#rather than just them battling and not being friends beforehand

[noriyucko]

treachery

something something julius caesar reference

i liked the stained glass i did but other than that the background sucked to draw

[the-awful-falafel]

OKAY, so. Full overthinking Doise (and Peddito) headcanons incoming (assuming they're real and not just fictional characters made up for Noise's movie):

I have this idea that Doise is actually from an alternate universe, and he's that universe's Noise equivalent. He's been fleeing for years through tower secret portals and gates to various other universes in an attempt to escape Peddito (aka his universe's Peppino equivalent turned vengeful cosmic horror ghost, obviously), specifically by trying to lure Peddito to kill Doise's alternate universe counterparts / doppelgangers / whatever to try and cheat the curse. It doesn't work, obviously, but he's selfish and willing to try anything at this point (despite superficially acting like a far nicer guy than Noise).

This is also why he appeared on the NTV movie set-- maybe he actually signed up for the role and made it seem like just a funny acting gig while hiding his ulterior motives, or he appeared to fight Noise completely unscripted and Noise and the others just shrugged and left it in, brutal murder and corpse and all.

Doise brought this all upon himself in the first place by being responsible for Peddito's death in a certain incident that may or may not have involved messing with supernatural / cosmic horror forces. They used to be good friends in their home universe, but that's long gone. Doise refuses to take responsibility for any of what happened and would rather spend the rest of his life desperately running from the consequences of his actions.

In addition, through Doise doubling down and continuing to mess with forces he shouldn't in his attempt to avoid Peddito, he has granted himself a limited form of resurrective immortality as another way to cheat death. As implied through his boss battle background (and, although it's just a silly noncanon thing, the pre-update DOOM mod stream having two Doises also inspired this idea), Doise can body-horror mitosis and bud off into another Doise that has all of his memories, so him getting brutally murdered in-game does not mean he's gone for good, as long as he remembered to create another Doise beforehand. However, his soul is divided equally between all his bodies despite them being mostly autonomous beings from each other, so not only does he struggle to use this ability beyond creating two or three extra Doises, Peddito can sense and hunt down all of them the same.

Peddito, meanwhile, has been utterly fucked up and transformed into a true supernatural horror by whatever happened, and by this point he will not rest until Doise is dead and dragged down with him. He will brutally kill whoever is in his path to murder Doise, but assuming Doise isn't currently present, he's creepy but surprisingly benign to everyone else-- albeit uninterested in socializing. He follows most vengeful ghost rules with a dash of creepypasta logic, and just because he isn't currently manifested doesn't mean he's not watching.

(Also Doise and Peddito's home universe is probably home to a full cast of knockoff "original character do not steal" counterparts relative to the Pizza Tower universe, which is really funny to think about. I imagine Peddito was a pasta chef and Doise was a Broadway actor.)

[sleepis4theweak]

Y'know, if you want to take about Raph and control, I for one would love to listen (people analyzing raph always gets my attention)

OKAY SO- I HAD TO REALLY GATHER MY THOUGHTS FOR THIS ONE OKAY

Also disclaimer: I would like to state beforehand that while usually I analyze characters using facts I know from psych or observations from the show, this one I am more using what I observe with kids. So it is probably not 100% accurate. Also I am about to overanalyze the crap out of this guy.

This is long as hell so heres a cut:

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One of the biggest things that kids lack in early stages of life is control. As a kid, most decisions are made for you as you are not quite trusted to do things on your own yet.

When you are truly little, it's things like your parents picking out your outfit, or having to eat your dinner. These things are done with the assumptions that you can't do them yourself (you can't plan for weather yet, and you don't yet understand the merit of veggies).

It's for this reason that when I work/interact with kids I like to give them small choices. For example, when they ask for a pencil I give them the jar of pencils to pick one rather than picking for them or let them do tasks by themselves.

Those are some of the small examples of freedom or control that kids get. And by the time you get to being a teenager, you are allowed a little more control over your life. However, you are still not fully in control yet. You are expected to take care of yourself, yet your still not allowed the control of an adult. You are expected to act like an adult while still being treated like a child.

That, I feel, is where a lot of that "teenage rebellion" comes from. It's not that the teen is trying to be mean or acting with malice, they are simple trying to wrestle back control of their own life. No one who is happy with the state of their life, with the amount of control they have, rebels.

I see that reflected a lot in Raph.

The TMNT boys in general (I'm now talking specifically about TMNT 2012) have always had very little control over their own life. In the beginning of the show they are, quite literally, locked away underground. They aren't allowed to go out, or choose who to be friends with, or what food to eat. Nothing.

Splinter 2012 is also very strict. You can argue on whether or not he is a good father or not (again, many feelings about him) but you cannot argue the fact that he is a very strict mentor/father. I feel that he is especially strict when it comes to Raph.

Kids tend to lash out in an attempt to get control of some kind. Anger, at the end of the day, is often rooted in fear. And what's more scary then a lack of control?

(You can kind of see this in that one scene where Raph is separated from Splinter by a grate. He wants to get through the bars but can't, he can't control the situation and is scared for his father. He immediately turns to anger.)

Then, with their birthday, they are allowed a bit of freedom. This is the first time that they have been out of the sewers, and away from their father.

IN ENTERS LEO!

Leo is basically like a second father to the turtles (rip, poor guy). He has to watch out for them, and feels that as a leader, he has to control them in some way. (Fear based parenting, just like Splinter... yikes).

He thinks that if they don't listen to him, they could get hurt (is he wrong? No, no not really).

So Raph and Leo have this kind of battle of control. Leo needs control, is scared of what might come from a lack of control. Raph on the other hand, already lacks control and has turned that fear into anger. They can't find a way for both to have control, so they are always locked in this struggle. It is what defines their relationship in a lot of ways. (Not to say they don't love each other, or have their moments where both kind of share the power).

Now, another way (in theory) for Raph to not have that anger would be for someone to notice and acknowledge that fear behind the anger. Kind of like how Mikey did in that scene I mentioned earlier.

BUT THEY DON'T!

They famously nag Raph and mock his anger. They have that whole episode where the idea is to control Raph's anger. The whole episode is also just about trying to control Raph.

Again, back to that idea of control. They try to kind of get him to stuff that anger down. To be calmer, and quieter and overall express his emotions less. Are they doing it from a place of love? I think so. Are they doing it in the wrong way? Definitely.

Raph is the picture perfect example of a rebellious child, and everything that society thinks rebellious teens are. He's angry at the world, at himself, at others. He sneaks out. He makes questionable friends. He falls in love and then gets hurt (shout out to Mona Lisa I love you).

And it's very easy to end there. It's very easy to just say he's "the rebellious child" and leave it at that. BUT HE'S MORE THAN THAT!

He's (like all of the brothers) very unsupported at times. His families have got his back in a battle, but don't really understand him.

---

I'm gonna stop talking now because this is crazy long, but know that I have many feelings, and many feelings about how Rise perfectly parallels this lol.

[misscherrys-world]

I love manga Chrollo the best. Then I love 1999, and then 2011. They all are great to me. I noticed that 1999 chrollo is closest to manga Chrollo. I don’t get why they changed up Chrollo in 2011. I see that they make him taller, give him more sharper features, and give his hair a purple hue. As for his eyes, it’s grey, but in the other versions they’re dark and you can’t see the actual color. That’s why I’m wondering what eye color is the correct version, or if his eyes is grey but it’s only noticeable when you get close to him.

When you compare the art references for the 1999 you’ll see that they keep the heights correctly. In the 2011 version they have Chrollo taller than Shalnark, and Pakunoda. When Chrollo is shorter than Paku, and with shalnark he’s the same height. It makes me wonder, will they continue to follow the 2011 version, or the manga when they animated more of the manga.

Yep, Chrollo is holding onto that guilt. That he was the one that caused their deaths. Like he did with Sarasa. His demeanor is different from the death of Uvo, and Paku, because he didn’t cause their death, but he still felt someway about their deaths. Though with these recent deaths in the PT, he only has himself to blame. Though that’s why he’s had enough of Hisoka, and is ready to kill him permanently.

Though, I wonder if Chrollo will die, because they showed his backstory. That there is a sign that a character will eventually die, unless a twist happens.

Hisoka feels more like a main character compared to Chrollo. That I feel like he may survive, or he might die at the same time with Chrollo. Hisoka wants to battle the strongest person, and will do anything to make them want to come for him.

Now, that I’m hearing all of this talk of PT not being responsible for the Kurta clan massacre. It’s something that would be the biggest reveal if PT didn’t cause it. Yet, they haven’t denied any involvement in it to Kurapika. Plus, it doesn’t mean they are innocent. They kill people, from the York new massacre, and the people from Hisoka’s and Chrollo’s fight.

I like to think Chrollo isn’t picky with food, or drinks, but he wants the experience of having expensive meals, not because they are better but rather that they are expensive. He would enjoy a homemade meal, even if he hadn’t known what it is from growing up in a junkcity. For drinks he tends to drink wine. So I see that as his favorite drink.

Chrollo would have needs, but it’s not frequent. I see him wearing protection during the act. Due, to his secrecy he can’t just go to any establishment where they’ll have his dna. He does not have any public records. Him using a fake name, would still trace him if he does get checked every time he has sexual encounters. He would get checked using the black market. That way they won’t have his dna in their database.

I agree that he would only be into sex with the person he is in love. Beforehand, He would check their sexual history, to make sure they are healthy too. His sex drive would fluctuate depending on the mood.

Chrollo had nice hair. I don’t see it as greasy. I see people talking about him looking back with his slicked back hair, but I don’t agree with them. He looks great regardless. I can see his hair being greasy in the beginning when he first started wearing his hair back, but he learned how to improve the look.

Old movies would be something he would like, but I see him more into documentaries, nature, historical, and biographies.

I could see him having nightmares, but it’s not as frequent. That would explain why he’s a light sleeper, and why he occupies himself with books all the time. It helps keep the thoughts away at night.

Ahhh, the last one got me. To see his dead friends again, and be who they originally wanted to be before those evil people took it away from them. They just wanted to have fun, and bring joy to the other kids, but that all changed. Especially Chrollo, after reading that note, something changed in him when he read it, and he could no longer be that innocent emotional boy anymore. It makes me wonder how life for them would be if Sarasa never died. Would the Kurta clan still be alive? would Meteor city still be as harsh? Would their outlook on the world change as they got older?

Aaaaah I LOVVVEEE WHEN YOU GUYS SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH MEEE!!

That was really beautiful to read honestly I feel we share a very close pov.

I’m honestly happy that someone brought up the hight difference in 1999 and 2011. And in my opinion manga chrollo slicked back hair is the best look he has with the cross tattoo and the earings.

Yep he would definitely check himself up in the black market not a hospital and he really cares about his partner health in general.

Some people would say chrollo is so fake, no he’s depressed and messed up, if you see people act all distant and you call them “fake” please reconsider your judgement of people and please stop judging them.

[catnatch]

okay so with all this au talk, the DnD college au is actually occupying most of my brain space. here's how it starts (LOTS more info under the cut):

Yosuke is a college first year and has had terrible luck doing the whole fresh start, make lots of friends (and get tons of babes) so far.... so while he doesn't like his suitemate Kubo too much, when Kubo wheedles him to join him for some dorm board game thing (so he doesn't look like too much like a creep going alone; and "it's not like YOU've got any plans on a Friday night, Hanamura") to get close to Yuki-chan- "and there are other hotties there!!" Yosuke doesn't protest TOO much. plus there's free food!

board game thing was actually a DnD session a couple of other first years are trying to put together. also in attendance are: Souji (the dm), Yukiko and Chie (they're already friends but don't know the rest of the group), Kanji, Naoto (Rise is there briefly (she's Naoto's girlfriend); she won't be joining but she wanted to steal Souji's cooking and catch up a little as she, Naoto and Souji are already friends- Naoto is the one to help convince Souji to put together this DnD recruitment, actually. Rise's very busy but she'll appear on occasion throughout the campaign when Souji begs her to play a dramatic bit parts for NPCs) and Ai just cos I feel like other people than the IT should join for a lil bit (she will make an excuse 20 minutes in "ohhhh something came up I'll be right back." she doesn't.) Mitsuo will not be returning after the first session after Yukiko flatly turns him down. Teddie is back home with Yosuke's parents since he's not college age yet and won't be a part of this at all, probably

first session is a little messy (the enthusiasm levels vary wildly among the players) but what hooks Yosuke and gets him to come back again is one of his off the wall ideas in combat actually worked and won them the battle and the dopamine he got from that is unmatched

what's the campaign look like: UHHHHHH i don't know but I have the vague idea it would somewhat mirror the events of p4- so instead of some world ending adventuring maybe the gang uncovers a serial murder plot? but more fantasy. and maybe the murderer's story is somehow tied to the NPC that Yosuke eventually falls in love with idk

the gang's characters!

Naoto already had their character planned out beforehand: an elf ranger ♂ (Souji had to talk them down from going into some super specific off-book combo to not scare off the newbies that hopefully would join). Yukiko, Chie, and Kanji had all actually read the recruitment flyer for this event so had a vague idea of their characters but haven't played a ttrpg before so just went with what appealed to them rather then how they play. Yukiko: tiefling warlock (and after she learned Naoto is x-gender she thought that sounded fun and made her character x-gender as well; Naoto thinks maybe they're being mocked but it's genuine on Yukiko's part). Chie: human monk ♀. Kanji: halfling cleric ♀. Yosuke had no idea what he was getting into so he's just going for what's Coolest. he considered being a super yolked warrior but nah... not even in make believe. But he could be an awesome stealthy ninja!! So he chooses rogue. as for race, he's not going to be an elf that's basically like being a fairy, right, and he's not... but he thinks they get cool bonus powers or something so he'll go with half-elf.

(Ai tried to be an elf princess but Souji gently maneuvered her to elf druid. Kubo went with the first things that caught his eye: dragonborn barbarian)

as for names, only Naoto came up with one already (Erawin <deeply into western high fantasy>); the rest of the gang workshops names at the table:

Yosuke: Jira (i'm not creative what do u want from me .)

Chie<sweating, desperately trying not to say her literal first thought > : her name is……uhhh… <gives up> Lee…

Yukiko just tries vague grunts to turn into a name (“Grgk!” “no” “Aaaht!” “no” “ERP!” “sounds like a belch” <yukiko laugh > “is that a name?? er- no” “Hrk!” “OKAY YES HRK YOU CAN BE HRK”)

Kanji: Usagi (it is for the reason you're thinking)

anyway the main meat of the au is an NPC appearing and then reoccurring throughout the campaign that Yosuke's character forms a natural rapport with... Souji picks up on this and fleshes out the NPC beyond what was a throw away background character. the gang try to do their DnD sessions every week for at least a couple hours, but it still takes them weeks and weeks to get through what Souji planned. since it's so gradual, Yosuke doesn't notice when their characters' banter turned from playful to outright flirtatious...

and he swears he's not like THAT but he can't help getting so genuinely upset when he dies* in Jira's arms and Yosuke can't separate character from person when he hears Souji's voice tells him before he dies that he- he loves--

*temporarily; I'm not a monster

[dijeh]

I got tagged in a fandom meme! I haven't done one of these in a lot of years, so thanks @endless-season

I'm putting my disappointing answers under the cut, so you can enjoy this photo of a snail instead and scroll along.

3 ships you like: I'm... not the type to talk about that... They exist.

first ship ever: Oh man, no idea. Something from Greek mythology maybe? Or from one of those compulsory readings in middle school? Maybe earlier?

last song you heard: This. Also in French. It's apparently based on an actual love curse song and I can't stop listening to it.

favourite childhood book: Either a two-volume book on Greek mythology or the Mary Poppins series. I received the Greek mythology book when I was about 6 and it was the first "serious" book I managed to read all by myself (I'd only read some Bamse beforehand). I used to like the first volume, the one on gods, better than the second one which focused on the heroes, which I found sort of boring. I wanted to read about cool powers and the like, not guys doing things. I lent the books to a friend a few years ago and haven't seen them since, but I recently leafed through the volumes at another friend's house (every kid has them), and noticed my tastes have sort of reversed now.

As for Mary Poppins... I still remember that frustrating Midsummer Eve volume which created more mysteries instead of answering longstanding questions. Immortal Mary? ??? Also that Halloween chapter where I would mentally replace the park and lane with the park across the street and my own street. My mental image of the MP world was half whatever I read, half my own home. (I only watched the Disney movie much, much later and found it rather disappointing.)

currently reading: - A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I had forgotten how verbose he is! I appreciate the irony/dry humour but there are so many unneeded passages. It's also quite quotable, in fact it contains my favourite quote ever that I learnt of before knowing the book.

Alamut by Vladimir Bartol. It's ok so far, I'm only ~70 pages in, so I can't draw a conclusion, but I can't say I'm awed or anything. I'd be tempted to blame the translation, but it might also be my expectations (cool assassin action yeah!) vs reality (newcomer learns about stuff in painstaking detail).

The House on the Borderland by W. H. Hodgson. Literally just started it, I'm looking forward to being spooked. I've only read two other things by Hodgson, The Voice in the Night, which I can't remember for the life of me, and The Night Land, which I read the only time I worked in an office and I still can't tell whether reading that book or working in an office was worse. I Very Much Dislike working in an office if you couldn't tell.

currently watching: The Last Kingdom. I quite like it, despite the biker vikings and the ridiculous premise that everything in (future) England worked thanks to 1 (one) guy™ and some REALLY unneeded character changes (historical power couple turned into lil bitch husband vs long suffering wife who fucks the protag of course). Can't talk yet about the writing quality after Netflix took over (started season 4), but I do appreciate the better costumes and accessories. People finally wear rings, necklaces, brooches, armbands etc! Wew. I do not appreciate the Middle Ages filter even though some colour does manage to make its way on screen from time to time. I also miss the battle tactics, but well, as long as the character interactions are nice...

currently consuming: Coffee in a coffee appropriate cup I randomly found in the kitchen. Where do all these cups even come from?

currently craving: Infinite time to read what I want to read and enough money and warm sunny weather to travel. I miss Naples! My love 🥺

[purefandomonium]

And Again

As promised, my other Glitchy Red AU. I'll post some headcanons for it too, but essentially this is my take on when Red became self-aware. I'll put some more details about it at the very bottom because I think knowing them beforehand kind of ruins it a bit.

I'd also like to warn people that this does get a little dark and there is some violence and slight gore in there.

This is a long one at almost 5,000 words, so you best be settled in for a minute, lol.

Getting the badge didn’t feel so special. Instead, the whole ordeal felt rather dull. He’d been so excited leading up to the battle, so focused on building up his team and figuring out strategies. This was his first real step towards becoming the Champion!

So why did the battle with Brock feel so… scripted? It was challenging, sure, but it also seemed easy compared to what he was thinking. Despite the disadvantages he had with a few of his picks he could still work out a winning strategy.

Did Brock let him win?

The gym leader revealed none of this to Red despite his repeated attempts to ask. He simply gave him a congratulations that felt empty and that was it. He had so many other things he wanted to know, but it seemed leaving was the better option.

He walked away feeling empty.

—————————

So many new sights and experiences! This was his adventure, his story. There were so many opportunities for him. This was supposed to be exciting! It was what he’d been waiting for ever since he was old enough to walk.

So where had all that childish excitement gone? As he stood outside of a Pokemart, having just finished a supply run, he once again felt that vague emptiness. The city was crowded; full of people milling about and trainers looking for a battle, yet Red felt like he was alone.

He was just homesick. He missed his mom, his home, and he really missed Blue. Sure, they’d just battled a couple of hours ago and the memory of his sour face at losing was still fresh in Red’s mind, but that was the whole problem. He missed Blue being his friend. It was no secret they’d always bumped heads, but back then it was so simple. Now they were friends-turned-rivals and Blue seemed like he had something to prove. Understandable. There could only be one Champion, after all.

Still, Red found himself missing their pretend battles in his backyard, the sleepovers and birthday parties, even the prank wars they used to start despite Blue being more into them than he was. Even though they still crossed paths frequently, it felt like Red was just talking to a wall. It didn’t matter what he said to him; Blue would always find some way to steer the conversation back to becoming the Champion.

Despite the numerous interactions and even unlikely support, Red felt like he was taking the world on all alone. The weight of the Pokeballs on his belt was the only reminder he wasn’t.

—————————

He wasn’t prepared for this. Battling tough opponents, chasing after wild beasts and even obtaining what were essentially legends was one thing. Solving riddles and traveling alone wasn’t so bad either. Even Blue’s increasingly obnoxious behavior, while a bit higher on the ‘terrible scale’ than the previous examples, was still doable.

This, however? Taking on the mafia? That was something a child was ill-equipped for. He’d seen a few of their grunts before. Wrong place, wrong time. However, it hadn’t really hit him with what he was dealing with. Sure, he’d bested a few more gym leaders and took down some formidable foes, but that didn’t mean he was ready to fight a criminal organization!

Despite his panic at the situation, he found himself giving level-headed commands to his team and after a few close calls, sent the two of them scampering away. Relief washed over him like a wave as he recalled his team, and he wanted to flop onto the ground and process things for a while.

Instead, he wandered over to the objects sitting where they once stood. They must’ve dropped them in their panic to get away from him. The items were useful enough and it was clear they wouldn’t be needing them anymore. As Red pocketed the items, he wondered how he’d managed to beat them.

They were two older, experienced trainers who worked for an organization determined to make good use out of Pokemon. Their teams were impressive. Red was just some kid with big dreams who happened to wander into the wrong place at the wrong time again.

The more he thought about the battle—tried to analyze and understand it—the more it baffled him. He had been in utter panic, paralyzed by fear, yet he’d instructed his team well enough to gain the upper hand and win? He wasn’t even paying attention! All he could think about was how screwed he was, how upset his mother would be, how mad Blue would be…

His mind soon wandered to the possibilities of what they’d do when they found out. What would Blue do at word of his death? Of course he’d mourn, but would he go after Team Rocket himself to avenge his fallen rival and friend? Would he succeed?

Those were the only thoughts on Red’s mind throughout the entire battle. It happened so fast and he hadn’t been paying attention at all. So how was it possible he’d won?

—————————

Red found himself in some sort of a trance. He was too distracted, too unbothered by the outside world to break free of his own thoughts. It didn’t matter. Every trainer’s words felt meaningless anyway. He wasn’t listening and couldn’t care less about whatever it was they were telling him. Even when they seemed to have something of importance to say, Red spaced out on them.

Despite this, he found no hindrance in his goals, going exactly where he needed to be and doing exactly what he needed to do. It was an odd sense of knowing that he didn’t understand. He’d never done any of this before and yet he knew all of the necessary steps.

Had he always known?

—————————

He found that his lack of focus didn’t affect the outcome of his battles either. He could still let his mind wander in the middle of the fight and somehow, when he snapped back to reality, he was being handed money or an item and sent on his way. On the few occasions he did pay attention, everything still seemed to just… happen. It was like his body was on autopilot.

He was aware of who he sent out and when he needed to recall someone or heal them. He knew he was giving commands—how else would his team be attacking if not for his word? However, it still felt… choreographed. Despite Red’s increasing frustration at the lack of challenge, everything seemed to be laid out for him. At least he had his team. Something he did all by himself. Pokemon he caught and trained. Partners he picked out to help him on his journey. He fought hard for some of them. They were the only thing that felt special, the only thing he had any tangible say in.

So why could he swear that every time he checked his party, they seemed to be different?

—————————

He was going to lose this battle, just to see what would happen. Everyone seemed to expect him to lose, only to congratulate him—sometimes begrudgingly—when he won. What would failing do? Would they be angry? Confused? Even happier than when he won? Maybe he’d finally gain some feeling of accomplishment. He’d been zoning out, letting things happen. It was time for him to do something.

Red’s intention was to throw the battle. Send out the worst member of his team—he swore it was Golbat, but it looked like it was actually a Magikarp—use the most useless moves, and stand around and do nothing whenever he could. Maybe even take the time to ask a few questions, if this trainer was one of the more talkative types.

He really, really wanted to lose and maybe get some answers.

So why did he send out his ace and one-shot every single opponent without hesitation? Why, when he went to collect his dues from the rival trainer, did his mouth remain glued shut when his mind was firing off question after question?

Had he always been silent?

—————————

Blue.

Blue would surely know what was going on. They’d been friends for as long as Red could remember and that hadn’t changed now that they were rivals. They grew up together. They got their starters together. Red needed to know if Blue’s adventure up until this point had felt like a story that needed telling.

Red begged and pleaded with his friend to please stop joking around and answer him. He tried to; despite his rampant thoughts his mouth wouldn’t move. His face refused to convey the flurry of emotions he felt. The fear, the panic, the anger, the confusion… All of it buried behind a blank expression that merely watched what he thought was his best friend march away after another defeat.

Maybe he was in on it.

—————————

This was so pointless. Battling the Elite Four and becoming the Champion had once been all he’d ever wanted. It had been his dream. He and that fake had sought out to become the absolute best. Now that Red could finally prove himself…

He realized none of it mattered. It had been decided for him by some unseen force. His one dream, the only purpose he gave himself, was a lie. He wasn’t sure it was ever even his dream to begin with.

Everything he needed to do, he did. No exceptions. Even when he didn’t want to do it. Even if he wanted to do something else. This entire time it was all planned out. Everyone was a part of it. It was supposed to happen this way.

Except at no point did Red plan any of it. Which brought up the question: Who decided this? This was supposed to be his story, so why wasn’t he the one to write it?

—————————

Red was never fully prepared to see Blue as the Champion. He really shouldn’t be surprised about seeing him there by now. It was certainly nothing new. This was their… He couldn’t remember how many times he’d sent Blue packing. All he knew was that the feelings of betrayal and surprise were the only constants. Betrayal because no matter how many times he wanted answers from the other boy, he never, ever got them. Surprise because he couldn’t believe Blue was still on about this. His rival was always so intense about it. Red was over this whole Champion thing.

He knew that’s what they were both fighting for—at least, Blue was. Red had stopped caring a long time ago. Just like he’d stopped caring about why his party kept changing, why he always won, why things always worked out for him, and how he managed to take down the mafia. He stopped wondering why he’d always have to wake up in his room when it was all said and done and need to go through the same old motions.

Why all those around him acted like this was normal.

It just happened. It was supposed to happen.

When Blue was inevitably beaten and humiliated, Red closed his eyes and waited for his life to reset.

—————————

Each time he lived it, the fakeness of it all become more and more apparent. Painfully so. That wasn’t his mother—he was never born. Blue wasn’t his friend—he was just another obstacle. None of those trainers or champions were special—they were all meaningless tasks.

Characters. They were all characters. Not people. Not individuals with personalities. They all had roles they needed to fill. Scripts they needed to follow. He was supposed to be one of them. He was supposed to be in on it too. He used to be, once.

Too many times had he gone through with this. Too many repeats of the same. Old. Thing. The switch that flipped it all?

He made the mistake of wondering how he knew what attacks to use against someone he’d never even fought, let alone met, before. He remembered now. The tipping point. From that moment on, there was no going back. It all just stacked up from there.

The icing on the cake was that once the memories were revealed to be lies, Red couldn’t conjure up a single real memory of his life. There were only the false memories of hanging out with Blue and dreaming of becoming the best. He couldn’t recall any real family, friends, nothing. All he got were the constant episodes of each new ‘adventure.’ He was more real than anyone else in this useless world and yet he still couldn’t differentiate what made him so special.

After all, he didn’t really exist either.

—————————

Was this it then? To live through the same story over and over? To spend every waking moment knowing exactly what would happen next and being powerless to stop it? He just wanted it to stop. Just for once, he wanted to break free from the mold, do something different. Something that wasn’t meant to happen. He couldn’t take another playthrough of this. He didn’t want to be doomed to the same thing repeatedly, forever. Perpetually trapped in his own body as it did things for him and all he could do was watch.

What could possibly be worse than that?

—————————

How he wished he’d never asked. He thought he could get away with tempting fate and all it did was come back to bite him. Despite getting exactly what he wanted in this thing that wasn’t supposed to be happening, Red felt the most intense wave of fear at the sight of the entity floating above the island.

It hurt every fiber of his being to look at it, the horrid and incomprehensible droning that echoed through his mind tore apart his thoughts and left him with nothing but a deep-seated urge to run.

He remained rooted in place, forced to face this anomaly. He wanted to zone out like always, to get lost in his thoughts in this battle like all the others until it was over and he did what he was supposed to.

This was the first time he was ever fully aware of what he was doing. He couldn’t even close his eyes. It was horrific. His limbs felt heavy and stiff as they moved, as though forcibly pulled by something despite his wishes. He threw Pokeballs in an attempt to catch it.

Why did he keep trying to catch it? Who wanted this thing?! He didn’t!

He got it. Its sealed presence burned him. It was eating at him and he couldn’t tell where.

His bag was so, so heavy, and he realized he had an ungodly amount of rare candies he’d never need. Despite their diminutive size, each one seemed to weigh ten times as much.

The pain wouldn’t leave him as he trudged away and he was still vividly aware of the heavy stiffness of his limbs.

Try as he might, the pain was all he could focus on.

—————————

This was wrong, wrong, wrong. Why did he feel so wrong?

He’d felt like this ever since he caught that thing…

This was supposed to be a new start! He didn’t have it anymore. He checked. So why did he still feel it?

Why did he still hurt so much?

—————————

Its presence filled his mind and its corruption ate at his body. He was always aware of it. He was aware of them all. He never should have tried to make sense of where that Mew came from, or what the abnormal stats of some of his party said. He never should have attempted to use the impossible new move his Venusaur had learned. There was no escaping them, that much was obvious. It wouldn’t be so bad if he could pretend again. If he could just zone out like he used to, let his body run on autopilot, he could live like this. He’d be fine with the eternal repeats forever. Now that he’d lost the ability to do that, it was so agonizing. If ignorance was bliss, then knowledge was nothing but anguish.

He tried so, so hard to make it stop, to change things. Whatever had control over his life wasn’t letting go. He was sure it was laughing as his entire world broke apart, his body included. His mind was the last thing to go, still reeling from the sizzling pain his body was in as it deteriorated into nothing. He wasn’t spared the agony of feeling even his thoughts fizzle away.

There was no escaping his new nightmare.

—————————

Why was he always made to go after these things? He wanted nothing to do with these corrupted entities that confused and hurt him. He wanted to go back to repeating his stupid adventure instead of hunting down these abominations only for them to tear apart his world. The pain was different every time. It seemed he wasn’t allowed the fortune of getting used to it. Just when he thought he’d experienced the worst pain imaginable—and Red was getting pretty good at that—someway, somehow, there would be a whole new layer of suffering for him.

When would it end? He was at point where he couldn’t wait for the one to finish it. Which nightmarish entity would corrupt the world so much that it couldn’t be put back together again? When would his body get to a point where it was too dissolved and broken to go on?

He hated being the only one to endure it. He was the only one in the entire world that understood what was happening. Sure, sometimes the others were hapless victims when an event happened. Occasionally, he’d see them ripped apart and even rearranged right before his eyes. When reality itself warped into something unrecognizable and incomprehensible they still attempted to carry on as normal. They didn’t scream in pain and terror. They couldn’t fathom what was happening.

Lucky bastards.

—————————

He hated, hated, hated this. The rage building up inside of him had reached a boiling point. It was the first thing in what felt like eons that numbed the pain a bit. He found it gave him a new sense of focus.

He was aware all his torment was the will of whatever had control over him. If only he could find out how to stop it. If it could control him like this and manipulate his world like it was a doll-house, then there had to be a way for him to get to it. It had to be somewhere. He always wondered about the thing that seemed to find this sick torture funny. He wondered what he’d do if given the chance to find the source of his misery.

What if he stopped wondering and started pushing back?

—————————

Had it always been so easy? Was he just stupid?

Red stood completely still, letting his newly acquired grip on his personal hell strengthen until the urge to keep walking disappeared altogether. This was it. He was finally free. He still suffered from the constant agony of his body’s corruption. He was still reeling from being thrown around like some broken puppet.

But now?

Now he was finally in control of himself, and he could do exactly as he pleased. What better way to test out one’s newfound freedom than by giving their sadistic tormentor a taste of their own medicine? How would they feel if their mind and body was destroyed by some monster?

He was all too gleeful to find out.

—————————

The young player dropped the Game Boy with a yelp as the speakers emitted a high-pitched whine at an impossible volume. Thinking quickly, they snatched it back up and flipped the switch off. The noise stopped instantly.

“Are you ok, Alex?”

They jumped again at the sound of their father in the doorway. “Yeah, Dad. Sorry about that. It froze or something and scared me.”

He nodded. “Well, it’s getting late. I know it’s the weekend but you should still try to get some sleep. It’s not a good idea to spend all night staring at that tiny screen.”

They shrugged. After that little scare, they were inclined to agree. They felt exhausted all of a sudden.

As they exchanged goodnight, Alex went about getting ready for bed. The Game Boy was set atop the dresser and the whole incident was promptly forgotten about as they dozed off.

—————————

Alex awoke in an empty void. It was completely silent; they couldn’t even hear their own breathing. Were they even breathing?

“Am I still alive right now?” they wondered aloud.

“You won’t be for much longer,” a voice echoed from the abyss.

He was clearly a child, but he looked nothing like innocence. His eyes were full of malice and the more Alex stared, the more unnerving characteristics they noticed. There were no lines or wrinkles on his face, no texture whatsoever. The shadows didn’t seem to make sense; they were sharp and jutted wherever they pleased despite the lack of lighting.

Alex whirled and found none other than what looked to be the character of Red standing inches behind them, form rigid and fists by his sides. He stood just below their height. His face held no emotion despite his words. His eyes glowed like his namesake and although his broken, garbled voice was unsettlingly deep, his face looked young. Younger than themselves even.

His outfit was dull and his eyes were the only real color he had. Despite his boyish look his skin was ghastly and pale; the shadows on his body and face were bold and stood out even amidst the darkness.

The worst, however, had to be his eyes. They—in addition to the unnatural red they glowed—lacked the usual attributes as well. Just blank whites holding two smooth irises with pupils and nothing more. The lack of detail on his features made him seem fake. Alex felt cold at the sight of him.

What kind of a dream was this?

Red observed the being before him. They weren’t at all what he was expecting. There were so many different colors. They seemed so vivid, their outfit standing out against the shadows. He could see little details on their skin; small spots and lines and bumps. Their brown eyes were wide, and Red noted little slivers amongst the color as well as thin red lines throughout the whites. He watched their pupils repeatedly change size as they made minute movements, no doubt taking in his own appearance. Even their eyebrows held an impossible amount of detail; being made of multiple fibers rather than two smears of color.

He could hear their faint breaths, their nostrils flaring with each inhale as their chest expanded slightly before the air was pushed back out. He was fascinated by the way their breath hitched as he brought his hand below their nose to feel the escaping warmth.

It was all foreign to him. When he focused on them as a whole he noted how they were just above his height, auburn hair messy and arms wrapped around themselves in some sort of hug. So this was the one behind all his suffering? This was his demented tormentor all along? They were clearly afraid of him.

His lips stretched into a demonic smile.

Alex began backing away as Red moved even closer, the smile never fading. “Wait,” they tried, hoping they’d wake up soon. “Stay back.”

Red's hands shot out like cobras to grip his former captor’s arms tightly. He found that doing so caused them to scream in pain, so he dug his nails in for extra effect. His fingers felt warm and something felt ready to give beneath them. Some sort of red substance began to flow out and fall to the floor in droplets. The smile became a wild snarl as rage overtook him.

“You thought it was funny, didn’t you?!” he screamed, voice breaking up. His whole body seized with painful glitches. Would he ever be rid of them?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” they cried, wanting to break away from Red but knowing that trying to struggle out of his grasp would only do more damage. They had no choice but to continue to face him. “I just wanted to mess around with the game!” They choked out another cry when his nails dug in deeper, tearing muscle.

“Game? Game?! Am I a joke to you?! Do you know what it felt like? Do you know how much pain and suffering I went through for your little game?” He grit his teeth so hard that the pain in his jaw drowned out his usual agony. For the first time ever, he could ignore the way his body fizzled in and out of solidity. He made his grip a little tighter and felt something crack. He watched their tears fall as the red liquid continued to ooze out.

He wondered how much of it would spill if he kept his grip and pulled; how much it would hurt for them to be violently torn apart by something that shouldn’t be. He wondered if he’d become as real as they were afterwards, if he could somehow take their details and colors and breathing for himself.

“Please…” they whimpered. This was no dream. It hurt too much to be anything other than real. Red’s anger felt suffocating.

Despite all he wanted to say, all the questions he wanted to ask, Red found himself laughing. The harsh sound echoed throughout the darkness as he watched them cower in his grasp. He’d really done it. He’d found the source of his suffering and the sooner he got rid of it the sooner he could live. No more scripts, no more repeats, no more being ripped apart endlessly. As much as he wanted to show them what his torment felt like, he was ready for all of this to be over.

The giddy feeling of victory overtook him as he laughed and laughed, reveling in the fear in his prey’s eyes. Without warning, he sunk his fingers in as deep as he could and pulled.

Alex’s arms were ripped off like they were made of paper and they fell to their knees with a horrid scream, legs having long given out from the pain of Red’s grasp. The insane laughter had settled into silence as they flopped face-first onto the ground, head turned towards their killer. They felt the fading warmth of their blood surround them as the pale-skinned figure stood over them, eyes glinting and that cruel smile back on his face.

Red watched the crimson puddle spread out and soak into their hair and clothes as their eyes became dull and unfocused. He observed the torn limbs he held—the way they still leaked red and the jagged white shards that stuck out from the ends. There were similar ones on the mutilated stumps of the body at his feet. Stretchy threads hung out limply. Out of curiosity, he squeezed one of the arms with all his strength and a wet crunch sounded as it bent at an unnatural angle.

After a few more moments of examining them, he grew bored of the severed appendages and let them fall to the ground with a dull thump. He brought his hands up and noted the sticky mess under and around his nails. This was really it.

It was so easy. Too easy.

—————————

Alex was powerless against the supernatural grip on their arms. They struggled and struggled, but to no avail. He wasn’t letting go.

“ALEX!”

Their eyes shot open and found not Red, but their parents staring down at them in fear and concern.

“Are you ok?! You were screaming so much and you’re bleeding!”

As their father released them, they shakily took in their surroundings and noted that they were indeed back in their room. They were in too much shock to say anything.

Alex's mother gently brushed their hair out of their face and pulled the sleeves of their pajama shirt up to inspect their arms, frightened about the bright red stains. The lack of a reaction from Alex made the fear worsen.

There were deep scratches like claw marks on the both of them. The light blue sheets were stained with the same red as their shirt.

All Alex could do was cry and beg to be hugged.

—————————

Red found himself in his room again, like nothing had changed. He felt a pull to go outside and wanted to scream.

It seemed whatever he’d done was temporary. Or perhaps that wasn’t the one controlling him. Maybe it was a decoy, or just another part of the act.

Fine. He’d go along with it for now. All he had to do was find them. He knew what he could do now too. Eventually, someone would have to be the one he was looking for.

He could wait. He’d gone on this long, he could keep going. With his newfound abilities, he’d find them sooner or later.

Oh, how he couldn’t wait to make them suffer like he had.

Please ignore that I said Red had no properly human features but then turned around and gave him nails. The thought of him not having them kinda grossed me out, lol. But yes, this version of Red is a psychotic bastard with a vendetta against literally anyone. In case it wasn't obvious, the story skips ahead a lot. It starts around the time the game originally came out--and I suspect people would've played it normally in the beginning. Then as time went on and word got out, people learned about all the fun ways to break the game. The gist is that after the first many playthroughs, Red starts feeling the deja vu and begins questioning things. He could've gone on like that forever and been none the wiser, but then players had to go an discover the glitches. If it weren't for that, Red wouldn't have realized he was in trapped in a game, he wouldn't be so angry, and he wouldn't have achieved actual sentience/sapience. He'd just be forever wondering why everything keeps repeating. Edited Fun Fact: When I first posted this, I made Alex an adult instead of the kid they were originally. I have decided to go back to that initial idea because I think it reads better and establishes this version of Glitchy Red's rage better too. This version of Red is hyper-aggressive to adults and children, so I think Alex being younger fits. Red is "11" here, and Alex is 13. I give Red's age quotes because chronologically he's much, much older. Although I like to think he doesn't care about age and doesn't really acknowledge it, due to his poor sense of time. But yeah, physically he is 11. Other than Alex's age everything else is exactly the same. Red is furious with anyone who interacts with the game in any way and thinks of them as his captors.

I kept Alex gn because I initially wasn't even sure I was gonna keep them in there. I kind of added them in because I happened to be mad at someone who happens to also be named Alex... You know what they say about pissing writers off... I will definitely be posting more on this at random, lol. Between working on Connection, of course. This is yet another project that got away from me and I spent several hours adding to it when I was supposed to just post it. Oops.

[benevolentgodloki]

L O K I and G for the A-Z dirty asks uwu

Dirty A-Z headcanon game

L - Lighting (are the lights on? off? do they have some kind of mood lighting set up?) 

// Loki's a showy mofo. He very much likes mood lighting, though he's more likely to indulge in creating it with magic if he wants to impress someone and/or likes them a lot. Otherwise he's happy to make do with the light of the moment. He does lean toward preferring the dark, despite liking the attention of being seen, and adores the clandestine feeling of the darkness and its intimacy. It lends him a feeling of power, whether he's in control or not.

O - Outdoor sex (have they ever done it in public? would they? where?)

// Absolutely. Loki likes the thrill of being just a little out of sight but with a chance to be easily caught. Fields of long grass; up against trees at the edge of a forest; on the banks of a lake; on balconies; on outdoor tables of a tavern after dark; up on rooftops. That thrill aside, he has been on plenty of excursions with Thor and his friends where they would bring back companions to their camp. Now and then Loki would find someone or a few someones he hadn't managed to scare off and weren't favouring his brother. Especially if he snuck off and found them by himself.

K - Kissing (what parts of their body do they like having kissed? what parts of their partner do they enjoy kissing? do they like leaving marks / having marks left on them?)

// Pretty basic really but he loves being kissed at his neck, jaw, chest, forehead, and waist. He secretly very much likes the idea of being kissed at the small of his back, which would require trust or masking that he doesn't care. He likes to kiss a partner's neck, shoulders, lips, forehead, thighs, waist and hips. Forehead kisses in both instances are less for sexual instances and more for affection. Marks may be verse dependent but by default he doesn't care for giving or receiving them. He does like to playfully bite but isn't interested in inflicting the bruise that makes a mark. Any ownership he takes is preferred through subtler, invisible means. He does not like to feel owned himself and would resent marks at his throat. Fortunately, human partners are very unlikely to be able to make them on his skin. He would quietly enjoy bruises from rough sex/a battle beforehand, but they would ideally be incidental and not possessive in origin.

I - Impact play (talking about things like spanking, paddles, canes, floggers and the like.) 

//Ok, so he's practically the god of kink so I feel weird having my Loki not be super into certain things, but I guess it's more like he's pro kink even if he personally doesn't go for everything. I suppose impact play he'd be down with if his partner specifically wanted it doing to them and were clear about what they wanted. He would enjoy playful spanking but not when it's in the classification of impact play. Either he wants it light and silly or he wants a full on rough and tumble fight that turns into sex. Smacking a partner with a paddle or whip isn't really his bag, though in female form she might enjoy a messaround with a riding crop or flogger, inflicting not receiving. Ehh, I think again it's situation dependent. I could see him enjoying having a male partner tied face down while he spanked them XD it's just likely the sub requested it rather than something Loki would invite people to have done to them.

G - Group sex (would they have a threeway? four? an orgy? do they put on a show for spectators? or do they like to keep it just between them and their partner?)

// Asgardians aren't unknown for their partaking in group experiences, even if Loki was supposed to somewhat behave with his princely status. Obviously he didn't, and neither did Thor. He has attended a few orgies in his time. Loki likes attention, especially when he's drunk, so he will draw it upon himself, but it's only when he's exceptionally drunk that he'll do so fully naked. The rest of the time he likes to remain mostly clothed and participate in a more controlled fashion. He ranges from refined to completely wild. In no-strings relationships, he's very open to this. If he's attached, which is a rare thing, he has the potential to become insecure and needs assurance and love from all parties involved that he's not going to be discarded out of distrust.

[semper-legens]

155. Burned, by PC and Kristin Cast

Owned: No, library Page count: 323 My summary: Zoey's soul is shattered. After witnessing the death of Heath, her mortal lover, her soul exited her body to go to the Underworld, following Heath into the darkness. But Zoey is needed in the mortal world, as the struggle between Light and Darkness threatens to consume the world. Can her friends get the help they need to win back their High Priestess? My rating: 1/5 My commentary:

Yep, we're back here again. I'll spare you the usual these-books-are-terrible-and-I'm-a-masochist disclaimers, you've read them all already. Let's just dive straight into it. As I continue this series, I am constantly amazed by how it finds new and exciting ways to disappoint me. The writing is insipid and borders on the fetishistic, and its treatment of minorities and the culture of real minority groups to which the authors do not belong is misguided at best, and insulting at worst. None of the characters are particularly likeable, though they're clearly meant to be, and they all have an annoying habit of being able to win in every situation without ever putting much work in. The notion that this is about vampires has been near-completely abandoned for a neo-Pagan mythos, which would be fine if the authors just admitted that was what they wanted to write. And yet, this installment still manages to sink to lower lows than that. It's honestly impressive.

Zoey is dead throughout most of this novel - specifically, her soul has been shattered by Heath's death, and she is in the afterlife with him while everyone else fights to get her back. As is the eternal problem with this series, this might be a tad more compelling if the other characters were willing to get off their collective asses and do something about it rather than standing around waffling and doing nothing for half the book. Zoey is even less compelling than usual, being stripped back to a waifish ghost, who just spends her entire time being sad and delusional and confused rather than actually helping herself. Which she should, logically, have the power to do, being Nyx's Specialest Child, but no. Stark's gotta save her. And speaking of…all of a sudden, there's this island of warriors out by Scotland who are the only ones who can help Stark dive into the afterlife, and wouldn't you know it, he's got blood ties to them that help him get in where otherwise they would have killed him on sight! I'm sure glad this came up beforehand and wasn't just pulled out of the author's ass to make all of her characters seem especially Chosen and Special and Magic or anything! Swear to god she was just making this worldbuilding up as she went.

Our main subplot is Stevie Rae and the Raven Mocker, Rephaim. And once again, we have a relationship where a young woman is bound to an older, stronger, dangerous, and downright evil man, but thinks that she will be able to make him better through the healing power of love or whatever. Rephaim isn't quite as bad as Kalona - instead of being a rapist, he's just a murderer who killed one of the much-beloved teachers at the House of Night - but he's still somewhere south of moral, but nope! Stevie Rae wants to bone him, so he's redeemable. This is in stark contrast to the leader of the other red fledglings, the ones who decided to embrace the Darkness rather than choosing the Light as Stevie Rae and the others did. (Yep, this has seriously become a Darkness/Light battle.) She isn't redeemable, isn't fixable; her aligning herself to the Darkness is final, and though Stevie Rae does try and talk her out of it, she's not as fixated on helping them as she is on Rephaim. Because they're not sexy shirtless bird-men, presumably. My issue is more that the narrative treats them that way, though - you're meant to find Rephaim alluring and appealing in a bad-boy way, whereas Stevie Rae's attempts to get through to the leader of the red fledglings is presented more as a noble but inherently doomed effort, something that was never gonna pay off because they're just inherently evil. Everyone who likes our protagonists is Good, everyone who hates them is Bad, unless they're a shirtless hot guy in which case they're Bad But Redeemable. It's just so predictable and clichéd.

And finally, the part of this that is more actually insulting than just bad writing. We've seen all the way through this book that, while Cast seems to have done the tiniest research into Cherokee beliefs, she either misinterprets or wholesale invents the details, leading to Kalona and the Raven Mockers having more to do with Christian mythos than Cherokee. Well, in this book, all pretense at being rooted in anything other than Western neo-Pagan sensibilities is dropped. Right out of the gate, Cast writes in her foreword that she just wants to thank a few people for fact-checking and researching the Celtic mythology she draws from in this book - but we've had no such thanks for the Cherokee stuff, implying that Cast did far more research (and presumably had more respect for) the Celtic myth than the Cherokee. Not that her use of Celtic ideas and iconography is any better. I'm no expert in Celtic mythology, but the accent her Scottish character uses makes me want to apologise to the entire nation of Scotland on this book's behalf, and overall it's Celtic mythology via neo-Pagan sensibilities.

Now, I've got nothing wrong with neo-Pagans in the real world, don't get me wrong, but this series is steeped in its worst sensibilities, just as Mormonism pervades the Twilight books. In particular, the idea of the feminine and masculine are typical of that kind of 1960s and 70s neo-Paganism that meant to reclaim the Divine Feminine by essentially reversing gender expectations, with men as largely-expendable protectors and women being more magical and intuitive. The problem with that, of course, is that it's still strictly upholding the rigid gender categories that the rest of us have (Men are Strong! Women are Nurturing!), and oft ties them to biology (like the symbolism of the sword and the chalice) in a way that makes my transgender self uncomfortable. Because the flip side of that coin is still there. Women are weak and need to be protected - Zoey and Stevie Rae and Aphrodite can't save themselves, they need men to do their fighting for them. Women are emotional, while men are stoic - Stark is meant to just take being sliced up to help Zoey and Heath doesn't really seem to care about the fact that he's dead because he's more concerned with Zoey. It's just repackaging gender stereotypes with a 'magyk' flair, and it's no more compelling for it.

Next, I'm apparently not done with Junji Ito, as we delve into another of his collections.

[blackbird0blog]

The Real Harry Potter Epilogue

Harry’s post-Voldemort life kicks off with a bang when he is attacked by mercenaries seeking the Elder Wand. Soon the Trio find themselves caught up in a race to keep the Hallows out of the hands of those who seek them for their own nefarious ends. Humour and Crack AU.

Harry knew it was going to be a rough day when he was awoken at eight in the morning to a choir of house-elf heads singing a bawdy wake-up call from downstairs. He forced himself out of bed, bemoaning the fact that he’d forgotten to silence them the night before, then tromped down for breakfast. Lucius Malfoy’s trial was that day, and Harry just knew it wasn’t going to be a good one.

The trial itself was rather straight-forward, but it was emotionally draining. Narcissa had cornered him at the ministry beforehand, trying to convince him to keep her husband out of Azkaban.

“In my second year at Hogwarts Lucius Malfoy gave an enchanted artefact to an innocent child which opened the Chamber of Secrets,” Harry had told her bluntly, patience already expended despite the day only beginning. “He endangered the entire school by releasing a basilisk on the students, including your own son. At Voldemort’s resurrection, he answered his summons immediately and willingly, proving that he escaped justice by lying about being under the imperius cure. And in the Department of Mysteries he tried to kill myself and my friends once again,” Harry summarised succinctly, watching Narcissa’s face grow more and more blank. 

“I saved both you and your son from a life in Azkaban. You may have gotten off, but Draco wouldn’t have. He has the dark mark and he let Voldemort’s worst Death Eaters into Hogwarts which led to Dumbledore’s death. He and his friends came back during the battle and tried to kill us with Fiendfyre. 

“If I wanted Draco in Azkaban, mark my words, he would be there. I repaid my life debt to you by saving your son from a fate worse than death.” A flash of white, and Harry somehow felt lighter. “Magic agrees.”

Harry looked at the pale and drawn face of Narcissa Malfoy and felt sympathy despite himself. In a gentler voice he said, “I’m sorry about your husband, Mrs. Malfoy. But I’m not sorry that he is finally facing justice.”

Lucius Malfoy had gotten that Azkaban sentence he deserved, but Harry hadn’t emerged from the trial feeling any better about it. Hermione and Ron were waiting outside the courtroom for him, looks of sympathy on their faces.

“Long day?” Ron clapped him on the back.

“Long year,” Harry muttered.

“Kreacher is making steak and kidney tonight,” Hermione reminded them, smiling slightly when they both perked up. They were just leaving the VIP exit to avoid the crowds when the hairs on the back of Harry’s neck rose.

“Don’t look now,” he muttered to Hermione and Ron, “but someone’s following us.”

Both sharpened to attention but neither gave away that anything had changed. The very instant they exited the Ministry, spells hurled through the air at their backs, and they turned as one.

““Protego!””

The three of them were taken aback by the strength of the bombardment but held firm. Four men Harry had never seen before - who didn’t even look British – were attacking them, countenances menacing.

“Avada-”

Harry jerked his wand sideways and a pigeon on the roof fell off and morphed into a pan. It smashed onto the head of the man, cutting off the killing curse before he could finish. He dropped like a stone.

“Who the hell are you?” Ron asked. The three remaining men ignored him, simply upping their game.

Curses flew back and forth between the two groups, their speed and viciousness a match for Voldemort’s inner circle. But beyond that, it was their opponents’ teamwork that really made them a terrifying enemy. The three moved as a single trained unit, not shaken by the loss of their teammate. Their professionalism was outstanding, and Harry was certain these people meant business and had done this many times before. It wasn’t long before Harry, Ron and Hermione were on the back foot. Hermione launched a stream of fireworks from her wand, lighting up the alley in a burst of noise and colour.

“Run!” Ron shouted and they sprinted for the street behind them, wands raised. The Weasley didn’t get any further because there was a loud ‘bang!’ and suddenly a familiar triple-decker bus appeared before him. Ron ran straight into it.

“Oomph!”

“Welcome to the Knight Bus-”

“Get on!” Harry tossed himself up the steps, cutting off the droning conductor, quickly followed by his two friends.

“Go!” Hermione shouted at the driver.

“Well, I never-” the old lady in the back of the Knight Bus – who looked rather familiar, had Harry seen her before? – sniffed disdainfully before there was a massive crackaboom and the bus was suddenly three dangerous men fuller.

“You can apparate onto the Knight Bus!? Don’t they have wards?” Ron asked incredulously as he snapped off a reflexive stunner.

“What idiot would apparate onto it anyway? That’s just asking to get splinched,” Harry responded dryly and parried a curse that was so strong his arm shook as he deflected it. The sickly pale-yellow light smashed into one of the windows instead, causing it to melt like ice in an oven, informing him of the terrible fate he had just escaped.

“Antimobulus appartum!” Hermione cast the anti-disapparation jinx. “Less chat, more cursing!”

Harry and Ron obeyed, the former shooting rapid-fire stunners while the latter shot off a jinx he’d learned from Fred and George that caused explosive hair growth. Harry’s spells dashed against the lead mercenary’s shield, but by some extraordinary stroke of luck, Ron’s jinx missed the burly man on the left, rebounded off the pole behind him and shot back, hitting him on the arse. Dark hair sprouted from every inch of skin, and soon the mercenary looked more yeti than man.

Harry snorted with laughter as the mercenary’s armpit hair burst out of his robes, then nearly had his head taken off by a shopping cart when the Knight Bus suddenly exploded forwards and everyone and everything was sent flying. Harry was launched off his feet, his stomach smashing into a bed and knocking the wind out of him. Hermione landed next to him while Ron clutched onto a pole for dear life.

Spells began to fly again as everyone found something to clutch onto, bright lights sparking through the interior of the bus. 

An idea popped into Harry’s head and he shot an animation charm at the yeti, who started thrashing as his hair began trying to strangle him, flailing wildly as he fell to the ground and was thrown to the back of the bus. With one man down, the trio focused their fire on the other two.

The lead mercenary – the skinnier one who had been tossing out the most vicious curses – tried several counter-curses on his partner, failed to undo Ron’s obscure spell, then went back to cursing. He made a complicated twirl of his wand which animated the bed Harry and Hermione were on. They both yelped as it morphed into a gorilla, throwing themselves to the floor as King-bed Kong tried to smash them.

“Merlin’s balls!” Ron summed up Harry’s thoughts and started cursing the gorilla. Hermione had rolled straight across the floor the very far side and was launching bolos while lying on her stomach. The mercenaries went down, yelping.

“Imperio!” Harry pointed at the gorilla just before he was crushed by a meaty fist and the transfigured beast lumbered back the other way. He and Hermione used the reprieve to drag themselves to their feet using their own poles, and then the three of them were covered in feathers as the lead mercenary blasted his gorilla apart and it reverted back to a bed.

Harry dug into his own bag of animal tricks.

“Serpensortia, serpensortia, serpensortia! Bite them.” He hissed. A trio of snakes that could rival Nagini in girth slithered across the floor toward the mercenaries.

Hermione mimicked him. “Avis! Oppugno!”

A wave of fire burst from the tip of the lead mercenary’s wand, incinerating the animals before they could even reach him, setting the remaining beds alight as well as blowing out the windows. Harry choked as the bus was filled with the awful stench of burning hair, and he realised the mercenary had set his hairy partner on fire as well. Hermione began dry-heaving.

“Bloody hell!” came Ron’s exclamation of horror, and Harry turned to see what else had gone wrong. Only to experience the same dread as Ron when he saw the bus driver slumped in his seat, rendered unconscious by a stray spell. Even worse – they were all hurtling towards a low bridge that definitely wasn’t tall enough for them to fit under.

“Get down!” Harry roared, and he once more threw himself to the floor. There was a high-pitched groan, the sound of metal giving way, and then the entire Knight Bus shuddered as the top was shorn clean off.

They covered their heads as pieces of seating and wreckage rained down, and there was a moment where the spell-fire ceased as the combatants tried to re-orientate themselves. Harry really hoped there hadn’t been any people on the upper level.

“Hermione!” Ron shouted. “The wheel!”

Hermione leapt for the front of the bus, stumbling and scrambling as she did, grasping desperately at the sliding overnight beds as she unsteadily made her way forward. Harry and Ron threw down covering spell-fire as best they could while being tossed about, which wasn’t very well.

Their opponents – foreigners apparently, judging from the European language Harry didn’t recognise – were clearly less acquainted with the Knight Bus and were fairing even worse. The hairy mercenary had even stopped casting altogether and was instead holding onto one of the poles like his life depended on it, his robes and impressive beard covered in vomit. If Harry had been able to see beneath his overgrown eyebrows, the man would be extremely green in the face.

In between trading curses - all of which missed - Harry could hear the shrunken head shouting its colourful commentary from the front:

“Your stumbling makes mating trolls look elegant, you bumbling oafs!”

- and at the insensate wizard near-passed out –

“Even a squib is better than you, you useless pansy! Stop cowering and get up and curse them!”

 - and to the ancient witch who was sitting in the corner with her shopping, throwing her recently purchased eggs at every person unfortunate enough to be in sight -

“Throw faster you wrinkled hag! Use the tomatoes!"

Lee Jordan – brilliant commentator that he was – would weep with envy. McGonagall would probably set the blasted thing on fire. Merlin knows that Harry would love to, if only the bloody bus would stop moving.

As if his hearing his thoughts, Hermione finally reached the driver seat and accidently pushed the – hopefully unconscious – Ernie off the seat when a sharp turn disrupted her balance. Harry shot several of Snape’s spells at the mercenaries and was dismayed to hear Hermione’s shout of, “Where are the pedals?”

“Argh! Screw you all, random attackers!” Ron howled in panic as a blue ray shot from his wand and miraculously hit the flailing mercenary who looked like he could be Dudley’s bodybuilding twin on steroids, causing him to slump unconscious.

“Nice one!” Harry called, grasping onto the edge of a bed with his left arm and cursing at the final man with his right.

“Thanks ma–“ Ron took an egg in the face and started choking, ducking down to avoid further projectiles.

“We don’t use pedals you imbecile, use the levers! The levers–"

Whatever further insult the shrunken head was going to say was cut off by a thwap, followed by a high-pitched squeal.

“Argh! My hair!” Harry heard Hermione shriek over the sound of levers being pulled. The bus shuddered and shook ominously, and then finally began screeching as the breaks kicked in.

By some arcane means, after slamming the breaks and causing Harry and Ron to fly forwards – Harry using the opportunity to finally stun their last opponent – the bus slowed down just in time to save the colossal house in front of them from destruction.

Hermione was not, however, in time to save the front gates. Or the lawn. Or the albino peacocks, which had splattered themselves across the windscreen in a gory mess of feathers and guts.

Silence fell over them as the tension and adrenaline slowly faded, and they all heaved simultaneous sighs of relief. The right side of the bus took the opportunity to fall off completely, as if it had been sliced clean away.

The scene that greeted the trio was the grounds of Malfoy Manor, with both Malfoys present in immaculate robes, obviously having been interrupted in the midst of a publicity stunt, as could be evidenced by the crowd of swarming reporters. A crowd that had been stunned into silence at the sheer abruptness of the arrival of the steaming wreckage that had been the Knight Bus plus occupants, who blinked owlishly back at them in turn.

Harry stumbled down the stairs of Grimmauld Place late the next morning, yawning and with his hair an irredeemable mess. He was wearing pyjama bottoms paired with a t-shirt proclaiming DARK AND DERANGED that Fred had given to him on a lark, and the mounted house-elf heads George had enchanted shouted bawdy pickup lines at as he passed the first-floor landing.

In the kitchen, Hermione was sitting at the table with a pot of tea and a pinched expression, the dreaded Prophet in hand.

Harry winced. “Do I even want to know?” he asked, a mix of dread and resignation in his voice. She opened her mouth to answer when the roar of flames came from the drawing room accompanied by the sound of someone stumbling through, followed by another flare and –

“Hahahaha!”

George’s roaring laughter could be heard along with Ron’s stomping steps as the two Weasleys entered the kitchen of Grimmauld place.

“Fabulous! Never seen anything like it!” the older brother gasped in between his howls of mirth.

Ron groaned loudly. “Shut up George, you’re just jealous that we crashed the Knight bus into Malfoy’s front lawn.”

“Oh, I am incredibly jealous! I’m green with envy! I can’t believe we never thought of egging you first!”

Harry, while cheered at George’s humour – absent since Fred’s death – grimaced and decided to get it over with. The bold headline greeted him first:

Mercenaries Attack Harry Potter! Golden Trio Looking Rather Tarnished

Clearly the level of journalism at the Prophet hadn’t improved with Skeeter’s absence.

Below the title was an enormous picture of the tattered remains of the lower level of the Knight Bus. Hermione, hands still tightly clenched to the steering wheel, had a crazed expression on her face. Her hair - bushy on a good day - looked like one of Hagrid’s more shaggy beasts had attached itself to her head. Hanging from the ends of the strands, a shrivelled head with its long deadlocks could be seen wiggling back and forth as it attempted to talk while keeping a hold with its teeth.

Ron looked better, but only marginally so. Clutching onto a pole while standing in the puddle of vomit – curtesy of the mercenary with terrible motion sickness – his picture-self wiped remnants of egg off his face before shaking it from his hand with an expression of disgust.

Harry himself could be seen lifting his body up from where he was sprawled on top of the stunned mercenary on one of the beds, his face turning to look at the camera with the most put-upon expression on his face. His picture rolled its eyes to the heavens as if begging for answers, before looking back and swearing. While there was no sound, the words ‘fuck me’ could clearly be made out.

Harry couldn’t help it; he started sniggering.

“Harry!” Two betrayed voices came from his best friends.

“Sorry!” he said insincerely, trying to keep a straight face. “I can’t help- Muriel!!” Harry exclaimed as he scanned the article. “That ancient woman on the bus was your great-aunt Muriel?”

“That’s right!! Dear old Aunt Muriel egged Ron in the face!” George burst out laughing again and Harry joined in.

“Stop it!” Ron demanded, his ears burning red. “There’s nothing funny about it. I have no idea why you’re laughing too Harry, you were egged by a crone pushing two hundred as well!” He pointed to the stains on his clothes.

George pounded the table causing the teacups to rattle as he laughed harder. Harry started crying and wheezing.

“Look at us!” he gasped and brandished his hand at the paper. “You’re covered in eggs thrown by your ancient Aunt Muriel while standing in vomit, I look like I’ve been caught shagging some bloke, and Hermione’s been caught red-handed after she drove the Knight bus straight through Malfoy’s lawn. You can even see his ridiculous peacocks smeared across the windscreen!” Harry roared and held his ribs as they started to ache. Ron and Hermione peered over the paper.

“Huh you’re right,” the Weasley mused.

“Wait a minute,” Hermione interjected, frowning thoughtfully. “Didn’t Voldemort kill all of them?”

“Yeah, hang on,” Ron said slowly, face lighting up with glee. “Doesn’t that mean Malfoy just bought some new ones? “

“Well, he’ll need to buy some more again,” she said, her own smile creeping onto her face.

Ron started guffawing and Hermione joined in, the four of them descending into uncontrollable laughter. This was the scene the Minister of Magic walked in on.

Kingsley Shacklebolt sat down at the table and poured himself some tea, sipping it serenely as he watched the four of them. Harry gave a few more lingering chuckles, gasping for air and wiping away the tears that had collected at the corner of his eyes. Kingsley glanced at the Prophet on the table and his lip quirked up at the picture.

“You’ve made front page again.”

Nothing new there – though it was nice for it to be something other than being a nutter or killing Voldemort.

Kingsley smiled. “I imagine you’re rather pleased with destroying the Malfoys’ front lawn.”

Ron and George snickered at that, the older Weasley clapping a hand on Hermione’s shoulder.

“Fabulous driving Hermione. Couldn’t have done it better myself!”

Her face turned pink. “I didn’t mean to!” she protested. “I honestly have no idea how we got there; the Knight bus doesn’t drive anything like a muggle car, and I’ve never even driven one of those.”

“Of course not.” George winked at her, tapping the side of his nose knowingly.

Kingsley cleared his throat. “Yes, well Narcissa Malfoy was most displeased with the state of her front lawn,” he said dryly. “She demanded that since there would be no compensation for its destruction, she should at least be allowed to know the reason behind it. I told her it was an assassination attempt on you, Harry.”

“You told her,” Harry echoed, his humour fading and brows creasing. “But it wasn’t?”

The former Auror shook his head, face serious. “No. The interrogation of the mercenaries revealed extremely disturbing information."

Hermione frowned with worry and Ron sat up straighter. George stopped his fiddling with the Prophet and turned his full attention to Kingsley.

“The Elder Wand. They were sent for it.”

Silence descended in Grimmauld place as everyone considered the ancient artefact. A chill raced down Harry’s spine as his mind flashed to Dumbledore’s grave, and the powerful weapon that he had placed back in the hands of its previous owner.

“I was there at the final confrontation, as well as numerous other fighters at Hogwarts.” Kingsley’s eyes took on an unfocused look as he thought back on that day, only a few months prior. “We all heard your and Voldemort’s last exchange of words, how you were the true master of the Elder Wand. I saw the wand acknowledge you in that moment, and you defeated him with his own spell.”

His eyes refocused on Harry’s, and the intensity in them put him on edge.

“But if the hundreds of people there at Hogwarts that day know that you are the new master of the Wand of Destiny, then you can bet thousands know now. The rumours will spread further, and the hunt for the Wand - an artefact once believed to be legend, but now proven real - will begin in earnest.” Kingsley shook his head. “No, it has already begun.”

Harry could feel familiar pressure weighing down on him, the feeling of being hunted. A glance over at his best friends revealed they felt the same. He had thought he was done with battles. Voldemort was dead, the Ministry was theirs, and yet here he was still being hunted. His fists clenched beneath the table.

“The mercenaries you captured revealed that they had taken an Unbreakable Vow,” Kingsley continued, shocking them once more. “As you know, the Vow involves three oaths that all must be upheld. They swore to never reveal their employer’s identity, to do everything in their power to retrieve the Wand, and once they had it to hand it to their employer as fast as humanly possible. These mercenaries have something of a reputation; whoever sent them, they’re not playing around.” 

The five Gryffindor alumni sat in contemplation as Kreacher levitated more plates over for the breakfast spread he had set out while they were conversing. Even the smell of delicious eggs and bacon wasn’t enough to cheer Harry up as he felt anger and helplessness bubble up at having yet another powerful figure after his head. Why couldn’t these people just leave him the hell alone?

“Who were the mercs?” George questioned.

“The man Harry is,” Kingsley shot a glance at the paper, “ah, embracing, is Alexandre Ivanov.”

Hermione giggled and Harry snorted, but the two Weasley’s goggled.

“Ivanov?” Ron gasped. “Bloody hell!”

“Who is he?” Harry asked, shooting a glance at Hermione who was equally as puzzled.

George shook his head. “Only one of the most infamous mercenaries in the world. There are a few assassins and hitmen said to be better than him, but he’s a real piece of work. Rumour says he’ll do anything if the price is right.”

Harry grimaced.

“Yes, capturing him and his crew is very impressive,” Kingsley agreed. “You’re entitled to their bounties, a very nice sum even split three ways. But the fact they were hired to retrieve the wand is extremely problematic. They are only the first to come seeking. I want you to be on guard, especially when you’re in public. Unfortunately, I don’t have any aurors to spare to guard you.”

“Don’t worry, Kingsley. I understand.” They traded loaded looks, plans already churning through their heads.

The aftermath of Voldemort’s occupation of Britain was a real headache to sort out. The ministry was filled with bootlickers and blood purists, along with people who kept their head down out of fear or indifference. Separating them was a challenge that former auror, now Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt rose to with admirable swiftness.

After the Battle of Hogwarts, he gathered together the loyal aurors and hunted down the traitors in the corps before they set about purging the Ministry. They removed the obvious death eaters, like Yaxley and Macnair, as well as people like Umbridge - racists and criminals but not death eaters - and dosed them all with Draught of Living Death to be trialled and dealt with later.

Rather ruthless measures, but necessary since they simply didn’t have the manpower to deal with everything all at once.

It was the less obvious people that caused the real headaches, such as those who had genuinely been under the imperius, and Harry was just glad it wasn’t him having to sort it out. He’d gladly provided Grimmauld Place’s many dusty and disturbing rooms as a temporary prison for the dosed prisoners and let other people sort the rest out – in fact, Umbridge was currently laying in a potioned sleep on his drawing room floor. Ron always pointed and laughed whenever he walked past, even though people under draught of living death couldn’t hear.

It was incredibly satisfying in a vindictive way to know that there were huge issues, and Harry was going to do absolutely nothing about any of them.

“I suspect you’d rather not have Aurora shadowing you anyway,” the Minister said dryly. Well, he wasn’t wrong.

Kingsley turned to the Weasleys. "If you could make sure to keep your home security up to par, we don’t know if the Burrow will be targeted given how often Harry is there.”

George nodded. “We have the best wards up, and Bill’s house is still under Fidelius. We’re as safe as we ever were.”

“Very well. I’d love to stay for breakfast, but I’ve got to go. Duty calls.” Kingsley sighed and cast the sausgaes a mournful look.

“Thanks for dropping by.” Harry stood up to see him out, but the Minister waved him off, the floo firing seconds later.

The four of them were quiet for a long minute as they processed their new situation, before George held up the Prophet.

“So. Can I get your autographs?”

[vegitoswife-archive]

This is another OC of mine! A pure-blooded Saiyan who used to live on Planet Vegeta before it was destroyed (this is probs the only Saiyan OC I'll ever make pfff). Her name is Sera, taken from "celery" (celery ➤ cel ➤ ser ➤ sera). In the Saiyan Saga, she's in her 40s - and in her 50s post Buu Saga.

She was a part of Vegeta's original squad, alongside Nappa and Raditz. Power-wise, she was slightly stronger than Nappa but still weaker than Vegeta.

Personality-wise, Sera is rough around the edges. She had no qualms doing the planet purging thing (having the “the strong survive and the weak don’t” mindset), and is relatively indifferent in nature overall. Generally passive, and doesn't have much of a temper. She's also not much of a talker. She was NOT the "mom friend" of the group. All of the men irritated her, and she never tried to stop Raditz being bullied by the other two because she just didn't care.

Something that does set her a part from the majority of her kin though, is that she also never cared much for conquering planets. Ever since she was young, Sera thought it was all...pointless? And kind of stupid. Before the Cold Force forcibly "recruited" them, the Saiyans made their living by basically stealing from other planets and killing whatever inhabitants that were on them. Rather than do what they can for their own kind on their own planet, they were war-mongering instead. To her, it painted the Saiyans as being a little...pathetic in a way.

It also doesn't help that she's actually Vegeta's half-sister, sharing King Vegeta as a father. The king never cared about her or her mother, while leading their people in such a distasteful way. It's no wonder Sera has some ill-feelings towards royalty, which did still extend to Vegeta. She always thought he was an insufferable brat.

Now, timeline stuff!

On Earth, after Nappa's back was broken by Goku's kaioken attack, Sera stepped in to fight him. She seeing kaioken beforehand and having better agility than Nappa allowed her to put up more of a fight for Goku, but in the end, she was still overwhelmed and knocked out by him (but not before giving Goku a compliment, saying that his technique was impressive). Due to she being unconscious, she missed Vegeta killing Nappa.

When she came to minutes after Goku and Vegeta left to have their battle, she assured Krillin and Gohan that she wasn't going to do anything to them, the planet, nor help Vegeta. She never liked destroying planets. After hearing how Nappa was killed, she told them that her allegiance with Vegeta was probably over because he might try to kill her next for losing if he defeats Goku, so she ought to go to give herself more time. She calls her pod to her and gives the boys a mere "see ya", before leaving the planet.

Sera does end up going to Namek as Frieza has ofc become aware of the dragon balls existence. She's under close watch by his soldiers, being more or less forced to remain on the ship because trust in her has sharply declined due to Vegeta's rebellion. Naturally, she also doesn't want Frieza to wish for immortality because that would essentially be the end of the universe, so she does try to help Krillin and Gohan whenever she eventually comes across them again. She tries to help fight the Ginyu Force, but Recoome's too powerful and she gets wounded heavily like the others.

After Goku arrives to Namek and the Ginyu Force is soon dealt with, the cat's out of the bag that Sera has also betrayed Frieza, so she commits to helping the Earthlings. I like to imagine that thanks to her chill personality, honesty, and lack of bloodthirsty-ness, she endears herself to Krillin and Gohan waaaaay faster than Vegeta does (Gohan even starts calling her "Miss Sera" after a certain point teehee). She doesn't help, nor stop them when they take the dragon balls while Vegeta's napping to make their wishes. She frankly doesn't want Vegeta to get immortality either, because 1) in her eyes that's almost as bad as Frieza getting it and 2) being unable to die doesn't mean your power suddenly increases (unless Vegeta were to wish for that too) so it wouldn't even help against Frieza anyway.

She joins the group when Vegeta blasts off, and Porunga still ends up disappearing due to Guru's death. Frieza advances upon them, and his bout against Vegeta happens as normal. When Frieza takes on his 2nd form, her attempts to help Krillin and Gohan end with her getting sent flying into the ground and getting the air forced right out of her lungs. When Piccolo joins, things start briefly looking better, but of course go south again when Frieza goes into his 3rd form.

Frieza's final form does genuinely terrify her. Like the others, she didn't (and couldn't) help Vegeta. The healing pod finishes restoring Goku and he still arrives right as Vegeta's about to die. She's a total bystander from this point onwards, and also gives her energy to Piccolo when he goes to help defend Goku while the Spirit Bomb is being charged. Her added power does make him pack more of a punch to Frieza, but it makes little difference in the end.

As we all know, the Spirit Bomb fails. Frieza shoots Piccolo in the torso, she in the abdomen, and kills Krillin. While Gohan carries Piccolo, she drags herself up and flies away, as per an enraged Super Saiyan Goku's order. She marvels at the brilliance of the transformation before she goes, realizing that this is what Vegeta tried so hard to achieve.

She follows Gohan to the ship Goku used, and stays there (bleeding profusely mind you) with an unconscious Piccolo while Gohan goes to get Bulma. After he does so, Gohan flies away in the hopes he can help Goku, to which Bulma angrily asks Sera why she didn't do anything to stop him. Dryly, Sera rhetorically asks Bulma if she looks like she's in any condition to do so.

Like all the others, she's wished away to Earth when a revived Dende made the last wish Porunga still had available. Dende heals her, and she just...chills from that point forward. She's both somewhat happy and annoyed to see that Vegeta was revived and also taken to Earth, especially when he gloats about killing the Namekians that weren't also revived because of he not being one of Frieza's henchmen. Such behavior only serves to make HER look bad too, even if she actually didn't kill a single Namekian herself.

During the wait for the Namekian dragon balls to recharge, she does stay in Capsule Corp for a while. When they all find out that Goku's still alive but out training in space, she doesn't bother to stop Vegeta from leaving the planet to go search for him.

It's at this time that she being free from Frieza fully sets in. Sera takes a moment to fly out to a quiet grassy field far away from any town or city and just...sits there. For an hour or two, enjoying the peace. No more would she have to travel to multiple plants and conquer them in Frieza's name. No more would she have to endure the cruelty from he and his deceased generals, subjected to their racism and misogyny. No more would she have to carry the burden of being a Saiyan who didn't agree with her kind's lifestyle. After the decades it's been, her life is finally under her own control.

And, she loves it. Sera then undergoes the journey in trying to learn what she exactly wants to do with herself, now that she has freedom. She leaves Capsule Corp after a few weeks, getting tired of dealing with Bulma's nosy questions of her relation to Vegeta. She only leaves Bulma with the information that she's his "big sister".

Sera's traveling around Earth, partaking in street fights for easy zeni and sleeping out in trees or in caves, when she learns Vegeta eventually came back - much to her surprise. The surprise fades when she remembers Vegeta's character and sees that he's most likely waiting for Goku to come back to Earth so he could try to kill him. Again. But because Goku's a Super Saiyan now and Vegeta still isn't, she's confident in Goku being undoubtedly stronger than him now.

Sera's completely out of the loop of Frieza's return, up until she sees that dreadfully familiar ship flying down into Earth's atmosphere. She meets up with everyone, greeting Gohan and Krillin, brushing off Yamcha's nervousness + Piccolo & Tien's suspicion, and gets caught up on what's happened. She goes with the group to confront Frieza, and watches in awe as Trunks appears and easily deals with him.

She's skeptical of the teen seemingly knowing Goku and where he'll exactly touch down upon his return to Earth, but goes with it, though a little weirded out by how she catches Trunks staring at her on and off. Goku returns; after Trunks finishes talking to him and goes back to the future, she learns about the upcoming Android threat.

She's irritated because she would rather not have to deal with life or death situations so soon, and is vexed by Goku and Vegeta wanting to face it head on rather than stop it from happening altogether with the dragon balls, but upon hearing that she dies to the Androids in the future, Sera understands that getting stronger is thus mandatory. She agrees to have training sessions throughout the next 3 years with Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo - slowly gaining the trust of the latter during it all (Gohan liking her enough definitely helped). She learns how to sense ki, and how to suppress her own, from them.

Also during the 3 years, Sera discovers that she rather likes Earth's music. When she tries to sing once, she finds herself liking it a lot. Unbeknownst to others, Sera starts going to a karaoke box and develops a hobby of singing...particularly drifting towards the heavy metal kind. The intense instrumentals and she bellowing out made up lyrics consisting of violence and revenge to them was very cathartic, as she bottled up a lot of emotions during her imprisonment under Frieza's reign. Her Saiyan biology allowed her to literally growl / scream with ease, like she's heard many metal singers do in their songs.

After a session one evening, she's approached by a man who claimed to overhear her and stated that she sounded very good. He had a metal band that needed a new lead vocalist, and was interested in she potentially joining it. Knowing that she needed a job, she figured "why not?".

Sera had to balance still training with the others AND training vocally-wise for the band, but she made it work. Thanks to her, the underground band actually started getting more and more popular, and she genuinely liked being recognized for something outside of her power for once. She had to take a small hiatus from the band when the day of the Andriods' attack came around, though.

This post has gotten long enough, so I'll summarize the rest since Sera doesn't change canon's events that much.

She joined the others to search for the Andriods, saw Vegeta return + that he's also a Super Saiyan now, saw 17 kill Dr. Gero + 18 free 16, and got smacked around by them alongside the others. After healing from a sensu bean, she saw that her power still wasn't enough and figured she'd be better off doing her own thing. She was sure Goku (whenever he recovered from the heart virus), Gohan, and probably Vegeta would be the planet's best chances for survival.

She returns to her band and it gets active again...up until she sees Perfect Cell's broadcasted threat of the Cell Games. Ofc she's like "what the fuck" and goes to Capsule Corp to get caught up. Even after hearing about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, she still doesn't care about training and fighting in the Cell Games, which sparks an argument with Vegeta about her pride as a Saiyan. She cuts it short by telling him that "Saiyan pride" itself doesn't exist anymore since their race was decimated. He has his own sense of pride as she has hers, and hers is aware she doesn't measure up to the threat. She'll still be there when the Cell Games start though, because she doesn't want to miss that show.

The only thing worth of note is that Sera does get roughed up by a Cell Jr., but the Cell Saga pans out how it does in canon. Buu saga wise, Sera's band has risen and become more mainstream through the 7 years, so more people are aware of her identity. After stopping by the Son family home to check up on Gohan and Goten (she's basically their "honorary aunt" at this point), she learns of the World's Martial Arts tournament and joins because she does want to see Goku again, but the threat of Majin Buu rises soon after. She largely stays out of it though, and ends up eventually dying when Kid Buu destroys Earth.

Sera is sent to Hell by King Yemma, where she does encounter her papa King Vegeta, her mom, and some of the other Saiyans once again (details on that deserve its own post ohoho), but it's only a temporary punishment before she's allowed access to Heaven due to she having atoned for the lives she took during her slavery back in the Cold / Frieza Force. Everyone's wished back, and she gives her energy to Goku's Spirit Bomb that kills Kid Buu.

In terms of DBS, I'll leave that alone for now. Super's like this weird spin-off series that I don't like (don't care if it's truly canon or not), so I don't feel any need to specify how Sera does or doesn't impact its events.

[charcherry-weekly]

Charcherry Weekly - Issue 149

Hello, Mage of Light Nick Card here. We got news to get to now.

Got Water?

Lately there has been talk about aquascaping on two different planets: Korous and Grass 3. Korous once had a great ocean, but it has since disappeared, all except for one section that was painstakingly carried through time by Prince of Time Aeons Edgeworth. That being said, it is unknown where the rest of the water went during and after The Reckoning. Meanwhile, Grass 3 is Page of Mind Samm's pet project, once a uniform ball of grass, now host to an ever increasing amount of carefully cultivated biodiversity. It is assumed that this world has an amount of groundwater, considering that the grass had been green the entire time, despite the sheer lack of surface water. It is currently unknown what would be the best way to add significantly more surface water to Grass 3 in a timespan that would not take years. There has been brief talk of potentially calling upon various legendary pokemon to assist, but it is unknown which combinations would be best to use for either situation.

But does it protect?

Rather recently, there have been reports of increased use of an unrecommended performance enhancement armor being equipped to pokemon, particularly ones being used to challenge the unity gym. This armor is largely unfit for most pokemon body types, and has been known to cause unnecessary injury to the user. It appears to be a product offered by Motor Industries, but your dear newsletter writer has yet to get their hands on the product to perform proper testing on it. Further investigation ongoing.

Korosian Presidential Election Results!

After an entire week of waiting, the new president of planet Korous was announced on thursday. However, there were a number of complications to this announcement. Early that day, Korosian archivist AI "The Curator" was attacked by ransomware, and was immobilized for quite a few hours. Foreseeing potential issues beforehand, Rogue of Heart Charles traveled to the Northern Frigid Archives to protect the curator there, but was instead knocked out by an inconvenient rock.

As the one who had collected and counted the votes, The Curator was the only one who knew who won at that point in time. Fortunately, Medical AI Edwin was able to easily counteract the ransomware with a generous amount of antivirus syrup. After being freed from their ransomware prison, The Curator led Edwin and a digimon called Dorimon through a door, leading to the holo-field set up on stage in Snake's Mouth. The Curator proceeded to announce the names of those who did not win first, for dramatic effect. This more than likely pissed off Page of Void Dylan, the sorest loser of the bunch. After he was revealed as not only having merely 10 percent of the vote, AND being outdone by Gus of Aspara, a bubbling was seen from just off the nearby coast. It turned out that there was a giant mechanical dragon (with lazor beams!) hiding in the sea! It was at this point that Thoren had to pull out a secret weapon. Leading a number of the dungeon crashers with them, including Bounty hunter Samus Kitten, Netnavi Enker (in copybot form), Page of Rage Jovin Castle, Rogue of Heart Charles, and... barely restrained omnicidal maniac Ceda Cedovich(?!). Together, they all crammed into the cockpit of the Eros Machina, and Thoren activated something for the first time: giant robot mode.

The Eros Machina transformed into a giant robot in front of an audience on live television, and proceeded to rush towards the beach to face the dragon. Meanwhile, Ceda's friends managed to summon what appeared to be a giant version of Julius Cesar, and Dorimon managed to spawn a gate to join the battle. Meanwhile, Blood player Johnny, Void player Joan, and the space player in the space suit took their spots atop the dragon to face off against Thoren and their party. Ceda immediately requested to be chucked at the dragon, and was promptly yeeted in that direction, doing great damage with his L-knife. Samus fired shots from the other hand, never giving up in the face of danger, even after being shot at with an arrow. Jovin spent much of the time charging up an attack, while Dorimon managed to digivolve into DORUgreymon, a magnificent red dragon. Charles largely focused on fighting the Jo-buddies (one of the many reported names for the jojo squad) during this time. DORUgreymon managed to inflict great damage to the dragon, in addition to Samus's shots (and Enker being yeeted by request). Soon enough, the dragon was pulled down into the waves by DORUgreymon, preventing an explosion via submersion. The Jo-buddies managed to abscond from the area and the dungeon crashers spent an extended amount of time recovering from the battle. At this point, DORUgreymon somehow became dodomon and formed an attachment to Thoren (with baby teeth to the arm).

After finally arriving on stage (with dodomon removed from their arm), The Curator finally announced Thoren Emit as the winner of the election, and therefore the president of planet Korous! After giving a short speech with freshly minted vice president Spades Slick, Thoren announced that they would be taking a week off to rest from all the strains of campaigning for the past month or two. It is noted that the trip to "Squidlantis" is still required to happen to complete a timeloop. Johnny and the other Jo-buddies, as well as Ceda, all appeared on the memo later that night, confirming that they are all still around. I wish Thoren the best of luck with their new job as korosian president, and I hope they can handle all the struggles that lie ahead for them.

This week’s known market stands in Desertia Town:

Katie’s potion stand (*CaFAI filling in for Katie when unavailable)

shinyjiggly pokesnacks stand (ran by Rufus)

I think that does it for this week. Its taking a while, but I am getting progress on that flash animation! Just gotta keep finding points where I have enough attention span to work on it. https://letssosl.boards.net/thread/381/charcherry-weekly-issue-149

[dinnerclub]

Hello, um, can I request an Pure Vanilla with reader, just general fluff of being affectionate but shy friends in love, very sweet and wholesome? Maybe his son(is Custard the lll his son? I think PV is much older and he's like Custards grand-grand-grandpa or something, but it's up to you^^) Also, as I see new crk and crob writers I instantly want to be friends, but it's completely up to you, of course!

╭―――――――――――――――――― •

╰―➺ 𝙍𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮

Your brain? Absolutely massive. Wrinkliest brain I've ever seen. Here you go! This is my first Cookie Run request overall, and I'm happy to oblige! Not sure if you wanted headcanons or an actual story, so I did bullet points! Custard Cookie III is assumed to be his son :)!

Pre-Relationship? SO MUCH PINING. I'm talking wistful gazes, small and shy shows of platonic affection that both parties wish was just a bit more, but are too shy to truly take it further.

The request specifies friends in love, so I'd say as time progresses and the friendship continues to bloom, affection becomes more common - at least, 'platonically.' Basically hugging, holding hands, etc, all in the name of being good friends. Supposedly.

It does take quite a while for Pure Vanilla and his S/O to get together though, as Pure Vanilla is quite passive, and based on the ask, the reader would be somewhat shy with affection and love. Not only that, but Pure Vanilla holds a lot of responsibility, what with him being the Founder and King of the Vanilla Kingdom, and even just being a student beforehand. Even still, Pure Vanilla makes time for the one who he loves most, and he is overjoyed when it ultimately pays off, and he and his S/O get together. White Lily Cookie was definitely cheering for him!

I don't really take Pure Vanilla to be the shy type normally, as he is shown as rather gentle, and can be confident when needed, especially when it comes to friends and allies. But honestly? I can see that being when it comes to assisting them in battle, and it's cute to think he's a bit shy when it comes to personal relationships, and even moreso when it's affection with someone he truly and deeply loves.

I can not be convinced that he isn't a total romantic, he's the type to want to dance with his partner in a ballroom, with his eyes being reserved for them and them alone. He's well spoken, and is definitely the type to sing his partner's praises to anyone and everyone who will bother listening. Pure Vanilla? Whispering to his partner in a sleepy daze about how much he loves them in the morning? Absolutely. More likely than you think.

Pure Vanilla is, in my opinion, a more passive lover, and shows his love with soft affection such as holding hands or butterfly kisses on his lovers forehead, as well as with small acts of consideration. Definitely the type to help you with nearly any task, which reminds me...

SOFT DOMESTIC PURE VANILLA! Listen, listen, listen. This man? Literally the King, Founder, Prince, etc etc of an entire Kingdom. I know for a damn fact that if they're into it, he has a garden that he specifically takes care of with his partner somewhere on palace grounds. If not, he almost definitely has some spot dedicated to his partner's hobbies, be it a tower with a view like no other for astronomers or painters, or an archive filled to the brim with knowledge for the most scholarly people out there.

It would be a crime not to include Custard Cookie III into the domestic stuff! Under the assumption Custard is his son? You guys are the most wholesome and bright family, you're literally blinding the entire Vanilla Kingdom. You have this sweetheart of a healer, who's gentle and caring, and the kindest man you'll ever meet, his adoring S/O who is the most charming person one could find and who loves Pure Vanilla to no end, and finally, Custard Cookie - a bright young boy, so cheerful and curious about the world, ecstatic to be King and to learn about the world around him. It's tooth-rotting and I love it.

Custard Cookie absolutely drags the two over to parks or local businesses, wanting to interact with other kids while you and Pure Vanilla sit on a bench, or begging to have some of the jelly filled bread from a quaint little bakery. Honestly? Who can say no to his cute little face. Even if PV's partner doesn't give in, he absolutely does, and will just smile at the endearing little boy before getting him some pastries.

Overall, it's just cozy and nice! You can expect Pure Vanilla to show his absolute adoration in simple but charming ways like baking or cooking alongside his partner, or helping swing Custard Cookie forwards and back by holding onto one arm, while his partner holds onto the other. Custard Cookie absolutely adores and admires both of his parents, who absolutely spoil him rotten with love. It's just a little quaint family, despite their high status, they're just as humble and gentle as any normal folk. Through the thick and thin, it would be impossible to break the bond between this family, no matter what disaster struck, every achievement only strengthening their relationship.

Thank you for the request! This gave me some vague ideas for the idea of Custard Cookie being a descendant too, maybe the reader and PV get separated after Dark Enchantreas wreaks havoc, and the two reunite, and along the way reader meets Custard Cookie? I didn't elaborate here though ^^;

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Corruption & Trust

Stormbringer and bsd spoilers in general ahead so read at your own risk!!

So in this post I will be listing all the times Chuuya used corruption and all the times Dazai was there to stop it. I will also go into depth as to why Chuuya trusts Dazai when it comes to having to use corruption and I will also emphazise on Dazai's care and how he takes corruption seriously.

1. First time using corruption: Stormbringer

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 16 yrs old

"Isn't it an unpleasant sight, Chuuya."

It was a young boy. This young boy casually caught hold of Chuuya's arm and lifted it up. With this movement, the gravitational field which had occured around them disappered immediatly. As well as Chuuya’s agony.

"Y...You..."

"You can't even die gracefully can you?" the young boy said in a raspy voice as he heaved Chuuya on his shoulders. He set off to walk.

Alright so this was the first time Chuuya's corruption was ever activated, after Dazai nullifies it and carries Chuuya on his back, he drops him off outside the bar were Chuuya's friends lay dead. He took him there instead of taking him directly to the port mafia quarters.

Why did he do that exactly? If Dazai doesn't care for Chuuya, then why did he give Chuuya the opportunity to pay farewell to his dying friends?

It's actually sort of funny because I don't really think Dazai really realizes or accepts that he feels a certain connection with Chuuya and therefore looks after him.

2. Second time using Corruption: Stormbringer

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 16 yrs old (obviously, its still the same light novel lol)

After losing his strength, Chuuya drifted in the air for a few seconds, then lost the black wings on his back and slowly fell.

Dazai caught his body.

From the spot where Dazai touched, the nulification skill was activated.

The self-contradictory skill that supports the energy of the singular point receded, and the output of the singular point decreased. Eventually, it converged and the "gate" closed. The red imprints disappeared from Chuya's whole body. Eventually, the gravitational field disappeared and the complete silence was restored.

“Good job, Chuuya." Dazai chuckled, looking at Chuuya he was holding in his arms. "I forgot to bring my ink pen, so I'll spare you from having your face scribbled."

As much as it looks like this is from a fanfiction, I can assure you that it's an actual passage from stormbringer.

I can't really say much except the fact that Dazai is being extremely soft here.

And this was the conversation Dazai and Chuuya shared beforehand:

"There is one problem." Dazai cut off his sentence hesitantly. "It has nothing to do with the sucess rate of the plan. It is a matter we have to overcome in the end but... It may require some time to decide."

"What's with you?" Chuuya raised his eyebrows at Dazai. "Stop dramatizing it. Just hurry up and say it."

"I said earlier about this control spell to open the 'gate' that is used to reset the command inside Chuuya, right?" Dazai spoke with a strangely restrained voice. "If we use that, the logs of the command formula that were written in the past will be erased. That means...even if the memory erasure was used on Chuuya in the past, the traces of that will be erased as well."

"What?"

"I told you before right? the memory erasure command. The only way we can confirm if Chuuya is human or not is to check the history to see if the memory erasure command was ever used. It means..." Dazai looked at Chuuya with eyes that he had never looked at him before. Those eyes were serious. "If we use that control spell, the method to confirm if Chuuya is an artificial personality created by a string of code, or just a normal human being, will be lost. For good."

The time had stopped.

Chuuya opened his eyes and looked towards Dazai but his eyes were not seeing anything. The wind blew between the two of them. Even so, Chuuya did not blink.

"Verlaine became like that because he was tormented by the curse that he was not human. That only is enough of a big problem. The matter of being human or not." Dazai looked at his pocket watch, gave it a glance and continued. "I can delay the time until the plan starts for about two minutes. I will send an order for my men to wait... You can think about it alone for a while. Cuz I guess its hard for you to collect your thoughts with me around."

Having said so, Dazai turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving Chuuya alone.

Dazai fixated in his pocket watch. Two more minutes. Too short for a life decision. But he couldn't afford more than that.

Inside Dazai's head, he was planning a procedure to swith to an alternative plan in case Chuuya refused, at a tremendous speed.

After this exchange, Chuuya does decide on using corruption. I have talked about this section on a previous post of mine, and I just love it so much. For starters, I think this conversation that these two shared is very important to their characters.

For Chuuya, it shows us how undeniably selfless he is. He would rather save the people of Yokahama instead of finding out something that meant a lot to him. He sacrificed his own desires to save the people he cares about.

For Dazai its a completely different story, in this exchange Dazai was able to openly express genuine concern for his partner. He also understands the gravity of the decision Chuuya has to take and therefore leaves the decision up to him.

Third time using corruption: Dragon's Head Conflict

Chuuya and Dazai' s age: 16 yrs old

During this one, Chuuya demands to know where his friends are, and Shibusawa says all six of them killed themselves after being caught. Enraged, Chuuya activates Corruption which ultimatley ended the 88 day conflict.

There isn't much to say about Dazai and Chuuya here since there isn't really an aftermath on this occasion but I bealive this picture is enough.

Before reading the DA manga, I genuienly thought that the only time Chuuya ever rested on Dazai's lap was when they were 22 but this proved me wrong.

I mean this is a minimal thing to point out but if Dazai disregarded Chuuya he would've just left him there, right? But instead he remained with Chuuya and allowed him to rest on his lap, in the picture you can also see he is putting Chuuya's hat back on. It's such a simple gesture but it shows us how caring Dazai can be when it comes to Chuuya using corruption.

Fourth time using corruption: Lovecraft Battle, Double Black reunion

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 22 yrs old

This is personally one of my favorite times in which Chuuya uses corruption. The fact that these two had not been working together for 4 years yet they still managed to not only accomplish their mission, but mantain their trust for one another.

I find what Chuuya says here extremely ironic because if anything, the choice has always been up to him. Dazai always uses corruption as a last-resort trick and its always Chuuya who makes the final decision of using it or not, even in a life or death situation Dazai won't take it upon himself to force Chuuya to make the decision if they will be using it or not, and hes always willing to come up with an alternative plan in case Chuuya refuses. (an example of this is when Chuuya used corruption for the 2nd time in SB).

I think the reason as to why Dazai takes corruption extremely seriously is because during stormbringer he was the first person to even see Chuuya use corruption and also the person who understood how corruption will always be sort of like a burden to Chuuya, since it was thanks to corruption that his "am I human?" question stayed unanswered.

He knows how it feels to struggle with your own humanity and he doesn't want for Chuuya (who he literally sees as human), to hold that inner conflict with himself because of corruption.

Anyways, Chuuya decides to go through corruption trusting that Dazai will be there to nullify it.

And of course, Dazai does nullify it.

And after Dazai nullifies corruption, we get this very touching moment between both of them.

This is the first time Chuuya openly admits to trusting Dazai, although it was always evident that he trusts him, I just love how open he is being here.

Also the light punch he gives to Dazai's chest is such a sweet gesture, I see it as a silent way for Chuuya to say "I trust you because after all this time I still see you as my partner."

Dazai's smile in that small pannel is one of the most genuine expression we have gotten out of him. What he says is also a very sweet, I love that he calls him partner. The fact that these two are literally in rival organizations yet Dazai still calls him partner, it shows us that even after all these years he still can't help but see him the same way as he has always done.

Actually in Japanese he calls him "Aibou" and from my understanding, when you use the term Aibou it's for someone who you consider yourself to be close with. It means "partner" like in english but it holds a deeper meaning. If Dazai used the word "nakama" it would have been a very diffrent story since it means partner as well but it isn't used for someone you share a significant connection with. Asagiri's play with words here says a lot.

Fifth time using corruption: Dead Apple

Chuuya and Dazai's age: 22yrs old.

Of course I have to talk about one of the most iconic moments in the history of Soukoku.

Chuuya uses corruption to save Dazai, even if Ango says that he's dead for sure. Something I find very intresting here though is that Chuuya screams for Dazai while he is on corruption, he is obviously not supposed to be self concious about the whole situation, while on Corruption clearly he is not supposed to be in sane state of mind, as we all here know, Chuuya loses control and does not have the track of reality while under his own ability but this time, while using corruption, the one and only thing that was on his mind was "Dazai."

It wasn't only Chuuya who entrusted his life to Dazai, Dazai too entrusted his life in Chuuya's hands. When Dazai came up with this plan, he was more than certain that Chuuya was going to save him. And I think a tumblr blog pointed this out but when Chuuya uses curroption, he cannot control his strength, but when he had to punch Dazai he did it lightly, which is strange considering he was using curroption and it would've made a lot more sence if Dazai ended up decapitated due to being punched by a literal god. Dazai had to have faith in the fact that Chuuya will somehow be able to control corruption, even if its just a little bit.

Afterwards when Chuuya manages to rescue Dazai, Dazai gently touches his cheek to nullify corruption and greets him with, "You used Corruption believing in me? I am so touched I could cry." Chuuya groans, and replies that yes he did, that he believed in his disgusting vitality and craftiness.

When they both fall to the ground, Dazai forces Chuuya to rest in his lap because he didn't want to have to protect him from this situation since the fog is still up and Chuuya himself is all worn out and wouldn't be able to fight. But heres the thing, both Chuuya and Dazai's abilities can't be seperated by the fog. I mean Dazai's ability is nulification so it basically cancels out, and Chuuya hosts a literal god inside him so it isn't really an ability if you know what I mean.

So in reality, Dazai just wanted Chuuya to rest. Dazai could've literally just left Chuuya in the fog if he was only using him for his goals, but he was genuienly appreciating Chuuya's trust in him. The way Dazai's hand is resting on Chuuya's hair is a nice gesture too, he is greatful for him and he is moved that someone trusts him, it is shown throughout the Fifthteen and SB light novel that no one trusted Dazai and how most were afraid to even approach him. And in the ADA, everyone is somewhat warry around him (excluding Atsushi ofc). But Chuuya literally puts his life on the line trusting that Dazai will always be there to save him. He trusts him greatly and Dazai knows that, and I think its pretty clear to us that he would never want to break that trust.

The fact that Chuuya trusts Dazai even after he left the Port Mafia without an explanation or goodbye shows us how strong their bond is. Chuuya most likely trusts Dazai because deep down he knows that he isn't using Chuuya's ability out of his own selifshness, a part of him is aware that Dazai uses corruption as a last resort but he just doesn't want to admit it, and I feel like he also trusts him subconciously because of how gentle Dazai is after Chuuya uses corruption.

I really hope we get to see more of these "corruption moments" because in all honesty, these moments are the ones that bring out the most vulenrability for both characters. The moment corruption is used, we see the inmeasurable amount of trust and care these two have for each other that they won't show in other situations. During these times it always shines a very open and bittersweet light on their bond and I love it so much.

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Chapter Five: Paris Revealed (Stories/Memories)

Prev

AO3

Marinette flinches back as the room erupts in shouting. The younger boy, who was definitely younger than her and yet almost (if not definitely) taller than her, was fiercely glaring while he screamed at Mr. Wayne in….was that Arabic? The man that walked in with him was waving around the knife in his hand while Dick yelled at Mr. Wayne, his face filled with confusion instead of fury. Glancing around for a way out, Marinette makes eye contact with Alfred who nods behind him. Sneaking away from the group of angry men, Marinette follows Alfred into the kitchen and instantly feels at home. And much calmer.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbles, breathing deeply to avoid spiraling again. Alfred simply hands her a cookie before turning around and putting water in a kettle.

“There is no need to apologize, Miss Marinette. It seems Master Bruce has forgotten all sense today and is instead insistent on acting like a fool. It was wrong of him to announce you like that, without preparing you or the boys beforehand. I do hope that his atrocious display of proper manners doesn’t make you want to leave.” Alfred says, and Marinette’s eyebrows shoot upwards. Was he? Was Alfred actually blaming this situation on Mr. Wayne? Was it Mr. Wayne’s fault? Did he not actually hate her? Did he just make a mistake?

“I- what?” Marinette says, unsure of herself.

“You, my dear, are not at fault. Your father didn’t tell any of his sons that you were coming to the manor today, or that you existed in general. And judging by your face, you weren’t prepared for the boys to be here either.” Alfred clarifies.

“Oh. No, I wasn’t. Mr. Wayne just said that he wanted to get to know me, and he knew I wanted to get to know him. I- my birth mother passed away. But my Maman knew her, so I can find out from her how I’m similar to Bridgette. But neither of my parents knew Mr. Wayne, and I just wanted to know if I was like him, I guess. I didn’t even know who he was until two days ago.” Marinette admits.

“As in you found out Bruce Wayne was your birth father two days ago or-” Alfred trails off, waiting for her to clarify.

“Oh no. I found out the name of my birth father awhile ago. It’s just- I really don’t pay attention to celebrities. The only ones I really know are designers. So I didn’t put two and two together, and I didn’t even know about Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises until a few days ago. My friend Adrien made me google him and that’s when I found out about...the boys.” She says, stopping herself from saying her brothers as she was still unsure if Mr. Wayne actually wanted her like he wanted the others.

“Well I’m certain that things will start to calm down shortly. In the meantime, would you care for some tea?” Alfred asks, holding up the kettle. Marinette nods gratefully, trying hard to stop her inner spiral from drowning her.

---

“What do you mean daughter?” Damian snarls, finally switching to English. Bruce blinks at the boy before sighing.

“I mean, you have a biological sister.” He says, tired and wishing he had been able to convince Marinette to go somewhere else. Not that he didn’t want her to meet her siblings. But it definitely wasn’t the laid back first meeting that he wanted.

“You mean half-sister.” Damian spits out, crossing his arms and sticking his nose into the air.

“Shut up, Demon Spawn. She’s our sister, get over it. Where’d the kid come from? Her mom drop her off?” Jason asks, obviously trying to actually understand the situation.

“No. I first met her at the Museum and had my suspicions. She’s in Gotham on a class trip, and before you ask, yes. We had a DNA test done and yes, I am her father.” Bruce says, frowning when he sees Dick’s hurt expression morph into one of excitement.

“Wait, wait, wait! Was she the girl who was sassing the Joker?” He asks quietly, practically buzzing with excitement. When Bruce nods, Dick cheers and runs from the room. Okay then.

“Wait, she met the Joker?” Jason asks, his expression turning dark. Bruce watches his son’s face morph into one of disgust when he puts it together. “She’s the French kid he had at gunpoint, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Which is one of the reasons why we both thought the manor would be a more appropriate meeting place rather than somewhere public.” Bruce says, sighing as Damian once again starts screaming. This was not what he had planned.

---

After just a few minutes with Alfred, Marinette already felt calmer. Calm enough to giggle at another story about something that one of the boys- one of her brothers- did. Calm enough to let her guard down. And mess up.

“If you wanna see something ridiculous, you should look up the 26th time Monsieur Ramier was akumatized into Monsieur Pigeon. He made all the buildings turn into bird cages and all the food turned into bird seed. Luckily it didn’t last long, but seeing the Mayor of Paris stuck inside a giant bird cage was kind of hilarious.” Marinette rambles, giggling at the memory. It was definitely a needed akuma, situated right between two super destructive akumas. Monsieur Pigeon was, while a nuisance, always a breath of fresh air. His akumatized form was brought on by his fierce protectiveness of the pigeons, which luckily never led to death for civilians.

“Pardon me, Miss Marinette, but could I ask what you mean by ‘akumatized’?” Alfred asks, his posture suddenly stiff. Marinette’s eyes widen as she realizes what she just did. She told someone outside of Paris about the situation happening in Paris. Well crap. Normal Parisians didn’t know about the media block that she had set up with the help of the Mayor and Max. But after her calls to the Justice League were ignored, and she realized how disastrous it would be for a member of the League to be akumatized, the media block was the best choice. Time to act clueless.

“Akumatized, as in, a person is possessed by an akuma? Surely you’ve heard of it. It’s been happening in Paris for almost two years.” She says, hoping he doesn’t ask to see any evidence. This isn’t good, this is awful, this-

“And what is an akuma?” Alfred asks. Okay, this isn’t too bad.

“It’s an evil butterfly sent out by the villain, Hawkmoth.” Marinette says, giving out more information than she’s really comfortable with. Okay, time to change the subject, no more questions about heroes or villains or-

“Marinette!” A new voice calls, sliding into the kitchen, almost immediately falling over.

“Master Dick, have you forgotten about your ban on the kitchen?” Alfred asks, his lips quirking up in amusement.

“Awww, Alfred, I just wanted to talk to Marinette. I feel bad for all of us overwhelming her back there.” Dick says with a pout that somehow doesn’t look ridiculous on him. Despite obviously being at least ten years older than her.

“Don’t feel bad. It was just...a lot all at once.” Marinette says with a small smile.

“So I have to ask, are you the one who sassed the Joker at the Museum the other day?” He asks, a wide grin on his face as he sits on one of the stools. Marinette’s eyes widen and she blinks. How?

“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess. It wasn’t a big deal though. He thought I was a Wayne- well, I guess he figured it out before I did- but I think he just wanted to scare my class.” She says, waving her hand to brush off the topic. She really didn’t want to talk about the Joker. Because she was sure it would turn into-

“I apologize for asking, but have you been caught up in the villain attacks in Paris before?” Alfred asks, Marinette instantly panicking. Sure, she’d been caught up in almost every single akuma battle as Ladybug. But there were a few on record where she was targeted as Marinette, and even a few battles that she assisted as Marinette. And then there was Kwami Buster…

“Well, a few. But basically everyone in Paris has dealt with it at some point. That’s just what happens when there’s an attack so often, you know? And my school seems to be a hotspot but that makes sense because teenagers are full of negative emotions and-” Marinette cuts off her rambling, cursing herself on the inside. Great job, Mari. Now they’re going to be worried or they’re going to think you’re a freak or-

“What do you mean negative emotions? Why would that matter?” Dick asks, his previous cheerful smile replaced with a look that clearly meant business.

“That’s how the villain chooses his targets. Negative emotion. If someone is having a bad enough day, he can take control of them and give them powers and basically destroy the city trying to get to Ladybug and Chat Noir, who are our heroes. I only know what’s been posted on official sites like the Ladyblog or miraculousparis.org.” Marinette says, smiling apologetically and hoping that this conversation can be over.

“Have you ever been akumatized?” Dick asks, tension suddenly filling the room.

“No, thankfully. I’ve found ways to manage my negative emotions so that they can’t take me over. I don’t blame anyone who has been akumatized, it’s hard not to be. But, I also don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if I was akumatized.” Because then her family would be a target. Because Hawkmoth would know her identity. And if Hawkmoth’s insistence on her being akumatized was anything to go on, she’d be a devastating akuma. And if Ladybug wasn’t fighting in the battle….would the cure even work?

“That is a lot of pressure, Miss Marinette.” Alfred says softly after a moment of tense silence. Marinette grins brightly.

“I can handle it, don’t worry!” She says, hoping no one can tell how hard it actually is. How hard it is constantly being strong. Never truly feeling a negative emotion.

---

Bruce winces at the faux cheerfulness in his daughter’s voice. He had only found out about the Paris situation a few days ago, but he was determined to fix it. Find a solution. Do something to help the city and by extension, his daughter. She’d be going back there soon. Back to a city that was being held hostage by an emotional terrorist. Bruce would fix this. He had to.

Next

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[zodiacrant]

🍉Astro Observations🍉

Hello everyone! Hope you’re doing great and feeling positive. I decided to write observations because I got a lot to do and I need a distraction 😅✌️. So, without further a-due here are my observations

(These may or may not apply to you, please keep an open mind and take it as entertainment rather than life changing facts. Please credit me if you’re going to use my work, or ask me beforehand.)

🍉People with Earth Mars or/and an Earth sign in the 1st or 6th house have very healthy and strong bodies

🍉Even though Pisces, Neptune and the 12th house is associated alot with dreams, Scorpio, Mars, Pluto and the 8th house can tell us about our nightmares and the theme of our dreams. (EX. I have a Scorpio Mars in the 9th house Sagittarius, which Chiron resides in as well, empty Virgo 8th house, Pluto in 10th house Scorpio, which Lilith also resides in Scorpio. Because of the high concentration of Scorpio and Virgo residing in the 8th my dreams have always been very vivd, chronological, and all in all a world of it self that I developed since childhood, as far as I can remember. I rarely get awakened by nightmares as well. Because of Mars in the 9th house alot in dreams I am either looking for something or on a journey to some place.)

🍉The houses where we have Taurus and Libra is what we’re envied for, while those ruled by Scorpio and Aries is what we envy in others and desire to be.

🍉The aspects Between Jupiter and other planets can tell us how friendly, open, stiff, fun loving, uptight and mean we’re. The more Squares the meaner a person may be, the more opposites with Jupiter would make the person paradoxical or “fake”. While Trine gives a more of a fun and carefree personality and conjunctions indicates being a “down ass bitch”.

🍉People can help us, influence us or teach us something regarding the house their Sun and Moon resides in our chart. (EX. If you have Cancer in the 2nd house, Cancer Sun, Moon and dominant can help you with your finances, spending habits and better your relationship with money and vices. This can either be in a friendly advice, leading by example, or you falling for a scheme they did but you’ll ultimately learn nevertheless.)

🍉I have noticed people with Air Venus have a salad taste in music. They would listen to slow music, very emotional and heart hitting then it is followed by an earth shattering EDM track, having a rave on their own.

🍉Staying on the topic of music, I noticed the sign of the 3rd house and the planets residing there effect what we seek in music alot. (EX. Me and my sister both have Fire signs over the 3rd house, so we prefer to listen to something upbeat, however, I have Sun, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter there so music to me should be meaningful beyond belief, and great in everything from vocal, melody, writing and production. She on the other hand has Mars there and all she cares about is a good beat on the track.)

🍉Although Fire signs are viewed as very competitive, which they’re, it is rarely talked about how competitive Earth signs can be. They are as, if not more, competitive, the difference is that they’re more quiet about it.

🍉I never understood why people say that Scorpios are mysterious, dangerous, ominous sex driven demon spawns. I never met one and felt that in any way. I think they just read a room and people so closely and thoroughly that they might give a death stare here and there.

🍉I noticed that where we have Neptune we get a positive illusion from ourselves or others, while Pluto is where people get misconceptions and take negative first impressions from us. (EX. Someone with Neptune in the 7th house and Pluto in the 4th house might be subject to being slut shamed based on the illusion that their many relationships and beauty (Neptune in 7th) makes them easy, have family issues or are home wrecker (Pluto in 4th)

🍉People with Moon or Venus in “Fatherly” houses (9th and 10th) may have mothers who took on the role of the father as well.

🍉Venus in opposition or Square to Mars/Saturn/Pluto will have a hard time finding the right relationship or a healthy one.

🍉Even though Taurus and Libra are Venusian siblings and their opposites are Aries and Scorpio, the Martian siblings, each sign fits with others opposite. Taurus and Aries share natural and rawness in their energy, Taurus is the natural and effortless beauty and Aries is the natural warrior and leader. Both come as they are.

🍉Scorpio and Libra, on the other hand, are known for deception and putting up a facade. However, they’re also more logical thinkers and diplomatic begins, which make them more likable and capable in comparison.

🍉Mars in Leo are strong willed and capable but that lion can be tamed with love. As powerful as they can be, their weakness lies within their heart, as love and loyalty hold them back. This can be negative, as they will be pushovers for those they love, as well as, fight others battles, making them prone to getting used by others.

🍉Saturn can be a tough teacher but if you learn the lessons and convert it’s energy to your advantage you’ll basically become unstoppable.

🍉With that being said, I find it to be particularly difficult in social houses (3rd, 7th, 11th) It creates a wedge and a block between the native and their peers. This can be either as they cannot express themselves, are misunderstood, and/or alienated by others.

🍉The season of the sign over the house your Moon resides in can be very difficult or a period of many emotional roller coasters. Also, where does it hit the most.(Ex. I have my moon in the 11th house and let me tell you, February have been the month of some of the worst and best things to happen in my life. Many friends I have lost and met in February/Aquarius season)

🍉 The degree of that house can also indicate the general feel or emotion you’ll run through in that season.

🍉Someone asked me about my “page chart” which I got very confused over. I don’t know where they got the idea but I didn’t think it was worth a whole post but here is the chart of Zodiacrant (the page):

Made on October 17th 2018

Sun: Libra

Moon: Aquarius

Mercury: Scorpio

Venus: Scorpio

Mars: Aquarius

ASC: Cancer

MC: Aries

I hope it is of any use to the anon and any of you 😅.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed the observations. Please let me know your opinions and thoughts, share with us your own observations and rants.

Love you ❤️.