#nobody would have been mad grim

[thechaoticfanartist]

Grim if you flat out called Palpatine "Palpabitch" in front of them right now I don't think anyone would be mad at you.

[earlycuntsets]

english translation:

pg 1. "VISIONS

MUSIC FROM PASSION

www.visions.de

Gerard Way

and the fight against one's own image"

pg 2.

"Double attempt

my chemical rumanre

It is the story of an album that never became one and a band that is fighting against its external image: My Chemical Romance reinvent themselves as a pop art band, as futuristic Mad Maxes with funky laser guns in a universe of quotes, cross-references and broken meta levels. The end result is Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys - a record that would not exist in this form if My Chemical Romance had not failed at the first attempt.

TEXT: JAN SCHWARZKAMP

PHOTOS: SEBASTIAN ARTZ"

pg 3. " A new My Chem song with rough edges was Black Dragon Fighting Society, a hardcore hit in the Misfits style that suited the band perfectly. That's right: "was" and "stood". Because that too is now buried in the archives. "Some people will probably hate me for saying something like that, but: The song is more punk than punk. Nobody expected us of all people to record a song like that. The song was deliberately not meant to be longer than a minute and a half, because only the best songs are that short, if you think of Minor Threat alone." At this point, Gerard has no idea that he is about to make a new start and that Black Dragon Fighting Society will not survive. But there is something that will point the way for the future. A comic. "I'm currently working on a project called The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys, which will be completely different to anything you've ever seen from me before. It will be my first adult comic, extremely violent. Imagine it as a sci-fi lo-fi punk odyssey, full of references to the Ramones and with a lot of laser-creaking." The stuff you can knit an album out of, as we will see.

SECOND ATTEMPT

End of September 2010, ten months later. A trailer for the new My Chem album has been circulating online for three days. Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys is what it is called. The trailer shows the four protagonists: Gerard, Mikey and the two guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro. No sign of black parade uniforms, but My Chemical Romance now look like four Tank Girls, reinforced by a sissy rollerboy. There is also action à la Mad Max vs. Power Rangers, a bit of 70s road movie flair in the style of Vanishing Point and the crude, grainy look of grindhouse cinema. The band's reinvention is complete. The light-shy moth has turned into a bright butterfly that fires laser beams.

My Chemical Romance - minus Frank, who is looking after his newborn twins - have been answering journalists' questions since the early hours of the morning. The most luxurious place to do this is the legendary Sunset Marquis rock star hangout in West Hollywood. Let's start where we left off the recording device ten months ago: with the comic, which has now become an album. "Yes, the comic is about exactly the same topics that are also found on the album," confirms Gerard. "The nice thing about the album is that there is no overarching story, it has no concept whatsoever." Gerard, now with red hair and a healthier complexion, is sitting on a couch again, this time without a cigarette. Ray and Mikey support him. Or not. Because if anyone has anything to say here, it's only Gerard.

No concept, then. But soon a comic and finally the corresponding album. On the record we meet the DJ called Dr. Death Defying

From black and long to blonde and short to black and the parade moved on. The new costumes are colorful, the record is not as grim as the last ones. "The new record is the most important thing. The last video we had I had this color palette of red.[makeup]"

FACE

With make-up and goth outfits, Gerard looked for a while like the illegitimate son of Robert Smith and Tim Burton, with his hair tied back. In that respect, My Chemical Romance only had themselves to blame for being perceived by some as a dark puppet show. At least you have to give them credit for being early on in this. "We did what we did, regardless of what others thought of it. When the whole thing became popular, we stopped it because we were simply done with the style. After all, our aim with The Black Parade was not to put on a cabaret show, but rather an expansive, theatrical death rock show."

HANDS

Gerard doesn't play an instrument, even though he's a guitarist. He takes care of the lyrics and conceptual ideas. Armed with a notebook, sketchpad and laptop, he works on his comics mainly on tour. "That works best. I sit in front of my computer and write scripts. I get the most done on the road because I have a lot of free time. And then there are the nights. So what do I do after a show? I write until two in the morning."

FEET

At concerts, Gerard walks a few hundred meters. No instrument ties him to one place. He is one of my absolute favorite front men," says brother Mikey. He is General Patton, that is his role. He is also so intelligent and eloquent. Having a brother in the band makes a lot of things easier. We would hang out together even if we didn't play in a band together."

HAIR

long. And now: red. The gloom has gone, the black look is sunny, the music - brighter. "The lyrics of the new songs on The Black Parade are so dark that I wrote them. The opposite." One change that the band turned to was that of teenagers. They were already fed up with black and white."

COMPLEXION

You can't tell from the photo, but the California sun is rubbing off on Way's new home. Gerard looks like he's just come back from a beach holiday. "I'm quite happy about that. There's no reason for me to stay pale," he says. Brother Mikey adds: "29 years of pale skin is enough."

T-SHIRT

"It has no political meaning. The American flag is used all the time anyway." In the interview, Way is wearing Chucks with the Stars Spangled Banner. We'll probably have to ask ourselves that question more often in the near future. The record is clearly not political, and neither is the look. We're just using it - a flag is like a tribal, you mark your territory with it. Our corporate identity, the symbol with the spider, is also such a powerful, universally applicable symbol."

PANTS & JACKET

The look changed: Gerard and the band won't be appearing on stage in simple denim outfits any time soon. "We wore marching band uniforms for three or four years," says Mikey. When we came back from the Black Parade tour, we had to redefine our lives and deconstruct ourselves. We wanted to drop everything and see what was left. Killjoys is the result of that - as if we were rebelling against The Black Parade, taking a stand against our own last album. A trailer shows the band as colorful end-time punks with laser pistols and Pontiac Trans Ams. Fans are already sending us photos, inventing color concepts for their Killjoy gangs and making their own weapons." "Sure, there have been things like that before," says Gerard, but what band offers that today? It's like a new Star Wars movie coming out. Nobody knows exactly who this Darth Maul is yet, but people are already dressing up like him. "Last time, our fans designed their own uniforms. This Killjoys thing is a bit more personal because it leaves more room for interpretation. The kids aren't dressing up like us anymore, they're creating their own characters."

pg 4. "Dr. Death. He delivers the intro, reads a traffic report and hosts the spectacle. There is a trailer for the record and now also a music video for the single Na Na Na, which is about our heroes and their new alter egos Party Poison (Gerard), Kid Cobra (Mikey), Fun Ghoul (Frank) and Jet Star (Ray). That's not a concept? "Well, yes, it is. But what it is supposed to be above all is a big pop art experiment. As it progresses, the fans and we will add more and more to the story. For the comic itself, my co-author and I already have precise ideas about what will happen. But we could also still question everything. If we shoot scenes in the desert, for example, they will dictate what the comic will look like." Aha. Let's wait and see instead of going into too much detail. Otherwise we'll get tangled up like in the confusing universe of Coheed And Cambria.

When we met last year, there were seven songs to listen to, none of which made it onto the album, or at most in a heavily modified form. What happened?

"When we met, we were mixing. Ray was at home with family things. Frank and I were trying to make the album sound the way we wanted it to. But it didn't work. Since I'm only the lyricist, I couldn't explain in musical terms what sounded wrong to me. Anyway, we had to approach it from scratch and talk to our producer Rob Cavallo about how we could do it. I had a song called Na Na Na that I had written in the desert. While we were still working on the old recordings, I said: let's record this song. We went into the studio and within one night the thing was done. That's when we realized that we had to rebuild the entire album from scratch, including the songs that we had already finished."

Last time you said that the new album would be a reaction to how you are perceived as a band. What is the situation now?

"It can't be about what anyone thinks of what you do. It's about doing it for yourself. That would be the worst thing: making music for the people who

not like you just so they like you. Should I be a bit tougher? Or more punk somehow? Will you like me then? Nah, not with me. That was also my biggest beef with the last recordings. They were good, but not outstanding. And if I had any complaints about them, it was the feeling that I had accommodated other people's views too much. We wanted to assert ourselves as a rock band. We only managed that with Killjoys."

The days of The Black Parade, the big gestures and all the pomp, definitely seem to be over. Looking back, did you lay it on too thick?

"Yes and no. It was an extremely ambitious album. I wouldn't say it was too hard-working, because we didn't try too hard. But we put a lot of work into it. We had to use a certain arrogance for the album. A lot of people thought at the time that we were a flash in the pan. We had released a hit album and were now going to go under with the emo hype. So we exaggerated everything, a defiant reaction. Even though it wasn't fun at times, we were constantly laughing because we felt kind of stupid doing it. With Killjoys we may not have laughed as much - but we had more fun."

THE WATCHMEN

The last sign of life from the band before Killjoys was the Bob Dylan cover Desolation Row on the soundtrack to the graphic novel adaptation The Watchmen. The video for the song was directed by Zach Snyder. "For free," Gerard marvels to this day. "Zach was so in love with his own film that he was still re-shooting scenes even though he had already finished it. This included the video for our song, which was obviously very important to him. He wanted to know what I thought about it. I told him that our cover version should sound like the Jim Carroll song People Who Died - like a big, loud 'Fuck you!', the film is one too." Snyder chose My Chem because he knew that Gerard is a comic book author and that his The Umbrella Academy, like The Watchmen, won an Eisner Award.

GRANT MORRISON

Morrison plays the bald villain in the Killjoys trailer. He's a comic book writer like me and my personal hero. We've been friends since The Black Parade. Greg is one of the most respected artists in the comics world, alongside Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman. He wrote his own character from the trailer and designed the costume himself.

COMICS FOR YOU

The second part of The Umbrella Academy, called Dallas, has just been published in German translation by Cross Cult Verlag and has already won Gerard and illustrator Gabriel Bá the Eisner Award. We are giving away three copies of the hardback piece of bloody pop culture. Write an email with the subject "Dallas" to verlosung@visions.de. The deadline for entries is November 19th.

11/2010 visions magazine

[sprite-writes-fanfic]

Hi, I'm appearing again, if it doesn't bother you I would like to make a request to Leona (you can already see the favoritism) And Jamil, in which the reader, despite having several suitors and admirers, chose them as her boyfriend, please (my boys need to receive love)

Hello, welcome back :} I can do that!

Word Count: 1301

CW: Reader is AFAB but pronouns aren’t really used, as always you are referred to as ‘you’. No warnings, just fluff! :)

Being the only female in an-all boys school, you could say it was rough. Not only did boys pick on you to make you out as ‘weak’, but there were some with a weird hero complex, and some who just wanted you for romantic reasons or worse… You didn’t wanna think about it, but Grim?

Grim could make a profit off of this.

Oh the smart and powerful Grim… He was selling your stuff behind your back such as; old pencils you couldn’t use anymore, old clothes you had thrown out, even your tissues! Who was that obsessed with you to buy it?! You’d be a little surprised. While he was at it, he was also trying to find you a rich boyfriend! When you found out, he’d make up excuses of, “Well we have money now for clothes and food! Aren’t I smart?!” He slept on the couch that night.

Well, remember how I mentioned he was trying to find you a rich boyfriend? Well… The next morning there was a bunch of suitors in front of the Ramshackle, and you nearly wanted to strangle Grim when you realized he was trying to put you through some damn speed-dates!

While Grim was yapping on and on to the ‘contestants’, you managed to slip away out the back window, hurrying off to escape the madness.

So much for a relaxing weekend.

Now you found yourself sitting in the school library, at least you’d find some peace there. As you sat there, a familiar voice would come from behind you…

[Leona Kingscholar]

“Oi, Herbivore.” The familiar gruff voice from Leona came up from behind you, the lazy lion leaning against you a moment, making you look back at him, “Hey Leona, I thought you’d be in your dorm.” You greet with a small smile, making him sigh.

“Ruggie basically chased me out. He wanted me to attend that damned dorm-leader meeting… Such a pain in the ass.” He’d growl, before peering at you, once resting his head on your shoulder, “What about you? You obviously seem to be here for a reason.”

“Grim.” You sigh, “That damned cat, I love him but sometimes he drives me up the damn wall! He’s been selling old stuff of mine to some secret admirers and then he was gonna put me up to speed-dating and bring ‘contestants’ to our dorm.” You rub your temples, “The moment I saw one on our front porch I nearly had a heart-attack. But… Well I’ll leave Grim to deal with them.”

You look over to see Leona’s gaze boring into your’s catching you off guard, he was really listening? You’d think he’d doze off by now… But I guess not. And the way he attentively stared at you, you could help but blush. “Hm…” he hums, thinking, “I have a solution.”

You gave him a look, wanting him to elaborate further, to which he only really leaned closer and nuzzled into you, rubbing his scent onto you. “Leona— What’re you doing?” You ask, face growing red, “Claiming you, no one will come near you if you're already claimed, right?” He asks, glancing up at you. “Leona…?” You furrowed your eyebrows, making him groan in a bit of frustration, “All I’m saying is if you were my mate, then nobody else would try to claim you.” He averted his gaze quickly, his own face slowly growing a bit red.

“Is this your way of asking me out?” You ask, now slightly teasing him. He gave a short glare, “So what if I am?” He grumbled, making you let out a soft chuckle, “Just ask normally.” You reach up and scratch behind his ear, making him melt against you. “But… It’s a yes from me.” You lean up and press your lips against his warm cheek, making a small purr noise come out of him. You giggled softly and couldn’t help but feel all warm inside.

Guess there was something to come out of this weekend, and you didn’t expect it to be a boyfriend.

[Jamil Viper]

“Prefect?” Jamil seemed slightly surprised to see you, “Jamil?” You returned the same confusion and sat up. “What’re you doing here?” He asked now, making you shoot back, “Could ask you the same thing.” You gave him a playful smile, making him roll his eyes at you.

“Well it’s rather simple, to help Kalim pass his next test, I’ve taken the liberty, as always, to help him pass.” He explained, and to be honest, you weren’t surprised, Jamil’s life really does revolve around Kalim after all. “I see.” You say, “I’m just here to escape my damn cat and his stupid plans.” You sigh.

Jamil’s curiosity was spiked and he couldn’t help but ask, “And what was his plan?” You let out a groan and rubbed your temples, “To get me a rich boyfriend so living would be easier, but I have to focus on studying, and plus, I don’t want my love life to be picked out for me.” You vented out your frustrations and sighed. Jamil was silent for a moment, this was his chance to spend more time with you of course…

“You and Kalim have the same class right? History class? You have an upcoming test… Why don’t you come with me and I can help you both study for it?” He offers, and honestly, you were a little surprised he’d offer. Oh well, you did need to study, a little studying never hurt anybody, “Sure.” You stand, “Let’s go study.”

…

A long study session that almost felt torturous, Jamil was a harsh teacher, and he wouldn’t give up on you until you knew the answer. Man, you didn’t expect it at all, but hey, at least you and Kalim felt a little smarter. During a small break in studying, you and Kalim got into talking while Jamil went to grab you guys some snacks.

You were talking to Kalim about the whole Grim finding you a ‘suitor’ situation and Kalim seemed to light up, “Oh! Well you and Jamil like each other, why not date him and tell Grim you already found someone!” You paused, and so did Jamil who was just walking in, both of your faces growing red. “Kalim.” Jamil said sternly, the grip on the tray of snacks and tea growing tighter.

Watching his reaction and quick to not really think about it, as you didn’t want to see Kalim get yelled at, you were quick to say, “Yeah— Maybe we should.”

Silence. Pure silence.

Jamil’s flustered face stared at you for a moment, before Kalim was quick to laugh and stand up, “I’ll leave you two to it!” He says all giddy, dancing his way out of the room, leaving you and Jamil alone.

It took a moment, but finally one of you said something, “So… Is it true?” You ask, “Do you like me too?” Jamil sighs, “Yes, I do.” He says finally, setting down the tray and sitting beside you, “I just… Couldn’t find it in myself to tell you because I am aware that my job with Kalim doesn’t leave me a lot of time to myself.” He says softly, “And I feel like you deserve someone who can give you that time…”

You smile and shake your head, placing your hand on his, “Jamil, you’d know we could always make time for each other, right?” He looked a little unsure and so you’d reassure him, “I know Kalim wouldn’t mind if you took some time off from time to time so we can spend some time together.” You smiled, leaning in, “So how about it? Can we give it a try?”

Jamil was silent for a moment before he leaned his forehead against yours, smiling fondly, “Yeah… I’d like that.”

…

Waaah, sorry guys, Leona’s was a bit shorter, I couldn’t find a whole lot of inspiration with his, but I still feel like becoming a couple would be pretty laidback with him anyways. Also the cute idea of Kalim blurting everything out was too silly to pass up. Hope you enjoyed! Cya next time!

[harzilla]

Contains very minor spoilers for book 7(mentions Malleus' unique magic)

I keep thinking of the idea for a fic where, post book 7, Malleus shows up back to Ramshackle. Yuu is sitting outside on the porch just watching the stars and when they see Malleus, they're not really angry at him, but they seem to be just exhausted and sad. They invite him to sit with them and for a bit they're both silent until Yuu starts talking. Talking about the moon and the stars. How they're so similar to home but everything is different. How no matter how hard they try they can't recognize a single constellation.

The conversation turns to Yuu asking if Malleus every really thought of them as a friend, and if he did, why did he never think to tell them how he felt? With all the other overblots, they weren't friends with any of them before they overblotted. But Malleus was different, they were friends first. That maybe if Malleus had said something, maybe they could have helped him through his feelings and somehow prevented his overblot.

Yuu asks if Malleus would like to see what they truly desire, and ask him to use his UM on them as long as he enters the dream with them.

They slip into the dreamscape and Malleus finds himself in an unknown room. He soon realized that, they're back in Yuu's world, in their bedroom. He fills a sense of disappointment because he still thinks that Yuu wants to leave him. But Yuu takes him to their family, and the family is really nice to him. They're so happy they finally get to meet one of Yuu's friends. He sits down at the table and it's nice. The family is asking him questions, cracking jokes, everything feels so normal. He's not being treated like a prince, nobody is acting scared of him, it's feels.. nice.

Yuu takes him to different places around town. The park they played at as a little kid, the lil mom and pop ice cream shop, and the hill where they like to watch the sunset.

The two sit and watch the sunset, and talk about the fun they had and Yuu goes quiet, and talks about how when they first arrived in Twisted Wonderland, they just wanted to go home, but the longer they stayed there, the more they would think how much they'd miss everybody. Like who would take care of Grim? Who would help Ace and Deuce study for history of magic? Who would keep fixing up Ramshackle? And who would be there to listen to Malleus when he takes his late night walks to admire the ruins and gargoyles?

They've been in Twisted Wonderland so long now, they don't know if they could leave but it hurts so much because they want to see their world again, the family and friends back there. Is it selfish of them to want both?

As they sit together, Malleus asks them if they'd like to continue the dream, and Yuu tells him, no, because no matter how much reality hurts, they still wish to live it. Besides, how would they make sure the school doesn't fall apart if they were gone?

The dream world begins to fall apart and as it all begins disappearing, Yuu tells Malleus that it's time for them to wake up.

The two awaken from the dreamscape, and Yuu's been crying in their sleep. Yuu thanks Malleus for allowing them to go home again, even if it was just a dream.

The two sit in silence for a moment until Malleus apologizes for what he did to them, how he hurt them and hadn't considered how they felt. Yuu that they accept his apology, but they're still mad at him. But as long as they're still here, he has a chance to make things up to them, and if they can find it in their heart to work things out with the other overblots, then they suppose they COULD give him a chance as well.

They hold out their hand to him, and as long as he promises to talk to them first about things that are bothering him, instead of just deciding what's best. They want him to think like a friend, and not a prince because to them, he's Tsunotarou first, and Malleus Draconia, future King of Briar Valley second.

Malleus smiles before he agrees, taking their hand. The two make a promise together. To be better friends to each other, and no matter how much or as little time together they have, they'd be friends.

[scary-grace]

Enough to Go By (Chapter 5) - a Shigaraki x f!Reader fic

Your best friend vanished on the same night his family was murdered, and even though the world forgot about him, you never did. When a chance encounter brings you back into contact with Shimura Tenko, you'll do anything to make sure you don't lose him again. Keep his secrets? Sure. Aid the League of Villains? Of course. Sacrifice everything? You would - but as the battle between the League of Villains and hero society unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is far more than you or anyone else imagined it would be. (cross-posted to Ao3)

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Chapter 5

You end up on a rooftop, you and Tenko and Kurogiri. Tenko has a pair of binoculars, and he lets you look through them before you have a chance to ask what he’s looking for. “We’re in Hosu,” he says. “The current location of the Hero Killer.”

“Are you going to fight him?”

“I’m doing what you said.”

You can’t remember what you said, except for your stupid joke. “Making him unfuckable?”

Tenko snickers, and somewhere behind you, Kurogiri does the same – which is extra weird. “No. Putting us back in the headlines.”

“Oh.” You don’t like this. “I’m not a strategist. You shouldn’t listen to me.”

“Why?” Tenko gives you a weird look. “You’re not stupid. Your ideas aren’t any worse than mine.”

“I don’t want you to get mad at me if it goes wrong,” you say. “I’ve heard you get mad at Kurogiri.”

Kurogiri chuckles. “That’s different,” he says. “Shigaraki Tomura. Tell her why it’s different.”

“Shut up,” Tenko says. He put the hand back over his face once he let go of your hand, but he’s turning red around it. Again. “Kurogiri’s not my sidekick. I don’t have to listen to him.”

“You don’t have to listen to me, either,” you say. “I don’t know anything about being – this.”

“You understand them better than I do,” Tenko says. He gestures at the expanse of Hosu before you. “What would it take to make you stop trusting heroes?”

You already don’t trust heroes very much. What would it take to move people like your parents or your siblings, who live in the other Japan, to where you are? “To see them choose wrong.”

Tenko gives you a curious look. “What do you mean?”

“Heroes can’t save everybody. They can’t be everywhere. They can’t be there all the time. But nobody ever thinks that the heroes won’t choose to save them,” you explain. “If you wanted to shake things up, you’d have to make it so the heroes choose wrong. For everybody to see.”

Tenko’s eyes light up, and the smile on his face this time looks less like your friend’s and more like the villain he’s become. “Then we’re in the right place,” he says. “This city is crawling with heroes looking for Stain. Let’s put them in a bind. Kurogiri, bring the Nomu. All of them.”

“Nomu?” you squeak, even as multiple portals open around you. “You have more than one?”

“We have lots. Sensei only gave me three.” Tenko gestures proudly at the monsters emerging from the portals. Everything about them looks like they’ve been put together wrong, from their staring eyes to their featureless faces to their pasty skin that smells like rot. The news reports about the attack on UA were clear about one thing – the Nomu that faced off against All Might was fast and extremely strong. “What do you think?”

One passes close to you and you cringe away, closer to Tenko. “They’re awful.”

“Exactly,” Tenko says. He stares down at the city, an expression on his face that’s somehow grim and vicious at once. “Let’s see what the rest of them think.”

The Nomus crawl down the sides of the building and vanish into the city. Tenko hasn’t given them orders, and neither has Kurogiri. You have questions – a lot of questions – but you’re not sure what it’s safe to ask. You’re Tenko’s sidekick, but that doesn’t mean his plans are yours to comment on. It feels weird to keep quiet, too. You and Tenko used to get in trouble for talking in class because you never ran out of things to talk about.

“You don’t look weird.”

You cough. “What?”

“You don’t look weird,” Tenko says again. You look at him, surprised, and find him looking straight ahead, peering through the binoculars. “I should have let you fix my shoulder the rest of the way.”

“What did you end up doing with it?” You reach over and part the cut fabric on his shoulder, wincing as you get a look at the bandaging job. “Next time, just let me finish.”

“Can you fix the rest of it?”

“I can’t do more stitches when it’s been open this long,” you say. Tenko grimaces but doesn’t swear at you. “There’s a chance it’ll get infected. If it does –”

“I’ll send Kurogiri to find you.”

“Tell him to give me a heads-up instead of just snatching me. I might need to grab antibiotics and I don’t want to make two trips.”

Tenko nods like this makes sense, which it does, except for the context. You’re standing here on the roof of a building in a city that’s already facing one villainous threat, while your childhood best friend turned aspiring supervillain has just released another – on your advice, no less. You try to rationalize it. Hosu is crawling with heroes, like Tenko said. If they’re good heroes, they’ll divert their attention to protecting the civilians. Heroes fighting Nomus will get Tenko the headlines he wants for the League of Villains, and if nobody gets hurt aside from the heroes who signed up for the job –

You need to be careful with that line of thinking. With that line of thinking, you could excuse what happened to the students during the attack on UA. “Can I ask you something?” you say, and Tenko nods. “Why did you go after the students?”

“I wasn’t after them. The point was All Might.”

“But you brought all those other villains,” you say. “On the news they said that Kurogiri moved the kids all over the training facility so the villains could kill them. And –”

You’re thinking of something else you heard, from Kazuo – that Tenko tried to kill at least three students directly, and All Might’s arrival was the only thing that stopped him. “He was supposed to be there from the beginning,” Tenko says. “All Might. Dividing the students up was supposed to distract him. Split his focus so he’d be more vulnerable to Nomu.”

You don’t know what you were expecting him to say, but it wasn’t that. “Those villains were weak,” Tenko continues. “The brats could deal with them on their own. It would have taken All Might two seconds. But two seconds is all we would have needed.”

“So it was – strategy.”

“Yeah.” Tenko lowers his binoculars, glances at you. “Do you believe me?”

The words leave your mouth before you can think better of them. “I’d believe you more if I could see you.”

Tenko was in the process of looking away. Now he glances back, and you can tell he’s startled, even through the fingers of the hand. You’re not sure what the hands are for. When he attacked the USJ, he was wearing multiple sets, but usually he only wears Father around you. You haven’t asked him to remove the hand before – only asked him where it was when he wasn’t wearing it, and when you think it over, you can’t see any commonalities between the times when it’s off and the times when it’s on. Maybe it’s the kind of thing you can ask about now that you’re Tenko’s sidekick again.

Tenko grips the binoculars one-handed, reaching up to remove the hand with the other. “The brats weren’t the real target,” he says.

“But you still tried to kill three of them.”

“Yeah,” Tenko says, like it doesn’t matter, without care – and without malice. “They were right there, and I thought All Might wasn’t coming. Everybody had to see how he failed again.”

Again? You’re not the biggest All Might fan, but you don’t remember hearing about All Might failing to save children who were being held hostage. In fact, when All Might has to prioritize, he saves children first. Tenko is watching you now. “Do you believe me?”

“I believe you,” you say, and you see his shoulders relax. “You’re not a very good liar.”

He never was. When you were trying to get away with things as children, you did the talking. Tenko’s job was to stay quiet and not make eye contact with whichever adult was questioning the two of you. No matter how desperate he was not to get caught, a few seconds of eye contact was enough to break him. In the present, Tenko smiles slightly. “Lucky I’ve got you.”

You like seeing him smile, and you’ve seen it twice tonight. The knot in your chest relaxes, only to tighten again as a chorus of screams rise from the city below. Tenko lifts his binoculars eagerly and you twist your hands together, trying to contain your unease. You have your best friend. He wants you with him – his sidekick, just like you used to be. You still know how to make him smile. And he’s a villain, the kind of villain who, when his plan to kill All Might looked like it wouldn’t pan out, decided to kill three children instead. What are you doing here?

More screams from below. You wonder how many civilians are being hurt, how many heroes are protecting them versus chasing Stain. You know there’s a free clinic branch in Hosu, one that’s open overnight just like yours is. They’ll be busy tonight. At least you won’t have to worry about them treating injured villains as well as civilians.

Or will they? What are the Nomus, exactly? Where did they come from? Is that the kind of question you’re allowed to ask Tenko now that you’re friends again? “Um,” you start, but he doesn’t look at you, just keeps peering through the binoculars. Sometimes he focuses so hard it’s like his ears stop working. You remember that from when you were kids. “Tenko?”

He still doesn’t answer. You reach out, touch his shoulder, and he startles so badly that he drops the binoculars. If he grabs them with all five fingers, they’ll disintegrate. You catch them for him, since it’s your fault, and pass them back once he’s ready. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s – fine.” Tenko’s shoulder is tense beneath your hand. You’re still touching him, and you shouldn’t be. You pull your hand back. “What is it?”

“The Nomu,” you say hesitantly. “What are they?”

It’s quiet for a second. “Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri warns. “You should not –”

“She won’t tell,” Tenko says without looking at him. He hasn’t put the hand back over his face. “They’re – I guess you could call them zombies. They’re made from bodies. Usually two or three bodies, and three or four quirk factors. It’s usually the same quirk factors. Shock absorption, regeneration, speed. I don’t care if you touch me.”

You’re too busy trying to wrap your head around the fact that somebody’s figured out how to raise the dead to catch the last thing. It takes you a second to get to it, and even then, you have to ask a clarifying question. “You don’t care? Or you don’t mind?”

“I don’t mind.”

Something is wrong with you. Something is really wrong with you that you’re more interested in why Tenko doesn’t mind if you touch him than in the fact that Tenko has multiple zombies at his disposal to turn loose on unsuspecting heroes and civilians. You try to focus. “Where do the bodies come from?”

“I don’t know,” Tenko says. He’s frowning slightly. A moment later, he puts the hand back on his face – but before you can decide if it’s because he’s mad at you, he hands you the binoculars. “Look.”

You look through them. You’re looking in the wrong spot, and after a few seconds of trying to give you directions, Tenko gives up and just covers your hands with his, moving you in the right direction. His index fingers are lifted, protecting you from his quirk. You see what he wanted you to look at quickly enough – heroes facing off against the Nomus. Endeavor facing off against the Nomus. It looks like the heroes chose right.

You can’t deny that it’s a relief. The civilians will always be your priority, and even if almost everyone has a quirk, most of those quirks are useless when it comes to defending against zombies with multiple quirks, and they’re banned from using them anyway. But you have the sense that Tenko’s not pleased, and when you look at him, you see him scowling behind the hand. “They’re making it look too easy,” he complains.

“These Nomu were not as strong as the Nomu from USJ,” Kurogiri says. “You were made aware, Shigaraki Tomura.”

“These heroes aren’t as strong as All Might,” Tenko snaps in response. “Master set me up – again –”

You spot something through the binoculars. Something Tenko needs to see. You push them back into his hands. “Look at that.”

Tenko’s still scowling, but he lifts the binoculars to peer through them. A second later he startles. Even without the binoculars, you can see a dark shape in distant flight over the city, something clutched in its claws. You don’t know who the Nomu grabbed, or where it’s taking them, but Tenko can’t fail to be pleased with that. Can he?

He can. A moment later he swears. “Fucking Hero Killer –”

Your heart sinks. “What happened?”

“He killed it. To save some hero brat.” Tenko’s binoculars are crumbling in his hand. You wonder if he even notices. “Fucking Hero Killer. Fuck!”

You’re pretty sure that’s not the end of the story. The Hero Killer saved a hero, after claiming that there’s only one true hero, and it’s All Might? You slide your phone out of your pocket, clear a bunch of notifications from your friends’ group chat, and navigate to Twitter. Somebody’s got to be reporting on this live, and sure enough, you find “Hero Killer” trending, plus a livestream of Stain’s arrest. He’s getting arrested, and with at least twenty murders under his belt, there’s no way he’s getting out of Tartarus in this lifetime. You touch Tenko’s shoulder again – after all, he said it was fine – and speak quietly. “Hey.”

“What?”

He won’t look at you. “Look at this,” you say instead, holding out your phone. “The heroes got him.”

“So?”

“So that’s it for him,” you say. “He’s going to prison for the rest of his life. All Might’s definitely not going to fuck him now.”

It’s quiet for a second, aside from a wheeze emanating from somewhere behind the two of you. It’s still weird to hear Kurogiri laugh. You don’t even know if he has lungs. Beside you, Tenko’s doing everything in his power to hang onto his scowl, and it’s not working very well. “Is that the only joke you know?”

You feel a surge of relief. “I’ll stop using it when you stop laughing at it.”

You hear the sound of helicopter blades in the distance, growing closer. Tenko can hear it, too. “Kurogiri, let’s go. We’re done here.”

You barely have a second to wonder where you’re headed before the black mist wells up, and you’re not entirely surprised to find yourself back in the bar. Kurogiri’s behind it already. Tenko’s sitting at it, the chair next to his kicked outwards. As you watch, Kurogiri sets two glasses down and lifts an unopened bottle of champagne. He opens it, pouring first Tenko’s glass, then the glass in front of the empty chair.

Tenko glances over his shoulder, spots you, and gestures impatiently at the chair. You sit down next to him and study the glass of champagne. Tenko’s already chugging his, but he stops halfway and glances at you. “Why aren’t you drinking it?”

You could lie, but you don’t want to. “I watched him pour it, and I don’t think you’d drug me. But I still have to be careful.”

Tenko doesn’t look offended. Instead he swaps glasses with you, and Kurogiri makes a discontented noise. “She doesn’t want to drink your backwash, Tomura. Even if you did brush your teeth before we left.”

“Shut up,” Tenko snaps at him. He’s turning red again. You look down into your new glass, trying not to laugh. “I brush my teeth all the time. You’re not special.”

That one gets you. You start laughing, and Kurogiri makes that weird wheezing sound. You’re starting to realize that unlike the villain you met earlier today, who was all over the place, Kurogiri’s got two distinct aspects – one that’s more formal, more severe, and another that’s significantly more relaxed. The second one sounds younger, too, and the impression only grows stronger when Kurogiri speaks again. “If you drink someone else’s backwash, it’s like making out with them indirectly.”

“No it isn’t! I didn’t ask you!”

Tenko is bright red and sputtering, and Kurogiri’s yellow eyes are crinkling, almost the way a person’s would. It occurs to you what this aspect of Kurogiri reminds you of – a sibling. You teased your younger siblings the exact same way, when you could get away with it. Well aware that you’re making some kind of statement about the whole thing, you pick up the glass that used to be Tenko’s and take a small sip. It doesn’t taste like anything but champagne.

When you look up, you find Tenko and Kurogiri watching you. Staring, more accurately – Tenko’s jaw is dropped. You will your face not to flush. “Thanks for switching with me. As long as you don’t pass out in the next half an hour, we’re good to go.”

“So you have to stay at least that long.”

He doesn’t want you to leave. You take another sip of champagne, giving yourself time to get under control. You don’t want Tenko to know how pleased you are with the thought, or how ambivalent you are at being pleased by it. “I guess I do.”

You stay for another hour and a half, reading over the news coverage of the Nomu attack and the Hero Killer’s capture until you can barely keep your eyes open. But you have an early morning, and even though Tenko complains that you have to go and makes fun of you for agreeing to take Yoshimi to her appointment, he doesn’t suggest that you back out of it. As Kurogiri is determining where to set a warp gate to send you back to Yokohama, you ask him why not.

Tenko gives you a weird look. “I know you,” he says. “That’s not who you are.”

He’s right. It isn’t. And as much as you’re pleased by the thought that your best friend still knows you after all these years, the disquiet lurking underneath it follows you home, curls up on your chest as you try to fall asleep. You’re not the kind of person who’d turn your back on a friend, or go back on your word once you’ve given it. But apparently you’re the kind of person who watches a villain turn monsters loose on innocent people and does absolutely nothing to stop him.

You might have made your choice already. You might have stepped over the line. But you have a bad feeling that you’ll be looking back over your shoulder at it until it’s vanished over the horizon, knowing you made the wrong call and knowing deep in your bones that there’s nothing else you could have done.

You’ve done basically nothing, but you still get the sense that you’re leading a double life. You comfort yourself with the thought that even if you went to the police, you’d have nothing useful to tell them. You don’t know where Tenko’s hideout is. You don’t know anything about who makes the Nomus or where they’re hidden. You don’t know anything about Kurogiri except that it seems like there are two personalities in there, and what Kazuo said about his quirk not being natural. You’re still not sure what Kazuo meant by that. Just like you’re not sure who Tenko’s master is.

The things you know would be absolutely useless to them. You know that Tenko recovered from his USJ injuries only to get immediately slashed up by Stain. You know Tenko likes champagne but can’t hold his liquor for shit. You know he’s smart and strategic, a lot more than the news gives him credit for, which is bad for them and probably also bad for you. You know he likes video games more than he did when he was a kid, but he likes you just as much as he did back then. You like him just as much, too. Probably too much.

You haven’t seen him again since that night in Hosu. You know he’ll send Kurogiri to find you if he needs you, and the fact that he doesn’t need you means he’s not getting hurt. But you’re watchful anyway. No matter where you’re walking, day or night, you find yourself keeping a close eye the shadows, watching from your peripheral vision in case one of them hides a warp gate. Or better yet, hides Tenko.

“Hypervigilance,” Kazuo remarks when he catches you at it, one partly cloudy day in early June. “A hallmark of traumatic stress. You could benefit from counseling.”

“It’s not wrong to be wary,” you say. “Things are more dangerous than they used to be. Don’t you feel it?”

“Another hallmark of PTSD. Persistent, negative cognitions about yourself, others, or the world, exemplified by statements like The world is more dangerous than it used to be.” Kazuo can be a real asshole sometimes. “But you’re correct. Crime rates have steadily increased as All Might’s taken a step back from the public eye.”

“You really think it’s All Might?” You glance sideways at Kazuo. “Not the League of Villains?”

“The League of Villains is a symptom,” Kazuo says. The two of you got to the park early; the rest of your friends are running late for your meetup. “I looked into the backgrounds of those who were captured in the attack on USJ. For the most part, I found petty crime – thievery, fleeing from the police, physical violence committed in the course of fleeing a crime scene or an altercation with heroes.”

That tracks with the kind of villains you run into at work. Most of them have done next to nothing to earn the title. “Looking back further,” Kazuo continues, “I found poverty, substance abuse, quirk-based discrimination, childhood trauma. There were some among the criminals at USJ who sought violence specifically and consistently from an early age, but for the majority of them, it was far from inevitable that they would become criminals. It could have been otherwise.”

Thinking about what’s going on with Tenko, you’ve gotten in the habit of playing devil’s advocate. “And that’s on All Might? One hero can’t fix poverty, or childhood trauma –”

“No, they cannot. But the presence of heroes gives everyone else an excuse not to try to fix anything,” Kazuo says. He gives you a look. “There will always be some villains. The existence of enough villains to allow your friend to form a League of them means that society is failing.”

“You’re not wrong,” you say. Usually when you admit that Kazuo’s right, he moves on, but this time he keeps looking at you. “What?”

“At least try to deny it,” Kazuo says, and you know what he’s talking about. “One day I won’t be the one asking.”

You know he’s right, but as much as Tenko occupies your thoughts, you don’t have much time to dwell on him on a daily basis. Yoshimi’s sick, cancer in her lymphatic system, and with her family out of the picture and her shitty boyfriend dumping her the second he found out, you and your friends are on overdrive trying to support her. Since you’re the only one who works in the field, a lot of the daily stuff is falling on you. You’ve been taking some shifts at the central clinic so you can check in on her while she’s there for treatments, and since the high school students are all studying for their medical assistant exams, you’ve been grabbing fill-in night shifts at your regular clinic at the same time. You’re getting four hours of sleep a night, if that.

You’re exhausted. So exhausted that, when the shadows in the corner of your vision turn out to be mist as you’re walking home from the park, you keep walking straight into Kurogiri’s warp gate without a second thought.

When you arrive in the bar, Kurogiri seems surprised to see you. “I thought you might run.”

“I’m too tired to run,” you say. “Does he need me?”

Kurogiri nods, as much as a person with mist for a head can nod. “Follow me.”

You balk when you realize where you’re headed. “He doesn’t want me in there.”

“He asked me to bring you there specifically,” Kurogiri says. “Don’t worry. He’s cleaned.”

“Oh.”

The door to Tenko’s room is open, but Kurogiri knocks anyway. “Shigaraki Tomura, the girl –”

“You’re here.” Tenko appears suddenly in the doorway, the hand clamped over his face. “That was fast. You didn’t run away?”

“What kind of sidekick runs when their boss calls?” You look Tenko over. “Kurogiri said you needed me. Are you hurt?”

“My shoulder’s a mess,” Tenko says, unconcerned. “I needed to talk to you. Come in.”

He takes a few steps back, leaving room for you to step through the door. The memory of how Tenko reacted last time is still fresh in your head, and based on Tenko’s expression, he can tell. “I cleaned it,” he says impatiently. “Come in.”

In spite of the fact that your best friends have usually been boys, you haven’t spent a lot of time in boys’ rooms. The ones you have been in aren’t exactly standard. Kazuo’s room looked like an interior design magazine spread even before his mind snapped, so minimalist it was hard to imagine anyone actually living there. Sho’s room looks more like a girl’s room than yours does. Tenko’s room back when you were kids just looked like a kid’s room. Like how you would have wanted your room to look if you weren’t already sharing it with two siblings.

Tenko’s room, compared to the last time you saw it, is no longer filthy. You can see the floor, at least, and some rearranging has occurred. The desk and monitor setup has been shifted unceremoniously into one corner of the room, and on the wall where it previously sat is a flatscreen TV. You can see that it’s hooked up to a router, as well as a cable or smart TV box, and there are a few consoles and controllers strewn around nearby. Across the room from the TV is a coffee table. And behind that, a bed.

You gesture at it. “Was this here before?”

Tenko doesn’t answer. “Kurogiri, go,” he orders, and you glance over your shoulder just in time to see Kurogiri vanish from the doorway. “Sit down.”

You sit down on one end of the bed and Tenko sits on the other. He slides a collection of games across the coffee table to you. “I like all of these. You can pick which one we play first.”

“I’m not good at games.”

“I’ll teach you what you need to know,” Tenko says. He pushes the games at you again. “Pick.”

You start sorting through the games, searching in vain for any title you know while you try to shift the subject back into reasonable territory. “You said something was wrong with your shoulder. Can I look at it?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“You said it was a mess,” you point out. “Let me see.”

“Pick a game and then you can see it.”

You see exactly one title you know – Call of Duty. You hold it up and Tenko frowns. “We can play that one for a bit. In co-op mode. But after that –”

“Show me your arm.”

Tenko scowls, but he moves from the other end of the bed until he’s within reach. He’s wearing a short-sleeved shirt, oversized to the point where you can draw the neckline aside and reveal the wound. It’s clear that the stitches have been disturbed. The wound site is red and angry-looking and you can see scratches around it. There should be a scab on the part that Tenko wouldn’t let you stitch, but it’s clearly been peeled away. It’s either infected already or about to be, and either way, the healing process is going slower than it should be. A surge of frustration sweeps over you.

You look up at Tenko and find him watching you, unrepentant. “What?”

“You were scratching this.”

“It itched,” Tenko says. He gives you a weird look. “You never said not to.”

“I didn’t think I had to say not to scratch your open wounds.” Your frustration seeps into your tone. “You should have sent Kurogiri to get me as soon as the swelling started.”

“I tried. You’re always busy.” Tenko’s voice takes on the quality of a sneer. “Kurogiri’s been watching you for three days. You’re at that other clinic with that girl all the time.”

He didn’t use to be like this. He didn’t use to be jealous. “She has cancer. She needs someone –”

“She has other friends and doctors and parents and some loser boyfriend somewhere,” Tenko says. You start to argue that Yoshimi doesn’t have a boyfriend, courtesy of said boyfriend being a loser, but Tenko cuts you off. “She has lots of people. I only have you.”

He has Kurogiri, his master, the doctor, the Nomu – or does he? Shigaraki Tomura has those people. Tenko only has you. You peel your eyes from the angry mess Tenko’s wound has become and look up at him. “If I had known you needed me, I’d have found a way to be here. You’re my best friend.”

“I know. I –” Tenko breaks off, frustrated. “I didn’t mess with it so you’d come back.”

“I didn’t think that,” you say. “I know you scratch sometimes. It seems like less than before.”

“Only when you’re here.” Tenko shifts in his seat. You’re about to tell him he shouldn’t worry about that when he speaks again. “I feel different when you’re here. Can you fix it?”

“I’ll need to take the stitches out and clean it before I bandage it up again, but yes.” You look around for the medical supplies and Tenko pries open a drawer full of them. “Then we can play the game.”

“I can’t believe you like Call of Duty.”

“It’s just the only one I recognize,” you admit, and Tenko laughs. You like hearing him laugh. “Get ready to lose all respect for me. You might want a better sidekick.”

“I don’t need a better sidekick,” Tenko says. “I’m good enough for both of us.”

Warmth floods through you, pooling in your cheeks and your chest and the pit of your stomach. He remembers. You pull on a pair of gloves and open the suture kit. The sooner you rebandage his wound, the sooner you can play a game with your best friend for the first time since you were kids.

But after you’ve taken out the stitches, as you’re bandaging his shoulder, you notice something. The other times you’ve seen Tenko and treated his wounds, he’s been wearing long sleeves, and when you’ve cut them to get a look at the injuries, you haven’t paid much attention to whatever else might be underneath them. Now, with his arms exposed by design, you can see things you didn’t before. Tenko’s always scratched. After fifteen years of scratching he’d naturally have scars. But when the two of you were kids, you never saw him scratch his forearms. And you’ve never seen scratches look so uniform, so evenly spaced. You’ve seen things that look like that before. They weren’t scratches.

You look up and find Tenko looking at you already. “Sensei had me do them. So I’d be stronger,” he says. Your heart seizes in your chest. “Not in a while, though. When I got strong enough he let me stop.”

“That’s messed up.” You’ve been careful not to speak against Tenko’s master, not when you know so little about him, but you can’t hold back this time. “Hurting yourself doesn’t make you stronger. It just makes you hurt.”

“What would you know about it?”

“Lots. I see it every day.”

Tenko gives you a look that tells you just how little he thinks of whatever you’ve seen, and you lose patience. You let go of his arm and pull up the sleeve of your own short-sleeve shirt. “I don’t mean at work.”

Tenko’s jaw drops behind the hand. “Who made you do that?”

“Nobody made me. I did it myself, which makes me a lot dumber than you,” you say. Tenko’s lines are even. Yours are jagged, because you were angry or crying or hurrying to finish up before one of your siblings needed the bathroom or your mom came back to keep arguing with you. “Was your master trying to make you stronger? Or was he trying to teach you not to show when something hurts?”

Based on the way Tenko’s red eyes flash, you know you’ve hit the nail on the head. “What were you trying to do, then? When you were being dumber than me?”

You were being really dumb. So dumb that it’s embarrassing to talk about. “It’s a reset, biologically. Injuries force the body to release endorphins, which make you feel better for a little bit. There was a while where I had trouble controlling my temper. It helped me do that. Or at least not show it.”

“A while,” Tenko repeats. “You should have had trouble the entire fucking time.”

“I did,” you admit after a second. “You used to tell me it wasn’t okay, what my family was like. It took a while to believe you.”

Half the reason you didn’t believe Tenko was because you knew his family was messed up, too. No matter what else your dad did, he didn’t scream at you or lock you outside without dinner. But as you got older, you realized why your parents didn’t do that: They needed you too much. They needed your help with the extra kids they shouldn’t have had, and the older you got, the more it started to infuriate you.

You saw evidence of it everywhere, in places it was and places it wasn’t. They didn’t wipe your memory because they cared that you were upset about your missing friend, they did it because they needed you to be quiet and helpful instead of sad. They didn’t let you choose your favorite snack or go to a birthday party once in a blue moon because it was the fair thing to do, they did it so you wouldn’t complain about all the times you weren’t allowed to. They promised they’d make it up to you every time they shorted you in favor of your siblings with quirks, hoping the apology would make you forget. By the time you were fourteen, you weren’t forgetting anymore.

Tenko’s watching you from behind the hand, but you don’t want to be watched right now. You focus on placing the bandage. Maybe if you do that, you can pretend this isn’t happening. “What happened?” Tenko asks. “With your family.”

“Nothing,” you say. Nothing like what happened to his. “They’re out there. They call me on my birthday. Every so often they ask me for money. Do you really want to talk about this?”

Tenko doesn’t follow up. On that, at least. Three of his fingers brush across your exposed upper arm and it takes every ounce of self-control you have not to jump out of your skin. “These are old, right?”

“Not as old as yours,” you say. “They aren’t recent, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I stopped, so you should, too.” Tenko’s palm covers your upper arm for a moment, then lifts away. “It wouldn’t kill you to control your temper less, anyway. When was the last time you got really mad?”

“Three days ago. Yoshimi’s boyfriend ditched her, so I called him and lit his ass up.”

“Sure you did. I bet you never raised your voice,” Tenko says. You look up, offended. “You probably sounded like some kind of evil shrink, telling him what a piece of shit he is and how you understand that he can’t help being an asshole but it would probably be best for everybody if he took a long walk off a short ledge –”

He’s mimicking the soft, semi-conciliatory tone you use when you’re trying to de-escalate a situation, looking at you from behind the hand with a smirk on his face. You’d get mad, except it’s a pretty accurate imitation, and you like the thought that he knows you well enough to pick on you like this. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about getting really mad. Really losing control. When’s the last time you did that?”

You can’t remember. You shrug helplessly. Tenko heaves an exaggerated sigh. “It’s a good thing we’re playing Call of Duty next. If getting your ass kicked in a video game can’t wind you up, nothing will.”

It’s been a while since you played an actual video game. You were bad at it then, and you’re really bad at it now. Tenko makes you play a round in single-player mode to see what you’re good at and where you’re weak, and he spends the entire time laughing so hard that you’re worried he’s going to dislocate a rib or fall off the couch. It takes you way too long to hide away from the enemies onscreen long enough to ask Tenko a question. “What’s so funny? I know I’m not doing it right –”

“You’re just –” Tenko wheezes, then makes an effort to get it together. “Up here in the corner of your display is the map. The dot is where you are. And then everything in front of you is your point of view. That’s why it’s called a first-person shooter.”

“I know,” you say. “The display –”

“You control that on this side of the controller. And that’s where your trigger is, too. The other side handles motion,” Tenko says. His shoulders are twitching, like they do when he’s trying to hold in his laughter. “I’ll watch the map for you. Just go where I tell you to go.”

“Okay.” You adjust your grip on the controller and prepare to be humiliated.

Tenko directs you to move straight forward, which you do. Then you make a left turn and jump up on a crate for a better firing angle, at which point someone shoots at you. “Shoot back,” Tenko orders. You press the trigger. “Nice work. Okay, now jump off the crate and –”

You jump off the crate as requested, but then you get your buttons jumbled, and instead of running in the direction Tenko told you to run, you find yourself bumping into the wall repeatedly with your viewpoint stuck directly upwards. “Tenko –”

Tenko is howling with laughter again. The hand dislodges and falls off his face, and you see his eyes crinkling at the corners, his smile just a little too big. Some girls in your class said his smile was creepy, but you always liked it. You liked that you always knew which of his smiles were faked and which weren’t. “I’m stuck,” you say, and he laughs even harder. “What did I do?”

“If you were doing what your character is doing right now, you’d be doing this.” Tenko mimics pointing a gun straight up at the sky, and suddenly you get why he’s laughing. “You’ve been running around like this –”

No wonder you keep running into walls. Now you’re laughing, too. “You weren’t kidding,” Tenko says, shaking his head. “You really are terrible at it.”

You set the controller aside and wipe your eyes. “You sure you don’t want a different sidekick?”

“I have the sidekick I want.” Tenko glances at you, almost shyly. “We’ll need allies, though. I want you to meet them.”

Your stomach lurches. “Do you have them already?”

“One of the brokers is bringing them. He finds them through the black market.” Tenko sets the controller back down in your hands, adjusting your fingers to the right buttons. Then he unpauses the game. “Once I have them all – go right. No, your other right. Once I have them all, I want you to meet them. I need them to work together, and to stay calm instead of fighting each other. You’re good at getting people to do that. Watch out, there are – nice work.”

He’s giving you a strange look. “What?” you ask. “I didn’t get killed yet.”

“You’re better at shooting people than running around. That’s weird.” Tenko’s expression stays odd for another moment; then he grins. “Works for me, though. As long as you don’t mess with your viewpoint too much, we can play together.”

“Works for me.” You’re still going to be pretty useless, but at least you can protect Tenko’s back. That’s more than you’d be able to do in a real fight. The thought kicks off a flood of anxiety, and before you can stop yourself, you find yourself speaking out loud. “Tenko –”

He pauses the game mid-switch to co-op mode. “Yeah?”

“I don’t know if I can help you the way you need me to,” you say. He gives you a skeptical look. “Medical stuff is one thing. I’m good at that. If your allies need help with that, I’ll help them, too. But the rest of it, I’m not – planning, getting people to follow you –”

“I can do that part. But villains fight all the time. Like kids do,” Tenko says. He smiles slightly. “If you can handle me, they’ll be easy for you.”

“But I know you,” you say. “It’s different.”

“So you’ll get to know them, too.” Tenko’s confident, just like you remember him being. Once he’s decided how something will be, it’s hard to shake him. “Come on. Let’s clear this level.”

It’s an easy level, or you think it’s supposed to be. You spend most of your time running backwards, keeping one eye on the map so you don’t lose track of Tenko and the other eye out for enemies of any kind. On reflection, you do think your accuracy with shooting is a little weird. Between this level and the next one, you rack up a decent number of kills. “You’re already getting better,” Tenko says, grinning. “I bet we can beat this thing if we keep playing.”

“I’d like that,” you say – but you’re still thinking about Tenko’s semi-crazy idea that you meet a bunch of villains for crowd control. “About the allies – you trust me, but they won’t have any reason to. I’m still a civilian.”

“You’ll need a disguise,” Tenko says, which wasn’t what you were hoping he’d say. “Something that hides your face. “If any of them have a problem with you, they can take it up with me.”

You don’t know what to say to that. The idea of Tenko getting into it with other villains over you makes you feel sick. “I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. I don’t want you to get hurt at all. You’re my best friend.”

“I’m not your boss,” Tenko says, which doesn’t make any sense. Your confusion must show on your face, because Tenko elaborates. “Earlier. You said sidekicks don’t run from their bosses, but I’m not your boss. I don’t want to be your boss. I want –”

He breaks off, clearly struggling with what to say. There’s a patchy flush coming up in his cheeks, and you see his hand rise, twitch toward his neck – then fall back. “I don’t want to be your boss,” he says again, looking everywhere but into your eyes. “I want – you should –”

“Shigaraki Tomura.” Kurogiri’s voice issues from behind you, and you and Tenko both jump. “Your master wishes to speak with you. You are overdue.”

“Shit,” Tenko mutters. His grip on the controller tightens, and you lift it out of his hands before all five fingers can touch it. “Where’s – I need –”

“Here.” You pick up the hand from the floor and pass it to him, feeling a chill go down your spine as you touch it. “Go talk to him. It’s okay.”

“I’m late. It isn’t.” Tenko settles the hand back over his face. His free hand rises again, clawing at the side of his neck, and something about the image, the situation, feels uncomfortably familiar to you. “I’ll send Kurogiri to get you again soon. For another date.”

“This was a date?”

“Of course it was.” Tenko gets up, heads for the door. “Remember. Find a disguise. I’ll see you soon.”

He’s gone, and a second later, so are you – Kurogiri drops you in an alley off the street you were walking on. He lingers for a moment, and the question explodes out of you. “It was a date?”

“I told him it’s not a date unless both people know it’s a date.” Kurogiri looks vaguely uncomfortable, and his voice is in the other register – the one that sounds more like an older brother than a servant. “Next time I’ll tell him I can’t find you.”

“Don’t do that,” you say at once. Even reeling like you are now, you’re sure that you want to see Tenko again. “Just – warn me, if you can. If it’s a date or something else.”

“I can do that.” Kurogiri vanishes, but his voice lingers for a moment more. “You protect him, too.”

What does that mean? Maybe it means that Kurogiri sees you like he sees himself – a protector of Shigaraki Tomura, although if there’s anyone you’re trying to protect, it’s Shimura Tenko, your best friend. Your best friend, who’s in a lot more trouble than you thought he was.

You’re standing in the middle of an alley. You need to get moving before someone peeks in here and starts asking questions. You slide your phone out of your pocket, raise it to your ear, and lower it as you step back out into the flow of traffic on the sidewalk, like you were taking a call that just ended. Your apartment’s not far away, so you’ll get there, and then you can think about all of this. The villains – the date – the scars on Tenko’s arm that look too much like yours – the scratching that didn’t start until after the hand covered his face. The hand he calls Father.

And that’s when you realize what it reminded you of, what happened when Kurogiri told Tenko his master was waiting for him. He was himself when you spoke to him, even after he put the hand back over his face – right down to how he reacted when his master called for him. Because his reaction looked the same as his reaction to his father calling for him when the two of you were kids.

You had a bad feeling about Tenko’s master, and now it’s worse. You have a bad feeling about what your involvement with Tenko means now, because he wants you to back him up when it comes to dealing with other villains, to take the de-escalation and conflict resolution skills you learned the hard way and put them to use keeping a band of villains together under Tenko’s control. You have a bad feeling because Tenko’s told you to find a disguise, to hide your identity like the villain you aren’t. You aren’t a villain. Are you?

Maybe you aren’t a villain – yet, a voice in your head whispers, you aren’t a villain yet – but there’s something wrong with you. There must be. Because knowing all that, knowing that you’re getting drawn further into Tenko’s plans, doesn’t do a thing to dampen your excitement at the thought that he wants to go on dates with you. That he likes you. That your best friend, who you always thought you’d have developed a crush on if the two of you had gotten to grow up together, might feel the same about you as you do about him.

[tobiasdrake]

I think you're right in the Sonic movies not trusting the game characters to hold the weight of their own story; I think that's why the villain emotional core shifted from Shadow to the Eggmen.

I liked the movie! I think they did a good job with the story they were trying to tell!

But I would have liked more of that story to have focused on Shadow than Eggman. (Although finishing an Eggman arc to send him off I completely understand, too.)

*nodnod*

I have a lot of criticisms for the Sonic movies, but I also enjoy them a lot. There's a lot of creative choices that I don't like that they made, that I wish had been made differently. But the choices they do make are executed on very well.

Generally speaking, for me, watching the Sonic movies is like reading an amazingly well-crafted, easily digestible, and emotionally captivating fanfic... for a ship you don't like. I don't like how they characterized that guy. I don't agree with how they're presenting the cast. Their OCs are hit and miss. And I am 100% invested, when next chapter.

Many notes. So many notes. But I am having a good time nonetheless. I don't like what they did but I love the way they did it.

Getting into spoiler territory to talk about Eggman.

With Eggman, it was kind of a miracle that they even got him for this movie. Carrey announced his retirement in 2022 alongside the release of Sonic 2, so there was a long stretch of time when nobody even knew if he would be in Sonic 3.

There is a parallel universe where Carrey stuck to his guns, and Eggman's Maybe-Maybe-Not finale in Sonic 2 was the end of him. In that universe, I think we probably would have gotten a much deeper dive into Shadow, who would have to carry the weight of the film on his own shoulders. Possibly with Gerald, played by a new actor.

For the film we got, in a way, Sonic 3 feels like it was tailored to be the final word, not just on Eggman's character but also on the decades-long career of goofy antics and physical comedy that Carrey became famous for.

I think that's part of what makes Eggman's silly yet moving final sacrifice feel as powerful as it does. This isn't just Eggman taking the ARK for his last ride. It feels like Carrey saying farewell to the career and fandom he's built up, and that context makes it all the more emotionally gripping.

It's a strong sendoff.

And it also comes at the expense of a deeper focus on Shadow, whose climax ends up feeling rushed. Basically looking Sonic in the eyes and going, "You were mad like I was mad but you didn't take revenge. I see now that revenge is wrong. Let's go save the world from my revenge."

Two things can be true.

It's interesting to note that the film uses Gerald as, essentially, Shadow the Eggman. An embittered shadow archetype of Eggman turned to vengeance by grief over Maria's loss, who serves as the ultimate foe that Eggman must overcome.

This is most obvious with the parallel fights Sonic and Eggman have with Shadow and Gerald at the end. But I also don't think the film interrogates that idea very thoroughly, and I'm kind of okay that it doesn't? It's too busy having fun to be that serious.

Like. In place of that deeper analysis into Shadow, this movie is unapologetically meta. It's so meta, Eggman and Gerald literally look into the camera and point out that the same actor is playing them both at one point.

Which is sort of the point? There's kind of a purposeful tonal clash in this movie between Team Sonic, Eggman, and Stone versus Shadow and Gerald. Shadow and Gerald are grim and serious characters, except when Gerald is playing off of Eggman. Eggman brings out the goofiness of Gerald, while Shadow has the inverse effect on Sonic. Shadow makes Sonic darker, edgier, and less fun.

I described it before as "like making fart noises in a mortuary" and I stand by that. The film very intentionally feels like it's having an identity crisis over whether it wants to be a serious story of revenge, love, grief, and redemption or the kind of movie where a grown man in spandex has an elaborate performative dance number with his stunt double down a hall of death lasers. That is the tug-of-war that Sonic and Eggman are having with Shadow and Gerald.

It's that scene at the Chao Garden. Where the lights suddenly go out and it's like, oh shit, we're under attack. But then they come back up and it's just a funny stage show starting up. But also we are under attack, completely unrelated to the lights going out just now.

There are two conflicting payoffs to the suspense of that moment, playing out simultaneous to one another. It's like Sonic and Gerald had different ideas for how this scene should end.

Which is... really interesting to think about.

IDK

Coming out of the movie, my initial impression was that it was good, but not as good as Sonic 2. And, as a Sonic adaptation, I stand by that. Sonic 2 did the better job of adapting the Sonic material to film.

But as a creative exercise, as a piece of art, this movie's growing on me more. I think Sonic 3 is a fascinating performance piece.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Good evening, I got another idea for your new event

Aces' older brother and grim interaction like "oh, Ace, how you got so tall— agh! It's not Ace" "oh? Oh. Oooh, hello. Isn't it that 'stupid raccoon' my lil' bro was talking about? " "HEY! Don't call THE great Grim raccoon! "

[Referencing this interaction!]

… I like how we’ve come to a silent consensus that Big Bro Trappola is just a taller version of Ace 😂

Fun fact: In the JP fandom, a lot of fans call Ace’s brother “Jack”, a reference to the character “Jack Hearts” from the Villain Recruiters group (part of Tokyo Disney Sea’s Halloween events).

Family means Nobody is Left Behind or Forgotten.

You heard Grim's familiar shrill cries echo up from the bottom of a twisting stairwell. Peering down over the banister, you found an auburn-haired boy detaining Grim by the scruff, the poor little beast flailing for freedom. You called out to them as you jogged down the stairs, speaking a name you knew so well: Ace.

As you approached, a realization started to set in—that Ace was far taller than usual. But surely it was the same cheery troublemaker you'd always known. He had the same cheeky smile and bright eyes.

A growth spurt? Or had he defied Riddle's warnings to not eat the dubious mushrooms that grew in the Heartslabyul gardens?

Ace casually raised his free hand to wave as you descended. “Yo.”

“Hey!! Wow Ace, when did you get this tall?” you said teasingly.

The corner of his mouth lifted, amused. You noticed that he had parted his bangs today, and had drawn on his heart much smaller, more of an accessory than a statement piece.

“Well, you know how it is. A growing boy like me’s always got something up his sleeve.”

“M-Minion, there you are!!” Grim sputtered, aggressively kicking his furry feet midair. “Quick, after this imposter!”

“Imposter?”

“Don’t mind him. Little dude’s got his tail in a twist cuz I called him a raccoon.” A wicked grin crept onto Ace’s lips. It was easy and devil-may-care—and Ace was that devil. “Isn’t that right, ta-nu-ki-chan?”

He prodded Grim’s cheek with each singsong syllable. One, two, three, four… and Grim lost it.

“MYAAAH!!” He thrashed about wildly, swiping his paws at his just-out-of-reach captor. “I’m so MAD, I could spit!! When I get my paws on you, I’ll…!”

“Watch it, or you’ll set the whole dorm on fire,” you warned, “and then we’ll have an upset Riddle to deal with.”

“Who, the teapot tyrant? Isn’t he off sipping tea somewhere? I wouldn’t worry about him.”

“Ace!!” You gaped at him, eyes wide. “You talking about him is just going to make Riddle magically manifest to collar you again! It’s like the universe is out to get you at this point.”

“I’m cool with that. I doubt he’ll behead me anyway.”

“What makes you think he won’t?!”

Ace simply shrugged and wiggled his brows—as if daring you to guess. “Let’s just say I don’t think I’m the guy he’d be after,” he said mysteriously with a wink.

“AHHHHHHHH!!”

You startled at the scream that tore through the air. Your head whipped in the direction of it, expecting an enraged Riddle, face red and nostrils flaring, charging at you. Instead, the person scrambling over was…

“Ace?!”

You looked back at the young man holding onto Grim, then again at the one fast approaching. Side by side, the little differences between them came to light.

The taller Ace was sharper in every way—eyes, lips, face. His attire was far more casual than Riddle would allow for: an open vest, dress shirt undone a few buttons, a loose tie thrown over his shoulder. He had a relaxed maturity about him, as though Ace had been aged into some semblance of adulthood, but had maintained all of his wonder.

The imposter assumed a sheepish smirk. “‘Sup, lil’ bro?”

“Don’t ‘sup, lil’ bro me!!” Ace groaned, marching over to land a swift punch to his brother’s arm arm. “Dude, you can’t just ditch me to go screw with my friends! Only I'm allowed to do that!"

“My bad, my bad. I was just curious about what kinda people you hang around with.” His brother laughed, setting Grim back on the ground. You were quick to grab him before he circled around to attack the older Trappola’s pant leg.

“So,” Ace’s brother continued, his gaze trained on you and Grim, “you must be the ones that had Ace running to Sage’s Island over winter break. He was really worried when you got your SOS text. Basically broke his piggy bank to make sure he had enough allowance to take public transportation back to NRC.”

“Oh? Really? I had no idea he was so desperate to be my hero.”

“H-Hey, don’t listen to him! He’s blowing it out of proportion! I totally wasn’t that worried,” Ace protested. “Besides, if dummies like you and Deuce weren’t around… then school life would be so much more boring. A wellness check here or there’s fine, so lay off!”

His brother chuckled. Leaning into your ear, he murmured, “That’s how Ace shows that he cares.”

“Oi, what are you whispering about?!” Ace cried, elbowing his brother out of the way. “Stop gettin’ all chummy with MY friends and butt out. You’re supposed to be spending time with your family today anyway, so let’s get going!”

“What, I was just about to embarrass you by sharing stupid stories with them~”

“Like I’d like that happen!!” With a pout, Ace yanked on his brother’s arm. “Come on, you have adult stuff to do!!”

"Like you don’t have kid stuff to do?”

“I’m NOT a little kid anymore!”

“And I’m still young at heart.”

Stuck between the duo, you and Grim exchanged knowing glances.

“Those two… they really are alike, huh?”

“You know it, minion.”

[alice-angel12x]

Wait.. you're telling me Epel and Death have history together?! (Well more like his ancestors-) BUT STILL

Is that why instead of being afraid when he first saw them he was impressed with their fighting abilities??

Now I need more interactions with them OR even better! Epel inviting Death to Harveston because come on! And maybe there is a legend of Death there? As the kind person who helped the small town grow and become what it is today!

Also sorry about all of this, Epel is my favourite character and your writing brings me so much joy so I'm very happy right now! :D

"You're inviting me? To what I may ask?" Y/n asked.

" I only got the news this morning too, granny is so unreasonable," Epel sighed. "There’s an annual festival in the Harveston this weekend."

"Let me take a guess. A festival in Harveston, at this time of Year... Moln Mountain’s Kelkkarotu I believe it's called," Y/n said with a slight uncertainty.

"Y-yeah how did you know?" Epel asked in surprise.

"I have been around for a very long time," Y/n answered simply.

Epel ended up inviting a few other some with great interest others, not so much. Sebek, Jade, and even Idia came along to the trip.

As soon as the cool air of Harveston hit Y/n's cold skin, a wave of memories and nostalgia washed over them. The once small town had become a thriving community.

As Epel explained the geography of the land and it's lands, and apple specialty, he noticed Y/n seemed to be off somewhere in their mind. Y/n looked on with a sense of familiarity.

Jade would question this, but Idia would reason that maybe Y/n would have come across the town before. Maybe a few times.

When Epel offered Y/n an apple fresh from harvest. They learned that Y/n Death does not Eat... Furthermore lacked organs to digest so there is no point in eating.

So Down the road to Epel's house they went. It was a beautiful cabin, fit to stand the cold weather of Harveston. Y/n hurried them don't, to get warm clothes on. Wouldn't want them to catch their death out here. Speaking of which.

"Inside the shed? Are you actually an indoor type?" Idia asked.

"No, I played outside almost every day. Even in harsh rain, I couldn’t stand still. So in those days, I’d prefer to play in the shed which it’s wider and has fewer things than in my room.  I played with the farming tools, and even made treasures and a secret base there," Epel reminisced. "  But there’s one time when I was in the shed and the snow falls down really bad… And the door of the shed was blocked by the piled snow and it couldn’t open."

" You, as a child, alone in that shed? You lack caution as a mere human," Sebek gasped.

"And even if I shouted or banged my hand on the door, nobody noticed. It kept getting colder, and I was getting hungry… it was so bad that time," Epel reminisced.

"Then how did you manage to get out of the shed?" Jade asked. Epel thought for a moment and smiled.

"Well need a bit more context for that story. Which we will find in the center of town," Epel said mysteriously.

"Oh, alright. Hold on to your mystery for now," Jade chuckled

So Epel leads the group to the center of town. to get to the hall and to meet his grandmother Malya.

When Epel and his grandma chatted, the others were completely lost on what they were saying. As the two talk in their native dialect. But Y/n was happy to translate for them.

As the boys choose the fabrics that would be used to make their plushie sled pullers. Grim being Grim got hungry again and wanted more sweet apples.

As he scanned for unattended food and saw a treasure trove of some. At the base of some state were the biggest, ripest, ruby-colored apples he had ever seen. He's never seen such perfect apples.

As Grim made a mad dash towards them, he suddenly slammed face-first into a shovel. Grim hissed and looked up to see an old man glaring down at him.

The old man began to scold the fire cat, catching the attention of the NRC boys, and Epel's grandmother. Y/n apologized on Grim's behalf.

The NRC boys were wondering why he was so angry. So Epel explained the significance of the statue.

"This is the state of Harveston's Founder. When our ancestors were in a hard place, the founder came across them and lead them here. Were they would teach and raise the orphans to survive here," Epel said.

The boys looked up at the Statue. It was of a familiar figure, in one hand they held a lantern above their head. Lighting the path in front of them, while in the other held a baby close to their chest. Behind the founder were three children huddled up close to them. One was looking behind in fear, the middle one simply hugged close, and the last one looked up at the found in awe.

What they noticed was that hand holding the lantern, looked like it was broken long ago.

"Oh, Epel. What happened to the statue's hand?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, did the hand used to hold the lantern? Cause the drilled-in hook looks strange," Idia added.

"Oh, that's was the founder's doing," grandma Malya laughed.

"The founder's...doing?" Sebek asked skeptically.

"Yes, even all these the founder's spirit has always been watching over us. We've noticed their spirit loves taking their lantern and putting it in places to signify their presence," The old man spoke. "And even before that the people of this town pick their best apple from their harvest. And place it at the base to pay respects."

"What a kind spirit," Y/n commented.

"Indeed, you could ask any local here and they would have a story to tell about their encounters. Even Epel, when was trapped in the shed when he was younger," Grandma Malya chuckled.

"Oh yeah, that story. Epel you never finished that story," Grim said.

"Oh yeah. When I was freezing, I suddenly felt this warmth. Not in the hypothermia kind of way, but like there was a small fire nearby. And I remember hearing someone," Epel explained.

"Heard someone?" Jade asked.

"Yeah, they were whispering encouragements and telling me I just needed one more push to open the door. And I did, with one of the tools I managed to free myself," Epel smiled.

"Ah yes, and when we finally found Epel. My son, Epel's father, saw something in the shed," Grandma Malya smiled. "It was the founder's lantern, once again in a place where it wasn't meant to be."

Soon Malya had to go make the sled Plushies, and Y/n opted to help her. While the boys looked up at the statue.

"hey, you know. This founder statute looks a lot like Y/n" the fire cat commented.

Epel's went wide and he looked at the statue to Y/n and repeated 2 more times.

"No...No... It... They can't be right?" Epel gasped.

___________________________________________________________

Part 2? Maybe. well, see.

[sketchfanda]

Kirishima’s Mystique:Bandicoot Bombshell

Life had been relatively simple and peaceful enough for Tawna, about as well as can be for anyone in this day and age where less than 20% of the population hadn't been born with a quirk. A good family, decent education and a future with possibilities once she' graduate college. The of course along came that absolute douche, one Dr. Neo Cortex, a definitive mad scientist who'd taken to abducting and rounding up any heteromorphy individuals with animalistic type quirks. Just her luck she wound becoming just one of the latest to be taken into the clutches of one of the many groups he had conducting his operations on his behalf worldwide.

It made her stomach churn just even recalling those grim days, cooped up in some cage, dreading the moment when she or any of the other so called "patients" (inmates rather) would be next to get experimented on. Nobody had been sure on the how and why the lunatic was even doing this but all Tawna knew for sure was that the guy was a sicko and it made her dread the possibility any of her sisters would be the next to get poached. That is until one fateful day when she and her fellow prisoners were reminded that in these age of Quirks? There were heroes and one such group of them lead a sudden raid on the lab as if their prayers had been answered.

It had to be a swift few hours of mayhem as the operation, handled by the agency of Pro Hero Fatgum ensured majority of the staff had apprehended while any and all possible assets and evidence was seized. Many of her fellow inmates had been been happy to finally get home but Tawna of course couldn't help but step up to the opportunity to offer to provide information on other possible locations to Cortex's other hidden labs, just to stick it to the mad bastard and hit him where it hurts. In exchange of course for a little extra security such as being relocated to a more private location to call home and the same level of protection for her sisters, for which one of the rotund loveable Hero's sidekicks gladly vouched for. That of course reminded Tawna of where she currently found herself here and now and how down bad she was for her personal saviour.

Eijiro Kirishima codename The Chivalrous Hero Red Riot, aka the man of her dreams, a hell of a specimen for sure. That rugged charm, the Herculean physique, that hot blooded energy, all that and more the moment she'd laid eyes on him when he'd come crashing through the walls of the room where she and the other test subjects had been held captive. Demolishing mooks like nobody's business and ooh the tingly feeling she had when he'd carried her out in his arms like a knight in shining armour, and of course thanks to his seconding her offer, she now had a secure place to call home PLUS a nice steady job working at Fatgum's agency as a secretary. Not to mention she got a chance to see and talk to him any and every chance she got when he was around.

Getting to not only learn a little bit more about him but even finding out the guy was such a hunk that he was dating two girls, at the exact same time?! Well that certainly bumped him up quite high in her appraisal and admiration of the guy and of course said girlfriends Mina and Maya weren't just cute and sexy but pretty damn friendly, you could just feel the love they had for their man whenever they dropped on by for a visit. But of course they certainly seemed to have quite the knack for knowing they weren't alone in admiration of their absolute unit of a man, that was for sure. Which made certain thoughts she had in mind all the more sweeter once the opportunity presented itself.

It'd been just another day at the agency of course, answering calls and sorting paperwork among the other sort of duties expected of a secretary. And for the bandicoot girl, it was opportunity knocking and presenting itself to her in a way that couldn't be passed up. It just herself and the sturdy himbo alone in her office, as ever the gentleman he was in having offered to stay behind and help finish closing and locking the place up. Pretending to sort and organise a filing cabinet as she looked her shoulder to glance at his backside, licking her lips sensually at seeing those muscles flex as he was packing some boxes away.

Tawna:*biting her lowerlip as she rubbed thighs together, feeling the sticky warmth of her flowing arousal, thanking God for the fact that Herculean teddy bear's outfit exposed so much of his torso.*"Have I said thanks already for going out your way to make time like this, helping me out here? I know you had a busy enough day and wouldn't want to keep your lucky ladies waiting..."*Speaking up to break the comfortable silence between them as she closed the cabinet shut, standing up as she carefully snuck up on him. Pulse racing as she inched closer and closer to that angelfaced, shark teethed Adonis who'd made her wet dreams cozy and intense. Her knight in muscular armour.*

Kirishima:"Hey it's no problem, they kind of had some last minute intership stuff they had to finish up on their end so they said they might come over whenever to meet up, so..."*The chivalrous himbo's sentence hit a pause as he felt Tawna's furry arms wrap and hug around his waist, her fingers caressing his six pack abdominals (though if you asked Mina and Maya, it was more of a 9 pack, a baker's dozen even!!). Joined in tandem of course with the sensation of her soft, exquisite shirt clad breasts pressing against his shoulder blades, no doubt thanks to her having a 2 inch difference over him on height. And damn did they feel like marshmallows, so warm to the touch as he found her leaning and resting her head on his shoulder, kissing and licking along his neck. Making him blush and shudder as she began to whisper in his ear, her voice carrying a husky sensual tone to it.*

Tawna:"Oooh, i'm not just thankful for that, handsome. I don't even think words just cut it for showing how grategul I am....the day you came barging into those cells, carrying me out like saving a princess from the dragon's tower. Not to mention going so far as to keep my sisters safe and sound. Guy like you these days is one of a kind, really just...does something for a girl..."*Her every word out of her deep, pouty lips made his spine tingle, her hot breath blowing into his ear. Nuzzling his neck as her hands massaged and memorised those firm upper body muscles of his, before fishing down to his pants. Stunning him as they dove right down past the waistband to cop a full direct fell of his junk as an awed, erotic gasp escaped her. Clearly she knew he was packing but this was far beyond even her wildest fantasies.*

Kirishima:*groaned as he was unable to help himself, the blood rushing to his groin and his length and girth began to swell and grow in her hands. The bandicoot hottie pressing her lips to his as he fund their tongues dancing together, spit being swapped as she jerked and stroked him off.*"Ahhh damn... you really don't have Ms.Tawna..."*He was right about that but of course she wanted to so very much express and show her appreciation to her knight in muscular armor the way she felt was more than fitting. Sucking on his tongue before she pried her mouth away from his as she kissed and licked down along his front.*

Having moved from her position behind as she orally worshipped his Herculean torso, hands tracing and massaging those muscles as she felt her jean shorts soak from her nectar flowing down her glorious furry thighs to make a puddle on the office floor. Grinning with anticipation as she was squatting down on the floor, hands undoing the waistband of his pants as she pulled them down along with his boxers. Jaw dropping and eyes widening as she laid witness to his cock springing forth into the open air to stand to attention, spine tingling with erotic thirst at seeing that his manhood was far more bigger than she'd guessed from her touch alone. Her brain going from seductive to flipping the switches for bitch in heat mode as she wanted to taste and ride this cock until her chivalrous himbo made it impossible for any other man or any toy to be capable of satisfying her.

An impulse she didn't hesitate to follow through on to say the very least she immediately began conducting intense fellatio upon that length and girth. Head bobbing like some lewd metronome as she licked and sucked on that fuckhammer with abandon of her inhibitions and shame, his groans and shudders music to her ears as she gazed up at him with her green eyes glowing lust and worship like he was some sex god coming to bestow her with the best lay of her life. Gladly feeling herself suffocate from her attempts to deepthroat him as her tits pressed and rubbed against his hips and thighs, one hand massaging his smooth balls while the other was plunging down the front of her shorts to probe and prod her gushing wet slit, feeling her juices soak it up to the wrist from how horny she was. Wanting, just needing her chivalrous stud to ride along the wave of ecstasy with her, just let loose and have his way with her.

Did he ever do just that as Tawna's lust was contagious, setting off the heroic intern's inner caveman enough to make his libido take the helm of his brain as she found him grasping her luscious blonde mane and proceed to piston and jackhammer away. Giving the bandicoot hottie an proper oral preview of what her pussy would come to experience as she orgasmed from such a sudden but not unwelcome facefucking, her pussy squirting like a showerhead with intense orgasms as her brain wondered if it could get any better than this. Deepthroating that length and girth as her choker snapped, drool spluttering as those heavy balls smacked her chin, making her feel like a glorified onahole. And it was so fucking hot.

It certainly got better and hotter as after a nice feast and shower of his hot manjuice, the bandicoot babe and her sturdy caveman himbo were naked with that still amazingly raging hard and down to fuck meat-hammer finally inside her. And oh was it rocking her world all the way down under, seeing stars as pink hearts glowed in her eyes as the office filled with echoes of her cries and screams of erotic passion. Deep throated gasps and panting moans escaping those dick sucking lips as she shamelessly bounced and rode on that Riot Stick cowgirl style, her caveman smacking and squeezing her bouncing bubbly booty ats his cock hammered away into her womb. Her smooth toned furry tummy swollen with the bulge that indicated the reach and depth of his length and girth filling her as her spine tingled from every blow from that assclapping, veiny womb pounding piece of heaven.

Heaven was she she found herself as her fantasies became outdone by the unreal and amazing reality of ecstasy that flooded and overwhelmed her brain. Her shark teethed himbo Adonis relentless as if considering focusing on her pleasure and hers alone with all the dedication to a mission like any pro would, seriously could this guy be any more of a turn-on? Here she was rewarding him for being such a chivalrous hunk of a man and he was thinking about her enjoyment, Criminy was she glad she didn't bother with the condoms!! She was going to have every and any bit of that white hot baby batter inside her and give him a whole army of furry riot babies if he wanted!!

An idea that passed through the bimbo looking furry hottie's brain more than once of course in between whenever said brain was recovering from orgasm after orgasm as Kirishima definitely proved he was a Riot, on the streets and in the sheets. Any and every position that muscular stamina tank conducted with her a thrilling sensation from the most vanilla to the kinkiest and complicated, with any and every moment he would cum inside her welcomed by womb's eager embrace. The muscles of her pussy molding itself to the shape of his genetic jackhammer as they kissed it with pornographic worship, not wanting to loose its company at least until every ounce of jizz was let pumped in. Her furry bombshell body memorized the grip of his firm hands, shuddering with masochistic bliss from the love bites of those sharp teeth of as they mated and rutted with an intensity and passion that put pornstars to shame.

Tawna could see how and why Mina and Maya got a thrill and open invite for girls like her to enjoy their stud, he was too much for one woman, let alone why he had 2 girlfriends. Now gladly counting herself among those lucky to get their dose of vitamin Kirishima as she howled and hollered with abandon through out the office, cheering him on to keep fucking her like she was his personal sex toy. From being held in a full nelson to pinned up against a window as she was fucked from behind like a bitch in heat to the absolute ecstasy of being bent and held in a mating press or a piledriver. Or clinging to him with her arms and legs wrapped around that herculean body of his as they performed a standing fuck, her tits pressed and rubbing against those firm flexing pecs as his body rippled with strength and power, the pair losing track of time as the streetlights outside provided ambience and atmosphere to their erotic animalistic coupling.

It was enough to make those memories of being captive in Cortex's lab distant and forgotten as the Red Riot stud sat Indian style on the floor, Tawna bouncing on his jackhammering lap. Tongues dancing together in a sloppy kiss as they rode the most recent wave of a simultaneous climax together, bodies sweaty and sore with no signs of stopping. The floors stained with sweat and juices as the office was in slight disarray and reeking of the scent that made it clear acts of pornographic passion occurred here. Only for the duo to pause as their attention was caught, breaking their sexual focus as the lights came on.

Turning in the direction of the sound of the click of the lightswitch, eyes wide like deer in the headlights as they now found themselves caught in the act. Joined now by the company of the familiar pink and blue bubblegum duet that was Kirishima's frisky, kinky girlfriends who were sporting the sauciest grins imaginable. Clearly liking the show they walked in on and looking about ready to jump in nd make it a foursome as they stepped in and parted to reveal they hadn't come alone. Tawna's eyes widening and her jaw dropping as she felt like she was looking at a mirror, or rather one that showed a version of herself with some sort of Mad Max style make-over.

Tawna 2:"Now I know what you're thinking besides could this be any more or less awkward right now? To which I can answer, let's just say that there was some cloning involved...."*Something told the blonde that the arrival of this mohawked doppleganger meant her life was about to take an interesting turn. Also call her narcissistic but damn she looked good. Wondering if maybe her twin here might enjoy a little Red Riot experience herself down the line. Time would tell, oh yes time would tell....*

To be Continued?!

[cirilla-fiona-riannon]

Chapter 3 Spoilers

This is not a full translation. Expect grammatical errors. Not 100% accurate.

Nobunaga: "Whether it's recuperation or rest, it doesn't matter. Mai, go soak in a hot spring and give your body some rest."

Nobunaga: "You're my lucky charm, so I won't allow you to collapse before the battle."

Nobunaga: "Hideyoshi, the same goes for you."

Hideyoshi: "Eh?"

Nobunaga: "I order you to guard Mai. Don't leave her side."

???: "There she is!"

(Eh?)

Samurai 1: "Hand over that sacrificial princess!"

Mai: "Hideyoshi, the sacrificial princess they're after..."

Hideyoshi: "Yeah, it looks like it's you."

Hideyoshi: "Mai!"

I lost my balance, and Hideyoshi swiftly wrapped his arms around me, preventing me from falling off the horse.

(No, don't touch me.)

Hideyoshi: "Guh!"

He gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain.

Mai: "Let go of me, Hideyoshi!"

Hideyoshi: "As if I could just let go!"

Even though I hurriedly turned my body, he still wouldn't let go.

During all this, I could hear an unpleasant sound like a hot iron pressing against something.

(His skin is burning.)

So far, he's never had anything worse happen to him, even though the pain had increased. But now, there was no doubt that his skin was burning.

Mai: "Please, let me go! If you don't hurry, you'll..."

Hideyoshi: "I can't just trade your life."

(You're important too!)

Hideyoshi: “Nobody touches Mai.”

He knocked down the approaching enemies like a demon, drenched in blood, while protecting me.

(He must be reaching his limit by now.)

No matter how strong he was, the enemies were overwhelmingly outnumbering us.

Above all, one of his arms was tightly holding onto me.

(If this continues, the burns will only worsen.)

Mai: “Let go of me! I can’t let you push yourself any further.”

Hideyoshi: “Don’t make that face. If anything were to happen to you, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

Hideyoshi: “You’re more important than anything else. Please understand.”

(Hideyoshi...)

Hideyoshi parried the blow of a screaming enemy coming to cut him down.

His eyes were full of emotions more intense than madness as he killed his enemies with a grim expression.

(Even though there were so many of them...)

Before I knew it, the enemies who had come at us were lying on the ground.

He casually wiped off the splattered blood from his cheek and dismounted from the horse, leaving me behind.

Hideyoshi: “Wait here.”

Hideyoshi: “Hey, you.”

The last remaining person struggled to stand, barely catching his breath.

Samurai: “Ugh... Sacrificial princess...”

(Even in this situation, he’s still...)

As the man attempted to point his sword toward me, Hideyoshi grabbed him by the collar.

Hideyoshi: “Why are you targeting this woman!?”

Samurai: “Because she’s a sacrificial princess.”

Hideyoshi: “Sacrificial princess? Who calls her that?”

Samurai: “Our small country has been devastated by conflicts with neighboring regions.”

Samurai: “Even beyond the mountains, everyone is fighting with each other. Once you cross the borders, everyone becomes an enemy.”

Samurai: "The only people we can trust are our people."

Hideyoshi: "What does that have to do with the sacrificial princess?"

Samurai: "This devastation is happening because of Nobunaga's ambition to unify the country."

Samurai: "A priestess told us that if we offered a woman named Mai, who is Nobunaga's mistress, as an offering, the heavens would calm their wrath, and the world would be at peace."

(There's no way that will bring peace.)

Hideyoshi: "It's obviously a load of bullshit! Why can't you understand!?"

Samurai: "Her face is now on wanted posters."

Samurai: "The desperate people from the devastated regions, driven by desperation, are searching for her with bloodlust."

Samurai: "Even if you try to kill me, someone will eventually offer her as a sacrifice to the heavens. Then, there'll be peace again."

Hideyoshi: “Mai, I’m going to sleep. You get some rest too.”

Mai: “Okay. But I’ll stay here a little longer.”

Hideyoshi: “No. You need to lie down, or you’ll get tired.”

(He always worries about me no matter what the situation is.)

Mai: “Please, just a little longer. Okay?”

Hideyoshi: “I guess I don’t have a choice.”

Mai: “Okay, thanks.”

Hideyoshi: “I should be the one thanking you for taking care of me.”

(I’m not taking care of him at all.)

I felt frustrated and helpless that I couldn’t even wipe the sweat off his forehead.

(I can’t even apply to him the ointment I received from Ieyasu, even though I’m right by his side.)

Hideyoshi: “Mai.”

I snapped back to reality when he suddenly called me.

Mai: “Yeah? Something wrong?”

Hideyoshi: “.........”

Not having much energy left to speak, Hideyoshi stared at me.

His eyes were full of sympathy, as if he was trying to cheer me up.

Mai: “Oh, did I look tired by any chance?”

Mai: “I’m just a little sleepy. We’ve traveled quite pretty far.”

Hideyoshi: “I see.”

Mai: “So why are you two here?”

Ranmaru: “That’s because you’re in a difficult situation.”

A shadow fell over Ranmaru’s once cheerful expression.

Mai: “Are you talking about the sacrificial princess?”

Ranmaru: “Yes. I was actually going to tell him about the danger, but those guys were moving too fast.”

Ranmaru: “If only I had hurried a little more, Lord Hideyoshi wouldn’t have had to push himself too hard. I’m sorry.”

(There’s no need for Ranmaru to apologize.)

His words trailed off as regret lurked in his eyes.

Ranmaru: “But still, their methods are just too much. Those two are unbelievable.”

Mai: "Those two?"

After a pause, Kennyo spoke up.

Kennyo: "Mai, I'll tell you where the rumors came from."

Mai: "You know?"

(I don't know if I can trust this person to tell me the truth, but I still want to know.)

Feeling desperate, I stared at Kennyo.

Kennyo: "Let me get to the point. The rumors about the sacrificial princess are nothing but fabrications by Kicho."

➟ Chapter 4 Spoilers

[deerwith2heads]

my christmas wishlist! ❤︎

i def wont be able to get most of this stuff but i like to dream!!

⋆ Knee-High Converse: I think they have always been super cute!! my mom doesn't like them tho :( I'm getting them in black!

⋆ Yoga Pants By Moonkissed Collective: I have wanted these forever omg!! For ref they say "All Good on My End" on the ass!!

⋆ Sofia Coppola Archive Book: Jaw droppingly gorgeous from the queen herself.

⋆ Chococat 35 mm Film Camera: my favorite sanrio character and I love cameras!!

⋆ Calico Crritters Lakeside Lodge!: I've been getting into calico critters/sylvanian families lately, and this is the cutest home that I've seen that's currently being sold!! I always love cabinesque little playsets and homes in general, and I think it will be especially fitting because the families I want the most rn are the bears and the skunks. :))

⋆ Lucky Notebook: This is rly expensive for a notebook imo but they seem like really nice quality and all the ones I've seen are adorable!! This is a hardcover notebook with blank pages and the cover is a cute little cat!!

⋆ Djungkelskog: I love him and you probably love him too bc imo everyone loves him. The icon.

⋆ Locket: Matching lockets with my boyfriend!! It's silver and has a moon and stars, to represent us :).

⋆ Chococat Plush Tote Bag: I just think it's cute, and again, chococat is my favorite.

⋆ Boa Concert Tickets: For me and my bf to see Boa in orlando :)))

⋆ Clinique Black Honey: ...

⋆ American Beauty Signed Screenplay: My favorite movie!!

⋆ Black Velvet Heels: These are so cute, I'd be getting them with the spide charm on the side!

⋆ Circus Fantasy by Britney Spears: One of my dream perfumes. According to Fragrantica, main accords in order = sweet, floral, fruity, vanilla, powdery. top notes = raspberry, sugar, apricot blossom. middle notes = orchid, peony, water lily. base notes = sweet notes, vanilla, musk, violet, woody notes.

⋆ Tampons: This is a big pack so it would last me a while and still be relatively inexpensive in terms of gifts. This would also be useful because even though I live at home I buy my own tampons, so I ask for this every year :)

⋆ Moon Hoop Earrings: These are the prettiest earrings I think I have ever seen. Absolutely jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

⋆ Swan Ballet Hair Brush: From Flower Knows, I'm also in dire need of a new hairbrush and this one is gorgeous.

⋆ Hair Dryer and DIffuser: I don't have either and I'm trying to start making my hair look better.

⋆ Morning Affirmations Mug: By Moonkissed collective, pretty and funny. Says: I am never stressed out by anything ever - nobody is mad at me - i have beautiful friends and we take beautiful pictures - i love checking my bank balance - i am a fairy and so everything in my life is a fairytale - i have not missed out on anything fun lately - i don't even know what bpd is - the outfits i imagine as look as good when i try them on - i am uncancellable - life is perfect and nothing haunts me.

⋆ Adios and Ciao Ciao Blind Box: Made by Tokidoki, fetures a grim reaper couple, one with a pink hood and the other with a black hood. My bf loves grim reapers so it would remind me of us <3.

⋆ Candy Cane Kiss Candle: Made by Goosecreek so supposedly a really good candle. Peppermint scents are my favorite for the wintertime and the candle itself is pink and cute so I love it. I've also just gotten into candles more lately and the ones I already own are quickly running out.

⋆ Hanamaruobake Hair Cips: From the offical Sanrio online store, this is a sanrio character now being sold for the second time ever and I need more hair cips anyways. I think it is super super cute but my mom said it has jigsaw vibes </3

⋆ Snowflake Shaped Peppermint Patties: My favorite candy, especially during Christmas. Snowflakes are one of my favorite winter motifs too, so it's just cute to me all around!

[thechaoticfanartist]

never meant to be your problem child

Gen

Warnings: None

Character(s): Obi-Wan Kenobi, Grim Kennet (OC)

Relationship(s): Obi-Wan Kenobi & Grim Kennet (OC)

Additional Tags: Post-The Lawless (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Hurt/Comfort

Summary: while on mandalore obi-wan had to save grim from fighting sidious. she wishes he never got involved.

Read On A03

Grim and Obi-Wan remained quiet for a long time after entering hyperspace. Both of them were thinking over what had just happened on Mandalore, trying to process it all.

Grim was the first to speak. “You weren't meant to be there,” she said, quietly. “I'm sorry, I almost got you killed.”

He was never supposed to have fought Sidious. She had caused that to change, it was the only thing she had changed on that mission.

“You weren't supposed to be there either,” he replied. “I was supposed to go on my own to begin with.”

“You weren't supposed to go at all according to the Council,” she retorted. “But that's not what I'm talking about. Never once were you ever supposed to have fought Sidious, and I'm sorry that I caused that to change.”

“You shouldn't have been fighting Sidious either, and he implied that you have fought before.”

“Because we have,” she whispered. “I'm sorry Obi-Wan, I know I should have told you sooner. I was just afraid of what you would think. Are…are you mad at me?”

Obi-Wan turned to look at her. His expression was serious, but his eyes were gentle and kind. “I'm not mad, Padawan. But I am worried. Until now, nobody on the Council has ever fought Sidious, and you have fought him multiple times. The fact that you're still alive-”

“I'm only still alive because he wants me alive. I should be dead. I should have been killed a long time ago.”

“How long ago, Grim? When did you first fight him?”

She looked away, “I'm sorry, Master.”

“Grim…”

“You should be mad at me. Why aren't you? I wasn't able to save Satine, and I almost got you killed!”

“And you think that's your fault?” He asked. “I went to save Satine so if her death is your fault it falls on me as well. And you did not force me to fight Sidious, you didn't know I would follow you.”

She was quiet again. She focused her attention on the hyperspace through the viewport of the ship.

“You can't control what other people do,” he said. “I made a choice to save you from Sidious, and it almost killed me, but that isn't on you. I made a choice to go to Mandalore to save Satine, and I fell for Maul’s trap, despite you trying to warn me, that isn't on you.”

“That doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't have been there to fight Sidious, you should have already been escaping Mandalore.”

“Without you?” He asked.

“Yes, without me!” She snapped, looking back at him. “When was the last time I actually changed anything significant?”

“And what would have happened to you if I hadn't stepped in?” He asked.

“...Sidious would have captured me.”

“Would you have preferred that?”

“If it meant you never got hurt by him…”

“Do you think that I think so little of you that it wouldn't hurt me if you got captured?”

“That's not what I meant.”

“Little one, listen to me, you carry so much, but you shouldn't have to. And you don't have to face all of this on your own. I am certainly not your responsibility, nor is anyone else.”

“Who else can carry this if not me?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? The burdens you carry are not something anyone can face on their own. If you shared the weight-"

“No. I'm sorry, Master, but I just can't. What I know, and what I'm doing would put others in danger if I shared it.”

“I'm afraid we already are.”

“I don't want to hurt you.”

“You wouldn't.”

“You only think that because you don't know what I do.”

Obi-Wan sighed heavily, he recognized he couldn't get through to her. They've had this conversation far too many times. “Very well,” he said.

Silence fell between them again. Grim rested her head on Obi-Wan's shoulder. She closed her eyes and smiled. “Thank you for saving me, dad.”

He smiled. “Of course, little one.”

Tag List (let me know if you want to be added or removed) : @padme--amygdala @soclonely @mrfandomwars @jgvfhl @starlonkedd @andorlorian @togrutanduin @jedi-valjean @one-real-imonkey @traygaming @keoxus @veiled-in-stars @sentineljedi @spicysucculentz @it-was-rose @thejediprincessqueenofnaboo @veradragonjedi @arrthurpendragon @shrinkthisviolet @thebrainofocto @forloveofcodywan @mandalorian-general

[foibles-fables]

Helloooo. I just finished reading chapter 18 of, ‘The Weight of Us,’ and I’m hooked! Any chance you’re working on this story and will be updating it soon? Our girls are both in pain and I NEED to know what happens next, please. 😬

NONNY!!!! I am legitimately SO pleased to hear you've enjoyed reading....I really, really would love to get back to the fic soon and to give our girls what they deserve.

For now--and to perhaps make me accountable to keep working on it--how about I share what I have written of chapter 19 so far? Just for you ;]

--------

The sight of the blood was staggering—hostile and copious and fresh, lathered boldly all over, fouling the courtyard stone with its scarlet urgency. 

And in the absence of an obvious victim, nobody gathered could say with certainty whether it had been spilled from beast or from man.

Cara, arriving as the pastel sunrise began its slow breach of the morning mist, was somehow (and yet, deeper, unsurprisingly) the first one privy to the grim scene. 

Truly, she smelled it before she saw it. The sharp odor of it—raw iron and salted earth—lashed at her, raising her hackles as she approached the training yard. Sensing it altered her pace. Not exactly out of alarm, but from the gritty feeling of removed and morbid familiarity. The first breathful rushed through her perception and submerged her in the distant potency of temple training and the carnage of battle. 

And for that brief instant, for those two hastening heartbeats, it elicited something akin to relief. 

Wrapped up in that abrupt recognition was a taste of deliverance from the safe and stakeless hypotheticals of instructing the recruits. A definite departure from the vacant routine she had passively slipped into over the past fortnight: long days spent training. Always presenting early, using the morning heat to sweat out the wine or ale that had kept her teetering on the edge of sobriety hours before. Some nights trickling by alone in her chambers, staring into the darkness until her eyes ached, unable to discern whether her mind was too full or completely empty. Others spent trying to separate from her own skin, lying in bed above a tavern full of late-night diners and carousers—with Dahlia, sated and sleeping, curled against her bare back. Touching too much to feel at rest, touching too little to feel numb, churning like mad inside all the while.

And every moment across and between, feeling faceless in the daylight without even trying—trying to keep Kahlan out of the spaces between her ribs, keep her away from the thoughts that roiled in idle moments. 

Forced to live with a choice she did not make. 

Bearing the seal of Aydindril on her chest felt like a cruel sham when she hadn’t so much as spoken to Kahlan in twelve mornings—since she walked out of Kahlan’s solar, heavy limbs, exhausted spirit. Only silent, avoidant awareness colored their few encounters, trying to ignore the way Kahlan was trying to ignore her. Gazes askance. Kahlan’s hands fumbling. Cara’s curling into shaking fists. 

A duty-bound protector who could hardly look at the one she was meant to protect. 

Laughable. It was laughable. It was all laughable. She was laughable.

(She wasn’t laughing.)

The golden badge was minuscule, but its weight kept dragging her down ever farther.

A momentary distraction like this was more than welcome. But Cara’s hammer-hearted, near-delighted anticipation diminished rapidly as she came close enough to see the state of the courtyard. 

Alert concern billowed up in its place when she remembered one thing, and realized another.

Cara remembered that blood like this had absolutely no place in the courtyard of the Confessors’ Palace.

And she realized that it had been left there in a way that was anything but random.

Something ethereal and deeply-ingrained ripped through the listless fog, like an unyielding hand reaching up to seize her by the jaw. Cara thought of Kahlan still fast asleep in her chambers—mouth half-slack, hair across her face in the closest semblance of a mess, breathing slowly with slumber, just the way Cara used to leave her at this hour. 

And for the first time in days, the image and the remembering of it didn’t come bearing ache. 

Only sudden focus, Only rigid precision. Only purpose. A surge of everything that had compelled her to stay here, the reason to still exist in this place. 

Binding, defining connection. 

Her forgotten name echoed back to her in Shota’s patronizing tone.

Agile motion stemmed from reflex. Cara’s hand darted her hip, and she let out a clipped snarl of agitation when she felt neither Agiel nor axe holstered there. Half a pulsebeat and all of the coursing hypervigilance carried a twofold reminder: her Agiels were useless, and she had left her axe behind in mind of the day’s objective of working on more advanced hand-to-hand combat. 

Never again, she thought, cursing both that idiotic decision and how she had allowed herself to slide so far away from discipline. She channeled the self-indignation into a loud whistle and a less-than-delicate gesture at the Home Guard patrolman who was approaching from her right. 

“Tell me,” she demanded, pointed and gruff, leaving no amount of incredulous rage in question as her voice carried across the space with ease, “what halfwit failed to notice this? I’d like to be personally introduced.”

The guard’s mail jangled as he quickened his pace to a loping dash. The expression half-hidden by his helm betrayed equal parts shock at the bloody display and ill-suppressed fear of the furious Mord-Sith. The latter caused his speech to sputter. 

“This was not here on my last passthrough.” He paused, blinking, realizing he had just revealed himself as the halfwit and there was nothing he could do to retract it. “I swear it on my firstborn! I would never let something like this go unreported.”

Cara stared at him, lips pursed and eyes burning with disbelief, until his frozen discomfort was palpable. Finally, she barked: “Then why aren’t you reporting it now? Go!”

The sentry who had been unlucky enough to be assigned this particular watch nearly tripped over himself in his hurry to alert the other watchmen—and to get as far away from Cara’s scrutiny as possible. 

She saw him off with a dangerously skeptical scowl and then took up hawkeyed surveillance of the area, in search of either the bled or the culprit. There was no sign of either except for the spillage on the stonework. 

Cara took care not to step in any of the slicks of it as she approached the palace wall, raising her gaze and then narrowing her eyes as she attempted to read the silky-wet red lettering slathered onto the space below the Mother Confessor’s balcony.

STREGANICHA

It wasn’t a word Cara recognized. 

But even unfamiliar in meaning, it roamed over her skin with a sinister chill.

[bloodthirstybatty]

Downpour

💛 ~~~~~~~~~💛

Leona x reader

Hurt/comfort

Disclaimer: I have dyslexia, given that my writing can suck. Please be mindful of this, thank you!🙏❤️

TW: depression and mention of suicide.

A/N

I was originally going to make this a multi-character fanfic but I realized with my dyslexia it's easier for me to only write for one character. I picked Leona because I find comfort in him so it's a bit of a self-insert/vent fanfic of how I would feel if I was yuu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Downpour

It was raining cats and dogs, you ran fast trying not to trip and fall from the slick ground. You decided your best chance is to run to the botanical garden since it was close by, you turn left and blotted towards the door of the garden.

Catching your breath, you look around to see the rain hit the dome of the gardens, it was beautiful and peaceful. Walking you think about what earlier, you and Crowley got into a disagreement, the showers were getting less hot from the boiler being ancient and your flip phone was cutting off all the Time, so you went to Crowley to ask for an upgrade. He then called you ungrateful and that you should be more understanding on how hard he is working to get you home, that you should realize that your stuff cost school money, and that you could have been on the streets if it wasn't for his kindness... You were tried, very tried. Not just from the argument you had with Crowley but everything, school, tasks from Crowley, ramshackle falling apart, over lots, being belittled for not having magic, etc... You were depressed, you felt alone and felt that nobody truly had your back, even grim sometimes.

You continued to walk around the garden when you spotted a certain someone's tail, it was Leona's. There he lay asleep, peacefully snoring, you stared for a minute before you decide to sit next to him so you could have some company while doing your homework. As you were doing your work you couldn't stop crying a little, tears fell and hit your paper and you sniffle causing the lion next to you to stir in his sleep. you got startled by it, you thought you awakened the lion, you started to hypervalent, you didn't want to cause your hyperventilation to fasten, you started to cry from it, you were freaking out, you were having a panic attack. Just then the lion next to you arose, however, you didn't notice he did.

"Are you crying?", "huh?" you froze, you thought you just made another person mad at you. "are you crying?" he repeated, "i- a no, no I'm not," you said in a panic. "yes you are I can see it, you have tear stains on your homework" "I'm fine, it's just allergy" "no it's not your having a panic attack, your heart is racing and your shaking like a leaf" "i-" you couldn't get any words out, your panicking started to worsen. Leona shifted his body he was now close to you, he looked into your eyes "tell me" you stared into his eyes stunned, you could believe it, leona king scholar was considered for you, generally considered! He was the first person that saw your true discomfort. Taking a deep breath you began to speak.

"i-i, sorry" you took another deep breath to get rid of the frog in your throat, talking about feelings was hard for you, you never really talked to anyone about them in your life, and you mostly found ways to overcome your feelings. "so?" "did you and grim get in a fight?" looking back up to leona you said "no, no I and grim are fine, we didn't get into an argument, actually me and that damn bird did" you huffed. "what did that bird do to you to be all worked up?" your tears started again, just thinking about it was tough. "he called me ungrateful! I just went to him because my water was not getting hot and my phone is a busted piece of crap, then he called me ungrateful, and that he had to spend school money to get me those things. He also said he cant solve every lotion of mine since he's already trying to solve how to get me home!" your voice was now horses from your ranting, but you didn't feel better from it. "your not ungrateful herb- uh y/n" you bit your lip and looked away "maybe I am, tho.. Like I could have been in the streets, if it wasn't for Crowley" "no your not! Stop saying dumb things" "im sorry" you mumbled. Still crying you turned back to leona he look serious, a different kind of serious unlike usual. "I can tell you have more to say, this isn't all that's troubling you, go on spill" "that's true there is more.." "well?"

You fiddled around trying to calm down, you knew if you didn't you would sob. You tried to take several deep breaths but you were still shaking so you decided to spill, "im tried!" "im tried of everything!" "im tried of this school, of living in ramshackle, of overblots" you shaking sobbed taking a deep breath you begin to speak again "im tried of always being called hero from saving people from overblots!" "i-i- IM TRIED OF LIVING!" you shouted, "im tried of life, I want to disappear for good, I don't want to be here" you wiped your tears away but they were like a river, sniffling you squeezed you risk to stop you from panicking. You then looked up at leona, you thought you said to much but his eyes were soft, he then spoke "your feelings are valid, you shouldn't have to be going though this, you didn't choose to" he then stood putting his hand out for you, you reached it and he pulled you up into a hug, leona kingscholar was hugging you! You felt relief flow through you, all your worriedness left your body, you felt peace. Leona the pulled way "if anything is troubling you come to me first okay, I'll help you resolve it" "thank you leona" you smiled. He then pulled your hand to make you follow him "the run stopped lets get something to eat, I'll pay."

Later that week you had a better phone and your plumbing was fixed, all thanks to Leona, you felt grateful. You have to now had protect you, you don't have to worry now. Leona and you also stared to hang out more, eating lunch and sitting in the garden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/n

I hope you liked it! I tried to write it on how I thought leona would actually acted in a situation like this, I want to have him pull you down to nap with him but I don't this he's the type to do that unless you were dating. I also know Leona is canonly protecful and keeps his eye out on others, he doesn't say it but he shown sides of it.

If you want me to wrote more stuff then please put in a submission, also comment down below what you thought of the story!! ❤️❤️❤️

[lychee-face]

Felix Cheng

Birthday: Nov 11

Age: 16

Sexuality/pronouns: Queer, he/him

Ethnicity: French/Chinese

Species: Human

!! MORE INFORMATION UNDER CUT !!

Likes: Baking, robins, strawberries, fashion, the colour red

Dislikes: Getting into messy situations, things not being done by the “book”, worms

Personality: An arrogant person, Felix speaks his mind and it’s just naturally assumed that he is right(because he is 99.9% of the time 😨). He is blunt with his words and provides the persona of a perfect person. He always looks as though he has everything under control. While he has a tough exterior, Felix is actually a caring person, at least to those he deems worthy. He may not show it though his words, but it can be seen through his actions.

Backstory: Felix was born into a wealthy family. His parents ran a large business together, dominating a large potion of the industry. Felix was their youngest child, having an older brother. His brother, Alexandre, always had a tendency to be in his own world. For the future inheritant of the business, he was rather ditzy and strange. Despite this, their relationship was close and they told eachother everything. One day Alexandre got severely sick. He was forced to stay in his bed and rest, but it never seemed like he would get better. Felix was restricted from seeing him, but that didn’t stop him from sneaking out to see him. The longer Alexandre was sick, the more he seemed to go insane. He imagined up this giant world of magic with merpeople and dragons and so much more. He imagined that he himself wad there, and acted as if his world and the one in his imagination were the same. Felix should’ve been realistic, he shouldn’t have encouraged his brother’s fantasies, but he was only 6. Felix was fascinated by the stories Alexandre had told him and awaited his stories of this magical world every day. One night Alexandre had said that he wanted to go to this other world, permanently. He was tired of being confined to his room and being sick. He had gone missing the next day. Nobody knew where he had gone. They never believed Felix when he said that his brother was in the other world. His parents grew worried for him, afraid that he would become as delusional as Alexandre. They kept him to a strict schedule and life, never letting any slip up from him pass by without notice. As Felix grew older he got over Alexandre’s imaginative world. Just like everyone else he assumed that Alexandre was mad. One day he was walking about the city, not paying any attention to his surroundings. He was hit by a car, or a carriage? As he was hit his brain went fuzzy. His senses were a blur and all he knew was that he was taken inside somewhere before completely blacking out. When he awakened he found himself inside a coffin, floating amongst others. He was transported to another world, the one his brother described. Looking around he could vividly remember the stories he was told. He met Grim, along with Ace and Deuce. Now he works as the prefect of Ramschackle while trying to find his brother, dealing with the housewardens on the side.

!! VISUAL AND RELATIONSHIP CHART COMING SOON !!

[godlygivenanxiety]

I know I must be the last motherfucker on EARTH to watch Grimm, but be patient with me 'cause i'm doing it now.

Something I can't understand though is the youtube comments on scenes about Sean & Juliette's compulsion, because those people talk about her as if she was willfully and purposefully cheating on Nick when as far as i'm concerned:

• Juliette had NO memories of any of their relationship and although she was as gentle as possible with Nick, understanding and even feeling guilty though she had no fault, she had no obligation to BE with Nick— truth be told, they were anything but together in that specific moment in their lives.

• She was under a COMPULSION; her feelings for Sean were born out of a supernatural connection she didn't understand and quite frankly, neither did Sean.

Now, I can see why people would be mad at Sean because Adalind's revenge against Nick had everything to do with Sean's manipulation of her own infatuation and loyalty to him: if Sean hadn't asked her to seduce Hank and bring him the key, Nick wouldn't have made her taste his blood— if she encountered the Grimm in any other way, he would've dealt with her either by locking her up or killing her in self defense, although I would argue Adalind was incredibly stupid in letting Nick trick her when she knows her own weakness unlike most wesen he fights against AND that her actions are her own, you can't blame someone else for what she does or doesn't do(and it was merciful of Nick to even let her live as a human, might I remind you she pretty much raped Hank and then dangled his life in front of Nick).

Funny thing though is that Nick himself feels betrayed and ready to goddamn murder Sean and amidst all of that he suddenly forgets that between him and Juliette? He's the asshole.

Allow me:

• He's been lying to her about where he is, who he is, how he met Monroe, and all the little details about him being a Grimm and the Wesen, which is the most understandable of his bad decisions because she's a kehrseite, we saw how she reacted at first to Nick's meltdown(and he very much was NOT stable when he broke it to her which didn't help at all).

• Selfishly, he decided that putting her in danger that she wouldn't even be aware of was worth it to keep her even after being proven that no, he cannot protect her from everything(AKA, Plumed Serpent, Game Ogre & Woman In Black); are we all aware of how insane that is? Juliette has no idea that she has a target painted on her back that doesn't even compare to the one a detective's lover has to handle, Nick stayed deluding himself into thinking things were fixable and fine(AKA, The Thing With Feathers) knowing damn well that his Aunt had been right about breaking up to protect her. God, I bet that Juliette would immediately connect dots and think Nick just couldn't keep their relationship afloat while grieving and drowning in work and forgive him for being so closed off, she would've stayed his friend regardless because she's just awesome like that.

I love Nick, I want nothing less but for him to be supported and loved, he and Juliette are such compassionate people that were genuinely happy together before his heritage came knocking on his door but he made one bad decision after another and his cowardice/selfishness almost cost Juliette's life multiple times— the big deal with Monroe's acceptance at the final scene in Of Mouse And Men is exactly that he's painfully aware of the dangers he's facing by being a Blutbad that's helping a Grimm, his informed decision to stick by Nick seems to overwhelm the Grimm because someone is doing that for him when he can't have it anywhere else. Nobody but Monroe can know.

(And not to be quickly bonkers about NickRoe but the fact that his reaction to Monroe's telling that Nick was the reason he got attacked was cutting ties? That bitter, angry smirk when he says he won't ask anything anymore? He's willing to let Monroe go — his main support as a Grimm, his translator, his personal Grimm-o-pedia and sniffer, a powerful ally in the Wesen World, a friend that fed him and protected him — at what he thinks is Monroe's breaking point but insists on Juliette even after he thought she reached her breaking point, it speaks of a balance between Monroe & Nick that Juliette & Nick no longer have and that he wants the Blutbad safe more than he's willing to fight his decision and keep him although he clearly hates to part with him like that.)

So, I really think that in this entire situation Juliette's entitled to all of her anger, and that she has nothing to feel guilty about wanting to fuck Sean Renard seven different ways into Sunday — I mean, she's such relatable queen for that — and that Nick, while valid in his feelings of desperation and fury, should've known goddamn better. I won't tolerate Juliette slander about it; i'm vaguely aware shit hits the fan in later seasons but that's not relevant here.