#the way. the role it took upon itself. when it was younger. to be the fixer. to clean up after [redacted]

[moe-broey]

Idk I also just hate the future actually. My ass is Always living in the past or simply day to day 💪💪💪

[that-one-p00k1e]

Familiarity

Pairing: fem!reader x Muichiro

TW: none, OOC overall, fluff^^

Note: reader is 5 days younger than Mui

“Tokito-Sama, please hold still.”

“Your eyes look familiar.” Muichiro tilted his head again as you let out a light sigh, continuing to gently dab disinfectant on his cheek.

Logically, when a person enrolls as a demon hunter, their title would be a demon hunter itself. The same goes for a kakushi. They both have their own different roles to play, as well as different duties to fulfill. You, on the other hand, decided to take both responsibilities of both titles upon yourself.

People would think of that as an absurd decision. A tiring one, too. But the agonizing boredom that engulfs when no mission was around, made the idea of being an occasional kakushi not seem to be a bad option. Which explains your current position right now; face to face with the Mist Pillar, tending to his wounds from his recent mission.

“Have we met before?��� his deep yet soft voice spoke up with curiosity.

“No, we have not, Tokito-Sama.” Your tone was put up with formality; keeping composure despite the untruth that came with it. As a demon hunter, you've been acquainted with Muichiro more than once. Either by accidentally bumping into him, walking past him during his cloud gazing sessions, or doing a friendly gesture by sharing food with him once in a while.

Although he was in a way higher rank than you; in terms of age, you were only 5 days younger than him. Thus, you wanted to take the opportunity to befriend someone of your age, considering most demon hunters as of now were around 16 and older. Moreover, you were bewildered the moment you found out about a Pillar that was only 14 years of age.

Despite the interactions you've made with him as a demon slayer, you never dared to do the same when taking your secondary role as a kakushi.

“Were you the one who gave me furofuki daikon?” he questioned further as he looked at you tending to his arm.

“I'm afraid I could not recall doing such a deed. You must’ve mistaken me for another kakushi, Tokito-Sama,” you replied calmly as you kept focused on healing his arm.

“No, not a kakushi. You were a demon hunter.”

And with that, your heart skipped a beat.

A kakushi have always had to keep their identities undercover; wearing a beanie-like hat to cover their head and hair, and a mask covering the back of their heads and half of their faces. Of course, wearing those complete attributes already made you feel safe.

But never did you expect Muichiro– a young boy with short term memory loss –out of all people, could easily suspect your true identity despite it being hidden.

“I don't understand what you mean, Tokito-Sama. I am a kakushi, not a demon slayer,” you continued further as you tried to keep composed and unfazed; a contrast to the rapid increase of your heart beat you felt inside.

“Your wounds are fully taken care of. There’ll be tea brought here for you soon, I shall take my leave.” You stood up from your kneeling position and quickly bowed your head, turning away to head for the exit before a hand suddenly pulled you down; bringing your eyes to meet with a pair of mint green ones.

In a matter of seconds, another hand tugged at the hem of your mask; pulling down the whole thing along with the hat as it revealed your whole face.

“I was right,” was all the culprit could mutter as he stared blankly into your eyes; only a few centimeters of distance between your faces. Immediately, pink sprawled across your face as you pulled back and looked away in embarrassment.

“Tokito-Sama, please refrain from doing such actions. And h-how come you remember me? No offense, but usually you easily forget things.”

“You just seem… familiar.” His words piqued your curiosity as you took a glance at his stoic face.

“Familiar? What do you mean?”

The young Pillar then raised his hand, pointing a finger at you.

“You… You keep showing up in my head.”

“... What?” you questioned as your brows furrowed in deeper confusion.

“Your face. It shows up in my head… a lot.”

That face of yours that once had a pink-tinted surface, rose to a warmer shade of red.

“In a good way or a bad way?"

“Don't know… What was your name again?”

“It- It’s not important. You should inform that issue to Kocho-Sama, maybe she'll know what's wrong,” you quickly spoke due to being flustered, as you immediately left and brushed it all off; not wanting to get your hopes up further.

Muichiro was then left alone with his thoughts; considering to talk to the Insect Pillar.

Bonus:

“My, my. Stuck in your head, you say?” a soft and gentle voice spoke in amusement.

The youngster then replied with a nod, not seeming to be expressing anything apparent.

“Let's see. How does your stomach feel when you see her in your head?”

“It feels… weird.. Like I'm getting tickled on the inside,” he stated with a blank expression.

“Well would you look at that. I think we'd better talk this out with Kanroji-San,” the woman with a purple butterfly hairpin stated with the same remaining smile; leading the young boy to head to the Love Pillar's residence.

[blueflipflops]

Blessed is The Fruit of Thy Womb

tw: pregnancy, violence, dissociating

Inspired by @cyrwrites 's prompt which is just too good to not write about Talia being pregnant from the exposure from the Lazarus Pits. Saw the tag about "Damian having a complex due to danny's whole "Child of Lazarus" thing he's got going on" and ran with it. Also the religious allegations thing was inspired and I am so here for it. Ended up longer than i planned tho. Would probably add more to this. Enjoy.

Next

...

Damian Al Ghul was born a prince. An heir. The blood son of Batman and Talia Al-Ghul. The grandson of the Demon Head.

He is to have the world presented to him in a silver platter even before he reaches his majority.

And yet... that's not quite right, now, isn't it?

Because for all the gift of genes he has in his body, for all the training he has ever endure ever since he learned how to walk... that is all he'll ever be.

A genetic experiment on how to get all the appealing genetic material from both parents and make it into a child.

His mother did not even bear him!

Pregnancy is too much of a hassle, too restrictive, too dangerous for her line of work. She need not be bothered to undergo the burdens of pregnancy when she can create a perfect child in a test tube.

Yet for all her complaints and stilted explainations, why...

Why does it seem like she cared more for the Child that grew itself in her womb?The one that came out of nowhere. The one she birthed herself. The one that Damian seemed to keep losing everything to.

Ever since his mother's womb grew with child with a distinct energy only felt in the Lazarus Pits, she has became estatic and raving. She had claimed that the Lazarus Pits has Chosen her to bear the fruit of its power. The one true heir. The Incarnate of Immortality and Power.

She claims all the honor and the pains that came with it. She became obssessed with the Child even before it was born. Even more when it was born male and familliar feeling of power emanating the infant. The Child opened its eyes with glowing Lazarus green eyes and the scent of death clinging to its blood covered flesh. It did not cry when it was born but just opened its eyes seemingly judging the worth midwife's life in the mortal realm. It must have deemed it unworthy as it is said that the stare looked straight to her soul and drove her mad. Damian never really knew who did the final blow. Was it his mother, the midwife herself or if it was his... brother just as rumored. Damian did not care to know any of that only that the midwife and several other helpers did died that day screaming and bloodied. Their corpses dumped over to the Pits as an offering.

The first time Damian had looked upon those cursed eyes where the first he had ever felt real fear in his life. In the very young age of 10 was he formally introduced to the Child. It looked like a human but distinctly not at the same time. Like an entity thats trying too hard to appear human but forgets what humans look like half the time.

The Child unsettles Damian.

It began its training about the same age as Damian did and unsurprisingly took on the skills easily as breathing. With abilities that seems to only get stronger with time and added training. It is not as perfect as his Mother praise it to be as it is said to go off in bouts of mad rage that seemed to only calm after blood has been spilt. This stopped being a problem after they found out that constant baths in the Pits have a similar enough effect without thinning their forces from the whims of the Child.

Slowly, no matter how hard Damian trains, no matter how successful he is in each obstacles or tests thrown his way, he will never get that Honor he was raised to believe was rightfully his. He was put to the side. Once a future leader now in a role of a follower.

Damian Al-Ghul is a prince. A warrior. An assassin. A spare. A bargaining chip against his father.

For all that the Child is younger than him by a mere year, Damian, with his obvious superior combination of genes, is less than the Child of Lazarus himself.

No matter.

There is one thing the Child cannot claim over him.

He is the blood son of Batman. Not him. Never him. Batman has no claim to the Child either as his mother ravingly repeated over and over again. (As if to remind him of his place.)

He is the only blood son of Batman after all. Not him. Damian need not share what is rightfully his.

No. Of course not.

That is why when his mother told him that he is to pack up his belongings to live and train with his father, Damian did not hesitate nor did he looked back.

His father will be different, he knows this. He will value him more than some demon child from the pits, he is sure. Even if he has to prove himself for it.

...

Danny is dissociating most of the time and feels like this is a very detailed hallucination post vivisection and cannot (dont want to) accept to awknowledge what is happening. He doesn't know what to do with himself if this was real. He has killed people here and sometimes in blind rage too. His core is very fragmented which means his memories are all over the place. Add that to his willful ignorance of the development of his apparent reincanation, he is very Messed Up.

To him, he is Danyal Al Ghul. Heir to the Demon Head, son of Talia Al Ghul, and Child of the Lazarus. But he is more than that, isn't he? He sees flashes of life before this. Of flight and action. Of family and friends. But that can't be right, can it? He feels like something else. Like someone else. But how can that be?

He emanated death energy all over because he can't control his emotions and powers as much as his teenager self. The ectoplasm in the air in the LOA's lair comes from the Lazarus Pits which is so corrupted from the amount of death, corpses, and heavily concentrated emotions, that it messes with Danny's head. He tried to get as much distance from the Pits as possible but Danny can't survive without ambient ectoplasm especially with his core being fragmented like this. When the stress got too much (which was often) he ends up in blind rage that only stops when someone dies and he hungrily absorbs up the ectoplasm from the freshly new corpse. And it goes over and over again until Danny decides that enough is enough. He doesnt want to not have complete control of his body nor does he want to kill more than what his new family is already making him to. He just has to suck it up and get his ectoplasm from the nearest available source: the Lazarus Pits.

After that, he stopped randomly killing people whenever he gets pissed. Being so hungry all the time, the ectoplasm from the pits started to become delicious to Danny but still. He tries to limit his consumption to the very minimum because it messes his head a bit wheter he notices it or not. So like 2-3 times a month. He stopped being deathly hungry.

His apparent "skill/genius" is just a abnormal one up from a normal child who had not lived half a lifetime growing up with a black belt ghost hunter mom who trains them to fight as mother-son bonding time. He didn't really go about it easily either. (Damian is just an unreliable narrator) He just instictively knows the basics and the theory but had to relearn how to do it in his new body that the League just polishes and sharpens to the max blinded by the idea of Danny being the Child of Lazarus. (Them being a cult and all) His hair becoming flame-like wisps and glowing eyes when angered did not help this theory. Nor did his inhuman strength and ghostly powers or his sharp teeth either. He seems to be able to use his powers even in his human form but ra's pissed him off so much one time he reverted to his ghost form...which became so twisted as the years has passed from all the trauma he has experienced and turned into a giant eldritch monster with way too many eyes and teeth, a cloud-like expanse of space and stars, and an Aurora Borealis encircled above his head like a crown. Ra's learned some lines drawn in the sand that day. He is overcome with both fear and poorly contained greed. His eyes dilated from the show of sheer power from this Child. Oh, how he hungers for it.

Danny, despite his nonexistent efforts, became a momma's boy. How can he not when his new mother showers him with love and affection near obssessively? His core subconsciously purrs in satisfaction from the attention despite the overall creepiness of the situation. His core imprinted on the woman already. Who cares if she's a bit crazy? His mother has always been a bit crazy. His memories of past!Maddie (pre-discovery/vivesection thingy) get muddled over and mixes up with memories of Talia which makes him latch onto her more. (Which Talia definitely encourages.) Because his mom is finally paying attention to him again :) she says she loves him :) and she doesn't want to rip him apart molecule by molecule :)))

(He knows. He asked! Although the words may have got tied up on his tongue and the question may have sounded more like a threat than what was intending to ask. But its all good! Surely his mother understood what he was trying to say because she immedietely hugged him and told him that she loved him very much and asked very nicely not to kill her. He is sure that they became closer after that. Talia is just thankful that her Child continues to recognize her as his Mother/Bearer and spared her from his usual rages. She is, of course, worth more than these other lowly mortals. Danyal is hers and hers only after all.)

...

Damian, on baby's first crisis: I am the blood son of Batman. The ONLY son of Batman. Surely I don't have to share him with others :)

Me, nervously looking over my shoulder to see a line of robins and robin-adjacent children that had at one point dressed up as a caped traffic light or another: ...uhhh...

Me, looking at the other side seeing Terry Mcginnis and Helena Bertinelli/Wayne playing rock paper sissors : yeah... about that...

Damian is very biased here. Because how the fuck is he going to compete with a fucking demon pit incarnate??? He's got a lot of thoughts about being replaced here which ha! New flavor of trauma for my baby bird. :)

Love giving Damian a complex :) Wanna put him in a jar of pickles and shake it :)

Also would love to see Damian will arrive ready to prove his worth only to find out that Batman is dead/missing/stranded in the timestream and how it will affect his new flavors of complexes and issues. Lol Oh to be a fly on the wall of the batcave when that happens. Wait dont they have bats there? Flies would get eaten—

Lol someone calls Damian a demon child once and he gets geniunely offended. He hisses back that he is not a Lazarus Pit Baby and thats how the batfam finds out about danny. They all panic at first thinking that not only did Bruce have another secret child but said child is apparently still with LOA. And boy would that do wonders to Damian's buried insecurities. Damian is going going to experience some Emotions and he's going to make it everyone's problem.

Like mother like son.

Talia and possibly Ra's POV next

Anyways, here are them tags:

@emergentpanda-blog @skulld3mort-1fan @rosecinnamonbun @ver-444 @learning-to-fly-on-my-own @dannyphantomphan @yasminerd00 @blep-23

[stomach-bugg09]

im insanely in love with your older! Sister mini series!

Hmm I have a request, could you perhaps do one where you remember the scene where kiri unfortunately has a seizure underwater?

Instead of it being kiri could you switch it so instead we’re the one who has a severe seizure?? maybe a little different? Not too similar to how kiri’s whole situation went.

And the whole family especially our younger siblings go into a panic bc this has NEVER happened before.

It’s alright if you don’t want to do this one 🤍 was trying to come up with an idea so the mini series could stay alive for a bit longer! Lol

summary: [y/n] is normally the one taking care of her younger siblings—how are they supposed to care for their big sister while she’s hurting?

a/n: ahh !! thank you for this request. it’s been sitting in my drafts for a while because i was writing other requests , but i’m finally here !! i kind of changed the plot because kiri has a reason for her seizures ( “epilepsy” as norm might say , or as educated people might say , she’s connected to eywa ) so i decided to go with more of a connection to ancestors sort of route so that way they’re still super worried and she’s super in danger , but at least it’s something unique to her character !! hopefully you all enjoy. feedback + reblogs are always appreciated !!

tags: @rafeslovergirl @wxnderingthoughts @liyahsocorro @bonnibuckets @hjkshshjkhklhkl @itssiaaax @grierpilots @fleurbeass @eywas-heir @historygeekqueen @missroro @23victoria

warnings: mentions of immense pain , passing out , almost drowning , death , a very familiar death scene of a beloved na’vi from the first movie

not invincible

it should have been a normal day. it truly should have! but, alas, the sully family would forever keep it from being anywhere near “normal.” especially in their new home.

the group of siblings had been overwhelmed with honor when tsireya offered to show them the metkayina spirit tree settled beneath the waters of the cove of the ancestors.

as soon as [y/n] broke through the surface, immersing herself in a completely different world than she ever grew up around, she could feel the change in atmosphere. there was something different, something deeper that exuded itself through the cove. at the feeling, she could not fight the natural smile. it reminded her of her home, of the omaticaya tree of voices. oh, how she missed it.

the underwater bioluminescence highlighted features upon each of her companions, the beautiful splatter of glowing freckles littering each of their cheeks. [y/n] sent a cheeky grin towards her youngest sister, excitement omitting from every one of her movements.

the further they swam, the more in awe that [y/n] seemed to be. it was absolutely gorgeous. the scenery was jaw-dropping,

“come,” tsireya signaled, gently grabbing her own queue as they neared the tree. the four sully siblings that joined her on the journey to the spirit tree, neteyam, kiri, tuk, and [y/n], all followed suit.

the closer [y/n] swam to the tree, the louder her heartbeat got. she couldn’t help but stare in complete awe, the purple light omitting onto her face. she smiled, grabbing her hair, and she connected it to the underwater tree.

immediately, warmth flooded through her body. her smile broadened, and her fingertips tingled. at the comforting sensation, she felt herself slip from reality, allowing her eyes to close as she shifted into another world.

when she opened her eyes again, [y/n] was met with a familiar sight of home. she let out a laugh of joy, spin around as she took in the sight. she’d missed the forest, but as the eldest child, as the role model, she felt as if that longing feeling of being homesick had been pushed down. it was a common role that [y/n] had to take as the eldest. push down her feelings and prioritize that of her baby siblings.

[y/n] took a step forward, feet sinking into the wet mud. she paused, wiggling her toes, a moment of nostalgia playing back. once she looked back up, she felt smaller as she was met with the comforting eyes of her father.

he looked younger, much less stressed than how he did now. he looked happy.

“daddy!” she cried, stubby arms reaching out to him.

jake laughed, immediately swooping down to grab his daughter. “i’m gonna get you!” he taunted, voice teasing and soft.

[y/n]’s small voice shrieked with joy, turning and attempting to run. unfortunately, her father was far too quick, his large hands grabbing her by the waist.

she cried out, laughter flooding her voice as he lifted her into the sky. [y/n]’s eyes squeezed shut as he soared her through the air. and then, everything changed.

the wind picked up, and she felt lighter. the air was thin from where she flew. at the change in her senses, she instantly opened her eyes wide, her stomach crawling into her throat as she took in the sight.

she flew through the skies atop an unfamiliar ikran. the ground was very far beneath her, it was merely just her and the atmosphere.

the one thing that did accompany her, however, was the sight of sky-people technology, specifically that of the rda. it was large and dangerous. ammo was stacked within the ship that flew in front of her. she ship that she was flying towards.

[y/n] screamed at the creature to stop, but it was as if she couldn’t open her mouth. she had no free will, in fact. no, she was merely watching the scene unfold from eyes that weren’t her own.

she gasped as she jumped forward and off of the ikran, bow pointed at a soldier standing aboard the ship. a fierce battle cry left her throat raw, tears pricking her eyes from the wind that pierced them.

her feet thudded against the metal ground, grabbing men and throwing them one by one. she was actually doing quite well!

she smacked a few with her bow, multiple ending up thrown overboard. but, just when she was getting to the last of them, one of the humans released a round of bullets. each one embedded themselves into her chest.

[y/n] screamed at the feeling, warm pain spreading from her chest outwards. she could feel it in each of her limbs, a feeling of a throbbing numbness.

before she knew it, she was free falling, the wind roaring in her ears. and then, it all flashed to complete black.

[y/n] awoke from the spirit tree, and she couldn’t breath. her chest hurt, it was so tight. she could not feel her arms and legs, they were numb.

immediately, she detached her queue, stumbling backwards as best as she could underwater. cries left her throat, but all that came out was bubbles upon bubbles.

every second that went by, her vision began to darken. she could not see, could not hear, could not think. everything hurt. so bad.

neteyam was the first to notice. it was almost as if, through his urge to protect, he instantly felt that something was off in the universe, and as a result, he left the spirit tree earlier than anyone else.

at the sight of his big sister floating helplessly, screaming as loud as she possibly could, his heart burst. what happened? he was quick to act, bringing everybody else back to reality as he swam over to [y/n].

when the eldest sully felt her brother’s hands grab her’s, she felt a little bit more at peace, although not by much. all of her senses were out of whack, simply put, and she was in so much pain.

she barely even noticed as neteyam swam her upwards to the surface, and, thanks to her lack of oxygen from screaming, she kept fading in and out of consciousness.

once they broke the surface, the first thing to leave her throat was a scream. “it hurts so bad!” a sob took over her voice, each word shakier than the one before.

“sh,” neteyam attempted to calm her down as he brought her over to his ilu, getting her to lay on top of the creature rather than float in the water.

beside them, tuk bobbed up and down with tsireya, kiri, and rotxo. “[y/n]!” she cried, repeating herself a multitude of times. kiri clasped a gentle hand on her shoulder to quiet her down.

“what happened?” kiri panicked aloud. “what is happening, sister?”

the only answer she got was another choked cry. “it hurts. oh, it hurts so bad.”

“go!” tsireya called their attention. “you must get her back to the village.” neteyam nodded, boarding the ilu as he wrapped his arms safely around his sister.

“let’s go.”

neteyam and his ilu shot into the distance, kiri, tuk, rotxo, and tsireya not far behind. kiri held the youngest sully between her arms, attempting to comfort her, but it was extremely difficult considering kiri herself was worried.

the only reason neteyam was composed was because he had to assume authority, as weird as it was considering [y/n] was always the one to fill that role. as soon as he swam into the docks screaming for his parents, his heart began to rise to his throat.

when he watched his big sister get carried away in the arms of their father, pain panged deep within his chest, worry overtaking all of his emotions.

not one of the sully siblings sleep all night, especially lo’ak upon returning and learning that he was not there to help.

upon waking up a few days later, after a multitude of different attempts from norm and maxwell to ronal and eywa, she is immediately attacked by love and care from every member of her family.

when [y/n] first wakes up, she cannot help but cry. although she is no longer in pain, she can’t get the image out of her head. the way that na’vi died, no matter who he was. it was sad, it was gruesome, it was unfair.

the one thing to bring [y/n] back to reality was the small body of tuk who laid herself on top of her, the youngest sully’s arms wrapping themselves around her big sister.

“[y/n]!’ she cried, her small hands laying against [y/n]’s. “i am so glad you’re okay.”

once tuk noticed her new sense of consciousness, it did not take long for the rest of the family to pay their honorary visits, each of them having their own sense of emotion to them.

neteyam’s was more relieved than [y/n] could have imagined. he was so worried, so concerned for his big sister. he told her about his prayer to eywa, he told her about how scared she’d made him. she couldn’t help but smile, another round of tears pricking her eyes ( this time more bittersweet than sad ).

kiri was quite teasing the way that she threatened, “if you ever do that again, i’m going to kill you!” she told her of the way they’d all been so worried for [y/n], the way they’d all forgotten that their oldest sister actually had feelings and could get hurt. “we’ve just been so used to you taking care of us!”

lo’ak told jokes. he updated her on the ways of life in the past few days, told her of the reef. a part of lo’ak wanted to avoid speaking of her event because of how difficult it was to visit what could’ve happened, so he avoided it with his humor. as he always seemed to do.

tuk didn’t leave her side once. she made bracelets for her healing sister, she ranted about the reef, she made dinner with her. there was so much to do, so much to talk about! after a few days of [y/n] being asleep and healing, tuk had a lot of quality time to catch up on.

neytiri and jake, of course, were just so happy she was okay. it took a while for them to get rid of her siblings, wanting them to get their own time together before they had to remind her of whatever’d happened. but, they needed to understand.

once neytiri asked her, tears immediately pricked her eyes. as [y/n] retold the events, she had to pause multiplied times to keep herself from choking on her tears.

by the end of it, jake and neytiri exchanged glances. the story was far too familiar. but, they also decided that was a problem for another time. they just had to thank eywa for keeping her alive.

overall, the sully family learned a valuable lesson. just because [y/n] seems invincible does not mean that she actually is.

[androcola]

Don't worry, baby

Summary : Mike is alone today with his two baby nieces

warnings : none

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1971

Mike sat on the couch cradling his two baby nieces in each arm, feeling serene. Of all the places he could foresee his life possibly going, this path definitely wasn't on his radar. As he gazed lovingly upon the two baby girls, he was carried away by dreamy thought. Although he never, at any point in his life, desired any children of his own, or to be involved with children in any way, he found it somehow so easy to slip into a paternal role.

It almost seemed to come natural. It was a way he never knew he could feel, and that his friends admittedly didn't think he could feel, too.

He was alone today. Each of his friends having gone out to do their own respective things. Anymore, he seemed to live mostly alone during the daytime. He was used to it. He preferred to use that time to catch up on his errands and house work, and would always have a meal on the table for his friends to return to.

He lived a life somewhat comparable to that of a traditional 1950's housewife. It was a role he seemed to assume in every walk of life. While everyone was out at life, he was at home, cooking, cleaning, mending, and looking after the babies when they'd be dropped by for a visit by their very lovely mother, Micky's younger sister, Cassie, and her equally as lovely husband, Chuck.

This way of life never bothered him, however. He's never been very social and this was a life he was very used to. It never got him down, as he knew his boys would always return for a nice turn down afternoon, and flatter him by enjoying every last bite of his dinner.

All was quiet, all was peaceful. In spite of all he had ever been through, he was happy. Every battle he ever fought leading up to this moment was entirely worth it. The only thing to complete this beautifully comfortable moment would be a rocking chair so he could rock the babies as his mother once rocked him. He smiled when that thought crossed his mind. He'd have to look into finding one and making room for it among their other furniture.

Suddenly, the serene silence was broken by Janie, who began squirming and letting out some upset sounding coos and grunts. Mike lifted her gently closer to his face, and was very grateful when he didn't smell anything unfortunate.

Diaper changing was the one thing he just couldn't handle. His sensitive stomach wouldn't let him near such a task. Cici remained still and quiet. It was her way. Janie's grunts began to turn into cries and Mike sat up slowly. He figured he knew what she needed.

Standing up slowly as to not upset her any further, he lowered them both into a crib which sat parallel to the couch, closer to the left most side.

In anticipation of visiting babies, the guys had all gotten together on a project. A home made crib, built so thoughtfully that love could be felt in every last screw and nail.

“You wait right there.” Mike spoke in a sweet and soothing voice. He grabbed a bottle from the table and took it into the kitchen where he would prepare some formula. Placing the freshly mixed up and bottled formula into a pot of water, he turned on the stove and let the flame beneath heat it at the smallest simmer.

When it was sufficiently warmed, he took the bottle and bent over the crib and gently lifted the crying baby girl into his arm and sat down on the couch. Her crying had become much louder now. He hated that sound. He offered the warm bottle to the crying baby but she didn't seem to notice it at all. “C'mon now, darlin'...” he cooed, but she turned her head and continued to cry. He cocked a brow. “Not hungry?” he asked as she wailed.

Suddenly, from the crib, another upset voice made itself known. Mike turned his head to see Cici also beginning to wriggle. She grunted and whined, almost as if she were upset by the sound of her sister's crying. Mike stood up and lowered his other arm in and scooped her up gently. “I got ya, honey.” he said as he sat back down on the couch. He was now holding two increasingly upset babies whose cries grew louder and more upset by the minute.

Mike felt himself growing nervous, but he wasn't ready to panic just yet. He sat up, and rocking back and forth, he began to sing.

“Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts. Somethin's tellin' me I must go home. And the lights all went down in Massachusetts, the day I left her standin' on her own...” he sang. A song often used by Davy for quelling the babies when they were upset. But it didn't work on them this time, likely because it sounded much better in Davy's british tones. They cried over his serenade. Tough crowd.

He stopped singing, but continued to rock them, hoping it would bring some relief. They were now at the point of screaming and he found himself growing more nervous by the second. He didn't have many tricks up his sleeve, and he had just used half of what he did have.

He laid the babies down on the couch before reaching for his guitar. This one's got to work. He tuned up for a moment, though he could barely hear his strings over the incessant cries of the two upset babies. He plucked intently before finding his way and he began to pick “The boxer” by Simon & Garfunkel. It was a soft and soothing song that could perfectly as a lullaby. It worked for him often.

“I am just a poor boy, though my story's seldom told I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such are promises...” he sang softly. Still, the babies cried over his serenade and he didn't want to get much louder, fearing he may only upset them more.

“All lies and jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, mhm...” he continued. Nothing. He was sure they weren't even hearing him, as he could barely hear himself.

He stopped and sighed before setting his guitar back on it's stand. He scooped the babies back up once more and tried bouncing them slightly this time. “Shhh... C'mon, now... enough with all the fussin'...” he said.

He found himself growing frustrated, but he knew it wasn't their fault. He knew all too well the curse of being only able to cry to communicate needs, and he especially knew the pain of having those cries go neglected and even punished. His nieces would not suffer the same fate.

He sat and continued to rock and bounce the two babies for what felt like an eternity, but their cries didn't even falter. He could feel his head beginning to ache. He'd love nothing more right now than for Micky, Davy, or Peter to come walking through the door.

It was at this moment that he imagined that this must be how their mother felt. If she was strong enough to deal with it, he could be, too. “Shhh... Shhh...” Mike hushed, pulling the babies in closer, but still they were inconsolable.

He rocked continuously, and as he did, he wondered what his friends must be up to at this moment. He was so busy with morning chores that he didn't even hear from them when they all left out. He only turned for a moment and they were gone. He never found himself envious of their social lives and their freedom, nor did he ever find himself resenting it. After all, it's not like he wasn't free as well, but at the same time, he felt so tied down to his duties.

They never held him to them, and more often than not, they'd actually try to get him to shirk his responsibilities for a day of leisure, but he'd decline everytime. It was an obligation to him. One he couldn't explain in any way that would make sense. One only he understood. And they seemed to accept that they just couldn't pull him away from it.

His ears were now ringing from the sound of the screaming babies and he had exhausted all options. It was time for the last resort. He laid the babies back down for only a moment to stand and click the television on and he stood for many seconds flicking through the few channels before eventually finding the channel which ran the cartoons during the day.

He sat back down and lifted the crying babies back into his arms and turned them to face the television, hoping they'd notice and finally quiet down.

He never liked television much, himself. He found it to be such a drag. He'd often entertain himself by reading the newspapers in the morning and a few pages of a book of interest at night before bed, and of course would be entirely occupied by chores during the days. Much to his disappointment, the babies didn't even acknowledge the cartoons on the television. The television did nothing other than add to the already overwhelming noise.

“Stop cryin', stop cryin', stop cryin'...” Mike pleaded under his breath, exasperated. The stress of the day was really starting to get to him and he really began to feel panicked and overloaded, but he did his best to hold it together. Once again, he laid the babies down on the couch and reached into their crib and pulled out a little teddy bear that always sat propped in the corner whom Micky had affectionately named “Schneider Jr.”

He showed the teddy to the girls and moved it around a little to make it seem as if it were dancing. “Would ya stop cryin' for Schneider Jr.?...” Mike asked, as if they even understood his words. They paid no attention. He moved the teddy closer and gently nudged one of the babies, pressing it's cold bead nose into her cheek as if it were giving her a kiss. “Look at that... I think he wants to be friends.” Mike said, his tone growing subtly more desperate. The babies had no interest in Schneider Jr. the teddy.

Mike sighed and rubbed his head, dropping the teddy back into the crib. “C'mon, speak to me, kid...” he said, rubbing his temples. He knew that made no sense. They were speaking to him, just not in a way he could understand. The babies laid on the couch and kicked and cried before he eventually scooped them back up and laid them back down into their crib. He stood up and stepped away for a moment to gather himself.

He walked across the room and held onto the spiral staircase railing and hung his head, taking deep breaths while his thoughts raced desperately, trying to make connections that just weren't connecting. He could feel his anxiety rising, and he wanted nothing more than to take a valium and lie down, but he couldn't take something that could knock him out like that while he was on baby duty. It would be criminally irresponsible.

He only stood and prayed that one of the boys would come walking through that door and take the load off, but no one came. After many minutes of gathering himself and not gathering much in the process, he shuffled back over to the crib where it seemed the girls had only grown more upset upon being released.

“Please...” he said, bending over the crib and looking down at them. “Just for a moment...” he plead. He stepped back and ran his fingers through his hair as everything all suddenly seemed to be too much and he found himself yearning to go back to that serenity he was feeling earlier. He unknowingly was beginning to pace back and forth. A habit he often fell into as a way of soothing himself when he felt overloaded, or even when he felt himself beginning to melt down.

Their mother could handle it, so why couldn't he? The truth was, Micky's poor sister called her big brother often, fretful and in tears as a new mother of twins she didn't expect to have. There was no doubt she loved the two girls, but everyone has their limits. Mike's pacing grew more erratic and he began to pluck at his beard absentmindedly. It was a habit he was trying to unlearn but that would always come back to him in times of stress.

Between the sound of the television and the two girls crying, now suddenly he could hear every other sound that he couldn't just moments ago, like the ticking of the clock and the low hum of their refrigerator. His mind felt like a scrambled egg.

He'd stop plucking at his beard only to run his hands up and down his face, trying every soothing method to regulate himself, but none of them worked. It was his worst nightmare, the total inability to self regulate. Though he had been through such a thing a million times before, it always felt like it was happening for the first time ever when it would come around again.

Suddenly, he snapped back over to the crib and bent down over the two babies who still screamed, never stopping. He reached in and patted them both gently on their heads with a now trembling hand. “Please just stop... What more can I do?...” he begged. Nothing. He stepped back with his hands to his head and took in deep breaths. He didn't know what was wrong, he didn't know how to help, he didn't know what to do anymore. He broke. He couldn't do anymore. He was melting down.

All of the stress of the day and all the combined noises and now feelings all suddenly felt as raw as an open wound and he dropped to his knees. In one last desperate attempt to keep himself together, he bit his tongue and held himself tightly. Useless. He let out a loud sob as warm tears spilled down his cheeks. All logic and rationality had left his mind and he was reduced to a quivering mass on the floor.

He sat back on his bottom and pulled his knees to his chest and sobbed loudly as total sensory overload took him and he added to the cacophony of sound. He rocked himself, still trying, even in this stage, to soothe himself. It felt like forever that he sat there and cried and moaned along side the screaming babies before suddenly a miracle fell upon him.

Micky stepped into the pad with two cokes in his hand, and of course, his smile. “Mike, I got you a treat!” he chirped, only to be confused and slightly shocked to see the situation he had just entered. Two crying babies, and his friend in a ball on the floor, also crying with just as much intensity. “Mike?...” Micky said as he approached the sobbing mass and stood over him looking down.

“Pal?...” he said. When there was no response from his friend, he sat the two cokes down on the TV table and knelt down to his level. “Hey... hey, man, what's goin' on?...” Micky said, nudging Mike, trying to get his attention, but Mike only wept and moaned, but nothing that resembled the English language.

Micky looked back at the crib that boomed with the sound of crying and screaming. “What's up with the kids, man?” he asked. Mike blubbered hysterically in response.

Micky reached his arm around Mike and pulled him in close. “Babies really got to ya, huh?...” he said in a soft tone. Taking a deep breath between gasps and sobs, Mike finally spoke. “I don't know what's wrong!...” he cried before dropping his head into his hands. “I did all I could... I did everything I could!...” he wept.

“Hey, hey...” Micky cooed, taking Mike's chin in his fingers before grabbing his face with both hands. It was soaked with tears. Mike didn't look at him, however, he only kept his eyes shut tight. Micky wiped the tears with his thumbs.

“You're tired, Mike...” Micky said quietly. “I really tried... I really tried...” Mike blubbered. “I know ya did, man. But I'm here, now.” Micky replied. Mike dropped his head but Micky lifted it back up tenderly and continued to wipe his ever falling tears. “You're exhausted, man... I want you to get some rest, now.” he said. “They wouldn't stop. I tried, I really tried.” Mike continued before suddenly Micky's hand was placed over his mouth.

“Hey!... I'm here now. Uncle Micky's got this.” he said with a smile. Mike sniffed. “Now... I want you to go upstairs, take your medicine, and hit the sack, man! you look awful.” he said with a chuckle. “Got it?” he asked. Mike said nothing, but nodded subtly and Micky slowly pulled his hand away from Mike's mouth and Mike proceeded to wipe the tears from his cheeks with his palms, sniffling. The babies carried on in their crib.

Micky took Mike's arm gently and helped him to his feet. He didn't realize just how tired he really was until he made it to his feet and suddenly felt like his body weighed a thousand pounds. He still shook, but not as heavily, now. “You take your medicine today?” Micky asked. Mike shook his head. “No.” he said under his breath. “Okay. Let's get you upstairs and get right on that.” he said as he nudged Mike and lead him upstairs and into the bedroom.

Mike sat down on the edge of his bed and ran his hands down his face, just soaking in the events of the day. “I'm sorry we left you all on your own, Mike.” Micky said, standing before Mike. “It's okay.” Mike said. He reached for a medicine bottle which sat among many others on his bed side table and he opened it up and tipped a single little yellow pill into the palm of his hand.

“Where are Davy and Peter?” he asked before popping the pill into his mouth and swallowing it. He closed the bottle and set it back down. “They'll be back soon. I think they're at the cafe downtown.” Micky replied. Mike didn't say anything but he nodded his head knowingly. Slowly, he slipped out of his clothes until he was in nothing but his underpants and he slipped under his blanket.

“Are you sure you can handle the babies on your own?” he asked, looking up at Micky with very tired eyes. Micky smiled and sat down on the edge of Mike's bed. “I've got this, man. Don't you worry for even a second, man.” he said, patting his friend on his head. Mike sunk down, trying to allow himself to relax. “Okay... Okay.” Mike sighed, still hearing the dreaded sound downstairs.

Micky stood up and headed for the door before turning back around to face Mike. “You get some rest. We're spoiling you tomorrow. Big time!” he said with a smile. Mike didn't respond but he couldn't help but crack a small smile and rolled his eyes. “Goodnight, Mike.” Micky said as he reached for the light switch.

“'Night, fuzzy.” Mike said. Micky flashed him that famous smile before flipping the switch and slipping out of the room, closing the door behind him. Within only 30 minutes he was out like a light.

[llondonfog]

let's make no mistake about it, i genuinely find lilia one of the most fascinating characters in twst— a 700 yr old fae who spent centuries as the most revered general of briar valley, confidant to the royal family, did an about-turn to fatherhood immediately upon finding an abandoned baby and now romps around a school campus with said son and the heir apparent to the draconia family pretending to be 680 years younger than he actually is???? fucking insane.

we know absolutely nothing about his own personal life; no immediate family to speak of (besides his adopted son), and we can safely assume they're no longer among the living. we have no idea what his own childhood was like, but i think we can extrapolate by the way that he initially raised silver that it wasn't conventional. were tensions always so high between fae and humans, did lilia simply grow up in a time where war was a common occurrence, that to serve in the briar valley army was the obvious path to take? we can only gather bits and pieces about his previous lifestyle from his card lines, and it would seem that his life prior to silver was a harsh one, with little to no time for personal amusement or exploration of interests.

and one doesn't just become a renown general fitting for the history books by simply leading an army for so many years— it's clear that he was so very good at it. did he too share the fae consensus that humans were not to be trusted, and if so, at what point did that begin to change? was it truly raising silver that altered his perspective? and more to that point, can we assume that he was truly looking for the boy as his new card title suggests? and if so, why? was it for silver's unique magic, did he really come from royalty, was he considered a threat to the draconias? does any of this have to do with the disappearance of malleus' parents so many centuries prior??

i'm so torn between the idea of lilia being instructed to find and raise silver for some greater purpose and over time, realizing how much he's grown to care and love the child, versus the idea of somehow this little baby being enough to give the fierce general pause, to take him in as his own. i also wonder if lilia even proclaimed himself as silver's father to begin with, or if that's simply a title silver gave him on his own and only then did the ramifications of what he meant to the boy truly sink in. it must have been such a shock, the realization that a human could look up at him with such pure love and think of him as a father— for what does he know of rearing a child, and a human one at that? lilia himself even admits this at countless points, and the more we learn of silver's childhood, the more clear it becomes that while the mutual affection is truly there, the understanding of how to properly care for another being of any kind is clearly lacking.

which is understandable when we think of lilia's past experiences— he was simply a guardian, a 'bodyguard' to an extent to malleus, and someone who intervened to provide the kind of life lessons and guidance that an absent father figure could no longer give. but he did not raise the prince, nor was he responsible for caring for him daily. if what we know so far is to be believed, there was little to no time of lilia's role as a general to his departure and caring for silver. for once in his life, he gets to taste the unfettered freedom of no longer shouldering the weight of a nation's protection, and to be frank, goes a little mad with it. it makes sense why he was cavorting around the world while leaving silver at home, he simply never got to enjoy these freedoms before and perhaps selfishly took advantage of that fact while neglecting the ramifications of leaving a child to care for itself (especially one with a narcoleptic condition).

(and even now he kind of seeks that familiar comfort of warfare— we see him gaming as a kind of warlord with idia, which makes sense that he was unable to fully part with that portion of his identity if it truly made up his entire persona for nearly 600 years.)

anyways all this to say that i have no doubt that lilia truly cares for silver. but i think there's something to be said for fae emotional differences, and that he massively underestimates or doesn't know how to acknowledge that silver loves him before even himself. that the things he does to his family (re halloween, his departure party) are ignorantly cruel at best. at the same time, how could you blame him? as a general and being accustomed to loss of life, what is the use of a long, drawn out goodbye? and to have spent the majority of his life in such a mindset, it's understandable, even if reprehensible, to apply this logic to silver, malleus, and sebek. on the flip side, how utterly fascinating how lilia seems to be fooling himself with these forced and abrupt goodbyes— he admits it himself that he fears becoming weak before his family, that vulnerability so at odds with the kind of power and strength he wielded for years.

i have absolutely no idea what the next part of ch7 will bring us, but i really cannot wait to explore more of lilia in his general years, at the height of his glory. and i really do hope that we get the truth of what we all know— his happiest dream, his sweetest memory, being that of when he found silver at last. how fitting would that be, especially for silver who had wept miserably to malleus about his failures to lilia as his son. how fitting to know that lilia does not see him in that way, that his happiest moment that he would choose to relive and dream is the one where he gathers up silver in his arms, and inevitably sets in motion his course to become his father.

[ghostsinthemeadow]

Hues of Obsession. Chapter 1.

THE LONELY SURVIVOR.

Yoon Bum stood in front of the charred remains of Sangwoo's house, the memories of their twisted bond still haunting him like blurry figures in the shadows.  His heart ached with an intricate mixture of emotions — longing, fear, and a profound sense of loss. Sangwoo, the object of his desire and his terror, was gone now. The flames that had helped consume the younger man's life also scorched Bum's soul; but the memories of their intimacy were not so easily extinguished, they burned within him still, leaving him battered and broken. 

The sight before him was a stark reminder of the fragility of their bond, built upon a foundation of manipulation and obsession... a bond that had ensnared them both in a dangerous dance, where roles of victim and perpetrator blurred with terrifying ease. 

He reached out tentatively, as if expecting Sangwoo's touch to materialize out of the dust that, months later, still hung in the air. But there was only emptiness, and a cold realization that he was truly alone now. The flames had not just marred the house; they had razed his illusions, leaving him to confront the harsh truth of what their relationship had truly been. 

As he turned away from the desolate scene, Bum knew that he could never truly escape the haunting presence of Sangwoo; their bond, forged in darkness and pain, would forever linger in the corners of his mind, a reminder of a chapter in his life that could never be erased. 

In a way, Sangwoo's death had brought a semblance of frail closure, yet it also ripped away the only anchor Bum had in a world that had always seemed cruel and indifferent. With Sangwoo gone, Bum found himself adrift, like a ship lost at sea, tossed about by the merciless waves of his own grief and guilt. 

As days blurred into nights, Bum struggled to make sense of his shattered existence. He wandered the city streets aimlessly, his footsteps echoing in the empty alleys like the hollow beats of his own heart. With no family or friends to turn to, he became a ghost among the living, haunting the fringes of society, his presence unnoticed and his pain unacknowledged.  

To survive, Bum took on a variety of odd jobs wherever opportunity presented itself: he scrubbed greasy floors in shabby, fluorescent-lit restaurants that reeked of old oil. His hands, once soft and unblemished, now bore tiny cuts from hours spent gripping worn-out scrub brushes and mops. When the restaurant work ran dry, he found himself washing dishes in rundown cafes with cracked windows and flickering neon signs. The steam from the industrial sinks mingled with the sour scent of burnt coffee grounds, impregnating his clothes and clinging to his skin like a second layer of filth.  In moments of sheer necessity, Bum mopped the sticky floors of shady bars, where the air was thick with the stench of stale beer and cigarettes. The laughter and chatter of patrons a welcome noise that drowned out his thoughts, yet each sweep of the mop was a silent protest against his own sense of insignificance. 

These menial tasks, sometimes demeaning, served as painful reminders of his dwindling place in society. Each job underscored his status as a ghostly figure, unnoticed and unremarkable in a world that seemed to have forgotten him. 

But it was during the long, lonely nights that Bum's despair truly engulfed him. With nowhere else to turn, he sought refuge in the cold embrace of shelters and soup kitchens scattered throughout the city. Places that, with their flickering fluorescent lights and creaky floors, offered little solace from the harsh realities of his existence. 

In such places, Bum often found himself in cramped rooms filled with rows of narrow, metal-framed beds, where the air was stale and musty, with a lingering scent of sweat and disinfectant permeating the space. Threadbare blankets barely provided warmth against the chill that seeped through cracked windows and worn-out walls. 

Here, he would shuffle in line for a steaming bowl of watery broth served by weary volunteers, the food, though scarce, offered a fleeting respite from gnawing hunger. Around him, other shelter dwellers, their faces etched with exhaustion and resignation, exchanged greetings or shared quiet moments of camaraderie born from shared hardship. 

As he huddled beneath old blankets, listening to the snores and murmurs of his fellow shelter visitors, Bum's mind was consumed by the void left by Sangwoo's absence. He replayed their twisted connection over and over in his mind, dissecting every cruel word and violent gesture that had defined their bond, the moments of tenderness overshadowed by manipulation and fear. In the silence of the shelter, with only the distant hum of traffic outside and the occasional snore, Bum wrestled with the loneliness left by Sangwoo's absence. It was here, amidst the anonymity of shelter life, that he confronted the stark reality of his own vulnerability and the haunting memories of their twisted connection. But try as he might, Bum could find no solace in the memories of their past. Sangwoo's death had closed the door on that chapter of his life, leaving behind only scars that refused to heal and open wounds that festered with each passing day. 

And so, with a heavy heart and a weary soul, Bum trudged onward, his footsteps echoing in the darkness as he searched for a glimmer of optimism where all hope seemed unreachable.

As the days turned into weeks, Yoon Bum's desperation grew. Each passing moment felt like a burden bearing down on him, suffocating him with the weight of his ever-present loneliness. He drifted through the city streets like a ghost, his hollow eyes reflecting the emptiness of his soul, until... 

...One fateful day, as he wandered aimlessly through the alleys of the city, Bum stumbled upon a building that seemed to rise out of the darkness like a beacon of hope. Its looming presence cast a shadow over the surrounding buildings, its windows cloaked in enigma and intrigue. 

The complex loomed over the cityscape like a forgotten relic, its weathered facade bearing the signs of time and neglect, yet still exuding an eerie allure that drew in weary souls seeking refuge. 

A sign caught his attention, its bold letters announcing that rooms were available for rent at a surprisingly cheap price. It was a ray of sunlight in the sea of despair that had become his life. Though he couldn't shake the feeling of uncertainty, the idea of having a space of his own, even if it turned out to be less than ideal, was a tantalizing prospect. Anything would be better than the shelters where some of the residents grew aggressive after nightfall, their frustration boiling over into violence. With a hesitant but determined step, Bum pushed open the heavy metal door and stepped inside... 

As he stepped into the faintly illuminated foyer of the complex, he was greeted by the sight of a tall, wiry man with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. His slender frame seemed to sway with an almost theatrical flair, and his attire, a flamboyant ensemble of colorful vests and a hat tilted rakishly to the side, echoed the eccentricity of his character. His short, jet-black hair was neatly styled, framing a face adorned with a thin, curled mustache and a perpetual grin that danced between charm and cunning. With each gesture, he exuded an aura of extravagant charisma, a magnetic presence commanding attention and curiosity in equal measure. The man, who Bum assumed was the landlord, leaned casually against the reception desk, a small smirk playing at the corners of his lips. 

"Welcome, my friend," the man said, his voice smooth, "What brings you to our humble abode?" 

Bum hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to articulate the swirling thoughts and emotions that churned within him. "I... I was just p-passing by," he finally managed to say, his voice barely above a whisper. "I saw the sign outside and... I was curious." 

The man's smirk widened into a wide grin. "Ah, curiosity is a powerful thing, my friend," he said, nodding knowingly. "And what, may I ask, has piqued your curiosity today?"  

Bum glanced around the foyer, taking in the gloomy corridors and the faded wallpaper peeling from the walls. "I was wondering about... the p-price," he said, his voice trailing off uncertainly. 

At this, the man's grin grew even wider. "Ah, the price," he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Well, my friend, let me tell you something. The price of entry into our little community is... quite reasonable, if I do say so myself." 

Bum furrowed his brow in confusion. "Reasonable? How much are we talking about here?"  

Bum's heart skipped a beat as the man continued, "It's 190.000 wons a month."

His eyes widened in surprise, it was a sum he could afford, barely. With a glimmer of hope igniting in his chest, he hesitated only momentarily before asking, "M-may I see the accommodations?" 

The man's grin widened even further, if that were possible. "Of course, my friend. Follow me," he said, gesturing for Bum to follow him down one of the faintly illuminated corridors. 

Bum fell into step behind the man, his footsteps echoing softly against the worn wooden floors. The corridor, lined with doors, stretched out before them, the walls were adorned with peeling wallpaper, the faded floral patterns barely visible beneath layers of grime and neglect. 

They stopped in front of a small door, the paint peeling and the handle slightly rusted. The man swung the door open with a creak, revealing a small room bathed in soft, golden rays of sunlight that filtered through the dusty window, casting long shadows across the weathered furnishings. An old bed, its wooden frame worn and creaky, occupied one corner, the mattress lumpy and uneven beneath well-worn blankets. Opposite the bed stood a modest wardrobe, it's faded paint peeling in places, revealing the dull wood beneath, the brass handles, once shiny, were now tarnished with age. A small table, its surface covered in countless marks and scratches, occupied the opposite wall, accompanied by a solitary chair, its legs wobbly from years of use. Throughout the room, dust and grime clung stubbornly to every surface, coating the worn floors and clinging to the peeled walls.  

Bum stepped inside, his eyes sweeping over every inch of the small room with a mix of apprehension and unease. The air was heavy with the scent of mold and decay, a stark contrast to the bustling life outside the window.  The space was modest, to be sure, but it was a sanctuary away from the chaos of the outside world. 

"The kitchen, bathroom, and patio are shared between all the tenants," the man explained, his voice echoing softly in the dusty room. 

Bum nodded, his mind already made up. "I'll take it", he said, his voice barely above a whisper. And as he stepped into his new home, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding settle over him like an icy blanket. It wasn't much, but it was a start—a chance to escape the darkness that had consumed him, and maybe... just maybe...forge a new path forward, no matter how uncertain it may be. 

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THIS STORY HERE:

[the-holy-ghosted]

*holding out my hands completely unbidden and unprompted*

Hey I heard y’all got ocs in here? Ocs hello?? Hot ocs in my area????

hi im gonna pretend i didnt get this asked to me by somebody else before i clicked a wrong button and tumblr erased the whole post. taking this unbiased opportunity to jump into these characters.

i have had these ocs for upwards of 7 or 8 years, who went untouched for a VERY long time before getting picked back up and refurbished as of about 2 years ago. it is with MUCH pride i tell you that they intertwine very deeply with a friend's own ocs (YOU!! WHO SENT THIS!!) and they've helped me build up these characters into something i'm incredibly proud of and ought to share by now

without further adieu: some pirates, some 19th century fantasy (a LOT of fucking fantasy), and like 8 years worth of worldbuilding that i am STILL not done with. enjoy

FIRST of all let me show you who we're working with:

Who the hell is that?

Leo Blackwater (he/him) - 56 yrs, 5'6'', 152 lbs

Captain of the ship The Eclipse.

Widower of 19 years. only recently decided to open his heart back up; she wanted him to be happy, after all. She's a sensitive topic, even now. so any prodding or teasing on the matter of moving on will be met violently.

Bounty hunter. Smuggler. Doing pirate things, you see. Polite old dad, a warm personality to lure you into a false sense of security and turn you in for a pretty penny.

Disabled after a beam cracked and landed on his knee, breaking it. It never healed right, and hes slower for it, especially in old age. Despite this handicap making him more vulnerable, he does not carry much in the way of weapons.

Eldest of 6 siblings. Son of a humble small town fisherman; perhaps not all that glad for his son's criminality, but the money he sends home makes it forgiven.

Father of one, a daughter, captain of her own ship.

Formed his love for the sea at 18 on his father's fishing boat. Never much respect for the Navy proper. But, after being in the right place at the right time and earning the reward money for a highly wanted pirate, he started to get ideas...

Percius (Percy) Blackwater (they/them) - 48 yrs, 5'10'', 150 lbs

Younger sibling of Leo. 3rd child of 6.

Takes up a number of jobs on Eclipse. Took up the role of second in command after the passing of Mrs. Blackwater.

Respects and trusts their brother's choice in livelihood. Begged since they were young to let them sail with him. Didn't realize what it entailed until they were already aboard.

Unmarried. They're a bit busy right now.

Willing to be called uncle by their beloved niece, for lack of a better word.

Betelgeuse Blackwater (she/her) - 30 yrs, 6'5'', 240 lbs

Captain of The Starlight, all-female crew.

Bounty hunter. Smuggler. Learned her way of living from her parents.

Inherited her face and density from her father, nothing else. Prone to brute force rather than wit and cunning. This works for her just fine.

Quite awkward, if she likes you.

Eldest (and favorite) grandchild, an only child, a totally different woman if you see her around family. Towers over father, but makes herself small for a kiss hello.

Was only about 7 or 8 when her mother passed. She remembers what little she has of her fondly, and greets her kindly when she looks in a mirror.

So whats going on?

What a funny question!!! I got no clue. But I'll start by explaining a little worldbuilding lore (cringe explination incoming):

There is magic in this universe. Not one that's denied or marveled at, but exists as much as everything else you dont pay attention to around you. Its as real as gravity. It's a honed skill in some, frowned upon by others, used unwisely by a small (but not unheard of) few. Magic makes itself present in a number of ways; it's hard to find written rules of these things unless you know precisely what you want and what you believe in. In many areas, some small towns appear to be protected by nameless elements and energies. It's more often that you find individuals who put in the work to harness their beliefs into something tangible, all calling their faiths and abilities something different from each other. Again, its not unheard of for individuals to use these abilities for their own poor intentions. If someone like Leo is lucky, bagging a Magic user is worth every ounce of hassle it takes. He seems to get away with feats like this often, though port authority fears him enough not to ask how. The Blackwaters won't admit foul play, though, if you're in the right town listening to the right gossip, you might hear a rumor or two about Betelgeuse's warm touch and a spitfire attitude when shes angry.

So whats up with Leo?

hehehehe.

As aforementioned, Leo has recently made himself a bachelor. He has no shortage of acquaintances and colleagues in his line of business. His demeanor, if you trust it, is very welcoming to new colleagues. He's not looking for something to jump too quickly into, he's happy to take things slow as he navigates romance again after so long.

And then he captures Roark.

Roark Renshaw (he/him) - 68 yrs, 6'6'', 250 lbs (CREATION OF @skelelephant)

World's worst man.

Captain of The Red Hound, took this position by force at the age of 21. The crew that remained after his mutiny had naught the will to defy him, choosing to follow out of curiosity more than anything else afterward.

Professional menace. High-seas whore. Good old fashioned murderer, committer of pirate crimes as you'd imagine. Terribly smug about it.

Unknown origin, unknown motive. He cropped up out of thin air and has made himself a name to be feared ever since, doing a service to the red flag The Hound flies.

For all his force, he is not one easily captured. For all his reputation, he is reckless. He caught Leo at a bad time, unfortunately.

Roark is a household name among most port towns, wanted dead or alive for the better half of his life by the Navy. His nature is not unlike that of a rabid dog, compared often to his ship's namesake. It is a state of being that none have been able to tame him out of, not by any rotating carousel of lovers he finds among port towns or the enemies he finds in equal amount, and one that gives the bounty over his head a lot of zeros. One that Leo, for all his skill, saw as a pipe dream. Leo knew of him, certainly. Roark has been on his radar since before his wife's passing- they'd spoken of capturing him fondly, joked about like some impossible fantasy. But for all his reputation comes bad habits that lower his guard when he needs it most. Stumbling drunkenly out of a tavern one evening, docked unknowingly at the same port as The Eclipse, he is disarmed and captured before he knows it.

This is a victory unheard of. It seems only fitting that Leo Blackwater would bag him, Roark having not expected to meet his match in such a mild man. Before the crew of The Hound have enough notice, Eclipse sails off to deposit the dog that is Roark Renshaw to the navy for a glorious execution, and an even more glorious reward. Leo has the gall to boast this to his prisoner, who seems almost humored. Hes quite charming when hes disarmed, a feature of his that seeps into the cracks of Leo's resolve and that itch the loneliness that he had yet to satisfy. Hes dangerous even with his hands tied.

This is what solidifies Leo's decision to turn him in. A man who so loved to be chased and so loved the rotten attention he recieved, who needed to be put down. It was a thrill, though, to capture the hound himself and be one of few to ever do so. To be revered as Roarks captor would make one want to do it all over again.

By luck or by the hunger for chase that gnawed on Roark and Leo's ribs, Roark finds the moment to escape as hes being escorted off the ship. Leo, notably, makes a piss poor attempt at catching him.

Seen as a dire fluke from the outside, the captains know it was on purpose. They've found themselves amidst a game of cat and mouse, that gives them a small purpose for at least a little while. You bond very closely when trying to kill each other, you know!

So what's their deal?

Well, their deal is that they *make* a deal.

Though Roark might be a big fish in their career pond, he is not the only one. Eventually, always eventually, there is another to challenge Roark's reputation. He wants the pirate out of his way, and Leo could always use another bounty. But hes slippery... moreso than Roark, who lets himself into Leo's jaws on purpose.

So... an alliance is formed. Temporary, of course, they split this bounty and part ways. So they say. But Roark is a charming man, and fulfills the loneliness and search for companionship that Leo wanted... and Leo is collected and steady, more than the majority of Roark's colleagues. They stand out to each other. They're comfortable. Attached.

So... after the bounty is collected they choose not to end their truce. Spend more time together. Work together exceptionally well. Balance each other out, in a way.

So they're together?

GAY AS CAN BE, BABY.

probably the only existing drawing of them Together despite how much we both draw them seperately.

Their alliance spills over into something... fond. Affectionate, even. A few meetups at a port town turn into a lot more working together peacefully. This leads to some... interesting wires to cross between their own respective enemies, interesting wires between one another. They get to know each other very personally in some strenuous circumstances.

Anyways! Now that they're on the table, I feel a little more comfortable to talk about them more. Draw them more. Answer some questions, if anybody has any. I did leave a lot open-ended...

[exspiravited]

Giratina first met Elys around two-hundred years ago, after she broke free from the Distortion World following the events at Spear Pillar. It was after all 108 spirits were gathered, freeing the Spiritomb back into the world after having been sealed for the past several hundred years.

They were one in the same, the two of them. Cast out from the world, and sealed away to keep them from earth for as long as possible. Many things had changed, even in Elys’ case. They had both come back to an entirely new world, an entirely new Hisui.

Giratina took Elys in when she found her, a disheveled and frightened Spiritomb. She bestowed her a human guise, so that they can walk the lands uninhibited. Their relationship started as a mentor-mentee relationship. Elys was essentially Giratina’s right hand as the goddess vied to get her power back, and amass a following. Though Giratina had been ousted from the world for billions of years, she would bestow her knowledge and teachings upon Elys. She would teach the younger ghost how to fight and defend herself, and even taught her a weaker version of her signature Shadow Force: Phantom Force.

Most ghost-types knew of Giratina, of course - the infamous legend of the queen of the dead. Many were already receptive to her presence returning to Hisui, aligning themselves with her and working under her. Some were more on the fence, and it was Elys that swayed them to their side. Giratina was always taking a bold, head-on approach, while Elys worked more indirectly, moving and speaking through the shadows.

It would be later on that their bond would turn to more of a familial one. Elys had always been enamored by the chaos goddess, and in working for her personally, she became even more of a role model to her. In turn, Giratina saw a lot of herself in Elys. They had both been damned to rot away in the places they were sealed into, an unjust ending for the two of them. And one way or another, they came back with a vengeance. Not only that, but Elys had had... nothing. Nothing at all. She was all alone in the world, meant to fend for herself, just like Giratina had been as a child. Seeing her own past repeat itself in another was something she couldn’t bear to see, and it was why she quickly began to see the Spiritomb like a daughter.

Giratina went to great lengths to make sure she was taken care of, being the first to bear her fangs at anyone who was even remotely threatening to Elys. They have walked and traveled together for so long now, to the point where it’s like Elys had always been her child, even long before. She owes Elys so much for being a key role in gaining her following back, and spreading the word of the ghost queen’s return to the mortal plane. In turn, Elys feels like she owes Giratina so much more. She wouldn't be in the place she was now without Giratina's guidance and mentorship.

[foreversecrets]

Meet the Family

Part of the Rogers Family Expansion Series

Joseph Rogers amassed power and money, along the way he had many women. His wife Sarah, followed by 7 mistresses throughout his life before ultimately passing away, gave him 9 children, 2 girls and seven boys. Upon his passing his eldest took up the role of leading the family. Listed by age oldest to youngest just happens to coincide with the power and responsibilities they each help amongst the family as well as the partner they eventually find themselves with.

Steve Rogers: the boss overseeing both business and the family side of things. Most of the time he is the only one who can keep everyone in line and break up spats. On the morning of his beloved mothers birthday he encounters a woman who turns out to be his mothers personal assistant and the object of his intrigue.

Frank Adler: the second in command, he tends to handle the legal and legitimate side of things mostly as a fail safe in case things go wrong his hands aren't dirty and Mary won't be abandoned. As good a role model he tries to be, he can't help the fact that he's in love with a married woman.

Diane Adler: unfortunately during a turf dispute, she was caught in the crossfire and lost her life, leaving her brothers to care for her young daughter Mary. Mostly Frank takes on the responsibility as Diane's twin brother he had been the closest.

Andy Barber: stays out of both sides of things, maintaining his legitimate job as an attorney. He mostly spends all his time keeping the family and their associates out of jail. It was an accident how he fell in love with his younger sister's best friend, growing up she hadn't even been on his radar but when she returns to town for Delilah's wedding he can't help seeing all the positive changes about her.

Lloyd Hansen: Typically he handles the tech side of things while also dabbling in the discipline of those who've wronged the family. It's while seeking revenge for the rival family who killed Diane that he runs into the daughter of the highest ranking member of their family. She is a spoiled fucking brat but Lloyd can't admit that he likes her, especially when she convinces him the greatest revenge of all would be to marry her so she'll never truly be part of her fathers family again.

Curtis Everett: The muscle, not afraid to get his hands dirty to protect his family. It's during the investigation of unmarked crates on one of their shipping boats that he discovers a human trafficking business that has been going on under their noses and the women who's trying her best to protect all the girls. Usually he's not the one who people find approachable, but for some reason she trusts him to help her and all the other women.

Ari Levinson: handles the smuggling and is Steve's main advisor on matters pertaining to their drug business. Once Steve orders a mass investigation into all their dealing after what Curtis uncovered, Ari finds an independent drug dealer who's been stealing from them and using their goods for her own profit.

Delilah Levinson: her brothers keep her out of the business out of fear of history repeating itself. They are terrified to lose their only remaining sister so instead she is set up with a bodyguard who happens to be her eldest brother's best friend and the man she's in love with, oh yeah, and he's married.

Ransom Drysdale: holds no responsibility whatsoever apart from being part of the family. Outwardly he doesn't give a fuck that his brothers don't think he can handle any part of the business and not just because he is the youngest, inwardly he is a ball of melancholy. Which is why he's so pissed when his brothers decide to set him up in an arranged marriage so the family can spread their reach.

[todayisafridaynight]

Of course! I'm glad my Unmitigated Braindumping has given you more opportunities to talk about them at length I never know where to start myself, so I'm very thankful for the jumping-off point that first post provided (and that many of your posts provide!) This has been a wonderful experience. (Also, uh, since these "bookends" work for more personal stuff--I am No Longer Sick and I'm happy to hear you seem to be doing a bit better!)

Reading it over, I figure the event transcript itself is okay to share, so here it is on my test wiki! It's, well, it's about the same length as this ask will probably end up, and it's a "sequel" to his first event. A thing I really like about Mine's RGGO content is that It's All Connected; the narratives continue to build upon each other to this day. That's not the case for almost any other character.

And totally! With Mine in specific, I feel there's enough reductiveness on "both sides" regarding his sexuality and regarding Daigo that trying to put forward any particular stance would be detrimental on top of the reasons we've discussed. It's probably a bit weird to say this about a fictional character, but Mine's a whole person independent of the men in his life, y'know?

I actually fell for the red herring with Katase myself until the Kanda scene we talk about below haha, so I guess that's fair enough on your friend's part. Definitely the case that the ending makes it clear that's not how it is, though.

Mine's interactions with women are always fascinating to me, especially in contrast to Kanda as you mentioned, but also in contrast to the main series protagonists. Just the way he immediately drops everything to help the woman Kanda attempts to assault when he and Kanda first meet almost on instinct says a lot to me when almost every protagonist occasionally acts like it's an inconvenience to Them to intervene.

I'd say a lot of it comes from growth on the writers' parts in terms of understanding that, hey, being totally complacent in Kanda's actions is scummy. So I appreciate that Mine is by far the one who does the most to minimize Kanda's harm (up to and including having him killed, of course, but also getting him arrested in that event as well as physically stopping him--and apparently dozens of others, since every woman who picks him up in that event is apparently a woman he saved lmao.)

I feel like Mine, when mentally stable, has this almost "chivalrous" quality to him. I'm kind of reminded of Hijikata as well in that they both insist on calling every younger woman they meet "miss"; it's a little old-fashioned, perhaps condescending, but still kind of cute (biased though lol, the ratios on those three things may vary.) There's a lot I want to talk about on this topic with regard to Hijikata, the historical account, and other "definitive" Shinsengumi media, but I'll probably save that for another ask.

But on Mine and relationships, there's so much to unpack there! The old joke is absolutely applicable. And because he was talking about how he's "never 'picked anyone up' in his life" in that event, agreeing to all these "dates" but never enthusiastically (I think the one and only time he didn't seem actively unhappy was in the finale to the accompanying card's character story), I do wonder to what degree his passivity would play a role in other romantic encounters. Agreeing to whatever those women wanted whether he really wanted it himself.

Rewinding to Katase a bit, while that was obviously not romantic, I think the interaction in the finale could perhaps provide insight as to a problem he may face in romantic relationships. Which is his refusal (or inability) to be emotionally honest while sort of expecting the other party to be perfectly attuned to his emotions.

Because like, I don't think Katase /didn't/ care about him whatsoever, I think she just took his "I'm fine"(s) at face-value and took a "business as usual" approach without realizing how much that would upset him in his current state. I would be mortified in her position if I called up my boss on an urgent matter and he said he was "fine" and then just completely stopped responding before hanging up lol, especially upon learning he committed suicide shortly thereafter.

But that interaction is (or appears to be) something he emotionally experienced as a "betrayal" despite being totally unintentional, so I have to wonder how much of a pattern it is in his life; he's been concealing his real problems and saying he was """fine""" since he was a kid, after all. I obviously can't say anything conclusive, but it "feels like" there's something there with the way he sort of lumped in the women he's been with with his coworkers when talking about how "they'll all abandon ship sooner or later" or whatever.

Like, I don't doubt that some (or perhaps many) women would like him for shallow reasons, but all of them…? Hm. Not Sure. That said, there's definitely an argument to be made he was seeing hostesses and sex workers (seeing him talk to a hostess is one of my top 10 reasons for wanting him to be a protagonist at some point tbh), but I guess there's also an argument to made that those types of relationships are overtly "fake" and "paid-for" and so wouldn't appeal to him? I wish we actually got to see some of that when Kanda took him to cabaret clubs.

And hey, you're totally right about Aoki's secretary! That was something that stood out to me as well. Her screen-time is roughly comparable to Katase iirc, so it's puzzling. Jo's leftover files really are such an enigma, because everyone's got unused voice lines and stuff (and they're still interesting to listen through for "another dimension" to the characters you don't get to see in-game), but there's so much that's Unique to him. I can only hope some of those ideas are explored elsewhere.

Kanda's insult is a lot of fun to examine for the exact reasons you mentioned, because on the surface and in a literal sense, the translation is "off the mark"--but is it? I'm not sure how much crossover there is between cultures in this regard, but I know when I came out as bisexual to my family, there were a lot of accusations thrown around that I'd become "too Westernized." It's definitely something I'd like to ask native speakers about if I can get over the embarrassment; perhaps if that's no help, one of my books or papers on LGBT issues in Japan might have an answer.

I'm definitely under the impression that both localization teams understood Mine wasn't straight. I might be a little bit biased with regard to the original, since, like I said, that was actually the scene I began to "suspect" Mine was gay lmao. But there was an effort to maintain accuracy in the finale even if the wording is superseded by Y3R's intensity. In that respect I kind of wonder about the reason for the change, because it addresses the homophobia but not the inaccuracy.

Right! I do give Mine some credit for attempting to be cautious with Kanda and Daigo, of course. It does seem like his misanthropy (or his tendency to spiral into it when things go wrong, anyway) has a lot to do with his guardedness. And he definitely does have a tendency to look to the future to the detriment of his ability to consider the present (or even that the future might not turn out exactly as he predicts). "The pinnacle of hindsight bias" is the perfect way to put it.

I think that's very much evident in how much of his mental state hinges on things he takes for granted. He'll finally be happy now that he has Daigo to dedicate his life to, because of course Daigo will be around forever (spoilers: he won't.) He'll finally be happy now that he can take over the Tojo, because of course the Tojo will both accept him without a fuss and be around forever (spoilers: it won't).

But I very much agree this is exactly the sort of thing that makes him such a captivating and relatable character! It's been a lot of fun exploring that side of him with you, just as it's been a lot of fun exploring the Arakawas. Of course, I would also be interested in your take on Arakawa and femininity whenever you're feeling up to it.

It was no trouble, thank you so much for taking the time to watch my recommendations! Also gave me the push to get started on Hero with a friend and am excited to see how much that changes my perception of the special! Tsugaru's very much got things going on and I'm excited for the rewatch. Eventually! I honestly have no idea where I stopped watching Pure haha, but I recall wondering if her dependence on her family would just end up being transferred onto Toru, so I'm glad that's not the case at least.

I really appreciate the vote of confidence regarding examining the localization further! That means a lot to me. I think it was especially worth emphasizing Jo and Ikumi's youth because both dubs make the somewhat odd choice to have Jo voiced by the same actor (whereas teen Arakawa is given a different actor), and the model doesn't really have the same wide-eyed innocence Tsutsumi did when he was younger.

I did notice Tsutsumi's performance was much more animated than for Jo as an adult though, and it was a lot more "obvious" when he was saying things he didn't mean, so I appreciate the effort to make up for it in terms of Tsutsumi's acting and probably-Yokoyama's direction.

It's probably hard to believe these days haha, but if anything, people were significantly more vicious towards Arakawa than towards Jo at launch. It just got to be too much to take after a while, especially because I had to see it from ~mutuals~ too. Like you guys know that man's my namesake and that I can see what you're saying, but you're not even going to tone it down a little bit? Okay I Guess.

It felt really aimless to me, because it was like, what, "betraying" Ichi? Having a "weak" "redemption?" I'm not going to say Arakawa Did Nothing Wrong, and I'm sure even he would never be satisfied with whatever he tried to do to make it up to Ichi (he never was when it came to Masato), but he Kind Of Died before he had the chance. Sometimes that's how it is, but Ichi was always going to forgive him.

Of course I should be happy people loved Ichi enough to feel so protective over him, and I kind of am, but I can't fully put my experiences aside either. I don't want to harp on all that too much now that things are looking better though lol.

All of that aside, I'm glad Princess Toyotomi was an enjoyable enough experience! Although it's not as direct as Honnouji Hotel, I think there are still some time-bending aspects with reincarnation and such that history buffs can enjoy. For example, Matsudaira was Tokugawa Ieyasu's family name, and Sanada was the name of a samurai he respected greatly although they were on opposing sides. And of course, the Sanadas as a whole served as vassals to Toyotomi (after the Honnouji incident, coincidentally, haha.)

Chako was also named after the mother of Toyotomi's heirs, so I suppose one could have seen that coming if they were aware of that, but I really, really wanted Daisuke to be the princess too! She (and Sanada's acceptance of her) were very much one of my favorite things about the movie as a whole. I appreciate that, whenever I've seen transgender identities and gender non-conformity come up in Nakai and Tsutsumi's works, that's generally how it goes. Most of their works tend to narratively align with their viewpoints in real life so it's cool.

Speaking of, family issues are very much a pattern in Tsutsumi's characters! Most of what I could say here is a bit spoiler-y, so I won't, but I hope you'll notice more as you go on to experience other roles.

I was hoping to reply to the other asks here, but that got to be Too Hot To Handle (read: way too long), so I'll section them off into a different ask (that you'll probably end up seeing before this one haha). Hopefully they're a bit easier to respond to separately as well. Thank you for your time, and sorry to take up so much of it!

I love how all of Mine’s stories are connected, it feels like some sort of atonement for the fact that Mine wasn’t going to be RGGO’s main protagonist anymore: if we can’t have him in a brand new story, then we can at least make up for it by having multiple prologue stories line up together. HUGE huge thank you for sharing this with me, it was an absolute honor to be able to read this!

It’s incredibly interesting to see Mine and his line of thinking in this story. At the end of Y3, Mine practically explodes with anger towards the people who betrayed him back then, yet with Tashiro he’s almost entirely the opposite. I guess in this particular situation though, Mine managed to find an optimistic outcome of that deceit: because Mine was booted from his company, he was able to find the thing he really wanted with the Tojo Clan. I can’t explain it properly, but that’s a sweet mentality for Mine to have honestly considering his displeasure with the society around him: something terrible happened to him (and Tashiro even tried to worsen the wound), but having been able to make the most out of the situation, he was almost prepared to let Tashiro go unpunished (I suppose this ties back into Mine’s whole thing of not striking unless attacked first). As a final small note on the story and translation, I love the sprinkle of French in his dialogue. As we’d talked about before, it’s just small details like that that help enhance his Westernism and I appreciate it immensely.

I totally agree on Mine being his own man/character and wanting to focus on that! That’s something I’m always worried about when I post honestly, as weird as that might seem. It’d be ridiculous for me to try to deny relationships between characters are some of my favorite aspects of RGG, but I also try to highlight the characters on their own. The reason why examining the relationships in RGG is so fun is because of how the characters are by themselves, and ergo the type of characters they become when put with others/how certain qualities of their characters become enhanced when in a (any sort of) relationship. In that, relationships help deepened characters, but they definitely shouldn’t be reduced to ONLY the relationships they have.

As for Mine’s relationship with women in RGGO stories, that’s an aspect of Mine I adore too, and I agree on the whole ‘address women as ‘miss’’ bit: it is old fashioned and potentially condescending, but the over-polite nature of it is endearing all the same to me personally. Just in general, Mine’s very polite and I feel like that’s a detail that’s overlooked at times, but it’s a detail I love all the same. Moreover, Mine generally being- at the very least- a decent person does remind me of Hijikata now that you mention it (despite his scary reputation, apparently almost all personal accounts with him only ever said nice things about him and how amiable he was), not to mention the virtuous nature of kirins, to go back to his original symbol. To extend on that, it does just solidify that Mine is a kirin at heart: he respects the people who haven’t done anything wrong or egregious, but he’s harsh on the people who do injustice (and even then, his tolerance is incredibly high. Back to the subject of when Mine first meets Kanda, he doesn’t punish Kanda for acting inappropriately with the woman, he only engages in a fight with him to get his attention. I appreciate that Mine still wanted to make sure the woman he helped was alright though, making sure she was able to walk first before putting his full attention back to Kanda).

I agree that Mine probably doesn’t pursue relationships himself and more so lets them come to him (especially if the ending of that Okinawa story where Mine’s approached by a woman on the beach is any indication or hint at his past relationships), and I especially agree that due to his closed-off nature, he ultimately jeopardizing any romantic partners he could have had. Ergo, I agree in that Katase shouldn’t be put at fault for dismissing Mine’s feelings (while we’re on the subject, I’ve always wanted to explore how Katase might have reacted to Mine’s death. I know she’s considerably an irrelevant character, but I can’t help but wonder how she might have felt and if she ever felt guilty for something she had no control over). I personally always live by the idea of saying what you mean, and as a result I don’t get upset with people if they can’t discern I’m not okay if I don’t tell them that. As for Mine, it’s painfully evident that’s now how he operates: he fully expects others to be on the same page as him, and as we see that becomes incredibly detrimental to him. It’s a consequence of his need to be independent, I believe: he’s become so focused on himself, he either isn’t comfortable with expressing the truth and relying on others emotionally, or he doesn’t know how to do it.

To expand on the hypotheticals of his past relationship, it really is hard to discern what ‘type’ of women he was entangled with (as in whether they were hostesses/sex workers or women he met naturally), and trying to find out which one is significant to understand the depth of his grievances. We know Mine isn’t fond of money- he understands it’s a tool to achieve what he wants, but it doesn’t make him happy (it wouldn’t be a stretch to even say it disgusts him in some aspects, or at least the greed it brings out of people turns him off). So would he seek out workers to get a sample of a human bond? But again, he’d know right at the start that bond would be artificial, so the only conclusion I can come to is that he really did have the capability to attract women on his own (or at least he didn’t have to ‘buy’ them, per say). And of course, the reason they didn’t work out could have been due in part to multiple reasons: women being with him only for shallow reasons, Mine’s inability to be sincere with others, potentially his sexuality, or maybe some mixture of these factors. Not all relationships are the same, after all. BUT this is all speculation at this point, and unfortunately I doubt we’ll get a concrete backstory on Mine’s relationships (but I do agree in being curious as to how he behaves around hostesses…)

I’m not overly versed on LGBT issues and terminology in the East, so I can’t say my input would be anything of much value. All I know is that- at least in the West as well- the concept of LGBT seems to be very ‘western’ for whatever reason (or at least, I see a lot of people get upset with Japanese franchises having LGBT elements and then claiming they’re ‘affected by the West’. Maybe it’s a two-way street for some). But yeah, all-in-all, it really is an interesting case of ‘technically this is wrong translation wise, but character wise it’s accurate’.

As for Mine and his tendency to be ‘short sighted’, that’s precisely how he operates! He very much has the mentality of ‘there’s no problem now, so don’t worry about it’, or at the very least he is very present-minded (outside of business endeavors, of course) and focuses on his happiness in the moment. I can’t fault him for that, though: again, it’s a very human trait to have, even if a little naive, so to say, but again it’s greatly compelling and relatable.

On to Jo though, it definitely was a weird choice to not have child Jo dubbed with a different actor- I know some boys can have deep voices by 15, but it really is jarring to watch and doesn’t help keep me in the mindset that they’re kids at the time. But you’re right in Tsutsumi’s effort to try and sound more youthful at least: it’s not perfect of course, but it’s definitely easier to discern that he’s supposed to be younger (and definitely fits better based on the interpretation the director might have wanted. For the Japanese dub, Jo sounds a lot more carefree about the situation and like he’s just ready to go home- like the circumstances are more of an annoyance than anything severe. Whereas in the English dub, Jo sounds more remorseful- or at least like he’s struggling with moving on from what happened. But that’s just my takeaway, of course).

About Arakawa’s negative reception though, on the surface I get it just from the premise of ‘Arakawa betrays Ichiban’. Even when I didn’t know anything about Y7 and I was just reading a quick summary of the game, I had a sour taste in my mouth after reading that part. BUT of course now I adore Arakawa. His methods were extreme and deadly, but it’s hard to come up with any alternatives for his situation (and it’s not as though he isn’t aware of the pain he put Ichiban through with his elaborate plan. It’s just another case of not everything a character does can be categorized as a purely good or purely evil action), and it’s unfortunate we didn’t get to see Arakawa try to make things up to Ichi after all they went through.

Onto Princess Toyotomi, I wish I was as much of a history buff for Japan as I am with American history: I love history so much, so I’m sure if I’d known these bits before watching I would’ve appreciated the movie and its details a whole lot more (not that I didn’t enjoy it of course, but having that context definitely would’ve been fun to notice while viewing)! It’s also sweet to hear that Nakai and Tsutsumi seem to be accepting of LGBT themes (I try not to look too deep into actors since I’m scared I’ll find terrible things and it’ll make viewing media they’re in awkward, but so far I’m glad that they appear to be decent guys)! On that note, I am absolutely excited to watch more Nakai and Tsutsumi works when I get the chance- I’m curious what you’re referring to when you talk about spoilers, but I’ll find that out seen enough I guess!

And I also have replies to your second ask, though I'll put it below the cut just to keep things separated and organized.

Whatever you decide to do, I’m sure it’ll turn out great (and if you ever need the tweet, I have it bookmarked and screenshotted- I can never be too certain on whether Twitter’s going to nuke a tweet nowadays…)! As for Masato though, I’d be absolutely surprised if he somehow survived. My reason to doubt as much were the funeral scenes, but with Mine- even if unlikely without repercussions- it’s not impossible to survive a fall from that height, so yeah RGG if you drop the confirmed He’s Fine I have no promises on being Not Annoying LMAO

In reference the nature of Jo and Arakawa’s relationship, I’m glad to have given you a chance to talk about their relationship further (it really is an awkward subject to navigate: it’s fair and reasonable to assume SOMETHING is there obviously, we just can’t put an exact label on it.)! And I am open to criticisms, whether that was the intent or not, otherwise I’m a fan of peer review and looking at notes on a subject together, so no worries!

I’ve always been a big fan of turn-based RPGs, so RGG’s push towards the genre’s been really fun to watch! Again, while you certainly can do storytelling through gameplay for action games, RPGs inherently being more story based definitely lend a hand in being able to inject smaller details better (especially in regards to attack/ability and weapon names that highlight aspects of a character)!

Thank you about my latest comic, it means the world that you enjoyed it despite how simple it is! It’s unfortunate I never draw Ichi since whenever I do, I always have fun with how different and expressive I make him (most of it’s due in part to wanting to make a homage to Akira Toriyama since if the gameplay of Y7’s going to be affected by Ichi’s love for Dragon Quest, then I might as well draw him with Toriyama in mind. But at this point, it’s just fitting to draw him so exaggerated)! And I definitely wouldn’t say your contribution was ‘small’, our back and forth’s were a pretty significant reason for me to have the energy and inspiration to draw the thing in full, so thank you again for chatting with me so much!

The subject of Hijikata and his poetry’s one of my favorite topics (if not majorly because according to people who read them, his poems weren’t all that good despite their famous nature nowadays), and I’m glad they managed to sneak in bits about him and in poetry in Ishin (like him reading in his room, and as you said, the quote at the end)! I can definitely see Mine wanting to thoroughly analyze Hijikata’s poetry just on the basis of being an art buff and wanting to extract as much meaning as he could from the writing (but again, considering the questionable quality of them, I can just as easily see pretty much everyone else looking at it without much regard lmao). On that note though, I’d be interested to see how the poems’ meaning ultimately become reworked in your vision!

Talking more about Ishin, Arakawa and Jo would have fit well with Kondo and Hijikata’s roles, I agree! Honestly, if it weren’t for Mine and how popular he is (which I’m infinitely grateful for, I shouldn’t have to say), it wouldn’t be hard for me to imagine Jo filling in his spot (especially if they were willing to swap in Zhao for Baba; they weren’t afraid to switch out RGG characters for other RGG characters. Though imaging Y7Jo having that slightly friendly air that Hijikata does definitely would have been… something to see lmao). Kondo was also considerably sneaky in Ishin too, wasn’t he? That definitely would have been a good fit for how lowkey Arakawa tries to keep things in Y7.

The complicated nature of Ichi and Jo’s relationship is such a neat subject. As you said, I’m sure part of Jo’s frustrations with Ichi lie in how Ichi’s seeming aloof nature reminds him of his own careless attitude as a kid: nothing like old-fashioned projection to make you irked by someone, right. On the note of Arakawa though, it will be interesting to see how they interact now that they aren’t technically ‘required’ to with Arakawa gone and there’s technically no more need to keep the peace. As I said in some ask ago, I do hope they have a more neutral bond come LaD8; I don’t think it’s reasonable to think they can ever be as close as Ichi and Arakawa are, especially how shut off Jo is, but it would be nice to see them more civil and relatively on the same page (maybe despite Arakawa being gone, they can at least appreciate his memory together right. Not that Jo seems too earnest to crack on sharing his personal feelings about Arakawa anytime soon, though, but maybe one day Ichi can convince him lmao).

Shifting a bit, I do wonder why Kiryu was responsible for making sure Jo was going to be alright. That seems so weirdly specific, especially when Kiryu doesn’t seem to have any connection with the Arakawa family. I hope Gaiden answers that question too!

And if you ever want to talk about Ryuji, feel free to write in about him! It’s been a while since I’ve focused on Y2’s story, but I at least remember his scenes well and I’m pretty solid on his character!

[passionatelyxlust]

"It's never an excuse either way." He murmured. Lust lived centuries long enough to see what happens when the supposed righteous used something as deeply rooted as religion as a free pass to inflict torment against others. How easily beliefs can alter another's opinions and worldviews by taking extreme measures. A wash, rinse, and repeating history of leaders peddling bullshit to their devoted followers until they perished for what they believed in. Somehow, there isn't a difference between those tragic circumstances and the devotions cast upon from the princes unto their King. At one point or another, they all swore allegiance dying in battle for the devil because that is who they were always meant to serve. Lust yanked his gaze from the witch when the door opened, glancing between the younger Azriel and Asa before finding the Delacroix patriarch, struck by the expression on the older man's face the moment his eyes found his oldest son's. The exhaustion apparent, maybe even a hint of distrust. It rubbed Lust the wrong way. He understood the worry a father possesses for their child from a common sense standpoint, but this kind of worry was dangerous. "He did what any younger brother typically does, just looking up to his sibling like a role model." He took in Azriel's father further, shaking his head slowly, "I get how you knew things you shouldn't know may have been this cause for concern, but I also know people automatically revert to a state of fear when faced with something they don't understand." The image around them changed in flashes, the brothers showing signs of ages before the Prince watched the scene refocus again in the chapel of a church where a younger Azriel knelt silently in prayer while his parents spoke to the pastor. He didn't need to hear what they were speaking to know the general gist, that this conversation was about Az's condition. What the other male stated next dragged his eyes flying toward his travel companion, barely forming the question what Azriel meant by that. The memories morphed, taking the pair from the church and finding themselves at a cemetery. "Oh, Azriel..." Lust whispered softly, the melancholy in his stomach dropping sharply at the memory itself, but the sounds of a woman's mournful screams completely gutted him. Not just for her, but for the dream witch beside him. He did not require seeing up close the name on the headstone, didn't need clarification the young life that was taken by sheer tragic accident. "It wasn't your fault. They needed someone to blame and they chose to blame their own child that they didn't bother trying to help." There weren't enough words in the world that could convey the heartbreak shattering him in two from his own sadness and the emotion emitted from being inside Azriel's mind. Yet, nothing prepared him for the ruinous obliteration of the toll this took until Az unveiled the night he discovered his little brother's body. His gaze met Asa's still form, looking strangely peaceful despite the blood seeping from his face. Lust slowly stepped forward, taking in the boy and imagining what it must be to lose a brother. He couldn't help thinking about Gluttony, how broken he would feel spending an eternity without someone who saw the real him before all brothers. "You were just a child, Az." The prince turned around and approached the male again, "How could you know the limits of what you can do without a single person helping you navigate any of it?" His gaze flickered the other's features, "There's something more beyond this, isn't there?"

"I fault those who use their beliefs as a means of control, but I won't deny the dangers." The simple phrase was reminiscent of his time talking to Pandora at the coronation party, how the coven was also the same as his family. Using the words of a deity or figurehead long past to enact control and fear in to their subjects to get what they wanted. It was a brutal and endless cycle, one that he witnessed firsthand. Azriel continued to watch the memory play around them, the younger version of him studiously working while the front door opened, in bounding his brother and their father not far behind– his brother stopping to sit next to him as he also pulled out his own homework. "It wasn't lonely, at least not in the beginning. Asa thought I was a superhero." The word superhero spoken with a rueful laugh before Azriel pointed over to the mirage of his father. The man took in his two sons, flicking from one to the other, landing on Azriel with a wariness that one wouldn't attribute to looking at their own child. "However, it was hard for my parents to dismiss that I knew things about people around me that a child wouldn't know. Things like Mrs. Jenkins having an affair with Mr. Henderson across the street or our pastor was skimming off the tops of the tithe taken every Sunday. I knew what people did in the safety of the night when they didn't believe anyone was watching." The images flickered through memories, centering around the two boys as the surroundings filtered together– both of them growing slightly older while the glances of their parents grew progressively more worried, then the memory shifted completely to a grand chapel. It was a majestic view even to this day to Azriel. Candles in abundance lit and casting soft glows with lit incense– any light dying from the afternoon sun sending rainbows of colors through the stained glass as the younger version of him knelt in one of the pews; hushed conversations between his parents and the pastor as the younger him prayed. He never knew what they said, casting his faith into the Lord and his Son that everything would work out– how was he to know that he never belonged when the teachings were always that mortals were made in His image. Even a kid such as him who could do things that no one else could that he knew of. "At first, I think they started to believe that I was some... prophet, but that changed quickly. Afterall, what prophet would hurt one of their own?" The memories flickered once more so that Lust and Azriel stood side by side outside in a rainy autumn day. He remembered how cold it was, the rain soaking through to the bone so much that he never thought he'd be warm again while he watched from afar while the funeral procession buried his brother into the cold and unforgiving earth– even from that far he could hear his mother's wails. "It was my fault, my parents knew it. They wouldn't let me onto the holy ground unless I tainted it with my filth," the words spat from his lips, gaze moving to Lust's, "the coroner report said that his body had been crushed from the inside out, a medical mystery and oddity but I knew. My brother died in one of the dreams I crafted. We were acting out some comic book scene when he slipped and fell from the roof we were running on. I didn't know what could happen so I didn't know to stop it. I knew something was wrong when I was booted out of his mind and back into my own body." The memory flicked once again to show his childhood room the night of Asa's passing after he had been sent back into his own mind, the younger version of him bolting out of bed and crossing the room he shared with his brother in record time. Azriel couldn't look, the memory branded into his mind forever, but he knew what his younger self saw. Asa lying in bed almost peacefully except for the blood that was now leaking out of the corners of his mouth, eyes, and his nostrils. Instead, the witch turned to look out the window with crossed arms, darkness greeting him as he spoke quietly, "my first casualty and greatest regret."

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Cupid Parasite

Official Summary:

What's love got to do with it? In this divine romantic comedy, play as Lynette Mirror, Cupid Corporation's top bridal advisor and none other than Celestia's Goddess of Love, Cupid! Determined to prove that love is more than bows and arrows, she meets her biggest challenge yet — the infamous Parasite 5.

But in finding love for the Parasite 5, will Cupid find love herself?

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Luna's Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

I needed a break between the stupendously long playthroughs of Jack Jeanne (review coming soon!) so I picked up Cupid Parasite for a more casual, less involved game.

In Cupid Parasite, the MC, who is literally the goddess Cupid, descends to earth as human alter-ego Lynette Mirror in order to stick it to her father and prove that human algorithms are better than forcing people to fall in love with her magical bow and arrow. She joins a dating agency and quickly becomes their top advisor. Due to her success, she's forced to take charge of five bachelors who are having trouble finding love because they suck.

I'll say it upfront. Cupid Parasite is very stupid. The plot is goofy and very loosely constructed. There is a roomba. The MC is a powerful demigod and her first move upon coming to Earth is to rent a shared apartment and get a bachelor's degree. The B-button produces a honk sound. These were the highlights for me, actually. I don't mind a stupid game as long as it spells that out upfront, and Cupid Parasite definitely does.

Where this game really stands out is where it embraces the stupid and allows itself to be fun and silly. But it suffers from inconsistency, leaving me unsure of what to think. Some routes are very serious and others are incredibly unserious.

It took me a really long time to warm up to this game for a few reasons. First, Cupid Parasite feels like it's aimed at a younger audience, as everyone in the game, including the protagonist, is immature or undeveloped in some way.

This game was also just way too sexy for me, and extremely heteronormative. The romance and ideas portrayed are very traditional. Lynette has some fairly antiquated views about love between men and women, ranging from boring to slightly offensive. A lot of it didn't sit right with me.

It was also a little difficult to get through the common route because I truly didn't like a single one of the dating options lol. I know the premise is that they're undatable but man...they are insufferable at the beginning.

The interface, while colorful and quirky, is too "busy" and thus difficult to navigate. It was a little laggy for me. The whole experience felt clunky and unpolished.

If you like flirty, silly and sexy otoges, you'll probably be really into Cupid Parasite. But unfortunately I am not the target audience for this game. There were certain aspects of each route I enjoyed, though, so find below my thoughts in the order in which I played each character.

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(Spoilers) Ryuki Route

I genuinely liked Ryuki's route, which was surprising to me because I really DID NOT like him in the common route lol. He warms up to Lynette right at the end of the common, and his affection grows from there. He's not a true tsundere, but he fulfills the "has trouble being honest" role in this game for the most part.

He's the youngest of the love interests at just 19 — not that age matters much when the PC is an immortal god— so I didn't feel too great about the sexy scenes with this barely legal kid lol. But they don't sleep together on the route, which I was grateful for.

Ryuki's driving force is in learning how to be a good designer, and Lynette is charmed by the attention he puts into his designs. It turns out he always wanted to design clothes for women, but nobody has allowed him to do that, so he's just lived with this repressed desire his whole life.

His interest in Lynette comes from how she treats him like a normal person, rather than flee from his rudeness or put him on a pedestal like most people, as well as how she's the first person to tell him he can do what he wants. Ryuki's attraction to her felt natural and the pace was good. When he realizes that you naturally find the person you're in love with more attractive, he freaks out in an adorable way.

Once he accepts that what he's feeling is love, his entire attitude changes, and he instantly becomes an attentive and kind partner. He was already warming up to Lynette, but the switch proves how much he was holding back on his base instincts to cherish her. Realizing he's in love gives him the freedom to do what he's always wanted, just as Lynette gave him the freedom to design women's clothing.

Proposing to Lynette instead of asking her out was silly, but he's 19, so I actually felt like it was in keeping with how a teenager would act with his first love.

Overall, I felt Ryuki's route was very successful. I hope Lynette reels him in a little, hehe.

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(Spoilers) Gill Route

Man this route sure was...something.

It's so hard for me to judge Gill, because every time the game gives you a reason to like him, they add in another reason to dislike him, too.

He's an insufferable sad sack in the common route. Then you start his route and realize he took such good care of Lynette at the beginning when she didn't know anything about the human world. Then you find out he literally stalked her in college and calls her his "baby bird." Then you find out he did technically ask her out (though she never got the letter) and thought he was formally rejected. Then you find out he took his job specifically to spend more time with her.

Toward the end of his route, he reveals he has a folder of pictures of her on his phone, taken secretly over the years, including some of her sleeping. This is treated as romantic and sweet, but as someone who has been stalked before, I can assure you it is not. It's creepy and frightening. And no, Gill is never told this behavior is not ok. The game actually treats it as not only acceptable but as demonstrative of how dedicated he is to Lynette. Gross.

Gill's route also had a lot of contrivances and some downright weird stuff, such as him being kicked out of his apartment due to rotting blue cheese, and a voice change app that exists to create a convenient misunderstanding. This is already a very silly game, but it felt like a few too many coincidences.

He also swoops in to save Lynette by literally building a transforming car and flying to the heavenly realm where she lives, culminating in a giant robot battle with Lynette's father, Mars. What.

This route gets really weird toward the end, and just goes on forever. Every time it seems to be coming to a good stopping point, there's yet another chapter or plot thread we must unravel.

You do get some fun background on Claris, and I did like Gill's backstory, including his family and interest in cars. But this route was too long, too weird and just thoroughly unromantic. Rather than give Gill an opportunity to learn from his mistakes, Gill is allowed to do whatever he wants and is praised for it. I did not like this route.

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(Spoilers) Shelby Route

After playing Gill's route with all its craziness, I was worried about Shelby's route, but it ended up being fine. There were some contrivances and pacing issues, but it was an okay story.

This whole route reads like a fanfiction. It's a fake relationship plot complete with mutual pining and a drunken confession that is forgotten the next day. I actually love these tropes so that wasn't an issue, but I would have liked it a lot more if it didn't drag on as long as it did.

Lynette is a complete moron in this route as she steamrolls past her boss's concerns and basically invites herself into his life as his fake wife. While she works hard to make Cupid Corporation a success, Shelby is taken by her positive attitude and dedication to spreading love. And when she's in danger, he immediately clears up the misunderstanding, even to his own detriment.

I think my biggest issue with this route is that there was no tension. When Shelby admits he was pretending to have a wife, we are immediately reassured that everything his fine. His employees are cool with it. Other CEOs are cool with it. The guy who forced him into the misunderstanding publicly announces everything is his fault. It was complete overkill.

And then later, when you finally get backstory as to why Shelby wants to be "SS" at everything, it's immediately resolved. We get a flashback to his middle school days and we find out a few kids made fun of him for not being the best at academics, and that there was a shitty rich kid who attracted everyone's attention and stole the girl he liked. So he decides that he will become the best at everything because that's all people care about, apparently. Idk, it was kind of a leap.

Then we go back to present day at his middle school reunion. (Really not sure why they didn't just go with high school reunion, which would be a lot more normal.) Everyone remembers Shelby as the cool kid, and he realizes he never needed to be great at everything for people to like him. Oh, and the shitty popular kid is all washed up now. Basically everything resolves super neatly, without Lynette being involved at all.

There is a scene where Shelby is able to shoot a gun with pinpoint accuracy at another guy's gun, shooting it out of the assailant's hand. Lynette is shocked that he can do this, at which point he just calmly says he's SS so of course he can do it, which was very funny. I do wish we got to see more of his "SS" skills though. Allegedly he has a lot of them, but we only get to see the gun and a little bit of cooking. There's also a very silly scene involving Lynette's father and a Roomba, which I enjoyed.

Ultimately, I think this route was a little too neat. I would have liked to see some more consequences for Shelby's lying, and I wanted Lynette to be more involved in him figuring out his own problems. But it wasn't too bad, and I love a good fake relationship trope.

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(Spoilers) Raul Route

Raul seemed to be the most airheaded out of the Parasite 5, so it was nice to get a peek into his head and learn via his thoughts that he does take acting seriously. I also enjoyed learning that he looks coldly on people who pretend to be interested in mythology to get close to him.

I had high hopes for this route toward the beginning, as Raul argues that there's nothing wrong with casual sex, and even offers to show Lynette that you can sleep with someone without it meaning anything, which she accepts and agrees with at first. I thought it was kinda cool. I'm ace, so the idea of casual sex is very spooky to me personally, but I understand that it's very normal for a lot of people. So it was kind of refreshing to see Lynette accept that sometimes it's ok to just have fun with someone without it being serious.

However, after she sleeps with him, she just bans him from casual sex in general, telling him that he'll never learn about love if he does it. She keeps insisting that it's better to have sex with someone you love. I'm not really fond of this holier-than-thou attitude.

Most of the route is generally fine, consisting of the pair enjoying their time together, with Raul trying to piece together why he enjoys spending time with Lynette and Lynette trying her best to ignore her own feelings.

However, like Gill's route, it just kept going on and on. There's a long scene with them getting stuck in ancient ruins that was entirely unnecessary, as it's just a plot device to get them to Celestia, and then a MASSIVE FUCKING PLOT TWIST that I actually thought was pretty interesting. But the plot twist should have been revealed halfway through the route, with the rest of the route being resolution, as opposed to just tossing it haphazardly at the end.

This was not my favorite route, but it at least made a little more sense than Gill's route so... 6/10 lol.

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(Spoilers) Allan Route

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Allan's route. I tend to dislike flirtatious characters, so I figured he'd be my least favorite. But that was all blown away pretty quickly as you realize he really is just putting on a persona in order to conduct his incubus activities.

Allan is a man with complex feelings. His confidence is largely for show to cover up his deep shame and feelings of disgust toward himself for being a demon in the first place. Lynette doesn't make it any easier for him by being a precious angel baby who isn't bothered by him at all. I thought their relationship was sweet, well-paced and actually pretty innocent at times.

While Cupid Parasite doesn't formally have a true ending, Allan's route felt like one. It honestly makes all the other routes seem shallow by comparison. I LOVED the description of Heaven as basically an angel incubator from which new gods are pulled. It was treated as sort of natural, but it's honestly pretty horrifying — in a good way.

There is certainly some of what I call "magic bullshit" in this route. What I mean by that is there are contrivances in how the magic system works in this universe that are clearly created for plot reasons, so they felt a bit forced.

There's also an absolutely giant time skip in the middle of the route that I felt could have been handled better simply by using different sprites, backgrounds, etc. I understand budgetary constraints, but to say that Lynette, after reincarnating as a human, would look exactly the same and also have the same name was lazy writing.

I'm also furious that we didn't get to see a demon version of Lynette or Claris. Claris I kind of get, because why bother drawing a whole new sprite just for one scene in the underworld, but the game actually dares to tell me Lynette has grown a tiny lil tail and I don't get to see it in a cg???? Unfair.

Overall, while I do think this route suffers from contrivances and some pacing issues, it was probably my favorite route of the game. Allan is a true baby muffin and it's heartbreaking knowing what he has to go through while the other routes are happening.

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(Spoilers) Secret Route

I won't name the love interest in this route just in case. But this is a route that explores what happens if the gods send Lynette down to Earth themselves, rather than her escaping. It starts off much the same as the regular game, minus a few small changes.

We FINALLY get an explanation for Lynette's divine beast companion Chii in this route, which I was grateful for. I felt like most scenes with Chii were largely a waste of time, so it's nice to know there was a deeper meaning to his presence. I didn't realize how big Chii was supposed to be until I saw him in a cg. I thought he was hedgehog sized lol.

While this route is treated as an alternate reality, it competes with Allan's route for a suitable true ending. Everyone plays a role. This is the route that showcases what I wanted the whole game to be — a fun mix of romance, silliness and serious plot. It was pretty well balanced and a good way to end the game. I just wish more of the game was like this route.

[devolusion]

the mikos we see in the narukami shrine seem to be more similar to modern - day mikos than ancient ones, at least in terms of their day - to - day responsibilities. 

still, i’m going to be playing a little loose here with specific miko headcanons in the present day, too, especially those on watatsumi.  kokomi is the divine priestess and head of the island’s shrines, as well as the one responsible for raising and training the island’s mikos.  as watatsumi is sequestered from the rest of the nation and seems to cling more tightly to the old ways, i’m going to assume that their mikos are a bit more of a combination of modern and ancient.

while kokomi’s own training was uncommonly intensive, it was, broadly seaking, similar to what most others go through to become mikos.  most of the girls that enter the islands shrines to be trained as miko are between ten and thirteen years old, though kokomi’s own training began much younger.  she was taught to enter trances and allow possession, so that kami might speak the will of the gods through her.  she was taught dances and intonations thought to make her more susceptible to spiritual influence, and then the strength of self and magic to prevent any long - damage from being done to her body or mind in the process.  she knows a secret language specific to the island’s priests that enables her to call upon various kami to support her own magic.  this was all in addition to the more secular training she was receiving to become the island’s leader.

once her training was completed at the age of fourteen, the older miko — including her mother, the current divine priestess — put her into a trance and invited orobashi to possess her.  kokomi, in her trance, confirmed that she was possessed by the god, and thus would serve them.  she then passed out and, when she awoke to her mother and others’ praise, was allowed to don the traditional miko - wear until she took over as the proper divine priestess, and was given more freedom in how she would dress as her role shifted from simple running of the shrine to commanding the island itself.

the miko that serve under her, in addition to a less intensive version of this process, also perform the role of a modern - day miko; everything from maintaining the shrines to selling souvenirs and performing dances and reading fortunes. there are several shrines on the island, and kokomi only directly oversees sangonomiya shrine, but is still broadly in charge of the others — the head mikos in the other shrines report to her.

kokomi, due to lacking a childhood of her own and the young age of many of the girls, is very strict that the mikos training under her will have time to be children; a miko is not allowed to complete her training and undergo a milder version of her own final possession until such a time that they are eighteen at the youngest and kokomi deems them to be of sound mind and spirit.  (  this rule was especially funny when kokomi herself had yet to reach that age.  )  she enforces this rule even with the mikos not directly under her command; she checks up with every miko at every shrine on the island before they can complete their training.

similarly, the girls are not allowed to work more than six hours a day until that final ritual, all are given generous time away from training, and are encouraged to play with one another like children.  many of the girls that enter one of the city’s shrines are either from families of shaman or otherwise display symptoms that might see them shunned elsewhere, so kokomi does her very best to make the environment a welcoming one.  the shrine maidens running the shrines that kokomi does not directly have the time to oversee are given instructions to do the same, and kokomi checks in on them as frequently as she’s able to ensure that they are doing so.

while kokomi’s heart doesn’t truly lie with the role she was born into, there is much about being a priestess and a diviner that she truly loves.  but her training, both as a miko and as a leader, prevented her from truly having a childhood.  she doesn’t want the same thing to happen to any of the girls she trains.  some of the girls at the shrines will playfully whine about how her excellency never lets us work! 

[secrettyrant]

Name: Everett Jones

Age & Birthday: 58 years old, May 1st 1969

Gender/Pronouns: Cis Man He/Him

Birthplace: Shady Dale, GA

Time in Hollow Cove: 3 years Sept 2020)

Species: Werewolf - Jones pack

Role: Mechanic / Stables / Farm

Positive personality traits: Adventurous, Laid-Back, Diplomatic

Negative personality traits: Eccentric, Stubborn, Impulsive

ABOUT

The Jones pack lived for generations in the countryside of Georgia, owning Blue River Ranch. Everett was immersed into the great outdoors from the moment he was born, and the vast land and acreage provided a beautiful backdrop to his childhood. Even more so when his younger brother was born, Ethan. Hours were spent rambling through their land, creating stories and games but both of them knew that being a Jones meant much more than owning a ranch or becoming a typical country gent. It was against Jones nature to turn wolves away, welcoming in lone or banished wolves and despite the various personalities that existed within the pack, it was always led with fairness and acceptance.

As the Jones brothers grew older, a sense of adventure was always in the air. From working on their ranch to causing harmless havoc wherever they went. But Ethan quickly met and fell in love with Ava and Everett saw the positive changes that a love like it could bring. Not particularly something he wanted for himself. In fact, he was a slight Casanova right up until he was almost thirty. Responsibility came knocking in the form of a son, and for the sake of being a family, Everett tried his best to work out a relationship with his mother, Michelle. It was clear as day that they were no Ava and Ethan, a foundation built on respect and hard work instead of adoration. And, two years later, a daughter was born.

Everett knew that it was his birth passage to become Alpha but, he quickly realized that his younger brother was far better suited for the role. It's within Jones blood to be a little impulsive and scrappy but Ava had worked magic on Ethan, creating a far more level-headed man out of the Jones than could be said for Everett. He humbly passed along the baton, watching with pride as his little brother took upon the role as Alpha and he became Beta instead. At this time, Michelle and his relationship was on the rocks and he should have predicted that she would be a flight risk considering she came into the Jones pack as a wolf that abandoned her previous pack. Their children weren't even in double digits when she left, and Everett soldiered on to be the best possible father he could be.

He spent time looking for Michelle, but as their children grew, his focus shifted entirely to them. He's always been open and honest about her, about their relationship and how perhaps his lack of heart possibly broke hers. Still, Everett ensures he is there every single step of the way for his son and daughter. He's probably created two monsters without realization, as consequences and reform were never in the equation for Everett. Do no harm, take no shit, have fucking fun. He was there for every recital, every game, every try out. He was even there for every drinking session in the bar until his older ass couldn't keep up and he became the designated driver instead.

And then the war came and took the Jones' blissful life away from them. Everett saw the impressive way his nephew Jackson handled the chaos of that night when the ranch was destroyed. It made him realize he's no spring chicken these days, and has a few cobwebs that can't be dusted off. When they finally found Hollow Cove, Everett retired his role of Beta and strongly suggested for Jackson to step into it. However, he still offers guidance and advice to any of his family and uses his years of experience to hopefully steer people in the right direction.

Hollow Cove has been good to them, Everett will always say it. It's no Blue River Ranch but he knows that they're all together and that in itself is priceless. Family has always meant everything to the Jones' and Everett sometimes finds himself sitting back and watching them all, a proud smile on his face when he looks at his brother. After everything they've lost, they still feel as if they have the world.

[headcanonsandmore]

#honestly it's so true#like jamie was in such a 'younger brother' niche when ben and polly were there#but then between victoria's character itself + the way she was introduced to the show#(tragic backstory w a dead mother and a father financially dependent upon the rich madman they live with ... kidnapped by daleks ...#... jamie made to rescue her ... jamie made to rescue her /in circumstances that called for a confrontation w the dr Like That/ ...#... taken out of her place/time to be imprisoned on skaro until it goes up in flames ... orphaned when her beloved father's killed ...etc)#the two of them are on Very different footing in terms of companion status when she joins the team.#Which is only compounded by the fact that when jamie himself entered it was just 1 serial after two appeared#and again that combination of timing (with the very recent - and first! so intrinsically weirder! - regeneration)#and two's general character effectively created a social divide where Ben & Polly were the senior members of the team#while two & jamie - despite 'joining' in very different ways - got to share in being newbies together.#So jamie starts off having that solidarity w the dr already & by the time of Evil he's added 'Comfortable With Life As Time Traveler'#and 'Willing To Fight The Doctor' to his resume too#at the exact time when Victoria's role in the story is more about Being Out of Her Depth and Not in Control than ever#(((specifically at the time of her arrival - lord knows im not one of those ppl who sees her as exclusively or even primarily as a victim))#that even if you took shipping out of it completely#the social gulf of this tardis team isn't btwn the companions & the dr but btwn the new girl and these two guys that are already a unit.#sure jamie has superficial commonalities w victoria being young humans from the past & such - but it's the dr he's on a level with#and in terms of what they each are to each other victoria's relationships to jamie and to the doctor are more similar than not#Which isn't to say that found family needs to fit into all the traditional spouse/parents/kids relationships#(nor do i think the dynamics in this tardis team are simple enough to translate 1:1 anyway)#but when she meets them victoria's role is so much about being a Daughter (now without a father figure) and a pawn#and the dr and jamie are Both uniquely positioned to help her & so visibly focused on looking out for her afterward#that it would have taken a degree of romance more defined and explicit than classic who ever went in for#in order for the idea of Jamie-as-love-interest to not be outshone by Jamie-as-one-of-her-guardians#like the show never put that much work into selling ian/barbara or ben/polly as romantic either#but unlike those cases jamie/victoria had a) less in common to begin with and#b) another explanation for their relationship that was significantly more visible than the ever-undefined 'romances' of the show in the 60s (via @galacticlamps)

I am LOVING this essay in the tags!

What the writers were going for when Victoria Waterfield was introduced: A nice young lady that Jamie can have some romantic chemistry with, a bit like with Ben and Polly.

What Victoria's introduction actually comes across like: The Doctor and Jamie adopt a daughter-