#rather than being coincidences or someone just making references to current/past goings on

[mbat]

still thinking about an iceberg video i watched yesterday and the topic was 'media predicting the future' and it literally had shit like 'these characters self isolating in this video game predicted the pandemic' and 'this character caring about germs predicted the pandemic' and i. what.

[tortilla-of-courage]

welcome to my TED Talk. Skyward Sword Link is the ancient hero mentioned in Twilight Princess. here we go

(for my own sanity im referring to SkSw Link as “Sky” and TP Link as “Twilight”)

so like, The Big Reason: the Hero’s Clothes. it’s probably really obvious but y’know how it be. when you first get them in Twilight Princess, Faron tells you this:

In TP’s timeline, the only heroes there have ever been in Hyrule are the ones from Skyward Sword, Minish Cap, Four Swords and Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask. Out of them, Sky’s outfit is almost identical to Twilight’s, sans the embroidery, and it’s honestly the only outfit that would fit Twilight. 

MC’s and FS’s Links were children, and OoT/MM’s Link wasn’t remembered as a hero because of all the time travel stuff (which is where Hero’s Shade comes in but that’s something else entirely). Even if he was, his outfit is completely different than Twilight’s, and only the child Hero of Time’s version would exist in that timeline, since the adult version of the outfit was given to OoT Link in the Sacred Realm. So really, the only option left is Sky.

They’re both around the same height and age, and the elements in their outfits are basically the same, with tiny differences. There’s the high-collared undershirt (Twilight’s is sewn closed while Sky’s is open), the chainmail, the tunic with the same base design...

We know Twilight is strong - he works at a farm, can throw goats and gorons like it’s nothing, picks up big rocks with ease... while Sky can barely pick up a barrel without running out of breath/strength in a few seconds. Twilight clearly has more muscle mass, and we can see this in the outfits’ differences. In these design notes, we can see the sides of Twilight’s tunic have been opened, then half re-stitched, and the same goes for his sleeves.

Meanwhile, Sky’s lacks all of these modifications. On him, the tunic even looks baggy, made for someone bigger than him, while on Twilight it’s really tight-looking.

Even the hat seems to have been adjusted for Twilight’s head... and also elongated, judging by the extra fabric sewed on the tip. the length difference is a bit clearer in the following screenshots. It can also be seen that Sky and Twilight’s adventurer bags are almost identical but that could just be coincidence rather than them being the same bags.

Actually, the Hero’s Shade talks about the Hero’s tunic too.

This could just be a reference of the Shade to his own outfit as the Hero of Time, since he also talks about accepting the life of the hero in another of his encounters - but if he doesn’t consider himself a worthy hero after being unable to pass on his secrets, it wouldn’t make sense for him to refer to the Hero’s Clothes in such a way (”the proud green of the hero’s tunic...”)

It could go with my theory of the Kokiri’s green clothes being inspired by the first hero (Sky, not the 25th anniversary manga’s Link), with the Kokiri evolving from the Kikwis in Skyward Sword who met him. OoT Link, growing up as a Kokiri, could have heard stories about this first hero, maybe even looking up to him (kind of like the Koroks with Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild Links). It’d make sense then for him to think so highly of the hero’s outfit despite his own situation.

Outfits aside, there’s the Double Clawshots you get in Twilight Princess. Besides TP, these only appear again in Skyward Sword - other games just have hookshots or grappling hooks.

They have really different designs in general, yes, but that could either be explained by the different art styles of the games, or that, even if they’re not the exact same pair, TP’s were inspired by SkSw’s. Considering Sky’s clawshots are a sacred gift from Nayru herself, though, they should be able to last thousands of years.

Actually, talking about Nayru, that’s where we can get some “proof” that they could be the same pair. In TP, the first clawshot you find is in the Lakebed Temple - at this point in the timeline, water is Nayru’s element (instead of Electricity like in SkSw), so one of her divine gifts being in her element’s temple (possibly put in there as an offering either by Sky himself or by his descendants time after Skyward Sword) is completely fine... But what about the other clawshot? Well, you find it in the City in the Sky. Not entirely sure why they’d leave one behind like that, but it being in what could be a modified version of Skyloft’s ruins...

We could also mention the Hero’s Bow in all this. Its description even mentions the hero of legend, supposedly the same hero the outfit Twilight wears belonged to.

It looks quite similar to the bow you use in Skyward Sword. There are obviously design differences (it’d also mean Sky never upgraded it during his adventure), but they share key elements.

TP’s bow shares a few more key elements with Majora’s Mask’s bow than with SkSw’s, such as the little branches near the edges, but MM’s is way smaller (mostly to fit that Link, but yeah) and Twilight wouldn’t be able to use it. Though, it should be noted MM’s bow is also referred to as the Hero’s Bow, like in TP, so it could be the same bow in all three cases.

(Wind Waker’s bow is also called the Hero’s bow - and looks a bit more like Skyward Sword’s than these other two but that’s another timeline,)

Anyways. The ones guarding the Hero’s bow in Twilight Princess are the Gorons. Now, why would the Gorons have it? It’d mean this Hero of the past would have to have been close enough to them to trust them with it. The first Link to pop to mind with that is usually OoT Link. 

But, when he gets sent to the past by Zelda after his adventure’s done, it’s to before he ever goes to Death Mountain, and before he becomes sworn brothers with Darunia. I’m not saying he couldn’t have gone and befriended them later, but I don’t know if, with that being the case, all the future generations of Gorons would refer to him as a Hero even hundreds(?) of years later if he didn’t physically defeat any evil, or even consider his bow a treasure. And if they did, I don’t think they’d just call him the Hero of the past, considering he was relatively “recent”.

Another one of the heroes in this timeline who has had some contact with Gorons is Sky. Granted, it was only with about... 4 or so of them, but him (or one of his descendants idk) giving the Gorons his bow for safekeeping would make sense considering they’re 1) one of the first species he ran into on the Surface, and 2) helped him a bit during his adventure. And coming from the very first hero (one of the founders of Hyrule, even), it being treated as a treasure by the Gorons even thousands of years later seems to make a bit more sense 

It could also probably tie with one of the Clawshots being in the Lakebed temple. Maybe that clawshot was given to the Parella, who would later turn into the Zora? Maybe all the races Sky ran into during his adventure got a “gift” of sorts once Hyrule was offiically founded, maybe to unify all the races currently living there? And the other Clawshot could stay behind in Skyloft with the Loftwings, that could have turned into the Oocca. Who knows

[jamestrmtx]

Fairytale Complex - [Undertale | Sans x Reader]

[Gender Neutral, Frisk's Parent Reader | Slow Burn]

Chapter Twenty One | It's Showtime! (Part 2 of 3 | His POV)

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

Alternate Chapter Title(s):

Saint Behind the Glass** (Song Referenced)

or

The Extra Corny One With A Second Song Title Reference, Part 2½**

• • •

**This basically reveals Part 2 and 3 were meant to be Chapter Twenty-Two at one point (similar to how various chapters from the old version of FaiCom have been merged together here), buuut each chapter has essentially took place on different days in this version, so...

Let's keep that format, shall we?

• • •

Something's wrong.

That single sentence continues to repeat itself over and over as he makes it from Ruins to Hotland with the human, who remains quiet and distant during the entirety of the walk.

They're obligated to take off their jacket and reveal a sweaty tank top midway through, leaving their arms bare, these they try to hide from his line of sight by crossing them and glancing aside. He wonders why they do that at first, until he witnesses how hefty and soft-looking their arms are, a noticeable difference compared to the toned muscles he often saw from those who worked at the Royal Guard. Whether the human felt unconfident of their appearance or vulnerable as a cause of the nightmare he assumed to be related to, Sans wasn't completely sure of. Either way, he's aware it's best not to bring that up currently. The ups and downs to their health and body had shown greatly through these past few months, and though they were recovering little by little, they seemed to be facing some more frequent downs, as of late. Their call from a few days ago and the weak state they were in as they climbed into the back seat of Papyrus's car were just enough to make him fear there's something bigger going on.

"Shoulda worn shorts or somethin'," he comments, noticing they already seem to be affected by the heat. Frisk ventured through a variety of climates with no trouble at all, yet their parent was showing signs of fatigue in their body within a few minutes into their walk through Hotland. The place had grown about twice as hot since he last visited, though he doubts the human will believe him if he were to say that out of nowhere. They could likely take it as him trying to console them for their inability to be stronger than him; or their own child, for that matter -- someone meant to see them as a role model rather than a frail and dependent person. "Wanna borrow some of mine?"

The human stares at him like he's made the most absurd suggestion there is, similar to that of mixing water with cereal or cooking steak in a toaster. "I swear, you test your luck with me a little too hard sometimes."

"I mean it, though."

"...We're not even dating yet."

"Yet," he says, mirth in his tone. "As in, there's still a possibility for us to become official?"

"Oh, stop it." They frown and fumble with the keys hanging from their satchel; he notices their nails are stubby, and bits of dried blood can be seen at the corners of plenty. "I… I don't know when you're being serious with me or not anymore."

"I meant that, too," he states, chuckling. "Would it be late if I told you I got that punch at the bar, 'cuz I had my head way in the clouds -- thinkin' about you?"

Sans receives no comment or reaction other than (Y/N) looking elsewhere and moving aside to walk a bit further from where he's at.

As a consequence, he takes a step closer, catches them with a 'hey', and reaches for their cheek when they look down at him. "...What's the matter? Your face's burnin'."

"We're in Hotland," they retort, rolling their eyes and brushing his hand away. "Ice's frozen. Water's wet. The sun's scorching-"

"-Just like you."

They walk off again, albeit with some struggle now that the heat of Hotland has combined with their embarrassment.

"And I'm not gonna wear your shorts. It would be a waste of time for me to take a break just because of some heat -- I'm not weak."

"Not sayin' you are. Just sayin' I don't want you to die from a heatstroke."

"Either way, I overlooked my situation, and I failed to prepare for it." A solemn look falls on their face, coupled with a firm posture. "I should've kept in mind my health, so it wouldn't be right for you to try redeeming my lack of preparedness. I should've asked Frisk or you more about this." They take in a breath and sigh it out. "...even if you can adapt to it just fine, and even if Frisk didn't have as much trouble to adjust as me."

Hot-headed and fiery might just be the finest ways to describe the human's current attitude, yet he very well knows making another joke about their temper -- combined with their hotness and the place they're currently at -- would be far too much. It wouldn't surprise him if they decided to call off the tour halfway through. Patience wasn't quite their main trait, though they practiced a sufficient amount of tolerance when it came to confronting his constant coquetry for the duration of those two months one of their coworkers mentioned in the chat; he can hardly believe it's been that long, and even less how close he was to kiss them that one time on the couch. More than sixty days of dealing with his presence had to be considered an achievement of some sort, even if their feelings were mutual. The monster's completely aware of how tiring and exasperating he can be on the often occasion, so he finds it best to start rationing how much he can be at once; too much of something's rarely ever good or effective, after all.

"But... Alright. Risking it would only make it worse, either way." Their gaze turns soft and they concede with a quiet huff. "Wouldn't we have to go allll the way back, though?"

"Not exactly," he replies, winking.

Sans proceeds to unzip his jacket and reveal a folded bundle of clothing underneath it.

"I know you can be stubborn sometimes, so I came prepared." He turns it over and adds, "There's a full set of clothes there, in case ya wanna freshen up at Met's old hotel before we keep goin'." His hands brush with theirs as they take the clothing from him. "It's been abandoned for a short while now, but I'm pretty sure the water's still runnin' well, for the most part." His gaze falls on their belongings again, and he gives into a cheekier grin as he continues with, "I've noticed somethin' about you, by the way."

"And what would that be?" they ask, mouth straight and tone wary.

He observes the satchel again -- the more-heavy-than-it-looks bag they almost always seemed to carry along with them, be it for something as typical as their job to something as simple as going out for a walk. What made it odd was knowing what contents could be found inside, these he has a vague recollection from when he had no other choice but to organize their bag after having gone through it when they fainted at the bus. Sans can still remember having rummaged through layers of Frisk's clothing, school supplies, and even a few monster-aimed medicines before setting the first aid kit back to its rightful place. The only things he could recall to be truly theirs were their cellphone, wallet, keys, and eyeglasses case. Going back to that memory makes him wonder -- were their priorities in the format of a list -- what number they would label themself with.

"You usually carry stuff in that bag meant for other people -- not you." He eyes the pocket with a few contents poking out from it. "...Or am I Ied to believe that bright pink Husky hairpin's yours?"

The human looks confused for a moment, until their eyes cast down at their bag and assess the pocket his gaze is most focused on. Then, they come across one of the smaller ones, where the mentioned accessory stays clipped to. "It- It's not! That's just in case Frisk needs it." They take it and hide it away in one of the bigger, emptier pockets. "It's their favourite hairpin, and they use it more often now that their hair's getting longer."

"But they ain't here right now."

"Yes, but what if they need it later -- when I go pick them up?"

He can barely contain the joy their overly defensive expression brings upon his face.

Perhaps it's pure projection or coincidence, but they appear to resemble the same dog he mentioned with the stance they hold, not threatening in the slightest and charming at best, but still ready to attack -- figuratively, of course. Hearty laughter escapes him, though he covers it up with a harrumph. "I'm surprised you don't carry the whole house with you, at this point."

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared."

"If only you applied that thought for you, too."

They swat his skull with their hand and let out a chuckle. "Don't nag me, teddy bear." Nonetheless, a more serious look overcomes them as they sigh. "You're right, though." With how quiet it gets and how long that pause lasts, it appears as if they've become lost in their thoughts. "Not only did the social worker suggest it, but it's not fair for me to keep bothering you or anyone else because of my..." They scratch their throat and grin. "...consistently questionable life choices."

"Is that a promise I'm hearin'?"

"A big and definite one."

• • •

Half-open windows help bring some clear air into the stuffy room, as does the air conditioner set to the coldest temperature possible by lessening the dryness and heat of the wind. It's all paired up with the scents of the fresh cinnabunnies and iced coffee he carries in some paper bags, food he bought at Snowdin while the human showered. Sans sets the meal by the nightstand, covers it up with some aluminum foil, and -- finally -- wipes a layer of dirt away from the mirrored dresser before assembling some toiletries on it. Then, he sits down in bed, closes his eye sockets, and waits. The sounds of his soul beating, the breeze blowing the curtains, and the shower running are the only melodies to take over the quiet of the hotel. Turning on the radio by the nightstand further assists those noises and aids in transforming the room into a more welcoming and cozy spot, overall. The last thing on his mental to-do list is to wait some more by checking his phone and updating himself on any new messages, some few from (Y/N)'s coworkers wishing him luck. A grin's inevitable as he reads through these a second time.

The shower turning off and a door unlocking are the next changes he notices, along with the radio switching from music to news.

Sans feels his breath tremble when the human steps out. They're dressed to the nines despite their attire being composed of the simplest clothing possible: a new pair of his below-the-knee shorts, these fitting slightly above theirs as a result of their taller height; plus one of his baggiest shirts, now almost at belly button length for the same reason as the first piece. What makes such a common attire seem so complex and thought-out is how well they've adjusted it to their figure; it's either that, or he has his head in the clouds again. Regardless, they knew how to fix an outfit, and it wasn't that of much surprise if he compared it to the time they pulled the same trick when borrowing some sleepwear from Toriel's wardrobe.

Or, then again…

He was slowly becoming infatuated with them and couldn't avoid finding them attractive -- no matter the clothing worn.

At the sight of (Y/N) having their back turned to him while they perform their finishing touches by the dresser, he approaches them as quietly as he can, yet he lets himself be seen halfway with the reminder of the nightmare they had and how startled they could likely be if he tried anything extreme. He goes to hug them from behind when they catch him getting closer, though they say and do nothing in response. Still, his expectations of no retaliation are promptly shattered as they turn around, grab his hands, and twirl him once, preventing the hug.

"Nice try, teddy bear," they comment, smiling. "Do try again next time." They wink.

It's a knockout when the radio decides to switch back to music, inspiring in them what he assumes is an urge to take their current hold on him to lead him into an impromptu dance.

"So… You want to get flirty with me again?" they ask, grabbing his hands tight as they sway him left and right at a rhythmic but easy motion. "Then you've got to handle me flirting back." One hand holds his left one up while the other places his right one on their waist. Theirs then falls on his shoulder when he keeps his where they placed it at, this one he has trouble keeping still with how close he is to touch their skin, part of their waist now more exposed with their movements, showing the “love handles” he'd teased them about since he first flirted with them. A subtle but no less playful smile stretches their lips; their eyes soften, though mischief flares in their gaze. "I've made the decision to trust you," they comment, twirling him around once more. "So if you'd like us to be official, we can, but…" Their steps slow down as they trail off in their thoughts.

He treads in with, "You need to wait until the CPS thing's over with, right?"

They nod. "Unfortunately."

Their sorrow stays brief and their playfulness returns, replacing their momentary frown for yet another smile. "My memory might be a bit bad though, as I've never heard you say you like me before." To further increment the effects of their teasing, their lips fall close to his teeth but end up lower, kissing his jaw instead. "...In other words," they add, hands locking firm around his neck and bringing him closer to them. "Speak now, or forever hold your peace."

Sans feels his face turn about as warm as theirs felt, and he can tell they've noticed, based on the way their face lingers close to his -- waiting.

"...I like you," he says, far too quiet to be labeled anything but a murmur; even a thought could be considered louder than his words.

They land another kiss, much closer to his teeth. "Couldn't hear you."

"I like you, puddin'," he repeats, stronger this time. "Can you, uh… do that again, though? It felt nice."

They nod, lean in further, and press yet another kiss to his face. "Gladly."

With that, the human carries on with the dance. They sway him left and right and perform small circles across the hotel room, adding a twirl every few seconds -- sometimes with them taking the lead, and vice versa. "I like you, too, Serif." Despite the meaning and weight of their words, a frown arrives on their face. "But…" They hesitate. "I still have some doubts, and I think that dream I had confirmed that."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

A few seconds of silence remain and the song ends, dropping tension in the room.

"Not now, but… But maybe later?" They let him go. "If possible, I'd like to talk at the Judgment Hall -- where you last worked before leaving the Underground."

Despite his best efforts, the skeleton can't avoid commenting, "Want me to judge how good you look right now?"

The human sighs, loud and long. "...Babe?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop."

He lets out a resounding, jovial laugh at that.

Their tone's genuinely sad, as so's their expression.

They look a hundred and ten percent done with him, though they still push forward with a, "Be serious for a moment, please. I… I really mean it, and that dream I had…" Demurral returns to their words. "It involved one of my fears about Frisk's safety, and well…" They take a deep, shaky breath. "A- And my own safety when I'm around you."

The severity of their statement dawns on him, and his view distorts itself from an attractive human to a vulnerable one standing in front of him, weak and poorly prepared -- completely alone with him in a large, abandoned, and dilapidated hotel. They were easy prey from the viewpoint of an Underground Sentry. He could easily take them captive with their current state of health and their lack of knowledge in combat. Were he still assigned to that job, had (Y/N) fallen in Frisk's stead, and were finding that seventh soul still a priority, he could just as easily inform every other member of the Royal Guard to bring the human down to the Monster King's bidding. Unlike Frisk, they had little to no determination left in their soul; a quick and direct intervention meant danger for them.

And had he still that same mindset to this day, his agreement with Asgore to serve and protect (Y/N) would be something he could break -- something simple to deal with if he framed the blame on someone else. He could just as likely tolerate some jail time for failing to fulfill his part of that job with no protest. The only real obstacle would be (Y/N)'s child themself, knowing they were likely going to guard and care for their parent unconditionally. But even then, they were still alone with him presently; in other words, he could cover up any potential evidence of him being a culprit with time to spare. Perhaps Frisk was the hero of the story, but (Y/N) was still an NPC -- someone easy to get rid of with the right amount of caution and preparedness.

"You mentioned something about Karma before, and well…" They break the silence and snap him out of those thoughts. "I've made a lot of bad choices and awful mistakes, so that makes me wonder if, m- maybe…" Tears form in their eyes as they breathe in -- once, then twice. "If maybe I don't deserve any of this kindness or forgiveness that I've been getting recently, and… And that maybe I don't belong in this story, y'know? Frisk has done all the work here so far, and they've overcome plenty of obstacles, too. Meanwhile, I- I'm a weak, ill person with a dead-end job -- trying to keep a holey row boat afloat with napkins." They let out a shaky sigh and fail at a smile. "I get that you like me, and I can't deny or ignore my own feelings for you, but I'm… I'm an unworthy, ungrateful person. We've known each other for barely half a year. Th- There's stuff you don't know about me yet -- just as I don't know about you."

Their face shines with tears, these they can't bring themself to stop with how many pour down, and how fast these are. "I've already troubled and hurt Frisk enough as it is, and I've... I've troubled well-meaning family like Brenda just as much with my mistakes." They cover their face as they sit down in bed, trying to contain their sorrow. "...And then I have these awful, intrusive thoughts that seep in whenever I think I'm doing better. I don't want to bring trouble to you or any other monsters, either, but reminding myself of my past worsens these feelings, kn- knowing I might screw up again and again and again."

Feeling the situation's getting too rough not to establish some control over it, Sans sits down with them and grabs their wrists, tugging at these for them to look down at him.

Fear reaches their gaze as they stare at his irises, completely overcoming their bright and cheerful attitude from earlier.

"Breathe," he says, voice low as he loosens his grip on their wrists -- at the feeling of them shaking almost violently under his hold. "We'll go to the Hall in a few. But, first... I'm gonna need you to calm down a lil' more." He lets go.

They nod, close their eyes, and let a few more tears drift down before he dries the rest of these off with the sleeve of his jacket. "...Alright."

When they shudder, sniffle, and recover some sense of tranquility, they look at him again and smile. "And thank you for showing me patience."

He smiles back and brings them in for a hug -- long, tight, and strong. "That I've got plenty of, puddin'."

[First] | [Previous] | [Next]

• • •

Tag List (Comment or message me if you want to be added to [or removed from] it!)

@the-simp-express

@nektotersh

@disastrous-l0vebug

@therealchickenjoe

@mintyflakes025

@pandaquick

@timelock97

@candle-creeps

@paperb9gs

@merak0

[elizabeatrice]

Episode 12 - The Little Mermaid

Let’s Talk About JSHK Anime #3

Warning: Manga spoilers for The Little Mermaid arc, The Clock Keeper arc, and chapter 64!!! (just a bit, skip point no. 5, 6, and 10 if you don’t want to get spoiled) Also … this ended up way longer than I intended.

Well that was one heck of a feels trip. It’s probably my new favorite episode, just because everyone is here being wholesome lmao.

This is mostly hananene meta I ain’t even gonna lie.

Before we begin, shout out to Black Canyon, our newest anime cutie pie. Just look at him, folks. Just chilling with his sunflower seed.

He has no idea the kind of life his owner leads.

I said before that the best part of episode 12 is how it made Daydream worse, so now I’m gonna ramble about it.

“Maybe different species can’t understand each other after all.”

“Maybe it would be better if I were an apparition too.”

This is my favorite part of the episode. And no, not in the sense that I want Nene to die just so that she and Hanako can be together. But because of how Lerche actually explored deeper what was said only once in the manga.

Well, both in the manga and anime Nene ended up accepting the mermaid’s blood because of her desire to be popular, but the anime decided to revisit what she said earlier in the episode.

Not only did that make her decision kinda less selfish, it’s also just … sad. Thinking that your friend, someone you really cared about, doesn’t trust you enough to tell you things about themselves, to the point where you’re willing to go to such lengths as turning into an apparition just to understand them.

And if you think about it, isn’t this part of her true wish? To have her feelings be reciprocated? Man I just realized that as I wrote this and I am mindblown.

She thought she finally got her wish with Hanako. I mean, he said it himself in the first ep (”You wanted someone, anyone, to return your feelings, right? And as far as you’re concerned, sharing a bond with someone is the same thing, right?”). So it must’ve hit her really hard when she thought he didn’t trust her. Especially with all the wrong ideas the fishes were feeding her mind.

Then we got this little flashback. At first I was like, “Girl, you really be thinking that he doesn’t care about you while recalling the moment he apologized to you and hugged you? Are you insane?”

But after some thinking of my own, it occurred to me. Maybe she was too used to having her feelings not reciprocated, she couldn’t believe it when someone finally did. Not to mention Hanako did kinda trick her with his fake confession a while back (heh, he’s not the only one with trust issues, eh?). And that just made the entire thing even sadder.

So when Nene said, “But I thought, if I were an apparition like you, I could get closer to you. Then, maybe I’d be able to understand you, Hanako-kun. Although I know I probably don’t mean anything to you.”

That was a harsh wake up call for Hanako.

(Btw even more full circle, Hanako brought up Nene’s wish to become human again in the first episode. Nice.)

So. We got one daikon girl who’s afraid of not having her feelings reciprocated, and one ghost boy who’s afraid that daikon girl wouldn’t be his friend anymore if she knew about his past.

While in actuality, said daikon girl already decided she wanted to and would be his friend no matter what, and ghost boy had grown to care about her more than he thought he would.

He heard what she said to Tsuchigomori. He knew all about regret, too.  I mean, honestly, I think if she had said no, he’d let her walk away right then and there, no questions asked. But she didn’t.

Nene’s wish finally came true here. And the best part? It wasn’t the work of magic or curses. Just Hanako finally shoving his fear aside, offering himself as he was, and letting her decide.

And she still chose to be with him.

Heh. Lemme just. Sob for a bit.

Is my hananene trash brain reading too much into this? Idk. Maybe.

So props to the production team for managing to add even more weight to this arc. Which, they had to, since it’s the season finale and all. But I love what they did!

Onto my commentaries!

1. The KouNene

Good shit. She was worried about him but he didn’t want her to worry so he just smiled it off? These two are precious. Thought they were gonna interact. Sadly not. Buuuut! (see point 12)

2. Hanako’s classroom visit

He. Is. So. Adorable. Someone please take his babey license away he’s too dangerous.

Hanako’s classroom visit is like my absolute favorite clingy Hanako moment, so I’m really happy I get to see it this season. Ugh. My kokoro. Hugging her from behind, that semi confession vibe … Smooth mf.

The Mokke brushing Nene’s hair!!! The radish hairdo tho lmao.

On a sidenote, as a history nerd I appreciate that they’re actually putting lessons in the background. And the teacher talked about Apollo 11 again??? While my boy was in the room? That ish both hurt and pleased me.

3. The Clock Keeper rumor drop

Heeeeeehhhhh? What’s thiiiiiissss?

4. This freaking thing

*flips table* Darn production team been knew I’m hananene trash how dare they do this to me.

And lookie here there’s Kodama chilling.

5. Fishies! (!!!manga spoiler for The Little Mermaid arc!!!)

Pufferfish didn’t die. Well, good for him. Also I can’t believe they just call the other fish ‘yeah yeah’ lmao what the freak. Has it always been like that in the manga?

6. AOI AND AKANE (!!!spoilers for chapter 64!!!)

I swear I did not intend this numbering coincidence.

*claps* Boi. Nene asking Aoi about cutting ties with someone she’s interested in? And then Akane just swooped in and say he’d rather cut his head off than cut ties with Aoi? What about getting impaled, huh, boy? Would that do?

The not-so-subtle call out to these two pairs’ parallel? BOI.

7. Nene and Yako

These two just chilling together having girl talk, and Yako let Nene pet her? That’s some adorable shit right there. Admit it Yako you like her.

Yako also be really hitting home with what she said. It was extra heavy coming from her, considering what happened to her and Misaki. Boiiiiii.

8. Tsuchigomori

Oh my God, his laughter. Just … oh my God.

Tsuchigomori in dad mode is always one of the highlights of the episode/chapter.

By the way, in this scene according to the sub, Nene asked Tsuchigomori who Tsukasa is. But she knew who he is already. Is it possible that the sub misinterpreted it? ‘Cause I think what she actually meant was, “What happened to him and Tsukasa-kun in the past?”

If someone who speaks Japanese could share their wisdom, please do!

9. The 5 pm bell and twilight

Look how pretty they are!!!

Lo and behold, another important hananene interaction while the 5 pm bell plays in the background. Also, twilight? Y’all giving me Kimi no Na wa flashbacks.

“Twilight, when it’s neither day or night. When the world blurs and one might encounter something not human.”

Huh … kinda fits the ‘boundary’ concept but it still hurt.

Anyway they still had Hanako tell her what she already knew. And I did say in my ‘Walking Blind’ post that it’d be redundant. But since the episode kinda emphasized Nene’s desire to understand Hanako, having him actually tell her himself, even though she already knew it, was a big deal. It’s not about what she knows, it’s about him opening up to her. So I’m super cool with it.

10. The Broadcasting Club (!!!spoilers for The Clock Keeper arc!!!)

I love how Natsuhiko and Sakura are actually decent people. When he told Mitsuba that he was free to choose to stay with them or not? That’s solid, man. Though, of course, Tsukasa might not be as kind.

Speaking of, I know it couldn’t be anything else, but I’m still not sure if Tsukasa’s drawing was confirmation for season 2. Don’t wanna get my hopes up. Imma just enjoy what I currently have.

Kinda curious, though. Because Clock Keeper wasn’t Tsukasa’s doing. Maybe he was the one who released Mirai? But tbh I’d prefer if it wasn’t so. Because having more cases of supernaturals going loco without it being one of Tsukasa’s games is interesting, and kinda underlines the need of The Seven Wonders to keep supernaturals in check.

11. Kodama just chilling

12. The Adventures of Minamoto and the Summer Vegetables

You go, Kou! I’m rooting for you oh my God you’re so precious.

And look at that ikemen smile! Him supporting Kou is just top notch sweet y’all I can’t-

Ngl this was the biggest surprise of the episode. Teru finding out that summer vegetables = Nene? Broooooo. Interesting. I don’t think this little addition warrants any changes to their future interaction, so it should be safe. Clever replacement, too, those veggies.

It’s so sweet that Nene delivered those veggies to Kou! Just imagine the Minamoto family having veggies for dinner. Awww.

(Also, Nene wrote her name in hiragana instead of kanji. Is that a reference to how bad Kou is with kanji? Lol, so sweet)

13. The Coda!!!

Look at him. Just look at him. Look how lovesick he is y’all I can’t-

THEY’RE SO ADORABLE.

All in all, I love this episode. Sorry for how long this post is. I’m just dealing with so many feels right now. Gaaahhhhh.

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Magnificent Scoundrels: Welcome Aboard

I was going to write a second part of “The Team”, but it ended up being extremely long-winded and boring, so I decided on this instead.  Hope you like it.  

Despite his apparent oddness, it must be said that Drake didn’t waste any time.  Already, he had a job for the team, now called the Magnificent Scoundrels at his insistence.  They were to rendezvous around a planet on the outer edges of Drake’s home galaxy, where he would inform them the rest of the details.  For those who did not own their own starships, accommodations were provided by the members of the team who did.  Jack Cooper, who was introduced as the lone military-looking man at the back of the room, would be traveling with Drake, as Drake’s ship, called the Apocalypse, was the only one with enough room to transport Cooper’s Titan, a monstrous twenty foot tall piloted robot designed to crush anything it would possibly face.  The elaborate-uniformed man, as it turned out, was a commissar (Author’s note: Commissar definition- a political or morale officer) attached to an entire regiment of soldiers.  The only ship that was equipped to fit an entire military regiment inside was Adam Vir’s, and as such, Commissar Ciaphas Cain and the Valhallan 597th of the Imperial Guard were put aboard his ship, the Omen.  Master Chief was a singular person and thus did not require much room, and so Kirk volunteered to transport him aboard the Enterprise.  And so, it was now that welcomes were issued, people and supplies were loaded, and mooring lines were cast off, figuratively speaking.  

Aboard the Omen

Adam Vir sighed contentedly as he settled into his command chair.  It was good to be back on board his ship, and definitely good to get away from maniacal mercenaries and people who he wasn't sure were hallucinations or not.  Speaking of which, he glanced around his shoulder.  Commissar Cain and the commanding officer of the regiment, Colonel Kasteen, were standing ramrod straight, hands behind their backs, at the back area of the bridge, apparently wanting to see takeoff.  Cain’s elaborate uniform was drawing rushed glancines from the bridge crew, several who gawked at the newcomers before Vir snapped at them to get back at their stations.  Sighing again, this time in annoyance at his crew’s lack of social skills, he stood up, put on his best diplomatic smile, and walked towards the duo, arm outstretched.  

“Commissar Cain, Colonel Kasteen, I trust your soldiers have made themselves comfortable.”  Kasteen looked bewildered at the outstretched hand for a moment, then shook it and gave a rather sickly smile.  

“Er, yes they have, Admiral.”  Her grip noticeably weakened as Sunny, the ship’s eight foot tall four-armed Drev weapons officer brushed past.  “All the Guardsmen are secured for warp jump.”  Vir nodded appreciatively.

“Excellent.”  He then turned and shook Cain’s hand, which on second glance, had several cold metal prosthetic fingers.  Cain had a warm smile plastered on his face as he shook Adam’s hand.

“A pleasure meeting you, Admiral Vir.”  His smile grew larger, and Adam couldn’t help but smile back in genuine amusement.  

“And a pleasure meeting you, Commissar Cain.”  He turned back to the bridge crew.  “When are we ready to jump?” he asked.  

“Three minutes, sir, came the reply from his first mate.  

“Excellent,” he replied.  Kasteen cleared her throat behind him.

“Admiral, would you like the Guardsmen to their battle stations?” she asked.  Vir turned around in puzzlement.  

“Battle stations?  Why?”

“Well, some Imperial Captains like the Guardsmen and naval provosts at battle stations when in warp transition.”

“Uh, no.  Don’t bother.  Alright, all hands prepare for jump!”  Little did he know, but this was to be the first, and smallest, of many misunderstandings to come.  

Aboard the Apocalypse

Already, and astoundingly for someone who had never seen a Titan before, Drake and his crew had already stashed Jack Cooper’s Titan, BT-7274 into the cargo hold, and were preparing for takeoff.  Currently, Drake was leading Cooper through the labyrinth passages of the Apocalypse, headed towards the cabins closest to the bridge where Jack was to have his quarters, Cooper’s measured military stride contrasting remarkably to Drake’s confident swagger.  They passed through the well-lit uniformly grey hallways of the ship, and as they went, Drake flippantly introduced passing crew members.

“And, of course, there’s Maria, very handy with a knife, laughs like a chipmunk when excited.”

“Hey!”

“It’s true.”  Jack nodded at a disgruntled looking Maria as Drake continued his grand tour without pause.  

“There’s Ziwazzi, a Gunleron, who keeps pretending he’s tough, but he’s actually quote sweet; was kicked out of his planet’s premiere military school for stealing an actually astonishingly impressive amount of stuff.”

“Hey!  Captain!” replied an offending looking reptilian alien.

“Ziwazzi, you ought to know me by now,”  Drake turned to Cooper, “I am a firm believer that when meeting someone new, you should know their best and worst traits.  For instance, I am a rather nice person if you get to know me, have an excellent taste in fine arts, and donate a lot of the money I make to help orphans, but I am a shameless thief, a pyromaniac, and a massive playboy.  See?  Now you know everything you need to know about me.”  He spun on his heel dramatically and continued walking.  “If you ever need advice on fine arts or romance, I’m your guy.  Don’t hesitate to ask.”  They passed through more identical hallways and into the crew’s cabin section.  A door popped open and a woman stepped out from the cabin beyond, holding two dresses in her hands.

“Er, Captain, uh, I was wondering...well, you give good fashion advice-”

“Blue dress.  It highlights your eyes perfectly, is made of light synthetic silk with a cooling texture, so it will be more comfortable than the cotton one, and Jackson likes blue better, so it’ll be better for your date,” replied Drake without pause.  The woman turned bright red.

“How did you know that Jackson and I were-”

“Please.  I’m the Captain.  I know everything that happens on this ship.  I won’t tell anyone, though, unless it threatens security, everyone already knows, or you want me to.  Have a nice night.”  Cooper hurried to keep up as Drake started down the hallway again.  They reached another section of the ship before Drake stopped abruptly, almost making Cooper bump into him.  “And here, finally, is your cabin,” Drake gestured with a dramatic flourish.  “Pleasant dreams, try not to die.”  And, just as quickly as he had led Jack there, Drake vanished.  

Aboard the Enterprise 

John-117, more commonly referred to as “Master Chief”, was currently sitting in his new quarters aboard Captain Kirk’s ship, the Enterprise.  His helmet was on, of course, and a data pad, which the crew had called a “first contact package”, was in his armored hands.  It contained all the information regarding the species and governments within Kirk’s home galaxy.  Master Chief had found Kirk and the entire crew to be most agreeable.  They were all friendly, helpful, and normal, especially compared to the oddly uniformed commissar and the slightly looney Drake.  It was refreshing, really.  He hoped that this group, which he had been ordered to join to gain a better picture of the new galaxies, wouldn’t take up too much of his time.  It was, in the end, his job to prevent the collection of hostile aliens known as the Covenant from overwhelming humanity.  But such thoughts could wait.  He busied himself in the pad, learning as much as possible about his new reality.   

One Week Later

Aboard the Enterprise

It had been probably the best space voyage that Master Chief had ever experienced, although that wasn't saying much.  Most of the time, if he was in space, he was killing Covenant or on his way to kill Covenant.  But this...this was positively relaxing.  He had little to do, as the crew kept the ship running smoothly.  He spent most of his time reading up on the history of the various new galaxies that had appeared seemingly overnight next to his own.  The first contact package from Kirk was exhausted, and now he was perusing through an absolutely massive information report compiled by Drake.  Curiously enough, many of the files there were from official government sources and marked “classified”, several of which he recognized as top secret from his home universe.  He did wonder where Drake had gotten his hands on those.  Or perhaps, it was better not to know.  Speaking of which, he started to consider:  how was everyone else on the different ships of this makeshift fleet doing?

Aboard the Apocalypse

Jack Cooper stared, shell-shocked, at the wall of his cabin.  The past week had been probably, no, scratch that, most definitely, the most bizarre he’d ever witnessed.  The strangeness of it all was such that he had been like this, staring at a slate grey wall, contemplating life, for the past five hours.  Inevitably, the weirdness of the voyage all boiled down to one individual: Thomas Drake.  The man was, to put it exceptionally mildly, eccentric.  It had started on the tour, and only gotten worse on the first day of the tour; Drake had given Cooper free reign of the ship, and thus, like any other over curious human would, he had decided to unobtrusively explore, starting, of course, with the bridge.  It unfortunately coincided with Drake’s arrival to the command deck of said bridge, which was herald by several disco balls dropping from the ceiling, the playing of an altogether too cheerful tune for the time of the morning, and Drake himself disco-dancing his way through the bridge.  And, while Drake was actually quite a good dancer, it was much too strange for Jack.  Regrettably enough, though, it turned out that this was Drake’s morning routine.  A song, completely random, was chosen, and Drake would enter the bridge every morning with his characteristic dramatic flourish.  The second day Drake was to enter the bridge to a military march, his hands clasped behind his back, while he waved to a non-existent crowd as if he was in a parade, much to the delight of the bridge crew and the bemusement of Cooper.  The day after that he quite literally waltzed into the bridge to the symphonic melodies of some classical song that Jack was sure he had heard before, but could not put a finger on.  Drake had sat in his command chair and grinned at Cooper.

“Like it?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah.  Your dancing is..quite impressive.”  Drake gave a strange, wheezing laugh at this.

“My dancing is quite impressive, yet my habits are quite strange.  Yes, yes, don’t be surprised,” he dismissed Jack’s glance and him with a wave, “I can see it in your eyes.  You’ve never seen anyone do this before.  ‘Why?’  I’m sure you’re wondering,”  Drake leaned forward on his chair, “The answer is quite simple.  Because I can.”  Cooper was about to interject, wanting to ask a question along the lines of “But why though”, before the ship itself was wracked by a massive force, causing several panels above the crew’s control stations to spew sparks.  

“What the hell was that?” asked Cooper.  Drake leaned back in his chair, unconcerned, and waved a hand dismissively.

“Something exploded.  It’s probably fine.”

“Probably?  What do you mean probably?  And shouldn’t that not happen, though?  I mean, I’m not an expert on spaceships, but isn’t stuff blowing up on your ship not a good thing?”  Drake shrugged.

“Eh, it’s fine.  If it were really a problem, the alarms would go off.”  As if on cue, the ship's alarm system started flashing red and emitting an ear-piercing shriek.  “Alriiight, now it’s a problem,” Drake said with a sigh.  “And I was just getting comfortable.”  He grabbed some sort of portable communication device and walked briskly for the door.  “Richter, what the hell happened?”

“Try and guess,” came the voice on the other end.

“Muelka?” asked Drake as he and Cooper half jogged through the hallways to the wails of the alarm.

“Yep.”

“I should have known,” replied Drake with a sigh.  They traveled through several more decks of the ship, going at an uncomfortable half-walk, half-jog, and finally reached an open area in one of the lower decks where several crew members were hosing down tiny fires with foam suppressant.  The area held quite a lot of what appeared to be chemistry equipment, and what looked like but Jack fervently hoped were not bombs.  One of the countertops, identical to several others throughout the room, was a scorched mess, with blasted and melted shards of glass scattering the floor around it.  And, in the middle of all the chaos stood a sheepish-looking woman with frazzled hair wearing some sort of protective apron, and an average-looking brown haired man with a scar across his forehead, who was currently busy staring at the destruction around him.  

“Right.  What the hell happened?” asked Drake briskly.  The man answered.

“Muelka was mixing chemicals, again, and they exploded, again, and the resulting shockwave loosened some wires and set off the alarm system.”

“Sorry, Captain,” the woman muttered.  Drake rubbed his forehead.

“Muelka, while I do love your work, you need to take better safety precautions.  You’re on censure, again, until I come up with something else.”

And, while it was gratifying to Jack that Drake did have control of his crew, his rather flippant attitude was something he was slightly concerned about.  But, the main point was Drake's overwhelming oddness.  At lunch, just the other day, Cooper had the misfortune to be at the mess hall at the same time as Drake.  Due to the nature of the Apocalypse being a mercenary ship and having many different alien species on board, the food served at the mess was much more numerous and varied in nature than any military ship.  However, Drake was simply not eating a typical meal, or for that matter, any form of unrecognizable food.  Instead, he had a plastic container filled with cheese spread, the type one usually puts on crackers.  However, Drake was not most people, and so he was eating the cheese spread plain.  By itself.  With a spoon.  Wonderful.  The worst part was that Drake then proceeded to get a bottle of aerosol cheese and spray that on top of his other cheese, creating some sort of cheese soup.  Honestly, Jack found Thomas Drake more concerning than the aliens, which was a feat considering that aliens did not exist in his home galaxy, and these were the first he’d ever met.  He sighed to himself.  This was going to be a long ride.

Aboard the Omen

Admiral Adam Vir sighed and tiredly rubbed his forehead.  The last week had been extremely taxing, even more so than the time where he was forced to bring a civilian tour group on board the ship.  Hell, it was probably worse than the first time he met aliens, which involved miscommunications, lots of treats, and eventually him rolling over like a dog.  It was complicated.  But back to the matter at hand.  The last three days (or was it?  He seemed to be losing count) were filled with nothing but tension and problems.  The first, and least concerning, was that all the alcohol on board the ship seemed to be mysteriously vanishing.  

Even the drinks smuggled in by the marines that he conveniently (for them) overlooked were somehow gone, spirited away from their hiding places by an invisible force.  But, by far worse, was the hostility between the Valhallan soldiers and the crew of the Omen.  The Imperial Guardsmen were intensely xenophobic and openly belligerent to all aliens on board the ship, so much so that that many members of the non-aggressive races would flee at the sight or sound of an Imperial infantryman.  It also very much did not help that said infantry always seemed to travel in packs, which just seemed to escalate the tensions.  

The third problem was that the human members of the crew were not immune to this either.  The Imperials seemed to regard them as traitors of sorts, and whenever human crewmembers walked by, Valhallan mutterings of “heretic” or “Gue’vesa” could often be heard.  The only ones the regular Imperial rank and file respected were himself, as he was the captain, and the engineers.  A group of Guardsmen had gone to the engineering department, predictably sneering at anyone who crossed their path, only to be put in their place by the furious head of the engineering department, Nairobi.   Ever since that particular incident, any members of the engineering crew were either avoided by the guardsmen or were given grudging, but respectful, nods.  Adam had originally thought the Imperials might get along well with the Marines, seeing as they both shared the bond of being human combat soldiers, and so had organized a joint training exercise for both groups.  It had gone...well...horribly.  The Marines loathed the Imperials for treating the other crew members so poorly, and the Imperials despised the Marines for harboring and living alongside aliens.  Both groups were now furiously competing to see which was better.  Drinking contests, arm wrestling, combat training, weapon skills, you name it, there was an extremely nasty competition going on between the two rival groups of soldiers.  There were several fights, most notably between Maverick, the Marines chaplain, and Magot, a Corporal in the Guard.  That particular fight had seen the spectators get involved, and two Omen crew members, one Marine, and three Valhallans were sent to the infirmary with critical injuries, several of which might have been life threatening if not for the ship’s two excellent doctors.  The only reason that no one had died immediately in that fight was because Ciaphas Cain had interfered, attempting to pull people off one another, and, when that didn’t work, firing his pistol into the ceiling, which resulted in an immediate secession of hostilities.  Adam didn’t care much about the damage done to the mess hall ceiling, which could be repaired, but he was very much fed up with the entire situation.  In fact, come to think of it, the only thing that prevented the two sides from outright trying to kill each other was the fact the Valhallans had enough respect for Cain and the two battalion commanders, Kasteen and Broklaw, to obey them no matter what, and that the Marines had enough respect for him even though the Imperials were threatening their crewmates.  Speaking of Cain, Adam really did wish he would come out of his office more.  At the beginning of the voyage, Adam had given Cain a personal quarters, which had been promptly transformed into a combination living quarters and Commissar’s office.  The problem was that Cain always seemed to be holed up inside, and to get inside, one had to cross Jurgen, the Commissar’s malodorous aide.  Jugen was always extremely polite and to the point, traits to be commended, but his personal hygiene was terrible, and many would rather just skip seeing the Commissar rather than wait near him.  To Adam, though, there seemed to be something fundamentally wrong about Jurgen, although what he couldn’t really lay a finger on.  Jurgen did have terrible body odor and rather bad psoriasis, but that didn’t seem to be the problem.  The problem was that whenever Adam got close to Jurgen, an odd, creeping, chilling sensation would occur.  There was nothing specific about Jurgen that made Adam feel this way, and that was probably the most creepy thing about it.  But, for whatever reason it was, Cain’s callers never wanted to stay around long enough near Juren to actually get into his office.  The only two people allowed to go straight inside were Adam and his first lieutenant, Simone, but they were so busy running the ship and trying to prevent the Marines from murdering the Valhallans in their sleep that they rarely got the opportunity.  But, in the end, he felt as if he had no choice but to meet with Cain to sort out this problem.  And so, he and Simone walked through the decks of the Omen, the aliens skittering in front of them until they realized they were no Imperials, until they reached the lower decks and the quarters of Ciaphas Cain.

Cain looked up from his paperwork as Jurgen ushered Vir and Simone in.  Truth be told, he wasn’t really doing any paperwork, but appearances had to be maintained.  They were, inevitably, here to talk about the mess hall fight and the general situation.  Well, they didn’t really need to know that instead of heroically trying to pull people apart, he had been stuck in the middle and was trying to pull people off of him.  But they didn’t need to know that.  He was forging a reputation with these new people, and it wouldn’t do to seem cowardly.  And, of course, it wouldn’t do to insult the aliens, possibly treacherous xenos that they were, as, if he did, he would probably get shot in the back by one.  And, above all else, Ciaphas Cain wanted to not die.  

The Admiral and his first mate sat at the two chairs across his desk, ones that had been provided by themselves.  

“Admiral.  Lieutenant.  A pleasure to see you.  What brings you here today?”  He knew, obviously, but pleasantries had to be observed.  

  “Why we’re here is because your troops are way out of line!  It is completely unacceptable and against regulations to insult someone based upon species.  You-”

“Simone-” said Vir in a warning tone.

“That’s perfectly alright,” responded Cain, who flashed a smile that would have charmed a fish out of water.  “I believe, after reading all the reports,” which was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that he was pulling all of this out of his ass, “that what we have there is a failure to communicate.  I’m sure you’d understand, Admiral Vir, as your reputation for dealing with aliens and different cultures is legendary.”  Well, he did know that Adam Vir was the first to make contact with non-humans, and was quite good at dealing with them.  And, of course, flattery never hurt.  “You see, where I come from, every single alien race believes it is their divine right to rule the galaxy, and will try to kill you on sight.  Consequently, it is a part of our society to kill any alien on sight, before they kill you.”  Simone and Adam looked stunned.  

“Every...every race wishes to...eradicate you?”  

“Yes,”  replied Cain.  “That’s why we have the imperial guard.  Of course, I am but a humble Commissar.  It’s the soldiers who do the real heavy lifting.”  Modest hero; a strategy that most people fell for, and these two seemed to be no different.

“That’s disturbing.”  

“Well, we seemed to have misjudged you, but we still have a problem,” said Vir.  “How do we prevent our respective soldiers from killing each other?”

“Well-”

“I-I have an idea,” said Simone.  Both Vir and Cain looked at her with surprise.  “I can captain the ship, and you two can switch places.  You’re both good leaders, and if you can explain to each other’s soldiers why we should not fight, then we have a chance.”

“That’s actually a very good idea,” responded Vir.

“I concur,” replied Cain.  No, I most bloody well do not concur with that frakkin’ idea.  I would prefer my head un-squished by ten-foot tall four-armed aliens, thank you very much.  But, it’s the only way that we have a chance at not ending this voyage with people dead.

“So, it’s settled, then.  You are in command of the ship, Simone.  I will take control-”

“Er, my apologies, Admiral, but I believe you misunderstand,” said Cain smoothly.  “I am not the commander of the regiment.  I am merely an adviser and moral officer, although I do hold some sway.  So, before we switch places, Admiral, what should I know about the...Drev and Marines?”  

“Well...uh, the Marines are typical human soldiers, I guess.  The Drev are a warrior culture who place a high emphasis on personal combat.  Otherwise, they’re not that different from us.  And your troops?”

“Valhalla is an ice world, and thus soldiers from that planet are very comfortable in cold temperatures.  I should also inform you, that you are now acting Commissar.  You are in charge of discipline, morale, and combat effectiveness of the regiment.  You reserve the right to take any necessary steps to restore order, including summary execution.  You have the full authority of the Commissariat until otherwise dismissed by me.  The Emperor Protects,” recited Cain, as if he was quoting something.

“Alright.  Wait, you have the authority to execute your soldiers?”

“Yes.  Although, only a foolish Commissar will do so unless absolutely necessary.”

“Uh, that’s...alarming, to say the least.  Anyway, let’s get to it, before more people get hurt.”

That’s that.  If you have any questions, comments, criticisms, or concerns, feel free to ask.  

[scarlet--wiccan]

I don’t think Wanda’s mutant status actually matters nearly as much as it should for Billy and Tommy especially, mutants are born with their powers (though usually dormant), Wanda and pietro (currently) got their powers from the HE but the twins were seemingly born mutants. Either she made them mutants subconsciously bc she believed she was, or they’re the mutant children of a mutate (like Franklin Richards). Not defending the retcon and DEFINITELY not defending the way Wanda’s been treated and how weird that makes Tommy’s relationship status but I don’t think non mutant Wanda necessarily means Billy and Tommy aren’t. They should clarify, where Tommy’s powers even come from if pietro got his from THE especially confused me, but usually powered kids of mutates have been considered mutants.

That being said it probably doesn’t matter bc Sc*rletVisi*n is probably going to make all of them mutants point blank so the comics will shift to accommodate that. Apparently Peter from the xmen is going to come in and bring mutants somehow which sounds horrible (and though ATJ still shouldn’t have been playing pietro as a white man he was at least semi recognizable as quicksilver from the comics and Jewish. I hate xmcu quicksilver A LOT more than mcu QS even though neither is good) and ridiculous but the leak has gotten a lot of crap right so far.

I’m assuming the plan is to retcon the retcon with this krakoa event but they’re waiting until the big tv reveal because unfortunately the movies/shows are their priority now. I think the only good think is that krakoa seems so far divorced from any status quo (mcu or otherwise) that making the maximoffs mutants (again) will have to be completely divorced from the mcu so there’s a chance the storyline might not be terrible? I don’t want the whitewashed maximoffs to have any more of an impact on the comic characters, even though I know that’s impossible.

Well, for one thing, they just retconned Franklin as a "false" mutant, too. I'm not saying that was a good choice, but if we're talking about the current status quo, he definitely doesn't hold up as an example. The definition of "mutant" has shifted over the years, but, generally speaking, when we talk about X-Men mutants, we're talking about people with a specific genetic feature, the X-gene. I suppose that a child of a human mutate who inherits superhuman or abnormal genetic traits from their parents would be, by definition, a mutant, but if they don't have the X-gene, it's not the same thing. Are there a lot of other characters like Franklin, who were allegedly born with the X-gene because their parents are mutates? Because I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Anyways, this is a hard point to debate because the 2015 retcons were poorly executed and poorly justified-- it's, like, impossible to retroactively view Wanda and Pietro as non-mutants when, in the past, their mutant status was an integral part of their characters and a key plot point in several major events. House of M, Son of M, and AvX literally don't make sense if they aren't mutants-- Pietro was depowered by the "no more mutants" spell, and Hope was able to mimic Wanda's powers. Neither of these things would be possible if they weren't real mutants. The explanation can't just be that Wanda believed herself to be a mutant, and so her magic functioned accordingly-- if that's how it's supposed to work, the reveal in Axis never could have happened the way it did. Do you see what I mean? I'm running circles around myself trying to make it make sense.

That aside, Billy and Tommy's status as mutants has always been a little nebulous-- I don't think they're ever clearly identified as such in any Young Avengers titles, although they were definitely described as mutants in some of their other appearances-- Secret Invasion always comes to mind. You could argue that their powers are a factor of their magical resurrection, rather than being genetic, but, as I've said in the past, I do think that the twins are genetically continuous to their original incarnations. More to the point, their "mutations" match Wanda and Pietro's almost exactly. This is taken as proof of their connection to Wanda, so, based on that significance, I'm inclined to say the nature of their powers should also match, mutant or not. Plus, don't you think it'd be a weird coincidence if they had the same abilities, but from a different source?

[As a disclaimer, I do tend to think of/refer to the entire Maximoff family as mutants when I'm not directly addressing the retcons. This is because they were written as such for decades, so they are still mutant characters within most of the existing material.]

__________________________________

I have heard some of those leaks and rumors, and I agree that if the Axis retcon is going to be reversed, even partially, it will probably happen if and when MCU!Wanda comes to be known as a mutant. As I've said, I'm not invested in that character and I don't think there's any way, at this point, to fix the problems that she represents, so I don't really care where she ends up in the movies. I will say that I'm not terribly worried about the films influencing Wanda's appearance or characterization in the comics-- even after the Axis retcon, which was clearly motivated by IP concerns related to the movies, the changes she went through had nothing to do with MCU!Wanda and actually differentiated them even further.

That said, while Hickman's treatment of Wanda may be a red herring or set-up for some big reveal, I don't trust him, or Howard, with the character in any circumstance. More importantly, I care less about Wanda being a mutant than I care about the way Hickman, like Remender before him, is carrying on with the worst, most offensive aspects of her mid-2000s characterization. The levels of ableism and misogyny House of M, Disassembled, etc are too great to ignore. It is irresponsible for contemporary writers to refer back to those stories without acknowledging those problems, or at least attempting to shift the narrative for the better.

It's also really hurtful to me, as someone who sees their identity and history reflected in this character, to see her painted as pseudo-genocidal, or a race/class traitor, or a self-hating minority. Wanda has only become that character because gadjekane writers have chosen to project those those notions onto the image of a Roma woman. That sucks, and it sucks even more that so many fans, and industry pros, turn their ire onto the character, rather than reckoning with the real problem.

[qqueenofhades]

love your crusade answers! do you have any book or article recs for those of us interested in the muslim perspective/general medieval middle eastern history? (also, given your astounding history-based answers: are there any periods or facets of history you wish you were asked more about on here?)

Absolutely!

First off, I answered this ask the other week, which had a long list of book/article recs for medieval Muslims in Europe/Latin Christendom, Christian perspectives on them, and the cultural context and conflict embedded in those exchanges (as well as a second list with recs for work on historical queer Muslims). In the list below, I’ve tried to focus on the medieval Middle East and Islamic world outside the crusades, including the Islamic golden age, although there are a few books that cover the Muslim sources/views on the crusades. I’ve noted before that I don’t usually recommend books on the crusades that I haven’t read myself (especially popular histories), so all the volumes dealing with the crusades are either ones that I have read, they’re written by scholars whose other work I’m familiar with, or they’re recommended by people that I have met or otherwise trust. Most of these are academic in nature, and a few of the articles will require institutional logins for full text (alas). Some of them are also written for a more general audience, but yes, mostly academic.

So:

Jack Tannous, The Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple Believers (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018)

Carole Hillenbrand, ed., The Crusades: Muslim Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2000)

Niall Christie, Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity’s Wars in the Middle East, 1095-1382, From the Islamic Sources (London: Routledge, 2020)

Nicholas Morton, The Field of Blood: The Battle for Aleppo and the Remaking of the Medieval Middle East (New York: Basic Books, 2018)

Piers D. Mitchell and Andrew Millard, ‘Migration to the Medieval Middle East with the Crusades’, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 140 (2009), 518-25.

Forzia Bora, Writing History in the Medieval Islamic World: The Value of Chronicles as Archives (London: I.B. Tauris, 2018)

Howard R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010)

Amira K. Bennison, The Great Caliphs: The Golden Age of the Abbasid Empire (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014)

Ahmed Renim, Habib Tiliouine, and Richard J. Estes, ‘The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of the Triumph of Islamic Civilization’ in The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies (Springer, 2016), pp. 25-52. (This last one also has a fairly long bibliography with extra recs, which you can access in the free part of the article, hooray!)

As far as the history questions I get: I feel as if the most popular categories are about what you would expect -- i.e. women, queer people, social and cultural conditions, “Bad Old Medieval Times” stereotypes, Game of Thrones History TM, and now questions related to The Old Guard/Joe and Nicky/the medieval Mediterranean, the crusades, Muslim-Christian relations, vel sim. All of which I’m happy to answer, since they’re often things that coincide with my real-life research interests, give me a chance to expand my own bibliographic lists and reading resources, and are often what draw people to the medieval world in the first place. Since I have obviously had many, many rants on the use and misuse of the “medieval” in modern culture, whether in media or politics or as a rhetorical category or whatever, I am in full support of anything that stimulates people to think critically about this and interrogate those distorted depictions (because, as I’m sure everybody has noticed, they drive me UP THE WALL). Basically, if you’re going to social media to learn history, which can be highly questionable but is nonetheless how a lot of it (often wildly wrong) gets absorbed and transmitted, I’d prefer that people come to me, an actual historian with a PhD in the subject, rather than just whatever crazy-ass Tumblr History TM take is making the rounds now (and many of which I have had to debunk in the past.)

This is useful for me because I very much enjoy educating people about history, as you might expect for an academic who has (dubiously) decided to attempt to do this for a living. While I’m still in the seemingly endless lacuna between teaching jobs, it helps me to feel like I’m making a positive contribution and being helpful somehow. I like to think that my answers are, for the most part, comprehensive and useful, and provide a starting point to enable someone to do further research on their own, which is at the core of what we essentially want to teach. Because I have had so many people telling me that they either learned a ton of history from DVLA, or were inspired to go do their own research as a result, I think that was clearly an effective teaching tool (hey, it takes all kinds, and fic is obviously a much more painless way to absorb information rather than a complicated and technical academic text). I do still want to scrape together enough spoons to compile an actual study guide/historical appendix/reference list for it, since I know that is something that people have expressed interest in, so we’ll see if that happens eventually. But yes, I WANT you all to go out and learn research skills and apply that to your reading and find it interesting and to be able to process complex information in a sophisticated way! It’s a helpful skill for all of life, not just history, and is especially useful in our current moment.

....anyway, soapboxing aside, I’m usually happy to answer whatever I get asked, provided that I know at least a little about it and/or am able to dig up resources and look like I know. I obviously have my areas of interests and specialties, and people who follow my blog often have at least a tangential interest in those things too. I will likewise know more about certain subject areas than others, since no historian can possibly know everything, but I will do my best.

[adragonhoardingstories]

Of Blood and Bonds - Chapter 5

"Father you know I respect you." Damian said and everyone at the dining table stilled as they were about to get up and leave. "But I must admit, as my brothers would say, you've majorly fucked up." 

Bruce sighed. He had thought about that - had Alfred scold him for having benched Damian - for doing as Damian had said and taking out his anger about his own failures on his other children. But that didn't make this any easier.

"Damian I know you're mad I didn't tell you about your sister-"

"Oh this is not about that. Well not entirely. They are connected but this is not about Marinette alone." When no one spoke, he took it as his cue to continue. 

"You saw in her files that there were some vague details about her being possessed by an akuma. Did you figure out what they are? Because I have an its not pretty. Actually, it's bad enough to warrant an intervention of the Justice League as a whole but my sister tells me that they were told not to waste the JL's time." 

His youngest's face was worryingly blank. It reminded him of all the times he was set upon something and right now it seemed that his new focus was his older sister. Bruce supposed, he should be thankful that Damian's attention towards her was not of the murderous kind. 

"What do you mean?" He made sure to keep his voice free from emotions. 

"From what she told me, they asked for help several times until someone from the JL dismissed their problems as a prank, a joke without any investigation or anything about their claims."

Someone was going to be hearing from Batman soon. 

"And what about the akumas?" 

"It's enough to need more than one member of the JL. I've see a video of one of the attacks, it's...horrifying and according to Marinette it was one of the tamer ones." 

"Do you have them?" His sons all looked annoyed and he knew they were probably thinking that he was letting superhero work take precedence over his family again. But that was how he worked. He didn't know what to do about the situation with Marinette but this - this could find a solution to. 

"There are videos of them online." 

Damian seemed to take that as his cue to get up and walk away. 

"I'll play the videos in the cave." 

~

Marinette hadn't necessarily had the best time in the last years but one thing he had definitely learned was who were her real friends and who weren't.

It was before the worst month of her life but things had already started taking a turn for the worse for her at that point. 

Her so called friends all started to believe Lila over her, started to - as she now knew - emotionally blackmail her, only gave her the time of the day whenever she did something for them or to scold her for whatever she apparently did for poor Lila. 

She was oh so tired and every second she wasted made her feel more guilty. 

Hawkmoth had come back more enraged than ever after the Miracle Queen incident and she had done the mistake of lending the more Miraculous out.

She had given Kagami and Luka both different Miraculous for them to fight alongside her because they both have strong spirits and a good resonance with several kwamis but... let's just say that she would never forgive herself for what they had to experience because of her.

In desperation, she tried to find other holders that she hadn't used before who resonated but that...that had been a huge mistake. She almost lost more than one Miraculous that day. 

She was their Guardian. And that day she vowed that she would die first before letting something happen to the Kwamis.

She was fighting alone now. Chat Noir...Chat Noir was even more pushy about revealing themselves after the the chaos that had occured. He hindered more than he helped, never showing up on time. 

Things had come to head one day as she walked into class. The whole incident had involved a bunch of sheep and a ripped sketchbook - hers to be precise. 

It proved to actually be a relief to let go if them. She had never realized how much their 'friendship' had been dragging her down. 

I got permission to use this fic as a reference for her backstory so check it out. Thanks for that btw.

That experience proved to be helpful later when she felt like there was no one she could trust. 

Apprenticeship with Master Fu had since long taught her that it was better to feel than to see. She had learnt to recognise auras rather than faces and in the end that might have been her saving grace - or well at least the start of her path back to sanity. 

She had learnt to see and remember the auras of her friends rather than anything else because afterall the soul didn't lie.

After everything, well her reliance on auras had only increased. 

Meeting her brothers had been amazing and even more so now that it seemed that they wanted to have a relationship with her.

But one things that bothered her were their auras. 

It wasn't that they were bad - it was that they were scarred, hardened and she could basically see that they had suffered in the past. 

The worst of them were probably Jason and Damian. Their auras made it very clear that they had been dipped in the Lazarus pits.

Jason...Jason's soul had been corrupted at such a point that she doubted that the pits had been used for anything less than bringing him back from the dead. 

And Damian - Damian's soul seemed to have some of the pits as a foundation. She gathered that he had been dunked into the pools more than once when he was a child. There was something else in his aura too that showed that he had died not long ago too. 

There was also another aura that seemed to have to have linked with both of them which made her sure of their last fates and Marinette shuddered to think what had happened to them. 

She had to remind herself that the past was in the past and while she couldn't change that, she could at least help them have a better future. 

So, one could say, that she was nervous for this upcoming dinner.

~

The dinner didn't go as expected - at all. 

Firstly, they were late. All of her brothers and sister were late, very very late. Marinette was not impressed, especially give that Damian wasn't answering his phone. 

But this was Gotham, the few kwamis she had brought with her reasoned, there was probably a problem and wasn't it better that were safe inside than stuck outside and hurt? 

Just as she was about to say screw it and transform using the fox Miraculous to see if she could help the bats, she felt the magic around the house shift. 

Marinette focused in the disturbance and closed her eyes reaching out for their auras. She soon snapped her eyes open and let a smile come on her face - she knew those auras. But why were they entering from the window? 

Marinette shrugged it off and signalled the kwamis to hide while she went to greet them. 

She was not ready for the sight that she came upon. Her siblings were all in a state of disarray and it looked like they were trying to be silent. 

They were of course failing miserably given what seemed to be a bullet wound in Jason and a stab would in Dick and the rest of them all seemed to have been beat up to at least some degree.

"What the fuck?" Marinette felt like the situation called for her language to be excused. 

They all froze in place before slowly turning to look at her. 

"Uh hey." Dick or should she say Nightwing because apparently she wasn't stressed enough gave her a short wave.

She cursed and buried her face in her hands. "Of course I can't have normal siblings."

"Siblings?" Black Bat seemed suprised. She couldn't recognize her aura, Marinette decided that she must have been Cassandra. 

"You must be confused ma'am." Red Robin jumped in and Marinette rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid Timothy." And then just to prove her point she point at each one of them in turn. "Jason, Dick, Damian and who I'm guessing is Cassandra."

"What makes you say that?" Tim seemed to be ever the player of words. 

She sighed, knowing they wouldn't budge until she proved that she truely believed her words. 

"Well, why else would you be here?"

"Uh because it was the nearest place we found to nurse our wounds and last time we checked this place was abandoned?"

"Let's say that's true. Wouldn't it make more sense for you to go a place where you could actually have access to supplies to treat your wounds? Not to mention the fact that that-" she pointed at the hole in Jason's shoulder. "-is a bullet wound and I heard no gunshot. And lastly, what a coincidence it is that Black Bat who is known to work in Hong Kong comes back to Gotham at the same time as my sister Cassandra who from what I've heard also is currently living in Hong Kong too." 

No one replied. 

"So do you want to continue arguing or are you idiots going to let me help you before you bleed all over my floor."

Unsurprisingly it was Damian who moved the first - it made sense, he was the one who had spent most time with her and at least had a modicum of trust in her. 

He removed his mask and met her eyes. "Do you have a first-aid kit?"

She nodded. "Get in the bathroom and get those two in the tub." She nodded towards Dick and Jason. I'll bring it to you." 

Marinette hurried to her bed room to find her probably over-packed first aid kit. She had brought it for herself so that in case of a bad akuma attack she could take care of her wounds - after all her cure took care of everyone else before her, she had enough scars to prove that not that she could distinguish them from those the cat had given her.

She was glad to see that they had followed her instructions. Jason and Dick were seated in her honestly huge tub and they along with the rest had made themselves comfortable, having discarded their armor. 

She placed the first-aid kit down and kneeled next to Dick. She felt that the stove would in the stomach took more precedence. 

Jason reached out for the kit but Marinette batted his hand away. 

"You're injured, sit down quietly." She snapped and to everyone's surprise, he did as he was told. 

Marinette started treating their wounds, thanking the kwamis that she had done a medical course as soon as she had realised that her wounds could not heal from the cure. 

She had finally taken care of the more dangerous wounds and Marinette had enough of them squirming so she broke the silence "So, why in the world did you come here instead of going to your hyper-tech batcave with most certainly more medical facilities than my humble abode?"

She had to supress a smile as the boys looked among themselves. Finally it was Cassandra that replied. 

"Did not want to miss dinner. You." 

"Well you were already two hours late, you could just have sent me a text that you'd be a little more late."

"Didn't want to take chance."

Marinette smiled up at her. "Well I'm done, come on, I'll get you some clothes to change into."

"I don't think you'll have anything that will fit us."

"I'm a designer." She called over her shoulder. "I always have spares. Anyways, Cassandra-" 

"Cass."

"Right, well Cass come with me, we're about the same size, you can take something of mine."

She led Cass to her bedroom and guided her to her wardrobe while she picked something for the boys.

She totally hadn't hoped to see her siblings during this trip and had this made something for them. Nope. Absolutely not.

She handed each of them their clothes. "Choose a room if you want, I have more than enough of them, then come down, I'm re-heating the food."

She smiled at Damian as he came down the stairs. "I tried my hand at some Arabic food. I hope you like it." 

The boy looked awed. He walked to her and gave her a hug. "You're my new favourite sibling." Marinette laughed and pressed a kiss in his hair. "I love you too little brother."

She heard the disbelieving whisper of Demon Spawn? And looked up to see the rest. 

She squeezed Damian's shoulder one last time before she pulled away, guiding him to sit down.

"Well dig in. You must be famished after your fight."

They did exactly that and soon were making their appreciation known. 

"It's the first time I've attempted Arabic food, I don't know if I got the spices right.*

"It's delicious Pixie Pop. Don't worry.*

"Todd's right Mari. I haven't eaten anything this good since I came to Gotham."

"Really? Alfred didn't immediately dote on you and cook you all the food you wanted. "

He looked uncomfortable. "I was a difficult child back then."

"Was?" Jason snorted while Dick elbowed him. 

Casssandra intervened. "You good at cleaning wounds. Hands stable."

"Yes well unfortunately it's not the first time I've had to do this."

"How come?" 

"Did Damian tell you about the akuma attacks?" They nodded. "Well, Paris had since adapted to handle the akuma attacks. A lot of people have taken medical courses for extensive first aid to be able to help the unfortunate victims of an akuma."

"I thought that your superhero reversed all the damage."

"Well yeah. But Ladybug was insistent to make it clear that they couldn't bank everything on her. If she's taken down, everything's lost."

"This has been going for how many years. How do you still trust that hero?"

"And for how many years have the Joker been spreading his terror?" She asked drily and saw several of them recoil - Jason and Tim especially. 

"Ladybug is doing all that she can only get so far with Chat Noir around."

"Chat Noir? I thought that he was her partner?"

"He's supposed to be but we'll these days he causes more trouble than he stops. People hope he doesn't show up because the battles are always over quicker when he's not there." She could see that they wanted to ask more but number one she didn't want to talk about Chat Noir and number two she felt like if she continued talking, she would slip up and say something she shouldn't know and the risk of them catching it was greater since they were themselves heroes.

"And anyways, Hawkmoth only comes out in a blue moon and that's only when he has a lot of faith in his plans."

"So there are a lot of these akuma attacks?" 

"I guess it's kind of become a daily event by this point. People plan stuff taking it into consideration and if we're unlucky, there will be more than one in a day."

"So what type of akumas are there?"

"It depends really over what you've been akumatized. We've had a Pharaon, a Mime, Mr Pigeon and Mr Rat as well as Syren in the first year." 

"Those seem like... interesting characters." Jason said. 

"Wait until you hear this." Marinette snorted. "We had a Batman knock-off once, Owlman - he had his own electronic butler and everything."

The bats shared a look before they all bursted out laughing at once. 

How could they not, imagining Bruce's face upon learning of this?

"You need to tell us this story."

Marinette was more than eager to comply. 

~

It's too long so I'm gonna reblog the rest

[thesociologicalcinema]

Helpful Rebuttals for Racist Talking Points

This isn't meant to be comprehensive or the angles you HAVE to take, but it's a good starting point or reference guide for hard conversations. Feel free to share! 1. "Cops Kill more white people than Black people." - There are an estimated 5.7x more white people in America than black people--so yes, by sheer numbers, white people are killed by police more. But cops don't kill white people simply because they're white, and Black people are killed by cops at a rate 3X HIGHER than white people, often when unarmed. That a glaring inequality, and it exists because of race. An hey, consider this: the fact that police brutalize and kill people is a problem IN GENERAL, which is why we should be against police brutality. Yes? (Sources: CIA Factbook; mappingpoliceviolence.org) 2. "The problem is Black people commit more crime." - Correction: crimes committed by Black people are more reported, and/or over-attributed in a corrupt system that values arrest quotas. As part of gentrification there is often a higher police presence in diverse neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. This means there is often a higher police presence in diverse neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. This means there is more police surveillance in general, AND more instances of new white residents calling law enforcement on people of color for perceived misdemeanors. (Like noise complaints, "behaving suspiciously, etc.) More "crimes" being attributed to Black and Latinx people is more reflective of excessive police presence and white people making the calls, not "proof" POC actually commit crimes more frequently. (Source: The Atlantic) 3. "Well, what about Black-on-Black crime?" - We're discussing RACISM, and Black people don't kill each other because they're Black, firstly. Secondly, if you compare white and Black neighborhoods with similar income levels, you see similar rates of crime. But systemic economic inequality is a factor that people forget. So if you use comparisons that put together both wealthy and upper income class neighborhoods (that are predominately white), and middle/low income neighborhoods (that have more POC), it skews the data. Poor people commit more crimes because economic insecurity leads to those crimes; it just so happens that Black people are still at an economic disadvantage because of the enduring consequences of America's racism throughout history. (Source: The Guardian) 4. "What about gun violence in Black neighborhoods like Chicago?" - The above info on economic inequality applies here too. Also, this isn't directly related to this conversation. 5. "If people just followed the law, they'd be fine." - A) Whether or not someone committed a crime does not mean they deserve to be killed. Cops are not judge, jury, and executioner. B) Innocent people have been killed for "fitting a description," or for misdemeanors, or "by accident," or because a cop felt like it and didn't fear repercussions. And rarely is justice served. C) The law and the system protects white people in ways it does not protect Black people, Indigenous people, or people of color. 6. "White privilege isn't real." - Consider: Brock Turner. Also consider: white shooters are miraculously apprehended safely, yet unarmed Black people are killed with alarming frequency. Look, there's not enough space here, but the info on this guide indicates SOME ways white privilege is real. In essence, white is seen as the default "normal"; white people often receive the benefit of the doubt in ways POC don't because of stereotypes and lack of representation in media; and because of CENTURIES of history rooted in racism/oppression, white people have advantages and systemic power that Black people don't. (Learn more: tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what is white-privilege-really)

7. "Many of the people killed had criminal histories." - That doesn't matter and isn't relevant in the moment when a cop is making an arrest. A past criminal record (which is often uninown!) doesn't justify the use of excessive force or murder, especially if someone is subdued. Cops are not judge, jury, and executioner. Also, many of the cops who are killing people have prior "on the job" offenses or murders on THEIR records, yet they're still on duty causing harm. That should be your ACTUAL point of concern. 8. "Why can't they peacefully protest in a way that doesn't disturb anyone?"- A) How do you feel about Colin Kaepernick? B) The point of protesting is to create sustained disruptions to the status quo, forcing people in power create change. This has worked multiple times throughout history. C) The protests remain peaceful unless or until the cops deliberately use tear gas and "non-lethal" bullets (that can maim and kill). 9. "But the rioting and the looting!" - The majority of protests are entirely peaceful. Others are peaceful until the cops turn them into riots with tear gas and "non-lethal" bullets (that can maim and kill). That can lead to others taking advantage with chaos/looting, often detracting from the goals of the movement. "Small businesses shouldn't be destroyed" and "there is a problem with racism and police brutality that needs to be addressed" can and MUST coincide. Don't focus on the property loss at the expense of the repeated loss of lives that's been occurring for years. If you allow those few instances to direct your attention away from the reasons for the protests, you're playing right into the hands of those trying to change the topic-the media, the police, and the politicians who prefer orderly status quo to change. If you're primarily seeing select news of property damage, but no evidence of hours of peace and repeated police violence, ask yourself WHY. (400+ instances of police violence at protests: slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/06/george-floyd-public-spreadsheet:police-violence-videos. html) 10. "How come [other race] doesn't protest?" - A) They probably do, or DID, and you're just not aware of it. B) If they did now, would you personally actually be listen- ing to them, or dismiss them? and C) Bringing this up perpetuates the "model minority myth," which is the idea that some minorities have achieved higher success and are "better" because they keep their heads down and work hard. It's erasure that encourages people to not speak out against injustice, and also pits minorities against each other. (tolerance.org/magazine/what-is-the-model-minority-myth) 11. "White people have been oppressed too!" - Are white people oppressed in Western societies, right now, BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE? No. Can white people be oppressed in other ways UNRELATED to their skin color, like sexuality or gender or economic status or ableism? Of course, but that's a different conversation, and racial oppression is currently what we're discussing. 12. "Well, I don't see color." - You may mean well by saying this, but what you're actually doing is invalidating the experiences of anyone who isn't white. You can't discuss and change problems if you refuse to acknowledge they exist in the first place, nor can you support those whose skin color and cultures differ from yours. We are all human and should strive to be kind, yes. But in a society filled with microaggressions and overt racism and injustice, we are not all equal, and we must listen to each other's experiences. We also can't forget to value the things that make us unique or celebrate the beauty in diversity, especially when those differences are often used to perpetuate oppression. You truly need to "see color," hear people's different stories, and honor them by working against racism.

13. "Blue Lives Matter." - Being a cop is a choice; being Black isn't. White people can stop being cops by simply taking off their uniform for the day (or quitting) to remove themselves from danger; Black people can't stop being Black or experiencing the repercussions of racism, hence necessary activism. Cops getting hurt or killed while on the clock is an occupational hazard they signed up for; Black people didn't sign up for living with those real fears, and they can't escape them. 14. "Not all cops brutalize and kill people." and/or "It's just a few bad ones." - The ones who DO kill and brutalize rarely face true consequences, because the system is broken. When someone says "there are no good cops," it doesn't mean no good person has ever become a cop. What it DOES mean is that American policing is set up as a system that doesn't allow for what we'd expect a "good cop" to be. The supposed "good cops" are complicit in supporting a system that lets the worst of them get away with horrible things; this is called the blue wall of silence. And any cops who DO try to speak out against corruption are often punished for it; for example, read about Adrian Schoolcraft. The problem isn't "a few bad apples," but rather "the whole tree." (Sources: themarshallproject.org/records/605-blue-wall-of-silence Schoolcraft / villagevoice.com/2010/05/04/the-nypd-tapes-inside-bed-stuys-8 1st-precinct/) 15. "Why isn't anyone talking about how how many good things cops do?" - People do, all the time, in ~feel good~ stories. But it's difficult to separate genuine "good" from what is often well-timed cop propaganda that tries to get people to stop speaking out, or delegitimizes voices for change by implying any problems are about individual cops rather than the system. Recently and frequently, cops kneeling for photo ops at protests have gone viral, but then later in the day those same cops used tear gas and violence on protesters. Also, some of the cops who go viral for "good deeds" may have a history of violence on their records. The bottom line? It's difficult and/or harmful to praise people who are part of such a broken system that kills and harms innocent or unarmed people. 16. "Cops are human too. Are they just expected to do nothing while getting screamed at?" - Yeah, actually. If customer service people can take abuse, the "protectors of society" should be able to. Being a cop is a high pressure job, and they need to have the mental fortitude to not allow emotions to cloud their judgement and/or lead to violence. Things like anger management training, background checks on records of violence, mental wellness checks, etc. are the bare minimum that should be happening, but aren't-nor would it be enough. 17. "So what's the solution?" - Defunding and/or abolishing the police. Now, that sounds crazy if you've never heard of it before... but allow me to quote the people who know what they're talking about. Essentially, we currently ask cops to solve too many of the world's problems-meaning at best they're ineffective and at worst, actively harmful. So: "We're talking about a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention. The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best-equipped to deal with those crises. Rather than strangers armed with guns, we want to create space for more mental health service providers, social workers, victim/survivor advocates, religious leaders, etc.-all of the people who really make up the fabric of a community-to look out for one another. Crime isn't random. Most of the time, it happens when someone has been unable to meet their basic needs through other means. By shifting money away from the police and toward services that actually meet those needs, we'll be able to get to a place where people won't need to rob banks." This is just a start. See below to understand more! "All Lives" Can't Matter until Black Lives Do. Source: @Charcubed / Inspired by: @Sujoy_Shah / mpd150.com/faq/ / Campaign for 8-Step Plan: 8toabolition.com

[themuzzleofnemesis]

2-Memory of the Forest; Scene 8

The Muzzle of Nemesis, pages 71-81

Occasionally strange things would happen in this forest.

Any time I lost the path deep in the forest when I was young, I would be able to make my way home simply by walking along picking up acorns that had fallen in such a way as to indicate the path to me. Any time I fell from a tall tree branch, I would sometimes land in a pile of leaves, and so wouldn’t suffer any injuries.

I was able to settle on the idea that all of these were simple coincidences. But even so, on occasion I would almost get the feeling that the forest itself had a will of its own.

--And right now, that “will” was speaking directly to me in my house.

Through the doll from earlier that Mr. Ziz had scooped up.

<--You need to run out of this forest right now>

Rather than being surprised or scared, I asked the doll…or rather, the “will of the forest”, “Why do I need to run?”

<There are people coming here to arrest you.>

If that was true, then these people were undoubtedly the police.

The S.S. Titanis sinking that had occurred six months before—They must have finally caught wind of the fact that I was responsible.

Kandi had said that he would apply pressure on the World Police so that they wouldn’t investigate. I had hoped that maybe that was possible, given he was a higher-up in the Freezis Conglomerate.

But suppressing it completely must have been difficult even for a Freezis.

“But…why are you trying to cover for me?”

Strictly speaking, I didn’t know who the “you” I was speaking to even was. I hadn’t asked, and they hadn’t made any effort to explain.

Even so, I had a hunch that I was talking to the “will of the forest” right then. Perhaps...This was the being that devotees of Held referred to as the “Great Land God”.

The “will of the forest” didn’t answer me, instead saying, <Keep this in mind. There are beings in this world that will try to protect you, that you cannot see. In this forest…and in the depths of the world.”

“…?”

<We don’t have time to talk much. Though I’ll be able to stall these invaders for a short time…But that has its limits. Come on then—get going>

“—Thank you.”

I quickly made preparations to leave the house.

There wasn’t a lot that I needed to take with me.

<…There is also one other thing I’ll tell you, while we’re talking>

The doll again spoke up to me as I was getting ready.

<If, in the course of your life—you ever run into a person by the name of “Lich”…Be extra cautious around him>

“’Lich’? Is he some bad guy?”

<I’m not so sure on that, but…What I am certain of is that he’s a being unlike those of this world. There is a lot that I can’t read into in his actions>

“Hmm…I don’t really understand, but alright. I’ll make sure to watch out.”

First thing’s first, I needed to get away from the clutches of the police.

I finished my preparations and dashed out of the house. I had considered for a moment that perhaps I ought to take that doll with me, but it wasn’t mine to start with. And the less I had to carry, the better.

I decided to sneak west, avoiding the established path. That was the fastest route out of the forest.

…Ah. What should I do about Mr. Ziz?

He was currently in that underground lake in the cave.

Though it’s hard to imagine the police would arrest an octopus…

Even so the fact remained that Mr. Ziz was the main actor in the sinking of the S.S. Titanis. It was a matter of what if.

I slightly altered my course and made my way towards the hermit cave before leaving the forest.

.

…That decision had been a bad one.

Before I arrived at the cave, I encountered the people chasing me.

They were—a dark-skinned man, and a woman with white hair.

They were both carrying guns.

“—There she is! The ‘Beastmaster’!” the man shouted.

Beastmaster—that was something of a nickname used among my friends. I had objected somewhat as I was really only able to summon Mr. Ziz, but it had a better ring to it than ‘Octopus master’ so I ultimately accepted it.

Contrary to my expectation, these two were not wearing World Police uniforms.

I briefly wondered if I should be thankful for that. There was a chance that they were remnants of Midas’ goons, or that Kandi had betrayed us.

Whatever the case, I had one option…And that was to find a way to escape from them somehow!

But—

…They’re fast!

I was pretty confident in my ability to play at chasing in this forest. I’d been living here since I was born.

However, the man aside…the white-haired woman was making her way towards me in defiance of all the trees lined up around us.

I couldn’t shake them very well. And on top of that, unlike them I wasn’t carrying any weapons on me. If I were to face them head on, there’s no way I would win.

A method I could use to oppose them—was the magical arts that Nikolay had taught me, but I couldn’t imagine it would do me much good in this situation. About the only thing I was really capable of doing was creating a lump of ice about the size of my thumb. I had to wonder what would even happen if I tossed it at them.

That just left…nothing other than calling on Mr. Ziz.

Fortunately the cave was right before me. I would be able to turn the tables of the situation as soon as I ran inside. Nikolay might have been there too, and I was sure he would help me.

“You can’t escape!”

The woman fired at me.

Despite the fact that we were in the forest, and both running at that, her aim was comparatively accurate, and the bullet whizzed past my head.

I forced myself to keep running despite my fear nearly seizing up my legs.

“Hey, Shiro, don’t kill her! We’re capturing her alive!”

“I know…She’s running into that cave!”

I sprinted into the cave’s entrance, listening to their voices from behind me.

The cave was a straight path that led to a dead end. Now that I’d gotten inside, it would be difficult to escape.

“Mr. Ziz!”

I called out my accomplice’s name as I ran. I was sure he could hear me.

I thought we would be able to join up immediately, but I couldn’t see him anywhere.

And as I ran I reached where the underground lake would be.

--It felt much colder than it had been before.

“Oh, Nemesis…What’s gotten you in such a state?”

Rather than Mr. Ziz, Nikolay appeared before me.

“Nikolay. Please, you have to hide me! I’m being chased!”

“…Ah, I see,” he replied, his voice calm. “Who’s chasing you?”

“I don’t know! Maybe the police, or—”

“Well then, I suppose we ought to go meet them.”

“No, don’t do that, just find me some place to hide—”

“There isn’t such a place in this cave.”

It was as Nikolay said. I hadn’t come here to hide in the first place.

“Mr. Ziz! Where are you!? If you’re sleeping, wake up!” I screamed at the lake.

…And then, finally, I realized that it was different.

“What in…”

It was only natural that Mr. Ziz didn’t show.

The water of the lake had completely frozen over.

It wasn’t winter right now. No, even if it had been in the middle of winter, I had never seen this lake frozen over like this.

--Someone had frozen it deliberately.

And…there was only one person I knew of who could do that.

“Nikolay, what have you—”

Before I could ask him, my pursuers showed themselves.

“There you are! In here, Bruno!”

First the woman walked towards me, gun in hand. And then the man came my way after her, also holding his gun.

…But the dark-skinned man seemed surprised to see not me, but rather Nikolay nearby.

“--!? You’re—”

“…Oh, my my. If it isn’t Bruno Zero. I haven’t seen you since Loki’s trial.”

It appeared that the two of them knew each other.

Nikolay carelessly walked up to them, showing no fear of the fact that they were armed. “You coming here like this must mean that PN is after her…or rather, Gallerian is.”

“Not quite. He’s not involved in this. PN conducted the investigation alone, and identified this ‘Beastmaster’ here as a suspect…To think, you were the mastermind behind this.”

Nikolay gave a half smile and shook his head at the man named Bruno’s words. “—Hey now, have you gotten mixed up on something? If you’re talking about what happened with the Titanis, I’m not involved.”

“Then why did this ‘Beastmaster’ run in here?”

“I dunno. Of course, we live in the same forest so I know her at least, but…it’s not like she and I are family or anything.”

…Huh?

What are you saying, Nikolay?

Certainly, what he said wasn’t a lie. He had no involvement with Midas or the S.S. Titanis, and he and I had no blood relation to each other. It was true that we were mere acquaintances.

But even so, I had thought that surely he would protect me.

“Nikolay…”

When I spoke up to him, he turned around.

His usual kind smile was nowhere to be seen.

“…Nemesis, if you have done something bad then you need to properly atone for it.”

“You can’t—”

“You see, I—once worked as a man who judged people’s sins. And so I can’t shield a criminal now.”

Listening off to the side, Bruno snorted and said, “Hmph, look who’s talking. Hanma…Weren’t you the one who did exactly the opposite of that, time and again in the past?”

“And that’s why I can’t now, Bruno. It’s been fifteen years since I quit my job at the Dark Star Bureau. Perhaps you don’t believe this, but during that time I’ve done my thinking, and I’ve changed.”

“…You’re still wanted by the World Police. For the crime of violating the ‘special law on witchcraft’.”

“Naturally. I know that. So then—are you going to arrest me too?”

“PN is not like the World Police. Our stance is contradictory to the special law on witchcraft in and of itself. …Besides, if you really are ‘Elluka’s apprentice’ as the World Police says—then we have no hope of being able to arrest you.”

“…Ha ha, how ironic. That you who have seen the existence of magic with your own eyes have been promoted to a position that denies its existence.”

Bruno pointed the gun at Nikolay. “—We’ll be taking in this ‘Beastmaster’ now. As long as you don’t interfere…we’ll leave you be.”

“I don’t mind, do as you like—While you’re here I’ll give you some information you might like.”

Nikolay took out a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to Bruno.

“And this is?”

“A map that indicates Zeus’ hideout. She forgot it here earlier. This should help you in capturing the others, shouldn’t it?”

“…I appreciate the cooperation.”

That told me everything.

Before I had even run in here—Nikolay had already decided to sell us out.

And that was why he had frozen over the lake…If he was trapped within the ice, then Mr. Ziz couldn’t still be alive.

“You traitor!” I screamed at Nikolay—then tried to take advantage of the confusion to run towards the entrance to the cave.

--But my feet tangled up and I tumbled down.

“Ah!”

At some point my ancles had been encased in ice-shackles.

“Traitor…Hm. You’re wrong, Nemesis. It was—you who betrayed me first.”

“What are you…I don’t know what you mean.”

“I had though that as long as I could raise you right, I would always continue to protect you. But in the end, you caused such an awful tragedy…I guess you are her daughter after all.”

“Her…You mean my mother? What about my mother!?”

“She was a great one, your mother—but I cannot agree with her as the man I am now.” Nikolay glanced back at Bruno. “Go on, take her away.”

“…Yes.”

Bruno and the woman with him walked up to me and picked me up off the ground. And then, instead of ones of ice, they put real manacles on my wrists.

<<prev------directory------next>>

[ironspiidey]

Good Intentions

Hey dudes, so my MH has been awful lately and I’ve been struggling with alot. @cagestark was there for me these past few days and helped me feel so so much better. 

I cannot thank you enough for letting me rant and not making feel dumb so as a thanks my brain created this. 

WIS work in progress

"Anthony Edward Stark!" Pepper growls as she walks into his lab.

Tony ignores her and keeps soldering the circuit board

"Don't ignore me! I've had just enough of you." Pepper stops in front of him, tapping her foot in irritation on the tile floor.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it. "

"Tony."

"Okay if I did to it, it wasn't my fault. It was Rhodey's idea!"

"Don't bring my fiance into this. This is all your fault and your going to be fixing it. I was hoping without my help but at this rate your going to need me and Natalie and maybe even Bruce."

That made his eyebrows raise in curiosity " You and them? What the hell did I do?"

"This is what you did." Pepper tossed a StarkPad across the countertop.

Tony lifted his head and put down his tools as he pressed play on the video on screen.

"Brucie man I don’t know what to tell you. I’m a lone wolf and no cute, sweet omega will change that!" Tony took a drink of his scotch.

Bruce eyed him curiously for a moment "Not even your sweet, cute intern?"

Tony gave him a pointed look "I don't what it is about me and Peter but drop it. He's a kid. I’m supposed to be his mentor."

"Supposed to? So that means you DO have feelings for him. Nat owes me 20 bucks."

"You betted on this?"

"Not the point. So, you do have feelings for him?"

" That isn’t the point. Regardless of how I feel, even if I didn’t mentor him since he was 14, Peter does not need an old wore out superhero for a boyfriend."

"And now I owe Bucky 20. Tony, don't you think you should let Peter make his own mind up? He's not 14 anymore."

"No, you’re right. He isn't 14. He's 19. A college student. I only just convinced him to take his second year at MIT. If I say anything he's going to try and get back in NYU to be closer and the universe has done enough to stall and fuck with his future. Peter deserves the best and I sure as shit aint it." without another word, Tony downed what was left of his scotch and headed for the door.

"Tony you don't have to bolt out of the room."

"I do if you’re going to keep bringing up Peter because I'll be blue in the face until you get the fact it will never ever happen between us."

"I won’t say another word, just sit down."

Tony eyed him suspiciously

"What? Okay on one condition. You grab me a beer."

Tony rolled his eyes but walked over to the bar, pouring himself another then grabbing Bruce his beer. Just as he tossed it to the other man Natalie came storming into the living room.

"What the fuck Stark?!"

Pepper paused the video. "Get it now?"

Tony sighed "I don't know what you want from me Pep. You know as well as I do, I'm better off by myself."

"No. You’re afraid. Just like you were afraid of being happy with me. Then when you were afraid of being a father. Who helped you through that Tony?"

"Pepper..."

"Who was it Tony? Tell me."

"Peter okay!" Tony stormed off

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" Pepper followed him "When are you going to wake up Tony?  You've changed and become more of the decent man I knew you could be and as much as I am loathe to admit it, that is because of Peter. You have a chance here, to finally be with someone that is your equal and you’re going to ruin it if you don't get your head out of your damn asshole!"

Tony swallowed. "I fucking know okay? but just because Peter is great for me doesn't mean I'm great for him."

Pepper sighed "If you didn't make him happy, he wouldn't have been crying on Bucky's shoulder for the past week. If you don't do something soon, he may just sweep Peter up himself."

At that Tony's head whips around and gave Pepper a pointed look. "Your bluffing."

Pepper rolled her eyes. "Why would I bluff about that? Friday? Can you project the living room feed from last Tuesday, around early evening?"

"Of course."

A projection appears on the left wall facing Tony of the living room of the Avengers wings.

"Good god Bucky. I was so fucking dumb."

"Peter no, not even close." Bucky walks over to the window where the younger man was standing. "Stark will always be Stark and if he isn’t ready for commitment that has nothing to do with you."

"But you weren't there. You didn’t hear him. How casual he sounded."

"Not that I'm defending him, but he didn't know you were there, maybe just maybe he was putting up a front to Banner?"

Peter sniffed. "I don't think so, Bruce isn't like that. He was annoyed that he was being pestered about us and made it noticeably clear it would never happen. So instead of being a stupid lovesick teenager, I'm a stupid lovesick adult."

Bucky squeezed Peter's shoulder. "Don't talk like that. You're not stupid. He is. You’re a catch Peter and if he can't see that well that's his loss."

“I don’t see how any of this-“

"Show us 4 days ago same room, same time." Pepper cut him off.

"God now he's ignoring me Bucky!" Peter paced back and forth across the room

"Will you please sit down? your making me nauseous." Bucky gestured to the couch across from the chair he was currently in.

Peter sighed as he practically threw himself down on the couch. "Ignoring me. Bucky he never ever does that. "

"Tony ignores everybody at least once a week."

"But not me." Peter pointed out. "He found out I heard him. he must have." Peter's voice started to break the end.

"Pete c'mon that's probably a coincidence."

Peter glared at the super solider "Yeah because Tony would randomly ignore me for the first time in 4ish years days after I heard him say he would never ever be with me no matter what."

"Now your exaggerating. Peter you guys were literally snuggling last week during movie night. He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t interested."

"Well clearly not interested enough."

"Okay. Ready for the next one?"She asked as the clip ended.

Tony rolled his eyes "Haven't you shown me enough? I get it. Peter is hurting but that doesn’t change a thing."

"Exactly my point, this last one though, with any luck will pull your head out of your ass. Ready?"

Tony looked at her in confusion. "Fine."

"Okay Friday, show us Movie Night, 7pm."

"Okay guys ready?" Steve asked, standing in front of the room scanning to make sure everyone was here.

"No, Peter and Tony aren’t here yet."

"Yeah well it was about time that Tony would start ditching again." Clint said as he grabbed some of Nat’s popcorn.

"I'll go find Peter, one sec." Nat handed Clint the bowl and headed down the hall. Returning a few minutes later with Peter trailing behind her, looking for a seat.

"Don’t even think about it Peter." Clint grinned, stretching out like a cat on the sofa which made Nat roll her eyes.

"I can move him if you want Peter." Nat said, leaning towards his legs.

Before Peter could respond, Bucky padded the cushion next to him on the loveseat "C'mon over Pete."

Peter smiled and nodded, "Thanks but I’ll just sit by Buck." Nat raised her eyebrow but said nothing.

"Okay we good? Can we start?" Steve asked, started the movie and quickly sitting down when no one objected.

Bucky laid his arm down on the back of the coach, whispering something in Peter's ear which made him giggle. Peter looked to the door for a few minutes before his shoulders sagged and he leaned into the other man as he got comfortable. Smacking his flesh arm and gave him a look at whatever Bucky had said, his voice lower than the movie.

Tony squinted at the feed even after it stopped. After 5 minutes of him being silent Pepper spoke up.

"So?"

"Tony?"

"Tony!!" Pepper practically shouted

He shook his head and turned to her. "Uh sorry what?"

"Did that perhaps hit a nerve?"

"Nerve? No. "

Pepper just looked at him for a few minutes, it was clear he needed a few moments to process what he just saw.

"They use nicknames now?"

Pepper rolled her eyes "That's what your taking out of this?"

"Bucky never called Peter by anything other than Little Spider or Parker... And what’s with Peter calling him Buck?"

"Well I think its best I just leave you to brainstorm why your love interest is calling Captain Americas ex-boyfriend nicknames." Her heels clicking as she crossed the room heading for the elevator.

"Wait Pepper. What was the point? how is this anything to do with me?"

Pepper turned from her spot in the doorway “Well if you didn't hide out in here and yes that’s exactly what you were doing. Peter would have been snuggled up to you instead of the super solider."

"That’s what he was looking at, he was disappointed I wasn’t there!" By the time Tony spoke again Pepper was long gone and he was left to his own devices.

"Fri?"

"Yes Boss?"

"Lock down the lab, we need to work that last video and amplify the sounds while lowering the volume of the surround sound. "

"Activating Do not Disturb protocol, Keep current exception list of Ms. Potts. Rhodey, Mr. Banner and Peter?"

Tony sighed. "Since when have you referred to him as Peter? Who added him to the exception list without my permission?"

"Would you rather i refer to him as Petey? Petey Pie or perhaps Spiderling?"

Tony chuckled. "Peter is fine. How did he end up on the exception list?"

"As per my programming sir. The algorithms showed you and Peter have an active role in each other’s lives, physically and online. It was only fitting to add him to the list. Should I remove him now that its changed?"

"Changed? " Tony questioned his AI

"Peter has not been in the lab or Avenger corridors at the same time as you in the last week, you haven't contacted each other online either. There seems to be lack of interacting in the last week. "

"Who is on Peter's exception list?"

" Ms. Widow, Ned Leeds, Bucky Barnes and yourself Sir."

"Ms. Widow?"

"As per Peter's instructions I was to refer to his contacts as Ms. Widow, Ned Leeds, Bucky Barnes and Tones."

Tony felt a smile creep up on his face at Peters chosen nickname. "No nickname for the super soldier?"

"Negative Boss. Shall Peter stay on your protocol?"

"Yeah but change Rhodey to Platypus and Peter to Petey Pie. It has a ring to it doesn't it?"

"It does sir, very fitting for him.  Shall I alert to Ms. Potts You’ve made progress?"

"Don’t you dare. Now back to amplifying the sounds excluding the movie please?"

"Yes sir."

[r00en]

Still Good Chapter 5

Calculated Competition

All Might / Reader, Slight Aizawa / Reader 

Aizawa never did like All Might but he always kept things professional at the very least with the occasional cold behavior and rude attitude, but this might be pushing it.

(Listen, lemmy self indulge in two hot guys fighting over the same girl but in dumb slow burn ways okay!?

EDITED: For all the horrible mistakes, it was bugging me) 

Absolutely nothing could ruin All Mights day today. He had woken up with a smile and carried it through is morning routine. Even humming a bit as he packed is boring lunch and snacks for the day and shoved a few rice crackers in his mouth while changing. Standing in front of the mirror he tried his best to adjust the lopsided tie that hung lose around his neck, fix the drooping shoulders of his pinstripe suit and make sure his belt was tight enough to keep his pants snug on his skinny hips. His cheeks burned slightly as he tried to smooth out his hair only to watch it spring back into place. Useless. Why was he suddenly so worried about how he looked? 'Because there are millions of other good looking, younger men out there for her to pick from....'

That may have been true but so far she had shown no issue with his current look at all. He wasn't dirty at the very least. He could take pride in that much. And his cloths had to be baggy otherwise they would rip right off him each time he powered up. He couldn't carry around different pairs of clothing each time he wanted to, waste time changing back and forth. This was practical. Still...he felt stupid suddenly worrying about this sort of thing so late in the game. Is that what it was like for young men every day? Was it going to be like this for him from now on? The thought had him sulking a bit until he mind kindly reminded him of the cute, sweet, young nurse waiting for him at the coffee shop. Even the creepiness of that thought couldn't keep the smile from his face. Glancing down at his phone he nearly had a heart attack. He was going to be late! He already missed the first train that would get him there early, and now the second that would drop him right on time.

"Holy, stinking, super crap!" He was out the door so fast he would have to apologies to his neighbors for slamming the door hard enough to rock the foundation. With a bit of steam and a loud pop he was sprinting over root tops like his feet were on fire.

Hiding out in a back ally way was his best option to power down. The last thing he needed was reporters following him to school just yet, even less catching him having breakfast with a fellow coworker. No one knew All Might was working at UA. Very few people knew he was in town to stay yet. Low profile was best so he deflated with the rest of the trash, standing awkwardly next to a butcher shops old meat scraps. Fitting. Once he was sure no one saw him sneak in here, nor anyone coming from either direction less he look creepy stalking out of the darkness. Cost was clear and the coffee shop was in sight. And if he squinted real hard he could see his target standing by a few out door tables looking at her phone with worry. This would be the second time he made her wait, a habit he was really hoping he could break soon. Picking up a light job he made his way over. "H-hey sorry I'm late....again. Got held up at the station-" As that beautiful, bubbly face turned to greet him it was over cast by a dark shadow like figure that loomed behind her should like a bad omen. Coming into clear focus as he stopped just short of the two.

"The number one can't even have the manners to show up on time...can't say I'm surprised...." That sullen, annoyed voice. That mess of pitch black hair. Those blood shot angry eyes.

"Ah, Aizawa....what are you..." She answered his question before he managed to mutter it out. Thankfully as Toshi couldn't keep his slightly annoyance from seeping out at his fellow teacher. "Ah, Mr. Aizawa saw me waiting here and came to say hello! He said it's on his way to work every morning isn't that funny?"

Both men started at each other for a moment. Toshi didn't like that smirk he was wearing but was far to polite to do more than cough into his fist. "Yeah? What a coincidence. I had no idea you lived around here." There it was again, that smirk just hidden behind his capture scarf. "Small world. I figured I would grab a cup of coffee with a fellow colleague since I'm here. Catch her up on what's going on from the teachers perspective. Would be nice if we were all on the same page. Less troublesome. But it seems you beat me too it...."  That sounded logical and if it was coming from anyone else; Mic for instance Toshi would have brushed it off with a smile. But this felt wrong. Toshi never mentioned his friendship with the new nurse to anyone save for Young Midoriya who of course had no contact with the teacher at UA. He must have happened on her while heading to work like he said and she mentioned their meet up in casual conversation. Could he be planning something devious? A plan made up on the fly so quickly? Toshi knew he wasn't Aizawa's favorite person. He often made that more than clear during his past meetings. Something about the spotlight rubbed the sullen hero the wrong way and All Might was a spotlight in and of himself. But she didn't look any different even with Aizawa looming behind her like a dark cloud of distaste. She just smiled at him, readjusting her glasses waiting for him to fully join what now seemed to be a group date.

He could deal with this. It wasn't like he planned on confessing to her any time soon, surely not today. He just needed to keep telling himself that this wasn't a date. Who cares if Aizawa was there? He could still talk to her! Swallowing the lump in his throat Toshi spurred forward with a happy, friendly smile.

"Me and ____-chan here are excited to start the school year together...isn't that right?" Toshi watched in horror as Aizawa moved his hand from his pocket to rest it on her head. Rubbing softly like she was some kind of cat. The action seemed to fluster her beyond believe and she held her glowing cheeks with embarrassment. "W-well it's surely an exciting time. With it being my first year living in Japan and working at UA of all places I really hope I can handle it." He was grinning that creepy grin again. She couldn't see from her perspective, head tilted down as she shyly fiddled with her fingers. It was directed at him. Why?! "You'll do fine. You're Recovery Girls own granddaughter, that counts for something. UA is filled with exceptional teachers and staff and you'll be no different." It all sounded so friendly but his tone, it was off.... Since when did Shota Aizawa pep-talk anyone? Let alone in that cheerful voice. "I'll buy you a coffee this time. As a welcome to the school. You don't mind....right All Might?" His voice was dripping with venom and all Toshi could do was nod. "Y-yeah...no problem."

The three made it inside with little to no issue, though Aizawa insisted on keeping himself firmly wedged between the two of them like some odd chaperon. Tossing Toshi rather loaded looks as the ordered and Aizawa payed, though at least he could enjoy the cute way she tried to order her own drink but fumbled with the odd names of coffee she never needed to use before. Toshi turned his head to keep his fellow teacher from seeing the pleased look on his face. Something was up and he wouldn't give Aizawa any more reason to be suspicious. Taking their seats Toshi decided it was best not to put up a fight at all and slid himself across from the two willingly. This was far better for conversation anyway and would have been the arrangement regardless. Rubbing his temple he let out a sigh, he was over thinking things. Aizawa just disliked him and was using this as some odd excuse to make his day harder. That's all this was. It didn't make him feel any better but he couldn't shake the feeling he deserved a bit of this given the circumstances. He was going after someone nearly twice is junior. He was being creepy again...thinking about it like that.

Suddenly she was talking, as if Aizawa wasn't there which put a mildly annoyed look on his face that please Toshi greatly. "So I had some questions about the game show last night. They kept flashing your catch phrase 'I am here' but they kept putting cotton candy around it....is that some sort of inside joke? I don't get it." He grinned, this would surely cement their friendship outside of work and put Aizawa off his teasing. "It's not that complicated, you see if you write out the phrase it's only a few character off from 'It's Cotton Candy!' so from time to time people make the reference." He motioned the kanji in the air as if she could follow though she seems a little lost. "Mmm...we sort of have that in english but the differences in words are not so extreme. Read and read are two different words written the same way but they are close in context. Don't even get me started on 'their'...Present Mic is going to have his work cut out for him. Grandmother said I should try and help with some of the more advanced classes but if I'm honest I'm not really the student type. If I make a mistake teaching kids I'll ruin them for life! No way I can take that responsibility on!"

Toshi wanted to say something like 'You'll make a wonderful teacher' or 'Everything you do is great don't worry!' but Aizawa was glaring at him again and didn't stop even when the waiter brought them their coffee. His was a simple tea, Aizawa apparently liked his black though she had some sort of foaming latte type drink that looked to be more milk than coffee. Just as sweet as she was. "You watched TV together last night?" That cold, spine tingling voice cut through their otherwise cheery cloud of a conversation and both Toshi and her were sent cowering from the angry dark aura drifting it's way closer to them. "A-aha...Toshi stopped by to get some help with his injured side on his way home last night. It was my fault...I offered him dinner and it would have been rude for him to say no. We ended up just watching TV and talking through most of the night. He had to explain so many things to me on the programs that I think I kinda ruined some of them..." She was shyly pulling at the wrapper of her straw and smiling at him from behind the rim of her glasses. As if the memory was enjoyable even if it was so recent. Aizawa made a 'tsk' sound and slumped forward.

"Didn't know you two were already so friendly, already on to first names... Moving a bit fast aren't you All Might?" They both sat confused for a moment trying to determine their colleagues motives and attitude. Toshi knew him as always standoffish and moody but this was something else. Only the sound of a rather loud and rather peppy ring ton cut through the tension at the table like a chirping knife. Scrambling for her phone she took one glance at the screen and waved her hand at Aizawa "S-sorry I need to take this do you mind?" While he looked like he most certainly did mind he did the decent thing a stood, only enough that she was still forced to brush most of her body against him as she pulled herself from the booth and headed to the door. Both men staring each other down during the whole ordeal until the fellow teacher flopped down with a grunt. "Don't tell me you like them younger..."

Toshi felt like someone dumped ice water over his head. He sputtered out a bit of his tea and took the excuse to hide his face behind his napkin. "I-I'm sorry I don't think I follow you." That earned him a glare. "You're not stupid so don't act like it. She might think it's cute but I don't." Toshi sat up a little straighter, leveling his own glare at the dark haired man. "I couldn't care less what you do with your time or your title All Might, but going after another employee seems a bit close to home even for you. Couldn't you just pick up any of your fans? Keep your privet business off school property? It would be troublesome if it came down on the school or you started drama between coworkers...." Toshi clenched his fists in his lap. Aizawa was always blunt but this was bordering on rude. Still he wasn't really 'wrong'. Mislead, condescending and indecent but not wrong.  The thoughts swirling around inside Toshi were confusing yes but they were also honest. He didn't choose to feel this way and truth be told he wasn't even sure what he was feeling. It was all so new for him in so many different ways and the confrontation about them so harshly put was jarring. But he knew how he felt, and he hoped he knew how she felt. Glancing outside he watched her happily chat away on her phone. Cupping her mouth and speaking softly as people walked by as to not be rude. Once she caught him staring she smiled and gave him a little wave and he was sure he saw her cheeks paint a light pink. That smile meant the world to him and he would be damned if anyone, even a 'friend' was going to take that away from him.

Turning back to a pissed off looking Aizawa he cleared his throat. "I'm not sure what you know...how much she told you but if you think my interest in her is indecent...." he would be right, the dream he had last night was the epitome of it "Not that it's any of your business," He added, taking a sip of his tea for good measure. "...we are friends above all else. I offered to help her during her time at UA and we both enjoy each others company. I can't help but wonder what it matters to you Aizawa, it's not like you to poke around in other peoples business." If Toshi didn't know any better he could have sworn he saw a blush flash across the sullen mans face. Ever so slightly hidden as he scrunched down and used his scarf as a shield. "She wouldn't shut up about you..." Aizawa muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets so he could lounge back against the booth. "The second she saw me she told me she was meeting you and she had this 'look'...she's my age All Might...." Now he sounded like a protective older brother and Toshi couldn't find it in him to be angry about that. "And you're the symbol of peace. Think about her...your spot light comes with risks and pressure. And I wasn't just blowing smoke about the schools image. If this goes down wrong-" Toshi held up a hand and surprisingly it stopped his little speech. "If that's your concern I can assure you both of us are consenting adults. Nothing has gone on between us that is any of your concern...but has been nothing more than friendly."

Aizawa gave him a look that spilled over into disbelief. The way they looked at each other was not just on friendly terms. Even with all his intrusive behavior, blunt conversation and general looming presence the two of them oozed a level of chemistry Aizawa had never seen before. At least not in person. It was kind of disgusting to watch the great All Might all glassy eyed and smitten even in his weak state. And she was no better. It was easy to fluster her truth be told. He learned that the first day they met when he stood a bit too close to her and glared down at her trying to give off his 'just leave me alone' attitude without words. She all but hid behind her clip board and shuffled behind her tiny grandma for support. The great Paladin who could take a beating better than any pro hero on the market was out done by personal space and eye contact. Though he was loathed to admit it these two idiots were made for each other. She also had a pension for sticking her nose in other peoples emotional business, and from the way All Might carried himself the man needed a good scream cry or two.

Giving a shrug as if he was indifferent to his words Aizawa stood from his spot and started to lumber away. "I won't make this easy for you All Might. You haven't needed to fight for anything in a while...so call it a strategical test of will." His eyes wild and blown wide as he stared back at the number one hero, all teeth and unease. "You'll have to fight for it like the rest of us." And with that cryptic message he was off and out the door. She stopped him as he tried to sneak away and earned herself another head pat but it seemed like little else as Toshi watched his fellow teacher stalk off to towards the school. What the hell was that suppose to mean 'fight for it'? Wasn't that what he was already doing. Losing sleep and suffering though what he could only assume was cardiac arrest each time he had to so much as talk to her? It had only been a day since he even admitted his own feelings to himself and already he apparently had some twisted rivalry with a fellow teacher. Did that mean Aizawa had feeling for the new nurse too? Did they spend time together outside of work as well? Too many thoughts buzzed around inside his head and he downed his cooling tea in one gulp out of frustration.

"Sorry about that! Grandma needed some information on the applying student files I organized the other day. I messed up and forgot that here you guys use last names more often than first...." she was flustered but otherwise seemed normal. Sliding back into her seat but this time directly across from him. "My first real day as a nurse and it will be a seriously dangerous entrance exam. Talk about stressful. And speaking of what was up with Mr. Aizawa? He normally acts like he can't stand to be around me....strange change, maybe he fell out of bed this morning and hit his head..." the image was enough to make them both chuckle.

Toshi carefully, and oh so slowly reached out and brushed his fingers across her hand that was resting on the table. "Don't worry about either of them. You'll do great, you're more than qualified and your put your heart in everything you do. I'm sure those kids will be in good hands. Besides the entrance exam wasn't too bad for me when I started out." She suddenly had this funny look on her face. Puffy cheeks and glittering eyes. "Oh geez I wonder what a young Toshi looked like back then. I bet you were super tall right? Like much taller than your classmates?" she teased and it caused him to blush as it always did. "Something like that. I didn't look like this I can tell you that much...." "Ohh like a meat head? You know all buff and strong like your hero form?" She tried to pose and flex her arm a bit and it worked in getting him to laugh along with her. "Nothing like that...I'll see if I can dig up some old pictures. Young Midoriya would love that I'm sure...."

With that they both lulled into a quiet conversation about Midoriya's training, her own work with Recovery Girl, the day ahead filled with filing papers and filling out forums. Anything and everything. And as they spoke they leaned closer and closer to each other until to the outside world it looked far more like a date than either of them intended. Their hands still brushed close on the table.

[makeste]

BnHA Bonus Rant # 5: All for One for All

Okay guys, so ever since I first read chapter 217, I’ve been thinking about certain One for All things and going “hmm” a bunch. Like so:

hmmm.

hmmm.

hmmmmmmmmm.

And like. I’ve had these bits and pieces of some kind of theory for a while now, and I think I’m finally ready to try and put them together.

So I’m gonna try to make this as straightforward as possible. First off, here’s the “official” story as far as we have been told:

AFO steals a “power-stockpiling” quirk from User X and gives it to his brother (henceforth referred to as Lil Bro).

The power-stockpiling quirk fuses together with Lil Bro’s own latent quirk, which happens to be a passing-down quirk similar to All for One.

The newly created quirk, One for All, allows the user to stockpile power within the quirk and then pass the quirk on to a new user, who in turn can then pass it on to another user, and then another, etc., all the while accumulating more and more power.

Fast-forward a century or two. All Might, the eighth user of OFA, passes the quirk down to a new successor, Midoriya Izuku. Izuku eventually becomes the first user to unlock another secret power hidden within OFA this whole time -- the ability to use the past users’ quirks.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 

Anyway, so that’s basically it. This is what we’ve been led to believe up till this point.

So now, here’s my alternate take.

AFO steals what he believes to be a minor strength-enhancing quirk from User X. However, upon stealing it, he realizes he’s fallen victim to one of the classic blunders: namely, that if a quirk relies on some kind of “stockpiled resource” so to speak, he can only steal the quirk itself, and not said resource along with it. Much like another quirk-copier we know of:

So now AFO is stuck with some useless quirk that does fuckall for him, and wondering what to do with it. And then a light bulb goes off in his head. Of course! He has an annoyingly rebellious brother he’s been meaning to try and persuade to see things his way... by force, if necessary.

He doesn’t want to give his brother anything too strong, of course. Ostensibly out of kindness and concern for Lil Bro’s fragile state, but in reality he probably just didn’t want him to ever be able to oppose him.

But a quirk like this? One that doesn’t actually do anything? That’s pretty much perfect. He can force his brother to submit to him without ever granting him any actual power. So he gives Lil Bro this supposedly useless quirk, thinking that this is the moment when he’ll finally succeed in getting his brother to join him.

But instead, two things happen which AFO did not expect. Two things which, quite unknown to him, will ultimately work to seal his doom.

Let’s backtrack for a sec and examine just what that power-stockpiling quirk is. It’s actually pretty powerful stuff! Basically it seems like it gradually stores up someone’s power over time and then lets them use that accumulated power in bursts.

But as we now know thanks to Deku, that’s not all that it stores up.

Okay, so now just… hear me out.

All for One steals User X’s quirk. Unbeknownst to AFO, upon being stolen, said quirk immediately goes to work doing what it’s been designed to do: stockpiling the power of its current user. It no longer has the accumulated power of User X, because as we made note of earlier, power can’t be transferred through that method. It is, however, still a perfectly fine quirk, and it’s got a new user now. And so as far as the quirk is concerned, it’s back to business as usual. It’s accumulating power once again, this time from a new wielder: All for One.

So that is Thing # 1 That All For One Does Not Expect.

And here’s Thing # 2.

Like I said -- you can’t transfer accumulated power through stealing or copying or otherwise duplicating someone else’s quirk. For whatever reason, it just can’t be done.

But.

A WILD LOOPHOLE APPEARS ohhhhhh shit.

Listen, I don’t know why this is, but it is, though. We already know; we’ve seen it in action. One for All can be transferred from user to user with its power bundled in free of charge. It’s the only quirk we’ve seen thus far that’s capable of doing that. It is possibly unique in this. But it only works if the user wills the power to be transferred. Otherwise it will not happen. And All for One, in his arrogance and hubris, did in fact willingly grant this power to his younger brother.

So here, finally, is what I’ve been trying to get at. I don’t think Lil Bro actually ever had a quirk after all. I think our boy really was quirkless. That passing-down quirk he supposedly had? The one that supposedly fused together with the power-stockpiling quirk to create One for All?

Well, I think said fusion actually took place when AFO was still in possession of the quirk. In other words, I think One for All actually is All for One.

We have a quirk that stockpiles its users’ power and “quirk factors.” All for One was in possession of that quirk. It stockpiled his power. It stockpiled his quirk. And then without realizing it, he passed that power on to his younger brother. The quirk, along with whatever power it had accumulated from him.

One for All is literally All for One. The power to grant quirks from one person to another comes directly from AFO’s power. No other quirk has the ability to do that. We have copy abilities and shapeshifting abilities and clone abilities, and all of these are capable of duplicating others’ quirks to some extent. But none of these powers is capable of granting quirks to other people. The only abilities we have seen that are capable of that are One for All, and All for One. That’s not a coincidence.

Know what else isn’t a coincidence? The fact that Deku all of a sudden possesses multiple quirks. Not temporarily, but permanently and with no apparent restrictions other than his own ability and stamina. Again, that’s a power we’ve only seen in the hands of one other individual before now.

Yeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah. That’s my theory. This entire time, One for All has not actually been an “offshoot” of All for One, but is in fact All for One itself. And AFO has, ironically, been the originator of OFA this whole time. He is the first wielder of OFA. His brother is the second.

Oh hey wait, yeah. So about that. You know how All Might has been really fucking reluctant to bring up the topic of All for One, even now that he’s finally been ~defeated~ and locked up in Tartarus? Like, remember that one panel I was going “hmmmm” at earlier? “I didn’t want to raise that point…”

Well I think that might be because...

Which would mean... well...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah, Deku. Hate to break it to you kid, but you might in fact have a certified evil dude currently taking up residence in that big ol’ hero brain of yours.

“But makeste,” you point out, “we’ve already seen the other vestiges and none of them look like AFO, and also there are only eight of them and if AFO was included, wouldn’t that make it nine?” All of which are good points which I will acknowledge. But in turn please consider:

(1) AFO has a gazillion quirks, including at least one that’s capable of altering his physical body and appearance (namely, whatever de-aging quirk he’s using). He could be invisible. He could be in disguise. He could in fact even be in disguise as a certain explosive boy whom Deku instinctively trusts! That one’s a bit out there, I admit, but frankly all of the theories related to That Silhouette are pretty out there so I’m willing to roll with it. But my point is basically that there are lots of possibilities here.

And (2), we don’t actually know jack shit about the past users of OFA. We only know Deku is the ninth because each user apparently kept count, because at least they were capable of doing that much. But All Might doesn’t know anything about any of the users prior to number six (whom he only had a vague description of, not even a name), so at some point all of that history was lost. It’s possible that they were keeping track of it but then Shimura or someone else purposely destroyed the information and didn’t pass it along to Toshinori in order to keep the other predecessors’ families safe. She gave up her own family for the same reason, so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

But my point being, we don’t actually know that there were in fact eight users following Lil Bro. There may well have only been seven, and they just assumed there were eight because everyone caught at least a vague glimpse of the Vestiges once or twice during their time, and they all counted a certain number of people, and so they assumed (quite correctly) that that’s how many past generations of OFA there were. Their only mistake was thinking that Lil Bro was the first, rather than the second.

What else. -- Oh, the thing with OFA being passed down via DNA transfer rather than by touch can probably be handwaved, tbh. That may have been because Lil Bro only received a little bit of AFO’s power and not the full-blown deal initially. Or it could just be that since saying “here, eat my hair” did work, they never thought to question whether it could be passed down via other methods too. But in either case, it may well be that Deku is capable of doing the touch thing and much more now that AFO has been churning about deep within OFA’s core for a couple centuries, and has, just like the other quirks, gradually been growing stronger this whole time. It may well be that All for One 2.0, Version: Deku is finally ready to rumble.

And if so? If he is? Well then that may just be the perfect solution to this whole damn mess. How do you stop a villain with unlimited power? Particularly if he does finally obtain a healing factor quirk at some point in the game and is restored to his former glory? There’s really only one way I can think of: give him a taste of his own medicine. Fire Lord Ozai style. Set a thief to catch a thief. Poetic fucking justice.

So that’s about it, I think. This is my current theory about OFA and AFO. This also means that, just in time for Father’s Day, I’m now pretty sure that AFO is not in fact actually Deku’s dad (and I may possibly owe @addermoray a beer). Or at least, the one theory probably isn’t true if the other is. So yeah, congratulations Deku, you get to pass on all of the I’m-secretly-the-son-of-my-greatest-nemesis angst after all! In exchange, you get my-greatest-nemesis-is-currently-inhabiting-part-of-my-soul angst instead. Heh. Have fun with that there, kiddo.

[pernatius]

Lost in Space Part 9: Ch 2

Previous

Summary: Syco and the unnamed Space Explorer question their choices

Lost in Space on Tumblr

Lost in Space on ao3

Lots of diagrams. Plenty of banter but no signs of Ashley, Mikrovos, or Skeema. In the end, though, I can’t say it was a complete waste of time. I know where they are, and I also know where Syco is in terms of his state of mind. 

“I’ll look more into it.” His projected image vanishes, and the symbols that were once circling Syco float back down to the platform. Once again, it's just the two of us. His back is facing me. A purple glow is facing him. The compass, what Commander Knox was referring to before leaving the meeting, is held in Syco’s hand. It's held in his other hand, the one not ranked with death. Its symbols have yet to be translated. The two are stuck, Syco especially as he remains standing on that platform, refusing to look at me. 

“I loved it. I loved the feeling. I loved the power I had. I took so many lives. I took too many lives. The Commander, he,” he sighs, and his grip loosens, “No. No, I can’t blame him. It was my fault. It was all my fault. I let my dark desires take over. That’s why I stopped. That’s why I took that oath, but I broke it.” 

He shakes his head. Briefly, I see a smirk. It’s not the villainous smirk I’ve grown ill towards. It’s the type of smirk that says: “I fucked up then, and I fucked up once again.” 

Continuing his monologue, “I’m trying to do what’s right. I’m trying to make up for what I’ve done. I'm trying to walk forward, but I keep walking backward. I’m trying to save lives, not end them. It’s times like these I question if this war is worth it. Have I become what I’ve grown to hate? I’m insane, but you already know that. 

“I can't trust my inner circle. I can’t even trust myself. I never could. Human, you’re the only one I trust. So, please tell me, have I become the villain in this story?” Finally, he turns to face me. For once, our height difference doesn't bother me.

“We’re the villains in our stories, but there’s no such thing as justice. There’s just us and our decisions. Make one that helps us, and it hurts others. Make one that helps them, and it hurts us.” 

“The universe isn’t infinite. It’s finite. It crushes, breaks. It kills life. The truth is ironic, but we’d rather believe lies. I don’t want to be like everyone else anymore. I don’t want to be me anymore. I hear and see things that aren’t really there. I don’t sleep. I can’t because they’re always nightmares. I’m restless. That’s why when we finally write ourselves in the last chapter in this story I want my story to end with you. 

“I disagree with your earlier statement, though I can see where you’re coming from. There is justice in this abyss we call the universe. It’s when I find myself meeting with and gasping underneath your blade.”

Instead of a set of glowing purple eyes glaring at me from afar, hunting me for my reaction, is two sets of eyes looking at each other. Both are stiff, serious. One of them switches from looking at someone I have to call my friend, as the only way of surviving is by having friends, to her screen. “It just looks like chicken scratch to me.”

The symbols on her screen are the same ones that were written on me. I touch my chest. They’re gone now, but I imagine the red paint had rubbed onto my hand. It feels like blood. It looks like blood. I get a chill thinking about seeing the reflection of that thing from the trial onto the imaginary stroke on my hand. 

It’s when I step inside the room the two finally take note of me. They look up, but Shiitakee returns to inspecting Saamuki’s screen. “Any news,” she asked.

“Yeah. How far away are we from Quadrant Forty?”

“It's about a two-hour trip, but that's a lot closer than I expected.”

“They’ll be there a while.”

“But I still can’t figure out how to access the code.”

I join Shiitakee. “What’s this about?”

“The symbols that were on you are the same ones that Sakhra painted on himself. I see the same ones whenever I glow. It’s the same one I heard The Speaker speak.”

“Are they the same as the ones on Syco’s compass? I haven’t gotten a good look at it yet.”

“Me too, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it is.”

Shiitakee cuts in, cutting out of his daze on Saamuki’e screen, “Fine, let’s say I believe you. Okay, this isn’t just some chicken scratch. Out of the millions of languages in the known universe, whoever first started this whole strange trend decided to use a language I haven’t heard about until just a few minutes ago. Why?”

“I’m still trying to figure that out, but maybe if I were to look around Quadrant Thirty-Nine’s library I could find something.”

“And how would you do that? We’re two hours away at the very least, remember? Besides, I hear it’s the most guarded place right now.”

“Also, I don’t think Syco is going to let us just get up and leave anytime soon. It’s not the best time right now,” I added. 

“That's fine I wasn't planning on leaving this room. I know of a way to set foot in that library without actually setting foot." Both Shiitakee and I look at each other. Following our shrugs is Saamuki continuing with, "It's a lot of explaining. But basically..." 

The way was by sending holograms of us first flying across the universe at unimaginable speeds, then swimming in miles of electric currents to eventually abruptly being smacked onto some dusty, browning tiles I pictured being cold. For the most guarded place in the universe, it sure looks abandoned. One of the lights above is flickering. It goes on and off for a minute before it completely dies. At least the other lights above, thousands of dim lights, can keep on. They shine across the jaw-dropping rows upon rows of books. Piles of them, rather than being properly organized by nuzzling against each other in bookshelves, are stacked high. Three nearly reach the roof, which I need to add this building is three stories high. All of the piles are taller than our three heights combined. Why must aliens not use bookshelves?

At the very center of the ceiling is a perfectly square window lying just behind a cage. On the other side of the window, squeezed between the nest of what I hope aren't bones, is a purpling sky. It’s twilight here. 

Gleefully Saamuki whispers, “It worked.” 

Footsteps are heard coming our way. I gulp. 

Saamuki reminds us, “No one can see us.”

The guard’s footsteps die down as they turn and move away from us.

“Although, we have to be careful with our voices." She raises her head and looks around the library. "Sounds bounce around here quite easily.” 

Shiitakee looks around before replying, “Curse me for not asking more but don’t tell me we’re actually going to look through this mess to look for a book or two we don’t even know the name of. Must I add, for a mere theory? Who knows maybe it’s just a coincidence, or maybe you’re overthinking. Maybe I was actually right for once.”

“I didn’t force you to come, Shiitakee. I asked you to come.”

“Yes, you did.”

“You can still go back.”

“That’s the thing I could. I will after a few minutes. Maybe when I can’t take this bore anymore, but it was really boring waiting for you two to come back last time.”

“Then, let’s get right into it.”

The three of us went our separate ways after promising to meet back there. Saamuki went straight, going deeper into the jungle of books. One minute she's waving bye to us. The next, she's been swallowed by the books. My other companion just turned away and flipped through the nearest book. I went right. The books here are smaller than the books Saamuki traveled into, but they’re much more portly. They’re almost five inches thick. I scan the titles. Many I find interest in, thinking they held the answers Saamuki is looking for. I find myself skimming through them, and in those brief moments, I try to figure out how to cope with how much time I wasted. I groan. Little blurry pictures. So few creative titles. Too many tiny printed words, most of which are long. I despise reading. It always makes me so sleepy, but I force myself to the next book and then to the next. I must’ve skimmed through a hundred, barely a tenth of the books around me, before my eyes become too watery to read. I reach around for another book, but I fall on my butt. Accepting my new predicament, mainly because I'm too tired to get up, I note the book is coated in just as much dust as the floor, if not more. I blow on it but soon regret it. I cough and try to hold in the noise. I try fanning away the fine particles. When they eventually blow away, I frown because I can’t read the title of this book. Maybe if I flip through the book I’ll find at least a word I can read. Nope. It’s all simply just lines, circles, and dashes to me. They have no meaning to me, but the stars above do. It’s well past midnight. We’ve been here for hours, but find ourselves no better than where we were before coming here. I sigh and lay back to look up at the ceiling. 

I hope Saamuki is close to finding something. I also hope I get to see the others soon. I reach my hand up, thinking I’m somehow able to reach out to them lightyears away from where I’m laying. Then, I hear static. With a guard swinging his flashlight across my clearing, I chalk the strange sound to his shuffles even though I knew that doesn't make sense. That’s why I’m not surprised when I get the real answer. I hear a voice I haven’t heard in some time. Hearing it has me get up, get watery-eyed, and look around for the unlikely. “Skeema,” I asked quietly. 

A moment. No reply. I was about to rethink my recent judgment until he finally replies, “It’s been some time, hasn’t it?”

“W-Where are you?” I look around again, thinking Skeema would pop out of nowhere with tea for us to share. Of course, that doesn’t happen. I remain alone in this crevasse in the sea of books listening to the guard walking away. 

“Light years away from your location.”

“How are you talking to me?” At first, I thought I'd truly gone insane like Syco. Then, I remembered what Syco did all those weeks ago before the tournament. Although, unlike then, I don’t get to see the face behind the voice. “Right. My chip.”

“Yes.” A cough rushes out of Skeema. It sounded painful. I felt it. It’s as if my chest is collapsing in on itself. 

“Are you alright, Skeema?”

“It’s nothing. Don't worry about it. I don’t have much time. Knox is planning something big. Don't come looking for us. For the time being, remain where you are.”

“What? Why?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have the time to explain, but I’ll let you know when I can.” A blaster goes off on his side. It rings in my ears, and right after our call goes static. I try calling out his name. Nothing. 

Looking up at the window, I wonder what's coming. Then, instead of getting an answer, but it’s not like I would’ve gotten one, I see a black silhouette looming over me. I get out my sword, and they just tilt their head.

[yogaadvise]

How to Awaken Your Third Eye

For many individuals, the term 'third eye' raises thoughts of the metaphysical, the mysterious, as well as the odd. Nevertheless, referrals to a '3rd eye' have crossed various cultures throughout the globe, as well as can be mapped back hundreds of years. Variants of the 'pineal eye' exist in numerous religions.

Your vision will become clear just when you can explore your own heart. Who looks outside, desires, who looks within, awakes. Carl Jung

And ultimately, there have been clinical developments which link the 3rd eye to concrete, physical procedures as well as structures (most especially, the pineal gland). Many yogis really hope to awaken their 3rd eye, as well as in doing so end up being much more harmonic with their vision.

What does the third eye do?

The pineal eye does many things that are purposeful for yogis. As an 'eye,' it is naturally linked to vision. Unlike a person's 2 physical eyes, the 3rd eye sees that which can not be seen by the naked eye. Rather, the third eye sees reality. It sees past ego and also externalities, as well as is the vital to intuition. It sees things as they are, as well as not as how a person might desire them to be.

Philosophy Behind the 3rd Eye

To comprehend why and how the pineal eye provides understanding and vision, an individual should explore the philosophical history. There are discussed to the 3rd eye within numerous old worlds and also cultures.

Within yoga exercise, Ayurveda, and also Hindi societies, the pineal eye is linked to the Ajna chakra, or 6th chakra. This chakra lies between the brows, just as the pineal eye is. It is also stated to be the secret to vision, assumption, intuition, and also clarity. If a yogi has actually entered their Ajna chakra, after that they have actually allowed go of their ego, and also welcomed the Self's union with the Divine. They have actually surrendered Maya, or the assumption of the specific as a different being. They have actually welcomed the supreme awareness that all beings share.

In Egyptian viewpoint and also history, there are additionally discusses of the 3rd eye. The key example is the Egyptian Eye of Horus. In addition, ancient Egyptian scrolls as well as burial places additionally show a marking in between the eyebrows, called an udjat. The udjat corresponds the Hindu bindi, a noting that is still used to now between the eyebrows. This noting was implied to represent health, vision, and also royal powers.

Even in more contemporary, Westernized societies, there are recommendations to the third eye. It is an usual claiming that a person may feel their 'sixth sense' prickling, or that someone has a 'second sight.' What is this intuition? The intuition coincides with the 6th chakra (Ajna chakra) pointed out over. It refers to a sense of instinct or foresight that some people may experience. This is an outcome of the third eye.

Biological Explanation Behind the Third Eye

Many individuals will certainly not be encouraged of the power of the pineal eye simply by the philosophical and also historic history. In even more recent times, a clinical proof base has actually developed to support the extra spiritual insurance claims bordering the pineal eye. For countless years, signs of the pineal eye have been placed in between the brows, as displayed in the Hindi as well as Egyptian cultures. This corresponds with the biological area of the third eye: the pineal gland.

It is currently commonly thought that the third eye is in fact the pea-sized endocrine gland understood as the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces hormones such as melatonin, and also thus is known as the body's clock as well as controls body clocks. It influences when a person really feels weary, wide awake, and sleeps. Melatonin additionally influences reproductive hormonal agents, which will influence an individual's mood, vigor, and fertility.

For a long time, the pineal gland was seen as a 'vestigial organ,' or a body organ that exists in the body however no more serves a purpose. Some have actually theorized that this is since modern-day individuals have actually lost touch with their spiritual vision as well as instinct. Others placed this to encironmental impacts such as enhanced fluoride as well as calcium in individuals's diet plans, which can allegedly trigger calcification of the pineal gland. In contrast, prophets, sages, and Yogis of hundreds of years ago are said to have actually had much bigger pineal glands. When the present function of the pineal gland (to secrete melatonin as well as control body clocks) was uncovered, this supplied a clear biological web link to the powers of the 3rd eye.

How to Awaken the Third Eye

If you suspect you have concerns with your pineal eye, as many people do, you might be interested in different ways to stir up the pineal eye. Yoga exercise is developed to aid experts reach Samadhi, or enlightenment. To do this, their spirit needs to travel through all 7 chakras, including the Ajna chakra. To really come to be informed, a yogi needs to awaken their 3rd eye. Below are some certain instances of exactly how a yogi can awaken their 3rd eye.

One of one of the most common means to deal with stiring up the 3rd eye is with reflection. With reflection, the yogi relaxes their 'mind-chatter' or 'mind-stuff,' as described in the sutras. By locating stillness in mind and also spirit, the yogi is after that able to plainly see beyond surfaces and also vanity. They are able to see the globe as well as the Self in their truest form. To boost reflection for the 3rd eye, the yogi must be certain to meditate with closed eyes. They ought to visualize a strong white light originating from the area in between their eyebrows, slightly behind their forehead. With eyes closed, they can even shift their stare toward this area. By focusing the detects on this location, the 3rd eye might be stirred and gradually awakened.

Yoga Poses

There are lots of asanas (yoga positions) that can help in opening the pineal eye. These are the postures that target prana (power) circulation toward the sixth chakra. By raising the circulation of prana towards the pineal eye, it might end up being turned on. Here are some examples of positions that will certainly assist awaken the pineal eye:

Salamba Balanasana-- Kid's Pose

In this position, the yogi rests back on their heels, with the tops of the feet pushed right into the mat. They walk their arms out in front so their body is expanded over the knees. To turn on the 3rd eye, it is essential that the yogi presses their temple to the floor covering in this posture. This assists with a sensation of safety and security and also grounding, as unfavorable energy is extracted of the third eye.

Garudasana — Eagle Pose

This is a standing turning pose, in which among your legs is wrapped around the various other. The arms are turned also, as well as bent at the arm joints with the arms parallel to the floor. To engage the 3rd eye, make certain your hands are resting against the forehead. As you equilibrium, close your eye as well as bring your awareness to the pineal eye space.

Ardha Pincha Mayurasana-- Dolphin Pose

Dolphin pose is similar to down dealing with pet, other than the forearms are grown on the mat. Sometimes, the hands might also be clasped together. By decreasing the top body more detailed to the mat, lymphatic and blood circulation is enhanced to the head. This likewise boosts prana circulation. The pineal gland and, for that reason, 3rd eye can be activated.

Additionally, yoga exercise postures such as inversions, hip openers, as well as any posture where a mudra (hand placement) is placed over the eyes or temple can aid in stiring up the third eye.

Detoxify

The pineal gland is not separated from normal blood flow like the remainder of the brain is thanks to the blood brain barrier. As a matter of fact, the pineal gland receives the most blood circulation of any bodily body organ, aside from the kidneys. This blood flow raises the chance for toxins to inhibit the pineal gland, and for that reason the third eye. Therefore, it is essential to sustain detoxification paths. Detoxing can be done with cleanses, taking in specific detoxing foods, making use of turned on charcoal, taking in herbs that get rid of the liver, and also exercising turning yoga exercise poses.

Regulate Circadian Rhythm

Because the pineal gland, and also as a result the third eye, regulates a person's sleep-wake cycle, it is essential to see to it this is well balanced as well as healthy. An unbalanced sleep-wake cycle may aim toward issues with the pineal eye. To stir up the pineal eye, a person can concentrate on regulating their circadian rhythm. Instances of just how to do this include investing even more time in sun, and oversleeping complete darkness. 'Rest hygiene' can also be practiced, in which the individual goes to sleep as well as wakes up at the exact very same time every day.

Conclusion

The solutions talked about above are just a couple of examples of just how a person could awaken their 3rd eye. There are still many various other suggestions, such as preventing calcium and fluoride, presenting specific important oils, and more. Testing with various techniques will help the individual locate their favorite practices.

How do you recognize when your 3rd eye is awoken, though? Some people report picturing vibrant lights and pinecone (pineal gland shaped) images. Others state they are able to see auras as well as intense, stunning colors. They really feel an increased sense of intuition, and what some describe as a 'intuition.' Still other individuals report terrifying experiences, such as seeing dark numbers and sensations. In these cases, it is believed that the person opened their 3rd eye ahead of time. They were not mentally or mentally prepared to experience the awakening of their 3rd eye. Because of these experiences, it is very important not to rush the procedure of opening up the third eye. Take each step with Santosha (satisfaction) as well as acceptance. When you are all set, the pineal eye will awake.

[wish-upon-a-sapphic-star]

Alpha Fight

Whoops I wrote a superhero fic. Thanks again to @rowanisnever you are a beta god

Also someone please get the reference in the title I’m begging you

~~~~~

Sirius didn’t know where to go.

He couldn’t go home. Not right now, when everyone would be celebrating the capture of the Stag, surely to be tortured as a part of their festivities. He just couldn’t watch that. He couldn’t enjoy it like the others, only look away in horror.

There were days when he was proud to wear the name Alpha Star. Some dark part of him rejoiced when he saw people clear a path for him in a crowd, scuttling out of the way, making sure he got everything he wanted. It was nice to be respected.

But most days, he knew. He knew the world didn’t respect him. It feared him. It saw his strength and what he had done, what he had threatened to do, and cowered in fear.

He had been raised to covet that fear. The most powerful man in the world is he who people are most afraid of, his mother had always said. Perhaps that was true. Perhaps being a great super villain meant causing terror. But if that was true, he didn’t want to be great. He didn’t even want to be a villain.

His entire life had been spent in the dark. He knew its name, knew its power, knew its taste. It didn’t suit him.

The Black family was born in the dark. They didn’t know anything else. His parents and cousins spent their entire lives hating and raging and destroying because they didn’t know how not to.

For so long, a part of him had hoped otherwise, no matter how stupid the thought had been, that his family even had the capability to love, the ability to maybe one day change. And maybe then he would no longer have to keep up this villainous ruse that was slowly destroying him, ripping what was left of his soul into pieces, forcing him to act against every moral he had ever had.

Only today did he realize how foolish he had been.

His family had never loved anyone, not even each other. They had made that clear.

Regulus was dead. They could have saved him. And they didn’t. They didn’t even bother.

Their mission had been capture the Stag. He and Alpha Wolf had been messing with their plans for weeks, and the Blacks had information on where he would be.

Sirius should have known it was a trap. He should have known the minute he realized how easy it was, but the thought didn’t occur to him until it was too late.

Regulus had fallen to his doom because it was either him or the Stag, and Bellatrix and Narcissa had chosen their enemy over their cousin. His family had done nothing but watch.

Regulus was dead. His little brother was dead.

He wanted to scream. He had screamed, actually, in an alleyway. A few civilians had looked at him strangely before realizing who he was and backing away.

Everything felt empty. Broken. Rain beat down on him, leaving crystalline droplets on his skin and suit, but he didn’t even notice. He just kept walking aimlessly, in the opposite direction of HQ. HQ was supposed to be his home, but he had never felt more unwelcome.

Reggie. His little brother. Gone.

He hadn’t cried, though he desperately wanted to. There was only grief. An aching emptiness in his chest weighing him down, because his little brother, the only family he had ever seen actually having any good inside him, was dead.

Regulus would never smile again. That rare, sweet smile that lit up Sirius’ life had been wiped from the face of the Earth. He would never again hear his brother laugh, or watch as he let out his ear-splitting roar that set the ground shaking, or hold his hand through the hell that was their home.

A tear slipped down his cheek.

Sirius stumbled into a puddle, water sloshing into his shoes. He shivered, startled from his thoughts. Shit, he really needed to get inside.

But where to go? He had no friends, no colleagues he trusted enough not to slit his throat, and no family to speak of that wasn’t busy torturing a superhero. There was no place for him.

He glanced at his surroundings. Hogwarts Lane, read the sign for the road up ahead. The name rang a bell. He searched his memory, repeating the words to himself and questioning where he had heard that name before.

His personal files, back at Grimmauld Place. That’s where. Unlike his cousins, Sirius kept tabs in his room in HQ on every hero he had fought. He had all of their personal information, from residency to search history to favorite uncle.

Alpha Wolf, or Remus Lupin, currently lived at 1971 Hogwarts Lane. Alpha Wolf, the hero he had fought with more than any other. That wasn’t a coincidence. In fact, it was quite purposeful. Sirius would specifically draw out Alpha Wolf for a fight, just so he could talk with someone interesting and still keep up appearances with his family. Combat with Alpha Wolf was more enjoyable than with anyone else he had encountered, though the Stag and the Doe were close seconds.

Alpha Wolf undoubtedly hated him. That he was sure of. Yet the next thing he knew his feet took him strolling down Hogwarts Lane in the direction of his enemy’s house.

~~~~~

Remus was panicking. Full-on, giant-ball-of-nerves, jumping-at-every-tiny-noise, questioning-all-of-his-life-decisions panicking.

The Celestials had captured the Stag. James, his best friend, his brother, was being held captive by two insane super villains and their friends—or family, it was rather unclear—and likely being tortured, possibly to death. His chest constricted. Breathing was an effort.

The Doe had called him not ten minutes ago hyperventilating. He didn’t blame her. How could he, when he was in the same state? Lily had hated James for years, had criticized his methods, and now when she had finally started to consider her feelings for him, he was ripped away from her.

He needed to rescue James, but he didn’t even know where to start. No one who knew would give Alpha Wolf the location, and even then he had no way to get past the security. Fuck. He was in such deep shit.

He rested his elbows on his desk, rubbing his forehead. How the hell was he going to work out this one?

A sound caught his ears. Footsteps. There was someone in his room behind him, trying to be quiet. Unfortunately for them, they had forgotten to account for Remus’ heightened senses.

He whipped around and slammed the invader against the wall, hand at their throat. His other hand flicked on the light switch.

Even without the eye mask, Remus recognized the man instantly.

“Alpha Star,” he growled. “You have a lot of nerve showing up here.”

Alpha Star coughed. Remus loosened his grip slightly, but he didn’t take his weight off him.

“I know.” His voice was solemn. “I heard about the Stag.”

“Oh, so you weren’t a part of the capture?” That was news to him. He had assumed Alpha Star would love to hurt someone important to Remus. “You just really enjoyed hearing about his defeat then?”

“Please, I’m not here to fight.”

Remus gave him a look, incredulous. “We’re nemeses. We don’t get timeouts.”

“Just this once?”

Remus narrowed his eyes. There were so many warning bells going off in his head, yet Alpha Star looked sincere.

“Remus, please.”

His heart stopped. No one except for Stag, Doe, and Rat knew who he was. “How do you know my name? How did you even find this place?”

Alpha Star smirked. Remus fought back the urge to slap him.

“I have a file.” He started speaking in monotone, reading like a robot. “Remus Lupin, son of Hope and Lyall Lupin. Alias: Alpha Wolf. Former address: 1960 Mischief Lane. Birthday: March 10th. Former romantic relationships…” He trailed off. “Need I go on?”

Remus swallowed the bitter taste in his mouth. “Please don’t.”

Alpha Star’s grin widened. “Trust me, if I was here to kill you, you would already be dead.”

Remus wasn’t sure he was convinced, but he backed away nonetheless. He had defeated Alpha Star before, he could do it again.

None of this was making sense. A super villain was in his bedroom, and they were… chatting?

“Fine. You’re not here to kill me,” Remus conceded. He moved into a defensive stance. “We’re still arch nemeses. We fight. It’s what we do.”

Alpha Star sighed. “Okay, I understand that, but what if we… didn’t? What if we just… I don’t know… hugged instead?”

It was official. One of them had gone insane. Remus had yet to decide who it was.

“I. What.”

They were enemies. What the hell.

“Why do we have to fight? Neither of us want to!”

“What, so instead of fighting from now on we just cuddle?” This was absurd.

“Uh. Umm.”

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re enemies. I should be trying to kill you right now.”

“But why?” There was an edge to his voice. “Why do we have to be enemies?”

“Because you tried to bomb the Golden Gate Bridge!”

“I see your point. But at the same time… you don’t know the full story.”

“You would have killed hundreds!”

Alpha Star’s eyes darted around, scrambling for words. “But… I didn’t.”

“Because I stopped you!” That day had been terrifying—working to disarm a bomb while also trying to capture him.

Alpha Star nodded. “And it was easy, wasn’t it?”

That… was actually true. The bomb had been surprisingly easy to disarm, and Alpha Star had barely put up a fight, though he still managed to get away. Come to think of it, it had been far too easy. “What are you saying?”

He spoke slowly, careful to choose his words. “I’m not saying anything. Only that you’re a master at foiling my plans.”

Remus thought it through. He had never once had a real problem defeating Alpha Star, even though he was objectively more powerful than any of the other Celestials. Had he actually been helping Remus the whole time?

He looked towards Alpha Star, the unspoken question in his eyes.

Alpha Star just smiled. A small, pained smile.

“Fine,” he sighed. “No fighting. Why did you come here?” That part still made no sense.

“I lost my brother today.” He paused, an emotion Remus couldn’t read scrawled across his face. “My family could have saved him.”

A small, sympathetic part of Remus’ heart broke for him. He knew what it was like to lose family. Friends. He knew how it broke a person, forced them to desperate measures.

Still. Alpha Star was his nemesis. He wasn’t so sure about this whole hugging concept. But perhaps, if what his enemy said was true, then he could be helpful…

“Fine. You get your hug. On two conditions.”

Alpha Star perked up almost imperceptibly.

“One. You tell me your name.”

His answer was instantaneous. “Sirius Black.”

Sirius. So that’s where the super villain name came from.

“And two. You lost your brother today.”

Remus looked into Sirius’ eyes to make sure he had his full attention. This would be no easy feat, and he needed to be sure Sirius was entirely with him.

“You’re going to help me get mine back.”