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noorpersona · 2 months ago

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Rivals: Kuroo Pt. 2

The office buzzed with the sounds of people wrapping up their day—chairs rolling back, papers shuffling, conversations turning light and easy as employees grabbed their things and made for the exit. The hum of voices filled the space as groups gathered near the doors, excitedly chatting about after-work drinks, dinner plans, or simply the bliss of heading home.

You forced a tight smile as you exchanged goodbyes, nodding along as a coworker clapped you on the shoulder, laughing about how you were always working too hard. If only they knew. If only they realized that, while they were off unwinding at some izakaya, you were about to be trapped in a nightmare.

The moment the last of them walked out, the heavy glass doors swinging shut behind them, your smile dropped. You exhaled sharply, shutting your office door with more force than necessary before leaning against it, letting your frustration take full hold. The walls muffled the distant chatter of people heading to the elevators, but all you could hear was the pounding of your own irritation.

This is ridiculous.

This is so, so ridiculous.

You should have been out there with them. Should have been free from all this nonsense. But no—because of him, you were stuck here, hunched over a campaign that never should have made it past a brainstorming session.

There was no way in hell you were about to march down to Kuroo’s office and work beside him like some cooperative pair. If you had to see his face right now, you might actually punch him, and that would be hard to explain to HR.

So, you settled for the only tolerable option: virtual communication.

You pulled up the campaign document and began typing out edits, slashing through the legal landmines Kuroo had casually placed like a menace. Your comments were pointed, efficient, and—fine—maybe a little passive-aggressive.

“You can’t claim this product ‘enhances’ anything without direct, proven research. I assume you don’t have a scientific study hidden somewhere? No? Then take it out.”

“This violates four separate consumer protection laws. FOUR, Kuroo. Are you collecting them like trophies?”

“You know full well we can’t guarantee these results. Unless you have psychic abilities, this has to go.”

It didn’t take long before Kuroo’s own comments started popping up.

“Trophies? I was thinking of making a bingo card.”

“No psychic abilities, but I do predict you’re going to keep glaring at your screen like that for another ten minutes before you take a break.”

You clenched your jaw, fingers hovering over the keyboard as his infuriatingly smug tone bled through even in text form.

But at least this way, you didn’t have to hear his voice. Didn’t have to see that lazy grin or the way he leaned against desks like he was permanently comfortable in any given space.

The two of you went back and forth like that for a while��your frustrations fueling your edits, his infuriating commentary punctuating them like some editorial nightmare.

Then, suddenly—

He stopped responding.

You frowned, staring at the document, watching the cursor blink mockingly. Five minutes passed. Then ten.

Was he ignoring you? Giving up?

You tapped your pen against your desk, debating whether you cared enough to message him first, when—

A knock sounded at your door.

Before you could even react, it swung open, and there he was—Kuroo Tetsurou, in the flesh.

His lean frame filled the doorway, one hand resting against the frame like he owned the place. He had his signature smirk in place, but there was something else in his expression too—something entertained, something knowing.

"Miss me?" he drawled, eyes flickering over your stiff posture, your clenched jaw. "You looked like you were having so much fun talking to me virtually, I figured you’d want the full experience."

You inhaled through your nose, already feeling the blood pressure spike.

You exhaled sharply, leveling him with a flat stare. "I figured there’d be less opportunity for violence."

And honestly, that wasn’t even a joke. The amount of restraint it had taken not to march down to his office and rip that smirk off his face with sheer force was immeasurable. You had chosen the safer option—the one where you didn’t have to look at him, hear him, or risk throwing a stapler at his head. And yet, here he was, standing in your doorway like he had been summoned from hell itself to personally test your patience.

He was insufferable. Smug, self-assured, a walking headache in human form. And if there was one thing you knew about Kuroo Tetsurou, it was that he never did anything without a reason. If he was here, standing in your office when you had both agreed to keep this virtual, then that meant—

Oh god. He had something planned.

Your fingers twitched, already anticipating whatever bullshit he was about to pull.

Kuroo chuckled, raising his hands in surrender. "I come in peace. And—" he paused, reaching into his bag, and before you could stop yourself, your eyes followed the movement.

Your breath caught when he pulled out an expensive-looking bottle of liquor. Not the cheap stuff you’d grab from a convenience store, but something premium, something that had been picked out with actual effort.

"—with a peace offering," he finished, his smirk tilting just enough to make your stomach twist.

You narrowed your eyes, suspicion lacing your thoughts as you stared at the bottle.

Was this a trick? Some underhanded play? He was good, you had to admit that—good at worming his way under your skin, good at making you react, good at playing you like a game he had already won.

Your pride warred with your exhaustion. The righteous fury you had been carrying all day was begging you to tell him to take his bottle and shove it where the sun didn’t shine. But then reality settled in.

You were going to be here for hours.

With him.

Your head throbbed at the thought, and suddenly, the idea of a drink didn’t seem so bad.

You sighed, rubbing your temple before muttering, "Let me get glasses."

As you turned toward the office cabinet where you kept miscellaneous supplies, including the occasional emergency stash of glassware, you heard the unmistakable sound of Kuroo grinning. Smug. Bastard.

"Well, that was easy," he mused, leaning lazily against the doorframe. "Didn’t think you indulged while working."

You shot him a sharp glare as you pulled out two glasses. "Well, I would've been at the bar by now, so consider yourself lucky."

Kuroo snorted, shaking his head. "Hey, blame the boss, not me."

You narrowed your eyes. "If you hadn’t pissed him off with that ridiculous campaign, he wouldn’t have cracked down on us."

Kuroo just grinned, pouring the drinks. "Technicalities, technicalities."

You huffed, shaking your head as you took a sip, feeling the warmth of the alcohol seep into your system. "Focus, Kuroo. We actually need to get this done."

"I am focused," he said, swirling his glass with lazy amusement. "Multitasking. Drinking and working—very efficient."

Rolling your eyes, you dragged your laptop closer, forcing the conversation back on track. Despite his insufferable presence, the two of you made progress, fine-tuning the proposal, fixing the compliance issues, and actually making something presentable.

And, unfortunately, the drinks didn’t stop at just one.

At first, it was just a sip to take the edge off. Then another when Kuroo cracked a joke so unexpectedly funny that even you couldn't suppress a snort. Then another after you argued over phrasing in a particularly stubborn section of the document, only to realize you were both right in different ways. Somewhere along the way, the line between tolerating Kuroo and actually enjoying the banter blurred.

Your body felt warm, pleasantly buzzed as the stress of the day melted away. You stopped feeling the sharp edge of frustration every time he spoke, and—maybe it was the alcohol—but the way he leaned back in his chair, shirt sleeves rolled up, smirk easy and lazy, didn’t seem quite as aggravating as before.

Another drink. Another laugh. Another sidetracked conversation.

Until—

Darkness.

When you blinked your eyes open, you weren’t in your office.

You weren’t even in your apartment.

A sharp, groggy awareness hit you all at once as you registered the unfamiliar ceiling above you, the soft sheets against your skin, the distinct lack of a work desk or legal documents anywhere in sight. And then—

The realization slammed into you like a freight train.

You were naked.

Your body stiffened, the cool air against your bare skin making it impossible to ignore the fact that you had absolutely nothing on beneath the sheets. Panic surged through you in waves, your mind scrambling to piece together what the hell had happened last night.

Then came the real kicker—the slow, steady sound of breathing beside you.

Heart hammering, you turned your head—and there, lying next to you, Kuroo Tetsurou.

Still asleep. Still shirtless. Still in his bed.

Oh, hell no.

Your breath caught in your throat as fragmented flashes of the night before flickered through your mind—hazy, disjointed, but unmistakable.

Your hands gripping his shirt, pulling him closer as your lips crashed against his. The low groan in his throat as he deepened the kiss, his hands gripping your waist, his touch feverish, desperate. The feeling of his fingers dragging down your spine, his mouth trailing along your neck, leaving marks you probably still had.

Your voice—breathless, needy—whispering his first name like a secret. "Tetsurou..."

The way he murmured your name against your skin, his breath hot and ragged. His body pressing against yours, strong, unrelenting, claiming every inch of you. The undeniable fire between you, building, burning, until there was nothing left but the desperate need to consume each other.

Another flash—

Your head tilting back, a gasp leaving your lips as his mouth devoured the sensitive skin of your throat. The way his voice turned hoarse, possessive, when he whispered in your ear, "You drive me insane."

Your body arching into him, nails raking down his back, every touch sending electric heat through your veins. The sound of the sheets rustling, the deep gravel of his moan, the feeling of being completely, utterly unraveled beneath him.

And then—

Your legs wrapped around his waist, his gritted teeth against your shoulder, his grip bruising as he held you still, his body pressing into yours with a hunger that felt like it would break you apart. The way he cursed under his breath, muttering something too low to fully remember, but you knew it was about you—about how good you felt, how much he wanted you.

Your own voice, breaking on a whimper, a moan, pleading—

"Tetsurou—"

You sucked in a sharp breath, your eyes wide as your pulse pounded violently in your ears. No. No, no, no.

Your entire body tensed, your fingers gripping the sheets as if that alone could ground you. You felt too warm, too aware, heat crawling up your spine as your skin tingled with the ghosts of his touch.

What the hell had you done?

A fresh wave of panic surged through you as you peeked beneath the sheets, confirming what you already knew. Your clothes were nowhere in sight.

You squeezed your eyes shut for half a second, willing yourself to wake up from whatever twisted fever dream this was—but when you reopened them, Kuroo was still there, breathing evenly, looking far too comfortable in his sleep.

Your stomach twisted as your brain scrambled for something—anything—that could explain how this had happened. You had been working. You had been arguing. And then there had been drinks, and—

Your fingers pressed against your temples.

You weren’t an idiot. You knew exactly how this had happened.

You had slept with Kuroo Tetsurou.

And the worst part? The way your body still thrummed with the memory of it.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

This wasn’t just some nightmare. This was real.

And you were absolutely screwed.

Heart pounding, you slowly—carefully—peeled the sheets away, trying to move as silently as possible. You needed to find your clothes. Now. Every fiber of your being screamed at you to get out before Kuroo woke up and made this entire situation even more unbearable.

Your eyes darted around the room, scanning for any sign of your belongings. You spotted your shirt draped over the back of a chair, your underwear crumpled on the floor near the bed. No sign of your pants.

Biting your lip, you held your breath and gingerly slid out of the bed, wincing as the mattress shifted beneath you. You crept forward, grabbing your shirt first, hurriedly clutching it to your chest as you crouched down to retrieve your underwear.

Just as you were about to reach for them—

"Mornin', sunshine."

You yelped, stumbling back against the nightstand, your grip tightening around your shirt as you clutched it against your bare chest. Your wide, panicked eyes shot toward the bed where Kuroo was now very much awake, watching you with groggy amusement. His voice was still thick with sleep, deep and gravelly in a way that sent an unwanted shiver down your spine.

"God, you scared the shit out of me!" you snapped, still holding your shirt up like a makeshift shield.

Kuroo’s lips twitched, clearly enjoying this far too much. He stretched, arms reaching over his head, the sheets slipping just enough to reveal more bare skin than you needed to see this early in the morning. His messy hair somehow looked even worse than usual, and yet—

You shook your head violently, banishing whatever treacherous thought had just formed.

"Trying to sneak out?" he mused, his golden eyes glinting with amusement as he propped himself up on one elbow. "Rude."

You opened your mouth, then shut it, feeling heat creep up your neck. "I don't—I mean—did we—?"

Kuroo chuckled, the sound deep and lazy, sending a fresh wave of mortification through you. "Oh yeah. Several times." He tilted his head slightly, watching as your grip on your shirt tightened. "You were quite eager."

Your face burned, the words hitting you like a wrecking ball to the soul. "Oh my god," you muttered, squeezing your eyes shut for a second, as if that would make the entire situation disappear.

Kuroo smirked wider, clearly relishing your reaction. "I gotta say, I didn’t know you had it in you."

You snapped your eyes open, glaring daggers at him, your heart still pounding a million miles an hour. "Shut up, Kuroo. Just—shut up."

"Oh, but you weren’t saying that last night," he teased, stretching lazily, the motion making his muscles flex in an unfairly distracting way. "In fact, if I recall correctly, you were saying—"

"Don’t. You. Dare."

His grin widened. "Tetsurou—please—" he mimicked in a high-pitched voice, clearly enjoying this too much.

You grabbed the nearest pillow and launched it at his face. "I hate you."

He caught it with ease, laughing. "Hate me? That's funny, 'cause last night, you were—"

You groaned, pressing your palm against your face, praying for the ground to swallow you whole.

"I'm leaving." You turned sharply, spotting your pants halfway across the damn room, and cursed under your breath.

Kuroo only hummed, watching you scramble with amusement. "Sure you don’t wanna stay for round…what was it? Five?"

You threw another pillow at him. "I swear to god, Kuroo—"

His laughter followed you as you yanked your pants on, still red-faced, still mortified beyond belief.

You snatched up the rest of your belongings—your shoes, your bag, even the stray hair tie that had somehow ended up on his nightstand—moving so quickly you nearly tripped in your haste. Every second in this room was a second too long, every moment spent within Kuroo’s amused, knowing gaze only fueling the burning humiliation in your chest.

As you shoved your arms through your sleeves, pulling your shirt over your head, Kuroo propped himself up on one elbow, watching you with the kind of infuriating satisfaction that made you want to launch something heavier than a pillow at him.

"See you Monday," he drawled, voice thick with teasing amusement.

You shot him a withering glare, but it only made his smirk widen. Without another word, you turned on your heel and stormed out, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response.

You could still hear his low chuckle as you slammed the door behind you.

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worfsbarmitzvah · 4 months ago

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in the coming weeks, months, and years PLEASE be mindful of posts that rile you up but include no useful or actionable information.

an example i just encountered on tiktok: “they’re banning these books!!!” who is banning them? what, exactly, do the bans entail (are they banned from being taught in schools, removed from school libraries, from public libraries, etc)? in what parts of the country? is this coming from school boards, local legislators, or somewhere else? what is the source of this information? am i supposed to be able to do something about this, or am i just supposed to get mad, leave an incredulous comment, and scroll on?

social media makes it easier than ever for people to feed off of fear and anger. misinformation spreads like wildfire online. BE DILIGENT. do not let people use your outrage to farm engagement. direct that energy toward action based on verifiable information. attend local government meetings. find a real-life community (even one that isn’t oriented toward activism — you will make connections that will be essential in the coming years whether your community is a volunteer group or a dnd campaign).

you are not obligated to complete the work, but you are not free to abandon it. getting worked up over posts feels righteous, and you think you’re gonna put that energy away to do Something with it later, but i know from experience that that doesn’t work. you overwhelm yourself with all the bad news and you keep doomscrolling.

here are some actions that make a difference:

get some rubber gloves and a trash bag, go for a short walk, and pick up all the litter you see.

donate to the aclu.

draw or write something. in times like this we need art.

call your local food bank and see if they’re looking for volunteers or donations.

this website lists various ways you can help undocumented people.

go to or contact your local public library and find out what groups, activities, and programs they have available. even if there’s nothing there for you, get a library card and use it regularly.

there is so much more you can do, but it will vary from place to place and person to person. my point is: find what you can do and do it rather than doomscrolling for four years straight.

remember to practice self-care. you cannot boil an empty kettle. tidy up your living space, take a bath or shower, do some stretches or jumping jacks or push-ups, take a few deep breaths.

if you are a minor right now, especially if you won’t be 18 before the next election, your job right now is to SURVIVE. that’s everybody’s job, but kids and teenagers especially. do not burn yourself out on despair before you ever get to cast a ballot. i know it’s terrifying right now. i was 12 on january 20, 2017. i know how you’re feeling. it won’t be easy and the you that you are in 2028 will not be the you that you are today. be good to your friends, do your best in school, and take care of your body and mind. that is your ONLY job. you might see kids your age doing activism, like kids my age saw greta thunberg and x gonzález during trump’s first term. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE THEM. you just have to keep yourself going. the future needs you.

again, whatever you do, DO NOT GIVE IN TO DESPAIR. do not give your attention and energy to people that just want your like and your outraged comment. save that energy for things that help heal the world.

#txt #tikkun olam #this is probably disjointed and rambly but i got so frustrated i had to rant on tumblr #and now i am going to get dressed and brush my teeth

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amalthiaph · 1 year ago

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I took an interest in The Bad Batch around the tailend of S2. It's not news to Tumblr that I almost slept on this show. And I cannot thank Caleb Dume enough for being the reason why I pressed the play button for this one. While I haven't been around for most of its active run, and I wish I had been, the last year has been among the best months of my life.

This show challenged my morals, and taught me lessons that I will forever take with me.

Tech taught me to embrace and take pride in who I am. I now think that I am not something that needs to be cured. I needed to be understood and accepted. He taught me that we deserved to be loved and be allowed to live the way we want to (as long as we are not causing harm to ourselves or to others).

Hunter taught me that at the end of the day, we're all still humans. We make mistakes. We fail. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And I should also take care of my hair bec I cannot accept that a man in a galactic war have better hair than me (Okay, did you honestly think I'm gonna be serious this entire essay?)

Crosshair taught me that at the end of the day, we really are still humans. Sometimes, we make choices that not everyone will understand or agree to. Sometimes, we don't even understand our own choices. But we can learn from them, and we can strive to be better. And that I should also go to therapy bec istg my hand shakes like hell I always need to rely on a pen stabilizer when doing my artworks.

Wrecker taught me that in this world where we can be anything, always choose to be kind. He is a great man who would always be there for everyone, and I hope that one day, I can be that person too. He is afraid of heights, but he climbs and go on high places anyway. Like him, I should also start conquering my fears. Dear Wrecker, I did try conquering my fear of heights last March 9 but I can't. I will try again.

Echo taught me to always fight for the greater good. Almost two years ago, me and a group of people campaigned for a great tomorrow. With pink flags and pink balloons, we worked on our little thing I like to call our rebellion. Sadly, we lost. At times, I am thinking of just giving up bec that's democracy and I cannot go against the people's decision, but characters like Echo and the rest of Rogue One taught me that nothing should ever stop me for fighting for the people's rights and that my love for my fellow citizens should always come first before hatred.

And lastly, Omega taught me to be curious, or more likely to not be ashamed for being curious. Learn about the world. Learn about lots of things. We never know when we need it. While I could say be good at strategy and win 30 grand on card games, nahhh, I'm not that smart.

I also learned to reevalutate myself as an artist. This show taught me integrity. I had ranted about this lately but these characters challenged me in terms of art. I knew that the creators aren't best at proper representation. While I could draw them as they are in the show, I choose to stand for what is right, and represent them as properly as my skills could. In the more technical side, I became good at drawing armors. And this little Actors AU Draw Series taught me to be responsible; I tried my very best to create and post them on time. This increased my productivity.

But enough about me.

There's something I realized two nights ago; we, the fandom, are Bad Batchers ourselves. We can consider ourselves a family, but not one of us is the same and we're all interesting, and capable in our own unique ways. We can have our own opinion and stand about something and still coexist. Like our favorite charactera, we embrace and celebrate our differences.

This show may end. No more Bad Batch Eves, no more cryptic tweets that cause us to hyperventilate, no more Bad Batch Wednesdays but it will live on, through us.

I know there will be a day where we decrease in number, one by one, little by little, but still, the show will live on through our actions, our opinions, our choices we make after May 1, 2024 because I know that all of us were changed in some ways by these characters and this show.

To the crew, your cryptic tweets caused me sleepless nights, but thank you so, so much. It is through your hardwork that we had this wonderful show. Thank you for making every second of the past year so worthwhile and enjoyable for me and for everyone.

However this show will end, whether happy or sad, I am glad it happened. However short my time was with them, I am happy I had been here. However short my time with everyone in the fandom was or if some of you leave one day, still, thank you so much for being part of my life; I am so happy I met all of you.

To Clone Force 99, thank you. I've never loved anything like this before. May the Force be with you.

#the bad batch #tbb s3 #tbb #star wars #amalthia cried while writing this

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tumblingxelian · 1 month ago

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MLB AU - Headshot (Virus Timeline)

Summary:

The careless flick of a yoyo in anger leads to a death, which sets of a daisy-chain of chaos that no one could hope to predict let alone control.

Prologue

Lila, bedecked in a cleaning lady disguise in her apartment, was caught somewhere between giddy satisfaction and paranoid dread as she skimmed the results of her latest play.

Things had gone beyond well when Ladybug & Chat Noir decided to help an Akuma toss the mayor out of office. Ordering Chloe to burst in with the press and make them look bad had been an inspired adaptation on her part. Really she'd never expected things to go that well.

Then it went side-ways and Ladybug caved Chloe's head in with her yoyo.

A simple "That's enough" and suddenly the blonde bimbos supposedly empty head was splattered across everyone's TV screen before those stupid Tsurugi robots could do anything. Now Tsurugi stocks were falling almost as fast as Ladybug's reputation in the polls!

Lila should be ecstatic, but the reality Ladybug might turn that same violence on her was now a real and genuine concern and for all that Chloe was a vacuous and obnoxious tool. Lila couldn't deny seeing her skull split open, her blood flow and her brain splatter across the floor hadn't been horrifying to behold.

But Lila was a practical girl, & once Chloe was healed she calmed right down and tried to regain control of the situation. Unfortunately that proved harder than she'd have liked.

Chloe had seemingly dropped her ear piece or was just too panicked to listen because she had let out a hysterical half scream, half shout, then practically vaulted over the press and took off running. & for all Chloe lacked swift mental faculties she made up for it in legs because the press lost her almost instantly.

Still, Lila could work with this, she was adaptable after all and would play the hand she was dealt, and Chloe’s parents had certainly given her some fine cards to play.

Andre had swooped in to try and look like a grief stricken father, while somehow weaving in a reference to his plans to become a director again. Only to get counter swooped by Audrey tearing into him over divorcing herself and Chloe. Both wanted their newly sympathetic tragedy doll and fortunately for Lila neither made themselves look like remotely functional parents.

Slagging each other off even hours after the public meltdowns had started, with every scrap of dirty laundry from over a decade of marriage aired for all to see, and no real mention of their missing daughter. To say that their shameful display, compounded with Chloe’s public death had spun public sympathy towards the blonde would be an understatement.

Lila had been quick to set up an online funding campaign, for Chloe's benefit of course.

Now if she could just find the blonde she'd have her little cash cow back in its barn and could move on to trying to figure out Gabriel and Ladybug's next move -

There was a thumping on her door, followed by a tired but trill, "Let me in Lila, I have had a day."

"Chloe!" Lila cheered.

Leaping from her seat and throwing open the door she began fussing, keeping her words small, flattering and subtly guiding the blonde on exactly what to think.

"Oh my dear, exceptional, wonderfully brave friend! I saw what that monster did to you! I've been trying to reach you and find you but I knew if you would go to anyone it would be your closest and most loyal friend so I stayed here, waiting, hoping you'd come back!" Managing Chloe was easy but she required constant elaboration for understanding anything more complicated than, ‘want grab now’.

Seeing Chloe looking around the apartment hallway furtively, Lila pulled the blonde into the apartment and her embrace which the blonde slowly returned without any of her usual energy or clumsy attempts at haughtiness.

Burying her face into Lila's neck Chloe murmured, "It's nice that someone... Cares..."

"Of course I care, Chloe. Even if the world turns against you I'm here for you and I always will be." The fact Chloe's online following went from a respectable seventy two thousand to several million with donors to match certainly helped.

"The emancipation campaign, that was you right? I don't recall us sharing bank details."

Lila was used to having to swiftly reorient her deceptions but Chloe usually required so little effort to manage she maybe said too much. "I did, after the horrible things your father said I thought you deserved some resources all your own. I know you have your mother-"

"No I don't, she won't remember my name by tomorrow," Chloe's hug grew firmer, tighter. "I need that money Lila, transfer it to my private account."

Squirming, she answered, "I thought I could manage it for you, it'd be so heavy- uh, Chloe, I know you had a hard- day, ah- tight!"

Chloe's hug was like a viper constricting her upper arms to her chest and Lila could barely breath as the girl whispered.

"I need that money, you'll send it to my account. Won't you, friend?"

Panicking and unable to get away Lila accented, "Of course, of course my dear friend!" A few haphazard presses on her Alliance ring and a projected image showing her changing the fundraiser details to Chloe's account filled the otherwise dark room.

Chloe's hold slowly loosened and she pulled back enough to kiss Lila on the cheek, once, twice and then pulling away she looked her over with… Lila couldn't quite describe it.

She was used to Chloe having a sort of hazy, twitchiness about her, like one might expect of a drugged up horse. But this new expression was somehow both strangely misty and yet all too focused for the Chloe she knew.

Stepping back Chloe nodded to herself and said, "I will be staying here until I sort out a new living situation." With that declared like it was a fact the blonde made her way to Lila's bedroom.

"I, of course you can stay over Chloe, but I only have one bed."

Chloe held the door and looked at her with half lidded eyes, "Haven't you ever read fanfiction?"

'Since when can you read?' A part of her wanted to ask, but out loud Lila answered honestly for once, "I don't really read fanfiction."

The dour look Chloe sent her was usually directed at anyone but Lila & was followed with her bedroom door slamming shut.

"That was the sound of you missing your shot, but I suppose educating you will pass the time and be almost as entertaining. Order some room service, this will take awhile."

Clapping her hands she answered. "Oh I am sure you have such wisdom to share, but don't you want to get your beauty sleep?" What a relief Chloe was back to having the attention span of a goldfish.

"I am too wired to sleep, too hungry to scheme and in desperate need of a distraction." Chloe plopped down on the lounge and snatched up Lila's laptop. "So help me de-stress one way or another, or... Go clean something. You are dressed for it and the view would be more pleasant than the conversation."

'Something's changed, a lot has changed, what the hell changed!?' Lila mind was frantic even as she smiled gamely and ordered a platter of her and Chloe's favorites as the blonde poured over the laptop.

'Chloe was never that obvious with her interest, she barely ever spoke coherently for that long and normally she'd drop everything and re-shift focus if all I did was give her a compliment and promise something nice!'

Biting her tongue, Lila smiled at the delivery person before carting the food back to the plush lounge where Chloe sat cross-legged and sharp-eyed. Grabbing at her plate of sushi, Chloe turned the lap-top around to show some kind of archive website.

'Maybe Ladybug finally gave her a brain?' Lila wondered.

"Now to your education, the first trope, there was only one bed!"

Lila sighed, she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.

Chapter 1

Lila liked to think she was a patient person.

She wouldn't be much of a plotter if she was impatient now would she?

But after a night in disguise because Ladybug might come and crack her skull open, hours fretting over trying to get her plan to rob Gabriel back on track but meeting nothing but road-blocks and now seemingly losing control over the once malleable Chloe.

Lila was more than a little stressed.

Made worse by sitting through a multi-hour long lecture on fanfiction tropes and conventions, which under other circumstances might have been useful for the insights into Chloe's psyche. But this late at night and with so many other things on her mind, the girl's penchant for enemies to lovers, redemption and childhood friendships were like droplets of water bouncing off clay.

Still, she could have bore it if not for the hour-long lecture on pseudo biology that Chloe evidently was just reading from the author notes of her 'fanfiction' like it was a legitimate text book!

So Lila lost her patience, just a smidgen when Chloe said: "It's all quite realistic really."

"Chloe, a well educated and intelligent girl like you must know this kind of thing is, as your mother would say. Utterly ridiculous."

Chloe's glare sharpened and flickered to the big billboard TV screen outside where reruns of Chloe's injury and her parents' nine hour long break up were being played side by side. "My mother would call the rising of the sun utterly ridiculous if it reflected off her martini at the wrong angle and while I'm no doctor, the author is. They know more of what they are speaking of than you do, Lila."

Her mother was a bad avenue, Lila needed to readjust, "Well I'm not sure about that, I know more than a thing or two about medicine. You remember the massage I gave you-"

"Yes, yes," Chloe said with an airy wave, "You have very talented hands, that does not give you a PHD in genetic science and viruses like the author has."

It was 1-AM and Lila had just been dismissed and talked over by someone she had previously needed to coach through pronouncing democracy and lectured as though she were the ignorant one!

‘I’ve started blood feuds over less!’

Then a voice boomed in her mind, or maybe it had been there longer than that, Lila couldn't say.

Her Alliance ring hummed and soon all she knew were the words of the Monarch, of Gabriel Agreste.

"Such vexation and venom, my Lila I promise you the power to prove yourself as wise and put this fool in their place by putting their little theory to the test!"

If Lila were more aware she'd realize Gabriel’s plan barely addressed her anger, only doing so in the most roundabout way, as though he was just using her as a vessel for some other scheme.

But Lila couldn’t think about that, could not see or sense it.

She'd never been good at resisting Akumatization after all.

So all she heard was the promise of power & vindication.

Thus she answered as she always did, "Yes, my monarch!" Lila didn't hear Chloe cursing as she flung herself off the lounge and scittered out of sight as the transformation took hold. A myriad of colors suffused Lila as her Alliance ring pulsed with arcane power.

She sent a single sharp gesture towards her laptop and the magic washed over it like locusts descending upon a field and drew from it the words that began to float drift around her right hand, slowly infusing themselves into an orb of magic and the helix within.

"I'll encode this fool's DNA-Virus into every Alliance Ring on Earth and when it fails, you will finally see that whether it's fact or fiction, lie or truth, I am your one and only authority!"

The orb engulfed Lila's hand and shrunk down into her Alliance ring, pulsing with eldritch light she raised it high and the virus was multiplied and unleashed across the world!

Then Chloe leapt onto her back, tore the Alliance ring from her finger and hurled it through the apartment window. Lila's instinctive cry of, "Noooo!" was cut off when they both hit the floor and some distant part of her registered a car driving over the ring and breaking the connection.

The heady feeling brought on by the Butterflies presence began fading with an echoing chuckle.

Chloe turned her over, all fangs and claws and growls. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" She dragged Lila's face close to hers and snarled, "I just got my brain back, and I am not letting you throw it away over something so utterly ridiculous!"

Muddy thoughts becoming clearer pieces fell into place too fast for her lips to stop, "It was Gabriel who made you..." Lila's mouth snapped shut as Chloe's eyes widened, pupils turned to pin-pricks as she violently convulsed above her before letting out a choked rasp, almost a sob.

"Gabriel... Of course... Of course it was him, it makes too much sense. The movie, the rings and robots, that day on the roof. He knew, he's always known how to twist the knife!"

Rolling with the punches, Lila answered, "I assumed you’d already figured it out if he flambeed your brain," her words came with a sort of cavalier shrug but as the pieces locked into place there was a cold, churning horror in her guts at the thought of him doing the same to her. Lila's mind was her everything if she'd been rendered to barely above a toddler like Chloe she wouldn't-

Lila cut that thought off before it could form as Chloe tightened her grip and growled, "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, what I want to know is how you knew."

A lie, even now Chloe wasn't a natural liar, even her stone-walling when Lila had tried to divert her attention from stories was blunt. The blonde was not a deceiver, that much at least remained true.

Still, Lila was flying blind as to what this new or old version of Chloe could do and with her heart thumping against her chest she decided something like honesty was the best policy.

"He used me like he used you Chloe. Why do you think those Scarlet Akuma were ready and waiting when I tried to have Marinette expelled?" She glanced away, "Not that it stopped him from throwing me away either." The bitter resentment in her tone was real enough and Chloe seemed willing to accept that much at least.

Slowly the blonde loosened her grip and lolled back up to simple kneel over Lila staring at the ceiling of the dim apartment room. As seconds drifted by Lila wanted to speak or at least get the blonde off of her but she was still feeling strangely fuzzy and flushed, her heart was racing but she couldn't bring herself to move.

She felt too hot for the cool night air.

Finally, Chloe worked through whatever it was that was holding her back and with gnashed teeth she shot to her feet, pulling Lila up with her like a rag doll and began absently brushing invisible lint off her shoulders.

"I suppose I should thank you, now I don't need to keep going in circles on whether it's Adrien or Felix who has what I need."

Without another word she turned and began marching for the door.

Confused and slightly at odds with the sudden loss of the other girls presence, Lila pursued, "What are we after?"

Chloe glanced back over her shoulder, expression flickering for a moment before a vicious sort of smirk was forced onto her lips, "Follow me and you'll find out soon enough. If not, well, you'll see once I'm done tearing Gabriel to shreds!"

The subtle growl inflecting her tone sent shivers down Lila's spine and the prospect of seeing Gabriel pay for using her and throwing her away was already tempting. The prospect he could never do to her what he'd evidently done to Chloe only sweetened the deal and was all the temptation she needed.

"Then lead on, I can't wait to see what you have for us~" God she hoped it was worth it.

"Trust me, it'll be better than anything Lady-bum and Chat-Chump could come up with, but first, we need to see an old not friend of mine."

Lila let Chloe drag her out of the apartment without even a coat, she felt warm enough as it was.

Chapter 2

Felix was not one who liked being woken suddenly, least of all by Duusu prodding at his cheek, but he grudgingly acceded to the Kwami and groaned, "What is it Duusu?"

"I sense two new presence, distantly familiar to me, and rippling with emotional intensity, young master."

"It's not Ladybug & Chat Noir is it?"

"No young master, nor any other Miraculous wielder I could name."

That ruled out his uncle and his human pet Nathalie, so Felix hoisted himself out of bed just in time for mother to push open his door, "My treasure, it seems we have guests, Chloe and a little friend of hers forced their way passed our security."

Felix snorted, "How much screaming was involved?"

His mother chuckled, "Less than you'd think, but enough to make the beginnings of a scene. It seems Chloe’s injury hasn't quenched that fiery personality."

"It'd take more than than a bucket of ice to douse a raging house fire I suppose," Felix slipped Duusu's Miraculous into his pajamas front pocket and the Kwami de-materialized as he strode down into the foyer where Chloe awaited with a faintly familiar redhead at her side.

'Lila wasn't it? Kagami and Adrien couldn't make heads or tails of her until recently, I suppose she's latched onto the last wealthy fool who will tolerate her.' Latched on was a rather fitting term for how the brunette was leaning against Chloe, an arm snaking through the blonde's and head on her shoulder.

Chloe meanwhile stood stiff as a board, a forced and mildly manic grin stretched on her features like it had been forced there by Botox as she greeted, "Felix, my dear lady Amilie, so sorry to wake you."

"Not sorry enough to wait till morning though," Felix snarked.

His mother rested a hand on his shoulder, "Not that we blame you dear, I imagine you had quite the fright yesterday, how are you now?"

A mechanical shrug as she met his eyes intensely, "As well as can be, this isn't the first time someone with magic powers decided to knock me around for some petty reason" She capped that off with a wave of her fingers as though sprinkling fairy dust on a gaping wound.

"Still," Lila cut in, "We felt it was best to get somewhere safer until something could be done about that wreck-loose Ladybug!"

"Well how flattering," His mother intoned generously. "But did you get your parents permission?" Mother, clever mother was looking for a way out that wouldn't be their fault.

Chloe strode forward, more strutted really, with the Lila girl whispering in her ear as she answered. "My parents are still tearing each other apart on live TV to the delight of the masses. I came here because when looking for security against super powers there's only so many places one can turn, Felix."

The pieces clicked into place as the night Felix had tried to cast from his memory flared to the forefront of his mind, Chloe had seen him in his Adrien guise transform and snap her out of existence!

He tried to fall into a defensive stance, Duusu's name on his lips, but Chloe had started moving before she finished speaking and snagged his front pocket. The expensive fabric couldn't hold up to her nails and was ripped asunder.

Lila flung herself bodily at his mother when she tried to intervene and sent them both to the floor. The manors security sentinels flaring to life in time to see Felix land a sharp blow across Chloe's face, but in his haste to get passed her he didn't see her roll with the motion. Turning the momentum into a devastating roundhouse kick that sent him crashing to the floor.

Felix watched helplessly as his mother tried and failed to catch Chloe's feet as the blonde pounced.

"Kwami, tell me your name!" She called, rolling and vaulting to her feet as Duusu answered the order, despite Felix's hasty calls for silence. The manors' guns flared to life, but they were too late as Chloe cried, "Duusu, transform moi!"

In a flash of ocean blues, pinks and blinding white, Chloe was transformed, her skin a dark blue, her frame taller and broader with her hair taking on a nearly stark white color. She was adorned in form fitting leggings and a sharp open collared top with a vibrant and half cape of feathers draped over her shoulder.

Chloe flicked open the fan and in a blur launched herself from the floor and across the hall with a howling, "Yeees!"

She struck down the first turret with a kick, crying out, "I am strong!"

Launching herself from the rear wall she rocketed towards the door and ripped apart the second turret, "Strong!"

She flipped through the air and cut the chandelier loose, forcing Felix to retreat backwards towards mother, while Lila watched in wicked glee as Chloe obliterated the last turret. "Strong again!"

Chloe landed before them, marble shattering beneath her feet and the last remnants of the turrets crumbling in her fingers.

Lila launched herself at the blonde and Chloe didn't even budge as Lila swung around her and snuggled up against the blonde with a mischievous gleam in her eyes, "That you are," she purred, "& so well dressed too, much better than the fop."

That drew a snort of amusement from the blonde as she came down from her high and locked her shining pink eyes on them; his mother stepped between Chloe and Felix hid the family signet ring behind his back.

"So," Chloe hummed, "That explains a lot," She held up her ring-ed hand and dread swallowed him whole even as his mother cried out, "Chloe, he's your friend!"

"My friend!?" She roared, "He snapped me out of existence, his friendship is as shiftless and unreliable as the rest of yours!"

"He saw the error of his ways, he undid it," his mother reasoned, desperately.

"Oh how convenient," Chloe rolled her eyes, "Because he was able to unbreak what he broke, all is forgiven apparently. Isn't that convenient Lila?"

The brunette giggled wickedly, "Convenient for some and not for others, a double standard one might say."

Chloe huffed, "I do say," the look she was sending them wasn't one of mere rage but one Felix recognized, seething jealousy, no doubt from the way his mother stood between him and death. He'd once relished in that distinction between them, now it might only be worsening his chances, but Felix couldn't bring himself to speak lest that dreaded snap ring out and be the last thing he heard.

Amilie fell to the floor, "Please, he's all I have," She continued despite the girl's scoff, "You aren't an evil person Chloe, there's no need for you to do this."

The blonde's fangs were gnashing, her fingers tightened, and then slackened with an aggrieved rolling of eyes. "You two really are pathetic, utterly pathetic," The scorn didn't ring true, her words sounding more aching than angered.

Lila nuzzled against Chloe, "They'd be more useful alive, so long as they keep their mouths shut."

"Hmm, I suppose," Chloe tilted her head and zeroed her gaze in on Felix again even as his mother hugged him close. "Keep this in mind going forward, if anyone finds out I have this," she motioned to the Miraculous on her lapel. "Then I will blame you.”

Her tone grew heavier, “I don't care if Kagami and Marinette somehow uncover and try to steal it, I will blame you. I don't care if Adrien figures it out I have it because his dad has almost all the others, I will blame you. I don't care if the magic stops working and everyone can see it's me. I. Will. Blame. You!"

She held her fingers up again, ready to snap, "& I promise, the fallout from that will hit your head Felix, long before it hits mine? Understood?"

He swallowed, but along with his mother nodded, "Understood."

She held a hand up to her ear, "Understood who-" She hummed. "Hmm, actually, what should I call myself? I need something beyond a queen, but Empress Peacock sounds stupid."

Lila was evidently quick on the up-take and suggested, "Imperatus, a term tying to the great emperors and empresses of Rome."

Chloe smirked and tapped the fan to her chin, "Oh I like that, Yes, Imperatus Peacock, that can work."

Finally, Felix found his voice and despite his mothers subtle beckoning said, "Chloe," he grimaced at the dual glare that met him and corrected,"… Imperatus, if you go to Gabriel with that he will just steal it."

Chloe let out a shriek of laughter, "Go to Gabriel!? Go to Hawk Moth who turned my brain into his personal playground until it was little better than play dough? No, I'm not going to give this to Gabriel. I am going to use it to make an army of Senitmonsters and have them rip that simpering, back-stabbing, wretch, limb from limb!"

Her voice echoed and resounded off the walls, the air around her suffused with energy before Chloe forcibly composed herself. With that she scooped Lila up in her arms and added, "but first, breakfast, I am famished!"

With that she leapt into the air and kicked her way through a window before leaping into the early morning light.

Felix flopped to the ground against his mother, his whole world turned upside down in mere moments, and only three words seemed fitting.

"What the hell?"

Duusu came back into being on a rooftop somewhere, the city was not yet awake even if their new holder was, stalking around both the Kwami and their newly minted manifestation.

Duusu looked over the new Sentimonster of rage and dread, it was a black and yellow creature, with red eyes, purple sclera, and a physical form akin to that of a gorilla but stretched too long and made too sharp. It was equipped with a massive jaw and subtle spikes along its hulking frame.

It was also barely thirty centimeters tall.

"Young Mistress," Duusu greeted politely, bringing the blonde to a stop as her jumbled emotions solidified behind several walls of pride and vexation.

"Ah yes, Duusu wasn't it? How do you take your meals?"

"I am partial to sweet and sour candies if it pleases you!"

The blonde nodded and pulled a small roll of sweet smelling breath mints from her purse, "I'll find you something higher quality later, Lila's apartment is swarming with reporters so we can't go back there and we need to work on making more Sentimonsters anyway."

That stopped Duusu from taking a second bite and gave time for the second mass of emotions to close the distance, bringing with her warm beverages and pre-wrapped snacks.

"Before you complain, the only thing open at this ungodly hour are vending machines," She passed a cringing Chloe her snacks and then leaned against the blonde. Breathing in her scent, Lila was sending waves of confusion and contentment in equal measure, along with a subtler mix of desire and greed.

"Where are your hands traveling?" Chloe intoned, not quite suspicious or amused but a secret third thing.

"Mine?" Lila crooned, letting them run over Chloe's chest, down her hips and snaking around her back, "Nowhere special, don't you trust me?"

Chloe scoffed, "No, I don't, it's what I like about you. I know what to expect."

There was a moment of stark shock running through Lila that was quickly engulfed as she nuzzled against the blonde’s neck, "Then this relationship might just last!" She purred.

Chloe's own emotions roiled, relief but not joy, control but not satisfaction, this was not love by any stretch. Duusu wanted to shake his head but held their tongue and let the little tit for tat continue.

"I recognize this one, it's... Smaller," Lila hummed, almost teasing as she refused to budge from where she had glued herself to Chloe's side.

"It is, but that can change, show her." Chloe's instructions were met with the Sentimonster letting out a tiny roar before slamming both fists against the roof, the force fed back into its frame and it swelled in size and strength.

"Oh it's a grower, not a shower, how clever!" Lila cheered.

"Ugh so vulgar, but yes, it's much better than that one Gabriel made me. I think you deserve a more fitting name no? Seeing as you'll be taking down a monarch, how about Recigider? Regina for short." The Sentimonster thumped fists against its chest and roared in approval. "Perfect, you'll be the one to lead my army on Gabriel's rancid little compound."

"Young Mistress," Duusu intoned gravely as they swallowed the last of their mint, "as much as I too wish to see the Monarch fall, I must warn you there are limits to this power."

"Limits? Since when?!" Chloe groused, rage and offense cloaked a bone deep fear.

"Since you do not have the Butterfly to help supply you with excess energies or trans-formative properties, the Sentimonsters will be purer and far more reliant on ‘us’ alone to work."

Chloe stared, blinking in a slow, uncomprehending manner before beckoning them to elaborate.

"Young Mistress, the variety and flexibility of my emotional manifestations was born from my union with the Butterfly. Without its powers, You will only create either weak Sentimonsters from minor emotions, or identical Senitmonsters, with perhaps slight variances based on your emotional state."

He could already see the wheels turning in her head and pressed on.

"What's more, a Sentimonster like this is akin to a familiar of myth, it directly connects to the Amok and to you. It draws a degree of vitality from you, that is what makes them such ideal protectors. But having too many can exhaust you. The strain can be lessened by using others as a basis for the Senitmonster but only if they keep the Amok and even then, there are limits..."

Chloe was gritting her teeth, rage bubbling inside her. Regicider began slamming its fists to the roof, roaring and swelling in size until Lila short-circuited Chloe's emotional episode with a kiss. Regina froze, as if Blue-Screening, Duusu had once heard it called. Chloe was not much better before shaking her head and taking several deep breaths, almost drinking in Lila's scent and... Not being soothed, but calmed at least.

Chloe pulled back, confused at her own actions even while Lila hung on equally confused but lost in her own hazy thoughts for the moment. ‘How queer,’ the Kwami mused.

Swallowing, Chloe looked to Duusu, "If that's true, how am I meant to take down Gabriel when he has all the other Miraculous? & don't tell me to team up with Ladybug and Chat Noir, that ship sailed!"

"Well Young Mistress, I believe the saying is, the right tool for the right job, You already have a fine war hammer-"

"But you need something sneakier first," Lila purred, "Think of it, something that could slip into Gabriel's little Parisian Palace and pilfer every power he has." A wicked smirk spread on her face, fear and revelry and ambition all mingling into a sordid soup. "Imagine making him as scared and confused as he must have made you and watching him twist in the wind, then finally crushing him."

Anger stoked and pride nettled, Chloe nodded, "Let's hope you're Akuma is as sneaky as you then." She reluctantly pulled away from Lila and marched over to her Sentimonster, the creature obediently handed back the Peacock Miraculous.

As Chloe fitted the jewelry to her jacket she added, “By the way, Duusu. Did Adrien know of his fathers schemes?”

“No, my former holders did not, as far as I know, inform him of their plans.”

Chloe frowned but nodded, “Very well then I guess I’ll leave him be, frankly he should be thanking me once all this is over. For now though. Duusu, transform moi!”

& Duusu was once again suffused with their new handler.

Even as magical power filled her form and enhanced her frame, Chloe felt tired.

She’d been sleeping terribly for weeks and since waking up from her untimely death hadn't slept at all.

A part of her was afraid to sleep, to relax enough to let go of even some of the simmering rage keeping her up. Afraid to wake up and see her mind returned to that hazy miasma from which fits of awareness had been all too brief. Maybe if she destroyed Gabriel she’d feel better, safer.

A quiet part of Chloe doubted it.

As the bursting light faded Lila was now visible to her again but in two layers, emotions and physically.

Technically three if the faint sense of cocoa powder on coffee was indeed Lila's scent but Chloe couldn't be sure she wasn't imagining that. & frankly she didn’t have the where with all to deal with the implications of that if it were true. The emotional spectrum was already too much to parse. A blend of desire and confusion, fear and hunger, cold withdrawal and almost primal intensity all at war with one another.

It was so different to how Aimilie’s love and Felix's fear registered so clearly and so strongly, almost overwhelming. In truth Chloe couldn't have killed them if she tried. 'Which just makes Gabriel being able to do what he's done even worse!' That righteous indignation clicked her mind back into gear and she sent her partner in crime a smirk, a single feather offered to her like a ring.

"Let's make a monster together~"

Lila faux giggled behind her hand, cheeks surprisingly vibrant as she revealed a fox-tail styled pendant, “So forward, but who could resist such a charming offer,” she purred.

With a sharp flick of her wrist, Chloe loosed the feather into the necklace. The amulet pulsed and shone, Chloe could feel it in real time as Lila's predatory hunger blended with cautious wariness sprung from her form and were shaped into the form of a looming fox.

Easily as large as a horse with one then several and then one again tails. Its colors were darker than Chloe thought foxes came in, a closer match to Lila's almost maroon hair and its features while vulpine had an unmistakably off lilt to them that belied an almost human structure and with it, intelligence.

"Oh you are beautiful, to be expected from our work," Lila cooed, stroking the beasts head which welcomed it with a pleased rumble.

"Refined looking certainly," Chloe squinted as she tried to interpret the waves of sensations as facts but Lila did the heavy lifting for her here as she tapped the necklace and the Senitmonsters began to blend into the surroundings until it was almost invisible, save if one knew where to look.

"Oh that's perfect, did you have a name in mind?" She asked as Lila trotted over to her, pleased as punch with herself.

"Vulpin-X, the hunter and thief of game in the king's forest."

"Very fitting," Chloe took Lila's hand and twirled the girl around, "And large enough to carry us wherever we want to go before we send them after our prey."

That peeked the other girl's interest, "What about Regina Regicider the first? She's rather... big," Lila leaned against her as she said that, appreciative hands running across Chloe's Miraculous enhanced shoulders.

"Regina, release," Chloe ordered and was obeyed.

The Sentimonster opened its mighty maw and unleashed a wave of golden energy into the sky, shrinking as they did so back to pocket sized where-upon it clambered up her arm to rest on her shoulder.

Lila chuckled devilishly, nuzzling Chloe's neck, "We make a perfect team, Gabriel won't know what hit him."

Chloe relished for a moment in the touch she had starved for from anyone for so long, even as a part of her tuned out how her own body felt like it should be responding more, differently. Her efforts to parse the blend of bafflement, lust, primal greed and genuine joy in Lila's mind was no simpler and she finally gave up as the Miraculous began to beep.

Regina obediently snatched it up and hid the magical item in its maw of steel.

Duusu reappeared and welcomed the remainder of Chloe's breath mints with a smile, while Chloe and Lila mounted up on Vulpin-X's back and Regina sat atop the foxes head alongside Duusu. As they took off across the roof-tops the pair discussed the beginnings of their plan.

"We can't go back to your apartment, it's been swarmed by my parents goons and reporters."

"Well we can't be too close to Agreste Manor, what if he senses the Peacock?"

"So we need somewhere to hide out."

"While Vulpin-X scopes things out."

Chloe smirked, "I know a place."

The fact that place was school and Lila was adorably huffy about it was icing on the cake, though it hardly stopped the brunette from leaning against Chloe as they both drifted off to sleep at their desk well before classes began.

Regina was safely hidden away out of sight in Chloe's bag and dozing like its master and Duusu, while Vulpin-X took to the streets of Paris, nothing more than a ghostly shimmer as it slowly made its way to Agreste manor as Paris began to wake on the dawn of a new day, in more ways than one.

Chapter 3

Caline Bustier arrived at work late, but she was hardly the only one feeling under the weather in the school alone. She’d arrived to find Olga fiddling with the keys and dabbing at her sweaty forehead along with several other exhausted looking staff members.

Caline could easily attribute her own symptoms to pregnancy and the utterly nightmarish day she’d had. For everyone else though… Well it was either a rapid and sudden flu on-set or maybe she was nott the only one miserably stressed by what happened the day before.

One of her students, yes one who had broken her heart a little, but still a child was struck down in a bloody display and Caline could, would never forget that horrific sight. But also the responsible one’s panicked and childish words, "I didn't- she was just- I thought- this was an accident!" said between sobs as her partner dragged away.

Chloe had never looked so terrified as when she was restored and Ladybug had never sounded so young and Caline... Caline didn't know what to do about any of it. Frankly it was all she could do to pull herself from her wife's cool and soothing presence because the kids might need her.

'If this sudden flu hasn't kept everyone at home,' she thought, passing by another teacher bundled up in three coats and shivering still.

Mind swirling as she tried to think about what to say about what transpired in the mayors office, everything came to a grinding halt as Caline opened the door to her classroom, "Chloe?" The name escaped her lips before she could stop herself at the spectacle before her.

Chloe and Lila of all people bundled up at one of the front desks and dozing atop one another.

Caline was frozen in place, genuine joy and dreadful uncertainty side by side inside her mind. Memories of trying to reach Chloe and failing, of what inspired her worry and the ensuing disappointment running wild. Let alone her own shame at being duped by the machinations of a fifteen year old in Lila and yet-

'They came here to hide, they are children, this is a classroom and... and I am their teacher.'

Resolve affirmed, Bustier stepped inside and despite her efforts to be quiet, Chloe shot up like a bullet, her bag rustling at her feet while Lila let out a keening whine and dragged herself up Chloe's body only half awake.

"Chloe I-" Bustier froze as Chloe's hand shot out.

The blonde stared her down intently, gaze strangely focused and familiar as she said, "Madame, I am glad to see you back," as if by wrote. "Yesterday's spectacle was... Unwarranted. I have not been myself for some time, and while it would have behooved you to notice, it was out of your hands." She swallowed, "I think it best that we try and run out the rest of this year in peace, no?"

Chloe offered Bustier her hand, with only a subtle sign of trepidation.

Bustier took it but did not shake, instead cradling Chloe's hands in her own.

"I appreciate you saying that Chloe and I just want to say how glad I am you're healed. I hope that we can both try for something better than merely passing the rest of this semester by, but any step forward we both take is a good one in my reckoning. Even if we stumble."

Chloe was watching her intently, her gaze flickered to her bag and back again before she squeezed back and nodded, "Well, let's see what the morning brings."

"Let's," Rising to her full height, Bustier added, "Now, can I fetch you girls something to drink?"

Adrien was exhausted, stressed and miserable, a far cry from radiant, carefree or dreamy.

He'd been lucky to have gotten any sleep the night before, not that it had lasted, anxiety and dreadful dreams of crimson red forcing him awake before even his father. Suffice to say, Adrien had opted against giving the man a pretext to keep him in and slipped out early.

Every day away from home might be his last after all.

Lingering anxieties about London, his fathers ever increasing ambitions and near mania were running in the back of his mind. But taking lead over them were the events of the day prior.

He knew, he finally knew Ladybug's true identity and it was Marinette, his girlfriend. He should be over the moon, it was everything he could ever want. To know that the person she’d been pining for so long had evidently been him? By all rights he should be ecstatic.

Save that he found out because a careless act of anger led to her accidentally killing someone. To that act being seen by millions. To her spiraling into a panicked tempest of guilt and dread, frantically trying to undo it and revealing herself to him in the process.

Adrien wasn't even sure Marinette realized she did it, he would have told her had he the presence of mind, would have confessed himself if he didn't fear it would only make things worse. Instead, after assuring himself Chloe survived he had to focus all his energy on keeping Marinette from fragmenting.

Hours spent cajoling, comforting and oh so carefully making sure she never had the chance to simply renounce guardianship to himself or Alya paid off with Marinette's memory still being intact if not her will. The Ladybug earrings now rested with Alya, convinced her friend had merely slipped up due to stress and sharing Chat’s view that Marinette should not, and frankly could not, surrender guardianship given how much knowledge would be lost.

He’d passed by the bakery as Chat Noir on the way into school and seen Marinette sluggishly being guided around by Alya. He could have gone in as Chat, but that would stress her. He could have gone by as Adrien, save he wouldn’t be able to explain himself.

So instead, he just left, and hoped he could see her soon.

Mind returning to the moment as Adrien walked up the schools steps, he remembered his first day, of all the expectations and hopes which had somehow both been fulfilled and others that had been left hollow as his mind drifted to Chloe.

His childhood friend turned... Not friend.

A girl who had been a constant companion until she wasn't, who his mental image of had shifted and broken over and over again across a single school year. Someone who he knew could be cruel, but also could never forget having stayed when his family fell apart and kept his head above water.

He had tried to find her, to call her, but it had amounted to nothing and if he had gotten through what would he have said, have done? He couldn't answer that question and a part of Adrien hoped he wouldn't need to find the answer just yet.

But it never rained when it could pour and as Adrien opened the door to class his feet felt like anvils as he saw Chloe and Lila of all people sitting on their desk. Lila practically snuggling up to a mildly perturbed looking Chloe as they both nursed warm drinks.

Both of them were also now staring at him intently, Lila’s expression one of mock amusement he was sure obscured annoyance. While Chloe’s expression fluttered wildly through an array of emotions he could barely place before she sculled her mug and returned it with a firm clink to the desk.

'Say something. There's nothing to say. Do something. There's nothing to do. I can't just do nothing!'

He tried to open his mouth but it tasted like bile and no sounds came out.

‘The girl I love killed her.’

It was an accident, he knew it was an accident, anyone with a brain could see it was an accident!

He looked at Chloe again, the image of her blonde hair matted and stained in crimson and gore-

Adrien looked away, a full body shudder overtaking him as he tried to quell the guilt and shame.

‘Did I cause it? I was upset with Chloe, I wanted her to just go away, to stop all this. Did my bad luck break the Ladybug’s good luck?’ Did he somehow will it to happen so he could consign his memory of her to a peaceful grave in his mind as he had done to his own mother?

Adrien tried to meet her gaze again, the memory of the day before, of the break, and the blood, and-

“Adrien,” Chloe finally said, her tone was… firm in the way cracking ice was hard and it forced him to look at her, as much as he could stand to.

“Chloe, I’m-”

She interrupted him, her words halting and stiff. “I apologize, for trying to get you thrown out of school, that was miss-spent effort at best.”

With that she met his gaze for a moment and then turned away, not huffy exactly, not even angry, not much of anything. Or more, too many things she barely seemed to be keeping under her skin as she glared a hole in the wall.

It was all so mundane and just… Strange that it actually buoyed him, for just a moment, long enough to finally gather his thoughts from the miasma of his mind.

“Consider it water under the bridge, things like that can come and go between us easily enough. I'm just glad you were healed after," he wanted to say accident, but settled on, "what happened yesterday."

She took his words and seemed to roll them around in her head before scoffing, "I seem to have a talent for drawing ire from powerful people."

The splatter of blood and brain was back, it all came rushing back to squash that small kernel of mundane relief. He wanted to say something, anything to quench the fire he could practically feel coming on, but he wasn’t Chat Noir right now. Who could ramble and amble and chatter through even the worst of circumstances.

He was just Adrien and he couldn’t find his voice.

So he retreated to his desk, faintly aware of Lila whispering In Chloe’s ear, lips trailing along tanned skin.

Chloe remained silent

Marinette kept her head down as she walked and tried to keep her ears closed. Alya, sweet, loyal Alya kept up a good amount of chatter on the most inane topics from their home-work, to the bakery’s goods. Even with her phone blowing up and doubtless endless drama and rage on the Ladyblog forums-

Alya bumped her hip against Marinette’s, “Don’t get lost in your own head now girl.”

Marinette swallowed, “Yeah, you’re right, I can’t lose focus for even a second, ow, ow, sorry!” Alya released her ear.

“Not what I said and going completely against what we discussed last night,” Alya pulled her into an over the shoulder hug. “You need to let yourself rest and re-calibrate.”

Marinette saw a flicker of bloody red out of the corner of her eyes and dug her hands deeper into her pockets leaning against Alya all the more, her words low.

“That’s easier said than done, especially with where we’re going, I mean, just imagine what everyone will be thinking and Chloe might be there! I mean I hope she’s OK, she is OK, I know she is but at the same time-”

“You’re not sure how to handle seeing her? I can’t say I get it like you did, but I get it. But hey she’s apparently still in the wind, so that’s… Something?” Alya ventured.

“Its worse!” She hissed. “At least when Chloe’s in front of me I’d know she was healed and could do something,” Maybe even say something but Marinette never got passed. I am sorry I killed you, I keep seeing it replay every time I close my eyes and feel really bad but it was an accident and you just make me so mad and I forgot I had super powers for a second and it was an accident but-

Alya gave her a companionable shake again and Marinette forced herself back into the moment as they marched up the steps and towards their classroom. Before they could go in however they were ambushed by Zoe and Sabrina, both girls looking as dreadful as Marinette felt.

Sabrina was flushed and pink and looked, frankly exhausted and like she’d been crying on and off. Ribs constricted against her chest in guilt. Zoe looked marginally better, her jacket was done up however and she looked pale and weary.

“Oh thank goodness you’re here,” Zoe murmured, “Are you OK? You look-” she caught herself and said “Under the weather,” while Sabrina fidgeted nervously at her side, be-speckled gaze drifting towards their class door and back again.

Alya spoke for her, “I don’t think a lot of us got much sleep last night, add in a cold and helping me cool down from ‘everything’ on the forums last night and we’re both kind of out of it.”

Marinette looked between the pair and filed in the blanks, “Chloe’s here isn’t she?”

Sabrina nodded, a choked sound escaping her lips, “She came here to hide even though she hates school. This is all my fault.”

Zoe wrapped an arm around the girl and pulled her closer, “Its not your fault everything’s a mess.”

‘Its my fault and I need to fix it, I just don’t know how!’

Every time she had tried to fix Chloe it blew up in her face, her mother, the macaroons, Queen Bee, the party, the movie! Did some of those even count? Marinette didn’t know anymore!

Perhaps seeing her spiral, Alya cut in, “Hiding, did something else happen? I mean, we saw your parents meltdown, are you OK?”

Zoe shrugged, “Its been… Enlightening. I really thought Andre was different than my mother, that he was just a poor guy she brow-beat into following her every whim.”

The, ‘& Chloe was spoiled as a result’ went unsaid as Zoe continued.

“But after seeing them tear into each other last night…” she bit her lip and shook her head, “Andre can look after himself. It seems like he’s good at that,” bitterness practically wafted off her words. “Trying to get him to find his recently revived daughter though? That was a no go and I gave up,” she shrugged and otioned at the redhead to her side. “I found Sabrina when looking for Chloe and we decided to pool our resources.”

Sabrina was hugging herself even tighter at those words, murmuring, “We should have kept looking.”

“Hey, we didn’t know she’d go to her of all people-”

“Well we should have-”

Marinette needed to stop the fight, “Well you tried,” her voice was cracking. “That’s the important thing, the effort spent, I’m sure she will appreciate that, probably, maybe. Definitely!” She stressed with as much enthusiasm as she could manage.

Both girls were looking at her strangely now, but even then their minds seemed elsewhere.

Marinette had to see inside that room, now.

She ducked around the pair and peaked inside only to start slipping under under her own discombobulation save for Alya grabbing her backpack. She pulled her back but not before Marientte caught sight of Adrien who looked so sullen it made her ill with dread. & more, saw Chloe, a rictus glare on her lips as she glared a hole in the wall. While snuggled up at her side like a viper coiling around its prey was Lila.

“Lila’s back?!” She nearly shrieked but kept it low, just a little, almost silent scream. “Wasn’t she expelled? Was she involved in what happened yesterday with the robots?” Could this all somehow be Lila’s fault, that would be nice, but Marinette wasn’t that lucky.

Sabrina and Zoe shared a mutual shrug before the redhead answered, “I don’t know, maybe, she’s done nothing but make things worse since she showed up and she still has her claws in Chloe.”

“Not for nothing,” Alya intoned gently, “but they were working together.”

“You don’t get it!” Sabrina rasped out, only stilling when Zoe clasped her shoulders and murmured something to the flushed face girl, who took several deep breaths. “You don’t though, I know, I know how people see Chloe, I know how… Intense she can be. But she never used to be… That intense. Not until Lila showed up.”

Zoe rolled her shoulders, “Apparently the closet was a new arrangement?”

The Non sequitur threw Marinette but Sabrina was building steam again, “We used to hang out, watch shows, play games, we were friends and things were actually getting even better for awhile. But then everything started going wrong, and this year turned into a nightmare.” Sabrina started sobbing again and basically collapsed against Zoe who looked equal parts worried, oddly used to it and put out.

Patting her back, Zoe added, “Look, I know you two don’t have any reason to like her but… I got a second chance at this school and well. If Chloe’s not run back to our parents yet, I think she might see what I do now. That mom’s not worth fighting for, her father can’t be trusted and that neither of them are people to imitate.”

Alya hummed, arms folded, “Well they did make asses of themselves, still are last time I saw the news, even Chloe could see that. But I’m not sure what you want us to do about it, we aren’t exactly Chloe’s favorite people.”

“We know,” Zoe assured, “But you two are brilliant and we thought you could maybe help us come up with a plan? I want to just go up to her and say like. Things can change, you can change, we can actually be sisters and not just our mothers imitators.”

Sabrina let out a hiccup, “I just want to tell her I’m glad she’s OK, but I don’t know if she’ll want to see me and… And…”

“You’re scared she’ll reject you,” Marinette murmured, entirely lost on what to feel. Her mind working in a dozen different directions as she tried to process all that and somehow not keep circling back tot he bloody affair that inspired it.

Zoe nodded, “There is that and with Lila there….I knew girls like her back in New York, even if Chloe sees how empty our parents are that liar still has her claws in my sister and will try and keep Chloe all to herself.”

Thing clicked into place, a solution, a plan, a something to do that could make things better!

Marinette grabbed both girls wrists and pulled them close, “So what you need is to get Chloe alone where Lila can’t trick her is what I’m hearing.” Both nodded uncertainty while Alya tapped her on the shoulder.

“Girl were we not just discussing how overwhelmed you’ve been lately, plus you and Chloe... There’s history there,” she finished uncomfortably.

Yes, history, years of bullying, resentment and a murder, but that was the past and Ladybug and not Marinette and this was something she could do, could fix, that maybe could make things better!

“Don’t worry Alya, this is-”

Madame Bustiers cheery voice cut off her thought., “Good morning girls,” Their teacher intoned gently as she stepped out of the door tot heir class.

“Madame,” Marinette’s voice may have cracked, “You’re back! I mean of course you’re back, I just mean its very good you’re back, I should ave brought you a cupcake!” Was she rambling it felt like she was rambling.

Bustier gently dabbed at her flushed brow and smiled serenely, “That’s quite all right Marinette, your enthusiasm is more than enough.” She looked to Zoe, “Ms Lee, I believe your class will begin soon, I promise to look after everyone in class, so you can rest easy and focus on learning.”

Zoe’s anxious expression and manner bled away like it was never there, “Thank you Madame,” she rested a hand On Serena’s shoulder, “I’ll be back when lunch starts.” Accepting a second clingy hug from the girl that both seemed unhappy to break, Zoe raced down the halls.

Bustier looked over them and gently patted Sabrina’s hair, “Alya would you mind showing Sabrina to her chair? I need to speak with Marinette for a moment.”

‘I’ve been had! Done-so! She’s knows!’ Marinette’s anxious mind screamed as she went stiff as a board, electricity short-circuiting her brain matter.

“Sure thing Madame, I assume you want to talk to Marinette about our returning redhead and recently resurrected blonde?”

Madame Bustier merely smiled placidly, an ever so subtle nod indicating Alya’s accurate assessment as she let the two girls pass her by before resting a gentle hand on Marinette’s shoulder.

‘This is about Chloe, who you killed, by accident but-’

“Marrinete, given everything that’s happened over… Frankly too long of a time, I understand if you will be uncomfortable with some of your classmates.” She gave Marinette’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, “I just want to assure you that Chloe insisted she intends to run out the rest of the school year in peace and that there should be no… Outside interference in our classes proper running and that. But if you have a problem bring it to me straight away, I will handle it, I promise.”

‘Oh, it was that kind of talk,’ Marinette’s anxious energy fled her body as swiftly as it arrived and she nearly felt like doubling over, her whole brain and body feeling fuzzy and tingly at the same time.

“Marinette are you feeling well?” Bustier asked urgently.

Perking up, Marinette grinned, “Just tired Madame and don’t worry I can handle Chloe,” Perhaps too well, or too terribly or not at all really.

Bustier squeezed her shoulder again, “You are a student its not your responsibility to handle these matters, leave it to me and just focus on yourself all right? You aren’t responsible for fixing every little thing.” She chuckled, “Leave some work for the rest of us OK?”

Marientte wasn’t sure if she could fix anything right now, but she did know that Bustier was wrong about one thing. It was Marinette’s job to fix things. She just needed to figure out how.

Still, she smiled warmly and answered, “Thank you Madam, I will keep that in mind.” -

Chloe’s sunglasses were a long time favored accessory.

Sturdy but stylish, they could be lowered strategically to protect from the bright lights obviously but also to convey everything from scorn to thoughtfulness if placed juuuust right. They also were large and dark enough that it was hard to tell exactly where she was looking.

An excellent way to avoid dealing with head-ache inducing eye contact, stare down a plunging neck-line but most of all, very helpful for eyeing Alya’s new accessories. The brunette gently guided Sabrina, Chloe felt her throat tighten at the sight but said nothing as Cesair led her towards one of the chairs at the back of the room. Chloe instead turned to the door, watching for Marinette’s arrival.

When the girl finally stepped through into class Chloe felt something dreadful un-clench in her chest at the sight of Marinette bereft her ear rings. Even as her nails dug into the desk as the flashing of a yoyo rolled through her memory, the last sound she heard before a crack and squelching of flesh and-

Chloe kept it bottled up and held back. Marinette and Ladybug could-

Lila was whispering in her ear.

“With your new power imagine all we can do to here,” she purred.

Chloe’s body vibrated at the other girls touch, sound and scent, but she kept herself still as ice, easy given her temperature felt like it was sinking with every moment even as something inside her roiled and ached.

Lila was still purring some seductive promise of petty revenge in her ear and Chloe stilled the brunette with a low rumble from her throat. Turning her attention ever so briefly to Lila she traced her fingers over her necklace and saw the Agreste Manor interior through her Sentimonster’s eyes.

“Don’t you think we have more important things to deal with than schoolyard feuds?” Lila pouted but quickly turned her attention back to the Amok with devilish glee.

Madame Bustier was beginning her lesson and Chloe forced herself to take a calming breath.

‘Her little cure did fix whatever Gabriel did to me, even if it was an accident that deserves a temporary reprieve from our little war.’ Once Gabriel was dealt with however Chloe knew there could only be a few ends to a war like theirs.

Treaty, surrender or mutually assured destruction.

It remained to be seen which they’d would pick.

NOTES:

I decided to finally say screw it and just publish it here and see what happens. There's a none virus version somewhere in my head too, but I kept bouncing between the cracky virus idea and the none virus version and didn't wanna write both and someone can use the framework from the virus AU for a none Virus one anyway.

#text post #fanfic #fanfiction #mlb #mlb fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous lb #miraculous au #chloe bourgeois #lila rossi #Crack taken Seriously #I get weird with this one fam #Chlolila

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yuri-is-online · 1 year ago

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Hi Yuri! Have you ever considered the idea of there being an alternate version of the twst boys in Yuu’s world? Since we have no clue if it’s just another planet or an entirely separate universe, it’s theoretically possible. Poor Yuu would think they are going crazy seeing a familiar face or hearing a familiar voice in another world. Perhaps it is even painful to the point Yuu tries to avoid interacting with the boy in question. - 🦐

(Also, I am well aware of how often I’ve been sharing these thoughts. If they’re annoying you or you don’t feel up to it, I don’t want you to feel pressured to respond or anything. I’m just spitballing and posting before I forget. 👉👈)

OH BOY DO I HAVE SOME THOUGHTS ON THIS!!!!! (first and foremost being that you are very much not annoying <3)

An alt version of a twst boy in Yuu's world is just so yummy. There's so much angst potential depending on what the relationship is/was. Did their boy die in some horrible accident? Is he waiting for them, anxious and terrified about where Yuu went? Does this imply that twst also has a version of Yuu somewhere out there in the world? Questions questions. I did sort of write about this idea in the tags of this yan version of the soulbound au, wherein a cursed Yuu driven insane by their curse kills their soulmate before being isekaid to Twisted Wonderland and finding a different version of him, horrified with the realization that they could kill him again... but I want to cook up some dynamics for what the dorm leaders/overblot boys could be up to in Yuu's world first sooo...

I had a hard time thinking about Riddle until I remembered he's a horse girl and cast Yuu in the role of bad boy ranch hand whose dad's got a job at the barn so they're forced to help take care of the horses and warn all the would be YA protags about the "special horse" who doesn't take orders from just anyone. Not that Riddle is the protagonist... he's more the well established rich petty bitch who looks down on the new girls and especially on you because you're never taking care of his horse in accordance with all his stupid rules. And in stereotypical horse movie fashion Riddle has a massive not so secret crush on bad boy ranch hand Yuu who just doesn't get why he keeps trying to talk to them.

There isn't much royalty left in the world, but imagine Leona as the son of some rich business magnate whose older brother got the company and left him with "nothing." Maybe Yuu works at a liquor store part time and Leona comes in to pick stuff up every once in a while. You wouldn't call him a friend, but you guys shoot the shit enough that you have a general feel for each other to the point he joins you on your breaks to keep up the talk and play chess.

I love the idea of student president council Azul. He's made for that trope. Born for it, he'd be such a terror with Jade as his VP and Floyd as well. Floyd. I can't see him really being a part of the student council but I had this idea the other day based off this instagram post I saw about this mom who sews right? Her daughter was running for class president and she made these bracelets with little shrimp on them and attached them to cards that said "Keep it shrimple! Vote for (kid's name)!" And I was struck with this vision of Yuu doing that so like. Yuu running against Azul with that campaign slogan and he's tearing his hair out over it being so popular because people like memes (the original idea had Floyd running as Yuu's vp but they both dropped out at the last minute because neither him or Yuu wanted to do the actual work lol.) I also like student council president Azul and delinquent Yuu... but that's because of Tsuredure Children ha

Kalim and Jamil are hard... but I think the same set up of rich businessman's kid and his bodyguard in training still fits. How Yuu meets them is beyond me, but if you were friends with either of them could you imagine how painful seeing the same tragedy play out in this new world would be? Jamil doomed to always be a servant and Kalim doomed to be betrayed by his best friend... that would be so painful for someone who cared deeply about either of them I could see it motivating Yuu to try and resolve things for twst Jamil and Kalim that much harder.

Ok so hear me out... Vil still wants to be an actor in your world but he doesn't have the connections to his dad and is working as a pharm tech with Yuu at your local drugstore while going to school and hunting for gigs. He mentions being interested in cosmetics and magical pharmacology in game... and he also mentions knowing nothing about his mom so like. Your world Vil ended up with his mom instead of his dad and you get to see him on the cusp of his big break as one of his number one supporters from the very start, only to get isekaid to a world where you get to see what things could have looked like. It's strange how similar and yet not both versions of Vil are...

Idia is the guy who comes in to buy snacks at your convenience store during the night shift who you start talking to when you notice him buying a game time card for something you also play. You're stupid awkward around each other at first, but it's nice to finally have someone to talk about your niche interest with once you've passed each other's sniff tests. You don't actually know him know him though... so getting sent to another world where there's another version of him makes you worried the more you learn about his backstory that maybe you should have been there for your Idia more. Is he doing ok back home? Did he think of you as a friend? You hope he isn't blaming himself for any of this...

Malleus is an old money trust fund baby whose family was absolutely royalty at some point and is still overly attached to it. He likes old buildings, cemeteries, long walks in the fog, you know all those good goth things. He's tall and socially awkward and so grateful for you, his first and best friend who he met one moonlight night he swore was a dream in his favorite abandoned building who spoke at length with him about all sorts of things he liked. So you know. More or less the same. Just without the world ending powers... I think this is another one that would be quite sad. Which version of Malleus needs Yuu more? Which one is the real one? I'd hate the idea of him being destined to always be lonely and lose the ones he loves.

As for Yuu avoiding them... I could see that. It would feel weird seeing someone you love so much only for it not to be them at all. I know that the Lovebrush Chronicles kiiiiind of deals with this??? I wish I had the patience to play through it has an appealing glasses wearing ro but it's a mobile otome :/ but still. It's a concept I promise I am totally normal about.

#twisted wonderland x reader #twst x reader #<3 asks #shrimp annon #riddle rosehearts x reader #leona kingsholar x reader #azul ashengrotto x reader #kalim al asim x reader #jamil viper x reader #vil schoenheit x reader #idia shroud x reader #malleus x reader

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martialartslover7 · 7 months ago

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Headcanon time: I feel like, during the Blank Period, we should have had the Daimyos as the new major antagonists, backed by Orochimaru and Kabuto, whom they had struck a deal with, as, ever since Naruto and the Shinobi Alliance managed to put an end to Madara's ambitions, and now that Orochimaru is back, now, they fear for their position, and to keep it that way, they "have no choice anymore, but to strike a deal with the enemy". Because we all know, Naruto is no longer uninformed. Most of what happened to him, along with the likes of Sasuke, Hinata, Neji and Gaara, only happened, because these withered, old fools, enjoy playing god, whenever it suits their convenience. Pretending they are above everyone else, even the Kage, yet doing little to nothing to ensure that the villages stay safe. And the worst part, they knew, they KNEW, that what a scumbag like Danzo was doing, was endangering everyone. So even if they weren't proactively supporting him, they still didn't ask questions, meaning, deep down, they really don't care what happens to their own villages, as long as they stay in power.

Kinda reminds me of real-life politicians. They have no principles, no integrity, they just make empty promises, and never act in the name of the people that voted for them, knowing full well, options are limited. Take that piece of knowledge for what you will.

And yes, I know, by this point in time, after the war, someone like Naruto and Sasuke would be way too strong, making these old farts appear like ants going up against dinosaurs, but here is the thing: This arc is less about raw aggression and fighting, and more based on psychological warfare. Naruto wants to become Hokage, right? Like, what is the driving force behind this story arc, the overarching goal? Simple: Naruto will not accept becoming Hokage in a system, that treated people like him, and Gaara, Kakashi, Might Guy (R.I.P.), Anko (don't @ me, she is buffed to hell in my AU, and has way more screen presence, she deserves it, even now making use of the Snake Sage mode, using Wood Style jutsu, and bearing the Kusanagi sword), Tsunade or Sasuke, like dog water. And this said system, is mostly backed by the Daimyos, the same people who never once thought to stop someone like Danzo from going on his insane ego power trip.

And we also know, Naruto is not type of person to be exactly interested in handling politics in a boring and straight-forward way. He will be leading this revolution, overthrowing the feudal rule, by hosting a "tournament" of sorts, a televised event, which, in their time period, will also livestream online (you cannot tell me, they didn't have internet of some kind there, even though, limited, because of the villages being practically militarized dictatorships, because of the Daimyos), to pit specific shinobi against one another, hoping to both entertain the crowd, to get them on his side (this is also a pro-Naruto political campaign, making the acceptance for his role as Hokage way easier in the long run), and publically humiliate the Daimyos by basically showing off to them: Hey. These people. These proud shinobi. They have made it so far, despite all your restrictions and the scrutiny you put them all through. And they made it big, despite you guys laughing in their faces.

But also, this trip to the Daimyos, will be financed by all the Five Kage, meaning, they can all indulge in some luxurious hotel stays, hot springs, good food, in short, their credit cards will be on fire. And Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru get to spend some time alone with their ladies, to some champagne and warm bubble baths, with room service (*Ahem* insert 'Careless Whisper' by George Michael *Ahem*).

youtube

C'mon. After all the crap they went through, they deserve some peace and quiet, and if they were going to change the system, they might as well make the most of it, if it's all financed by the village leaders.

And note, the following people will be following Naruto on this journey:

Kakashi

Anko (by this point in time, she and Kakashi are married, and she plays the role of Kakashi's advisor, too)

Sakura

Sasuke (he will be joining up with them in the city)

Rock Lee

Tenten (in my AU, remember, like I have shown in my "Tenten's Untold Backstory" one shot, she is a techwiz in that version of the story, meaning, having a technician with you, and a weapon master, all at the same time, invalueable, and well, I love the idea of Naruto and Tenten being the braindead besties, don't @ me)

Hinata

Shikamaru

Gaara

Temari

Kankuro

Killer Bee

Kurotsuchi (she came by herself, because she is growing a little exhausted with her grandpa, sorry XD)

Mei

Chojuro

Karin (Naruto and Karin will FINALLY meet and get the chance in learning more about one another, two Uzumaki foxes, flocking their tail as one, yay)

Suigetsu

Jugo

And the battles that Naruto has organized for the PPV, are the following:

- Naruto VS Ai (The Orange Flash VS The Raikage)

- Hinata VS Sasuke (Bankakyo VS Mangekyo)

- Rock Lee VS Gaara (Rematch)

- Tenten VS Killer Bee (Weapon Master Duel)

- Temari VS Chojuro (Fan VS Sword)

- Shikamaru VS Kankuro (Protective Brother VS Sister's BF)

- Sakura VS Kurotsuchi (The ladies, whose punches feel like dynamite)

As you can see, as Movie Shadow would say:

But well, again, because of the Daimyos striking a deal with Orochimaru, things will not go as planned, and pure chaos will break out. Essentially, that snake man will suggest to them, a machine, built from the stolen blue prints that Tenten created (yup, she will be that vital in the story, she is the only one who can stop this machine), that shall spread madness all across the globe, until the entire planet is enveloped in a mist, so deep, humanity will be wiped out completely, succumbing to the madness from within. Following up on the trauma and scars that Madara and Obito have left behind. It's not exactly clear, that part, I still need to flesh out in my mind, but the fact remains, it's meant to be this one final hurdle of a story, until Naruto returns home, and can finally start applying for the ranks of Chunin, Jonin, and at last, the Hokage position, in peace. Giving Anko and Ibiki full clearance to do whatever they want with the arrested Daimyos, for having struck a deal with an S-rank criminal.

And just this once...

...Naruto will be landing in a very miserable situation, where this madness machine affects him the most, out of everyone, even worse than Sasuke, as Kabuto will be pulling a very nasty trick on him. Yup, Naruto is definitely colder in this story, rightfully so, for many reasons. Usually, that's Sasuke's job, but they switch places here, as soon as Orochimaru starts causing trouble.

Peace.

P.S.: Also, for the shipping freaks among all of you, during this entire trip, Mei is flirting with Shino through her phone. Yup. Shino X Mei. Thank the YouTuber @NCHammer23 for giving me this downright MENTAL, but ingenious idea. Shino is a "granny chaser" in my AU. Don't @ me. For context, here is the video, where he explains it all, and trust me, very rarely, do YouTubers win me over, but this one, made me both laugh, but also smile at the end. Shino also deserves some love.

And again, Neji is alive in my AU, so Tenten will be very lovestruck and make a lot of phone calls with him, who decided to stay back at the village, along with the others from the Konoha 12, just in case the Daimyos decide to stab them in the back and attack the villages, while the leaders are out of town.

youtube

Note: The part between Shino and Mei starts at about 17:39.

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slaymitchabernathy · 4 months ago

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Family First

“Mr. President, over here!”

“Mr. President, a quick word please!”

“Mr. President, what are your thoughts on the upcoming elections?”

Coriolanus has grown used to ignoring these pestering questions. Especially when walking to his front door.

These pesky reporters haven’t let up since the day he moved into the Presidential Mansion, waiting outside the front gates, desperate for something juicy.

As if he’d ever answer them.

They can’t get through the fence but their words certainly can, their annoying questions about things that don’t truly matter in the grand scheme of things.

He’s got much more important things to worry about today.

He has to address the nation.

Riots have been breaking out across the Districts, causing shortages of food and supplies in the Capitol. If he doesn’t get things under control they might have another war on their hands. And he can’t have that.

Coriolanus nods at the two Peacekeepers stationed outside of the side entrance to the Mansion, a less impressive one yes, but easier to walk out of compared to the front door where everyone is watching.

He steps inside the Mansion and is immediately greeted by Eudora Trinket, his trusted coordinator who hopefully, has whipped something up for him to say to all the citizens of Panem.

“You’re terribly last minute with these things, you know that don’t you?” She asks as they briskly walk down the great hall towards one of the many conference rooms they have in the Mansion.

Coriolanus merely glances down at the middle-aged woman who is always sporting a new colored wig with eyelashes to match. She keeps him on task so he doesn’t comment on her fashion choices.

“Do you have a speech?”

Eudora scoffs, whipping out a stack of notecards, “Do I have a speech? Of course, I have a speech Coriolanus. This isn’t amateur hour!”

Coriolanus takes the cards from her, glancing over the prepared lines she’s written for him. They seem good, strong, and authoritative, not leaving any room for argument.

“Let’s just hope everything’s ready,” he mumbles as they walk into the largest conference room they have in the Mansion, already occupied by all his advisors and several diplomats whose jobs are all currently on the line for letting this happen.

They said they could handle it. Now he has to clean up their mess.

Coriolanus makes his way to the podium, a camera already positioned in front of it, ready to roll to the entire nation at his command.

Coriolanus grips the edges of the podium, reminding himself to breathe. Eudora says he’s going to get gray hairs before he turns thirty but running a country can be stressful.

He glances around the room and finds the one person he truly cares about it missing.

But there’s a good reason for that.

Ten years ago, Coriolanus met the love of his life, Soarynn Nightingale.

He knew from the moment he saw her that she was the one for him, no questions asked. He courted her, learned about her, and fell in love with her. They got married right after graduating from University and right before he began his campaign to become the youngest President of Panem.

She had supported him through everything, the hardships, and the victories. And just when he thought she couldn't possibly give him anything else, she gave him a daughter. Ceraphina Snow was two years old and the apple of his eye. With her golden curls and eyes identical to her mother's, she had him wrapped around her little finger.

He didn't get to see her as often as he liked, spending most of his time working on keeping this country under control but he cherished every moment he had with his baby girl.

He listens to the sound of quiet yet stressed whispers throughout the room, all from men who might be fired by the end of the night. They all look so pathetic in their seats, nervously looking at him before looking back at each other, trying to shift the blame off of themselves.

Coriolanus stares back down at the podium, looking at the cards Eudora wrote for him. He usually prefers to write these things himself but he was pulled out of a meeting to do this. This was a dire circumstance it seemed.

A hush falls over the room and he glances up to see why.

Soarynn is finally here.

She looks jarred, like she was just sleeping which she probably was, she's been more tired lately but there's good reason for that. His eyes zero in on his darling daughter who's hugged to Soarynn's hip, curiously looking around at all these men who will be jobless by the end of the night.

Her eyes finally find his and Ceraphina lets out a shriek of excitement, "Daddy!"

Coriolanus can't help but grin at how cute she is, reaching out for him. Soarynn is quick to quiet down their child, bouncing her up and down for a moment. She looks beautiful as always, with her hair pinned up while wearing a green dress, flowy and flattering.

He feels so bad about dragging her into this at the last minute but as President of Panem, it's important that his family is always seen by his side.

Soarynn gives him a small smile before nodding at everyone who stood up the moment she stepped into the room, silently telling them to sit down again. They do and several men let out sighs of relief as if an ounce of kindness from Soarynn can save them from a lifetime of wrath from their employer.

Soarynn takes her seat next to Eudora, to the immediate right of the podium and Ceraphina immediately reaches out for Eudora, most likely to touch her eyelashes which have always fascinated their daughter since the day she was born.

Eudora who claims to not like children gives her hand a little squeeze before she turns to look up at Coriolanus and give him a nod to go ahead. It's time.

The room falls silent once again and the nation's anthem begins to play, the cameras begin to roll and Coriolanus begins to speak directly to the camera, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

"Over the course of the past six weeks, rebels have been wreaking havoc in the Districts, disrupting production and challenging those who are above them." He eyes his advisors who are nearly on the edge of their seats. "But I am here to put an end to these foolish attempts to disrupt what we know to be a great nation, rich with resources that are so gladly provided to the citizens of the Capitol."

Ceraphina tugs on Soarynn's dress, already tired of sitting still while her father talks.

"Starting today, all working District citizens will be given four additional hours of work to make up for lost production time. Those who have been detained for inciting riots will be executed."

A few eyes widen at his words but Coriolanus means every bit of them. If they let these rebels live, they'll spread this ideology to other people until the Capitol is left with Districts full of rebels and roaches.

"Let me be clear, we do not tolerate rebels in Panem, we will not ever tolerate rebels in Panem. This way of thinking will get you nowhere, it will only harm those you wish to help. We are a great nation that will rise together out of the ashes that these rebels have so foolishly created. Panem today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever."

The camera cuts off and Coriolanus is met with words of praise from every man in the room.

"Excellent speech sir."

"They won't dare to try and cross us now."

"Wonderfully said Mr. President."

He'd kill all of them right now if there weren't ladies present.

"Tonight we'll have a meeting to discuss further plans," he tells them, "eight o'clock." Then at nine o'clock, he'll start hiring new men to take their places.

He steps down from the podium and is greeted by Ceraphina beaming up at him, a big smile on her sweet little face. "Daddy!" Coriolanus grins down at her, unable to ignore her sweet nature, "Hello my darling, were you sleeping with your mother before you two arrived?"

Soarynn sighs and brushes a stray curl out from Ceraphina's face, "We were having very pleasant dreams before we found out that you'd be addressing the nation and threatening to execute half of it if things didn’t start to shape up.”

Eudora hums and gives him a sharp poke, “I don’t believe I mentioned anything about executions in my speech,” she hisses but Coriolanus ignores her, taking Ceraphina into his hold and pressing a kiss to her cheek. She thinks the world of her father, even if he is sometimes a heartless man, and he’d like to keep it that way.

“Sometimes we have to do hard things,” he tells both women, blowing a raspberry against Ceraphina’s cheek which makes her tumble into a fit of laughter, “Daddy no!”

Soarynn watches the sweet sight with a small smile on her lips but he can tell she’s still exhausted, probably more so after hearing that speech, “We’re having lunch if you’d like to join us,” he offers, already knowing she’ll likely decline.

Soarynn shakes her head and rests her hand on the side of his face, a gesture she’s done at least a thousand times to comfort him in times of stress, “I wish we could darling, but we’re both rather tired today, aren’t we Ceraphina?”

“No Mommy,” Ceraphina says with a shake of her head, curls bouncing, “lunch with Daddy.”

Coriolanus presses another kiss to his daughter's cheek before handing her back over to his wife, "Next time my darling," he promises Ceraphina, "you'd be terribly bored anyway."

Ceraphina pouts but doesn't cry, at two years old, she's already quite well behaved and Coriolanus has Soarynn to thank for that. She's been quite involved in raising their daughter, causing her to be oh-so-sweet and polite to all she comes across, just like Soarynn.

Soarynn hums, brushing back Ceraphina's curls, "He's right darling, we'll have much more fun upstairs." Ceraphina doesn't look too convinced but Coriolanus is already being pulled in another direction by one of his trusted advisors, Quintus Heavensbee, someone who will not be fired tonight.

"Actually, it might be good for people to see all three of you together," he suggests in a hushed whisper, eyeing Soarynn for a moment, "or all four of you." Coriolanus rests a hand on Soarynn's stomach, just starting to show signs of pregnancy at five months which has only led him to be more protective over her.

He's kept her away from the news and media as much as possible, wanting her to have a calm and quiet pregnancy with their second little girl but it seems that duty comes before desire sometimes.

Before he can suggest something else that doesn't involve the love of his life, Soarynn cuts in with that sweet smile of hers, known to calm down the most tense situations, "A few minutes in front of the cameras couldn't hurt darling," she says, "it's our job to speak directly to our people."

Coriolanus bites the inside of his cheek, sometimes he wishes she weren't so selflessly devoted to this country and its well-being. From the beginning, Soarynn has always been the perfect First Lady, speaking at events, shaking important hands, and always knowing just what to say.

"Five minutes," he decides, giving both Soarynn and Quintus a knowing look, "I still have a lunch to attend." He also doesn’t want Soarynn to exhaust herself but he keeps that to himself.

Quintus smiles, pleased that Coriolanus agreed to his suggestion so easily and Ceraphina smiles too, excited to be with her father for a little longer. "Daddy carry me," she reaches out for him again. He can hardly deny such a request and takes her from Soarynn, "Best manners Ceraphina," he reminds her as they make their way out of the room and down the hallway.

The reporters are still outside waiting for him once they walk through the side entrance, sticking their hands and cameras through the iron fence that surrounds the entirety of the President's Mansion.

Coriolanus rests one hand on Soarynn's lower back while the other holds Ceraphina to his hip. A group of Peacekeepers surround the Presidential Family while they walk to the front gates of the Mansion and Coriolanus hates every second of it. He wants Soarynn inside, away from all of this.

"Mr. President, how do you plan to follow through with your threats of executions?"

"President Snow, by how many weeks will you continue to increase the District's workload?"

"Mrs. Snow, what do you think of your husband's brutish threats towards those in the Districts?"

It's the last question that makes his nostrils flare so of course it's the one Soarynn chooses to answer. "I trust in my husband's ability to keep our country safe and under control," she answers in a calm tone, the same one she uses whenever Ceraphina gets fussy, "the Capitol wants everyone to stay safe and riots endanger everyone."

Quintus lets out a grunt of approval, even Coriolanus is impressed by her answer, short and to the point and above all, praising the Capitol. Ceraphina kicks her feet, bored already, "Mommy, I want to go play!"

Coriolanus quickly quiets her down with a stern look, he can't afford to have her say something contradicting, "Mr. President, when can we be expecting your second child?" Perhaps Ceraphina's small outburst can help shift the conversation elsewhere, he wraps his arm around Soarynn's waist, pulling her into him.

"Our precious little girl will be born in four months," he says proudly, "we're overjoyed with healthy reports on her growth and can't wait to strengthen and expand our family."

Soarynn leans into him, resting her head on his shoulder and the cameras all start flashing, capturing the sweet moment between the President and First Lady.

"Do you have any names planned?"

Soarynn smiles up at him, "We have a few ideas," she says, "but we still have a while to go."

Ceraphina reaches out for her mother and Soarynn takes hold of her small hand, once again, causing the cameras to flash. "Thank you for your time gentlemen," Coriolanus says to the reporters, ready to go back inside, "we hope to see you again soon."

He wishes he could banish anyone from waiting outside of his home, desperate for a blurry photograph of him or his family but he can only do so much before raising concerns about his harsh behavior. Threatening to execute any rebels certainly hasn't helped his case.

"Excellent job sir," Quintus commends him once they're all back inside, safe from the cameras and prying questions. Coriolanus hands Ceraphina back to Soarynn, straightening out his tie, "They're relentless with the questions," he mumbles, shaking his head, "and they're not even good questions."

Ceraphina giggles when Soarynn tickles under her chin, momentarily causing Coriolanus to forget about his stressful job, he wishes he could spend the rest of the day with his girls but he can't.

"Any news is good news," Quintus reminds him.

Coriolanus doesn't quite agree with that way of thinking but he doesn't say anything against it, instead, he presses a kiss to Soarynn's temple, "I'll see you tonight darling," he promises her.

He tries to have dinner with his family but it doesn't always happen, especially on days like today. But Soarynn understands that, giving his arm an encouraging squeeze, "Don't work too hard Coryo," she says softly, pulling at his heartstrings. If Soarynn had her way, they'd be nobodies, happily married and living a quiet life in his old penthouse apartment.

She's been so devoted to him and his dreams that she sacrificed her own dreams of raising a family out of the spotlight. A small price to pay for a lifetime of happiness with him but he recognizes all she's done for him.

"I'll try," is all he says, pinching Ceraphina's cheek, "be good for your mother sweetheart."

Watching them walk up the stairs feels like parting with a piece of his soul but he pushes that soft part of him away, right now he needs to do his job and be the cold, heartless man people know him to be.

It's better this way, safer this way.

꧁ ꧂

Later that night after firing every man who caused him strife today, Coriolanus sits in his bedroom on the sofa by the fireplace. Soarynn is in the bathroom getting ready for bed and he's got a newspaper in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.

It's the perfect way to end the night.

Eudora threw the newspaper on his desk right before she left for the night. Fresh off the presses from their impromptu family interview this afternoon after he addressed and threatened the entire nation.

'President Snow is a Family Man' the headline reads.

He smiles at the photograph on the front page, Soarynn pressed to his side and Ceraphina on the other, holding each other's hands in a loving manner while Soarynn looks up at him so adoringly. He couldn't have planned it better himself.

He reads a few of the lines written about what Soarynn said, calling Coriolanus a President who puts his family first. Exactly. He's so glad the reporters can see it that way.

He’s more than pleased with how today turned out. He had been angry at first, angry at the men who made him look bad due to their own incompetence but Soarynn’s sweet voice seems to be the cure for everything.

He peers into the bathroom and catches a glimpse of his glowing wife dressed merely in her underwear, a hand resting on her baby bump. He smiles to himself, in a few months their baby girl will be here and they’ll be a perfect family unit.

Soarynn has truly given him so much, endless support, two children in about two years and she’s stunning on top of all of that.

The press can say all they want about him and so can people in the Districts for that matter. At the end of the day, so long as he has Soarynn by his side, he’ll always be known as a man who puts family first.

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sexhaver · 9 months ago

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What makes Jeweled Bird so bad?

first, some context: wayyyyy back in the stone ages when dinosaurs walked the earth and MTG first released, it was envisioned as less of a serious competitive card game people would explicitly try to minmax and more of a fun little diversion for your D&D group to play while you wait for Jared to get off his shift so you can actually start your campaign. this explains a lot of design choices that seem backasswards 30 years later. for instance, yes, Richard Garfield knew Black Lotus was unbelievably busted, but figured it was fine to print since it's not like people would do anything crazy like buy up hundreds of packs/hunt down singles on a secondary marketplace and play the game competitively for cash prizes.

one of the wackiest outcomes of this design philosophy was the concept of "playing for ante", an optional game mode/modifier where each player would begin the game by putting the top card of their library directly into "the ante", a pile of cards off to the side. whoever won the game won permanent, real-life ownership of all cards in the ante. basically "playing for keeps" but in a TCG instead of with Pogs or those weird tiny cardboard Beyblade tops that came in chip bags.

as you might guess from just reading that description, it was pretty wildly unpopular with most of the playerbase at the time and only got less popular as time went on. people didn't want to risk losing their cards, especially once the game became established and some of those cards were worth, like, actual amounts of money. and then there was the variance - it was entirely possible for you to ante up your only copy of an expensive card (meaning you were even less likely to win because now you can't draw it) while your opponent anted a basic land.

partially due to this, but mostly due to WOTC lawyers learning about the concept of "gambling laws" and WOTC PR learning about the optics of getting children into gambling, ante was officially removed from all sanctioned MTG tournaments very early into the game's lifespan (in fact i think this might have been enshrined into law before the actual first official tournament) and mostly memoryholed from the comprehensive rules, outside of section 407, which leads with this literal legal disclaimer:

there were 9 cards printed before this that explicitly reference "the ante" and do something unique to the cards in it. all of these cards have been errata'd to include the rules text "remove this card from your deck before playing if you're not playing for ante" and banned from LITERALLY ALL SANCTIONED FORMATS, including Vintage, the format whose entire appeal is "we never ban anything" (laughs in Lurrus).

okay so with the context out of the way we can start getting into why Jeweled Bird specifically is A Bad Card

first, the obvious: it's an ante card, which means you can't play it unless you're playing for ante, and if you ask anyone at your LGS to play for ante they will try to surreptitiously call the nearest retirement home to report an escapee from their memory care unit. so right off the bat it's quite literally unplayable as an MTG card (ante doesn't even work right in cube drafts, usually the last solace of jank-ass mechanics), which is not a great start.

now that we've established that ante cards are bad because they're effectively banned everywhere, let's assume we're living in some bizarro land where you've managed to convince a handful of friends to play in your personal MTG tournament bracket that allows ante. even then, all but one (don't worry we'll get to that one in a second) of the banned "ante cards" are just. unplayably bad. like absolute dogshit.

ok actually you know what i hadn't looked over all the ante cards in a while before typing up this post and now that i have i think Jeweled Bird is arguably the third or fourth best one out of the lot, and it's STILL unplayably bad in a modern context. it's effectively 1 colorless mana to draw a card, which is theoretically decent in some colors nowadays if you squint but would have actually been notably good back in its heyday. it actually gets pretty close to what WOTC was trying to go for with most of these ante card designs: you get a powerful effect (card draw for 1 colorless mana in an era when even blue had to jump through hoops for a rate that good outside of Ancestral Recall), but at the cost of adding something to the ante, but since the effect is so powerful, you should ideally be able to win the game off of it and completely negate the downside of adding your stuff to the ante.

you know what, fuck it, let's just go through the other ante cards from worst to best:

this card looks absolutely batshit until you get to the last sentence and realize it's effectively 6 mana to force your opponent to ante a card. if you spend 6 mana doing effectively nothing, you are not winning the game or that ante

this one is this low because in 99% of circumstances it's 10 mana over two turns to burn your opponent for 10. however, it takes the edge over Amulet of Quoz because 1. it just bypasses the ante zone entirely to literally steal the card directly, outcome of the game be damned 2. if your opponent has 9 or less life, they have to either let you steal their card or concede on the spot (which means they lose their ante) and 3. if i'm reading this ruling correctly you can set up the 9-or-less-life scenario with a TOKEN COPY of Bronze Tablet and give them a literal bar napkin with a doodle on it in exchange for their judge promo foil Elesh Norn:

so for 6 mana, you can heal yourself back to full at the cost of anteing an additional card. if that was all this card did, it would still be pretty bad, but the icing on this shitcake is that your opponent can just. also do that. but without spending their entire turn to cast a 6 mana spell. so now you're both on equal footing lifewise, but they have their entire turn to gain tempo advantage after you spent your turn healing them. and you gave them another one of your cards once you inevitably lose because of this. i guess theoretically you could run it in a super heavy control deck that aims to win via mill as a safety valve against aggro? idk man

this card effectively does nothing, but doing nothing for 3 mana is still an improvement over "doing nothing for 6 mana", "doing 10 damage for 10 mana over two turns", and "helping your opponent for 6 mana". i guess if you're really confident that your deck can win anyways (perhaps because of another card on this list) you could use this to force your opponent to ante another card for you to win? mostly this one is this high up here because "if the opponent doesn't concede the game immediately" is the funniest possible opening to a MTG card's rules text. like that's always true. you could add that to quite literally every card ever printed and it would change nothing other than making the game way funnier

okay so this is a three mana 1/1 with an ability that costs three MORE mana to activate that effectively just makes your opponent ante a card. i know it looks like it destroys and then literally steals an artifact, which would actually be a pretty good effect since it impacts the board (something none, but the entire thing is countered by anteing a card so that's what's gonna happen every time. at least this one can chump block

okay now we're starting to get into cards that at least make you think a little bit before deciding they suck (Jeweled Bird would go around here)

this scores higher than Timmerian Fiends for several reasons. obviously, a 4 mana 3/3 is a much better rate than a 3 mana 1/1, and the sac ability being free (other than a tap) makes it a lot more usable. the effect is even debateably good in red specifically: either it "draws" (literally legally steals irl) you a card, or it does 10 burn to the opponent's face. however, it does lose points due to the part where you, uh, have to give it away after using it once, win or lose. basically this is like Bronze Tablet but 6 mana cheaper and on a body that can actually theoretically do something. also lol at the "or conceding game" clause like Demonic Attorney, i really want to start seeing that wording on every card ever printed

now this might seem similar to Demonic Attorney at first glance, but the Oracle text makes it make more sense: "You own target card in the ante. Exchange that card with the top card of your library." notably, like Efreet and Tablet, this swap in ownership happens regardless of the outcome of the game, and unlike those two cards, you don't have to trade Darkpact itself for the card you're stealing. stealing your opponent's card out of the ante does mean that now both of the cards in there belong to you, meaning you have twice as much to lose, but hey, you just stole (and got to draw and cast, lol) your opponent's shit. "do what you must, i have already won" type beat

as powerful as Darkpact is, it's still only the second best ante card, and it is not even in the same zip code as the first best. ever heard of a little card named Ancestral Recall? draws 3 cards for one mana? and that's such a busted effect you're only allowed to legally run one copy in the one format it isn't explicitly banned in?

hahahahahahahahahaha holy shit sorry every time i remember this card i cackle at it a bit. what do you MEAN "discard your hand and draw 7 for 1 mana"?? discarding is an UPSIDE these days! people have unironically run One With Nothing, which is this card except for all the words after "discard your current hand". that "add the first drawn to the ante" bit might as well be flavor text because if you manage to lose after casting this then your deck was never even theoretically capable of winning in the first place. jesus christ.

#mtg

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psychicreadsgirl · 9 months ago

Text

Pick a Picture: What are your strengths?

Pick the picture that draws you most. If you can't choose between two, then look at both readings. This is a general reading so take what resonates and leave what doesn't behind.

Also, I just stupidly realized that pick a pile/card readings are all related to tarot. For clarification, I don't use tarot so there are no "cards" to share with you or read. I place a picture there for you to choose for an intuitive reading.

I stress again that this is a general reading so take it with a grain of salt. These readings are for fun and entertainment and if they're helpful to you, then great.

You are very resilient and determined. You are probably very independent and don't need much caring/hand holding.

You know what you want in life and generally have a plan to execute your goals/dreams.

You are pretty responsible and stay true to your words.

You are firm and you know when to stand your ground.

You excel in logic and probably are good with numbers/math/concepts/sciences. You are also probably good with directions and determining a strategy. You know how to solve problems.

You have strong leaderships skills. People will generally listen to you or follow you.

You have good communication skills. You know what to say to make people listen to you. You're persuasive and probably eloquent.

You are confident and people generally believe in you. You have a strong presence and are memorable.

Even if you're unsure of things, you know how to fake it till you make it.

You don't shy away from confrontation. You are fearless and courageous. You are protective and will stand for your rights.

You are a team player. You go with the flow and are pretty adaptable. You are sweet and cooperative. You are considerate and are attentive to details.

You are sensitive to other's feelings and generally people feel comfortable with you. You have strong empathy and people just feel like they can share their thoughts/secrets with you.

You are a good listener and have a lot of patience. You generally give good advice related to relationships/friendships.

You generally are quite lucky and things just easily come to you.

You are probably quite athletic. You excel in many sports or many activities that require the use of your body. You might possess strength like you can lift many things. Perhaps you are very flexible or you have great balance. You might also have great control of your body.

You can endure a lot. You can go through a lot of physical training or other training and not complain. Generally you won't really complain much it seems.

You have strong physical endurance. You have a lot of stamina and energy. It's very hard for you to get tired. You might even have too much energy that you have issue sleeping. You are the type that can pull multiple all nighters without caffeine.

You also probably don't get sick very often. If you do get sick, you recover very quickly. You'll notice that even with injuries, you recover very fast like maybe it'll take someone several days to recover from some physical injuries but it'll just take you like 1 or 2 days max.

You have a lot of creativity. You have interesting and unique ideas. You think outside the box.

You might fantasize a lot. You're very imaginative. You have a lot of innocence and naivety. You are very pure.

You are also friendly. People generally are attracted to you somehow. You have this aura that magnetizes others.

You can design a lot. You might excel greatly in the arts. If not, you are the type that can always give out ideas (i.e. you're in marketing and you create this very unique marketing campaign.)

It's possible that you have very vivid dreams too.

You're excellent at figuring out the truth. You know when someone is lying. Somehow you also just know things. Perhaps you are very intuitive or maybe psychic. You have a strong 6th sense.

You might have talent in the occult, including tarot, astrology, psychic reading, etc. You're very intuitive and are hyper aware of what's not known to the human eye.

You are very spiritual. You can connect with others spiritually. You often have profound insights or epiphanies.

You're good at spotting opportunities too. You can also be good at predicting.

#psychic readings #general readings #psychic reading #pick a picture #pick a photo #personality readings #personality predictions #predictions #psychic reader #psychic #intuitive #intuitive reading #intuition #divination #personality #strengths #psychic readers #free psychic reading

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zweiism · 22 days ago

Text

Devils advocate. P. Zweig

summary; patrick zweig is a fucking loser. a nuisance who only got to where he is cause of his wealth. you don't fall for his performance and you never will, he knows it. but has there been a shift between you two after a fight at one of his infamous parties?

patrick has an actual career, enemies to?????, lot of bickering between the both of you, spoiler they kiss, use of sweetheart

patrick zweig was rich. filthy fucking rich. the type of rich that turns heads, the type of wealth without a ceiling. His last name is imprinted on almost everything in the city. whether it be in the back of the stadium seats, or to churro companies. His tennis bag? custom-made crocodile leather, his rackets? strung by a personal technician flown in from switzerland. When other players traveled with gym bags, patrick zweig rolled in with a louis vuitton trunk and a team of assistants who handled everything from restringing his racquet to mixing his protein shakes just right.

Patrick zweig, was also an asshole. He walked like the world owes him something, wears designer like its second skin and go through girls like tennis rackets.

smashed one, picked up another, and never looked back.

patrick zweig didn't need to talk about his money, he is money. people bent to him, girls dedicate their lives to get a hello out of him, people didn't like him, they just tolerated him. Coaches kissing him up, journalists fawning over him, tournament directors made special exceptions for him. Patrick zweig didn't need to be good, he just needed to show up.

which makes him unbearable. Hes smug, arrogant, and always one step ahead because his last name paved the way. He'll flash that dumb smile of his, toss out a backhanded compliment, then pretends he's the good guy. But behind those designer shades and trust-fund charm is a fucking loser who couldn't get behind your skin if he tried.

The truth is, he doesn't even care the slightest bit about tennis. He doesn't chase after trophies, he expects them. everything about him is performative.

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There's about a hundred girls at the academy who dedicate their lives to being invited into one of zweig's parties.

Patrick spotted you after practice, leaning against the fence like he hadn't just skipped practice and showed up out of nowhere, wearing one of his designer sunglasses he got from a campaign he did a while ago. White t-shirt and blue jeans.

"hey." he said, like we were friends. like he hadn't spent the last two seasons pretending you guys weren't in the same league. "you doin anything tonight?"

money can buy you spots in the tennis world, but it sure cant buy class.

"no, why?" you ask, suspiciously

he reaches in his pockets to pull out a letter, or an invitation of sorts, and handed it to you.

gold lettering, over-the-top, and a cursive font that reads

'youre invited!'

you chuckle in disbelief.

"party at the mansion tonight." he said smoothly, "just wear whatever. lots of champagne and maybe a rooftop courts if things get fun."

you laugh in his face in shock. "and why would i wanna come to your party, zweig?"

"because i know you. i know how much you wanna see what the other side of life is like. what its like to exist in a world where everything is yours." he replies, and here comes his his im-better-than-you smile.

its unbelievable. it makes your blood boil. makes your lips curl up is disgust.

"im not like you, patrick, and i never wanna be." you reply, resisting the urge to spit in his face, rip the card apart, and walk away.

"no," he steps a little closer to you, voice low and annoyingly smooth. "but maybe thats why it'd be fun."

he turns and walks away, calling over his shoulder, "doors open at 9, dont be boring, L/N"

and just like that. patrick zweig was gone. leaving behind a trail of dior sauvage, ego, and a choice you didnt wanna admit you were actually considering.

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The party was already too loud, too gold, too fake, like someone took a movie cliche and turned it into a party.

sure enough, there was patrick, standing with his group of friends who all kiss his ass so he can open up new doors and opportunities for them. he spoke in a tone of boredom towards them, like he can sense the act they put up, which is ironic, coming from him.

patrick has a glass of something-overpriced in his hands, dressed in a suit specifically tailored to him, you can see his muscular build even while standing across the room from him.

he must've caught you staring, eyes landing on you, and the smirk following afterwards.

next thing you know he's strutting towards you.

"well, look at what the cat dragged in. i almost thought you would've thrown the invite away and never looked back." his tone full of sarcasm

"yea. maybe i shouldve done that instead." you replied, fire in your eyes.

he laughed. That arrogant, lazy, effortless laugh of his. "still got that fire in you huh? hows the training going? still hitting balls at the rundown community center or whatever?"

you clench your jaw. "still paying people to cheer for you?"

he leaned in towards you, voice a little low but still audible over the loud music. "No need, they cheer on their own when you're born a zweig."

"you know, money won't save you when you're across the net."

that wiped the smug smile off his for half a second, just long enough, then its back to his shit eating grin.

he shrugs. "we'll see. maybe i'll let you win this time."

and just like that, he turns and walks away, hands in his pockets, you can feel the all teeth smile even when you cant see him. he's already soaking up the attention of some girls that were definitely plus ones of others.

"who was that pat? was that your friend?" you hear a blonde chick whisper to patrick.

"nobody important, more champagne?"

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you decided after a couple hours of drinking and dancing that this wasn't really your thing. so you decide to leave.

The party behind you was still loud, and you could practically still feel the bass thumping. You of it, its too loud, perfume too thick, and you'd had enough of it all

you shoved pass the large mansion door out into the garden. cold air slapped your skin, sharp and welcoming.

Your hand shivering, rubbing up and down on your arms to prevent the cold to hit you any harder.

then you heard it. the sound of footsteps.

you didnt need to turn around and guess who it was to know.

patrick.

of course, he followed. because patrick zweig never lets anything go, not arguments, not games, and definitely not you.

"do you always leave before the fun starts?" he asked, voice low, still teasing.

you exaled sharply, partly because of the cold and partly because patrick zweig is really getting on your nerves. you dont bother to hide your irritation. "the fun left the second you opened your mouth."

he chuckled under his breath, "really? cause it seemed like you were really enjoying the dance floor." theres a beat of silence, before patrick zweig breaks it. "and its not what your eyes said 10 minutes ago."

you turned around slowly, jaw tight, eyes locked on his. "you really think everything is about you, dont you?"

he smirks, "no, just most things."

the silence between you two was electric, one waiting for the other to make a move. The kind of silence where neither of you know what to say.

finally you shook your head. backing away. "you're exhausting. zweig."

he didnt move, just called after you with his ego and confidence.

"you'll be thinking about me the whole ride home."

you stopped in your tracks. turning back.

and maybe it was the smirk, or the lights from inside of the party that flashes over your eyes, the lights that highlight patrick zweigs stupid perfect jawline. or just the way he looked at you, like he already knew what you were going to say next.

or maybe it was the cold getting to you. but something inside you snapped.

"patrick, youre fucking rich. why dont you spend that money on some slut to suck your dick for an hour."

he raised an eyebrow, then stepped forward.

it was his tactic. it was classic patrick. his signature move. he couldnt just talk, he had to be close. conflict had to be up close, personal, a breath away. nose to nose.

he took another step, slow and deliberate, and stopped just in short of touching you. the heat rolling off of him warmed you up, the scent of dior sauvage invading your nose. unmistakable and nauseatingly perfect.

he smiled, "and why," he asked smoothly, "would i have to pay..."

then he leaned in closer, tilting his head, you can almost feel his lips near your ear

"when there are girls out there," he whispered, "who'd do it for free?"

a sharp WHACK heard in the air, cracking like lightning.

your hand flew without warning, but the second your palm hit his cheek, he didnt flinch.

he smiled.

actually, smiled.

slow, twisted, like he'd been waiting for it. like he likes it.

his cheek bloomed red, but his eyes a hint of desire. like your just told him a secret you didnt mean to share.

"well," he murmured, voice low and thrilled, "there she is."

you stared, breath caught in your chest, shock, anger, something else.

patrick tilted his head, eyes locked in on yours. the grin still curling on the edge of his mouth.

"hit me again, and i might think youre into me."

before you could opened your mouth to deny it, or reply with a clever response. you never get the chance.

because patrick zweig leaned in.

and kissed you.

not sweet, not soft, just fire, reckless, fast, and messy. his hands caught your waist, pulling you into him like he'd been dying to do it all night. you should've pushed him away.

but you didn't.

you kissed him back.

hard.

teeth clashing, heat and anger all tangled together, like winning a match you didnt know you were playing. your fingers curled into his stupid expensive shirt, and his lips pressed harder. like he'd been wanting it, like hes been wanting you.

you hated this. you hated that he tastes good, hate that it felt good, and you hated that he knew it.

you pulled away first, patricks hand still on your waist.

his forehead rested against yours, breathe uneven, same smile still plastered on his lips.

"i knew it," patrick murmured, voice low and rough

you didnt move, or rather, you didnt want to.

your whole body tensed "knew what?"

"that you wanted to kiss me. that if i pushed hard enough, it would happen.

you look up at him eyes in shock, "i didnt want to kiss you."

he tilted his head, lips still swollen, cheek still pink from the slap.

"couldve fooled me."

you looked at him in the eyes, hint of doubt in them. "that kiss wasnt about want you." you hissed. "it was about shutting you up."

he leaned in even closer, voice dropping to a whisper. "then do it again. kiss me again. shut me up again."

you stuttered, breath hitching. because you know he meant it. he wanted it. and maybe, maybe you did too.

but you couldnt admit that. not here. not ever. not with him standing there like he'd already won.

so you laughed it off. "youre delusional."

"and youre a terrible liar," he shot back. eyes scanning your face like hes memorizing you.

tension coiled between the two of you.

you shook your head. "go to hell, patrick."

he gave a lazy shrug in response, "already there, sweetheart."

you turned around to walk away, you knew its for the best, you knew if you were going to stick around any longer, things wouldnt end well, patrick, would end up winning. and you'd never let him win.

"you'll come around," he called after you, casual and cocky, like the kiss hadn't shatter any if not all of the hatred shared between the two of you. "you always do."

you didnt look back, but your fingers brushed your lips when he couldn't see.

and he just stood there. watching you leave, already planning his next move.

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