#its cause of the literal child fighting arena

[f1endish]

Eddie: We’re getting married, bitches!

Charles: And we're about to make it everybody else's problem.

[milenadelgadolaborde]

Hunger games 2: catching fire: Reaction-Thoughts-Discussion

[BEWARE THE SPOILERS!!!!]

Alright book munchers- we’re back for more heartache and tears with catching fire

Published: 2009 - Spoilers ahead!

Honestly what I remember from this book is the clock design of the arena which was super sick, Finnick obvi, more Peeta (yay), a little too much Gale for my tastes, loathing Snow, and the end (of the movie at least) - Oh and Cinna getting attacked by Savages! Before the game starts

Let’s get munchin!

——

Part 1: the spark

Ch1:

First line: “I clasp the flask between my hands even though the warmth from the tea has long since leached into the frozen air.”

The first book also started out by referencing the cold and a lack of warmth so that’s interesting

“I’m staring into the snakelike eyes of President Snow.”

I already hate this guy but the snakes thing seems like a connection to the title of the newest book - he keeps getting compared to snakes throughout the next scene

—-

Ch2:

“The smell of roses and blood has grown stronger now that only a desk separates us.”

Gods this man is so disturbing

—-

“Whatever problems anyone may have with the Capitol, believe me when I say that if it released its grip on the districts for even a short time, the entire system would collapse.”

Fucking let it then!

“so I flinch when he (Snow) whispers in my ear. “By the way, I know about the kiss.”

Why does he have to be so creepy?!

——

Ch3:

“The smell of blood . . . it was on his (Snow) breath.”

Absolutely disgusting // absolutely revolting

—-

“but underneath all that, I can feel the steadiness that Peeta brings to everything.”

He’s just the best for you girl

——-

Ch4:

“Given all the trouble I’ve caused, I’ve probably guaranteed any child of mine a spot in the Games.”

Awful- it’s gonna be a no from me man

——

“I hadn’t thought about it much, but in the arena at least some of the boys got to keep their body hair whereas none of the girls did.”

I didn’t pick up on this during the first book but I did mention how awful it was that they basically force the tributes into a fashion show before they fight to the death and to think of them actually doing things that would make it harder for the tributes to survive even if it’s something minimal like body hair that protects your skin etc.

like it’s so disturbing bc it’s already awful to have this group of kids killing each other but the people in charge being like “Oh and they have to look hot while they die” It’s so fucking wrong!!!

——-

“As usual, a special platform has been constructed at the bottom of the stage for the families of the dead tributes.”

So not only do these families have to watch their kids get murdered on screen for entertainment but they also months later have to stand in public and congratulate their murderers? Absolutely sickening

——

Ch5:

My poor babies - I want them to get together but not forced together like this

——

Ch6:

“The party, held in the banquet room of President Snow’s mansion, has no equal.”

I hate this man and his fucking opulence

——

“And here in the Capitol they’re vomiting for the pleasure of filling their bellies again and again.”

On top of it all to be presented with all these rich people who have so much to eat that they literally make themselves throw up several times just to keep gorging themselves on food while the districts starve - Unacceptable- honestly unacceptable// I’m surprised there hasn’t been more revolts

——

Ch 7:

I truly understand Gale because it’s not hard to see why he’s pissed at what the capitol has done to them and why he wants to fight back. I think he’s absolutely right.

I also notice though that every interaction Kat has with Gale seems to leave her frantic and panicked when every time she’s with Peeta she seems calmer and a little more at ease.

—-

Ch8:

“Life in District 12 isn’t really so different from life in the arena. At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.”

——-

Ch9:

“I have chosen Gale and the rebellion, and a future with Peeta is the Capitol’s design, not mine.”

“I can’t let the Capitol hurt Prim. And then it hits me. They already have.”

———

Part 2: the quell

Ch10:

Ch11:

The threat of constant surveillance is unimaginably exhausting - very big brother

No me gusta

—-

Ah the mystery of the famed District 13

—-

Ch12:

“Whoever devised the Quarter Quell system had prepared for centuries of Hunger Games.”

Absolutely disgusting and awful - gods this series hits my heart and soul // it’s too cruel man

——-

Ch13:

They don’t even let her say goodbye??? This is so twisted!

—-

Ch14:

Ch15:

I already love Johanna and Finnick

——-

“Our new Avox is Darius.”

The cruelty of this Snow guy knows no bounds

——

Ch16:

“As I watch the procession to the City Circle, I think how it’s bad enough that they dress us all up in costumes and parade us through the streets in chariots on a regular year.”

—-

“Johanna Mason is naked again”

😂

——

Katniss making the Seneca Crane dummy = iconic

——

Ch17:

““I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you,” Peeta replies.”

My heart ❤️ No puedo mas

““I wish I could freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he says.”

——-

“It’s so barbaric, the president turning my bridal gown into my shroud,”

Snow putting Kat in a wedding dress for the interview = evil + atrocious

“Cinna has turned me into a mockingjay.” =iconic

——-

Ch18:

““Maybe I’d think that, too, Caesar,” says Peeta bitterly, “if it weren’t for the baby.””

Le Gasp! This Man!!!! I C O N I C

Always with the interview plot twists! I love him!

—-

“By the time the anthem plays its final strains, all twenty-four of us stand in one unbroken line in what must be the first public show of unity among the districts since the Dark Days.”

Ey Snow, you done fucked up. What exactly were you trying to accomplish with this quell? Like all you did was make ppl more pissed off. Big Yikes

And not him having Kat witness Cinna getting beaten right before she goes up into the arena man - why is he so evil?!

—-

Part 3: the enemy

Ch19: 😬

Ch20:���😬

Ch21:😬😬😬

Ch22:

““No, wait,” says Finnick. “Let’s do it together. Put our faces right in front of his.””

The fact that this man made me laugh while all this horror is going on ❤️❤️

——

““Tick, tock. This is a clock.””

Iconic design to this arena

—-

Ch23:

Ch24: 😢😢😢

Ch25:

Ch26:

Ch27:

Oh no, not Peeta - omg I don’t remember this // what will they do to him?

Fuck what an ending! Next. Next. Next.

[chaoschaos1]

hey uh. more echo lore please

*pulls up fifty slide powerpoint presentation* well I'm glad you asked!

So, potential TW cause Echo's backstory is pretty dark.

(For context, Echo is the child with bandages in this post.)

Their story starts in a small town. It's the average, run of the mill kind of village you'd see in the countryside. The townspeople themselves are quite poor, and most families are struggling. By this point, they're four years old and have a different name, that as of right now I haven't decided on, partially because it's irrelavent to the lore anyway.

A group of scientists visit the town in search of children they can use for some experiments. Of course, they don't tell the parents this. All the townspeople know is that these people have offered to give their children a better life, and many of them give their children away. Echo was one of the offered kids.

For the next nine years of their life, they grew up in a lab, mostly unaware of their previous life. The lab is split into four sectors. Each sector contains five blocks, and each block contains ten children. Echo was in Sector 2, Block 1, and their assinged number was #56. To keep track of each child's number, they had them either carved or branded onto their left cheek, just under their eye.

The lab itself was focusing on creating the "perfect army". Echo was part of the earlier experiments, which were less broad and more so about creating the perfect soldier than a whole army.

Echo was one of the more promising results among their block. They had a shard of a Dynite implanted in their chest.

I might make a seperate post for Dynite lore, but to put it in simple terms: it's something the Gods use to store power, remain eternal, switch between human and god forms, and some other things I can't think of right now.

So, because I don't want to get too graphic here, a God's human form can't handle a Dynite shard's sheer power without their body quite literally melting. On top of the fact that the Dynite is what grants the Gods immortality, you can probably imagine how badly that went for Echo.

After all these tests and adjustments, the Dynite finally began to become comfortable with Echo as its host.

(Small note that isn't really to do with anything, I just wanted to mention it: Echo was AMAB, but obviously dysphoria is a thing and the Dynite picked up on that, so it changed their body to be fully androgynous. We stan a suppprtive gem.)

Once they had recovered, Echo became part of a group that was regularly taken to an arena of sorts. Their "task" was to test the strength of the true "perfect soldier" that the scientists had managed to create. This was a boy named Aeste, and he was what you'd expect from a fully grown soldier, but in the body of a thirteen year old.

The majority of the group was no match for him, and under the influence of the observing scientists, he disposed of every child that was pitted against him. Except for Echo, no-one could last more than a few minutes.

Over time, because Echo managed to survive each fight, the pair began to form a sibling bond, and eventually destroyed the facility together. They were seperated for a while, but Mai found Aeste, and then a week later, she found Echo.

And then the three of them became a found family. So yay, happy ending, at least until I get this book written!

I'm not sure if I missed some stuff, but if I did it was likely either spoilers or irrelavent to the story anyway.

[anarchyloser]

SOMEONE SAID YES LETS GOOO

Ok so. First point Katniss Everdeen is autistic. The way the she views other people and relationships with them, she tends to lean towards black and white thinking, she tends to take things pretty literally, her special interest is hunting and foraging. Need I go on? I'm autistic and I claim her shes so real.

Shes such a badass and in a lot of ways stereotypically masculine (a great contrast to Peeta who's more nurturing and stereotypically feminine, they are literally the hunter and the baker idk how much more clear it gets) BUT they never stop her from being a woman. Her womanhood is never pulled into question, even when she very clearly states she never wants to have children.

Shes so beloved by everyone in district 12, or at least the people who frequent the hob. She thinks that everyone either pitied her, or only respected her because of her father and his good standing. She arguably (with Gale) kept them fed, selling her meat to Greasy Sae who makes soup for everyone, shes one of the only people brave enough and knowledgeable enough to go outside and hunt. They love her, she's important to them.

She struggles to accept selfless acts of kindness so much. She doesnt understand why Peeta would give her bread, why he would save her life in the arena. She feels like she owes him her life, even if he was just being nice to a scared starving girl or saving his crush from dying. She thinks that even if it saved his life, her causing him to lose his leg is unforgivable even if he is greatful she did it.

She was an unwilling tool of the Capitol and more specifically President Snow, used as a pawn to manipulate the districts and even the Capitol. She was an unwilling tool of the rebellion and President Coin, only becoming the symbol of the rebellion out of her own needs and wants, not for the rebellion even if she supported it.

She was a deeply traumatized girl who was shoved into the games and not allowed to live her life for herself until she has fought in a literal war, and thrown in an arena to fight for her life twice. She lost her father as a child, and her sister right in front of her as the war ended. She never really sees her mother again. She has lost so much through the series.

Choosing Peeta was choosing kindness and hope for a future. Her having kids, while I understand why its controversial, I think is an incredible way to show Katniss's growth and that she feels safe enough to be willing to have kids in this world after all shes been through.

Anyways Katniss Everdeen is cool as fuck and I like her a lot and Suzanne Collins is a genius writer

Be honest do yall want to hear me yap about katniss everdeen from the hunger games or is this a notes app situation

[liketheinferno2]

BUT THAT'S JUST A THEORY... A GAME THEORY

OKAY. As of yet, this is my ultimate read on the machine brothers in NieR:Automata. I won’t be going into the philosophy stuff, just the weird psychosexual bullshit, but my thesis is this:

Eve is an unwanted pregnancy.

Or; Eve is a child conceived by 2B and 9S’ interactions with Adam. Adam is his mother, while 2B9S represents the father.

Tl;dr:

Sword goes in, dramatic penetration metaphor go! (Look at this pose. God.)

Where the sword goes in, there is an opening.

Eve is born from the same opening.

There’s my argument, now stew in its horrors.

So, what happens in this scene? Ostensibly the hostile machines spit out a humanlike unit, prompting 2B and 9S to take it down quickly to avoid whatever such a complex construction of the enemy might have in store for them; however, when they think they’ve killed this machine, another identical one appears and the arena begins to collapse from the shock of their fight, so they fall back and leave.

But a thing with NieR is that if you’re not considering everyone’s perspective, you’re not getting even half of the story here. So on the other side...

Adam is born from the machine network in front of 2B and 9S. Initially he’s nonviolent, naked and confused. On the assumption that machines are the capital-E Enemy, 2B9S immediately attack him, but he quickly learns to fight back by reacting to the way they treat him, even verbally questioning why they’re doing this in the first place. In the end though, the protagonists go too far for him to counter back – they impale him on their swords, he groans, bleeds, falls to the ground, seemingly dead! But from the wound they made, there’s a bright light. Eve is born from Adam. He crawls out of the wound and screams. 2B and 9S see the consequences of their actions are more than they can handle at the moment, so they turn tail and run.

What I want to get into here:

1. What causes Eve to be born,

2. When do violence and sexuality intersect in this game,

3. How does this as a formative experience shape Adam’s character,

4. What, truly, is the relationship between Adam, Eve, 2B and 9S because you know it’s not just twin brothers and the people they torment for no reason, and,

5. What is the point of that intersection, the narrative purpose of this analogy in the first place?

[rubs hands together]

The way that 2B and 9S do this action to Adam, and Eve comes out of the wound they make, tells me one thing – he originates from the wound, he was conceived by the stabbing itself. But like, why. Why does stabbing Adam cause that?

The thing that causes Adam to be born is the community of machines that 2B and 9S find in the desert complex who are, before they all have a big fight about it, having sex. 9S calls it “imitating human speech” but literally, they are are all gathered together pretending to fuck each other or pretending to rock children in prop cradles. The second you get here that connection’s made. Child. Child. I love you. Kill. Machines across the game value their families but here the process that forms families is laid bare and honest. The progression here is love → sex → birth → children → family.

Later, in the desert area itself actually, you get a sidequest from the character Jackass where she’s doing research on the “excitement” YorHa androids feel during battle. The feeling she identifies is described this way – exciting, pleasurable, comforting. It seems more like how one would describe an intimate moment with a partner but it is, textually, what fighting and killing each other makes the androids feel. You can tell this is happening between 2B and 9S too, not just how they act against others as a unit, because later in the game it’s revealed that 9S knows on some level that 2B has been killing him over and over, but instead of pure hatred or betrayal there’s affectionate feelings and overflowing desire tangled up in there, and possessiveness too. He decides this is something he can only do with 2B. See this bit from the novels –

I'll kill anyone who hurts 2B. I'll kill anyone who touches 2B. I'll kill anyone who gets close to 2B. I'll kill anyone who looks at 2B. Because the only one who's allowed to look at 2B is me. The only one who's allowed to get close to 2B is me. The only one who's allowed to touch 2B is me. The only one who's allowed to hurt 2B is me. The only one allowed to…

– Yeah. This is something they do within the boundaries of a relationship where this getting close and hurting and killing him is something she’s done to him already, so it’s part of their intimacy in a fucked up way.

At the same time though, violence in Automata is WAR, it’s something people must dehumanise each other to do, it’s something they are obligated to do, forced by their assigned roles into doing in certain configurations and specifications and to each other only in the correct, commanded way. Again, uh, kinda like sex in the context of a gendered society! 2B’s secret executioner role puts her in the position of always the aggressor, defined by her acts of penetration against the other characters… I want to say usually effeminate or gender-ambiguous men at that.

As an aside, 9S literally re-wires himself to become a perpetrator in this way, he wasn’t built for this but he makes himself assume a penetrative role at the end of the game. The reason it’s not natural is because he’s a Scanner, or, well, he’s male. He has to take a woman’s arm and act with it in order to achieve these things. The gender dynamics are flipped-turnways everywhere in the game, which is part of why I believe 2B absolutely 100% mpregged Adam during the fight; that being pregnant is not a female thing to be here.

Anyway. The way 2B and 9S “kill” Adam is very intimate. Not to be crude, but he’s pressed between them and they shove something inside him. It’s not the only time in the game that stabbing or killing someone is a sexual thing, but it has pretty dire consequences. They penetrate him, and later Eve is born, and Eve’s the final boss of the first two routes. There’s only one action that causes births in real life.

This is sort of a double scene though because while this level of bloody violence is typically not something that’s wanted or consensual, that only applies to the literal version of this moment because of the way androids are wired. Adam is, for all intents and purposes, an android character, even if he’s of machine construction, he is still the full extent of humanlike person that this story presents. And Adam does fight back, he does keep up, the version of this scene where they’re having a weird robot threesome in the sand and overwhelming him IS something he participates in, but they three together go too far. They’re irresponsible with him and it results in this child that is Eve, and then they leave before they have to take responsibility for that. Adam being kind of a sexless creature at first means you can’t use physical sex to write off the fact that this is a pregnancy. Even if it lasts about 5 seconds. Moreover…

Eve calls Adam his brother, but that’s not quite correct. A brother is not the term for the family member that carries you before you’re born.

The dynamic with Eve is that Adam acts a lot older than him, even though they’re the same shape and almost the same age. He’s talking about how he hates wearing clothes and eating dinner, how Adam named him and all he really wants to do is play. He’s not just immature, he’s CHILDISH, genuinely like a child in simplicity and dependence – his boss music’s titled Dependent Weakling of all things.

Thus Adam’s the elder, he's a teacher, a carer, even though he doesn’t want to take care of Eve in this way. You can hear his frustration despite the fact that Eve doesn’t seem to ask for much, Eve has this unconditional love and devotion to him that he just doesn’t return even though he is still doing all these wire mother behaviors of feeding him and clothing him and such. There’s such a distance between them. Opposite sides of the table here.

You understand that the fight with Adam is his first experience. He did not exist before that fight. The thing that’s so interesting about this character is we’ve all seen villains that are manic and unhinged and disconnected from reality due to an early trauma, but this is different. This time it’s a player action. You did this, without even thinking of the ramifications! Like 2B and 9S do it but the fact that it’s a boss fight, the way you have to physically take action against him makes this a dynamic where the villain’s tragic backstory is your fault. Adam’s most formative experience is hatred and violence and it’s your fault. He walks two steps and is betrayed by existence, that’s why he comes to the conclusion that hatred is the core of the human experience.

But Eve’s formative experience is being with Adam. Eve knows what love is. Despite the fact that Adam does a real shithouse job of returning it.

You-the-player-as-2B9S have effectively saddled Adam with a child he never wanted, but is forced to take care of anyway because uh, those two aren’t going to help. It’s not like he never reaches out to them later either.

Eve’s love and gratitude to Adam for doing The Bare Fucking Minimum is reminiscent of a theme that’s been at the core of the series since Replicant; that is, the self-destructive fate of neglected children. When he lashes out HARD at 2B for killing Adam -- which was something Adam invited on himself, nay, abandoned Eve to do – he calls Adam his only brother. But he says it in a way that implies he believes brother is the only form of family.

Eve shares a voice actor with Brother Nier, which is probably just a fun coincidence, but there’s a common thread here that being neglected or abused in childhood, lacking a loving parental figure or being betrayed by that person sets them up to destroy themselves. Specifically, it sets them up to catastrophically explode upon experiencing the loss of a loved one who, even though the neglect dynamic was there, is the only reason that this person has for continuing to live with love in their heart. When Eve’s everything is gone, he hates everything else.

There is such a brutal tragedy to being raised in a way where he can’t do anything but be dependent, only to rip away the person he’s dependent on, which is like… this is entirely a choice that Adam/2B/9S make. Eve’s not wrong to blame 2B for killing Adam, not just because she literally did it, but because it was experiences with her that shaped Adam into the kind of person who would want her to kill him later.

I think it’s so easy to take this whole thing the wrong way and assume this “Niichan, play with me!” situation is part of the weird sexual bullshit, but I’d argue the opposite. The reason Adam and Eve’s interactions are so weird for a couple of brothers is because Adam’s his mother actually.

The other half of the conception is 2B and 9S. Eve looks like Adam because machines can’t transfer their genes or reproduce biologically of course, so he splits off identically like it’s mitosis, but in the function of the story he is a person produced by these other people.

As for abandoning Eve… Adam leaves specifically to repeat his mistakes with 2B. 2B’s the female-father to Adam’s male-mother, but he does drag both her and 9S back to him at one point in the Copied City. It gets WEIRD, he’s teasing and stroking 9S and stabbing him into the wall, goading 2B into killing him (again) and hugging her close when she does. He’s getting in between them to do it, too. Hot takery from the hot take bakery but I really think Adam’s inextricable from the sexuality between 2B9S and that they are inextricable from the sexuality he has as a character. I mean there’s this:

And this, when 2B penetrates him again IN FRONT OF 9S MY GOD:

I think it’s apparent that 2B is far from happy about her role in this.

All this is the first and last time you ever see him away from Eve – this isn’t for Eve’s eyes, it’s not something he has context for, but even further than that it’s the way that Adam abandons him to go seek whatever kind of excitement or pleasure or comfort he can find with 2B who is, y’know, THE DAD.

Before 2B arrives, Adam’s in 9S’ head talking to him about how he’s full of hate and anger and violent urges and desire. I call this the horny little man moment. But the reason Adam knows so intimately and so exactly that 9S, after being hurt by 2B, feels this cocktail of anger and wanting and wanting to [****] all at once is because Adam feels the exact same way and he is having a horny little man moment of destructive intensity on his own. There’s a strong mirror here with how 9S destroys himself in the end only to culminate in the final act of dying writhing on 2B’s sword. Just one last time. 9S :handshake emoji: Adam: “2B put her sword in me and I need it again.”

So if Adam is Eve’s mother and 2B-maybe-9S-also is Eve’s father and none of them no how to deal with him because they didn’t anticipate the consequences of how they deal with each other, if metaphorically Eve was an unwanted pregnancy that they’re all evading responsibility for, then this all begs the question of WHY THOUGH.

WHY IS IT THAT?

WHAT WAS THE REASON.

Because the concept of an unwanted child is a genius thing to evoke when it comes to a character who represents and literalises the consequences of your actions.

People tend to forget about this in the wake of Route C, but for more than half of the game, Eve is the main antagonist. Eve was made by your violence, Eve was motivated by your violence, Eve is a direct product of your violence and now he’s come back to hurt you and the only way you know how to deal with this is, yep, more fucking violence. Eve is the bed you made, Eve is the grave you dig, etc etc, but @sapphixxx said it calls to mind the quote about the Bourgeoisie manufacturing its own gravediggers. The violence feeds itself. This is the fourteenth Machine War.

Humans, as we know, are long gone at this point, the only reason these characters are still fighting and dying together is because the cycle of consequences has been repeating for an unfathomably long time. “You started it” repeating unto infinity. It is only fitting, then, that final boss, the Big Fucking Problem that 2B and 9S face at the end of the first two routes is literally literally literally-and-figuratively BORN from their actions committed to further the vicious cycle of war. Because when a person is born from your actions that’s your baby. That’s why Eve’s so baby.

This isn’t an indictment of 2B and 9S or necessarily sympathy with Adam – the game goes to great pains to show how these two suffer in this cycle and how much they hurt from the horrors they get caught up in and are forced to inflict on each other. But again, much like the first NieR, NieR:Automata maintains that you don’t have to be mentally unsound or consciously evil to do terrible things. You just need to be complicit. You just need to think you’re right. Brother Nier and 9S go so far into this mindset that they take out every human being and everyone from YorHa – the level of destruction is MASSIVE. And the thing that lets people stay complicit in great acts of violence or oppression is dehumanisation of the enemy.

Bringing it back to sex for a minute, Automata’s just so careful with it. Sex as love and sex as destruction coexist in this setting – 2B straddling 9S to strangle him springs to mind – but it’s in this way where you can feel these people wanting so hard for ways to be intimate without hurting each other. We talk about objectification and unwarranted sexualisation a lot and the thing about that is that it’s sexuality + dehumanisation, a combination that is shown to be horribly destructive here.

There’s obviously not a happy ending for all three of the trio I’ve been talking about together, not all at once, but I think it’s really fascinating that before the True End with 2B, 9S’ ending allows him to sort of start a new life on the Ark with Adam and Eve. For a long time I wasn’t sure why they’d bring Adam back at that point, but I feel like I know now. He’s your bi-gendered bi-sexual boy-mom of your baby and he’s in this relationship. He’s in this relationship. Lol.

To sum up:

Weird robot desert threesome real and true and so, so important to the themes of this nasty, grimy, horny story that I really believe is one of the best games ever written. Also Eve did nothing wrong.

[rachetmath]

Favorite (Characters)

Ruby: *barges in* RatchetMath!

Me: What is it Ruby?

Ruby: You’re showing favoritism.

Me: Okay. And?

Ruby: You need to stop. Why not draw us for once?

Me: Hm, maybe because I like Jaune more. Hell I like Penny and Neo more than you or your team.

Ruby: Why?!

Me: Because your team is horrible.

Ruby: So is team JNPR!

Me: Yeah, but only because they have to follow you. They have some individuality but we don’t explore that as much. Plus, your team would be dead without them. But you know what Ruby, I would rather draw Yang, Blake or any other character except Weiss than you right now.

Ruby: What?! But I’m-

Me: The main character that barely does main character things. Woman, Salem was in Atlas! Why was she not your top priority? Why was James your problem?

Ruby: Um well…

Me: Ruby, she knows your mother! She might know what happened to her! I get Yang was some levels your mom but shouldn’t learning what happened to your actual mom be just as important? Especially after that dark memory.

Ruby: That is true.

Me: You have silver eyes but you still don’t know how to use them. There was army of grimm around Mantle and that would have been good practice. And a better solution than Ren.

Ruby: But then I be overpowered.

Me: No. Ruby your silver eyes only work on one person. If someone sneaks up on you or doesn’t care about that light you give off then, you’re dead. Maria is proof on that.

Ruby: Um..

Me: Plus, the question that everyone in the audience could have an answer to is whether your silver eyes can even work on Salem. In all honesty, it proves the writer don’t keep track of the characters and their personalities to where they fit together in story. You know what I have been making skits, trying to be funny but… the jokes died. Look guys I-I’m sorry but… let me explain.

1. Ruby and Blake should have stayed in Mantle. Why?

1. Salem is the main villian. She knows Ruby’s mother. You know the same mother who left for a mission and didn’t come back. The same mother, who Ruby knows nothing about while everyone seems to have different perspectives of her. Or has a better clue on who she is, than Ruby herself. Plus wasn’t Salem after her too? She basically would be killing two birds with one stone by kidnapping Oscar and giving Ruby a reason to see her. That way Ruby isn’t assuming what happened to her mother. Let Salem antagonize Ruby. (Question: Can silver eyes work on Salem?)

2. Perfect training for silver eyes. Let’s face it, Ren proved to us he can mask a bunch of people without Jaune’s help. All he needed was concentration. However, Ruby is more effective because silver eyes seem to be able to destroy multiple grimm on sight. And with lives on the line that gives Ruby plenty of reason to start using them.

3. Ren calling Ruby out on her issues. Look I loved how Ren was willing to tell the truth, but him revealing Jaune cheated Beacon was… weak. Reason being it relates to Jaune’s character and Ren still follows Jaune’s orders. However, Ruby, who is supposed to be a prodigy because she came to Beacon two years ahead of her class, has not proven once that she is worthy of such praise. The only reason-The ONLY reason Ruby was enrolled into Beacon was her silver eyes. Ruby even in volume one has been nothing but liability. Initiations, she almost dies from a Stinger. Stake out, she almost got run over by a truck and it ended in failure. First mission, she gets kidnapped and almost destroyed a city block. Roman, a man with no semblance or aura continues to beat her four times in a row. And it gets worse. Ruby almost got her uncle killed. She was the first to get knocked out by Emerald. Almost dies by a robot and Godzilla. And the moment she arrived in Atlas her first move was to lie to James. She didn’t even try to stop Tyrian when she saw him. She had her gun with her too. Ren is not her sister, he might as well tell her the facts so she can do better.

4.  Blake is Faunus. Mantle hates faunuses. Why not have Blake help them to prove faunuses are people too? Let Blake represent her people. I mean Velvet and Sun represent faunses more than she does her whole existence. Blake also can relate to Ren’s problem. How? Blake was a part of the White Fang, so there were expectations she had to fulfill. Especially when trying to measure up to Adam. However, she explains the longer she was in the White Fang, the more she found out how messed up and extremely bias it was. Including with Adam to the point she decided to leave. She even states she was lucky that Yang even forgave her after all the trouble she caused her. Blake challenged her bias nature, and it made her stronger for it. Blake would be basically telling Ren the more he tries to live up to someone else’s expectations, without seeing their flaws, the more he loses touch with himself and everyone around him.

5.  Oscar shouldn’t have been able break out of Salem on his own: I’m sorry but… Oscar got beat up. Took a magic beam to the chest. Had to switch between him and Ozpin and mind you he had no aura to help him. He should be tired and unable to move. (In my opinion, this kid was given too much screen time. At first I was worried about him but now I’m wondering why was I worrying at all.)

2. Jaune and Yang should have gone to Atlas.

1. Penny is basically Pyrrha in the opposite light. Penny’s special because she’s a robot with a soul, a mind of her own and an attitude to prove it. She is just as human as everyone else, but no one seems to treat her as such. James only sees her as something of a weapon. Pietro treats her like child even though she’s more mature than the rest of the female cast, except Maria. And now with maiden powers, everyone is out casting Penny even more. Jaune is perfect for her because he has experience with this kind of issue. However, he would’ve had to take different route to the situation considering his failure with Pyrrha last time they had discussion on maiden powers or responsibilities (Destiny.).

2. Jaune already has been a part of maiden business since volume three. His reason to be with Penny would be make sure she doesn’t meet the same fate as Pyrrha or Amber. Not just for himself but for others around him. Especially since Cinder was in Atlas and is willing to hunt her down for the maiden powers. And James was willing to turn Penny into a soulless machine to follow his every command. (Actually, Watts is more a fault considering he hates Pietro.). James and Cinder are also opposite to Jaune in some ways.  James earned his position and earned respect from his military. Jaune on the other hand cheated, and unlike James might not have everybody’s respect. Cinder treats her allies like tools. And with power she just consumes and gives nothing return. Jaune however treats his allies like family. And instead of just taking power he gives power to others around him. He’s the reason Cinder has maiden powers. So, him making it his personal mission to make sure Cinder doesn’t get more power only increases his resolve to protect Penny. (Especially since he already had to kill her in the canon finale.)  In other words, James and Cinder purposed a challenge to Jaune. Can he pervert history from repeating itself? Can he really protect the maiden powers? Is he truly worthy of being a huntsman? What is he willing to risk in achieving his goal? (Also let’s be clear. Hazel beat Oscar down for the password to the relic. James shot the kid and was willing to let him fall to his death. Qrow intentionally punched the kid.  I don’t care if it was for Ozpin, he still punched Oscar. Lion before even knowing Oscar was Ozpin reincarnation was already about kill him anyways. All Jaune did was push him to a wall. Yes, Jaune still would have hurt Oscar, but he didn’t. He walked away.)  

3.  A lot of the situations could’ve been avoided or mattered if Jaune was there. Don’t believe me? Well let me explain. Was Ruby the only option when sneaking pass Central Command? No, because they had Weiss, Nora and Penny. Weiss could have done a freezer burn like in her fight with Marrow. Or Nora could have thrown her grenades and Penny just shoots them before the hit the ground or damage anything. Both causing a smoke screen, so no one sees them. Plus, they were already caught by using Pietro credentials. Did Nora need to get knocked out for the team to escape? No. If she had Jaune with her they could’ve one caused an EMP wave being Jaune has gravity and Nora has lightning. Or two, if Nora still went through with it, Jaune would have healed her immediately. Penny lifting and keeping the arena in place. If Jaune and Weiss were with her then once Amity was in position, Weiss with Jaune’s assistances can keep it place so Penny can come back inside and the whole video could be played. Also, Pietro would know what was going on with his daughter and can properly explain how to fix her. (Better than Jaune healing her.)

4. Nora’s whole character is knowing who she is without Ren right? Then why not just have her lead the evacuation once she’s done with Atlas? Why not have her and Yang work together along with the happy huntress to evacuate Mantle? Especially if their friends disappeared to save Oscar. (And before ya’ll tell me they can’t do it….. Yang, blocked a punch from a mech, held off a Manticore, and has a semblance that literally lets her take damage and dish it back five times harder. Nora who literally crushed Weiss and Yang in a food fight. Knocked a giant horse down on its knee. And knocked Hazel away.  Are you seriously saying these girls are not enough to take on a few little tigers? Come on!) If the whole point of Nora’s character development was finding out more about herself then let Nora try something without Ren. Let her call the shots. Let her take charge. Give her a character. (Hell don’t stop there. Have her interact with other characters. Like Jaune. Yang. Weiss. Or anyone other character than Ren. Let them tell her what they think about her. Let Nora be a solution to a character’s struggle. Ya’ll make it sound like Nora has no friends.)

5. All Yang needed was a break from Ruby and Blake. In all honesty Yang should have been the one to see the hounds face and kill it. Why? Well Ruby is Yang’s sister and only reminder of her nonblood related mother. And Blake is her girlfriend. And if we saw the hound’s face, we know it’s not just a silver eyed person. It’s also a faunus. This will give her a reason to protect both her loved ones because by seeing the hound she knows Salem intention with Ruby and want to keep her, and Blake from meeting the same fate of being turned into monsters. Yang should’ve been the 2nd to 4th member of team RWBY to fall. Why? One, a Yang vs Neo fight. Two, Cinder and Neo both wanted Ruby dead. So why not get rid of Ruby first? The fights would have been more thrilling and seeing the character, the show is named after, presumed to be dead would have added stakes and tension to the fight. (Also let me say this. Why is it, that the only great display of the maiden powers I’ve ever seen, was from Amber and not the maidens, as of now, Winter, Raven, and Cinder? The maiden powers are basically magic right? Why isn’t Cinder using any other element than fire?)

6. Weiss was completely useless. Look, as the saying goes, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” And when it came to Weiss and family, she has little to no clue of what it is nor deserves it. Weiss should have been more of an inspiration for Whitley to do right. How? By simply talking to him. What reason would she have other than Mantle? Simple, he’s her brother and she started off like him. Beacon, she was a brat. She was arrogant. And more importantly a jerk. Blake ran because of her racist attitude. Ruby literally had to impress her to prove she can be leader. Even though Weiss is not leadership martial herself.  Plus, hearing May and how she and her family never resolved their issues should inspire Weiss to not repeat that mistake. And guess what, her mom, Willow, the drinker of the family, wasn’t wrong. Both her and Winter left Whitley alone. Klein wasn’t there for him either. All Whitley had was his father. So Weiss, actually acting like his sister and trying to help him allows him to feel less alone. Instead Weiss was complete Jacque through out the entire volume.  

And that’s all.  Look I know I should have seen this coming but I had to say it.  Volume 8 could’ve been good. The problem was.

1.       Characters are not placed well within the story.

2.       We lost track of who said characters are.

3.       The ships are in the way.

4.       Being dumb for the plot. (Sometimes it’s necessary.)

[grimmradiance]

Close to Me: How the Hollow Knight's Fighting Style Reflects Their Trauma (and the Radiance's as well)

So I've been trying to actually beat the Radiance, which means I've been fighting the Hollow Knight. A lot, as a matter of fact, since I'm beans at this game sometimes. I've also been thinking about @lost-kinn's meta about how fighting styles are how Vessels, especially the Little Knight, communicate.

In trying to apply this to the Hollow Knight, I've been coming to some very interesting conclusions, especially taken in context of...Everything Else in the lore, and Everything Else implicated in this by the psychology of it.

There's a lot to cover here, and it tracks through a LOT of different places, including trauma psychology, the relationship between chronic stress and lifespan health, and shape symbolism. Two warnings first:

One: this essay is gonna get heavy. It includes fine-grained discussion of the Hollow Knight's trauma, including discussions of the real-life machanics of psychological abuse, as well as the Extremely Concerning Implications of them harming themself during their boss fight. please read with caution and when you're in a safe emotional place to do so.

Two: This post is not a place for justifying the Pale King. If you read this essay in its entirety and still want to do that, please make your own post; my relationship to the Hollow Knight themself is deeply rooted in my own experiences, so in the context of this discussion I can't promise I won't take it personally.

With that out of the way, let's talk trauma and fighting styles:

We know that the Hollow Knight is trained to be a paragon of fighting skill, through the Pure Vessel fight, and this gives us a fantastic way to compare what they were like before they were made Government Assigned Radiance Jail, and after. Or, in other words, we're given the perfect opportunity to see what the Radiance is doing (i.e. context effects), and what Hollow is (i.e. what we can conclude is reliably consistent as a part of them). Listed here, for reference:

Hollow's attacks:

Three slashes

A dash slash

A Radiant Shade Soul, which launches a volley of Infection blobs in arcs

A Radiant Desolate Dive, which produces pillars of entwined Void and Light at random intervals

The Infection bursting out of them in random arcs, covering a significant amount of the aerial space of the arena

The Radiance ragdolling their body around trying to hit the Knight

Contact damage from them stabbing themself and falling over atop you

The Pure Vessel's attacks:

Three slashes

A dash slash

A Pure Shade Soul, which launches a volley of nails in straight lines

A Pure Desolate Dive, which produces nails at specific intervals

A Pure Focus, which causes circular explosions across most of the aerial space in the arena

Lashing out with a Void Arm (word choice intentional)

I've highlighted attacks from each battle that are different, since those are our points of interest here. In addition, both the Pure Vessel and Hollow are exceedingly fond of teleport-spamming in a way that is usually reserved for a specific group of bosses.

Another very important distinction between these two fights: the Pure Vessel doesn't scream. Well, they certainly try to, but no sound comes out. No voice to cry suffering, after all. All of these points have a lot to go into, so let's address them one at a time.

All That Remains: Theoretical Background On The Significance Of Constants

Making comparisons across time is important specifically because humans (and human-like bugs) change. Most personality traits aren't set in stone--they exist as an interaction of someone's internal tendencies, their experiences, and their environment. Speaking of those last two points, not all experiences and environments are created equally. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs for short) are known to have lifelong implications for a child's health, both physically and mentally. These are events that are so stressful or stressful for so long that they exceed a child's ability to cope and become toxic stress (yes, that's the term in the literature, because it actively damages your organs). They compound, as well--the stress of one ACE makes it harder for a child to cope with another, especially if they overlap.

Some examples of ACEs? Being exposed to physical danger or the threat of physical danger, deprivation of normal social relationships with peers of a similar age, being forcibly seperated from family members, witnessing a loved one being hurt or killed, chronic illness in oneself or a family member, neglect of a child's emotional needs....

Poor fucking Holly. It's a miracle they didn't disintegrate under the pressure. The only other option is that they bent and adapted under that much stress--in other words, most of their personality has been forcibly reshaped by what they've gone through. Anyone who has up-close experience with parentification or complex child abuse already knows: this was by design. I'm not saying the intent was to traumatize the Pure Vessel past several points of no return, but the intent definitely was to reshape their personality for the purpose of being The Vessel. We only see them (the Pure Vessel) in battle after this process is mostly or entirely complete, but we do see them a few times beforehand. I'd like to draw attention to the Path of Pain cutscene right now.

I've seen people talking about the look the Vessel and the King share as a sign that TPK really does love his child. That might be true, but it's definitely not relevant when it comes to how abuse works. This is, in fact, exactly how the cycle of abuse uses affection as a tool. Long periods of abuse or neglect, smoothed over by small periods of affection that placate the survivor? That's textbook love bombing, the kind that forms stubborn trauma bonds and facilitates unhealthy dependency. Forgive me for not giving the Higher Being of knowledge and prescience the benefit of the doubt on that one. (/s)

Team Cherry knows about the importance of parallels and dissonance. There's a reason the music in the second phase of the Hollow Knight fight plays in the Path of Pain. There's a reason it cuts out the moment the battle with the Kingsmoulds is over, instead of at the room transition. There's a reason it doesn't cut out in the Black Egg. Actually, there's two potential reasons, which could also coexist: either little Hollow trusts the Pale King to keep them safe, even after the borderline torture that they were just subjected to, or big Hollow is so hypervigilant that they're in full functioning-through-trauma mode even while they're at death's door.

If you don't see how much the Pale King scarred his child at this point, I'm not sure we were playing the same game.

Walking the Straight Line: How the Pale King's Teachings Show In the Pure Vessel

The Pale King loves order and control. Everything about the White Palace and every decision we see him make implies this. Everything is spotless white walls and well-maintained gardens; the only signs of disorder are hidden away, either in his workshop or in The Pit™. This also reflects in the Pure Vessel's title--pure as in holy, but also pure as in without flaw. Considering the Nailsmith's emotional state after completing the Pure Nail, TPK's fate with his Perfect Controlled Kingdom, and the Godmaster ending as a whole, attaining perfection is not a good thing in any sense.

We know the Hollow Knight isn't perfect--that's the whole catalyst for the plot. But considering their upbringing and their fighting style as the Pure Vessel, their imperfections absolutely kill them emotionally. I'll spare the lecture on how perfectionism affects neurodivergent kids even more severely than neurotypical kids, if only to keep this post to a reasonable length (look up "twice-exceptional children" if you'd like to know the theory I'm glossing over in more depth). But, in essence, the deck is doubly stacked against them--they have a higher goal to reach, and far more obsctacles in their path, including their own emotional scars.

I've already discussed how Hollow isn't meant for this kind of stress in a physical sense in other posts. They're not prepared for it emotionally, either--the Pale King wants perfection, and they can't even stand up straight (every spoonie in the audience already knows how exhausting people's obsession with Standing Up Straight is). There's another page on their stack of emotional baggage, even BEFORE you consider that the Pure Vessel knows their perfection is what bought them a ticket out of the Abyss.

Bringing Teleportation To A Sword Fight: Where The Pure Vessel Reveals Their Fears

How else are they going to cope with that need for perfection, that need to prove themselves worthy of the reason their life was spared, by being flawless in any way they can? Being a mechanical, flawless fighter puts so much pressure on them, both literally (repetitive strain injuries fucking HURT) and figuratively--if you're predictable, the only sure way to win is to mop the floor with your opponents before they figure you out. Hell, that's the way most people play their first run of Hollow Knight, by throwing themselves at the bosses over and over until they figure out the patterns. That strategy is inherently going to fail against an opponent that's, say, an immortal higher being.

There's no way that the Vessel didn't figure this out, and yet none of their TPV specific attacks are positioned randomly--the nails are always evenly spaced, and the Focus explosions are always in a specific height region of the screen. That's clinging to survival strategies even when they become maladaptive in its purest form.

Another dip into psychological theory: let's talk about disorganized attachment. Attachment styles describe how someone's relationships to their main caregiver(s) influence their understanding on relationships in general. Disorganized attachment is a result of an upbringing of inherently unstable parent-child relationships, where there's no way of a child predicting whether an adult is going to be delighted to see them, ambivalent, upset, or otherwise. If my parent woke up some days saying "all right my child, time for the Infinite Buzzsaws Obstacle Course," I'd be the same way. In adulthood this manifests as an inability to form a stable sense of self-concept as well as concepts of others. Mission accomplished, TPK, there's no will to break if you broke it yourself.

This is where the fighting styles as communication comes in--Hollow needs to keep Ghost at a distance to fight, but also wants to be closer to their sibling (the only being who has a chance of understanding what they've been through), BUT also has a trauma-rooted fear of attaching to people, as their experiences with attachment are inherently unpredictable and dangerous. Hence, both the teleportation that doesn't seem to match their fighting style any more reliably than "aim at the thing attacking you" and the second attack unique to the Pure Vessel--they're quite literally lashing out in pain to push people away. There's a reason that attack is so reminiscent of the Thorns of Agony.

Of note is that Holly does seem to teleport like the bugs of the Soul Sanctum do (favoring the edges of a screen, rather than going wherever like Dream Warriors do), which makes sense--they're the most obvious answer to the question "how did they learn how to teleport, anyways?" However, Sanctum bugs have abilities designed to capitalize on this, like homing spells and slashes from above. I can only assume this means that someone saw Holly's proficiency with the nail and assumed it translated to other forms of combat, and didn't feel the need to give them at least a bit of a primer on how to make the best use of it. There's another tally for the Hollow Knight as an autism metaphor.

Trauma Bonds: How the Radiance Speaks Through Hollow

Now, we're back to the Black Egg, and two people stuck in the same sinking ship. The thing that makes this hurt so badly is that Holly and the Radiance are at complete cross purposes here, and yet they both want the same thing:

They both want out, no matter the cost. For the Radiance, this means forsaking the pacifistic nature of the moths and nuking Ghost personally.

For Hollow, this means forsaking the way they were raised and everything that was bludgeoned into their personality: the only way out is to fail, give up control, and trust that Ghost will do what needs to be done.

Imagine how much pain they're in to actually go for it. Going against a literal lifetime of conditioning is something that takes the average person years to even consider, let alone go through with. It's a form of learned helplessness--if you try to break free and fall, again and again, it actively discourages further attempts. Breaking through learned helplessness is an interesting process, because it generally involves re-establishing a sense of control by recalling previous events where the person was able to change their situation.

Which, as far as we know of, are nothing but traumatic memories for Hollow. It's very unlikely that they'd break through it on their own, but we know they have by the time we see the second phase of their fight. This is them at their most desperate: the same music as the Path of Pain, the way they let, or can't stop, the Radiance throw their body around, the way they actively try to let the Radiance out by stabbing themself.

You'd think that giving up and learned helplessness are inherently compatible, but when giving up both goes against your core personality, and involves your active participation, they're in direct opposition. So either Holly was able to process all their trauma by themself (which I doubt, judging by how much effort the player has to go through to even see Ghost's and Hollow's traumatic memories), or someone gave them a nudge or three in that direction.

Considering that there's been someone living in Holly's head who has a vested interest in them Not Doing Their Duty, I think we know who. And the thing is, I think we watch Hollow have this breakthrough during their battle. Imagine for the first time in decades, at least, you can move. You're in pain from being in the same position, probably hallucinating from sensory deprivation, with an infection sucking at what strength your body has left. And there's this little creature who looks ready to fight you, who seems to have let you go for that exact purpose.

And you look down, and both you and the Radiance recognize them from a place rooted deeper than consciousness, in the murky depths of trauma. You see the other Vessel who just as easily could have been you, and who looks so much stronger for not being you, for being an imperfect, willful creature. And the Radiance sees history threatening to repeat itself, another one of the Wyrm's cursed children seeking to lock her away once more.

What else do you do when you're triggered? You scream, and you go on instinct, and you retreat into your head. Those first blows, with the epic music? That's the Vessel the Pale King forged, the fighting machine that will endure unimaginable stress because it knows no other way. What snaps you back out of dissociation? Usually, either the passage of the triggering stimulus, or an even more relevant stimulus (severe pain from getting beaten up by a nail, for example).

The tragedy is this: we know this isn't a triumph. I think most of us went into that fight the first time, knowing we'd be putting the Hollow Knight out of their misery. The music turns tragic, Hollow screams, and then we see the Radiance and Hollow themself break through: the Radiance trying to fight Ghost directly with the resources she has, and Hollow trying to help her along.

For what it's worth, Hollow even had the right idea, when it came to letting themself rest while helping Ghost stop the madness their father started--they were just digging for the Radiance in the wrong place. The dynamic between the Radiance and the Hollow Knight is something I could write on for pages and pages, but this has gone on for long enough. Tune in next time, where I'll presumably talk about this same topic but in reverse with regards to the Radiance.

[dancingthesambaa]

The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 19

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black furred monkey put out a hand towards him.

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 19: Got Your Back (And Maybe Your Heart)

“Okay let me get this straight-”

“No one here is, but go on.”

“Hush, I’m still mad at you,” Tang gave a stink eye to the Kappa before turning back to Macaque. “So let me get this straight, so not only are you the same Six Eared Macaque that has fought the Monkey King and the deity that’s known as the Wandering Healer-”

“Not actually a deity,” he inputted.

“Whatever, but I’ve been coming here for years and just now I find out that there are mythical deities and magical plants within the forest! The Yao grass that is said to be a component to the Immortality Pills, an actual Qilin living here?! And the brown bunny and that little shit stain, who probably wants to laugh his ass off, is actually a Kitsune and spirit!”

“Guilty as charged,” the Shui Gui chortled.

“Pretty much,” the monkey shrugged his shoulders.

“Yup,” Ní nodded in her fox form.

“…I am both very angry and very excited,” he grumbled. “Do you know how many questions I have?! Do you know how many things I could have tested? Do you know how long I have wanted to meet someone like you guys? Do you know how many questions I have?!”

“I think you already said that,” said the water spirit though he froze as he saw an ominous glint in his eyes.

“Oh yes I did, because by the time I leave here,” he mysteriously whipped out his phone, “I will have all my questions answered.”

“Just how many do you have?” Macaque cautiously asked.

Tang said nothing as he instead showed a folder containing many files within them. “Quite a few. Quite. A. Few.”

All three immortals, the ones who have faced many fierce opponents throughout their life, gulped at the looming trials ahead.

“Fuck,” they all unanimously said.

It was cold, damp, and thoroughly disgusting with all of the worthless piles of junk lying around, but she supposed she would have to work with what she had under these…conditions.

Lady Bone Demon quietly walked through the open sewer as she attempted to distinguish where exactly she should strike next while her underling, who has been waiting for all these years, searches for the one item she hasn’t quite found.

It was quite tricky, to say the least, all the rest of the ingredients she needed to procure, albeit a bit rare, would be much easier to obtain even if those incompetent bugs mess it up. It won’t be too hard to find a replacement for those, she just decided on them for the proximity, she does not desire to leave the city before she achieves her prize. The last item though is something that is an ingredient that is not so easily replaceable, so she will need to take her time and look through every crack and back alley down until she does.

It was quite irritating, from the conditions she found herself into the annoying bugs that seem to think they are above her to Sun Wukong.

Sometimes she just wished that she could be over and done with this little game entirely and reach the end, but alas that’s not how life works. But she will admit that it will be fun watching them all struggle to get one step ahead of her, though she can’t decide which one she’ll enjoy more, Sun Wukong look when she finally drains him of every last bit of power and torture what he cherishes in front of his very eyes or Spider Queen expression as she stabs her in the back when she becomes the component to her plans. Both sound absolutely delightful when the time comes, but for that to happen she suppose she will have to achieve this the long way, no shortcuts or cheats allowed.

But she doesn’t mind the wait, after all, she had been imprisoned for over five hundred centuries.

She has nothing but time and she intends to play this little game all the way to the end.

“So your not just some random ass immortal,” Macaque bluntly said when Shen met up with him again.

“Took you that long to figure that out,” the frizzy hair old man laughed.

“Well, how am I supposed to know that you were literally giving me Immortal wine when I have never tasted it before you all but shoved it to me?” He grumbled as he held the bottle of very rare wine once more. “You know I don’t really need this, I am still perfectly immortal without it.”

“Oh I know, Yama sometimes grumbled about it from time to time when we get together. Gods know he wants to strangle Sun Wukong's scrawny neck when he gets the chance,” he said while drinking some of the wine.

“You regularly drink with the King of the Dead?” He deadpanned, “Who the fuck are you? Cause that right there shows that you're not just a regular ass deity.”

“Hmm I’ll tell you if you tell me how you figured out how to make the Immortality pills,” he smirked at the monkey still look.

“What do you mean?”

“I may be old, but I can smell a lot of the ingredients for the pills in this forest alone. Yao grass, Biya berries, Voya roots, Gracidea flowers, just to name a few,” he tapped his nose.

“Can’t really hide the smell,” he clicked his teeth. “Alright fine I’ll talk, but you better keep your end of the deal.”

“Will do.”

And so they talked and talked and when Shen spoke of who he was Macaque all but threw the bottle in his hand.

“What the fuck Ping?!” He hissed out as he had to stop himself from bashing his head against the tree. “How the fuck?!”

“He was an interesting one,” he laughed. He met his old friend by the river where he was doing his laundry, they spoke and then he found himself another drinking buddy.

Macaque’s eyes twitched as he just slumped over and groaned loudly. “What the fuck!”

Shen just laughed wildly next to him.

“Yeah yeah laugh it up,” he hissed before letting out a sigh and sat himself up. “Shit I don’t know if I can ask you this but I might as well fucking try?”

“Hmm?” He curiously questioned.

“I may need something soon that I can’t quite get on normal means and I think-no I know I will need your help to get it,” he asked with an almost pleading voice.

“Hmm, why do you need it?” He noted the tone in his voice but didn’t say a word about it.

“There is a demon that wants to take over the land and almost nobody would be able to stop her,” the simian admitted.

“Eh, there will always be some creature that wants to take over the world, been there, seen that, but that never really happens now does it,” he easily dismissed it as he leaned in closer, “but why do you need it?”

“Because there are people that I want to protect and I know that they will be the ones that will be fighting against that monster and like hell I am letting them do this alone,” he growled.

“Oh now I have your reason, so here’s another question. How much are you willing to give for my favor?”

“Anything,” he determinedly said.

“Anything you say? Even your life?” His green eyes challenged his violet ones.

“Yes,” he replied with no hesitation as the question didn’t even make him flinch.

There was a long silence as both beings stared the other down until the red haired man broke off his gaze and chuckled lightly.

“…hehehe, always knew Ping was fond of the stubborn ones,” he grinned.

“Ping is an old coot with the perchance of running into the weirdest fucking things,” he huffed as the air around them seem to settle down.

“You're not wrong,” he nodded. “Alright I’ll help ya, but next time I drop by I expect some high quality drinks.”

“Tch, fine you alcoholic bastard. Hope you don’t mind Plum wine, have a few sitting for a couple of centuries.”

“Are you kidding? The longer the age, the better it is! It’s like you don’t know me sapling,” he said with a mock hurt expression.

“I mean I might as well as you just told me who the fuck you are!” He threw his hands in the air.

“But you know my wine tastes!”

“You've only given me one kind of wine bastard!”

“Still!”

“Don’t you fucking pout you overgrown child!”

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” MK cursed as he dashed his way through the volcanic land and ducked from a large fiery boulder aimed straight towards him. “Why does this happen to me!?”

Now you may be wondering how and why MK found himself stuck in the volcano arena, well he was visiting one of the more interesting customers he had delivered to before, as in she was trying to learn more about magic, with Red and Mei. Which is cool and all, especially since she has mastered how to change her hair color on will, but she was showing him her more advanced spells. Now it was very fun with the Bull Prince trying to explain to the young girl how each spell works and how much energy must be put into it. They were even going to try out a new spell together, but the thing about her is that while she does have quite a bit of talent, she is extremely clumsy. As she took a step forward and accidentally pushed him into the symbol on the ground and then ‘poof’ he teleported right in the middle of the fire imp territory.

Usually, this wouldn’t be a problem, he can handle a few enemies on his own and he did with such ease that not even a scratch was laid on him. It’s just that the problem was that they all happened to be a bit too loud and woke up a humanoid creature that was three times his size, entirely made up of molten magma and rock crystals, and looked very pissed.

Needless to say all of them booked it as fast as they could, but unfortunately it had their eyes on one creature that looked different from the rest.

“Seriously!” He yelled as he climbed up the mountain and quickly hid and he held his burnt side. He knows that he is quick on his feet, but even he can’t dodge all of those boulders and swipes aimed at him. It doubly hurts as he can feel the burning of the magma touch his skin, he desperately wants an ice bath when he escapes this.

SMASH

But until then he will continue to make his way to the ocean ahead where he hopes that it would be enough to stop the beast in its tracks. He will swim all the way back home if he has to, he can deal with the sickness later after he saves his skin.

He felt the beast let out a devastating roar and a glance back he saw the creature lift the largest boulder that he didn’t even think he could dodge. So, he instead prepared himself as he was about to bring out his staff when-

“Here comes Jade Dragon/ Blazing Bull!” Twin voices shouted as the next second two terrifying forces slammed into the creature and with a pained roar he flew back.

He blinked as he saw Mei and Red Son, one who is surrounded by ethereal viridian energy and the other encaptured in a fiery crimson aura, jump in front of him protectively.

“MK/Noodle boy! Are you okay?!” Both of them have been trudging through not only ashes clogging their lungs and spot marking their skins, but also all different types of books and ruins trying to find the right activation phrase to reopen the portal to where their friend had disappeared to. They were tired, dirty, clothes ripped, and pissed off, but in MK eyes they were the most beautiful people he has ever seen as he couldn’t stop the blush forming on his cheeks as he took in their perfectly disheveled appearance, the muscles peeking from their ripped sleeves, sweat dripping from their face, and the worried look in their gorgeous eyes.

“Y-Yep!” He involuntarily squeaked. ‘I really should not have read some of those romance books with Jin,’ he thought as he cleared his throat. “I mean yeah, yeah you guys are perfect-I mean you got here at perfect timing!” He nervously said as he rubbed the back of his neck and tried to avoid eye contact.

“You sure you didn’t hit your head along the way,” she lightly teased as she kept a firm stance in front of him.

“Would be an improvement,” he smirked, but his eyes didn’t leave the Cherufu dazed form.

“Heyyy,” he whined before he realized what they said before, “Do you guys have names and you didn’t tell me!”

“Umm.”

“We’ll you see-”

“They are so cool!” His eyes sparkled, “they fit you both so perfectly, and the way you guys came in and shouted it made the scene even more awesome!”

Both of them couldn’t stop both smiles and blushes as their smaller friend, and small crush, kept on praising them, but unfortunately, their little bubble popped as the beast roared once more.

“Tch,” Mei irritably clicked her tongue at the beast ride interruption, showing off her fangs (after countless of honing to both tracing and the dragon sword, she was more than ecstatic to see that she matched with both of her boys) “I actually forgot about that.”

“You mean the walking miniature mountain that was just chasing me down,” MK huffed as he shook his head. Hopefully, the two would just blame his fluster on the heat and not drift towards the thought that he may like them more than friends.

“Yeah that.”

“You both need to really get up to speed with your Mythical beings,” Red grunted as he opted to not use his fire against the creature made of lava.

“Says the one who never knew what Advil was,” MK muttered.

“It’s not my fault you mortals inconsistently change their names for no reason!” He hissed as his hair flared up.

“Surrrreee,” both mortals said.

“Let’s just focus on getting out of here.”

“You just don’t want to admit that your wrong~”

“Shut it!

“And where do you think you're going?” Wukong flinched as he heard Macaque's voice behind him.

“Oh you know, just a little road trip,” he smiled wider than normal as he quickly turned around to hide his suitcase, “I thought that it was time I get off of my mountain and see what else I missed.”

“Uh Huh,” he noncommittally said as he casually walked forward, “and you just decided that right this week?”

“Yep!”

“Just out of the blue.”

“You know it!”

“With no thoughts in mind.”

“None whatsoever!”

“Sunny, I know you’re bullshitting me,” he bluntly said.

“Whattt?” He nervously laughed, “I’m serious, I am just going to go sightseeing for a bit and-”

“You still have that same tell when you lie, you know. Smiling too widely,” he pointed out.

“I thought I got that under control,” he muttered to himself and sighed, “alright yeah, you caught me. I was gonna go out and look for a weapon to stop her, but I have to do this, Lady Bone Demon is not someone to trifle with. You know how she can easily command someone under her will and that was when she just got out of centuries of captivity! Imagine what she could accomplish once she regains more and more power! I just can’t sit here and wait for that to happen.”

“I know, that’s why you're not doing it alone,” he pointed out.

“Huh?”

“Did you really think that talk we had the other day was just a one off thing? No no no, there are so many people and demons solely invested in this, because what Spider Queen did really pissed off a lot of people and they want revenge on not only her, but those who helped her,” he said as summoned a map and showed him. “Just see for yourself.”

The monkey took the map and he became confused about what he was looking at. “There’s just a bunch of doodles in certain areas.”

“Those are the areas that have been hit and investigated thoroughly, the ones with X are the no goes of anything suspicious or useful, the ones with question marks are the clues or hints, and the few with checks are the ones where they found positive report and/or confirmation on successful supplies that we need. All of these are for finding the necessary materials to end the Bone Demon life once and for all.”

Wukong's eyes were wide at the end of his statement, “You know how to destroy her?! How long were you planning this? How have you managed to search all of these areas?”

“Well, it helps that I have so many favors stacked up from my former clients. I usually don’t care what they pay me, but usually, it’s in either money, food, or favors and I have a lot of those. I mean just Po and his students alone have them all checking the western areas for it by themselves. He says it’s a good training exercise for them, but I think he just wants a break from those brats. And for your first one, we’ll ever since BK got possessed the family has promised vengeance upon her, and Queen Iron Fan happens to have knowledge of a permanent kill switch to ending that demon life,” he said as he showed him the formula.

Wukong examined it and after a while, he nodded his head and faintly said, “Yeah…yeah that might actually work…there is something to destroy her.” He still couldn’t believe his eyes, but it was right there in front of him, then the first part of his words hit him, “Wait, that long?”

“Yes that long,” he said with exasperation, “Am I the only one who found it fucking weird that the Demon Bull King, one of the strongest beings in the realm, got possessed out of fucking nowhere? That right there was already suspicious by itself and the ominous whispers were sure not helping her case, that just added it on. So we decided to get to the bottom of this and boy is this one deep chasm we got ourselves into.”

“It really is,” he agreed as he looked over the map and saw that some of the places that were marked were the ones he was going to go to, even some that only celestial beings can access, “You already investigated these realms?”

He looked over to see what he was pointing at and nodded, “Yeah, pretty much. As I said, I have clientele all over and I don’t really restrict unless they have really done something so fucked up that I would rather kill them.”

“You have favors with Celestial deities,” he emphasized.

“Just some minor ones,” the doctor tried to brush it off, but judging by his friend's look, it wasn’t going to be easy.

“Celestial. Deities.”

“How about we talk about this later.”

“Oh we are so talking about this later, but I still have to do this. I have to make sure that she doesn��t cause any more harm to people anymore, this is my duty that I have to do-”

“You're not understanding!” He gripped his hair in frustration. “I literally gave you a map and you still don’t understand what I’m trying to say!”

“What!” He threw his hands in the air, “What can you possibly-”

“You aren’t alone dumbass!” He hissed out and froze the Monkey Sage.

“Wha-” he was cut off once more by a furious finger poking his chest at each word Mac hissed out.

“You. Are. Not. Alone. I don’t know how many different ways I have to say this, but if it gets through your thick skull then god damn it, I will.”

“I-”

“I know what you were about to do, you were about to galavant off and try to do everything on your own and not say a single word to nobody like a stupid martyr, cause apparently this is a shared trait between you and MK about being so self sacrificial that you wish to take on the burden yourself! Well fuck that! I’m putting my foot down for both of you, you don’t have to recklessly go out there and hope that one of them will stick!”

“What else am I supposed to do!” He leaped to his feet, “I basically serve no purpose other than this glorified title of hero, which I am really sick of hearing, and that Bone witch could strike at any moment and we won’t be prepared. If I leave the city then that would mean that not only would I be faster on looking for the weapon, but I would be far away from her and her attempt to sap my power.”

“But you would also be away from the city and by the time you come back, there might not be anything left to come back to,” he said with a final tone. “No one would be able to stand against her, not the demons, not the people, not MK, not the Bull Family, not even me. We would all fall by the time the morning sun rises if we tried to face her head on. We would all be corpses below her feet.”

The Monkey King stilled as the morbid images flooded into his head.

City in ruins.

Bodies sprawled everywhere.

Familiar faces all dead eyed.

Bodies collapsed.

Heart stilled

His precious student.

All of his tribe members.

The rambunctious Demon quartet.

His family to the West.

The headstrong Dragon successor.

Demon Bull with his wife and son.

Yanyu surrounded by her siblings.

Macaque

Macaque

Macaque

They're all dead.

Dead

Dead

Dead

Deaddeaddeadeadeadeadeadead

“Wukong!” He snapped out of his thoughts by black furred hands and looked up to see Macaque worried Violet (alive there so alive and bright, so so bright and alive) eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’m-” he stopped himself and remend what he was about to say, “I will be fine…I’ll stay.”

The Six Eared monkey let out a sigh of relief, “Good, that’s good. Sorry for putting that image in your head.”

“No, no I needed to hear that. I-I can’t be impulsive, not right now, not when things are becoming dangerous, I need to think things through,” he sighed as he sat down.

“You're not going to be out of the loop, you are the one who knows where a weapon may be hidden, so you can easily tell them which spot to tackle more thoroughly,” he reassured him as he sat by him.

“That would be more efficient than me just searching one at a time, okay I’ll do that,” he let out a small puff of air and managed a small smirk, “I guess that’s why I have you in my life, you somehow manage my little quirks.”

“‘Little quirks’ is an understatement,” he deadpans and leans on him, “but yeah we do fit well for some odd reason.”

“Like peaches and congee,” he grins.

“I think you are the only ones who actually dip it into the food.”

“Oh like I haven’t seen you do the same with mango,” he pointed out.

“There’s a difference okay! It just tastes better that way,” he huffed.

“Surrrre it does,” he drawled out.

“It does.”

“Whatever you say.”

[thatnamelessbutler]

(OoC: Wither!Bu my beloved <3. In all honesty though, I am very much interested in how Wither!Bu came to be, especially since you said that it wasn’t necessarily by natural means. Also, I just want to say that I love the concept of Hubert teaching Butler and Billiam sign language so much!)

((ooc: ALRIGHT THIS TOOK THE ENTIRE DAY BUT I'M PRETTY MUCH DONE WITH HOW WITHER!BU CAME TO LIVE WITH BILLIAM,

AAAAAAND I JUST REALIZED THAT THIS ASK SAID HOW THEY CAME TO BE, NOT CAME TO LIVE WITH BILLIAM BUT OH WELL THIS IS THE CONTENT YOU GET. IT'S MENTIONED IN THERE EITHER WAY. PERHAPS I WILL WRITE AND/OR DRAW WI!BU'S ORIGINS SOME TIME. THERE IS A STYLE I'VE BEEN MEANING TO PRACTICE

ANYWAY HERE YOU GO))

So Billiam gets invited to this fighting ring or smth. He only goes cause they would shoot at his reputation if he didn't. So there's just a polite visit so far, they're giving him a little tour of the place, lying through their teeth and saying everything here is completely ethical and sustainable. And then he sees a child being brought along in chains and goes "hey wait. that's a child" and they're like "...yeah?" "why is there a child in chains." "well we have to keep him under control until he's in the arena,"

And that sets off SEVERAL warning bells in his head but he keeps his cool on the outside and lowkey presses for information on that Literal Child that didn't even look at him, and he discovers that they're a powerful hybrid made to be a weapon. They were planning to sell him once they actually found a buyer, and Billiam internally went >:( and offered to. Because that is a CHILD, are these people COMPLETELY lacking in the MOST DECENT MORALS? But he keeps his mouth shut about all that and manages to weasel his way into buying the tiny child who's just gotten done killing in the arena(and on the way, he learns that they're a "perfected" experiment of an artificial Wither hybrid). He's brought to their little dog cage with the barest of essentials and he knows he's gotta bring this thing home as soon as possible. So they give him the dirty child who follows behind without looking up, speaking, or coming any closer to him, he hops on his horse and puts them on in front of him, and proceeds to Y E E T an e-pearl really far, pays them a small fraction of what he promised, and kicks off running before they've even realized "hey wait, this isn't enough-" And by the time they do, the e-pearl has already hit and he's several feet away and still running.

Eventually he makes it home with this little gremlin that's forced itself to stay silent and calm so it wouldn't start withering everything around it. He lifts it off the horse, sends the horse back to the stables, takes the child's hand(and it's visibly confused) and leads it inside. Hubert isn't around at the moment, so Billiam's the one that gets it cleaned up. And notices the withered tips of its fingers, the patches of black bone on its knees and elbows, how their ribs are outlined with the same blackness. His Piglin side nearly panics, but he keeps his cool even while he can feel the child stiffen when he touches the hybrid evidence.

He gets them dressed in the smallest appropriate clothes he could find, and even those are a little oversized on him. Billiam "hm"s, gets an order put in for a mini butler suit, and messages Hubert to come home.

While they're waiting, Billiam shows the child his new room, says he's allowed to explore but not destroy anything(lord knows he's heard stories of the times they attempted to destroy everything in sight), and it appears to understand. So he leaves it for a little bit to prepare some stuff, and Hubert comes home and he updates him on what just happened and Hubert FLIPS OUT.

Bu can hear them arguing from up in his room. Though it's nothing new, the voices are new, and this place is new. He's very reluctant to move anywhere but the bed out of fear(and partly because it's v comfy), so for the several minutes while Billiam and Hubert are shouting at each other he ends up just bundling up in the blanket until Billiam storms back in. He's really angry because Hubert kept telling him to either get rid of the child or kill it and he ain't having none of that >:(

Anyway he manages to keep his voice calm while he's talking to Bu, tells him that he lives her now and that Hubert will be taking care of him and teaching him how to work here. And that about ends the first interaction :::::333

[the-dreamer-traveller]

NSM (New Sound Music)

I must have been landed in an alternate universe of the game No Straight Roads, because the entire plot of the dream bears too much resemblance to the game that I must have been in it.

Taking place in a highly futuristic version of London city, taking possible around several decades from the present and into the future. London is the seated location of NSM (New Sound Music Inc.), a megacorp that is described as incorporating elements of NSR (from No Straight Roads) and with strong cyberpunk elements, essentially making NSM the NSR in this futuristic of London. The city is built with a mixture of modern architecture with cyberpunk aesthetics, and many of the roofs in the buildings are in dark color such as dark burgundy.

NSM is composed of six EMD megastars, just like its main and canonical counterpart. Because the dream doesn’t go into detail of who these people are, I’m giving them names for the convenience.

AKIRA (or 明) is a singing android whose overall appearance is basically a tacky Oiran. She wears a bright red kimono top in a furisode-style, but the lower section of her dress is a giant, frilly one like a ballgown, in which it is bright red in color. She also has an exquisite headdress, with blue and red flowers and golden pins over her black bobbed hair. She is literally white skinned, as she is an android. Her representative music genre is assumed to be traditional Japanese folk music with soft-sounding EDM.

Xavis is a NSM megastar who looks like a bad guy-like, futuristic megacorp soldier or secret police officer, his design bears greet resemblance to many of them in various cyberpunk works. It consists with a helmet with futuristic combat lenses that leaves the lower half of his face exposed, making him look cold. He also wears a black futuristic armored suit with blue futuristic lines and pieces of hard metallic guards in his outfit such as shoulder pads, knee pads and hip pads. Because of his appearance, I think of him as represented by harder and aggressive types of EDM, like dubstep.

UNION is a five-person band, which consists of three men and two women. They are dressed in mainly black and red suits and plants, they resemble like matadors or bullfighters, down to looking like them. Despite this, they function as some sort of a hybrid band-styles like American boy bands and Korean pop bands, due to their incredibly flamboyant poses in promotional images. It is easy for me to think of them as taking the styles and inspirations of both sides.

Sonya Alice reminds me of SAYU, a virtual idol. In this case, Sonya Alice seems to be a vTuber with J-Pop and K-Pop elements, though it can be an educational guess of her being a vTuber. She wears a black and red outfit, which is a jacket, buttoned seifuku, plaited skirt, knee length socks and shoes along with a sling bag, headphones, a ribbon head accessory and earrings. As such of her inspiration, her music genre covers pop music, with touches of EDM such as anything that has -core in it.

Snow White is a megastar child prodigy, not like YINU. Just like YINU, White wears a black and red outfit, just like her fellow megastars UNION and Sonya Alice, which consists of a swallowtail suit, red undershirt, slacks and formal shoes. Very unusually, her hair is also styled like a bundle of rose just like YINU, which would make her like a parallel universe version of YINU herself. Her genre, unsurprisingly, would be guessed to be neoclassical, or artcore in the real world, and I wouldn’t mind if she turns out to be Deemo incarnate.

The main head of NSM is… DJ Subatomic Supernova??? I was honestly surprised to see that he is the CEO of NSM. He is visually unchanged and so is his music.

All of these NSM megastars are seen in various posters and promotional images of London, even when I am having what appears to be browsing on a computer. NSM has complete control of the city, and most of its superstars are even champions in battle.

Speaking of battle…

o----------------------------------------------------------------------o

BATTLE:

This dream does not lie that majority of the NSM megastars are capable of combat.

Taking place in a battlefield of an unknown location, AKIRA and Xavis are fighting against waves of invading forces that are trying to dismantle the system set upon by NSM, and is pretty much represented by robots, creatures and humanoids. Leading a group of black armored futuristic soldiers with neon blue Tron-lines, AKIRA and Xavis lead their troops into combat. AKIRA wields a ridiculously sharp katana that can slice anything in one hit. Xavis doesn’t seem to fight and is more of leading and teamworking with a personal squad of his own, with rifles and shields ready.

The enemies are mostly robots, tin-can variants, along with some other versions such as a pendulum-shaped robot and miniature ships. They are based in and contain various sounds of other music genres, such as EDM, Jazz, Country, Rock and Pop, so it is like the plot of No Straight Roads, but with the alternate-universe NSR named NSM as the main protagonists. They emit soundwaves that can “disrupt the harmonical heartwaves”, or something like that, and are to be disposed off as soon as possible. Every time one of these musical assassin robots get defeated, they will fling off and explode, with a short sound of their representative music genre being emitted for a final time.

So far, AKIRA gets a lot of action, running through the battlefield and slicing up invading robots, which causes me to hear some sounds from Jazz and Country. Meanwhile, Xavis orders his troops to split and scatter around, pointing to various robots that were in his sight.

o----------------------------------------------------------------------o

NON-BATTLE:

When they are not fighting, the NSM megastars would do their own musical business, but there is an interesting occasion when they aren’t making their own music, holding concerts or getting into fights.

Somewhere in one of the many lakes of this version of London, in a much farther part of the outskirts where there are still nature around it, the megastars of NSM are in a large island in a lake, which is shielded by mountains. The ones present are Sonya Alice, UNION, Xavis and DJSS, where the rest of the superstars are unknown for this dream.

I get to hear some of their conversation. Apparently, they are planning to create another arena in this island, transforming it into another futuristic arena, which is in reminiscent of the Coliseum-like design, amphitheater and containing a giant water sphere floating in the center. This level of dedication of creating an artistic building surprises me, especially since I haven’t heard of giant water sphere stadium since 2001. Perhaps they are trying to top it all out with their music, grand performances and artistic porn (obscenely detailed and ornate background, performance, art performance, etc.)?

[kihaku-gato]

AVTUALLY do you have a like guide on your OCs? Like quick and dirty who are they, why are they, what’s their universe etc etc. you seen yo have so much on them and how they fit in their world but i never really got a grasp on them and i want to know, well, everything

The quick and dirty… mildly challenging but not impossible, I’ll try to boil it all to bare essentials right here.

The World- Hoep

Not including AUs and Miscellaneous little stories/worlds there’s really only one fleshed out world for a good chunk of my OCs, which are in the “Hoepian universe” aka. the planet known as Hoep.

There’s a lot of details/lore for said world but here’s the short of it;

Fantasy setting, everyone’s a dragon. Almost everyone sticks to their human form cause most peoples’ dragon forms are… too smol. The monsters that caused humans before dragons to go extinct are still trying to do the whole planetwide extinction thing, some peeps try to stop it.

 Terra

Badass aloof athletic. Tournament fighter is her hobby but Mana Tech (or “magic scientist/craftsman” for lack of a better descriptor) is her career choice. Her battle style has a bit of a disciplined martial artist or military style to it. She is of a race of (literally) venomous/poisonous dragons, but does a bit to distance herself from any culture attached to that side of her, due to biological family abuse from an early age (well that and the whole “her father is a murderer and war criminal” detail), right to the point that she uses fire magic rather than poison or venom.

Due to the rough start she was a crybaby as a child, but after being adopted by a travelling fighter tournament champion, she started to make efforts on her own accord to be tougher and more like her adoptive mother. Though her mother did influence her badass aloof persona, I like to believe that Terra herself would’ve put her own pressure on herself to be tougher even w/o that influence.

This and that and she’s a little awkward socially. I’ve headcanoned her as Autistic but its one of those things I go on/off on.

She pays her bills partially through Mana Tech commissions (aka. commissions for enchanted clothes, armor, or weapons) as well as occasionally from the few tournaments she competes in.

 Kayla

Bubbly innocent lowkey powerhouse. Very bouncy and girly, a bit of romantic. She is last of her Clan of Monster Slayers (fyi there were three different Monster Slayer Clans that got wiped out). By instinct she is a good monster slayer to the point she took the job of monster bounty hunter to try to get by in her nomadic wanderings all the while not even training herself much to actually do said jobs.

She’s not really book smart, but definitely is attuned to emotions and intuition.

She holds up a very innocent rambunctious maiden kind of personality around people despite that violent career- it’s not so much as lie as much as it’s just the fact she wants to desperately hold onto her dream to be anything but a warrior. Settling down with a s/o, maybe starting a family, that’s what she would love to one day do so.

A bit of a powerful tank; half of it is all that hefty muscle hidden under the fat, the other half of it is her magical power being huge as well. Hard to beat being able to summon a lightning storm with enough build up.

She grows a crush on Terra when they initially meet. Rose-tinted glasses at the time saw Terra as a knight in shining armor.

  Demauria

Third image I had to include cause FRICK Shiro fanarts of Demauria are fucking gorgeous I die

Ice cold smol angry ball of rage. Despite being the shortest of the main roster, she’s actually slightly older than Kayla (some of it is genetic, but also some of it is that bad nutrition and improper magic usage stunted her body a little bit).

Like Kayla, is the last of her monster slaying clan. If that wasn’t bad enough though, Demauria lost family twice; her Clan, but then also her adoptive family as well (which got slaughtered by monsters). Between that and being raised in isolation (desolate arctic wilderness) she has a really bad time managing her emotions, which tend to then all lead to a response of becoming very angry as her emotions get out of hand. I could very easily see people calling her a tsundere (I even jokingly call her that) but it’s not a perfect label for how she is.

Her use of Ice Magic is both from her Clan and from being taught by her late adoptive father.

The one OC to be stubborn about preferring punk/goth aesthetic and very little else. If she wasn’t dealing with the mess she has to deal with (both in herself and the world itself) I would believe she’d be one to delve into Hoep’s history; both reading and studying the world’s roots.

While I’m not proofreading most of this ramble, upon nearing posting this I realized I should probably also explain wtf is with the pink haired vs the red haired with freckles versions of Demauria; like how Gaara (from Naruto) covers his body in a layer of sand for protection, Demauria does the same but with ice which is what causes the bluer hues and the hidden freckles.

 Riivar

Tall Travelling flirtatious entertainer. She’s ex-royalty from another kingdom (daughter to the King of Kennara). She severed her already rocky connection to her royal roots and took career choice of stage entertainer (a jack of many trades; singing, dancing, magical fire light shows, dramas, she dabbles in whatever she feels like having fun in) and struck huge fame. She’s also just is famous for being great with ladies in bed but shhhhh that’s not important.

In stark contrast to her royal roots she’s chill and very free-spirited and is much about having the freedom to do what you want to do in life.

 Harriet

Airheaded ship captain. Despite not being the smartest (she’s “sea smart” and has a lowkey theatre-kid mind but otherwise-), strongest, or prettiest, she makes up scrappy tomboyish charisma. Even in AUs she tends to attract a bit of a loyal crew that can move almost like an extension of herself.

Due to being the magnetic center of attention she can feel very ruffled/threatened when that attention she soaks in gets yanked away from her by someone else accidentally or otherwise (this is often the origin of a lot of Harriet’s animosity towards Terra both in canon and in AUs).

Like Terra, I lowkey headcanon Harriet to be autistic as well (funny for me, their Autistic creator to be so wishy washy on declaring it canon but that’s just how it is).

She was raised in a big family (lots of brothers), and was taught under the wing of a Retired-crimeboss who leads/directs her town’s Tournament Arena. Said ex-crimeboss trained her in “tournament legal” fighting methods but also taught her how to be illegal/dirty/underhanded methods where it be necessary for survival at sea. Before going to sea in her dream to be a seafaring ship captain she fought up the local tournament to become the tournament Champion to get her mentor’s blessing. Harriet had a random encounter with Riivar near Harriet’s “leaving of the nest” which both awoke Harriet’s adoration for women (“oh shit I’m bi”) and her idolization of Riivar to the point that she clumsily tries to mirror Riivar’s flirtatious mannerisms if she’s trying to woo a lady.

Though she holds herself to be graceful (her ability to ballerina spin for her water-magic attacks would fool anyone to believing that) she has a bit of a fumble-klutz streak in odd moments; the missing tooth in her smile was from tripping headfirst into the ship deck after a successful brawl against a rivaling ship crew at sea where she didn’t even acquire a scratch during said brawl (most AUs find similar ways to cause her to get a lost tooth in her grin).

You’d think her shipcrew would be a band of pirates but that’s mildly off the mark despite the well-matched aesthetic; she does not seek to steal, so she gets her ship’s maintenance paid by a blend of discovered sunken treasure/artifacts (some which she keeps for shiny keepsies) and the odd cargo/trade delivery to various places.

 Anne

Shy gentle beefcake. Same boat as Kayla and Dema in that she is the last of her respective monster slaying Clan (while Kayla was a kid and Dema was a baby when that happened to them, Anne had it happen to her in her tweens). In the fleeing for her destroyed home she eventually ended up in the great deserts where she was adopted by one of the nomadic desert dragon clans. Being lava magic (the magic her bloodclan specialized in) is similar to earth magic she quickly learned of the earth/stone golem techniques from said desert clan. While she’s capable of using lava magic she often uses earth magic first till the lava magic “warms up”. At some point she ran off to try to avenge/reclaim the town of her lost Clan from the monsters and left quite a mark on said monsters (not w/o getting scarred up physically and mentally herself though).

After that encounter rather than delve further on the monsterhunter role or return to the desert clan, she wandered around confusion of what she should do only to somehow end up in Harriet’s crew in a chance encounter. Before meeting Harriet she was getting money by a mix of selling baked pastries and shiny gems/minerals she prospected with her earth magic.

I’m still bouncing around on a lot of her motives and personality (the first conception of her she was a bit of a battle hungry warrior- not anymore, she softer now) but for the moment she’s pretty quiet and shy despite being so big and strong; she’d rather have a calmer life and embrace a more feminine style in how she holds herself, but she too busy having Destiny/Responsibility of being a monster slayer breathing down her neck despite not wanting to involve herself in those things.

 I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good down and dirty of the main OC 6 but I hope it is. I’d mention a lot of my other OCs (Hoepian or otherwise) for their sum ups but most of them are short story characters or support characters at best, or just pretty faces with little personality at worst.

[a-n-conrad]

Fighting and Flirting (Bakugo x Reader)

Chapter 15: Afterwards

[Summary: The Sports Festival reaches its end and the aftermath brings a few interactions and realizations that you weren't entirely prepared for. 

A/N: I refuse to write Bakugo being chained up at the end of the sports festival. They’re really just trying to make him look like a villain.]

Masterlist

The match sounded intense, though you didn’t get to see it. Your hearing recovered before your visions, and even if it hadn’t you were sure you’d hear the explosions anyway. Bakugo seemed pissed, and you really wished you could see the fight. Maybe then you’d be able to figure out exactly what had pissed him off so much. Maybe he didn’t listen to you when you told him not to take Shoto not using his fire personally. You supposed that would be in character. He always was a hothead, and never really tended to take advice from others. 

When the noise finally died down, the boys were dragged into the temporary nurse’s office, where you were still waiting for your vision to recover completely. You could see, but Recovery Girl refused to let you leave on your own until your vision stopped being blurry. And she saw right through you every time you tried to lie.

They had to help Shoto walk in since he seemed to be in rough shape, and they dragged Bakugo in kicking and screaming. You assumed Bakugo won, but from the looks of it, it seems like he wasn’t very happy about it. Not that Bakugo really ever seemed happy. They actually chained Bakugo down to the bed they put him on before they left them to Recovery Girl.

“Fuck you, Icyhot,” He shouted, fighting against the chains that were holding him down to the bed, “Why couldn’t you just fight me like you fought Deku?”

Shoto just rolled his eyes in response. He obviously wasn’t in the mood to fight back but to be honest, you couldn’t help but laugh at the whole situation. It honestly kind of reminded you of some of the arguments that you and Shoto had gotten into in the past.

“What the hell are you laughing at, light show!?”

You tried your best to stop your laughing, but even when you finally managed to talk it was mixed with giggles, “I’m sorry, it’s just, doesn’t this seem familiar, Shoto?”

“What are you talking about?” Shoto asked, raising an eyebrow at you. His voice was flat, but you could tell there were a lot of emotions going through his head. You were sure he was conflicted about what happened today, but there really wasn’t anything you could do about that. He’d have to figure out how he was feeling on his own.

“Come one, Sho,” You smiled at him, “How many times have I yelled at you for shit like this?”

“That’s different.”

“Oh yeah?” You saw him roll his eyes at the challenge in your voice, “How?”

You saw him try to work out a way to phrase the difference between this time and all of the times you yelled at him for going too easy on you during your sparring matches. Really, the biggest difference was probably why. Usually, he’d go easy on you because you were his friend and he didn’t want to hurt you, but he was going easy on Bakugo purely to piss off his dad.

“Whatever,” He muttered, a little annoyed. 

You sat on the foot of Bakugo’s bed as Recovery Girl healed Shoto. You were honestly kind of surprised when he stopped kicking against the chains when you sat down. The look on his face surprised you more. You couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but you got the gist of it when you raised an eyebrow at him in confusion.

“I’m literally chained up and you’re still going to sit next to me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Something in his eyes seemed soft and painful. It was only there for a second and it was hard to spot, but he looked hurt. Like a child who had just been screamed at. 

“The adults all seem pretty worried I’m going to blow up the entire stadium if someone gets too close.”

You hear Recovery Girl scoff at little. You have a feeling she’s going to be telling someone off about the situation pretty soon.

“That’s pretty stupid of them, hothead,” You said. 

“Hothead?”

“Yeah, Bakugo. Hothead. You’re a hothead, but you’re not as dangerous as they’re making you seem. God, they really wanna make you look bad today, huh?”

There was a pause before anyone spoke again. And that only happened when Recovery Girl finished up with Shoto and walked over to where the two of you were.

“The girl’s right,” She said, “They have All Might and a ton of pros if they really thought you were that dangerous. There was really no need to chain you up. And if the girl who’s nose you broke not that long ago is willing to sit and talk to you as a friend, they must really be overreacting.”

You laugh a little and Bakugo furrows his eyebrows. It really seems like he doesn’t know how to respond, so instead, he goes with, “Whatever.”

“Oh, and Bakugo,” You say, he glares at you a little, but you know better by now than to take it personally, “Maybe calm down before they chain you up on the podium too. You really shouldn’t make it any easier for them to make you look like a bad guy.”

Recovery Girl nodded and got to work checking him over to make sure he was alright. 

- - - - -

Eventually, it was time for all of you to stand on the podium to get your medals. Bakugo had actually kind of calmed down, though he was still sulking. Iida wasn’t there. You heard he had some kind of family emergency, but no one would tell you anything more. You figured he’d tell you when he got back, so you weren’t going to focus on it too much for the day. 

The podium was built to be raised into the arena with the people who had earn medals already standing in place. All Might was going to present your medals to you after that. The first place section looked odd, though.

“I’m sorry,” You turned to one of the men standing near the podium, “What’s the deal with all of the chains?”

You felt Bakugo stiffen a little beside you as the man answered, “We’re going to have to chain up Bakugo to ensure that he doesn’t cause any trouble.”

“That’s ridiculous,” You state, just as you hear Bakugo suck in a breath, about to start shouting. He froze when you cut in, and honestly, you had a feeling that was for the best.

“He’s obviously aggressive and since he’s too strong for us to deal with him if he picks a fight with All Might during the medal presentation.”

“He’s a student!’ You snap, “Are you really going to imply that All Might can’t handle Bakugo just because he won the sports festival? Do you really think that lowly of the number one hero?”

“Hey,” Bakugo snaps behind you.

You wave him off, “You guys are really planning on chaining up a kid? Because All Might can’t deal with him if he decides to start trouble? Besides, he’s obviously not picking a fight right now, so there’s no real reason to chain him up right now.”

The man seems reluctant, but as you stare him down you can tell he’s getting nervous. You supposed most people aren’t used to being told off all of a sudden like this. He really seemed to look back and forth between the other men around, preparing for the ceremony, as if asking them to back him up. They just shrugged in response.

“Fine,” the man grumbles before he leads you all to your spots on the podium.

You had never been a part of a ceremony like this before. And as the podium was raised up into the stadium, the nerves really started to hit you. The thought of all of the eyes out there and the cameras pointed at you was really making your heart beat faster. 

Before you knew it, you were out in front of everyone. You froze. You could hear all of the people around you, and despite them having been there the whole time, their presence was finally just then sinking in. The cheering and screaming was honestly overwhelming. You hadn’t had time to really notice all of the attention during the festival. You were far more focused on winning than noticing all of the people watching. You definitely weren’t used to this much attention.

“Calm down, light show,” Bakugo mutters, “You look like you’re about to pass out.”

You rolled your eyes, and as you were about to shoot back with some sort of argument, you realized that it had actually distracted you from your nerves. You had to wonder if maybe that had actually been the goal. 

Surprisingly, aside from that, the medal ceremony goes off without a hitch. Bakugo sulks through most of it, but that was much better than him being chained up throughout the whole thing. All Might presented you all with your medals, and as the weight of the surprisingly heavy medal around your neck, you actually felt surprisingly calm. Maybe it was the pressure on your heart from the medal or maybe it was having both Shoto and Bakugo drawing all of the attention. You knew since they got higher, more people were going to focus on them.

- - - - -

When it was time to leave, Shoto was dragged off by his father. Endeavor was obviously pissed at how the final fight went and he was planning on making it clear to Shoto. You were worried about him, but you were also worried about walking home alone. 

To be honest, you hated walking home alone. Especially since it was starting to get dark by the time you had gotten changed and collected all of your stuff. You tended to pass a lot of large groups of men, and even when you were walking with Shoto, a few of them tended to give you some looks you really couldn’t say you appreciated. Even thinking about the look on the face of one of the men you had walked past not to long again made you shiver. He had a grin on your face that you could only relate to wolf staring down a rabbit. 

Just as the shiver ran down your spine, someone tapped your shoulder and you nearly jumped out of your skin.

“Christ, Lightshow, What’s got you so spooked?” Bakugo asks an eyebrow raised as you turn around to face him.

“Ah, sorry,” You force a smile, “I was just thinking. What’s up, Bakugo?”

You could’ve sworn the look on his face looked like concern for a second, but you supposed you still didn’t know exactly how to read him, yet. 

“Where’s Icyhot? I thought you guys walked home together all the time?”

“Yeah,” You replied, “He had to go home a bit early, so I’m on my own today. Did you need something?”

“Oh, yeah,” He seemed a little nervous, “Um. Thanks. For stopping them form chaining me up out there.”

“Huh? That was no problem. That seemed a bit dramatic of them, so it really wasn’t a problem to step in. And it seemed like you were freaking out a bit there when they mentioned it.”

“Whatever. Just don’t tell anyone,” he mumbled, glaring a little.

“Of course,” You laughed.

The two of you actually stood there for a little. A silence hanging over the two of you as neither of you knew what to say. You kind of just awkwardly stared at each other for a little while, each trying to think of something to say. Were his eyes always such a pretty red color? Why were you noticing that all of a sudden? 

“Are you really gonna walk home alone?” Bakugo asked, breaking to silence finally.

“I guess,” You replied, you could feel a bit of a blush heating your cheeks up. Did he notice you staring? Did he care? “I don’t really have anyone else to walk with.”

“Where are you headed?”

You describe where your house it, explaining that it isn’t too far from the school, but it’s a little out of the way for most people.

“Oh, that’s actually not too far from the train station I usually go to,” He mutters, a little awkwardly, “Come on, Boombox, let’s go.”

“Go? Where?”

“I’m walking you home, dumbass. Obviously.”

- - - - -

The walk was actually a lot calmer than you expected. You had honestly never seen Bakugo that calm before, but you didn’t say anything, fearing that pointing it out would only make him angry again.

He was honestly good looking when he was calm. His spiky hair shifted in the breeze in a  way that you could watch for hours, like a little field of dandelions or a tree in autumn. His eyes were such a pretty shade of red, though they didn’t hold the same spark as usual. You wondered what he was thinking of so intently that his eyes were glazing over like that. 

“You sure are staring a lot,” He muttered, his eyes moving from where they were fixed in front of him as you walked, “Are you sure you don’t have a concussion?”

You quickly turned to look in front of you. You wondered if he could see your blush. Why were you staring? Why were you thinking about how pretty he was all of a sudden? Weren’t you just focused on him because you wanted to fight him? If that wasn’t why, why were you so distracted by him?  

Oh.

OH.

OH NO.

[lassieposting]

I adore your thoughts about deamon culture and upbringing. Something that’s always bugged me is that we don’t really get an insight into the culture and layout of heaven and hell or the non-humanness that makes angles and deamons. Please give more thoughts!!!

OH BOY, DO I

DEMON CULTURE HEADCANONS COMING RIGHT UP 

[1] My personal headcanon is that devil was originally a Lilim word that basically meant “warlord” - the leader of a clan with his or her own territory - and there were thousands of them, because demons lived in warring clans. Every clan had a _devil, _and they all considered themselves the ultimate authority and were constantly fighting for power. When Lucifer staged a coup and took over one of the strongest clans in the Ninth Circle, he basically went on a conquering spree, up to the point that there is now only one devil; all the other clan leaders have bent the knee to him. There’s probably either a Lilim way of distinguishing between A Devil (a warlord) and The Devil (Lucifer, King of Hell), or it’s become sort of an archaic term used only to refer to Lucifer and another name has become commonplace for your bog-standard warlord. The word then made its way to Earth both through Lucifer himself and through other demons before he outlawed possession, and developed its modern meaning from there. 

More under the cut - this is long as fuck. It’s becoming a habit.

GENETICS: 

- Demons live in one of the most inhospitable, treacherous environments of any dimension in the known multiverse. They’ve been shaped by the need to survive in their habitat. 

- Demons in general have a much higher heat resistance than humans, as well as far better low-light vision and enhanced speed, strength and endurance. 

- Hell has different habitats the same way Earth does, though, and the demons who live in the Ninth Circle (the part of Hell we see in the show, the part where Lucifer’s palace is) would have different adaptations to the demons who’ve evolved to live in the swampy marshland of the Sixth Circle (where Maze was born). 

- Demons are an R-coded species, so they have large numbers of babies, less parental care, a short gestation period and a very low survival-to-adulthood rate.  

- Because their babies have such a low survival rate, demons have very little parental attachment and they don’t form family units the way humans do (i.e. child raised by biologically related caregivers, close relationship between parents and child). 

CHILDHOOD:

- Baby demons are born already equipped with fantastic low-light vision, a full set of needle-sharp teeth, and the ability to get up and move around very shortly after birth. They’re not wholly independent - they don’t learn to talk or develop fine motor/dexterity skills until they’re older - but they are very much born armed and dangerous, which they need to be because… 

- They can and do eat their siblings in the nest, like sharks. Cannibalism is fucking rife in Hell. A large chunk of spawn are lost in their first year to fratricide/sororicide. It’s just seen as weeding out the weaklings. 

- In most clans, the spawn are raised communally in a creche run by designated nest-minders; these are usually the weakest members of the clan who would not be any use as warriors. Raising the young during their first few years of life is a fairly low-status position in society, but it does ensure that those weak demons will be fed, housed and protected - nobody wants to have to take over their job, so it’s worthwhile to keep them alive. 

- Demon spawn are…little demons. A large part of why Lucifer doesn’t like children is because of extended exposure to spawn. They completely lack empathy and social skills, so they’re loud, they bite, and a large chunk of nest-minders’ time is spent separating them when they try to kill each other. They won’t develop logic, critical thinking or their (still limited) sense of empathy until they’re a lot older. 

- Contrary to what some might believe, demons do have affectionate nicknames for their young - the sort of thing a warrior might call his trainee, or a nest-minder might call their favourite charge. The English equivalent would probably be kiddo or something, but they’d translate literally as “spawn” or “offspring”. There’s a sort of implication there that you care enough about this kid to see them as family; they can probably rely on you to protect them if they’re in danger. 

ADOLESCENCE:

- Demons don’t have a long childhood, and mostly they learn a trade by apprenticing under a professional. A would-be warrior is trained by an experienced warrior; a kid with a talent for art might apprentice under a leathercrafter; if you’re particularly intelligent and politically savvy you might get lucky and learn from your clan’s devil, if you manage to impress them. 

- A juvenile who wants to be a warrior (like Maze, for example) goes through a series of incredibly dangerous trials to become a fully-fledged adult warrior of their clan. It’s sort of like living in the Hunger Games, but, you know. Permanently. 

* Around the onset of puberty, at around 10 or 11 years old, they’re given a simple weapon and some supplies and sent out into the world by themselves to find something useful to bring back to their clan, to prove that they’re worth the time and effort it will take to train them. 

At this point, they have no formal training. They’ve got a decade or so of viciously scrapping with other youngsters in the creche for food, but they’re expected to get by mostly on their wits, their viciousness, and their willingness to kill to survive. 

There are hundreds of things that can kill a young demon alone in Hell. Demons from other clans. Heat exhaustion. Feral hellhounds. Dehydration. Volcanic eruption. Manticore. Harpy. Dragon. There’s even a chance another kid from their own clan will panic and kill first, ask questions later. 

What they bring back can be any of a number of things. Maybe some priceless gemstones that can be traded for commodities not native to their area of Hell. Maybe information about a territory ripe for overtaking. Maybe spoils taken from dead enemies from a clan yours is at war with. Whatever it is, it needs to be something the leaders of your clan will benefit from, or they might send you back out to find something better. Maze brought back Lucifer.

How impressive your gift is generally determines who you apprentice under; the kids who brought back the most impressive things will usually get sent to the clan’s top warriors. 

Only 30% or so of the kids sent out into the world will come back. The ones who didn’t clearly wouldn’t have survived training, so it wouldn’t have been worth the effort to train them in the first place. 

They’ll spend the next ten years or so (maybe more, maybe less) in training. Their mentor will teach them to fight with a whole load of different weapons, how to hunt, how to torture a captive, how to plan a battle, etc. The ones with leadership potential, training under the clan’s War Chief, also learn - on the DL, because nobody wants to get murdered - how to deal with your devil when they’re being an asshole, and how to bring them round to your way of thinking when their plan for a war clashes with yours. 

In bigger clans, at the end of their training, each warrior’s trainees get put in an arena to fight to the death. Of each class, only the last one standing actually becomes a warrior. Despite the immense amount of lives lost in childhood, demons breed so prolifically that plenty survive to adulthood. 

ADULTHOOD:

- Adult demons often wear identification marks, usually on their faces, to show whereabouts they’re from, which clan they belong to, and what rank they are if they have one. Some clans (like Maze’s) use face paint, others prefer tattoos, still others use scarification or branding. You don’t get to wear them until you’ve proved yourself, so it’s a great honour for a warrior to finally get their stripes.

- This helps establish social order - who you can and can’t flirt with, who you should and shouldn’t pick on, etc. If you’re a humble furs trader, you really don’t want to start a fight with a visiting devil over a casual insult to your work; you’ll get smoked. But fortunately for you, her face markings tell you who she is, so you keep your mouth shut. 

- Demons are promiscuous as fuck and don’t really go in for monogamy. It happens occasionally, but it’s definitely not the social norm. While every demon spawn knows who their mother is, it’s very common to have multiple potential fathers. 

- Demons can and do fall in love. They’re not very open about it, and there’s no way to say “I love you” in Lilim. Any demonstration of love is a demonstration of weakness, and in Hell any weakness will be used against you. Long term relationships between demons tend to look a lot like Lucifer and Maze - ride-or-die friends who hang out naked and have each other’s back against outside danger regardless of the issues they’re having with each other. 

OLD AGE:

- A demon who’s too old to battle anymore but was once a mighty warrior can still command a huge amount of respect; many become advisors to the clan devil - especially if he’s young; Lucifer had to lean on very experienced older advisors as a young king consolidating his power - or train the most promising up-and-comers. 

- Demons can and do grieve, but it’s usually expressed as a roaring rampage of revenge against whoever killed your ally. If something happened to Maze, for example, Lucifer wouldn’t cry or get sentimental; he’d cause so much carnage they’d be talking about it for millennia. By demon standards that would be the most touching tribute he could give her tbh. 

- After someone dies, their clan usually eats them - in a world where the creatures you eat can kill you just as easily as be killed by you, meat is meat and a meal you don’t have to work for is a gift. (This is why Mom asked if humans eat their own when She first came to Earth. Hell was a horrible surprise for both of them for a variety of reasons, and this is definitely one of them.) To humans, this is horrifying; to demons, it’s not even something to bat an eyelid at. 

- Devils don’t often get old. They live in a cutthroat world of power games and ambition, and everyone wants their spot. Devils get to the top by being especially cunning or vicious or physically powerful, and once the thing keeping them there starts to run down, they’re often killed and replaced by someone stronger. It’s just as common for your allies to turn on you as your enemies, so you’re watching your back constantly, never truly safe, always reading into every interaction for signs of danger. There’s a reason Lucifer doesn’t trust easy. As an angel he’s stronger than practically all demons, but Hell-forged steel can kill him; all it would take is for him to let his guard down just a little bit too much at the wrong moment. 

[shinydmoon]

Hey,

Would anyone be interested in an Ask blog for my Persona/DeSu au?

Here’s the basic outline.(first up sorry to all who know Greek, lovecraft, and probably Japanese lore- also apologizes to how ooc many of the characters probably are)

there are the primalter god/deity, The personifications of Time, Fate, Order, Chaos, Infinity and Nothingness. Those being then create others to act as creators and rulers of reality.

Now Nyx is one of those new gods and she ends up with The being of Chaos, Nyarlathotep. They have many children and all that. Now Order and his helpers with help from the rest of the gods(which are called Divines) have made earth and the rest of life and reality.

As the created life gains consciousness they develop Morality. Philoamon on the order/‘kind’ side and Nyarlathotep ruling the Chaos/‘ destructive’ side, to balance this scale Nyx creates Shadows to act as a medium for the created life to decide for themselves.

Now skipping/rushing though till getting to closer to the ‘main plot’. Humanity fabricated many gods, religions, and mythologys, Most of the Divines chose to take the names of figures in those tales when in contact with the humans and other non-‘godly’ beings. Not all the descriptions match the Divine who answer to it and some answers to multiple if they share basically the same role(ex. Nyarlathotep is well Nyarlathotep and also Erebus. Morgan(p5 kitty) answers to Elpis but is male not female.)

the none Primalter Divines choose their own gender..Kinda They are born as a gender but its the gender they answer to and the only Transgender ones to fit would be NB and Fluid, but even those that answer to a binary gender are not locked into it and a number[cough-CoughRyojiCough-cough] like changing it up every once in a while.

There were mutations in Nyx’s shadows that lead to both Demons[Nyarlathotep said yonk] and a group I still have yet to figure out a name for, right now I’m leaning to Fai, sylph, Observing Spirits, or Minor Beings[please help]. The Minor Fai are basically mythological creatures and a great number of Human Gods/deities who are not Divines. [Like Izanami and Izunagi in P4] For Human-Shadow Bonds[add link](end of sped though)

Philimon, not trusting Chaos to remain fair and keep thing in balance, wished to give humans a way to combat Nyarlathotep and Nyx’s Forces. Seeing as some humans had found ways to ally with their shadows He set up the Velvet room and most of what that involved. He did one more thing, a thing that all but he knows was a mistake that nearly caused what Philamon feared. To aid the humans in a more direct way and so that humans who were not able to interact with his velvet room could fight, He gave a select group of humans a Research subject. The newly hatch child of Nyx and Chaos, little tiny Hypnos.

Philamon waited for a time that the rest of Hypnos’ family were not on guard and Grabbed him. When Chaos and Nyx tried to retrieve their child Philamon threatened that if ether attacked him then they would have made the starting move and give him one free action without consequences or retaliation from Chaos. Thus Nyarlathotep and Nyx had to listen as one of their babies cried for them but they couldn’t answer.

Philamon first gave Hypnos to those researchers from Persona 1(I literally know nothing of P1 plot besides Dreams, a dead twin leading to self identity issues, and Nyx is fightable at some point). Nyx tries to rescue Hypnos from there but the events of P1 block her way and Hypnos is move to a temporary location- the area that Persona 2 happens[I know vaguely the plot of both persona 2s], Chaos tries to claim his son there but by the time he located where Hypnos was he had already been moved and Philamon blocked his way, Nyarlathotep enraged does the whole persona 2 Innocent Sin plot and all that.

While p2 was happening Hypnos arrived at his next and Final place of captivity, Iwatodai island under the watch of the Kirijo group and its scientists. Now the Kirijo group gets it in their heads that ‘hey why don’t we get more’/‘ this one has been studied thoroughly already lets get a fresh new one’ so They start torturing Hypnos and Performing many painful experiments while using him as bait for more of his family. The first caught in the net is Philotes(Hamuko) and with two of his siblings taken away and tortured Thanatos decides it’s time to step in.

He manages to get Philotes free and safely back home but is overwhelmed thus needs to turn back before he could get to Hypnos. The rescue was not all for nothing as the mess allowed Hypnos to final escape his container and he quickly runs to a different part of the lab, once he stabilized himself[to the best a baby can do] he disguises himself as a human child. But before he was able to get out of the facility he is discovered by two of the workers, The Yukis(or Arisatos doesn’t really matter) who mistakenly think he’s a run away from the Group that Strega and Sho Minazuki resulted from.

Taking pity on the tiny child they decide to take him home to raise as their own(this decision was in no way influenced by the fact their baby had recently died). Hypnos likes the humans who helped him escape the evil place... atleast until he found out that they were not going to let him leave and were very controlling. This begins the Saga of Hypnos biting, hissing, and wishing to tear apart every single human who breathed in his direction.

Before going on lets jump back a bit to clarify some of Hypnos’ stay with the Kirijo group. 1, he sees/interacts with Aigis(or any of the Anti-Shadow robots). 2, those dusk plums mentioned in P4 ultimate arena are Hypnos’ feathers crystallized into energy form[the plucking of his feathers leads Mint to have a enjoyment for tearing apart the wings of enemies, so if you have Feathered wing do try to not Cross Hypnos or else all you will know is agonizing torture]. 3, he was torn apart then forced back into a solid form with his energy and even parts of himself being taken from him- that’s what leads to him missing one of his eyes.

Nyx having reached her patience and tolerance level orders Thanatos to start preparations for The Fall. About 3 or 4 years after Hypnos escaped/was adopted by the Yukis The Night happens and Thanatos also turn to pieces bring the first Dark Hour.

Now in a feral state Death flees to what they sense is safety, they flee towards Hypnos/Minato. Aigis attacks, Yuki car is blown up, and Aigis seals Death into Minato. Maybe if she had had time to think about it she may have thought about why that hasty action worked. Death and Sleep are twins, Halves of a whole. By placing an incomplete Death into the incompetence Hypnos Their souls were able to repair themselves while also healing the other.

After that night Minato had a friend to be by his side, Pharos(as I have said before Pharos was there from the start). Minato feels complete with Pharos and Pharos feels safe with Minato. With no memories but the deep connection they feel the two take to calling the other brother. Minato spends the next decade being pushed and bounced around till he gets the invitation to attend Gekkoukan High School, seeing as that’s the only place he and Pharos know of that they came from he accepts and a kinda sort of version of Persona 3 happens.

[vannahfanfics]

Whatever May Come

Category: General Fluff

Fandom: Yona of the Dawn

Characters: Yona, Soo-Won, Zeno, Jae-Ha, Shin-Ah, Kija

Requested By: Yiren (Ao3)

Yona breathed a small sigh of relief and sank back into her throne seated beside Soo-Won’s as the harrowing Dragon Festival finally came to its conclusion. She knew that her dragons were only being paraded around for a political agenda, and she knew they were all strong and capable, but even they had their limits; though the fighting had concluded with only minor injuries, she still knew they were spent (and hurt) and that left her with lingering anxiety. She turned her head to her left to see that Soo-Won had already vacated his seat to go mingle, most likely to congratulate the two Generals on their victories. Yona pursed her lips slightly, remembering how the crowd had been so gleefully cheering about their supposed engagement. Yona had no idea what Soo-Won was planning… and that disquieted her, greatly.

Yona rose from her seat to be escorted by the Sky Tribe soldiers down from the arena bleachers to the preparation tents. She was about to indicate that they should just take her back to her room until she heard Geun-Tae’s loud, booming voice mixed with Soo-Won’s light, carefree yet somehow authoritarian tone. The Earth Tribe official was seemingly congratulating Soo-Won on their engagement as well. She sniffed haughtily; did everyone just assume that they were now an item simply because they were seated next to one another? This debacle was sure to throw kinks on Yona’s cause to riddle out the complicated political environment of her home country and get to the bottom of the deadly night between Soo-Won and her deceased father… Abandoning the soldiers, whom she ignored as they scrambled about squeaking that Yona should not enter a tent unannounced, she marched right over to where the voices where emanating from.

“Oh. Hello, Princess Yona,” Geun-Tae blinked in confusion as she literally stormed onto the scene- with all the grace and poise of a regal princess, of course. She dipped her head politely then straightened up to eye him like a hawk, until her red eyes were captured by the small-statured woman hovering next to him with a swaddled baby in her arms. Yona instantly brightened, because like many other people her age, she was not immune to the delicate charm of a baby. Her dawn-colored eyes sparkled with wonder as they beheld the little child, and the mother and father both took notice with matching amused smirks. “Would you like to come closer?” Geun-Tae offered. Yona nodded eagerly and scampered over to lean over the baby, gasping in pure delight.

It was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Its cheeks were rosy-pink like the freshest of carnations, with plump little lips and doll-like eyes that peered up at her with similar enrapture. Its tiny hands grasped at the cozy blanket wrapped snugly around it, little wee fingers no bigger than mere garden worms, and atop its head was a fluffy tuft of hair. Yona giggled and wave at the baby, earning a delighted smile and endearing coo from the baby. She looked up at Geun-Tae with a positively radiant smile.

“What a beautiful baby!”

“Thank you,” his wife responded jovially. She happened to look over at Soo-Won, who was watching her with soft eyes and an ever softer smile, and Yona immediately flushed red.

“What have you come here for, Yona?” the king asked languidly after a second. Stiffening because she really had no other reason for charging in besides asserting her dominance, she searched her mind frantically for a viable excuse.

“I-I want to see my dragons,” she arrived at finally. It wasn’t even a lie, either; she had not been permitted to visit them since their arrival in Hiryuu Castle, and she desperately wanted to survey Jae-Ha’s and Kija’s wounds for their severity. Being locked away in her bedroom with no contact with them was as close to torture as she could ever get, even worse than her imprisonment with Lilli. To her great relief, Soo-Won dipped his head in a courteous nod.

“Very well.”

~~~~~~~~~~

What Yona was not anticipating was that the entirety of Soo-Won’s council would have to go with her. The king, as well as Geun-Tae, Joo-Doh, and Kye-Sook, all accompanied her to the quarters where her beloved companions were being housed for the duration of their alliance. Yona’s lips were pursed in a very obvious pout, because although her top priority was ensuring that her dragons were safe and being well-tended, she also desperately wanted to discuss things that most definitely needed to be deliberated well out of Soo-Won’s ear shot. Unfortunately, there was nothing for that. She announced her arrival and slid open the sliding door to be immediately greeted by Zeno’s giddy smile and open arms.

“Princess! Zeno missed you!” he trilled with sheer elation as he jumped at her to envelop her in a tight hug. Yona laughed lightly, already cheered by his bubbly personality, and lovingly rubbed the top of his blonde-haired head. Not a moment later, Ao came skittering across the floor to climb her dress and sit chittering on her shoulder, to which she responded by using her index finger to stroke his soft brown fur. To her amazement, however, he soon abandoned his perch to leap the distance between herself and Soo-Won, clawing up his robes to sit on his shoulder instead. The long-haired king looked in bewilderment at the tiny creature which had set up camp on his shoulder before blinking and tapping the top of its head repeatedly in an affectionate gesture. All four of the dragons and Yona were all staring it uncontained shock at Ao’s seeming indifference to, and daresay approval of, Soo-won. After reveling in the pets being showered down upon him, the chipmunk hopped down to run back over to Shin-Ah, who scooped him up and stroked his striped back.

Yona crossed the room to sit in the space between Jae-Ha and Kija, who were lying on their backs swathed in bandages and wearing identical embarrassed grins on their face.

“Are you two all right?” she asked them worriedly. Jae-Ha smirked and gave her a dismissive wave of his hand, while Kija nodded eagerly and asserted, “Of course!” It wasn’t very convincing as he cringed and grabbed at one of the areas that was covered with binding. Yona inhaled deeply, then exhaled even deeper; all these boys of hers, they were all so reckless and overdoing it all the time… A small smile crossed her lips as she stared down at them both with nothing short of pure love. She would never have it any other way, though. She turned her head as Soo-Won crossed the room to seat himself a fair distance away from her. Geun-Tae and the others settled themselves against the wall, arms crossed and watching their interactions with interest.

“Your performances today were very riveting to watch. I appreciate you two giving it your all out there. I trust your injuries aren’t giving you too much trouble?” Soo-Won smiled innocently. Jae-Ha and Kija exchanged side-eyed glances before the both of them sat up, the blankets falling around their bare waists. Jae-Ha was confidence incarnate, smirking as he ran a hand through his jade-green hair.

“Of course. This is nothing!” His beaming smile was laced with challenge. Kija, on the other hand, was blushing lightly as he looked off to the side and tried to seem unbothered.

“Indeed. Yoon is very talented at what he does. We’re in good hands,” he answered calmly. Yona heaved another small sigh; their dislike and mistrust of Soo-Won was certainly palpable. To the king’s credit, he maintained an entirely unperturbed aura, nodding eagerly as if he we very relieved at their pending swift recoveries. The two of them suddenly looked to the princess.

“With the princess here, we’re liable to recover even faster, right, Kija~” purred Jae-Ha suggestively with a wink at the bashful white dragon. Yona giggled; she had come to miss even his unabashed flirtatious jibes. Kija fidgeted and clawed at the sheets nervously, already sweating. He stammered some quiet mumble that made Jae-Ha laugh heartily in victoriously embarrassing him, and Yona smiled at the two of them. She could almost fool herself into thinking that things were the same… but as she eyed the three military officials out of the corners of her eyes, she was sadly aware that it was not. Yona was currently sitting behind Kija and Jae-Ha such that their broad, strong backs were to her. With a small, stifled sob, she suddenly lunged forward to wrap her arms around them and pull them both two her. She had her head down to hide the tears brimming in the corners of her eyes, but she could feel their surprised glances boring into the crown of her head.

“You two… Please don’t overdo it, okay?” she asked in a hushed whisper. She managed to force back the tears and looked up at them with a small, broken smile. “You know that I couldn’t stand… to be without any of you.” Kija instantly went as red as a basket of tomatoes and began gasping reassuring remarks like a fish flopping about on water, while Jae-Hae managed to maintain his collected composure, though the blush dusting his cheeks betrayed him. Zeno jumped at her from behind to wrap his arms around her middle and nuzzle her shoulder affectionately, and Shin-ah even came up to her to stroke her dawn-colored hair soothingly. The importance of her words was not lost on Soo-Won, who was staring at her with wide eyes, but Geun-Tae seemed to miss it.

“Ah! Look at how he’s blushing! Eh, do you have a crush on the princess, Whitey?” he guffawed good-naturedly as he crossed his arms and threw his head back in laughter. Joo-Doh and Kye-Sook seemed largely unamused in comparison.

“I-I do not!” Kija gasped, abhorred and giving the Earth Tribe General an affronted look. Jae-Hae smirked wryly and leaned forward to peer teasingly into his face.

“Oh? How unbecoming of you, Kija, I thought you were supposed to be the princely one, and yet here you are getting handsy with the princess…” When Yona had hugged him, he had reached around her back to settle his hand reassuringly in the middle of it, the perfect place to be proper, but with a hiss he hastily retracted his hand. Jae-Ha began laughing raucously until he suddenly sucked in a sharp breath and grasped at his chest, having tweaked his wounds.

“Serves you right!” Kija snorted in derision. The room burst into raucous laughter, but from the way they were all looking at her from the corners of their eyes with small smiles, she knew that her sentiment had gotten across. She just wanted them to be careful, because she had no idea of what was to come. She let the two go as they continued to squabble with one another, finally breathing easy. My strong, capable dragons… Whatever happens, we’ll get through it together. As she opened her eyes to look across the room, Soo-Won was still staring so intently at her. She had no idea what was running through his mind at the moment… Ever since that dreadful night, she really had no idea what he was thinking or plotting at any given time. Not even an inkling…

She cried out in alarm as she suddenly heaved a large sneeze. All the conversation in the room ceased as she abruptly began sneezing in rapid succession, hands held up at her body rocked back and forth with the force of the gales leaving her body. I- What? What’s wrong with me all of a sudden?! She thought wildly on about her fifth sneeze. Had a sudden draft brought dust in the room? She was too busy ailing in sneezes to notice that Soo-Won had gotten up and crossed the room; when she finally stopped and rubbed at her nose with her sleeve pitifully, her head was suddenly jerked upwards so Soo-Won could press his forehead to hers. She stared owlishly at him for a moment, and then her face turned the color of her hair.

“Eh?”

“Sneezing like that, surely you have a fever,” he mumbled. Jae-Hae and Kija were sitting on either side of her, both staring at him slack-jawed at the very intimate display. Soo-Won straightened up and shrugged out of his outer layer of robes, spinning them around to delicately drape them over Yona’s comparably small shoulders. Still reeling in shock so hard that her vision was spinning a little, she looked at the three soldiers to find them all wearing the various stages of grief on their expressions- Geun-Tae looked confused, Kye-Sook seemed like he was angry, and Joo-Doh was stony-faced but his body posture implied that he was already on the tail end of the spectrum of emotion. Yona flushed further. Soo-Won had checked her temperature that way since they were both very little, and it just saddened her greatly, because now, it was under such different circumstances… As she looked down at the wooden floor miserably, drawing the robes around her with one hand, his hand suddenly appeared in her field of view. “Princess, you may be falling ill, so you should probably return to your quarters so you can be tended to.” Yona wanted to argue that she felt just fine and she wanted to sit there with her dragons, but that just wouldn’t do, she knew. With a small sigh, she took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

“Do you have to go?” Zeno sulked with watery eyes as he scampered over and hugged her arm. She forced a sweet smile on her face and leaned forward to nuzzle his cheek, like he so often did her.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back very soon. Take good care of the others, okay?” Zeno nodded eagerly and raised a hand to his forehead in a salute, making her chuckle. She really couldn’t be down for long with his sunshiney personality so bright and uplifting. Yona bore farewell to the others- and Ao- before Soo-Won accompanied her back out, followed by his entourage. Silence settled between them as they walked alongside each other, with his robes about her shoulders dragging behind her because they were simply too big.

“What are you planning, Soo-Won?” she asked him finally as they arrived at the door to her chambers. She rounded on him with an almost feral ferocity, face hardened like the mountainside. He looked down at her levelly, betraying nothing at all.

“’Planning’? Nothing at all. I’m just seeing… what will become of all this,” he answered cryptically before bowing his head lightly to her. “Goodnight, Yona,” he murmured softly. It was the two of them alone, as the others had split off as soon as they had entered the castle proper, and when he looked back up at her his eyes were glimmering with something she couldn’t name. She instinctually went to shrug out of the robes to return them to him, but he held up a hand in refusal. “Keep them.” He whirled on his heel and off he went, with Yona’s perplexed gaze trailing after him. She lingered there in the doorway for a moment, simply wondering…

What will become of all this? Of us? Herself, her dragons, Yoon, Hak, even her country as a whole. She didn’t have the answer to that, and that revelation made her shrink into herself, Soo-Won’s robes swallowing her deeper like they were drawing her into false security. For the first time since her father died, Yona felt truly alone and defenseless.

The smiling faces of her dragons, Hak, Yoon, and all her other friends she had made along the way flashed before her waking eyes, bringing the tiniest of smiles to her faces as reassurance flooded through her quivering body. No, Yona was never alone, and never defenseless.

Not when she had so many people behind her. Whatever was to come, Yona would face it all with an army at her back… And that was the most reassuring thought in the world. Smiling despite it all, she retreated into her room, dropping the robes at the doorway as the setting sun gleamed from the window. The sun set, but yet she still blazed as brightly at the dawning sun.

It was far from over.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @searchfortheonepiece

[oneandahalfwolf]

//Gladiator AU

send me an au and i’ll give you 5+ headcanons about it [x]

GLADIATOR AU;

Ben was left behind as a baby when soldiers attacked and murdered their village. They were sickly and pale and small so deemed a runt and not worth anyone’s time. Their cries attracted the attention of a passing couple and they were rescued. However they didn’t really fit in at their new town. Then we they were around 9 a fire ripped through the streets, decimating many homes including their own. They survived but ran away, ending up living in the woods. 

Iley was left at an orphanage by her grandparents unknown to her parents. She grew up there until she finally ran away at the age of 13. She lived off the land, using skills she’d secretly read in books, until she - literally - ran into a 14 year old Ben, now very much a ‘wild boy’. The other child actually invited her into their life and their 'home’, an offer Iley readily accepted. 

The pair lived in the woods for three years before, at ages 17 and 16, their den was 'invaded’ by soldiers who were taking a detour through the trees. They try to fight back but their home is destroyed and they are captured, taken by the soldiers to their Emperor. He wants to make Ben a gladiator and Iley a leisure slave. Ben refuses, telling him not to touch a hair on their sibling’s head. He laughs and says ‘what can you do about it?’. Iley immediately jumps in and says they will both kill themselves, which will leave him with nothing. The look in her eye makes him believe her. He for some reason really wants these kids as his property, so makes an offer. Ben will be his gladiator, fighting in the arena, and Iley will be his handmaiden, serving his food and wine. They can stay together at night, but if Ben loses the Emperor can punish both how he sees fit, and if they die Iley will be sold off. The kids exchange a look and agree, not really having a choice.

Ori is a gladiator for another Emperor who visits Ben and Iley’s. Of course while there the two set up a match between their best fighters. Ori is first in the arena and is met with the sight of Ben entering from the other side. At first she thinks its a joke. This scrawny kid can’t be this Emperor’s greatest warrior. But then Ben roars and surges forward, dual swords glinting in the sun as the crowd cheers. Ori is forced to defend with her spear and shield against the Wild Wolf’s onslaught. The fight is brutal and plenty of blood is spilled. Just when one seems to have the upper hand, the other turns the tide. Both end up disarmed at some point and devolving into fighting with fists. Eventually the Emperor’s stop the fight before one dies and say that perhaps they can put on a few more shows while Ori’s Emperor is here. Ori isn’t thrilled but she doesn’t have a choice. Before they leave the arena she notices Ben staring up at the royal box at something she can’t see right up until the guards start to usher them out.

As a favoured gladiator after a year of being undefeated Ben has a room in the palace as well as being allowed food. Ori is granted permission to use the room, which Ben isn’t exactly thrilled about but they can’t really do anything about it. That evening a banquet almost fit for the Emperor’s themselves is given to the gladiators. Ori knows she shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when food is involved, so immediately digs in. She notices though that Ben isn’t. She tries to cajole them into eating but they don’t budge, eventually growling at her to back off. They’ll eat when she’s back. Eventually there’s movement at the door before it opens, guards ushering Iley in. Ben is up immediately, almost knocking over the table, but stalls when a guard brandishes his sword. The other guard keeps a hold of Iley for a moment before they both back out of the room. After a moment Ben crosses the room in three steps and pulls Iley into a hug, one arm going around her shoulder and the other cradling her head. They drop a kiss to her hair before resting their head on top of hers. Iley slumps into their hold and wraps her arms around their waist, the two just standing like that for a moment before Ben brings her over to the table. They finally start eating but only after nudging their sibling to eat also, though neither are very enthusiastic. It’s here Ori realises its not just one scared and mistreated kid to deal with. Its two. 

The kids don’t really trust Ori, especially Iley. She keeps throwing glares at the other gladiator for all the wounds she caused Ben even as the smaller brunette takes extra care of them with water and bandages (leaving Ori to fend for herself in that regard). This makes it a little harder to convince them to escape, especially since the two are worried about what might happen to the other if they get caught.

Over the next few days Ben and Ori have to face a number of cooperative trials - including fighting other gladiators as well as animals such as lions, tigers and bears. All through this Ori is wracking her brains for a way to escape.