#this story is so close to being done by also fighting me oop

[gold-rhine]

Inazuma Rewrite Act 3

Please start reading from part one before reading this. It will make no sense otherwise.

Act 3 pays off for Acts 1 and 2, and I made some major changes in them, such as change to reasons of vision hunt\Raiden motivations, Ayaka arc, entire resistance storyline, Transience setup, Yoimiya arc setup, so without reading them first, this part will not make sense.

In this installment:

Transcience pay off

Yoimiya arc

Kazuha conflict

Raiden confrontation

Kujou Sara arc

and more

All disclaimers from part one also apply, I’m not gonna copy paste them.

Yae Miko \ Raiden Preparation Training

ok, let’s start with the fact that current “raiden fight training” sucks. Like I get what they’re going for, and training episode idea is very anime, but like. Running in circles around a trashcan that hits you with boss moves is not fun. it is, in fact, super annoying. 

i want to keep the training angle, but make it more... spiritual. and thematic.

so, yae miko is like blah blah, you need to prepare to face Raiden, and I will train you, as the person who knows her the best.

Paimon is like wow, you’re gonna teach us to fight??

Yae Miko is like haha you’re so stupid, no, of course not. Your goal is to change raiden’s mind. For that, you need to know and understand her and where she’s coming from.

We will know you’re ready, when you can pass the Sacred Sakura trial

she leads traveler to the sacred sakura. there are like stone plates with symbols at the base, you know, the puzzle ones.

Yae goes like, do you know what Transience means? Transience is the dream of the nation of thunder. We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish, and enjoy the unexpected silence of the dim lamp-lit nights.

traveler and paimon is like yeah wait, we saw smth like that in inazuma shrines and ruins

yae is like great, then show me the symbol of Transience. traveler looks at the puzzle stones, but there weren’t really anything like this in the prev locations which mentioned transience

player can fiddle with puzzle stones, but whatever combination they try, it doesn’t work

after a couple of tries, yae is like okay, it seems you still have much to learn! lets go, i’ll teach you

you go through the inazuma city with her, but seemingly only do bullshit. like, eating ramen, shopping, doing some light novels bs, and like traveler is paying for everything. not too long, like just few minutes, with a couple phrases per activity and fading to black, kinda montage of more and more exasperated and confused traveler and paimon until they’re like wait what the fuck is this. how is supposed to teach us anything??

yae does her signature bullshit smirks like hehe you’re too close-minded, you clearly haven’t understood ~Transience~, so buy me more stuff

paimon does her Angry Stomp, you know the one, like ugh! you’re just fucking with us to get us to pay for stuff, we’re done!

yae narrows her eyes menacingly with a smile like haha is this how u wanna talk to me you little flying shit, paimon hides behind traveler like oops sorry i didn’t say that, but then like, resistance messenger runs up to the traveler and traveler and paimon use this us an excuse to fuck off

Kazuha conflict\ Reveal of the true reasons for Raiden Gokaden fall

turns out messenger is from Kazuha. we meet up with him. he’s in the city despite being fugitive bc he’s heard some maniac is killing ppl, searching for the last scion of the Isshin school bloodline

listen, i love kazuha and i overall like his story quest, but it ends up being more character development for the cursed sword, not kazuha. and like i get it, it’s hard to write conflict for Kazuha bc he’s already escaped samsara, he’s the sole receiver of all therapy in genshin, he rolls 20 on every Wisdom roll, etc etc. 

but that doesn’t mean we can’t explore his character more in depth and give him a conflict, even if his beliefs do not change as the result, but just better articulated.

We’re keeping the quest mostly same, as I said, I like it fine, it’s still about kazuha going on a therapy tour with the cursed sword, but with like. actual stakes

because in canon, when the sword says like oh, together we will have power to defeat raiden, its obviously not really a temptation for kazuha. bc like. the war is already over! kazuha has already won! AND he personally blocked legendary ublockable move that his friend dreamed of doing. why would he go back and fight raiden again?? it makes no sense

so it ends up being just like. kazuha psychoanalyzing cursed sword the entire time. which cool and all, but i want to play quest about kazuha and not the sword??

but, if it happens DURING the war, it’s much more impactful. this is not just revenge, there are lives on the line and no way to fight raiden. so when the sword is like I will give you power to stand up to raiden, then its not only in memory of his friend, but to protect the resistance. It is now a believable choice that can give Kazuha a pause, because situation is dire and they need every advantage they can get

this is also to rhyme with the Delusions motif, the “my own strength is not enough, so I must turn to the corrupted source of power for which i know i will pay”

of course, in the end kazuha decides to not give in to the cursed sword, bc he sees through its facade that the sword is actually weakening and falling apart, but also because he is narrative foil to both scara (scara believes in doing anything to gain power to pursue his obsession, even at great pain to himself, this is why he’s tied with delusions, and then in sumeru quest gets into dotorre’s torture mecha) AND raiden, which i think fandom largely misses. 

both Kazuha and Ei had friends and loving, supporting family, but were kinda sheltered and isolated from people. Ei because she was Makoto’s shadow and didn’t really interact with public, and Kazuha because he was an heir of a falling noble house and he was feeling trapped and focused on trying to live up to his own expectations and anxieties (this btw was beautifully dramatized in his domain in prev summer’s golden archipelago) 

both of them were quiet and kinda introverted, Ei allowing her sister take a central stage and Kazuha admitting that ppl with grand aspirations always captivated him, which obv references his friend. then, they lost everything in one fell swoop. 

Ei lost her friends in the cataclysm and then, her sister. Kazuha’s family died, and later he had to flee his estate, becoming fugitive and then his friend was killed in a duel with Raiden. they both had their small-ish isolated worlds and lost them violently 

and Raiden tried to catch the shards of her falling world and keep them in place, cover them in stasis, as if it could restore what was broken. She saw eternity as the lack of change and decided to never change herself. She closed off from the world, literally destroyed her physical body and isolated her mind in a little locked world, focused solely on “preserving” herself.

in contrast, Kazuha opened up to the world. He didn’t try to stop the winds of change, he followed them. One of this themes is being a part of the world, “One with wind and clouds”, “One with the nature”, “Life has just begun and maybe, the whole world can be my home,” this is why his kit heavily features element absorption and his character stories emphasize how he’s sharp, notices little details in surroundings, even has sharp sense of smell. 

He reached out to people instead of isolating himself, and so he found new friends, he saw the endless beauty in the bigger world even after his own cozy snowglobe was shattered. 

His theme is not only about being open to the world, but also bringing different elements together, and he’s the one who brings people in inazuma arc together. He brings traveler to Thoma, then through him Gorou reaches Beidou and the mercs, etc. this is why he is the one who blocks raiden. 

he is her foil precisely because he can let go and doesn’t let his grief blind him, he will fight her because she needs to be stopped, but not because he wants to take revenge or fore her to suffer. He is the breaker of cycles of pain, not perpetuator

so kazuha refuses, like in original, sword deteriorates more and more, and in the end, becomes weak, but regains memories about his creator in exile in snezhnaya. 

but, with the added twist to the scene where kazuha sees memories of the sword. In our version, Shogun instituted vision hunt decree because vision holding blade smith collaborated with fatui and led to the fall of Raiden Gokaden, 5 sword art schools. 

But now we learn that Kazuha’s ancestor who made this cursed sword, was this very vision-holding blade smith, and he never betrayed Inazuma, instead, he was slandered by Fatui and it was all Scara’s plan on his misguided revenge against Raiden Gokaden.

as in canon, Kazuha reforges the sword with the last shreds of its power. It does not hold its previous cursed strength anymore, but it is a last sword made in lost technique of Kazuha’s family tradition and he swears to restore it, just as he does in canon

Vision Loss exploration\ Yoimiya was always relevant

after this, paimon and traveler are like ugh, we don’t want to go back to yae, we don’t know the answer to symbol of transience puzzle and she will just mock us more. Lets go see how Yoimiya is doing instead!

ok so, I want to address what I see as a problem in how genshin handled vision loss. like obviously, vision loss stands for trauma. and “wow after their vision was taken, they turned into a completely different person” works as initial impression, bc often when someone you know changes drastically, it can feel this way

where this narrative fails is that it never explores further, bc all characters we meet with vision loss are random NPCs we see for 15 minutes, so it ends up being shallow “this guy was very kind and selfless before, but after losing vision he completely ignores ppl he helped with “new number who dis” response”, which like???

framing ppl who are already going through inner turmoil and struggle as like, complete strangers who are not themselves anymore and also completely lose positive qualities tied to their visions, is so tactless and wrong. It’s still the same person, no matter how drastically changed, and they need support, not demonization like “inherently incapable of caring about people after losing vision”.

this is why i think its better to focus on one character players know and care about instead of several NPCs no one gives a fuck about

so we go visit Yoi and meet her with her dad during discussion. it’s festival time and their family always made fireworks for it, they have several orders now too. But, due to Yoi being caught as part of resistance, her family was blacklisted and they can’t get necessary supplies to create fireworks, specifically like special chemical powder. 

so now, Yoi needs to go to all the clients and tell them there will be no fireworks for them for this festival.

Yoi’s dad is very supportive and doesn’t blame Yoi, but she still feels its her fault. She’s not a firecracker she was before, now quieter and harsher, and it does feel like she’s someone new, who traveler and paimon do not know.

we go to the clients to inform them with Yoi, and while doing so learn what fireworks meant for each of them. for some, it was friendship, how now matter how different their lives were, they would get together and celebrate with fireworks. for old couple, its ritual to celebrate their marriage and so on.

they are all sad, but understanding, and supportive and concerned about Yoi. she puts on brave face, but its obvious for the traveler that its hard for her to pretend to be fine.

on the way back, they have a convo about how its tacking a toll on Yoi, and how she feels bad, but also hopeless, and it also feels like something as joyous and frivolous as fireworks is meaningless in the middle of the war and vision hunt

we get back and find Yoi’s dad talking to customers. Its a refugee family, they explain that they live on another island, but once in a few years would visit Narukami for the festival and buy fireworks. They were forced to go to Narukami right now bc of the war, but since they are here already, they want at least something good to come out of it. And they have a cute little girl who is too young and never before saw fireworks and she’s sooooo excited, and the whole time they were running from their home they were consoling her by saying they go to Narukami to see the festival and the fireworks 

Yoi’s dad starts defeatedly explaining that unfortunately they cannot make fireworks right now, but Yoi interrupts him, and for a moment she’s her old self, bright and joyful, she reassures the little girl that its okay, they will have fireworks for sure, and these will be the prettiest fireworks ever!

family leaves, excited, and Yoi drops the facade. she wasn’t “cured” in a moment, but she is determined 

traveler and paimon are like - oh but how will we get fireworks??

Yoi is like “tenryo commission has this confiscated powder in their warehouse and we are raiding it, bc this little girl is getting her family fireworks if its the last fucking thing i do”

bc she realized, viscerally, that actually, fireworks will be more meaningful now BECAUSE of the dark and uncertain times, not despite of them, and whether its someone childhood OR last years of life, time is fleeting and impossible to get back, so giving people joy and hope is more important than ever

she’s not “healed”, she’s not back to her old self yet, but we see that there’s still spark in her and hope for recovery, even if she struggles, and deep down she is still same kind and caring Yoi we’ve met at the start

we do the warehouse domain, fight, do puzzles, get powder, Yoi and her dad make fireworks, we watch basically same cutscene as of the end of Yoi’s first quest now, with ppl looking up at the sky and seeing fireworks and Yoi and traveler watching from the hill.

at which point i want to mention that like, despite some part of fandom calling canon Yoi irrelevant, she always supported inazuma themes, which i will illustrate by using the dialogue from the quest verbatim and showing how i don’t even need to rewrite it to make it fit

Yoimiya: It was by chance that I happened to be born into the Naganohara family, so it was by chance that I ended up learning this craft from my pops.

Yoimiya: It's also by chance that I've met so many people, learned so many things, and discovered that people associate watching fireworks with the things that are most precious to them. 

Yoimiya: Fireworks that disappear in a flash of light are probably the furthest thing away from the eternity that our Shogun desires. 

Yoimiya: But people's feelings don't just disappear, and it's those feelings that give fireworks their purpose. If nobody wanted to watch fireworks, then they wouldn't exist.

Traveler: That's another kind of eternity.

boom! Yoimiya was always a representation of transience philosophy, hoyo just didn’t dramatize it properly and without transience explored during main quest, she felt like she doesn’t belong, while she was an actual Inazuma spiritual end game goal all along.

Makoto Reveal

anyway. traveler, pauses, repeats themselves. “Another kind of eternity... Eternity in fleeting things, because people’s dreams give them meaning...”

they get up and run to yae, looking determined, confused paimon following behind

“i know the answer,“ traveler tells to yae and she smirks, leads them to the puzzle stones near Sakura

“So, show me the symbol of transience“

but instead of fiddling with the stones, traveler gestures at the sakura petals, gliding on the wind and people watching theim

“This is the eternity in transience“

yae chuckles in delight “oh, finally, i thought you’ll never get it. How could be fleeting dreams be captured in stone puzzles?”

paimon is like ooooh is this why you led us around eating ramen and shopping? you were not just fucking around on our money, you wanted to make us think about enjoying momentary fleeting things?

yae gives her signature facetious response like oh of course how could you think i was scamming, how ungrateful of you etc etc, but its clear that she both actually was trying to give a hint AND enjoyed scamming them for free stuff

then she gets quieter, says pensively “but it seems the company of your friends was better help with figuring it out... She always did say that we immortals cannot understand beauty of transience the way humans do...”

paimon and traveler are like “She???”

thats when the cutscene revealing that there were two shoguns and that raiden’s sister died at the cataclysm plays. nothing much to add here, i think the existing cutscene works well, but because in canon it’s played AFTER raiden’s defeated, it feels a bit weird, like post-factum excuse.

like raiden goes oh well ok, i’ll get rid of vision hunt decree, by the way i had a twin sister who died, like?? i think pacing-wise its better to learn why raiden is Like That before “punch her until she changes her mind” fight than after she had already changed her mind

so, paimon is like ooooh, so this is why it seemed that raiden changed so much! she didn’t change, we just saw the ideas of the first shogun

yae is like yes, ei’s grief for her sister and differences in their views is important for you to understand for when you will try to change her mind in her hikikomori mind palace

Storming the palace\ Signora interlude

then yae does the ok lets get Kojou Sara quests, which I don’t really feel like changing, bc like. it does its job fine enough. we need to establish that tenryou commission was corrupted and working with fatui AND that kujou sara will go against her only family for justice

the ayato infiltrating like 5 rebellion guys with gorou and kazuha to take the palace is kinda dumb logistically, but tbh this is not game of thrones. genshin works mostly on anime logic where things happen bc its cool and fitting for the character\narrative beats. making actually realistic attack plan i feel like would be too long, complex and derail from the storyline, so i’d say lets keep it roughly same

What I’m gonna change is Signora cameo. And by change I mean remove it completely. I spent a lot of time trying to make her death work, but it just doesn’t. She has nothing to do with Inazuma story or themes, shows up for 2 seconds and dies immediately. This is a shitshow, like, we’d need to derail whole archon quest to insert her and it still wouldn’t be good. 

if Signora has to be dead for like, the strategic plot reasons, here is my version of how it should go down

ok but we need an opportunity for raiden to do her one hit boob kill move, and how are we gonna do this if we remove Signora?

easy, sara confronts her tenryuo adoptive dad in front of raiden. like, rn she runs to him, he has a speech about how he basically doesn’t care about raiden herself, but really only worships the Boob Nuke. he gets defeated and then sara runs off to raiden and gets knocked out off-screen, like??? this is so awkward. what the fuck is the point

instead, sara is like right now is the time when Tenryuo chief is reporting to raiden, we need to tell her he’s lying to her!

we follow sara to the palace and confront tenryuo dude in front of raiden. he’s like you have no proof u insolent girl and this is after everything i’ve done for u! 

sara challenges him to a duel before the throne and raiden agrees. 

we fight the dude and defeat him. he launches into basically same unhinged speech, but now raiden is here to hear it. 

She realizes that even those who she considered the most loyal of her servants worship not her, but her power, because she removed herself from inazuma and all people know of her is to fear the Boob Nuke. this is a important step in her development that we will explore a bit later

then she annihilates him which i think is much more thematically relevant bc he died from the same blade he worshipped

then, raiden is like well, i’ve dealt with a traitor, but don’t think that it gets YOU off the hook, a criminal is a criminal and I’ll destroy you

then we duel, bc like. her using boob sword at the start of battle is thematically wrong. its a finisher, a kill move. in the first duel she used it at the end. she needs to charge her burst first, you know

so, we go to the plane of euthemiya and fight. it basically goes the same, first traveler has elements disabled, then wishes of inazuma people awaken and empower them.

raiden is shaken, but not convinced. bc this is the Gives a Fuck raiden, it’s not that she didn’t know her people had ambitions, tho she could underestimate them, its that she thought these ambitions can only lead them to ruin and she, as an arbiter of eternity who sacrificed her body to lock her mind in a sword and evade “corruption“, is the one who knows best.

she rallies up and counter-attacks. similar scene as in the first duel happens, she throws traveler to the real world and follows, readying the kill move

and thats when kazuha blocks her 

i think in canon this isn’t given appropriate weight for raiden. bc like. that was her legendary UNBLOCKABLE strike. she one-shot gods and monsters with it. this was her personal proof of perfection, she knows she might not be a philosopher and leader like her sister, but she is The best warrior. like if you want to change her mind, you have to fight her in a duel, her mastery of sword is how she justifies that she’s right to herself

and now a mortal blocked her most perfect move

and not just any mortal! She recognizes the style of the blade he wields. Isshin blade, even though Isshin art died as Raiden Gokaden schools fell

she asks him how did he get this blade and he tells her the truth he learned from the cursed sword

her people never betrayed her. instead, she was mislead by the fatui and pushed her own subjects into running away to the enemies because they didn’t believe she would listen and be merciful to them

the worst thing is that she knows they were right. she would not have been merciful.

and now she watches the bitter irony of how her eternity crumbles.

tenryuo commission, who she thought of her most loyal and closest servants, upholding laws and traditions, in truth were corrupted from the inside, tradition nothing but a hollow form, a fake shape kept just to appease her, with no true soul or meaning, lusting only after power

but the last scion of the clan she though betrayed her, an exile and criminal, a vagabond and pirate, is the one who embodied isshin art she thought lost wholeheartedly, the one who preserved the last true blade of his school. the one who blocked her strike that she thought of as the truest.

and with the vision of a man she had once already defeated in a duel

with all of that, with countless visions rallying up to support an outlander against their own god, with the proof that even killing rebels would be useless because ambitions of the dead will be picked up and reignited again by the living, with proof of the corruption rotting in her government, she cannot see herself in the right anymore

this is why she lifts the vision hunt decree

Raiden’s First Story Quest 

I think there’s general agreement in fandom, even among raiden fans, that her first story quest is one of the worst in game. its so boring and pointless. you go on a date with raiden and then she fights some nerd in a duel. who gives a fuck.

it also takes for granted that all players even WANT to hang out with raiden, which like, at this point she was only a giant dick to everyone around and not everyone is a boob worshipper. for people who already disliked her, being forced to babysit her around and take her photos only feels more annoying and antagonizing

Again, our main change in characterization for raiden is that she actually gives a fuck. like, in canon her country is on the brink of complete collapse after civil war and fatui schemes, 2 out of 3 commissions are barely functional, her robot-sona is malfunctioning the storm, and she not only does not give a fuck, but traveler has to jump through hoops to get to her. and she just goes on a date, trying sweets and light novels. like. guuuuurl. come on, get a grip for 5 fucking minutes and do your damn job. we had to randomly stumble into tenryuo nerd being bullied for her to take ANY part in inazuma’s politics

so, logical thing to do for Raiden Who Gives a Fuck is to go out and try to sort out mess she’s now learnt her country was turned into. 

like, she summons traveler and goes hey, i know we’re not exactly on bestest terms, but I need to root out corruption and fatui’s shit specifically, and i don’t trust my government officials right now, so i need your help in being a guide bc i haven’t left the room in 500 years. 

kujou sara is also there since raiden deemed her trustworthy bc sara was the one who exposed tenryuo corruption to her

i got an ask about how canonically Kanjou commission was in a vulnerable state due to commerce falling with sakoku decree,  and so they could be an easy first foothold for fatui to get themselves into the country, and i think raiden quest would be a good place to explore it, while she’s investigation corruption.

i’m not gonna write the whole plot, it doesn’t really matter, the main points is that raiden sees isolation actually doesn’t protect her ppl, but harms them, that when ppl are not allowed to do smth that they want, they will turn to illegal and much more harmful ways instead, for which delusions are an allegory.

raiden can still do fluffy stuff like trying mango milkshakes or whatever, but while going from one commission to another instead of just wandering around on a date

tenruyo nerd can also be there if hoyo wants to include him for some reason. they can even have same useless duel with raiden at the end that makes her appoint him head of commission

Kujou Sara

as I said, Sara is also there, going with raiden on investigation, showing her competence, until its clear that she’s the sole hinge on which entire tenryuo commission depends.

raiden praises her for her loyalty, and Sara, incredibly earnest and grateful, explains her backstory, how she was a kid falling to her death from a mountain while enemies were storming it, and how she received vision during the fall and thus survived, so she now not only owes her life to raiden, but can’t imagine better cause to serve, as clearly, raiden is omnipotent and all knowing and caring enough to save an insignificant tengu child like her

raiden frowns. she does not grant visions herself, in fact, she is not even aware when electro visions are granted - this is canon btw, it’s from raiden’s own voicelines.

tenryuo nerd sees that raiden is about to speak up, and even though he obv doesn’t know vision secrets, he realizes from her expression alone that she’s about to contradict sara’s story

he interrupts her, apologizes profusely, but takes her aside and begs her to not say to sara anything that can shake her loyalty, because again, this commission is going to crumble without her. These are temoulteous times and they need sara the most, raiden can tell her whatever she wants after inazuma is stabilized

but the thing is that being truly honorable is supposed to be raiden’s redeeming grace. she might be stubborn and inflexible, ruthless and inept, but she is straightforward and honorable, she cannot accept loyalty given on false premises, and we need to show that in action

raiden tells sara bluntly that she did not give her a vision, that she was not aware that sara was in risk of death at all

sara is shaken. her world crumbles before her. this is not just bc of her own vision and life that she thought she owed, but in fact, did not. no, much more it’s about vision hunt decree. its about all the people she was sent after, talked to them and their crying families for hours, telling them that this is for their own good, that shogun knows better, sara herself is an example, is a proof. it’s about all the people she didn’t convince and had to take their visions by force, comforting herself in the knowledge that she personally might not understand shogun’s plan, but what she knows is that is infallible.

and now it turns out it’s not true at all.

this, she cannot take. she asks raiden to free her from service. and bc again, raiden is honorable, even knowing the damage it will do, she lets sara go.

after that, she shows up in events and side quests, showing her on a journey to find herself.

we see her in yae miko’s story quest, protecting ppl from the guy who was possessed by the oni spirit, and later, watching yokai spirits dance in the skies and yearning

we see her in an event with a ghost umbrella, being strict and cross with yokai kids for causing so much ruckus, but secretly fond and protective of them, and playing off her funny rivalry with itto

we see her in itto’s quest, in a part where traveler asks ppl about itto’s character, and she’s being fair, says that he might be an idiot and hooligan, but he would never harm or kidnap innocent ppl

we see her in irodori festival, organizing the community, bc she knows how to do it and she’s good at it and *someone* has to (and bc she cares about ppl without any order telling her to)

then, she’s in kokomi quest, bc kokomi asks her to be present at negotiations, bc she’s the only one from tenryuo in whose honor kokomi can really trust. sara tells her that she has no official standing anymore, but kokomi asks her to be there anyway. later, when dishonesty from tenryuo side is revealed and sara helps to stop the ppl who are trying to sabotage negotiations, kokomi asks sara to vouch for what happened in report to raiden, so that this is not blamed on watatsumi and fair deal can be cut

sara says again that raiden has no reason to listen to her and take the worse deal just on her word. and yet, after a couple of days, report comes back. raiden listens to sara’s word and does not force watatsumi to accept the bad conditions. we can see this affecting sara, her being conflicted

sara\kokomi shippers, ur welcome btw

then, raiden’s second story quest. it starts as of now. we accept commission to deal with abyss wolves spawning, go to the mountain of sacred sakura. but instead of just meeting raiden, we first see kujou sara.

she’s there to protect people because this is who she is, this is the ambition that summoned her vision to begin with, and no lies and manipulations can change that.

like at the beginning of her story, she’s on the mountain, protecting her home from the enemies

like at the beginning, she falls and survives the fall, but she’s too injured and about to be killed by the wolves

but this time, inazuma’s archon has not locked herself in a room.

raiden appears, destroying the wolves and saving sara. this time, she is not just an idea based on false belief of a child. she is there in flesh to finally take action that sara believed she was doing so many years ago.

as in canon, raiden says that she will fight the monsters alone, bc its her duty to protect inazuma.

and this is when sara pledges her allegiance to raiden again.

raiden tells her that her saving sara’s life does not mean that sara now owes that life to her, as raiden’s duty is to protect all of her people

but this is not why sara wants to follow her now. finally, she sees real raiden and not childish illusion of an omnipotent goddess who always knows better. but real raiden is honest, honorable, and despite being strongheaded and often misguided, someone who cares deeply for her ppl and is driven by the same goal to protect as sara

sara tells this to her, asserting that she will not serve her out of obligation or with blind loyalty like before, that she will now think critically and question and tell raiden if she believes she;s wrong, but she will believe in her nonetheless as long as raiden cares about inazuma over herself

raiden says that then they will share an eternity in service of inazuma people, as they should

as sara is injured, raiden sends her to organize evacuation instead of fighting, and quest goes on as in canon

sara\raiden shippers, ur welcome btw

Ancient Sakura Blooms Again

I don’t want to change much else about raiden’s second quest, bc its already pretty fucking good and manages to speedrun raiden’s character development in 45 minutes.

instead, all of my rewrite is meant to be a setup to establish both raiden’s conflict and makoto’s personality and philosophy beforehand, instead of getting infodump from old man ghost in 1.5 scenes

this way, raiden coming to accept the eternity as transience is natural progression instead of speedrun and makoto’s appearance has bigger impact, since she was haunting the narrative from the start and we came to know about her gradually

also, irodori festival can go pretty much the same. scara being behind raiden gokaden fall is now more significant, bc for our version it was inazuma’s inciting incident, and now just like. random lore bit.

also, both raiden and yae miko show up in comedic cameos during festival, but after they learn it was scara, there is a brief serious scene as raiden realizes that while she was blaming fatui for corrupting inazuma, it was only possible bc she neglected her own creation, which is a metaphor for inazuma’s isolation as a whole. she doesn’t explain that ofc, just looks striken

“i thought i’m giving him peace...“

“i’ve told you we should’ve destroyed that puppet“, yae miko spits out (she did canonically wanted to off scara after raiden decided he’s not fit for gnosis bc he cried)

ofc, we won’t give proper backstory before sumeru, but it would be a nice tease that will get deeper meaning once we do know, and also illustrate that both raiden’s solipsistic abandonment and yae miko burning bridges instead of dealing with ppl is not great governing strategies

also, irodori has additional ayaka storyline about how she got involved in all this investigation stuff as a distraction to get away from the house bc ayato asked her to wear family jewels for the festival finale and she sold them in act 2, but she’s too afraid to tell it to ayato

finally, after learning of kazuha’s family keeping secrets from each other that hurt them in the long run, she finally gets brave enough to tell ayato what she did

he stops her mid-sentence and tells her to go check the chests

she’s confused, but obeys. she runs back holding the jewelry, being like oh my god what?? how is that back?? did u buy it back??? did u know the entire time???

of course he knew the entire time. he’s proud of her. he only wished she trusted him enough to ask for his help directly.

you didn’t use the commission funds for this, right? ayaka hesitates for a second and ayato laugh.

of course not. why would he need to steal from commission when there are so many fatui assassins to loot

oh, i always knew you wouldn’t. wait what....

ayato’s quest i’d rewrite completely. he’s still manipulate mansplain manslut, but in better political machinations then sabotaging a wedding of npcs and giving hannibal lector speeches to random goons

we’ve scorched out inazuma’s corruption in raiden first quest, now is the time to restructure and modernize commissions which were gutted by said corruption, for which raiden assembles yae, sara, traveler and ayato, who is the head of only commission that did not sell out to fatui

ayato and yae miko are incredibly petty cunts to each other in a very smiley passive aggressive manner, but they team up to come up with devious machinations for the greater good

sara is there not only for military expert role, but also to speak up for the common ppl which she is finally closer to, and to ground the schemers

raiden sometimes thoughtfully says “why don’t we duel them to death?“ as solution to many problems, and when everyone yells no, shrugs

overall, its kinda rough going and obvious that there are a lot of problems ahead, but also clear that inazuma did change and grew, raiden is no longer a solipsistic tyrant and she has a diverse council she listens to and actively engages with her country’s problems

btw, in ayato vs yae miko schemes off he gets to win and be smug bc its his birthday story quest

Yoimiya’s second story quest

Yoi’s second quest is already v good and obv has a lot of soul in it, i wouldn’t change too much, except for the premise

bc this quest is the reason i decided to make vision loss plotline at all. bc this quest is already perfectly written to be culmination of that plot line, and frankly, gets a lot of ??? without it

like, it starts bc yoi just randomly decides to go on vacation to wish on falling stars. like ok i guess. and she’s like i didnt really care but the whole village really got into it and want me to see it, so i’m doing it for them. like?? why would they be invested in random vacation like that?? mb ok they just love yoi

but then traveler goes to nahida and she’s like sorry, meteor showers happen like once in 200 years. but traveler and paimon are very insistent that they have have to do it for you, they can’t disappoint her. when like. its a random vacation! and yoi is not a type of person to be like ugh i didn’t get to see falling stars, my trip is RUINED

but no, they beg nahida to help like its big deal, and nahida agrees to involve aranara, despite no adult being able to see aranara is a big deal in lore. and then they have a whole conversation about is it ethical to trick yoi into believing this meteor shower is real if it’s just a dream, even if she’ll learn truth later, when like.... it’s a vacation????? she’s just there to have fun???? why are you all so serious

basically, beginning of this quest makes little sense, bc it has no actual stakes until girl in a wheelchair shows up, but narrative treats it very seriously when like “yoi has fun on vacation“ is the only stated goal for the start

BUT, if taken as part of vision loss story, everything snaps into place.

after vision hunt ended, visions were returned to their owners. but not all of them reignited on the spot, and Yoimiya is one of the people whose vision did not activate

and is it any surprise? after all she’s seen in a war, all she’s been through, how could she go back to believing that the world is a good and happy place, in the inherent wonder and joy of it?

her vision stayed grey and silent in her hands. she feels bad and guilty that she can’t be happy go lucky as before, when her father and all of the villagers care so much about her

they nudge her to go on a trip to see the falling stars, inspiration for fireworks, in hopes it will remind her of why she loved them so much before

this is the stakes, this is why inazuma ppl care, why traveler cares enough to ask nahida and why nahida would be moved to break tradition and let yoi interact with aranara, why they have this long convo about if it’s right to trick yoi. bc f it’s about reigniting her belief in world’s miracles, then yeah, it makes a lot more sense to worry about truth of it

not only this, but the disabled girl turns from just random npc to a mirror parallel to yoi. both of them were harshly and suddenly hurt by the world, both lost will to live. and the kicker is that yoi is going along bc she feels bad and bc her family and friends are worrying about her, but she only *really* get into this when she meets this girl

because this is what she was always about, not just happy go lucky girl, but a gold koi, a light of happiness and luck talisman for other people, especially for kids. for this girl, she will believe is the wishing stars

of course, her vision reignites when in aranara dreamland she takes girl’s hand and jumps onto the falling stars to fly across the sky. because it’s not about how the world is cruel. its about how good we can be to each other. what if it’s just a shared dream? We find the greatest joys in mortal life in fleeting dreams, for is life itself not like the shadow of the thunder? Pursue your dreams into the clouds if you wish

[chronologically-challenged]

The Magnus Archives spoilers but I keep thinking about Jon and Martin landing in the ISAT universe when the fears arrive but like. Right after post loops. So it ends up like:

1) They save these two weirdly accented guys (where one of them clearly has been stabbed holy shit) only to possibly be immediately told that they just got a bunch of evil gods in their world (oops)

2) Jon's eyes absolutely have color when Knowing things or using Eye powers in general.

3) The loops 100% count as a statement and Jon is purposely trying not to be alone with Siffrin so he doesn't munch on their trauma

4) Triple ace solidarity ruined by the knowledge their world is doomed to be plagued by fear gods U.U

5) Martin: "Jon did the fears turn this world black and white" Bonnie:"what's black and white?" Martin: "what" Bonnie: "what" Isabeau: "No but seriously what's black and white." Odile: "I think they're implying that colors exist in their world." Jon: "I see. Colors are apparently unnatural to this world." Martin: "Like that one Lovecraft story?" Jon: "what". Martin: "You know colors beyond our comprehension and what not?" Jon: "I- I suppose??" Bonnie: "Hey! Could this Lovecraft guy be from our world?" Mirabelle: "Wait no. These two just arrived here??? Unless time messed up too???" Jon: "Trust me you do not want to claim him."

6.a) Jon looks at least 10 years if not older than he actually is. He also probably can get along better with Odile anyway. Plus with different universes as backgrounds, the lack of general knowledge around his age wouldn't be obvious. Cue the moment where Jon is asked how old he is and the absolute AWKWARD silence when it's clear that both Jon and Martin are basically Siffrin's age, give or take a few years.

6.b) Bonnie: "Is 30 years old different in your universe? Are you about to die?" Jon: "From embarrassment, perhaps."

7) General discussion/argument/existential dread regarding the Fears and how they interact with this world. Honestly the gang may never forgive Martin and Jon for doing this to them. Even if they do everything they can to help them. They get more sympathy once they find out about the Eyepocalypse and the absolute hell Jon in particular went through. Doesn't mean they have to like it.

8) Siffrin finding out about Jon's knowing powers and asking him if he can Know the name of the island in the North. Jon tries. Then he starts screaming. His eyes are red. Siffrin doesn't ask again.

9.a) The horror and dread knowing that not only is their mission not done. It can't be ever again. And this time, especially if Jon and Martin's story is true... well, the King wasn't easy, but at least he was a person. You can't exactly fight a distorted universe. Their happily ever destroyed forever.

9.b) I could see a physical confrontation happening... if Jon didn't look so absolutely devastated. If he didn't say "do what you will with me, but please leave Martin alone" and Martin yelling at him for being a self-sacrifical idiot. It just sucks so much all around. But it would have been easier if Jon and Martin were bad people. But they're not. Just... broken people doing their best in a broken world. And to do their best to save their own world, the family has to work with them.

9.c) Jon and Siffrin are also idiots with martyr complexes that refuse to talk about their feelings solidarity. Shame that Jon can't help but want to eat Siffrin's trauma cause they probably have a lot to talk about.

10) Funnier note, the slow realization that Jon and Martin in an rpg world. Martin figures it out first and Jon is just. Flabbergasted. Especially when they find out the magic system is rock paper scissors.

11) "rock paper scissors transcends the multi-verse. Neat!" (Later Martin asks Jon if gun is secretly a fourth hand symbol. He does not know and will not Know. He refuses).

12) I think at one point they're gonna have to deal with the fact that statements don't exist in this world. Either Jon gets too close to taking Siffrin's statement or he's going to tell Martin the facts: there is very little way Jon can survive without being a predator. He is an avatar that needs something to fuel his existence. He doesn't want to hurt anyone else ever again. Unless Siffrin wants to write their statement down or someone else does... even then there's no guarantee it's going to be enough.

13) Perhaps wish-craft can save Jon. Maybe. Maybe not. But. The party tells them about wish-craft anyway. It's the one hope they have to fight against this new horror. Maybe it can help Jon too to get out. (Everyone deserves that chance).

I have no fic with this, my fixations are simply crossing over briefly. Hope you enjoyed the ramblings.

[ladytauria]

Omg are teenage fantasies side a&b about the same fantasy from different povs or jaytim playing out each other’s fantasies?

aaah i’m so glad you asked 😌

two different fantasies!!

so, teen fantasies side a is jason’s pov of tim narrating a fantasy he had of jason’s robin. tim is also acting out parts of the fantasy as he says them, with jason imagining them at the same time… a snippet to show what i mean:

Tim hums. “Well… there’s this one I thought about pretty often,” he says. “You’d rescue me—from a mugger, maybe, or from falling. You whisk me off somewhere safe, where you can make sure I’m okay… and lecture me about recklessness.” Tim’s mouth quirks. “I’m grateful. Not just for the save, but for everything. I don’t bother listening to the lecture.” Shocking. “Instead, I have to ask. How do you do it? How do you protect Gotham, and watch out for Batman, and still live a normal life? It must be so hard.” Jason can picture it. Being fifteen again, when Robin was losing its magic. When he looked around Gotham, seeing not the people they’d saved—but the one’s they hadn’t. The ones they failed. He’s fighting with Bruce more and more, questioning everything. Even school doesn’t offer an escape. And Dick—well. Dick is great, but busy. Distant. And always fighting with Bruce. He’s lonely. He doesn’t think he’d realized how much, then. And then— There’s Tim, looking at him with bright eyes and flushed cheeks, faintly awestruck and painfully earnest. In Jason’s mind, he’s not 12, 13 as he would have been, but 14. 15, even. Younger than him, but not young. “It is. I know it is, now, and even then I suspected. You brush it off, though. After all, you’re Robin. This is what you do. And I say, ‘Yeah—but. You deserve to get something back. To be taken care of.’” Fantasy-Tim’s cheeks grow red, while real-Tim’s pinken. “’Let me make you feel good.’ And I drop to my knees.” Jason’s breath catches. He’s flushed. His skin prickles; his cock stirs. Teenage-him probably would have panicked and fled, or tried to stop him; face tomato-red. Fantasy-teen Jason stays, biting his lip, back pressed against the wall, thighs parting. He wants. He’s nervous. But he needs this. Needs someone’s soft touch. Concern. Affection. Fifteen-year-old Jason needed so badly for someone to care.

side a is basically done except for like,,, editing the beginning. but i want to post them together/close together s…

teen fantasies side b is giving me trouble… it’s tim pov, and now it’s jason’s turn to narrate a scene from his teen years. now, um. i don’t actually have it written yet BUT, i did post about it… on twitter? i don’t remember if i posted here oops.

but BASICALLY, he had a major crush on diana which led to him imagining some… creative uses of the lasso of truth, including being bound up and made to ask, explicitly, for whatever he wanted her to do to him.

tim may not have a lasso of truth, but he (and jason) are both pretty skilled chemists AND live in gotham with plenty of access to various pollens <3

or, to make a long story short, consensual truth pollen fic

(edited bc i originally said 'sex pollen' when i meant 'truth pollen'. altho idk maybe they add an aphrodisiac component :P)

[ wip ask game ]

[queerpiratebrainrot]

ALRIGHT!I JUST WATCHED THE MIRACULOUS MOVIE AND I HAVE THOUGHTS! There will be spoilers ahead, so tread carefully

A list, in no particular order, just how they pop up in my head:

The animation was STUNNING! Just, props to the animators, I enjoyed the movie visually SO MUCH! From the use of colours and lighting, to the way they used all of that to upgrade the characters: it was absolute perfection. (though some of those close up shots of Hawkmoth were A Lot. But that was probably the point)

The absolute chaotic energy that both Tikki and Plagg (but mostly Tikki, cuz unfortunately. there wasn't a whole lot of Plagg, which I understand due to time, even if it is sad) is FANTASTIC! I adore Chaotic Tikki so much. She has my whole heart! That little scene of Tikki pushing Marinette's hand to Adrien's? Lovely. Tikki explaining absolutely nothing to Marinette when they first meet? Perfection. Just. Give me more Chaotic Tikki, please!

The soundtrack? WONDERFUL! I kinda knew it was a musical, I think, but I completely forgot, so when Marinette sang those first few notes, I had to catch up a lil, but DAMN I was excited! (sad we didn't get Ce Mur Qui Nous Separe (I don't know the english name oops), but it was still fun!)

On that note: Adrian having the most Disney Princess I Want song in the movie is just perfect. No other words needed. Best choice they could have made there.

ALSO on that note: Marinette's singing voice? BEAUTIFUL! It fits so well! I just couldn't help but enjoy her songs, if only for that.

BUT I didn't have to, because the music itself, without the lyrics was just so well done!

Slightly less good: The hawkmoth song was missing some flavor, in my opinion. It started out, and I was EXCITED cuz it started so HARD and then it didn'treally deliver, I think. It kind of kept in the same range and didn't really go up, ya know?

I really REALLY liked Marinette and Chloe's relationship. The way Marinette fired shots back at Chloe, and they actually seemed to be becoming more frennemies? Amazing. I wish we would've gotten more of that in the tv show, considering earlier seasons Chloe and her character developpement, but I really enjoyed it here, in the movie

I'm happy we got to see Gabriel and Adrian actually confronting each other. Both Adrian standing up to his dad (although the timing was a little off, more on that later), AND Gabriel finding out his son is Chat Noir and the resulting Crisis. At least there was some emotional pay off there! (looking at you, season 5 finale)

NOW on the timing thing: There just wasn't enough time. I understand that they wanted to do the superhero origin story for people who aren't familiar with the show but do go to see the movie, but I feel like they just didn't have the necessary time to create the emotional tension needed for the end scene to actually hit as hard as it could have. We got to see a hint of Adrian and Gabriel's relationship, and what was shown was great! But if we had gotten a little more of that perspective and tension, it would've felt better to watch Adrian stand up to Gabe and his parenting skills. And consequently, enjoyed more of the end scene with them figuring out each others identities. Genuinely, I was happy we got at least some pay off there, but it felt too easy. (which again, makes sense due to the limited time, but I feel like they should have made choice: either the Big End Fight with Hawkmoth, OR the Origin Story. And since they did kind of set up a possible sequel, I feel like the choice could have been made)

With the feeling of too easy: I had the same feeling of Marinette and her finding confidence in herself and Ladybug AT THE END! The sudden change during the montage, I liked and felt like it made sens, since we then, during the big battle, get Marinette's insecurities over only being confident when she's Ladybug and all that. That is wonderful and so in line with the core of who Marinette is as character, no matter what version of her we get, that I love it very much. I would have enjoyed a liiiiitle more time with the Angst, but it's allright!

MOSTLY CUZ: that scene where she's dragging Cat Noir's unconcious body onto the debris of the Eiffel Tower, and she goes 'Don't. Touch. Him.' through tears and with a broken voice? AMAZING! When I tell you I Went FERAL! My children! absolutely STUNNING

The actual fight of the end battle? Marinette surrounded by flame and a Paris that is falling apart? Ladybug in Hell, essentially? GORGEOUS! Cat Noir running up the Eiffel Tower to fight Hawkmoth? Stunning! The Eiffel Tower slowly collapsing, as Ladybug watches and cannot Do Anything to stop it? HEARTWRENCHING!

Marinette revealing herself to Adrian at the ball? AMAZING SCENE! (although i laughed and had to utter 'Real Subtle, Marinette' when I saw the ladybug wings on the back of the dress, which was, againg, stunning). The way the scene was framed like the rejection scene? WONDERFUL!

The glitter on Chat Noir's mask? I loved it! Such a fun little detail we don't get in the show!

Did not like the Plagg farting scene. Just. No thanks. It's cheap comedy and that runtime could have been spent better, with a better characterisation of PLagg and his relationship with Adrian. But whatever, it's fine.

THE LADYNOIR CONTENT AND BICKERING! JUST FANTASTIC! ladynoir stans got FED this movie, and I am HERE FOR IT!

So yeah, that was an incomplete list of my thoughts on the movie! Overall I really enjoyed it! I really liked this version of the characters and their relationships. They feel a lot more genuine and real in comparison to the tv show, in some ways. I had so much fun watching it, and will probably go a second time, to see how it'll feel like on a rewatch. And just to enjoy the vibes. I do hope we get a sequel, because I am Curious. And would love more Natalie content.

[original-jade]

Mortal Kombat OC Questionnaire

This wonderful collection of questions from @mkdecimation lit a fire under me! I started filling it out for all of my OCs before realizing it was originally intended as an ask game, but by that point I was having too much fun with it. Oops.

Factions and Alliances

1. What faction is your OC aligned with? Why? Shadow isn’t officially part of any one faction. They drift where they believe they are needed to protect the realms. That goal, however, most closely aligns them with the White Lotus, and they do confer with Raiden and Fujin when any potential threats rise.

2. What is their role - either in their faction or in the overall events of MK? Overall, they fill the mentor archetype with the confidante role. Shadow becomes a trainer of sorts with their own style, choosing to teach people to build on their own pre-existing strengths rather than pass on a textbook technique. Instead of giving answers, they prefer to give others the tools to find the answers, though it earns them a reputation of being seen as cryptic.

3. What are their thoughts on their faction? Do they enjoy being there? Do they want to leave? They admire the members of the White Lotus for both their dedication to Earthrealm’s defense and their selfless support of anyone in need. They feel most at home among them, but even so, there are still times they feel like an outsider.

4. What are their relationships like? Do they have any friends within their faction? What about rivals? Mentors? Friendship for Shadow is complicated due to their solitary nature. While they don’t form bonds easily, what bonds do form run deep. At first, they are wary of Liu Kang because of their knowledge, and he of them because of their mystery, though overtime they grow close. Bo' Rai Cho takes them under his wing as more of a social mentor, and Fujin becomes their confidante and support. There is a mutual respect and uneasy situational trust between them and Raiden for a multitude of factors. As for Kung Lao…well. They would break the world for him.

5. How do they feel about other factions? Do they have any enemies? Shadow sees nuance in every faction, judging individuals instead. Some choose their path with glee, some play the cards they are dealt, and some are unwilling participants. They are surprisingly neutral towards the Special Forces, mainly due to its more aggressive tactics. The Black Dragon and the Red Dragon both earn their ire for their exploitation and treatment of innocents, though their attention is focused mainly on the clans’ respective leaders. As for the Brotherhood of Shadows, Shadow absolutely despises both Shinnok and Quan Chi. If they could have a one on one fight with either of them with no consequences, they would do so in a heartbeat. When it comes to enemies, however, their one true antagonistic rival is Sovereign Aster, their literal dark double.

Origins

1. What realm do they originate from? Outworld

2. What species/race are they? Outworlder

3. What timeline does your OC originate from? NRS/MK9-11; By technicality, they don’t belong to any canon timeline, and instead crossed over from a timeline that branched off of Midway/MK-MKA millennia ago where Shang Tsung never betrayed Earthrealm after the first tournament.

4. What do they fight for? Why? Simpler said than done, Shadow fights for the universal right to live rather than survive. They can’t stand suffering, especially when that suffering is inflicted by tyrants and bullies.

5. Describe their childhood. What events led them to where they are now? Though the memories remain lost and faint, Shadow, born Aster, was raised alone by their mother Lucine on a makeshift farm. The two lived modestly yet happily, content with staying on the fringe of society and sustaining themselves. Shadow was a rambunctious child with a wild imagination. They could entertain themself for hours on end and spin story after story for their mother, yet would also become rather shy when faced with someone from the nearby village. Though their father was unknown to them and would always remain a mystery, they did inherit his green thumb and made their garden thrive once they were old enough to do so. When they were just barely an adult, however, their worldview was shattered when soldiers moved into the area on Shao Kahn’s orders. The threat the soldiers posed led to the young Aster’s powers awakening, and their defiance combined with their albeit weak display of magic made them a target. They were overwhelmed by the soldiers and chose to surrender as a prisoner in exchange for Lucine’s safety.

Fighting Style

1. Does your OC have any special powers/skills? How did they gain them? Through ancestry, they have innate magic, though their actual skills had to be honed through centuries of study and practice. Most of the techniques that Shadow uses are ones they developed themself. They could have channeled their fledgling magic into any school, and still could if they so chose, but their interests lie in the bonds of space and reality. They can teleport and phase through objects alone or with others, form temporary physical structures or sense altering illusions, even look through and step between realities, but their calling card is their mimic ability. With enough study of someone’s technique, they can form an avatar of that person around themself, taking that person’s weapons, abilities, and fighting style for themself as long as the avatar holds. They are a literal echo fighter.

2. Describe their fighting style. Do they practice a specific style of martial art? Or do they rely on magic/their powers? Physically, they can hold their own. They are trained in basic hand to hand combat and self defense, but their true strength lies in their ability to utilize the environment surrounding the fight. They excel at winding around an opponent, turning a corner into a trap, ensuring they always have the high ground. While they can easily force an advantage with their abilities, they do prefer to limit the energy they expend just for the challenge of it, usually only calling their signature spatial daggers.

3. What weapons does your OC use, and how proficient are they? Who taught them? How did they learn? They prefer to use magic constructs as weapons, favoring twin spatial daggers. They’re able to dismiss and recall these daggers at will, allowing them to control the flow of the fight. If they were given physical daggers of the exact same dimensions, however, they would not be nearly as proficient. Traditional weapons are not Shadow’s strong suit. Sparring has given them experience with basic melee weapons, but not near enough to truly utilize them. On the other hand, their mimic grants them theoretical knowledge of how to wield any weapon that lingers quite a bit after the avatar expires. As an example, while they normally would be clumsy with Kabal’s hook swords, if they mimic him for a few minutes and let the avatar fade, they would be able to give him pointers on his form despite not being able to physically demonstrate any longer.

4. How quick are they to fight? Are they aggressive, or do they prefer to talk things out? Shadow is very much a talk first person. Whenever possible, they limit bloodshed, regardless of the opponent. If it does come to a fight, though, they also won’t hesitate or hold back. Limiting the collateral damage by limiting the duration of the fight is just as, if not more, important to them than securing a win.

5. What is their last resort? (Think of an all-out attack that they would be used only if there were no other option.) Their last resort is letting go of their control. There’s an ability they don’t know they have until well after they’ve used it, and it horrifies them when they learn the truth about it. Major, major spoilers, this one.

Appearance

1. Describe or draw their outfit/armor. Shadow’s main outfit can be found here in their ref sheet. As for alternative outfits, they have one that Johnny bought for them and calls their “urban camouflage.” That outfit consists of a plain pair of jeans, black converse, a graphic tee, and a bright multicolor neon windbreaker.

2. Make a mood board for your OC.

3. Does your OC wear any jewelry? What is its significance? Nope! Shadow doesn’t have any objections to wearing jewelry, but they don’t have any attachments to it and don’t wear any day to day. They’ll wear borrowed pieces if the occasion calls for it. The only exception is rings due to their scars - they don’t even wear a wedding ring.

4. What physical characteristics make them stand out from the other fighters? While they keep them hidden, they do have a network of scars over their fingers and hands. Both their scars and their eyes glow violet when they use magic. If a stranger saw them outside of a fight, however, they would appear completely unassuming and wouldn’t leave an impression.

5. Does your OC have a particular style? Why? They favor function over fashion, not caring what others think of them day to day. The unique style that emerges because of that is a blend of Outworld tradition and Earthrealm advancement. It drives Johnny just a bit crazy that they’ll openly wear spandex but won’t touch an elastic hair tie or zipper if they have a choice. If need be, they’ll wear something out of their comfort zone to blend in, whether that be to just not draw attention to themself or to infiltrate a particular group. Doing so means they don’t have to worry about keeping up a constant illusion.

Relationships

1. Do you ship your OC with anyone - canon or otherwise? If so, tell us about their relationship! Shadow falls for Kung Lao despite their initial determination to stay uninvolved. They try to pull away at first, convincing themself it wouldn’t end well if they made any sort of connection with anyone, even when Lao tries to confess first, but nearly dying makes them realize how short sighted that was. The two take it slow, navigating their places in the world while discovering the ways in which they fit together. Their differences, even when they are opposites, compliment each other, such as Shadow being more of a quiet observer and Lao being nearly always ready to entertain a conversation. They both care deeply, much deeper than they let others see on the surface, and are both ready to lay everything on the line to protect their home and those they love. One aspect that defines how their relationship evolves is their honesty. After a particularly jarring revelation, one that Shadow at first tries to hide out of fear, they promise each other no more secrets. Sometimes Lao has to gently coax Shadow into talking about particularly bad nightmares, but talking through everything, especially when its something rough, brings them closer and makes them stronger. It doesn’t surprise anyone when they get married.

2. Does your OC have any friends? How did they meet? Most of the krew considers Shadow a friend in one way or another. Despite their social reservations, they do hold closer bonds with a few people. They first reach out to Hanzo when he was still Scorpion, when everyone else considered him an irredeemable enemy, and worked to show him that he was still himself and still so much more than the monster Quan Chi wanted him to be. After a rocky start and a hard conversation, they and Liu Kang become closer than either of them expected. Johnny more or less pesters his way to their side.

3. What is their family situation? Are they close? Are they still alive? Family is tricky for Shadow. When they start getting bits and pieces of their memory back, they can remember their mother, but not her fate. In addition, as far as they’re aware, they can’t go back to their original reality. When they go to Outworld to try and find answers, they do find their mother’s counterpart in a remote village not far from where the farm would have been. It’s a very emotional reunion on both sides. To Lucine, it doesn’t matter that Shadow isn’t really Aster anymore, and it doesn’t matter that they aren’t her Aster. They’re still her child, and she loves them all the same. Whenever Shadow gets a chance, they make it a point to visit. Still, their relationship takes time to build enough to be considered a familial bond.

4. Do they have any pets? Tell us how they came to be! No pets in this universe.

5. Do they worship any god in particular? Elder God, Titan, One-Being, or otherwise? Shadow respects all deities and their individual authorities, but they don’t worship any of them. No deity has a true constant across the branches of the universe, so they don’t view any as being infallible or worthy of blind trust.

Game Mechanics

1. Describe their intro animation. A crack of light appears in the air that then widens into a violet glowing portal. Shadow steps through with their hands outstretched and eyes glowing, and with a flick of their wrists, the portal closes completely behind them and the light in their eyes fades. If equipped with a gloveless skin, their scars glow and fade with the same timing of their eyes.

2. Describe their victory animation. Shadow spins their spatial daggers around their fingers a few times before letting one of the daggers fade, jumping to one side and teleporting away. When they reappear, they are right in front of the camera and slash it with their remaining dagger, breaking both the lens and the fourth wall. Their eyes glow the entire time, and if equipped with a gloveless skin, their scars glow as well.

3. Describe their fatality. Own Worst Enemy: Shadow mimics their opponent and uses their own default fatality against them, copying any weapons or abilities needed with spatial constructs.

4. Describe one of their brutalities. Heart to Heart: Shadow teleports behind their opponent and stabs them in the back with a spatial dagger. Then, they twist the dagger before ripping it free, pulling their opponent’s heart with it.

5. Describe their mercy animation. While their opponent is stunned, Shadow holds a hand out to conjure and manipulate spacial mannequins that steady the opponent until they are ready to rejoin the fight.

6. Describe their taunt(s). Turning away from their opponent, Shadow pulls a tome from a pocket space (most comparable to an invisible bag of holding) and begins to flip through its pages, appearing bored with the fight.

7. Describe their weaknesses. While they can string together a great number of hits, Shadow’s damage output per strike is relatively low.

8. Describe their strengths. Shadow is unpredictable and hard for the opponent to read. They move fast, and with their teleportation, it’s near impossible to zone them.

9. What gear could a player customize for your OC? Spatial Daggers: Changes the design and type of blades conjured. Default are hilt-less curved boot daggers.

Gloves: Changes what covers their hands. Includes full, fingerless, and sheer gloves, torn fabric wraps, and gloveless. Default are black leather gloves with adjustment straps at the wrists.

Sash: Changes design, color, and tie type of sash. Default is plain crimson wrapped over itself and secured with a knot at their side. [Mechanic only; remains unchanged in series]

10. What would their konsumable be? Blossoming krystellion branch: Shadow conjures small shields to block incoming projectiles for a short time.

11. Does your character have a special stage? If so, what does it look like? Does it have a theme? Reclaimed Shores: This is the section of Shadow’s (formerly Shang Tsung’s) island where visitors are greeted. To the far left and far right are twin wooden docks each with a lantern atop a relatively high pole. The white sand beach extends endlessly beyond the boundaries of the stage and into the background against the tree line. The forest is dense and unyielding, and as the island slopes up from the shores, it also keeps the sky from being seen by the camera during a match. At the midpoint of the stage, a path of carefully laid stepping stones cuts through the forest, marked with its own posts and lanterns, and though the stones continue onto the beach, they do not reach the fighters. At night, all four visible lanterns are lit. During a match, the fighters leave visible footprints in the sand as well as imprints from any slides, rolls, or falls. Occasionally, a wave will roll onto the beach and wash away any marks left behind in the sand. The two dock lanterns at the edges of the stage are interactables. They each have a rope attached to the top with the free end loosely wrapped around their respective poles. If a fighter is near, they can grab the rope and swing the lantern at the opponent as an improvised flail. The theme for this stage is a slower, softer version of the Genesis’s Palace Gates theme, while Shadow’s individual battle theme is Storm from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

12. What nicknames would Announcer Johnny Cage give them? -Slim Shady -Houdini -Mirror Match

[pleasetakethis]

New favorite ep of the season acquired the moment it opened. Some shippy rambling in the live blogging ahead.

If you know me at all, you know right off the bat that I AM UNHINGED ABOUT THIS EPISODE.

NATPEGGY YASSSSSSSSSSSSSS

THE BACKSTORY INTRO!

"What are new friends for?"

THEM SHOWING OFF THEIR MOVES TO EACH OTHER !!!!!

Wasp, too??? Yasss, all the ladies!!!!!!!!!!

Peggy and Nat already working so well together in combat and the level of trust that already exists between them, I just--slkdjflasdjfklajflajlfkjas

Them sassing Loki !!!!!!

Intro credits: Elizabeth Olsen???? Wanda's here, too????? Super spoiler alert: I waited so long for her to show up 🤣

Me and the Watcher feel the same about Captain Peggy Carter <3

The role reversal when Peggy picks up Nat in that slick ass car while Nat's running... guhhhhhh.

I am here for all versions of evil Steve, including brainwashed.

SCRUFFY SKINNY STEVE!

CA: TWS parallels got me in my feels, too. Peggy/Nat is THE SHIP for me, but there's something about Peggy/Steve that hits just right the same way as Tony/Pepper, Steve/Tony, and Steve/Bucky.

The framing of these shots got me--Peggy in the background pissed because she wasn't told about the rumors of the Hydra Stomper, while Nat (listening) definitely knew about Steve:

AHHH, PEGGY'S FACE WHEN SHE REALIZED NAT KNEW:

AND DIDN'T TELL HER:

SDALKFJLAKJFLAJS

Natasha quipping "Didn't see the point in breaking your heart twice," fucked me up, oh.

DILF old man Bucky <3 Bucky getting to grow old!!!! WIBBLES.

Guess it's gonna take both of the loves of Steve's Rogers life to get through to him? lmaooo

Peggy is the perfect mirror of Captain America Steve. In goodness, selflessness, AND their particular brand of self-righteous selfishness. I love both of them for it, but especially Peggy <3

Bucky standing up and saying Steve would be stupid enough to do the same for him. 😭 Bucky trying to get through to Steve. 😭

"What can I say, Peg? I'm a sucker for a good love story." Damn, that hurts for a million different reasons. oh, Nat. <3

UMMMM the way Nat sits back and says, "You know, I always wondered how you got all those G.I. boys to follow a woman into war? Question answered." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRAIN EMPTY! ONLY PEGGYNAT! And Nat couldn't be more obvious if she tried, but she does it so well and Peggy is distracted.

Are you kidding me with the framing of this shot?

I feel like it's foreshadowing but IT SCREAMS pining. A lot of pining:

Barton introduced Peggy to dad rock <3 fuck yes

Widow bites interrupting the kiss, lol.

Peggy being a weak point for Nat, to the point Nat gets nabbed by widow bites, JFC.

Peggy will die for Steve, the same way Steve would have died for Bucky--ughhh I do not like but I understand.

"Mission accomplished." !!! Hot damn, that was slick, A++, AND Nat tells Peggy she doesn't want to fight about it. 😏

THERE WAS A MUSICAL!

BAMF Melina. Love to hate her when she's on the wrong side, parent/child issues me in a weird way these days and this ep got under my skin.

But also: guhhhhhh these Widows.

"This isn't us! I am done fighting, Steve. [drops shield] I have been fighting for so long: to end the war, to forget what I lost. I'm… I'm tired." oh, Peggy.

oh, Steve.

oh, Nat.

This ep got me in the feels, all of them.

Peggy going back for Nat AND them running out together <3

Ugh, Nat and her transparent, "Okay. Let's hit the road." Just: THEM.

...and oops, Peggy's gone.

But then! OOOO, this Fury! AND FINALLY, WANDA!!!!!

Overall: similar in ep 4 in that it was close to the emotional impact of Stephen's ep in the first season but still missed the mark (and tbh the Tony ep hit harder, but more because of Tony's characterization--Peggy is fairly consistent, Tony is not, so getting him so right (for me) was incredible). I adore this ep, I love Peggy, I love Nat, I enjoy this universe, and I hope we visit their universe again (if not, there's always fanfic, my beloved).

[onthewaytosomewhere]

WIP Acrostic Game

ok - so i got a few tags for this over the weekend (and i do luv me a tag game) so i have multiple words for it luckily some of those words share letters - so they'll also share sentences - in THE ONLY FIC I'M OPENNG TODAY - BCUZ IT NEEDS TO BE FINISHED LOLZ (the were/vamp coffee shop (with bonus soulmates that snuck up on me) fic) - also hoping this will make me get ready to whip the words out for this thing lolz

💚thanks bunches for the tags @cha-melodius @caterpills @tailsbeth-writes @fullerthanskippy @anincompletelist

@littlemisskittentoes @kiwiana-writes @sophie1973 @stellarmeadow

HUGE OPEN TAG TO ANYONE WHO MAY NOT HAVE ALREADY DONE THIS OVER THE WEEKEND (and a few tags under the cut for a few peeps just in case lolz)

Rules: From your story/WIP, find sentences that start with each letter of the given word. (oops i forgot the rules lolz)

MY WORD(S): BOLT, PACE, FORK, FIRST, RUSH, FAME, FANG, RINGS - YOUR WORD: SHOP

B -Before becoming one himself, his only contact with any of them had been his sister, June, and her wife, Nora. O -Only a few months in, he has an established overnight rotation of regulars, and they all help each other navigate life in the city. L -Let’s just say that my last case was against some fuckwad werewolf fratboys who had beaten my client, and I realized I wasn’t above a little vigilante justice if they hadn’t been found guilty. T - To this day, he’s afraid that if that hadn’t been the case, he might not have been able to fight the urge to get justice of his own for her. (the fact that there's 2 sentences about this from 2 different parts makes me giggle lolz)

P - Please forget I said that. A - Alex, sometimes, on slow nights, finds himself drawn to just standing behind the counter and watching as Henry is engrossed in what he’s working on that night. C - Completing the bond does not actually require ‘third-date activities’ if you so choose. E - Either way, he feels as if they’re one—as if they’re not separate beings but two parts of one whole.

F - From what we were told when we had you checked out, the fact that you’re a werewolf is the only reason you are alive currently. O - SEE ABOVE R -Raf understands as a lycan himself, but having been born one, he has more control, not just from the years of experience. K - NONE

F - SEE ABOVE I - I was here in this club, and there was this guy … R - SEE ABOVE S - So, while the sign reads ‘closed’ after 9 pm, you can say that is when the real “nightlife” happens. T - SEE ABOVE

R - SEE ABOVE U - Unfortunately, what Liam told you about my family and their messed-up rules about claiming vamps we sire is true S - SEE ABOVE H - He hates to think about it, but he still wonders if the realization hadn’t happened if he might still be working his way to partner in Raf’s law firm.

F - SEE ABOVE A - SEE ABOVE M - Might as well get a jump on making sure everything is ready for Nora and the morning crowd, as it looks like this will be one of his slower nights. E - SEE ABOVE

F - SEE ABOVE A - SEE ABOVE N - Nora thinks the irony that Alex’s big bi-revelation leads to him being turned means something. G - Granted, some of it he ‘overhears’ due to enhanced senses, but anything too sensitive, he’s learned to keep to himself.

R - SEE ABOVE I - SEE ABOVE N - SEE ABOVE G - SEE ABOVE S - So he waits for Henry to speak again, letting the silence hang between them. (this letter was already used as well but i felt bad this word had no sentences lolz)

💚tag ur it!! @adreamareads @typicalopposite @hgejfmw-hgejhsf @thinkof-england @piratefalls

@priincebutt @judasofsuburbia @suseagull04

just in case you didn't already do this!! 😘💚

now i'm off to switch the laundry and finish this thing lolz

[ln-stories]

Mammon's mc!

This is the second drawing and headcannons of my mini series with the obey charachers with their custom sheep mcs. Previously i done simeon's mc, after alot of consideration i decided to do Mammon next with his own custom sheep mc!. If you wanna check previous stuff check my page and thank you for reading and im accepting requests for the next obey me characher!

(Apologies for any grammar mistakes)

Second Mammon's MC

Warnings: spoiler alert for the series lessons

Headcanons:

This mc (she/they)

Personality: confident, skillful (plus knows karate), a dumbass sometimes like Mammon, small anger issues, chaotic good vibes. 

1) This mc is the exact opposite of simeon's mc since she is the largest one in this series. Height is around 5'3 on two legs

2) She is very fluffy and glittery giving magical girl vibes on her looks

3) When The mc arrived at the devildom, she was shocked but was feeling like she could take the demons in a fight if they didn't return her back. (spoiler alert: those karate classes she took back in the human world didn't work much on The demon prince Lucifer XDDDD)

4)Later on she was assigned to Mammon to guard her and guide her through the devildom. Let me tell you reader this didn't go as planned as you saw in the earliest chapters of the story. This mc is much more fiesty as well so this didn't help much the situation either.

5) Slowly mc is trying her best to adapt her new lifestyle while also go ham on Mammon everytime that he tried to steal something from her room to sell it off.

6)Mammon was forced to make the pact the mc after the "Goldie incident". He is now listening to her more. Thought they still don't trust eachother at all.

7)After the TLC showdown event, Mammon was never felt such frustration for not being there to save mc on time to the point he started regretting all the time he has been completly scammy and ditching them on random occasions. 

8) Both of them made peace with eachother and started to actually putting effort to their friendship. (Occasionally ofc Mammon would be a tsudere as per usual XD)

9)They started hang out more and more, slowly lowering the iQ of the Mc as Mammon was pulling them into pranks, and other dumb situations. MC didn't mind it one bit though. Sometimes it's ok to be a little silly.

10) Mc teaches Mammon karate whitch is probably hilarious cuz Mammon would show the brothers what he learn just to not mess with him and embarrassed himself everytime he either falls down the stairs or he trying to punch metal and instantly regret it.

11) obviously Mc is Mammon's "first" as mammon call it. They are absolutely jealous when other people try to get close to them, especially the purgatory squad that just want to get to know her better. It's a big no to him. (closest friendships: Mammon, Levi, maybe Beel too?)

12)At this point Mammon and mc are besties. Mammon is not the best when it comes to sharing or gifting but for the mc he will even use Goldie whitch is a really rare occasion.

13)Movie nights and hellsauce noodles are regular thing when they hang out. It's like a comfort for both of them. (both cheap and fun!)

14) At the lesson 16 Mammon felt like he lost some centuries of his life just by mc not moving in his arms. He didn't felt like he lost just a friend. He felt like he lost the first person who actually gets him in a deep level. (oop mc is alive and so is Mammon's sanity!)

15) After a while Mammon felt like he became mc's right hand man, doing pranks, hanging out everyday, sitting down together at lunch and prank lucifer from time to time for good measure. (bad idea)

16)Lucifer himself sometimes tried to seperate you two because they were lowering the IQ of the whole house of lamentation as the other brothers joined in the dumbassery for fun.

17) Mammon is getting better at karate? Ye! He even humiliated a lower demons for trying to harm mc. Mc found was crying with tears of joy because she teached him well.

18) The mc showed the human realm to Mammon and the brothers. Let's say Mammon loved all the new flavor cheap noodles packets that got from the human Realm.

19) The mc loves to wear earrings so the final gift that Mammon gave her before RAD ended was an earring with his symbol to always remember that he will always be next to her whenever he needed her. The mc treasured it for life.

20) After RAD ended Mammon and mc were visiting their realms back and forth whenever they could, mostly Mc visited devildom thought. Mc made had mostly befriended all the brothers but the purgatory hall squad aren't as close as she wanted to admit. 

Thank you for reading! request are open for next obey me characher and custom mc!

[ikemenomegas]

Hey!! (animeomegas here <3) I don't know anything about jjk, but I love actor AUs and I was wondering if you have any fun ideas for Naruto, the arcana or Mystic messenger? For some reason I've been imagining how a Mystic Messenger TV show would work and sketching out poster ideas for it 😫 This isn't really intended as a request, I just want to hear your stream of thought haha. Hope you've been having a wonderful day! <33

Hi @animeomegas I actually had a really long day but it was nice! I got a lot of things done. I hope you also had a good day ^^. So, okay okay okay you know I love casual stream of thought... and talking ahaha, and I also love behind the camera drama (I am also avoiding any wip work because 9+ hours at work fried the thesaurus bit of my brain)

Naruto

Naruto is such a specifically anime show. The budget for a complete 1:1 live action remake would probably make people so mad, there would have to be so much CGI for the final battle.

I feel like it could work for actors au as either:

1. Make Naruto a movie series. It's probably got a cult following like Star Wars and started off as some kind of original idea in the 70s and then got acquisitioned by a huge conglomerate in the 90s-2000s era, and had enough films (like the fast and furious franchises XD, so... eight at least) that it was able to cover all the material up until our time lol.

I actually went and reviewed the arcs because I love procrastination through research oop, but if you cut out/combine the filler arcs/turn them into serialized shows for streaming, you're left with enough material for about 3 movies from genin-days (when the actors Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura age from 11-14) and 5 movies from the shippuden era (there the main trio actors age from 16-24)

Playing off that nostalgia factor, Jiraiya's actor either played Minato or Naruto in the 70s film. He's since become a very famous actor/producer/director. Kakashi's father also played Kakashi's character in the original 70s film, so having him return as Sakumo for the Pein arc was a little Easter egg. There's a couple of instances of this throughout the series. For example, Madara is actually played by the same actor who played Sasuke in the og series, and the makeup used to age him in the flashback arcs gets high praise. Hashirama is played by the same kid who played Rock Lee in the first films too. Tsunade was played by the same girl who was either Ino in the original, etc.

Kind of like marvel, there's a ton of actors who are only sort of or not very famous when the films start, and the kids are certainly no-name actors (kind of [Sakura reads to me like a former disney-channel kid lol]), and then as the films get wildly popular, the franchise gains the Midas touch and even all of the recurrent minor characters get arcs/spinoffs/or see further success in their careers.

And as with marvel, it truly becomes like... everyone famous in a certain generation was in the Naruto franchise.

Sasuke had some actual industry connections prior to casting, but that was only because his brother was a young up-and-coming model. They sort of spring-boarded one anothers' careers. Playing the franchise characters traumatized them oop, and irl they're very close. There's a noticeable uptick in viewership for compilation videos of the Uchiha brothers being best siblings after about movie 6 when Sasuke finally kills Itachi and movie 7's fight with Kabuto is one of the most watched clips ever.

Also marvel-esque, I think people have mixed opinions about the ending lol (just like they do the anime) because on one hand, explosions! amazing visual effects! the whole ensemble ready to assemble! stacked nostalgia value! answers to some of the most asked fandom questions! amazing physical feats (Naruto and by extension Sasuke mostly insist on doing their own stunts)! and on the other... you have some of the thousand story threads being lost in the sauce, lackluster characterization for a some of the ladies, leaning perhaps too much on nostalgia value, complete obliteration of power scaling, suddenly there's almost too much content, and you have to have watched all three spinoff series to understand some of the in-world references, also fighting between the original concept creator and head writer and the production teams :p (yes this is Io being too literal haha)

2nd option: The Naruto characters all belong to the same representative entertainment company (think SM or YG /pulls face because cabal culture disturbs me/). I think this is more like an idols AU, and the relationships are significantly more catty and have more drama, but they're all actors/other entertainment related career lol so it's also kind of actors au?

The company probably tried for a ninjas/powers theme during recruitment and promotion so that's where you get Kakashi associated with dogs and lightning, Sasuke associated with snakes and later hawks and fire, Naruto associated with frogs and wind, Sakura associated with slugs and healing, Itachi associated with crows and dreams, Haku associated with ice and mirrors, Sai associated with tigers and ink, Tenzo/Yamato associated with trees, Gaara associated with tanuki and sand etc.

Itachi and Sasuke have an infamous rivalry that never really "resolves" so much as disappears because Itachi retires for a few years to deal with physical and mental health issues. It would be during this time he goes public with a relationship and he gets married before making a comeback. Even after the brothers reconcile and do projects together, people still bring up their Fighting Era and it pisses Sasuke off because the public doesn't really know what happened and he hates the speculation. Part of the controversy is that Sasuke left the company only a few years after signing on, joined a small rival company that was later embroiled in scandal, and then returned to the same company as his brother right around the time Itachi took a break.

Kakashi is the oldest of the "new generation" that's promoted during that time, but he's a very successful child actor turned model and adult actor. He did a bunch of shows that have great repeat value though so he basically lives off residuals and picks his projects and is very obvious but rather quiet about the ways he critiques the current entertainment industry. He's very good friends with Tenzo, stagename Yamato

Haku is a musician first and an actor second. He made his debut as part of a short lived idol group before going solo and starting musical stages. He's an up and coming favorite for historical dramas.

Gaara and Naruto are child actors who have been best friends for ages and help one another work through the inevitable industry challenges. They separately become really popular role models for kids from their hometowns. Kankuro is Gaara's personal rock in the working world, even though Kankuro's bad-boy image and slightly freaky aesthetic don't surface level seem to match with Gaara's more reserved and authentic method of dealing with the constant press.

Shikamaru and Nagato both separately give me musician/model vibes, but in different genres. Shikamaru quits the music thing very quickly to become a producer lol because more math and less fighting with fickle public opinion.

Mystic Messenger

If you sketch the the poster idea you haaaave to post it, please pretty please Amy?? Because you're so right, the whole plot is absolutely like a thriller/romcom kdrama. (Because the characters are well fleshed out it could also work with preserving the character backstories but have them all have entered acting later on.)

I looked up some Kdrama posters and the one where the leads for "because this is my first life" are standing in a stylized apartment balcony reminded me somewhat of thee game, mostly because the MC is stuck in the apartment for a good portion of the seven days lol.

If the whole Mystic Messenger plot were a drama...

MC is probably a rookie actor with one or two well done but not widely distributed productions under their belt.

Yoosung was maybe a child-actor which makes the whole ingenue thing kind of funny for his fans. Like yes, this is his first "adult role" (his baby face means he otherwise plays a lot of high schoolers) but it's this odd mixture of experience meaning he plays the role perfectly, but lack of experience with normal people resulting in a lot of blushing and stammering and totally tunnel vision flirting during the press tour haha.

I'd love for Jumin to come from a similar but less severe situation as game-Jumin. Like maybe his father has remarried a bunch of times, but he actually gets along with the stepmother who's been his mother for most of his life and he takes her to premiers with him. He grew up poor so he finds playing a lot of wealthy heirs type characters because of his looks to be a very strange turn of events, but he overall doesn't talk about his past much in public.

Hmmm, Jaehee seems the type to play a lot of severe characters in her usual roles because of her appearance, but like game-Jaehee she's got a very cute and adorable side that's coupled with a very genuine personalty. The interviewers probably make her do a lot of aegyo T.T poor Jaehee. She probably also worked her way through a prestigious drama school, either in-country or abroad, so she loves to read.

Zen always offers to do the aegyo with Jaehee so she doesn't have to suffer alone haha. He on the other hand never went to drama school, he's been acting since he was about 17 so all his training was in-company, although his company helped to put him through college where he did an advertising and media degree. He didn't have the exposure Jaehee did to classical media and arts, so they are irl very good friends who bond over their interest in business and Zen's interest in gaining a deeper understanding of acting and theater.

I see 707 as the person who was probably an idol musician before he started acting and mostly left group music behind. I've never played his route through, but he seems like the kind of person who is sometimes frustratingly talented lol. He is a natural at almost everything he tries which sometimes stresses him out because he wonders if there's something else he should be doing besides acting.

V seems like the kind of person however who was maybe a model first, and then turned to acting? I hate to say this, but it's the kind of situation where his incredible looks and sweet irl personality have garnered him a very devoted following but his parts in dramas tend to be second-string or somewhat minor or... kind of weird lol, and when he is the lead the show is usually only "okay" because the writing will be strange 😅 which is technically not his fault, but to be honest most of his income comes from promotional deals.

You like Saeran, right? so I won't leave him out! He's got this doe-eyed look that makes me think of a new debut actor! This is also one of his first major roles so he and MC lean on each other a lot and have to work hard to make sure their relationship off-screen is comfortable because they have so many scary intense scenes later on. He and 707 are either irl siblings, or just because so close during filming that they're truly like brothers now and 707 is always seen supporting Saeran, especially when Saeran decides to venture into the music scene and his vocal style and color means he explodes into popularity almost right away.

The Arcana

Somehow I can see this becoming an HBO drama? or maybe an Akuzon special because it's very good about placing lgbtq themes in-world (which was sort of groundbreaking when the game debuted). This one is so hard because each route gradually ended up diverging so much and in such different ways and expanding on the world in such a rewarding diversity of directions that you could truly have a beautiful, successful show no matter what route was filmed.

You could potentially have a Witcher-type situation where you really do have multiple routes and timeline splitting. If someone who's got a really good editing team working with a really tight writing team I think they could do it.

But otherwise, this is another situation where the main cast has had friend configurations for a While and doing this project brought them all closer together!

Ilya and Asra have known one another probably the longest industry-wise. They did a smaller well received indie film once about five years before Arcana with the vaguest of nods to brokeback mountain (I've never seen it, sorry) but a much happier road trip lovers plot, so having to play disillusioned, one-sided pining ex-lovers who had a very toxic last year to their relationship is... something XD.

Asra and Muriel have been personal friends since their days as students - they went to the same camps and programs to study acting and in their interviews, they have a fun time talking about some personal anecdotes (like the fact they did indeed frequently camp at a lakeside together as children) which made it into their own characters' backstories.

Nadia and Lucio are very Nikolaj/Gwendoline during their press and off-screen interactions. They find their characters' personas to be sort of hilariously poorly matched.

Portia is a famously hard working actress who clawed her way through the world of cinema and still managed to stay a decent, well grounded person. She's not actually related to Ilya irl but they got along really well from the beginning so there's lots of videos of them acting like siblings off screen.

Because the on-site shoots for Arcana required so much travel, the cast got to spend a lot of bonding time together, and saw a ton of unique places. The cast always has stories of swimming and hiking or trying new food or pictures of each other at famous sites during their days off. Muriel is actually the one who plans the outdoor adventures the best, he was an athlete and had military training before becoming an actor and he loves being outside so he'll lead these kinds of outings. People adore his social media because he's got that outdoors guy vibe but he's very sweet and he smiles a lot more irl than his roles usually do.

Portia and Julian are the most likely to get lost in any place, but they're also super fun to travel with because they always find interesting people and places that are off the beaten path.

Nadia and Asra have the most normal but also most aesthetic social media feeds. They always seem able to catch the golden hour light somehow...

After Arcana, they each often end up cast in or around the same movies/franchises/series as well, because they do work very well together. The show also helped them break out of some type casting, to their delight.

Lucio trends towards action and romcom films, he does often get typecast as some kind of villain, but his redemption arc in Arcana actually helped him break into more of the antihero type roles. He can be adorably goofy at times.

Nadia used to play the femme fatale quite frequently but since Arcana she's been able to take on softer roles, still often playing a woman in power, but she's been able to mix and cross genres. She also has been working on a screenplay and wants to try directing.

Portia was famous before Arcana but the show helped enter her into some of the more mainstream conversation and she has her first action-type role soon after Arcana ends.

Asra has a delicate physique and had some trouble in the past with being passed over roles that required more "force of presence" in the past. However, since showing his side as the secretive, enigmatic, manipulative magician, he's been able to try on the hats of villains, return to some roles on the true stage (his first love), and play the lead in a more serious political thriller.

Muriel had the opposite problem with his large build often precluding him from anything but action films. Since Arcana he's been able to try a few romantic lead parts, and has embraced his popularity by searching out meaningful mid-budget films where he can broaden his talents.

Julian is very tall, so he used to play quite a few more domineering, dastardly types in the films he did before Arcana. The show also brought him into the spotlight. He still does well as the sneering, dangerous, tall and dark type, but he's found that he can and is willing to push for playing something softer, someone who follows instead of leads in the on-screen dynamics. You and Ilya end up in a bodyguard type of drama at some point where he spends a lot of time on his knees swearing his devotion and playing a lot of subtext lol.

MC in this seems like they would have been a more experienced actor before taking on the linchpin role for Arcana, but the show granted you the experience to step into other roles both in front of and behind the camera and we'll probably see an MC directed and produced short film or indie film within the next few years!

[fategoflatass]

The End.

I don't even know where to start.

My story with Attack on Titan began back in 2015, when 12-year-old me found the first season through... not very legal means. I decided to give it a try, not knowing just how much that series would change my life.

It inmediately became my favorite series, and still is until this day. As soon as I finished the only season we had back in the day, I began reading the manga. Manga that, with each and every chapter, it would keep on blowing my mind up for five years straight.

I still remember the day I ran to my best friend's house to announce that the second season had just began—it feels like it was yesterday. I also remember when she told me that she had yet to finish the first one (she has always been bad at being up to date with things)—I was upset, just so damn jealous. For what I had to wait two years, she had to wait a minute? How so!

And even if it sounds strange, Attack on Titan turned out to be one of the only two things I didn't lose interest in nor I stopped enjoying once I was eaten alive by depression—when I had lost hope, when I became unable to see the light at the end of the tunnel, their story just kept me going. Because yes, this shit is depressing as hell, but also hopeful.

I could even "compare"—although it might not be even close to being similar to—Eren's fight for freedom to my own war against my depression in search of wellbeing and self-acceptance. We both fought leaving blood, sweat and tears behind, desperately. There were times where we doubted, times where we wanted to give up. Maybe— no, we definitely commited mistakes, but we just kept on going since we knew that it was already done and, hopefully, it would ultimately help us reach our final destination.

And now here we are. Today, November 4th 2023, Attack on Titan's last episode has dropped. For me and many others, the story had reached its end back on April 2021, but the anime gave us a chance to relive it once again. And for that I'll be forever thankful.

Attack on Titan's story might have come to a definitive end today, but the path that Isayama has established in our lifes for each and every one of us to follow and create our own stories will last more than thirteen years, more than nineteen, more than the time that'll take me until I take my last breath—it will last forever.

Hope you're proud, Isayama. You deserve this and so much more.

Thank you for giving me the best time of my life (something your characters would never say, oops—).

Thank you, just... Thank you.

[empyreasheart]

I RETURN WITH MORE QUESTIONS. and one topic on my mind. xion xion xion xion xion xion XION shes so interesting and your hcs are always so good do you have any about her or the sea salt trio in general. i miss them so much (also i know you have work to do sorry if this is a distraction from it!! feel free to leave this ask for later)

IM FREEE WHICH MEANSSS I CAN TALK ABOUT MY DEAR DEAR XION!!!! no joke i have been thinking about her all day.

first off i LOVEEE xion so much. whenever i see her get attention and love im so happy. when i see her i have a habit of going "XIONNNN" super loudly.

im putting this under a read more cuz its gotten super long oops

my xion headcanons... well first of all i love every reading of her character as a trans allegory & how people intepret her as either trans or nonbinary! i dont think it was done on purpose but shes been claimed by the commjnity and im so happy about it. transfem xion my beloved. second of all shes autistic TO ME but honestly everyone in soras heart hotel is so thats a given. third of all give me xion with big dark brown eyes or give me death!

what id like to see explored in future games / i fanwork: her identity! we see roxas's frustration and anger about being his own person plenty but we hardly see xion upset at her predicament. i think this is because she wants to do the right thing, not because shes okay with the situation. i really want to see xion's feelings about not having her own identity explored, given that everything about her is based on either sora or his memories of kairi and she was basically created in a lab as a tool for organization 13. she should feel weird about existing in the first place, especially next to roxas and naminé, who dont have the same history behind their creation

in addendum to that, i want to see xions character design change to something more unique. she already has a new outfit, but id love to see her have a new hairstyle (whether she grows it out or just puts it up) so she has something different than a mirror of kh1 kairi's hair. i think ive also mentioned that i think itd be interesting if xion had her own eye color after kh3 (side note its bullshit we never got to see her norted eyes in kh3. she shouldve played a bigger role in the story too but thats another rant) to symbolize that shes her own person now, not a puppet meant to copy sora. lastly she !!! deserves !!! her own keyblade!!! there's so many cool keyblades from days to choose from & theres the weapons from her boss fight - theres no reason for her to still be using the kingdom key and i really hope she gets her own soon.

i keep thinking about what you said about xion not being another "nice" girl character and im like... so true. i dont think xion would be mean i want to go about it in a way that doesnt completely rewrite her character but i think exploring how she copes with her past w/ both organizations & her identity & trauma would be interesting, especially with how it parallels to naminé's own way of coping and dealing with her own trauma. theyre like Shy vs introverted to me lmfao i think xion tries to be friendly but overall she prefers to stay close to the people she feels safe around. i want to see xion be rude but in the autism way where she doesnt mean it shes just not aware. and stuff like that i guess. this paragraph was just word vomit my bad

THE SEA SALT TRIO... theyre seriously the family of all time i love them so much. ill just focus on xion here because this is already super long. BUT AXEL LOVES XION SO MUCH IT MAKES ME SICK THEYRE NOT TALKED ABOUT ENOUGH.. the implication that lea subconsciously keeps his coat on in kh3 so xion (and roxas) can recognize him makes me so emotional. also the fact that lea just clicks with kairi because she also holds a part of xion inside her... AND WHEN HE BUYS HER AN ICE CREAM AND HE DOESNT EVEN REMEMBER WHY HES BUYING THREE. UGH. i love them so much. theyre definitely one of those duos found in the trios that dont get much attention which just draws me towards them more (like riku and kairi). i think lea is absolutely riddled with guilt about the events of days so he never lets xion forget that shes loved. i think xion is touch-averse *except* when it comes to roxas and lea because she feels safest around them.❤️

to end i will discuss roxas and xion . they are like a little orange cat and a little black cat to me. halloween colored. theyre so small i love them so much. i imagine when xion first meets the twilight town gang shes jealous bc roxas has other friends :( but roxas assures her shes super duper special to him and no one else can take her place in his life. they have such a unique bond that i dont know if any of the other characters have with each other. just something so special about those two. when it feels like no one else understands they have each other... and i think that makes for some angst when xion struggles with her own issues that even roxas cant relate to

[chocochipbiscuit]

🌟✨️💫 Stars for you, Choco! 💫✨️🌟

"My brother—your father—and I weren't as close as we once were, when he died. There are still things that I wish I had said more gently. And conversations where I listened more and talked less." He huffed, something between a chuckle and a sigh. "Lord knows he would have raised you differently." Cassandra glared across the table at her uncle. "You raised us well. I'll fight anyone who dares say otherwise." "Duly noted," Uncle Vestalus said dryly. He lifted a bite to his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. After swallowing, he said, "But I raised you differently. I know that I am sterner than he was. More old-fashioned, I suppose. But please, Cassandra—know that I love you. I will always love you, no matter what."

(From Those Who Hunt Monsters)

So!!! This is one of the sections I wanted to write because I wanted to establish Vestalus as being his own character, outside his supporting role in Cassandra's story. I took some liberties with adapting his relationship to Cassandra's father (as one must do when writing any AU, I think!) because I wanted to show that as much as Cassandra and Anthony were struggling with grief at losing their parents, Vestalus was also facing his own grief, plus guilt at not having made amends before and then being the only surviving relative who could have taken Anthony and Cassandra in.

He wanted to be a good uncle to Anthony and Cassandra not just because he cared about them in the vague sense of "oh yes, they're family" or even because he was initially very close to them/their father, but partly as a way of apologizing to his own ghosts.

I also imagine Vestalus as being significantly older than his younger brother (and Cassandra's dad was an 'oops!' baby) and had to be the mature/stable one while his brother was more reckless. He's brought that sense of caution to how he raised Cassandra, which Cassandra appreciated...but yes, Vestalus was always aware that he was raising the children differently than his brother would have done.

And of course, Vestalus thinks Cassandra's tip-toeing around coming out about being gay, so he's trying to have a mature and respectful conversation while also gently hinting "hey, it's okay! you don't have to be afraid of telling me!"

Because really he's going "great! I'm going to get a good grade in allyship, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve!"

(Plus I mean, this is a fic about grief, not just werewolves. Haven't we all had conversations where we wish we listened more and spoke less?)

Thank you for asking! :D

(Director's cut from this ask meme!)

[xander-morrison]

I'm getting back into Tekken 8 and I'm really enjoying it. Finally got a feel for every character and who I like. Highlights from the past couple of days:

Lili is way more fun than I thought she would be! Very slippery and evasive.

Lars is actually kinda cool? He feels kinda hard to control, but where most Tekken characters can feel pretty stiff and slow if you don't know what you're doing, Lars is the opposite. It's super easy to actually move around TOO much with him and get carried away and end up in a bad spot. I do feel like mastering him would be like mastering lightning, it makes me appreciate him a lot more. Always thought he looked kinda boring.

King still does not click for me. I think he's a cool character, but I would need to sit down and watch a dedicated guide to really make him work I think. And since there's only so much tekken knowledge my brain can handle per day, I'd rather focus that energy on a character I know I'll stick with.

Devil Jin is my favorite Mishima by a mile. He's got a lot of moves that let him close or create distance from the opponent very quickly. Honestly a solid contender for a main, although I don't particularly want to practice electrics over and over for my first main. Might keep him in mind if my current main doesn't live up to the hype.

Yoshimitsu is stupid fun and I love him. The sword pogo reigns supreme. Might pick him up as a pocket character. But I think I've figured out who my main is:

Eddy is so fuckin fun. I'm glad he's not as braindead as in T3 (the only other game in the series I've played), because it gives me more incentive to think a bit about my strategy. And Eddy's game plan seems really simple: dodge around, wait for an opening, get a (relatively low-risk) 50/50 setup off a quick move, and then win the 50/50. Or use back 4 (I call it THE BOOT) to force your way in. Oh and also he builds up a resource that gives him stronger handstand moves while he does all of that. Which lead to more low-risk, high reward situations. He's so cool and I am going to commit to him for now.

(Realizing now as I'm typing this, I haven't actually played Jun. Oops.)

And now that I've got a feel for these characters, I've actually started the story mode (I'm recording it for youtube as well, might link once it's done if anybody is interested) and it's very fun. Major T8 story spoilers below:

Kinda glad Zafina and Claudio died? I didn't want to play much of them. I mean I think they're neat characters and it's sad to see them go, but it's interesting to see Tekken go from this series where nobody stays dead to a series that can actually embrace the consequences of its own plot. Like, Heihachi didn't come back for T8, so I wouldn't be surprised if those two didn't come back for T9. I've only just gotten past the first True Devil Kazuya fight (that Azazel fight was NASTY btw, I had to retry that several times), so maybe there's more character deaths incoming. It's so wild to see this game take on the dynamic of a show like Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, no character feels truly safe. Hell, Kazuya could die at the end of this game for all I know. He definitely has it coming, if that is the case. It is absolutely wild to me that he beats Azazel though??? Like, that's the source of his power. That'd be like a paladin being able to 1v1 the god they get spells from.

Anyways now that I'm back on my tekken bullshit, I'm excited to play more. :D

[roadtodeltarune]

Earthbound Beginning Week 2

What a week! Luckily, I had lots of free time, so I spent much of it playing Mother 1. Since last week, I've made my way out of Magicant! The maze was fun, instead of looking up a map, I wrote down the correct rooms as I explored, making me more interested. Since then, I've been using a notebook to write notes and make maps.

I made it to Merrysville! Took me a while to figure out how to get to the roof of the school, so I went to Sweet Little Factory first and got some gear, either storing it away with the sword from Magicant or selling it. But, I went to the school again and found Lloyd! (Or Onion for my playthrough)

Onion has really grown on me, though not because of his story. He's actually great in battle, despite being so weak. Since he's your first party member, he stays close to your levels. Plus, if you give him a Plasma Beam, he is unstoppable. However, when I found out those could break, I decided to get him two so we'd have a backup. I am a little ashamed to admit though, that I have been using the rewind feature in battle to help prevent the beam from breaking. Yes, it's cheating, but I feel like it also adds some strategy, cause I have to make everyone reroll attacks, so it can make things worse for me in the end.

Next, we tackled Duncan's Factory. I already visited this place when I couldn't get on the roof -oops!- but I didn't make it far. Even with Onion, I was so lost. It was so bad, I had to look up a map! The layout of this factory is honestly awful, it's a good thing the enemies weren't too bad. Except for the ones that explode when you beat them, I just ran from those. This was also the first type I used the crumbs and man, those will be helpful later.

After clearing the railroad, we hopped on a train to the closest place with the cheapest tickets. I didn't want to walk, because I went in the tunnel already and I was still scared of Starman, so I ran out of there fast.

At Reindeer, we got Ana's hat -Potato as I named her- and went to Snowman to deliver it. Potato told us of a dream she had that had me in it. I guess psychic dreams and hat deliveries make you fast friends? Well I'm not complaining, I was happy to have a new party member.

We went to Magicant and started grinding. The enemies in Snowman were too much for us! I got everyone a Gold Ring and H20 Pendant. I also got Potato the Boomerang. I quickly learned she was more useful as a mage, but I figured the strongest weapon I had would still help her.

After that, we went to Youngtown to find her missing mom! But the bridge was out, so I went back to Reindeer instead since the tickets were so cheap. Most of the people there either talked about Spookane or Youngtown. I made my way to Spookane, found the ghost house, and ran from a lot of fights. We finally got another melody there! It had been so long!

With this done, I came to the conclusion that either the melodies can be used to bring the dead to life, or ghosts are using the melodies to gain their power. Either way, songs are magical.

We then made the long trek north. Yes, I walked the whole way. After Spookane, I thought we needed levels! Plus, I wanted to find secrets. This also meant we had to fight through the whole tunnel, and that was awful.

We got to the bridge again, but it was still out! Figuring there had to be a way around, I searched South then North, finding the desert. This is where I looked up a walkthrough, which told me to be prepared before the Desert. So, I got Super Spray for Onion, some levels for Potato, and gave everyone some Life Up Cream.

Our desert adventure was luckily short, finding a pilot at an oasis very quickly. I wanted the tank, cause who wouldn't, and took some flights to get the tickets for it. We mostly flew over the desert, seeing a strange cactus. Then we went over Ellay and some desert ruins, telling me where to go next.

Before the tank, I talked to the cactus, getting another melody! Then, we hopped in the tank and went for the ruins, fighting a giant robot! This is honestly a very fun section of the game; especially when we get in the Money Hideout! The monkeys were all funny, some even giving tips and foreshadowing events. My favorite was the penguin.

Going through the monkey area, we came to Magicant again. I was wondering what this meant, but the only answer was the sleeping dragon I couldn't wake before. I healed up, geared up, and went to fight the dragon. I did look up a walkthrough again, cause I was honestly not sure if I should fight it now, but it said I should and to use PSI-Block, so I did! This was my first time using Block. While the fight was still tough, we were able to defeat it with many Beams and Thunders. Carrot mostly just healed or gave the party Defense buffs.

I was worried that we'd be back in Merrysville after that, but I was pleasantly surprised when we popped out by the train tracks. Following them, we came to Youngtown, finally!

Youngtown thickened the plot, revealing aliens were kidnapping all the adults and taking them to Mt. Itoi. Though, are they aliens or robots, because the Starmen seem a lot like robots. It didn't matter, what mattered was that we had to save Potato's mom!

With the power to teleport, something I wish I had had sooner, we headed into the swamp. It was dangerous, sure, but mostly just a maze. We found Onion's dad and Pippi in a house! It was a wonderful surprise seeing Pippi again. From there, I trained up a few more levels and then headed for Ellay.

I got the plot rolling fast in Ellay, getting a ticket for the show, and going to the show. I barely realized this was the plot, I thought I was still exploring.

After a lovely dance and song, I met and fought Teddy(Beet). I heard of the BB Gang from a couple people, but I didn't expect to fight Beet so soon! It was actually pretty fast though. After bonding with Beet through battle, he joined our party! However, this put Onion on the bench. I really wish Onion could have just stayed as part of the team, especially since the armor doesn't even transfer to Beet.

Going back to Magicant, we got Beet his armor, and his sword, and gave everyone a Magic Coin. I could have sworn the coins and rings couldn't stack when I was researching them last week, but hey, more defense!

Beet is already so strong! It's amazing to have someone so useful immediately. The only down side is now Carrot doesn't feel useful. Potato handles the spells, Beet hits hard and takes hits like a sponge, and Carrot isn't amazing at either. Not to mention my item handler, Onion, is benched. I miss my nerd.

Well, that aside, we set off on our final quest, presumably. Mt. Itoi is where Beet's parents died. All the parents are being conducted and taken to the peak by aliens. These aliens are using the melodies for evil, driving animals crazy and summoning the dead! Not it all comes together.

Thus, this ends my Week 2 update. I expect to finish the game next week, but now the Pokemon DLC is out, so I'll be distracted more than before. Currently, I left off just before Mt. Itoi's cave entrance. I've just been leveling up to be ready. I looked up what spells will be best to use and one I want we don't get until level 27-ish, so I'll be getting Potato to that, then heading up. From what I see though, I have only about an hour left if you remove the grinding. I'm excited to get to the climax!

See you next week!

[one-real-imonkey]

Does Fox stick around all the way to the battle of Endor? Or does he have a chance to break away before then?

Does he get off the station? Was he even on the station, or is he back on Coruscant?

Short (spoiler less) answer, you’ll have to wait until the fic I’m currently working on comes out. (This isn’t marriage AU just regular Corrie Guard where Palpatine succeeded).

Long answer below…

Yes Fox makes it to Endor. He tries to get away early on but it does not work and then he focuses on getting intel and prisoners out, and then it’s about staying alive. And thats all he can do.

At first its Fox's chip, but his chip never lasts a week before it has to be re-Ordered, then it has to be re-Ordered every morning, then Palpatine realises it's not going to work anymore. He's going to have to control Fox another way.

Fox is working on staying alive and pretending to be obedient and getting messages out but once Palpatine knows his chip doesn’t work anymore, he chooses other methods to keep Fox at his side. But for Fox the worst thing is not that Palpatine knows he himself is free but that thanks to Fox and overusing the chip he now knows they don’t last. He knows he has to get rid of the clones sooner rather than later or they’ll become a threat.

Fox blames himself for that. For any clone killed because they didn’t have the time to come back to themselves and escape.

Fox is driven by his opportunities to help people, especially his vode. His every action from a young age was dictated by how it helped others, he’s painfully selfless in that regard, dangerously so. And now what he can do to help is so limited, and still he tries. Because if he can get even one message out, one little bit of intel, if he can make sure even one vod slips the net, he will. He has to.

And he knows no after what he does, Palpatine won’t kill him. The Sith is possessive, he’ll torture Fox, break him, reduce him to little more than an object to be displayed knelt at his side. So Fox takes risk, risks no other could, to save anyone he can.

But he can’t get away, not until Luke Skywalker arrives and the war is decided once and for all. On the Death Star above the forest moon, Fox kneels too weak to move and waits for his fate to be decided.

[hoe-doroki]

On the Job pt. 2

minors do not interact

warnings: 18+, fuck or die sex pollen (which means there are noncon/dubcon elements), reader is a sex worker, masturbation, face fucking, temperature play, (light) pain play, biting

pairing: todoroki x fem!reader

wc: 3.4k

summary: Super human society has a secret. Aphrodisiac quirks aren’t just the things of porn and fantasy–they’re actually quite common and too often fall into the wrong hands. Heroes, of course, do the best that they can, but when they get hit, they must be taken off the line of duty and someone needs to be able to activate the quirk’s release condition. If they’re single, who might that someone be? Obviously, you.

a/n: Half of me didn’t actually think that I would follow up part one, but I feel a heavy obligation towards my fanfic promises so...this is a weight off my shoulders, lol.

edit: I no longer write x reader but here’s my old masterlist - mobile | desktop

You’d gotten the call early today.

Not early in the day—truth be told, you’d hardly known what time it was before picking up the phone. No, you got the call early. As in not last minute. The call saying that your client would have to be transported to the agency from on site and they could tell you the details in the meantime.

The call saying you’d better drive to the agency, because you had to service a hero in an hour.

Now, patience wasn’t usually your virtue of choice—actually you didn’t often tend towards virtues in general. Save perhaps for kindness, which you preferred to deal out on your knees or your back, augmented by praise and the generosity of offering all three of your holes for your clients’ needs. But you were happy to cultivate it today, because an early call meant one thing.

You knew who was coming today.

Your pants were already off and you shirt was pushed up over your breasts as you leisurely played with yourself. You’d licked the tips of your fingers and gotten them started with slow passes over your clit, the other hand pinching your nipple, just a little too hard in prep for a hero who’d probably give it to you rough.

Maybe your reaction wasn’t right. Maybe it wasn’t kind of you to be so relaxed—relaxed and eager, actually—over the news that it was possible that Pro Hero Shouto would die. That he’d been hit with the particularly high stakes brand of aphrodisiac quirk and that if you didn’t trigger the release condition—that was: hot and heavy sex—his heart may very well stop or whatever happened on the other side of these troublesome quirks.

You wouldn’t know. After all, you hadn’t lost a single client yet.

So perhaps that was cold of you. Perhaps it would be more virtuous for you to be worried about him, fretting on the other side of the door with the guards over his ETA.

Then again, as stated: you’d never been one for virtue. Sin was much more fun. And surely it was better to make sure that whenever Shouto did show up, you had a wet pussy that he could waste none of his precious time sinking his cock into.

You groaned at the thought, dipping two fingers from your clit into your cunt and scissoring them. Your head lolled back against the pillows, eyes fluttering closed as you pressed against that front wall the flats of your fingertips, feeling that soppy wetness covering you and beginning to drip down your knuckles.

Yeah, you were ready for him.

In fact, you’d been waiting for Shouto longer than just today. After nabbing the number two pro hero, Dynamight, a few months back, you’d gone ahead and debased yourself  further—how much further was there to go, though, really?—by creating a list of your dream clients. You’d written Dynamight just to check him off, the memory of him cumming in you raw and licking you clean still hot between your thighs.

Your near encyclopedic knowledge of heroes—naturally, you took a healthy interest in your job—had then led you to daydream about Dynamight’s whole hero cohort. You added Red Riot to the list, dreaming of his abs, imagining riding them, teasing sweet whines out of him before backing up and dropping yourself on his cock. You thought of Deku, what it would mean for your ego to nab the number one hero, the flash of jealousy that would rise on his face when you let it slip that you’d already fucked his biggest rival, fucked his goddamn brains out and yours to boot.

Of course, you couldn’t do that. NDAs, after all. You’d already signed away your rights to mentioning anything about what happened to or with Shouto today. Still, you could dream.

Then, of course, your thinking had truly devolved, and you’d thought about the boys being paired up, fighting a villain with an unknown quirk only to be hit by the ever common, ever unknown—thanks to you and your prudence; oops, there was another virtue—aphrodisiac quirk and having to take care of both of them. Spit-roassting, Eiffel Tower, a goddamn daisy chain—anything. Long story short, you’d ended up cumming twice more on your hands before the evening was done.

But also on that list, was Shouto Todoroki.

Who, if you weren’t mistaken, was now on the other side of the door.

After all, these walls weren’t soundproof. It provided quite the show for the lucky guards on the other side, but hey, if you needed to scream for help, they had to be there. By the same coin, you could hear the shuffling on the other side, the footsteps approaching, and the telltale sound of the lock on the door being activated. You pressed your legs together, resting them to the side, hiding your glistening pussy artfully with your legs for the sake of modesty. Everyone knew what was happening here, but you didn’t need to send Shouto’s poor handler back blushing to their colleagues.

Shouto was ushered into the room and, without eye contact, someone yelled to you, “Ready, ma’am?”

“Ready!” you called back, and the door was closed, leaving you alone with the number three hero.

Without modesty, your legs fell open, revealing the mess you’d already made of yourself to Shouto. You dipped the fingers you’d been using into your mouth, and cleaned them dutifully. After all Shouto was still wearing his costume, and you did so hate the agency having to send those to the cleaners with your fluids all over them.

“Hey, bud,” you purred, running a hand slowly up one thigh. “I heard you have a problem.”

Pro Hero Shouto was known for his stoic personality. News conferences and interviews he participated in always consisted of a slow, even tone, and little beyond cold facts. There was something pleasantly mysterious about that, sure, but it didn’t exactly hint that he’d be quick to jump into bed. Sexy voice, though.

But whatever quirk he’d been hit with must have been strong, because the next thing you knew, the index finger from his left hand was tracing down the front of his uniform, cleanly burning a line straight to his already tented crotch. His accessories had already been taken off—his belt, gloves, shoes, even the clasp at his neck had been undone earlier. So there was nothing in his way as he pulled either side of his scorched uniform to the side and off his arms as he approached the bed.

“All business, huh?” you asked, pushing yourself up off your pillows by your forearms, watching as Shouto climbed onto the bed on his knees, finally pulling his jumpsuit down past his crotch.

You’d taken a bet with yourself on the color of his pubes—it’s not like you’d be losing either way if you got to see them. They turned out to be dual-colored, but not the stark red and white of his hair. No, they were more neutral in tone, like yours. Unlike yours, they were nested above a heavy cock, already shining with precum—or actual cum, you didn’t know—at the head.

Shouto didn’t reply to your comment, and you weren’t surprised. Some people went totally nonverbal when hit by sex pollen quirks, and that was fine. You’d rather someone button their lip than ruin the mood by saying something off, after all. All business was fine by you—this was your job, after all. And no matter the size of his mouth, his cock was just fucking right.

You naturally lowered your legs as Shouto began kneeing over you, cock in hand. Your brain only just managed to catch up to what was going on when his legs stopped on either side of your ribs, his leaking cockhead crossing your eyes before you. Automatically, your jaw dropped open, and Shouto’s cock smeared pre against your cheek and the corner of your mouth before sinking deep into your mouth, drawing a first obscene moan out of him.

A humming moan fell out of you too, barely able to take in the taste of Shouto’s cock before it was pressing against the back of your throat, springing tears to your eyes automatically. Something about aphrodisiac quirks so often seemed to play with the taste of these heroes’ cum. No longer was it bitter, but just heady, salty, and more pleasant than it should have been as it coated your tongue and throat. You adored it, and purposefully relaxed your muscles so that you could take more of him in.

Shouto didn’t hold back. With barely half a breath in your lungs, Shouto was thrusting deep in the back of your throat so that your spit dripped from your mouth and smacked wetly between his balls and your chin. You blinked tears out of your eyes and looked up at him to find blown pupils staring back at you, gaze hot and pointed.

There was light behind those eyes. Whatever Shouto was right now, it wasn’t unthinking, not pure instinct. No, the way he was fucking your throat, the way his eyes had you pinned—it was intentional.

Abruptly, Shouto pulled out, a think strand of spit snapping from his dick, cold on your tongue as you panted from the rough treatment. You held your mouth open, expecting him to shove back in once you’d caught your breath, but Shouto seemed to have other plans. He moved down your body, soaked cock again in his palm, and his eyes now set on your pussy. You reached for one of the condoms you’d set out next to you, and held it in front of him.

“Hate to sound like an after-school special, but no glove…”

Shouto paused, eyeing you for just a moment before taking the square and making quick work of it, rolling it over himself.

Then, abruptly, he put a hand on your cheek, drawing your eyes back up to his. “Thank you for your hard work. It does not go unappreciated.”

“What the—”

You were left agog at his statement, wholly unprepared as he swiftly took each of your thighs in one hand, spread them, and plunged in you to the hilt. You gasped high in your chest, your throat still tender from being rawed by Shouto’s dick. He leaned over you, sighing with a relief that doubled then halved the size of his chest. His forehead touched yours in a strange moment of intimacy, and, for a moment, you wondered if that was it. Was that all the release condition took? Penetration? Or had he cum and you just hadn’t noticed?

Were you going to be left to tend to yourself with the bullet vibrator in your glove compartment yet again?

Then Shouto leaned back, looked at you again with those sharp eyes, and began smacking into you with abandon.

“Fuck,” you let out as Shouto’s balls, still wet with your spit, left their mark on your ass with every deep thrust he gave you.

Shouto manhandled your thighs, grabbing them firmly in each hand as he reared back fully on his knees again, taking the lower half of your body with him. You reflexively braced with your arms, and soon they were the only part of you still in contact with the bed, along with your upper back and head still resting on the comfortable stack of pillows.

As was often the case, you’d lost control of the situation. You could barely match Shouto’s thrusts on your own as he repeatedly used his upper body strength to bring you to him, and his lower body strength to send his hips right back in return. If you tried to reach him, your fingertips would barely brush his thighs, much less any other part of him. You were totally at his mercy.

You couldn’t help but eyeball his broad biceps, flexed by holding up the weight of most of your body. And aside from the sweat dripping from his forehead—probably quirk-induced—he was showing little to no strain.

He hadn’t always had muscles like this, you were sure. You couldn’t help but remember pundits sounding off on Shouto’s overreliance on his quirk over physical strength, or the difference between his body and the massive tank that was his father, Endeavor. They’d shown clips of his body—handsome, always handsome—but either Shouto had done a lot of bulking in the last few years or those newscasters had been particularly unkind. Likely both. Because now, drops of sweat were trickling from his body in rivulets; there were no straight paths to go down. A bulging muscle here to dip around, the crease from a flexed ab there to pool in. You were hypnotized by his form, even the thighs straining under the part of his uniform that he hadn’t bothered to burn off.

Your mind was so enraptured by thoughts of Shouto’s body that the sensations happening to yours crept up on you. All at once, you realized that your thighs were burning. Actually, one was burning, and the other was freezing cold, both just under his palms and branching up the fingers currently painting five bruises into each muscle.

A gasp flew out of your mouth and your eyes rolled back as your thighs suddenly began quaking unbidden. Shouto looked down at you, his expression easy save for those passionate eyes, little huffs escaping his slack jaw. “Too much?” he asked.

Your head shook side to side, a vehement no as Shouto dug his fingers even deeper into your flesh, bringing dull throbs of pain so close to where every thrust brought about sharp flashes of pleasure. It felt like a betrayal when he just then loosened his grip to slide his hands up to your knees and hook them over his shoulder. Then those hands, right at the brink of freezing and searing pressed into the meat of your ass as he brought your hips to his with redoubled force.

That first new thrust sent Shouto’s head turning to the side, digging a painful bite into the fleshy part of your calf, making you cry out. A moment later, he let go, his tongue passing over the teeth marks like a salve over a wound.

All the dueling sensations had you close. You’d been teasing yourself for so long before Shouto had even shown up and now he was fucking into you like…well, like his life depended on it.

God, was it wrong to love fuck or die quirks?

You were quick to take a hand and put it back on your aching clit, despite the strain it put on your neck and upper back to lose one arm of support. Part of a good fucking was being folded like a pretzel, and you’d just book a massage appointment tomorrow to deal with it. Surely saving the life of the number three hero was worth a reward.

Shouto’s eyes honed in on your fingers moving rapidly over your clit, and you bet he could feel the twitches of your cunt approaching climax. A hand left your ass and went behind his head to pat your ankles. “Cross them,” he instructed.

Obediently, you crossed your ankles, making your position a bit sturdier as Shouto continued to drive you back onto him with one hand. Then that second hand went to yours, brushing it away with the backs of his knuckles. A surprisingly gentle gesture for the man who was kneading bruises into your ass and biting your leg. Then, with his thumb, he painted one slow, hard, blazing stripe up your clit, and you came instantly.

“Fuck!” you shouted as your back arched in midair, the crown of your head digging into the pillows as your neatly crossed ankles came undone, your thighs shaking and falling from Shouto’s grip. His cock slid out of you as your lower half bounced once on the bed. Before the springs could vault you back, Shouto was on top of you, pressing himself back in your still convulsing cunt.

His thrusts were long, desperate as he breathed into your neck. He mouthed the base of your neck with light bites and suckles—never quite kissing. Your thighs came back up around his hips and his left hand went back to squeezing your thigh. Meanwhile, the right came between your thighs, surprising you as two fingers began prodding at your entrance.

Almost immediately, you could feel the heat of the stretch. Or rather, you would have felt the heat of the stretch, had his fingers not been ice cold against you. You cried out as he curled his fingers forward while his cock kept thrusting straight through you, the hot and cold contrast nearly too much. You wondered how much more intense it would feel if Shouto were unbound by the condom, and you able to bear its full heat.

“Please,” you whimpered as your orgasm began to rise again, too quickly, nearly as sudden as the first one had been, but without all the build up. This one felt like it was going to tear out of you.

Just then, the nips that Shouto had been teasing over your neck went away, and he planted one more good bite on your shoulder as his thrusts became insistent, the fingers petting inside you matched with a cold thumb over your clit. And neither of you could hold on a moment longer.

Shouto groaned low and bone deep in your ear while your voice, still raspy from early, keened in his. Your thighs went tight around his waist and his hand was trapped between you as you both rode out your highs. It took a full minute for your muscles to unwind, and your feet to fall flat to the bed. At that point, Shouto pulled out and rolled over next to you, both of you panting as the sweat dried on your skin.

Shouto pulled the condom off of himself and found a trashcan to toss it into before falling flat on his back again. After a few moments of nothing but heavy breathing, he opened his mouth. “Thank you for your professionalism.”

You snorted. “You’re welcome,” you managed, keeping your laughter at bay. “That’s not what people usually thank me for.”

“Thank you for saving my life?” Shouto tried again, his gaze shifting over to you.

His eyes were still bright, but his gaze less sharp, obscured by dual-colored bangs falling over it. Suddenly, Shouto looked a great deal more innocent than the man who’d been fucking the life out of you just minutes ago. Perhaps an effect of the quirk wearing off, perhaps the effect of unfettered pleasure meeting relief.

“More common, yes,” you replied, unable to keep the smile off your face.

“You’re very good at what you do,” Shouto said, his eyes going to the spot where he’d bitten your shoulder. He circled it with one finger, brows furrowing. “You’re like a hero.”

“Hah,” you returned, looking up at the ceiling. You weren’t going to let this be the moment in your career that made you blush. “Vixen, the orgasm hero. I don’t think it would meet the commission’s guidelines.”

“Perhaps not,” Shouto said, sitting up and pulling up what remained of his costume, frowning at the spot where he’d torn it. You supposed you needn’t have worried about this costume going to the cleaners; the support team would likely toss it and make a replacement.

“There are clothes you can change into in the closet,” you said, pointing to the near invisible door in the back wall.

Shouto waved you away as he stood up. “This will be fine to make it to the locker room with.”

“Suit yourself,” you said as you pushed yourself up, trying to remember where you’d thrown your leggings before you’d started jerking of, grunting as your spine cracked.

Shouto plucked the leggings from near the foot of the bed and tossed them to you before heading towards the door. With his hand on the knob, he turned back and made eye contact with you one last time, the ghost of a smile you’d never seen before on his lips. “Thanks again…Vixen.”

As he closed the door, you could only blame your own impropriety, that utter lack of virtue that you first thought was:

Number two pro hero, Shouto: check.