#there are probably so many typos

[jonathanbyersphd]

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Stranger Things (TV 2016) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler Characters: Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Argyle (Stranger Things), Steve Harrington Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Academic Rivals to Lovers, a little pining as a treat, the rivalry is one sided but don't tell Nancy that, a little dark academia but mostly just vibes Summary:

At the elite Montgomery Academy in rural Maine, Nancy Wheeler has effortlessly been head of her class for the last three years. But when the newest transfer student challenges her perspective, expectations, and grades she decides that an academic rival is just what she needs to make the year more exciting. If only her rival would cooperate with her plans.

Since y’all were so patient, have an extra chapter today as a treat 

[lost-in-fandoms]

Thought i would be done but...yeah didn't happen. Part one here.

Living with Max is easy.

He doesn't whine when Daniel is taking care of his leg, he doesn't mind sleeping on some blankets on the floor, next to the fireplace, he offers to help around, and best of all he doesn't ask questions.

Well, not exactly. He asks so many questions. Once he gets over his initial bout of shyness and quiet, he asks questions about Daniel's vegetables, about his horse, about the woods, about the traps, about the animals. He offers his own opinions too, telling Daniel he's growing peas in too much shade and that he's cooking his meat for too long. And, much to Daniel's annoyance, he is often right too.

But he doesn't ask questions about Daniel. He doesn't know if it is because Max doesn't care or because he doesn't want to be asked questions back, but he appreciates being spared the trouble of telling him to mind his own business.

They also work surprisingly well together. Max is older than he initially seemed, dirt, hunger and exhaustion making him look younger, and he seems to know a little bit of everything. Even if he doesn't ask, Daniel is a little curious about what path in life brought him to have such a wide mix of knowledge. He seems to know how to move around the woods without scaring the prey, how to skin and cook animals, how to take care of the vegetables (better than Daniel), how to keep himself and the house clean.

It's nice to have a second pair of hands around, even if the pair of hands should sit down more often to let their leg heal. Not that Max ever listened to that.

And he's funny. Daniel hadn't realised how much he missed just sitting around the table after dinner, talking and laughing with someone else. How good it was to wake up and find the fire already stoked and the water pitch already filled. To have someone to say good morning to who would say it back.

Daniel hadn't been thinking of himself as lonely before, he was content with his choice of life, but he can admit that he likes this. He is glad Max decided to stay and he's glad Max seems to be having a good time too, at least from what Daniel could tell.

This is why, when about three weeks after Max's arrival he wakes up in the middle of the night to the sounds of him moving around the house, his first thought isn't Max is leaving, but something is wrong.

"Are you okay?" he asks, voice scratchy with sleep and way too loud in the quiet of the night.

He watches Max flinch, dropping something, before turning around to face Daniel.

"Go back to sleep," he whispers, too shaky to be a good order. There's something different in his voice, and it only takes Daniel's tired brain a few moments to realise that he had heard those notes before, in the woods about three weeks ago. Fear.

Daniel sits up, eyes finally adjusting to the silver darkness of the room, moonlight streaming through the open windows.

"What's wrong?" he asks again, voice lower, matching Max's whisper.

He listens to the sounds coming from outside, thinking that maybe the men Max was running from have come back, but he can't hear anything unusual in the late summer night.

Max is grabbing what he dropped on the floor, stuffing it into a bag that he must have taken from Daniel's things, but the moment, Daniel doesn't even care about the fact that he's very obviously stealing from him.

"Max, what is happening?" He's getting frustrated now, hates not knowing what is going on, worry and irritation growing together.

He stands up, taking a couple of steps towards Max, wanting to see him better, but he stops when Max flinches back.

"I need to leave," he finally says, voice raspy. It's not an explanation, and Daniel suddenly regrets never asking any questions.

"Why? Where?"

He doesn't want Max to leave. The knowledge of that settles like armor on his chest, safe but heavy. Living with Max isn't just easy, it's good. He doesn't want to go back to an empty house, not after the past weeks have been so nice.

"I...I need..." Max shudders, as if in pain, and Daniel's legs ache with the need of walking closer.

"Did something happen?" Did I do something wrong?

Max shakes his head, jerky and sharp. When he exhales, Daniel can hear him bite back a whine.

He doesn't want to scare Max, but he is confused, and he is worried, and he is not going to let him go without an explanation.

He steps between Max and the door.

"You owe me an explanation," he says, hating the way it makes Max stiffen, unwilling to take it back anyway.

"I don't owe you..." Max snaps, before interrupting himself with half a growl. "You haven't told me anything either!"

"That's different. I'm not running away in the middle of the night."

Max takes a step forward, back tense, and Daniel instinctively braces himself, eyes flying towards the table, where his knife always is, but Max doesn't attack him.

He shivers again, hands clenching around the bag and then letting it fall on the ground with a thump, shoulders slumping as all the fight seems to leave him.

"Please, Daniel, I need to leave. It's...it's not safe."

Max looks up, finally meeting Daniel's eyes, and he's suddenly reminded of what the man had said, so many days ago.

He's dangerous. Cursed.

Max's eyes look weird, blue brighter than ever, almost glowing in the moonlight. His face is twisted in pain and there's the glimmer of sweat gathering at his hairline. None of that would worry Daniel, but there's something...different in him. Something other.

Cursed.

The room seems too bright now. The moon is almost full tonight.

Cursed.

Max had said he hadn't killed anyone, but if this is what Daniel is thinking of...

Max closes his eyes, whole body shivering again, his edges almost blurring with it. Or maybe it's not just a trick of the light. Daniel doesn't know what to think anymore.

He doesn't want Max to go. He doesn't want this to happen.

He steps away from the door.

For a moment, they both stand still, looking at each other.

For a moment, Daniel hopes he'll wake up and it will be morning, and Max will be coming in with the last tomatoes from the garden.

Then Max whines, something low and pained, something animal, and bolts.

Daniel doesn't stop him.

He watches as his shadow changes even before he's fully reached the trees.

Then he sits on the doorstep and waits for the sunrise.

[viperwhispered]

Rest

Guess what? I've got more Jamil x reader for y'all. You can also find this on ao3. No warnings, just 866 words of kinda fluffy(?) caretaking stuff with gender-neutral reader.

At this point, you know Jamil’s schedule almost as well as he does. So, when you have the chance, you head to Scarabia’s kitchen, hoping to spend some time with Jamil while he and the other students prepare dinner. 

However, when you enter, it takes you but a moment to notice Jamil’s uncharacteristic fumbling and the tired look in his eyes. The way Jamil’s chopping the vegetables has you worried about him cutting himself with that knife he’s usually so adept with, and it seems it’s only force of habit that’s keeping him on track.

You frown, and when your eyes meet Jamil’s, you can already see him put his guard up.

So he knows what state he is in, huh? And still, here he is.

It seems Jamil is reading your thoughts, all of him telling you drop it before any words are even said.

At least he still lets you lean in and give a quick kiss to his cheek in greeting.

“Hello love. Do you still have a lot on your agenda for today?” you ask, keeping your tone low for at least some semblance of privacy in the busy kitchen.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” is the response you get.

Of course.

It takes a little more pestering before Jamil actually answers your question. Your lips purse. That list is far too long to your liking.

You take a moment to think, juggling your own plans and to-do list against the urgency of the things Jamil mentioned.

“Will Kalim be eating from that?” you ask, pointing at the food Jamil is preparing.

“Yes.”

“Alright, I won’t be touching that one, then. I’ve gotta do a few things but I’ll be back when you’re done here.”

“Don’t,” Jamil says with a glare, clearly aware of what you’re thinking.

Yet even his disapproving look doesn’t have the usual weight behind it.

“Yes. I will,” you say firmly, even as your heart curls inwards with another bout of concern.

Really, when did he get so tired?

And how did you not notice it earlier?

You leave the kitchen before Jamil can protest further, hurrying through the dorm corridors to find Kalim.

Soon you have an enthusiastic – and concerned – supporter for your plans. You have Kalim point out a few reliable Scarabia students to help with a few of the most urgent matters Jamil mentioned – cleaning up the common areas, delivering some paperwork to Crowley, preparing some dorm-wide notices – while you see to Kalim getting his school supplies in order for the following day. You even recruit a couple of third years to help Kalim with his homework.

You’ll see to the rest tomorrow – after all, you do also have a boyfriend to look after.

Your conversation over dinner can hardly be called anything else than an argument – despite Kalim’s best attempts at acting as a moderating force between you two. It is very tempting to ask Kalim to tell Jamil to take the rest of the day off – it’s not like Jamil would be willing to openly disobey a direct order. Still, you really don’t need to remind Jamil of his position on top of everything else that you’re already doing more or less against his wishes.

Eventually, however, Jamil’s had a square meal, the most urgent things on his to-do list are being taken care of, and you’ve managed to drag him to his bed.

“I really wish you wouldn’t push yourself so hard,” you murmur, your arms wrapped tightly around Jamil. You’re telling yourself you really do just want to cuddle, to offer some respite to Jamil. Still, there might also be a part of you worried that if you were to let go, he’d just jump up and get back to working himself to the bone.

Yet, for all his protestations, just the fact that you’ve gotten Jamil to lay down with you speaks volumes of his current exhaustion.

“I can’t just leave my duties, albi. You know this.”

“Making yourself too indispensable, is what you’re doing,” you protest.

Oh, you know it’s not so simple. Not with his background, not with all the expectations and assumptions.

But sometimes you really wish it would be.

Jamil merely scoffs in response to your words.

Still, it is undeniable that he is slowly beginning to relax in your arms, slowly bringing his head closer to yours. His eyes are starting to flutter, too.

“I will still need to help Kalim with his homework, at the very least.”

You wonder who he is trying to convince more, you or himself.

“Amin and Khalil are helping him. They’re basically top of their classes, aren’t they? I’m sure they’ve got it.”

Still, Jamil frowns.

You sigh. He really is not letting go, is he?

“Do you want me to go supervise?” you ask.

And leave you, unsaid yet hanging there right after your words.

“Don’t,” Jamil eventually says, the word barely more than a breath.

It seems he has accepted his fate.

You softly caress Jamil’s hair, listening to his softening breathing.

And when you wake up, wholly unaware of having been lulled to sleep in the first place, it’s to the lightest of touches from Jamil’s fingers.

Tagging @diodellet @twstgo @crystallizsch @jamilvapologist @jamilsimpno69 as per request If you'd like to be tagged for any future works, let me know!

[lulu-the-bugaboo]

Seeing how neat Ace's handwriting is as a child (especially compared to Luffy lol) just makes me imagine how patient Sabo must have been with teaching him

He probably had to correct him several times, and when Ace eventually got frustrated and lost his patience, he would encourage him and compliment his progress

They make so soft

[foreverephemeral-art]

You could talk about Searching New Horizons :>

chance taken!

Searching New Horizons, SNH, this absolute loser of a man. He was the seventh iterator I made, and quickly became one of my most beloved characters and something of an account mascot.

He's a part of a small Group, alongside his younger sibling Endless Skies, Italicised (belonging to @mechacringekitty) and their Senior member Fortunes Murmur Silent Song (owned by us both). His lore is... extensive, but in not-quite-brief summary, he always felt disconnected from his Creators' culture, beliefs, and the very Problem he was created to solve. All of this in great contrast to FMSS who was quite the opposite, absorbing herself in the Benefactors' world. When she died shortly before the Mass Ascension he assumed role of Group Senior even though only he and ESI remained. SNH's apathetic response to the loss caused a pretty big disconnect between he and ESI who, having been extremely close to her, was entirely consumed with grief. Even after centuries of being stuck with only each other's company they were never on the best of terms, until ESI's body began to rapidly decay and collapse as a result of faulty construction. SNH tried to engineer a cure, but they rejected his efforts and instead attempted a possibly fatal reset of their system, resulting in them falling into a coma. The shock of this sudden loss caused him to lose control of his experiment, which evolved into the rot that not consumes his can. Sucks to suck! Eventually ESI came back online, so to speak, albeit with severe amnesia, and the decades-long isolation SNH was forced into came to an end, but he was still dying either way. But at least they get to live out some time as normal-ish siblings before The Horrors approach 👍

First artwork by @drillss

I hate him. He sucks so bad and he consumed my life for months. I actually have a costume of him, consisting of antennae and outfit made for Halloween of last year! Can't say it got much use, but hey, he's out there in the real world! For better or for worse

Even though Polar, NYR, and the rest of Apparition are easily my main RW characters at the moment, Horizons is still so important to me. This awful stupid man who has done nothing good with this life

[littleseasalt]

actually I think it's wild to think about how tallulah's death lead into forever being elected now that I think about it, cause it set such a domino effect for forever and philza's relationship and like. had it not been for philza voting for forever bbh would have won the elections

[amoransia]

Chapter 72 spoilers and also insane screaming from me. You have been warned.

Oh LORD we're REALLY in it NOW! Hold me -- literally anybody, hold me!! I don't know if I will survive this arc! (or this manga at all, for that matter!)

Hell yeah, bro, fist bump!

What is in the water over there in the Ekuoto world? Like, genuinely? What are they drinking for them to come out like this? These homosexuals will be the death of me (lovingly).

Interesting how even Barbara and Leah get nicknamed "powerhouses" by Daniel. He uses 主戦力 in the raws which could mean "main military power" but also "main valuable assets"... once again seeing them not by their character but by their value? To be honest, I guess it doesn't mean much when he calls them this once, but I thought it was worth pointing out.

Anyway.

DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF?

Actual insanity lines this chapter. "Of course I'm cute." Hello? I guess being a witch deletes the very concept of shame off your brain? I kind of gaped like an idiot at this one.

30 something year old man to the teenage influencer: I'm cute, duh.

GET A GRIP

Oh boy. "I'll handle Vergilius." This is going to turn into the most doomed yaoi scene in the incoming chapters. And Charlotte is probably getting involved in one way or another. I don't know. I wish her luck, though.

"I wouldn't mind dying for you" oh yeah baybe I am about to do something drastic.

Man What The Fuck

Vergilius heard Dante's suicidal ideation and said, NOT ON MY WATCH!!!

It seems to me that the only thing keeping Dante alive is Vergilius. Because if he has no plans after finally killing him, what else is there for him? Just dying trying to repent for his mistakes? Finally let go? So I guess Vergilius recognizes this and decides he can't die. Because if he dies, then the man he (presumably) loves dies, too.

I saw someone mention this on Twitter: Dante can't live in a world where Vergilius doesn't exist (so he gives up on life when Vergilius is gone) while Vergilius won't accept a world where he and Dante can't live together (and therefore wants to change the world).

Weaow......

I think there's also something to say about Vergilius' childish appearance reflecting some sort of... inner workings of his? Does that make sense? I feel like the constant mention of it is trying to point to something. Like here:

Chapter 20 and 72 respectively.

But I'm not eloquent enough to put this into words. So I'll throw the idea out there instead!

Onto Imuri!

Lol the english translation didn't keep the heart Imuri added in her thoughts. Basically it's the same words but with a heart like "Oh, I've been here with Mr. Priest before ♡" Normally I wouldn't care, but I think this adds to her... character? Maybe? Well, whatever. Not particularly important, but The More You Know!

Imuri encounters Mystery Child!

I will begin by saying that I don't think it's Priest? Imuri herself doesn't think so either, so it's most likely someone else. They're muttering the name Rodrigo, which is curiously the name Belphegor uses when going to Earth in order to investigate marriage. Hm!!!! Inch resting indeed...

Oh, God! These expressions were genuinely heartrending. She really was looking for that sliver of hope -- that her hunch was wrong. That she and Imuri could stay friends. I am heartbroken for Leah. :( (and Barbara, for that matter).

They even try to find a middle ground, too! Barbara tries to find a common goal! They really don't want to exorcize her right now! But Imuri also raises valid points: why wake him to just put him to work again?

But then she says, soo confident in herself: what Priest needs right now is me. I guess she has actual proof of that? But by God it is so egoistical. (A word that describes Imuri quite well...)

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

MY GIRL! MY GIRL! NEVERMIND WHAT I JUST WROTE, YOU ARE IMMEDIATELY FORGIVEN! (Fallen Priest voice)

She looks 1000x better with her fangs and her demon eyes, damn.

I'm not sure what she wins by revealing herself. She's still powerless, as far as I know. I guess she thinks she can run away with Priest using her come-to-life drawings?

Also FINALLY CONFIRMATION THAT SHE'S RELATED TO SATAN AND LILITH... THANK YOU, GOD. (Odd person to thank. Anyway,) I am well aware this doesn't mean she's like, their daughter or anything (merely related to them), but I really hope she is. It would be hilarious. Please grant me this wish, it would be so funny. (GIVE ME SATAN FATHER-IN-LAW SHENANIGANS!!!!!!!!!)

My friend mentioned that she might be revealing her connections to them in order to scare Leah and Barbara out of trying to exorcize her. After all, they don't know that she's magicless yet, right? So that might make them hesitate.

But in a way, this feels like Imuri is saying "don't you know who my parents are?! Don't mess with me!" LOL. Does this count as some sort of nepotism???

"He'll forgive me with a simple apology!"

Actually insane thinking. Priest-kun will LOSE it when he finds out everything was a lie (and this is probably where BL Satan comes in to tempt him into Wrath).

But yeah this is selfish thinking, typical of her.

I think it's really funny that in the raws "simple apology" is just a "ごめんね", which is kinda like "sorry!"

Girl, you are not getting forgiven with that. It's just not happening. You are not teehee'ing your way out of this one.

Finally..... I am kinda sad it seems we're nearing the end arcs of Ekuoto?(?) I've been following since the very first chapter released in Japanese, so I'll miss it dearly.... Cope: maybe this is the first part, á la Dante's Inferno. Purgatory next! (Zero chance of this happening)

Anyway, good chapter. It hurt me so good. Good chapter. (going insane)

[justanotherblogger]

Small Tang Ramble

Right now, I have started rewatching the entire Lego Monkie Kid series from the start while I wait to see the recent season 5 episodes (that I was suckerpunched with when scrolling through Tumblr and having some stuff spoiled whene I didnt even think a new season would come for at least a few more months).

Then, when I finally got to season 4, I noticed something interesting with how they handle Tang's powers.

At the start of the season, it's revealed that Tang's cheat sheet, given to him by Azure Lion, was something that supposedly should've been helpful to someone "mysticly powerful, comparable to the Great Monk, Tang Sanzang", then the sheet should be a piece of cake so to speak.

Then we see how Tang struggles and has a hard time finding where his friends are located, but then a Golden Cicada helps him to find Pigsy, which was the same one that flew around the Samadhi Fire ritual site when Mei had it reunited within her.

That's not my topic right now, though, so I'll just skip the "random destiny bugs" (name given to me by a friend), and keep going towards my main point.

Anyways, skipping a few episode to when the meet the Great Master (I forgot the guys name), we see how Tang got berated for his lack of courage and work ethic. Then Tang and the rest of the gang are put to train, and I'm not exactly sure on how long they were in training for, but I'm going to assume a few hours at the sky visibly got darker near the end of the montage.

(I'm pretty sure that something akin to a stop in time for them to train would have been stated in the show itself if that was an explanation for how long they have been training for, so I'm gonna rule out any sort of "checkpoint" or "rest stop" rules here, like when you can stay in a safe space for whatever amount of time and come out with little time passed afterwards.)

The reason why I'm talking about how long they've trained for, is because after (what I assume) is a few hours, Tang is able to teleport a WHOLE AIR BALLOON, RIGHT ON TOP OF WHERE THEY NEEDED TO BE, WITHOUT HIS STAFF NO LESS.

*ahem* We know Tang had struggled with the teleportation magic from the beginning, even with his staff along with only transporting 3 people, and the magic level required to do so is comparable to the Monk, who is very powerful considering what we've seen in how his training was revered by the great master for being extensive plus how the Monk focussed only on his studies, and in-show examples. (Ex. Releasing the heavenly seal put on monkey king singehandedly, sealing the Samadhi Fire along with three others, then also Sealing the Lady Bone Demon to where she can only escape through her self reflecting or a rare, mystical key, etc)

I'm just saying how it's very impressive how Tang could go from barely being able to teleport accurately with 3 people, the staff in hand, to figuring out how to teleport accurately, how to teleport something as big as an airship, and then gaining enough focus/mystic power to do the teleport without his staff for this first time shown in the show. And remember this: all of this growth was in, at most, half a day.

And we know how long the Great Monk had to study to get to where he was, "learning everything there was to learn" with him blocking out anything else to focus purely on his studies to get where he was, and yes, he probably studied more than just the teleportation magic in his time, but Azure said it himself, that someone "mysticly powerful, comparable to the Great Monk, Tang Sanzang" should be able to figure out the cheet sheet, or at least versed in the mystical topic.

I already showcased how much work is really needed through that comment, but then Azure showed it again in his comment of "if hes learned it in the mystical arts.." describing how this would have needed to be taught like how they gang were forced to with the Great Master. We already know how hard the training from the Great Master was to get even a fraction of Mk's power, and considering how heavily it's put on how the Monk only studied and studied when it was talked about, with the students in the flashback looking like the ones under the Great Master, I would assume learning the mystic arts takes a similar amount of time and effort.

And now that my points have been laid out, you guys get it when I was gobsmacked at how quickly Tang grew in the time with the Great Master, reiterating my point of how Tang was able to figure out HOW TO DO TELEPORT AND AIRSHIP WITHOUT THE CHEAT SHEET, WITH HIS BARE HANDS, IN A MATTER OF HOURS when it was heavily implied (from what interpreted) that doing something like this would take a considerable amount of time and training, even for the Monk as he was said to only focus on his studies to optimize his mystic abilities and to block any distractions.

And then to add to this, it was only ever shown in the show that Tang only read throughout the entire training session. Whenever we see him in the montage, it's him reading scrolls no matter what. We never see him practice, or even mimic any of the moves or exercise that I would assume would be on those scrolls for him to learn. Then, the first time he ever put those ideas he read about into practice after using the staff the entire time before and messing it up, he was able to make the transportation of the airship fast, accurate, and without the help of the staff entirely.

TLDR: Tang is either so good at cramming that he was able to shorten a good year of learning into a couple hours, or he's severely gifted in the mystic arts with the right training or examples. Either way, if you gave this man a week in the scroll library with some noodles and motivation from the Great Master, then I would assume he might actually become one of the most powerful characters LMK, given the time to do so. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

[k-is-for-potassium]

idk if someone needs to hear/read this (cuz i do), but you don't have to like all your friends' interests to make them like you more

lots of my music taste is me being pressured in to listening to this to appease someone, usually not even because of something they request, but because of something i made up in my silly little brain

it's totally cool to have the same interests, or get into something because it was recommended (if you want), but you don't have to keep up with everything they like because you feel like it would strengthen your friendship or smth

idk, i just feel like i subconsciously see a recommendation, or something listed in someone's bio and think "oh that sounds cool! i should force myself into this fandom to make them like me!"

but just remember that your interests don't have to mirror theirs, you're not the same person, and everyone's taste varies at least a little bit (also, if they're rambling about a random fandom that they're in, you can get them back by rambling about one of yours ;D /hj)

(this is NOT me telling y'all off for recommending me stuff, i absolutely love getting into new fandoms and discovering new artists!! <3)

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

wait so if lloyd dies while [redacted] and void are still in play the same exact overlord comes back with all of his memories but just wearing green and gold

Overlord: *kills Lloyd* Finally, I’m free!!!! So long, suckers…..!!!!!!!

Two seconds later-

Overlord: ….DAMMIT!!

[chocolate-cream-soldier]

Well that was a Finale!!!

[pyxy-styx]

Dragging your friend into a fandom with you so you can watch them suffer the same way you did is fun

[cent-scratchnsniff]

More sketchy employee profile images. Mostly made to be able to replace the picrew I had in the template I made since I can draw. I did end up just putting it as back and white though but the color is just nice to have. I'm STILL trying to tweak the template since it is very finicky and there is an example of what it looks down below if you're interested. It is a lot. It will happen. I am just not the quickest

There are typos and inconsistencies I missed but in general it should be fine...

[number1villainstan]

Making a JJK/RGU Crossover for Fun and Profit

Assumes working (but not in-depth) knowledge of both RGU and JJk.

Content warnings for anything that applies to either RGU or JJK (so discussions of abuse in general, sexual abuse specifically, rape, incest, death, gore, body horror, unreality, w/e). Ohtori Akio and Ryomen Sukuna are their own warnings.

Warnings for major JJK manga spoilers up to chapter 263 and for major RGU spoilers if you haven't watched the show.

Disclaimer for RGU fans: This isn't gonna be an in-depth analysis of either work. Or at least that's not the focus. There may be some of that in the body of the work, but if you're here for insightful commentary, this is not the post for you. However, if you're here for taking a dumbass idea way too seriously (for fun), then this is exactly the post for you.

And with those out of the way, let's get started, shall we?

What kind of crossover?

There are several different ways you can combine elements from two or more different stories, but you often end up having to throw away or twist certain elements to fit the other world/story, because lore (or magic system or a character's backstory) from one story may conflict with lore from the other story. You end up getting setups like characters from one story acting out the events of the other story, or characters living out a version of their own stories but in the other story's setting, or characters from both stories interacting in a setting separate from both stories.

However. Every once in a while, there's a combination of stories that allows you to preserve both settings, while having them be in contact with each other, and RGU and JJK is one such combination.

This lies in the enclosed nature of Ohtori (the setting of RGU) and the nature of cursed energy and techniques (part of the setting of JJK). When you combine these aspects of both stories, you end up with the crack crossover theory that Akio is a cursed spirit, and Ohtori is his domain expansion. It's a shockingly tight explanation for why Ohtori is Like That, especially coming from a work in a different genre and that is not in conversation with RGU at all (so far as I know). It explains how the world of Ohtori can be so unconcerned with physical laws, such as "there's no way for the pillar and stairs to support the dueling arena's weight" or "there's no topologically valid way to get from the forest to Akio's living room on those stairs" or "Ohtori's not by the ocean, so Ruka can't be both on campus and overlooking the ocean on a bench"; how illusions and tricks of the mind are so prevalent; why the dead can cheat death, if not forever; how Akio can be aware of nearly anything that happens at Ohtori; why time is so incredibly fucking weird (implying temporal/spacial manipulation cursed techniques on Akio's part); why Ohtori is practically fine-tuned to maximize misery in the long term.

Ohtori being a domain meant to capture teenagers and feed off their cursed energy not only provides another explanation for what Ohtori is, it fits very neatly into RGU's themes of abuse and how to break away from it, adding an extra layer onto Akio's ability to control everything about Ohtori. Akio being a cursed spirit also fits his backstory--if we take the flashbacks as indications of what happened, although not True Narratives, we can imagine Dios as a jujustu sorcerer who played the hero too much and ended up dying from exhaustion, with Akio being the cursed spirit that was his resurrection (much like how Sukuna is canonically a resurrected sorcerer). This also implies that Anthy herself may be a sorcerer, one who was likely thrown to the wolves (the cursed spirit that was Akio) upon his death, and who Akio has been imprisoning inside his domain since said death.

Unfortunately, this explanation isn't quite as tight as I would like it to be. There are several wrinkles to consider. Number one is that multiple characters leave and return to Ohtori over the course of the story, while domains are meant to be incredibly difficult to break out of given the barriers necessary to uphold them. Ryomen Sukuna and Fushiguro Megumi both demonstrate barrier-less domain expansions, but Megumi uses natural barriers (such as the inside of a warehouse), and Sukuna's usage of a barrierless domain expansion is seen as "divine". However, if we expand the boundaries of the hypothetical Ohtori domain expansion to include the town surrounding campus, and posit that there must be a second school there, we solve this problem by providing a place to go for Saionji when he's expelled, for Wakaba to go grocery shopping off-campus, for Ruka to be in the hospital, and for Shiori to attend school before transferring back to Ohtori, without them actually exiting Akio's sphere of influence, and furthermore

This is where we run into problem 2: keeping a domain expansion as big and as complex as Ohtori active for at least several months, for likely decades or centuries, requires an insane amount of cursed energy, and that we've never seen a domain expansion that large in JJK canon. Even Sukuna's 'divine' domain expansion in Shibuya, although he covered several city blocks, was a very simple domain, and wasn't as large as both Ohtori and its surrounding area. Furthermore, making Akio extremely powerful is a thematic sacrifice I don't want to make--part of what makes the finale so powerful is that Akio ends up posing less of a threat to Utena and more of an annoyance, although he's more powerful in Adolescence. (Some fans may say that I've already made a thematic sacrifice in making Akio not human, because part of the message of RGU is that normal, well-liked human beings can abuse other people without not being human, and their abuse may even be enabled by being well-liked and socially cushioned. To that I say: you are correct, but unless you have a smoother way to integrate the settings of RGU and JJK it was a necessary thematic sacrifice for this thought experiment. Also that I'm not all that interested in stories about humanity, being only technically human myself.) This is why I've made references to Akio siphoning off the cursed energy of those attending Ohtori, because it works both practically and thematically--this way Akio gains the cursed energy necessary for maintaining such a complex domain expansion by sucking it out of the students he's trapped inside, and it's a commentary on the soul-sucking (hah) nature of school and abuse and on how cultural systems of oppression and abuse need people to uphold them because they have no power on their own. But I doubt that Akio would get enough cursed energy from simply a bunch of non-sorcerers, which implies that there must be at least several sorcerers (or just people with abnormally high amounts of cursed energy) attending Ohtori; it would also make sense to say that Akio would keep these deeper energy reserves (so to speak) closer at hand than the rest of the student body. Yes, I'm going there: the Student Council + Utena are likely sorcerers themselves who haven't realized it yet, and Anthy is likely the most powerful sorcerer of anyone there, which would be part of the reason why Akio keeps her so close (and why she's implied to be able to do things like influence the arena and set all of those animals loose on Kiryuu Nanami). However, they would likely be unable to access any cursed techniques of their own, because Akio's influence would siphon away so much of their cursed energy.

So, to recap: Akio is a vampiric curse and Ohtori + the surrounding area is his domain expansion, and he feeds off the misery of the students he has trapped inside his domain; in addition, Anthy, Utena, and the Student Council all have sorcerer levels of cursed energy, along with potentially a good portion of the "unspecial" population, but in most of their cases have functionally the same power levels as normal people due to Akio's vampiric nature.

Okay, but so what?

Having a setting like this is very fun, but it can't reach the level of story as it is; currently it's just a crack crossover theory/headcanon. In order for this to become a story of its own, we need characters and we need a plot. Given how character-driven RGU is, and how the world of Ohtori responds to its characters' emotions, most of the plot can be extrapolated from our choice in characters and from how the world of Ohtori is set up. The main thing we need, besides choosing which characters, is an inciting incident. I have a simple one ready: whoever monitors these things in the jujutsu world has received reports/evidence of high levels of cursed energy where Ohtori is, and sends in our characters to investigate, thinking it would be a normal mission, and they end up entering the domain expansion and becoming students at Ohtori.

But who are the characters?

We've got several options for characters or character groups to send in to Ohtori, and we can safely assume that the RGU characters will start fundamentally the same as they are in canon, only changing in response to the actions of the JJK characters introduced to their environment. I also strongly doubt that any of the JJK characters we would introduce would have a rose crest ring, or come in with Akio's approval--in other words, they broke in, and they start as "unspecial". It would also make the most sense storywise to send in teenagers (or those who look like them); adults would likely be stonewalled out of getting close to Ohtori campus. That being said, let's go over some options and their consequences/implications:

The First Year Trio

The protagonists of the show: Fushiguro Megumi, Itadori Yuuji, and Kugisaki Nobara, with Ryomen Sukuna tagging along with them. You could do a Junpei Lives AU and include him as well, but I won't, since I'm focusing on bringing together both canons, which means Junpei is fucking dead. Let's go over each of the characters:

Kugisaki Nobara:

potential for Weird Sibling Shit: none, unless she has a sibling we never hear about in canon.

potential for Sunlit Garden Shit: low to medium. It's implied that she doesn't miss her country upbringing, and she talks about a girl she admired being bullied away by unsympathetic folk in her neighborhood, but nostalgia has a way of twisting the truth, so it's not impossible.

potential for Shining Thing Shit: low to medium. If Maki enters with her, then she may end up having her as a shining thing; however, there's not any one specific person or ideal that she tends to fixate on.

is she Stuck In Her Coffin: I'd say no. She's very assertive and seems not to care about what others think, and she's unafraid of interacting with the world.

Kugisaki Nobara would hate Ohtori. Loudly. And violently. Despite being mostly gender-conforming appearance-wise, her personality directly contradicts Ohtori's 'ideal woman', and she'd likely draw scorn from the general population. She'd probably make a fascinating parallel with Saionji; her violence is usually played for laughs at the other person's expense, or for making herself look badass, while Saionji's violence usually makes him look like a dick or earns him a trip to Clown Town. (Some of this difference is in what they direct their violence at, of course, but not all of it.) They're also both incredibly stubborn, unlikely to go along uncritically with tradition, extremely direct, and often eager to throw the first punch, so to speak. She'd also probably outright refuse to talk to Akio on the basis that he has "bad vibes", and if she ever hears about the shit he pulls with other teenagers she'd (attempt to) put a nail through his skull.

Fushiguro Megumi:

potential for Weird Sibling Shit: medium to high. We likely wouldn't see his older stepsister Tsumiki come back to life like Ruka, but healing Tsumiki is a main motivator of Megumi's actions in canon, and she was the one who took care of him after both his dad (her stepdad) and her mom (his stepmom) abandoned them (or died, in Toji's case, but Megumi doesn't know that). Strong case for Weird Sibling Shit even if Tsumiki doesn't show up.

potential for Sunlit Garden Shit: low to medium. He did NOT have a happy childhood, and he hates his dad. The only thing he would want to go back to the past for would be to see Tsumiki awake again (which would tie into Weird Sibling Shit). But, like I said with Kugisaki, the memory-warping effects of nostalgia cannot be underestimated.

potential for Shining Thing Shit: low to medium. Probably his 'shining thing' would be Tsumiki.

is he Stuck In His Coffin: Honestly, probably. At the beginning of canon he has hangups about his own power and self-worth, and struggles with expressing himself openly and honestly. (Actually, I don't think he gets better at expressing himself over the course of canon aside from whaling on curses.)

Fushiguro Megumi is probably the character who's most susceptible to Ohtori's emotional manipulations out of the whole JJK cast. His personality is most similar to Juri's, I think, in the way he's emotionally constipated and finds it difficult to express his feelings to other people. Thankfully he doesn't have a Shiori, both in the sense of being hurt and of hurting someone else from stonewalling them (unless you count Sukuna, but we all know Sukuna can take it and also deserves it). Given his relationship with Gojo (his main parental figure), he may be somewhat more vulnerable to Akio's manipulations, or he may be much less vulnerable given how much he rags on Gojo.

Itadori Yuuji:

potential for Weird Sibling Shit: none. He's canonically an orphan and an only child (iirc).

potential for Sunlit Garden Shit: high. He is not doing well--he's been possessed by a demon, slated for execution, his grandpa is dead, and his pre-canon friends are in the hospital. There's no way he doesn't wish to turn back the clock in some ways, to go back to when life was simple and safe.

potential for Shining Thing Shit: low. He doesn't have anything specific he obsesses over, although you could argue that he could obsess over the goal of beating Sukuna, especially in the late stages of the manga.

is he Stuck In His Coffin: No. He's much better at making connections and expressing emotion and vulnerability than someone like Megumi, and he's shown in canon to be respectful of others (aside from like. Sukuna and Mahito, who both deserve the disrepsect) no matter their gender.

Yuuji isn't as vulnerable as Megumi to Ohtori's emotional manipulations, but that isn't to say that he isn't vulnerable at all. He's a lot like Utena herself personality-wise, and I think he's vulnerable in similar ways as well, especially in a desire to go back to a time when life was simple and safe and guaranteed. His attachment to Gojo may also make him especially vulnerable to Akio's carefully-cultivated aura of "coolness".

Ryomen Sukuna:

potential for Weird Sibling Shit: none, unless he has a sibling that survived the Heian Era as a curse (highly unlikely) AND he's actually attached to that sibling (even more unlikely). The only time Sukuna mentions anything like having siblings it's to say that he ate his twin in the womb, I don't think he puts much emphasis on family of any kind

potential for Sunlit Garden Shit: none. Man's out here living his best hedonistic curse life all day every day; anything that might trigger Sunlit Garden-type nostalgia in someone else (like being stuck in Itadori's body or having to deal with Akio's siphoning his cursed energy away) he views as an annoyance or a threat, but not as evidence that the Past Was Better.

potential for Shining Thing Shit: none. He's practically his own shining thing.

is he Stuck In His Coffin: lmao no he got out a long time ago just cuz he decided it wasn't comfy in there

Sukuna is, hilariously, the JJK character with the most comedic potential in this situation. There's two ways he could go, with him either being stuck in Yuuji's body the whole time (which confines him to being a menace to Yuuji) or, my own preference, him getting his own body at Ohtori, which allows him to go off on his own and do weird shit, which I like too much to not do. Watch as he makes all the right logical steps as to why Ohtori Bullshit is Wrong Actually and then his conclusion veers so hard to the side that we end up in territory that is maybe actually Even Worse. "This whole Dueling Game thing is bullshit" yes "Anthy should have way more agency" yes "the kids should be fighting proper death battles cuz they value the thrill of the fight" nO. His reaction to Akio would literally just be "you need to learn how to respect your betters". He's utterly impervious to Akio's and Ohtori's emotional manipulation and yet he keeps Missing The Point. Everyone else is Suffering(TM) and he's just off doing hot girl shit with Nobara or trying to figure out how to get his cursed energy back. Ohtori may be Hell but Sukuna is literally a demon.

Bonus Characters

My original plan was to go through a lot of different JJK characters/character groups, but it's late and I want to be done with this so those will have to wait until a reblog. But to wrap up quickly, I'll do Maki&Mai and Uraume.

Zen'in Maki and Zen'in Mai:

potential for Weird Sibling Shit: very high. Not only are they twins who have been split apart by jujustu society, Mai ends up dying to 'free' Maki, and there's one panel where it looks like one of them is kissing the other one (who's unconscious) on the mouth. Yeah. They're up there with Miki and Kozue for Weird Twin Sibling Shit.

potential for Sunlit Garden Shit: medium to high. Some of the flashbacks for them heavily imply that there were some very high-nostalgia-potential moments in their childhood, before they realized their inequality.

potential for Shining Thing Shit: low for Maki (who doesn't care anymore), high for Mai (who would idolize Maki in some sense, or at least desire that Maki come back).

are they Stuck In Their Coffins: Mai yes, Maki no. Maki's already decided to leave the Zen'ins behind when canon starts, but Mai is still trapped in her own desire to go back to the way it was ('won't you stay at the bottom with me?' iirc).

Maki and Mai would be hard-pressed to survive in Ohtori's environment. Mai's something like Shiori, methinks, while Maki's just trying to get out again. They already have a deeply fucked up relationship, and Ohtori would probably just warp it further and drive them apart even more.

Uraume:

(This entry is formatted a little differently.) Uraume is an interesting character, especially with the implication that they and Sukuna genuinely enjoy each other's company. Their gender, or lack thereof, would also become much more important in RGU's story, despite being mostly just a side note in JJK's. It would be more difficult to get them in, because they don't have anyone around to order them inside, but if they got word that Sukuna was potentially lost inside a rogue curse's domain expansion they'd have a personal motivation to enter the story.

Pros of having Uraume in this story:

A straightman (straightperson) for Sukuna's bullshit to play off of, like in a comedy duo

Interesting parallels and contrasts between Uraume's serving Sukuna because they genuinely like him and Anthy's whole Rose Bride stuff, especially in the third(?) episode when she claims she wants to be the Rose Bride

Would force interesting questions and developments in the narrative of the crossover story, in the world of Ohtori (how do they deal with someone who isn't gendered if they have no information on which box to put them in?), and in certain RGU characters (Saionji: "are you a boy or a girl?" Uraume: "I'm neither" Saionji: "oh i see" Uraume internally: three. two. one. Saionji: "WAIT YOU CAN DO THAT?").

Cons of having Uraume in this story:

their no-gender swag is too powerful, if they stepped foot on Ohtori campus the whole school would spontaneously combust

[mercless]

🗡 mad cowboy disease....

[hwanswerland]

ATEEZ @ MAMA 2020 (Inception + Answer) ↳ aka my second Atinyversary 

Summary in case you don't want to read all this: it's been two years since I got into Ateez, I ramble about it, then I tagged my lovely mutuals. I can't believe it's already been two years since Youtube recommended me this video out of the blue and because I was bored and San and Honjoong looked sp pretty on the thumbnail I watched it. Instantly fell in love with Answer and decided that well, if they have one song this good, there have got to be more right? And so began my descent into the kpop (read: Ateez) madness. I didn't expect on December 6th 2020 that two years later I would run a tumblr blog dedicated to the one guy that I actively did not want to bias at first, spend who knows how much money on albums and other merch, go to one of their concerts and scream along with all those other fans despite me thinking I would never have a boy group phase in this life (lol), least of all one starting when I was 21 years old. Not that I regret anything about it :D I realise that these gifs are not actually the most giffable moment for some members, but as this is a very self indulgent set I chose to gif what are moments I still remember reacting to when I saw the first time. Honorary mention to Hongjoong shouting "1, 2, 3 lets BURN" into his mic. If I could gif a sound that would be the first I'd gif because Answer is special to me and I absolutely came to life when he did the same thing at my concert. I started giffing on this blog way later in 2021, around the end of Deja Vu promotions, and for the most part I did not feel very welcome here on Atinyblr lol, for reasons that have nothing to do with anyone I interact with these days. This only very recently changed when I finally joined the atzsource team and actually talked to the people on here. So thank you for being so cool and talking about some things that mean I can finally chill and not feel like an imposter on here anymore. So in no particular order tagging my lovely mutuals that I love seeing on the dash/talking to/admire from afar ♡

@sanchelinz (thank you forever for the file!) @woosansang @jonghho @jeong-yunhoes @jjongho​ @sanhwaiting @woosanhui @jngif @guerrila @yunhogifs @applejongho @xuseokgyu @blueberrysan @jeongyunho99 @chwejongho @strhwaberries @cruellajoong @song-mingi @hwatermelon @seonghwaminho @yukuz