#learn! grow! speak! listen! you are not an NPC you are alive and you should be cognizant of the movements and politics around you

[badolmen]

*shaking milquetoast liberals by the shoulders* you need to make choices. you need to make decisions about how you interact with a larger political movement. you cannot look to the people around you to tell you what your opinion ‘should be.’ you cannot get caught up in the tide of a movement without being victim to its worst actors. you are the only person responsible for educating yourself, consulting conflicting sources, understanding their context, and coming to a conclusion aligned with your ethics. ‘let’s all be real niceys :]’ isn’t an actionable ethical or political stance.

[forgedobsidian]

Aphelion

A MHA fanfiction. Chapter 12 of 20.

Chapter 1     Chapter 2     Chapter 3    Chapter 4    Chapter 5     Chapter 6

Chapter 7     Chapter 8     Chapter 9     Chapter 10     Chapter 11

AO3

Summary: Izuku has been kidnapped by All For One, for reasons the young boy doesn’t understand. He is forced to stay at a rundown facility, surrounded by villains and, for all he knows, completely without help. In-between his attempts to escape or learn why he has been stolen, the young boy spends his time with a near-comatose man who seems strangely familiar.

Trigger Warnings for: kidnapping, body horror, medical torture, needles, and pain

Shigaraki stalked down the hallway, trailing one finger in the grout between the bricks. The buzzing in the back of his head was quiet today. His father’s hand had been carefully stashed under his blanket; he wanted to feel air moving past his face.

I wonder where Sensei is.

His teacher had been away for longer and longer periods of time, reestablishing trade routes with their old contacts on the coast. He’d only been back for a few days this time, long enough for Izuku to try his most-recent escape attempt. He knew that Sensei had talked with the boy since then, even though Shigaraki himself had yet to see his teacher.

He walked towards a junction in the hallway, finger still trailing the wall, when he heard a pair of familiar voices. One was obviously Sensei, his voice distorted by the mask. Shigaraki would have rounded the corner towards his teacher, but Murata’s voice made him pause.

“Are you sure it was smart to let the boy leave his room?” The doctor seemed worried.

Sensei hummed, the sound distorted by his mask. “We’ll see. Children don’t respond in favorable ways when they’re pushed up against a corner. Granting him something of a peace offering might make him settle down.”

“Yeah, well. That makes sense. I don’t see why we couldn’t have let him keep his backpack, though.”

“He used the paper to flip the lock. In a way, it was a favorable escape method. It provided a logical reason to remove another reminder of his past life, and it allowed me to give him the tracker and a semblance of freedom.”

Shigaraki felt his head cant to the side, and a smile twitched at the corners of his chapped lips as he leaned against the wall. So that’s how the brat did it. Clever, if useless.

“Why the worry, Murata? You’re not Eihei, to second-guess my motives.”

There was a sound of a shoe scuffing along cement. Shigaraki rested his shoulders against the wall and idly scratched at his neck, waiting for Murata’s reply.

The man was obviously hesitant, taking a deep breath before speaking. “Well, no, I’m not. I trust you, boss.” There was a deep sigh. “I just don’t like letting him wander around with a head injury and a cattle prod strapped to his wrist.”

“Spoken like a doctor, Masumi, but not the one I need.”

“I know.”

“I need someone willing to push boundaries.”

“I know, Sensei. You don’t need to worry. I just want to make sure Izuku is healthy, is all. For our work.”

Sensei gave a pleased hum. “Yes, that would be ideal. I have been tempted in the past to keep him sedated, and the only reason I haven’t so far is out of kindness for young Tomura.”

“How’s that work?”

“Tomura needs to learn and grow, and the boy provides that opportunity. Midoriya is a useful resource in more ways than one.”

Shigaraki felt his gut tighten. Izuku is a tool? For me? For me to learn?

Something didn’t sit right. Izuku was all smiles and hard questions. He was his own person, a NPC. He was strong in his own way, even if he didn’t agree with Shigaraki.

He wasn’t . . . wasn’t a tool. Buzzing settled in the back of Shigaraki’s head and he started to claw at his neck, tendons sliding under his fingers.

“Ah, Tomura. I’ve been looking for you.”

One of Shigaraki’s nails broke through his skin, leaving behind another mark as a thin trail of blood slid down to his collarbone. His neck was red and irritated, inflamed scratches from his jawline to the collar of his shirt starting to rise and welt.

There was a hand on his wrist, and he looked up into the metallic mask of his teacher.

“Tomura, put your hands down.”

“Y-yes, Sensei.” The blood was starting to cry on his fingertips, and he tried to wipe them clean on his shirt. The buzzing faded, lurking in the background. “Welcome back, Sensei.”

“Tomura, how long were you listening to Murata and I?”

For the first time in years, Shigaraki was afraid of his teacher. He couldn’t tell why.

“Not long, Sensei. I was just wondering where you were.” The lie came easily, and Shigaraki hated himself for it. The buzzing kicked up a notch.

I have nothing to fear from him. He saved me, he’s my master, my Sensei.

“Ah, yes.” Sensei withdrew his hand, letting his arms hang by his sides. “I haven’t been able to see you. Reestablishing trade routes, especially after four years of disappearance . . . it’s fatiguing.”

Shigaraki winced and gave the man a quick look-over.

“I’m well, Tomura. There’s no need to be concerned.”

Something uncoiled in Shigaraki’s gut, and he gave an acknowledging jerk of his head. Murata was lurking in the background, hands fiddling with something in his labcoat pocket.

Sensei clasped his hands behind his back. “In the meantime, I need you and Murata to finish up a project for me. Don’t worry, it won’t be difficult. As a matter of fact, you might enjoy it. It would be best to keep it from your young friend, however. He would object, I’m sure. Still,” Sensei’s voice took on a chilling edge, “it’s something that needs doing.”

Izuku sighed and flopped over on his cot. He bunched his thin pillow under his chin, kicking his legs back and forth as he thought.

He was tired, and his eyes itched, but . . . there was a warmth in his chest, and things didn’t seem as hopeless.

The memory of him helping Yagi back into his seat came to his mind. They’d been on the floor for a while, Yagi rocking back and forth until Izuku stopped crying. Before the man had fallen back asleep, legs stretched in front of him as he sagged in his chair, he’d given Izuku a fond hair-ruffle and a shaky thumbs-up.

Izuku closed his eyes and stuffed his cheek into the pillow. He couldn’t help the small, relieved sigh that built in his throat.

It might turn out okay.

There was a rasp of a turning hinge, and Izuku sat up on his bed as Shigaraki stepped into his room.

The older boy seemed more anxious than usual, with bright red stripes on his neck and an uncertain twitch in his fingers. He seemed to relax a bit when he saw Izuku, and his hands steadied as he closed the door and knelt in front of the cot.

“So you’re okay.”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah. I guess.”

Shigaraki’s eyes darted up to Izuku’s forehead. “Murata said you got hurt.”

He nodded.

“He never said he bandaged you up, though.”

Izuku looked down and brought one arm up to hug his shoulder. “. . . I visited Mr. Yagi last night.”

“And it’s . . . he’s the one who . . .” Shigaraki reached out and touched the bandage on Izuku’s brow with the tip of his finger.

“Yeah.” Izuku rubbed the back of his head, flinching away from Shigaraki’s touch. “I got a pretty nasty bump, I guess.”

Shigaraki’s face twisted, and the older boy stood and took a step back. “You’re an idiot.”

Izuku frowned.

Shigaraki started to pace, pulling at his hair. “You’re so stupid. You could have . . . things aren’t as simple as you . . .” With a muffled growl he reached out and clasped the lone chair, all five of his fingers wrapping around the wood. In moments, it was a pile of dust.

Izuku flinched. “Shiga, what’s -”

“You piss me off.” He whirled and pointed a shaking finger at Izuku. “You could have gotten hurt.”

Oh.

“You were worried?” The question slipped out before Izuku could think about it.

Shigaraki opened his mouth, closed it, and started pacing again.

“But I’m fine, see?” Izuku reached up and touched the bandage. “Yagi helped me. He helped me, Shiga, and I’m alright.”

The older boy paused, looking at Izuku with surprisingly distressed eyes.

Izuku nodded and looked down at his hands. “He’s a good person.”

Shigaraki sighed, tension bleeding from his body as his shoulders slumped. He shuffled to the door and reached out his hand, resting several fingers on the knob. He froze before leaving, shooting one last numb glance at Izuku.

“Sensei is having him killed tomorrow, Izuku.”

Izuku felt his lungs lock up. “W-what?”

Shigaraki turned and stared at the door. “Murata’ll bleed him dry for some final projects. He won’t even know he’s dying, and it’ll be painless. I’ll be the one to dispose of whatever’s left.” His grip tightened on the handle, his knuckles turning white. “There’s nothing you can do, and it . . . he won’t suffer. It would be best to just . . . stay here. Stay safe.”

“S-Shiga, no, he’s . . .” Izuku’s heart hurt. “He’s not . . . why -”

“Stay here,” Shigaraki said, his shoulders tense. “Please.” Then he left, closing the door behind him.

The world felt unreal, and Izuku knew his eyes were out of focus. No. He’s alive. He’s alive! They can’t . . .

He felt himself start to hyperventilate. He slid from the cot to curl up on the ground, hands clenching his head.

Get up . . . get up!! I have to . . .

Izuku took a deep breath and forced himself to hold it up to a count, and slowly let it out between his teeth. He got to his feet slowly, shakily, his vision still blurred at the corners.

He’s still alive!

Izuku stumbled to the door, the world muted around him. He grabbed the knob and twisted, a frantic sob breaking past his teeth when the metal skidded against his palm.

The door was locked.

Author’s Note: Now might be the time to review the definition of aphelion.

I know things keyed up several chapters ago, and the next several I’m going to try and take a step further before we reach the conclusion. I will say that I’m not planning for ‘Aphelion’ to be angst for the sake of angst. I want to tell a story, and this is just how it starts.

@coffeedoodle made a really cool art for the last chapter that you should all check out!! 

Thank you so much for reading!!

[theriversarebroken]

OCs in a video game

This post is inspired by @chickypoodoodloos brilliant one, which you can go look at here!

The setting of the game would probably be in space. Sci-fi to the max with multiple planets you can travel to, some that it’s recommended you don’t since it’s dangerous (need to be a higher level) but still can if you want to. I don’t know about the storyline, but I know your character would be a type of rebel/pirate/mercenary type. I love it :D. I’m tempted to write a story about all this from a second person perspective.

Rei: the first NPC you meet and she cannot stand you, but you can’t help but love her yet at the same time want to strangle her. She helps you learn how to play, telling you to press certain buttons and if you press the wrong one/do the wrong thing/walk where you’re not supposed, she groans so loud and says “C’mon dumbass! It’s not that hard. We need to get this down before we report in.”. She’s one of the main characters of the game, goes with you on your first mission. As the game progresses, she opens up to you and you grow to be good friends. Men and women can romance her but she isn’t a complete romance. She’s one of those almost romances that ends up pulling away. The rest of the game’s dialogue with her is horribly awkward if you attempted to romance her (unless it has to do with the plot). If you try to bring it up, she recoils and says, “I don’t want to talk about it. Forget it.”. She’s the one who would teach you to run stealth missions, always has extra blades on her person. Her idle animations would be her impatiently drumming her fingers on her thigh, rolling her eyes, and crossing/uncrossing her arms.

Loyalty mission - she won’t tell you exactly what she wants but you break into one of the galaxy’s most dangerous mercenary homebase. At the end you learn it’s a rare ingredient for a cake she wants to make (which tastes amazing, btw). You can choose to yell at her or just… just deal with her idiocy and eat delicious cake.

Nami: the space pirate who you meet on a mission at the start of the game, puts a gun to your head, a split second from pulling the trigger. She stops once she hears her baby sister shouting her name, which is the other woman you brought on this mission. After a bunch of dramatic confrontation, and proper decision making, Nami will assist and join your team (if the right decisions are made i.e not yelling at her sister, showing your a decent human being). She’s the bonafide badass. The first impression of her would be the “heartless raider” but it turns out she only releases slaves, saves towns, and does good. Should she not join you, you can speak to her whenever you want to for advice, usually hanging out in bars around the areas you can travel to on various planets. She is romanceable, though. Only women can romance her and if you do, she’s a bit… out of practice. She’s clumsy, but genuinely loves you. Her idle animations would be her cracking her knuckles, pulling out a flask, and having a sideways grin.

Loyalty mission - going after a slaver who is stealing young women and young men from unprotected settlements. Turns out this slaver is the one who stole Rei and Nami from their home. Nami goes into a blind rage and after she kills the slaver, and most of the gang, she’s a boss fight for you and your team, to which she never stops apologizing for.

Juno: the blind woman you meet on the Federated planet. She’s a high ranking politician although it seems like she’s pretty much done with working for the Government she’s with. She’s Rei’s inside informant as to where there are jobs for you and your friends to pick up. Eventually, she sends you on a job that ties you into the plot (the new species, and villains, nearly blowing you and your crew to bits). After that mission, she joins you, abandoning her position and taking all the information she can get her hands on with her. She is a skilled fighter and sniper, which you learn the hard way should you choose to say something about blind people or politicians not knowing how to fight. She hits the bullseye about ten times in a row with her sniper rifle She will join you on missions, though hangs back and higher up to get rid of enemies without them knowing. Women can romance her and at first it seems pretty easy to romance her since Juno is kind, loving, and just a great person but hooooly shit does she hide so much shit from you. It can cause a big rift in the relationship if you let it slide, or take the wrong route while trying to talk to her about opening up. Her idle animations would be her pulling the rifle’s sights up to her eye, fixing a braid in her hair, and seeming to pause as she listens for something.

Loyalty mission - Juno received a lead from Lavinia on the creatures, a possible home base. But once you arrive, you find out it’s a trap and the information wasn’t from Lavinia. Juno gets poisoned by the creatures, and you have to fight your way out, nearly dying in the process. Lavinia joins your team and works with Liz to keep an eye on Juno, since she is growing weaker from the poison.

Damien: Juno’s brother and also the pilot of your ship. He’s a rebel pilot, learned how to fly outside of the Federate planet’s classes and was only kept secret due to Juno’s political status. And once Juno’s on board you can’t help but ask why he never bothered to mention it?? He is a ridiculously talented flyer and fighter, though can get a little too risky at times. You seem to need to remind him that the goal is to live. Not die in a fiery wreck. Damien also seems to have a shit load of contacts for you to meet, which are all from being a pilot his entire life. Lots of planets, lots of friends. Men can romance him, and Damien is just so surprised when you express interest. “I’m just the pilot… and now I’m the pilot of your heart too.”. Whoops, regret it already. He seems to be more careful in flying after you begin to romance him. His idle animation would be looking up puns that he shouts over the loudspeaker.

Loyalty mission - Damien seems to be distracted while flying and, once you ask, explains how it’s about a distress call he got. It’s from his fellow rebel pilots. Their home. You go to find it wiped out, Damien in a terribly distressed state. With more investigation, you find the flyers who did this and wipe them out, though Damien doesn’t know if it helps him feel any better. After a talk, he admits he’s still heartbroken.

James:  the guy you meet on the ship that’s been stalking your own for days. You finally manage to confront him (after shooting some warning shots at his ship), and meet an all too cheerful gentleman with blue hair and a blue beard. He admits to following you since his sister is one of the people you are chasing. He’s annoying. Or adorable. Depending on how you view people who are still smiling after a bloody nose. He joins your team and, damn, he is a brilliant strategist when it comes to bringing him on missions. Saves your ass more times you can count, but never holds it over you. He also makes it easier to track the villains of the game since, again, one of them is his sister. Men and women can romance him and it’s super simple because he already likes you so much. He’s super supportive of you no matter what, romance or no. He’ll be your bff. His idle animations would be “nonchalantly” flexing his muscles, rubbing the scruff on his face and rubbing his fingers over the scars on his knuckles while sort of staring off into space (haha puns).

Loyalty mission - his sister reached out to him and he asks you to come as back up. She beats him within an inch of his life. You can choose to pursue her (does nothing, but James is grateful you went after her) or stay with him (relationship building argument on why you didn’t go get her). James is off your team for a while in the infirmary.

Liz: the crazy scientist you meet on a “junk” planet. You recruit her onto your ship to help with the oddities and researching the strange new species you’re fighting against. She cannot be a part of the team you bring on your missions, but she is simultaneously running samples on all the new species you encounter and trying to care for the crew (until you find a Doctor). Hahahah overworked much? Plus, if you enter into a conversation with her it… never… seems… to end. But she always seems to talk about interesting and important things so win-win. Occasionally she’ll drag you into her lab immediately after a mission to get some goop off your armor, or clean your wounds, or whatever she can get her hands on to experiment with. There’s only one instance where she’ll go on a mission with you and she asks you to knock out a “space beast” and she crawls into its body… while it’s still alive. It’s at that moment you realize she’s either completely lost it, or completely brilliant. Men and women can try to romance her but she’s so oblivious to it all. It just never works. Her idle animations would be her rifling through her lab coat, basically spinning in circles to look for something, and staring at a tablet, pushing her glasses onto the top of her head then back down.

Loyalty mission - helping her with the space beast, which has a possible antidote against the new, dangerous species. She almost gets digested so, on a timer, you have to figure out how to help her out. She explains it as the greatest experience EVER and gains a good amount of info on how to combat.

Sorina:  the crazy, robotic armed woman who blows a hole in the side of your ship like it’s no big deal. It wasn’t to any parts that will kill everyone inside but… still. It’s a hole. After the confrontation, she says she thought of it as an audition to join your crew, since James was taken on after doing a terrible job of stalking you. You can choose to tell her to go away, but bringing her on your team is loads more fun. Plus, she’s friends with Liz, who vouches for her. She repairs the hole in a matter of hours (which is faster than most mechanics can do). You have your mechanic/explosives expert now and it miiight be a better idea to leave her behind on some missions… since her explosions can sometimes be bigger than she thought they’d be. And maybe you’ll lose your eyebrows more than you’d care to. Women can romance her but she’ll really only hop on you if you’re smart. She just likes to have talks where she doesn’t have to explain every big word to you. It might come across as bitchy but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Should something go wrong in the romance, she’ll delete the romantic memories of you from her brain and act like it never happened because, to her, it didn’t. Her idle animations would be her pulling images through her arm and typing notes and trying to pulls knots out of her hair.

Loyalty mission - going to get special parts as her memory component seems to have been hacked. The one hacking her is a salvager she used to run with and isn’t happy that she stopped sending part. Sorina forgets who you are for a bit after the mission, which is frustrating.

Cadi:  The character you meet on a run through a tough level of thick woods on a far off planet. The level is easy to get lost in, and you only meet her if you explore every inch. She’s a hidden teammate that a lot of players miss. She’s found in an abandoned shack and she seems to have been surviving off of what little food she could find. She doesn’t know how to speak any languages and she’s your silent teammate. She’s never seen the advanced technology you have, so it’s pretty funny the first time she’s brought on the ship. As the game progresses, she seems to get more protective of all the teammates, and there’s a certain scene (if you bring her on the mission) where a teammate is grabbed at a bar and she breaks their arm in two for that. Very, very protective. She’s not someone who fights with guns, she’ll sneak around the battle and literally shred her enemies apart. You can romance her and it seems like there’s a whole different side to her once there’s a deeper love between you two. Her idle animations would be her anxiously looking around, and growling at what she thinks is moving.

Loyalty mission - Cadi just… leaves while on “shore leave”. There’s no explanation, but you can follow her trail which leads to bodies, which leads to you finding Cadi in a fight. She’s very badly injured, which causes you to intervene. Turns out the people she killed/fought turned her into a weapon, forcing her to destroy her planet and people. You can allow her to kill the last few (Cadi will seem conflicted afterwards because she realized she was doing what they designed her to) or call the law enforcement and get them arrested (she lashes out but you can talk to her and help her realize why killing them won’t help).

Lavinia:  a “friend” of Juno’s who still lives on the Federated planet, feeding you information after Juno joins you. She is not a party member, but you can visit her whenever you’d like on that planet for information. She does not have the same level of clearance of Juno but still gives you good information. Plus, she’s pretty medically savvy so if you try hard enough, later in the game (after Juno’s loyalty mission) you recruit her as your ship’s Doctor. Men and women can romance her but once she’s recruited as your Doctor, she breaks it off since patient/doctor relationships are super unhealthy. She’ll flirt, but the relationship won’t move past that until after the game, and that’s only if you don’t want her as your ship’s Doctor. Her idle animations would be shuffling through papers on the desk in her lab/office, checking the medical inventory, and wave as you pass (romance only). Should you run past multiple times she’ll roll her eyes and laugh.

Loyalty mission - she’s conflicted coming to you for help, but she brings bad news. She and Juno have been declared enemies of the Federate planets for abandoning their jobs. As you go to clear her name (Juno doesn’t care anymore), you find out someone has been dirtying it and chase them and fight until they decide to tell the truth.

Hadley:  one of Damien’s many contacts know as the Web. She has information on everyone and everything. Every city, every citizen, even you. And that’s the only reason why she joins you. You’re the only one who actually sees the threat and is actively fighting against it. She’s the Federated planet’s public enemy number one, so she rarely, if ever, leaves the ship. And if she does it’s with the most ridiculous disguise. She joins your team and hacks into the enemy's’ armor, guns, whatever she can get her hands on. Men and women can romance her, though Hadley is a tough cookie. She’s very reclusive, as if loving you would hurt her too much. And she questions how healthy would it be since she knows everything and you know nothing. Have patience. Her idle animations would be (if she’s around Sorina) hacking Sorina’s arm, changing the color of the lights, and tucking her pant leg into her boots.

Loyalty mission - Hadley isn’t someone who gets scared but you find her… shaken. And when asked what’s wrong, she shows you a video of someone showing everything they have on her. Which is impossible she doesn’t even exist. After tracking this person down, you find a bit more about Hadley’s past and have to make a decision: Hand her in to the Federated planets (Hadley vows to get revenge), or make yourself an even bigger target and keep her safe (She explains why she did what she did).

Helene:  she was working with the villains of the game, and basically fucked with you for most of the game but comes to you bloodied and bleeding and asking for help. She gives you all the information on those she was working for and does whatever she can to get you to try and trust her. It’s up to you whether or not to and what you decide will cause some issues with you and your crew. But Helene is genuine in her change of sides and information. Although, you might catch yourself second guessing everything once you find out she’s super into substance abuse. She can join you on your missions and usually gains the enemy’s’ trust and information before killing them (you can let them live but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ they’re bad people). Men and women can romance her but she seems very manipulative and only interested in sex at first. She’ll try to keep her distance and let it be a fling, but if you pursue the relationship, you’ll find out how broken Helene actually is and all the villains did to her. Her idle animations are kicking at the ground, dropping her head back from boredom, and winking at you.

Loyalty mission - Lavinia calls you to the infirmary where you find Helene, doped out of her mind, looking nearly dead. Helene asks you for help with her addiction, telling you there’s a plant on a far off planet that can help stop her addiction without the withdrawal. You go there and find a gang has taken over the planet, manufacturing the plant as a highly addictive drug, which causes the argument of Helene only wanting this for a better high. All-in-all it’s being manufactured for the wrong reason, you take out the gang, and Helene is clean.