his classmate’s quirks. Khalid had laughed and just said something about how interesting quirks were. Don’t tell anybody, but he kept notebooks. Byleth had laughed when she caught a glimpse of them.

He didn’t have some sort of perfect aim quirk, so he had to actually practice aiming. Khalid had a perfect aim quirk, so he didn’t practice aiming at all. 

Khalid had a little trick he liked to use in talk shows. The boring yammering host in a suit would inevitably ask for a quirk demonstration. Khalid would laugh about how a lady never shows her quirk in polite company, ha ha, no but really you wanna see it? You wanna see it, everyone? Some audience participation at this point - that’s not loud enough, yell louder if you really wanna see my nifty keen quirk, etc. Always got them riled up.

Alright, he’d say, you asked for it. He’d withdraw a sheet of aluminum foil from his pocket, holding it up clearly for the audience to see, and sign it with a flourish before asking them to watch him fold a quick piece of star origami. Japanese people loved that shit. High school girls loved how fucking high school it was. Then he’d finish the origami and show it to the crowd, gesturing as if to throw it. Everybody’s eyes would be on the star origami. They’d be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of seeing how he would use his magical quirk to wow them. He’d flick the origami into the air, and every eye would be on the shooting star. 

Then he’d ask them to look in their pockets and purses. Everybody would check their pockets and purses to see the very same piece of star origami in their pockets! Folded, signed, sealed, and delivered. What a benevolent quirk, the host would announce. Modern day magic! 

As they watched the shooting star, Khalid had emptied his pocket full of pre-folded and pre-signed aluminum stars and shot them into the pocket or purse of each and every person in the crowd. Basic sleight of hand.

Drove them wild. Sure, Dimitri could lift the stage with one hand. But - well, first of all, he refused to do it, saying it was tacky. How a half-gaijin had mastered Japanese humbleness so quickly, he had no idea. Probably because the HPSC scripted every interview he did ever. Dimitri’s super strength was perfectly flashy and showy, and he would have probably made waves if he had flexed his quirk to show off. But Dimitri’s quirk didn’t give everybody a signed autograph and a scribbled heart. It didn’t provide merch.

It was all about merch. All of it. It all came down to the audience member who could run home and sell his autograph on eBay. Or, like, tattoo it onto their body. That was what people remembered most of all: the things people left behind. What they could hold. That was what people valued. 

Khalid missed those days. He couldn’t pull such a fine trick right now, and he had no idea how long it would take before he could. He was struggling with the most basic shit.

It was alright. All it took was practice and hard work. Khalid knew how to work hard. 

All he had to do was notch his arrow. Ignatz wasn’t watching, sucked deep in his VR headset simulating shooting in different weather conditions. All Khalid had to do was raise his bow. Straighten his back, align his body, close one eye and aim so true. Nobody was watching. 

Charge the arrowhead. Let the energy fill it. Not too much energy. A very, very small amount of energy. Miniscule. Remember what Constance had said. Just a drop, a speck. 

Alright. Look at him! The arrow wasn’t exploding! Good, good. Focus. Listen to your heartbeat.

Silence echoed. 

Feel the rise and fall of your chest.

So slow and dead. 

Center your spirit. 

Perfect Aim, the quirk for the world. Infinite Potential, the quirk just for himself. Saudi Arabia didn’t have quirk registries, and Khalid had been free to invent an aspiring hero wholesale for the Japanese audience. Digestible, easy, and flashy. A physical quirk, one that’s great for hurting things. Not a mental quirk. The Japanese hated that shit. Gold Deer: the Tactician Hero. And my quirk is Perfect Aim. It’s a pleasure to meet you, world. Nice to meet ya, Teach. Oh, sorry. Sensei…it’s nice to meet ya, Sensei. 

Blood filled his tongue.

Khalid let the arrow fly, and realized a second too late that it was glowing white-hot.

It happened too quickly to see. Barely too quickly to understand. Almost too quickly to salvage.

The arrow sang through the air, riding the speed of sound. A whirr. White and red bubbled in front of him, swallowing the target several yards away. A wave of heat crashed through him, pricking at his skin and crushing the scant remnants of breath in his lungs. A boom. 

A strange and kind power leapt to his aid and embraced him. Before he could even consciously call for it, before he even understood what had happened and the danger wherein, it enveloped his body and washed over the world. Everything froze. 

Time shattered.  

*

Fingers tangled in Khalid’s curls.

A hand pressed his head downwards, and Khalid couldn’t resist her. She was lying on the cold dirt, and Khalid was on top of her trying to shield her from the flying rubble, and her hand was in his hair. 

Blood gushed from the hole in her chest. Khalid had pulled the arrow out of her body, hands slippery with blood, but blood wouldn’t stop bubbling from the ruptured skin of her chest. If Khalid looked closely enough, he thought he could almost see the pale pink of her heart. 

Was Khalid saying something? What had he been saying? Words echoed in his ear, spoken from a throat that felt far away. 

“You aren’t making any sense, Sensei. You’re gonna be okay, I’ll get you a healer, just hold on.”

Her sword had clattered to the ground, rolling away in the dirt. Nemesis’s body was still wrapped in the vines that crushed him, snapping his body in five different places. Byleth’s chest heaved as she fought for her rare breaths, and she looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. What had she asked of him? 

Byleth’s mouth moved. 

Byleth forced his head to the hole in her chest, and Khalid -

*

Khalid! You must focus. 

A heartbeat pulsed in his ears, marking steady time in the disruption. Khalid forced himself back to his body, forced himself to look at the shadowy girl in front of him. Her little face was pulled anxiously tight, but when she saw Khalid looking at her she slowly relaxed. 

“Sorry. I’m - I’m sorry.” Khalid looked around, slowly lowering his bow. He had finally figured out how to move around a little while time was frozen, but he tried not to move very far - when time resumed he was always snapped back to his old/new position, and it gave him a lot of vertigo if he had wandered too far. “What happened?”

Sothis crossed her arms unhappily, standing back and surveying the scene. Khalid had to admit it looked bad. That explosion was - wow, that was a pretty big explosion. Coming straight for the utterly oblivious Ignatz. His hands had fallen a little, the controllers going slack in his hand as he felt the wave of heat, but he was probably pretty oblivious to what was happening. 

Khalid could have blown him up. Khalid was about to blow him up. Because…

Khalid gritted his teeth, swallowing a scream of frustration. He wanted to throw his bow on the ground and stamp on it like a child. But what would that help? It would just reappear in perfect harmony. And if he didn’t rewind time and fix it then Support would get on his case for destroying his weapons. First Nemesis, now a temper tantrum - why couldn’t he get his act together, huh?

“I’ve been doing so well!” Khalid couldn’t believe this. He could, but - well, he could. “I haven’t blown up anything in weeks! And now first day of school - ugh! How am I supposed to do this, Zero?”

Sothis just shrugged. Helpful as always, lady. My power has developed considerably since it reached you. The power I once possessed was humble. I didn’t even know it existed. It’s not my fault it’s developed into…this.

“This being a quirk that won’t stop blowing everything up?” Sothis glared at him, and he waved her away. “Whatever. It’s fine. We can try again. And we won’t mess it up this time, alright?”

You mean that you won’t mess it up this time. 

“I am seriously doing my best -”

Then why did you almost kill yourself and your classmate? Sothis demanded, and Khalid fell silent. You lost focus. In a moment of life or death, you cannot afford to be stuck in the past. You lost yourself in your memories again. 

“I’m handling it,” Khalid said quietly. “I have a - plan. I have a plan, alright? It’s a fifteen step plan, it’s very intelligent, and I know exactly what I’m doing.”

Your lies have grown much worse. 

“And my quirk’s started blowing shit up, so I guess I’m having a lot of problems right now!”

Sothis sighed, and Khalid couldn’t help but feel a little bad. This really wasn’t her - well, it objectively was, but she really couldn’t have known that things would get this out of hand. 

He would like to blame her for raising at least one terrible child, but apparently she had died in childbirth. Things like that happened in the Dark Ages.

It is natural that you would struggle to control it. Your quirk is a perfect match for mine. I have an energy stockpiling quirk. You have a quirk that stores potential energy in metal objects and allows you to control the energy within the object. How has the world not noticed that you can only perfectly throw metal objects? 

“The world is filled with sheep.”

You have great potential, Khalid bin Almyra. In moments like this, when she looked at him so sternly, Khalid almost saw the mother Sothis almost was. Her chubby twelve year old face and bratty attitude ought to make her feel like a younger sister, but something about her could never be mistaken as young. Yours is a power that will rewrite the world. The power that I have strengthened and the power that she has passed onto you - you must learn to wield it well. It is too dangerous to exist unchecked. 

Khalid opened his mouth, then closed it. In this space, in the span between heartbeats locked in the shattering of time, he could be honest. Who would Sothis tell? One through Ten? 

“One For All ending up in my hands was a mistake. For - for whatever reason, Sensei decided to be a minor vigilante and a schoolteacher instead of a Symbol. We’ve had a power vacuum for twenty years. Kids like Dimitri were raised to become the next Symbol. Kids like Edelgard won’t stop until they achieve it. One of them should have gotten One For All. Society needs them. Not Sensei’s carefree and selfish Class Rep.”

But Byleth did not give the power to them, did she? 

Yeah, because they weren’t there. She would have given it to Dimitri or Edelgard if they had been the ones who fucked up bad and killed her. Let’s be real - they wouldn’t have fucked up and killed her in the first place. If it wasn’t for Khalid, none of this would have ever happened. He could be in a talk show right now. 

Khalid turned and looked at Ignatz, oblivious to his fate. At the explosion bursting into life and growing bigger. If it wasn’t for Khalid, none of this would have happened.

And now it never will. 

Rewind. Let the arrow fly from the target in an unerring line straight towards Khalid’s bow. Let Khalid take up position again at the starting line, string hanging loose, until the arrow fits cleanly onto the string again and Khalid pulls the arrow backwards. Follow the path of time back to where it began. Unshatter time. 

The world washed back into color and sound. Life resumed around him - life, which took its course again so infrequently - and breath shuddered back into Khalid’s lungs. 

He slowly lowered his bow and arrow. He exhaled, shaking out his limbs. 

Pretend you’re on stage at a talk show. Pretend some flat face in a cheap suit was yammering away asking for a demonstration. Hold up a sheet of aluminum foil…now watch closely, everybody…and perform a simple sleight of hand. 

Khalid raised his bow, notched his arrow, and fired. 

The arrow slid cleanly into the bullseye, dead in center. Only Khalid could see how the metal glowed long after the arrow found its target.  

Better. Try again, Eleven.

Khalid raised his bow, notched his arrow, and fired. 

[mainepdf]

why pjo's portrayal of the greek gods is fucked up and how it's affected perceptions surrounding ancient Greece.

*breaks down the door to your inbox with an axe*

start talking now oh my god I want to hear your hot take so bad. I've been interested in religious studies (primarily the Hellenistic and early Roman religious atmosphere (of course acknowledging that the word religion is post-Enlightenment and conceives of supernatural belief as a subjective individual belief, which is inconsistent with how supernatural matters were dealt with in the Ancient world) and how they intersect with early Christianity and proto-Christianity) and I've been fascinated with the Greek gods and I need your hot take on why their portrayal is wrong and leads to incorrect assumptions about Ancient Greece.

oh you bet your bottom dollar i will talk about this. true to the post from which this originated, i will prep no material and all this is off the top of my head so don't quote me!

If you follow my Greek mythology sideblog, you'll know i am unequivocally a Zeus defender. Now I can make a million posts about Zeus alone but I will take a more holistic approach on the gods in general and the perception of Ancient Greece.

The West has been obsessed with Ancient Greece for centuries: the culture, philosophy, history, mythology, mathematical and scientific advancements, and much more. Now it's one thing to take interest in a country's history or a historical era; it is completely another to claim it as your own and make it an ideal state of life to achieve, because if you know literally anything about Ancient Greece, it was anything but. What I'm trying to say here is that Ancient Greek culture has been commodified, glorified, rewritten, and reclaimed by the West when it was never theirs to do so. I've often seen this sentiment expressed by Greeks about their homeland: "The history comes first, the people second." I think a prime modern example of this mindset was when same-sex marriage was legalised in Greece, which was a huge step forward for an Orthodox country with an extensive history of homophobia, but people outside of Greece began making jokes of Greece "returning to their own values" (referring to Ancient Greek practices of pederasty which is hugely problematic and not at all representative of any gay rights if you know what it entails) and people excited to "finally hold lesbian weddings in Lesbos" (signifying the West's perception of Greece as simply a tourist hotspot and not a country with an intricate history and culture). In short, Greece is already unfairly used for the West's agenda of glorification and attempts to build itself a culture that frankly isn't theirs at all.

Now, how does this involve pjo? A lot, my friends, a fucking lot. The publication and popularity of the Percy Jackson series has simply exacerbated all the aforementioned issues in this post. First off, the worldbuilding on which The Lightning Thief relied and the rest of the series ultimately holds is that "Olympus moves with the centre of Western power", which is just. Wow. There are a million things wrong with this concept that would need its own post, so I recommend this article called The Whitening Thief that essentially explains the white supremacy of it all. If you do not want to read the full article, the main premise is that the Percy Jackson series equates Westernism with civilisation and that without it there was "chaos and darkness", which as Paule describes it, is "sipping at a pretty racist cocktail".

note: I have realised how aggressively off-topic this is to the original statement I made, I'm getting there, I promise (although I did warn you it was something I could talk on for hours with little material)

Let's finally delve into the depiction of Greek gods in Percy Jackson. I'll actually start on a bit of a positive note that apart from the weird (for lack of a better term) comparisons of Hades to Adolf Hitler, the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians had some okay characterisation of the gods (I have some reservations about the goddesses on which I will elaborate later). They're prideful and neglectful parents (the myths actually contradict that latter part but I digress) but each with their own complexities and concerns. To use Zeus as an example because he's actually the god who falls short the most in terms of consistent characterisation in my opinion, he lets Percy live in TLT "for the sake of peace in [his] family", indicating a care and sense of duty for Olympus and for his fellow gods, and while he lets his pride and paranoia get the better of him at times, he is shown as a serious authority figure and someone who's trying to keep his realm together, and such characteristics wouldn't be too far off from his mythical counterpart.

But as the series progresses, either Rick got lazy or he attempted to further capitalise his work to make it more palpable, he turns the gods into caricatures by excessively inflating one characteristic they may have into their entire personalities. Returning to Zeus, his paranoia is amplified to an absurd extent that one can simply not fathom why the gods would be the better option than the Titans. As I said initially, he had bouts of paranoia that would be almost normal for someone with such a powerful position, but this is completely derailing any connection with his mythological counterpart, he may as well be an OC with the same name and title as him. To use other gods as an example because I promised a holistic approach and I have seemed to only talk about Zeus (sorry!), the writing of the goddesses Hera, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena is simply misogynistic. I'm sorry, there is no other way I can find myself to describe it. Typically feminine goddesses Hera and Aphrodite are extremely demonised and condemned for their flaky and vain attitude; Hera is the evil stepmother archetype and Aphrodite ultimately becomes weak and useless. The "virgin" (quotations referring to Athena) goddesses Artemis and Athena also don't seem to extend past superficial, unoriginal characteristics like being a vehement man-hater who kicked out two sapphics from the Hunt and a goddess who Rick stops at nothing to render her a horrible parent and person (using the Roman myth of Medusa, exaggerating her prideful nature, etc) respectively. And you cannot tell me they're not misogynistic portrayals because just a few minutes on pjo tiktok will show you just how many times Hera is referred to as a bitch (keep my wife's name out of your fucking mouth!!). Then there is TOA and COTG, which makes me want to cry just thinking about Zeus' portrayal there (yes we're going back there). The god who was consistently thought of as a gracious, protective saviour of the people in Ancient Greece (full list of epithets of Zeus, read at your leisure) is an abusive autocratic tyrant?

To go back onto the topic, how do Riordan's works affect the overall perception of Ancient Greece? Well, as I said before, it contributes to the white supremacist view of Ancient Greece as the epitome of civilisation and the glorification of the era, but it also turns Ancient Greece into a fandom to an extreme extent. Now, obviously, I'm not talking about people with a healthy obsession with Ancient Greek history and Mythology (myself included) who like to engage in content about it. I'm talking about people who claim Ancient Greece as an extension of Western, mostly American culture, and ultimately engage in a form of cultural appropriation that strips Greeks of their own history and narrative. This includes writing 'feminist' retellings of Greek myths, taking Riordan's (inaccurate) readings of the mythology as indisputable fact, and removing the myths from their historical and cultural context. People forget that much of these myths were stories written for entertainment and take them as a sort of Hellenic Bible (which delves into the Christianisation of Greek Mythology but that's a whole other post). In short, Westerners think they can do whatever the fuck they want with Greek mythology and Greek gods because they think it's theirs with which to play around, ultimately ignoring the country, history, and the culture from which they actually originate, and it's thanks to Rick Riordan that this attitude has blown up to an insane extent.

*sighs* Thank you for coming to my TedTalk and I seriously admire you if you made it this far.